Jul 19, 2007 By Josh Krysak 8 min read

When Jerry Davis grew up in Uniontown in the 1960s and 1970s, the athletic and outgoing boy told those around him he was headed for something big. His father, Jim Davis of Uniontown, said there was never a reason to doubt the aspirations of his son.

“He was always a little wild,” Jim Davis said. “He loved sports and music and writing and reading. I always expected him to succeed and to achieve big things and he really has.”

Still, neither Davis could have imagined what the future for the lanky athlete would hold or the whirlwind of celebrity encounters and entertainment endeavors he would experience.

Life has led Davis from working as a public relations agent for one of the most recognizable names in sports to producing his own television show on the Black Entertainment Network (BET.)

And now, the journey is reaching its pinnacle as Davis is set to release his first major motion picture, “Shanghai Hotel” – a project he has worked on for nearly a decade.

Humble beginnings

Jerry Davis started with big aspirations and said he never let go of them, attending Morehouse College in Atlanta, Ga., following his high school graduation. The school’s alumni include Spike Lee, Samuel L. Jackson and Dr. Martin Luther King.

Davis earned his degree in math communications and started working as public relations representative at St. Jude’s Children’s Research Hospital in Washington, D.C., after school.

But Davis said that even then his interests leaned toward entertainment.

“I was interested in entertainment, but I was actually thinking more about law school,” Davis recalled.

A position opened at the public relations firm of Fleishman Hilliard and Davis accepted a position working primarily with one of the firm’s larger customers, the Anheuser Busch Co.

“It was a good job but I was beginning to realize that I didn’t want to work for someone else,” Davis said.

“I was thinking, ‘This is not cool.’ So I started my owned company and organized the Bud 3-on-3 basketball tournaments. That is when I met Dan Marino’s agent, Ralph Stringer.”

Davis said he expressed interest in becoming an agent and was given a name by Stringer, who was representing the Hall of Fame Miami Dolphins quarterback at the time, of a football/baseball player coming out of Florida State University who might just be the ticket he was looking for. His name is Deion Sanders.

During the 10 years that followed, Davis said he was in charge of marketing and public relations for one of the most recognizable athletes of his generation.

“I was with him as he did the two sports in one day. I was there when he went to the World Series with the Braves and the Super Bowl with Dallas,” Davis said, but noted that just being involved with “Prime Time” allowed him to be exposed to the entertainment industry like never before.

“I told Deion that people had an opinion of him as a little flashy,” Davis said. “I told him, ‘let’s have a TV show – “Deion’s All Stars.'”

Agent turns producer

Soon after, Davis developed a television show that ran on BET for three years. The show featured athletes working as correspondents. Davis said guests ranged from rapper and actor Ice Cube to Red Hot Chili Peppers front man Flea and correspondents included Marino and Minnesota Vikings receiver Cris Carter.

“It was during that time that I saw how sports and entertainment transcend each other,” Davis said.

From there, Davis got even busier, working to produce television commercials, including spots for Pizza Hut and the Georgia state lottery.

Davis said the television work helped him get into the film industry, where he wrote and directed a short documentary piece called “On the Verge of 15.”

The film, which depicts the trials and tribulations of a teenager on his 15th birthday, was a success, earning a spot in the New York Latino Film Festival. Davis said the movie was something he was especially proud of.

“I wanted to get to something like that,” Davis said. “Something that is mine. Something that belongs to me and means something. I couldn’t wait until I was the boss of my own stuff – to have the chance to tell a story that says something that is going to have an impact in people’s lives.”

Enter ‘Shanghai Hotel’

Davis said when he penned “Shanghai Hotel,” about eight years ago, he wanted to create a movie that viewers would be talking about after they left the theater instead of discussing what they were going to eat.

“My goal was to get this movie made,” Davis said, who noted that he again turned to Stringer for help. “People don’t realize what goes into making a movie. You have to get the money. You have to get people on board. Fortunately, Dan (Marino) and Ralph (Stringer) really liked the film. Many people don’t know that Dan adopted two Chinese girls and the story really made him think about what could happen.”

The story is about a young Asian woman sold into the sex-slave trade in the United States. Davis said the woman named Yin Yin and played by actress Eugenia Yuan, who starred in “Memoirs of a Geisha,” is linked to the outside world only by a window in her room. The plot revolves around Yin Yin’s desire to simply escape through the window and her battle with internal and cultural shame as well as threats made against her and her family.

“She is in a whole different country,” Davis said of Yin Yin. “This is how her captors keep her in fear. She is in a world she doesn’t know.”

Davis said he got the idea for the film after a brothel was discovered running a similar operation in Atlanta.

“In that case, the women described how they were brought here and had to sleep with 300 customers to fulfill their contract and then were set free,” Davis said.

Davis said he met with the federal attorney who prosecuted the case and discussed human trafficking at length. Davis said he also has talked to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice about trafficking and the horrors of the sex slave trade.

“The problem we were having with Shanghai is that people don’t realize that this stuff is happening right now,” Davis said.

Shooting wrapped last August in New York City.

While the film is small on scale to box office blockbusters, Davis said he has assembled a strong cast for the piece. The cast includes Yuan; Jade Fox, who appeared in the film “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon;” Hill Harper of the hit television show “CSI: New York;” Peter Green, who appeared in “Pulp Fiction” and the “Usual Suspects;” and J.D. Williams who is starring in the show “Liar” on HBO.

Now, Davis said he is working hard to secure a distributor for the film and is hopeful that the distributor of another smaller market film that achieved great success, “Maria Full of Grace,” will distribute the film.

Negotiations are under way with the distributor, Fine Line Features.

He said he is hoping “Shanghai Hotel” will be released in 400 to 500 theaters nationwide.

Reflections on home

And so far, Davis’ efforts to expose the barbaric nature of the sex trade have not gone unnoticed.

His film has been written about in the Toronto Star and the Miami Herald. He said ESPN recently discussed the movie as well.

Not bad for a Uniontown boy, Davis admitted, although the man who has done it all said it is his small town roots that helped him most along the way.

“Growing up I thought I was going to be the vice president of the United States. My mom saw me as the mayor of Uniontown. Instead, I ended up as a sports agent and movie director,” Davis said.

Davis said he still visits the area and is hopeful that “if the film thing” works out well, he will be moving back to the region to be closer to his parents.

He currently lives in Atlanta with his daughter.

“It is hard to believe sometimes when I come home and I am riding from the airport and you see Uniontown (from Route 119) that I came from here. How was I able to come from here and do what I did? But I think being from here was a key. It is the advantage of growing up in a small town. You know who you are better than people who grew up in the big city and you have time to breath. You have time to look at the clouds and focus and do what you dream of.”