Latest / The Steve Harvey Morning Show / Sara Finney Johnson Full Interview

Transcript

Sara Finney Johnson Full Interview · The Steve Harvey Morning Show

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Speaker 1: My next guest is on the phone. She's currently she's
1:10
Speaker 1: on the West Coast, so it's three hours earlier because
1:13
Speaker 1: I'm on the East Coast. My next guest is currently
1:15
Speaker 1: a co executive producer on BATS American Soul, premiering this
1:19
Speaker 1: January twin and eighteen on BT. Consulting producer on BATS.
1:23
Speaker 1: The Crop. I made her as a young writer on
1:26
Speaker 1: Robert Townsen's The Parenthood. She went on from there to
1:29
Speaker 1: become UH is that goutive produced in co creative the
1:31
Speaker 1: groundbreaking Moitia UH with teen sitcom starring Brandy and the
1:36
Speaker 1: Parkers which start UH the Incredible Monique. Please Welcome to
1:41
Speaker 1: Money Making Conversations. The One and Only Sarah Finney Johnson.
1:46
Speaker 1: Good morning, Good morning, How are you good? Energy? Then
1:49
Speaker 1: Sarah on the West Coast? I'm up, So Sarah, Yeah,
1:55
Speaker 1: what's your schedule? You know what's you are you working
1:57
Speaker 1: on right now? Um? It's the new show another our
2:00
Speaker 1: drama from BT from Tracy Edmonds and Vanessa Middleton and
2:04
Speaker 1: I can't give you the title because it's gonna change,
2:07
Speaker 1: but it is coming to bet in the spring of nine.
2:11
Speaker 1: Can you tell us a little bit about the story
2:14
Speaker 1: the show. Um, it's about three women and uh, you know,
2:19
Speaker 1: it's set in the world of basketball for at least
2:22
Speaker 1: for a moment it is. I'm not sure it's gonna
2:25
Speaker 1: stay there. But one is a woman who's a housewife
2:29
Speaker 1: who's decided she wants something more and she's kind of
2:32
Speaker 1: gonna be forced to need something more. Another is an
2:36
Speaker 1: up and coming journalist, and the other is a girl
2:39
Speaker 1: who's kind of living on the edge. You know, she
2:41
Speaker 1: wants to be in the quote unquote biz and she'll
2:44
Speaker 1: do anything to get there. So now, when I met you, Sarah,
2:47
Speaker 1: he was all sitcom. So now I'll American Soul drama,
2:53
Speaker 1: the Quad drama, the project you're working on drama. Yeah,
2:57
Speaker 1: when did you make the decision to become to transition
3:01
Speaker 1: to drama or just the nature of the business, you know, Rashaan,
3:04
Speaker 1: I just believe that you've got to um transform to
3:09
Speaker 1: whatever is working for you or that you desire. And
3:13
Speaker 1: I felt like I loved it. Come. I love comedy,
3:17
Speaker 1: but dramas were really I'd always wanted to do a
3:20
Speaker 1: drama first of all, but I never had the opportunity
3:23
Speaker 1: because you know, I was so blessed to keep working
3:26
Speaker 1: in a half hour and sitcom so dramas, I mean,
3:29
Speaker 1: they were just popping up everywhere with all you know,
3:32
Speaker 1: the new streaming services and cable, and comedies were kind
3:37
Speaker 1: of falling by the wayside. There weren't a lot of
3:39
Speaker 1: comedies and so I thought, you know what, this might
3:42
Speaker 1: be my chance to dive into drama. So I wrote
3:46
Speaker 1: a couple of spec scripts, got them to the right people,
3:49
Speaker 1: Thank god. Felicia Henderson was one of them, and she
3:53
Speaker 1: she loved it. She hired me on Single Ladies. I
3:55
Speaker 1: did said a few years ago with her, and that
3:58
Speaker 1: got me started. And uh, you know, I'm not saying
4:01
Speaker 1: I would never do comedy again, but I really do
4:04
Speaker 1: love drama. I'm really happy here now. One of the
4:06
Speaker 1: dramas I mentioned in your credit credits, uh, your co
4:10
Speaker 1: exact producer on BT's American Soul that's premiers January on
4:15
Speaker 1: BT what exactly as American Soul? American Soul is about
4:20
Speaker 1: Soul Train and the life of Don Cornelius. Yes, it's
4:23
Speaker 1: gonna be great. It was a great opportunity there and
4:27
Speaker 1: his life. You know, the man was just fascinating. And
4:30
Speaker 1: I grew up, you know, I'm a bad era. I
4:32
Speaker 1: grew up on Soul Train, you know, every Saturday morning
4:35
Speaker 1: it was trained exactly. So it's just a lot of
4:40
Speaker 1: rich story there and and it was divon. Gregory's the showrunner,
4:44
Speaker 1: and uh so it's it's gonna be great. I really
4:46
Speaker 1: hope people get to watch that. Yeah. That that's a
4:48
Speaker 1: show that I'm sure out of curiosity, you know, we're
4:52
Speaker 1: watching because it's truly is the side of our lives.
4:55
Speaker 1: You know, you said, he's telling the truth. The Soul
4:58
Speaker 1: Train line. If you a brick on the Soul Training
5:01
Speaker 1: line right now, and exactly, it lives on and it
5:03
Speaker 1: doesn't matter what color, what race you are everybody. I mean,
5:07
Speaker 1: you can go to a wedding right now and there's
5:09
Speaker 1: a Soul Train line. So it's it's lived on, you know,
5:12
Speaker 1: and it's it's great. Now. Before now, when you when
5:15
Speaker 1: you talk about when I met you, you know, was
5:18
Speaker 1: on the Parenthood right, I was you just come off
5:22
Speaker 1: for family matters? Correct? Yes, okay, now what just now
5:26
Speaker 1: you're writing by yourself now at the time you have
5:28
Speaker 1: a writing partner talented Vita Spears. What what's the difference
5:32
Speaker 1: in having a writing partner Now you're making all the
5:35
Speaker 1: creative decisions about yourself, which with a script. I think
5:38
Speaker 1: in comedy you find more partners people to bounce things
5:43
Speaker 1: off of, you know, your jokes and whatever. And in
5:46
Speaker 1: drama it's like you you have a room full of
5:50
Speaker 1: people to bounce things off of, and then you go
5:52
Speaker 1: off and usually write your script. And I don't know,
5:55
Speaker 1: I like it. I don't mind the partnership, but I
5:58
Speaker 1: just kind of prefer working at my own pace and
6:02
Speaker 1: doing it, you know, having gotten notes from the showrunner
6:05
Speaker 1: and the other writers and and then just going off
6:07
Speaker 1: and doing it. And um, I think that's the difference.
6:10
Speaker 1: In the comedy room, you know, Um, everybody's bouncing jokes
6:14
Speaker 1: every I mean, And of course I want to say
6:16
Speaker 1: this about comedy. It's not all about jokes. I firmly
6:19
Speaker 1: believe that, whether you're doing comedy or drama, it starts
6:22
Speaker 1: with a great story. And once you have that story,
6:26
Speaker 1: and and you know, you were famous in the Parkers
6:28
Speaker 1: writer's room for pitching a joke once that I just
6:32
Speaker 1: didn't get And I remember saying Rashawn. I know you
6:35
Speaker 1: have told jokes in front of millions of people, but
6:37
Speaker 1: wait a minute, that one I don't know about. I'm
6:40
Speaker 1: not sure about that, And you were like, what so,
6:44
Speaker 1: But that's what you do in the writer's room. You know,
6:46
Speaker 1: everybody pitches. Everybody throws up what they believe and what
6:49
Speaker 1: they feel, and then the showrunner makes a decision. And
6:52
Speaker 1: not to say that you didn't pitch a thousand other
6:53
Speaker 1: great jokes, because you did. But the point is that
6:57
Speaker 1: it's a collaborative process either way. But I think in
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Speaker 1: comedy it really is about it. It's that partnership that
7:06
Speaker 1: that kind of help I think helps you. And of
7:08
Speaker 1: course being partners with Vida was a great help to me.
7:11
Speaker 1: And uh, you know, but I just started doing other
7:14
Speaker 1: things and I write plays and I got we want
7:17
Speaker 1: to talk about that plays in the minute. But let's
7:19
Speaker 1: let's go back to something. Because you had an impact
7:21
Speaker 1: on me, because she had to. She had too a
7:23
Speaker 1: major impact in my life. First of all, was on
7:26
Speaker 1: parenthood because she was right. I was just I was
7:29
Speaker 1: just really, uh funny guy, and and she told me
7:32
Speaker 1: she's reach you on You're funny, but you you're gonna
7:35
Speaker 1: have to learn how to write one day, you know.
7:40
Speaker 1: And in fact, because because she told me, because in fact,
7:44
Speaker 1: because of her, my company name is punch up. That's
7:46
Speaker 1: what you do. If you're just a funny guy and
7:48
Speaker 1: you can joke, they'll call you in a punch up
7:50
Speaker 1: a script. And so I named my company after she
7:54
Speaker 1: set me down and went, you know, if you want
7:55
Speaker 1: to be a punch up writer, you know, there's a
7:57
Speaker 1: lot of business out there, but if you really want
7:59
Speaker 1: to be a right here, a long term career in
8:01
Speaker 1: the sitcom and right in thisstry, you've got to learn story.
8:04
Speaker 1: That's the first thing she said, story and learn how
8:07
Speaker 1: to put that story on paper, and also take criticism
8:10
Speaker 1: because a lot of people can't do that. She's like
8:13
Speaker 1: a teach in the room, man, because you know, it
8:17
Speaker 1: was a hot chat. I was hot chat man when
8:18
Speaker 1: he first, man, you can tell me nothing. I was funny.
8:23
Speaker 1: I was coming off stage death, comedy jam everything. You know,
8:26
Speaker 1: you're funny guy. And so people assume that, hey, he
8:29
Speaker 1: knows everything. He's been doing it a while and you
8:31
Speaker 1: know a lot. But I'm from the school of thought
8:34
Speaker 1: that there's always something more to learn. And she told
8:37
Speaker 1: me too, and so, but here's the part. You know,
8:40
Speaker 1: when your teacher set you down and they start teaching,
8:43
Speaker 1: you start learning. But then she had to leave because
8:46
Speaker 1: of the Mosha serious thing I picked up, So tell
8:50
Speaker 1: us about that whole experience, because he was my mentor,
8:53
Speaker 1: set me up and told me, look, you have to
8:55
Speaker 1: learn how to right because right now you're not gonna survive.
8:58
Speaker 1: We just jokes, she lazed, you know. Thankfully it worked out.
9:05
Speaker 1: Brandy came along at the right time, our project came together,
9:09
Speaker 1: and and um Moisha happened because I always wanted to
9:13
Speaker 1: tell the story about from a story from a black
9:16
Speaker 1: teenage girl's perspective, and I even though it would be
9:19
Speaker 1: from her point of view, it would have universal themes
9:22
Speaker 1: that everybody could relate to. I mean, The Wonder Years
9:25
Speaker 1: was one of my favorite shows ever, you know, and
9:28
Speaker 1: I was certainly never twelve year old white kid, but
9:31
Speaker 1: I understood everything Kevin was going through. So I hope
9:35
Speaker 1: that Mosha would do the same thing. And I wanted
9:37
Speaker 1: to set in my neighborhood. I grew up in in
9:39
Speaker 1: l A. Lamert Park, and I felt like, you know,
9:43
Speaker 1: there was not enough representation of positive, good people in
9:46
Speaker 1: that neighborhood, and a lot of neighborhoods like Lamert Park
9:50
Speaker 1: all over the country. All you heard about was violence,
9:53
Speaker 1: and I'm thinking, no, I know some people here and
9:55
Speaker 1: they're going you know, they work hard every day, they're
9:57
Speaker 1: doing the best they can. And those people us, some
10:00
Speaker 1: of them. Of course, with my parents, I was talking
10:02
Speaker 1: about and our neighbors and our community. And so it
10:06
Speaker 1: was set there, and you know, she went to Crenshaw
10:09
Speaker 1: High School, which is in the community, and and it
10:12
Speaker 1: was all about the things that teenagers go through. And
10:15
Speaker 1: thank god, people responded. They loved the show. It went
10:18
Speaker 1: on to become a hit, and off of that, I
10:21
Speaker 1: went over to do a spinoff, which of course was
10:23
Speaker 1: The Parkers and and working with the fabulous Monique. Yeah,
10:28
Speaker 1: fabulous movie. See an interesting part about my relationship with
10:32
Speaker 1: Sarah was there. Sarah called me when I first came
10:35
Speaker 1: into the writer's game. I started on Steve's ABC series
10:38
Speaker 1: being the Boys that got counseled immediately, and so I
10:41
Speaker 1: got over to uh the Robert Towns. I was there
10:44
Speaker 1: Robert Town's and he saved my life. Be interested because
10:47
Speaker 1: if he doesn't pick me up and put me on
10:48
Speaker 1: the on his show, of the parenthood. I don't have
10:50
Speaker 1: a writing career and I'm not sitting on this microphone
10:53
Speaker 1: right now. So he was very interesting. You have to
10:55
Speaker 1: have people who believe in you, see talent in you,
10:57
Speaker 1: and that's really important, like like Sarah or you know.
11:01
Speaker 1: The thing about it is that the second time she
11:02
Speaker 1: came into my life was the Parker's because I was
11:05
Speaker 1: I was in transition to my life. I was I've
11:07
Speaker 1: written a lot of successful series or city Halls sitcom, uh, sister, sister,
11:13
Speaker 1: And then I was writing on Jamie Fox Show and
11:15
Speaker 1: I left that I was leaving that show because I
11:18
Speaker 1: wanted to take my life in a different direction. And
11:20
Speaker 1: I called Sara said, Sarah, look, I don't know what
11:22
Speaker 1: I want to do. I said, but can you you
11:25
Speaker 1: have a job for me over there? And she said,
11:27
Speaker 1: you know, I got a job for you. I mean
11:29
Speaker 1: just you know, but you need people like that. They
11:31
Speaker 1: take you to the next step. And she brought me
11:33
Speaker 1: on the show as a consulting producer on The Pokers.
11:36
Speaker 1: Because it's something about this young lady, and I say
11:39
Speaker 1: this in a very sister brother tone, is that she's
11:43
Speaker 1: always there not only for people that she know, but
11:46
Speaker 1: for the community because she's you know, her Christmas times
11:51
Speaker 1: were like looking at uh, you know, the Santa Claus
11:54
Speaker 1: where she was the female version of Santa Claus. And
11:57
Speaker 1: and I would find up mentoring people, buying you just
12:00
Speaker 1: for people I didn't know, because she inspired that. Yeah, yeah, no,
12:06
Speaker 1: I love giving back. I believe that we all should
12:09
Speaker 1: do whatever we can, you know, just reach back and
12:12
Speaker 1: help somebody. And so at that time, I was working
12:16
Speaker 1: with a homely shelter and a lot of children, and
12:19
Speaker 1: my mom's church was right next door to the homeless shelter.
12:22
Speaker 1: So I have I've been so blessed that were for
12:24
Speaker 1: people who helped me out, and you are one of them.
12:28
Speaker 1: I said, guys, I want to do this Angel Tree.
12:30
Speaker 1: The kids don't have much. Let's help them. Let's give
12:33
Speaker 1: them gifts. We bought them up to the show. They
12:35
Speaker 1: got to watch the taping. We had a party afterwards,
12:39
Speaker 1: and oh they were thrill. You know, they get to
12:41
Speaker 1: meet Moisham. At that time, it was a partners It
12:44
Speaker 1: was Monique and Countess and all of them and the writers,
12:48
Speaker 1: including yourself, would buy these gifts and and and I
12:51
Speaker 1: remember I would try to frame it around the time
12:54
Speaker 1: when we would have a singing guest on and I
12:56
Speaker 1: remember one year I said, you Landa, you know You'landa Adams.
13:01
Speaker 1: My god, it was just beautiful, Fred Hammond. I mean,
13:03
Speaker 1: these kids were so happy. And the computers you're talking about.
13:07
Speaker 1: I mentords some kids at my high school, Dorsey High
13:10
Speaker 1: School here in l A. And it was a young
13:13
Speaker 1: lady and another young man and they needed laptops. Next
13:16
Speaker 1: thing I'm know, Rashaan got the laptops. Well hould that
13:19
Speaker 1: thought there? Sir, don't make me a little time too
13:20
Speaker 1: be because I gotta tell the story about the Parkers. Okay,
13:23
Speaker 1: we would come back more with Sarah Fitty Johnson, money
13:27
Speaker 1: making conversations, keep winning everybody. She's on the phone. She's
13:31
Speaker 1: the co executive abuse of Serious. It's premiered on BT
13:34
Speaker 1: in January called American Soul. That's drama. She also just
13:38
Speaker 1: reacently left another drama on BT called The Quad. She's
13:40
Speaker 1: currently working on The Tracy Tracy Uh Tracy Hamas Project,
13:45
Speaker 1: is also a drama by three with eighties. I met
13:48
Speaker 1: her when I was a young writer on Robert Townsend.
13:51
Speaker 1: I was a young writer just all I knew. I
13:52
Speaker 1: can only tell jokes on the parenthood and she told
13:55
Speaker 1: me you gotta get you, gotta step up. Rashaan jokes
13:58
Speaker 1: just not gonna cut it for you. Well, when I
14:00
Speaker 1: left Jamie Foxx Show, I just walked away from my
14:03
Speaker 1: deal and I was She was the first person I called.
14:06
Speaker 1: I said, Hey, I don't have a job right now.
14:08
Speaker 1: I just left the Jamie Foxx Show. What can you
14:11
Speaker 1: do for me? She's reached come over here. I got
14:13
Speaker 1: you covered. And so she saved my career and the
14:16
Speaker 1: next step because of the fact that that was a
14:18
Speaker 1: very transitional period. But Felicia Henderson now Felicia Henderson, I
14:23
Speaker 1: met her own sister sister. So we're just all big friend.
14:26
Speaker 1: That's another one of my sister. She was on the
14:27
Speaker 1: show last week and so Sarah, Felicia, you know, she
14:30
Speaker 1: was getting really good in the interview and she told
14:33
Speaker 1: everybody about this by what happened on the on the
14:36
Speaker 1: show one time when I was arrived late for work
14:40
Speaker 1: and and so I felt and Felicia hasn't gonna partially
14:43
Speaker 1: get the story out about me. I need to come
14:46
Speaker 1: back to the person who knows the truth, the facts
14:50
Speaker 1: about the uh. The day Rashan arrived late for work, well,
14:54
Speaker 1: I know Felicia told the truth. First of all, let
14:57
Speaker 1: me just say that, but let me tell you what happened.
15:00
Speaker 1: But Rashawn, you were mess. You were so funny. We
15:03
Speaker 1: just had First of all, we had a great time
15:05
Speaker 1: working together, and we were able to do great work.
15:09
Speaker 1: I think people sometimes think, oh, you know, it's just
15:11
Speaker 1: all serious and or you just goofing off too much. No,
15:14
Speaker 1: we found a good balance there, and I think we
15:17
Speaker 1: had a great five seasons. But um, what happened is
15:20
Speaker 1: that Rashawn came. Let's let's at the time I was
15:25
Speaker 1: starting to transition. Uh, I was managing Steve and running
15:29
Speaker 1: the morning because I was kind of like taking on
15:31
Speaker 1: that little a little different different lifestyle. Oh yeah, you
15:35
Speaker 1: were multitasking. You were definitely doing that. I mean, Rashan,
15:38
Speaker 1: you've always been a hard worker. You always got three
15:41
Speaker 1: jobs at least I know that, but I didn't really
15:44
Speaker 1: know it then. I know it now. And when you
15:47
Speaker 1: came in late, you said, because you had left the
15:50
Speaker 1: day before and you you left early and you said
15:55
Speaker 1: you will be back. We said, okay, no problem. So
15:57
Speaker 1: you came in and you said, oh, there, I was
16:01
Speaker 1: in a bank robbery. We said, a bank robbery. We
16:04
Speaker 1: we didn't hear anything about he said, was here in Hollywood?
16:07
Speaker 1: Said no, no, we you sure because we didn't hear
16:10
Speaker 1: anything about a bank robbery. And later it was years later,
16:14
Speaker 1: you finally told me. He said, Okay, I wasn't in
16:16
Speaker 1: a bank robbery. There was no bank robbery. I'm sorry.
16:20
Speaker 1: You were doing something with Steve, something with somebody. I
16:23
Speaker 1: don't know, but Bill Bolware was the coexecu at the time,
16:26
Speaker 1: and I said, Bill, I don't think what Shawn was
16:29
Speaker 1: in the bank robbery. He wouldn't heard about it on
16:30
Speaker 1: the news, right. That was We laughed so hard about
16:34
Speaker 1: that for years because we said, Rashawn said he was
16:36
Speaker 1: in the bank, it was being robbed. Everything was a mess.
16:39
Speaker 1: He couldn't get back to the show. No. So they're
16:43
Speaker 1: great storytelling, I give you that. But it was funny.
16:49
Speaker 1: It was one of the many stories I have about
16:51
Speaker 1: Rashan McDonald. Just a joy to work with, the joy
16:54
Speaker 1: well you know the thing about it, and thank you,
16:56
Speaker 1: you know, because I was mouth. That was the very
16:58
Speaker 1: early stages of all Steve Harvey in my relationship, which
17:02
Speaker 1: has led to an amazing amount of greatness for both
17:04
Speaker 1: he and I and changed the industry, and that's how
17:07
Speaker 1: people perceive African Americans on TV, which you know because
17:11
Speaker 1: at one point, you know, all the jobs are going
17:14
Speaker 1: to reality shows. You know, black people out there fighting,
17:17
Speaker 1: throwing glasses, climbing over tables, punching each other. And that
17:20
Speaker 1: was really frustrated for me. I'm sure it was equally
17:22
Speaker 1: frustrating for you because you're going, that's not a real
17:25
Speaker 1: writer's job opportunity there right right for a while, so
17:29
Speaker 1: I have to tell you, I didn't think reality was
17:31
Speaker 1: gonna make it. And then one day I said, a
17:33
Speaker 1: reality TV is here to stay. But it was disappointing
17:37
Speaker 1: to see some of it, you know, but I know
17:39
Speaker 1: people have to make a living, and you know it's legal.
17:41
Speaker 1: They're not doing anything illegal. But I just wanted to
17:44
Speaker 1: do a different type of television. So that with that
17:48
Speaker 1: being said, is that when you look at television today,
17:51
Speaker 1: you know you see it all African Americans get these development,
17:55
Speaker 1: I mean, real deals. So why why you think the
17:59
Speaker 1: content so strong? And we thought that was gonna happen
18:01
Speaker 1: a few years ago when they when they stepped up
18:03
Speaker 1: and said we need to give a better image for
18:06
Speaker 1: African Americans on television. We see that very dominantly in
18:10
Speaker 1: commercials because you see interracial relationships and commercials like it's
18:14
Speaker 1: a normal slice of life, which is fantastic. Television was
18:18
Speaker 1: slow to turn, but now it seems like there's a
18:21
Speaker 1: foot race to get ahead. Yeah, and you know, I'm
18:24
Speaker 1: so glad about it. Um, it's still I think, got
18:28
Speaker 1: a ways to go as far as people of color concerned.
18:31
Speaker 1: But my god, it has changed so much since I started.
18:35
Speaker 1: I mean, I think they were looking, finally looking and
18:39
Speaker 1: realizing fresh voices. You know, people with some new point
18:43
Speaker 1: of views, and they happen to be people of color.
18:46
Speaker 1: I mean, I look at Lena Ways and and mar
18:48
Speaker 1: Brock could kill Felicia Henderson, you know, Gina prince Blythewood,
18:52
Speaker 1: all my sisters who are just out here doing it,
18:55
Speaker 1: doing it big, and I'm so proud of them. I Mean,
18:57
Speaker 1: there was a time when I first started, they were
18:59
Speaker 1: like five black writers. I do all of them. Now
19:03
Speaker 1: I don't know half of them, and I'm excited about that.
19:06
Speaker 1: I'm happy about that. It makes my heart full what
19:09
Speaker 1: I know, where we've come from to where we are now.
19:12
Speaker 1: And I think that also because of the fact that
19:15
Speaker 1: it used to be you know we was on the
19:16
Speaker 1: w B was on up. You've used the black shows
19:20
Speaker 1: or sitcom to launch a network, and if they got
19:23
Speaker 1: rid of us. I remember when The Parkers was canceled,
19:26
Speaker 1: Uh Ginetta boone show one on one was canceled, Girlfriends
19:30
Speaker 1: was canceled. They just wiped us all out. But now
19:34
Speaker 1: you know, you've got the cable and the streaming services,
19:40
Speaker 1: and it's just so many more outlets. And I tell
19:43
Speaker 1: a lot of young writers and any writer you can
19:45
Speaker 1: shoot your own movie on your phone now. I mean
19:48
Speaker 1: that's just unheard of when I was starting out. So
19:51
Speaker 1: it's just come a long way. And it's still, like
19:53
Speaker 1: I said, I still think there are, of course, many
19:55
Speaker 1: things that need to happen, but I'm seeing some progress
19:58
Speaker 1: and that's been wonderful. Well, it's crazy when you look
20:01
Speaker 1: at how good it is becoming you know, insecure, you know,
20:04
Speaker 1: Oh I love insecure, Yes, yes, power you know. And
20:09
Speaker 1: you know she started, uh misadventurous of an awkward Black
20:12
Speaker 1: Girl was on the internet and I would watch it
20:15
Speaker 1: and I was like, what this girl? She needs a
20:17
Speaker 1: TV show. She is so funny, so talented, and I
20:21
Speaker 1: think Shanna Rhymes heard about her and got her deal
20:24
Speaker 1: or worked with her for a while, but then her
20:26
Speaker 1: and Larry Wilmore got insecure and now Princess Penny is
20:29
Speaker 1: over there as the showrunner, and it is just that's
20:31
Speaker 1: just remarkable. That's the cool thing that you went from
20:34
Speaker 1: one African American strong to the next African American strong
20:36
Speaker 1: to the next offer John Ridley, it's just really you're
20:39
Speaker 1: you're absolutely telling the truth. It used to be like,
20:41
Speaker 1: you know, you know, you know, ken you over there
20:45
Speaker 1: just embarrassed. Can you just got to steal a Netflix?
20:48
Speaker 1: You know he'll be doing big things. There's all these
20:51
Speaker 1: people came out of that that Sarah Fitty world, Kenya,
20:56
Speaker 1: you know Meyer Brocker, kill, Felicia hen just a Rachan
21:00
Speaker 1: see see. I gotta give her credit or nurturing her,
21:03
Speaker 1: her shaping a lot of people about telling about story,
21:07
Speaker 1: telling them that the root of success, long term success
21:09
Speaker 1: is knowing how to write. So you just take some
21:12
Speaker 1: credit for for for giving us our opportunities and giving
21:15
Speaker 1: us our strong guidance to be where we are at today. Listen,
21:18
Speaker 1: I feel like God put me in the right place
21:20
Speaker 1: at the right time to do what a little bit
21:23
Speaker 1: I could. I give all things to God, Rashawn. I
21:26
Speaker 1: have to tell you, without my faith and my strength,
21:29
Speaker 1: I would not be here where I am today. So
21:32
Speaker 1: I thank God. I think thank God for people like
21:35
Speaker 1: you. You You know, you came into my life. You know
21:38
Speaker 1: I work for you at one point, and I'm grateful
21:40
Speaker 1: for that. See, I'm not one of these people those things, Oh,
21:43
Speaker 1: I can only do this, do that. No, I love
21:45
Speaker 1: to work. I love them, right, That's what Sarah loves
21:48
Speaker 1: to do. And it's just I've had people tell me
21:51
Speaker 1: in the last year it's like you still right, Yes,
21:53
Speaker 1: I'm still writing, And I think that's that's great because
21:56
Speaker 1: it used to be a cut off point. You know,
21:58
Speaker 1: you have to stop writing, you know what I'm saying.
21:59
Speaker 1: So yeah, And I just love the fact that when
22:02
Speaker 1: you and I want to bring this back up, when
22:04
Speaker 1: you're talking about you can shoot your shoulder. Telephone used
22:07
Speaker 1: to telephone used to be if you were not shot
22:10
Speaker 1: your pilot or sitcom. You wish your money because the
22:13
Speaker 1: industry was locked down. You wish your time. You don't
22:16
Speaker 1: come to us, You will not get on television because
22:19
Speaker 1: you can do that in the film industry. You can
22:20
Speaker 1: independent production and get your your movie in the theaters
22:24
Speaker 1: you used to be just saying television didn't work like that.
22:27
Speaker 1: Because of the streaming services and demand for content, you
22:30
Speaker 1: can actually do your own project and then go show
22:32
Speaker 1: up and they put it on television. And plus production
22:35
Speaker 1: costs have dropped tremendously. M hmmm. It's it's a whole
22:39
Speaker 1: new world. And I want to say something we talked
22:41
Speaker 1: a little earlier about my transition into writing drama. I
22:45
Speaker 1: believe as a writer, don't get pigeonhole. You should write
22:48
Speaker 1: whatever you want. I'm still gonna do a movie one day.
22:51
Speaker 1: I might go back to comedy. I think you should
22:53
Speaker 1: write books, place whatever it is. I say, keep writing,
22:58
Speaker 1: keep that tool fresh, and and work on your craft.
23:01
Speaker 1: I just say, right, well, the one thing you told
23:04
Speaker 1: me is that the Rashaan you can keep winning. And
23:08
Speaker 1: I just love the fact that I do say she's
23:10
Speaker 1: my sister. I have six natural sisters that are two
23:13
Speaker 1: extra ones. Felicia D. Henderson is one of them, and
23:17
Speaker 1: Sarah Fitty Johnson is one of them. When they I
23:20
Speaker 1: feel their pain, I feel their successes. And to see
23:22
Speaker 1: you back out there writing and going from another job
23:25
Speaker 1: to the next job, I'm so proud and so happy
23:27
Speaker 1: for your thank you so much. I'm just I'm just
23:30
Speaker 1: blessed and blessed to have you in my life. I
23:32
Speaker 1: tell you it's the truth, folks, He's the real deal.
23:35
Speaker 1: We really are. I appreciate you, sa friend of Johnson,
23:37
Speaker 1: legendary creator a Moistia, legendary creator of the Parkers. She's writing,
23:43
Speaker 1: and she's doing the thing, and she's changing lives, not
23:46
Speaker 1: only in studio without in the community. Keep winning there.
23:52
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23:55
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