Everett Downing Jr. talks directing ‘Hair Love’
Written by Ashley Wehrs, Graphics by Ashley Wehrs
Everett Downing Jr. debuted at AnimationFest on his panel, “In Conversation: Everett Downing Jr. of ‘Hair Love.'” Downing Jr. co-directed “Hair Love,” a 2019 short pitched to the public through Kickstarter. It went on to win an Academy Award for Best Animated Short film.
The panel took place Sept. 26 at 3 p.m. and SCAD Atlanta Vice President Audra Pittman moderated the conversation. A screening of “Hair Love” kicked off the event. Then Downing Jr. shared how he joined the project, the value of networking and the importance of representation.
Downing Jr. first heard about “Hair Love” from Kickstarter, a website that assists creators in sharing their projects and receiving public funding to complete them. The project had only been posted for two days when Downing Jr. emailed Matthew Cherry, the creator, to offer his assistance on anything and everything.
They brought him in for consulting and a few days later, they offered him to co-direct. “When I first landed on the project, I knew it was important,” Downing Jr. said. “[But] I didn’t realize how profound it was going to be.”
As a storyboard artist, Downing Jr. strives to pull people into stories by translating scripts to visual media. “I kind of run it through my head like a movie. I work super rough. I work in stick figures,” Downing Jr. said. “I like working in thumbnails too because you can kind of see everything on the page.”
After 20 years of experience, Downing Jr. used networking and his contacts to build the team for “Hair Love.” Having positive relationships with other people was key to navigating his career and every project he works on. “Be nice. That’s one of the biggest advice [I] can give,” Downing Jr. said. “Ultimately the thing that makes people come back to you is ‘How do I feel working with this person?'”
Directing the film involved empathy and research. “Your best quality is your ability to sit back and be the audience member,” Downing Jr. said. This was a previous compliment from his Pixar co-worker, Mark Andrews.
Downing Jr. has gathered inspiration from many people, but he draws more from his daughter’s experience consuming entertainment today. “She would say ‘Is being brown bad?'” Downing Jr. said.
He recalled his own experience working on movies – pride followed by a struggle to see characters like himself on screen. “We really have to see ourselves,” Downing Jr. said.
SCAD students ended the panel with a series of thoughtful questions. “I’ve noticed through my career, I’ve made a lot of effort to make people comfortable and speak a certain way,” Downing Jr. said.
“You can get to a certain point where you realize ‘I’m kind of complicit in this system.’ I’m not doing that anymore. I’m trying to be a spotlight to further the conversation and really inspire allyship.” Experiences with assimilation and tokenism shaped this first answer.
A final question proposed reflection on Downing Jr.’s personal journey. “Chill out,” Downing Jr. said. “You don’t have to get it all right, right away. You’re gonna fail. Lean into it, do it often and early. Keep at it, be consistent, always analyze.”
Downing Jr. is currently working on an original series for Netflix.
