Parrish Redd’s interest in storytelling started early in life.  “I would write skits and act stuff out with my family members,” Redd said. “There was always something in me that had to get out.” One of his early influences was Michael Mann. “Miami Vice was very interesting and powerful – it opened my eyes to filmmaking,” he said.

In 1996, he attended the Hollywood Film Institute in Los Angeles, California. “That’s where I got my film background.  It was an excellent education being in L.A. around actors, real directors, and real people making movies,” he said. “I was walking through the neighborhoods and I would see people in coffee houses with scripts, rehearsing. I was engulfed in filmmaking throughout the whole state and that excited me. I wanted to learn more and more. It eventually evolved into producing my own films.”

In 2008, Redd took the plunge, leaving his twelve year career in the automotive industry to pursue his dream full-time. He founded film company, Paris Deior Studios in West Bloomfield, Michigan, with partner Terri Buchanan, and had already produced a couple of documentaries and feature film, Detroit G Code, when he started Pawn Shop in 2009.

Pawn Shop, co-written, directed, and produced by Redd, is a comedy starring Garrett Morris (Saturday Night Live, Martin Lawrence Show, Jamie Foxx Show), Joe Torry, Foolish, and Deelishis. Torry is also a producer for the film. “It’s about a family, love, trust, and a relationship between a father and son,” Redd said. “Through their relationship and their associations with other people in and out of the pawn shop, there is a lot of tension and conflict, and that’s where the comedy comes in. It’s a feel-good, funny movie.”  Redd also cast seven local Michigan comedians in the film.

Detroit, Redd’s hometown, was the location of choice for Pawn Shop.  Although Redd did not get a state tax credit for his feature film, shooting close to home provided him with the advantage of leveraging his community. “The community of Detroit was excited about Pawn Shop filming in the city,” he said. “They would come out of the woodwork, sit quietly and watch us shoot. It was very exciting to see little kids sitting, watching us make the film.”

Redd told Michigan Movie Magazine that the day before he was set to shoot, he received a phone call from the Detroit Film Office (DFO) telling him he was not going to get his film permit. The city was behind, and did not have police available to support him for his four week shoot. Redd was stuck. “‘I have my budget, and my funding, and I can’t get it again,”’ he said. “‘I can’t reschedule my actors, I need that permit - we are shooting tomorrow!’

“I was scheduled to shoot and everything was paid for. If you are a big Hollywood studio and you have hundreds of millions of dollars, you might be able to overcome this, but when you are an independent guy and this is a once in a lifetime chance, you’ve gotta shoot!” he said. “So [we] pulled some strings, and made some things happen and I got the permit.”

Parrish explained that the best path to completing a film is to be prepared for any challenges that might come your way. While the process of filmmaking begins with an artistic vision, it takes education, teamwork, and lots of preparation to reach the goal. “Do your homework. Prepare and do as much as you can on the research side and learn about filmmaking,” Redd said. “Really take your time. Don’t rush into it, because it’s a marathon, not a sprint.

“You’re going to have pitfalls and ups and downs. Don’t be discouraged by those things and really learn what you’re doing. The more prepared you are, the more confidence you’ll have to do the film,” he said.

“Be prepared for those hiccups and know that they’re coming and work through them.”

Parrish raised close to $500,000 for Pawn Shop with no incentives for investors other than the movie’s merit. He described the process as challenging and educational, and not simply about selling a script.

“Filmmaking is like a fundraiser,” he said. “One of the biggest considerations in raising money is packaging … When you go to the prospective investors, all they care about is the marketability of your film.  They don’t care how artsy it is or how good the script is,” he said. “How are you going to sell it? Who is in it? So, if you put together a presenting package, with a few key players that people might be familiar with in the industry… household names in film/TV, that helps with raising money tremendously.”

Redd said that it takes a certain balance to succeed in filmmaking. “You have to blend the artistic vision with the commercial side, if you are trying to make a living from film and you have to start marketing it long before you produce it,” he said. “I hired a publicist before we even started shooting and we started creating some excitement. That’s how you attract distribution companies through the awareness campaigns.”

Through all of the challenges involved in Pawn Shop, Parrish and his team’s hard work paid off. When asked about what he hoped to translate about Detroit through Pawn Shop, Redd said he wanted to shed new light. “I want to show a different side. I want to show that Detroit is not all about gangsters, drugs and scandal,” he said. “I want to show a comedic, funny side of Detroit. We need more smiles and less people crying around the community. Pawn Shop is gonna provide a lot of smiles.”

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Watch the MMM video interview with Parrish Redd at

www.michiganmoviemagazine.biz.