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Speaker 1: To really enjoy those younger years because it gets so

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Speaker 1: much more complex and the stakes get higher and the

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Speaker 1: pressure it builds. So then fast forward, you know, five

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Speaker 1: ten years from Howard, where are you at in your career?

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Speaker 1: And do you feel like you are doing baby Kaya proud?

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Speaker 1: In terms of like where you've ended.

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Speaker 2: Up my life. It doesn't necessarily look like what I

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Speaker 2: thought it would, but I have so many people who

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Speaker 2: message me or text me or reach out to me

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Speaker 2: and they're just like, oh my gosh, I wish I

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Speaker 2: could do this or how did you do this? Or Kaya,

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Speaker 2: and you represent what we want to do in the

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Speaker 2: Southeast as a filmmaker or even actors like you have

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Speaker 2: an audition in four years and you're booking nine episodes.

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Speaker 2: How that my life and my opportunities have come from

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Speaker 2: like trusting the process. Every opportunity has come from a

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Speaker 2: seed that I sold prior.

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Speaker 1: Hey, hey va, fam I am so so excited to

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Speaker 1: welcome you all back to the show. I have an

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Speaker 1: incredible guest here in the virtual studio today. Her name

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Speaker 1: is Kaya Klingman, and I gotta be honest with y'all.

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Speaker 1: This woman is the definition of Brown ambition in action,

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Speaker 1: talking about a Howard grad corporate alum and now an

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Speaker 1: award winning indie producer and breakout actress who is bringing

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Speaker 1: deeply human, black, blackerdy, black back black stories to the screen.

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Speaker 1: She has been adopted by the city of Atlanta, Yes,

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Speaker 1: my beloved Atlanta, although she was raised in Cincinnati, and

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Speaker 1: Kaya has built her own lane with her production studio,

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Speaker 1: Kaya Canned Productions. She's also helped lead the Tribeca at

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Speaker 1: and t Untold Stories winning feature color book from Pitch

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Speaker 1: to Festival Darling, while quietly stacking over two dozen producer

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Speaker 1: credits across short series and features. On top of that

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Speaker 1: already crazy impressive resume, She's now stealing scenes as Kristen

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Speaker 1: in the Hulu Onyx collective legal drama Reasonable Doubt. Ari

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Speaker 1: y'all is obsessed with Reasonable Doubt, as I have become

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Speaker 1: because of Kaya's performance.

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Speaker 2: Yes, I hope.

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Speaker 1: So what I love about Kaya, what we'll get into today,

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Speaker 1: is that this was actually a role that she booked

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Speaker 1: off an audition that she almost did not submit, and

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Speaker 1: has since turned her into a fan favorite for her

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Speaker 1: role as a complicated Ride or Die sister to former

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Speaker 1: child star Ozzie Edwards. Wu Hiyahamaso, from corporate life to

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Speaker 1: calling the shots behind the camera to standing in her

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Speaker 1: power on set with creators like ram La Mohammed and

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Speaker 1: Carrie Washington. Kaya's career is a masterclass embedding on yourself,

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Speaker 1: owning your work, and staying ready for the door that

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Speaker 1: could change everything. Thank you so much for joining me

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Speaker 1: on Brown Ambition, Kaya.

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Speaker 2: Thank you Mandy, and I need to steal that bio. Okay,

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Speaker 2: we can have it.

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Speaker 1: We can tweak it, Yeah, you can tak it.

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Speaker 2: You can really incorporated all facets of my career. I'm

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Speaker 2: like truly a multi hyphen it and it's sometimes tark

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Speaker 2: of people, especially in this industry, trying to pigeonhole you

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Speaker 2: into being producer just an actor, and you incorporate all

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Speaker 2: that so beautifully. So thank you, Carl.

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Speaker 1: It's your life. I'm just here to help tell that story.

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Speaker 1: It's been so easy for you, right, I mean, you

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Speaker 1: just walked into that set, got that job, unreasonable doubt.

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Speaker 1: You're just an overnight success. Is that right?

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Speaker 2: Happened? Sometimes? I live such a short interview right the end.

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Speaker 2: I wish it was that easy, but so many of

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Speaker 2: us who are who are on the journey decided to

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Speaker 2: do this journey for some weird reasons, not easy. I actually,

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Speaker 2: you're right, I almost did not submit that audition tape

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Speaker 2: because I had not booked a role in four years.

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Speaker 2: We don't talk about that a lot as actors, the

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Speaker 2: in between times, you know, on social media, we typically

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Speaker 2: just see the picture of someone in front of their

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Speaker 2: trailer when they book a role, or the deadline article

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Speaker 2: or their wrap photo, and we don't ever really talk

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Speaker 2: about the dark times, the times in between bookings. And

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Speaker 2: it's crazy that it had been four plus years since

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Speaker 2: I had had a sag booking, and it had been

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Speaker 2: so long that I essentially gave up on acting and

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Speaker 2: pivoted to be a full time filmmaker. I was already

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Speaker 2: a filmmaker before that, started my production company in twenty eighteen,

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Speaker 2: but I decided to pursue that full time, leave my

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Speaker 2: corporate career at Deloitte in twenty twenty one and committed

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Speaker 2: my career to producing, directing, and writing. But fast forward

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Speaker 2: to this year, twenty twenty five. March twenty twenty five,

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Speaker 2: I was at a film festival for a short film

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Speaker 2: and a feature film, one which you mentioned color Book

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Speaker 2: that I had produced, and I got a text from

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Speaker 2: a casting associate with the breakdown for Kristen, asking me

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Speaker 2: to send in a self tape, and because I had

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Speaker 2: not been actively auditioning, I immediately felt insecure. I felt

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Speaker 2: imposter syndrome. The casting associate even mentioned that they wanted

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Speaker 2: the character to wear glasses and not as a prop,

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Speaker 2: but actually wear glasses. And I wear glasses every day.

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Speaker 2: I really wear my secks, and so you would think

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Speaker 2: on paper, I would immediately been like, Okay, this is

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Speaker 2: meant to be, this is perfect for me. But I

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Speaker 2: was at a hotel, I wasn't in my safe space

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Speaker 2: of my self tape room, I didn't have my reader

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Speaker 2: that I always do auditions with, and put on top

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Speaker 2: of that, I hadn't really auditioned regularly in over two

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Speaker 2: and a half years. So all that combined it was

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Speaker 2: very easy for me to say, you know what, I'm

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Speaker 2: not going to do this. But I met a filmmaker

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Speaker 2: at I had already known the filmmaker, but I ended

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Speaker 2: up meeting up with a filmmaker in Cleveland who was

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Speaker 2: also an actress, and she told me that she brings

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Speaker 2: her ring light everywhere she goes and she'd be happy

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Speaker 2: to tape me that evening at her hotel. So that's

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Speaker 2: exactly what I did. I even posted on Instagram our

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Speaker 2: setup because we were in the hotel and we had

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Speaker 2: to like rig the phone on top of the trash

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Speaker 2: can and like a water bottle and an iron and

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Speaker 2: a whole thing. Yeah, but we got it done. And

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Speaker 2: I hated my audition so much that I actually went

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Speaker 2: back to my hotel room that night and tried to

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Speaker 2: retape it with my boyfriend and did Let's just say,

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Speaker 2: it didn't go as well, but we just didn't have

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Speaker 2: enough lighting and it was our first tape together and

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Speaker 2: so there were a lot of things to learn. But

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Speaker 2: I ended up submitting the first audition that I did

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Speaker 2: with my friend Madison, and I found out that I

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Speaker 2: booked the role a week later. Within that week, it

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Speaker 2: was a lot of you know, nerves, because you find

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Speaker 2: out that you're pinned for the role and that you

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Speaker 2: may get an offer, and there were a lot of

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Speaker 2: steps in between. But literally almost a week later, I

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Speaker 2: got my deal from my reps and they told me

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Speaker 2: I was going to be in nine episodes, which crazy

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Speaker 2: from going from not booking anything for four years to

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Speaker 2: doing nine episodes is a recurring guest star. It is

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Speaker 2: pretty unheard of, so I'm very thankful.

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Speaker 1: Well, I mean that story, I kind of get chills

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Speaker 1: thinking about it. I love the sisterhood and that like

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Speaker 1: that wasn't someone that was like, you know, like a

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Speaker 1: best friend or like a relative. This is someone who

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Speaker 1: was just in the business. Yeah and knows maybe you

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Speaker 1: needed that extra little nudge.

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Speaker 2: Yes, and me too. Yeah, she gave me some feedback

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Speaker 2: and direction, and she showed up for me when I

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Speaker 2: needed it. Like she she was, you know, running around

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Speaker 2: at the festival doing her thing, but she decided to

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Speaker 2: take time and pour into me because she knows how

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Speaker 2: it feels to be a director and an actor. And

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Speaker 2: she's an incredible writer too, so we know how to

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Speaker 2: wear that multi hyphen it hat well. And yeah, I'm

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Speaker 2: just grateful of how everything. And then and then I

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Speaker 2: coached with my boyfriend that got a shout him out,

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Speaker 2: but he was really co with me, helping me me

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Speaker 2: memorize the lines because again I was so rusty. So yeah,

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Speaker 2: it was Yeah, it's not.

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Speaker 1: Is that anything that would have been on your radar

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Speaker 1: for this year at all? Like not just to have

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Speaker 1: a role in a show. It could have been a cameo.

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Speaker 1: It could have been like a one you know, like

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Speaker 1: a one extra something like that. But to be to

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Speaker 1: have that kind of arc in this huge of a

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Speaker 1: show and your character, should we do spoilers in this episode?

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Speaker 1: If y'all haven't watched the latest season, every sing I

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Speaker 1: watched it.

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Speaker 2: Hey, okay, we we can add like a spoiler alert, but.

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Speaker 1: Tell tell bea fan about the show, like if they

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Speaker 1: haven't watched Reasonable Doubt yet, because you all need to.

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Speaker 1: It's on Hulu. You can binge it. You know, I

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Speaker 1: didn't even watch seasons what is it th season?

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Speaker 2: So I'm in season three a Reasonable Doubt.

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Speaker 1: I did not have the patience.

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Speaker 2: You got to catch up everyone, and you got to

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Speaker 2: watch one, two, and three because you get you get

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Speaker 2: deeply connect to the characters. But what I loved about

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Speaker 2: our season is that we got to really really focus

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Speaker 2: even more in the case. At least that was from

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Speaker 2: my perspective of season one and two. I feel like

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Speaker 2: we focused a little more on Jack's and her family,

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Speaker 2: and we still get that in season three, but we

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Speaker 2: dig into the case even more. We build this ensemble

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Speaker 2: around Ozzy, so we get to and Ozzie is the

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Speaker 2: person that that that we're every every season focuses on

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Speaker 2: someone who is on trial that Jack's is defending.

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Speaker 1: And for season three, Jacks is the badass partner of a.

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Speaker 2: Lot black woman. Just she's the attorney that you want

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Speaker 2: to have, that you want to hire. You probably can't afford,

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Speaker 2: but but you want her. And so I get to

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Speaker 2: play Ozzie's sister. And I could never if you would

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Speaker 2: have told me last year that I would book a

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Speaker 2: nine episode show as a guest star on Hulu's hit

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Speaker 2: show Reasonable Dow. That's epeed by Larry Wilmore and Carrie

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Speaker 2: Washington and produced by a slew of other incredible people

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Speaker 2: and show ran by one of the best black women

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Speaker 2: I've ever met, Rama Mohammed, with an all black writers

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Speaker 2: room like so many like all black department heads and

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Speaker 2: just black women directors. I would have laughed.

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Speaker 1: In your new hometown, you didn't have to even travel nowhere,

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Speaker 1: No Georgia.

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Speaker 2: Like yeah, literally up the street. We shot at Eagle

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Speaker 2: Rock in Norcross. So yeah, it was such an incredible experience.

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Speaker 2: And I was doing my best to be present because

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Speaker 2: I struggle with that just as an anxiety girly like

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Speaker 2: just always thinking about the future and trying to figure

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Speaker 2: out what's next. I was really trying to hold myself

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Speaker 2: accountable to be present. Every day I got to be

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Speaker 2: on set was a blessing. Whether I was just sitting

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Speaker 2: in the courtroom and didn't have lines at day, or

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Speaker 2: whether I was like actively going edit with my brother

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Speaker 2: with Kyle Berry or having a love scene with Tim Joe,

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Speaker 2: like whatever it was, I was so happy and grateful

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Speaker 2: to be there and knew that the opportunity would come

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Speaker 2: to an end eventually, so I really wanted to just

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Speaker 2: soak up every moment. And then I mean, I only

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Speaker 2: had to wait a couple months and then we aired,

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Speaker 2: and that's not typical, like usually you have to wait

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Speaker 2: a year before the show comes out, and we waited

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Speaker 2: just a few months, and then I got to relive

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Speaker 2: that entire experience in a new way, getting to see

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Speaker 2: how each episode was edited, because we read the scripts

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Speaker 2: and we perform, but we don't get to watch anything,

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Speaker 2: so we don't know how like what scenes are going

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Speaker 2: to be cut or tweaked, or how they're going to

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Speaker 2: rearrange different scenes in the episode, and so all of

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Speaker 2: that was just a roller coaster ride for me. As

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Speaker 2: a fan and as an audience member, but also getting

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Speaker 2: to watch myself as Kristen as this character.

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Speaker 1: It was.

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Speaker 2: It was an amazing, like out of body experience that

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Speaker 2: I wish forever.

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Speaker 1: I know I gave you some ship for that one line.

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Speaker 1: I couldn't get over it.

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Speaker 2: D Daniel, No, what lights your fire? Oh? What light?

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Speaker 2: I know?

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Speaker 1: Come on now? But No, we love the writers, we

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Speaker 1: love the Yes, it's such a juicy role too. And

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Speaker 1: for if you love any I love. I love drama,

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Speaker 1: but I also love suspense and the who done it?

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Speaker 1: Of it all. I like to be guessing. I like

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Speaker 1: to as you can tell, I was like texting you

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Speaker 1: like was it you? It was? It wasn't. Yeah, you

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Speaker 1: did a good job making me look like a fool.

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Speaker 1: It must have been so fun. But if you love

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Speaker 1: any kind of show where it's like who done it?

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Speaker 1: Then you will love reasonable that. It's sexy, it is empowering,

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Speaker 1: it's satisfying. It's just such a juicy, juicy, juicy show.

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Speaker 1: But let's back up a little bit. Howard Alum, you

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Speaker 1: grew up in Cincinnati. You find your way to Howard

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Speaker 1: also proud Delta Delta Gurly, Yes, talk to me about

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Speaker 1: your early Do you went to Howard Did you go

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Speaker 1: for film? Was that your ambition to be an actor?

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Speaker 2: No? But a story I don't think I've ever told

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Speaker 2: publicly is that I was rejected from Howard's Theater School.

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Speaker 2: I actually auditioned that I went to Howard's Theater School.

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Speaker 2: And so this is a brown A Vision exclusive. But

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Speaker 2: my dad likes to tell the story. And he drove

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Speaker 2: me up to DC while I was in high school

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Speaker 2: and I auditioned, and my anxiety got a hold of me.

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Speaker 2: I totally like forgot my monologue or whatever I had

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Speaker 2: to do with at the time, and I had been

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Speaker 2: preparing and preparing and preparing and just completely just lost

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Speaker 2: it in the room and tried to recover, of course,

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Speaker 2: but blanked out. I remember walking out of the Fine

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Speaker 2: Arts building and my dad was right there, and I

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Speaker 2: just like started falling, and you know, you still have

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Speaker 2: hope that like maybe you'll gain maybe they'll see paths

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Speaker 2: that but I did not get in, and so I

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Speaker 2: was trying to figure out what was closest to performing

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Speaker 2: arts or what's something that I could do. My dad's

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Speaker 2: a writer, He's an author. He was a columnist for

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Speaker 2: years and an editor, and so I actually ended up

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Speaker 2: pursuing journalism, and I pursued broadcast journalism for my first

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Speaker 2: year and did not love it. So I ended up

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Speaker 2: changing my concentration to advertising my sophomore year and graduated

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Speaker 2: with a major in advertising in the School of Journalism

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Speaker 2: and a minor, a double minor.

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Speaker 1: I didn't know you were a journalism girly too. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: I know, I know.

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Speaker 2: And then I minored in theater in history, so I

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Speaker 2: was able to still get my love for theater through

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Speaker 2: through my minor. But God works in my serious ways,

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Speaker 2: because I ended up leaving Howard with almost like twenty

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Speaker 2: short films under my belt as an actress, but also

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Speaker 2: learning the craft of producing, which I didn't know that's

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Speaker 2: what I was doing at the time at the time

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Speaker 2: at all. But I was casting. I was like finding locations,

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Speaker 2: we were figuring out crew. We weren't doing contracts back

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Speaker 2: then because it was just us students. But like, I

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Speaker 2: learned how to how to operate a sound and like

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Speaker 2: was learning about cameras with my friends. But because I

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Speaker 2: was in the school of communications and not Fine arts,

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Speaker 2: and communications was at the bottom of the hill, and

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Speaker 2: Fine Arts at the top. I was with all of

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Speaker 2: the aspiring filmmakers, and so they were always looking for

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Speaker 2: actors and actresses and they didn't want to go all

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Speaker 2: the way up to Fine Arts, and fine arts students were,

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Speaker 2: you know, focused on theater, and so I became like

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Speaker 2: the go to actress at Howard. And it's crazy because

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Speaker 2: a lot of the fine arts students even now, they

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Speaker 2: think that I graduated with the major in theater because

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Speaker 2: I was around them all the time. But then I

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Speaker 2: was also like the actor and everyone's short films, everyone's skits,

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Speaker 2: and and I don't know if I would have had

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Speaker 2: that same opportunity if I would have actually majored in theater.

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Speaker 2: So I got to really learn about filmmaking by being

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Speaker 2: in the school of Communications, and I'm thankful for how

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Speaker 2: that worked out.

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Speaker 1: Wow, hey, ba fam, we got to take a quick break,

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Speaker 1: pay some bills and we'll be right back, Okay to

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Speaker 1: unpack that. So, while you're at Howard, you're you're rejected

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Speaker 1: from the from getting into that theater program, which you're

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Speaker 1: still there. You're nearby, and you're building these relationships with

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Speaker 1: your peers who are doing these creative projects, and I

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Speaker 1: feel like we'll talk a little bit about the importance

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Speaker 1: of building those relationships. And as someone who, like you've

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Speaker 1: talked about, you know, struggles with anxiety, I have been

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Speaker 1: very transparent with ba fam y'all know Hella introverted, very

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Speaker 1: anxious girl like dealing with that but having to overcome that.

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Speaker 1: Can you talk about how you overcame that to build

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Speaker 1: those relationships and that reputation for your craft early in

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Speaker 1: your career.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, I wouldn't even say that I over came it.

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Speaker 2: I do think it's actually progressively gotten worse, if I've

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Speaker 2: become more assault. But I think I used it. I

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Speaker 2: definitely used it because I would still perform, and I'm technical,

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Speaker 2: I technically have like performance anxiety, but I would still

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Speaker 2: figure out a way to perform and push through it.

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Speaker 2: I don't know if that was the healthiest thing back

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Speaker 2: then at the time. And now I have a you know,

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Speaker 2: a psychologist who can help me through with coping techniques,

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Speaker 2: but back then I didn't necessarily have that. But I

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Speaker 2: also had a crazy, crazy work ethic. And sometimes when

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Speaker 2: you feel like you may be lacking in talent, like

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Speaker 2: I think, if you have a very strong work ethic,

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Speaker 2: it can almost like balance itself. Out and that's at

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Speaker 2: least how my my career has been. But I worked

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Speaker 2: really really hard at Howard on the academic side but

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Speaker 2: also on the social side. And I don't know how

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Speaker 2: I did that. I guess I just didn't sleep, I guess.

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Speaker 2: But like I graduated as a loutatorian. I just I

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Speaker 2: studied abroad in London because I was going to graduate

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Speaker 2: early and I didn't want to. So they said, you're

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Speaker 2: a whole semester and half ahead. So I was like,

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Speaker 2: let me just go to London and study theater since

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Speaker 2: so I can still graduate with my class. And I

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Speaker 2: think because I'm an only child, I craved friendship. I

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Speaker 2: craved sisterhood. I craved relationships in general. And I was

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Speaker 2: also struggling to find my identity when I left high school.

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Speaker 2: I grew up in an all white neighborhood. My school

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Speaker 2: was diverse, but the classes that I that I took,

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Speaker 2: I was one of two to three black folks in

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Speaker 2: our in our class, and so I was very brainwashed

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Speaker 2: as a kid. And even though I had a father

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Speaker 2: who was an activist for black economic powerment, I was

347
00:19:02,840 --> 00:19:05,199
Speaker 2: just in the sunken place and I was like wanting

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Speaker 2: to detach from that and rebel against what my dad

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Speaker 2: was teaching me. And I remember when he my mom

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Speaker 2: actually encouraged me to go on the HBCU college tour.

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Speaker 2: I didn't want to go, but I ended up going,

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Speaker 2: and that's when my eyes were open to Howard, to

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Speaker 2: Spelman to fam We traveled everywhere, and I remember getting

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00:19:24,320 --> 00:19:28,720
Speaker 2: on Howard's campus and I was like, Wow, it touched

355
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Speaker 2: my heart in a way like I didn't even know

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Speaker 2: what I was missing until until I stepped on to

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Speaker 2: Howard's campus. And I think when I got to Howard,

358
00:19:39,920 --> 00:19:43,840
Speaker 2: I was wrestling with a huge identity crisis, and Howard

359
00:19:43,920 --> 00:19:47,240
Speaker 2: forces you to confront all of those things on the

360
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Speaker 2: academic side, but especially on the social side. I didn't

361
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Speaker 2: know much about fraternities or sororities, or the history behind it,

362
00:19:55,800 --> 00:20:01,320
Speaker 2: the importance of them, especially when connected to HB and

363
00:20:01,600 --> 00:20:05,879
Speaker 2: I decided to pursue dust stigma data authority Incorporated and

364
00:20:06,400 --> 00:20:11,040
Speaker 2: everything that I learned from pledging, but also the relationships

365
00:20:11,040 --> 00:20:15,280
Speaker 2: I made that I'm still deeply indebted to so many

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Speaker 2: women who have changed my life, changed the course of

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Speaker 2: my life because of principles that they taught me, and

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00:20:22,440 --> 00:20:25,720
Speaker 2: they continue to instill in me. I met my best

369
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Speaker 2: friend Shamiel McKay, who's my twenty six on my line

370
00:20:30,359 --> 00:20:34,000
Speaker 2: through Delta, and I can't imagine life without her. Like

371
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Speaker 2: Delta Howard, all that entire experience, the entire four years.

372
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Speaker 2: I always tell people it's the best four years of

373
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Speaker 2: my life. It changed who I am as a black

374
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Speaker 2: woman and just instilled so much heritage and power and

375
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Speaker 2: confidence in me that I didn't have when I was eighteen.

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Speaker 1: I'm so happy for baby Kaya, I know, for everyone

377
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Speaker 1: who gets that experience. Yeah, I had to do. I

378
00:20:59,600 --> 00:21:04,159
Speaker 1: had to together in HBCU experience within a PWI. I

379
00:21:04,200 --> 00:21:07,040
Speaker 1: went to University of Georgia and I'm so indebted to

380
00:21:07,040 --> 00:21:09,960
Speaker 1: Black Uga because it really was. I feel like they

381
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Speaker 1: should put Black Uga on the list of HBCUs, but

382
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Speaker 1: like not an official one obviously, but the community is

383
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Speaker 1: so strong and so like once I found that pocket

384
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Speaker 1: within Uga and I didn't, I'm so I mean the

385
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Speaker 1: fact that you had parents who were pushing you toward

386
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Speaker 1: HBCUs like my parents, I know about all that. Like

387
00:21:27,960 --> 00:21:30,000
Speaker 1: I was so ignorant in a way, but I was

388
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Speaker 1: lucky enough to have been in that safe space and

389
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Speaker 1: sisterhood and like that, you know, and our stories really

390
00:21:39,520 --> 00:21:43,120
Speaker 1: overlap in terms of being like going to schools where yes,

391
00:21:43,200 --> 00:21:45,239
Speaker 1: they can be diverse, but when you get put in

392
00:21:45,280 --> 00:21:49,359
Speaker 1: those like ap classes and all that, for whatever reason,

393
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Speaker 1: you become the only chocolate ship in the pancake.

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Speaker 2: Yeah.

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00:21:53,359 --> 00:21:56,960
Speaker 1: Yeah, it was so I could really just relax. And

396
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Speaker 1: I didn't feel like I had a place where I

397
00:21:59,480 --> 00:22:03,280
Speaker 1: could relax and just be me and understood until that experience.

398
00:22:03,359 --> 00:22:06,159
Speaker 1: And yeah, that's just beautiful.

399
00:22:06,200 --> 00:22:08,679
Speaker 2: And I wasn't say more. At Howard. I went to

400
00:22:08,680 --> 00:22:11,760
Speaker 2: Howard and there was so many different types of black

401
00:22:11,800 --> 00:22:14,359
Speaker 2: people there were, and we were smart. It was like, okay,

402
00:22:14,440 --> 00:22:16,280
Speaker 2: let's get this out of the way and we're all smart.

403
00:22:16,480 --> 00:22:19,560
Speaker 2: It wasn't like in high school it's the smart kids

404
00:22:19,920 --> 00:22:22,960
Speaker 2: Black kids against the kids that aren't in AP or

405
00:22:23,000 --> 00:22:26,199
Speaker 2: IB classes. Like it was very weird, and so at

406
00:22:26,240 --> 00:22:28,400
Speaker 2: Howard it was like, hey, that's the standard. What else

407
00:22:28,440 --> 00:22:30,720
Speaker 2: can you do? What are your hobbies, what's your personality?

408
00:22:30,920 --> 00:22:33,600
Speaker 2: Where are you from? And how does being from LA

409
00:22:33,880 --> 00:22:36,680
Speaker 2: differ from being from Baltimore and getting to see those

410
00:22:36,720 --> 00:22:39,440
Speaker 2: groups of people. And then we had Ohio Club and

411
00:22:40,119 --> 00:22:44,159
Speaker 2: Georgia Clubio Club. Oh yeah, I was Ohio Club. Okay,

412
00:22:45,080 --> 00:22:47,080
Speaker 2: that's the cool thing. It's like we're all black, but

413
00:22:47,160 --> 00:22:50,240
Speaker 2: like let's let's dig deeper and like figure out, you know,

414
00:22:51,280 --> 00:22:55,160
Speaker 2: who we are as people. And it was an incredible experience.

415
00:22:56,240 --> 00:22:59,760
Speaker 2: For sure, you're learning about Africa and he's like in math,

416
00:23:01,600 --> 00:23:02,280
Speaker 2: which is wild.

417
00:23:03,560 --> 00:23:06,359
Speaker 1: I have sometimes fantasized about just going back to an HBCU,

418
00:23:06,480 --> 00:23:09,160
Speaker 1: like getting a master's or something, just make maybe I'll

419
00:23:09,240 --> 00:23:11,040
Speaker 1: just you know, just show.

420
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Speaker 2: Up like you did, just like be like that Howard homecoming.

421
00:23:14,760 --> 00:23:17,160
Speaker 1: I never know, am I allowed? I'm not what.

422
00:23:17,640 --> 00:23:20,639
Speaker 2: Okay, we're gonna go. We gotta go, you know. I

423
00:23:21,280 --> 00:23:24,560
Speaker 2: well we went this year and then my mom got

424
00:23:24,600 --> 00:23:26,320
Speaker 2: a car accident the first thing we got there, so

425
00:23:26,520 --> 00:23:29,960
Speaker 2: didn't get to go. But I got to make up

426
00:23:30,000 --> 00:23:32,280
Speaker 2: for that next year. So maybe we can go. We

427
00:23:32,320 --> 00:23:34,399
Speaker 2: can get Oh my god, I would love does it taste?

428
00:23:34,520 --> 00:23:38,360
Speaker 2: I will think that COVID But they're starting to get there,

429
00:23:38,359 --> 00:23:41,800
Speaker 2: they're getting better. But you'll get a look being in

430
00:23:41,840 --> 00:23:45,040
Speaker 2: a sea of folks that look like you and just

431
00:23:45,080 --> 00:23:46,120
Speaker 2: like it's amazing.

432
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Speaker 1: So you're in that you know, happy bubble of Howard

433
00:23:50,440 --> 00:23:52,840
Speaker 1: and then I'm not surprised to hear that your anxiety

434
00:23:52,880 --> 00:23:55,400
Speaker 1: got worse as you got older, the same because life

435
00:23:55,400 --> 00:23:58,080
Speaker 1: gets harder. They don't tell you that it gets harder

436
00:23:58,600 --> 00:24:01,000
Speaker 1: and you get to really those younger years because it

437
00:24:01,000 --> 00:24:03,200
Speaker 1: gets so much more complex and the stakes get higher

438
00:24:03,200 --> 00:24:06,320
Speaker 1: and the pressure it builds. So then fast forward, you know,

439
00:24:06,400 --> 00:24:08,240
Speaker 1: five ten years from Howard, where are you at in

440
00:24:08,320 --> 00:24:11,680
Speaker 1: your career and do you feel like you're you know,

441
00:24:11,960 --> 00:24:14,760
Speaker 1: you are doing Baby Kaya proud in terms of like

442
00:24:14,800 --> 00:24:16,879
Speaker 1: where you've ended up at that point.

443
00:24:17,480 --> 00:24:20,000
Speaker 2: Because I'm so hard on myself, I've had to release

444
00:24:20,400 --> 00:24:24,520
Speaker 2: the timelines of life and where you think you should be.

445
00:24:24,520 --> 00:24:27,880
Speaker 2: Because if I looked back and I really thought where

446
00:24:27,880 --> 00:24:30,920
Speaker 2: I would be at twenty five or twenty eight, then

447
00:24:31,280 --> 00:24:33,760
Speaker 2: I'd be like, no, I didn't I didn't get there.

448
00:24:34,119 --> 00:24:36,440
Speaker 2: But then I look at the different things I've done.

449
00:24:36,640 --> 00:24:39,119
Speaker 2: I never would have dreamed that I would raise or

450
00:24:39,160 --> 00:24:41,080
Speaker 2: be able to win a grant four million dollars to

451
00:24:41,160 --> 00:24:43,480
Speaker 2: make a film in a year, and then hit two

452
00:24:43,480 --> 00:24:46,040
Speaker 2: strikes so then have to make the film in five months.

453
00:24:46,200 --> 00:24:49,280
Speaker 2: I wouldn't have even been able to conjure that scenario up.

454
00:24:49,880 --> 00:24:52,960
Speaker 2: So yes, I do think that baby Ki would be

455
00:24:54,160 --> 00:24:56,679
Speaker 2: amazed at what she did. Would it have been the

456
00:24:56,720 --> 00:25:01,560
Speaker 2: ideal timeline or looked like exactly what she no, but

457
00:25:02,280 --> 00:25:04,399
Speaker 2: her mind will be blown because she would be like,

458
00:25:05,000 --> 00:25:09,280
Speaker 2: you did what and you're doing what? Okay, Okay, a

459
00:25:09,320 --> 00:25:14,159
Speaker 2: pivot for sure, But I like you know so, and

460
00:25:14,359 --> 00:25:16,520
Speaker 2: I like that, and I'm starting to accept that, like

461
00:25:16,600 --> 00:25:19,119
Speaker 2: my life it is not it doesn't necessarily look like

462
00:25:19,119 --> 00:25:22,640
Speaker 2: what I thought it would. But I have so many

463
00:25:22,680 --> 00:25:25,840
Speaker 2: people who message me or text me or reach out

464
00:25:25,880 --> 00:25:28,280
Speaker 2: to me and they're just like, oh my gosh, I

465
00:25:28,440 --> 00:25:30,879
Speaker 2: wish I could do this or how did you do this?

466
00:25:31,000 --> 00:25:35,480
Speaker 2: Or kaya, and you represent so many you know, what

467
00:25:35,840 --> 00:25:39,440
Speaker 2: we want to do in the Southeast as a filmmaker

468
00:25:39,800 --> 00:25:43,040
Speaker 2: and like man raising a million dollars from from Georgia,

469
00:25:43,119 --> 00:25:45,960
Speaker 2: like as from being a filmmaker in Georgia, that that

470
00:25:46,000 --> 00:25:50,760
Speaker 2: doesn't happen, and so or even actors like you have

471
00:25:50,800 --> 00:25:54,160
Speaker 2: an audition in four years and you're booking nine episodes?

472
00:25:54,320 --> 00:25:57,840
Speaker 2: How like what? Who did you know? And it's like

473
00:25:57,920 --> 00:26:02,359
Speaker 2: it's not this, not that, it's like it's beautiful, and

474
00:26:02,400 --> 00:26:05,439
Speaker 2: I like that My life and my opportunities have come

475
00:26:05,560 --> 00:26:08,600
Speaker 2: from like trusting the process and kind of just going

476
00:26:08,720 --> 00:26:10,400
Speaker 2: with I don't want to say going with the flow

477
00:26:10,440 --> 00:26:13,320
Speaker 2: because there's a ton of hard work behind all of this.

478
00:26:13,560 --> 00:26:17,080
Speaker 2: Even how my reasonable doubt audition came came from two

479
00:26:17,119 --> 00:26:19,480
Speaker 2: and a half years of work and building a relationship

480
00:26:19,520 --> 00:26:26,480
Speaker 2: with the casting director. But yeah, I still every opportunity

481
00:26:26,520 --> 00:26:30,040
Speaker 2: has come from something from a seed that I sowed prior,

482
00:26:31,680 --> 00:26:34,399
Speaker 2: and I get to see it blown maybe three years later,

483
00:26:34,680 --> 00:26:38,439
Speaker 2: or five years later or ten years later. And I

484
00:26:38,480 --> 00:26:42,560
Speaker 2: think that's the beautiful, bittersweet part of life, because you know,

485
00:26:42,600 --> 00:26:45,199
Speaker 2: we want answer, gratification, we want things to happen like

486
00:26:45,480 --> 00:26:46,560
Speaker 2: now or yesterday.

487
00:26:47,160 --> 00:26:49,720
Speaker 1: I think you're such a testament too, like you said

488
00:26:49,760 --> 00:26:53,640
Speaker 1: to making those in those small little investments, whether it's

489
00:26:53,640 --> 00:26:56,320
Speaker 1: time or relationship building early and not really knowing where

490
00:26:56,320 --> 00:26:58,399
Speaker 1: they're going to lead you, but just you know, leading

491
00:26:58,400 --> 00:27:01,280
Speaker 1: with integrity and with your creatives spirit. And I know

492
00:27:01,359 --> 00:27:03,640
Speaker 1: that it wasn't necessarily like a linear path. It wasn't

493
00:27:03,680 --> 00:27:05,679
Speaker 1: like you graduated and it was like acting job to

494
00:27:05,720 --> 00:27:08,800
Speaker 1: acting job, like you you worked at Deloit. I don't

495
00:27:08,800 --> 00:27:13,000
Speaker 1: think it gets more corporatety than Deloit. You know, like

496
00:27:13,040 --> 00:27:18,800
Speaker 1: a huge it's you know, but at the same time,

497
00:27:19,000 --> 00:27:21,600
Speaker 1: can you talk about while working nine to five how

498
00:27:21,680 --> 00:27:26,600
Speaker 1: you continued to flex those creative muscles, writing, producing, making films.

499
00:27:26,640 --> 00:27:28,639
Speaker 1: How did you make that happen while you were working

500
00:27:28,920 --> 00:27:29,440
Speaker 1: full time.

501
00:27:29,600 --> 00:27:31,800
Speaker 2: I'm not trying to promote not sleeping, because everyone should

502
00:27:31,920 --> 00:27:33,640
Speaker 2: be getting seven to nine hours of sleep a night,

503
00:27:34,200 --> 00:27:35,600
Speaker 2: but yeah, I did not do that.

504
00:27:37,720 --> 00:27:38,680
Speaker 1: We just want the truth.

505
00:27:39,280 --> 00:27:43,200
Speaker 2: Right after college, I so I had it eight to five,

506
00:27:43,240 --> 00:27:45,000
Speaker 2: and then a nine to five I mean, and then

507
00:27:45,040 --> 00:27:48,040
Speaker 2: a five to nine or five to nine or five

508
00:27:48,080 --> 00:27:51,520
Speaker 2: to twelve, whatever you call it. So I got into

509
00:27:51,520 --> 00:27:58,760
Speaker 2: producing officially in twenty six, twenty seventeen, And again I

510
00:27:58,800 --> 00:28:01,879
Speaker 2: was doing it before that, not calling myself a producer,

511
00:28:01,960 --> 00:28:03,960
Speaker 2: not really knowing what I was doing. But twenty seventeen

512
00:28:04,080 --> 00:28:06,879
Speaker 2: is when I officially got into it and produced a

513
00:28:06,920 --> 00:28:11,560
Speaker 2: web series Caught Outlandish with no budget that garnered well

514
00:28:11,600 --> 00:28:14,000
Speaker 2: over a million views, and we ended up having opportunity

515
00:28:14,000 --> 00:28:16,919
Speaker 2: to pitch to Easter Ray Productions, and it became this

516
00:28:17,080 --> 00:28:19,440
Speaker 2: like it's thing. Really That's where I kind of became

517
00:28:19,520 --> 00:28:23,080
Speaker 2: like the go to producer in Atlanta and then went

518
00:28:23,119 --> 00:28:26,679
Speaker 2: to Then I produced thirty short films and short docs,

519
00:28:26,800 --> 00:28:31,040
Speaker 2: narrative branded content, et cetera, and then got into features.

520
00:28:31,119 --> 00:28:33,400
Speaker 1: So basically, as soon as you clocked out, as soon

521
00:28:33,400 --> 00:28:35,840
Speaker 1: as you clocked in to everything.

522
00:28:35,440 --> 00:28:39,440
Speaker 2: Else exactly, and you have to. And so in weekends,

523
00:28:39,560 --> 00:28:42,560
Speaker 2: I never had a weekend. I sacrificed a lot, a lot,

524
00:28:42,600 --> 00:28:47,120
Speaker 2: a lot a lot right after college, like I put

525
00:28:47,240 --> 00:28:52,520
Speaker 2: relationships on the back burner, both platonic and romantic, like I,

526
00:28:52,760 --> 00:28:54,520
Speaker 2: and I look back in some things I regret, like

527
00:28:54,600 --> 00:28:57,080
Speaker 2: not going out with friends, or not building some of

528
00:28:57,120 --> 00:28:59,520
Speaker 2: the friendships or retaining some of the friendships, like even

529
00:28:59,560 --> 00:29:02,360
Speaker 2: that I had Howard. We have a Howard community here

530
00:29:02,360 --> 00:29:05,080
Speaker 2: in Atlanta, and I didn't really build on those. I'm

531
00:29:05,080 --> 00:29:08,040
Speaker 2: like I should have because I was obsessed with my career.

532
00:29:08,720 --> 00:29:11,560
Speaker 2: And after I got home from Deloitte, and this was

533
00:29:11,600 --> 00:29:14,560
Speaker 2: you know, pret remote days. So I was going into

534
00:29:14,560 --> 00:29:17,680
Speaker 2: an office with no windows in the CDC doing federal

535
00:29:17,680 --> 00:29:22,440
Speaker 2: health consulting, and I did that, got home, and then

536
00:29:22,480 --> 00:29:24,480
Speaker 2: I would clock in and figure out what I was

537
00:29:24,480 --> 00:29:28,600
Speaker 2: going to do producing or I was working on acting,

538
00:29:28,680 --> 00:29:32,240
Speaker 2: like getting headshots done, submitting to agents, doing self tapes.

539
00:29:32,520 --> 00:29:36,520
Speaker 2: I was doing both of those things, and every minute,

540
00:29:36,840 --> 00:29:39,600
Speaker 2: a free time that I had was devoted to that,

541
00:29:39,800 --> 00:29:42,960
Speaker 2: to building that career. And so then we fast forward,

542
00:29:43,040 --> 00:29:45,880
Speaker 2: you know, to the million dollar grant It's like that

543
00:29:46,040 --> 00:29:49,360
Speaker 2: director of that project reached out to me because of

544
00:29:49,640 --> 00:29:53,760
Speaker 2: the work I did for those years prior, for all

545
00:29:53,800 --> 00:29:55,880
Speaker 2: of the projects before he saw a project that I

546
00:29:55,960 --> 00:29:59,840
Speaker 2: had produced that went to Tribeca and said, oh my gosh,

547
00:30:00,120 --> 00:30:03,200
Speaker 2: got a mall, Then I know she can get Marta,

548
00:30:03,640 --> 00:30:05,800
Speaker 2: which we can. We can dig into color book later,

549
00:30:06,080 --> 00:30:09,880
Speaker 2: but as a location, yeah, exactly. So he's like, what

550
00:30:10,840 --> 00:30:14,480
Speaker 2: in a short film a mall in Georgia? Then okay, yeah,

551
00:30:14,480 --> 00:30:16,640
Speaker 2: she can get Marta. But you know that was a

552
00:30:16,680 --> 00:30:19,520
Speaker 2: seed planted for that, and there's just seeds of punk

553
00:30:19,560 --> 00:30:22,360
Speaker 2: seeds bun Sea's planet. But like, if you want something

554
00:30:22,400 --> 00:30:25,400
Speaker 2: bad enough, you gotta figure out how to survive, but

555
00:30:25,440 --> 00:30:30,080
Speaker 2: then also how to how to pursue that Plan A

556
00:30:30,360 --> 00:30:33,280
Speaker 2: and make sure your Plan B doesn't become your Plan A.

557
00:30:33,520 --> 00:30:35,680
Speaker 2: And that's what I was starting to feel with Deloitte

558
00:30:35,960 --> 00:30:38,120
Speaker 2: when I was approaching my fourth fifth year, which is

559
00:30:38,120 --> 00:30:42,120
Speaker 2: why I did, like a code Turkey quit two weeks

560
00:30:42,160 --> 00:30:46,280
Speaker 2: after I got a mortgage, I bought a condo, and

561
00:30:46,320 --> 00:30:47,440
Speaker 2: I quit two weeks later.

562
00:30:48,760 --> 00:30:53,880
Speaker 1: Note take me to that. Wait, you're leaving all these crumbs.

563
00:30:53,920 --> 00:30:55,320
Speaker 1: I need to pick some of these up. Okay, I

564
00:30:55,320 --> 00:30:57,360
Speaker 1: know I want to come back to but I want

565
00:30:57,400 --> 00:30:58,880
Speaker 1: to come back to you. I want to double click

566
00:30:58,920 --> 00:31:00,600
Speaker 1: on ew gross, I just used that.

567
00:31:00,640 --> 00:31:01,480
Speaker 2: I want to double click.

568
00:31:01,760 --> 00:31:04,520
Speaker 1: I don't think it gets more corporate bro than double click.

569
00:31:04,840 --> 00:31:06,400
Speaker 1: Where did that come from?

570
00:31:06,560 --> 00:31:07,240
Speaker 2: I kind of liked it.

571
00:31:07,480 --> 00:31:10,640
Speaker 1: I think the system is poisonous, like it got into

572
00:31:10,640 --> 00:31:11,000
Speaker 1: my brain.

573
00:31:11,080 --> 00:31:12,360
Speaker 2: But I wanted a break visual.

574
00:31:12,440 --> 00:31:14,240
Speaker 1: I want to come back to producing because I want

575
00:31:14,240 --> 00:31:16,880
Speaker 1: to know. I want you to define producing and the

576
00:31:16,880 --> 00:31:18,240
Speaker 1: way that you produce because I know it can mean

577
00:31:18,320 --> 00:31:22,000
Speaker 1: a bunch of different things. But right quick though, I

578
00:31:23,120 --> 00:31:25,960
Speaker 1: wasn't sure when you eventually like quit Deloitte and then

579
00:31:26,320 --> 00:31:29,200
Speaker 1: you know full time went into the creative part. But yeah,

580
00:31:29,240 --> 00:31:32,680
Speaker 1: tell us about that, Yeah, two after you got a mortgage?

581
00:31:32,680 --> 00:31:36,440
Speaker 2: What I was inspired to quit and walk out on

582
00:31:36,560 --> 00:31:40,600
Speaker 2: faith because I had tested for my first series regular

583
00:31:40,720 --> 00:31:43,520
Speaker 2: role on the acting side in twenty twenty one.

584
00:31:43,640 --> 00:31:46,120
Speaker 1: What does that mean you tested for your Yeah?

585
00:31:46,320 --> 00:31:49,080
Speaker 2: So series regular is like the highest type of role

586
00:31:49,160 --> 00:31:51,120
Speaker 2: that you can get in TV. So like I wasn't

587
00:31:51,120 --> 00:31:52,960
Speaker 2: a series regular on reason with that of the guest

588
00:31:53,040 --> 00:31:56,600
Speaker 2: star and then there's like recurring co star, and then

589
00:31:56,640 --> 00:31:59,920
Speaker 2: there's co star, but the highest is a series regular, right,

590
00:32:00,760 --> 00:32:03,040
Speaker 2: and so this was at this point in twenty twenty one,

591
00:32:03,040 --> 00:32:06,560
Speaker 2: the highest point of my career. I had done an

592
00:32:06,600 --> 00:32:09,640
Speaker 2: initial audition, I had done a callback, and then I

593
00:32:09,680 --> 00:32:12,680
Speaker 2: did a director session with the director of this new

594
00:32:12,760 --> 00:32:17,440
Speaker 2: show and it was for a series regular role. And

595
00:32:17,560 --> 00:32:19,600
Speaker 2: then I found out that I would be testing and

596
00:32:19,640 --> 00:32:22,480
Speaker 2: it was during COVID. So usually when you test for

597
00:32:22,480 --> 00:32:24,240
Speaker 2: a role, they fly you out to LA or we're

598
00:32:24,280 --> 00:32:27,160
Speaker 2: in New York wherever, and you actually do like camera

599
00:32:27,240 --> 00:32:29,960
Speaker 2: tests with the other characters, or the directors get to

600
00:32:30,000 --> 00:32:32,440
Speaker 2: give you live feedback, and we didn't get to do that,

601
00:32:32,520 --> 00:32:36,480
Speaker 2: so mine was on zoom. But you negotiate all of

602
00:32:36,520 --> 00:32:39,040
Speaker 2: your terms. You get an attorney and like, you negotiate

603
00:32:39,080 --> 00:32:41,640
Speaker 2: all of your terms before you do the test session

604
00:32:42,080 --> 00:32:45,640
Speaker 2: because they want to know, like, hey, it's everything kosher

605
00:32:45,680 --> 00:32:48,520
Speaker 2: before we like you and then we and then we

606
00:32:48,600 --> 00:32:51,440
Speaker 2: lock you in. But by this time it's usually like

607
00:32:51,920 --> 00:32:55,960
Speaker 2: two to three people that they're looking at. It's all arbitrary.

608
00:32:56,000 --> 00:32:58,320
Speaker 2: But typically what I've seen is like it's down to

609
00:32:58,560 --> 00:33:01,160
Speaker 2: like you are. You are one of the choices, you know,

610
00:33:02,040 --> 00:33:04,880
Speaker 2: and your life could change because the numbers that were

611
00:33:04,880 --> 00:33:06,960
Speaker 2: attached to what I was gonna get paid per episode.

612
00:33:07,720 --> 00:33:09,200
Speaker 2: My life was going to change. It would have been

613
00:33:09,280 --> 00:33:13,240
Speaker 2: very easy to lead Deloitte. So I killed my test session,

614
00:33:13,240 --> 00:33:15,400
Speaker 2: like I remember, I had to do like forty pages

615
00:33:15,560 --> 00:33:19,600
Speaker 2: of like memorize forty pages and do it live because

616
00:33:19,640 --> 00:33:23,520
Speaker 2: they actually had me read for multiple characters, and I

617
00:33:24,000 --> 00:33:26,800
Speaker 2: knocked all the characters out, like I remember, killing it.

618
00:33:27,600 --> 00:33:29,719
Speaker 2: And I got this idea in my head and I

619
00:33:29,800 --> 00:33:31,280
Speaker 2: was like, you know what, I know my life is

620
00:33:31,280 --> 00:33:33,440
Speaker 2: about to change in two weeks, like I'm going to

621
00:33:34,400 --> 00:33:36,840
Speaker 2: I'm going to lead Delay. It's time I've been wanting

622
00:33:36,880 --> 00:33:39,440
Speaker 2: to do it. There's no better time because if for

623
00:33:39,480 --> 00:33:41,800
Speaker 2: some reason, I don't get this, which I didn't even

624
00:33:41,880 --> 00:33:43,680
Speaker 2: I couldn't even fatho my head that I wouldn't get it,

625
00:33:45,000 --> 00:33:48,240
Speaker 2: but I will. This is a like it'll be a

626
00:33:48,240 --> 00:33:52,320
Speaker 2: great reason for me to quit. But I know if

627
00:33:52,400 --> 00:33:54,160
Speaker 2: I wait and I find out I don't get it,

628
00:33:54,200 --> 00:33:57,760
Speaker 2: then I'm gonna stay here out of just fear, and

629
00:33:57,800 --> 00:34:00,239
Speaker 2: I'm going to continue to work at a job. I

630
00:34:00,280 --> 00:34:03,200
Speaker 2: said that I was gonna quit after two years. I said,

631
00:34:03,200 --> 00:34:05,200
Speaker 2: I wanted to meet my signing bullets. You know you

632
00:34:05,200 --> 00:34:06,640
Speaker 2: have to if you don't stay for two years and

633
00:34:06,640 --> 00:34:08,239
Speaker 2: you have to give your signing bonus back. I said

634
00:34:08,280 --> 00:34:09,560
Speaker 2: I was gonna stay for two years, and I was

635
00:34:09,600 --> 00:34:14,120
Speaker 2: out and somehow, I don't know what happened, like and

636
00:34:14,160 --> 00:34:16,160
Speaker 2: we and if we get into money money. I did

637
00:34:16,160 --> 00:34:20,319
Speaker 2: not get a four one K, which my parents were

638
00:34:20,320 --> 00:34:22,400
Speaker 2: so upset about because I was like, I don't need that.

639
00:34:22,440 --> 00:34:24,040
Speaker 2: I want all my money to go in my pocket.

640
00:34:24,960 --> 00:34:27,640
Speaker 2: And they they matched. Oh they had a great I

641
00:34:27,680 --> 00:34:29,320
Speaker 2: think they matched like eight percent.

642
00:34:31,400 --> 00:34:33,120
Speaker 1: And I was like, so you had access to it,

643
00:34:33,120 --> 00:34:34,799
Speaker 1: but you didn't invest into it.

644
00:34:34,880 --> 00:34:39,000
Speaker 2: Now I did not, and I stayed for five years. Yeah,

645
00:34:39,200 --> 00:34:47,919
Speaker 2: don't do that, kids, But yeah, I uh, I did

646
00:34:47,960 --> 00:34:51,200
Speaker 2: the session. I thought I killed it. I put in

647
00:34:51,200 --> 00:34:53,279
Speaker 2: my two weeks at Deloitte. Thought they were going to

648
00:34:53,400 --> 00:34:55,040
Speaker 2: like grovel with my feet and asked me to stay.

649
00:34:55,040 --> 00:34:59,319
Speaker 2: But it was like, oh no, send us your laptop back, Hey,

650
00:34:59,400 --> 00:35:01,440
Speaker 2: exit interview. You you're out. I was like what, No,

651
00:35:01,800 --> 00:35:03,879
Speaker 2: I'm okay, I'm really just a cog.

652
00:35:04,239 --> 00:35:05,440
Speaker 1: We got a hundred more like it.

653
00:35:05,600 --> 00:35:09,920
Speaker 2: Literally bye, And I was like, it's okay, because I'm

654
00:35:09,920 --> 00:35:11,920
Speaker 2: going to get a call that I booked this show.

655
00:35:12,239 --> 00:35:13,800
Speaker 2: And I remember getting the call for our manager. I

656
00:35:13,880 --> 00:35:17,040
Speaker 2: was actually in Greenville with my parents and I had

657
00:35:17,080 --> 00:35:19,480
Speaker 2: had a I had had something similar My first role

658
00:35:19,480 --> 00:35:21,759
Speaker 2: I ever booked, I got cut from on the day

659
00:35:21,800 --> 00:35:23,600
Speaker 2: of my fitting, and I went into like one of

660
00:35:23,600 --> 00:35:27,480
Speaker 2: the deepest depressions. I had never felt anything like that before.

661
00:35:27,600 --> 00:35:29,279
Speaker 2: And that was bad because I actually booked the role

662
00:35:29,320 --> 00:35:31,000
Speaker 2: and signed the paperwork and then I got dropped the

663
00:35:31,040 --> 00:35:33,600
Speaker 2: day in my fitting for someone who had more credits.

664
00:35:33,760 --> 00:35:38,120
Speaker 2: That was my first credit. This was a different feeling

665
00:35:38,200 --> 00:35:41,600
Speaker 2: because I knew I had made like a huge mistake

666
00:35:41,680 --> 00:35:43,560
Speaker 2: and had to figure out how to pay a mortgage

667
00:35:43,719 --> 00:35:45,879
Speaker 2: with maybe like three months.

668
00:35:45,920 --> 00:35:46,960
Speaker 1: So you did not get the role.

669
00:35:47,719 --> 00:35:50,000
Speaker 2: I did not get the role. It got down to

670
00:35:50,040 --> 00:35:52,560
Speaker 2: me and one other girl, and they chose the other girl,

671
00:35:54,120 --> 00:35:56,520
Speaker 2: And yeah, I found out in my mom's kitchen and

672
00:35:56,560 --> 00:36:00,520
Speaker 2: I remember like crying and just it was off. It

673
00:36:00,560 --> 00:36:03,799
Speaker 2: was awful. I still would say the first time that

674
00:36:03,840 --> 00:36:05,320
Speaker 2: I got, like when I got dropped from the fitting,

675
00:36:05,400 --> 00:36:10,600
Speaker 2: was worse. But after two big blows like that, you

676
00:36:10,680 --> 00:36:17,080
Speaker 2: start building this like callous of from so much rejection

677
00:36:17,360 --> 00:36:19,359
Speaker 2: because we self tape all the time and we don't

678
00:36:19,400 --> 00:36:21,360
Speaker 2: hear anything, we don't get feedback, we don't get like

679
00:36:21,400 --> 00:36:23,879
Speaker 2: good job. Our agents will if you have a good team.

680
00:36:23,920 --> 00:36:26,080
Speaker 2: Then they'll watch your tapes and give you some feedback,

681
00:36:26,080 --> 00:36:29,880
Speaker 2: which is very which is awesome, but from casting directors,

682
00:36:29,880 --> 00:36:32,560
Speaker 2: from producers, you rarely hear anything back unless you're actually

683
00:36:32,600 --> 00:36:35,680
Speaker 2: moving forward. And so we're submitting hundreds of auditions a year,

684
00:36:36,920 --> 00:36:40,759
Speaker 2: pre strikes and pre COVID. But I remember one year

685
00:36:40,800 --> 00:36:42,719
Speaker 2: I submitted like one hundred and twenty auditions in the year,

686
00:36:42,800 --> 00:36:46,279
Speaker 2: didn't hear back from any of them. And we're taking

687
00:36:46,320 --> 00:36:48,440
Speaker 2: time off work to set up a self tape, to

688
00:36:48,440 --> 00:36:51,680
Speaker 2: find a reader, to sometimes pay to coach, and to

689
00:36:51,800 --> 00:36:54,520
Speaker 2: pay for someone to read, and it takes up hours

690
00:36:54,520 --> 00:36:57,960
Speaker 2: of your time and you don't hear anything. And so

691
00:36:58,880 --> 00:37:02,439
Speaker 2: I was tired of it, and I was like, I'm

692
00:37:02,440 --> 00:37:05,719
Speaker 2: gonna do filmmaking full time and really build up my

693
00:37:05,719 --> 00:37:07,880
Speaker 2: production company. I had already set up my LLC and

694
00:37:07,920 --> 00:37:10,200
Speaker 2: my S Corp. And I was just like, let me

695
00:37:10,320 --> 00:37:12,359
Speaker 2: just this is the perfect opportunity to just pour all

696
00:37:12,360 --> 00:37:14,880
Speaker 2: my energy into that. I don't care about acting anymore

697
00:37:15,760 --> 00:37:17,520
Speaker 2: at the time, That's what I said to, you know,

698
00:37:17,680 --> 00:37:19,799
Speaker 2: to cope. But I was like, I'm going to stop this.

699
00:37:20,000 --> 00:37:24,040
Speaker 2: And then Color Book came. That opportunity came, and I

700
00:37:24,120 --> 00:37:29,920
Speaker 2: was like I'm going to focus on this one. So, yeah,

701
00:37:30,200 --> 00:37:34,560
Speaker 2: it was sad. It was sad, but I think I

702
00:37:34,880 --> 00:37:37,799
Speaker 2: so I told someone else. There's an article recently, but

703
00:37:38,800 --> 00:37:42,360
Speaker 2: the director who directed me in that test session is

704
00:37:42,400 --> 00:37:45,960
Speaker 2: a producing director of Reasonable Doubt, and so I got

705
00:37:45,960 --> 00:37:49,760
Speaker 2: to see him on my first Dafts on set, walked

706
00:37:49,840 --> 00:37:52,440
Speaker 2: up to him, and I don't think he remembered me

707
00:37:52,480 --> 00:37:55,200
Speaker 2: at the time, and I got to tell him eventually,

708
00:37:55,239 --> 00:37:56,759
Speaker 2: like I think I told him maybe like a few

709
00:37:56,800 --> 00:37:58,600
Speaker 2: episodes later, and I was like, you know, I was,

710
00:37:59,200 --> 00:38:02,040
Speaker 2: I auditioned and test it in front of you, and

711
00:38:02,080 --> 00:38:04,640
Speaker 2: you directed me for this role in this show, and

712
00:38:04,719 --> 00:38:09,960
Speaker 2: it was just like the most serendipitous moment of just wow,

713
00:38:10,160 --> 00:38:13,239
Speaker 2: you know, and like, yeah, it took four years, but

714
00:38:13,280 --> 00:38:17,279
Speaker 2: this was a full circle moment really, And he's one

715
00:38:17,320 --> 00:38:20,240
Speaker 2: of the best people I've ever met and most talented

716
00:38:20,280 --> 00:38:24,080
Speaker 2: producers and directors. Anton Cropper, Yeah, I.

717
00:38:24,040 --> 00:38:28,680
Speaker 1: Can't think of a more relatable and heartbreaking, kind of

718
00:38:28,760 --> 00:38:34,280
Speaker 1: crushing story that I know listeners like I know myself.

719
00:38:34,320 --> 00:38:36,120
Speaker 1: I can think back to those times in my career

720
00:38:36,600 --> 00:38:38,920
Speaker 1: where the rug has been pulled out from beneath you

721
00:38:39,000 --> 00:38:43,120
Speaker 1: and it feels like, well, the signs are telling me

722
00:38:43,160 --> 00:38:45,120
Speaker 1: that this is not the path for me. So I'm

723
00:38:45,120 --> 00:38:47,440
Speaker 1: going to set that to the side and go in

724
00:38:47,480 --> 00:38:50,160
Speaker 1: this new direction. And I don't even want to say

725
00:38:50,200 --> 00:38:52,480
Speaker 1: it's not giving up. I think it's a healthy way

726
00:38:52,520 --> 00:38:56,080
Speaker 1: of coping. I think the pivoting that you did to

727
00:38:56,120 --> 00:38:59,080
Speaker 1: take care of yourself and to flex some other muscles

728
00:38:59,080 --> 00:39:02,319
Speaker 1: to build those relationship as a filmmaker, I think that

729
00:39:02,320 --> 00:39:05,640
Speaker 1: that it all matters. It all kind of adds up

730
00:39:05,760 --> 00:39:10,640
Speaker 1: to whatever that next opportunity is. But God, I just

731
00:39:11,480 --> 00:39:14,280
Speaker 1: empathized so much with where you were at in that moment,

732
00:39:14,320 --> 00:39:19,319
Speaker 1: and I'm just so it's very encouraging and courageous of

733
00:39:19,400 --> 00:39:22,720
Speaker 1: you to pick yourself up and to keep going.

734
00:39:23,160 --> 00:39:26,480
Speaker 2: It's hard, it reminds me. But it allowed me to

735
00:39:26,520 --> 00:39:29,719
Speaker 2: take a break and come back to acting in a

736
00:39:29,760 --> 00:39:32,759
Speaker 2: healthy way because I used to have this feeling of

737
00:39:32,800 --> 00:39:36,759
Speaker 2: desperation every time I taped, and that you can see

738
00:39:36,760 --> 00:39:40,320
Speaker 2: that when you're auditioning. And I also got to learn

739
00:39:40,360 --> 00:39:43,080
Speaker 2: more about what it looks like on the other side

740
00:39:43,120 --> 00:39:45,800
Speaker 2: of acting because when I cast Color Book, we worked

741
00:39:45,840 --> 00:39:49,840
Speaker 2: with one of the best casting directors here in the Southeast,

742
00:39:49,880 --> 00:39:52,600
Speaker 2: or Eric Rbold, who ended up being the casting director

743
00:39:52,640 --> 00:39:57,200
Speaker 2: for reasonable doubt, but I hired her to pass our

744
00:39:57,239 --> 00:39:59,600
Speaker 2: film color Book, and I got to see how it

745
00:39:59,640 --> 00:40:03,279
Speaker 2: worked on the other side of getting the tape sent

746
00:40:03,400 --> 00:40:05,839
Speaker 2: to us and saying, hmm, can we get some more

747
00:40:05,880 --> 00:40:07,960
Speaker 2: tapes or no, you know, and we're getting what the

748
00:40:08,000 --> 00:40:10,520
Speaker 2: casting director is saying. So hundreds of people are submitting

749
00:40:10,520 --> 00:40:13,400
Speaker 2: to her and her team, and then we're getting maybe

750
00:40:13,480 --> 00:40:16,040
Speaker 2: twenty tapes, and so we're getting to look through those,

751
00:40:16,080 --> 00:40:19,040
Speaker 2: and some directors, like like our director for Color Book,

752
00:40:19,080 --> 00:40:20,680
Speaker 2: he wanted more, so he would be like, no, send

753
00:40:20,719 --> 00:40:22,600
Speaker 2: me fifty, send me a hundred. So we get to

754
00:40:22,600 --> 00:40:25,360
Speaker 2: really look at the entire pool of talent. But on TV,

755
00:40:25,600 --> 00:40:30,720
Speaker 2: like you don't have time, directors are like watching tapes quick, quick, quick,

756
00:40:31,520 --> 00:40:34,600
Speaker 2: So they're trusting their casting director to have sifted through

757
00:40:34,880 --> 00:40:38,839
Speaker 2: hundred thousands of submissions and picking the best folks for

758
00:40:38,880 --> 00:40:44,000
Speaker 2: the role. And that helped me kind of separate myself

759
00:40:44,080 --> 00:40:48,240
Speaker 2: from being this like hungry talented artist, like I deserve

760
00:40:48,320 --> 00:40:51,440
Speaker 2: every role that I auditioned for, and like, first of all,

761
00:40:51,440 --> 00:40:53,600
Speaker 2: there is a middle person in between this of you

762
00:40:53,680 --> 00:40:57,600
Speaker 2: seeing like this getting getting sent to the producers or directors.

763
00:40:57,640 --> 00:40:59,960
Speaker 2: So just because you submit a tape, doesn't mean like

764
00:41:00,000 --> 00:41:03,200
Speaker 2: a going to be automatically seen, but also there's a

765
00:41:03,320 --> 00:41:06,120
Speaker 2: thousand reasons why you don't get a role. We audition

766
00:41:06,280 --> 00:41:09,720
Speaker 2: so many talented people for color Book, and then something

767
00:41:09,760 --> 00:41:13,160
Speaker 2: else happened where it's like, oh, this person or this person,

768
00:41:13,320 --> 00:41:15,520
Speaker 2: and it was completely out of their control. And my

769
00:41:15,600 --> 00:41:19,279
Speaker 2: heart went out for every person who was pinned. Or

770
00:41:20,520 --> 00:41:22,800
Speaker 2: when you're pinned, you really think you have a chance,

771
00:41:22,880 --> 00:41:26,520
Speaker 2: and you do, but things went a different way and

772
00:41:26,600 --> 00:41:28,799
Speaker 2: I was on the producing side of that, And so

773
00:41:29,320 --> 00:41:33,160
Speaker 2: now that I'm back acting again, I'm able to do

774
00:41:33,239 --> 00:41:36,480
Speaker 2: it from a much healthier mindset and know that, like,

775
00:41:36,719 --> 00:41:38,560
Speaker 2: I'm doing this audition, but I'm just gonna have fun

776
00:41:38,600 --> 00:41:41,480
Speaker 2: with it because it may get seen by the producers.

777
00:41:41,520 --> 00:41:45,040
Speaker 2: It may not. This casting character may watch ten seconds

778
00:41:45,080 --> 00:41:47,359
Speaker 2: of it, they may watch all of it. But that's

779
00:41:47,400 --> 00:41:50,120
Speaker 2: not I can't control that. I can just control like

780
00:41:50,160 --> 00:41:54,680
Speaker 2: having a good audition, having fun, and putting out my

781
00:41:54,719 --> 00:41:58,759
Speaker 2: best work and that's it, you know, continuing to make

782
00:41:58,800 --> 00:42:02,480
Speaker 2: relationships on the producing side and on the casting side,

783
00:42:02,840 --> 00:42:04,239
Speaker 2: because I have seen that work.

784
00:42:04,480 --> 00:42:06,640
Speaker 1: I feel like what you're talking about is detaching your

785
00:42:06,680 --> 00:42:11,359
Speaker 1: self worth and detaching like your idea of success up

786
00:42:11,400 --> 00:42:14,880
Speaker 1: into this one decision that is truly out of your control.

787
00:42:14,920 --> 00:42:16,919
Speaker 1: And I think that's so applicable to anyone. I don't

788
00:42:16,920 --> 00:42:20,479
Speaker 1: care if you're an actor, you're a ux designer, a

789
00:42:20,520 --> 00:42:23,759
Speaker 1: software engineer, a teacher, and you're applying for something like

790
00:42:23,840 --> 00:42:25,880
Speaker 1: so many people are right now in this job market,

791
00:42:25,920 --> 00:42:27,960
Speaker 1: you know, sending out your self tape, sending out your

792
00:42:27,960 --> 00:42:29,880
Speaker 1: application linked into the nether.

793
00:42:30,120 --> 00:42:30,640
Speaker 2: Y hire someone.

794
00:42:30,880 --> 00:42:35,120
Speaker 1: I'm like, what I know you know about LinkedIn? Yes,

795
00:42:35,920 --> 00:42:37,880
Speaker 1: and you never hear back, or if you're lucky, you know,

796
00:42:37,880 --> 00:42:40,520
Speaker 1: if you get an automated response from a bot saying

797
00:42:40,560 --> 00:42:45,000
Speaker 1: you've been passed over and you can't And it's so hard,

798
00:42:45,080 --> 00:42:48,000
Speaker 1: but it's important to learn how to disassociate from it

799
00:42:48,040 --> 00:42:50,359
Speaker 1: a little bit and not tie up your It's not

800
00:42:50,400 --> 00:42:54,400
Speaker 1: like you are inherently undeserving or worthy or not talented.

801
00:42:55,160 --> 00:42:57,840
Speaker 1: It's just out of your control in a lot of ways.

802
00:42:58,120 --> 00:42:58,600
Speaker 2: Exactly.

803
00:42:59,600 --> 00:43:04,160
Speaker 1: Yeah, Hey, ba fam, we got to take a quick break,

804
00:43:04,280 --> 00:43:07,839
Speaker 1: pay some bills, and we'll be right back. All right,

805
00:43:07,880 --> 00:43:10,920
Speaker 1: ba fam, We're back as a producer. Can you can

806
00:43:11,000 --> 00:43:13,000
Speaker 1: we go back to that where you're talking about producing,

807
00:43:13,040 --> 00:43:15,560
Speaker 1: because you talk about like, you know, getting a getting

808
00:43:15,600 --> 00:43:18,319
Speaker 1: a mall or getting MRDA for a film. You're very

809
00:43:18,320 --> 00:43:23,239
Speaker 1: hands on producer, like really helping build the well. You

810
00:43:23,280 --> 00:43:25,279
Speaker 1: tell me, as a producer, what do you do day

811
00:43:25,320 --> 00:43:28,160
Speaker 1: to day? And like for someone who's interested in pursuing that,

812
00:43:28,440 --> 00:43:29,840
Speaker 1: would you talk about that job.

813
00:43:30,080 --> 00:43:31,719
Speaker 2: I wish there was another word for the type of

814
00:43:31,719 --> 00:43:35,080
Speaker 2: producing that I do and that others do, because producers

815
00:43:35,160 --> 00:43:41,920
Speaker 2: this very vague word that you know, anybody can get nowadays,

816
00:43:41,960 --> 00:43:47,000
Speaker 2: Like people put celebrities on on projects that may not

817
00:43:47,040 --> 00:43:49,160
Speaker 2: have done any hands on producing, but you know they

818
00:43:49,200 --> 00:43:54,680
Speaker 2: are using their likeness and their network or money or

819
00:43:54,680 --> 00:43:58,680
Speaker 2: whatever resources and they can still get like the big

820
00:43:58,800 --> 00:44:02,839
Speaker 2: p producer credit is what we call it. But what

821
00:44:03,000 --> 00:44:05,480
Speaker 2: I do and what I have done on projects is

822
00:44:05,520 --> 00:44:08,480
Speaker 2: exactly what you said, be very hands on. And so

823
00:44:08,520 --> 00:44:10,759
Speaker 2: I like to explain to people who haven't heard what

824
00:44:10,800 --> 00:44:12,279
Speaker 2: producing is. I tell them to, like look at the

825
00:44:12,320 --> 00:44:14,120
Speaker 2: credits at the end of the movie, and it's a

826
00:44:14,160 --> 00:44:18,719
Speaker 2: lot of them, typically even a short film. And if

827
00:44:18,719 --> 00:44:22,000
Speaker 2: you look at those, the producers are the ones hiring

828
00:44:22,040 --> 00:44:26,360
Speaker 2: all of those people and making sure everyone on that

829
00:44:26,480 --> 00:44:30,400
Speaker 2: list works well together and is all clued in on

830
00:44:30,520 --> 00:44:33,960
Speaker 2: the vision, the creative vision for what our leader, which

831
00:44:34,040 --> 00:44:38,719
Speaker 2: is our director wants and so, and our job is

832
00:44:38,760 --> 00:44:42,440
Speaker 2: to protect our cre the creative vision for the director.

833
00:44:43,640 --> 00:44:48,000
Speaker 2: So that as far as like actual tangible things, I

834
00:44:48,000 --> 00:44:50,359
Speaker 2: can name a few of them, but like we're in

835
00:44:50,480 --> 00:44:54,480
Speaker 2: charge of setting up our all of our accounting, so

836
00:44:54,560 --> 00:44:58,520
Speaker 2: like getting our accounting team together in payroll and hiring

837
00:44:58,600 --> 00:45:02,040
Speaker 2: an attorney in or lead team to be able to

838
00:45:02,719 --> 00:45:06,319
Speaker 2: go through to create contracts for every single person that's

839
00:45:06,320 --> 00:45:09,560
Speaker 2: going to be in our crew. We are in touch

840
00:45:09,600 --> 00:45:12,720
Speaker 2: with the project from like the time that the script

841
00:45:12,760 --> 00:45:16,000
Speaker 2: is born all the way to wherever the film ends

842
00:45:16,080 --> 00:45:19,399
Speaker 2: up living, whether that is being distributed on Apple or

843
00:45:19,440 --> 00:45:22,480
Speaker 2: through with Neon or A twenty four, or it's just

844
00:45:22,520 --> 00:45:26,400
Speaker 2: going through film festivals, or it has an impact campaign

845
00:45:26,560 --> 00:45:29,840
Speaker 2: and shown in schools and by nonprofits, et cetera, et cetera.

846
00:45:29,920 --> 00:45:34,680
Speaker 2: Like the producer is with the project the longest, and

847
00:45:34,880 --> 00:45:38,280
Speaker 2: we touch every single part of production. We touch the cast,

848
00:45:38,880 --> 00:45:41,399
Speaker 2: and we touch the crew above the line crew and

849
00:45:41,440 --> 00:45:47,200
Speaker 2: below the line crew, and us as like big p producers,

850
00:45:47,200 --> 00:45:50,960
Speaker 2: we typically are also on set every single day where

851
00:45:51,000 --> 00:45:53,520
Speaker 2: you have some like vanity producers who are just who

852
00:45:53,560 --> 00:45:56,640
Speaker 2: you know. They show up like once or twice, and

853
00:45:56,680 --> 00:45:58,840
Speaker 2: that's it, but like I'm on set every single day

854
00:45:59,160 --> 00:46:03,479
Speaker 2: in the trenches with the team putting out fires. And

855
00:46:03,560 --> 00:46:06,160
Speaker 2: I will say I've seen this more in like indie

856
00:46:06,520 --> 00:46:09,680
Speaker 2: projects because we don't have as much money or resources

857
00:46:09,719 --> 00:46:12,320
Speaker 2: where we can just like sit by monitor and chill.

858
00:46:12,480 --> 00:46:17,919
Speaker 2: But we're usually like putting out fires. And I've said,

859
00:46:17,920 --> 00:46:20,120
Speaker 2: like we're firefighters because there's always going to be a

860
00:46:20,160 --> 00:46:23,440
Speaker 2: fire on every production and it's our job to make

861
00:46:23,480 --> 00:46:26,400
Speaker 2: sure that the director is able to keep going and

862
00:46:26,480 --> 00:46:28,879
Speaker 2: direct their scenes and get what they want, and we're

863
00:46:29,080 --> 00:46:32,120
Speaker 2: kind of protecting them from all the madness that's happening

864
00:46:32,360 --> 00:46:33,319
Speaker 2: around them.

865
00:46:33,760 --> 00:46:36,600
Speaker 1: You're like a COO exactly, chief operating office.

866
00:46:36,640 --> 00:46:38,799
Speaker 2: Yes, exactly, Yeah, exactly, Okay.

867
00:46:39,080 --> 00:46:44,000
Speaker 1: CEO is a visionary Yeah, COO is executioner all the

868
00:46:44,040 --> 00:46:44,480
Speaker 1: pieces and.

869
00:46:44,520 --> 00:46:46,680
Speaker 2: You're out catering how averyone's going to eat or like

870
00:46:46,960 --> 00:46:48,719
Speaker 2: how many chairs that people are going to have to

871
00:46:49,160 --> 00:46:51,440
Speaker 2: for extra to sit, you know what I mean. And

872
00:46:51,640 --> 00:46:52,960
Speaker 2: this is if like you don't have a look, you

873
00:46:52,960 --> 00:46:56,440
Speaker 2: don't have money to have locations, person or it it is.

874
00:46:57,040 --> 00:47:00,840
Speaker 2: It's a it's a role that like encompasses in and everything,

875
00:47:01,800 --> 00:47:06,719
Speaker 2: but you're getting more, you're getting it done.

876
00:47:05,480 --> 00:47:08,040
Speaker 1: And how do you get paid? Do you get paid?

877
00:47:08,080 --> 00:47:09,960
Speaker 1: Have you been paid for that kind of work or

878
00:47:10,000 --> 00:47:12,600
Speaker 1: is it like after your eyes got so big?

879
00:47:13,239 --> 00:47:18,360
Speaker 2: Yeah, So like short films, which I don't typically produce

880
00:47:18,400 --> 00:47:21,719
Speaker 2: anymore because my rate is just to my rate is

881
00:47:21,800 --> 00:47:26,520
Speaker 2: usually like half the budget of whatever the short film is, okay,

882
00:47:26,560 --> 00:47:28,400
Speaker 2: and so I just can't have any.

883
00:47:28,960 --> 00:47:31,880
Speaker 1: As I have a project as a producer, You're like,

884
00:47:32,080 --> 00:47:34,040
Speaker 1: here's how much it would cost for this project for

885
00:47:34,080 --> 00:47:34,520
Speaker 1: me to be.

886
00:47:35,960 --> 00:47:39,120
Speaker 2: So Yeah, what I've how I've like structured everything now

887
00:47:39,239 --> 00:47:41,879
Speaker 2: is like I become one as a producer or a

888
00:47:41,880 --> 00:47:45,840
Speaker 2: co producer or an associate producer or a consulting producer,

889
00:47:45,880 --> 00:47:48,719
Speaker 2: and we can do different rates depending on that. If

890
00:47:48,760 --> 00:47:50,880
Speaker 2: I'm coming on as like a big producer, I already

891
00:47:50,960 --> 00:47:56,480
Speaker 2: know that, like sometimes my fee can be deferred, it'll

892
00:47:56,480 --> 00:47:58,640
Speaker 2: be wrapped up and like if we sell the film

893
00:47:58,760 --> 00:48:01,960
Speaker 2: or like I can get equity your back end like

894
00:48:02,080 --> 00:48:07,280
Speaker 2: points on the back end. I but but going forward,

895
00:48:07,280 --> 00:48:09,879
Speaker 2: I will I'll have a fee that I want to get.

896
00:48:09,920 --> 00:48:11,800
Speaker 2: I know, I want to get paid this much upfront,

897
00:48:12,200 --> 00:48:15,399
Speaker 2: and then I'll have fun or money that I will

898
00:48:15,440 --> 00:48:18,000
Speaker 2: want on the on the back end as well as

899
00:48:18,080 --> 00:48:21,200
Speaker 2: part of like ownership of the film. So when it

900
00:48:21,320 --> 00:48:24,680
Speaker 2: sells and when it's streamed, I'll continue to get paid

901
00:48:24,920 --> 00:48:27,359
Speaker 2: on a project that I've worked on for years or

902
00:48:27,680 --> 00:48:30,839
Speaker 2: I'm still working on even when it's it sells. That's

903
00:48:30,880 --> 00:48:35,520
Speaker 2: the goal, right, But I have not had that opportunity

904
00:48:35,560 --> 00:48:40,360
Speaker 2: necessarily yet. Like Colorbook, for example, we are in the

905
00:48:40,360 --> 00:48:44,000
Speaker 2: process of trying to sell that. So if and let

906
00:48:44,080 --> 00:48:47,160
Speaker 2: me just say when it sells, because it is, you know,

907
00:48:47,320 --> 00:48:49,879
Speaker 2: that's when like I deferred a lot of my rate,

908
00:48:50,239 --> 00:48:53,160
Speaker 2: which I will not do again, but I deferred a

909
00:48:53,160 --> 00:48:57,120
Speaker 2: lot of my rate. And so once our investors get

910
00:48:57,160 --> 00:49:01,000
Speaker 2: paid back, then everyone who has deferred pay gets to

911
00:49:01,000 --> 00:49:05,160
Speaker 2: paid back, and then the waterfall begins of back end

912
00:49:05,320 --> 00:49:07,400
Speaker 2: of like depending on how many points you have. If

913
00:49:07,440 --> 00:49:11,000
Speaker 2: you have one percentage point of the producer's pool, it

914
00:49:11,040 --> 00:49:14,840
Speaker 2: gets really heady, but you get a percentage of whatever

915
00:49:14,880 --> 00:49:18,319
Speaker 2: you own of the film as the film continues to

916
00:49:18,320 --> 00:49:21,759
Speaker 2: make money over time. And then yeah, I do a

917
00:49:21,760 --> 00:49:24,120
Speaker 2: lot of consulting though too, Like I'll come on and

918
00:49:24,560 --> 00:49:26,800
Speaker 2: for like a thousand dollars if they have a budget

919
00:49:26,840 --> 00:49:29,960
Speaker 2: of twenty five thousand dollars, and I'll be there to consult.

920
00:49:29,960 --> 00:49:31,319
Speaker 2: That doesn't mean I'm going to be on set every

921
00:49:31,360 --> 00:49:33,920
Speaker 2: day or at all, but I'll be consulting and helping

922
00:49:33,920 --> 00:49:36,960
Speaker 2: them with their budget or doing story or script notes

923
00:49:37,120 --> 00:49:40,359
Speaker 2: or whatever they might need. Or I'll do an hourly rate,

924
00:49:40,440 --> 00:49:42,839
Speaker 2: or I do a page count rate if they want

925
00:49:42,840 --> 00:49:44,839
Speaker 2: me to focus more on their script and do like

926
00:49:45,239 --> 00:49:49,000
Speaker 2: intense script notes. So they have a lot of different

927
00:49:49,040 --> 00:49:53,480
Speaker 2: ways I can. I can make it work for filmmakers.

928
00:49:53,680 --> 00:49:56,759
Speaker 1: I'm curious about you know, over those four years, obviously

929
00:49:56,800 --> 00:49:58,960
Speaker 1: Color Book beautiful film, by the way, I had the

930
00:49:58,960 --> 00:49:59,680
Speaker 1: opportunity to.

931
00:49:59,680 --> 00:50:02,880
Speaker 2: See that much premiere Mandy came to the world premiere.

932
00:50:03,120 --> 00:50:08,600
Speaker 1: Yes, yeah, it's such a gorgeous film. Father Son Story

933
00:50:08,600 --> 00:50:11,600
Speaker 1: in Atlanta Story. It was very like talk about Marta

934
00:50:11,640 --> 00:50:14,799
Speaker 1: and the filming that you did there. And you're with

935
00:50:14,920 --> 00:50:17,160
Speaker 1: these films for so long, like getting a little view

936
00:50:17,160 --> 00:50:19,319
Speaker 1: into what you've done, and then what my brother who's

937
00:50:19,320 --> 00:50:20,920
Speaker 1: been on the show has done, like he's in the

938
00:50:20,920 --> 00:50:23,520
Speaker 1: film scene as well, and you just you make these

939
00:50:23,680 --> 00:50:27,000
Speaker 1: projects and then you are like on the road showing

940
00:50:27,080 --> 00:50:30,399
Speaker 1: up at festivals all over the country if you're lucky, right,

941
00:50:30,440 --> 00:50:32,200
Speaker 1: but then you're paying your own way most.

942
00:50:32,000 --> 00:50:35,560
Speaker 2: Of the time. Day, why are we doing that? I

943
00:50:35,560 --> 00:50:36,359
Speaker 2: don't know, you.

944
00:50:36,280 --> 00:50:37,600
Speaker 1: Know, because if I get asked to go to a

945
00:50:37,680 --> 00:50:38,879
Speaker 1: conference to talk about doing.

946
00:50:38,880 --> 00:50:40,080
Speaker 2: You're getting paid to do it.

947
00:50:40,360 --> 00:50:42,560
Speaker 1: Yeah, you know, for the most part, when you get

948
00:50:42,560 --> 00:50:45,239
Speaker 1: to a certain level, right and yeah, but y'all have

949
00:50:45,400 --> 00:50:47,640
Speaker 1: it's such a love of the craft right to do that.

950
00:50:47,680 --> 00:50:52,359
Speaker 1: But it's also a huge investment of time and money. Yes,

951
00:50:54,280 --> 00:50:57,560
Speaker 1: And at the same time, you're having to make ends

952
00:50:57,600 --> 00:50:59,560
Speaker 1: meet somehow, So can you talk about some of the

953
00:51:00,120 --> 00:51:02,759
Speaker 1: like the bridge opportunities bridge jobs you've had if you've

954
00:51:02,800 --> 00:51:06,200
Speaker 1: been just like cobbling together different you know, contract or

955
00:51:06,239 --> 00:51:07,799
Speaker 1: part time work, or have you gone back to full

956
00:51:07,840 --> 00:51:11,320
Speaker 1: time to make those ends meet while pursuing the creative passions.

957
00:51:11,440 --> 00:51:15,319
Speaker 2: Yeah, I'd say the past four years, Like the first

958
00:51:15,360 --> 00:51:18,520
Speaker 2: year I left Delois, I had some savings. It like

959
00:51:18,840 --> 00:51:22,360
Speaker 2: really helped sustain the beginning of me trying to build

960
00:51:22,880 --> 00:51:27,920
Speaker 2: a production company. And I actually was surprisingly getting a

961
00:51:27,920 --> 00:51:29,840
Speaker 2: lot of contract work. Like I did some work for

962
00:51:29,960 --> 00:51:33,560
Speaker 2: Rolling Stone, which is really cool. I got to produce

963
00:51:33,600 --> 00:51:36,680
Speaker 2: some like the Musicians on Musicians segment with Big Boy,

964
00:51:37,360 --> 00:51:40,840
Speaker 2: and I've worked with Flomilly and lot Lotto and like,

965
00:51:41,239 --> 00:51:43,319
Speaker 2: and I did some short doc work that I got

966
00:51:43,719 --> 00:51:47,359
Speaker 2: paid decently on and I worked with this company called

967
00:51:47,360 --> 00:51:49,200
Speaker 2: Straight to Tel in Atlanta that had me like on

968
00:51:49,280 --> 00:51:56,040
Speaker 2: retainer making COVID uh like we were demnking de monking

969
00:51:56,120 --> 00:52:00,920
Speaker 2: debunking COVID myths about about the vaccine and so like

970
00:52:01,080 --> 00:52:03,440
Speaker 2: I was on retainer with them, like doing lots of

971
00:52:03,480 --> 00:52:06,160
Speaker 2: different projects. I got to make a short film about

972
00:52:07,800 --> 00:52:10,240
Speaker 2: black women in fibroids that I also was on retainer

973
00:52:10,280 --> 00:52:12,480
Speaker 2: on with this company. Like so I was. I was

974
00:52:12,520 --> 00:52:15,759
Speaker 2: steadily working, I'd say, like the first two years, and

975
00:52:15,800 --> 00:52:18,359
Speaker 2: then once I took on color Book, I had to

976
00:52:18,360 --> 00:52:21,319
Speaker 2: stop everything because I like it took up one hundred

977
00:52:21,360 --> 00:52:23,440
Speaker 2: percent of my time and I knew that I was

978
00:52:23,440 --> 00:52:26,200
Speaker 2: not going to make any money for that like year.

979
00:52:26,120 --> 00:52:30,040
Speaker 1: Because you had deferred your pay right, which we said

980
00:52:30,040 --> 00:52:30,719
Speaker 1: we won't do again.

981
00:52:30,760 --> 00:52:32,560
Speaker 2: Now we won't do again, and it won look at

982
00:52:32,600 --> 00:52:32,920
Speaker 2: me when you.

983
00:52:33,040 --> 00:52:35,200
Speaker 1: Say, I have been exactly where you are.

984
00:52:35,200 --> 00:52:37,160
Speaker 2: But yeah, yeah, I will not do again. I would

985
00:52:37,160 --> 00:52:37,640
Speaker 2: not do again.

986
00:52:37,800 --> 00:52:40,680
Speaker 1: It's like writing my book, because you get a book advanced,

987
00:52:40,680 --> 00:52:42,280
Speaker 1: but you don't get that money until you do the book,

988
00:52:42,640 --> 00:52:44,120
Speaker 1: and it takes a lot of time to do the book.

989
00:52:44,160 --> 00:52:46,160
Speaker 2: I just saw that and energy, So.

990
00:52:46,120 --> 00:52:48,280
Speaker 1: You got to let shit go that makes you money

991
00:52:48,360 --> 00:52:50,080
Speaker 1: to do the thing that I'll make you money in

992
00:52:50,120 --> 00:52:52,239
Speaker 1: the future. And in the meantime you're like, but then if.

993
00:52:52,160 --> 00:52:54,279
Speaker 2: I'm guaranteed with film, because like we haven't sold the

994
00:52:54,280 --> 00:52:55,600
Speaker 2: film and it's been almost three years, you know what

995
00:52:55,640 --> 00:52:59,480
Speaker 2: I mean. So yeah, and then even if you sell it,

996
00:52:59,520 --> 00:53:00,920
Speaker 2: you have to sell it for starting out so that

997
00:53:00,960 --> 00:53:03,000
Speaker 2: you even continue to have to pay your investors back.

998
00:53:03,040 --> 00:53:03,479
Speaker 2: So like.

999
00:53:04,880 --> 00:53:07,439
Speaker 1: You know, at these streamers out there now, you would

1000
00:53:07,480 --> 00:53:10,080
Speaker 1: think that there'd be even more opportunity to sell a

1001
00:53:10,080 --> 00:53:12,480
Speaker 1: project like that. Can you talk about like what is

1002
00:53:12,520 --> 00:53:14,040
Speaker 1: the landscape like right now?

1003
00:53:14,080 --> 00:53:17,799
Speaker 2: It's not good? It's not good. Which is I was

1004
00:53:17,840 --> 00:53:19,880
Speaker 2: gonna say like the first years were good and then

1005
00:53:19,920 --> 00:53:22,320
Speaker 2: I'd say, like this last year and a half to

1006
00:53:22,360 --> 00:53:26,120
Speaker 2: two years has been rough, and I've made If you

1007
00:53:26,160 --> 00:53:31,160
Speaker 2: look at my tax returns, it's awful, like awful. It's

1008
00:53:31,239 --> 00:53:33,600
Speaker 2: crazy to think, like, oh, I was twenty three making

1009
00:53:33,640 --> 00:53:35,919
Speaker 2: this much. I was on my way to making well

1010
00:53:35,960 --> 00:53:38,879
Speaker 2: over six figures at Deloitte, you know, doing the job

1011
00:53:38,920 --> 00:53:40,480
Speaker 2: I hate it, and now I'm like doing what I

1012
00:53:40,560 --> 00:53:45,799
Speaker 2: love and just like you know, got food stamps, all

1013
00:53:45,880 --> 00:53:51,239
Speaker 2: all the things, you know, and so It's been hard because, like,

1014
00:53:51,239 --> 00:53:53,480
Speaker 2: like I said, you look at baby Kaya and I'm

1015
00:53:53,520 --> 00:53:55,040
Speaker 2: like looking at my life, and I'm like, I wanted

1016
00:53:55,040 --> 00:53:56,759
Speaker 2: to be married by this time. I wanted to do this,

1017
00:53:56,800 --> 00:53:58,200
Speaker 2: by this time, I want to have kids. I'm like,

1018
00:53:58,480 --> 00:53:59,880
Speaker 2: I can't even I'm trying to figure out to take

1019
00:53:59,880 --> 00:54:02,960
Speaker 2: care my own self. And I'm just now getting back

1020
00:54:03,000 --> 00:54:06,160
Speaker 2: into dating after like not dating for five years and

1021
00:54:06,880 --> 00:54:11,960
Speaker 2: sacrificing that part of my life. And so yeah, I

1022
00:54:13,040 --> 00:54:16,240
Speaker 2: actually had to swallow my pride. I was door dashing

1023
00:54:16,239 --> 00:54:20,080
Speaker 2: and uber doing uber eats for a year and a half,

1024
00:54:20,360 --> 00:54:23,320
Speaker 2: two years, I'd say, like right after we finished Colorbook

1025
00:54:23,360 --> 00:54:25,759
Speaker 2: That's when I started doing that. And then I got

1026
00:54:25,760 --> 00:54:28,359
Speaker 2: in a bad car accident January January of this year.

1027
00:54:28,400 --> 00:54:30,480
Speaker 2: So I do think that was a wake up call

1028
00:54:30,520 --> 00:54:33,440
Speaker 2: for me to stop doordashing because it was not not

1029
00:54:33,480 --> 00:54:36,480
Speaker 2: only was it not glamorous, but it just wasn't safe.

1030
00:54:36,640 --> 00:54:38,759
Speaker 2: And I didn't have a car for five months, so

1031
00:54:39,200 --> 00:54:42,040
Speaker 2: I had to figure something else out. But I recently

1032
00:54:42,600 --> 00:54:47,320
Speaker 2: started working part time at a wellness studio in Buckhead

1033
00:54:47,360 --> 00:54:51,000
Speaker 2: called Pause, and it's actually been really great for me

1034
00:54:51,080 --> 00:54:53,640
Speaker 2: so far. I've only been there for five weeks now,

1035
00:54:53,800 --> 00:54:58,319
Speaker 2: and I felt so free in my interview process for

1036
00:54:58,360 --> 00:55:02,320
Speaker 2: the first time because I was just very honest about everything.

1037
00:55:02,600 --> 00:55:05,840
Speaker 2: They know that I am a filmmaker, creative, They know

1038
00:55:05,920 --> 00:55:08,920
Speaker 2: that I am burnt out for producing, and that I

1039
00:55:09,040 --> 00:55:11,759
Speaker 2: really wanted some part time, like stable work, and I

1040
00:55:11,760 --> 00:55:13,959
Speaker 2: wanted to do it in a field that was going

1041
00:55:14,040 --> 00:55:18,560
Speaker 2: to be beneficial for me and my health because I'm

1042
00:55:18,560 --> 00:55:22,440
Speaker 2: getting older and I'm like dealing with a lot a

1043
00:55:22,440 --> 00:55:24,239
Speaker 2: lot of things that I just didn't know I would

1044
00:55:24,320 --> 00:55:26,120
Speaker 2: have to deal with, Like I have high cholesterol. Now

1045
00:55:26,160 --> 00:55:31,160
Speaker 2: I'm like, what is going on? And then we could

1046
00:55:31,200 --> 00:55:34,279
Speaker 2: talk for like another hour, But dealing with endometriosis and

1047
00:55:34,480 --> 00:55:38,319
Speaker 2: HPV and my short film, my solo directorial debut that's

1048
00:55:38,320 --> 00:55:42,400
Speaker 2: coming out next year, is all about that, and I'm like, Okay,

1049
00:55:42,440 --> 00:55:46,480
Speaker 2: I need to really pour in her. Yes, yes, yes.

1050
00:55:46,800 --> 00:55:48,640
Speaker 1: You wrote are you acting? No?

1051
00:55:48,719 --> 00:55:56,160
Speaker 2: No? No, not acting with pine Apple Cut Pictures. Yes, we

1052
00:55:56,280 --> 00:56:02,479
Speaker 2: hope heard that project. But yeah, I So it's been

1053
00:56:02,920 --> 00:56:05,760
Speaker 2: it's been nice, and I've had to, like like I said,

1054
00:56:05,840 --> 00:56:09,160
Speaker 2: just kind of pull my egos aside and be like

1055
00:56:09,200 --> 00:56:11,520
Speaker 2: you know what, Yeah, I'm gonna Yes, I just got

1056
00:56:11,520 --> 00:56:13,560
Speaker 2: finished with nine episodes of A Reasonable doubt, but that's

1057
00:56:13,600 --> 00:56:16,000
Speaker 2: not going to sustain me for the next year, you know.

1058
00:56:16,280 --> 00:56:19,160
Speaker 2: So I got a and I was already so behind

1059
00:56:19,239 --> 00:56:22,880
Speaker 2: before I booked a reasonable doubt financially, that like reasonable

1060
00:56:22,920 --> 00:56:25,759
Speaker 2: doubt helped me get here, you know, just here. So

1061
00:56:25,840 --> 00:56:29,239
Speaker 2: I'm like, I need to get here so I can

1062
00:56:29,239 --> 00:56:29,800
Speaker 2: get here.

1063
00:56:29,920 --> 00:56:31,840
Speaker 1: Like residuals are happening.

1064
00:56:31,640 --> 00:56:34,759
Speaker 2: No, no, I mean hopefully soon, you know, not soon,

1065
00:56:34,840 --> 00:56:38,040
Speaker 2: but but I don't know. I've heard the streaming model

1066
00:56:38,160 --> 00:56:39,920
Speaker 2: is so different as well, and that there's not a

1067
00:56:39,960 --> 00:56:42,160
Speaker 2: lot of residuals that come from streaming, so who knows,

1068
00:56:42,760 --> 00:56:46,319
Speaker 2: but that won't come for a while. So yeah, I

1069
00:56:46,400 --> 00:56:47,799
Speaker 2: was like, let me, let me, let me do this.

1070
00:56:47,920 --> 00:56:50,439
Speaker 2: But this is still giving me the flexibility to take

1071
00:56:50,440 --> 00:56:52,319
Speaker 2: on other work. I actually just signed on to be

1072
00:56:52,320 --> 00:56:56,080
Speaker 2: a field producer for a documentary called Midwife, and it's

1073
00:56:56,280 --> 00:57:00,799
Speaker 2: about black and brown midwives in Georgia, the country. They

1074
00:57:00,840 --> 00:57:05,200
Speaker 2: actually followed a or I think for the proof of concept,

1075
00:57:05,239 --> 00:57:08,759
Speaker 2: they followed a woman and a midwife in Chicago, but

1076
00:57:08,760 --> 00:57:11,600
Speaker 2: now they're focusing on Georgia for their feature. And this

1077
00:57:11,760 --> 00:57:15,920
Speaker 2: is a director. Her name's Mia Harvey and she she

1078
00:57:16,040 --> 00:57:18,880
Speaker 2: lives in the UK, but she's coming here to Atlanta

1079
00:57:19,040 --> 00:57:20,560
Speaker 2: for nine weeks and I'm going to be her film

1080
00:57:20,600 --> 00:57:23,960
Speaker 2: producer for all nine weeks and so I'm going to

1081
00:57:24,000 --> 00:57:26,360
Speaker 2: be doing that and I get to work my my

1082
00:57:26,440 --> 00:57:27,680
Speaker 2: wellness shop as well.

1083
00:57:27,840 --> 00:57:30,400
Speaker 1: Oh that sounds okay. I'm really happy to I'm really

1084
00:57:30,440 --> 00:57:32,320
Speaker 1: glad to hear that. And thank you for your vulner

1085
00:57:32,400 --> 00:57:35,000
Speaker 1: your candid or vulner. I hate to say vulnerability because

1086
00:57:35,000 --> 00:57:37,520
Speaker 1: that has some connotation of like there's some shame around it,

1087
00:57:37,560 --> 00:57:38,960
Speaker 1: but just thanks for the candor.

1088
00:57:39,000 --> 00:57:41,280
Speaker 2: There was shame. I know that there's easy for years.

1089
00:57:41,320 --> 00:57:43,880
Speaker 2: So that's why I talk about it every interview, because

1090
00:57:43,920 --> 00:57:47,760
Speaker 2: like we don't talk about it enough, and it's something

1091
00:57:48,200 --> 00:57:51,919
Speaker 2: I struggled with for feeling unwanted and disgusting and all

1092
00:57:51,960 --> 00:57:55,240
Speaker 2: the things, and and it's something we should talk about

1093
00:57:55,400 --> 00:57:58,080
Speaker 2: because most women clear it and most people clear.

1094
00:57:58,280 --> 00:58:00,520
Speaker 1: Fellow survivor, yeah, yeah, yeah, but I.

1095
00:58:00,480 --> 00:58:05,480
Speaker 2: And I unfortunately have a severe strain that didn't clear

1096
00:58:05,520 --> 00:58:07,600
Speaker 2: by twenty five and I've you know, had to get

1097
00:58:07,640 --> 00:58:09,640
Speaker 2: a piece of my cervix from move in twenty eighteen

1098
00:58:10,120 --> 00:58:13,360
Speaker 2: because I had pre cancer. So it was like I

1099
00:58:13,400 --> 00:58:15,280
Speaker 2: was like I got to talk about this because I

1100
00:58:15,320 --> 00:58:17,360
Speaker 2: wish I had someone talking to me about it when

1101
00:58:17,400 --> 00:58:23,400
Speaker 2: I was dealing with it and still am. But yeah, yeah,

1102
00:58:23,480 --> 00:58:24,040
Speaker 2: not to get to you.

1103
00:58:24,440 --> 00:58:27,120
Speaker 1: To use your art in a way to tell them, Yeah, and.

1104
00:58:27,080 --> 00:58:29,600
Speaker 2: To use comedy because it's dark comedy. So you're gonna

1105
00:58:29,640 --> 00:58:33,000
Speaker 2: laugh is watch it. You're gonna feel uncomfortable, but you're

1106
00:58:33,000 --> 00:58:36,000
Speaker 2: going to laugh too, because like we got to talk

1107
00:58:36,040 --> 00:58:39,000
Speaker 2: about the pain with you know, a little bit of humor.

1108
00:58:39,400 --> 00:58:41,160
Speaker 1: I mean, I love that you're still drawn to these

1109
00:58:41,160 --> 00:58:45,040
Speaker 1: projects that are very they're very feminist in nature, and

1110
00:58:45,280 --> 00:58:48,640
Speaker 1: they're really are tackling these issues that are central to

1111
00:58:48,680 --> 00:58:51,200
Speaker 1: our lives. I mean, the idea of talking about midwifery

1112
00:58:51,240 --> 00:58:53,960
Speaker 1: at a time with the black maternal health rate mortality

1113
00:58:54,040 --> 00:58:59,080
Speaker 1: rate is so high in Atlanta, Atlanta, I'm like, that's

1114
00:58:59,080 --> 00:59:03,480
Speaker 1: incredible too. Yeah, well reasonable doubt. I know that that

1115
00:59:04,400 --> 00:59:07,840
Speaker 1: was such a high. How does it feel? I mean,

1116
00:59:08,400 --> 00:59:11,560
Speaker 1: with that opportunity, you're on set for those weeks and

1117
00:59:11,600 --> 00:59:15,040
Speaker 1: you're a part of that core community. Do you have

1118
00:59:15,080 --> 00:59:18,040
Speaker 1: any insight or like advice for someone who's got this

1119
00:59:18,120 --> 00:59:21,480
Speaker 1: great opportunity You talked about wanting to be present on

1120
00:59:22,000 --> 00:59:25,560
Speaker 1: making those connections and planting some seeds during that that

1121
00:59:25,600 --> 00:59:28,720
Speaker 1: could potentially bear fruit, you know, down the line, while

1122
00:59:28,760 --> 00:59:29,880
Speaker 1: you have that opportunity.

1123
00:59:30,520 --> 00:59:32,959
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think it's exactly what you said. I think

1124
00:59:33,240 --> 00:59:36,760
Speaker 2: building those connections while you have the opportunity, but not

1125
00:59:37,360 --> 00:59:40,760
Speaker 2: doing it in a cringy like forced way. I was

1126
00:59:40,840 --> 00:59:44,440
Speaker 2: just so excited every day to show up and be

1127
00:59:44,520 --> 00:59:49,240
Speaker 2: there early, and whether I was in my trailer or

1128
00:59:49,280 --> 00:59:51,120
Speaker 2: being on set or in the hair and makeup trailer

1129
00:59:51,240 --> 00:59:55,680
Speaker 2: like I and sometimes I wasn't talking. I was just

1130
00:59:55,760 --> 00:59:59,280
Speaker 2: like letting my light and letting my like positive energy

1131
00:59:59,400 --> 01:00:02,880
Speaker 2: just radiate wherever I was. Whether it was that that

1132
01:00:02,960 --> 01:00:06,400
Speaker 2: was intimately between the my makeup artist Yvonne, who was

1133
01:00:06,480 --> 01:00:09,480
Speaker 2: who was you know, beat my face, or whether that

1134
01:00:09,560 --> 01:00:12,960
Speaker 2: was like with my scene partner. I just tried to

1135
01:00:13,080 --> 01:00:15,200
Speaker 2: like be a light and I didn't. I never was

1136
01:00:15,200 --> 01:00:18,240
Speaker 2: thellowedest person in the room or trying to like ask

1137
01:00:18,320 --> 01:00:21,040
Speaker 2: the director of a million questions. But I showed up and

1138
01:00:21,080 --> 01:00:23,280
Speaker 2: I made sure that I knew my lines and I

1139
01:00:23,320 --> 01:00:26,040
Speaker 2: had done my character work, so that was never an issue.

1140
01:00:26,200 --> 01:00:28,880
Speaker 2: That's the first thing, like come up and show up

1141
01:00:28,920 --> 01:00:31,720
Speaker 2: for your job and be prepared for your job, because

1142
01:00:31,840 --> 01:00:35,680
Speaker 2: I have seen bad things happened when you Then that

1143
01:00:35,720 --> 01:00:40,919
Speaker 2: doesn't happen with other people. But if you start there

1144
01:00:41,560 --> 01:00:44,320
Speaker 2: and just I think that allows you to be present

1145
01:00:44,360 --> 01:00:46,800
Speaker 2: because the work is already done. You're just there soaking

1146
01:00:46,920 --> 01:00:50,720
Speaker 2: up people and like making genuine connections with folks around you.

1147
01:00:50,760 --> 01:00:55,320
Speaker 2: And me getting to like watch Kyle Berry act or

1148
01:00:55,400 --> 01:00:59,200
Speaker 2: Brandy Evans act, who I had had the privilege of

1149
01:00:59,320 --> 01:01:05,280
Speaker 2: casting and color a book. Those opportunities were just beautiful

1150
01:01:05,960 --> 01:01:09,160
Speaker 2: and and yeah, and I never forced anything. I was

1151
01:01:09,200 --> 01:01:10,800
Speaker 2: just I was just there present.

1152
01:01:11,000 --> 01:01:13,200
Speaker 1: Yeah, and as someone who knew you before, Like I

1153
01:01:13,280 --> 01:01:16,480
Speaker 1: really was able to just to to look at you

1154
01:01:16,520 --> 01:01:19,480
Speaker 1: but forget it was you a little bit. I was like,

1155
01:01:20,320 --> 01:01:22,600
Speaker 1: but she looks so much like you in real life

1156
01:01:22,600 --> 01:01:25,080
Speaker 1: with the glasses and like your natural hair and like

1157
01:01:25,120 --> 01:01:27,640
Speaker 1: gorgeous and stunning. But personality, why is so different?

1158
01:01:27,760 --> 01:01:28,200
Speaker 2: Yeah?

1159
01:01:29,080 --> 01:01:32,480
Speaker 1: And just the nature of like who killed this girl?

1160
01:01:32,640 --> 01:01:34,560
Speaker 1: Who did it? Was it her? Could it be her?

1161
01:01:34,680 --> 01:01:37,000
Speaker 1: Not my baby? Kaya? I don't know?

1162
01:01:37,720 --> 01:01:41,400
Speaker 2: Oh yeah, yeah, Kristin has I had some dark side,

1163
01:01:41,400 --> 01:01:42,919
Speaker 2: but Kristen has way more.

1164
01:01:44,280 --> 01:01:46,880
Speaker 1: What was your biggest like pinch me moment from the set,

1165
01:01:47,200 --> 01:01:49,040
Speaker 1: even before or after during shooting.

1166
01:01:49,200 --> 01:01:51,480
Speaker 2: Oh that's a good question, because I feel like it's

1167
01:01:51,600 --> 01:01:58,880
Speaker 2: so I think it was Amy anniob who has done

1168
01:01:58,880 --> 01:02:01,000
Speaker 2: many episodes of It's Pure and she's the showrunner of

1169
01:02:01,040 --> 01:02:04,000
Speaker 2: Survival of the Thickest. But she directed episode five, which

1170
01:02:04,080 --> 01:02:06,760
Speaker 2: was one of my biggest episodes. It was my first

1171
01:02:06,760 --> 01:02:10,360
Speaker 2: intimate scene I've ever done. But she face timed me

1172
01:02:10,560 --> 01:02:13,600
Speaker 2: the weekend before. Like to have a TV director, as

1173
01:02:14,160 --> 01:02:18,720
Speaker 2: acclaim to accomplishes, she is FaceTime you and I talk

1174
01:02:18,760 --> 01:02:20,760
Speaker 2: to you for like an hour about your scene. And

1175
01:02:20,800 --> 01:02:22,280
Speaker 2: I was in LA for my birthday, so I was

1176
01:02:22,280 --> 01:02:26,400
Speaker 2: already on a high, but she facetiming. I got to

1177
01:02:26,440 --> 01:02:28,040
Speaker 2: talk to her and she helped me, of course, like

1178
01:02:28,080 --> 01:02:30,040
Speaker 2: prepare for my intimate scene and just wanted to get

1179
01:02:30,040 --> 01:02:32,200
Speaker 2: to know me and we got to talk and build

1180
01:02:32,240 --> 01:02:35,000
Speaker 2: the scene together. I told her like, hey, I'm a

1181
01:02:35,080 --> 01:02:38,080
Speaker 2: little like not concerned, but like when we kiss our

1182
01:02:38,120 --> 01:02:41,640
Speaker 2: glasses hitting each other because Tim also wears the glasses,

1183
01:02:41,720 --> 01:02:43,400
Speaker 2: and I was like, I was thinking, maybe we used

1184
01:02:43,440 --> 01:02:47,000
Speaker 2: that in our you know, like can we actually lean

1185
01:02:47,000 --> 01:02:49,320
Speaker 2: into that awkwardness and she was like, yes, yes, get yes,

1186
01:02:49,360 --> 01:02:51,080
Speaker 2: we can try that. Let's do it, and we did

1187
01:02:51,120 --> 01:02:53,600
Speaker 2: that and they kept it in the scene. And so

1188
01:02:53,960 --> 01:02:56,480
Speaker 2: I think like getting to the place where a director

1189
01:02:56,640 --> 01:02:59,200
Speaker 2: is facetiming you and the director of a show that,

1190
01:02:59,320 --> 01:03:02,960
Speaker 2: like you are such a huge fan of and have done.

1191
01:03:03,080 --> 01:03:06,919
Speaker 2: She's done so much work on Insecure and and helped

1192
01:03:06,960 --> 01:03:08,920
Speaker 2: really build that show, and now she's show run her

1193
01:03:08,960 --> 01:03:12,920
Speaker 2: up Survival of the Thickest. I'm just like, I yeah,

1194
01:03:13,280 --> 01:03:15,640
Speaker 2: just that was a pinch me moment. I'm like, oh,

1195
01:03:15,680 --> 01:03:17,840
Speaker 2: I'm really in this show. I'm really a core character.

1196
01:03:17,880 --> 01:03:19,640
Speaker 2: And that was right in the middle of the season,

1197
01:03:19,720 --> 01:03:21,920
Speaker 2: so I felt like I had put in enough work

1198
01:03:22,000 --> 01:03:24,560
Speaker 2: to where I felt like they were not necessarily like

1199
01:03:24,600 --> 01:03:28,760
Speaker 2: writing more for me, but every the writer's room that

1200
01:03:28,840 --> 01:03:30,720
Speaker 2: they knew who I was by that time, and they

1201
01:03:31,000 --> 01:03:32,560
Speaker 2: and who knows, I don't know if they did or not.

1202
01:03:33,760 --> 01:03:37,000
Speaker 2: My boyfriend thinks they did, but I could tell they

1203
01:03:37,000 --> 01:03:40,000
Speaker 2: were really like leaning into my strengths and and and

1204
01:03:40,120 --> 01:03:44,760
Speaker 2: just building this really amazing world for Kristen to play.

1205
01:03:44,480 --> 01:03:50,200
Speaker 1: In such a satisfying arc, like such a satisfying now, Like,

1206
01:03:51,080 --> 01:03:53,480
Speaker 1: I just I'm just so excited for you because I

1207
01:03:53,520 --> 01:03:56,280
Speaker 1: love stories, I love film, I love TV, I love books,

1208
01:03:56,360 --> 01:03:58,040
Speaker 1: all of it. And when you have a character that

1209
01:03:58,120 --> 01:04:01,960
Speaker 1: gets that like big moment and a big twist and

1210
01:04:02,000 --> 01:04:05,680
Speaker 1: a big monologue at the end, and that it was

1211
01:04:05,720 --> 01:04:09,160
Speaker 1: your you know, first acting job and four years. Just

1212
01:04:09,920 --> 01:04:14,479
Speaker 1: huge congrats, and you know, and I just feel, even

1213
01:04:14,480 --> 01:04:16,480
Speaker 1: from this conversation and just from knowing you that I

1214
01:04:16,520 --> 01:04:18,520
Speaker 1: know that you planted so many seeds that are going

1215
01:04:18,560 --> 01:04:23,640
Speaker 1: to bloom from that experience and that and I'm just, yeah,

1216
01:04:23,680 --> 01:04:26,160
Speaker 1: I'm genuinely happy for you too that you found this

1217
01:04:26,240 --> 01:04:29,280
Speaker 1: balance with this role with pause. I can't wait to

1218
01:04:29,280 --> 01:04:33,280
Speaker 1: come check out still little self care baby, because you're

1219
01:04:33,280 --> 01:04:36,200
Speaker 1: getting to do some self care that you've been working

1220
01:04:36,240 --> 01:04:38,160
Speaker 1: so hard for so long. Just what you said, I

1221
01:04:38,160 --> 01:04:41,880
Speaker 1: really identify with your workaholic nature in college and how

1222
01:04:41,880 --> 01:04:44,400
Speaker 1: that served you and how it served you in the

1223
01:04:44,440 --> 01:04:47,640
Speaker 1: corporate and building your early career. And then I really

1224
01:04:47,680 --> 01:04:51,000
Speaker 1: truly think our thirties are like for unlearning some of

1225
01:04:51,000 --> 01:04:55,920
Speaker 1: the strategies that made us successful because they're not sustainable

1226
01:04:56,040 --> 01:05:00,480
Speaker 1: at all. And it's like, oh, so, how do we

1227
01:05:00,600 --> 01:05:03,240
Speaker 1: untangle these how do we un you know, pull apart

1228
01:05:03,280 --> 01:05:05,560
Speaker 1: these threads this like not that we've created with all

1229
01:05:05,600 --> 01:05:08,560
Speaker 1: these habits and replace them with new healthier ones.

1230
01:05:09,160 --> 01:05:10,840
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, still.

1231
01:05:10,640 --> 01:05:13,160
Speaker 1: Be successful, but not in a toxic way that we're

1232
01:05:13,200 --> 01:05:16,600
Speaker 1: gonna like be really second ill and burnt.

1233
01:05:16,320 --> 01:05:21,360
Speaker 2: Out you know, so, yeah, it's so important. Well, I can't.

1234
01:05:21,400 --> 01:05:25,120
Speaker 1: I cannot thank you enough for for sharing yourself with

1235
01:05:25,240 --> 01:05:27,760
Speaker 1: us at Brown Ambition and for sharing your story. I

1236
01:05:27,840 --> 01:05:30,080
Speaker 1: meant it when I said your Brown Ambition personified. I mean,

1237
01:05:30,160 --> 01:05:33,840
Speaker 1: look at this girl, come on now, this story?

1238
01:05:34,160 --> 01:05:37,880
Speaker 2: Thank you? Andy? Well? So are you? So? I'm inspired

1239
01:05:37,920 --> 01:05:40,280
Speaker 2: by you always and how you do it all and

1240
01:05:40,320 --> 01:05:44,360
Speaker 2: a mother as well. I'm just like girl goals because

1241
01:05:44,440 --> 01:05:48,560
Speaker 2: I'm not there yet, but you truly do it all.

1242
01:05:49,400 --> 01:05:51,560
Speaker 1: You just let me know I want to talk about that. Okay,

1243
01:05:51,640 --> 01:05:53,520
Speaker 1: how will you interview me about that? I'll let you

1244
01:05:53,520 --> 01:05:57,800
Speaker 1: know the real real line. What can well, how can

1245
01:05:57,840 --> 01:05:59,480
Speaker 1: be a fan show up for you? Right now? We

1246
01:05:59,520 --> 01:06:03,120
Speaker 1: all have to go stream Reasonable Doubt on Hulu and

1247
01:06:03,440 --> 01:06:05,320
Speaker 1: you know, leave those reviews and talk about it and

1248
01:06:05,360 --> 01:06:07,320
Speaker 1: share the show. But how else can we support any

1249
01:06:07,360 --> 01:06:09,040
Speaker 1: projects we can support? Check out?

1250
01:06:09,360 --> 01:06:13,360
Speaker 2: Yeah. I don't have an announcement of where Her Pretty Vagina

1251
01:06:13,440 --> 01:06:16,400
Speaker 2: is going to premiere yet, but I would love if

1252
01:06:16,440 --> 01:06:20,400
Speaker 2: you all follow me at kaya Kiah Dot Alexandria A

1253
01:06:20,600 --> 01:06:22,840
Speaker 2: l e x A and d r i A and

1254
01:06:22,920 --> 01:06:26,920
Speaker 2: my production company at kaya Can Productions, where I will

1255
01:06:26,960 --> 01:06:29,680
Speaker 2: be posting all things about her pretty vaginant. In twenty

1256
01:06:29,720 --> 01:06:33,080
Speaker 2: twenty six, that is going to be my solo directorial debut,

1257
01:06:33,200 --> 01:06:35,960
Speaker 2: so all my energy is going to be going into that.

1258
01:06:36,080 --> 01:06:39,120
Speaker 2: Next year, I'll be flooding your timelines with all things

1259
01:06:39,120 --> 01:06:44,840
Speaker 2: women's health, INDO, fibroids, cyst HPV, all of the I

1260
01:06:45,000 --> 01:06:47,680
Speaker 2: love it. I love that, and we're all gonna love it.

1261
01:06:47,880 --> 01:06:51,400
Speaker 2: So yeah, I would love if you all like support

1262
01:06:51,680 --> 01:06:55,560
Speaker 2: that project. Sar cast and who have been waiting like anxiously,

1263
01:06:55,720 --> 01:06:59,200
Speaker 2: and I'm really really proud of that project. And I'm

1264
01:06:59,200 --> 01:07:01,560
Speaker 2: doing a lot of low learning like I did with

1265
01:07:01,640 --> 01:07:04,240
Speaker 2: acting when it comes to festivals and not getting selected

1266
01:07:04,280 --> 01:07:08,040
Speaker 2: for Sunday and or south By Southwest or you know,

1267
01:07:08,160 --> 01:07:10,000
Speaker 2: and just doing a lot of them learning with that

1268
01:07:10,560 --> 01:07:13,800
Speaker 2: on the filmmaking side of things now. But I'm so

1269
01:07:13,880 --> 01:07:15,920
Speaker 2: excited to wherever it's going to land, and I know

1270
01:07:16,000 --> 01:07:17,560
Speaker 2: our premiere is going to be beautiful.

1271
01:07:17,760 --> 01:07:21,320
Speaker 1: So yeah, okay, we're going to put your social handles

1272
01:07:21,360 --> 01:07:23,360
Speaker 1: in the show notes. And I mean, if there's one

1273
01:07:23,360 --> 01:07:25,240
Speaker 1: thing I've learned, it's like show up to those film

1274
01:07:25,240 --> 01:07:28,920
Speaker 1: festivals and like go support your local into indie artists,

1275
01:07:28,960 --> 01:07:31,440
Speaker 1: because if you don't show up to those festivals. You

1276
01:07:31,520 --> 01:07:35,520
Speaker 1: really can't see that outside of those festivals, which is

1277
01:07:35,600 --> 01:07:38,160
Speaker 1: very hard to so many of these projects right, they

1278
01:07:38,200 --> 01:07:40,960
Speaker 1: don't get bought and distributed. So it's been a pleasure

1279
01:07:41,040 --> 01:07:43,880
Speaker 1: to for me to feel like being a little seeing

1280
01:07:43,880 --> 01:07:46,280
Speaker 1: a little bit of window into that space has made

1281
01:07:46,360 --> 01:07:49,880
Speaker 1: me want to go support these like local festivals a

1282
01:07:49,920 --> 01:07:52,720
Speaker 1: lot more. And all right, so best of luck with

1283
01:07:52,760 --> 01:07:54,680
Speaker 1: her Pretty Vagina. That's the short film coming out in

1284
01:07:54,680 --> 01:07:57,200
Speaker 1: twenty twenty six. We're going to go follow Kaya on

1285
01:07:57,280 --> 01:07:59,160
Speaker 1: all social channels. I hope to have you back on

1286
01:07:59,200 --> 01:08:02,480
Speaker 1: the show someday yet. And just thank you so much,

1287
01:08:03,440 --> 01:08:05,680
Speaker 1: okayba Fam, thank you so much for tuning in. I

1288
01:08:05,720 --> 01:08:14,280
Speaker 1: will see y'all next time. Bye bye. And before I go,

1289
01:08:14,360 --> 01:08:16,400
Speaker 1: Ba Fam, I want to shout out the team that

1290
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Speaker 1: helps make Brown Ambition possible. Huge thanks to my fam

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Speaker 1: at iHeartRadio, Katrina Norvel and Jenna Cagel, my worker Bees,

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Speaker 1: behind the scenes, booking assistant Brittany Laier and virtual assistant

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Speaker 1: Cameron McNair who keep organized, and of course my editor

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Speaker 1: Courtney Dean. Thank y'all so much for supporting the show.

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Speaker 1: If you love Brown Ambition, share it with a friend.

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Speaker 1: Tag us on social and don't forget to leave a

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Speaker 1: comment or review until next time. By ba Fam