HOW REAL ARE THE REAL HOUSEWIVES OF ATLANTA?

HOW REAL ARE THE REAL HOUSEWIVES OF ATLANTA? 

I have been watching the latest season of The Real Housewives of Atlanta. I feel like I am watching Generations an all–black soap opera that ran on NBC 1989 to 1991. The clothes, the glamor, the bitchiness, the over the top acting, even the soft focus and make-up for the diva stars take me bring back the days of Dynasty, except it is shot on video tape instead of film. The difference with those soap operas and The Real Housewives is that we are expected to believe one is real and one is not. I think we have milked that cow for as much fresh dairy as we are going to get. Housewives reached it’s real highpoint season two with the infamous party planner, Anthony Shorter. There was nothing scripted or fake in that fiasco. Anthony Shorter pulled the wool over Sheree’s eyes, well at least temporary. Funny thing is, he did that to me, so I know. "That's right, BOOO"

Keep an Eye Keep an eye On your close friend

'Cause what you got they'll make you lose 

And then turn around and step in your shoes

I say they'll turn around And step in your shoes 

(From the Diana Ross & the Supremes Love Child album, 1968, and the Diana Ross album, 1970) 

Every famous person has both tales of success and tales of projects gone awry. Diana Ross had a concert debacle in 1983 when she held a free show in Central Park. The Showtime cable channel aired it live, and the revenue from the broadcast was supposed to go towards building a playground in Diana’s name. On the day of the show, not long after the performance began, rain started to pour down in an unforgiving torrent. The show was postponed until the next day, and on that day it drew over 500,000 people. Unfortunately, such a large and loosely policed crowd proved an easy target for muggers. Over a hundred people reported robberies during the second show, and some even reported assault. The city of New York incurred a number of lawsuits from victims of the attacks, who claimed that the city had failed to provide the needed security at the concert. The city settled the suits for millions of dollars and, to make matters worse, the television special didn’t even generate enough money to build the park. Consequently, Diana agreed to pay for the playground out of her own pocketbook.




For me, the film Gangsta Mafia was my Central Park before the storm. The project started out just like a sunny day in the park, and most of us involved were unaware of the approaching storm. However, the storm did come, and its name was Anthony Shorter. When I first met Anthony, he worked for Disney. I met him on AOL gay chat room. We tried dating for a minute, but I kept catching him cheating. Since there were no real romantic feelings, it was just simpler to be friends. Besides, he seemed to have connections. He took me to premieres and introduced me to celebrities like Lisa Raye, Rockmond Dunbar, AJ Jamal, and Derek Luke. These stars actually stopped by his office.

with Rockmond at SoundBoy. I am even in my official shirt

He was short, but he talked big. The planned name for the project was Gangsta Mafia and we would shoot it in twenty-two days. It was the story of the Italian mafia trying to take over the drug trade from two rival gangs in Los Angeles. Anthony and I created the story outline but my friend Darryl Wharton ghostwrote the actual screenplay. We knew the formula that Hollywood buys, so we were sure to include certain elements in the script. We had urban drama with the gangs. We had a love story between the mafia kingpin’s daughter and one of the gang members, echoing a Romeo and Juliet romance. We included rappers and comedians because we knew that Hollywood loves rappers and comics. We had hot heterosexual sex scene and an even hotter gay rape scene. The story ended with important, positive messages about the need for gang truces and unity.




Casting was a nightmare, with real gang members showing up to our offices to audition along with scores of actors from all over Los Angeles. So many talented people showed up. That’s when I learned how movies really get made -- the business is not about talented actors, it is about who will sell your film. I also witnessed the numerous favors a producer must call in to get a movie made. Anthony wanted to put his nephew, a budding rap artist, in the film. His nephew was actually very good, but Anthony later figured he needed someone who was already recognizable to audiences. He found a guy named Nomadd who said he was formerly a member of 50 Cent’s group G-Unit. Although it was hard to get Nomadd to do a convincing read, Anthony wanted to profit from the fact that he was part of the G-Unit posse. Therefore, he gave the lead role to Nomadd. Anthony also approached various local comedians about appearing in the film and, because he had worked with them previously, they were on board without too much drama. Then we got a headshot in the mail that made us all go, “What da fuck?” The name on the 8 by 10 glossy was Joey Buttafuoco.




Buttafuoco had become a media sensation back in 1992 when his underage mistress, Amy Fisher, shot his wife, Mary Jo Buttafuoco, in the face. Fisher received jail time for the shooting and Joey went to prison for having sex with a minor. However, television news and sitcoms couldn’t seem to get enough of him, and upon release from prison he moved to Hollywood to use his fifteen minutes of fame to secure a few movie roles. Anthony felt that Joey was our ticket to stardom. He cast Joey as the Italian mafia leader, although Joey had a Brooklyn accent. Joey was warm, kind, funny, and easy to get along with, and the role would be the biggest offered to him in a film at that time. Anthony started sending out press releases like there was no tomorrow, announcing Joey as one of the stars in Gangsta Mafia. Stories about Joey started popping up all over the internet. It made for great press, but in some cases, his notoriety presented an obstacle. As I was trying to secure product placement deals for the film, certain companies such as Ray-Ban would only send us product with the provision that Joey did not wear any of it. They did not want a celebrity like Joey, someone more infamous than famous, associated with their brand. Other companies would not have anything to do with us at all, simply because Joey was appearing in the film.






In general, things got progressively worse as the first week of filming wore on. Where Anthony had not set up credit accounts, he wrote checks, and he was writing them all over town for locations, trucks, and catering. He had even written Darryl and I checks to cover our living expenses during the production. On the seventh day of filming, as I was getting gas for one of the crew trucks, I realized something was wrong. My ATM card would not work at the pump. Because so many other things needed to be addressed at that moment, I did not have time to deal with the problem. We were shooting a very difficult scene that day, outdoors in Long Beach, with real gang members. It involved cars, guns, and a gay rape scene in an alley. Catering had not arrived on time, the craft services food had run out, and people were becoming hungry and disgruntled. Anthony was not on set and made himself very unavailable that day.

Now I see how she schemed and finally 

Worked her way in between 

She planted seeds of mistrust 

To make us fight unaware 

Her comforting ways when I would cry 

Shadowed the look of triumph in her eye 

Just like a snake on the limb of a tree 

A friend is an enemy you can see

Everything was going wrong. I was juggling too many hats to be effective in handling any one thing. When it was time to shoot the rape scene, we discovered that the main actor was wearing Mickey Mouse print boxers. Darryl turned to me to me and said, ”Get him in some white underwear, now!” Normally as producer, I would have told Darryl to kiss me where the sun don’t shine. However, since I was technically also the costumer for the film, I had to take responsibility. I did not have any white underwear handy and did not have time to run to a store, nor did I have any money to buy any. What I did next even I cannot believe to this day. I took the actor aside and explained the situation, telling him that the only pair of white underwear available was the pair that I was wearing myself. It was ninety-five degrees outside and we had been working since 4 a.m. The actor, a former gang member who had never acted in his life, said, “Let’s do this.” He put on my sweaty drawers, went out, and did his scene. I remain blown away to this day when I think about the dedication of that actor.

That night when I returned home, I checked my mail and found out that, my rent check had bounced and that my bank account was in a negative two thousand dollar deficit. I shut down filming for the next day. Funny thing is, the next day we were scheduled to shoot a jail scene with comedian Rodney Perry(of the Monique Show), Joey and Anthony, and ironically Anthony had cast himself in a cameo role as an inmate. On top of that, Joey was arrested two weeks later for something illegal with the IRS.

The devil's workshop is a busy place 

On top of evil there's an innocent face 

Oh, on top of evil he puts an innocent face 

She was just like a spider 

Only twice as smart 

We tried to give Anthony a chance to make things right. He claimed that he was going to settle the payroll issue and in a few days Darryl and I would be paid. All he needed to do was cut a trailer of the movie for the distributor, and then we would have the cash to keep filming. Darryl and I were skeptical, but we kept moving forward. After we began selecting scenes for the trailer, Anthony gave one of the cameras to Darryl so he could shoot extra street footage and the Los Angeles skyline. I worked with an editor over the weekend to select the best scenes to compose an eye-catching montage. I wrote the narrative for the trailer and taped my voice-over standing in Anthony’s tub. The bathroom had become our makeshift recording studio, and it made me think of the famous “Snake Pit” at Hitsville. To create the "Motown Sound," Berry Gordy housed the recording studio in the tiny basement of the building known as Hitsville. It was nicknamed “the Snake Pit."





The real problem hanging over our heads was that the cast and crew were due wages during the second week of filming. Darryl made a phone call to the payroll company and found out that Anthony never signed a contract with them and had never made a deposit into the account. In addition, someone discovered that Anthony had written fraudulent checks to all the locations, including the nite clubs The Mint and The Bungalow Club where scenes had already been shot for the film. Demanding answers, Darryl, his director of photography, and his assistant director, met with Anthony at his home. An argument ensued and Anthony told them that if pressed any further, he was going to go get his gun. Anthony demanded his camera back and Darryl refused, so Anthony began to make threatening and harassing phone calls to Darryl after he left that night. The calls became intense, and the next night we discovered some thugs standing outside of the apartment that Darryl and I shared. We both decided it was best for us to go away ourselves for a while, and we stayed with different friends across town. Anthony filed charges against Darryl for not returning the camera, but the judge dropped the charges when Anthony never showed up to court.


I still get calls from the LAPD, asking me if I know of his whereabouts. The next time I saw him was when I turned on the Real Housewives of Atlanta. I suddenly got a chill that ran down my back. I was watching with Clarence Reynolds and we both looked at each other because no one would have believed what we were seeing. He had gone through the Tony experience with me. It was no surprise that the “party planner” was the highest rated episode of The Real Housewives. They even used the clip for the opening of the current season. It was the only thing REAL about the REAL Housewives of Atlanta.

with NeNe Leakes at the Leimert Park Book Fair

Cause what you got that'll make you lose 

And then turn around and step in your shoes 

I said they'll turn around And step in your shoes 

So you better keep an eye on your close friend 

You better watch out for your close friend 

Don't trust nobody Don't trust nobody 

Keep an eye on your close friend