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Joined 02/22/2010

Buffalo Soldier 9

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Erich Martin Hicks, co-founder of Alpha Wolf Productions, is an acclaimed Special Effects Coordinator, Producer and Writer, with over 50 years of experience in the entertainment industry. The company, co-founded with wife, Portia Scott-Hicks, is an independent production outlet that develops, writes, and produces feature film and television content. Historically, he is the first African-American to receive a Special Effects Pyrotechnic Operators’ 1st class Masters License. Thus, he is expertly qualified to produce and direct action sequences, stunts and explosions.

An apprentice to the legendary Special Effects Coordinator Richard “Dick” Albain, whose credits include; (The Three Stooges; Assault on Precinct 13; Bewitched (TV series); and many more), Hicks’ work has included the small and large screens including, Scary Movie: 2; Diagnosis Murder; Married with Children; Captivity; and The Victoria Secret’s Fashion Show. Most recently, he completed work on the CBS summer series, Swingtown, and on the film Life is Hot in Cracktown (Kerry Washington, Vondi Curtis-Hall) – a gripping portrayal of crack cocaine’s assault on Urban America.

As a writer, his first book, Rescue at Pine Ridge, was released in December 2008. The book is a historical narrative, depicting the all-Black 9th Calvary. Known as the US military’s famed “Buffalo Soldiers”, that helped settle the American West in the late 1800s. Hicks has completed an accompanying screenplay for a TV mini-series, Trilogy and epic, and has garnered support from acclaimed actor/director Bill Duke. Dedicated to exploring the history of African-Americans/Blacks and shattering stereotypes, his Alpha Wolf Productions, Inc. has also developed a feature film documentary, Soul on a Wave (narrated by actor/author Hill Harper and acclaimed actor Keith David), which exposes the life and times of surfers of color. Currently, Hicks has completed a motion picture epic screenplay STAGECOACH MARY, based on real life heroine Mary Fields. “Stagecoach Mary” was the first African-American/Black woman to deliver mail for Wells Fargo in the late 1800’s to early 1900’s. This project has been developed and written for Queen Latifah.

Hicks obtains new ideas for his diverse projects from his many travels, acknowledging the direct correlation between nature and history. An avid outdoorsman, he has traveled near and far to climb the world’s most celebrated mountains, including Mt. Whitney (located in the Eastern Sierras of California) which is the highest mountain in the contiguous United States.

Hicks is available for lectures on the Motion Picture Industry, and on issues pertaining to African-American/Black culture, politics and history.

Please visit imdb.com for a comprehensive resume at: http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0902436/ and http://www.alphawolfprods.com for more information.

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  • The real ‘Stagecoach
    By Buffalo Soldier 9February 22, 2010 - 8:30am

    The real ‘Stagecoach Mary’ story: Mary Fields, Black Mary, and ‘Stagecoach Mary’ are all one of the same person. Mary was born in 1832, a slave in Tennessee and was owned by a Catholic family; the father was a businessman and Judge who had a single girl child the same age as Mary. Mary’s mother was the House Slave Servant and the judge’s favorite cook; therefore Mary was always in the main house, in the kitchen and not in the fields, as a Field Slave. Mary’s father was a Field Slave, and Field Slaves were not allowed in the Main House, much less, to court a House Slave. Mary’s mother became pregnant by Mary’s father and he was beaten and sold to another plantation for getting Mary’s mother pregnant. After Mary’s birth, Mary’s mother and her were allowed to stay in the main house, and Mary became the Judge’s daughters’ playmate, therefore being the Judge’s daughter’s playmate, Mary was allowed to read and write, a rarity for that time. After the emancipation and coming into adulthood, Mary was 6 feet tall and weighed over 200 pounds. Mary became her own woman and traveled solely from Tennessee, up and down the Mississippi River, to Ohio, then finally to Montana where she got her nickname at the turn of the 20th Century. She earned this nickname by working for “Wells Fargo” delivering the United States Mail through adverse conditions that would have discouraged the most hardened frontiersmen of her time. All by herself, she never missed a day for 8 years, carrying the U. S. Mail and other important documents that helped settle the wild open territory of central west Montana. Mary had no fear of man, nor beast, and this sometimes got her into trouble. She delivered the mail regardless of the heat of the day, cold of night, wind, rain, sleet, snow, blizzards, Indians and Outlaws. Mary was a cigar smoking, shotgun and pistol toting Negro Woman, who even frequented saloons drinking whiskey with the men, a privilege only given to her, as a woman. However, not even this fact, sealed Mary's credentials given to her, her credentials boasted that, “She would knockout any man with one punch”, a claim which she proved true. Her fame was so acclaimed, even the Actor, Gary Cooper, two time Academy Award Winner, told a story about her in 1959 which appeared in Ebony Magazine that same year. While, Annie Oakley and Martha Canary (Calamity Jane) were creating their history with Buffalo Bill, Stagecoach Mary was making “her Epic Journey!” Despite Mary's hardness, she had another side of her, a kindness so strong, even today, in the beginning of the 21st Century, the town of Cascade, Montana, and other surrounding communities celebrate her birthday. The Epic movie is in pre-production mode. Check out website at http://www.stagecoachmary.net

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