South Grad's 'Got What it Takes' in Hollywood Film Industry
Posted on October 6, 2017
There鈥檚 a fish-out-of-water scene in 鈥淏everly Hills Cop鈥� when Eddie Murphy鈥檚 character, Axel Foley, drives his faded blue Chevy Nova down Rodeo Drive and looks on in amusement as he passes high-end shops, towering palm trees and the beaux monde.
Tinashe Nyatanga knows the scene well and played it over in his mind countless times since he was a child, the son of a Zimbabwean diplomat, who eventually found his way to the University of South Alabama and now works in the film industry in the very city he fantasized about.
鈥淚t was pretty much the only movie my family had at the time when I lived in Algeria that had a black hero, and it鈥檚 something I looked up to because I identified with the character on the screen,鈥� Nyatanga said. 鈥淚t was almost an inspiration seeing Eddie Murphy and just being like, 鈥楬ey, he looks like me.鈥� So it played a big role in really wanting me to follow the path into the industry. I would even ask my dad to laugh like Eddie Murphy did in the movie.鈥�
鈥淚t was almost an inspiration seeing Eddie Murphy and just being like, 鈥楬ey, he looks like me.鈥� I would even ask my dad to laugh like Eddie Murphy did in the movie.鈥�
Since graduating with a communication degree in 2012, Nyatanga鈥檚 work and dues paying has landed him editing jobs with major record labels, working as a production assistant on a Rihanna video and serving as a body double for will.i.am. (On the latter, the video got scrapped. 鈥淏ut I still got paid, so I鈥檓 not too mad,鈥� Nyatanga said.)
P.A. work has led to editing work that has led to directing work, and now Nyatanga has hooked up with Guerilla Hollywood and Executive Producer Michael Mihail, whose credits including directing videos for Kendrick Lamar, Seal and the Alabama-born Yelawolf .
But before that, Nyatanga was at South, and before that he was all over the world. As a diplomat鈥檚 son, Nyatanga actually spent little time in Zimbabwe. He attended an American school in Algeria, a British school in Belgium and an Indian school in Iran.
He began to find his direction in watching cartoons, 鈥淏everly Hills Cop鈥� and MTV, and somehow knew that鈥檚 what he wanted to do, even if he didn鈥檛 know exactly what that was. He鈥檇 stay up into the early hours of the morning making videos using crude software.
He followed his sister to the University of South Alabama, where she was studying biology, and immersed himself in video production, serving as general manager of JagTV and creating videos for South鈥檚 website and the Mitchell Center. 鈥淚f you went to the games at that time and looked at the video screen, that was me in some capacity,鈥� he said.
One day, as graduation approached, Nyatanga was sitting in his apartment when a Yelawolf video came on his TV. 鈥淭he production value on it just blew me away,鈥� Nyatanga said.
He found the email of the director through a Google search and shot Mihail a note with the subject: 鈥淓mployment or Volunteer Positions Inquiry.鈥�
While it would be another year before Mihail and Nyatanga would meet up, he bought a one-way ticket to Los Angeles and began to work in the film industry. The two kept in touch and eventually had breakfast together. There, Mihail asked Nyatanga if he wanted to intern on a Kendrick Lamar video. Nyatanga jumped at the chance.
Mihail described Nyatanga as his prot茅g茅. Nyatanga said Mihail has introduced him as his 鈥測oung Jedi.鈥� Beyond being technically versed in editing software, Nyatanga has a great eye and the ability, as Mihail put it, to separate art from disposable content.
鈥淚鈥檝e seen directors and filmmakers come and go 鈥� one week you鈥檙e hot and the next you鈥檙e forgotten,鈥� Mihail said. 鈥淚t takes a lot of patience and creativity to say 鈥榥o鈥� to something, or to fight for what you believe in creatively and not compromise your art, and I think he gets that. He鈥檚 shown me job after job and year after year that he鈥檚 got what it takes to stick it out and hang with the big guys.鈥�
鈥淚鈥檝e seen directors and filmmakers come and go 鈥� one week you鈥檙e hot and the next you鈥檙e forgotten. He鈥檚 shown me job after job and year after year that he鈥檚 got what it takes to stick it out and hang with the big guys.鈥�
And at the same time, not forget where he began to learn his craft. Dr. Richard Ward, 吃瓜爆料 professor of communication, said Nyatanga still stays in touch, and in the last year spoke in a video call to one of Ward鈥檚 production classes. The most important lesson for the students, Ward said, was that Nyatanga鈥檚 story shows a path from school to the film industry, and 鈥渉e鈥檚 able to speak to them and really still seem like he鈥檚 one of them, doesn鈥檛 seem like the stereotype of someone in Hollywood production.鈥�
Nyatanga is young, but even at 30, he feels that his next steps will be critical in his trajectory. He said he wants to make decisions that will eventually put him directing movies. 鈥淚 like to think of the extreme worst cases and extreme best cases when making a decision.鈥�
The best outcome will land him in a director鈥檚 chair; the worst keeps him in the editing booth and puts his career on cruise control.
There鈥檚 a second scene in 鈥淏everly Hills Cop鈥� that has stuck with Nyatanga. Foley, the detective, goes into an office building to ask questions about his friend鈥檚 death. He gets shut down, though, and tossed out by henchmen through a plate glass window.
It鈥檚 hard to imagine Nyatanga not succeeding. After breaking his way in, it鈥檚 hard to imagine someone throwing him out.
