BOBBEE BEE: MOVIE MAGIC

 

by Todd Wetherington

In recent years, the Hollywood movie industry has come flocking to eastern North Carolina, thanks to the state's generous tax breaks and the region's picturesque geography and historical landmarks.

In the wake of locally filmed blockbusters such as "Iron-Man 3" and "The Hunger Games" a small independently produced movies have also begun cropping up from the state's fertile soil, movies that focus on the day to day struggles of North Carolina's citizens to tell smaller, but perhaps even more important stories.

Brothers Terrence and Eric Graham are two members of a generation of artists attempting to tell those stories. Over the course of three years, the Magnolia natives wrote, directed and produced the feature film "Bobbee Bee the Hater," which chronicles the life a young man struggling with self-confidence. The brothers describe the movie, which they premiered at James Sprunt Community College on September 21, as a "psychological comedy that takes a journey into the mind of a teenager trying to cope with his anger."

The movie themes are rooted in the life experiences of both Terrence and Eric, who have witnessed first hand the issues that plague many young adults and have developed creative learning tools to help those in need address their problems more effectively.

Older brother Terrance, 43, is a graduate of North Carolina A&T State University who received a bachelor's degree in psychology and a master's degree in psychology and a master's degree in agency counseling.  An Army Reserve veteran who did a tour of duty during the Gulf War, Terrence has worked as a child therapist since 1998 and currently runs his own practice, Graham Moore and Clark, in Raleigh.

According to Terrence, his career path was set at an early age.

"As a child I always wanted to be an entertainer or a psychologist, he remembered. "I knew I always wanted to work with children. I used to love reading comic books; I loved to draw. I used to sell my comics at Rose Hill-Magnolia Elementary."

As a professional psychologist, Terrence said he now incorporates that love of art in his children's therapy sessions, using his books and drawing to help those he works with create their own superhero or super villain characters.

Several year's younger than his brother, Eric formerly worked as a sports reporter for the Wallace Enterprise and Warsaw-Faison News and is a graduate of Winston-Salem State University, where he received a bachelor's degree in Mass Communication in Radio & Television. Currently, he is the editor and chief  of Black Athlete Sports Network in Harlem, N.Y., where his articles appear daily along with his cartoon "Here Comes The Hater," which features Bobbee Bee, the inspiration for the movie character.

Like his brother, Eric is also a familiar face to schoolchildren, having worked in Duplin County classrooms using the characters he's created to educate and entertain students.

Bobbee Bee made his initial appearance in 2004 in the first of a series of children's books, "In the Mind of Bobbee Bee," which were co-authored by the Graham brothers. The books follow the misadventures of the title character, who describes himself as "an obnoxious, opinionated, third grader who ego is bigger than T.O.! I am an odd combination of Terrell Owens, Kobe Bryant, Rasheed Wallace, and Allen Iverson!"

Eric said the concept of the book series came from watching his brother's son, William Shakur, and the influences he drew from sports and Hip-Hop culture.

"Most child psychologists say at the age of 10 many African-American males begin to have behavioral problems in the school system, so we tried to find a way to counter that," he explained. "We developed  characters that mimic real life situations. We have books that deal with divorce and another where a child loses a father in war-all things may cause a child to act out in school."

Eric said the stories also touch on some of the grim realities faced by children, such as gangs and drugs.

"We wanted to make it educational but entertaining," said Eric, "which was difficult thing to pull off."

The film is rated PG-13 for mild language and "a hint of violence."

"It's a clean film but you have to make the characters believable," said Eric.

To play Bobbee Bee, the brothers turned to the young man who the character sprang from, William Shakur. " It's a film about his life and upbringing and our relationship," and Terrence. "It's about his struggle."

Terrence said one of the biggest challenges of "Bobbee Bee The Hater" was convincing his son of the film's importance.

"He was very resistant and reluctant at first.

"It took a lot of sitting down and talking to get him to be into it. At first he thought it was silly, but once he started believing in what the script was saying and the script was saying and the impact he'd after the movie came out, he was fine."

To represent the issues that Bobbee Bee faces in the film, the Graham's used the unique device of personifying his conflicts in the form of "THE HATER," anthropomorphic basketball who grimaces like an angry pit-bull.

"It represents him getting cut from the basketball team; it also represents his self hatred and insecurities," explained Terrence.

The Grahams said they began planning the movie in 2010.

"We had the idea to make a bigger impact using visuals of the book. We sat down and made a plan and developed a company 5 Foot Productions, to do the film.

With the script written by Eric, the brothers set out with one movie camera and 65 eager but inexperienced actors, including approximately 40 Duplin County Natives.

"We're not actors, directors or script writers -we're first time everything," said Terrence. "We're all learning on the job."

With a shoot that encompassed location in Virginia, Washington, D.C. , Winston-Salem, Raleigh, Magnolia, and Kenansville, the Grahams said that traveling and pressures of filming formed the cast into a tight, family.

"We didn't rely on professional actors," added ERIC. "It's people in the community who I thought had character  that could be reflected in the film, I just think there's a whole lot of untapped talent in Duplin County."

bobbee bee trailer 3 from Terrence Graham on Vimeo.

Terrence said filming for "BOBBEE BEE THE HATER" wrapped in March 2013. Having shot eight hours of film, the  Grahams then faced the daunting task of putting together a coherent, 92-minute movie.

To help with the editing,  the brothers turned to DARIUS "Boodaddy" CARR, a JAMES KENAN High school graduate who attended Living Arts College in Raleigh. Carr also helped put together the film's soundtrack.

"I think he did an excellent job under a lot of pressure. This was his first film as well," commented Terrence. "It took a lot of hard work."

While he admits to few technical issues he'd like to see corrected with the film, Eric said, overall, he's more than pleased with the final results..

"I really do think it's an award-winning film. It's original and we cover a whole lot of issues.

Originally published in the Duplin Times.