the scenario

Spark Dialect was born out of a simple, 60 second video piece on the freedom to marry for all. During the process of creating the film we encountered a troubling experience that provoked us to bring the matter into a more public forum and reach out to others in order to examine social issues that are currently dividing us as citizens. We hope that this initiative will reach many and inspire thought-provoking conversations about what is truly important in our human community.

The Scenario:

I am a part of a dynamic duo called ‘the riz’ (my name is liz and my partner is reese). We are artists and we just so happen to make films. I am also a part of an artist community here in Atlanta, Ga where artists meet, connect, produce, and so on. I have encountered many people who employ the system of bartering to manifest creative projects. 

I met a brother named Malik* at the community center and over time, we had brief interactions with each other and eventually exchanged information based on the possibility of  bartering in the near future. Later down the road, he reaches out to for me a photography collaboration for a client he was working with. I agreed and we scheduled a date. Unfortunately, the client wasn’t able to come through on her end, so the shoot was cancelled.

 During this time I found out about a short film contest based on the freedom to marry and pondered over different ways we could possibly convey our message. Weeks later, we finally narrow it down to this one idea.  After we prepared the script and solidified our location, we planned out the video shoot. The brother Malik popped in my head because I remembered him mentioning he worked with a three-chip Sony HD camera, which would come in handy for this venture. I planned on using my camera up until the day of the shoot, but just hours before I was able to get in contact with him and he agreed to come before he went to shoot a wedding later on in the evening.

We were all going over the script when Malik arrived at our location.  I asked him if he was up for some acting today, as we had a few lines that a male character could possibly play. He said that he might be able to do something, but wasn’t for sure. After meeting the cast and reading the script, Malik seemed a bit uncomfortable with the character he would potentially play.

 Reese then proceeded to ask, “Do your beliefs interfere with you acting the part?” He replied that he was a part of (blank) organization and would not be able to participate as an actor, but he agreed to be the camera man. No judgement on this end; we just proceeded and everyone on set operated as the professionals that they are. Filming was then complete. We worked out the details on when the video could be transferred from the camera’s hard drive and parted ways.

 About one hour later, I received a call from Malik and he starts off the conversation by mentioning the wedding that he was preparing to film. From there he tells me that his conscious is bothering him and he will not be able to release the film to me because of his beliefs. He apologizes profusely about not opposing anything before the filming process was complete but because he can’t promote gay marriage, he has to withhold the footage. I let Malik know that this is not something you do with people’s work and taking my time, work, and effort for granted is not the business either.  

After taking a minute to reflect, we called back and tried and get this brother to understand that professionalism doesn’t involve imposing your belief system on another by retaining their intellectual property. We wanted him to know what his belief’s are just that–his–but not complying with his commitment and his word that he gave us. After a 9 minute conversation, the end result was still the same.

Click here to download the phone conversation

What we at Spark Dialect want to understand is how something like this situation is okay in the minds of some? If you paid someone to record a song for you, they agreed to record it, and afterwards tell you they can’t give you it because they don’t believe in what your song was about, how is this copasetic?

We urge you to share your stores and please join us in our dialogues and conversations as we try and come to an understanding on what needs to take place in order for this to not divide us as people any further. 

Respectfully yours,

Spark Dialect

 

*name has been changed