Latest / The Steve Harvey Morning Show / Rushion Interviews Paige Simpson, Vice President of 21 Laps Entertainment, and she discusses how attending an HBCU contributed to her success in the entertainment industry!

Transcript

Rushion Interviews Paige Simpson, Vice President of 21 Laps Entertainment, and she discusses how attending an HBCU contributed to her success in the entertainment industry! · The Steve Harvey Morning Show

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  Speaker 1: My next guest who's has been holding patiently. I want
• 0:02
  Speaker 1: to thank her. She is, like I said earlier, graduate
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  Speaker 1: of Spellman. She's an advice also the vice president of
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: Television that twenty one Laps Entertainment. Her name is Paige Simpson.
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  Speaker 1: She has works diligent to create an amazing, diverse and
• 0:16
  Speaker 1: bingeable content for Netflix. If you know Netflix, that term
• 0:20
  Speaker 1: bingeable is the term they created as part of the
• 0:23
  Speaker 1: production company Overall tell ushipon deal which the streaming giant
• 0:26
  Speaker 1: twin one lapses, the brain tile of director producer Sean
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  Speaker 1: Levy and the best known for Stranger Things, Arrival, Not
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  Speaker 1: at the Museum, Free Guy, and more. Page expertise and
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  Speaker 1: talented television development allowed her to create a significant career
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  Speaker 1: path and work with pa House Brands Please work with
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  Speaker 1: the Money Making Conversations Masterclass. Paige Simpson. How you doing, Paige? Well,
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  Speaker 1: how about yourself? Well, first of all, thank you for
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  Speaker 1: holding on that area. I wanted to definitely get that
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  Speaker 1: information out about it's it's it's really amazing because of
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  Speaker 1: the fact that you see this global presence that's coming
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  Speaker 1: about and going to HBCUs and I just want to
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  Speaker 1: let people know that it's sometimes people can have a
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  Speaker 1: thought process tied an hbc but you're a graduate of
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  Speaker 1: an HBCU. Tell us about your experience, tell us about
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  Speaker 1: what what? Because I know so many Spellman graduates in
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  Speaker 1: the Hollywood community. Has that been an asset to you? Um?
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  Speaker 1: They have. I absolutely love Stalming College and they they've
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  Speaker 1: done right by me. Um. So I hope that I
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  Speaker 1: do right by them, um and continue to give back.
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  Speaker 1: But yes, I think are Our community is very strong
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  Speaker 1: in l A. And it's not just Stomen but it's
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  Speaker 1: really like the entire HBCU community. We you know, connect
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  Speaker 1: on personal levels and professional levels, and you know, are
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  Speaker 1: really helpful towards each other. Though it's Howard Hampton Seleman
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  Speaker 1: more House. Um, we're really collaborative, which is great. Well,
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  Speaker 1: you know, I always talk about we can talk about now,
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  Speaker 1: but I always like to find how how did we
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  Speaker 1: get to now? How did we get to the be
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  Speaker 1: the vice president of television A twenty one laughs, entertainment.
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  Speaker 1: There's a journey. So you're graduate of Spellman College. What
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  Speaker 1: was your degree? Plan? Um, my degree is in biology.
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  Speaker 1: Everybody's studio. My degrees in mathematics, by the way, So don't.
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  Speaker 1: You're not throwing me off. Okay, you're not gonn throwing
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  Speaker 1: me miss. Miss biologists. Okay, you're talking to a mathematician here. Okay.
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  Speaker 1: So so you a biologist, Okay, you graduated with that degree.
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  Speaker 1: What made the shift? Did you come out of college,
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  Speaker 1: did you teach, did you do research? What happened? You know?
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  Speaker 1: I came out and I was studying for the impat
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  Speaker 1: and shadowing female physitions of color while I was in Atlanta,
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  Speaker 1: and I wanted to do emergency in medicine. But one
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  Speaker 1: thing that I didn't realize. I guess in hindsight it's
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  Speaker 1: it's laughable, but I didn't realize that patients would die
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  Speaker 1: on me um that I would need to emotionally have
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  Speaker 1: to be able to deal with that. And so while
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  Speaker 1: I was shadowing physicians, that of course was happening, and
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  Speaker 1: I wasn't emotionally ready, and I knew that that was
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  Speaker 1: something that I didn't want to continue doing for the
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  Speaker 1: rest of my life. So coming out Sellman, I was like,
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  Speaker 1: I don't know what I'm gonna do with this degree,
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  Speaker 1: but I love medicine. I love helping people, and so
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  Speaker 1: maybe I can go get my g R E and
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  Speaker 1: work for like the World Health Organization, for the u
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  Speaker 1: N and making sure that everybody gets people health care.
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  Speaker 1: So coming out of Pelm and that was my goal
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  Speaker 1: was to like study for the gr E, take the test,
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  Speaker 1: and go to grad school. Um that you know. During
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  Speaker 1: the course of that, I came back home to l A.
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  Speaker 1: And my mom's told me I always had to use
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  Speaker 1: my college degree. So I was tutoring math and science, um,
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  Speaker 1: two kids whose parents were in the industry. And so
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  Speaker 1: I was overhearing conversations from producers and directors and actors
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  Speaker 1: and really started to kind of get the bugs. And
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  Speaker 1: so I went into casting. I worked for a Tracy
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  Speaker 1: Twinkie Bird and Michelle Adams and we cast its Fruit
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  Speaker 1: Bale station. Um. And that's what I met or what occurred.
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  Speaker 1: That's the Michael B. Jordan's breakout movie. Correcting Ryan Coogler.
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  Speaker 1: Correct Ryan Coogler is the director and Black Panther If
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  Speaker 1: anybody does not know, that's one of his uh kind
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  Speaker 1: of like small claims to fame litther you know this
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  Speaker 1: little one and Michael B. Jordan if you don't know him, Okay,
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  Speaker 1: we can just continue this conversation with another day. But
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  Speaker 1: again you know, just all I'm just saying the page,
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  Speaker 1: throw out your flowers. Now these are you know you
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  Speaker 1: say you know you can actually lad with that? Now
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  Speaker 1: you know you could have lad with you know Ryan Coogler,
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  Speaker 1: you know I work with him and Bachael B. Jordan,
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  Speaker 1: I work with him. You know, do do you need
• 4:45
  Speaker 1: me to be your pr person? That's that. But continue
• 4:50
  Speaker 1: with the story because that's fantastic because you know, you
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  Speaker 1: never know working with individuals, how they can transcend the world.
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  Speaker 1: You know, because these are you know, Michael not only
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  Speaker 1: is a brilliant act and also an advocate of HBCUs,
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  Speaker 1: but also also uh producer of television projects. I think
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  Speaker 1: he's directing Create three, uh that's coming out and that
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  Speaker 1: and Create two. I think Create one was done by
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  Speaker 1: Ryan Crew Coogler, which really brought that whole franchise back
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  Speaker 1: to life when he as a young man, I think
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  Speaker 1: he was under thirty when he went up to Sylvester
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  Speaker 1: Sloan and convinced Sylvester's alone that that this African American
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  Speaker 1: can re re re energize his whole brand. And it's
• 5:36
  Speaker 1: taking off of that and not three Crew three movies later,
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  Speaker 1: we have this whole franchise. So but that's that. But
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  Speaker 1: those are the people that you are around. So you
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  Speaker 1: have to have a certain skill set, a certain vision
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  Speaker 1: to maintain a relationship in the room with these people. Correct, Yes,
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  Speaker 1: I think so. UM. I think it's about having a
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  Speaker 1: point of view, which I think I learned from seven uh.
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  Speaker 1: But also knowing yourself and having confidence um, and the
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  Speaker 1: support system like you mentioned earlier, like in terms of
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  Speaker 1: feeling like I am meant to be in the room
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  Speaker 1: and supposed to be there. That comes from you know,
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  Speaker 1: years at Spellman. Wow. Now when you when you did
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  Speaker 1: the that that particular project, did you because it really
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  Speaker 1: was a movie that received a lot of our awards.
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  Speaker 1: It was it was like they said, a low budget project.
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  Speaker 1: When I said low budget, I'm not saying that in
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  Speaker 1: a negative manner, I should say used to were independent.
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  Speaker 1: It was an independent production. Uh. And and so where
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  Speaker 1: did you go from there? So? From there I went
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  Speaker 1: to uh be an executive sistant show Time in original programming,
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  Speaker 1: So I worked on projects like The Affair, Masters of Sex, Billions, um.
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  Speaker 1: And then from there I went to manage will Packers
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  Speaker 1: TV department. We'll be right back with more money making
• 7:00
  Speaker 1: and Conversations Masterclass with Rashan McDonald. Now let's return to
• 7:05
  Speaker 1: Money Making Conversations master Class with Rashan McDonald. I love
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  Speaker 1: speaking to individuals like Paige Simpson because they they're so
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  Speaker 1: talented in the sense that that their gifts UM can,
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  Speaker 1: how they commune, how they create relationships, and they just
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  Speaker 1: go to one great project out the one great project
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  Speaker 1: and they teamed amt Okay, you know you were tied
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  Speaker 1: to that. So I believe that some things that you
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  Speaker 1: did has something to do with the success. Now you
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  Speaker 1: over Will Packer. Will Packer is very successful. How did
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  Speaker 1: the relationship come about? Um? So, I was at show
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  Speaker 1: time and I really wanted to grow and use what
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  Speaker 1: I had learned at show time in terms of elevated
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  Speaker 1: storytelling UM for people of color, and so I wanted
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  Speaker 1: to work with somebody who had done it on a
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  Speaker 1: different scale. Right, Like you mentioned, Will Packer a king
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  Speaker 1: of the box office, and I think that he's been
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  Speaker 1: able to capture our audience and our story very well
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  Speaker 1: in the future world, and so I was interested in
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  Speaker 1: helping him relay that success on the feature side to
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  Speaker 1: t V UM. So I connected with a friend who
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  Speaker 1: was a Morehouse graduate and Will Hacker was looking for
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  Speaker 1: a manager of TV and he sent my resume to
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  Speaker 1: to Will and I had a conversation which had a meeting.
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  Speaker 1: Um I let him know that what I wanted to
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  Speaker 1: do and what kind of projects I wanted to bring
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  Speaker 1: over in terms of you know, like I mentioned that
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  Speaker 1: elevated content that is inclusive of people of color and
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  Speaker 1: just really being authentically true to our experience. And she
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  Speaker 1: was like, I dig it, let's do it. So I
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  Speaker 1: dig it, Let's do it. That's all I dig it,
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  Speaker 1: Let's do it. I laughed, because it's that story is
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  Speaker 1: so simple. It seems like, Okay, let's go. What do
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  Speaker 1: page just doing it? Why can I do it? But
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  Speaker 1: along the way, I hear relationships. I hear people who
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  Speaker 1: are are willing to go through the process to work hard.
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  Speaker 1: I hear the I had the process of you know,
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  Speaker 1: not being tied to your to to the course of
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  Speaker 1: what people say you should be your degrees in biology.
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  Speaker 1: So certain people say, what are you doing over here?
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  Speaker 1: When people say that to you, when because you have
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  Speaker 1: been told along the way, as I have been told,
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  Speaker 1: people have questioned your decision making. Some people have said,
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  Speaker 1: why are you going over the whelpack you over is
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  Speaker 1: your time? What do you say when people confront you
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  Speaker 1: with this thing, even though it may be people that
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  Speaker 1: care about you? Um? Yeah, I heard out a lot.
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  Speaker 1: I mean I think I've set it to myself a
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  Speaker 1: few times, like what if I do it, are they
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  Speaker 1: going to know? Like that imposter syndrome here? Um? But
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  Speaker 1: I think that when when they say that, I just
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  Speaker 1: I have a lot of faith in God, so I
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  Speaker 1: just let him order my steps. Um. But I also
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  Speaker 1: come prepared right with knowledge. And I did a lot
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  Speaker 1: of research and reading, like read a lot of books,
• 10:04
  Speaker 1: read a lot of scripts, watched a lot of TV,
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  Speaker 1: a lot of bad TV good TV features, like did
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  Speaker 1: my own kind of master class before I said this
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  Speaker 1: is something that I want to do, and I think, Um,
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  Speaker 1: I also wrote scripts and I think that in order
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  Speaker 1: to give feedback on projects, kind of have to understand
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  Speaker 1: the process that writers have to go through. So I
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  Speaker 1: did that self, um, and it was hard, and so
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  Speaker 1: I had a whole new outlook on writers and their
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  Speaker 1: experience in their process. Um. And I just brought all
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  Speaker 1: of those things to the table and I am very
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  Speaker 1: clear on what I can do and what I can
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  Speaker 1: bring to the people and where I have room for
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  Speaker 1: improvement and growth. And I think it is that that
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  Speaker 1: honesty of being able to feel comfortable in the unknown
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  Speaker 1: that has allowed me to sit in rooms where I
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  Speaker 1: have been you know, became knowledgeable about certain things. Wow,
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  Speaker 1: I have a young a young producer. His name is Johnny.
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  Speaker 1: He will to be a writer, and uh, you know me,
• 11:03
  Speaker 1: I'm I'm fortunately for me. I've I'm one of the
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  Speaker 1: voters on the several of the award platforms, and so
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  Speaker 1: I'm able to get these scripts and get it to
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  Speaker 1: him if you were to give advice to him, being
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  Speaker 1: a guy who who has this creativity, who was always
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  Speaker 1: asking me because he's always seeking advice. Because I'm sure's
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  Speaker 1: a lot of people like him out there just listening
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  Speaker 1: to this show right now. Because you have stepped to
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  Speaker 1: a level you actually read scripts to that submitted to you,
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  Speaker 1: you know exactly what you're looking for, you and how
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  Speaker 1: that process works for a young writer or some some
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  Speaker 1: person trying to aspire to submit information to a person
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  Speaker 1: like you. What do you look for? Um? So what
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  Speaker 1: I look for? Uh? I am character first, So I
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  Speaker 1: fall in love with a character and will follow them
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  Speaker 1: on a journey through anything. I'm not a huge horror girl.
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  Speaker 1: I'm not I'm not a huge comedy person per se um,
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  Speaker 1: but I am a big heart person. So I want
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  Speaker 1: to know who your character is, what journey I'm going
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  Speaker 1: to follow them on, where are they coming from, what
• 12:15
  Speaker 1: are the obstacles that they are going to be facing? Uh?
• 12:18
  Speaker 1: And I love the twist and turns. I think authentic
• 12:21
  Speaker 1: storytelling is showing the flaws of characters. So I love
• 12:26
  Speaker 1: reading scripts where women or people in general are behaving
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  Speaker 1: badly and enjoying it right like, I think there is
• 12:32
  Speaker 1: something real and authentic and raw about that emotion. Um.
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  Speaker 1: And I think the the struggle for a lot of
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  Speaker 1: writers and scripts that I've read is dialogue. Dialogue is
• 12:43
  Speaker 1: very difficult for writers because it's just you sitting in
• 12:46
  Speaker 1: front of your computer seemingly talking to yourself. Um. But
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  Speaker 1: I really, you know, specify your characters and give them
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  Speaker 1: unique tone and a unique point of view and an
• 12:58
  Speaker 1: unique voice. Then you can junct suppose them to other
• 13:02
  Speaker 1: characters and the dialogue will seem seamless. But sometimes you
• 13:06
  Speaker 1: have to step away from your computer go do something else,
• 13:10
  Speaker 1: um that is completely outside of the creative and come
• 13:13
  Speaker 1: back because at sometimes I read script and it's like
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  Speaker 1: this character sounds just like the five other characters in
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  Speaker 1: the script. Uh. And it's literally because the writer is
• 13:22
  Speaker 1: just by themselves talking in their head, and in their
• 13:25
  Speaker 1: head they hear something different and the different tone, but
• 13:28
  Speaker 1: it's not really coming off on the page. You know.
• 13:30
  Speaker 1: That's why I love reading people's bio because when you
• 13:34
  Speaker 1: read bios, they always leave our little nuggets, little nuggets.
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  Speaker 1: If we should be talking about first previous roles with
• 13:42
  Speaker 1: of course, we already talked about showtime, we talked about
• 13:44
  Speaker 1: will pack of medias, didn't mention scrap paper pictures? And
• 13:48
  Speaker 1: then and then remember I had to bring up Ryan Coogler.
• 13:52
  Speaker 1: How to bring up Michael Jordan bringing it up? Now,
• 13:55
  Speaker 1: I gotta bring up Academy Award winning actress Viola Davis. Yeah,
• 14:03
  Speaker 1: oh yeah, yeah, I love me. Um. Biol is amazing.
• 14:09
  Speaker 1: And that was that was a job right after I
• 14:13
  Speaker 1: came back. Um. That was actually before Fruit mail Station,
• 14:17
  Speaker 1: Like all of the days just kind of combined. Um,
• 14:21
  Speaker 1: I think that was before Fruveilum. She was looking for
• 14:24
  Speaker 1: a nanny and I was looking for a job, right, Um,
• 14:30
  Speaker 1: so I applied through the agency that I worked with
• 14:33
  Speaker 1: that was placing me as a tutor. Uh. And I
• 14:37
  Speaker 1: got the job and worked with her for almost two years.
• 14:40
  Speaker 1: And her daughter and her husband. Everybody is Mr t
• 14:46
  Speaker 1: that's her husband, Mr Tennis. Yeah realis Tennon Yeah? Um great,
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  Speaker 1: And they had just started their production company. So I
• 14:54
  Speaker 1: was able to really combine a lot of the passions
• 14:58
  Speaker 1: that I had and like, it's really interesting to start
• 15:01
  Speaker 1: in a job where there's not a lot of pressure.
• 15:03
  Speaker 1: So I was able to enjoy it, right, Like, I like,
• 15:06
  Speaker 1: reading scripts wasn't my job. It was something that I
• 15:09
  Speaker 1: could do if they needed help with it. I could
• 15:12
  Speaker 1: read and my thoughts. Talked to Viola and Julius about it,
• 15:15
  Speaker 1: and there was no real pressure applied to whether my
• 15:18
  Speaker 1: opinion was So let me hear this straight. So this
• 15:20
  Speaker 1: is the beauty of this conversation. So okay, let's go back.
• 15:24
  Speaker 1: Spellman graduate, you know, realized that she didn't like people
• 15:29
  Speaker 1: dying on her, so she didn't want to be a doctor. Okay,
• 15:32
  Speaker 1: So she realized that that wasn't a lane. Then she
• 15:36
  Speaker 1: working for Bila Davis, but tutoring. But then she's doing
• 15:43
  Speaker 1: she's reading scripts, and scripts can be like a hundred
• 15:47
  Speaker 1: hundred fifty pages, but even longer, so it's not it's
• 15:50
  Speaker 1: not easy work. Now I'm just let you know. And
• 15:53
  Speaker 1: then she's she's in a mature manner, starting to have
• 15:56
  Speaker 1: an opinion. But you learned the structure because you learned
• 15:59
  Speaker 1: with top people here, because Mr Tennant, they got the
• 16:02
  Speaker 1: production I believe ju v I think that's the name
• 16:04
  Speaker 1: of the production company. And Viola Davis. We all know
• 16:07
  Speaker 1: Viler Davison. Every time she actually go Okay, she got disawarded.
• 16:10
  Speaker 1: She's probably gonna get nominated for this movie that she
• 16:12
  Speaker 1: had out this year because I saw and I thought
• 16:14
  Speaker 1: it was it was an incredible acting performance on her part.
• 16:18
  Speaker 1: But when you look at the whole process of what
• 16:20
  Speaker 1: you're trying to what I'm trying to say to everybody
• 16:22
  Speaker 1: is dead. Sometimes you're in a position where that's not
• 16:25
  Speaker 1: your job. But if you see an opportunity to do
• 16:28
  Speaker 1: something to extend your talents or so people your gifts,
• 16:32
  Speaker 1: but it may not be tied to a check, do
• 16:34
  Speaker 1: it anyway. And that's what you were doing, correct, page,
• 16:38
  Speaker 1: that's correct. Now, in the process of doing that, when
• 16:42
  Speaker 1: did you realize I could do this? Um? When did
• 16:48
  Speaker 1: I realize you know. It was I was working with
• 16:57
  Speaker 1: Will and we had two projects that we're going to
• 17:00
  Speaker 1: be in production, and Will was like, hey, I need
• 17:03
  Speaker 1: you to go cover set. And I was like, what
• 17:07
  Speaker 1: I have been to visit that. I've never been in
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  Speaker 1: charge of the set, so what do you mean you
• 17:15
  Speaker 1: need me? I'm like, are you gonna be there? Like
• 17:17
  Speaker 1: what could happen? And He's like, no, just you. I
• 17:20
  Speaker 1: trust you. I trust your instincts, like go handle it.
• 17:23
  Speaker 1: And I was like, I don't know what that means,
• 17:26
  Speaker 1: but okay, um. And I was on set and I
• 17:29
  Speaker 1: think that you know something that you mentioned in terms
• 17:31
  Speaker 1: of putting like having people around me. I trusted the
• 17:35
  Speaker 1: people that were that had been doing the job for
• 17:38
  Speaker 1: twenty plus years or longer that I had, and really
• 17:43
  Speaker 1: just asked them like, well what would you do? And
• 17:45
  Speaker 1: like how can I support you? And what do you
• 17:47
  Speaker 1: need to do your job to the best? You got
• 17:50
  Speaker 1: all the right statements, bore, what can I do to
• 17:52
  Speaker 1: support you? Oh you're you're good, You're good. Page. If
• 17:57
  Speaker 1: you make statements like that, people oh okay, she's not
• 18:00
  Speaker 1: here to brow me. She's not here to make me
• 18:02
  Speaker 1: look bad, which is important. How you communicate with people,
• 18:05
  Speaker 1: especially when you were when you're fresh faced and a
• 18:07
  Speaker 1: young face by the way, yes, a young black woman
• 18:11
  Speaker 1: who's coming to set with you know, people who have
• 18:14
  Speaker 1: been doing it for a very long time, and they
• 18:16
  Speaker 1: will let you know. Um, so you just have to
• 18:19
  Speaker 1: let them know, like I come in peace and we
• 18:21
  Speaker 1: both have the same you know, goals in mind. And
• 18:24
  Speaker 1: so I think once I realized that I can communicate
• 18:28
  Speaker 1: that way, people started to let their guard down and
• 18:30
  Speaker 1: I started to learn so much more and grow as
• 18:34
  Speaker 1: an executive and as a person. And I think thanks
• 18:37
  Speaker 1: to Will. I always joked to him about like you
• 18:39
  Speaker 1: threw me in the deep end, and he was like,
• 18:41
  Speaker 1: and you swam so but yeah, I think that's when
• 18:45
  Speaker 1: I learned that I could that I can actually do this. Wow,
• 18:48
  Speaker 1: that's a fantastic I'm speaking to the vice president of
• 18:51
  Speaker 1: Television Laps Entertainment, vice president of president of One Laps Entertainment.
• 18:56
  Speaker 1: That's that says a lot by the production company. That
• 18:59
  Speaker 1: is one of the one of the most UH revered
• 19:03
  Speaker 1: UH in a very positive way of production, comp especially
• 19:06
  Speaker 1: with Stranger Things. Stranger Things, if you're not familiar with
• 19:09
  Speaker 1: that's a Netflix series that every time it comes out.
• 19:12
  Speaker 1: It breaks tons of records. And when you when you
• 19:17
  Speaker 1: came on board with Tween one laps, were there anything
• 19:20
  Speaker 1: Because you talk about diversity, when you talk about just
• 19:22
  Speaker 1: the first diversity than the type of scripts you do,
• 19:25
  Speaker 1: are you trying to bring more diverse talent to the
• 19:28
  Speaker 1: scripts that you engage with? You know everything, I think
• 19:33
  Speaker 1: it comes from the initial idea, comes from the initial
• 19:38
  Speaker 1: I P. So we're bringing in books from writers from
• 19:43
  Speaker 1: you know, the diaspora, or being in books from writers
• 19:47
  Speaker 1: who this is their first time. We're bringing in scripts
• 19:50
  Speaker 1: and partnering with production companies like for instance, Marceint Martin's
• 19:53
  Speaker 1: production company um Genius. We have a project with them
• 19:57
  Speaker 1: that we're working on. I'm so less and lucky to
• 20:00
  Speaker 1: be working with one of my mentors being a gang
• 20:03
  Speaker 1: from you know, from fruit Vale on a project right now.
• 20:06
  Speaker 1: So I think we're really working on building a strong
• 20:11
  Speaker 1: diverse team that can help with scripts and projects from
• 20:17
  Speaker 1: the initial idea and then of course casting, but also
• 20:20
  Speaker 1: crewing up uh and and the post process, and hoping
• 20:25
  Speaker 1: that we can just keep continuing to push all these
• 20:27
  Speaker 1: divers stories forward. We'll be right back with more money
• 20:30
  Speaker 1: making Conversations Masterclass with Rashan McDonald. Now let's return to
• 20:37
  Speaker 1: money Making Conversations Masterclass with Rashan McDonald. Usually want to
• 20:42
  Speaker 1: end my interviews. Always always say things like, tell us
• 20:45
  Speaker 1: how you can stay we can stay in touch with you. Nope,
• 20:47
  Speaker 1: we can't do that with you. Well we can talk
• 20:52
  Speaker 1: about is your future projects. You're you're an amazing resume
• 20:55
  Speaker 1: after this point, but it also leads to the fact
• 20:57
  Speaker 1: that you're doing new productions and you have a production.
• 20:59
  Speaker 1: What my favorite actors who I discovered on Netflix on
• 21:03
  Speaker 1: mar side, which is the looping actor that that series
• 21:06
  Speaker 1: that the first run captivated me and then and they
• 21:09
  Speaker 1: came back with the second act series and he recently,
• 21:12
  Speaker 1: if you don't know on my side, he was in
• 21:14
  Speaker 1: the Jurassic Park, the new movie he's also starring as well.
• 21:17
  Speaker 1: Tell us about this current project and what attracts you
• 21:20
  Speaker 1: to this type of project, give us some background on
• 21:23
  Speaker 1: it before you get into it. Yeah, so this is
• 21:26
  Speaker 1: a project, um that I was attracted to you from
• 21:31
  Speaker 1: the initial seat of the idea. UM, there was a
• 21:35
  Speaker 1: book going around called African Samurai by Craig Street, and UM,
• 21:41
  Speaker 1: one of my friends was like, have you read this book?
• 21:43
  Speaker 1: It's so good? It feels like it's up your alley
• 21:45
  Speaker 1: and I's like, no, I haven't send it to me.
• 21:47
  Speaker 1: Um twenty pages in, I was like, I have to
• 21:51
  Speaker 1: have this book and I want to do this project.
• 21:53
  Speaker 1: And it is based on the true life story of Yaske,
• 21:57
  Speaker 1: who is Japan's first born born samurai who happens to
• 22:02
  Speaker 1: be of African descent. So and you know, takes our
• 22:07
  Speaker 1: our story and plops it down in Japan, which is
• 22:11
  Speaker 1: really cool. And my coworker Moura and I and I
• 22:16
  Speaker 1: are working on it together with Forest Whittaker and Nina Yang. Uh.
• 22:20
  Speaker 1: Nick Jones Jr. Is our writer. He wrote Uh Yasa
• 22:25
  Speaker 1: Animation for Netflix, and like you said, Omar is on
• 22:29
  Speaker 1: you know, signed on to produce as well as star
• 22:32
  Speaker 1: in our our leading role. So we're very excited about
• 22:36
  Speaker 1: about the potential of this one. It is a it's
• 22:37
  Speaker 1: a limited series kind of tracking Yasay's journey from you know,
• 22:42
  Speaker 1: landing in Japan to becoming a samurai. Now I heard
• 22:46
  Speaker 1: the word animation. This is live action animation, so our
• 22:49
  Speaker 1: version is live action. But Nick has also produced the
• 22:52
  Speaker 1: animation that is on Netflix right now. Okay cool. Now
• 22:55
  Speaker 1: you know she threw out another name, so I always
• 22:58
  Speaker 1: get on her. You know, she just threw our warts
• 23:00
  Speaker 1: whitaker like it was another name that just slips out
• 23:04
  Speaker 1: of her mouth, you know. So so again you know,
• 23:09
  Speaker 1: no biggie, no biggie, no biggie page. You might were cool,
• 23:12
  Speaker 1: we cool. I'll just let you know, you know, you
• 23:14
  Speaker 1: may be in another stratosphere above Rochean, you know, because
• 23:17
  Speaker 1: you just throw out these names, you know, and they
• 23:20
  Speaker 1: there's no biggie, no baby, no big good. But again,
• 23:24
  Speaker 1: when you work on these projects, the main question I
• 23:27
  Speaker 1: gotta ask you pages that you know, you say a
• 23:31
  Speaker 1: book was just circulating out there, you know, and how
• 23:35
  Speaker 1: does one game control? I know you with one laps,
• 23:38
  Speaker 1: but how does one gain control of a book? Do
• 23:40
  Speaker 1: you have to put down fees? You have to put
• 23:42
  Speaker 1: that hold in it. I hope I'm not asking too
• 23:44
  Speaker 1: much in details, I'm not asking them out, but how
• 23:46
  Speaker 1: does one gain control of a book? And then what
• 23:49
  Speaker 1: do you say the game control of the book? Because
• 23:51
  Speaker 1: it's it's a competitive market out there, because like I
• 23:53
  Speaker 1: said that, the idea sounds incredible, and then you said,
• 23:58
  Speaker 1: why hadn't had why it has not done? M hm um?
• 24:03
  Speaker 1: So how do we gain control, So it is having
• 24:07
  Speaker 1: a conversation with the author, right, So Crage reads, myself
• 24:12
  Speaker 1: and my coworker Moira and I Sad had a conversation
• 24:15
  Speaker 1: about the book. I mean had multiple conversations with other people,
• 24:19
  Speaker 1: and you're you know you ask like kind of how
• 24:20
  Speaker 1: you went it over and I think it's it's passion
• 24:23
  Speaker 1: and h clear direction on like what you want to
• 24:27
  Speaker 1: do with the project, so learning to pull out what
• 24:33
  Speaker 1: really makes this special and what you feel like you
• 24:36
  Speaker 1: can bring to the table. But also like we have
• 24:39
  Speaker 1: an overall do on Netflix, so netflixs aren't only buyer.
• 24:43
  Speaker 1: Um so, being very clear that like this project has
• 24:46
  Speaker 1: to live on Netflix, and there are certain like you
• 24:49
  Speaker 1: mentioned binge able, there's certain things that need to happen
• 24:53
  Speaker 1: in a series where it to feel like a series.
• 24:55
  Speaker 1: And one of those is that that binge able quality
• 24:58
  Speaker 1: is like I can't stop why team that I have
• 25:00
  Speaker 1: to continue the entire series tonight as soon as it drops.
• 25:04
  Speaker 1: Um So, I think Craig really the Craig sorry, really
• 25:08
  Speaker 1: understood our passion for it, and then we connected with
• 25:12
  Speaker 1: our Netflix executives against it. We have an overall deal.
• 25:15
  Speaker 1: We don't necessarily option the material. Netflix will option it
• 25:19
  Speaker 1: for us, and we you know, we express our passion
• 25:23
  Speaker 1: and our drive for it, but we explain to them
• 25:26
  Speaker 1: creatively what we want to do with the property because
• 25:29
  Speaker 1: straight adaptations like we've seen just don't work. Like you
• 25:32
  Speaker 1: need to have a clear point of view on how
• 25:34
  Speaker 1: you're going to adapt a book to screen. So we
• 25:38
  Speaker 1: put together that and then um, we just so happened
• 25:42
  Speaker 1: to have a general meetings that with Nick Jones Jr.
• 25:45
  Speaker 1: And we were talking to him about his animation Yas game.
• 25:48
  Speaker 1: We were like, you know, we love to do a
• 25:50
  Speaker 1: live action version, um that is based on this book
• 25:54
  Speaker 1: that we just read. And he's like, oh, well, crazy,
• 25:57
  Speaker 1: I've been talking to Mina Yang and Forest Whittaker about
• 26:00
  Speaker 1: doing just that. And we were like, okay, well should
• 26:03
  Speaker 1: we partner um? And he was like, yeah, let me
• 26:07
  Speaker 1: talk to Nina and and we'll get back to you guys.
• 26:10
  Speaker 1: And so we hopped on the phone with Nina and
• 26:14
  Speaker 1: Nick and you know, talked collectively about our creative vision
• 26:18
  Speaker 1: for it, and we were alive and you know, that's
• 26:21
  Speaker 1: how that's how it happens. Wow, sounds fantastic. You know,
• 26:24
  Speaker 1: the most amazing part of my interview with you is
• 26:27
  Speaker 1: that you are a real person. You're a person who
• 26:29
  Speaker 1: has strong sensibilities, a person who who doesn't shy away
• 26:34
  Speaker 1: from being different. When I say very different, meaning that
• 26:37
  Speaker 1: you know their their path of expectations, specially for people
• 26:40
  Speaker 1: of color, that we are supposed to do certain things,
• 26:42
  Speaker 1: we're supposed to guard on a path. And I always
• 26:45
  Speaker 1: admire what is going on and what is happening in
• 26:48
  Speaker 1: Netflix and just get a quick back story because we
• 26:50
  Speaker 1: have two minutes left in this. In this, in this,
• 26:53
  Speaker 1: you know when you when in African American you're producing movies,
• 26:56
  Speaker 1: producing television shows, the US slay the Hollywood community has
• 27:01
  Speaker 1: always said that people beyond the US don't really care
• 27:04
  Speaker 1: about our content. And what Netflix did was when it premiers,
• 27:08
  Speaker 1: it premiers a project in a hundred and ninety countries,
• 27:13
  Speaker 1: and when in January Tyler Perry dropped his movie on
• 27:18
  Speaker 1: Netflix and it was I think it's like a twenty
• 27:22
  Speaker 1: seven million views the first week and set records and
• 27:24
  Speaker 1: things like that. It really opened different body's eyes that
• 27:27
  Speaker 1: outside of this country, that's not true because he was
• 27:31
  Speaker 1: number one in all these different countries, a Tyler Prayry
• 27:34
  Speaker 1: Tyler Perry movie. And when I look at what you're doing.
• 27:37
  Speaker 1: I like to say to you pages thank you because
• 27:40
  Speaker 1: by having a strong voice, by having a commitment and
• 27:44
  Speaker 1: a creative vision, to be able to work with different people,
• 27:47
  Speaker 1: and to be able to allow us to be able
• 27:49
  Speaker 1: to be in a position, a decision making position is
• 27:52
  Speaker 1: very important and I don't want you ever to not
• 27:54
  Speaker 1: realize how significant you are, not only to the creative community,
• 27:59
  Speaker 1: but also to the black community. Thank you well, thank
• 28:04
  Speaker 1: you for coming to my show. Spell mc grad Keep
• 28:07
  Speaker 1: doing your things, you know, and keep you know. Next
• 28:09
  Speaker 1: time I bring on the show, We're gonna We're gonna
• 28:11
  Speaker 1: I'm gonna have all those names that you left out,
• 28:12
  Speaker 1: the Ryan Coogler, the Jordan, the Park Whinnakers, the Bill
• 28:16
  Speaker 1: of David Will Packers, all that stuff is gonna be
• 28:19
  Speaker 1: in your credits, so everybody knows who I'm talking to.
• 28:23
  Speaker 1: Oh money make comes with this masterclass. Thanks for coming
• 28:25
  Speaker 1: on my show. Okay, alright, thank you. Oh we talked
• 28:29
  Speaker 1: very very soon. I appreciate you. You're a very very
• 28:31
  Speaker 1: special Bye bye.