About Maintain The Mystery

Spike Lee had 40 Acres and a Mule. South Central Los Angeles has Maintain The Mystery.

Maintain The Mystery is both a brand and a production company — a multimedia platform built to celebrate the artists and entrepreneurs coming out of Los Angeles. MTM is an umbrella housing literature, art, film, and archival storytelling. We maintain our history, our narrative, and our culture.

Why Film. Why Books. Why Now.

Film is our medium because art is the most powerful form of activism we know. Through the production of films, we control our own narratives and images. We offer up representation that has never been seen. Through our history books, we restore and inspire Black youth and adults across the globe — showcasing hidden history and amplifying it until it ends up on our screens.

Through our chosen mediums, we can turn any place into a landmark — like the ones studied in a grandmother’s living room. Through history books, we protect our past, tap into the present, and build a recipe for a better future. Every historian strives to leave a piece of history behind. This is our history. This is our future.

Our goal is to train young Black creatives and inner-city youth by exposing them to every option available across multiple high-demand industries. A kid could be in their room building an entire world with their Legos and imagination and not know they have the skills to become a set designer. We want to introduce Black children to possibilities.

Our Mission

Erasure Prevention
Prevent Black and cultural erasure in all aspects — from communities, history, pride, and narrative, to architecture, entertainment, and education.

Community Economic Empowerment
Hiring, amplifying, partnering, and collaborating with local natives, creatives, and businesses who are heavily underfunded, underrepresented, and neglected from opportunity and economic advancement — recycling dollars within the community and providing a beneficial environment for all involved.

Proper Representation
Maximum effort to inspire, educate, and provide responsible entertainment that teaches a message while remaining unapologetic to authentic storytelling and representation.

Partnering with Local Landmarks
Finding what is needed to prevent losing the city’s fiber, businesses, and heritage — keeping unity within communities losing their culture as historic landmarks and architecture are taken by developers. If you lose the heart, you lose the entire city.

What’s Next

We are building Protect Tha Youth, a nonprofit 501(c)(3) designed to train local and neglected youth, residents, and parents through basic-to-pro level year-long programs — using our network and production company to provide a variety of pathways to real, lasting work.

Every South Central Is Mecca history book is being adapted into a multi-season TV series and film — with full creative control and ownership maintained throughout.

This is not just a brand. This is a movement.