WEBVTT - Ep 365: Football, Films, and Finances ft. Matthew Cherry 0:00:06.200 --> 0:00:09.160 Hey, wait, how is it I always forget? Oh okay, 0:00:09.440 --> 0:00:16.960 I got it. Hey, Hey, hey, hey, hey we're back. 0:00:17.360 --> 0:00:25.360 We're black. We're extra black today, We're brown. Ambition, ambition, ambition, ambition, ambition. 0:00:25.600 --> 0:00:28.400 I'm so excited today because we got some extra blackness 0:00:28.400 --> 0:00:30.040 in the stew. You know, I like to say the 0:00:30.040 --> 0:00:34.680 stew because it makes me feel young, and so we 0:00:34.720 --> 0:00:37.120 cannot wait to introduce you to I guess today, but 0:00:37.120 --> 0:00:38.960 I'm gonna let manager take over first of all, Mandy, 0:00:39.000 --> 0:00:40.600 how are you girl? Because your girls are popping? 0:00:40.800 --> 0:00:41.199 Are they? 0:00:41.280 --> 0:00:41.520 Oh? 0:00:41.520 --> 0:00:43.080 Thank you? You know I how to get it together. 0:00:43.360 --> 0:00:45.000 I just woke up from my now twenty minutes ago. 0:00:45.040 --> 0:00:47.879 I'm not even gonna try to front mister Cherry. I 0:00:47.920 --> 0:00:50.160 am very pregnant and I take a lot of nabs now, 0:00:50.200 --> 0:00:54.680 but I'm so so excited to have you with us today. 0:00:54.840 --> 0:00:58.120 Ba fam. This is an opportunity that we have been 0:00:58.120 --> 0:01:00.440 waiting for for a while. Not gonna lie. As soon 0:01:00.480 --> 0:01:03.480 as we started partnering with Dove back in February and 0:01:03.560 --> 0:01:06.040 I saw that this gentleman was a part of the 0:01:06.200 --> 0:01:11.000 Dove hair Care Influencer hair Care Partnership group, I was like, 0:01:11.120 --> 0:01:14.440 who can we get Matthew Cherry on the podcast. I mean, like, 0:01:14.480 --> 0:01:17.399 what's he up to? What's his contract? Say? Does he 0:01:17.480 --> 0:01:22.039 need to do? Like some podcast episodes. I'm so excited 0:01:22.040 --> 0:01:24.400 to have Matthew here. So if y'all are not familiar 0:01:24.440 --> 0:01:28.200 with Matthew Cherry, let me remind y'all this man used 0:01:28.240 --> 0:01:30.760 to be an NFL player. Don't ask me what position. 0:01:30.800 --> 0:01:32.880 I'm sure it was very impressive. But for several years 0:01:32.880 --> 0:01:37.119 you were in the NFL and then pivoted into Hollywood. Right, 0:01:37.200 --> 0:01:40.440 So a little like Kobe Bryant, Flavor here pivoted into Hollywood, 0:01:40.480 --> 0:01:43.560 worked as a production assistant, so brought him all the 0:01:43.560 --> 0:01:46.360 way back. That's basically like being an intern, right, I mean, 0:01:46.400 --> 0:01:48.880 you really like paid your dues in the early days. 0:01:48.960 --> 0:01:49.120 Right. 0:01:49.400 --> 0:01:52.360 And then less than a decade later, was on stage 0:01:52.440 --> 0:01:56.360 at the Oscars accepting an award for his beautiful, beautiful 0:01:56.400 --> 0:01:59.920 film called Hair Love, which if you haven't seen it 0:02:00.280 --> 0:02:03.040 having got the book, don't follow him on insta been 0:02:03.040 --> 0:02:05.480 living under a hole. You have to have to check 0:02:05.520 --> 0:02:09.240 it out. It is so sweet. It really pictures a 0:02:09.320 --> 0:02:13.200 father and his daughter, you know, experiencing what it's like 0:02:13.280 --> 0:02:16.920 to embrace her hair texture and to make her feel 0:02:16.919 --> 0:02:20.400 beautiful and it was just lovely. But since then, Matthew 0:02:20.440 --> 0:02:23.040 has been on a tear. I mean, you've directed so 0:02:23.120 --> 0:02:26.359 many episodes of my favorite shows on TV. I'm Playing It, 0:02:26.440 --> 0:02:31.160 Cool Abbot, Elementary, Blackish, The Wonder Years, plus the reboot 0:02:31.160 --> 0:02:34.040 of bel Air Saved by the Bell and Moore. You 0:02:34.120 --> 0:02:37.440 have been an Academy Sorry, You've been an executive producer 0:02:37.600 --> 0:02:41.359 for the film Black Clansman with Spike Lee, and you've 0:02:41.400 --> 0:02:44.480 also worked as an executive at Jordan Peele's production company, 0:02:44.720 --> 0:02:48.200 Monkey Pop Productions. So we are so so excited to 0:02:48.240 --> 0:02:50.280 have you at the on the show. Matthew Cherry, thank 0:02:50.320 --> 0:02:51.480 you so much for joining us. 0:02:51.840 --> 0:02:54.200 No, thanks for having me excited to talk to you. 0:02:54.360 --> 0:02:55.920 I just wanted to say, like, everything he's done has 0:02:55.960 --> 0:02:58.240 been super black, which I love. I'm like, damn, we 0:02:58.360 --> 0:03:00.639 thought we were black over here. Everything is black black, 0:03:00.720 --> 0:03:02.320 the black black, black out of black black black. 0:03:02.440 --> 0:03:04.959 So go ahead skip the part where he directed Michelle 0:03:04.960 --> 0:03:08.200 Williams one of her first music videos right when she 0:03:08.240 --> 0:03:08.799 went solo. 0:03:09.480 --> 0:03:13.240 It was it was a little later on, but yeah, 0:03:13.360 --> 0:03:16.040 I did say yes for her being Kelly. 0:03:16.360 --> 0:03:21.000 Yes, And you've worked with Jasmine Sullivan, Chloe cally Leyla Hathaway. Yeah, 0:03:21.360 --> 0:03:24.519 so everything not bad, But the career pivot from the 0:03:24.639 --> 0:03:28.280 NFL into entertainment was that planned? Did you know you 0:03:28.320 --> 0:03:29.480 wanted to be a filmmaker. 0:03:30.360 --> 0:03:34.280 Yeah, you know, I am. It's interesting like growing up 0:03:36.000 --> 0:03:38.680 having the dream of trying to play professional sports. Like 0:03:38.680 --> 0:03:40.520 a lot of times you will meet a lot of 0:03:40.520 --> 0:03:43.680 guys who that's all they have when you ask them 0:03:43.680 --> 0:03:45.480 what they want to do. I only have a plan a, 0:03:46.160 --> 0:03:47.520 you know, I want to make it to the league. 0:03:47.880 --> 0:03:50.080 And for me, I don't know. I always had other interests, 0:03:50.120 --> 0:03:53.960 you know. I was always into entertainment. I'm from Chicago, 0:03:54.120 --> 0:03:56.160 so you know, the Midwest, at least back in the day, 0:03:56.720 --> 0:04:00.480 didn't have like this thriving film industry. It kind of 0:04:00.480 --> 0:04:02.360 has now, like a lot of cities now have it, 0:04:02.440 --> 0:04:06.720 like Atlanta and North Carolina, et cetera. And I don't know, 0:04:06.760 --> 0:04:08.480 I just didn't know exactly what it was going to be, 0:04:08.560 --> 0:04:10.360 but I knew I had interest in it, you know. 0:04:10.400 --> 0:04:12.880 I was part of like the radio club in high school. 0:04:13.000 --> 0:04:16.200 I made her a radio TV broadcasts and media production. 0:04:16.320 --> 0:04:19.080 I interned at a lot of radio stations when I 0:04:19.160 --> 0:04:23.080 was in college. So ian z Zak and Cleveland, and 0:04:23.120 --> 0:04:24.200 so I don't know. I thought it was going to 0:04:24.240 --> 0:04:26.159 be a little bit more on the music side or 0:04:26.240 --> 0:04:29.360 the radio side. But then you know, it was lucky 0:04:29.440 --> 0:04:31.400 enough to make it to the league as an underacted 0:04:31.400 --> 0:04:33.799 free agent and just kind of bounced around a lot. 0:04:33.920 --> 0:04:37.080 And I knew really early on in my rookie year, like, 0:04:37.080 --> 0:04:39.680 all right, you know, I may this may not work 0:04:39.720 --> 0:04:41.520 out for me in the same way that works out 0:04:41.560 --> 0:04:44.120 with a lot of people, because you know, it's less 0:04:44.120 --> 0:04:45.960 about ability. A lot of it is just like kind 0:04:46.000 --> 0:04:48.640 of right place, right time. Some of it as politics, 0:04:49.120 --> 0:04:51.640 and you know a lot of guys have incredible ability, 0:04:51.680 --> 0:04:53.320 but for whatever reason, they end up on the wrong 0:04:53.360 --> 0:04:55.440 team and don't have like the ball rolling their quart 0:04:55.480 --> 0:04:57.240 or whatever. So you know, I didn't want to be 0:04:57.279 --> 0:04:59.080 one of those guys that was like ten years and 0:04:59.080 --> 0:05:04.120 I'm like playing you know, some overseas league and you know, 0:05:04.279 --> 0:05:08.040 just making like minimum wage basically still get knocked upside 0:05:08.080 --> 0:05:11.960 the head. And I gave myself like a three year plan. 0:05:12.000 --> 0:05:14.040 I was like, if I can't like officially make it 0:05:14.360 --> 0:05:17.280 within this three years, I'm going to just retire early 0:05:17.320 --> 0:05:19.720 and I'm going to go to either LA or New York. 0:05:19.760 --> 0:05:22.160 And try to figure out this entertainment thing. And I 0:05:22.200 --> 0:05:24.760 was lucky to meet this woman who was a part 0:05:24.800 --> 0:05:27.920 of this nonprofit organization called street Lights and so if 0:05:27.960 --> 0:05:30.200 street Lights their website is street lights dot org and 0:05:30.240 --> 0:05:33.480 they're a nonprofit that helped men and women of color 0:05:33.560 --> 0:05:37.960 get jobs as production assistants, mostly in commercials and music videos, 0:05:37.960 --> 0:05:39.400 and now it's kind of expanded to a lot of 0:05:39.440 --> 0:05:42.600 other things. And that was just like my ticket. I 0:05:42.680 --> 0:05:44.320 knew I'd never been in la before, I didn't know 0:05:44.320 --> 0:05:47.560 anybody there, so I applied and you know, thankfully got in. 0:05:47.680 --> 0:05:50.800 And you know, like anything in this business, like you know, 0:05:50.839 --> 0:05:53.120 you do a good job on one job and then 0:05:53.200 --> 0:05:55.640 you know they'll go off to do other things and 0:05:55.720 --> 0:05:58.039 sometimes they'll bring you along, sometimes they won't, but you know, 0:05:58.080 --> 0:06:00.760 one became two and I was lucky enough. My first 0:06:00.760 --> 0:06:04.120 show I p eight on His Girlfriends with Marv Brockakeel 0:06:04.320 --> 0:06:06.839 on their eighth season, and you know, just seeing like 0:06:06.880 --> 0:06:10.760 Debbie allen See and Marv Brockakeel, you know, I was 0:06:11.960 --> 0:06:14.320 Prentice Penny, who you know was the show runner for 0:06:14.320 --> 0:06:17.200 insic Heure was there. Kenya Barris, you know, was there 0:06:17.360 --> 0:06:20.760 as the junior level writer. Lean Away, Me and lean 0:06:20.800 --> 0:06:22.800 Away were like, she was a writer's assistant. I was 0:06:22.800 --> 0:06:25.440 a PA. So it's just like one of those crazy 0:06:25.440 --> 0:06:27.600 things where just a lot of people kind of were 0:06:27.600 --> 0:06:29.320 in the same place at the same time because there 0:06:29.320 --> 0:06:31.560 were so few black shows at the time. You know, 0:06:31.839 --> 0:06:32.880 went from there and was. 0:06:32.800 --> 0:06:36.839 Able to like really see who is doing what and 0:06:36.960 --> 0:06:39.719 what jobs seemed like they were appealing, and you know, 0:06:40.040 --> 0:06:42.400 I saw you know, Debbie Allens in the director's chair 0:06:42.400 --> 0:06:43.920 and I was like, man, you know, I want to 0:06:44.000 --> 0:06:45.840 learn more about that, and just kind of took a 0:06:45.839 --> 0:06:48.000 little bit more of an interest in it, and you know, 0:06:48.120 --> 0:06:50.320 was able to kind of pivot and do some music 0:06:50.400 --> 0:06:53.000 videos and some short films and you know, here I 0:06:53.000 --> 0:06:53.440 am today. 0:06:53.839 --> 0:06:55.640 Wow, I feel like there needs to be a documentary 0:06:55.640 --> 0:06:58.400 on that final season of Girlfriends and everyone behind the scenes. 0:06:59.160 --> 0:07:02.560 Yes, it feels like it's pretty creaty to me. Karen 0:07:02.800 --> 0:07:05.840 just who was a show r ner star. I mean 0:07:05.839 --> 0:07:08.720 it's like literally like half the industry came off with 0:07:08.800 --> 0:07:09.480 a Girlfriends. 0:07:09.520 --> 0:07:13.520 Like for real, Wow, that's incredible. Like financially, how were 0:07:13.560 --> 0:07:16.000 you doing at that time? Because you're PAA, you come 0:07:16.040 --> 0:07:19.280 from an NFL, you're in LA like you're around all 0:07:19.280 --> 0:07:22.080 these successful people. Was it hard were you feeling like, damn, 0:07:22.160 --> 0:07:23.880 I'm kind of struggling, but I got to look like 0:07:23.920 --> 0:07:24.520 I'm making it. 0:07:24.640 --> 0:07:27.000 That was like low key the story of my life, 0:07:27.080 --> 0:07:30.240 like being in these jobs where like everybody else was 0:07:30.240 --> 0:07:32.880 making crazy money and I wasn't. So it's like being 0:07:33.640 --> 0:07:36.600 adjacent to the flyings but not really being able to 0:07:36.600 --> 0:07:39.560 get it for myself. So, like my rookie year in 0:07:39.560 --> 0:07:41.960 the league, I was on the practice squad and after 0:07:42.080 --> 0:07:44.400 taxes it was like thirty five thousand dollars. It was 0:07:44.400 --> 0:07:46.600 like eighty thousand base salary, but they taxed you at 0:07:46.600 --> 0:07:49.160 the highest rate and you got agent fees, et cetera. 0:07:49.720 --> 0:07:53.520 And you know, it was kind of similar money being 0:07:53.560 --> 0:07:56.000 a PA. Well, you know it's like back then, it's like, 0:07:56.160 --> 0:07:57.680 you know, you're just trying to make it. So you know, 0:07:58.080 --> 0:08:01.240 maybe you have a roommate, you know, your cars, you 0:08:01.240 --> 0:08:03.160 know kind of janky, so you know, you just kind 0:08:03.160 --> 0:08:05.120 of doing what you need to do to survive. But yeah, 0:08:05.120 --> 0:08:07.040 PA's really didn't make a lot of money. I think 0:08:07.080 --> 0:08:09.480 today they still kind of don't. Like, I know, if 0:08:09.480 --> 0:08:11.520 you do a commercial back then, at least you know, 0:08:11.640 --> 0:08:15.000 like two hundred dollars a day. But you know, there 0:08:15.000 --> 0:08:16.680 are ways that you could kind of stretch it out, 0:08:16.720 --> 0:08:19.320 like if you drove the production truck and you were 0:08:19.360 --> 0:08:21.080 able to like pick up the equipment that gives you 0:08:21.080 --> 0:08:22.600 an extra day and then you have to return and 0:08:22.640 --> 0:08:24.960 so you know, they were like little creative ways you 0:08:24.960 --> 0:08:27.960 can kind of hustle around it. But TV was always 0:08:28.040 --> 0:08:30.440 kind of the most consistent, just because like the commercial world, 0:08:30.560 --> 0:08:32.880 you got to like it was just a consistent hustle. 0:08:32.960 --> 0:08:35.400 Some months you may work fifteen days, another month you 0:08:35.440 --> 0:08:38.439 may only work three. So it was like very hustle driven, 0:08:38.480 --> 0:08:40.200 and I didn't really like that side of things, so 0:08:40.480 --> 0:08:42.560 I tried to get on the TV side and it 0:08:42.640 --> 0:08:44.520 was great. You know, like Girlfriends, you make it on 0:08:44.600 --> 0:08:47.360 in like August, and the show will go to like 0:08:47.440 --> 0:08:49.560 March or April, and you know, so it's like a 0:08:49.559 --> 0:08:50.559 pretty consistent gig. 0:08:50.720 --> 0:08:52.480 We need to share that link with anyone who's interested. 0:08:52.559 --> 0:08:53.199 Street Light, you. 0:08:53.120 --> 0:08:55.200 Said, street lights dot orget. 0:08:55.840 --> 0:08:58.080 I love that you went through a nonprofit and it 0:08:58.120 --> 0:08:59.960 wasn't like, yeah, I just meant someone on the bench, 0:09:00.160 --> 0:09:02.720 and you know, as a Hollywood producer, oh. 0:09:02.559 --> 0:09:06.120 No, no, yeah, yeah, some people have that story. I've 0:09:06.120 --> 0:09:08.240 always like taken the back door in a lot of ways, 0:09:08.240 --> 0:09:08.920 I feel like. 0:09:09.400 --> 0:09:12.160 So, you know, the question many asked about how was 0:09:12.200 --> 0:09:17.160 financially then is really poignant for me because I remember 0:09:17.200 --> 0:09:19.680 being broken then not being broke, but having a hard 0:09:19.720 --> 0:09:23.040 time reconciling that I wasn't broken any or like did 0:09:23.080 --> 0:09:25.400 you have that like that transition? How did that feel 0:09:25.400 --> 0:09:28.280 when you actually started to make money? Do you feel 0:09:28.440 --> 0:09:30.720 like financially secure now or are you still kind of 0:09:30.760 --> 0:09:33.040 like like because I'm still suffering from what I call 0:09:33.080 --> 0:09:36.600 post traumatic brokes, Like at any date, the people gonna 0:09:36.600 --> 0:09:39.200 come and get my things, you know, like have you 0:09:39.240 --> 0:09:41.719 suffered from that? And if so, how did you move 0:09:41.760 --> 0:09:43.760 past it? Or you know, how are you managing that now? 0:09:43.800 --> 0:09:47.319 You know? You know, for me, really directing television has 0:09:47.400 --> 0:09:50.880 been like the biggest blessing and it's just ironic because 0:09:50.880 --> 0:09:53.719 I started as a BA, you know, watching directors kind 0:09:53.720 --> 0:09:57.200 of do it, and that has really been I think 0:09:57.320 --> 0:09:59.840 the main thing for me that has kind of allowed 0:09:59.840 --> 0:10:04.400 me to feel financially secure. You know, I think for 0:10:04.520 --> 0:10:06.520 me being around it so much, you know, be that 0:10:06.679 --> 0:10:08.760 being a PA and you know, bring Tracy ls Ross 0:10:08.760 --> 0:10:11.320 from a trailer, you know, to the said or you know, 0:10:11.559 --> 0:10:13.839 like having to park their car or things like that. 0:10:13.880 --> 0:10:15.560 You know, I've always been around it, you know, even 0:10:15.600 --> 0:10:18.360 in the league, Like, man, you know you're pulling that 0:10:18.360 --> 0:10:21.319 parking lot. It's pretty crazy. So and I got like 0:10:21.360 --> 0:10:23.360 the worst car there. So you know, I've always been 0:10:23.400 --> 0:10:27.559 around it. And so I've always like felt like, Okay, 0:10:28.200 --> 0:10:30.400 when this happens, I think I know how I'm gonna move. 0:10:30.559 --> 0:10:34.439 So I don't not necessarily think I had that same 0:10:35.679 --> 0:10:37.800 syndrome that you spoke of, but you know, it is 0:10:37.840 --> 0:10:40.920 a transition. It's just like, you know, taxes is the 0:10:40.920 --> 0:10:44.680 biggest thing, you know, like you know, and what I do. 0:10:45.040 --> 0:10:46.840 You know, a lot of times you just get paid 0:10:46.960 --> 0:10:49.120 whatever the rate is. You just get paid that straight up, 0:10:49.120 --> 0:10:51.000 and they don't take taxes out. So you know, you 0:10:51.080 --> 0:10:53.120 work X amount of jobs, at the end of the year, 0:10:53.160 --> 0:10:55.000 you may end up with like this huge tax bill. 0:10:55.040 --> 0:10:57.720 So you have to be like very smart and strategic 0:10:57.760 --> 0:10:59.520 about like, all right, I'm gonna pay my stuff every 0:10:59.600 --> 0:11:01.120 quarterly just so that you know, at the end of 0:11:01.160 --> 0:11:02.800 the year and you know, I hit with like the 0:11:02.880 --> 0:11:06.120 six figure kind of tax thing or whatever. So it's 0:11:06.160 --> 0:11:07.800 like been things like that that you have to kind 0:11:07.800 --> 0:11:10.720 of be mindful of, you know, getting your LLC set 0:11:10.800 --> 0:11:12.480 up and you know, making sure you have them like 0:11:12.480 --> 0:11:14.679 the right right offs. Yeah, just just things like that 0:11:14.760 --> 0:11:17.720 has been kind of new in that way, and you 0:11:17.760 --> 0:11:19.360 know you have to you go through your growing pains 0:11:19.400 --> 0:11:21.640 with it and kind of figure out what works best 0:11:21.679 --> 0:11:24.719 for you. But yeah, it's just like and the cool thing, 0:11:24.840 --> 0:11:28.040 like with both the league and with film is like 0:11:28.080 --> 0:11:30.040 you have all these creative write offs, you know, like 0:11:30.080 --> 0:11:32.080 I know some of them kind of went away when 0:11:32.160 --> 0:11:35.600 some tax codes changed recently, but like you know, being 0:11:35.600 --> 0:11:38.160 an NFL player, you could buy a TV and buy 0:11:38.640 --> 0:11:40.480 the big entertainment system to be like, look, I need 0:11:40.480 --> 0:11:41.800 this to watch film, and that could be a big 0:11:41.840 --> 0:11:43.880 write off. You know. With film you go to the movies, 0:11:43.920 --> 0:11:47.080 that's a rite off. So it's you can get creative 0:11:47.120 --> 0:11:49.800 with it, but you also have to be really smart because, 0:11:50.000 --> 0:11:52.480 like anything, they're like high piers in their low periods. 0:11:52.520 --> 0:11:54.880 Like right now they're talking about there's going to probably 0:11:54.920 --> 0:11:57.679 be another strike, you know, which is crazy because when 0:11:57.679 --> 0:12:00.079 I first moved to LA. Yeah, when I first go 0:12:00.240 --> 0:12:02.640 to LA, girlfriends went down because of the first writer 0:12:02.760 --> 0:12:05.680 strike that that that was a part of. So you know, 0:12:05.720 --> 0:12:07.800 you got to be just really lean and creative with 0:12:07.840 --> 0:12:09.680 it to try to get through these rough months because 0:12:09.679 --> 0:12:11.040 I do think it's probably going to be down for 0:12:11.040 --> 0:12:13.439 at least three or four months, and you know, not 0:12:13.480 --> 0:12:14.600 a lot of people are going to be working. 0:12:14.960 --> 0:12:18.319 So you went from yes, miss Ellis Ross, can I 0:12:18.400 --> 0:12:21.520 let's get you some coffee? To then miss Ellis Ross, 0:12:21.600 --> 0:12:23.600 could you do another take for me? Because you then 0:12:23.679 --> 0:12:26.520 directed her in Blackish? What was that like? 0:12:27.640 --> 0:12:31.600 Man? It was really cool, like, yeah, you know, I've 0:12:31.640 --> 0:12:33.320 been a big fan of Tracy, Like I remember her 0:12:33.400 --> 0:12:35.400 being on the Lyricist Lounge show back in the day, 0:12:35.480 --> 0:12:41.160 and you know, you know, she's just been talented all 0:12:41.160 --> 0:12:44.080 her life, and yeah, it was it was a really 0:12:44.120 --> 0:12:47.480 surreal moment for real, like you know, and there are 0:12:47.480 --> 0:12:49.320 a few people like can you literally? Like I mentioned, 0:12:49.360 --> 0:12:51.160 he was a writer on Girlfriends you know back in 0:12:51.200 --> 0:12:53.480 the day too, So to kind of like a creator 0:12:53.920 --> 0:12:57.120 as Cross kind of in that way was really awesome. 0:12:57.160 --> 0:13:00.200 And you know, she's really gracious and always has in 0:13:00.320 --> 0:13:02.800 and just a really great person. So it was smooth 0:13:04.200 --> 0:13:04.680 And did. 0:13:04.520 --> 0:13:07.080 That come from the once you And first of all, 0:13:07.080 --> 0:13:08.720 like hair love, I want to talk about that because 0:13:08.840 --> 0:13:11.880 such a beautiful, such a beautiful short, but you had 0:13:11.920 --> 0:13:14.880 to have you raised money for that, Like you had 0:13:14.920 --> 0:13:16.880 to raise what three hundred thousand dollars? 0:13:17.280 --> 0:13:21.000 Yeah, so to get that made. Yeah, so that wasn't 0:13:21.040 --> 0:13:26.599 necessarily our like initial goal. So I'll share my philosophy 0:13:26.600 --> 0:13:30.240 with kickstarter. So with raising money online, like you know, 0:13:30.280 --> 0:13:32.080 I think one the first thing is like you have 0:13:32.160 --> 0:13:34.439 to have a decent social media following if you're trying 0:13:34.480 --> 0:13:36.959 to raise like a significant amount of money, right, Like 0:13:37.120 --> 0:13:38.959 that was my third Kickstarter, So I'd done like a 0:13:39.040 --> 0:13:41.319 Kickstarter for my first movie, The Last Fall. I dine 0:13:41.320 --> 0:13:43.800 another one for my second movie, Nine Rides, and they 0:13:43.840 --> 0:13:45.960 both were like a bit of a struggle. Did you 0:13:46.040 --> 0:13:49.040 raise fifteen thousand dollars? Like it was literally reaching out 0:13:49.080 --> 0:13:51.680 to people from Facebook that you maybe talk to in 0:13:51.720 --> 0:13:53.600 like twenty years, some high school and things, Hey check 0:13:53.640 --> 0:13:55.360 out this link. You know, I'm a filmmaker now, you know, 0:13:55.480 --> 0:13:58.000 see if you can throw twenty on it. And it 0:13:58.040 --> 0:14:00.600 was just like literally every person that don't to those 0:14:00.640 --> 0:14:02.600 first two, I feel like I knew them directly. And 0:14:02.640 --> 0:14:05.280 it was because I, you know, personally reached out to him. 0:14:05.400 --> 0:14:07.360 Was the reason why we hit barely hit that goal. 0:14:07.840 --> 0:14:09.439 But for this one, it was you know, I know 0:14:09.600 --> 0:14:11.200 it was going to be animated, you know, I knew 0:14:11.200 --> 0:14:14.120 we're gonna need a lot a bigger budget just because 0:14:14.160 --> 0:14:16.640 I didn't really know how things were going to play out. 0:14:16.760 --> 0:14:19.000 And so I think we set the budget of like 0:14:19.040 --> 0:14:22.040 seventy five thousand initially with the hope though that we 0:14:22.080 --> 0:14:24.400 would raise more, just because with Kickstarter, if you don't 0:14:24.440 --> 0:14:26.440 hit your number, then you don't get anything, but you 0:14:26.520 --> 0:14:28.680 can raise more than your initial goals. 0:14:28.760 --> 0:14:31.120 So I didn't know that. 0:14:31.240 --> 0:14:33.720 Yeah, yeah, I mean there's some like yeah, there's some 0:14:33.880 --> 0:14:36.560 like any Go Go and you know Seed and Spark, 0:14:36.640 --> 0:14:38.800 where you know you kind of get what you raised, 0:14:38.840 --> 0:14:41.440 but you know, it kind of incentivized you. Honestly, I 0:14:41.480 --> 0:14:45.160 actually prefer it that way because you know, you can't 0:14:45.200 --> 0:14:47.440 really slack with it. You know, if you know that 0:14:47.480 --> 0:14:49.720 you're just gonna raise what you get, you you may 0:14:49.720 --> 0:14:52.040 not post about it as urgently as you may, you know, 0:14:52.040 --> 0:14:54.480 knowing that all it's now or nothing, you know. And 0:14:54.600 --> 0:14:58.600 so yeah, it was just like this this big hustle, 0:14:58.680 --> 0:15:00.160 and a lot of it was just kind of like 0:15:01.280 --> 0:15:04.520 growing the brand on social media, even like before the 0:15:04.600 --> 0:15:07.480 Kickstarter went, you know, just being more than just hopping 0:15:07.520 --> 0:15:09.240 on when you have a project to promote, you know, 0:15:09.320 --> 0:15:12.080 sharing your day, sharing advice, you know, just kind of 0:15:12.080 --> 0:15:15.800 being yourself. And obviously not social media isn't for everybody, 0:15:15.800 --> 0:15:17.880 and I think Twitter is taking a bit of a 0:15:17.960 --> 0:15:20.480 darker turn kind of in recent years. But you know, 0:15:20.520 --> 0:15:22.240 back in the day, it was it was fun and 0:15:22.560 --> 0:15:24.760 you could be yourself and it wouldn't be a lot 0:15:24.800 --> 0:15:27.040 of drama or a lot of smoke, and you could 0:15:27.080 --> 0:15:28.720 just do it. And you know, I was able to 0:15:28.800 --> 0:15:31.880 raise my following up to a way bigger than I 0:15:31.920 --> 0:15:35.440 had in the first couple Kickstarter campaigns, so had a 0:15:35.440 --> 0:15:38.720 bigger support level. I think with the project, there were 0:15:38.720 --> 0:15:41.560 a couple of things that just were like sometimes you 0:15:41.600 --> 0:15:44.160 can't even predict what's going to happen. So Asty Harrison. 0:15:44.800 --> 0:15:47.480 She did the artwork for us, and I caught her 0:15:47.960 --> 0:15:53.680 maybe six months before her first book came out, Little Leaders. Yeah, 0:15:53.720 --> 0:15:55.360 she blew up. She blew up, Like you can't even 0:15:55.400 --> 0:15:58.240 like get on her schedule now because she's like so crazy. 0:15:58.320 --> 0:16:00.800 But we literally i'd literally caught her before she came out, 0:16:01.120 --> 0:16:04.360 and apparently our book publisher was a big fans of her. 0:16:04.360 --> 0:16:05.920 I didn't even know this back in the day, so 0:16:06.520 --> 0:16:09.120 when we ended up doing the artwork and things, that's 0:16:09.160 --> 0:16:13.800 how That's how Penguin Random House reached out, because they're like, oh, 0:16:13.840 --> 0:16:15.520 you guys doing a picture, but for this, like we 0:16:15.520 --> 0:16:19.280 would let to collab. So that was one thing. Another 0:16:19.560 --> 0:16:21.960 couple of things that happened is just that you know, 0:16:22.040 --> 0:16:24.960 Dove reached out and that was really cool, just because 0:16:25.400 --> 0:16:27.320 you know, I think for us it was a matter of, like, 0:16:27.360 --> 0:16:28.680 you share the story of what you want to do, 0:16:28.720 --> 0:16:30.880 you kind of do a personal video, and I think 0:16:30.880 --> 0:16:33.240 the artwork, I think the storyline about us wanting to 0:16:33.280 --> 0:16:35.040 do the story about a black father trying to do 0:16:35.080 --> 0:16:36.840 their daughter's hair for the first time, it just really 0:16:36.880 --> 0:16:41.160 resonated and so really beyond any of the first two 0:16:41.200 --> 0:16:44.240 Kickstarter campaigns. Majority of the people that donated to this 0:16:44.280 --> 0:16:46.920 I didn't even know personally, Like I didn't even slide 0:16:46.960 --> 0:16:48.480 the link to them directly. It just kind of went 0:16:48.720 --> 0:16:52.040 a viral on its own. And I think, you know, 0:16:52.080 --> 0:16:54.160 you just can't predict those things, you know, like sometimes 0:16:54.160 --> 0:16:55.720 you're just in the right place, right time, And I 0:16:55.720 --> 0:16:57.920 think that was one of them. And I think also 0:16:58.360 --> 0:17:02.600 the state of animation at that time was really important 0:17:02.800 --> 0:17:06.280 for the success of this too, because back then there 0:17:06.359 --> 0:17:09.280 was no Spider Verse, there was no you know, Mowana, 0:17:09.359 --> 0:17:14.359 there was no you know incanto, like brown, black and 0:17:14.359 --> 0:17:17.200 brown characters were damn near non existent in animated movies. 0:17:17.240 --> 0:17:19.080 It was you know, Princess and the Frog, it was 0:17:19.880 --> 0:17:23.119 around his movie home, it was Baby's kids, and then 0:17:23.560 --> 0:17:26.080 I think Prince of Egypt. Yeah, it was like princip was. 0:17:26.080 --> 0:17:28.680 Literally like, first of all, Baby, it's like twenty five 0:17:29.200 --> 0:17:33.840 for any you got a big conic, yeah, iconic. 0:17:33.680 --> 0:17:35.720 No, for sure. So there was just like a bit 0:17:35.720 --> 0:17:39.760 of a starving I think for our community to kind 0:17:39.760 --> 0:17:43.359 of see themselves in this animated form. And I think for. 0:17:43.320 --> 0:17:47.359 Us, it's twenty twenty out in twenty twenty. 0:17:47.119 --> 0:17:48.600 So the kickstarted with twenty seventeen. 0:17:49.240 --> 0:17:51.439 Yeah, this is like a four or five year journey 0:17:51.440 --> 0:17:54.400 for you. Yeys, no three, I'm glad at math that's bad. 0:17:54.560 --> 0:17:55.520 Well, and then the auscar has. 0:17:55.440 --> 0:17:59.560 Happened in twenty twenty, right, Yeah till now. I that 0:17:59.680 --> 0:18:01.600 really with me because I feel like the beauty of 0:18:01.640 --> 0:18:04.560 your story is just like, you know, you do the work. 0:18:04.600 --> 0:18:08.000 You don't wait for the people with opportunity, you know, 0:18:08.160 --> 0:18:12.080 people with power to tap you on the shoulder, like, Oh, Matthew, 0:18:12.200 --> 0:18:14.760 we heard about you. You know this is incredible. You 0:18:14.840 --> 0:18:16.040 do the work, you put it out there. 0:18:16.480 --> 0:18:19.560 Yeah, you don't wait, I mean I think that's just yeah. 0:18:19.560 --> 0:18:21.440 I think that's how you got to be in this game. 0:18:21.520 --> 0:18:24.080 You know, like there's so many reasons why people will 0:18:24.119 --> 0:18:28.200 tell you no, and like if you can prove the idea, 0:18:28.560 --> 0:18:31.159 then it just makes it that much easier for you know, 0:18:31.640 --> 0:18:33.800 I always share the story, like I don't know if 0:18:33.800 --> 0:18:36.400 it's real or not, but I attributed to Chris Rock 0:18:36.920 --> 0:18:39.040 and it's a story about I guess back when he 0:18:39.080 --> 0:18:40.800 was a broke comedian. You know, he would his car 0:18:40.880 --> 0:18:42.440 it breakdown all the time, and he'd be on the 0:18:42.480 --> 0:18:44.360 side of the road trying to like put his thumb out, 0:18:44.560 --> 0:18:46.199 trying to get somebody to like pick him up so 0:18:46.240 --> 0:18:47.840 he can like take it to the shop or whatever. 0:18:48.080 --> 0:18:49.880 And nobody would stop when he had his thumb out, 0:18:50.119 --> 0:18:51.680 But when he would get behind his car and he'd 0:18:51.720 --> 0:18:53.840 actually start pushing it to try to get it to 0:18:53.920 --> 0:18:56.160 his destination, that's when people would pull over to try 0:18:56.160 --> 0:18:58.479 to help him. And I just always attributed to like, 0:18:58.640 --> 0:19:00.320 you know, people want to help people that they see 0:19:00.359 --> 0:19:03.719 you're helping themselves, and you know, I think that's just 0:19:03.840 --> 0:19:05.800 how you got to in this new day and age 0:19:05.800 --> 0:19:09.359 of streaming and a thousand reasons why somebody will tell 0:19:09.400 --> 0:19:11.080 you no, like you have to put yourself in a 0:19:11.080 --> 0:19:13.840 position to help yourself so that people can hop in 0:19:13.880 --> 0:19:16.920 and help you get it over the line. Yeah. 0:19:17.000 --> 0:19:17.080 No. 0:19:17.320 --> 0:19:19.560 I have to say your kickstarted really inspired because I 0:19:20.119 --> 0:19:22.760 used to teach preschool for ten years and I struggled 0:19:23.240 --> 0:19:25.760 to find books with like and I taught at Newark, 0:19:25.800 --> 0:19:27.480 which is like, you know, black and be black black, 0:19:27.920 --> 0:19:31.479 and I struggled to find books with black babies and 0:19:31.600 --> 0:19:35.400 so so I teach fry that education. But I wrote 0:19:35.400 --> 0:19:37.280 a book called Happy Birthday Molly More, and I was like, 0:19:37.280 --> 0:19:39.880 she's gonna be black, She's going to have like four 0:19:40.000 --> 0:19:44.040 c CCC hair, you know. And I did a gig start. 0:19:44.040 --> 0:19:45.639 I think I wanted to raise thirty five thousand. We 0:19:45.720 --> 0:19:48.960 raised seventy. But I remember being so thank you, so 0:19:49.040 --> 0:19:51.879 inspired by because I remember going to Target and being like, 0:19:52.000 --> 0:19:53.720 there's well, yeah, hair. 0:19:53.600 --> 0:19:54.760 Love, you know. 0:19:55.119 --> 0:19:57.520 And now when you go to Target, yes, I'm like, 0:19:57.760 --> 0:19:59.960 do they make books like a whole sexually? I'm like, 0:20:00.119 --> 0:20:02.200 do they big books, not even the whole go hold 0:20:02.200 --> 0:20:05.560 of target. Everybody is POC. Great, we have all this 0:20:05.680 --> 0:20:08.679 juicy goodness to Matthew, We're going to pause with the 0:20:08.760 --> 0:20:10.960 cause for quick breaks. We could pay these bills. We'll 0:20:11.000 --> 0:20:17.160 be right back and we're back in black and back 0:20:17.200 --> 0:20:20.800 in business. Let's keep chatting. As a director, how do 0:20:20.800 --> 0:20:24.160 you feel black representation has been, like has changed since 0:20:24.200 --> 0:20:25.000 you first came out. 0:20:25.240 --> 0:20:29.399 Yeah, I think it's like been a really big shift 0:20:29.640 --> 0:20:32.480 in a lot of ways. You know, you know, it 0:20:32.520 --> 0:20:34.480 isn't it isn't right. It's like in front of the 0:20:34.480 --> 0:20:36.920 camera for show, like you know, I think there's been 0:20:36.960 --> 0:20:41.040 this really big push to you know, make sure you know. 0:20:41.080 --> 0:20:42.280 I think back in the day, it was like, all right, 0:20:42.280 --> 0:20:43.879 maybe we'll get one character in there, and it's like 0:20:43.920 --> 0:20:45.920 the black friend that like you never see their inner 0:20:45.960 --> 0:20:47.680 life and never meet the parents or any of that stuff. 0:20:47.680 --> 0:20:50.480 They just are there to service, like the main character 0:20:50.520 --> 0:20:53.240 who was in the POC. But now you're really seeing 0:20:53.280 --> 0:20:56.800 this push to really just have diverse casts all around, 0:20:56.920 --> 0:20:59.800 you know, like you know, multiple black characters kind of 0:20:59.800 --> 0:21:03.840 in an ensemble cast. You know, you know brown you 0:21:03.840 --> 0:21:07.520 know brown representation, you know, agent representation, just you're you're 0:21:07.520 --> 0:21:12.320 seeing it really across the board. But with that said, 0:21:13.200 --> 0:21:16.800 still behind the camera, you know, people would like to 0:21:16.840 --> 0:21:19.280 think that it's really changed a lot, but it really hasn't. 0:21:19.359 --> 0:21:22.000 You know. There are always studies that come out, and 0:21:22.080 --> 0:21:26.080 probably in TV is where it's been the biggest boom 0:21:26.480 --> 0:21:30.720 for diversity, just because literally thousands of TV shows, so 0:21:30.720 --> 0:21:33.280 they kind of have to you know, like you can't. 0:21:33.640 --> 0:21:35.359 Back in the day, they were like, you know, maybe 0:21:35.400 --> 0:21:38.160 a couple of hundred. Now they're thousands, so you kind 0:21:38.160 --> 0:21:40.639 of have to reach the net a little wider. But 0:21:40.760 --> 0:21:43.440 you know, in film, it's still very much the same 0:21:43.520 --> 0:21:45.080 as it kind of it's always been. You know, it's 0:21:45.119 --> 0:21:48.719 really hard for you know, black and brown directors to 0:21:49.080 --> 0:21:52.080 get opportunities. You know, I think I saw a study 0:21:52.520 --> 0:21:57.440 that UCLA did where they were talking about which streaming 0:21:57.880 --> 0:22:02.640 apparently numbers have gotten more diverse because again, thousands of opportunities, right, 0:22:03.040 --> 0:22:05.360 But when it comes to theatrical the numbers are still 0:22:05.440 --> 0:22:09.560 very much like seventy seven percent white white men that 0:22:09.600 --> 0:22:12.919 are directing most of the movies that go to have 0:22:13.040 --> 0:22:15.399 theatrical releases. So you know, there's still a lot of 0:22:15.400 --> 0:22:18.199 work to be done, and that was one of the 0:22:18.240 --> 0:22:20.800 cool things about being an executive at Monkey Paul, which 0:22:20.840 --> 0:22:22.879 is Jordan Pil's company, like being able to be on 0:22:22.960 --> 0:22:25.679 the other side of things and you know, trying to 0:22:26.600 --> 0:22:29.320 you know, beat the drum for other black creators to 0:22:29.400 --> 0:22:31.760 kind of get in there to have their opportunities. But 0:22:31.880 --> 0:22:34.359 you know, we need more of us not only behind 0:22:34.359 --> 0:22:37.240 the camera, but also in the boardrooms also at the 0:22:37.280 --> 0:22:41.080 production companies, you know, because this to get a project 0:22:41.119 --> 0:22:43.119 moved forward, it has to go to so many layers. 0:22:43.160 --> 0:22:45.520 You know, you have to get it through you know, 0:22:45.640 --> 0:22:47.480 some low level executing. You got to take it to 0:22:47.480 --> 0:22:48.960 the higher ups and they got to take it to 0:22:48.960 --> 0:22:51.560 their board and then you know, so to get a 0:22:51.640 --> 0:22:55.560 project through like five different layers of trying to move 0:22:55.560 --> 0:22:57.639 it forward, and then you know you have the super 0:22:57.640 --> 0:22:59.480 Black project and now you get to the top and 0:22:59.480 --> 0:23:02.840 it's like no black people on this approval board, you know. 0:23:03.080 --> 0:23:05.320 And that's why a lot of movies have a hard 0:23:05.320 --> 0:23:07.199 time moving forward, just because they can't see If they 0:23:07.200 --> 0:23:09.119 can't see themselves as a hero, they don't want to 0:23:09.359 --> 0:23:13.119 move help over forward. And the crazy thing is like 0:23:13.200 --> 0:23:17.800 we have been conditioned. We we black audiences. We only 0:23:18.400 --> 0:23:22.240 we have to see the humanity and other characters because 0:23:22.359 --> 0:23:25.200 all our life, you know, it's like, shit, we weren't 0:23:25.200 --> 0:23:27.480 a pretty women. We weren't in Princess Bride, you know 0:23:27.520 --> 0:23:29.200 what I mean? Like we have to kind of find 0:23:29.680 --> 0:23:32.320 the ways to find empathy in characters. And I think 0:23:32.359 --> 0:23:34.080 people are filming some kind of way because now they're 0:23:34.080 --> 0:23:36.399 having to find empathy in our characters and they're not 0:23:36.520 --> 0:23:36.960 used to it. 0:23:40.960 --> 0:23:43.199 I mean, you know, you think about movies like to 0:23:43.240 --> 0:23:45.639 see Ryan Koogler. For example, my husband and I just 0:23:45.680 --> 0:23:49.320 saw Creed three, Yeah, director by Michael B. Jordan's starring 0:23:49.359 --> 0:23:49.680 Michael B. 0:23:49.800 --> 0:23:50.080 Jordan. 0:23:50.200 --> 0:23:52.679 I was like, this is with Jonathan Majors. I mean, 0:23:52.720 --> 0:23:53.920 just an incredibly from Newark. 0:23:53.920 --> 0:23:58.639 I'm saying brick City, Okay, yeah, he wants to like 0:23:58.680 --> 0:24:00.959 say Benedict's High School. He's I live in New York, 0:24:01.080 --> 0:24:04.440 yeah and so and so Yeah, he's born and raised 0:24:04.480 --> 0:24:04.840 in Newark. 0:24:05.080 --> 0:24:07.160 And you sort of and you think about Ryan Kugler 0:24:07.280 --> 0:24:09.200 getting his start, yeah with fruit Vale, but then also 0:24:09.280 --> 0:24:12.439 Black Panther. And when Black Panther came out, people were like, 0:24:12.560 --> 0:24:15.040 is this the moment it is if this film did 0:24:15.080 --> 0:24:18.200 phenomenally well. But then you sort of saw this tapering off, 0:24:18.240 --> 0:24:21.359 like there wasn't this huge, you know, renaissance, And I 0:24:21.359 --> 0:24:23.520 feel like even the names you still see doing black film, 0:24:23.520 --> 0:24:27.359 like Spike Lee's been around forever, you know, but like, 0:24:27.440 --> 0:24:32.720 are there any other than yourself, new exciting black filmmakers 0:24:32.800 --> 0:24:36.200 or projects that you're like, this is you know, this 0:24:36.240 --> 0:24:38.040 person probably wouldn't have made it ten years ago, but 0:24:38.040 --> 0:24:38.800 they're making it now. 0:24:39.240 --> 0:24:41.960 Oh yeah, I mean shit, I mean damn near, damn 0:24:42.000 --> 0:24:45.320 near everybody you know, damn near, Ryan included. You know, 0:24:45.400 --> 0:24:51.760 it's like it's just thankfully because people are taking more risk, 0:24:51.880 --> 0:24:54.159 especially in the independent space. You know, Ryan had to 0:24:54.520 --> 0:24:56.640 be indie. You know, he did a movie for less 0:24:56.640 --> 0:24:58.439 than a million dollars, you know, got it, got it 0:24:58.480 --> 0:25:02.200 into Sunday. And so Aby Rockwell, whose movie one thousand 0:25:02.200 --> 0:25:04.959 and one just came out starring Tianna Taylor. You know, 0:25:05.000 --> 0:25:06.880 she just did the Sundance move as well. It's coming 0:25:06.880 --> 0:25:08.560 out with the It just came out a couple of 0:25:08.560 --> 0:25:12.760 weeks ago. Through Focused Features. Yeah, I can list of 0:25:12.840 --> 0:25:15.600 you know, a hundred different names of people that you 0:25:15.640 --> 0:25:19.040 know are deserving and thankfully have finally gotten their opportunity. 0:25:19.080 --> 0:25:21.840 But there's also a lot that haven't gotten that opportunity. 0:25:22.000 --> 0:25:24.480 You know, back in the day, it really felt like, 0:25:24.960 --> 0:25:28.280 at least into twenty tens, when I was transitioning from 0:25:28.320 --> 0:25:30.920 being into directing, always kind of felt like there could 0:25:30.920 --> 0:25:33.600 only be one black director per year, so you know, 0:25:34.280 --> 0:25:36.880 and if you weren't that one, that was kind of 0:25:37.040 --> 0:25:39.720 the crown was put upon your head. Like you know, 0:25:39.880 --> 0:25:41.359 it's like back to score one. You know, you do 0:25:41.440 --> 0:25:44.920 a movie and all right, it didn't hit, So now 0:25:44.920 --> 0:25:46.320 what you know, and you got to like try to 0:25:46.320 --> 0:25:48.720 find money or think of another idea to try to 0:25:49.040 --> 0:25:51.400 get back at it again. So you know, I think 0:25:51.560 --> 0:25:55.399 whenever we get into a place where opportunities are just 0:25:55.520 --> 0:25:58.560 like abundant and you know, we don't have these kind 0:25:58.600 --> 0:26:01.200 of dips and these highs and these I think that's 0:26:01.240 --> 0:26:04.199 really when we're gonna see that true parody that's going 0:26:04.280 --> 0:26:06.760 to happen. But you know, I think now we're going 0:26:06.840 --> 0:26:09.200 to see a big bubble bursting in the streaming industry 0:26:09.320 --> 0:26:11.560 just because like everybody has been this big arms race 0:26:11.640 --> 0:26:13.840 of people trying to like put money in and they're 0:26:13.880 --> 0:26:15.920 not really getting their money back. So you know, I 0:26:15.920 --> 0:26:18.280 think it's going to become even harder for black and 0:26:18.320 --> 0:26:21.919 brown creators to get their voices out there, because you know, 0:26:21.960 --> 0:26:23.480 the belts are about to get. 0:26:23.359 --> 0:26:25.800 Tighter, for sure, and we're probably gonna be the first 0:26:25.800 --> 0:26:29.560 to oh for sure. Always kicked off the schedule, the plan. 0:26:33.119 --> 0:26:35.880 Let's make a let's talk about it, you know, since 0:26:35.920 --> 0:26:39.920 me and these girls are packing and our locks are popping, 0:26:39.920 --> 0:26:42.479 so like we would love to like like once, you're 0:26:42.680 --> 0:26:46.000 because when I went natural, Oh my gosh, I remember 0:26:46.040 --> 0:26:48.360 my mother distinctly said both of my parents are Nigerian. 0:26:48.440 --> 0:26:49.880 And the first thing she said to me that think 0:26:49.960 --> 0:26:52.639 was my dad. He said, so you never plan on marriage? 0:26:52.640 --> 0:26:55.080 Oh yeah, that's crazy. 0:26:55.520 --> 0:26:56.240 What does that mean? 0:26:56.400 --> 0:26:59.400 Well, that's because back then, like and it's so crazy 0:26:59.440 --> 0:27:01.560 because they grew up up in a time when I 0:27:01.600 --> 0:27:04.240 remember my mom had an afro win right, you know, 0:27:04.600 --> 0:27:06.960 and then it just became like, you know, natural hair 0:27:07.040 --> 0:27:11.359 was very unfashionable and it was very unprofessional, you know, 0:27:11.560 --> 0:27:14.160 and so me going natural was like this political statement. 0:27:14.240 --> 0:27:16.720 It was just because for me, I didn't like the 0:27:16.720 --> 0:27:19.240 way the perm made my scout feel. It wasn't I 0:27:19.240 --> 0:27:21.320 wasn't trying to be political. I was just like, why 0:27:21.320 --> 0:27:24.720 can't I wear from? And so so I'm curious about 0:27:24.760 --> 0:27:28.040 like what has your hair journey been like, Like, you know, 0:27:28.119 --> 0:27:30.600 what was your hair like in middle school? How long 0:27:30.640 --> 0:27:32.639 have you had locked and what's your journey been like? 0:27:33.000 --> 0:27:37.200 You know, you know, I've always had my hair pretty low, 0:27:37.440 --> 0:27:39.200 I guess, like kind of growing up, you know, to 0:27:39.280 --> 0:27:41.879 being an athlete and honestly just me and honest not 0:27:42.000 --> 0:27:45.800 really knowing a lot about the natural hair movement kind 0:27:45.800 --> 0:27:48.240 of growing up. You know, my mom she used to 0:27:48.359 --> 0:27:50.960 she worked in a corporate settings, so she would always 0:27:50.960 --> 0:27:52.760 had to either straighten her hair, you know, throw a 0:27:53.160 --> 0:27:55.679 throw a more quote unquote professional you know, wig on 0:27:55.840 --> 0:27:59.680 or something. And so I know it's also a little 0:27:59.720 --> 0:28:02.440 different for guys. I feel like, you know, being an athlete, 0:28:02.520 --> 0:28:06.240 like nobody ever really came at me for like my 0:28:06.320 --> 0:28:08.840 hair or my hair texture. But you know, my sister, 0:28:08.920 --> 0:28:11.400 you know, I always I always know that she felt 0:28:11.440 --> 0:28:14.320 like maybe she didn't feel like dogs. I probably gotta 0:28:14.359 --> 0:28:16.440 talk to her about this back when she was younger, 0:28:16.480 --> 0:28:18.280 but you know, she always used to have to wear 0:28:18.280 --> 0:28:20.520 her hair straightened, you know, because that was kind of 0:28:20.600 --> 0:28:23.520 what was the norm I guess back then. And I 0:28:23.520 --> 0:28:25.600 think and that's also a bit of the reason why 0:28:25.680 --> 0:28:29.280 for me, we really wanted to do it animated and 0:28:29.359 --> 0:28:31.440 with a young kid as a protagonist, just because I 0:28:31.480 --> 0:28:34.320 think a lot of kids natural hair journey starts, not 0:28:34.320 --> 0:28:37.359 even natural hair journey, but hair journeys in general start 0:28:37.600 --> 0:28:39.760 when they're children. And so when you grow up and 0:28:39.800 --> 0:28:42.200 you watch these cartoons and you know, you watch these 0:28:42.240 --> 0:28:45.120 images of kind of who the heroes and these stories 0:28:45.160 --> 0:28:46.840 and what are the things that I want to be, 0:28:47.760 --> 0:28:49.040 you know a lot of times that's like that's a 0:28:49.040 --> 0:28:52.000 big influence. Like I'll never forget when Frozen came out, 0:28:52.280 --> 0:28:54.760 you know, seeing you know, little black girls run around 0:28:54.760 --> 0:28:57.120 with the blonde straight wigs and things trying to like 0:28:57.160 --> 0:28:59.440 beat these characters, and it just was like damn, you know, 0:28:59.560 --> 0:29:02.840 like I really wish there was characters that looked like them, 0:29:02.960 --> 0:29:05.000 that had their type of hair, so they felt like 0:29:05.080 --> 0:29:07.719 they could be the hero in their own story and 0:29:07.760 --> 0:29:10.520 not feel like they have to kind of conform to 0:29:11.200 --> 0:29:13.320 what other people are trying to say that they need 0:29:13.360 --> 0:29:16.560 to look like. And so yeah, for me, like being 0:29:16.600 --> 0:29:19.280 an athlete, being an athlete, being in film, I've never 0:29:19.360 --> 0:29:23.480 been told like, can't wear your hair like that cares 0:29:23.680 --> 0:29:25.440 une professional, you know what I mean. Like both of 0:29:25.440 --> 0:29:28.120 those industries are very embracing of Like, you know, if 0:29:28.160 --> 0:29:30.320 I was in any other profession that was more quote 0:29:30.400 --> 0:29:33.840 unquote corporate, for sure, probably had to have some hard conversations. 0:29:33.880 --> 0:29:36.120 And that's a big reason why too. Like I'm so 0:29:36.120 --> 0:29:40.280 happy that the Crown Act has become a lot more popular, 0:29:40.400 --> 0:29:42.840 and it's like passing in more states. Still hasn't been 0:29:42.840 --> 0:29:46.040 passed on a federal level, but very important. And I 0:29:46.120 --> 0:29:47.960 just think, you know, at the end of the day, 0:29:48.080 --> 0:29:49.840 you got to just let people be who they want 0:29:49.880 --> 0:29:51.440 to be. Like they want to wear their hair straight, 0:29:51.480 --> 0:29:52.920 they want to wear it short, they don't want to 0:29:52.920 --> 0:29:55.120 have hair at all. Like it's all good and there's 0:29:55.240 --> 0:29:58.240 no reason why we need to be policing how people's 0:29:58.360 --> 0:30:01.120 hair grows out of their head. It's like it is 0:30:01.160 --> 0:30:01.800 none of your business. 0:30:01.920 --> 0:30:06.560 Really, I mean you honestly, like you've become an icon 0:30:06.640 --> 0:30:09.320 for black hair hair equality. I feel like ever since 0:30:09.360 --> 0:30:11.520 doing Hair Love was that was that part of the 0:30:11.560 --> 0:30:13.760 intention behind the film? Were you I know you're a 0:30:13.840 --> 0:30:15.600 dad now, right, were you dad at the time? Did 0:30:15.600 --> 0:30:16.480 you think about your daughter? 0:30:16.960 --> 0:30:17.680 No? No, I wasn't. 0:30:17.720 --> 0:30:18.680 Okay, I wasn't. 0:30:18.680 --> 0:30:21.280 But you know, I'm really big on empathy and like 0:30:22.680 --> 0:30:25.200 seeing a battle that I knew I was going to 0:30:25.240 --> 0:30:27.320 be fighting hopefully in the future, you know what I mean, 0:30:27.440 --> 0:30:31.680 Like the idea that I mean, there's always a story, 0:30:31.760 --> 0:30:34.320 you know, like kids being kicked out of school because 0:30:34.600 --> 0:30:36.880 their hair is a certain way, or being told they 0:30:36.880 --> 0:30:39.120 can't work in a certain place because the hair looks 0:30:39.120 --> 0:30:41.280 like this. It's just it was the stupidest thing to me. 0:30:41.720 --> 0:30:44.800 I think kind of the activism part of it all 0:30:45.440 --> 0:30:47.840 definitely was like very organic like that when never was 0:30:47.880 --> 0:30:51.640 really the intention going in. I think the activism was 0:30:51.640 --> 0:30:53.479 supposed to be more so just like look at this 0:30:53.560 --> 0:30:55.920 little girl who loves herself, she loves her hair, she 0:30:56.000 --> 0:30:58.840 has four sea hair like. She is a character that 0:30:58.880 --> 0:31:02.400 hopefully little girls can and want to be like. But 0:31:02.600 --> 0:31:05.000 you know, things kind of took off in a different 0:31:05.000 --> 0:31:08.280 way with this, with this project, so you know, it 0:31:08.280 --> 0:31:11.760 never has a short film, had a book, want an Oscar, 0:31:12.080 --> 0:31:13.960 got a TV show about to come, and a hair 0:31:14.040 --> 0:31:15.640 product like it's just been pretty wild. 0:31:17.080 --> 0:31:18.760 I love that. I love that. I was going to 0:31:18.800 --> 0:31:20.600 ask you about that. So you've been a major part 0:31:20.600 --> 0:31:23.960 of Dove's hair Love collection inspired by your film, which 0:31:24.000 --> 0:31:26.640 is awesome, Like, and so I know that their dad's 0:31:26.680 --> 0:31:28.880 out there? Who are like, because how old is your your. 0:31:28.840 --> 0:31:30.840 She turned six months tomorrow. 0:31:30.880 --> 0:31:33.280 Actually cool, she's a new baby. 0:31:33.400 --> 0:31:35.080 Oh yeah, you'll be. 0:31:35.040 --> 0:31:38.680 There maybe as a little boy. 0:31:38.800 --> 0:31:40.120 But I was kind of I thought I might have 0:31:40.160 --> 0:31:41.800 heard a little something are you at home right now? 0:31:41.920 --> 0:31:45.840 Yeah? She probably cried in the background because. 0:31:45.600 --> 0:31:48.320 My mommy ears are just like somebody get that baby? 0:31:49.400 --> 0:31:52.200 So like what knowing that? What you know now about 0:31:52.240 --> 0:31:54.240 like you know kind of like as you been like 0:31:54.320 --> 0:31:57.080 steeped into like the haircure journey and like you said, 0:31:57.160 --> 0:31:59.400 how different it was for your daughter, for your sister, 0:32:00.200 --> 0:32:03.280 like any like what are you anticipating? Do you have 0:32:03.280 --> 0:32:05.080 any advice for new dads? It's like, how do I 0:32:05.120 --> 0:32:07.360 start to instill man that you're here? 0:32:07.480 --> 0:32:09.360 Is beautiful? You know. I think the two things of 0:32:09.400 --> 0:32:12.200 advice I would say is listen, you know what I mean, Like, 0:32:12.280 --> 0:32:15.000 you know, a big part of our short was this 0:32:15.120 --> 0:32:18.400 idea of like parents taking the time to not get 0:32:18.400 --> 0:32:20.040 out of their own head and actually listen to their 0:32:20.120 --> 0:32:22.320 kids and what they want. So that's a big one. 0:32:22.720 --> 0:32:26.600 And then also, you know, just the information is out there. 0:32:26.640 --> 0:32:28.120 You know, if you want to learn how to do hair, 0:32:28.240 --> 0:32:32.000 you know, there's all kinds of vlogs on YouTube and 0:32:32.120 --> 0:32:35.000 you know, websites and groups and all kinds of things 0:32:35.000 --> 0:32:36.480 that you can be a part of to try to 0:32:36.680 --> 0:32:39.400 figure it out. You know, I think for me, doing 0:32:39.480 --> 0:32:44.360 hair is less about just the act itself. It's more 0:32:44.400 --> 0:32:47.840 about just getting that personal time, you know, with your 0:32:47.960 --> 0:32:50.240 loved one and kind of showing them how much you care. 0:32:50.480 --> 0:32:52.600 And I think that's really also it's also a really 0:32:52.640 --> 0:32:55.120 amazing way to buyd I think with your kids. You know, 0:32:55.240 --> 0:32:58.480 it's just YouTube in a room and you got this 0:32:58.600 --> 0:33:01.280 goal and you're trying to figure it out. You know, 0:33:01.320 --> 0:33:03.920 I think it's a real awesome way to kind of 0:33:03.920 --> 0:33:05.600 show how much you love a person. And you know, 0:33:05.640 --> 0:33:07.840 it's one of the things where you do it and 0:33:08.040 --> 0:33:09.840 you know other people were able to kind of see 0:33:09.840 --> 0:33:12.080 that love as they walk through that day, you know, 0:33:12.120 --> 0:33:14.360 with that hairstyle that you were able to put together. 0:33:14.440 --> 0:33:17.560 So you know, definitely, you know, our little one right now, 0:33:18.160 --> 0:33:20.640 she's probably gonna be a late bloomer when it comes 0:33:20.640 --> 0:33:22.800 to you know, having a you know, a full head 0:33:22.840 --> 0:33:26.440 of hair. That's you know, right right now, it's a 0:33:26.480 --> 0:33:28.680 little low, but you know, I'm looking forward to, you know, 0:33:28.720 --> 0:33:31.480 when it starts a sprout, like a like a wead. 0:33:31.640 --> 0:33:32.680 I'm sure it's coming soon. 0:33:38.720 --> 0:33:41.000 Yeah, I mean, I feel like I feel like kids 0:33:41.040 --> 0:33:43.640 today has such an incredible opportunity because with the Hey, 0:33:43.720 --> 0:33:47.400 with the the hair care line at Target, and all 0:33:47.440 --> 0:33:49.320 these stories that I go to for my son, I'm like, 0:33:49.920 --> 0:33:52.920 take a flavor, any flavor. It's so many options. I 0:33:52.920 --> 0:33:55.120 feel like in our childhood, at least for me. We 0:33:55.120 --> 0:33:57.680 talked about this before, but it was not exactly an 0:33:57.720 --> 0:34:00.520 experience where I felt my mother's love. It was or like, 0:34:01.400 --> 0:34:03.960 is my mom gonna put me up for adoption? My 0:34:04.000 --> 0:34:06.480 mom's white, like is she going to send me back 0:34:06.800 --> 0:34:09.000 after this? Because she really doesn't seem to like this. 0:34:10.760 --> 0:34:13.880 But no, it's it's incredible. And even just the like 0:34:14.000 --> 0:34:17.719 your acknowledgment, like you're understanding that this will be something 0:34:17.719 --> 0:34:20.000 that I'm going to, you know, intentionally think of in 0:34:20.040 --> 0:34:23.200 a positive way, is already I feel like such a 0:34:23.200 --> 0:34:26.239 great example for dads, you know, or for any any 0:34:26.280 --> 0:34:28.560 man who's caring for a little girl, you know, with 0:34:28.640 --> 0:34:29.200 natural hair. 0:34:30.000 --> 0:34:32.479 Yeah, I mean, I think it's like this idea that 0:34:33.640 --> 0:34:37.319 I think back in twenty seventeen, twenty twenty, you know, 0:34:37.360 --> 0:34:39.920 when when when the project was a little newer, Like, 0:34:40.360 --> 0:34:42.520 you know, the idea of a dad doing the daughter's 0:34:42.520 --> 0:34:45.359 hair was this kind of new, newer idea and like 0:34:45.440 --> 0:34:47.560 obviously people have done it, you know, back in the day, 0:34:47.640 --> 0:34:50.680 but you know, trying to bring it to a bigger 0:34:50.760 --> 0:34:53.160 audience of things. You know, dads always get credit and 0:34:53.200 --> 0:34:55.280 pass on the back for doing the most basic things, 0:34:55.360 --> 0:34:58.319 you know what I think saying that, I mean, you know, 0:34:58.400 --> 0:35:01.920 it's like you're be a parent, you know, And I 0:35:01.960 --> 0:35:05.400 think the normalizing of you know, fathers doing this and 0:35:05.440 --> 0:35:08.040 then not being some anomaly that you know, we need 0:35:08.040 --> 0:35:10.839 to bake this big fuss about. It's like all right, 0:35:10.920 --> 0:35:14.200 you know, like my wife's at work early and I'm here, 0:35:14.320 --> 0:35:16.520 so I'm gonna do the hair. Like it's not some 0:35:16.600 --> 0:35:19.640 big thing that needs to be this big deal or anything. 0:35:19.760 --> 0:35:22.040 So I think also just the normalizing of it was 0:35:22.040 --> 0:35:26.200 really important too, so that you know, the pats aren't 0:35:26.239 --> 0:35:27.160 so big when. 0:35:26.960 --> 0:35:29.960 It happens you want to go viral. Matthew just posted 0:35:30.000 --> 0:35:33.560 the video of you brushing daughter's little fear. 0:35:35.360 --> 0:35:35.760 Viral. 0:35:36.600 --> 0:35:39.000 You will be you went a war. 0:35:39.200 --> 0:35:41.480 I love I love I love the dads that babysit 0:35:41.560 --> 0:35:45.719 their own baby, you know, like oh do you need 0:35:45.800 --> 0:35:46.440 money for that is? 0:35:49.560 --> 0:35:52.000 How has that transition? Go ahead? 0:35:52.680 --> 0:35:53.720 No, no, go go ahead, go ahead. 0:35:54.680 --> 0:35:57.160 I wanted to ask you because you are busy doing 0:35:57.239 --> 0:36:00.160 a bunch of different projects. I'm sure. How has that 0:36:00.200 --> 0:36:02.919 transition been? Figuring out the schedule with a newborn at home? 0:36:04.000 --> 0:36:08.240 Oh yeah, that's crazy. You know, was tired all the time. 0:36:10.000 --> 0:36:13.200 But you know it's great though. It's just it's something 0:36:13.320 --> 0:36:16.040 that you know has to be figured out. You know. 0:36:16.080 --> 0:36:18.640 We were lucky enough to be able to get a 0:36:18.640 --> 0:36:21.840 little nanny situation, so that kind of helps us because 0:36:21.840 --> 0:36:24.319 my wife has to go into work and a lot 0:36:24.320 --> 0:36:26.439 of times I have to try to like work either 0:36:26.480 --> 0:36:29.080 from home or have to go somewhere on set somewhere 0:36:29.160 --> 0:36:31.520 to be working too. So to kind of have somebody 0:36:31.560 --> 0:36:34.239 who can be holding it down and kind of like 0:36:34.320 --> 0:36:36.360 know what we want them to do has been like 0:36:36.440 --> 0:36:39.319 super super important. You know. Have we not been in 0:36:39.320 --> 0:36:41.840 this position and living in la where we don't have family, 0:36:41.920 --> 0:36:44.520 probably would live back in Chicago or on the East 0:36:44.560 --> 0:36:46.719 Coast somewhere, so we would have had family close by 0:36:47.480 --> 0:36:48.759 to be able to do a similar thing. 0:36:49.440 --> 0:36:51.560 Just final question for me, like what is your hair 0:36:51.640 --> 0:36:55.839 care routine? You have talks now, Yeah, so what do 0:36:55.880 --> 0:36:57.160 you do to maintain them? Keep them? 0:36:57.200 --> 0:36:59.920 Help listen. I don't have much of a routine at all. 0:37:00.320 --> 0:37:03.120 Just you know, I'm in I'm in like filmmaker mode. 0:37:03.200 --> 0:37:04.880 So you know, I just wake up. You know, I 0:37:04.880 --> 0:37:06.759 got my little lock sock that I put on to 0:37:06.960 --> 0:37:08.920 kind of protected at night, or you know, you get 0:37:08.920 --> 0:37:11.680 the silk pillow case, and you know, I just I 0:37:11.800 --> 0:37:13.920 just go through the day just doing my thing. And 0:37:14.360 --> 0:37:17.160 you know, every three or four weeks, I get up 0:37:17.200 --> 0:37:20.719 with my hairstylists who retwists me. But yeah, I don't 0:37:20.760 --> 0:37:23.759 have like this big routine, you know, especially now that like, 0:37:24.440 --> 0:37:26.000 I don't really have a lot going on. I'm just 0:37:26.120 --> 0:37:28.279 at home. So you know, obviously when it was like 0:37:28.640 --> 0:37:31.160 you're hitting up war shows and things, You're you're way 0:37:31.200 --> 0:37:34.319 on it a lot more. But yeah, I'm always been 0:37:34.440 --> 0:37:37.480 pretty low key with things. So yeah, it's not this 0:37:37.520 --> 0:37:37.960 big thing. 0:37:38.520 --> 0:37:40.440 Yeah that's what I love about locks because people always like, 0:37:40.440 --> 0:37:43.120 oh my gosh, I'm like, honestly, I don't do anything. 0:37:43.239 --> 0:37:45.880 Like when I had a fro oh yeah, there was 0:37:45.960 --> 0:37:47.239 so much work. I don't know how you do a 0:37:47.320 --> 0:37:50.160 mandy like with your hair for because just the level 0:37:50.200 --> 0:37:52.520 of product. You can't just leave the house when you 0:37:52.560 --> 0:37:57.279 have a frow. The pig pick path to destroy my life. Now, 0:37:57.320 --> 0:37:59.279 I'm just like, I literally woke up like this. I 0:37:59.320 --> 0:38:00.320 was like, oh, this is my sleep. 0:38:00.960 --> 0:38:04.360 It still looks cute. 0:38:04.719 --> 0:38:06.480 Yeah, I know. We should get paid for our time, 0:38:06.480 --> 0:38:09.960 for the additional hair hairtime. I wanted to know, Matthew, 0:38:09.960 --> 0:38:12.040 what are you working on now? What should people know 0:38:12.080 --> 0:38:14.319 about you? What do you have coming up next? Is 0:38:14.320 --> 0:38:15.200 an annoying question. 0:38:15.400 --> 0:38:18.400 Oh no, no, not at all. No. We so we 0:38:18.600 --> 0:38:20.759 turned a hair Love into a TV series. So we've 0:38:20.760 --> 0:38:25.200 been working on it for almost three years now, so 0:38:25.200 --> 0:38:28.360 it's going to be coming out this fall on HBO Max. 0:38:29.760 --> 0:38:32.000 The new name of it is young Love, so not 0:38:32.080 --> 0:38:35.520 hair Love because we had this really creative way of 0:38:35.520 --> 0:38:39.480 thinking about it. So the dad his name is Stephen Love, 0:38:39.880 --> 0:38:43.000 and the mom her name is Angela and Young so 0:38:43.040 --> 0:38:47.480 you put it together young Love. So it's really fun 0:38:47.520 --> 0:38:51.640 and it's kind of a show that one thing and 0:38:51.960 --> 0:38:55.040 one thing I noticed about animated series were that a 0:38:55.040 --> 0:38:57.440 lot of times you never really saw from the millennial perspective. 0:38:57.520 --> 0:38:59.520 So like a lot of times the dad's the parents 0:38:59.560 --> 0:39:03.040 were already established. They're like in their career, they're making money, Like, 0:39:03.160 --> 0:39:05.560 you know, money was never an issue and their dream 0:39:05.640 --> 0:39:08.719 was already quote unquote fulfilled. Right for us, we wanted 0:39:08.760 --> 0:39:10.080 to do this show where it's kind of like you 0:39:10.080 --> 0:39:12.520 have this young, unmarried couple who as a young child, 0:39:12.640 --> 0:39:14.839 but they still love each other. They're figuring things out. 0:39:15.520 --> 0:39:19.440 They live with her grandparents. They live with her parents, 0:39:19.480 --> 0:39:24.200 so Zuri's grandparents, and they haven't really achieved their career 0:39:24.320 --> 0:39:26.439 dreams or gold yet, so they're still trying to figure 0:39:26.480 --> 0:39:28.640 that out. They're still trying to raise his young daughter. 0:39:29.239 --> 0:39:31.799 And it's set on the West Side of Chicago, so 0:39:31.880 --> 0:39:36.040 it's like, uh, you know, very very black neighborhood and environment, 0:39:36.120 --> 0:39:37.760 and you know, obviously there are a lot of challenges 0:39:37.800 --> 0:39:41.040 that have come with it. Angela's a hairstylist, Steven is 0:39:41.080 --> 0:39:46.760 a producers and Zuri is just her same like confident, 0:39:46.960 --> 0:39:51.160 energetic self and you know, hilarity ensued. So really excited 0:39:51.200 --> 0:39:54.600 about it and that'll be coming out this fall. So yeah, 0:39:54.719 --> 0:39:55.359 that's kind of the. 0:39:55.280 --> 0:39:57.080 Big one voice iss Zuri. 0:39:58.400 --> 0:40:01.120 Man, we haven't announced everybody yet, but if she'sus. 0:40:00.960 --> 0:40:03.759 You you haven't no, Yeah, what about this yet? I 0:40:03.840 --> 0:40:04.239 want to know? 0:40:04.560 --> 0:40:07.600 Yeah, yeah, we haven't announced hery, we haven't announced our 0:40:07.600 --> 0:40:10.680 cash yet, but she's this young girl who just kind 0:40:10.680 --> 0:40:12.279 of represents Zuri in real life too. 0:40:13.640 --> 0:40:16.600 Will we be hearing any voices who were at that 0:40:16.600 --> 0:40:19.279 that girlfriend set back in two thousand and seven? 0:40:19.320 --> 0:40:19.400 Eight? 0:40:19.440 --> 0:40:21.120 Will there be any familiar voices in the show? 0:40:21.600 --> 0:40:25.760 You know, a couple, a couple, but yes, I could say. 0:40:27.920 --> 0:40:29.120 Man's trying to she's trying to. 0:40:30.880 --> 0:40:33.920 You study radio, I study print, baby. 0:40:35.400 --> 0:40:37.360 So this is honestly this is an adult show, or 0:40:37.360 --> 0:40:37.759 this is like. 0:40:38.160 --> 0:40:40.480 His family, his family, like you know, would say, like, 0:40:41.080 --> 0:40:45.440 you know, Blackish without the money is like a good cop, you. 0:40:45.400 --> 0:40:48.960 Know, the proud family lives and inter generational. Yeah, yeah, 0:40:49.080 --> 0:40:52.799 very very situation. Yeah, very intergenerational. And yeah, you know, 0:40:53.040 --> 0:40:55.080 I can't even say their middle class, like they don't 0:40:55.120 --> 0:40:57.840 have a class. They're trying to figure out their financial 0:40:58.000 --> 0:41:01.879 situation to even get to a So, yeah, it's gonna 0:41:01.880 --> 0:41:02.160 be fun. 0:41:03.440 --> 0:41:05.719 And Chicago will be a character too. You get to 0:41:05.760 --> 0:41:07.840 see like sometimes you don't get to know where that 0:41:07.840 --> 0:41:10.080 they just live in, like you know, you don't really 0:41:10.120 --> 0:41:10.640 get to know that. 0:41:11.280 --> 0:41:14.040 No, no, no, no, Chicago is very much a character too, 0:41:14.239 --> 0:41:16.640 and you know kind of like what we wanted to 0:41:16.680 --> 0:41:20.279 do with, you know, young black representation and animation. Like 0:41:20.320 --> 0:41:23.520 you know, Chicago gets a horrible rap in mainstream media, 0:41:23.600 --> 0:41:25.759 and just like one of the Showcase, just like that 0:41:26.960 --> 0:41:30.120 a Midwestern city where they you kind of able to 0:41:30.120 --> 0:41:32.000 actually see the people that live there as opposed to 0:41:32.120 --> 0:41:35.920 like the headlines and the spicy takes that people try 0:41:35.960 --> 0:41:37.520 to put out there to croud their own agenda. 0:41:37.640 --> 0:41:40.440 So yeah, it's gonna be fun and you get to 0:41:40.440 --> 0:41:44.680 bring it home. Yeah it's your home city. Oh yeah, Chicago, 0:41:44.800 --> 0:41:48.920 Oh yeah, awesome. Well, Matthew Cherry, thank you so so 0:41:49.040 --> 0:41:50.600 much for sharing a little bit about your story and 0:41:50.680 --> 0:41:54.000 joining Brown Ambition and just for personifying Brown ambition. 0:41:54.600 --> 0:41:55.360 I appreciate you. 0:41:55.840 --> 0:41:57.680 And where can the people find you if they want 0:41:57.719 --> 0:41:58.319 to follow you? 0:41:58.400 --> 0:42:00.840 And just you know, you're just on social you know, Matthew. 0:42:00.960 --> 0:42:03.760 Matthew A. Cherry is kind of my handle on everything, 0:42:03.880 --> 0:42:05.880 and yeah I'm around. Just hit me up. 0:42:07.520 --> 0:42:09.640 And as a big sister to a little brother who 0:42:09.719 --> 0:42:13.400 is working full time and raising money for films in 0:42:13.440 --> 0:42:16.160 Atlanta right now, I just want to say he's geeked 0:42:16.280 --> 0:42:21.120 that I'm going to talk. I will no, but I 0:42:21.160 --> 0:42:24.400 feel like your your story is so inspirational to anyone 0:42:24.440 --> 0:42:26.799 who's like, oh maybe I can do this thing. Yeah, 0:42:27.680 --> 0:42:28.880 So thank you so much for that. 0:42:29.280 --> 0:42:31.320 Yeah, I feel like everybody has a story, you know, 0:42:31.600 --> 0:42:32.560 just got to get it out of you. 0:42:32.920 --> 0:42:33.280 Awesome. 0:42:33.280 --> 0:42:36.239 We're happy that you came b a fan. Make sure 0:42:36.239 --> 0:42:39.160 you follow Matthew A. Cherry on all the socials, and 0:42:39.200 --> 0:42:42.560 make sure you support young Love because you know, I 0:42:42.680 --> 0:42:45.040 just I just love having Brown and Vision folks on here. 0:42:45.120 --> 0:42:50.719 Get your HBO Max logins in shape, find out who 0:42:50.760 --> 0:42:51.719 you can borrow from. 0:42:51.600 --> 0:42:54.400 No doubt. Yeah, we will hope to have more information 0:42:54.520 --> 0:42:57.239 out about Assume, like the release date and trailers and 0:42:57.280 --> 0:42:57.600 all that. 0:42:57.800 --> 0:42:59.239 Oh I can't wait to see the trailers. 0:42:59.280 --> 0:43:03.440 Okay, awesome, all right until next week, guys, Thank you 0:43:03.440 --> 0:43:04.320 Brownovision family. 0:43:04.400 --> 0:43:06.720 Appreciate Hey, ba. 0:43:06.640 --> 0:43:09.600 Fam, We could not do this show without your support 0:43:09.800 --> 0:43:12.440 or the support of our team behind the scenes. The 0:43:12.440 --> 0:43:15.680 Brown and Vision podcast is produced by Imani Crosby and 0:43:15.760 --> 0:43:19.319 Dennis Stanplinsky is our in house tech guru. I am 0:43:19.320 --> 0:43:21.960 your co host Mandy Woodrif Santos, and we will see 0:43:22.000 --> 0:43:26.239 y'all next week, BA Fam.