Driving While Black a is a dark comedy, rooted deeply in reality… but not a reality that everybody is familiar with.
If you’ve got the permits, have a good budget, and get the permission of everyone around you, you’re able to shoot in Hollywood’s coolest and busiest spots. But what if you’re a low-budget production and don’t have those permits? DRIVING WHILE BLACK helmer Paul Sapiano lets us in on a few secrets.
It’s a comedy, sure, but it’s alarming that Driving While Black is a true story. Is the script a straight-up account of Dominic Purdy’s real-life?
Paul Sapiano: Yes. All the stories in the film are real life events that happened to the writer and star Dominique [Purdy]. We embellished the final scene a little where the evidence in the trunk makes him look guilty, but in truth he has been the victim of snap judgments many times. He was working as a pizza delivery driver at the time of shooting and we shot at the place he worked at and used his actual delivery uniform. You could say it’s very true to life.
READ MORE: Our Review of Paul Sapiano‘s Driving While Black
How did you work out what to include in the movie and what not to include?
PS: It was organic. We choose the fun and dramatic scenes as we didn’t want the viewer ever to be bored
Can you remember anything that was either wrote or shot that you decided to lose from the finished film?
PS: There was an introductory scene with his mother – it was to show his living situation. But we never came back to that character so it felt odd and we ditched it. Also, some footage we shot on Hollywood Blvd., but that was more for copyright reasons.
What!? How did you manage to shoot in busy locations like Hollywood? I imagine that was quite a challenge!
PS: On Hollywood we were winging it. Stealing shots before security came out to move us on. But the driving scenes were all done legit with permits and cops.
Were you at all concerned that Dom mightn’t be able to ‘play’ himself?
PS: No. He doesn’t describe himself as an actor. He is a performer, who can act. He wrote most of his own dialogue so this was never an issue.
Did you have any run-ins with cops while working on the movie!?
PS: We were shooting with a studio cop car off close to downtown. We didn’t have permits or a police escort as it was a pick-up shot. A cop car drove by and we thought we were gonna get shut down. But our actors looked legit in costume and the car was perfect. The actors simply waved to the cops who waved back as they would do to really LAPD. We breathed a collective sigh of relief and continued shooting.
You’ve worked with producer Patrick DiCesare a couple of times now. Can you talk a bit about that relationship?
PS: He is a great guy. Sensible but willing to take a risk. He has good taste and is an excellent producer. He realised early on that distribution companies are not over concerned with making sure that the filmmakers get paid. They like to give back end points that rarely materialise. Patrick set up his own distribution company and this is the ideal situation for an indie filmmaker like me.
What is the underlying message and hope for Driving While Black?
PS: I hope people see it and enjoy it. We don’t want to preach but we would like to get the message out there that you can’t always judge a book by its cover and that black guys have to go through an extra layer of hassle when it comes to interacting with cops that most others do not.
Driving While Black is released Feb 1 on VOD.