Oakland comedian, host W. Kamau Bell aims to boost filmmaking in the Town
As a member of the East Bay Film Collective, comedian W. Kamau Bell is working to make Oakland a hub for filmmakers.
The effort has earned the support of the city council. At the end of June, a film rebate ordinance unanimously passed it's first reading. The ordinance has also been included in the newly adopted fiscal year mid-cycle budget.
Oakland resident and comedian, the host of notable television shows "Totally Biased" and "United Shades of America," and community activist W. Kamau Bell is also part of the effort.
"Oakland is already a hub for creativity, for activism, for new ideas. It's already a hub for all those things, but it has not always been the city that is mostly friendly to filming here," said Bell.
Bell first moved to the Bay Area in 1997. He thought it would be temporary, but now it's his home.
"The longer I've been around here, the more I've been embraced by the community and been proud to be from here," said Bell about making Oakland his home. "When I go other places, I'm proud to tell people I'm from here."
Bell says the film industry has suffered setbacks in Oakland. In 2008, the Wayans Brothers walked away from a deal to build a film studio. Then the Oakland Film Center closed in 2012, leaving a creative void.
Bell wants to fill that void with Oakland talent.
"Filmmaking can be a job fair, so it's about creating new opportunities for young people locally," said Bell regarding the variety jobs in the film industry. "This is not Hollywood coming in from the outside and saying, 'We want to do this thing.' It has been started by local activists, local filmmakers who have some idea of what would be good for Oakland."
He says now is the time.
"Right now in the city the city council is down with it, so the political will is in place and you can't do it without the political will of the city," said Bell.
The ordinance that passed on its first city council reading allocates $500,000 from the mayor's budget for tax rebates. The city's tourism bureau, Visit Oakland, is putting $100,000 towards the creation of a database of film locations and staff in Oakland.
In addition to city council, Steph Curry's film company, Unanimous Media, also is lending their support to the East Bay Film Collective.
"Steph Curry is the unofficial mayor of Oakland," he said.
Mama Dog Studios -- and it's sister company Corduroy Media -- are a big part of the film collective.
Courtney Payne is a creative director with Corduroy Media. She grew up in Richmond and recently came back to the Bay Area after spending nearly a decade creating films overseas.
"I wanted to come home, and I was able to because a company like this existed," said Payne.
She believes the area can inspire creativity for any filmmaker, local or visiting.
"I think the thing about the Bay is you have so many different visuals looks. You have the Bay, you have the hills, you have views beyond," Payne said about what makes the Bay Area special for filmmakers. "I think there's so much opportunity here if you want to come and shoot a film, even if you're not from the Bay Area. You have the city feel in San Francisco, you have a low-key suburban vibe, you have the universities, you have the stadiums."
The film collective has been working on this effort for more than a year.
"It feels like we're closer than we've ever been, but we're still far away from being able to sit back and relax," said Bell.
And he's okay with that, because Bell knows all that Oakland has to offer, and he wants other people to know it too.
