Review: CONCRETE COWBOY

​CONCRETE COWBOY: Now on Netflix. No Spoilers. There are screenwriting lessons in tension and subtext in this coming-of-age story using horses to show the growth in the father/son relationship.

It's so great to see a coming-of-age story about a young, black boy. I specialize in coming-of-age dramas about women of color. We don't often show the perspective of teens of color on the screen. It's as if we're born and then immediately seen as adults, ripping us of the innocence of childhood and the ability to make mistakes and learn from them. It's been coined adultification. So, I appreciate getting to walk in Cole's awkward teen shoes as he learned to understand himself in a world that we don't often see: the lifestyle of the black cowboy.
Of course drugs, jail, cops, and an absent father are involved. One day, we'll move away from these effing tropes.

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AUTHOR

Shannan E. Johnson is a former creative executive at The Syfy Channel turned CEO + Head Consultant of The Professional Pen, a script consultancy that develops screenwriters from idea to pitch to become more confident storytellers ready for a professional screenwriting career, and consults with scripted development teams at entertainment companies to streamline their notes process to get to pre-production more efficiently.