Latest / The Steve Harvey Morning Show / Overcoming the Odds: A self-taught filmmaker lands overall deal with Tyler Perry Studios.

Transcript

Overcoming the Odds: A self-taught filmmaker lands overall deal with Tyler Perry Studios. · The Steve Harvey Morning Show

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Speaker 1: Hi, I'm Rashan McDonald host the weekly Money Making Conversation
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Speaker 1: motivational speaker, influencer, or nonprofit I want you on my show.
0:29
Speaker 2: Now, let's get started.
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Speaker 1: My guest is the writer, director, and producer for the
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Speaker 1: fourth season of Tyler Perry's Satima, premiering on BT Plus.
0:38
Speaker 1: He's an award winning filmmaker, writer and director for My Own,
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Speaker 1: My Own Down Houston, Texas, renowned for his emotionally gripping
0:46
Speaker 1: narratives the tackle complex social issues. Please welcome the Money
0:50
Speaker 1: Making Conversations Masterclass. Courtney Glaude, How you doing, sir? Got
0:55
Speaker 1: to see right now? G got to make Louisiana Louisa boy.
1:00
Speaker 1: Louise had a boy. Tell me Louis I had a background.
1:03
Speaker 1: You're in Houston, Texas. Tell me a little bit about yourself.
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Speaker 1: Are we get started, Claude.
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Speaker 3: So, I was born in I was born in Houston,
1:09
Speaker 3: but my grandmother from Louisiana.
1:10
Speaker 2: They moved.
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Speaker 3: We're part of louis Ava lat Okay. Yeah, I tend yeah, absolutely.
1:16
Speaker 3: So my family was raised and born in Lafayette. My
1:19
Speaker 3: grandmother moved to Houston, So my mom and everybody was
1:22
Speaker 3: born in Houston, and I've been raised in Houston.
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Speaker 2: Fifth Ward. I was born in fourth Forward.
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Speaker 3: So no, no, no, it was just it's just it's
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Speaker 3: been the journey and just the cultures, you know, coming
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Speaker 3: together created this, okay, which.
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Speaker 2: Is really great.
1:36
Speaker 1: And congratulations on being a director, writer, producer for the
1:40
Speaker 1: fourth season of Teamer which is on BT Plus. Now
1:43
Speaker 1: this was always hurt. Tyler Perry writes all his content,
1:47
Speaker 1: He directs all his content. He doesn't let anybody do anything.
1:50
Speaker 1: And then I heard about you. Is this a rumor
1:53
Speaker 1: or he's allowed other creative sources to come in and
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Speaker 1: produce and extend his projects.
2:00
Speaker 2: Tell me about that.
2:01
Speaker 3: Yeah, he's absolutely opening up. He was building a foundation.
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Speaker 3: And I don't think Tyler was doing it because he
2:07
Speaker 3: wanted to. I think he was doing it because he
2:08
Speaker 3: had to. At that particular time, and then once you
2:11
Speaker 3: get used to doing something, you're not like, you're gonna
2:13
Speaker 3: keep doing it as long as you can. And now
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Speaker 3: his brand and his his reach is so big. Now
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Speaker 3: he's opening it up for other creators like myself to
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Speaker 3: come in.
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Speaker 2: And take that torch and move it forward.
2:24
Speaker 3: Right now, I have uh he's leanned over Tatima, his
2:29
Speaker 3: show Sisters and also the show Ruthless. So we were
2:33
Speaker 3: over there running on top of coming and supporting the
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Speaker 3: projects that I'm doing over there.
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Speaker 1: Okay, let's go to the team. Yeah, okay, now it's
2:40
Speaker 1: a teama. And one thing I noticed right out the
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Speaker 1: lead is full fit. Now let's go to stereotypes. I
2:48
Speaker 1: did Monique and I one of the the Monique sitcom,
2:52
Speaker 1: and I know you did some work with Monique as well.
2:54
Speaker 1: That really was your breakthrough project. But Monique, I really
2:57
Speaker 1: loved doing that show because the first time where black
3:02
Speaker 1: women who were full figured weren't made and they were
3:06
Speaker 1: about they looked good, they felt good, they dressed good.
3:09
Speaker 1: You know, it really was a pro positive for overweight women.
3:14
Speaker 1: And so I've always had that. I grew up with
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Speaker 1: six sisters, so always been a person who felt offended
3:22
Speaker 1: when women who were full figured got stereotyped. They were
3:25
Speaker 1: the butt of the jokes or they was always ride
3:28
Speaker 1: with their attractive check and they got they looked over.
3:30
Speaker 2: There they was with nobody.
3:32
Speaker 1: And when I saw this series, which is, like you said,
3:35
Speaker 1: going into the fourth seasons, I was really impressed that
3:38
Speaker 1: they chose that direction because I believe it's been successful.
3:42
Speaker 1: This is just my thought because of the lead being
3:45
Speaker 1: full figured, your thoughts crystal itself.
3:48
Speaker 3: You know, in spite of what the figure like, she's
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Speaker 3: a very relatable person. She is a magnet of people
3:55
Speaker 3: her personality. She has a show called Keep It Positive like,
3:59
Speaker 3: so she is a light to every room. So I
4:02
Speaker 3: believe I don't even think that was the initial top
4:04
Speaker 3: thought of Taler. I think that he saw the talent
4:06
Speaker 3: in her and there driving her, and he wanted to
4:08
Speaker 3: he wanted to push forward in general with that because
4:11
Speaker 3: of how talented she genuinely was from the beginning. And
4:14
Speaker 3: I don't even think people haven't even really seen how
4:17
Speaker 3: talented she is. But again, I think those stereotypes are
4:20
Speaker 3: something that's that's dead at this point. And what am
4:24
Speaker 3: I t wasn't Queen Latifa on Living single right, What.
4:29
Speaker 2: Was you talking about mind, I'm talking about ninety nine. Okay, Okay.
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Speaker 1: When I was I was writing, directing, doing sitcoms, and
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Speaker 1: and the butt of the jokes were she came from
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Speaker 1: a comedic background. Monique yeah, Monique yeah, and so and
4:43
Speaker 1: so that was the whole thing. I used to always
4:46
Speaker 1: fight for jokes that I felt we were tied to
4:49
Speaker 1: her weight because I thought it wasn't fair. That's that's
4:51
Speaker 1: the easy way out. That's right to her strip, which
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Speaker 1: is a talent that successful articuling and smart black woman.
4:58
Speaker 2: Yeah.
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Speaker 1: And so when I look at a team, tell my
5:01
Speaker 1: my audience, what is the show and what excites you
5:05
Speaker 1: about the show.
5:06
Speaker 3: So the show is about a character named Zach and
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Speaker 3: his girlfriend named Satima.
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Speaker 2: I know, Fatima, Fatima Zach for lack of a better words,
5:17
Speaker 2: is uh.
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Speaker 4: Yeah, yeah, a little bit out of it, a little
5:24
Speaker 4: bit out of that, but yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah he is.
5:30
Speaker 3: He's a little crash out, but but he loves it.
5:33
Speaker 3: He loves this girl. So it's it's about Fatima and
5:36
Speaker 3: Zach and they just collabored the name with Zatima for
5:40
Speaker 3: for the show's sake. But it's about their relationship and
5:42
Speaker 3: their hardships that come out and the things that they
5:44
Speaker 3: deal with within their relationship. And it's so relatable because
5:47
Speaker 3: it actually tackles real problems that go on within a relationship.
5:51
Speaker 3: But it showed how strong a relationship can be and
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Speaker 3: go that that third line of what love looks like
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Speaker 3: nowaday and age and it just really I think it's
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Speaker 3: relatable to a lot of people.
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Speaker 2: Can let me ask you you this is a romantic show.
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Speaker 1: It's is seriously about Zach, who is a little a
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Speaker 1: little he's very funny, but it very talented comedy character
6:11
Speaker 1: as a team of kind.
6:12
Speaker 2: Of like is that that's that? That that rock of Gibraltar?
6:15
Speaker 1: You know, she's everything steady because you can't have too
6:17
Speaker 1: crazy people, for sure, otherwise it's not relatable. Hues the
6:20
Speaker 1: sincerity of the series because this is all about you know,
6:24
Speaker 1: because we all.
6:25
Speaker 2: Have a Zach and our family for sure for sure.
6:28
Speaker 1: And that's what it is, okay, And we always say,
6:30
Speaker 1: how does that guy get a woman?
6:33
Speaker 2: How does he work well? Because he has her in
6:35
Speaker 2: his life a little it keeps it focused.
6:38
Speaker 1: Talk about your background that Tyler Perry has given you
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Speaker 1: the tools to the car to be the writer, director,
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Speaker 1: producer of the fourth seasons.
6:47
Speaker 2: Talk to me.
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Speaker 3: Well, the one thing that he does is Tyler equips
6:51
Speaker 3: you with like so when Tyler brought me in, he'll
6:54
Speaker 3: throw you in the fire like, hey, you like the team,
6:56
Speaker 3: get in there, show go ahead. But he also gives
6:59
Speaker 3: you the two said. He teaches you about how does
7:02
Speaker 3: he shoot at his speed? He Tyler is the type
7:05
Speaker 3: of creator that shoots for the edit. So he he
7:07
Speaker 3: actually told me, hey, here are all the tools that
7:10
Speaker 3: you need. Now I'm gonna put you in a position
7:12
Speaker 3: and he walks you through that process like he didn't.
7:14
Speaker 3: It wasn't just like oh, day one, it's time to go.
7:17
Speaker 3: He actually it's like Tyler Pierce Studios is like the
7:19
Speaker 3: boot camp for creators. He gives you the ground and
7:23
Speaker 3: it's the sandbox. But you just got to play with
7:26
Speaker 3: the tooths that he gather and you got to learn
7:27
Speaker 3: what what what to use and those nature.
7:30
Speaker 2: Okay, let mesku you this cording.
7:32
Speaker 1: So Tyler Perry got One of my clients is Sherri Shepard. Yeah,
7:37
Speaker 1: and she says, Tyler is the Queen of King, the
7:40
Speaker 1: Queen I apologize the King of one. Take yes, yes,
7:47
Speaker 1: say I got it. Let's go, Let's go let's go.
7:50
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, yeah, you the king of one tape.
7:53
Speaker 3: No, No, I haven't learned that trick.
7:55
Speaker 2: Yeah yeah, I haven't learned that one. Yeah, that's his trick.
7:58
Speaker 2: I haven't learned that trick.
8:00
Speaker 3: Yeah, I know he wants me to because that trick
8:02
Speaker 3: save a lot of money.
8:03
Speaker 2: Right right.
8:04
Speaker 3: I ain't learned that trick. I just told him that
8:06
Speaker 3: the other day, like I ain't quite learned that.
8:09
Speaker 1: About two three of my me so so talk about
8:13
Speaker 1: a producer and how Tyler Perry is producing things at
8:17
Speaker 1: a very high level.
8:18
Speaker 2: Absolutely, and how you said a shot, I have learned
8:21
Speaker 2: that trick. Isn't that so much a trick? It comes
8:23
Speaker 2: from experience, Yes, And.
8:24
Speaker 1: I love little confidence that I got the shot.
8:26
Speaker 2: Yes.
8:27
Speaker 1: And I know from a stand point of being a
8:29
Speaker 1: writer and a producer is visually seeing the moment and
8:32
Speaker 1: then being able to capture that m walk us through
8:35
Speaker 1: the steps of how you set up a scene. That's
8:37
Speaker 1: a director because you've carried a lot of hats. You
8:39
Speaker 1: produce it, you write, and you direct it. Walkers through
8:42
Speaker 1: the steps.
8:43
Speaker 3: So for me, when I'm writing, it's a blessing to
8:46
Speaker 3: be a writer producer because when I'm writing, I know
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Speaker 3: the shot already because I'm telling the story already in
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Speaker 3: my head. It's just really that the other part is
8:55
Speaker 3: figuring out if the room that you're actually going to
8:57
Speaker 3: end up in has the things that you need in
9:00
Speaker 3: that room to get whatever shot. Because just because you
9:03
Speaker 3: thought you was gonna blow a car up don't mean
9:05
Speaker 3: you're gonna get the budget to blow no car up.
9:07
Speaker 3: So then you got to get creative to figure out
9:09
Speaker 3: what's generally next. The figuring out the shot is really,
9:13
Speaker 3: realistically like the easiest part of it. But when you
9:17
Speaker 3: don't have the ability or you don't have the things
9:19
Speaker 3: in that room that you need, that's when the creativity
9:22
Speaker 3: comes in to start creating a moment with the things
9:24
Speaker 3: that you have on their palette at that point.
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Speaker 2: Right, I'm talking to coordinate Claude Yes four season, the
9:30
Speaker 2: writer for season he's proud of that fact being brought
9:34
Speaker 2: on board. Yes. In the Tyler Perry.
9:36
Speaker 1: Empire University, you have a deal overall this Yes what tomorrow?
9:41
Speaker 2: Audience? What does that mean? To have the words overall
9:44
Speaker 2: deal don't mean?
9:45
Speaker 3: What it means is Tyler has saw something in me
9:48
Speaker 3: to say, Hey, I'm gonna pay for all your projects
9:53
Speaker 3: whatever project you want to do. I'm going to fund
9:56
Speaker 3: the project and then we're gonna take it out to
9:58
Speaker 3: streaming and go sell it to a dream or whether
10:00
Speaker 3: it's Netflix, Amazon, Hulu, bet.
10:02
Speaker 2: Plus all of that.
10:03
Speaker 3: So he found something in me to say, hey, I
10:06
Speaker 3: believe in you so much, I'll put the money behind you,
10:08
Speaker 3: which is really really rare, and it's the first time
10:11
Speaker 3: he's done it, you know what.
10:12
Speaker 2: I'm so, it's a blessing to me.
10:13
Speaker 3: It coming thank you to come in this position, to
10:15
Speaker 3: be a to have somebody with that experience that has
10:18
Speaker 3: been doing it for so long to see something in
10:20
Speaker 3: me to start off the next generation of these filmmakers
10:23
Speaker 3: that he wants to be behind.
10:25
Speaker 1: Okay, so that's an overall deal, yep. I'm just you
10:28
Speaker 1: don't have to answer. Now, Can you do other project
10:30
Speaker 1: outside of the overall deal when you have that overall deal?
10:33
Speaker 3: No, not unless you talk to the studio behind.
10:36
Speaker 2: It's a lot of money going over.
10:38
Speaker 3: Ma man just said he made millionaires the last year,
10:42
Speaker 3: right right with like contested that I might be one
10:45
Speaker 3: of them. And I'm not denine or agreeing. I'm just
10:48
Speaker 3: now it's it's one of those things. It's a commitment.
10:51
Speaker 3: If he's going to commit to putting up the money,
10:53
Speaker 3: just commit to the overall deal for a certain amount
10:56
Speaker 3: of time and then you already But that's the goal
10:58
Speaker 3: to get the money behind your project.
11:00
Speaker 1: According to go Richard Brown, the party, Yeah, don't mess
11:07
Speaker 1: with my money.
11:08
Speaker 5: I'm happy with Dasy.
11:11
Speaker 2: You know Houston, Texas. I wanted to raise there. And
11:14
Speaker 2: when you start these dreams, I'm a lot older than you.
11:18
Speaker 1: And I started out. I left I be in to
11:20
Speaker 1: be a stand up comic and my family. First of all,
11:23
Speaker 1: I have a degree in mathematics, and so my whole
11:26
Speaker 1: family and everybody.
11:27
Speaker 2: Who knew me when uh how what uh?
11:33
Speaker 1: That doesn't seem possible talk to us about because we're
11:36
Speaker 1: all because I always talking about people that are people
11:39
Speaker 1: doing jobs that they don't want to do, but they're
11:41
Speaker 1: afraid to make a commitment to pursue their dreams. And
11:46
Speaker 1: when you're saying this is a dream, and it's a
11:48
Speaker 1: dream that very few people achieve, because we're talking about
11:50
Speaker 1: the overall deal with the most powerful black producer and
11:56
Speaker 1: creative creator of content in Hollywood. Yeah, so let's talk
12:01
Speaker 1: about that journey in the early years when you wanted
12:04
Speaker 1: to have this dream and other people looked at you
12:06
Speaker 1: kind of like really.
12:08
Speaker 2: So the thing.
12:09
Speaker 3: That I've always had is I've had an an amazing
12:12
Speaker 3: relationship with God, and I've always said, just because God
12:15
Speaker 3: told it to me, he might not tell us to
12:17
Speaker 3: everybody else. So I've always stood on I'm going to
12:21
Speaker 3: do what God wants me to do. If God gave
12:23
Speaker 3: me this vision, I'm going to make sure I do
12:27
Speaker 3: my best at achieving that vision. So I've never been
12:31
Speaker 3: I've also had an understanding that everybody doesn't have the
12:34
Speaker 3: entrepreneur mind. You have some people that need the nine
12:37
Speaker 3: to five structure mind, and I don't blame or have
12:46
Speaker 3: I'm not offended that you can't see it. And I've
12:48
Speaker 3: also had this start process to where if you believe it,
12:51
Speaker 3: I'm not dreaming big enough. So if I tell you
12:54
Speaker 3: something and you can believe that it can happen immediately,
12:58
Speaker 3: I need to increase what I'm dreaming for because it
13:00
Speaker 3: should be unbelievable. In Houston, there aren't opportunities for us,
13:04
Speaker 3: so you have to go out and make it. I've
13:06
Speaker 3: always been my goal is always be grateful to where
13:09
Speaker 3: I am. If I'm always grateful to where I am
13:12
Speaker 3: God will always provide the next step.
13:14
Speaker 2: I've also, I've always lived in this moment.
13:17
Speaker 3: So when I say yes, I've had I've had the
13:19
Speaker 3: thoughts of working with Tyler a long time ago. But
13:23
Speaker 3: if I don't, then I'm grateful for the position and
13:27
Speaker 3: the stories that God is allowing me to tell. Right now,
13:30
Speaker 3: this is where He won't me. So now I'm not
13:33
Speaker 3: looking at that over there. I'm looking at that next step.
13:35
Speaker 3: And honestly, me looking at that next step helped me
13:39
Speaker 3: get there faster because I'm able to choose whatever that
13:41
Speaker 3: next step is faster versus looking over there, and then
13:44
Speaker 3: I trip on something right here because I'm not looking
13:47
Speaker 3: at what's in front of me.
13:48
Speaker 1: Which is really important. But there's also the naysayer, Yeah
13:52
Speaker 1: they were out there, you know more really the really
13:56
Speaker 1: people you know, because I had to give us your
14:00
Speaker 1: educational background and then your.
14:03
Speaker 2: How did you did you intern?
14:06
Speaker 1: Did you the mentorship that got you to this there
14:09
Speaker 1: because a lot of people want to be sitting in
14:11
Speaker 1: this interview right now, but you sitting in this interview
14:14
Speaker 1: and talk to us.
14:15
Speaker 2: That is wow.
14:18
Speaker 3: I don't really have conversation with people about where I'm going.
14:21
Speaker 3: That's a conversation between me and God. Honestly, so I
14:24
Speaker 3: never really had the naysayers because I was already doing
14:27
Speaker 3: it by the time you saw it. I don't have
14:29
Speaker 3: to have that conversation to ask your opinion about something
14:32
Speaker 3: you've never done. So for me, I didn't go to
14:36
Speaker 3: college for this. After I graduated high school, I didn't
14:40
Speaker 3: know storytelling and all of that was really a job.
14:44
Speaker 3: I knew about filmmaking, but not that. So coming up
14:48
Speaker 3: in Houston, I would always write stories, figured out how
14:50
Speaker 3: to write scripts, and then honestly, it went from that
14:53
Speaker 3: point on to where every time I found out what
14:56
Speaker 3: I needed next, I went to There was this guy
14:59
Speaker 3: named boom Town. He used to do music videos in Houston.
15:03
Speaker 3: I went sat and watched him direct for all the
15:05
Speaker 3: while I'm like, oh, that's what the director does. Oh
15:07
Speaker 3: y'all just telling them, Oh yeah, let me learn how
15:12
Speaker 3: to do that for my scripts. Then you learn how
15:14
Speaker 3: to do that, then you figure out, oh no, you
15:16
Speaker 3: need a producer. Okay, So the producer is a person
15:20
Speaker 3: that just put everything together. Let me go network and
15:22
Speaker 3: talk to everybody and find the means to get what
15:24
Speaker 3: I need. So everything that I've done, I've never did
15:28
Speaker 3: internships or anything. It was really googling, reading books and
15:32
Speaker 3: figuring out how to get it. And there's one thing
15:34
Speaker 3: I always say, you're from Houston, you have a hustle mentality.
15:38
Speaker 3: The hustle is what got me far because I was
15:43
Speaker 3: the person that would never let somebody tell me no.
15:45
Speaker 3: I was just like, oh, it's just not for you,
15:46
Speaker 3: So let me go figure.
15:47
Speaker 2: Out how to do it myself.
15:49
Speaker 3: And then you eventually just keep taking those steps up
15:51
Speaker 3: so now people know that you do this.
15:54
Speaker 2: Now the phone calls start for you to do that,
15:57
Speaker 2: at least in Houston.
15:58
Speaker 3: Then when you go from Houston, then it grows and
16:01
Speaker 3: now you're known in Texas, and then all of the
16:03
Speaker 3: things just come. It keeps a it's a ripple effect
16:06
Speaker 3: after that point.
16:07
Speaker 1: That's the beauty of success for sure, and the reality
16:10
Speaker 1: of the pressure of keeping it up.
16:14
Speaker 2: Please don't go anywhere.
16:15
Speaker 6: We'll be right back with more Money Making Conversations master Class.
16:23
Speaker 6: Welcome back to Money Making Conversation master Class with me
16:26
Speaker 6: Rashaun McDonald.
16:28
Speaker 1: A lot of people because you're an entrepreneur, you know,
16:30
Speaker 1: let's say it as it is. That means that when
16:32
Speaker 1: I say the word entrepreneur, that means that he's not
16:35
Speaker 1: tied to a consistent forty hour week check. And he
16:38
Speaker 1: has an overall deal here now, but he has to
16:40
Speaker 1: work that overall deal to make sure he's delivering content
16:43
Speaker 1: to keep that overall deal because that could be taken
16:45
Speaker 1: away for sure.
16:46
Speaker 2: And so so that means he's an entrepreneur.
16:49
Speaker 1: And so because he's an entrepreneur, that means that that's
16:51
Speaker 1: a certain mindset. You have to wake up every day
16:54
Speaker 1: what according to what is that mindset? You wake up
16:57
Speaker 1: every day knowing you have an opportunity to direct the
16:59
Speaker 1: four season as a team, but which is going to
17:01
Speaker 1: be airing on BT plus?
17:03
Speaker 2: What drives you? I have a daughter, so I don't.
17:07
Speaker 2: I don't.
17:08
Speaker 3: I can be okay, she won't and even with I
17:12
Speaker 3: have to do as much as I possibly can because
17:14
Speaker 3: maybe she doesn't know how to run a film business.
17:16
Speaker 3: So I have to create a legacy so big that
17:19
Speaker 3: it doesn't it runs by itself. She can just live
17:23
Speaker 3: life comfortably. And I don't know what that mark is.
17:27
Speaker 3: And honestly, I love it, like living being in your
17:30
Speaker 3: I love it.
17:31
Speaker 2: So I don't. I don't feel like I work. I'm enjoying.
17:35
Speaker 3: I'm writing like stories like I'm creating whatever I want
17:39
Speaker 3: out my head putting it on paper, so it doesn't
17:42
Speaker 3: feel like work. So every day I'm excited to get
17:44
Speaker 3: up to go because and then I know God has
17:47
Speaker 3: a purpose for me in it. It's not it ain't
17:51
Speaker 3: rocket science for me.
17:53
Speaker 1: Now in this in your introduction, as I read the
17:56
Speaker 1: ward winding filmmaker, writer and director from our home down Houston, Texas.
18:01
Speaker 1: Renowned for it's emotionally for your emostally gripping narratives to
18:06
Speaker 1: tackle complex social issue, break that down.
18:09
Speaker 2: To me and my listeners.
18:10
Speaker 3: Okay, So we just did a short film that will
18:15
Speaker 3: now be turned into a feature film at the top
18:17
Speaker 3: of the year called Old Gray Mayre. Old Gray Mayor
18:21
Speaker 3: is a short thirty minute film that we just went
18:23
Speaker 3: on a film festival run. We went to Martha's Vineyard
18:25
Speaker 3: and ABFF, the Atlanta Film Festival, and that topic is
18:31
Speaker 3: about dementia. So the bottom line of it is about dementia,
18:35
Speaker 3: but in my style of shooting, and I shoot in
18:38
Speaker 3: the style of like thrillers, So you're it feels like
18:42
Speaker 3: you're watching a horror movie or like a thriller, but
18:45
Speaker 3: you're not. You're this is about dementia. It just feels
18:49
Speaker 3: like that, and those are the topics I like to tackle.
18:51
Speaker 3: I think mental health in our community is really buried
18:56
Speaker 3: and we don't talk about it enough. So I just
18:58
Speaker 3: honestly just use the stories that I tell to have
19:00
Speaker 3: an underlying dynamic of something that we as a culture
19:03
Speaker 3: probably need to talk about. But I feel it in
19:05
Speaker 3: an entertaining way.
19:07
Speaker 1: Entertainment is the key, absolutely so when I when I
19:10
Speaker 1: look at because I don't want to get so deep
19:13
Speaker 1: in this interview that we forget why you shitting on
19:15
Speaker 1: this show? Sure you sitting on this show to talk
19:17
Speaker 1: about the fourth season of A Team? Okay again, this
19:22
Speaker 1: was a production that was started by Tyler Pett for sure,
19:25
Speaker 1: tell us about the teama.
19:27
Speaker 2: What you bring it to the table?
19:29
Speaker 1: Yeah, and we know it's already on their is premiered, Yes,
19:32
Speaker 1: BT Plus talk to us.
19:34
Speaker 3: So what I'm bringing to the Tyler already created a blueprint.
19:38
Speaker 3: Let me not take let me not the blueprint was
19:40
Speaker 3: there he already came to That's his show.
19:43
Speaker 2: I just want to his shop.
19:45
Speaker 3: He created this, But I definitely take it on a
19:48
Speaker 3: totally different roller coaster ride.
19:50
Speaker 2: It says a lot of.
19:51
Speaker 3: Ups and downs, that comes this season, and even that's
19:55
Speaker 3: possibly coming in the future. And that's the greatest thing
19:57
Speaker 3: about the team. And he has built this machine that
20:02
Speaker 3: the characters are already, even the cast. I don't have
20:06
Speaker 3: to go on this show and direct. They know the
20:08
Speaker 3: characters already. Sometimes they have to correct me, like, ah,
20:12
Speaker 3: Zach wouldn't say that, he would say this, like, oh,
20:16
Speaker 3: that's true, there's a team. I mean, Fatima wouldn't say this,
20:20
Speaker 3: And it's so it's a dance between us. But it's
20:22
Speaker 3: definitely a show that shows you might.
20:26
Speaker 2: Things like that.
20:28
Speaker 3: And also like, you know, the team is I think
20:33
Speaker 3: based in Atlanta when I'm from Houston, so I'm playing
20:35
Speaker 3: it is different. I might write it and they'd be like, hey,
20:38
Speaker 3: we don't, we don't use it.
20:40
Speaker 2: We don't know what that means, you know.
20:42
Speaker 3: So that's it's always fun to go back and forth
20:44
Speaker 3: with them. But he's just created something that's so solid.
20:48
Speaker 3: It's honestly just taking the pieces and putting it on
20:50
Speaker 3: a different board and just playing the same type of
20:53
Speaker 3: game with them. It's just that I'm a very thriller,
20:58
Speaker 3: heart trenching kind of director, and right, so it's a
21:00
Speaker 3: lot of things that I don't think the audience is
21:03
Speaker 3: used to but I definitely think that they'll enjoy it.
21:06
Speaker 1: Let's talk about how the process works, because it's great
21:09
Speaker 1: to having a guy with as many hats as you have. Courtney.
21:13
Speaker 1: How many episodes did you take that?
21:16
Speaker 2: All right?
21:16
Speaker 1: No, no, for this particular twenty twenty twenty? How does
21:20
Speaker 1: that work? Do you do an outline of all of them?
21:23
Speaker 1: Do you do a storyboard walk us through the steps?
21:25
Speaker 1: You have twenty episodes? Do you present that Tyler Perry?
21:30
Speaker 1: How does that work with this? Tyler trusted me?
21:34
Speaker 3: So he was like he called me and literally was
21:36
Speaker 3: like you like jam I was like yeah, yeah, I
21:38
Speaker 3: like he was like alrighty, sures go ahead, So like right.
21:40
Speaker 1: Now, okay, yeah, what did you say to yourself?
21:48
Speaker 2: Because I love it? Now that's that's a big moment.
21:52
Speaker 2: I got it, But you didn't really get it. No,
21:55
Speaker 2: I didn't want to do it.
21:56
Speaker 3: First, was like and I had never done TV, so
22:00
Speaker 3: I'm like, hello, but dis Courtney, you called Maybe he
22:05
Speaker 3: called the wrong maybe he dont the wrong number, and
22:08
Speaker 3: I'm like hello. So then he when he got I
22:11
Speaker 3: was like all right cool. So then my first thing
22:13
Speaker 3: was I went back and watched the episodes to see
22:16
Speaker 3: how it's formatted and see how it's done. Then I
22:19
Speaker 3: definitely do an outline that goes to the producers because
22:22
Speaker 3: they also there's a team of people that know this
22:25
Speaker 3: story even still better than I do, because they've been
22:28
Speaker 3: there from the beginning, so they know what Tyler's intent.
22:31
Speaker 3: Tyler ain't fit to sit on the phone with me
22:32
Speaker 3: for two hours talking.
22:34
Speaker 2: He's not fit to do that. Yea, I'm gonna get
22:35
Speaker 2: five minutes, and that's the movement. I'm gonna get five minutes.
22:41
Speaker 3: So I talked back and forth with the production team,
22:43
Speaker 3: and I also get approval from some things, like some
22:46
Speaker 3: things I think I'm taking it too far. I'll be like,
22:48
Speaker 3: what's your thing about this? And then he'll let me
22:51
Speaker 3: know his thoughts on all of that. But then yet
22:53
Speaker 3: absolutely you come up with a skeleton of what the
22:56
Speaker 3: season is gonna be, and then you got to take
22:57
Speaker 3: keep in mind what is each character are going to do.
23:01
Speaker 2: It is a.
23:02
Speaker 3: Twenty episode season, so you need to have something big
23:05
Speaker 3: around episode ten because that carries everybody to twenty and
23:09
Speaker 3: it's just you create these pivotal points for each character.
23:12
Speaker 3: Now every episode, the same character doesn't have to have
23:16
Speaker 3: this cliffhanger, but you have so many characters that he's
23:19
Speaker 3: built you can kind of sprinkle who's dealing with what
23:22
Speaker 3: within those and then honestly you start, you know, writing
23:26
Speaker 3: it one by one.
23:27
Speaker 1: Well, I'm gonna tell you, I'm a fan of Tyler Perry.
23:31
Speaker 1: Nothing can get more crazy than the Oval.
23:33
Speaker 2: The Oval is like lord and throw your hands up.
23:37
Speaker 2: You want to bet that.
23:47
Speaker 3: I don't know if you want to put no money
23:50
Speaker 3: lunch for the team to bet that.
23:53
Speaker 2: I love it.
23:54
Speaker 3: I love we will see he does. He has take it.
23:57
Speaker 3: I'm the person that they toned down.
24:00
Speaker 2: I love it.
24:01
Speaker 3: I have set tylers and stuff to make him be
24:03
Speaker 3: like what.
24:05
Speaker 1: No, No, let's talk about the compound.
24:10
Speaker 2: Okay. I go to the airport. I see Tyler Perry's studio. Yes, exit,
24:15
Speaker 2: that's our biggest guy in Atlanta. Uh, describe to us.
24:19
Speaker 2: I've never been.
24:20
Speaker 1: On the compound, Okay, so your description to me of
24:22
Speaker 1: what it is is going to be new to me.
24:25
Speaker 1: But I know when COVID was happening here. He was
24:28
Speaker 1: one of the first production companies to turn around Pride
24:31
Speaker 1: for sure. And he does it really fast. I mean
24:33
Speaker 1: he does a b a c shifts. You know, the
24:37
Speaker 1: actors can come in, they be a project. It might
24:39
Speaker 1: take six weeks, might take a week. With the way
24:41
Speaker 1: he does that, how does it work? And describe to
24:44
Speaker 1: us the compound of what Tyler Perrys studios looks like
24:48
Speaker 1: and the experience.
24:49
Speaker 3: So Tyler think of Disneyland for creators. That's honestly how
24:56
Speaker 3: big it is and what's interesting about the It's probably
24:59
Speaker 3: not where the actual studio sits. There's the studio probably
25:04
Speaker 3: sits on a third of what's actually how much land
25:09
Speaker 3: he actually has, and it's just continuing to build for
25:12
Speaker 3: other creators. But it's like a Disneyland for creators. There's
25:16
Speaker 3: every turn in every corner you turn, there is somewhere
25:19
Speaker 3: to be productive. Back he has twelve studios that get
25:23
Speaker 3: rented out by Marvel. I think they shot some of
25:26
Speaker 3: Black Panther there. They shot some of Coming to America there,
25:33
Speaker 3: I believe, So it's it's one of those.
25:36
Speaker 2: Believe I think they were this Will Smith over there,
25:40
Speaker 2: but I wasn't. Yeah, what's that Bad Boys that they
25:43
Speaker 2: that was over there?
25:44
Speaker 3: Yes, I think it was around the same time coming
25:46
Speaker 3: to America with filming, But they come and rent out
25:49
Speaker 3: the studio, so then you have that portion, and then
25:51
Speaker 3: you have his legacy portion, which is Maxineville, which is
25:55
Speaker 3: where the media house is and there's a teams and
25:57
Speaker 3: the things, so it's all it's like a it's like
26:01
Speaker 3: a fairy land for filmmakers to where every corner there
26:04
Speaker 3: is something else that you could be shooting. There's this
26:07
Speaker 3: really cool spot that he has. It's a mansion, but
26:10
Speaker 3: it's so each side of the hot on the lot,
26:14
Speaker 3: there's a mansion with four different entrances, so every side
26:19
Speaker 3: of the mansion looks like a totally different place. So
26:23
Speaker 3: there's no back door, it's another entrance, another entrance. That's
26:26
Speaker 3: so efficient because I can shoot in four different locations
26:32
Speaker 3: in the matter of one like house, you know. So
26:36
Speaker 3: that's how he thinks, and that's basically the compound is
26:39
Speaker 3: where you can be really really it's a place to
26:42
Speaker 3: be efficient, you know what I mean, it's it, but
26:44
Speaker 3: it's it's incredible.
26:47
Speaker 2: Yeah.
26:47
Speaker 1: Now I'm not gonna understand it because to my understanding,
26:51
Speaker 1: there are sleeping corners there, yep. To understanding catering, yep,
26:55
Speaker 1: it's fully twenty four hour foods available there.
26:59
Speaker 2: Talk about that experience.
27:00
Speaker 3: Yeah, it's a it's it's there for the creators. He
27:03
Speaker 3: has everything that you need and honestly, he makes sure
27:06
Speaker 3: that you're taking up and then the historic district. He's
27:08
Speaker 3: taking care of the historic district. I don't think that
27:10
Speaker 3: he can change the historic I'm not sure how that is,
27:13
Speaker 3: but yeah, it's.
27:14
Speaker 2: A word that he is trying to build.
27:17
Speaker 1: Kind of like if you've ever been to Tourist Park in Atlanta,
27:20
Speaker 1: you know, restaurants and all. Like you said, you use
27:23
Speaker 1: the word Disney as an example. Yes, Like, as I've
27:25
Speaker 1: been fortunate, I worked on Paramount Warner Brother lots and
27:29
Speaker 1: you are driving these lots and you see homes, You'll
27:31
Speaker 1: see streams that you'll see like you know, just like
27:36
Speaker 1: blocks and it's like, okay, you can shoot on these
27:39
Speaker 1: blocks and it looks like you're on a city street.
27:41
Speaker 2: Are you in New York right? Or in Paris?
27:44
Speaker 3: Right? That's all of those things to where he has
27:46
Speaker 3: all the environments that you could possibly think of in
27:49
Speaker 3: walking distance.
27:50
Speaker 1: Okay, now let me ask you this because I know
27:53
Speaker 1: I want to definitely give credit about when you work
27:55
Speaker 1: with Monique, which was the which was the moment in
27:59
Speaker 1: your career.
28:00
Speaker 2: Here they really put you on the map? Correct about that?
28:03
Speaker 2: So that was my first project.
28:06
Speaker 3: It was an indie film, but Monique blessed me to
28:10
Speaker 3: be a part of the project and it came out
28:12
Speaker 3: on BT Plus and it was the number one film
28:14
Speaker 3: on BT Plus and I actually think it still is
28:17
Speaker 3: as of right now. I don't think it's done numbers
28:19
Speaker 3: like I think it's The project was. It was called
28:22
Speaker 3: movie called The Reading starring Monique. It was a thriller
28:27
Speaker 3: and it Yeah, I think it came out like a
28:30
Speaker 3: two years ago and it's still killing the streaming side.
28:35
Speaker 3: So it did good. It honestly launched me off to
28:39
Speaker 3: be introduced to Tyler in their nature because it was
28:41
Speaker 3: on the streaming platform.
28:43
Speaker 2: And yeah, we've been rocking ever since.
28:45
Speaker 1: That that that's that's that's the when I look at
28:48
Speaker 1: you as a young town and I look at the
28:50
Speaker 1: creative and you got at energy about you. Energy I
28:54
Speaker 1: believe I was you float? You float in the room.
28:57
Speaker 1: Your goals and what's your future? What are you trying
28:59
Speaker 1: to do in this business?
29:02
Speaker 3: I honestly want to tell the stories that make people
29:05
Speaker 3: talk after like.
29:07
Speaker 2: I don't, I don't.
29:08
Speaker 3: We want to get I want to get to those
29:10
Speaker 3: when I first saw Boys in the Hood. I think
29:12
Speaker 3: me and my mom talked about that, like all the
29:14
Speaker 3: way home. I like those stories.
29:16
Speaker 5: I think movies, so I.
29:27
Speaker 3: Want to I'm in this industry. I just want to
29:30
Speaker 3: do compelling things. And I mean that word specifically because
29:34
Speaker 3: I want people. I want my films to make people
29:37
Speaker 3: feel something. Again, I think we've got into the mold
29:39
Speaker 3: to where people are trying to make people laugh, trying
29:42
Speaker 3: to make people scared, but not make people feel anything anymore.
29:46
Speaker 2: I like that.
29:46
Speaker 3: I want people to feel something, as if they feel
29:50
Speaker 3: personally attached to the story that's being told. That's my
29:54
Speaker 3: goal as a storyteller.
29:56
Speaker 2: And you're from Houston, Texas.
29:57
Speaker 1: Yes, you know we talked about the journey and the skepticism.
30:01
Speaker 2: What is it now? My brother, oh you know, he
30:04
Speaker 2: said love.
30:07
Speaker 3: You ain't o you ain't always love everywhere you go.
30:11
Speaker 3: That in Houston is growing. So even this project I'm doing,
30:14
Speaker 3: I'm shooting my first feature off of my overall deal
30:18
Speaker 3: this October and so I'm taking it.
30:20
Speaker 2: Back to Houston. Congratulations.
30:22
Speaker 3: You know that we just got the Texas got the
30:25
Speaker 3: film incentives.
30:26
Speaker 2: From fifty million to three hundred million.
30:28
Speaker 1: Yes, he's talking about which is inviting movie projects, and
30:33
Speaker 1: I just Enchorge your own now going to Texas as well.
30:36
Speaker 1: I think they changed that same in the California. A
30:39
Speaker 1: lot of the studios are now going back to California,
30:43
Speaker 1: and George is being impacted by that. But the impact
30:46
Speaker 1: of what you making is an industry cannot be denied.
30:49
Speaker 2: My brother, Thank you, thank you.
30:50
Speaker 1: You got the like you said earlier, you got the
30:52
Speaker 1: thirty minute project which tied to Dementia, that's going to
30:56
Speaker 1: become a full lengthyvie feature.
30:58
Speaker 2: That you're going to start production in January.
31:00
Speaker 3: That's the one that'll probably be next summer. But the
31:03
Speaker 3: one that we're doing, I have one before that.
31:07
Speaker 2: Yeah, that's the one that's going. Okay, casting, how did
31:10
Speaker 2: you handle casting?
31:11
Speaker 3: So I have a casting director, Clive Davis, and we
31:17
Speaker 3: go through casting directors. But a lot of times, like
31:19
Speaker 3: I'm still, I cast on my social media. Sometimes I
31:23
Speaker 3: will post social media it is my name.
31:26
Speaker 2: Courtney glauda everywhere that keep it simple, not Courtney dot dynamic,
31:33
Speaker 2: the name Courtney Glad.
31:35
Speaker 3: But I go through. I post a lot of my
31:37
Speaker 3: auditions because I don't think Houston is also used to
31:40
Speaker 3: seeing it. So I just make sure that I get
31:42
Speaker 3: the word out that way. But even through the studio,
31:45
Speaker 3: we cast through like the normal sight.
31:47
Speaker 1: For another title casting director, you know, picking my own people,
31:53
Speaker 1: my man. Fourth season of A Team Yes is a
31:56
Speaker 1: right now, twenty episodes.
31:57
Speaker 2: You put your stamp on it.
31:59
Speaker 1: Overall deal, Tyler Peri Steels. Thank you for coming on
32:02
Speaker 1: money Making Conversations master.
32:04
Speaker 2: Thank you, thank you, thank you for having me.
32:06
Speaker 6: This has been money Making Conversations Masterclass with me Rashaun McDonald.
32:10
Speaker 6: Thanks to our guests and our audience. Visit Moneymakingconversations dot
32:15
Speaker 6: com to listen or register to be a guest on
32:18
Speaker 6: my show. Keep leading with your gifts, keep winning,