The hip hop generation has embraced entrepreneurship with a passion! Whether selling T-shirts at local swap meets or running multi-million dollar multimedia corporations, these paper chasers recognize that success comes to those who handle their business. For some it's about independence. For others it's about power. But always· it's about the paper.

Paper Chasers is a feature length documentary about the impact of hip hop entrepreneurs who have built successful businesses in music, film, fashion, TV, print media, and now the Internet. Filmmaker/entrepreneur Maxie Collier (aka Son #1) and his production team travel the country in an RV, documenting the ambitions, successes, and failures of paper chasers at all levels of the game÷ everyone from hungry upstarts to successful old school veterans.

The film combines these interviews with behind-the-scenes footage as Collier struggles to hold his team together through the rigors of their ambitious low budget production. The end result promises to be an insightful documentary filled with unpredictable moments and an incredible soundtrack.

Maxie D. Collier, Son #1
Mediamaker-Author-Internet Entrepreneur

Maxie D. Collier has fourteen years of publishing experience and nearly ten years of film and video production experience. In the mid-80's, he founded a successful desktop publishing company and published a quarterly magazine serving the mid-Atlantic region. He began his television career in 1990 as an employee of Black Entertainment Television (BET).

While working at BET, Collier began writing, producing, and directing short films and music videos, with his eye on feature films. In 1993, he produced the award-winning short supernatural thriller, Mind Games. Then finally, in 1996, Collier co-produced his first feature, Detention. And later that year, he wrote, produced and directed the feature, Hacks.

Based upon the quality of these projects, Collier has been a guest speaker at filmmaking panels hosted by Showbiz Expo and the IFP West. Additionally, he has been an instructor for the prestigious UCLA Extension where he initiated the new digital filmmaking program that is proving to be one of the programs most popular curriculums ever.

In October 1998, he self-published The DV Filmmaker's Handbook, a book considered ãthe definitive guide to digital filmmaking,ä and launched the highly popular website, DVFILMMAKER.COM. In July 1999, he licensed the book to the IFILM Network, one of the Internet's leading online distributor of short films and features films.

Collier is the founder Son #1 Media, a bi-coastal media company specializing in the creation, distribution, and marketing of multi-media products and services. The company is comprised of: Son #1 Entertainment, a motion picture and animation production company; Media Smarts, a provider of educational tools and resources for media creators; and #1 InterNetWorks, a producer of Internet ventures targeted towards very specific niche markets.

Collier is currently working on The DVFILMMAKER Files, a collection of case studies of digital film projects worldwide. He is also working on Paper Chasers, a documentary on hip-hop entrepreneurship.

The Legacy of Hip Hop Entrepreneurs - A Son #1 Film

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