1939 Studios
On this edition of Artist Spotlight, we highlight Shalom Omo-Osagie the founder of a film production company known as 1939 Studios. She is a recent graduate of Bowie State University with a degree in Theatre concentrating in acting and directing. Her production company came about when for her senior project, she was tasked with coming up with her own production company. Although she initially wanted to establish herself as an actress before thinking about starting her production company, this project inspired her to put owning her own production company into motion now.
A typical day in the life of Shalom has changed due to COVID-19 and now that she has graduated. Before COVID she was still in school so while she was had the task of completing her work in her classes, she also had theatre productions to work on whether it be on or off campus either acting in the production or behind the scenes. In addition, she was also on the volleyball team practicing either in the morning or evening (sidenote she never mentioned she was named Bowie’s female student athlete of the year, named MVP and ran track during college). Post-COVID, she says her routine has changed significantly spending most of her time sitting still working on production obligations as opposed to being out and about like she was pre-COVID. Shalom is very organized as she has a planner that maps out everything, she needs to do in a day with wiggle room for times to be spontaneous.
Shalom and 1939 Studios just completed shooting their first production and are currently in post-production. She is planning to release to a feature film that is currently in production that she is currently unable to disclose details about at this time. She did, however, state that the film is planning to be released next year and will have film shorts (live-action and animated) that will be released in between leading into the feature film’s eventual release. One of Shalom’s ideas for films are seasonal/holiday themed films (Christmas, Valentine’s Day, Halloween, etc).
Shalom did note that the COVID-19 pandemic has changed the day-to-day operations on set with each crew member and actor/actress getting tested for the virus, crew members wearing masks with actors taking theirs off occasionally to complete scenes, and crew members remaining six feet apart as regulated. She attributes this as the hardest thing about the production process as a whole having to make sure everyone on set has been tested for COVID-19 and are quarantining themselves before coming to set. This is in part because of people on set also have other obligations whether it be jobs unrelated to production or managing their own families.
Expounding on her experience with Bowie State University’s theatre department, Shalom described it as “family oriented.” She continued by talking about how theatre creates an environment where everyone on set is able to communicate with each other and learn new things about each other. The family atmosphere created a space where often times it would be hard to stay focused on the task at hand namely during rehearsal. However, one thing Shalom says she learned from working with the Bowie State theatre department was how to work with other people.
Shalom spoke about what a typical pre and post production looked like before COVID-19 ever became an issue. Pre-production consisted of what she called “lots of paperwork” including extensive casting calls/callbacks, chemistry reads, rehearsals, etc. In post-production, she says it is the editor and director working together to put the final touches on the film while she is filling out more of the aforementioned paperwork. She notes that the only difference between a production before and after COVID is actually being on set because of testing for COVID-19 but outside of that there is not much difference.
Speaking more on the production process, Shalom spoke about the importance of being familiar with everyone she is working with on set. It’s important to her to if anything learn the names of everyone and at least one thing about them (e.g. their favorite color, what they like to eat). This creates an environment where she does not have to address people on set based solely on their titles and being able to know them instead of just knowing of them. This in turn allows for her to put a name and face to people she works with remembering the work they did during a production thereby allowing her to push for them to have more opportunities to work on more productions elsewhere.
Shalom is very passionate about helping create opportunities for people of color in the film industry and the betterment of the representation of people of color in film. She spoke about how in film we have stories told about people of color lacking from the perspective of a person of color. Because of this, she noted that this creates the tendency for people of color to be stereotyped by the film industry. This gave her the motivation to create a platform to give black men and women that will allow the freedom to tell a story from a first-person perspective.
Her dream film to make is a fantasy film or show set in a world where people of color are kings and queens. To illustrate the idea of her dream films such as giving examples of shows such as Game of Thrones and the Witcher that have characters in positions of power. She goes in-depth giving reasoning for this saying there are countless shows with people in positions of power like kings and queens but not many featuring people of color. She asks, “What’s stopping people from making fantasy shows with people like us (people of color) on the forefront and not just a secondary/side character?” As far as actors/actresses she would love to work with, she gave a great list that included: Lupita Nyong’o, Viola Davis, Gabrielle Union, Zendaya, Issa Rae, Jamie Foxx, Denzel Washington and Will Smith.
When speaking on the stigma of people of color in film to be looked at as underrated or being underappreciated, Shalom gave a very interesting take saying “I think it goes back to the idea of us not even being regarded as people.” She continued by illustrating that our current climate makes it difficult for people of color to get the recognition they deserve for a role played in a movie or television show. “It’s crazy that we can’t even be regarded as human beings so why are we expected be regarded for these roles we are playing” she said. She recognizes that conversation is “frustrating” but is necessary in making it known that changes need to be made in the film industry. She also recognizes that she cannot change the entire film industry but she can change what is put on film screens.
I concluded by asking Shalom what she wants her impact to be on the film on the industry. She answered by saying she hopes her impact includes “proper” representation of the black community, a sense of family among everyone who works with 1939 Studios, and for people of color to see the importance of self-love (love for their skin and appreciating life through trauma) in her films. She wants 1939 Studios to be associated with advocacy for mental wellness, that they care about the black community and that they will do whatever is necessary for the black community to be properly represented. I would like to thank Shalom Omo-Osagie for her time and her excellent insight it was truly a pleasure speaking with her and being transparent in sharing her vision.
Contribute to 1939 Studios GoFundMe page:
https://www.gofundme.com/f/1939-studios-presents-quotwords-finding-lyfequot
Follow Shalom Omo-Osagie on Instagram @iamshalom__
Check out her website: https://iamshalom.weebly.com/