f you take the Notorious B.I.G. and mix in some Chadwick Boseman, with a sprinkle of Cardi B, garnished with down South Christian values; who do you get? James Bland.
Hailing from Titusville, Fla., the filmmaker, actor, and director serves as the executive producer and showrunner of the digital series Giants (giantstheseries.com), and he wants us all to stay focused on our dreams. “We are the manifestations, representation of a dream deferred,” he says, quoting literary great Langston Hughes. Bland is great in his own right, and he’s proving it time and time again.
Giants follows three millennials determined to live life on their own terms, no matter the cost. Created, written, and directed by Bland, it’s no accident the entire series is also produced and distributed by people of color, including Empire star Jussie Smollett who acts as executive producer. The second season of the series premiered earlier this year on Issa Rae’s (HBO’s Insecure) YouTube channel.
Bland’s journey to Giants began at Florida A&M University, where he says, “I started auditioning for student plays and films. Once I discovered filmmaking, the rest is history.” Having written and directed his first film during his senior year of college, the artist then moved to Los Angeles a decade ago to pursue Hollywood dreams.
“Giants is part of a renaissance, a resurgence,” he explains. “One of the biggest objectives is that Giants is a show for the culture — the cultural greatness and cultural excellence of Blackness.” Bland, who also stars on Giants as Malachi, is ready to see the show break barriers. “Giants tackles issues specific to the Black millennial experience.” The show is an intimate look at the unconventional lives of three friends and the obstacles they encounter.
For one, Bland hopes to use Giants to build storylines around mental health. “We don’t talk about [mental illness] much in our communities. Giants is really shedding a light on what it looks like to deal with it. And to normalize it.” On the show, actress Vanessa Baden Kelly powerfully brings to life the individual and collective impacts of bipolar disorder (previously known as manic depression) through the character, Journee.
The show also addresses sexuality and traditional views of Black masculinity. “We know the Black community is inherently homophobic, because of our religion, our upbringing, and culture,” he says. “We want to break down some of those barriers and walls perhaps to make it easier for younger boys and girls to come out to their parents and to have that conversation. I believe Giants will help people be more tolerant and more understanding of the struggles we all face. And to normalize it.”
Viewers follow Ade (Sean Samuels) throughout Giants as he battles with his identity and sexuality. “Black men can explore sexuality without labels and judgment,” says Bland. “Also, Black men can be intimate with each other without sex being involved. Black men don’t get the freedom to express ourselves and to be vulnerable.”
By so vividly looking at issues that for many years have been taboo in Black communities, Bland is arguably becoming the face of a movement. “I’m just walking in my truth. My mom says God can do more with an honest heart and I’m leading with my heart, aiming to tell stories from a very honest place. God is in the driver’s seat, I’m just along for the ride.”
So how does it feel to be the face of a movement? “It’s not heavy on me, because I’m working on being in the moment and creating from an honest space,” Bland says.
From the church to the trap, Bland cites Black brilliance as inspiration. “Blackness inspires me. Kendrick Lamar is a visual genius. Every music video [he does] makes me want to throw my entire catalog away and start from scratch. Chance the Rapper, not only his musicianship, but also his business savvy. The way he’s been able to release an album and win Grammys without a label. Black excellence all around inspires me.”
Bland cites a favorite Biblical passage (from the Hebrew version) as another inspiration: “Habakkuk 2:3: ‘For the vision is yet an appointed time, but at the end it shall speak, and not lie: though it lingers, wait for it; because it will surely come.’”
He takes the importance of patience and perseverance to heart, explaining, “They say it typically takes about 10,000 hours to become a master at anything. So, I really want my walk, my art, my journey to be a testament of being in the gym. Working out. Even when you feel like people don’t see you. Just know your time is coming. ‘Vision awaits an appointed time. Though it lingers, it shall surely come.’ It’s about tenacity. Be diligent. My journey as an artist, particularly here in L.A., is a testament of that.”
He’s not about to stop now, and that tenacity is sure to keep Bland reaching his goals, like the feature films he dreams of writing and directing.
“Right now, I’m in the episodic digital space,” he admits. “But I plan to write, act, direct, all around — depends on the story. I want to be in Black Panther 2, too.”
Imagining Bland as a superhero is no stretch — for him or us.
“I believe I have super powers,” he says. “Since I was a kid, I’ve always felt I’ve had the ability to do things that are supernatural. And I experienced it through church, like speaking in tongues or being prophetic or laying hands. My super powers hadn’t come to me yet, in that sense, but I believe that one day, I’m gonna tap into them.”
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