Dec. 11, 2006 — "Its hard to relax when someone is trying to kill you!" "Holla," a movie written, directed and produced by St. Thomas native H.M. "Herby" Coakley, is a scream, and he asks the territory to support it by attending a screening over the Christmas holiday.
Getting "Holla" to the screen has proven a challenge for Coakley. Lionsgate Entertainment acquired rights for the horror flick but, "due to a series of last-minute changes, the studio decided not to release the film in theaters," he said. Such shifts commonly occur when studios fear a movie won't live up to initial profit expectations, Coakley said.
The film contains a predominantly African-American cast of "talented actors on the rise," Coakley said, one of the factors preventing distribution. The studio "was not convinced (they) could recoup their monies," he said.
The director attended Columbia University film school after graduating from the University of California at Los Angeles with a degree in physics. Coakley originally planned to become an astronaut.
"I was working on my PHD in LA," Coakley said, "and I started asking myself, 'If I could be anything I wanted, what would it be?'"
Recalling his love of film as a boy growing up in Estate Contant, Coakley applied to Columbia's film school.
Although it is usually very difficult to get into film school, Coakley said he earned admission simply because he "wrote a really good short story." His excellent grade-point average during his undergrad years helped, too. He was one of four black students in the program.
For his thesis project, Coakley produced a movie featuring Academy Award winner Adrien Brody ("The Pianist," "King Kong"). He produced two other independent films until he was able to co-write and direct "Holla." "I feel like I've come home," Coakley said. "The reason I got into film was to be a writer-director; I only became a producer by default."
"Holla" screenings have been widely accepted in cities like Atlanta, Detroit, Washington, D.C., and Houston, Coakley said, and he wants his V.I. community to be a part of the movie's history. He is currently waiting for confirmation from St. Thomas' UVI campus to okay a screening of the movie at the Reichold Center for the Arts, tentatively scheduled for Dec. 18.
Making a film, Coakley said, is hard work. To raise money he had to beg. "It's always been challenging for me (to raise money)," Coakley said. "We have been trying to make this movie for five years."
The initial goal was millions of dollars, Coakley said, but he was only able to raise some thousands. His connection with Lionsgate has made the question of money a little easier because it opens more doors, he said.
"I have a few other projects I would like to make, but it depends on how much money I can raise," Coakley said.
The St. Thomian said he would love to make a movie based on a family in the Virgin Islands forced to move to the mainland. The film would follow the family as its culture starts to wane and the children become more "Americanized," Coakley said.
For more information on the screening of "Holla," email Coakley. To view a trailer of the movie, click here.
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