American Cinematographer - January 2021 - 39

AMERICAN CINEMATOGRAPHER ASCMAG.COM

Simmons and
his Family
Reunion team.

goes out to the entire membership body, and
they just become another cinematographer.
The problem with the business - and one
reason why there is a small number of Black
people in the ASC - is that we don't have the
opportunity to gather the body of work that allows us to present it, to be equal in that way to
the other members in the ASC.
I've taught cinematography at UCLA for 26
years, and every one of those classes was about
inclusivity, simply by virtue of the people who
attended; it has always been a diverse group.
Working with 28 people per year for 26 years,
the numbers add up - and I've also mentored
many of them long after they've left the classroom, which I consider a very important thing
to do. Some of these filmmakers have become
quite successful in the field, and even become
ASC members themselves - but I know firsthand from seeing their work that there are a
lot of brilliant cinematographers whose only
obstacle to success is this lack of opportunity.
The Black cinematographers who are now
ASC members have been fortunate to gain a
body of work. When director Tim Reid hired
me to shoot Once Upon A Time ... When We Were
Colored, which was a big feature film for me, it
opened a lot of doors. When French director Euzhan Palcy made The Killing Yard at Paramount,
she insisted on a Black cinematographer, so I
was able to gather work. Bryan Johnson at the
Film Syndicate gave me commercials. So I was
able to present a body of work, which had a
lot to do with destiny, luck, and the way I've

" There can be all of the studio mandates for inclusivity in the
world, but the only way to change the industry is for every person
to take complete responsibility for it. "
conducted my career, no doubt.
My career has been built upon people who
backed me as I was coming along, who wanted me to be successful - Lenny Hollander
at F&B Ceco, ASC associate Robert Keslow of
Keslow Camera, director Debbie Allen, and director Spike Lee, to name a few. I stand on the
shoulders of so many people who trusted me,
and gave me opportunities and equipment, and
shared their knowledge.
I got into the Local 600 union because of a
woman named Shirley Moore, who had an organization called ABET - Alliance of Black Entertainment Technicians. She called me up one
day and said, " Johnny, the union door is open.
You need to get over there, show them your
days and check stubs, and let them know that
it's time to go to work. "
Confronting this problem of lack of diversity, the people who have benefited most from
the efforts are white women. Right now, many
positions in the industry have been filled by
women, but people of color are still being left
behind. And while it's wonderful that women
are getting more opportunities, it needs to be
acknowledged that much of that change has
taken place because of the efforts of Black people and other people of color - and things are
changing very slowly for us.

Even cinematographers from countries
outside of the U.S. - from locations such as
Europe, Latin America and Asia, for example
- were typically able to hone their skills in
an environment where they were not minorities. They weren't being looked at as someone
who was intruding on an established system.
Right now, a lot of white women are being
hired, rather than women of color, and that is
likely because that is more " comfortable " to
some people. They are hiring people they are
accustomed to being around and seeing. When
people step forward and hire us, it's a big deal.
But that's not to say that it wasn't a struggle for
those women to get to work, either, because
many men were not quick to prioritize gender
parity in hiring. I've always prioritized hiring
women of color on my crew, even back in my
music-video days when misogyny in rap lyrics
may have been uncomfortable.

ctivist Vernā Myers has said that diversity is being asked to come to the
party, and inclusion is being asked
to dance. As people make these decisions to bring people of color onto the set, it
has to be clear that it's an inclusive situation -
that we're not just trying to create statistics. It
has to be that we're actually trying to make a
JANUARY 2021 / 39

http://www.ASCMAG.COM

American Cinematographer - January 2021

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of American Cinematographer - January 2021