Speaker 1: Welcome to Strictly Business, Variety's weekly podcast featuring conversations with
Speaker 1: industry leaders about the business of media and entertainment. I'm
Speaker 1: Cynthia Lyttleton, co editor in chief for Variety. Today's podcast
Speaker 1: is a departure from our usual format. We're doing a
Speaker 1: deep dive into the history of the Maiden New York Program.
Speaker 1: This is a job training program funded by the City
Speaker 1: of New York that is designed to open doors for
Speaker 1: jobs as production assistants for low income New Yorkers. Maid
Speaker 1: in New York began in two thousand and six during
Speaker 1: the Michael Bloomberg mayoral administration. More than eleven hundred New
Speaker 1: Yorkers have since gone through the four week intensive program,
Speaker 1: and many of them are working in highly paid union
Speaker 1: jobs in the industry today. Maid In New York has
Speaker 1: just released a long term repar that shows for every
Speaker 1: five thousand dollars invested in the training, the participant's earnings
Speaker 1: power grew eighteen times over a five year period. There
Speaker 1: are other glowing statistics in the report that reinforce the
Speaker 1: teach a person to fish value of these kinds of
Speaker 1: training and career support programs. In our discussion, we'll hear
Speaker 1: from Katherine Oliver, who was a key player in launching
Speaker 1: Made in New York. When the program was born, she
Speaker 1: was head of the Mayor's Office of Media and Entertainment.
Speaker 1: Today she's a principal at Bloomberg Philanthropies, which commission the study.
Speaker 1: We'll also hear from others involved in the program, including
Speaker 1: perspective from a veteran line producer who has experienced hiring
Speaker 1: Made in New York grads. Here, I'll let our guests
Speaker 1: introduce themselves so listeners will know who's who.
Speaker 2: My name is Venus Anderson. I'm the director of media
Speaker 2: programs here at the MAID and New York KA Training
Speaker 2: Program and also the Post Production Assistant Training Program.
Speaker 3: I'm portb, a local by the way, depty commissioner for
Speaker 3: film with the Mayor's Office and Media Entretation.
Speaker 4: Hello, my name's at Duado Holder. I was in the
Speaker 4: maiden New York Production Assistant program.
Speaker 2: I graduated cycle sixty.
Speaker 5: My name is Paradise. I was born and raised in
Speaker 5: New York.
Speaker 6: Katherine Oliver, principal at Bloomberg Associates and former commissioner of
Speaker 6: the Mayor's Office of Media and Entertainment.
Speaker 7: This is South Iago Kenyonis, I'm a producer in New York.
Speaker 1: Thanks so much. I can't wait to get started on
Speaker 1: a lively discussion about the ROI of investing in human
Speaker 1: capital that's coming up right after this break.
Speaker 8: Strictly Business is presented by Universal Studio Group, which houses
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Speaker 8: airing or streaming around the globe and own one of
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Speaker 5: Thank you all so much for joining me here on
Speaker 5: Monday juneteenth to talk about the success of an incredibly
Speaker 5: important and impactful program that has been changing lives in
Speaker 5: New York City now for going on fifteen years. Catherine,
Speaker 5: here we are in twenty twenty three. You have an
Speaker 5: incredible I think it's about a twenty five page report
Speaker 5: that just details the incredible impact in a relatively narrow
Speaker 5: area of employment, the incredible impact of focus and intention
Speaker 5: and resources can do. Can you take your mind back
Speaker 5: to the two thousand and five two thousand and six
Speaker 5: era and talk about the spark. What was the spark
Speaker 5: for this program? What were you what were you trying
Speaker 5: to address in creating Maiden Aline.
Speaker 6: The city of New York really experienced a renaissance of
Speaker 6: film and television production during the Bloomberg administration. And it
Speaker 6: was back at the end of four beginning of five
Speaker 6: that the Maid in New York tax Incentive program, the
Speaker 6: very first tax credit in the city and state of
Speaker 6: New York ever, was passed. And it was shortly after
Speaker 6: that the floodgates open and production escalated in the city.
Speaker 6: And we had been working really hard to make New
Speaker 6: York City a premier shooting location. After a lot of
Speaker 6: the business left after nine to eleven, the industry was
Speaker 6: just surging and we were starting to hear reports that
Speaker 6: neighborhoods were getting burnt out. There was too much production
Speaker 6: in New York. So in a very short period of time,
Speaker 6: you know, it was feast or famine. You know, there
Speaker 6: was a lot of production in New York and the
Speaker 6: Film office has got a very unenviable They're in an
Speaker 6: unenviable position that they have to balance the needs of
Speaker 6: customer service, making the production happy, giving them access, and
Speaker 6: also being sensitive that we're a city of eight and
Speaker 6: a half million people and their quality of life issues,
Speaker 6: you know, for residents, for businesses that thrive on the
Speaker 6: streets and sidewalks of our city. And so we saw
Speaker 6: a unique opportunity. The industry was growing, and from an
Speaker 6: economic development standpoint, this was a sector that was growing,
Speaker 6: and we were looking around at the productions and seeing
Speaker 6: that they needed to be more diverse. The productions, the
Speaker 6: crews needed to be more reflective of the city that
Speaker 6: they served and were working in. And so there was
Speaker 6: a unique opportunity to create a pipeline for more job
Speaker 6: opportunity in New York to throat industry. And at the
Speaker 6: same time, the Film Office had the task of maintaining
Speaker 6: law and order, if you will, on with productions in
Speaker 6: these communities. So we created so we thought, we need
Speaker 6: a training program, We need an extension of the film office,
Speaker 6: and a production assistant is the face of a production
Speaker 6: in a community. And so we thought, if we work
Speaker 6: with the pas and train them and educate them about
Speaker 6: what are the requirements of a permit, what are the
Speaker 6: rules of engagement when working in New York City that
Speaker 6: everyone would have a more positive experience. But the Film
Speaker 6: Office didn't know how to do job training. So we
Speaker 6: looked around and we looked at some of the entities
Speaker 6: in the city that we're doing job training in different sectors,
Speaker 6: and we discovered Brooklyn Workforce Innovations originally based in Sunset
Speaker 6: Park and they did job training for unemployed and underemployed
Speaker 6: New Yorkers. And you know, cold Call reached out to
Speaker 6: Aaron and team and this was in two thousand and five,
Speaker 6: two thousand and six, and said, we know about film production,
Speaker 6: you know about job training. Let's work together. So we
Speaker 6: created this program and we set out on you know,
Speaker 6: launching it, and it's been phenomenally successful. We've heard a
Speaker 6: lot of anecdotes through the years and so now we
Speaker 6: have some data to put behind that that really paints
Speaker 6: a beautiful picture of economic development career opportunities for underserved
Speaker 6: New Yorkers. So we couldn't be more proud.
Speaker 5: For all of you that are now engaged in this work.
Speaker 5: What as as growing up as youths, what was your
Speaker 5: awareness of the potential for job opportunities in this area.
Speaker 5: Were you aware that film and television production was a thing,
Speaker 5: and that there was a lot. There was a lot
Speaker 5: and more going on film and TV and even Broadway.
Speaker 5: What was your awareness of employment opportunities at less than
Speaker 5: the movie star and you know, top big name director.
Speaker 5: What was your awareness of the kind of job opportunities
Speaker 5: that you're involved with now when you were growing up
Speaker 5: as youth city New York City.
Speaker 2: As a born and bred New Yorker, I knew very
Speaker 2: little about the TV and film industry. When you're growing
Speaker 2: up as a kid in the eighties and the nineties,
Speaker 2: you hear about people becoming passion models and maybe even
Speaker 2: actors on soap operas because that was a big thing,
Speaker 2: but not so much people working behind the scenes. And
Speaker 2: I remember talking to my uncle, who, when I was younger,
Speaker 2: wanted to be an actor. And he's very unique in
Speaker 2: terms of almost every one of my family has a
Speaker 2: city job bus drivers, police officers, and things like that,
Speaker 2: but he wanted to be an actor and that didn't
Speaker 2: quite pan out. He wound up having a family and
Speaker 2: wound up kind of moonlighting as a parking PA on
Speaker 2: this show in the nineties called New York Undercover. And
Speaker 2: I used to think that was so cool because they
Speaker 2: even threw him in as an extra. So I had
Speaker 2: to be maybe about twelve or thirteen years old, and
Speaker 2: I remember seeing him on camera, but he said, you know,
Speaker 2: most of my work happens behind the scenes, and I
Speaker 2: was like, you know, I need to dig more and
Speaker 2: do more research about the TV and film industry. I
Speaker 2: think at that time, I was still disillusioned with the
Speaker 2: fact that everything happens in Hollywood, and maybe there's those
Speaker 2: one or two shows that were The New York Undercovers
Speaker 2: or the Law and Orders. Back then in the nineties,
Speaker 2: there really wasn't too much going on that, you know,
Speaker 2: you had to move to Hollywood. So when I went
Speaker 2: to school, my roommate was really into TV and film
Speaker 2: and she told me after she graduated, she was going
Speaker 2: to move to LA to pursue that career. And I
Speaker 2: was like, well, isn't there a scene in New York
Speaker 2: And you know, I'm going to move back to New
Speaker 2: York and maybe you can just move back with me,
Speaker 2: and she's like no, So she went to LA and
Speaker 2: she works in TV and film, and when I came
Speaker 2: back to New York, I still did not see those
Speaker 2: opportunities here. There was no one waiting for someone with
Speaker 2: a college degree to say, hey, why don't you work
Speaker 2: in the film industry. I would apply to internships, and
Speaker 2: no one was taking anyone for an internship that wasn't
Speaker 2: enrolled in school.
Speaker 9: My mom was a single mom, and so we didn't
Speaker 9: really have many opportunities to like view people going to
Speaker 9: college and stuff like that. She kind of had to
Speaker 9: go straight to work. And my mom was the best
Speaker 9: mom that she could be given the circumstances. But we
Speaker 9: grew up not in the best situations, and so I
Speaker 9: got a ged in Rikers Island. I didn't really have.
Speaker 5: Like a path or I.
Speaker 9: Didn't know where I wanted to go, and when I
Speaker 9: walked into BWI, I still was unsure. I thought I
Speaker 9: was going to be an uber driver and they were like,
Speaker 9: we'll teach you how to get your license. So I
Speaker 9: was like, I'll get the license and see what we
Speaker 9: can do. And then they said, you know, we have
Speaker 9: this training program where you could work on TV and film,
Speaker 9: and I was like, well, you got me.
Speaker 6: The ad works for me.
Speaker 5: I'll go I'll give it a try.
Speaker 9: And then you know, that was my first introduction to
Speaker 9: working in TV and film prior to that The only
Speaker 9: you know, understanding I had was like you had to
Speaker 9: be a rapper or you know, that was pretty much it,
Speaker 9: Like you had to be a rapper model to be
Speaker 9: on TV. Other than that, like you weren't really getting anywhere.
Speaker 4: I came into it because I was shooting music videos
Speaker 4: around my way around my neighborhood. A friend of mine's
Speaker 4: know about the Maid of New York program, and I
Speaker 4: just happened to give it a chance, and I walked
Speaker 4: into a life changing thing. Because that moment right there,
Speaker 4: I was like, this is where I belonged. You know,
Speaker 4: this is where I need to be. I thought you
Speaker 4: needed to be educated with degrees and you needed to
Speaker 4: have certifications. You just need to be willing to work
Speaker 4: and learn. That's the first thing I noticed, And I
Speaker 4: was like, okay, And it opened doors for me I
Speaker 4: never thought open. So I'm always grateful for that. I
Speaker 4: never thought about, you know, the film industry. I never
Speaker 4: thought that I would let alone be in it.
Speaker 5: What was it about the work that intrigued you? What
Speaker 5: was it that excited you about the about and made
Speaker 5: you want to learn more about it?
Speaker 4: It was so much how it's so much different departments
Speaker 4: and that how we all have to work as one
Speaker 4: to make.
Speaker 3: This whole thing proud.
Speaker 4: So I never knew about you know, HMU and the
Speaker 4: grip department and the electrics, the shadows, the lights that
Speaker 4: the props department down to the It's just so intricate
Speaker 4: and you know detail that I found myself learning about
Speaker 4: every department and why the lights here, and why there's
Speaker 4: a shade here, Why do we need a prop going
Speaker 4: or why do we have prop loud? Everything is just
Speaker 4: so intriguing because it's a reason for something and it's
Speaker 4: working as a unity. So everything just became you know,
Speaker 4: a study.
Speaker 5: Program Santiago and you have had a great experience in
Speaker 5: hiring made and why graduates can you talk about you know,
Speaker 5: what what it is you look for when you're hiring people,
Speaker 5: and what it is that made in and why people
Speaker 5: bring to the table for you.
Speaker 7: The things that I look for are the things that
Speaker 7: intrinsically are also what make people successful in this business, right,
Speaker 7: And it's like, you know, somebody who is helpful to
Speaker 7: the process, somebody who's willing to work, somebody who understands
Speaker 7: the work and the long hours and how hard it
Speaker 7: is to be in this business. Are some of those
Speaker 7: things that we're looking for. So well, I didn't go
Speaker 7: through the maide in New York program, I can certainly
Speaker 7: speak to the opp unity gaps you know that existed.
Speaker 7: Certainly when I started, there was, you know, there was
Speaker 7: there was really no way unless you knew someone or
Speaker 7: unless you work for free, which is what I ended
Speaker 7: up doing. And I think one of one of the
Speaker 7: things that Made in New York program does.
Speaker 10: Is that it it gives you, It gives that graduateal
Speaker 10: leg up uh and and that's at least one advantage
Speaker 10: that you're bringing to the table when somebody is going
Speaker 10: to consider whether they should hire you or somebody else.
Speaker 7: Right, you need a mature person that that has that
Speaker 7: has the knowledge to pick up the baton and keep running.
Speaker 7: That matters, especially because production, you know, I don't want
Speaker 7: to be little war. Production in a sense is like war,
Speaker 7: uh where we have a lot of moving parts and
Speaker 7: people talk to here about coordination, and there's a lot
Speaker 7: of coordin that needs to happen in a very short
Speaker 7: amount of time. And usually I hire a person, especially
Speaker 7: the first time I'm hiring someone, they're hired as an
Speaker 7: additional for that one day in particular, and what I
Speaker 7: expect from that person is to know the job that
Speaker 7: I need them to do.
Speaker 6: And that's what's exciting now because the new tax credit
Speaker 6: in New York, which is going to get signed into
Speaker 6: law shortly, is a game changer. I mean, it's astonishing
Speaker 6: and there's going to be a lot of production. And
Speaker 6: even though we have the writers build strike now, when
Speaker 6: the strike is settled eventually it will be hopefully sooner
Speaker 6: than later. This is a great time to be training
Speaker 6: people and getting people into the industry because New York
Speaker 6: is probably not going to see production levels that they've
Speaker 6: ever seen before, which is so heartwarming and wonderful to
Speaker 6: give so many people an opportunity that they never had before.
Speaker 5: Will this new text credit, will the Will there be
Speaker 5: an expansion of support for it made in inly or
Speaker 5: other programs in this same spirit.
Speaker 3: Definitely. We are working with the New Film and Television
Speaker 3: Council that is directly tied into the Mayor's office, and
Speaker 3: it comprised of multiple stakeholders and labor industry local workers.
Speaker 3: And within that council there's a workforce subcommittee, So we've
Speaker 3: been working with them stakeholders locally, studios networks unions to
Speaker 3: try to figure out better ways that we can increase
Speaker 3: the pipeline for New Yorkers into the industry. As we
Speaker 3: expand and growth capacity, the need for infrastructure and workforce
Speaker 3: will be there, so we definitely want to make sure
Speaker 3: that we use this opportunity to diversify the workforce. I
Speaker 3: always say that I won't be happy until the crews
Speaker 3: here look like the subway cars, and I think you
Speaker 3: have an amazing opportunity with this diverse city to have
Speaker 3: a lot really to first for force Base.
Speaker 1: Don't even think about hitting the pause button. We'll be
Speaker 1: right back with more on the Maiden New York Program
Speaker 1: After this break.
Speaker 8: Universal Television presents Harlem from Tracy Oliver in season two.
Speaker 8: After blowing up her career and disrupting her love life,
Speaker 8: Camille has to figure out how to put the pieces
Speaker 8: back together. Ty considers her future, Quinn goes on a
Speaker 8: journey of self discovery, and Angie's career takes a promising turn.
Speaker 8: Entertainment Weekly says it's a smart, sleek and sharp comedy,
Speaker 8: and Collider calls it an immediate delight. Harlem is for
Speaker 8: your Emmy consideration in all categories including outstanding comedy series, and.
Speaker 1: We're back with more on the Maiden New York Production
Speaker 1: Crew Training program.
Speaker 5: Venus break it down for us, how do you go
Speaker 5: about applying for the maid in New York program and
Speaker 5: what does it entail if you are so fortunate it
Speaker 5: is to get in sure.
Speaker 2: So, if you're looking for an opportunity to enroll in
Speaker 2: the MAIDA New York PA training program, you can go
Speaker 2: to our website at bwiny dot org. Every Monday at
Speaker 2: one pm, except for federal holidays such as today, we
Speaker 2: have a zoom meeting where it's an information session. You
Speaker 2: can hear an overview of what the program in jails
Speaker 2: for weeks of training, and at that time you can
Speaker 2: submit an online application. It's been like that since COVID,
Speaker 2: so we don't meet in person for the for the orientations.
Speaker 2: If you are selected based off of the qualifications, you
Speaker 2: have to be eighteen and older, you have to be
Speaker 2: a New York City resident, you have to be passionate
Speaker 2: and wanting to work in TV and film, and you
Speaker 2: have to have a driver's license. If you don't have
Speaker 2: a driver's license, we do have a very limited amount
Speaker 2: of driving driver licensed scholarships available to folks who are
Speaker 2: interested in entering driving school. So those are basic our
Speaker 2: basic minimum qualifications and in addition to being low income
Speaker 2: and no income. The four weeks of training will consist
Speaker 2: of learning the basics. We set it up. The first
Speaker 2: week is essentially, you know, learning what department is, which,
Speaker 2: who's who on set, the vehicles on set, how to
Speaker 2: do runs which are like errands for different people on set.
Speaker 2: Because you're training how to be entry level. We also
Speaker 2: have a walkie talkie training, so we set them up
Speaker 2: to do the walkie lingo and from then second week
Speaker 2: we're going on field trips. We'll go to like a
Speaker 2: grip or electric house, We'll go to a studios. Kauffman
Speaker 2: Astoria has pretty much been open to us and letting
Speaker 2: us tour the studio, so the students get really excited
Speaker 2: and seeing the set as Sesame Street, that's usually a
Speaker 2: big one every time. And then third week we're gearing
Speaker 2: up for our mock shoot. The mock shoot is essentially
Speaker 2: all the work that they put in with the walkie
Speaker 2: lingo and learning how to do lock ups, which is
Speaker 2: basically stopping pedestrians in the community from walking through the sets.
Speaker 2: Is you don't want to have any stragglers just coming
Speaker 2: by and trying to get an autographed it. It is
Speaker 2: a skill. It just gets a skill, and not everybody
Speaker 2: loves it, but it is very necessary in the entry
Speaker 2: level position of a PA. So during that mock shoot,
Speaker 2: we're putting our students to the test to see if
Speaker 2: they can be you know, in the fort where our
Speaker 2: offices at the Brooklyn Navy Yard, So we're usually in
Speaker 2: Fort Green or Clinton Hill, and we're working with the
Speaker 2: community while we're setting up our own film shoot and
Speaker 2: let them know like, hey, listen, we're here. We're representing
Speaker 2: not only BWI, but the City of New York Mayor's
Speaker 2: Office Immediate Entertainment in putting a program together, and a
Speaker 2: lot of people do stop us in the street and
Speaker 2: they ask, well, how do we get involved? And people
Speaker 2: will wind up coming to our orientations in that way.
Speaker 2: So it's a great way for us to not only
Speaker 2: teach the students, but we're in the community and in
Speaker 2: the community that we are are training in. Also, fourth
Speaker 2: week we set up mock interviews with industry professionals. We
Speaker 2: have a lot of goals setting exercises for our students
Speaker 2: so they can set up, you know, the trajectory of
Speaker 2: their pathways and where they want to be in the
Speaker 2: next three.
Speaker 5: To five years.
Speaker 2: And then from there, as Catherine had highlighted in the beginning,
Speaker 2: we have a graduation for them to celebrate, you know,
Speaker 2: those four weeks of the training. It's a really special
Speaker 2: moment for them to be able to not only get
Speaker 2: their certificates, but to speak to their classmates and knowing
Speaker 2: that they're setting up their very first network. You know,
Speaker 2: they may get out there and not know anyone, but
Speaker 2: they know each other and now they're strengthening those bonds,
Speaker 2: and those are the bonds that they'll take with them
Speaker 2: throughout their careers.
Speaker 5: As anybody in the entertainment business knows, it's you get
Speaker 5: your next job by who you impressed on your last job.
Speaker 5: I mean, it is just so true. Paradise and Wardo.
Speaker 5: Any any thoughts about the training, and I'd also love
Speaker 5: to hear about you know how you advanced. I know
Speaker 5: you both have advanced rapidly since since your graduation from
Speaker 5: made from New York.
Speaker 9: I had no income, I was a felon. I had
Speaker 9: lots of skills, but I had no certifications to actually
Speaker 9: take those anywhere. And so I was really just very malleable.
Speaker 9: Like I was at a very vulnerable point in my
Speaker 9: life where it could have went left or it could
Speaker 9: have went right. I was still on parole. I was
Speaker 9: still deciding what type of lifestyle I was going to live.
Speaker 9: And so I went into made A New York and
Speaker 9: I was like, you have to be here every day
Speaker 9: at eight am, or else you get kicked out. And
Speaker 9: I was like, eight am, all right, I'll be there.
Speaker 9: And I continue to be there and I continue to
Speaker 9: show up, and I just I was like a sponge.
Speaker 9: I I ingested everything that you know, was thrown at me.
Speaker 9: I think the most helpful thing to me was learning
Speaker 9: the luck with a walkie lingo, so that when I
Speaker 9: walked in and they said, you know, oh we're rolling,
Speaker 9: I was like, you know, rolling where we're rolling out to?
Speaker 9: You know, I didn't say the wrong thing. Instead, I
Speaker 9: blended in with the community, and I was able to
Speaker 9: make it work for me, you know. And so it
Speaker 9: just laid such an amazing foundation for me that, like
Speaker 9: I could never express in words how gratuitous I am
Speaker 9: to Made in New York. I met my wife through
Speaker 9: the program. I've excelled in my career, I've moved up
Speaker 9: into positions. I am a union member, I have a pension,
Speaker 9: you know, like all these things that I'd never thought
Speaker 9: about as a twenty three year old person walking into
Speaker 9: Made in New York and ultimately as an overall person
Speaker 9: with so many things, you know, I think held against me.
Speaker 9: The fact that I was a woman, the fact that
Speaker 9: I was a lesbian, the fact that I was a felon.
Speaker 9: All of those things I thought would be hindrance, like
Speaker 9: they would hinder me in moving forward and making good money,
Speaker 9: making legal money making you know, positive.
Speaker 5: Positive changes.
Speaker 9: So now I get up and you know, some days
Speaker 9: I wake up at to thirty in the morning to
Speaker 9: be somewhere by four, and I'm like, well, there's other
Speaker 9: places I could be. And I enjoy the ride to work,
Speaker 9: and I get to work and I'm respected, and I
Speaker 9: have a title, and people come to me to solve
Speaker 9: their problems, and I feel I feel good, you know,
Speaker 9: like I feel well within myself, and every and every
Speaker 9: step of the way of that, like Made in New
Speaker 9: York has been a cornerstone of those things, you know,
Speaker 9: Like if it hadn't been for me to New York,
Speaker 9: I wouldn't have gotten the jobs that I that I do.
Speaker 9: I did the Made of New York program to make
Speaker 9: my mom proud, and every single day I just make
Speaker 9: my mom more and more and more and more proud.
Speaker 9: Every time I tell I worked on the show, or
Speaker 9: I met this person or I did this thing, she
Speaker 9: just sent me my own IMDb Like I don't know
Speaker 9: what that is, you know, like it's just it's given
Speaker 9: me so much more than just finances that I can't express.
Speaker 5: Oh my god, I think you just did beautifully, Eduardo.
Speaker 4: I mean for me, the program told me everything we
Speaker 4: needed to know to walk on set. I think the
Speaker 4: lingo was like the walkie lingo kind of helps you
Speaker 4: blend in knowing the departments and it just you know,
Speaker 4: the the scenarios that we went through. So when we
Speaker 4: was on set making a run for someone, it prepared
Speaker 4: me so much that I knew what other people needed
Speaker 4: before they knew. So I just paid attention. I remember
Speaker 4: being this thing was you know, if it's nothing for
Speaker 4: you to do, act like you're busy and find something
Speaker 4: to do, you know, make yourself look like you're busy.
Speaker 4: I came into The Equalizer season one as a COVID
Speaker 4: compliance officer. Three months onto the job, they made me
Speaker 4: set manager and I've been on the Equalizer for four seasons.
Speaker 4: So I've been set manager for four seasons. Through those
Speaker 4: four seasons, I've had the honor to meet so much
Speaker 4: people who makes some good connections. I was able to
Speaker 4: meet the stunt coordinator on the Equalizer. He came across
Speaker 4: some of my videos that I post on social media
Speaker 4: and he asked me, you know, a question that kind
Speaker 4: of changed my whole trajectory. He was like, what do
Speaker 4: you think about being Kevin Harsh stunt double? Now this
Speaker 4: is the rock stunt double. It changed my mind about stunts.
Speaker 4: It changed my mind about, you know, everything I do.
Speaker 4: And I had long locks. My hair was very long.
Speaker 4: I say, a week later, I told myself, I see
Speaker 4: myself doing this. I see myself doing stunts. I see myself,
Speaker 4: you know, on TV. I see myself doing this. I
Speaker 4: cut my hair. I started training ten times harder, get together,
Speaker 4: and you know, I started working out a lot more.
Speaker 4: And that following end of the year, I got my
Speaker 4: first on side, my first stunt job. Since then, I've
Speaker 4: worked for stunt jobs on the Equalizer and I've been training,
Speaker 4: networking with so many people. I never in my life
Speaker 4: thought that I would be a stunt actor. I never
Speaker 4: in my life thought i'd be talking to actors and
Speaker 4: having conversations with them, people that I grew up, you know,
Speaker 4: looking up to, and they're looking at me as a
Speaker 4: friend and as associate. They're appreciating the work that I've done.
Speaker 2: I always say this.
Speaker 4: My first day on set was seventeen and a half hours.
Speaker 4: My first four days on set was seventeen hours. I
Speaker 4: remember the Friday, coming into work, I told myself, I
Speaker 4: can't do this. I boughderline about the crowd. I don't
Speaker 4: know what I'm gonna do. And it was a classmate
Speaker 4: I had, Brian Hardison, I won't never forget this. He
Speaker 4: see me in the corner and I was just like
Speaker 4: I was going through it, and he was like, hey man,
Speaker 4: you got this, and it snapped me right in the shape.
Speaker 4: And had he not did that, I probably would have
Speaker 4: gave up. And I'm thankful I didn't because it brought
Speaker 4: me here, you know, made in New York, prepared me
Speaker 4: for something I never thought was possible. You know, it
Speaker 4: gave me a door that I was allowed to see
Speaker 4: a whole different life. You know, I'm able to provide
Speaker 4: my family because of them, I'm able to do something
Speaker 4: life changing that my kids look up to, my friends
Speaker 4: and my family look up to.
Speaker 5: You know.
Speaker 7: I think some folks touched upon some of the most
Speaker 7: important parts of success once your foot's in the door,
Speaker 7: and one of those is networking, right, And I always
Speaker 7: say to the young people, you know, who were willing
Speaker 7: to listen, at least you're going to grow with your peers,
Speaker 7: and someday your peers are going to be, you know,
Speaker 7: hiring you, or you're going to be hiring them, et cetera,
Speaker 7: you know. Or so so I think the foot in
Speaker 7: the door part and the closing of the opportunity gap
Speaker 7: is it's hard to put that into words, you know,
Speaker 7: especially someone like myself who didn't have those kind of opportunities.
Speaker 6: This is a great proof of performance. The ROI is there,
Speaker 6: and so I think that is great. But I think
Speaker 6: that more people, the studios and the unions need more
Speaker 6: awareness and need to hear more of these heartwarming stories
Speaker 6: because it's giving very disadvantaged people in our city and
Speaker 6: an opportunity and a real opportunity, and you know, creating
Speaker 6: and strengthening that pipeline so that we can do that
Speaker 6: for more of the residency.
Speaker 5: Has IOTZI and it's support for the base, you know.
Speaker 5: So the baseline disciplines that are that are covered here,
Speaker 5: have they been a factor in the success of the program?
Speaker 5: Do you think they have?
Speaker 2: When I first started with me to New York as
Speaker 2: a staff member in twenty eleven, the Brooklyn Workforce Innovations
Speaker 2: had just finished a partnership with IATZI Local fifty two.
Speaker 2: It was a grip and electric training program to help
Speaker 2: people get advanced training skills because up until that point
Speaker 2: they had only trained pas. Beyond that, there was a
Speaker 2: Local six hundred training program. They did two iterations of that.
Speaker 2: Our most recent one was in twenty eighteen, where ten
Speaker 2: out of the fifteen trainees actually went on to get
Speaker 2: their their union cards to become union loaders. So that
Speaker 2: open doors. I know, Local fifty two also had an
Speaker 2: opening for people to get on their availability lists because
Speaker 2: now we had visibility and credibility, you know, being around
Speaker 2: for so long. So we have over two dozen made
Speaker 2: in New York graduates are now members of Local fifty two.
Speaker 2: There could be a lot more, considering we have over
Speaker 2: eleven hundred graduates, and there's so many other locals. We
Speaker 2: want to try to get people, you know, we've been
Speaker 2: doing this for seventeen years now, try to get people
Speaker 2: to that above the line, you know, WGA. We have
Speaker 2: a few people who are members there and DGA as well.
Speaker 2: But people are looking, you know, especially people who've been
Speaker 2: in this for a very long time, are looking to advance.
Speaker 2: And I feel like we can continue strengthening those relationships
Speaker 2: with the IATZI and I know Catherine has helped us
Speaker 2: and introduced us to a lot of those folks you
Speaker 2: know in the inner offices and letting them know that, hey,
Speaker 2: we're a program of diversity. You know, as you read
Speaker 2: in the study, there's ninety four percent of our enrollees
Speaker 2: or people of color. You know, another unstated number is
Speaker 2: fifty one percent of our trainees or women or identifies women.
Speaker 2: So that's that's a huge number in an industry that
Speaker 2: has literally not had its doors open to people who
Speaker 2: look like that. But like I said, moving forward, we
Speaker 2: would hope to continue building upon those relationships.
Speaker 6: There is a commitment amongst the labor unions now that
Speaker 6: we haven't seen before, and it's a different attitude, and
Speaker 6: we're seeing that the studios are also being much more
Speaker 6: supportive financially and also in kind with diversity training programs,
Speaker 6: and so the tide is turned. So it's really it's
Speaker 6: a wonderful opportunity now to release this report get more
Speaker 6: traction with it, but we have to strengthen that pipeline web.
Speaker 5: Is there an opportunity to scale this model in both
Speaker 5: entertainment and other sectors that might lend itself to this
Speaker 5: kind of targeted, intense training programs for people to clearly
Speaker 5: have the desire and the drive and the aptitude.
Speaker 3: Absolutely, I mean we created the post production program, we
Speaker 3: have the Theatrical Workforce Training Program, Animation Project. I mean definitely,
Speaker 3: I think this is a program that we could use
Speaker 3: to scale in creative industries, which you know, media creative
Speaker 3: interface is one hundred and fifty billion dollars in revenue
Speaker 3: and it's half a million jobs for New Yorkers. So
Speaker 3: I think it's definitely something that's important, and we realize
Speaker 3: that diversity is not just a social justice issue, but
Speaker 3: it's a it's a marketing and creative commercial. It's because
Speaker 3: you have content creators that want to work with people
Speaker 3: that culturally understand the product that they're creating.
Speaker 5: Anybody have any last thoughts they'd like to share. I'm
Speaker 5: so grateful. I think this is this is so such,
Speaker 5: These anecdotal stories are so important to putting. You know,
Speaker 5: you have got great numbers, but now you've got a
Speaker 5: human face on these numbers. In a significant way.
Speaker 2: This is venus. I just want to say thank you
Speaker 2: to all of you who participated. It means not only
Speaker 2: the world to me, but to the program, Brooklyn Workforce Innovations,
Speaker 2: also our partners at the Mayor's Office of Media and Entertainment.
Speaker 2: Just to be able to have this platform to speak
Speaker 2: about the work that we do. I'm thankful for my
Speaker 2: staff and the hundreds of New Yorkers that we've served
Speaker 2: over the years.
Speaker 9: I just wanted to to say. This final thought is
Speaker 9: that in addition to financially and the foundation and you know,
Speaker 9: the future, that made a New York gives everyone. I
Speaker 9: personally think that it also gives you like a sense
Speaker 9: of like self worth and self respect because you walk
Speaker 9: in with a you know, as a PA, and you're like,
Speaker 9: this is entry level, but as you continue to move
Speaker 9: through your career and ultimately to your ultimate position, you
Speaker 9: gain more respect and more titles, and as you gain
Speaker 9: more titles, more people come to look, you know, to
Speaker 9: you for guidance, and then you're able to take that
Speaker 9: back to me to New York and say, hey, these
Speaker 9: are the things I've learned throughout the years. Here, let
Speaker 9: me teach this to you. And it kind of just
Speaker 9: manifests itself in like a snowball effect of self respect,
Speaker 9: you know, be getting self respect from the proval.
Speaker 5: Oh my god, and that is in such short supply
Speaker 5: in so many ways. Thank you all so much for
Speaker 5: your time and your candor and also all your great work.
Speaker 5: Really appreciate it. I'll look for your names and the credits.
Speaker 5: Thanks bye.
Speaker 1: Thanks for listening. Be sure to leave us a review
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Speaker 8: UCP presents the true crime thriller A Friend of the Family,
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Speaker 8: of the Broberg family, whose young daughter jan was kidnapped
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Speaker 8: A Friend of the Family is for your Emmy consideration
Speaker 8: in all categories, including Outstanding Limited Series.