"Meta Take One" Brings Guerrilla Filmmaking to the Forefront

Filmmaker John Dierre “grew up” during the production of his debut feature, “Meta Take One” — five years that put his perseverance to the test.

“It’s crazy,” Dierre said. “Perseverance is key. There [were] multiple moments I wanted to give up. I couldn’t give up.”

Dierre and co-creator Ryan Dutter began developing the film in 2019, when Dierre was 25. Today, at 31, he’s watching it reach audiences far beyond the festival circuit that first embraced it.

John Dierre was born and raised in Atlanta, Georgia, by a church-going family. It was in the church where Dierre was introduced to the power of storytelling.

“I think the whole messaging and the storytelling of [the church] transformed me into a storyteller,” Dierre said.

Dierre aspired to become a preacher or an astronaut before considering a career in film.

“My pops would always show me movies on Fridays,” Dierre said. “I saw ‘Pulp Fiction.’ I saw ‘Seven Samurai.’ I saw ‘Do the Right Thing,’ and I saw ‘Crimes and Misdemeanors.’ Those films really just provided me with the understanding of what a filmmaker, a director, a writer, cinematographer, actor — what those roles really do.”

Dierre attended high school at Blair Academy in New Jersey, where he picked up a camera for the first time. He credited one of his teachers, a visual artist, as an early mentor in using visual storytelling as a means of self-expression.

“I felt like that was my film school,” Dierre said. “So when I got out of high school, I just wanted to be a better writer. I took a few screenwriting classes, but I mainly learned how to use film through just displaying the community around me.”

Upon graduation, Dierre attended Rollins College in Florida before transferring to Georgia State University in downtown Atlanta. From there, he shot short films, music videos and artist profiles showcasing the local community, eventually breaking into commercial work through short recap videos for clients.

“I had a few gigs where they needed one-minute recaps,” Dierre said. “I learned how to tell a story in one minute. I think that’s what’s really provided me with the, you know, in that whole videographer documentation space of clientele. Like, I’ve just been working in Atlanta for so long now, it’s like the clients kind of keep me going from that type of work, and that’s what paid for half of ‘Meta Take One.’”

By the time he graduated college, Dierre had created more than 500 videos. Along the way, he met Ryan Dutter, a local musician and filmmaker with a similar flair for creative storytelling. The two made a few short films together and a featurette titled “Journey Into Darkness.”

“We just finished production,” Dierre said. “Me and Ryan were sitting on his porch, and he was like, ‘Bro, there’s this look that you do when you’re behind the camera. Like you see it…when there’s magic in front of the camera. Let’s dig into that a little bit.’”

That conversation became the inspiration for “Meta Take One,” a dark thriller following a young, obsessed film director determined to finish his film no matter what — a premise that sends the director and his crew through a frantic night of misadventures and chaos.

“You have to be obsessed to make a film,” Dierre said. “A lot of times, filmmaking feels just like organized chaos.”

The film is equal parts crime thriller and dark comedy, shot on 16mm Kodak film and displayed mostly in black and white. The characters spend much of their screen time riding around in the green Pontiac Bonneville, its roaring engine complementing Dutter’s original score.

“That car has so much character,” Dierre said. “These challenges that we provided ourselves in the beginning of the journey, like shooting in 16mm, became blessings.”

The noir elements landed perfectly with the film’s premise. I’ve always enjoyed when filmmakers openly pay tribute to films and creators that inspired their work — one scene in particular is a tribute to Denzel Washington in the 2002 film “John Q.”

Dierre’s intentional decision-making extended to casting. Every cast member was sourced through the casting platform Backstage, with one exception: Aminah Williamson, a classmate of Dierre’s at Georgia State.

“[In] each of their tapes that they sent … their faces were just so strong,” Dierre said.

The cast is led by EJ Ezeruo and Ernest Emmanuel Peoples, who play John the Director and Damon the Actor, respectively.

“EJ was a little more raw,” Dierre said. “Ernest had a lot more experience. The way that it worked on camera was just so great because it made sense. The actor would be more professional of an actor, and the director would be more raw and emotional. It all kind of bled into the film very well.”

Peoples, who has albinism, brought something rarer to the role than technique.

“A lot of people with albinism are denied a lot of great roles,” Dierre said. “Or they succumb to a particular type of role — a villain, or a supporting character that is one-dimensional. We provided him with this multi-dimensional role. It just reflects real life in a way that’s different from your standard Hollywood reality.”

“Meta Take One” premiered in Dierre’s hometown at the 2025 Atlanta Film Festival at the Plaza Theater, where it won the audience award.

“[Winning] the audience award at the Atlanta Film Festival was a great start for us,” Dierre said.

A month later, Dierre and Dutter won the John Singleton Award at the American Black Film Festival — their most prestigious honor to date. I met the two of them last fall at the Detroit Black Film Festival, where our films screened alongside 70 others from 30 countries over three days, with “Meta Take One” scheduled as the closing film. There, I watched Dierre and Dutter accept the festival’s own Independent Spirit Award, one of its top honors. (My film, “The Negro Artist,” won the festival’s Outstanding Independent Film Award that same weekend — I wrote about that experience on Substack.)

There were plenty of strong films at that festival, but the selection committee saved the best for last. “Meta Take One” blew me away, and audiences around the country have been sharing that reaction since.

“I’m really loving people’s different experiences with [’Meta Take One’],” Dierre said. “Some people feel like it’s a freaking rock concert. It’s beautiful.”

By the time of its streaming debut, the film had screened at 20 festivals and earned 10 awards.

“I feel like we’ve made our money back in different ways,” Dierre said, “through the people we got to know, the community we got to build and some of the networking we were able to do. [The film] paid for itself multiple times over.”

Dierre and Dutter are already developing their next feature, with hopes of starting production next summer. The duo say they’ll lean on the same patience that carried “Meta Take One” from a porch conversation to a national release.

“Some things take time,” Dierre said. “Some seeds have to grow under the ground before you can see the sprout. Perseverance is key, man.”

Check out the trailer for “Meta Take One” below.

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