Latest / The Steve Harvey Morning Show / Award-winning Writer, Producer and Author Tina Andrews of the CBS miniseries "Sally Hemings"

Transcript

Award-winning Writer, Producer and Author Tina Andrews of the CBS miniseries "Sally Hemings" · The Steve Harvey Morning Show

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: There's a monumental shift in power at work. Employees are
• 0:04
  Speaker 1: speaking up, turnover is rising, salaries are increasing, hiring is tough,
• 0:10
  Speaker 1: and burnout is real. It's time to unleash growth. It's
• 0:14
  Speaker 1: time to transform your HR from powerless to powerful. Join
• 0:19
  Speaker 1: a DP on February. Reserve your spot now. Go to
• 0:24
  Speaker 1: get the Plan dot IDP dot com to register for
• 0:27
  Speaker 1: the Work Interrupted Summit. The Black Effect Presents features artists,
• 0:33
  Speaker 1: conversations and exclusive interviews. A space for artists, everyday people
• 0:37
  Speaker 1: and listeners to amplify, elevate, and empower black voices with
• 0:41
  Speaker 1: great conversations. Make sure to listen to The Black Effect
• 0:45
  Speaker 1: Presents podcast on I Heart Radio, Apple Podcasts, or wherever
• 0:49
  Speaker 1: you get your podcast once the last time you took
• 0:55
  Speaker 1: a time out. I'm Ev Rodsky, author of the New
• 0:58
  Speaker 1: York Times bestseller Affair a and Find Your Unicorn Space,
• 1:02
  Speaker 1: activists on the gender division of labor, attorney and family mediator.
• 1:06
  Speaker 1: And I'm doctor Addina Rucar, a Harvard physician and medical
• 1:09
  Speaker 1: correspondent with an expertise in the science of stress, resilience,
• 1:13
  Speaker 1: mental health, and burnout. We're so excited to share our
• 1:16
  Speaker 1: podcast Time Out, a production of I Heart Podcasts and
• 1:20
  Speaker 1: Hello Sunshine, repealing back the layers around why society makes
• 1:23
  Speaker 1: it so easy to guard men's time like it's diamonds
• 1:26
  Speaker 1: and treat women's time like it's infinite like sand. And So,
• 1:30
  Speaker 1: whether you're partnered with or without children, or in a
• 1:33
  Speaker 1: career where you want more boundaries, this is a place
• 1:35
  Speaker 1: for you, for people of all family structures. So take
• 1:39
  Speaker 1: this time out with us to learn, get inspired, and
• 1:43
  Speaker 1: most importantly, reclaim your time. Listen to Time Out a
• 1:48
  Speaker 1: fair Play podcast on the I Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts,
• 1:52
  Speaker 1: or wherever you get your podcasts. My next guest is
• 1:58
  Speaker 1: Tina Andrews. She is in the award winning writer, producer, director,
• 2:02
  Speaker 1: and arthur her epic CBS mini series Sally Hemmings and
• 2:06
  Speaker 1: American Scandal. Gardered her too in a CP Image Awards
• 2:09
  Speaker 1: and the w G Award for long Form, and became
• 2:12
  Speaker 1: the first African American woman to receive the Writer's Guild
• 2:15
  Speaker 1: of America honor for Original long Form. Tina also wrote
• 2:18
  Speaker 1: it produced the successful CBS mini series movie Jackie about
• 2:22
  Speaker 1: Jackie Kenny on Nassas, and wrote the movie Why Do
• 2:25
  Speaker 1: Foods Fall in Love? One of my favorites with halle Berry,
• 2:28
  Speaker 1: Vivica A. Fox, Layla Rashawn, and my Man Lunz Tate.
• 2:31
  Speaker 1: Her acclaimed historical novel by Queen Charlotte. Charlotte Sophia has
• 2:36
  Speaker 1: been acquired by HBO. Max is now available as an
• 2:39
  Speaker 1: audiobook as well. It's all about building your brand, and
• 2:42
  Speaker 1: she's here to tell us how she's doing hers. Please
• 2:46
  Speaker 1: working the money making conversations, Tina Andrews, Ei there how
• 2:53
  Speaker 1: much for having me? Well, you know, I always always
• 2:55
  Speaker 1: love um when I bring talent, because you're African American talent.
• 2:59
  Speaker 1: But I see crossover opportunities like we like we saw
• 3:03
  Speaker 1: with the with the Jackie A. Nassas can because we
• 3:06
  Speaker 1: said sometimes we get pigeonholed. People said we can't tell
• 3:08
  Speaker 1: we can only tell the story based on our color.
• 3:11
  Speaker 1: When you got that opportunity to do the Jackie Kenyon
• 3:14
  Speaker 1: A Nassas walk us through the step of if there
• 3:17
  Speaker 1: were some obstacles, how he was able to convince people
• 3:20
  Speaker 1: that you could do this series and when they turned
• 3:23
  Speaker 1: out to be successful, what was the reaction. Well, Rashan,
• 3:27
  Speaker 1: I'm gonna tell you something that was the easiest gig
• 3:30
  Speaker 1: I ever got I had done. I mean it's always you,
• 3:33
  Speaker 1: always that way, that whenever you're you're sort of pioneering.
• 3:37
  Speaker 1: Sometimes the job becomes easier than most people think. I
• 3:42
  Speaker 1: had done Sally Hemmings. Sally Hemmings was a juggernaut success.
• 3:48
  Speaker 1: And so I get a phone call on a Monday
• 3:50
  Speaker 1: morning from the powers that be at CBS, and I
• 3:55
  Speaker 1: was told, Hey, Tina, you love doing historical projects. I mean,
• 4:00
  Speaker 1: I have something that we think would be in your
• 4:02
  Speaker 1: sweet spot. We've acquired a book on on the First
• 4:06
  Speaker 1: Lady Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy on Nassas. How would you like
• 4:09
  Speaker 1: to turn that into a four hour uh mini series?
• 4:14
  Speaker 1: And I'm on the other end and I'm saying, Jackie Kennedy,
• 4:19
  Speaker 1: I said, you realize you called a black woman, right right,
• 4:23
  Speaker 1: right right? And so I was told that they were
• 4:28
  Speaker 1: so happy with what I had done with not only Sally,
• 4:31
  Speaker 1: but it was also the dramatization of Thomas Jefferson that
• 4:36
  Speaker 1: made them feel confident and comfortable in my handling First
• 4:41
  Speaker 1: Lady Jacqueline Kennedy. And so I jumped at that opportunity
• 4:45
  Speaker 1: because you know, in the past, it has always been
• 4:49
  Speaker 1: members of another culture writing our stories. And so for
• 4:55
  Speaker 1: a change. I said, oh we can, we can sort
• 4:57
  Speaker 1: of flip the script on this and it will be
• 4:59
  Speaker 1: me writing this wonderful and domitable first lady's story. So
• 5:03
  Speaker 1: I hopped at that opportunity, and it was wonderful because,
• 5:07
  Speaker 1: first of all, I knew a lot about her. I
• 5:10
  Speaker 1: had done um a lot of work on jack Kennedy
• 5:14
  Speaker 1: and of course on Dr Martin Luther King. So the
• 5:17
  Speaker 1: first thing I did was contact Mrs King and I
• 5:20
  Speaker 1: asked her if I could come down to Atlanta to
• 5:22
  Speaker 1: meet with her, because I know she and Jackie had
• 5:26
  Speaker 1: a had a relationship. And so then I thought, oh,
• 5:29
  Speaker 1: I'll be able to add some things to a Jackie
• 5:33
  Speaker 1: Kennedy story that a member of another culture may not
• 5:36
  Speaker 1: have even been interested in adding. So it's good for me. Now.
• 5:40
  Speaker 1: You know. The wonderful thing about it is that when
• 5:42
  Speaker 1: you when you grab an iconic figure like she is
• 5:45
  Speaker 1: Jackie Kennedy Nassas, you know you have some I guess,
• 5:49
  Speaker 1: I said, some things already bedded in. How do you
• 5:51
  Speaker 1: start layering it down to really? Like you said you
• 5:53
  Speaker 1: you was able to find a nugget in the relationship
• 5:55
  Speaker 1: she had with Mrs King, Dr Martin Luther King's wife. Now,
• 6:00
  Speaker 1: when you're doing your research, did any other interesting thing
• 6:03
  Speaker 1: pop up in her that you didn't you didn't see coming.
• 6:06
  Speaker 1: That made for great storytelling, and it's for for four
• 6:10
  Speaker 1: episode miniseries. I um will tell you that they had
• 6:15
  Speaker 1: given me a book that they bought, so pretty much
• 6:17
  Speaker 1: that book told Mrs Kennedy's story. But what I was
• 6:22
  Speaker 1: fascinated by is that, uh, Mrs Mrs Kennedy had difficulties
• 6:28
  Speaker 1: with her father, her father, Um black Jack, Um Bouvier.
• 6:33
  Speaker 1: You know, she she she sort of felt like she
• 6:37
  Speaker 1: was not the beloved Kennedy daughter. I was not kiddy
• 6:40
  Speaker 1: at that time, boothier daughter. Um. She had a good
• 6:44
  Speaker 1: relationship with Um, with her sister, but you know, like siblings,
• 6:48
  Speaker 1: they sort of went in and out. And I wanted
• 6:51
  Speaker 1: to show that it wasn't such an easy road for her.
• 6:54
  Speaker 1: This is a woman who had the ambition to be
• 6:55
  Speaker 1: a photographer. We we forget that before the pill Box
• 7:02
  Speaker 1: there was this ambitious boy m You know the interesting
• 7:06
  Speaker 1: thing about like I started out in Hollywood as a
• 7:10
  Speaker 1: sitcom writer. You know they wrote you know, look, uh
• 7:13
  Speaker 1: Steve Harvey's first sitcom and ninety three and Me and
• 7:17
  Speaker 1: the Boys Nati four school Me and the boys, and
• 7:19
  Speaker 1: then we did uh Robert Townson's Parenthood, and then ABC
• 7:23
  Speaker 1: with are sending it his Hall sitcom, and then their
• 7:25
  Speaker 1: sister sisters with the twins t and tamaraw Maori and
• 7:29
  Speaker 1: went over to Jamie Fox and did The Parkers and
• 7:32
  Speaker 1: along the way, I'm feeling that I have a skill
• 7:34
  Speaker 1: set that can be transferable. And this is what we
• 7:37
  Speaker 1: were talking about earlier when you said they called you
• 7:40
  Speaker 1: as an African American to do a white project. And
• 7:43
  Speaker 1: every time I wrote a sitcom, I try to get
• 7:45
  Speaker 1: on a home improvement at the time, or Seinfield or Friends.
• 7:49
  Speaker 1: I had to write their style of sitcom. Otherwise they
• 7:54
  Speaker 1: felt that I wasn't a real writer. And and just
• 7:57
  Speaker 1: talking to young people and talking to people inspiring to
• 8:00
  Speaker 1: be in this industry, which is what we call Hollywood,
• 8:03
  Speaker 1: it really does. You really can't be pitted into a
• 8:06
  Speaker 1: corner and said this is what you only can do.
• 8:09
  Speaker 1: That's why, that's why a champion admired what you accomplishing
• 8:12
  Speaker 1: as a writer as a producer, because you know that's
• 8:15
  Speaker 1: a hard that's a hard wall to a door to
• 8:17
  Speaker 1: open that walking over, you said, I can do any
• 8:20
  Speaker 1: type of project because I have the skill set. Do
• 8:23
  Speaker 1: not deny me because of the color of my skin,
• 8:25
  Speaker 1: correctness right, or gender, or age or any of that.
• 8:28
  Speaker 1: I am not any I'm not into any of the isms.
• 8:32
  Speaker 1: But I will tell you, Rashan, I had to show
• 8:34
  Speaker 1: people what I could do first. Now, let's face it,
• 8:38
  Speaker 1: for many of us of color, the door to success
• 8:42
  Speaker 1: here in Hollywood is writing a comedy. You said you
• 8:44
  Speaker 1: started out doing quite a few um comedies. I could
• 8:48
  Speaker 1: not get a movie made unless it was funny, or
• 8:52
  Speaker 1: if I did have a piece that was uh serious
• 8:55
  Speaker 1: in nature, I was always told add the funny to
• 8:59
  Speaker 1: it for in And I'll give you an example. On
• 9:02
  Speaker 1: the movie that you said you liked, Why the Fool's
• 9:04
  Speaker 1: Fall in Love. That's a serious film about a young
• 9:09
  Speaker 1: man who ended up spiraling into the abyss of drug abuse,
• 9:14
  Speaker 1: in fact, heroin abuse. And yet he had married three
• 9:19
  Speaker 1: women and not divorced any of them before he died
• 9:22
  Speaker 1: and left this estate, and that became the through into
• 9:25
  Speaker 1: the story. Well, at the end of the day, those
• 9:29
  Speaker 1: three women, you know, started out hating each other, and
• 9:31
  Speaker 1: so it left room for some very sort of funny
• 9:34
  Speaker 1: things to go on in that courtroom. Situation, and I
• 9:38
  Speaker 1: remembered being told by warners, oh my god, Tina, every
• 9:41
  Speaker 1: time you put the three women together in a room,
• 9:45
  Speaker 1: it's hilarious. So um, you know, do a little more
• 9:49
  Speaker 1: than that, so that we don't spend so much time
• 9:52
  Speaker 1: in his mow um descent into drug abuse. So I
• 9:58
  Speaker 1: needed to show people that I could write seriously. So
• 10:02
  Speaker 1: once I became successful doing those types of films, I
• 10:08
  Speaker 1: was then able to say to the agency, Hey, let's
• 10:10
  Speaker 1: get out there and sell the stuff that I already
• 10:13
  Speaker 1: have written to show people that I am a dramatic writer.
• 10:17
  Speaker 1: And that stuff took off. It's finally here the season
• 10:22
  Speaker 1: of celebration, and no matter how you celebrate with family
• 10:25
  Speaker 1: and friends, whether you're preparing for Reis Magos or Karamu
• 10:29
  Speaker 1: lighting the Manura, are going to Midnight Mass, Coals has
• 10:32
  Speaker 1: just what you need to make those traditions special. Plus
• 10:36
  Speaker 1: you'll find gifts for all your loved ones. Send warm
• 10:39
  Speaker 1: wishes with Cozy Fleece's sweaters, loungeware, blankets and throws. Support
• 10:44
  Speaker 1: minority owned or founded brands by giving gifts from Human
• 10:47
  Speaker 1: Nation and shame moisture, or treat them to everyone's favorite
• 10:51
  Speaker 1: active wear from top brands like Nike, Adidas, and under Armour,
• 10:55
  Speaker 1: and in the spirit of giving, Coals Cares is donating
• 10:58
  Speaker 1: eight million dollars to local nonprofits nationwide committed to the
• 11:02
  Speaker 1: health and well being of our communities. No matter how
• 11:05
  Speaker 1: you celebrate, when you shop at Coals, you're right where
• 11:08
  Speaker 1: you belong. So this season, give with all your heart
• 11:12
  Speaker 1: with great gifts from Coals or Coals dot com. And
• 11:15
  Speaker 1: we're live here outside the Perez family home, just waiting
• 11:19
  Speaker 1: for the and there they go, almost on time. This morning.
• 11:23
  Speaker 1: Mom is coming off the front door, strong with a
• 11:25
  Speaker 1: double arm kid carry. Looks like Dad has the bags.
• 11:28
  Speaker 1: Daughter is bringing up the rear. Oh but the diaper
• 11:31
  Speaker 1: bag wasn't closed. Diapers and toys are everywhere. Oh but
• 11:37
  Speaker 1: mom has just nailed the perfect car seat buckle for
• 11:40
  Speaker 1: the toddler. And now the eldest daughter, who looks to
• 11:43
  Speaker 1: be about nine or ten, has secured herself in the
• 11:45
  Speaker 1: booster seat. Dad SIPs the bag clothes and they're off. Ah,
• 11:50
  Speaker 1: but looks like Mom doesn't realize her coffee cup is
• 11:52
  Speaker 1: still on the roof of the car. And there it goes. Oh,
• 11:57
  Speaker 1: that's a shame that mug was a fan favorite. Don't
• 12:00
  Speaker 1: sweat the small stuff, just nailed the big stuff, like
• 12:03
  Speaker 1: making sure your kids are buckled correctly in the right
• 12:04
  Speaker 1: seat for their agent's eyes. Learn more at n h
• 12:06
  Speaker 1: t s A dot gov. Slash the Right Seat visits
• 12:09
  Speaker 1: NHS dot gov. Slash the Right Seat, brought to you
• 12:13
  Speaker 1: by NITZA and the AD Council. Look for your children's
• 12:16
  Speaker 1: eyes to see the true magic of a forest. It's
• 12:20
  Speaker 1: a storybook world for them. You look and see a tree.
• 12:23
  Speaker 1: They see the wrinkled face of a wizard with arms
• 12:26
  Speaker 1: outstretched to the sky. They see treasuring pebbles, they see
• 12:30
  Speaker 1: a windy path that could lead to adventure, and they
• 12:34
  Speaker 1: see you. They're fearless. Guide. Is this fascinating world? Find
• 12:38
  Speaker 1: a forest near you and start exploring and discover the
• 12:41
  Speaker 1: forest dot org. Brought to you by the United States
• 12:43
  Speaker 1: Forest Service and the AD Council. Congratulations, you know I'm
• 12:47
  Speaker 1: talking to Tina Andrew's. Uh I want to see? Can
• 12:49
  Speaker 1: I say the word brilliant Tina Andrews, you know, award
• 12:53
  Speaker 1: winning Tina Andrew? Could I add some more to it?
• 12:55
  Speaker 1: Was a serious that's been acquired by HBO. Max called
• 12:59
  Speaker 1: Shawn Sophia. Yeah, you know I know we're gonna get
• 13:02
  Speaker 1: to that, but I just like to talk about the
• 13:04
  Speaker 1: journey because if I start there at the HBC, HBO
• 13:08
  Speaker 1: Max Project, I really don't feel that people appreciate the journey,
• 13:12
  Speaker 1: you know, and I would throw out my little acting
• 13:15
  Speaker 1: credit team. You know, I started Jason's lyrics. I was
• 13:18
  Speaker 1: a tap dancer and way back in the day in Houston,
• 13:21
  Speaker 1: Texas and Fast Freddy was my name. And then I
• 13:24
  Speaker 1: read your bio and it's tied to the amazing series
• 13:28
  Speaker 1: that changed television, Roots by Alex Hayes. And you know,
• 13:34
  Speaker 1: I still you know, because we look at television now.
• 13:37
  Speaker 1: You see so many African Americans on commercials. You see
• 13:40
  Speaker 1: mixed couples. You see African Americans hugging at each other,
• 13:42
  Speaker 1: if we mixed couples, it just really television is evolved
• 13:45
  Speaker 1: in such a and just five years ago, you know,
• 13:48
  Speaker 1: they try to take cheerios off the shelves because they
• 13:51
  Speaker 1: had a little a little a little white looking girls,
• 13:56
  Speaker 1: right and so and so. But you want television with
• 14:01
  Speaker 1: by a project about slavery. If you could walk Roots,
• 14:04
  Speaker 1: everybody an iconic series now. But we didn't know how
• 14:08
  Speaker 1: people will react to that. But you were part of that,
• 14:11
  Speaker 1: and I'm sure it affected your life, your thought process,
• 14:14
  Speaker 1: and also threw you in the forefront of of American conversation.
• 14:18
  Speaker 1: Talk about that. We can journey back that a little
• 14:20
  Speaker 1: bit and then move forward. Okay, well, actually I would
• 14:23
  Speaker 1: like to take one. I would like to go one
• 14:26
  Speaker 1: project just before routes. We have to remember I had
• 14:29
  Speaker 1: the first interracial relationship on daytime television on Days of
• 14:35
  Speaker 1: Our Lives. You see, they didn't pretend to BUYO Natina,
• 14:38
  Speaker 1: they didn't pretend to you know, was cut because that
• 14:43
  Speaker 1: was amazing that that was a major, major, uh project
• 14:48
  Speaker 1: for me to be involved with. We kissed on a
• 14:51
  Speaker 1: Friday to two years of you know, looking lovingly at
• 14:55
  Speaker 1: each other and we kissed on Friday, and five thousand negative,
• 15:00
  Speaker 1: horrible hate letters came to NBC. So I know what
• 15:05
  Speaker 1: it's like to be involved in a project that's that
• 15:08
  Speaker 1: gets a lot of attention and that becomes very controversial.
• 15:12
  Speaker 1: Right after I left Days of Our Lives because of
• 15:16
  Speaker 1: that negative publicity, I had to go. I was the
• 15:18
  Speaker 1: one who was let go, not the white guy. I
• 15:22
  Speaker 1: ended up in Roots And we knew from the second
• 15:26
  Speaker 1: we got the very first pilot episode that it was
• 15:30
  Speaker 1: going to be phenomenal. The book had been so successful.
• 15:35
  Speaker 1: I had worked for two of the directors who were
• 15:39
  Speaker 1: involved in it, and one of them was the one
• 15:41
  Speaker 1: who called me and said, I've got two roles here,
• 15:44
  Speaker 1: pick one. Whichever one you want, you can do it.
• 15:47
  Speaker 1: And I was so grateful to John Erman for that opportunity,
• 15:52
  Speaker 1: and we got involved, and it felt like the ancestors
• 15:57
  Speaker 1: carried us through the entire aduction. We were on the
• 16:02
  Speaker 1: shoulders of those who came before. So we instantly knew
• 16:06
  Speaker 1: that we were going to be a successful mini series.
• 16:10
  Speaker 1: We just didn't know how successful. As a result of that,
• 16:14
  Speaker 1: of course, I became very good friends with um, with
• 16:18
  Speaker 1: Alex Alex Haley, and it was Alex who quite frankly,
• 16:22
  Speaker 1: gave me my first opportunity as a writer and by
• 16:26
  Speaker 1: the way, as a writer, to work with him on
• 16:29
  Speaker 1: a PBS project. So I am indebted to again those
• 16:34
  Speaker 1: who have gone before. I am indebted to Mr Haley
• 16:38
  Speaker 1: for first of all having written Roots, and then for
• 16:41
  Speaker 1: allowing me to be in Roots. And then I sent him, frankly,
• 16:46
  Speaker 1: a Bob Marley story and I sent him Sally Hemmings
• 16:49
  Speaker 1: and he read those two uh scripts and said called
• 16:53
  Speaker 1: me in back and said, when did you become such
• 16:56
  Speaker 1: a good writer? We need to do a project together.
• 16:59
  Speaker 1: And I'm thinking, wait a minute, this is eight in
• 17:02
  Speaker 1: the Awards winning Alex Tayley, who wants to work with Yes, yes, yes,
• 17:07
  Speaker 1: yes yeah. So there there have been a series of
• 17:11
  Speaker 1: situations where the career built interesting. Then it built to
• 17:16
  Speaker 1: the Charlotte stuff, a project. You know, let's let's let's
• 17:20
  Speaker 1: go to that now, because we all know that the
• 17:21
  Speaker 1: Tama when you talk about it's really your story is
• 17:24
  Speaker 1: so interesting because, like I said, when you are first,
• 17:28
  Speaker 1: when you are groundbreaker or pioneer, I can use those term,
• 17:32
  Speaker 1: those terms in front of you, because sometimes you get
• 17:35
  Speaker 1: setbacks like you said, you did, you did, you did
• 17:37
  Speaker 1: a role that was requested, your days of our lives
• 17:40
  Speaker 1: and then all of a sudden a letter comes in
• 17:42
  Speaker 1: and the network becomes frightened by and you are terminated.
• 17:47
  Speaker 1: That that that moment of being out there. Who did
• 17:50
  Speaker 1: you call in? Who did you who? Did you seek
• 17:53
  Speaker 1: advice from or support from? Or did you feel you
• 17:56
  Speaker 1: just out there by yourself and no one could help you?
• 17:59
  Speaker 1: Oh no, my father was still alive. My father is
• 18:02
  Speaker 1: the I mean probably the most important person in terms
• 18:05
  Speaker 1: of the career. I would call my father crying all
• 18:09
  Speaker 1: the time during during days of our lives with the
• 18:12
  Speaker 1: negative publicity. They would not let me get my mail
• 18:15
  Speaker 1: before we shot for the day. The network said give
• 18:18
  Speaker 1: her her fan nail after she finishes so that I
• 18:21
  Speaker 1: could go home and cry. So so I called Daddy
• 18:27
  Speaker 1: and I said, I don't know what's going on, but
• 18:30
  Speaker 1: I'm I'm I'm really depressed. I can't find really great
• 18:34
  Speaker 1: They're not enough really great, empowering, dignified roles for black women.
• 18:38
  Speaker 1: And I feel like, I, you know, I'm gonna be
• 18:40
  Speaker 1: stuck in this situation of playing you know, the drug
• 18:43
  Speaker 1: addict or the or the Round the Way girl or whatever.
• 18:47
  Speaker 1: Too much of bad is coming up. And my father
• 18:49
  Speaker 1: had it with me and he said, look, I sent
• 18:53
  Speaker 1: you to n YU to be a playwright. You were
• 18:56
  Speaker 1: supposed to be a writer. Yeah, I know you wanted
• 18:58
  Speaker 1: to dance, but I figured that was gonna last a
• 19:00
  Speaker 1: few years. You were going to really find your voice
• 19:03
  Speaker 1: as a as a playwright. Why are you complaining about
• 19:08
  Speaker 1: the roles that are not there when you are capable
• 19:11
  Speaker 1: of writing those roles. You need to take your writing
• 19:15
  Speaker 1: career seriously. It's all cute that you're an actress, but
• 19:19
  Speaker 1: I'm afraid that one of these days someone is going
• 19:21
  Speaker 1: to ask you to be naked in a movie and
• 19:24
  Speaker 1: you're gonna say yes to that role because you can't
• 19:27
  Speaker 1: pay your rent. I would much prefer you call me
• 19:32
  Speaker 1: and let me send you the money for your rent,
• 19:34
  Speaker 1: and you sit down. In those days, of course, we're
• 19:37
  Speaker 1: talking typewriters at the typewriter and you know, and he said,
• 19:44
  Speaker 1: and you write that dignified, empowered role for a black
• 19:47
  Speaker 1: woman that you would like to play. And you know,
• 19:51
  Speaker 1: some years later there was a movie, a Kevin cost
• 19:53
  Speaker 1: movie and the and the tagline was if you build it,
• 19:57
  Speaker 1: they will come feel the dreams. Yes, that's exactly right,
• 20:02
  Speaker 1: and my father was correct. In his library was a
• 20:07
  Speaker 1: book by historian Black historian J. A. Rogers, and it
• 20:12
  Speaker 1: was called Race and Sex. And the second page and
• 20:17
  Speaker 1: was a big picture of a woman who clearly looked ethnic,
• 20:21
  Speaker 1: but she was in royal attire. It was a black
• 20:23
  Speaker 1: and white obviously it wasn't you know the color? And
• 20:26
  Speaker 1: it said Charlotte Sophia, England's first black queen. And I
• 20:34
  Speaker 1: read back and said, what black queen? How do we
• 20:39
  Speaker 1: not know that? Listen? How how was I not taught that?
• 20:42
  Speaker 1: In my history classes? We were taught about King George
• 20:45
  Speaker 1: and him going mad, and the and the revolutionary war
• 20:50
  Speaker 1: that he sent the Red Coats, you know, over here
• 20:52
  Speaker 1: to fight us against. We knew everything about the husband.
• 20:56
  Speaker 1: Why did we not know that his wife was a
• 20:58
  Speaker 1: woman of color? I couldn't I find that much research
• 21:03
  Speaker 1: in those days, and so I sort of put it
• 21:05
  Speaker 1: in the back of my mind. One of these days,
• 21:08
  Speaker 1: I'm gonna write that story. And at the time, I'm thinking, maybe,
• 21:12
  Speaker 1: who knows, I can get halle Berry to play it.
• 21:15
  Speaker 1: This is before fools, this is before Sally him, this
• 21:18
  Speaker 1: is before all of that. My father died and left
• 21:22
  Speaker 1: me his library, and all of those books came to
• 21:25
  Speaker 1: my then house in um the Hollywood Hills, and I
• 21:29
  Speaker 1: found it again, and I said, you know, you may,
• 21:32
  Speaker 1: you may want to investigate this story. And when Sally
• 21:37
  Speaker 1: Hemmings had done so well, people began to ask, what
• 21:41
  Speaker 1: are you gonna do for an uncle? What do you
• 21:42
  Speaker 1: do next? You top Sally Hemmings? And I thought, Wow,
• 21:47
  Speaker 1: this would be the project, not realizing it was gonna
• 21:50
  Speaker 1: take me eight years to write the book. And all
• 21:53
  Speaker 1: the research two and three times going to London. Of
• 21:56
  Speaker 1: course I need no excuse to go to London. I love, love,
• 21:58
  Speaker 1: love London. But I was there researching at the British Library,
• 22:02
  Speaker 1: at the Windsor and Buckingham Archives, at the British Museum. Uh.
• 22:08
  Speaker 1: And then I put it together and the moment that
• 22:12
  Speaker 1: book hit the marketplace, there was a surge of of
• 22:17
  Speaker 1: course British people who were saying, oh, no, no, we're
• 22:19
  Speaker 1: not gonna let you do this, this is not a
• 22:21
  Speaker 1: story that we're interested in. And yet British people were
• 22:24
  Speaker 1: buying the book. And I get last year a phone
• 22:29
  Speaker 1: call out of the blue from an HBO executive who said,
• 22:34
  Speaker 1: I'd like to um, I'd like to speak to Tina Andrews,
• 22:37
  Speaker 1: and I said speaking, and so she said, you know,
• 22:40
  Speaker 1: here's who I am at you, and I'm at HBO
• 22:43
  Speaker 1: Max uh In International and my mother loved your book,
• 22:48
  Speaker 1: and I'm thinking your mother, and so she said, my
• 22:53
  Speaker 1: mother turned me onto this book. And she said, when
• 22:55
  Speaker 1: you get your promotion, let this be the first book
• 22:57
  Speaker 1: that you buy. Two have on the on the channel.
• 23:03
  Speaker 1: And I nearly died because once again it was like
• 23:06
  Speaker 1: spirit creating the atmosphere and the environment and the place
• 23:12
  Speaker 1: to put that story after so long with the research,
• 23:16
  Speaker 1: Progressives forrest metaphors about bundling your home on auto and sports.
• 23:21
  Speaker 1: Three goals is a hat trick, and when you bundle
• 23:23
  Speaker 1: your home and auto with Progressive you get a hat
• 23:25
  Speaker 1: trick of great savings and around the clock protection. So
• 23:27
  Speaker 1: you might be thinking, wait, that's two things. A hat
• 23:29
  Speaker 1: trick is three, But in this metaphor, great savings counts
• 23:32
  Speaker 1: as two goals, and so does around the clock protection,
• 23:35
  Speaker 1: So it's like four goals and that's more than three.
• 23:38
  Speaker 1: It's basing math forest metaphors by Progressive Bundle and protect today,
• 23:42
  Speaker 1: Progressive couentalty in Trance Company, and a Felia's discount of
• 23:45
  Speaker 1: atleino stags or situations. Adoption of teams from foster care
• 23:48
  Speaker 1: is a topic not enough people know about, and we're
• 23:50
  Speaker 1: here to change that. I'm April Dinuity, host of the
• 23:53
  Speaker 1: new podcast Navigating Adoption, presented by adopt us Kids. Each
• 23:57
  Speaker 1: episode brings you compelling, real life adoption stories told by
• 24:01
  Speaker 1: the families that lived them, with commentary from experts. Visit
• 24:04
  Speaker 1: adopt us Kids dot org, slash podcast, or subscribed to
• 24:08
  Speaker 1: Navigating Adoption presented by adopt us Kids. Brought to you
• 24:11
  Speaker 1: by the U. S Department of Health and Human Services,
• 24:13
  Speaker 1: Administration for Children and Families and the ad Council. Look
• 24:17
  Speaker 1: for your children's eyes to see the true magic of
• 24:19
  Speaker 1: a forest. It's a storybook world for them. You look
• 24:23
  Speaker 1: and see a tree. They see the wrinkled face of
• 24:26
  Speaker 1: a wizard with arms outstretched to the sky. They see
• 24:30
  Speaker 1: treasure and pebbles. They see a windy path that could
• 24:33
  Speaker 1: lead to adventure, and they see you. They're fearless guide.
• 24:37
  Speaker 1: Is this fascinating world? Find a forest near you and
• 24:40
  Speaker 1: start exploring and discover the forest dot Org. Brought to
• 24:43
  Speaker 1: you by the United States Forest Service and the ad Council. Well,
• 24:47
  Speaker 1: you know the thing I love about talking to you,
• 24:49
  Speaker 1: First of all, Um, it's almost like I'm talking to royalty.
• 24:52
  Speaker 1: You're so elegant, and you're so pronounced in your tone,
• 24:55
  Speaker 1: You're so elegant in your gestures, and you know, there's
• 24:58
  Speaker 1: a certain amount of suc sense and confidence and uh
• 25:02
  Speaker 1: and speaking to you. You know, I hope people watch this.
• 25:04
  Speaker 1: You can hear it on audio, of course, but I
• 25:06
  Speaker 1: hope people get to watch this actual interview because it's
• 25:09
  Speaker 1: impressive when I see people because you've You've had a
• 25:12
  Speaker 1: journey in your life, and sometimes journeys can beat you down.
• 25:15
  Speaker 1: Some kind of journeys can wear you down. I just
• 25:17
  Speaker 1: see that when I'm looking at you and listening to
• 25:20
  Speaker 1: your Tina, I'm seeing a person who who basically um
• 25:24
  Speaker 1: understands the purpose of who you are and your father
• 25:29
  Speaker 1: obviously built that into you and say, hey, this is
• 25:33
  Speaker 1: who you are, this is who you can be control
• 25:35
  Speaker 1: your destiny. Is that key to what I'm saying that
• 25:37
  Speaker 1: Basically I know that's why I stopped acting and became
• 25:40
  Speaker 1: a writer and producer. I feel I can control my destiny.
• 25:42
  Speaker 1: Plus I've realized, you know, one day I even get old,
• 25:44
  Speaker 1: and I can probably stare right, I can probably steal produced,
• 25:46
  Speaker 1: I can stop creative. But they can minimize my success
• 25:50
  Speaker 1: based on my color and based on my age, but
• 25:52
  Speaker 1: they can never minimize my success based on how I think.
• 25:55
  Speaker 1: If I'm topical and I'm staying very current, and that's
• 25:58
  Speaker 1: what you are. You're very current and very topical, and
• 26:01
  Speaker 1: so it's seriousness coming out on HBO Max. You did
• 26:04
  Speaker 1: something very very much, very key audio book talk about
• 26:09
  Speaker 1: that whole relation and hearing the words articulated by the
• 26:12
  Speaker 1: brilliant actress, Can I tell you again? It was another
• 26:18
  Speaker 1: one of those I do think of my life, and
• 26:21
  Speaker 1: I talked about my life in spiritual terms because I
• 26:24
  Speaker 1: have had a lot of hardships. It has not all
• 26:26
  Speaker 1: been easy sailing trying to get to the top there.
• 26:29
  Speaker 1: You know, you hit a platform and then you uh
• 26:32
  Speaker 1: fall and then you're building back up again. So it's
• 26:35
  Speaker 1: been a long career. But sometimes along the way you
• 26:39
  Speaker 1: get these opportunities that just come to you. You have
• 26:43
  Speaker 1: to be prepared, you know. It's what they say that that,
• 26:46
  Speaker 1: you know, luck is opportunity met with preparedness, and I've
• 26:49
  Speaker 1: been prepared. I'm minding my own business on Facebook, and
• 26:56
  Speaker 1: I had an editor who at one point um had
• 26:59
  Speaker 1: had turned down my uh the opportunity to publish my book,
• 27:07
  Speaker 1: and I had said, I had posted that day, well,
• 27:11
  Speaker 1: if you guys are loving bridget In, don't forget my
• 27:15
  Speaker 1: book is still out where I wrote about Queen Charlotte,
• 27:19
  Speaker 1: and I put a you know, the cover of the
• 27:22
  Speaker 1: photo of the cover of the book on Facebook. Went
• 27:25
  Speaker 1: on about my business. Later on that afternoon, I got
• 27:29
  Speaker 1: a private message and it was Carol saying Tina, I
• 27:35
  Speaker 1: don't want to make the mistake that I made earlier
• 27:38
  Speaker 1: when when when we didn't publish your book, because look
• 27:42
  Speaker 1: what has happened to you and it and and and onward.
• 27:46
  Speaker 1: Um I am at recorded books now, I'm in acquisitions.
• 27:51
  Speaker 1: Is are rather are the audiobook rights available? Once again?
• 27:56
  Speaker 1: I go, whoa, I love you? So I go, yes,
• 28:03
  Speaker 1: yes they are, And she said, well, I would love
• 28:06
  Speaker 1: to acquire I would like to acquire them. We'd like
• 28:10
  Speaker 1: to do a whole big push. You will be in
• 28:13
  Speaker 1: charge of choosing, you know, who narrates your book. And
• 28:19
  Speaker 1: I'm thinking, boy, I had a number of British actresses,
• 28:21
  Speaker 1: black British actresses that I thought could do a really
• 28:24
  Speaker 1: credible job. And she said, you send me your list.
• 28:28
  Speaker 1: She said, we also have a list of some people
• 28:30
  Speaker 1: who have worked and done audio books for us who
• 28:32
  Speaker 1: are also black female in British. Will send you their
• 28:35
  Speaker 1: names and then you go through you pick out the
• 28:37
  Speaker 1: one that you want to narrate your book. And my god,
• 28:42
  Speaker 1: their list was alphabetical, and at the top of the
• 28:45
  Speaker 1: list is Adua and and Adua. And for those of
• 28:50
  Speaker 1: you out there who don't recognize her by name, she
• 28:53
  Speaker 1: plays lady dan Berry on bridgertain. Absolutely he is phenomenal.
• 29:00
  Speaker 1: So as far as I was concerned, the search was
• 29:06
  Speaker 1: so I called Carol and I said, are you kidding me?
• 29:09
  Speaker 1: And he said, well, she's done like two hundred audiobooks
• 29:11
  Speaker 1: and I said, this is the actress. She will give
• 29:15
  Speaker 1: it the class and mcgravta. She will also do other characters.
• 29:18
  Speaker 1: She's an amazing, amazing actress. I knew of her prior
• 29:22
  Speaker 1: to bridget In and so I said, please tell me
• 29:26
  Speaker 1: that we can can have her and she says, I'll
• 29:30
  Speaker 1: get back to you in a couple of days and
• 29:31
  Speaker 1: you're hum. A couple of days later, she said, Adua
• 29:34
  Speaker 1: is yours. So working with this phenomenal actress who made
• 29:41
  Speaker 1: that book come to life, oh Rishan, it was. It
• 29:46
  Speaker 1: is an experience for anyone who listens to that. But
• 29:50
  Speaker 1: I you know, at at certain points in time, no
• 29:54
  Speaker 1: no joke, I will listen to the audio book and
• 29:57
  Speaker 1: I'll say, wow, I wrote that, Yes, yes, yes, yes,
• 30:02
  Speaker 1: that's an act That's that's brilliance of her bringing in
• 30:05
  Speaker 1: your life. But you know, I want to I want
• 30:07
  Speaker 1: to say this before we wrap up the interview, and uh,
• 30:09
  Speaker 1: it's it's something about being prepared. That really comes across
• 30:13
  Speaker 1: when I when I when I shared this interview, and
• 30:15
  Speaker 1: I hope people listen. When when she got the call
• 30:18
  Speaker 1: for Roots, you know, despite dire consequences that happened in
• 30:22
  Speaker 1: her life, pride to that she was ready when she
• 30:25
  Speaker 1: got the call for Jackie Kennedy on Nassas. You know,
• 30:28
  Speaker 1: despite the success of Sally Heimming and her and it's
• 30:31
  Speaker 1: a project with African American female talking about an iconic white,
• 30:36
  Speaker 1: white American female. She was ready when she got the
• 30:39
  Speaker 1: call about the rights to her book, Charlotte Sophia. You know,
• 30:45
  Speaker 1: she was ready and not only ready, but also to
• 30:48
  Speaker 1: be bold enough to say this is the one we
• 30:50
  Speaker 1: should select. There's something about that that really rings true
• 30:54
  Speaker 1: about your life, Tina Andrews, and it makes it very
• 30:57
  Speaker 1: special that your your decision. Are you a person who
• 31:01
  Speaker 1: understands what you want to do in life and has
• 31:04
  Speaker 1: led so much to your level of success. If you
• 31:06
  Speaker 1: had to give someone some advice before we acted here,
• 31:09
  Speaker 1: what would you give somebody advice who's watching the show
• 31:11
  Speaker 1: and listening to this interview on money making conversations, I
• 31:16
  Speaker 1: will say you need to be your authentic self. Whoever
• 31:20
  Speaker 1: that is do not. First of all, do not let
• 31:22
  Speaker 1: anybody tell you what you can't be. You will show
• 31:25
  Speaker 1: them who you are, which means who you can be. Um,
• 31:31
  Speaker 1: try not to follow the road that is that is
• 31:34
  Speaker 1: whittled down by heavy traffic doing what everybody else is doing.
• 31:38
  Speaker 1: You create your own road and do that thing that
• 31:42
  Speaker 1: God has placed on your heart for you to do.
• 31:45
  Speaker 1: It's okay to be singular and unique and authentic because
• 31:51
  Speaker 1: some if you like it, someone out there is also
• 31:54
  Speaker 1: going to like it. And right now we're in, certainly
• 31:57
  Speaker 1: in this business that we're in, we got five or
• 31:59
  Speaker 1: six on your channels. You gotta feed that beast. There
• 32:03
  Speaker 1: is someone who's going to want what you have to say,
• 32:07
  Speaker 1: So say it. I love it. Thank you for coming
• 32:11
  Speaker 1: on mynd to make a conversation, Tina Andrews. Thank you
• 32:15
  Speaker 1: for having me. And if you want to hear in
• 32:17
  Speaker 1: my interviews, I'll see you in my interviews. Please go
• 32:19
  Speaker 1: to mind to make a conversation dot com. I'm Sean McDonald,
• 32:22
  Speaker 1: I am yours. In this season of giving Coals has
• 32:25
  Speaker 1: gifts for all your loved ones. For those who like
• 32:28
  Speaker 1: to keep it cozy, find fleeces, sweaters, loungeware, blankets and throws,
• 32:32
  Speaker 1: or support minority owned or founded brands by giving gifts
• 32:36
  Speaker 1: from Human Nation and Shame Moisture and in the spirit
• 32:39
  Speaker 1: of giving, Coal's Cares is donating eight million dollars to
• 32:43
  Speaker 1: local nonprofits nationwide. Give with all your heart this season
• 32:47
  Speaker 1: with great gifts from Coals or Coals dot com. It's
• 32:52
  Speaker 1: up man called Los Miller of the show Favors. Make
• 32:56
  Speaker 1: sure you check out the Black Market mostly by Me
• 32:59
  Speaker 1: only on the eight five South Show. Fee Subscribe to
• 33:02
  Speaker 1: the eighty five South Show to here and tune into
• 33:04
  Speaker 1: the black Market here amazing interviews with entrepreneurs, creatives, and
• 33:09
  Speaker 1: thought leadership people who are doing amazing things in the
• 33:12
  Speaker 1: black community. Listen to The Black Market on I Heart Radio, app,
• 33:17
  Speaker 1: Apple Podcast, or wherever you listen to podcasts. What Girls
• 33:23
  Speaker 1: in the Forest, our imagination and our family bonds. The
• 33:28
  Speaker 1: forest is closer than you think. Find a forest near
• 33:31
  Speaker 1: you and discover the Forest dot Org. Brought to you
• 33:34
  Speaker 1: by the United States Forest Service and the AD Council