Meet Marcus D. Spencer | Actor, Writer, Producer, Director

We had the good fortune of connecting with Marcus D. Spencer and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Marcus D., what was your thought process behind starting your own business?
As I was working in film, I received a lot of advice from many people; Will Smith, Rob Schnider, Brandon T. Jackson, Orlando Jones and more. The advice that made me want to create was, me working with the Atlanta rapper ‘Bone Crusher’ on a film. It was 2am and him, Dustin Diamond, Robert Miano and myself were sitting in a trailer when ‘Bone’ called me over. He said,

“Spence, look at these dudes, they have no idea what they’re doing but they’re making a movie. We know what we’re doing, but we’re not making movies.”

This got me thinking, when I fly home I’m going to create. This is how ‘Touch The Heart Productions’ started.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
I started my company, “Touch The Heart Productions” in 2010. I have put out movies such as; “Set Me Free,” “Straight Outta Oakland 1 & 2,” “The American Dream,” “State Of Consciousness,” “Who Needs It?” and most recently “Tormented Revenge.”

All of these films are in stores and on streaming platforms. I’d recommend watching on Tubi if you have time. With my writing the overall goal is to entertain, make you think but most importantly, touch your heart. After watching my films the idea is that you’d learn things from my movies. I don’t want you to feel like you waisted your time watching.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
A week is pretty long but lets see what I can do.

We might go to breakfast at the Country Waffle. After that we have to get in some work on the court. Since I’m a high school basketball coach and have keys to the gym, we need to shoot with the shooting machine. After this we might get my kids and go swimming, they love to swim. Later we’d probably hit up the batting cages before hitting up a restaurant for dinner. The next day we’d run to Six Flags and spend the day there.

After day 2, I’d have work to do. That’s all I got.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
I’d like to thank Will Smith for our initial conversation on my first movie set, “Pursuit of Happyness.” He also gave me the name ‘BIG SPENCE’ that I went by for a number of years. David Hines (Will Smiths stand-in) taught me a lot about the business.

Big Leroy Mobley was also a big help. In a 30-minute talk he explained to me how to maneuver in this business and an hour later I got upgraded with my first lines. Having my first lines, Orlando Jones was there to show me how to carry myself on set.

Deon Taylor was the first black director I worked with, and we had a 30–45-minute conversation on directing and what that means. I’m a firm believer in, “you have to see it to be it.” Seeing him put the thought in my head that, directing is a thing I could possibly do.

Carmen Madden was the very next director I worked with. She was the first female director I worked with and she was also black. It showed me again that black people can do this.

Vince Vaughn was the first person that I worked with that wasn’t “leading man size” but he was a leading man. When talking to him about what I needed to do, he gave me great advice.

There are so many people that helped me along my journey and that are still helping me. I am appreciative for all the the love and support I get, and I try to help others as well.

Website: tthproducions.com

Instagram: @SPENCEtheACTOR

Linkedin: @SPENCEtheACTOR

Twitter: @SPENCEtheACTOR

Facebook: BigSpence2

Youtube: Touch The Heart Productions