Hollywood Jerome Director Frey Hoffman Spike Spillberg

Chicago wordsmith Malik Yusef has teamed up with director Frey Hoffman to create a short film adaptation of one of his poems with the help of a $100,000 grant from the IFP/Chicago Production Fund. Hoffman, director of photography on Kanye West’s “Jesus Walks” was recently named the 2007 recipient of the prestigious grant award to direct an adaptation of Yusef’s “Hollywood Jerome.” "The Production Fund has given us access to a huge amount of film production equipment, as well as instant publicity and instant credibility, which will allow us to make the film that much better," Hoffman said. He and Yusef collaborated on the script, the tale of a 14-year-old South Side gang member who idolizes classic Hollywood gangsters, caught in a police standoff on the North Side. The director and the poet are also at work on a feature script of “Hollywood Jerome.”Films, Life, and Positive Thoughts. www.spikespillberg.com