Latest / The Steve Harvey Morning Show / James Lopez Full Interview

Transcript

James Lopez Full Interview · The Steve Harvey Morning Show

0:00
Speaker 1: This podcast is sponsored by Better Help Online Therapy. I'm
0:04
Speaker 1: Michlene Maloof and I'm Nadyadessi licensed therapists and hosts of
0:07
Speaker 1: Getting Better Stories of Mental Health. Join us for discussions
0:10
Speaker 1: with Megan Trainer, Chris Bosh, Rebel Wilson, and more, from
0:13
Speaker 1: discussing motherhood to immigrating to general mental health. Our guests
0:17
Speaker 1: are awe inspiring. We all struggle with the same things,
0:20
Speaker 1: so let's talk about it and de stigmatize them. Find
0:23
Speaker 1: our new podcast, Getting Better Stories of Mental Health on
0:26
Speaker 1: iHeart Apple Podcasts and Spotify. Still living in manually taking notes,
0:33
Speaker 1: there is a better way to start the new year
0:34
Speaker 1: with auto dot ai automatically get meeting notes. Auto dot
0:38
Speaker 1: ai works for virtual meetings like Zoom, Microsoft Teams, and
0:40
Speaker 1: Google Meet. Sign up on the web for free or
0:42
Speaker 1: download in the app stores auto dot ai. That's O
0:45
Speaker 1: T T E R. Dot Ai, sticky notes, email alerts,
0:49
Speaker 1: a string around your finger. They're just not big enough.
0:53
Speaker 1: So here's a big reminder from the California Lottery. Tomorrow's
0:56
Speaker 1: Mega Millions jack potties over three million play now please.
0:59
Speaker 1: Players must be eighteen years older to purchase blay Fine.
1:02
Speaker 1: Another great show another great day. That's what life is about,
1:06
Speaker 1: experiencing different opportunities. Welcome to Money Making Conversation. That's right,
1:10
Speaker 1: I'm your host, Rashaan McDonald. Each Money Making Conversation talk
1:13
Speaker 1: shows about entrepreneurship and entertainment. I provide the consumer and
1:17
Speaker 1: business owner access to celebrities, CEOs, entrepreneurs and industry decision makers.
1:22
Speaker 1: It is important to understand that everybody travels a different
1:25
Speaker 1: path to success. That's because your brand is different. The
1:28
Speaker 1: challenges you face in your life are different. So stop
1:31
Speaker 1: reading other people's success stories and start writing your own.
1:34
Speaker 1: I'm telling you the truth. Now. You can be motivated
1:37
Speaker 1: by their success because their stories can offer direction and
1:40
Speaker 1: help you reach your goals through your planning and committed effort.
1:43
Speaker 1: And effort has to be number one. My guests the
1:46
Speaker 1: Money Making Conversations have that same passion and they share
1:49
Speaker 1: their information when we talk about their career motivation, what
1:52
Speaker 1: they are promoting, how they live a balance life, and
1:55
Speaker 1: their secrets to success. The show is for you, about you,
1:59
Speaker 1: and will help you. My next guest is a longtime
2:04
Speaker 1: relationship back in the Los Angeles. My next test is
2:07
Speaker 1: a former senior vice president marketing for Atlantic Records. Now
2:11
Speaker 1: he is the president of Will Packer Productions and is
2:15
Speaker 1: responsible for developing and overseeing productions on all film projects
2:20
Speaker 1: through the company's first Look deal with Universal as a
2:23
Speaker 1: producer his films that grows more than eight hundred million
2:26
Speaker 1: dollars at the box office. Today, he's on the show
2:30
Speaker 1: to Day to talk about his career and his new movie,
2:33
Speaker 1: The Photograph. Please welcome the money making conversations, my man,
2:37
Speaker 1: James Lopez Rashan. Thanks for having me, brother, Well, well,
2:43
Speaker 1: thank you. I know you're busy because this promotion week,
2:46
Speaker 1: another movie, another another line of promotion. This is great.
2:50
Speaker 1: Got no wheels out there, so I see you getting
2:52
Speaker 1: out there a lot more promoting projects. Is that part
2:55
Speaker 1: of the growth of James Lopez. Yeah. You know, I've
2:58
Speaker 1: been told several times in the past that I need
3:01
Speaker 1: to get out there a little bit more, you know.
3:03
Speaker 1: You know me, brother, I'm I'm when it comes to
3:07
Speaker 1: promoting and publicity and doing the press. I like to
3:10
Speaker 1: stay behind the scenes and be quiet. But I've been
3:14
Speaker 1: told that I need to let the people know what
3:16
Speaker 1: I do and and uh that I definitely have an
3:19
Speaker 1: inspiring story to tell and that uh, you know that
3:24
Speaker 1: I provided an example for some folks, so I kind
3:28
Speaker 1: of have decided not to be as selfish. They talk
3:32
Speaker 1: about my story a little bit because it might be helpful.
3:35
Speaker 1: It really is helpful. That's what the format of money
3:37
Speaker 1: making Conversation is all about. I started in twenty seventeen,
3:40
Speaker 1: uh and it was supposed to only last six weeks.
3:43
Speaker 1: And then I realized that through the conversations and bringing
3:46
Speaker 1: a different type of people I had on the show
3:48
Speaker 1: and version was just people I know, And then all
3:50
Speaker 1: of a sudden, now it's just individuals in the industry
3:52
Speaker 1: to realize I have such a positive, uh you know,
3:55
Speaker 1: format that allow them to tell their story. And also
3:58
Speaker 1: it's really about helping people. And when we talk about
4:01
Speaker 1: helping people, you know, I have to talk about my
4:03
Speaker 1: relationship with you, and you know you you and when
4:06
Speaker 1: I was with Steve Harvey, you know, you broke it
4:08
Speaker 1: our first ring tone deal. And I gotta say that
4:11
Speaker 1: because you know that that was a skill that you
4:14
Speaker 1: have and had, you know, because I didn't know you,
4:17
Speaker 1: but you had a lickability and use a professional And
4:21
Speaker 1: I remember when Steve said, should be signed this deal?
4:23
Speaker 1: I said, yeah, yeah, James, things a little I trust
4:26
Speaker 1: him and for me to say that, it's a lot
4:29
Speaker 1: because that means that you understand the value of communicating
4:33
Speaker 1: the honesty of the deal and also the value of
4:35
Speaker 1: a relationship. I'm sure you've been told that a lot
4:38
Speaker 1: over the years, correct, James, Yeah, you know. I I've
4:43
Speaker 1: been told that that. I'm a kind of a no
4:46
Speaker 1: nonsense type of guy. And I think a lot of
4:49
Speaker 1: people take my load to me. My my, y'all's quiet.
4:58
Speaker 1: They take my quiet demeanor as a sign that maybe
5:02
Speaker 1: that I might be angry or maybe I'm not really
5:05
Speaker 1: trying to mess with folks. It's not that at all.
5:08
Speaker 1: It's it's that I'm constantly thinking. I'm constantly observing the room.
5:13
Speaker 1: And you know, I believe that if you don't have
5:16
Speaker 1: something additive to say in the moment, just don't say it.
5:19
Speaker 1: But when you do have something to say, it carries
5:21
Speaker 1: more weight. So that's just the way I operate in life. Um,
5:26
Speaker 1: And I'm you know, I admitted Rashan, I'm a little
5:28
Speaker 1: bit socially awkward to you. That's why I quiet. Well,
5:32
Speaker 1: I would tell you something, man, you know, I've been
5:34
Speaker 1: around your lot, you know. And and then because you know,
5:38
Speaker 1: it was in the music business, so yet always are artist.
5:40
Speaker 1: That's how we connected. And uh, and that's what you
5:43
Speaker 1: told me A Rashan t I making a lot of
5:45
Speaker 1: money on these rain tones. Y'all probably want to look
5:47
Speaker 1: into that. And so you understood that that rain tongs
5:50
Speaker 1: are popular back there, there was a lot of way
5:52
Speaker 1: that it was a quick way just using your voice
5:54
Speaker 1: and ring tones and people are buying them. And then
5:57
Speaker 1: but of course all things change, and all things you
5:59
Speaker 1: have to make a transition. And at the time he
6:01
Speaker 1: was the senior vice president marketing for Atlantic Records. What
6:04
Speaker 1: did that job entail? Well, back then, you know, I
6:08
Speaker 1: was largely responsible for the urban roster of artists signed
6:13
Speaker 1: to Atlantic Records. So artists like t I, Fat Joe, Fabulous, Trick,
6:18
Speaker 1: Daddy Trenim, M c Elliott, Sean, Paul Naview's little brother,
6:23
Speaker 1: and the list goes on and on. So I was
6:25
Speaker 1: responsible for the imaging, packaging and bringing to market those artists,
6:30
Speaker 1: whether it be album packaging, whether it be promotional touring,
6:34
Speaker 1: put it together their stage show, award show performances, all
6:39
Speaker 1: the way up to like you know, music video production.
6:42
Speaker 1: I was kind of like, um, what a quarterback into
6:47
Speaker 1: a football team. Is what I was in the building
6:49
Speaker 1: Atlantic Records when it came to that particular artists, kind
6:52
Speaker 1: of like an in house manager. I wasn't the artist manager,
6:57
Speaker 1: but I was the person mostly all in their life
7:01
Speaker 1: and in that project within the company, um and kind
7:05
Speaker 1: of like leading the company's charged to bring that album
7:10
Speaker 1: or that artist to the marketplace. That's what I was
7:13
Speaker 1: absolutely So then in your intro, I make this statement
7:16
Speaker 1: as a producer. As a producer, his films about his career.
7:21
Speaker 1: During his career have exceeded eight hundred million dollars at
7:26
Speaker 1: the box office. Now, that's from music to film, which
7:30
Speaker 1: we know. I can't say they're similar because they're different
7:33
Speaker 1: because once visual you know though you might say music
7:36
Speaker 1: videos or visual, but that's not a movie or a film.
7:38
Speaker 1: That's a beginning, middle of the end. That's casting, that's
7:42
Speaker 1: being at the right publicity, being at the right moment.
7:45
Speaker 1: How did you make that transition, because I remember you
7:47
Speaker 1: made it. I told Steve at the time, I said,
7:49
Speaker 1: my boy doing films now. And I really was happy
7:52
Speaker 1: because I know that that that you know, music was changing,
7:56
Speaker 1: you know, record stores were dying out, you know, a
7:59
Speaker 1: lot more into pinion thought process was being put into
8:01
Speaker 1: how you released labels. Did you make a decision looking
8:05
Speaker 1: at the industry, or you said, hey, I really want
8:07
Speaker 1: to do film. It was it was a combination of both.
8:11
Speaker 1: To be honest with you, I'd always had the passion
8:14
Speaker 1: for film and television, To be honest with you, Rashaan,
8:17
Speaker 1: early on in my life in my career, I just
8:19
Speaker 1: didn't think it was possible for brothers to be honest,
8:22
Speaker 1: you know, like coming I'm a boy from Houston, Texas
8:25
Speaker 1: and so like to be involved in film intelligence. There
8:31
Speaker 1: was no examples for us going up in Houston. There
8:35
Speaker 1: was no one I could point to and said you
8:37
Speaker 1: could do that. Like I knew obviously we all know
8:40
Speaker 1: of actors and directors, um you know, like the Spike
8:44
Speaker 1: Leaves and John Singleton's and you know, being in college
8:47
Speaker 1: and watching those guys do their things. But I knew
8:50
Speaker 1: I wasn't gonna be bad. I had no idea what
8:53
Speaker 1: the producer did. I didn't know that there were people
8:55
Speaker 1: behind the scenes, predominantly caucases, that were behind you movies.
9:00
Speaker 1: So I just took the natural route into music because
9:04
Speaker 1: there were several examples uh that that we as black
9:08
Speaker 1: man could point to and say Okay, well Russell Simmons
9:11
Speaker 1: did it, and this one did it and that one
9:13
Speaker 1: did it. I could do that, I could be that.
9:16
Speaker 1: But once I got into the music business and got
9:19
Speaker 1: in and was more immersed in the culture of entertainment
9:23
Speaker 1: and meeting different types of executives and then getting involved
9:26
Speaker 1: in soundtracks. In the music business, I started interacting with
9:31
Speaker 1: studio executives and producers, and then I started to get
9:35
Speaker 1: exposed to the possibilities of where where I wanted my
9:39
Speaker 1: life to go. So it was it was in the
9:43
Speaker 1: mid two thousands, I would say two thousand and four,
9:45
Speaker 1: two thousand and five when I consciously made the decisions
9:49
Speaker 1: that this is what I want to do next, and
9:52
Speaker 1: I'm gonna work my tail off to get there. Let
9:54
Speaker 1: me in there. I remember you start telling me you
9:57
Speaker 1: were writing scripts at that time. Well, I was coming
10:01
Speaker 1: up with pitchers and decks for ideas and when I
10:06
Speaker 1: look when I look back at them, they were terrible.
10:11
Speaker 1: But you had You had energy. Had I had the
10:15
Speaker 1: energy and what I was doing with conceptualizing projects as well.
10:19
Speaker 1: And that's that's where my strength lies, is coming up
10:25
Speaker 1: with concepts or or discussing with other creatives, concepts, concepts
10:30
Speaker 1: for movies and then bringing them to the marketplace, figuring
10:33
Speaker 1: it out, you know, finding writers. I think it directed
10:38
Speaker 1: starting starting projects from scratch. But yeah, I made that
10:42
Speaker 1: decision in two thousand five, and it took me five years.
10:45
Speaker 1: It took me five years of networking, of reading tons
10:49
Speaker 1: and tons of scripts and kind of building up my
10:54
Speaker 1: chops so that when I got the opportunity, I was
10:57
Speaker 1: reading and until five years later. Correct, correct, Yeah, I
11:05
Speaker 1: was hired by gentleman name Quinn Colepepper who gave me
11:08
Speaker 1: a shot. I had done a soundtrack at Screen James
11:11
Speaker 1: when I was in Atlantic, and that's how I built
11:14
Speaker 1: my relationship with him. And then I got even closer
11:18
Speaker 1: to him on the set of Takers. Uh p. I
11:21
Speaker 1: introduced me to Quint again on the set of Takers.
11:26
Speaker 1: And that is the evening that I'm at will for
11:28
Speaker 1: the first time. My mouth producing party. Now eight hundred
11:33
Speaker 1: million dollars When I say that, what runs through your mind?
11:37
Speaker 1: At the box office? Um? Eight million dollars. Now here's
11:47
Speaker 1: a lesson for your listening audience. Box office numbers are
11:53
Speaker 1: great if you have a piece of ownership. I don't
12:00
Speaker 1: have a piece of ownership at any of that eight
12:03
Speaker 1: million dollars. That's what my movies made. I didn't own
12:06
Speaker 1: those movies, and studios owners movies. When you've got brothers
12:11
Speaker 1: like Tyler who owned their films and they get a
12:18
Speaker 1: majority of that dollar that comes back for every single
12:21
Speaker 1: dollar that goes out, he's getting a large percent of
12:24
Speaker 1: that money coming back to me. And that's what we
12:26
Speaker 1: got to strive as people to work towards. As the ownership.
12:31
Speaker 1: We are formidable, we are peace when it comes to
12:35
Speaker 1: creating content and in providing entertainment for the audiences, we
12:40
Speaker 1: create culture. But we have to start having a stake
12:44
Speaker 1: and ownership in that culture. And right now that is
12:48
Speaker 1: what Will and I are striving towards is more ownership
12:52
Speaker 1: of our catalogs um but you know none. Nevertheless, it
12:57
Speaker 1: is impressive that so many people haven't enjoyed our films,
13:02
Speaker 1: but we and well you know where the company is headed.
13:06
Speaker 1: And building up that library of titles. Ownership or that
13:11
Speaker 1: library is a goal and also diversifying what we do.
13:17
Speaker 1: Um the movie that's coming out this weekend, it is
13:20
Speaker 1: our first drama. Like it is a romance drama, It's
13:23
Speaker 1: not a romantic comedy. It's not a comedy, it's not
13:26
Speaker 1: a thriller. Is a straight up adult black love romance.
13:30
Speaker 1: And that's something new for us as a company. And
13:33
Speaker 1: we're working hard to make sure that we diversify the
13:37
Speaker 1: types of movies that we're making so that we're not
13:39
Speaker 1: just eating off of comedy, but off of everything. Right,
13:44
Speaker 1: I tell you, I'm talking to James Lopez. He's the
13:46
Speaker 1: president of Will Packer Production. Has a new movie out
13:49
Speaker 1: this weekend called The Photograph. We'll come back. We're getting
13:52
Speaker 1: more details because and had a movie out here like this,
13:55
Speaker 1: like this Love Jones, Bart Lorenz, Tayne alone. That's what
13:59
Speaker 1: he's talking about. My main conversation, be right back. We'll
14:02
Speaker 1: be right back with more from McDonald and money making conversations.
14:06
Speaker 1: It's finally here, the season of celebration, and no matter
14:10
Speaker 1: how you celebrate with family and friends, whether you're preparing
14:13
Speaker 1: for Reis Magos or Karamu lighting the Manura, are going
14:17
Speaker 1: to midnight Mass Coals has just what you need to
14:20
Speaker 1: make those traditions special. Plus you'll find gifts for all
14:23
Speaker 1: your loved ones. Send warm wishes with cozy fleeces, sweaters,
14:28
Speaker 1: loungeware blankets, and throws support minority owned or founded brands
14:32
Speaker 1: by giving gifts from Human Nation and shame moisture, or
14:36
Speaker 1: treat them to everyone's favorite active wear from top brands
14:39
Speaker 1: like Nike, Adidas, and under Armor. And in the spirit
14:42
Speaker 1: of giving, Coals Cares is donating eight million dollars to
14:46
Speaker 1: local nonprofits nationwide committed to the health and well being
14:49
Speaker 1: of our communities. No matter how you celebrate, when you
14:53
Speaker 1: shop at Coals, you're right where you belong. So this season,
14:57
Speaker 1: give with all your heart with great gifts from Coals
15:00
Speaker 1: or coals dot com. Whether your event needed one room
15:03
Speaker 1: or an entire conference center, hoppin has revolutionized the way
15:07
Speaker 1: people come together. With hoppin, you can host a fully
15:10
Speaker 1: fledged digital meet up, complete with one on one meetings,
15:13
Speaker 1: hands on sessions, and expo booths. And because everything is
15:17
Speaker 1: hosted in a single, easy to use platform, it can
15:20
Speaker 1: be as big or small as you want, remain convenient
15:23
Speaker 1: for anyone who wants to attend, and give you access
15:25
Speaker 1: to data you never would have known otherwise. Visit hoppin
15:28
Speaker 1: dot com to learn more and get started. Still living
15:32
Speaker 1: in and manually taking notes, start the new year with
15:35
Speaker 1: auto dot ai to generate automatic notes for meetings, interviews,
15:39
Speaker 1: or lectures. With auto dot ai, you can search the
15:42
Speaker 1: meeting notes, insert images, playback the audio, and share them
15:45
Speaker 1: with your friends or coworkers. You can capture action items,
15:48
Speaker 1: remember meeting details, and keep everyone informed. Auto dot ai
15:52
Speaker 1: works for in person or virtual meetings like Zoom, Microsoft Teams,
15:55
Speaker 1: and Google Meet. Sign up for free at auto dit
15:58
Speaker 1: ai or download the app for for auto dot ai.
16:01
Speaker 1: That's O T T E R dot ai. Don't touch that.
16:04
Speaker 1: Money Making Conversations continues online at www dot money Making
16:09
Speaker 1: Conversations dot com and follow money making conversations on Facebook, Twitter,
16:14
Speaker 1: and Instagram. Ladies and gentlemen, it's time you stop thinking
16:17
Speaker 1: about your dreams and put some plans into action. All
16:20
Speaker 1: Just Rashan McDonald, you're listening to money Making Conversations. I'm
16:23
Speaker 1: talking to James Lopez, long time, long time gentlemen. Met
16:27
Speaker 1: him when he was senior vice president of marketing for
16:29
Speaker 1: Atlantic Records. Now he's um breaking down information about my listeners,
16:33
Speaker 1: about about the art of the deal and being a
16:37
Speaker 1: bigger player in the deal. More importantly, he's on the
16:40
Speaker 1: show to day to talk about his new movie. Like
16:42
Speaker 1: he told before we went to break he said, they've
16:44
Speaker 1: diversifying the portfolio, moving out of the comedy laden drama
16:48
Speaker 1: where they've had so much success into a romantic drama.
16:53
Speaker 1: What really pushed this envelope beside a great script and
16:56
Speaker 1: opportunity to diverse diversify your portfolio, I think the reason
17:02
Speaker 1: why we sparked to the photograph. First of all, I
17:05
Speaker 1: started off, yes, with a great script, like Sella McGee
17:08
Speaker 1: wrote a beautiful project. Um, she is also a director
17:13
Speaker 1: of This is a very personal project for her, and
17:16
Speaker 1: we wanted to jump on board and help her fulfill
17:20
Speaker 1: her vision and bring this screen. So we're very proud
17:23
Speaker 1: of being a part of this. But um, we just
17:28
Speaker 1: felt like it's been such a long time since the
17:32
Speaker 1: core African American audience has received a love story. Um,
17:37
Speaker 1: and you mentioned Love Jones. You know, that was twenty
17:40
Speaker 1: plus years ago. So we love Okay, Sven and you know,
17:47
Speaker 1: we we just felt like it was time to make
17:49
Speaker 1: another black love story that wasn't based around trauma. You know. Unfortunately, Um,
17:57
Speaker 1: you know, there's a lot of great films that are
17:59
Speaker 1: created and cater to the African American audience, but when
18:03
Speaker 1: it comes to love, there's always a betrayal or out
18:07
Speaker 1: of wed like child or somebody got killed, stalker. And
18:15
Speaker 1: you know this is straight just two black folks loving
18:19
Speaker 1: each other or trying to figure out love, iould say,
18:23
Speaker 1: But it also is about generations. It's about UM gets
18:28
Speaker 1: to raise character who has just lost her mother and
18:32
Speaker 1: through a series of letters, is finding out more about
18:35
Speaker 1: the woman her mother was and the mistakes and love
18:39
Speaker 1: that her mother may have made, and to make sure
18:43
Speaker 1: that she's not going to repeat the same mistakes her
18:47
Speaker 1: mother made. So we are watching When you watch the film,
18:50
Speaker 1: you're watching two stories separated by thirty years. So it's
18:54
Speaker 1: about generational love as well. And it's very movie and touching.
18:59
Speaker 1: UM And and you know, I think, uh, I think
19:02
Speaker 1: folks will enjoy it. It's a great date night. It's
19:05
Speaker 1: a perfect perfect date that the movie is coming out
19:08
Speaker 1: on Valentine's Day. It's a long weekend, so you know,
19:12
Speaker 1: everyone listening to take your special someone to go check
19:15
Speaker 1: this out because you're gonna love it. And the music
19:18
Speaker 1: is phenomenal. Absolutely, um, it has to be another another
19:21
Speaker 1: fellow Houston native Robert glasper uh the score awesome, congratulations,
19:28
Speaker 1: you know were getting out that spread that way you
19:30
Speaker 1: know the beauty of listening to you talk, James. First
19:32
Speaker 1: of all, you sound just the same, You sound just
19:35
Speaker 1: as uh, you know, you give our information. Uh. That's
19:39
Speaker 1: what always impressed me about you is that you're informative
19:42
Speaker 1: and you and you really know how to hit all
19:44
Speaker 1: of the right deal points of the conversation. But one
19:47
Speaker 1: thing I always liked abuy Will because when I did
19:49
Speaker 1: the first movie with him, Think like a Man, he
19:52
Speaker 1: always knew how to select talent that was on the
19:55
Speaker 1: rise about the pop. He was always good at that.
19:59
Speaker 1: You look at this movies, he always gets that talent
20:02
Speaker 1: right when he's about to because he does that really well.
20:05
Speaker 1: And like in that case it was it was Kevin Hard.
20:07
Speaker 1: I knew about Kevin Hard, and I know when we
20:09
Speaker 1: sold the movie Steve and Steve Harming. I sold the
20:11
Speaker 1: movie to screen James with just Clint and he was
20:15
Speaker 1: because I told Will Know. At first I said, no, Will, Am,
20:18
Speaker 1: I gonna do the movie with you? And then he
20:20
Speaker 1: brought in Clinton. Then they came down to Dallas and
20:23
Speaker 1: we rode around on Steve's property. Convinced me and hey,
20:27
Speaker 1: this is the right people. We got the right idea.
20:30
Speaker 1: We will we will make this, make this be a
20:32
Speaker 1: winning And then he said, I said, who goes? Who's
20:34
Speaker 1: gonna do the lead? He said Karen Hard. I said
20:36
Speaker 1: Kevin Hard. He said, he's he's about to break. Man,
20:41
Speaker 1: He's he's about to break. He's about to do that.
20:43
Speaker 1: And so I turned on. I look over the two
20:45
Speaker 1: stars that are at the top of your list. Here
20:48
Speaker 1: he'sa Ray and the key Stanfield. Yeah, okay, now Stanford,
20:53
Speaker 1: let's could it go back a little bit the Atlantic series. Okay,
20:57
Speaker 1: that's when I first discovered him, and I went and
20:59
Speaker 1: I was telling my friend right here, this dude is talented.
21:02
Speaker 1: D Yeah. I mean, you know mckith thought, you know,
21:08
Speaker 1: he wasn't get out as well. Um, he was in
21:12
Speaker 1: Uncut Gems with Adam Sandler that that had a nice
21:15
Speaker 1: run a couple of months ago. Keith been mckith has
21:19
Speaker 1: been working. He's been working. He has been working, I mean,
21:23
Speaker 1: but but all platforms, all platforms. Oh yes, yes, he
21:28
Speaker 1: has been working. And obviously you know he's used to
21:31
Speaker 1: used to raise the queen, like you know, creating the
21:34
Speaker 1: show Insecure for HBO and all the things that she's
21:37
Speaker 1: been doing. Um, but we yeah, we we take pride
21:41
Speaker 1: on on you know, making sure that in every one
21:45
Speaker 1: of our movies we have, um, people who are about
21:49
Speaker 1: the pop or or or or have have recently come
21:53
Speaker 1: on the scene. In this particular one, I think you
21:57
Speaker 1: guys are gonna really enjoy an actress by the name
22:01
Speaker 1: of Schante Adams. She played Ray's mother in the past
22:06
Speaker 1: thirty years in the past. And when I tell you
22:10
Speaker 1: this girl put his work, her performance is amazing. Um,
22:15
Speaker 1: your listeners may or may not know her from a
22:19
Speaker 1: Netflix movie on the rapper Rocksman Shante. It was a
22:23
Speaker 1: Netflix movie called Roxman Roxton. Remember that played the Roxanne
22:29
Speaker 1: in that movie in our Netflix Um, and she is
22:33
Speaker 1: just an incredible performer and she does such a beautiful
22:37
Speaker 1: job of racing this in this song. So let me
22:41
Speaker 1: ask you this. Let me ask you this because your
22:43
Speaker 1: producer on the movie. What exactly does a producer do
22:46
Speaker 1: on this especialist particular movie with the photograph? Well, I'll
22:50
Speaker 1: tell you my role in this one. Um. When when
22:53
Speaker 1: Will and I first started producing together, Um, before I
22:57
Speaker 1: joined the company, he took the meet it was star
23:01
Speaker 1: regarding this particular project. She had not written it yet,
23:05
Speaker 1: it was just a treatment. And UM, when I joined
23:11
Speaker 1: the company, which was like a year later. She had
23:15
Speaker 1: written the script and it was floating around town and uh,
23:20
Speaker 1: I've read it. And I was like, oh man, we
23:22
Speaker 1: need to be doing this movie. This this could be
23:24
Speaker 1: this generation. And I said, word for it. This could
23:28
Speaker 1: be this generations love Jones. We should be making this movie.
23:32
Speaker 1: So I go to Will. I'm like, I read the photographs.
23:35
Speaker 1: I know you took a meeting with her about a
23:37
Speaker 1: year ago, but you should read this script. It's really good.
23:40
Speaker 1: He read it. He was like, I agree. I said,
23:43
Speaker 1: we need to take this into universal and fright for
23:45
Speaker 1: it and set it up. So we did. They brought
23:50
Speaker 1: the script and we spent the next year and alfter
23:53
Speaker 1: two years developing it from several drafts and got it
23:57
Speaker 1: to the point where we got the student of the
24:00
Speaker 1: dream like this now. Um. So, during that process and
24:05
Speaker 1: producer and working with the writer to hone in on
24:08
Speaker 1: the script, get it to the you know, get it,
24:11
Speaker 1: get it, addressing notes, getting it ready to share with cast.
24:17
Speaker 1: We talked about cast, who's available in the time frame
24:20
Speaker 1: that we want to shoot the film. You know, who
24:24
Speaker 1: who do we think would have the best chemistry. You
24:26
Speaker 1: go through that process, you know, I'm you know, I'm
24:30
Speaker 1: hiring a line producer who comes up with the schedule
24:33
Speaker 1: and budget. We're making decisions about where we're going to
24:36
Speaker 1: shoot the film. You know, the New York plays a
24:39
Speaker 1: character in the film, so we you know that it
24:41
Speaker 1: was a filmmaker's vision to shoot the film in New
24:44
Speaker 1: York and not a lot of films shoots here. Um,
24:49
Speaker 1: and you know, so we we won that battle. Then
24:53
Speaker 1: then it's about putting the crew together. You know who's
24:57
Speaker 1: going to be the director of photography, is going to
25:00
Speaker 1: be the cost and designer. You know who's going to
25:03
Speaker 1: be the production designer, who's gonna help cast the movie?
25:07
Speaker 1: The casting right there, so we you know, you put
25:09
Speaker 1: all those people together, get them approved, get them on
25:13
Speaker 1: on the team, and you start building your crew to
25:18
Speaker 1: execute this script all the time while you're sharing the
25:22
Speaker 1: script with agents and managers to get the casting want.
25:28
Speaker 1: Once you get through all that, you go into pre production.
25:31
Speaker 1: Pre production on this film was eight weeks and in
25:36
Speaker 1: that eight week time period, you're scouting your building sets
25:41
Speaker 1: if you needed. You know, the cost and designer is
25:45
Speaker 1: showing options for the characters. You have your director photography,
25:49
Speaker 1: who's building their crew their camera operators with the lighting
25:53
Speaker 1: is gonna look like your story boarding, shot listing. So
25:57
Speaker 1: much goes into it before you start, and then you're
26:02
Speaker 1: on set. We shot this movie over seven weeks six
26:06
Speaker 1: which we're in uh New York in one week and
26:11
Speaker 1: muse in and then you go into post production, which
26:15
Speaker 1: is a twenty two week period where you're editing your
26:19
Speaker 1: sound mixing. During that time period, our director, she has expressed, um,
26:26
Speaker 1: the desire to have Robert Glass for score the film.
26:31
Speaker 1: So without her knowing, I went off and got Robert Glass.
26:35
Speaker 1: You know, I got ahold of them. We had a meeting.
26:39
Speaker 1: I'm like, look with you ashtown boys, let's do this.
26:42
Speaker 1: I took him to the studio. Robert had never scored
26:45
Speaker 1: a movie. Um, So I convinced the studio, hey, give
26:50
Speaker 1: this brother shot. Um, he's the world over now, jazz musicians,
26:55
Speaker 1: you could scored it. He could scored his music. He
26:58
Speaker 1: could score this film with his eyes. Um. And then
27:02
Speaker 1: I know want the studio approved. And then I haven't
27:05
Speaker 1: sit down with Sella and they worked out the vision
27:08
Speaker 1: for what she wanted the sound to be in this movie. Um,
27:13
Speaker 1: and now we're here. That is producing, my man, that's
27:17
Speaker 1: a journey. A lot of people needed to hear for
27:19
Speaker 1: the first time on my show because the shooting period
27:24
Speaker 1: is just seven weeks. You know, pre was a and
27:27
Speaker 1: post pre was eight and then post was twenty two.
27:31
Speaker 1: That was thirty weeks, and then there was almost two
27:33
Speaker 1: and a half years to get it approved. And when
27:37
Speaker 1: you first when you first walked was introduced to it.
27:40
Speaker 1: She didn't even have a script. She said, she had
27:42
Speaker 1: her treatment our concept. So so there's a lot of
27:45
Speaker 1: trust in that process to get to the point that
27:48
Speaker 1: we see the movie photograph. But I don't want to
27:50
Speaker 1: link on the process. There's a couple of there's more
27:52
Speaker 1: people in this movie. My Man coortinately advances in this
27:54
Speaker 1: movie where I love even though there was a drama,
27:57
Speaker 1: you got my Man, A Little Real who everybody old
28:00
Speaker 1: some get out. One of the funniest comics. One of
28:03
Speaker 1: the has a specialized last November that was outstanding called
28:06
Speaker 1: Little Real Man. He plays mckith brother in this movie.
28:10
Speaker 1: And then uh, and then and LOOKI he's funny too.
28:13
Speaker 1: And so then you have Issa Ray, who I saw
28:16
Speaker 1: a little and I became a bigger fan. I actually
28:18
Speaker 1: became a bigger fan of her in the movie Little
28:21
Speaker 1: that you guys also did and did very well at
28:23
Speaker 1: the box office. I think last May and uh, and
28:26
Speaker 1: it's playing right now. If you don't know, it just
28:28
Speaker 1: goes it's it's on pay per view. Is also view
28:32
Speaker 1: video on the Man yet to HBO. Little And So
28:37
Speaker 1: when you when you see a movie like this being
28:39
Speaker 1: put out there, you still have a little touch of
28:43
Speaker 1: I think that you know you can you can bring
28:45
Speaker 1: You're not trying to do a comedy movie, but you
28:47
Speaker 1: do have guys who can bring that comedy moment just
28:50
Speaker 1: to break the ice. Correct, Yeah, correct, there's moments where
28:54
Speaker 1: you know, the audience, we break the ices. It's not
28:57
Speaker 1: a drama all the way through. Um. So every every
29:01
Speaker 1: once in a while you'll get a chuckle, you'll get
29:03
Speaker 1: a laugh in the right places. Um. But it does
29:07
Speaker 1: tug at the heart string. There's another actor I want
29:09
Speaker 1: to bring up who's in there. There's two of them actually, Um,
29:12
Speaker 1: Calvin Harris Jr. Who the audience may not be familiar
29:17
Speaker 1: with the name, but you are familiar with his face.
29:19
Speaker 1: He this young brother is I see, I feel it
29:23
Speaker 1: is going to be up for Academy Award one day.
29:26
Speaker 1: He is. He's done phenomenal work in so many other
29:29
Speaker 1: movies this past two years. But he's working literally nonstuff.
29:33
Speaker 1: I believe the photograph whether it's fifth movie that he
29:37
Speaker 1: shot in twenty twenty nineteen. Sorry, Um, he did five
29:43
Speaker 1: movies last year. Um. He's in a movie called Ways,
29:47
Speaker 1: He's in another movie called Rise, He's in a movie
29:53
Speaker 1: called Loose opposite. Uh, I'll tell miss Spencer. But he's
29:57
Speaker 1: just a phenomenal young actor. He's in the movie Jasmin
30:01
Speaker 1: sepas Jones within the movie, and so is my boy
30:06
Speaker 1: Rob Morgan. Right, I don't know if I don't know
30:09
Speaker 1: if you've seen Just Mercy, but Rob, if y'all seen it, Robbert,
30:12
Speaker 1: the one that went to the electric chair. Oh yeah,
30:16
Speaker 1: oh yeah, when they when when you were planing all
30:19
Speaker 1: the the let him know that they were with him,
30:22
Speaker 1: let him know he wasn't he was not down there
30:24
Speaker 1: by himself. It's a very good movie. There was a
30:26
Speaker 1: powerful moment that movie. Yeah, that brother has some powerful
30:29
Speaker 1: moments in our movie. Um read emotional uh moment. Well,
30:34
Speaker 1: you know my biggest takeaway when I listened to your
30:36
Speaker 1: projects and watch your project again, congratulations graduations, Will and
30:40
Speaker 1: Will know I've been a fan before he brought any
30:43
Speaker 1: movie project to him, to me, to Steve and all
30:46
Speaker 1: just start promoting on our radio show for mat And
30:49
Speaker 1: that's why I kind of I built this format to
30:50
Speaker 1: be able to have power, to be able to put
30:52
Speaker 1: another layer of information, not only about the people who
30:56
Speaker 1: are who are starting in front of the cameras behind
30:58
Speaker 1: the camera, but you guys all have stories, you know, Sam,
31:01
Speaker 1: Let's say with Sammy State University is proud of what
31:04
Speaker 1: you're doing. Four years playing football over there before you
31:07
Speaker 1: roll out to l A, had realized that you can
31:10
Speaker 1: your dreams can't be possible. And then this movie again,
31:13
Speaker 1: the photograph. I want to call my friend because of
31:16
Speaker 1: the fact that I trusted him and we've we've known
31:18
Speaker 1: each other over years and I followed him and he's
31:20
Speaker 1: followed by my success. And we were on the phone
31:23
Speaker 1: that they just talk about another great moment, a great
31:26
Speaker 1: moment in our lives where we're about to, you know,
31:28
Speaker 1: set a different pattern for what the movie could be.
31:31
Speaker 1: I know that they always project have they put a
31:33
Speaker 1: projection on what the box office? Maybe this weekend? Yeah,
31:37
Speaker 1: I don't even like to talk about it. Now, don't
31:39
Speaker 1: talk about, don't talk about don't talk about this. Don't talk,
31:42
Speaker 1: don't all. I don't wanted to do well, and I
31:45
Speaker 1: want I want our folks to come out and support
31:49
Speaker 1: and really talk about this film. And I want them
31:51
Speaker 1: walking out with a greater sense of love for who
31:54
Speaker 1: they're with, who they want to be with. But also
31:57
Speaker 1: I think a lesson that's learned from this film is
32:02
Speaker 1: we learned how to love from our parents. And when
32:06
Speaker 1: you watch the film and you're watching the Parallel Stories
32:09
Speaker 1: thirty years apart um, you know, we pick up a
32:13
Speaker 1: lot of positive things from our parents as well as negative.
32:16
Speaker 1: And we learned how to love because we've watched them love,
32:20
Speaker 1: and that's what this movie is talking about. That's a
32:22
Speaker 1: beautiful to statement again starting the East Array or man
32:26
Speaker 1: uh Keith Stanfield. It's called the Photograph. It's coming out
32:29
Speaker 1: this weekend for all you couples out there, for all
32:33
Speaker 1: you people who want to sit down and hold hands
32:35
Speaker 1: as we can. This is the movie to watch. James Lopez,
32:38
Speaker 1: thanks for coming to much show, talking about your talking
32:41
Speaker 1: about your pass and talking about your future. My friend,
32:43
Speaker 1: eight hundred million dollars in counting, because they're gonna start
32:46
Speaker 1: counting this weekend. Man again, money making Conversations dot com.
32:50
Speaker 1: That's right, I'm Rushan McDonald. I'm your host. In this
32:55
Speaker 1: season of giving, Cools has gifts for all your loved ones.
32:59
Speaker 1: For those who like to keep it cozy, find fleeces, sweaters, loungeware,
33:03
Speaker 1: blankets and throws. Or support minority owned or founded brands
33:07
Speaker 1: by giving gifts from Human Nation and Shame Moisture. And
33:10
Speaker 1: in the spirit of giving, Coals Cares is donating eight
33:13
Speaker 1: million dollars to local nonprofits nationwide. Give with all your
33:18
Speaker 1: heart this season with great gifts from Coals or coals
33:20
Speaker 1: dot com. Still living in manually taking notes, there is
33:24
Speaker 1: a better way to start the new year with auto
33:26
Speaker 1: dot ai automatically get meeting notes. Auto dot ai works
33:30
Speaker 1: for virtual meetings like Zoom, Microsoft Teams, and Google Meat.
33:33
Speaker 1: Sign up on the web for free or download in
33:34
Speaker 1: the app stores auto dot ai. That's O T T
33:37
Speaker 1: E R dot Ai. Hey pet parents, have you heard
33:40
Speaker 1: of Just Food for Dogs? Since we've been helping dogs
33:43
Speaker 1: everywhere live healthier, longer lives through the power of fresh,
33:47
Speaker 1: whole food nutrition. Our meals are formulated by an inhalse
33:50
Speaker 1: team of veterinarians and we only use human grade meats.
33:53
Speaker 1: And veggies with zero preservatives. After transitioning to Just Food
33:56
Speaker 1: for Dogs, pet parents report seeing more energy, firmer stools,
33:59
Speaker 1: and proved health and even longer lives. Give us two
34:02
Speaker 1: weeks and we'll change your dog's life forever. Visit just
34:05
Speaker 1: Food for Dogs dot com slash mobile and save ten
34:08
Speaker 1: on your first purchase