Building a Film Studio in Mississippi

In 2016, I partnered with director Tate Taylor and producer John Norris to launch Crooked Letter Picture Company. Tate had just wrapped Get On Up with Chadwick Boseman. We had a simple idea: build serious film production in Natchez, Mississippi, not Los Angeles or Atlanta.

Natchez offered remarkable locations, complex history, and a community hungry for opportunity, but Mississippi lacked production infrastructure that could compete with neighboring hubs. Building that infrastructure became part of the creative work.

Working with the founding team, I helped build Crooked Letter's production facility from scratch: 40,000 square feet combining two sound stages with production offices and post facilities. It gave Mississippi new infrastructure capable of competing with major production hubs.

The bet paid off. Productions that might have gone to Louisiana or Georgia now had a reason to stay.

The studio produced five feature films, from psychological horror to dark comedy. Working with Academy Award-winning talent taught me when to push, when to protect the room, and when to get out of the way.

The goal was to build something that could outlast any single production. We founded Film Natchez, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit dedicated to education, workforce development, and a sustainable film economy in the region.

Through a partnership with the local HBCU, we created training programs and a talent pipeline that gave the next generation a path to work in film without leaving home. That's the real story.

Crooked Letter changed how I lead. A good idea needs more than taste. It needs a room, a crew, a deadline, and enough trust to let people surprise you. Film made that lesson physical. Marketing is not so different.