Greenville director premiering second film in August

A Greenville filmmaker has set the world premiere for his second feature, a mystery centered on honoring and remembering a family’s heritage.

“Paydert,” the second feature film by James Jones, is premiering Aug. 3 at Golden Ticket Cinemas Greenville Grande, the same location of the premiere for his first film “Freedom of NC,” which is now showing on multiple streaming services, including Tubi, YouTube and The Roku Channel.

“I am very, very overwhelmed but in a great way,” said Jones.

“Paydert” is about the Nobles family, who relocate from Atlanta to North Carolina where they have purchased an older home that the husband, Chris, found during an earlier trip.

Chris is a writer who works from home. While his wife is at work and the children are in school, Chris begins to have out-of-body experiences where he meets with a girl named Tilley, who slowly reveals the history of the house.

Chris’ wife notices a change in her husband’s behavior and as he researches the history of the home, Chris learns that he has a deeper connection to it than he originally realized.

“(Tilley) comes to really connect with Chris and to let him know his power and who he is in his identity,” Jones said.

James wrote the screenplay after being inspired by a “60 Minutes” segment about Fred Miller, an African-American man who purchased a former plantation house only to learn that his ancestors had been enslaved on the property.

“I took the story and made it mine,” Jones said. “I was so drawn to just know that you’re living in a home where your family was forced to live.”

The title “Paydert” is partially influenced by a television show about gold mining that Jones watched. When the miners see a certain color of soil, they know gold deposits are immediately below it so that soil is the “pay dirt.”

“This family discovers the true gold in what is happening, and when Chris finds out who Tilley really is,” he said. “And they discover something that has been left in the house the whole time for him.”

Filming on “Paydert” began in May 2023 and was completed on April 28. It was a much different experience from his first movie, “Freedom of NC,” which he filmed at multiple locations across eastern North Carolina during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Jones said having returning crew members and actors also enhanced the experience.

Sherida Suggs, his assistant director, worked with him on “Freedom of NC” and in this movie plays Kenya, the wife and mother of the Nobles family.

“With Sherida Suggs, she knew the way that I work and how I shoot certain scenes or how certain ideas come about,” Jones said. “She knew the blueprint from ‘Freedom of NC.’”

Also returning was Prince Shipman, his sound and boom operator from “Freedom of NC.”

Patrick Mitchell was a new crew member, serving as gaffer, second assistant director and behind the scene camera operator, Jones said.

Along with Suggs, the movie’s cast includes David Pyles Jr., who plays Chris; Yanna Buttons, Tilley; and Jayla and Christian Albritton, who play the Nobles children.

Also in the cast is actress Taral Hicks, who plays a historian who works with Chris to uncover the house’s history.

Hicks has been an actress and singer since the mid 1990s, when she performed in “A Bronx Tale,” “Just Cause” and “The Preacher’s Wife” with Whitney Houston.

“I had a few other actresses I was interested in before I got to Taral,” Jones said. “When I ended up getting her management information, I reached out with a proposal. They reached me within a week and let me know they loved the story.”

Hicks said the bulk of her career has been in urban films but she always dreamed of performing in a historical drama set in the South.

Greenwreath Plantation, located off N.C. 43 North, was the setting for 90 percent of the filming, Jones said.

He also filmed at Boyette Slave and School House Cabin in Kenley. According to Visit NC, the 12-foot-by-16-foot one-room log dwelling was built for an enslaved woman and her eight children who lived on the Boyette farm.

The Boyette Family restored the structure in 1979 and had it placed on the National Register of Historical Places.

Jones said it was a powerful experience filming on the property.

“It was the only time I got a chance to put a face to someone who was connected to that plantation,” he said.

He also filmed at East Carolina University’s Black Box Theater and Black Cotton, a Northampton County farm owned and operated by Julius Tillery.

A lesson Jones learned from his first movie was to not leave post-production for after the principal filming is complete. He’s been editing the film throughout filming and is currently wrapping up sound production. This is why he’s able to hold the premiere to so soon after the end of filming.

Jones said he knew he wanted to hold this movie’s world premiere at Golden Cinema Tickets Greenville Grande after he and his wife recently watched to Bob Marley biography “One Love” at the theater.

He said he was impressed with the upgrades to the facility since his first movie’s premiere.

He reached out to a Golden Ticket manager in Washington, N.C., before that facility closed, who was familiar with “Freedom of NC” and that person connected his to the corporate office.

After a month or two of waiting, the corporate office reached out and said they were interested in screening the premiere.

Jones said he will be meeting with corporate representatives in June to discuss screening the film at other Golden Ticket locations.

Once “Paydert” screens, Jones said he is going to take time to help Patrick Mitchell with his short film.

Jones is also planning a short film and possible documentary about “Tricky Sam,” a distant family relation who was also known as Buddy Duke and Chicken Sam. Tricky Sam’s real name was Sam Stafford

“He’s done a lot of things that people couldn’t describe. Some people call them tricks, some call it black magic,” Jones said. Jones’ story will be about Sam’s early life when he started sharing his talents with the world. Jones wants it to become a series.

“There are so many stories to try and put in a film. I thought about it but I said know, it needs to be a series with eight to 10 episodes,” Jones said.