Billy Jackson: Independent Documentary Director/Producer

Billy Jackson stresses integrity, ethics and independence in his approach to making documentaries.


Documentary filmmaker Billy Jackson visited our cluster students on April 26 discussing his recent project, "Enough is Enough." The film explores the death of Johnny Gammage and issues of police misconduct in Pittsburgh and framed it within the larger issue of the problem nationwide of unarmed, innocent black citizens dying while in the custody of police.

Jackson expressed that he sees himself as first as a professional, a filmmaker. He stressed the importance of integrity, ethics and independence as a storyteller. He also underscored the issue of practicality and passion as a creator of media content. We discussed his film, his role as a storyteller and a gatekeeper, his process and his passion.

We thank you, Billy Jackson, for helping us expand the pictures in our heads of the role of documentary producers and directors in the grand scheme of gatekeepers and the process of making documentaries. I only wish we could have you back to sit in the audience as our students begin presenting their documentary projects to the public this week.



Student Documentary Showcase
Addressing Stereotypes, Media & Marginalized Audiences
Presented by The Mass Comm/Soc 109 Cluster Students
Thursday, May 3 Screenings
12:45-2:00 p.m. in the Mueller Theater
McKelvey Campus Center/Westminster College
Free & Open to the Public
“We are all captives of the picture in our head -- our belief that the world we have experienced is the world that really exists.”- Walter Lippman

Students in the Mass Comm/Soc 109 Cluster will present public premieres of their documentary projects. Three documentaries will debut on May 3. Four others will premiere on May 8.

May 3 Schedule
Confidence: The Man Behind the Bench
Teck Productions-- Elisa C., Kirsten D., Catharine H. & Thomas M.

Poetic Justice
Fighting Tulips Productions-- Steve K., Julie M., Aidan Mewha & Charlie N.

Believing Without Seeing
LEJJ Communications-- Jess C., Elizabeth F., Jess H. & Emily S.

Director Billy Jackson & "Enough Is Enough"

This week Mass Comm/Soc 109 students screen Billy Jackson's "Enough Is Enough" (click here to view the trailer) . It's a documentary about the Johnny Gammage case in Pittsburgh and the issue of police brutality, the criminal justice system and African Americans. Tuesday's screening of the documentary will set up a visit from director Jackson (the man behind Nommo Productions) on Thursday. Students will have a chance to hear from him on issues of authenticity and voice in producing such projects. They will also have an opportunity to discuss his film and how it may relate to topics, theories, practices and discussions from both the mass communications course and the Sociology class.

One way for students to begin reflecting on Jackson's film is to consider how some of the people we've studied in class would see the film. What might Toni Morrison say about it? Or Native American filmmaker Chris Eyre? Or how might scholars and theorists react? Consider folks like Gerbner, McCluhan, Meyrowitz, Baudrillard and others discussed in either class.