Latest / The Steve Harvey Morning Show / Rushion Interviews “All the Queen's Men" star Skyh Alvester Black | Actor Deji LaRay from Bounce TV series, "Johnson!"

Transcript

Rushion Interviews “All the Queen's Men" star Skyh Alvester Black | Actor Deji LaRay from Bounce TV series, "Johnson!" · The Steve Harvey Morning Show

0:04
Speaker 1: Welcome to Money Making Conversations. It's the show that she
0:07
Speaker 1: has the secrets of success experience firsthand by marketing and
0:10
Speaker 1: Brandon expert Rashan McDonald. I will know he's giving me
0:13
Speaker 1: advice on many occasions. In occasion didn't notice, I'm not broke.
0:17
Speaker 1: You know he'll be interviewing celebrity CEOs, entrepreneurs and industry
0:20
Speaker 1: decision makers. It's what he likes to do, it's what
0:23
Speaker 1: he likes to share. Now it's time to hear from
0:25
Speaker 1: my man, Rashan McDonald. Money Making Conversations Here we come.
0:30
Speaker 1: Welcome to my show, money Making Conversation Masterclass. I'm your
0:33
Speaker 1: host with Sean McDonald. I recognized that we all have
0:35
Speaker 1: different definitions of success. For you, it may be the
0:38
Speaker 1: size of your paycheck. Mine has inspired people to develop
0:41
Speaker 1: a plan to reach their dreams. It's time to stop
0:44
Speaker 1: reading other people's success stories and start writing your own.
0:47
Speaker 1: You can only exceed the expectation by believing in yourself.
0:50
Speaker 1: People always talk about their purpose or gifts. If you
0:52
Speaker 1: have a gift, leave with your gifts and don't let
0:54
Speaker 1: your friends, family, or co workers stop you from planning
0:57
Speaker 1: or living your dreams. My guess is Scott Alvestra Black.
1:01
Speaker 1: He's one of Hollywood's most exciting rising stars of today.
1:05
Speaker 1: Sky returns his leading man app addiction Anthony on Tyler
1:08
Speaker 1: peers Smashing and I say smash shit male exotic dancer
1:11
Speaker 1: drama series All the Queen's Men. This season two is up.
1:15
Speaker 1: I was so mad with season two ended. We're talking
1:17
Speaker 1: about that. I said, you gotta renew this and they
1:21
Speaker 1: hurt my prayer. Season two is currently airing on BT Plus.
1:25
Speaker 1: The show follows Madame de Ville de ville Or, starring
1:29
Speaker 1: the incredible even Myself. She's a fierce businesswoman at the
1:34
Speaker 1: top of her game in the Atlanta nightclub industry who
1:36
Speaker 1: won't let anyone and I repeat anyone standing away as
1:40
Speaker 1: she reigns over a crowd of loyal male dancers. Sky
1:44
Speaker 1: is a scene stealer as Madame's nephew, an employee who
1:48
Speaker 1: evolves in an exciting and lecture trying seasons two. I've
1:51
Speaker 1: seen the first sixth episode. It's really they slowly developed
1:54
Speaker 1: its character because it's really getting into some relationships. Not
1:57
Speaker 1: gonna reveal too much because like I said, they're streaming
1:59
Speaker 1: right now on BT Plus. If you don't have subscription
2:02
Speaker 1: slide on in and sign up because this series is
2:04
Speaker 1: definitely one worth worth seeing on a regulation and putting
2:08
Speaker 1: it in your and just tell everybody and in real life,
2:12
Speaker 1: my man Sky also holds a strong passion for producing.
2:15
Speaker 1: We're gonna talk about that as well as advocate advocating
2:18
Speaker 1: for the homeless and impoverished. He's on the show to
2:21
Speaker 1: tell his story. Please work with the money making conversations,
2:23
Speaker 1: Masterclass Sky, Alvesta Black, How you doing, sir, hey Man,
2:27
Speaker 1: thank you so much for having me with with an
2:29
Speaker 1: introduction like, well, you know, I had to drop two
2:33
Speaker 1: personal things in there because you know I have a
2:36
Speaker 1: relationship with you when you came on the first time,
2:38
Speaker 1: you know, we was the way. Thank you, thank you.
2:42
Speaker 1: I'm happy to have you took the time because you know,
2:45
Speaker 1: you know I learned about your dancing career, you were
2:48
Speaker 1: acting and not before we really get into the whole
2:50
Speaker 1: conversation about all the Queens of Men is why I
2:53
Speaker 1: brought you on the show. But you're doing more producing now,
2:56
Speaker 1: can we talk about that a little bit before we
2:58
Speaker 1: get into the series, because that gives you a different
3:00
Speaker 1: eye as an actor when you're doing series, especially with
3:04
Speaker 1: a mega producer like Tyler Perry completely um. So yes,
3:10
Speaker 1: I am making a huge foray into producing. I just
3:15
Speaker 1: finished producing an international feature in Haiti and and also Miami,
3:21
Speaker 1: So that was my first feature film that I was
3:25
Speaker 1: not only sorry and I was also exactly producing. And
3:28
Speaker 1: I'll be honest, I got the above man. I loved
3:31
Speaker 1: the development of being on the ground making this story,
3:37
Speaker 1: making stories not just this particular story, but stories happen
3:42
Speaker 1: and understanding and it creates as an actor, creates a
3:46
Speaker 1: better world for you because you've been there from the beginning,
3:49
Speaker 1: so you're invested. You're invested, um even more so in
3:53
Speaker 1: the script because it's kind of like your baby. You've
3:56
Speaker 1: you've gone out, you've seen the locations, you've created this world.
4:00
Speaker 1: Do you know what you wanted to feel like? You
4:02
Speaker 1: have other creatives with like the director and everything. So
4:06
Speaker 1: I just felt that in this time, I'll be honest,
4:11
Speaker 1: God is my number one. So that's the direction I've
4:14
Speaker 1: been pushed in addition to being privileged enough to be
4:17
Speaker 1: a leading man, and I have this like burning fire
4:21
Speaker 1: and and now I have I think four or five
4:24
Speaker 1: projects on my slaves, like is it all film? Is
4:27
Speaker 1: it any of the television docuseries, What are the genres
4:31
Speaker 1: one docuseries and the rest of his film? Okay, about
4:35
Speaker 1: four films on my slate right now, and what is
4:38
Speaker 1: the window production you usually do with your movie? Six weeks?
4:41
Speaker 1: Two months? What is it? Uh? Ninety days? What are
4:44
Speaker 1: the windows of production? So I will say the first
4:48
Speaker 1: on the last one, I can only speak to the
4:49
Speaker 1: last one. It was about a month. It was about
4:52
Speaker 1: a month, and I was in a developing country, and
4:56
Speaker 1: when you're in when you're in Haiti, there's a lot
4:58
Speaker 1: of options that we actually had to face. And I
5:02
Speaker 1: love that challenge of that being my first because it
5:06
Speaker 1: really pushed me beyond my limits. I mean, we're in
5:09
Speaker 1: a developing country where there's no power. Everything is running
5:12
Speaker 1: off the generators. Um. We did, how have a lot
5:16
Speaker 1: of the We did have American crew and hanition crew.
5:19
Speaker 1: So it forced me to even learn the language. I'm
5:22
Speaker 1: an advocate for not going into somebody else's house and
5:26
Speaker 1: expecting them to acqui as to you in your ways.
5:29
Speaker 1: But when you go in their house, you ask what
5:31
Speaker 1: are their rules? What are their regulations? So I was
5:34
Speaker 1: learning UM, I was learning the language. I was out
5:37
Speaker 1: there with the natives and it was an awesome experience,
5:43
Speaker 1: and as a producer it was I would say it
5:45
Speaker 1: was one of the more challenging experiences because, like again
5:49
Speaker 1: I echo, it was a developing country. So just imagine
5:53
Speaker 1: when you're filming and the cold countries running up for generators.
5:57
Speaker 1: And so it took at their issues in America filming
6:02
Speaker 1: and production. Did you're gonna run the hiccups that you're
6:05
Speaker 1: gonna run into? So walking into a foreign country where
6:08
Speaker 1: you have electricity is limited, battery packs is limited, the
6:12
Speaker 1: type of experienced crew, experienced crew will be lated, so
6:16
Speaker 1: and and as also transportation can also be limited as well.
6:21
Speaker 1: And so when you like that, I was speaking to
6:22
Speaker 1: the sky a Vesta Black, one of the stars of
6:25
Speaker 1: all the Queens Men, which is a smash hit by
6:27
Speaker 1: Tyler Perry. What what Tyler Perry doesn't do that? It's
6:30
Speaker 1: not a smash shit But again, as the gifts to
6:33
Speaker 1: God Giving, this series is directed by him, executive produced
6:36
Speaker 1: by him, and it's airing right now and b T plus.
6:39
Speaker 1: Now I can relate to what you're saying. I started
6:42
Speaker 1: my career by the reason mathematics and sociology, and I
6:46
Speaker 1: let my IBM to pursue a career as a stand
6:48
Speaker 1: up comedian, and I was very successful standing did the
6:51
Speaker 1: deaf comedy jams all that, very successful and um, but
6:54
Speaker 1: when I started writing and I started producing, I felt
6:57
Speaker 1: I had more control of the creator and if it
7:01
Speaker 1: came more of a team effort, because as an actor,
7:03
Speaker 1: a lot of times you just giving lines and you're directed,
7:06
Speaker 1: and so you don't really participate in the overall project.
7:10
Speaker 1: As a producer, you you have never seen, okay, because
7:14
Speaker 1: you gotta be wherever ever seen. Because sometimes I can
7:17
Speaker 1: have in this scene before the scene started, right because
7:19
Speaker 1: sometime I could have asked actors and say, oh, well,
7:22
Speaker 1: I don't I reached at that movie. I was in
7:25
Speaker 1: no famous with that person or I was no scenes
7:27
Speaker 1: with that person, you know. And so but there's as
7:29
Speaker 1: a producer, that's the engagement part that you have. You
7:34
Speaker 1: are in everything from budget talking about the camera, Yeah, exactly,
7:39
Speaker 1: even when I'm not on camera, I'm a I'm at
7:42
Speaker 1: I'm in video village. And it also like it's helped
7:46
Speaker 1: me be such a better actor because I learned I
7:50
Speaker 1: would say, I honestly not just the craft of acting,
7:54
Speaker 1: the art of storytelling. And that's that when you start
7:58
Speaker 1: to tell that story as an actor and me being
8:01
Speaker 1: able to sit behind the London and say, hey, let's
8:04
Speaker 1: this came through on camera? Can we get this and
8:07
Speaker 1: we have to make our days or and and everything
8:09
Speaker 1: like that. All the logistics that happened. And I would
8:12
Speaker 1: be remissed if I did not um D J. Lewis,
8:17
Speaker 1: who's the writer and other executi producer on the film
8:21
Speaker 1: Haitian Way, and let I just finished. He he's Haitian
8:25
Speaker 1: and he made all the logistics just extremely possible and
8:29
Speaker 1: as seamless as you could think to be over in
8:32
Speaker 1: Haiti at this point in time. And I just want
8:35
Speaker 1: to say, and I'll wrap it up by saying this,
8:38
Speaker 1: we have such a misconception as a people in America
8:42
Speaker 1: of what Haiti is. It's absolutely beautiful, absolutely beautiful. I
8:49
Speaker 1: learned so much about the culture, the people, and I
8:52
Speaker 1: was extremely inspired once I was, once I left, and
8:56
Speaker 1: while I was there. So that's another thing I felt.
8:59
Speaker 1: I at it to being a producer. You have to
9:01
Speaker 1: be open to learning right along the way because not
9:04
Speaker 1: everything is gonna go at your plan, not every project
9:06
Speaker 1: is going to be the same. You have to be valuable, flexible,
9:09
Speaker 1: and I love the process talk about how you got
9:14
Speaker 1: the how the casting up. I know you've done other
9:16
Speaker 1: projects for Tyler Perry, like Sisters, but still it's your talent.
9:19
Speaker 1: You know a lot of people people Tyler just don't
9:21
Speaker 1: hand you stuff because he like you. That's the skills
9:23
Speaker 1: that you come. Talk about how this opportunity that came
9:26
Speaker 1: to you. And then because it is over the top,
9:30
Speaker 1: because Eva's character is bold is it is like it
9:34
Speaker 1: is almost cartoonist. But I say that in a very
9:37
Speaker 1: entertaining way, because sometimes you need to just step into
9:40
Speaker 1: a world, just let all all reality go. That's what
9:43
Speaker 1: this show is about. But it is tied to real
9:46
Speaker 1: people and the emotional things that are relatable. Tell us
9:49
Speaker 1: about it. Um, it's interesting. I actually audition for All
9:55
Speaker 1: kans Men. Prior to all this persistence, I was also
9:58
Speaker 1: um I played Sisters that I'm sorry I was answer
10:01
Speaker 1: as I played Jakobe that was on the bank, and
10:05
Speaker 1: I was just thankful to get a job as working actor,
10:09
Speaker 1: you know. I mean before I was parking cars, man,
10:12
Speaker 1: I was really parking cars from seven to him the
10:14
Speaker 1: three thirty in the morning, just trying to um, support
10:19
Speaker 1: myself and follow my dreams. So in the daytime about
10:23
Speaker 1: audition at night? I UM, at night I would work,
10:27
Speaker 1: jumped to Sisters came, the audition came. I did the audition,
10:32
Speaker 1: by the grace of God, found out I booked it,
10:34
Speaker 1: went there and just delved into work. Now we get home,
10:38
Speaker 1: Sisters is over, and I get a call from my
10:40
Speaker 1: agent like, hey, you just got the leading talented new
10:43
Speaker 1: show all the clues men. Honestly, I cried. I got
10:49
Speaker 1: on my knees. I thank God in this order, and
10:51
Speaker 1: I called my grandmother and said, hey, you don't have
10:53
Speaker 1: to work anymore. And but the process, I had no idea. Yeah,
11:00
Speaker 1: like I said, I auditioned for all the Queens, mean
11:03
Speaker 1: months and months before audition assistance. I forgot about the audition,
11:07
Speaker 1: and I had no idea that I was already cast it.
11:10
Speaker 1: Our wonderful creator and writer. I have to um give
11:14
Speaker 1: Christian Keys his comments because without Christian Keys, there would
11:17
Speaker 1: be no his Man to derived from his book Ladies
11:20
Speaker 1: to Night, and Christian actually put the time and ever
11:23
Speaker 1: talking about a producer and developer for ten years ago
11:27
Speaker 1: from the book. So the character that Christian wrote was
11:32
Speaker 1: Christian was doing, was was going to play m and
11:35
Speaker 1: at this time Christian really really wanted to tell the
11:38
Speaker 1: story as authentically to his business possible, and he took
11:43
Speaker 1: a more of a step back to be in a
11:45
Speaker 1: producing aspect and executive producing, executive producing, executive producer. Yes,
11:53
Speaker 1: and Christian casting me. Christian actually casted me. And because
11:59
Speaker 1: I don't know, I think I was possibly going to
12:02
Speaker 1: be on Sisters more and and it actually was that
12:04
Speaker 1: was the case because they had to round out my
12:06
Speaker 1: character for season three. So doing the audition for All
12:10
Speaker 1: the Queen's Men, it was one of those things where
12:14
Speaker 1: he just sees you see the scene and scene that
12:18
Speaker 1: I actually had the audition for. It was from season one.
12:20
Speaker 1: If you guys have seen season one, it's when I
12:22
Speaker 1: get out of the actually prison and my aunt is
12:25
Speaker 1: there for the first time. And the scene where I
12:29
Speaker 1: go back to my fiance, sorry my girlfriend at the time,
12:33
Speaker 1: my girlfriend that I killed. I go back to my
12:35
Speaker 1: mom's house and the gunnis to my head. Those are
12:38
Speaker 1: my two auditions scenes. And there was something about it
12:40
Speaker 1: that just clicked when I when I auditioned, I said
12:43
Speaker 1: in a self tape, didn't hear anything for like three
12:45
Speaker 1: or four months, nothing, And I said, Okay, this is
12:47
Speaker 1: one of those auditions and here we go. We'll be
12:50
Speaker 1: right back with more money Making Conversations Masterclass with Rushan McDonald. Now,
12:58
Speaker 1: let's return to Money Making Conversations Masterclass with Rashan McDonald.
13:03
Speaker 1: You lead of an incredible series that is of the characters.
13:07
Speaker 1: Of course, we talked about Eva's characters. She pleas mad. Damn,
13:10
Speaker 1: you don't say ma'am, you say lady, You said me Damn, Okay,
13:16
Speaker 1: my boy blew on there. Damn. That's he's developing a
13:19
Speaker 1: relationship with a character called Damn. I'm saying Sky's character
13:22
Speaker 1: who plays ample on the show. Do you have male dancers?
13:25
Speaker 1: Doc Phase way ago Midnight? And then then you're a fan.
13:30
Speaker 1: I love it. I love it. Hey Scott, I would
13:36
Speaker 1: not have you on this show, brother lying to you man.
13:40
Speaker 1: And then my favorite character is Tommy my man and
13:43
Speaker 1: I'm Cookies my man. Is I'm cookies? Yes? Yes. Tommy's
13:49
Speaker 1: character is absolutely hilarious. Um yeah, he's His character is
13:53
Speaker 1: so funny. It's it's the commedic relead to the show.
13:58
Speaker 1: The thing that I can say about this season the most.
14:01
Speaker 1: And I had to discover a lot of Whoemp is
14:04
Speaker 1: this season because without revealing too much. I will say this,
14:09
Speaker 1: and I've been saying this, you will really find out
14:12
Speaker 1: why and Madam are related. Apps. Arc is ridiculous this
14:21
Speaker 1: season and it was so fun to play because it's
14:26
Speaker 1: it's it's night and day. So everything you think MP
14:29
Speaker 1: is just watching them fold. Oh, I am watching it.
14:33
Speaker 1: Like I said, I'm in the middle of my episode
14:35
Speaker 1: six of this season two and and it's twenty episodes
14:40
Speaker 1: this season. We have twenty episodes this season. Boy, I
14:43
Speaker 1: got there's a wider arc. I love it. I'm loving
14:46
Speaker 1: I love because I'm not gonna miss any of it.
14:48
Speaker 1: Like I said, the first season, I believe was ten.
14:50
Speaker 1: I believe it was ten the first season. And like
14:53
Speaker 1: I said, when the end of that dramatic moment, I
14:55
Speaker 1: was like, you got to be kidding me. It came back.
14:58
Speaker 1: Now Tyler has done me right the episodes. But let's
15:01
Speaker 1: talk about the whole relationships. Like said, when you do
15:04
Speaker 1: these series, you know you could say I'm doing the
15:07
Speaker 1: show what over over the characters. She's a tough woman,
15:11
Speaker 1: and we have these male dancers, so you're selling sex
15:13
Speaker 1: and good lifting guys in shape, so you're trying to
15:16
Speaker 1: seek that male demo and all that female demo, excuse me.
15:20
Speaker 1: And so when all that comes about, it's the story
15:23
Speaker 1: and the characters talk about your character and your relationship
15:27
Speaker 1: that you're developing with dime this season. So this season
15:31
Speaker 1: with dime um and also where you see Am from
15:35
Speaker 1: the beginning, you see this beautiful budding relationships and you
15:42
Speaker 1: see the love and and and I mean, Diamond is
15:45
Speaker 1: that soft spot for them, just like Amp is that
15:48
Speaker 1: soft spot from Adam. However, it's it's how do I
15:55
Speaker 1: say this, uh, expect to unexpecting what happened? Yes, and
16:02
Speaker 1: and and you and you. All these men's are crime drama,
16:06
Speaker 1: and I think once people realize that, a lot of
16:08
Speaker 1: times people saw us as all this stripper show, this
16:11
Speaker 1: male strip show, this guy's male stripper show. But it's
16:14
Speaker 1: not that it's actually a crime drama, and it's about
16:17
Speaker 1: the relationships of what society would consider consider social misfits
16:24
Speaker 1: and how they're navigating this world but also being there
16:27
Speaker 1: for each other, but also going through real life circumstances
16:31
Speaker 1: that really actually happened in the world of male exotic dancing.
16:36
Speaker 1: I mean, if you hear some of the stories that
16:39
Speaker 1: the guys that I got to sit down with each
16:41
Speaker 1: of the guys, and I really wanted to immerse myself
16:43
Speaker 1: in this world. And I take it granted that's just
16:45
Speaker 1: another role. Say tell me everything, tell me what happens,
16:48
Speaker 1: tell me, tell me your past, tell me. And I
16:51
Speaker 1: had these moments which each of these guys, and a
16:54
Speaker 1: lot of these stories aren't too fabricated when you when
16:58
Speaker 1: you actually live that world, in that life on TV,
17:03
Speaker 1: it seems larger than life. But so many stories that
17:06
Speaker 1: I've heard that these brothers have gone through, um, it's authentic.
17:11
Speaker 1: I'm speaking to sky elst the Black. He's under the
17:14
Speaker 1: stars of the new I said something new. Second season,
17:17
Speaker 1: in twenty episodes. This season, everybody, all the queensman, it's
17:21
Speaker 1: started incredible, even myself. She starts this, she's she's the woman,
17:26
Speaker 1: the word boss lady. She is truly the boss lady.
17:29
Speaker 1: To kill a lady, the tough lady. I'm gonna tell you,
17:32
Speaker 1: get out my face lady. She don't care if she's
17:36
Speaker 1: then she cared. So I want to say something. You
17:40
Speaker 1: said it was a crime drama, but let me put
17:41
Speaker 1: some on top of that. It's a family show. And
17:45
Speaker 1: that's why I'm engaged. When you still empower the power series,
17:50
Speaker 1: it was about family. Well, if you look at any
17:52
Speaker 1: of the Fast and Furious shows movies, it's about family.
17:57
Speaker 1: And so when you look at this series, always remember that,
18:00
Speaker 1: you know, Dock and Blue family Fuego, it's been in
18:04
Speaker 1: a lot of time trying to get this family, keep
18:06
Speaker 1: this family together. And then in the first season, he's
18:09
Speaker 1: basically an outside character. But this season he's more engaged
18:13
Speaker 1: and you find out more about his character. What the
18:15
Speaker 1: thing I love about this season the guys that because
18:18
Speaker 1: there's twenty episodes, the characters don't feel rushed and I'm
18:22
Speaker 1: getting more a backstory. I'm getting more a backstory. It
18:24
Speaker 1: makes me more engaged and much more aware of the
18:28
Speaker 1: next step and excited. And that's why, that's why I
18:31
Speaker 1: wanted to say that the family's dynamic plays a major role.
18:35
Speaker 1: It is a crime and it is violent, It is action,
18:38
Speaker 1: it is dramatic. It is funny because Tommy is very
18:42
Speaker 1: funny in this series. You know, you know, he's he's
18:46
Speaker 1: he's a he's a who as they say back in
18:48
Speaker 1: the day. But but but these are the characters that
18:51
Speaker 1: make me enjoy the show. And this is what I'm
18:54
Speaker 1: saying to you, is that the male dancers is part
18:56
Speaker 1: of it, but I'm also more engaged about, you know,
18:59
Speaker 1: the relationships about I love that you said that because
19:06
Speaker 1: I always look for the universal message when I'm telling
19:09
Speaker 1: the story. Yes, I'm a character that got out of
19:12
Speaker 1: prison for nine years, and we delve into my backstory
19:15
Speaker 1: and we actually see why he really went to prison.
19:18
Speaker 1: I don't know if anyone has seen that episode yet
19:20
Speaker 1: if you haven't seen, episode six really starts to show
19:25
Speaker 1: amps backstory to why. And because first season really focused
19:29
Speaker 1: on am being the audience member as far as bringing
19:31
Speaker 1: you into this world and he you were looking at
19:34
Speaker 1: this world through the eyes of them because you've never
19:37
Speaker 1: seen this world before, as he hasn't. Now you're seeing,
19:40
Speaker 1: like you just said, each character's back story. And when
19:44
Speaker 1: you're telling stories, people like stories because there's a universal
19:48
Speaker 1: element that they can also relate to. They may not
19:50
Speaker 1: know what it is, but it's like, why do I
19:53
Speaker 1: like this so much? But it is family and it's togetherness,
19:57
Speaker 1: and it's how do we keep each other together there?
20:00
Speaker 1: How do we love on each other in this miss
20:04
Speaker 1: of this huge minuta of craziness. And I think that's
20:10
Speaker 1: a lot of just relationships period, like families, paramount friends
20:14
Speaker 1: are paramount. Support systems are extremely paramount in it and
20:18
Speaker 1: on a US universal level, we can't do it alone,
20:22
Speaker 1: even matter on on on on all the police men,
20:25
Speaker 1: she can't do it alone, and she needs to have
20:28
Speaker 1: asked her, Madam. And I always say even I have
20:33
Speaker 1: the best time, because what we do we just get
20:36
Speaker 1: on camera and we go. We don't rehearse before. We
20:40
Speaker 1: have a great connection as Auntie and Nephew when we
20:44
Speaker 1: get on and we explore. And I think Tyler so
20:48
Speaker 1: much for allowing us to really have taking it upon
20:53
Speaker 1: ourselves to develop these characters and actually listening to our thoughts.
20:57
Speaker 1: And I also think the entire producing teams for saying, hey,
21:01
Speaker 1: this season, we do want to tell them too why
21:04
Speaker 1: these people are the way they are, and it makes
21:08
Speaker 1: everybody interested. Well, i gonna tell you this guy. You know, uh,
21:12
Speaker 1: this is just just just the opening scene for this
21:15
Speaker 1: for this second season, and I'm not gonna tell y'all
21:19
Speaker 1: in detail. Well, when Homeboard came out of the kitchen
21:22
Speaker 1: with that giant butcher knife, I'm with y'all silly, Yeah,
21:28
Speaker 1: y'all are silly. Y'all know y'all got smaller knives and
21:30
Speaker 1: that kitchen and that well coming out that gives you
21:33
Speaker 1: that JOBT Butcher knife to do what they had to
21:35
Speaker 1: do surgically, but I man, yeah, I had to get
21:40
Speaker 1: it up. Yeah, that's the funny part about it. But
21:41
Speaker 1: I definitely want to close out the shore to talk
21:44
Speaker 1: about your advocacy for homelessness and empoverished people because the
21:48
Speaker 1: production was producing and eping and eventually directing, because that's
21:52
Speaker 1: I see that in your future. And then incredible series
21:55
Speaker 1: and the relationship you've had with Tyler and then being
21:58
Speaker 1: blessed in the relationship with Christian key Ease with this
22:00
Speaker 1: incredible book that was Ladies Night, which is now turned
22:03
Speaker 1: into All the Queens Man is airing and streaming on
22:06
Speaker 1: BT Plus. Why are the importance of advocating, of being
22:10
Speaker 1: a voice for homelessness and then poverished? Man? I was homeless, simple,
22:15
Speaker 1: I know a firsthand. I'm a kid that that's from
22:19
Speaker 1: the South and from Miami, Florida. I'm from the real
22:21
Speaker 1: Minami man. I'm from Carol City, which is now my regardens.
22:26
Speaker 1: But I came on here to l A with the
22:29
Speaker 1: dream and faith and God and a lot of people say, well,
22:35
Speaker 1: what did you do? I worked my butt off. I
22:37
Speaker 1: believe in I pray sounds pretty shared, but you know
22:41
Speaker 1: when you're when you're in such a industry as the
22:45
Speaker 1: entertainment industry, they're no guarantees and you have ups downas
22:49
Speaker 1: pizza valleys, as you do with any industry or with
22:52
Speaker 1: any in life. However, I was that kid. I was
22:56
Speaker 1: that kid that was homeless, not once, but three times. Um.
23:01
Speaker 1: I know what it's like to have a dream that
23:04
Speaker 1: no one else believes it until it happens. I know
23:08
Speaker 1: it's like to feel depression. I'm also a huge, huge
23:13
Speaker 1: mental health advocate, especially especially it's something that we need
23:21
Speaker 1: because we need to clear our minds. Without a clear mind,
23:24
Speaker 1: you can't be effective in life. And so in addition
23:29
Speaker 1: to being homeless, is depressed and homeless. And I live
23:32
Speaker 1: in Los Angeles, man, I can look out my my
23:35
Speaker 1: window right now, and yes I'm less, but I'm not
23:38
Speaker 1: removed from circumstances, and the homeless could the homeless population
23:43
Speaker 1: and loss astanceriticulates and and I just feel that there's
23:47
Speaker 1: so much that can be done, but we don't look
23:51
Speaker 1: at it. And and I with my platform, I want
23:55
Speaker 1: to do as much as I can to look at
23:57
Speaker 1: the humanistic qualities of just life and can better for
24:02
Speaker 1: things that that's dear to me. I mean again, I
24:05
Speaker 1: was in I slept in my car, I slept in
24:07
Speaker 1: hotels six as I stepped on couches, I I this this,
24:11
Speaker 1: this just happened. My life just reached and also with
24:16
Speaker 1: it switching, I've learned the importance of mental health and
24:21
Speaker 1: mental and therapy awareness of how to just navigate. Everybody
24:28
Speaker 1: has gone through PTSD at some point. I mean, we
24:30
Speaker 1: just came out of a pandemic, and now it seems
24:33
Speaker 1: we're on the edge of other epidemics. Possibly so um.
24:39
Speaker 1: I think as an artist it is essential to not
24:42
Speaker 1: only live life, but to observe life and to really
24:46
Speaker 1: have empathy for a lot of universal issues. Because if
24:53
Speaker 1: you cannot be empathetic to without judgment, to another man's plight,
25:00
Speaker 1: sorry about that. If you can't be if you can't
25:04
Speaker 1: be empathetic to your fellow man and man, being woman, human,
25:11
Speaker 1: if you can't be empathetic to their plight, you can't
25:13
Speaker 1: be a great artist. And it's near and dear to me.
25:17
Speaker 1: And there's a lot more I want to do in
25:20
Speaker 1: that arena of m I want to go visit shelters.
25:23
Speaker 1: I want to set up things, and it's one of
25:26
Speaker 1: my company's mission statements to to really give back and
25:30
Speaker 1: not just go there and drop on some turkeys Thanksgiving,
25:34
Speaker 1: to really get back and see what can we do
25:37
Speaker 1: that There has to be something that if all of
25:39
Speaker 1: us are together, we could we could make some form
25:41
Speaker 1: of effective change. Absolutely well, he's making effective change as
25:47
Speaker 1: a producer, effective change as a homeless advocate for the
25:51
Speaker 1: impoverished and disenfranchise, but more importantly as a fan as
25:55
Speaker 1: a person in the entertained prison. You know, I always say,
25:59
Speaker 1: you know he's younger than so hopefully I've knocked over
26:01
Speaker 1: some doors and kicked over some boxes that he could
26:03
Speaker 1: step in. And I know he's stepping in strong because
26:06
Speaker 1: he got a great man behind him and Tyler Perry,
26:08
Speaker 1: and he's another advocate in Christian Keys, who I think
26:11
Speaker 1: is one of the star producers of our next generation
26:13
Speaker 1: that's gonna pop out that lonely is he a talented writer,
26:16
Speaker 1: but he's also a handsome guy, so they also helped
26:19
Speaker 1: CHRISTI Okay, it looks good, but again, thank you for
26:22
Speaker 1: covering those show this guy, I hope it was a
26:23
Speaker 1: Joe O put this journey was better than the previous journey,
26:26
Speaker 1: which I thought was very good. I always have a
26:28
Speaker 1: great time with you, and thank you for having me
26:29
Speaker 1: back in and just picked you back on what you said.
26:32
Speaker 1: Thank you for everything that you've done in the entertainment industry.
26:35
Speaker 1: Because you you had to walk so I can run.
26:38
Speaker 1: So thank you for all your contributions and just knocking
26:42
Speaker 1: down those doors. Man. It's always a great time here
26:44
Speaker 1: Money Making Conversations. Thank you. Appreciate your brother, but talk soon. Man,
26:48
Speaker 1: be safe now, Okay, thank you too. All right, If
26:51
Speaker 1: you want to see you here any of these interviews,
26:53
Speaker 1: please go to money Making Conversation dot com. I'm with
26:55
Speaker 1: Sean McDonald. I am your host. We'll be right back
26:58
Speaker 1: with more money Making Converse Stations Masterclass with Rushan McDonald.
27:03
Speaker 1: You are now tuned into the Money Making Conversations Minute
27:07
Speaker 1: of Inspiration with Rashan McDonald. Hi, I'm Rashan McDonald for
27:11
Speaker 1: Money Making Conversations Masterclass with your daily minute of Inspiration
27:14
Speaker 1: this week. I said. That was CEO and co founder
27:17
Speaker 1: of Tyler New Media, home of traffic, sales and profit,
27:20
Speaker 1: Lamar Taylor, as he shares the importance of separating the
27:23
Speaker 1: nature of your hustle from the nature of your business.
27:26
Speaker 1: A lot of times when people are being taught and
27:27
Speaker 1: trained through social media, it's more about hustle than it
27:30
Speaker 1: is about business, and it's about, hey, I can make
27:32
Speaker 1: this like quick money, right, How I can you know,
27:34
Speaker 1: do something real fast and flip this and flip that.
27:37
Speaker 1: But we're trying to tell folks you need to build
27:38
Speaker 1: something that's sustainable. You need to build something so that
27:41
Speaker 1: guess what it works when you don't. In order to
27:43
Speaker 1: do that, we need systems around it. We need processes
27:45
Speaker 1: around we need people around it. Those are team and
27:48
Speaker 1: staff that we might need to be able to implement
27:50
Speaker 1: and do things better than we can. And too many
27:52
Speaker 1: times when we don't have these different pieces of the
27:54
Speaker 1: puzzle together, then we get caught. If you were to
27:57
Speaker 1: listen to this full interview with Lamar Taylor, it's a
27:59
Speaker 1: failor on Money Making Conversations dot Com. Now let's return
28:03
Speaker 1: to Money Making Conversations Masterclass with Rashan McDonald. My next
28:08
Speaker 1: guest is d G. Larrey. He's a multitalitied actor, writer,
28:12
Speaker 1: and producer. He's the creator and executive producers, showrunner and
28:15
Speaker 1: start on Bounce TVs. Comedy, I should say drama Johnson.
28:19
Speaker 1: He plays the role of Gregg on the show We'll
28:22
Speaker 1: Talk to Da g about his path when you say path,
28:25
Speaker 1: from where he started to where he is today and
28:28
Speaker 1: how he knew as a young age. Always I was
28:30
Speaker 1: always amazing when people know at a young age what
28:33
Speaker 1: they want to be, because I struggled with that. I
28:35
Speaker 1: always tell people I didn't know who I wanted to
28:37
Speaker 1: be until I was in my forties, despite all my success,
28:41
Speaker 1: So I always admire people who get it and then
28:43
Speaker 1: stick with it. What inspired him to know his path
28:45
Speaker 1: at such a young age and for performing on barbwee
28:49
Speaker 1: to his college studies to create his own show? What
28:51
Speaker 1: has been some of the important tools that they helped
28:53
Speaker 1: him and finding success in this entertainment indutry industry. He
28:57
Speaker 1: received the b A and FAM and TV from Cow State,
29:00
Speaker 1: Los Angeles. He appeared on amazone, a series like Age
29:03
Speaker 1: of the Living Dead, BOSH and owned green Leaf one
29:06
Speaker 1: of my favorite shows, Please Work in the Money Making
29:08
Speaker 1: Conversation Masterclass, the Incredible. I'm saying incredible because I've watched
29:11
Speaker 1: fourteen straight episodes of him in the last twenty four hours.
29:15
Speaker 1: De Laray, Hey, I know, the journey didn't get there.
29:21
Speaker 1: The journey didn't get to the good storytelling on who
29:24
Speaker 1: you are. Man. But that's a beautiful thing, isn't it. Yeah, Man,
29:27
Speaker 1: thank you for that. Man. I was I love I
29:29
Speaker 1: love your introduction. Man. You know, never let anybody getting
29:33
Speaker 1: away your dreams. Man, you know, because people will try
29:36
Speaker 1: to project their insecurities on you. You know, anything is possible,
29:41
Speaker 1: And I'm I'm a testament to that. Man. You know,
29:43
Speaker 1: just just my journey, you know, just coming up and
29:46
Speaker 1: like you said, knowing what I wanted to do from
29:50
Speaker 1: a young age. I don't. I don't take for granted
29:55
Speaker 1: that blessing because everybody, um they maybe maybe there's people
30:01
Speaker 1: who would have had that inspiration if uh, they would
30:04
Speaker 1: have been inspired as a kid by by something or
30:07
Speaker 1: or someone to lead him down a certain path. But
30:10
Speaker 1: I will say this is my character on Johnson. His
30:12
Speaker 1: name is Gregg Johnson. He's also a late bloomer. He's
30:16
Speaker 1: somebody who is not self motivated. He has great friends,
30:20
Speaker 1: he loves his friends. He's a great friend. He's blunt, um,
30:23
Speaker 1: but you know he's still trying to figure out life.
30:25
Speaker 1: He's doing odd jobs. Even into season two, he hasn't
30:28
Speaker 1: truly figured it out yet, and I think that's gonna
30:30
Speaker 1: be his biggest uh character journey on this show over
30:33
Speaker 1: the course of however many seasons, is for him to
30:36
Speaker 1: realize what his purpose is. And obviously you've realized that, Rashawn, like,
30:40
Speaker 1: you have a great purpose here. You know, you have
30:42
Speaker 1: a great voice, um, and you're inspirational to a lot
30:45
Speaker 1: of people. Now, so the tables have termed my friend, Well,
30:48
Speaker 1: I would tell you something. First of all, will slow
30:49
Speaker 1: you down because you know you you're talking about the
30:52
Speaker 1: show you as you answer the courtion I ain't asked it.
30:54
Speaker 1: I got because I would tell people why I watched
30:57
Speaker 1: fourteen episodes unrest twenty four hours. First of all, Um,
31:02
Speaker 1: you know, let's talk about well, you know, my my
31:06
Speaker 1: life has always been interesting because I've been sick. I
31:08
Speaker 1: always tell you I've been successful all my life. When
31:10
Speaker 1: I was eighteen, the only thing I knew with eighteen
31:12
Speaker 1: I had to I had to have good credit. That's
31:14
Speaker 1: the only thing I knew. I knew I had to
31:16
Speaker 1: have good credit. I held onto that and I built
31:18
Speaker 1: my brand around my name be responsible and consistent and
31:23
Speaker 1: having good credit, which is probably the foundation of who
31:26
Speaker 1: I am. Now you knew it at the early age.
31:29
Speaker 1: Now knowing something at the early age, I mean, people
31:32
Speaker 1: can kind of like what you're talking about, you never
31:34
Speaker 1: do that. There are a lot of distraction people like
31:35
Speaker 1: I talked about, don't let your friends, family, you know,
31:39
Speaker 1: to tear you, to tear your create detours in your
31:42
Speaker 1: life from your aspiration. Talk about that and when you
31:45
Speaker 1: finally just shut out the noise. Well, you know, I
31:50
Speaker 1: started off doing plays, uh, when I was like eight
31:55
Speaker 1: or nine years old in elementary school. Man. And from
31:58
Speaker 1: the plays of school, it branched off into like community theater, um,
32:03
Speaker 1: and you know, like little industrial shows in Atlanta, and
32:06
Speaker 1: then you know, TV shows and films in Atlanta. I
32:09
Speaker 1: was also playing sports, you know, I ran track, I
32:12
Speaker 1: was on the basketball team, I was on the baseball team.
32:15
Speaker 1: But then the sports would start to conflict with rehearsal schedules,
32:19
Speaker 1: you know. Um. But it was cooler to be an
32:22
Speaker 1: athlete than it was to you know, being being an
32:25
Speaker 1: actor at that time, or being plays, especially doing plays
32:28
Speaker 1: in theater. Um. But I had to make that choice
32:31
Speaker 1: because that's what that's where I felt like I had
32:34
Speaker 1: my greatest form of expression. Um. And so I was
32:38
Speaker 1: fortunate enough to land an agent in New York. Shout
32:41
Speaker 1: out to the Carson Avala Agency in New York. When
32:43
Speaker 1: I was I believe I was twelve years old man.
32:46
Speaker 1: And I was on Broadway when I was thirteen, And
32:48
Speaker 1: I think from that point on, um, understanding the opportunities
32:53
Speaker 1: that that this industry could afford me when it comes
32:56
Speaker 1: to traveling, right, being in different cities, different countries, when
33:01
Speaker 1: it comes to creating stories, uh, and and jumping into
33:05
Speaker 1: these roles, and obviously you know, with the money as well,
33:08
Speaker 1: you know that was never a motivating factor for me.
33:10
Speaker 1: But you know, it was nice to make good money
33:13
Speaker 1: and and and and be taken care of to do
33:16
Speaker 1: what you love to do. That's what I think, what
33:18
Speaker 1: we all aspire for. And so um, you know, I
33:22
Speaker 1: never I never lost sight of that. And then I
33:23
Speaker 1: always knew from a young age as well that it
33:27
Speaker 1: is not just about acting. It's about ownership, it's about creating,
33:33
Speaker 1: it's about being being in control of your own narrative.
33:36
Speaker 1: So if fifteen years old, I wrote my first feature film,
33:39
Speaker 1: my first screenplay, and so my my career kind of
33:42
Speaker 1: started to run parallel. I would I would act, but
33:45
Speaker 1: I will also write, and I will also direct, and
33:48
Speaker 1: I will also edit. I really just kind of trained
33:51
Speaker 1: myself to be a true filmmaker. Um and and early
33:54
Speaker 1: on at that time, man that you weren't supposed to
33:57
Speaker 1: do that. There was a lot of managers and a
33:59
Speaker 1: lot of agents, a lot of people who said, do
34:01
Speaker 1: not tell all these people that you do all these
34:04
Speaker 1: different things, because then they won't think that you do
34:06
Speaker 1: them all. Well, right, they will think that you want
34:09
Speaker 1: to do all these things, but you're not a professional
34:10
Speaker 1: at all of them. But when it comes to editing,
34:14
Speaker 1: I've been nominated for being as projects that I've edited,
34:17
Speaker 1: been nominated for Grammys. Um, I've edited films and TV shows. Uh.
34:22
Speaker 1: That's helped me become a better director because I understand
34:26
Speaker 1: the coverage that I need to get. I understand how
34:29
Speaker 1: this shot is gonna cut, with this shot even while
34:31
Speaker 1: I'm on set. I can't tell you how many directors
34:35
Speaker 1: don't have that forethought of that vision. And when it
34:37
Speaker 1: gets into edit bay, we have to actually find the
34:39
Speaker 1: story in the edit base. So that's helped us so much.
34:42
Speaker 1: Even with what we're doing now with Johnson is understanding
34:45
Speaker 1: both sides of the camera in front of the camera,
34:47
Speaker 1: directing and also post production. Um. And that's why you
34:51
Speaker 1: know the show has the level um of of you know,
34:56
Speaker 1: I would say quality that it has because we bring
34:59
Speaker 1: in a nuity here. That's key. Continuity. Continuity, Yeah, continuity
35:02
Speaker 1: and quality and we just we bring this experience. Man.
35:05
Speaker 1: So I was fortunate enough to know what I wanted
35:09
Speaker 1: to do since I was a kid. I was fortunate
35:11
Speaker 1: enough to have great parents who supported that. Even if
35:15
Speaker 1: you ran into other obstacles such as friends and other
35:19
Speaker 1: people who might have talked down in your dreams, my
35:21
Speaker 1: parents always pushed me and always supported me. Uh. And
35:24
Speaker 1: then I was fortunate enough to uh go to college
35:28
Speaker 1: and you know, be able to afford college and you
35:30
Speaker 1: know a lot of people don't have that opportunity. And
35:32
Speaker 1: then fortunate enough to meet my producing partner, Thomas Q. Jones,
35:36
Speaker 1: who definitely, uh has the same work ethic and the
35:41
Speaker 1: same vision in a lot of ways that I do.
35:44
Speaker 1: And uh, you know, then we were able to work
35:46
Speaker 1: on Johnson Absolutely. I'm talking to d G. Larray. He's
35:50
Speaker 1: the creator and the executive producer and show run on
35:53
Speaker 1: there as well as star on The Bounce TV comedy
35:56
Speaker 1: or drama y. I like to call it Johnson, um
36:00
Speaker 1: M a story. We've seen the white show, white women
36:05
Speaker 1: on their shows multiple times, White friends, not the Friends
36:08
Speaker 1: TV show that was on NBC, just white girlfriends. We've
36:11
Speaker 1: seen them multiple black girlfriends shows. Several of these out
36:15
Speaker 1: there doing fantastic. You know, you can say we can.
36:18
Speaker 1: You know Living Single was a black girlfriends show. I've
36:24
Speaker 1: never seen this, and if I have seen it, forgive
36:29
Speaker 1: me out there, y'all, but I never seen it. It's good.
36:33
Speaker 1: I've never seen it where um there was um I
36:38
Speaker 1: felt I saw my friends. I felt I saw me.
36:42
Speaker 1: I was engaged by the characters. I love Do Hughes.
36:45
Speaker 1: You got so many people to show me. I know
36:47
Speaker 1: Deo Hughes, that's my boy, said the entertainer. That's my boy,
36:50
Speaker 1: been knowing him since Naty to him. And Eric Brown
36:52
Speaker 1: that's my boy. Terry d know her from Steve harveysh
36:55
Speaker 1: have been knowing her that long. So you've got a
36:57
Speaker 1: lot of veterans in this show. I just love the earthquake.
37:00
Speaker 1: I just love seeing that and they just they just
37:03
Speaker 1: blend so well in this this this series that you have.
37:07
Speaker 1: But it's the four guys that are relatable to me.
37:11
Speaker 1: All you guys are life issues. I've never seen that
37:14
Speaker 1: put out there like that. I'm just gonna tell you
37:16
Speaker 1: DJ And that was important when I realized what I
37:20
Speaker 1: was watching, because it because all that he is just
37:22
Speaker 1: the title of Johnson. I didn't really know what I
37:24
Speaker 1: was getting into. And then the show open showing these
37:28
Speaker 1: these four days and guy, I know how many guys
37:30
Speaker 1: it would and right, so it's so, it's so so
37:36
Speaker 1: I'm learning on the fly, getting engaged in this show.
37:41
Speaker 1: Episode one explains itself. Episode two they tell you how
37:44
Speaker 1: they got the name Johnson, you know, just casually tell
37:48
Speaker 1: you that, and then by the end of the episode two,
37:51
Speaker 1: you you want to see episode three because the way
37:53
Speaker 1: they end the show is that when they end the show,
37:56
Speaker 1: the very next episode, they pick up right where they stopped. Yeah, yeah,
38:00
Speaker 1: I love it. I love it. Just a just a
38:03
Speaker 1: special project talk about you and Thomas getting together. Because
38:06
Speaker 1: I didn't want y'all to I didn't want The offer
38:08
Speaker 1: was to interview you guys together. I said, no way.
38:11
Speaker 1: I said, they have too much to tell me separately,
38:15
Speaker 1: because your story in his story, because he played in
38:17
Speaker 1: the NFL, that's a whole different story. I gotta talked
38:19
Speaker 1: to him about. Okay, that transition. As you said, you
38:22
Speaker 1: knew from jump as a young kid, you wanted to
38:24
Speaker 1: do this. He wanted to be an athlete, and people
38:27
Speaker 1: are people push him in the direction because he's so
38:29
Speaker 1: talented of an athlete, that's what you should do for
38:32
Speaker 1: a living. And so now a story about four guys,
38:36
Speaker 1: How did you get that pitch out there for people
38:38
Speaker 1: to buy into it, especially about four black men? Well,
38:42
Speaker 1: it was tough. It was tough, man, because historically, man,
38:46
Speaker 1: like you said, there's not a lot of shows that
38:49
Speaker 1: have been created like this that really died into who
38:55
Speaker 1: the black man is, you know, the backstory of of
38:59
Speaker 1: this black man, how he ended up, how he evolved.
39:02
Speaker 1: Oftentimes we're you know, placed in shows and we're used
39:05
Speaker 1: as a part of a larger narrative. But to give
39:08
Speaker 1: us this screen time and to show our complexities like this,
39:13
Speaker 1: you know, in my opinion, hasn't been done like this
39:16
Speaker 1: before as well. This shows um that I love that
39:19
Speaker 1: that that that dive into issues that we deal with,
39:23
Speaker 1: such as rock. You know, back in the nineties, one
39:25
Speaker 1: of my favorite shows growing up. I was very inspired
39:26
Speaker 1: by that show. They kept a relling that show, man, UM.
39:30
Speaker 1: But we knew that it was time, and you know,
39:33
Speaker 1: I wrote the original pilot, you know, years ago. UM.
39:38
Speaker 1: It started off as just kind of just just observations
39:41
Speaker 1: of my own experiences and other experiences, observations of not
39:46
Speaker 1: seeing a show like this on TV, and knowing that
39:49
Speaker 1: we needed to have more balance to represent black men
39:52
Speaker 1: on TV and in film and UM, and and then
39:56
Speaker 1: also to taking the responsibility to be one of the
39:59
Speaker 1: one who would offer that balance, you know, instead of
40:01
Speaker 1: just sitting around and complaining about it, Why don't I
40:03
Speaker 1: just write a show that that shows us how we
40:05
Speaker 1: want to be seen? And black women shout up with
40:07
Speaker 1: black women. Man, they they've recognized it, and they've taken
40:10
Speaker 1: control of their own narrative. You know, I've said that before,
40:13
Speaker 1: but it's so true. It's like you look at the
40:16
Speaker 1: Renaissance and these shows about friendships between black women. UM,
40:22
Speaker 1: the nuances and the synergy and sisterhood is really great
40:26
Speaker 1: to watch. And we had we gotta play catch up.
40:29
Speaker 1: We got to create shows the way that we want
40:31
Speaker 1: to be seen, the way that we want to be
40:33
Speaker 1: represented on TV. And so that's what this is, man,
40:35
Speaker 1: and so UM, you know, I ran into Thomas Uhem,
40:42
Speaker 1: you know, initially went to him, you know, because I
40:44
Speaker 1: knew he was already acting, he had a great following.
40:47
Speaker 1: I knew him for football, right, and I wanted him
40:50
Speaker 1: to be an actor on the show. But in our
40:53
Speaker 1: meetings when we sat down, the conversations we had, how
40:57
Speaker 1: he understood the content, how he understood what I was
41:00
Speaker 1: trying to do, the messaging, the type of stories he is.
41:05
Speaker 1: It related to him so much, of him so much.
41:07
Speaker 1: He was like, Yo, man, I can't just be an
41:08
Speaker 1: actor on this show. Man, I want to be a producer.
41:10
Speaker 1: I want to I want to push that. I want
41:12
Speaker 1: to I want to go into business with you and
41:14
Speaker 1: produce this show. It's too important for the culture. That's
41:17
Speaker 1: what he told me. Right. I was like, all right, man,
41:19
Speaker 1: look you want to do that, Let's shoot an independent pilot.
41:24
Speaker 1: Let's just do an independent pilot. You know, because to
41:27
Speaker 1: get somebody to read in this town is very difficult,
41:29
Speaker 1: especially if you're a new creator. So you gotta show
41:31
Speaker 1: him something. You gotta put your money where your mouth is.
41:33
Speaker 1: So I gave him a price tag of what it
41:36
Speaker 1: would cost to shoot a pilot. He wrote half the
41:38
Speaker 1: half to budget just wrote a check. I put up half,
41:42
Speaker 1: he put up half. We shot the pilot, we started
41:44
Speaker 1: shopping eighteen. We had interests from some from some networks. Man.
41:48
Speaker 1: We have some interest from us, some really uh uh networks,
41:53
Speaker 1: some pretty large networks. Man. But we feel like where
41:57
Speaker 1: we landed, the home that we have for Johnson, that bounced,
42:02
Speaker 1: is the best home that we could have. And I
42:04
Speaker 1: say that because the built in demographic. Uh, they understand
42:10
Speaker 1: what the show is and they allow us to tell
42:12
Speaker 1: our stories unfiltered. They allow us to express ourselves and
42:18
Speaker 1: represent ourselves a way that we we the way that
42:21
Speaker 1: our our vision goes untouched on that on that network.
42:25
Speaker 1: And so they're an incredible partner, man. Um. Yeah, So
42:29
Speaker 1: myself and Thomas, you know, the show got the attention
42:33
Speaker 1: of Rischa l Archibald over at the Burden of Bear Entertainment,
42:35
Speaker 1: who works with your people's Eric c Rowan and Cedric
42:39
Speaker 1: the entertainer and and and uh you know, shout out
42:42
Speaker 1: the Reachia Man, the first person one of the first
42:44
Speaker 1: people to producers on the show. Yeah, the executive producers
42:48
Speaker 1: reaches executive producer, one of the first people to see
42:50
Speaker 1: the value in this show. Rashaun was a black woman
42:53
Speaker 1: because we reminded her of her brothers and her family.
42:56
Speaker 1: That's that's what we keep saying, is like, this show
42:58
Speaker 1: represents the vast majority. But if I ask you, you know,
43:03
Speaker 1: compare this show to like another show where you know,
43:06
Speaker 1: a bunch of black dudes are selling drugs and things
43:08
Speaker 1: like that all out of all the black men in
43:10
Speaker 1: your life. Which show is more relatable to the black
43:13
Speaker 1: men in your life? Most people, especially in my life
43:17
Speaker 1: and people around me, would say the guys on Johnson
43:19
Speaker 1: versus the guys on another show? Um, and so why
43:23
Speaker 1: can't we have both? Right? Because this show is dope.
43:26
Speaker 1: I love prime dramas, man, I watched them all the time.
43:28
Speaker 1: I'm i'm uh, they're they're in escape. I mean, you know,
43:31
Speaker 1: I enjoy them. I might create a show like that
43:33
Speaker 1: one day, you know. But the key and the trick
43:36
Speaker 1: is to have balance, is to be able to watch
43:38
Speaker 1: the show over here and then turn around and watch
43:40
Speaker 1: Johnson and you know, and feel refreshed, like, okay, we
43:43
Speaker 1: feel represented all across the board. That's the key. So
43:46
Speaker 1: Eric and Cedric saw the value in this show, and
43:48
Speaker 1: Richa took it to him. Man, they came on board
43:50
Speaker 1: as executive producers and take it over to Bounce Mr
43:53
Speaker 1: David Hudson, and it's just been a beautiful partnership ever since. Man,
43:56
Speaker 1: and we're on a season two absolutely absolutely, I'm on
44:00
Speaker 1: episode four of the season two. Can't wait till season
44:03
Speaker 1: five this week. You know. The the interesting thing about
44:07
Speaker 1: the show just speaking to my fans as well as
44:10
Speaker 1: talking to you as that you know, it's a show
44:13
Speaker 1: about you know, we see the women and we see
44:15
Speaker 1: their layers, we see their attachments, and you know, I
44:19
Speaker 1: was fortunately be a part of Steve Harvey and this
44:21
Speaker 1: act like a lady, think like a man. That kind
44:23
Speaker 1: of like changed the game of how relationship stories are
44:27
Speaker 1: told to everybody. So three million books worldwide. Book was
44:30
Speaker 1: translated into thirty languages and made two movies out of it.
44:35
Speaker 1: And so when I come to this, I'm going I
44:37
Speaker 1: see your character. You know, it's a layer character. You
44:40
Speaker 1: know you're in denial by past love and you don't
44:42
Speaker 1: know how to move forward. Never saw that old TV. Okay,
44:46
Speaker 1: you know. Then you have Thomas character. You know, he's
44:49
Speaker 1: kind of a little chauvinistic because he has some old
44:52
Speaker 1: school values and he keeps using language like you know,
44:55
Speaker 1: women out of pocket. You know they want you know
44:57
Speaker 1: that what you hear in the streets, which is really cool.
45:00
Speaker 1: And then you have Keith's character. You know, he doesn't
45:03
Speaker 1: as as a man, he doesn't know what it takes
45:06
Speaker 1: to get the right woman in his life. So he
45:08
Speaker 1: continually accepts what's given to him instead of instead of
45:12
Speaker 1: demanding what he should have. And then you have Jarvis character,
45:16
Speaker 1: which is in conflict with your character because your character
45:19
Speaker 1: is kind of like you know, like Greg Slash Malcolm
45:22
Speaker 1: X and jovis over there. He's an he's an interracial character,
45:27
Speaker 1: so he has to deal with that whole you know,
45:30
Speaker 1: you're going out in the streets. You were the white
45:32
Speaker 1: woman in the community, going really really and he doesn't
45:36
Speaker 1: know how to deal with that. And so you have
45:39
Speaker 1: these four brothers who last name of Johnson, who are
45:42
Speaker 1: mentored by d. L. Hughley's character talking about DL Hughleish
45:46
Speaker 1: rolling this because it's fantastic. Man. Uh let me just
45:50
Speaker 1: say this. DL Hughley said you. The entertainer also appears
45:53
Speaker 1: on the show. Um He did an episode in season
45:56
Speaker 1: one and in season two. That's that's another topic that
45:59
Speaker 1: we wanted to make. Um brings the forefront on the
46:03
Speaker 1: show is how important generational respect is. You know, how
46:09
Speaker 1: important it is to be able to get information from
46:15
Speaker 1: the people who came before you. They have something to
46:17
Speaker 1: say and for you to use that information. So his character,
46:20
Speaker 1: Man is is kind of the voice of voice of reason.
46:23
Speaker 1: He's the guy who mentors us like like like you said,
46:25
Speaker 1: he has his own radio show. He's the voice of people.
46:29
Speaker 1: You know, only very very very smooth, strong suave voice.
46:33
Speaker 1: UM who's who's also experienced a lot of the things
46:36
Speaker 1: that the guy that the Johnson men are going through.
46:38
Speaker 1: He's also related to Thomas's character. He's his uncle, so
46:41
Speaker 1: he's a Johnson as well. Um. In front of the
46:44
Speaker 1: camera on set and offset. You know, we have so
46:49
Speaker 1: much respect for d L. We have so much respect
46:51
Speaker 1: for Cedric, so much respect for Eric. These guys have
46:53
Speaker 1: been in the business. They paid the way for us,
46:56
Speaker 1: and you know the only way, uh that I the
47:02
Speaker 1: only thing that I see that is the most important
47:06
Speaker 1: thing in this industry, Man, is to bring somebody else
47:08
Speaker 1: up and have them continue running with you and and
47:12
Speaker 1: and continue you know, passing the baton. And that's what
47:14
Speaker 1: they did, man. You know, Eric and Cedric Man, they
47:16
Speaker 1: saw the vision UM and and other cultures do it
47:21
Speaker 1: all the time. You know, I don't think that we
47:24
Speaker 1: do it as much as we should. Man, So hats
47:26
Speaker 1: off the Eric and Cedric Man forgiving Thomas and I
47:28
Speaker 1: young creators an opportunity to create this show, and we
47:33
Speaker 1: have their full support. Man, it's been it's been an
47:35
Speaker 1: incredible journey so far. We'll be right back with more
47:37
Speaker 1: Money Making Conversations Masterclass with Rushan McDonald. Now, let's return
47:45
Speaker 1: to Money Making Conversations Masterclass with Rashan McDonald speaking with
47:51
Speaker 1: Larray wanted the stars as well as UM show runner,
47:55
Speaker 1: creator writer. You know, let's to make sure he gets
47:59
Speaker 1: credit for that, because they're thrown out some incredible scripts. Man.
48:03
Speaker 1: The dialogue is on point, the editing his own point,
48:06
Speaker 1: the lightnings on point, no sound issues, the continue his own.
48:12
Speaker 1: I'm just when you see fourteen episodes as fast as
48:15
Speaker 1: I've seen fourteen, you get to see it laid out
48:18
Speaker 1: right and you get to see if there is a
48:20
Speaker 1: mistake they could have done this done. They're just a
48:23
Speaker 1: beautiful series that I'm serious of talking about. It's called Johnson.
48:27
Speaker 1: You can catch it on the Bounds Network. The beauty
48:30
Speaker 1: of it is that the relationships that's the power of
48:34
Speaker 1: this show. And did the episode four ended with kind
48:39
Speaker 1: of like some cliffhangers emotionally for me, I'm not gonna
48:42
Speaker 1: get him to tell me what's happening in the future,
48:45
Speaker 1: Cus while you gotta watch series. But Terry Jay Vaughan
48:48
Speaker 1: comes into the series. She came in and corrected when
48:53
Speaker 1: he said mrs. She said, miss okay, okale, okay, but
48:58
Speaker 1: I might be wrong. I'm to be wrong in my belief.
49:02
Speaker 1: But she corrected him and said miss and she was
49:05
Speaker 1: looking good all right. And then but boy jobs rescue
49:10
Speaker 1: you Danny for a crisis. I went, okay, okay, okay,
49:16
Speaker 1: maybe maybe maybe I might be misreading something. But guess
49:19
Speaker 1: what good writing takes you in those directions when you
49:23
Speaker 1: when you sit down, let's talk about that writing room, sir.
49:27
Speaker 1: Who all is in that room? And uh? And it
49:29
Speaker 1: is a drama d it's not a sitcoms. If you
49:33
Speaker 1: have your funny moments, but you have your life moments,
49:37
Speaker 1: your your storytelling moments, your journeys of truism and also
49:42
Speaker 1: about being a black man in America, talk to us.
49:46
Speaker 1: So the name of the show, Johnson represents the fact
49:52
Speaker 1: that we all have the same um, a lot of
49:56
Speaker 1: the same um obstacles as black men in America. So
50:01
Speaker 1: it's very symbolic that we all have the same last name.
50:03
Speaker 1: There's no relation. Um. So once you watch the show
50:07
Speaker 1: and you pull back those ladies, you get to see
50:09
Speaker 1: how different we are and how different we can be.
50:13
Speaker 1: Whether it's our way of thinking, you know, when it
50:15
Speaker 1: comes to you know, um, you know, uh politics, whether
50:19
Speaker 1: it's our way of thinking when it comes to how
50:21
Speaker 1: we see the world in a lot of different ways.
50:23
Speaker 1: And so that's what the show is. It's about those relationships.
50:26
Speaker 1: It's about these characters. Uh. It's about showing black men
50:30
Speaker 1: is being vulnerable. It's about showing black men as being
50:32
Speaker 1: emotionally intelligent, being able to handle lot of differences in
50:36
Speaker 1: conflict um without resorting the violence, of course, which is
50:41
Speaker 1: normal for us, but we gotta say it. Um. It's
50:44
Speaker 1: about showing this brotherhood. It's about showing the portrayal how
50:47
Speaker 1: they get over that, and it's about showing our relationship
50:50
Speaker 1: with black women. Right. So you brought up Terry Jay Vaughan,
50:54
Speaker 1: and you brought up Danny who's played by Chloe James,
50:57
Speaker 1: and these are too incredible uh, talents. You know, I've
51:02
Speaker 1: been watching Terry for a long time, nothing but love
51:05
Speaker 1: and respect for her. She's incredible. Um yeah, she said.
51:08
Speaker 1: You know it's not Mrs is miss you know what
51:10
Speaker 1: I'm saying. So we'll see, we'll see if anything happens.
51:14
Speaker 1: You know everybody already, you know when it comes to Terry,
51:17
Speaker 1: you know, you know and Cedric, you know, Lavida, Alexa Jenkins,
51:22
Speaker 1: you know what I'm saying. Like that relationship between her
51:25
Speaker 1: and says character on the Steve Harvey Show is untouched
51:28
Speaker 1: and unmatched. We're not trying to We're not trying to
51:30
Speaker 1: do that. What we're doing is, like you said, it's
51:34
Speaker 1: a drama. So, um, it's real life. That's the genre
51:39
Speaker 1: of the show. Things are funny, we laugh, things are serious,
51:43
Speaker 1: we cry. Things are funny, we cry, things are serious,
51:48
Speaker 1: we laugh. You can't really predict the emotion you're gonna feel.
51:53
Speaker 1: You just gotta ride with the emotions. So what we
51:55
Speaker 1: try to do on this show is just be as
51:56
Speaker 1: authentic as possible and what that looks like. So for
52:01
Speaker 1: you know, for for her character, she's a principal. Here's
52:05
Speaker 1: a guy, Greg, who's a maintenance man at the school,
52:09
Speaker 1: you know, she's she's beautiful, he's attractive, she's single, he's single.
52:14
Speaker 1: What would naturally happen in this situation and what could
52:17
Speaker 1: stand in the way of that? A lot of things
52:20
Speaker 1: can stand in the way of that, and I think
52:21
Speaker 1: we're gonna see that as the as the show, UH
52:24
Speaker 1: develops even more. Um. We deal with a lot of
52:27
Speaker 1: things on this show, like you know, diving into religion.
52:31
Speaker 1: Classism is explored on this show, and in the myth
52:35
Speaker 1: of the absentee father. I mean going back to Chloe's character,
52:39
Speaker 1: which is Danny, the black man protecting the black woman, right,
52:44
Speaker 1: and so here he is she needs help, He's there
52:49
Speaker 1: to help her. What gets in the way of that?
52:51
Speaker 1: What conflict, especially with him being a married man, what
52:55
Speaker 1: stands in the way of that? So it's all of
52:57
Speaker 1: these complexities. Man. We try do make the show as
53:01
Speaker 1: unpredictable as possible while debunking stereotypes and myth myths about
53:07
Speaker 1: black men and black women. I would tell you this, UM,
53:11
Speaker 1: great series. Johnson is a great, great, great series. UM
53:17
Speaker 1: impressed again the directing, the writing, the acting, the believability
53:23
Speaker 1: of the characters. They are are they are authentic. Uh.
53:27
Speaker 1: Earthquake I love the death deal hugely. I love to
53:30
Speaker 1: death Um bringing on Terry J. Vaughan. Been a family
53:35
Speaker 1: friends since since ninety five. That's how long I've been
53:38
Speaker 1: doing Terry Okay, been doing. Has been knowing Cedric and
53:42
Speaker 1: Eric Rohan since ninety two. Brought him down to my
53:45
Speaker 1: comedy club in Houston, Texas hip Hop comm That's how
53:47
Speaker 1: long I've known these people. Del hugely brought him down,
53:50
Speaker 1: been knowing him since ninety one. So you have relationships
53:53
Speaker 1: that I'm so happy to see that they're working and
53:56
Speaker 1: doing great things in this business and telling everybody. I
54:00
Speaker 1: see a guy that going on as a producer, as
54:02
Speaker 1: also a talent in front of the camera and behind
54:05
Speaker 1: the camera. But more importantly, DJ Ray your special brother.
54:11
Speaker 1: You as a kid that just something you want to
54:13
Speaker 1: do and and disguise are the limit for you. I
54:16
Speaker 1: definitely want to connect with you off camera, you know.
54:20
Speaker 1: I just want to be in busy with you, brother.
54:22
Speaker 1: I really do you and Thomas, I want to be
54:23
Speaker 1: in business. That means a lot because I've been following
54:26
Speaker 1: your career as well. Man, I studied everybody, so I
54:29
Speaker 1: know all of your accolades, I know all of your accomplishments,
54:32
Speaker 1: and there's things that I don't know that I want
54:33
Speaker 1: to get to know. Brother, you know what I mean.
54:34
Speaker 1: I have so much respect for Like I said, when
54:38
Speaker 1: it comes to d L said, all these guys yourself,
54:41
Speaker 1: I've been hearing about you, man. I think probably when
54:45
Speaker 1: I first moved to l A man, this was like,
54:47
Speaker 1: it's a while, a long time ago, man, um, and
54:50
Speaker 1: then just started like because I'm all about the people
54:53
Speaker 1: in front of the camera, but also the people behind
54:55
Speaker 1: the scenes making things happen. So I studied those Those
54:58
Speaker 1: are the guys to me, people making things happen behind
55:01
Speaker 1: the scenes where where you know they don't get as
55:05
Speaker 1: much a praise and respect that they should. Man. But
55:07
Speaker 1: I'm that guy who notices all of that. I see everything. Man,
55:11
Speaker 1: So much respect to you, man, I appreciate, I appreciate
55:15
Speaker 1: the kind words. I appreciate you loving the series and
55:17
Speaker 1: was only gonna get better, man, trust and believe that cool.
55:20
Speaker 1: I want to thank you for coming on Money Making
55:21
Speaker 1: conversation and we will talk soon. And I will be
55:23
Speaker 1: talking to thom must Q Jones as well, because he's
55:26
Speaker 1: gonna be a separate interview because I'm about promoting and
55:29
Speaker 1: promoting and promoting. Thank you, and keep producing that. I
55:32
Speaker 1: got my brother. Yeah, I'm hooked. I get my information
55:38
Speaker 1: for Chris Man and Chris we're gonna connect. And Chris said,
55:42
Speaker 1: we're gonna do that already before you came on live.
55:45
Speaker 1: I already No, No, I got to meet with these brothers,
55:47
Speaker 1: and I got some more people. I want y'all to
55:49
Speaker 1: meet as well, not just me. That's how much I
55:52
Speaker 1: think this, this relationship needs to be expounded upon. Okay,
55:55
Speaker 1: thank you brother, thank you for coming to Money Make Conversation.
55:57
Speaker 1: Back to class. I always remember with your gifts, keep winning.
56:01
Speaker 1: Is Rushan McDonald. I am your host. You've been listening
56:05
Speaker 1: to Money Making Conversations Masterclass with Rushan McDonald. Always remember
56:09
Speaker 1: to lead with your gifts. Money Making Conversations Masterclass is
56:14
Speaker 1: a presentation of thirty eight fifteen Media Incorporated. You are
56:19
Speaker 1: now tuned into the Money Making Conversations Minute of Inspiration
56:23
Speaker 1: with Rushan McDonald. Hi, I'm Rashan McDonald for Money Making
56:27
Speaker 1: Conversation Masterclass with your daily minute of Inspiration. This week,
56:31
Speaker 1: I sat down with serial entrepreneur, brand strategist and found
56:35
Speaker 1: of Slutty Vegan Bar Vegan and the Peaky Cole Foundation,
56:39
Speaker 1: Peaky Cold herself. Peaky Cold shares why it is important
56:42
Speaker 1: just pick up when an opportunity presents itself. So Steve
56:46
Speaker 1: Man happened because I was I went to a collaboration
56:50
Speaker 1: event that Steve Man was hosting, and one thing about
56:53
Speaker 1: me is nothing be trive but to failure. So I'm
56:55
Speaker 1: gonna ask for the things that I want. So Steve
56:57
Speaker 1: Man was on the you and I told him, I said, listen,
57:01
Speaker 1: you might not know who I am now, but I
57:03
Speaker 1: need you to google me because I have one of
57:05
Speaker 1: the most popular concepts of the country and you and
57:07
Speaker 1: I need to collaborate. And then you know, he came
57:09
Speaker 1: back and said, let's set up a call, let's do it,
57:11
Speaker 1: and now here we are. If you want to listen
57:13
Speaker 1: to this full interview with Peaky Cool, it's available on
57:16
Speaker 1: Money Making Conversations dot com.