Latest / Social Proof Podcast / The Truth About Making Money From Movies Nobody Talks About

Transcript

The Truth About Making Money From Movies Nobody Talks About · Social Proof Podcast

• 0:01
  [SPEAKER_00]: Welcome to another edition of the social group podcast.
• 0:03
  [SPEAKER_00]: We have dope conversations about around people who are building stuff and this one, this business.
• 0:11
  [SPEAKER_00]: But I feel like we're like business partners, it's just been a rocky journey.
• 0:14
  [SPEAKER_00]: I'm trying to get our money back on business business.
• 0:16
  [SPEAKER_00]: So I am here with two incredible, incredible women I'll let you all introduce yourselves.
• 0:24
  [SPEAKER_01]: I'm so happy to be here Ernestine Johnson Morrison in the building.
• 0:28
  [SPEAKER_00]: Absolutely welcome.
• 0:30
  [SPEAKER_00]: You first off.
• 0:32
  [SPEAKER_00]: The last, when, when do you get on beyond the gates?
• 0:36
  [SPEAKER_01]: 24 We started October 24.
• 0:40
  [SPEAKER_00]: So almost two years.
• 0:41
  [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.
• 0:42
  [SPEAKER_01]: And it's for the last two years.
• 0:44
  [SPEAKER_01]: I've been locked in on network television.
• 0:47
  [SPEAKER_00]: And I know you might not be able to say it.
• 0:48
  [SPEAKER_00]: But you're like the favorite.
• 0:51
  [SPEAKER_00]: And I don't even watch TV shows like that.
• 0:53
  [SPEAKER_00]: But the streets are saying you are the favorite.
• 0:56
  [SPEAKER_01]: I don't I don't know about the favorite because we have an amazing cast and there's many favorites but yes, my character Chinese is definitely a fan favorite on the show.
• 1:05
  [SPEAKER_01]: The fans really love her.
• 1:06
  [SPEAKER_01]: I'm really grateful for that.
• 1:07
  [SPEAKER_00]: Look good little political answers.
• 1:09
  [SPEAKER_01]: I'm like, I know you shouldn't have asked.
• 1:11
  [SPEAKER_01]: No, because there's a lot of fandom to the show and it's a so proper.
• 1:13
  [SPEAKER_01]: So people love it.
• 1:15
  [SPEAKER_01]: Danny and a cold.
• 1:16
  [SPEAKER_01]: They love miss it.
• 1:17
  [SPEAKER_01]: Need them.
• 1:17
  [SPEAKER_01]: I mean, they just love the show.
• 1:18
  [SPEAKER_00]: So it's like there's a bunch of favorites for sure I'm coming from the lens of that's my friend Thank you, and then I The OG I am I am the OG castigers castigers beetles
• 1:42
  [SPEAKER_02]: in some streets.
• 1:44
  [SPEAKER_02]: I am, I have been in film now almost 30 years.
• 1:48
  [SPEAKER_01]: Wow.
• 1:49
  [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.
• 1:50
  [SPEAKER_01]: Film television.
• 1:52
  [SPEAKER_02]: It's very old.
• 1:53
  [SPEAKER_00]: We see a change in the simplicity of being able to produce content right now.
• 1:58
  [SPEAKER_00]: Yes.
• 1:59
  [SPEAKER_00]: In the 30 years have you seen a change before this change?
• 2:04
  [SPEAKER_00]: Did you see like hasn't been transitions?
• 2:06
  [SPEAKER_02]: Oh, for sure.
• 2:07
  [SPEAKER_02]: I mean, when, I mean, we were shooting, they were shooting a film.
• 2:10
  [SPEAKER_02]: Music videos were shooting in film.
• 2:13
  [SPEAKER_02]: Then they became, then everybody and you had to know how to light.
• 2:16
  [SPEAKER_02]: And nobody was using Photoshop or anything like that.
• 2:19
  [SPEAKER_02]: And then digital came up.
• 2:22
  [SPEAKER_02]: Just like, okay, we're doing everything digital, digital, and then the film guys are kind of like, and I really know then everything got, you know, we came digital, then it was okay, we're going to shoot digital, but we're going to Photoshop it.
• 2:33
  [SPEAKER_02]: So you don't have to worry about lighting.
• 2:34
  [SPEAKER_02]: You don't have to make sure the lighting is right.
• 2:35
  [SPEAKER_02]: You know, we don't have to worry about any of this.
• 2:37
  [SPEAKER_02]: We're going to edit it.
• 2:38
  [SPEAKER_02]: It's going to make it look great.
• 2:39
  [SPEAKER_02]: We're indoors, we're outdoors, we're green screen, like all of those things I've seen, which is crazy.
• 2:44
  [SPEAKER_02]: I've seen that entire change now to.
• 2:48
  [SPEAKER_02]: We need 30 days to shoot a film, 20 days to shoot a film, music videos used to have budgets, we used to go places, now they're shooting everything on a soundstage, now you're in Miami, but you're in wherever, you're in Tennessee, you know what I mean?
• 3:02
  [SPEAKER_02]: So yeah, I've seen a lot of, I've seen the evolution of film, television, video, all of the likes.
• 3:09
  [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.
• 3:10
  [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.
• 3:11
  [SPEAKER_00]: We are here today because
• 3:15
  [SPEAKER_00]: I say we because I was a part of it, and I was an executive director.
• 3:18
  [SPEAKER_00]: Exactly.
• 3:18
  [SPEAKER_00]: It was very similar.
• 3:19
  [SPEAKER_00]: It would be.
• 3:20
  [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.
• 3:20
  [SPEAKER_01]: I got to get the title right now.
• 3:22
  [SPEAKER_00]: I saw a little bit.
• 3:24
  [SPEAKER_00]: And it was a really, really y'all shot, Scheme Queen's one.
• 3:29
  [SPEAKER_01]: Yes.
• 3:30
  [SPEAKER_00]: Yes.
• 3:30
  [SPEAKER_00]: And it did really, really well, right?
• 3:32
  [SPEAKER_00]: Yes.
• 3:32
  [SPEAKER_00]: So tell me about Scheme Queen's one house put together, and some numbers behind it.
• 3:38
  [SPEAKER_00]: Okay.
• 3:38
  [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, so we'll see, scheme queens, one, we just came together.
• 3:43
  [SPEAKER_01]: We had a short film concept that we did with Brewerenay.
• 3:47
  [SPEAKER_01]: And I was like, guys, we need to do a feature film.
• 3:49
  [SPEAKER_01]: We need to take this concept and make a feature film.
• 3:51
  [SPEAKER_01]: So then I call it Cass, and then we cast, we need to do a feature film.
• 3:53
  [SPEAKER_01]: Cass said, oh, this is a great concept.
• 3:55
  [SPEAKER_01]: Cass wrote the script.
• 3:56
  [SPEAKER_01]: I always say Cass wrote the script in life.
• 3:58
  [SPEAKER_01]: He always say, you say.
• 3:59
  [SPEAKER_02]: But she asked where she wrote that script in 15 minutes.
• 4:02
  [SPEAKER_02]: I did not write the script in 15 minutes.
• 4:04
  [SPEAKER_02]: It took me less than 15 days, but which is like 15 minutes for a script.
• 4:08
  [SPEAKER_02]: So cast right for a film for the film.
• 4:11
  [SPEAKER_02]: It was short.
• 4:12
  [SPEAKER_02]: It was short.
• 4:13
  [SPEAKER_02]: She had a lot of the ideas we talking through.
• 4:15
  [SPEAKER_02]: And the thing is it normally takes me a long time to write an outline.
• 4:20
  [SPEAKER_02]: And once the outline is done, I'm really great at filling in dialogue quickly.
• 4:24
  [SPEAKER_02]: And but she had the outline.
• 4:27
  [SPEAKER_02]: So she's like, and it could do this and this and this and I'll get caught got it.
• 4:30
  [SPEAKER_02]: So we just didn't take me as long and when I'm really excited about something, I won't sleep.
• 4:36
  [SPEAKER_02]: I will literally stay up three, four days writing.
• 4:39
  [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, that's what she is.
• 4:40
  [SPEAKER_01]: So we got this script done.
• 4:42
  [SPEAKER_01]: We had our first table read within like two weeks and we put some money together, got our money together and we shot this film, shot the film.
• 4:50
  [SPEAKER_01]: We shot the first one in December of 22.
• 4:53
  [SPEAKER_02]: Um, was it $22, $21, $22?
• 4:54
  [SPEAKER_02]: We should have found what, $12, $13, day shoot.
• 4:56
  [SPEAKER_02]: Yep.
• 5:00
  [SPEAKER_01]: in all of Atlanta, Cass wrote it, directed it, we produced it together, we funded it together and we got a great licensing deal for it within 10 months.
• 5:08
  [SPEAKER_02]: Which, yeah, within six months, I think, within six months because I feel like by the summer of that next year we had our licensing deal.
• 5:15
  [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, we got it, we got it licensed.
• 5:16
  [SPEAKER_00]: So real quick, back and up, you'll come together, got the idea, write it, you said we put some money together.
• 5:23
  [SPEAKER_00]: Yes.
• 5:23
  [SPEAKER_00]: How much money was put together?
• 5:25
  [SPEAKER_01]: What was that first budget?
• 5:26
  [SPEAKER_01]: Three something?
• 5:28
  [SPEAKER_01]: Was it three?
• 5:29
  [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.
• 5:30
  [SPEAKER_01]: It was five.
• 5:31
  [SPEAKER_01]: It was five.
• 5:32
  [SPEAKER_01]: It was five.
• 5:33
  [SPEAKER_02]: It was five.
• 5:34
  [SPEAKER_02]: It was less than five.
• 5:35
  [SPEAKER_02]: Less than five.
• 5:36
  [SPEAKER_02]: Because I remember.
• 5:36
  [SPEAKER_02]: I remember any more.
• 5:37
  [SPEAKER_02]: Yeah.
• 5:38
  [SPEAKER_00]: But this was this table 300,000, I don't know if you've got one, or like, where did all of it?
• 5:44
  [SPEAKER_00]: It was literally so much.
• 5:45
  [SPEAKER_02]: It was like 50, 50, 35, 100.
• 5:48
  [SPEAKER_02]: Like it literally, there was like seven, maybe seven, and that's the rest of it.
• 5:52
  [SPEAKER_00]: Mm.
• 5:54
  [SPEAKER_00]: including us who are the first investors, we were including y'all and you say we who me cast bring breathe be Simone yeah yeah so for y'all put it on money up did y'all know you need it three hundred or you are calculating between the four y'all no we well we once you have a script we have a line producer they do a bunch of um give a
• 6:21
  [SPEAKER_02]: And she's a friend, so she just came in and said, yeah, okay, so a lot of times if you've been in it long enough and people know they can trust you it's all about trust if it's your team your team knows that once we get the money, I'm going to bring you on.
• 6:32
  [SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, the problem is a lot of times people ask people to do favors and they get the money, then they don't bring them on so people don't like to do things for free so we can do the pre that the.
• 6:43
  [SPEAKER_02]: pre-production, some of the development for free and she put together a budget and she was like okay it's gonna cost this it was like okay we don't have that maybe we take this scene now okay we need to lose a local first budget to you remember I know it was a while ago it might have been 200 it was less than what we ended up needing yeah it was always like that
• 7:03
  [SPEAKER_02]: And a lot of times it is, a lot of times it is.
• 7:06
  [SPEAKER_02]: And a lot of times you get in it and you read it and you look at it and you're like so simple like we need more locations.
• 7:12
  [SPEAKER_02]: We need more this or once you start really planning it's like we need another guy.
• 7:18
  [SPEAKER_02]: We need to put somebody else in it and then those things up the budget.
• 7:21
  [SPEAKER_00]: Got it.
• 7:22
  [SPEAKER_00]: So come back it's like two something y'all like I don't got it.
• 7:24
  [SPEAKER_00]: Do you remember what you for the initial investment was?
• 7:30
  [SPEAKER_02]: 50 each like 35.
• 7:31
  [SPEAKER_02]: It was somewhere between 35 and 50.
• 7:33
  [SPEAKER_00]: So it's close to 200.
• 7:35
  [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, I just can't remember the initial numbers.
• 7:38
  [SPEAKER_02]: I'm not, I'm not, yeah, we don't.
• 7:39
  [SPEAKER_02]: But I, I just know we put, I feel like it was like 50.
• 7:43
  [SPEAKER_02]: It was like 50 each.
• 7:45
  [SPEAKER_02]: It was like, and then we ended up.
• 7:45
  [SPEAKER_01]: I think I came in at 30.
• 7:46
  [SPEAKER_02]: I think I came in at 30.
• 7:48
  [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, someone else came at 30.
• 7:49
  [SPEAKER_01]: Never came in at like 50.
• 7:51
  [SPEAKER_01]: We're kind of a. Yeah.
• 7:52
  [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.
• 7:53
  [SPEAKER_00]: But the initial goal was y'all four were going to find it yourself.
• 7:57
  [SPEAKER_00]: Was that the initial thought process?
• 7:58
  [SPEAKER_02]: Yes, that was.
• 7:59
  [SPEAKER_02]: And then then we realized we got to have a little bit more.
• 8:03
  [SPEAKER_02]: And then we ended up getting another investor, another E.P.
• 8:07
  [SPEAKER_02]: And I think he came in for like a hundred maybe.
• 8:12
  [SPEAKER_02]: I can't, but all that being said, um, we pieced together, we got it done.
• 8:18
  [SPEAKER_02]: Um, I, was it Brewer nice first film?
• 8:21
  [SPEAKER_02]: Be someones first feature?
• 8:22
  [SPEAKER_02]: Jackie's, I know was Jackie's.
• 8:24
  [SPEAKER_01]: No, because you did, did your live matter, be someones.
• 8:26
  [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, that's true.
• 8:27
  [SPEAKER_01]: Bre and Jackie was there, maybe, yeah, they're not our teacher.
• 8:31
  [SPEAKER_02]: Why don't know if they're their teacher, but it was newbies.
• 8:33
  [SPEAKER_02]: But they love the concept, and the interesting thing I want to say is we ended up selling the film through it to a distributor who sold it to BET plus at the time.
• 8:45
  [SPEAKER_02]: And this was 22 when everyone was like, we want social media influencers to be in movies.
• 8:54
  [SPEAKER_02]: It was like we needed, they needed those numbers.
• 8:56
  [SPEAKER_00]: That was the buzz around, that was the buzz around.
• 9:00
  [SPEAKER_02]: then at that time.
• 9:01
  [SPEAKER_02]: I think I remember that because I've seen a bunch of movies come out like that's just social media.
• 9:05
  [SPEAKER_00]: Social media people are like, first thought is horrible movie.
• 9:08
  [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.
• 9:08
  [SPEAKER_00]: It's a bunch of stars at it.
• 9:09
  [SPEAKER_02]: Yeah.
• 9:10
  [SPEAKER_02]: That literally was the trend at the time because networks were boost trying to boost their numbers.
• 9:17
  [SPEAKER_02]: Everybody was competing and marketing dollars were born away and they were like, how can we tie into instant marketing?
• 9:23
  [SPEAKER_02]: And so they wanted the people with the four or five million dollar
• 9:29
  [SPEAKER_02]: followers so that they could tie into their marketing and they wouldn't have to use their own marketing dollars.
• 9:34
  [SPEAKER_02]: And so they were even wanting the right amount of contracts where you had to market the movie and just that sort of thing.
• 9:39
  [SPEAKER_02]: But for us, it was an easy sale.
• 9:41
  [SPEAKER_02]: I was already doing business with BET+.
• 9:43
  [SPEAKER_02]: And they were just a standalone BET.
• 9:46
  [SPEAKER_02]: I can't even remember.
• 9:47
  [SPEAKER_02]: I know they weren't owned by Paramount at the time, but we were either done for five movies with them.
• 9:52
  [SPEAKER_02]: Ernestine had been an EP on some of the other movies we had done with them.
• 9:56
  [SPEAKER_02]: So it was just an easy
• 9:59
  [SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, and instantly we were like we have to do another one because we bought it We sold it everybody got their money back.
• 10:05
  [SPEAKER_00]: We were like, whoa, let's pass Game Queen's too And they're before me because I'm I'm stuck on there's there's a filmmaker out there that needs to know or somebody has the idea That needs these numbers.
• 10:18
  [SPEAKER_00]: So 300,000 was the budget
• 10:21
  [SPEAKER_00]: it was a little bit, it was a little bit, it was a little bit, it was a little bit, it was a little bit, it was a little bit, it was a little bit, it was a little bit, it was a little bit, it was a little bit, it was a little bit, it was a little bit, it was a little bit, it was a little bit, it was a little bit, it was a little bit, it was a little bit, it was a little bit, it was a little bit, it was a little bit, it was a little bit, it was a little bit, it was a little bit, it was a little bit, it was a little bit, it was a little bit, it was a little bit, it was a little bit, it was a little bit, it was a little bit, it was a little bit, it was a little bit, it was a little bit, it was a little bit, it was a little bit, it was a little bit, it was a little bit, it
• 10:38
  [SPEAKER_01]: So meeting a soldering it, selling would mean the they own it.
• 10:41
  [SPEAKER_01]: Well, we still own, we still have ownership on the license.
• 10:44
  [SPEAKER_02]: We like to realize it to a distributor.
• 10:46
  [SPEAKER_02]: The distributor gives it the money.
• 10:48
  [SPEAKER_02]: The distributor then so had we gone straight to B.E.T.
• 10:54
  [SPEAKER_02]: We could have licensed it straight to them.
• 10:56
  [SPEAKER_00]: Yes.
• 10:56
  [SPEAKER_02]: But BT, it could have been an exclusive deal, it could have been this.
• 10:59
  [SPEAKER_02]: So we licensed it to film rise.
• 11:02
  [SPEAKER_02]: Film rise is like a third party distributor who then says we're going to take it out to everybody.
• 11:08
  [SPEAKER_02]: All the market, Amazon, Hulu, pick up all the places to be every.
• 11:12
  [SPEAKER_02]: I don't even think it was a...
• 11:14
  [SPEAKER_02]: I don't know if there was a TV then, okay, what was brand new and we're going to do a deal and then they do a deal with their like, okay, BET, you can have it exclusively for four months, three months and for that, you're going to give me 200,000 for it.
• 11:27
  [SPEAKER_02]: Okay, then after that, the second, um, I forgot what they call it, the second, um,
• 11:32
  [SPEAKER_02]: stream, it's not called signature stream, but the second window, excuse me, the second window may go to Amazon and to be, and for that, you guys are going to give me a hundred thousand.
• 11:44
  [SPEAKER_02]: So we ended up getting the money back through various platforms, but all through one-third party distributor.
• 11:49
  [SPEAKER_00]: But does the distributor themselves take the bet, say, okay, just exam?
• 11:53
  [SPEAKER_00]: Yes.
• 11:54
  [SPEAKER_00]: I'll give you 500,000, then I'm going to go make my money on the back.
• 11:58
  [SPEAKER_02]: Absolutely.
• 11:58
  [SPEAKER_02]: The distributor takes the risk.
• 12:00
  [SPEAKER_02]: God.
• 12:01
  [SPEAKER_02]: The distributor takes the risk.
• 12:02
  [SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, because the distributor looks at it and they're like, Oh, we're being getting requests for a movie with all of these social media stars.
• 12:09
  [SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, but the combo of these media stars, these social media influencers have five million followers.
• 12:16
  [SPEAKER_02]: We know we can sell this movie.
• 12:17
  [SPEAKER_02]: So they take the risk.
• 12:19
  [SPEAKER_02]: and they go out.
• 12:20
  [SPEAKER_02]: And we went with a third party because although I had a direct contact with BET, I knew I could only get a certain amount of money from them.
• 12:28
  [SPEAKER_02]: And I didn't have all the connects that the distributor had.
• 12:31
  [SPEAKER_02]: So even with the distributor selling the movie, and then them taking their money off the top, we still made our money back.
• 12:39
  [SPEAKER_00]: Got it.
• 12:39
  [SPEAKER_00]: So let me ask this.
• 12:40
  [SPEAKER_00]: Let's say you have this movie and K is the distributor.
• 12:45
  [SPEAKER_00]: K says I give you a million dollars for this movie.
• 12:47
  [SPEAKER_00]: And so you put up 500,000 cases also for our license it for a million dollars.
• 12:53
  [SPEAKER_00]: And I'm imagining it's for a period of time, right?
• 12:54
  [SPEAKER_00]: Correct.
• 12:55
  [SPEAKER_02]: Usually 10, 12 years sometimes six pin and a few.
• 12:58
  [SPEAKER_02]: Got it.
• 12:59
  [SPEAKER_00]: So K can go out and make six
• 13:05
  [SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, yeah, we do.
• 13:07
  [SPEAKER_00]: You still work.
• 13:07
  [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, so you get back in.
• 13:09
  [SPEAKER_02]: You get back in, that's so you get back in split.
• 13:11
  [SPEAKER_02]: So you get your minimum guarantee up front.
• 13:13
  [SPEAKER_02]: So let's say we make our movie for 500.
• 13:15
  [SPEAKER_02]: She gives her a meal.
• 13:15
  [SPEAKER_02]: Again, she makes a gives us a million for it.
• 13:19
  [SPEAKER_02]: We don't get any money back until she sees her million.
• 13:22
  [SPEAKER_00]: Got it.
• 13:22
  [SPEAKER_02]: It's almost like she's now being invested.
• 13:24
  [SPEAKER_01]: After she makes her meal, then then get almost like a dividend, like a quarterly crack in split.
• 13:30
  [SPEAKER_02]: kind of how do y'all know you have to trust your distributor and you have to have an audit the books and you have to get with a good distributor and I've been bad I've been with bad distributors where I know movies are out there and we're having a hunt them down to get money that wasn't the case with this particular distributor but yeah you have to you have to do your due diligence with your distributor because there's a lot of third party distributors that will give you a couple dollars up front for your money
• 13:57
  [SPEAKER_02]: And a lot of people have to go through them because they don't have relationships with the networks.
• 14:01
  [SPEAKER_02]: And honestly, the networks really in the studios only want to deal with the big third party distributors.
• 14:05
  [SPEAKER_02]: They don't want to deal with everybody individually.
• 14:08
  [SPEAKER_02]: So a lot of people have to go through the film rises, the film hubs, the other different distributors out there that can then get their film out to the public.
• 14:19
  [SPEAKER_00]: Got it.
• 14:20
  [SPEAKER_00]: And so what did you hope to sell it for?
• 14:25
  [SPEAKER_00]: And what did you actually get up front because I know it still gets on going money, right?
• 14:29
  [SPEAKER_02]: Yeah.
• 14:29
  [SPEAKER_02]: Well, it does.
• 14:30
  [SPEAKER_02]: It still gets on going money, but because of what we I think we we ended up getting our money back plus the plus I think some of the 20% for some of the investors.
• 14:40
  [SPEAKER_02]: So we might let's just say we got 550 back.
• 14:43
  [SPEAKER_02]: We made 550.
• 14:44
  [SPEAKER_02]: We have not.
• 14:46
  [SPEAKER_02]: We're I get quarterly reports on skin queens the first one, but we haven't
• 14:52
  [SPEAKER_02]: They haven't said they've cleared their money.
• 14:54
  [SPEAKER_00]: They didn't clear what they gave you.
• 14:55
  [SPEAKER_02]: Right, because they also add marketing.
• 14:58
  [SPEAKER_02]: They add what they call P&A.
• 14:59
  [SPEAKER_02]: So when you do your contracts, you have to be very careful.
• 15:02
  [SPEAKER_02]: P&A is print and advertising.
• 15:05
  [SPEAKER_02]: Because sometimes distributors will add.
• 15:08
  [SPEAKER_02]: They'll be like, oh, we put a million in P&A.
• 15:10
  [SPEAKER_02]: And on your thing, and now you owe us a million.
• 15:13
  [SPEAKER_02]: $5,000.
• 15:14
  [SPEAKER_02]: You know what I mean?
• 15:15
  [SPEAKER_02]: And now you'll never crawl out of that debt, but they may not have ever done that and that's what you can't prove.
• 15:20
  [SPEAKER_02]: So when you you make sure that your attorney looks at that contract and you have to put a cap on everything.
• 15:26
  [SPEAKER_02]: I want a cap on this.
• 15:27
  [SPEAKER_02]: You cannot spend over $200,000 on P&A.
• 15:33
  [SPEAKER_02]: without letting me know so that now you kind of can cap how much they spend and when you do your deal you can then say okay I know you've gotten your money I know you've gotten this money back now this project is here here here I'm looking at the numbers I want to start getting my my back end dividend started so we're like all right well we got to shoot another one yes yes before you shoot another one
• 15:57
  [SPEAKER_00]: do you talk to the distributor to make sure they're going to buy this another one?
• 16:01
  [SPEAKER_02]: I did.
• 16:02
  [SPEAKER_02]: Yeah.
• 16:02
  [SPEAKER_02]: Yeah.
• 16:04
  [SPEAKER_00]: Before you start.
• 16:05
  [SPEAKER_02]: Yeah.
• 16:05
  [SPEAKER_00]: And what was the conversation?
• 16:06
  [SPEAKER_02]: They wanted it.
• 16:07
  [SPEAKER_02]: Yeah.
• 16:08
  [SPEAKER_02]: Even though they didn't get their money back yet from there.
• 16:10
  [SPEAKER_02]: It does.
• 16:11
  [SPEAKER_02]: What's that you get and makes you they didn't get their say they didn't get all of their they're getting money back because I'm looking at the reports.
• 16:17
  [SPEAKER_02]: They're getting some money back.
• 16:19
  [SPEAKER_02]: And now they're saying they didn't get all their money back, but they're getting money back.
• 16:22
  [SPEAKER_02]: But even that company changed.
• 16:25
  [SPEAKER_02]: That company started going through a flux of change.
• 16:28
  [SPEAKER_01]: Ownership change.
• 16:29
  [SPEAKER_02]: Ownership change.
• 16:30
  [SPEAKER_02]: Our original executive.
• 16:32
  [SPEAKER_02]: He was no longer there.
• 16:33
  [SPEAKER_02]: By the time we made the movie because unfortunately, there was a gap within us making the movie.
• 16:38
  [SPEAKER_02]: Because we lost Jackie.
• 16:40
  [SPEAKER_01]: And that's also another thing too, sometimes we don't realize what relationships with these companies.
• 16:45
  [SPEAKER_01]: If you have, if this is, if John is your liaison with this big company, but then now Son John is gone.
• 16:51
  [SPEAKER_01]: And now Paul came in.
• 16:53
  [SPEAKER_01]: You don't have that same relationship with Paul.
• 16:54
  [SPEAKER_01]: John wasn't one making it happen for you.
• 16:56
  [SPEAKER_01]: You know what I mean?
• 16:57
  [SPEAKER_01]: So it's like, it's like social proof like, I may have a relationship with K. I may not can get directly to you, but I know K, so K gets me in.
• 17:04
  [SPEAKER_01]: But if K is gone in six months and now it's Marissa, Marissa doesn't know Ernest Dean.
• 17:07
  [SPEAKER_01]: So on my hey Marissa, can we get that same?
• 17:10
  [SPEAKER_01]: I don't really know you're like, I don't care who you think they are going to come out.
• 17:14
  [SPEAKER_01]: Now we're gonna win Marissa and Marissa trying to get to know us, feel like it's just not the same relationship.
• 17:18
  [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, so I'm trying to get to David, but I'm trying to go through this new girl and I used to go to the new girl and yeah, that's how it is.
• 17:24
  [SPEAKER_02]: And everybody has an agenda too.
• 17:26
  [SPEAKER_02]: You forget film is subjective.
• 17:28
  [SPEAKER_02]: This person might say, I don't really want female lead films.
• 17:31
  [SPEAKER_02]: Now we have a whole different direction we're going we're going mel and we don't want to be on this network We want to be on stars and stars is mel dominates So I'm only buying mel dominated films So I'm so you have to think about that too whenever these executives not just at any network anything Whenever there's a change of the changing of the guards
• 17:51
  [SPEAKER_02]: That person is coming in with their own IG Agenda branding, what they want to buy, their personal likes, and if you can get in with an executive that either stays in a network for a long time or studio for a long time, and you guys Agenda's lineup, there's work.
• 18:08
  [SPEAKER_02]: But I've worked for various networks from inspired to BET to hallmark to lifetime, and so I've seen the executive change and every executive comes in with a new
• 18:20
  [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, this is how they want to change with me.
• 18:23
  [SPEAKER_01]: We want female lead high students and then the never executive comes in and place and says no I want Latino lead Suspense You know I only want romance Yeah, we only want rom-coms and yeah, oh, but we have a high
• 18:40
  [SPEAKER_00]: Okay, wow.
• 18:41
  [SPEAKER_00]: So, but initially, has a conversation, everybody's excited.
• 18:45
  [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, it's still to get and we got you.
• 18:47
  [SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, even with, but you see, even with the network, it did well for them and did great numbers for them.
• 18:52
  [SPEAKER_02]: So they were like, oh yeah, run a back.
• 18:54
  [SPEAKER_02]: We'll be, we'll want to buy it, you know?
• 18:56
  [SPEAKER_02]: And they were going through changes so they could not do a pre-buy.
• 19:00
  [SPEAKER_02]: And we were kind of like, oh, it's okay because we know we can sell it and you know what's gonna be better because now we're all better.
• 19:07
  [SPEAKER_02]: I'm a better director.
• 19:08
  [SPEAKER_02]: You're a better actor.
• 19:09
  [SPEAKER_02]: We'll do it by car, you know, we were just excited and we're still excited, but yeah, so we were very excited at the time It's great.
• 19:16
  [SPEAKER_02]: So the pre-buy is like they gave you some money to shoot that well, no You can get a contract well, it's too cab of two to ways you can get the money to shoot it But if they give you the money to shoot it, it's no longer licensing deal Now it is a development deal and they own it
• 19:36
  [SPEAKER_02]: because they put up the money.
• 19:38
  [SPEAKER_02]: So people who put up the money own it.
• 19:40
  [SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, maybe it would have.
• 19:42
  [SPEAKER_02]: Like it wasn't that they weren't really offering that, but it would have just been a conversation that you then have with your team.
• 19:52
  [SPEAKER_02]: Got it.
• 19:52
  [SPEAKER_02]: Okay.
• 19:54
  [SPEAKER_02]: Or you can get an order that says, Hey, we want to license this.
• 19:58
  [SPEAKER_02]: We're going to license it for X amount of dollars.
• 20:00
  [SPEAKER_02]: We're going to license it for $800,000.
• 20:03
  [SPEAKER_02]: I do have a deal.
• 20:04
  [SPEAKER_02]: I don't even deal, but I've done that deal with another network.
• 20:07
  [SPEAKER_02]: And we've done two projects where he came in and said, Hey,
• 20:11
  [SPEAKER_02]: we want to license this movie for eight fifty so then i go get the money because now i know i have a contract for eight fifty and then we make the movie for three fifty four hundred five hundred because we know we'll make that money back and then something got it okay so that's really the ideal licensing that's the kind of ideal licensing agreement you want to have got it all right so
• 20:34
  [SPEAKER_00]: You put it together, you come out with this idea to shoot part two.
• 20:40
  [SPEAKER_02]: Yes.
• 20:41
  [SPEAKER_00]: How long does it get you to write it?
• 20:42
  [SPEAKER_00]: Part two.
• 20:43
  [SPEAKER_00]: It's part two.
• 20:43
  [SPEAKER_00]: Is it the right part one?
• 20:45
  [SPEAKER_00]: No.
• 20:45
  [SPEAKER_00]: Because you already have a concept, kind of?
• 20:47
  [SPEAKER_02]: It wasn't because I wanted you to be bigger and to steer and just, no.
• 20:53
  [SPEAKER_02]: It wasn't as easy.
• 20:54
  [SPEAKER_02]: It took me longer.
• 20:55
  [SPEAKER_02]: And I think I was busy or two at the time.
• 20:57
  [SPEAKER_02]: But it took me a little bit longer.
• 20:59
  [SPEAKER_02]: So maybe you have to make it better than part one.
• 21:01
  [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.
• 21:02
  [SPEAKER_00]: So it's more pressure.
• 21:03
  [SPEAKER_00]: It's absolutely, let's only ask this often is part two, but in a part one.
• 21:13
  [SPEAKER_01]: It isn't.
• 21:14
  [SPEAKER_01]: I hear a lot of people say.
• 21:15
  [SPEAKER_00]: It is, in this case.
• 21:15
  [SPEAKER_00]: I was for sure.
• 21:16
  [SPEAKER_00]: The squeegee is two is better.
• 21:18
  [SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, no, that's for sure.
• 21:19
  [SPEAKER_01]: The squeegee is two is definitely better than we are.
• 21:21
  [SPEAKER_01]: But oftentimes, sequels are not.
• 21:23
  [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.
• 21:24
  [SPEAKER_01]: I would say that the narrative is most sequels aren't better.
• 21:26
  [SPEAKER_02]: Most sequels aren't.
• 21:28
  [SPEAKER_02]: I'm just trying to think.
• 21:31
  [SPEAKER_02]: graph of the two's better than a one.
• 21:32
  [SPEAKER_02]: No, like, I don't know.
• 21:36
  [SPEAKER_02]: I don't know.
• 21:37
  [SPEAKER_02]: It's rare.
• 21:38
  [SPEAKER_02]: It's rare.
• 21:39
  [SPEAKER_02]: I'm sure it happens.
• 21:39
  [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.
• 21:40
  [SPEAKER_00]: But why do you think that is, do you think it's the pressure to, like, you have more more of a window, less of a window to write?
• 21:50
  [SPEAKER_02]: I don't know.
• 21:50
  [SPEAKER_02]: I don't know if it's the pressure or if it's, I think, I think, I think, I think, I think, I think, I think, I think
• 21:55
  [SPEAKER_02]: I think as an artist, it's just like if you're creating album, your best work is that first.
• 22:00
  [SPEAKER_02]: It's like you put everything into it and then it becomes a hit and then you have parameters.
• 22:06
  [SPEAKER_02]: Then it has to be done a certain budget, it has to be this.
• 22:08
  [SPEAKER_02]: It has to be this certain star, all of the other things start happening and it messes with the magic of that first.
• 22:16
  [SPEAKER_02]: I think.
• 22:17
  [SPEAKER_00]: Let me give you this theory so now I just thought about this Friday.
• 22:20
  [SPEAKER_00]: Mm-hmm.
• 22:22
  [SPEAKER_00]: classic movie right love Friday.
• 22:24
  [SPEAKER_01]: Yes.
• 22:26
  [SPEAKER_00]: Next Friday is a better movie.
• 22:31
  [SPEAKER_02]: But the quality quality quality.
• 22:34
  [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, okay quality like the twist and turns and it's just I think it's a better movie.
• 22:40
  [SPEAKER_00]: I feel like one better though.
• 22:42
  [SPEAKER_00]: Maybe people's mind, people's mind.
• 22:43
  [SPEAKER_02]: Maybe it's nostalgia of you seeing it for the first time.
• 22:46
  [SPEAKER_00]: See it for the first time.
• 22:48
  [SPEAKER_00]: And I don't know what to expect.
• 22:49
  [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, it's almost like it's like nothing's very than the original.
• 22:52
  [SPEAKER_02]: Yeah.
• 22:53
  [SPEAKER_02]: And it's also lightning in a bottle.
• 22:54
  [SPEAKER_02]: That first time when you see a fight Friday, it's like it was nothing like it.
• 22:59
  [SPEAKER_02]: So it was like, oh my God.
• 23:01
  [SPEAKER_02]: And then the second one, you're like, I'll have seen it before.
• 23:03
  [SPEAKER_02]: So I think in your mind,
• 23:06
  [SPEAKER_02]: Yes, it might be better quality bigger actors, but it's not going to give you that same feeling as your first kiss.
• 23:13
  [SPEAKER_00]: What I want you out of to do, I need your first go watch, squeak, squeak, squeak, squeak, squeak, squeak, squeak, squeak, squeak, squeak, squeak, squeak, squeak, squeak, squeak, squeak, squeak, squeak, squeak, squeak, squeak, squeak, squeak, squeak, squeak, squeak, squeak, squeak, squeak, squeak, squeak, squeak, squeak, squeak, squeak, squeak, squeak, squeak, squeak, squeak, squeak, squeak, squeak, squeak, squeak, squeak, squeak, squeak, squeak, squeak, squeak, squeak, squeak, squeak, squeak, squeak, squeak, squeak, sque
• 23:36
  [SPEAKER_02]: No, not quite double.
• 23:38
  [SPEAKER_00]: It's more though.
• 23:39
  [SPEAKER_02]: It's more almost double.
• 23:40
  [SPEAKER_02]: Look now if we're like high threes and then it was high five.
• 23:44
  [SPEAKER_00]: So yeah, yes, yeah, okay and why did you why why did we go to the Caribbean why not just shoot in the States
• 23:54
  [SPEAKER_01]: because that's the end of part one, right?
• 23:57
  [SPEAKER_01]: Yes, we take our passport.
• 23:59
  [SPEAKER_01]: Yes, we take our passports at the end of part one.
• 24:01
  [SPEAKER_01]: And they're like, we're leaving.
• 24:02
  [SPEAKER_01]: We were like, we're leaving the country.
• 24:03
  [SPEAKER_01]: Our passports.
• 24:04
  [SPEAKER_01]: And we have to leave the country.
• 24:05
  [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, was that an intentional ending to the next?
• 24:10
  [SPEAKER_02]: No, because I, it first, I guess no, because you said that it wasn't, you wanted to be a trilogy.
• 24:15
  [SPEAKER_01]: I think I did say that.
• 24:17
  [SPEAKER_01]: I did.
• 24:17
  [SPEAKER_01]: I did.
• 24:17
  [SPEAKER_02]: I did.
• 24:18
  [SPEAKER_02]: But I don't think in my head I was thinking, oh, and never.
• 24:22
  [SPEAKER_00]: Now the best one thing, like it's set up the past one thing because we're going to use our passports next week.
• 24:26
  [SPEAKER_02]: No, it just was like, you do all of this.
• 24:29
  [SPEAKER_02]: You still is funny.
• 24:29
  [SPEAKER_02]: You've got to lead a country.
• 24:30
  [SPEAKER_02]: Like in a story world, that's where I'm like.
• 24:33
  [SPEAKER_02]: You got to lead the country.
• 24:34
  [SPEAKER_02]: I don't think it's a producer.
• 24:35
  [SPEAKER_02]: I was thinking, oh shit.
• 24:37
  [SPEAKER_02]: Now we got to lead the country.
• 24:39
  [SPEAKER_02]: I didn't put all of that together at the time.
• 24:41
  [SPEAKER_02]: But once we started talking about it, we were like, well, we got to go to the country at the end.
• 24:46
  [SPEAKER_01]: We grabbed our passport at the end of part one, so we have to go somewhere.
• 24:49
  [SPEAKER_02]: So where are we going?
• 24:50
  [SPEAKER_02]: And we even contemplated, we were like, okay, we just shouldn't Savannah make Savannah look like, like, we thought about a few days, but we were like, that's not no one's gonna buy that.
• 24:58
  [SPEAKER_01]: I've got Puerto Rico.
• 24:59
  [SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, Puerto Rico.
• 25:00
  [SPEAKER_02]: We did think about Puerto Rico.
• 25:02
  [SPEAKER_02]: Yeah.
• 25:03
  [SPEAKER_02]: And then, Errol,
• 25:04
  [SPEAKER_02]: Um, we checked reached out to Arrow shout out to Arrow side for one of our producers reached out to John Lee Lee and a couple other people that he knew that it been shooting in St. Thomas and he said, oh, well, they have these taxes and if they have this, they have that we should go down there and shoot.
• 25:20
  [SPEAKER_02]: and that is how St. Thomas came to be.
• 25:23
  [SPEAKER_00]: Talk about those attacks and senses, by shooting another country in the United States, bring them like a local.
• 25:29
  [SPEAKER_02]: Well, when they uphold what they said they were gonna do, it works great.
• 25:36
  [SPEAKER_02]: That's what I will say about that, is they not?
• 25:39
  [SPEAKER_02]: No, no, they do not.
• 25:41
  [SPEAKER_02]: But I think that might be for a whole nother podcast.
• 25:44
  [SPEAKER_02]: The tax incentives are really tricky because a lot of people say they have tax incentives, they have rebates, there's different ways.
• 25:52
  [SPEAKER_02]: You have cash rebates at some countries, they'll give you, we shot and trended ad for a movie and they actually gave us a cash rebate that we put into the movie.
• 26:01
  [SPEAKER_02]: But tax incentives usually work.
• 26:03
  [SPEAKER_02]: If you spend x amount of dollars using local resources, vendors, people, etc.
• 26:11
  [SPEAKER_02]: And it qualifies at a certain number, 25, 300, 500,000, then they will give you a 30% back on that spend.
• 26:21
  [SPEAKER_02]: And I cannot remember the exact number that St. Thomas said that there is that spin was.
• 26:29
  [SPEAKER_02]: I feel like it was 500.
• 26:30
  [SPEAKER_02]: It might have been 500, which we did spend that.
• 26:33
  [SPEAKER_02]: But there were several loop holes and several things.
• 26:36
  [SPEAKER_02]: And at the end of the day,
• 26:38
  [SPEAKER_02]: They were like, oh, it didn't qualify.
• 26:39
  [SPEAKER_01]: That's awesome.
• 26:41
  [SPEAKER_02]: That's, yeah, that's what happened.
• 26:42
  [SPEAKER_02]: But the irony is while we were there shooting, someone, and this is the ding, shooting, shooting in new spaces in new places.
• 26:50
  [SPEAKER_02]: Someone said to us, good luck, if you ever see that money.
• 26:54
  [SPEAKER_00]: Really?
• 26:55
  [SPEAKER_00]: We're shooting.
• 26:56
  [SPEAKER_02]: Oh, I didn't know that.
• 26:57
  [SPEAKER_02]: Yeah.
• 26:57
  [SPEAKER_01]: While we were there.
• 26:58
  [SPEAKER_01]: Wow.
• 26:59
  [SPEAKER_02]: And we were like, no, we're talking, no, we, everything, we got all our stuff, like, no, boo, boo.
• 27:04
  [SPEAKER_02]: And they were like, okay.
• 27:06
  [SPEAKER_02]: Oh, wow.
• 27:07
  [SPEAKER_01]: I didn't know that bad.
• 27:09
  [SPEAKER_01]: New information.
• 27:11
  [SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, so we did all the stuff we were supposed to do.
• 27:14
  [SPEAKER_02]: And Arrow, that is his expertise.
• 27:17
  [SPEAKER_02]: He's so thorough with the whole with the tax incentives.
• 27:20
  [SPEAKER_02]: Like the last two movies we shot in Atlanta, like he handled all the tax incentives and we've gotten our tax money.
• 27:26
  [SPEAKER_02]: We've, you know, we've gotten everything back.
• 27:29
  [SPEAKER_02]: But yes, but yes.
• 27:31
  [SPEAKER_00]: What does it deal like that going wrong
• 27:36
  [SPEAKER_02]: over a hundred thousand dollars yeah that sucks it does it's because you're relying on that hundred thousand dollars to come back in a form of a rebate or credit and a tax we were gonna sell it it was supposed to be sold tax credit and then because I mean it's it's same top it's still a U.S. version is the U.S. version islands so we could sell the tax credit with any
• 27:59
  [SPEAKER_02]: body.
• 28:00
  [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.
• 28:01
  [SPEAKER_00]: Oh, and obviously there in sense of is you bring more dollars, more notoriety, more, which we did.
• 28:08
  [SPEAKER_02]: Yeah.
• 28:09
  [SPEAKER_02]: The beautiful thing about what we did there.
• 28:10
  [SPEAKER_02]: So I don't, I don't regret shooting there at all is because we were able to bring, we were able to train a lot of people.
• 28:17
  [SPEAKER_02]: Yeah.
• 28:18
  [SPEAKER_02]: We had a lot of interns, a lot of young men.
• 28:20
  [SPEAKER_02]: who want it to do film and we had an incredible crew who took them under their wings and, you know, really taught them.
• 28:28
  [SPEAKER_02]: And so I truly, truly believe that a lot of what we do or what are, what I do and the gift that I have is to serve.
• 28:35
  [SPEAKER_02]: And so I love when I'm working on set and I see the next generation learning and being passionate about something in us.
• 28:43
  [SPEAKER_02]: You know, their mentors looking like us and we teaching them because that's something I didn't have.
• 28:48
  [SPEAKER_02]: I came from a small town, I came from North Carolina and I had to like grind on my own.
• 28:52
  [SPEAKER_02]: I got a few mentors, but somebody really taking me by their wing and they're like, this is how you do it.
• 28:58
  [SPEAKER_02]: I did not get that.
• 28:59
  [SPEAKER_02]: I got this is how you do it by making mistakes on said and learning along the way.
• 29:03
  [SPEAKER_02]: So I don't regret that, but that was a huge disappointment with the government of us going back and forth and we went back and forth for months.
• 29:11
  [SPEAKER_02]: And they just, they were like, no, it just doesn't this and we said, no, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah,
• 29:34
  [SPEAKER_02]: Um, when did I find out was going to be tough to sell it in, well, it was in post production.
• 29:39
  [SPEAKER_02]: I started reaching back out to have to get home.
• 29:42
  [SPEAKER_02]: We get home.
• 29:43
  [SPEAKER_02]: Yeah.
• 29:43
  [SPEAKER_02]: It's in post production.
• 29:44
  [SPEAKER_01]: It's been in March April.
• 29:47
  [SPEAKER_02]: Let's see, we shot it in February, we shot it in a march.
• 29:50
  [SPEAKER_02]: So May, May of that same year, we are imposed.
• 29:54
  [SPEAKER_02]: And I start reaching out to all of my ex and some of them aren't there.
• 30:00
  [SPEAKER_02]: And there's a merger, there's a new paramount merger.
• 30:04
  [SPEAKER_02]: And the film hub people aren't there.
• 30:07
  [SPEAKER_02]: And the movie gets done, and we show it, and I show it to a mentor of mine.
• 30:11
  [SPEAKER_02]: And this, my mentor, shout out to Roger Bob, who has been an amazing mentor for me for many, many years.
• 30:18
  [SPEAKER_02]: He said, oh, no, it's a good film.
• 30:20
  [SPEAKER_02]: You should be able to sell it.
• 30:21
  [SPEAKER_02]: 600,000.
• 30:22
  [SPEAKER_02]: Oh, great.
• 30:23
  [SPEAKER_02]: Go sell it, Roger.
• 30:25
  [SPEAKER_02]: Get your presenter, off top, go sell it.
• 30:26
  [SPEAKER_02]: This is before, you know, I didn't look into a third party distributor or anything this time.
• 30:30
  [SPEAKER_00]: I'm like, he has a connection.
• 30:31
  [SPEAKER_00]: He has a connection.
• 30:32
  [SPEAKER_02]: So he took it to two of his studio places.
• 30:36
  [SPEAKER_02]: And they came back and they said, yes, it's a good movie.
• 30:39
  [SPEAKER_02]: but it doesn't have the big name stars in it.
• 30:42
  [SPEAKER_02]: It sounds like, well, the last one didn't, and we sold it, I don't understand.
• 30:45
  [SPEAKER_02]: And so then I started doing my own research, and then I realized, oh, in 18 months, the industry has changed.
• 30:53
  [SPEAKER_02]: Everyone's merging, all of these streaming companies that had their own independent plus, you know, we have my plus, Amazon plus, like all the pluses are all now merging, and they're only going to have one plus.
• 31:06
  [SPEAKER_02]: And the OnePlus, they want Carrie Washington in the Cold Kidman, and all in, and there was a new trend that everyone was making these limited series with IPs.
• 31:17
  [SPEAKER_02]: So, uh, Reese with a spoon, you know, her company bought up all these books.
• 31:22
  [SPEAKER_02]: And so now you have pretty little layers listed.
• 31:24
  [SPEAKER_00]: No, no, no, no, I want to explain.
• 31:25
  [SPEAKER_00]: You said they're making something with IP.
• 31:27
  [SPEAKER_02]: Okay, so the new, the trend from one skin queens one to skin queens two is now, they are, they being individuals, company studios are buying, uh, best selling books.
• 31:40
  [SPEAKER_02]: And these back selling boats are now intellectual property.
• 31:43
  [SPEAKER_02]: So the trend became, no, we want social media starts from marketing to no, we want books with with audiences to be marketing now.
• 31:54
  [SPEAKER_02]: And these books with audiences are coming from these best selling books that are being bought up by.
• 31:59
  [SPEAKER_02]: these huge companies and or white actresses, and now they're starving in their own movies that they own the IP for, and now I don't need Ernestine and Bree because now I'm the cold kidman's going to come and be on my network.
• 32:15
  [SPEAKER_00]: I don't remember seeing, you guys are more into that industry, but I don't remember seeing that being a trend or a bunch of books, like pretty little liars, like things would lock something in the fire.
• 32:28
  [SPEAKER_01]: Like, it was a whole bunch of deals.
• 32:30
  [SPEAKER_01]: Like, it still is.
• 32:31
  [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.
• 32:31
  [SPEAKER_01]: It's a whole bunch of food, Netflix, Apple TV shows that were like based off popular books.
• 32:36
  [SPEAKER_01]: All that was like, you probably just didn't know they were based off popular books.
• 32:40
  [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.
• 32:42
  [SPEAKER_02]: And so now that became the trend.
• 32:44
  [SPEAKER_02]: So then that instantly knocked out the Amazon who that instantly knocked out all the big streamers because now they only want it big stars.
• 32:53
  [SPEAKER_02]: So now these for beautiful women, black women, this happened.
• 32:59
  [SPEAKER_02]: D-E-A-E-I is now starting to be dismantled.
• 33:03
  [SPEAKER_02]: So the dollars that they had for urban content, because that's how they, you know, you'll get your budget.
• 33:10
  [SPEAKER_02]: And you're like, okay, we've just been a million our urban content, we're gonna spend five million on this, and you know, one million on LGBTQ, whatever they're breakdown is.
• 33:19
  [SPEAKER_02]: They were like, oh, we don't, we're not, that money's gone.
• 33:21
  [SPEAKER_02]: We're not spending that on that.
• 33:22
  [SPEAKER_02]: We need this money to go now to general market because now we need bigger stars to come to our network.
• 33:28
  [SPEAKER_02]: So that literally was a, I mean, it happened in a year and a half to a year span amongst the right of strike amongst the all these mergers.
• 33:37
  [SPEAKER_00]: So all the cycles after that, after skiing, skiing, skiing, queens, one.
• 33:42
  [SPEAKER_02]: I think it was either at the, was it the same year?
• 33:45
  [SPEAKER_01]: I can't remember.
• 33:46
  [SPEAKER_01]: I can't remember.
• 33:46
  [SPEAKER_01]: There was some strike that happened.
• 33:48
  [SPEAKER_01]: That's, and like the whole industry was shut down.
• 33:49
  [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.
• 33:50
  [SPEAKER_02]: And then the young, like, everything, I'm like, yeah, it was a whole bunch of stuff happening at once.
• 33:54
  [SPEAKER_01]: But things like twilight, how big the movie twilight was.
• 33:56
  [SPEAKER_01]: That was basically a book.
• 33:58
  [SPEAKER_01]: So the books, twilight, you didn't remember twilight, right?
• 34:01
  [SPEAKER_01]: The books had this huge audience.
• 34:03
  [SPEAKER_01]: Everyone's reading twilight, all the twilight books.
• 34:05
  [SPEAKER_01]: new moon and like that there was a community of book readers and then it became the movie so the movie was big But the books were bigger like everyone's reading these books.
• 34:12
  [SPEAKER_01]: I remember my cousin was reading twilight.
• 34:13
  [SPEAKER_01]: I'm like, what do you read?
• 34:14
  [SPEAKER_01]: This big old thing with my cousin was like a loving.
• 34:17
  [SPEAKER_01]: I'm like, what are you reading?
• 34:19
  [SPEAKER_01]: Think his book I ever seen and she's like twilight.
• 34:21
  [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, it was new moon.
• 34:22
  [SPEAKER_01]: It was like something it was that and did a movie
• 34:25
  [SPEAKER_02]: And so that became again, but then it still is the trend now, but it just basically knocked out all the streamers where we thought we were going to be able to go because we had leveled up our movie and your mentor, he's experiencing this and coming back with this news.
• 34:37
  [SPEAKER_02]: Yes, he's coming back with the news saying, Hey, this is what's happening.
• 34:41
  [SPEAKER_02]: This is the feedback.
• 34:42
  [SPEAKER_02]: I'm getting directly from my sellers who we thought would buy the movie that we don't have the big stars in the movie.
• 34:48
  [SPEAKER_02]: And I'm like, but we got to why don't we don't need to why don't you stand and he's like, Oh, yeah, now you do.
• 34:54
  [SPEAKER_02]: And I'm like, oh, hey, what has happened?
• 34:57
  [SPEAKER_02]: So then we go back to our regular sources, you know, our urban networks and say, hey, we would like to sell this movie.
• 35:05
  [SPEAKER_02]: Well, BET was merging with Pairmont before it's now it's not even a BET plus anymore, but it was going through this merger.
• 35:14
  [SPEAKER_02]: So when they go through mergers, they're buying frozen.
• 35:18
  [SPEAKER_02]: They only have very few dollars that's usually to committed films that they've already projects they've already committed to.
• 35:24
  [SPEAKER_02]: So they can't find anything.
• 35:25
  [SPEAKER_02]: I'm for whole year.
• 35:26
  [SPEAKER_02]: So that's now year I'm waiting for them.
• 35:28
  [SPEAKER_02]: Then more execs go away.
• 35:30
  [SPEAKER_02]: Then now there's like nobody there, except for like two people that were originally there.
• 35:34
  [SPEAKER_02]: And so, and I still have the relationship, but they didn't have the power.
• 35:38
  [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.
• 35:38
  [SPEAKER_02]: Um, because now they were owned by Paramount.
• 35:41
  [SPEAKER_02]: So now Paramount's like, well, what, I don't, what are we?
• 35:43
  [SPEAKER_02]: What is this?
• 35:44
  [SPEAKER_02]: What is this?
• 35:45
  [SPEAKER_02]: Why?
• 35:45
  [SPEAKER_02]: Because they come with a catalog already.
• 35:48
  [SPEAKER_02]: Yeah.
• 35:48
  [SPEAKER_02]: And they're like, no, we're going to just put our catalog on there.
• 35:50
  [SPEAKER_02]: Why are we spending more money for something we already own?
• 35:53
  [SPEAKER_02]: So Paramount plus already owns five black movies.
• 35:56
  [SPEAKER_02]: We're going to give those five that movies to BET plus we don't need your new black movie.
• 36:01
  [SPEAKER_00]: Wow.
• 36:02
  [SPEAKER_02]: You know, so all of this starts happening and now I'm like, oh my god.
• 36:08
  [SPEAKER_02]: Like the first one was so easy to sell.
• 36:10
  [SPEAKER_01]: I can't sell the second one and then it is like all of the last five films That you've done have all the nice and sold so yeah investors pay back like I mean all of them This is me.
• 36:22
  [SPEAKER_02]: This is the first one that I had a challenge like selling but the industry changed with in this Time frame and it's industry's changing faster and faster because technology is getting faster.
• 36:34
  [SPEAKER_02]: So that started happening and
• 36:37
  [SPEAKER_02]: And then I was like, okay, we need to figure out.
• 36:39
  [SPEAKER_02]: We need a game plan.
• 36:40
  [SPEAKER_02]: I don't, I don't understand what's going on.
• 36:43
  [SPEAKER_02]: And that's, oh, and then let me say this.
• 36:46
  [SPEAKER_02]: Then there were some networks that I could still go straight to, but because this was a sequel, they were like, we don't want to buy this one because we don't own the first one.
• 36:56
  [SPEAKER_02]: Oh, I did.
• 36:57
  [SPEAKER_02]: Yeah.
• 36:57
  [SPEAKER_00]: You can't get that first one back, huh?
• 36:59
  [SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, I can buy it back.
• 37:01
  [SPEAKER_02]: Ha ha ha.
• 37:03
  [SPEAKER_00]: Hey, we can't wrap that into the deal.
• 37:06
  [SPEAKER_00]: Like, okay, they made some out of dollars.
• 37:08
  [SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, I tried, but they were like, we don't, the first one's now older.
• 37:13
  [SPEAKER_02]: You see what I'm saying?
• 37:13
  [SPEAKER_02]: So they don't wanna give you that money, but that's the first one that's already been out now.
• 37:18
  [SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, that's been out, that's been on the networks.
• 37:19
  [SPEAKER_02]: It's already been exploited.
• 37:22
  [SPEAKER_02]: So yeah.
• 37:22
  [SPEAKER_00]: Goodness.
• 37:23
  [SPEAKER_02]: So I started looking into, you know, far in and we started looking in the Africa and other markets, but even Africa, we looked in the sell-in-it.
• 37:34
  [SPEAKER_02]: Right.
• 37:34
  [SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, they don't want to give you any money.
• 37:37
  [SPEAKER_02]: And because it didn't have African stars in it.
• 37:40
  [SPEAKER_02]: So they were like, we can't exploit it.
• 37:42
  [SPEAKER_02]: Yeah.
• 37:42
  [SPEAKER_02]: So it just gets really tricky.
• 37:45
  [SPEAKER_02]: It gets really.
• 37:46
  [SPEAKER_01]: You know what I couldn't.
• 37:47
  [SPEAKER_01]: Oh, man.
• 37:49
  [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.
• 37:49
  [SPEAKER_00]: So where are we now?
• 37:52
  [SPEAKER_01]: So right now we're available and so we did we didn't get a distributor When does this air what would they to say is we immediately?
• 38:04
  [SPEAKER_00]: Right now we're on Amazon front told on so you got a distributor.
• 38:07
  [SPEAKER_00]: Yes, yes, it is same laws applied that the distributor say here's a bunch of money
• 38:11
  [SPEAKER_02]: No, no, we didn't get that we didn't get so huge yeah the minimum guarantee is what you want that is for all That's what we got to make for somebody minimum guarantee like we're gonna give you this first Yes, and this one we didn't get somebody bet on us and said hey we know we can sell this project But the thing is I kind of already knew I had already gone out there So I knew oh they're gonna have the same part time that I had so we didn't get the minimum guarantee
• 38:38
  [SPEAKER_02]: and I held it for a while.
• 38:39
  [SPEAKER_02]: I'm like, okay, I mean, I'm just like, maybe it's real flip.
• 38:42
  [SPEAKER_02]: Maybe something will happen.
• 38:43
  [SPEAKER_02]: She got on the gates in this time of like, she's going blow up.
• 38:46
  [SPEAKER_02]: And I'm like, no, we gotta start.
• 38:48
  [SPEAKER_02]: We gotta start.
• 38:49
  [SPEAKER_02]: We gotta start.
• 38:50
  [SPEAKER_02]: We gotta start.
• 38:51
  [SPEAKER_02]: Um, but yes, so no, we finally decided as a collective, I'm like, we have to put this out now.
• 38:57
  [SPEAKER_02]: And so now, because of the relationships, we are able to get it on various streaming platforms, but you don't get a minimum guarantee, you get something called a revenue share.
• 39:08
  [SPEAKER_02]: So that is money on the back end, after they get all their money for advertisers, you split the money, and then you get it quarterly, which is what a lot of new filmmakers are getting, anyway, they're able to just put their stuff out there.
• 39:20
  [SPEAKER_02]: Minimum guarantees don't,
• 39:22
  [SPEAKER_02]: You know, that is a lot of new filmmakers aren't getting in.
• 39:25
  [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, um, so I'm going to get the money back to this.
• 39:31
  [SPEAKER_00]: We are.
• 39:32
  [SPEAKER_01]: We are, Dave.
• 39:33
  [SPEAKER_01]: It's just not going to happen.
• 39:34
  [SPEAKER_01]: Everyone's going to go stream it.
• 39:36
  [SPEAKER_01]: And support it.
• 39:37
  [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.
• 39:38
  [SPEAKER_01]: Amazon pride.
• 39:39
  [SPEAKER_00]: I was going to go watch Keith Lee's two first.
• 39:41
  [SPEAKER_00]: Yes.
• 39:41
  [SPEAKER_01]: Watch Keith Lee's two first.
• 39:43
  [SPEAKER_01]: Part two is called scheme Queens.
• 39:45
  [SPEAKER_02]: Caribbean heist yes type that on in it's on amazon prime and october first it's going to be on to be it'll be out no December it'll be on all the other stream it'll be on amazon prime it's even more it will be on a bandango um and other streaming platforms so various streaming platforms you'll be able to type it in December it's when it comes to to be oh yes so why why is it being
• 40:14
  [SPEAKER_02]: You can bite, you can render by it.
• 40:16
  [SPEAKER_00]: If I have Amazon Prime, can I watch it or I start to run it?
• 40:19
  [SPEAKER_00]: You still have to run it right now.
• 40:21
  [SPEAKER_02]: So it's in, like, it's not an S-vod A-vod.
• 40:24
  [SPEAKER_02]: It's in rental purchase.
• 40:25
  [SPEAKER_02]: So you want to have the water.
• 40:27
  [SPEAKER_00]: That's not A-vod.
• 40:28
  [SPEAKER_02]: Yes.
• 40:29
  [SPEAKER_02]: S-vod A-vod.
• 40:29
  [SPEAKER_02]: The description.
• 40:31
  [SPEAKER_02]: advertising so you video on demand so sorry subscription video on demand advertising video on demand When you win as a filmmaker you want to release your we're projects as a waterfall because Everybody doesn't have Amazon Prime everybody doesn't have the you know the pay prime
• 40:49
  [SPEAKER_02]: And so it's almost like a theatrical release without going to the actual you want people to pay the $399 to rent it the $699 to buy it or to own it that's what you want to do first and you do that for a limited time which is what is now up until October so you guys go rent by and then after October.
• 41:09
  [SPEAKER_02]: Then it is basically a streaming wide and then if you have Amazon Prime, you can just rent it.
• 41:15
  [SPEAKER_02]: If you have Fendango, if you have any of the other some other various streaming services, you can just watch Google Play.
• 41:22
  [SPEAKER_02]: And then watch it over and over and over and over, just keep it on loop.
• 41:28
  [SPEAKER_02]: Because then
• 41:29
  [SPEAKER_02]: Phil Makers get their money through advertising.
• 41:32
  [SPEAKER_00]: For sure.
• 41:32
  [SPEAKER_00]: So the first Amazon Prime were selling it.
• 41:37
  [SPEAKER_00]: People pay, and we get some money back that way.
• 41:39
  [SPEAKER_02]: Yes.
• 41:40
  [SPEAKER_00]: And then it goes free and sell.
• 41:44
  [SPEAKER_00]: Correct.
• 41:45
  [SPEAKER_00]: The, give me the psychology behind that though.
• 41:48
  [SPEAKER_00]: Like why sell it and then not sell it.
• 41:53
  [SPEAKER_02]: money means sell it not.
• 41:54
  [SPEAKER_02]: Oh, I don't think you've got to.
• 41:56
  [SPEAKER_02]: Why do we rid it?
• 41:57
  [SPEAKER_02]: Why is it just the waterfall?
• 41:59
  [SPEAKER_02]: Because you want you you will get more money if people buy it.
• 42:02
  [SPEAKER_02]: Yeah.
• 42:02
  [SPEAKER_02]: So you want to exploit it in the highest way you can exploit it.
• 42:07
  [SPEAKER_02]: It's like why go to the theaters and then go streaming.
• 42:09
  [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.
• 42:09
  [SPEAKER_02]: It's the same mentality.
• 42:11
  [SPEAKER_00]: Then we got to email one time.
• 42:13
  [SPEAKER_00]: I thought somebody wanted to give some money one time, but it was just too low at the time.
• 42:18
  [SPEAKER_00]: What the money was too low?
• 42:20
  [SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, I offer you know, remember you said you sent out these updates and we know today investors would I appreciate thank you so much because some people are like you invested you know you're not like I don't because I that's my personal debt like I take it as my debt so you know you have to be in touch with your debt or see
• 42:40
  [SPEAKER_02]: You have to let them know, like, hey, this is what's going on.
• 42:43
  [SPEAKER_02]: Somebody may have, I don't know, and it must, it must have not been a good offer because Yeah, because if it's a small, if it's like $100,000, $100,000, the challenge with knowing your film, you need to get back 500, 550.
• 42:59
  [SPEAKER_02]: Somebody gives you a hundred.
• 43:01
  [SPEAKER_02]: And now it's a hundred, but now they have exclusive.
• 43:04
  [SPEAKER_02]: So now it's just going to be there with that 100.
• 43:07
  [SPEAKER_02]: They have to get that 100 back then whatever they put on top of it like we talked about in the beginning and they have it exclusively for x some three years, four years.
• 43:16
  [SPEAKER_02]: How am I going to get?
• 43:17
  [SPEAKER_02]: How am I going to get up to 500?
• 43:19
  [SPEAKER_02]: It's only going to be on one network.
• 43:21
  [SPEAKER_02]: You see what I'm saying?
• 43:22
  [SPEAKER_00]: But in this way.
• 43:25
  [SPEAKER_02]: this way is various networks and I have a greater I don't I don't owe anybody any money other than the investors I don't owe a network back I don't owe any other money so I thought when you go to with the distributor the distributor distributed everywhere any but I think our offer was from one
• 43:46
  [SPEAKER_02]: streaming source.
• 43:46
  [SPEAKER_02]: Okay.
• 43:47
  [SPEAKER_02]: Yeah.
• 43:47
  [SPEAKER_02]: What's from one streaming and if you do that now is just on that one streaming platform.
• 43:52
  [SPEAKER_02]: Everybody has to go to that one and you have to be able to that person has to make their money back.
• 43:57
  [SPEAKER_02]: So if they don't have fits a new streaming site and I feel like it was a new streaming site to say, Oh,
• 44:02
  [SPEAKER_02]: We'll bring it here.
• 44:02
  [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, it was a new streaming site.
• 44:04
  [SPEAKER_02]: They were like, we'll bring it here.
• 44:06
  [SPEAKER_02]: It will give you guys $50,000 for it or $100,000 for it.
• 44:09
  [SPEAKER_02]: But they basically are banking on us, bring chance to them.
• 44:14
  [SPEAKER_02]: So yeah.
• 44:15
  [SPEAKER_02]: So it was a reverse.
• 44:16
  [SPEAKER_02]: So I'm like, well, if that's the case, run me 500.
• 44:20
  [SPEAKER_01]: If you're using us to bring people to your channel, you're a platform, you guys.
• 44:24
  [SPEAKER_01]: And we mean, yes, because I'll never see my money back.
• 44:27
  [SPEAKER_01]: And I have a deal with you.
• 44:29
  [SPEAKER_02]: And now other people aren't going to want me,
• 44:32
  [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, got it got it who yeah, but imagine how many people have Amazon Prime Who don't have Amazon Prime so there's the sector people who do have Amazon Prime who'll render for that 399 Yeah, then in December when it comes to two be all the people have two people who don't have Amazon Prime now They're watching so I think the waterfall effect is you reach more people.
• 44:51
  [SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, and we can keep advertising We can keep marketing we can keep doing look, you know, hey you guys go buy it where's up if it was everywhere all at once
• 45:02
  [SPEAKER_02]: By December, it's run out, it's run its course.
• 45:06
  [SPEAKER_02]: By December, we have a whole new marketing plan.
• 45:08
  [SPEAKER_02]: We're reaching the Toby people.
• 45:09
  [SPEAKER_02]: We might change up the artwork, make it a little bit more Toby.
• 45:12
  [SPEAKER_02]: Yeah.
• 45:14
  [SPEAKER_00]: That's who we have it all.
• 45:15
  [SPEAKER_00]: Oh, can you split tests on Tobi?
• 45:18
  [SPEAKER_00]: Split tests mean you're like, you put like two or three different titles and see what clicks, but it comes out YouTube, can you?
• 45:23
  [SPEAKER_02]: You mean, I don't know.
• 45:24
  [SPEAKER_02]: Two or three different titles of the same movie?
• 45:26
  [SPEAKER_00]: No, no, no, so on YouTube, I can put up three different thumbnails, images, to see what people are clicking more.
• 45:33
  [SPEAKER_02]: No, I don't think you'd like that.
• 45:34
  [SPEAKER_02]: Because they ask you for the thumbnail.
• 45:37
  [SPEAKER_02]: They ask you for your artwork and that's your artwork.
• 45:40
  [SPEAKER_01]: But we can switch up the artwork.
• 45:41
  [SPEAKER_01]: We can't switch it on to two.
• 45:43
  [SPEAKER_02]: Absolutely, yes.
• 45:44
  [SPEAKER_02]: We can have different posters.
• 45:46
  [SPEAKER_02]: We can, yeah, we can market it differently.
• 45:48
  [SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, we're going to have you in a bikini.
• 46:09
  [SPEAKER_00]: When you do that, and it's like these bumps in the room, I know.
• 46:15
  [SPEAKER_01]: What does it feel like for...
• 46:18
  [SPEAKER_01]: Especially when we haven't had this experience before, I'm like, we have not had this experience before.
• 46:22
  [SPEAKER_01]: What is happening?
• 46:23
  [SPEAKER_01]: So yes.
• 46:24
  [SPEAKER_01]: And I also think it's important, like, when I ask people for money, because I definitely, I just can be with money now.
• 46:29
  [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.
• 46:30
  [SPEAKER_01]: but it's also like I know it's a relationship that like you know me, you know how I operate and how we operate.
• 46:36
  [SPEAKER_01]: So it's like you're not just asking around and people for money, you ask people who you have a rapport with, who you've grown with.
• 46:42
  [SPEAKER_01]: But it definitely is an uncomfortable conversation.
• 46:43
  [SPEAKER_01]: Like, yeah, you know how I fit to K.
• 46:47
  [SPEAKER_01]: It definitely is uncomfortable, but it's like, I do have, we're people are going to support the film.
• 46:52
  [SPEAKER_01]: People are going to support the film, and it'll just be over time, and it may not be as quick as we've had our success in the past.
• 46:59
  [SPEAKER_01]: On other films.
• 47:00
  [SPEAKER_02]: But we've been very blessed though, I mean, we've got, which is why we do have repeat investors.
• 47:05
  [SPEAKER_02]: But yes, no, it doesn't feel good.
• 47:07
  [SPEAKER_02]: It doesn't.
• 47:07
  [SPEAKER_02]: I don't like it, like at all.
• 47:10
  [SPEAKER_02]: Yes, I said emails too.
• 47:12
  [SPEAKER_02]: All the time that you guys aren't all that I'm like, guys, we got to fear something.
• 47:17
  [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, that's like seeing, guys, where do we do we have to make a decision?
• 47:20
  [SPEAKER_01]: I'm like, put it down to me, I don't know.
• 47:23
  [SPEAKER_00]: No, I appreciate that meant a lot.
• 47:25
  [SPEAKER_00]: They're like, even the emails and the calls and the updates and we'll do like little Zoom call, you explain everything.
• 47:32
  [SPEAKER_00]: I'm like, I could really, really appreciate that and I do believe we'll get our money back.
• 47:42
  [SPEAKER_01]: five, six, 50 count them as a couple, count for shoulder, mm-hmm, mm-hmm, mm-hmm.
• 47:50
  [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, five, five.
• 47:51
  [SPEAKER_00]: Has anyone like, they're like, hey, man, what's up?
• 47:55
  [SPEAKER_00]: It's been.
• 47:56
  [SPEAKER_00]: No.
• 47:56
  [SPEAKER_00]: Nobody.
• 47:57
  [SPEAKER_01]: No, I think because the other three they're in the industry, so they know, like they understand what's happening.
• 48:01
  [SPEAKER_01]: They understand, like, you know, they just understand.
• 48:04
  [SPEAKER_01]: And to be honest, Cass especially has been very lucky.
• 48:07
  [SPEAKER_01]: I mean, obviously me in addition to Cass, but Cass had been very lucky to get a return of all her films.
• 48:13
  [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.
• 48:13
  [SPEAKER_01]: That's not common.
• 48:14
  [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.
• 48:15
  [SPEAKER_01]: for a film maker to get a return on their film is not really common so many people so many filmmakers have taken loss losses like oh my first seven films I didn't make any money right castes like well my first seven my last seven films they really well so it's like it's because of the industry it is the only one
• 48:32
  [SPEAKER_01]: Yes.
• 48:32
  [SPEAKER_02]: This is the first one.
• 48:34
  [SPEAKER_02]: Yes.
• 48:34
  [SPEAKER_02]: Yes.
• 48:35
  [SPEAKER_02]: For sure.
• 48:36
  [SPEAKER_02]: It definitely, um, it's because of the industry.
• 48:40
  [SPEAKER_02]: And it's, I mean, the other ones you did co-prose.
• 48:42
  [SPEAKER_02]: I did some of my day co-prose.
• 48:44
  [SPEAKER_02]: Some of them, I had pre-orders, um, uh, co-produced, co-produced, meaning what the network they put up money.
• 48:49
  [SPEAKER_02]: We put up money, um, so it was less money to get back, um, some of them I had pre-orders, but there have been films where I could never pre-order and it was, again, like this.
• 49:00
  [SPEAKER_02]: And I do believe had the industry not been changing.
• 49:05
  [SPEAKER_02]: Had we gotten the movie out within eight months of the first one.
• 49:09
  [SPEAKER_02]: You know, we could say that all day long.
• 49:10
  [SPEAKER_02]: Trust me, I've run every scenario of like how this could have been different.
• 49:14
  [SPEAKER_02]: And then we lost Jackie.
• 49:16
  [SPEAKER_02]: And then we lost Jackie.
• 49:16
  [SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, there was a lot, there were a lot of factors in this movie.
• 49:21
  [SPEAKER_02]: That that kept us, you know, that got us where we are now, but I am still hopeful because again I know people will watch it.
• 49:29
  [SPEAKER_02]: It's on many platforms and it's a freaking good It is good like if it were a bad You guys we watched it We did the film it.
• 49:37
  [SPEAKER_01]: Oh, I know them say have you ever watched it.
• 49:39
  [SPEAKER_01]: It's been out.
• 49:40
  [SPEAKER_02]: Oh, that was on prime I know these other investors are because they've already called me and they were like, hey, we've watched the film
• 49:49
  [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, it was really good.
• 49:54
  [SPEAKER_00]: Like the twists and turns and some of those movies like you think you know what's going to happen Yeah, that doesn't have you like what I know people are watching it because I've been getting a lot of comments like ooh the twist at the end I didn't think that was I didn't come in Yeah, and boom Yeah I thought people have to go watch it.
• 50:11
  [SPEAKER_01]: This is like they're writing over here.
• 50:13
  [SPEAKER_00]: Please go watch if you are a filmmaker
• 50:16
  [SPEAKER_00]: Go watch it study it and like Sinister DM of you know what you thought about the film from an artistic perspective Sure, right, but if you just like a good movie Go watch it.
• 50:26
  [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, it's a good movie and if you see any stars that you like whether it be Simone or Bri Renee and Ernestine there's a there's a bunch of dope
• 50:34
  [SPEAKER_02]: People jay jay jay jay jay jay jay jay jay jay jay jay jay jay jay jay jay jay jay jay jay jay jay jay jay jay jay jay jay jay jay jay jay jay jay jay jay jay jay jay jay jay jay jay jay jay jay jay jay jay jay jay jay jay jay jay jay jay jay jay jay jay jay jay jay jay jay jay jay jay jay jay jay jay jay jay jay jay jay jay jay jay jay jay jay jay jay jay jay jay jay jay jay jay jay jay jay jay jay jay jay jay jay jay jay jay jay jay jay jay jay
• 50:59
  [SPEAKER_02]: a bit of money.
• 51:00
  [SPEAKER_02]: Like I know people want to make the $20,000 fails and the $10,000 films, but to go to an island, shoot there, 13 days, and pay people, union film for less than half a million dollars.
• 51:14
  [SPEAKER_01]: And we lost the location where I there had to find a random location.
• 51:17
  [SPEAKER_01]: We lost the boat.
• 51:18
  [SPEAKER_01]: We lost the boat.
• 51:18
  [SPEAKER_01]: We lost the boat.
• 51:19
  [SPEAKER_01]: We lost the boat.
• 51:20
  [SPEAKER_01]: and again we're shooting in a country where we don't know anybody so we have to find liaisons and find alliances and like you know make it happen and get locations we lost this location okay well who can we call to get another location it's not out to Erils out there because he's such a super producer yeah and time and time yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah well that man thank y'all for coming through and uh you know i mean you gotta watch this
• 51:45
  [SPEAKER_01]: I don't know.
• 51:45
  [SPEAKER_00]: I'm gonna tell them for it, okay?
• 51:47
  [SPEAKER_00]: But yeah, thank y'all for coming through.
• 51:49
  [SPEAKER_00]: I know both y'all are extremely busy.
• 51:51
  [SPEAKER_01]: But wait, held on before we get out of here.
• 51:52
  [SPEAKER_01]: How did you feel?
• 51:52
  [SPEAKER_01]: Because you came to say, you flew to St. Thomas.
• 51:54
  [SPEAKER_01]: Yes, you came to say, as the executive producer.
• 51:57
  [SPEAKER_00]: So inspired, and what happens when I see that stuff in real time and I'm watching on the equipment that you're using and kind of how you're directing people and like, okay, shoot it over, but do it like this.
• 52:10
  [SPEAKER_00]: Don't just stand kind of like back on the floor.
• 52:14
  [SPEAKER_00]: it's so artistic and it really gives me the bug like I want to shoot a movie but then I'm like dang I'm doing all this stuff for every time I go it was it was a dope experience.
• 52:25
  [SPEAKER_01]: So what role would you see yourself playing at the filmmaker where you more did you where you more inclined to the director side the producer side or the acting side like to see all the movie parts what would you want to what what hat would you want to put on?
• 52:37
  [SPEAKER_00]: I know it no desire for acting okay I don't know desire for acting because as you know
• 52:43
  [SPEAKER_00]: And she was my acting coach.
• 52:45
  [SPEAKER_00]: What's on it?
• 52:47
  [SPEAKER_00]: It wasn't that good.
• 52:50
  [SPEAKER_00]: I do like directing.
• 52:52
  [SPEAKER_02]: I think you would say directing.
• 52:53
  [SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, I do.
• 52:54
  [SPEAKER_00]: If somebody could write something good and then I can see it play out, I can see what will make it better.
• 53:02
  [SPEAKER_02]: Okay.
• 53:02
  [SPEAKER_00]: You know what I mean?
• 53:03
  [SPEAKER_02]: And as a director, you have to, if somebody gives you a script, you have to see it play out in your head.
• 53:07
  [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.
• 53:08
  [SPEAKER_02]: You have to literally see the scenes, play out in your head, and enough to be able to frame them to know this person standing here, this person standing here, you know, this is how I'm going to shoot it.
• 53:17
  [SPEAKER_02]: Not all director see that, but yeah.
• 53:19
  [SPEAKER_02]: That's what you should do.
• 53:21
  [SPEAKER_02]: Yeah.
• 53:21
  [SPEAKER_00]: As a director, how close is your end result, the picture that's, for both of you all, the picture that you see in your head?
• 53:29
  [SPEAKER_02]: at the beginning, not as close.
• 53:31
  [SPEAKER_02]: Now it's pretty accurate.
• 53:33
  [SPEAKER_00]: But I mean, when you see it, like you first get the script, like the first one, or else you's like, yo, let's do this, this idea, and she tells you, and then you start writing, and you have a picture in your head already, and when it comes out, how different are those pictures?
• 53:48
  [SPEAKER_01]: Oh, for me, personally, on the first one, part one, it was how I imagined it, but probably because we had a foundation already.
• 53:55
  [SPEAKER_01]: We knew the characters.
• 53:56
  [SPEAKER_01]: We knew this nerdy, biblical girl, we knew this tough girl, we knew this influence or girl, so it felt like, oh, yeah, this is how it was, this is how it was supposed to feel.
• 54:04
  [SPEAKER_02]: Yeah.
• 54:04
  [SPEAKER_02]: For sure.
• 54:04
  [SPEAKER_02]: The better you get it, your craft, the closer you are to that vision.
• 54:08
  [SPEAKER_02]: You know what I mean?
• 54:09
  [SPEAKER_02]: So I think actors that aren't as great in your head you're better Yeah, but then when you watch your performance you're like And it was the same for me as a director even as a writer.
• 54:20
  [SPEAKER_02]: There were things I would write in my first films and I'm like
• 54:24
  [SPEAKER_02]: I don't seem like that's not how I saw it in my head because there were gaps and things in a script or I didn't understand script writing, the interpretation of script writing.
• 54:35
  [SPEAKER_02]: So now I've studied enough films and I've read enough scripts to go with those films to say, oh, okay, this looks like this.
• 54:44
  [SPEAKER_02]: So if I wanted to look like this, I have to write it like this.
• 54:47
  [SPEAKER_02]: But a lot of times people don't do that, that work.
• 54:50
  [SPEAKER_02]: They just think in their head.
• 54:51
  [SPEAKER_02]: And then now, the suddenly scenes are long, and then you're watching and you're bored, but it wasn't long on your head when you wrote a book, they burned it.
• 54:58
  [SPEAKER_02]: But now I'm like, no, I gotta get out of this scene.
• 55:00
  [SPEAKER_02]: Like, I understand it, what it's gonna look like.
• 55:03
  [SPEAKER_01]: And I think everything comes up.
• 55:04
  [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, I think everything comes up time and repetition, like the more you do it, the more anything, like anything, the more you understand.
• 55:10
  [SPEAKER_01]: Like even as an actor when I pick up a script and I'm looking at my claim, I mean, well, how did I get to the kitchen?
• 55:14
  [SPEAKER_01]: It never showed me, it never showed me, even traveling through the bedroom or the, I just randomly just end up in the kitchen, like, oh, the writing is off because the writer should have said, oh, she woke up and she was, it's like, you just start knowing things how things are supposed to go over time.
• 55:27
  [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, I got it.
• 55:28
  [SPEAKER_00]: How, okay, percentage wise, writing,
• 55:33
  [SPEAKER_00]: and completion.
• 55:35
  [SPEAKER_00]: from the initial script, typically at the end, what percentage is exactly that?
• 55:41
  [SPEAKER_00]: Or do things change often?
• 55:43
  [SPEAKER_00]: Like, to be honest, it's about 60% of there that is 40% new.
• 55:47
  [SPEAKER_02]: No, not 60.
• 55:49
  [SPEAKER_02]: 20, maybe 15 to 20.
• 55:51
  [SPEAKER_02]: But they change because of me and it might rain.
• 55:54
  [SPEAKER_02]: And now you can't be outdoors now.
• 55:56
  [SPEAKER_02]: And you don't have the budget to scratch that day.
• 55:58
  [SPEAKER_02]: So now that outdoor scene is indoor, or you might lose an actor, or sometimes you get on set.
• 56:04
  [SPEAKER_02]: This, it's not, it's better if it's this as opposed to this.
• 56:08
  [SPEAKER_02]: So dialogue changes, um, some day like, oh, we lost some lights.
• 56:12
  [SPEAKER_01]: And now it's night and she wouldn't say this at nighttime.
• 56:14
  [SPEAKER_01]: She would only say this in the days and now we have to make it a night scene.
• 56:16
  [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.
• 56:16
  [SPEAKER_01]: And now we have to change the wardrobe because at night she'd have on pajamas.
• 56:18
  [SPEAKER_02]: So we have to change all the, you know, so many factors, a lot of factors that happen on set.
• 56:24
  [SPEAKER_02]: Um, sometimes it has nothing to do with you.
• 56:27
  [SPEAKER_02]: And then occasionally you'll get a creative book.
• 56:30
  [SPEAKER_02]: I know I do.
• 56:31
  [SPEAKER_02]: Even we did it way we were here.
• 56:32
  [SPEAKER_02]: We were that chasing, um, that's in, uh, scheme, Queens 2.
• 56:37
  [SPEAKER_02]: You'll know when you go on, get in Brie Renee is chasing someone.
• 56:41
  [SPEAKER_02]: That happened on set.
• 56:43
  [SPEAKER_02]: I don't think we, I know it wasn't in the script.
• 56:45
  [SPEAKER_02]: It was, she was not chasing him the way.
• 56:47
  [SPEAKER_02]: She was chasing him.
• 56:48
  [SPEAKER_02]: But when I saw the place, I'm like, Oh, my God.
• 56:51
  [SPEAKER_02]: Like,
• 56:52
  [SPEAKER_02]: It's got to be a chasing.
• 56:53
  [SPEAKER_02]: She's got to do this.
• 56:53
  [SPEAKER_02]: She's got to go down the stairs.
• 56:54
  [SPEAKER_02]: She's got to do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do
• 57:21
  [SPEAKER_00]: written that way.
• 57:22
  [SPEAKER_00]: Okay, from a producers or director.
• 57:26
  [SPEAKER_00]: Okay, producer, they put up money.
• 57:29
  [SPEAKER_01]: Put it to get, well, a executive producer puts up the money, but there's in there's a producer like Aron tie.
• 57:35
  [SPEAKER_01]: They were the actor producers.
• 57:36
  [SPEAKER_01]: They were the ones put actually putting things together.
• 57:38
  [SPEAKER_02]: Finding location, finding the location, making sure all the real ground is.
• 57:42
  [SPEAKER_00]: And the director is on set.
• 57:45
  [SPEAKER_01]: Directing the actors, directing the scene.
• 57:46
  [SPEAKER_00]: Got it.
• 57:48
  [SPEAKER_00]: Have you had to work with difficult actors who didn't want to do it how it was written?
• 57:54
  [SPEAKER_00]: Oh yes!
• 57:57
  [SPEAKER_01]: All the time.
• 57:58
  [SPEAKER_01]: I'm just recently.
• 58:00
  [SPEAKER_01]: And matter of fact, I may have been one of the dead.
• 58:02
  [SPEAKER_01]: Who didn't want to do it how it was written, because it makes sense to me.
• 58:05
  [SPEAKER_00]: What's that like from a director's perspective?
• 58:09
  [SPEAKER_02]: Um, you have to get very crafty with your words.
• 58:13
  [SPEAKER_02]: Directors have to be amazing communicators and they have to be have to have a really great temperament.
• 58:19
  [SPEAKER_02]: Um, and that is something that I've had to work on.
• 58:23
  [SPEAKER_02]: Uh, I think the better parent I became, the better director I became, because there's skills that you have to have where you can't just be like, well, this is I want it because what I had to learn is,
• 58:36
  [SPEAKER_02]: Um, I, I, as a direct, as I've been grown as a director, I've grown to respect the art and the craft of acting more, and I think is a beginning director and a writer, you're like, these are my words, do what I say, you know what I mean, and you don't understand the process and actor goes through.
• 58:53
  [SPEAKER_02]: And if you don't take the time to take the classes to get it in in pro classes, basically getting their world, walking their shoes, you do not understand their process.
• 59:01
  [SPEAKER_02]: And over the years, I have done that, so I understand their process more, which now I know how to communicate better.
• 59:07
  [SPEAKER_02]: And when you communicate better, a lot of times, the fact that this actor doesn't want to do it, it's not just because they're stubborn and they don't want to do it.
• 59:14
  [SPEAKER_02]: Usually, it's because they don't understand this character.
• 59:17
  [SPEAKER_02]: There's a communication problem.
• 59:19
  [SPEAKER_02]: They don't understand the motivation of the character.
• 59:22
  [SPEAKER_02]: put this on the paper and you as a director you have to explain it's here because x, y, z, a, b, c, what don't you understand?
• 59:33
  [SPEAKER_02]: What do you want to do?
• 59:34
  [SPEAKER_02]: Why do you want to do?
• 59:36
  [SPEAKER_02]: And then you guys have to figure out which one makes the most sense.
• 59:40
  [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, and from the actors perspective for me like it has to feel real to me So I have to know why I'm saying this right like why why why what she's saying this what is this something that she would say based off her history Based off the other 87 pages in the script why would she now at the end of the script say this like
• 59:59
  [SPEAKER_01]: And then it's like if the director's adamant like no, this is how she feels because of this then for me as an actor I have to find the realness for me like wearing my real life or wearing this character's life Can I connect something real so when I say these words?
• 1:00:11
  [SPEAKER_01]: I know why I'm saying them and it feels real for me because even now my show like if something doesn't feel real to me I'll ask like hey does she have to say this because I don't think she would say this I don't think she would she's heartbroken why why is she coming off so angry when she's heartbroken She should feel vulnerable here.
• 1:00:25
  [SPEAKER_01]: She should feel soft.
• 1:00:26
  [SPEAKER_01]: She should feel like
• 1:00:27
  [SPEAKER_01]: her life, you know, whatever it is, I will communicate with directors like this doesn't feel real to me.
• 1:00:33
  [SPEAKER_01]: Or why did you write it this way when this doesn't seem like this is the characteristics of the character.
• 1:00:39
  [SPEAKER_00]: I've got to work with a director where he tried to kind of harness your creativity.
• 1:00:47
  [SPEAKER_01]: Oh yeah.
• 1:00:48
  [SPEAKER_01]: What do you mean like, just give them my notes?
• 1:00:50
  [SPEAKER_00]: No, I'm just saying I've worked with a director where you're like, I need to say it like this and I know you need to say it house on this page.
• 1:00:56
  [SPEAKER_01]: Oh, no, I've never run to that yet.
• 1:00:57
  [SPEAKER_01]: Not not someone who was like, nope, you got to say it like this.
• 1:00:59
  [SPEAKER_01]: I think most directors I've worked with, they hear you out.
• 1:01:02
  [SPEAKER_01]: And then like you said, we'll come to a happy meeting.
• 1:01:03
  [SPEAKER_01]: I'm like, okay, well, you can take this word out, but let's keep this word.
• 1:01:06
  [SPEAKER_01]: Okay, well, we can do that.
• 1:01:08
  [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, but I've never worked with someone who was just like, nope, like, yeah.
• 1:01:11
  [SPEAKER_01]: I mean, I'm sure maybe that does happen on some sets.
• 1:01:13
  [SPEAKER_01]: I've just never personally experienced that.
• 1:01:15
  [SPEAKER_02]: Yeah.
• 1:01:16
  [SPEAKER_02]: I think also, when people challenge you or they ask you questions, it can only help you get better or don't make you realize you didn't do your work.
• 1:01:23
  [SPEAKER_02]: Yes.
• 1:01:24
  [SPEAKER_02]: And that's happened.
• 1:01:25
  [SPEAKER_02]: You know, there was an actress that worked that I worked with, and she, I mean, she was like on her craft.
• 1:01:31
  [SPEAKER_02]: She had, when I saw her book, all the notes that she had made on the script into this, and that she came with all these questions, and the very first instinct was like, oh, God.
• 1:01:41
  [SPEAKER_02]: she has questions.
• 1:01:42
  [SPEAKER_02]: But as she started asking the questions, I realized I had to go back and do the work.
• 1:01:47
  [SPEAKER_02]: Yeah.
• 1:01:48
  [SPEAKER_02]: Because I was like, there weren't some holes there weren't things in the script that I was like, oh, they're okay.
• 1:01:53
  [SPEAKER_02]: I got to go back and fix it.
• 1:01:54
  [SPEAKER_02]: So if you can get out of your ego and realize that,
• 1:01:58
  [SPEAKER_02]: A lot of times, it's coming from a place of everybody wanting to do their best work.
• 1:02:03
  [SPEAKER_02]: Then you guys, it shouldn't be any issues on set.
• 1:02:06
  [SPEAKER_01]: But at this point, we're not acting out of defense.
• 1:02:08
  [SPEAKER_01]: We're acting out of less-minus solution.
• 1:02:10
  [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.
• 1:02:10
  [SPEAKER_01]: And I think that's like the relationship between an actor and a director and a writer.
• 1:02:13
  [SPEAKER_01]: Let's work on how we find a solution.
• 1:02:15
  [SPEAKER_01]: I think that all comes with communication.
• 1:02:17
  [SPEAKER_01]: Like I'm not trying to tell you you don't have to do your job.
• 1:02:19
  [SPEAKER_01]: I'm just trying to say, how can I, how can I authentically get to that kitchen?
• 1:02:23
  [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.
• 1:02:25
  [SPEAKER_01]: because I think that's wake up in the kitchen.
• 1:02:27
  [SPEAKER_01]: How did I get there?
• 1:02:28
  [SPEAKER_02]: You got to hear him out.
• 1:02:29
  [SPEAKER_02]: You got to hear him out.
• 1:02:31
  [SPEAKER_02]: I mean, I've just seen artists do more damage themselves when they're unable to listen.
• 1:02:37
  [SPEAKER_02]: And if you are creative and you want to work in a space, meaning you want to be a working creative, you're going to get notes.
• 1:02:44
  [SPEAKER_02]: As a writer, I get notes all the time from networks.
• 1:02:46
  [SPEAKER_02]: I write for a lot of networks.
• 1:02:47
  [SPEAKER_02]: And they come back on my thickest, the best script ever.
• 1:02:50
  [SPEAKER_02]: They come back when I'll say that.
• 1:02:51
  [SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, for that, red lines looks like a F paper, you know what I mean?
• 1:02:55
  [SPEAKER_02]: And, but every network has a mandate.
• 1:02:58
  [SPEAKER_02]: Every studio has a mandate.
• 1:03:00
  [SPEAKER_02]: their directors with mandates, their directors that are like, they have somebody in answer to and there may be things you can't say or it has to be cut short.
• 1:03:08
  [SPEAKER_02]: You might be like, I really want to add live on this and they're like, this is going to get lost in the edit.
• 1:03:11
  [SPEAKER_02]: Don't add live, never wasting time.
• 1:03:13
  [SPEAKER_02]: You know what I mean?
• 1:03:13
  [SPEAKER_02]: Everybody usually has it when I can't say live.
• 1:03:16
  [SPEAKER_02]: or for whatever their, you know, mandate is for their job.
• 1:03:20
  [SPEAKER_02]: And sometimes it's above your pay grade, sometimes it's not.
• 1:03:22
  [SPEAKER_02]: You know, so you may or may not get answers always, but as an artist, I just implore you to, you know, listen and communicate and know your craft.
• 1:03:32
  [SPEAKER_02]: Don't just, yeah, that's my thing.
• 1:03:34
  [SPEAKER_02]: Oh my God, don't just get out of here and be like, I'm producing.
• 1:03:37
  [SPEAKER_02]: I'm writing.
• 1:03:38
  [SPEAKER_02]: I'm that.
• 1:03:40
  [SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, I'm not saying you have to go to a four year institution.
• 1:03:43
  [SPEAKER_02]: There are books, there's podcasts, there's YouTube, there's a lot of things out there.
• 1:03:49
  [SPEAKER_02]: But just study your craft, study your craft.
• 1:03:52
  [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, everything you've been outacted or like, like you're in a scene in some way that just you just can't keep up.
• 1:03:58
  [SPEAKER_00]: Is that a feeling?
• 1:03:59
  [SPEAKER_01]: I would tell you the first time I experience like, oh, I need to be on my peasant cues.
• 1:04:04
  [SPEAKER_01]: I work with Carl Payne.
• 1:04:06
  [SPEAKER_00]: Mmm.
• 1:04:07
  [SPEAKER_01]: But shout out to Carl Pan, call for Martin.
• 1:04:09
  [SPEAKER_01]: First thing to win.
• 1:04:11
  [SPEAKER_01]: That man is a genius at raising the stakes in a scene.
• 1:04:15
  [SPEAKER_01]: His improv game is so intense.
• 1:04:18
  [SPEAKER_01]: You have to be in, it actually sharpened me.
• 1:04:19
  [SPEAKER_01]: But I was like, I don't know what I'm doing.
• 1:04:21
  [SPEAKER_01]: I didn't just, I didn't shrink.
• 1:04:23
  [SPEAKER_01]: I got in there right, what if he told me that me up back there, he was like, good job.
• 1:04:26
  [SPEAKER_01]: But he, yeah, Carl Pan.
• 1:04:28
  [SPEAKER_01]: That man there knows how to raise a stake.
• 1:04:30
  [SPEAKER_01]: He'll throw something actually that wasn't in the script but you'd be like, oh snap, it wasn't a prayer for that, but I was like, I gotta say something bad.
• 1:04:35
  [SPEAKER_01]: But yeah, working with Carl Payne was experienced.
• 1:04:37
  [SPEAKER_01]: It's like, oh, girl, you've got to be on your piece and keep working with comedians in general.
• 1:04:40
  [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, working with comedians because the way they, yeah, they come from that improv world just tennis, tennis match ping pong back and forth.
• 1:04:48
  [SPEAKER_01]: So you have to be on your piece and queues.
• 1:04:50
  [SPEAKER_01]: But I would say I am like cast.
• 1:04:52
  [SPEAKER_01]: We both believe in being a student so like I've always been a student Like not to say I've always been the best, but I've always been a student So I don't think I've ever been in a scene where I feel like dang I'm drowning dang I'm shrinking because It's a thing but I challenge myself all right girl She threw something actually what you going throw back what you come throw back let's go He just hit you you gotta hit back.
• 1:05:12
  [SPEAKER_01]: I will say that to myself in a scene because of what I'm not gonna ever do
• 1:05:16
  [SPEAKER_01]: I'm not just gonna go down, I can't too far to do that, I'm not gonna go out, I'll say something, I don't care if it all makes sense.
• 1:05:24
  [SPEAKER_01]: I'm gonna say something back, but yeah, working with Carl Payne was a beautiful experience and I'm glad I got to experience that early in my career because he's a master.
• 1:05:32
  [SPEAKER_01]: He really is a master of improv, raising the stakes.
• 1:05:35
  [SPEAKER_01]: He's really good.
• 1:05:36
  [SPEAKER_00]: Who's your favorite actor and why?
• 1:05:38
  [SPEAKER_00]: If you had to pick one, I know there's a lot.
• 1:05:41
  [SPEAKER_00]: Who's your favorite actor and why?
• 1:05:43
  [SPEAKER_01]: We favorite actors such a, it's a question's not even like a real question anymore because there's just too many but you know who I love Sean Penn is one of my favorite actors.
• 1:05:50
  [SPEAKER_00]: Sean Penn, who was it?
• 1:05:51
  [SPEAKER_01]: I saw Sean Penn when I was, I don't know.
• 1:05:54
  [SPEAKER_01]: Sean Penn.
• 1:05:54
  [SPEAKER_01]: Sean Penn.
• 1:05:55
  [SPEAKER_01]: Sean Penn.
• 1:05:56
  [SPEAKER_01]: Sean Penn.
• 1:05:57
  [SPEAKER_01]: He did a movie called I am saying.
• 1:05:59
  [SPEAKER_02]: I am saying.
• 1:05:59
  [SPEAKER_02]: I knew you were going to say that.
• 1:06:00
  [SPEAKER_02]: Oh, my God.
• 1:06:01
  [SPEAKER_02]: I am saying this.
• 1:06:03
  [SPEAKER_02]: Kim made a code of fan.
• 1:06:04
  [SPEAKER_01]: It was Dakota Fanny and Sean Paine and Michelle Fife where they did this movie call I am saying.
• 1:06:08
  [SPEAKER_01]: And to this day in my mind, I cannot unsee him as a person that had a special mental need.
• 1:06:15
  [SPEAKER_01]: Like he just got he's so good.
• 1:06:18
  [SPEAKER_02]: Leonardo DiCaprio, Leonardo DiCaprio, Leonardo DiCaprio got it for me with the, when he was a little boy.
• 1:06:22
  [SPEAKER_02]: Oh, and with the,
• 1:06:25
  [SPEAKER_01]: It was mom was over wait.
• 1:06:26
  [SPEAKER_02]: Yes, Gilbert, Gilbert, Gilbert, yes.
• 1:06:28
  [SPEAKER_02]: Was it Gilbert great, great, great, something great, Gilbert, Gilbert great, raising Gilbert great, or something like that.
• 1:06:34
  [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, but Leonardo Caprio, Sean Pin, Johnny Depp, he's just like Jamie Foxx.
• 1:06:42
  [SPEAKER_01]: Why are they so don't they?
• 1:06:43
  [SPEAKER_01]: Because Jamie Foxx and Johnny Depp to me are some of the most versatile actors in the world.
• 1:06:48
  [SPEAKER_01]: Like from Johnny Depp to go to Edward Sussard's hands to Alice in Wonderland.
• 1:06:51
  [SPEAKER_01]: He's just, he's phenomenal because I don't feel like there's a role he can't play for women.
• 1:06:59
  [SPEAKER_01]: You know how I really love Journey Smollett, like I just love her butt.
• 1:07:04
  [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, she's been doing it since she was what a kid.
• 1:07:08
  [SPEAKER_01]: She'd I like actors who just do really good work.
• 1:07:11
  [SPEAKER_01]: You don't have to be the most mega at least star.
• 1:07:13
  [SPEAKER_01]: I like actors who do good craftsmanship and like Journey Smollett is one of my favorite female actors.
• 1:07:18
  [SPEAKER_01]: But um Sean Pinn and Johnny Den and and Jane Fox do it for me.
• 1:07:32
  [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, but then, I mean, Lovecraft Country show that she did, I mean, she's yeah.
• 1:07:36
  [SPEAKER_00]: But yeah, she was a kid and he's by you.
• 1:07:38
  [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, mm-hmm, mm-hmm, mm-hmm, mm-hmm, mm-hmm, mm-hmm, mm-hmm, mm-hmm, mm-hmm, mm-hmm, mm-hmm, mm-hmm, mm-hmm, mm-hmm, mm-hmm, mm-hmm, mm-hmm, mm-hmm, mm-hmm, mm-hmm, mm-hmm, mm-hmm, mm-hmm, mm-hmm, mm-hmm, mm-hmm, mm-hmm, mm-hmm, mm-hmm, mm-hmm, mm-hmm, mm-hmm, mm-hmm, mm-hmm, mm-hmm, mm-hmm, mm-hmm, mm-hmm, mm-hmm, mm-hmm, mm-hmm, mm-hmm, mm-hmm, mm-hmm, mm-hmm, mm
• 1:07:59
  [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, she's done a bunch of stuff.
• 1:08:00
  [SPEAKER_00]: Okay.
• 1:08:01
  [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.
• 1:08:01
  [SPEAKER_00]: Okay.
• 1:08:01
  [SPEAKER_01]: Oh, yeah Sean pin out he's always like the first it comes in mind because I am Sam is a movie that I watched when I was little and I was Balling in the theater.
• 1:08:09
  [SPEAKER_01]: I'll never forget.
• 1:08:09
  [SPEAKER_02]: I was literally a kid Balling in the theater.
• 1:08:13
  [SPEAKER_01]: They took that man's daughter away from him
• 1:08:18
  [SPEAKER_00]: Wow, you can't imagine this.
• 1:08:20
  [SPEAKER_00]: Do you think it will be difficult to direct someone as seasoned as a Denzel Washington or a Brad Pitt?
• 1:08:30
  [SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, absolutely.
• 1:08:32
  [SPEAKER_02]: I'd direct a Michael Beach.
• 1:08:33
  [SPEAKER_02]: I'd direct a Michael Beach.
• 1:08:35
  [SPEAKER_02]: Before I went on set, I had to give myself a top Michael Beach.
• 1:08:39
  [SPEAKER_02]: Who's that?
• 1:08:40
  [SPEAKER_02]: Look him up, you'll know, you'll know when you like a beach.
• 1:08:42
  [SPEAKER_02]: Um, and he isn't as known as a Brad Pitt, obviously, or, or, but he is a working, he's a season.
• 1:08:51
  [SPEAKER_02]: He is been in every black movie.
• 1:08:54
  [SPEAKER_02]: Yeah.
• 1:08:54
  [SPEAKER_02]: Yeah.
• 1:08:54
  [SPEAKER_02]: So I had the privilege of directing him in a film that'll be out the top of next year.
• 1:08:59
  [SPEAKER_02]: And what we got him, I was like, first I was all excited.
• 1:09:03
  [SPEAKER_02]: And then I was like, oh.
• 1:09:04
  [SPEAKER_02]: Oh God, we got him.
• 1:09:05
  [SPEAKER_02]: That was like, oh wait a minute, I got it right.
• 1:09:09
  [SPEAKER_02]: And I had to give myself a pep talk every day because you want to have the language.
• 1:09:14
  [SPEAKER_02]: You want to have the word.
• 1:09:16
  [SPEAKER_02]: You don't want to appear a novice.
• 1:09:18
  [SPEAKER_02]: You know, I didn't have the years.
• 1:09:19
  [SPEAKER_02]: I was, you know, very well versed in the script.
• 1:09:22
  [SPEAKER_02]: I knew what I was going to say, but it's intimidating.
• 1:09:25
  [SPEAKER_02]: When somebody comes with more years of experience, he is such an actor.
• 1:09:32
  [SPEAKER_02]: He is amazing.
• 1:09:34
  [SPEAKER_02]: And we had a conversation, and I had to tell him, I said, hey, if there's advice, if there's things you want to talk to me about, if how do you like to be directed?
• 1:09:43
  [SPEAKER_02]: Like, I want to know those things, and he basically was like, well, direct me how you direct.
• 1:09:48
  [SPEAKER_02]: He said, if there's something, you know, that we, you know, bump up against, then we'll just talk about it then.
• 1:09:52
  [SPEAKER_02]: But I learned so much.
• 1:09:54
  [SPEAKER_02]: from him because I had that conversation with him first.
• 1:09:58
  [SPEAKER_02]: I didn't want to go in like, oh, you know, everything, you know, I went in like, I know this, but this is a collaboration because I want to glean from you.
• 1:10:08
  [SPEAKER_02]: I want to learn from you.
• 1:10:11
  [SPEAKER_02]: And I mean, it was a great experience.
• 1:10:13
  [SPEAKER_02]: I had any issues, you know, came all set every day.
• 1:10:15
  [SPEAKER_02]: Like, let's not say, I worked with LinWitfield.
• 1:10:18
  [SPEAKER_02]: I was going to say LinWitfield.
• 1:10:20
  [SPEAKER_02]: I was going to say LinWitfield when we talked about favorite actors.
• 1:10:22
  [SPEAKER_01]: No, I didn't do a project with her.
• 1:10:24
  [SPEAKER_01]: But someone recommended me to go run lines with her when she's, when she's here filming Greenleaf.
• 1:10:30
  [SPEAKER_01]: That Lin?
• 1:10:31
  [SPEAKER_01]: They recommended me to run lines with her because she wanted, you know, she wanted to read her to run lines with her before she filmed.
• 1:10:36
  [SPEAKER_01]: And I went to her house several times here to run lines with her.
• 1:10:40
  [SPEAKER_01]: Baby little with you baby.
• 1:10:42
  [SPEAKER_01]: I'm gonna say little with the what you said favorite.
• 1:10:44
  [SPEAKER_01]: I then with built presents alone will shrink somebody.
• 1:10:48
  [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, okay.
• 1:10:49
  [SPEAKER_01]: Before she even speaks her open, she just has a grand royal aura to her and need to be like you.
• 1:10:56
  [SPEAKER_01]: shoot, that's land with you, man, man, man, man, man, man, man, man, man, man, man, man, man, man, man, man, man, man, man, man, man, man, man, man, man, man, man, man, man, man, man, man, man, man, man, man, man, man, man, man, man, man, man, man, man, man, man, man, man, man, man, man, man, man, man, man, man, man, man, man, man, man, man, man, man, man, man, man, man, man, man, man, man, man, man, man, man, man, man, man, man, man, man, man, man, man, man, man, man, man, man, man, man, man, man, man, man, man, man, man, man, man, man, man, man, man, man, man
• 1:11:21
  [SPEAKER_01]: It's like, when you work with someone like that, even on my show on Beyond the Gates, Ms. Tamartoony, like when I first did my first, when she needs got to play but Tamartoony for the first time, I was like, oh shoot my next scene with Ms. Tamar, what, you know, you got it?
• 1:11:33
  [SPEAKER_01]: You got this, like, you're training for this, let's go!
• 1:11:36
  [SPEAKER_00]: That's so dope because we all say the names, I don't order that, I'd like to see it.
• 1:11:40
  [SPEAKER_00]: They're like, oh, the person.
• 1:11:41
  [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.
• 1:11:41
  [SPEAKER_00]: Then live between love and hate.
• 1:11:43
  [SPEAKER_00]: Baby, baby, baby, baby, you don't, that's that's the only way to feel, okay?
• 1:11:51
  [SPEAKER_00]: You just, oh, that was a good movie, yeah.
• 1:11:53
  [SPEAKER_00]: But you don't see it, oh, she acted well.
• 1:11:57
  [SPEAKER_00]: You think, oh, that was a good movie, right?
• 1:11:59
  [SPEAKER_00]: From my perspective.
• 1:12:01
  [SPEAKER_00]: So when I see these people like the guy, my people, my people think about this scene from so-through.
• 1:12:07
  [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, it's like, yeah, it's a little, yeah.
• 1:12:10
  [SPEAKER_00]: Now I'm old, now we're having this conversation.
• 1:12:12
  [SPEAKER_02]: I'm like,
• 1:12:13
  [SPEAKER_02]: I just saw it as a good move, but that is it when you see what people become that character Yes, that's acting when you think of Denzel Washington in training day.
• 1:12:24
  [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, and you're like, oh, this man is eating
• 1:12:28
  [SPEAKER_01]: paper.
• 1:12:29
  [SPEAKER_01]: He made that up about his own hair.
• 1:12:30
  [SPEAKER_01]: That wasn't even on a script.
• 1:12:31
  [SPEAKER_01]: That is how tuned in he was to that character.
• 1:12:32
  [SPEAKER_01]: But then you were just as tuned in to be Malcolm X.
• 1:12:33
  [SPEAKER_02]: You were just as tuned in to be, you know, I don't care if you think of the character.
• 1:12:36
  [SPEAKER_02]: You got game or he got game.
• 1:12:36
  [SPEAKER_02]: You got game, you got game, you got game, you got game, you got game, you got game, you got game.
• 1:12:40
  [SPEAKER_02]: You got game, you got game, you got game, you got game, you got game, you got game, you got game, you got game, you got game, you got game, you got game, you got game, you got game, you got game, you got game, you got game, you got game, you got game, you got game, you got game, you got game, you got game, you got game, you got game, you got game, you got game, you got game, you got game, you
• 1:12:51
  [SPEAKER_01]: But that's why that's why I mentioned Johnny Debt when you go what when you go look at his dad's catalog when you see Alice in Wonderland to Edward Sizzard their hands you're like how is this the same actor yeah oh my god okay I'm a deeper appreciate in this crash yeah so listen y'all go watch that move
• 1:13:12
  [SPEAKER_01]: In Queens, Lexus, let's circle back.
• 1:13:14
  [SPEAKER_01]: Go, let's see if you can get ready at the high.
• 1:13:17
  [SPEAKER_01]: Caribbean Heights is the part two is the sequel.
• 1:13:19
  [SPEAKER_01]: Go watch your Nevezon Prime right now.
• 1:13:20
  [SPEAKER_00]: Absolutely.
• 1:13:21
  [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, thank you all for coming.
• 1:13:22
  [SPEAKER_00]: I think this inspirational to all filmmakers because just understand the process or somebody like me this has an idea or a vengeance in that one or shoot something then.
• 1:13:31
  [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.
• 1:13:31
  [SPEAKER_00]: I want to get my art.
• 1:13:33
  [SPEAKER_00]: out into the world.
• 1:13:35
  [SPEAKER_00]: And I do see certain scenes of a movie sometime.
• 1:13:38
  [SPEAKER_00]: I mean, I'm like, I think this will be really, really cool.
• 1:13:40
  [SPEAKER_00]: But now I got to be unafraid to go out there and get it done.
• 1:13:44
  [SPEAKER_01]: You know, my model create don't wait if there's something that you want to shoot, just go shoot it.
• 1:13:48
  [SPEAKER_01]: And you don't, you might not know what you're doing and that's fine.
• 1:13:51
  [SPEAKER_01]: Shoot it anyway.
• 1:13:52
  [SPEAKER_01]: Our first digitalized matter, everybody didn't know what they were doing.
• 1:13:54
  [SPEAKER_01]: We were just doing stuff.
• 1:13:55
  [SPEAKER_02]: We did not.
• 1:13:56
  [SPEAKER_02]: We were doing stuff stuff.
• 1:13:57
  [SPEAKER_02]: I mean, everybody was new, Terry was a new director.
• 1:14:00
  [SPEAKER_02]: I wasn't, I wasn't a new new writer.
• 1:14:03
  [SPEAKER_02]: But it was new for a new film, right?
• 1:14:06
  [SPEAKER_01]: Oh, I thought it was your first feature.
• 1:14:07
  [SPEAKER_01]: No, I crossed the bear.
• 1:14:08
  [SPEAKER_01]: Oh, I crossed the bear.
• 1:14:09
  [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, I crossed the bear.
• 1:14:10
  [SPEAKER_02]: I've done several features, but just as a Nina Holiday entity, we were fairly new, Ricky was new.
• 1:14:17
  [SPEAKER_02]: Me.
• 1:14:18
  [SPEAKER_02]: Me.
• 1:14:19
  [SPEAKER_01]: Me.
• 1:14:22
  [SPEAKER_02]: Me.
• 1:14:22
  [SPEAKER_02]: Me.
• 1:14:22
  [SPEAKER_02]: I have to give a brief about that.
• 1:14:24
  [SPEAKER_02]: So we created that film because Terry J. Vaughan was wanting to get into directing.
• 1:14:29
  [SPEAKER_02]: and she was trying to get directing jobs or everybody saw her as an actress.
• 1:14:32
  [SPEAKER_02]: They were like, you're an actress, so she couldn't get directing jobs because she had to create a resume.
• 1:14:36
  [SPEAKER_02]: And so we went out, we got the money, we made digitalized matter, and it was her, it was her directorial debut, but she was able to use that to then jump off her careers at director, because you have to bet on yourself.
• 1:14:48
  [SPEAKER_01]: And now she's directing all types of amazing things.
• 1:14:49
  [SPEAKER_01]: Create, don't wait, create, don't wait.
• 1:14:51
  [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, I love it.
• 1:14:52
  [SPEAKER_01]: I love it.
• 1:14:52
  [SPEAKER_00]: Thank you all so much, and please let everybody know.
• 1:14:55
  [SPEAKER_00]: how they can get in touch with you.
• 1:14:57
  [SPEAKER_00]: Obviously we're going to support the movie, skiing, Queens, soup, a Caribbean, high school.
• 1:15:01
  [SPEAKER_00]: And yeah, let everybody know how they can connect with you and give us a word of wisdom.
• 1:15:05
  [SPEAKER_00]: We'll start with you guys.
• 1:15:06
  [SPEAKER_02]: Start with me.
• 1:15:07
  [SPEAKER_02]: I'm hard to get in touch with.
• 1:15:08
  [SPEAKER_02]: Let me just start the previous scenario.
• 1:15:10
  [SPEAKER_02]: Let me just say that, right, man.
• 1:15:12
  [SPEAKER_02]: I mean, my social media handles our at-casseggers, but people DM me all the time and then it get mad because it's months later.
• 1:15:20
  [SPEAKER_02]: And I'm like, oh, I just got this message.
• 1:15:23
  [SPEAKER_02]: I need to do better on social media.
• 1:15:26
  [SPEAKER_02]: And, but that is how you get in touch with me.
• 1:15:29
  [SPEAKER_02]: And as far as my words of wisdom, give yourself grace.
• 1:15:34
  [SPEAKER_02]: In all that you do, we just start in times where people are unforgiving, there is this cruel, and we can put that on ourselves as artists, creators, parents, people, humans.
• 1:15:46
  [SPEAKER_02]: So in all that you do, give yourself grace.
• 1:15:49
  [SPEAKER_02]: That's good.
• 1:15:50
  [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.
• 1:15:50
  [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.
• 1:15:52
  [SPEAKER_01]: Well, Cass is actually very hard to get to hold up.
• 1:15:54
  [SPEAKER_01]: So if we want to get to hold it, we'd better off call them me because she is a writer who's literally in a writing corner up all night writing.
• 1:16:02
  [SPEAKER_01]: But Mikha, follow me on all social media platforms at Mrs. MRS, Ernestine Morrison.
• 1:16:08
  [SPEAKER_01]: I'm not hard to find.
• 1:16:09
  [SPEAKER_01]: I'm outside.
• 1:16:10
  [SPEAKER_02]: I'm in the social media streets.
• 1:16:12
  [SPEAKER_01]: See, Mikha, watch me daily on Beyond the Gates as the head nurse should be.
• 1:16:15
  [SPEAKER_01]: So you can catch me in the country, Wayne Skits.
• 1:16:17
  [SPEAKER_01]: But my words of wisdom is what my words of wisdom always is.
• 1:16:22
  [SPEAKER_01]: It is you are the authority, you are the author of your life.
• 1:16:26
  [SPEAKER_01]: If you want to do it, just go do it, do it, do it scared, do it sleepy, do it tired, do it not know what you're doing but just do it and everything in life is temporary.
• 1:16:35
  [SPEAKER_01]: So these are all temporary steps and phases to get you to the next step.
• 1:16:39
  [SPEAKER_01]: And if it hurts now, just know that hurt is temporary is not going to always hurt.
• 1:16:43
  [SPEAKER_01]: And I think we all have to remind ourselves that daily, like life is temporary, seasons are temporary.
• 1:16:48
  [SPEAKER_01]: These steps are all temporary.
• 1:16:51
  [SPEAKER_01]: You've got to go through the pain, go through the hurt, go through the trials, go into the tribulations and understand that you are the authority and you're the author, so you speak breathe and believe life into whatever phase of life you're in right now.
• 1:17:04
  [SPEAKER_01]: Good author.
• 1:17:05
  [SPEAKER_00]: I love it.
• 1:17:05
  [SPEAKER_00]: Thank you.
• 1:17:06
  [SPEAKER_00]: Thank you.
• 1:17:06
  [SPEAKER_00]: Thank you.
• 1:17:06
  [SPEAKER_00]: Listen.
• 1:17:07
  [SPEAKER_00]: There will be a link below.
• 1:17:08
  [SPEAKER_00]: whenever you're watching this, please, please, please go support.
• 1:17:11
  [SPEAKER_00]: And I thought in the comments what you thought, give your feedback, if you liked it, let us know, please, or send them DMs and myself a DM.
• 1:17:21
  [SPEAKER_00]: If you enjoyed us, let us know that you checked it out.
• 1:17:24
  [SPEAKER_00]: So thank you all so much to do yourself a favor.
• 1:17:26
  [SPEAKER_00]: Go get you some social proof, meaning build something and build it.
• 1:17:29
  [SPEAKER_00]: Really, really big.
• 1:17:30
  [SPEAKER_00]: But come back to your community and see how you did it.
• 1:17:32
  [SPEAKER_00]: It's the only way our community grows.
• 1:17:33
  [SPEAKER_01]: Yes, please.
• 1:17:34
  [SPEAKER_01]: That's good.