Latest / The Steve Harvey Morning Show / Follow Your Passion: Former USC track star, turned education attorney and now filmmaker, discusses new “Love the Skin You’re In”

Transcript

Follow Your Passion: Former USC track star, turned education attorney and now filmmaker, discusses new “Love the Skin You’re In” · The Steve Harvey Morning Show

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Speaker 1: Hi, I'm Rashan McDonald's hosts weekly Money Making Conversation Masterclass.
0:04
Speaker 1: Show the interviews and information that this show provides off
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Speaker 1: a small business owner, entrepreneur, motivational speaker, influencer, or nonprofit
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Speaker 1: I want you on my show. Now, let's get started.
0:31
Speaker 1: My guest transition from a successful law career that she's
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Speaker 1: still doing by the way, to develop and produce quality,
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Speaker 1: independent feature films that reflect different aspects of the African
0:41
Speaker 1: American experience. They create films about Black women, by black
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Speaker 1: women that encourage us to share our self love journeys,
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Speaker 1: inspire each other to learn how to survive and thrive
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Speaker 1: through racism, sexism, agism, colorism. Please welcome to Money Making
0:58
Speaker 1: Conversations masterclafe as lawyer, director, producer, writer Saouda Johnson McNeill.
1:05
Speaker 1: How you doing, Sauta, I'm good?
1:07
Speaker 2: How are you sore?
1:09
Speaker 1: Where are you at right now as I'm talking.
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Speaker 2: To you, I am in Los Angeles.
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Speaker 1: Okay, cool, So I gave you a lot of titles there.
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Speaker 1: So what you want to start? Gonna stop on the
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Speaker 1: legal because we're going to get to that film in
1:22
Speaker 1: a minute, which is why you're actually on the show.
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Speaker 1: But I am a person who worked for IBM. My
1:27
Speaker 1: degree is in mathematics, so I understand that you can.
1:31
Speaker 1: And I decided to be a stand up comic. That's
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Speaker 1: all I wanted to be when I got out of college,
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Speaker 1: and I pursued there and became a writer, producer, manager
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Speaker 1: of extraordinary talent. And I have a podcast that you're
1:41
Speaker 1: being interviewed on. So with that being said, you are
1:46
Speaker 1: a lawyer by trade? How this filmmaking? Where was that
1:51
Speaker 1: in the process of high school college that allowed you
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Speaker 1: to be a lawyer? What you were doing both now.
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Speaker 2: To me so interestingly. I went to the University of
2:03
Speaker 2: Southern California for acting for theater and came out to
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Speaker 2: Los Angeles from New York, pursued acting, got the tastes
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Speaker 2: of the real world, going out on auditions, and I said, hmmm,
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Speaker 2: I need to have a career where I can pay
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Speaker 2: the bills because I see that this is going to
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Speaker 2: be a lot of ed and flow. And I also
2:24
Speaker 2: had someone who I was a mentor producer and she
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Speaker 2: was an attorney. So that inspired me to say, you
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Speaker 2: know what, one day I want to do that. I
2:32
Speaker 2: want to practice law, pursue my acting, pursue my producing.
2:36
Speaker 2: And so that was kind of the path I took.
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Speaker 2: I went to law school, became an attorney in New
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Speaker 2: York and California, fell in love with the law, but
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Speaker 2: didn't want to forget about my passion. So I have
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Speaker 2: what I say, purpose and passion. My purpose is to
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Speaker 2: help young people. I'm an education attorney, and my passion
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Speaker 2: is this filmmaking business.
2:56
Speaker 1: Okay, Now, there are a lot of people out there
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Speaker 1: are afraid to do anything, afraid of change, afraid of
3:02
Speaker 1: like the unexpected. Now you had logic in your life,
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Speaker 1: and I will tell you this. I can't act, by
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Speaker 1: the way. I'm very good as a stand up comedian,
3:12
Speaker 1: but I wanted to be an actor, but I didn't
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Speaker 1: like the audition process. So stand up allowed me to
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Speaker 1: go on stage. I get paid for my talents, and
3:21
Speaker 1: so I can control my career a lot better. So,
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Speaker 1: but your logic well, look, I'm an actor of going
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Speaker 1: ahead audition. When did the light bulb go in your
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Speaker 1: head when you say, look, I need an alternative plan
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Speaker 1: here besides just pursuing acting.
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Speaker 2: Well, after several auditions and several cars, yes, just several,
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Speaker 2: I would say, the first couple of years at aage, yes,
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Speaker 2: I just I started seeing that it wasn't strictly based
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Speaker 2: on talent that whether or not I would get selected
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Speaker 2: to do a project, and just a lot of the
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Speaker 2: politics that started learning about, Okay, are they really going
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Speaker 2: to actually ask me to be in this? Do I
4:00
Speaker 2: know someone? Am I connected to someone? And I just
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Speaker 2: thought like I need to take dominion in my life.
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Speaker 2: And it just made more sense for me to go
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Speaker 2: to law school and make my own projects and put
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Speaker 2: myself in it and put other people who are very
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Speaker 2: qualified actors and actresses.
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Speaker 1: You know, it's really interesting you're saying that, because it
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Speaker 1: almost feels like you put your dream on hole. You
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Speaker 1: made a professional decision. I did put your dream on
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Speaker 1: hop and now you're able to control your dream because
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Speaker 1: guess what, the dream that you're living now you really
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Speaker 1: have control of it versus previously logic would let you
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Speaker 1: believe that rishard. I am not going to let somebody
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Speaker 1: push me around. I can wake up in the morning.
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Speaker 1: If I don't want to audition, I don't have to audition.
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Speaker 1: If I want to pursue write something, I can connect
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Speaker 1: the dots. I have legal I can look at my
4:53
Speaker 1: own paperwork. I trust my own brain. So really, you're
4:58
Speaker 1: like the perfect person right now in the end history.
5:00
Speaker 1: Right because you have legal clear understanding, you can produce
5:05
Speaker 1: in projects, and you can also start in the projects
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Speaker 1: that you're producing and writing correct.
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Speaker 2: Well, you know, I definitely won't say perfect. I have
5:14
Speaker 2: a team who's supported me and helping me and teaching
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Speaker 2: me along the way.
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Speaker 1: This is ruseean and McDonald talking right. Okay, I can't
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Speaker 1: look at no legal paperwork. Okay, you put it. I
5:27
Speaker 1: don't even do my taxes and I got a math degree. Okay,
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Speaker 1: So I'm just telling you who I am. So I'm
5:31
Speaker 1: gonna throw out the word perfect because I know what
5:33
Speaker 1: I have fears about doing looking at paperwork. It gets
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Speaker 1: past two pages, you're bought passing it to a lawyer. Okay,
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Speaker 1: So that means that you have that confidence to be
5:43
Speaker 1: able to look at paperwork. That means that you have structure,
5:46
Speaker 1: which means that you have discipline. Now you're going back
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Speaker 1: to doing what you want. When you write something, you
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Speaker 1: always felt you could act. This is your lifelong dream.
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Speaker 1: So now when you write something, let me ask this question,
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Speaker 1: do you appear in any of the projects that you
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Speaker 1: write and produced? Yes, I'm mad. Let me tell everybody
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Speaker 1: who we talked to my guest transition from a successful
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Speaker 1: law career that she's still involved in to develop and
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Speaker 1: produce quality independent feature film that reflect different aspects of
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Speaker 1: their African American experience black women projects made by black women.
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Speaker 1: Tell us about this project that you came on the
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Speaker 1: show to talk about.
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Speaker 2: So the film is Love the Skin You're In And
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Speaker 2: as you mentioned, I did write it. I am one
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Speaker 2: of the producers with Kimberlee Ogletree also and the executive producer.
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Speaker 2: So I financed the project and thanks to the offices
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Speaker 2: of Salwey Johnson PC for helping me with that. And
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Speaker 2: I decided, you know what, it's time for me to
6:51
Speaker 2: star in this because this is really ultimately what I
6:54
Speaker 2: set out to do. So I also started the movie
6:57
Speaker 2: and it's really with Obo Opportunity and my self as
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Speaker 2: the father and I'm his daughter, this dysfunctional relationship. They
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Speaker 2: have not spoken in twenty years, and now they're forced
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Speaker 2: to be back together in a caretaking situation, and it's like,
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Speaker 2: how do we face our own kind of self healing
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Speaker 2: based on our past and what is that process to
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Speaker 2: get to the other side where there's at least some
7:21
Speaker 2: type of healthy outcome. So it's it's a great movie.
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Speaker 1: Now who else is starting in the movie.
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Speaker 2: We have Wendy Roquel Robinson. We have v Legacy MS
7:30
Speaker 2: Marvel gives.
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Speaker 1: Oh no, this is not our past. Wendy. Now that
7:34
Speaker 1: for all of you. That's Ms Piggy from the Steve
7:37
Speaker 1: Harvey sitcom on the WB. She's done way more things
7:40
Speaker 1: after that, but that locked her in as a brand
7:44
Speaker 1: that a lot of people know about. She's done tremendous projects.
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Speaker 1: She has an amazing foundation, caused the amazing Grace Conservatory
7:51
Speaker 1: that she does in La. Now that's Wendy Roca Robinson.
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Speaker 1: Just to lock the talent. So I'm just letting you know, saouta.
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Speaker 1: She know we are very casual about her story, but
8:03
Speaker 1: you just don't call Wendy and get her on a
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Speaker 1: project unless it's legitimate. Now, who else do you have?
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Speaker 1: And Oba. She hadn't even given out his credit opportunity.
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Speaker 2: Yes, Oba, first of all over led the movie. I
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Speaker 2: just worked off of his energy. He coached me every day.
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Speaker 2: I first, I love everyone, Wendy mss Marla gives a
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Speaker 2: legacy and let me tell you something, Miss Marla. She
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Speaker 2: her memory was so on point, and when someone thought
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Speaker 2: that she needed help, She's like, no, I'm pausing to
8:33
Speaker 2: take my moments. I got this. We were like, so.
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Speaker 1: Sorry, your moment on the thought so but no.
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Speaker 2: She corrected, like, no, that's not what this is. Also
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Speaker 2: Kareem Grimes, who is an All American, and a few
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Speaker 2: other people Black Howard. So it was a really great casts.
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Speaker 1: An independent movie. How did you cast this? Because people
9:00
Speaker 1: to hear this, because a lot of people dream about
9:02
Speaker 1: the industry, dream about being involved, dream about I got
9:06
Speaker 1: an idea. I'm a writer's script. So let's go through
9:09
Speaker 1: the steps. Okay, you are a practicing attorney, you wrote
9:15
Speaker 1: a script. Let's start there.
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Speaker 2: Well, you know when you asked me about my life
9:20
Speaker 2: in terms of becoming an attorney and then going into
9:23
Speaker 2: the film industry, it's really full circle. Because I had
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Speaker 2: a legal relationship with Leah Butler, Black, who was the
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Speaker 2: casting director and had worked with her previously as an attorney,
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Speaker 2: and she was one of my clients. I mean we're
9:37
Speaker 2: talking over ten years ago. And so when it was
9:40
Speaker 2: time for a project that I was doing, when it
9:42
Speaker 2: was like who do you want to cast, I'm like,
9:45
Speaker 2: let's call Leah. So what I did in this project,
9:48
Speaker 2: I've helped a lot of people legally because I've been
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Speaker 2: in attorney for over twenty years. I called on some
9:53
Speaker 2: of those favors, those relationships Ala Kappa Alphae and asaurs.
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Speaker 2: I called them, who can you help me to get?
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Speaker 2: Let me tell you something, Leah she casts that film.
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Speaker 2: She's like, we're gonna get this person, this person because
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Speaker 2: this film is about positive black family caregiving community and
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Speaker 2: people are going to want to do this. So that's
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Speaker 2: how the casting process started.
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Speaker 1: Cool. Now, the title love the Skin You're In. Let's
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Speaker 1: break that down. What exactly does that mean? And why
10:24
Speaker 1: was it entitled that?
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Speaker 2: So it's really you know, it's kind of like that
10:29
Speaker 2: double edge sword type of situation. People think it's about race,
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Speaker 2: but it actually starts about self acceptance and self love.
10:37
Speaker 2: Right regardless of where you are on your journey. A
10:40
Speaker 2: lot of women may say, oh, I want to lose
10:42
Speaker 2: weight or I want to gain weight, or oh my
10:44
Speaker 2: hair is short, it's long, but it's about right now,
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Speaker 2: in this moment, this is who you are. So you
10:49
Speaker 2: need to love yourself because this is how you look.
10:52
Speaker 2: This is who you are right in this moment. So
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Speaker 2: really loving the skin you're in is just about total
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Speaker 2: self acceptance, regardless of if you're not happy with your finances,
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Speaker 2: your appearances, the relationship. It's about you still have to
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Speaker 2: get through this day. Let's just be full acceptance and
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Speaker 2: love yourself. So that's number one. Then the other part
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Speaker 2: of it, of course, is because we're talking about African
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Speaker 2: Americans and what we have been through, what we're going
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Speaker 2: through right now, it's about loving our skin and regardless
11:20
Speaker 2: of how other people treat us and what we've gone
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Speaker 2: through historically.
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Speaker 1: Now, is it written that way because of personal situations
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Speaker 1: that happened to you that you can tell us about
11:32
Speaker 1: now that you're using it as inspiration in a movie.
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Speaker 2: Yes, So it is not completely autobiographical. It does bring
11:42
Speaker 2: in other women's stories as well, but very much part
11:44
Speaker 2: of my story. While I was in college, I had
11:47
Speaker 2: a lot of self love issues and you know people
11:52
Speaker 2: thought from the outside, and that's really what this is about.
11:55
Speaker 2: Looking in you see this person, Oh, I'm at USC,
11:58
Speaker 2: I'm on the track team major, I'm an AKA. This
12:02
Speaker 2: person got it going on. But really a lot of
12:04
Speaker 2: times you have no idea what's going on behind closed doors.
12:07
Speaker 2: And during that time, you know, over twenty something years ago,
12:11
Speaker 2: I really had a lot of self love issues, bad relationships,
12:15
Speaker 2: didn't treat myself right, accepted a lot, didn't think I
12:19
Speaker 2: was good looking, all of these different things, and now
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Speaker 2: I'm completely on the other side, have gone through therapy,
12:25
Speaker 2: just having great friends, and I thought, what if I
12:28
Speaker 2: write my story part of it so that there are
12:31
Speaker 2: other people out there who know, like you could get
12:34
Speaker 2: through this and there's ways to do it no matter
12:37
Speaker 2: what the situation is, right, there's always a way if
12:40
Speaker 2: we just for me, it was about God and therapy
12:43
Speaker 2: and meditation.
12:44
Speaker 1: Let's talk about that. Because you're an attractive woman, Okay,
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Speaker 1: I'm assuming that you ran track, you in shape, Okay,
12:54
Speaker 1: you're articulate. I'm not trying to figure out where was
12:57
Speaker 1: the self conscious moments. Because I had a daughter, you know,
13:01
Speaker 1: she played tennis. She was like one of those prodigy
13:05
Speaker 1: tennis players, you know, and all you always and you know,
13:09
Speaker 1: she injured her knee, so she didn't she was on
13:11
Speaker 1: the tour where she injured the knee. And now she's
13:13
Speaker 1: worked for me, and I'm very happy cause I get
13:15
Speaker 1: to say I love you to her every day and
13:17
Speaker 1: hugger one of the great blessings of my relationship with her.
13:21
Speaker 1: Now you had it all, and you still have it
13:26
Speaker 1: all because you're still attractive, You're still aka, you know,
13:30
Speaker 1: still got that attitude, y'all. Y'all, this is audio to
13:33
Speaker 1: most of the people listening, but she is very animated,
13:35
Speaker 1: by the way. And where was the self dowt? What
13:39
Speaker 1: was pushing that negative thought process in your brain?
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Speaker 2: So you know, at that time, it was a couple
13:46
Speaker 2: of things. One, I've always been in overachiever, so I
13:50
Speaker 2: think I was very unrealistic at that time in terms
13:53
Speaker 2: of the kind of goals that I set for myself.
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Speaker 2: And I had to be, you know here by then,
13:58
Speaker 2: I went to prep school, and I'm like, by this age,
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Speaker 2: I have to be this big time actress and I
14:03
Speaker 2: have to be this big time attorney, and I have
14:06
Speaker 2: to be married. And then men weren't really you know,
14:08
Speaker 2: you go through relationships and some work, some don't right,
14:11
Speaker 2: So all of these things weren't happening according to my plan,
14:15
Speaker 2: because as you continue to live, you found out as
14:17
Speaker 2: a God's plan. And I think with those disappointments, I
14:21
Speaker 2: just I didn't know, like I just really didn't know
14:23
Speaker 2: that they were a little bit unreasonable and high expectations
14:28
Speaker 2: that's in such a short time, And so I started
14:30
Speaker 2: to really beat myself up. I was this person who
14:34
Speaker 2: just oh, you haven't done it, your failure, you haven't
14:36
Speaker 2: done this yet, you haven't done that yet. And it
14:38
Speaker 2: was just a lot of negative self talk. And I
14:41
Speaker 2: really the first step, after talking to my family and
14:45
Speaker 2: just praying, was getting therapy. And this therapist was like, look,
14:49
Speaker 2: you are thirty years old and you've already had your
14:53
Speaker 2: own law firm in New York and ran track and
14:55
Speaker 2: you've done all of this. It's okay that you haven't
14:58
Speaker 2: accomplished everything on your list.
14:59
Speaker 1: By please don't go anywhere. We'll be right back with
15:03
Speaker 1: more Money Making Conversations Masterclass. Welcome back to Money Making
15:12
Speaker 1: Conversations master Class hosted by me Rashaun McDonald. Money Making
15:15
Speaker 1: Conversations master Class continues online at money Making Conversations dot
15:19
Speaker 1: Com and follow Money Making Conversations Masterclass on Facebook, X
15:24
Speaker 1: and Instagram. Everything we're talking about really is about the
15:27
Speaker 1: movie Love the Skin You're In. She's the producer, she's
15:30
Speaker 1: the writer, executive producer. We're going to talk about some
15:33
Speaker 1: of the bigger challenges because when you write, personal projects
15:36
Speaker 1: like this are the origin of it, and I can
15:39
Speaker 1: relate to a lot of things. I remember as a
15:41
Speaker 1: stand up comic I used to be. I used to
15:44
Speaker 1: always worry about the next set. Was I going to
15:47
Speaker 1: be as funny as I was the previous time I
15:50
Speaker 1: was on stage, And that's always mess with me, and
15:53
Speaker 1: people go, hey, may you funny? Won't you chill? Won't you?
15:55
Speaker 2: Uh?
15:55
Speaker 1: Maybe I may not be as funny as I was,
15:58
Speaker 1: but previously, you know, would you stop? And you can
16:00
Speaker 1: really start running the people who care about you away
16:03
Speaker 1: because they see something in you that you are basically destroying,
16:07
Speaker 1: are not accepting? Correct?
16:10
Speaker 2: Yeah? Absolutely, I mean it's you know, even when we
16:13
Speaker 2: talk about the movie, but just also in my life,
16:15
Speaker 2: it's really about surrounding yourself around with people who have
16:19
Speaker 2: your back and are positive and are for you. But
16:21
Speaker 2: at the same time, sometimes people are like if you
16:24
Speaker 2: don't see your own worth and value, then maybe I
16:27
Speaker 2: need to give you a mine. Right. So that's just
16:30
Speaker 2: the truth, I think in any situation, but particularly in
16:32
Speaker 2: this film, everybody was on my team. They were there
16:36
Speaker 2: for me, telling me you can do this, because even
16:39
Speaker 2: in this journey, even making this movie, there's been a
16:43
Speaker 2: lot of doubts along the way.
16:45
Speaker 1: Well, you know, well, when you're walking into a new lane,
16:48
Speaker 1: and the movie making business is a new lane, you
16:50
Speaker 1: you know, I don't care how confident you are as
16:53
Speaker 1: a lawyer. I don't care about how confident you are
16:55
Speaker 1: when you walking the room. Being an executive producer of
16:58
Speaker 1: a film or televison project is very engaging and very
17:05
Speaker 1: things coming that you don't see coming. Talk about some
17:07
Speaker 1: of the challenges of making this movie Love the Skin
17:10
Speaker 1: You're in, I'm in and I'm interviewing Saouda Johnson McNeil.
17:15
Speaker 2: So you basically started off saying it's very difficult transitioning
17:20
Speaker 2: and that is the truth. First of all, as everyone
17:23
Speaker 2: knows film, it's unpredictable. You may think you have the
17:25
Speaker 2: best project ever, goes out there and no one loves it,
17:29
Speaker 2: it flops. That's just the reality. So there's like this
17:32
Speaker 2: fear that already I kind of had, and I said, Okay,
17:35
Speaker 2: feel the fear, do it anyway. So for me, it
17:38
Speaker 2: was about the team. I started off with Kimberly Ogletree,
17:40
Speaker 2: like I said, use the shield Alpha. She's this big
17:44
Speaker 2: time producer and I asked her, Hey, will you come
17:47
Speaker 2: on and help me? And that was one of the
17:51
Speaker 2: main reasons I was able to even do all of this.
17:54
Speaker 2: Her Ken Michael, the director, he was in Boomerang and Parenthood.
18:00
Speaker 2: He's been in the industry for a long time. But
18:02
Speaker 2: when you talk about unexpected, let's talk about getting shut
18:06
Speaker 2: down when you're on set, when you've paid everybody, but
18:10
Speaker 2: apparently the permit was with the county and not the city,
18:15
Speaker 2: and on the block, one half of the block was
18:18
Speaker 2: for the county. The other half of the block is
18:20
Speaker 2: for the city. Who knew. So you just talk about
18:23
Speaker 2: these unexpected situations where you are like, I just paid
18:28
Speaker 2: for this whole day and you get shut down. So
18:32
Speaker 2: that was one of the huge ones that I remember
18:34
Speaker 2: being in tears and Ova was like, big girl, these
18:38
Speaker 2: things happen, It's gonna be okay, We're gonna be back tomorrow.
18:44
Speaker 1: Well, you know, first of all is you're dealing with embarrassment,
18:47
Speaker 1: you know, because people quickly go, girl, all wasted my time,
18:52
Speaker 1: she ran out of money. She'll know what you do.
18:54
Speaker 1: I knew I should because I don't care what you do.
18:56
Speaker 1: In this business. Everybody has a bright idea. Execution is
19:00
Speaker 1: the problem with a bright idea. And then when you
19:02
Speaker 1: promise people because we're out there for a check. Now,
19:05
Speaker 1: I don'kay, how good this script is? How much I
19:08
Speaker 1: like you soada? I want my money now? That part,
19:12
Speaker 1: that's the issue that makes it happen because as an
19:15
Speaker 1: executive producer, you're following the dream and the process. But
19:19
Speaker 1: let's go through the steps of it. How long was
19:21
Speaker 1: the production window for your project?
19:24
Speaker 2: About four weeks?
19:26
Speaker 1: You take for four weeks?
19:28
Speaker 2: Yep. We did it from March through April, so it
19:33
Speaker 2: was very quick.
19:35
Speaker 1: Was that intentional?
19:37
Speaker 2: Yes, because it was expensive to go any longer, so
19:42
Speaker 2: we had to get it done and we were in
19:45
Speaker 2: and out. It was long days and just you know,
19:49
Speaker 2: people again, they were there for money, but they also
19:52
Speaker 2: were behind the dreams, so they're like, Okay, we're gonna work,
19:54
Speaker 2: We're gonna do this, and know we're getting paid. But
19:56
Speaker 2: people were tired and we knew that if we had
19:58
Speaker 2: a bigger budget, we could have had, you know, more
20:01
Speaker 2: weeks and more time, but it just wasn't feasible.
20:04
Speaker 1: So let me ask you this. So we're talking about
20:06
Speaker 1: the movie. When is it coming out? And when can
20:08
Speaker 1: we where can we see it? Let's get there, let's
20:10
Speaker 1: get to the meat and potatoes to this interview.
20:13
Speaker 2: I'm so happy you as it comes out December seventeenth
20:16
Speaker 2: through the twenty third. It's a limited release in North
20:18
Speaker 2: Hollywood at the No Hoo, Limbley No Host seven, and
20:23
Speaker 2: then from there we have a distribution deal. So we
20:25
Speaker 2: are looking for we're looking to be streaming in February.
20:29
Speaker 1: February awesome, so it's a Black History month, Yes, sir,
20:33
Speaker 1: that's a tie into that content is king? Is this
20:37
Speaker 1: a one off for you? Sauda?
20:40
Speaker 2: It is not a one off. We are already working
20:43
Speaker 2: on our next project. I've already written two more. So
20:47
Speaker 2: I am absolutely in this for the long haul.
20:51
Speaker 1: So with that being said, because you know you did
20:54
Speaker 1: this project and you have a distribution deal for for
21:02
Speaker 1: February of twenty twenty six, what is your biggest takeaway?
21:08
Speaker 1: Because I want people to hear this, because a lot
21:09
Speaker 1: of people. We're based in Atlanta, so you know this
21:12
Speaker 1: is a lot of productions go down the home of
21:14
Speaker 1: Tyler Perry. So everybody wants to get in the movie.
21:16
Speaker 1: Is that everybody wants to do, to produce their television,
21:19
Speaker 1: everybody wants to act. But you had a basis for
21:22
Speaker 1: your dream. You work, You developed a very successful company,
21:27
Speaker 1: so you able to finance the things out of your
21:29
Speaker 1: pocket to a certain degree. If wants to invest, I'm
21:33
Speaker 1: sure she'll listen. Okay, she doesn't want to produce everything
21:37
Speaker 1: out of her pocket. Okay, But with that being said,
21:40
Speaker 1: what's the next steps in doing your projects? And what
21:43
Speaker 1: is what do you consider a successful project from a
21:46
Speaker 1: financial standpoint? Or is it all about building out the project,
21:52
Speaker 1: producing the project, and then that's dream has been reached, distribution,
21:58
Speaker 1: that's dream has been reached. Then we were about the
22:00
Speaker 1: back end recoupment. Tell to me.
22:03
Speaker 2: So for this first one, it was straight up about
22:08
Speaker 2: getting it done and with top quality acting and top
22:13
Speaker 2: quality production. When you see the film, Love the Skin
22:15
Speaker 2: You're in, people'll be amazed with the caliber acting talent
22:21
Speaker 2: I already told you, as well as just what it
22:23
Speaker 2: looks like visually with our DP Crystal Kelly. So of
22:27
Speaker 2: course I would love to recoup, but at the end
22:29
Speaker 2: of the day, this was just about us working, right
22:33
Speaker 2: because it was right after the strike, so a lot
22:35
Speaker 2: of people were very happy to be working because that's
22:37
Speaker 2: part of what I want to do as well, make
22:39
Speaker 2: sure that we are working. So of course I would
22:43
Speaker 2: love to recoup, but if that doesn't happen, then I know,
22:46
Speaker 2: put in the door, great project and we're on our
22:49
Speaker 2: way in the future. I absolutely would like to use
22:52
Speaker 2: other people's money. One of the things I'm working on
22:55
Speaker 2: is a private equity firm so that I can start
22:57
Speaker 2: raising money to not only help with my projects, but
23:00
Speaker 2: other people out there as well. So I'm always on
23:02
Speaker 2: this entrepreneurial kind of business mindset on how we can
23:05
Speaker 2: continue to help each other because a lot of people
23:09
Speaker 2: do not right. So when I talk about next steps
23:12
Speaker 2: in terms of that project, I absolutely would be open
23:15
Speaker 2: to someone else coming in willing to partner and helping us,
23:19
Speaker 2: but I still want to make sure that we are
23:21
Speaker 2: able to keep creative control.
23:24
Speaker 1: She is the executive producer and the star and writer
23:28
Speaker 1: of Love the Skin You're In as a journey that's
23:31
Speaker 1: very familiar with her life because she didn't love the
23:33
Speaker 1: skin she was in. You know, everybody saw success, everybody
23:37
Speaker 1: saw beauty, everybody saw I wish I was her. But
23:40
Speaker 1: she didn't accept that. She questioned it, even to the
23:43
Speaker 1: point her therapist was frustrated with her. She had a
23:47
Speaker 1: law firm. We're thirty years old, law firm, acting beautiful form,
23:51
Speaker 1: a track star graduate of the USC. She over there
23:53
Speaker 1: sitting in I don't know what's wrong with me. I
23:56
Speaker 1: just don't feel successful. That could be frustrating in the relationships.
24:01
Speaker 1: And so I see Johnson McNeil, I'm assuming that you're married.
24:06
Speaker 2: I married a new mom. My son is eight months See.
24:09
Speaker 1: What I'm saying now, when did we get to that
24:11
Speaker 1: point to accept the accept this? What I'm saying is
24:16
Speaker 1: that I'm married. So that's that's a partnership, and we
24:20
Speaker 1: accept the flaws, We accept everything. And how does his
24:24
Speaker 1: support make you a better person today versus when you
24:29
Speaker 1: were thirty struggling to find out who you are? So older?
24:33
Speaker 2: His support made all the difference because I couldn't have
24:36
Speaker 2: done this without him. We met later in life. You know,
24:38
Speaker 2: we've been married six years now and we actually funny story,
24:42
Speaker 2: we both went to USC at the same time, but
24:44
Speaker 2: we didn't know each other. We met on match dot
24:46
Speaker 2: com and the connection was that we were both at
24:49
Speaker 2: USC at the same time. But anyway, he's one hundred
24:52
Speaker 2: percent has my back. What do you want to do?
24:55
Speaker 2: What do you want to do out here for you?
24:57
Speaker 2: Get it done? Everything I was writing, I was bouncing
25:01
Speaker 2: off him with a man like this. You know, is
25:03
Speaker 2: this too? Is this balanced enough?
25:05
Speaker 1: You know?
25:05
Speaker 2: I'm just pulling him in. I mean when you just
25:07
Speaker 2: talk about saying I got you, even if you have to.
25:11
Speaker 2: I took a year off from practice in law just
25:13
Speaker 2: to focus on the film. He held it down, so
25:16
Speaker 2: for a little bit we were just for one year,
25:18
Speaker 2: one income. He held it down, completely positive all the time.
25:22
Speaker 2: Couldn't have done it without him. And now we have
25:24
Speaker 2: this beautiful baby.
25:26
Speaker 1: Wow. The movie is called Love the Skin You're In.
25:30
Speaker 1: It's you said December. What's date?
25:32
Speaker 2: In December seventeenth, North Hollywood, Limbley, NoHo seven.
25:36
Speaker 1: Please come out and support is their website or landing.
25:41
Speaker 2: Yes, Love the Skin you'reinfilm dot com is our landing
25:47
Speaker 2: page in rhyan Ash LLC. Which is the name of
25:50
Speaker 2: the production company which I named after my father, Ronald
25:53
Speaker 2: Ashford Ryan ashllc dot com. We're all over social under
25:57
Speaker 2: both of those Love the Skin You're In film and
25:59
Speaker 2: Rhyan ash.
26:01
Speaker 1: So when someone sits down, what's the takeaway? What are
26:04
Speaker 1: you hoping this is? You know, you're making a movie
26:07
Speaker 1: for black women by black women. I'm a man. What
26:11
Speaker 1: would be my takeaway if I sat down and watched
26:14
Speaker 1: your movie Love the Skin You're In.
26:17
Speaker 2: Well, I think it really resonated with the men who
26:19
Speaker 2: have seen it because a lot of them are fathers,
26:23
Speaker 2: and they said that in their minds, they were always
26:26
Speaker 2: doing what they were supposed to do, which they said
26:29
Speaker 2: was about paying the bills or just making sure they're
26:32
Speaker 2: schooed on the table, but that actual like being there
26:35
Speaker 2: spending time. Some of that emotional disconnect for a lot
26:39
Speaker 2: of the men that I've talked to was not there.
26:42
Speaker 2: So that movie really hit home for some men, and
26:45
Speaker 2: it actually made them go back and talk to their
26:47
Speaker 2: children and say, you know what, I could have done this,
26:50
Speaker 2: I could have done this differently. So for me, the
26:52
Speaker 2: takeaway is, let's really just take a look at whatever
26:56
Speaker 2: is happening in our lives and to see if there's
26:58
Speaker 2: some work that we can do and make it better
27:01
Speaker 2: fix these family relationships that they're possible to be fixed.
27:04
Speaker 2: Have those conversations, because you know what, we are not
27:07
Speaker 2: promised tomorrow. I love you. I love when you said
27:09
Speaker 2: I love my daughter, and I can say that to her,
27:12
Speaker 2: and you don't always have that opportunity, right, We don't
27:15
Speaker 2: always have that opportunity because some of us don't have
27:17
Speaker 2: our parents anymore. They don't they're not here. So let's
27:21
Speaker 2: go ahead and let's have these relationships with our parents
27:24
Speaker 2: while we still have them.
27:26
Speaker 1: Absolutely, I SA would let's talk about this as we
27:30
Speaker 1: wrap up this interview, which I think is really relatable.
27:33
Speaker 1: I don't care skin color, raised gender. Is the care
27:37
Speaker 1: taking aspect that I've interview so many people, and I
27:41
Speaker 1: look back on my life, I'll go, where are these
27:43
Speaker 1: old people coming from? You know, because it's suddenly like
27:46
Speaker 1: an epidemic, you know, because the fact that we look
27:49
Speaker 1: out now, it's like basically I felt when my parents
27:54
Speaker 1: were coming along when I was growing up. You know,
27:56
Speaker 1: they were working to retire. Now it looks like you're
27:59
Speaker 1: working to take care of your parents that raised you.
28:04
Speaker 1: And so from a caretaking standpoint, this movie will head
28:08
Speaker 1: home with a lot of people because I feel they'll
28:10
Speaker 1: personally dealing with this crisis that's happening to everybody's home
28:16
Speaker 1: and they don't know what to do.
28:17
Speaker 2: Absolutely. I mean that it was very important for me
28:21
Speaker 2: in writing this project to touch on a lot of
28:24
Speaker 2: different things. So you'll see gentrification, you'll see self love
28:28
Speaker 2: and healing, but caretaking. I think that it's such an
28:33
Speaker 2: underappreciated job. Right. You have the sons and the daughters
28:39
Speaker 2: who are stepping up to ensure that they are making
28:42
Speaker 2: sure that their parents are good. But it's not an
28:44
Speaker 2: easy job, right, We're talking about some people have to
28:48
Speaker 2: end up putting their jobs and being able to help
28:51
Speaker 2: their family or bringing their parents in into their established
28:55
Speaker 2: you know, with their husbands or their wives and their children.
28:57
Speaker 2: That can create a lot of drama. Really just about
29:01
Speaker 2: seeing and appreciating the caretakers and what they have to
29:05
Speaker 2: go through to ensure that they're taking care of their parents.
29:09
Speaker 2: And their parents are grateful because you took care of me,
29:12
Speaker 2: And sometimes they're not grateful, which you'll see in the movie.
29:15
Speaker 2: There's a little that but you still have to push
29:18
Speaker 2: through because but for them, you wouldn't be here.
29:22
Speaker 1: Well, it's just going to be grateful because I had
29:25
Speaker 1: to do the same thing with my mom. My father
29:27
Speaker 1: died a lot earlier than my mom, but we went
29:31
Speaker 1: through the whole caretaking to rebuild out part of our
29:34
Speaker 1: house so she can feel comfortable. Didn't want to leave
29:37
Speaker 1: the house, you know, wind up basically rebuilding the house
29:40
Speaker 1: that she didn't want to move from. But that's what
29:42
Speaker 1: she wanted, and I was happy. You know, it gave
29:44
Speaker 1: her central air condition and something she never grew up
29:47
Speaker 1: She grew up with a you know, the window unit
29:49
Speaker 1: and things like that, and so so I understand that
29:52
Speaker 1: when I when I heard about your project, and it
29:56
Speaker 1: became very relatable to me, and sometimes, you know, it
29:59
Speaker 1: brings me to a of reflection and could I have
30:04
Speaker 1: done more? But also I guess when the big takeaway
30:08
Speaker 1: is that if you can't do more, do more, because
30:10
Speaker 1: all you will have if you don't is regret. That's
30:14
Speaker 1: what we're talking about this movie. You know, your LLC
30:18
Speaker 1: is named after your father. You know, you look back
30:21
Speaker 1: on your life, you see a journey where you can't
30:24
Speaker 1: turn it around. You can become the person you want
30:28
Speaker 1: to be. You can fulfill your dreams, you can control
30:31
Speaker 1: your destiny. Like I said earlier, so you're living the
30:35
Speaker 1: perfect life. Even before I learned about your ape on child,
30:39
Speaker 1: even before I learned about you met your husband on
30:41
Speaker 1: match dot com and y'all went to USC and he
30:43
Speaker 1: probably walk around going, who is that fine chicken? And
30:45
Speaker 1: they speaking to me to look and say it all
30:47
Speaker 1: the time. I'm sure you run the track. I'm pretty
30:55
Speaker 1: sure he saw you. I'm pretty sure he saw you.
30:58
Speaker 2: He did say I'm gonna do him.
30:59
Speaker 1: But all I know, I'm a mane. You girls, come
31:08
Speaker 1: on now, you notice them, You notice them, y'all in
31:12
Speaker 1: such great shape, y'all interidated people. Okay, but life is good.
31:16
Speaker 1: That was a thank you for coming on my show
31:18
Speaker 1: and having a wonderful conversation. And I don't want this
31:20
Speaker 1: relationship to be a one off because again, you're a
31:24
Speaker 1: dreamer and you are a multitask or you understand multiple
31:28
Speaker 1: multiple forms of income, but you understand the power relationships.
31:31
Speaker 1: But more importantly, what I try to do on money
31:33
Speaker 1: Making Conversations Master Fast is encourage people to continue to
31:38
Speaker 1: move forward to relationships matter, dreams can be accomplished, but
31:43
Speaker 1: more importantly, see it through. Kind of like when you
31:46
Speaker 1: play it's a ka, you're doing the same thing.
31:49
Speaker 2: You already know. It's all about the goal.
31:56
Speaker 1: In this case, pinking green, pink and green lovely. Thank you,
32:02
Speaker 1: my friend, for coming on Money Making Conversation Masterclass. I
32:04
Speaker 1: appreciate you. This has been money Making Conversation Masterclass with me,
32:09
Speaker 1: Rashaun McDonald. Thanks to our guest and our audience. Visit
32:13
Speaker 1: Moneymakingconversation dot com to listen or registered to be a
32:17
Speaker 1: guest on my show. Keep leading with your gifts, keep
32:20
Speaker 1: winning