WEBVTT - The Spirited Actor - Esa Lewis 0:00:00.080 --> 0:00:03.280 Hello, and welcome to the Spirited Actor Podcast with me 0:00:03.520 --> 0:00:06.440 Tracy Moore. I was a casting director for film and 0:00:06.480 --> 0:00:10.600 TV and commercials for over thirty years. I transitioned to 0:00:10.640 --> 0:00:14.200 a celebrity acting coach after I cast a film New 0:00:14.280 --> 0:00:19.400 Jersey Drive with executive producers Spike Lee and director Nick Domez. 0:00:20.040 --> 0:00:24.439 I auditioned every rapper from biggiees Balls to Tupac, and 0:00:24.560 --> 0:00:28.200 I realized that rappers and musical artists they needed help 0:00:28.280 --> 0:00:32.600 transitioning to acting. My clients consist of musical artists from 0:00:32.760 --> 0:00:37.400 Buster Rhymes to Eve, Missy Elliott, Angela Yee from The 0:00:37.440 --> 0:00:41.120 Breakfast Club, and Vanessa Simmons, to name a few. I 0:00:41.240 --> 0:00:45.080 also coach sports stars and host as well. I feel 0:00:45.280 --> 0:00:48.720 I have the best of both worlds. As a casting director, 0:00:48.760 --> 0:00:51.320 I know exactly what they're looking for, and as an 0:00:51.360 --> 0:00:53.800 acting coach, I can coach you to be remembered in 0:00:53.880 --> 0:00:57.080 that room. Now I know, I know actors want to 0:00:57.160 --> 0:01:00.200 get the job. I get that, but being remembered by 0:01:00.200 --> 0:01:04.839 a casting director that is powerful. And now it's time 0:01:04.880 --> 0:01:08.039 for meditation of the day. I wish I could show 0:01:08.120 --> 0:01:11.520 you when you are lonely or in the darkness, the 0:01:11.640 --> 0:01:18.640 astonishing light of your own being anonymous. I want to 0:01:18.680 --> 0:01:23.280 say this to you that when we are quote unquote 0:01:23.319 --> 0:01:28.600 struggling or we are challenged in life, I want to 0:01:28.640 --> 0:01:33.920 tell everyone to hold on, just hold on. Yes it 0:01:33.920 --> 0:01:39.720 can be frustrating, Yes it can be anxiety and stress, 0:01:40.920 --> 0:01:44.840 but I believe that through darkness there is light, and 0:01:44.959 --> 0:01:48.000 I believe that the darkness is a part of our 0:01:48.080 --> 0:01:52.400 growth as human beings. We have to understand pain to 0:01:52.600 --> 0:01:57.480 understand joy. We have to understand happiness to understand sadness, 0:01:58.040 --> 0:02:03.960 So it's all inclusive in this game of life. Today, 0:02:04.920 --> 0:02:11.080 I will approach every day standing and knowing there is 0:02:11.160 --> 0:02:15.200 light at the end of the tunnel. Before we get started, 0:02:15.480 --> 0:02:18.600 I like to remind everyone to go to Crackle Network 0:02:18.639 --> 0:02:22.600 to view seasons one and two of my show Inside 0:02:22.680 --> 0:02:25.600 the Black Box that I co host with the great 0:02:26.040 --> 0:02:31.440 Emmy Award winning Joe Morton. Look out for news on 0:02:31.680 --> 0:02:36.400 season three soon. Welcome to the Spirited Actor Podcast with 0:02:36.440 --> 0:02:40.320 me Tracy Moore. You are in for a phenomenal treat. 0:02:41.400 --> 0:02:44.320 I just met our guest and I am so thrilled 0:02:44.320 --> 0:02:47.160 to have her on the show. I want you all 0:02:47.280 --> 0:02:50.959 to please put your hands together and stand up for 0:02:51.680 --> 0:02:55.440 ifa Lewis. She is currently the co executive producer of 0:02:55.639 --> 0:02:59.520 Grown Ish and I know you guys know Kenya Barris. 0:02:59.560 --> 0:03:02.919 We talk about, you know, all types of people who 0:03:02.960 --> 0:03:05.720 are making moves in this industry. She has a plethora 0:03:05.800 --> 0:03:08.359 of things going on. So I want our interview to 0:03:08.440 --> 0:03:10.799 and be inclusive of that. Please put your hands together 0:03:10.840 --> 0:03:12.560 for Lisa Lewis. 0:03:13.160 --> 0:03:14.480 Thank you, thank you, thank you. 0:03:14.880 --> 0:03:17.600 Thank you for coming on the shadow, Issa having me. 0:03:17.680 --> 0:03:19.799 I'm so excited to talk to you. 0:03:19.800 --> 0:03:21.000 You are so beautiful. 0:03:21.120 --> 0:03:25.440 Thank you as you want to like youtiful black women. 0:03:25.520 --> 0:03:28.520 Just having a good, cool conversation, right right. 0:03:28.440 --> 0:03:29.720 I've wraggled all levels. 0:03:29.760 --> 0:03:31.720 I'm looking at you like she would be a great 0:03:31.760 --> 0:03:34.760 agiss But okay. 0:03:33.880 --> 0:03:36.520 I know I'm not talking about it because that's the 0:03:36.520 --> 0:03:37.000 same with me. 0:03:37.120 --> 0:03:39.760 I got you Iza, yes, ma'am. 0:03:39.800 --> 0:03:43.920 When I vent your bio, I was ecstatic to meet you, 0:03:44.120 --> 0:03:48.360 not only on your work, but so nineteen ninety seven 0:03:48.480 --> 0:03:51.080 Buster Rhymes did the way and show you did. 0:03:52.280 --> 0:03:53.280 I was there. 0:03:53.600 --> 0:03:56.880 I've been so much twenty eight years. 0:03:57.160 --> 0:03:57.840 You're kidding. 0:03:58.400 --> 0:04:01.720 We just finished Naked Guy last month in Atlanta. 0:04:02.200 --> 0:04:03.080 You're kidding. 0:04:03.880 --> 0:04:07.520 No, And I became best friends with Anne Marie on 0:04:07.640 --> 0:04:09.680 the show and still my best friend today. 0:04:10.040 --> 0:04:13.200 Wow, that's that's a way to tell you we either 0:04:13.760 --> 0:04:17.120 see each other or you helped me something, you know 0:04:17.160 --> 0:04:17.520 what I mean. 0:04:17.960 --> 0:04:20.200 That's I mean, that is a that is a crazy 0:04:20.720 --> 0:04:23.479 So I'm busting Rhyme's obsessed like he's one of the 0:04:23.640 --> 0:04:24.479 he's one of the few. 0:04:24.680 --> 0:04:28.240 I'm upset. Like, let me tell you one of my favorite. 0:04:27.560 --> 0:04:30.680 Moments in the last when when we were during COVID 0:04:30.720 --> 0:04:34.279 and everyone was sort of like locking into versus A. 0:04:34.640 --> 0:04:39.520 There was the dipset locks versus and before that, why 0:04:39.640 --> 0:04:43.280 Cleft was like getting the crowd hyped or whatever, and 0:04:43.360 --> 0:04:46.159 I have to catch this and he passes the mic 0:04:46.200 --> 0:04:49.000 and he sees bussing the crowd and he was like, yo, 0:04:49.120 --> 0:04:49.839 buss come up and. 0:04:49.839 --> 0:04:52.360 They're a Madison Square garden. He's like, come on, bear, 0:04:52.520 --> 0:04:56.080 do something. Start screaming. They put on put your hands 0:04:56.080 --> 0:04:57.960 on my first. They put on the song. 0:04:58.080 --> 0:05:03.640 Right, I, like I was thirteen, started jumping on my bed. 0:05:04.040 --> 0:05:06.680 My friends were like, what the fuck is Wun't he 0:05:07.600 --> 0:05:09.440 but his energy. I'm just such a huge fan. 0:05:09.560 --> 0:05:11.800 Yeah, it was a big one of the memories from 0:05:11.800 --> 0:05:14.520 the show that I remember because I'm such a huge 0:05:14.560 --> 0:05:14.919 fan of his. 0:05:14.960 --> 0:05:17.719 So I so, that's crazy that you were there. That's crazy. 0:05:17.800 --> 0:05:21.200 I was there. I was there, and I came back 0:05:21.240 --> 0:05:25.080 because I did a show with Missy Elliott. I coached 0:05:25.080 --> 0:05:28.120 Missy too. She did a guest starring Real Quick, playing herself. 0:05:28.560 --> 0:05:32.000 But this was after Buster. But I'll never forget being 0:05:32.000 --> 0:05:37.360 on the set because Marlon was so wonderful and so accommodating. 0:05:37.480 --> 0:05:40.640 And then the same with Anna. That's how we hooked up. 0:05:40.720 --> 0:05:43.320 We were just laughing on the set. But what I 0:05:43.360 --> 0:05:45.479 read through a bio, I was like, she was probably 0:05:45.480 --> 0:05:47.839 twelve years old, being a PA or something. 0:05:47.760 --> 0:05:50.880 Running around, acting, running around, just trying to get out 0:05:50.920 --> 0:05:51.200 the way. 0:05:51.400 --> 0:05:53.440 We had a lot of fun on that show, a lot. 0:05:53.720 --> 0:05:55.800 That's oh my god. We only did one show and 0:05:55.839 --> 0:05:56.960 I was like, I don't want to leave. 0:05:57.480 --> 0:05:58.960 It was great, it was amazing. 0:05:59.160 --> 0:06:04.240 So I'm glad that that was our first indirect, you know, connection, 0:06:04.400 --> 0:06:09.880 but we just didn't know. And etha sidebar, he's on 0:06:10.000 --> 0:06:12.920 tour with Sierra and Missy. So I got you in La, 0:06:13.120 --> 0:06:13.599 I got. 0:06:13.520 --> 0:06:20.640 You got okay, listen don't know with a sign and listen, 0:06:20.760 --> 0:06:25.000 I will be savored. Listen, listen, listen, don't play with me. 0:06:25.400 --> 0:06:27.840 I will have you at the show him backstage? 0:06:28.000 --> 0:06:29.479 Oh, okay, we'll have to. 0:06:29.839 --> 0:06:32.760 That would be I was talking to him last night, like. 0:06:33.000 --> 0:06:35.520 My daughter, I'm gonna drag my daughter so she'll be 0:06:35.520 --> 0:06:37.760 so embarrassed because I I can't. 0:06:37.800 --> 0:06:39.200 I love him so much. He's amazing. 0:06:39.720 --> 0:06:43.120 Well, it's a done deal. That's that's nothing for me. Good. 0:06:45.240 --> 0:06:48.440 Buster and Eve are the longest clients that I've had. 0:06:48.440 --> 0:06:51.240 I've been with you for twenty seven years. Yeah, so 0:06:51.680 --> 0:06:55.360 it's amazing. Yeah, it's a blessing. And I said to 0:06:55.440 --> 0:06:58.119 him last night, I said, the thing about you, Bust, 0:06:58.920 --> 0:07:01.159 is that every time I think I can't love you more, 0:07:01.560 --> 0:07:04.000 something happens that I love you before and we would 0:07:04.080 --> 0:07:06.440 just screen. I was like, because I was like, all 0:07:06.480 --> 0:07:07.960 this said that they can good. I was like, oh 0:07:08.000 --> 0:07:11.720 my god, I have more love for him. It's that 0:07:11.880 --> 0:07:18.400 there and this time in his life, Lisa is absolutely outstanding. Outstanding, 0:07:19.040 --> 0:07:22.280 but not without you know, going through and Chris Slidy 0:07:22.320 --> 0:07:24.720 pass and all of that. But I got you, so sidebar, 0:07:24.720 --> 0:07:26.560 I'm going to get tir information and hook you up 0:07:27.240 --> 0:07:30.920 and I'm gonna send you some pitches. So what it 0:07:31.000 --> 0:07:35.520 happened was, ladies and gentlemen, we have I am so 0:07:35.680 --> 0:07:37.480 happy to have you on the show because we have 0:07:37.560 --> 0:07:41.480 a lot of you know, nowadays, everybody's multi hyphenated. And 0:07:41.920 --> 0:07:44.800 in my acting class, I have a homework assignment where 0:07:44.880 --> 0:07:48.160 I in the proper format, they have to write a scene, 0:07:48.200 --> 0:07:50.920 a three page scene with two characters that they're allowed 0:07:50.960 --> 0:07:56.040 to direct. And so I've been teaching for twenty eight 0:07:56.120 --> 0:07:59.600 years and we've discovered a lot of writers. They've gone 0:07:59.640 --> 0:08:03.800 a film that's Wills created, you know, short films, featured films. 0:08:04.080 --> 0:08:07.040 I would like you to take our audience through the 0:08:07.080 --> 0:08:11.960 process of how you became such an acclaimed writer co 0:08:12.040 --> 0:08:15.600 executive producer. But we'll start with the writing first, because 0:08:17.320 --> 0:08:20.960 writing that's a lonely business. But I love it. 0:08:21.040 --> 0:08:23.360 I love it well. So here's the thing. 0:08:24.360 --> 0:08:26.320 This is a bit of false advertising because I have 0:08:26.400 --> 0:08:30.680 one of the most unconventional stories or pathways to writing. 0:08:30.800 --> 0:08:33.360 It was I didn't care about writing at all. Writing 0:08:33.480 --> 0:08:36.559 was not my jam. I thought I was going to 0:08:36.559 --> 0:08:39.240 be an entertainment attorney. That's why I was at Howard. 0:08:39.600 --> 0:08:41.720 I wanted to be in the music industry by way 0:08:41.800 --> 0:08:44.040 of well, you know, you go to HBC, you're gonna 0:08:44.240 --> 0:08:46.000 you have to sing or dance, or act or something. 0:08:46.080 --> 0:08:49.200 So we tried our hand in singing not so hot so, 0:08:50.320 --> 0:08:51.040 but I really. 0:08:50.880 --> 0:08:53.160 Wanted to be in music. That's where I saw myself. 0:08:53.160 --> 0:08:54.960 So when I left Howard, I worked at Deaf Jam 0:08:55.000 --> 0:08:58.120 for a year and then I understood the music business 0:08:58.240 --> 0:08:59.920 as a business and I was like, oh no, no, 0:09:00.120 --> 0:09:02.440 this will kill me because I love music so much 0:09:02.480 --> 0:09:05.760 that I can't It's set up in a way that 0:09:06.200 --> 0:09:08.960 is not artist friendly. So it would have felt like 0:09:09.160 --> 0:09:12.640 being a civil rights attorney. So Marlin is a little 0:09:12.679 --> 0:09:15.679 bit older than me, but we had befriended each other 0:09:15.679 --> 0:09:18.560 at Howard through mutual friends, and so I found myself 0:09:18.640 --> 0:09:21.000 without a dream because now I'm not going to be 0:09:21.040 --> 0:09:23.160 an entertainment attorney and that was what I wanted to do. 0:09:23.760 --> 0:09:25.280 So he was like, well, come over to the show 0:09:25.280 --> 0:09:26.800 and we'll find something for you to do. So I 0:09:26.840 --> 0:09:30.319 was the assistant to the executive producers for three three 0:09:30.400 --> 0:09:33.400 seasons and the fourth season I just happened to write 0:09:33.400 --> 0:09:36.800 a spec Transparently speaking, I found out what writers earn, 0:09:36.880 --> 0:09:38.840 and I was like, I would be a fool to 0:09:38.920 --> 0:09:39.760 not try to learn. 0:09:40.360 --> 0:09:42.480 Girl, you better learn how to write a script. 0:09:42.559 --> 0:09:46.120 So I was I was, you know, very tenacious and 0:09:47.000 --> 0:09:49.840 focused and would go I didn't think I had a 0:09:49.840 --> 0:09:51.480 computer at the time, or at least I didn't have 0:09:51.480 --> 0:09:53.320 the script software. So I would go up to the 0:09:53.360 --> 0:09:56.839 office on the weekends and learn, teaching myself the script 0:09:56.840 --> 0:10:00.880 writing software. And they happened to buy my specscript from 0:10:00.920 --> 0:10:03.280 me and they shot at the last season of the show. 0:10:03.960 --> 0:10:05.400 So I was like, okay, cool, like I'll do this, 0:10:05.600 --> 0:10:07.760 like you know, you're making all this money and it's 0:10:07.760 --> 0:10:10.880 I'm working with friends, and they were going to give 0:10:10.880 --> 0:10:12.360 me the staffed writing position. 0:10:13.000 --> 0:10:13.719 How do we come back? 0:10:13.720 --> 0:10:16.920 But we got canceled the day before they announced the 0:10:17.200 --> 0:10:20.120 It would have been the sixth season. So I was like, ah, 0:10:20.160 --> 0:10:23.800 so that sort of put my writing career, you know, 0:10:23.840 --> 0:10:26.640 in terms of like being paid as a writer on hold. 0:10:26.640 --> 0:10:28.600 But I still sort of had the bug. At that point. 0:10:28.640 --> 0:10:29.960 I was like, Oh, this is interesting, and let me 0:10:30.000 --> 0:10:32.720 just see how I can sort of evolve that cut 0:10:32.760 --> 0:10:38.400 to I get pregnant. Oh, and you know, writing is 0:10:38.440 --> 0:10:40.760 a hustle, so back then I was like, I can't. 0:10:41.120 --> 0:10:44.160 My daughter needs almond milk, so we can't trying to 0:10:44.160 --> 0:10:45.920 play this reindeer yet. 0:10:47.640 --> 0:10:49.080 Hustling for you know what I mean? 0:10:49.160 --> 0:10:52.520 Like I was like Yes, So I went back to 0:10:52.640 --> 0:10:54.600 music because that was where I had the primary the 0:10:54.640 --> 0:10:56.760 bulk of my relationships ran. 0:10:56.640 --> 0:10:57.559 Alated for a while. 0:10:57.679 --> 0:11:00.280 Fast forward, that sort of morphed into marketing and so 0:11:00.320 --> 0:11:02.199 I was doing a lot. I created my own agency 0:11:02.240 --> 0:11:06.160 and was doing like a really strategic marketing for you know, 0:11:06.240 --> 0:11:06.800 brands like. 0:11:06.720 --> 0:11:09.119 A gun, like a like an assassin. 0:11:09.200 --> 0:11:10.880 Right, So I didn't have all the red tape of 0:11:11.040 --> 0:11:13.280 big companies, but I was kind of able to go 0:11:13.360 --> 0:11:16.199 in and make money and meet people, and that morphed 0:11:16.240 --> 0:11:18.600 into an advertising job. So I started as a project 0:11:18.600 --> 0:11:21.360 manager and for about thirteen years I grew with the 0:11:21.400 --> 0:11:27.719 company called Quantity in La Black owned digital shop, and 0:11:27.760 --> 0:11:31.280 we evolved and when I left, I was the fourth hire. 0:11:31.280 --> 0:11:34.240 When I left, it was about thirty people with the 0:11:34.280 --> 0:11:38.040 company and we had huge clients like City National Bank 0:11:38.080 --> 0:11:42.120 in Honda and Google and Wells Fargo and ended up 0:11:42.120 --> 0:11:45.640 happening was So here's the getting back to the initial question. 0:11:46.280 --> 0:11:47.000 Kenya Barns. 0:11:47.440 --> 0:11:49.840 Keny and I have been friends since we were thirteen 0:11:51.080 --> 0:11:56.280 and and he is one of the most you know, 0:11:56.600 --> 0:12:02.040 across industry. I've never seen anyone champion black people or 0:12:02.040 --> 0:12:05.360 people of color. I've never seen anyone champion women, and 0:12:05.400 --> 0:12:09.280 I've never seen champion people that would not get the 0:12:09.320 --> 0:12:13.599 shot who he saw talk like Kenya And so to 0:12:13.760 --> 0:12:17.040 our friendship, you know, he always when he found out 0:12:17.080 --> 0:12:19.240 that I was writing later in life, he was like, yo, 0:12:19.280 --> 0:12:21.480 you should you know, don't stop writing. And I was like, dude, 0:12:21.520 --> 0:12:25.719 I'm in milk. And so then, uh, I'm you know, 0:12:25.760 --> 0:12:28.000 I've settled into advertising and I had, you know, and 0:12:28.040 --> 0:12:30.199 he comes and he's like, I got a show East 0:12:30.240 --> 0:12:32.280 it's you know, I got Blackish and come and you know, 0:12:32.320 --> 0:12:34.160 be a writer's assistant or be a stuck you know whatever. 0:12:34.240 --> 0:12:37.240 I was like, nope, I got this key job. I 0:12:37.280 --> 0:12:40.240 have a parking space. My check is gonna come every 0:12:40.240 --> 0:12:42.720 two weeks. It's not going to be a lot of money, 0:12:42.880 --> 0:12:46.480 but I know it's coming right. And I just I was, 0:12:46.960 --> 0:12:49.920 you know, I was so single, momming and so like 0:12:50.040 --> 0:12:53.080 scared to take a leap that I told him no, 0:12:53.880 --> 0:12:56.360 and that no persisted for four years. This is long 0:12:56.400 --> 0:12:59.440 after Blackish had turned into a thing. I was too scared. 0:12:59.440 --> 0:13:02.400 I was like, I can't. So what ended up happening 0:13:02.600 --> 0:13:06.000 was in my I was a group account director now 0:13:06.040 --> 0:13:08.320 and at in my ad job, and now we were 0:13:08.360 --> 0:13:10.720 starting to get into the content space and creating content 0:13:10.720 --> 0:13:12.280 for some of our clients, and we had taken on 0:13:12.320 --> 0:13:13.720 some celebrity clients. 0:13:14.160 --> 0:13:15.840 And I was being. 0:13:15.679 --> 0:13:17.720 Asked because we were still even with thirty, we were 0:13:17.720 --> 0:13:21.400 still sort of lean, and I was a strategist and 0:13:21.440 --> 0:13:23.520 that was my primary function. I was always pulled into 0:13:23.600 --> 0:13:28.320 creative conversations. And so we were creating content for our 0:13:28.559 --> 0:13:31.839 talent that I wasn't gonna, you know, individually get any 0:13:31.880 --> 0:13:33.440 credit for, nor was I going to get paid for. 0:13:33.559 --> 0:13:35.560 And I realized that that was sort of being was 0:13:35.800 --> 0:13:40.760 being folded into the job. Simultaneously, Kenya had asked me 0:13:40.880 --> 0:13:44.839 to participate. He was writing a book and just sort 0:13:44.880 --> 0:13:46.600 of want in my eyes, you know, just because he 0:13:46.640 --> 0:13:49.280 was getting super busy. He had launched grown Ish you 0:13:49.280 --> 0:13:51.600 know girls ship. I think it was either coming out 0:13:51.679 --> 0:13:54.080 or had come out. He was like, you know, he 0:13:54.160 --> 0:13:57.640 was the eCos sort of changing for him pretty dramatically, 0:13:57.720 --> 0:14:02.319 and and he got he got me through this project 0:14:02.360 --> 0:14:06.520 to sort of like reimagine my career or what I 0:14:06.559 --> 0:14:09.199 wanted to do, because what I was doing was now 0:14:09.280 --> 0:14:12.480 sort of using a muscle that I had thought atropheed 0:14:12.559 --> 0:14:15.240 even though it wasn't a TV project. It was a 0:14:15.240 --> 0:14:18.680 book project, but so sort of it was like revisions 0:14:18.679 --> 0:14:20.840 and writing, and he ended up firing the guy that 0:14:20.880 --> 0:14:24.080 I had come to come into support and I end 0:14:24.160 --> 0:14:27.080 up the person and I was like, you, you fuck me. 0:14:28.680 --> 0:14:30.400 This was not it's not agreement. 0:14:32.280 --> 0:14:35.480 And so at the end of the so then he 0:14:35.480 --> 0:14:37.240 got too busy to even do the project. And then 0:14:37.240 --> 0:14:41.280 he called me my day, yo, leaving ABC for Netflix. 0:14:42.240 --> 0:14:45.040 And I know you've told me no all these times, 0:14:45.120 --> 0:14:48.960 but if there's anything in your body that says you 0:14:49.000 --> 0:14:53.120 don't want to live and die in advertising, I'm right 0:14:53.160 --> 0:14:54.960 now because I don't know what my world is going 0:14:55.040 --> 0:14:57.680 to look like, and right now I still have a. 0:14:57.680 --> 0:15:01.480 Handle on my world. And I'm a real spiritual girl. 0:15:01.560 --> 0:15:04.640 And I was fixing my mouth to say no, and 0:15:04.640 --> 0:15:09.520 God was like, uh uh, how are you kidding? So 0:15:10.440 --> 0:15:14.560 fast forward, you know, I just sort of lept. I 0:15:14.600 --> 0:15:18.160 told I told my boss, my chairman at Quantity, who 0:15:18.200 --> 0:15:22.320 was unbelievably supportive, that you know, I had to sort 0:15:22.320 --> 0:15:25.680 of go. And by this time, also Harlem Harlem is 0:15:25.720 --> 0:15:29.600 my daughter, and she was to graduate. Yeah, she was 0:15:29.640 --> 0:15:32.880 about to graduate from from a school at independent school 0:15:32.880 --> 0:15:34.680 out here and we knew she was going to Howard. 0:15:34.720 --> 0:15:36.880 So all of the things that I was using to 0:15:36.960 --> 0:15:39.480 sort of prevent myself from taking any kind of like 0:15:39.560 --> 0:15:42.800 major shift career wise were no longer that I could 0:15:42.800 --> 0:15:47.560 sort of hide behind, and so I ended my tenure 0:15:47.560 --> 0:15:50.680 at Quantity on a Thursday and Monday, I was in 0:15:50.680 --> 0:15:55.480 a room of seventeen writers at Blackish season five. And 0:15:55.520 --> 0:15:57.720 I've been really, really blessed to not really have any 0:15:57.760 --> 0:16:01.360 dips in my working life since. So I say that 0:16:01.440 --> 0:16:03.440 to say that is not the way that writers. 0:16:03.080 --> 0:16:06.600 Write, you know, yeah, it's just not how it works. 0:16:06.680 --> 0:16:10.200 But but hopefully what someone could glean because I know 0:16:10.200 --> 0:16:13.840 when people ask those questions, you're listening for those nuggets, 0:16:13.960 --> 0:16:16.240 those like that, you know, resilience or whatever. And so 0:16:16.280 --> 0:16:19.480 what I can say by way of that story is, 0:16:19.680 --> 0:16:26.000 you know, fear will one percent anything, and you never 0:16:26.080 --> 0:16:27.400 know how it's going to show up. You know what 0:16:27.440 --> 0:16:30.080 I'm saying, You never know. Yes, I did not envision 0:16:30.120 --> 0:16:32.760 myself being a writer. I could always communicate through writing, 0:16:32.840 --> 0:16:37.440 and I was always a decent speaker, like weirded out 0:16:37.480 --> 0:16:39.920 by it, but I did not think. I thought that 0:16:40.080 --> 0:16:44.440 my passion was my purpose. Writing is my purpose. Music 0:16:44.560 --> 0:16:46.280 was my passion, and so being able to sort of 0:16:46.280 --> 0:16:50.240 delineate and differentiate between the two, I think is the 0:16:50.280 --> 0:16:51.720 reason why I'm doing what I'm doing. 0:16:51.800 --> 0:16:56.080 So so one I have to really I appreciate love. 0:16:56.160 --> 0:16:59.440 I don't say appreciate, but I appreciate love, your transparency, 0:17:00.000 --> 0:17:02.800 in your honesty, because I was a single mom as well, 0:17:02.880 --> 0:17:04.600 and as a single mom, you gotta do what you 0:17:04.680 --> 0:17:08.479 got to do, like I hear you, but I was 0:17:09.000 --> 0:17:14.160 in that two week. I need consistency. And also I 0:17:14.200 --> 0:17:17.119 think that the way that life. 0:17:17.200 --> 0:17:25.280 I'm I'm a little older, but I left home August fifteenth, 0:17:25.400 --> 0:17:28.639 nineteen eighty three, at twenty one the two hundred dollars 0:17:28.640 --> 0:17:29.760 a one way ticket. 0:17:29.440 --> 0:17:31.840 In a trunk. But I came here with a dream 0:17:31.880 --> 0:17:34.119 and I only knew two people. And the truth is 0:17:34.160 --> 0:17:36.960 I know too many now in a loving way. But 0:17:37.800 --> 0:17:41.720 United States, ninety eight countries, in Africa, whatever. But this 0:17:42.040 --> 0:17:46.880 wasn't the plan. I came here like I'm directing broadly, 0:17:48.200 --> 0:17:51.359 like it was just gonna be that fimble right. But 0:17:51.480 --> 0:17:55.480 I love the fact that whatever your spiritual belief is, 0:17:56.080 --> 0:17:59.760 God has a way. God's plan is always better than 0:17:59.800 --> 0:18:02.879 our plan, always, So I don't even rely on my 0:18:02.960 --> 0:18:08.159 plans anymore. I The other thing that I love is 0:18:08.200 --> 0:18:11.919 that in writing and coming from a show Blackish and 0:18:12.000 --> 0:18:13.240 Anthony Anderson. 0:18:12.920 --> 0:18:19.640 Is one of my good friends, that the honesty, the 0:18:19.720 --> 0:18:20.920 truth and. 0:18:22.359 --> 0:18:32.399 Unapologetically is the writing on that show. How and I 0:18:32.440 --> 0:18:36.720 know of Kenyuna's background and influence and body of work. 0:18:37.920 --> 0:18:41.520 Was it difficult to in dealing with like the studio 0:18:41.800 --> 0:18:46.560 TV studio, in being able to communicate in that way 0:18:46.600 --> 0:18:48.480 and write in that way? 0:18:48.840 --> 0:18:52.320 We're going to answer, would you like Tracy? I want 0:18:52.359 --> 0:18:53.240 the you like? 0:18:53.600 --> 0:18:56.520 You know? 0:18:56.800 --> 0:18:58.520 So, I will say, and I have to say it. 0:18:58.560 --> 0:19:01.040 I've been I've been really really blessed and fortunate to 0:19:01.119 --> 0:19:02.479 be in Kenya's bubble. 0:19:02.560 --> 0:19:03.880 And what you find is. 0:19:06.080 --> 0:19:09.520 He has been writing almost thirty years and so he 0:19:09.520 --> 0:19:13.960 he he'll go up against anybody, you know what I'm saying, 0:19:14.119 --> 0:19:16.400 He'll go up against for the for the. 0:19:16.320 --> 0:19:18.320 Truth to be able to be expressed. 0:19:19.000 --> 0:19:23.520 And so and so I came in season five after 0:19:23.560 --> 0:19:28.840 they had I mean Blackish was meanted but early, you know, 0:19:29.119 --> 0:19:33.480 and not and not really. I mean, it's a trust thing. 0:19:33.560 --> 0:19:38.200 It's a it's a it's a it's a trust thing. 0:19:38.440 --> 0:19:43.000 It's an experienced thing, it's a POV thing. It's like, 0:19:43.359 --> 0:19:46.359 it's not always like out out like racism or you 0:19:46.440 --> 0:19:49.359 know what I'm saying, It's not all but yeah, but 0:19:49.560 --> 0:19:51.399 you have to you have to be steady, and you 0:19:51.400 --> 0:19:53.840 have to be really really clear. And Kenya when he 0:19:53.960 --> 0:19:56.960 has when he's locked into the idea, he's very very clear. 0:19:57.040 --> 0:20:02.440 He's very intentional, and so that's sort of toality I too. 0:20:02.760 --> 0:20:05.600 You know, it's almost like someone who interviews a married 0:20:05.600 --> 0:20:09.920 couple after thirty years. After thirty years, figured out it's 0:20:09.920 --> 0:20:13.520 different than you're it's different than you're fifteen, it's different 0:20:13.520 --> 0:20:17.160 than your twenty. So you figured out what battles to fight, 0:20:17.200 --> 0:20:20.200 what battles not to fight, and and you have some 0:20:20.720 --> 0:20:24.920 track record that transit direction under your belt. So there 0:20:24.920 --> 0:20:28.520 weren't a lot There wasn't a lot of friction I 0:20:28.680 --> 0:20:30.720 was in when I was joined when I joined the 0:20:30.760 --> 0:20:33.240 show between you know, the staff and the things that 0:20:33.280 --> 0:20:35.439 we wanted to do and the network in the studio. 0:20:35.480 --> 0:20:39.000 The network in the studio I think were very accommodating, 0:20:39.359 --> 0:20:41.919 and where they weren't, they probably learned that he was 0:20:42.000 --> 0:20:45.439 right in moments, you know, But yeah, that does exist. 0:20:45.600 --> 0:20:48.199 I mean, there have been other shows that I've worked on, 0:20:48.960 --> 0:20:51.440 even though they had been his shows where the the 0:20:53.160 --> 0:20:56.360 pushback was a little bit there. You know, there's moments. 0:20:56.720 --> 0:21:01.320 But I again, very very fortunate Kenya has been able 0:21:01.359 --> 0:21:04.080 to One of his superpowers is being able to take 0:21:04.440 --> 0:21:08.159 a very specific niche experience and make it digestible and 0:21:08.320 --> 0:21:13.399 mass and people trust him now. So I believe the 0:21:13.800 --> 0:21:17.920 challenges that he may have will still be challenges because. 0:21:17.960 --> 0:21:18.879 It just is what it is. 0:21:18.920 --> 0:21:22.520 But I think people have more faith, which in turn, 0:21:22.560 --> 0:21:24.600 I think allows the door to be open for other 0:21:24.760 --> 0:21:27.480 show creators and writers to sort of take different kinds 0:21:27.480 --> 0:21:31.600 of swings because there is a Blackish or there was 0:21:31.640 --> 0:21:35.040 a black af Like I left Grownish after season five, 0:21:37.000 --> 0:21:39.439 I was like, yo, he's not going to be in 0:21:39.480 --> 0:21:39.919 a room. 0:21:40.480 --> 0:21:41.760 He won't be able to be in a room for 0:21:41.840 --> 0:21:42.480