Bet You Didn’t Know: Secrets Behind the Making of “Boyz N The Hood”

Where Did the Story Come From?

You know, they say in order to write a good story you have to write what you know. And that’s just what Singleton did with his first picture. Boyz, which he took three weeks to write, is largely autobiographical. Like his protagonist “Tre Styles,” Singleton’s parents were no longer together and he left his mother’s house in Inglewood, to live with his dad in South Central, L.A.  Even the self-loathing cop was a real life fixture in Singleton’s neighborhood. Like most great ideas, there were several instances that inspired it. After coming from movies, Singleton and his friends would often say that while they enjoyed the films and the characters they didn’t see anyone who looked like them and would spend time talking about the movies they would make. But Spike Lee’s Do The Right Thing changed the game and gave Singleton the push to make his hypothetical movies a reality. After Do The Right Thing, Singleton was inspired to produce a West Coast version of life for many blacks. Source