Deon Taylor is a Hollywood director, writer and producer who teamed up with Oscar Award winner Jamie Foxx to start No Brainer Films.
Together they’ve helped “Twlight” actress Nikki Reed land that coveted role, while booking Flavor Flav, Selma Blair and many other big names.
We sat down with Deon Taylor to discuss his body of work, as well as his new pilot for NBC starring Selma Blair.
Check out our exclusive interview with Deon and find out more about the man behind the camera.
GlobalGrind: You’ve worked with a lot of great people and co-founded No Brainer with Jamie Foxx, so how did you hook up with Jamie?
Deon Taylor: All that has been a blessing. Me and Jamie were friends for awhile through the entertainment station in L.A and playing basketball through the NBA Entertainment League. One day we got done playing basketball and talked, and that was first time we both understood we had an incredible passion for being creative and that we were both entrepreneurs. Of course Jamie was already on the moon and I was walking down the alley. We connected and got to love each other’s work ethic and found out that we shared a lot of similar thoughts creatively. About six months later, we connected and decided to do something together and I was excited about doing it. Working with something as incredible as Jamie is always a blessing but to work with someone as a partner in a company is a blessing come true. So we created No Brainer and we’ve been active for the last eight/nine months and we kind of taken Hollywood by storm in the night.
How did you come up with the idea for “Nite Tales”?
“Nite Tales” I thought it was such an incredible brand because the horror space is so diverse and it’s really the only space that works internationally as well as domestically. When I was first coming in to shoot film and become a young film maker and entrepreneur, instead of me putting the money into something I thought would only work domestically, I was trying to figure out what could actually work on all levels, that way if I was not successful domestically it could have a chance to be successful internationally. And that was the horror genre and “Nite Tales” was the first thing I thought of in terms of where it could be a brand, where it could work as a TV series like “Twilight Zone” or “Tales from the Crypt.” But at the same time it could have enough legs where every year you could release a horror film theatrically under that banner, it could tap into the merchandising, the clothes and the soundtrack. The whole branding aspect of horror and that’s how I came up with the whole “Nite Tales” deal.
[pagebreak]
And why did you go with Flava Flav as the host?
When you are shooting episodes in one day and shooting with no money, what I had to do is find something that would actually gravitate an audience toward what it is I was doing. You have to go for the shock factor, and at that time when I first built the “Nite Tales” brand, there was nothing shocking about going to get an old star who had been in some horror films. Flava Flav was hot and he had just come off “Flavor of Love” and he was in front of the camera all the time promoting. I needed to have someone with that type of energy behind something was that fun and scary as “Nite Tales.” Actually, Flav wasn’t the first choice. When me and Flav actually met and sat down, I found out very quickly that he was a huge horror buff. He was really into scary movies just like I was and he could name all the old movies. It was just a fun deal and to this day Flav is not the host anymore, but he was the person that was actually able to get us into the public eye, when we had nothing but an idea and a couple of episodes, and really and get this moving.
How did the idea for “Chain Letter” with Nikki Reed and Brad DeForrest come about?
“Chain Letter” was just an idea that sparked from my brain thinking what would be scary. You get all them things on your phone, sometimes you forward them and sometimes you don’t. And it was more like what if someone was really like a technology terrorist who was after people and if they didn’t forward it, they would come after you. I thought of that for about six or seven months and then I acted on it and went to write the script and get the finance to independently make the movie.
Believe it or not, “Chain Letter” was actually what I call for me my golden ticket, because it was the first film independently that I was able to do on my own, step out and be able to do a theatrical release for it. And if you know anything about Hollywood and being a Black filmmaker, that’s probably like you could give somebody a thousands shots, they wouldn’t make one at that. And I was able to find a whole and find a way to get that movie out theatrically which gave us a really good breath and a really good look in Hollywood because I was able to find a small, impactful, theatrical release. The film didn’t do as well as I would like it to do domestically, but it did incredibly well foreign. It’s already made its money back twice foreign. So that was a very, very big deal for me. Nikki Reed was so incredible and the cool thing was she booked “Twilight” off of doing “Chain Letter.” She was doing my film and had not acted in a couple of years and I remember she got the call on set of “Chain Letter.”
[pagebreak]
People like Zach Braff and Dax Shepard are going more to a video on demand release now with these small indie movies. Do you think that could help you and have you looked into doing more video on demand stuff?
Yeah, I think it’s an incredible outsourcing mechanism for film. There’s probably a million movies made every year, but how many movies can you put out theatrically? Sometimes if you can make a movie that’s really cool and powerful and you can make it at a price that’s not $50 million or $20 million with a really good concept, if you can put that movie directly in someone’s front room and allow them to push a button to watch it, you’ve won. Now am I discrediting big theatricals? No, because I think everyone loves to go to the movies to see “Avatar” and “Thor.” I think you want to go to the theatre and get the theatre experience for that. But these smaller films that are really cool and you think I wouldn’t mind seeing that right now and you go home, click a button and watch it. I think that’s great.
You’ve mentioned sports a few times and it is playoff season right now, who are you riding for in the NBA Playoffs?
Chicago Bulls. It’s a little dude over there and his name is Derrick and his last name I think is Rose. His trademark is, he sticks a thorn on your side.
What’s next for you?
Right now me and Jamie have an incredible project that’s at NBC right now called “Tommy’s Little Girl” that we sold to NBC that we are both huge fans of. It’s like “La Femme Nikita” meets “The Sopranos.” I feel like we’re gonna be able to take the TV dial to another level with how we’re gonna shoot this. And then we have about four other TV projects that we’re getting ready to announce that are sold that we’re super excited about. Then on the feature side, what me and Jamie are focusing on I can’t really tell you what it is, but we’re getting ready to launch a superhero franchise with Jamie and we’ll announce it within the next couple of months.
In reference to “Tommy’s Little Girl,” is Selma Blair still attached to that movie?
Yeah she’s still attached and all the characters are still attached. Now we’re actually just in the development stage for getting in ready for television. So, we’re pumped up about it because it feels like we’re gonna be able to bring the look and feel of a feature film and what the heart and sole of what “The Sopranos” was on HBO, to NBC.
