Meet Damon Jamal | Filmmaker

We had the good fortune of connecting with Damon Jamal and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Damon, can you talk to us a bit about the social impact of your business?
My business helps the world because I’ve been providing quality movie entertainment for years with messages buried within.

Also I’ve done a number of projects that directly deliver messages in the form of visuals to the people, such as the mini-doc we did on Colin Kaepernick and one that we did on the Flint Water Crisis.
I’ve worked with a number of social justice organizations over the years to such as the ACLU, Color of Change, Live Free, Blackout For Human RIghts and Black Church PAC to create engaging and thought provoking videos.

Alright, so for those in our community who might not be familiar with your business, can you tell us more?
As a filmmaker, I believe it’s my job to create engaging stories that entertain and seamlessly pass on a message(s) to the viewer.

One thing that sets me a part from other filmmakers is how I started.
I literally picked up a camera and started shooting .. first hip hop documentaries, then short films, music videos and of course now feature films. Running around Oakland California capturing various visuals while training myself on all aspects of filmmaking from recording audio to shaping light gave me a different perspective than a lot of more famous directors you might be more familiar with.

I got to where I am today by working constantly. For more than a decade I worked everyday on average 12 hours a day Monday through Sunday. For many years I would shoot at least one music video a week and this is what really trained me on how to shoot film. If there was something I didn’t know I would look it up on YouTube or research the web. On my spare time back in the DVD days I would watch and study the “bonus features” section of films which usually had a lot of behind the scene commentary explaining how various scenes were shot and other effect tricks accomplished.
It wasn’t easy and I sacrificed a lot of personal relationships during that era because I didn’t make time for anything that wasn’t related to my career/business.

Somebody smarter than me said “If you don’t sacrifice what you want, what you want will be your sacrifice.”

I love what I do and wouldn’t change anything that’s happened. My success has been slow and gradual and I wouldn’t have it any other way. It makes you appreciate everything that much more.

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?
I think we’d need to start out with some jiu jitsu training in the morning to get the blood flowing. If this person has never done jiu jitsu, that’s even better. They’re going to have a great time.

After that we could grab some a bite at EAT in North Hollywood because that’s always been a favorite of mine. When I first moved to LA I lived/worked a few blocks from there so I used to go there as much as possible.
And also one time we were shooting a scene for a music vid there and a neighbor called the cops because they thought our fake guns were real and they shut down the entire block on Magnolia blvd… but that’s another story.

Anyway we’d also have to hit up Magic Mountain (on a weekday to avoid the crowd) which maybe is how the next day could start (get the blood flowing, once again).

We’d need to find a good play to check out.
Plays are a lot of fun because there’s nothing like being in a small theater and you can really feel the emotion coming from characters that are just a few feet from you. Also it’s cool to see local actors doing their thing.

I don’t think I could go a whole week hanging out so that might just about do it.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
I went to a screenwriting convention early in my career and ran across a book by Director Robert Rodriguez “Rebel Without a Crew”.

It’s essentially a journal from when he shot his first film, “El Mariachi”. After reading that and understanding what a broke Mexican kid with talent and a dream was able to accomplish on a shoe string budget, I realized that I could definitely do the same.

Although there has been some progress, Hollywood is for sure dominated by White men so those are usually the category of people that get the “big break” and if you have a family member in the industry or share the same culture as someone who may want to hire you, it’s going to make it easier to make it.

So after reading that book I wrote and directed a short film and with literally no crew I was able to shoot the film, edit it, and upload it to YouTube for the world to see.
That’s where it all started.

A few hundred music videos and 3 feature films later, I was introduced to casting director Leah Daniel Butler (Empire, White Men Can’t Jump, etc) and her husband who read a script I had called “Survival”. They were very interested in executive producing it because it was a thriller starring a woman of color who got caught up in a terrible situation but wasn’t a damsel in distress. They helped me bring the project to life and it was just released last week and is definitely my best work to date.

Website: InYoFaceFilm.com

Instagram: Instagram.com/DamonJamal

Linkedin: www.linkedin.com/in/damon-jamal-2081b51

Twitter: twitter.com/DamonJamal

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/damonjamal

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@InYoFaceFilmworks

Image Credits
Chad Stein Photography