Had the pleasure to sit and talk with ReShonda Tate Billingsley best-selling author and co-founder of Brown Girl Publishing. She discusses her latest novel Mama’s Boy released July 7, 2015 and her new movie Let the Church Say Amen based on her novel debuts on BET August 30, 2015.
Tell us about your new release Mama’s Boy
Mama’s Boy is my 37th book and it’s about a woman that is faced with a tremendous looms ahead of her. Her son is filming the arrest of his friends and this is something that we see in today’s headlines. The officer orders him to stop filming. Well a long story short, a scuffle is fused and the officer is killed. These are kids in Jasper, Texas which is a town rife with racial tension. The officer is white and the teenagers are black.
Her son goes on the run and the question is as a mother can you turn your son in? Especially to a police force that is out for blood. I explore it from both sides and I don’t vilify police. I show how stereotypes can lead to tragedy on both sides. Then of course there are the issues of the mother itself. This is not a police bashing book. It’s really about a mother conflicted as she is faced with a decision of turning her son over to the police.
What inspired the story line for Mama’s Boy?
The headlines of today did inspire this story line. A lot of people simply don’t know their rights when it comes to filming. When you look at all that has been in the news and the reaction is an automatic distrust of police. With many police, there is an automatic assumption when they see the young black males. I wanted to take that issue and build a fictional story around it. The meat and potatoes of the story are really on what is happening in today’s society.
Is there a message that you want the audience to take away after reading Mama’s Boy?
I really want a reader to be able to think. One of the things I love to do is entertain. This is a multi-layered story with secrets, plots and twists, and turns all to give you the entertainment. I want you to think, how would you handle this situation? The father is a minister and he wants to turn his son in because his life is being disrupted. I want the reader to look between the two and see what would they do?
You have some novels going to the big screen (movie deals) tell us about how that came about and how was it working with Regina King and Queen Latifah?
It’s been a long journey to bring Let The Church say Amen to the screen. I am very excited about it and it will actually be on BET on August 30, 2015. We have been working on this for a while and I have been blessed to be involved in the process. It’s a dream come true. It is one of four books that are being made into film with BET and two more with TV one next year. I am very excited to see my work come alive on the screen. Check out the trailer below:
How much control did you have in the process of brining forth your novel to the big screen?
I was involved and I wouldn’t say I had control, but I was blessed to be involved because most of the times when Hollywood takes an author’s work they do just that. They take your work and send the author on their way. The author of the Hurt Locker couldn’t even get tickets to the Oscars for the academy nomination for the movie based on the book. It’s a blessing to be able to be involve in the process at all. I am very excited that I was there and I was there for some of the casting. To be able to be there and hear the actors ask me, “am I doing your characters justice?” It was a great feeling to give my input.
Being a writer and co-founder of Brown Girl Publishing, what mistakes do you se with prospective novel submissions?
A lot of writers submit do not their best work. They think an editor will fix it up. One of the things that people have to realize is this is your one chance to have an appearance before a decision is made. Put your best foot forward. The next person has put their best foot forward. Often times, you won’t get your foot in the door because you didn’t put your best foot forward.
Thank you for joining me for our Author’s Showcase ReShonda. Congrats on your new novel release Mama’s Boy and the debut of Let the Church Say Amen on BET August 30, 2015. You can learn more about ReShonda by following her on social media and visit her website.
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Twitter: @ReShondaT
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Photo Source & Video : Courtesy of ReShonda Tate Billingsley