Paul was Producing Editor on the award-winning, feature-length, theatrically released VH1 film, Freestyle: The Art of Rhyme: 

"I first discovered improvised rap promoting my film SlamNation at the National Poetry Slam. I was attending an afternoon exhibition event featuring rappers, when half-way through a flawless performance by Sage Francis, I realized that every word was being improvised on the spot.

Immediately hooked by the remarkable talent of these unique artists, I sought out Freestyle rappers to interview and to perform on camera for a follow-up to SlamNation. 

When I discovered that another film on the topic was well-underway, I managed to get access to a rough cut. It was over two hours long and, frankly, a barely watchable mess (in my opinion at the time, anyway). I stopped worrying about it and continued with my project. 

But much later, I saw a tightened up, work-in-progress version at the Urban World Film Festival that won an award. There, I met the director, Kevin Fitzgerald. We hit it off, but I decided his Freestyle project was too far ahead, there wouldn’t room for two, so I abandoned mine and moved on. 

Luckily, Kevin told his producer Henry-Alex Rubin (Murderball) about me and my project. Henry knew my work from SlamNation, which had succeeded in telling a compelling story about a spoken word art form. Eventually, Henry sought me out because Freestyle was enjoying attention from festivals, but was unable to get any sales traction, holding up its completion. 

Henry convinced me that, rather than competing or giving up, I should collaborate with director Kevin Fitzgerald in an effort to get the project in shape for the marketplace." 

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