‘Jumping The Broom’s Odyssey To The Big ScreenAn Interview with c0-creators Elizabeth Hunter and Glendon Palmer
By Wilson Morales
April 20, 2011
Coming out during Mother’s Day weekend is the romantic comedy ‘Jumping The Broom,’ which stars a bevy of talent from Angela Bassett, Loretta Devine, Paula Patton, Laz Alonso, Mike Epps, Meagan Good, Tasha Smith, DeRay Davis, Julie Bowen, Romeo Miller, Gary Dourdan, Pooch Hall, Brian Stokes Mitchell, and Valarie Pettiford.
At a time when there are few Black films being released by studios, the odyssey of getting ‘Jumping’ to the screen is nearly a decade, and it’s a credit that the film’s creators, producer/ screenwriter Elizabeth Hunter and producer Glendon Palmer are around to tell the tale.
For Hunter, who once worked on ‘Apollo 13,’ ‘Clockers,’ ‘Crooklyn’ and ‘Twelve Monkeys’ while serving as Director of Development at Universal Pictures in the ‘90s, ‘Jumping The Broom’ is represents a creative project that puts African Americans in a positive light.
The Los Angeles native’s previous work includes her first screenplay, ‘The Fighting Temptations,’ which starred Cuba Gooding, Jr. and Beyonce Knowles, and Queen Latifah‘s ‘Beauty Shop,’ in which she wrote the original story for the film. On the small screen, Hunter was a staff writer for television series ‘ER,’ and a writer/producer for both Showtime’s ‘The L Word,’ and the WB’s ‘Charmed.’ She also wrote Lifetime’s ‘Sins of the Mother,’ starring Jill Scott and did a production rewrite for Lifetime’s ‘Taken from Me,’ which aired this year and starred Taraji P. Henson.
Palmer joined Our Stories Films, headed by Tracey Edmonds, upon its inception in 2006 and is now the Vice President of Development, bringing with him a vast range of experience in Television and Feature Film development. The Northwestern University grad have previously worked at Savoy Pictutes, Handprint Entertainment, and Overbrook Entertainment before venturing as an independent producer.
In speaking with Blackfilm.com, both Hunter and Palmer recall the journey it took to get ‘Jumping The Broom’ to the screen and hope it will beget more quality African-American fare to the masses.
Amidst the action films and comic book adaptations and sequels being released this summer, how happy are you that this film is getting released?
Elizabeth Hunter: We are very lucky to have a movie made that wasn’t pre-sold. ‘Jumping the Broom’ is an original idea from an original script. This is one of the few that has got made, and that’s not just with black movies either.
Glendon Palmer: This film is under the Stage 6 label and Sony. This is my first time working with Stage 6. DeVon Franklin, who is an executive at Sony and Columbia, and I have been friends for many years, and he helped us bring the script to the company.
How did the project come about?
EH: Glendon and I have been friends for a long time. About 10 years ago, we were at the NAACP Image Awards and talked about making a big romantic movie, a fun romantic comedy set in the world of Martha’s Vineyard. We wanted to show African American men who love their women and African American women who love their men; ‘No matter what, ‘which is a quote from the film. This was ten years ago. Glendon and I developed the idea and pitched it around town. Six years later, the person we pitched it to, Arlene Gibbs, who had worked at a production company at the time, had moved to Rome and became a writer. She emailed me and Glendon about three years ago and said, ‘Hey, can I write that story you pitched?,’ and we’re, ‘Sure, but we want to produce it.’
She wrote a bunch of drafts really quickly. The script was based on my pitch and treatment. Glendon was working with Tracey (Edmonds) at Our Stories.
GP: I knew that Tracey wanted to a black wedding movie, and when I told her about this project, she said, ‘Let’s do this.’ I called DeVon (Franklin) at Sony to get his opinion. He called me back a couple of days later and had some thoughts to it and said that Bishop Jakes wanted to make a wedding movie and thinks this movie could work. We then had a meeting with him and Bishop Jakes’ people and it worked out great. Elizabeth came back on as a writer and not even a year later we are in production in Nova Scotia. From Arlene to Tracey, it took eighteen months.
EH: It took ten years, but it got into production within a year of meeting with different people.
Did you have a hand in the casting?
EH: We are producers on the movie. We hired Salim (Akil) and sat in casting meetings. We hired Tracy ‘Twinkie’ Byrd, the casting director.
GP: I sat through every single studio pre-read and casting session. As producers, we’re involved from inception to release. Our fingerprints are all over this project.
EH: We’ve both been in this business a long time, and we were both fortunate to work with people that we were friendly with. Tracy (Edmonds) and I went to college together, Glendon and Tracy were working together, and Tracy and Salim had worked together on Showtime’s ‘Soul Food,’ and DeVon Franklin was an intern at Overbrook and Handprint. before going over to Sony as an executive. Arlene Gibbs was someone we had worked with before. It was a very family and creative collaborative environment.
Within the ten years it took to get this film off the ground, we’ve had similar films such as ‘The Best Man,’ and ‘Our Family Wedding.’ Did you look at those films and others to either tailor it to be similar or different?
EH: There are certain genre conventions that you have to adhere to, so in that way, I think we try to follow, and I’m talking as a writer, we try to follow the genre requirements, and there are always certain themes in a wedding. A wedding should always be about love. Those things are similar. A film is like a dialogue and a conversation and ‘The Best Man’ said some things and we said some things. In a way, both films are talking to each other.
In a romantic comedy, it’s the comedy that can be tricky if the jokes don’t work…
EH: It’s easy when you have Mike Epps in the film. They are just funny. You hit on one of the more difficult parts of the writing of this movie because we really wanted to tell a good story that would work dramatically. We also wanted it to be funny because that’s how you get the audience in. We didn’t want it to be a straight drama.
GP: If you make the film straight forward and dramatic, you lose the audience. The central issue of this film is a clash of class when together for a wedding. If you took the dramatic approach, it would serve as a boring, preachy film. As a romantic comedy, you can address some address some of these issues, but not beat them over the head with it. You become engrossed in the relationship that you see unfold on the screen.
What helps with any film is the marketing…
GP: Yes. Sony has done a great job with this. We had our first trailer out in November 2010 and that’s unusual for a film like this. They have done a good move to bring this film to people’s conciousness. It’s a great experience seeing a ten year process unfold as it has so far.
What other challenges did you face?
GP: Honestly, it hasn’t been challenging. Since the green lighting process, with Elizabeth doing a lot of writing on the film, it was a great time on the set. In terms of the marketing, Sony is just in love with the film. There have been very few hiccups along the way. I think “Jumping the Broom’ has been given that ‘Event’ movie feeling. That’s what we want to have. This movie is coming and we haven’t seen this type of film in a while. Look at who’s in this cast. It looks beautiful and it has themes that we all can embrace.
Are you happy with the finished product?
EH: Yes, I’m happy with the finished product. There’s a rule. It’s people, process, product, and you usually get two out of three. With this film, I got all three. I was working with people I respected and really liked. The process, once we got going, was quick and painless. We are trying to start a movement. That’s the goal here. Make more films like this.
Why the title? Will people get it?
EH: Thematically, the film is about a community coming together. If I had to say what was our political statement, it’s “Love conquers all.” Love of family, love of self, and love of community. The term “Jumping The Broom” comes from the historical fact that African Americans could not get married. They were not allowed to get married during slavery. So in order to signify marriage, they would jump a broom. The idea is that a whole community coming together for them to jump a broom.
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