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Speaker 1: Another great show another great day. That's what life is about,
Speaker 1: experiencing different opportunities. Welcome to Money Making Conversation. That's right,
Speaker 1: I'm your host, Rashaan McDonald. Each Money Making Conversation talk
Speaker 1: shows about entrepreneurship and entertainment. I provide the consumer and
Speaker 1: business owner access to celebrities, CEOs, entrepreneurs and industry decision makers.
Speaker 1: It is important to understand that everybody travels a different
Speaker 1: path to success. That's because your brand is different. The
Speaker 1: challenges you face in your life are different. So stop
Speaker 1: reading other people's success stories and start writing your own.
Speaker 1: I'm telling you the truth. Now. You can be motivated
Speaker 1: by their success because their stories can offer direction and
Speaker 1: help you reach your goals through your planning and committed effort.
Speaker 1: And effort has to be number one. My guests the
Speaker 1: Money Making Conversations have that same passion and they share
Speaker 1: their information when we talk about their career motivation, what
Speaker 1: they are promoting, how they live a balance life, and
Speaker 1: their secrets to success. The show is for you, about you,
Speaker 1: and will help you. My next guest is a longtime
Speaker 1: relationship back in the Los Angeles. My next test is
Speaker 1: a former senior vice president marketing for Atlantic Records. Now
Speaker 1: he is the president of Will Packer Productions and is
Speaker 1: responsible for developing and overseeing productions on all film projects
Speaker 1: through the company's first Look deal with Universal as a
Speaker 1: producer his films that grows more than eight hundred million
Speaker 1: dollars at the box office. Today, he's on the show
Speaker 1: to Day to talk about his career and his new movie,
Speaker 1: The Photograph. Please welcome the money making conversations, my man,
Speaker 1: James Lopez Rashan. Thanks for having me, brother, Well, well,
Speaker 1: thank you. I know you're busy because this promotion week,
Speaker 1: another movie, another another line of promotion. This is great.
Speaker 1: Got no wheels out there, so I see you getting
Speaker 1: out there a lot more promoting projects. Is that part
Speaker 1: of the growth of James Lopez. Yeah. You know, I've
Speaker 1: been told several times in the past that I need
Speaker 1: to get out there a little bit more, you know.
Speaker 1: You know me, brother, I'm I'm when it comes to
Speaker 1: promoting and publicity and doing the press. I like to
Speaker 1: stay behind the scenes and be quiet. But I've been
Speaker 1: told that I need to let the people know what
Speaker 1: I do and and uh that I definitely have an
Speaker 1: inspiring story to tell and that uh, you know that
Speaker 1: I provided an example for some folks, so I kind
Speaker 1: of have decided not to be as selfish. They talk
Speaker 1: about my story a little bit because it might be helpful.
Speaker 1: It really is helpful. That's what the format of money
Speaker 1: making Conversation is all about. I started in twenty seventeen,
Speaker 1: uh and it was supposed to only last six weeks.
Speaker 1: And then I realized that through the conversations and bringing
Speaker 1: a different type of people I had on the show
Speaker 1: and version was just people I know, And then all
Speaker 1: of a sudden, now it's just individuals in the industry
Speaker 1: to realize I have such a positive, uh you know,
Speaker 1: format that allow them to tell their story. And also
Speaker 1: it's really about helping people. And when we talk about
Speaker 1: helping people, you know, I have to talk about my
Speaker 1: relationship with you, and you know you you and when
Speaker 1: I was with Steve Harvey, you know, you broke it
Speaker 1: our first ring tone deal. And I gotta say that
Speaker 1: because you know that that was a skill that you
Speaker 1: have and had, you know, because I didn't know you,
Speaker 1: but you had a lickability and use a professional And
Speaker 1: I remember when Steve said, should be signed this deal?
Speaker 1: I said, yeah, yeah, James, things a little I trust
Speaker 1: him and for me to say that, it's a lot
Speaker 1: because that means that you understand the value of communicating
Speaker 1: the honesty of the deal and also the value of
Speaker 1: a relationship. I'm sure you've been told that a lot
Speaker 1: over the years, correct, James, Yeah, you know. I I've
Speaker 1: been told that that. I'm a kind of a no
Speaker 1: nonsense type of guy. And I think a lot of
Speaker 1: people take my load to me. My my, y'all's quiet.
Speaker 1: They take my quiet demeanor as a sign that maybe
Speaker 1: that I might be angry or maybe I'm not really
Speaker 1: trying to mess with folks. It's not that at all.
Speaker 1: It's it's that I'm constantly thinking. I'm constantly observing the room.
Speaker 1: And you know, I believe that if you don't have
Speaker 1: something additive to say in the moment, just don't say it.
Speaker 1: But when you do have something to say, it carries
Speaker 1: more weight. So that's just the way I operate in life. Um,
Speaker 1: And I'm you know, I admitted Rashan, I'm a little
Speaker 1: bit socially awkward to you. That's why I quiet. Well,
Speaker 1: I would tell you something, man, you know, I've been
Speaker 1: around your lot, you know. And and then because you know,
Speaker 1: it was in the music business, so yet always are artist.
Speaker 1: That's how we connected. And uh, and that's what you
Speaker 1: told me A Rashan t I making a lot of
Speaker 1: money on these rain tones. Y'all probably want to look
Speaker 1: into that. And so you understood that that rain tongs
Speaker 1: are popular back there, there was a lot of way
Speaker 1: that it was a quick way just using your voice
Speaker 1: and ring tones and people are buying them. And then
Speaker 1: but of course all things change, and all things you
Speaker 1: have to make a transition. And at the time he
Speaker 1: was the senior vice president marketing for Atlantic Records. What
Speaker 1: did that job entail? Well, back then, you know, I
Speaker 1: was largely responsible for the urban roster of artists signed
Speaker 1: to Atlantic Records. So artists like t I, Fat Joe, Fabulous, Trick,
Speaker 1: Daddy Trenim, M c Elliott, Sean, Paul Naview's little brother,
Speaker 1: and the list goes on and on. So I was
Speaker 1: responsible for the imaging, packaging and bringing to market those artists,
Speaker 1: whether it be album packaging, whether it be promotional touring,
Speaker 1: put it together their stage show, award show performances, all
Speaker 1: the way up to like you know, music video production.
Speaker 1: I was kind of like, um, what a quarterback into
Speaker 1: a football team. Is what I was in the building
Speaker 1: Atlantic Records when it came to that particular artists, kind
Speaker 1: of like an in house manager. I wasn't the artist manager,
Speaker 1: but I was the person mostly all in their life
Speaker 1: and in that project within the company, um and kind
Speaker 1: of like leading the company's charged to bring that album
Speaker 1: or that artist to the marketplace. That's what I was
Speaker 1: absolutely So then in your intro, I make this statement
Speaker 1: as a producer. As a producer, his films about his career.
Speaker 1: During his career have exceeded eight hundred million dollars at
Speaker 1: the box office. Now, that's from music to film, which
Speaker 1: we know. I can't say they're similar because they're different
Speaker 1: because once visual you know though you might say music
Speaker 1: videos or visual, but that's not a movie or a film.
Speaker 1: That's a beginning, middle of the end. That's casting, that's
Speaker 1: being at the right publicity, being at the right moment.
Speaker 1: How did you make that transition, because I remember you
Speaker 1: made it. I told Steve at the time, I said,
Speaker 1: my boy doing films now. And I really was happy
Speaker 1: because I know that that that you know, music was changing,
Speaker 1: you know, record stores were dying out, you know, a
Speaker 1: lot more into pinion thought process was being put into
Speaker 1: how you released labels. Did you make a decision looking
Speaker 1: at the industry, or you said, hey, I really want
Speaker 1: to do film. It was it was a combination of both.
Speaker 1: To be honest with you, I'd always had the passion
Speaker 1: for film and television, To be honest with you, Rashaan,
Speaker 1: early on in my life in my career, I just
Speaker 1: didn't think it was possible for brothers to be honest,
Speaker 1: you know, like coming I'm a boy from Houston, Texas
Speaker 1: and so like to be involved in film intelligence. There
Speaker 1: was no examples for us going up in Houston. There
Speaker 1: was no one I could point to and said you
Speaker 1: could do that. Like I knew obviously we all know
Speaker 1: of actors and directors, um you know, like the Spike
Speaker 1: Leaves and John Singleton's and you know, being in college
Speaker 1: and watching those guys do their things. But I knew
Speaker 1: I wasn't gonna be bad. I had no idea what
Speaker 1: the producer did. I didn't know that there were people
Speaker 1: behind the scenes, predominantly caucases, that were behind you movies.
Speaker 1: So I just took the natural route into music because
Speaker 1: there were several examples uh that that we as black
Speaker 1: man could point to and say Okay, well Russell Simmons
Speaker 1: did it, and this one did it and that one
Speaker 1: did it. I could do that, I could be that.
Speaker 1: But once I got into the music business and got
Speaker 1: in and was more immersed in the culture of entertainment
Speaker 1: and meeting different types of executives and then getting involved
Speaker 1: in soundtracks. In the music business, I started interacting with
Speaker 1: studio executives and producers, and then I started to get
Speaker 1: exposed to the possibilities of where where I wanted my
Speaker 1: life to go. So it was it was in the
Speaker 1: mid two thousands, I would say two thousand and four,
Speaker 1: two thousand and five when I consciously made the decisions
Speaker 1: that this is what I want to do next, and
Speaker 1: I'm gonna work my tail off to get there. Let
Speaker 1: me in there. I remember you start telling me you
Speaker 1: were writing scripts at that time. Well, I was coming
Speaker 1: up with pitchers and decks for ideas and when I
Speaker 1: look when I look back at them, they were terrible.
Speaker 1: But you had You had energy. Had I had the
Speaker 1: energy and what I was doing with conceptualizing projects as well.
Speaker 1: And that's that's where my strength lies, is coming up
Speaker 1: with concepts or or discussing with other creatives, concepts, concepts
Speaker 1: for movies and then bringing them to the marketplace, figuring
Speaker 1: it out, you know, finding writers. I think it directed
Speaker 1: starting starting projects from scratch. But yeah, I made that
Speaker 1: decision in two thousand five, and it took me five years.
Speaker 1: It took me five years of networking, of reading tons
Speaker 1: and tons of scripts and kind of building up my
Speaker 1: chops so that when I got the opportunity, I was
Speaker 1: reading and until five years later. Correct, correct, Yeah, I
Speaker 1: was hired by gentleman name Quinn Colepepper who gave me
Speaker 1: a shot. I had done a soundtrack at Screen James
Speaker 1: when I was in Atlantic, and that's how I built
Speaker 1: my relationship with him. And then I got even closer
Speaker 1: to him on the set of Takers. Uh p. I
Speaker 1: introduced me to Quint again on the set of Takers.
Speaker 1: And that is the evening that I'm at will for
Speaker 1: the first time. My mouth producing party. Now eight hundred
Speaker 1: million dollars When I say that, what runs through your mind?
Speaker 1: At the box office? Um? Eight million dollars. Now here's
Speaker 1: a lesson for your listening audience. Box office numbers are
Speaker 1: great if you have a piece of ownership. I don't
Speaker 1: have a piece of ownership at any of that eight
Speaker 1: million dollars. That's what my movies made. I didn't own
Speaker 1: those movies, and studios owners movies. When you've got brothers
Speaker 1: like Tyler who owned their films and they get a
Speaker 1: majority of that dollar that comes back for every single
Speaker 1: dollar that goes out, he's getting a large percent of
Speaker 1: that money coming back to me. And that's what we
Speaker 1: got to strive as people to work towards. As the ownership.
Speaker 1: We are formidable, we are peace when it comes to
Speaker 1: creating content and in providing entertainment for the audiences, we
Speaker 1: create culture. But we have to start having a stake
Speaker 1: and ownership in that culture. And right now that is
Speaker 1: what Will and I are striving towards is more ownership
Speaker 1: of our catalogs um but you know none. Nevertheless, it
Speaker 1: is impressive that so many people haven't enjoyed our films,
Speaker 1: but we and well you know where the company is headed.
Speaker 1: And building up that library of titles. Ownership or that
Speaker 1: library is a goal and also diversifying what we do.
Speaker 1: Um the movie that's coming out this weekend, it is
Speaker 1: our first drama. Like it is a romance drama, It's
Speaker 1: not a romantic comedy. It's not a comedy, it's not
Speaker 1: a thriller. Is a straight up adult black love romance.
Speaker 1: And that's something new for us as a company. And
Speaker 1: we're working hard to make sure that we diversify the
Speaker 1: types of movies that we're making so that we're not
Speaker 1: just eating off of comedy, but off of everything. Right,
Speaker 1: I tell you, I'm talking to James Lopez. He's the
Speaker 1: president of Will Packer Production. Has a new movie out
Speaker 1: this weekend called The Photograph. We'll come back. We're getting
Speaker 1: more details because and had a movie out here like this,
Speaker 1: like this Love Jones, Bart Lorenz, Tayne alone. That's what
Speaker 1: he's talking about. My main conversation, be right back. We'll
Speaker 1: be right back with more from McDonald and money making conversations.
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Speaker 1: Money Making Conversations continues online at www dot money Making
Speaker 1: Conversations dot com and follow money making conversations on Facebook, Twitter,
Speaker 1: and Instagram. Ladies and gentlemen, it's time you stop thinking
Speaker 1: about your dreams and put some plans into action. All
Speaker 1: Just Rashan McDonald, you're listening to money Making Conversations. I'm
Speaker 1: talking to James Lopez, long time, long time gentlemen. Met
Speaker 1: him when he was senior vice president of marketing for
Speaker 1: Atlantic Records. Now he's um breaking down information about my listeners,
Speaker 1: about about the art of the deal and being a
Speaker 1: bigger player in the deal. More importantly, he's on the
Speaker 1: show to day to talk about his new movie. Like
Speaker 1: he told before we went to break he said, they've
Speaker 1: diversifying the portfolio, moving out of the comedy laden drama
Speaker 1: where they've had so much success into a romantic drama.
Speaker 1: What really pushed this envelope beside a great script and
Speaker 1: opportunity to diverse diversify your portfolio, I think the reason
Speaker 1: why we sparked to the photograph. First of all, I
Speaker 1: started off, yes, with a great script, like Sella McGee
Speaker 1: wrote a beautiful project. Um, she is also a director
Speaker 1: of This is a very personal project for her, and
Speaker 1: we wanted to jump on board and help her fulfill
Speaker 1: her vision and bring this screen. So we're very proud
Speaker 1: of being a part of this. But um, we just
Speaker 1: felt like it's been such a long time since the
Speaker 1: core African American audience has received a love story. Um,
Speaker 1: and you mentioned Love Jones. You know, that was twenty
Speaker 1: plus years ago. So we love Okay, Sven and you know,
Speaker 1: we we just felt like it was time to make
Speaker 1: another black love story that wasn't based around trauma. You know. Unfortunately, Um,
Speaker 1: you know, there's a lot of great films that are
Speaker 1: created and cater to the African American audience, but when
Speaker 1: it comes to love, there's always a betrayal or out
Speaker 1: of wed like child or somebody got killed, stalker. And
Speaker 1: you know this is straight just two black folks loving
Speaker 1: each other or trying to figure out love, iould say,
Speaker 1: But it also is about generations. It's about UM gets
Speaker 1: to raise character who has just lost her mother and
Speaker 1: through a series of letters, is finding out more about
Speaker 1: the woman her mother was and the mistakes and love
Speaker 1: that her mother may have made, and to make sure
Speaker 1: that she's not going to repeat the same mistakes her
Speaker 1: mother made. So we are watching When you watch the film,
Speaker 1: you're watching two stories separated by thirty years. So it's
Speaker 1: about generational love as well. And it's very movie and touching.
Speaker 1: UM And and you know, I think, uh, I think
Speaker 1: folks will enjoy it. It's a great date night. It's
Speaker 1: a perfect perfect date that the movie is coming out
Speaker 1: on Valentine's Day. It's a long weekend, so you know,
Speaker 1: everyone listening to take your special someone to go check
Speaker 1: this out because you're gonna love it. And the music
Speaker 1: is phenomenal. Absolutely, um, it has to be another another
Speaker 1: fellow Houston native Robert glasper uh the score awesome, congratulations,
Speaker 1: you know were getting out that spread that way you
Speaker 1: know the beauty of listening to you talk, James. First
Speaker 1: of all, you sound just the same, You sound just
Speaker 1: as uh, you know, you give our information. Uh. That's
Speaker 1: what always impressed me about you is that you're informative
Speaker 1: and you and you really know how to hit all
Speaker 1: of the right deal points of the conversation. But one
Speaker 1: thing I always liked abuy Will because when I did
Speaker 1: the first movie with him, Think like a Man, he
Speaker 1: always knew how to select talent that was on the
Speaker 1: rise about the pop. He was always good at that.
Speaker 1: You look at this movies, he always gets that talent
Speaker 1: right when he's about to because he does that really well.
Speaker 1: And like in that case it was it was Kevin Hard.
Speaker 1: I knew about Kevin Hard, and I know when we
Speaker 1: sold the movie Steve and Steve Harming. I sold the
Speaker 1: movie to screen James with just Clint and he was
Speaker 1: because I told Will Know. At first I said, no, Will, Am,
Speaker 1: I gonna do the movie with you? And then he
Speaker 1: brought in Clinton. Then they came down to Dallas and
Speaker 1: we rode around on Steve's property. Convinced me and hey,
Speaker 1: this is the right people. We got the right idea.
Speaker 1: We will we will make this, make this be a
Speaker 1: winning And then he said, I said, who goes? Who's
Speaker 1: gonna do the lead? He said Karen Hard. I said
Speaker 1: Kevin Hard. He said, he's he's about to break. Man,
Speaker 1: He's he's about to break. He's about to do that.
Speaker 1: And so I turned on. I look over the two
Speaker 1: stars that are at the top of your list. Here
Speaker 1: he'sa Ray and the key Stanfield. Yeah, okay, now Stanford,
Speaker 1: let's could it go back a little bit the Atlantic series. Okay,
Speaker 1: that's when I first discovered him, and I went and
Speaker 1: I was telling my friend right here, this dude is talented.
Speaker 1: D Yeah. I mean, you know mckith thought, you know,
Speaker 1: he wasn't get out as well. Um, he was in
Speaker 1: Uncut Gems with Adam Sandler that that had a nice
Speaker 1: run a couple of months ago. Keith been mckith has
Speaker 1: been working. He's been working. He has been working, I mean,
Speaker 1: but but all platforms, all platforms. Oh yes, yes, he
Speaker 1: has been working. And obviously you know he's used to
Speaker 1: used to raise the queen, like you know, creating the
Speaker 1: show Insecure for HBO and all the things that she's
Speaker 1: been doing. Um, but we yeah, we we take pride
Speaker 1: on on you know, making sure that in every one
Speaker 1: of our movies we have, um, people who are about
Speaker 1: the pop or or or or have have recently come
Speaker 1: on the scene. In this particular one, I think you
Speaker 1: guys are gonna really enjoy an actress by the name
Speaker 1: of Schante Adams. She played Ray's mother in the past
Speaker 1: thirty years in the past. And when I tell you
Speaker 1: this girl put his work, her performance is amazing. Um,
Speaker 1: your listeners may or may not know her from a
Speaker 1: Netflix movie on the rapper Rocksman Shante. It was a
Speaker 1: Netflix movie called Roxman Roxton. Remember that played the Roxanne
Speaker 1: in that movie in our Netflix Um, and she is
Speaker 1: just an incredible performer and she does such a beautiful
Speaker 1: job of racing this in this song. So let me
Speaker 1: ask you this. Let me ask you this because your
Speaker 1: producer on the movie. What exactly does a producer do
Speaker 1: on this especialist particular movie with the photograph? Well, I'll
Speaker 1: tell you my role in this one. Um. When when
Speaker 1: Will and I first started producing together, Um, before I
Speaker 1: joined the company, he took the meet it was star
Speaker 1: regarding this particular project. She had not written it yet,
Speaker 1: it was just a treatment. And UM, when I joined
Speaker 1: the company, which was like a year later. She had
Speaker 1: written the script and it was floating around town and uh,
Speaker 1: I've read it. And I was like, oh man, we
Speaker 1: need to be doing this movie. This this could be
Speaker 1: this generation. And I said, word for it. This could
Speaker 1: be this generations love Jones. We should be making this movie.
Speaker 1: So I go to Will. I'm like, I read the photographs.
Speaker 1: I know you took a meeting with her about a
Speaker 1: year ago, but you should read this script. It's really good.
Speaker 1: He read it. He was like, I agree. I said,
Speaker 1: we need to take this into universal and fright for
Speaker 1: it and set it up. So we did. They brought
Speaker 1: the script and we spent the next year and alfter
Speaker 1: two years developing it from several drafts and got it
Speaker 1: to the point where we got the student of the
Speaker 1: dream like this now. Um. So, during that process and
Speaker 1: producer and working with the writer to hone in on
Speaker 1: the script, get it to the you know, get it,
Speaker 1: get it, addressing notes, getting it ready to share with cast.
Speaker 1: We talked about cast, who's available in the time frame
Speaker 1: that we want to shoot the film. You know, who
Speaker 1: who do we think would have the best chemistry. You
Speaker 1: go through that process, you know, I'm you know, I'm
Speaker 1: hiring a line producer who comes up with the schedule
Speaker 1: and budget. We're making decisions about where we're going to
Speaker 1: shoot the film. You know, the New York plays a
Speaker 1: character in the film, so we you know that it
Speaker 1: was a filmmaker's vision to shoot the film in New
Speaker 1: York and not a lot of films shoots here. Um,
Speaker 1: and you know, so we we won that battle. Then
Speaker 1: then it's about putting the crew together. You know who's
Speaker 1: going to be the director of photography, is going to
Speaker 1: be the cost and designer. You know who's going to
Speaker 1: be the production designer, who's gonna help cast the movie?
Speaker 1: The casting right there, so we you know, you put
Speaker 1: all those people together, get them approved, get them on
Speaker 1: on the team, and you start building your crew to
Speaker 1: execute this script all the time while you're sharing the
Speaker 1: script with agents and managers to get the casting want.
Speaker 1: Once you get through all that, you go into pre production.
Speaker 1: Pre production on this film was eight weeks and in
Speaker 1: that eight week time period, you're scouting your building sets
Speaker 1: if you needed. You know, the cost and designer is
Speaker 1: showing options for the characters. You have your director photography,
Speaker 1: who's building their crew their camera operators with the lighting
Speaker 1: is gonna look like your story boarding, shot listing. So
Speaker 1: much goes into it before you start, and then you're
Speaker 1: on set. We shot this movie over seven weeks six
Speaker 1: which we're in uh New York in one week and
Speaker 1: muse in and then you go into post production, which
Speaker 1: is a twenty two week period where you're editing your
Speaker 1: sound mixing. During that time period, our director, she has expressed, um,
Speaker 1: the desire to have Robert Glass for score the film.
Speaker 1: So without her knowing, I went off and got Robert Glass.
Speaker 1: You know, I got ahold of them. We had a meeting.
Speaker 1: I'm like, look with you ashtown boys, let's do this.
Speaker 1: I took him to the studio. Robert had never scored
Speaker 1: a movie. Um, So I convinced the studio, hey, give
Speaker 1: this brother shot. Um, he's the world over now, jazz musicians,
Speaker 1: you could scored it. He could scored his music. He
Speaker 1: could score this film with his eyes. Um. And then
Speaker 1: I know want the studio approved. And then I haven't
Speaker 1: sit down with Sella and they worked out the vision
Speaker 1: for what she wanted the sound to be in this movie. Um,
Speaker 1: and now we're here. That is producing, my man, that's
Speaker 1: a journey. A lot of people needed to hear for
Speaker 1: the first time on my show because the shooting period
Speaker 1: is just seven weeks. You know, pre was a and
Speaker 1: post pre was eight and then post was twenty two.
Speaker 1: That was thirty weeks, and then there was almost two
Speaker 1: and a half years to get it approved. And when
Speaker 1: you first when you first walked was introduced to it.
Speaker 1: She didn't even have a script. She said, she had
Speaker 1: her treatment our concept. So so there's a lot of
Speaker 1: trust in that process to get to the point that
Speaker 1: we see the movie photograph. But I don't want to
Speaker 1: link on the process. There's a couple of there's more
Speaker 1: people in this movie. My Man coortinately advances in this
Speaker 1: movie where I love even though there was a drama,
Speaker 1: you got my Man, A Little Real who everybody old
Speaker 1: some get out. One of the funniest comics. One of
Speaker 1: the has a specialized last November that was outstanding called
Speaker 1: Little Real Man. He plays mckith brother in this movie.
Speaker 1: And then uh, and then and LOOKI he's funny too.
Speaker 1: And so then you have Issa Ray, who I saw
Speaker 1: a little and I became a bigger fan. I actually
Speaker 1: became a bigger fan of her in the movie Little
Speaker 1: that you guys also did and did very well at
Speaker 1: the box office. I think last May and uh, and
Speaker 1: it's playing right now. If you don't know, it just
Speaker 1: goes it's it's on pay per view. Is also view
Speaker 1: video on the Man yet to HBO. Little And So
Speaker 1: when you when you see a movie like this being
Speaker 1: put out there, you still have a little touch of
Speaker 1: I think that you know you can you can bring
Speaker 1: You're not trying to do a comedy movie, but you
Speaker 1: do have guys who can bring that comedy moment just
Speaker 1: to break the ice. Correct, Yeah, correct, there's moments where
Speaker 1: you know, the audience, we break the ices. It's not
Speaker 1: a drama all the way through. Um. So every every
Speaker 1: once in a while you'll get a chuckle, you'll get
Speaker 1: a laugh in the right places. Um. But it does
Speaker 1: tug at the heart string. There's another actor I want
Speaker 1: to bring up who's in there. There's two of them actually, Um,
Speaker 1: Calvin Harris Jr. Who the audience may not be familiar
Speaker 1: with the name, but you are familiar with his face.
Speaker 1: He this young brother is I see, I feel it
Speaker 1: is going to be up for Academy Award one day.
Speaker 1: He is. He's done phenomenal work in so many other
Speaker 1: movies this past two years. But he's working literally nonstuff.
Speaker 1: I believe the photograph whether it's fifth movie that he
Speaker 1: shot in twenty twenty nineteen. Sorry, Um, he did five
Speaker 1: movies last year. Um. He's in a movie called Ways,
Speaker 1: He's in another movie called Rise, He's in a movie
Speaker 1: called Loose opposite. Uh, I'll tell miss Spencer. But he's
Speaker 1: just a phenomenal young actor. He's in the movie Jasmin
Speaker 1: sepas Jones within the movie, and so is my boy
Speaker 1: Rob Morgan. Right, I don't know if I don't know
Speaker 1: if you've seen Just Mercy, but Rob, if y'all seen it, Robbert,
Speaker 1: the one that went to the electric chair. Oh yeah,
Speaker 1: oh yeah, when they when when you were planing all
Speaker 1: the the let him know that they were with him,
Speaker 1: let him know he wasn't he was not down there
Speaker 1: by himself. It's a very good movie. There was a
Speaker 1: powerful moment that movie. Yeah, that brother has some powerful
Speaker 1: moments in our movie. Um read emotional uh moment. Well,
Speaker 1: you know my biggest takeaway when I listened to your
Speaker 1: projects and watch your project again, congratulations graduations, Will and
Speaker 1: Will know I've been a fan before he brought any
Speaker 1: movie project to him, to me, to Steve and all
Speaker 1: just start promoting on our radio show for mat And
Speaker 1: that's why I kind of I built this format to
Speaker 1: be able to have power, to be able to put
Speaker 1: another layer of information, not only about the people who
Speaker 1: are who are starting in front of the cameras behind
Speaker 1: the camera, but you guys all have stories, you know, Sam,
Speaker 1: Let's say with Sammy State University is proud of what
Speaker 1: you're doing. Four years playing football over there before you
Speaker 1: roll out to l A, had realized that you can
Speaker 1: your dreams can't be possible. And then this movie again,
Speaker 1: the photograph. I want to call my friend because of
Speaker 1: the fact that I trusted him and we've we've known
Speaker 1: each other over years and I followed him and he's
Speaker 1: followed by my success. And we were on the phone
Speaker 1: that they just talk about another great moment, a great
Speaker 1: moment in our lives where we're about to, you know,
Speaker 1: set a different pattern for what the movie could be.
Speaker 1: I know that they always project have they put a
Speaker 1: projection on what the box office? Maybe this weekend? Yeah,
Speaker 1: I don't even like to talk about it. Now, don't
Speaker 1: talk about, don't talk about don't talk about this. Don't talk,
Speaker 1: don't all. I don't wanted to do well, and I
Speaker 1: want I want our folks to come out and support
Speaker 1: and really talk about this film. And I want them
Speaker 1: walking out with a greater sense of love for who
Speaker 1: they're with, who they want to be with. But also
Speaker 1: I think a lesson that's learned from this film is
Speaker 1: we learned how to love from our parents. And when
Speaker 1: you watch the film and you're watching the Parallel Stories
Speaker 1: thirty years apart um, you know, we pick up a
Speaker 1: lot of positive things from our parents as well as negative.
Speaker 1: And we learned how to love because we've watched them love,
Speaker 1: and that's what this movie is talking about. That's a
Speaker 1: beautiful to statement again starting the East Array or man
Speaker 1: uh Keith Stanfield. It's called the Photograph. It's coming out
Speaker 1: this weekend for all you couples out there, for all
Speaker 1: you people who want to sit down and hold hands
Speaker 1: as we can. This is the movie to watch. James Lopez,
Speaker 1: thanks for coming to much show, talking about your talking
Speaker 1: about your pass and talking about your future. My friend,
Speaker 1: eight hundred million dollars in counting, because they're gonna start
Speaker 1: counting this weekend. Man again, money making Conversations dot com.
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