Latest / The Breakfast Club / INTERVIEW: Malcolm D. Lee On 'The Best Man,' Spike Lee, Sable Bourbon, Essence, Peacock; Career Success +More

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INTERVIEW: Malcolm D. Lee On 'The Best Man,' Spike Lee, Sable Bourbon, Essence, Peacock; Career Success +More · The Breakfast Club

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Wake that ass up in the morning. The Breakfast Club.
• 0:05
  Speaker 2: Morning everybody, It's dj NV, just hilarious. Chelamaine the guy.
• 0:09
  Speaker 2: We are the Breakfast Club. Lola Rosa is here as well,
• 0:12
  Speaker 2: and we got a special guest in the building. Yes, indeed,
• 0:15
  Speaker 2: Malcolm d Lee. Good morning, what's going on? How are
• 0:18
  Speaker 2: you feeling? I'm great now. Malcolm de Lee is a.
• 0:21
  Speaker 1: Writer, directing producer.
• 0:22
  Speaker 2: He's worked on so many different things, The Best Man,
• 0:24
  Speaker 2: Girls Trip, Night School, The Best Man Final Chapter, so
• 0:28
  Speaker 2: many of the name. How are you feeling this morning.
• 0:29
  Speaker 1: Brother, I'm fantastic. I'm very glad to be here, happy
• 0:33
  Speaker 1: to have you. Man.
• 0:34
  Speaker 3: You just put out a book called The Best Man
• 0:36
  Speaker 3: Unfinished Business.
• 0:37
  Speaker 1: I need to know.
• 0:38
  Speaker 3: Why would you continue the Best Man series of a
• 0:40
  Speaker 3: book rather than a movie or TV show.
• 0:42
  Speaker 1: Well, I've always loved the written word. Number one. I'm
• 0:46
  Speaker 1: a storyteller at heart.
• 0:48
  Speaker 4: It's very difficult to mount a television show, in a
• 0:51
  Speaker 4: movie getting all those great actors back together, very difficult.
• 0:55
  Speaker 4: And I've fantasized about being a novelist. I thought, Okay,
• 1:01
  Speaker 4: here's an opportunity to try my hand at novel writing.
• 1:05
  Speaker 4: Do it with characters that are already established, they have
• 1:07
  Speaker 4: backstory already and let me give it a shot. Plus
• 1:10
  Speaker 4: it gets the story out faster. I mean, fans said
• 1:13
  Speaker 4: they wanted more, and I thought we were done at
• 1:16
  Speaker 4: the final chapters on Peacock. Still number one on Peacock
• 1:20
  Speaker 4: by the way, But I said, okay, this is a
• 1:24
  Speaker 4: way for me to, you know, try novel writing and
• 1:27
  Speaker 4: get the story out to fans quicker.
• 1:28
  Speaker 3: But if you have another story, why wouldn't Peacock being
• 1:32
  Speaker 3: that y'all broke records on Peacock, as you said, it
• 1:35
  Speaker 3: was the number one show on Peacock, still number one
• 1:37
  Speaker 3: on Peacock, Why wouldn't they say no, no, no, no, no, Malcolm,
• 1:40
  Speaker 3: we need that here.
• 1:42
  Speaker 4: Well listen, I'm not saying that they wouldn't or didn't ask,
• 1:46
  Speaker 4: but I thought at the time it was I was done.
• 1:51
  Speaker 1: But then the idea came to be, Okay, let's.
• 1:54
  Speaker 4: Try it as a as a book, and I think
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  Speaker 4: we can tell more in depth story with the book.
• 2:00
  Speaker 1: You know, there's you know, you get to use all
• 2:02
  Speaker 1: five senses.
• 2:03
  Speaker 4: We're countering on three different characters in this Harper, Robin
• 2:06
  Speaker 4: and Jordan, right, and so they're the kind of like
• 2:09
  Speaker 4: the crux of the of the franchise, and I felt like,
• 2:13
  Speaker 4: here's an opportunity to not be more expansive in the storytelling,
• 2:15
  Speaker 4: but also let's get into the psyching of these characters
• 2:19
  Speaker 4: and in a more in depth way. Is it possible
• 2:22
  Speaker 4: to get every by everybody back together?
• 2:26
  Speaker 1: Yes, but it's very difficult, very money money, keep yeah,
• 2:31
  Speaker 1: keep going.
• 2:32
  Speaker 4: It's it's it's difficult. I mean like those those are
• 2:36
  Speaker 4: all working actors, right, and it's tough to get them
• 2:40
  Speaker 4: back together. And then you have you have budget constraints, uh,
• 2:43
  Speaker 4: you have the demands of the network.
• 2:44
  Speaker 1: In the studio.
• 2:45
  Speaker 4: With a book, it's just me and my co author
• 2:47
  Speaker 4: j and Allen to just say, okay, here's a story
• 2:49
  Speaker 4: that I want to tell.
• 2:50
  Speaker 2: I want to go back if you don't mind, Malcolm
• 2:53
  Speaker 2: d Lee coming up in this industry. Yes, you write
• 2:56
  Speaker 2: The Best Man? Yep, So how do you go for me?
• 2:59
  Speaker 2: How do you get it to where it is? Being young,
• 3:01
  Speaker 2: being first time doing it, to getting an opportunity to
• 3:05
  Speaker 2: even do it. So break it down where you're from
• 3:07
  Speaker 2: and how how you even came up with the concept
• 3:09
  Speaker 2: and idea.
• 3:10
  Speaker 4: Okay, so to start, you know, The Best Man was
• 3:14
  Speaker 4: my six screenplay and I wasn't even trying to direct
• 3:17
  Speaker 4: it at the time. At the time, I had written
• 3:20
  Speaker 4: another romantic comedy that I was trying the fund.
• 3:23
  Speaker 1: I couldn't find the money for it.
• 3:24
  Speaker 4: I said, I'm going to write something so commercial that
• 3:27
  Speaker 4: I'm going to take that money when I sell it
• 3:30
  Speaker 4: and make my my independent movie. But in the midst
• 3:34
  Speaker 4: of writing it, it was also called My Homeboy's Wedding
• 3:36
  Speaker 4: at the time, and I was like, I'm never going
• 3:38
  Speaker 4: to use that title, So it was called My Homeboy
• 3:39
  Speaker 4: It was in the beginning, That's why I named it.
• 3:42
  Speaker 1: But I knew that was never going to be My.
• 3:44
  Speaker 4: Homeboys winning that was not but my Homies, no, no,
• 3:47
  Speaker 4: But so I knew that wasn't gonna be the title.
• 3:49
  Speaker 4: But I was like, okay, So in the midst of writing,
• 3:51
  Speaker 4: I said I could, I could direct this, And I
• 3:53
  Speaker 4: remember giving it to Spike. Was he gonna be read
• 3:57
  Speaker 4: all my screenplays? I already had an agent by that
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  Speaker 4: time as well, but no thing was happening.
• 4:00
  Speaker 2: Where you originally from?
• 4:01
  Speaker 4: I'm originally from Well. I was born in Queen's raised
• 4:03
  Speaker 4: in Brooklyn. Yeah, we're first cause his father and my
• 4:07
  Speaker 4: father was now deceased. My father's around, he's our brothers
• 4:13
  Speaker 4: and so yeah. So then I was in my parents' basement.
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  Speaker 4: I finished the script and I said, if this ain't it, then,
• 4:21
  Speaker 4: you know, I don't know what I'm doing. I'm gonna
• 4:22
  Speaker 4: probably be a lawyer or or or or a teacher.
• 4:26
  Speaker 4: And so I handed the script to Spike and he said,
• 4:30
  Speaker 4: this is the one.
• 4:31
  Speaker 1: And so right after that we went to Columbia Pictures.
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  Speaker 4: We had hit a deal at the time, and uh,
• 4:39
  Speaker 4: you know, the start of the process. We didn't land
• 4:40
  Speaker 4: anywhere until you know, maybe six eight months later at
• 4:44
  Speaker 4: Universal because Spike was you know, Spike was the kind
• 4:47
  Speaker 4: of person that dead says if they don't want to
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  Speaker 4: do it, we move it on, right, and so meaning
• 4:53
  Speaker 4: meaning like we're not listening to any notes, but not
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  Speaker 4: this is here's the script. We're making this movie, right.
• 4:58
  Speaker 4: And Columbia was like, well, like do a little to work.
• 5:00
  Speaker 4: He was like, f that, we're out of here. And
• 5:03
  Speaker 4: I was like, well, you know, I'm just kind of
• 5:05
  Speaker 4: playing catch with the whole time, kind of like okay,
• 5:07
  Speaker 4: all right maybe, And then we went to Disney and
• 5:09
  Speaker 4: then a few other places and we were getting like, well,
• 5:12
  Speaker 4: we'd like to do a little.
• 5:12
  Speaker 1: Work and he was like, we're out of here. And
• 5:14
  Speaker 1: then I was like, can we slow down a little
• 5:16
  Speaker 1: bit please? So Universal said, hey, we'd like to see
• 5:19
  Speaker 1: the script. Okay, I get I get to.
• 5:21
  Speaker 4: Pay pay you to to do the rewrite and then
• 5:24
  Speaker 4: if they don't like it at the end, we go
• 5:26
  Speaker 4: to someplace else. I said, all right, fine, we'll just
• 5:28
  Speaker 4: you know, we'll slow it down. So that's what happened,
• 5:30
  Speaker 4: and you know, the process started. I did a two
• 5:32
  Speaker 4: month rewrite and got to a place where it was
• 5:37
  Speaker 4: it was the right script at the right time. You know,
• 5:40
  Speaker 4: like if Love Jones or Where to Exhale or Soul
• 5:45
  Speaker 4: Food didn't proceed that movie, it wouldn't have gotten made.
• 5:50
  Speaker 1: The acting community was ready for it. Here were eight.
• 5:53
  Speaker 4: Roles for black actors that can just be people and
• 5:56
  Speaker 4: not you know, characterizations or caricatures or ide kick or
• 6:01
  Speaker 4: the sassy.
• 6:01
  Speaker 1: One or the hood nigga or whatever. You know.
• 6:03
  Speaker 4: It was like, hey, this is like just eight postgraduates
• 6:07
  Speaker 4: who were you know, coming back and it was you know,
• 6:09
  Speaker 4: had the right tone also, so you know, it kind
• 6:13
  Speaker 4: of worked out that way. And I and certainly my
• 6:16
  Speaker 4: idea was to make a classic movie. It was not
• 6:20
  Speaker 4: Thank you know, and and that was that was that
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  Speaker 4: was the you know, the the intention. But beyond that,
• 6:25
  Speaker 4: I wasn't thinking about anything else. Just happened to be.
• 6:28
  Speaker 1: You know, there's been able to like turn into something
• 6:31
  Speaker 1: more over the years.
• 6:32
  Speaker 2: Now involved with Spike with the first Best Man movie.
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  Speaker 4: You know, Spike, you know pretty much like dude on
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  Speaker 4: your own. Why that's pretty what it was. He said,
• 6:40
  Speaker 4: He said, Okay, you know the script is good. You know,
• 6:43
  Speaker 4: the the guy greenlit going. He showed up the day
• 6:46
  Speaker 4: the first day of shooting. I mean we had a
• 6:49
  Speaker 4: couple of you know, disagreements about casting and you know,
• 6:52
  Speaker 4: music and stuff like that, but you know, I stuck
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  Speaker 4: to my guns about who I wanted and what I wanted,
• 6:57
  Speaker 4: and he was like very supportive of it. He was
• 7:00
  Speaker 4: there for day one of the shoot in the very
• 7:01
  Speaker 4: beginning in the morning, said good luck and he was out.
• 7:04
  Speaker 1: And then you know I saw him in the edit.
• 7:07
  Speaker 4: You know, he looked at it cut and he was
• 7:08
  Speaker 4: like change maybe considered changing this, change that, and.
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  Speaker 1: That was it.
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  Speaker 4: He let me, Spike is very much the person that's
• 7:15
  Speaker 4: like it's the director's vision.
• 7:18
  Speaker 1: You do your you make your movie, right.
• 7:21
  Speaker 5: I was going to ask you I was. I rewatched
• 7:23
  Speaker 5: the Best Man Final chapters before I started this, and
• 7:25
  Speaker 5: in one of those episodes, Harper hints at there's supposed
• 7:29
  Speaker 5: to be this spin off about the love story between
• 7:31
  Speaker 5: him and Nia Long, But then this book kind of
• 7:34
  Speaker 5: gives that vibe too. Was that did you drop that
• 7:37
  Speaker 5: egg on purpose? Or that just happened like that?
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  Speaker 2: Nah?
• 7:40
  Speaker 4: I wish I could say that it was all like
• 7:42
  Speaker 4: part of a master plan, but no, you know, but
• 7:44
  Speaker 4: you you write things and then you see what's what
• 7:48
  Speaker 4: has been established, and you know, trying to build off
• 7:52
  Speaker 4: of that.
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  Speaker 5: So and building off of that because you decide to
• 7:56
  Speaker 5: explore Robin Harper and Joy his lives like separately, even
• 8:01
  Speaker 5: though there's still intertwined. Right, how did you decide that?
• 8:03
  Speaker 5: I know you mentioned it was only these three characters?
• 8:05
  Speaker 5: How do you know like this was the story because
• 8:07
  Speaker 5: there's so many spin offs that we learned about in
• 8:09
  Speaker 5: Final Tan.
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  Speaker 4: And we're going to like, right, so like this is
• 8:12
  Speaker 4: the book one of a trilogy, right, And so I
• 8:14
  Speaker 4: know that the plan was I'm gons start with these
• 8:17
  Speaker 4: three because I think these are the three that that
• 8:18
  Speaker 4: people are most interested or the most kind of polarizing,
• 8:21
  Speaker 4: because you know, Robin made some decisions in the last
• 8:24
  Speaker 4: in the final chapters that people were very upset about.
• 8:26
  Speaker 4: So I want to give her a chance to like
• 8:28
  Speaker 4: explain herself. And I will say, also, let this back up.
• 8:31
  Speaker 1: A little bit.
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  Speaker 4: Doing a television show, as you said, it's like be
• 8:35
  Speaker 4: great to do, but like it's also very restrictive in
• 8:37
  Speaker 4: terms of budget.
• 8:38
  Speaker 1: In front of the story. I want to tell you
• 8:39
  Speaker 1: we wanted to do ten episodes.
• 8:42
  Speaker 4: We're only able to do eight because of again many
• 8:45
  Speaker 4: different things scheduled and whatnot.
• 8:46
  Speaker 1: So again, be able to do it in a book
• 8:48
  Speaker 1: is different.
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  Speaker 4: So in doing these three characters, I wanted to like
• 8:52
  Speaker 4: kind of like get answer those questions about you know,
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  Speaker 4: what's going to going on with Robin And I'm sorry with.
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  Speaker 1: Jordan and Harper, it's Robin doing.
• 9:01
  Speaker 4: Because they're still intertwined, because there's there's still share a
• 9:04
  Speaker 4: child that's has been a long time together. And then
• 9:06
  Speaker 4: in book two and three, we get into Lance's POV
• 9:10
  Speaker 4: and we're getting into Quentin's pov uh Candice Shelby and
• 9:15
  Speaker 4: and and expand on the story from there.
• 9:17
  Speaker 1: But you know, and we were gonna end it, uh.
• 9:20
  Speaker 4: With with with these three with these three characters were
• 9:23
  Speaker 4: going to be like, we're gonna wrap up their story,
• 9:24
  Speaker 4: but they're going to continue because we have a bit
• 9:27
  Speaker 4: of a cliffhanger at the end of unfinished business.
• 9:31
  Speaker 3: You know, black content, uh can have tremendous success but
• 9:35
  Speaker 3: still not get respect from whatever platform or or our industry.
• 9:40
  Speaker 3: So how did Peacock react to the success of The
• 9:43
  Speaker 3: Best Man final chapters?
• 9:45
  Speaker 4: They were ecstatic, you know, they were ecstatic. I mean
• 9:47
  Speaker 4: it was I don't I don't. I don't want to
• 9:50
  Speaker 4: say necessarily that it saved the network, but it certainly
• 9:53
  Speaker 4: was a big boost for the network. So they want
• 9:57
  Speaker 4: more from me. They you know, they would love to
• 9:59
  Speaker 4: have another or Best Man. But again, you know, it's
• 10:03
  Speaker 4: very very tough.
• 10:04
  Speaker 3: Yeah, but saying you you would love to have something
• 10:07
  Speaker 3: as one thing, showing improving it through the actual budget
• 10:11
  Speaker 3: is another.
• 10:12
  Speaker 1: Is that the problem? I think that's part of It's
• 10:15
  Speaker 1: a challenge. It's a real challenge.
• 10:17
  Speaker 4: I mean, like you know, again in terms of like
• 10:20
  Speaker 4: what what they value and what they're like. This this book,
• 10:22
  Speaker 4: for instance, takes place in four different cities, two different continents.
• 10:26
  Speaker 4: To have that kind of budget to make that movie
• 10:29
  Speaker 4: with all these actors take Avengers type money, right, you know,
• 10:32
  Speaker 4: I mean I'm exaggerating, but like that's what it would
• 10:35
  Speaker 4: would take.
• 10:36
  Speaker 1: Do they think it's worth it?
• 10:37
  Speaker 4: I don't know, because it's like how much I don't
• 10:40
  Speaker 4: know how streaming works versus subscriptions, versus how much they
• 10:43
  Speaker 4: can they can afford, and how much they're going to
• 10:45
  Speaker 4: be able to expend, and how much they want what
• 10:46
  Speaker 4: they value.
• 10:47
  Speaker 1: I don't know.
• 10:48
  Speaker 4: But all I know is, Okay, here's here's an opportunity
• 10:50
  Speaker 4: to tell the story in another way. And listen, the
• 10:55
  Speaker 4: books get turned into television shows and movies all the time,
• 10:58
  Speaker 4: so you know, but that wasn't the intention.
• 11:00
  Speaker 1: Here. We'll see what happens. We are all.
• 11:03
  Speaker 2: Surprised with the success of The Best Man and how
• 11:05
  Speaker 2: as well as did since ninety nine, because it's like
• 11:08
  Speaker 2: another ending story that you know, it's generations and new
• 11:11
  Speaker 2: generations of kids watching and listening and viewing.
• 11:15
  Speaker 1: Yeah, you know, I'll say that because.
• 11:17
  Speaker 2: I'm surprised it was ninety nine. I had to look
• 11:19
  Speaker 2: at my damn ninety nine.
• 11:20
  Speaker 1: Yeah, man, I don't know, but yeah, it was.
• 11:24
  Speaker 4: I listened, like I said, I intended, and I thought
• 11:28
  Speaker 4: I could make a classic. But I thought that was
• 11:30
  Speaker 4: gonna be it, like you know, and I didn't want
• 11:32
  Speaker 4: to be, you know, a sequel type thing because like
• 11:34
  Speaker 4: it's like they wanted to a sequel right away, and
• 11:36
  Speaker 4: I said, no, I want.
• 11:37
  Speaker 1: I want other stories to tell. I want these characters
• 11:39
  Speaker 1: to grow.
• 11:40
  Speaker 4: And I'm glad I waited, because you know, there is
• 11:42
  Speaker 4: more story to tell as we as a people get
• 11:45
  Speaker 4: more mature and get you know, different stimuli and different
• 11:50
  Speaker 4: things that that enter our brain. It's like, you know,
• 11:52
  Speaker 4: and especially as we get older, right, and the culture
• 11:54
  Speaker 4: changes and shifts and whatnot. I wanted to be able
• 11:56
  Speaker 4: to infuse that with these characters as well. So well,
• 12:00
  Speaker 4: you know, the fact that I was able to do
• 12:01
  Speaker 4: it has been great, you know, like and really with
• 12:04
  Speaker 4: Best Man Holiday, it was also a very strategic move
• 12:07
  Speaker 4: in terms.
• 12:07
  Speaker 1: Of like what's the what's what's.
• 12:10
  Speaker 4: Everything was about branding around twenty twelve, right, you know,
• 12:12
  Speaker 4: twenty ten, right, and they were like, okay, what's my brand?
• 12:15
  Speaker 4: And I needed to need to work too, because I
• 12:17
  Speaker 4: wasn't working a whole bunch. And I said, okay, it's
• 12:19
  Speaker 4: time to make another sequel or make another Best Man movie.
• 12:22
  Speaker 4: And because my brand is the Best Man, so that's
• 12:26
  Speaker 4: what happened, and you know, we met made it so
• 12:29
  Speaker 4: that The Best Man Holiday had a cliffhanger, also that
• 12:31
  Speaker 4: we didn't tell another story. But you know, at the time,
• 12:34
  Speaker 4: Universal Pictures was not meeting where I wanted to meet
• 12:38
  Speaker 4: budget wise, you know, and for another movie. So so
• 12:41
  Speaker 4: I shifted to make a series because streaming was so
• 12:47
  Speaker 4: popular at the time, and I thought, Okay, we could
• 12:49
  Speaker 4: tell more story. And I knew I had two more
• 12:51
  Speaker 4: movies that I wanted to tell there and then I thought, Okay,
• 12:54
  Speaker 4: now we're done.
• 12:55
  Speaker 1: But we're not done.
• 12:57
  Speaker 5: It's crazy, though, because when you mentioned The Avengers, I
• 12:59
  Speaker 5: was sitting here thinking, like, how the universe of like
• 13:01
  Speaker 5: those type of characters work, and this is a universe
• 13:03
  Speaker 5: like I would literally follow those storylines and not even
• 13:06
  Speaker 5: just the main characters, but we're introduced to their children,
• 13:09
  Speaker 5: like LJ has a story, you know what I mean.
• 13:11
  Speaker 5: So it kind of is that. But it doesn't seem
• 13:13
  Speaker 5: like from what you're saying, it's getting that vibe when
• 13:16
  Speaker 5: you go to these networks.
• 13:18
  Speaker 4: No mind you, I did not try. I did not
• 13:21
  Speaker 4: try to say, oh I want to make another.
• 13:25
  Speaker 1: Show. I didn't say, like, let's make another one.
• 13:28
  Speaker 4: There are other things in the works that may or
• 13:30
  Speaker 4: may not have to do it best Man, but I
• 13:33
  Speaker 4: wanted to write the book first. That's that's why I
• 13:35
  Speaker 4: felt like that was the next logical step. Again, mounting
• 13:40
  Speaker 4: a show is very difficult, and it's cost a lot
• 13:44
  Speaker 4: of money. There's a lot of demands, a lot of
• 13:45
  Speaker 4: compromises that have to happen. And again, gathering all that talent,
• 13:50
  Speaker 4: you know, for a span of time is also a challenge.
• 13:54
  Speaker 1: And I'm getting old, you know.
• 13:57
  Speaker 4: I want to do things that you know, that move me,
• 14:00
  Speaker 4: that motivate me, and I think this is a good
• 14:03
  Speaker 4: way to do it. And again it can always shift
• 14:06
  Speaker 4: and change, but I got I have to do wrote
• 14:08
  Speaker 4: this book and write two more.
• 14:10
  Speaker 3: How do you navigate the balance between cultural storytelling and
• 14:14
  Speaker 3: commercial expectations?
• 14:16
  Speaker 4: Interesting, I try not to worry too much about about
• 14:22
  Speaker 4: commercial success. I have an eye on it always. I mean,
• 14:25
  Speaker 4: when I wrote best Man, that was both commercial, and
• 14:32
  Speaker 4: I wanted to write something commercial, but something that I
• 14:34
  Speaker 4: thought would speak to me and the people that then
• 14:37
  Speaker 4: audience that that that that hadn't been had been underserved
• 14:40
  Speaker 4: at that point. So I always have one eye on
• 14:43
  Speaker 4: commerce and one eye on artistry, and then just try
• 14:46
  Speaker 4: to hopefully make those meld, and you have to keep
• 14:48
  Speaker 4: an eye on what's what's happening, you know, Like wedding
• 14:51
  Speaker 4: movies were very popular at that time. There had not
• 14:53
  Speaker 4: been a black wedding movie to date. And I said, okay, well,
• 14:57
  Speaker 4: I love ensemble movies. I love the dramedy tone of storytelling.
• 15:02
  Speaker 4: So that's what I want to try to do. And again,
• 15:05
  Speaker 4: it was the right script at the right time, and
• 15:07
  Speaker 4: I just try to make the best movie that I
• 15:09
  Speaker 4: possibly can. And if it's not my job to market it,
• 15:13
  Speaker 4: it's their job to market it, you know.
• 15:15
  Speaker 1: And and if I've given.
• 15:17
  Speaker 4: You a movie that's that's play has playability, it's your
• 15:21
  Speaker 4: job to make it marketable.
• 15:24
  Speaker 5: I was going to say that finding the right movie
• 15:27
  Speaker 5: at the right time was kind of similar to what
• 15:29
  Speaker 5: you guys did with Girls Trip to or at this
• 15:32
  Speaker 5: point our networks coming to you trying to find that,
• 15:34
  Speaker 5: like what's the right movie at the right time, because
• 15:36
  Speaker 5: it seems like that's a part of your brain.
• 15:37
  Speaker 4: Now, well, I think they're always trying to copy. It's
• 15:43
  Speaker 4: a copycat industry, right. Whatever successful, they're going to try
• 15:46
  Speaker 4: to make more of more of that. I think with
• 15:48
  Speaker 4: Girls Trip, you know both Hangover and Bride'smaids preceded that movie.
• 15:54
  Speaker 4: And Will Packer Hans to me and he said, maw,
• 15:57
  Speaker 4: let's take actors from Best Man and think like a man,
• 16:01
  Speaker 4: and let's make you know, the Hangover treating for black women.
• 16:04
  Speaker 4: At Essence, I said, I'm in right, and so you know,
• 16:10
  Speaker 4: it just kind of it was again another right place,
• 16:14
  Speaker 4: right time type of deal.
• 16:15
  Speaker 1: It has to be the right script.
• 16:16
  Speaker 5: Also, didn't break your heart when you saw this stuff
• 16:18
  Speaker 5: that was happening with Essence just recently.
• 16:21
  Speaker 1: You know, It's funny I did not.
• 16:23
  Speaker 4: I was there right, I was voting the book I
• 16:25
  Speaker 4: didn't have I didn't notice, you know what other folks
• 16:29
  Speaker 4: were noticing, because you know, I was being shifted from
• 16:31
  Speaker 4: this place to that place or whatever.
• 16:32
  Speaker 1: I didn't really like get.
• 16:33
  Speaker 4: You know, I wasn't really exploring and I went, you
• 16:36
  Speaker 4: know to the concerts and things like that.
• 16:38
  Speaker 1: It's a little bit. The tenants was down right, but
• 16:41
  Speaker 1: I said, I was like, it wasn't as packed as
• 16:43
  Speaker 1: it usually right. But I think some of that has
• 16:45
  Speaker 1: to do with economics. I mean, folks, yeah, people don't
• 16:48
  Speaker 1: have the disposal income.
• 16:50
  Speaker 4: You know, it's it's it's it's not strictly just because
• 16:53
  Speaker 4: you know, management has changed. I think that's part of it,
• 16:56
  Speaker 4: or at least that that's the sense I'm getting.
• 16:58
  Speaker 1: From people online.
• 16:59
  Speaker 4: I didn't have that experience that I felt like, oh,
• 17:02
  Speaker 4: like this is really changed.
• 17:03
  Speaker 2: It's gonna sound stupid, but you should do a guide strip.
• 17:06
  Speaker 2: I've seen so many not stupid that go to New
• 17:09
  Speaker 2: Orleans because they're looking for women, right, and they know
• 17:12
  Speaker 2: that they're looking for whether it's married women that that
• 17:14
  Speaker 2: take their ring off for that weekend, or it's single
• 17:17
  Speaker 2: women that's out there. There's so many fellas that put
• 17:20
  Speaker 2: their flyers outfit on and they had and they.
• 17:23
  Speaker 1: Go out there looking for it. Be called the Yian.
• 17:25
  Speaker 1: The young niggas gonna be you're old and you're doing
• 17:32
  Speaker 1: that that, Oh yeah, it is, like.
• 17:35
  Speaker 5: Necessarily it's the older scale of men that come.
• 17:40
  Speaker 3: You shouldn't be no forty fifty year old bachelor in
• 17:43
  Speaker 3: a pack still chasing women ence, because you should be
• 17:47
  Speaker 3: grown and mature.
• 17:48
  Speaker 5: It should have been already. Person's rundown's that happens at
• 17:54
  Speaker 5: that point?
• 17:55
  Speaker 1: How is any women?
• 17:56
  Speaker 5: Are women raging age of essence? I'm sure yo, hey skin.
• 18:04
  Speaker 5: When we think about a girl's trip.
• 18:06
  Speaker 1: Regina Hall was married yep.
• 18:08
  Speaker 3: Right, Tiffany was the wild right one.
• 18:11
  Speaker 4: But but but but Jada was divorced, and so was
• 18:14
  Speaker 4: and and and and Latifa was was free also, so itou.
• 18:17
  Speaker 3: Have to be Yeah, so the guys have to have
• 18:19
  Speaker 3: a different backstory than just being a bunch of wild
• 18:21
  Speaker 3: by the.
• 18:21
  Speaker 4: Way and be like that, Like like, I'm not saying
• 18:26
  Speaker 4: that we're not doing or we are doing a guys
• 18:28
  Speaker 4: trip movie, but you're not.
• 18:30
  Speaker 1: You did not plant that idea in my head. Just
• 18:31
  Speaker 1: wanted to make just to be clear.
• 18:36
  Speaker 2: But it's funny because you go out there and you know,
• 18:38
  Speaker 2: the guys that used to be able to drink, they
• 18:39
  Speaker 2: take two shots to pass out. Now guys me naps.
• 18:42
  Speaker 1: Now it's funny though, But I agree, I agree, I mean, yeah,
• 18:45
  Speaker 1: I don't. I think we wouldn't do at essence for guys.
• 18:50
  Speaker 4: But even though, like I had a best friend, a
• 18:52
  Speaker 4: really good friend rather who said, like I was telling
• 18:55
  Speaker 4: him I was doing uh girls trip and he was like, oh,
• 18:58
  Speaker 4: essence I got. I got a bunch of essence wives
• 19:01
  Speaker 4: And I was like, oh interesting. So like they say
• 19:04
  Speaker 4: to say, the women that you don't have a chance
• 19:05
  Speaker 4: with in regular time you gotta you gotta, you gotta
• 19:08
  Speaker 4: shot with that's this weekend.
• 19:10
  Speaker 1: The people that be like they free they seen that weekend.
• 19:12
  Speaker 5: I've been no, no, no, I ain't. But I've seen
• 19:15
  Speaker 5: you know, I've seen all the know. I know. I'm
• 19:19
  Speaker 5: just saying I've seen that. Like I've seen people. And
• 19:21
  Speaker 5: there's a lot of stories too. People revisit Essence Fest
• 19:24
  Speaker 5: on their anniversary because they met there and now they're married.
• 19:26
  Speaker 5: Like there's a lot of that. It's kind of like homecoming. Yeah, yeah,
• 19:29
  Speaker 5: what happens. But I was asking you about that in
• 19:32
  Speaker 5: your branding and networks coming to you because in Best Man,
• 19:35
  Speaker 5: one of the things that Harper's trying so hard to
• 19:37
  Speaker 5: do is like not let the networks take too much
• 19:39
  Speaker 5: of him and be like white wish. How do you
• 19:41
  Speaker 5: do that? Because you're working with these big platforms, but
• 19:44
  Speaker 5: like it's still very much us and we feel it right.
• 19:46
  Speaker 4: Well, you know, I first of all, try to have
• 19:49
  Speaker 4: as much integrity as possible in the storytelling. I'm trying
• 19:52
  Speaker 4: to tell I'm my mission on this earth is to
• 19:55
  Speaker 4: tell elevated stories about black people and making sure that
• 20:00
  Speaker 4: our humanity is highlighted and that we normalize black life
• 20:05
  Speaker 4: in America. That's my mission in life, particularly when it
• 20:08
  Speaker 4: comes to black men. That's what I've been put on
• 20:11
  Speaker 4: this earth to do. That's my that's and that's and
• 20:13
  Speaker 4: most of the time they respect that, particularly if they
• 20:17
  Speaker 4: think it's gonna make money, you know what I mean. So,
• 20:19
  Speaker 4: like that's just part of my DNA.
• 20:23
  Speaker 3: Oh that's good because when you do this best Best Guy,
• 20:27
  Speaker 3: whatever it is, when you do this story about the
• 20:28
  Speaker 3: men going to Essence, you gotta have every single type
• 20:32
  Speaker 3: of man represented. You got to have the one man
• 20:35
  Speaker 3: that's there, letting these dudes know how stupid, Like.
• 20:39
  Speaker 5: We should have been passed this already.
• 20:41
  Speaker 1: We need to go back to the room. Now, we
• 20:42
  Speaker 1: got to go one more club, one more ball.
• 20:44
  Speaker 3: Now, Okay, you know what I did, which happened after
• 20:48
  Speaker 3: The Best Man, the final chapter and because of the
• 20:52
  Speaker 3: success of The Girls Trip, I thought that was gonna
• 20:54
  Speaker 3: make other platforms say, you know what, there's other shows
• 20:57
  Speaker 3: we can do that with, like Girlfriends. I feel like
• 21:00
  Speaker 3: Girlfriends is just sitting there and Girlfriends is to show
• 21:02
  Speaker 3: that we didn't get no closure on So it would
• 21:04
  Speaker 3: make all the sense in the world to do something
• 21:06
  Speaker 3: like that.
• 21:07
  Speaker 5: So I don't understand why.
• 21:08
  Speaker 3: When we have success with something like The Best Man
• 21:10
  Speaker 3: Wed in Hollywood doesn't say that's the new mandate, we
• 21:13
  Speaker 3: need more of that.
• 21:14
  Speaker 4: I think you know a lot of that has to
• 21:17
  Speaker 4: do with behind the scenes stuff too. You know, you know,
• 21:19
  Speaker 4: you don't know what's going on with again, with schedules,
• 21:23
  Speaker 4: with the with the creative process. You know, where people's
• 21:27
  Speaker 4: heads are, how much money they're offering to to to
• 21:29
  Speaker 4: produce something like that. I think Mara has talked about
• 21:33
  Speaker 4: doing a girlfriend a movie. I think uh if Bett
• 21:37
  Speaker 4: Lee Bowser has talked about, you know, rebooting living single
• 21:40
  Speaker 4: in some form of fashion. But I mean again, it's like,
• 21:44
  Speaker 4: you know, what they're currently doing versus what uh you
• 21:48
  Speaker 4: know it's on the horizon, versus what studios are gonna
• 21:51
  Speaker 4: do or pay for. I mean, the business of filmmaking
• 21:55
  Speaker 4: and in studios in Hollywood is contracting.
• 21:58
  Speaker 1: It's shrinking.
• 21:58
  Speaker 4: It's not expanding, you know, it's it's only getting smaller.
• 22:02
  Speaker 4: So you know, and they're only going to do things
• 22:05
  Speaker 4: that that have IP and and those are great examples
• 22:08
  Speaker 4: of you know IP that that's already exists that you
• 22:12
  Speaker 4: know they could build on.
• 22:13
  Speaker 2: But is it difficult to do those positive type of
• 22:16
  Speaker 2: movies like you know, you look at what it costs
• 22:18
  Speaker 2: to do that Best Man and how much you made,
• 22:20
  Speaker 2: and how much you cost to do Girls Trip and
• 22:22
  Speaker 2: how much you made.
• 22:23
  Speaker 1: I feel like we should get more of that.
• 22:24
  Speaker 2: But we don't see any of that, Like you don't
• 22:26
  Speaker 2: see a Love and Basketball, you don't see a Best
• 22:28
  Speaker 2: Man anymore.
• 22:29
  Speaker 1: You don't see a.
• 22:30
  Speaker 2: Lot of those movies anymore. That's positive for our country.
• 22:34
  Speaker 2: You don't see it as many.
• 22:35
  Speaker 5: Forevery on netflixt.
• 22:37
  Speaker 2: Good I'm told about movies.
• 22:39
  Speaker 4: Well, movies are very It's very hard to get people
• 22:41
  Speaker 4: to get out of their homes to go to a
• 22:43
  Speaker 4: movie theater nowadays because everything is so easy on streaming.
• 22:46
  Speaker 1: It's like, oh, I'll just turn.
• 22:47
  Speaker 4: It on to get people that come out of their
• 22:49
  Speaker 4: homes and.
• 22:52
  Speaker 1: Buy popcorn or get a babysitter or whatever.
• 22:55
  Speaker 4: That's a increasingly Yeah, it's got to feel like an
• 22:58
  Speaker 4: event otherwise, like or you know, I'm gonna miss out
• 23:01
  Speaker 4: on something if I don't go see it. And so
• 23:03
  Speaker 4: that's what the students are really struggling with right now.
• 23:05
  Speaker 4: It's like what what Because it costs so much to
• 23:09
  Speaker 4: not only make a movie, but to market and promote
• 23:12
  Speaker 4: a movie that like, it's got to be worth the shot.
• 23:15
  Speaker 1: Can they make?
• 23:16
  Speaker 2: Are they making them money back when it's on a
• 23:18
  Speaker 2: network like that, Like like you spend let's say whatever
• 23:21
  Speaker 2: the cost to do a movie and they put it
• 23:22
  Speaker 2: on a Netflix, right, Is Netflix making them money back?
• 23:25
  Speaker 2: Because it's suscriptions, They're gonna make that money monthly anyway?
• 23:28
  Speaker 1: Are they?
• 23:28
  Speaker 2: Is it worth it for them for that?
• 23:30
  Speaker 4: I think it is becausetherwise they stop making it. Yeah,
• 23:32
  Speaker 4: I mean I think that, yeah, they they they their
• 23:35
  Speaker 4: costs are are not as high when it comes to
• 23:39
  Speaker 4: market and promotion, and they can then it's you know,
• 23:42
  Speaker 4: available across the world, so they have a lot of.
• 23:45
  Speaker 1: You know, ways that they can make money. I think
• 23:47
  Speaker 1: streaming is just.
• 23:48
  Speaker 4: Just easier for people to like click on things, but
• 23:51
  Speaker 4: they also you have to have certain things happen right away.
• 23:56
  Speaker 1: Althwise, people be like a I don't want to watch that,
• 23:57
  Speaker 1: I go onto something else. That's what it's. It's I've not.
• 24:00
  Speaker 4: Made a movie for a streamer I mean other, I
• 24:02
  Speaker 4: mean television show. I think movies on streaming can be
• 24:06
  Speaker 4: very can get lost and be very forgettable because people are.
• 24:12
  Speaker 1: Just kind of like whatever, you know, that's cool, that
• 24:14
  Speaker 1: was nice.
• 24:15
  Speaker 4: But it's like and so that would be very hard
• 24:17
  Speaker 4: for me to to take and feel like, oh, I'm
• 24:21
  Speaker 4: making some kind of cultural impact. I think movies do
• 24:24
  Speaker 4: have the ability to coachally be impactful, and it's not
• 24:28
  Speaker 4: always the case. It's not you can't always be culturally impactful.
• 24:31
  Speaker 4: But in a in a movie where you know, grolture,
• 24:34
  Speaker 4: but obviously it's one of those movies. Best Man is
• 24:36
  Speaker 4: one of those movies you just hope that that deserve
• 24:39
  Speaker 4: a big canvas and you know people will go see him.
• 24:42
  Speaker 3: I agree, because when you set it up as a
• 24:44
  Speaker 3: TV series, that's more of an event. When the Best
• 24:47
  Speaker 3: Man final chapter is eight episodes, it's like, oh, I
• 24:50
  Speaker 3: got right, But if it was this best Man in
• 24:52
  Speaker 3: the movie, I'll probably watch.
• 24:54
  Speaker 1: But it's not right an event, right exactly exactly.
• 24:58
  Speaker 4: I think, like, you know, fortunately we were able to
• 25:00
  Speaker 4: platform it in a way that you know, it gave
• 25:04
  Speaker 4: peacocka a lot of subscribers based on you know, that's
• 25:08
  Speaker 4: great cast and this great franchise.
• 25:09
  Speaker 1: So you know, we were very very fortunate to do that.
• 25:12
  Speaker 4: And I would like to keep doing that in television,
• 25:16
  Speaker 4: to tell those kind of event event tires type of stories.
• 25:20
  Speaker 1: And it's why that we don't look at it like that, Beau.
• 25:21
  Speaker 3: If you get in eight episodes of an hour series,
• 25:23
  Speaker 3: that's like four movies.
• 25:25
  Speaker 4: Yep, it felt like it too.
• 25:28
  Speaker 3: When it comes to the book, do you have to
• 25:30
  Speaker 3: run the characters arcs past the you know what the
• 25:36
  Speaker 3: actors and the world like this is where I'm taking
• 25:39
  Speaker 3: y'all characters?
• 25:40
  Speaker 4: No, I mean, you know, especially in this form, it's
• 25:44
  Speaker 4: like these these characters came from me, so I own
• 25:49
  Speaker 4: them and I dictate where they go. It's you know what,
• 25:53
  Speaker 4: where they do have an influence is like you know
• 25:56
  Speaker 4: what they look like and their voices and their facial
• 25:59
  Speaker 4: looks Russians and you know, I think that's you know.
• 26:03
  Speaker 1: Part of the storytelling. But no, I don't. I don't.
• 26:05
  Speaker 1: I wouldn't be consulting them.
• 26:07
  Speaker 4: It's it's not the only time you have to consult
• 26:09
  Speaker 4: them is like when it's when it's time to actually
• 26:11
  Speaker 4: do it and then on that or to make a
• 26:13
  Speaker 4: movie or a television show. And in that instance, you know,
• 26:16
  Speaker 4: that's when the collaboration is happening. But on the book,
• 26:19
  Speaker 4: it's just me and my and my my co author
• 26:22
  Speaker 4: Jane Allen, and you know, the editor.
• 26:25
  Speaker 3: The only reason is because you know one day you're
• 26:27
  Speaker 3: going to have to get them to play these characters
• 26:29
  Speaker 3: again for this story.
• 26:31
  Speaker 5: They lived in real life.
• 26:32
  Speaker 1: People still I don't know, you know again, but we
• 26:37
  Speaker 1: don't we don't know.
• 26:37
  Speaker 4: I mean, but when that time comes, if that time comes,
• 26:41
  Speaker 4: then we'll we'll we'll cross that bridge.
• 26:43
  Speaker 5: Now that the characters have called you about the book
• 26:45
  Speaker 5: and been like hold on, now, why did I have
• 26:46
  Speaker 5: to nobody, Neela, nobody has called you about that, yeah,
• 26:51
  Speaker 5: or like just being like yo, I like where you
• 26:53
  Speaker 5: took the character because like Nia long or Jordan's finally
• 26:55
  Speaker 5: getting a repeat of Reprieve.
• 26:57
  Speaker 4: Well, well, Harold and uh Mare and Tane, my business
• 27:01
  Speaker 4: partners and Table have have read it and and they've
• 27:03
  Speaker 4: got given me feedback. The others I haven't heard from
• 27:05
  Speaker 4: yet in terms of that that they've read it.
• 27:08
  Speaker 2: It depends on budget to because you can get a
• 27:10
  Speaker 2: cheap version of Morris right there. That's not cheap versions of.
• 27:14
  Speaker 3: Things, but you know, but that would never work for this.
• 27:17
  Speaker 1: You have to have ingredients.
• 27:19
  Speaker 5: It would never kill you if you reach Oh you
• 27:21
  Speaker 5: can't say certain words either.
• 27:24
  Speaker 1: That's what what can he say?
• 27:26
  Speaker 5: Like words with words? Now you were talking about. You
• 27:38
  Speaker 5: were talking about your co author, Jane Allen. So she
• 27:40
  Speaker 5: did Black Girls Mess Die Exhausted?
• 27:42
  Speaker 1: Correct?
• 27:42
  Speaker 5: I read. I didn't know that there were different iterations
• 27:46
  Speaker 5: of the book. I read the first one that she did, Yes,
• 27:48
  Speaker 5: there's two more, okay, and that one. I mean, I
• 27:50
  Speaker 5: work in media, so it spoke to me like so clearly.
• 27:54
  Speaker 5: When I saw that she was your co author, I'm like, oh,
• 27:56
  Speaker 5: Jordan's life is literally like a lot about what Jane
• 27:59
  Speaker 5: writes about interesting, like just because she talks a lot
• 28:02
  Speaker 5: about black women trying to figure out basically not like
• 28:05
  Speaker 5: to wither yourself away by like surviving life? How can
• 28:08
  Speaker 5: you live life? And then I thought about the black
• 28:09
  Speaker 5: women in this series, and I'm like, ooh, I wonder
• 28:11
  Speaker 5: if you all came together because you thought that way
• 28:14
  Speaker 5: or did it just happen?
• 28:15
  Speaker 4: Well, I mean when I interviewed with Jaye, I read her,
• 28:18
  Speaker 4: I'd read her books, and then I sat down with
• 28:21
  Speaker 4: her to talk about the collaboration process.
• 28:24
  Speaker 1: I really liked her her life experience.
• 28:26
  Speaker 4: You know, she had been an attorney, she had worked
• 28:27
  Speaker 4: for Prince, she had worked for Lady Gaga, she had
• 28:30
  Speaker 4: had a number of entrepreneurial businesses before she decided to
• 28:33
  Speaker 4: become an author, and so I really like that, and uh,
• 28:37
  Speaker 4: and I liked her writing, and I thought she'd be additive,
• 28:38
  Speaker 4: particularly as a black woman, you know, who had had
• 28:41
  Speaker 4: corporate experience, you know, with with the telling of these stories.
• 28:45
  Speaker 1: So it was pretty much a no brainer.
• 28:47
  Speaker 4: And well, it really wasn't a no brainer until she
• 28:49
  Speaker 4: said to me, like, why are you doing this? I said, well,
• 28:51
  Speaker 4: I'm trying to excise new muscle. I'm trying to get
• 28:53
  Speaker 4: into the novel run. And she's like, no, no, what for,
• 28:55
  Speaker 4: Like what are you doing?
• 28:56
  Speaker 1: I said, I don't know.
• 28:57
  Speaker 4: I thought that was pretty explanatory. And then she said,
• 29:00
  Speaker 4: do you want to win? And I was like, huh, yeah,
• 29:04
  Speaker 4: I want to win? Do you want to be you
• 29:06
  Speaker 4: want this? Are you all in on this book? Are
• 29:08
  Speaker 4: you just trying to like just be like whatever with it?
• 29:09
  Speaker 4: And I was like, no, I'm all in. I'm I'm
• 29:11
  Speaker 4: I'm I want And I love that spirit, you know,
• 29:13
  Speaker 4: of like someone that's like got the same kind of
• 29:15
  Speaker 4: work ethic that I do. It's like, Okay, let's push
• 29:18
  Speaker 4: ourselves to make the best product possible. And I think
• 29:20
  Speaker 4: we've done that with the book, you know, I think
• 29:22
  Speaker 4: the people are really going to if they've loved The
• 29:24
  Speaker 4: Best Man, The Best Man Holiday and the and the series,
• 29:28
  Speaker 4: they're gonna love the book because it's more expansive storytelling.
• 29:32
  Speaker 4: It's it's, it's it's I think in more more depth
• 29:35
  Speaker 4: than the movies and television. You're you're able to do
• 29:37
  Speaker 4: things in movies intellivision that you can't or in a
• 29:40
  Speaker 4: novel that you can't.
• 29:40
  Speaker 1: Do in movies and television.
• 29:42
  Speaker 4: It's like that you use all five senses you need
• 29:44
  Speaker 4: to feel, taste, smell, see here, it's it's all all
• 29:48
  Speaker 4: those things are engaged, and it's a very cinematic experience
• 29:51
  Speaker 4: because you already know who the characters are, what they look.
• 29:54
  Speaker 3: Like, what what legacy are you personally building. That's distinc
• 29:58
  Speaker 3: from the family the lene.
• 30:03
  Speaker 4: I think it's there are some intersectionality between what Spike
• 30:07
  Speaker 4: has done and what I'm doing, what Spike is continuing
• 30:09
  Speaker 4: to do, And primarily that's that's that's elevating, you know,
• 30:14
  Speaker 4: the humanity of black people, on the normalization.
• 30:17
  Speaker 1: Of black life. Don't forget Joey Joey Lee my cousin.
• 30:24
  Speaker 4: Yeah that's okay, no, no, and yeah no, trust me,
• 30:27
  Speaker 4: Like you know, you know, uh, Spike's brother David as
• 30:30
  Speaker 4: a photographer, you know, and so so I don't know,
• 30:34
  Speaker 4: like I I I'm trying to create my own lane.
• 30:36
  Speaker 4: I have, I have, I have created my own lane.
• 30:37
  Speaker 4: It's different from what Spike does. Spike is like, you know,
• 30:39
  Speaker 4: a true filmmaker artist, right, you know, I'm I'm I
• 30:44
  Speaker 4: tend to make movies, although I'm trying to like be
• 30:47
  Speaker 4: an artist, you know, but you know, my lane has
• 30:51
  Speaker 4: been like.
• 30:51
  Speaker 1: Trying to be much more of the commercial route.
• 30:54
  Speaker 4: And and again it's about normalization of of black life
• 30:57
  Speaker 4: in America and abroad.
• 31:00
  Speaker 5: How did you know or why did you decide to
• 31:03
  Speaker 5: finally explore Ty Diggs in uh in SNAILI Than's character
• 31:08
  Speaker 5: like not trying to get back together because Harper and Robin,
• 31:11
  Speaker 5: Harper and Robert, yes, right, like, because I feel like
• 31:14
  Speaker 5: there's been times where like we see them go apart,
• 31:17
  Speaker 5: but then I always thought that they would try and
• 31:19
  Speaker 5: figure it out again. Especially Yeah, I.
• 31:20
  Speaker 4: Mean, I wanted to explore, you know, what life was like,
• 31:23
  Speaker 4: you know, post divorce, and you know the circumstances behind that,
• 31:26
  Speaker 4: because I mean, you know, Harper you know, could have
• 31:28
  Speaker 4: probably made some different choices, you know, you know, and
• 31:32
  Speaker 4: and and but now he's he's got all the trappings
• 31:34
  Speaker 4: of success. He's got the you know, he got the
• 31:36
  Speaker 4: bachelor pad and in Dumbo Brooklyn, he's got you know,
• 31:40
  Speaker 4: critical successes, being a Pulitzerprise winner.
• 31:43
  Speaker 1: But he's alone, right, I mean, he not lonely, but
• 31:46
  Speaker 1: he alone.
• 31:47
  Speaker 4: And you know, he's enjoying his bachelor life style, but
• 31:50
  Speaker 4: he doesn't quite fit into his life the way he
• 31:52
  Speaker 4: used to, and especially with his friends.
• 31:54
  Speaker 1: He's the seventh wheel. And in this in this, in
• 31:58
  Speaker 1: this book, he is kind of ask himself.
• 32:00
  Speaker 4: The question, did I do the right thing? Have I
• 32:03
  Speaker 4: could I have done better? And so is there gonna
• 32:06
  Speaker 4: be a reconciliation perhaps? You know, Robbin's over in Ghana,
• 32:10
  Speaker 4: And I went to Ghana by the way to do
• 32:12
  Speaker 4: some exploration and just probably get put my foot on
• 32:14
  Speaker 4: the soil and and breathe the air and taste.
• 32:16
  Speaker 1: The food and be with the people.
• 32:18
  Speaker 4: So I could really fill out that side of the
• 32:20
  Speaker 4: story and explore like what life was like for a
• 32:24
  Speaker 4: returney to to Ghana. Uh So, yeah, I mean there's
• 32:28
  Speaker 4: there's there's a lot of explanation or I was an
• 32:32
  Speaker 4: exploration of what's what was the right thing?
• 32:35
  Speaker 1: And should he return to a woman that was like
• 32:39
  Speaker 1: made him the man that he is.
• 32:42
  Speaker 4: And you know, also he's got his daughter's preteen daughter
• 32:45
  Speaker 4: that's missing him as well, you know, across the Atlantic.
• 32:48
  Speaker 1: So it's lots for him to be thinking about.
• 32:50
  Speaker 4: And there's also his friendship, his long term friendship with Jordan,
• 32:54
  Speaker 4: and you know, are they going to finally link up
• 32:58
  Speaker 4: and finally get together and are they really soulmates or not?
• 33:02
  Speaker 1: You're smiling. Have you finished the book?
• 33:04
  Speaker 5: No? I didn't finish it. But the last time that
• 33:06
  Speaker 5: we talked, I asked, you, did you give my girl
• 33:08
  Speaker 5: Jordan a reprieve? Does she finally get her situation together?
• 33:11
  Speaker 5: And say, you were at Rooth's picnic. You said I
• 33:14
  Speaker 5: had to read the book. You wouldn't tell me anything.
• 33:16
  Speaker 5: But in reading it so far, I feel like it's
• 33:20
  Speaker 5: like she's in the middle. It's like, yes, and no.
• 33:22
  Speaker 1: You finished the book.
• 33:24
  Speaker 5: It was a long book to a whole conclusions. No,
• 33:29
  Speaker 5: I was just about to ask about So where I'm
• 33:30
  Speaker 5: at so far? I think she's doing a lot of
• 33:33
  Speaker 5: like self like.
• 33:34
  Speaker 1: Yeah, she's in therapy right now.
• 33:36
  Speaker 4: Yeah, Yeah, she's she's doing some self help in choosing
• 33:40
  Speaker 4: herself and trying to like, you know, get herself write
• 33:43
  Speaker 4: and ask herself the questions of why she is the
• 33:45
  Speaker 4: way she is. We get to explore when where she
• 33:49
  Speaker 4: grew up and how she grew up, and we get
• 33:50
  Speaker 4: this to meet her parents in this in this book
• 33:52
  Speaker 4: as well. So I mean, I think we're doing a
• 33:54
  Speaker 4: lot of exploration with with Jordan and the choices that
• 33:57
  Speaker 4: she made, and you know she does and for the long,
• 34:00
  Speaker 4: long at time, she was always about the grind and
• 34:01
  Speaker 4: like making sure that she could get to the top
• 34:03
  Speaker 4: of that corporate ladder, and it really didn't serve her
• 34:05
  Speaker 4: at the end of the day. And now she's like,
• 34:08
  Speaker 4: you know what, my heart has never been what's led me.
• 34:11
  Speaker 4: And now I do want love, I want to be chosen,
• 34:14
  Speaker 4: I want I want all the things that you know
• 34:16
  Speaker 4: a woman like her should have.
• 34:19
  Speaker 5: I was wondering if that decision to go that route
• 34:21
  Speaker 5: was yours fully, or Jane's or both of you guys together,
• 34:25
  Speaker 5: just because we didn't really know. I never realized until
• 34:27
  Speaker 5: reading the book, I didn't really know much about Jordan
• 34:29
  Speaker 5: outside of all her accomplishments, right, And that's been a
• 34:31
  Speaker 5: big conversation with black women.
• 34:33
  Speaker 4: Yeah, yeah, no, I mean, you know, I certainly wanted
• 34:35
  Speaker 4: to explore all those things. I wanted to explore some
• 34:37
  Speaker 4: of them in the series, but you know, time constraints, right,
• 34:41
  Speaker 4: I'm able to do that now, And certainly collaborating with
• 34:44
  Speaker 4: Jane was a great help, you know what I mean,
• 34:48
  Speaker 4: we crafted the story together.
• 34:49
  Speaker 1: I knew kind of the general direction I wanted to go.
• 34:52
  Speaker 4: But when you start, you know, working with somebody, and
• 34:54
  Speaker 4: particularly you know, a black woman that gives you a
• 34:55
  Speaker 4: different perspective than you have, this is you know, great
• 34:59
  Speaker 4: story building.
• 35:00
  Speaker 1: So so it was. It was a collaboration.
• 35:02
  Speaker 2: I'll say, that's right, Well, we appreciate you for joining us.
• 35:06
  Speaker 3: Yes, go get the book, Man the Best Man, Unfinished Business.
• 35:11
  Speaker 4: And I want to say it's particularly you know, black
• 35:16
  Speaker 4: women are going to read this book and engage, and
• 35:19
  Speaker 4: they're going to like it. But I want it not
• 35:21
  Speaker 4: to be I want people to be reminded that I
• 35:24
  Speaker 4: did write this for black men. I wrote the original
• 35:27
  Speaker 4: for and about black men, and I want black men
• 35:29
  Speaker 4: to read the book.
• 35:30
  Speaker 1: And if they don't want to read, listen.
• 35:32
  Speaker 4: To it on audio, right, you know, like just I
• 35:34
  Speaker 4: want them engaged and I want them to have. We
• 35:36
  Speaker 4: had a very spirit of debate on one of my
• 35:39
  Speaker 4: book tour stops in Baltimore where like men and women
• 35:41
  Speaker 4: started like going at it, you know about like different perspectives.
• 35:44
  Speaker 4: And I think this is it's a it's a healthy,
• 35:47
  Speaker 4: robust debate that can be had.
• 35:48
  Speaker 1: And if black men will engage.
• 35:50
  Speaker 3: On this, is there any singular love story in The
• 35:53
  Speaker 3: Best Man that's a reflection of your personal views on love?
• 35:56
  Speaker 4: My personal views on love, I don't know about. Well,
• 36:01
  Speaker 4: maybe there's definitely parts of me in it, you know
• 36:03
  Speaker 4: what I'm saying. So like, fortunately, I, unlike Harper, even
• 36:08
  Speaker 4: though I've been selfish in my in my time, I
• 36:10
  Speaker 4: am not divorced, and I'm not planning on it, and
• 36:13
  Speaker 4: and and and you know, there's a balance that has
• 36:15
  Speaker 4: to happen with your career aspirations and your family life
• 36:19
  Speaker 4: and your partner that's going to you know, uh, either.
• 36:22
  Speaker 1: Support you or not, you know.
• 36:25
  Speaker 4: And so you know, I think what's important is you know,
• 36:30
  Speaker 4: the love that not only that that that the characters
• 36:32
  Speaker 4: have without one another, men and the women, the husbands
• 36:35
  Speaker 4: and the wives, but also amongst the fellas, right like
• 36:38
  Speaker 4: the brotherhood, the friendship that support that they have for
• 36:41
  Speaker 4: one another and holding each other accountable as well. So
• 36:44
  Speaker 4: that's certainly a personal thing of mine for sure.
• 36:48
  Speaker 2: All right, well, Malcolm, de late ladies and gentlemen, appreciate
• 36:51
  Speaker 2: you for joining us.
• 36:51
  Speaker 1: Thank you, thank you very much. Oh you are. How
• 36:56
  Speaker 1: about that sable bourbon owned by you more as not
• 37:01
  Speaker 1: Harold Parano and t Diggs.
• 37:02
  Speaker 4: And so we came out last August and we're getting
• 37:05
  Speaker 4: around the country and and and exposing people to disabled.
• 37:08
  Speaker 1: It's a great, great poor.
• 37:10
  Speaker 3: What's the title mean?
• 37:11
  Speaker 1: I mean the name well, disable is another name for black.
• 37:16
  Speaker 4: It's you know, luxurious, it's it's it's rich, and I
• 37:20
  Speaker 4: think it's it's very much emblematic of you know, what
• 37:24
  Speaker 4: we consider as our friendship and our brotherhood. And it's
• 37:28
  Speaker 4: this this, this, this bourbon is bottling brotherhood. And so
• 37:33
  Speaker 4: you know, it's we wanted to bring the best man
• 37:35
  Speaker 4: experience because every every scene where the fellas got together
• 37:38
  Speaker 4: were drinking a brown spirit and we said, okay, like,
• 37:41
  Speaker 4: let's make our own. And so it's it's emblematic of
• 37:44
  Speaker 4: that experience of brotherhood. And you can take it away
• 37:46
  Speaker 4: with you and have a sip.
• 37:47
  Speaker 1: With your fellas.
• 37:49
  Speaker 2: All the ladies Lauren's got it up already. Yeah, see
• 37:53
  Speaker 2: Malcolm d Lee.
• 37:54
  Speaker 1: It's the Breakfast Club. Wake that ass up in the morning.
• 37:58
  Speaker 1: The Breakfast Club