Typically, the average 18-year-old doesn’t have their life figured out or know what they want to do professionally.
Erica Sutherlin’s story looks different. At 18, she vowed to dedicate her life’s mission to all facets of the arts, primarily theatre. She said she worked within the arts community as both an actress and a director for 20+ years, until one day, she reached a crossroad realizing it was time for a change.
After speaking with her sister on the phone, who lived in Florida, she said she learned about a new job opportunity. It involved her love for the arts in some capacity, but it was now a different route—teaching.
“I taught at a visual performing arts school in St. Petersburg, Florida for about ten years all while I was still acting and directing professionally.” she said.
Although she was teaching, she said she always knew she wanted to venture off into television and film. In 2014, she and one of her mentors co-wrote and produced a movie, introducing her to filmmaking.
Concluding the project, she went to film school, which led her to walk away from teaching and theatre in 2017.
“I cashed in my 401K, all the savings I had and went to USC [University of Southern California],” she said. “I took this intensive journey for three years learning about filmmaking from different perspectives.”
She said from making connections and networking, that’s how she became one of the writers on “Voodoo MacBeth,” a film that recently screened at the 2021 St. Louis International Film Festival. While working on the film, she became good friends with the casting director, who introduced her to Mychael Chinn, a former Lifetime TV executive.
Mychael Chinn is the creative visionary behind Lifetime’s “Kirk Franklin’s A Gospel Christmas,” inspired by his experience growing up in the Black church.
Sutherlin makes her directorial debut with the film alongside Kirk Franklin and Tracy “Twinkie” Byrd as executive producers and writer Kourtney Richard, who wrote a screenplay the film is based around.
“Kirk Franklin’s A Gospel Christmas,” starring Demetria McKinney and Chaz Shepard, journeys a young pastor trying to find her voice as a woman, leader, and singer. She leaves behind her hometown of Chicago and her mother’s megachurch to become a small-town church pastor. Along the way, she dives deeper into self-discovery and entangles herself in romance.
Due to safety protocol, Sutherlin was unable to meet face-to-face with Franklin. Instead, they communicated via phone and Zoom. She said it felt surreal to work with him and know she was on the phone talking to him.
“I received the first draft of his music because we had to rearrange it to fit the story and make it not sound like his Christmas album,” she said. “While I was listening to his music, I received an email saying they were waiting for my feedback on his music. I was in another place. It took me three hours before I could respond to that email. I had to sit myself down and say, ‘girl, look you are the director. Give this man notes on his music.’”
She and McKinney also developed a great professional relationship which blossomed into an on-camera friendship.
“It was a delight. She really represented being in the number one spot,” she said. “She’s very talented, always eager to learn and willing to try something new.”
Sutherlin enjoyed working with Shephard, who she said always had a lot of positive energy.
“I remember the first time we met face to face, which was in the studio he came in [he’s always a big personality, big energy] recording songs,” she said. “The producer was like, ‘Do it like this and then I want you to go here.’ He was like, ‘Yeah, yeah, got it, got it. Let’s go for the take,’ and it would be perfect. That’s not something that you can teach. It comes with you.”
The film comes with many firsts for Sutherlin. It’s Lifetime’s first gospel Christmas movie, and Sutherlin is the first African American woman to direct it, it’s her directorial debut, her first time as a writer with Lifetime, and her first time executive producing with Lifetime.
“I have a lot of feelings about it,” she said. “I feel happy, excited, exuberant, nervous.”
She said she feels overjoyed and has been counting her blessings regarding the film.
“This movie is not my movie at all. I am the shepherd,” she said. “It’s their movie, the people’s movie. I make movies for regular people to enjoy, have a good time, escape for a little bit and resonate with.”
“Kirk Franklin’s A Gospel Christmas” premieres Saturday, Dec. 4 on Lifetime at 8/7 p.m. CST.
