Robert Patton-Spruill is an independent film director, screenwriter, producer, professor, master distiller, and real estate empresario. His company, FilmShack, was based in

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...

. Spruill lives in Winchester, New Hampshire where he founde
New England Sweetwater Farm and Distillery
in 2015. Spruill was a professor at

Emerson College Emerson College is a private college with its main campus in Boston, Massachusetts. It also maintains campuses in Hollywood, Los Angeles, California and Well, Limburg, Netherlands ( Kasteel Well). Founded in 1880 by Charles Wesley Emerson as a ...

, where he was Director in Residence until his retirement in 2020.

Biography

Spruill was born in Roxbury and raised by theatre artists James Spruill and Lynda Patton, who worked with the New African Company. He is a second cousin of Boston's first black and first female mayor

Kim Janey Kim Michelle Janey (born May 16, 1965) is an American politician who served as acting mayor of Boston for eight months in 2021. She served as president of the Boston City Council from 2020 to 2022, and as a member of the council from the 7th dist ...

through his maternal side. He attended Boston University as a history major, but decided to pursue film instead, and wrote the screenplay for his first film '' Squeeze'' while still in college. ''Squeeze'' (1997) was shot on a

US$ The United States dollar (symbol: $; code: USD; also abbreviated US$ or U.S. Dollar, to distinguish it from other dollar-denominated currencies; referred to as the dollar, U.S. dollar, American dollar, or colloquially buck) is the official ...

155,000 budget, and was cast with young Boston theatre students whom Spruill taught at the Dorchester Youth Collaborative. ''Squeeze'' was bought by

Miramax Miramax, LLC, also known as Miramax Films, is an American film and television production and distribution company founded on December 19, 1979, by brothers Harvey and Bob Weinstein, and based in Los Angeles, California. It was initially a leadi ...

at the

Los Angeles Independent Film Festival The LA Film Festival was an annual film festival that was held in Los Angeles, California, and usually took place in June. It showcased independent, international, feature, documentary and short films, as well as web series, music videos, episod ...

, after which Spruill was signed for international representation by the

William Morris Agency The William Morris Agency (WMA) was a Hollywood-based talent agency. It represented some of the best known 20th-century entertainers in film, television, and music. During its 109-year tenure it came to be regarded as the "first great talent a ...

in Hollywood. Patton-Spruill later moved back to Boston where he subsequently directed three more motion pictures. He currently resides in

Winchester, New Hampshire Winchester is a town in Cheshire County, New Hampshire, United States. The population was 4,150 at the 2020 census. The primary community in the town, where 1,606 people resided at the 2020 census, is defined by the U.S. Census Bureau as the Win ...

with his wife
Patricia Moreno
who he met during his time at BU and his only child
Alejandra Spruill
a

Boston Latin School The Boston Latin School is a public exam school in Boston, Massachusetts. It was established on April 23, 1635, making it both the oldest public school in the British America and the oldest existing school in the United States. Its curriculum f ...

and

graduate.

Films & Career

After his first film, Patton-Spruill directed ''Body Count'' (1998), a straight-to-video

Showtime Showtime or Show Time may refer to: Film * ''Showtime'' (film), a 2002 American action/comedy film * ''Showtime'' (video), a 1995 live concert video by Blur Television Networks and channels * Showtime Networks, a division of Paramount Global w ...

feature, after which he and his wife Patti Moreno over a 10-year period opened their own production company, studio, and rental business for low-budget filmmakers in his home town of Roxbury, MA. Since the opening of FilmShack in 2000, Spruill and Moreno produced numerous short films, music videos and independent features, including ''Turntable'' (

AFI Film Festival The American Film Institute (AFI) is an American nonprofit film organization that educates filmmakers and honors the heritage of the motion picture arts in the United States. AFI is supported by private funding and public membership fees. Leade ...

, 2005). The music video Spruill directed for the popular hip hop band

Public Enemy "Public enemy" is a term which was first widely used in the United States in the 1930s to describe individuals whose activities were seen as criminal and extremely damaging to society, though the phrase had been used for centuries to describe p ...

led to the production of the full-length documentary ''Welcome to the Terrordome'' (2007). Spruill made the documentary '' Do It Again'' in 2010, which followed

Boston Globe ''The Boston Globe'' is an American daily newspaper founded and based in Boston, Massachusetts. The newspaper has won a total of 27 Pulitzer Prizes, and has a total circulation of close to 300,000 print and digital subscribers. ''The Boston Glob ...

reporter

Geoff Edgers Geoff Edgers (born 1970) is an American journalist, author, filmmaker, television host, and podcast host. He is currently the national arts reporter for ''The Washington Post'' and was previously a staff arts reporter for ''The Boston Globe''. Ed ...

on his irrational quest to reunite the classic rock band

The Kinks The Kinks were an English rock band formed in Muswell Hill, north London, in 1963 by brothers Ray and Dave Davies. They are regarded as one of the most influential rock bands of the 1960s. The band emerged during the height of British rhythm ...

. ''Do It Again'' premiered at the Rotterdam International Film Festival on January 28, 2010, and was shown at several

film festival A film festival is an organized, extended presentation of films in one or more cinemas or screening venues, usually in a single city or region. Increasingly, film festivals show some films outdoors. Films may be of recent date and, depending upon ...

s. Other work directed by Spruill includes '
Garden Girl TV
'', a web series starring his wife as Patti Moreno the Garden Girl. The website has produced over 200 how-to videos about urban

gardening Gardening is the practice of growing and cultivating plants as part of horticulture. In gardens, ornamental plants are often grown for their flowers, foliage, or overall appearance; useful plants, such as root vegetables, leaf vegetables, fruits ...

, and FilmShack produces gardening and home improvement videos for HGTV.com. Patton Spruill has taught at

Massachusetts College of Art Massachusetts College of Art and Design, branded as MassArt, is a public college of visual and applied art in Boston, Massachusetts. Founded in 1873, it is one of the nation’s oldest art schools, the only publicly funded independent art school ...

, and

Curry College Curry College is a private college in Milton, Massachusetts. It was founded as the School of Elocution and Expression by Anna Baright in 1879. In 1885, it was taken over and renamed by Samuel Silas Curry. History Curry College was founded in 1 ...

References

External links

Filmshack

Garden Girl TV
*
Film Skills
{{DEFAULTSORT:Patton-Spruill, Robert Living people American film directors Year of birth missing (living people)