The USC School of Cinematic Arts, USC African American Cinema Society (AACS),
and USC Visions & Voices: The Arts and Humanities Initiative,
Invite you and a guest to attend
 

A Special Screening of SCA Alumnus John Singleton's

BABY BOY

Written, Directed, and Produced by SCA Alumnus John Singleton

Followed by a Q&A with John's Longtime Casting Director KIM HARDIN

Moderated by SCA Alumnus Derek Garlington

7:00 P.M. on Wednesday, January 25th, 2023

The Ray Stark Family Theatre, SCA 108
George Lucas Building, USC School of Cinematic Arts Complex
900 W. 34th Street, Los Angeles, CA 90007

FREE ADMISSION. OPEN TO THE PUBLIC. RSVPs REQUIRED.
 

CLICK HERE TO RSVP

Presented as part of John Singleton: A Celebration
A Year-Long Tribute to SCA Alum and Icon John Singleton
From September 9th, 2022 - April 19th, 2023

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE
VISIONS & VOICES THEME GUIDE
FOR JOHN SINGLETON: A CELEBRATION
 

About Baby Boy

Baby Boy is the powerful urban drama directed by John Singleton starring rap music superstars Tyrese Gibson and Snoop Dogg. With knockout performances from Ving Rhames (Mission: Impossible II, Pulp Fiction, Con Air) and A.J. Johnson (Friday, House Party, The Players Club), Baby Boy is a tough, honest and unflinching look at modern urban life. Jody (Gibson) is a 20-year-old African American in South Central L.A. who is trying to live large but doesn't have a job. He's got two babies by two different women and still lives at home with his mother (Johnson). Growing up is tough on Jody, but a series of events involving his mother's new boyfriend Melvin (Rhames), his girlfriend Yvette (Taraji P. Henson) and her ex-con ex-boyfriend Rodney (Snoop Dogg), force him to learn lessons about living, loving and surviving as a man in the hood.

Provided courtesy of Columbia Pictures. Rated R. Running time: 130 minutes.

About the Guests

KIM HARDIN (Casting Director)

Kimberly Hardin is a veteran casting director whose career spans over three decades in the entertainment industry and embodies an array of film and television projects, many of which helped launch careers of some of Hollywood’s leading talent. She became John Singleton’s go to Casting Director and discovered all of his up & coming stars. Most notable projects with John include Baby Boy, Hustle & Flow, 2 Fast 2 Furious, Four Brothers, Higher Learning, Black Snake Moan, and lead for Snowfall.

Other features include Cadillac Records, Think Like a Man 1 & 2, ATL, Blindspotting, Friday, Next Friday, plus TV series including Reasonable Doubt, Blindspotting, and The Game. Her films are known to not just garner commercial success, but crossover success as well as critical acclaim. To date Hardin has cast films grossing billions of dollars worldwide.

In January 2021, she saw much critical acclaim on the film she did with Regina King in her directorial debut, entitled One Night In Miami. The ensemble cast includes Kingsley Ben Adir, Leslie Odom, Aldis Hodge and Eli Goree. It was Nominated for 3 Oscar Awards, another 69 wins and 179 nominations. She received, the prestigious BAFTA, Robert Altman Independent Spirit Award, in addition to receiving the Artios Award for Best Casting.

In 2017, Hardin was invited to become a member to the Academy of Motion Pictures. As a member of the Academy, she conducted an interview about casting directors, which is now running in the Academy Museum.

Kim is currently working on an “Untitled Michael Jackson Film” produced by Graham King, along with several independent films and television series.

DEREK GARLINGTON (SCA Alumnus, Moderator)

Derek is a multifaceted creative who received his MFA in screenwriting from USC in 2020. He authored the novel, Souls of a Kindred Flame, which follows the mysterious spiritual journey of its protagonist. Derek's own spiritual journey has flourished as a yoga instructor, MMA champion and sound healer. The variety of his life experiences emboldens his writing with a unique perspective. 

Community is also a core value for Derek. While at USC, he was president of The Black Graduate Student Network and African American Cinema Society. Since then, he's created the filmmaking collective Creatively Next Up and the card game Pitch it to Me. Both initiatives are an effort to form community and collaboration. 

His ultimate goal is to create stories that promote mindful, holistic living in an entertaining way.

About John Singleton: A Celebration

Throughout the 2022/2023 academic year, Visions and Voices, the USC School of Cinematic Arts, and the USC African American Cinema Society, will host a series of screenings honoring the life and career of trailblazing filmmaker, iconic Angeleno, and USC alumnus, John Singleton. Screenings will take place at the USC School of Cinematic Arts and the David Geffen Theater at the Academy Museum, with conversations to follow featuring cast and crew, including screenings of:

Boyz n the Hood (1991): 7:00p on Friday, September 9th, 2022 - Norris Cinema Theatre
Poetic Justice (1993): 7:00p on Wednesday, September 21st, 2022 - Ray Stark Family Theatre
Higher Learning (1995): 7:00p on Wednesday, October 12th, 2022 - Ray Stark Family Theatre
Rosewood (1997): 7:00p on Wednesday, November 9th, 2022 - Ray Stark Family Theatre
Shaft (2000): 7:00p on Wednesday, November 30th, 2022 - Ray Stark Family Theatre
Baby Boy (2001): 7:00p on Wednesday, January 25th, 2023 - Ray Stark Family Theatre
2 Fast 2 Furious (2003): 7:30p on Wednesday, February 22nd, 2023 - David Geffen Theater, Academy Museum
Hustle & Flow (2005): 2:00p on Sunday, March 5th, 2023 - Ray Stark Family Theatre
Black Snake Moan (2007): 6:00p on Sunday, March 5th, 2023 - Ray Stark Family Theatre
Four Brothers (2005): 7:00p on Wednesday, March 22nd, 2023 - Ray Stark Family Theatre

All screenings will require individual RSVPs. Each film will have a unique event page, which will go live on an ongoing basis throughout the academic year.

About SCA Alumnus John Singleton

John Singleton was a film director, screenwriter, producer and USC alumnus. Singleton, who died on April 29, 2019, at age 51, was a Los Angeles native, and a graduate of the Filmic Writing program at the USC School of Cinematic Arts (now the John Wells Division of Writing for Screen & Television) in 1990. While at USC, he won the Jack Nicholson Screenwriting Award, given to a promising film school student, two years in a row: first in 1988 for Twilight Time, then the following year for Boyz n the Hood, which he wrote as his senior thesis on a campus library computer.

Boyz n the Hood, which Singleton also directed, had a breakout debut at the Cannes Film Festival and made Singleton the youngest person and first African American nominated for a directing Oscar. Made for $6 million, it grossed $57.5 million during its studio run and introduced Hollywood to a slate of then-unknown talent—Cuba Gooding Jr., Ice Cube, Morris Chestnut, Angela Bassett, Nia Long—all of whom would become household names, not to mention Laurence Fishburne. It gave the world a new version of Los Angeles, one that Singleton described as “sunshine and bullets.”

As a native of South Los Angeles, many of his early films, such as Higher Learning (1995) and Baby Boy (2001), consider the implications of inner-city violence. Some of his other films include Rosewood (1997), Shaft (2000), 2 Fast 2 Furious (2003), and Four Brothers (2005). Singleton also executive produced the crime drama series Rebel, created by Amani Walker for BET, and co-created Snowfall for FX.

He started “attending” USC even before he was officially a student, while still a teenager in high school in South Los Angeles. Faculty and staff remember him as a precocious film historian, roaming the halls, asking questions about their work, and engaging them in conversations about favorite films, his being Akira Kurosawa’s Seven Samurai.

Singleton was a dedicated alumnus, making appearances at many University events, and returning to teach a class in 2016 titled “Emergence of Multicultural Cinema.” He was the 2006 recipient of SCA’s Mary Pickford Award, given to a distinguished alumnus at graduation each year; and in 2016 he received a Legacy Award from the University’s Black Alumni Association. He was an active member of the SCA Alumni Development Council and was also an SCA parent, having inspired his son Maasai to enroll at the School.

Singleton’s success created a model for other aspiring Black filmmakers. In the two decades since Singleton graduated, filmmakers like Rick Famuyiwa, Sheldon Candis, Ryan Coogler, Steven Caple Jr., and Tina Mabry, to name just a few, have found encouragement at the School. Rick Famuyiwa, who also grew up in a South Los Angeles neighborhood around the same time and makes films about the city, including The Wood (1999) and Dope (2015), describes Boyz’s success as “life changing,” and Singleton as the example of what living the dream could look like.

The School of Cinematic Arts and the USC Black Alumni Association have also established the John Singleton Scholarship for the Arts at USC to support students of color who are pursuing degrees in the arts at the university.

About the John Singleton Scholarship for the Arts at USC

As a devoted alumnus of the USC School of Cinematic Arts, John Singleton exemplified what it means to be a Trojan. He loved the university, and selflessly and enthusiastically gave his time and talent to helping our students succeed. John was frequently on campus, whether to teach a class on multicultural cinema, speak on a panel, or just because he wanted to hang out and talk about films with the next generation. He would have a hard time leaving because students always wanted to talk to him!

In addition to his dedicated involvement with SCA, John was also closely involved with the USC Black Alumni Association. A recipient of a BAA scholarship as a student, John never forgot the support and encouragement he received from the BAA, serving as an active mentor to BAA Scholars in the arts, contributing to the BAA’s scholarship fund, and engaging with students and alumni at BAA events such as Homecoming, various mixers and the annual Scholarship Benefit.

John was an example for the many students USC works to recruit from underrepresented communities, who have the talent to also be groundbreaking scholars, artists and creators like John, but don’t know how to get there. This is an important part of his legacy, and we hope you will continue that legacy by making a gift toward the John Singleton Scholarship for the Arts at USC.

Designed to honor John’s love for and legacy within both SCA and the BAA, this scholarship fund will support students of color from the greater Los Angeles Metropolitan area and to students from underrepresented minorities within the University community who are pursuing an education in the arts at USC.

Learn more at http://cinema.usc.edu/Singleton

About the USC African American Cinema Society (AACS)

Founded by the late John Singleton, while still a working student, and David L. Watts , the African American Cinema Society is an evolving incubator of artists and creatives of all sorts interested in the entertainment business and industry. We host events/screenings on and off-campus with special guests and Q&As. Our organization receives invitations to world premieres from studios, such as Disney, Marvel, and Sony because of the life and legacy of our predecessors. AACS continues to be most proud of establishing networking and collaboration opportunities as well as industry internships to our SCA community from acceptance through graduation.

Vision: The purpose of this organization is to provide networking opportunities for people of color, encourage a support system across all disciplines of interest as it relates to entertainment, but especially inside the cinema school.

Mission: The mission of the African American Cinema Society is to highlight and promote art and artists who are invested in showcasing complex and sophisticated representations of blackness and the black diaspora. 

We collaborate with Black University of Southern California students to create an environment in which we can thrive. Whether it’s networking events, screenings, Q&A’s with industry professionals, or advocating for students, we are pride ourselves on embodying the change we wish to see.

The current presidents are Catelin Shane (Graduate Production MFA) and Isaiah Simon (undergraduate Writing BA).

@uscaacs on all social media

Check-In & Reservations

This screening is free of charge and open to the public. A reservation confirmation will automatically be sent to your e-mail account upon successfully making an RSVP through this website. Doors will open at 6:30 P.M.

All SCA screenings are OVERBOOKED to ensure seating capacity in the theater, therefore seating is not guaranteed based on RSVPs. The RSVP list will be checked in on a first-come, first-served basis until the theater is full. Once the theater has reached capacity, we will no longer be able to admit guests, regardless of RSVP status.

Parking 

On-campus parking at the University of Southern California is limited, and it is best to visit the USC Transportation Website for the most up-to-date information if you plan to drive and park on campus:

https://transnet.usc.edu/index.php/daily-and-hourly-parking/
https://transnet.usc.edu/index.php/about-us/entrance-hours/

Contact Information

Name: Alessandro Ago
Email: aago@cinema.usc.edu