Latest / The Steve Harvey Morning Show / Rushion Interviews the Spin-off of CW's All American, Kelly Jenrette of All American: The Homecoming talks HBCUs, acting, and career change!

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Rushion Interviews the Spin-off of CW's All American, Kelly Jenrette of All American: The Homecoming talks HBCUs, acting, and career change! · The Steve Harvey Morning Show

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Welcome to Money Making Conversations Masterclass. I am your host,
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: Rushaan McDonald. I recognize that we all have different definitions
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: of success. For you, it may be the size of
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: your paycheck. Mine is helping people wake up and inspiring
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: them to accomplish their goals and live their very best life.
• 0:15
  Speaker 1: I always tell people's time to stop reading other people's
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: success stories and start writing your own. People always talk
• 0:21
  Speaker 1: about their purpose or gift. If you have a gift,
• 0:23
  Speaker 1: lead with your gift and don't let your friends, family,
• 0:26
  Speaker 1: or coworkers stop you from planning or living your dreams.
• 0:29
  Speaker 1: My next gift. On the show, there is Kelly Jenrette.
• 0:32
  Speaker 1: She plays as she calls herself a Blood Professor, but
• 0:36
  Speaker 1: some call her whistle Blower, the crippled the baseball team
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  Speaker 1: at Bringston, a fictional HBC. On the new c W
• 0:42
  Speaker 1: series All American Homecoming. I've watched the first four episode
• 0:46
  Speaker 1: is fantastic. She has Anto Simone, the lead character in
• 0:49
  Speaker 1: the series All American Homecoming that is premiering Monday's on
• 0:53
  Speaker 1: the c W. Kelly herself, let's talk about her for
• 0:55
  Speaker 1: a little bit. Recently started in the Spectrum original series
• 0:59
  Speaker 1: man Hunt, Deaily Game names on CBS. On the film front,
• 1:02
  Speaker 1: she currently has two not two dopes Netflix original films
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  Speaker 1: that one of my favorites is uncourt Or They start
• 1:10
  Speaker 1: along with Courting to Be Vans and Niece Nash, which
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  Speaker 1: is my girl as well, All Day and all Night
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  Speaker 1: at opposite alongside Jeffrey Wright and Aston Sanders. But please,
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  Speaker 1: let's stop all these critics, let's stop all this talk.
• 1:22
  Speaker 1: Let's bring her on. She's sitting there, she looks fantastic.
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  Speaker 1: Please work with the money making conversations masterclass, Kelly Jenrette,
• 1:29
  Speaker 1: How are you doing? Kelly? Hi, I am doing well.
• 1:32
  Speaker 1: How are you? First of all, you look fantastic. You know,
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  Speaker 1: you look you know. We know we've been going through
• 1:37
  Speaker 1: this COVID since and uh and now you you still
• 1:42
  Speaker 1: have to actim still still hanging in the game. And
• 1:45
  Speaker 1: let's talk about how are you doing right now? This
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  Speaker 1: is about a journey, That's what the master class is about.
• 1:49
  Speaker 1: How did you get in the business of acting? Well,
• 1:53
  Speaker 1: according to my mama, I was born um, but I
• 1:59
  Speaker 1: want to say it was when I was in the
• 2:01
  Speaker 1: fifth grade and my fifth grade teacher, Mr. Hornsby asked
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  Speaker 1: the class if we wanted to put on a play. Uh,
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  Speaker 1: Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, and we all wanted
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  Speaker 1: to do it. And I got to play Charlie Um,
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  Speaker 1: the lead, and he asked if I wanted to change
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  Speaker 1: the character's name to Charlene, and I was like, no,
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  Speaker 1: I can play a boy. And play did that. And
• 2:27
  Speaker 1: then my daddy took me and my sister Uh to
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  Speaker 1: the movies to see The Five Heartbeats and I fell
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  Speaker 1: in love with that movie so much so that when
• 2:40
  Speaker 1: I watched it at home, I had a notepad and
• 2:44
  Speaker 1: I took and I started writing um the lyrics to
• 2:48
  Speaker 1: the song no matter how hard it gets, Like, I
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  Speaker 1: was just like, and so I would perform that around
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  Speaker 1: the house and I was like, yes, I love this,
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  Speaker 1: And so that, for me is my first memory of
• 3:00
  Speaker 1: this whole acting thing. Well, you know, it's interesting because,
• 3:04
  Speaker 1: like I said, well now I remember when high school
• 3:06
  Speaker 1: I eventually became a stand up comedian. I became a
• 3:08
  Speaker 1: stand up comedian. I feel in love when college just
• 3:11
  Speaker 1: opened my mind though it allowed me to see things differently.
• 3:14
  Speaker 1: In high school, I just want to get out of
• 3:16
  Speaker 1: high school. But how I always remember this young guy
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  Speaker 1: in high school. He wanted to be an actor, you know,
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  Speaker 1: he was, he'd being allowed speaker doing all the announcements.
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  Speaker 1: He had all these characters and all these voices. And
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  Speaker 1: I was like, man, that sounds pretty corny. And I
• 3:29
  Speaker 1: say that because you know, when you don't when you're acting,
• 3:32
  Speaker 1: there's not something normal for a black person to consider.
• 3:35
  Speaker 1: And so people when you say that, people started looking
• 3:38
  Speaker 1: at Well, you don't see it on TV. You see
• 3:40
  Speaker 1: you know, you see people working at the bank, You
• 3:42
  Speaker 1: see people doing normal jobs. When we look at television
• 3:45
  Speaker 1: back then, television now we see a lot more of
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  Speaker 1: us on. But you was pursuing an opportunity. A lot
• 3:50
  Speaker 1: of people doubt it. How did you break through that?
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  Speaker 1: You know, to be completely honest. By the time I
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  Speaker 1: got in high school, I was that person that was like, man,
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  Speaker 1: this isn't a real job. So what I was going
• 4:04
  Speaker 1: to do was be a lawyer who did hair on
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  Speaker 1: the side. Now, clearly that person belongs in the creative world.
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  Speaker 1: I think you're gonna be a lawyer and do hair
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  Speaker 1: on the side. Um. And so when I graduated from
• 4:19
  Speaker 1: high school, and I would do plays with my local
• 4:22
  Speaker 1: church um throughout high school, but it was still like
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  Speaker 1: acting isn't a real job. So when I graduated high school.
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  Speaker 1: I went to Xavier University in New Orleans because I
• 4:34
  Speaker 1: was going to be a forensic psychologist and stayed there
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  Speaker 1: for two years ace my first chemistry test, and that
• 4:44
  Speaker 1: second year I was like, man, I had much rather
• 4:48
  Speaker 1: play a forensic psychologist on TV than being one in
• 4:51
  Speaker 1: real life. And I made the decision to transfer back
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  Speaker 1: home to Georgia State and get my degree in feared.
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  Speaker 1: You know, I think it was just for me. I
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  Speaker 1: just felt like, this isn't what I feel like I'm
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  Speaker 1: being called to do, you know, And so I had
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  Speaker 1: to honor that. And fortunately I had a family and
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  Speaker 1: still have a family who was so supportive of me.
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  Speaker 1: My mom, man, please that woman right there, it was
• 5:26
  Speaker 1: like all right, if I if I was like, you know, Mom,
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  Speaker 1: I think I want to try to fly to the moon,
• 5:33
  Speaker 1: she'd be like, all right, well should we go to
• 5:35
  Speaker 1: home depot? And you know, like that's just the kind
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  Speaker 1: of woman. My daddy, It's took him a moment to
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  Speaker 1: kind of come around, And I think that was part
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  Speaker 1: of my hesitation of like, yeah, I mean he it
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  Speaker 1: took him a moment, Like I want to say, when
• 5:51
  Speaker 1: I went home for Christmas, my daddy for the first
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  Speaker 1: time to my face was like, you know, you hung
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  Speaker 1: in there and I'm so proud of you. Like I
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  Speaker 1: had my doubts I couldn't do it, but you hung
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  Speaker 1: in there and you did it. And look at you now, like, Yeah,
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  Speaker 1: the reason I bring that because that's one of the
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  Speaker 1: lines I talked about. You know, when your gifts, you know,
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  Speaker 1: don't let your friends, family, a coworkers stop you from
• 6:17
  Speaker 1: planning to living your dreams. Because your dreams always tell
• 6:20
  Speaker 1: people when you go through life, if you live somebody
• 6:23
  Speaker 1: else's life one day, that's gonna become uncomfortable. So you
• 6:27
  Speaker 1: have to wake up and have that passion and the desire.
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  Speaker 1: And that's a really cool story you just conveyed to us.
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  Speaker 1: But another story that you conveyed in that storytelling was
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  Speaker 1: that you was at an HBCU and then you went
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  Speaker 1: to Georgia State University. Now, those are two different environments.
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  Speaker 1: To talk to us about the HBCU experience that you
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  Speaker 1: were enjoying because you were doing good academics there, but
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  Speaker 1: that wasn't the direction you wanted to take your life.
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  Speaker 1: And then you went to Georgia State University. What was
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  Speaker 1: the experiences that you shared in both cultures, because there
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  Speaker 1: are two different cultures academic cultures, yes, you know, one
• 7:01
  Speaker 1: being Xavier University and it'sself extremely protigious, prestigious university. Yeah,
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  Speaker 1: in New Orleans. And so even just going to New
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  Speaker 1: Orleans was an experience in itself, you know, the culture,
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  Speaker 1: the food. Um, I was like, yeah, this freshman fiftyes
• 7:23
  Speaker 1: sophomore sixty is a real thing because this food is incredible.
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  Speaker 1: But just the energy on that hbc U campus and
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  Speaker 1: seeing people that looked like me, um and and didn't
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  Speaker 1: look like me, but we're still a part of me
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  Speaker 1: was very Um, it was very heartwarming, was very welcoming.
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  Speaker 1: Immediately formed a group of friends that I'm still with today.
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  Speaker 1: We still have a text chain. Um. Although all of
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  Speaker 1: my friends there graduated from Xavier when I left, we
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  Speaker 1: still stayed in contact, and so there was just this
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  Speaker 1: camaraderie that we had UM that was like, yeah, we're
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  Speaker 1: we're family and we're here in it together. And then
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  Speaker 1: leaving going to Georgia State, which clearly was not an HBCU,
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  Speaker 1: although I hear word on the street is that Georgia
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  Speaker 1: State is about to become an HBCU with all of
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  Speaker 1: us there now, which is exciting, um, but it was
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  Speaker 1: a different it was a different atmosphere. It felt very
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  Speaker 1: much like we're here to do work, and not that
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  Speaker 1: that wasn't it. It just felt like more of a
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  Speaker 1: family there. Um At the HBCU in uh New Orleans
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  Speaker 1: and at Georgia State it was like, all right, we're
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  Speaker 1: about business and that's what we that's what we need
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  Speaker 1: to do. If you want a family, then you can
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  Speaker 1: join a sorority or a fraternity or other organizations. But
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  Speaker 1: we're here to work. Nice to me. Plus, Georgia States
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  Speaker 1: is more like a commuter school, and the size of
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  Speaker 1: the school was way bigger than it was. But the
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  Speaker 1: fun part about it. Now you on a fictional school
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  Speaker 1: that's based I want to say, in Atlanta, Georgia called Bringston,
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  Speaker 1: and you're professor who um basically uh, the word whistle blower,
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  Speaker 1: the word a lot of other negative words about your character,
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  Speaker 1: but this is all character development. You You play a great,
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  Speaker 1: great loving aunt who is very supportive of the students
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  Speaker 1: who are attending uh this uh, this fantastic university. I
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  Speaker 1: want to tell everybody when you watch a series I
• 9:31
  Speaker 1: told her offair, I got to tell her own air.
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  Speaker 1: It felt like different world on steroids where you saw
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  Speaker 1: different world in a very sickcomming environment. This is a
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  Speaker 1: this is a slice of life coming of age individuals.
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  Speaker 1: But I don't want to jump to a head telling
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  Speaker 1: the story. Tell us your your your your view of
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  Speaker 1: the series All American Homecoming, which is a spinoff, yes,
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  Speaker 1: spinoff of uh an amazing show All Americ HI, which
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  Speaker 1: is the number one TV show for the CW. So
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  Speaker 1: I want to give out all the shout outs and
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  Speaker 1: props to All American, our flagship show, um and and
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  Speaker 1: the foundation for what All American Homecoming is built upon.
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  Speaker 1: And you know, the two words that come to mind
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  Speaker 1: about Homecoming is Black excellence in all its forms. You know,
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  Speaker 1: when we succeed and whatever that definition is as you
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  Speaker 1: said earlier, or when we have our failures and how
• 10:32
  Speaker 1: we respond to those failures, that is still Black excellence.
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  Speaker 1: And so you know, it's just an amazing gift to
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  Speaker 1: be a part of a show that is compared or
• 10:45
  Speaker 1: even in the realm of a different world. You know,
• 10:48
  Speaker 1: we had our t c A s yesterday and I
• 10:51
  Speaker 1: said when people were people walk around with human on
• 10:56
  Speaker 1: their sweatshirts and talk about how they envisioned go going
• 11:00
  Speaker 1: to Hillman and I'm like, Brixton is going to be
• 11:03
  Speaker 1: our next Hillman um on steroids. As you said, well,
• 11:08
  Speaker 1: you know, the interesting part about it was that there
• 11:11
  Speaker 1: is an unabashed or it shouldn't were unbashed. It was
• 11:15
  Speaker 1: just it's a it's a very comfortable statement when you
• 11:19
  Speaker 1: say black excellence on this show. I was, you know,
• 11:21
  Speaker 1: it was just a different world. Was just the first
• 11:23
  Speaker 1: time out. It was it was a Bill Cosby show
• 11:27
  Speaker 1: was an incredible hit. So he had the ability to
• 11:29
  Speaker 1: say we're gonna do this show, had ability to say
• 11:31
  Speaker 1: we're gonna do a black grade generation on this show.
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  Speaker 1: An episode around there, when I watched All American Homecoming,
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  Speaker 1: it's a coming of age, you know. I remember I
• 11:39
  Speaker 1: was fortunate just to share a little story I was.
• 11:41
  Speaker 1: I was writing. I was supervising producer for the sister
• 11:45
  Speaker 1: sister t and Tamara Maori, and we had to get
• 11:49
  Speaker 1: them from high school to college. And so because it
• 11:52
  Speaker 1: was like, okay, they got to get out of high school,
• 11:54
  Speaker 1: but the experiences are different now. Your role, uh is
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  Speaker 1: a mentor, your role is teacher. But your role plays
• 12:02
  Speaker 1: a very important role because it centers around the students,
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  Speaker 1: giving them structure in a social environment. Talk about your
• 12:08
  Speaker 1: character that you play, and also, Um, why it's so
• 12:12
  Speaker 1: important for the show to have your character. That's a
• 12:16
  Speaker 1: great question, you know. Um, you talked about earlier some
• 12:21
  Speaker 1: of the negative words that can be used to describe
• 12:24
  Speaker 1: Amara because of what she did. But I believe Amara
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  Speaker 1: her main goal is to help our young black people
• 12:36
  Speaker 1: understand the importance of education. Like, yes, we can be
• 12:40
  Speaker 1: great athletes. We can throw a football, we can bounce
• 12:43
  Speaker 1: a basketball, we can hit a tennis ball, all of
• 12:46
  Speaker 1: those things, and yet education is so important. Never to
• 12:51
  Speaker 1: neglect the importance of education. And if that means that
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  Speaker 1: my character has to say, yo, something is off happening here,
• 13:03
  Speaker 1: I'm going to blow that with so at the expense
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  Speaker 1: of our young people being able to go out into
• 13:10
  Speaker 1: this world that is already stacked against them in so
• 13:14
  Speaker 1: many different areas. And so I think the importance of
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  Speaker 1: my character, as n K has said to me numerous
• 13:22
  Speaker 1: times before, she is the heart um of this show,
• 13:27
  Speaker 1: because there is no judgment in her against the mistakes
• 13:33
  Speaker 1: that may be made or even in that situation, it's
• 13:36
  Speaker 1: like I'm presented with a problem and there is a solution.
• 13:40
  Speaker 1: Let's get to the solution. I don't want to stay
• 13:42
  Speaker 1: focused on this scandal. What I want to focus on
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  Speaker 1: is how we make this better because we need to
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  Speaker 1: operate in a standard, which is Black excellence. We'll be
• 13:52
  Speaker 1: right back with more Money Making Conversations Masterclass with Rushan McDonald.
• 13:59
  Speaker 1: Now let's turned to Money Making Conversations Masterclass with Rashan McDonald.
• 14:04
  Speaker 1: I'm talking to Kelly jen Rep. She's one of the
• 14:06
  Speaker 1: co stars of the will be popular series of All
• 14:10
  Speaker 1: American Homecoming that will be premiering and Aaron On on CW.
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  Speaker 1: She plays a blood professor on this This fictional school
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  Speaker 1: is an HBCU school is based in Atlanta, Georgia. Now,
• 14:20
  Speaker 1: this is why I really really like to show y'all,
• 14:23
  Speaker 1: because you know, when you go, when you think of HBC,
• 14:25
  Speaker 1: you think football, you think basketball. When you think of HBC,
• 14:28
  Speaker 1: you think of the marching band, you think of the
• 14:31
  Speaker 1: girls dancing and everything. This series focuses on a couple
• 14:35
  Speaker 1: of sports that you don't tie to an HBCU tennis
• 14:40
  Speaker 1: and baseball. And and I really loved it, Kelly because
• 14:44
  Speaker 1: of the fact my daughter she was a tennis prodigy,
• 14:47
  Speaker 1: and so you know, I'm really looking at these tennis scenes,
• 14:50
  Speaker 1: you know, real different, you know, because my daughter she
• 14:52
  Speaker 1: picked up a rackings you six and and she retired
• 14:55
  Speaker 1: in nineteen because she blew out a need and she's
• 14:57
  Speaker 1: on the tour. So I I look at tennis and
• 15:00
  Speaker 1: I enjoyed and I went, wow, this is so cool,
• 15:03
  Speaker 1: and they do a good job of really making it,
• 15:06
  Speaker 1: making it a sense of reality. This is a real
• 15:10
  Speaker 1: tennis team. And of course the baseball thing. So when
• 15:12
  Speaker 1: I looked at that, I really it really put a
• 15:14
  Speaker 1: spile on my face because it wasn't a football player,
• 15:17
  Speaker 1: it wasn't a basketball team, it wasn't a band. This
• 15:21
  Speaker 1: was about tennis and baseball. Did you enjoy that shift
• 15:24
  Speaker 1: in the narrative of how they were showing a different
• 15:27
  Speaker 1: slice of life than HBCU. Yes. Absolutely. My mom is
• 15:33
  Speaker 1: an avid tennis player and has been for thirty years.
• 15:37
  Speaker 1: She still plays tennis to this day, and so my
• 15:41
  Speaker 1: love of tennis comes from her. In fact, my sister
• 15:45
  Speaker 1: and I Kimberly is my sister. My mom tried to
• 15:48
  Speaker 1: get us so that we could be the first venus
• 15:53
  Speaker 1: and Syria's right, but according to her, we were a
• 15:59
  Speaker 1: little to prissy. We were talking about how hot it
• 16:02
  Speaker 1: was and we didn't want to be out there. You know,
• 16:04
  Speaker 1: we were in we were in Atlanta. You know, that
• 16:08
  Speaker 1: humidity was real. So, you know, we we stopped playing
• 16:12
  Speaker 1: tennis at a very early age, but she continued on.
• 16:15
  Speaker 1: And so I think it is so refreshing to see
• 16:20
  Speaker 1: a sport like tennis and baseball, which what you said,
• 16:24
  Speaker 1: we don't think of that when we think of an HBCU.
• 16:28
  Speaker 1: So I think it is very refreshing to see like, hey,
• 16:32
  Speaker 1: yes we play tennis and we're very good at it.
• 16:34
  Speaker 1: We also played baseball and we're very good at that
• 16:37
  Speaker 1: as well. We can do it all excellent, black, excellent.
• 16:45
  Speaker 1: You know when we do these series, that's always fun
• 16:48
  Speaker 1: and part about the series. So you know, likes I
• 16:50
  Speaker 1: go all the way back to when Steve Harvey I
• 16:52
  Speaker 1: did ABC is first sitcom Me and the Boys, and
• 16:54
  Speaker 1: they always want to insert, you know, white characters or
• 16:57
  Speaker 1: characters that are non black, so they can make pets
• 17:00
  Speaker 1: of the viewers can be comfortable. But I love the
• 17:03
  Speaker 1: fest of I really love the whole thing with the
• 17:05
  Speaker 1: baseball players because you have a you have a slice
• 17:07
  Speaker 1: of life over there. You know, players from Columbia white players,
• 17:10
  Speaker 1: and it feels organic. It feels natural. And that's what
• 17:13
  Speaker 1: I really enjoy about All American Homecoming is that the
• 17:16
  Speaker 1: show feels natural. I'm very comfortable. I don't feel as
• 17:19
  Speaker 1: a view I'm being forced to participate. I feel like
• 17:22
  Speaker 1: this is natural and it all makes sense. Now, let's
• 17:25
  Speaker 1: go to the characters on the show, because we've been
• 17:27
  Speaker 1: talking about you, but there's some characters on the show
• 17:29
  Speaker 1: that play a very important role, like your like some
• 17:33
  Speaker 1: own you, her knees, you know, your niece who comes in.
• 17:36
  Speaker 1: If you know the backstory, she's on All Americans. She
• 17:39
  Speaker 1: had a baby, now she's she's she's kind of telling
• 17:43
  Speaker 1: everybody about it in this next series. But she's trying
• 17:46
  Speaker 1: to extend her life and start over in a sense,
• 17:49
  Speaker 1: and you're there to support her. Of course, as you
• 17:51
  Speaker 1: know the backstory. You know her parents want didn't want
• 17:54
  Speaker 1: her to go to an HBC U and you and
• 17:58
  Speaker 1: that's your sister. My sister's your sister. There's Kimberly okay
• 18:04
  Speaker 1: and who. So that's what I like about when I'm
• 18:07
  Speaker 1: talking to you. You know, you have the HBC experience,
• 18:10
  Speaker 1: you have the sister experience. So a lot of this
• 18:12
  Speaker 1: weren't really acting for you, Kelly M hmm. Yeah, And
• 18:17
  Speaker 1: that's what I love. And I tell Jeffrey, who plays
• 18:20
  Speaker 1: Simone UM, that relationship between Amara and Simone reminds me
• 18:27
  Speaker 1: so much of my relationship with my nephew Jonathan, Like Jonathan,
• 18:33
  Speaker 1: that is my baby. My sister has two kids, Jonathan
• 18:37
  Speaker 1: and Evelyn. My I call Jonathan my nephew son and
• 18:41
  Speaker 1: Evelyn my niece daughter, like they are like my children,
• 18:45
  Speaker 1: and I'm very protective over them. So this relationship between
• 18:49
  Speaker 1: Amara and Simone feels like, oh yeah, this is this
• 18:55
  Speaker 1: is what I do in my real life. Wanting to
• 18:58
  Speaker 1: support her, wanting to correct her um and challenge her,
• 19:02
  Speaker 1: and just wanting the best for her. And the relationship
• 19:07
  Speaker 1: between myself, Kelly and Jeffrey is such a beautiful one.
• 19:11
  Speaker 1: You know, we we talk, we text all the time.
• 19:16
  Speaker 1: She's such an amazing uh woman and and you know
• 19:20
  Speaker 1: you talk about tennis. She puts in so much work,
• 19:24
  Speaker 1: you know. I remember once we got the official pickup
• 19:28
  Speaker 1: and I would be texting her and she's like, hey,
• 19:30
  Speaker 1: so sorry, I couldn't get back to you. I was
• 19:32
  Speaker 1: at tennis practice or she was like, hey, I'm getting
• 19:34
  Speaker 1: ready to go to tennis practice and you know, she's like, oh,
• 19:37
  Speaker 1: I'm so tired because I just got home from tennis practice.
• 19:40
  Speaker 1: Like really putting in the work. And the same with
• 19:43
  Speaker 1: Peyton and the baseball, like really putting in the work.
• 19:47
  Speaker 1: So to see these these characters being brought to life
• 19:53
  Speaker 1: by these individuals who are so passionate about making it
• 19:58
  Speaker 1: look authentic and real, Kelly as well as a Mara,
• 20:02
  Speaker 1: can't help but want to be there to support these
• 20:06
  Speaker 1: young people. You know, well, you know, the beauty of
• 20:08
  Speaker 1: my show is broadcasts on about one HBCU campuses from Texas,
• 20:14
  Speaker 1: Southern Howard Clark, Atlanta University, Famue, but Dune Cookman just
• 20:20
  Speaker 1: the name a few of these incredible campus that that
• 20:23
  Speaker 1: allowed me to air my show on their radio networks.
• 20:26
  Speaker 1: And but the wordy black excellence just keep screaming out
• 20:29
  Speaker 1: in a positive you know, and it just seems organic
• 20:33
  Speaker 1: to the show. That's I think that puts the biggest
• 20:35
  Speaker 1: smile on your face. To be able to tell a story,
• 20:38
  Speaker 1: you know, in an environment that feels very real. I'm
• 20:41
  Speaker 1: telling you know, television is a real so how you
• 20:44
  Speaker 1: portray it makes it makes it real. And I feel
• 20:48
  Speaker 1: like I'm watching real television play out. It just have
• 20:51
  Speaker 1: to be actors. And I guess I may want to
• 20:54
  Speaker 1: go to Brixton tell us about that whole field that
• 20:57
  Speaker 1: you that's being created by the director, being created by
• 20:59
  Speaker 1: the actors that you guys get to meet once a
• 21:02
  Speaker 1: week at your house and have some family dinner. Yeah.
• 21:07
  Speaker 1: I think it was so important for n K our
• 21:11
  Speaker 1: showrunner and creator, to make something that was authentic, you know,
• 21:17
  Speaker 1: being from Atlanta and then having this base in Atlanta.
• 21:21
  Speaker 1: Jeffrey went to Clark Atlanta University, graduated from c a
• 21:26
  Speaker 1: u UM. Yeah, so there were there were things that
• 21:29
  Speaker 1: we were like, this has got to be on point.
• 21:33
  Speaker 1: You know. There are things that that are so specific
• 21:38
  Speaker 1: to Atlanta and black culture there that we want to
• 21:42
  Speaker 1: make sure we hit on. And our production crew, construction crew.
• 21:49
  Speaker 1: It's just they have created a world that feels like
• 21:54
  Speaker 1: Brixton University is a real university and people are going
• 21:59
  Speaker 1: to be Google like, how do I send it my application?
• 22:02
  Speaker 1: And the university just because they've done such an amazing
• 22:08
  Speaker 1: job from our background performers to what the outside of
• 22:13
  Speaker 1: the university looks like and and even my home when
• 22:17
  Speaker 1: they get a look at Amara's place, I was like,
• 22:20
  Speaker 1: you know what, I'm gonna move out of where I
• 22:22
  Speaker 1: live right now and I'm going to stay in Amara's
• 22:26
  Speaker 1: uh loft on set because just the detail that goes
• 22:32
  Speaker 1: into creating this world and the specificity that is needed
• 22:37
  Speaker 1: to make it feel like, oh this is real, Like
• 22:40
  Speaker 1: wait is this real? Is just it's unbelievable, and I
• 22:46
  Speaker 1: think it just lends itself to making it feel like
• 22:51
  Speaker 1: this is something. This is a world that I want
• 22:53
  Speaker 1: to be a part of. And Kelly is not lying
• 22:56
  Speaker 1: the entry door because when you closed that, do I win?
• 23:00
  Speaker 1: What's that wall? What is that? Well? I can't It's
• 23:03
  Speaker 1: just so beautiful and I couldn't figure it out. I
• 23:05
  Speaker 1: went like, I need to find out what that wall is.
• 23:07
  Speaker 1: It's just really you know, because that's called great set design.
• 23:11
  Speaker 1: That's the person they hired. They design the set, they
• 23:13
  Speaker 1: lay it out, they go around, they take photos, and
• 23:15
  Speaker 1: they wanted to be comfortable as room me. It feels
• 23:18
  Speaker 1: like it's a location where she stands. She can't stay
• 23:21
  Speaker 1: there on the college professor's salary as in Atlanta, And
• 23:25
  Speaker 1: it's true black excellence. I just want to tell you,
• 23:28
  Speaker 1: I want to thank you for coming on money making
• 23:29
  Speaker 1: Conversations Masterclass. I want to thank you for allowing sharing
• 23:33
  Speaker 1: your story Xavier to Georgia State University. You you speak
• 23:37
  Speaker 1: black excellent, you still promote black excellence in a in
• 23:40
  Speaker 1: a TV series that people are gonna love. I remember
• 23:43
  Speaker 1: I came to my staff, I said, hey, man, because
• 23:45
  Speaker 1: they know I always watched the shows, I will not
• 23:47
  Speaker 1: bring a guest on my show, Money Making Conversations Masterclass
• 23:50
  Speaker 1: unless they read the book, watch the film, or watch
• 23:53
  Speaker 1: the series. And I came in I told him, I said, hey,
• 23:56
  Speaker 1: this is a great series. And my company, thirty FT Media,
• 24:00
  Speaker 1: we're all about black excellence. We're all about promoting HBCU
• 24:04
  Speaker 1: SO and my show is live every Tuesday from Clark
• 24:09
  Speaker 1: Atlanta University. And so you were just right in line.
• 24:12
  Speaker 1: Let you want to thank you for taking the time,
• 24:13
  Speaker 1: taking taking the time to come on our show and
• 24:15
  Speaker 1: spread that level of black excellence. Also talk about your
• 24:18
  Speaker 1: great talent, because you are super talent. And if you
• 24:21
  Speaker 1: guys want to check out beyond All American Homecoming, Cook
• 24:25
  Speaker 1: is amazing, you gotta check it out all day and
• 24:28
  Speaker 1: all night and all day and the night is also
• 24:31
  Speaker 1: fantastic and streaming on Netflix right now. But in coming soon.
• 24:35
  Speaker 1: If not already, you can check out All American Homecoming
• 24:38
  Speaker 1: on Mondays on the c W. As you know, All
• 24:41
  Speaker 1: American is number one, It's gonna be number one plus. Okay,
• 24:45
  Speaker 1: thank you for coming. If you want to see any
• 24:50
  Speaker 1: of my interviews on money Making Conversations, much to class
• 24:53
  Speaker 1: through the Money Making Conversation dot com, I'm Rashan McDonald.
• 24:56
  Speaker 1: I am your host.