Building a Film Studio in Mississippi

In 2016, I partnered with director Tate Taylor and producer John Norris to launch Crooked Letter Picture Company in Natchez, Mississippi. We wanted to make films there and build the facilities and local crew base to keep doing it.

Natchez had the locations. What we needed were sound stages, production space, and training for people who wanted to work on the films.

I helped the founding team build a 40,000-square-foot facility with two sound stages, production offices, and post-production space.

The facility gave productions a base in Mississippi, with space to shoot and support the work around it.

The studio produced five feature films, from psychological horror to dark comedy. Here’s a selection of the film and television work.

We also founded Film Natchez, a nonprofit focused on film education and local jobs. A studio needs crews, and we wanted people in the area to have a way into the industry.

Through a partnership with a local HBCU, we created training programs to help people learn production skills and find film work close to home.

Building the studio pulled me into work well beyond a creative brief: facilities, crews, training, and production. I still bring that practical side of filmmaking to how I lead campaigns.