Producer Stephanie Allain on Being a Black Woman in Hollywood: ‘I Couldn’t Help but Be an Activist’ (Exclusive)

Photo:Film Independent

Film Independent

Stephanie Allain.Kevin Mazur/Getty

Kevin Mazur/Getty

Reading at home helped spark her career

Allain, who grew up between Los Angeles and New Orleans, says that she didn’t come from an “arty family.” Her father was a biochemist and her mother an educator, but the family read at home. Allain graduated from the University of California, Santa Cruz with a degree in poetry, and took a job as a script reader after graduation. It was in this role that she met a youngJohn Singleton, who came to her with the initial idea for his filmBoyz n the Hoodwhile interviewing for her job.“As soon as he got in the room, he just started telling me about the script that he’d written,” Allain says. “He had no interest in the job, but he interested me in the script. So, I pursued that script until I got it in my hands, and then I read it and thought, ‘This is why I am here.’”

Another film she was passionate about was 2005’sHustle & Flow, which starredTaraji P. Hensonand Terrence Howard. Allain says that she sold her house to get the money to fund the project, which helped launch director Craig Brewer’s career.

Stephanie Allain.Stefanie Keenan/Getty

Stefanie Keenan/Getty

“When you read something where it’s authentic, and you feel the vulnerability of the writer, when you feel the truth, it’s kind of undeniable,” she says. “And it gives me this confidence to go out and get people to spend millions of dollars, because I believe so strongly that the value is there, and passion is the one thing that really rules Hollywood.”

She was the first Black female Academy Awards producer, among other accolades

Stephanie Allain.Kevin Winter/WireImage

Kevin Winter/WireImage

“It’s a beautiful film, beautifully rendered,” Allain says. “And it really is a tough film because it asks really interesting, provocative questions about the nature of forgiveness and the aspects of generational healing that can be diluted through art.”Allain has a number of new projects in the works, including her first documentary, which will cover ‘70s singer Billy Preston. She works on music-based projects in part due to her husband, Stephen Bray, who was a member of the band The Breakfast Club and the composer and lyricist for theBroadway production ofThe Color Purple. But Allain has musical inclinations of her own, too.

Stephanie Allain with her book ‘Who’s in Charge?'.Stephen Bray

Stephen Bray

source: people.com