WEBVTT - Ep 17: The Politics of Healthy Arrogance

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<v Speaker 1>Hey, what's up everybody.

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<v Speaker 2>I'm Jamelle Hill and welcome to his politics and I

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<v Speaker 2>heard podcasts and unbothered production.

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<v Speaker 1>Time to get spolitical.

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<v Speaker 2>As I mentioned last week, I'm going to use Black

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<v Speaker 2>History mouff to highlight black stories and sports that don't

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<v Speaker 2>get the attention they deserve. And this week's story starts

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<v Speaker 2>and ends in Pittsburgh, specifically with the Pittsburgh Steelers. Now,

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<v Speaker 2>the Steelers are one of the most revered and successful

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<v Speaker 2>franchises in NFL history. They are currently tied with the

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<v Speaker 2>New England Patriots for most Super Bowl wins, with both

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<v Speaker 2>franchises having won six Super Bowls. Now, for the Steelers,

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<v Speaker 2>six super bowls came in the nineteen seventies, when they

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<v Speaker 2>were considered a premier dynasty. Now, I'm sure you've heard

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<v Speaker 2>of the legendary coach Chuck Nole, who coached those teams

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<v Speaker 2>and was with the Steelers for twenty three years, and

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<v Speaker 2>of course the Rooney family, who is considered to be

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<v Speaker 2>the gold standard of pro football ownership. There was another

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<v Speaker 2>man who played a critical role in the Steelers becoming

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<v Speaker 2>an dynasty. The man who was primarily behind the Steelers

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<v Speaker 2>building their infamous Steel Curtain defense. That man would be

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<v Speaker 2>Bill Nunn, a former scout and assistant director of player

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<v Speaker 2>personnel for the Steelers. Now here's what it happened was

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<v Speaker 2>Bill Nunn was a newspaper guy, and as someone who

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<v Speaker 2>started their career in newspapers, I have a special place

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<v Speaker 2>in my heart for Bill Nunn's enormous legacy. Now, None

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<v Speaker 2>was a sportswriter and editor of the Pittsburgh Courier, a

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<v Speaker 2>distinguished national black newspaper. Starting in nineteen fifty, None selected

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<v Speaker 2>the paper's annual Black College All American football team, and

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<v Speaker 2>he hosted an annual banquet for the coaches and players. Now,

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<v Speaker 2>through his work and study of HBCUs, None developed an

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<v Speaker 2>extensive knowledge of the players from historically black colleges and universities. Now,

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<v Speaker 2>back in those days, all the premier black college football

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<v Speaker 2>talent they went to HBCUs because of segregation. So HBCUs

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<v Speaker 2>were the only place where they could really showcase what

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<v Speaker 2>they could do. The Black college football product was a

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<v Speaker 2>superior product, even though players, coaches, and the HBCU brand

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<v Speaker 2>of football were largely ignored by the NFL and disrespected

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<v Speaker 2>by the mainstream and by mainstream you know who I mean.

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<v Speaker 2>According to USA Today senior NFL writer Jared Bell, None

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<v Speaker 2>has such deep relationships with HBCU coaches and players than

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<v Speaker 2>when they went to visit Pittsburgh. They often stayed with None,

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<v Speaker 2>since a lot of the hotels were segregated.

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<v Speaker 1>As for how None wound up with the.

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<v Speaker 2>Steelers, well, it was a relationship that began rooted in criticism.

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<v Speaker 2>None ragged on the Steelers for their lack of talent

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<v Speaker 2>and success. Before the Steelers became a dominant team in

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<v Speaker 2>the nineteen seventies, Pittsburgh had only seven winning seasons since

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<v Speaker 2>the franchise began in nineteen thirty three. Aubrey Bruce, the

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<v Speaker 2>sports columnists for the New Pittsburgh Career, explains how None

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<v Speaker 2>and the Steelers became connected for life.

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<v Speaker 3>Initially, Bill and Nunn's relationship with the Steelers was a critic.

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<v Speaker 3>It was criticizing the team for not having black players,

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<v Speaker 3>and we cannot forget Dan Rooney ms ruinship. Was you

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<v Speaker 3>so much an expert? Come on over, let scout we

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<v Speaker 3>can get some plays now.

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<v Speaker 2>Bill Nunn's response was less or whatever. The nineteen sixties

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<v Speaker 2>version of that was. The Steelers hired None as a

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<v Speaker 2>part time scout in nineteen sixty seven, two years before

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<v Speaker 2>they hired Chuck no who coached the Steelers to their

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<v Speaker 2>first four Super Bowl victories. But it was None who

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<v Speaker 2>had the secret sauce.

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<v Speaker 4>From the stories that Bill told me, some of the

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<v Speaker 4>scouts weren't very comfortable of going into those schools of

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<v Speaker 4>the historically black colleges scouting players. They didn't always think

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<v Speaker 4>that they would have access to them.

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<v Speaker 2>That was me and Joe Green, one of the key

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<v Speaker 2>defensive forces that was part of the Steelers infamous Steel

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<v Speaker 2>Curtain defense. Much to the dismay of the Pittsburgh fans

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<v Speaker 2>at the time, the Steelers drafted Green fourth overall in

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<v Speaker 2>nineteen sixty nine. That same draft, None told the Steelers

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<v Speaker 2>to take el C. Greenwood, another major figure in the

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<v Speaker 2>Steel Curtain, in the tenth round out of Arkansas. But

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<v Speaker 2>that was just the beginning of a new era in

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<v Speaker 2>Steelers football.

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<v Speaker 5>From nineteen sixty nine to nineteen seventy five, the Steelers

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<v Speaker 5>drafted twenty four players from HBC years, the most in

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<v Speaker 5>the NFL. Five players from those schools, Mel Blunt, Elsie Greenwood,

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<v Speaker 5>Ernie Holmes, John Stalwart, and the undrafted Donnie Schell became

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<v Speaker 5>Pillars of four Super Bowl teams in the seventies.

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<v Speaker 2>In nineteen seventy four, the Steelers added five Hall of

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<v Speaker 2>famers to their roster, four of which were drafted. It's

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<v Speaker 2>considered to be one of the greatest NFL draft classes

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<v Speaker 2>in history. The Steelers drafted lyn Swan, Jack Lambert, John Stalworth,

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<v Speaker 2>and Mike Webster, and then they signed the undrafted rookie

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<v Speaker 2>Donnie Shale. None is credited for the entire reason the

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<v Speaker 2>Steelers took Stalworth and Shell with None in their ear

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<v Speaker 2>Three fourths of that famed steel Curtain defensive line came

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<v Speaker 2>from HBCUs. While None was known for his strong connection

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<v Speaker 2>to HBCU's that wasn't the only thing that None brought

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<v Speaker 2>to the table, said Kevin Colbert, who was the Steelers

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<v Speaker 2>general manager for over twenty years. Of course, he was

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<v Speaker 2>known for his work in the HBCUs and what he

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<v Speaker 2>did in breaking down barriers and so on and so forth.

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<v Speaker 1>But Bill scouted.

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<v Speaker 2>The first time I was with him on the road,

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<v Speaker 2>we spent a day at Boston College.

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<v Speaker 1>Even though his expertise was the hbcused, he was so

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<v Speaker 1>much more than that.

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<v Speaker 2>None retired from the Steelers in nineteen eighty seven as

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<v Speaker 2>assistant personnel director, he never got to be a general manager,

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<v Speaker 2>a position he was clearly qualified for. Even after he

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<v Speaker 2>officially retired, None still continued to work part time for

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<v Speaker 2>the Steelers. In twenty fourteen, he had a stroke in

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<v Speaker 2>the team's scouting room and died a few days later.

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<v Speaker 1>At eighty nine.

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<v Speaker 2>Years old and twenty twenty one, None was inducted into

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<v Speaker 2>the Pro Football Hall of Fame. He is the first

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<v Speaker 2>black person in the Hall's history to be enshrined as

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<v Speaker 2>a contributor. The same year of his induction, the Pro

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<v Speaker 2>Football Writers of America renamed their award that honors distinguished

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<v Speaker 2>reporting in Pro Football after None. Unfortunately, these honors came

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<v Speaker 2>for None after his son, a famous actor I'm sure

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<v Speaker 2>you'll recognize, had already passed away. You might remember his

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<v Speaker 2>son from this role.

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<v Speaker 6>Turn out him off right, turn it up radio out here.

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<v Speaker 6>I can't him myself. Three you want you want to.

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<v Speaker 1>Now?

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<v Speaker 2>I don't know why that wouldn't ring a bell, But

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<v Speaker 2>just in case it didn't, here's another famous character played

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<v Speaker 2>by Bill Nunn's son.

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<v Speaker 6>Who wasn't making no money then?

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<v Speaker 2>Was we?

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<v Speaker 6>Now that we are?

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<v Speaker 7>You out here living your fucking Michael Jordan, fantasy shooting,

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<v Speaker 7>jumpers and whatnot.

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<v Speaker 6>Business must be pretty good. We will be brother beat.

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<v Speaker 6>This a man freebase. So what yo, man? You know

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<v Speaker 6>the rules us brothers don't be getting out. Shut the

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<v Speaker 6>fuck up.

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<v Speaker 7>Man, it just try to call you a non talking basket.

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<v Speaker 2>The actor Bill Nunn died in twenty sixteen, five years

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<v Speaker 2>before his father officially became a Hall of Famer, but

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<v Speaker 2>his father's legacy lives on as it is one that

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<v Speaker 2>was clearly built to last.

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<v Speaker 1>I'm Jamel Hill and I approved this message.

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<v Speaker 2>I am so excited about today's episode because my guest

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<v Speaker 2>is a billion dollar producer.

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<v Speaker 1>That's right, I said billion with a B.

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<v Speaker 2>He had ten films that have opened at number one

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<v Speaker 2>at the box office, and in twenty seventeen and twenty eighteen,

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<v Speaker 2>his two comedies that he produced for the highest grossing.

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<v Speaker 1>Comedies in those years.

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<v Speaker 2>His success is not limited to movies, as he has

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<v Speaker 2>produced quality, award winning content in the television space, including

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<v Speaker 2>and unscripted. He's a proud HBC you graduate, and most recently,

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<v Speaker 2>he became a minority owner with the Atlanta Falcons. He's

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<v Speaker 2>got one of the best success stories in Hollywood history.

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<v Speaker 2>Which you can read about in his new book Who

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<v Speaker 2>Better Than You The Art of Healthy Arrogance and Dreaming.

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<v Speaker 2>Coming up next on Politics, mega producer Will Packer.

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<v Speaker 6>So Will, I'm going.

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<v Speaker 2>To start the podcast by question I asked every guest

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<v Speaker 2>on politics and that is named a athlete or a

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<v Speaker 2>moment that made you love sports.

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<v Speaker 7>Ooh and okay, all right, I have to ask you

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<v Speaker 7>answer your question?

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<v Speaker 6>What a question? Sorry, but I'm an analytical type.

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<v Speaker 7>So does it have to be something that I experienced

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<v Speaker 7>myself or can it just be oh, Hank Aaron, Hank

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<v Speaker 7>Aaron and the home run record seven fifty five.

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<v Speaker 6>Yeah, that would be because because because.

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<v Speaker 7>Of what's possible, because of you know, I just remember

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<v Speaker 7>I played baseball as a young man growing up, and

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<v Speaker 7>to have somebody that looked like that in a sport

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<v Speaker 7>that you know, was not is not has not ever

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<v Speaker 7>been dominated by people of color, of black people, specifically.

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<v Speaker 7>You know, Hank Aaron's a home run king that always

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<v Speaker 7>said to me, like you could do it, you know

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<v Speaker 7>what I mean, Like the ceiling of what someone that

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<v Speaker 7>looks like me can accomplish is right. So anyway, I

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<v Speaker 7>learned a little bit about as a young person what

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<v Speaker 7>he went through. As I got older, I did, you know,

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<v Speaker 7>some of my own research and study it. But I

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<v Speaker 7>would say him, I think that the barriers that he

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<v Speaker 7>broke and achieving the ultimate, the highest heights of success

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<v Speaker 7>within that sport and not doing it on a curve,

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<v Speaker 7>not doing it with any caveats needed or necessary like

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<v Speaker 7>that would be that moment seven.

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<v Speaker 6>Moments Because I love sports as you do.

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<v Speaker 1>But yeah, do you're a big sports fan and you

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<v Speaker 1>know you not. You got to me.

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<v Speaker 2>You're experiencing something that every sports fan s dreams about,

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<v Speaker 2>and that is ownership. I mean you you have an

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<v Speaker 2>ownership stake in the Atlanta Falcons, and you know, just

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<v Speaker 2>from my viewpoint, that's the next frontier NFL ownership that

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<v Speaker 2>black folks, you know, really need to We need to

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<v Speaker 2>get one. We need to get one majority owner in

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<v Speaker 2>the NFL, and that has not yet happened. But you

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<v Speaker 2>having this ownership stake in the Falcons, Like, take me

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<v Speaker 2>through the process because this is a very exclusive club.

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<v Speaker 1>So what was the process like for you?

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<v Speaker 6>Yeah, it's it's huge. I mean it really is. It

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<v Speaker 6>is as cool as it sounds.

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<v Speaker 7>I'm not gonna lie to you, Jay, Like just being

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<v Speaker 7>a sports fan, being somebody with very deep ties to

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<v Speaker 7>Atlanta and to that market. Number One, it doesn't happen

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<v Speaker 7>without me having an advocate and somebody that has power.

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<v Speaker 7>That's something that I want to You can't kind of

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<v Speaker 7>overstate we talk about and understand the power dynamics and

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<v Speaker 7>a culture in a community. You talked about how exclusive

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<v Speaker 7>the club is, especially in the NFL. Right, NFL is

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<v Speaker 7>the biggest of all the sports leagues, and it is

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<v Speaker 7>a very very exclusive club of you know, billionaires, super

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<v Speaker 7>rich billionaires. You can't just have one billion right to

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<v Speaker 7>team and be a majority owner, and so you need

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<v Speaker 7>somebody that's going to advocate for you. And I am

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<v Speaker 7>somebody that's of the belief and it's been my experience

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<v Speaker 7>that the person that advocates for you doesn't have to

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<v Speaker 7>look like you, doesn't have to identify with you, but

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<v Speaker 7>they do have to see value in you. And I

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<v Speaker 7>think it's a two way street in terms of you

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<v Speaker 7>being somebody that presents yourself as someone of value and

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<v Speaker 7>someone that can add value to a relationship, and they

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<v Speaker 7>have to see the importance of having someone like you

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<v Speaker 7>in their world. For me, that person was Arthur Blain,

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<v Speaker 7>and he did not have to do this at all.

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<v Speaker 7>And he brought in last year four for African American

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<v Speaker 7>New African American owners as limited partners of the Atlanta Falcons,

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<v Speaker 7>and I was very, very proud to be one of them.

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<v Speaker 7>I got a call Jay, my right hand for a

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<v Speaker 7>very long time as Sheyla Cowan and Sala runs a

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<v Speaker 7>management division of my company.

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<v Speaker 6>She was my chief staff and she knew somebody.

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<v Speaker 7>This is how these things happen, right, She knew somebody

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<v Speaker 7>that worked in the Obama White House, and she knew

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<v Speaker 7>that person introduced me this person, like you know, years

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<v Speaker 7>ago when Obama's in office, and it was just kind

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<v Speaker 7>of a social relationship.

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<v Speaker 6>And so she.

0:12:15.160 --> 0:12:17.240
<v Speaker 7>Called me and was like you remember blah blah blah.

0:12:17.320 --> 0:12:18.800
<v Speaker 7>I was like, oh, yeah, yeah, what's see up to?

0:12:18.760 --> 0:12:19.280
<v Speaker 6>How's he do it?

0:12:19.280 --> 0:12:22.640
<v Speaker 7>He's like, well, he knows somebody that's got an investment opportunity. Now,

0:12:23.240 --> 0:12:26.640
<v Speaker 7>when you are in the position that I'm in, everybody's

0:12:26.640 --> 0:12:27.920
<v Speaker 7>got an investment opportunity.

0:12:28.040 --> 0:12:28.240
<v Speaker 6>Right.

0:12:28.720 --> 0:12:32.480
<v Speaker 7>If I had a dollar for every investment opportunity that

0:12:32.640 --> 0:12:36.679
<v Speaker 7>was brought to me, I would be running the doge

0:12:36.840 --> 0:12:38.400
<v Speaker 7>of the United States, you know what I'm.

0:12:38.280 --> 0:12:39.280
<v Speaker 6>Saying, Right, So.

0:12:41.160 --> 0:12:44.239
<v Speaker 7>I got this call, and it sounded crazy.

0:12:45.000 --> 0:12:46.559
<v Speaker 6>My eyes rolled first.

0:12:46.400 --> 0:12:48.200
<v Speaker 7>Because she said investment opportunity and then she said, listen,

0:12:48.240 --> 0:12:49.680
<v Speaker 7>I wouldn't bring it to you if it wasn't real.

0:12:49.760 --> 0:12:52.360
<v Speaker 7>But it's the NFL. And I was like, you're talking

0:12:52.400 --> 0:12:57.440
<v Speaker 7>about the National Foodsball League, like prick Fried Legion, Like

0:12:57.440 --> 0:13:01.040
<v Speaker 7>I know, you're not talking about the NFL, right, And

0:13:01.320 --> 0:13:04.360
<v Speaker 7>she was like, yeah, there is somebody who is putting

0:13:04.440 --> 0:13:08.280
<v Speaker 7>together a group to be considered by one of the owners.

0:13:08.320 --> 0:13:09.840
<v Speaker 6>It was all very very top secret.

0:13:10.120 --> 0:13:12.160
<v Speaker 7>I didn't know the team, I didn't know the owner,

0:13:12.440 --> 0:13:15.000
<v Speaker 7>but the question was would you want to be considered?

0:13:15.400 --> 0:13:17.480
<v Speaker 7>And the person putting it together and that name, I

0:13:17.520 --> 0:13:19.840
<v Speaker 7>will say, it's a brother named Derek Hagenes. And Derek

0:13:20.160 --> 0:13:23.040
<v Speaker 7>had worked with the NFL for years behind the scenes.

0:13:23.080 --> 0:13:26.360
<v Speaker 7>He's an attorney and he had consulted with the league

0:13:26.400 --> 0:13:30.719
<v Speaker 7>and he had been trying to advocate for NFL owners

0:13:30.800 --> 0:13:34.360
<v Speaker 7>to diversify their ownership ranks. This is not something they

0:13:34.400 --> 0:13:36.600
<v Speaker 7>have to do, This is not something that they get

0:13:36.640 --> 0:13:39.160
<v Speaker 7>any benefit for doing. This is something that they have

0:13:39.280 --> 0:13:41.480
<v Speaker 7>to see the value in doing and want to do

0:13:41.559 --> 0:13:43.840
<v Speaker 7>on their own. And he had been, you know, honestly

0:13:43.880 --> 0:13:45.400
<v Speaker 7>banging his head against the wall for a very long

0:13:45.440 --> 0:13:47.559
<v Speaker 7>time trying to put a group together. But he had

0:13:47.559 --> 0:13:50.520
<v Speaker 7>one owner that was open to the possibility who had

0:13:50.520 --> 0:13:53.000
<v Speaker 7>considered it before on his own and that owner happened

0:13:53.000 --> 0:13:57.080
<v Speaker 7>to be author black and so I once it was

0:13:57.080 --> 0:13:59.080
<v Speaker 7>explained to me, and I had to sign like seven

0:13:59.200 --> 0:14:02.600
<v Speaker 7>NDA's right even to just get on the list. And

0:14:03.320 --> 0:14:05.560
<v Speaker 7>I did that found out it was a falconus. I

0:14:05.600 --> 0:14:08.640
<v Speaker 7>was like, wow, how apropos is that right? Because I

0:14:08.679 --> 0:14:12.679
<v Speaker 7>got deep Atlanta ties, and you know I was. I

0:14:12.760 --> 0:14:14.600
<v Speaker 7>was one of the one of the brothers down in

0:14:14.640 --> 0:14:17.280
<v Speaker 7>the in the in the Patriots section of the twenty

0:14:17.320 --> 0:14:19.880
<v Speaker 7>eighty three Super Bowl. I was right there with my wife,

0:14:20.000 --> 0:14:22.680
<v Speaker 7>you know what I'm saying, cheering us home. And from

0:14:22.880 --> 0:14:25.640
<v Speaker 7>quarters one through three and a half, it was an

0:14:25.680 --> 0:14:30.280
<v Speaker 7>amazing I mean an amazing time. Boy, that last the

0:14:30.400 --> 0:14:32.840
<v Speaker 7>last half of that fourth quarter and overtime was rough

0:14:33.000 --> 0:14:35.600
<v Speaker 7>on a brother uh and her sister because my wife

0:14:35.680 --> 0:14:37.200
<v Speaker 7>was right there with me, and we couldn't hide because

0:14:37.200 --> 0:14:38.840
<v Speaker 7>it was the only black people with our section. We was

0:14:39.320 --> 0:14:41.520
<v Speaker 7>on the Patriots side. We had been giving it to

0:14:41.560 --> 0:14:44.040
<v Speaker 7>them fans all game twenty eight to three, and when

0:14:44.360 --> 0:14:47.560
<v Speaker 7>old Tom Terrific started doing what Tom Terrific does. We

0:14:47.680 --> 0:14:52.960
<v Speaker 7>tried to shrink inside our little Falcons gear and them

0:14:53.000 --> 0:14:55.240
<v Speaker 7>Boston folks was like, nah, I don't try to hide now,

0:14:55.920 --> 0:14:59.840
<v Speaker 7>you've been talking trash all game. So anyway, so it

0:14:59.880 --> 0:15:01.720
<v Speaker 7>was it's crazy that it was Atlanta foul because it

0:15:01.760 --> 0:15:04.480
<v Speaker 7>was off the blank. And so there was, as you

0:15:04.480 --> 0:15:08.640
<v Speaker 7>could imagine, a larger list, a larger group that was

0:15:08.800 --> 0:15:09.960
<v Speaker 7>vying to be considered.

0:15:10.400 --> 0:15:12.920
<v Speaker 6>And it was a process with all these various steps.

0:15:13.440 --> 0:15:15.160
<v Speaker 7>And here's one thing that I will tell you is

0:15:15.200 --> 0:15:17.880
<v Speaker 7>that the NFL, as we know, is very protective of

0:15:17.920 --> 0:15:20.280
<v Speaker 7>their brand. They don't play about that shield. And so

0:15:20.400 --> 0:15:23.640
<v Speaker 7>the process to be considered because ultimately you have to

0:15:23.680 --> 0:15:26.800
<v Speaker 7>be voted on. The individual owner has to decide to

0:15:26.920 --> 0:15:29.880
<v Speaker 7>accept you and then put you forth for consideration, and

0:15:29.920 --> 0:15:32.800
<v Speaker 7>then all the owners have to vote when you add

0:15:32.840 --> 0:15:34.480
<v Speaker 7>even a limited partner minority on.

0:15:34.560 --> 0:15:36.360
<v Speaker 6>So they go.

0:15:36.480 --> 0:15:39.200
<v Speaker 7>You have to go to a very rigorous vetting process,

0:15:39.400 --> 0:15:43.440
<v Speaker 7>like rigorous, like I was asked during this process about

0:15:43.520 --> 0:15:47.040
<v Speaker 7>you know, social media that I had engaged with ten

0:15:47.120 --> 0:15:49.800
<v Speaker 7>years ago, you know what I mean, and just you know,

0:15:50.680 --> 0:15:52.960
<v Speaker 7>not necessarily like I couldn't have freedom of speech, but

0:15:53.120 --> 0:15:55.720
<v Speaker 7>just asking about some of the things that had, you know,

0:15:55.880 --> 0:15:58.640
<v Speaker 7>been out there. I was asked about like a parking ticket,

0:15:58.800 --> 0:15:59.880
<v Speaker 7>like from fifteen years ago.

0:15:59.880 --> 0:16:00.960
<v Speaker 6>Was like, what who?

0:16:01.280 --> 0:16:04.920
<v Speaker 7>Like the NFL has got some x FBI agents on

0:16:04.960 --> 0:16:06.960
<v Speaker 7>the paywell, you know what I mean, and law enforcement

0:16:07.000 --> 0:16:09.520
<v Speaker 7>types and so they don't mess around. So anyway, each

0:16:09.520 --> 0:16:12.040
<v Speaker 7>stepping away, it got smaller and smaller and smaller in

0:16:12.120 --> 0:16:14.840
<v Speaker 7>terms of the group that was being considered. And ultimately

0:16:14.840 --> 0:16:17.840
<v Speaker 7>there were four of us, and you know I made

0:16:17.880 --> 0:16:21.520
<v Speaker 7>the cut. And it's not charity. I will tell you that, right,

0:16:21.640 --> 0:16:25.000
<v Speaker 7>like you gotta you know, you gotta step up the dollars.

0:16:25.040 --> 0:16:27.080
<v Speaker 7>Not we didn't have to invest black dollars. We had

0:16:27.080 --> 0:16:30.080
<v Speaker 7>to invest US American dollars, you know what I'm saying.

0:16:30.240 --> 0:16:33.880
<v Speaker 7>So it's funny because I grew up in Florida and

0:16:33.960 --> 0:16:36.600
<v Speaker 7>Saint Pete and you know, people was like, man, you're

0:16:36.600 --> 0:16:38.160
<v Speaker 7>a Bucks fan. You grew up a Bucks fan. I

0:16:38.200 --> 0:16:39.520
<v Speaker 7>was like, I did grow up a Bucks fan.

0:16:39.760 --> 0:16:40.480
<v Speaker 6>But when you.

0:16:40.360 --> 0:16:43.720
<v Speaker 7>Make a serious investment into a team, guess what ownership

0:16:43.760 --> 0:16:44.360
<v Speaker 7>hits different?

0:16:44.520 --> 0:16:45.160
<v Speaker 6>You know what I mean?

0:16:45.600 --> 0:16:49.960
<v Speaker 7>You start talking about like real resources, like significant portions

0:16:50.000 --> 0:16:50.760
<v Speaker 7>of your net worth.

0:16:51.520 --> 0:16:56.080
<v Speaker 6>I'm a falcons fan. So anyway, it was it was cool.

0:16:56.080 --> 0:16:58.040
<v Speaker 7>It's a blessing and I give I got a lot

0:16:58.080 --> 0:17:01.240
<v Speaker 7>of props Arthur Blank, because it especially in an environment

0:17:01.280 --> 0:17:04.720
<v Speaker 7>where you have people going, you know, why is diversity important.

0:17:04.760 --> 0:17:07.479
<v Speaker 6>It's not, you know, let's ignore it.

0:17:07.600 --> 0:17:12.000
<v Speaker 7>Let's not lift people up based on you know, you know,

0:17:12.040 --> 0:17:14.080
<v Speaker 7>the color their skin or their ethnicity or the fact

0:17:14.119 --> 0:17:17.439
<v Speaker 7>that they bring you know, something different, different perspectives to

0:17:17.480 --> 0:17:17.840
<v Speaker 7>the table.

0:17:17.880 --> 0:17:19.440
<v Speaker 6>I'm somebody in my career.

0:17:19.480 --> 0:17:23.439
<v Speaker 7>Has always benefited from the fact that I have people

0:17:23.600 --> 0:17:28.560
<v Speaker 7>that do have diverse skill sets, abilities, and backgrounds and

0:17:28.560 --> 0:17:32.800
<v Speaker 7>ethnicities and orientations. That is what has made me successful

0:17:33.119 --> 0:17:37.119
<v Speaker 7>throughout my career is that I'm not just hiring people

0:17:37.200 --> 0:17:40.080
<v Speaker 7>from the same club and the same pipeline. But if

0:17:40.119 --> 0:17:43.880
<v Speaker 7>you don't understand that value, then you may be somebody

0:17:43.880 --> 0:17:46.000
<v Speaker 7>that ignores that. But you do it at your own peril.

0:17:46.359 --> 0:17:48.359
<v Speaker 7>And so I give a lot of propers author Blank

0:17:48.440 --> 0:17:51.160
<v Speaker 7>for giving me that opportunity. And so, man, it's been

0:17:51.240 --> 0:17:53.160
<v Speaker 7>it's been cool. Jay, I'm not gonna lie to you,

0:17:53.200 --> 0:17:55.240
<v Speaker 7>Like the season didn't go to where we wanted for

0:17:55.280 --> 0:17:58.040
<v Speaker 7>the Falcons, but but my first year as an NFL

0:17:58.119 --> 0:18:00.960
<v Speaker 7>owner being able to see it behind the scenes. You

0:18:01.040 --> 0:18:03.639
<v Speaker 7>know what's interesting is that I got to see kind

0:18:03.680 --> 0:18:04.800
<v Speaker 7>of the humanity of.

0:18:06.760 --> 0:18:07.200
<v Speaker 6>Sport.

0:18:07.840 --> 0:18:10.000
<v Speaker 7>Right Like, as a fan, you sit on the outside.

0:18:10.040 --> 0:18:12.280
<v Speaker 7>You get mad when your team, you know, doesn't do

0:18:12.359 --> 0:18:14.240
<v Speaker 7>what you want, when the coach doesn't answer a question,

0:18:14.359 --> 0:18:17.800
<v Speaker 7>right when the you know, key player drops the ball.

0:18:18.080 --> 0:18:20.360
<v Speaker 7>When you get to be behind the scenes a little bit,

0:18:20.720 --> 0:18:23.760
<v Speaker 7>you realize that these are people, right Like I would

0:18:23.760 --> 0:18:26.520
<v Speaker 7>go to the press conferences and I would watch Raheem Morris,

0:18:26.560 --> 0:18:29.320
<v Speaker 7>coach of the Falcons, and I would see him like

0:18:29.400 --> 0:18:32.320
<v Speaker 7>after a very very tough loss, I mean like ten

0:18:32.359 --> 0:18:36.200
<v Speaker 7>minutes later, right, you're still sweating from being on the sideline,

0:18:36.400 --> 0:18:37.520
<v Speaker 7>and you got to stay in front of a room

0:18:37.560 --> 0:18:41.600
<v Speaker 7>of people who oftentimes are looking for a SoundBite, and

0:18:41.720 --> 0:18:44.040
<v Speaker 7>you get asked the same question five different ways because

0:18:44.040 --> 0:18:46.119
<v Speaker 7>they just want you to say something provocative that they

0:18:46.119 --> 0:18:48.320
<v Speaker 7>can go run with. And you got to sit there

0:18:48.320 --> 0:18:51.000
<v Speaker 7>and compose yourself and you're dealing with the emotions yourself,

0:18:51.000 --> 0:18:54.160
<v Speaker 7>but you got to be you know, professional and try

0:18:54.160 --> 0:18:56.040
<v Speaker 7>to get the right answer. Just seeing him in a

0:18:56.080 --> 0:18:59.040
<v Speaker 7>way navigated it. Just it opened my eyes to the

0:18:59.080 --> 0:19:01.360
<v Speaker 7>humanity behind this scenes. It ain't just you know, X's

0:19:01.400 --> 0:19:03.760
<v Speaker 7>and olds and fancy football and things people bet on.

0:19:04.000 --> 0:19:06.520
<v Speaker 6>It's human, it's lives, careers as families, all that stuff.

0:19:06.520 --> 0:19:10.680
<v Speaker 2>In fact, so so far, what has been the coolest

0:19:10.720 --> 0:19:12.600
<v Speaker 2>part about being an NFL owner?

0:19:14.280 --> 0:19:21.440
<v Speaker 7>Man, I mean, it's just being an owner, Like that's

0:19:21.680 --> 0:19:25.520
<v Speaker 7>you know, I'm I'm I'm the coolest cat at the

0:19:25.520 --> 0:19:27.399
<v Speaker 7>dinner party, Jamiel. I ain't gonna lie to you, you know

0:19:27.400 --> 0:19:30.240
<v Speaker 7>what I'm saying, Like I can walking everybody who doesn't

0:19:30.240 --> 0:19:32.400
<v Speaker 7>own a team sit over there, you know what I mean.

0:19:32.600 --> 0:19:37.919
<v Speaker 6>Like, it's just it's not a bad flex, right, you

0:19:37.960 --> 0:19:43.399
<v Speaker 6>know I think that it is. Yeah, football fan, you

0:19:43.400 --> 0:19:43.880
<v Speaker 6>know what I mean?

0:19:44.040 --> 0:19:46.200
<v Speaker 7>Being being able to go in the locker room and

0:19:46.359 --> 0:19:49.760
<v Speaker 7>especially after victory and see the energy and and you

0:19:49.800 --> 0:19:53.119
<v Speaker 7>know how everybody you know celebrates and and uh and

0:19:53.160 --> 0:19:54.000
<v Speaker 7>see this this this.

0:19:54.040 --> 0:19:55.560
<v Speaker 6>Bandon brothers all coming together.

0:19:56.359 --> 0:19:59.920
<v Speaker 7>That's cool, you know, being there and being able to

0:20:00.000 --> 0:20:01.840
<v Speaker 7>interact with the fans in a different way, you know

0:20:01.880 --> 0:20:05.240
<v Speaker 7>what I mean. You know, I've always been somebody that

0:20:05.440 --> 0:20:14.440
<v Speaker 7>has aspired to be.

0:20:08.840 --> 0:20:12.920
<v Speaker 6>A shining example of what's possible.

0:20:13.640 --> 0:20:18.359
<v Speaker 7>And so when I spoke to some kids at a

0:20:18.440 --> 0:20:22.680
<v Speaker 7>conference and they were introducing me, and they were talking

0:20:22.720 --> 0:20:25.160
<v Speaker 7>about and he produced this, he producing that, and you know,

0:20:25.440 --> 0:20:27.440
<v Speaker 7>and these were younger kids, and a lot of them

0:20:27.600 --> 0:20:30.679
<v Speaker 7>hadn't necessarily seen all the movies that I've made. But

0:20:31.440 --> 0:20:35.080
<v Speaker 7>then when they mentioned my ownership of the Atlanta Falcons,

0:20:35.160 --> 0:20:36.400
<v Speaker 7>like everybody knew that.

0:20:36.359 --> 0:20:39.680
<v Speaker 6>You know what I mean. And these were a group of.

0:20:39.640 --> 0:20:42.560
<v Speaker 7>Black and brown kids, and they looked up and like,

0:20:42.800 --> 0:20:44.480
<v Speaker 7>you know, you could tell it was the first time

0:20:44.520 --> 0:20:47.840
<v Speaker 7>that they saw somebody that looked like them that was

0:20:47.880 --> 0:20:51.800
<v Speaker 7>able to be in that position. That's the coolest thing

0:20:52.240 --> 0:20:54.560
<v Speaker 7>to show that, you know, we can excel on the grid.

0:20:54.560 --> 0:20:56.760
<v Speaker 7>Is we know that we can excel on the court,

0:20:56.800 --> 0:20:59.520
<v Speaker 7>on the hardwood, we know that we can do anything

0:20:59.640 --> 0:21:03.320
<v Speaker 7>out the athletic but also there are levels to success,

0:21:03.400 --> 0:21:06.440
<v Speaker 7>and so to be somebody that represents a different level

0:21:06.440 --> 0:21:08.120
<v Speaker 7>of success for that next generation.

0:21:08.560 --> 0:21:11.399
<v Speaker 6>Honestly, that's really was the driving.

0:21:11.040 --> 0:21:13.560
<v Speaker 7>Motivation for me to do it, because I wanted to

0:21:13.560 --> 0:21:16.879
<v Speaker 7>be a part of showing folks that look like me

0:21:17.440 --> 0:21:22.720
<v Speaker 7>that we can also excel in the boardroom, in ownership

0:21:22.760 --> 0:21:25.640
<v Speaker 7>groups and at ownership levels like that was important.

0:21:26.119 --> 0:21:28.160
<v Speaker 2>Before I move on and we talk about this wonderful

0:21:28.320 --> 0:21:31.639
<v Speaker 2>new book of yours that that's out, So do you

0:21:31.680 --> 0:21:35.240
<v Speaker 2>think you could have been a partner in a team

0:21:35.359 --> 0:21:38.159
<v Speaker 2>that you don't particularly like, Like if the picture is

0:21:38.200 --> 0:21:38.639
<v Speaker 2>like come.

0:21:38.520 --> 0:21:39.520
<v Speaker 1>On, will like we don't you?

0:21:39.720 --> 0:21:41.200
<v Speaker 6>Yeah? Yeah, yeah.

0:21:42.840 --> 0:21:47.000
<v Speaker 7>It's funny because when it came up and we didn't

0:21:47.000 --> 0:21:48.800
<v Speaker 7>know which team it was, my wife and I would

0:21:48.840 --> 0:21:52.560
<v Speaker 7>talk and we were like like, yo, like what if

0:21:52.600 --> 0:21:55.160
<v Speaker 7>it's like some random you know, and listen, it ain't

0:21:55.200 --> 0:21:57.439
<v Speaker 7>but thirty two teams and to get in any of

0:21:57.480 --> 0:22:01.560
<v Speaker 7>them is you know, you're part of points here zero

0:22:01.560 --> 0:22:04.199
<v Speaker 7>one percent. Most people will never had that opportunity. But

0:22:04.600 --> 0:22:08.119
<v Speaker 7>like I wasn't necessarily trying to be like part of

0:22:08.119 --> 0:22:10.919
<v Speaker 7>the Seattle Seahawks, you know what I'm saying, Like I

0:22:11.000 --> 0:22:13.320
<v Speaker 7>live in the Southeast. I don't know a lot of

0:22:13.359 --> 0:22:16.239
<v Speaker 7>people up there, cold and rainey, you know what I mean. Like,

0:22:16.920 --> 0:22:19.560
<v Speaker 7>you know, I ain't nothing against the Buffalo Bills. They're

0:22:19.680 --> 0:22:23.240
<v Speaker 7>great franchise, but like it's cold man, it's a long way.

0:22:23.480 --> 0:22:27.640
<v Speaker 7>So we talked about that, and I remember thinking because

0:22:28.119 --> 0:22:31.320
<v Speaker 7>the Denver Broncos recently got sold that I remember, you know,

0:22:31.440 --> 0:22:34.280
<v Speaker 7>looking at that group and you had you know, Melody

0:22:34.280 --> 0:22:37.400
<v Speaker 7>Hopson and kind of he's a Rice Lewis Hamilton, right,

0:22:37.480 --> 0:22:38.640
<v Speaker 7>and so I.

0:22:38.600 --> 0:22:41.120
<v Speaker 6>Remember thinking like, man, if we had a chance.

0:22:40.960 --> 0:22:43.120
<v Speaker 7>To be a part of Denver Broncos, we'll be flying

0:22:43.240 --> 0:22:45.760
<v Speaker 7>to the mile High every other week, you know.

0:22:47.440 --> 0:22:49.439
<v Speaker 6>So the answer to the question is, I don't know.

0:22:50.000 --> 0:22:52.000
<v Speaker 6>It is one of those things that.

0:22:53.560 --> 0:22:56.720
<v Speaker 7>It's kind of too awesome an opportunity to pass up

0:22:56.960 --> 0:22:59.920
<v Speaker 7>to be real witch, especially somebody like me who's very

0:23:00.080 --> 0:23:04.320
<v Speaker 7>bitious and thinks about legacy. So I'm just glad it

0:23:04.359 --> 0:23:06.359
<v Speaker 7>was a Falcons put it that way. I'm just glad

0:23:06.400 --> 0:23:08.439
<v Speaker 7>that it was. It was the home team, baby, you

0:23:08.480 --> 0:23:11.959
<v Speaker 7>know what I'm saying. I'm glad that it was who

0:23:12.040 --> 0:23:12.399
<v Speaker 7>it was.

0:23:13.080 --> 0:23:15.520
<v Speaker 2>All Right, let's talk about your new book, Who Better

0:23:15.560 --> 0:23:19.479
<v Speaker 2>Than You The Art of Healthy Arrogance and Dreaming Big?

0:23:19.960 --> 0:23:22.480
<v Speaker 1>Yes, what is healthy arrogance?

0:23:24.520 --> 0:23:26.160
<v Speaker 6>People told me not to put that on the tile

0:23:26.200 --> 0:23:26.640
<v Speaker 6>of my book.

0:23:26.640 --> 0:23:30.200
<v Speaker 7>They say, you gonna put that on the cover because

0:23:30.280 --> 0:23:33.800
<v Speaker 7>it is something that you know, scares people. You think

0:23:33.840 --> 0:23:36.280
<v Speaker 7>about arrogance, You just think about people that have like

0:23:36.520 --> 0:23:41.320
<v Speaker 7>unsubstantiated hubris. Right, And I'm a Hollywood producer. I have

0:23:41.560 --> 0:23:44.119
<v Speaker 7>worked you know, for the last three decades. I've worked

0:23:44.119 --> 0:23:48.400
<v Speaker 7>around some of the most famous, some of the most important,

0:23:48.760 --> 0:23:54.239
<v Speaker 7>powerful passionate also some of the most ego driven and

0:23:54.320 --> 0:23:57.639
<v Speaker 7>toxic people in the world. I have and what I

0:23:57.680 --> 0:24:00.399
<v Speaker 7>have learned, and this was really my motive invasion of

0:24:00.440 --> 0:24:04.480
<v Speaker 7>writing a book, is that those folks that have been very,

0:24:04.560 --> 0:24:07.919
<v Speaker 7>very successful in that industry have a skill set and

0:24:07.960 --> 0:24:09.920
<v Speaker 7>a mindset that's transferable no matter what.

0:24:09.920 --> 0:24:11.080
<v Speaker 6>Industry you want to get into.

0:24:11.440 --> 0:24:13.959
<v Speaker 7>And so when I talk about healthy arrogance, it is

0:24:14.119 --> 0:24:15.240
<v Speaker 7>this confidence.

0:24:15.480 --> 0:24:17.960
<v Speaker 6>And it does not have to be externally loud.

0:24:18.000 --> 0:24:19.679
<v Speaker 7>It's not about walking in the rooms and kicking over

0:24:19.760 --> 0:24:22.080
<v Speaker 7>tables and telling everybody I'm here, look at me right.

0:24:22.640 --> 0:24:25.320
<v Speaker 7>Typically people that are doing that ain't backing it up.

0:24:26.160 --> 0:24:29.080
<v Speaker 7>It is about a belief that I have seen the

0:24:29.119 --> 0:24:32.520
<v Speaker 7>most successful people that I have been around, that they

0:24:32.560 --> 0:24:35.040
<v Speaker 7>have not that they could be successful or that they

0:24:35.080 --> 0:24:36.399
<v Speaker 7>want to be successful.

0:24:36.680 --> 0:24:39.680
<v Speaker 6>It is that they are destined for success.

0:24:40.119 --> 0:24:43.560
<v Speaker 7>That is a mindset that if you're able to adopt,

0:24:43.600 --> 0:24:47.560
<v Speaker 7>it will manifest itself in ways that you don't even realize.

0:24:47.880 --> 0:24:51.240
<v Speaker 7>It changes the way that you walk into those rooms.

0:24:51.680 --> 0:24:55.240
<v Speaker 7>It makes you not think am I supposed to be here?

0:24:55.920 --> 0:24:58.840
<v Speaker 7>Not even think that I might be able to hang

0:24:58.880 --> 0:25:01.320
<v Speaker 7>in this room, But it makes you realize that the

0:25:01.400 --> 0:25:04.520
<v Speaker 7>room is better because you're in it now. To do that,

0:25:04.560 --> 0:25:06.679
<v Speaker 7>you got to have a foundation of a work ethic,

0:25:06.680 --> 0:25:08.040
<v Speaker 7>you gotta have a skill set, you got to be

0:25:08.080 --> 0:25:11.639
<v Speaker 7>bringing something to the table. But the most successful people

0:25:11.800 --> 0:25:18.040
<v Speaker 7>have this confidence, this supreme confidence that they are predestined

0:25:18.240 --> 0:25:24.919
<v Speaker 7>to achieve not just good success, but outside great success.

0:25:25.080 --> 0:25:26.680
<v Speaker 6>You gotta be a little I.

0:25:26.640 --> 0:25:29.639
<v Speaker 7>Was talking to I saw them Will Smith actually, and

0:25:29.680 --> 0:25:32.600
<v Speaker 7>he was talking about something that Quincy Jones said to him.

0:25:32.800 --> 0:25:35.399
<v Speaker 7>And Quincy Jones said, to really succeed in the game,

0:25:35.440 --> 0:25:38.520
<v Speaker 7>you gotta be a little mad, is what he said, right, And.

0:25:38.480 --> 0:25:39.520
<v Speaker 6>So is that wrong?

0:25:39.600 --> 0:25:41.959
<v Speaker 7>You do gotta be a little Craig Craig, but in

0:25:42.000 --> 0:25:44.359
<v Speaker 7>a good way. You got to be crazy about your

0:25:44.400 --> 0:25:47.600
<v Speaker 7>ability and your desire to reach the highest levels of success.

0:25:47.640 --> 0:25:49.240
<v Speaker 7>And even if you don't have it, if you're not

0:25:49.359 --> 0:25:52.760
<v Speaker 7>somebody that innately has that drive, you can get there.

0:25:52.800 --> 0:25:55.440
<v Speaker 7>There are things that you can do to train yourself

0:25:55.480 --> 0:25:58.400
<v Speaker 7>in your mindset to think a certain way, and success

0:25:58.560 --> 0:25:59.840
<v Speaker 7>then begets success.

0:26:00.200 --> 0:26:02.320
<v Speaker 2>What I love about your book is just as we're

0:26:02.359 --> 0:26:04.280
<v Speaker 2>talking right now, that's how I feel when I read

0:26:04.320 --> 0:26:07.560
<v Speaker 2>your book. It's like it's so powerfully written in your voice.

0:26:07.640 --> 0:26:11.720
<v Speaker 2>It's funny, it's smart, it's thoughtful all of those things,

0:26:11.760 --> 0:26:13.960
<v Speaker 2>and you tell great stories. You are a storyteller.

0:26:14.040 --> 0:26:14.680
<v Speaker 1>It's very true.

0:26:14.720 --> 0:26:17.120
<v Speaker 2>I mean, if people don't know from seeing your movies,

0:26:17.160 --> 0:26:21.200
<v Speaker 2>but that you know, all of that translates to your

0:26:21.240 --> 0:26:22.320
<v Speaker 2>book for you.

0:26:22.680 --> 0:26:24.840
<v Speaker 1>Why now? Why did you feel like it was important

0:26:24.840 --> 0:26:26.359
<v Speaker 1>for you to put this out now?

0:26:26.720 --> 0:26:26.960
<v Speaker 6>Yeah?

0:26:27.119 --> 0:26:30.600
<v Speaker 7>I think the why now is because we live in

0:26:30.640 --> 0:26:35.639
<v Speaker 7>a time where it is the divide in the gap

0:26:35.680 --> 0:26:42.640
<v Speaker 7>between the haves have not, the doers and the do nothings,

0:26:42.960 --> 0:26:46.560
<v Speaker 7>the folks that are achieving their dreams and goals and

0:26:46.600 --> 0:26:50.240
<v Speaker 7>the people that aren't. That gap and that divide is

0:26:50.600 --> 0:26:53.240
<v Speaker 7>bigger than ever. And part of the reason is the

0:26:53.320 --> 0:26:55.359
<v Speaker 7>environment that we live in. I have a lot of

0:26:55.400 --> 0:26:58.959
<v Speaker 7>conversations with our younger you know, brothers and sisters, gen

0:26:59.080 --> 0:27:01.919
<v Speaker 7>z and and you know, they grew up in a

0:27:01.920 --> 0:27:04.600
<v Speaker 7>time of immediate gratification. Right, you push a button, you

0:27:04.640 --> 0:27:06.320
<v Speaker 7>post something, you get a million likes, you get a

0:27:06.359 --> 0:27:08.280
<v Speaker 7>million dollars, you're an influencer, you're rich.

0:27:08.320 --> 0:27:10.600
<v Speaker 6>You can move on. But that's not real.

0:27:11.119 --> 0:27:14.439
<v Speaker 7>And so I realized because I had more people than

0:27:14.480 --> 0:27:17.760
<v Speaker 7>ever coming to me and asking me about mentorship, asking

0:27:17.760 --> 0:27:20.040
<v Speaker 7>me about doing a masterclass, And I said.

0:27:19.800 --> 0:27:21.440
<v Speaker 6>You know what, I have a story to tell.

0:27:21.520 --> 0:27:23.760
<v Speaker 7>I am a storyteller, and the book is a collection

0:27:23.800 --> 0:27:26.160
<v Speaker 7>of stories the things that I've learned from the front

0:27:26.160 --> 0:27:29.639
<v Speaker 7>lines of Hollywood. But it also is something that is

0:27:29.760 --> 0:27:34.040
<v Speaker 7>for people that are just starting out, people who've been

0:27:34.040 --> 0:27:36.720
<v Speaker 7>in the game but ready to pivot, people who have

0:27:36.800 --> 0:27:39.840
<v Speaker 7>been doing something a certain way and are not satisfied

0:27:39.880 --> 0:27:43.520
<v Speaker 7>with the level of success that they've had. And I

0:27:43.680 --> 0:27:47.520
<v Speaker 7>realized that people need to hear that now more than

0:27:47.560 --> 0:27:51.760
<v Speaker 7>ever because the world is more unpredictable than ever, because

0:27:51.760 --> 0:27:54.040
<v Speaker 7>we live in a time and in an environment where

0:27:54.080 --> 0:27:57.000
<v Speaker 7>you have to be able to make sure that your

0:27:57.080 --> 0:28:00.560
<v Speaker 7>network and your foundation is more solid than ever before

0:28:00.880 --> 0:28:03.520
<v Speaker 7>in order for you to achieve success, because you will

0:28:03.560 --> 0:28:08.040
<v Speaker 7>get swept up in a wave of folks that care

0:28:08.200 --> 0:28:10.480
<v Speaker 7>nothing about you, and so you got to make sure

0:28:10.520 --> 0:28:12.639
<v Speaker 7>that you are on the path to success, that you

0:28:12.680 --> 0:28:14.960
<v Speaker 7>were doing what's necessary to achieve everything.

0:28:15.240 --> 0:28:17.280
<v Speaker 6>I mean, the wildest dreams that you want to achieve.

0:28:18.119 --> 0:28:19.919
<v Speaker 2>You know, one of the things that you write a

0:28:19.920 --> 0:28:21.879
<v Speaker 2>lot about in this book, or one of the people

0:28:21.880 --> 0:28:24.000
<v Speaker 2>I should say, is your relationship with Kevin Hart. I

0:28:24.040 --> 0:28:28.199
<v Speaker 2>love that you speak of great affection but also call

0:28:28.320 --> 0:28:30.320
<v Speaker 2>him this Fawn of Satan, which is pretty sad.

0:28:30.800 --> 0:28:34.000
<v Speaker 6>Yes, he is. Both can be true, both.

0:28:33.760 --> 0:28:35.120
<v Speaker 1>Can be true, two things can be true.

0:28:35.119 --> 0:28:37.040
<v Speaker 2>It was and if that is the case, when you

0:28:37.080 --> 0:28:39.560
<v Speaker 2>and Kevin Hart and I just laughed all the way

0:28:39.560 --> 0:28:43.600
<v Speaker 2>through that story of when you all were shooting right along.

0:28:43.680 --> 0:28:46.240
<v Speaker 2>But yet he had this, you know, he had his

0:28:46.400 --> 0:28:49.640
<v Speaker 2>comedy specialist. That's his corn garden. I don't know how

0:28:49.640 --> 0:28:51.160
<v Speaker 2>you kept your cool in.

0:28:51.040 --> 0:28:53.560
<v Speaker 6>The middle of the shoot, Jamel in the middle. It

0:28:53.640 --> 0:28:54.920
<v Speaker 6>was the biggest.

0:28:54.520 --> 0:28:59.760
<v Speaker 7>Movie of both careers. He came up to me, He's like, hey,

0:29:01.080 --> 0:29:02.880
<v Speaker 7>next Friday, I need to get off a little early.

0:29:03.240 --> 0:29:04.800
<v Speaker 7>You know, I'm busy almost Settim.

0:29:04.560 --> 0:29:05.000
<v Speaker 6>In his trailer.

0:29:05.000 --> 0:29:06.600
<v Speaker 7>Okay, all right, well let me check and see what

0:29:06.640 --> 0:29:08.440
<v Speaker 7>we shoot next Friday. I look, oh, Kevin, we shoot

0:29:08.440 --> 0:29:11.360
<v Speaker 7>Friday and Saturday. Remember Saturday? Is that really important day?

0:29:11.480 --> 0:29:14.320
<v Speaker 7>So no, we can't, Like, why what do you need

0:29:14.360 --> 0:29:17.800
<v Speaker 7>with you know what? I didn't realize we shot next Saturday.

0:29:18.000 --> 0:29:19.920
<v Speaker 7>Something told me that he did, but I fell for.

0:29:20.000 --> 0:29:20.600
<v Speaker 6>It at the time.

0:29:20.880 --> 0:29:23.040
<v Speaker 7>I said, well, yeah, we shoot next Saturday. Let me

0:29:23.080 --> 0:29:24.480
<v Speaker 7>see if I get you off early. What what do

0:29:24.520 --> 0:29:24.880
<v Speaker 7>you gotta do?

0:29:24.880 --> 0:29:25.240
<v Speaker 6>You gotta do?

0:29:25.280 --> 0:29:26.760
<v Speaker 7>Host a party or something, He's like, I got a

0:29:26.760 --> 0:29:28.400
<v Speaker 7>comedy show I gotta do. I'm like, listen, brother, you

0:29:28.440 --> 0:29:30.240
<v Speaker 7>gonna have to cancel the comedy show because we got

0:29:30.240 --> 0:29:30.760
<v Speaker 7>a big shoot.

0:29:30.760 --> 0:29:31.240
<v Speaker 6>The next day.

0:29:31.280 --> 0:29:34.320
<v Speaker 7>It's like, yeah, but to send Madison Square Guard Madison

0:29:34.320 --> 0:29:39.400
<v Speaker 7>Square Garden. So you planned a huge comedy show, literally

0:29:39.440 --> 0:29:42.640
<v Speaker 7>your next comedy special, in the middle of our shoot.

0:29:43.000 --> 0:29:45.600
<v Speaker 7>And at that time, Kevin was coming off a Thing

0:29:45.680 --> 0:29:49.080
<v Speaker 7>Like a Man, which I produced right. This was right

0:29:49.080 --> 0:29:52.240
<v Speaker 7>along him ice Cube, the biggest budget and the biggest

0:29:52.240 --> 0:29:55.600
<v Speaker 7>opportunity in his movie career and the biggest budget and

0:29:55.640 --> 0:29:59.160
<v Speaker 7>biggest opportunity in my movie career. So I'm like, brother,

0:29:59.720 --> 0:30:03.320
<v Speaker 7>you couldn't have done this. After we wrapped production, he

0:30:03.440 --> 0:30:07.200
<v Speaker 7>convinced me Jamel to fly with him. He told me, listen,

0:30:07.320 --> 0:30:08.800
<v Speaker 7>I'm gonna go up, I'm gonna do the show. I'm

0:30:08.800 --> 0:30:14.000
<v Speaker 7>gonna come right back right he said, In fact, I

0:30:14.040 --> 0:30:15.160
<v Speaker 7>should have known.

0:30:15.040 --> 0:30:16.880
<v Speaker 1>What black people say.

0:30:16.920 --> 0:30:17.320
<v Speaker 6>Listen.

0:30:17.640 --> 0:30:20.080
<v Speaker 2>It's like when black people say, come rus some errors

0:30:20.120 --> 0:30:24.000
<v Speaker 2>with me real quick. Nine hours later we know yes.

0:30:25.320 --> 0:30:27.520
<v Speaker 7>First first, he hit me with the old black expression.

0:30:27.520 --> 0:30:29.120
<v Speaker 7>You know, I don't ask you for much. You know

0:30:29.160 --> 0:30:31.360
<v Speaker 7>when somebody say they don't ask you for much, they

0:30:31.360 --> 0:30:33.040
<v Speaker 7>asked you for shit all the time, you know that

0:30:33.080 --> 0:30:34.880
<v Speaker 7>they do. He hit me with you know, I don't

0:30:34.920 --> 0:30:37.080
<v Speaker 7>ask you for much. Then he hit me with the yeah,

0:30:37.120 --> 0:30:38.920
<v Speaker 7>come run this errand with me, come with me. That's

0:30:38.920 --> 0:30:42.080
<v Speaker 7>what he said. It was until we got there and

0:30:42.320 --> 0:30:44.600
<v Speaker 7>I found myself in the middle of a New York

0:30:44.680 --> 0:30:47.320
<v Speaker 7>nightclub at an after party that he also didn't tell

0:30:47.360 --> 0:30:49.720
<v Speaker 7>me about, and I'm in there trying to knock bottles

0:30:49.720 --> 0:30:53.040
<v Speaker 7>out of people's hands with Carmelo Anthony running up in

0:30:53.120 --> 0:30:56.360
<v Speaker 7>the section with a bunch of waitresses behind him with

0:30:56.520 --> 0:30:59.840
<v Speaker 7>thirty bottles, like literally everybody in our section had two bottles.

0:30:59.840 --> 0:31:01.840
<v Speaker 7>I'm I'm like this too many bottles. No, thank you,

0:31:02.280 --> 0:31:03.840
<v Speaker 7>mister Anthony. No, we don't need this.

0:31:03.880 --> 0:31:05.680
<v Speaker 6>It's cool. I think that's too many bottles.

0:31:05.720 --> 0:31:07.960
<v Speaker 7>Put that down, Kevin, stop drinking, like I'm trying to

0:31:08.000 --> 0:31:10.600
<v Speaker 7>get out of there, to get back to the private

0:31:10.680 --> 0:31:12.480
<v Speaker 7>jets so we can get back to the shoot on time.

0:31:12.840 --> 0:31:15.000
<v Speaker 6>When I realized in that moment when.

0:31:14.840 --> 0:31:17.360
<v Speaker 7>Carmelo Anthony came in with all these bottles and the

0:31:17.520 --> 0:31:19.920
<v Speaker 7>music turned up, and I looked at Kevin and he goes,

0:31:20.160 --> 0:31:21.520
<v Speaker 7>well we tried.

0:31:22.280 --> 0:31:26.320
<v Speaker 6>When he said well, we tried, you know the scene in.

0:31:26.400 --> 0:31:30.200
<v Speaker 7>Usual Suspects where the detective realizes who kayz Sosee is.

0:31:31.080 --> 0:31:33.600
<v Speaker 6>It was in that moment that I realized this was

0:31:33.640 --> 0:31:34.360
<v Speaker 6>all his plan.

0:31:34.920 --> 0:31:38.600
<v Speaker 7>Because if he leaves set and flies to New York

0:31:38.640 --> 0:31:40.720
<v Speaker 7>do a comedy show and then doesn't get back in time,

0:31:41.080 --> 0:31:43.440
<v Speaker 7>the studio is gonna be pissed off at him, and

0:31:43.480 --> 0:31:44.960
<v Speaker 7>he's gonna have to pay for that. He's gonna be

0:31:45.040 --> 0:31:48.080
<v Speaker 7>in major trouble because he's put the whole shoot in Jeffards.

0:31:48.480 --> 0:31:53.240
<v Speaker 7>But if the producer is with him, and the producer

0:31:53.640 --> 0:31:55.720
<v Speaker 7>and the director, he flew.

0:31:55.520 --> 0:31:56.400
<v Speaker 6>Both of us up.

0:31:56.480 --> 0:31:59.640
<v Speaker 7>If we are there with it, we are completely complicit.

0:32:00.000 --> 0:32:00.880
<v Speaker 6>It's on us.

0:32:01.880 --> 0:32:05.360
<v Speaker 7>I realized in that moment, I said, you evil, evil man.

0:32:05.720 --> 0:32:07.680
<v Speaker 6>You set this whole damn thing up.

0:32:08.120 --> 0:32:10.360
<v Speaker 7>It was all I could do to stop from choking

0:32:10.400 --> 0:32:12.440
<v Speaker 7>my star actor and my short little friend.

0:32:12.480 --> 0:32:16.280
<v Speaker 6>In that moment, it taught me Carmelo Anthony let us

0:32:16.320 --> 0:32:16.720
<v Speaker 6>off the hook.

0:32:16.960 --> 0:32:19.600
<v Speaker 7>I'll still owe Carmelo to this day, because it was

0:32:19.600 --> 0:32:21.720
<v Speaker 7>set up where we wasn't getting out of that club.

0:32:21.760 --> 0:32:23.880
<v Speaker 6>If Mellow didn't say something, you were about to fail.

0:32:24.400 --> 0:32:25.160
<v Speaker 6>We were gonna fail.

0:32:25.520 --> 0:32:28.160
<v Speaker 7>Listen, Mellow was pouring shots, he was like, he was like,

0:32:28.200 --> 0:32:30.320
<v Speaker 7>we turn it up. We gonna die tonight. He literally

0:32:30.400 --> 0:32:32.360
<v Speaker 7>said those words. I was like, Oh God, we can't die,

0:32:32.560 --> 0:32:37.240
<v Speaker 7>not tonight. Let's not die, like, let's die after the movie. Shoot,

0:32:37.280 --> 0:32:39.920
<v Speaker 7>let's die during the playoffs when the kicks ain't gonna

0:32:39.920 --> 0:32:40.160
<v Speaker 7>be there.

0:32:40.200 --> 0:32:40.320
<v Speaker 2>You know.

0:32:41.480 --> 0:32:46.240
<v Speaker 7>He I realized that that moment two things. One, you

0:32:46.360 --> 0:32:50.520
<v Speaker 7>gotta expect the unexpected, right, you really do. You have

0:32:50.600 --> 0:32:54.000
<v Speaker 7>to whatever it is that you're doing. You can't always

0:32:54.040 --> 0:32:55.960
<v Speaker 7>think things are going to go according to plan. And

0:32:56.000 --> 0:32:58.680
<v Speaker 7>as a young producer, I have learned over and over

0:32:58.720 --> 0:33:02.080
<v Speaker 7>again that things will always go wrong. You can't control

0:33:02.120 --> 0:33:04.000
<v Speaker 7>what's going to go wrong, but you can control being

0:33:04.040 --> 0:33:06.760
<v Speaker 7>able to mitigate how much it affects you. The second thing,

0:33:07.040 --> 0:33:08.880
<v Speaker 7>and this is something that we talk about when it

0:33:08.880 --> 0:33:11.800
<v Speaker 7>comes to personal relationships. When somebody shows you who they are,

0:33:11.800 --> 0:33:15.040
<v Speaker 7>you gotta believe right. You've heard that statement before. It

0:33:15.160 --> 0:33:17.520
<v Speaker 7>applies in business as well. When you're in business with

0:33:17.560 --> 0:33:21.040
<v Speaker 7>somebody and you know somebody has a certain predilection, a

0:33:21.080 --> 0:33:25.680
<v Speaker 7>certain personality or perspective, you gotta you're able to kind

0:33:25.720 --> 0:33:28.959
<v Speaker 7>of predict their behavior. I knew Kevin Hart was that

0:33:29.000 --> 0:33:31.040
<v Speaker 7>type of cat. I knew he was a type of

0:33:31.080 --> 0:33:33.680
<v Speaker 7>cat that would wait to the last minute to spring

0:33:33.720 --> 0:33:35.600
<v Speaker 7>on me that he had a big ass comedy show

0:33:35.600 --> 0:33:37.920
<v Speaker 7>with massive square guard. I didn't think about it. I

0:33:38.040 --> 0:33:40.120
<v Speaker 7>let him catch me off guard. He'll never do it again.

0:33:40.400 --> 0:33:42.400
<v Speaker 7>So those are two things that I learned from that

0:33:42.600 --> 0:33:45.080
<v Speaker 7>and I use that to this day. And I'm telling

0:33:45.080 --> 0:33:46.760
<v Speaker 7>people all the time, I don't care what your business,

0:33:46.800 --> 0:33:49.680
<v Speaker 7>you can have to donut shop, expect you unexpected, and

0:33:49.760 --> 0:33:51.560
<v Speaker 7>believe who people are when they show you.

0:33:52.160 --> 0:33:55.120
<v Speaker 2>Well, where I'm also going with this is that when

0:33:55.160 --> 0:33:58.400
<v Speaker 2>you look at a lot of the great directors and producers,

0:33:58.840 --> 0:34:01.200
<v Speaker 2>it's just an actor. They are able to develop a

0:34:01.200 --> 0:34:03.680
<v Speaker 2>certain chemistry with you know, Spike Leans and Sale.

0:34:03.840 --> 0:34:04.480
<v Speaker 1>You have Michael B.

0:34:04.600 --> 0:34:07.640
<v Speaker 2>Jordan and right Ryan Coopler. You and Kevin Hart seem

0:34:07.720 --> 0:34:10.600
<v Speaker 2>to have found that. I mean, Fight Night was exceptional

0:34:10.760 --> 0:34:12.120
<v Speaker 2>such a series.

0:34:12.400 --> 0:34:13.520
<v Speaker 6>Appreciate that great.

0:34:13.280 --> 0:34:14.839
<v Speaker 1>Story, like I really loved it.

0:34:15.280 --> 0:34:17.920
<v Speaker 2>So what is it about your dynamic with Kevin that

0:34:18.000 --> 0:34:20.920
<v Speaker 2>allows you all to produce this high quality work that

0:34:20.960 --> 0:34:21.239
<v Speaker 2>you do.

0:34:21.800 --> 0:34:26.040
<v Speaker 7>Yeah, our work ethics, we have a lot of symmetry.

0:34:26.080 --> 0:34:29.640
<v Speaker 7>We have a symbiotic relationship because I know you know,

0:34:30.080 --> 0:34:32.920
<v Speaker 7>even in that story, the fault of Kevin was that

0:34:32.960 --> 0:34:34.520
<v Speaker 7>he was working too hard and trying to do too

0:34:34.600 --> 0:34:38.080
<v Speaker 7>much right, and so you want that. You don't want

0:34:38.080 --> 0:34:40.279
<v Speaker 7>the person who is lazy and is going to try

0:34:40.320 --> 0:34:43.000
<v Speaker 7>to get away with doing the least, doing the minimum,

0:34:43.360 --> 0:34:46.720
<v Speaker 7>no matter what the environment is. You want to put

0:34:46.800 --> 0:34:51.840
<v Speaker 7>people around you that are aligned with your goals. Kevin

0:34:51.840 --> 0:34:54.719
<v Speaker 7>and I are certainly aligned. He's super talented, right, I

0:34:54.719 --> 0:34:57.000
<v Speaker 7>would never take that away from him, but it is

0:34:57.040 --> 0:34:59.000
<v Speaker 7>his work ethic that sets him apart. A lot of

0:34:59.000 --> 0:35:01.439
<v Speaker 7>people are funny, a lot of people have been able

0:35:01.480 --> 0:35:04.200
<v Speaker 7>to have success in movies. But you're not gonna outwork,

0:35:04.239 --> 0:35:06.880
<v Speaker 7>cav You're just not. That's that's and you're not gonna outwork.

0:35:06.920 --> 0:35:10.480
<v Speaker 7>We'll packer right. And so for me, that is why

0:35:10.719 --> 0:35:12.759
<v Speaker 7>our relationship works the way that it does because I

0:35:12.800 --> 0:35:13.919
<v Speaker 7>know I can depend on him.

0:35:14.280 --> 0:35:17.800
<v Speaker 6>I know he's gonna deliver, and I know whatever I need.

0:35:17.640 --> 0:35:19.080
<v Speaker 7>If I need to go to extra mile, I need

0:35:19.120 --> 0:35:21.440
<v Speaker 7>to work, you know, shoot for eighteen hours straight for

0:35:21.480 --> 0:35:24.080
<v Speaker 7>whatever reason. Like I know he's down, He's gonna give

0:35:24.120 --> 0:35:27.000
<v Speaker 7>me that he is going to work, and so you know,

0:35:27.440 --> 0:35:29.279
<v Speaker 7>I just I always think that you have to make

0:35:29.320 --> 0:35:32.200
<v Speaker 7>sure that the people around you, your team if you're

0:35:32.360 --> 0:35:35.240
<v Speaker 7>giving more energy to your team than they're giving to you,

0:35:35.239 --> 0:35:36.160
<v Speaker 7>you need a new team.

0:35:36.320 --> 0:35:39.680
<v Speaker 6>Right. If you're the most successful, most ambitious, hardest working

0:35:39.719 --> 0:35:42.400
<v Speaker 6>person in your circle, you need a new circle because

0:35:42.400 --> 0:35:44.759
<v Speaker 6>they're not pushing you, you're not getting any better. And

0:35:44.800 --> 0:35:47.280
<v Speaker 6>so we make each other better, Iron Shoppers.

0:35:46.960 --> 0:35:50.520
<v Speaker 7>Iron And with Fight Night, we became each other's most

0:35:50.520 --> 0:35:51.560
<v Speaker 7>frequent collaborators.

0:35:51.560 --> 0:35:53.440
<v Speaker 6>We've done more movies and TV with each other than

0:35:53.440 --> 0:35:54.520
<v Speaker 6>we have with anybody else.

0:35:56.040 --> 0:35:58.680
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, as I said, it's a dynamic that definitely shows

0:35:58.760 --> 0:36:00.759
<v Speaker 2>up that we see on screar now.

0:36:00.800 --> 0:36:03.319
<v Speaker 1>As anybody knows from your work wheel, like.

0:36:03.360 --> 0:36:08.160
<v Speaker 2>You are terrific at doing universal stories that are black lid.

0:36:08.640 --> 0:36:12.040
<v Speaker 2>They're not necessarily black stories, or they're universal stories that

0:36:12.120 --> 0:36:14.880
<v Speaker 2>are black lid. And this time where there seems to

0:36:14.920 --> 0:36:18.839
<v Speaker 2>be an assault on all things black, all things black lid.

0:36:18.880 --> 0:36:23.040
<v Speaker 2>On top of that, how has that impacted at all

0:36:23.080 --> 0:36:25.799
<v Speaker 2>with how you navigate the types of stories that you

0:36:25.840 --> 0:36:28.440
<v Speaker 2>want to tell? And for more, I guess more importantly,

0:36:28.520 --> 0:36:30.359
<v Speaker 2>the type of stories that you could get done now

0:36:30.880 --> 0:36:33.479
<v Speaker 2>in this kind of tumultuous time.

0:36:33.960 --> 0:36:41.040
<v Speaker 7>Yeah, listen, here's what I think those types of stories

0:36:42.400 --> 0:36:47.760
<v Speaker 7>DEI efforts to be more inclusionary. Have always been under attack.

0:36:48.280 --> 0:36:52.320
<v Speaker 7>They've always been things that the power structure has fought

0:36:52.320 --> 0:36:57.120
<v Speaker 7>against because power seeds nothing without demand. And so it

0:36:57.160 --> 0:37:00.200
<v Speaker 7>doesn't change what I'm doing. The bar has always been

0:37:00.280 --> 0:37:03.239
<v Speaker 7>the bar for me. If my movies, I don't care

0:37:03.320 --> 0:37:05.399
<v Speaker 7>who's in front of the camera, I don't care how

0:37:05.440 --> 0:37:08.879
<v Speaker 7>important the stories are. If they don't make money, I'm

0:37:08.880 --> 0:37:12.080
<v Speaker 7>not making another That's the reality. And so at the

0:37:12.200 --> 0:37:15.960
<v Speaker 7>end of the day, my job and our job as

0:37:16.000 --> 0:37:19.360
<v Speaker 7>a community is to make sure that we are delivering

0:37:19.480 --> 0:37:24.080
<v Speaker 7>on whatever the quantitative metric is for success in your industry,

0:37:24.320 --> 0:37:25.920
<v Speaker 7>you got to make sure that you're hitting it and

0:37:25.960 --> 0:37:29.319
<v Speaker 7>that you're doing and so in my industry, it is

0:37:29.840 --> 0:37:33.920
<v Speaker 7>box office revenue that you can return how much more

0:37:34.120 --> 0:37:36.920
<v Speaker 7>can you make versus what you spend, And so I

0:37:37.000 --> 0:37:40.240
<v Speaker 7>have to make sure that my projects are hitting those metrics,

0:37:40.560 --> 0:37:42.359
<v Speaker 7>and so I don't change.

0:37:42.040 --> 0:37:42.720
<v Speaker 6>What I'm doing.

0:37:43.400 --> 0:37:46.879
<v Speaker 7>Of course, Hollywood is a reactive industry, and as the

0:37:47.320 --> 0:37:54.400
<v Speaker 7>pendulum of politics and public perception swings back and forth,

0:37:54.719 --> 0:37:57.520
<v Speaker 7>Hollywood reacts to that. Of course, but at the end

0:37:57.520 --> 0:38:00.239
<v Speaker 7>of the day, if I'm somebody that can deliver or

0:38:00.480 --> 0:38:04.320
<v Speaker 7>a bottom line is the economic imperative more than any

0:38:04.360 --> 0:38:09.400
<v Speaker 7>other social or political one that most industries operate under.

0:38:09.760 --> 0:38:12.080
<v Speaker 7>And so what we have to do is make sure

0:38:12.080 --> 0:38:13.400
<v Speaker 7>that we realize.

0:38:12.920 --> 0:38:14.759
<v Speaker 6>This is not new. There's nothing new.

0:38:14.760 --> 0:38:18.080
<v Speaker 7>It's got a different name, right, It's got different figures

0:38:18.080 --> 0:38:21.439
<v Speaker 7>that are touting why diversity is not a good thing.

0:38:21.760 --> 0:38:24.000
<v Speaker 7>But at the end of the day, these are the

0:38:24.040 --> 0:38:29.879
<v Speaker 7>same people that have never genuinely heralded diversity. So if

0:38:29.880 --> 0:38:32.920
<v Speaker 7>you're somebody that believes in diversity, you got to make

0:38:32.920 --> 0:38:35.440
<v Speaker 7>sure that there's a value to it that is undenial.

0:38:35.840 --> 0:38:38.200
<v Speaker 7>You got to make sure that the diversity that you

0:38:38.239 --> 0:38:40.560
<v Speaker 7>are bringing to the table, if it needs to make money,

0:38:40.600 --> 0:38:42.239
<v Speaker 7>is making money because it needs to win awards, is

0:38:42.280 --> 0:38:45.200
<v Speaker 7>winning awards, whatever it is. You cannot rely on somebody

0:38:45.239 --> 0:38:47.440
<v Speaker 7>doing it because it's the right thing to do. So

0:38:47.480 --> 0:38:49.400
<v Speaker 7>you have to position it in a way that it

0:38:49.480 --> 0:38:53.640
<v Speaker 7>is valuable to people so that they can't just easily

0:38:53.880 --> 0:38:56.080
<v Speaker 7>turn it off or turn away. That's what I've been

0:38:56.080 --> 0:38:57.080
<v Speaker 7>able to do in my career.

0:38:57.360 --> 0:39:00.040
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, I mean, aside from the political part of it,

0:39:00.120 --> 0:39:02.399
<v Speaker 2>and I know this just being in la is sort

0:39:02.400 --> 0:39:05.560
<v Speaker 2>of having some you know, connections within the industry with

0:39:05.640 --> 0:39:09.960
<v Speaker 2>even projects that I'm trying to do is the politics aside?

0:39:10.000 --> 0:39:10.200
<v Speaker 3>Though?

0:39:10.320 --> 0:39:12.480
<v Speaker 2>I mean, I think a common play that I hear

0:39:12.520 --> 0:39:16.520
<v Speaker 2>among creators is that now that's sort of the hedge

0:39:16.560 --> 0:39:20.080
<v Speaker 2>fund mentality has moved into movies. It's always been one

0:39:20.160 --> 0:39:23.480
<v Speaker 2>to some degree, but it feels like even now that

0:39:23.600 --> 0:39:26.480
<v Speaker 2>Hollywood is so much more risk averse than they used

0:39:26.480 --> 0:39:29.640
<v Speaker 2>to be. That's why you're getting the nostalgia plays and like,

0:39:30.239 --> 0:39:32.479
<v Speaker 2>you know, this is not to pick on this movie.

0:39:35.040 --> 0:39:36.879
<v Speaker 1>It's got to be I p like all of that.

0:39:37.360 --> 0:39:39.359
<v Speaker 6>So does that what movie where you going to say?

0:39:39.400 --> 0:39:42.520
<v Speaker 2>You say, you don't want to pick on like for example, right,

0:39:42.600 --> 0:39:45.239
<v Speaker 2>this is to sell some merch you could, like you

0:39:45.320 --> 0:39:47.319
<v Speaker 2>know what I'm saying. And I think I saw that

0:39:47.360 --> 0:39:50.520
<v Speaker 2>Margot Robbie is doing another board game type of show,

0:39:50.800 --> 0:39:54.440
<v Speaker 2>a type of movie as well. So the whole point

0:39:54.520 --> 0:39:58.759
<v Speaker 2>is that I'm wondering, as a creative, though, are you

0:39:58.840 --> 0:40:02.880
<v Speaker 2>feeling more constrain or is your formula enough.

0:40:02.600 --> 0:40:07.680
<v Speaker 1>To kind of weather this kind of time now in Hollywood?

0:40:07.680 --> 0:40:09.240
<v Speaker 1>Because people assumed it was going to be back.

0:40:09.120 --> 0:40:11.480
<v Speaker 2>After the strike, and I've told people it is not back,

0:40:11.760 --> 0:40:13.960
<v Speaker 2>not in the way that people were thinking it would be.

0:40:14.880 --> 0:40:14.960
<v Speaker 4>No.

0:40:15.160 --> 0:40:18.120
<v Speaker 7>I mean, you work very closely in the media industry

0:40:18.840 --> 0:40:21.000
<v Speaker 7>and so you understand your content creator.

0:40:21.480 --> 0:40:24.000
<v Speaker 6>It's we are definitely.

0:40:23.520 --> 0:40:26.839
<v Speaker 7>In an EBB in Hollywood right now. It's not a flow, right,

0:40:28.000 --> 0:40:32.600
<v Speaker 7>there is a constriction of content. The major media companies

0:40:32.640 --> 0:40:35.520
<v Speaker 7>are making less, right, I don't care what you look like,

0:40:35.560 --> 0:40:39.080
<v Speaker 7>who you are, there's less content being made. So coming

0:40:39.160 --> 0:40:44.360
<v Speaker 7>off of multiple strikes, which were coming off of the

0:40:44.400 --> 0:40:49.359
<v Speaker 7>global pandemic, our industry has been hammered, and that means

0:40:49.400 --> 0:40:52.520
<v Speaker 7>it's been very, very tough for everybody, myself included. I

0:40:52.560 --> 0:40:56.240
<v Speaker 7>don't care how successful you are, everybody's having to deal

0:40:56.440 --> 0:41:00.000
<v Speaker 7>with the challenges of the industry right now. You're absolutely right,

0:41:00.440 --> 0:41:03.960
<v Speaker 7>and so Hollywood's always been risk averse, even more so

0:41:04.200 --> 0:41:08.360
<v Speaker 7>now right the bar is even higher for a project

0:41:08.360 --> 0:41:10.560
<v Speaker 7>to get over the finish line to get a green light.

0:41:10.640 --> 0:41:13.720
<v Speaker 7>As we say, it is very very tough right now.

0:41:13.880 --> 0:41:15.880
<v Speaker 7>So what that means is that you got to have

0:41:15.920 --> 0:41:19.239
<v Speaker 7>a pondrance of elements. You got to have the stars

0:41:19.800 --> 0:41:24.959
<v Speaker 7>and the IP and the built in audience and the

0:41:25.040 --> 0:41:28.440
<v Speaker 7>marketing for consumer product goods, like all those things have

0:41:28.480 --> 0:41:31.120
<v Speaker 7>to line up. Now every project doesn't have that. But

0:41:31.920 --> 0:41:34.600
<v Speaker 7>to be successful and get a project made in this environment,

0:41:34.600 --> 0:41:37.200
<v Speaker 7>you got to have as many of those elements as possible.

0:41:37.880 --> 0:41:41.280
<v Speaker 7>That is true across the board, not just with diverse

0:41:41.320 --> 0:41:45.080
<v Speaker 7>projects or creators of color. Everybody is fighting against that

0:41:45.239 --> 0:41:49.239
<v Speaker 7>right now. It's a cycle, it's an ebb. It will

0:41:49.239 --> 0:41:51.960
<v Speaker 7>flow again, but right now, make no mistake, it's it's

0:41:52.000 --> 0:41:53.640
<v Speaker 7>a tough time in Hollywood. I have a lot of

0:41:53.719 --> 0:41:57.200
<v Speaker 7>peers that are challenged right now because it's so hard

0:41:57.440 --> 0:42:00.279
<v Speaker 7>to get things made. What that means is that if

0:42:00.280 --> 0:42:02.160
<v Speaker 7>you have a connection with an audience and this is

0:42:02.160 --> 0:42:06.759
<v Speaker 7>something else that's transferable beyond just Hollywood. If you have

0:42:06.840 --> 0:42:09.920
<v Speaker 7>a connection with an audience and you can build that,

0:42:09.920 --> 0:42:14.200
<v Speaker 7>that's something that Hollywood and traditional gatekeepers can't control. And

0:42:14.239 --> 0:42:16.160
<v Speaker 7>if you have a way to reach and talk directly

0:42:16.200 --> 0:42:18.920
<v Speaker 7>to your audience. I encourage that next generation of folks

0:42:18.960 --> 0:42:21.800
<v Speaker 7>coming up trying to be content creators. Build your brand,

0:42:22.160 --> 0:42:25.600
<v Speaker 7>build your audience, Build the folks within your network that

0:42:25.680 --> 0:42:27.799
<v Speaker 7>will say, oh, that's a Jamail Hill project. I'm in

0:42:28.040 --> 0:42:31.279
<v Speaker 7>Like whatever she's doing, I want to know about I

0:42:31.360 --> 0:42:34.640
<v Speaker 7>want to be a part of. Focus on that and

0:42:34.719 --> 0:42:38.040
<v Speaker 7>spend as much, if not more energy on building that

0:42:38.160 --> 0:42:41.200
<v Speaker 7>as you are chasing and trying to knock on doors

0:42:41.239 --> 0:42:44.160
<v Speaker 7>of folks that are not letting many people in, letting

0:42:44.239 --> 0:42:46.240
<v Speaker 7>less in than they ever have before.

0:42:46.520 --> 0:42:50.120
<v Speaker 6>So it's tough. It's tough, but you can navigate well.

0:42:50.160 --> 0:42:52.800
<v Speaker 2>I say, maybe as a Hollywood that you can explain

0:42:52.840 --> 0:42:56.480
<v Speaker 2>this to me is that there's more streaming that it

0:42:56.560 --> 0:42:59.560
<v Speaker 2>just doesn't seem like they have enough content, So why

0:42:59.600 --> 0:43:01.359
<v Speaker 2>the restriction is what I want to know is like

0:43:01.480 --> 0:43:04.200
<v Speaker 2>y'all don't have enough, you know, So I guess I

0:43:04.320 --> 0:43:07.600
<v Speaker 2>just don't get like the thought processes that we have

0:43:08.200 --> 0:43:12.400
<v Speaker 2>streamers on streaming, on streaming, like platforms being created, fast channels.

0:43:12.440 --> 0:43:15.879
<v Speaker 2>It's like we're inundated, and yet at the same time,

0:43:15.960 --> 0:43:18.240
<v Speaker 2>it just seems like they don't want to get anything made.

0:43:18.320 --> 0:43:19.520
<v Speaker 1>Like I don't I don't get it.

0:43:20.520 --> 0:43:23.440
<v Speaker 6>You just said it, though, Jay, you just hit on it. Okay.

0:43:23.680 --> 0:43:29.359
<v Speaker 7>You have all these various platforms that the studios invested in, right,

0:43:30.080 --> 0:43:31.960
<v Speaker 7>and they thought.

0:43:31.680 --> 0:43:34.240
<v Speaker 6>That streaming was going to be a profit center.

0:43:34.760 --> 0:43:37.000
<v Speaker 7>So they went out and spent billions with a B

0:43:37.520 --> 0:43:41.400
<v Speaker 7>on Netflix, Disney Plus.

0:43:40.440 --> 0:43:43.239
<v Speaker 6>Max, Peacock, Paramount plus you name it. Right.

0:43:43.800 --> 0:43:46.399
<v Speaker 7>Everybody need to have their own streaming service, and thus

0:43:46.440 --> 0:43:49.840
<v Speaker 7>you needed to feed those streaming services. So you go

0:43:49.960 --> 0:43:52.720
<v Speaker 7>back five years ago, there were a lot of deals

0:43:52.760 --> 0:43:56.279
<v Speaker 7>getting done, a lot of content getting made, and actually

0:43:56.960 --> 0:44:03.040
<v Speaker 7>it oversaturated the market. So when we had those strikes,

0:44:03.840 --> 0:44:06.239
<v Speaker 7>people outside the industry.

0:44:06.200 --> 0:44:09.399
<v Speaker 6>Didn't feel it. They didn't even really care.

0:44:09.960 --> 0:44:13.600
<v Speaker 7>You had two major strikes, the actors and the writers

0:44:13.760 --> 0:44:18.600
<v Speaker 7>not working, pins down, cameras off right, But people didn't

0:44:18.680 --> 0:44:23.560
<v Speaker 7>necessarily feel like, oh man, there's not a new episode

0:44:23.560 --> 0:44:26.680
<v Speaker 7>of Abbot Elementary. What am I gonna do on you know,

0:44:27.320 --> 0:44:30.080
<v Speaker 7>on this primetime weeknight. You know what they did, They

0:44:30.120 --> 0:44:31.880
<v Speaker 7>went to their streaming service and said, you know what,

0:44:32.000 --> 0:44:35.520
<v Speaker 7>I'm about to catch up on the old episodes.

0:44:34.960 --> 0:44:36.960
<v Speaker 6>Of House of Cards, whatever it was.

0:44:38.640 --> 0:44:44.719
<v Speaker 7>Regular people had so much opportunity to consume content, so

0:44:44.760 --> 0:44:48.880
<v Speaker 7>it's not really that they need more now. There actually

0:44:48.960 --> 0:44:51.360
<v Speaker 7>is a little bit of a thinning out process that

0:44:51.520 --> 0:44:55.279
<v Speaker 7>is happening because so much was made and consumers, who

0:44:55.360 --> 0:44:59.719
<v Speaker 7>ultimately consumers are the one that control what Hollywood and

0:44:59.760 --> 0:45:02.759
<v Speaker 7>every the other industry does. If consumers want it and

0:45:02.800 --> 0:45:06.200
<v Speaker 7>they want more, they will make more. But right now,

0:45:06.320 --> 0:45:08.920
<v Speaker 7>because there are so many options and so many streaming

0:45:08.960 --> 0:45:10.840
<v Speaker 7>service can whatever you're into, you can find it.

0:45:10.880 --> 0:45:13.279
<v Speaker 6>You can find I don't care how.

0:45:13.320 --> 0:45:18.400
<v Speaker 7>Niche or outside the normal or traditional stream it is,

0:45:18.480 --> 0:45:22.239
<v Speaker 7>you can find it somebody's making. Right, until we get

0:45:22.280 --> 0:45:26.000
<v Speaker 7>to a point where people are genuinely looking for new content,

0:45:26.040 --> 0:45:28.319
<v Speaker 7>and I don't mean just new episodes of your favorite show,

0:45:28.360 --> 0:45:33.280
<v Speaker 7>but I mean new original content. Until that appetite picks

0:45:33.320 --> 0:45:36.160
<v Speaker 7>back up, you're going to see the media companies pulling back.

0:45:36.239 --> 0:45:38.600
<v Speaker 7>Because here's the dirty secret that not a lot of

0:45:38.640 --> 0:45:42.240
<v Speaker 7>people like to talk about. During those strikes, while actors

0:45:42.239 --> 0:45:44.560
<v Speaker 7>were hurting and writers were hurting, and producers were hurting,

0:45:44.560 --> 0:45:47.279
<v Speaker 7>and directors were hurting, and grips and electrics and all

0:45:47.320 --> 0:45:50.560
<v Speaker 7>the craft services people who feel this industry were hurting,

0:45:51.800 --> 0:45:55.040
<v Speaker 7>the media companies actually had some of them some of

0:45:55.080 --> 0:46:00.439
<v Speaker 7>their best years ever because they weren't spending money on

0:46:00.560 --> 0:46:05.240
<v Speaker 7>new content, but their old content was still making money

0:46:05.440 --> 0:46:09.040
<v Speaker 7>because people didn't stop subscribing to their favorite streaming services.

0:46:09.400 --> 0:46:09.600
<v Speaker 6>Right.

0:46:10.160 --> 0:46:13.120
<v Speaker 7>And so that's the dynamic that you have to really

0:46:13.239 --> 0:46:15.720
<v Speaker 7>kind of drill into, is the economics of the business

0:46:15.800 --> 0:46:19.520
<v Speaker 7>right now are such that the media companies don't have

0:46:19.640 --> 0:46:22.000
<v Speaker 7>to go out and spend more. They're not making what

0:46:22.080 --> 0:46:24.400
<v Speaker 7>they thought they were going to make on streaming, and

0:46:24.440 --> 0:46:27.520
<v Speaker 7>so folks like you and I it's much tougher for

0:46:27.600 --> 0:46:29.120
<v Speaker 7>us to get our content. Mate, that's a little more

0:46:29.160 --> 0:46:31.319
<v Speaker 7>inside baseball maybe than we wanted to go.

0:46:31.400 --> 0:46:32.560
<v Speaker 1>But that makes a lot.

0:46:32.520 --> 0:46:36.840
<v Speaker 2>Of sense because when you have because during the pandemic,

0:46:37.200 --> 0:46:41.200
<v Speaker 2>me and Van Lathan we did rewatch podcasts of The Wire, right.

0:46:41.280 --> 0:46:45.120
<v Speaker 1>The Wire was one of the most watched series during.

0:46:44.880 --> 0:46:47.719
<v Speaker 2>The pandemic Because to your point, people are catching up

0:46:47.719 --> 0:46:48.280
<v Speaker 2>a whole stuff.

0:46:48.280 --> 0:46:49.640
<v Speaker 1>They're like, oh, I've never watched this.

0:46:49.960 --> 0:46:53.799
<v Speaker 2>It's why Suits just suddenly exploded all over again, like

0:46:53.840 --> 0:46:54.640
<v Speaker 2>it just came out.

0:46:54.680 --> 0:46:55.560
<v Speaker 1>And when that happens.

0:46:55.920 --> 0:46:59.080
<v Speaker 2>While I'm certainly happy that it does for those involved

0:46:59.080 --> 0:47:02.279
<v Speaker 2>with the projects, but that's not new material. So like,

0:47:02.360 --> 0:47:04.560
<v Speaker 2>that's right, what's the incentive the right new material if

0:47:04.560 --> 0:47:06.200
<v Speaker 2>I'm just gonna go back and watch something that they

0:47:06.200 --> 0:47:07.480
<v Speaker 2>did ten or fifteen years ago.

0:47:07.640 --> 0:47:10.400
<v Speaker 7>So you guys, the rights holder of suits is making

0:47:10.400 --> 0:47:12.439
<v Speaker 7>money and they don't have to go out and make

0:47:12.560 --> 0:47:16.360
<v Speaker 7>the new suits right because audiences are satiated, and so

0:47:17.000 --> 0:47:19.880
<v Speaker 7>that's that's that's the dynamic that folks like us have

0:47:19.960 --> 0:47:21.240
<v Speaker 7>to balance, all right.

0:47:21.160 --> 0:47:23.279
<v Speaker 2>So I know your time is short, and before I

0:47:23.360 --> 0:47:25.480
<v Speaker 2>get you out of here, I like that in the

0:47:25.520 --> 0:47:28.840
<v Speaker 2>podcast by asking every guest, what I call a messy question.

0:47:28.960 --> 0:47:30.759
<v Speaker 1>Let's get into some trouble that create.

0:47:32.040 --> 0:47:35.080
<v Speaker 6>We were doing good. I know, we were doing so good.

0:47:35.160 --> 0:47:36.759
<v Speaker 6>Here this is where it's gonna go bad.

0:47:37.040 --> 0:47:39.600
<v Speaker 7>We had an amazing conversation and this is the one

0:47:39.719 --> 0:47:40.799
<v Speaker 7>right here where I'm an mess up.

0:47:40.880 --> 0:47:42.839
<v Speaker 6>Let me tell you that this is where it goes bad.

0:47:43.040 --> 0:47:43.399
<v Speaker 6>All right.

0:47:43.840 --> 0:47:47.759
<v Speaker 2>So the messy question is this, What if you had

0:47:47.800 --> 0:47:49.960
<v Speaker 2>to pick one, You could only pick one of these,

0:47:50.080 --> 0:47:55.040
<v Speaker 2>all right? Would you rather have an Oscars win or

0:47:55.080 --> 0:47:57.080
<v Speaker 2>a Falcon's Super Bowl victory.

0:47:57.200 --> 0:47:59.799
<v Speaker 7>You gotta pick the super Bowl, Falcon super Bowl. I'm

0:47:59.840 --> 0:48:03.080
<v Speaker 7>like Lincoln, I'm taking super Bowl. Baby, I'm taking these

0:48:03.080 --> 0:48:04.959
<v Speaker 7>super Bowl, I'm taking super Bowl.

0:48:05.000 --> 0:48:05.799
<v Speaker 6>I'm taking it.

0:48:05.880 --> 0:48:07.920
<v Speaker 1>Listen, honey, how change the situation?

0:48:11.360 --> 0:48:12.920
<v Speaker 6>Listen, I'm an investor.

0:48:13.120 --> 0:48:15.160
<v Speaker 7>You know you know what that super Bowl win gonna

0:48:15.160 --> 0:48:18.759
<v Speaker 7>do to the value of the balcony. You know what

0:48:19.200 --> 0:48:22.279
<v Speaker 7>it is to see a city like Atlanta city that

0:48:22.360 --> 0:48:25.320
<v Speaker 7>I love, a super Bowl being brought to that city.

0:48:25.360 --> 0:48:28.600
<v Speaker 7>You see what it does, how it lifts the whole

0:48:28.680 --> 0:48:32.399
<v Speaker 7>community up in a way. A oscar is so much

0:48:32.440 --> 0:48:35.279
<v Speaker 7>more of an individual thing, and I would love it,

0:48:35.320 --> 0:48:36.720
<v Speaker 7>and I would, you know, love.

0:48:36.560 --> 0:48:37.720
<v Speaker 6>It for my own legacy.

0:48:37.800 --> 0:48:41.040
<v Speaker 7>But I've done okay at Hollywood, right, I still got

0:48:41.040 --> 0:48:42.239
<v Speaker 7>a little PTSD from them.

0:48:42.280 --> 0:48:43.879
<v Speaker 6>Damn Oscars if you want to know the truth.

0:48:43.960 --> 0:48:47.399
<v Speaker 7>Right, we didn't go there, But I would say that

0:48:47.520 --> 0:48:50.960
<v Speaker 7>super Bowl because that's something that everybody could enjoy. It's

0:48:51.000 --> 0:48:53.480
<v Speaker 7>a totally new area for me, and I just can't

0:48:53.520 --> 0:48:55.239
<v Speaker 7>a made the city of it like you think. Y'all

0:48:55.239 --> 0:48:57.840
<v Speaker 7>don't like them, damn cheeks. You think you kind of

0:48:58.480 --> 0:49:01.680
<v Speaker 7>Kansas City at old swag surface tailor swift. Let me

0:49:01.680 --> 0:49:04.560
<v Speaker 7>tell you, so you let these Falcons win a Super Bowl,

0:49:04.880 --> 0:49:07.799
<v Speaker 7>y'all are going hate I mean hate the eight Yeah,

0:49:07.840 --> 0:49:09.520
<v Speaker 7>because you know we show it all the way out.

0:49:10.880 --> 0:49:13.840
<v Speaker 2>I wouldn't expect anything less. Well, will thank you so

0:49:13.920 --> 0:49:16.960
<v Speaker 2>much for joining me. I really appreciate it. And everybody

0:49:17.000 --> 0:49:19.479
<v Speaker 2>out there, make sure that you buy Wheel's You book.

0:49:19.520 --> 0:49:23.279
<v Speaker 2>It's really fun, thoughtful read. As I said, quick read

0:49:23.320 --> 0:49:26.200
<v Speaker 2>to which you know that you definitely wrote to today's

0:49:26.200 --> 0:49:30.719
<v Speaker 2>attention span generation right or lack of say. Book is

0:49:30.760 --> 0:49:32.800
<v Speaker 2>called who Better Than You? The art a healthy arrogance

0:49:32.840 --> 0:49:35.520
<v Speaker 2>and dreaming big. So make sure that you cop that

0:49:35.640 --> 0:49:37.719
<v Speaker 2>and good luck will. Maybe one of these days we

0:49:37.800 --> 0:49:39.120
<v Speaker 2>might see that Girl's Trip.

0:49:40.480 --> 0:49:43.160
<v Speaker 6>I'm working on it. I'm working on it.

0:49:45.200 --> 0:49:47.480
<v Speaker 7>I just said it's a tough content environment.

0:49:47.480 --> 0:49:50.600
<v Speaker 6>Did you hear me say that it's hard. It's hard

0:49:50.640 --> 0:49:51.360
<v Speaker 6>out here?

0:49:51.360 --> 0:49:53.200
<v Speaker 1>Over one hundred million dollars.

0:49:54.480 --> 0:49:58.600
<v Speaker 6>This is yes? Ever, Okay, you're right, You're right. I'm

0:49:58.640 --> 0:50:01.160
<v Speaker 6>on it. That it is not on the studios. That

0:50:01.239 --> 0:50:03.080
<v Speaker 6>one is on my team. We work, If we work,

0:50:03.239 --> 0:50:04.719
<v Speaker 6>we try to make it happen. It's hard.

0:50:05.880 --> 0:50:06.600
<v Speaker 1>You get them together.

0:50:06.640 --> 0:50:09.480
<v Speaker 6>Man, Yes, I've wrought it. I wrote it. I got you.

0:50:09.719 --> 0:50:11.759
<v Speaker 7>I appreciate you, Laddy, thanks for giving me some time.

0:50:12.080 --> 0:50:15.560
<v Speaker 7>I appreciate Okay, all right, Sis, one.

0:50:15.400 --> 0:50:17.840
<v Speaker 1>More segment to go, and you guys know what that means.

0:50:17.880 --> 0:50:22.480
<v Speaker 2>I got questions to answer up next, your viewer slash

0:50:22.640 --> 0:50:26.960
<v Speaker 2>listener questions, and I have plenty of answers coming up

0:50:27.120 --> 0:50:38.280
<v Speaker 2>next on the final segment of Spola Dips. All right, everybody,

0:50:38.280 --> 0:50:40.680
<v Speaker 2>before I wrap up another episode of Politics, time for

0:50:40.719 --> 0:50:42.520
<v Speaker 2>me to answer a question from you.

0:50:43.120 --> 0:50:45.120
<v Speaker 1>And this question comes from Instagram.

0:50:45.280 --> 0:50:50.160
<v Speaker 2>Baraka Ali sixty sixty one asked given analysis of title nain. Okay,

0:50:50.200 --> 0:50:52.080
<v Speaker 2>I'm going to assume this question is related to the

0:50:52.080 --> 0:50:56.319
<v Speaker 2>Trump administration's recent announcement that it was reversing guidance from

0:50:56.400 --> 0:50:58.759
<v Speaker 2>former President Joe Biden, who in the final days of

0:50:58.840 --> 0:51:03.280
<v Speaker 2>his presidency, instructed schools to quote proportionally distribute name, image,

0:51:03.280 --> 0:51:06.200
<v Speaker 2>and likeness payments between male and female athletes to comply

0:51:06.280 --> 0:51:09.719
<v Speaker 2>with Title nine, the federal legislation adopted in nineteen seventy

0:51:09.760 --> 0:51:12.880
<v Speaker 2>two that prohibits discrimination on the basis of sex educational

0:51:12.920 --> 0:51:15.719
<v Speaker 2>institutions that receive federal funds. Now, if you're wondering what

0:51:15.760 --> 0:51:17.799
<v Speaker 2>has nil money got to do with Title nine, it's

0:51:17.840 --> 0:51:20.800
<v Speaker 2>this This bring a federal judge is expected to finally

0:51:20.800 --> 0:51:24.560
<v Speaker 2>approve a multi billion dollar class action settlement that will

0:51:24.560 --> 0:51:28.560
<v Speaker 2>completely transform college sports. The House versus NCAA settlement will

0:51:28.560 --> 0:51:31.200
<v Speaker 2>give college athletes who competed from twenty sixteen to twenty

0:51:31.239 --> 0:51:34.360
<v Speaker 2>twenty one back pay since they were unable to financially

0:51:34.400 --> 0:51:37.839
<v Speaker 2>capitalize on nil at the time. Colleges are deciding whether

0:51:37.880 --> 0:51:40.640
<v Speaker 2>to opt into the settlement to directly share revenue with players,

0:51:40.880 --> 0:51:44.000
<v Speaker 2>which is expected to amount to about twenty million per

0:51:44.280 --> 0:51:47.520
<v Speaker 2>Power four or five schools. But some schools are choosing

0:51:47.520 --> 0:51:49.759
<v Speaker 2>to opt out because they don't want to take part

0:51:49.800 --> 0:51:51.680
<v Speaker 2>of a revenue sharing system with players.

0:51:52.040 --> 0:51:53.720
<v Speaker 1>So what does this mean? For female athletes.

0:51:53.960 --> 0:51:56.040
<v Speaker 2>Well a means schools can just funnel the majority of

0:51:56.080 --> 0:51:59.359
<v Speaker 2>the money from the settlement to men's basketball and college football. Now,

0:51:59.360 --> 0:52:01.000
<v Speaker 2>some of your proper thinking, well it should be that

0:52:01.000 --> 0:52:03.240
<v Speaker 2>way anyways, it's those two make a lot of money.

0:52:03.719 --> 0:52:05.280
<v Speaker 1>Well, here's some food for thought.

0:52:05.560 --> 0:52:08.040
<v Speaker 2>Maybe the reason these two sports have become worth a

0:52:08.080 --> 0:52:11.720
<v Speaker 2>billion dollars or more is because the NCAA has frankly

0:52:11.760 --> 0:52:13.319
<v Speaker 2>spent decades pouring money and.

0:52:13.280 --> 0:52:14.840
<v Speaker 1>Resources into these sports.

0:52:15.080 --> 0:52:18.080
<v Speaker 2>Now, the Government Accountability Office did a Title nine study

0:52:18.160 --> 0:52:20.600
<v Speaker 2>last year and found that the NCAA made a conscious,

0:52:20.640 --> 0:52:24.640
<v Speaker 2>concerted effort to place their full support behind men's basketball

0:52:24.640 --> 0:52:26.000
<v Speaker 2>and the men's basketball tournament.

0:52:26.239 --> 0:52:27.719
<v Speaker 1>And this was long before.

0:52:27.520 --> 0:52:30.560
<v Speaker 2>Men's basketball became a billion dollar business. Now, these new

0:52:30.600 --> 0:52:34.000
<v Speaker 2>directives from the Trump administration could have a damning effect

0:52:34.000 --> 0:52:36.200
<v Speaker 2>on women's sports. Now that schools have been told they

0:52:36.200 --> 0:52:41.000
<v Speaker 2>don't have to worry about providing equal support women's basketball, softball, volleyball,

0:52:41.040 --> 0:52:43.960
<v Speaker 2>those are exploding in popularity. But let's not also forget

0:52:44.000 --> 0:52:47.120
<v Speaker 2>the Olympics, where if the American women who competed in

0:52:47.160 --> 0:52:50.080
<v Speaker 2>the Olympics last summer in pairs were their own country,

0:52:50.160 --> 0:52:53.240
<v Speaker 2>they would have finished third among all nations. When sports

0:52:53.280 --> 0:52:56.600
<v Speaker 2>like swimming, gymnastics, soccer, and track and field start suffering at.

0:52:56.440 --> 0:52:59.640
<v Speaker 1>The college level, that will show up in the Olympics.

0:53:00.280 --> 0:53:00.880
<v Speaker 6>Take note.

0:53:01.239 --> 0:53:03.319
<v Speaker 2>Thank you Baraka Ali six to six to one for

0:53:03.400 --> 0:53:05.560
<v Speaker 2>your question. Now, if you have a question for me,

0:53:05.600 --> 0:53:07.600
<v Speaker 2>you can hit me up on social media or email.

0:53:07.680 --> 0:53:11.719
<v Speaker 2>I'm at Jamail Hill across all social media platforms Twitter, Instagram,

0:53:11.719 --> 0:53:15.840
<v Speaker 2>blues Guide and Threads, also fan Base, which I recently joined.

0:53:15.840 --> 0:53:18.600
<v Speaker 2>Please use the hashtags politics. You also have the option

0:53:18.680 --> 0:53:21.400
<v Speaker 2>of emailing me as Politics twenty twenty four at gmail

0:53:21.440 --> 0:53:24.200
<v Speaker 2>dot com. You can also send me a video of

0:53:24.280 --> 0:53:27.440
<v Speaker 2>your question, but please make sure it's thirty seconds or less.

0:53:27.680 --> 0:53:30.759
<v Speaker 2>Don't forget to follow and subscribe to Politics on iHeart

0:53:31.080 --> 0:53:35.200
<v Speaker 2>and follow spolitics pod on Instagram and TikTok. Politics is

0:53:35.239 --> 0:53:38.840
<v Speaker 2>spelled s PO L I t I c S. A

0:53:38.920 --> 0:53:42.560
<v Speaker 2>new episode of Politics drops every Thursday on iHeart Podcasts

0:53:42.920 --> 0:53:46.560
<v Speaker 2>or wherever you get your podcasts. This is politics where

0:53:46.600 --> 0:53:52.279
<v Speaker 2>sports and politics don't just mix, they matter. Politics is

0:53:52.280 --> 0:53:55.960
<v Speaker 2>the production of iHeart Podcasts and the Unbothered Network. I'm

0:53:56.000 --> 0:54:00.760
<v Speaker 2>your host, Jamail Hill. Executive producer is Taylor Chakoin. Lucas

0:54:00.800 --> 0:54:04.480
<v Speaker 2>Hyman is head of audio and executive producer. Original music

0:54:04.480 --> 0:54:08.080
<v Speaker 2>First Politics provided by Kyle VISs from wiz FX