By Carol Badaracco Padgett, Senior Writer
Dave Brown, Founder of Indie Night Film Festival
Dave Brown USA is the walking example of a bridge that stands the test of time, his friend Jamie Foxx says. Through decades of bringing professionals together, nothing has made Dave crumble, and he is certain that nothing ever will. “That’s who I am,” Brown confirms. “I keep it all together and connect all these people. I know everybody.”
Brown is the founder of Indie Night Film Festival, an LA institution for the past 12 years, held weekly at TCL Chinese Theatre on Hollywood Boulevard. It’s a first-of-its-kind film festival that gives budding filmmakers an iconic big-screen platform to showcase their best work in front of a live, influential audience.
Essentially, Indie Night Film Festival allows breakthrough filmmakers the chance to place their content into the minds of top executive producers, financiers, producers and directors. “We give filmmakers an opportunity,” Brown notes. “We’re like the ‘American Idol’ for films when I take it on the road.”
Alongside the weekly festival in LA, Brown takes Indie Night to other major cities once a year—Atlanta, San Francisco, Houston, Dallas, Philadelphia, Chicago and others. In each location, he showcases emerging filmmakers’ short films, documentaries and features. “I go on a tour to find the diamonds in the rough and bring them back to Hollywood,” he says.
Another hallmark of the Indie Night Film Festival: It’s for absolutely every filmmaker. Brown says, “My motto is no race; art has no color lines at all. It’s all colleges and it’s all filmmakers. It’s about directing, producing and writing. It’s about art and it’s about great films.”
The first Indie Night Film Festival on the road tour was held in Atlanta in June of 2023, post the pandemic shutdown. Brown promises there will be more to come. “Morris Chestnut hosted Indie Night in Atlanta in 2023 and he now hosts in every city. Atlanta was a wonderful sold-out event, and a great success for the city as well as Atlanta filmmakers.”
A well-known actor, Chestnut (“Boyz n the Hood,” “The Best Man” and many other films) is a close confidant and friend of Brown—one who advised him on Hollywood and showed him the ropes as a young man fresh out of Morehouse College.
Dave Brown and actor Morris Chestnut at Indie Night in Atlanta
“I was a filmmaker in college,” Brown confirms of his early days leading up to Indie Night Film Festival. “I learned under the great film professor Dr. Herbert Eichelberger, who I met when I took some mandatory classes in my major at Clark Atlanta University.”
In order to graduate, Brown had to write and produce a short film for his thesis. In the process, he found himself swimming in a sea of other students working on their short films.
“I thought, what do we do with these films after we graduate? Do we put them on the shelf to collect dust?” The young filmmaker pondered. “How do you give students an opportunity beyond school or college for their films to be seen in that place called Hollywood? And then I’d always say, why should I have to wait once a year—since most film festivals are once a year—to be seen when there’s all this work in between?”
Then Brown made his move to LA in search of the answers.
“After I graduated and moved to LA, I went to a film festival back in the day called Do-Boy Dozens in Hollywood,” Brown describes. “There were reel-to-reel projectors and bean bags on the floor, and Eriq La Salle and all these great actors who were just coming up at that time would show up to network. It was a big thing.”
When the festival’s organizer, Eugene Williams, passed away, nobody picked up the Do-Boy Dozens Film Festival concept and ran with it. “So I did,” Brown states and he upped the frequency.
“I was gonna do a weekly film festival and people said that was crazy, that it could never be done—that there were not enough films to show,” he remembers. “And I said, ‘No, there are a lot of films out there, just no opportunity to show them. We always hear the word NO in Hollywood, but for me, no means there’s always a next opportunity.”
Other people’s opposition became Brown’s ignition—his mission to make his Indie Night Film Festival stick in the minds of film industry greats and up-and-comers.
“When somebody says you can’t do something, that means they like your idea and you should do it anyway,” he notes. “So I kept my word and created the first weekly film festival.”
From there, Brown’s rise in Hollywood—influencing film all around the country and the globe—has grown over the past 12 years with Indie Night Film Festival. He remains passionate about being that source who gives filmmakers their big break.
“Being that groundbreaker in Hollywood, I can tell if someone is a great writer, director, actor, or producer. I can say to someone, ‘Let’s show your film here,’” Brown notes. Using this eagle eye for fantastic films, he has uncovered greatness.
Director Juel Taylor is one prime example.
“Juel went to USC and he brought me this film,” Brown says. “I looked and said, ‘This is a great film. This guy’s gonna be good.’”
So Dave called his colleagues at Foxxhole Productions, owned by actor, comedian and friend Jamie Foxx and told him about Taylor. Foxx was on board to help Taylor get his start, and it wasn’t long before his business partner, producer Datari Turner, was on board, too.
“When Datari hosted Indie Night in LA and saw Juel’s film, he decided to take him right away to CAA and get him signed. Then after a studio bidding war, Juel wrote “Creed 2” and “Space Jam 2” in a three-year span, and he came back saying he had another film he wanted to write with Jamie Foxx as the lead,” Brown says.
“Juel wanted to direct it as well, as a first-time director. Jamie took a chance on the young director,” Brown says of the match made in heaven. “It was a blessing from the sky because the film, “They Cloned Tyrone,” became the No. 1 film on Netflix. This happened because of the collaboration of the whole management team.”
This is the type of success story that has become commonplace at Indie Night Film Festival. So that other up-and-coming filmmakers can see how it’s done, Brown’s master plan includes bringing these success stories down to the stage. “So those who’ve lived them can tell attendees exactly how it’s done,” Brown describes. “I bring in actors and other big names in the film industry so they can talk about what they went through in life and in Hollywood. I’ve had Datari host Indie Night, too, where people can see the content that has brought him accolades and he can discuss the process with everyone.”
Throughout the past 12 years with putting on Indie Night Film Festival, Brown and his team have developed a sixth sense about film. As he puts it, “We can see who’s moving the needle. You never know who’s in the audience at Indie Night. We just give filmmakers an opportunity to do the work and showcase it.”
Actors, too, are able to get a break at Indie Night. Dave has casting directors and producers in the audience, like Robi Reed from BET. “This gives people a chance to shine on an acting level,” he notes.
All in all, Indie Night Film Festival is inclusive, a great place to network weekly, and most importantly, an ongoing opportunity. It is emblematic of Brown and his love of connecting people.
As for filmmaking in Georgia, Brown says, “When I took the festival on the road and my first stop was in Atlanta, I brought my whole team from LA and we set up Indie Night there to give everybody that ‘American Idol’ for film opportunity, where artists will become celebrities in their own cities. We pick the ones that are great and take them back to Hollywood to show their films at the TCL Chinese Theatre.”
He promises he’s bringing Indie Night Film Festival back to the A again. When he does, he encourages filmmakers to make it count. “Network, because it will happen,” Brown says. “Somebody will say, ‘Hey, I met you at Indie Night!’ People will call you back and great things will happen.”
When he’s back in Georgia, Brown returns to the place where his foundation was laid. “I always like to go back to my alma mater, to Morehouse, because they are the foundation for who I am today.”
Brown adds, “It’s never too late to make an impact in this industry. It’s all about being in the right place at the right time. It doesn’t take money to make a film, it takes effort.”
Keep up with him on social media at @davebrownusa and @indienightff.
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