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Speaker 1: Afro Tech World the Metaverse. Rosalind for Team of Golden

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Speaker 1: Wood A is the sports broadcaster. A native of New

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Speaker 1: York City, she played college basketball at Stanford and the

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Speaker 1: Nigerian women's national basketball team. She's also surprisingly to some

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Speaker 1: heavy into n f t s non funcible tokens. I'm

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Speaker 1: talking with Rise and Blavity CEO Morgan Devon about what

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Speaker 1: n f t s are, their significance, and what they

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Speaker 1: mean the creator's long term. So, yes, there's this, you know,

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Speaker 1: it's it's distinctively unique. There's only one UM and this

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Speaker 1: is why I like, I'll say this, certainly within n

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Speaker 1: f t s, there's a lot of noise, a lot

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Speaker 1: of attention to big money projects, PfP avatar projects that

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Speaker 1: you're like, why is this picture selling for this amount

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Speaker 1: of money. I can't say that all of this UM

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Speaker 1: is going to be standing the test of time in

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Speaker 1: ten years from now, in five years from now. The

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Speaker 1: technology is new and exploding, and so there's a lot

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Speaker 1: of noise in the midst of it. Two. But it

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Speaker 1: doesn't mean that the foundation of it isn't significant. And

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Speaker 1: I do when I wrap my head around it, fundamentally,

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Speaker 1: I do believe that it's going to be disruptive and transformational.

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Speaker 1: So I'll add like why um, On top of it

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Speaker 1: being one of one, it's also because it's written on blockchain, right,

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Speaker 1: there's this ledger. It's a really easy way of seeing

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Speaker 1: you know, transactional history of ownership of and and many

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Speaker 1: other details. The blockchain don't live and people will get

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Speaker 1: caught on that. So like, UM, it can tell any

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Speaker 1: n f T. You can tell who has owned it,

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Speaker 1: how it was, how hands were traded, what it was

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Speaker 1: ever offered for, what was ever been on it for,

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Speaker 1: how it was sold, dates and time. Um. So because

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Speaker 1: of that, I could see the technology itself being very

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Speaker 1: useful for industries like you know real estate or you

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Speaker 1: know deeds and titles, and you know, there's a number

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Speaker 1: of streies that it can be disruptive for. Certainly you

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Speaker 1: look at the music industry. Let's go to the idea

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Speaker 1: of it being like for creators, whether it's an artist

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Speaker 1: or myself as a broadcaster, or a celebrity, or an

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Speaker 1: athlete or as we're starting to think of ourselves, even

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Speaker 1: you when you are creating anything, UM, it can eliminate middlemen,

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Speaker 1: you know, and it will take you directly to your audience,

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Speaker 1: to your consumer, to your fan base, and allow you

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Speaker 1: to create something that Now you're creating a more engaged

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Speaker 1: fan and consumer because once they buy this, they're now

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Speaker 1: more invested. They have something that they own that as

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Speaker 1: you rise, so does the value of their peace. So

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Speaker 1: now they're sitting here super engaged with you and and

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Speaker 1: invested in your rise. It also creates communities that are

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Speaker 1: strong because you're tighten it together. We are all part

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Speaker 1: of this n f T group, so we are now collaborative.

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Speaker 1: We are working hard to build it together. So now

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Speaker 1: you've got a more engaged community, You've got a better

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Speaker 1: engagement between consumer and producer, fan and and creator. I

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Speaker 1: feel like these are all really like important reasons for

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Speaker 1: enmcies to be revolutionary. Um, and I'm excited about it.

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Speaker 1: Oh and I'll say this too for artists, and I'm

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Speaker 1: sure you might have heard this too, Like I think

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Speaker 1: for creators, it's important because it protects you over the

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Speaker 1: span of your trajectory of your career. So like let's

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Speaker 1: say Bosciot or any artist at the beginning of their

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Speaker 1: career was selling at a hundred bucks for a piece.

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Speaker 1: You know, that's it. You never see it again as

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Speaker 1: as it trades hands over the course of time, but

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Speaker 1: because there are royalties built into the blockchain which can

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Speaker 1: never these smart contracts hold forever, like you're constantly being

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Speaker 1: protected and rewarded over the course of time and career.

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Speaker 1: So I think there's a lot of things here that

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Speaker 1: are exciting about the technology itself. I'm well Lucas, Mrs

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Speaker 1: Black Tech, Cream Money. I'm gonna answer this you to

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Speaker 1: some of the biggest names, some of the brightest minds

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Speaker 1: and brilliant ideas. If you're black and building or simply

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Speaker 1: using tech to secure your bag, this podcast is for you.

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Speaker 1: The Shanna Spencer's founder and CEO at Quality TV, the

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Speaker 1: streaming platform featuring five hundred plus undiscovered, award winning indie films, documentaries,

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Speaker 1: web series and kids shows celebrating global black stories. Sean

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Speaker 1: b is creator Connect the series one and two now

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Speaker 1: streaming on Quality TV. I'm talking with the platform developer

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Speaker 1: and content creator about the need for our ownership of

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Speaker 1: the black narrative and how media constructs our worldview when

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Speaker 1: it may not be what is really happening on the ground.

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Speaker 1: That's one of the reasons why I started Quarly TV.

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Speaker 1: It really started with me not feeling like I saw

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Speaker 1: myself represented and not seeing enough stories about black life

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Speaker 1: beyond black death, black suffering. I'm a former journalist and

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Speaker 1: one of the things about working in daily news is

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Speaker 1: you spend so much time writing these narratives. And I

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Speaker 1: really started with some research to understood the correlation between

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Speaker 1: in place a bias in me representation, and so when

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Speaker 1: I started to Clay TV, I really wanted to use

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Speaker 1: our platform to change that, and not just from an

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Speaker 1: African American lands, but from a global lens, because, um,

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Speaker 1: if you think about I would used to do these

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Speaker 1: pitch competitions they Alwauls say, you know, we think about

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Speaker 1: black fathers when you think about UM people on weal

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Speaker 1: for all these negative stereotypes, UM, this media sometimes since

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Speaker 1: you set as like there are no black fathers. We

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Speaker 1: know black fives are more likely to be engaged with

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Speaker 1: children than than any other group. We know that white

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Speaker 1: black women don't represent the welfare right you know, Um,

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Speaker 1: but that's kind of what we've been fed and even

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Speaker 1: outside having us as a kid, I used to watch

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Speaker 1: these these um like I guess commercials and you would

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Speaker 1: see Africa and the only thing you would see. It

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Speaker 1: would be children with flies and their faces, people poverty

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Speaker 1: or or or child soldiers and and it's like a

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Speaker 1: very negat view about Africa. And it wasn't until I

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Speaker 1: started doing my own research and learning about, you know,

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Speaker 1: but what life was like on on the continent. I

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Speaker 1: was like, well, that's doesn't represent what I've seen, and

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Speaker 1: I really want to change that. And it literally just

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Speaker 1: started with me doing my research talk with Currencent creators

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Speaker 1: single was out there and saying, we're not seeing these stories.

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Speaker 1: The mainstream media is sort of packaging this view about

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Speaker 1: the black experience without I would say, people who look

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Speaker 1: like us green lighting those experiences are not enough of us.

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Speaker 1: And so I really wanted to have a space in

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Speaker 1: which we are the want to control the narrative. We

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Speaker 1: give controverts like shun Being opportunity to show what it

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Speaker 1: really means to be a millennial in Atlanta authentically without

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Speaker 1: some of the lay stereotypes we sometimes see the mainstream media.

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Speaker 1: So Sean, I want you to chime in on this too,

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Speaker 1: because you know, even domestically this happens. You know, people

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Speaker 1: have a perception of Atlanta that you know may not

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Speaker 1: always be true. In many playing cases it might be true,

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Speaker 1: but in not all cases that were fed by media.

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Speaker 1: So talk to us. How about a little bit about

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Speaker 1: how you introduce people to the culture of a space

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Speaker 1: that you know, you develop content around. Yeah, you know,

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Speaker 1: I'm sorry, said Sean. Sorry, Sean, I'm sorry. I'm sorry.

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Speaker 1: It's all good, All good, all good. Yeah. I mean really,

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Speaker 1: with Connect, it was more so just kind of like

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Speaker 1: what the Shauna just said, like showing stories that I'm

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Speaker 1: not seeing myself represented, right, I didn't really see a

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Speaker 1: lot of young early twenties stories about being black and

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Speaker 1: being Atlanta still just trying to figure it out right

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Speaker 1: and figure out what it means to balance life and

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Speaker 1: work in relationships and you know, really trying to figure

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Speaker 1: out what do you want to do in life? And

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Speaker 1: I was like, well, I'm in Atlanta, you know, where

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Speaker 1: a lot of black cultures at. Why not just show

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Speaker 1: my experiences and some of my friends experiences and create

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Speaker 1: a story out of that and see what it turns into,

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Speaker 1: you know, for both I want both of you guys

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Speaker 1: chiming this and I'll start with you audition on it. So, um,

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Speaker 1: We're not monolithic right as a people, and but it

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Speaker 1: can it can be additionally hard for us to accept

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Speaker 1: ourselves when we our kids or others in our culture.

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Speaker 1: Don't you know, have prush Usty as our favorite rapper?

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Speaker 1: You know? Or you know there are other stereotypes that

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Speaker 1: we may not adhere to. So how how can we

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Speaker 1: gain traction with content that may not be mainstream for

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Speaker 1: black folks? You know? So? Or is that something you

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Speaker 1: have to focus on? So let's say I'm into science fiction, Like,

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Speaker 1: how do we create content and build business models on

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Speaker 1: that content when not all of us you know, like

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Speaker 1: a specific thing as a as a distribution channel. I'm asking.

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Speaker 1: It's interesting because like I remember initial starting clearly TV

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Speaker 1: investors with say black people only want to watch ratchet

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Speaker 1: Black people, you need to partner with world start hip hop.

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Speaker 1: That's the only way you'll be successful. Like, well, there

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Speaker 1: is a sex of our community and me like you know,

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Speaker 1: what's hip hop or Real Housewives or whatever, But it

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Speaker 1: doesn't represent all of us. And so I think the

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Speaker 1: beautiful thing about having a platform like Clay to be

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Speaker 1: so that we're able to show different sizes of of

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Speaker 1: the black experience. So give mento science fiction. There are

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Speaker 1: black people love science fiction. There are black people who

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Speaker 1: like documentaries. They're black people who want to see history.

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Speaker 1: They want to see um historical fiction like that. There

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Speaker 1: are there are so many um, there's just so so

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Speaker 1: many types of stories that we can tell. And so

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Speaker 1: for me, I think that I didn't really think about, like,

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Speaker 1: I didn't adhere to stereotypes. I know, the type of

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Speaker 1: content that I like. I know they're I know my

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Speaker 1: friends and my plane members weren't monolithic any type of

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Speaker 1: content that they wanted to see. And I just said,

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Speaker 1: I'm gonna show the content that we may not see

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Speaker 1: a mainstream media because mainstream me and things we don't

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Speaker 1: want to watch it, right, And so, um, if you

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Speaker 1: look our data documentaries sci fi, that's that's the number

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Speaker 1: one arm where children's programming, right, I mean, those the

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Speaker 1: type of stuff you lot sometimes don't seeing other platforms.

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Speaker 1: That's what people are more likely to watch on quickly TV.

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Speaker 1: And so for me, it's really important to show the

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Speaker 1: dispel those myths about what black people want to watch.

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Speaker 1: And I'm always excited to share that with investors, a

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Speaker 1: potential investors to who all macally assume that you know,

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Speaker 1: we only want to watch one type of thing. And

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Speaker 1: I think the challenge for content creators is and sometimes

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Speaker 1: I speak at events, they want to say, well, what

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Speaker 1: does your audience want to see? Like, no, I tell them,

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Speaker 1: what do you want to make? Like what you know

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Speaker 1: what Sean b did right like he saw me he

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Speaker 1: wanted he created something that he wanted to build, versus

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Speaker 1: saying I think this is what's cool and hot right now.

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Speaker 1: Everyone's watching this particular drama, So I'm gonna make something

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Speaker 1: based off who I think a lot of people want

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Speaker 1: to watch. And for us, a lot of the content

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Speaker 1: that we end up picking on quick TV is because

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Speaker 1: the creators said, I want to tell the story. The

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Speaker 1: stories has been in my heart. This this is something

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Speaker 1: I really wanted to see and I created, whether it

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Speaker 1: was a documentary, historical fiction of some sci fi, some

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Speaker 1: interesting sci thought that they created, even a horror right,

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Speaker 1: And I think that's how a content creator. That's what

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Speaker 1: we want to see from content creators. Yeah it Sean,

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Speaker 1: you know, chime in on this because I'm interested in you,

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Speaker 1: York from a perspective of a content creator, like what

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Speaker 1: kind of what is it content creators like you need?

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Speaker 1: Is it you know, that courage or is it that

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Speaker 1: support that resources to go create that content that might

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Speaker 1: play on the edges if that's what you designed to do. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: I mean it's it's a couple of things, right, Like one,

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Speaker 1: it's that courage, right is to take that leap of

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Speaker 1: faith to just go out and make something. Because I

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Speaker 1: have a very you know, pretty big production background and

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Speaker 1: was always doing music videos here and there. But you know,

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Speaker 1: my end goal was to always get into narrative, narrative work,

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Speaker 1: into some type of scripted storytelling. And I remember it

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Speaker 1: was like seventeen. I was like, all right, Sean, it's

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Speaker 1: time to stop doing that, stop doing the music videos,

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Speaker 1: and really just write something and just put it out there.

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Speaker 1: I don't care if it's a hit, I don't care

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Speaker 1: if it's trash. Like, just go out and make something

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Speaker 1: because who knows where it could go. Right. So came

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Speaker 1: well into Seen, came around, wrote a script and I

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Speaker 1: was like, Sean, your one goal for is to make this,

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Speaker 1: just make it, like, just do it. And did that

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Speaker 1: and it was completely self funded by me, so you know,

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Speaker 1: resources is kind of like I have this thing where

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Speaker 1: I don't like to rely on people like too too much,

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Speaker 1: you know, especially when it's my baby my d M,

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Speaker 1: my project. I'm like, okay, you know, because I don't

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Speaker 1: want to blame anybody else but myself if it fails.

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Speaker 1: You know, so resources a big thing, you know, having

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Speaker 1: the money to actually do that, and of course you

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Speaker 1: have family members, you know, you do some go fund

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Speaker 1: me here and there to have people support you, which

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Speaker 1: every little bit helps, but it's really just that determination,

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Speaker 1: encourage and perseverance just to keep going, um and do it.

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Speaker 1: And you'll actually be surprised the amount of people that

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Speaker 1: will support you when you maybe not financially, but you know,

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Speaker 1: we'll encourage you to keep going and we'll actually watch

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Speaker 1: your content. And once you put it out there, it's

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Speaker 1: very scary, you know, because you're like, dang, what if

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Speaker 1: what if? What if it's trash? You know, and um,

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Speaker 1: you just have to trust in yourself and believe in

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Speaker 1: God and do put your best foot forward and just say, hey,

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Speaker 1: you have to start somewhere. Because I think when I

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Speaker 1: was writing Connect, one thing I saw was like Game

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Speaker 1: of Thrones and Insecure, Like those original scripts is not

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Speaker 1: what you saw on the TV screen, right, The original

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Speaker 1: scripts were completely different. You know, maybe some things are

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Speaker 1: the same, but you know, you just have to trust

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Speaker 1: in yourself and just put it out. And so talk

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Speaker 1: to me a little bit about you know, ownership of content.

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Speaker 1: We'll start with you, Deshun. So, you know, talked about

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Speaker 1: how you as a platform think about you know, the

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Speaker 1: social commerce, the mainstream conversation we're having about you know,

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Speaker 1: being able to own what you create, right, So especially

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Speaker 1: when so many artists can you know, go directly to

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Speaker 1: their you know, audience as a platform, Deshne, like, how

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Speaker 1: do you think about creating a space to where they

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Speaker 1: can be a coordinated effort around you know, amplifying our

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Speaker 1: content for us, our creds and curators to them as partners. Um.

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Speaker 1: And if you see you see some of the mainstream

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Speaker 1: platforms or some of the headlines you've seen many of

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Speaker 1: some black creators who left I want name the platforms

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Speaker 1: but didn't take certain deals because those platforms don't want

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Speaker 1: to give them any cut of ownership, right. They just

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Speaker 1: wanted to basically wanted to write the script and say

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Speaker 1: we own it, right. And so the difference between us,

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Speaker 1: like you know, the current were to owns the content,

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Speaker 1: we're just getting the licensing deal to to stream it

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Speaker 1: on our platform. And so the reason we do that

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Speaker 1: is because we want our filmmakers to be successful, and

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Speaker 1: success for us means ownership. And just like I want

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Speaker 1: to own my streaming service, and I you know, we

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Speaker 1: don't have a lot of investors, so own majority of

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Speaker 1: my company. I think it's important for our crtoon crease

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Speaker 1: so also be able to have that option to say

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Speaker 1: I own this. Wherever money comes in, we that we

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Speaker 1: get a big chunk of it. And so that's so

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Speaker 1: important to me. And I think for a lot of

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Speaker 1: counting creators who are really focusing on trying to get

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Speaker 1: those deals sometimes will compromise ownership just for the sake

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Speaker 1: of being on a platform. And that's kind of what

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Speaker 1: really makes us different from from a lot of streaming

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Speaker 1: services in which we say, no, this is your baby,

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Speaker 1: you own it. Um. I know from our business perspective,

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Speaker 1: it may not be what you know, A lot of

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Speaker 1: platforms thinking you know, maybe smart, but I think you

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Speaker 1: know because for us, we're about collective ownership, you know

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Speaker 1: when it comes within the black community, and collective means

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Speaker 1: sharing our wealth and and that's what we do. It

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Speaker 1: collect to be sixty percent of our revenue goes to

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Speaker 1: our clantent creators we pay. We pay them every single

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Speaker 1: quarter faithfully, and and I show them what our six

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Speaker 1: percent ever gonna looks like. They see how much we

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Speaker 1: make and they can calculate, you know, they wanted to there.

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Speaker 1: You know, we keep open books. We want to be

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Speaker 1: very transparent with our counting creators about you know, the

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Speaker 1: health of our company. And as we grow, they they grown.

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Speaker 1: And I think that's like one of the greatest things

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Speaker 1: about you know, the deals with qually TV is just

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Speaker 1: that you are having that ownership. You are able to

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Speaker 1: see that data and your content is literally out there

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Speaker 1: for the entire world to see. Right, It's not just

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Speaker 1: on you know Netflix, were just cool or whatever, but

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Speaker 1: you know where it's a specifically black owned um streaming

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Speaker 1: platform for a lot of black content creators. Like when

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Speaker 1: I'm telling people, oh yeah, Connected on quaily TV, you know,

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Speaker 1: go check out Connect, but there are so many other

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Speaker 1: types of stories that are on this platform to support

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Speaker 1: black artists, you know. Yeah, that's that's That's exactly where

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Speaker 1: I wanted to go. So the shoan I was wanting

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Speaker 1: to talk to you about like the engineering of this.

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Speaker 1: So like if the best way I can give a

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Speaker 1: parallel here is like, if I'm you know, on tiktoking

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Speaker 1: and I'm getting a lot of views, They're going to

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Speaker 1: suggest me as you know somebody, other people who don't

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Speaker 1: follow me should follow the same thing with you know,

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Speaker 1: other platforms. How does it work on quiately where if

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Speaker 1: I'm if I've created good good intin I'm showing and

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Speaker 1: how does how do people find shown if they didn't

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Speaker 1: come looking for song? So um, for us, we do

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Speaker 1: like social media average supposed to me advertising, and we

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Speaker 1: also we have recommendations on the website. I will say

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Speaker 1: that what makes us different from other platforms that we

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Speaker 1: don't necessarily on an algorithm for people to find content,

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Speaker 1: because to me, that is we we're talking. What I'm

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Speaker 1: trying to I don't want to like people on other platforms,

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Speaker 1: So I'm trying to say in a way it's not

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Speaker 1: like trying to like, you know, a sociape others. But

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Speaker 1: when earlier on I started Play to Be, I talked

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Speaker 1: with filmmakers and said, you know what's in the pain

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Speaker 1: points you're hearing or seeing or or having on other platforms.

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Speaker 1: Number one was an algorithm, right, And so we know

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Speaker 1: that we really on an algorithm to find certain content

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Speaker 1: on these other platforms. But if it could be a

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Speaker 1: really great film, it's so won didn't watch it, The

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Speaker 1: algorithm won't won't find it, and people want to the film.

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Speaker 1: So our approach is very different. We don't have hierarchy,

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Speaker 1: we don't show poportism. All of our filmmakers are promoted

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Speaker 1: equally on the platform. We actually have like a little

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Speaker 1: spreadsheet and in schedule and and the rotation schedule. Okay,

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Speaker 1: this film was was promoted this day, and so we're

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Speaker 1: gonna make sure through from now so like everyone gets

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Speaker 1: seen on what is on social media, whether it's there

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Speaker 1: are emails, so that everyone who's added to the platform

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Speaker 1: gets noticed in their emails, so that everyone seems so

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Speaker 1: they are. We have some called coolly creators in which

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Speaker 1: we promote them on like our social media channels, we

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Speaker 1: have podcasts and blogs. We do everything we can to

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Speaker 1: promote our continent creators outside of an algorithm. We even

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Speaker 1: take a step further awhere. You know, one of the

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Speaker 1: things we learned from our content creators. We used to

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Speaker 1: have our continent out for order, like by our titles.

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Speaker 1: We changed that because we started to learn the customers

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Speaker 1: are lazy they're gonna get through like effort, g H.

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Speaker 1: We're gonna go to like the you know, Sean Baby

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Speaker 1: cool his his connect right, some of films with the

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Speaker 1: teasing and all that, like, people will not take the

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Speaker 1: time to scroll. And so what we do every month

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Speaker 1: we rotate all titles, so people don't always see the

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Speaker 1: same thing when they first go to our title section.

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Speaker 1: So we're very conscious about making sure everyone's seeing that.

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Speaker 1: That's super important to us. So did you like when

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Speaker 1: you started this company, because you have a two sided

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Speaker 1: ecosystem or marketplace or I should say, it's like you

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Speaker 1: gotta have the viewers in order to get the Shawn Bees,

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Speaker 1: and you gotta have the Sean Bees in order to

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Speaker 1: get the viewers, right. And so how in the early

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Speaker 1: days of starting a platform like this where you have

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Speaker 1: this two sided marketplace where nothing works without the other,

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Speaker 1: you know, how do you get those early buy ins

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Speaker 1: on from both parties? Oh my god, I didn't know

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Speaker 1: how I was gonna get anyone right and so and

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Speaker 1: and also like my broadcasts and journalism, I didn't start

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Speaker 1: out in film or television or distribution, you know what

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Speaker 1: I was doing. And so I actually just started talking

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Speaker 1: with filmmakers. That was like the first thing I wanted

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Speaker 1: to do because if I'm building a streaming service that

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Speaker 1: I know would have these authentic stories that people can't

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Speaker 1: find anywhere else, and I want to get the customers

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Speaker 1: I need the first talk to amazing filmmakers and started

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Speaker 1: literally spent six months talking with filmmakers from around the

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Speaker 1: world asking them what they wanted to see if they

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Speaker 1: had a platform, UM, and then start asking them for

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Speaker 1: their content, and then they didn't know me from Adam,

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Speaker 1: like um, and they're from there. That's why I started

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Speaker 1: talking with potential customers about what do you want to

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Speaker 1: see in the streaming service, what type of a black

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Speaker 1: Gog streaming service like? And then basically marrying it two

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Speaker 1: together and coming up with the first crop of stories

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Speaker 1: for the platform. We want to start beta and we don't.

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Speaker 1: We had like thirty eight great filmmakers who were nice

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Speaker 1: enough to give us a content. We didn't know whether

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Speaker 1: or not we're gonna be successful, but we just really

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Speaker 1: wanted to test the wires out with these really unique stories,

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Speaker 1: and that's pretty much how it got started. I think

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Speaker 1: for any company, right, I think that's the best way

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Speaker 1: the way they go, right, you, you talk to customers

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Speaker 1: potential customers and say what do you want to see?

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Speaker 1: And that's kind of how we got started. So Sean,

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Speaker 1: I want to ask you this same question, like from

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Speaker 1: she says she went out and talked to you know,

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Speaker 1: all these content creators, and you know some of them

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Speaker 1: bought in from your perspective as one of those people

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Speaker 1: developing content, Like, I guess the alternatives for you if

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Speaker 1: if it doesn't get to one of those other platforms

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Speaker 1: that you know we won't name, you know, I guess

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Speaker 1: it's putting it up on like a YouTube or like

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Speaker 1: a video or like. So like for you, what is

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Speaker 1: the value proposition? I would say, Like one of the

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Speaker 1: biggest things is that you're getting paid off of this. Right,

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Speaker 1: you don't have to really worry about getting ten thousand,

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Speaker 1: one k views on YouTube before making a dime. Right,

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Speaker 1: you want you want for your end game. You want

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Speaker 1: to be on the streaming platform and that's something that

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Speaker 1: Deshawna has already created where it can reach p bowl

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Speaker 1: all across the globe and still get paid for it.

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Speaker 1: Because while you're getting paid for it, one, you know,

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Speaker 1: we all have bills, so you can pay off those bills.

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Speaker 1: But then also you can use some of that money

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Speaker 1: to fund your next project that you hopefully then gets

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Speaker 1: you on quately TV again. And then you know, you

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Speaker 1: just kind of create that cycle, um where that's money

429
00:22:17,359 --> 00:22:20,720
Speaker 1: in your pocket and money and the Shawness project product pocket,

430
00:22:20,800 --> 00:22:23,240
Speaker 1: so that eventually, you know, we can make a huge

431
00:22:23,320 --> 00:22:28,960
Speaker 1: quately TV original that you know just goes crazy. Yeah, yeah, yeah,

432
00:22:28,960 --> 00:22:32,040
Speaker 1: as I think about, you know, one of the biggest platforms,

433
00:22:32,040 --> 00:22:34,159
Speaker 1: I'm named the show, but I won't talk about the platform.

434
00:22:34,160 --> 00:22:36,679
Speaker 1: It's already come up. But you know, one of the

435
00:22:36,720 --> 00:22:39,320
Speaker 1: ways it broke out in recent years was the show

436
00:22:39,359 --> 00:22:41,159
Speaker 1: like Orange is the New Black. Like that was a

437
00:22:41,160 --> 00:22:44,080
Speaker 1: show that helped people get aware that there was this

438
00:22:44,320 --> 00:22:47,719
Speaker 1: thing out there that can subscribe to watch shows. And

439
00:22:47,760 --> 00:22:49,919
Speaker 1: so I guess my question for you, it's like, you know,

440
00:22:50,760 --> 00:22:53,280
Speaker 1: what are some of the challenges you face with attracting

441
00:22:53,320 --> 00:22:56,120
Speaker 1: attention from you know, viewers. You know, when we live

442
00:22:56,160 --> 00:22:59,399
Speaker 1: in an attention economy, everybody's fighting for attention. Is it

443
00:22:59,560 --> 00:23:04,040
Speaker 1: purely about acquiring viewers like users of your platform de shine,

444
00:23:04,200 --> 00:23:07,160
Speaker 1: or is it about simply creating content that might break

445
00:23:07,160 --> 00:23:09,040
Speaker 1: through the noise? So are you looking for that one

446
00:23:09,040 --> 00:23:11,960
Speaker 1: show that just like blows everything out the water and

447
00:23:11,960 --> 00:23:14,400
Speaker 1: now there's millions of eyeballs looking for where the heck

448
00:23:14,400 --> 00:23:20,080
Speaker 1: did that thing come from? Finding customers is challenging, especially

449
00:23:20,080 --> 00:23:22,399
Speaker 1: in the early days, because people either people don't know

450
00:23:22,440 --> 00:23:25,600
Speaker 1: who you are, they don't know you exist. Um, and

451
00:23:26,480 --> 00:23:29,320
Speaker 1: that I was then expectation for customers is super high,

452
00:23:29,600 --> 00:23:32,800
Speaker 1: right Um. The major streaming service, the first one you

453
00:23:32,840 --> 00:23:36,160
Speaker 1: know you mentioned, We'll say the name your Netflix, right, Um.

454
00:23:36,280 --> 00:23:39,840
Speaker 1: They basically create this bar for for all of us

455
00:23:39,960 --> 00:23:45,000
Speaker 1: to try to reach. And when I tell people like um, Netflix,

456
00:23:45,080 --> 00:23:49,600
Speaker 1: like you saying both right like super fast, Like I'm

457
00:23:49,720 --> 00:23:52,880
Speaker 1: we're running slower than than the saying, but we can

458
00:23:52,880 --> 00:23:54,600
Speaker 1: still be in the game. We may, you know, not

459
00:23:54,760 --> 00:23:56,879
Speaker 1: the first place, but we can still we can have

460
00:23:56,920 --> 00:24:00,800
Speaker 1: our niche in the market. And so Um, for me,

461
00:24:01,880 --> 00:24:05,920
Speaker 1: getting customers is all about having amazing content like number one.

462
00:24:06,480 --> 00:24:09,639
Speaker 1: I think that the approach and Netflix took initially with

463
00:24:09,800 --> 00:24:12,000
Speaker 1: having like Orange. I think that had too like original

464
00:24:12,000 --> 00:24:15,400
Speaker 1: shows like Orange, New Black and Breaking is a breaking back.

465
00:24:16,880 --> 00:24:18,840
Speaker 1: Now Breaking Bad was on a m C. That was

466
00:24:18,920 --> 00:24:20,680
Speaker 1: that was the one that was the breakout show. It

467
00:24:20,760 --> 00:24:24,320
Speaker 1: was um the show the the Washington d C show.

468
00:24:25,080 --> 00:24:29,240
Speaker 1: I can't think of it right now. House the Cards, Yeah,

469
00:24:29,240 --> 00:24:31,760
Speaker 1: that was it. They didn't have you know, Tiger King.

470
00:24:32,520 --> 00:24:36,760
Speaker 1: It was literally those two shows. But they were really

471
00:24:36,920 --> 00:24:40,600
Speaker 1: amazing shows and so um for us, you know, I

472
00:24:40,640 --> 00:24:43,760
Speaker 1: think that's important. Like our goal is not to you

473
00:24:43,880 --> 00:24:46,560
Speaker 1: saying vote and try to have a million shows out

474
00:24:46,600 --> 00:24:50,320
Speaker 1: the bat, but really like having and connected and having

475
00:24:50,320 --> 00:24:54,600
Speaker 1: another really amazing original series that we can really build

476
00:24:54,600 --> 00:24:57,200
Speaker 1: the build a business auta while also at the same

477
00:24:57,240 --> 00:25:00,480
Speaker 1: time still having a space for a kind t creators

478
00:25:00,480 --> 00:25:02,760
Speaker 1: who have been the festivals, who have won awards, they

479
00:25:02,800 --> 00:25:04,880
Speaker 1: have a home for their films because I think the

480
00:25:05,000 --> 00:25:07,639
Speaker 1: challenge that a lot of black creaders are having is

481
00:25:08,040 --> 00:25:11,000
Speaker 1: the big players start spending billions of dollars pretty much

482
00:25:11,000 --> 00:25:13,560
Speaker 1: of programming that Now, if you have an ideal for

483
00:25:13,680 --> 00:25:16,000
Speaker 1: a show, or I have an ideal for a film,

484
00:25:16,080 --> 00:25:18,920
Speaker 1: there's been a festival, they're not coming for it because

485
00:25:18,960 --> 00:25:21,639
Speaker 1: they're spending so much their type of energy making their

486
00:25:21,680 --> 00:25:24,000
Speaker 1: own content. And if they do acquire it, they're not

487
00:25:24,080 --> 00:25:27,879
Speaker 1: promoting it because they spent maybe fifty million dollars on

488
00:25:28,160 --> 00:25:30,199
Speaker 1: something else, you know, and they're gonna promote what they

489
00:25:30,200 --> 00:25:33,639
Speaker 1: spent their money on. And so, UM, I think for us,

490
00:25:33,720 --> 00:25:36,960
Speaker 1: as long as we're making sure we're refreshing our content,

491
00:25:37,119 --> 00:25:41,160
Speaker 1: being fresh, being um authentic, I think that's that will

492
00:25:41,200 --> 00:25:44,760
Speaker 1: set us apart. But yeah, you're actually right. We are

493
00:25:44,800 --> 00:25:46,800
Speaker 1: in time where people are looking for the one hit

494
00:25:46,840 --> 00:25:49,560
Speaker 1: show they're gonna come back to. But also at the

495
00:25:49,600 --> 00:25:52,840
Speaker 1: same time, you know, with this um having one hit

496
00:25:52,840 --> 00:25:54,600
Speaker 1: show with all bac with me, you're gonna it's gonna

497
00:25:54,640 --> 00:25:56,920
Speaker 1: be super success. You And there's someone who has a

498
00:25:57,000 --> 00:25:59,760
Speaker 1: dreaming service who's done a lot of research. You look

499
00:25:59,760 --> 00:26:03,080
Speaker 1: at HBO Max or HBO for instance, once Game of

500
00:26:03,160 --> 00:26:09,080
Speaker 1: Thrones left, it holds or of their customers overnight, like

501
00:26:09,359 --> 00:26:11,639
Speaker 1: people like I'm like one of those as soon as

502
00:26:11,640 --> 00:26:19,560
Speaker 1: the show is like okay, and that's why Netflix, oh

503
00:26:19,600 --> 00:26:21,880
Speaker 1: oh snap, okay, we just can't have Orange New Black,

504
00:26:22,080 --> 00:26:25,400
Speaker 1: House of Car personally had this this you know, meal

505
00:26:25,560 --> 00:26:29,280
Speaker 1: of content. UM. And so I'm very mindful that before

506
00:26:29,440 --> 00:26:32,359
Speaker 1: we you know, start really having originals like that, we

507
00:26:32,400 --> 00:26:34,360
Speaker 1: want to be do want to make sure that we're

508
00:26:34,400 --> 00:26:37,439
Speaker 1: able to have something lined up that people just don't like. Okay,

509
00:26:37,440 --> 00:26:41,080
Speaker 1: Well that ended back quickly like no. But also the

510
00:26:41,119 --> 00:26:44,439
Speaker 1: same time too, like we're looking beyond this content. We

511
00:26:44,480 --> 00:26:48,119
Speaker 1: want to really build community around our platform, so you know,

512
00:26:48,720 --> 00:26:53,200
Speaker 1: events in gamification and a lot of chats and all

513
00:26:53,200 --> 00:26:56,760
Speaker 1: these different things. Loyalty like creating, like loyalty programs and

514
00:26:56,760 --> 00:26:59,639
Speaker 1: stuff like that to keep people engaged so they're like, Okay,

515
00:26:59,640 --> 00:27:02,600
Speaker 1: if I stick around for the next show, I'll get

516
00:27:02,680 --> 00:27:05,080
Speaker 1: a free shirt, or I'll give your p access to

517
00:27:05,119 --> 00:27:08,040
Speaker 1: a film festival. Things like that, to keep people engaged

518
00:27:08,040 --> 00:27:11,240
Speaker 1: where it's not all about the next project or something

519
00:27:11,280 --> 00:27:16,040
Speaker 1: that's transactional, you know. Sean, she said something that I

520
00:27:16,040 --> 00:27:17,840
Speaker 1: thought was super important. I want to ask you from

521
00:27:17,840 --> 00:27:20,359
Speaker 1: the position of a content creator, and she she mentioned,

522
00:27:20,359 --> 00:27:22,240
Speaker 1: like you don't have to necessarily be the fast like

523
00:27:22,280 --> 00:27:25,560
Speaker 1: the you say bolt to have a thriving you know business,

524
00:27:25,640 --> 00:27:28,119
Speaker 1: and I think so often in our culture, particularly when

525
00:27:28,119 --> 00:27:30,679
Speaker 1: you're talking about startups, but in general, you know, what

526
00:27:30,800 --> 00:27:33,240
Speaker 1: Instagram is such has done is make is make you

527
00:27:33,480 --> 00:27:35,600
Speaker 1: if you're not the number one person and you can't

528
00:27:35,600 --> 00:27:38,240
Speaker 1: build a life, So you don't necessarily have to be

529
00:27:38,280 --> 00:27:41,000
Speaker 1: your yourself. You don't have to be you know, rescupes

530
00:27:41,000 --> 00:27:44,160
Speaker 1: like John Singleton to have a really good life. As

531
00:27:44,160 --> 00:27:46,600
Speaker 1: a content creator, you can make you know, a couple

532
00:27:46,680 --> 00:27:49,320
Speaker 1: hundred thousand dollars a year, a million dollars a years, whatever,

533
00:27:49,760 --> 00:27:52,960
Speaker 1: and not have that big blockbuster thing, but still looks

534
00:27:53,000 --> 00:27:56,000
Speaker 1: a really good life being a content creator. So I

535
00:27:56,080 --> 00:27:58,959
Speaker 1: wanted you to speak from the perspective of you know,

536
00:27:59,400 --> 00:28:02,520
Speaker 1: what are you chasing when when you are trying to

537
00:28:02,560 --> 00:28:05,840
Speaker 1: develop content. Is it more so about the purity of

538
00:28:05,880 --> 00:28:08,680
Speaker 1: getting your story out or is it you are trying

539
00:28:08,720 --> 00:28:10,840
Speaker 1: to be you know that I'm just trying to like

540
00:28:10,960 --> 00:28:12,600
Speaker 1: to her earlier point, they said, well, what is your

541
00:28:12,640 --> 00:28:14,600
Speaker 1: audience want? Like, no, what do you want to make? Like?

542
00:28:14,640 --> 00:28:16,680
Speaker 1: How do you think about that? From the content creator

543
00:28:16,720 --> 00:28:21,480
Speaker 1: standpoint yourself? Yeah, that's a that's a great question, I

544
00:28:21,480 --> 00:28:24,359
Speaker 1: would say for me, of course, you want your story

545
00:28:24,520 --> 00:28:26,679
Speaker 1: to get out there, um, and you want people to

546
00:28:26,720 --> 00:28:28,919
Speaker 1: you know, take something away from it. But one thing

547
00:28:28,960 --> 00:28:31,600
Speaker 1: that's big for me is really impacting the next generation

548
00:28:32,040 --> 00:28:34,320
Speaker 1: and telling them that they can control their narrative and

549
00:28:34,359 --> 00:28:37,800
Speaker 1: that they can see me, some regular guy from Atlanta

550
00:28:37,880 --> 00:28:40,520
Speaker 1: who created something, and that they can do the same thing,

551
00:28:40,560 --> 00:28:43,320
Speaker 1: and that they can tell their story, and that their

552
00:28:43,360 --> 00:28:46,240
Speaker 1: story doesn't have to be black trauma, doesn't have to

553
00:28:46,280 --> 00:28:49,320
Speaker 1: be you know, gang banging or something like that, or

554
00:28:49,360 --> 00:28:52,120
Speaker 1: an athlete that they can show, you know, being a

555
00:28:52,160 --> 00:28:55,239
Speaker 1: black millennial, or you know, a young black person in

556
00:28:55,320 --> 00:28:58,080
Speaker 1: their certain city achieving. They want to be a doctor,

557
00:28:58,160 --> 00:28:59,640
Speaker 1: they want to be a lawyer. Oh I'm struggling to

558
00:28:59,680 --> 00:29:02,400
Speaker 1: pass the bar. Things like that, and showing those different

559
00:29:02,400 --> 00:29:05,560
Speaker 1: types of story stories, you know, and like you brought

560
00:29:05,640 --> 00:29:08,120
Speaker 1: up the Monolith earlier to show that, you know, that

561
00:29:08,160 --> 00:29:10,160
Speaker 1: these kids can do sci fi if they want to,

562
00:29:10,320 --> 00:29:12,920
Speaker 1: and not just you know, sidlo them into one lane,

563
00:29:12,960 --> 00:29:14,520
Speaker 1: but that there are so many lanes that they can

564
00:29:14,520 --> 00:29:16,520
Speaker 1: get into. So that's another thing that I think about

565
00:29:16,560 --> 00:29:19,080
Speaker 1: when I'm creating these stories, because I want my characters

566
00:29:19,400 --> 00:29:22,600
Speaker 1: to have to be multifaceted, you know, and to have

567
00:29:22,640 --> 00:29:24,960
Speaker 1: all these different layers so that a little kid who's

568
00:29:24,960 --> 00:29:27,640
Speaker 1: seven or eight, nine to ten seeing that character like, oh,

569
00:29:27,720 --> 00:29:30,400
Speaker 1: that character actually resonates with me, and I want to

570
00:29:30,440 --> 00:29:33,160
Speaker 1: now create something based off of the character I saw

571
00:29:33,280 --> 00:29:37,400
Speaker 1: in Connect or whatever it may be. Yeah, So people

572
00:29:37,440 --> 00:29:40,200
Speaker 1: want to learn more about quality TV. The show where

573
00:29:40,240 --> 00:29:42,800
Speaker 1: do I go? What do if I have an Apple TV? Like, Like,

574
00:29:42,880 --> 00:29:45,600
Speaker 1: what do I do? So you can go to the website,

575
00:29:45,680 --> 00:29:50,840
Speaker 1: let me get Uh. We have plenty of shirts too,

576
00:29:50,920 --> 00:29:53,840
Speaker 1: on the website. But if k w e l I

577
00:29:54,000 --> 00:29:57,320
Speaker 1: dot TV, if you are on any of our apps

578
00:29:57,600 --> 00:30:01,040
Speaker 1: or any apps like Apple TV, Real Cool, Amazon Firestick

579
00:30:01,160 --> 00:30:03,720
Speaker 1: and Joy TV, I U school Play French or just

580
00:30:03,800 --> 00:30:06,480
Speaker 1: typing k w E l I t V, and you

581
00:30:06,560 --> 00:30:09,120
Speaker 1: can sell our della Are app. And we're also on

582
00:30:09,240 --> 00:30:14,280
Speaker 1: social media Facebook, Instagram, uh, Twitter, we have a TikTok account.

583
00:30:14,320 --> 00:30:19,560
Speaker 1: We haven't quite uh posted there yet, but that's the future. Yeah,

584
00:30:20,280 --> 00:30:22,360
Speaker 1: and Sean, people want to learn more about you and

585
00:30:22,440 --> 00:30:24,120
Speaker 1: your work and what you're working on, like how people

586
00:30:24,120 --> 00:30:27,600
Speaker 1: are more about Absolutely you can follow me at Shawn

587
00:30:27,720 --> 00:30:31,720
Speaker 1: Bartley on Instagram and then at Underscore Sean Bartley on Twitter.

588
00:30:32,160 --> 00:30:35,200
Speaker 1: Um yeah, come come find me. Let's chat. Let's talk

589
00:30:35,200 --> 00:30:37,880
Speaker 1: about what projects you have going on. Um, you know,

590
00:30:37,920 --> 00:30:39,840
Speaker 1: if you need any advice or anything like that, and

591
00:30:40,120 --> 00:30:45,080
Speaker 1: um yeah, let's chat. We're talking black content. Appreciate you guys, Sean,

592
00:30:45,280 --> 00:30:48,040
Speaker 1: Sean B. Really appreciate you guys spending time with us.

593
00:30:48,480 --> 00:31:06,760
Speaker 1: Appreciate you. Thanks for the opportunity. Come right. Black Tech

594
00:31:06,840 --> 00:31:09,160
Speaker 1: Green Money is a production of blackt the Afro Tech

595
00:31:09,680 --> 00:31:13,440
Speaker 1: Black Effect podcast Network, and Ihearted Media. It's produced by

596
00:31:13,480 --> 00:31:17,400
Speaker 1: Morgan Dabon and me Will Lucas, but this now production

597
00:31:17,440 --> 00:31:21,200
Speaker 1: supported by Love Beacham and Rusa Lewis. Special thank you

598
00:31:21,240 --> 00:31:23,840
Speaker 1: to Michael Davis, Sadam Sims and the car savon Jan

599
00:31:24,040 --> 00:31:26,400
Speaker 1: you know like the wine. Yes, that's his real name.

600
00:31:27,520 --> 00:31:29,360
Speaker 1: Learn more about my guests and other tech This That

601
00:31:29,440 --> 00:31:33,440
Speaker 1: It innovators at afro tech dot com. Enjoying black tech,

602
00:31:33,480 --> 00:31:36,320
Speaker 1: green money. Leave us a five star rating on iTunes.

603
00:31:38,080 --> 00:31:41,040
Speaker 1: Go get your money, Peace and love