Latest / The Steve Harvey Morning Show / Acclaimed director Benny Boom talks award winning "Tazmanian Devil" directed by Solomon Onita Jr.

Transcript

Acclaimed director Benny Boom talks award winning "Tazmanian Devil" directed by Solomon Onita Jr. · The Steve Harvey Morning Show

0:04
Speaker 1: Welcome to Money Making Conversations. It's the show that she
0:07
Speaker 1: has the secrets of success experience firsthand by marketing and
0:10
Speaker 1: Brandon expert Rashan McDonald. I will know he's giving me
0:13
Speaker 1: advice to many occasions. In the casion didn't notice, I'm
0:16
Speaker 1: not broke. You know He'll be interview with celebrity CEOs,
0:19
Speaker 1: entrepreneurs and industry decision makers. It's what he likes to do.
0:22
Speaker 1: It's what he likes to share. Now it's time to
0:25
Speaker 1: hear from my man, Rashan McDonald money making Conversations. Here
0:29
Speaker 1: we come. Welcome to my money Making Conversation. I'm your host,
0:31
Speaker 1: ras Shan McDonald. It's time to stop reading other people's
0:34
Speaker 1: success story. I tell people all the time when they
0:36
Speaker 1: listen to my show, watching my show, you need to
0:38
Speaker 1: start writing your own now. You can be motivated by
0:41
Speaker 1: other people's success because their stories could offer you direction
0:43
Speaker 1: and help you reach your goals through your planning and
0:46
Speaker 1: your community effort. But remember, the interviews I bring on
0:48
Speaker 1: this show allow you, as a consumer business owners to
0:51
Speaker 1: access interviews with celebrity CEO, entrepreneurs, and industry decision makers.
0:56
Speaker 1: I have two of the biggest inter decision makers on
0:59
Speaker 1: My show today. My next two guests are Bennie Boom,
1:03
Speaker 1: well known director, and Solomon Onneita Jr. Bennie Boone is
1:07
Speaker 1: one of the executive producers of Tasmanian Devil and Solomon
1:09
Speaker 1: Ounita Junior is the writer and director of Tasmanian Devil.
1:13
Speaker 1: He is a little history of My Man, Benny Boom.
1:15
Speaker 1: He's a member of Appa Phi Apple As it Is. Solomon,
1:18
Speaker 1: he directed a much anticipated two pop cool bio pick
1:21
Speaker 1: out All Eyes on Me. He has dominated television and
1:24
Speaker 1: streaming platforms. Benny's directed episodes of n c I, s
1:28
Speaker 1: l A, Black Lightning and All American The Quad and
1:31
Speaker 1: Tales at BT Lee Daniels Empire on Fox Now. In
1:35
Speaker 1: August of twenty The Tasan Tasmanian Devil Earned Solomon Nita Jr.
1:40
Speaker 1: The inaugural John Singleton Director Award for the Best First
1:43
Speaker 1: Feature at the twenty American Black Film Festival. Tasmanian Devil
1:47
Speaker 1: was streaming on all platforms, especially Amazon, iTunes and Fandaego.
1:52
Speaker 1: Please welcome to My Man. To money making conversations, Bennie
1:55
Speaker 1: Boone and Solomon Oneita Junior. How you doing, Fellas are
1:58
Speaker 1: you doing, man, I gotta play apples on the call
2:01
Speaker 1: right here. I think that's important to say this because
2:08
Speaker 1: we're talking about them more by pledging and and if
2:11
Speaker 1: they you know, I've seen a lot of different versions. Uh,
2:14
Speaker 1: I know. I was fortunate. Uh I should do sitcoms
2:17
Speaker 1: and I used to. I wrote an episode with Sister
2:19
Speaker 1: Sister when it was on the air and we did.
2:22
Speaker 1: Uh my man, Brian McKnight, he was a start in
2:25
Speaker 1: the sitcom and we and you know, when you start
2:28
Speaker 1: talking about fraternitys and sororities and if you if you
2:32
Speaker 1: make anybody walking the straight line or anybody to do
2:35
Speaker 1: something against their will, then no national branch to mess
2:39
Speaker 1: with you, because that's hazy. That's you know, if you
2:42
Speaker 1: said walking the straight line, if they bowed out to you,
2:45
Speaker 1: they say yes, sir, that is a form of hazing.
2:47
Speaker 1: I just want to explain to people why they didn't
2:49
Speaker 1: use a f I A And you can't. That's hazing.
2:52
Speaker 1: And if you acknowledge that use in a movie, then
2:54
Speaker 1: they can come and can come back and bite them
2:56
Speaker 1: into some form of a lawsuit because they can use
2:58
Speaker 1: that where you acknowledge just portray in a movie here.
3:01
Speaker 1: So That's why even though they are members of a
3:03
Speaker 1: phi A, they can't use it because guess what the
3:06
Speaker 1: images that they're portraying in this movie, which are very
3:08
Speaker 1: realistic by the way. And I'm not saying anything negative
3:11
Speaker 1: because guess what it happened to me when I pledged
3:13
Speaker 1: to make a fire. In fact, it was pretty much
3:16
Speaker 1: worse in certain situations. But you know, I have nothing
3:20
Speaker 1: negative about that, Benny and Solomon when I talk about this,
3:23
Speaker 1: because I will tell you this pledge to maka scat fire,
3:26
Speaker 1: as you probably say pledge in a phi A, it
3:28
Speaker 1: changed my life, how about you, guys? Uh? For me,
3:32
Speaker 1: a hundred percent changed my life. I pledged spring one
3:36
Speaker 1: at Temple at University Pigro. I was a solo pledge.
3:40
Speaker 1: So it was a very very very difficult or deal
3:43
Speaker 1: for me, and um, it definitely changed me from a
3:46
Speaker 1: boy to a man. I was nineteen years old and
3:48
Speaker 1: I had uh. I was a freshman. You know a
3:51
Speaker 1: lot of those things you know that I was grappling
3:54
Speaker 1: with as a young man. I was molded and guided
3:57
Speaker 1: by by my bros. You know the it grows at
4:00
Speaker 1: the time, and so it really changed my life, guided me,
4:03
Speaker 1: matured me, really quickly, and I appreciated every single day.
4:07
Speaker 1: You know, what I was, what I went through, and
4:10
Speaker 1: what I was able to make it through. How about you, Solomon?
4:14
Speaker 1: For me, I had a very similar experience with with
4:17
Speaker 1: pledging Alphafi offa. UM. What I showed in the film
4:21
Speaker 1: is not necessarily my exact experience, you know. I made
4:24
Speaker 1: it a fixtionalized version for entertainment purposes. But the lessons
4:29
Speaker 1: and the values that these organizations UH give young men
4:33
Speaker 1: is what I was trying to depict through film. Um.
4:37
Speaker 1: And so the journey that my lead character takes throughout
4:40
Speaker 1: Tasmanian Devil, it's something similar that I experienced, you know,
4:44
Speaker 1: gaining self confidence, gaining that brotherhood factor that uh that
4:50
Speaker 1: you know, really propels you to that next phase of
4:52
Speaker 1: your life, especially as a young man. We know. It's interesting, Benny,
4:57
Speaker 1: you said you pledged you when you was a freshman.
4:59
Speaker 1: I was a senior and I played so you know,
5:01
Speaker 1: they hit me hard. Why do you watch you long?
5:02
Speaker 1: Why wat you long? Oh dude? Trying to pledge all
5:06
Speaker 1: these young people? And but and I say that because
5:10
Speaker 1: I was lost, man, and that's what I see in
5:12
Speaker 1: this movie Tasmanian Devil, was a young man who's lost,
5:15
Speaker 1: trying to find himself. He's from a foreign he's from
5:18
Speaker 1: another country. His mom is back in the country where
5:20
Speaker 1: he's coming from his dad. I guess it's a disconnect
5:23
Speaker 1: because his dad wasn't with him as he grew up
5:25
Speaker 1: and became a man, and so he comes over here
5:28
Speaker 1: and the manhood he receives it is really from the
5:30
Speaker 1: relationship he creates with these young men in the in
5:33
Speaker 1: the in the fraternity, he's trying to pledge and I,
5:35
Speaker 1: in my reading it right, that's um, that's exactly right.
5:39
Speaker 1: I think that the one thing for me when I
5:42
Speaker 1: read the script, you know, Solomon Uh Solomon's producer Trishia Woodard,
5:46
Speaker 1: got the script to me and and my company and
5:48
Speaker 1: we're looking for um producers and financing and stuff like that.
5:53
Speaker 1: And so when I read the script, I was so
5:55
Speaker 1: familiar with the pledge process that that wasn't the first
5:58
Speaker 1: thing that jumped out of me. The first thing that
6:00
Speaker 1: really jumped out of me was the relationship, the father's
6:02
Speaker 1: son relationship in the film, and I felt like reading
6:06
Speaker 1: that script. You know, whenever you read a piece of material, um,
6:10
Speaker 1: you try to find the commonality of the story that
6:13
Speaker 1: that you think everyone can relate to. So everybody can't
6:16
Speaker 1: relate to for pledging or hazing, or the Black week
6:19
Speaker 1: life or black colleges, but everybody can relate to their
6:22
Speaker 1: own relationship or dynamic with their mother or father. And
6:26
Speaker 1: to me, that is the strength and the foundation of
6:29
Speaker 1: this film. Um, that relationship that you know, um where
6:34
Speaker 1: where where Diode comes to America thinking that you know,
6:37
Speaker 1: he looked as his dad as a god, you know,
6:40
Speaker 1: and he comes to America and he's falls very short
6:44
Speaker 1: of that. You know, you're also talking about in the film.
6:46
Speaker 1: He's a man of God, he's a missionary and a pastor,
6:49
Speaker 1: and so we have that dynamic of faith um in
6:52
Speaker 1: the film, which is also something that uh, you know,
6:55
Speaker 1: I I'd like to talk about in the film because
6:57
Speaker 1: I think it's an important factor when when in this story, well,
7:01
Speaker 1: you know, it was important to me because you know,
7:04
Speaker 1: here's a guy he left his family, right, he left
7:07
Speaker 1: his wife, His wife had to raise a young man,
7:09
Speaker 1: and we all know the dynamics of it importance the
7:12
Speaker 1: men in the boy's life, and he wasn't there in
7:15
Speaker 1: those important formative years and basically he was the only
7:19
Speaker 1: reason he came to him. I'm not gonna tell the story.
7:21
Speaker 1: It was. It was it was kind of like happens
7:23
Speaker 1: that that he actually was in the States to be
7:26
Speaker 1: with his father. But his father explaining, Solomon, what were
7:30
Speaker 1: you trying to achieve in the in the in the
7:33
Speaker 1: ark of the character with the father, because you're the
7:35
Speaker 1: writer and the director, what were you achieving in that relationship?
7:38
Speaker 1: Because I hear what Benny said, and I'm agree with
7:40
Speaker 1: what you're saying, Bennie. And because my father was a
7:43
Speaker 1: disconnect with me, you know, I loved him to death,
7:46
Speaker 1: you know, and uh, but we were not that type
7:48
Speaker 1: father s relationship. Uh for me. When it came to
7:54
Speaker 1: the father Tasmane in Devil, uh, it kind of mirrored
7:59
Speaker 1: my relate and ship with my father. My my dad
8:01
Speaker 1: is also in the ministry and OFT and often he
8:04
Speaker 1: would leave to Nigeria to other countries on missionary trips
8:09
Speaker 1: to uh, you know, because he he works in UM
8:13
Speaker 1: and like radio broadcast and in order to kind of
8:17
Speaker 1: you know, spread the message of Christ. And so I
8:20
Speaker 1: was looking at that when I was when I was
8:22
Speaker 1: growing up, and I was thinking, you know, he's leaving
8:24
Speaker 1: his family in order to push the Gospel and so
8:29
Speaker 1: you know, his his attention is being carried away from
8:31
Speaker 1: things that I thought he should have, you know, been
8:34
Speaker 1: at home trying to nurture us as we were coming up,
8:37
Speaker 1: but he was instead doing other things. So for me,
8:40
Speaker 1: it's like that was the most interesting part of of
8:43
Speaker 1: of the character for me, because I thought the art
8:46
Speaker 1: there was he puts more value in this out is
8:50
Speaker 1: in this external system of religion versus his own family,
8:54
Speaker 1: and that's what I was trying to portray. Well, you know,
8:56
Speaker 1: we're not being you know, you know I mentioned a
8:59
Speaker 1: different of as you show you've done success in the
9:02
Speaker 1: film industry and then you get a project that comes
9:05
Speaker 1: to your production company, Tasmanian Devil. You know, is it
9:10
Speaker 1: is it the character structure or is the content of
9:12
Speaker 1: what the script brought to the table that really excited
9:16
Speaker 1: you the most, or we're just the favorite mee ority
9:18
Speaker 1: of the background because you are remember I'm apafip. Well,
9:23
Speaker 1: it was a combination of things. I think part of um,
9:27
Speaker 1: part of our responsibility as uh in these fraternities is
9:32
Speaker 1: something that's important, and I think over the years it
9:35
Speaker 1: has gotten lost on on all of us, you know,
9:38
Speaker 1: not just Alpha's not just cues. All of us we've
9:40
Speaker 1: we've sort of we've taken a back seat to what
9:43
Speaker 1: we're supposed to be doing. And what we're supposed to
9:46
Speaker 1: be doing is giving back to the community. We're supposed
9:49
Speaker 1: to reach back and bring other people up. Regardless of
9:52
Speaker 1: what I mean, I would have had this film come
9:54
Speaker 1: to me Solomon not been an alpha and he was
9:57
Speaker 1: you know, a queue or new I would have been
9:59
Speaker 1: involved in the same way, because that wasn't the reason why.
10:02
Speaker 1: Um what I wanted to do was to be able
10:05
Speaker 1: to help a young man who wanted to be or
10:08
Speaker 1: who is a filmmaker tell his story and not be
10:12
Speaker 1: held back by what happens when you make a studio movie,
10:16
Speaker 1: when producers who've never made a movie before or never
10:19
Speaker 1: directed or never written have all these notes and ideas
10:22
Speaker 1: and thoughts and all this stuff, and it goes against
10:25
Speaker 1: what you want to do creatively. Right, So what I
10:29
Speaker 1: what I wanted to do was helped shepherd him in
10:31
Speaker 1: this into this industry in a way where his full
10:34
Speaker 1: vision can be achieved. The way he thought about the scenes,
10:38
Speaker 1: the way he wrote the scenes, the way he directed
10:40
Speaker 1: the scenes, or his vision. At the same time, because
10:44
Speaker 1: of the experience I had. I wanted to give him
10:46
Speaker 1: some notes and some ideas, but never was I in
10:50
Speaker 1: a position where I said, Yo, you gotta take these
10:52
Speaker 1: notes or it's gonna be whacked. No. I would offer
10:55
Speaker 1: my ideas to him, some he took something he didn't,
10:58
Speaker 1: and I respected to respect acted them both the same way. Um,
11:02
Speaker 1: because the point of the matter is when you make
11:04
Speaker 1: a film, you have to as the director and writer,
11:06
Speaker 1: you have to live and die by that film. So
11:09
Speaker 1: I I just wanted him to make sure that he
11:12
Speaker 1: was solid and stood solid on the ground and the
11:14
Speaker 1: decisions that he made. And my whole goal was to
11:17
Speaker 1: be here to support him. And I think it's really
11:19
Speaker 1: important to Solomon that you did have someone who had
11:23
Speaker 1: the fraternal experience, the pledge experience, because I would tell you,
11:28
Speaker 1: man really enjoyed the movie. I was. I smiled because
11:32
Speaker 1: they brought back memories, you know, zombody trying, you know,
11:38
Speaker 1: when it was past, you know, when it was greed.
11:41
Speaker 1: It was like, you know I was going through if
11:44
Speaker 1: I was going through, see it through, I was, I
11:46
Speaker 1: was going I was just it was like even keep
11:49
Speaker 1: your heading all about your losing theirs and blaming you
11:51
Speaker 1: I'm going whoo. You know, it was like it was.
11:53
Speaker 1: It was the reason I'm excited about it. I wanted
11:56
Speaker 1: to highly recommend this movie is because you know, it's
11:58
Speaker 1: a collegiate journey because you don't have people on the
12:00
Speaker 1: outside saw what we experience, and then you have the
12:03
Speaker 1: people who experienced it and can share that that that
12:07
Speaker 1: firm belief. But this is why I feel it was
12:09
Speaker 1: important that Benny was part of this, this this bootoo
12:14
Speaker 1: seen in uh process, because it didn't go over the top.
12:18
Speaker 1: Nothing in this movie. I went, that's some crap what
12:23
Speaker 1: you doing? And we were never on that dude. It
12:26
Speaker 1: stayed on the level plane field. It didn't go to
12:29
Speaker 1: the extreme because you know where it can go. But
12:31
Speaker 1: it was not nobody's jumping out of a plane, somebody
12:33
Speaker 1: dropping out of a call, somebody robbing the store because
12:36
Speaker 1: they're trying to get some Everything that was asked in
12:39
Speaker 1: this movie by the young man actually happened to me
12:43
Speaker 1: or I asked somebody to do it for me when
12:46
Speaker 1: I became a big brother. That's important, Solomon, and I
12:50
Speaker 1: believe it. What's your what's your thoughts on that? Uh? Yeah,
12:54
Speaker 1: I just wanted to show almost like a standard view
12:58
Speaker 1: of what hazing is. I mean, a lot of people
13:00
Speaker 1: in hazen from other black films like Stump the Yard
13:03
Speaker 1: and Spike Lee's movie, so we have a knowledge of
13:06
Speaker 1: hazing already. I didn't want to get too deep into,
13:10
Speaker 1: you know, what different organizations do, because that's not what
13:13
Speaker 1: this is about. You know, I created it. I created
13:15
Speaker 1: a film that's outside of m pH C. So I
13:19
Speaker 1: just wanted to show a generic hazing process or pledging process,
13:23
Speaker 1: to use that as a vehicle to to show what
13:26
Speaker 1: it's like to to enter this organization and then uh
13:30
Speaker 1: comparing compared contrast that to the religious aspects of it
13:34
Speaker 1: and to the you know him trying to assimilate to
13:37
Speaker 1: American culture. Uh So that's why I kept a very
13:41
Speaker 1: surface level. I just showed stuff that people probably already
13:44
Speaker 1: know about hazing or pledging. It's finally here the season
13:48
Speaker 1: of celebration, and no matter how you celebrate with family
13:51
Speaker 1: and friends, whether you're preparing for rays magos or Karamu
13:55
Speaker 1: lighting the Manura, are going to midnight mass, Coles has
13:59
Speaker 1: just what you need to make those traditions special. Plus
14:02
Speaker 1: you'll find gifts for all your loved ones. Send warm
14:05
Speaker 1: wishes with cozy fleeces, sweaters, loungeware, blankets and throws. Support
14:10
Speaker 1: minority owned or founded brands by giving gifts from Human
14:14
Speaker 1: Nation and shame moisture, or treat them to everyone's favorite
14:17
Speaker 1: activewear from top brands like Nike, Adidas, and under Armor.
14:21
Speaker 1: And in the spirit of giving, Coals Cares is donating
14:25
Speaker 1: eight million dollars to local nonprofits nationwide committed to the
14:28
Speaker 1: health and well being of our communities. No matter how
14:32
Speaker 1: you celebrate, when you shop at Coals, you're right where
14:35
Speaker 1: you belong. So this season, give with all your heart
14:38
Speaker 1: with great gifts from Coals or coals dot com. Whether
14:42
Speaker 1: your event needed one room or an entire conference, under
14:45
Speaker 1: hoppin has revolutionized the way people come together. With hoppin,
14:49
Speaker 1: you can host a fully fledged digital meet up, complete
14:52
Speaker 1: with one on one meetings, hands on sessions, and expo booths.
14:56
Speaker 1: And because everything is hosted in a single, easy to
14:59
Speaker 1: use platform, can be as big or small as you want,
15:02
Speaker 1: remain convenient for anyone who wants to attend, and give
15:05
Speaker 1: you access to data you never would have known otherwise.
15:08
Speaker 1: Visit happen dot com to learn more and get started.
15:11
Speaker 1: Still living in and manually taking notes start the new
15:15
Speaker 1: year with auto dot ai to generate automatic notes for meetings, interviews,
15:19
Speaker 1: or lectures. With auto dot ai, you can search the
15:22
Speaker 1: meeting notes, insert images, play back the audio, and share
15:25
Speaker 1: them with your friends or coworkers. You can capture action items,
15:28
Speaker 1: remember meeting details, and keep everyone informed. Auto dot ai
15:32
Speaker 1: works for in person or virtual meetings like Zoom, Microsoft Teams,
15:35
Speaker 1: and Google Meet. Sign up for free at auto dit
15:38
Speaker 1: ai or download the app for free auto dot ai.
15:41
Speaker 1: That's O T T E R dot ai. Well you
15:44
Speaker 1: doing someone, I don't want to. I don't say yourself short. Um,
15:48
Speaker 1: it's about an experience and and you know as a person,
15:52
Speaker 1: and you both you both fair plays, you know, any
15:54
Speaker 1: plays by myself. I played with three other brothers. I
15:56
Speaker 1: players with a fifth one. But we're going to run,
15:59
Speaker 1: and he jumped out of the car while I was
16:00
Speaker 1: still moving. So we went down the flour So that's
16:03
Speaker 1: how extreme pledging can beat, you know, and then ran
16:05
Speaker 1: back to the door when we weren't gonna get out
16:07
Speaker 1: of his bed. I quit, I quit, I'm done, And
16:10
Speaker 1: I know the first day, just sharing some experience. I
16:12
Speaker 1: did get hit on the first day. That were the board.
16:15
Speaker 1: I got paddled, you know, because my my Lyon brothers knew.
16:19
Speaker 1: I didn't know them. We're just all pleasure. At the
16:21
Speaker 1: same time we're playing cards. They said, look look at me.
16:25
Speaker 1: Serious now, however many points y'all lose by that's that man, time,
16:28
Speaker 1: we're gonna hit him. Ye, they were really okay. They
16:34
Speaker 1: just the points kept, And in my mind, I'm going,
16:37
Speaker 1: are they seriously up a hundred points here? Damn? You
16:41
Speaker 1: know what I'm saying, And and then all real it
16:43
Speaker 1: was a hundred and eighty four points they lost? Come on,
16:47
Speaker 1: come on now, And I got hit a hundred and
16:49
Speaker 1: eighty four times on my first day. And I'm not
16:52
Speaker 1: saying that as a badge of courage. I'm just saying
16:54
Speaker 1: that that in that point of life, you make decisions.
16:57
Speaker 1: And I think that that's what this movie is about.
17:00
Speaker 1: It's a decision making movie. It's a decision about relationships.
17:04
Speaker 1: It's a decision about his dad, this decision to come
17:06
Speaker 1: over there, it's decision how people look at you. When
17:08
Speaker 1: he finally stood up to Homeboard that told him he
17:11
Speaker 1: know started calling him names, and he stood up for
17:13
Speaker 1: him the first time because he found he was soft,
17:16
Speaker 1: because he had a soft tone and he wasn't aggressive.
17:19
Speaker 1: This is a really great movie, Solomon, and it's not
17:23
Speaker 1: about the levels that you deliver. It's the story that
17:25
Speaker 1: you're telling. Man. And Benny, I'm sure you played a
17:28
Speaker 1: major role. And I'm and I'm not trying to undersell this.
17:31
Speaker 1: I'm just selling it right. Man. I enjoyed. I would
17:34
Speaker 1: watch it again because I watched it this morning. Whenever
17:36
Speaker 1: I do interviews like this, I don't like to watch
17:38
Speaker 1: a movie three days or four days. I like to
17:41
Speaker 1: watch it the day of. So I got up at
17:43
Speaker 1: four o'clock this morning and I watched the movie. And
17:46
Speaker 1: it's entire to the one hour and fifty nine minutes.
17:48
Speaker 1: I know. I watched it and I enjoyed, and I went, wow,
17:52
Speaker 1: this is really good because and the lead character is amazing.
17:55
Speaker 1: That plays d He's amazing. Abraham. Yeah. You know. The
17:59
Speaker 1: one thing too, I want to say the culture of
18:03
Speaker 1: the cultural aspects of this film are important. And you know,
18:06
Speaker 1: when when we made this movie, we didn't you know,
18:08
Speaker 1: this was pre pandemic, this was pre George Floyd and
18:12
Speaker 1: all these things. And I think one interesting factor about
18:15
Speaker 1: it is that um as as Africans in this diaspora
18:20
Speaker 1: of America. We we are finally, I think now have
18:23
Speaker 1: finally come together as one unit where we can look
18:27
Speaker 1: at each other as real brothers. And I mean, you know, um, Russia.
18:31
Speaker 1: You know, we were probably not that far in age,
18:34
Speaker 1: and we grew up in a time where you know,
18:36
Speaker 1: if you as African or Haitian or Jamaican or something
18:40
Speaker 1: like that, southern Southern brothers and brother people that grew up.
18:44
Speaker 1: I grew up in Philly, but my parents, my father's
18:46
Speaker 1: from the South, you know, from Virginia, and my mother's
18:49
Speaker 1: from Philly, but she's her parents are from Virginia, North Carolina,
18:52
Speaker 1: so southern roots. And we always looked at Africans or
18:56
Speaker 1: blacks coming from other places in a little weird, a
18:59
Speaker 1: little weird way to way they sounded, the food they
19:01
Speaker 1: ate and all these things. And so this is this
19:04
Speaker 1: film showed It showed a little bit of that, but
19:08
Speaker 1: it showed the respect factor too. He was like, you're
19:10
Speaker 1: from Africa, right, and he says, you got a four
19:13
Speaker 1: point oh. And I think that right there showed a
19:17
Speaker 1: lot because it changed that little scene changed the dynamic
19:21
Speaker 1: of what African Americans think of Afrikaans, right, And I
19:26
Speaker 1: think that's important given what we are all going through
19:29
Speaker 1: uh in this country right now. And in terms of
19:32
Speaker 1: you know, when when that policeman stopped you, he's not
19:35
Speaker 1: asking you if your parents are from Nigeria or Keaston
19:38
Speaker 1: or or Charlotte or you know or Southfield, Virginia. He's
19:43
Speaker 1: they looking at the black skin. And I think, now
19:46
Speaker 1: we we uh at a point in in in this um,
19:50
Speaker 1: you know, in this journey of of African people that
19:52
Speaker 1: we all together now you know, we can look at
19:55
Speaker 1: each other and respect each other. It takes alloy took
19:57
Speaker 1: a long time for that, but I think now I
20:00
Speaker 1: probably you know, we could respect each other when we
20:02
Speaker 1: see each other, you know. Not when I think about
20:04
Speaker 1: this when at four I remember that scene because they
20:06
Speaker 1: mentioned that four point four point or great point that
20:09
Speaker 1: like three times in the movie. When I took away
20:11
Speaker 1: from that Solomon and being able, I always tell people
20:14
Speaker 1: when you have value, when you create value, then there's
20:17
Speaker 1: a need or want for you, you know, because people
20:20
Speaker 1: girl wants to be a millionaire, but what's your value?
20:23
Speaker 1: Everybody wants to be active? Can you act and more basketball?
20:26
Speaker 1: Can you dribble? You know? Can you show up for
20:28
Speaker 1: practice on time, and to me, that was a strong
20:31
Speaker 1: moment for me, for for just young black people in general,
20:34
Speaker 1: especially black men. If you create value, then there's a want.
20:38
Speaker 1: You create want, then there's a desire to make you
20:41
Speaker 1: part of or make you a whole part of something
20:43
Speaker 1: that's bigger. And that's the whole thing about the Tasmon
20:47
Speaker 1: and day of experiences that you know, being our players
20:49
Speaker 1: to make as fire. You know, we had the cute
20:51
Speaker 1: pearls and all that's all these different layers, the A
20:53
Speaker 1: K s and all that stuff. I remember the scene
20:56
Speaker 1: when there was at the UC Center. We all know
20:59
Speaker 1: when is the I don't care what campus you on
21:01
Speaker 1: in America, Wednesday noon, brother, on the campus, that's where
21:07
Speaker 1: you got to be on any black hbc U white
21:11
Speaker 1: Wednesday New not Tuesday, Thursday, but Wednesday New. So I
21:15
Speaker 1: had so many flashbacks in this movie, but it was
21:17
Speaker 1: tied to the realism and the portrayal of the college experience,
21:21
Speaker 1: because you really gave me the college experience, not only
21:24
Speaker 1: from his point of view, for the other young men
21:26
Speaker 1: who wanted to fit in. Because you can agree with this,
21:30
Speaker 1: Ben and you went to Temple. I went to the
21:31
Speaker 1: University of Houston. So even though it was like we
21:35
Speaker 1: thought it was a lot of black people on campus,
21:38
Speaker 1: it was only like dred of Us, right, you know
21:43
Speaker 1: what you thought you thought we was like of the campus.
21:46
Speaker 1: You know, do you realize it's thirty five thousand white
21:49
Speaker 1: people on this CAMPU we only and but but that's
21:53
Speaker 1: the black experience. But also I remember I became vice
21:56
Speaker 1: president's student body and that was because of the black
21:59
Speaker 1: experience allowed me to experience that. But truly, I'm talking
22:03
Speaker 1: to you saw the black experience just talking about what's
22:06
Speaker 1: happened in and seeing what happened to Georgian Floyd, George Floyd,
22:11
Speaker 1: and watching black men talk, you know, used in word
22:15
Speaker 1: like they're supposed to use their word on the streets,
22:17
Speaker 1: you know, being comfortable in using that. What was your
22:21
Speaker 1: whole ultimate goal besides being a personal story that you
22:25
Speaker 1: can relate to use a return to remember your dad
22:27
Speaker 1: was in the ministry, did radio some form of entertainment?
22:31
Speaker 1: What was the ultimate journey for the movie Tasmanian Devil,
22:35
Speaker 1: Um with Tasmanian Devil, And also hopefully as I progressed
22:40
Speaker 1: in my career, my goal is to show Black people
22:44
Speaker 1: ask who we truly are? Um there's a lot of
22:47
Speaker 1: like most of the stuff that that depicts African American
22:50
Speaker 1: culture and film is us having to overcome some type
22:54
Speaker 1: of system or like racism or slavery. Something that is, uh,
22:58
Speaker 1: that's something that we have to fight against. But I
23:00
Speaker 1: just wanted to us living our lives, like doing things
23:03
Speaker 1: that we do. You know, that's that's that's my voice
23:06
Speaker 1: as a filmmaker. That's that's my contribution. I want to
23:09
Speaker 1: make films for black people that that that that's just
23:12
Speaker 1: us existing in our everyday lives and showing the different
23:16
Speaker 1: things we can do, not just having to overcome a
23:18
Speaker 1: white system or being inferior to some other kind of
23:21
Speaker 1: race or something like that. So with Tasmanian Devil, that's
23:24
Speaker 1: what I was going forward as I created, As I
23:26
Speaker 1: continue to make films, that's what I'll continue to do.
23:29
Speaker 1: So I'm glad that you saw that in Tasmanian Devil,
23:32
Speaker 1: because I hope to do more of it. Hey man,
23:34
Speaker 1: I believe me. I saw that and more. I saw
23:36
Speaker 1: a talented young man, and I'm so happy that Benny,
23:39
Speaker 1: you're doing that. You know, Basically I created money making
23:43
Speaker 1: conversation because so many people would ask me to mentor it,
23:46
Speaker 1: you know, and I just can't mentor everybody. So I
23:48
Speaker 1: kind of like use these interviews I'm doing with you
23:50
Speaker 1: guys as a form of mentoring people. Listened an interview,
23:53
Speaker 1: they grab your experience being they grab your experience, Solomon,
23:56
Speaker 1: and it becomes a possibility those neuggage that you guys
23:58
Speaker 1: dropped doing an interview. Now you talked about script to
24:01
Speaker 1: come your way. You created a production company with a
24:04
Speaker 1: fellow fraternity brother, Benny. Talk tell us about your production company. Well,
24:08
Speaker 1: we have Groundwork Studios and it's uh, we created myself
24:11
Speaker 1: and Gerald Rawls, who's brother alpha brother from my chapter
24:15
Speaker 1: who I pledged, and we you know, from day one,
24:18
Speaker 1: we always um said that we we have you know,
24:22
Speaker 1: we know that there's something greater that can be done
24:24
Speaker 1: in entertainment. So while I was directing videos and having
24:27
Speaker 1: the opportunity to do movies and television, I'm also uh
24:31
Speaker 1: opening myself up to the next voices and the important
24:35
Speaker 1: It's interesting to hear Solomon say that because it's it's funny.
24:37
Speaker 1: This is the first time I'm actually hearing his mission statement.
24:41
Speaker 1: Funny enough of what he of what he sees himself
24:44
Speaker 1: as a filmmaker, which I think is great because you know,
24:48
Speaker 1: when I was trying to come up and make you know,
24:51
Speaker 1: from transition from music videos to film, did knock was
24:55
Speaker 1: that we didn't want to do anything that was black
24:59
Speaker 1: subject matter because it really wasn't popular then, right, So
25:02
Speaker 1: we were trying to fit in, get in somewhere. Um,
25:06
Speaker 1: that didn't really happen for me. So the first film
25:08
Speaker 1: I did was Next Day Air, which was the first
25:11
Speaker 1: feature of Mike's Mike Epps and Wood Harris and Ormari Hardwick,
25:14
Speaker 1: which is a very black, very um our comedy. You
25:20
Speaker 1: know that that kind of dealt with the drug subject matter,
25:24
Speaker 1: and it was very relatable to my life growing up
25:27
Speaker 1: in West Philly in a way. Um, And so that
25:31
Speaker 1: although you know, the film is funny and people talk
25:33
Speaker 1: about it, you know, had I made that film in
25:36
Speaker 1: this climate and probably would have been received more or
25:38
Speaker 1: better or bigger, you know, and something like that, had
25:41
Speaker 1: more interest in it. But it was just very hard
25:44
Speaker 1: at that time to get people interested in black movies.
25:48
Speaker 1: And I'm just so glad that I'm able to sit
25:50
Speaker 1: here now, um, you know, some fifteen years later from
25:53
Speaker 1: that movie almost and be able to help a young
25:57
Speaker 1: filmmaker tell his story a way that he wants to
26:01
Speaker 1: tell it to to and give it to the world,
26:04
Speaker 1: and and the other great thing, um and it's not great.
26:07
Speaker 1: But something that's come out of COVID is that we
26:10
Speaker 1: don't we don't have to be hampered by the idea
26:13
Speaker 1: of um of what do you call theaters of theatrical release,
26:18
Speaker 1: And so we can put this film out and give
26:20
Speaker 1: it to the audience without having to go through the
26:23
Speaker 1: trades and say, oh, man, we only made you know,
26:25
Speaker 1: three million the first weekend or two million the first
26:28
Speaker 1: week those kind of things. Is which I'm really happy about.
26:31
Speaker 1: We can actually actually service the audience with a great
26:34
Speaker 1: movie and not be worried about, um, what the perception
26:38
Speaker 1: is of it based on how many people saw it
26:41
Speaker 1: the first weekend. Well, you know exactly what what I'm
26:44
Speaker 1: saying when you said all Eyes on Me. It was
26:46
Speaker 1: considered a black movie. It was only basically domestically released.
26:50
Speaker 1: It was limited released into foreign selected markets maybe England,
26:55
Speaker 1: the Caribbean, maybe South Africa, or Africa in general. Where
26:58
Speaker 1: this movie when released February nine, it's gonna be on
27:02
Speaker 1: the entire it's worldwide release. That's that's what I really
27:05
Speaker 1: love about streaming. I'm glad you brought that up because
27:07
Speaker 1: our champions streaming, especially when it comes to black products,
27:10
Speaker 1: because we're not limited to what somebody says we should
27:14
Speaker 1: be seen by. All of these people really want to
27:16
Speaker 1: see your movie. Now. People are everybody seeing your movies,
27:20
Speaker 1: and that's important because it's premiering on Amazon, it's premiering
27:23
Speaker 1: on that tune, and these are international platform Fandango, Google,
27:27
Speaker 1: Play Off the Horizon. That is the beauty of why
27:30
Speaker 1: I wanted to make sure I was a part of
27:32
Speaker 1: this interview you. I'm gonna put it on my social
27:35
Speaker 1: media and put it in my newsletter because my man,
27:38
Speaker 1: you know, like Bennie said, you are our future. And
27:40
Speaker 1: I'm not saying being a not ready to die, I'm
27:43
Speaker 1: not saying that solid okay, but you are our future
27:46
Speaker 1: and it's important that we let you understand. Man. Look,
27:48
Speaker 1: it's a whole ne different game out there because he's right.
27:51
Speaker 1: You know, Next Day are funny boy that ended, but
27:54
Speaker 1: they were shooting up everybody that ended, you know how
27:58
Speaker 1: saw the movie and so but it was it was,
28:00
Speaker 1: it was it was funny Mike eb that's my boy, Harvard, Harvard,
28:05
Speaker 1: all these things and so it's all about timing. But
28:08
Speaker 1: guess what if that movie back there was released domestically,
28:11
Speaker 1: if every movie is released right now, the options of
28:14
Speaker 1: being able to say I don't like that deal, I'm
28:16
Speaker 1: gonna take that deal over here because I want my
28:18
Speaker 1: product to see be seen by everybody China, uh, Russia, England, Germany,
28:25
Speaker 1: all of Africa, Italy, you know, Brazil. That's what's gonna
28:29
Speaker 1: happen to your project. That's why I like your project
28:32
Speaker 1: because you're telling the story to me that's very honest
28:36
Speaker 1: and very relatable. And I just want to say congratulations
28:39
Speaker 1: Mr Writer, Mr Director, and I'm glad you had an
28:42
Speaker 1: EP like Mr Benni Boone to show you the stay
28:45
Speaker 1: true to your story because your story related was relatable
28:48
Speaker 1: to me even at my age. You made me smile.
28:53
Speaker 1: That's great. True. Well be I wanta thank you for
28:56
Speaker 1: coming on the show. Solomon Ornita Jr. I'm sure I'm
28:59
Speaker 1: gonna hear you in the future. Brother, You'll start on
29:01
Speaker 1: the rise. Man, don't stop. Man, I appreciate you are
29:04
Speaker 1: coming on some money making conversations. Thank you, Rush, I
29:07
Speaker 1: appreciate the time. Man, Thank you so much. Hey man,
29:09
Speaker 1: many you know I know you're gonna have projects in
29:11
Speaker 1: the future. I always know you can come to me. Okay,
29:13
Speaker 1: thank you, I appreciate that. Man. Alright, the Apple Apple
29:16
Speaker 1: Omega Main. We all fraternity brothers. Okay, alright, y'all stay strong.
29:22
Speaker 1: You want to hear conversation interviews, please go to Money
29:25
Speaker 1: Making Conversation dot com I with Sean McDonald, I am
29:27
Speaker 1: your host. In this season of giving, Coals has gifts
29:34
Speaker 1: for all your loved ones. For those who like to
29:37
Speaker 1: keep it cozy, find fleeces, sweaters, loungeware, blankets and throws.
29:41
Speaker 1: Or support minority owned or founded brands by giving gifts
29:44
Speaker 1: from Human Nation and Shame Moisture. And in the spirit
29:48
Speaker 1: of giving, Coals Cares is donating eight million dollars to
29:52
Speaker 1: local nonprofits nationwide. Give with all your heart this season
29:55
Speaker 1: with great gifts from Coals or Coals dot com. Still
29:59
Speaker 1: living in tw one and manually taking notes, there is
30:01
Speaker 1: a better way to start the new year with auto
30:03
Speaker 1: dot ai automatically get meeting notes. Auto dot ai works
30:07
Speaker 1: for virtual meetings like Zoom, Microsoft Teams, and Google Meet.
30:10
Speaker 1: Sign up on the web for free or download in
30:11
Speaker 1: the app stores. Auto dot ai that's O t t
30:14
Speaker 1: e R dot AI. This episode is made possible by PwC.
30:20
Speaker 1: The future calls for digital transformation you can trust. That's
30:24
Speaker 1: why the New Equation is Business lad and Cloud Forward,
30:28
Speaker 1: using secure technologies to drive tax efficient solutions for today
30:32
Speaker 1: and tomorrow. It's how people and technology work together to
30:36
Speaker 1: transform transformation. See how the New Equation is building trust
30:40
Speaker 1: and security with the latest tech at the New Equation
30:43
Speaker 1: dot Com