Mental Shots

  From Local News Cameras to Netflix Screens How a Baltimore director turned urban storytelling into a cinematic movement In the landscape of American independent cinema, few voices capture the raw authenticity of urban life quite like Derick Thomas . Also known professionally as Derick Prince , the Baltimore native has spent over two decades crafting films that don’t merely depict city life—they breathe it, bleed it, and ultimately humanize it. Thomas’s work stands as living documentation of Baltimore’s streets, struggles, and resilience—stories often ignored by mainstream studios, yet embraced by audiences worldwide. The Making of a Storyteller Derick Thomas’s journey into filmmaking did not follow a traditional Hollywood path. After earning his Master’s Degree in Communication Studies from Morgan State University and studying at NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts , Thomas entered the industry through an unexpected door: local news . Working as a videographer-journalist , h...

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BALTIMORE'S VISIONARY OF THE AFRICAN AMERICAN MALE By Belinda Trotter-James Derick Thomas now Derick Prince always wanted to be a filmmaker. As a kid he was inspired by the actor Robert Guillaume; you may best know him on the hit television show Benson. At the age of six he has always been a fan of television and it just unfolded into the film-making business when he was a teenager. That’s when he finally got a chance to explore all aspects of film-making. “At the age of six there were not a lot of us on television and television influences children which is one of the reasons why we have so many bad influences today, but that’s another story,” says Derick. “Robert Guillaume was intelligent, articulate, he had power, he had persuasion plus he was the guy who had everything and at six years old I watched him and thought, ‘I can do that.’ He was just a great role model for that time.” When I asked what was he like as a child, he...

What my new video that shows you how to become a successful filmmaker. 1. Don't worry about getting your films into theaters. A theater release is just a marketing plan for the home entertainment release that’s it, no matter how much money it makes at the box office which most times it’s a loss.   2 . Make Movies about stuff you like, love and would do for nothing because you are so passionate about the subject.  3 . Be yourself and creatively brilliant. We all have a unique voice that’s what separates us. Use your own voice and ideas. Don’t try and copy someone else's style.  4. Talk about what you know when you decide to write a screenplay. At the core of every story the writer is always writing about himself.  5. Once you have a script, start filming. Use friends, houses, cars and places you have access to. Pay your crew. Get actors to work for free if you can and feed them all. Pay at least one well known or not so well known actor to appear in ...

As a film producer that happens to be black, I've never produced or written a film only with or for blacks actors. True, I mainly produce indie films but that would be more of a reason for me to just have familiar faces I'm use to seeing in my films; or faces I feel comfortable around. Jesus, that one never gets old. When I'm producing my personal films for release or writing scripts for agents I considers all races. I cannot paint a picture of the world with only faces of o ne race. I'm baffled at how Hollywood studios do it on a major scale. It should be impossible, yet we still see it film release after film release mostly white actors and a jarring lack of diversity. This is an example of how studio execs, producers, casting agents and directors forget to look beyond the familiar face and comfort zone. Get out there and mix it up Hollywood. We are missing out on so much talent not including others. It's really disappointing when diversity brings ...

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