Meet Francis Maxwell | Screenwriter/Filmmaker

We had the good fortune of connecting with Francis Maxwell and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Francis, can you walk us through the thought-process of starting your business?
I think I have always worked best when answering to the man in the mirror. But that isn’t always the most sustainable, as I have bills to answer to also. So starting my own business meant first finding my path, then figuring out how to do it on my own. My first real career choice was journalism, to which I found myself at the mercy of both the story, and the outlet I was telling it for. But in 2017, I was lucky enough to be part of a Youtube program in which I was sent to Uganda to cover the refugee crisis. While searching for the right story, I came across a young refugee girl named Catherine. She was playing football (soccer for you yanks) and would use the beautiful game to help her integrate with her new community. She was the story, but one that the page could not do justice, it had to be captured behind a lens… so I did, and my love for filmmaking blossomed.

After that, I continued my work as a journalist, but planted the seeds to work at my craft as a filmmaker. My thought process? Find a way to tell more stories like Catherines. It’s burdensome, it’s beautiful, it’s an everyday discipline, it’s my path. I could not envision myself doing anything else.

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
I wasn’t ‘born to be an artist’ as many say they are. To be honest up until I was in my late teens, when I heard artist I thought painter. Everything else to me was entertainment categorized by the delivery: music, film etc. In order to see art as a delivery mechanism to the world, I had to understand what I wanted to share. Which as a journalist, started as my opinion on sports, then became my opinion on current events, then my opinion…on the world. The goings on in it, that for a period of time, I’d slept-walk through because I was privileged enough to not experience the hardships. To learn what I wanted to say, I had to unlearn also. And the best way to do that is to read, and read some more.

Now, through my production company M8 production, my goal is the same as it was as a journalist- to tell stories that hold a mirror to the world- beauty, blemishes, all in between. My first stab at this outside of the youtube documentary I made in 17′ is my first short film, ‘POST NO BILLS’ that is currently in post-production and with any luck, can be seen on the festival circuit this year. It’s a story I created with a great friend – and lead in the film Jonathan Hudson – that explores what home means to a gentrifying community. It takes an intimate look at the emotional impact of an all too often ignored subject. If this film is to be a representation of my ‘brand’ as a filmmaker I would hope it demonstrates the care and delicacy of empathy, and how without it, we are lost.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
This may be a two-part answer, because while I’m physically in LA, I would tell that friend to meet me in NYC- where my heart is. But let’s take LA to start. The Mexican food in LA is spectacular, and everyone you meet will tell you ‘their spot is the best’. Seeing as I’ve only lived here a decade, and I’m whiter than boiled rice, I will never tell you ‘the best spot’, but what I will do is take you to the spots my hispanic friends have shown me to be the best. There’s a spot in highland park, La Fuentes, cash only, bomb garlic shrimp. After that, as with most things I like to do, I tend to stay east- even on the west coast. I love walking, and Pasadena is a very walkable area. There’s also a great movie theater, the Laemlee, I try to go at least once a week. We’ll catch a flick there- they show plenty of foreign films, low budget indies, and the odd Marvel film. And if there is room in the tank after all the food/popcorn, we’ll hop on the metro into the Arts District. There’s great bars, breweries, and again…walkable.

But for New York (Manhattan), everyday I try to start in the park. Whether it’s a run, walk, stroll, laying down. I know it’s cliche, but for me there’s fewer places more magical in the world. Start east and go west, grab an oat milk latte from Irving Farms upper west side, hop on the citi-bikes down the west side highway, drop into cookshop in Chelsea for brunch, catch a play at soho playhouse, then work our way back uptown for a filet at Gallaghers mid-town. We’ll sit at the bar, the stories from the bartenders are better than any movie. There’s few surprises in there, but that doesn’t make them any less great.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
Man, I have been blessed with the support of an iron-clad safety net. And it started with my upbringing, my Maw and Da. Being born in Scotland, you swiftly learn a few things: there can be four seasons in forty minutes, our humor is unmatched, and pessimism is our resting state. This means that chasing dreams is not always the easiest to do, nor is it well received. But when I tell you my mother and father instilled in me a belief that broke the mould I mean I wore it, everyday. It got me picked on, laughed at, seen as narcissistic, but I knew that I could do…something else. They built the foundation, to which many in my life have added to- most notably my fiance who is the ear to my ideas, and the balm to my pain when it gets tough.

Socially, I owe everything that I have learned and unlearned to the work of James Baldwin. I picked up the fire next time when I was a teen, but only fully started to comprehend it as a compass when in college. His work lead me to journalism, to lending my voice, my privilege, to the everyday fight against a system that was built to work for me, and against others. Barry Jenkins showed me the journalistic power of a film, and Aaron Sorkin the magnetic power of dialogue. But all of these enablers would be muses without the guidance of my acting teacher Barbara Marchant at the Esper school of acting in New York. With her help, and patience, I was first able to see my words brought to life in front of others.

Instagram: francismmaxwell

Twitter: francismmaxwell

Facebook: francismmaxwell

Image Credits
Post No Bills (Short Film 2022)