Horace Jackson (filmmaker) facts for kids
Horace Jackson is an American screenwriter, filmmaker, and educator. He is known for creating films that tell stories from an African American point of view. He often financed his movies himself, which was quite groundbreaking for his time.
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Early Life and Learning
Horace Jackson was born in Philadelphia, a city in Pennsylvania. He was the youngest of 21 children! He described his childhood as "a tough life." He finished high school at John B. Stetson School in Kingston, Pennsylvania.
His parents, especially his father who worked in a coal yard, wanted all their children to go to college. Horace first went to Temple University to study theology for a short time. Later, he moved to California and became a Baptist preacher. However, he soon left that job to follow his dream of making movies. He then studied for three years at Los Angeles City College.
Making Movies
Horace Jackson's first movie was called Living Between Two Worlds. It came out in 1963. What made this film special was that he paid for it himself. It was promoted as the first full-length movie that was completely funded, written, and produced by African Americans, and it also had an all-African American cast.
Even though the movie was made with a small budget, it did well. However, Horace didn't make much money from it personally. So, he kept studying at Los Angeles City College. He later worked as a recreation director for Los Angeles schools. He also got a job at Paramount Pictures, learning how to cut music for films. While working there, he wrote the script for his next movie, The Bus Is Coming.
Starting K-Calb Productions
In 1970, Horace Jackson started his own film company called K-Calb Productions. The name "K-Calb" is "black" spelled backward! He got help from an executive at Paramount Pictures to set up the company. K-Calb Productions was located in Compton, California, a suburb of Los Angeles with many Black families.
The main goal of K-Calb was to make films about Black people from a Black perspective. Horace felt that many movies at the time showed a wrong idea of Black people because they were made by white filmmakers. He wanted to show real Black experiences. K-Calb also planned to build Compton's first movie theater and offer training programs for young people in the film industry.
Challenges and Success
Making The Bus Is Coming was not easy. It had a small budget of $175,000. Horace and his family even faced financial problems and were evicted from their home. Production on the film had to stop for a while so they could raise more money. A former casket dealer heard about Horace's struggles and provided the extra funding needed.
In July 1971, The Bus Is Coming premiered at the Compton High School Auditorium. The event helped raise money for the Compton Cinema Center Fund. The movie ended up earning $4 million, which was a lot of money back then! However, Horace Jackson reportedly received only a small part of that profit.
In 1974, Horace released another film called Tough. This was a G-rated movie, meaning it was suitable for the whole family to watch.
In 1975, Horace Jackson was honored by the City of Detroit. He received a special key to the city for his film Deliver Us From Evil. A Detroit City Council member, Emma Henderson, praised his work, saying, "Mr. Jackson has produced a film the entire family can enjoy." She also recognized him as one of the pioneers, or early leaders, of Black films in the 1960s and 1970s.
Filmography
- Living Between Two Worlds (1963)
- The Bus is Coming (1972)
- Tough, also known as Johnny Tough (1974)
- Deliver Us From Evil (1976)
See also
