WEBVTT - Will Packer 0:00:00.080 --> 0:00:02.240 Look at Tiffany. There are some allegations that were made 0:00:02.279 --> 0:00:04.800 that since been dropped. You feel comfortable you're gonna be 0:00:04.880 --> 0:00:07.080 able to go to a studio and says, look, we're 0:00:07.080 --> 0:00:10.680 gonna do this movie. I need I need the original cast. 0:00:10.720 --> 0:00:12.879 I do. I do girls Trip too. I can't make 0:00:12.920 --> 0:00:17.520 it without her. Yeah, all my life, the grinding, all 0:00:17.520 --> 0:00:22.479 my life, sacrifice, hustle back pricing, one a slice, got 0:00:22.480 --> 0:00:25.280 the broll dice, swathing all my life. I've been grinding 0:00:25.360 --> 0:00:29.920 all my life, all my life. Then grinding all my life, sacrifice, 0:00:30.240 --> 0:00:34.040 hustle bag pricing, one slice, got the Brolan dice to 0:00:34.080 --> 0:00:39.880 sware all my life. I've been grinding all my life. Hello, 0:00:39.960 --> 0:00:42.080 welcome to another edition of Club Sha Shay. I am 0:00:42.120 --> 0:00:45.040 your host, Shannon Sharp. I'm also the product Club Sha Shay. 0:00:45.280 --> 0:00:47.559 And the guy that's stopping by today is one of 0:00:47.560 --> 0:00:51.840 Hollywood blockbuster hit makers. He's grossed over a billion dollars worldwide. 0:00:52.159 --> 0:00:54.240 Ten of his films have debuted at number one at 0:00:54.280 --> 0:00:59.080 the box office. Executive producer, entrepreneur, Hollywood record breaking filmmaker, 0:00:59.160 --> 0:01:02.600 Will Packer, Guy we all, I'm in the club. What 0:01:02.680 --> 0:01:04.880 you're talking about? You talk to you about your security 0:01:05.080 --> 0:01:07.200 had to show my I d like twice. Yeah, I'm 0:01:07.200 --> 0:01:09.000 over there. I'm like, hey, man, but I know shit, 0:01:09.080 --> 0:01:11.039 And they said everybody know sh Yeah, but you can't. 0:01:11.080 --> 0:01:12.759 You can never be too cautious, you know. I see 0:01:12.840 --> 0:01:15.280 getting crazy after dark out here to get in here club. 0:01:16.240 --> 0:01:19.399 We were bear We got similar rules. You live in 0:01:19.480 --> 0:01:22.000 a I still have a home and a how aben 0:01:22.240 --> 0:01:29.560 hu fam you absolutely absolutely how they treat you. I 0:01:29.680 --> 0:01:31.960 like it, man, I like, you know, I shoot probably 0:01:32.120 --> 0:01:35.840 half of my stuff in Atlanta, other half literally around 0:01:35.880 --> 0:01:38.640 the world, right, So I shoot in Atlanta every chance 0:01:38.680 --> 0:01:40.120 I get. I was a part of the group that 0:01:40.280 --> 0:01:43.520 actually lobby to get the tax credit there, Like people 0:01:43.520 --> 0:01:45.440 don't know. That's why so much production is happening in 0:01:45.520 --> 0:01:49.600 Atlanta doing crazy. Georgia's Crag, Georgia's number one. Yeah, we don't. 0:01:49.600 --> 0:01:52.000 We don't pass CATLIS. They don't pass catlid for on 0:01:52.120 --> 0:01:55.320 location filming in past Kali in New York, meaning like 0:01:55.400 --> 0:01:57.560 if you're shooting out in the world, now, LA still 0:01:57.600 --> 0:02:00.080 got the stages, right, so more people shooting stage in 0:02:00.200 --> 0:02:01.720 LA New York. But in terms of being out in 0:02:01.800 --> 0:02:05.880 the world, it's Georgia. So you know, like myself and Tyler, 0:02:05.960 --> 0:02:09.080 Perry and Turner. We all were part of a group 0:02:09.160 --> 0:02:11.240 to lobby to get the tax credit and it has 0:02:11.280 --> 0:02:13.799 gone crazy. So I love it. Man, What made you 0:02:13.880 --> 0:02:16.760 decide to go to LA? You originally excuse me to 0:02:17.240 --> 0:02:20.239 go to atlantat your Florida guy born in Florida? What 0:02:20.360 --> 0:02:22.360 made you decide to say, you know what, I'm gonna 0:02:22.360 --> 0:02:25.200 set up roots in Atlanta Because I was graduating from 0:02:25.240 --> 0:02:28.880 fam you right, Me and my partner at the time, 0:02:28.960 --> 0:02:31.000 guy named Rob Hardy, had made our first little movie. 0:02:31.000 --> 0:02:33.200 It was called Chocolate City. Okay. It was a movie 0:02:33.200 --> 0:02:36.400 about black college life. Okay, And we said, okay, we 0:02:36.520 --> 0:02:39.400 got this little movie right. We had an audience that 0:02:39.520 --> 0:02:42.280 cared about it at our school. Hollywood didn't care. Kay, 0:02:42.360 --> 0:02:44.399 people watching this, don't think you're just gonna make a movie. 0:02:44.440 --> 0:02:45.880 And all of a sudden, you know, the chairman of 0:02:45.960 --> 0:02:47.919 Paramount and Universe are gonna be calling you. It doesn't 0:02:47.919 --> 0:02:49.760 work like that, right, You gotta hustle your way into 0:02:49.800 --> 0:02:51.720 the game. So we had this movie and we said, 0:02:51.760 --> 0:02:52.959 you know what, we can move to New York, we 0:02:53.040 --> 0:02:54.959 can move to LA. We're gonna be another fish in 0:02:55.040 --> 0:02:58.519 a big pond, right or we looked at Atlanta. The 0:02:58.680 --> 0:03:01.200 music industry was popping. We came in. This is back 0:03:01.240 --> 0:03:03.720 when you're talking about La Face records or Rowdy records, 0:03:03.960 --> 0:03:06.480 so so deaf. Yeah, organizing, no us all that was 0:03:06.560 --> 0:03:09.720 really starting. Atlanta scene was really starting to burst to burst. 0:03:10.280 --> 0:03:13.799 And so we moved to Atlanta thinking, you know what, 0:03:14.200 --> 0:03:16.359 while we're trying to get our film hustle on, we'll 0:03:16.400 --> 0:03:19.400 shoot music video right and we'll have like a symbiotic 0:03:19.520 --> 0:03:22.080 relationship with the music industry. Right. We couldn't get one 0:03:22.160 --> 0:03:24.680 music video broh. We could't get nobody high because everybody 0:03:24.720 --> 0:03:26.200 knew each other. We were the new guy, right, so 0:03:26.280 --> 0:03:28.760 we were kind of not in the in the clissa. 0:03:28.919 --> 0:03:30.600 But you know what that did for us, It forced 0:03:30.720 --> 0:03:33.400 us to independently shoot our own stuff, right, And so 0:03:33.480 --> 0:03:36.840 we moved to Atlanta and shot our first independent movie 0:03:36.880 --> 0:03:40.200 outside of college. It was called Ta, starring Kenyan Moore's 0:03:40.240 --> 0:03:43.600 erotic thriller, and it did well, man pop for us. 0:03:44.760 --> 0:03:47.320 What made you decide? You know? And I tell people 0:03:47.360 --> 0:03:50.880 all the time, I think everybody that goes to a PWI, 0:03:51.280 --> 0:03:54.240 yeah predominantly white institution, should have to spend a quarter 0:03:54.360 --> 0:03:57.680 or semester at a historically back institution. To get that 0:03:58.160 --> 0:04:01.680 to see what homecoming is like, that experience, to see 0:04:02.280 --> 0:04:05.280 the step shows in the park and you're in the 0:04:05.360 --> 0:04:09.040 student center and you you playing dominoes and you're playing 0:04:09.560 --> 0:04:11.840 spades or whatever the case may be, playing in the 0:04:11.920 --> 0:04:15.200 background of fraternities and sororities coming through the set stepping. 0:04:15.520 --> 0:04:18.840 You got to feel that it's different. Is that? Is 0:04:18.920 --> 0:04:21.839 that what you wanted when you shot the movie Chocolate City? 0:04:21.960 --> 0:04:23.760 Is that what you wanted to portray on film? You 0:04:23.880 --> 0:04:26.680 wanted to give people a SIPs of what it's like 0:04:26.880 --> 0:04:29.240 to be at a historically black institution percent because we 0:04:29.320 --> 0:04:32.080 were there I shot at while we were still students, Okay, family. 0:04:32.880 --> 0:04:36.520 We wanted to get people to feel that culture exact 0:04:36.560 --> 0:04:39.480 same thing you're talking about, because they really are. You know, 0:04:39.680 --> 0:04:43.800 colleges are community. Yes, so imagine, especially if you're African American, 0:04:43.880 --> 0:04:46.920 the safest space, the most competitive space in an area 0:04:47.000 --> 0:04:51.080 where you can really feel at home, challenge, love, and 0:04:51.240 --> 0:04:52.960 push to be the best year you can be. Right, 0:04:53.120 --> 0:04:55.640 that's my experience on the HBCU campus. We wanted to 0:04:55.720 --> 0:04:57.880 showcase that, and Chocolate City to this day is still 0:04:57.960 --> 0:05:02.200 the first historically black first movie shot on an HBCU 0:05:02.279 --> 0:05:05.800 campus by its students, right right. It also was a 0:05:05.880 --> 0:05:09.400 precursor for my first number one movie, which was Stomp 0:05:09.480 --> 0:05:12.160 the Yard. Oh yeah. I made Chocolate City, then went 0:05:12.200 --> 0:05:14.200 off and made some other movies, and I always wanted 0:05:14.200 --> 0:05:16.480 to go back and set another movie at HBCU. So 0:05:16.640 --> 0:05:19.760 my first kind of big mainstream hit was Stomp the Yard, 0:05:19.800 --> 0:05:23.200 which took me back to my HBCU. Use you made 0:05:23.240 --> 0:05:25.920 it in engineering, got a degree in engineering. How the 0:05:26.040 --> 0:05:28.880 hell do you go from engineering the shooting film. Yeah 0:05:29.040 --> 0:05:32.960 it's different. Yeah, yeah, Like I'm gonna build a bridge, 0:05:32.960 --> 0:05:35.320 I'm gonna build a building on your road. Yeah no, 0:05:35.600 --> 0:05:38.400 i'mna get behind the camera and shoot. I did a 0:05:38.480 --> 0:05:41.480 lot of math and science is external dynamics. And I'm 0:05:41.520 --> 0:05:43.360 sitting on set right now, like, why where am I 0:05:43.480 --> 0:05:46.960 using this? What was the point with all those late hours? Exactly? 0:05:47.000 --> 0:05:49.159 Here's the thing I'll tell you though. It actually helped 0:05:49.160 --> 0:05:51.480 me to hone my analytical mind. Okay, And you kind 0:05:51.520 --> 0:05:53.760 of can't overstate how important that is even in a 0:05:53.839 --> 0:05:56.480 creative industry, right. I think that it gives me a 0:05:56.640 --> 0:05:59.080 leg up on my peers, the fact that I use 0:05:59.320 --> 0:06:01.600 my analyt litical skill set that I got from that 0:06:01.720 --> 0:06:04.400 engineering degree. Now I ended up majoring in engineering because 0:06:04.440 --> 0:06:06.160 I got a scholarship. Coming out of high school. I 0:06:06.200 --> 0:06:08.160 was strong in math and science, right, and there was 0:06:08.200 --> 0:06:11.160 a push to get more African Americans in the STEM 0:06:11.240 --> 0:06:15.160 program science, technology, engineering, mathematics, and so I got a 0:06:15.200 --> 0:06:17.320 scholarship to go there. I didn't want to go to family. 0:06:17.400 --> 0:06:19.120 You wanted to go to an IVY league. I was 0:06:19.240 --> 0:06:22.919 accepted into an IVA. Shannon Sharpe, I was like, listen, 0:06:22.960 --> 0:06:25.760 I got the grades. Yes, I got accepted. It's not 0:06:25.880 --> 0:06:28.080 going to fam. You kids trying to go to family 0:06:28.240 --> 0:06:29.840 was cheating off me in high school. I'm not going 0:06:29.880 --> 0:06:33.240 over here with y'all. What happened was we had a 0:06:33.320 --> 0:06:35.320 president who was a visionary of family at the time. 0:06:35.360 --> 0:06:37.520 His name was doctor Frederick assume Free's God blessed him. 0:06:37.520 --> 0:06:40.479 He's passed on. But he said, I want the top 0:06:40.560 --> 0:06:42.680 black students in the country to come to the school. 0:06:42.920 --> 0:06:45.280 And you know how you do that. Money. He went 0:06:45.360 --> 0:06:49.240 out and he went to corporations and he got major scholarships. Right. 0:06:49.760 --> 0:06:52.160 He came and sat in my living room at my 0:06:52.279 --> 0:06:54.960 house like I was a d one athlete and recruited 0:06:55.000 --> 0:06:57.400 me to go to FAM you. He said, listen, I 0:06:57.520 --> 0:06:59.080 know you want to go to Penn. I know you 0:06:59.160 --> 0:07:01.000 got accepted to you. I know you want to go 0:07:01.080 --> 0:07:02.520 to these other schools. But let me tell you what 0:07:02.600 --> 0:07:04.880 we do at FAM. You. We're gonna make you excellence. 0:07:04.920 --> 0:07:06.800 We're gonna care about it, and you are gonna do 0:07:06.960 --> 0:07:08.760 things that you could never do with those other schools 0:07:08.760 --> 0:07:11.040 because we're gonna care about you as a person, not 0:07:11.200 --> 0:07:13.960 just the number, not just a student. I still didn't 0:07:13.960 --> 0:07:17.760 want to go. Now here's what happened. A funny thing 0:07:17.840 --> 0:07:20.280 happened on my way to the Ivy League. Doctor Humphreys 0:07:20.360 --> 0:07:22.360 came and dropped a bag of cash in that living room, 0:07:22.600 --> 0:07:25.680 I mean literally, but with the scholarship right, scholarship stipe 0:07:25.760 --> 0:07:28.320 in full room and board everything. My parents said, oh 0:07:28.680 --> 0:07:30.880 that's nice. Hey, what they're giving you over at that 0:07:31.400 --> 0:07:32.960 o Ivy League that you want to go to. How 0:07:33.000 --> 0:07:34.360 much they give you? I said, well, you know they're not. 0:07:34.640 --> 0:07:37.280 They're not giving me there, not giving me nothing. But 0:07:37.880 --> 0:07:39.880 they let me in. They said, guess where your little 0:07:39.920 --> 0:07:43.200 black stuff is gonna go to the top. Best decision 0:07:43.280 --> 0:07:46.040 that was ever made for me, And it really is 0:07:46.160 --> 0:07:49.920 about that cycle of excellence. You know he has somebody 0:07:49.960 --> 0:07:52.000 that said, listen, we can do as as well as 0:07:52.040 --> 0:07:53.800 anybody else, and we can get the top students in 0:07:53.840 --> 0:07:55.720 the country. And I happened to be one of those 0:07:55.720 --> 0:07:57.800 students at the time, got recruited to go there and 0:07:58.080 --> 0:08:01.640 and did it because it we did have that financial 0:08:01.680 --> 0:08:03.960 and center, but I didn't have that elsewhere. My parents said, listen, 0:08:04.200 --> 0:08:05.600 you can go to an ivy lator and get your 0:08:05.720 --> 0:08:08.080 NBA if you want, but this is where you're gonna start. Right. 0:08:08.280 --> 0:08:09.760 It was the best thing that ever happened to me. Man, 0:08:09.960 --> 0:08:13.640 What is it about historically black institutions. It's like like 0:08:13.760 --> 0:08:16.920 homecoming is a big, giant, giant cookout with like five thousand, 0:08:16.960 --> 0:08:19.880 ten thousand of your closest friends. But they're the sense 0:08:19.960 --> 0:08:22.960 that you mentioned, the sense of community is that you 0:08:23.040 --> 0:08:26.440 know you're standing out. Everybody is suited and booted because 0:08:26.440 --> 0:08:27.920 I don't know how mean when I go to my 0:08:28.200 --> 0:08:29.800 when I would go to my brother, he was at 0:08:29.800 --> 0:08:32.000 the University of South Carolina, and I'm seeing people in 0:08:32.120 --> 0:08:34.679 sweats and they like pajamas. I was like, where they 0:08:34.720 --> 0:08:37.920 do that at? We suited and booted, We got on legs, 0:08:37.960 --> 0:08:40.079 we got on calber cloud, we got on as we 0:08:40.200 --> 0:08:42.480 got on Dark side of the Week till the nine 0:08:42.600 --> 0:08:45.160 the fashion Show. Yeah, come on, man, stop playing you 0:08:45.280 --> 0:08:47.679 know how we do. We had to absolutely, But it's 0:08:47.720 --> 0:08:50.960 like you said, everybody needs to experience that. Yeah, everybody. 0:08:50.960 --> 0:08:52.439 I got a lot of friends when the PWA, I 0:08:52.520 --> 0:08:54.640 got friends and played ball all of that. Yeah, and 0:08:54.760 --> 0:08:56.640 they all say, man, I wish I'd had just a 0:08:56.679 --> 0:08:58.719 little bit of that experience. Yeah. And here's the thing. 0:08:59.120 --> 0:09:01.560 It stays with you in a different way. That's taking 0:09:01.600 --> 0:09:03.800 nothing away from any other snow, but you know, like 0:09:03.960 --> 0:09:06.360 I know when you go to ANBCU, that is your 0:09:06.440 --> 0:09:10.920 fair monly for life life. What is it that you 0:09:11.040 --> 0:09:17.400 think that makes Atlanta so many black successful gravitate there? 0:09:17.840 --> 0:09:21.760 You mentioned yourself, You mentioned uh, Tyler Perry, Ye, Steve 0:09:21.840 --> 0:09:26.640 Harvey has a home bisop. So many of today's Hollywood 0:09:27.080 --> 0:09:32.040 and celebrities and entertainers migrate to Atlanta. Yeah, why success 0:09:32.120 --> 0:09:35.480 beget success? You see other people doing it there, and 0:09:35.520 --> 0:09:37.280 you go, you know what, I can do it too, right, 0:09:37.400 --> 0:09:39.400 I know that's what's happening in entertainment, right. You know 0:09:39.559 --> 0:09:41.560 I know that that that I was there very early. 0:09:41.640 --> 0:09:43.559 Tyler was there very early. Now you have other people 0:09:43.920 --> 0:09:46.280 you know, you name it from from you know, Ryan 0:09:46.320 --> 0:09:50.040 Cooler with Black Panthers to a lot of the big 0:09:50.120 --> 0:09:52.320 movies are shot there because people see what we've been 0:09:52.360 --> 0:09:55.040 able to do. There's a true community there. There's an environment, 0:09:55.080 --> 0:09:57.520 not just in entertainment, but you look at politics, you 0:09:57.600 --> 0:10:00.040 look at business. It is a place where you you 0:10:00.200 --> 0:10:03.640 have a lot of high achieving African Americans that are succeeded, 0:10:03.880 --> 0:10:06.240 and then they're bringing other people along to work with 0:10:06.400 --> 0:10:08.320 them and to help, and so it becomes a network 0:10:08.360 --> 0:10:10.679 and it becomes a positive cycle. Right. Cycles don't always 0:10:10.679 --> 0:10:12.800 have to be negative you talking about cyclical things. It 0:10:12.840 --> 0:10:14.599 can be positive as well. I think we're seeing that 0:10:14.640 --> 0:10:17.000 in Atlanta. You I mean, I'm looking at you your 0:10:17.120 --> 0:10:19.800 ta with in your movie takers. Bludicrists have a project 0:10:20.360 --> 0:10:24.439 dancing through the snow. Ye. How when you when you 0:10:25.040 --> 0:10:27.000 getting ready to shoot a movie, do you have an 0:10:27.040 --> 0:10:29.520 idea of who you like to start in the movie 0:10:29.840 --> 0:10:32.959 or do you how far along is the movie before 0:10:33.000 --> 0:10:35.040 you started to say, Okay, I think this guy would 0:10:35.040 --> 0:10:36.880 be perfect or I think she would be perfect. Yeah, 0:10:36.880 --> 0:10:39.520 that's a good question. I mean you always know, you 0:10:39.640 --> 0:10:43.200 always have an idea who you want in the movie. Right, 0:10:44.160 --> 0:10:47.839 it is always you can get and always work out 0:10:47.920 --> 0:10:50.719 like that. I was gonna say, right, I made a 0:10:50.800 --> 0:10:53.880 movie girls trip right. I knew for a fact Regina 0:10:53.960 --> 0:10:56.320 Hall was the absolute first person we went okay, love 0:10:56.480 --> 0:10:59.439 Regina one of my most frequent collaborators. I knew we 0:10:59.520 --> 0:11:02.959 wanted her. Had a conversation with Latifa and Jada and 0:11:03.040 --> 0:11:05.199 they said, man, we have not worked together and so long, 0:11:05.280 --> 0:11:07.839 we would love to work together. Now I got my 0:11:07.960 --> 0:11:10.319 three right. We were not thinking about Tiffany Haddish for 0:11:10.360 --> 0:11:12.839 that final role, right, So I went in knew that 0:11:12.880 --> 0:11:15.800 I wanted actresses on a certain level. So I knew 0:11:15.840 --> 0:11:18.640 I wanted Regina. Had a great conversation with Latifa and 0:11:18.720 --> 0:11:20.400 Jada that worked out. Now I got to finish out 0:11:20.440 --> 0:11:22.599 that that final role, and then we went out and 0:11:22.679 --> 0:11:24.520 we cast it. She came in and killed the audition. 0:11:24.840 --> 0:11:26.719 So it's like, you know, being a producers like being 0:11:26.760 --> 0:11:29.160 a project manager, right, you really have to know how 0:11:29.240 --> 0:11:32.000 to put all the pieces together. That's my job. I 0:11:32.120 --> 0:11:34.360 can say it was a producer due because people get confused. 0:11:34.400 --> 0:11:36.559 They think it's like a director yell action and cut. 0:11:37.040 --> 0:11:39.000 I always use the analogy that if you look at 0:11:39.360 --> 0:11:42.840 the Oscars. The final award of the night is Best Picture. 0:11:43.200 --> 0:11:46.880 Who gets Best Picture? That's the producer, right, That's after 0:11:47.160 --> 0:11:50.360 Best Director, Best Cinematography, Best Sound, Best editing. All of that, 0:11:50.679 --> 0:11:53.280 the producer was responsible for hiring all those other people, 0:11:53.679 --> 0:11:57.600 putting all the elements together, and ultimately the final product 0:11:57.800 --> 0:12:00.600 is what the producers judged off. I didn't. We started 0:12:00.640 --> 0:12:02.559 off with girls Trip. We're gonna get to that later. 0:12:02.760 --> 0:12:08.760 You're thinking about doing a sequel, Yeah, man, original cast 0:12:09.480 --> 0:12:12.120 or a different direction. Now, I gotta have a cast, 0:12:12.160 --> 0:12:14.240 and then I gotta I gotta take them because they 0:12:14.280 --> 0:12:17.480 because because people love those ladies. Yes, they loved those characters. Yeah, 0:12:17.800 --> 0:12:19.520 that was my first time seeing Tiffany had It. I 0:12:19.520 --> 0:12:22.079 had no idea who she was really and she she 0:12:22.920 --> 0:12:25.480 she stole, actually she stole the show, to be honest. Yeah, 0:12:25.600 --> 0:12:29.199 all of them were great. Yeah. I love Latifah, loved 0:12:29.240 --> 0:12:32.200 Jada Regina Hall, She's one of my favorites. But Tiffany 0:12:32.280 --> 0:12:35.880 had It. It was her mannerisms and and everything was 0:12:35.960 --> 0:12:38.319 just like she was a breakout. I mean, because she 0:12:38.520 --> 0:12:40.800 was everybody else that came in an audition for that role. 0:12:41.240 --> 0:12:43.720 They were playing the character that read on the page. 0:12:43.760 --> 0:12:47.840 But that's her. Tiffany came the character. Yeah, she took 0:12:47.920 --> 0:12:49.160 what was on the page and took it to the 0:12:49.240 --> 0:12:51.880 next live. Every now and then you have an actor 0:12:52.320 --> 0:12:54.880 that's just made for a role. Kevin Hart. Kevin had 0:12:54.920 --> 0:12:58.280 been in the game for for years, right, he hadn't 0:12:58.320 --> 0:13:01.160 had that mainstream breakout success. And we did our movie 0:13:01.240 --> 0:13:04.920 Thing Like a Man, right, and he needed just that platform. 0:13:05.440 --> 0:13:07.120 And if you see Things Like a Man, he's kind 0:13:07.120 --> 0:13:09.000 of the maestro. He's in there, you know what I mean, 0:13:09.080 --> 0:13:11.320 All the guys are around him. He's our narrator. Right. 0:13:11.520 --> 0:13:14.440 It was the perfect platform for his talent, his skill 0:13:14.520 --> 0:13:17.319 set it yourself. Another one of my freaking collaborators. His 0:13:17.440 --> 0:13:20.559 first movie after The Wire was a little movie I 0:13:20.679 --> 0:13:23.200 made called The Gospel, and it was a faith based 0:13:23.240 --> 0:13:26.040 film and it just came in and played a Southern preacher. Yeah, 0:13:26.160 --> 0:13:29.520 And it was just the platform at that time that 0:13:29.640 --> 0:13:33.839 helped introduce them to new audiences that didn't know them right. Right. 0:13:33.960 --> 0:13:36.079 So it's that's what it's about. As a producer, You're 0:13:36.080 --> 0:13:37.920 just trying to put the pieces together, right. It's like 0:13:38.000 --> 0:13:40.600 a puzzle man, and everything got a fit. If it doesn't, 0:13:40.679 --> 0:13:43.679 the movie doesn't work. You look at Regina. Excuse me, 0:13:43.760 --> 0:13:45.640 not Regina, but you look at Tiffany. There are some 0:13:45.679 --> 0:13:48.560 allegations that were made that since been dropped. You see 0:13:48.600 --> 0:13:50.959 the situation that happened with Jada and Will at the 0:13:51.040 --> 0:13:54.800 Oscars would talk touching that a little later, and Tiffany says, 0:13:55.280 --> 0:14:00.000 everything that I had is dried up. You feel comfortable 0:14:00.840 --> 0:14:03.319 that that she you're gonna be able to go to 0:14:03.400 --> 0:14:05.960 a studio and says, look, we're gonna do this movie. 0:14:06.520 --> 0:14:09.520 I need I need the original cast. I do, I do. 0:14:09.800 --> 0:14:14.000 I certainly hope. So I think that you know, we 0:14:14.440 --> 0:14:16.400 are in a time period where there's not a lot 0:14:16.480 --> 0:14:19.600 of there's not a lot of nuance. It's just black 0:14:19.640 --> 0:14:21.360 and white, and the reality is that we live in 0:14:21.440 --> 0:14:25.240 a gray world. And I think that, you know, she's 0:14:25.320 --> 0:14:28.600 very talented, obviously very remorsefulness, come out and apologize, and 0:14:28.680 --> 0:14:31.720 so I certainly hope so, and I certainly would advocate 0:14:31.800 --> 0:14:34.080 for her. You know, Girl's Trip too. I can't make 0:14:34.080 --> 0:14:37.200 it without her because I don't know who. I don't 0:14:37.240 --> 0:14:39.280 know who you can cast in that role. It would 0:14:39.280 --> 0:14:41.640 feel very obvious that you didn't have her, you know. 0:14:42.040 --> 0:14:44.480 So we'll see how these things go. But you know 0:14:44.720 --> 0:14:47.800 it is it is. I always tell people that it 0:14:47.960 --> 0:14:51.040 becomes a tricky conversation when you align the art with 0:14:51.120 --> 0:14:53.520 the artists so much, and you don't have a separation 0:14:53.640 --> 0:14:55.600 between art and artists. And that doesn't mean that you 0:14:55.720 --> 0:14:59.200 justify bad behavior, just means that sometimes I'm even talking 0:14:59.200 --> 0:15:01.480 about Tivit, I'm talking mine. In general, you have to 0:15:01.600 --> 0:15:04.400 look at at the art right and you have to 0:15:04.520 --> 0:15:07.120 judge the art, and then you can also judge the artist. 0:15:07.160 --> 0:15:09.120 And sometimes one doesn't work, you know what I mean. 0:15:09.160 --> 0:15:10.840 You can't enjoy the art art because you don't like 0:15:10.920 --> 0:15:13.520 the artist, That's fine, but you do have to have 0:15:13.640 --> 0:15:16.080 a separate conversation between art and arts when you talk 0:15:16.120 --> 0:15:18.880 about the art. Girl's Trip too, I would definitely want 0:15:18.920 --> 0:15:22.480 those four labors. Where are you on cancel culture? It 0:15:22.560 --> 0:15:24.760 seems that we're now that if somebody makes a mistake, 0:15:24.800 --> 0:15:27.560 it's an unforgiven no matter no matter how small it is. 0:15:27.920 --> 0:15:29.960 And now we're done with you. You can't do this anymore. 0:15:30.280 --> 0:15:32.440 And and and like I said, we're gonna talk about 0:15:32.520 --> 0:15:35.120 the incident later, but I'm still going to buy If 0:15:35.160 --> 0:15:37.080 Will Smith does a movie, I'm gonna go see it. Yeah, 0:15:37.400 --> 0:15:39.680 if somebody does something. I'm gonna go see it, y'all. 0:15:39.720 --> 0:15:41.960 I'm not I'm not going to let that happen. Yeah, yeah, 0:15:42.640 --> 0:15:46.800 you have to. It's like I said, Nuance, bruh. You know. Listen, 0:15:46.840 --> 0:15:49.480 you in the public eye. Yes, you are in media. 0:15:49.640 --> 0:15:53.360 You are every day yes, right, microphone in your face. Yes, 0:15:53.560 --> 0:15:55.160 and you got a whole bunch of people waiting for 0:15:55.200 --> 0:15:58.000 you to say just one little thing. Ye please? They wait? 0:15:58.080 --> 0:16:00.720 You got the Shannon drop haters. Yes, that's like, please 0:16:00.760 --> 0:16:03.440 say something. We have to jump on. Right, that's the 0:16:03.520 --> 0:16:06.520 world that we live in now. Unfortunately, I love what 0:16:06.680 --> 0:16:09.800 social media can be at its best, right, it's the 0:16:09.920 --> 0:16:14.320 democratization of power to the people. Everybody has a voice. 0:16:14.360 --> 0:16:15.840 Your voice can be heard. You don't have to be 0:16:15.880 --> 0:16:17.880 a Shandon Sharp, We don't have to be a Will Packer. Right. 0:16:18.320 --> 0:16:19.480 The other side of that is that you have a 0:16:19.520 --> 0:16:21.320 lot of people that weaponize it. Man, Yes, you have 0:16:21.400 --> 0:16:24.120 a lot of people, and there's no room for a 0:16:24.240 --> 0:16:28.520 conversation other than you did wrong. You have to be canceled. 0:16:28.560 --> 0:16:30.760 You're out of here. We don't deal with you. We're 0:16:30.800 --> 0:16:34.080 gonna do everything we can to stop you from here 0:16:34.160 --> 0:16:36.760 on out. Right, Well, there's no room for growth or redemption. 0:16:36.840 --> 0:16:39.040 When you do that, there's no room for a conversation 0:16:39.240 --> 0:16:45.320 for people to learn. Also, my opinion, I think intentionality matters. YEA, 0:16:45.440 --> 0:16:48.760 what was your intention? What is your intent doesn't make 0:16:48.840 --> 0:16:51.320 it right. You can still do wrong while it's attending positive, 0:16:51.480 --> 0:16:53.720 but we have to take that into account in my opinion, 0:16:54.160 --> 0:16:57.520 So I think that it's a pendulum that swings. You 0:16:57.600 --> 0:16:59.680 talk about cancel culture. There's been a lot of things 0:16:59.760 --> 0:17:01.880 that you know, you look at African Americans and medium 0:17:02.400 --> 0:17:04.200 a lot of opportunities we haven't had that we should 0:17:04.240 --> 0:17:09.040 have had. Right However, I think that you do have 0:17:09.160 --> 0:17:12.200 a pendulum that has swung so far that you do 0:17:12.400 --> 0:17:15.359 have a group of people that say, once there's anything 0:17:15.440 --> 0:17:18.200 that we can take issue with, that's it, that it's 0:17:18.320 --> 0:17:21.600 over for that person. And very frequently I don't agree. Now, 0:17:21.680 --> 0:17:23.200 I work in this industry. I know a lot of 0:17:23.240 --> 0:17:25.479 these imperfect people just like you do. Now. A lot 0:17:25.520 --> 0:17:29.480 of times they're intent is strong right in the right place. 0:17:29.920 --> 0:17:32.680 It's it's it's a process, it really is. That pendulum 0:17:32.720 --> 0:17:34.600 is swung one way, it'll swing back the other way. 0:17:34.800 --> 0:17:36.320 We just got to figure out we can all do 0:17:36.480 --> 0:17:39.359 better and be more progressive. As a society, but it 0:17:39.400 --> 0:17:42.320 doesn't always mean that we throw out every person that 0:17:42.400 --> 0:17:45.480 makes a mistake. Right. I'm looking at comedians because I 0:17:45.520 --> 0:17:47.159 think it's getting hard and harder for them to do 0:17:47.600 --> 0:17:49.960 their job. Now we know there are certain things that 0:17:50.280 --> 0:17:52.280 like Eddie Murpher, I don't know if Adie could have 0:17:52.600 --> 0:17:55.720 in today's time that he told them delirious and raw 0:17:56.840 --> 0:18:04.120 Bernie mack uh. Different time is a different time. Yeah, 0:18:04.560 --> 0:18:07.280 how do you how do they walk this fine line 0:18:07.600 --> 0:18:11.200 because what they do they take actual true things that 0:18:11.280 --> 0:18:14.159 have happened and they make them money. Yeah. I watched 0:18:14.600 --> 0:18:18.240 Dave Chappelle's monologue on Saturday Night Live. It might it 0:18:18.359 --> 0:18:23.000 was the greatest monologue the way he wore and hey, 0:18:23.320 --> 0:18:25.840 he's like they're laying, they're laying. I mean, it's fill 0:18:25.880 --> 0:18:31.680 a laying back so deft. Just step in app and 0:18:31.800 --> 0:18:34.600 get him one time. It matters how you say it, 0:18:34.680 --> 0:18:37.560 because you said some of the same types of things 0:18:38.119 --> 0:18:41.760 that others have said, but the way that he said it. 0:18:42.040 --> 0:18:44.960 He is an expert storyteller. Yes, and that's the answer 0:18:45.040 --> 0:18:49.000 to your question comedians. Right, And I've had this conversation 0:18:49.080 --> 0:18:50.920 with with Kevin Hard. I've had this conversation with rob 0:18:51.040 --> 0:18:53.359 it matters how you delivered and how you say it. 0:18:54.640 --> 0:18:57.320 You can say a lot of stuff right, right, but 0:18:57.440 --> 0:19:00.520 the way that you say it matters. Even if you 0:19:00.640 --> 0:19:03.120 look at the other side, somebody like a Donald Trump, 0:19:03.160 --> 0:19:05.320 I don't care where your politics are. He's not a comedian. 0:19:05.600 --> 0:19:07.720 He has says some things that nine percent of the 0:19:07.760 --> 0:19:10.560 people could not say, right, but the way he says it, 0:19:10.600 --> 0:19:13.439 in a charismatic way, which speaks to a certain segment 0:19:13.480 --> 0:19:15.440 of the population, allows him to get away with it. 0:19:15.720 --> 0:19:17.639