Making successful movies is no easy task, and making hit movies as an independent filmmaker is even harder. But, somehow, Deon Taylor makes it all look so easy. He may not be a household name (yet), but you’ve probably heard of his movies: “Black & Blue,” “Meet the Blacks,” “The Intruder,” and “Fatale,” just to name a few.
Taylor’s movies are released independently and have reached the milestone of generating over 100 million dollars worth of box office revenue. “Meet the Blacks” (2016), starring Mike Epps, Gary Owen, Lil Duval, Bresha Web, King Bach and more, was a box office smash, earning more than $9,000,000 at the box office on a $900,000 budget – a 10x ROI. “Black & Blue” stars Oscar nominated actress Naomie Harris along with Tyrese Gibson and has made over $22,000,000 with over $3,000,000 of that coming in the day it hit theaters.
“Fatale,” which stars two-time academy award winning actress Hilary Swank, Michael Ealy and others, grossed over $10 million worldwide. “The Intruder” with Michael Ealy, Meagan Good, Dennis Quaid and more is Taylor’s most commercially successful film to date, grossing over $41 million at the box office against a $4 million budget.
Deon’s critically acclaimed films including Supremacy and Traffik also shook up the box office. Numbers like that aren’t too common when it comes to black independent filmmakers, so Deon Taylor is definitely blazing a trail for up-and-coming writers, producers and directors who look like him.
And while Taylor’s success may seem like it happened overnight, it wasn’t always this way. In fact, when he stopped playing professional basketball to pursue a career in filmmaking, he says lots of doors were slammed in his face.
“I have become who I am today simply because I was told no everywhere I went. I’m the product of no,” the now 46-year-old told ESPN’s Andscape (formerly The Undefeated) back in 2018.
Taylor was born in Chicago and grew up in Gary, Indiana before moving with his brother and mother to Sacramento, California. While there, he played high school basketball and later earned a full-ride scholarship to San Diego State. The former Division 1 player then went on to play basketball professionally in Germany from 1998 to 2003. That same year, Deon went to Los Angeles, slept on people’s couches to take meetings, and pitched a screenplay he’d written on a tablet. The pitch was rejected, which was a gut punch for Taylor, but it was also a moment of realization.
“I was expecting people to love the screenplay…,” Taylor said. “After being kicked out of over 100 rooms, I eventually said, ‘I guess the only way you can make movies is if you make them yourself.’ And that started my journey [as an independent filmmaker].”
After facing so much rejection, Deon decided to put his own movies out and launched Hidden Empire Group with his partner and producer, Roxanne Avent Taylor and longtime friend, billionaire investor and philanthropist, Robert F. Smith.
Taylor describes the success of his independent production company as being the “product of no.”
“I often tell people you have to be prepared to have a metaphysical death to have your dream realized, you have to be prepared to really lose yourself in whatever it is you’re trying to do in order to find success,” Deon told Variety in 2021. “I know that’s been the case for a lot of black and brown people because oftentimes we have to work a little bit harder to get to what we want.”
“Film has been a very interesting medium for me. I don’t take it for granted because every door that we’ve knocked on has been closed to us,” he added, explaining how he came up with the phrase “product of no.”
“We were told no so much, eventually, we had to tell ourselves ‘Yes.’ I remember the day I looked at Roxanne and said, ‘I’m going to make my own movies.’ We would have never made Hidden Empire or created these films or went off and did the stuff we’re doing if somebody would have hired me,” the self-taught filmmaker said.
Hidden Empire looks to be on path to become its own ‘Blumhouse’ and ‘A24’ of production wheelhouses. An upcoming project — that just took the internet by storm — is Deon’s next independent film ‘FEAR’ which just received over 10 million views on its trailer – in the first 3 days of its release! This highly anticipated psychological horror film starring Joseph Sikora and Clifford “T.I.” Harris is set to release in theaters on January 27th and the trailer looks promising. Check it out below.
Deon Taylor has also recently partnered with Floyd Mayweather and ‘The Money Team’ to tell the life story of the legendary boxer. With all that is going on in his world and Hidden Empire Film Group company, Deon humbly tells The Source, “I’m extremely focused on growing as a filmmaker – and telling stories that shake up audiences — but also “say something”
Be on the lookout for more from Deon Taylor and Hidden Empire Film Group – we know we will! Follow him on Instagram.
