EFOC 2024: Aml Ameen Talks Becoming a Versatile Creator in Hollywood at ESSENCE Film Festival – Essence

On the primary day of the ESSENCE 2024 Culture Festival, our Film Festival kicked off with an intimate conversation with one among Hollywood’s most lively figures, Aml Ameen.

The actor-producer-author sat down with the creators in attendance and spoke about his journey to becoming a versatile creator in Hollywood, working each in front of and behind the camera, each as an actor in projects like , , and most recently at Netflix, and as a producer and author at his production studio 113.

“I’m one of nine children, so I took a camera and with my brothers and sisters we would do monologues or do versions of old movies and so on,” he told the Film Festival audience. “I knew, quite instinctively, that I had to be a writer, a director, an actor. I would tell my dad, ‘Listen, I can act, I can produce, I can do this and that. But how?’”

Noting that many creators have big dreams but are unsure of essentially the most effective solution to achieve them, Ameen detailed how he used his acting talent to open doors to practicing his other skills.

“My personal process wasn’t about going to film school. It was about becoming an actor,” he said. “I ended up moving to the United States in 2010 and doing a series called. I was saving the money I was making from acting and putting it into my own film work.”

In addition to funding his work behind the camera, Ameen saw acting as a chance to watch other actors pursuing similar paths.

“I did a movie with Idris Elba and it was his first time directing a movie. And I could see firsthand that, ‘OK, this is what the process looks like.’ And it gave me a little more confidence to do my thing.”

Using that knowledge and redirecting his energy from his previous failed project to infuse more of his own truth into his writing, Ameen focused his energy on a recent script that ultimately became a burgeoning recent holiday classic. The film, a cross-cultural romantic comedy set the day after Christmas in London, found an audience in the United States and has gained increasing popularity since its December 2021 release.

“What’s really special is that you, as African Americans, have pioneered an incredible cultural revolution when it comes to film, when it comes to telling black stories all over the world,” Ameen said.

“At that time, England had never made a dark British romantic comedy. All our films were either [things like] a movie that I was in, or a TV series. That was the story we were telling. But that was the first one and it eventually found its audience. And now we’re getting ready to do a sequel, which is great,” he revealed to applause from the audience.

“I really emphasize to anyone – artists and filmmakers – that if you really have a vision of what you want to do and you know who you are, it’s really imperative that you don’t rely on college completely. You don’t, you have to go out there with a real vision of how you want to create. And you have to stick to it in a real way.”