Black writer. Black director. Black producers. Black talent. Black … neighborhood?
That sums up the Issa Rae-produced, female-driven comedy One of Them Days. The movie, starring Keke Palmer and SZA, is a homage to the 1995 classic film Friday, led by director Ice Cube and star Chris Tucker. This time around, One of them Days, directed by Lawrence Lamont, is a twist on the day-in-a-life stoner comedy about two people trying to make it in South Los Angeles.
In this new version, Palmer — who, let’s face it, is the queen of the Millennials — and SZA — who soundtracks our romantic lives — are short on their rent in the Jungles, the neighborhood that borders one of South L.A.’s affluent Black neighborhoods, Baldwin Hills. And they spend a day trying to figure out how to get the money.
The film, in theaters now, was filmed in the summer of 2024 in the exact neighborhood it’s portraying — a feat, considering most productions rely on soundstages and re-creations that are at times thousands of miles away from the story they’re attempting to tell. But that’s the essence of this story — to film inside of an apartment complex and in a neighborhood that is undergoing the very gentrification that’s central to this story.
“I thought that was an interesting element that they put in because that is definitely happening now,” actress Vanessa Bell Calloway told me, while taking a break from a critical scene in the film where she reveals to several other characters that there’s a new tenant in the complex who is not like everyone else. “We own a block in Leimert Park [and] we see what’s going on [with] the whole block. My father-in-law bought that block over 50 years ago. He’s no longer with us. But just seeing the gentrification come into that neighborhood is just … it’s … funny. Because nobody wanted to be near there.”
But they do now.
Anne Marie Fox
This film is releasing at a time when Los Angeles is on the brink of hosting the 2028 Olympics, the 2026 World Cup, the Super Bowl and more — and they’re coming specifically to these largely Black neighborhoods, which is eerily timely. What we’re seeing on streets like Crenshaw Boulevard, for example, are millions and millions of dollars being poured in the ground for development. Many new construction buildings or buildings actually under construction are enveloped by chain-link fences, sometimes scaffolding, hinting at something new and shiny coming soon.
The Intuit Dome, the new arena where the Los Angeles Clippers play (and where the NBA All-Star will be held in 2026), just opened in August 2024, and cost $2 billion to construct. It sits in Inglewood and is steps away from the newly constructed SoFi Stadium, home to both the Chargers and the Rams, the latter of which won the Super Bowl in 2022 there and is currently vying to reclaim the NFL’s biggest crown.
What we often see in on-screen portrayals of Los Angeles are either the desirable, uber-artsy neighborhoods with a high walkability score, the aspirational Rodeo Drive and Beverly Hills versions, or the tony beach cities like Malibu, which is presently dealing with the aftermath of horrific wildfires that have damaged the iconic coastline that has defined what living here could look like on film and TV.
And then there are the few-and-far between Black films set in L.A. that give viewers a post-1969 Watts riot or drug-and-crime-riddled look at the struggles and destruction all of those occurrences left behind.
Obviously, there have been some exceptions. Gina Prince Bythewood’s beloved basketball flick Love & Basketball was filmed in the affluent Black neighborhoods of Baldwin Hills and Ladera Heights. And that film — in case you were wondering — was released 25 years ago this year.
But the real story of what’s happening in these areas now is almost too hot for TV. Prices have skyrocketed in South L.A., especially as it’s now being “discovered” by those outside of the community. The demographics are changing and the people who never left these areas, are in many ways, being pushed out.
That’s where One of Them Days comes in.
“First of all, I mean, let’s think about who’s a part of it: Issa Rae. From the moment that she and I had our first meeting and she told me about this project, I was very, very excited. It had some nostalgic notes, movies that I love like Friday, but it also had similar references to what’s happening at large in the same way that Friday did when they brought the idea that … gun violence is an issue in our community,” Palmer told Andscape.
“Gentrification, it has always been an issue, but it’s definitely something that we wanted to talk about more in this film and using comedy as a way to explore those themes from gentrification, but also financial literacy and entrepreneurship. And so those are all the things that I talk about in general with my brand. And so this movie just aligned with that in a narrative way,” Palmer said.
But please don’t get scared off. One of Them Days is a comedy. And it’s stacked with all of your funny faves like Katt Williams, Janelle James, Lil Rel Howry and more. But that comedy is wrapped around activism and a level of storytelling that’s painting a fuller picture of South L.A. as it exists now.
“The Jungles or The Jungle, as some of the older generation calls it, has always been this mystical, mythical, dangerous place in LA,” Issa Rae said. “And to be able to show the humanity behind it in this story of gentrification, really appeals to me. And it’s written so, not only comedically, but intelligently, as a showcase of the community. Like my mom lived in The Jungle at one point. My aunt lived in The Jungle, I just found out at one point. And it’s just been such a staple. And even the name, The Jungle, is so demeaning to who we are. This is also a way of reclaiming this neighborhood as our community, as ours.”
The experience of being on set while the cameras are rolling, and the actors are working through pieces with their scene partners is always fascinating. For sure you get to see under the hood and find out how exactly the engine works in the first place. But you also get to see things that will never make the final product – because they were never designed for you in the first place.
At one point, I was tucked away on the second floor of an open air apartment complex in someone’s actual apartment (the living room’s throwback CRT TV hiked on a entertainment center and more tell me that) watching the action on a bank of monitors, listening in on headphones. Before the same scene they’re working through in this moment gets called by director Lawrence Lamont, someone comes by to make sure that even though the door to the apartment I’m in is ajar, the cameras can’t see me or anyone else who is in the apartment as leads Palmer and SZA whiz by on their way down the hall and onto the stairs to get to the courtyard of the complex where they encounter Calloway and DomiNque Perry in a scene, eyeballing the new white neighbor (Maude Apatow).
On a break, Issa Rae’s longtime collaborator Deniese Davis walks into the apartment for a chat. I say to her, “You’ve got a Black producer, Black director, Black writer, Black actors, Black neighborhood, Black, Black, Black. This is a unique and foreign experience, right? Talk to me about that because this is … revolutionary?”
She nods in agreement.
Anne Marie Fox
“It is. I had the privilege of being on Insecure for six years as well, and then going to do Rap Shit with Issa. And I think one thing that we know that we kind of hold into going into a new project, is [that] it’s possible,” Davis said. “And so I think whenever you can assemble an Avengers dream team like we have, it makes you all want to step up, make sure we’re being intentional from the top down. But it also helps us protect the film, I think, from an authenticity standpoint, and from being able to make sure culturally every single nook of this story, and these characters, and this world feels real, and it feels grounded. We think it’s only going to help elevate the comedy because of that. What has been great is that we feel like we’re covered in all areas. There’s so many of us that were like, ‘We can’t get this wrong.’ ”
In this case, protecting the integrity of a story isn’t just the comedy or the storytelling itself. It’s everything else too. It’s telling the world, essentially, about something big that’s happening in an area they’re unfamiliar with that is happening in real time.
“But you also don’t want to come in and make it something that’s the butt of a joke, nor necessarily being stereotypical in the way that you feel like you might have seen this thing,” Davis adds. “And I think one thing that people often forget is that comedy really allows the space to touch on serious issues and real important topics and themes, but do it in a palpable, very universal space. Where people laugh, but then they go, ‘Oh, shit. That’s real.’ So I think that the nuances are important because of that. And it’s an interesting line of thread, when you’re touching on obvious topics that are actually happening in real time as well. They’re not necessarily pointing to the past.
But let’s not ignore the entertainment value of it all, because that’s why we’re here, right?
SZA and Palmer are the dynamic duo you didn’t know you needed. They first met when Palmer hosted Saturday Night Live in December 2022, and the chemistry between the two of them back then was immediate and evident.
“I’ve always been really inspired by SZA. ‘Control,’ I think, broke barriers in terms of just our generation across the board, the concepts, the themes, the stories, the way the music sounded. It really shifted an era,” Palmer said, while we’re seated at a kitchen table inside of another apartment in the complex. “We would talk every now and then. She would always send me some encouraging words. I would send her encouraging words. We’ve just always been admirers of each other. When we did SNL, that was kind of the first time that I think we met face-to-face. She had her family with her. I had my family with me. We had that kind of Midwestern vibe where we like what we do, but we also want to stay grounded and also be real people in the midst of all of this fame and entertainment.
“Doing some of the chemistry reads immediately everyone could see that it was as if we knew each other forever. And I don’t know that we can explain it as we film this movie … our minds are blown and just like, oh my gosh, I really see myself in you. It’s just, I don’t know, it’s just a really special time. I don’t have this in every movie. I’ve obviously loved every project I’ve done. But there are certain projects that I’ve done where I feel this energy of like, oh my gosh, this is something that I’m always going to remember, and this has really impacted me in a personal way. And I think that that is who she’s been for me. She’s just a special person.”
Days before this set visit, Vice President Kamala Harris became the Democratic presidential nominee. Perhaps even that announcement added some excitement to everything that was happening in and around basecamp for One Of Them Days. The idea that two young Black women who are firmly rooted as strong generational voices were shooting a film in a changing Black community in Los Angeles and were giving authenticity to a piece of work wrapped in comedy that was being produced by another Black woman who also carries a listened-to voice for and of the community felt … well it felt like something.
A dream? Maybe. A chance to quietly revel in the world of possibilities? Absolutely.
“It feels like it is something that will be in the zeitgeist. And if we are successful, it’ll become iconic and probably become a part of our classic Rolodex of films that we all love as family,,” Davis said. “And it is kind of jarring when you look at the history of theatrical films. The only comedy we could even pull from in the last decade was Girls Trip. And that’s kind of the only one. And … that was almost 10 years ago. And so the reality is there’s not a lot of opportunities for films like this, starring Black women — within this genre, within this space, streaming aside — to give it a theatrical opportunity. It’s a big deal. And what’s so exciting is that Keke and SZA’s chemistry, it’s so undeniable and it bounces off every single shot and scene, and just their rapport is so exciting. Because an audience that’s going to get fed.”
But then there’s the lingering question … will people love what they haven’t seen before? Or in a long while? As best an anyone can remember, the last time two Black women led a theatrical-driven comedy was BAPS, which came out in 1997.
“You also realize, ‘Oh, yeah. We have not seen this,’ ” Davis said back in July on that day on set. “And we’re going to need it, probably, by the time this comes out.”