Ernest Roscoe Dickerson (born June 25, 1951) is an American director, cinematographer, and screenwriter of film, television, and music videos. As a cinematographer, he is known for his frequent collaborations with Spike Lee ever since they were classmates at the Tisch School of the Arts and worked together on Lee's 1983 master's degree thesis student film, Joe's Bed-Stuy Barbershop: We Cut Heads, which ultimately won a Student Academy Award. As a director, he is known for action and horror films such as Juice, Demon Knight, Bulletproof, Bones and Never Die Alone. He has also directed several episodes of acclaimed television series, including Once Upon a Time, The Wire, Dexter, The Walking Dead, and Godfather of Harlem. Early life Dickerson was born in Newark, New Jersey. He studied architecture at Howard University, but also took a film class with Haile Gerima as he already was interested in movies. He later relocated to New York City to attend New York University's film program at the Tisch School of the Arts, where he met fellow student Spike Lee. His first feature film as director of photography was also Lee's first film, Joe's Bed-Stuy Barbershop: We Cut Heads (1983), filmed while both of them were still students. Lee kept Dickerson in mind and he returned to work on a few more films as Spike Lee's cinematographer. Career After graduating, Dickerson began his career as cinematographer on music videos for Bruce Springsteen, Anita Baker, and Miles Davis, and went on to film John Sayles' Brother from Another Planet (1984), his first professional film as a director of photography. While working on the first two seasons of George Romero’s television series Tales from the Darkside, Dickerson was a cameraman on John Jopson's concert film One Night with Blue Note (1985) and was later contacted by Spike Lee, who had found the budget to shoot his movie She's Gotta Have It (1986). Dickerson continued his collaboration with Lee on five more films, including Do the Right Thing (1989). Their last collaboration was on Malcolm X in 1992, the same year Dickerson made his directing debut with the crime drama Juice. He also worked as a 2nd unit director on Lee's Miracle at St Anna (2008). For television, Dickerson has directed several episodes of acclaimed shows such as Once Upon a Time, Dexter, The Walking Dead and Treme. A long time horror movie fan, he has also worked