Alumnus Tony L. Patterson’s long road to holiday laughs
Before he wrote the script for his feature film, “#WorstChristmasEver,” screenwriter Tony L. Patterson ’89 lived it.
“I was divorced, and my ex-wife had just moved to Atlanta, so I flew to Atlanta to see my kids on Christmas,” he says. “The short version is: They never made it to Atlanta. My son had three flights canceled. My daughter had all her flights canceled. I spent Christmas Day at my ex-wife’s new house with her new husband, without my children, by myself.”
Though it wasn’t very funny at the time, that tortuous holiday inspired him and his writing partner, Maurice Hall, to turn the whole episode into a seasonal comedy. Now in theaters and on several streaming platforms, #WorstChristmasEver is the biggest project of his 20-year career in film and television. It’s his first feature-length film to make it to theaters — he’s written or co-written four of them, as well as four short films. It’s also the first to star big-name actors, and the first with the potential for mainstream success.
They say it takes 20 years to become an overnight sensation. Sometimes more. And in Tony’s case, it all started during his time at UNC Greensboro, where he first became enamored with the craft of storytelling and the art of theater.
A Wayward Path to the Finish Line
Patterson’s first shot at a UNCG degree was inauspicious. He started in 1981, but after three semesters he found he didn’t have the skills or direction to make it work. He left school and joined the US Marine Corps Reserve.
“The Marines taught me discipline,” he says. “So, in the fall of 1984, I was ready to come back to UNCG full time.”
He took as many classes as he could — 12 hours per semester — while working part-time jobs that wouldn’t interfere with his studies: Biscuitville, Hardee’s, and Showbiz Pizza, an early competitor to Chuck E. Cheese where he leveraged his military training to work on video-game circuit boards.
The birth of his son prompted him to get a job with benefits, which precluded full-time study. He finished his last 16 credit hours one night class at a time, before graduating with a degree in English in 1989, nearly eight years after he took his first class.
It was a long, arduous path, but eventually the spark ignited a flame.
“UNCG gave me a voice, because it was a microcosm,” he says. “The world is not perfect and my college experience was not perfect.” But UNCG taught him to consider how to make the world better.
His love for the power of theater and affinity for the written word began in UNCG’s halls.
“People I met here, from all walks of life, have nurtured me,” he says. “Dr. Jim Clark, my English professor from my very first year, was an incredible man. Twenty-five years after I graduated, I came back to campus, and he was in the same office. I said, ‘Dr. Clark, you still need to clean your office.’ And he said, ‘It’s Tony Patterson!’ He remembered me after all that time.”
He credits Dr. Betty Jean Jones with introducing him to the nuances of theater, and the Neo Black Society, which had its own traveling theater troupe, with allowing him to “grasp my Blackness and to elevate it.”
There were about 12,000 students at UNCG when he got here in 1981, he recalls. “And because I’m a geek with numbers,” he says, “I remember there were 1,061 minority students. Maybe 10 to 1 doesn’t sound like diversity, but it was like a lot of the schools I had been bused to when I was a kid, so I felt in my element.”
“#WorstChristmasEver” could be considered a Black film because the filmmakers are Black, as is most of the cast. But Tony doesn’t see it that way.
“These are my characters,” he concedes. “These are the people I grew up with. When people see my movies, Black or White, they’re like, ‘Oh my God, this guy is just like my uncle.’ I try to stay away from tropes because I don’t want stereotypical characters. I want layers. I want growth in my characters. I don’t make Black films; I make films about humanity. The world is not just me and people who look like me. I didn’t get to where I got without people who don’t look like me.”
Big Laughs on a Small Budget
Patterson and his partners shot #WorstChristmasEver in Los Angeles on what could be considered a shoestring budget — the entire tab, including payroll, permits, and catering, amounted to less than $600,000.
They spent the most on actors: Bill Bellamy, who got his start on “Def Comedy Jam” and other early MTV shows; Taja V. Simpson, whose credits include “Found,” “A House Divided,” and a couple of Madea movies; Shanti Lowery, a veteran of dozens of TVC shows and several films; and Hall, Tony’s screenwriting partner, who also played on the Ohio State University’s 2002 national football championship team. They splurged on leading man BJ Britt, who previously had roles in “The Groomsmen” franchise, “Sons of Anarchy,” and “Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.” among many others.
“I tell BJ, ‘You are the Golden Child,’” Patterson says.
There are also newcomers to film in the cast, and he says it was gratifying to give them a leg up in the business. It’s only fitting that a Spartan alumnus would find joy in lighting the way for others.
“We got an amazing young actress, Mo Ashley, who plays my daughter, and this is her first feature film,” Tony says. “Tyler Lofton plays my son; it is his first feature film. I want to be the guy who, when someone’s on the red carpet, they say, ‘Tony L. Patterson gave me my start.”
“#WorstChristmasEver” is currently streaming on Amazon Prime Video, Tubi, Awesome, and Plex, and is showing in theaters now.
Story by Brian Clarey, University Communications
Photos by Sean Norona, University Communications
