Meet Derrick Parker

Today we’d like to introduce you to Derrick Parker.

Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
Either I am persistent, or I am crazy. If it is the latter, I have (at the least) found a way to make a living of it.

I graduated from college just days after Disney MGM Studios (now Disney’s Hollywood Studios) opened for the first time at Walt Disney World. I studied acting in college, but I was not ready for Hollywood, CA, or Hollywood, FL. What I was ready for in Florida, though, was working as a news reporter. I landed in the fantastic beach area of Ft. Myers. The rigors of that job served me well, but my Communications degree would ultimately not be my life’s work. I started my acting career while working as a news reporter, and within three years, I was pursuing my soul work in NYC.

I completely bombed in my first move to NY. It was not the acting work itself; rather, it was trying to survive in the big city. I was not ready for the attitude, the subway, the low pay, or the extraordinarily small apartments. Within a year, I was back home in NC and began working in regional theater.

Surprisingly, I worked a great deal in regional theater. I did shows from Florida (again) and all the way up to upstate New York. Filming in NC was big then, too. I booked TV and film gigs there, as well as in the DC/Baltimore markets. I reached a point where I wanted more training as an actor. I auditioned for graduate programs across the country. I was BLESSED to be accepted into the program at the University of San Diego/Old Globe Theatre. To this day, I am honored to have studied there. I fell in love with San Diego. It even made me a Chargers and Padres fan (for a while.)

Upon graduating from USD, I was ready to give NY another try. This time, it was a success. I worked off-broadway and booked several TV jobs. After a couple of years, I got married and did the unthinkable. As my work as an actor was taking off, almost out of nowhere, I left it all behind and moved back to the South to raise a family. There are too many “what ifs” surrounding my decision to do that. All I can say about that is I have my daughter as a result of that change. And she makes everything about that time in my life perfectly OK.

Being a dad was the best thing ever! But being confined to a very small area left me with little acting opportunities. Fortunately, I was able to string together a fair amount of work in theaters within a certain distance. During this time that I was raising my daughter, I began screenwriting. For starters, I needed a creative outlet when I was not acting. And two, it was purely inspirational. I had grown sick and tired of seeing films with few black male leads. Even more exhausting was the number of films made that carried a theme or setting of enslavement or gang-related activity. So, I wrote/directed/produced a feature-length film. The film is titled ‘From Faith to Freedom.’ The story is about a black man who is exonerated after spending twenty years in prison for a crime he did not commit. When I showed my film in local cinemas in 2013, I let my daughter know that when she finished high school and goes to college, I was going to move to Los Angeles to fulfill my dream of a career in the grandest land of them all.

Upon landing in LA, while my daughter was beginning her second semester as a college freshman, I was hit with a harsh reality. The business of LA could care less about what I had accomplished as an actor and budding filmmaker. I had to work as a janitor to earn a living. Ironically, this was a blessing for God that I could not see. The pandemic hit, and many people were out of work. Many people lost homes, were displaced, and many people lost their lives. Through that entire time, I thrived because the one sect of people that continued to work were domestics (later called essentials.)

During the pandemic, I prepared myself for when things would get back to normal. From an actor standpoint, I had everything in place to do self-taped auditions from my home. Then I had an epiphany. I looked back over my life’s work and I realized as a reporter I learned how to shoot and edit. I had taught and directed young actors. I had written a film. To add to that, I have had (and still have) a burning desire to write films that I want to see. My passion was moving to the unchartered territory of being a filmmaker. I loved this new feeling!

I had a lot to learn about filmmaking. I applied to the graduate program of two schools. The school that accepted me was Mount St. Mary’s University – Los Angeles. I started in the fall of 2021 and graduated in the spring of 2023. I soaked in as much information as I could and learned a great deal in nearly every area of film. This includes but is not limited to: screenwriting, cinematography, directing, and producing. I love it ALL! I made four short films while earning my second master’s. Fittingly, the last, my thesis, was the most well-received. Truth is, I was told by some of the instructors that I would not be able to pull off my story idea. Proving them wrong became part of my motivation. For them to be pleasantly surprised and pleased with my final draft was all I needed. Just in case you want to know. My film tells the story of a young woman falling to her death, meets Jesus mid-way, and has a verbal boxing match with Him about how messed up the world is. The biggest concern was that I would not be able to satisfy the falling effect. Again, I did. I had a tremendous cast and crew. The collaboration provided a worthy final product.

Today I am preparing to go back to school to get my PhD in Film Studies. I will continue to act, write, and make films. My journey has not been a straight path. I have not accomplished what I wanted, but I have accomplished more than I thought I could. The star I saw when I finished college is still within reach. I am going to keep reaching for it.

Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
There are several parts of my journey that were not smooth. Nearly all of those were of my doing.

Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
I am most proud of the filmmaking work that I have yet to make.

I have plenty of acting roles I am proud of in such shows as The Boys Next Door, The Winter’s Tale, Hamlet, Leading Ladies (my daughter’s favorite), and Topdog/Underdog. The films I have made thus far I am proud of too.

But the screenwriter/filmmaking work I have slated for myself is the work I am most proud of because it’s going to stretch me beyond what I know God has blessed me with. My acting work is practically second nature. My work as a filmmaker is going to take digging more to the essence and meaning of the work. That is going to be pleasantly tough. That is why I am most proud of my future work.

So, before we go, how can our readers or others connect or collaborate with you? How can they support you?
Both. Naturally, this depends on how someone would want to be a part. The people I have collaborated with already, I will call when it is time to work again. When it is time to reach out to get new and/or more supporters, you best believe I will! 🙂

Contact Info:

• Website: http://derrickparker.com/
• Instagram: @derrickdparker