Latest / The Breakfast Club / INTERVIEW: DeVon Franklin, Serayah & Tyler Lepley Talk Preserving Biblical Stories In "Ruth & Boaz" Film

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INTERVIEW: DeVon Franklin, Serayah & Tyler Lepley Talk Preserving Biblical Stories In "Ruth & Boaz" Film · The Breakfast Club

• 0:01
  Speaker 1: Every day a week ago up the Breakfast Club, y'all
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: done morning.
• 0:07
  Speaker 2: Everybody is d j Envy just hilarious. Charlamagne the gud
• 0:11
  Speaker 2: we are the breakfast Club.
• 0:12
  Speaker 3: He got some special guests.
• 0:13
  Speaker 4: In the building this morning.
• 0:14
  Speaker 2: Indeed, Von Franklin, Soria and Tyler Lepley welcome.
• 0:19
  Speaker 3: If you call.
• 0:20
  Speaker 5: Her Soriat.
• 0:25
  Speaker 4: Soarriety something like something.
• 0:26
  Speaker 6: I gotta go to CV.
• 0:29
  Speaker 4: To get something for the sorit.
• 0:32
  Speaker 1: Can you just.
• 0:35
  Speaker 4: About because I got a lot better. Don't do film
• 0:46
  Speaker 4: to the family.
• 0:48
  Speaker 1: They have a movie on Netflix called Ruth and bow As, right,
• 0:52
  Speaker 1: and you know, if you know anything about Ruth and bos.
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  Speaker 7: A biblical story.
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  Speaker 1: So so what elements of the original biblical story of
• 0:57
  Speaker 1: Ruth and bow As did y'all preserve for this film?
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  Speaker 8: Man, We preserve the a lot of the elements. When
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  Speaker 8: you go and you read the Book of Ruth and
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  Speaker 8: then you look at the movie. You know, everything that
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  Speaker 8: we did in the film was basically rooted in the word.
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  Speaker 8: You know, her journey, you know with Naomi, her how
• 1:12
  Speaker 8: she finds Boaz, And we really wanted to say, okay,
• 1:15
  Speaker 8: this is what the scripture says, but then how do
• 1:17
  Speaker 8: we make it modern and so everything you see in
• 1:19
  Speaker 8: the film, it's I think we did a pretty good job,
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  Speaker 8: you know, of making sure that anything that you see
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  Speaker 8: in that film you can go back to a verse
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  Speaker 8: and say this is where we got it from.
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  Speaker 5: Was it difficult modernizing the story though, I.
• 1:30
  Speaker 8: Mean, there's no rule book on how to modernize a
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  Speaker 8: Bible story, so it was challenging. But then there were
• 1:35
  Speaker 8: certain things that were pretty easy because the story itself
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  Speaker 8: lays out like a movie, you know, And that's one
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  Speaker 8: of the reasons why I wanted to produce it. This
• 1:41
  Speaker 8: is why I wanted to make it is because when
• 1:43
  Speaker 8: you see how Ruth and Boas come together, they're not
• 1:46
  Speaker 8: looking for love.
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  Speaker 3: They're actually looking to be.
• 1:49
  Speaker 8: Of service, and as part of that commitment, they find
• 1:52
  Speaker 8: each other. And so when you see it, it was like, okay,
• 1:54
  Speaker 8: you know, well, what would Moab look like? Well, maybe
• 1:56
  Speaker 8: that's like the Atlanta music scene. And what would you know,
• 1:58
  Speaker 8: Bethlehem look like. Okay, well maybe that's like Pegrim, Tennessee.
• 2:01
  Speaker 8: So it was difficult, but ultimately we just had to
• 2:04
  Speaker 8: kind of take those creative license and hopefully the audience
• 2:07
  Speaker 8: will enjoy it.
• 2:07
  Speaker 2: Now you have a deal with Tyler Perry how did
• 2:09
  Speaker 2: that come about?
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  Speaker 4: Man?
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  Speaker 3: So listen.
• 2:11
  Speaker 8: So about a couple of years ago, after I did
• 2:13
  Speaker 8: my film Flaming Hot, I'm sitting at home and I
• 2:15
  Speaker 8: didn't have a production deal. So if you know anything
• 2:17
  Speaker 8: about Hollywood, in order to have a production company, you
• 2:20
  Speaker 8: have to have a production deal with the studio because
• 2:21
  Speaker 8: that's how you have employees and that's how you make
• 2:23
  Speaker 8: your films. So even though Flaming Hot did very well,
• 2:26
  Speaker 8: I did not have a deal. And so I was
• 2:28
  Speaker 8: sitting at home and I was like, Okay, God, what
• 2:31
  Speaker 8: do you want me to do? And out of the blue,
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  Speaker 8: my phone rings and it's Tyler Perry and he said, hey, man,
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  Speaker 8: I hear you're making a deal with Netflix.
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  Speaker 3: Now.
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  Speaker 8: I had a meeting at Netflix a few months before,
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  Speaker 8: but I didn't know. There wasn't really a whole lot
• 2:42
  Speaker 8: of follow ups, so I wasn't sure what was going on.
• 2:44
  Speaker 8: But he called me and said, yo, I hear you
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  Speaker 8: you're making a deal with Netflix. Let's partner up and
• 2:48
  Speaker 8: do it together. And I was like, Yes, let's do it.
• 2:53
  Speaker 8: And so we negotiated a three picture deal with Netflix.
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  Speaker 8: This is the first of its kind. You've never seen,
• 2:57
  Speaker 8: you know, two black men of faith coming to together
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  Speaker 8: to make content and faith, you know, with the biggest
• 3:02
  Speaker 8: streamer in the world. And that to me, like when
• 3:04
  Speaker 8: you look at Tyler like, I don't know why God
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  Speaker 8: put that on his mind, but here I am trying
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  Speaker 8: to figure it out. Boom, and there was the answer.
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  Speaker 8: And to be able to make Ruth and Boaz, I mean,
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  Speaker 8: to be able to make it the way we wanted
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  Speaker 8: to make it, to have the creative, creative autonomy and
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  Speaker 8: the authority, and to be able to put it together,
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  Speaker 8: you know, with such an incredible cast. It all came
• 3:21
  Speaker 8: from the partnership.
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  Speaker 9: How did it feel Because when the screen opens for
• 3:25
  Speaker 9: the movie, it's your name, It's.
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  Speaker 10: Tyler Perry Studios. And I was like, that is so cool.
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  Speaker 9: How did it feel for you the first time you
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  Speaker 9: saw that?
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  Speaker 3: Listen, this is what faith works. That's how it felt.
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  Speaker 3: It felt gratified. You know.
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  Speaker 8: As a kid, I always had the dream of making
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  Speaker 8: my own films. That's why I came to Hollywood. I
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  Speaker 8: wanted to have my own production company. And to see
• 3:44
  Speaker 8: that on screen Devon Franklin Entertainment, Tyler Perry Studios and
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  Speaker 8: Ruth and Boaz, It's like, Wow, dreams do come true
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  Speaker 8: and faith works.
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  Speaker 3: So it felt good.
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  Speaker 1: So sayan Tyler, did y'all know the story of Ruth
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  Speaker 1: and Boy?
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  Speaker 4: I do that.
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  Speaker 7: And Tyler, did y'all know the story of Ruth and Boys?
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  Speaker 10: I did, like roughly, you know, just growing up in church,
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  Speaker 10: you here of Ruth and Boaz. But I never really
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  Speaker 10: explicitly read the book of Ruth and until doing this
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  Speaker 10: this story getting more information on it.
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  Speaker 11: Yeah, I mean, not to sound like a heathen, but
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  Speaker 11: I didn't grow up in the church or nothing like that.
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  Speaker 11: But I have heard about you know, I have heard
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  Speaker 11: about the story of Ruth and Bois a little bit.
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  Speaker 11: So when it was time to actually dive into it once,
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  Speaker 11: I you know, once I had booked it, you know,
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  Speaker 11: I read up on it a little bit to to
• 4:36
  Speaker 11: you know, just at least have to have some type
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  Speaker 11: of foundation in terms of, you know, find the truth
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  Speaker 11: and how we're gonna figure it out.
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  Speaker 7: But after you read aster, how much of Ruth's story could.
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  Speaker 10: You relate to personally? I mean, she went through so much.
• 4:50
  Speaker 10: She has a lot of a lot of baggage and
• 4:53
  Speaker 10: trauma there, deep deep traumas. But I do resonate with
• 4:57
  Speaker 10: her on having like an instinct to reroute and change
• 5:02
  Speaker 10: things in my life and maybe stepping out on faith
• 5:06
  Speaker 10: on things that I'm not necessarily sure is going to
• 5:08
  Speaker 10: work out. But hey, I want to be an actress.
• 5:12
  Speaker 10: That sounds pretty far fetched to a lot of the world.
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  Speaker 10: So I can. I can get where her fire and
• 5:18
  Speaker 10: her passion is coming from us.
• 5:20
  Speaker 7: Oh go ahead, how are you? How are you?
• 5:23
  Speaker 10: Baby? Well? Thank you? Thank you as well.
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  Speaker 5: Thank you as your mental everything is good. I mean
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  Speaker 5: because you're working, you had that baby working out, you know,
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  Speaker 5: your mommy, but now you're you're still actress, singer, mommy.
• 5:38
  Speaker 5: How does that all fit?
• 5:39
  Speaker 10: It's it's actually one day at a time.
• 5:42
  Speaker 4: Yeah, you know.
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  Speaker 10: And just having that grace for myself that I don't
• 5:46
  Speaker 10: have to have all together has been the biggest I
• 5:50
  Speaker 10: guess lesson for me throughout all of this. But it's
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  Speaker 10: been great, Thank god. I mean, you know after that
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  Speaker 10: first month where I was like, yeah, you know, now
• 6:01
  Speaker 10: it's just like I could use some sleep. But that's
• 6:03
  Speaker 10: about it. I'm good. I'm good.
• 6:05
  Speaker 2: I want to ask, you know, when doing a faith
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  Speaker 2: based movie, right, growing up as a kid, when you
• 6:09
  Speaker 2: hear anything faith based, you thinking it's gonna be nothing
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  Speaker 2: but Christian singing. It's not it's gonna be that type
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  Speaker 2: of thing. Did you have Did you ever think about, well,
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  Speaker 2: maybe I don't want to do it because it's faith based,
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  Speaker 2: or did you just dive right in.
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  Speaker 10: Personally?
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  Speaker 4: No?
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  Speaker 10: I mean I feel like God has always been very
• 6:25
  Speaker 10: much a part of my life, and I do. I
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  Speaker 10: do think that, yeah, because Devon Actually we worked on
• 6:35
  Speaker 10: Kingdom Business together at B and C Plus, which was
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  Speaker 10: also a faith faith based and I really feel like
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  Speaker 10: sometimes God is funny in the way of presenting me
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  Speaker 10: with characters that I kind of like in life for
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  Speaker 10: a little bit, mirroring as far as like their relationship
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  Speaker 10: with God. So it's kind of funny for me to
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  Speaker 10: to have played Rebel and Kingdom Business and now Ruth
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  Speaker 10: and Ruth and Boaz. Right, So that's why I left.
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  Speaker 10: But no, it really did not deter me at all.
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  Speaker 10: If anything determined me was the music, because I played
• 7:08
  Speaker 10: so many music characters, so that that was the part.
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  Speaker 4: She took a little convincing.
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  Speaker 3: I was like, come on, she said no at first, Well, she.
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  Speaker 8: Didn't want to come in to audition because it was
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  Speaker 8: a little music driven, so I had to hit her up.
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  Speaker 3: I was like, Yo, trust me, you're gonna want to
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  Speaker 3: do this, come on in and so thankfully.
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  Speaker 7: So what was it mirroring in your life? Surreal?
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  Speaker 1: Because you know this this is like this story is
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  Speaker 1: about God's timing and divine orchestration. So what was what
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  Speaker 1: was going on in your life when you got to
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  Speaker 1: call for this?
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  Speaker 4: Oh?
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  Speaker 10: My goodness so much. But I could say that love
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  Speaker 10: was also on the brink for me, Like I was
• 7:43
  Speaker 10: in a new relationship with this role. I found out
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  Speaker 10: I was pregnant. Like during while filming, there was a
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  Speaker 10: lot of things kind of with Ruth that I was
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  Speaker 10: in the in the script and some of the things
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  Speaker 10: she says kind of just rang true for me.
• 8:02
  Speaker 5: What about you?
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  Speaker 7: What you.
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  Speaker 4: Did you? Yeah?
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  Speaker 11: I think I think for me, you know when I
• 8:11
  Speaker 11: when I got the call, I was just in a
• 8:13
  Speaker 11: space last year, I mean even before last year. Uh,
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  Speaker 11: you know, like I said, I never grew up in
• 8:18
  Speaker 11: the church, but it was something that I was always seeking.
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  Speaker 11: What I'm saying, it was sought after for me, and
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  Speaker 11: you know it started spiritually. But then I you know,
• 8:25
  Speaker 11: then I kind of wanted to go to church more
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  Speaker 11: and you know, just just show up in.
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  Speaker 6: The place of worship, not just to kind of feel
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  Speaker 6: it on the inside.
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  Speaker 11: So I think for me outside of the artistry and
• 8:35
  Speaker 11: me wanting to be able to tackle roll like this,
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  Speaker 11: I've never done a uh, you know, a love story before.
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  Speaker 11: You know, the aspect of it being a faith based
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  Speaker 11: film is actually something that was kind of right on
• 8:45
  Speaker 11: time for me. You know, I just I just proposed
• 8:48
  Speaker 11: to at the time, you know, my girlfriend, we were
• 8:52
  Speaker 11: obviously my fiance now so even just thank you, I
• 8:55
  Speaker 11: appreciate that, but but even miracle, but even you know,
• 9:03
  Speaker 11: make making a choice to go ahead and and and
• 9:06
  Speaker 11: honor our union under God, and you know, making that
• 9:08
  Speaker 11: choice and walking forward in it or uh, you know,
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  Speaker 11: I've just I've had I've had some issues in life
• 9:14
  Speaker 11: where you know, choosing to handle it with with with
• 9:17
  Speaker 11: grace is something that's continuing to be on the forefront
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  Speaker 11: of my mind and whatnot.
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  Speaker 6: So it was just it was just perfect time.
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  Speaker 11: And so I actually actually love diving into the to
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  Speaker 11: the faith based aspect of it.
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  Speaker 9: In the movie, both of you guys spent the Soria
• 9:31
  Speaker 9: and tyler y'all spent a lot of time learning to
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  Speaker 9: trust each other's love so that you guys can depend
• 9:36
  Speaker 9: on each other. What from your real aspects of your
• 9:39
  Speaker 9: relationship did you bring into that to be able to
• 9:41
  Speaker 9: like show it on screen.
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  Speaker 11: I think for me, just you know, without without getting
• 9:48
  Speaker 11: you know, too specific in terms of what's going on
• 9:50
  Speaker 11: day to day. I think just I think just the
• 9:52
  Speaker 11: idea of pouring into my relationship as opposed to you know,
• 9:56
  Speaker 11: showing up the table figuring out what I'm gonna eat.
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  Speaker 6: You know, let's let's let's pour into it and be
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  Speaker 6: of service.
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  Speaker 11: And I feel like that's the best way that to,
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  Speaker 11: you know, to bear the fruits of any of any flower,
• 10:08
  Speaker 11: you know. So that's that's probably what I, uh, you know,
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  Speaker 11: what I connected with in terms of me and boas
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  Speaker 11: being intentional, being intentional with what it is that we're
• 10:16
  Speaker 11: doing here. We're not just you know, we're not just
• 10:18
  Speaker 11: walking down this path aimlessly.
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  Speaker 10: I definitely resonated with her having a guard up. I
• 10:29
  Speaker 10: was in a past relationship, public relationship. I have gone
• 10:33
  Speaker 10: through different things in my life that just presented me
• 10:37
  Speaker 10: to like, well, it resulted me to being a little
• 10:41
  Speaker 10: more guarded. So I really understood her being guarded because
• 10:46
  Speaker 10: it wasn't that she wasn't trying to accept or excuse me.
• 10:49
  Speaker 10: She was trying to be difficult. I think she just
• 10:51
  Speaker 10: was tired of being let down. So her guard is like,
• 10:54
  Speaker 10: let me just keep everyone out there so that I
• 10:57
  Speaker 10: don't have to be hurt over here anymore.
• 11:00
  Speaker 2: I was working with the icon the legend, Miss Felicia.
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  Speaker 10: My gosh, talk about it. She said something really cool.
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  Speaker 10: I mean, it was amazing for me. I think we
• 11:09
  Speaker 10: all have really cool stories about her. She she brings
• 11:12
  Speaker 10: this or in this presence and this groundedness, and she's
• 11:16
  Speaker 10: also very humble, like to be the icon and the
• 11:19
  Speaker 10: person we're speaking about. She's like, oh, thank you, like
• 11:22
  Speaker 10: you know, you know, let's let's talk about you now.
• 11:24
  Speaker 10: And I think that's really cool aspect to her. We
• 11:28
  Speaker 10: many times in our cast shairs we're just talking about
• 11:30
  Speaker 10: like relationships and just different things like she's she's a
• 11:35
  Speaker 10: really really dope human being.
• 11:37
  Speaker 7: Y'all did use a stunt double when she got pushed down.
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  Speaker 6: Just making about her.
• 11:45
  Speaker 4: She was cool with being on the ground.
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  Speaker 8: Yes, the thing about her, she was like, y'all stop stopping,
• 11:54
  Speaker 8: like I got it.
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  Speaker 3: So she did do.
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  Speaker 8: She didn't get the hit part, but she definitely felt
• 11:58
  Speaker 8: on the wanted to.
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  Speaker 3: She wanted to.
• 12:00
  Speaker 4: I'm yeah, enough to make in my heart.
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  Speaker 7: I was like, oh my god, why would you do that?
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  Speaker 10: Like you cannot just put her on the ground.
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  Speaker 8: She the reason why she is that way is because
• 12:15
  Speaker 8: she takes her craft serious. And not only that. I
• 12:18
  Speaker 8: mean to what Sorea was saying. You know, every day
• 12:20
  Speaker 8: that she was on set, her aura. You know, she brought,
• 12:22
  Speaker 8: you know, excellen, she brought grace, she brought a sense
• 12:26
  Speaker 8: of calm in peace, and I'll never forget.
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  Speaker 3: You know.
• 12:28
  Speaker 8: One day we were shooting at the location for her
• 12:30
  Speaker 8: house and it overlooks a lake, and so in between setups,
• 12:33
  Speaker 8: you know, I hear this voice saying, you know, divine,
• 12:35
  Speaker 8: come here. And I turned around and it's Miss Felicia.
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  Speaker 8: She's sitting on a bench. She says, come here, and
• 12:40
  Speaker 8: she pats on the bench. She says, sit down, and
• 12:42
  Speaker 8: I said yeah. She said, you know, you're working really hard,
• 12:44
  Speaker 8: this is your movie, but you got to breathe. You
• 12:47
  Speaker 8: got to take all this in. Don't just you know,
• 12:50
  Speaker 8: rush through the fruits of your labor.
• 12:52
  Speaker 3: Take it in. And I said, wow.
• 12:54
  Speaker 8: I took a moment to breathe, and then we started
• 12:55
  Speaker 8: talking about, you know, our histories and you know, sharing stories,
• 12:58
  Speaker 8: and I said, Wow, this is what it's like to
• 13:00
  Speaker 8: have an elder in your presence. They see the potential
• 13:03
  Speaker 8: and they see it, but they also want you to know, Hey,
• 13:05
  Speaker 8: life is a is a marathon, not a sprint, relaxed,
• 13:09
  Speaker 8: enjoy and so that that's a moment that just speaks
• 13:11
  Speaker 8: to who she is.
• 13:12
  Speaker 1: Do you ever get impostera syndrome in those moments, like
• 13:14
  Speaker 1: when you're doing a film and you have to think
• 13:16
  Speaker 1: to yourself like, oh man, I'm doing a film for Netflix.
• 13:18
  Speaker 7: I got foolice arch, I got I got Tyler lovely.
• 13:22
  Speaker 3: No, I don't.
• 13:23
  Speaker 8: I don't get imposter syndrome. I mean because you know,
• 13:24
  Speaker 8: I've been working in entertainment since i was eighteen years old,
• 13:27
  Speaker 8: and I've been working specifically, you know, in film ever
• 13:31
  Speaker 8: since then. And so when I'm making a movie, you know,
• 13:33
  Speaker 8: I'm making a movie like from a place of experience
• 13:35
  Speaker 8: and expertise, and nobody knows how to make a movie
• 13:39
  Speaker 8: a faith that's commercial better than me. Yeah, and so
• 13:41
  Speaker 8: I and that's not based upon arrogance. That's just based
• 13:44
  Speaker 8: upon confidence and experience and having done it time and
• 13:47
  Speaker 8: time and time again. And so when I'm on set.
• 13:50
  Speaker 8: You know, if anything I'm like, Okay, what am I
• 13:53
  Speaker 8: not thinking about?
• 13:54
  Speaker 3: You know, is there? And then also you know, wanting
• 13:56
  Speaker 3: to make sure that they're good.
• 13:58
  Speaker 8: You know, at the end of the day, I can
• 13:59
  Speaker 8: do all things I can do, But at the end
• 14:01
  Speaker 8: of the day, if the talent doesn't feel if I'm saying, hey,
• 14:03
  Speaker 8: I want to make movies of inspiration and faith, and
• 14:05
  Speaker 8: the experience behind the scene isn't inspirational or positive, then
• 14:10
  Speaker 8: I think it kind of undermines what I'm trying to do.
• 14:12
  Speaker 3: And I make sure that they're good.
• 14:13
  Speaker 1: Now, I'm glad you said that, because the film portrays
• 14:15
  Speaker 1: these ideas of worthiness and acceptance, especially in regard to
• 14:19
  Speaker 1: Boaz is like evolution and translations.
• 14:22
  Speaker 3: Yeah, it was important.
• 14:23
  Speaker 8: That was really important because I really wanted, you know,
• 14:26
  Speaker 8: you know, any man watching this movie, any woman as well,
• 14:29
  Speaker 8: but you know, specifically, you know, any man watching this
• 14:31
  Speaker 8: movie to see themselves in Boaz. And I think one
• 14:33
  Speaker 8: of the things that's so you know, noble and powerful.
• 14:36
  Speaker 8: And also the way that Tyler plays Boaz is you know,
• 14:39
  Speaker 8: with the care and the tenderness, and he's not looking
• 14:41
  Speaker 8: to get from Ruth, He's looking to give to Ruth,
• 14:43
  Speaker 8: you know, and I think that that is that is
• 14:45
  Speaker 8: that's a different dynamic, and I really wanted to make
• 14:48
  Speaker 8: sure that that was articulated and portrayed because that, to
• 14:52
  Speaker 8: me is where love is. You know, love comes out
• 14:54
  Speaker 8: of sacrifice. Like and I'm not trying to get from you.
• 14:57
  Speaker 8: He didn't need anything from her all, he really.
• 14:59
  Speaker 3: I mean, what was cool about Ruth.
• 15:00
  Speaker 8: All she provided him was was a safe space to
• 15:03
  Speaker 8: be able to talk, to be able to communicate, to
• 15:04
  Speaker 8: be heard, and that is how she expressed her love,
• 15:07
  Speaker 8: and he expressed his love through giving to make sure
• 15:10
  Speaker 8: she knew she was okay.
• 15:11
  Speaker 3: So that was important to me as far.
• 15:12
  Speaker 5: As casting went right, Like did you say because I
• 15:17
  Speaker 5: feel like every role that Tyler plays and every role
• 15:19
  Speaker 5: that Sarria plays, it seems like it's specifically for them.
• 15:23
  Speaker 7: They just do a great job with it.
• 15:24
  Speaker 5: Did you know who you had in mind when you
• 15:27
  Speaker 5: were when you said, okay, I want to do Ruth
• 15:28
  Speaker 5: and BoA's story.
• 15:29
  Speaker 8: When I started the process, I didn't. I just was
• 15:32
  Speaker 8: working on getting the script right. Mike Elliott and Corey
• 15:35
  Speaker 8: Tynan wrote the script, and our amazing director Lana Brown,
• 15:38
  Speaker 8: you know, directed the movie. And so once we got
• 15:41
  Speaker 8: into the casting process, That's when I said, oh, this
• 15:44
  Speaker 8: is Sorea, and so I kept hitting up her team
• 15:46
  Speaker 8: like hey, when she coming in, when she coming in audition,
• 15:49
  Speaker 8: and then that's when I finally ultimately called her and
• 15:51
  Speaker 8: said hey, come in. And then when she auditioned, it
• 15:53
  Speaker 8: was like, oh, well there's Ruthy. But with Boaz, I
• 15:56
  Speaker 8: didn't know that Tyler Lepley was going to come in.
• 15:59
  Speaker 8: I knew, like I wanted a guy who you know,
• 16:01
  Speaker 8: had the the grab TOAs had the sex appeal but
• 16:04
  Speaker 8: also had the heart. But I didn't know that he
• 16:06
  Speaker 8: was you know, I didn't. I didn't even it wasn't
• 16:08
  Speaker 8: even the thought. And then we had a couple of
• 16:10
  Speaker 8: guys we were chemistry reading with Sorea and at the
• 16:12
  Speaker 8: eleventh hour, Tyler Lepley sends in a self tape and
• 16:16
  Speaker 8: I watched the self tape and I'm like, well, there's
• 16:18
  Speaker 8: Boaz Ye. I mean, without any direction, he just dropped
• 16:21
  Speaker 8: into the essence of the character. And we were like, okay,
• 16:25
  Speaker 8: we did it, and we brought him in, did a
• 16:26
  Speaker 8: chemistry read, and it was evident that they were the
• 16:28
  Speaker 8: ones destined to play these parts.
• 16:30
  Speaker 7: That's right.
• 16:32
  Speaker 5: I had to finish real quick's plan because Tyler said
• 16:35
  Speaker 5: that it was right on time him because he was
• 16:37
  Speaker 5: already talking to the Lord.
• 16:43
  Speaker 2: I was gonna say, you, how did you know this
• 16:44
  Speaker 2: one was for you? Because you sent in that tape immediately?
• 16:46
  Speaker 2: So how did you know that? Like this this part
• 16:48
  Speaker 2: for me?
• 16:50
  Speaker 11: I think, I think it really dawned on me after
• 16:53
  Speaker 11: I after I had uh sent the tape in, we
• 16:55
  Speaker 11: did the chemistry read, which is funny too because we
• 16:57
  Speaker 11: were actually on a different set shooting something else together.
• 17:01
  Speaker 11: So you know, that was that was a unique experience.
• 17:04
  Speaker 11: But after I had after I had booked it, we
• 17:09
  Speaker 11: had a scheduling conflict with with this in p Valley,
• 17:13
  Speaker 11: we're shooting at the same time, and you know, there
• 17:16
  Speaker 11: was a period of time where, you know, per the
• 17:19
  Speaker 11: line producers, these are the ones who deal with the schedule.
• 17:22
  Speaker 6: This this wasn't gonna work.
• 17:23
  Speaker 11: So there was a few days like even me and
• 17:25
  Speaker 11: Devin were, you know, kind of chatting back and forth
• 17:27
  Speaker 11: on the text, and like, you know, the energy was
• 17:29
  Speaker 11: kind of like all right, well, you know, i'll see
• 17:30
  Speaker 11: i'll see you, I'll catch you next time, And it.
• 17:32
  Speaker 6: Was like, damn, that's what I was.
• 17:34
  Speaker 11: That's kind of I said, Man, I said, there was
• 17:37
  Speaker 11: something about this that just it just felt special because
• 17:41
  Speaker 11: kind of what I was talking about earlier, you know,
• 17:43
  Speaker 11: trying to get in touch with the Lord and then
• 17:46
  Speaker 11: you know it just it just felt like this was
• 17:48
  Speaker 11: going to be special.
• 17:48
  Speaker 6: And and I was like, man, I ain't going down
• 17:51
  Speaker 6: without a fight.
• 17:52
  Speaker 11: I played baseball for one year and I was always
• 17:55
  Speaker 11: I was always striking out, but I was always going down.
• 17:57
  Speaker 11: Looking my mom told me like, man, you at least
• 18:00
  Speaker 11: you're going down. You got to swing. So I was like,
• 18:02
  Speaker 11: all right, well, let me pick the phone up, let
• 18:03
  Speaker 11: me call, let me call Devine, and let me call
• 18:05
  Speaker 11: Katoi because you know, everybody, everybody at the studio saying
• 18:09
  Speaker 11: they can't figure this out. And uh, you know, really
• 18:11
  Speaker 11: really it was it was because of you and Katuri
• 18:15
  Speaker 11: the reason that I was. I was blessed enough to
• 18:17
  Speaker 11: be able to step into this role, you know what
• 18:19
  Speaker 11: I'm saying. So as I look back on it, you know,
• 18:20
  Speaker 11: hindsight is always twenty twenty. When I look at how
• 18:22
  Speaker 11: you know, God orchestrated it, it was like, man, it
• 18:25
  Speaker 11: was I was, I was right on point. This is
• 18:27
  Speaker 11: something that I felt like I was destined to do so, man,
• 18:29
  Speaker 11: I appreciate you.
• 18:30
  Speaker 8: No absolutely, I would just interject on that you know,
• 18:32
  Speaker 8: what God has for you is for you. And so
• 18:34
  Speaker 8: you know, Katori and I you know, got on the
• 18:36
  Speaker 8: phone and went through that schedule and said, okay, you
• 18:40
  Speaker 8: need him here, I need him here. Okay, I can't
• 18:42
  Speaker 8: give you that date, but can you give me that date?
• 18:44
  Speaker 8: And then we went to the line producers and then
• 18:46
  Speaker 8: the studios and say this is what it is. And
• 18:48
  Speaker 8: a lot of times they're like, well, you got to
• 18:49
  Speaker 8: have insurance and said no, me and Katori a brother
• 18:52
  Speaker 8: and a sister, we worked it out as he needs
• 18:54
  Speaker 8: to be able to do bowl. So whatever is for you,
• 18:57
  Speaker 8: just stay in it and keep fighting for it because
• 19:00
  Speaker 8: when it's meant to be, it'll.
• 19:01
  Speaker 6: Be No that.
• 19:07
  Speaker 9: It's important to be working with people that understand you
• 19:10
  Speaker 9: look like you two because y'all advocated that's so big.
• 19:13
  Speaker 9: Having a person that will advocate.
• 19:14
  Speaker 3: For you one thousand person.
• 19:16
  Speaker 1: It's critical, you know, the secular ambitions that that roof
• 19:19
  Speaker 1: has right with the spiritual calling she's dealing with. To
• 19:23
  Speaker 1: have any of y'all ever had the deal with that
• 19:26
  Speaker 1: in the industry, and if so.
• 19:28
  Speaker 7: How did you resolve?
• 19:30
  Speaker 6: I'm sorry, what was it again?
• 19:31
  Speaker 1: Secular ambitions that roof has also the spiritual calling she's
• 19:35
  Speaker 1: dealing with. Have you any have y'all ever had that
• 19:37
  Speaker 1: battle with y'all personal experiences in the industry.
• 19:40
  Speaker 11: It's been a long week breaking down a seculars what's that?
• 19:44
  Speaker 7: Secular?
• 19:44
  Speaker 4: Worldly not non religious?
• 19:57
  Speaker 7: No, I don't I want you to be over here?
• 19:58
  Speaker 6: Yeah, yeah, for sure, I would say. I would say
• 20:00
  Speaker 6: for me.
• 20:03
  Speaker 11: When I was coming out of uh now, I'm from
• 20:05
  Speaker 11: right outside of Philly, and I was, uh, you know,
• 20:08
  Speaker 11: on my own levels.
• 20:08
  Speaker 6: You know, I was making a little bit of money.
• 20:10
  Speaker 11: I was, I was kind of doing my thing, you know,
• 20:11
  Speaker 11: at least so I thought. But nothing made sense for
• 20:15
  Speaker 11: me to go out to l A. You know, but
• 20:18
  Speaker 11: something was, something was calling me. I felt like God was,
• 20:20
  Speaker 11: you know, God was pushed me in that direction, and
• 20:22
  Speaker 11: it was you know, it was a battle too, to
• 20:26
  Speaker 11: leave everything that I've ever known, you know, to chase
• 20:29
  Speaker 11: something that I've never seen, you know, I feel it,
• 20:31
  Speaker 11: and so so I do feel like I can connect
• 20:34
  Speaker 11: with Ruth on that because I forget what the actual
• 20:36
  Speaker 11: line is, but like it's it's one of those lines
• 20:39
  Speaker 11: one of those memorable lines where she talks about, you know,
• 20:42
  Speaker 11: God is leading me somewhere else, and it's nothing that
• 20:44
  Speaker 11: anybody else around me can may really be able to understand,
• 20:48
  Speaker 11: but it's something that I feel, and it's something that
• 20:49
  Speaker 11: I'm gonna honor, you know. So I really connected with
• 20:51
  Speaker 11: with Ruth on on that aspect for sure.
• 20:53
  Speaker 7: What about you, Sarah, I.
• 20:57
  Speaker 10: Don't know if I've ever felt like I was being
• 21:02
  Speaker 10: pulled away from what God wanted for me or what
• 21:09
  Speaker 10: I felt like innately inside of me, but I could
• 21:13
  Speaker 10: say that it is hard to navigate when you do
• 21:16
  Speaker 10: have that voice inside of you because there is a
• 21:19
  Speaker 10: lot to there's a lot to be involved with when
• 21:23
  Speaker 10: it comes to our industry. So when thinking about it
• 21:27
  Speaker 10: from that aspect, I can say I said no to
• 21:30
  Speaker 10: a lot of hangouts and dealings with people, and thank
• 21:33
  Speaker 10: god I did, because I didn't really know why I
• 21:37
  Speaker 10: was saying no, but I just knew I didn't feel
• 21:39
  Speaker 10: necessarily comfortable or I felt like a weird vibe. So
• 21:44
  Speaker 10: I just decided not to be out and about and
• 21:47
  Speaker 10: doing different things. And now looking back on that, I
• 21:50
  Speaker 10: am grateful that I kind of followed that voice because
• 21:54
  Speaker 10: there are a lot of situations I realized that, oh yeah,
• 21:57
  Speaker 10: that person was definitely up to no good asking me
• 21:59
  Speaker 10: to do it, you know what I mean. So I
• 22:02
  Speaker 10: think that there's there's definitely a lot of that while
• 22:04
  Speaker 10: navigating this industry.
• 22:06
  Speaker 6: For sure.
• 22:07
  Speaker 1: What about you, because you have answered your calling spiritual calling, Yeah,
• 22:10
  Speaker 1: but you still have you still want to be successful
• 22:12
  Speaker 1: in this business?
• 22:13
  Speaker 3: Sure?
• 22:14
  Speaker 8: Sure, I mean for me, it was like the ambition
• 22:17
  Speaker 8: always has been to go to a secular environment. Right
• 22:20
  Speaker 8: when you look at Hollywood and you know, some may
• 22:22
  Speaker 8: argue it's one of the most secular environments on the planet.
• 22:25
  Speaker 8: But for me, you know, when I first started, I
• 22:27
  Speaker 8: didn't know I was going to be making content that
• 22:29
  Speaker 8: would be inspirational or faith based at all. But I
• 22:32
  Speaker 8: did have a sense of I don't want to compromise
• 22:35
  Speaker 8: my soul to open the.
• 22:38
  Speaker 3: Door of this business.
• 22:39
  Speaker 8: So like at eighteen years old, you know, first internship interview,
• 22:43
  Speaker 8: they asked me, you know, this is what it was
• 22:44
  Speaker 8: for the company that managed will Smith, and they said,
• 22:47
  Speaker 8: is there anything else you want us to know? And
• 22:48
  Speaker 8: I said, well, you know, I observe sabbath. So if
• 22:51
  Speaker 8: taking this internship would require me to work on the Sabbath.
• 22:53
  Speaker 3: I won't take it.
• 22:54
  Speaker 8: So at that point in time, I wasn't really doing
• 22:56
  Speaker 8: it consciously. I was just saying, this is my conviction,
• 22:58
  Speaker 8: you know, like I don't want to compromise who I
• 23:01
  Speaker 8: am in my identity for this business. And then what
• 23:04
  Speaker 8: happened was they said, sure, no problem, and I got
• 23:06
  Speaker 8: the internship and every job that I've ever had goes
• 23:09
  Speaker 8: back to that internship. And so what that showed me
• 23:11
  Speaker 8: is that you can be in a secular environment and
• 23:14
  Speaker 8: still maintain your spirituality because I don't believe that God
• 23:17
  Speaker 8: would ordain success for any of us that requires us
• 23:20
  Speaker 8: to compromise who we are. Because if it's like wait,
• 23:23
  Speaker 8: if it's God, no honor who you He always created
• 23:25
  Speaker 8: you to be.
• 23:26
  Speaker 3: And if that door opens, walk through it.
• 23:28
  Speaker 8: But if it doesn't, do not conform yourself to get that,
• 23:32
  Speaker 8: because what's on the other side of that door is
• 23:34
  Speaker 8: you're going to need the faith that you left in
• 23:36
  Speaker 8: the identity you left outside the door to be successful.
• 23:38
  Speaker 10: Yeah, so that's the part, yeah.
• 23:42
  Speaker 8: Yeah, yeah, So for me, it was it was just
• 23:44
  Speaker 8: about incorporating the essence of who I am and the
• 23:46
  Speaker 8: identity and in the spirituality and being a Christian and
• 23:50
  Speaker 8: allowing God to navigate my path in this you know,
• 23:52
  Speaker 8: secular environment.
• 23:54
  Speaker 9: Earlier, Siria, when you guys are talking about you almost
• 23:57
  Speaker 9: not answering a call to do the role, did you
• 23:58
  Speaker 9: say it was because music will involved, So you don't
• 24:02
  Speaker 9: that was something you didn't want to do anymore? Well, yes,
• 24:05
  Speaker 9: and no, I think that there are Like I think
• 24:09
  Speaker 9: because of the last few roles that I have done
• 24:11
  Speaker 9: or been a part of, had that female who was
• 24:16
  Speaker 9: you know, navigating but also had a music element, and
• 24:20
  Speaker 9: I am also like putting out music, and so.
• 24:23
  Speaker 10: I wanted to just be mindful of gotcha just where
• 24:26
  Speaker 10: that was placing me. But honestly, like Devon said, this,
• 24:30
  Speaker 10: this film is a lot more than the music. It's
• 24:34
  Speaker 10: not just the music. And I hadn't I didn't know
• 24:37
  Speaker 10: it at the time, but I got to work with Babyface,
• 24:39
  Speaker 10: so so that was amazing. So but yeah, that was
• 24:44
  Speaker 10: kind of like my reasoning behind behind it. Just wanting
• 24:46
  Speaker 10: to you know.
• 24:48
  Speaker 7: Play different characters.
• 24:49
  Speaker 10: That's that's really all it is, and expanding my creativity
• 24:52
  Speaker 10: and things like that.
• 24:53
  Speaker 9: There's such a connection in the film between you mentioned
• 24:55
  Speaker 9: Atlanta and Tennessee. But like I feel like the way
• 24:58
  Speaker 9: that we watch you go from being in the group
• 25:00
  Speaker 9: that you were into, then getting into country music to
• 25:03
  Speaker 9: then go in the gospel. It tells a story about
• 25:05
  Speaker 9: like how all the music genres are intertwined. Can y'all
• 25:08
  Speaker 9: talk about like, you know, displaying that but also putting
• 25:10
  Speaker 9: that in the film and why that was important?
• 25:12
  Speaker 10: Was it always country music?
• 25:13
  Speaker 3: Yeah?
• 25:14
  Speaker 4: Oh it was?
• 25:14
  Speaker 10: Okay.
• 25:15
  Speaker 4: I was so sure.
• 25:16
  Speaker 10: Well because when I got the records to sing and
• 25:20
  Speaker 10: and you know, here here are the records of file
• 25:23
  Speaker 10: of records, I'm listening to him, like, Okay, they are
• 25:25
  Speaker 10: like very country, and I've never seen country. Although I
• 25:28
  Speaker 10: love country, I've just never recorded a country record. So
• 25:33
  Speaker 10: when I started to record them, and then when I
• 25:34
  Speaker 10: got in with Babyface, I was like, why I really
• 25:37
  Speaker 10: love this on my voice because you're able to really
• 25:39
  Speaker 10: like show a certain level of emotion in those records
• 25:44
  Speaker 10: that I really enjoyed.
• 25:45
  Speaker 6: Yeah.
• 25:45
  Speaker 8: I mean it was our writer Mike Elliott, who was
• 25:48
  Speaker 8: inspired by Cowboy Cark and you know the renaissance you
• 25:53
  Speaker 8: know of black music and country, and he was the
• 25:57
  Speaker 8: one that said, you know, let's put her on a
• 25:59
  Speaker 8: journey where even though she's going back to tennessee what
• 26:02
  Speaker 8: she's discovering is her voice and this kind of you
• 26:04
  Speaker 8: know country music, you know, really becomes the vehicle.
• 26:07
  Speaker 3: So that was that was his idea, and I was like, oh,
• 26:09
  Speaker 3: that's brilliant.
• 26:10
  Speaker 8: And then when you see you know, Soria sing these
• 26:12
  Speaker 8: different records in the film, it feels very authentic. And
• 26:15
  Speaker 8: then when you talk about Babyface, you know coming in
• 26:17
  Speaker 8: and not only playing himself, but he actually produced the
• 26:21
  Speaker 8: song at the piano, his version of it, the Goodness
• 26:24
  Speaker 8: of God. And then the song that Ruth sings to
• 26:26
  Speaker 8: express her love to bo As is an original baby
• 26:28
  Speaker 8: Face song and he wrote and produced for the film,
• 26:30
  Speaker 8: which is pretty amazing.
• 26:31
  Speaker 5: Wow, has somebody crying and one of us uh produces
• 26:36
  Speaker 5: sim She was crying that you were singing one of
• 26:38
  Speaker 5: the songs. It was like one of so it always
• 26:41
  Speaker 5: makes our cry. But she was like, her voice is
• 26:43
  Speaker 5: so beautiful, So she was actually crying. She was watching
• 26:45
  Speaker 5: a movie.
• 26:46
  Speaker 4: You were singing that.
• 26:47
  Speaker 3: Wow, I wonder if that was the Goodness of God's song.
• 26:52
  Speaker 5: And not coming there and talking about something about sexy
• 26:54
  Speaker 5: ring and she turned around crying. I was like, oh, wow,
• 27:00
  Speaker 5: time I didn't know what's secular.
• 27:01
  Speaker 3: Many of them.
• 27:04
  Speaker 7: Don't go to church and don't know what secular meaning.
• 27:08
  Speaker 5: That he didn't grow up the church I did, and
• 27:12
  Speaker 5: ain none of my old folks, I would say, the
• 27:13
  Speaker 5: secular stuff, No, they did it.
• 27:18
  Speaker 1: What does it mean for you to retell a Bible
• 27:20
  Speaker 1: story because I know the church full did you get
• 27:23
  Speaker 1: it wrong?
• 27:24
  Speaker 8: I know, I know, and they might, you know, but
• 27:27
  Speaker 8: you know, for me, it's like when I think about,
• 27:30
  Speaker 8: you know, Tyler and I, Tyler Perry and I having
• 27:32
  Speaker 8: this deal. You know, the the genesis of this story
• 27:35
  Speaker 8: was very organic. I had been doing a sermon series
• 27:39
  Speaker 8: on you know, what it means to being what it
• 27:41
  Speaker 8: meant to be single? As I was navigating you know,
• 27:44
  Speaker 8: my single my serious season of singleness, and and in
• 27:47
  Speaker 8: the sermon series, I started studying the Book of Ruth.
• 27:49
  Speaker 8: And in the Book of Ruth, you know, as we
• 27:51
  Speaker 8: were talking about earlier, it's very interesting, you know, neither
• 27:54
  Speaker 8: of them are looking for love at all. You know,
• 27:57
  Speaker 8: as a matter of fact, when Ruth makes a commitment
• 27:59
  Speaker 8: to go serve now, Naomi says.
• 28:01
  Speaker 3: Go back. You're not going to find love where I'm going.
• 28:06
  Speaker 8: And Ruth says, it ain't about love, It's about you
• 28:09
  Speaker 8: and where you go. I go and that idea of
• 28:11
  Speaker 8: committing to something greater than ourselves, our purpose, our calling,
• 28:16
  Speaker 8: and then as a reward of that, as part of
• 28:19
  Speaker 8: the journey, then we receive love. That really spoke to me. So,
• 28:22
  Speaker 8: you know, I was like, I think we need to
• 28:24
  Speaker 8: make this a movie. I said, this has never been
• 28:26
  Speaker 8: done before, and then I did my research and there
• 28:27
  Speaker 8: had never been a modern version of this story that
• 28:30
  Speaker 8: had ever been told, and definitely not a modern version
• 28:32
  Speaker 8: you know, with people of colors. So I think this
• 28:33
  Speaker 8: is the first Bible, you know, inspired movie that has ever.
• 28:37
  Speaker 3: Been done this way.
• 28:38
  Speaker 8: And so what it meant to me was like being
• 28:40
  Speaker 8: able to start our deal rooted in the word was
• 28:44
  Speaker 8: really you know, strong and very significant. And again there
• 28:49
  Speaker 8: is no rule book on how to do it. So
• 28:51
  Speaker 8: everything that we did in this film and the creative
• 28:53
  Speaker 8: license that we took to interpret scripture for a modern time,
• 28:57
  Speaker 8: other filmakers would do something different, you know, but everything.
• 29:00
  Speaker 8: I feel very confident. When people see this film and
• 29:02
  Speaker 8: they read the word, they'll they'll say, oh, okay, you
• 29:05
  Speaker 8: know this is cool. And then there will be some
• 29:07
  Speaker 8: be like, well you left this part.
• 29:08
  Speaker 3: Well, you're right. We had to make a ninety minute
• 29:10
  Speaker 3: film you know, so.
• 29:11
  Speaker 6: It's found on that.
• 29:12
  Speaker 7: What does it mean to tell this story thro a
• 29:13
  Speaker 7: black lens?
• 29:14
  Speaker 6: Then?
• 29:14
  Speaker 8: Oh, my goodness, it's everything because I feel like, especially
• 29:18
  Speaker 8: when you look at faith based content, faith based content,
• 29:21
  Speaker 8: the majority of it tends to be white evangelical content,
• 29:25
  Speaker 8: and there have rarely been you know, movies of faith
• 29:29
  Speaker 8: that feature you know, diversity that are made by you know, producers, directors,
• 29:34
  Speaker 8: writers of color like that.
• 29:36
  Speaker 3: This is almost like a brand new thing.
• 29:37
  Speaker 8: I mean, the last movie that I was involved with
• 29:40
  Speaker 8: that did that was Jumping the Broom and that was
• 29:42
  Speaker 8: when I was an executive at Sony and oversaw that
• 29:44
  Speaker 8: film and that was.
• 29:45
  Speaker 3: You know what, twenty eleven.
• 29:46
  Speaker 8: Yeah, so, you know, it's very significant to show that,
• 29:50
  Speaker 8: you know, people of color are people of faith and
• 29:54
  Speaker 8: not just that we want great content too, you know,
• 29:57
  Speaker 8: and that this segment you know, of the faith based
• 29:59
  Speaker 8: audience and the general market who you know, want content
• 30:02
  Speaker 8: that is diverse and that does celebrate that. This is
• 30:06
  Speaker 8: a type of movie to let people know like, we're
• 30:08
  Speaker 8: here and we want more. And so that was very
• 30:11
  Speaker 8: very important for me to make sure that that was represented.
• 30:13
  Speaker 4: Now, the.
• 30:16
  Speaker 5: It's a three picture deal, your picture deal, so the
• 30:18
  Speaker 5: other two are going to be rooted in the world
• 30:20
  Speaker 5: as well. Are you gonna do other biblical stories?
• 30:22
  Speaker 8: No, you know, well I don't know what the third
• 30:24
  Speaker 8: one's gonna be. But the second one is actually going
• 30:26
  Speaker 8: to be a true story. I can't speak about it
• 30:28
  Speaker 8: yet because they go.
• 30:29
  Speaker 3: If I speak about they gonna get me. But you're
• 30:31
  Speaker 3: gonna hear about it very soon. It's a true story.
• 30:33
  Speaker 8: It's an amazing, uplifting story. We have one of Hollywood's
• 30:36
  Speaker 8: biggest stars that's gonna star in the film, and I'm.
• 30:39
  Speaker 3: Really excited about it.
• 30:40
  Speaker 8: So for me, like I'm excited to see what stories
• 30:44
  Speaker 8: come together, you know, and what story So I don't
• 30:47
  Speaker 8: go into it saying, okay, I want one, two, and
• 30:48
  Speaker 8: three to be this. You know, I pray, I stay
• 30:51
  Speaker 8: open to God and he just you know, aligns me
• 30:54
  Speaker 8: with the right stories to tell at the right time.
• 30:56
  Speaker 5: And you know, the craziest thing is right because I've
• 30:58
  Speaker 5: been dealing with a lot, so I wasn't even gonna
• 31:00
  Speaker 5: come in to work today, but God and told me, like,
• 31:03
  Speaker 5: you know what, I gotta roll for you.
• 31:05
  Speaker 7: So just so I was like, you know, I'm just coming.
• 31:12
  Speaker 4: I got you, And you know, if you I got you.
• 31:18
  Speaker 3: For real.
• 31:19
  Speaker 8: In the new movie, there is a very significant part
• 31:22
  Speaker 8: that you would be like, you're like the prototype.
• 31:24
  Speaker 7: Thank you, And I grew up in the church. It
• 31:28
  Speaker 7: would be easier for me.
• 31:31
  Speaker 4: Saving and.
• 31:43
  Speaker 7: Exactly take me away.
• 31:47
  Speaker 6: I got a very pacific role.
• 31:50
  Speaker 4: Ain't no crack, I know that, shut up.
• 31:54
  Speaker 7: But you know one of the themes I love it.
• 31:56
  Speaker 1: One of the themes about Rufe and Bow as his
• 31:58
  Speaker 1: faith in providence. Right y'all know what providence means, okay,
• 32:03
  Speaker 1: but but it talks about how God works through ordinary
• 32:06
  Speaker 1: people the shape history. And I wanted to ask you.
• 32:08
  Speaker 1: As a minister, we always hear about the Bible. In
• 32:10
  Speaker 1: the Bible talks about God working through ordinary people. What's
• 32:13
  Speaker 1: considered an extraordinary person?
• 32:15
  Speaker 3: You know?
• 32:15
  Speaker 8: I think that when you think of extraordinary, you think
• 32:19
  Speaker 8: of someone you don't feel you can become, right, you know,
• 32:23
  Speaker 8: so you look at the greatest of the greats and
• 32:25
  Speaker 8: you say, oh, well, I could never be that. And
• 32:28
  Speaker 8: when you look at the word God's like no, look
• 32:30
  Speaker 8: at David, look at Joseph. You know, these were people
• 32:34
  Speaker 8: that that nobody thought would be anything, but I use them.
• 32:37
  Speaker 3: So I think that's what it means.
• 32:38
  Speaker 8: I think when people think like, oh, someone who's extraordinary
• 32:41
  Speaker 8: is someone that I can't touch.
• 32:42
  Speaker 1: Well, so are the examples of that in the Bible?
• 32:45
  Speaker 1: And the Bible is it's all full of just all
• 32:47
  Speaker 1: of us are just ordinary people?
• 32:49
  Speaker 7: Well, this is true, this is very no.
• 32:53
  Speaker 3: I agree with that. I mean, when you look at
• 32:55
  Speaker 3: the Bible, the.
• 32:55
  Speaker 8: Bible is, and I think people highlight that as a
• 32:59
  Speaker 8: way to make sure that anyone reading the Bible reads
• 33:02
  Speaker 8: it from a lens of relatability, because sometimes you know,
• 33:06
  Speaker 8: when you're looking at these biblical stories and the amazing
• 33:09
  Speaker 8: things that happen, you can say, well, God, I don't
• 33:11
  Speaker 8: see you doing that in my life. So I think
• 33:14
  Speaker 8: it's more about relatability to understand that, you know, the
• 33:17
  Speaker 8: book is not about extraordinary people. It's about ordinary people
• 33:20
  Speaker 8: serving an extraordinary God. And if you can then relate
• 33:23
  Speaker 8: to that, then you can believe that that extraordinary God
• 33:26
  Speaker 8: can do something extraordinary and what you may perceive is
• 33:29
  Speaker 8: your ordinary life.
• 33:30
  Speaker 2: You don't just want to know with all three of
• 33:32
  Speaker 2: you guys, all yeah, your relationships are all public, right,
• 33:36
  Speaker 2: how do you turn it off to say? You know, what?
• 33:38
  Speaker 2: F what's going on on social media? I got to
• 33:40
  Speaker 2: dive into a character. I gotta make sure I'm present
• 33:42
  Speaker 2: every time. I got to make sure that I'm the
• 33:44
  Speaker 2: best me. So Tyler is the best tile and that.
• 33:47
  Speaker 2: You know, how do y'all do that?
• 33:53
  Speaker 3: Or do you maybe you don't?
• 33:54
  Speaker 11: I mean, yeah, you know, I got a unique way
• 33:58
  Speaker 11: of thinking about it. I feel like it's a bit
• 34:00
  Speaker 11: it's a bit harsh, but it just, you know, it's
• 34:01
  Speaker 11: just my reality. It just is what it is. And
• 34:04
  Speaker 11: I've been like this since before I was in a relationship,
• 34:06
  Speaker 11: before I had kids. You know, it's kind of just
• 34:08
  Speaker 11: who I am.
• 34:09
  Speaker 6: You know.
• 34:09
  Speaker 11: I feel like I came from a life of excuse me,
• 34:12
  Speaker 11: of like mediocrity. I feel like I've done that. I
• 34:15
  Speaker 11: feel like I've settled, you know. It's what made me
• 34:18
  Speaker 11: kind of leave being from right outside of Philly. And
• 34:21
  Speaker 11: I think for me, the way I look at it
• 34:23
  Speaker 11: is like either either I'm gonna either I'm gonna be
• 34:27
  Speaker 11: that what I see when I close my eyes and
• 34:28
  Speaker 11: I think about like everything that I'm trying to be,
• 34:30
  Speaker 11: I'm be on the top of that mountain or or
• 34:33
  Speaker 11: I'm going to be you know, in a box. So
• 34:35
  Speaker 11: there is no in between really for me. So if
• 34:38
  Speaker 11: I'm really gonna go ahead and take that shot. You know,
• 34:41
  Speaker 11: what is it that you have to do in order
• 34:44
  Speaker 11: to get that? You're gonna have to really lock in
• 34:46
  Speaker 11: and be focused and really have like a you know,
• 34:48
  Speaker 11: an unwavering sense of it.
• 34:50
  Speaker 6: So when it comes down to.
• 34:51
  Speaker 11: That and I gotta you know, honest, they may be
• 34:53
  Speaker 11: calm me about this, so my parents may be calling
• 34:55
  Speaker 11: me about that, and you know, we're all humans outside
• 34:57
  Speaker 11: of our professional life. And when that feel was like
• 35:00
  Speaker 11: it's really starting to weigh on me, that's when I
• 35:02
  Speaker 11: know I'm right where I'm supposed to be. Even though
• 35:04
  Speaker 11: it's tough and it kind of sounds like it's a
• 35:05
  Speaker 11: little harsh to think about it like that. You know,
• 35:08
  Speaker 11: you you you uh, you know, no no one, no
• 35:11
  Speaker 11: one that leaves the storm. Uh, you know, the one
• 35:14
  Speaker 11: that leaves the storm isn't the one that walks into it.
• 35:16
  Speaker 11: That's what the storm is really about. No one likes
• 35:17
  Speaker 11: to get rained on. But you know, when you're in
• 35:20
  Speaker 11: those things, when you're in those storms, you got to
• 35:22
  Speaker 11: understand that God is really just sharpening your source that
• 35:24
  Speaker 11: you so that you can get to the top of
• 35:26
  Speaker 11: that mountain.
• 35:28
  Speaker 7: What you said when you said, when you feel it
• 35:30
  Speaker 7: weighing on you.
• 35:30
  Speaker 6: Yeah, you know you. I feel like that's that's the
• 35:32
  Speaker 6: fight now we're in it.
• 35:34
  Speaker 7: Yeah, I can.
• 35:35
  Speaker 10: I can definitely relate to that. I feel like for me, Yeah,
• 35:40
  Speaker 10: I just I've always had this kind of like work ethic,
• 35:43
  Speaker 10: that kind of just it's just it's in every fiber
• 35:47
  Speaker 10: of me. I think that that's something that the people
• 35:51
  Speaker 10: around me know and they accept and they appreciate and respect,
• 35:56
  Speaker 10: even my best friends, Like I've had to miss so
• 35:59
  Speaker 10: many things over the past ten years. You've known with
• 36:02
  Speaker 10: my best friends, with my family and just different things.
• 36:04
  Speaker 10: So I think that also choosing a partner that I
• 36:09
  Speaker 10: have understand he understands right because he has a similar
• 36:13
  Speaker 10: licensy right, also it helps a lot. But when, like
• 36:18
  Speaker 10: you said, when things do get overwhelming, I think that
• 36:21
  Speaker 10: for me it became very important this in this past
• 36:26
  Speaker 10: year to advocate for myself and to express that, hey,
• 36:30
  Speaker 10: this is excuse me, this is what's going on for me,
• 36:33
  Speaker 10: and today looks like this for me, and can we
• 36:37
  Speaker 10: talk about this you know later, Because sometimes everyone makes
• 36:42
  Speaker 10: their emergency like their emergency like your urgency, do you
• 36:47
  Speaker 10: know what I mean? And I'm such a person that
• 36:50
  Speaker 10: wants to satisfy everyone that I love so much, where
• 36:55
  Speaker 10: it can be to a fault sometimes. So I've really
• 36:58
  Speaker 10: had to learn how to just communicate what it is
• 37:00
  Speaker 10: I actually need and that, and it tends to work
• 37:03
  Speaker 10: because oh, you're right, my bad, I forgot. You may
• 37:07
  Speaker 10: be been at work since four thirty this morning, you know,
• 37:11
  Speaker 10: just different things. Sometimes you just have to kind of
• 37:13
  Speaker 10: like throw that out there so that they can be like,
• 37:15
  Speaker 10: all right, cool, we're gonna talk about this later, whatever
• 37:18
  Speaker 10: the case may be.
• 37:19
  Speaker 9: Did you learn that? Did you learn that from new
• 37:22
  Speaker 9: motherhood or prepareing for other hood or did you I
• 37:24
  Speaker 9: know you said you took a lot away from leaving
• 37:26
  Speaker 9: the last relationship and having a transition into your happy place.
• 37:28
  Speaker 9: Now what did you learn that from?
• 37:30
  Speaker 10: Yeah, you know what. To be honest, I give credit
• 37:32
  Speaker 10: to my partner, to Joey. He's an amazing communicator. Yeah,
• 37:37
  Speaker 10: and he also does the work on himself. He does,
• 37:41
  Speaker 10: and he really does. I'm there every day, he really does.
• 37:44
  Speaker 10: He's really reading all the books, he's doing, he's doing
• 37:47
  Speaker 10: it all. So I've really have learned how to communicate
• 37:52
  Speaker 10: better just from him kind of like just showing that
• 37:55
  Speaker 10: because sometimes I would feel before that community. Some people
• 37:59
  Speaker 10: can make you feel like communication is too much, so
• 38:03
  Speaker 10: you kind of learn how to hold you back what
• 38:06
  Speaker 10: you need to express so that you make them comfortable.
• 38:10
  Speaker 10: And I feel like in this relationship, I've really learned
• 38:12
  Speaker 10: to open up that communication and be like, hey, I'm
• 38:14
  Speaker 10: feeling like this today, just so you know. You know,
• 38:18
  Speaker 10: it's a lot, I'm tired, right, and then we can
• 38:22
  Speaker 10: go from there because everyone's not it's not always going
• 38:24
  Speaker 10: to be one hundred. Sometimes you only have thirty percent,
• 38:27
  Speaker 10: you know, But let me tell you today is my
• 38:30
  Speaker 10: thirty percent, So that you can have empathy and understand
• 38:33
  Speaker 10: where I'm coming from. And I think that that's just
• 38:35
  Speaker 10: how I navigate now, and I can't. I have to
• 38:38
  Speaker 10: express that for myself.
• 38:40
  Speaker 1: And when you have that level of communication and you're
• 38:42
  Speaker 1: able to express those feelings, you enable each other to
• 38:45
  Speaker 1: not take things personal.
• 38:46
  Speaker 10: Correct correct, Yeah.
• 38:48
  Speaker 3: Guys, they have to go. Oh I can so much longer.
• 38:53
  Speaker 7: There's one more question I want to ask.
• 38:56
  Speaker 12: You.
• 38:56
  Speaker 1: Ever try to help a person and then you realize
• 38:58
  Speaker 1: they are the reason they have problems, nothing it them.
• 39:02
  Speaker 7: How do you convey that?
• 39:05
  Speaker 6: Well? It's funny.
• 39:06
  Speaker 3: Charlotte made is.
• 39:07
  Speaker 1: Hilarious I'm to say you haven't tried to help a
• 39:12
  Speaker 1: person and then to realize they are the reason they
• 39:14
  Speaker 1: have problems.
• 39:15
  Speaker 7: Ain't nothing external, Yes, it's you.
• 39:17
  Speaker 8: Yes, Yes, I have been in that situation. And the
• 39:21
  Speaker 8: thing is to be compassionate, you know, compassion because a
• 39:26
  Speaker 8: lot of times it's very easy to well, let me
• 39:29
  Speaker 8: put it this way, it's very hard for all of
• 39:32
  Speaker 8: us to look in the mirror and actually hold and
• 39:37
  Speaker 8: look at what we see because we don't like to
• 39:41
  Speaker 8: look at the parts of ourselves that we want to change,
• 39:43
  Speaker 8: that we're not happy with. And so in those situations
• 39:47
  Speaker 8: it's like, Okay, before I'm just like trying to call
• 39:49
  Speaker 8: the person out or anything, I say, Okay, let's just
• 39:50
  Speaker 8: have compassion, you know, and like, hey, the problem you're
• 39:53
  Speaker 8: trying to solve, it may be because of the perspective
• 39:56
  Speaker 8: that you have.
• 39:57
  Speaker 3: Okay, well, well why do you have that perspective? Well,
• 39:59
  Speaker 3: let's talk about it.
• 40:00
  Speaker 8: Because I think just creating an environment where there's no
• 40:02
  Speaker 8: judgment and there's acceptance and that there can be communication
• 40:06
  Speaker 8: because trying to unpack something, whether it's trauma or tragedy
• 40:10
  Speaker 8: or disappointments or things that you may have gone through
• 40:12
  Speaker 8: years ago. Trying to unpack that takes time, and I
• 40:15
  Speaker 8: think sometimes we get so mad at people for not
• 40:18
  Speaker 8: being where we want them to be. And we're all
• 40:21
  Speaker 8: on a journey in this thing called life, and we're
• 40:23
  Speaker 8: at different stages. So I just try to approach it
• 40:25
  Speaker 8: with compassion and still clarity. You know, if someone comes
• 40:28
  Speaker 8: to me for help and they're asking my opinion, then
• 40:30
  Speaker 8: I will give it. I will say, hey, you know,
• 40:32
  Speaker 8: I think the reason why you know you may have
• 40:34
  Speaker 8: been going through different relationships is because you know, you
• 40:38
  Speaker 8: keep bringing that mentality to each relationship instead of being
• 40:42
  Speaker 8: the love you want to receive. You're looking for this
• 40:44
  Speaker 8: person to provide you with what you're not doing for yourself.
• 40:47
  Speaker 8: So you know, I'm still going to be honest, but
• 40:51
  Speaker 8: I'm going to do it hopefully in a compassionate and
• 40:53
  Speaker 8: loving way, so that then that they can actually take
• 40:56
  Speaker 8: it in. Because if I come with a sledgehammer, you know,
• 40:59
  Speaker 8: and I come with why aren't you doing this? Then
• 41:01
  Speaker 8: the help that I could have provided them I missed
• 41:03
  Speaker 8: the opportunity because I'm trying to impose my process on
• 41:07
  Speaker 8: them instead of being compassionate, loving.
• 41:10
  Speaker 3: Hey, here's some things you could look.
• 41:11
  Speaker 8: At and then everyone then has to make a committee
• 41:14
  Speaker 8: of one to make the decision. You know what, Okay,
• 41:16
  Speaker 8: I'm going to make some changes and I'm going to
• 41:17
  Speaker 8: do the work because I want the reflection of my
• 41:19
  Speaker 8: life to change.
• 41:20
  Speaker 7: So be compassionate. Boldie, you say, you know what, you
• 41:25
  Speaker 7: got to figure this out on your own.
• 41:27
  Speaker 8: Well, you know, again, I think every situation is different.
• 41:30
  Speaker 8: I mean, I think everyone always has to figure out
• 41:32
  Speaker 8: on their own, so you know, it's never that. But
• 41:35
  Speaker 8: if someone is coming to me, like specifically wanting me
• 41:38
  Speaker 8: to fix their problem, you know, at a certain point
• 41:42
  Speaker 8: I would be like, hey, you know, it's not my
• 41:43
  Speaker 8: responsibility to fix the problem, but I can give you information.
• 41:46
  Speaker 8: I can give you strategy, I can give you a
• 41:48
  Speaker 8: point of view that if you use it, given my experience,
• 41:52
  Speaker 8: I believe it'll work. But ultimately, if you're relying on
• 41:55
  Speaker 8: me to do your work, then you want me to
• 41:58
  Speaker 8: provide a subsidy to the work that you're not willing
• 42:01
  Speaker 8: to do. And if I do that for you, it's
• 42:03
  Speaker 8: not going to help you, and it's certainly not going
• 42:04
  Speaker 8: to help me. So it really it's a it's a process,
• 42:08
  Speaker 8: you know, but it's not I try not to like
• 42:09
  Speaker 8: cut people off, you know, even if they want me
• 42:12
  Speaker 8: to do something. Okay, I get that, but that's not
• 42:14
  Speaker 8: my responsibility. My responsibility is to be a support system,
• 42:17
  Speaker 8: and it's your responsibility to take on the charge to
• 42:20
  Speaker 8: do the work.
• 42:21
  Speaker 12: Baptisms actually checking out, manmpathy, don't cut me, I said you.
• 42:35
  Speaker 3: Well, we appreciate you guys for this.
• 42:37
  Speaker 6: Thank you so much.
• 42:38
  Speaker 2: Make sure you check it out. It's on Netflix now
• 42:41
  Speaker 2: the way, Ron Franklin, Soreya and Tyler Lepley.
• 42:47
  Speaker 3: Thank you so much.
• 42:48
  Speaker 4: I got your name.
• 42:51
  Speaker 3: It's the Breakfast Club. Good morning, thank you.
• 42:54
  Speaker 4: Every day a week. Click up The Breakfast Club