Gregory Maurice, the acquisitions lead for film and TV distribution company Filmhub’s newest sector Black Cinema Vertical, told TheWrap that Hollywood — which has cozied up into its DEI rollbacks — should consider the country’s diverse audience when delivering the next round of shows and movies, particularly if wants to do smart business.
Black Cinema Vertical, which launched in February is a new initiative from Filmhub that assists Black filmmakers with getting their film and TV projects distributed across more than 120 streaming channels, including Apple TV+, BET and Amazon’s Prime Video. In addition, the sector prioritizes creatives’ ownership goals, offering exclusive and non-exclusive deals.
Maurice, a film executive with 15 years experience, says his advocacy and passion for creating pipelines for Black filmmakers was rooted in his awareness of the racial disparities Black creatives face in the industry.
“As a community, we spend so much money at the box office, and also, like, at Walmart and Target … The amount of titles [by Black people] being produced or distributed by the studios doesn’t add up,” Maurice told TheWrap. “That’s when why I want to be an advocate for this industry … So far, it’s been 500 titles independently that I’ve released as an executive, and it’s always growing, but it’s been a it’s been a ride so far, and I’m super excited what we’re building at FilmHub, because now we just, tripling down about the level of commitment that we are putting, working and partnering with a lot of Black filmmakers.”
Read on for Maurice’s full Office With a View interview, edited for length and clarity.
How did you come to head up the Black Cinema Vertical (BCV)?
FilmHub was already operating before I joined the company, but when I was working at my previous company, I met the founder, Alan d’Escragnolle, and he, from afar away– I was very impressed with what he was building, because a lot of the filmmakers that I was helping or the ones who would come to me for distribution operation companies, they would always ask me about FilmHub, because FilmHub had a great reputation with the flood of filmmakers.
[Alan] took notice of what I was doing and my past experience. He knows about my passion and what I want to do. [FilmHub was] were already in the business, but they didn’t have an actual vertical committing to the elevation of Black filmmakers and Black films. And since FilmHub was partnering with a lot of those filmmakers already, it only makes sense for me to come on board to oversee and manage those titles and also to start leveraging past relationships I’ve had working with the streamers.
A lot of people are talking about Ryan Coogler and his Warner Bros. deal. With you and BCV being such advocate for Black filmmakers’ rights and options, what do you think about his push for ownership?
I’ve always been an advocate for Black filmmakers, and in this new era of the creator economy, it’s clear that filmmakers have more power than they realize. Ryan Coogler just handed them the blueprint for how to shift the power dynamic in Hollywood.
While many filmmakers are still giving up their IP for upfront checks, Coogler is reclaiming a model rooted in legacy, sustainability, and community ownership.
He didn’t need an algorithm, just vision, cultural capital, and the courage to demand what he’s worth.
That same spirit is what we’re building at Filmhub through the Black Cinema Vertical an initiative I’m proud to lead. With access to over 150 global streaming platforms and the largest Black film catalog in the industry, we’re breaking down barriers and ensuring that Black filmmakers own their stories, their rights, and their future.
Do you feel like if there were more people who looked like you in Hollywood that ultimately more Black creatives and stories would be supported?
Yeah, I believe so. Like this whole DEI conversation … sometimes people don’t understand acronyms, or they just make up their own definition of what DEI is. It’s always about representation. If it’s always the same people in the room, how do you understand the value of another community? We as a country are getting more diverse and the audiences’ tastes are very different. If you keep feeding them the same type of films where everybody looks the same, it doesn’t— it doesn’t make sense as a business for you to do that.
What I try to do, usually, is use data, math. At the end of the day, everybody can understand that. When you pay attention to the box office and us as a community, how much we spend at the box office and how much we consume. As a company, don’t you want to distribute or create content for the population that spends so much money? Understanding how to articulate and translate those numbers to decision makers is going to be a challenge for a lot of us moving forward, because as you can see, every time you talk about anything Black, it’s classified as being DEI or its a race conversation, which is not even what we are talking about.
What are the biggest challenges Black filmmakers are facing?
From my experience, filmmakers get excited about pre-production and production; that’s where they spend all their energy because they’re creatives, that’s how they are. But in reality, the No. 1 thing we should consider is the distribution strategy. Like, where do you see this going before you start shooting. You shouldn’t think about distribution after your shoot because sometimes distribution might take five, six, seven months. Most channels have partnerships with distributors, there are dates and commitments when titles have to be tied to them for programming. That’s the No. 1 issue I face with filmmakers, them understanding the distribution part of the business. That’s something they need to know during pre-production and even while in production. You’ve got to have a clear idea and strategy that for your title when you release it. Do your research.
What are some of the exploitive tactics you’ve seen be used in the industry?
The great thing [BCV) does when we work, we offer two different options: We have an exclusive agreement and a non-exclusive agreement, depends on the strategy you want to do as a filmmaker. But it’s very common for most distributors … they’ll do what’s called exclusive agreement, and usually that exclusive agreement is 10 to 15 years. And most of the time, those distributors get the title and it’s just a number [to them], sometimes there’s no strategy. They don’t put any emphasis on it, or even collaborate with you. But for us, we have the exclusive part of our business and a non-exclusive, where it’s very flexible. And if the filmmaker is not aligned with our strategy and what we’re doing, we give them the option to take the title back work with somebody else. We don’t try to force you to stay in an agreement for a long time when you’re not happy. We try to be flexible as opposed to one option.
When you think about everything that’s going on with the Trump administration’s anti-DEI movement and the rollback on DEI efforts in Hollywood, how do you reflect on the work you do for Black filmmakers?
I’m very proud of the work I’ve done in my personal life and what we’re doing at FilmHub. You always think about going to Hollywood or even New York when you think of entertainment, but we have filmmakers in Mississippi. Detroit is becoming a hub for Black cinema. There are so many different filmmakers around the country and we want to showcase that; I think it’s a beautiful thing.
What advice would you give your younger self?
Don’t be too hard on yourself. There’s such joy and learning from failures, because you’ll be able to use that as a strength. So just prepare yourself in the process while on the grind. Failure is going to come and go; don’t beat yourself down, just learn from it.
