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"A refreshing breath of fresh air has entered the world of African American comedy, and his name is Hadjii."
Lenny Garner Jr., Director, Girlfriends, Just Shoot Me
About
About
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Born and raised in Brunswick, Georgia, Hadjii is an accomplished writer, director, actor, producer, and humorist. Hadjii graduated from the University of Georgia’s College of Journalism and Mass Communication with a BA degree in Telecommunications Arts, and later spent three years at his alma mater as an Adjunct Instructor.
In 2004, he wrote, directed, and starred in his first feature film “Somebodies,” which premiered at the 2006 Sundance Film Festival. The film also went on to receive Best Screenplay from the 2006 Sarasota Film Festival, a Golden Thumb from renowned film critic Roger Ebert, and earned Hadjii a Best New Director Award from the 2007 Pan-African Film Festival.
In 2008, Hadjii wrote, directed, starred, and executive produced “Somebodies: The Television Series” for the BET Network. The show aired as the first scripted sitcom in the history of the network and received audience and critical acclaim, including honors from the LA Times (Critic’s Choice) and the Associated Press (One of Five New Shows to Watch).
Hadjii's first novel, “Don’t Let My Mama Read This: A Southern-Fried Memoir,” debuted in April 2008 to national acclaim from Publishers Weekly, Roger Ebert, and The Atlanta Journal Constitution.
A member of the Writer's and Director's Guilds of America, Hadjii currently has several projects in development in film and television. He resides in Atlanta, where he enjoys watching bad movies, studying business and real estate, and mastering the fine art of microwave dinners.
“The world you want to live in, needs you to create it.” I believe it’s from Zora Neal Hurston, and it really has become somewhat of a golden rule for me. If I want to see more love, understanding, patience, or whatever in the world, I have to be someone who brings that to the table. On the other hand, if I hate the ignorance, hate, and gossip, etc. that I see in the world, it’s up to me to not participate in that. There’s another saying based on a similar principle which says, “You have to be the change you want to see in the world,” and I really believe that.
What was your first job?
When I was fifteen I got a job as a dishwasher at this buffet-spot in Brunswick, Georgia called, Western-Steer Steakhouse. I mention that because as a writer, you can’t beat the characters that you’ll meet working in the service-industry. However, my first “real” job after college was working as an Outreach Coordinator for The Athens Attention Home/Project Safe Place. We were a temporary shelter that gave assistance to teenagers going through family problems and things like that. It was my job to raise awareness in the community about our services. I also handled most of their fundraising and things of that nature. Even worked as their Recreational Coordinator during one summer. I still hold that job in high regards because it was working with those kids where I learned that the way we carry ourselves as people and the work we put out there as artists really do influence our young people and our community as a whole. That’s why I approach things the way I do. (See the answer to question 1.)
Name a fact about yourself that would surprise people.
It’s funny because a lot of people watch the show and think I’m like Scottie (the character from Somebodies) in real life, but I was actually a pretty good student in school. I was gifted as a youngster, took all the A.P. classes in high school, and even made the Dean’s List a couple of times at the University of Georgia. As a matter of fact, my focus right now is to take advantage of the opportunities that are being set before me in this industry, but I still plan to go back to school one day to get my doctorate so I can become a professor one day. That’s right. Dr. Hadjii. However, I think what would really come as the biggest shock to most people is how critical and analytical I am. Every move’s well thought out. I ask for advice, I seek council, I research, I pray, I evaluate, then I re-evaluate, and after it’s all said and done, no matter how well it went, I never feel as if it was good as it could’ve been. I critique everything and I’m by far my own worst critic. Don’t get me wrong. I’m not a perfectionist, but I have very extremely high expectations for myself. People who are really close to me will tell you that I’m probably the most critical person they know.
What was your most memorable moment in the
entertainment industry?
It’s hard to choose one moment in particular, but if I had to pick one, I would go with the day “Somebodies,” (the film) got a standing ovation from about thirteen hundred viewers at Roger Ebert’s Overlooked Film Festival. This was a special moment for me because it proved what I’ve been trying to tell people for years, which is that my comedy, my viewpoints, or my art isn’t limited to young people, or young black people, or religious people, or the South, or any of that. Yes, it is young. It is black. It is Southern. But it can still be enjoyed by all. The world is bigger than the demographics and all of the other marketing strategies that people try to apply to art. Yet, people still assume that white people won’t watch B.E.T. People still assume that young blacks don’t read books. And people still assume that older blacks can’t relate to the younger generation and vise-versa, and at the end of the day, we suffer as people because there all sorts of cool stuff out there that we’d enjoy that we don’t even get exposed to, because some expert has made a preconceived notion about what you will like. However, when my film can kill black audiences in Cleveland and Atlanta and then turn around and rock Mormons in Utah and seniors in Illinois, I know I’m on the right track.
If you could be anyone else for a day,
who would it be and why?
No one. I wouldn’t trade places with anyone else for a minute, because you never know what’s going on with a person behind closed doors. I mean, so and so’s life might look like it’s the best thing in the world, but we never know what someone’s personal life is like. You never know what a person’s suffered or endured on their way to the top. What secrets they’re hiding, what bondage they’re in. Or you may have a person who’s on top of the world today, but who knows what tomorrow has in store for them. Nah. I’m cool being me. Plus, not to sound cocky, but I honestly believe that there isn’t anything that someone else has that I can’t have or accomplish for myself if I put my mind to it. So I don’t have to be anybody else for a day to see what the good life is like. I just have to keep doing me until my day comes.
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