Latest / The Steve Harvey Morning Show / Full Episode: Award-winning TV Writer and Documentarian Tina Andrews and Melissa Haizlip

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Full Episode: Award-winning TV Writer and Documentarian Tina Andrews and Melissa Haizlip · The Steve Harvey Morning Show

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Speaker 1: My interviews on money Making Conversations include celebrity CEOs, entrepreneurs,
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Speaker 1: next guest is Melissa Haslet. She is an award winning filmmaker.
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Speaker 1: Melissa has no when I say that from a producer
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Speaker 1: director right of the award winning docu series that I
2:20
Speaker 1: just recently saw, Mr Soul. The film as Soul is
2:24
Speaker 1: now available on HBO Max, one of my favorite channels.
2:27
Speaker 1: Melissa has Lipping spotlights the groundbreaking variety show Soul with
2:31
Speaker 1: an exclamation mark. It's very important that brought out because
2:35
Speaker 1: that was one of the keys to the show being
2:38
Speaker 1: on television and the enigmatic, enigmatic producer and host, Ellis
2:43
Speaker 1: has Slipped. The late Ellis has Melissa's uncle. Ellis was
2:46
Speaker 1: a DC native and graduated from the Howard University. Now,
2:51
Speaker 1: before Oprah, before Arsenio, there was Mr Soul. Ellis America's
2:55
Speaker 1: first black Tonight show. The series among the first to
2:58
Speaker 1: provide expanded images of Africa and Americans on television with
3:01
Speaker 1: participants and regulations and eliminating archival clips. Mr Soul Capture
3:06
Speaker 1: is a critical moment in our culture where impact continues
3:09
Speaker 1: to resonate and an unsung hero, that's him whose voice
3:12
Speaker 1: we needed and then and guess what we needed today?
3:15
Speaker 1: That's the importance of this documentary. Please working to Money
3:18
Speaker 1: Making Conversation and we discussed how dreams are built. Miss
3:21
Speaker 1: She's she's the writer, she's the director. Melissa has Lip,
3:25
Speaker 1: how you doing in my friend. Hey, great to see you.
3:29
Speaker 1: Thanks for having me. I'm so excited to talk about
3:31
Speaker 1: Mr Soul with the inflamation mark exclamation mark. You know,
3:38
Speaker 1: it's really important that uh, you know, first of all,
3:40
Speaker 1: thank you for coming on Money Making Conversation, Melissa. When
3:43
Speaker 1: I see a show like this, and you know, I
3:45
Speaker 1: just want to say, it's like, you know, I've lived
3:47
Speaker 1: a good life and I hope to live a continue
3:49
Speaker 1: to live a good life. When I see shows like
3:51
Speaker 1: this and I kind of missed it. I didn't see
3:54
Speaker 1: it when it was on, and even though I was,
3:56
Speaker 1: I should have seen it was on PBS, it was
3:58
Speaker 1: on regular TV. We didn't have cave back then. It
4:00
Speaker 1: was on the Channel eight in Houston, Texas. That was
4:02
Speaker 1: my channel. That was my PBS channel. So I sure
4:05
Speaker 1: have saw seeing us this show. But I also business
4:08
Speaker 1: trying to see blacks on other network shows. On the
4:10
Speaker 1: Tonight show, you know Ed Sullivan, Uh, you know the
4:13
Speaker 1: Julia you know all these shows that that when we
4:16
Speaker 1: saw it, we ran to the television said and told
4:18
Speaker 1: all our black friends, oh, black person on TV. And
4:21
Speaker 1: it's really is true, that really did happen like that
4:24
Speaker 1: and uh and so we were inspired that and that's
4:26
Speaker 1: why black music was so important, because we could see
4:29
Speaker 1: and feel our stars. And when it came to town,
4:32
Speaker 1: we showed up. Now, when you came about this, you know,
4:34
Speaker 1: he's a relative of yours, welcous through the steps of
4:38
Speaker 1: this being brought to your attention and how was it
4:40
Speaker 1: brought to your attention, Mrs soul And there's early steps
4:43
Speaker 1: of getting it to where we have it now on
4:45
Speaker 1: HBO Max. Yes, well, it's been a long journey. Um
4:50
Speaker 1: started making the film over ten years ago, so you
4:53
Speaker 1: can imagine that's definitely a labor of love, but also
4:56
Speaker 1: a labor of love for the culture. It's a love
4:59
Speaker 1: letter to black culture, to black arts, you know, to
5:02
Speaker 1: black lives, everything that really matters today. What we wanted
5:07
Speaker 1: to do was to tell the story of you know,
5:11
Speaker 1: this is sort of a cultural moment visually that happened
5:14
Speaker 1: before Soul Train, and everyone kind of thinks that our
5:18
Speaker 1: visual history, you know, on television and in the media
5:21
Speaker 1: started with Soul Train. And it's important to recognize that
5:25
Speaker 1: Soul was a television show, as you mentioned, that was
5:28
Speaker 1: on PBS nationwide from nine to nine three, and that
5:35
Speaker 1: those were really critical moments in which we were trying
5:37
Speaker 1: to reimagine ourselves on this cultural landscape and this American
5:43
Speaker 1: landscape and on the heels of the civil rights movement.
5:46
Speaker 1: Jim Crow segregation so much, and so the idea that
5:50
Speaker 1: you could have a full black experience on TV in
5:54
Speaker 1: your living room, you know, at a moment when they
5:58
Speaker 1: weren't really feeling us because you know, segregation and Martin
6:02
Speaker 1: Luther King had just been assassinated. Was a very very
6:05
Speaker 1: volatile time. Um race relations were not great as we know,
6:09
Speaker 1: uh in night. So here you have this extraordinary show
6:14
Speaker 1: that really reaffirms black beauty, black strength, black love, black
6:19
Speaker 1: sister and brotherhood. Then amazing soul music with artists you've
6:25
Speaker 1: never seen before on television for the first time. We
6:28
Speaker 1: have a fire for the first time, the first time
6:32
Speaker 1: Patty Blue Bells. You know, it's crazy of this show
6:37
Speaker 1: is that when I when I look at it, and
6:39
Speaker 1: thank you, Melissa for just sending a tone of what
6:42
Speaker 1: we're gonna be talking about. It was set in New York. Correct, Yes,
6:46
Speaker 1: it was on PBS out of the flagship PBS station
6:49
Speaker 1: in New York, which is w n ET Channel thirteen.
6:53
Speaker 1: But it was at the beginning of public broadcasting, so
6:56
Speaker 1: it was creating a national black audience when when there
7:01
Speaker 1: really wasn't PBS just at that moment, until the National
7:04
Speaker 1: Broadcasting Act created PBS and suddenly you had stations connecting
7:09
Speaker 1: all around the country and everybody was getting to see,
7:14
Speaker 1: you know, black people on TV, right because you only
7:17
Speaker 1: had ABC, CBS, NBC, and PBS, so those were the
7:23
Speaker 1: only options on television and just it was monochromatic. There
7:27
Speaker 1: were no black people on television pretty much. So that's
7:30
Speaker 1: why this show means so much to look back and
7:33
Speaker 1: understand what was sol about and how did it interrupt
7:38
Speaker 1: television as we know it and change the perception of
7:42
Speaker 1: African American culture and black making black beautiful we know.
7:46
Speaker 1: I'm talking to Melissa here and she's the writer and
7:48
Speaker 1: director of the disappeared on HBO Max. It's called Mr.
7:51
Speaker 1: Souls docuseries. Like you said, the series is on television
7:55
Speaker 1: PBS seventy three and involves a host by Elise He
8:01
Speaker 1: was he was not a guy who wanted to be
8:03
Speaker 1: a comedian, wanted to be a singer. He was another guy.
8:06
Speaker 1: He was a guy who was a producer. And and
8:09
Speaker 1: then I would let to watch the docuseries and see
8:12
Speaker 1: how he became the actual host of the show. But
8:14
Speaker 1: he became a host from a standpoint of he followed
8:17
Speaker 1: his creative vision. In other words, when she talks about
8:21
Speaker 1: this show, the typical artists who appeared on the typical ABC, NBC,
8:26
Speaker 1: and CBS were performers, they were singers, they were comedians,
8:29
Speaker 1: they were actors that were not traditional to the you
8:33
Speaker 1: know so the But on his show, Mr Soul, he
8:36
Speaker 1: had dancers, he had poets, he had individuals. Yet interviews
8:42
Speaker 1: that would never ever the old mainstream television period wouldn't
8:47
Speaker 1: be touched by the news, by the news. And so
8:50
Speaker 1: it's important that we set that stage because of the
8:52
Speaker 1: fact that why my why am my interview? Why is
8:54
Speaker 1: the importance of Mr Soul? You have a show that
8:57
Speaker 1: was kind of it was funded by the government because
9:01
Speaker 1: old PBS. No, that's our shows get old pbs. They
9:03
Speaker 1: have to get funded by the government. And because otherwise
9:07
Speaker 1: it would not have been funded or produced or picked
9:10
Speaker 1: up on traditional ABC, NBC, UH, CBS affiliates, and those
9:14
Speaker 1: were the dominant channels at the time. I'm just let
9:17
Speaker 1: they just take some young people back to that era.
9:20
Speaker 1: And when television went off back then, it went off.
9:25
Speaker 1: I mean once the flag started, it just go and
9:29
Speaker 1: you had a dial tone that came on your screen
9:33
Speaker 1: and that was it. Okay. Once you saw the flag,
9:37
Speaker 1: you were done with watching television that night. That's the
9:40
Speaker 1: era we're talking about, not the era of your phone,
9:45
Speaker 1: not the streaming and digital and all these different channels
9:48
Speaker 1: on cable and direct TV. When television went off in
9:52
Speaker 1: the t six they're off. It went off, and you
9:55
Speaker 1: had to go to bed. Uh you looked around and
9:58
Speaker 1: your parents looked at it and wonder why you were
10:00
Speaker 1: still up because the flag has said go to bed,
10:04
Speaker 1: Am I not right to listen? It never lied said.
10:10
Speaker 1: And so you had this wonderful show called Mr. Soul
10:13
Speaker 1: come on television and UH give us a little background
10:17
Speaker 1: on that. The purpose and then the fact that he
10:20
Speaker 1: is a relative of yours and you graduate as well,
10:25
Speaker 1: and uh of Howard University in Washington, d C. Talk
10:28
Speaker 1: a little bit about him, because he was a courageous person.
10:32
Speaker 1: He was a creative person, but he didn't seek the limelight.
10:36
Speaker 1: That's right. Ellis Hazel was my uncle, and he really
10:40
Speaker 1: believed in the elevation of black culture. He believed that
10:46
Speaker 1: liberation came from freedom of expression, being able to express
10:51
Speaker 1: them to ourselves and be our true black selves, you know,
10:55
Speaker 1: not somebody else's definition of who we are. And that
10:58
Speaker 1: was really radical because Black Power, the Black Panthers, that
11:02
Speaker 1: was just starting to happen. And here tons this producer
11:05
Speaker 1: who nobody knows and he's totally in the background, but
11:09
Speaker 1: he believes if you can just make black culture visible,
11:13
Speaker 1: black artists and black politicians, you know, controversial figures like
11:18
Speaker 1: the Black Panthers, but also artists that you would only
11:21
Speaker 1: hear on the radio or see if you were lucky,
11:24
Speaker 1: you might see them on the Chitlin Circuit, you might
11:26
Speaker 1: see them at the Apollo, but otherwise you only got
11:29
Speaker 1: to hear them on the radio. So imagine getting to
11:32
Speaker 1: see people for the first time and see groups like
11:36
Speaker 1: Cool in the Gang, Earthwhen and fire Al Green. You know,
11:41
Speaker 1: jazz artists like Max Roach, McCoy tyner, Uh, you know,
11:47
Speaker 1: people that you you might know a little bit about,
11:50
Speaker 1: but we're literally getting their television debut, because I have
11:54
Speaker 1: to remember, this was before SoulTrain, and there wasn't a
11:57
Speaker 1: model for this. So here comes Las hazelap who is
12:00
Speaker 1: kind of a fish out of water. He's never been
12:02
Speaker 1: on television before, but he's a theatrical producer and he
12:06
Speaker 1: believes in black culture. He believes in black dance, black poets.
12:11
Speaker 1: He puts Nikki Giovanni in an interview with James Baldman,
12:16
Speaker 1: and many people have seen that because it went viral
12:18
Speaker 1: on television. I mean sorry, it went viral on social media,
12:22
Speaker 1: but nobody knows that that came from Seul. So the
12:24
Speaker 1: series itself was called Soul, and then Ellis Hazel became
12:28
Speaker 1: known as Mr Soul because his last name, Hazel was
12:31
Speaker 1: hard to pronounce him. They would see him walking in
12:33
Speaker 1: Harlem and they go, there goes um, there he goes
12:36
Speaker 1: the Soul. Yeah, Mr Soul. Let's Mr Soul. So let's
12:43
Speaker 1: tectually known as Mr. Soul. So that's why we've been
12:46
Speaker 1: not that title. He deserved that title. And the thing
12:48
Speaker 1: about it, the primary purpose of Soul was to educate
12:52
Speaker 1: entertained and a lot of people to share in the
12:54
Speaker 1: black experience. That's why I was on PBS. That's how
12:56
Speaker 1: we sold as an educational platform, and it made black
12:59
Speaker 1: visable in the society where blacks had been invisible. When
13:02
Speaker 1: I say that, like she said, you know, it was
13:05
Speaker 1: a pretty dark period for black um civil rights. You know,
13:10
Speaker 1: uh John F. Kennedy had been shot in the sixties.
13:13
Speaker 1: You know, Robert Kennedy had been shot in the sixties.
13:16
Speaker 1: Of unfortunately, also Dr Martin Luther King had been shot
13:20
Speaker 1: in the sixties. Black blacks were lost, they had no voice.
13:24
Speaker 1: And then this show called Soul and that's a soul
13:27
Speaker 1: with an exclamation mark came on television, um, and and
13:31
Speaker 1: it allowed, like you said, this image that has been traded. Also,
13:35
Speaker 1: we had Vietnam War playing on the background, and we
13:38
Speaker 1: had this uh Richard Nixon presidency planning out in the background.
13:43
Speaker 1: There's a lot of behind the scene activity that goes on,
13:46
Speaker 1: and we hear the world Council culture. You see high
13:49
Speaker 1: Council culture plays itself out in this Doctor series. Of
13:53
Speaker 1: all the things that you were doing in the value,
13:55
Speaker 1: like said, ten years to do this, what surprised you
13:58
Speaker 1: the most and what maybe say disappointed you the most
14:02
Speaker 1: that the series wasn't appreciated enough and how i'd ended,
14:06
Speaker 1: if you can talk about that. I think what surprised
14:09
Speaker 1: me the most and interviewing people who were either on
14:12
Speaker 1: the show or people who were behind the scenes, like
14:15
Speaker 1: Stan Lathan. Amazing director Stan Lathan got his start on Soul.
14:19
Speaker 1: Many people don't know that he became famous when he
14:22
Speaker 1: moved to l a and started directing Sanford and Son
14:25
Speaker 1: and all this everything that's happened since then. Now he's
14:28
Speaker 1: directing Dave Chappelle series. You know. But stan Lathan cut
14:32
Speaker 1: his teeth learning how to direct on Soul and l. S.
14:35
Speaker 1: Hays have always provided these opportunities for people who wouldn't
14:39
Speaker 1: have them. You know, you didn't have black directors back
14:42
Speaker 1: then on national television, and you didn't have black associate
14:45
Speaker 1: producers or women. So Ellis changed all of that. He said,
14:50
Speaker 1: you want to be an actress, come work with me
14:52
Speaker 1: as an associate producer and I'll help you become an actress.
14:55
Speaker 1: That's Anna Maria Horsford from Amen, you know. And and
15:00
Speaker 1: it's just amazing that he was always pushing the culture
15:04
Speaker 1: and pushing opportunities for people. And what what surprised me
15:09
Speaker 1: fifty years later is that it's still right here. It's
15:13
Speaker 1: still very very emotional for people that that like it
15:17
Speaker 1: just happened, like this was a moment in their career
15:20
Speaker 1: that they will never forget. And so that energy because
15:24
Speaker 1: I was worried, you know, I was fifty years ago
15:26
Speaker 1: and I was hoping. I was worried, how am I
15:28
Speaker 1: going to convey that kind of vibe like it's happening today?
15:32
Speaker 1: So it doesn't feel like we're just looking back and
15:34
Speaker 1: being nostalgic. And what surprised me was like all those
15:38
Speaker 1: emotions were right on the surface and that everybody was
15:43
Speaker 1: so invested in the show, and that when it was canceled,
15:47
Speaker 1: you know, it left a hole, it left avoid because
15:50
Speaker 1: there was no way to feel our true power in
15:55
Speaker 1: a way that was unfiltered and unapologetically black. You know,
16:00
Speaker 1: the show started to come on, um uh, you know,
16:04
Speaker 1: different types of talk shows and black power shows, guil
16:08
Speaker 1: noble how to show like like, it isn't this show.
16:13
Speaker 1: It wasn't this show. And I think that's important that
16:15
Speaker 1: we say that because the fact that host wasn't wasn't
16:19
Speaker 1: born out of entertainment. He was born out of creativity.
16:23
Speaker 1: He's born out of production. And like you said, this
16:25
Speaker 1: project has been. And then the hairstyles, Oh my goodness
16:29
Speaker 1: that oh you know, like I said, uh, you know
16:32
Speaker 1: those things that they had to be perfect. You have
16:35
Speaker 1: the perfect hairstyle. Is But you touched on some of
16:37
Speaker 1: your conversation about the presence of women as producers in
16:43
Speaker 1: the background of development, which we see now African and
16:46
Speaker 1: American women having such a prominent role as producers as
16:50
Speaker 1: yourself being a producer, writer and creative minds. That's something
16:54
Speaker 1: we need to bring out in this interview because you
16:56
Speaker 1: are female. And like I said, we mentioned Anna and
17:00
Speaker 1: uh built it And I was kind of surprised, what
17:06
Speaker 1: does that? And because I didn't know that about her?
17:08
Speaker 1: I didn't know she had was a right. I didn't
17:10
Speaker 1: know she was a producer. All I knew about it
17:12
Speaker 1: was as an actress. And so talk about seeing the
17:16
Speaker 1: layer of producers from a female perspective being the heartbeat
17:21
Speaker 1: of this show so well, there was another producer who
17:24
Speaker 1: became the first, the first woman and the first black
17:28
Speaker 1: woman associate producer on the show, and her name was
17:32
Speaker 1: Alice Hill Jackson. She's featured in our film. She was
17:35
Speaker 1: married to Hal Jackson, whom everyone and everyone would remember
17:39
Speaker 1: because he was such a force. He was also helping
17:42
Speaker 1: to um book talent and find great artists to perform
17:46
Speaker 1: at the Apollo, and so she worked together with her husband.
17:50
Speaker 1: He also created uh the Black Teen America, the first
17:53
Speaker 1: sort of black teen pageants in America, and that was
17:57
Speaker 1: really important too. So you have these people who are
18:01
Speaker 1: you know, kind of cultural pioneers leading these behind the
18:05
Speaker 1: scenes epic historic moments, and to have a woman like
18:10
Speaker 1: that connecting with talent and bringing them on to the stage,
18:14
Speaker 1: that was really significant because there was a woman's movement happening,
18:19
Speaker 1: but Black women were not included in that. You know,
18:21
Speaker 1: we're never included in this idea of we're feminists too
18:25
Speaker 1: and we're pushing for our rights too. So Ellis always
18:29
Speaker 1: knew that women were in the forefront, and that wasn't
18:32
Speaker 1: unusual to empower women. It just seems unusual when we
18:37
Speaker 1: look back now, when you realize nobody else was doing it.
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Speaker 1: State Forrester and the ad Council. Me. So you said
21:08
Speaker 1: an interesting there, Hal Jackson, It's just the same Hal Jackson,
21:12
Speaker 1: w BLS. Hal Jackson. Uh, he was at w b
21:15
Speaker 1: LS as well. Yeah, I know how that's just Steve
21:17
Speaker 1: Harvey and I would what w BNS from two thousand
21:20
Speaker 1: five to two thousand and seven when he was doing Sundays.
21:23
Speaker 1: That guy was amazing. He was truly, uh, legendary. But
21:30
Speaker 1: I didn't know. I didn't know that so you brought
21:32
Speaker 1: it up. But again, walking in history, talking to history,
21:35
Speaker 1: being a part of history, how was in my life
21:38
Speaker 1: for two years when I was in New York with
21:39
Speaker 1: Steve Harvey on WBLS and WE he was doing the
21:43
Speaker 1: morning show and how I will do Sundays and we.
21:45
Speaker 1: He've always asked us to participate in community projects and
21:49
Speaker 1: that's important that you know when I know I've heard
21:52
Speaker 1: that name and go wow, this is pretty interesting that
21:54
Speaker 1: we are that connected in this relationship. But you brought
21:56
Speaker 1: in Blair Underwood into the project. Was it important to
22:00
Speaker 1: bring a name like that? How did he come into
22:02
Speaker 1: the relationship as far as a producer? He also did
22:05
Speaker 1: emforcing on this series. Because this is ten years so
22:08
Speaker 1: ten years you had the idea, can you just step
22:12
Speaker 1: us through, like when this stand getting saying Lathan get involved?
22:16
Speaker 1: When did Blair Underwood get involved? And when did you
22:18
Speaker 1: guys realize this project was going to be sold? Because
22:21
Speaker 1: if it first was so to a PPS format? Correct, right, Well,
22:25
Speaker 1: because the show originated on PBS, we thought it would
22:29
Speaker 1: be great to have a PBS premier as kind of
22:32
Speaker 1: a homecoming because nobody has seen Soul for all these years.
22:36
Speaker 1: It's been an a vault, you know, and I just
22:39
Speaker 1: felt this show was made for the people, by the people.
22:43
Speaker 1: It was free. You know. Ellis has put the public
22:46
Speaker 1: in public broadcasting. He created a uh you know, it's
22:50
Speaker 1: it's not down Nabby and it's not Sesame Street, but
22:54
Speaker 1: there is a black audience. There's a black nation, and
22:56
Speaker 1: he knew that. He always knew that, and so it
23:00
Speaker 1: was important for us to have a PBS premiere and
23:02
Speaker 1: that happened during Black History Month and that was really
23:05
Speaker 1: wonderful on Independent Lens and they will continue to show
23:08
Speaker 1: the film for the next two years every now and then.
23:12
Speaker 1: But what we wanted the film to reach a U
23:15
Speaker 1: a national audience as well. And HBO Max is an
23:19
Speaker 1: incredible platform for that um. And it happened as well
23:23
Speaker 1: when the nation was pivoting from the theater to digital
23:27
Speaker 1: and streaming, especially during COVID, and we just thought, well,
23:32
Speaker 1: what would Ellis Hazel do. He would be on the
23:34
Speaker 1: cutting edge of content delivery and trying to reach the
23:38
Speaker 1: people just liked back in the seventies and in the
23:41
Speaker 1: seventies he we didn't have social media, and so he
23:44
Speaker 1: called it the drum. You know how an African communities,
23:47
Speaker 1: the drum was the message. The drum was how we
23:49
Speaker 1: got our message across, how we learned how we were
23:53
Speaker 1: going to break away from freedom when we were enslaved.
23:55
Speaker 1: And you know, there's a history of the drum. And
23:58
Speaker 1: so would go out and he would call it the drum,
24:01
Speaker 1: and he would canvass the black neighborhoods and say, did
24:03
Speaker 1: you see soul that you watching it? Thinking it? Is
24:07
Speaker 1: it giving you what you need? What do you want
24:09
Speaker 1: to hear? What do you like? What do you dislike?
24:11
Speaker 1: And so he was really a man of the people
24:12
Speaker 1: and a man of the streets. So we thought, well,
24:15
Speaker 1: we got to honor that with the PBS broadcast, but
24:18
Speaker 1: let's also honor the way people want to see content
24:21
Speaker 1: now on their phones, on their tablets and streaming at
24:24
Speaker 1: their own um, you know, their own time when they're ready.
24:27
Speaker 1: So HBO Max was really key for that. And they
24:30
Speaker 1: are doing so much dynamic programming right now and they
24:33
Speaker 1: seem to be the most diverse of all the platforms.
24:37
Speaker 1: You know. That was important to us too. How come
24:40
Speaker 1: on board and how they underway. So stan came on board,
24:44
Speaker 1: uh and originally as an interview and we had to
24:48
Speaker 1: have stand because he's one of the original directors and
24:51
Speaker 1: some of the best episodes, the Earthen Fire episode, the
24:54
Speaker 1: al Green episode, you know, the Wonder episode, all of
24:58
Speaker 1: those are stan leyths. So we interviewed him and then
25:02
Speaker 1: later on after he saw the film, he said, you know,
25:04
Speaker 1: I really believe in this film, Melissa. I can't believe
25:06
Speaker 1: you got it done. After which that year that I said,
25:09
Speaker 1: I would like to honor you in your connection and
25:11
Speaker 1: your career with this being your first job really to
25:16
Speaker 1: be to be an executive producer, and so he said, yes, absolutely,
25:20
Speaker 1: so he came on to executive produce and help us
25:23
Speaker 1: get it to the next level. Blair Underwood, we knew
25:26
Speaker 1: we needed the voice of Ellis Hay slope, and we
25:28
Speaker 1: wanted a man who kind of straddled that old school
25:31
Speaker 1: sound but also was totally connected with a contemporary audience.
25:36
Speaker 1: And and Blair has that. You know, I've loved him
25:38
Speaker 1: since l A Law. I'm not gonna lie, so I've
25:41
Speaker 1: been a big fan. But I also knew that he
25:43
Speaker 1: was a voice actor because he is on the A show.
25:48
Speaker 1: It's an animated show, by the way, he does a
25:50
Speaker 1: lot of voiceovers. But he's also on the Lion king
25:53
Speaker 1: Um sequel called The Lion Guard, and I heard I
25:57
Speaker 1: just happened to catch some episodes of that, and I
25:59
Speaker 1: thought out, he's really a great voice actor too. And
26:02
Speaker 1: we wanted somebody who would be the voice of Ellis Hazel,
26:06
Speaker 1: but not a caricature, not like a like trying too hard,
26:10
Speaker 1: Like what would Ellis sound like if you were thinking,
26:12
Speaker 1: you know what, get that that interior blackness? Like you
26:17
Speaker 1: don't hear that a lot. You don't see it a
26:19
Speaker 1: lot in films. You don't get to know what a
26:21
Speaker 1: black man is thinking. Right, And because he was an intellectual,
26:25
Speaker 1: I said, because he's deceased, were like, we have to
26:28
Speaker 1: give him a voice so it feels like he is
26:30
Speaker 1: with us. And he's leading his own story and telling
26:33
Speaker 1: his own truth. And one once Blair got involved and
26:36
Speaker 1: understood and after we we actually showed him the film,
26:40
Speaker 1: he fell in love with it and he said, I
26:42
Speaker 1: want to be executive producer and do all that I can.
26:46
Speaker 1: Now we're talking right, director of this series, Mr Soul,
26:50
Speaker 1: because uncle Ellis Hassle was the host of Soul, which
26:55
Speaker 1: is abs show that ran from nine nineteen seventy three.
27:01
Speaker 1: Among the guests the show showcase included, like she said earlier,
27:04
Speaker 1: Al Green, Stevie, Wonder Earth, Winning Fire Padded last Night,
27:08
Speaker 1: Mom and Adlie, author James Baldwin, and an intimate interview
27:12
Speaker 1: with Poe, poet Nikki Giovanni, Cicily Tyson, cooling the Gang
27:16
Speaker 1: and doing Magic, a young Arsenio Hall. This this show
27:21
Speaker 1: was a very enlightening for me. The documentary I enjoyed
27:26
Speaker 1: from start to finish. When you walked through, you you're
27:28
Speaker 1: seeing history, and you're seeing history played out in New
27:31
Speaker 1: York keeping seeing history played out and dramatic and drama
27:36
Speaker 1: because you don't know if the show is gonna get
27:37
Speaker 1: renewed and wise and the underhand politics that get played
27:41
Speaker 1: into the whole process and that and then you get
27:44
Speaker 1: to bring on talent that producers are EPs, like Stan Laken,
27:48
Speaker 1: like Burla Underwood and now it's being showcased on HBO Max.
27:52
Speaker 1: What's the next step for your brand and what's the
27:53
Speaker 1: next step for your production company? Well, we're also were
27:57
Speaker 1: brought on the wonderful producer writer Emmy Grammy, No not
28:02
Speaker 1: Grammy yet, but Emmy winner Lena Ways, and she's one
28:06
Speaker 1: of our producers as well. We also as Ebert and
28:09
Speaker 1: It's and we have um just amazing people Stephanie Rants
28:13
Speaker 1: from the Martha's Vineyard af American Film Festival and what
28:17
Speaker 1: we're working with Lena Waits and her brand new record
28:21
Speaker 1: company called him and grad Records to help release the
28:25
Speaker 1: soundtrack of Mr. Soul and that's gonna come out via
28:29
Speaker 1: def Jam and Universal Records. So we're just so excited
28:32
Speaker 1: because you know, music in the film is a character.
28:36
Speaker 1: You know, it's not like a backdrop or an underscore,
28:40
Speaker 1: but black music is. And as Las hayes Up said,
28:43
Speaker 1: you know, the soul the floor for Black Pride, and
28:47
Speaker 1: we really with Robert Glass for as our amazing composer
28:52
Speaker 1: and then he wrote a song for Leyla Hathaway and
28:56
Speaker 1: that's the single that's gonna be dropping very soon called
28:58
Speaker 1: show Me Your Soul and that it was just a
29:01
Speaker 1: great song and it was shortlisted for the Oscars this
29:04
Speaker 1: year for Best Original Song. Well, the beauty of this
29:08
Speaker 1: is that your production company, Shoes in the Bed Productions,
29:12
Speaker 1: like you said, your filmmaker, and that's your company that's
29:14
Speaker 1: with the company that produces this particular project. As I
29:17
Speaker 1: closed this interview, and thank you for coming on my show,
29:20
Speaker 1: thank you for give me an early view of the Mrs.
29:24
Speaker 1: Soul docuseries, which is wonderful and in fact, when it
29:27
Speaker 1: comes on HBO Max, I'm gonna recommend my friends to
29:30
Speaker 1: watch and put it on social media. Please get those
29:32
Speaker 1: banners to me so we can put it out there.
29:34
Speaker 1: Any other projects in the works that we can look
29:36
Speaker 1: forward to seeing from your wonderful production company, Shoes in
29:39
Speaker 1: the Bed Productions, Well, she's a the bet is just
29:42
Speaker 1: doing this Mr Soul, John, But I am also working
29:45
Speaker 1: on a new project with Netflix Exact Producing. Yeah, it's
29:50
Speaker 1: a series about women in hip hop. Uh, it's really
29:53
Speaker 1: the history of black womanhood in America, but it's explored
29:56
Speaker 1: through the lens of women in hip hop. Their lives
29:58
Speaker 1: and their music. So you know, it's a year of
30:00
Speaker 1: the Black Woman, Melissa. If you could turn that lands
30:05
Speaker 1: on stan Lathan and slow him down, because that young
30:08
Speaker 1: man right there is walking in history. Uh. People just
30:11
Speaker 1: don't understand. You know, he is truly a legend. I
30:14
Speaker 1: call him the godfather when he when I came into
30:18
Speaker 1: Hollywood in four to be in a position to just
30:21
Speaker 1: not even understand who he was, but he was just
30:24
Speaker 1: so humble and good looking, and it was it was
30:28
Speaker 1: We was on ABC. He was the director of Steve
30:31
Speaker 1: Harvey's first sitcom Me and the Boys, and over the years,
30:35
Speaker 1: the deaf comedy Jam. Uh, the Kevin Hart Project's on ABC. Uh,
30:41
Speaker 1: The House Hollywood, Uh, Husband's Hollywood, Hollywood Husband or whatever
30:47
Speaker 1: the title of it is. He that's him behind that
30:50
Speaker 1: and so many other projects not on this. Thank you
30:52
Speaker 1: for coming on money Making conversations and talking about Mr
30:55
Speaker 1: Soul hp HBO max u uncle graduating from HBCU Howard University.
31:03
Speaker 1: Thank you for sharing this story. You're wonderful And again
31:06
Speaker 1: I will be promoting this on my social media, are
31:09
Speaker 1: promoting this in my newsletter. Just the words out just
31:12
Speaker 1: like him. You've missed so right, now okay you miss you,
31:15
Speaker 1: Miss So. He's miss So. You missed, So I done,
31:18
Speaker 1: miss so, miss So. Thank you for coming on Money
31:21
Speaker 1: Making Conversations. Okay, Melissa, thank you so much for John.
31:24
Speaker 1: We will be right back with more money Making Conversation
31:27
Speaker 1: with Rashan McDonald. You are now tuned into the Money
31:32
Speaker 1: Making Conversations Minute of Inspiration with Rashan McDonald. Hi, Rashan
31:36
Speaker 1: McDonald for money Making Conversation with your daily minute of Inspiration.
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Speaker 1: This week, I sat down with the King of reality TV,
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Speaker 1: He recently secured a first look deal with on where
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Speaker 1: he will develop unscripted series for the network. My friends
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Speaker 1: and the business knew that I love reality TV, and
32:00
Speaker 1: the first reality show I was offered, funny enough, was
32:04
Speaker 1: The Real Housewife of Atlanta. It was a brand new show.
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Speaker 1: I think it's the gift of the fact that I
32:12
Speaker 1: study people, so I know people, I know behavior, and
32:18
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32:23
Speaker 1: If you want to listen to this full interview with
32:25
Speaker 1: Carlos King, it's available on Money making conversation dot com.
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Speaker 1: Forest Service and the AD Council. Now let's return to
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Speaker 1: money making conversation with Rushan McDonald. My next guest is
34:04
Speaker 1: Tina Andrews. She is an award winning writer, producer, director,
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Speaker 1: and author. Her epic CBS mini series Sally Hemmings and
34:12
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34:15
Speaker 1: Awards and the w G Award for Long Form, and
34:18
Speaker 1: became the first African American woman to receive the Writer's
34:21
Speaker 1: Guild of America Honor for Original Long Form. Tina also
34:24
Speaker 1: wrote and produced the successful CBS mini series movie Jackie
34:28
Speaker 1: about Jackie Kenny on Nassas, and wrote the movie Why
34:31
Speaker 1: Do Foods Fall in Love? One of my favorites, with
34:33
Speaker 1: Halle Berry, Vivica A. Fox, Layla Rashawn, and my Man Lorenz. Tate.
34:38
Speaker 1: Her acclaimed historical novel by Queen Charlotte Charlotte Sophia has
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Speaker 1: been acquired by HBO. Max is now available as an
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Speaker 1: audiobook as well. It's all about building your brand, and
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Speaker 1: she's here to tell hers how she's doing hers. Please
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Speaker 1: working the money making conversations. Tina Andrews, Hi, there, how
34:59
Speaker 1: so much for having me? Well, you know, I always
35:01
Speaker 1: always love um when I weed talent, because you're African
35:04
Speaker 1: American talent. But I see crossover opportunities like we like
35:09
Speaker 1: we saw with the with the Jackie A. Nassas, can
35:11
Speaker 1: you because we sometimes we get pigeonholed, people said, we
35:14
Speaker 1: can't tell we can only tell the story based on
35:16
Speaker 1: our color. When you got that opportunity to do the
35:19
Speaker 1: Jackie Kennon Nassas walk us through the step of if
35:23
Speaker 1: there were some obstacles, how he was able to convince
35:26
Speaker 1: people that you could do this series and when they
35:29
Speaker 1: turned out to be successful, what was the reaction? Well,
35:33
Speaker 1: rashand I'm gonna tell you something. That was the easiest
35:35
Speaker 1: gig I ever got I had done. I mean it's
35:39
Speaker 1: always always that way that whenever you're you're sort of pioneering,
35:43
Speaker 1: sometimes the job becomes easier than most people think I
35:48
Speaker 1: had done. Sally Hemmings. Sally Hemmings was a juggernaut success.
35:54
Speaker 1: And so I get a phone call on a Monday
35:56
Speaker 1: morning from the powers that be at Sea Yes, and
36:01
Speaker 1: I was told, Hey, Tina, you love doing historical projects.
36:05
Speaker 1: I mean, I have something that we think would be
36:08
Speaker 1: in your sweet spot. We've acquired a book on on
36:12
Speaker 1: the First Lady Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy on Nassas. How would
36:15
Speaker 1: you like to turn that into a four hour uh
36:19
Speaker 1: mini series? And I'm on the other end and I'm saying,
36:24
Speaker 1: Jackie Kennedy, I say, you realize you called a black
36:27
Speaker 1: woman right right, right right? And so I was told
36:33
Speaker 1: that they were so happy with what I had done
36:36
Speaker 1: with not only Sally, but it was also the dramatization
36:40
Speaker 1: of Thomas Jefferson that made them feel confident and comfortable
36:45
Speaker 1: in my handling First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy. And so I
36:49
Speaker 1: jumped at that opportunity because you know, in the past,
36:53
Speaker 1: it has always been members of another culture writing our story.
37:00
Speaker 1: And so for a change, I said, oh, we can,
37:03
Speaker 1: we can sort of flip the script on this and
37:05
Speaker 1: it'll be me writing this wonderful and domitable First Lady's story.
37:09
Speaker 1: So I hopped at that opportunity and it was wonderful because,
37:14
Speaker 1: first of all, I knew a lot about her. I
37:16
Speaker 1: had done UM a lot of work on jack Kennedy
37:20
Speaker 1: and of course on Dr Martin Luther King. So the
37:24
Speaker 1: first thing I did was contact Mrs King and I
37:26
Speaker 1: asked her if I could come down to Atlanta to
37:29
Speaker 1: meet with her, because I know she and Jackie had
37:32
Speaker 1: a had a relationship. And so then I thought, oh,
37:35
Speaker 1: I'll be able to add some things to a Jackie
37:39
Speaker 1: Kennedy story that a member of another culture may not
37:42
Speaker 1: have even been interested in adding. So it's good for me. Now.
37:46
Speaker 1: You know, the wonderful thing about it is that when
37:48
Speaker 1: you when you grab an iconic figure like she is
37:51
Speaker 1: Jackie Kennedy nassas, you know you have some I guess
37:55
Speaker 1: I said some things already bided in. How do you
37:57
Speaker 1: start layering it down to really? Like you said you
38:00
Speaker 1: you was able to find a nugget in the relationship
38:02
Speaker 1: she had with Mrs King, Dr Martin Luther King's wife.
38:05
Speaker 1: Now when you join your research, did any other interesting
38:09
Speaker 1: thing pop up in her that you didn't you didn't
38:12
Speaker 1: see coming? That made for great storytelling, and it's for
38:16
Speaker 1: for four episode mini series I UM will tell you
38:20
Speaker 1: that they had given me a book that they bought
38:23
Speaker 1: so pretty much that book told Mrs Kennedy's story. But
38:28
Speaker 1: what I was fascinated by is that, uh, Mrs Mrs
38:32
Speaker 1: Kennedy had difficulties with her father, her father, UM black Jack,
38:38
Speaker 1: Um Bouvier. You know, she she she sort of felt
38:42
Speaker 1: like she was not the beloved Kennedy daughter. I was
38:46
Speaker 1: not kidding at that time, Booth a daughter. Um. She
38:49
Speaker 1: had a good relationship with UM, with her sister, but
38:53
Speaker 1: you know, like siblings, they sort of went in and out,
38:56
Speaker 1: and I wanted to show that it wasn't such an
38:59
Speaker 1: easy rope her. This is a woman who had the
39:01
Speaker 1: ambition to be a photographer. We we forget that before
39:06
Speaker 1: the pill Box there was this ambitious onoe m. You
39:11
Speaker 1: know the interesting thing about like I started out in
39:15
Speaker 1: Hollywood as a sitcom writer. You know they wrote, you know, look,
39:19
Speaker 1: uh Steve Harvey's first sitcom and ninety three and Me
39:23
Speaker 1: and the Boys, NATI four School, Me and the Boys,
39:25
Speaker 1: and then we did uh Robert Townson's Parenthood and did
39:29
Speaker 1: ABC with or Send his Hall sitcom, and they did
39:32
Speaker 1: Sister Sisters with the twins t and tamaraw Maori and
39:35
Speaker 1: went over to Jamie Fox and did the Parkers and
39:38
Speaker 1: along the way, I'm feeling that I have a skill
39:41
Speaker 1: set that can be transferable. And this is what we
39:43
Speaker 1: were talking about earlier when you said they called you
39:47
Speaker 1: as an African American to do a white project. And
39:49
Speaker 1: every time I wrote a sitcom, I try to get
39:52
Speaker 1: on a home improvement at the time, or Seinfield or friends.
39:56
Speaker 1: I had to write their style of sitcom otherwise, as
40:00
Speaker 1: they felt that I wasn't a real writer. And and
40:03
Speaker 1: just talking to young people and talking to people inspiring
40:06
Speaker 1: to be in this industry, which is what we call Hollywood.
40:10
Speaker 1: It really does. You really can't be pitted into a
40:12
Speaker 1: corner and said, this is what you only can do.
40:15
Speaker 1: That's why, that's why a champion admired what you accomplishing
40:19
Speaker 1: as a writer as a producer, because you know that's
40:21
Speaker 1: a hard that's a hard wall to a door to
40:23
Speaker 1: open that walking over and said, I can do any
40:27
Speaker 1: type of project because I have the skill set. Do
40:29
Speaker 1: not deny me because of the color of my skin,
40:31
Speaker 1: correctness right, or gender or age or any of that.
40:35
Speaker 1: I am not any I'm not into any of the isms.
40:38
Speaker 1: But I will tell you, Rashan, I had to show
40:40
Speaker 1: people what I could do first. Now, let's face it,
40:44
Speaker 1: for many of us of color, the door to success
40:48
Speaker 1: here in Hollywood is writing a comedy. You said you
40:50
Speaker 1: started out doing quite a few um comedies. I could
40:54
Speaker 1: not get a movie made unless it was funny, or
40:58
Speaker 1: if I did have a piece that was serious in nature,
41:03
Speaker 1: I was always told add the funny to it. For instance,
41:06
Speaker 1: I'll give you an example on the movie that you
41:09
Speaker 1: said you liked, Why the Fool's Fall in Love. That's
41:13
Speaker 1: a serious film about a young man who ended up
41:17
Speaker 1: spiraling into the abyss of drug abuse, in fact, heroin abuse.
41:23
Speaker 1: And yet he had married three women and not divorced
41:26
Speaker 1: any of them before he died and left this estate,
41:29
Speaker 1: and that became the through into the story. Well, at
41:33
Speaker 1: the end of the day, those three women, you know,
41:36
Speaker 1: started out hating each other, and so it left room
41:39
Speaker 1: for some very sort of funny things to go on
41:42
Speaker 1: in that courtroom situation. And I remembered being told by warners,
41:46
Speaker 1: oh my god, Tina, every time you put the three
41:48
Speaker 1: women together in a room, it's hilarious. So, um, you know,
41:54
Speaker 1: do a little more than that so that we don't
41:56
Speaker 1: spend so much time in his um dis sent into
42:02
Speaker 1: drug abuse. So I needed to show people that I
42:05
Speaker 1: could write seriously. So once I became successful doing those
42:12
Speaker 1: types of films, I was then able to say to
42:15
Speaker 1: the agency, Hey, let's get out there and sell the
42:18
Speaker 1: stuff that I already have written to show people that
42:22
Speaker 1: I am a dramatic writer. And that stuff took off. Congratulations.
42:27
Speaker 1: You know I'm talking to Tina Andrews. Uh. I wanted
42:29
Speaker 1: to see, can I say the word brilliant Tina Andrews,
42:32
Speaker 1: you know, award winning Tina Andrew Could I answ some
42:35
Speaker 1: more to It was a serious that's been acquired by
42:38
Speaker 1: HBO Max called Charlotte Sophia. You know. I know we're
42:42
Speaker 1: gonna get to that, but I just like to talk
42:44
Speaker 1: about the journey because if I start there at the
42:47
Speaker 1: HBC HBO Max project, I really don't feel that people
42:51
Speaker 1: will appreciate the journey, you know that? And I would
42:54
Speaker 1: throw out my little acting credit. Tino. You know, I
42:56
Speaker 1: started Jason's lyrics. I was a tap dancer and way
43:00
Speaker 1: back in the day in Houston, Texas and fast Freddy
43:03
Speaker 1: was my name. And then I read your bio and
43:06
Speaker 1: it's tied to the amazing series that changed television, Roots
43:11
Speaker 1: by Alex Hayes. And you know, I still you know
43:16
Speaker 1: because we look at television now. You see so many
43:18
Speaker 1: African Americans on commercials. You see mixed couples. You see
43:21
Speaker 1: African Americans hugging each other, if we mixed couples, it
43:24
Speaker 1: just really television is evolved in such a and just
43:27
Speaker 1: five years ago, you know they try to take cheerios
43:31
Speaker 1: off the shelves because they had a little a little
43:33
Speaker 1: a little white looking girls, right and so and so.
43:38
Speaker 1: But you want television by the project about slavery, if
43:44
Speaker 1: you could walk Roots, everybody an iconic series now. But
43:47
Speaker 1: we didn't know how people will react to that. But
43:50
Speaker 1: you were part of that, and I'm sure it affected
43:53
Speaker 1: your life, your thought process, and also threw you in
43:56
Speaker 1: the fore front of American conversation. Talk about that. We
44:00
Speaker 1: can journey back there a little bit and then move forward. Okay, well,
44:03
Speaker 1: actually I would like to take one. I would like
44:05
Speaker 1: to go one project just before routes. We have to
44:09
Speaker 1: remember I had the first interracial relationship on daytime television
44:15
Speaker 1: on Days of our Lives to se they didn't pretend
44:17
Speaker 1: to BUYO Naina. They didn't pretend was cut because that
44:23
Speaker 1: was amazing that that was a major, major, UH project
44:28
Speaker 1: for me to be involved with. We kissed on a
44:31
Speaker 1: Friday after two years of you know, looking lovingly at
44:36
Speaker 1: each other, and we kissed on Friday, and five thousand negative,
44:41
Speaker 1: horrible hate letters came to NBC. So I know what
44:45
Speaker 1: it's like to be involved in a project that's that
44:48
Speaker 1: gets a lot of attention and that becomes very controversial.
44:53
Speaker 1: Right after I left Days of Our Lives because of
44:57
Speaker 1: that negative publicity, I had to go. I was the
44:59
Speaker 1: one who was left go, not the white guy. I
45:02
Speaker 1: ended up in Roots, and we knew from the second
45:07
Speaker 1: we got the very first pilot episode that it was
45:10
Speaker 1: going to be phenomenal. The book had been so successful.
45:15
Speaker 1: I had worked for two of the directors who were
45:19
Speaker 1: involved in it, and one of them was the one
45:21
Speaker 1: who called me and said, I've got two roles here,
45:24
Speaker 1: pick one, whichever one you want, you can do it.
45:28
Speaker 1: And I was so grateful to John Erman for that opportunity,
45:32
Speaker 1: and we got involved and it felt like the ancestors
45:38
Speaker 1: carried us through the entire production. We were on the
45:43
Speaker 1: shoulders of those who came before, so we instantly knew
45:47
Speaker 1: that we were going to be a successful mini series,
45:51
Speaker 1: we just didn't know how successful. As a result of that,
45:55
Speaker 1: of course, I became very good friends with um, with Alex,
45:59
Speaker 1: Alex Haley. And it was Alex who quite frankly, gave
46:03
Speaker 1: me my first opportunity as a writer and by the way,
46:07
Speaker 1: as a writer to work with him on a PBS project.
46:12
Speaker 1: So I am indebted to again those who have gone before.
46:15
Speaker 1: I am indebted to Mr Hayley, first of all having
46:20
Speaker 1: written Roots, and then for allowing me to be in Routes.
46:24
Speaker 1: And then I sent him, frankly a Bob Marley story
46:28
Speaker 1: and I sent him Sally Hemmings and he read those
46:31
Speaker 1: two uh scripts and said called me in back and said,
46:35
Speaker 1: when did you become such a good writer? We need
46:38
Speaker 1: to do a project together. And I'm thinking, wait a minute,
46:41
Speaker 1: this is eight in the Awards winning Alex Hayley, who
46:44
Speaker 1: wants to work with y. Yeah. So there there have
46:50
Speaker 1: been a series of situations where the career built, and
46:55
Speaker 1: then it built to the Charlotte Sophia project. If I
47:00
Speaker 1: could be you and you could be me for just
47:02
Speaker 1: what hour? If you could find a way to get
47:05
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Speaker 1: What grows in the forest trees, Sure you know what
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Speaker 1: brought to you by the United States Forest Service and
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Speaker 1: the AD Council. You know, let's let's let's go to
48:31
Speaker 1: that now, because we all know that Tina, when you
48:33
Speaker 1: talk about it's really your story is so interesting because,
48:36
Speaker 1: like I said, when you are first, when you are
48:40
Speaker 1: groundbreaker or pioneer, I can use those termin those terms
48:43
Speaker 1: in front of you because sometimes you get setbacks like
48:46
Speaker 1: you said, you did, you did? You did a role
48:48
Speaker 1: that was requested your days of our lives and then
48:51
Speaker 1: all of ASO, a letter comes in and the network
48:54
Speaker 1: becomes frightened by it and you are terminated. That that
48:58
Speaker 1: that moment of being our fare Who did you call in?
49:02
Speaker 1: Who did you who did you seek advice from? Our
49:05
Speaker 1: support from? Or would you did you feel you were
49:07
Speaker 1: just out there by yourself and no one could help you?
49:10
Speaker 1: Oh no, my father was still alive. My father is
49:13
Speaker 1: the I mean, probably the most important person in terms
49:16
Speaker 1: of the career. I would call my father crying all
49:20
Speaker 1: the time during during days of our lives, with the
49:23
Speaker 1: negative publicity. They would not let me get my mail
49:26
Speaker 1: before we shot for the day. The network said, give
49:29
Speaker 1: her her fan nail after she finishes, so that I
49:32
Speaker 1: could go home and cry. So so I called Daddy
49:38
Speaker 1: and I said, I don't know what's going on, but
49:41
Speaker 1: I'm I'm really depressed. I can't find really great They're
49:45
Speaker 1: not enough really great, empowering, dignified roles for black women.
49:49
Speaker 1: And I feel like I, you know, I'm gonna be
49:51
Speaker 1: stuck in this situation of playing you know, the drug
49:54
Speaker 1: addict or the or the Round the Way girl or whatever.
49:58
Speaker 1: Too much of bad is coming up. And my father
50:01
Speaker 1: had it with me and he said, look, I sent
50:04
Speaker 1: you to n Yu to be a playwright. You were
50:07
Speaker 1: supposed to be a writer. Yeah, I know you wanted
50:09
Speaker 1: to dance, but I figured that was only gonna last
50:11
Speaker 1: a few years. You were gonna really find your voice
50:14
Speaker 1: as a as a playwright. Why are you complaining about
50:19
Speaker 1: the roles that are not there when you are capable
50:22
Speaker 1: of writing those roles. You need to take your writing
50:27
Speaker 1: career seriously. It's all cute that you're an actress, but
50:30
Speaker 1: I'm afraid that one of these days someone is going
50:32
Speaker 1: to ask you to be naked in a movie and
50:35
Speaker 1: you're gonna say yes to that role because you can't
50:38
Speaker 1: pay your rent. I would much prefer you call me
50:43
Speaker 1: and let me send you the money for your rent.
50:46
Speaker 1: And you sit down. In those days, of course, we're
50:48
Speaker 1: talking typewriters at the typewriter and you know, and he said,
50:55
Speaker 1: and you write that dignified, empowered role for a black
50:59
Speaker 1: woman that you would like to play. And you know,
51:02
Speaker 1: some years later there was a movie, a Kevin cost
51:04
Speaker 1: movie and the and the tagline was if you build it,
51:08
Speaker 1: they will come field the dreams. Yes, that's exactly right,
51:13
Speaker 1: and my father was correct. In his library was a
51:18
Speaker 1: book by historian Black historian J. A. Rogers, and it
51:23
Speaker 1: was called Race and Sex and the second page and
51:28
Speaker 1: was a big picture of a woman who clearly looked ethnic,
51:32
Speaker 1: but she was in royal attire. It was a black
51:34
Speaker 1: and white obviously, wasn't you know the color? And it
51:37
Speaker 1: said Charlotte Sophia, England's first black queen. And I read
51:46
Speaker 1: back and said, what black queen? How do we not
51:50
Speaker 1: know that? Listen? How how was I not taught that?
51:53
Speaker 1: In my history classes? We were taught about King George
51:57
Speaker 1: and him going mad and the and the revolutionary war
52:01
Speaker 1: that he sent the Red Coats, you know, over here
52:03
Speaker 1: to fight us against we knew everything about the husband,
52:07
Speaker 1: why did we not know that his wife was a
52:09
Speaker 1: woman of color. I could not find that much research
52:14
Speaker 1: in those days, and so I sort of put it
52:16
Speaker 1: in the back of my mind. One of these days,
52:19
Speaker 1: I'm gonna write that story. And at the time, I'm thinking, maybe,
52:23
Speaker 1: who knows, I can get halle Berry to play it.
52:26
Speaker 1: This is before fools, this is before Sally him, this
52:29
Speaker 1: is before all of that. My father died and left
52:33
Speaker 1: me his library and all of those books came to
52:36
Speaker 1: my then house in um the Hollywood Hills, and I
52:41
Speaker 1: found it again and I said, you know, you may,
52:43
Speaker 1: you may want to investigate this story. And when Sally
52:48
Speaker 1: Hemmings had done so well, people began to ask, what
52:52
Speaker 1: are you gonna do for an encore? What do you
52:53
Speaker 1: do next? You top Sally Hemmings? And I thought, Wow,
52:58
Speaker 1: this would be the project, not realizing it was gonna
53:01
Speaker 1: take me eight years to write the book and all
53:04
Speaker 1: the research, two and three times going to London. Of course,
53:07
Speaker 1: I need no excuse to go to London. I love, love,
53:09
Speaker 1: love London. But I was there researching at the British Library,
53:13
Speaker 1: at the Windsor and Buckingham Archives, at the British Museum. Uh.
53:19
Speaker 1: And then I put it together and the moment that
53:23
Speaker 1: book hit the marketplace, there was a surge of of
53:28
Speaker 1: course British people who were saying, oh, no, no, we're
53:30
Speaker 1: not gonna let you do this, this is not a
53:32
Speaker 1: story that we're interested in. And yet British people were
53:35
Speaker 1: buying the book. And I get last year a phone
53:40
Speaker 1: call out of the blue from an HBO executive who said,
53:45
Speaker 1: I'd like to UM, I'd like to speak to Tina Andrews,
53:48
Speaker 1: And I said speaking, And so she said, you know,
53:51
Speaker 1: here's who I am at, you know, and I'm at
53:53
Speaker 1: HBO Max uh In International. And my mother loved your book,
53:59
Speaker 1: and I think and your mother and so she said,
54:04
Speaker 1: my mother turned me onto this book. And she said,
54:06
Speaker 1: when you get your promotion, let this be the first
54:08
Speaker 1: book that you buy to have on the on the channel.
54:14
Speaker 1: And I nearly died because once again it was like
54:17
Speaker 1: spirit creating the atmosphere and the environment and the place
54:23
Speaker 1: to put that story after so long with the research. Well,
54:27
Speaker 1: you know the thing I love about talking to you,
54:29
Speaker 1: first of all, Um, it's almost like I'm talking to royalty.
54:33
Speaker 1: You're so elegant and you're so pronounced in your tone,
54:35
Speaker 1: you're so elegant in your gestures, and you know, there's
54:38
Speaker 1: a certain amount of success and confidence and in speaking
54:43
Speaker 1: to you. You know, I hope people watch this. You
54:45
Speaker 1: can hear it on audio, of course, but I hope
54:46
Speaker 1: people get to watch this actual interview because it's impressive
54:50
Speaker 1: when I see people because you've you've had a journey
54:53
Speaker 1: in your life, and sometimes journeys can beat you down.
54:55
Speaker 1: Some kind of journeys can wear you down. I just
54:58
Speaker 1: see that when I'm looking at you, listening to your Tina,
55:01
Speaker 1: I'm seeing a person who who basically um understands the
55:06
Speaker 1: purpose of who you are and your father obviously built
55:11
Speaker 1: that into you and saying, hey, this is who you are,
55:14
Speaker 1: this is who you can be. Control your destiny. Is
55:16
Speaker 1: that key to what I'm saying that Basically, I know
55:19
Speaker 1: that's why I stopped acting and became a writer and producer.
55:21
Speaker 1: I feel I can control my destiny. Plus I realized,
55:23
Speaker 1: you know, one day, ever get old and I can
55:25
Speaker 1: probably stare right, I can probably steer produced, I can
55:27
Speaker 1: stopped creative. But they can minimize my success based on
55:31
Speaker 1: my color and based on my age. But they can
55:33
Speaker 1: never minimize my success based on how I think if
55:36
Speaker 1: I'm topical and I'm staying very current, and that's what
55:39
Speaker 1: you are. You're very current and very topical, and so
55:41
Speaker 1: this serious is coming out on HBO Max. You did
55:44
Speaker 1: something very very much very key audio book talk about
55:49
Speaker 1: that whole relations and hearing the words articulated by the
55:53
Speaker 1: brilliant actress. Can I tell you again? It was another
55:59
Speaker 1: one of those I do think of my life and
56:01
Speaker 1: I talked about my life in spiritual terms because I
56:05
Speaker 1: have had a lot of hardships. It has not all
56:07
Speaker 1: been easy sailing trying to get to the top there.
56:09
Speaker 1: You know, you hit a platform and then you uh
56:13
Speaker 1: fall and then you're building back up again. So it's
56:16
Speaker 1: been a long career. But sometimes along the way you
56:20
Speaker 1: get these opportunities that just come to you. You have
56:23
Speaker 1: to be prepared, you know. It's what they say that
56:26
Speaker 1: that you know, luck is opportunity met with preparedness. And
56:30
Speaker 1: I've been prepared. I'm minding my own business on Facebook
56:36
Speaker 1: and I had an editor who had one point, um
56:39
Speaker 1: had had turned down my uh the opportunity to publish
56:46
Speaker 1: my book, and I had said I had posted that day,
56:51
Speaker 1: well if you guys are loving Bridgetain. Don't forget my
56:56
Speaker 1: book is still out where I wrote about Queen Charlotte
57:00
Speaker 1: and I put a you know, the cover of the
57:03
Speaker 1: photo of the cover of the book on Facebook, went
57:06
Speaker 1: on about my business. Later on that afternoon, I got
57:09
Speaker 1: a private message and it was Carol saying, Tina, I
57:15
Speaker 1: don't want to make the mistake that I made earlier
57:19
Speaker 1: when when when we didn't publish your book, because look
57:23
Speaker 1: what has happened to you and it and and and onward. Um,
57:28
Speaker 1: I am at recorded books now, I'm in acquisitions. Is
57:32
Speaker 1: are the rather? Are the audiobook rights available? Once again?
57:37
Speaker 1: I go WHOA? So I go, yes, yes they are,
57:46
Speaker 1: And she said, well I would love to acquire I
57:48
Speaker 1: would like to acquire them. We'd like to do a
57:51
Speaker 1: whole big push. You will be in charge of choosing
57:56
Speaker 1: you know, who narrates your book. And I think, boy,
58:00
Speaker 1: I had a number of British actresses, black British actresses
58:03
Speaker 1: that I thought could do a really credible job. And
58:06
Speaker 1: she said, you send me your list. She said, we
58:09
Speaker 1: also have a list of some people who have worked
58:11
Speaker 1: and done audio books for us who are also black
58:14
Speaker 1: female in British. Will send you their names and then
58:17
Speaker 1: you go through you pick out the one that you
58:18
Speaker 1: want to narrate your book. And my god, their list
58:23
Speaker 1: was alphabetical, and at the top of the list is
58:26
Speaker 1: Adua and and Adua and of for those of you
58:31
Speaker 1: out there who don't recognize her by name, she plays
58:34
Speaker 1: Lady dan Berry on Bridgetin. Absolutely she is phenomenal. So
58:40
Speaker 1: as far as I was concerned, the search was so
58:47
Speaker 1: I called Carol and I said, are you kidding me?
58:49
Speaker 1: And he said, well, she's done like two hundred audio books.
58:52
Speaker 1: And I said, this is the actress. She will give
58:55
Speaker 1: it the class and mcgravta. She will also do other characters.
58:59
Speaker 1: She's an amazing thing, amazing actress. I knew of her
59:02
Speaker 1: prior to Bridgeton, and so I said, please tell me
59:07
Speaker 1: that we can can have her. And she says, I'll
59:10
Speaker 1: get back to you in a couple of days, and
59:12
Speaker 1: you're up a couple of days later she said, Adua
59:15
Speaker 1: is yours. So working with this phenomenal actress who made
59:21
Speaker 1: that book come to life, oh Rishan, it was. It
59:26
Speaker 1: is an experience for anyone who listens to that. But
59:31
Speaker 1: I you know, at certain points in time, no, no joke,
59:35
Speaker 1: I will listen to the audio book and I'll say, wow,
59:39
Speaker 1: I wrote that, Yes, yes, yes, that's an act. That's
59:44
Speaker 1: that's brilliance of her bringing his life. But you know,
59:46
Speaker 1: I want to I want to say this before we
59:48
Speaker 1: wrap up the interview. And uh, it's something about being prepared.
59:51
Speaker 1: They really comes across when I when I when I
59:55
Speaker 1: shared his interview and I won't hold people listen when
59:57
Speaker 1: when she got the call for Roots, you know, despite
1:00:00
Speaker 1: dire consequences that happened in her life prior to that,
1:00:03
Speaker 1: she was ready when she got the call for Jackie
1:00:06
Speaker 1: Kennedy on Nassis. You know, despite the success or Sally
1:00:10
Speaker 1: him and and her, and it's a project with African
1:00:13
Speaker 1: American female talking about an iconic white, white American female.
1:00:18
Speaker 1: She was ready when she got the call about the
1:00:21
Speaker 1: rights to her book Charlotte Sophia. You know, she was ready,
1:00:27
Speaker 1: not only ready, but also to be bold enough to
1:00:29
Speaker 1: say this is the one we should select. There's something
1:00:33
Speaker 1: about that that really range true about your life, Tina Andrews.
1:00:37
Speaker 1: And it makes it very special that you're your decision maker.
1:00:41
Speaker 1: You're a person who understands what you want to do
1:00:43
Speaker 1: in life and has led so much to your level
1:00:45
Speaker 1: of success. If you had to give someone some advice
1:00:48
Speaker 1: before we acted here, what would you give somebody advice
1:00:51
Speaker 1: who's watching the show and listening to this interview of
1:00:53
Speaker 1: Money Making Conversations, I will say, you need to be
1:00:57
Speaker 1: your authentic self, whoever that is. Do not first of all,
1:01:02
Speaker 1: do not let anybody tell you what you can't be.
1:01:05
Speaker 1: You will show them who you are, which means who
1:01:09
Speaker 1: you can be. Um, try not to follow the road
1:01:13
Speaker 1: that is that is whittled down by heavy traffic doing
1:01:17
Speaker 1: what everybody else is doing. You create your own road
1:01:21
Speaker 1: and do that thing that God has placed on your
1:01:24
Speaker 1: heart for you to do. It's okay to be singular
1:01:28
Speaker 1: and unique and authentic because some if you like it,
1:01:33
Speaker 1: someone out there is also going to like it. And
1:01:36
Speaker 1: right now we're in certainly in this business that we're in,
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Speaker 1: we got five or six hundred channels. You gotta feed
1:01:42
Speaker 1: that beast. There is someone who's going to want what
1:01:46
Speaker 1: you have to say, So say it. I love it.
1:01:51
Speaker 1: Thank you for coming on Money Making Conversation, Teina Andrews.
1:01:55
Speaker 1: Thank you for having me. And if you want to
1:01:57
Speaker 1: hear any of my interviews, I'll see an of my interviews.
1:01:59
Speaker 1: Please go to my to Making Conversation dot com. I
1:02:01
Speaker 1: ras Sean McDonald. I am your host. You've been listening
1:02:04
Speaker 1: to Money Making Conversations with Rashan McDonald. Please join us
1:02:08
Speaker 1: next week and always remember leading with your gifts. Money
1:02:11
Speaker 1: Making Conversations is a presentation of thirty fifteen Media Incorporated.
1:02:17
Speaker 1: You are now tuned into the money Making Conversations Minute
1:02:21
Speaker 1: of Inspiration with Rashan McDonald. Hi, ras Shan McDonald on
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Speaker 1: money Making Conversation with your daily minute of Inspiration. This week,
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Speaker 1: I sat down with ESPN sports anchor and ABC News
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Speaker 1: legal analysts Ryan Smith. Since I've known Ryan, I've seen
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Speaker 1: nothing but continued success. It's incredible how he's blended his
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Speaker 1: legal background with sports and entertainment but still allowing himself
1:02:41
Speaker 1: room for growth. I felt like I was always chasing something.
1:02:45
Speaker 1: So the goal actually is to love what I do.
1:02:48
Speaker 1: I like having a balanced life. So for me, it's
1:02:51
Speaker 1: not just about anchoring one show or doing one brand
1:02:54
Speaker 1: or making this amount of money. For me, it's can
1:02:57
Speaker 1: I continue to anchor shows that I love that I'm
1:02:59
Speaker 1: interested it in and stuff that motivates me. And so
1:03:01
Speaker 1: right now I'm kind of living my goal, but to
1:03:03
Speaker 1: be honest with you, I mean for me, it's continue
1:03:07
Speaker 1: to do this work and continue to do it better
1:03:09
Speaker 1: and better every day. If you want to listen to
1:03:11
Speaker 1: this full interview with Ryan Smith is available on Whendy
1:03:14
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