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Speaker 1: my heart. My next guest is on the phone called in.
Speaker 1: I made him one time and it was one of
Speaker 1: our screenings that the movie uh, I Think Like a Man,
Speaker 1: very first movie we did. Um. He's an incredible TV
Speaker 1: and film director, producer, and writer. He has directed television
Speaker 1: shows Check This Out, Slow Down That when you see
Speaker 1: a lot of people sad, the direct Stuff, Okay, this
Speaker 1: guy Wrestlemans, Crazy, Empire, Power, How to Get Away with Murder,
Speaker 1: The Flash which I love, Blind Spot which I love,
Speaker 1: Criminal Mind which I love, Being Mary Jane which I love,
Speaker 1: Errol which I love, Castle Grays Anatomy, their Vampire Diaries,
Speaker 1: Bones the Original which I love. Currently directing See That
Speaker 1: is All American. He has produced movies like I said there,
Speaker 1: Think like a Man, Think like a Man. To Stump
Speaker 1: the Yard. That's when I first discovered him way back
Speaker 1: when so we can play that game. Is currently director
Speaker 1: and EP director of The c W. That means when
Speaker 1: your EP and your director, that means you get to
Speaker 1: two checks to check You're to check. Man Inspired of
Speaker 1: inspired by the life of NFL player Spencer Pasenger. Please
Speaker 1: work on the money making conversations. Rob Hardy, Hey, how
Speaker 1: you doing? Hey? Rob? How are you doing? My friends?
Speaker 1: I'm doing good, man, I'm doing good. I appreciate first
Speaker 1: of all, thank you for coming on my show. And uh,
Speaker 1: like I told everybody on the air, uh, you know,
Speaker 1: I met you one time and I first screening when
Speaker 1: we did uh Think Like a Man, which we went
Speaker 1: on to a huge success. But you you're You're interesting.
Speaker 1: I'm glad they got you on on the on the
Speaker 1: phone and right now on my show, and I want
Speaker 1: you to be a regular in my life because you're
Speaker 1: one of those talents that flies on the radar but
Speaker 1: just as busy as heck? Am I saying that wrong?
Speaker 1: Or are you all? Or everybody know about you? And
Speaker 1: I'm just the last one to find out about you now,
Speaker 1: I don't know if everybody knows, but but you know,
Speaker 1: I've had a good run so far, so so I
Speaker 1: can't complain. I can't complain. Well, just it's really different
Speaker 1: because of social media and the way the digital world
Speaker 1: works nowadays, is that you always start. It used to
Speaker 1: be the day where you know the talent was the star.
Speaker 1: Now executive producers are stars, writers or stars, and directors
Speaker 1: or stars because people can follow you. How is it that,
Speaker 1: How has that changed? Because you've seen the change from
Speaker 1: stuff to yard to now, how has that changed the
Speaker 1: way you present yourself or are you all you communicate
Speaker 1: with your fans? Yeah? You know. I think social media
Speaker 1: has played like a really big, you know, part in
Speaker 1: in how a lot of directors and and producers are perceived.
Speaker 1: I think that when when I was coming up, if
Speaker 1: you were Spike Lee or Robert Towrenson or Singleton or
Speaker 1: somebody like that, we knew you because you were kind
Speaker 1: of like a celebrity and you did commercials and people
Speaker 1: saw your face, but you didn't really see that in
Speaker 1: the TV world, you didn't know who directed your favorite
Speaker 1: episode of whatever show it was, you know, Good Times
Speaker 1: or Martin or some show. But now, because of social media,
Speaker 1: you get a chance to follow people who get to
Speaker 1: see behind the scenes, You get to see the you know, directors, producers, um,
Speaker 1: you know, posing with the cast. And it's the much
Speaker 1: different thing now because I think now, um, it's all
Speaker 1: about it's all about the fact that we are um,
Speaker 1: you know more accessible than we used to be back
Speaker 1: in the day. So that's that's really important because that's
Speaker 1: why I was excited that you can't you you're you're
Speaker 1: on my show because my show is about entrepreneurs entrepreneurship
Speaker 1: and entertainment, and my show is about the business side
Speaker 1: and also and discovering unique talents like you that just
Speaker 1: just have a dominant voice. Because I look at your
Speaker 1: look at your resume and you're not an urban director,
Speaker 1: you know you you're you're crossing over? How does that
Speaker 1: nothing negative? I'm just trying to how people understand how
Speaker 1: are you able to do that? What in your resume
Speaker 1: is allowing you to do you know, go from a
Speaker 1: Vampire Diaries to the flash to Mary being Mary Jane?
Speaker 1: So how how are you accomplishing that task? Well, you know,
Speaker 1: when when I first started out, me and Will Packer
Speaker 1: were business partners and we had our company, Ranford Films,
Speaker 1: and all the movies that we did were kind of,
Speaker 1: you know, in the urban space, so basically you know,
Speaker 1: movies the movie starring us. And when I got in
Speaker 1: the TV, I apprenticed on g R this hospital show
Speaker 1: that was going on, and when I was doing that,
Speaker 1: and I shadowed on that show. That was the first
Speaker 1: television show that I did. And so when that happened,
Speaker 1: it opened the door for other shows like and so
Speaker 1: for all men on big networks, um that might only
Speaker 1: have one or two, you know, people of color in
Speaker 1: the cast. And I was kind of doing that for
Speaker 1: a while. And it was funny because I think the
Speaker 1: first you know show I did it actually had a
Speaker 1: predominantly black cast was The Game. And when I first
Speaker 1: did that, some of my friends like, oh, so you
Speaker 1: do TV now, and I was like, no, No, I've
Speaker 1: been doing TV for like five years. You know. It
Speaker 1: was in a different shows. There was Criminal Minds or
Speaker 1: you know, another show like that. So I think because
Speaker 1: I kind of started TV there, it opened me up
Speaker 1: to do a whole lot of different things. You know,
Speaker 1: I'm I'm gonna get on you about this. You know
Speaker 1: you you say e R you know a little hospital show?
Speaker 1: What just one of the biggest hospital shows, drama shows
Speaker 1: in the history of television. U creator what johns Wales
Speaker 1: created that show? Correct, he did. He's in a John
Speaker 1: Wells and shoes. He did everything from Shameless, The Southman
Speaker 1: and Smith West Wayne. You know, uh, Third Watch, that's
Speaker 1: all John Wells, nothing like being connected. Mr Hardy, Okay,
Speaker 1: hey man, I'm just hey, I'm you know, well you
Speaker 1: know that that but but you know that's that's important
Speaker 1: because when people I jokingly say that, but you know,
Speaker 1: that's how it is. Relationships. Then in this business, what
Speaker 1: people think of you, and and you know, when you're
Speaker 1: doing one job, you know you're actually looking for your
Speaker 1: next job. You know, and it sounds crazy, even though
Speaker 1: you have Laurel to here. You have to realize that
Speaker 1: a plug can be pulled. You know that, you have
Speaker 1: to realize that multiple strings of income is important to
Speaker 1: your life. And then you have to make these decisions.
Speaker 1: So when you're sitting around and looking at these shows
Speaker 1: like like The Flash and I look at which is
Speaker 1: totally different from Power, tell us how you how do you?
Speaker 1: How do you do that? How do you the Flash? Power?
Speaker 1: How do you do you? As a director? How do
Speaker 1: you sit down and then conceptionalized how to move forward
Speaker 1: with the way you direct those shows? Those two different shows.
Speaker 1: You know, when you look at uh, the Flash and
Speaker 1: you know Power, they're actually both superhero shows. Like the Flashes,
Speaker 1: you know, a guy that's looking for the people that
Speaker 1: killed his parents or killed his mom in prison his dad,
Speaker 1: and he gets these powers, so he put on the
Speaker 1: costume and goes out to fight crime to solve the mystery.
Speaker 1: Power is a drug dealer who's trying to go legit,
Speaker 1: so he wears the mask of a legit guy while
Speaker 1: he is a drug dealer by night, so he can
Speaker 1: change his stars. So he's trying to be a superhero
Speaker 1: force family trying to change it up, and he's fighting
Speaker 1: the bad guys for him, which is the people stopping
Speaker 1: him from doing what he has to do. And they
Speaker 1: all have, you know, themes that we can relate to,
Speaker 1: wanting to prolong, wanting to be better, wanting to look
Speaker 1: out for your family. And I think that you know,
Speaker 1: as a storyteller, whenever you can, you know, make things
Speaker 1: relatable to all of us, you know, whether you like
Speaker 1: superheroes or not, then you win as as a filmmaker
Speaker 1: because you make people care about the story. That is amazing.
Speaker 1: It's the truth. It's absolutely truth. Like one of my
Speaker 1: favorite series on Netflix is called Knuckles, His Knuckles, and
Speaker 1: that show is really about parody. You know, you have
Speaker 1: a guy, Okay, how horrible he is, he's still trying
Speaker 1: to do good for his family, but unfortunately he does
Speaker 1: so many bad things to other people to satisfy his
Speaker 1: personal gains. And when you look at when you when
Speaker 1: you when you carve it down to that, like you said,
Speaker 1: a superhero trying to do good in this situation, drug
Speaker 1: dealer in other situations. He has powers that are that
Speaker 1: outrageously fast, and so those things are really how you say,
Speaker 1: you'd really just go to the core of something. That's
Speaker 1: that's that's that parallels both of them, and that's how
Speaker 1: you're able to make the transition that's wow. That's how
Speaker 1: you know. It's funny because I think a lot of times,
Speaker 1: on the surface, we could say, man, we're different because
Speaker 1: you know, you grew up here, I grew up there, etcetera, etcetera.
Speaker 1: But underneath the dog, everybody kind of wants the same
Speaker 1: day right as to kind of like you know, be
Speaker 1: secure and like matter, get love, get respected, be a
Speaker 1: part of something. And so I think that all those
Speaker 1: things that I'll be right back, hold that thought right back.
Speaker 1: I just Rashan McDonald. I'm on he's on the phone.
Speaker 1: He's incredible. I'm gonna just word incredible. I'm a fan.
Speaker 1: He's currently the EP and director of the c W
Speaker 1: is an all American series. Uh that's uh, that's that's
Speaker 1: this winning. He directed such TV shows as Empire, Power,
Speaker 1: How to Get Away with Murder, The Flash, The blind Spot,
Speaker 1: Criminal Minds, Being Mary Jane Arrow Castle, Gray's Anatomy, The
Speaker 1: Vampire Diariest produced movies like Think Like a Man too.
Speaker 1: I know something about that executive producer on that movie,
Speaker 1: Think Like a Man. I know I was a NEXTI
Speaker 1: on that movie. But stop the yard just when he's
Speaker 1: a funny story about that rob about the stuff the
Speaker 1: yard is that I remember when that movie came out.
Speaker 1: Were you were you still in college, when you graduating
Speaker 1: from college when you got involved with that movie. Now,
Speaker 1: we just we had graduated. So basically when we were
Speaker 1: we went to me and when we went to sam
Speaker 1: u V Florida and the university shout out. And when
Speaker 1: we were down here, man, go ahead and go get
Speaker 1: that alpha stuff out, that old alpha stuff out. You
Speaker 1: know that a fire stuff. You fam me on it.
Speaker 1: Get the A five a altum. You already know we
Speaker 1: we we were a new boy fraternite all day. So
Speaker 1: you know we were We came from that experience and
Speaker 1: when we were at FAM We shot a movie down
Speaker 1: there across Chocolate City and it was about college life.
Speaker 1: And then, you know, almost ten years after that, we
Speaker 1: got the chance to do Stop the Yard, so we
Speaker 1: shot that in Atlanta, UM and it was we shouted
Speaker 1: at Morris Brown Clark and Moorehouse. And for us to
Speaker 1: be able to kind of go back to the college
Speaker 1: world after that and deal with fraternities and step dancing
Speaker 1: and all of that, it was it was a really
Speaker 1: big deal for us. And it wound up being our
Speaker 1: first number one film that we did at screens Shifts,
Speaker 1: So that that turned us from you know, the indie
Speaker 1: filmmakers two guys that could make money in Hollywood. So
Speaker 1: that was a big deal. Here's the funny part about
Speaker 1: at the time I was I started to Steve Harvey
Speaker 1: Radio Network on Steve Harvey Morning Show in New York
Speaker 1: City and UM, and so I had the ability to
Speaker 1: be able to talk to at the time, I think
Speaker 1: it was in forty markets at the time, and I
Speaker 1: knew stuff The Yard was coming out, and in my mind,
Speaker 1: I don't even know you. In my mind, I liked
Speaker 1: the movie. I liked the concept and everything my goal
Speaker 1: was to was to promote this movie to make it
Speaker 1: number one, because I felt that we needed to start
Speaker 1: started started leveraging these young African American movies so they're
Speaker 1: gonna be profitable. But remember Gospel came out and I
Speaker 1: did the same thing with that, and it was Stump
Speaker 1: the Yard came out. I did the same thing with that.
Speaker 1: So in some in in a way, you know, I
Speaker 1: didn't even have a relationship with you, and then years
Speaker 1: move forward, then you're the one of the reasons that
Speaker 1: we had a successful movie like Think Like a Man.
Speaker 1: So it is about placing those nuggets and dropping those
Speaker 1: little moments of relationships. And I did it on the
Speaker 1: Steve Harry Morning Show, pushing the movie that I only
Speaker 1: knew that I enjoyed the concept, I enjoyed the storyline.
Speaker 1: Didn't know who you two guys were from family. But
Speaker 1: today one of the one of the incredible directors in
Speaker 1: our business, one the incredible producers in our business, and
Speaker 1: Will Packer one of incredible producers in the film business
Speaker 1: and one of the key players in the Kevin Hart
Speaker 1: film game. But also the thing about you that's interesting
Speaker 1: is that you are doing a one man playing. Tell
Speaker 1: me about that. Tell me about that. So basically, there
Speaker 1: there's a there's a one man a woman stage show
Speaker 1: that I have called Amazing Story And it's kind of like,
Speaker 1: you know, a whild back Mike Tyson at his version
Speaker 1: where he traveled around he told his story. So what
Speaker 1: Amazing Stories is. It's kind of like, you know, an
Speaker 1: inspirational Les Brown style. You know, uh, look into into
Speaker 1: how you make it in the business, how you make
Speaker 1: it to your dream. For me it was film and entertainment.
Speaker 1: For somebody else, you could be landscaping or design or
Speaker 1: you know, computer services. But all the tribes and tribulations
Speaker 1: that we go through a people, um are part of
Speaker 1: our story. And I think a lot of times people
Speaker 1: only see this success, so they only see the Instagram posts,
Speaker 1: so they only see you know, um, you know something
Speaker 1: on on Twitter. But what they don't see are all
Speaker 1: the setbacks that you had along the way that really
Speaker 1: helped build those those those bricks to help you step
Speaker 1: up to where you need to go. So Amazing Stories
Speaker 1: it's all about that. It's it's how to how to
Speaker 1: two kids from family with no experience and no hook
Speaker 1: up go on to have successful careers in TV and
Speaker 1: movies and still be there now and like what does
Speaker 1: that mean and how does that look to have a family,
Speaker 1: try to have money in your pocket, to try to
Speaker 1: have ballots to try to deal with you know, kicking
Speaker 1: down doors and holding them open for other people that
Speaker 1: look like you. So that's that's that's a real passive
Speaker 1: project for me. Now it's it's it's a tour down
Speaker 1: or it's just a whole it's something you're about to
Speaker 1: be about to launch. So what we did was, um,
Speaker 1: we we went on tour with it. And so we
Speaker 1: went and we started in Atlanta, We did New Orleans
Speaker 1: for Music Festival. We also did in New York UM
Speaker 1: for the American Black Film Festivals. But what we did
Speaker 1: was we we paused it temporarily because we um have
Speaker 1: started which would kick off next year, the Amazing Stories Foundation.
Speaker 1: So what that means is that when people go and
Speaker 1: support Amazing Stories, when we take it back on the road,
Speaker 1: it's gonna support our foundation. And the Amazing Stories Foundation
Speaker 1: is a is a nonprofit that my wife and I
Speaker 1: set up in Atlanta that basically trains and gives people
Speaker 1: of color and women jobs and in the film business.
Speaker 1: But we're not talking about coming to work as a
Speaker 1: director or writer or producer. No, we're saying that there's
Speaker 1: there's a hundred plus positions behind the scenes of people
Speaker 1: that do everything from hair, makeup, wardrobe, grip, electric catering, whatever.
Speaker 1: And what we want to do is trade our folks
Speaker 1: so that way we can get them jobs. So that
Speaker 1: way you can get a pension, you can get your
Speaker 1: health insurance, you can get t fixed, your wife can
Speaker 1: take some time off from work. And because Georgia is
Speaker 1: one of the top producers of film and TV content,
Speaker 1: we feel like you know, on the places like Atlanta
Speaker 1: that is shut kind of help are people too. So
Speaker 1: we just want to make sure that we create a
Speaker 1: pipeline to to to get our folks to work and
Speaker 1: put some money in pocket. Now, first of all, when
Speaker 1: it goes back out, Rob, I'm in in, so okay,
Speaker 1: just it's just I just help you promote it. I'm in. Okay,
Speaker 1: I'm in. And because first of all your blessing to
Speaker 1: me that just to hear your your tone, your consistency.
Speaker 1: Now when you say we, who is we in the
Speaker 1: in the in the process of putting this back on
Speaker 1: the road, so I can get a sense of of
Speaker 1: how I can help you take it to the next level. Sure,
Speaker 1: sure so. So the person that is running the foundation
Speaker 1: for me is Nina Packer along with Tricia Harris. And
Speaker 1: Tricia used to do a lot of work with uh.
Speaker 1: Uh with Corrector Scott King, Dr. Bernie's King and also
Speaker 1: Ambassador Andrew Young. So they're the ones that are kind
Speaker 1: of help helping to push UM. You know that uh,
Speaker 1: that whole initiative. So you know, as that's on its seat,
Speaker 1: then we will be we will begin to re launch
Speaker 1: the Amazing Stories programs and put it out there. Walter
Speaker 1: Orgin with the company called the l Brand, Sirondo Britain, UM,
Speaker 1: you know, and Latifa Mohamed who come from the Walmart World. UM,
Speaker 1: as far as putting that back out there, uh, to
Speaker 1: really help relaunch the brand, and they expand it so
Speaker 1: that where we can go see the city and talk
Speaker 1: to the people about how to not just make an entertainment,
Speaker 1: but how to live their best lives. Awesome. UH, I
Speaker 1: brought you on the show because you have a hot
Speaker 1: new show on c W. I wanted I got a
Speaker 1: couple of minutes left. Can you tell us about the
Speaker 1: TV show? UM? And UH, just break it down and
Speaker 1: the day comes on and uh so we can start
Speaker 1: watching them a regular basis. Absolutely got a new show
Speaker 1: on the c W network. UM it's called All American.
Speaker 1: It's it's inspired by a true story of a guy
Speaker 1: named Spencer pay Singer who's from South central Los Angeles
Speaker 1: and eventually went on to win the Super Bowl ring
Speaker 1: with the Giants when they beat the Patriots. Our stories
Speaker 1: about a young kid from South Crenshaw High UM in
Speaker 1: high school, he gets recruited UM to go play football
Speaker 1: at Beverly Hills High. When he gets there, the kids
Speaker 1: um don't really accept them. When he goes back home,
Speaker 1: the kids back home don't really accept him because he left.
Speaker 1: So it's like, what do you do when you have
Speaker 1: an opportunity better yourself and it's not all that you
Speaker 1: think it's gonna be when you get there and your
Speaker 1: people back home don't really support you. He gets recruited
Speaker 1: by Tay Dix, who basically is the coach of the
Speaker 1: Beverly Hills football team, who in our story is a
Speaker 1: guy from Crenshaw is same high school who went on
Speaker 1: to the NFL and married a woman and his son
Speaker 1: is the quarterback of the of the of the of
Speaker 1: the Beverly team and they all feel threatened by the
Speaker 1: fact that the new kid is here. So it's it's
Speaker 1: a show that deals with everything from you know, trying
Speaker 1: to make it as an athlete to all of our
Speaker 1: social issues of trying to fit in. And what we
Speaker 1: discover is is that all things in Beverly Hills are
Speaker 1: sweet and sugary, and all things in Crenshaw or South
Speaker 1: Central aren't just mean, nasty and about gangs. There's balance
Speaker 1: in both worlds. There's love in both worlds. There's danger
Speaker 1: in both worlds. But our show looks at everything from classism, colorism,
Speaker 1: police discrimination, you know, the sports world and just trying
Speaker 1: to make it. So it's nine pm Eastern on the
Speaker 1: c W, nine pm Easter on the c W every Wednesday.
Speaker 1: It's called All American and the it's a new series,
Speaker 1: And on the c W website they have the h
Speaker 1: the previous episodes. Well, man, I'm gonna get a Banner'm
Speaker 1: gonna post that Rob. I'm gonna get your number. I
Speaker 1: like you, man, I like you a lot. I'm a fan.
Speaker 1: Could do launch of dinner, you know, hook up. I
Speaker 1: want to promote anything that you're associated with from now on.
Speaker 1: I really am impressed with you as a person. I
Speaker 1: really thank you for coming on my show man, and
Speaker 1: just keep winning, my friend, just keep winning. I appreciate that. Man.
Speaker 1: I forget you having me and listen. I just want
Speaker 1: to give you a shout out for inspiring so many people.
Speaker 1: I see you, I see your energy, So I'm looking
Speaker 1: forward to uh awesome. Listening makes us smarter, more connected people.
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