Shania Banton Speaks On Growing Her ‘Just Shania’ Brand and Expounding her voice for Black Writers and Filmmakers.

Shania Banton Speaks On Growing Her Just Shania Brand, Expounding Her Voice For Other Black Writers and Filmmakers, The Creation of Her Hit Youtube Show, and What We Can Expect From Her In 2021.

Shania Banton

Within the 80 stories that The Lifestyle NYC has had the pleasure of being a part of, this is the second time we’ve been able to connect with a Black director, writer, and filmmaker. To you, Shania Banton may be the Black woman who’s building her own production and film empire at a very rapid pace. To me, she’s the motivated woman I met during our time working at Yelp in 2018. Shania instantly became the topic of discussion when word spread that she closed over $60K in revenue in her very first month of training. That rumor was indeed true. Ironically enough, this is when I discovered that Shania had a passion for filmmaking and was also a F.I.T. grad like myself.

The versatile creative has been working tirelessly over the years building her brand, Just Shania, which is her production and film company. Since 2018, the Brooklyn-born director has created countless projects such as two shorts films called Switch and People Film, and her breakout Youtube series, Waves. The series was so successful, it gained recognition from Spike Lee and he featured it in his series, Da Republic of Brooklyn, a series based on the hustle and survival of five Uber drivers from Brooklyn.

It was an honor to be able to chat with Shania to talk about her inspirations as a filmmaker, balancing her passion and her college journey, unpacking Waves, and what’s to come for her and her brand in 2021. Read the full interview below.

1 - Who were some of your early inspirations as a young writer/director? 

I’m not sure if many people know this but Tyler Perry was. I didn’t know the names of many directors for my favorite movies; I still don’t. But I grew up watching Tyler Perry plays because we had it on bootleg and they were the best thing in my household because when it was on, everyone sat and watched and laughed no matter how many times we’d seen it. I knew he was amazing from the stage so when he started doing movies, I still to this day watch every single one because I love his work no matter what anyone says. I think he is an artist. He’s imprinted on my brain. Not to mention his business ethic, who wouldn't be inspired? 

2 - At the age of 8 years old you wrote your first book. How did that experience contribute to your storytelling skills as a writer?

I didn’t even think of it as me being a writer when I started writing books. During my time growing up, we didn't have many forms of entertainment. There weren't any phones for kids my age; phones were rare. I had a Gameboy, board games, coloring, and a computer. During that time you couldn’t be on the internet and the phone at the same time, so I could only play those computer games or type. In my mind, all I was doing was typing. It was entertainment for me. Being a kid with a big imagination, the only thing I could type was made-up shit, so that’s what I did. I guess subconsciously I fell in love with it because that Gameboy got dusty. Fun fact:  I never finished a story. I didn’t have the attention span. So somewhere out there on a tower, you will find a bunch of unfinished family drama stories written by an 8-year-old.

3 - When did you realize that writing, directing, and acting was something you wanted to do on a full-time basis?  

I started in acting school during my sophomore year of college, I wasn’t making a lot of money at the time so I couldn’t afford that expense any longer. I stopped going and enrolled in the film and media minor at school because they had some dope classes. I started reading screenplays during acting school so when I stopped going and wasn’t booking anything because I didn’t know enough about how to audition, I started writing my own screenplays to practice with. Fast forward a little, I took up the screenplay writing class because I wanted feedback on my writing and to write more. Best class ever! I excelled but was still holding onto this acting dream so I decided to do my own web series. That was the thing during this time. I already started the episodes on one so I did it and of course, cast myself as the lead. Now at this time, my love for writing trumped my love for acting but I still couldn’t let go of the acting dream. Then I started directing on set and took a directing class the following semester that stirred everything up. I was now in a three-way relationship; writing was my husband, directing was my boyfriend, and acting was my side dude. 

4 - You’re a Fashion Institute of Technology grad like myself but your focus at the moment isn’t fashion related. How were you able to find balance in pursuing a college degree while also working on your true passion? 

I started in the fashion industry when I was in high school. I never wanted to design, never wanted to style but I loved the industry and clothes and designers and I am very knowledgeable about the industry because it was my life for six years before I switched gears. But, the transition was easy. It was easy because I was in the business of fashion which is ultimately business. Business knowledge is easily transferable. I studied advertising and marketing communications so we really learned that but then tied it into fashion. So when people ask me about my degree I never really say my college because it’s easily confused but I studied advertising and marketing. FIT offered a film and media program that literally had nothing to do with fashion so while I was in school I soaked up marketing knowledge and applied it to my film and media knowledge. 

5 - Your popular web series, Waves, started production for the first season in 2017 and was introduced to the world in 2018. For those unfamiliar, talk a little bit about the series. What was the inspiration behind creating it, and why that title?  

Waves was the first actual screenplay I wrote; I started writing it in my journal during class. I still have that journal with the pages falling out. The story was based on my severed relationship with a family member (not my sister) but someone who was that close to me. So it was only right for me to write a story about a toxic family relationship cause that was my life at the time. Waves season one is a story about a sister who held onto a life-changing secret about her sister's fiance. When I finished writing it, I didn’t have a name at all. I was stuck, and when I was stuck, I went to the beach at night with my headphones and sat in the sand by myself to listen to music That was my joy and meditation. I was sitting there in the sand at 12 at night listening to “Surfin” by KiD CuDi and if you know the lyrics he says “WAVES” constantly. I started looking at the waves in front of me and it all aligned in my head. The story was literally waves crashing, one after the other, and each of them was different. That's what my characters were going through and there birthed Waves the series. 

6 - You were fresh out of college during the creation stages of this web series. What were some of the hurdles you dealt with being a new grad in the workforce while simultaneously creating the first season of Waves? 

I lost my job at the beginning of 2018 and it was the best thing to happen to me. I needed to lose my job to finish Waves because I didn't have the time between work and school to edit and promote. So when I was unemployed my job was Waves. I still lived at home and I was still getting paid from unemployment and severance so I was good. I finished Waves in 2 months after losing my job. If I was still working it would have probably taken me four-six months. God works in amazing ways. During that year, I bought a camera and started freelancing making videos for people and teaching people how to edit. I was hustling. Then I got a contract with 40 acres and they licensed some of the Waves content for their short film Da Republic of Brooklyn and I was like “Wow, Waves can make me money. This really is my job.” I released it and started streaming on platforms like brainwash and KweliTV a few months later. I was learning so much during this time about how my work was making me money and actually getting attention. I was only 21 so my hurdles were doing everything by myself and not knowing what I was doing but doing it and it working. Nothing felt like an obstacle too big that year because I was so deep in my faith and God literally fixed any problems I faced in 24 hours. I literally try to get back to that year all the time. 

7 - Season 2 of Waves aired back in October. What were some things you wanted to do differently this time around for the second season compared to the first?  

The first thing was the production quality. I was already five years into writing and three years into production so I learned a lot by the time it was time for season 2. I was ready to implement. 2020 makes six years in this independent game and 2021 will make seven years! If my season 2 was going to reflect something it was going to reflect that growth in work. Season 1, I had the creative vision you can see in my shots but I didn’t have the quality and the story got messed up due to that. Season 2 isn’t perfect but the quality is upgraded and the creative vision is still there. I also wanted to limit the platforms I was working with. I understood I had a project that was worth something and I wanted to make sure that it was recognized and not judged by the viewers they can see on Youtube but my overall reach. People can look at my Youtube views and not think anything of it but on the platforms I work with I do 70,000 views a quarter which is a lot for a show put together entirely by one black woman. I only wanted that, gimme the platforms that can do that. 

8 - Just Shania is your tag name and ultimately represents everything you. In a recent interview, you said the name is to give comfort to independent filmmakers. Including the name, what other sorts of contributions would you like to give to the independent filmmakers out there? 

Hollywood is big but independent filmmakers are bigger. There may not be money for it but the creativity outshines every director in Hollywood because independents do it on a smaller scale. I will die on that hill. Many independents such as myself want to make it in Hollywood and will because there are money and opportunity involved. We want to be able to do what we do on a grand scale and tell stories without having to worry about the budget. Yes, the directors now were once independent but this field is super saturated now everyone wants to try to do what some of us already love to do. I meet people all the time that want to try to direct and try to write but they don’t love it, they just want to try it. There's nothing wrong with that but, that saturates the field for the people who really love it. It wasn’t like that before; people never used to just try things so the only directors were people who loved it and it stood out.  But the amazing part about empowering the independent community is to remember that it can be done for less money and still be an amazing story. That’s empowering, for me at least. The smartest woman at the table is not the one with all the flashy clothes and jewels, it’s the woman at the same table with Walmart shoes on because she made it to the same table for less.

9 - What are some of the biggest lessons you’ve learned being a young, black, female writer/director? Secondly, what did the tough year of 2020 teach you?

The biggest lesson I learned was that strangers will support you far before your loved ones will. I still can’t crack why that is but it always has been. My closest friends and family were the last people to watch (if they did) and donate to anything I was doing. They don’t even post it. I’m not mad at them, I don’t do that anymore but, that’s why famous people love their supporters so much because it really puts things into perspective. If everyone just had their family and friends to depend on for support no one would get anywhere cause they simply don’t step up. Maybe it’s psychological, maybe they need to see the success first, who knows? Love ‘em either way though. 2020 almost broke me. I am an advocate for mental health because I suffer from quite a few things. Between not being able to travel, people dying, black people being tortured, harassed, and murdered, my loved ones dying, microaggressions in the workplace, so much! It was trying to break me so I kept God and my therapist close. It honestly just taught me how strong I possibly am because I’m still here. Even though the year is over I’m still learning from 2020 because I’m evaluating all the shit that happened.

10 - What does success mean to you?

Success for me is rooted in finance. That’s me. Knowing that myself and my family don’t have financial freedom means I am not successful yet. I won’t be successful until I can remove that worry from them and myself. I’ll know I am successful when I can set my own price and when someone literally has to invest in my creative mind financially. When I am given a piece of wealth, that's success to me. Even if I get to work with one of my idols that doesn't mean I am successful because at the end of the day their family is taken care of and mine is not. 

11 - What can we expect from Shania Banton and the Just Shania brand for 2021?

There's a lot coming in 2021. I am producing a lot of projects, dropping a short film, but most importantly I am going to really work on my writing and I will get the ball rolling on a TV deal. It will happen in my seventh year cause it’s my lucky number 7.