Pittsburg native Jeff Benson didn’t write his first screenplay until his senior year at Bloomsburg University of Pennsylvania. Today, Benson is the founder and president of Fear No Man Productions, a film company he manages with producers, Shontae Khaleel White and R. Daniel Lavelle. Fear No Man released their first film, Elevators in 2006 and their second project, She’s Got It (2007), is already generating a buzz throughout the independent film industry.

She’s Got It tells the story of Taylor Young, a woman obsessed with her career who is thrown offtrack when her personal life and business world collide. Benson says his stories and characters are slight reflections of himself. “With the two main films that we’ve produced so far, I think the two main characters have a little bit of me in them, but then I embellish ... certain things,” he says.

Benson pushes to include as many black actresses as possible in his films, while continuing to promote up-and-coming black actresses. “It’s [a] shame that we don’t get to express ourselves on as many platforms as possible,” he says. “It makes you mad. It’s like OK, we got Denzel and Will, but we’ve also got a lot of other people, too.”

While growing up, Benson says he didn’t have directorial mentors and doesn’t like comparing his style with others, but he credits the Hughes brothers, John Singleton and Spike Lee with bringing black cinema to the mainstream. “I don’t try to style myself after anybody,” he says. “I respect what people do, but I’ve got to do something different, something unique.” –gavin philip godfrey

For more information on Benson’s upcoming projects, visit www.fearnomanproductions.com.

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