George Tillman Jr.

Tillman was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. His father, George Tillman, worked at the American Motors plant in Kenosha, Wisconsin, and his mother was a secretary. Throughout his early childhood, Tillman would borrow his father's 8mm camera and would start to shoot things with Milwaukee's Public-access television cable TV channel. and he took Mass Communications Magnet Classes. As a teenager, Tillman made amateur videos and created Splice of Life, which was a program for a local Public-access television. and winning the Midwest Regional, Dramatic Category, of the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences' 19th Annual Student Academy Award competition (1992). In 1991, Tillman graduated from Columbia College and became a part of a directing and producing partnership with his college friend, Robert Teitel. Together, they created Menagerie Films. During that time, Tillman supported himself by being a production assistant. He helped work on various commercials, but he always knew he wanted to direct. "Usually, I was the first guy on the set and the last guy to leave—eighteen hours of hard work. And I just felt like if I want to direct, why am I doing this?" Tillman's only experience of being close to a director was made was when he worked on the film, ''Mo' Money. The writer of Mo' Money'', Damon Wayans told the union that he wanted more African Americans to be a part of the crew, which is the major reason why Tillman got hired. Tillman was a set dresser and was able to see how they made the film. At that point, Tillman realized that if he wanted to direct he had to write his own script to make everything happen. "It was going to be a long road from being a PA (production's assistant) to a director." Tillman began to write his script for Scenes for the Soul, and sent the script to New Line, but they passed on it. Initially, the budget to produce Scenes for the Soul was a million dollars, but Tillman and his partner, Tietel, could not raise a million. The amount they had raised was $150,000 and that was over a period of two years. Tillman had to resort to his film short, Paula, and decided to have a screening. He invited investors to come donate from anything to $500 to $5,000. By the end of the screening, Tillman and Tietel raised $130,000 and with that, started shooting. ==Career==

Scenes for the Soul In 1994, Tillman directed and wrote his own feature-length film, Scenes for the Soul, which was shot in Chicago. Tillman had thirty days to shoot the film and on top of that, work with a lot of actors who never acted before. In Scenes for the Soul, Tillman intertwines three stories based on the day in the life of a diverse group of African American characters. In 1995, Tillman finished editing the film. Upon completion, Tillman went to Hollywood with the copy of Scenes for the Soul and a few hundred dollars. Tillman was able to sell his film to George Jackson and Doug McHenry who bought it for Savoy Pictures for $1,000,000. However, Savoy Pictures went bankrupt before the film went out in theaters. Soul Food Tillman, disappointed that his film did not make it to screen, went to Chicago and wrote the screenplay to Soul Food. Tillman told the Chicago Tribune, "I wanted to make a movie about a black family in Middle America. I wanted to make a film where everyone can look at them and say, 'this is my family.'" When Tillman finished his screenplay, he returned to Hollywood. Tillman made sure to focus on female characters and tell a humble story about the importance of family. When it was time for Tillman's agents to sell the script, they marketed it as an independently produced and low-budget project and asked the musician, Kenneth Edmonds, if he would want to contribute and record a soundtrack album. At the same time of requesting his musical talents, Edmonds and his wife/business partner, Tracey Edmonds, had recently formed a television and film development company. The Edmonds' were able to negotiate with 20th Century Fox to underwrite the film for $6.5 million. On November 6, 1996, the production of Soul Food began on a thirty-day schedule. Tillman finished the film on schedule because he already had so much of the big ideas worked out in advance. Tillman told Murray during an interview, "I knew all the shots. I knew the locations…It was pretty much based on my experiences, so it wasn't hard for me." In September 1997, Soul Food reached theaters and earned $11 million during its first weekend. However, even with the lack of white supporters, it proved that African American audiences are able to make a film a commercial success. According to Jack Trout, president of Trout & Partners, in regard to black audiences, "this segment is really sizable, and Hollywood is just starting to recognize that." ==Personal life==

Tillman is married to actress Marcia Wright and has one child. ==Filmography==

Films Producer only • Barbershop (2002) • Barbershop 2: Back in Business (2004) • Beauty Shop (2005) • Roll Bounce (2005) • Nothing Like the Holidays (2008) • Barbershop: The Next Cut (2016) Television Executive producer Director ==See also==