008 From A Dream To The Big Screen
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Charles Murray
Steven LaBroi
Some people are blessed at a very young age with the gift of knowing their purpose in life. Since the age of 8, Charles Murray knew he had to be a filmmaker. Unfortunately this passion was fueled from witnessing his father abuse his mother and Charles wanted to take her story to the big screen. Charles’ entire focus went to writing, spending time in the library reading books on how to write scripts, learning how others were able to advance their careers, and Charles began to follow in their footsteps. Charles began writing at the age of 16 and wrote every chance he could get.
Charles finally completed the screenplay about his mother’s life in 2003. In 2013 his debut film “Things Never Said” hit the big screen. “Things Never Said” is a story about an aspiring spoken word artist using poetry to escape the pain of a violent marriage and a troubled past.
Ten (10) long years is how long it took Charles to fulfill his dream of taking his screenplay to the big screen. It was not an easy journey. Charles Murray faced many roadblocks along the way especially when it came to raising capital. However, despite the rejections, Charles refused to let his dream die or allow people to convince him that “black dramas don’t make money.” So what did Charles do?
Charles found a lifelong friend to help make his lifelong dream come true. Charles Murray and Steven LaBroi were childhood friends who kept in touch throughout their adult years. Steven answered the call when Charles asked him to invest in his dream and became the Executive Producer.
This Director and Executive Producer duo moved full steam ahead to knock down the barriers and led a grass roots effort to promote the film with tremendous success.
Things Never Said won seven awards at various film festivals. Ultimately, this dynamic duo sold the U.S. rights to Lionsgate’s Codeblack Film, a company passionate about providing an avenue for positive Black films to reach wide audiences.
To learn more, visit http://thingsneversaid.com/crew/
