{{short description|American film director}} {{BLP sources|date=May 2024}} {{Infobox person | name = Robert Patton-Spruill | image = <!-- filename only, no "File:" or "Image:" prefix, and no enclosing brackets --> | alt = <!-- descriptive text for use by speech synthesis (text-to-speech) software --> | caption = | birth_name = <!-- only use if different from name --> | birth_date = <!-- {{Birth date and age|1967|MM|DD}} for living people supply only the year with {{Birth year and age|YYYY}} unless the exact date is already widely published, as per WP:DOB. For people who have died, use {{Birth date|YYYY|MM|DD}}. --> | birth_place = Roxbury, Massachusetts, U.S. | death_date = <!-- {{Death date and age|YYYY|MM|DD|YYYY|MM|DD}} (DEATH date then BIRTH date) --> | death_place = | other_names = | occupation = Film director, screenwriter, film producer, educator | years_active = | known_for = | notable_works = }} '''Robert Patton-Spruill''' is an independent film director, screenwriter, producer, professor, distiller, and real estate developer.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Symons |first1=Caleb |url=https://www.sentinelsource.com/news/local/new-creative-hub-planned-for-downtown-keene/article_5f50b820-724e-5d36-ae26-2ccdb9fab616.html |title=New creative hub planned for downtown Keene |access-date=22 May 2021 |date=8 April 2021}}</ref> His company, FilmShack, was based in Boston. Spruill lives in Winchester, New Hampshire where he founded New England Sweetwater Farm and Distillery in 2015.<ref>{{cite web |last=Bookman |first=Todd |date=September 21, 2020 |title=Black entrepreneurs in NH overcome isolation, racism |url=https://www.sentinelsource.com/news/local/black-entrepreneurs-in-nh-overcome-isolation-racism/article_38d8197b-679e-535d-85bf-7e5fff0b9a20.html |access-date=2024-05-28 |website=The Keene Sentinel}}</ref> Spruill was a professor at Emerson College, where he was Director in Residence until his retirement in 2020.<ref>{{cite web|title=Emerson College |url=http://www.emerson.edu/academics/departments/visual-media-arts/faculty?facultyID=2488&filter=F|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101224050747/http://www.emerson.edu/academics/departments/visual-media-arts/faculty?facultyID=2488&filter=F|url-status=dead|archive-date=December 24, 2010}}</ref>

==Biography==

Spruill was born in Roxbury and raised by theatre artists James Spruill and Lynda Patton, who worked with the New African Company. He is a second cousin of Boston's first black and first female mayor Kim Janey through his maternal side.{{citation needed|date=May 2021}} He attended Boston University as a history major, but decided to pursue film instead. He wrote the screenplay for his first film ''Squeeze'' while still in college. ''Squeeze'' (1997) was shot on a US$155,000 budget, and was cast with young Boston theatre students whom Spruill taught at the Dorchester Youth Collaborative.<ref name="Downing">{{cite web|url=http://newenglandfilm.com/news/archives/02august/filmshack.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20020805125135/http://newenglandfilm.com/news/archives/02august/filmshack.htm |url-status=dead |archive-date=August 5, 2002 |title=''Filmshack'' New England Film. Downing, Natasha S. August 1, 2002}}</ref> ''Squeeze'' was bought by Miramax at the Los Angeles Independent Film Festival. Patton-Spruill later moved back to Boston where he subsequently directed three more films. He resides in Winchester, New Hampshire with his wife and his only child.

== Films and career == After his first film, Patton-Spruill directed ''Body Count'' (1998), a straight-to-video Showtime feature. He and his wife Patti Moreno over a 10-year period opened their own production company, studio, and rental business for low-budget filmmakers in his home town of Roxbury, Massachusetts.<ref>{{cite web |last=Dodero |first=Camille |date=2004-09-10 |title=Freeze Frame |url=http://www.bostonphoenix.com/boston/news_features/other_stories/multi_3/documents/04113452.asp |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20110708085509/http://www.bostonphoenix.com/boston/news_features/other_stories/multi_3/documents/04113452.asp |archivedate=July 8, 2011 |access-date=2024-05-28 |website=The Boston Phoenix}}</ref> Since the opening of FilmShack in 2000, Spruill and Moreno produced ''Turntable'' (AFI Film Festival, 2005).<ref>{{cite web|url= http://newenglandfilm.com/news/archives/05february/spruill.htm|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20051107183640/http://newenglandfilm.com/news/archives/05february/spruill.htm|url-status= dead|archive-date= November 7, 2005|title= ''A Spin on His Latest'' New England Film. Trahan, Erin. February 1, 2005}}</ref> The music video Spruill directed for the hip hop band Public Enemy led to the production of the full-length documentary ''Welcome to the Terrordome'' (2007).<ref>{{cite web| url= http://archive.boston.com/ae/celebrity/articles/2007/12/29/public_enemys_no_1_fan/ | archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20110628234332/http://www.boston.com/ae/celebrity/articles/2007/12/29/public_enemys_no_1_fan/ | url-status= live | archive-date= June 28, 2011 |title=''Public Enemy's No 1 Fan'' The Boston Globe. Beggy, Carol & Shanahan, Mark. December 27, 2007}}</ref>

Spruill made the documentary ''Do It Again'' in 2010, which followed Boston Globe reporter Geoff Edgers on his quest to reunite the classic rock band The Kinks.<ref>{{cite web |last=Weissberg |first=Jay |date=2010-02-05 |title=Do It Again |url=https://www.variety.com/review/VE1117942083/ |access-date=2024-05-28 |website=Variety}}</ref> ''Do It Again'' premiered at the Rotterdam International Film Festival on January 28, 2010, and was shown at several film festivals.<ref name="Screenings">{{cite web |url=http://doitagainthemovie.com/screenings |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100322231040/http://doitagainthemovie.com/screenings |url-status=dead |archive-date=March 22, 2010 |title=Screenings |work=doitagainthemovie.com |accessdate=June 18, 2010}}</ref>

Other work directed by Spruill includes ''Garden Girl TV'', a web series starring his wife as Patti Moreno the Garden Girl. The website has produced over 200 how-to videos about urban gardening, and FilmShack produces gardening and home improvement videos for HGTV.com.

== References == <!--- See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Footnotes on how to create references using <ref></ref> tags which will then appear here automatically --> {{Reflist}}

== External links == * {{official|https://www.doitagainthemovie.com|Do It Again: official website}} * [https://www.filmskills.com Film Skills] * [http://www.filmshack.com Filmshack] * [http://www.gardengirltv.com Garden Girl TV]

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Patton-Spruill, Robert}} Category:Living people Category:Film directors from New Hampshire Category:Year of birth missing (living people) Category:American male screenwriters Category:American educators Category:Film producers from New Hampshire