Horace Jackson is an American
screenwriter
A screenplay writer (also called screenwriter, scriptwriter, scribe or scenarist) is a writer who practices the craft of screenwriting, writing screenplays on which mass media, such as films, television programs and video games, are based.
...
, filmmaker and educator.
Early life and education
Born in Philadelphia, the youngest son of 21 children, Jackson described his upbringing as "a tough life".
Jackson graduated high school at John B. Stetson School in
Kingston, Pennsylvania
Kingston is a borough in Luzerne County, Pennsylvania, United States. It is located on the western bank of the Susquehanna River opposite the city of Wilkes-Barre. Kingston was first settled in the early 1770s; it was incorporated as a borough in ...
. His father, a coal yard worker, along with his mother wanted their children to obtain a college education.
Jackson attended
Temple University
Temple University (Temple or TU) is a public state-related research university in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It was founded in 1884 by the Baptist minister Russell Conwell and his congregation Grace Baptist Church of Philadelphia then called Ba ...
theological school for one semester before moving to California becoming a Baptist preacher, a job he later left to pursue film making. Later, he attended
Los Angeles City College
Los Angeles City College (LACC) is a public community college in East Hollywood, Los Angeles, California. A part of the Los Angeles Community College District, it is located on Vermont Avenue south of Santa Monica Boulevard on the former campu ...
for three years.
Career
Jackson's first film, ''
Living Between Two Worlds'' debuted in 1963, a film he independently financed. The film was publicized as the first full-length feature film independently financed, written and produced by
African Americans
African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of ens ...
with an all African American cast.
While the low budget film performed well, it did not earn money personally for Jackson so he continued with his education at Los Angeles City College. Later he got a job as a recreational director for Los Angeles city school, then as a music cutter's apprentice for
Paramount
Paramount (from the word ''paramount'' meaning "above all others") may refer to:
Entertainment and music companies
* Paramount Global, also known simply as Paramount, an American mass media company formerly known as ViacomCBS. The following busin ...
while he wrote the script for ''
The Bus Is Coming''.
With the help of a Paramount executive, in 1970 he formed K-Calb Productions (black spelled backwards) initially to produce ''The Bus Is Coming'' with
Wendell James Franklin as director.
Located in
Compton, California
Compton is a city in southern Los Angeles County, California, United States, situated south of downtown Los Angeles. Compton is one of the oldest cities in the county and, on May 11, 1888, was the eighth city in Los Angeles County to incorporat ...
, a Los Angeles suburb with a substantial Black middle-class population, D-Calb's aim was to produce Black-themed films from a Black perspective. Jackson noted films such as ''
Hearts in Dixie
''Hearts in Dixie'' (1929) starring Stepin Fetchit was one of the first all-sound film, "talkie", big-studio productions to boast a predominantly African-American cast. A musical film, musical, the film celebrates African-American music and dan ...
'' and ''
The Liberation of L.B. Jones
''The Liberation of L.B. Jones'' is a 1970 American neo noir film directed by William Wyler, his final project in a career that spanned 45 years.
The screenplay by Jesse Hill Ford and Stirling Silliphant is based on Ford's 1965 novel ''The Lib ...
'' "have presented a distorted view of blacks because most of them have been how whites perceive us". Further plans for the production company included constructing Compton's first theater and training programs for Compton's youth in the film making industry.
With a small budget of $175,000, financial issues persisted during the making the ''The Bus Is Coming''. Jackson and his family were evicted from their home and production of the film ceased for a period to raise more funds. After reading about Jackson's issues, a former casket dealer provided the additional funding.
In July 1971 the film premiered at the
Compton High School
Compton High School is a high school in Compton, California, United States, part of the Compton Unified School District.
History
The school opened in 1896 as Compton Union High School and was later re-established as Compton Senior High School i ...
Auditorium to benefit the Compton Cinema Center Fund. While the film grossed $4 million, Jackson reportedly received only a small profit.
In 1974, Jackson released
''Tough'', a
G-rated
The Motion Picture Association film rating system is used in the United States and its territories to rate a motion picture's suitability for certain audiences based on its content. The system and the ratings applied to individual motion picture ...
family film.
In 1975, was honored with a key to the
City of Detroit
Detroit ( , ; , ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government of Wayne County. The City of Detroit had a population of 639,111 at the ...
for his film
Deliver Us From Evil with Detroit City Council member Emma Henderson stating "Mr. Jackson has produced a film the entire family can enjoy" and recognized him one of the pioneers of Black films in the sixties and seventies.
Filmography
*''
Living Between Two Worlds'' (1963)
*''
The Bus is Coming'' (1972)
*''Tough'', also known as ''
Johnny Tough'' (1974)
*''
Deliver Us From Evil'' (1976)
See also
*
African American cinema
African American cinema is loosely classified as films made by, for, or about Black Americans. They are an example of Black film. Historically, African American films have been made with African-American casts and marketed to African-American ...
References
External Links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Jackson, Horace (filmaker)
American filmmakers
African-American screenwriters
American film producers
Filmmakers from Pennsylvania
People from Kingston, Pennsylvania
Temple University alumni
Los Angeles City College alumni
American theologians
Filmmakers from California
Year of birth missing (living people)
Living people
African-American film directors
Blaxploitation film directors
20th-century African-American educators
Place of birth missing (living people)