Latest / Earn Your Leisure / Larenz Tate on Black Hollywood, British Actors Taking Over Film, Finances, & Working with 50 Cent

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Larenz Tate on Black Hollywood, British Actors Taking Over Film, Finances, & Working with 50 Cent · Earn Your Leisure

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: What are some of the challenges that people face in
• 0:04
  Speaker 1: Black Hollywood as far as getting a movie produced or
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: not getting the same budget for their white counterparts? Because
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: I don't think people have an appreciation of that.
• 0:14
  Speaker 2: Well, the very thing that those who are outside of
• 0:17
  Speaker 2: the Hollywood industry that are in our community that see
• 0:21
  Speaker 2: the challenges that we deal with every day as a people.
• 0:25
  Speaker 2: You know, we work twice as hard to get, you know,
• 0:28
  Speaker 2: twice as less jobs.
• 0:30
  Speaker 3: As our counterparts, right? And that being said, it's the
• 0:35
  Speaker 3: same way. We're not valued the way I believe we're
• 0:39
  Speaker 3: supposed to be valued. My graduates from my school being Forbes, backdrop.
• 0:47
  Speaker 1: Backdrop.
• 0:47
  Speaker 3: Mic drop.
• 0:48
  Speaker 4: Backdrop.
• 0:49
  Speaker 3: Backdrop.
• 0:50
  Speaker 2: Backdrop.
• 1:02
  Speaker 4: Money.
• 1:03
  Speaker 5: It comes with a lot of questions, and Fidelity can
• 1:05
  Speaker 5: help you get answers. Visit fidelity.com slash blackwealth to learn more.
• 1:11
  Speaker 1: All right, guys.
• 1:12
  Speaker 4: Welcome back.
• 1:13
  Speaker 1: EYL. We back home, back in New York. And this
• 1:17
  Speaker 1: is a legendary episode because we got a legend with us.
• 1:20
  Speaker 4: This is legendary. This is a generational talent. Yes.
• 1:24
  Speaker 1: So, Lorenz Tate, I think I first saw you in
• 1:28
  Speaker 1: Minutes to Society.
• 1:29
  Speaker 4: We got to go back further than that.
• 1:31
  Speaker 1: What was further than that?
• 1:33
  Speaker 4: South Central.
• 1:34
  Speaker 3: Oh, wow.
• 1:35
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 1:35
  Speaker 3: Oh, you know what?
• 1:37
  Speaker 4: Okay, go ahead. Yo.
• 1:38
  Speaker 1: South Central.
• 1:39
  Speaker 4: I'm going to tell you why.
• 1:40
  Speaker 1: That's OG Bobby Johnson?
• 1:41
  Speaker 3: No, no, no.
• 1:42
  Speaker 4: The show, not the movie. Wait.
• 1:44
  Speaker 3: Okay, y'all both are right. So there was a movie
• 1:47
  Speaker 3: called South Central. Right.
• 1:48
  Speaker 4: Well, OG Bobby Johnson.
• 1:49
  Speaker 3: Played by Glenn.
• 1:50
  Speaker 1: Legend.
• 1:50
  Speaker 4: That was a legendary too.
• 1:52
  Speaker 3: But Menace actually did come before.
• 1:55
  Speaker 4: Before.
• 1:56
  Speaker 3: The TV show. The TV show was after.
• 1:58
  Speaker 4: You know why I ever know the TV show?
• 1:59
  Speaker 3: Tell me why.
• 2:00
  Speaker 4: Maya Campbell. Ah, yeah. She was one of my favorites.
• 2:04
  Speaker 3: She was. She was.
• 2:05
  Speaker 4: Shout out to her.
• 2:07
  Speaker 5: Yeah.
• 2:08
  Speaker 1: So, so Lorenz Tate, man, is, what was that? 25
• 2:12
  Speaker 1: years ago?
• 2:13
  Speaker 4: Wow. 30 years ago? 93. Yo, we getting older, bro.
• 2:16
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 2:17
  Speaker 1: And he still looks like he's 17. 30 years. So,
• 2:21
  Speaker 1: an illustrious career, not only acting, but directing as well.
• 2:26
  Speaker 1: And entrepreneur.
• 2:27
  Speaker 4: Entrepreneur.
• 2:28
  Speaker 1: We talked about investing, your passion for financial literacy. I
• 2:32
  Speaker 1: know you're a big advocate for your hometown, Chicago. And
• 2:36
  Speaker 1: one of these people have just remained consistent. It's extremely
• 2:39
  Speaker 1: hard to remain consistent in anything, but especially in Hollywood.
• 2:43
  Speaker 1: We know that there's trials and tribulations and a lot
• 2:45
  Speaker 1: of people you don't see anymore. So to see you
• 2:47
  Speaker 1: even now, Shout out to 50 and the whole Power franchise.
• 2:52
  Speaker 4: Yeah, Councilman Tate is a rock.
• 2:54
  Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, yeah. That's dope. So we're going to have
• 2:57
  Speaker 1: a really dope conversation. But first and foremost, thank you
• 2:59
  Speaker 1: for joining us. Appreciate it.
• 3:00
  Speaker 2: And listen, I appreciate the warm welcome and having me here.
• 3:04
  Speaker 2: I'm a huge fan of what y'all are doing. You know,
• 3:07
  Speaker 2: we saw each other in L.A. at the Essence Black
• 3:10
  Speaker 2: Women in Hollywood celebration and award show. I told y'all
• 3:14
  Speaker 2: I was looking forward to coming to New York, spending
• 3:16
  Speaker 2: some time with y'all. I've been watching y'all. and truly
• 3:19
  Speaker 2: loving what you all are doing for the community and
• 3:24
  Speaker 2: for the culture. The way you all present what you
• 3:27
  Speaker 2: present and what you represent is so relatable and it's palatable, right?
• 3:33
  Speaker 2: Because oftentimes when we think about financial literacy or things
• 3:38
  Speaker 2: with finances, it just feels like, quite honestly, everything is
• 3:43
  Speaker 2: sort of encrypted, right? It doesn't feel like we can
• 3:47
  Speaker 2: always understand it and what y'all have and what y'all do.
• 3:51
  Speaker 2: It's just, it's really clear.
• 3:55
  Speaker 3: You know what I mean?
• 3:55
  Speaker 2: So it's a beautiful thing to see. Two brothers doing
• 3:59
  Speaker 2: what y'all doing. Y'all been rocking together since y'all was,
• 4:02
  Speaker 2: you know, youngins.
• 4:04
  Speaker 4: Since Menace.
• 4:06
  Speaker 3: Since Menace.
• 4:07
  Speaker 4: Since the days of Menace. We like, oh, don't. Oh, man,
• 4:10
  Speaker 4: you already know.
• 4:11
  Speaker 2: So I just want to give y'all brothers y'all flowers
• 4:14
  Speaker 2: and salute to what you both are doing for us.
• 4:18
  Speaker 3: For all of us in the culture. So thank you.
• 4:20
  Speaker 4: I appreciate that, man.
• 4:20
  Speaker 5: And likewise to you, especially when we talk about all
• 4:23
  Speaker 5: the accomplishments of actors, but specifically black actors.
• 4:26
  Speaker 4: Right. Right.
• 4:28
  Speaker 5: The, the leading men, right. From, like you said, menace,
• 4:31
  Speaker 5: we can't forget that presidents being in crash. And now,
• 4:34
  Speaker 5: you know, being on TV with the power series, like
• 4:36
  Speaker 5: you've been consistently a representation for us. And it's never
• 4:39
  Speaker 5: been any controversy with you.
• 4:41
  Speaker 4: It's just been like, yo, this is the guy. For
• 4:43
  Speaker 4: a long time. So we appreciate you.
• 4:44
  Speaker 3: Well, thank you, man.
• 4:45
  Speaker 2: And I've been really fortunate to have a career that
• 4:49
  Speaker 2: has spanned it over the length of time. Y'all just
• 4:52
  Speaker 2: mentioned Menace to Society, which was my first feature film
• 4:55
  Speaker 2: back in 93. And I can't believe that it's 30 years.
• 5:00
  Speaker 2: It's like, where did the time go?
• 5:03
  Speaker 3: Right. And along the way, I've had some amazing life experiences.
• 5:08
  Speaker 3: There's been a lot of ups. There's been some downs.
• 5:12
  Speaker 3: highs and lows.
• 5:13
  Speaker 2: But for me, I just always wanted to do what
• 5:16
  Speaker 2: I love to do.
• 5:18
  Speaker 3: And I felt like it's a privilege.
• 5:20
  Speaker 2: My mother and father always said to me, specifically, my
• 5:24
  Speaker 2: father would tell my brothers and I, you know, y'all
• 5:27
  Speaker 2: in this business and whatever you do, you know, you find.
• 5:30
  Speaker 3: Your calling, right?
• 5:32
  Speaker 2: I understood what the assignment was and run the marathon
• 5:36
  Speaker 2: and not the sprint. And so I'm still in that marathon.
• 5:40
  Speaker 2: And so now, We rocking.
• 5:41
  Speaker 4: This is crazy. I feel like you just got Darius Lovejoy.
• 5:44
  Speaker 1: Oh, yo, yo.
• 5:45
  Speaker 4: I got some.
• 5:46
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 5:46
  Speaker 2: Every now and again, I'll fall in and out of.
• 5:50
  Speaker 2: You might get a little old dog in a minute.
• 5:53
  Speaker 2: You might get a little Anthony Curtis from Dead Presidents.
• 5:57
  Speaker 3: Life.
• 5:58
  Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 5:59
  Speaker 3: You mean life.
• 6:00
  Speaker 2: You know what I'm saying? So, you know what I'm saying?
• 6:03
  Speaker 2: There might be some highs and lows in here.
• 6:06
  Speaker 4: Love it.
• 6:06
  Speaker 1: Love it.
• 6:06
  Speaker 4: Love it.
• 6:07
  Speaker 1: Love it. So, let's get into this. All right. financial
• 6:10
  Speaker 1: literacy mistakes. So we interviewed Steve Harvey, legendary.
• 6:15
  Speaker 3: I love that interview, by the way.
• 6:16
  Speaker 1: Thank you.
• 6:17
  Speaker 2: That was like, that was a legendary like interview.
• 6:21
  Speaker 3: It was so informative. It just was, it was amazing.
• 6:25
  Speaker 1: Thank you. Thank you. So one of the things that
• 6:27
  Speaker 1: he said was that, you know, there's really no blueprint
• 6:29
  Speaker 1: to follow in Hollywood. A lot of people make mistakes
• 6:31
  Speaker 1: as far as, you know, having the manager, the agent,
• 6:35
  Speaker 1: the CPA, it's a lot to, you know, keep track of. And,
• 6:38
  Speaker 1: You don't really know where your money is going and
• 6:40
  Speaker 1: you don't know what properly to invest in. Then you
• 6:42
  Speaker 1: might not have a role for a while. I hear
• 6:44
  Speaker 1: that from a lot of actors, like, you know, that
• 6:47
  Speaker 1: it's a very tough business because you might be hot
• 6:50
  Speaker 1: for a year, then you might be cold for two years.
• 6:52
  Speaker 1: So what was your experience? What has your experience been
• 6:55
  Speaker 1: in Hollywood? What are some of the mistakes that you
• 6:58
  Speaker 1: have probably made? And what are some of the lessons
• 7:00
  Speaker 1: that you've learned as far as investing, business, financial literacy?
• 7:04
  Speaker 2: Well, I'm glad you pointed that out. The truth of
• 7:08
  Speaker 2: the matter is there's a lot of highs and lows.
• 7:11
  Speaker 2: There's going to be dry seasons. There's going to be
• 7:14
  Speaker 2: times where you're super, super hot. And there's times where
• 7:18
  Speaker 2: you're cold. And when you're cold in Hollywood, especially as
• 7:22
  Speaker 2: a black actor.
• 7:23
  Speaker 3: it's real cold.
• 7:24
  Speaker 2: You would sometimes be sitting on that glacier in Antarctica,
• 7:28
  Speaker 2: you know.
• 7:29
  Speaker 1: What I mean?
• 7:29
  Speaker 3: Like Chicago.
• 7:30
  Speaker 1: Yeah, it's cold, cold.
• 7:33
  Speaker 2: And what happens is, you know, we get a lot
• 7:35
  Speaker 2: of money up front sometimes, depending on, you know, where
• 7:38
  Speaker 2: you are in your career. So you get this money
• 7:41
  Speaker 2: up front, but your only good is your last project.
• 7:45
  Speaker 2: So your value to the bottom line when you're dealing
• 7:51
  Speaker 2: with networks or studios, it's like, how valuable are you?
• 7:55
  Speaker 2: And sometimes if you're not that valuable anymore, you're not
• 7:59
  Speaker 2: bringing in the money. But what happens is there's a
• 8:02
  Speaker 2: lot of money going out of the door, right? So
• 8:05
  Speaker 2: you get this money. And if you hit a time
• 8:09
  Speaker 2: in your career where the money is not, you know, sustainable,
• 8:13
  Speaker 2: it's not really coming in, but everything is going out
• 8:15
  Speaker 2: the door. So you, as you mentioned, you got agents,
• 8:18
  Speaker 2: you got managers, right? You got financial people that you
• 8:22
  Speaker 2: have to pay. You have lawyers you have to pay, right?
• 8:27
  Speaker 2: You have, let's say, if you have a team, pardon me,
• 8:30
  Speaker 2: for like publicity and all that stuff and all the
• 8:33
  Speaker 2: things that come with creating an entity or creating a
• 8:40
  Speaker 2: commodity as an artist.
• 8:42
  Speaker 3: So it's a lot of money that's going out. And
• 8:45
  Speaker 3: let's not forget the government. The gangsters, you know what
• 8:49
  Speaker 3: I'm saying?
• 8:49
  Speaker 2: The silent partner. Yeah, man, the silent partner. If you
• 8:52
  Speaker 2: don't do it, they stick you up, right? They come
• 8:55
  Speaker 2: and knock at that door. And so in my experience,
• 9:00
  Speaker 2: I just kind of started out, because I started out early,
• 9:04
  Speaker 2: I kind of had something set up a little differently.
• 9:08
  Speaker 2: When I was making money as a miner, a portion
• 9:13
  Speaker 2: of my money had to go into a savings account, right?
• 9:17
  Speaker 2: So I couldn't get to the money until I was
• 9:19
  Speaker 2: either 18 or 21. They automatically would put my money away.
• 9:24
  Speaker 2: So I was working. My first gig was in 1985.
• 9:30
  Speaker 3: There was a remake of the TV show, The Twilight Zone.
• 9:34
  Speaker 4: I was just watching this.
• 9:35
  Speaker 3: Right, right, right.
• 9:35
  Speaker 2: So the twilight zone, but I was just wanting everybody to,
• 9:38
  Speaker 2: I'm not in the twilight zone from the fifties and
• 9:40
  Speaker 2: the sixties.
• 9:41
  Speaker 3: I'm not that old. They remade it and I was 10, right?
• 9:43
  Speaker 1: Time traveler.
• 9:44
  Speaker 2: Yeah, the time traveler, right? So I was about 10
• 9:46
  Speaker 2: years old and it was my first professional paid gig.
• 9:51
  Speaker 2: I want to say maybe it was 500 bucks, but
• 9:54
  Speaker 2: because I'm a minor, the money had to go right
• 9:56
  Speaker 2: into a savings account, basically a trust, if you will.
• 10:01
  Speaker 3: And that set up by set up they just do
• 10:03
  Speaker 3: that legally you know be when you're a minor right.
• 10:06
  Speaker 4: We have the stories are like Gary Coleman with it
• 10:08
  Speaker 4: was a little different.
• 10:09
  Speaker 2: Well because they have they also not all of the
• 10:11
  Speaker 2: money okay so a portion of it I mean let
• 10:13
  Speaker 2: me be clear about that a portion of the money
• 10:15
  Speaker 2: is goes into account of however you get paid because.
• 10:19
  Speaker 3: You're a minor.
• 10:21
  Speaker 2: But then the more money you make, so let's say
• 10:24
  Speaker 2: if you are a child star, I wasn't a big
• 10:27
  Speaker 2: child star.
• 10:27
  Speaker 3: I was just working here and there. So I wasn't
• 10:29
  Speaker 3: making a lot of money at that time.
• 10:32
  Speaker 2: And so what happens often is when you make a
• 10:35
  Speaker 2: lot of money in your career and you've never made
• 10:37
  Speaker 2: a lot of money before, you have handlers. Sometimes the
• 10:40
  Speaker 2: people in your family, sometimes it's people who are outside
• 10:43
  Speaker 2: of your family. And they have access to that money.
• 10:47
  Speaker 2: But if you're a minor, what do you know? You're
• 10:49
  Speaker 2: not learning this in school, right? Because you're being paid
• 10:52
  Speaker 2: like an adult. So it gets, you know, it can
• 10:55
  Speaker 2: get a little funny for me. My parents never touched
• 10:59
  Speaker 2: my money. They just made sure that it was, you know,
• 11:03
  Speaker 2: anytime I work on a little project, a guest star here,
• 11:06
  Speaker 2: a little bit of this, a little bit of that,
• 11:07
  Speaker 2: make sure.
• 11:08
  Speaker 3: That that money go.
• 11:09
  Speaker 2: And, you know, I would have, have to pay taxes
• 11:12
  Speaker 2: and all that stuff as a kid because of, anyway,
• 11:15
  Speaker 2: by the time I got roles on like, you know,
• 11:19
  Speaker 2: Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, I did a guest star there,
• 11:22
  Speaker 2: Family Matters, still making a little bit of money. When
• 11:26
  Speaker 2: I did my first film, which was Menace to Society,
• 11:29
  Speaker 2: didn't make a whole lot of money, but I was
• 11:30
  Speaker 2: still a minor.
• 11:31
  Speaker 3: I was 17 when I played Old Dog, still a minor, right?
• 11:36
  Speaker 3: So all of my money was still going.
• 11:38
  Speaker 2: So by the time I was 18, there was a
• 11:40
  Speaker 2: nice little money set aside for me. And for me,
• 11:45
  Speaker 2: I just did not want to spend my money on
• 11:48
  Speaker 2: all the things I saw the people around me spending
• 11:51
  Speaker 2: their money on. I was like, I'm going to save
• 11:53
  Speaker 2: this just because now I have access to it.
• 11:56
  Speaker 3: I just didn't want to, you know, trick it off.
• 11:58
  Speaker 2: And the more I, you know, developed a career where
• 12:03
  Speaker 2: I command a little bit more money, I kept that
• 12:06
  Speaker 2: same mentality. made sure I paid the taxes, and I
• 12:09
  Speaker 2: just always just saved the money. I was not spending
• 12:14
  Speaker 2: money on very expensive cars. I didn't spend money on jewelry.
• 12:20
  Speaker 2: That wasn't for me. And I felt like I didn't
• 12:23
  Speaker 2: need it necessarily. I just need the basic essentials. And
• 12:28
  Speaker 2: the one thing I'm happy about is because when there
• 12:31
  Speaker 2: were times where I hadn't been working, I wasn't doing
• 12:34
  Speaker 2: a couple, you know, those movies or I wasn't doing
• 12:36
  Speaker 2: a TV show like South Central at that time, it
• 12:38
  Speaker 2: was about 18 or 19. I had a way to
• 12:42
  Speaker 2: be able to still take care of myself because I
• 12:44
  Speaker 2: was out of the house from underneath my parents' roof
• 12:49
  Speaker 2: when I was about 16 or 17. My brothers and
• 12:52
  Speaker 2: I got a place together. My brothers were making money.
• 12:54
  Speaker 2: They were, you know, in the business, Lamar and Leron
• 12:57
  Speaker 2: acting and You know, Leron, who's our oldest brother, he
• 13:00
  Speaker 2: started writing and started getting writing gigs and Lamar was working.
• 13:04
  Speaker 2: So I was 16, 17, living with my brothers and
• 13:08
  Speaker 2: my parents allowed them.
• 13:10
  Speaker 3: To be like my guardians.
• 13:12
  Speaker 4: So you're not, this is in L.A.
• 13:13
  Speaker 3: This is in L.A.
• 13:14
  Speaker 4: Chicago, 17, 17.
• 13:16
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 13:16
  Speaker 3: So I went to Chicago early.
• 13:18
  Speaker 2: So when I was not living in Chicago, when I
• 13:21
  Speaker 2: was back in 85, at that point we were in LA,
• 13:25
  Speaker 2: my father was going to school to get his another
• 13:27
  Speaker 2: degree at USC. And so my mother felt like her
• 13:31
  Speaker 2: three sons needed to be close to their dad because
• 13:33
  Speaker 2: we were away from him for a couple of years. And,
• 13:35
  Speaker 2: you know, the neighborhood started changing on the West side
• 13:38
  Speaker 2: of Chicago. And she wanted to make sure that we
• 13:40
  Speaker 2: weren't a product of our environment. And an interesting story,
• 13:43
  Speaker 2: how we even got into the, Hollywood game or the
• 13:46
  Speaker 2: industry is that she wanted us to spend more time.
• 13:50
  Speaker 2: So we decided to, they relocated us to LA, but
• 13:54
  Speaker 2: we didn't feel like we really fit in. And we
• 13:58
  Speaker 2: went from one sort of hood to a Dex, but
• 14:03
  Speaker 2: we thought like California was like palm trees and, you know, yeah,
• 14:08
  Speaker 2: living nice. But listen, they ain't nothing sweet about them,
• 14:11
  Speaker 2: you know, those neighborhoods.
• 14:12
  Speaker 1: Where'd you move to in LA?
• 14:15
  Speaker 3: Right, where did we move? We moved right on near
• 14:18
  Speaker 3: West LA. You know what I'm saying?
• 14:19
  Speaker 2: I was like on the cusp of, West LA where
• 14:24
  Speaker 2: there was some pockets of the community that started changing.
• 14:28
  Speaker 2: We thought it was nice. And it was like, what
• 14:30
  Speaker 2: is this big gangs over here?
• 14:32
  Speaker 4: And they, they throwing up. It's toxic.
• 14:35
  Speaker 2: Yeah. They, they, yeah, they throw it in and was
• 14:37
  Speaker 2: crazy because we would, When we came from Chicago, we
• 14:40
  Speaker 2: didn't understand like colors was the thing so if you
• 14:43
  Speaker 2: went all that Red or you went all blue is
• 14:46
  Speaker 2: like wait a minute We were so confused by it
• 14:48
  Speaker 2: all right and so my father my mother was like
• 14:51
  Speaker 2: y'all not gonna get caught up in this so my
• 14:54
  Speaker 2: father got us involved with a performing art school called
• 14:56
  Speaker 2: inner city cultural center and it kind of allowed us
• 15:00
  Speaker 2: to kind of get away from that during the summer
• 15:02
  Speaker 2: times or like weekends and it was really nice because
• 15:06
  Speaker 2: I We were able to do theater, music, dance. It
• 15:09
  Speaker 2: was like a real cultural thing. Black artists. And I'm
• 15:13
  Speaker 2: happy that that happened. Along the way, they always made
• 15:18
  Speaker 2: sure that we went back to Chicago. They was like,
• 15:21
  Speaker 2: y'all going to go home and spend time with your
• 15:23
  Speaker 2: grandmother and your family, your cousins and uncles and aunts
• 15:27
  Speaker 2: every summer. So we spent a lot of our summers
• 15:30
  Speaker 2: in Chicago where I really started. you know, your first girlfriend,
• 15:36
  Speaker 2: you know, all those, those elements in the neighborhood was
• 15:39
  Speaker 2: still changing.
• 15:40
  Speaker 1: Right.
• 15:41
  Speaker 3: And I was able to see some real things happening.
• 15:45
  Speaker 2: So going, bouncing back from LA to Chicago, uh, I
• 15:49
  Speaker 2: was able to see some real interesting things. By the
• 15:52
  Speaker 2: time I got to do Old Dog, I was very
• 15:54
  Speaker 2: clear of what the assignment was.
• 15:56
  Speaker 4: You know what I'm saying?
• 15:57
  Speaker 3: Without draft snitching, I was like, I know what this is.
• 16:00
  Speaker 4: Yeah, I've seen this character before.
• 16:01
  Speaker 2: I've seen this.
• 16:01
  Speaker 3: Say less. Let me just give you the script.
• 16:04
  Speaker 4: I got it.
• 16:04
  Speaker 3: I'll flip it.
• 16:06
  Speaker 2: But getting back to the money side of things, again,
• 16:10
  Speaker 2: I just always wanted to find ways to save.
• 16:14
  Speaker 3: I got to a point where....
• 16:18
  Speaker 2: After Dead Presidents and Love Jones and Why Do Fools
• 16:22
  Speaker 2: Fall in Love, I made some really good money.
• 16:25
  Speaker 5: Are those the films where you start negotiating your own contracts,
• 16:28
  Speaker 5: finding out what you're worth in Hollywood?
• 16:30
  Speaker 3: Absolutely.
• 16:30
  Speaker 5: Right, because obviously Menace was great, and I feel it
• 16:34
  Speaker 5: was Dead Presidents.
• 16:35
  Speaker 4: Was Inkwell in between?
• 16:36
  Speaker 2: Yeah, so it was Menace Society, the Inkwell, Dead Presidents,
• 16:41
  Speaker 2: Love Jones.
• 16:43
  Speaker 3: Love Jones. And then Wild Fools Fall in Love.
• 16:47
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 16:47
  Speaker 5: And so at that point, after they saw the success
• 16:50
  Speaker 5: of it, which is the film that you're like, all right,
• 16:52
  Speaker 5: now I know what my worth is.
• 16:55
  Speaker 4: Here's what I'm negotiating for this film.
• 16:57
  Speaker 3: It's probably Love Jones.
• 16:59
  Speaker 4: Okay.
• 16:59
  Speaker 2: Because at that time, I had some success with the
• 17:04
  Speaker 2: other films. And I knew that I could have some
• 17:08
  Speaker 2: more negotiating power to be able to get the kind
• 17:10
  Speaker 2: of money that I felt was necessary for me to have. And,
• 17:16
  Speaker 2: you know, I remember talking to the president of New
• 17:20
  Speaker 2: Line Cinema at the time, Mike DeLuca. I was telling
• 17:24
  Speaker 2: him like, oh, I think I should get this amount
• 17:26
  Speaker 2: of money. And he thought I was outpricing myself. He
• 17:29
  Speaker 2: was like, listen, you know, I don't think you can,
• 17:33
  Speaker 2: that's not what we're going to do. And I was like, nah,
• 17:35
  Speaker 2: I think I want to, I think I deserve it.
• 17:37
  Speaker 3: You know what I mean? I'm going to come in,
• 17:39
  Speaker 3: I'm going to do the.
• 17:39
  Speaker 2: Work and we'll be okay. And he was like, honestly,
• 17:44
  Speaker 2: You know, I would love to give you that number,
• 17:47
  Speaker 2: but we just don't. It's just it's just not in
• 17:49
  Speaker 2: the budget because that film was not a big budget movie.
• 17:52
  Speaker 2: So this wasn't a huge studio film, but I knew
• 17:55
  Speaker 2: how important it was. So I told him a number
• 17:58
  Speaker 2: and we settled on that. And my agents, you know,
• 18:01
  Speaker 2: negotiated it at that point. And, you know, we were cool.
• 18:04
  Speaker 2: But I then understood by the time I had gone
• 18:07
  Speaker 2: to other projects, you know, sometimes you would take either
• 18:11
  Speaker 2: a pay cut because of the project. is significant enough
• 18:15
  Speaker 2: for you to just you know to be a part
• 18:17
  Speaker 2: of it you know you want to do things for
• 18:18
  Speaker 2: the culture or whatever it is or things that speaks
• 18:20
  Speaker 2: to you from an artist standpoint then you know by
• 18:24
  Speaker 2: the time i got to uh negotiate why the fools
• 18:27
  Speaker 2: fall in love to play frankie lyman you know i
• 18:29
  Speaker 2: knew they had a little bit more money so each
• 18:32
  Speaker 2: film or each project you do you would hope to
• 18:36
  Speaker 2: have a bump so you want to get a little
• 18:38
  Speaker 2: increase in pay and i was able to do so
• 18:40
  Speaker 2: with that uh And there's a million different ways to
• 18:45
  Speaker 2: create contracts or negotiate things. And if you have value,
• 18:51
  Speaker 2: it's really great. I've mentioned before, you're good as your
• 18:54
  Speaker 2: last project. So studios and networks are like bottom line.
• 18:58
  Speaker 2: They're really, it's about the business side of things, which
• 19:02
  Speaker 2: oftentimes we as black actors are not as valuable, or
• 19:06
  Speaker 2: at least we're told we're not as valuable as our
• 19:10
  Speaker 2: white counterparts. And that's been something historically that we've been
• 19:14
  Speaker 2: fighting against for so long, Black men and particularly Black women.
• 19:20
  Speaker 2: We don't get what we deserve. And so I understood
• 19:24
  Speaker 2: a few things along the way. In negotiating, I oftentimes
• 19:30
  Speaker 2: found myself saying, OK, I know about back end. I
• 19:33
  Speaker 2: know about basically what would be royalties. So you want
• 19:37
  Speaker 2: to have back-end participation. So you would negotiate a fee
• 19:41
  Speaker 2: up front, but when the movie goes to theaters, there's
• 19:46
  Speaker 2: where the real participation, the ownership, comes in and all
• 19:52
  Speaker 2: the time I would think about like what about international
• 19:56
  Speaker 2: because I know some of these movies go overseas and
• 19:59
  Speaker 2: they would always say to me my entire career no
• 20:05
  Speaker 2: overseas only domestic you have there is There are no
• 20:11
  Speaker 2: deal points for international. And I would think, why not?
• 20:17
  Speaker 2: And it was said that black people don't sell overseas.
• 20:22
  Speaker 2: Meaning it's only at the time they would say it's
• 20:25
  Speaker 2: only one person. Will Smith, because I think he had
• 20:28
  Speaker 2: done like Independence Day.
• 20:30
  Speaker 1: Right.
• 20:31
  Speaker 3: Well, or Denzel Washington. No, excuse me. I take that back.
• 20:34
  Speaker 3: Wesley Snipes.
• 20:35
  Speaker 2: Cause he would do all those action films that they
• 20:37
  Speaker 2: will sell over there.
• 20:38
  Speaker 3: So they were the only two people Denzel, you.
• 20:42
  Speaker 2: Know, sort of later, but it was like Will Smith
• 20:45
  Speaker 2: and Wesley Snipes that were the ones who really commanded
• 20:49
  Speaker 2: that box office domestic and international, uh, free, you know
• 20:56
  Speaker 2: what I mean? To, to get that, to get the
• 20:57
  Speaker 2: bag here and over there and get all the back end.
• 21:00
  Speaker 3: Right.
• 21:01
  Speaker 2: And I would go to, you know, overseas I would
• 21:04
  Speaker 2: travel and I would think like no one knew who
• 21:06
  Speaker 2: I was because they said we weren't valuable over there
• 21:08
  Speaker 2: like our movies don't do well they don't sell them
• 21:10
  Speaker 2: there but that was not the truth when you start
• 21:14
  Speaker 2: traveling you start saying wait a minute I can't walk
• 21:16
  Speaker 2: down the street and everybody knows the words to you
• 21:20
  Speaker 2: know my dialogues of my films but they don't even
• 21:23
  Speaker 2: speak English but they know how to say, you know,
• 21:26
  Speaker 2: what'd you say about my mama?
• 21:28
  Speaker 4: You know what I mean?
• 21:28
  Speaker 3: They know, you know what I mean?
• 21:29
  Speaker 1: You know what I mean?
• 21:31
  Speaker 3: They know this stuff.
• 21:33
  Speaker 2: Right. And so I'm thinking to myself, something, something has
• 21:36
  Speaker 2: to be off with that. And so I would discover
• 21:42
  Speaker 2: that only certain people could get that international back end,
• 21:46
  Speaker 2: you know, um, participation and how understood how important that was.
• 21:52
  Speaker 2: Because I was saying, well, where's the backend participation going to?
• 21:54
  Speaker 2: Where's the people getting all those royalties? It was the
• 21:57
  Speaker 2: studios and the producers. That is one of the things
• 22:02
  Speaker 2: that I learned. Oh, you don't want to give up
• 22:06
  Speaker 2: half of that and share that with me because that's
• 22:07
  Speaker 2: generational wealth. You ain't going to split that with me.
• 22:11
  Speaker 2: You give me enough to make me happy up front.
• 22:16
  Speaker 2: But when I hit that cold, or Antarctica when I'm
• 22:19
  Speaker 2: hitting that glacier and I'm not getting those movies, I'm
• 22:22
  Speaker 2: not getting that deals. Those residuals are important to me
• 22:26
  Speaker 2: to sustain my lifestyle or to sustain the things I
• 22:29
  Speaker 2: want to do. I want to send my children to college.
• 22:31
  Speaker 2: I want to give some opportunities for them to start
• 22:33
  Speaker 2: a business or whatever that is. I can't do that.
• 22:36
  Speaker 2: But those producers and those networks and those studio heads,
• 22:39
  Speaker 2: they got that locked down.
• 22:40
  Speaker 5: So at the time, I'm trying to think, as you're
• 22:42
  Speaker 5: coming up, nobody's putting you onto the game? Because there
• 22:46
  Speaker 5: are black actors, like you mentioned, there's Denzel, there's Wesley,
• 22:49
  Speaker 5: I'm thinking Omar Epps, Samuel L. Jackson, Spike Lee's directing
• 22:55
  Speaker 5: at this time, even Cuba Gooding. Is anybody aware of this?
• 23:02
  Speaker 2: I'm sure they are, but a lot of the information
• 23:05
  Speaker 2: is not being passed around. And if the information is
• 23:10
  Speaker 2: being passed around, we don't know how to utilize it.
• 23:13
  Speaker 2: And I think that was part of one of the
• 23:15
  Speaker 2: things when you say the mistakes, like I didn't know,
• 23:18
  Speaker 2: you know, how to, like, I didn't really understand, like,
• 23:22
  Speaker 2: how could I negotiate that? But the argument would be,
• 23:26
  Speaker 2: what is your last movie do? So now you're basing
• 23:31
  Speaker 2: it off that. What is your last movie do? And
• 23:34
  Speaker 2: some things when it comes to films in the box
• 23:37
  Speaker 2: office success may have nothing to do with you at all.
• 23:40
  Speaker 2: I might say, well, Love Jones didn't do anything. the
• 23:42
  Speaker 2: numbers that they wanted to do in the box office,
• 23:46
  Speaker 2: you know, from a financial standpoint, but it meant something
• 23:49
  Speaker 2: to the culture.
• 23:50
  Speaker 4: Cultural.
• 23:50
  Speaker 1: So let me ask you this, as far as you've
• 23:52
  Speaker 1: been in the game for 30 years, streaming, how has you,
• 23:56
  Speaker 1: because I feel like everything has changed. And I remember
• 23:59
  Speaker 1: when going to the movies was a big deal.
• 24:01
  Speaker 2: Sure.
• 24:02
  Speaker 1: Nobody really goes to the movies like that. I mean,
• 24:04
  Speaker 1: some movies still doing well in the box office, but
• 24:05
  Speaker 1: now everything is on Netflix straight to, you know, streaming services.
• 24:10
  Speaker 1: even movies that have, you know, like Coming to America
• 24:13
  Speaker 1: 2 where it's direct on one streaming service, right? How
• 24:17
  Speaker 1: has that transition been like just to observe it? How
• 24:20
  Speaker 1: has that affected Hollywood as far as the actors going
• 24:24
  Speaker 1: from big box office productions to movies that are tailor-made
• 24:28
  Speaker 1: for Netflix and Amazon Prime?
• 24:30
  Speaker 3: I'm glad you asked that. It's a really good question.
• 24:33
  Speaker 2: And it did affect us because when we would negotiate points,
• 24:38
  Speaker 2: you know, we, was really banking on the box office success.
• 24:44
  Speaker 3: And once the switch happened, we didn't really understand.
• 24:48
  Speaker 2: No one understood what that would look like and how
• 24:52
  Speaker 2: these deals would be put together. And now that's sort
• 24:57
  Speaker 2: of the staple. Most people are watching things at their
• 25:02
  Speaker 2: leisure on their phones or at home, streaming. And so
• 25:07
  Speaker 2: you negotiate points back in.
• 25:11
  Speaker 3: You get whatever you're going to get up front.
• 25:13
  Speaker 2: And depending on what that streaming service is, it can
• 25:18
  Speaker 2: kind of vary of what your deal could look like.
• 25:21
  Speaker 1: Do you think that it has hurt the mystique of
• 25:25
  Speaker 1: being an actor? Because growing up, going to the movies
• 25:27
  Speaker 1: was such a big thing. And it was such a
• 25:31
  Speaker 1: big deal. And now it feels like it's become... Less
• 25:35
  Speaker 1: of that because there's so much content out. It's like music, right?
• 25:38
  Speaker 1: Going to buy the album used to mean a lot.
• 25:41
  Speaker 1: And now there's so much music on Apple Music that
• 25:43
  Speaker 1: Lil Baby puts an album out, but then 2NE1 puts
• 25:46
  Speaker 1: an album out, and then Drake puts it, and it
• 25:48
  Speaker 1: kind of gets lost.
• 25:48
  Speaker 2: For me, I feel like I agree. It is sensory overload.
• 25:53
  Speaker 2: There's so much content out there.
• 25:56
  Speaker 1: But I.
• 25:58
  Speaker 3: Can't complain about it. It's just what it is.
• 26:00
  Speaker 2: There's nothing that we can do to change it. So
• 26:02
  Speaker 2: you have to adjust and pivot. find a way to
• 26:05
  Speaker 2: be a part of it. So as opposed to standing
• 26:07
  Speaker 2: on the sidelines, looking at the industry change and progress
• 26:12
  Speaker 2: and evolve, jump in, you know, get involved with the
• 26:15
  Speaker 2: streaming services, get involved with, you know, podcast or digital,
• 26:19
  Speaker 2: get involved with, you know, content that, you know, you
• 26:24
  Speaker 2: could be a part of and still be able to
• 26:27
  Speaker 2: make a living and do what you want to do
• 26:29
  Speaker 2: and love to do. And in some cases it's okay to,
• 26:34
  Speaker 2: to go with a streaming service for a film or
• 26:37
  Speaker 2: a concept because there's no pressure of the box office.
• 26:41
  Speaker 2: So I started looking at it from that standpoint. There's
• 26:45
  Speaker 2: a demand for the content and they are subscription driven.
• 26:50
  Speaker 2: So if I can help my movies that are on
• 26:54
  Speaker 2: these platforms can help subscribers tune in, then great. For instance,
• 26:59
  Speaker 2: we mentioned power and the whole, Power Universe, shout out
• 27:03
  Speaker 2: to 50 and Courtney Kemp and everybody who was a
• 27:06
  Speaker 2: part of that, Mark Canton, who are behind, you know,
• 27:10
  Speaker 2: this incredible, huge, you know, show, right? That's, you know,
• 27:16
  Speaker 2: on a premium network being stars. Whereas like, you know,
• 27:22
  Speaker 2: subscription is crazy. Like that art, our show is, is
• 27:26
  Speaker 2: a flagship show. It's driving a lot of subscriptions there, right?
• 27:32
  Speaker 2: And which we want to continue. And so there's a
• 27:36
  Speaker 2: lot of business to be done in that space. And creatively,
• 27:42
  Speaker 2: I think sometimes some of the better stuff is actually
• 27:46
  Speaker 2: on these streaming services, especially when it comes to TV
• 27:50
  Speaker 2: and TV series. Because you now can sort of live
• 27:52
  Speaker 2: with these characters. You can live with these stories, right?
• 27:55
  Speaker 2: And you can really lean into it. You don't have
• 27:58
  Speaker 2: to try to wrap everything up in a bow that
• 28:02
  Speaker 2: you might do in a movie.
• 28:03
  Speaker 3: But I still think that the box office is still
• 28:06
  Speaker 3: very viable. You know what I mean?
• 28:07
  Speaker 2: And because the studios and the networks are getting money
• 28:11
  Speaker 2: from the subscriptions and they can put movies in The theaters, it's,
• 28:16
  Speaker 2: the house never loses.
• 28:19
  Speaker 3: The house is always going to win. It's like Vegas.
• 28:21
  Speaker 2: They'll find a way to win. So, you know, for me,
• 28:24
  Speaker 2: I think it's a great combination of both.
• 28:27
  Speaker 5: So when you talked about having a cold spell, this
• 28:30
  Speaker 5: proverbial Siberia, where actors, plenty of them go through this
• 28:34
  Speaker 5: at some point in their career. What are you doing
• 28:36
  Speaker 5: in that old time? Is this the time now when
• 28:38
  Speaker 5: you're creating? Are you investing? Are you saying like, maybe
• 28:42
  Speaker 5: I'll start writing? What are the things that, are happening
• 28:44
  Speaker 5: during this time when it's a cold spell?
• 28:46
  Speaker 3: Another very good question. For me, I'm not sitting tight.
• 28:49
  Speaker 3: You know what I'm saying? I got a wife and
• 28:50
  Speaker 3: four children, right? I got four sons, man.
• 28:52
  Speaker 2: And I got them, you know, and prior to me
• 28:54
  Speaker 2: even being married and having children, my brothers and I
• 28:59
  Speaker 2: would put our heads together. We would huddle up and
• 29:01
  Speaker 2: figure out like how are we going to get this money, right?
• 29:04
  Speaker 2: So we have to write, we have to produce, we
• 29:06
  Speaker 2: have to be a part of telling our own stories
• 29:09
  Speaker 2: and our narrative, right? And there needs to be other outlets.
• 29:12
  Speaker 2: So again, Where we are today, we just have more opportunities.
• 29:17
  Speaker 2: We have more outlets. So there's really no excuses. But
• 29:20
  Speaker 2: there were times where it's like, man, how do we
• 29:22
  Speaker 2: how do we get this money? I'm going to be
• 29:25
  Speaker 2: very honest. A lot of those things is because you
• 29:27
  Speaker 2: have value and your face card is right.
• 29:29
  Speaker 3: You can do appearances.
• 29:31
  Speaker 2: You can sit and, you know, some people can show
• 29:34
  Speaker 2: up and, and you know sign autographs other people can
• 29:36
  Speaker 2: go and uh either write a book book tours or
• 29:40
  Speaker 2: you can actually find ways in speaking engagements because your
• 29:43
  Speaker 2: time is about is a value the fact that you
• 29:46
  Speaker 2: have something to say people will come and so you
• 29:50
  Speaker 2: find uh situations where people want you to come to
• 29:54
  Speaker 2: their you know events or if there's a corporate situation
• 29:58
  Speaker 2: where they feel like it would attract the eyes and
• 30:02
  Speaker 2: the ears of the people that they're targeting, there certainly will,
• 30:06
  Speaker 2: will bring you in and you can find a way
• 30:08
  Speaker 2: to hustle that way. For me, it was like, always
• 30:10
  Speaker 2: get something. My, my father would always say oatmeal is
• 30:14
  Speaker 2: better than no meal.
• 30:15
  Speaker 3: Get it. You got to eat. You know what I'm saying?
• 30:17
  Speaker 1: So let me ask you this black Hollywood. And we've
• 30:19
  Speaker 1: been spending a lot of time in black Hollywood. So, um,
• 30:23
  Speaker 1: I'm hearing a lot of the same stories told like,
• 30:26
  Speaker 1: it's very tough, it's difficult, the budgets are not the same.
• 30:28
  Speaker 1: And a lot of people were saying the same thing.
• 30:31
  Speaker 1: For the outside people that's not in that cluster and
• 30:35
  Speaker 1: they don't understand, what are some of the challenges that
• 30:39
  Speaker 1: people face in Black Hollywood as far as getting a
• 30:42
  Speaker 1: movie produced or not getting the same budget for their
• 30:47
  Speaker 1: white counterparts? Because I don't think people have an appreciation
• 30:49
  Speaker 1: of that.
• 30:51
  Speaker 2: Well, the very thing that those who are outside of
• 30:54
  Speaker 2: the Hollywood industry that are in our community that see
• 30:58
  Speaker 2: the challenges that we deal with every day as a people.
• 31:02
  Speaker 2: You know, we work twice as hard to get, you know,
• 31:05
  Speaker 2: twice as less as our counterparts, right? That being said,
• 31:11
  Speaker 2: it's the same way. We're not valued the way I
• 31:16
  Speaker 2: believe we're supposed to be valued.
• 31:17
  Speaker 4: The time has come, ladies and gentlemen.
• 31:19
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• 31:55
  Speaker 2: So those budgets are really important for us so that
• 31:58
  Speaker 2: we can have the kind of quality that we can
• 32:02
  Speaker 2: present to the consumer. And the smaller the budget, the
• 32:07
  Speaker 2: more creative you have to get. And we don't have
• 32:10
  Speaker 2: resources oftentimes as our white counterparts. The real deal is
• 32:17
  Speaker 2: we don't own any platforms the way we should. There's
• 32:22
  Speaker 2: a few black owned platforms, but we don't have a
• 32:25
  Speaker 2: lot of outlets. We don't have as many. So we
• 32:29
  Speaker 2: are not sort of.
• 32:30
  Speaker 3: Governing over these.
• 32:34
  Speaker 2: Entities or these corporations um to say hey you guys
• 32:38
  Speaker 2: have a great story y'all want to tell it and
• 32:40
  Speaker 2: there's money to be made come here.
• 32:44
  Speaker 3: It's not it's not as many.
• 32:46
  Speaker 2: So when we do find that those places everybody's trying
• 32:51
  Speaker 2: to go through one keyhole everybody's trying to go through
• 32:54
  Speaker 2: one uh tunnel and even when you go to non-black
• 32:58
  Speaker 2: owned places they'll tell you to go over there Because,
• 33:03
  Speaker 2: you know, they have to find value in what we do.
• 33:06
  Speaker 2: And that's changing quite a bit as we're making it
• 33:11
  Speaker 2: very clear and we're loud about it because we have to.
• 33:15
  Speaker 2: That I always say, and I talk to execs in
• 33:18
  Speaker 2: the industry in Hollywood that either look like us and
• 33:21
  Speaker 2: particularly the ones who are not from the black community.
• 33:23
  Speaker 2: I tell people all the time, we're not looking for handouts.
• 33:27
  Speaker 2: We're not asking for any favors. Black folk have earned
• 33:31
  Speaker 2: the right to have the things that we believe, right?
• 33:35
  Speaker 2: From what we've contributed in front of the camera, what
• 33:39
  Speaker 2: we've done behind the camera, the things that we have
• 33:42
  Speaker 2: done and changed the narratives.
• 33:44
  Speaker 3: And we've taken the reign.
• 33:47
  Speaker 2: We've been able to do so much and we've made
• 33:49
  Speaker 2: y'all a lot of money. Ten times, a hundred times
• 33:54
  Speaker 2: over in a real way. but also the consumers, black communities,
• 34:01
  Speaker 2: black people support all movies, right? So we have earned that.
• 34:09
  Speaker 2: We have earned the right to be at the table.
• 34:12
  Speaker 2: We earned the right to have the decision-making power. And
• 34:21
  Speaker 2: oftentimes in Hollywood, historically, black folks don't govern over anything.
• 34:27
  Speaker 2: We're in front of the camera and it looks good.
• 34:29
  Speaker 2: Give black folks enough to keep them quiet, but not
• 34:32
  Speaker 2: enough to make them a real difference or have a
• 34:35
  Speaker 2: real impact on the other side of things.
• 34:38
  Speaker 3: And we want to change that.
• 34:40
  Speaker 2: We don't want to just have enough to keep us quiet,
• 34:43
  Speaker 2: but really not make a difference. We're trying to really
• 34:46
  Speaker 2: do something here and we've earned it on both sides.
• 34:50
  Speaker 2: So now we have black entrepreneurs, and I don't mean
• 34:54
  Speaker 2: to cut you off, but now we have black entrepreneurs
• 34:56
  Speaker 2: or black you know, companies that recognize that and they,
• 35:00
  Speaker 2: Hollywood has had to come together and be a part
• 35:04
  Speaker 2: of sort of, you know, the movement and because they
• 35:08
  Speaker 2: understand we bring a lot of money.
• 35:10
  Speaker 3: So you look at this, it's like, look at Black Panther.
• 35:12
  Speaker 4: That's what exactly I was- About to go with that?
• 35:14
  Speaker 5: That's where I was going because I was like, what
• 35:16
  Speaker 5: you're saying is it takes for a Black Panther and
• 35:18
  Speaker 5: a Ryan Coogler to do that, a billion dollar movie,
• 35:21
  Speaker 5: do it again, another billion dollar success on its way
• 35:24
  Speaker 5: and then you hear like, well, Disney has a division
• 35:26
  Speaker 5: called Onyx and that was focusing on black creators. And
• 35:29
  Speaker 5: so I wonder if, I mean, it seems like it's
• 35:32
  Speaker 5: a timing thing, right? Because even now, like you said,
• 35:35
  Speaker 5: there's a cold time, but now.
• 35:38
  Speaker 4: It's hot. It's a hot thing and it's a topic.
• 35:40
  Speaker 3: It's a topic.
• 35:41
  Speaker 2: Right?
• 35:41
  Speaker 5: And so now it brings more creatives, but having just
• 35:44
  Speaker 5: Onyx isn't enough, right? I was going to, the next
• 35:47
  Speaker 5: point was like, hey, Take me in entertainment.
• 35:50
  Speaker 3: Yeah, exactly.
• 35:51
  Speaker 5: Now this develops and it's like, you've been working on
• 35:52
  Speaker 5: it for a long, but now the timing of it
• 35:54
  Speaker 5: makes sense.
• 35:54
  Speaker 4: Yeah.
• 35:55
  Speaker 2: Because now we have executives who are in these places
• 35:58
  Speaker 2: now that are, you know, the heads of production and
• 36:01
  Speaker 2: their heads of these companies and entertainment companies that when
• 36:07
  Speaker 2: I walk into a room, they understand. And it's not
• 36:10
  Speaker 2: something that I have to, you know, beat them over
• 36:13
  Speaker 2: the head about like, okay, they get it. And I'm
• 36:16
  Speaker 2: not going to bring anything that's mediocre. I'm going to really,
• 36:18
  Speaker 2: believe that I'll bring something that's quality or I won't
• 36:20
  Speaker 2: bring it at all, right? But you mentioned Tapeman Entertainment,
• 36:24
  Speaker 2: which is a production company, entertainment company that my brothers,
• 36:27
  Speaker 2: Leron and Lamar and I decided to put together years ago.
• 36:30
  Speaker 2: And we've had some cool deals, you know, they'll go
• 36:32
  Speaker 2: and give you a housing deal, make sure that you're cool,
• 36:34
  Speaker 2: make me pay you some money, take care of you.
• 36:37
  Speaker 2: But it's like, okay, it's great to be in there
• 36:39
  Speaker 2: and it's great to get a little bit of that money,
• 36:41
  Speaker 2: but we want to get the product out there. We
• 36:43
  Speaker 2: want to be able to get the stories told. We
• 36:45
  Speaker 2: want to be able to make sure that the voice
• 36:47
  Speaker 2: is of the voice list can be heard. And if
• 36:50
  Speaker 2: we are those, you know, the pathway and we're the
• 36:53
  Speaker 2: conduits to do that, then we really need to see
• 36:58
  Speaker 2: those who are like-minded and understand.
• 37:00
  Speaker 3: The bigger overall picture. And we want equity.
• 37:03
  Speaker 2: It's more than just, you know, getting a project off
• 37:06
  Speaker 2: the ground. We want some ownership. And as we do
• 37:08
  Speaker 2: business with other, you know, black entities, uh, quality you
• 37:14
  Speaker 2: know we're looking for quality we team up with the
• 37:16
  Speaker 2: quality we want equity because that's what it's about it
• 37:20
  Speaker 2: is a business and so the fact that we recognize
• 37:23
  Speaker 2: more of the business we walk into the rooms and
• 37:27
  Speaker 2: we are on we we we we know what we're doing.
• 37:32
  Speaker 5: I thought old dogs don't come out he's gonna say
• 37:33
  Speaker 5: we own our shit i was about to we're about.
• 37:38
  Speaker 1: To it's been a pleasure my brother um Anything that
• 37:42
  Speaker 1: you want to make the public aware of? Any new projects?
• 37:44
  Speaker 1: Of course, you know, Power, but anything you're working on?
• 37:48
  Speaker 3: Yeah, I want to talk about, obviously, Power, Ghost, Season 3.
• 37:52
  Speaker 3: That's out. That's covered out. It's going to be an
• 37:54
  Speaker 3: incredible season.
• 37:55
  Speaker 4: Councilman Rashad Tate.
• 37:56
  Speaker 3: Yes, Councilman Rashad Tate.
• 37:58
  Speaker 4: There's a connection.
• 38:00
  Speaker 2: And, you know, can't give too much away, but I
• 38:02
  Speaker 2: can say that we've elevated some things. We're definitely going to,
• 38:06
  Speaker 2: you know, see Councilman Tate. Up to his shenanigans.
• 38:09
  Speaker 3: If I had to do that, it wouldn't be. There's
• 38:11
  Speaker 3: going to.
• 38:13
  Speaker 2: Be some backdoor deals and some nonsense going on. No,
• 38:20
  Speaker 2: I'm excited about it. Somebody will be sacrificed.
• 38:25
  Speaker 3: Absolutely. Mandatory. It has to happen.
• 38:28
  Speaker 2: But I'm excited about this season and what the whole
• 38:31
  Speaker 2: Power Universe is representing.
• 38:34
  Speaker 3: What else we got?
• 38:34
  Speaker 2: We my brothers and I actually are working on a
• 38:37
  Speaker 2: docuseries about social injustice, about the marginalization of specifically black people.
• 38:42
  Speaker 3: And we filmed it in Chicago. Right.
• 38:45
  Speaker 2: We've been working on the west side and the south
• 38:47
  Speaker 2: side of Chicago, really just showing, you know, why some
• 38:51
  Speaker 2: of the things are happening, but beyond why are the
• 38:53
  Speaker 2: things happening in terms of. the marginalization of us in
• 38:57
  Speaker 2: our community, what are the solutions? And we are trying
• 39:00
  Speaker 2: to create something that allows the people who are going
• 39:04
  Speaker 2: through what they're going through to come up with the solutions.
• 39:07
  Speaker 2: Oftentimes it's people who are behind the scenes or off
• 39:09
  Speaker 2: to the side who is not even, we're not even
• 39:11
  Speaker 2: from the community deciding what is best for those who
• 39:14
  Speaker 2: are dealing with the, but guess who knows? The people
• 39:17
  Speaker 2: who have been able to survive, the people who have
• 39:19
  Speaker 2: been able to overcome those hurdles and those pitfalls and
• 39:22
  Speaker 2: those landmines. So we wanted to create something that allows
• 39:26
  Speaker 2: the voices of those who are dealing with it to
• 39:29
  Speaker 2: tell us what the solution is and let's figure that out.
• 39:32
  Speaker 2: So we're also involved with some redevelopment you know, we
• 39:37
  Speaker 2: have to call it a redevelopment, but basically it's gentrification
• 39:39
  Speaker 2: in the hood.
• 39:40
  Speaker 3: And I'm like, yo, hold up.
• 39:41
  Speaker 2: How can we be a part of that, you know, redevelopment?
• 39:44
  Speaker 2: Because it's really important. And as you know, with gentrification,
• 39:47
  Speaker 2: you know, it's valuable land, it's valuable, you know, communities,
• 39:51
  Speaker 2: but They displace those who inhabit it.
• 39:54
  Speaker 3: And it's particularly black folks, black and brown people.
• 39:56
  Speaker 5: Right.
• 39:56
  Speaker 2: And so we're like, how can we find the social equity?
• 39:59
  Speaker 3: How can we find opportunities.
• 40:01
  Speaker 2: To keep, you know, to redevelop it, get all the amenities, housing,
• 40:06
  Speaker 2: affordable housing, you know, businesses that the people who live
• 40:10
  Speaker 2: there could take part and they're not displaced.
• 40:12
  Speaker 5: Right.
• 40:13
  Speaker 2: And we can create businesses and we can create, you know,
• 40:16
  Speaker 2: schools and museums. And this is not like sort of
• 40:19
  Speaker 2: a pipe dream. It's like, it is attainable.
• 40:22
  Speaker 4: It happens.
• 40:23
  Speaker 2: It just doesn't happen with us often. So we're doing
• 40:25
  Speaker 2: all the things that we can to be a part
• 40:27
  Speaker 2: of that. We're dealing with developers and architects and lawyers and,
• 40:31
  Speaker 2: you know, financial people that, you know, look like us
• 40:34
  Speaker 2: that we could be a part of the narrative to
• 40:36
  Speaker 2: redevelop and help buy back the block.
• 40:39
  Speaker 4: You had my last thing, you had a successful audio series.
• 40:42
  Speaker 3: Yes, Bronzeville. So Bronzeville represents that. More of that?
• 40:45
  Speaker 2: Yeah, so we have more of that. Bronzeville is sort
• 40:48
  Speaker 2: of a roadmap, if you will. The actual story is
• 40:53
  Speaker 2: like a theater of the mind where you can hear
• 40:57
  Speaker 2: this podcast, right?
• 40:58
  Speaker 3: But we scripted it. There's characters in it.
• 41:01
  Speaker 2: And it takes place in the 1930s, 1940s on the
• 41:04
  Speaker 2: south side of Chicago in a community called Bronzeville where
• 41:08
  Speaker 2: black folks were self-sufficient. And the way that they came
• 41:11
  Speaker 2: became self-sufficient financially was running numbers. Other communities were, you know,
• 41:16
  Speaker 2: bootlegging when doing liquor and all that stuff during prohibition.
• 41:20
  Speaker 2: Black folks, we were running numbers. And what happened was
• 41:24
  Speaker 2: as a result of creating this economic infrastructure, they began
• 41:28
  Speaker 2: to invest in the community. So these people were called
• 41:32
  Speaker 2: policy kings, decided to invest into like the first black
• 41:35
  Speaker 2: owned bank. The first department store in Chicago that was
• 41:38
  Speaker 2: black on the grocery stores. And we had this metropolis
• 41:42
  Speaker 2: of of a community where we had our own police
• 41:46
  Speaker 2: departments when we policed ourselves. And we had our own
• 41:49
  Speaker 2: grocery stores and butcher shops where people will look out
• 41:51
  Speaker 2: for each other.
• 41:52
  Speaker 3: And I felt like we got away from that.
• 41:54
  Speaker 2: And we want to tell the story of how we
• 41:56
  Speaker 2: can get back to that because it is attainable for
• 41:59
  Speaker 2: us as black folks to unite, thrive and have a
• 42:02
  Speaker 2: true a part of the piece of the American dream.
• 42:05
  Speaker 4: Sound familiar, Shadi? Our people telling our story.
• 42:08
  Speaker 1: There you have it. Legendary. Appreciating my brother. I'm sure
• 42:13
  Speaker 1: we'll be crossing paths soon.
• 42:14
  Speaker 3: Yeah, we got to build.
• 42:15
  Speaker 2: I'm here to actually, I told you I was going
• 42:17
  Speaker 2: to listen. I was talking out front of my mouth,
• 42:19
  Speaker 2: but we're going to, we're going to, we're offline. We're
• 42:21
  Speaker 2: going to definitely sit and talk because I would love
• 42:23
  Speaker 2: you all to be a part of the things that.
• 42:25
  Speaker 3: We're doing and building.
• 42:26
  Speaker 2: I would like to learn more from you all and
• 42:28
  Speaker 2: how we can, you know, join forces and get this money.
• 42:32
  Speaker 4: Yeah, I mean, Hollywood is in the cards for us.
• 42:34
  Speaker 1: Oh, we're headed to Hollywood.
• 42:35
  Speaker 4: We're headed to Hollywood.
• 42:36
  Speaker 1: We got to talk about that, too.
• 42:37
  Speaker 3: I got y'all. You know I got an entertainment company.
• 42:39
  Speaker 1: Let's do something. Let's get the deals done.
• 42:42
  Speaker 4: Yes, sir.
• 42:43
  Speaker 1: All right, guys. Thank you for rocking with us. We'll
• 42:45
  Speaker 1: see you next week. Peace.
• 42:46
  Speaker 4: Peace. Peace.
• 42:48
  Speaker 1: There you have it.
• 42:48
  Speaker 4: Yes, indeed.
• 42:49
  Speaker 5: I didn't get a chance to thank you for being
• 42:51
  Speaker 5: the leading man to some of these leading ladies.
• 42:53
  Speaker 4: Okay.
• 42:54
  Speaker 3: This is it.
• 42:55
  Speaker 4: Halle Berry.
• 42:56
  Speaker 5: Yes.
• 42:57
  Speaker 4: This is off.
• 42:59
  Speaker 3: No, we can still, you're just doing some other stuff.
• 43:02
  Speaker 3: This is some bonus stuff.
• 43:03
  Speaker 4: I mean, we got to start with Halle.
• 43:05
  Speaker 3: Okay, let's start.
• 43:06
  Speaker 4: My favorite, of course, Neil. Okay. I ran into her.
• 43:09
  Speaker 4: I don't even know what to say. Jada. Yep. Multiple times.
• 43:15
  Speaker 4: At the time, Vivica Fox.
• 43:17
  Speaker 2: Okay.
• 43:17
  Speaker 4: Let's keep going. No, I mean, I'm going to count
• 43:23
  Speaker 4: this because it was a video, but Ashanti. Ashanti. Wow.
• 43:26
  Speaker 5: Yeah.
• 43:27
  Speaker 3: I've been fortunate. I've been fortunate.
• 43:30
  Speaker 1: Ashanti's probably the best one out of that group.
• 43:35
  Speaker 4: I said Halle Berry, bro.
• 43:36
  Speaker 1: Currently.
• 43:37
  Speaker 4: No, I said Nia Long, bro.
• 43:39
  Speaker 1: Currently.
• 43:40
  Speaker 3: I'm going to fly on a wall.
• 43:43
  Speaker 4: I love to hit it. I said Nia Long, bro.
• 43:45
  Speaker 4: After that, you can't.
• 43:46
  Speaker 1: Currently.
• 43:47
  Speaker 4: Ashanti's bad.
• 43:48
  Speaker 1: She's 41. Nia's 50.
• 43:49
  Speaker 4: It's a different level, bro. No, it's a different level.
• 43:56
  Speaker 4: But the question.
• 43:57
  Speaker 3: I love the conversation.
• 43:58
  Speaker 4: The question was this.
• 44:00
  Speaker 1: Is there.
• 44:00
  Speaker 4: I got a couple questions. But is there a leading
• 44:03
  Speaker 4: lady that you haven't worked with, that you're inspired to
• 44:06
  Speaker 4: work with?
• 44:08
  Speaker 5: Oh, yeah.
• 44:08
  Speaker 3: I would love to work with Sanaa Lathan. She's dope.
• 44:12
  Speaker 4: She's not on that list. Yeah.
• 44:14
  Speaker 3: I have not worked with Sanaa. And there's a few
• 44:19
  Speaker 3: other ones that are.
• 44:21
  Speaker 2: that are amazing, but just thinking about all the women
• 44:24
  Speaker 2: we talked about that you mentioned, Halle, Vivica, Leela Rashan.
• 44:33
  Speaker 3: Jada, who else did you say? Nia Long, obviously, Queen Nia.
• 44:40
  Speaker 2: But yeah, you know, Sanaa is someone, I was able
• 44:43
  Speaker 2: to work with Regina Hall. I would also love to
• 44:47
  Speaker 2: work with Regina King. Regina King.
• 44:50
  Speaker 4: She was in Girl Strip, but you guys.
• 44:51
  Speaker 3: Yeah, we as a girl, it was kind of.
• 44:54
  Speaker 4: I knew that, but it was different.
• 44:56
  Speaker 3: Yeah, but I would love to work with some of
• 44:59
  Speaker 3: those sisters. They're incredible.
• 45:00
  Speaker 5: The other part of it was, we saw the success
• 45:03
  Speaker 5: of The Best Man becoming a series.
• 45:06
  Speaker 4: Sure.
• 45:07
  Speaker 5: And so I wonder, did the opportunity even be presented
• 45:11
  Speaker 5: to have Love Jones in that format?
• 45:13
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 45:15
  Speaker 3: Of course, it's happened many times.
• 45:20
  Speaker 2: There's been so many conversations about how Nia Long and
• 45:24
  Speaker 2: I should get back together.
• 45:25
  Speaker 4: Y'all could play the same role.
• 45:29
  Speaker 2: The conversation has been had many, many times for many,
• 45:31
  Speaker 2: many years because the movie is so iconic and it's
• 45:35
  Speaker 2: been such a staple in the community about how black
• 45:39
  Speaker 2: love means so much to us and how You know,
• 45:42
  Speaker 2: just the movie itself was very unique.
• 45:44
  Speaker 3: I started writing poems. Darius Loveall had you in there?
• 45:48
  Speaker 5: I had a brown leather book that I was writing.
• 45:49
  Speaker 5: I thought they was rhymes, but they turned into poems.
• 45:51
  Speaker 3: They're poems, as you said. You wasn't able to record them?
• 45:54
  Speaker 4: Yeah, nah, nah, nah. I didn't record them.
• 45:55
  Speaker 5: My brother actually was like doing spoken words. So he
• 45:57
  Speaker 5: would go and I would just be there watching him.
• 45:59
  Speaker 5: I'm like, yo, that's the impact.
• 46:01
  Speaker 2: Of that movie. Yeah, it was a thing. So Nia
• 46:04
  Speaker 2: Long and I were just trying to figure it out.
• 46:06
  Speaker 3: But I think... something has to happen.
• 46:09
  Speaker 2: I'm not quite sure what that is, what I can
• 46:12
  Speaker 2: say right now, but the conversation of Love Jones has happened.
• 46:15
  Speaker 3: And we just, here's the deal.
• 46:17
  Speaker 2: If you can't do it that justice, like take it
• 46:21
  Speaker 2: to the next level, you gotta leave it alone.
• 46:23
  Speaker 3: Find something else. So, you know, we'll see what happens.
• 46:26
  Speaker 4: This is the last thing. This is the last thing.
• 46:28
  Speaker 4: Is this recording? This is not recording. Is it recording? Yeah,
• 46:30
  Speaker 4: we can record. All right. The black actor American actor.
• 46:39
  Speaker 4: I feel like there's been a decline.
• 46:43
  Speaker 1: The British invasion.
• 46:44
  Speaker 5: The British invasion has taken over. The days of you guys,
• 46:49
  Speaker 5: like you, like the guys I mentioned are far in between.
• 46:53
  Speaker 5: But you guys are still doing it. But I don't
• 46:55
  Speaker 5: see the next rendition of the black male actor because
• 46:59
  Speaker 5: of the British invasion.
• 47:00
  Speaker 4: What are your thoughts?
• 47:02
  Speaker 2: Listen, I don't look at the It has a competition.
• 47:06
  Speaker 2: I look at the collective. So, you know, there's brothers
• 47:09
  Speaker 2: who are doing it, whether they're doing it here in America,
• 47:13
  Speaker 2: whether they're doing it, you know, over from the UK
• 47:16
  Speaker 2: or even from the mother continent, Africa.
• 47:18
  Speaker 3: I'm cool with whatever it's going to be.
• 47:21
  Speaker 2: But I feel like Hollywood believes there's more value.
• 47:27
  Speaker 3: In British black actors than they do black actors.
• 47:32
  Speaker 2: And I think a part of it goes into that, oh,
• 47:36
  Speaker 2: they have an audience over there.
• 47:38
  Speaker 3: So they translate internationally.
• 47:42
  Speaker 2: Going back to that, what I think is, you know,
• 47:46
  Speaker 2: a hoax that we don't sell or we're not valuable.
• 47:49
  Speaker 2: So I think they put that in the mix. And
• 47:53
  Speaker 2: also I just think Hollywood is just in love with
• 47:55
  Speaker 2: the UK and all things, you know, British. And so
• 48:00
  Speaker 2: I feel like the Black American actor is, you know,
• 48:05
  Speaker 2: I see what that decline is.
• 48:06
  Speaker 3: But, you know, we're here.
• 48:08
  Speaker 4: You're here, yeah. Y'all are here.
• 48:10
  Speaker 3: Yeah. But I love the collective. They're killing it.
• 48:12
  Speaker 4: I mean, those guys are killing it.
• 48:13
  Speaker 2: Yeah, they're killing it. You know, listen, my heart ain't
• 48:16
  Speaker 2: pumping no Kool-Aid. I know what I stand on. You
• 48:18
  Speaker 2: know what I mean? You know, it's blood running through
• 48:20
  Speaker 2: these veins.
• 48:20
  Speaker 3: You know what I'm saying? It's cold as ice, bro.
• 48:21
  Speaker 3: So we're going to be all right.
• 48:23
  Speaker 4: Chi-town's on.
• 48:24
  Speaker 2: Already.
• 48:24
  Speaker 3: You dig?
• 48:25
  Speaker 4: You have it.
• 48:28
  Speaker 1: My graduates from my school being forced.
• 48:31
  Speaker 2: Back dropped.
• 48:33
  Speaker 1: Backdrop mic drop backdrop backdrop