WEBVTT - Black Narratives and Streaming Platforms w/ DeShuna Spencer & Sean B. 0:00:01.880 --> 0:00:10.000 Afro Tech World the Metaverse. Rosalind for Team of Golden 0:00:10.080 --> 0:00:12.760 Wood A is the sports broadcaster. A native of New 0:00:12.840 --> 0:00:15.920 York City, she played college basketball at Stanford and the 0:00:16.000 --> 0:00:20.439 Nigerian women's national basketball team. She's also surprisingly to some 0:00:21.000 --> 0:00:25.560 heavy into n f t s non funcible tokens. I'm 0:00:25.600 --> 0:00:28.960 talking with Rise and Blavity CEO Morgan Devon about what 0:00:29.120 --> 0:00:32.159 n f t s are, their significance, and what they 0:00:32.200 --> 0:00:35.440 mean the creator's long term. So, yes, there's this, you know, 0:00:35.520 --> 0:00:39.800 it's it's distinctively unique. There's only one UM and this 0:00:39.880 --> 0:00:43.040 is why I like, I'll say this, certainly within n 0:00:43.080 --> 0:00:46.200 f t s, there's a lot of noise, a lot 0:00:46.240 --> 0:00:50.559 of attention to big money projects, PfP avatar projects that 0:00:50.640 --> 0:00:52.800 you're like, why is this picture selling for this amount 0:00:52.800 --> 0:00:56.520 of money. I can't say that all of this UM 0:00:56.680 --> 0:01:00.720 is going to be standing the test of time in 0:01:00.800 --> 0:01:02.800 ten years from now, in five years from now. The 0:01:02.880 --> 0:01:06.000 technology is new and exploding, and so there's a lot 0:01:06.000 --> 0:01:07.600 of noise in the midst of it. Two. But it 0:01:07.640 --> 0:01:10.520 doesn't mean that the foundation of it isn't significant. And 0:01:10.560 --> 0:01:13.479 I do when I wrap my head around it, fundamentally, 0:01:13.520 --> 0:01:16.640 I do believe that it's going to be disruptive and transformational. 0:01:16.720 --> 0:01:20.560 So I'll add like why um, On top of it 0:01:20.600 --> 0:01:23.640 being one of one, it's also because it's written on blockchain, right, 0:01:24.160 --> 0:01:27.600 there's this ledger. It's a really easy way of seeing 0:01:28.120 --> 0:01:32.679 you know, transactional history of ownership of and and many 0:01:32.720 --> 0:01:36.840 other details. The blockchain don't live and people will get 0:01:36.840 --> 0:01:40.040 caught on that. So like, UM, it can tell any 0:01:40.160 --> 0:01:41.920 n f T. You can tell who has owned it, 0:01:42.200 --> 0:01:44.800 how it was, how hands were traded, what it was 0:01:44.840 --> 0:01:47.039 ever offered for, what was ever been on it for, 0:01:47.240 --> 0:01:50.680 how it was sold, dates and time. Um. So because 0:01:50.720 --> 0:01:53.000 of that, I could see the technology itself being very 0:01:53.080 --> 0:01:57.360 useful for industries like you know real estate or you 0:01:57.400 --> 0:01:59.760 know deeds and titles, and you know, there's a number 0:01:59.800 --> 0:02:02.200 of streies that it can be disruptive for. Certainly you 0:02:02.200 --> 0:02:04.040 look at the music industry. Let's go to the idea 0:02:04.040 --> 0:02:07.120 of it being like for creators, whether it's an artist 0:02:07.240 --> 0:02:10.520 or myself as a broadcaster, or a celebrity, or an 0:02:10.560 --> 0:02:13.480 athlete or as we're starting to think of ourselves, even 0:02:13.560 --> 0:02:18.600 you when you are creating anything, UM, it can eliminate middlemen, 0:02:19.200 --> 0:02:21.720 you know, and it will take you directly to your audience, 0:02:21.960 --> 0:02:24.560 to your consumer, to your fan base, and allow you 0:02:24.639 --> 0:02:28.119 to create something that Now you're creating a more engaged 0:02:28.200 --> 0:02:32.079 fan and consumer because once they buy this, they're now 0:02:32.200 --> 0:02:35.160 more invested. They have something that they own that as 0:02:35.200 --> 0:02:38.120 you rise, so does the value of their peace. So 0:02:38.280 --> 0:02:42.120 now they're sitting here super engaged with you and and 0:02:42.200 --> 0:02:44.840 invested in your rise. It also creates communities that are 0:02:44.840 --> 0:02:47.600 strong because you're tighten it together. We are all part 0:02:47.639 --> 0:02:50.440 of this n f T group, so we are now collaborative. 0:02:50.960 --> 0:02:53.919 We are working hard to build it together. So now 0:02:53.960 --> 0:02:56.120 you've got a more engaged community, You've got a better 0:02:56.160 --> 0:03:01.040 engagement between consumer and producer, fan and and creator. I 0:03:01.080 --> 0:03:04.360 feel like these are all really like important reasons for 0:03:04.480 --> 0:03:08.400 enmcies to be revolutionary. Um, and I'm excited about it. 0:03:08.400 --> 0:03:10.079 Oh and I'll say this too for artists, and I'm 0:03:10.080 --> 0:03:11.919 sure you might have heard this too, Like I think 0:03:11.919 --> 0:03:14.919 for creators, it's important because it protects you over the 0:03:14.960 --> 0:03:18.000 span of your trajectory of your career. So like let's 0:03:18.000 --> 0:03:20.160 say Bosciot or any artist at the beginning of their 0:03:20.160 --> 0:03:22.640 career was selling at a hundred bucks for a piece. 0:03:23.160 --> 0:03:25.600 You know, that's it. You never see it again as 0:03:25.720 --> 0:03:27.919 as it trades hands over the course of time, but 0:03:28.040 --> 0:03:31.520 because there are royalties built into the blockchain which can 0:03:31.520 --> 0:03:35.520 never these smart contracts hold forever, like you're constantly being 0:03:35.600 --> 0:03:39.920 protected and rewarded over the course of time and career. 0:03:40.000 --> 0:03:41.440 So I think there's a lot of things here that 0:03:41.480 --> 0:03:46.480 are exciting about the technology itself. I'm well Lucas, Mrs 0:03:46.520 --> 0:03:50.160 Black Tech, Cream Money. I'm gonna answer this you to 0:03:50.200 --> 0:03:52.480 some of the biggest names, some of the brightest minds 0:03:52.480 --> 0:03:55.400 and brilliant ideas. If you're black and building or simply 0:03:55.480 --> 0:03:58.360 using tech to secure your bag, this podcast is for you. 0:04:03.520 --> 0:04:07.040 The Shanna Spencer's founder and CEO at Quality TV, the 0:04:07.120 --> 0:04:12.480 streaming platform featuring five hundred plus undiscovered, award winning indie films, documentaries, 0:04:12.640 --> 0:04:16.960 web series and kids shows celebrating global black stories. Sean 0:04:17.040 --> 0:04:20.400 b is creator Connect the series one and two now 0:04:20.480 --> 0:04:24.599 streaming on Quality TV. I'm talking with the platform developer 0:04:24.800 --> 0:04:27.479 and content creator about the need for our ownership of 0:04:27.520 --> 0:04:31.360 the black narrative and how media constructs our worldview when 0:04:31.360 --> 0:04:33.920 it may not be what is really happening on the ground. 0:04:34.120 --> 0:04:36.200 That's one of the reasons why I started Quarly TV. 0:04:36.800 --> 0:04:39.320 It really started with me not feeling like I saw 0:04:39.360 --> 0:04:43.839 myself represented and not seeing enough stories about black life 0:04:43.839 --> 0:04:47.719 beyond black death, black suffering. I'm a former journalist and 0:04:48.080 --> 0:04:50.560 one of the things about working in daily news is 0:04:50.720 --> 0:04:53.719 you spend so much time writing these narratives. And I 0:04:53.839 --> 0:04:57.279 really started with some research to understood the correlation between 0:04:57.600 --> 0:05:02.039 in place a bias in me representation, and so when 0:05:02.040 --> 0:05:04.520 I started to Clay TV, I really wanted to use 0:05:04.560 --> 0:05:07.880 our platform to change that, and not just from an 0:05:07.880 --> 0:05:11.440 African American lands, but from a global lens, because, um, 0:05:11.760 --> 0:05:13.720 if you think about I would used to do these 0:05:13.720 --> 0:05:16.680 pitch competitions they Alwauls say, you know, we think about 0:05:16.680 --> 0:05:19.920 black fathers when you think about UM people on weal 0:05:20.000 --> 0:05:24.119 for all these negative stereotypes, UM, this media sometimes since 0:05:24.200 --> 0:05:26.320 you set as like there are no black fathers. We 0:05:26.360 --> 0:05:28.320 know black fives are more likely to be engaged with 0:05:28.480 --> 0:05:31.800 children than than any other group. We know that white 0:05:31.839 --> 0:05:35.080 black women don't represent the welfare right you know, Um, 0:05:35.080 --> 0:05:38.039 but that's kind of what we've been fed and even 0:05:38.080 --> 0:05:40.920 outside having us as a kid, I used to watch 0:05:41.040 --> 0:05:44.520 these these um like I guess commercials and you would 0:05:44.560 --> 0:05:46.360 see Africa and the only thing you would see. It 0:05:46.360 --> 0:05:50.160 would be children with flies and their faces, people poverty 0:05:50.360 --> 0:05:54.400 or or or child soldiers and and it's like a 0:05:54.520 --> 0:05:57.720 very negat view about Africa. And it wasn't until I 0:05:57.760 --> 0:06:00.520 started doing my own research and learning about, you know, 0:06:00.760 --> 0:06:03.800 but what life was like on on the continent. I 0:06:03.839 --> 0:06:06.400 was like, well, that's doesn't represent what I've seen, and 0:06:06.440 --> 0:06:08.479 I really want to change that. And it literally just 0:06:08.520 --> 0:06:12.520 started with me doing my research talk with Currencent creators 0:06:12.880 --> 0:06:16.240 single was out there and saying, we're not seeing these stories. 0:06:16.760 --> 0:06:22.040 The mainstream media is sort of packaging this view about 0:06:22.040 --> 0:06:25.760 the black experience without I would say, people who look 0:06:25.839 --> 0:06:29.840 like us green lighting those experiences are not enough of us. 0:06:29.920 --> 0:06:31.839 And so I really wanted to have a space in 0:06:31.880 --> 0:06:35.359 which we are the want to control the narrative. We 0:06:35.800 --> 0:06:38.880 give controverts like shun Being opportunity to show what it 0:06:38.960 --> 0:06:43.840 really means to be a millennial in Atlanta authentically without 0:06:43.880 --> 0:06:47.679 some of the lay stereotypes we sometimes see the mainstream media. 0:06:49.040 --> 0:06:50.640 So Sean, I want you to chime in on this too, 0:06:50.720 --> 0:06:53.799 because you know, even domestically this happens. You know, people 0:06:53.839 --> 0:06:56.960 have a perception of Atlanta that you know may not 0:06:57.000 --> 0:06:59.240 always be true. In many playing cases it might be true, 0:06:59.320 --> 0:07:02.400 but in not all cases that were fed by media. 0:07:02.800 --> 0:07:04.720 So talk to us. How about a little bit about 0:07:04.760 --> 0:07:08.640 how you introduce people to the culture of a space 0:07:08.680 --> 0:07:12.120 that you know, you develop content around. Yeah, you know, 0:07:12.800 --> 0:07:21.200 I'm sorry, said Sean. Sorry, Sean, I'm sorry. I'm sorry. 0:07:21.400 --> 0:07:25.040 It's all good, All good, all good. Yeah. I mean really, 0:07:25.040 --> 0:07:28.040 with Connect, it was more so just kind of like 0:07:28.040 --> 0:07:30.320 what the Shauna just said, like showing stories that I'm 0:07:30.360 --> 0:07:34.360 not seeing myself represented, right, I didn't really see a 0:07:34.400 --> 0:07:39.040 lot of young early twenties stories about being black and 0:07:39.040 --> 0:07:41.320 being Atlanta still just trying to figure it out right 0:07:41.320 --> 0:07:43.480 and figure out what it means to balance life and 0:07:43.520 --> 0:07:45.920 work in relationships and you know, really trying to figure 0:07:45.920 --> 0:07:48.400 out what do you want to do in life? And 0:07:48.480 --> 0:07:50.440 I was like, well, I'm in Atlanta, you know, where 0:07:50.480 --> 0:07:53.280 a lot of black cultures at. Why not just show 0:07:53.440 --> 0:07:57.160 my experiences and some of my friends experiences and create 0:07:57.200 --> 0:07:59.200 a story out of that and see what it turns into, 0:08:00.840 --> 0:08:03.280 you know, for both I want both of you guys 0:08:03.400 --> 0:08:06.120 chiming this and I'll start with you audition on it. So, um, 0:08:06.160 --> 0:08:09.560 We're not monolithic right as a people, and but it 0:08:09.600 --> 0:08:12.920 can it can be additionally hard for us to accept 0:08:13.040 --> 0:08:16.320 ourselves when we our kids or others in our culture. 0:08:16.480 --> 0:08:19.000 Don't you know, have prush Usty as our favorite rapper? 0:08:19.280 --> 0:08:22.000 You know? Or you know there are other stereotypes that 0:08:22.040 --> 0:08:24.840 we may not adhere to. So how how can we 0:08:24.880 --> 0:08:29.520 gain traction with content that may not be mainstream for 0:08:29.600 --> 0:08:32.000 black folks? You know? So? Or is that something you 0:08:32.040 --> 0:08:34.600 have to focus on? So let's say I'm into science fiction, Like, 0:08:34.640 --> 0:08:38.320 how do we create content and build business models on 0:08:38.400 --> 0:08:40.760 that content when not all of us you know, like 0:08:40.960 --> 0:08:43.800 a specific thing as a as a distribution channel. I'm asking. 0:08:44.720 --> 0:08:48.600 It's interesting because like I remember initial starting clearly TV 0:08:49.240 --> 0:08:52.760 investors with say black people only want to watch ratchet 0:08:53.000 --> 0:08:55.720 Black people, you need to partner with world start hip hop. 0:08:56.080 --> 0:08:59.400 That's the only way you'll be successful. Like, well, there 0:08:59.520 --> 0:09:01.880 is a sex of our community and me like you know, 0:09:02.160 --> 0:09:05.160 what's hip hop or Real Housewives or whatever, But it 0:09:05.160 --> 0:09:08.080 doesn't represent all of us. And so I think the 0:09:08.120 --> 0:09:10.599 beautiful thing about having a platform like Clay to be 0:09:10.760 --> 0:09:13.520 so that we're able to show different sizes of of 0:09:13.520 --> 0:09:16.560 the black experience. So give mento science fiction. There are 0:09:16.600 --> 0:09:19.400 black people love science fiction. There are black people who 0:09:19.440 --> 0:09:23.000 like documentaries. They're black people who want to see history. 0:09:23.200 --> 0:09:26.560 They want to see um historical fiction like that. There 0:09:26.559 --> 0:09:29.600 are there are so many um, there's just so so 0:09:29.679 --> 0:09:32.560 many types of stories that we can tell. And so 0:09:33.040 --> 0:09:35.960 for me, I think that I didn't really think about, like, 0:09:36.080 --> 0:09:38.360 I didn't adhere to stereotypes. I know, the type of 0:09:38.360 --> 0:09:41.280 content that I like. I know they're I know my 0:09:41.400 --> 0:09:44.840 friends and my plane members weren't monolithic any type of 0:09:44.840 --> 0:09:46.920 content that they wanted to see. And I just said, 0:09:47.200 --> 0:09:50.080 I'm gonna show the content that we may not see 0:09:50.080 --> 0:09:52.640 a mainstream media because mainstream me and things we don't 0:09:52.679 --> 0:09:55.600 want to watch it, right, And so, um, if you 0:09:55.640 --> 0:10:00.720 look our data documentaries sci fi, that's that's the number 0:10:00.720 --> 0:10:03.840 one arm where children's programming, right, I mean, those the 0:10:03.880 --> 0:10:06.559 type of stuff you lot sometimes don't seeing other platforms. 0:10:06.559 --> 0:10:09.680 That's what people are more likely to watch on quickly TV. 0:10:09.880 --> 0:10:12.880 And so for me, it's really important to show the 0:10:13.240 --> 0:10:16.040 dispel those myths about what black people want to watch. 0:10:16.120 --> 0:10:19.760 And I'm always excited to share that with investors, a 0:10:19.840 --> 0:10:23.480 potential investors to who all macally assume that you know, 0:10:23.800 --> 0:10:26.160 we only want to watch one type of thing. And 0:10:26.360 --> 0:10:30.080 I think the challenge for content creators is and sometimes 0:10:30.160 --> 0:10:32.280 I speak at events, they want to say, well, what 0:10:32.400 --> 0:10:35.040 does your audience want to see? Like, no, I tell them, 0:10:35.120 --> 0:10:37.200 what do you want to make? Like what you know 0:10:37.240 --> 0:10:39.720 what Sean b did right like he saw me he 0:10:39.760 --> 0:10:42.720 wanted he created something that he wanted to build, versus 0:10:42.720 --> 0:10:45.439 saying I think this is what's cool and hot right now. 0:10:45.559 --> 0:10:49.160 Everyone's watching this particular drama, So I'm gonna make something 0:10:49.240 --> 0:10:50.880 based off who I think a lot of people want 0:10:50.880 --> 0:10:53.080 to watch. And for us, a lot of the content 0:10:53.160 --> 0:10:55.079 that we end up picking on quick TV is because 0:10:55.080 --> 0:10:57.439 the creators said, I want to tell the story. The 0:10:57.520 --> 0:10:59.959 stories has been in my heart. This this is something 0:11:00.000 --> 0:11:02.640 I really wanted to see and I created, whether it 0:11:02.679 --> 0:11:05.360 was a documentary, historical fiction of some sci fi, some 0:11:05.480 --> 0:11:08.520 interesting sci thought that they created, even a horror right, 0:11:08.600 --> 0:11:11.000 And I think that's how a content creator. That's what 0:11:11.080 --> 0:11:14.160 we want to see from content creators. Yeah it Sean, 0:11:14.320 --> 0:11:16.360 you know, chime in on this because I'm interested in you, 0:11:16.440 --> 0:11:18.600 York from a perspective of a content creator, like what 0:11:18.760 --> 0:11:21.840 kind of what is it content creators like you need? 0:11:22.000 --> 0:11:23.520 Is it you know, that courage or is it that 0:11:23.600 --> 0:11:27.320 support that resources to go create that content that might 0:11:27.360 --> 0:11:31.080 play on the edges if that's what you designed to do. Yeah, 0:11:31.200 --> 0:11:33.480 I mean it's it's a couple of things, right, Like one, 0:11:33.559 --> 0:11:36.120 it's that courage, right is to take that leap of 0:11:36.120 --> 0:11:39.160 faith to just go out and make something. Because I 0:11:39.200 --> 0:11:42.920 have a very you know, pretty big production background and 0:11:43.320 --> 0:11:46.080 was always doing music videos here and there. But you know, 0:11:46.160 --> 0:11:49.080 my end goal was to always get into narrative, narrative work, 0:11:49.120 --> 0:11:52.480 into some type of scripted storytelling. And I remember it 0:11:52.520 --> 0:11:54.520 was like seventeen. I was like, all right, Sean, it's 0:11:54.520 --> 0:11:57.600 time to stop doing that, stop doing the music videos, 0:11:58.000 --> 0:12:00.760 and really just write something and just put it out there. 0:12:00.760 --> 0:12:02.400 I don't care if it's a hit, I don't care 0:12:02.440 --> 0:12:05.440 if it's trash. Like, just go out and make something 0:12:05.480 --> 0:12:08.959 because who knows where it could go. Right. So came 0:12:09.000 --> 0:12:11.840 well into Seen, came around, wrote a script and I 0:12:11.880 --> 0:12:14.559 was like, Sean, your one goal for is to make this, 0:12:15.200 --> 0:12:17.760 just make it, like, just do it. And did that 0:12:17.960 --> 0:12:20.400 and it was completely self funded by me, so you know, 0:12:20.480 --> 0:12:24.080 resources is kind of like I have this thing where 0:12:24.080 --> 0:12:27.120 I don't like to rely on people like too too much, 0:12:27.240 --> 0:12:29.120 you know, especially when it's my baby my d M, 0:12:29.200 --> 0:12:31.320 my project. I'm like, okay, you know, because I don't 0:12:31.320 --> 0:12:33.640 want to blame anybody else but myself if it fails. 0:12:34.000 --> 0:12:37.040 You know, so resources a big thing, you know, having 0:12:37.040 --> 0:12:38.960 the money to actually do that, and of course you 0:12:39.000 --> 0:12:40.880 have family members, you know, you do some go fund 0:12:40.880 --> 0:12:43.120 me here and there to have people support you, which 0:12:43.120 --> 0:12:46.320 every little bit helps, but it's really just that determination, 0:12:46.520 --> 0:12:50.080 encourage and perseverance just to keep going, um and do it. 0:12:50.160 --> 0:12:53.080 And you'll actually be surprised the amount of people that 0:12:53.120 --> 0:12:56.280 will support you when you maybe not financially, but you know, 0:12:56.320 --> 0:12:59.520 we'll encourage you to keep going and we'll actually watch 0:12:59.520 --> 0:13:02.000 your content. And once you put it out there, it's 0:13:02.120 --> 0:13:04.200 very scary, you know, because you're like, dang, what if 0:13:04.360 --> 0:13:06.760 what if? What if it's trash? You know, and um, 0:13:06.880 --> 0:13:08.640 you just have to trust in yourself and believe in 0:13:08.679 --> 0:13:12.080 God and do put your best foot forward and just say, hey, 0:13:12.160 --> 0:13:14.400 you have to start somewhere. Because I think when I 0:13:14.440 --> 0:13:17.600 was writing Connect, one thing I saw was like Game 0:13:17.640 --> 0:13:20.680 of Thrones and Insecure, Like those original scripts is not 0:13:20.840 --> 0:13:23.640 what you saw on the TV screen, right, The original 0:13:23.840 --> 0:13:27.200 scripts were completely different. You know, maybe some things are 0:13:27.240 --> 0:13:29.319 the same, but you know, you just have to trust 0:13:29.320 --> 0:13:32.679 in yourself and just put it out. And so talk 0:13:32.720 --> 0:13:35.520 to me a little bit about you know, ownership of content. 0:13:35.600 --> 0:13:38.559 We'll start with you, Deshun. So, you know, talked about 0:13:38.559 --> 0:13:42.320 how you as a platform think about you know, the 0:13:42.360 --> 0:13:45.200 social commerce, the mainstream conversation we're having about you know, 0:13:45.240 --> 0:13:48.960 being able to own what you create, right, So especially 0:13:48.960 --> 0:13:51.280 when so many artists can you know, go directly to 0:13:51.360 --> 0:13:55.520 their you know, audience as a platform, Deshne, like, how 0:13:55.600 --> 0:13:58.600 do you think about creating a space to where they 0:13:58.600 --> 0:14:02.840 can be a coordinated effort around you know, amplifying our 0:14:02.840 --> 0:14:07.960 content for us, our creds and curators to them as partners. Um. 0:14:08.120 --> 0:14:11.040 And if you see you see some of the mainstream 0:14:11.080 --> 0:14:13.480 platforms or some of the headlines you've seen many of 0:14:13.679 --> 0:14:17.280 some black creators who left I want name the platforms 0:14:17.320 --> 0:14:20.920 but didn't take certain deals because those platforms don't want 0:14:20.920 --> 0:14:24.600 to give them any cut of ownership, right. They just 0:14:24.640 --> 0:14:27.720 wanted to basically wanted to write the script and say 0:14:27.920 --> 0:14:31.120 we own it, right. And so the difference between us, 0:14:31.160 --> 0:14:33.480 like you know, the current were to owns the content, 0:14:33.680 --> 0:14:37.200 we're just getting the licensing deal to to stream it 0:14:37.240 --> 0:14:40.160 on our platform. And so the reason we do that 0:14:40.240 --> 0:14:43.960 is because we want our filmmakers to be successful, and 0:14:44.040 --> 0:14:47.240 success for us means ownership. And just like I want 0:14:47.280 --> 0:14:50.120 to own my streaming service, and I you know, we 0:14:50.120 --> 0:14:52.040 don't have a lot of investors, so own majority of 0:14:52.040 --> 0:14:54.480 my company. I think it's important for our crtoon crease 0:14:54.560 --> 0:14:57.480 so also be able to have that option to say 0:14:57.480 --> 0:15:00.240 I own this. Wherever money comes in, we that we 0:15:00.280 --> 0:15:02.560 get a big chunk of it. And so that's so 0:15:02.600 --> 0:15:04.640 important to me. And I think for a lot of 0:15:04.680 --> 0:15:08.800 counting creators who are really focusing on trying to get 0:15:08.840 --> 0:15:12.720 those deals sometimes will compromise ownership just for the sake 0:15:12.760 --> 0:15:14.760 of being on a platform. And that's kind of what 0:15:14.840 --> 0:15:17.360 really makes us different from from a lot of streaming 0:15:17.400 --> 0:15:19.880 services in which we say, no, this is your baby, 0:15:20.040 --> 0:15:23.160 you own it. Um. I know from our business perspective, 0:15:23.240 --> 0:15:25.560 it may not be what you know, A lot of 0:15:25.560 --> 0:15:28.200 platforms thinking you know, maybe smart, but I think you 0:15:28.200 --> 0:15:31.760 know because for us, we're about collective ownership, you know 0:15:31.840 --> 0:15:34.760 when it comes within the black community, and collective means 0:15:34.840 --> 0:15:37.200 sharing our wealth and and that's what we do. It 0:15:37.280 --> 0:15:40.000 collect to be sixty percent of our revenue goes to 0:15:40.000 --> 0:15:42.760 our clantent creators we pay. We pay them every single 0:15:42.800 --> 0:15:46.400 quarter faithfully, and and I show them what our six 0:15:46.440 --> 0:15:48.840 percent ever gonna looks like. They see how much we 0:15:49.320 --> 0:15:52.440 make and they can calculate, you know, they wanted to there. 0:15:53.800 --> 0:15:56.200 You know, we keep open books. We want to be 0:15:56.320 --> 0:15:59.400 very transparent with our counting creators about you know, the 0:15:59.440 --> 0:16:02.080 health of our company. And as we grow, they they grown. 0:16:03.240 --> 0:16:07.320 And I think that's like one of the greatest things 0:16:07.320 --> 0:16:09.760 about you know, the deals with qually TV is just 0:16:09.840 --> 0:16:11.960 that you are having that ownership. You are able to 0:16:11.960 --> 0:16:14.920 see that data and your content is literally out there 0:16:14.960 --> 0:16:17.440 for the entire world to see. Right, It's not just 0:16:17.520 --> 0:16:19.360 on you know Netflix, were just cool or whatever, but 0:16:19.440 --> 0:16:23.000 you know where it's a specifically black owned um streaming 0:16:23.000 --> 0:16:26.240 platform for a lot of black content creators. Like when 0:16:26.240 --> 0:16:29.040 I'm telling people, oh yeah, Connected on quaily TV, you know, 0:16:29.080 --> 0:16:31.840 go check out Connect, but there are so many other 0:16:31.920 --> 0:16:35.760 types of stories that are on this platform to support 0:16:35.800 --> 0:16:39.080 black artists, you know. Yeah, that's that's That's exactly where 0:16:39.080 --> 0:16:40.720 I wanted to go. So the shoan I was wanting 0:16:40.720 --> 0:16:42.560 to talk to you about like the engineering of this. 0:16:42.680 --> 0:16:45.000 So like if the best way I can give a 0:16:45.040 --> 0:16:47.640 parallel here is like, if I'm you know, on tiktoking 0:16:48.080 --> 0:16:49.640 and I'm getting a lot of views, They're going to 0:16:49.760 --> 0:16:52.520 suggest me as you know somebody, other people who don't 0:16:52.560 --> 0:16:54.640 follow me should follow the same thing with you know, 0:16:54.680 --> 0:16:58.240 other platforms. How does it work on quiately where if 0:16:58.280 --> 0:17:01.480 I'm if I've created good good intin I'm showing and 0:17:01.880 --> 0:17:04.680 how does how do people find shown if they didn't 0:17:04.680 --> 0:17:08.639 come looking for song? So um, for us, we do 0:17:08.720 --> 0:17:11.959 like social media average supposed to me advertising, and we 0:17:12.000 --> 0:17:15.160 also we have recommendations on the website. I will say 0:17:15.240 --> 0:17:17.800 that what makes us different from other platforms that we 0:17:17.880 --> 0:17:21.400 don't necessarily on an algorithm for people to find content, 0:17:21.960 --> 0:17:25.680 because to me, that is we we're talking. What I'm 0:17:25.680 --> 0:17:28.240 trying to I don't want to like people on other platforms, 0:17:28.240 --> 0:17:29.600 So I'm trying to say in a way it's not 0:17:29.720 --> 0:17:33.359 like trying to like, you know, a sociape others. But 0:17:34.160 --> 0:17:36.760 when earlier on I started Play to Be, I talked 0:17:36.760 --> 0:17:38.920 with filmmakers and said, you know what's in the pain 0:17:39.000 --> 0:17:42.639 points you're hearing or seeing or or having on other platforms. 0:17:42.960 --> 0:17:46.160 Number one was an algorithm, right, And so we know 0:17:46.280 --> 0:17:48.960 that we really on an algorithm to find certain content 0:17:49.080 --> 0:17:51.520 on these other platforms. But if it could be a 0:17:51.520 --> 0:17:54.600 really great film, it's so won didn't watch it, The 0:17:54.680 --> 0:17:57.240 algorithm won't won't find it, and people want to the film. 0:17:57.600 --> 0:18:01.320 So our approach is very different. We don't have hierarchy, 0:18:01.440 --> 0:18:04.800 we don't show poportism. All of our filmmakers are promoted 0:18:04.920 --> 0:18:07.480 equally on the platform. We actually have like a little 0:18:07.680 --> 0:18:11.879 spreadsheet and in schedule and and the rotation schedule. Okay, 0:18:11.920 --> 0:18:14.760 this film was was promoted this day, and so we're 0:18:14.760 --> 0:18:17.919 gonna make sure through from now so like everyone gets 0:18:17.920 --> 0:18:20.879 seen on what is on social media, whether it's there 0:18:20.960 --> 0:18:23.480 are emails, so that everyone who's added to the platform 0:18:23.960 --> 0:18:26.359 gets noticed in their emails, so that everyone seems so 0:18:26.440 --> 0:18:28.640 they are. We have some called coolly creators in which 0:18:28.680 --> 0:18:31.920 we promote them on like our social media channels, we 0:18:31.960 --> 0:18:34.960 have podcasts and blogs. We do everything we can to 0:18:35.040 --> 0:18:38.880 promote our continent creators outside of an algorithm. We even 0:18:38.880 --> 0:18:41.600 take a step further awhere. You know, one of the 0:18:41.600 --> 0:18:43.879 things we learned from our content creators. We used to 0:18:43.920 --> 0:18:46.360 have our continent out for order, like by our titles. 0:18:46.400 --> 0:18:49.000 We changed that because we started to learn the customers 0:18:49.000 --> 0:18:51.800 are lazy they're gonna get through like effort, g H. 0:18:52.920 --> 0:18:56.199 We're gonna go to like the you know, Sean Baby 0:18:56.240 --> 0:19:01.320 cool his his connect right, some of films with the 0:19:01.400 --> 0:19:03.680 teasing and all that, like, people will not take the 0:19:03.760 --> 0:19:06.200 time to scroll. And so what we do every month 0:19:06.480 --> 0:19:10.720 we rotate all titles, so people don't always see the 0:19:10.760 --> 0:19:13.119 same thing when they first go to our title section. 0:19:13.240 --> 0:19:17.000 So we're very conscious about making sure everyone's seeing that. 0:19:17.160 --> 0:19:20.640 That's super important to us. So did you like when 0:19:20.680 --> 0:19:23.520 you started this company, because you have a two sided 0:19:23.560 --> 0:19:26.440 ecosystem or marketplace or I should say, it's like you 0:19:26.520 --> 0:19:29.119 gotta have the viewers in order to get the Shawn Bees, 0:19:29.480 --> 0:19:31.240 and you gotta have the Sean Bees in order to 0:19:31.240 --> 0:19:34.359 get the viewers, right. And so how in the early 0:19:34.440 --> 0:19:36.520 days of starting a platform like this where you have 0:19:36.640 --> 0:19:40.160 this two sided marketplace where nothing works without the other, 0:19:40.359 --> 0:19:43.520 you know, how do you get those early buy ins 0:19:43.520 --> 0:19:47.560 on from both parties? Oh my god, I didn't know 0:19:47.600 --> 0:19:50.600 how I was gonna get anyone right and so and 0:19:50.600 --> 0:19:53.600 and also like my broadcasts and journalism, I didn't start 0:19:53.640 --> 0:19:57.399 out in film or television or distribution, you know what 0:19:57.440 --> 0:20:01.040 I was doing. And so I actually just started talking 0:20:01.080 --> 0:20:03.880 with filmmakers. That was like the first thing I wanted 0:20:03.880 --> 0:20:07.200 to do because if I'm building a streaming service that 0:20:07.400 --> 0:20:10.760 I know would have these authentic stories that people can't 0:20:10.760 --> 0:20:12.840 find anywhere else, and I want to get the customers 0:20:12.840 --> 0:20:16.560 I need the first talk to amazing filmmakers and started 0:20:16.720 --> 0:20:21.320 literally spent six months talking with filmmakers from around the 0:20:21.320 --> 0:20:23.800 world asking them what they wanted to see if they 0:20:23.800 --> 0:20:27.359 had a platform, UM, and then start asking them for 0:20:27.359 --> 0:20:29.320 their content, and then they didn't know me from Adam, 0:20:29.400 --> 0:20:32.320 like um, and they're from there. That's why I started 0:20:32.680 --> 0:20:36.840 talking with potential customers about what do you want to 0:20:36.840 --> 0:20:39.800 see in the streaming service, what type of a black 0:20:39.800 --> 0:20:43.320 Gog streaming service like? And then basically marrying it two 0:20:43.400 --> 0:20:46.880 together and coming up with the first crop of stories 0:20:46.920 --> 0:20:49.600 for the platform. We want to start beta and we don't. 0:20:49.600 --> 0:20:53.440 We had like thirty eight great filmmakers who were nice 0:20:53.560 --> 0:20:55.920 enough to give us a content. We didn't know whether 0:20:56.000 --> 0:20:58.560 or not we're gonna be successful, but we just really 0:20:58.560 --> 0:21:01.560 wanted to test the wires out with these really unique stories, 0:21:01.680 --> 0:21:04.400