Jerry Harris left his job in Corrections over a year ago. He’s been working hard to find another job, but times aren’t good. The story opens when he gets a call letting him know that he has a week to make an emergency payment or the foreclosure process on his house begins. His pregnant wife Felicia is supportive but also fearful. The baby is coming and they’ve already used a debt recovery program; if Jerry is going to save their house? It’s going to take a lot of work, faith, luck and help.
While SAFETY NET followed Jerry for one day as foreclosure draws near, the feature film -- $107 A Day -- follows Jerry through ups and downs for seven days. He finds himself in a haunted garage, a mega-church, the library computer lab, a prison, an upscale coffee shop, and a chaotic basement. He chases old friends, acquaintances and his missing mother. He argues with his brother, dreams about his dead father, and there’s even a car chase. Maybe the slowest car chase you’ve seen on screen. But you’ll still care a lot. Because Jerry’s world looks more like middle America than most of the movies you’ve seen on screen this year. And you’ll care because his dream isn’t an outlandish dream. It’s familiar. It’s the American Dream: a place of your own.
In 2016, Oscar-nominated THE BIG SHORT chronicled the losses of billionaires and millionaires after the housing mortgage bubble collapse. $107 A Day tells the story of a family who faced losing their house at that same moment. In 2016, we saw the hashtag #oscarssowhite trending alonside of #blacklivesmatter. And many of us saw more clearly that the unequal treatment of Black lives in the custody of police mirrors the ways that Black lives are unequally represented in represented in Hollywood.
In 2017 huge shifts in the political landscape and increased tensions have many of us wondering what our lives will look like going forward. More people in America are aware that invisible and unequal systems and structures may be obscuring our ability to even see what it is like to be Black in America.
$107 A Day tells the story of a Black family who faced foreclosure when the mortgage market crashed. And it’s true. Black families lost their houses at almost double the rate the white homeowners did. Black homeownership (already statistically low) fell 6 percent. 73% of White America own homes while only 45% of African Americans own their homes. Experts say that the overall wealth gap between Blacks and Whites would be reduced by 31% if home-ownership were more equitable. The context for $107 A Day is the unequal situation that defines Black lives in America. But ultimately the story is so relatable, so American that it connects to all viewers, no matter where they are.
This film is an opportunity for all of us to understand each other better. The film bears witness to black experience. The film invites ALL viewers to care. The film reminds us how much it matters that we pay attention to our neighbors. It reminds us that: when everybody does better? Everybody does better. This is a film for NOW. This is a film for US. We hope that the success of the short film -- Safety Net -- raises awareness and interest in this project and sets a foundation for us to build the feature film $107 A Day as a part of the American Story. A vote in favor of tomorrow's American Dream.
We're looking for investors, donors, backers and friends during this development cycle of $107 A Day.
Please click this link if you'd like to find out more about this project as it unfolds.
While SAFETY NET followed Jerry for one day as foreclosure draws near, the feature film -- $107 A Day -- follows Jerry through ups and downs for seven days. He finds himself in a haunted garage, a mega-church, the library computer lab, a prison, an upscale coffee shop, and a chaotic basement. He chases old friends, acquaintances and his missing mother. He argues with his brother, dreams about his dead father, and there’s even a car chase. Maybe the slowest car chase you’ve seen on screen. But you’ll still care a lot. Because Jerry’s world looks more like middle America than most of the movies you’ve seen on screen this year. And you’ll care because his dream isn’t an outlandish dream. It’s familiar. It’s the American Dream: a place of your own.
In 2016, Oscar-nominated THE BIG SHORT chronicled the losses of billionaires and millionaires after the housing mortgage bubble collapse. $107 A Day tells the story of a family who faced losing their house at that same moment. In 2016, we saw the hashtag #oscarssowhite trending alonside of #blacklivesmatter. And many of us saw more clearly that the unequal treatment of Black lives in the custody of police mirrors the ways that Black lives are unequally represented in represented in Hollywood.
In 2017 huge shifts in the political landscape and increased tensions have many of us wondering what our lives will look like going forward. More people in America are aware that invisible and unequal systems and structures may be obscuring our ability to even see what it is like to be Black in America.
$107 A Day tells the story of a Black family who faced foreclosure when the mortgage market crashed. And it’s true. Black families lost their houses at almost double the rate the white homeowners did. Black homeownership (already statistically low) fell 6 percent. 73% of White America own homes while only 45% of African Americans own their homes. Experts say that the overall wealth gap between Blacks and Whites would be reduced by 31% if home-ownership were more equitable. The context for $107 A Day is the unequal situation that defines Black lives in America. But ultimately the story is so relatable, so American that it connects to all viewers, no matter where they are.
This film is an opportunity for all of us to understand each other better. The film bears witness to black experience. The film invites ALL viewers to care. The film reminds us how much it matters that we pay attention to our neighbors. It reminds us that: when everybody does better? Everybody does better. This is a film for NOW. This is a film for US. We hope that the success of the short film -- Safety Net -- raises awareness and interest in this project and sets a foundation for us to build the feature film $107 A Day as a part of the American Story. A vote in favor of tomorrow's American Dream.
We're looking for investors, donors, backers and friends during this development cycle of $107 A Day.
Please click this link if you'd like to find out more about this project as it unfolds.