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201 6 Big Business hip-hop gangsta Films and Black Comedies [Studio executives are] cognizant of what doesn’t work internationally. Black baseball movies, period dramas about football, rap, inner-city films—most countries can’t relate to that. Americana seems to be desired by international markets, but there comes a point where even they will resist and say, “We don’t get it,” and it’s generally in that ethnic, inner-city, sports-driven region. We can’t give ’em what they don’t want. —duncan Clark, head of the international theatrical department at Sony, 1998 From 1995 to 2012, there have been more films produced from original screenplays than any other source material. Novels run a close second, while stage plays are far less frequently adapted, even among African American films.1 While the preceding chapters have used adaptation to expose plantation ideology within theater, publishing, and film, this chapter examines the influence of plantation ideology on films with original screenplays. Among African American films, the most economically successful genres that feature original screenplays are hip-hop gangsta films and comedies. The latter is one of the most accessible commercial genres, as evidenced by the prevalence of African American or rather black comedy franchises. Historically , whites have used blacks in comedy for economic gain, moral authority, or political clout, thereby maintaining the hegemonic social order.2 Black comedy franchises as well as hip-hop gangsta films support McKenzie’s findings (discussed in the introduction) that African American films generate significant revenues. The films, filmmakers, and film franchises within these two genres demonstrate the struggle and success as well as the creative possibilities and systemic limitations of original, economically viable, studio-produced films with predominantly black casts. This chapter examines both genres up close, further highlighting the racial and gender disparities that influence the development of cinematic language and economic outcomes. 202 it’S Not JuSt BuSiNESS The Magic Formula: Standard Hollywood Screenplays Black film franchises are big business, and those who direct them are important people in Hollywood. Those films that subscribe to the standard screenplay format are especially well poised for success. Studio-affiliated filmmakers such as Spike Lee and controversial Hollywood outsiders such as Tyler Perry continue to fare better than independent filmmakers such as Haile Gerima for this reason . The standard screenplay format is thus significant for the evolution of African American cinematic language. While alternative screenplay formats exist, standard Hollywood screenplays utilize a three-act structure.3 In addition to the narrative structure, the presentation of the screenplay also has several physical criteria including a fixed-pitched font (12 point Courier), standard margins, white paper, black ink, a simple title page, and a preferred length of 100–110 pages.4 Like the Ulmer Scale, Hollywood’s standard screenplay criteria are used to calculate critical elements of production value and costs. Using a consistent, homogeneous format with a relatively uniform amount of content per page (one minute equals one page) enables film producers to estimate cost, set production schedules, and determine scene cuts. However, the superficial structural requirements of the Hollywood screenplay have a direct influence on storytelling models. In short, the use of or disregard for this homogenized approach to storytelling can make or break a project, even down to the size of the margins . “Altering a script’s format or margins or even paper size . . . upsets all the calculations” and can instantly brand a script as unprofessional.5 Adhering to this standardized structure is critical for gaining financial support and other resources, including a bankable cast. Understandably, a uniform format facilitates the necessary economic projections that have to be run with any project. However, cinematic language, like any other language, requires variation in pronunciation, grammatical structure, and meaning to express ideas. As discussed in chapter 4, standard formats and popular generic formulas may not always be the most productive approach to film language and filmmaking. My comparative analysis of the unpublished shooting script and the post-production script of Gerima’s Sankofa revealed that many of the film’s most complex concepts (e.g., rememory), discussed later in the chapter, were achieved through on-set improvisation and a much longer and more detailed script that reads almost like a novel rather than a standard screenplay. Historically, regardless of genre, this standardized format enables the master narrative as well as racial reconciliation narratives. It promotes white protagonists accompanied by an Africanist presence and problematic female and nonwhite ethnic group characterization. Using the standard format...

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