Close-Up: The New York scene: Witnessing one transformation, charting another: The various lives of Paul Carter Harrison

Widely acknowledged as a dramaturg, Paul Carter Harrison's work in the world of film production has received scant scholarly attention. This essay provides a thorough biographical sketch of the artist, contextualizing his work during the era of Black Arts and Blaxploitation. I argue that the production history of Lord Shango (dir. Ray Marsh, 1975) and Harrison's long-standing interest in the cross section of drama and film provide a new understanding of the relationship between playwrights and filmmakers in the 1970s. As one of the first essays to consider Harrison's contributions to the development of black-authored cinema in the 1970s, this essay also argues that Ron Hobbs's literary agency functioned as critical site for the black writers who were aspiring filmmakers to pursue creative work in a new medium. Finally, this essay also serves as an introduction to the excerpt from Harrison's currently in-progress memoir.