How David Fortune’s ‘Color Book’ Went from Amplifier to Netflix
“I had been fully prepared for a seven-year journey.” Writer/Director David Fortune was ready for the long haul when making his award-winning debut feature Color Book. “I’d heard how Charlotte Wells developed Aftersunover seven years and was ready to commit to that kind of long road with Color Book.” Things didn’t exactly turn out that way.
Color Book follows Lucky (William Catlett) who just lost his wife, and now learns how to be a single parent for his son Mason (Jeremiah Alexander Daniels), who has Down syndrome. The action takes place mostly over a single day as the pair journey across Atlanta to see Mason’s first baseball game.
Fortune had worked as a camp counselor for teenagers with Down syndrome while in college and saw the unique relationships between the parents and children there. He had wanted to write a father and son story, and his time at the camp found their way into the story. “I drew from those experiences — from the conversations I’d had with parents, from hearing both their wounds and their joys. I made sure to write from that place.”
He applied to the Film Independent Amplifier Fellowship, sponsored by Netflix, while writing the script, and was accepted in 2023. “What I truly appreciated was how the program helped me nurture the film both from a screenplay perspective and a visual one,” Fortune said. “We worked through the script and the lookbook together to make sure the film was coherent in its vision.”
The Fellowship also came with a grant that Fortune used part of the grant to create a pitch video that got him into the AT&T Untold Stories competition, where he won $1 Million to make the film.
“The timeline was remarkably fast. I finished the screenplay in January, got into the fellowship in February, was accepted to pitch at the competition that February or March, pitched in June, won the million dollars, made the film over the rest of that year.”
The films power lies with its observational eye. Fortune said the aesthetic was inspired by the documentary photography of the likes of Gordon Parks, Carrie Mae Weems, and Saul Leiter, and how they investigated and showed the beauty in everyday human behavior. Because of that the film lets moments play out and is shot in wides. According to Fortune, “the goal wasn’t to make you fall in love with these characters, but to see them in their most human form.”
That observational style only works when you have captivating performances, and Fortune found them in William Catlett and Jeremiah Alexander Daniels’s work. He brought both actors in for a chemistry read and felt the connection immediately. Catlett felt it too. “That’s my son,” he told Fortune afterwards. “You can cast whoever you want — you’re the director — but that’s how I truly feel.”
Audiences felt that connection too. The film premiered at Tribeca in 2024, won the Audience Choice Award for Best US Feature at the Chicago Film Festival, garnered a Variety “10 Directors to Watch” nod for Fortune in 2025, and was picked up by Netflix, the co-sponsor of the Amplifier Fellowship.
“David Fortune fully embraced every opportunity within the Film Independent Amplifier Fellowship funded by Netflix, which provides grants and creative support that empower artists and their projects to thrive,” said Angela C. Lee, Director of Artist Development for Film Independent. “We are immensely proud to have supported David and this unforgettable film, and we’re thrilled that this journey has culminated with the release of the film on Netflix.”
Color Book premieres on Netflix and select theaters in New York City, Los Angeles, and Atlanta on June 19.
Featured image courtesy of Netflix.
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