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Interview with Warrington Hudlin, Founder of dvRepublic.com - An excerpt from the Entertainment Employment Journal (March 1, 2001) Blacks In Entertainment Have the goals of the BFF changed since it was founded? Yes, because the organization is now 21 years old. The reason why we created it and the social and political landscape that we faced then is not the same as it is today. So for the organization to remain vital we need to evolve with the changes. So we’ve streamlined our activities to specific events. The Acapulco Black Film Festival* is the principal activity that we’re involved in. It consolidates our interest in showcasing black cinema, giving workshops to black filmmakers and just bringing people together. We also just got funded a year ago by the Ford Foundation to create original television programming for the Internet on our website dvRepublic.com (Dissident Voices Republic). We will do all original entertainment driven content. It will have programs in every genre from reality to fiction to animation to comedy. I’m working with a group of multicultural filmmakers – Latinos, Asians, African Americans – and doing things that Hollywood wouldn’t even think about doing. What goals do you have for dvRepublic.com? It’s going to be a place to have conversations and see programming that you wouldn’t see anyplace else. It’s totally uncensored and free and reaches a worldwide audience. We call it “the liberated zone in cyberspace.” What does the industry need to do to become more diverse? If you want to have a workforce that is diverse, someone who’s in charge of hiring has to say, “When I come on the lot I want to see more black faces.” There are people in the industry like Jonathan Dolgen at Paramount who are heroes. He really cares. There are people who go the extra mile, but not enough. If you had the opportunity to run a large entertainment company, what would you do to promote diversity? That isn’t my goal in life. My challenge is to answer the question, “Why don’t we do our own thing?” That is a genuine challenge. We need to fund, finance and distribute our own movies. I accept that challenge. When Steven Spielberg, Jeffrey Katzenberg, and David Geffen didn’t like how things were going, they started a new company. When Bob and Harvey Weinstein thought there was a market not being served, they started a new company. If you think you have a “product” and there’s a market for your product, the American way is to go out and start your own company. What can someone do to be successful inside the industry? I think everybody can make it. Certain people have to work harder than others. To climb to the top, one person has ropes to pull him up and another person has to claw through broken glass and jagged rocks. But it’s incumbent on every human being to make it, to overcome whatever it is. The next Acapulco Black Film Festival (www.abff.com) will take place June 4-9, 2001.

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