Chiderah Uzowulu Wants Black Filmmakers to Know They Can Do Anything

Chiderah Uzowulu embodies what happens when talent, creativity, and relentless determination collide. Though he built his foundation on the basketball court, film has always been his true passion, he was simply waiting for the right moment to step into the spotlight.

After earning his engineering degree from the University of Texas, Uzowulu made a bold move to Hollywood, landing a position as an assistant at WME. The very next day, he began shooting Hierarchy. His routine involved stepping away from his assistant desk to seek guidance from Katie Irwin, an agent at WME Independent, then rushing back downstairs to answer phones. It was an exhausting hustle, but Uzowulu refused to let his dream slip away.

Even when production hit rock bottom on day nine and all hope seemed lost, he pressed forward. Reflecting on what kept him going, he said, “I saw it from day one. I just knew that this would do numbers because of the belief that I had in myself and the confidence God gave me.”

Culture Custodian sat down with Uzowulu to discuss his early beginnings, his unconventional path in Hollywood, and what he hopes Hierarchy will accomplish for Black filmmakers everywhere.

Tell me about yourself. What was your first project?

I grew up in Houston. I used to come back and forth to Nigeria growing up. I was always a basketball player, but I knew I enjoyed films for the most part. But it’s just that basketball was at the forefront of my mind. When I was done playing basketball, I was about 20 years old, so I focused on the film side of things. The passion for film had been present since I was much younger, probably since middle school, because I would always take theater classes as my elective along with basketball. But I began to be more focused and drawn to film when I was officially done with basketball.

The first project was in 2017. It was called Three Face. That was the first short film that I did in my sophomore year of college. It was an action film as well.

You graduated with an engineering degree and immediately moved to Hollywood to pursue filmmaking. How did your engineering background influence your approach to filmmaking?

My engineering background didn’t necessarily influence why I make films, but it definitely helped me with how I make them. In engineering school, I learned a lot about problem-solving and project management, figuring out how to move from an idea to a finished product. That mindset made it easier for me to approach a project like Hierarchy and actually see it through to the end. 

I always knew I wanted to make this film. It actually started as a short, around 35 pages, which I wrote during my senior year in 2020, right in the middle of COVID. I wanted to do one more good, substantial project before moving to L.A. Initially, Hierarchy was meant to be a 30- or 40-minute short, but one of my friends, who’s also in the film, encouraged me to turn it into a feature. So I expanded the script, made it longer, and we started filming later that year.

The inspiration came from rejection. I had auditioned for a project that I really wanted, but didn’t get the role. That disappointment pushed me to start writing Hierarchy. 

What was it like taking a job as a WME assistant while simultaneously filming Hierarchy. What specific insights did you gain from being inside that agency environment?

I learned the business side of it. Now, I know what it takes to make and sell a movie. What these executives look for, what these executives don’t want, the time it may take, or how much money somebody may want to invest, what’s a lot of money to them, what’s little money, who do they want attached? I learned the business side of things so much while I was at WME.

You said production funds ran out on day nine of shooting. Take us back to that moment.

It’s funny because when we ran out of money, the same guy who’d told me to extend the script, Xavier, came to my apartment before I left for work. At the time, I was working as a bouncer at a club. He said, “Hey, we’re out of money.” And I didn’t have any, either. Then he said we’d have to put the shoot on hold.

I really didn’t want to do that because I knew how hard it had been to get everyone aligned. The last thing I wanted was to stop and try to restart later, sorting out people’s availability could’ve taken a month. I told Xavier, “I don’t know how it’s going to work out, but we can’t stop. God’s going to provide.” The very next day, I got a call on set from someone who’d heard I was making a movie and wanted to help finance the rest of the project. That’s how it came together.

As a Nigerian in Hollywood, do you ever feel pressure to represent your culture in a particular way? 

I don’t feel pressured because my dad did a good job of instilling where I come from. There’s no pressure because I know who I am. At the same time, I want to tell stories that relate to where I come from, our home, our culture, what we know, and what we were raised on.

Without giving away spoilers, what is Hierarchy really about at its core, and why was this the story you felt compelled to tell as your debut feature? What do you hope audiences take away from it?

Hierarchy follows two adopted brothers looking for financial gain. In the midst of one of their biggest heists, they’re tracked down by a mafia and a relentless detective. I wanted to do an action heist film. I’ve watched so many movies, my mind is like a working storytelling book. So when it was time for me to write this, it was easy for me to pull characters and different scenarios from different movies I’ve seen. 

The core of the story, and I tell people this all the time, is I want people to look at the story of the making of the project more than the story of the project. I want people to feel inspired to go and make something that they’ve always wanted to make. 

Now that Hierarchy exists and you’ve carved out this path, how do you feel about your responsibility to other young Black and Nigerian filmmakers watching your journey? 

I want people to be inspired. I want to show everybody what’s possible and how good God is. Because what we tend to do is to always have a time limit on the things we want to do and accomplish. And this project showed me patience. I was able to realize that even though this is something that took a long time, it came at the perfect time. What is important for me is to ensure that I’m an inspiration to everyone of my color, especially my own people in Nigeria.