“Crazy, Sexy, Cool” is the name of the second album from uber-sexy girl group TLC. It’s also the name of a new LGBT web series being produced right here in Philadelphia. We took a moment to speak to writer, director and producer Danielle Erwin.
PGN: You are a Philadelphia native. From what part of the city do you hail? DE: Yes, I am a Philly girl through and through. I originally started out in Mt. Airy and then we moved around from there. The place that I feel most grounded to is North Philadelphia, the Nicetown area, which is where I live now.
PGN: Tell me about the family. DE: I grew up in a single-parent family. My mother worked for the Internal Revenue Service. I’m the youngest of three — an older brother and an older sister who functioned as a mommy/sister since my mom worked a lot.
PGN: [Laughs.] So do you get your taxes done for free? DE: Oh, no. Not at all! Actually, my mother is retired. She lives down in Georgia and is enjoying her life, so I respect that. I have someone else who does my taxes for me.
PGN: What were you like as a kid? DE: Wow, I was just that bubbly kid who always wanted to be in front of the camera. I was always singing and dancing, I would read a book and start singing the lines out loud. I always wanted to be a part of everything. I was in school plays and musicals, I loved to play outside with my friends. I was a tomboy at heart, still am!
PGN: What was the first play you did? DE: I don’t remember the name of the play, but it had to do with kids doing drugs and drinking — an anti-alcohol story. I had to play the alcoholic, so I remember going to the store before school and buying a bottle of clear cream soda. I figured I could use that as a liquor bottle, so during the show I chugged that on stage and fell onto the ground and did my best drunk. It was a lot of fun.
PGN: You weren’t afraid of burping onstage after all that cream soda? DE: I was too into character, I wasn’t worried about that. No burping.
PGN: Good to hear. DE: I was also very into dancing. We performed for a lot of Kwanzaa celebrations. It was intense because we had a very strict dance teacher. She would always pound the floor — “Get it right, get it right!” It was strenuous but enjoyable.
PGN: Who was your favorite teacher? DE: I would have to say Miss Green. She was so stern, very old-school. She instilled fear in the kids but it was a good fear because she helped us learn. She was tough but you could tell she loved her job.
PGN: I understand you are back in school. DE: Yes, I’m taking digital video-production courses at Community College of Philadelphia. I love it there. My first teacher was Mr. Spielberg. He says he’s the cousin of Steven Spielberg but I don’t know whether or not to believe him. He’s a great teacher though. He saw the experience I had and that I was ready and passionate to learn. One day he couldn’t make it to class so he emailed me and asked if I would lead the class for him. It was a nice experience and an honor to be asked. PGN: You were a good person to pick. You’ve also taught classes for the kids at The Attic Youth Center, haven’t you? DE: Yes, I’ve taught video production to a number of kids in CAG, the Creative Active Groups. I just love Carrie Jacobs, the executive director. She brought me on for a one-time program and then liked what I did and brought me back for the summer course in 2011. It was lovely. In the summer you had kids who were actually getting paid to be there and there was a wide variety of kids. You had straight kids, you had gay kids and in the beginning there was a lot of bickering amongst them, but by the end they had all become friends and everyone was loving each other. No one cared who was gay or not. A couple of them came out and they really bonded. It was very touching.
PGN: What kinds of things did they do? DE: A little bit of everything. I assigned them all different roles. Sometimes they got to direct, sometimes they were behind the camera, sometimes they were grips; we mixed it up so everyone had a chance to experience all the different titles involved in making a film. They completed two projects.
PGN: It sounds like you’ve gone from in front of the camera to behind the scenes. DE: Actually I still do both. In my film “Cool,” I played the store attendant in order for me to get the character that I wanted. In the new web series I’m also acting. In fact, we just finished doing my scenes yesterday. I enjoy being versatile.
PGN: That’s great, we need more people of color behind the scenes. DE: Oh, yes. We have so many different stories to tell that need to be heard. That’s part of the reason I started my company, 7th Seed Productions. I’m a black person, I am a female, I’m a gay woman who grew up in an urban environment; it’s all a part of me that I want to share with people. Even if it doesn’t touch the next lesbian woman, it may touch that black little girl who might say, “Hey, if she is able to do that, so can I.”
PGN: Your series is going to be on the web. Do you think the Internet has helped in getting our stories out? DE: Without a doubt. The mainstream film and media outlets are not known for telling our stories authentically. The Internet allows us inexpensively to tell our own stories. Anyone with a camera phone or camcorder can make a film and upload it onto the Internet. And if you make something that’s truly great, there’s always the chance that someone mainstream will see it and want to be a part of it, and then that’s when you may get your chance to let them be a part of it. But do your own thing first. Don’t conform or let them influence you or bend your story into something you don’t recognize. It happens far too often.
PGN: Don’t I know it. I did a pilot for E! Channel with Biz Markie. It was great fun and we were all set to go until the studio execs called and asked us to add footage of him drinking and cursing and acting a fool. Fortunately, the woman producing it was of good conscience and refused to bend to their desires. She chose to dismantle the project rather then stoop to stereotypes. DE: It’s definitely a struggle with politics that go on in mainstream film and television. That’s why it’s great that a lot of independent filmmakers are getting new exposure using the Internet as a forum.
PGN: Which brings us to your films … DE: Yes, I made three short films: “Crazy,” which had to do with revenge; “Sexy,” which was about committing to a new relationship without the baggage of the past; and “Cool,” which was about domestic abuse. I had a great cast: the comedian Di, Alice Wills and Shanel Sherese. The chemistry was really great between the three and the rest of the cast. After I screened the film, people were like, “We want more, we want more!” So I said, “OK, I’ll give you more.” And that’s when I decided to do a six-episode web series. We are currently filming every weekend. The series follows the five women who were in the original short films. There’s a lot going on in the series. [Laughs.] That revenge that went on in the first film? A lot of that stuff comes back to bite people in the butt. We also touch on religion because I know it plays a big part in a lot of our lives. We just filmed a part last Saturday where Dekon, one of the main characters, is dealing with her mother who is very religious and sees everything in black and white. She uses the Bible to attack Dekon, who pulls some biblical quotes of her own to fight back. I also touch on PTSD. I have a friend who was in Afghanistan. He’s a young man and hearing his story about how people look at him differently now that he’s back and how it affects him really moved me. It’s been heartbreaking for him so I wanted to shed some light on that issue too.
PGN: Domestic violence is not something that’s spoken about a lot in the LGBT community. What prompted you to make that a key part of one of the stories? DE: True. It was actually a small part of a relationship that I was in. Not at all how you saw it in the film, but I was in a relationship that became verbally and physically abusive for both of us. There was an incident where she spat in my face. I’d never had anything like that happen before in any relationship. I was saying the other day that I had allowed her to take me there when in truth I allowed myself to be taken there. I had to get a grip on who I really was, which was not that person. I spent nights on my mother’s couch because I didn’t want to be involved in that type of situation any more. It’s something that happens in the LGBT community even though you don’t see it much. And there aren’t many laws to protect us. When the cops came to our place after one situation, I saw the way they looked at us. Their mannerisms and the way they talked to us … One cop kept saying, “You people.” His partner said, “He didn’t mean it like that.” But I could see how it was. I wanted to shed light on that situation in the film. People need to see exactly what to do to get out. If one person sees the film and says, “Hey, I’m in the same situation. I need to get out,” it was worth it.
PGN: So what do you like to do outside of the film world? DE: I love children, so whenever I get a free moment I’m with my goddaughters, Journey, who’s 11, and Jordan, who’s 2. Between my day job, school and filming the series, I don’t have a lot of free time but when I do I like to hang out with them.
PGN: And what is your day job? DE: Oh man, it’s something that I hate but it pays the bills: collections. I’m one of those people who calls you and says, “You haven’t paid your bill.”
PGN: Should I leave out the part about you hating your job in case anyone from work reads this? DE: Oh, you can print that! I do hate it and they know it, but I love the people I work with. I work with some real characters; some of them are actually inspiration for a future project I have in mind.
PGN: What’s a fun family memory? DE: My brother was in the military. When I was about 8, he called to say he was coming home and asked me what I wanted for my birthday. He figured I would want a doll but I was such a tomboy I asked him for a Transformers figure — the one that turned into a jet. When he came home, he gave me my present and sure enough it was exactly what I wanted. I was a happy camper that summer.
PGN: What was the first film you ever saw in a movie theater? DE: The first film I ever saw was “Star Wars.” It was amazing. I sat there with my mouth open and was like, “Yes, I want to be part of making something like that.”
PGN: What lesbian film would you put in a time capsule? DE: [Laughs.] Other than mine? I would have to say “Pariah.” It showed the struggle that life can be for a teenager between the life that you want to live and the life that your parents want for you. People don’t understand how difficult that can be, and how it can lead a child to consider suicide or estrangement from the family.
PGN: How was coming out? DE: It was easier than I thought. When I had my first girlfriend, my mom said, “What makes you gay?” I said, “Being happy.” She told me not to be such a smart ass. My mother loves me regardless of who I am and who I love. She accepts the people that I love — though I could tell she didn’t like a couple of them.
PGN: Has she seen your films? DE: She hasn’t seen “Crazy. Sexy. Cool.” because she lives in Georgia now but she and the whole family came to the premiere of “Honor and Pride,” a short film I did in 2011 about bullying in the black gay community. My mom even shed a tear or two.
PGN: Let’s go for some random questions. If I could switch places with one person for a day, it would be … DE: Ellen DeGeneres. I love the show, I love to dance just like her. I love kids just like her and I love to be happy just like her. I wouldn’t mind having that beautiful wife either.
PGN: The best thing I own is … DE: My filming equipment. It allows me to get my vision out there and it helps me help other people fulfill their visions. There have been several times when people have come to me because they didn’t have equipment and I’ve been able to help them out.
PGN: Would you like to travel to the future or go back in time? DE: I would like to go back in time. I never really got a chance to know my grandparents. I would especially like to speak to my grandmother, Blanche. I’m told I look just like her and we have similar mannerisms.
PGN: If you weren’t working in the arts, what profession would you pursue? DE: I would be a social worker. I love talking to people, hearing their issues and helping to come up with solutions.
PGN: Last time you cried? DE: Watching “12 Years a Slave.” Having a chance to get a glimpse of what slavery was like from a real person’s personal account was something else. There was one scene where the director, Mr. McQueen, really drew the scene out for a long time. As a filmmaker, I understand why he did it. He wanted you to really feel the moment, to take you there to understand how it actually felt for that character. I cried like a baby. Now that’s a good film.
PGN: Why 7th Seed Productions? DE: I’m a very spiritual person and the number seven is a divine number with so much meaning. My birthday is 6/7/1976. My mother is one of seven children, and I am the 17th grandchild. This is where the number seven stems from. The word “seed” represents life. You must plant a seed in order for life to flourish within any living organism. My company is based on producing positive and unbiased media. The mission of 7th Seed Productions is to plant a positive seed within each viewer and allow that seed to blossom into a better understanding of the LGBT community and the world around us.
For more information on 7th Seed Productions, visit www.7thseedproductions.com.
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