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Speaker 1: Heart My next guest is an entertainment industry veteran. Still young,
Speaker 1: Yeah young. The veterans always sound like you've been out there, yo. No,
Speaker 1: just just young guy right here. He has played an
Speaker 1: integral role in producing many of television's memorable memorable moments.
Speaker 1: In music industry, Justin Collins Entertainment is the name of
Speaker 1: his business. Has produced award winning program and including the
Speaker 1: BT Awards, which he knows that's why we really got
Speaker 1: big at the BET Awards. Man, he really got rolling,
Speaker 1: b ET Honors, u n CFS, an Evening of Stars,
Speaker 1: a b f F Awards, Soul Training Awards, BT Hip
Speaker 1: Hop Awards, and I just saw him his name on
Speaker 1: the screen on Amanda Seals if you haven't saw that
Speaker 1: HBO special African American Young Lady UM historical executive producer
Speaker 1: on her comedy special. He is also a consultant producer
Speaker 1: for the iconic Grammy Awards. Okay, coming up in February.
Speaker 1: Because he it's called multiple streams of income, y'all. If
Speaker 1: y'all don't understand his career executive. He was the executive
Speaker 1: use the Bat's hit TV series Real Husband of Hollywood
Speaker 1: staring crazy man Kevin Hart. He's also executive deduceder Vich
Speaker 1: once Dear Mama, which comes on Memorial Day. I saw
Speaker 1: his name. There's man, I think I called. I said, man,
Speaker 1: you're doing it, dude. Hip hop squares with ice Cube
Speaker 1: and Netflix Rhythm and Flow that were debate in twenty
Speaker 1: and eighteen, please welcome the money making conversations. I'm gonna
Speaker 1: calling my friend Jesse Collins. What's happening, Rashan? How you
Speaker 1: doing doing very good man? Your energy side? Lord? You
Speaker 1: just tie from being so busy. Man. Yeah, we just
Speaker 1: we am. We did uh. We did a panel yesterday
Speaker 1: at Sundance and it was it was great. So we
Speaker 1: just I'm just getting back just walking in an office.
Speaker 1: Now here's the thing that were you based at. Just
Speaker 1: give a little back around about the people who really
Speaker 1: delve into the world of Jesse College because I RADI
Speaker 1: just the radio when we first connected, right radio he
Speaker 1: started the radio, started radio in radio. And I think
Speaker 1: you and I connected um around the parenthood. Yes sir, yes, sir,
Speaker 1: And that was my first that was like that was
Speaker 1: a ninety four or something like that, and yeah, and
Speaker 1: uh and so then he went on and then, uh,
Speaker 1: when we really connected was on the BT Awards when
Speaker 1: Steve Harvey and Cedric Didner table co Holst. We did
Speaker 1: it two years in a row. That was like the start.
Speaker 1: That was like the start of the Jesse College brand. Correct, Yeah,
Speaker 1: that was yeah, that was really you know when um,
Speaker 1: once we started getting those awards chosen BT Awards, you
Speaker 1: know though, it was you guys that you know what
Speaker 1: Stephen said that that really you know, laid the template
Speaker 1: for what the BT Awards became, and then everything just
Speaker 1: kind of grew off of that. Mm hmm. Now let's
Speaker 1: let's talk about you, the did you the individual who
Speaker 1: I'd like to say, mane you you you don't shy
Speaker 1: away from an opportunity. A lot of people say this
Speaker 1: is all I do. You know, I can't exective producer
Speaker 1: a drama series, so I can't ejective producer a show
Speaker 1: that's not on B E T. I can eject you.
Speaker 1: Just gonna appeal to the masses. What drives you, Jesse?
Speaker 1: What drives you? For me, it's just it's about diversity.
Speaker 1: It's about just trying to you know, Hollywood loves to
Speaker 1: put people in boxes. They would love to say that
Speaker 1: you're this guy, you're the that guy, and and they
Speaker 1: don't want you to know, they don't want to call
Speaker 1: you for anything else, especially you know, in the African
Speaker 1: American space. And you know, that just doesn't make sense
Speaker 1: to me, because you know, entertainment is constantly changing and
Speaker 1: you got to be able to evolve with it because
Speaker 1: one day the thing that you do may go out
Speaker 1: of style, and then where how you simply how are
Speaker 1: you gonna pay your bills? You can't tell American Express
Speaker 1: that like, oh yeah, war shows, I'm really hot right now,
Speaker 1: So I'm I'm waiting for them to come back right that.
Speaker 1: It doesn't work, So you gotta, um, you gotta be diversified.
Speaker 1: And you know, I love all kinds of you know, comedies, dramas,
Speaker 1: award shows, game shows. You know, like most people were
Speaker 1: entertained by a lot of different types of programming. So
Speaker 1: why not produce it um and not be afraid of
Speaker 1: producing it? That's the key. That's the key. Now here's
Speaker 1: a serious is coming up, man. I can't wait that
Speaker 1: the promos law have mercy American Soul that ships looks
Speaker 1: so good Man by the American Soul Man, which is
Speaker 1: about about the soul Trainer. Yes, well, yes, American Soul
Speaker 1: is uh something that we're really excited about. It. It's
Speaker 1: a it's a one hour drama. Uh, this will be
Speaker 1: our first season, ten episodes, and what we do is
Speaker 1: it's really about what it was like. Of course it
Speaker 1: was following the journey of Don Cornelius bringing the show
Speaker 1: from Chicago to Los Angeles, but also it's about what
Speaker 1: life was like, what the black experience was in Los
Speaker 1: Angeles in nineteen seventy one. You know, we were in
Speaker 1: an environment where we were at war. It was the
Speaker 1: beginnings of the crips and the gang, the gang activity.
Speaker 1: You had a government that was oppressive at that time.
Speaker 1: You know, we had a president that wasn't really checking
Speaker 1: for us, and so you know, there are some Sadly,
Speaker 1: there are some dualities. As you watch the show and
Speaker 1: you think about where things are today, you kind of
Speaker 1: see that like, oh, something's changed, but some things are
Speaker 1: either making a comeback or have you know, remained the same.
Speaker 1: Um all of that against Don struggle to to cut
Speaker 1: through and be and and create something iconic along the
Speaker 1: course with all the things that we love from Soul Train.
Speaker 1: So you're going to get the music, you're gonna get
Speaker 1: the Soul Train line, you're gonna get the fashion from
Speaker 1: that time period. Like it's all it's all bundled in
Speaker 1: one to make it a show that everybody can enjoy.
Speaker 1: When you when you look at the project like that,
Speaker 1: it comes to you because of the fact it's my style.
Speaker 1: And so the promos got me because the style is
Speaker 1: you know, it's like and I'm just saying, let everybody
Speaker 1: know we're talking about We're talking to Jesse Collins of
Speaker 1: Jesse Collins Entertainment, one of the iconic producers and creative
Speaker 1: minds in Hollywood today. The new series that will be
Speaker 1: airing on BT called American Soul. It will premiere Tuesday,
Speaker 1: February fifth, starting at nine pm and would air back
Speaker 1: to back episodes. It's the first season order is ten episodes.
Speaker 1: How is the casting? Because a good friend of mine,
Speaker 1: uh Sara Phony Johnson worked on this series and and
Speaker 1: so did the series is written and then you guys
Speaker 1: went out the casting to cast the series. How did
Speaker 1: how did how did you? How? How did that work? Basically,
Speaker 1: what it was is that they ordered ten s up
Speaker 1: out of the gate. You know, Devon Gregory and Jonathan
Speaker 1: Prince just great showrunners, and they just we went in
Speaker 1: and BT just took the leap of faith as opposed
Speaker 1: to ordering a pilot and then just that and see
Speaker 1: what it is. You know, we kind of said, we said, listen,
Speaker 1: if you do the pilot, great, but then and you
Speaker 1: love it even better. Bad news is, because of the
Speaker 1: production schedule, you won't get the rest of him till
Speaker 1: two thousand twenty. And it was one of those things
Speaker 1: where they just they were just they committed to it
Speaker 1: so much and they loved it so much that they said, okay,
Speaker 1: just go. But then we wrote the ten scripts and
Speaker 1: then we started uh and we started the casting process
Speaker 1: the ultimate don't yes exactly, and we shot um, you know,
Speaker 1: we shot this fall and you know, you know, the
Speaker 1: deal was still in the edit. But these things will
Speaker 1: you know, we'll get there. That's that's that's amazing. So
Speaker 1: so the thing about it is that let's go back
Speaker 1: a little bit. Let's go back to the new edition.
Speaker 1: You know when you just oh lord, you know, out
Speaker 1: of the blue just set all kind of records. So
Speaker 1: tell us about that experience. Tell us about that breakthrough programming.
Speaker 1: I like to say, for B E. T that you
Speaker 1: helmed as an executive producer, the New Addition series, I
Speaker 1: mean a New Edition mini series. Was you know that
Speaker 1: one that was you know, one of those big pivotal moments,
Speaker 1: you know, Uh, it touched the culture. I think it
Speaker 1: it excited a basic got everyone at BT excited. Um.
Speaker 1: It was something that took a long time. It was
Speaker 1: about ten years to get it from from script to screen.
Speaker 1: But you know, everything is about timing. I think, you know,
Speaker 1: if it had taken five, six, seven or eight, it
Speaker 1: might not have done what it did. But ten was
Speaker 1: perfect and it just you know, for us over here,
Speaker 1: it just opened up so many opportunities. Hold that thought.
Speaker 1: I want to I want to bring you back on
Speaker 1: the other side of continuous conversation with Jesse Collins of
Speaker 1: Jesse Collins Entertainment. Hi. Hi, This ro Sean McDonald. How
Speaker 1: you doing? Everybody you're listening to? Money making conversation on
Speaker 1: the phone. Is Jesse Collins, CEO of Jesse Collins Entertainment.
Speaker 1: They call him an industry entertainment and veteran, and the
Speaker 1: Multi Image Award Winner. We're talking about the New Addition
Speaker 1: story biopic on the boy band that aired and at
Speaker 1: three part mini sers on BT in January seventeen, and
Speaker 1: it posted record ratings for the network and attracted nearly
Speaker 1: thirty million viewers. As a production company, as a as
Speaker 1: a producer, as an EP, was that a game changer
Speaker 1: for your brand? Jesse? Uh, yeah, I think absolutely. I
Speaker 1: think it was a game changer because you know, all
Speaker 1: of this at that point, we had had, you know,
Speaker 1: a lot of success in in the unscripted world, you know,
Speaker 1: in terms of you know, we had the award shows
Speaker 1: and hip hop squares and all of that. And while
Speaker 1: Real Husbands was also a success, that was that was
Speaker 1: a few years ago. It was a half hour comedy
Speaker 1: and there was like you had Cavin Hart, so it's
Speaker 1: hard to mess that up. Just a hard work below
Speaker 1: he promoted. He got promoted that so right, so you know,
Speaker 1: New Edition was was different. You know, you had um
Speaker 1: mostly an unknown cast and and BT had yet to
Speaker 1: do a big music biopic and um, you know, so
Speaker 1: there was a high amount of risk and BET, you know,
Speaker 1: they said, you know, let's uh, let's just try and
Speaker 1: it's for us, especially as a production company. It was.
Speaker 1: It was a big term because you know, for a
Speaker 1: studio to trust us, you know, with the budget for
Speaker 1: that to deliver that content. You know, it's changed the
Speaker 1: way people look at us now. It's like Rashan, you
Speaker 1: know the thing, It's like, can you deliver the creative
Speaker 1: and can we also trust you with the money? And
Speaker 1: those are those are hard things to uh, those are
Speaker 1: hard things to get in this town. But New Addition
Speaker 1: definitely opened up eyes and said, okay, we can you know,
Speaker 1: we can do that. These guys can deliver a scripted
Speaker 1: content at a higher level. And so now we're just continuing.
Speaker 1: You know, we followed it up with Bobby, and Bobby
Speaker 1: did big numbers as well, and now you know, we're hoping, um,
Speaker 1: we're hoping American Soul continues continues the streak. Well, I'm
Speaker 1: gonna tell you this, it was a third Porsche of
Speaker 1: the conversation. They want to trust you what you can
Speaker 1: they trust you with the creative? Can you come in
Speaker 1: budget and can you as a production company make money too?
Speaker 1: That's the third key because sometimes when you you know,
Speaker 1: you know in the early game of that you you
Speaker 1: you're coming, you come in just to get the deal.
Speaker 1: You know, you get the deal, but you can't last
Speaker 1: just getting a deal. You have to inventan say I
Speaker 1: have a this is my rate, this is what I charge.
Speaker 1: Trust me, everything you're gonna get on screen. And so
Speaker 1: that transition is really important. But I just want to
Speaker 1: tell you this, just as as a as a as
Speaker 1: a fan, a person who watches watch your brand, doing
Speaker 1: that scripted was really key because you you know, be
Speaker 1: too in the in the big production. You got it, dude,
Speaker 1: you got it. When you started conquering that scripted, everybody
Speaker 1: kind of looked at you different then my friend with
Speaker 1: a whoa whoa. And that really is a compliment. And
Speaker 1: that's what I've talked about, that fearlessness in you that
Speaker 1: you are wouldn't to say, hey, why can't I do that?
Speaker 1: It's the big your your your whole life is determined
Speaker 1: on that statement, why can't I? Right? Right no? And
Speaker 1: that's that's that's really the way you gotta be, because
Speaker 1: you know, if if you don't believe that you can
Speaker 1: do it, then certainly no one else is going through
Speaker 1: and no one is ever going to give you the
Speaker 1: opportunity to do it. So what do you really what
Speaker 1: do you really have to lose? You know, maybe maybe
Speaker 1: not everything's gonna work out, but at least, even if
Speaker 1: it doesn't succeed, at least you're gonna walk away with
Speaker 1: some lessons that you wouldn't have had before. And you
Speaker 1: take those lessons and you move on to the next thing.
Speaker 1: You know, I look at like so many people that
Speaker 1: you know, you look at everyone around you that is uh,
Speaker 1: you know, that is extremely successful, and you can probably
Speaker 1: find some failures somewhere in the resume. But then after
Speaker 1: those failures you find those successes. So obviously they just
Speaker 1: didn't stop right Well, not what and that's very key.
Speaker 1: What you're saying is that they I would tell people,
Speaker 1: don't let a disappointment stop you from smiling, you know,
Speaker 1: just take that disappointment and turning it. And they always
Speaker 1: statement of frown into a smile. It's only frowns on
Speaker 1: the smile upside down. People say that and say that casually,
Speaker 1: but there's actually the truth. You can be motivated to
Speaker 1: lose if you continue to surround yourself by people who
Speaker 1: wanted something to go bad. They become the They say it,
Speaker 1: I told you, Jesse, I told you not to go
Speaker 1: over there and do that sitcom. I told you not
Speaker 1: to go over there and do that one. You know,
Speaker 1: you didn't have no money. Jesse, Jesse, that was too fast.
Speaker 1: And now you have been Sundance, So tell us about that.
Speaker 1: That that's something I didn't know about. Tell us about
Speaker 1: that Sundance experience. And you said you was on there
Speaker 1: a board panel. We did a panel for American Soul
Speaker 1: and that was great. Um we had a showrunner and
Speaker 1: most of the cast and you know, we showed some
Speaker 1: clips and answer some questions that it was just great promo.
Speaker 1: And then Amanda Seals did a panel for her HBO special,
Speaker 1: so I was able to be there for that, and
Speaker 1: I was exciting just watching, you know, people just watching
Speaker 1: the chicks. Let's just you're just looking at those chicks
Speaker 1: when you check sitcom. She's gonna have a sitcomming and
Speaker 1: men and men stand stand Latan going direct and I'm
Speaker 1: gonna EPs. Really, you know, I saw all them names.
Speaker 1: I was looking at all my names on the screen
Speaker 1: that I don't Yeah, look at Amanda is something that
Speaker 1: I'm you know, like everything, but Amanda we're especially proud
Speaker 1: of because you know the story of that is you know,
Speaker 1: I had never dined. I had come close to doing
Speaker 1: something at HBO maybe four or five years ago, and
Speaker 1: I lost the job. And the executive said, you know,
Speaker 1: let's just keep in touch. We'll find something. And she
Speaker 1: and I had you know those you you have those
Speaker 1: drinks with somebody and you think that it's just like
Speaker 1: it's never really done at your keep doing it, and um,
Speaker 1: she and I had drinks and she said, I'm looking
Speaker 1: for fresh voices to start doing the HBO Comedy Specialist again.
Speaker 1: Who should I be looking out for? And I said,
Speaker 1: you've gotta gotta see Amanda feel that just seem Amanda
Speaker 1: do smart, funny and black. And I said, that's that's
Speaker 1: that's the next voice. She's a movement it And that
Speaker 1: was in two thousand seventeen. And then you know, and
Speaker 1: and this, and then so I told Amanda, and then
Speaker 1: HBO was supposed to go see her, and it took
Speaker 1: a long time, and I guess around August of this
Speaker 1: year or just this past year, they finally went and
Speaker 1: saw her, and and I had they hadn't talked to
Speaker 1: me about it since then, so I, you know, I
Speaker 1: I wasn't even thinking about it. Anyway, they went and
Speaker 1: saw Amanda. They offered her the special backstage and they said,
Speaker 1: you can have anybody to produce this. Who do you
Speaker 1: want and she said us, She said I want. I
Speaker 1: wanted Jesse to do it. And then boom, we're in
Speaker 1: the HBO business. And now that's our first stand up special,
Speaker 1: you know, and then you know, Rashaan, you've done them.
Speaker 1: There's an art to them. They're not as simple as
Speaker 1: people think they are. And you know, it's something I've
Speaker 1: always it's it's a I've always wanted to do something
Speaker 1: like that. I always want to do a comedy special.
Speaker 1: And you know, it's like you just never know when
Speaker 1: that opportunity. His pipe into what he's saying about these
Speaker 1: comedy specials. So first of all, stand Lathan, just google
Speaker 1: his name stand Lathan okay, Briant actress Dalton Sonia Lathan okay.
Speaker 1: And so all the HBO def jam comedy jams that's him.
Speaker 1: Stand Later. Uh. I worked with miss stand Lathan on
Speaker 1: the stage first sitcom. Uh. Steve Harvey uh A w
Speaker 1: B that stand Later brilliant, brilliant, very nice guy. There's
Speaker 1: not you always tell him. And Ralf Hoarquard that's my
Speaker 1: other boy, Uh, these are two legends in the game.
Speaker 1: I have to believe a mentoring Jesse Collins. And the
Speaker 1: thing about is that when you do a good HBO special,
Speaker 1: because I was I didn't know about man, I just
Speaker 1: I was flipping through because I didn't see the beginning,
Speaker 1: and so immediately what I do is I listened for
Speaker 1: laughter because a lot of people don't mike crowd correctly.
Speaker 1: And that's a mistake that a lot of people do.
Speaker 1: You know, a commic can be killing, but you know
Speaker 1: you're gonna last. And so okay, okay, this cross Mike
Speaker 1: not he got me from a technical side, Okay, this
Speaker 1: crowd mic right, all the angles were closed. You saw
Speaker 1: her vision because she's very animated. If you don't miss
Speaker 1: her animation, you've lost her show. And so so so
Speaker 1: and plus what they did was they shot it very intimately,
Speaker 1: but it was she was in a big room, and
Speaker 1: so that threw me for me, like it's very because
Speaker 1: it felt like she was in a nightclub, which made
Speaker 1: it very comfortable, but she was not in the nightclub.
Speaker 1: And so very smartly shot just the uh, very very
Speaker 1: smart talent. I know she's gonna get a sitcom. There's
Speaker 1: no doubt in my mind. I know she's gonna be
Speaker 1: appearing in movies. There's no doubt in my mind. Very original.
Speaker 1: I would tell people. And when I'm watching the stand
Speaker 1: up comming, they do a joke that I would have
Speaker 1: never thought about doing, and she did a lot of
Speaker 1: them in that hour. I went, she's brilliant, She's broll
Speaker 1: what she does and what she's conveying. And the fact
Speaker 1: that you you are a creator a distributor of that
Speaker 1: challenge dand was involved. Man. Good luck on that man.
Speaker 1: But before we go, I want to tell everybody. February five,
Speaker 1: American Soul executive producer. I have them on the phone
Speaker 1: right now. Yep, it's a hit show. He's made hit
Speaker 1: after hit. Dear Mama, New Edition, Bobby Brown, b T Award,
Speaker 1: b T Honor, do you hit me? Hit after hit
Speaker 1: after hit? And right now on HBO the Amandes Fields
Speaker 1: HBO comments, Jesse, thank you for calling my show, Jess
Speaker 1: Collins Entertainment, Google it. The man's hiring because he has
Speaker 1: multiple streams of income. I appreciate you. Man. We talked.
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