Latest / The Steve Harvey Morning Show / Reggie Rock Bythewood, writes, directs, and serves as the showrunner of the new Apple TV+ "Swagger."

Transcript

Reggie Rock Bythewood, writes, directs, and serves as the showrunner of the new Apple TV+ "Swagger." · The Steve Harvey Morning Show

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  Speaker 1: Somebody every Thursday on the Heart Radio, Apple podcast or
• 1:14
  Speaker 1: wherever you get your podcasts. My next guest is Reggie
• 1:18
  Speaker 1: rock Bitewood. He writes, directs, and serve as the showrunner
• 1:21
  Speaker 1: of the new Apple Plus Swagger and his executive producer,
• 1:25
  Speaker 1: along time superstar NBA player Kevin Durant and super producer
• 1:29
  Speaker 1: Brian Grazer. The Apple Plus series is inspired by Kevin
• 1:32
  Speaker 1: Durant's life and basketball experiences. Swigger sports the world of
• 1:36
  Speaker 1: youth basketball and the players, the families and coaches who
• 1:40
  Speaker 1: walked the fine line between dreams and ambitions and the
• 1:43
  Speaker 1: optimism and corruption that goes with sports off the court.
• 1:47
  Speaker 1: The show reveals what it's like to grow up in America,
• 1:49
  Speaker 1: especially Black America. Reggie's writing started way back with a
• 1:53
  Speaker 1: Different World is comedy drama, New York Undercover, Get on
• 1:57
  Speaker 1: the Bus, That's what I met him to Notorious just
• 1:59
  Speaker 1: the name with f you. This brother can write. The
• 2:01
  Speaker 1: new series Swagger will premier globally October twenty nine, with
• 2:06
  Speaker 1: the first three episodes, followed by a new episode weekly
• 2:10
  Speaker 1: every Friday day after on Apple Plus. Please walk in
• 2:13
  Speaker 1: to Money Making Conversation. For a long time, I've been
• 2:16
  Speaker 1: wanting to talk to this brother again. Reggie rock Bythewood,
• 2:19
  Speaker 1: How you doing, my friend, I'm really really great. Thank
• 2:22
  Speaker 1: you for having me. But first of all Man. Um.
• 2:25
  Speaker 1: You know, I'm a fan of Apple Plus. So I
• 2:27
  Speaker 1: watched Ted Lasso Apple Apple TV Plus, brother Apple TV Plus,
• 2:32
  Speaker 1: Apple TV Plus. I apologize Apple TV Plus. Let me
• 2:35
  Speaker 1: get this straight TV plus because you know when when
• 2:38
  Speaker 1: you pay your money and I just see the Apple Plus.
• 2:41
  Speaker 1: But Apple TV Plus okay? And um, this series? What
• 2:45
  Speaker 1: brought it about? And uh? And what inspired you to
• 2:48
  Speaker 1: do this series? I know Kevin Durant involved, which give
• 2:51
  Speaker 1: us a whole lot of credibility to the background and
• 2:53
  Speaker 1: the relations of the the authenticity for the series. But
• 2:57
  Speaker 1: how did you get involved? Reggie? Um? So, I got
• 3:01
  Speaker 1: a call from um Imagine Entertainment, which is a company
• 3:06
  Speaker 1: that that that Brian runs with Ron Howard to produce
• 3:09
  Speaker 1: their name. Francy Calfol called me up and and and
• 3:13
  Speaker 1: let me know that Brian and k D had a
• 3:17
  Speaker 1: meeting and they talked about doing a series focus on
• 3:21
  Speaker 1: or inspired by his youth basketball days. So they called
• 3:24
  Speaker 1: me asked me to meet with him. I flew out.
• 3:27
  Speaker 1: At that time k D was in was in um
• 3:31
  Speaker 1: it was in Golden State, you know. So I flew
• 3:34
  Speaker 1: out to Oakland and met with him, and you know,
• 3:38
  Speaker 1: I didn't really know what to what to to think?
• 3:41
  Speaker 1: You know what, I liked the guy what I not?
• 3:44
  Speaker 1: But it was a real kind of inspiring conversation and
• 3:50
  Speaker 1: and he was just very open and shared, um a
• 3:54
  Speaker 1: lot of his experiences with me. And I've really just
• 3:57
  Speaker 1: started to see this canvas, if you will, that would
• 4:01
  Speaker 1: allow me to um take elements of his life and
• 4:08
  Speaker 1: bringing other elements, um, some elements from my life, from
• 4:13
  Speaker 1: my kids, and sort of things we pulled into research
• 4:16
  Speaker 1: and and just just tell a story that we felt
• 4:19
  Speaker 1: could be really meaningful, um A story about not just basketball,
• 4:25
  Speaker 1: but but but growing up in in America or teen
• 4:28
  Speaker 1: life in America, which is a brilliant story by the
• 4:31
  Speaker 1: actors that you brought into this, which really is which
• 4:35
  Speaker 1: were in the music that plays a major role in
• 4:38
  Speaker 1: what you're doing here. Now let's talk about the young
• 4:41
  Speaker 1: star Isaiah Isaiah, he'll correctly plays James Carson. Now, I've
• 4:47
  Speaker 1: been fortunate to sit down with Kevin Durant, and he
• 4:50
  Speaker 1: has a this young man. You seem to have captured
• 4:54
  Speaker 1: Kevin Durant's personality or temperament in this character. Am I
• 4:57
  Speaker 1: wrong in saying that? But it really did kind of
• 5:00
  Speaker 1: resonate to the personality of life stock is Kevin was
• 5:02
  Speaker 1: raised by a single mom in the basketball cyncric world
• 5:06
  Speaker 1: is set in Washington, d C. What Kevin durinis from
• 5:09
  Speaker 1: talk about that? Yeah, I mean, look, I think there
• 5:14
  Speaker 1: were a couple of things, you know, I was really
• 5:16
  Speaker 1: looking for. And I mean this is such a complicated character.
• 5:21
  Speaker 1: You know. Number one, the dudes gotta be athletic, and
• 5:27
  Speaker 1: so we you know, we have this huge casting search
• 5:32
  Speaker 1: and this kid comes in who's not just like dunking,
• 5:35
  Speaker 1: like just tipping it in, he's like throwing it back
• 5:38
  Speaker 1: and you know, slamming it. Um. But then the other
• 5:42
  Speaker 1: thing too was you know he was talented and and
• 5:47
  Speaker 1: so we um really it was just like blown away
• 5:53
  Speaker 1: to be able to find someone who has acting chops
• 5:57
  Speaker 1: and basketball chops all in one. It was was was
• 6:00
  Speaker 1: it was a gift. And I think that you know, um,
• 6:06
  Speaker 1: you know, k D felt challenged to prove that he was,
• 6:14
  Speaker 1: you know, like this this top player that he that
• 6:18
  Speaker 1: that that he was, and you know, all great athletes,
• 6:21
  Speaker 1: you know, feel like they have something to prove. You know.
• 6:24
  Speaker 1: The real life Isaiah felt that as well. You know,
• 6:28
  Speaker 1: I mean he's played basketball, he understands those challenges. He's
• 6:32
  Speaker 1: had his bumps and so he I think he was
• 6:34
  Speaker 1: just able to bring that forward and and really played out,
• 6:39
  Speaker 1: you know, lovely on screen. We're talking to an incredible writer. Producers,
• 6:43
  Speaker 1: show run of the new series on Apple TV plus Swagger,
• 6:47
  Speaker 1: Reggie Rock Whitewood. The series is an incredible force as
• 6:52
  Speaker 1: far as teen drama, training, romance, Uh, coming of age. Uh.
• 6:57
  Speaker 1: This young man we're talking about Isaiah, He's character plays
• 7:00
  Speaker 1: and he's plays the character Jah Carster, the fourteen year
• 7:03
  Speaker 1: old megastar. I could relate this a little bit of
• 7:05
  Speaker 1: my personal life because my nephew, he had a couple
• 7:08
  Speaker 1: of songs and I remember he was we were tracking
• 7:11
  Speaker 1: him at eighth grade, ninth grade. You know, his song
• 7:14
  Speaker 1: was the top point guard in Texas, you know, and
• 7:16
  Speaker 1: it's so that was a song, was a top small forward.
• 7:18
  Speaker 1: So I know the reality of this, but that what
• 7:22
  Speaker 1: I loved about it was how Reggie how is how
• 7:24
  Speaker 1: are you incorporating how the world of social media something
• 7:28
  Speaker 1: that the real Kevin Durant really didn't have to deal
• 7:30
  Speaker 1: with that this kid has to deal with on a
• 7:33
  Speaker 1: regular basis, Incorporating that real lifestyle activity, how you can
• 7:38
  Speaker 1: be how your life is changed by appoast correct. Yeah,
• 7:42
  Speaker 1: I mean social media became an other character in our narrative.
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  Speaker 1: And and so I mean it's just authentic to the
• 7:53
  Speaker 1: way um people in this age group relate to each other.
• 7:58
  Speaker 1: You know, yes, you know, and and as we know,
• 8:00
  Speaker 1: they are great positives with it and great negatives with it.
• 8:04
  Speaker 1: And and as you as you mentioned like, yeah, this
• 8:07
  Speaker 1: is a drama that does focus a lot on teens,
• 8:10
  Speaker 1: but it's also like really really aspiring to give a
• 8:13
  Speaker 1: view from every seat in the house, you know, so
• 8:15
  Speaker 1: that we deal with fatherhood, we deal with coaching, we
• 8:18
  Speaker 1: deal with parent hood, and so I think that you know,
• 8:23
  Speaker 1: if you're if you're a mom, if you're a coach,
• 8:25
  Speaker 1: if you're a dad, um, if you're a child, Like,
• 8:29
  Speaker 1: there's something that's going to pull it you emotionally. We'll
• 8:33
  Speaker 1: read here. First of all, I don't want to sell
• 8:34
  Speaker 1: you serious short because I'm we're gonna we got from
• 8:37
  Speaker 1: middle tag, because I'm gonna go to O'shan, I'm gonna
• 8:39
  Speaker 1: talk to Gina, I'm gonna talk to these character breakdowns
• 8:42
  Speaker 1: to have so much layers, but those kids would brought
• 8:46
  Speaker 1: me in and I'm gonna just saying I really would
• 8:48
  Speaker 1: I get up every day at four thirty am. All right,
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  Speaker 1: I saw five straight episodes because each episode kept me,
• 8:54
  Speaker 1: kept me kept five. My wife looked at me, said,
• 8:57
  Speaker 1: it's one thirty in the morning. I said, okay, okay,
• 9:01
  Speaker 1: I'm gonna go to bed. I'm gonna go to be
• 9:02
  Speaker 1: Let gonna go to bed, because soon as I wrap
• 9:04
  Speaker 1: up this interview, I'm gonna go screen the rest of them.
• 9:06
  Speaker 1: I noticed she was premieres October twenty nine. It will
• 9:09
  Speaker 1: premiere with three episodes in a row, and when you
• 9:11
  Speaker 1: get to that third episode, you will be hooked in
• 9:14
  Speaker 1: this series. Please take the time to watch consecutively series
• 9:18
  Speaker 1: and after that it will air every Friday. What Reggie
• 9:21
  Speaker 1: has put together is um is uh you. Gina who
• 9:25
  Speaker 1: plays the mom Jason's mom, Joanna who plays Jason's mom,
• 9:30
  Speaker 1: very dominant character, very opinionated. She knows what she wants,
• 9:34
  Speaker 1: she knows what she sees in the son. Her expectations
• 9:36
  Speaker 1: maybe overreaching, and her advice and to how he should
• 9:40
  Speaker 1: play shouldn't be something he should be following. But that's
• 9:42
  Speaker 1: what the comment of age part of the writing is
• 9:45
  Speaker 1: all about, correct, Reggie, Yeah, I mean you know. And
• 9:49
  Speaker 1: here's a crazy thing, right, Like it's like when you
• 9:52
  Speaker 1: have a kid that talented, Yes, there's still a whole
• 9:57
  Speaker 1: bunch of questions in terms of like you know, here
• 10:00
  Speaker 1: he or she is gonna go, And it really becomes
• 10:03
  Speaker 1: like this coming of age for with the kid, for
• 10:07
  Speaker 1: the parents. Like it's just it's it's so complicated, it's
• 10:11
  Speaker 1: so challenging to you know, you you sort of wish
• 10:15
  Speaker 1: we all had a crystal ball and knew where their
• 10:17
  Speaker 1: kid was was gonna go. But you know, on the
• 10:20
  Speaker 1: whole other level, man, you know, um, a lot of
• 10:23
  Speaker 1: times we pushed our kids. Yes, sometimes we have to.
• 10:27
  Speaker 1: And you know, if we do it wrong, it's a negative,
• 10:30
  Speaker 1: and if we do it right, it's a positive. Right.
• 10:33
  Speaker 1: I know, my daughter was a tennis prodigy, you know,
• 10:36
  Speaker 1: my my wife she was you know, she was really
• 10:39
  Speaker 1: a lot more aggressive than I was, which is her role.
• 10:41
  Speaker 1: We all play roses parents, you know. And I always
• 10:44
  Speaker 1: felt my daughter was talented at it what she did,
• 10:47
  Speaker 1: but that was what she wanted to do. Now she's
• 10:49
  Speaker 1: in the type wando And I told my wife, don't
• 10:52
  Speaker 1: be disappointed. That's not what she wants to do. That's
• 10:54
  Speaker 1: not her end game. You know, she blew out our
• 10:56
  Speaker 1: knee when she was an eighteen and she asked me
• 10:58
  Speaker 1: that she wanted to go to college because you go
• 11:00
  Speaker 1: to college, So yes, do whoever your dreams are. And
• 11:02
  Speaker 1: that's what this young man is learning and his and
• 11:05
  Speaker 1: his best friend, who we see the relationship going. I'm
• 11:08
  Speaker 1: talking about Crystal, and that's another storyline I'm not gonna
• 11:11
  Speaker 1: get into any detail on because it should be seen
• 11:14
  Speaker 1: and you should see the development of her character in
• 11:16
  Speaker 1: the series. But also it's it's it's kind of a romance,
• 11:21
  Speaker 1: but their friends their friends, they're die hard friends. And
• 11:24
  Speaker 1: what you learn in this series, Reggie, if I could
• 11:27
  Speaker 1: be so bold to say this, is that you learn
• 11:29
  Speaker 1: to listen. You learn to listen with people are trying
• 11:32
  Speaker 1: to talk to you. That was a big part of
• 11:35
  Speaker 1: this whole first five episodes that I heard screaming at
• 11:39
  Speaker 1: me people when they talk, take the time to hear
• 11:43
  Speaker 1: and not talk, and so much talk about your problems.
• 11:46
  Speaker 1: But other people have problems too, and you should learn
• 11:48
  Speaker 1: to hear their problems, especially when they're coming to you
• 11:52
  Speaker 1: to talk. Those strong language in this in this series
• 11:55
  Speaker 1: so far, well, but I mean it feels like that's
• 11:58
  Speaker 1: a lost art and it's kind you're right right, like listening,
• 12:02
  Speaker 1: you know, like like like really listening, like really trying
• 12:05
  Speaker 1: to understand where somebody else is coming from, you know.
• 12:08
  Speaker 1: But I see other great thing about having a platform
• 12:10
  Speaker 1: like this to be able to give insight, to to
• 12:13
  Speaker 1: bring people into you know, various characters and and see
• 12:18
  Speaker 1: and you know, um so much. You know that the
• 12:24
  Speaker 1: show is called Swagger, you know, and and so you know,
• 12:28
  Speaker 1: obviously on the surface that's like barbato and confidence, but
• 12:33
  Speaker 1: really underneath all of that swaggers wou having a cause
• 12:37
  Speaker 1: bigger than yourself, right, And so whether you your causes,
• 12:42
  Speaker 1: your people, your family, your team, having that cause bigger
• 12:47
  Speaker 1: than yourself, um, really gives you that sense of purpose,
• 12:51
  Speaker 1: that that grid, that determination to move closer to your
• 12:56
  Speaker 1: your dreams and you and your calling. And I think
• 12:58
  Speaker 1: that's why, you know, you know, in Jace's journey, you know,
• 13:03
  Speaker 1: Jace's journey initially is himself, yes, you know, and as
• 13:07
  Speaker 1: we go through the narrative, it expands, as he expands.
• 13:12
  Speaker 1: We'll be right back with more mind making conversation with
• 13:14
  Speaker 1: the creator, writer, and executive producer of the new Apple
• 13:17
  Speaker 1: TV series Swagger, Reggie Rock Bitewood It's finally here, the
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  Speaker 1: Welcome back to Money Making Conversations as I continue my
• 15:22
  Speaker 1: conversation with the creator, writer, and executive producer of the
• 15:25
  Speaker 1: new Apple TV Plus series Swagger, Reggie rock Bitewood. Now
• 15:30
  Speaker 1: I'm gonna go into oh Jackson's character. You know, he
• 15:33
  Speaker 1: plays Icon, a character who didn't reach, who had great
• 15:37
  Speaker 1: basketball potential but didn't reach the potential. And when you
• 15:40
  Speaker 1: stay reach the potential, the NBA is the goal. The
• 15:42
  Speaker 1: NBA is the ultimate goal of anybody who puts on
• 15:45
  Speaker 1: those sneakers and gets on that hard court and try
• 15:47
  Speaker 1: to imagine they're the next Michael Jordan, the next Scareem
• 15:50
  Speaker 1: Abdul Jabbard, the next Lebron James today or next k D.
• 15:54
  Speaker 1: Because KD six and eleven seven feet tall and dribbled
• 15:57
  Speaker 1: like a six point six ft point guard and you
• 16:00
  Speaker 1: like Steph Kurr on the given to any given day,
• 16:03
  Speaker 1: but dunk like Lebron. So that's to be to have
• 16:07
  Speaker 1: a show about that, there had to be some additional pressure, Reggie,
• 16:10
  Speaker 1: knowing that you this is when the regular superstar. There
• 16:12
  Speaker 1: wasn't a guy who who's a marginal player or just
• 16:15
  Speaker 1: a good player. K D can probably go down in
• 16:19
  Speaker 1: history as one of the all top five all time players. Here,
• 16:22
  Speaker 1: you ain't having a room. And to create a scripted
• 16:25
  Speaker 1: series that has to retain a level of credibility. And
• 16:28
  Speaker 1: you do, my friend, because we're gonna get into these
• 16:30
  Speaker 1: action shots. Because I was like blown away by these
• 16:33
  Speaker 1: these I'll tell you how something when you when you
• 16:36
  Speaker 1: watch TV, watch Reggie do his work, his his his magic,
• 16:40
  Speaker 1: and you see a shot that don't have jump cuts
• 16:43
  Speaker 1: in him, and I'm going, Okay, that's a real shot
• 16:45
  Speaker 1: from the corner. When Nick Mindez hits his first three
• 16:49
  Speaker 1: pointer at the top of the I go, that's a
• 16:52
  Speaker 1: real shots. That's it, I said, I said, I said,
• 16:57
  Speaker 1: I said, Reggie, Reggie, my born as man. How How
• 17:03
  Speaker 1: how you pulling that off? Bro? How many? First of all,
• 17:06
  Speaker 1: you know, first of all, though you started talking about
• 17:09
  Speaker 1: the pressure, we just say so creatively, what I wanted
• 17:14
  Speaker 1: to do was have the basketball feel real. So it
• 17:18
  Speaker 1: actually alleviated pressure as the network and everybody, yeah, we
• 17:23
  Speaker 1: gotta be like, you know, it's gotta be real, it's
• 17:25
  Speaker 1: gonna be kevin. So so we cast actors someone who
• 17:30
  Speaker 1: had really played ball before. But we were able to, like, like,
• 17:32
  Speaker 1: you know, it's so rare to be able to cast
• 17:34
  Speaker 1: somebody and give them like three months of training, like
• 17:38
  Speaker 1: multiple days throughout the week, hours and hours upon a
• 17:43
  Speaker 1: day to learn how to become a baller. And then
• 17:46
  Speaker 1: we had our ballers who then had a lot of
• 17:50
  Speaker 1: time to work with acting coaches. So just that alone, um,
• 17:55
  Speaker 1: it alleviated pressure because it allowed me to then have
• 17:58
  Speaker 1: like a real process where everybody knew the basketball needed
• 18:02
  Speaker 1: to be in a high level. Um and you know,
• 18:05
  Speaker 1: look there was choreography and training sessions, but I mean
• 18:10
  Speaker 1: they just came and they and it was like, I mean,
• 18:13
  Speaker 1: you know, it was a luxury, like like the kids
• 18:15
  Speaker 1: wanted to do it, you know, like they were like, yo,
• 18:18
  Speaker 1: I'm in some of it. Some of it, you know,
• 18:21
  Speaker 1: it was from a choreographer and a trainer, but some
• 18:23
  Speaker 1: of it was them let me tell you what I
• 18:25
  Speaker 1: can do. And all we had to do was photographic.
• 18:28
  Speaker 1: Oh my beauty, beautiful. There's some questions here, uh that
• 18:31
  Speaker 1: that the hoop? It was a ten foot hoop. He
• 18:33
  Speaker 1: played in the foot ten foot ten foot hoop and
• 18:38
  Speaker 1: somebody's dunking. They know they're not jumping off from a
• 18:40
  Speaker 1: trampoline cables. That's it? Okay? How tall as a as
• 18:46
  Speaker 1: Asa here plays? James Carson. I think he's like because
• 18:53
  Speaker 1: he could leap man. Yeah yeah, I think he's six
• 18:55
  Speaker 1: three or six four six three six three someone in there.
• 19:00
  Speaker 1: That young man. He has some elevation now. He and
• 19:03
  Speaker 1: his acting skills are on point. He has to career
• 19:05
  Speaker 1: in this business. Good looking kid, Oh, Shan Jackson, I
• 19:09
  Speaker 1: can't yeah, um, all the you know, oh had multiple
• 19:13
  Speaker 1: scenes where we were dunking. But he didn't make the
• 19:14
  Speaker 1: cut man, Well, well, I know he didn't make up,
• 19:17
  Speaker 1: but he could shoot. Let let's talk about this shooting though,
• 19:23
  Speaker 1: because I was impressed. I was impressed. Hey, let me
• 19:26
  Speaker 1: tell you something in that game and a pilot where
• 19:30
  Speaker 1: they're going one on one, dude, many shot wasn't supposed
• 19:34
  Speaker 1: to make people shown off. I just kept the cameras
• 19:39
  Speaker 1: wing and I was like, let him go. You're lying, dude, dude,
• 19:46
  Speaker 1: because I'm looking at saying when I said, because I
• 19:48
  Speaker 1: had these little checkpoints, I said, rim height, you see
• 19:51
  Speaker 1: his ten feet not nine? You said he made all
• 19:54
  Speaker 1: the ships to tell I mean, because there's a lot
• 19:56
  Speaker 1: of basketball. Come on, there's a lot of basketball shows
• 19:58
  Speaker 1: where you see somebody dunking and you know that's eight
• 20:01
  Speaker 1: ft nine ft. So that was really important for the
• 20:06
  Speaker 1: We didn't want to do that, you know, we really
• 20:08
  Speaker 1: wanted it to look and and some people would get by,
• 20:11
  Speaker 1: but there's people like you that you can smell it
• 20:12
  Speaker 1: if it's not real. Well, first of all, that's what
• 20:15
  Speaker 1: it pressed me the most. I'm gonna tell you. So,
• 20:17
  Speaker 1: I love my sleep when I get it. I don't
• 20:19
  Speaker 1: like getting up at four thirty for so you know, Reggie,
• 20:22
  Speaker 1: I love you, don Reggie, I don't love you that much.
• 20:24
  Speaker 1: But when a series, I'm looking at it because my
• 20:27
  Speaker 1: wife was sitting right next to me. She was in
• 20:29
  Speaker 1: factually she was cooking in the kitchen when we started,
• 20:32
  Speaker 1: and next by episode two she was sitting right next
• 20:35
  Speaker 1: to me engaged in the series. Like I said, it's
• 20:38
  Speaker 1: a series that they're about basketball, so many layers about life,
• 20:42
  Speaker 1: about parenting, about how you know, she could relate to
• 20:45
  Speaker 1: it because our daughter, you know, it was a prodigy,
• 20:48
  Speaker 1: like like Jason, like like the character being played out here,
• 20:52
  Speaker 1: being pulled in so many directions going to private camps
• 20:55
  Speaker 1: were recruited, and so it was very relatable to what
• 20:58
  Speaker 1: we deal with today because that's all you see nowadays,
• 21:01
  Speaker 1: and that with name, likeness and imagery that you can
• 21:04
  Speaker 1: pay for and kids can get the money they used
• 21:07
  Speaker 1: to hide to get nowadays. But the whole layers are
• 21:10
  Speaker 1: putting all these characters together, that was a lot of work.
• 21:14
  Speaker 1: How did you really start projecting each role, the ness,
• 21:19
  Speaker 1: the the I should say, the the bad guys, the
• 21:23
  Speaker 1: good guys, the the layers. A lot of hard work
• 21:26
  Speaker 1: winded too. This Reggie, how did you pull it off?
• 21:31
  Speaker 1: I mean, you know, I mean again having this mandate
• 21:34
  Speaker 1: of you know, this, this self imposed mandate of having
• 21:37
  Speaker 1: a view from every seat in the house. Um, and
• 21:40
  Speaker 1: a lot of research, spoke with a lot of people,
• 21:42
  Speaker 1: and really, you know, much of my work and the
• 21:44
  Speaker 1: writing process also starts with like really putting together a
• 21:47
  Speaker 1: really great writers wrong yea, so um, you know, in particular,
• 21:51
  Speaker 1: one of my writers, guy named George Dorman, wrote this book,
• 21:53
  Speaker 1: really good book called um, they Play their Hearts Out
• 21:56
  Speaker 1: and it follows a youth basketball team. Um. It was
• 21:59
  Speaker 1: very important for me to have some incredible black women
• 22:04
  Speaker 1: in my writer's room. Um. And and directing as well, right,
• 22:09
  Speaker 1: and directing as well, and and and directing as well
• 22:11
  Speaker 1: Nigel and mean you haven't seen her, so when you
• 22:14
  Speaker 1: go back, you're gonna see Nigel is the one that
• 22:17
  Speaker 1: Nigel is directed, which is one oh six, you know.
• 22:20
  Speaker 1: And and so you know, when you have a room
• 22:23
  Speaker 1: like that, it's really great and inspiring because we're challenging
• 22:28
  Speaker 1: each other, we're challenging other people's points of view, we're
• 22:31
  Speaker 1: bringing in our real life experiences. And in a room
• 22:34
  Speaker 1: like that, like I never say, like you don't. You
• 22:36
  Speaker 1: don't create a room like that because it's politically correct.
• 22:39
  Speaker 1: You create a room like that because it gives you
• 22:42
  Speaker 1: the best product. Wow, I just want to say this
• 22:46
  Speaker 1: about the show. Um, the credibility of the show is amazing.
• 22:50
  Speaker 1: The Meg's role, who plays his business partner, Ocean's business
• 22:55
  Speaker 1: Cavil Hooges Icon Uh, David his role as the NBA
• 22:59
  Speaker 1: star who aid it? Who Who's Who's Who's has an
• 23:02
  Speaker 1: issue with Icon? All these layers, like you were saying earlier,
• 23:06
  Speaker 1: And that's what I wanna say. I just wanted to
• 23:08
  Speaker 1: start with the kids because that's the core of this
• 23:10
  Speaker 1: that's the that's the part that that that's the innocence
• 23:13
  Speaker 1: of the series. Are the children, are the teenagers? Because
• 23:16
  Speaker 1: you have all these adults who have agendas from his
• 23:20
  Speaker 1: mother has an agenda, O'Shea is the in denial, but
• 23:23
  Speaker 1: he has an agenda. Davis has an agenda. Uh, the
• 23:27
  Speaker 1: the guy from the Gladiators, he has an agenda. All
• 23:31
  Speaker 1: tied back to the reality what you've you're showing us, Reggie,
• 23:34
  Speaker 1: this is happening right now. This is real life. This
• 23:38
  Speaker 1: is not something you're making up. And to be able
• 23:40
  Speaker 1: to pull that off and then it's almost tragic because
• 23:43
  Speaker 1: how do we pull these kids out of it? Oh?
• 23:45
  Speaker 1: Is there a train that we can't control anymore? And
• 23:48
  Speaker 1: you just capturing it, put it on paper, allowing us
• 23:51
  Speaker 1: to see a version of it. Well, you know, first
• 23:54
  Speaker 1: of all, let me just say something, but what you
• 23:56
  Speaker 1: talk about with innocence? Right, so you know our most
• 24:00
  Speaker 1: to our characters, and as these kids are fourteen years old,
• 24:02
  Speaker 1: and so we know fourteen has some historical context, you
• 24:06
  Speaker 1: know within the black community, right. Um. You know Emmett
• 24:09
  Speaker 1: till fourteen years old August, you know, I'm murdered, and
• 24:15
  Speaker 1: you know that's still reverber rates within our community, you know,
• 24:19
  Speaker 1: all these years later, right? Um? And I saw this
• 24:22
  Speaker 1: painting by this amazing artist named Lisa Whittington. She did
• 24:27
  Speaker 1: this painting called um there was about emmettail and it
• 24:30
  Speaker 1: was called um how let me see if I get
• 24:35
  Speaker 1: the title right, Lisa, If I mess up the name
• 24:37
  Speaker 1: of your art, I apologize. But it was how she
• 24:41
  Speaker 1: sent him and how she got him back. And in
• 24:44
  Speaker 1: this painting you see half of Emmett's face that's innocent
• 24:49
  Speaker 1: and a vibrant and all these vibrant colors around him,
• 24:52
  Speaker 1: Like what we were calling our show Emmet blue and
• 24:54
  Speaker 1: Emmett yellow, and on the other side of his face
• 24:57
  Speaker 1: it's mutilated. It's you know, with you know, you know
• 25:01
  Speaker 1: the way the way the space was and it was
• 25:03
  Speaker 1: beaten down. But we use her painting many ways. It's inspiration.
• 25:08
  Speaker 1: And really, you know, when I would talk to everyone
• 25:10
  Speaker 1: about what we're doing, we were like, this innocence is
• 25:13
  Speaker 1: what we're fighting for for our characters. We want this
• 25:15
  Speaker 1: sort of innocence. Our coaches, they're fighting for our kids
• 25:19
  Speaker 1: and maintain this innocence. And the flip side of it
• 25:22
  Speaker 1: is that you're on the other side of it, you know,
• 25:24
  Speaker 1: and so um, there's so much of the of the
• 25:27
  Speaker 1: of the sister's work, you know, like I said, we
• 25:29
  Speaker 1: you know it was it was actually a template for
• 25:31
  Speaker 1: our color palette, you know, Emmitt Blue, Emmett yellow, like
• 25:34
  Speaker 1: all these sort of colors and our artwork inspired us.
• 25:37
  Speaker 1: And so the innocence versus the other side of it
• 25:41
  Speaker 1: was it was something that we really spent a lot
• 25:43
  Speaker 1: of time talking about. My brother. Outstanding of talking to
• 25:47
  Speaker 1: Reggie rock Brightwood Swagger. Apple TV Plus premieres October twenty nine. Three.
• 25:54
  Speaker 1: Episode will air that night after that is one episode
• 25:57
  Speaker 1: weekly every Friday. There after. An incredible series are Coming
• 26:00
  Speaker 1: of Age series adults are inspired by NBA superstar Kevin
• 26:05
  Speaker 1: Durant's life and experiences in the Washington, D c. Area.
• 26:08
  Speaker 1: And then closing, you got the Yankee had on? You know? Uh?
• 26:12
  Speaker 1: And I don't you know stephen A. Smith? She was,
• 26:15
  Speaker 1: Oh no, never bring the stephen A. Smith. Okay, you
• 26:18
  Speaker 1: know that's why. That's what I'm managed. And he's a
• 26:20
  Speaker 1: superstar Yankee fan just like you. When the Yankees make
• 26:24
  Speaker 1: a callback, I keep asking him. Then when y'all come back,
• 26:27
  Speaker 1: and then we're gonna wrap up the end of view.
• 26:28
  Speaker 1: I got one minute left. It's your it's your moment
• 26:31
  Speaker 1: to say the Yankees, sir. Yeah, well, I mean you know,
• 26:36
  Speaker 1: the Yankees have championships, more championships than any other professional team.
• 26:43
  Speaker 1: So what's your team? Brother? Oh, Houston Astros? Okay, um um?
• 26:50
  Speaker 1: How how how are we gonna do this year? We're
• 26:51
  Speaker 1: gonna We're gonna play it, honestly this year. What we're
• 26:53
  Speaker 1: gonna do, We're gonna try and win this ship. What
• 26:56
  Speaker 1: we what we're gonna do because you know, you know,
• 26:59
  Speaker 1: now I see where the Yankee things come from because
• 27:02
  Speaker 1: of what y'all how to do to to beat the Yankees. Man,
• 27:05
  Speaker 1: we really want to talk about that. But here's a conflict,
• 27:08
  Speaker 1: right because now, who do I root for? A might
• 27:10
  Speaker 1: rooting for the Astros? Are my rooting for the Red Sox. Absolutely,
• 27:13
  Speaker 1: that's say so, you know so that's that's that's a
• 27:16
  Speaker 1: that's a tough one. But I do like the Astros,
• 27:18
  Speaker 1: but Yankees will always be back Man. Twenty one Championships recognized.
• 27:22
  Speaker 1: Thank you, brother, you are a champion to thank you
• 27:24
  Speaker 1: for this fantastic series. Swagger Apple TV Plus premiers October
• 27:28
  Speaker 1: Twitter Night, The Brilliant Reggie Rock Bythewood. Thank you, sir,
• 27:32
  Speaker 1: appreciate you. If you want to see you hear any
• 27:35
  Speaker 1: of my interviews with Money Making Conversations, please go to
• 27:37
  Speaker 1: Money Making Conversation dot com. I'm ra Sean McDonald. I
• 27:40
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