Man, I’ma say this with love but y’all know we gotta do better when it comes to these Tubi movies. Every time I hit play, I’m bracing myself for a sound check, a blurry camera, or somebody acting like they just learned their lines that morning. 😭

Posted By: Jamal

Dear Black folks… look, I’ma keep it real wit y’all. I love my people, for real. I love us ‘cause we’re talented, funny, creative, and can make magic outta nothing. We run the culture music, sports, fashion, everything. But one thing we gotta talk about, and I mean really talk about, is these Tubi movies, bruh. 😭 Every time I hop on Tubi thinking I’m about to see something fire from the culture, I end up cutting it off halfway through ‘cause the sound off, the acting off, or the whole movie look like it was filmed in somebody’s basement with a flashlight.

I ain’t saying this to hate I’m saying it ‘cause I care. I’m tired of watching our people drop movies that look like they were edited on an Android app. Like, how we got the flyest movie posters out there, but when you click play, it’s giving “Dollar Tree cinema”? Be honest y’all know exactly what I’m talkin’ about. The cover be lookin’ like a Tyler Perry-level production, but soon as that movie start, the mic sound like it’s underwater, the lips don’t match the words, and half the scene be so dark you can’t tell who’s who. Like… come on now, family.

We’re too talented for this. We got folks out here who can design clothes from scratch, dance circles around the world, drop hit records, build businesses from the ground up but when it come to movies, we fallin’ off. We can do better! We should be doing better. We the culture. We the blueprint. So why it look like we just throwin’ anything together when we get behind a camera?

I know Tubi be giving people a chance, and I respect that I really do. It’s dope that they giving Black filmmakers a platform. But if we gon’ use that platform, let’s make it count! Let’s get the sound right, the lighting right, the acting believable, the storylines makin’ sense. ‘Cause right now? It’s lookin’ rough out here. Some of y’all movies be startin’ off with drama, then switch to a random love story, then end with a shootout that make no sense. 😭 Like who edited this?!

I’m just sayin’ it’s time we stop rushing projects just to say “I made a movie.” Take your time. Write the script right. Get a decent mic. Don’t shoot at night if you ain’t got lighting, my boy! Let’s put out quality, not quantity. ‘Cause I promise you, if we start putting in that real effort, we’ll be the ones takin’ over Netflix, Hulu, and the big screen next.

I ain’t mad, I’m just disappointed (like a real cousin would be 😒). I want us to shine, not get laughed at. I want people to see a Black movie and be like, “Yo, that joint was solid!” not “Dang, what was that sound?” or “Why that man disappear mid-scene?”

So, Black filmmakers, if you reading this, take it from Jamal: we got the creativity, we got the talent now let’s match it with quality. ‘Cause I’m tired of cutting off Tubi five minutes in, shaking my head, whispering “We gotta do better.”

Respectfully,
— Jamal