Speaker 1: Welcome, welcome, all you listeners out there. I'm Bobby see
Speaker 1: Us and I play Marco. That's a wrap on our
Speaker 1: story for the season, but we still have more content
Speaker 1: for you. This is a bonus behind the scenes episode
Speaker 1: about the making of Here Comes the Break. For the
Speaker 1: second week of our behind the scenes look at the
Speaker 1: makers of the show, we have two more segments coming
Speaker 1: at you. First up, I had a conversation with Danielle Perkins,
Speaker 1: who plays Janelle, about our experience making the show our
Speaker 1: first podcast listening. Cool, cool, cool. I'm here with my
Speaker 1: co star, are Janelle the Lovely Daniella Perkins? Daniella, how
Speaker 1: you doing? Introduce yourself? Let's get it. Hey, guys, I'm
Speaker 1: Daniella Perkins, I played Janelle and Here Comes the Break
Speaker 1: and I'm excited to have this little conversation. Alright, alright,
Speaker 1: so we'll just dive right in. First question, I'm really
Speaker 1: curious about this. How did you get involved with Here
Speaker 1: Comes a Break? What was the process like for you
Speaker 1: joining the project? Okay, so I got involved with this
Speaker 1: project after my agent sent me over the script. I
Speaker 1: read it. After I read it, I was thinking about
Speaker 1: it the entire day. I was like Wow. Wow, that's
Speaker 1: a really good script. So I got back right away
Speaker 1: and I was like, I want to be a part
Speaker 1: of this, please, let's do this. I just connected with
Speaker 1: it immediately, no question about it at all. And it
Speaker 1: was right when all the protests were going on and everything.
Speaker 1: It just hit different. I guess, yeah, that's dope for me.
Speaker 1: It was kind of like it was pitched almost as
Speaker 1: like a play podcast hybrid um, and I was like, Okay,
Speaker 1: this sounds cool and news. Let me read into it
Speaker 1: um and then yes, it's sort of same for me.
Speaker 1: The idea of combining hip hop and mental health conversation
Speaker 1: through what I love to do, it was just dope.
Speaker 1: So I was like, yeah, I'm right in there. Okay.
Speaker 1: So like, were there any particular parts of the story
Speaker 1: that really drew you in that made you definitely to
Speaker 1: be a part of it. Oh yeah, I mean literally
Speaker 1: everything about this story I was just drawn too because
Speaker 1: it was one, you know, relating to topics our nation
Speaker 1: was is still currently dealing with racially, you know, having
Speaker 1: those open conversations about mental health. And another thing that
Speaker 1: I thought was really really cool is it's super relatable
Speaker 1: in all those parts obviously, but another thing is like
Speaker 1: kids nowadays are creating their own business. Regardless how old
Speaker 1: you are, you can make a career for yourself. And
Speaker 1: I thought, obviously, you know, I also do that myself,
Speaker 1: and yeah, I just think that's so cool. You know,
Speaker 1: everything about this project is just so real and I
Speaker 1: was just drawn to it. So yeah, yeah, that's dope.
Speaker 1: Like when I think about that, I think about what
Speaker 1: I was doing at sixteen or fifteen in comparison to
Speaker 1: this newer generation. They're like so far ahead of like
Speaker 1: what I was doing in terms of being producted. It's
Speaker 1: very inspiring. Yeah, facts, So we'll just keep zooming through
Speaker 1: these questions. Is there something that you identified with about
Speaker 1: your character and or how are you different? Okay? Um,
Speaker 1: I mean we're both very headstrong and determined. We both
Speaker 1: know exactly what we want. But I feel like her
Speaker 1: determination is like she'll like go out there and get
Speaker 1: it done. And then like with me, I know what
Speaker 1: I want, but I'll take a little more time, but
Speaker 1: really think about things and go for it and just
Speaker 1: know if you've got to get it done, you know, Ruben,
Speaker 1: you're gonna go here. We gotta talk about this, we
Speaker 1: gotta get this, and so she has just more like
Speaker 1: pushed behind me, I guess, and I'm more like I
Speaker 1: needn't think a little bit fucking do something. I feel that.
Speaker 1: I feel that. Do you feel like there's got a
Speaker 1: better way to go about doing things in your life?
Speaker 1: Me personally? Yeah, if you could be more like Janelle,
Speaker 1: would you want to or do you prefer how you
Speaker 1: sort of? Oh? No, I would Yeah, I'd want to
Speaker 1: be like Janelle. I feel like having those little stops
Speaker 1: and mean, well, what if I do this is gonna
Speaker 1: be seen this way, you know, instead of just being like, well, no,
Speaker 1: I know exactly how I want things to play out
Speaker 1: and where my vision is and how how I want
Speaker 1: to thing to play out. And so I feel like
Speaker 1: with me taking those little stops to be like, okay,
Speaker 1: we'll let me think instead of just going for it fully.
Speaker 1: Is what I look up to Janelle about, Like she's
Speaker 1: just like goes for Yeah. For me, Marco, I think
Speaker 1: what I resonate with is just his hustle. His hustle
Speaker 1: and his ability to to not necessarily pull strings but
Speaker 1: finesse people into pulling strings for him. Oh I like that. Yeah,
Speaker 1: that's sort of like I wish I could do that more.
Speaker 1: I think I have quite a bit of a hustle,
Speaker 1: but he's just super ahead of the game. Yeah, same
Speaker 1: thing with Janelle. This is just just a little bit more. Okay.
Speaker 1: So what was your experience like just recording the production? So,
Speaker 1: like I the studio is like a city over from
Speaker 1: where I live. So I actually went in studio mask
Speaker 1: on see what I did there. So like that was
Speaker 1: my experience. What was yours? Like? Recording all the way
Speaker 1: from the West coast? So mine, I just recorded in
Speaker 1: my bedroom. They sent me with this little microphone and
Speaker 1: pack over and all this stuff, and I I was
Speaker 1: just like, wow, I'm in my room doing this, Like
Speaker 1: who am I? You know? The only thing that was
Speaker 1: different for me was not having that natural planter and
Speaker 1: would get from being in the room with people, you know,
Speaker 1: and it was just odd, you know, like being live
Speaker 1: action acting is like so different than doing a podcast
Speaker 1: and especially being at home, Like I feel like also
Speaker 1: being in the studio just gives you that extra oath
Speaker 1: of you feel like you're really in that moment. So
Speaker 1: did you get any direction? Well, yes, they gave me
Speaker 1: a direction. We'd be on the call and everything and
Speaker 1: like they would read it through me, but you know,
Speaker 1: being an actor you give a little bit more. Yeah,
Speaker 1: it's just different. But it was definitely an experience and
Speaker 1: I'm so happy with how it turned out. Wouldn't want
Speaker 1: it any other way. It was a cool experience. Path
Speaker 1: when it finally dropped. What was your experience like listening
Speaker 1: to it? Well, one, I was nervous and I was like,
Speaker 1: oh gosh, I was going to play at because you know,
Speaker 1: like not having that panter there. I was like, Oh,
Speaker 1: I hope I did to know justice and I would
Speaker 1: really love this project. I wanted to be the best
Speaker 1: could be. When I listened to it the first time,
Speaker 1: I was like, oh my gosh, it turned out so bad.
Speaker 1: Like I cried a little bit. I did because I
Speaker 1: was so happy. It truly felt such a connection with
Speaker 1: this story and all these characters, and I did. I did.
Speaker 1: I cried a little bit. I get very connected to
Speaker 1: the work I do, so when I see something from
Speaker 1: out and I'm very happy being proud of it, it
Speaker 1: gets me a little emotional. But yeah, I listened to
Speaker 1: it with my mom. That's really I was just waiting
Speaker 1: counting down the days for to drop. And then I
Speaker 1: remember when I got the notification on on Apple Podcasts.
Speaker 1: I just turned on my headphones, laid in my bed,
Speaker 1: face to the ceiling, and I was like, all right,
Speaker 1: let's do this. And then just the like first fifteen seconds,
Speaker 1: I was like, Yo, the music quality of this is
Speaker 1: so fire, like how am I even part of this?
Speaker 1: And then just listening to the story. There are a
Speaker 1: lot of times where I had to rewind because I
Speaker 1: was so focused on how well I I did justice
Speaker 1: to Marco, if I was doing justice, and just listening
Speaker 1: to those things. As an artist, something I'm always striving
Speaker 1: for is to be able to consume or just be
Speaker 1: an audience member for projects that I'm in, rather than
Speaker 1: like judging it from an actor's point of view, you
Speaker 1: know what I mean to Like, I found myself almost
Speaker 1: not listening quite to the story, but rather listening to
Speaker 1: how it came out, if that makes sense, you know,
Speaker 1: So like that makes sense, I'd have to rewind and
Speaker 1: be like, okay, like let me actually tune into what
Speaker 1: I'm going on and not just my voice. You know. Yeah,
Speaker 1: same with you. I was like totally blown away just
Speaker 1: by like the story and the production quality of it all.
Speaker 1: Thank you, word word, What was something important and different
Speaker 1: about keeping creatively busy during the pandemic year for you, Okay, yeah,
Speaker 1: the pandemic definitely like changed my world completely because what
Speaker 1: I do is so much about seeing people and getting
Speaker 1: to me. It's just revolves around like so many other
Speaker 1: people and that just me. So it's definitely like, Okay,
Speaker 1: what am I gonna do? You know? But when this
Speaker 1: podcast really helped me because it gave me something to
Speaker 1: do and really throw myself into and just work on that.
Speaker 1: So I was very very thankful it came when the
Speaker 1: pandemic was happening and all that. It was scary. It
Speaker 1: was a big change on the acting side of things.
Speaker 1: Live action wise, every audition was zoom and it still
Speaker 1: is zoom. It's how you know, charming people in the
Speaker 1: room isn't a thing you have to like get on
Speaker 1: the zoom and be like hey, what's up? And you know,
Speaker 1: there's not that like connection you can build with casting directors.
Speaker 1: Literally just this past week ahead a producer session and
Speaker 1: I was like, oh jeez, it's so different, Like, I
Speaker 1: don't know, I think it's definitely going to be a
Speaker 1: new normal in a way. I think the biggest part
Speaker 1: for me was it also gave me time to figure
Speaker 1: out more about me that makes sense and like what
Speaker 1: I really want my career to be and what I
Speaker 1: wanted to do and what I needed to get there.
Speaker 1: It gave me more time to kind of focus on
Speaker 1: that instead of being on this constant hustle and like
Speaker 1: I need to do this, I need to do this,
Speaker 1: I need to be here, and I was just like
Speaker 1: I got to stay home, you know, with yourself. Definitely
Speaker 1: feel that. Definitely feel like get in touch with me
Speaker 1: and get better at all the things that I want
Speaker 1: to do. Yeah, I'm curious what does that look like
Speaker 1: aside from working on your career during the pandemic when
Speaker 1: you weren't doing that sort of stuff, whether it was
Speaker 1: like meditation like rubin or like what are some of
Speaker 1: the daily practices or things that you engaged with that
Speaker 1: made you feel like you're being a better Daniela. Um,
Speaker 1: definitely just cutting out time for me because I very
Speaker 1: easily to be like I can do a million things
Speaker 1: at once and that's okay because that's the lifestyle. And
Speaker 1: you know, realizing like no, you you know, you go
Speaker 1: to take some time for yourself, like it's okay to
Speaker 1: have one day where you're not running around and doing
Speaker 1: all these things. Meditation is something I never thought I
Speaker 1: was going to be into and I didn't get into,
Speaker 1: and it's helped me a lot because I've a very
Speaker 1: overthinking mind. I guess I would say it's always on.
Speaker 1: It's never I'm doing this right now, I can think
Speaker 1: about that. I could be like all the most beautiful
Speaker 1: hype in the world. I'll be thinking about what I
Speaker 1: have to do when I get back to my room,
Speaker 1: you know, instead of just like enjoying the now. And so, yeah,
Speaker 1: I feel like meditation really helped me with that. I
Speaker 1: also do this little thing called a brain dump. I
Speaker 1: take time in the morning when I wake up and
Speaker 1: I just write down kind of like journaling, and I
Speaker 1: just write down everything thinking and everything. That's just clearing
Speaker 1: my mind of the clutter. Yeah, I would say that's
Speaker 1: what I kind of do. That's dope, that's dope, very
Speaker 1: similar for me. I actually, during the pandemic, I challenged myself.
Speaker 1: I've been meditating for quite some time a few years now,
Speaker 1: but I challenged myself to just do it more consistently.
Speaker 1: So I did like a hundred day eight minute meditation challenge,
Speaker 1: where like I wouldn't break it for any day. Wow,
Speaker 1: that was like the most rewarding thing that I've ever
Speaker 1: put myself through, and like, by the end of the
Speaker 1: hundred days, I just felt so much more clear and
Speaker 1: like productive and it was really cool. Since then, it's
Speaker 1: been hard to get back to it now that things
Speaker 1: are going back to normal or semi normal, but like
Speaker 1: that's now something I try to incorporate daily and try
Speaker 1: to just keep up with it. I love that. That's
Speaker 1: also another cool thing. It's not something that has to
Speaker 1: take up like an hour of your day. It's true
Speaker 1: something that you can work into your busy life, which
Speaker 1: I love. It's nice to find something like that. Yeah,
Speaker 1: real quick, before we wrap this up, I have one
Speaker 1: personal question and then I'll have one rapping question. So
Speaker 1: in the podcast, our characters and Reubens specifically, we talk
Speaker 1: about influencer culture and how that sort of affects us personally.
Speaker 1: I've always been curious, as someone who's an actor but
Speaker 1: like not like a breakout star yet. I've always been
Speaker 1: curious what the transition from not having a super large
Speaker 1: audience too then having one, what that looks like. Are
Speaker 1: there things that you personally had to like mentally think
Speaker 1: about because you now have a large audience that you're
Speaker 1: almost like responsible for. What was that like for you?
Speaker 1: For me, I started the whole social media thing and
Speaker 1: my main passion acting at the same exact time. I
Speaker 1: was on set for my first thing and my sister
Speaker 1: was like, Yo, we gotta hop on this musically thing
Speaker 1: and I was like, okay, bet let's do so for me,
Speaker 1: it kind of happened at the same time. And I
Speaker 1: really haven't changed my own personality, I guess when it
Speaker 1: comes to being online. And I never was really like,
Speaker 1: oh my gosh, people are gonna like look up to me,
Speaker 1: like I need to make sure I'm like being a
Speaker 1: role model and things like that. I don't know. I've
Speaker 1: never been like I need to hide a part of
Speaker 1: me because I'm super open and I feel like nothing
Speaker 1: about me personally is like shocking or like, oh my gosh,
Speaker 1: I might be a little weird, but like that's okay.
Speaker 1: And it comes to social media and all that. I mean,
Speaker 1: now I feel like it's definitely changed then when I
Speaker 1: started it, and that was only you know, like a
Speaker 1: couple of years ago. But I feel like now becoming
Speaker 1: TikTok or like that must be very crazy, and seeing
Speaker 1: it is also crazy, like going into all the Internet
Speaker 1: stuff and you're like, wow, this is such a different world.
Speaker 1: And now that it's like next thing of kids coming
Speaker 1: and I'm oh, my gosh, this is such a different world.
Speaker 1: It's crazy what a couple of years can change everything. Thought.
Speaker 1: With social media, it's definitely a little scarier now. For sure.
Speaker 1: Before I felt like it was a safe place rather
Speaker 1: than like a place to like, you know, get a
Speaker 1: brandle and do all this stuff. I hear that. I
Speaker 1: hear that. Okay, now that life is returning to normal,
Speaker 1: what can we expect from you? What are some projects
Speaker 1: you might be working on, whether independently or big projects
Speaker 1: that you can speak about. Where are we going to
Speaker 1: see Danielle next? Okay, so this is actually very exciting.
Speaker 1: I am gonna be in the upcoming season of Grown Ish,
Speaker 1: so congress excited for it premiers this month, so I'm
Speaker 1: very excited. I booked it end and we just wrapped
Speaker 1: in June. That's dope. Yeah, it's really cool. So that's
Speaker 1: something that's super fun and you can look out for.
Speaker 1: I also did an independent film last month, so it
Speaker 1: also up in June. I did it right after Grown Ish,
Speaker 1: Super Super Cool. It's called del Topia. But yeah, thank
Speaker 1: you for sharing your time with me. Looking forward to
Speaker 1: working again. Pleasure meeting you, and peace out by We'll
Speaker 1: be right back and now back to the show. For
Speaker 1: our final behind the scenes segment, we have a wide
Speaker 1: ranging conversation between Here Comes the Breaks writers Taylor Bettinson
Speaker 1: and Kia Hill about crafting the story and balancing all
Speaker 1: the characters and themes. And Nikia conducted all of the
Speaker 1: mask on artists interviews, which Taylor has some questions about
Speaker 1: for her too. Their conversation coming up next. M hm Hi,
Speaker 1: I'm Nikia Hill and I'm Taylor Bettinson. Together we wrote
Speaker 1: Here Comes to the Brain, and I was the real
Speaker 1: voice behind the interview host you knew as mascart. So
Speaker 1: this is a special behind the scenes look at the
Speaker 1: writing of season one of Here Comes the Break. Nikkia,
Speaker 1: why didn't you tell the listeners how you got involved
Speaker 1: in the show, how he came to work together? Absolutely so,
Speaker 1: about maybe almost two years ago. Now, I met the
Speaker 1: executive producer and one of the co founders of Double
Speaker 1: Elvis Production, Brady Fadler. I met him through a contact
Speaker 1: and we kept in contact, and I invited him to
Speaker 1: come speak to my students about branding and podcasting and
Speaker 1: to talk about his work. And Brady just blew both
Speaker 1: myself and my students away. And after he spoke to
Speaker 1: my students, we actually sat and we just spoke about
Speaker 1: like just creative things, some of the projects that he
Speaker 1: was working on. And I shared that I have a
Speaker 1: background in podcasting, and and we were just like vibing,
Speaker 1: really just getting to know each other. And I said
Speaker 1: that I had a desire to I'm a nonfiction writer,
Speaker 1: a journalists by practice, and I have a background of
Speaker 1: music journalism. But I really, at that moment, about more
Speaker 1: than a year ago, I had a desire to get
Speaker 1: into script writing. And months past he didn't tell me
Speaker 1: about Here Comes the Break podcast. He was super secretive
Speaker 1: about with some of the projects he was working on,
Speaker 1: which I understand now, Um, industry all the way it works,
Speaker 1: you can't talk about everything. And I just happened to
Speaker 1: reconnect with him. I just was like, hey, shot him
Speaker 1: an email, and um, you know, he remembered the conversation
Speaker 1: that we had and then the rest was history. He
Speaker 1: shared a lot about the Here Comes the Break vision
Speaker 1: and talked about you and also the casting director Chris,
Speaker 1: and I just fell in love with the story and
Speaker 1: I'm like, I have to be a part of this,
Speaker 1: and luckily he invited me to be on the team
Speaker 1: in Yeah, the rest of this history, how about you? Yeah? Well, no,
Speaker 1: I was so excited, like you said, when you came aboard.
Speaker 1: I had been involved with Double Elvis a little longer
Speaker 1: than you. I knew the other co founder of Double Elvis,
Speaker 1: Jake Brennan, from other projects around Boston and other companies
Speaker 1: around Boston that we had worked in together, and so
Speaker 1: I had been doing some writing in the podcast based
Speaker 1: on script writing and support writing for Jake on his
Speaker 1: hit show disgrace Ling, and they thought of me to
Speaker 1: come on board with Here Comes the Break and sort
Speaker 1: of do the show running. But as you alluded to,
Speaker 1: you know, you've got students, you're really in touch with
Speaker 1: the youth today, as old like me would say. And
Speaker 1: I was really excited to have someone who would you know,
Speaker 1: again to use zoomer slang, who maybe would keep us
Speaker 1: from me in too choogy, you know, who would keep
Speaker 1: us in touch with with kind of the youthful spirit
Speaker 1: of the characters, because I knew that I had some
Speaker 1: real attachment to the story as well in terms of
Speaker 1: some of the themes which we're going to get to
Speaker 1: talk about in this behind the scenes look, but in
Speaker 1: terms of what I think made us a great match
Speaker 1: with just being able to balance bringing some of that
Speaker 1: realness and some of that lived extreme arans to knowing
Speaker 1: some kids these age in a way where we can
Speaker 1: reflect the maturity and bring a sophisticated structure behind these
Speaker 1: interviews together with these character arts, but just keeping it
Speaker 1: down to ground level. I was. I was so happy
Speaker 1: when we got to work together. So it's pretty simple
Speaker 1: for me. I knew Devil Elvis and knew that they
Speaker 1: were gonna introduce me to even more great people to
Speaker 1: work with. I'm lo and behold you did. Yeah. Like
Speaker 1: as I think about just how Brady and I connected
Speaker 1: and like why he decided to bring me on the team,
Speaker 1: I'm like, wow, I just have all of these different components.
Speaker 1: In regards to my background, it didn't quite lawn on
Speaker 1: me that, oh I worked with youth and also I
Speaker 1: used to have an online publication and at my background
Speaker 1: to music journalism, like it honestly felt like in up
Speaker 1: to date, like it feels like a full circle moment
Speaker 1: for me. And also like I felt working with you
Speaker 1: on the script, it was really because my background was
Speaker 1: not in scriptwriting, Like I'm a storyteller. I'm a writer
Speaker 1: through and through, and I really is that if you're
Speaker 1: a writer, you are writing. It just comes naturally. And
Speaker 1: I felt like I was in school because there is
Speaker 1: a particular structure with scriptwriting and just working with you,
Speaker 1: I definitely just appreciate like I felt like I was
Speaker 1: a student, like I was able to be it was
Speaker 1: just fluid. I was able to be creative. And then
Speaker 1: I was learning from both you and christs And even
Speaker 1: when we were going through the process of the auditions
Speaker 1: kind of figure out the cast, I just learned. I'm
Speaker 1: learning so much about the evolution of like where podcasts
Speaker 1: are going, and I really feel a part of history
Speaker 1: because we don't see a lot of podcasts doing what
Speaker 1: we're doing in this space right now. Well it is right,
Speaker 1: I mean, it's exciting space to be in. There's a
Speaker 1: lot of different stuff being tried out, and you know,
Speaker 1: we incorporated that into the show with the kids pursuing
Speaker 1: a podcast. Thank you so much for those comments. Book
Speaker 1: Like a Student trust me, I felt as much a
Speaker 1: student in terms of us being able to find a
Speaker 1: way to bring these voices to together. It is a
Speaker 1: new medium and the structure of a podcast episode can
Speaker 1: be more experimental in some ways than what people are
Speaker 1: used to and more established mediums like movies and TV
Speaker 1: where the rhythms are really established. So we had a
Speaker 1: great time, and particularly because it was over the pandemic
Speaker 1: year and there was a lot of time to be
Speaker 1: inside and to be working and be in your head
Speaker 1: about something like this. It was great to have even
Speaker 1: our small two person writers from to bounce ideas off
Speaker 1: of together and develop the story together. Yeah, that has
Speaker 1: always been a dream because as a journalist and I
Speaker 1: write poetry as well, and essaying He's like, I am
Speaker 1: very much in my own world in silo as a writer,
Speaker 1: and I've always wanted to be a part of a
Speaker 1: writer's room. And what was interesting was when I was
Speaker 1: brought on the team, a lot of the story was
Speaker 1: like written, and like you were really open to me
Speaker 1: bringing in more voice, more depth to the characters, and
Speaker 1: just like building so like there was a lot of
Speaker 1: back and forth and like the story is your baby too,
Speaker 1: and I just thinking about being a woman in the
Speaker 1: music industry, and I'm the only woman on the team.
Speaker 1: I felt like both you and Chris and Brady from
Speaker 1: the very beginning, I didn't feel like I was getting
Speaker 1: any special treatment. It was like, this is the story
Speaker 1: and that's it. It felt really good, and especially being
Speaker 1: in the pandemic and the whole women are extremely vocal
Speaker 1: about what it means to be in the entertainment industry,
Speaker 1: and I'm happy that one of my first experience in
Speaker 1: this way was with all of you, because it felt
Speaker 1: really respectful across the board. It was a great experience.
Speaker 1: Well that's so great, thank you for saying that. And
Speaker 1: frankly it ties in a little bit too. I feel
Speaker 1: like we should discuss the season finale of it. There
Speaker 1: were a couple of big twists and changes in the
Speaker 1: show that we dropped on the audience towards the end,
Speaker 1: not least of which was a shift out of Ruben's
Speaker 1: head for the very first time and into Janelle's first
Speaker 1: respective and promoting that new female perspective on everything that's
Speaker 1: been going on the events of the season. Like you said,
Speaker 1: coming in, you had a tremendous amount to provide in
Speaker 1: terms of helping flesh out characters, backstories and perspectives and
Speaker 1: adding texture to the world. And I think you really
Speaker 1: connected with the Janelle characters, so it was very exciting.
Speaker 1: Even though we had the first draft of the season
Speaker 1: ready to go when you came aboard, it evolved a
Speaker 1: lot as we work together. I think we added the
Speaker 1: trip out to viral Villa, the sort of you know,
Speaker 1: excursion that leads to his whole later mental health diagnosis.
Speaker 1: And there's a bunch of stuff that happened over the
Speaker 1: year that impacted the development of the story. Let's start
Speaker 1: to discuss that a little bit. Let's discuss the themes
Speaker 1: of the show and what we just brought to the show. Obviously,
Speaker 1: this is a story about gen Z breaking out in
Speaker 1: the podcasting space and young creators who are digital natives.
Speaker 1: A lot of the questions we wanted to examine by
Speaker 1: living with these characters were questions of youth and social
Speaker 1: media and creativity and how much that is an influence
Speaker 1: on on everybody today, not just the youth who are
Speaker 1: involved than it, but the older generations whose media and
Speaker 1: culture is being defined by Yeah, I would say, also,
Speaker 1: just to piggyback on what you said, The theme was
Speaker 1: definitely mental health, also youth finding their voice. Although the
Speaker 1: characters are teenagers, I feel like anyone from any generation
Speaker 1: can relate to just young people just finding themselves and
Speaker 1: standing up for what they believe in and just pursuing
Speaker 1: even as adults, just pursuing your craft as whatever you
Speaker 1: want to be an artist, the doctor and architect, just
Speaker 1: having the bravery like these young people who are extremely
Speaker 1: brave and really represented the gen Z generation. I hope
Speaker 1: that it did in the best way. I was really
Speaker 1: inspired by my students at eight to six Boston that
Speaker 1: I work with on their Youth Literary Advisory Board. I
Speaker 1: work very closely with them. I also have the nineteen
Speaker 1: year a brother. He really inspired me as well. And
Speaker 1: of course music inspired me in getting to learn more
Speaker 1: about the amazing lead cast member, the star of the show,
Speaker 1: one of the mini stars, because all of the actors
Speaker 1: and actresses their stars, but Assante Black really tapping into
Speaker 1: who he is as the person to that really inspired me.
Speaker 1: You know, you mentioned the mental health theme as well,
Speaker 1: and that ties in I think so much to what
Speaker 1: people think of when we have conversations about what social
Speaker 1: media does to people and people get concerned about the youth,
Speaker 1: but you see in the creativity of the on social
Speaker 1: media how much more comfortable they are in that space
Speaker 1: and that bravery and putting themselves out there. Like you said,
Speaker 1: there's a lot of adults who you don't see you
Speaker 1: have that courage I who don't know how to do
Speaker 1: it and aren't comfortable with it. And I think it
Speaker 1: really speaks to the fact that the mental health theme
Speaker 1: as well is it's a universal thing. It's not just
Speaker 1: some new thing because of social media. Um, but you know,
Speaker 1: that's a mental health and dealing with it is a
Speaker 1: pretty universal concern. I want to share myself a little bit.
Speaker 1: The mental health theme was really the one that drew
Speaker 1: me to the show because I have a bipolar diagnosis myself.
Speaker 1: And in the show, as the season came to a close,
Speaker 1: after Reuben kind of breaks all of his rules and
Speaker 1: betray his friends and you know, flies across the country
Speaker 1: on his own, everyone's really freaked out and they wonder
Speaker 1: if it wasn't something like a Manning fit, and they
Speaker 1: start to discuss that as a possible diagnosis, and that
Speaker 1: became really important to me to explore and something I
Speaker 1: hope we get to explore further because frankly, it's not
Speaker 1: something that's been debilitating for me, but I did go
Speaker 1: into the hospital to deal with some mania just a
Speaker 1: few months before we started writing the season and before
Speaker 1: the pandemic hit, and so my headspace was very much
Speaker 1: in dealing with this kind of material and working through
Speaker 1: this material. And it's a largely set in Reuben's head.
Speaker 1: He's dealing with a lot of anxiety that was written
Speaker 1: into the story from the first draft. Um So I
Speaker 1: hope that a lot of people, anyone struggling, particularly through
Speaker 1: the pandemic here, found some solace in hearing another voice
Speaker 1: of someone who was in there head a lot of
Speaker 1: the time, I'm dealing with working through some psychological stuff
Speaker 1: in order to be able to get back out into
Speaker 1: the world in a boulder and braver way. Although we
Speaker 1: didn't know that we were going to go through a pandemic,
Speaker 1: it ended up being a very resonant thematic arc for
Speaker 1: the character, and I hope that came out absolutely And
Speaker 1: thank you for being vulnerable and sharing that with our listeners,
Speaker 1: because that was something that I feel like midway through
Speaker 1: as we were writing the season, that you did disclose
Speaker 1: to me your personal experiences because that was something that
Speaker 1: I really had to do a lot of research, are,
Speaker 1: like what does one who is living with bipolar disorder?
Speaker 1: And like what I had to do some research on
Speaker 1: my end. And also I definitely the writing process was
Speaker 1: super collaborative, but I was very sensitive to that, and
Speaker 1: I think what you managed to do with sharing that
Speaker 1: part of your personal story was like you humanize the
Speaker 1: experience and how difficult it can be. Yeah, thank you. Yeah,
Speaker 1: you know, I tried to be pretty transparent about to
Speaker 1: destigmatize it. And it doesn't have to be a huge thing.
Speaker 1: And some people certainly suffer much more chronically than I
Speaker 1: do with mental health diagnoses. It's just something that I've
Speaker 1: learned to live with as an adult, and I think
Speaker 1: that's something that we all want to be examples of,
Speaker 1: is being able to sort of cope with our conditions
Speaker 1: and show that it doesn't have to preventue from achieving.
Speaker 1: I think there was another important thing that we should
Speaker 1: touch on that grew in importance over the season of
Speaker 1: the show, and that was finding a voice for and
Speaker 1: finding a balance in your life for activism and social
Speaker 1: justice issues. I know that over the course of writing
Speaker 1: the show and even over the course of conducting all
Speaker 1: of the interviews that occurred to some degree over the
Speaker 1: Memorial Day window of when George Floyd was murdered and
Speaker 1: when there was a large awakening in the country and
Speaker 1: there were a lot of protests, and we had discussions
Speaker 1: around that and how much to incorporate it explicitly into
Speaker 1: the show, because we had already had to make the
Speaker 1: decision early on not to try and write the show
Speaker 1: set in this pandemic quarantine, but to write it for
Speaker 1: a time afterwards when people could say, go back out
Speaker 1: to music shows again, you know. But we wanted to
Speaker 1: honor what was going on in the world and be
Speaker 1: real and topical. You know. Did you find it was
Speaker 1: difficult to balance at all, like say, doing the interviews
Speaker 1: in terms of being topical and talking about what was
Speaker 1: going on in the world that day, while trying to
Speaker 1: maintain something a little more thematic and universal or I mean,
Speaker 1: you're pretty well experienced in the interview mold and lightness. Yeah. Well,
Speaker 1: I definitely wanted to be sensitive to what was occurring
Speaker 1: not only in our country but throughout the world, because
Speaker 1: there is still this reckoning and we were just like
Speaker 1: in the midst of it. So even when we think
Speaker 1: about self care and what that means, I am not
Speaker 1: someone when I'm interviewing just focusing on getting the interview done,
Speaker 1: but like connecting with the artists. So number one, I
Speaker 1: had to acknowledge that we were in the midst of
Speaker 1: the Black Lives Matter movement in a global pandemic. Like
Speaker 1: I really wanted to know how Saint Bodie was doing,
Speaker 1: how Nada Jolie, Like I really wanted to connect with
Speaker 1: the artists, just to break the ice of it and
Speaker 1: just humanize them in that way, just so that we
Speaker 1: can build that rapport and then we can talk about
Speaker 1: the music. So that was just my approach, and it
Speaker 1: was so much going on each day and writing. Some
Speaker 1: parts were very when we started to touch on what
Speaker 1: Ruben's mom, what would she say to her black son?
Speaker 1: Those are things that I would say to my brothers.
Speaker 1: Those are fears that I had that my mom has
Speaker 1: in so many moms throughout the world. Yes, it's entertainment.
Speaker 1: Yes it's a fictionalized story, but it was also very
Speaker 1: like rooted in the reality that we were in and
Speaker 1: things just evolved as you know, life happened. For sure,
Speaker 1: you know, if mom is another example, like you brought
Speaker 1: a lot of gravity to her voice with that perspective,
Speaker 1: and even in stuff that's not in say the dialogue.
Speaker 1: But when we did a conversation on Instagram live with
Speaker 1: death him mid season for the show, and our host
Speaker 1: was asking us about the parental style that he saw
Speaker 1: displayed when Ruben was fighting with his parents, basically that
Speaker 1: they were being pretty allowing of him sort of mouthing
Speaker 1: off during this discussion and that that was not necessarily
Speaker 1: the norm. And you know, I know that, Like we
Speaker 1: have talked about what is Mom's background, and there was
Speaker 1: some discussed of her being like a professor and having
Speaker 1: an academic background, and I thought that that played into
Speaker 1: some of the sort of openness and permissiveness of dialogue
Speaker 1: in the house and the way that they end up
Speaker 1: having their conversations a little bit. Having that sort of
Speaker 1: intellectualized approach. With most stories that have any kind of
Speaker 1: serialized element or or have any kind of scope, even
Speaker 1: if they're short and concise, it's like an iceberg. You know,
Speaker 1: the contents are just what's above the water, but there's
Speaker 1: so much beneath that is uh backstory and character motivation
Speaker 1: and the stuff that just manifests above and with our season,
Speaker 1: I think you really see it come to fruition with
Speaker 1: the burst out to Viral Villa, and then you see
Speaker 1: it towards the end with their decision to go out
Speaker 1: to the Black Lives Matter protest rally as the sort
Speaker 1: of climactic scene of the finale, once we've switched to
Speaker 1: Janelle's perspective and we lose sight of Ruben for the
Speaker 1: first time, you know, and kind of a twist, we've
Speaker 1: been in his head the whole season and then we
Speaker 1: tracked them and it's a bit of a cliffhanger, But
Speaker 1: I also think it's sort of is a button on
Speaker 1: the season because it shows Ruben is still figuring out
Speaker 1: what's safe and what's the danger, but he's out there
Speaker 1: on his own and he's being independent and he's out
Speaker 1: in the world. And there is a little something to
Speaker 1: that that shows his progress as a character over the
Speaker 1: course of that season. Where he was so nervous even
Speaker 1: as mask on that he was running away from the
Speaker 1: door in the first few episodes. You know, he was
Speaker 1: out there being reckless. Like anyone can relate to that
Speaker 1: when you are a teenager and your parents are trying
Speaker 1: to shield you. But that is a particular level as
Speaker 1: you get older, of protection and love. So yeah, Ruben
Speaker 1: was just really reckless, and I feel like his mom
Speaker 1: she was for me. I really wanted it to reflect
Speaker 1: the difference of black women, regardless if you're a professor,
Speaker 1: you have education or not. Like, at the end of
Speaker 1: the day, you're a black woman. And there were moments
Speaker 1: where mom was like, don't talk back, young man. She
Speaker 1: said it in a different way, but you know what
Speaker 1: inspired Mom's character was like a Claire Hospable, she would
Speaker 1: have that tone. She didn't have to raise her voice,
Speaker 1: but you knew she had that Black mom like don't
Speaker 1: even try it, you will be grounded. So I really
Speaker 1: wanted to capture that. Yeah, I did want to ask
Speaker 1: you a couple of final questions about your experience as
Speaker 1: Masks on basically as getting to conduct all of these interviews.
Speaker 1: You know, you talked a little bit about balancing sort
Speaker 1: of topicality and you know, real world issues with keeping
Speaker 1: it thematic and establishment poor. But was it also something
Speaker 1: to balance knowing that you were going to basically be
Speaker 1: overdubbed by the character. Yes, yes, yes, yes, I think
Speaker 1: that was one of the challenging components. There were several
Speaker 1: challenging pieces, but just for me as a music journalists
Speaker 1: and also building that rapport with artists. I'm a woman,
Speaker 1: and sometimes if you are interviewing men in particular, I'll
Speaker 1: just be honest. There's a little bit of like it's
Speaker 1: like super casual, and sometimes they can get flirtatious and friendly. However,
Speaker 1: that was something that I kept in mind because that
Speaker 1: it has been my experience in music journalism. So I
Speaker 1: really just tried to make sure I mean and at
Speaker 1: the very beginning mentioning that too to the artists that
Speaker 1: I'm asking the questions, but an actor will be asking them.
Speaker 1: But I think I did a good job. I would say,
Speaker 1: I think you did an excellent job as the man
Speaker 1: who went through the transcripts and selected the sections to
Speaker 1: to become the full mask on interviews for the episode.
Speaker 1: I think you did a marvelous job balancing that and
Speaker 1: I completely agree with you. You know, we're given again
Speaker 1: these behind the scenes peaks. Letting the artists know the
Speaker 1: format of how it's going to be presented within the
Speaker 1: fictional show. I think probably helped everyone. You have to
Speaker 1: understand the concept in order to be able to develop
Speaker 1: the real report you're talking about, you know, so that
Speaker 1: they weren't surprised by that later. And also another thing
Speaker 1: that was challenging that was like the relational piece and
Speaker 1: the interpersonal skills and what it takes the interview, but
Speaker 1: also making sure that each interview was thematic so that
Speaker 1: it would fit into each episode, like the particular things
Speaker 1: that we knew would go into the script. And I
Speaker 1: feel like we kind of had to go back into
Speaker 1: the script and like change some things, but I wanted
Speaker 1: to not create more work on the back end. They're
Speaker 1: all talking about the same thing opening up. And that's
Speaker 1: something that I still do when I interview artists is like,
Speaker 1: in your own words, who are you? That is hands
Speaker 1: down I always ask artists that because in the music industry,
Speaker 1: labels will try to box you in, and I think
Speaker 1: it's really important for artists to define who they are.
Speaker 1: I want them to be able to name this is
Speaker 1: who I am. And then we jump into the interviews
Speaker 1: because I really respect the craft what goes into artists
Speaker 1: creating their music. That's great. And then my final question
Speaker 1: for you about the interviews, did you find I guess
Speaker 1: that what you're saying right now about the theme stuff,
Speaker 1: what threads did you find in interviewing so many emerging
Speaker 1: artists for this project? Did you find a particular sort
Speaker 1: of motif or theme in these interviews? I guess what
Speaker 1: I'm saying is, did you find anything in the answers
Speaker 1: that became a thread that you were following? Because I
Speaker 1: really feel like on some of these things we talked about,
Speaker 1: you really see the interviews blossom and get richer as
Speaker 1: we go on the season, and it creates this real
Speaker 1: sense of Reuben evolving as an interviewer within the story
Speaker 1: that I really loved and think you're a huge part
Speaker 1: of that. What did you find about interviewing all those
Speaker 1: emerging artists in a row? I would definitely say being yourself.
Speaker 1: When we think about a big machine, which is def
Speaker 1: Jam Records, there's so many historical legends artists that come
Speaker 1: from that label, and I think it's easy to say, Okay,
Speaker 1: I'm gonna be like the next Kanye or like the
Speaker 1: next Tiana Taylor or whoever. And even like naming those
Speaker 1: two artists who you know are affiliated with def Jam,
Speaker 1: they are very much who they are, Like there will
Speaker 1: never be another Kanye and I feel like these artists
Speaker 1: really mimic that they were just like authentic raw and
Speaker 1: they were emerging artists. And I think that's the beauty
Speaker 1: about the heir Comes to Break podcasts. It's like, you know,
Speaker 1: we're not breaking the artists. But I feel like what
Speaker 1: I really wanted to capture in the interviews is that
Speaker 1: we weren't asking the same questions that they would be
Speaker 1: asked on another platform, on a radio show or whatever,
Speaker 1: that our listeners would walk away with getting to know them.
Speaker 1: And they were really concerned about in vocal about what
Speaker 1: social justice meant to them, and like how they were
Speaker 1: dealing with the pandemic, and they were extremely authentic. But
Speaker 1: I think the one theme is like be yourself, whatever
Speaker 1: you're gonna do, do you and pursue that. I think
Speaker 1: that they're doing that in such beautiful ways. A lot
Speaker 1: of the artists I wasn't from you're with their music
Speaker 1: before a particular interview. I'm the lasting their music in
Speaker 1: my house so I can really get to know them,
Speaker 1: listen to their lyrics. I can ask questions about a
Speaker 1: song or an album title and also align it with
Speaker 1: the story. And here goings to Break. Yeah, that's the
Speaker 1: way to do it well, I think for yourself is
Speaker 1: a great note to end on. Great theme from the
Speaker 1: interviews and a great theme for the season. Thanks so
Speaker 1: much for taking the time to have a little conversation
Speaker 1: about the behind the scenes, and again it's been a pleasure.
Speaker 1: And that's a wrap on this season of Here Comes
Speaker 1: the Break to all of you aspiring creatives out there
Speaker 1: of any age, and we hope these conversations about the
Speaker 1: making of the show have brought you some excitement and
Speaker 1: insight into the creative process and special final shout out
Speaker 1: to everyone who made Here Comes to Break possible. Listen
Speaker 1: up for those names one last time in the credits, Peace, love,
Speaker 1: and remember to be yourself. Here Comes to Break is
Speaker 1: produced by Double Elvis and partnership with I Heart Radio
Speaker 1: Executive duced by Deaf Jam Recordings Executive produced by and
Speaker 1: starring Assanti black Is Ruben, produced by Daniella Perkins who
Speaker 1: plays Janelle, Bobby cs is Marco, Christopher V. Edwards as Dad,
Speaker 1: Raymie Cornell is Mom, and Taylor Bettenson. Written by Taylor
Speaker 1: Bettenson and the Kia Hill Artist interviews conducted by Nikia Hill,
Speaker 1: directed by Christopher V. Edwards. Mixed and edited by Matt
Speaker 1: ta Hainey, Sound recording by Colin Fleming, Music Elements and
Speaker 1: production by Ryan Spreaker. Additional production support by Jamie Dimons.
Speaker 1: Executive produced by Jake Brennan and Brady Sadler for Double
Speaker 1: Elvis Special thanks to Rain Rosenbaum, Shelby Shankman, Sarah Kani
Speaker 1: and Jordan Gerrellic United Talent Agency, Beck Comedian Marketing, Barack
Speaker 1: Moffatt and Universal Music Group, Rich Isaacson, Lind Gonzalez, Charlene Thomas,
Speaker 1: Merrissa Pizarro, Gabriel to Serrierio, Jessica Manarino and Nya Fleming
Speaker 1: at Deaf Jam Recordings and Conald Burne, Carrie Lieberman, Will Pearson,
Speaker 1: Noel Brown and the entire I Hurt Media team to
Speaker 1: hear bonus content, meet the cast, and go behind the
Speaker 1: scenes of Here It Comes to Break. Follow with Double
Speaker 1: Elvis on Instagram or visit double Elvis dot com