David Fortune’s Tribeca Debut Project "Color Book" Spotlights Black Single Fatherhood
Written by Kameron Bain
David Fortune’s Feature Film “Color Book” made a splash at the 2024 Tribeca Film Festival in New York City. After winning AT&T’s Untold Stories 2023 Pitch Contest and receiving a $1 Million Dollar cash prize to help produce the feature film, Color Book finally debuted on the big screen. The film follows a Black father, played by Will Catlett, and his son, played by Jeremiah Alexander Daniels, on their trip to their first baseball game after the death of the family matriarch. Set in his hometown of Atlanta, from car breakdowns to missed trains, the duo faces obstacles that test their relationship and commitment to family as they both navigate grief. In the film, we get an inside look at the struggles of raising a Black child with Down syndrome while also navigating Black single fatherhood, a story that often goes untold in Hollywood today. With this authentic portrayal of Black fatherhood and the peculiarity of the human condition, Color Book’s debut left the theater screening in NYC with not one dry eye in the room! After a successful second show at the Essence Film Festival, Color Book is now searching for a theatrical distributor and is on its way to France for its international release.
Inspired by Fortune's original short “Us' produced in connection with Ghetto Film School X Netflix Partnership, Color Book showcases the power of Black storytelling and proves to be a testament to what happens when opportunity and equity meet talent. “Lucky” is one of Will Catlett's many captivatingly dramatic roles, continuing to establish him as a leading man in Hollywood dramas. While this role certainly diverts from his more recent role in Universal’s Vampire Thriller “Abigail” (2024), Catlett’s dramatic range continues to shine through from project to project offering a great look.
Often times we might find that Black male actors, like Catlett, are restricted to love interests, thugs, drug dealers, gangsters, or more recently, the violent dark-skinned “no good” ex-husband (see a few earlier Perry productions). As Lucky in the Color Book, not only do we get a chance to see Black fathers struggling with single parenthood, but we see a very different portrayal of the complexities of raising a Black boy with a learning disability. This type of film is virtually unheard of in the film landscape and sheds light on a group that is virtually unseen in Hollywood.
According to research “In most places, as at the national level, Black people have higher disability rates than whites, up to 2.5 times greater.” With this in mind, Color Book offers some well-needed representation for films featuring members of the disability community that oftentimes center around white characters like Shawn Murphy’s character in the hit series “The Good Doctor.” Or Zak Gottsagen’s character in “Peanut Butter Falcon'' (2019) or even the Frank Rossi character from Academy Award winner “Coda” (2022). While it may be unintentional on Hollywood's part, we see very few depictions of Black disabled people on the silver screen like Cuba Gooding Jr.'s role in “Radio” (2003) or Jamie Fox’s depiction of singer Ray Charles in “Ray” (2004). Producers in Hollywood may not have taken note of this gap in the landscape, but Fortune and his Atlanta-based team have done so with a fraction of the resources!
Fortune's producing team includes the Starz leading lady Naturi Naughton, and Howard University Alumna Kiah Clingman, who helped to pitch the project to AT&T. Completing the producing team is Autumn Bailey Ford and Kristen Uno. The rest of Fortune’s executive producing team includes Xavier Two Lewis, Korstiaan Vandiver, Christopher Escobar, and Saleah Smith.
Color Book is a refreshing take on Black masculinity, family dynamics, and the complexity of Black fatherhood. Fortune continues to push the limits of what Black male representation in film looks like, and even intimate portrayals like this are few and far between. Fortune continues to break the mold. While this isn’t David’s first rodeo at Tribeca Film Festival. His short film, “Shoebox,” was shown at Tribeca back in 2021. The film's authenticity and simplistic nuance are a masterclass in making a dollar stretch without losing the quality of storytelling. To say that Mr. Fortune and his crew are well on their way to critical acclaim would be an understatement!