Gordon Williams, Gleaner Writer

Steve McAlpin, director of 'What Goes Around'- Contributed

Knee-jerk temptation prodded him to merely copy past success. But the artistic challenge would not allow it. So, despite the urging of a growing fan base to duplicate the formula that drove his two earlier movies - Foreign and, Bashment: The Fork In The Road - Jamaican-born film-maker Steve 'Tehutnine' McAlpin plotted a different course for his latest project, What Goes Around.

Instead of a cookie-cutter remake of Jamaican street life in New York, spiked with violence, United States-based McAlpin said he diverted his energies - admittedly with an eye on the future - towards a different locale. Then he leaned on a trusted, but not-too-popular, philosophy.

"After Bashment I knew that I don't want to get too caught up in people's desires," McAlpin explained. "When people fall to that they lose the sharpness of their talent. I want to show people my talent is real. I wanted to do something to show people that I can do a movie that had nothing to do with shooting up the place."

What McAlpin came up with was "just a relationship movie" that is "not as aggressive as Bashment". It's about love, too, and the film-maker is quick to underline that while What Goes Around shows guns "not even one shot is fired" in the movie.

Repeat cast

Most of the filming for the movie, scheduled for release some time between June and August, was wrapped up in southern Florida last month. It should also feature scenes filmed in North Carolina, where the Kingston-born McAlpin now lives. Some features from his previous two films remained constant, including cast members like Nohard 'Noah' Grant, a hard-knuckled star of Bashment, although McAlpin added fresh faces, such as dancehall deejay Mavado.

Yet, there were differences too. Absent was creative partner Mykal Fax. The two split up after Bashment and Fax recently premiered his own film, Roaming Lion, in New York. Furthermore, in a cruel twist of life imitating art, Alton 'Raw Dawg' Ashman was gunned down in Washington DC just after he had shot two scenes for What Goes Around. Ironically, Ashman's 'Screwface' character met the same fate in Bashment. Cast members attended Ashman's funeral in Jamaica, but the loss hit hard and What Goes Around is being dedicated to him.

"He had left his car keys and suitcase with me in Florida," McAlpin recalled. "He flew back to Washington. Next thing I knew I got a call to say he was dead ... it really just shook us up."

Yet, Bashment had its silver linings. McAlpin believes the movie helped validate his ability. It also attracted funding for What Goes Around which, at US$150,000, according to McAlpin, is already double the budget to make Bashment.

Eye-opener

"Bashment opened a lot of people's eyes," he said. "A lot of people started to believe in my talent. A lot more pocketbooks started to open, and are still opening."

Then he threw down a challenge, with the hint of relish that comes from a man with something to prove. "They," said McAlpin, taking piercing aim at the established, but still sceptical, American movie industry, "are going to start believing more after this one."

To ensure that, McAlpin moved to step up the quality of his work. While What Goes Around still focuses on Jamaican lifestyle and characters, McAlpin is proud of his attempts to wriggle free from stereotypes associated with his homeland. He's grateful for the positive feedback from past projects. Foreign and Bashment, which had limited release in theatres, generated a lively following in the Caribbean community from DVD distribution. But McAlpin doesn't want his work to be strapped only to the region.

"I want people to say this guy makes good movies, period," he said.

And he also wants them to look good. To get that effect McAlpin re-evaluated his previous work, especially the technical side. His formal education is in accounting, not film-making. What he knows about the movies comes from studying books and reviewing the work of others. He discovered, even after making two movies, that he had approached the craft from the wrong end. "I actually learned it backward," McAlpin admitted.

Cut out the shortcuts

So, for What Goes Around, he concentrated on his role as scriptwriter and director. He then hired professionals, people who knew more about the technical aspects of film-making, such as lighting, sound and camera use, than he did. He cut out the shortcuts.

"This movie, I had a real team this time," McAlpin said, adding later, "I did not want to cheat the story."

He moved his cast and crew to Florida in February to escape the northern winter cold, shooting the bulk of the film in the Fort Lauderdale area with minor scenes in Miami. McAlpin also tried to tap into the huge Caribbean market in the southern US as well.

"I wanted to build a new fan base and support base in Florida," he said. "I wanted to expand my geographic domain."

Passion

His artistic domain benefited, too. McAlpin claims the audience will feel his passion in What Goes Around, and that that will translate into an important level of success: they will get it.

"When I tell my story I have to write something that moves me but I can't make it too preachy," he explained, without giving away much of the plot for the upcoming movie. "I have to make it entertaining too. It's a marriage between the entertainment and education as well ... I want to inspire people and I want to inform them. My angle is to provoke thought."

And finally, lure the attention of people in the film industry who can grasp his vision.

"I want to show it to people," McAlpin said. "But I want to show it to the right people."

McAlpin said he will try to get What Goes Around accepted at popular film festivals in the US and elsewhere. It's all part of his artistic evolvement, he said, not just about settling for - or copying - what has already been done.

"You can see where I'm going," he explained. "I didn't go less than, or stay in the same place, as Bashment. I went above and beyond that."

With What Goes Around McAlpin is hoping to strike the right balance, using his improving skills to reel in a larger audience that criss-crosses traditional barriers.

McAlpin knows that's not a novel idea. But he's sure it won't be a cop-out duplicate either.

Gordon Williams is a Jamaican journalist based in the United States.