Fast forward to seven years ago… a production company was created with the purpose of learning to produce his own content; writing, producing and directing. After this much time in the entertainment industry with its ups and downs, highs and lows, he was fed up and wanted to take his career into his own hands. Result… Amaru and Kristen formed t.R.A.C.P., LLC (the.REAL.AMARU Comedy Productions, LLC) and did just that.

In a short period of time with what most in the industry would call “no-budget” filmmaking, and with a little help from some friends, the following happened… t.R.A.C.P. produced several projects. This included the double Telly award winning documentary Annie Was A Liar! the truth about being in foster care. The film includes excerpts of Amaru’s childhood and spending some time being raised in the Michigan juvenile court system. The projects continued with Amaru writing and publishing four books. Adding the experience of Amaru being a national touring stand up comedian, the company also produces professional comedy events.

As plans were made for the most recent production of a feature film to be premiered, the industry was halted by the COVID-19 pandemic. The movie sits waiting and is slated to be released under the new Greenwood District Studios in late fall 2020. It will be available via streaming through the Amaruflix platform. The effects of the pandemic halted Amaru’s careers in both stand up comedy and filmmaking/production work. From here, an idea was born of saving those careers and our community at the same time.

The grass roots of the company began with learning how to create content with an extremely limited budget. And we did pretty damn good! We also learned what NOT to do. Working through to completion on numerous projects, applying all the learned do’s and don’ts along the way, resulted in our most recent and successful completion of a feature film. If we can make a movie look and sound like this with only $10k, just think what we could do with $100k. Imagine what we could do with just a fraction of what Hollywood studios use for a budget and turn a profit. With a little backing and support from our community, the possibilities are limitless. With the money our movie studio is predicted to generate, a percentage of the profits will be directly allocated to the improvement and redevelopment of the community, a direct benefit to the residents. Whenever the studio grows, the neighborhood grows by way of home improvements and landscaping projects.