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Tarell Alvin McCraney Full Interview · The Steve Harvey Morning Show

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: By Next Guest is an Academy Award winning screenwriter playwright.
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: His script in Moonlight black Boards Like Excuse Me in
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: Moonlight black Boards Look Blue, is the basis for the
• 0:10
  Speaker 1: Oscar winning film moon Like, directed by Barry Jenkins, for
• 0:14
  Speaker 1: which mc craney and Jenkins wan and Oscar for Best
• 0:17
  Speaker 1: Adapted Screenplay. He wrote the film High Flanburg, which I
• 0:20
  Speaker 1: also saw it was on Netflix. Really really, you should
• 0:23
  Speaker 1: watch that own Nextflix right now. Mccraney's play includes Miss
• 0:27
  Speaker 1: Black for President Cot with Tina Landau, their Brother's Sister Plays, Trilogy,
• 0:32
  Speaker 1: Head of Passes Without and choir Boy, which is nominated
• 0:36
  Speaker 1: for for Tony Awards. Please Welcome to Money Making Conversation.
• 0:39
  Speaker 1: The executive ducer and creative owns as Oprah's Network, David
• 0:44
  Speaker 1: makes Man Terrell Alvin McCraney. Hey, how y'all doing? How
• 0:52
  Speaker 1: you on? My friend? Did I get everything right? Did
• 0:56
  Speaker 1: I get everything right? Had a lot to say about you,
• 0:57
  Speaker 1: young man. I get everything right? Sure, sure, good, Thanks
• 1:03
  Speaker 1: so much for having me. Good talk to about where
• 1:05
  Speaker 1: are yet right now? Where you based there right now?
• 1:07
  Speaker 1: And and uh tell me about what the yet right now?
• 1:12
  Speaker 1: I'm born and raised in Miami Florida, which is where
• 1:15
  Speaker 1: I live currently. UM, and that was the basis for
• 1:19
  Speaker 1: UM A lot of what we do UH and did
• 1:22
  Speaker 1: for the film in Moonnight WHI shout here in Miami.
• 1:24
  Speaker 1: And the show David Makes Man takes place in Homestead, Florida,
• 1:28
  Speaker 1: which is about UM fifty miles south of Miami proper
• 1:33
  Speaker 1: uh the suburb of the metropolitan area. And UM it's
• 1:37
  Speaker 1: about a young man, David, who is just lost his
• 1:41
  Speaker 1: best friend, his closest friend, and is trying to navigate
• 1:45
  Speaker 1: his home life and his rise at a very prominent
• 1:49
  Speaker 1: magnet school in Miami. UM. So it takes place in
• 1:52
  Speaker 1: the in the in the outer world and the inner
• 1:55
  Speaker 1: world of this fourteen year old black boy on on Wednesdays. Well,
• 1:59
  Speaker 1: you know it's really interesting. So they're just from a
• 2:02
  Speaker 1: business perspective, Now do you by by taking a show
• 2:05
  Speaker 1: and shooting a movie in Florida? Are their tax breaks
• 2:08
  Speaker 1: for productions or film and television productions in Florida. No,
• 2:12
  Speaker 1: there used to be there used to be incentives in
• 2:14
  Speaker 1: Florida for filming and sort of as a state, UM.
• 2:18
  Speaker 1: And now there are different municipalities that have taken on
• 2:22
  Speaker 1: trying to make sure that production stays. So Tampa, I know,
• 2:25
  Speaker 1: is trying to make sure that there is UM there.
• 2:27
  Speaker 1: There's a sentence for filming in Orlando, which has Universal
• 2:31
  Speaker 1: Studios and other studios UM Disney for example, try to
• 2:35
  Speaker 1: make sure that when filming happens in the in the
• 2:38
  Speaker 1: area that it is as gentivized. But now we lost
• 2:40
  Speaker 1: that tax break thanks to some wonderful leadership in the
• 2:44
  Speaker 1: government and UM and we we lost a lot of productions.
• 2:48
  Speaker 1: So filming in Florida can be costly. But one of
• 2:51
  Speaker 1: the ways in which we UM engaged that is that
• 2:55
  Speaker 1: we hired locally. UM. We had an incredible producer, Wayne Morris,
• 3:00
  Speaker 1: and an incredible crew UM designers and production and crew
• 3:04
  Speaker 1: in Orlando that helped us UM at Universal Studios and
• 3:08
  Speaker 1: off in and around the area. We shot a lot
• 3:11
  Speaker 1: of it on Dr. Phillips High School, which is right
• 3:13
  Speaker 1: there in the middle of Orlando, and we got UM
• 3:17
  Speaker 1: we were able to you know, maintain a budget and
• 3:19
  Speaker 1: some a really great show. But UM, it was important
• 3:22
  Speaker 1: to film in Orlando. It was an important film in
• 3:24
  Speaker 1: Florida because one, that's where the that's where the piece
• 3:28
  Speaker 1: is set. Uh and to you know, if if someone
• 3:31
  Speaker 1: doesn't start bringing the business back there, then no one will.
• 3:33
  Speaker 1: And so we what we wanted to do a show
• 3:35
  Speaker 1: folks that there is a cost effective way to bring
• 3:38
  Speaker 1: business back to an area that is really great and
• 3:41
  Speaker 1: probably one of the best places to film. I mean,
• 3:43
  Speaker 1: the weather year round here is incredible. Um. In fact,
• 3:48
  Speaker 1: our current president was trying to start a film, a
• 3:53
  Speaker 1: film company, a film lot here in Homestead, Florida. Well,
• 3:57
  Speaker 1: I don't know how a lot of that got derailed,
• 3:59
  Speaker 1: but probably uh through the taxa centers. Last um, he
• 4:03
  Speaker 1: probably lost interest politics. That's what politics do, my friend.
• 4:07
  Speaker 1: They derailed. They pushed a good idea, but it doesn't
• 4:09
  Speaker 1: always come back to have value to anybody's individual life
• 4:13
  Speaker 1: or success stories. Now here's I'm a sitcom writer, you know, Uh,
• 4:19
  Speaker 1: the Parkers wrote Sister Sister Jamie Foxx show Robert Townsend.
• 4:23
  Speaker 1: And so you are considered what type of writer? And
• 4:29
  Speaker 1: what am I? What kind of writer? And yes, yesterday
• 4:31
  Speaker 1: we drama? Are you just you know, do your screenplays
• 4:35
  Speaker 1: for theater? Because I see a range of our different
• 4:37
  Speaker 1: types of writing deals that you possess. So you just
• 4:40
  Speaker 1: say that, so did you write for a particular like
• 4:43
  Speaker 1: this is a drama that you have on own. Correct,
• 4:47
  Speaker 1: that is correct? Okay, cool? And now just a series
• 4:50
  Speaker 1: drama on own and uh that's ten episodes. Um. And
• 4:55
  Speaker 1: we have a show brother who is M. D. Harris
• 4:58
  Speaker 1: Lawrence right who wrote on things like shots Fired and um,
• 5:03
  Speaker 1: the Biggie and Tupac story, um and things like that. Right,
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  Speaker 1: So here's interesting about your career. So, so you're from Miami, Florida.
• 5:12
  Speaker 1: And so how does one on the show money make
• 5:14
  Speaker 1: a conversations? I try to just tell anybody's story to
• 5:17
  Speaker 1: a certain degree because everybody sees the end results, and
• 5:20
  Speaker 1: sometimes the results will tell you the true path or
• 5:22
  Speaker 1: the path that you took off other individuals who been successful,
• 5:26
  Speaker 1: whether it's in business or film or entertainment or or
• 5:29
  Speaker 1: some other form of success. How did you? How did
• 5:32
  Speaker 1: your movie your script get in the hands of the
• 5:34
  Speaker 1: right people? Which one? Moonlight? Moonlight, Black Boys Look Blue?
• 5:41
  Speaker 1: So in the Moon? So I wrote in Moonlight when
• 5:43
  Speaker 1: I was twenty two years old. I just graduated undergrad
• 5:47
  Speaker 1: from DePaul University. My mother had died of age related complications,
• 5:51
  Speaker 1: and so I wrote that script um because I wanted
• 5:54
  Speaker 1: to make a film or kind of visual depiction of
• 5:57
  Speaker 1: what um it was like growing up UH in Liberty City, UM,
• 6:02
  Speaker 1: which is where the film takes place, and it was
• 6:03
  Speaker 1: shot UM and then UM it sort of sat around
• 6:07
  Speaker 1: for a very long time. UM. I went on to
• 6:10
  Speaker 1: the Yale School of Drama UM to study UH playwriting
• 6:14
  Speaker 1: and screenwriting and UM I graduated from there and wrote
• 6:19
  Speaker 1: about six or seven plays UM, and I think I
• 6:23
  Speaker 1: was on my way to UM. I'd come back to
• 6:27
  Speaker 1: Miami and shot a couple of short films that I've
• 6:29
  Speaker 1: written UM with a group called the bors To Film Festival.
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  Speaker 1: Then a man named Andrew Heavier told me about a
• 6:35
  Speaker 1: young young man who also grew up in Liberty City,
• 6:38
  Speaker 1: not three or four blocks away from me UM named
• 6:42
  Speaker 1: Barry Jenkins. And Barry had gone on to become a
• 6:45
  Speaker 1: filmmaker as well, UM a creative as well, and he
• 6:49
  Speaker 1: had graduated from Florida State Film UH from the film
• 6:52
  Speaker 1: school at Florida State UM and was in San Francisco
• 6:55
  Speaker 1: making a few films. That had made a film UH
• 7:00
  Speaker 1: recently with Bush called chlorophyll Um that was based in Miami.
• 7:04
  Speaker 1: And one of one of the things that Bush really wanted,
• 7:06
  Speaker 1: similarly to what we talked about with David mcspan is
• 7:08
  Speaker 1: that coming back to the city and making uh, making
• 7:12
  Speaker 1: film and making work there makes you know, bills and industry.
• 7:15
  Speaker 1: And so they had brought Barry back to making film.
• 7:17
  Speaker 1: They've also brought myself back. And while we were here,
• 7:20
  Speaker 1: we didn't talk to we didn't get a chance to
• 7:22
  Speaker 1: meet but um, but through the internet we exchanged scripts. Um.
• 7:28
  Speaker 1: And so Barry had Moonlight for about you know, about
• 7:32
  Speaker 1: a year, and then he reached out to me and said,
• 7:35
  Speaker 1: you know, I think I want to make this into
• 7:36
  Speaker 1: a film. I said, I said, that's great. So that's
• 7:39
  Speaker 1: how that happened. Wow. And so when when when did
• 7:44
  Speaker 1: when he said, who want to make this into a movie?
• 7:47
  Speaker 1: Did money run through your mind? The opportunity? What? What
• 7:51
  Speaker 1: were you having any control over the script? Would you
• 7:53
  Speaker 1: be would you be pushed out of the project? What
• 7:55
  Speaker 1: were the thoughts that ran through your mind as a
• 7:57
  Speaker 1: as a as the person who wrote the script? Um?
• 8:01
  Speaker 1: None of those thoughts were in my mind. In fact,
• 8:03
  Speaker 1: I think maybe naively. I was just I trusted Barry's
• 8:09
  Speaker 1: integrity um, and which you know he has its face
• 8:12
  Speaker 1: and so none of those things ran through my mind.
• 8:14
  Speaker 1: I thought, you know, here is a feature film that
• 8:17
  Speaker 1: is about a young man coming of age in Liberty City. UM,
• 8:22
  Speaker 1: in the margins of poverty. And people don't even know
• 8:24
  Speaker 1: where Liberty City is. Um. If you told them that
• 8:27
  Speaker 1: was in Miami, half of the people who you asked
• 8:29
  Speaker 1: wouldn't even believe you. Um. And so he you know,
• 8:33
  Speaker 1: the venture of it was certainly coming from a personally,
• 8:36
  Speaker 1: a very personal place. UM. And and the end result
• 8:39
  Speaker 1: there too. And Verry finally UM, you know, sort of
• 8:43
  Speaker 1: redrafted the script and and showed it to me. I
• 8:46
  Speaker 1: was like, this is amazing. It's exactly what we started with.
• 8:48
  Speaker 1: And um, it takes that and we've weaves together in
• 8:52
  Speaker 1: a feature length version what we what the voice of
• 8:55
  Speaker 1: the pieces and when we finally shot it, even seeing it,
• 8:58
  Speaker 1: I was like, this is a film that's very much
• 9:00
  Speaker 1: of love letters to the place we grew up. So
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  Speaker 1: none of none of the ideas of money and you know,
• 9:05
  Speaker 1: losing you're losing control. Ever sort of came came over me. Man. Uh,
• 9:12
  Speaker 1: Liberty City as Uh, they've got several specials. Little Lebron
• 9:15
  Speaker 1: James did a docuseries out of Liberty City. It's known
• 9:19
  Speaker 1: for athletes. Tremendous amount of talented uh professional athletes have
• 9:23
  Speaker 1: come out of that area. And UH over the years
• 9:26
  Speaker 1: and absolutely and so just just to name one of
• 9:30
  Speaker 1: the many, and that's what it's known for. But again
• 9:33
  Speaker 1: it's it was, it's in the hood. It's a neighborhood
• 9:36
  Speaker 1: that doesn't UH doesn't benefit people. They say, how do
• 9:39
  Speaker 1: you got to that neighborhood? Either fight your way out,
• 9:41
  Speaker 1: shoot your way out, or just luckily get out. Fortunately,
• 9:44
  Speaker 1: two individuals, Barry Jenkins and yourself have come out of
• 9:48
  Speaker 1: there and are changing the world in the movie and
• 9:50
  Speaker 1: entertainment industry. We're back with more. I've seen three episodes
• 9:54
  Speaker 1: of David makes Man. We're gonna talk about that series
• 9:56
  Speaker 1: coming back up in airrors every Wednesday on OWN. I'm
• 9:58
  Speaker 1: talking to executive producer and creator UH, David makes Man. Hi.
• 10:07
  Speaker 1: This ra Sean McDonald. You're listening to money making Conversations.
• 10:10
  Speaker 1: I am the host. We are talking and UH and
• 10:13
  Speaker 1: communicating with a very talented young man who's based in Miami,
• 10:17
  Speaker 1: Florida area. He is the executive producer and creator a
• 10:22
  Speaker 1: new series owned as ow n as Oprah Winfrey's network,
• 10:26
  Speaker 1: David makes Man. Um. Please walking back to the show.
• 10:30
  Speaker 1: How are you doing that, sir? How you doing I'm great?
• 10:33
  Speaker 1: Thanks again, let's talk about this show. David makes Man.
• 10:36
  Speaker 1: Explained to me the title. First of all, um, David
• 10:41
  Speaker 1: makes Man is based on birds. I mean, the syntax
• 10:44
  Speaker 1: of it really means what it says. You watch for
• 10:47
  Speaker 1: ten episodes as a young person tries to make a life,
• 10:50
  Speaker 1: make adulthood, make manhood for themselves. So you literally watch
• 10:54
  Speaker 1: David makes Man and so so I sold three episodes
• 11:02
  Speaker 1: so far. Now it's more than just about him. Let's
• 11:06
  Speaker 1: put it this way. A little bit older than you.
• 11:08
  Speaker 1: You know, I grew up on good times. This is
• 11:11
  Speaker 1: not good times. This is not you know, it's it's
• 11:14
  Speaker 1: a very interesting story for a lot of rave reviews,
• 11:17
  Speaker 1: A lot of you know, ritting tomatoes gave me great reviews.
• 11:20
  Speaker 1: Would you get you get a great review of writing tomatoes?
• 11:22
  Speaker 1: You win in because first of all, they everybody's turning
• 11:25
  Speaker 1: to them for reviews. They're kind of like the Yelp
• 11:28
  Speaker 1: of entertainment. It's Rotting Tomatoes and so and so it's
• 11:34
  Speaker 1: a I grew up in the Fifth War, Texas, and
• 11:36
  Speaker 1: I grew up in in Fifth War. It is kind
• 11:38
  Speaker 1: of like, it's not as bad as Liberty, but it
• 11:40
  Speaker 1: is pretty it was pretty bad, okay, and So with
• 11:43
  Speaker 1: that being said, is that my family allowed me has
• 11:47
  Speaker 1: six or sisters and two brothers. My family inside my
• 11:50
  Speaker 1: home and inside my two bedroom home. Uh, it was
• 11:53
  Speaker 1: nine of us. We include you know, include nine nine
• 11:57
  Speaker 1: nine children and two parents. Is a loving that's living
• 12:00
  Speaker 1: in this home. The world was beautiful outside a lot
• 12:04
  Speaker 1: was going on that was not beautiful. And that's kind
• 12:06
  Speaker 1: of the world that he lives in. Yeah, David lives
• 12:12
  Speaker 1: in a project called Homestead Village is based on this
• 12:17
  Speaker 1: project that I grew up in in Homestead called Homestead
• 12:19
  Speaker 1: Gardens um uh. And Homestead is again the suburbs outside
• 12:24
  Speaker 1: of Miami, UM made famous by a hurricane named Andrew
• 12:28
  Speaker 1: that came around and destroyed pretty much everything except for
• 12:31
  Speaker 1: actually these um these housing projects and UM. David lives
• 12:37
  Speaker 1: with his mother and her and and his younger brothers
• 12:41
  Speaker 1: Jonathan Gregg and they and he's been accepted to a
• 12:45
  Speaker 1: Magnet program, which is about you know, um forty minutes
• 12:49
  Speaker 1: away from his house by car UM. So David's coming
• 12:53
  Speaker 1: home to one experience, which is the experience of um
• 12:57
  Speaker 1: that we we can uh charged to being marginalized into poverty. UM.
• 13:03
  Speaker 1: There's you know, there's some there's some gang, there's some
• 13:05
  Speaker 1: drug gang activity UM, and David is managing to or
• 13:10
  Speaker 1: try to manage to stay clear of that, but while
• 13:13
  Speaker 1: also getting to school long time, making sure that his
• 13:15
  Speaker 1: brother has everything he needs, making sure his mother UM
• 13:19
  Speaker 1: is not stressed, UM and and maybe relapsing. UM. He
• 13:23
  Speaker 1: then goes to school, and then there's there's other pressures.
• 13:27
  Speaker 1: There's pressures to perform and pray, to pay attention, to
• 13:31
  Speaker 1: be fully alert to UM you know, to act in
• 13:34
  Speaker 1: a certain way. And I think a lot of us,
• 13:38
  Speaker 1: especially my age, UM, you know, in the age of
• 13:42
  Speaker 1: you know, diversity and inclusion and bussing, when we experienced
• 13:46
  Speaker 1: this kind of double consciousness UH in ways that other
• 13:49
  Speaker 1: other folks might not have. And I think it was
• 13:53
  Speaker 1: it's important or it's an interesting conversation to have about
• 13:56
  Speaker 1: what we what it means to go outside of your
• 13:58
  Speaker 1: community UM to and and to express your talents. You know,
• 14:02
  Speaker 1: David is extremely gifted. He has a sharp mind. He's
• 14:05
  Speaker 1: very into it is UM. And you get to see that,
• 14:08
  Speaker 1: so you can watching the show, you get to see
• 14:09
  Speaker 1: moments where his mind is you know, playing out the
• 14:12
  Speaker 1: scenario right in front of him, or you get to
• 14:15
  Speaker 1: see the moments where he imagines things one way, UM,
• 14:17
  Speaker 1: and then we see the reality of it, UM. And
• 14:20
  Speaker 1: I think many of us have that have that. Like
• 14:22
  Speaker 1: you said, you grew up in a specific ward, uh,
• 14:26
  Speaker 1: in a Texas neighborhood and and I'm sure your imagination
• 14:29
  Speaker 1: and the ability for you to UM to to see
• 14:33
  Speaker 1: the world as it is. We're always in conversation, and
• 14:36
  Speaker 1: that's what makes it beautiful when you have room to
• 14:39
  Speaker 1: sort of look at where you are, UM and envision
• 14:42
  Speaker 1: where you want to go. And I think a lot.
• 14:44
  Speaker 1: And so you know, we created the show or created
• 14:47
  Speaker 1: this idea for this show. And when we started going around,
• 14:50
  Speaker 1: we talked to people like Michael B. Jordan's who instantly said,
• 14:54
  Speaker 1: you know this, I didn't go up in the South,
• 14:56
  Speaker 1: but I grew up in Newark and this was my
• 14:58
  Speaker 1: experience and very similar to what I experienced by going
• 15:01
  Speaker 1: into you know, New York City on auditions. You know,
• 15:04
  Speaker 1: once he decided he wanted to be an actor, UM. Michael,
• 15:07
  Speaker 1: making himself into an actor meant that he had to
• 15:10
  Speaker 1: you know, best a little differently, speak, a little differently, UM,
• 15:14
  Speaker 1: get you know, bringing headshot, you know, and that kind
• 15:16
  Speaker 1: of experience for him was was different than the one
• 15:19
  Speaker 1: he was experiencing in his hometown, in his home streets
• 15:22
  Speaker 1: of Newark. UM. And then we brought it to Miss
• 15:25
  Speaker 1: Winfrey when we pitched it to own and one of
• 15:28
  Speaker 1: the things she she spoke to us about after, you know,
• 15:30
  Speaker 1: being really moved by the pitch, is this idea that um,
• 15:35
  Speaker 1: you know, young folks especially who grow up along the
• 15:39
  Speaker 1: margins of poverty, UM and UM, and the oppression that
• 15:43
  Speaker 1: race race can have in that we then are expected
• 15:46
  Speaker 1: to perform in these sort of very white uh spaces
• 15:49
  Speaker 1: in a certain way. UM. And sometimes that can bring
• 15:53
  Speaker 1: anxiety that we don't even know that we have. UM.
• 15:55
  Speaker 1: And she had just UM, she had just done a
• 15:58
  Speaker 1: special on sixty minutes about childhood trauma. UM. And how
• 16:05
  Speaker 1: you know, young folks who grow up in a certain
• 16:07
  Speaker 1: environment and then try to go out to the world
• 16:08
  Speaker 1: and start a career sometimes face that UM and don't
• 16:11
  Speaker 1: recognize why they have that anxiety. And it was incredible
• 16:15
  Speaker 1: to us, UM that here I was pitching this story
• 16:18
  Speaker 1: about you know, this kind of double consciousness, this kind
• 16:22
  Speaker 1: of childhood trauma that I had carried over into adulthood,
• 16:25
  Speaker 1: and here Oprah was already you know, having starting a
• 16:28
  Speaker 1: conversation about that um and working towards healing, and so
• 16:32
  Speaker 1: those were the sort of connective tissue that brought us
• 16:34
  Speaker 1: the show and why you see on screen so much
• 16:38
  Speaker 1: of David's inner life and his inner workings, but not
• 16:40
  Speaker 1: just him. You get to see what his mother's like.
• 16:43
  Speaker 1: You get to see the people around him and their
• 16:45
  Speaker 1: imagination in this community. Um. And again, his community has
• 16:48
  Speaker 1: problems like my all communities do, but it also has
• 16:50
  Speaker 1: a lot of joy, a lot of low a lot
• 16:52
  Speaker 1: of laughter, especially when you get to around the fourth
• 16:55
  Speaker 1: and this episode you get to see just how engaged
• 16:59
  Speaker 1: and his mother tries to make sure that regardless of
• 17:02
  Speaker 1: what they lived, just like you said about living in
• 17:04
  Speaker 1: the fifth ward, Um, they may not have much, but
• 17:07
  Speaker 1: they have joy. And that's really key, you know, because
• 17:09
  Speaker 1: I'm pride of him going out to the dance and
• 17:12
  Speaker 1: that young lady who you guys cast to be his
• 17:15
  Speaker 1: date to the dance, Uh, incredible man, And that young
• 17:19
  Speaker 1: lady is going to be a star. Was she is
• 17:21
  Speaker 1: she a local actress or was she discovered someplace else
• 17:23
  Speaker 1: and then uh flowing in to do the role because
• 17:26
  Speaker 1: she's amazing. The young lady who played his date to
• 17:28
  Speaker 1: the dance UH test. She actually sent in UH test.
• 17:33
  Speaker 1: She is amazing, She is amazing. She sent in the
• 17:36
  Speaker 1: tape UH from Nevada to read for the part of
• 17:40
  Speaker 1: Marissa originally. And when I saw her, I said, no,
• 17:44
  Speaker 1: she's tear. I mean just I mean just natural, I
• 17:47
  Speaker 1: mean just just you know, as she you know, you know,
• 17:50
  Speaker 1: I've been fortunately cast a lot of people and see
• 17:52
  Speaker 1: them going to success as being a producer like you,
• 17:55
  Speaker 1: you know, you get to sit in the room and
• 17:57
  Speaker 1: get people read your lines and you go. They bring
• 17:59
  Speaker 1: and everybody's talent can read a line differently or read
• 18:02
  Speaker 1: the script differently. And as she as she's as she's
• 18:05
  Speaker 1: picking up food or talking and being able to manipulate things.
• 18:08
  Speaker 1: So naturally, when this young ladies a star, is she
• 18:11
  Speaker 1: on future episodes or is that particular episode I saw,
• 18:14
  Speaker 1: it's her. It's the only role she's gonna play in
• 18:16
  Speaker 1: the series. No, she's throughout the series, you'll see you
• 18:19
  Speaker 1: get a chance to see her again and again, Oh,
• 18:21
  Speaker 1: she's amazing. And then let's go back to the mom's character,
• 18:24
  Speaker 1: because you know she's she's a waitress, she struggling, she
• 18:28
  Speaker 1: wants to be a manager, and then she falls her
• 18:31
  Speaker 1: to a hip, so she has this little wobbly walk
• 18:33
  Speaker 1: now and uh she gets fired and and she also
• 18:37
  Speaker 1: crosses between reality and dream land, you know, like she says,
• 18:41
  Speaker 1: she thought that the gentleman was there to sweeper off
• 18:44
  Speaker 1: her feet, to carry out of the doctor's office. And
• 18:46
  Speaker 1: while I know, no one's there for you, so that
• 18:49
  Speaker 1: that world that you're creating the world of, Like I said,
• 18:52
  Speaker 1: everybody has dreams. I had dreams. I always tell people
• 18:55
  Speaker 1: dreams carried me out of the hood. Now all I'm
• 18:57
  Speaker 1: doing is making them a reality today. That's all I
• 19:00
  Speaker 1: do nowadays. Every dream I've ever had as a kid,
• 19:02
  Speaker 1: I am actually living it today. And I have more
• 19:05
  Speaker 1: dreams as an adult that I'm going to live and
• 19:07
  Speaker 1: see it through because that's established in my DNA. But
• 19:10
  Speaker 1: her character is it's tragic but also um motivating because
• 19:16
  Speaker 1: she doesn't give up. She doesn't allow the system or
• 19:19
  Speaker 1: the to to enter and bring her her children down
• 19:23
  Speaker 1: or stop them from being dreamers. That was a really
• 19:26
  Speaker 1: really passionate development for that character for you correct well.
• 19:31
  Speaker 1: That episode particularly was written by our showrunner d Has Lawrence,
• 19:35
  Speaker 1: who again when we brought this this pitch to her
• 19:39
  Speaker 1: about about the series she said, you know, I'm a
• 19:43
  Speaker 1: I'm a I'm a she to quote her, I'm a
• 19:45
  Speaker 1: female David. Um. I grew up, Uh, she grew up
• 19:51
  Speaker 1: in south central l A. And you know, went to
• 19:54
  Speaker 1: schools um to gifted an accelerated programs outside of her
• 19:58
  Speaker 1: community and have to come back in and and sort
• 20:01
  Speaker 1: of you know, use her imagination to think of ways
• 20:04
  Speaker 1: of escape. But also you know, one of the things
• 20:06
  Speaker 1: that was important to her, but showing how single mothers,
• 20:10
  Speaker 1: how mothers, mothers like mine, find a way to bring
• 20:15
  Speaker 1: some joy into their into their young their their young
• 20:18
  Speaker 1: boys lives. And she and that part and that the
• 20:23
  Speaker 1: struggle to continue to do that I think is hopeful
• 20:26
  Speaker 1: for all of us. I mean, she she's doing a
• 20:28
  Speaker 1: lot in the face of a lot of adversity. And
• 20:31
  Speaker 1: I think the the other the other portion of that
• 20:33
  Speaker 1: that that you touched on, I think is um is
• 20:35
  Speaker 1: glorious about Gloria is that she you know, she she
• 20:41
  Speaker 1: she teaches her boys how to dream by dreaming. Um.
• 20:45
  Speaker 1: You know. One of the reasons why that episode is
• 20:47
  Speaker 1: so important is that we get to see that where
• 20:49
  Speaker 1: David gets his imagination from, if not from in the
• 20:52
  Speaker 1: stup is not from socialized. He gets it from his mother.
• 20:55
  Speaker 1: She has just as active in mind and creativity is
• 20:58
  Speaker 1: as he does, even if she did use it in
• 21:00
  Speaker 1: an academic way, and so a lot of his strength,
• 21:03
  Speaker 1: a lot of his intelligence comes directly from her. Absolutely
• 21:07
  Speaker 1: a great way for us to see that that that
• 21:09
  Speaker 1: you know, young mothers who are often discounted as good
• 21:12
  Speaker 1: nurturers can pass on traits that are very um powerful
• 21:16
  Speaker 1: to their young their young boys. I would tell you
• 21:18
  Speaker 1: this uh your show David Makes Band and every Wednesday
• 21:22
  Speaker 1: on own network that's Oprahs Network. It's very relatable. I
• 21:25
  Speaker 1: would say that's in closing is that this show allows
• 21:28
  Speaker 1: a lot of people talk about athletes come and getting
• 21:31
  Speaker 1: out of the hood. This show is talking about people
• 21:34
  Speaker 1: like me. This is a story, this is me I was,
• 21:36
  Speaker 1: I was done. So many people share this story. But
• 21:38
  Speaker 1: academics can also get you out of the hood, and
• 21:41
  Speaker 1: people can help you get out of the hood through relationships.
• 21:44
  Speaker 1: That's what David Makes Man is about. Very relatable. Thank
• 21:47
  Speaker 1: you for coming to my show. I'm a fan as
• 21:50
  Speaker 1: you're making millions of fans every Wednesday on your show.