Youngstown native makes his mark as documentarian

By SHELBY SCHROEDER

The prestigious Princess Grace Foundation awarded him a $20,000 grant.

YOUNGSTOWN — Derrick Jones is headed north, from the campus of Ohio University to Toledo, to meet again with the wife of a death row inmate.

It’s one of the many conversations Jones, 30, will have during the course of his film.

With two college degrees to hang on the wall — what he modestly refers to as “pieces of paper” — Jones is now following his passion for filmmaking with a documentary on the Lucasville Five, the story of inmates accused of murder during a riot in the small Ohio town.

People are excited to see his work. After PBS offered its airwaves to Jones for his completed film, the prestigious Princess Grace Foundation awarded him a $20,000 grant to help with production costs.

Coming up with the idea for the film, which will serve as his thesis at OU, was simple. Like everything in Jones’ life, the story was another role he’d been cast to take part in.

His long-time thespian mother, Joyce A. Jones, performed in a play about the Lucasville Five that toured through cities around the state. It was after she and other actors from the Youngstown Playhouse performed at Ohio University that Derrick was drawn to it.

“The idea of fair trials and criminal justice systems interests me,” Derrick Jones said.

His mother could tell. “As soon as he saw it,” she said, “he knew he had to make a documentary on it.”

Friends and family describe him as caring, giving, funny and talented, though he considers himself an “introverted extrovert.” Of his talents — acting, poetry, and rapping — he says directing documentaries suits him well because, “It’s something an introverted person can do.”

Many times with documentaries, it’s just him and a camera, he said; and that’s how he likes it.

Read the full story Monday in The Vindicator and on Vindy.com