Latest / Yeah Buddy! Podcast / From Bay Area Sets to Hollywood Lights: Tina Gilton's Acting Journey

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From Bay Area Sets to Hollywood Lights: Tina Gilton's Acting Journey · Yeah Buddy! Podcast

0:47
Hey, yeah, yeah, yeah. What's going on, world? It's your man,
0:49
Buddy Rambick, and we are back at it, y'all, with another episode of the Yeah, Buddy Podcast.
0:55
You know how we do like every episode, man? If you are a returning guest,
0:57
thank you for tuning in. If this is your first time listening,
1:00
we got a really dope episode for y'all.
1:02
You know how we do every episode? I try to bring some of my friends from the
1:05
entertainment business, comedians, actors, filmmakers, and we just sit down,
1:09
chop it up, talk about our experiences in the film business,
1:11
what we got coming up, and all that good jazz.
1:14
And this episode is like no other, y'all. I got a very special friend of I was looking at her resume.
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We probably worked on a couple of film sets together. We just didn't realize
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it or whatever, but we officially met last year at this film mixer called Cinema
1:27
Film Mixer out in Oakland, California.
1:29
Very great. If you are in the film community, check out Cinema Mama.
1:33
They do a lot of great stuff for the film community out there.
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But that's not what it's about right now. Right now, it's about our guests.
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The lady of the hour right now. Y'all watch my make it loud.
1:41
Make it loud. Make it live for my good friend, Ms. Tina G.
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Actress, model, hand model, producer, do it all. She's like a Swiss army knife
1:50
out here in the Bay Area, just doing everything she can.
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So I appreciate you being on my podcast. We got a lot to talk about.
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I know you got a lot of great information to give out to people.
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So I just want to get, let's just get started. So Tina, thank you for being on the podcast.
2:03
Oh man, thank you, buddy, for having me. I appreciate it.
2:07
No worries. So let's just get started with kind of how you kind of got started.
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Into finding your way to acting?
2:15
Oh, man. So I found my way into acting when I was about 11.
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I started out as a child just kind of doing small little theater projects. I was doing that as a kid.
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And then a friend of mine actually got an audition in San Francisco.
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And she invited me to tag along. And I was like, I don't want to go to this.
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And I happened to accompany her to this audition while I was there.
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They got her on tape and she was like, I have my friend with me.
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Like we could get her on tape. So they actually did a take with her and they
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did a take with the two of us together.
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They went with my friend. She ended up getting, you know, booked for this.
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And around the time that she was supposed to shoot, she got ill.
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And her parents basically, you know, kind of let the studio know that they had two girls on tape.
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And they were like the similar age, similar height, similar demographic.
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And usually you don't get booked that way. But in this case,
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they reached out to my family and that's how I ended up getting the booking.
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So I shot my first commercial in san francisco it was really really dope it
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was for united way and um and that's kind of how i got like my first introduction
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as like i guess professionally working you know in the industry.
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Okay cool and you said i was up here in san francisco yeah my first job i booked
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out of san francisco we shot it in san francisco mm-hmm,
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Okay, cool. Because I was going out to your IMDB, and I noticed something really
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cool about you is that there was a gap time where a lot of Hollywood projects that you was working on.
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Some pretty dope Hollywood projects that people would look back and thought,
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oh, okay. because you did this TV show called Dead's Declassified and then another
4:02
TV show out there called LAX, which, you know, of course, the airport and stuff like that.
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How did that come about? You did work out in LA.
4:11
So I actually, like, I grew up going back and forth to LA.
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So we would go there for the summers and just vacation there.
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We had family that lived there and it was just something we did as a family
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tradition pretty much every year for the most part.
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So, you know, after I got my initial commercial booking, I started getting into like modeling.
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I was doing some print and some catalog stuff. And then I ended up moving out to L.A. actually.
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And so I had this stint of time that I was working out in Los Angeles.
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And it was really odd because there was like there was sort of a gap between
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me working as a kid and then transitioning, you know, to work in Los Angeles
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at an older age was very different for sure.
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And that's kind of how I got started. I went out there. I registered with a
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popular casting agency, Central Casting, for everybody.
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Somebody that knows about Central Casting. The first agency that I stopped by,
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there was a myriad of agencies that I signed up for. But that was one of the first that I went to.
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And I think I was in LA for about four days. And I ended up getting a booking.
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And I doubled for a really famous actress.
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And that's kind of how I got started in LA. So yeah, that was my journey.
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I think I know what movie you're talking about. I don't know if you're excited
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to NDA, but I saw that on the thing.
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I was like, what the heck is going on? like I was like you
5:27
ain't gonna lie how excited I was because I think you probably might be the first guest
5:30
that I've had because I interview a lot of people from up here in Northern California they
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talk about oh Hollywood's like this LA's like
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this but you're like probably like the first person I had on my
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show that could give like like like first-hand
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experience about like what is like working like
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in Hollywood yeah so yeah yeah if
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you don't want to say the name of the actress or whatever the movie that she was on
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it's all good no worries and stuff like that but I
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want to give kudos for being able to like I said going down to LA you said booking
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work in like the first four days that's awesome yeah it was pretty awesome at
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that time like that was a casting agency that like pretty much everybody's familiar
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with and I remember they would have like these long lines and all you know the
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newbies would be registering there and.
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Everybody was like really friendly. It was a really welcoming environment.
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And I happened to just put my profile in a database and I matched up with an
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actress in terms of like her height, size, all of these different things.
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And they just called me up like four days after I registered.
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And they're like, would you be interested in booking this job?
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And I was like, absolutely. They put me like in a Armani dress for it. It was like really cool.
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It was really cool. So that was actually, literally, I had been in LA for four
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days when that happened.
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So I feel like when people are talking about like kind of, you know,
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it's just random how it happens.
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I think it is like that, you know, because I didn't support for this.
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This was something that they reached out to me specifically after registering there.
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And that was really cool. And that was kind of the start. It wasn't,
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you know, it wasn't always about being, you know, as extravagant or anything like that.
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But it was kind of what got me into working more in the industry.
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Yeah, for sure. And yeah, but if that's a start, that's what had to start,
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you know, you get a firsthand experience working next to A-list actors,
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seeing what it's like to be a professional.
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And were you SAG at the time?
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When I first got there, I had gotten SAG vouchers before I got there.
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I want to say I hadn't joined. I definitely hadn't joined prior to my initial
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booking, but I had received.
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So how I ended up getting upgraded, like the first time I went in,
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I think I was working in San Francisco on this popular TV show.
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And I went in as actually as background person.
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And they ended up bumping me into a stand-in role, which I've done stand-in
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like many, many, many, many times over.
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But that's how I ended up getting one of my like first upgrades.
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And so I had already had SAG vouchers before I moved there, but I hadn't officially joined the union.
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And I wasn't, what do they call it, SAG must join? I wasn't at the must join at that time. Yeah.
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Okay, cool. So you're still just eligible? Yeah, yeah.
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Okay, cool. Well, now it's a good space to be at where you can kind of still teeter with both.
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And they're not like, you need to enjoy, you need to enjoy. You're like,
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you know what? I can enjoy when I'm ready.
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I'm sure. Yeah. At that time, I wasn't new, but I was new to L.A.
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For sure. Yeah. In terms of like working.
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I had traveled there and knew L.A. pretty well, but in terms of working.
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So when I first got there and booked my first job, I hadn't joined the union yet.
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And I'd worked on a lot of, this is before they merged. I had worked on a lot
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of, I don't know why I'm blanking.
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It's the union on that all of the soap operas and
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radio radio it was after right oh after
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it was after yeah it was after yeah so i worked on after shows fairly regularly
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in la at the time before the merger and i did some like background work in that
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and things like that so there were there were kind of like a few different things
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that i did kind of before i even ventured into you know So joining the union, yeah.
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Okay, cool, cool, cool. And so we had talked about this before we had started
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rolling and stuff like that, but I just wanted to talk about how cool it was
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because you had worked two projects, two projects kind of like within the same
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year, but two totally different types of roles.
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You had worked on the Nickelodeon TV show, Ned's Declassified,
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and then you had worked on the late night TV show, it's called like, not late night, but LAX.
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I don't know what channel, I think it was like ABC or NBC or something like that.
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Yeah, both pretty cool.
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I think it's like, you know, that's a part of our job, right?
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Like changing up our characters.
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Sometimes it requires us to, you know, look a little bit older or look a little bit younger.
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Those are not things that I actually like was intentionally trying to do.
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I met this casting director that worked.
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I think he was working for Nickelodeon
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at the time. He was either at Nickelodeon or Disney at the time.
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And I was working on, I auditioned for another project that he was working on solo.
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And I ended up being connected with a casting director for a show.
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And then I ended up coming on for that.
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And that's kind of how I got into, you know, working in television.
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In LA though, you do like, for people who haven't always booked like principal
10:20
or supporting roles, there's a lot of background. And I know people talk about background.
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I'm not, I'm not biased to it. I feel like one, it has resulted in me getting upgrades.
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So I was never comfortable about it. And then also it's how you can kind of
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sustain work while you're auditioning and looking for other work. Right.
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So when I first got there, that was kind of the road that I took.
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I would get on set a lot so I can meet a lot of people. And when you're working
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in LA, you can do that probably two, three, four times, you know,
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a week, even there's work constantly, constantly rotating.
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So I kind of took that route and I would meet people on set.
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And you know, that's kind of what would allow me to audition for other things
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or book other parts. And that's kind of what it was.
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Cool, cool. Yeah, a lot of people up here, and that's probably just because
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there's not as much work up here.
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So people don't see the value in doing background work. They're like,
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I want to be this, I want to be that. I'm like, no.
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At the end of the day, bro, one, you just want to get the experience.
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Two, you want to be around professional filmmakers so you can network and talk to them.
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And then three, you also kind of want to get a paycheck. It don't matter what
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that paycheck looked like, but just getting that paycheck kind of validates,
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all right, I feel like I'm an actor now or a working actor.
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Yeah, for sure. And it can always lead to additional opportunities.
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You never know who you're going to meet on set.
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I know people have their opinions about that. Personally, I've had so many great
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things happen, just stepping into something and ending up in something else.
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And that's really what it is.
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I mean, I've had national, a national like that.
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I mean, it's, you'd be surprised at what can happen. So you,
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I think you just have to be open to meeting people, networking,
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you know, being as open and friendly as you can be.
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And then a lot of times that's how you meet people that, you know,
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you don't even know that they might have jobs in the future.
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You know, kind of how we met, you know, I, we, we met at a, a film mixer,
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but you know, now we're, I, you invited me to come on the show and I'm on the
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show with you on the podcast. And we've been kind of keeping in contact since
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then, you just kind of never know what's going to happen.
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So I try to like stay open. And I would encourage anybody.
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That's in the industry no matter what level of the industry you entered into
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union non-union background foreground whatever it is just stay open you know
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try to network as best as you can learn as much about the industry as you can
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especially saying just especially us being black
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if we're talking about being in front of the camera there's there's there's
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a certain age range you know what i'm saying that people look for but us being
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black our age range kind of it kind of expands you know because we don't we
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don't really age like that you don't say black don't crack and stuff so that's
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why i say even like with you working on men's declassified and then working on the TV show LAX.
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I was like, that, like two totally different characters, like eight,
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like you're playing, I think that was middle school, you know?
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Yeah. You're playing like a student, you're playing a middle school student
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on a TV show and then a police officer and then a police officer on a whole
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nother show and you're doing this within the same year. So that's why I tell people like.
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Like, like once you get outside your head of like, just like there's so many
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possibilities of ways we can get work and, you know, make a paycheck and then
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also network to build up what it is, whatever it is that you want to do in this industry.
13:30
For sure. Yeah, that's good advice.
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Well, we try to. We try to. Hopefully they listen. I don't know.
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Either way, we're paying attention. We're working. Where did you get your start initially?
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I got my start initially i would
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say like i say my first official my official start
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would be like i auditioned for a fruit mail station and that was my first official
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like way into it but i would say like i wanted to go like back to like during
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like i did one of those was like those radio ads where they're like hey you
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want to be on disney channel you want to be on nickelodeon like those John Robert
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Power days and all that type of stuff.
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I think that's how I got my start. And you know, those were nothing but scams.
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No good time to scam me, but I mean, that's kind of how I got hustled into the
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business. And I was like, well, I guess I'm here now.
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You didn't sign up for the classes, did you?
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Yeah, I did. I went down to LA and everything. I went down to LA. I did shit. Oh, my word.
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Yeah, I did. I did the whole coo-coo-boodle. Yeah, so I got hustled into the
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business. But then once I was in, I'm like, I guess I'm in here now.
14:35
Yeah, it's wild. So, yeah, I think we've all kind of had our stages and maybe
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participating in something that hasn't been as advantageous.
14:45
Yeah, yeah, yeah. This is not as advertised at all.
14:49
Sure. But no, yeah, that's how I got my start with that Fruitvale Station.
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And then right after Fruitvale Station, that's where I started getting booked
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to do it like the like the true crime show that they had going on in the Bay Area.
15:00
Because you did a couple of those, too, right? You did the I was Got Away With
15:03
It and Wives With Knives.
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Yeah, those were really cool I mean, I saw Air And I think they had me on One
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episode, I was in the military And we were playing basketball And I want to say like,
15:17
the woman had killed her, like her, her spouse or something like that. Yeah. Yeah.
15:22
Yeah. Those are pretty, pretty fun reenactment shows. As an actor,
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did you do like a lot of like research for the, like the characters?
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Like when you got, when you found out that you were doing like the wives and
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guys and you see the episode, did you do like, like research on the characters or anything like that?
15:37
Not really. I mean, I would look up if I, if I found out that that there was,
15:40
it was modeled behind like a real story, I would look up, you know,
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the story and kind of find out the details of the story and,
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I think with, with reenactments, it depends.
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Like sometimes if you're playing
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the character, you play the characters specifically the way that they are.
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And other times you can bring a little bit of your, you know,
15:58
yourself into, into the character.
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I was playing a supporting character in, in the shows that I was in.
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So it was a little bit different in terms of like a lot of their central focuses
16:07
are on like the principal actor, which would be the person who,
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you know, committed the crime and the person that was the victim of the crime.
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I was actually the person who perpetrated the crime their friend.
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So kind of the girlfriend of the killer. Yeah.
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That's all I always was. I was always the friend of the killer.
16:26
No, I think I played a killer one time.
16:28
I think I played a killer one time, but that was about it. Yeah.
16:31
I want to play a killer in a psychological thriller so bad.
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That would be one of my dream roles if I could ever get something like that.
16:42
Yeah crazy off the topic uh
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thing because um idea that popped into my head this
16:48
lady has sent me a face she wants she's like i want to film a horror movie it was
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like a it was like a hotel that dedicated to like nothing but clowns i
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don't know where it's like somebody lost banks away but she's like this so i
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want to film a horror movie so i think that came to my mind was like how you
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say like a psychological horror thriller would be like uh because usually clowns
17:03
are the killers but it'd be funny if it was like a reverse thing where it's
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like somebody's so afraid of clowns that they just trap all the clowns in this
17:09
place and they just like kill them off and stuff like that.
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So like, the killer's just dressed regular, but he's just killing off all these
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clowns. That just, that's just something taped to my head and stuff like that.
17:18
But that was funny. But no, yeah.
17:21
The, those true crime shows are always just, the thing that always stuck out
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to my head, it was just like, I was like, these are real stories.
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Like, these are real people right here. These people really.
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Like, people is crazy in this world.
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They're so crazy ass people in this world. And that's what they take away from
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acting too, is not like, seeing all these different characters,
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they're all based off a real sort to people and stuff like that. You're able to,
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take something from them or, you know, give something to the,
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it just helps you become a better person, I feel like, in general, because I like, I like,
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now these true crimes is an extreme example, but like, you see the types of
17:56
pathways that the person goes through to kind of set them down this, this crazy ass path.
18:01
You like, look at it, you say, oh, well, I know I'm not going to do this in my life. Yeah.
18:06
You know, they were, if you, if you think about it, like those networks were
18:10
pretty, I think they were kind of groundbreaking because like true crime is
18:14
incredibly popular right now.
18:16
Like if you look at Netflix and all the, you know, the different crime shows
18:19
that they have on there, crime series that they have on there and the ID channel.
18:24
And I think it was like ID Discovery.
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They were doing that like, I mean, decades ago.
18:30
Right. And so it's interesting. I feel like you're right.
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Like it is real, you know, people's lives. And you get to see kind of,
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you know, how they journey from usually starting out like in really good relationships.
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And, you know, normally they progress into something, you know,
18:45
really sorted or twisted.
18:46
And it's really, you know, it's crimes of passion. Right. So it's it's it's
18:50
that element of humanity that's like kind of interesting to explore in a sense,
18:55
because these are real people that usually are in, you know,
18:59
advantageous relationships and situation.
19:00
Then something goes awry and they like quote unquote snap.
19:04
I mean, I don't know anything about that, but, um, but yeah,
19:07
it definitely is something that obviously happens, right?
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Because we're seeing true crime shows and documentaries just everywhere nowadays, right?
19:15
Very popular on the radio and podcasts and all these kinds of things.
19:19
So I think it was, it was interesting for all of us to have an opportunity to
19:23
work on, you know, the discovery channel way back then. And I also love that
19:27
they had a lot of diversity on the show. Yeah.
19:30
Yeah. That's one of the things I can honestly say, like they had a lot of diverse
19:34
like I have friends from all different walks of life that kind of,
19:37
you know, went through different shows on that network.
19:40
Yeah, that is one thing I will say is they helped a lot of people get at least,
19:43
you know, you're acting real together opportunities that may not have come that way.
19:48
And you have brought up something to that I didn't really realize is how you
19:50
say that it was the true crime was like groundbreaking as far as all like TV
19:54
entertainment. and the Bay Area the Bay Area does that a lot and I don't feel
20:00
like it's just due for like the way it really like,
20:03
The groundbreaking stuff that happens in the Bay Area, like you talk about something
20:07
like true crime or you talk about like Star Wars, you know, set of the pace
20:12
for like superhero films, all that stuff.
20:15
Animation movies. Pixar is right here. People whole mess about streaming.
20:19
Oh, streaming's take over. I'm like, yeah. But it also started the Bay Area.
20:22
It's right here. It's right up the way.
20:25
So let me tell you. A whole lot of growth. Pixar is amazing. What is?
20:29
Pixar is amazing. Have you been there? Yeah, I booked with Pixar before.
20:36
And like, it was the most incredible to this day. That was one of the most incredible
20:41
experiences I've ever had.
20:44
Like I got to work with this engineer was responsible for like he produced like
20:49
eight different animation movies. And he was with me through my whole session.
20:53
And like it, it was so incredible.
20:56
I can't really talk about it or tell anybody about it at the time.
20:59
But it was one of the most incredible experiences that I've ever had working in voice in general.
21:05
But just like the way that it came about, too. Like, I was like so excited about it.
21:11
Still to this day. Like, I can't wait to be able to book another like Pixar
21:15
job and, you know, voice some animations and things like that.
21:19
It's incredible there. You did some voiceover. Was it the Lightyear movie?
21:24
Yeah. Okay, for sure. I told you I did my IMDb research. I did my IMDb research.
21:29
All right, for sure. That's what's up. That's what's up.
21:32
Cool. And then, well, we're just going to get into it because you talked about
21:35
animation, all that stuff.
21:37
Is it okay if we segway into, this is kind of hard segway, but segway to like
21:41
your stuff that you have going on? Yeah, yeah, of course.
21:43
Okay, cool. Perfect. Because yeah, you have BBP.
21:47
Yes. Okay, yeah. Oh, yeah. Okay, yeah. Breaking Black Productions.
21:51
That's what it says right about. Stupid. Yeah, Breaking Black Productions.
21:55
I've seen you posting a lot on your social media, your Instagram,
21:58
Facebook, these really cool, unique 3D animation videos that you,
22:04
like, Substitute Teacher, all that good stuff.
22:07
This is your chance to, you know, tell everybody about what Breaking Black Productions
22:10
is and these animations that you have going on and what you plan on doing with
22:13
them. Yeah, so Breaking Black Productions is a new production company.
22:18
My goal is to kind of be able to break into areas where I feel like people of
22:25
color haven't been seen as often in front of or, you know, behind the camera.
22:30
I'd like to kind of widen the lens of what we can do.
22:34
And I think I've kind of always been like that. I started out with Breaking
22:37
Black Podcast for everybody who's seen it or hasn't seen it. I'm a podcaster.
22:41
I created and produced and host my show, co-host with another actress who's
22:46
out of Brooklyn, New York.
22:47
We co-host Breaking Black Podcast together, which is a podcast that I created.
22:51
And I kind of came into it just as an African-American woman wanting to bring
22:57
other women of color And, you know, hear from different communities and things of that nature.
23:03
And so as I was going through the process with Breaking Black Podcast,
23:07
I was like, I don't really want to stop here.
23:10
So I started thinking about other mediums that I wanted to create.
23:14
And Breaking Black Productions was something that I decided to do because I had this new series.
23:22
It's a science fiction series that I was interested in producing.
23:25
It's a dream of mine that I've had for an infinite amount of time.
23:29
I love, love, love The Twilight Zone, the original Rod Serling version of The
23:34
Twilight Zone, Jordan Peele's remake of The Twilight Zone as well, Black Mirror.
23:38
I have just been a fan of science fiction series since I can remember.
23:44
And so I wanted to develop this series. And I was like, I don't want to just
23:48
stop here. I want to be able to have a production company that allows me to
23:52
venture into all of the areas that I have an interest in.
23:55
And that includes science fiction, that includes animations.
23:58
These are all the things that I've always been really passionate about.
24:01
And so that's kind of how it came to be. And I started out like taking classes
24:06
and I just was like, let me try, let me, let me give this a try.
24:10
I've always had like a creative eye and I've always just tried new things.
24:17
Like just doing something personally i've always loved
24:20
to just like create different things and i've worked as a
24:23
creative producer before um so i'm no stranger to that and in creating this
24:27
production company i just decided you know to kind of venture into both spaces
24:31
so right now i'm kind of going into 3d animations and then also working on my
24:35
my science fiction um series as well how do you make the uh you create the 3d animations yourself.
24:42
Yeah. So I use both. So I do, I do a combination. I have used AI technology,
24:47
which is really popular.
24:48
Some people are biased about it. I'm not, I feel like it's very similar to coding for me.
24:53
It feels like an avenue where you can kind of expand your creations.
24:59
And so I remember when we had the vote, like, honestly, like I voted out.
25:04
Right. And I was like, I don't want this AI thing. I mean, I'm going to be honest.
25:07
I didn't want it to come in. I was like, that doesn't make sense. and people
25:10
started positioning it to me like hey what about
25:12
those foreign films where you know they're doing the
25:15
lip sync and you know now you've got this technology that
25:18
can kind of translate this you know to match the dubbing and things like that
25:22
and I was like oh you know let me think about this and I actually took a class
25:26
and it was kind of like just learning from that I was like maybe I should explore
25:31
this a little bit and so you know I always had an interest in animations,
25:36
but I was like, this could kick it up a notch and allow me to explore different
25:40
things, especially when it comes to 3D models.
25:42
So, so yeah, that's kind of what allowed me to kind of venture into it.
25:46
And so I, I'm, I'm working on creating basically like a learning curriculum.
25:51
I work, I have a background in education as well in management and education.
25:54
And so part of that is going to be part of a learning curriculum module for.
26:00
It's essentially teaching them different things, utilizing these 3D models.
26:04
And so that's kind of what I'm going to be venturing into in the future with BBP animations.
26:09
And that's just a banner of Breaking Black production, obviously the BPP,
26:13
for the children's kind of portion of my production.
26:17
Awesome. Awesome. And then you had the other show was Inventus,
26:22
you had said? Inventus, yes. Yeah.
26:25
And that's not a 3D show. That's not an animation. That's going to be...
26:29
Yeah, that's going to be an actual science fiction series.
26:33
Right now I'm raising funds. So
26:36
I have a GoFundMe set up at Inventus the series so you can check it out.
26:41
It's basically a science fiction anthology. Science fiction anthologies are like.
26:47
My favorite form or favorite niche of science fiction.
26:52
So I knew that I wanted to do an anthology and I was kind of teetering back
26:56
and forth on whether I want to do a standard series or I wanted to make it an anthology.
27:00
And I just like could not stop thinking about it in terms of an anthology.
27:05
So, you know, that's kind of where you get your Twilight Zone or your Black
27:07
Mirror. It's got that kind of a feel to it.
27:09
This is a science fiction about time travel, innovations in time travel.
27:13
And I just am super, super, super excited about it.
27:17
Very intelligent, innovative characters, lead characters, and supporting characters.
27:23
A lot of ethnic representation in my cast, which I'm really excited about.
27:29
My hero of the story is the African-American college student, which is amazing.
27:34
And I just am really, really excited to kind of break into this space and also
27:39
just to have representation in this space. So, you know, I'm going to be looking
27:43
for, you know, people of color to join the cast.
27:47
But, you know, also having them behind the scenes. I want to be able to see
27:50
these people on my sets, you know, working professionally.
27:53
And I think that's the goal, you know.
27:57
Yeah. And if anybody wants to support, y'all look right up here.
28:01
We got the QR code right there. That is the link to the GoFundMe.
28:04
So y'all go ahead and support Tita's Breaking Black Productions,
28:09
Inventus, try to science fiction, kids stuff.
28:12
Do it all. I like that. I like that. That's awesome. Do you have any actors in mind?
28:17
This is just my shameless plug right here. This is just a shameless plug for
28:20
me right now. I honestly do.
28:22
There's a couple of actors that I've thought about for this role.
28:26
Back in the day, we had an audition with an actor that was...
28:31
He's working on a Netflix show.
28:33
He had a... I'm trying to think of the show...
28:36
Let me pull it up. There is an actor that I have in mind. He's a really intelligent,
28:41
skillful actor, and he fits the characteristics of the show.
28:48
And I would, I'd essentially have to have the funding that would allow me to
28:53
be able to garner using, you know, a name, attaching a name to the project.
28:58
So I kind of, I have a professor, older, wiser gentleman that I would be interested in looking at for that.
29:06
But the lead character is something that I would definitely consider,
29:09
you know, in the actual anthology as, you know, having somebody with a name.
29:14
So there are some some actors that I have in mind and one of them actually auditioned
29:19
for one of the projects that I worked on like many, many, many years ago when
29:24
he's gone on and really, really taken off and blown up.
29:27
I think he's had two Netflix shows and I'd love to revisit like being able to
29:31
get him, you know, to read for this part.
29:34
But that's kind of, you know, something that I'm going to have to work out as
29:37
I'm going through and raising funding for the for the project for sure. Yeah.
29:40
Okay, well, I already know it's all going to come through, so that's no worries at all.
29:45
That's no worries at all. And then let's talk a little bit about the Breaking
29:48
Black podcast, because I watched some of it.
29:51
I didn't know that the co-host was all the way in Brooklyn. I didn't know that.
29:56
Or in New York, you said? Yeah, a lot of people say that.
29:59
Yeah, yeah, I didn't realize that. I mean, it seems so simple,
30:02
because, you know, you record the podcast like this, but I was like, oh, okay, yeah.
30:06
All right, yeah, that's cool. yeah so my co-host
30:09
her name's janine hartman shout out to janine janine
30:13
is fantastic let me just say so i met her
30:16
on a set i was like shooting a video and she wasn't booked on it but we had
30:21
a mutual friend that was like modeling and she and i were on a video shoot and
30:26
we were playing like that the opposite romantic interest so you know how the
30:30
guy's got you know two two women and he's you know, trying to play them both or whatever.
30:36
So, so there's a model by the name of a bell, Sophie, and she and I,
30:40
we shot it together playing those opposing parts.
30:43
And I actually met Janine on that set because she had accompanied her friend
30:48
to the shoot. And we kind of like kept in contact.
30:50
She was here locally. I think we were both in California at the time,
30:54
but she's, she's originally from the East coast.
30:57
And so I auditioned for co-hosts for my new upcoming season.
31:02
Janine was one of the people that submitted an audition, a phenomenal audition for the podcast.
31:08
And when I realized who it was, I was like, wow, like, you know,
31:12
we had crossed paths before and I knew about her work.
31:15
And so getting her to come onto the show was just amazing.
31:18
She's doing some fantastic things. She's been on the MTV.
31:22
She's done a Law & Order.
31:25
She's been on the Tamron Hall show and all kinds of wonderful things.
31:29
And so she dances, she models, she sings, and she's actually doing,
31:35
two off-Broadway shows as we speak. So we're kind of halting production right
31:40
now until she finishes those shows because I want to tremendously support what
31:43
she's got going on. So she's wonderful.
31:45
But yeah, she's out of Brooklyn. She works out of New York, doing some amazing
31:48
things out there in New York.
31:50
And I love having her on because she's got a different personality,
31:54
gives a little bit of that East Coast flair.
31:56
We've got West Coast, East Coast. It's nice to have her on. Yeah.
32:00
Yeah and how how important is it for you to
32:03
create a a safe space for for
32:07
black people black artists to create a dialogue about
32:10
you know what's going on because y'all talking about what i this is some of
32:14
the policy i don't really talk too much about like you know pop culture you
32:17
know the movie stuff you talk about like real life stuff that you know everyday
32:20
black person is going through how how important is it for you to kind of create
32:24
a dialogue to create that space for black people to just kind of come to it,
32:28
just listen to it like, oh, this person gets me.
32:31
Yeah, it's interesting. So I have a very wide audience in terms of like,
32:36
the demographics that are, you know, looking at the social media or looking
32:41
at Breaking Black Podcast.
32:43
So I wanted to create a space that
32:46
allows us to be able to explore the
32:49
black voice But I didn't just
32:52
want it to be exclusively for us I wanted all everyone who could relate to the
32:59
type of topics that we talk about to have an interest in in the show And so
33:04
while I want to properly represent what it is to be an african-american woman And i've had a about uh,
33:11
I want to say five different hosts co-hosts different age demographics,
33:14
different cultures, different backgrounds, and even different parts of,
33:17
I had one out of Atlanta and another one out of Brooklyn, different parts of the United States.
33:23
But I wanted those voices to come across, but I wanted that to translate to
33:28
being able to reach people who could just identify with some of the situations
33:32
that we're talking about.
33:33
So we do explore entertainment and popular culture a little bit more in the
33:38
latest season and also in the upcoming season that we have for 2026 in the spring.
33:45
But we have explored a lot of relational and societal topics,
33:49
you know, like love languages and co-parenting and, you know,
33:54
what it's like to be in our communities and like all these.
33:57
These different things, Eurocentric
33:59
beauty standards and different things that people can relate to.
34:02
But that's something that kind of crosses across all people,
34:06
right? Like everybody knows what it is to have to co-parent.
34:09
Everybody knows what it is to go through separation or divorce and have to worry
34:12
about how you're going to handle your kids.
34:13
Everybody knows about gentle and harsh parenting and all these different things
34:17
that we talk about on the show and social media influence.
34:21
And so it's, it's coming from black voices, but it's also topics that all kinds
34:26
of different people can actually relate to.
34:29
Yeah, which I think is cool because I set it up. Basically, you're letting people
34:33
know that, hey, we're all going through the same thing.
34:37
We're all just going through the same thing, the same experience in life,
34:40
so however we are able to relate to this, it creates a space for life.
34:46
It just creates a safe space for people to realize that there's no division
34:52
or dividing anything and stuff like that. It's like we're all going through something.
34:56
Yeah, exactly. I mean, at the end of the day, we're all human,
34:59
right? So we can relate to the heart of humanity.
35:01
That's kind of what it is. A lot of us have challenges and difficulties,
35:04
you know, society and social media have a tremendous influence and we all know what it is to exist.
35:11
Experience that, whether you're working in the entertainment industry or any other industry.
35:15
So I feel like that's what I kind of wanted to give a voice to.
35:18
I like having a space for women because when I was researching podcasts,
35:24
majority of the podcasts that are out are male run shows, right?
35:27
And so I knew coming into podcasting that I was already going to be in a really
35:31
small percentage of people, not only as an African-American,
35:34
but as a woman coming into podcasting And even coming into production, right?
35:39
Because when you look at a set, a film set, your typical Hollywood or independent
35:43
film set, how often do you see women, you know, behind those cameras, right?
35:48
And so those are things that I'm interested in expanding.
35:53
Those are things that I'm interested in opening up the conversation and the
35:56
dialogue for and being able to kind of make and create a space for us.
36:00
And I hope that that is something that attracts mutually like-minded people
36:04
that want to join and kind of pioneering some change in those spaces, if that makes sense.
36:10
Oh, yeah, of course, of course. And then, so being up here in the Bay Area,
36:14
kind of talking about that, what are some of the things that you would like
36:17
to see, like, or things that you think could happen,
36:23
in the Bay Area, the field community, and stuff like that,
36:26
going forward to the future with all the great, all the good things that we
36:28
have coming up, like with the tax incentives.
36:32
We started a little bit earlier, like with the sad humor is a whole entire
36:35
different unit board now people the unit board is really supportive
36:38
of the field community and then just the the the the bay area field community
36:45
as a whole i feel there's just so many different pockets of people just bubbling
36:50
and you never know who is going to pop so what do you see as far as like the
36:54
future of filmmaking up here in the bay area.
36:57
I mean, it's, it's, it's endless, right? I mean, it can definitely grow.
37:02
I think what I'd love to see in the future is more of us working together,
37:09
collectively, collaborating, you know, we net, we do really,
37:15
really well at networking.
37:16
Like I've been to tons of the mixers and the networking events and we do really
37:20
great at networking and getting to know each other and staying in contact and
37:24
championing each other in our different endeavors and things like that.
37:27
But I'd love to see us like come together to create projects like as team creatives,
37:34
because one of the challenges that I see, you know, it's interesting, right?
37:38
Because when you're in the union, you're working as a union actor.
37:43
But the moment that you move forward with producing or creating your own project,
37:49
now you're working in an independent space, if that makes sense. A lot of the time.
37:55
Making projects That's definitely something That I'm interested in doing In
37:58
terms of like Producing projects And actually making,
38:01
making sad projects. That's something that I definitely plan to work on.
38:04
But I just mean, in terms of like transitioning into a space where you're independently
38:09
trying to find funding or independently trying to find crew,
38:12
you know, to work on your sets and things like that.
38:15
We do a lot of that in isolated type situations, like this person directing,
38:21
producing this, and this person's over here writing and, you know, directing this.
38:24
But in terms of us coming together and saying, hey, we're going to help each
38:29
other develop each of our concepts.
38:31
I feel like we haven't seen that happen as frequently as I'd like.
38:36
And since budgeting is often challenging and being able to get,
38:41
you know, distribution can be challenging.
38:44
If we put those resources together and it wasn't just about, you know,
38:49
me doing a crowdfunding campaign or me doing a GoFundMe or starter Indiegogo
38:56
and you doing the same or finding private investors,
38:58
but we were all coming together collectively and working on fundraising campaigns
39:02
together to create productions, you know, for all of us who have dreams of being
39:08
independent filmmakers.
39:09
I think that's kind of the space that I'd like to see us moving into where we're
39:15
not just in these isolated pockets, but we're also coming together to collectively,
39:19
you know, produce something bigger, more grand.
39:23
And that could be representing person that comes in, right? Like you get a team
39:27
of five people to come together.
39:28
Maybe we work at producing every last one of our concepts, right?
39:33
That's something that I would love to see. But in terms of your question,
39:36
I think the Bay Area is expanding.
39:39
I think it's getting to a space.
39:41
Where uh it's opening up more to the
39:44
film you know and television aspect of the market because
39:47
i feel like for a long time the commercial industrial
39:51
voiceover space has been fairly big but you
39:54
don't see as much of a push when it comes to filmmaking or
39:57
you know network television streaming uh streaming uh series and things like
40:01
that yeah yeah i think that's where like us like with you having the bpp maybe
40:07
i'm the buddy production that's where it's gonna start at is going to be these
40:12
home growth productions that hopefully,
40:14
like what you're saying, with people coming together and then finally like the financial resources.
40:19
Kind of like floating around in the air to where you kind of just,
40:21
it's kind of up for grabs right now.
40:23
So I feel like, yeah, I definitely feel like within these next two years,
40:26
you'll definitely kind of will, well, that's my goal.
40:28
That's my goal is to kind of just be out there and, you know,
40:31
say these are the productions and stuff like that, that we all could be out here supporting it.
40:36
Then now you'll have like, you never know, Inventus will be the next like full
40:40
house, or the 13 Reasons Why if you want to say that
40:43
in-house production company up here, we have a TV series up here in the Bay
40:49
Area, film it every year. Yeah.
40:54
And then before we do wrap up this episode, was there anything that we didn't
40:59
get a chance to talk about or something that you wanted to go back and highlight real quickly?
41:06
Well, I mean, I just want to encourage anybody who's listening to this podcast.
41:12
First of all, thanks again, buddy, for having me on the podcast.
41:14
I really appreciate connecting with you.
41:16
Great guy, not only just professionally, but personally, but I want to...
41:21
Encouraging that's watching this. Yeah. So, you know, to help contribute to our GoFundMe campaign.
41:26
You know, I am very passionate about making Inventus.
41:31
Inventus is been a longtime dream of mine and being able to have,
41:36
you know, characters that can be fully represented as intelligent.
41:39
Beautiful, innovative, you know, people of color on the screen is something
41:43
that is definitely a dream of mine.
41:45
And so it's going to take, I mean, obviously it's a technologically advanced type of series.
41:50
It's dealing in science fiction and time travel. And there are some other twists
41:55
in terms of the modern day time machine that I'm not going to release,
41:59
but some things coming up.
42:00
And it's going to take a bit of funding in order for this to happen.
42:03
And so I definitely will encourage anybody, please, if you are watching this,
42:08
this will help the community.
42:09
This will help to give science fiction a new face.
42:13
You know, we are, you know, involved in the science fiction genre,
42:17
but in terms of like our independent spaces, a lot of the times we don't see
42:22
it as often and we definitely don't see as many characters of color as I'd like
42:26
to see crossover into these genres.
42:28
I'm an extreme fan of science fiction, and this is a beautiful story,
42:33
a very intelligent story.
42:35
And I just really would appreciate any of you that would be interested in supporting
42:39
me on my personal journey, supporting Inventus in this growth journey for this production.
42:44
Please visit our GoFundMe campaign.
42:47
Again, it's at Inventus the series. And as you can see, the QR code is listed there.
42:52
Click on it. Take a look at my GoFundMe campaign. the pain.
42:56
There's going to be more to come in terms of the campaigning for Inventus,
43:00
but it's Inventus the series.
43:01
Again, it's an anthology exploring time travel. And I would just appreciate
43:04
the public's support in helping me to, you know, bring my vision to fruition.
43:10
And if people want to follow you on social media to continue following your
43:14
journey, where could they follow you at?
43:16
Yes. So on Facebook, you can follow me at at Breaking Black Productions.
43:21
Again, that's Facebook at Breaking Black Productions.
43:23
I also have a page on Facebook at Tina Gilton.
43:26
On Instagram, you can follow me at Miss Tina Graham. That's M-S-T-N-A-G-R-A-M like Instagram.
43:33
I'm on there quite a bit. I've also got a Breaking Black podcast page on Instagram
43:37
and TikTok. So you can follow me at Breaking Black.
43:40
Podcast on TikTok and Instagram and Facebook and follow me on Facebook at at
43:45
Breaking Black Productions.
43:47
Yes y'all please go follow Tina she has a very amazing stern I was I could buy
43:53
two words story and journey she has a very she has a very incredible sturdy that's a new word I just.
44:02
Working in the entertainment business, like I said, being, going from Bay Area,
44:05
LA, Bay Area, being on all these projects.
44:09
Yeah. So please y'all keep following her story. Keep following her journey.
44:12
You can follow me. Yeah, buddy, E and T dot com. You can listen to the Yeah,
44:16
Buddy podcast at yeah, buddy, E and T dot com, my website.
44:20
And then anywhere I stream my podcast.
44:24
And I'm going to get out here because like, I'm trying to get over this cold
44:26
right now. I don't know if you can hear my sinuses is killing me right now.
44:29
So we come back. I got to get you on my show. No, of course. We're going to do that.
44:34
I got you. I got you. We got to hook you up. I got you. I'm going to make that happen. So y'all, yeah.
44:39
No, no worries. Thank you. I'm going to get out. I'm going to have me a hot
44:42
tea or something like that and get rid of this cold.
44:44
I hope not. But other than that, oh, no, I'll be cool. I'm actually getting
44:48
it over. That's what it all is right now. So I'll get it out of my system.
44:51
So thank you again for tuning in, everybody. Tina, thank you again for being such a wonderful guest.
44:56
Like I said, if this was your first time, tuning in. I hope y'all had a great
44:58
time. All my returning friends, thank y'all. I couldn't do this without y'all.
45:03
This has been Buddy Ramek of the Yeah Buddy Podcast. Tina G in the house.
45:08
Thank y'all, man, y'all. We all deuces.