Latest / The Steve Harvey Morning Show / Rushion interviews Deji LaRay, How Bounce TV show "Johnson" is changing the black male narrative!

Transcript

Rushion interviews Deji LaRay, How Bounce TV show "Johnson" is changing the black male narrative! · The Steve Harvey Morning Show

0:00
Speaker 1: My next guest is d G. Larrey. He's a multitalented actor, writer,
0:04
Speaker 1: and producer. He's the creator and executive producers, showrunner and
0:08
Speaker 1: start on Bounce TV's comedy I Should Say Drama Johnson.
0:12
Speaker 1: He plays the role of Greg on the show. We'll
0:14
Speaker 1: talk to Da G about his path when you say path,
0:18
Speaker 1: from where he started to where he is today and
0:20
Speaker 1: how he knew as a young age. I always I
0:23
Speaker 1: was always amazing who people know at a young age
0:26
Speaker 1: what they want to be, because I struggled with that.
0:28
Speaker 1: I always tell people I didn't know who I wanted
0:30
Speaker 1: to be until I was in my forties, despite all
0:33
Speaker 1: my success, So I always admire people who get it
0:36
Speaker 1: and then stick with it. What inspired him to know
0:38
Speaker 1: his path at such a young age and for performing
0:41
Speaker 1: on Barbway to his college studies to create his own show?
0:44
Speaker 1: What has been some of the important tools that they
0:46
Speaker 1: helped him and finding success in this entertainment indutry industry.
0:50
Speaker 1: He received the b A and FAM and TV from
0:52
Speaker 1: cal State, Los Angeles. He appeared on Amazon series like
0:55
Speaker 1: Age of the Living Dead, BOSH and owned green Leaf.
0:58
Speaker 1: One of my favorite shows, Please Worker, The Money Making
1:01
Speaker 1: Conversation masterclass. Incredible. I'm staying incredible because I've watched fourteen
1:05
Speaker 1: straight episodes of him in the last twenty four hours.
1:08
Speaker 1: De g larray. Hey, I know the journey didn't get there.
1:14
Speaker 1: The journey didn't get to the good storytelling on who
1:17
Speaker 1: you are, man. But that's a beautiful thing, isn't it. Yeah, Man,
1:20
Speaker 1: thank you for that, man, I was. I love I
1:22
Speaker 1: love your introduction. Man. You know, never let anybody getting
1:26
Speaker 1: away your dreams. Man, you know, because people will try
1:29
Speaker 1: to project their insecurities on you. You know, anything is possible,
1:34
Speaker 1: and I'm I'm a testament to that, man. You know,
1:36
Speaker 1: just just my journey, you know, just coming up and
1:39
Speaker 1: like you said, knowing what I wanted to do from
1:43
Speaker 1: a young age. I don't. I don't take for granted
1:48
Speaker 1: that blessing because everybody, um they maybe maybe there's people
1:54
Speaker 1: who would have had that inspiration if uh they would
1:57
Speaker 1: have been inspired as a kid by by something or
2:00
Speaker 1: someone to lead him down a certain path. But I
2:03
Speaker 1: will say this is my character on Johnson. His name
2:06
Speaker 1: is Gregg Johnson. He's also a late bloomer. He's somebody
2:09
Speaker 1: who is not self motivated. He has great friends, he
2:13
Speaker 1: loves his friends. He's a great friend, he's blunt, um.
2:16
Speaker 1: But you know, he's still trying to figure out life.
2:18
Speaker 1: He's doing odd jobs. Even into season two, he hasn't
2:21
Speaker 1: truly figured it out yet. And I think that's gonna
2:23
Speaker 1: be his biggest, uh character journey on this show over
2:26
Speaker 1: the course of however many seasons, is for him to
2:29
Speaker 1: realize what his purpose is. And obviously you've realized that, Rashawn, like,
2:33
Speaker 1: you have a great purpose here. You know, you have
2:35
Speaker 1: a great voice, um, and you're inspirational to a lot
2:38
Speaker 1: of people. Now, so the tables have termed my friend, Well,
2:41
Speaker 1: I would tell you something. First of all, will slow
2:42
Speaker 1: you down, because you know you you're talking about the show.
2:45
Speaker 1: You asked you answer the courtion. I ain't asked it.
2:47
Speaker 1: I got because I would tell people why I watched
2:50
Speaker 1: fourteen episodes unless you twenty four hours. First of all, um,
2:55
Speaker 1: you know, let's talk about well, you know, my my
2:59
Speaker 1: life has always been interesting because I've been sick. I
3:01
Speaker 1: always tell you I've been successful all my life. When
3:03
Speaker 1: I was eighteen. The only thing I knew with eighteen
3:05
Speaker 1: I had to I had to have good credit. That's
3:07
Speaker 1: the only thing I knew. I knew I had to
3:09
Speaker 1: have good credit. I held onto that and I built
3:11
Speaker 1: my brand around my name be responsible and consistent and
3:16
Speaker 1: having good credit, which is probably the foundation of who
3:19
Speaker 1: I am. Now you knew it at the early age.
3:22
Speaker 1: Now knowing something at the early age, I mean people
3:25
Speaker 1: can kind of like what you're talking about, you never
3:27
Speaker 1: do that. There are a lot of distraction people like
3:28
Speaker 1: I talked about, don't let your friends, family, you know, deter,
3:33
Speaker 1: you deter your deep create detours in your life from
3:36
Speaker 1: your aspiration. Talk about that and when you finally just
3:39
Speaker 1: shut out the noise. Well, you know, I started off
3:44
Speaker 1: doing plays, uh, when I was like eight or nine
3:49
Speaker 1: years old, in elementary school. Man. And from the plays
3:52
Speaker 1: of school, it branched off into like community theater um
3:56
Speaker 1: and you know, like little industrial shows in Atlanta, and
3:59
Speaker 1: then you know, TV shows and films in Atlanta. I
4:02
Speaker 1: was also playing sports, you know, I ran track, I
4:05
Speaker 1: was on the basketball team, I was on the baseball team.
4:08
Speaker 1: But then the sports would start to conflict with rehearsal schedules,
4:12
Speaker 1: you know. Um, but it was cooler to be an
4:15
Speaker 1: athlete than it was to you know, being being an
4:18
Speaker 1: actor at that time or being plays especially doing plays
4:21
Speaker 1: in theater. UM. But I had to make that choice
4:24
Speaker 1: because that's what that's where I felt like I had
4:27
Speaker 1: my greatest form of expression. UM. And so I was
4:31
Speaker 1: fortunate enough to land an agent in New York. Shout
4:34
Speaker 1: out to the Carson Aval Agency in New York when
4:36
Speaker 1: I was I believe I was twelve years old, man.
4:39
Speaker 1: And I was on Broadway when I was thirteen. And
4:41
Speaker 1: I think from that point on, UM understanding the opportunities
4:46
Speaker 1: that that this industry could afford me when it comes
4:49
Speaker 1: to traveling, right, being in different cities, different countries, when
4:54
Speaker 1: it comes to creating stories, uh, and and jumping into
4:58
Speaker 1: these roles. And obviously you know with the money as well.
5:01
Speaker 1: You know that was never a motivating factor for me.
5:03
Speaker 1: But you know, it was nice to make good money
5:06
Speaker 1: and and and be taken care of. Uh. To do
5:09
Speaker 1: what you love to do. That's what I think what
5:11
Speaker 1: we all aspire for. And so UM, you know, I
5:15
Speaker 1: never I never lost sight of that. And then I
5:16
Speaker 1: always knew from a young age as well, that it
5:20
Speaker 1: is not just about acting. It's about ownership, it's about creating,
5:26
Speaker 1: it's about being being in control of your own narrative.
5:29
Speaker 1: So if fifteen years old, I wrote my first feature film,
5:32
Speaker 1: my first screenplay, and so my my career kind of
5:35
Speaker 1: started to run parallel. I would I would act, but
5:38
Speaker 1: I will also write, and I will also direct, and
5:41
Speaker 1: I will also edit. I really just kind of trained
5:44
Speaker 1: myself to be a true filmmaker. Um and and early
5:47
Speaker 1: on at that time, man that you weren't supposed to
5:50
Speaker 1: do that. There was a lot of managers and a
5:52
Speaker 1: lot of agents, and a lot of people who said,
5:54
Speaker 1: do not tell all these people that you do all
5:57
Speaker 1: these different things, because then they won't think that you
5:59
Speaker 1: do them all. Well, right, they will think that you
6:01
Speaker 1: want to do all these things, but you're not a
6:03
Speaker 1: professional at all of them. But when it comes to editing,
6:07
Speaker 1: I've been nominated for b m as projects that I've edited,
6:10
Speaker 1: been nominated for Grammys. Um, I've edited films and TV shows. Uh.
6:15
Speaker 1: That's helped me become a better director because I understand
6:19
Speaker 1: the coverage that I need to get. I understand how
6:22
Speaker 1: this shot is gonna cut, with this shot even while
6:24
Speaker 1: I'm on set. I can't tell you how many directors
6:28
Speaker 1: don't have that forethought of that vision. And when it
6:30
Speaker 1: gets into edit bay, we have to actually find the
6:32
Speaker 1: story in the edit base. So that's helped us so
6:34
Speaker 1: much even with what we're doing now with Johnson is
6:37
Speaker 1: understanding both sides of the camera in front of the camera,
6:40
Speaker 1: directing and also post production. Um. And that's why you
6:44
Speaker 1: know the show has the level um of of you know,
6:49
Speaker 1: I would say quality that it has because we bring intinuity.
6:52
Speaker 1: That's key. Continuity. Continuity, Yeah, continuity and quality, and we
6:56
Speaker 1: just we bring this experience. Man. So I was fortunate
6:59
Speaker 1: and uh to know what I wanted to do since
7:02
Speaker 1: I was a kid. I was fortunate enough to have
7:05
Speaker 1: great parents who supported that. Even if you ran into
7:10
Speaker 1: other obstacles such as friends and other people who might
7:13
Speaker 1: have talked down in your dreams, my parents always pushed
7:15
Speaker 1: me and always supported me. Uh. And then I was
7:18
Speaker 1: fortunate enough to uh go to college and you know,
7:21
Speaker 1: be able to afford college and you know a lot
7:23
Speaker 1: of people don't have that opportunity. And then fortunate enough
7:26
Speaker 1: to meet my producing partner, Thomas Q. Jones, who definitely
7:31
Speaker 1: uh has the same work ethic and the same vision
7:35
Speaker 1: in a lot of ways that I do. And uh,
7:38
Speaker 1: you know, then we were able to work on Johnson. Absolutely,
7:41
Speaker 1: we'll be right back with more money Making Conversations Masterclass
7:44
Speaker 1: with Rushan McDonald. Now, let's return to Money Making Conversations
7:50
Speaker 1: Masterclass with Rushan McDonald. I'm talking to Da G. Larray.
7:55
Speaker 1: He is the creator and the executive producer and show
7:58
Speaker 1: run on there as well as star on the Bounce
8:01
Speaker 1: TV comedy or dramay. I like to call it, Johnson,
8:05
Speaker 1: um a story. We've seen the white show, White women
8:10
Speaker 1: on their shows multiple times, White friends, not the Friends
8:13
Speaker 1: TV show that was on NBC, just white girlfriends. We've
8:17
Speaker 1: seen them multiple Black girlfriends shows. Several of these out
8:21
Speaker 1: they're doing fantastic. You know, you can say, you know,
8:24
Speaker 1: Living Single was a black girlfriend show. I've never seen this,
8:32
Speaker 1: and if I have seen it, forgive me out there, y'all,
8:36
Speaker 1: but I never seen it. It's good. I've never seen it.
8:40
Speaker 1: Where um there was um. I felt I saw my friends.
8:45
Speaker 1: I felt I saw me. I was engaged by the characters.
8:49
Speaker 1: I love d O. Hughes got so many people to
8:52
Speaker 1: show me. I know, Dear Hugh, that's my boy, said
8:54
Speaker 1: the entertainer. That's my boy, been knowing him since nating
8:57
Speaker 1: to him and Eric Brown, that's my boy. Terry J.
8:59
Speaker 1: Vard know her from Steve Harvey. She'll been knowing her
9:02
Speaker 1: that long. So you've got a lot of veterans in
9:03
Speaker 1: this show. I just love the earthquake. I just love
9:06
Speaker 1: seeing that and they just they just blend so well
9:09
Speaker 1: in this this this series that you have. But it's
9:12
Speaker 1: the four guys that are relatable to me. All you
9:17
Speaker 1: guys are life issues. I've never seen that put out
9:20
Speaker 1: there like that. I'm just gonna tell you, DJ And
9:23
Speaker 1: that was important when I realized what I was watching,
9:26
Speaker 1: because because all that is just the title Johnson, I
9:29
Speaker 1: didn't really know what I was getting into. And then
9:31
Speaker 1: the show open showing these these four days, and guy,
9:34
Speaker 1: I know how many guys it and right, so it's
9:40
Speaker 1: so it's so so I'm learning on the fly, getting
9:44
Speaker 1: engaged in this show. Episode one explains itself. Episode two
9:49
Speaker 1: they tell you how they got the name Johnson, you know,
9:52
Speaker 1: just casually tell you that. And then by the end
9:55
Speaker 1: of episode two, you you want to see episode three
9:58
Speaker 1: because way they're end the show is that when they're
10:01
Speaker 1: in the show, the very next episode they pick up
10:03
Speaker 1: right where they stopped. Yeah, yeah, I love it. I
10:06
Speaker 1: love it. Just just a special project. Talk about you
10:10
Speaker 1: and Thomas getting together because I didn't want you all
10:12
Speaker 1: to I didn't want The offer was to interview you
10:14
Speaker 1: guys together. I said, no way. I said, they have
10:18
Speaker 1: too much to tell me separately. Because your story in
10:21
Speaker 1: his story, because he played in the NFL, that's a
10:23
Speaker 1: whole different story. I gotta talked to him about. Okay,
10:25
Speaker 1: that transition. As you said, you knew from Jump as
10:28
Speaker 1: a young kid, you wanted to do this. He wanted
10:31
Speaker 1: to be an athlete, and people a people push him
10:34
Speaker 1: in the direction because he's so talented of an athlete,
10:36
Speaker 1: that's what you should do for a living. And so
10:39
Speaker 1: now a story about four guys, how did you get
10:42
Speaker 1: that pitch out there for people to buy into it,
10:45
Speaker 1: especially about four black men? Well, it was tough. It
10:49
Speaker 1: was tough, man, because historically, man, like you said, there's
10:53
Speaker 1: not a lot of shows that have been created like
10:56
Speaker 1: this that really died into uh, who the black man is,
11:03
Speaker 1: you know, the backstory of of of this black man,
11:05
Speaker 1: how he ended up, how he evolved. Oftentimes we're you know,
11:09
Speaker 1: placed in shows and we're used as a part of
11:11
Speaker 1: a larger narrative. But to give us this screen time
11:15
Speaker 1: and to show our complexities, like this, you know, in
11:19
Speaker 1: my opinion, hasn't been done like this before as well.
11:22
Speaker 1: This shows um that I love that that that that
11:26
Speaker 1: dive into issues that we deal with, such as rock
11:29
Speaker 1: you know, back in the nineties, one of my favorite
11:30
Speaker 1: shows growing up. I was very inspired by that show.
11:32
Speaker 1: They kept a reeling that show. Man. Um, But um,
11:37
Speaker 1: we knew that it was time, and you know, I
11:39
Speaker 1: wrote the original pilot you know, years ago. Um. It
11:43
Speaker 1: started off as just kind of just just observations of
11:47
Speaker 1: my own experiences and other experiences, observations of not seeing
11:51
Speaker 1: a show like this on TV and knowing that we
11:54
Speaker 1: needed to have more balance to represent black men on
11:58
Speaker 1: TV and in film and and and then also to
12:02
Speaker 1: taking the responsibility to be one of the ones who
12:05
Speaker 1: would offer that balance, you know, instead of just sitting
12:07
Speaker 1: around and complaining about why don't I just write a
12:09
Speaker 1: show that that shows us how we want to be
12:11
Speaker 1: seen and black women shout up with black women. Man,
12:13
Speaker 1: they they've recognized it, and they've taken u control of
12:17
Speaker 1: their own narrative. You know, I've said that before, but
12:19
Speaker 1: it's so true. It's like you look at the Renaissance
12:22
Speaker 1: and these shows about friendships between black women Um, the
12:28
Speaker 1: nuances and the synergy and sisterhood is really great to watch.
12:32
Speaker 1: And we had we gotta play catch up. We got
12:35
Speaker 1: to create shows the way that we want to be seen,
12:37
Speaker 1: the way that we want to be represented on TV.
12:39
Speaker 1: And so that's what this is, man, And so um,
12:43
Speaker 1: you know, I ran into Thomas uh Seen, you know,
12:48
Speaker 1: initially went to him, you know, because I knew he
12:50
Speaker 1: was already acting. He had a great following. I knew
12:53
Speaker 1: him for football, right, and I wanted him to be
12:56
Speaker 1: an actor on the show. But in our meetings when
12:59
Speaker 1: we sat down, the conversations we had, how he understood
13:03
Speaker 1: the content, how he understood what I was trying to do,
13:06
Speaker 1: the messaging, the type of stories is. It related to
13:11
Speaker 1: him so much and hit him so much. He was like, Yo, man,
13:13
Speaker 1: I can't just be an actor on this show. Man,
13:14
Speaker 1: I want to be a producer. I want to. I
13:16
Speaker 1: want to push that. I want to. I want to
13:18
Speaker 1: go into business with you and produce this show. It's
13:21
Speaker 1: too important for the culture. That's what he told me. Right.
13:24
Speaker 1: I was like, all right, man, look you want to
13:26
Speaker 1: do that, Let's shoot an independent pilot. Let's just do
13:30
Speaker 1: an independent pilot, you know, because to get somebody to
13:33
Speaker 1: read in this town is very difficult, especially if you're
13:35
Speaker 1: a new creator. So you gotta show him something. You
13:37
Speaker 1: gotta put your money where your mouth is. So I
13:39
Speaker 1: gave him a price tag of what it would cost
13:42
Speaker 1: to shoot a pilot. He wrote half the half to budget,
13:45
Speaker 1: wrote a check. I put up half, He put up half.
13:48
Speaker 1: We shot the pilot, We started shopping Ineen. We had
13:52
Speaker 1: interests from some from some networks, man. We had some
13:54
Speaker 1: interest from us, some really uh uh network, some pretty
13:59
Speaker 1: large network. Man. But we feel like where we landed,
14:04
Speaker 1: the home that we have for Johnson, that Bounce is
14:08
Speaker 1: the best home that we could have. And I say
14:10
Speaker 1: that because the built in demographic, Uh, they understand what
14:16
Speaker 1: the show is, and they allowed us to tell our
14:18
Speaker 1: stories unfiltered. They allow us to express ourselves and represent
14:24
Speaker 1: ourselves a way that we we the way that our
14:27
Speaker 1: our vision goes untouched on that on that network. And
14:31
Speaker 1: so they're an incredible partner man. Um. Yeah, So myself
14:36
Speaker 1: and Thomas, you know, the show got the attention of
14:38
Speaker 1: Richa l Archibald over at a Birden of Bear Entertainment,
14:41
Speaker 1: who works with your your people's Eric c Rowan and
14:44
Speaker 1: Cedric the entertainer, and and and uh you know, shout
14:47
Speaker 1: out the reaching man, the first person one of the
14:49
Speaker 1: first people to really executive producers on the show. Yeah,
14:52
Speaker 1: the executive producers reached as executive producer. One of the
14:55
Speaker 1: first people to see the value in this show, Rashaun
14:57
Speaker 1: was a black woman because we reminded her of her
15:00
Speaker 1: brothers and her family. That's That's what we keep saying,
15:02
Speaker 1: is like this show represents the vast majority of us.
15:05
Speaker 1: If I ask you, you know, compare this show to
15:09
Speaker 1: like another show where you know, a bunch of black
15:12
Speaker 1: dudes are selling drugs and things like that, all out
15:15
Speaker 1: of all the black men in your life. Which show
15:18
Speaker 1: is more relatable to the black men in your life?
15:20
Speaker 1: Most people, especially in my life and people around me,
15:23
Speaker 1: would say the guys on Johnson versus the guys on
15:26
Speaker 1: another show. Um, and so why can't we have both? Right?
15:30
Speaker 1: Because this show is dope. I love prime dramas, man,
15:33
Speaker 1: I watched them all the time. I'm i'm uh, they're
15:35
Speaker 1: they're in escape. I mean, you know, I enjoy them.
15:38
Speaker 1: I might create a show like that one day, you know.
15:40
Speaker 1: But the key and the trick is to have balance
15:42
Speaker 1: is to be able to watch the show over here
15:44
Speaker 1: and then turn around and watch Johnson and you know,
15:47
Speaker 1: and feel refreshed, like, okay, we feel represented all across
15:50
Speaker 1: the board. That's the key. So Eric and Cedric saw
15:52
Speaker 1: the value in this show when Richa took it to him, man,
15:54
Speaker 1: they came on board as executive producers and take it
15:57
Speaker 1: over to bounce Mr David Hudson, and it's just been
16:00
Speaker 1: a beautiful partnership ever since. Man. And we're on the
16:02
Speaker 1: season two absolutely absolutely, I'm on episode four of the
16:07
Speaker 1: season two. Can't wait till season five this week. You know,
16:11
Speaker 1: the interesting thing about the show just speaking to my
16:14
Speaker 1: fans as well as talking to you as that you know,
16:18
Speaker 1: it's a show about you know, we see the women,
16:20
Speaker 1: and we see their layers, we see their attachments, and
16:24
Speaker 1: you know, I was fortunately be a part of Steve
16:26
Speaker 1: Harvey and this act like a lady, think like a man.
16:28
Speaker 1: That kind of like changed the game of how relationship
16:32
Speaker 1: stories are told to everybody. So three million books worldwide.
16:35
Speaker 1: Book was translated into thirty languages and made two movies
16:40
Speaker 1: out of it. And so when I come to this,
16:41
Speaker 1: I'm going I see your character. You know, it's a
16:44
Speaker 1: layer character. You know, you're in denial by past love
16:47
Speaker 1: and you don't know how to move forward. Never saw
16:50
Speaker 1: that old TV, okay, you know. Then you have Thomas character.
16:54
Speaker 1: You know, he's kind of a little shavinistic because he
16:57
Speaker 1: has some old school values and he keeps using was
17:00
Speaker 1: like you know, women out of pocket, you know they
17:02
Speaker 1: want you know that what you hear in the streets,
17:04
Speaker 1: which is really cool. And then you have Keith's character.
17:07
Speaker 1: You know, he doesn't as as a man, he doesn't
17:10
Speaker 1: know what it takes to get the right woman in
17:13
Speaker 1: his life. So he continually accepts what's given to him
17:17
Speaker 1: instead of instead of demanding what he should have. And
17:20
Speaker 1: then you have Jarvis character, which is in conflict with
17:23
Speaker 1: your character because your character is kind of like you know,
17:26
Speaker 1: like Greg Slash Malcolm X and jovis over there. He's
17:30
Speaker 1: an he's an interracial character, so he has to deal
17:34
Speaker 1: with that whole you know, you're going out in the
17:36
Speaker 1: streets you were the white woman and the community going
17:39
Speaker 1: really really and he doesn't know how to deal with that.
17:43
Speaker 1: And so you have these four brothers who the last
17:46
Speaker 1: name of Johnson, who are mentored by D. L. Hughley's
17:49
Speaker 1: character talking about DL Hughless rolling this because it's fantastic. Man. Uh,
17:55
Speaker 1: let me just say this. DL Hughley said you the
17:58
Speaker 1: entertainer also appears on the show. Um. He did an
18:00
Speaker 1: episode in season one and in season two. That's that's
18:03
Speaker 1: another topic that we wanted to make. Um brings the
18:08
Speaker 1: forefront on the show is how important generational respect is.
18:13
Speaker 1: You know, how important it is to be able to
18:17
Speaker 1: get information from the people who came before you. They
18:22
Speaker 1: have something to say and for you to use that information.
18:24
Speaker 1: So his character, man is is kind of the voice
18:27
Speaker 1: of voice of reason. He's the guy who mentors us.
18:30
Speaker 1: Like like you said, he has his own radio show.
18:33
Speaker 1: He's the voice of people. You know, only very very
18:36
Speaker 1: very smooth, strong, suave voice. UM who's who's also experienced
18:41
Speaker 1: a lot of the things that the guy that the
18:42
Speaker 1: Johnson men are going through. He's also related to Thomas's character.
18:45
Speaker 1: He's his uncle, so he's a Johnson as well. Um.
18:49
Speaker 1: In front of the camera on set and offset. You know,
18:54
Speaker 1: we have so much respect for d L. We have
18:56
Speaker 1: so much respect for Cedric, so much respect for Eric.
18:58
Speaker 1: These guys have been in the business. Is they paved
19:00
Speaker 1: the way for us and you know the only way,
19:06
Speaker 1: uh that I the only thing that I see that
19:10
Speaker 1: is the most important thing in this industry, man, is
19:12
Speaker 1: to bring somebody else up and have them continue running
19:16
Speaker 1: with you and and and continue, you know, passing the baton.
19:19
Speaker 1: And that's what they did man. You know, Erica Cedric Man,
19:22
Speaker 1: they saw the vision UM and and other cultures do
19:27
Speaker 1: it all the time. You know, I don't think that
19:29
Speaker 1: we do it as much as we should, man, So
19:31
Speaker 1: hats off the Erica Cedric Man forgiving Thomas and I
19:34
Speaker 1: young creators an opportunity to create this show, and we
19:38
Speaker 1: have their full support. Man, it's been it's been an
19:40
Speaker 1: incredible journey so far. We'll be right back with more
19:43
Speaker 1: Money Making Conversations Masterclass with Rushan McDonald. Now, let's return
19:49
Speaker 1: to Money Making Conversations Masterclass with Rushan McDonald speaking with
19:54
Speaker 1: Dai Larray wanted the stars as well as UM show runner,
20:00
Speaker 1: creator writer. You know, let's make sure he gets credit
20:04
Speaker 1: for that, because if they're thrown out some incredible scripts. Man.
20:07
Speaker 1: The dialogue is on point, the editing his own point,
20:11
Speaker 1: the lighting is on point, no sound issues, the continue
20:15
Speaker 1: it on. I'm just when you see fourteen episodes as
20:19
Speaker 1: fast as I've seen fourteen. You get to see it
20:22
Speaker 1: laid out right and you get to see if there
20:24
Speaker 1: is a mistake they could have done this done. They're
20:27
Speaker 1: just a beautiful series that a serious of talking about.
20:30
Speaker 1: It's called Johnson. You can catch it on the Bounds Network.
20:34
Speaker 1: The beauty of it is that the relationships, that's the
20:38
Speaker 1: power of this show. And did the episode four ended
20:43
Speaker 1: with kind of like some cliffhangers emotionally for me, I'm
20:46
Speaker 1: not gonna get him to tell me what's happening in
20:48
Speaker 1: the future. Cus, why you gotta watch series? But Terry
20:52
Speaker 1: Jay Vaughan comes into the series. She came in and
20:57
Speaker 1: correct him when he said mrs. She said, miss okay, okay, okay,
21:02
Speaker 1: but I might be wrong. I might be wrong in
21:05
Speaker 1: my belief. But she corrected him and said miss and
21:09
Speaker 1: she was looking good all right, And then my boy
21:13
Speaker 1: jobbers rescue you, Danny for a crisis. I went, okay, okay, okay,
21:20
Speaker 1: maybe maybe maybe I might be misreading something. But guess
21:23
Speaker 1: what good writing takes you in those directions when you
21:28
Speaker 1: when you sit down, let's talk about that writing room, sir.
21:31
Speaker 1: Who all is in that room? And uh? And it
21:33
Speaker 1: is a drama. D it's not a sitcom. Is if
21:37
Speaker 1: you have your funny moments, but you have your life moments,
21:41
Speaker 1: your your storytelling moments, your journeys of truism, and also
21:46
Speaker 1: about being a black man in America talk to us.
21:51
Speaker 1: So the name of the show, Johnson, represents the fact
21:56
Speaker 1: that we all have the same uh um, a lot
22:00
Speaker 1: of the same um obstacles as black men in America.
22:05
Speaker 1: So it's very symbolic that we all have the same
22:07
Speaker 1: last name. There's no relation. Um. So once you watch
22:10
Speaker 1: the show and you peel back those ladies, you get
22:13
Speaker 1: to see how different we are and how different we
22:16
Speaker 1: can be. Whether it's our way of thinking, you know,
22:19
Speaker 1: when it comes to you know, um, you know, uh politics,
22:23
Speaker 1: whether it's our way of thinking when it comes to
22:25
Speaker 1: how we see the world in a lot of different ways.
22:27
Speaker 1: And so that's what the show is. It's about those relationships.
22:30
Speaker 1: It's about these characters. Uh. It's about showing black men
22:34
Speaker 1: is being vulnerable. It's about showing black men as being
22:37
Speaker 1: emotionally intelligent, being able to handle a lot of differences
22:40
Speaker 1: in conflict, um without resorting the violence, of course, which
22:45
Speaker 1: is normal for us. But we gotta say it Um,
22:48
Speaker 1: it's about showing this brotherhood. It's about showing the portrayal,
22:51
Speaker 1: how they get over that, and it's about showing our
22:53
Speaker 1: relationship with black women. Right. So you brought up Terry
22:58
Speaker 1: Jay Vaughan and you brought up Dan Me who's played
23:00
Speaker 1: by Chloe James, And these are two incredible, uh talents.
23:06
Speaker 1: You know, I've been watching Terry for a long time,
23:08
Speaker 1: nothing but love and respect for her. She's incredible. Um yeah,
23:12
Speaker 1: she said, you know it's not Mrs is miss You
23:14
Speaker 1: know what I'm saying. So we'll see, we'll see if
23:17
Speaker 1: it can happens. You know everybody already, you know when
23:20
Speaker 1: it comes to Terry, you know, you know and Cedric,
23:23
Speaker 1: you know, LaVita, Alexa Jenkins, you know what I'm saying.
23:27
Speaker 1: Like that relationship between her and says character on The
23:30
Speaker 1: Steve Harvey Show is untouched and unmatched. We're not trying
23:34
Speaker 1: to We're not trying to do that. What we're doing is,
23:38
Speaker 1: like you said, it's a drama. So, um, it's real life.
23:42
Speaker 1: That's the genre of the show. Things are funny, we laugh,
23:46
Speaker 1: things are serious, we cry. Things are funny, we cry,
23:51
Speaker 1: things are serious, we laugh. You can't really predict the
23:56
Speaker 1: emotion you're gonna feel. You just gotta ride with the emotions.
23:58
Speaker 1: So what we try to do on this shows just
24:00
Speaker 1: be as authentic as possible and what that looks like.
24:03
Speaker 1: So for you know, for for her character, she's a principal.
24:09
Speaker 1: Here's a guy, Greg who's a maintenance man at the school.
24:13
Speaker 1: You know, she's she's beautiful, he's attractive, she's single, he's single.
24:18
Speaker 1: What would naturally happen in this situation and what could
24:21
Speaker 1: stand in the way of that? A lot of things
24:24
Speaker 1: can stand in the way of that, and I think
24:25
Speaker 1: we're gonna see that as the as the show, uh
24:28
Speaker 1: develops even more. Um, we deal with a lot of
24:32
Speaker 1: things on this show, like you know, diving into religion.
24:35
Speaker 1: Classism is explored on this show, and in the myth
24:39
Speaker 1: of the absentee father. And then going back to Chloe's character,
24:43
Speaker 1: which is Danny the black man protecting the black woman,
24:48
Speaker 1: right and so here he is she needs help, He's
24:53
Speaker 1: there to help her. What gets in the way of
24:55
Speaker 1: that one, what conflict especially with him being a married man,
24:59
Speaker 1: what stands in away of that? So it's all of
25:02
Speaker 1: these complexities. Man. We try to make the show as
25:05
Speaker 1: unpredictable as possible while debunking stereotypes and myth myths about
25:11
Speaker 1: black men and black women. I would tell you this,
25:14
Speaker 1: UM great series. Johnson is a great, great, great series.
25:19
Speaker 1: UM impressed again the directing, the writing, the acting, the
25:26
Speaker 1: believability of the characters. They are are They're authentic. Uh, Earthquake.
25:32
Speaker 1: I love the Death Deal hugely. I love to death
25:35
Speaker 1: UM bringing on Terry J. Vaughan. Been a family friend
25:40
Speaker 1: since since ninety five. That's how long I've been doing
25:43
Speaker 1: Terry Okay, been doing has been knowing Cedric and Eric
25:46
Speaker 1: Rohn since ninety two. Brought him down to my commedy
25:49
Speaker 1: club in Houston, Texas hip Hop comm That's how long
25:51
Speaker 1: I've known these people. Del hugely brought him down. Been
25:54
Speaker 1: knowing him since ninety one. So you have the relationships
25:57
Speaker 1: that I'm so happy to see that they're working and
26:01
Speaker 1: doing great things in this business and telling everybody. I
26:04
Speaker 1: see a guy that going on as a producer as
26:07
Speaker 1: also a talent in front of the camera and behind
26:09
Speaker 1: the camera. But more importantly, Djay, your special brother. You
26:15
Speaker 1: as a kid that just something you want to do
26:18
Speaker 1: and and disguise are the limit for you. I definitely
26:21
Speaker 1: want to connect with you off camera. You know, I
26:24
Speaker 1: just want to be in busy with you, brother, I
26:26
Speaker 1: really do you and Thomas, I want to be in
26:28
Speaker 1: business that that means a lot, because I've been following
26:30
Speaker 1: your career as well. Man. I study everybody, so I
26:33
Speaker 1: know all of your accolades. I know all of your accomplishments,
26:36
Speaker 1: and there's things that I don't know that I want
26:37
Speaker 1: to get to know. Brother, You know what I mean.
26:38
Speaker 1: I have so much respect for like I said, when
26:42
Speaker 1: it comes to d L said, all these guys yourself,
26:45
Speaker 1: I've been hearing about you, man. I think probably when
26:50
Speaker 1: I first moved to l A man, this was like
26:52
Speaker 1: it's a while, a long time ago, man, um, and
26:54
Speaker 1: then just started like because I'm all about the people
26:57
Speaker 1: in front of the camera, but also the people behind
26:59
Speaker 1: the scene making things happen. So I studied those Those
27:02
Speaker 1: are the guys to me, people making things happen behind
27:05
Speaker 1: the scenes where where you know they don't get as
27:09
Speaker 1: much a praise and respect that they should. Man. But
27:12
Speaker 1: I'm that guy who notices all of that. I see everything. Man,
27:15
Speaker 1: So much respect to you, man, I appreciate, I appreciate
27:19
Speaker 1: the kind words I appreciate you loving the series and
27:21
Speaker 1: was only gonna get better man, trust and believe that cool.
27:24
Speaker 1: I want to thank you for coming on Myny making
27:25
Speaker 1: conversation and we will talk soon. And I will be
27:28
Speaker 1: talking to thom must Q Jones as well, because he's
27:31
Speaker 1: gonna be a separate intervery because I'm about promoting and promoting, promoting,
27:35
Speaker 1: Thank you and keep producing that I got my brother. Yeah,
27:38
Speaker 1: I'm hooked. I'm from get my information for Chris Man
27:43
Speaker 1: and me an email and we're gonna Chris, We're gonna connect.
27:46
Speaker 1: And Chris said, we're gonna do that already before you
27:48
Speaker 1: came on live already. Know I got to meet with
27:51
Speaker 1: these brothers and I got some more people. I want
27:53
Speaker 1: y'all to meet as well, not just me. That's how
27:56
Speaker 1: much I think this, this relationship needs to be expounded upon. Okay,
28:00
Speaker 1: thank you brother, thank you for coming money and make
28:01
Speaker 1: it covers his back to class. I always remember, leave
28:04
Speaker 1: with your gifts. Keep winning. Is Rashan McDonald. I am
28:07
Speaker 1: your host