Grammy-nominated producer and filmmaker Isaac Yowman spent over a decade telling stories for giants like Marvel, Nike and Netflix through his Houston-based production company, IYO Visuals. But his latest project, the 20-minute sci-fi short Sincerely Brad, may be his most personal and powerful work.
Four years in the making, the film explores the weight of Black excellence, the sacrifices of legacy and the ripple effect of honest fatherhood, all against the backdrop of a high-stakes NASA mission.
The story follows Brad, played by Patrick Walker (Lessons in Chemistry), a gifted astronaut chosen to save humanity on a dangerous mission. But the cost of greatness is steep. Brad is also a soon-to-be father, with Zoey (Cinthya Carmona) in her third trimester and wrestling with what it means to raise a Black child without him. For Yowman, that conflict mirrors his own journey as a filmmaker and father navigating ambition, family and the burden of representation.
“I see a lot of myself in the character,” Yowman said. “It’s that daily challenge of balancing the drive to be great with showing up for the people who matter most. That astronaut could easily be a filmmaker or musician; it’s my whole life on screen.”
The film’s inception traces back to a local Houston festival that required space-related stories using NASA archival footage. Yowman saw the opportunity as a creative challenge, sketching early drafts in 2021 before developing the script across several years. What began as a practical entry soon became a layered narrative about race, family and identity.
“I wanted the story to feel grounded and real,” Yowman said. “Being from Houston, a melting pot city near the border, I’ve seen how Black and Brown communities share struggles. I didn’t want a fantastical space epic, I wanted something that sparks real conversations.”
Yowman, who has built a minority-owned company for over 15 years, admits he wrestled with DEI culture while writing.
“I never want to just be someone’s DEI box checked,” he said. “Hire me because my art is powerful and unique, not just because I’m Black. That conflict, wanting equity but not tokenism, made its way into the script.”
A co-writing collaboration
By 2024, Yowman brought in screenwriter Greg Cally to help expand the script. The two met at the Martha’s Vineyard African American Film Festival years earlier and stayed connected. Cally, whose own family ties link him to astronaut Victor Glover, brought both perspective and world-building to the project.
“Chill [Yowman] knew the story he wanted, but he let me build out the world,” Cally said. “We went back and forth, remixing each other’s drafts until it grew into something bigger than either of us imagined. For both of us, making the father figure central was important, showing how much greatness can come when you have that guidance.”
That vision was strengthened when veteran actor Carl Anthony Payne II (Martin, The Cosby Show) joined as Brad’s father. His presence reshaped the script, grounding the story in generational truth.
“When Carl came on, we rewrote scenes just for him,” Cally recalled. “He’s someone we grew up watching, so seeing him as the father figure hit home. Both of us didn’t have that kind of fatherhood in real life; it was emotional to write the scenes we wished we had lived.”
A hunger for new kinds of Black storytelling
The film debuted at the “Surrounded By Stories” showcase in New York. Cally recalled Actress Naturi Naughton standing up after the screening and asking, “What happens next?” That response confirmed the demand for new narratives.
“Audiences want to see Black people living full, complex lives, not just crime or trauma stories,” he said. “Brad is a Black astronaut, a husband, a son. That’s powerful to see on screen.”
Yowman says he’s building momentum through screenings and community-centered activations, from art exhibitions to mixers connecting Texas and Los Angeles creatives.
“At the end of the day, this film is about more than one astronaut,” Yowman said. “It’s about how we show up for our families, communities, ourselves and how our excellence can inspire generations.”
For more information, visit: The River Oak Theatre
