‘I Consider Myself a Filmmaker Who’s Working in Television,’ Ernest Dickerson Says of His ‘Walking Dead’ Fame

The New York Times published an eye opening and thorough investigation of the wave of Black filmmakers of the 1990s who virtually disappeared.

‘They Set Us Up to Fail’: Black Directors of the ’90s Speak Out: Julie Dash, Matty Rich, Darnell Martin, Ernest Dickerson, Leslie Harris and Theodore Witcher on a boom that went bust, and what’s different now.

Ernest Dickerson’s path was a standout. None of the filmmakers ever had the luxury of being truly in charge. It often felt as they were supposed to be happy to be let in the club.

There used to be a time where you go after an agency, and they would always tell the story, “We already got our black filmmakers.”

 I made a movie called Bulletproof, with Damon Wayans and Adam Sandler. Working on that film was the only time I ever got mad enough to punch a hole in the editing room wall.

It was supposed to be a raunchy, R-rated comedy slanted more for an adult audience. But I could see we had trouble when they were giving out tickets to 15- to 16-year-old kids at the first preview. Afterward, I had to really sanitize the relationships. It meant savaging the movie.

It still opened at No. 1, but I got the worst reviews of my career. I was criticized for not having everything I was told to take out. I had several projects lined up — I had been developing Blade, with Wesley Snipes. The whole idea of where Blade went was mine. But the producers looked to Bulletproof and thought I had completely lost my street cred. After that, nobody would touch me. I think I’m still in jail, in a way, because I’m doing television. [Dickerson — like many of his peers, including Martin and Dash — has found work on the small screen, with credits on The Wire and The Walking Dead.] I consider myself a filmmaker who’s working in television.

READ THE FULL STORY: ‘They Set Us Up to Fail’: Black Directors of the ’90s Speak Out”