Six Point Pictures
On a recent Friday, Six Point Pictures’ fifth-floor suite is buzzing with energy. Crew members assemble props for the set while statuesque models in elaborate garb await their cue during the shooting of local rapper Greenspan’s B.’s music video for the song “Indie,” featuring artist Christian B. Ja-Mar Jones, the founder of the film production company, is behind the camera. It feels like home, he said. “I’ve been here for so long, and I’ve spent so many hours creating here,” said Jones, who first signed the lease for the 2,800-square-foot suite in 2010 — a time when the building was mostly occupied by photographers looking for creative places to shoot. Back then, however, “it looked like a haunted house,” he said.
Jones, 32, has since revamped his space, transforming its rooms into an art gallery and DJ-lounge area for events, a main office, a filmmaker space, and a production area.
It’s served Jones’ production company well.
The space has been used to create a range of video content for local artists and organizations, as well as signature programming. Jones plans to organize a filmmakers meetup in the new year to provide resources and work development for filmmakers of color, and to relaunch web series Good News Baltimore, which he started in 2008 in hopes of spreading the positive happenings in the city.
“There’s so many things happening in Baltimore and you typically don’t hear about it unless it’s one of the negative things. … We want to make sure that we are one of the organizations that [are] changing the perception of Baltimore,” said Jones, adding that creating their work in the Cambridge Building is also adhering to their goal.
“This is who we are, and this is a comfortable place for us because we see it for more than what people would see at face value. … When people come into the space, their whole energy and whole mood changes. They’re just surprised that something at this level could exist in a building that they never knew about,” he said, with an added word of advice: “Don’t have any preconceived notions about people or places before you get a chance to investigate yourself.”