Speaker 1: Hello, and welcome to the Spirited Actor Podcast with me
Speaker 1: Tracy Moore. I was a casting director for film and
Speaker 1: TV and commercials for over thirty years. I transitioned to
Speaker 1: a celebrity acting coach after I cast a film New
Speaker 1: Jersey Drive with executive producers Spike Lee and director Nick Domez.
Speaker 1: I auditioned every rapper from biggiees Balls to Tupac, and
Speaker 1: I realized that rappers and musical artists they needed help
Speaker 1: transitioning to acting. My clients consist of musical artists from
Speaker 1: Buster Rhymes to Eve, Missy Elliott, Angela Yee from The
Speaker 1: Breakfast Club, and Vanessa Simmons, to name a few. I
Speaker 1: also coach sports stars and host as well. I feel
Speaker 1: I have the best of both worlds. As a casting director,
Speaker 1: I know exactly what they're looking for, and as an
Speaker 1: acting coach, I can coach you to be remembered in
Speaker 1: that room. Now I know, I know actors want to
Speaker 1: get the job. I get that, but being remembered by
Speaker 1: a casting director that is powerful. And now it's time
Speaker 1: for meditation of the day. I wish I could show
Speaker 1: you when you are lonely or in the darkness, the
Speaker 1: astonishing light of your own being anonymous. I want to
Speaker 1: say this to you that when we are quote unquote
Speaker 1: struggling or we are challenged in life, I want to
Speaker 1: tell everyone to hold on, just hold on. Yes it
Speaker 1: can be frustrating, Yes it can be anxiety and stress,
Speaker 1: but I believe that through darkness there is light, and
Speaker 1: I believe that the darkness is a part of our
Speaker 1: growth as human beings. We have to understand pain to
Speaker 1: understand joy. We have to understand happiness to understand sadness,
Speaker 1: So it's all inclusive in this game of life. Today,
Speaker 1: I will approach every day standing and knowing there is
Speaker 1: light at the end of the tunnel. Before we get started,
Speaker 1: I like to remind everyone to go to Crackle Network
Speaker 1: to view seasons one and two of my show Inside
Speaker 1: the Black Box that I co host with the great
Speaker 1: Emmy Award winning Joe Morton. Look out for news on
Speaker 1: season three soon. Welcome to the Spirited Actor Podcast with
Speaker 1: me Tracy Moore. You are in for a phenomenal treat.
Speaker 1: I just met our guest and I am so thrilled
Speaker 1: to have her on the show. I want you all
Speaker 1: to please put your hands together and stand up for
Speaker 1: ifa Lewis. She is currently the co executive producer of
Speaker 1: Grown Ish and I know you guys know Kenya Barris.
Speaker 1: We talk about, you know, all types of people who
Speaker 1: are making moves in this industry. She has a plethora
Speaker 1: of things going on. So I want our interview to
Speaker 1: and be inclusive of that. Please put your hands together
Speaker 1: for Lisa Lewis.
Speaker 2: Thank you, thank you, thank you.
Speaker 1: Thank you for coming on the shadow, Issa having me.
Speaker 2: I'm so excited to talk to you.
Speaker 1: You are so beautiful.
Speaker 3: Thank you as you want to like youtiful black women.
Speaker 2: Just having a good, cool conversation, right right.
Speaker 1: I've wraggled all levels.
Speaker 4: I'm looking at you like she would be a great
Speaker 4: agiss But okay.
Speaker 1: I know I'm not talking about it because that's the
Speaker 1: same with me.
Speaker 2: I got you Iza, yes, ma'am.
Speaker 1: When I vent your bio, I was ecstatic to meet you,
Speaker 1: not only on your work, but so nineteen ninety seven
Speaker 1: Buster Rhymes did the way and show you did.
Speaker 2: I was there.
Speaker 1: I've been so much twenty eight years.
Speaker 2: You're kidding.
Speaker 1: We just finished Naked Guy last month in Atlanta.
Speaker 2: You're kidding.
Speaker 1: No, And I became best friends with Anne Marie on
Speaker 1: the show and still my best friend today.
Speaker 5: Wow, that's that's a way to tell you we either
Speaker 5: see each other or you helped me something, you know
Speaker 5: what I mean.
Speaker 3: That's I mean, that is a that is a crazy
Speaker 3: So I'm busting Rhyme's obsessed like he's one of the
Speaker 3: he's one of the few.
Speaker 2: I'm upset. Like, let me tell you one of my favorite.
Speaker 3: Moments in the last when when we were during COVID
Speaker 3: and everyone was sort of like locking into versus A.
Speaker 3: There was the dipset locks versus and before that, why
Speaker 3: Cleft was like getting the crowd hyped or whatever, and
Speaker 3: I have to catch this and he passes the mic
Speaker 3: and he sees bussing the crowd and he was like, yo,
Speaker 3: buss come up and.
Speaker 2: They're a Madison Square garden. He's like, come on, bear,
Speaker 2: do something. Start screaming. They put on put your hands
Speaker 2: on my first. They put on the song.
Speaker 3: Right, I, like I was thirteen, started jumping on my bed.
Speaker 2: My friends were like, what the fuck is Wun't he
Speaker 2: but his energy. I'm just such a huge fan.
Speaker 3: Yeah, it was a big one of the memories from
Speaker 3: the show that I remember because I'm such a huge
Speaker 3: fan of his.
Speaker 2: So I so, that's crazy that you were there. That's crazy.
Speaker 1: I was there. I was there, and I came back
Speaker 1: because I did a show with Missy Elliott. I coached
Speaker 1: Missy too. She did a guest starring Real Quick, playing herself.
Speaker 1: But this was after Buster. But I'll never forget being
Speaker 1: on the set because Marlon was so wonderful and so accommodating.
Speaker 1: And then the same with Anna. That's how we hooked up.
Speaker 1: We were just laughing on the set. But what I
Speaker 1: read through a bio, I was like, she was probably
Speaker 1: twelve years old, being a PA or something.
Speaker 3: Running around, acting, running around, just trying to get out
Speaker 3: the way.
Speaker 2: We had a lot of fun on that show, a lot.
Speaker 1: That's oh my god. We only did one show and
Speaker 1: I was like, I don't want to leave.
Speaker 2: It was great, it was amazing.
Speaker 1: So I'm glad that that was our first indirect, you know, connection,
Speaker 1: but we just didn't know. And etha sidebar, he's on
Speaker 1: tour with Sierra and Missy. So I got you in La,
Speaker 1: I got.
Speaker 3: You got okay, listen don't know with a sign and listen,
Speaker 3: I will be savored. Listen, listen, listen, don't play with me.
Speaker 3: I will have you at the show him backstage?
Speaker 2: Oh, okay, we'll have to.
Speaker 1: That would be I was talking to him last night, like.
Speaker 3: My daughter, I'm gonna drag my daughter so she'll be
Speaker 3: so embarrassed because I I can't.
Speaker 2: I love him so much. He's amazing.
Speaker 1: Well, it's a done deal. That's that's nothing for me. Good.
Speaker 1: Buster and Eve are the longest clients that I've had.
Speaker 1: I've been with you for twenty seven years. Yeah, so
Speaker 1: it's amazing. Yeah, it's a blessing. And I said to
Speaker 1: him last night, I said, the thing about you, Bust,
Speaker 1: is that every time I think I can't love you more,
Speaker 1: something happens that I love you before and we would
Speaker 1: just screen. I was like, because I was like, all
Speaker 1: this said that they can good. I was like, oh
Speaker 1: my god, I have more love for him. It's that
Speaker 1: there and this time in his life, Lisa is absolutely outstanding. Outstanding,
Speaker 1: but not without you know, going through and Chris Slidy
Speaker 1: pass and all of that. But I got you, so sidebar,
Speaker 1: I'm going to get tir information and hook you up
Speaker 1: and I'm gonna send you some pitches. So what it
Speaker 1: happened was, ladies and gentlemen, we have I am so
Speaker 1: happy to have you on the show because we have
Speaker 1: a lot of you know, nowadays, everybody's multi hyphenated. And
Speaker 1: in my acting class, I have a homework assignment where
Speaker 1: I in the proper format, they have to write a scene,
Speaker 1: a three page scene with two characters that they're allowed
Speaker 1: to direct. And so I've been teaching for twenty eight
Speaker 1: years and we've discovered a lot of writers. They've gone
Speaker 1: a film that's Wills created, you know, short films, featured films.
Speaker 1: I would like you to take our audience through the
Speaker 1: process of how you became such an acclaimed writer co
Speaker 1: executive producer. But we'll start with the writing first, because
Speaker 1: writing that's a lonely business. But I love it.
Speaker 2: I love it well. So here's the thing.
Speaker 3: This is a bit of false advertising because I have
Speaker 3: one of the most unconventional stories or pathways to writing.
Speaker 3: It was I didn't care about writing at all. Writing
Speaker 3: was not my jam. I thought I was going to
Speaker 3: be an entertainment attorney. That's why I was at Howard.
Speaker 3: I wanted to be in the music industry by way
Speaker 3: of well, you know, you go to HBC, you're gonna
Speaker 3: you have to sing or dance, or act or something.
Speaker 3: So we tried our hand in singing not so hot so,
Speaker 3: but I really.
Speaker 2: Wanted to be in music. That's where I saw myself.
Speaker 3: So when I left Howard, I worked at Deaf Jam
Speaker 3: for a year and then I understood the music business
Speaker 3: as a business and I was like, oh no, no,
Speaker 3: this will kill me because I love music so much
Speaker 3: that I can't It's set up in a way that
Speaker 3: is not artist friendly. So it would have felt like
Speaker 3: being a civil rights attorney. So Marlin is a little
Speaker 3: bit older than me, but we had befriended each other
Speaker 3: at Howard through mutual friends, and so I found myself
Speaker 3: without a dream because now I'm not going to be
Speaker 3: an entertainment attorney and that was what I wanted to do.
Speaker 3: So he was like, well, come over to the show
Speaker 3: and we'll find something for you to do. So I
Speaker 3: was the assistant to the executive producers for three three
Speaker 3: seasons and the fourth season I just happened to write
Speaker 3: a spec Transparently speaking, I found out what writers earn,
Speaker 3: and I was like, I would be a fool to
Speaker 3: not try to learn.
Speaker 2: Girl, you better learn how to write a script.
Speaker 3: So I was I was, you know, very tenacious and
Speaker 3: focused and would go I didn't think I had a
Speaker 3: computer at the time, or at least I didn't have
Speaker 3: the script software. So I would go up to the
Speaker 3: office on the weekends and learn, teaching myself the script
Speaker 3: writing software. And they happened to buy my specscript from
Speaker 3: me and they shot at the last season of the show.
Speaker 3: So I was like, okay, cool, like I'll do this,
Speaker 3: like you know, you're making all this money and it's
Speaker 3: I'm working with friends, and they were going to give
Speaker 3: me the staffed writing position.
Speaker 2: How do we come back?
Speaker 3: But we got canceled the day before they announced the
Speaker 3: It would have been the sixth season. So I was like, ah,
Speaker 3: so that sort of put my writing career, you know,
Speaker 3: in terms of like being paid as a writer on hold.
Speaker 2: But I still sort of had the bug. At that point.
Speaker 3: I was like, Oh, this is interesting, and let me
Speaker 3: just see how I can sort of evolve that cut
Speaker 3: to I get pregnant. Oh, and you know, writing is
Speaker 3: a hustle, so back then I was like, I can't.
Speaker 3: My daughter needs almond milk, so we can't trying to
Speaker 3: play this reindeer yet.
Speaker 2: Hustling for you know what I mean?
Speaker 3: Like I was like Yes, So I went back to
Speaker 3: music because that was where I had the primary the
Speaker 3: bulk of my relationships ran.
Speaker 2: Alated for a while.
Speaker 3: Fast forward, that sort of morphed into marketing and so
Speaker 3: I was doing a lot. I created my own agency
Speaker 3: and was doing like a really strategic marketing for you know,
Speaker 3: brands like.
Speaker 2: A gun, like a like an assassin.
Speaker 3: Right, So I didn't have all the red tape of
Speaker 3: big companies, but I was kind of able to go
Speaker 3: in and make money and meet people, and that morphed
Speaker 3: into an advertising job. So I started as a project
Speaker 3: manager and for about thirteen years I grew with the
Speaker 3: company called Quantity in La Black owned digital shop, and
Speaker 3: we evolved and when I left, I was the fourth hire.
Speaker 3: When I left, it was about thirty people with the
Speaker 3: company and we had huge clients like City National Bank
Speaker 3: in Honda and Google and Wells Fargo and ended up
Speaker 3: happening was So here's the getting back to the initial question.
Speaker 2: Kenya Barns.
Speaker 3: Keny and I have been friends since we were thirteen
Speaker 3: and and he is one of the most you know,
Speaker 3: across industry. I've never seen anyone champion black people or
Speaker 3: people of color. I've never seen anyone champion women, and
Speaker 3: I've never seen champion people that would not get the
Speaker 3: shot who he saw talk like Kenya And so to
Speaker 3: our friendship, you know, he always when he found out
Speaker 3: that I was writing later in life, he was like, yo,
Speaker 3: you should you know, don't stop writing. And I was like, dude,
Speaker 3: I'm in milk. And so then, uh, I'm you know,
Speaker 3: I've settled into advertising and I had, you know, and
Speaker 3: he comes and he's like, I got a show East
Speaker 3: it's you know, I got Blackish and come and you know,
Speaker 3: be a writer's assistant or be a stuck you know whatever.
Speaker 3: I was like, nope, I got this key job. I
Speaker 3: have a parking space. My check is gonna come every
Speaker 3: two weeks. It's not going to be a lot of money,
Speaker 3: but I know it's coming right. And I just I was,
Speaker 3: you know, I was so single, momming and so like
Speaker 3: scared to take a leap that I told him no,
Speaker 3: and that no persisted for four years. This is long
Speaker 3: after Blackish had turned into a thing. I was too scared.
Speaker 3: I was like, I can't. So what ended up happening
Speaker 3: was in my I was a group account director now
Speaker 3: and at in my ad job, and now we were
Speaker 3: starting to get into the content space and creating content
Speaker 3: for some of our clients, and we had taken on
Speaker 3: some celebrity clients.
Speaker 2: And I was being.
Speaker 3: Asked because we were still even with thirty, we were
Speaker 3: still sort of lean, and I was a strategist and
Speaker 3: that was my primary function. I was always pulled into
Speaker 3: creative conversations. And so we were creating content for our
Speaker 3: talent that I wasn't gonna, you know, individually get any
Speaker 3: credit for, nor was I going to get paid for.
Speaker 3: And I realized that that was sort of being was
Speaker 3: being folded into the job. Simultaneously, Kenya had asked me
Speaker 3: to participate. He was writing a book and just sort
Speaker 3: of want in my eyes, you know, just because he
Speaker 3: was getting super busy. He had launched grown Ish you
Speaker 3: know girls ship. I think it was either coming out
Speaker 3: or had come out. He was like, you know, he
Speaker 3: was the eCos sort of changing for him pretty dramatically,
Speaker 3: and and he got he got me through this project
Speaker 3: to sort of like reimagine my career or what I
Speaker 3: wanted to do, because what I was doing was now
Speaker 3: sort of using a muscle that I had thought atropheed
Speaker 3: even though it wasn't a TV project. It was a
Speaker 3: book project, but so sort of it was like revisions
Speaker 3: and writing, and he ended up firing the guy that
Speaker 3: I had come to come into support and I end
Speaker 3: up the person and I was like, you, you fuck me.
Speaker 2: This was not it's not agreement.
Speaker 3: And so at the end of the so then he
Speaker 3: got too busy to even do the project. And then
Speaker 3: he called me my day, yo, leaving ABC for Netflix.
Speaker 3: And I know you've told me no all these times,
Speaker 3: but if there's anything in your body that says you
Speaker 3: don't want to live and die in advertising, I'm right
Speaker 3: now because I don't know what my world is going
Speaker 3: to look like, and right now I still have a.
Speaker 2: Handle on my world. And I'm a real spiritual girl.
Speaker 3: And I was fixing my mouth to say no, and
Speaker 3: God was like, uh uh, how are you kidding? So
Speaker 3: fast forward, you know, I just sort of lept. I
Speaker 3: told I told my boss, my chairman at Quantity, who
Speaker 3: was unbelievably supportive, that you know, I had to sort
Speaker 3: of go. And by this time, also Harlem Harlem is
Speaker 3: my daughter, and she was to graduate. Yeah, she was
Speaker 3: about to graduate from from a school at independent school
Speaker 3: out here and we knew she was going to Howard.
Speaker 3: So all of the things that I was using to
Speaker 3: sort of prevent myself from taking any kind of like
Speaker 3: major shift career wise were no longer that I could
Speaker 3: sort of hide behind, and so I ended my tenure
Speaker 3: at Quantity on a Thursday and Monday, I was in
Speaker 3: a room of seventeen writers at Blackish season five. And
Speaker 3: I've been really, really blessed to not really have any
Speaker 3: dips in my working life since. So I say that
Speaker 3: to say that is not the way that writers.
Speaker 2: Write, you know, yeah, it's just not how it works.
Speaker 3: But but hopefully what someone could glean because I know
Speaker 3: when people ask those questions, you're listening for those nuggets,
Speaker 3: those like that, you know, resilience or whatever. And so
Speaker 3: what I can say by way of that story is,
Speaker 3: you know, fear will one percent anything, and you never
Speaker 3: know how it's going to show up. You know what
Speaker 3: I'm saying, You never know. Yes, I did not envision
Speaker 3: myself being a writer. I could always communicate through writing,
Speaker 3: and I was always a decent speaker, like weirded out
Speaker 3: by it, but I did not think. I thought that
Speaker 3: my passion was my purpose. Writing is my purpose. Music
Speaker 3: was my passion, and so being able to sort of
Speaker 3: delineate and differentiate between the two, I think is the
Speaker 3: reason why I'm doing what I'm doing.
Speaker 1: So so one I have to really I appreciate love.
Speaker 1: I don't say appreciate, but I appreciate love, your transparency,
Speaker 1: in your honesty, because I was a single mom as well,
Speaker 1: and as a single mom, you gotta do what you
Speaker 1: got to do, like I hear you, but I was
Speaker 1: in that two week. I need consistency. And also I
Speaker 1: think that the way that life.
Speaker 6: I'm I'm a little older, but I left home August fifteenth,
Speaker 6: nineteen eighty three, at twenty one the two hundred dollars
Speaker 6: a one way ticket.
Speaker 1: In a trunk. But I came here with a dream
Speaker 1: and I only knew two people. And the truth is
Speaker 1: I know too many now in a loving way. But
Speaker 1: United States, ninety eight countries, in Africa, whatever. But this
Speaker 1: wasn't the plan. I came here like I'm directing broadly,
Speaker 1: like it was just gonna be that fimble right. But
Speaker 1: I love the fact that whatever your spiritual belief is,
Speaker 1: God has a way. God's plan is always better than
Speaker 1: our plan, always, So I don't even rely on my
Speaker 1: plans anymore. I The other thing that I love is
Speaker 1: that in writing and coming from a show Blackish and
Speaker 1: Anthony Anderson.
Speaker 6: Is one of my good friends, that the honesty, the
Speaker 6: truth and.
Speaker 1: Unapologetically is the writing on that show. How and I
Speaker 1: know of Kenyuna's background and influence and body of work.
Speaker 1: Was it difficult to in dealing with like the studio
Speaker 1: TV studio, in being able to communicate in that way
Speaker 1: and write in that way?
Speaker 2: We're going to answer, would you like Tracy? I want
Speaker 2: the you like?
Speaker 4: You know?
Speaker 2: So, I will say, and I have to say it.
Speaker 3: I've been I've been really really blessed and fortunate to
Speaker 3: be in Kenya's bubble.
Speaker 2: And what you find is.
Speaker 3: He has been writing almost thirty years and so he
Speaker 3: he he'll go up against anybody, you know what I'm saying,
Speaker 3: He'll go up against for the for the.
Speaker 2: Truth to be able to be expressed.
Speaker 3: And so and so I came in season five after
Speaker 3: they had I mean Blackish was meanted but early, you know,
Speaker 3: and not and not really. I mean, it's a trust thing.
Speaker 3: It's a it's a it's a it's a trust thing.
Speaker 3: It's an experienced thing, it's a POV thing. It's like,
Speaker 3: it's not always like out out like racism or you
Speaker 3: know what I'm saying, It's not all but yeah, but
Speaker 3: you have to you have to be steady, and you
Speaker 3: have to be really really clear. And Kenya when he
Speaker 3: has when he's locked into the idea, he's very very clear.
Speaker 3: He's very intentional, and so that's sort of toality I too.
Speaker 3: You know, it's almost like someone who interviews a married
Speaker 3: couple after thirty years. After thirty years, figured out it's
Speaker 3: different than you're it's different than you're fifteen, it's different
Speaker 3: than your twenty. So you figured out what battles to fight,
Speaker 3: what battles not to fight, and and you have some
Speaker 3: track record that transit direction under your belt. So there
Speaker 3: weren't a lot There wasn't a lot of friction I
Speaker 3: was in when I was joined when I joined the
Speaker 3: show between you know, the staff and the things that
Speaker 3: we wanted to do and the network in the studio.
Speaker 3: The network in the studio I think were very accommodating,
Speaker 3: and where they weren't, they probably learned that he was
Speaker 3: right in moments, you know, But yeah, that does exist.
Speaker 3: I mean, there have been other shows that I've worked on,
Speaker 3: even though they had been his shows where the the
Speaker 3: pushback was a little bit there. You know, there's moments.
Speaker 3: But I again, very very fortunate Kenya has been able
Speaker 3: to One of his superpowers is being able to take
Speaker 3: a very specific niche experience and make it digestible and
Speaker 3: mass and people trust him now. So I believe the
Speaker 3: challenges that he may have will still be challenges because.
Speaker 2: It just is what it is.
Speaker 3: But I think people have more faith, which in turn,
Speaker 3: I think allows the door to be open for other
Speaker 3: show creators and writers to sort of take different kinds
Speaker 3: of swings because there is a Blackish or there was
Speaker 3: a black af Like I left Grownish after season five,
Speaker 3: I was like, yo, he's not going to be in
Speaker 3: a room.
Speaker 2: He won't be able to be in a room for
Speaker 2: much longer.
Speaker 3: And every writer that was on Blackish season five was
Speaker 3: it was like the Avengers. I mean it was seventeen
Speaker 3: of us, and it was like everybody was a sharpshooter.
Speaker 3: They had their own specialty, and everyone had been writing
Speaker 3: most of them for many years and had it credited
Speaker 3: him with being such an influential part of their writings journey.
Speaker 3: And so when he announced he was doing black Afi,
Speaker 3: I had hit him. I was like, Yo, can I
Speaker 3: just audit your room while we're in on hiatus and
Speaker 3: I'll go back to Blackish because I want to I
Speaker 3: want to see what the sauces like. I love to
Speaker 3: be able to watch you sort of like because he
Speaker 3: wasn't in the room season five when I got there,
Speaker 3: and and that turned into me actually writing on Black
Speaker 3: af for that season.
Speaker 1: My favorite show.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I one of mine too, And so yeah, all
Speaker 3: that to say, there is pushback. There, There will always back,
Speaker 3: and there will always be pushed back for people that
Speaker 3: have not proven themselves. But I like to think that
Speaker 3: you know the the foundation that he laid in the
Speaker 3: shows that he's created, and thusly the things that we've
Speaker 3: been able to participate in have helped and make it
Speaker 3: a little bit easier for that pushback to sort of
Speaker 3: be pushed back.
Speaker 1: Well. And I want the audience to know that you
Speaker 1: know the reason why I ask you this. I'm not
Speaker 1: going to name the show, but I worked on a
Speaker 1: show with one of my clients who is a person
Speaker 1: of color, and the room was primarily Caucasian, with two
Speaker 1: African American writers, one being the head writer, the African American,
Speaker 1: and we were reading the script and there was some
Speaker 1: dialogue for my client and my client said I would
Speaker 1: never say that, or like I want to rework this line.
Speaker 1: And one of the white writers, male, said you would
Speaker 1: say this line and they were like, no, I wouldn't.
Speaker 1: And so there was some you talked about pushback and
Speaker 1: I'm talking, you know, fifteen twenty years before this, and
Speaker 1: I sat in that room. And I have a show
Speaker 1: with Joe Morton that we host Inside the Black Box
Speaker 1: that I created. We're on Crackle TV. We're also on
Speaker 1: TV Pilo and Apple TV, which we found about yesterday.
Speaker 1: And so the thing, thank you. I am grateful. You
Speaker 1: know there's a business, but yes, I'm very grateful and
Speaker 1: thank you. And I created the show as a platform
Speaker 1: because in nineteen eighty seven, when I was at MTV
Speaker 1: as the only person of color and Kevin Powell, a
Speaker 1: white director, asked me to ask a black man to
Speaker 1: be more ghetto and to be more urban. And so
Speaker 1: I pretended like I didn't know what he was saying.
Speaker 1: So I said, I don't know what you're saying, and
Speaker 1: he said, you know, Tracy, and then he turned into
Speaker 1: Julie Dreyfus and Seinfeld and started doing like jive Tracy more,
Speaker 1: Jive more and I still And then at the end
Speaker 1: of the audition I said to him, I said, you know,
Speaker 1: it's very insulting for you, as a white man to
Speaker 1: tell me, as a black woman, to tell another black
Speaker 1: man who out black himself. And it's based on what
Speaker 1: experience do you have as a black man to even
Speaker 1: say that to me. So I created side the black
Speaker 1: Box four platform for us to speak about the disparages
Speaker 1: that continue to happen in this industry for people of color,
Speaker 1: and then another platform for actors to play and do
Speaker 1: games and improvs with our guests from Jeffrey Wright to
Speaker 1: Debbie Allen to Morgan Rob Morgan and so we've been
Speaker 1: blessed with two seasons there. But my challenge has been
Speaker 1: since the eighties and I used to bring people of
Speaker 1: color in MTV. I was mainly responsible for casting hosts
Speaker 1: on different shows at that time, and they wanted all
Speaker 1: white men and all comedians. But then I went to
Speaker 1: the Boston Comedy Club, found this kid, Dave Chappelle, found
Speaker 1: John Stewart. The rest is history. So it's been a
Speaker 1: fight in twenty twenty four as a co executive producer
Speaker 1: in this industry and a woman of color, What challenges
Speaker 1: do you continue to face in this business or you know,
Speaker 1: have they lessoned?
Speaker 3: So so the challenges that I've had again, I've been
Speaker 3: fortunate to work on shows with the exception I did
Speaker 3: and a show that was released this year DR from
Speaker 3: Detroit that I believe that's on Beachy So.
Speaker 1: We're that show.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's She's brilliant. She's she's brilliant.
Speaker 3: Kenya and DR teamed up to to get that show,
Speaker 3: you know, off the ground and you know, to her credit, could.
Speaker 2: Have written it by herself. I mean, she is, she's
Speaker 2: a writer.
Speaker 3: She started it, she created it, she wrote it, and
Speaker 3: it was the staff wasn't you know, too big. But honestly,
Speaker 3: you know, when you sit with her, you know she
Speaker 3: has it. It's all here. It's just you know, getting
Speaker 3: it out and you know, wanting to have some a
Speaker 3: little bit of like color and context, context that you
Speaker 3: just might not be able to come up with on
Speaker 3: your own. But I say that I only bring that
Speaker 3: show up to say that that was probably the first
Speaker 3: show that I worked on that you know, and it
Speaker 3: wasn't even traditional it wasn't anything traditional in terms of
Speaker 3: like pushback because you know, the executives were tone deaf
Speaker 3: per se. Right, It's always like a balance between your
Speaker 3: art and the best way to you know and sort
Speaker 3: of bring the show to the to market and budget
Speaker 3: and you.
Speaker 2: Know what I'm saying. And you know, it was those
Speaker 2: kind of things. Yeah, But I think I think in.
Speaker 3: General, I think that it is still there is still
Speaker 3: a line that because society is so homogenized now in
Speaker 3: so many ways, there is this blurry area where I
Speaker 3: think non people of color may feel like they have
Speaker 3: a little bit more of an in road to the lives,
Speaker 3: the private lives, the anecdotes, the context for the lives
Speaker 3: of people of color, right, And I think it's good.
Speaker 3: I think that knife can cut both ways. I think
Speaker 3: that you can go on Instagram or go on TikTok,
Speaker 3: or go on a platform and sort of just be
Speaker 3: a fly on the wall, go on you know, Patreon
Speaker 3: or whatever and sort of see kind of like what
Speaker 3: the conversations are like and realize, oh, let me just
Speaker 3: sit here. But I probably shouldn't. You know, if I'm
Speaker 3: a non person of color, think that I can contribute.
Speaker 3: I'm talking about within like a creative space, or or
Speaker 3: maybe I understand that there are limitations to my ability
Speaker 3: to contribute to, you know, a conversation, a creative conversation
Speaker 3: when it's when it's come when it comes time to
Speaker 3: scripting or casting or whatever. And then they're gonna be
Speaker 3: the people that don't feel like that at all, that
Speaker 3: feel like they felt like the man you were talking
Speaker 3: about in the eighties, who feels like they have even
Speaker 3: more license to like weigh in because now I know
Speaker 3: I'm not say it because I saw somebody like you
Speaker 3: saying it blah blah blah blah blah. So I think
Speaker 3: I haven't personally dealt with that kind of pushback. I think,
Speaker 3: you know, I think that there is still the boys club.
Speaker 3: I think that there is still you know, executives that
Speaker 3: won't get it. I think that there are still executives
Speaker 3: who are going to be about, you know, the bottom line.
Speaker 2: I think that the only thing that I will.
Speaker 3: Say, and sort of this turns the question that you're
Speaker 3: asking a little bit on the other side. So I
Speaker 3: don't know how popular this is what I'm getting ready
Speaker 3: to say. I think that what I've learned most and
Speaker 3: what I'm actually really really grateful for is that I
Speaker 3: had a background in advertising and understood a different industry
Speaker 3: before getting into writing, because creatives the big mistake to
Speaker 3: me of just saying that they're creative and that shit
Speaker 3: does not matter, because if you don't understand that your
Speaker 3: business that relies on advertising dollars audience consumption, because audience
Speaker 3: consumption and audience behaviors are what drives memberships or subscriptions.
Speaker 2: If you don't understand that, then.
Speaker 3: You're gonna make stuff and you're gonna be broken hearted
Speaker 3: because people may not understand what it is that you're
Speaker 3: trying to do, and you'll think that somebody's out to
Speaker 3: get you. So what I've experienced more than anything would
Speaker 3: be the fact that creatives don't understand that don't understand
Speaker 3: what they should know or what they should be sort
Speaker 3: of like uh, exploring and their off time in addition
Speaker 3: to watching everything that's coming out and reading all the
Speaker 3: scripts and books and blah blah blah. I think that
Speaker 3: that's really important, and I think that the creators that
Speaker 3: understand commerce Kenya lean Away, people that you know, have
Speaker 3: found a way to just not just create, but do
Speaker 3: partnerships and like sort of expand their their footprint. They're
Speaker 3: the ones that are able to tell even with the
Speaker 3: with the drama, and with the difficulties of you know,
Speaker 3: being one of one in this industry, they're able to
Speaker 3: sort of create pathways that I think more of us
Speaker 3: need to create so that the creative that we're creating
Speaker 3: it's not so heavily reliant on having to service the
Speaker 3: needs of our entire culture.
Speaker 1: So that's excellent. One of the most powerful things you've
Speaker 1: said a lot. You've given us a lot of diamonds
Speaker 1: and pearls. Choosing the battles that saved my life for
Speaker 1: the past two seasons. And I thank you for reinforcing
Speaker 1: that because that brought me peace of mind, like should
Speaker 1: I do that? Okay, this is worth fighting for and
Speaker 1: not that you know, I did have to put value
Speaker 1: to it, but it just maintained my sanity check to
Speaker 1: know what's worth and what I'm so challenged right now
Speaker 1: because we have five minutes. I cannot believe that it
Speaker 1: went by the same. You are absolutely wonderful. Extend the
Speaker 1: whole of invitation to you. I want you to whatever
Speaker 1: you feel that these actors know, actors, writers, actors, producers
Speaker 1: give them some nuggets and also let us know because
Speaker 1: I know you have some development stuff that things going
Speaker 1: on yourself now.
Speaker 3: So unfortunately the development stuff I'm working on, I can't
Speaker 3: really speak to.
Speaker 2: They involved.
Speaker 3: There's two prids, one of the Disney Pixar praying that
Speaker 3: that goes the way that it could go, and I
Speaker 3: came into sort of support. But that's a really exciting
Speaker 3: thing because Pixar. We don't get a shot a lot
Speaker 3: of shots at Pixar, So prayerfully in the next year,
Speaker 3: you know, I can say, hey, girl, this happened, so
Speaker 3: pray yeah.
Speaker 2: I would love to come back. And then the other
Speaker 2: the other two projects that have in.
Speaker 3: Development are with the talent and I I'm unable to say.
Speaker 2: A music.
Speaker 3: I mean, you know, Juggernaut music artist female who has
Speaker 3: gotten into acting recently and so I've we've we met
Speaker 3: and hit it off. And so now we've got a
Speaker 3: TV thing that we're trying to figure out, in a
Speaker 3: movie thing that we're trying to figure out. So that's exciting.
Speaker 3: So yeah, I mean, you know, and right now it's
Speaker 3: kind of it's an interesting time because I don't think
Speaker 3: people realize that with that strike. When the strike was over,
Speaker 3: there would be a ton of shows that would would
Speaker 3: not come back. So I would say, I would say
Speaker 3: nugget wise, I would say, and sort of piggybacking off
Speaker 3: of what I was saying about, you know, not just
Speaker 3: being able to be a creative, use the platforms that
Speaker 3: you're on organically to use them as litmus tests for
Speaker 3: the stuff that.
Speaker 2: You're working on.
Speaker 3: If you're an actor and you are trying to see,
Speaker 3: you know, if you're if you're strengthening your chops, you're
Speaker 3: trying to see, you know, what the public response is
Speaker 3: to your comedic timing. You're trying to see if you're
Speaker 3: a you know, if you want to see you know,
Speaker 3: if a scene or something that you're writing is resonating with.
Speaker 2: People, do a you can do a bullshit.
Speaker 3: Video with your with your iPhone and post it because
Speaker 3: the people that are following you already have bought into
Speaker 3: you in some way, shape or form, and you only
Speaker 3: will be able to know as opposed to, you know,
Speaker 3: having to be in an acting class where it's just
Speaker 3: it's you and a bunch of creatives and you guys
Speaker 3: are all sort of weighing in on each other's talents
Speaker 3: in a in.
Speaker 2: A different way.
Speaker 3: You your service, your gift, your calling is to entertain
Speaker 3: and to inspire and empower and encourage through your talent,
Speaker 3: through your art mass. If that's what, if you're trying
Speaker 3: to make a living at this, so I would strongly
Speaker 3: and people to consider. Don't don't think that you have
Speaker 3: to get on a show to know how you. Don't
Speaker 3: think that you have to sell a script to know
Speaker 3: how good your writing is. You know, engage people, use,
Speaker 3: use the platforms that you have, and when and when
Speaker 3: you use the platforms, and you do post the thing,
Speaker 3: you know, you leaving whatever context you think makes sense
Speaker 3: to sort of set up the scene or set up
Speaker 3: the piece or whatever. You know, encourage your people who
Speaker 3: already again rock with you, to comment or to follow
Speaker 3: if they don't like it, let you know if they
Speaker 3: do like it, because then what happens is now you
Speaker 3: have something to go by. If you're writing a script
Speaker 3: that you're trying to sell with people like this should
Speaker 3: corny or no one talks like this?
Speaker 2: Or this is already as hell? Or can we see keys?
Speaker 2: Then you know that you sort of you're resonating with
Speaker 2: an audience.
Speaker 3: And then hopefully you know you'll go back in thirty
Speaker 3: days and look at the posts that you've made that
Speaker 3: have the highest engagement rate, that have the highest amount
Speaker 3: of likes or shares, or look to see how if
Speaker 3: people knew people started following after you posted said content.
Speaker 3: And you're starting to make a case for your your
Speaker 3: small business, which is your writing or your acting or
Speaker 3: you're producing. So I would really invite people to use
Speaker 3: social not just to look at funny shit and laugh
Speaker 3: and you know, and go off on people or cancel people,
Speaker 3: but use it to help, like mold your business.
Speaker 1: Lisa, you are amazing, phenomenal. I see your cap I
Speaker 1: see you. OK. I just want to thank you for being Lisa,
Speaker 1: and thank you for representing us in this field and
Speaker 1: being passionate and just your authentic self. I know you
Speaker 1: authentically show up in those rooms. And I'm great for
Speaker 1: someone like you because there's some you know, fear is
Speaker 1: interesting and you know, I'm not worry you know, these
Speaker 1: are words that I don't use my vocabulary, but you know,
Speaker 1: I just love the fact that your resilience is outstanding
Speaker 1: and to know you and to know that someone like
Speaker 1: you reps us. So thank you for that. Thank you,
Speaker 1: Thank you so much. Yeah, you and we will extend
Speaker 1: an invitation to you. Elsa will call you once you's
Speaker 1: quoth that deal and we'll be the first to have
Speaker 1: that exclusive story. Thank you very much. I so now
Speaker 1: I'm going to bring Elsa on. She has two students
Speaker 1: who have questions for you, and come on, Elsa. I
Speaker 1: think they're here.
Speaker 4: I'm here. I'm just gonna say that was wonderful.
Speaker 2: Thank you.
Speaker 4: So today we have two of our spirited actors. We
Speaker 4: have Miss Maya Bello. Maya, welcome back, you can come
Speaker 4: on camera. And we have mister Carlos Swan Newness. Welcome back, Swan,
Speaker 4: you can come on camera. Hey, And of course ladies first,
Speaker 4: So Maya, what's your question?
Speaker 2: Thank you? Also, I love Grown Ish.
Speaker 1: That is my show. I was bawling at the series.
Speaker 7: Finale, but yeah, I love it so much. From like
Speaker 7: a producing standpoint, when you and the team look at
Speaker 7: actor self tapes or auditions, can you give us, like
Speaker 7: any insight on what maybe you specifically look for or
Speaker 7: maybe what's taken an actor out, like anything to help
Speaker 7: us on the journey.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 3: It's crazy because I got into this by the time
Speaker 3: I was elevated enough to be part of casting conversations
Speaker 3: we were doing, uh, the links like that. What is
Speaker 3: the thing called the you know, you upload your tape
Speaker 3: to that portal as opposed to people coming in and
Speaker 3: so I will tell you the turn off is when
Speaker 3: people do too damn much. Stop Stop, don't don't put
Speaker 3: that damn hat on. Don't you know it doesn't make
Speaker 3: sense that you're holding this cigar?
Speaker 2: Why do you have?
Speaker 3: You know what I mean?
Speaker 2: Like, people do a lot, and I think that you're.
Speaker 3: Doing a lot to stand out, which I understand the impulse,
Speaker 3: but I think that the tapes that I watch are
Speaker 3: ones where I feel like people just organically came to
Speaker 3: the role with, you know, an interpretation that feels straight down.
Speaker 2: The middle, you know what I mean? I mean.
Speaker 3: And it's also difficult because sometimes when we we would
Speaker 3: need to start casting, we wouldn't have the script done,
Speaker 3: so we would just be making up a scene there.
Speaker 2: I can't tell him many things we just threw together.
Speaker 3: Yeah, we knew, you know, in the in the vein
Speaker 3: of what we would need the talent for, but that
Speaker 3: wasn't even going to be the script that you were
Speaker 3: going to use. So it's just just to give us
Speaker 3: a flavor and so when people sort of like turn
Speaker 3: it into like this guy comes in looking like Abraham
Speaker 3: Lincoln and all we're and the line is like, you know,
Speaker 3: do you have a do you have do you know
Speaker 3: where the freeway is? It's like so I think, I
Speaker 3: think again, you know, it's sort of keeping to you know,
Speaker 3: what's being asked. I think it's great when people interpret scenes,
Speaker 3: you know, organically, and it's the intangible that I can't
Speaker 3: give you because I always know when someone's doing too much,
Speaker 3: and I know they they're ass knows too. So I
Speaker 3: just feel like whatever you read, if you read it,
Speaker 3: and if it's funny, if there's a part in the
Speaker 3: lines that you know organically brings you to a certain emotion,
Speaker 3: just roll with your instincts, you know, Just don't just
Speaker 3: don't be like.
Speaker 2: Weird because people do a lot. I can't. I'll be like.
Speaker 1: You stories.
Speaker 3: Listen, and I will also say this, and I don't
Speaker 3: know if you can control this, but the thumbnail image
Speaker 3: that you use to once you're your thing is submitted.
Speaker 3: I always think headshots are the best because when people
Speaker 3: don't use a headshot and they just have their own
Speaker 3: real time image, sometimes people do really they're just their
Speaker 3: energy feels weird or they just look weird.
Speaker 2: And if we're if I have four.
Speaker 3: People to look through and I got to make a
Speaker 3: decision in thirty minutes, I might very well skip past
Speaker 3: someone who just you know. So I think if you
Speaker 3: have a headshot that you feel good with, lead with
Speaker 3: that is your thumbnail too.
Speaker 2: Thank you.
Speaker 3: That's really helpful, excellent, so awesome, Thank you absolutely Swan.
Speaker 1: What is your question, sir h thank you Lisa for
Speaker 1: joining us.
Speaker 8: My question will be, how do you know, as a
Speaker 8: writer when your script is complete?
Speaker 2: M Oh, that's a good question.
Speaker 1: That's a great question.
Speaker 3: That's a good question. You're talking to somebody who are
Speaker 3: working on something for five years and it shouldn't taken
Speaker 3: five years. Why is this taking you five years?
Speaker 2: Lisa? I don't know because because of that question, I
Speaker 2: think that I think. I think if you're working.
Speaker 3: Without a deadline and you're working on something that is
Speaker 3: your own, I think it's done when you can put
Speaker 3: it down and not have the compulsion to change it.
Speaker 3: And maybe you give yourself a window. Because I one
Speaker 3: of the hardest things for me to do again, and
Speaker 3: I wasn't I didn't say this before, but when I
Speaker 3: stopped writing probably when I had my daughter. So I
Speaker 3: had my daughter in oh one, so I was still
Speaker 3: sort of writing a little bit, but not really. From
Speaker 3: when I stopped writing to when Kenya was like, Okay,
Speaker 3: you know, do you want to try to see if
Speaker 3: you can do this again? It was probably like fifteen
Speaker 3: years and I hadn't written anything script wise, like not
Speaker 3: a word, and I didn't have script software. I had
Speaker 3: to find a spec to give him on a two
Speaker 3: computers ago. So writing for yourself is different, right because
Speaker 3: you don't have a studio breathing down your neck, your agent,
Speaker 3: your manager, whatever. So I would say writing for yourself,
Speaker 3: I'm done when I can put it down, and I'm
Speaker 3: not waking up the next morning or the morning after
Speaker 3: that with the compulsion to start changing stuff, because I
Speaker 3: will go through and read and change and read, and
Speaker 3: you can't ever get through anything that way obviously if
Speaker 3: you've got you know, and so that so I will
Speaker 3: also say that a remedy for it if you if
Speaker 3: you aren't able to get to that place organically, because
Speaker 3: maybe you'll always be the writer that wants to change
Speaker 3: everything and even when you're shooting get an accountability partner.
Speaker 3: Get someone who knows that you're working on something, it's
Speaker 3: going to be expecting it from you, and have them
Speaker 3: and tell them, you know, just like you have a
Speaker 3: safe word or whatever the case is, be like, look,
Speaker 3: don't let me spend more than two months on this
Speaker 3: ship for real, Like tell me that you need a
Speaker 3: draft for me August first, come hell or high water,
Speaker 3: or you're going to beat the brakes off of my ass.
Speaker 3: And then people have someone who will be just as
Speaker 3: aggressive as you need to be to getting this thing
Speaker 3: done because you may not you may not have the
Speaker 3: capacity to not change.
Speaker 2: It's really really hard, at least for me.
Speaker 9: So if I would just sneak this in Issa piggybacking
Speaker 9: off the swan you mentioned earlier, spec specscript, can you
Speaker 9: just tell them, the audience and our actors what a
Speaker 9: spec script is?
Speaker 3: Yeah, so back in the so a spec script it
Speaker 3: is essentially like your portfolio if you're a you know,
Speaker 3: an artist, or you know, like your Z card if
Speaker 3: you were a model on them, if they even have
Speaker 3: those anymore. But like it's your your it's your resume
Speaker 3: as a writer. So it used to be back in
Speaker 3: the day that you could find you know, a hot
Speaker 3: show and just come up with your own episode.
Speaker 2: Because everybody understood, okay.
Speaker 3: This is Seinfeld. We know who all these characters are,
Speaker 3: you know what their voices are. So if you can
Speaker 3: write an original episode of Seinfeld that makes me laugh
Speaker 3: or sounds like these characters, I then can judge if
Speaker 3: you are a decent writer, a good writer, a shitty writer.
Speaker 3: In today's market with all these streaming platforms and the
Speaker 3: way that TV is sort of evolved with streaming, a
Speaker 3: spec would be an original pilot of some sort, whether
Speaker 3: it's a sickcom, whether it's a drama dy, whether it's
Speaker 3: a drama whatever, ever.
Speaker 2: Kind of show you can cook up. It's something that
Speaker 2: is original.
Speaker 3: Because people are looking for people, meaning streamers, agents, other writers, talent.
Speaker 2: Everyone's looking for a new voice and.
Speaker 3: They're looking for they're looking for new voices, and they're
Speaker 3: looking for voices that can also serve an a choir.
Speaker 3: So Kenya and a lot of showrunners that I have
Speaker 3: had the good fortune to be around always sort of
Speaker 3: come back to this analogy of like an orchestra or
Speaker 3: a band or a choir, whereby when you're hiring writers,
Speaker 3: even I would imagine the same as true for actors.
Speaker 2: You need a piano.
Speaker 3: Player, you need a bass player, you need a drummer,
Speaker 3: you need a guitar player. Could be acoustic, could be electric.
Speaker 3: You kind of need to know what you're listening for.
Speaker 3: And so not only are people looking for a new voice,
Speaker 3: but they're also looking for Okay, this voice could fit
Speaker 3: into this choir. This person would be great for This
Speaker 3: person probably needs to write on the upshaws. This person
Speaker 3: would be great for stranger things. This person will be
Speaker 3: a candidate for, you know, Gray's Anatomy or Bridgeton or whatever.
Speaker 2: You know.
Speaker 3: So a spec is just basically giving people out they're
Speaker 3: going to need to meet you because I think it
Speaker 3: might be it might be the meet Your spec is
Speaker 3: going to get you a meeting, be it manager, managerial
Speaker 3: and agent, a studio meeting, maybe a meeting with talent.
Speaker 3: But your in person meeting is going to get you
Speaker 3: the meeting. If you're looking to get staffed, it's gonna
Speaker 3: that's what's going to be the thing that gets you
Speaker 3: in the room because staffing and I know this, I'm
Speaker 3: giving you way more insight or then you ask that's
Speaker 3: why you shouldn't know. It's in la at ten o'clock
Speaker 3: in the morning to answer questions. So we're just gonna
Speaker 3: keep running our damn mouths. But in closing, so I'm
Speaker 3: landing the plane.
Speaker 2: Swan, so I's looking at me like, God, damn, I know, Pa, No,
Speaker 2: But you know, writing is you.
Speaker 3: You're locked in a room with people for a long time.
Speaker 3: Be it fourteen weeks, twenty weeks, ten weeks, forty weeks,
Speaker 3: Grownish and Blackish. Blackish used to have a twenty one
Speaker 3: episode twenty two episode season, which is very rare, but
Speaker 3: that would be a week's show.
Speaker 2: So for forty weeks, for at least.
Speaker 3: Nine ten hours a day, and that's only because we
Speaker 3: were a season show and you kind of had it
Speaker 3: like on a conveyor belt. I'm had to sit across
Speaker 3: from you, and if you get on my fucking nerves,
Speaker 3: I don't really too much care how great your script
Speaker 3: is because you think I'm you're a weirdo, and I
Speaker 3: don't want to with you that long. So a speck
Speaker 3: is important because it's going to get you a meeting,
Speaker 3: and then who you are is going to be important
Speaker 3: as well.
Speaker 1: Thank you, thank you so much. I just wanted clarity
Speaker 1: because I know actually my thought and I just want
Speaker 1: to say I did a film with Buster finding Forrester,
Speaker 1: and Sean Connery had a line where he said, when
Speaker 1: you write, when you first write right from your heart,
Speaker 1: you edit from your head. Yeah, and that just stayed
Speaker 1: with me. So I'm so you guys, Etha is going
Speaker 1: to still be with us. We're going to go into
Speaker 1: class and session a plethor you guys got to have
Speaker 1: your treasure chess open because she is dropping so many
Speaker 1: pearls and diamonds and all of you need to know this.
Speaker 1: So when we come back on the Spirited Actor Podcast
Speaker 1: with me Tracy Moore, we're going to do class and
Speaker 1: session and Ethel Lewis is still with us. Stay tune,
Speaker 1: Welcome back to the Spirited Actor Podcast with me Tracy Moore,
Speaker 1: and we still have our phenomenal guests Issa Lewis here,
Speaker 1: and we're going to go into one of my favorite
Speaker 1: segments this whole show is my favorite segment. But I'm
Speaker 1: glad to have an opportunity to present these spirited actors
Speaker 1: to you, he says. So Elsa is going to introduce.
Speaker 4: Thank you, thank you. So today's class in session, we
Speaker 4: have back two of our spirited actors. We have miss
Speaker 4: Maya Bella, Welcome Back Maya, and we have mister Carlos
Speaker 4: Swan Nunez Welcome Back Swamp. And today's scene is written
Speaker 4: by Mayabella entitled in her Own World Interior Coach's Office Afternoon.
Speaker 4: Coach Miller is a tough tennis instructor wearing a polo
Speaker 4: shirt and references a whiteboard a mirror. Fashola is wearing
Speaker 4: a tennis outfit and carrying her backpack, racket, textbooks, car keys,
Speaker 4: and a water bottle, and she storms in, Hey.
Speaker 7: Coach, Oh, I'm science and drew up, but something came
Speaker 7: up and I got a missives match.
Speaker 1: I'm sorry, whoa, wha?
Speaker 8: What's going on here? You have a doubles match today
Speaker 8: with Isabella And if you missed today's match, then you
Speaker 8: guys are all just.
Speaker 7: I know we'll have to forfeit. I texted her, I'm sorry,
Speaker 7: something came up.
Speaker 1: I really gotta go.
Speaker 8: No, no, listen, we all have lives, okay, Ameber. One
Speaker 8: thing you cannot do is turn your back and give
Speaker 8: up on your team.
Speaker 2: Who said I'm turning my back on the team.
Speaker 8: This is the second meet you're missing. Look, I don't
Speaker 8: know what to say, and I don't know what to
Speaker 8: tell you. But if you cannot commit to.
Speaker 1: This team, coach, thank please don't.
Speaker 2: Look.
Speaker 8: I don't want to do this.
Speaker 1: Okay, Okay, I.
Speaker 7: Don't even really know how to say this, Coach, but
Speaker 7: I have to take care of my younger brother. He
Speaker 7: has special needs. He's autistic and he's nonverbal, and it's
Speaker 7: just been so much to handle because they just kicked
Speaker 7: him out of his school. I just there's so much
Speaker 7: going on, and I know I have to step up
Speaker 7: for my mom and help take care of him.
Speaker 2: I see. I don't know.
Speaker 7: I just feel so selfish, Like how am I out
Speaker 7: here playing tennis when my brother and my family need me.
Speaker 8: You're not selfish?
Speaker 2: I don't know, but I love tennis. But I gotta go.
Speaker 8: No, but wait, wait, wait, wait, m my cousin she's
Speaker 8: a lawyer and she might be able to help to
Speaker 8: put your brother in a better school. Okay, give this
Speaker 8: to your mom, have a call her. Thanks, coach, and
Speaker 8: you're not off the team.
Speaker 2: Come see me in lunchtime. We're going to figure this out. Okay,
Speaker 2: than thank you.
Speaker 1: Okay, you said whatever feedback you want to give him,
Speaker 1: We would appreciate.
Speaker 3: Well, Well, first of all, I thought it was great.
Speaker 3: I think that that you know, I wasn't. I wasn't
Speaker 3: expecting to feel so much emotion, like I'm watching you mine,
Speaker 3: I'm like, oh damn, like she really have a brother
Speaker 3: who has special needs.
Speaker 2: Shit, But I thought it was really good.
Speaker 3: I think that the only note that I would give
Speaker 3: you because it's such a small scene and obviously don't
Speaker 3: know what the bigger, larger story is.
Speaker 2: But I think it's always.
Speaker 3: Really important to try to make the conversation as conversational
Speaker 3: as possible. So usually when I'm writing, a lot of
Speaker 3: the work is done in the outlet. Most of the
Speaker 3: work is done in the outline, so I will I
Speaker 3: will spend days on an outline, and any time I haven't,
Speaker 3: I always regret it. Dialogue references tone is really really important,
Speaker 3: I think, And and also when I'm writing something, I
Speaker 3: try to find a script that sort of or a
Speaker 3: show that sort of is a reflection of what it
Speaker 3: might be. It might not be any it might not
Speaker 3: be subject matter anywhere near what I'm writing, but tonally,
Speaker 3: I need to be able to like anchor what I'm doing,
Speaker 3: and so I think tone wise I think there's there's
Speaker 3: some stuff to explore in this particular scene, so that
Speaker 3: you are so that so that you.
Speaker 2: Don't have to.
Speaker 3: Overwhelm the actual dialogue as much. I find that when
Speaker 3: you're really clear on sort of the vibe of and
Speaker 3: this the stage that you've set, then the conversation between
Speaker 3: characters flows a lot more fluidly. And so I usually
Speaker 3: take the outline and I dump it into the script,
Speaker 3: and then when I start to do my passes, I
Speaker 3: just write literally the first thing that comes to my
Speaker 3: mind sentiment wise, because I know that I'm going to
Speaker 3: go back and refine. So I think that there were
Speaker 3: moments where like the heart came through, and there were
Speaker 3: moments where the heart was more was more compelling than
Speaker 3: what I was hearing, because I think that you did
Speaker 3: a really good job of like sort of harnessing an emotion.
Speaker 3: And I think, you know, just have a conversation like
Speaker 3: would the coach if the coach is an asshole? Does
Speaker 3: he bend at the end of this And if he's bending,
Speaker 3: does his whole demeanor change or does he still keep
Speaker 3: a gruff sort of tone even though he's giving her
Speaker 3: a pass?
Speaker 2: Would he is?
Speaker 4: It? Is? It?
Speaker 2: And I get it. I don't know the bigger story.
Speaker 2: Is there a version of.
Speaker 3: Him sort of like feeling like an asshole and you know,
Speaker 3: melting all the way? Is there a version? I mean,
Speaker 3: so I'm not there's no right or wrong. It's obviously
Speaker 3: again in alignment with the bigger story. But I would
Speaker 3: say making it conversational and really sort of digging into
Speaker 3: the tone of the scene I think will help with
Speaker 3: that impulse to sort of overwrite or underwrite any particular
Speaker 3: exchange between characters. I thought it was good, and I
Speaker 3: thought you did a really, really good job. Both of
Speaker 3: you guys did.
Speaker 2: Thank you.
Speaker 1: Thank you, Lisa, Thank you Elsa, Maya and Swan and Lisa.
Speaker 1: I cannot wait for season two of Black af because
Speaker 1: I feel like I've been a.
Speaker 2: And I've just neither. I don't know.
Speaker 1: I don't know the cards.
Speaker 2: I don't know the cards. I mean, you gotta know. Yeah,
Speaker 2: I thought there.
Speaker 1: Was announcement in Deadline recently that said that season two
Speaker 1: was coming, and recently you saw that, I mean within
Speaker 1: the past couple of months. I thought I read and
Speaker 1: see because I was excited.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean, so, let me say this, the train
Speaker 3: has left the tracks. With Kenya. I mean they, you know,
Speaker 3: they they He's got a ton of stuff.
Speaker 2: And I only know a portion.
Speaker 3: I just know it's taken this long because the schedules,
Speaker 3: and you know, it's it's where the show sort of
Speaker 3: resides and is it. You know, there's a lot of
Speaker 3: moving parts. So I would I would love for there
Speaker 3: to be a Black af season two. I thought that
Speaker 3: show was It was one of the most fun things
Speaker 3: I've ever done, right, So.
Speaker 1: Yes, oh my god. That's why I said, well, anything
Speaker 1: you do, Isa, we are supporting you, we are following you,
Speaker 1: we are championing you. And just know that in the
Speaker 1: spirited active community, we have mad respect for the work
Speaker 1: that you and the way you represent everybody. Thank you,
Speaker 1: so thank you, thank you for that, thank you for
Speaker 1: having thank you. I'm so glad we met too.
Speaker 2: Well. I'm really really excited about that platform.
Speaker 3: I'm glad you know that you know else and I
Speaker 3: go back to Howard Times and I'm thankful that you know,
Speaker 3: you guys have this platform and that you're you know,
Speaker 3: you're feeding and pouring in too, folks cross jown or.
Speaker 2: I think it's really important, So I applause.
Speaker 1: I think it's important.
Speaker 2: That you're doing.
Speaker 1: Yeah, thank you, because, like inside the Black Box, in
Speaker 1: this podcast, we're about solutions. We understand what the world is,
Speaker 1: but what can we do to move forward and to
Speaker 1: continue to do quality work and content. So that's what
Speaker 1: we are about.
Speaker 2: Awesome.
Speaker 5: Oh, I don't want to release her, but we have
Speaker 5: to let her go. Ladies and gentlemen, please stand up
Speaker 5: and put your hands together for a little thank you.
Speaker 2: Thank you, Appreciate you, guys, God blessed.
Speaker 1: Priestly love you too. And when we come back on
Speaker 1: the Spirited Actor Podcast with me Tracy Moore, I'm going
Speaker 1: to give you some love. That's one we do. Welcome
Speaker 1: to Kudos Corner. Kudos Corner is where we celebrate spirited actors,
Speaker 1: we support them, and most importantly, we introduce them to you.
Speaker 1: This week's Kudos Corner puts the spotlight on spirited actor
Speaker 1: Arlene Macgruder. You've seen Arlene Macgruder in network shows including
Speaker 1: Law and Order, Organized Crime and the Godfather of Haarlem
Speaker 1: films including Manhattan Night, and theater productions including Drive, The
Speaker 1: Speed Limit, The Magazine, and Sheen the Musical. Arlene is
Speaker 1: also featured in commercials for Big Mouth toothbrushes, and Nike,
Speaker 1: among many many others. Kudos to Arlen macgruder and now
Speaker 1: it's time to give love. One of the most darkest
Speaker 1: times in my life was when my son was hit
Speaker 1: by a car and he suffered traumatic brain injury. Within
Speaker 1: the first twenty four hours. The doctors towed us that
Speaker 1: Miles had the potential of dying. I want to tell
Speaker 1: you totally transparent that I was filled with so many
Speaker 1: different emotions when I saw my son laying on that journey,
Speaker 1: But when I leaned over and I whispered in his ear,
Speaker 1: it doesn't matter how long it takes, you're going to
Speaker 1: get through this. I made a promise to myself that
Speaker 1: I would focus and I would believe that there was
Speaker 1: light at the end of the tunnel, and one day,
Speaker 1: through this experience, I would be able to reflect back
Speaker 1: on this and understand this experience, there is light at
Speaker 1: the end of the tunnel. When the doctor said my
Speaker 1: son would never walk, talk, and be a normal person again,
Speaker 1: I am so thrilled and so excited beyond anything to
Speaker 1: let you know that he is not. And he lives
Speaker 1: his life passionately and every day he works through whatever
Speaker 1: challenges may come up. But it was the light that
Speaker 1: I stayed focused on, and it was the vision that
Speaker 1: I held, knowing that one day my son was going
Speaker 1: to heal and he was going to get through all
Speaker 1: of us. Today is that day. My son, for the
Speaker 1: past seven years, has been able to create and live
Speaker 1: his life to the best and to the fullness of
Speaker 1: his ability. Never lose sight of the light that is
Speaker 1: what saves you. Hi. Everyone, The Spirited Actor Podcast with
Speaker 1: Tracy Moore now has a YouTube channel. You'll get to
Speaker 1: see exclusive video footage from our post taping as well
Speaker 1: as your favorite segments from the show. Make sure to
Speaker 1: like our videos, subscribe to our channel, and share with
Speaker 1: all your friends. Don't forget to also follow us on Instagram,
Speaker 1: at the Spirited Actor and at both Tracy Moore and
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Speaker 1: and x. Thank you for joining us on The Spirited
Speaker 1: Actor Podcast with me Tracy Moore. I look forward to
Speaker 1: our next Spirited podcast. Thank you.