August 27, 2024 • 47 mins
On this episode of the Butternomics podcast, Brandon chops it up with Maya Table—director, producer, and all-around creative powerhouse. Listen as she shares how her journey from Memphis to ATL shaped her one-of-a-kind style, what it’s like working with heavyweights like Anderson .Paak and TI, and her thoughts on where film and AI are headed.
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
People coming to me for my style, Like a few
weeks ago with Phlesa hit me up at my DM
and I was like, oh, I love your style. And
then when he sent me the song, I'm like, the
song sounds like my style, which is very like art
Atlanta hood put together.
Speaker 2 (00:19):
I love to welcome everybody to butter Nomics. I'm your host,
Brandon Butler, Host of Love Butter ATL and today we
have a special special guest. You might have seen a
couple of things she's produced, you know directed, you know.
Speaker 3 (00:38):
Just a few videos here and there.
Speaker 2 (00:40):
You know, people like Anderson Park and t I and
Future and on on on East of Ray's YouTube and
all this other stuff. We're gonna getting all this in
just a second. I want to introduce everybody to the
One the Only Miss Maya Table Maya, How you doing good?
Speaker 1 (00:54):
Hey y'all, y'all happy to be here. I'm super fan
of butter atl So I'm excited we are a fan
of you.
Speaker 2 (01:01):
That's why, you know again, Like, look, it's always funny
when you meet somebody in real life that you just
know from like social media at first. So I remember
when me and my first maybe we're kind of walking
by each other looking like I think I know it
from somewhere. Yeah, I know, yeah, she pulled up to
the four and four day softball game and I'm not
going to would help. That was the pink hair. So
I'm glad you got the pink hare for us today.
You know what I'm saying, The very very striking.
Speaker 3 (01:22):
Thing going on. How's everything on your side of the world?
Speaker 1 (01:26):
I was good. I'm here in my summer home, you
know at the moment, AKA, my little sister's house in.
Speaker 3 (01:32):
DC, all three coasts, all three coasts, ing.
Speaker 1 (01:37):
Up all her food and stuff.
Speaker 3 (01:38):
So I'm doing great, living a life.
Speaker 2 (01:40):
Well, my look, you are a director, a producer, an entrepreneur,
many more things. But for the people don't know, just
give him a quick Who is Maya Table? Tell us
little bit about yourself.
Speaker 1 (01:50):
Maya Table is from Memphis, Tennessee. But I've been in
Atlanta long enough to say I'm from Atlanta since the
fourth grade. And Maya Table was an artist. Sourly, I'm
just director, but I have been director, producer, editor, and
visual effects artists. I'm a sister, daughter, somebody's wife, own know, somebody,
(02:14):
you know what I'm saying. But somebody's son, exactly.
Speaker 3 (02:23):
Do That's dope.
Speaker 2 (02:24):
That's dope, so might tell so so right now, you
know you start off as a producer right now on
your website everything else that says director sot Off as
a director, Okay, yes, all right, yeah, so what you
directed nowadays? What's what you're working on right now? What's
what's what's the favorite project you're working on right now?
Speaker 1 (02:44):
You know, every project is a favorite. I'm not gonna lie,
just because God is good and like when you work
so hard for projects because directors, we usually have to
be it on projects. So when you do land them
is amazing. But all of them are my babies. I
love them for different reasons, you know. I say the
most recent is probably the one with Lexis and Anderson
(03:04):
Pop because I got to do some more car stuff
and I'm doing more car lately, and always the stuff
with my uncle Puci just because you know, our chemistry
together is so fun. And a lot of my projects
I get from brands come from seeing me and my
uncle Puchi interact.
Speaker 2 (03:20):
So we and we're gonna get into Uncle Puochi in
a second. But you just said something was interesting. You
said a lot of directors have the bid for projects,
tell us like, what is bidding for a project from
a director?
Speaker 3 (03:30):
Like, what's that process?
Speaker 1 (03:33):
Agony under Mann bidding for projects, So, whether music video
or commercial space. For music videos, you listen to the song,
the label will tell you the budget and you just
dream a dream. You come up with your idea and
then you write it. The artists will read it and
then they decide if they want you to direct it
or not. And now when it comes to commercial projects,
(03:55):
it's triple bids, so as you plus two other directors
disubmitting these aready paid treatments. You have to do two
rounds of interviews with the client and then you decide
if if they want you to direct it or not.
So some of the same things, but it's just pretty
ruling for directors. So I've really been working on developing
my style so when people come to me and I
(04:15):
do or don't get it, it's because of my style.
And so that's been making my chances to be a
lot higher of like you know, hitting the ball out
the part because I know, like, Okay, they want my
style or this or this fits me, and then now
I'll just say no if I don't like the like
the project at all.
Speaker 3 (04:29):
And how would you describe your style.
Speaker 1 (04:33):
Hella black, Let's see colorful, charming. I used to say comedic,
but people told me to say charm instead of comedy.
And it's usually a lot of like energy behind it
because I usually shoot sports or men for the most part,
(04:53):
So you know, emotional.
Speaker 3 (04:55):
Okay, passionate okay.
Speaker 2 (04:58):
So when you're talking about the bidding process, you know,
what do you think is one of the biggest factors
when it comes to is it that style create a vision?
Is does budget come into play? Like what are some
of the factors that you know, people and brands and
artists us to kind of make a decision on the director.
Speaker 1 (05:14):
That's a great question. The times I've had a chance
to ask companies, sometimes going into it, they already know
who they want to direct it, which is unfair. It's
unfair unless I'm the one that wanted to bid, you know.
Speaker 3 (05:26):
Like he's just going through the emotions of other people,
right yeah.
Speaker 1 (05:30):
Yeah. But most times I try to get single bids,
which is great because people come to me for my style.
Like a few weeks ago, Whisker Leaf it hit me
up at my DM and was like, oh, I love
your style, and then when he sent me the song,
I'm like, the song sounds like my style, which is
very like art Atlanta hood put together. So now I'm
(05:50):
just kind of getting my style stronger. So people come
to me knowing that they want that. So but usually
it's based on if they want the director's style or
somebody that they want to work with, or if it
just happens to be even they like my spin that
I have on the creative it's dope.
Speaker 2 (06:03):
No, Now you mentioned Atlanta, so I got to ask
about that, like how did Atlanta influence my table.
Speaker 3 (06:09):
Style so much?
Speaker 1 (06:11):
Because Atlanta is so creative? And then sometimes I always
wonder why there aren't more Mayas in the world because
it's like, I think you can see the influence that
Atlanta have has on mail artists, whether it's like graphic designers, painters, directors,
but we don't see a lot of it from women.
And I'm like, I'm a direct reflection of Atlanta and Memphis,
just southern where you just love every type of black person,
(06:34):
the good, the bad, and the ugly, and we love
an elevated you know, black person and person of color.
And I think that's what my voice is. And I
definitely got that from Atlanta. So even when I'm in
la I always find it's important to come back to
Atlanta because I am a reflection of my family and
all of my work. And see my family, which is
very intelligent, hilarious, loving, love black people. They're the best
(06:55):
of what they do, you know, So I think I'm
a direct reflection of that. So Atlanta and I'll never leave.
Speaker 3 (07:02):
That's a good question. Why aren't there more mayas well? Well?
I don't know the answer to that question. But you know,
one of the things you mentioned before.
Speaker 2 (07:08):
We were talking was that, you know, you originally wanted
to go to Spelman. They didn't really have the film
program that you were hoping they would have, and so
you ended up at Georgia State. And you're also interested
in like dermatology, So help me understand that, right, Like
are all the other Mayas they're trying to be dermatologists
right now? They're trying to figure it out, like how
do you go from dermatology as an interest to you know,
becoming a director?
Speaker 3 (07:29):
Like what's that process?
Speaker 2 (07:30):
And more importantly, like what skills do you think might
have been transferable if anything?
Speaker 3 (07:34):
And kind of having that interest?
Speaker 1 (07:36):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, I found out that I was swamish
to blood in high school, and I was like, that's
not gonna work because what I would throw up or
if you tell me, like if you tell me you
cut your finger, then my finger will hurt or whatever
part of you that hurts is going to hurt too.
So that didn't work out. But when I was in
high school, I kind of did this like mixtape for
my friends and I was like, well, that was really fun.
And then we did a talent show and I put
(07:58):
the dance together and I was like that was fun.
So that's when I realized I like to see if
pieces come together, and so it took me a minute
to figure out what it was that I liked. But
I would just start paying attention to things that resonated
with me, Like I saw Do the Right Thing a
long long time ago, and I was like, wow, that
movie had sweaty black people. Because I thought that actors
had to look a certain way, and I never realized
(08:18):
that actors could look like regular people until that film.
Or I would look at films that Steven Spielberg would
do and be like, wow, this feels like magic. So
when I was in college, I went for communications at
first just to figure out what I want to do,
a number of internships and would just like ask questions
like I entered at Radio One, I interned at BT
(08:38):
and every music video sit said, TIS twenty four is
actually was the first music video I p ate on.
And then from that I was like, Okay, I think
I have the skills of like seeing things come together,
and also I just have a knack for like talking
to people and being nice, and I have integrity and
those are some of the biggest things now that still
work with me.
Speaker 2 (09:00):
So you know, you just mentioned you know, do the
right thing, which is again it is one of my
favorite movies of all time. Like what other kind of
classic black movies like you know also inspired you?
Speaker 3 (09:10):
Was it other things by Spike Lee?
Speaker 2 (09:11):
Were there other movies just growing up that you saw
that just really kind of you know, you saw those themes.
If you didn't realize it right then, you were like,
you know, it was kind of starting to help you
figure out and develop what your style was.
Speaker 1 (09:22):
I wouldn't say style, but just like things that just
just settle in my heart, real heart, like Love Jones
or Comeing to America, Boomerang, even Friday, but most of
the time, it was I'm always finding things that resonate
with how I feel on the inside. So sometimes even
when I listen to a certain artists and music, the
bas in it or even how the person says their
(09:43):
voice or certain violind just kind of inspires my thought creation.
So it's more just finding things that like feel like me.
That's why my hair end up turning pink, because I'm
just like, I'm always pretty happy inside and listen for happy,
you know. So I just try to find things that
I identify with that's dope.
Speaker 3 (09:58):
That's dope. So go back.
Speaker 2 (10:00):
So you're coming out of a Georgia state, you're starting
to do some internships, you know, you start to get
some experience, like can you walk us through kind of
early stages of your career, Like what were some key
steps or some like I always say, like inflection moments,
you know. One they always kind of tell people that
I think our careers are kind of like a series
of you know, hills and plateaus in a sense. So
you know, what were some of those moments and key
(10:22):
kind of moments early on that really, you know, helped
you get into the industry and establish yourself.
Speaker 1 (10:26):
Interning just interning and just asking as many questions because
I'm one of those people where I feel like whatever
goal I have, I'm going to get there at a
certain point, so I try to just be very present.
So when I was interning, I would just try to
be the best intern that I could be or the
best PA that I could be. And when I was
in school at Georgia State, there's this a lab called
the Digital Aquarium, and I worked there and I had
(10:49):
to be able to teach other students like all the
editing software, all the video equipment, and then from that,
you know, it's like a different skill set to be
able to learn and teach somebody, especially other students. So
that actually was like my biggest flakes. And then somebody
in college said, if you learn how to edit, you'll
be a stronger director, which was the best thing ever
(11:09):
because I still probably like save me percent of my projects.
And it helps too, because I'm more of a quiet
person for the most part, I'm starting to be more extroverted,
but also just like it helps me to like interpret
what I'm saying to other people. And then so I
would say, just like every kind of point I would
get to in my career, I would just stay present
in that so if I was the PA. That's why
(11:31):
some people now just know me as a producer and
some people just know me as an editor, because I
would never be around you and be like, well, I'm
a director if you hired me to produce for you,
and vice versa. So so I think every step I
got to felt like, you know, a victory for me
at that moment. You know.
Speaker 2 (11:47):
Yeah, now you know, we're in this space nowadays where
you know, everybody kind of wants to just start off
at the top. I remember one unique situation where I
was VP at a very large company, and you know,
it always kind of would try to mentor the interns.
And I had this one kid I'll never forget. He
came to me. You know, at the end of the internship,
kind of the goal is to get an entry level job, right,
And so I remember I would talk to this kid
(12:08):
and he came to me one day and said I
asked him, I said, you know, you're almost at the
end of your internship. Have you started applying for like jobs,
like what's kind of your next thing? And he said, yeah,
I've been applying for jobs, but I already know the
job I want, And I said, oh, cool, show me
what you're applying for. And he was applying for a
job that was higher than I was in the company.
And I kind of asked him, I said, you know
that doesn't make any sense, right, Like you're an intern
(12:31):
and now you're applying to be like a senior SVP, right,
And I asked him, I said, what makes you think
that you're qualified to go from intern to SVP? And
he looked at me dead in my face and said,
my mama told me I could be whatever I want
to be when I grow up. And I said, and
you know what she did, but your mama also should
have told you got to take some of the steps.
(12:51):
And so the reason why I say that is kind
of asked, like, what were some of the things you
really learned during your internship process? You know that that
kind of time because everybody kind of has the So
I don't like calling it paying dues. I just kind
of like on it getting experience, Like what are some
key lessons that you learned being an intern kind of
in the business that kind of helped you as you
grew in the business.
Speaker 1 (13:10):
Yeah, And I would say also even before then, a
lot of stuff I learned came from being athlete, as
to run track and play softball. So a lot of it,
like the endurance and like kind of self reliance comes
from sports because you kind of like are just running
against yourself. Especially on track, You're like when you're running,
you're beating your own time, so you realize this is
(13:30):
really my own thing against myself. So that kind of
mindset will go throughout my internships and stuff. So even
if it's like I'm on the internship, I wouldn't be
the first person that's trying to be in somebody's face,
the person that's over us, because I feel like that
person who will see me if I just kind of
keep doing my own thing, and so on internships, I
would just try to stay present, whether it's just like
I need you to fold some papers, I'm gonna get
(13:51):
the best paperfolder I can be, you know, and just
try to like learn that one skill set because I
always felt like, well, my goal is this bigger one,
but I needed a master all like the little steps.
And then I also was super shy, so it helped
them land to me if they felt like, oh, well,
she's just really loyal, She's going to be there. So
I would just think on people seeing that I was
loyal so I could stick around, and I was a
(14:12):
hard worker. So I would say the internships I learned
like a number of things. The biggest one would be
how to keep things confidential, because like, there are so
many projects that passed my plate every day. Most of
the time I don't sign NDA's at all, but it's
just like it's just a given that you should not
you know, say anything about the project. Or sometimes you
(14:33):
may work on project for like three months and it
just didn't come out. That's happened with like the Apple
iPhone tens and those came out. We had done this
big commercial spot, it never came out, you know. So
that's probably the biggest thing I learned from internships. And
also you kind of it's like having siblings. You see
what worked and what didn't work for somebody else. So
sometimes I'd be like, I don't do that, you.
Speaker 3 (14:55):
Know, I know very much of seeing it first.
Speaker 2 (15:00):
I always say, like internship, again, it's just opportunities to
get the experience with a little less risk. Yes, you know,
once you start kind of getting in there and you
got a you know, full time job and other obligations,
your risk level, you know, kind of goes up, and
the wrong mistake, not just one mistake, but you know,
the wrong mistake could impact you. But like as an
intern you can kind of act, you know, say, I
don't know, I'm just trying to learn, right, So it
(15:20):
gives you an opportunity to kind of and bump your
head a little bit without you know, as much a
risk at the end of the day, you know what I.
Speaker 1 (15:26):
Mean, right, absolutely? And then also I was in college
at the same time I was doing internships, so I
was still like teaching th students at the Digital Gram.
So by the time I graduated, I didn't go from
a production assistant to PM to production coordinator. I don't know,
I just want a production assistant to director. At this point,
I already knew all the things. So the internships taught
(15:48):
me and like, oh I am on the same level.
Is this my person in this area, and this was
what I need to work on. So I would just
kind of learn on the internships and then go home
and finish learning the other part of what I needed
to learn from them.
Speaker 2 (16:00):
Okay, And and just for the again for the uninitiated
for a second, like how would you define the difference
between a producer and a director, like what does a
producer do versus what does a director do?
Speaker 1 (16:13):
Yes, my favorite analogy that I came up with it
with is a director and a producer are like a
bride and the wedding planner. So the director is the bride,
so she knows her vision. I know, I want to
have a rustic wedding. I want my colors to be
let's try blue and pink, and I want it to
even feel like a ranch style, like whatever the hell
(16:33):
she comes with it right, And the producer slash wedding
planner is the person that knows all these vendors to
pull off that director's vision. So it's like, okay, I know,
like the venue that will fit your vision. So those
are the two differences for the most part. Now, when
it comes to like TV and film, producers sometimes are
the ones that you know are financing the project, they're
bringing on like bigger investors, they're bringing on different crews,
(16:56):
so it just it just depends. But for the most part,
is the bride and the wedding planner.
Speaker 2 (17:00):
And what do you think the hardest part about being
a producer is versus on the other side as a director.
Speaker 1 (17:06):
Producing well for me as and I think it's because
I was I've always been a director, so I've always
been a little bit. Like I described myself like this,
like producing is like being on espresso. Directing is like
being on CBD.
Speaker 3 (17:23):
So it's just I get the reference.
Speaker 1 (17:27):
Yes, so you got my CBD self and you want
me to be like that thought, I'm like, hold on,
let's just let's just talk, let's just think about it.
So it's really more of a mindset thing. Are the differences.
And I love amazing producers. Being one for a little
bit helped me to really love them even more. But
I just did not like it myself. Now, did you
ask me that question? What was the question you asked?
Speaker 2 (17:48):
No, it's kind of what's like, what is the biggest challenge,
like as a producer versus director, Like, what's the biggest
challenge of being a producer versus on the side.
Speaker 1 (17:57):
The biggest challenge for both roles actually is just hard conversations.
You just are having a different type the producers having
conversations with multiple teams, multiple people, usually about like money
and logistics, which is tough in itself. Directors hard things
is putting your ego aside for projects that are not yours.
(18:17):
Like even if it's an artist or a commercial, it's
not my project, it's not my story. It's ultimately their story.
I'm just the vessel. So it's putting the ego aside
for that and also just like communicating, because a lot
of directing it's like the technical part, but even more
is the people part. So like if I see an
artist is tapping out, then I'm going to cut some
scenes before they have to show me that they're tired,
(18:38):
or the person in front of the comedy is to
trust me, or the client needs to trust as well,
or sometimes well, all the time, I get men's playing
a woman's playing on set, but I also recognize that
a lot of that is just ego. People want to
show me that they're the best, so I get that
out the way up front and I'll tell them I
think you're amazing at whatever. So a lot of it
(18:58):
is just like the mental part of the two of directing.
So you know, it's just a lot of things put together.
Speaker 2 (19:03):
Well, let me ask kind of going back on the
man's planning and women's planning stuff. I'm sure as a
as a black woman producer and director, You've probably dealt
with a number of unique challenges, right, It's probably ranged
everywhere from just getting people on the same page to
getting funding or distribution. Like what are some of those
obstacles and how do you overcome the More importantly, like
(19:24):
what's some advice that you would have for other people
to kind of overcome similar obstacles.
Speaker 1 (19:28):
Yes, it happens all the time. And I think that
it's not even just the woman thing and black women thing.
It's also a temperament thing. I think people want directors
to be allowed and boastful, but that's just not who
I am at my core. And I also notice, like
when I try to change myself and my style and
I'm not thinking as creatively and as a director and
(19:48):
artists is I have to stay in my raw state,
no matter what that is, whether it's where I tell
them the complete truth in uncomfortable situations. But with that
is that people just if I'm not loud, which I'm
never people will just kind of like let their ego
step in. So I'll get man explaining about like one
producer was telling me what a tech scout was. A
(20:10):
text scout is like the most basic thing, you know,
in production, and this just happened like two months ago.
I was like, oh, that's what it is. Thanks got it,
you know. So it happens all day, you know, and
you just decide which ills you can just like left,
I feel like it feels like Nats. It feels like this,
you know, even down to if I say I want
(20:31):
that wall to be purple, well we can do magenta,
can do this? Is this? No, No, here's purple and
here's a pantel. So even like me saying things direct
like that is odd for people. I noticed. I think
people are just used to like this kind of like
trauma type directing. Then you just being kind. So I
think that's been people have been getting used to that.
But if they don't, I don't care. I'm the director
(20:53):
either way. So I just kind of just but it
feels like Nats. The man's splaining and when I'm saying it,
that feels like this, you know, just like on set,
and it happens most sets, it happens, you know, so
I just kind of you just unfortunately, you have to
get used to it. And but that's why it's important,
like to know your stuff, to always study. I'm always studying, learning,
being vulnerable, figuring out what I can do better, figured
(21:15):
out what went great, and then also so many other
people on set that are watching me, so I have
to just like cuss people out under my breath and
then have a direct conversation, and then also manage the
times when I do call someone out one set, you know,
like one time I had an ad introduce everybody else
assistant director, director, director, this person, this person Maya, and
(21:36):
I was like my and I had said, Maya, who,
And so I have to check them in front of
other people because it's a few other people of color
around and women who need to know that you can
speak up, It's okay to speak up. So and it
also just I prayed so hard for these opportunities, and
so usually when I'm on set, I'm like praying so hard.
Lord take over just increases I decrease. So it's usually
(21:59):
the conversation is from here to hear. So those little
nets I'm like, me getting out of the zone to
talk to you and be negative is taking me out
from this relationship here, and that is like the most
important to me. So usually it is that's why it
feels like, Okay, I know what it takes God is
and what happened, Okay, got it? Okay, you can almost
predict what people are gonna have they're going to act
towards me.
Speaker 2 (22:18):
But you know any who, Yeah, I mean, look, I've
been on a number of sets. I've worked in the
creative space for a while. It's always interesting, you know
how many people kind of grew up and like really,
when I say grew up, kind grew up in the
industry in like very toxic environments. What I kind of
tell people all the time is there's a lot of
folks in the creative industry like PTSD, and it takes
(22:38):
a lot of times they need to be around a
few situations or examples with people that you know, don't
lead that way to kind of start to revert back
to themselves because they really came up in such a
you know, a crazy space, whether it was an advertising
or creative and they had people yelling at them that
they thought that was the way they had to operate.
But then it takes a while from to understand like, no,
that's actually not what's this necessary?
Speaker 3 (23:00):
Even less?
Speaker 2 (23:01):
Now, like this is a mad man no more, y'all,
Like you can bring your real self to work and
work with people and be respectful, right, Like, you don't
have to yell at people to get things done. I
don't even think that helps get things done.
Speaker 1 (23:11):
It doesn't help. It doesn't help. I find that everyone
needs to feel their best, whether it's my PA's or
my acs. And I'm more of a one on one
conversation type director, and I find that that helps the best.
It helps me feel less nervous sembling into me like
and if you have to yell, you just have to.
I think it does take an adjustment when people work
with me to say, oh, I can just like talk
(23:32):
in this tone and talk to her and get sub
done and we can actually have a good time and
also work at the same time. So it's an adjustment.
It's interesting seeing people do it. I'm like, hmm, you
talk to the hell y'all.
Speaker 2 (23:56):
Our larger budget projects, you know, are those bills get
more stressful? Like, Like, what's like the difference between a
large what is a large budget? Maybe that's a better question.
Even when it comes to pros, it's considered to be
a large budget for like a TV commercial or a
video shoot.
Speaker 1 (24:11):
Large budget it would be a million and up. I
got my cherry popped on that one this year. But
for the most part, TV commercials are like between two
hundred thousand five hundred thousand. Music videos are between fifty
fifty thousand and three hundred thousand, depending on the artists,
and sometimes they're twenty if it's just like you know,
(24:34):
just a newer artist. So it just really depends on
the artists. But with all the jobs, so music videos
move a lot faster than commercials. Commercials move fast. Music
videos move at the speed of light, and so with
that you just have to you know, work on being
sharp and also know which crew to call that can
back you up. For commercials, it's about maybe two weeks
(24:57):
of planning after they are worth the job. But it's
just more communication. So I'm putting together a whole deck
for the art team, and then another whole deck for
the wardrobe team, and then a whole another deck to
talk through lighting. So you're just talking a lot more.
So your schedule is usually leading up to commercial shoot.
My schedule is open because my producer is going to
pack it up with like meetings to talk through every
(25:17):
single detail, like every little thing from like we had
a bear on set for that. Anderson shoot, let's talk
to the bear ringler. Okay, well I want some butterflies.
Let's talk this, Let's talk to the VFX team. So
you're just having like a number of conversations over and
over again. So you just have to get used to
communicating over and over, used to visual communicating, used to
be in patiently communicating and knowing that it's the group project.
(25:40):
Commercials are more group projects. Music videos are more like
vibes and just seeing you and the artists doing your
thing now in that.
Speaker 2 (25:48):
Now, how does storytelling plan to all that? So, for example,
you know whizkly to hit you up. He sends you
a song and ask you about directing his video. But
then you've got to figure out, like what story you're
kind of can comunicating. I know, the song might be
helpful because you kind of have lyrics to go off
of versus a commercial. But again, how does storytelling get
involved in the creation of these different types of projects?
Speaker 1 (26:11):
Yeah, and usually that's what people need directors for because
you can have a video this that straight performance space.
But if you more are more story director, then you
can insert little stories in there. And so I try
to do that when I can. I have like little storylines,
and so this just truly the director's call. Sometimes the
artists think of it, but usually director's call. And then
in the creative commercial space, usually it's the creative director
(26:35):
that came up with the whole idea. Like the Anderson
pod video that was a rare one where they said, well, maya,
let's see what idea you have. But normally the creative
director comes with the idea. But it then they hire
the director to bring that vision to life. So they
even have like from the storyboards done. So I look
at their boards and say, okay, like what's the backstory?
(26:55):
So they'll tell me the backstory of the people, and
so it's up to me, like to make sure that
the audience understan it's what that back three was. And
so usual it is down to like, oh, excuse the mom,
let's put a car seat in the back. So that's
something that the director comes up with, just like the
little visual cues so that we understand in thirty seconds
the emotion and what's going on.
Speaker 2 (27:14):
Okay, So so then what are the visual cues. Look,
I saw the Anderson pop commercial and I mean they
got guitars or eyes on them, and like you said, well, yeah,
it was cute, but how does that come to life? Like,
how does that how does that story manifest itself?
Speaker 1 (27:29):
So when that came about the brand and the creative
director at the agency was Carlo, and Carlo was just like, well,
we decided we want to do I decided we want
to do a music video. Eye is in him and
so he was like, well, just do whatever you want
to do. The thing is that this car is we
wanted to see it in nature and I also sold
out until twenty twenty five, so we don't need help
(27:49):
selling the car. We just want to do something cool.
And I was like, Okay, let me think about it.
And so usually I'll think about the artists and I'll
watch every single video they've ever done, even if it's
our is that I love like Anderson Park. I am
a fan fan. But even with that, I still just
like look at his Instagram with the stuff he's in
the past, just to make sure I'm not doing something
that he already did, and then I'll just like let
(28:11):
myself daydream about it. And Anderson is really cool because
he's an artist, but he also gets a little weird.
It's a little sexy, so you can just it's a
number of things that you can do with him. So
when I thought about the instruments, I was like, what
if he's like and we also had to incorporate the
car a little bit. So I was like, what if
he's leaving his house and then but he's leaving behind
(28:32):
his old equipment and he's only taking his newer stuff,
so they can take this journey into the forest and
all these things can happen. So the a lot of
times where sometimes you'll have a chance to like insert yourself,
and I try to do that as an artist. So
the eyeball things are just my thing. I thought it
would be cute. I'm like, what if the instruments were
like sad? You know? So I think so the directors.
(28:54):
That's the thing in the commercial space is how can
you put your little sprinkles in there around like the creator.
So usually mine or I'm trying to do more of
than certing of myself. Usually it just be like if
it's a person of color and it's cool, you know,
it's my op and now it's like, no, I can
lean into my little weird part. And so the eyeballs
was that for me.
Speaker 2 (29:12):
Now see that's interesting, not just because of that, but
because it also makes me think about, you know, how
people can potentially be using AI and stuff very soon
in the videos, right, And so I mean, you know
the under Armor video that came out that was completely
AI generated. I don't know if you saw, but I
think Motorola Rasor just dropped the video that was completely
AI generated, And you know, people have a lot of
(29:33):
feelings about that, especially on the filmmaking side. You know,
what are your feelings on kind of the impact of
AI video and is it a good thing? Is it
a bad thing for the industry? Like what's your thoughts
on AI when it comes to the kind.
Speaker 3 (29:44):
Of work that you do.
Speaker 1 (29:46):
Yeah, and my friend Wes Walker did the under Armor
commercial that had people up in arms, but I thought
it was beautiful. The thing is that AI stuff has
been around forever for years, and you saw a Jurassic
part and you know, jobs and all that stuff. So
I think now it's more consumer friendly, so people feel
more frightened by it. But it's always been around and
(30:07):
I think that as filmmakers we just have to keep
adjusting to it. I don't think that it's going anywhere,
but I also think that like nothing can be the
human mind, you know, just like you know, we won't
be at our computer all day because we want to
go see a concert, we want to see our favorite athletes,
So those things are still happening, so I think, you know,
and also with these AI programs, they're only pulling from
(30:29):
what somebody else already did, so it's never going to
be complete originals. So I would say it's something that
we do have to learn into just a little bit,
but also just keep learning how to pivot because it's
going to be something new all the time. But I
don't think there's anything to be afraid of at all.
Speaker 2 (30:43):
Yeah, I was watching this really interesting talk that asking
Kutcher did he say he was playing around with Sora,
which is the tool that open AI is building kind
of internally right now for video production, and he was
talking about, yeah, I was able to, you know, generate
this short movie or short video clip of and again
you can only short stuff right now, but obviously once
you know, it'll get it'll get better with time. But
(31:04):
he was saying, you know, I was able to generate
this this short video clip of a ultra marathon runner
like running through the desert, and it didn't require me
to hire a stuntman. No actors, you know, they have
to go on set. I was able to kind of
generate this thing and it wasn't perfect, but it was
good enough. And the thing that he said that was
really interesting to me was he was like, you know,
at a certain point, there's going to be more content
than there is eyeballs to consume it. You know, like,
(31:26):
why would somebody watch, you know, your movie when they
can watch their own movie?
Speaker 1 (31:30):
Right?
Speaker 2 (31:30):
Like why would somebody watch Jurassic Park when they can
make it Jurassic Atlanta Park And all of a sudden,
the dinosaurs are her own bankhead, right, you.
Speaker 3 (31:39):
Know, But what do you think about that?
Speaker 2 (31:40):
Do you think there'll be a world where, like consumers
start to get more involved and start creating their own content,
we'll to get out of control. And again, if so, like,
how do people that work in your space embrace those
tools so that they can continue to kind of stay
relevant in the head of the curve?
Speaker 1 (31:53):
Yeah, I'm always a fan of white learning the rules.
I can break them, so, like learn every program so
I can like do my thing and put twist on it.
But I don't think there's anything to be afraid of.
I think that you know, people are doing all these
scare tactics, like remember when the year of two thousand
was coming, let's get all this water is. So I
(32:19):
think that it's kind of like the same thing where
people feel like it's going to be a certain way,
but more people are not using that than it's. It's
like even from like the tiktoks and things that are
still around, and you have people that still use it.
It's like there's people that still love Snapchat, but it's
just not something I use every day, or people that
use uh it's like virtual glasses.
Speaker 3 (32:38):
Vision pros, like the augmented reality stuff.
Speaker 1 (32:42):
I'm not using that more. I know why people that are.
So I think it's going to be a statement of
people that are always in those my movies and always
that type of content. But then you have the people
that actually want to meet their favorite actor, they want
to work with their favorite athletes, and so I think
that it's going to be a world. It's going to
be two things have to happen at the same time.
But you know, we're still humans, and humans are still
(33:02):
the same way forever. You know, we aren't like given
birth to things that have electricity and it. You know,
we're still souls and beings in hands. So I don't
think any of that the real the real build things
are going away.
Speaker 2 (33:13):
So would you would you ever create a kind of
a completely AI generated you know, short movie or short
film or something like that. Like I watched what was
the one dating app? I think it's called and I
can't think of the other one The Gentlemen. They were
playing the music back and forth.
Speaker 1 (33:29):
Yeah, yeah, true story.
Speaker 3 (33:31):
Yeah, would you ever?
Speaker 2 (33:32):
Would you ever actually, you know, make one, even if
it's just kind of try it out and see how
the technology works.
Speaker 1 (33:38):
Yeah, yeah, absolutely, never say that. Really, you know, you
don't know until you try. You might like it, you
know what I'm saying.
Speaker 3 (33:46):
Give it a shot, right, you don't know until you
know he shot, you don't know.
Speaker 1 (33:49):
Yeah. And then also, just like you like the people,
the actors and athletes and people that we love, is
like they're they're showing their skill set and just like
every generation like what's the name of that? So all
the murders in the building, it has Steve Martin and
Martin Sure. I'm like, oh my god, they are still hilarious.
And I love watching that show because it's like they're
still doing their thing in this age at the AGR now.
(34:12):
So I think it's just as artists, we're just finding
new ways to like show where we're artists and you know,
show where we are who we are, you know what.
Speaker 2 (34:20):
All these new technologies and everything is happening. Like, what
are your thoughts on kind of the value of going
to film school versus learning on the job. There's a
lot of people, you know, especially now with YouTube and
just to get how easy a lot of these different
tools and applications are to use, a lot of people
just kind of started up and figuring it out. So
you know, what do you kind of think about you know,
what do you think about the value of it still
going to film school versus just getting started?
Speaker 3 (34:42):
You know what, what's where's the difference? Lie?
Speaker 1 (34:45):
Yeah, I think the difference is just how we learn.
I always tell people, you don't have to go to
film school. I went, you know, I think it helped
me just learn how to work with people, be more
like outgoing because I was more of an introvert. So
I think it's just where the value is. You did
not have to go to school for that. So I
think I love that it's more accessible. It also helps
me too, because when I get on sets, I don't
(35:06):
have to keep hearing here in the first flack women
I work. But you know, it's just like things, you know,
So I would love seeing more of us on set,
not just black women, but just people of color, and
usually I don't see a lot of us at all.
So I think making it more accessible helps it. But
even with that, it's still you still have to learn
how to work with people. So it's not just the
(35:26):
skill set, it's like the interpersonal skills, and I think
that's what college she just but you can still learn
that outside of school.
Speaker 3 (35:33):
Absolutely.
Speaker 2 (35:33):
So I don't know if you you know, learn how
to shoot Uncle Poochi in film school, but you know
you started off and what was that twenty twenty two
with your with your uncle? You know he's driving the Cadillac,
he's vegan, Like how did they get started? You know,
where did Uncle Poochie come from? And you know what's
what we are? Some great things that have happened since
you started working with them?
Speaker 1 (35:52):
Oh yeah, pleas Memphis. My whole family, like I said,
we're from Memphis. So that's my mom's little brother. They're
just to be your part. And I wanted to document
him for years, and I always wanted to use a
film camera or a different camera. And so I had
one point in my life when I was going from
like I took off my producing hat all together because
I only wanted to concentrate on directing. And then with that,
(36:15):
I was like, well, let me just move back in
with my parents. I won't say yes to producing jobs.
And so that was the end of twenty nineteen, and so,
you know, the very next year was twenty twenty, and
so he was coming over. He came over with my
mom's house to pick up his fur coat, and he
was like this, put out your camera for me. So
I put out my little cannon camera and filmed them
and I just put them on Instagram and it went viral,
and I was like, huh, but I thought that I
(36:37):
had to have a certain camera, and I realized it
was just more about like the story and the content
and just he's so interesting. So and then I also
just you know, if I hadn't to move home, that
wouldn't happened. So you know, if it wasn't twenty twenty,
we wouldn't have been at home. So so many things
were just perfect about that moment, and I would wonder
why people loved him so much. I think because people
said that also showed like my eye. So no matter
(36:59):
how crazy a person of color is going to look
in front of my lens and never gonnak that crazy entertaining. Yeah,
but I'm not ever gonna put anybody in the bad
light in any way. So I think it just kind
of showed them my style. And then from that, Vogue
magazine reached out that year and they're I'm like, well,
we don't have a piece for Vogue, but we would
love to direct for Self magazine. And then a lot
(37:21):
of just jobs just come from just how I document
my uncle and his son. I just cut out for
parts where you know, he talking crazy, and I'm just like, like,
I'm not going to include that, sir, thank you.
Speaker 2 (37:33):
Yeah, you know, the magic is in the edit a
lot of times, you know what I'm saying, magic to
make sure I just.
Speaker 1 (37:39):
Let I just let him go and it's cut it.
I'm like, right there, what's.
Speaker 2 (37:43):
Been one of the biggest, you know, the biggest opportunities
you know for you and your brand that's happened out
of that? I know, I think Snoop Dogg reached out
or kind of shared it, but like, what are some
other things that have happened. So you started working with uncle.
Speaker 1 (37:54):
Poaching, I would say, yeah, Snoop for shared. Getting signed
to my commercial agency, I end up like using a
bunch of my savings and then directing and writing a
commercial with my uncle Pouchi because brands need to see
that I could tell a message and a story in
thirty seconds, so I used him. So I'm like potential
(38:15):
people love him anyway, and then that's how I would
get most of my commercial jobs from like Honda and
for and even ARII different brands. I remember ARII had
it in their deck once. They were like, we want
to shoot this like my en Oh that's awesome. And
so even now that I'm scient to a commercial rep,
people are always like, we love Grow a Pair. That's
the name of the commercial I did with him. But
grow a Pair that was just something I made up
(38:37):
with Georgia Pairs. I was like, yeah, Georgia Pears paid
us to do that. So so all these projects and
then I think it just has been helped me to
like be content with my voice and how I see
us and it's been helpful so that people understand how
I'll make us look on camera.
Speaker 2 (38:54):
You know, it's interesting because I mean with the stuff
that we do at butter Atl, right, like we create,
you know, as allays say, content at the speed of culture,
and so you know, we always look for ways to
just see and create content that like resonates and lands
kind of authentically. And as I look back over it,
it's always kind of been a series of just like
inflection points, because what I've learned over the years is
(39:15):
you never know what the thing is going to be.
You never know what the thing is going to be.
It's going to all of a sudden open up a door.
And I can definitely point to a few pieces of
content that they were in. Some of them were very
low production, not to say that what you were doing
with that production, but like yeah, like I look. The
biggest one I remember we did was I literally took
a I went ordered the six piece wings from h
(39:35):
JR Crickets, and we put all we put five wings
on a plate and I took had my intern take
a bite out of each one. I said, oh, the
first one, take a small bite, and it gets bigger
and bigger and bigger than the last one. I just
want you to just eat it all the way down
to the bone, right. And then we put that plate.
We took just a regular photo, no special effects, no editing,
put it on Instagram and said through one through five,
(39:57):
how do you eat your wings? When I tell you
that post ended up? Chrissy Teagan is arguing with people
on Twitter about it about if you not a five,
don't come to my house. Complex picked it up. You know,
hot Ones is reaching out to us.
Speaker 1 (40:14):
Uh.
Speaker 2 (40:15):
It even became a story on the Today Show, and
so is this and so like even what you're talking
about when Uncle Puci right, like you just saw an
opportunity to kind of create this content. You don't know
what's gonna come from it. One thing I just want
to kind of tell content creators and people that are
making content in general is you never know what the
thing is. And so what I would always tell my
team is you got to just keep throwing.
Speaker 1 (40:36):
You know.
Speaker 2 (40:36):
It's like again, the example always kind of gives is
if you learn how to juggle, you know what you
do is you watch them, don't wash the hand they're
they're they're throwing with wash your hand, they're catching with
because if the hand they're catching with it's like moving
all over the place, they're not throwing consistently. And so
what I've just learned over the years is you got
to throw consistently. You just got to put stuff out
there and not get overly caught up about you know,
(40:58):
a lot of times again we were worried about how
it's going to look or get how it gets perceived.
Speaker 3 (41:02):
And again we do different things.
Speaker 2 (41:03):
But just even in that example, right, like, I'm sure
it sounds like there have been things that you did
it just because you want to do it, or you
did it because you felt like it felt fun, and
it wasn't about doing some super highly produced thing that
somebody's going to createive direct. You did it because it
felt good to you, and all of a sudden it
pops off, and that feels really good, right like when
you did something authentic and it just popped off. Besides
the capoocia, there have been other things like that that
(41:24):
you just worked on because you wanted to do them
that have really popped off for you.
Speaker 1 (41:29):
Yeah, And you know, I think that's why we love
butter Atl Going back to y'all too, because y'all always
do things just like plass your little hood and like
y'all feel like everybody should like even some stuffing that
y'all do, like every season you love like this is
where you are. I was like, yeah, how hot it is?
Or hell's at it? I'm like, I love that, you
(41:50):
know so much. And I was just telling someone that earlier,
I do these consultation calls where creative some call sometimes
like actors who want to move into directing or a
creative who wants to do something else, and they can
just call and we just talk about whatever they want.
And I was telling I heard that same thing this morning.
It's consistency, and with consistency, your audience will tell you
(42:10):
what they like from you, because sometimes we think it's
the other thing that's like super polished. It's never that.
And so I always found that, like my little dumb
ideas and my little blonde stuff, it just comes out
of nowhere, does this? Like I remember one time for Halloween,
I was like, I want to be a meme and
I kind of feel that myself. It was two rappers.
(42:35):
It was two guys on stage rapping and one was
a bit more effeminate, and so that was where viral
and I was just like, I want to be that
for Halloween and it just went viral. Or just like
this animation I did of Beyonce's mom when the remix
to the Savage came out with Megan and Beyonce, and
I was like, what do I put Beyonce's mom's head
on this girl's body? And this is something that I
(42:55):
just wanted to do because I was it was three am,
I was bored, and that went viral too. So I
just found like when I just do things that I
am toikleed by that's a little dumb, it always does great.
Speaker 2 (43:05):
Yeah, and that's because again, other people find that same
stuff interesting.
Speaker 3 (43:09):
I think.
Speaker 2 (43:09):
I think a lot of times we just get so
in our head. You know, we like to you know,
we like to hold up all our experience and our
degrees and we think that we have to like overengineer it.
And I'm telling you, never know what the thing is
and a lot of times stuff and that's what I've
learned and making content every day for like the last
six years.
Speaker 3 (43:27):
Right, It's just you never know what the thing is
going to be. So that truly resonates with me.
Speaker 1 (43:31):
You know.
Speaker 2 (43:31):
One last question I would to ask for we get
ready to get out of here. Is so you just
mentioned you do consultation calls, like what's the what's the
best advice you've ever received? Like what's the advice that
maya table goes by.
Speaker 3 (43:42):
And lives by?
Speaker 1 (43:44):
Man, what's for me is for me. What God has
to me is for me. So no matter if, like
if I gave you my whole Rolodex, my whole phone,
my whole computer with all these contacts in it, and
I give you all the information, I know your blessing
is still not my blass. So I don't have a
reason to be jealous or of anyone. That also comes
down to like the timing of things. I'm not I'm
(44:07):
aggressively submitting on all these projects, but I'm not so
behold and where I'm like so upset when I don't
get it, I'm like, well, shit, it didn't happen, and
I move on. But I know the thing that the
projects that our mind have always been mine. So no
matter if I didn't get it, that was you know
what I'm saying. When you think about it was never
your project. If you didn't get it, here weren't yours.
And so I rely heavily on that and the things
(44:27):
I do, and that brings me a lot of peace.
So that's what I would say. What's mine is always mine.
What's meant for you, It's always meant for you.
Speaker 2 (44:34):
It's the truth I tell people all the time. Y'all
try to beat y'allselves to y'all destiny. Man, if it's
there for you, ain't nobody. You don't have to run.
If it's there for you, it'll be there when it's
supposed to be there for you. But y'all are trying
to beat yourself to your own destiny. And if you
get there too early, it's not gonna be ready.
Speaker 1 (44:50):
You know it's not gonna be there. Yeah, you wanna
be ready. I always say that, like I want to
be ready to direct Denzel Washington and was I read
there like five years ago? No? Am I there? Now? Hey,
I can direct anybody, and even down to like I
don't have kids. I want kids. I want to kids
so bad since I was sixteen, And recently I've been
saying like, well, God knows that, and if that's something
that God knows and there's something I want he wants
(45:12):
me to have about have those right now, So that's
giving me a lot of peace too. Be like, well,
shit made them so be a good auntie. I don't know,
you know what I'm saying, Like you know, so we
are just like taking what God gives us and just
doing the best that we can. But some things you
just just have to stay present. And so I just
choose to stay present all the time.
Speaker 2 (45:28):
Absolutely, well, you being present today was a gift, So
we appreciate you. Miss my table. Before we get out
of here, please, how can people find you? Get in
contact with you? How can they hire you as a
director for their next project?
Speaker 3 (45:42):
Go ahead and do your thing.
Speaker 1 (45:45):
You can find me on maya table, dot com, in
aya table or maya table on all social media. And
that's my real last name. People always think it's a
fake name. I'm like, no, it's the whole table family.
My great great great granddad was a slave and then
when he got out of the slavery, we figured he
wants to change his last name. He looked around, he
was like, table, that's we feel like that's how it happened.
(46:06):
But yeah, just the table, Maya Table.
Speaker 3 (46:09):
And don't be asking her what she's going to bring
to the table.
Speaker 2 (46:12):
She is the table, miss Maya, Table Maya, thank you
so much for joining us on button Nomics. You are
the best and we really and truly do appreciate you.
Speaker 1 (46:20):
Thank you too.
Speaker 3 (46:21):
You are the best, absolutely all right.
Speaker 2 (46:26):
You've been listening to button Nomics and I'm your host,
Brandon Butler, comments feedback. Want to be a part of
the show, Send us an email today at Hello at
butterdomics dot com. Butter Nomics is produced in Atlanta, Georgia
at iHeartMedia by Ramsey, with marketing and support from Queen
and Nike. Music provided by mister Hanky. If you haven't already,
hit that subscribe button and never missed an episode, and
(46:46):
be sure to follow us on all our social platforms
at butter dot at l. Listen to button Nomics on
the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.
People coming to me for my style, Like a few
weeks ago with Phlesa hit me up at my DM
and I was like, oh, I love your style. And
then when he sent me the song, I'm like, the
song sounds like my style, which is very like art
Atlanta hood put together.
Speaker 2 (00:19):
I love to welcome everybody to butter Nomics. I'm your host,
Brandon Butler, Host of Love Butter ATL and today we
have a special special guest. You might have seen a
couple of things she's produced, you know directed, you know.
Speaker 3 (00:38):
Just a few videos here and there.
Speaker 2 (00:40):
You know, people like Anderson Park and t I and
Future and on on on East of Ray's YouTube and
all this other stuff. We're gonna getting all this in
just a second. I want to introduce everybody to the
One the Only Miss Maya Table Maya, How you doing good?
Speaker 1 (00:54):
Hey y'all, y'all happy to be here. I'm super fan
of butter atl So I'm excited we are a fan
of you.
Speaker 2 (01:01):
That's why, you know again, Like, look, it's always funny
when you meet somebody in real life that you just
know from like social media at first. So I remember
when me and my first maybe we're kind of walking
by each other looking like I think I know it
from somewhere. Yeah, I know, yeah, she pulled up to
the four and four day softball game and I'm not
going to would help. That was the pink hair. So
I'm glad you got the pink hare for us today.
You know what I'm saying, The very very striking.
Speaker 3 (01:22):
Thing going on. How's everything on your side of the world?
Speaker 1 (01:26):
I was good. I'm here in my summer home, you
know at the moment, AKA, my little sister's house in.
Speaker 3 (01:32):
DC, all three coasts, all three coasts, ing.
Speaker 1 (01:37):
Up all her food and stuff.
Speaker 3 (01:38):
So I'm doing great, living a life.
Speaker 2 (01:40):
Well, my look, you are a director, a producer, an entrepreneur,
many more things. But for the people don't know, just
give him a quick Who is Maya Table? Tell us
little bit about yourself.
Speaker 1 (01:50):
Maya Table is from Memphis, Tennessee. But I've been in
Atlanta long enough to say I'm from Atlanta since the
fourth grade. And Maya Table was an artist. Sourly, I'm
just director, but I have been director, producer, editor, and
visual effects artists. I'm a sister, daughter, somebody's wife, own know, somebody,
(02:14):
you know what I'm saying. But somebody's son, exactly.
Speaker 3 (02:23):
Do That's dope.
Speaker 2 (02:24):
That's dope, so might tell so so right now, you
know you start off as a producer right now on
your website everything else that says director sot Off as
a director, Okay, yes, all right, yeah, so what you
directed nowadays? What's what you're working on right now? What's
what's what's the favorite project you're working on right now?
Speaker 1 (02:44):
You know, every project is a favorite. I'm not gonna lie,
just because God is good and like when you work
so hard for projects because directors, we usually have to
be it on projects. So when you do land them
is amazing. But all of them are my babies. I
love them for different reasons, you know. I say the
most recent is probably the one with Lexis and Anderson
(03:04):
Pop because I got to do some more car stuff
and I'm doing more car lately, and always the stuff
with my uncle Puci just because you know, our chemistry
together is so fun. And a lot of my projects
I get from brands come from seeing me and my
uncle Puchi interact.
Speaker 2 (03:20):
So we and we're gonna get into Uncle Puochi in
a second. But you just said something was interesting. You
said a lot of directors have the bid for projects,
tell us like, what is bidding for a project from
a director?
Speaker 3 (03:30):
Like, what's that process?
Speaker 1 (03:33):
Agony under Mann bidding for projects, So, whether music video
or commercial space. For music videos, you listen to the song,
the label will tell you the budget and you just
dream a dream. You come up with your idea and
then you write it. The artists will read it and
then they decide if they want you to direct it
or not. And now when it comes to commercial projects,
(03:55):
it's triple bids, so as you plus two other directors
disubmitting these aready paid treatments. You have to do two
rounds of interviews with the client and then you decide
if if they want you to direct it or not.
So some of the same things, but it's just pretty
ruling for directors. So I've really been working on developing
my style so when people come to me and I
(04:15):
do or don't get it, it's because of my style.
And so that's been making my chances to be a
lot higher of like you know, hitting the ball out
the part because I know, like, Okay, they want my
style or this or this fits me, and then now
I'll just say no if I don't like the like
the project at all.
Speaker 3 (04:29):
And how would you describe your style.
Speaker 1 (04:33):
Hella black, Let's see colorful, charming. I used to say comedic,
but people told me to say charm instead of comedy.
And it's usually a lot of like energy behind it
because I usually shoot sports or men for the most part,
(04:53):
So you know, emotional.
Speaker 3 (04:55):
Okay, passionate okay.
Speaker 2 (04:58):
So when you're talking about the bidding process, you know,
what do you think is one of the biggest factors
when it comes to is it that style create a vision?
Is does budget come into play? Like what are some
of the factors that you know, people and brands and
artists us to kind of make a decision on the director.
Speaker 1 (05:14):
That's a great question. The times I've had a chance
to ask companies, sometimes going into it, they already know
who they want to direct it, which is unfair. It's
unfair unless I'm the one that wanted to bid, you know.
Speaker 3 (05:26):
Like he's just going through the emotions of other people,
right yeah.
Speaker 1 (05:30):
Yeah. But most times I try to get single bids,
which is great because people come to me for my style.
Like a few weeks ago, Whisker Leaf it hit me
up at my DM and was like, oh, I love
your style, and then when he sent me the song,
I'm like, the song sounds like my style, which is
very like art Atlanta hood put together. So now I'm
(05:50):
just kind of getting my style stronger. So people come
to me knowing that they want that. So but usually
it's based on if they want the director's style or
somebody that they want to work with, or if it
just happens to be even they like my spin that
I have on the creative it's dope.
Speaker 2 (06:03):
No, Now you mentioned Atlanta, so I got to ask
about that, like how did Atlanta influence my table.
Speaker 3 (06:09):
Style so much?
Speaker 1 (06:11):
Because Atlanta is so creative? And then sometimes I always
wonder why there aren't more Mayas in the world because
it's like, I think you can see the influence that
Atlanta have has on mail artists, whether it's like graphic designers, painters, directors,
but we don't see a lot of it from women.
And I'm like, I'm a direct reflection of Atlanta and Memphis,
just southern where you just love every type of black person,
(06:34):
the good, the bad, and the ugly, and we love
an elevated you know, black person and person of color.
And I think that's what my voice is. And I
definitely got that from Atlanta. So even when I'm in
la I always find it's important to come back to
Atlanta because I am a reflection of my family and
all of my work. And see my family, which is
very intelligent, hilarious, loving, love black people. They're the best
(06:55):
of what they do, you know, So I think I'm
a direct reflection of that. So Atlanta and I'll never leave.
Speaker 3 (07:02):
That's a good question. Why aren't there more mayas well? Well?
I don't know the answer to that question. But you know,
one of the things you mentioned before.
Speaker 2 (07:08):
We were talking was that, you know, you originally wanted
to go to Spelman. They didn't really have the film
program that you were hoping they would have, and so
you ended up at Georgia State. And you're also interested
in like dermatology, So help me understand that, right, Like
are all the other Mayas they're trying to be dermatologists
right now? They're trying to figure it out, like how
do you go from dermatology as an interest to you know,
becoming a director?
Speaker 3 (07:29):
Like what's that process?
Speaker 2 (07:30):
And more importantly, like what skills do you think might
have been transferable if anything?
Speaker 3 (07:34):
And kind of having that interest?
Speaker 1 (07:36):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, I found out that I was swamish
to blood in high school, and I was like, that's
not gonna work because what I would throw up or
if you tell me, like if you tell me you
cut your finger, then my finger will hurt or whatever
part of you that hurts is going to hurt too.
So that didn't work out. But when I was in
high school, I kind of did this like mixtape for
my friends and I was like, well, that was really fun.
And then we did a talent show and I put
(07:58):
the dance together and I was like that was fun.
So that's when I realized I like to see if
pieces come together, and so it took me a minute
to figure out what it was that I liked. But
I would just start paying attention to things that resonated
with me, Like I saw Do the Right Thing a
long long time ago, and I was like, wow, that
movie had sweaty black people. Because I thought that actors
had to look a certain way, and I never realized
(08:18):
that actors could look like regular people until that film.
Or I would look at films that Steven Spielberg would
do and be like, wow, this feels like magic. So
when I was in college, I went for communications at
first just to figure out what I want to do,
a number of internships and would just like ask questions
like I entered at Radio One, I interned at BT
(08:38):
and every music video sit said, TIS twenty four is
actually was the first music video I p ate on.
And then from that I was like, Okay, I think
I have the skills of like seeing things come together,
and also I just have a knack for like talking
to people and being nice, and I have integrity and
those are some of the biggest things now that still
work with me.
Speaker 2 (09:00):
So you know, you just mentioned you know, do the
right thing, which is again it is one of my
favorite movies of all time. Like what other kind of
classic black movies like you know also inspired you?
Speaker 3 (09:10):
Was it other things by Spike Lee?
Speaker 2 (09:11):
Were there other movies just growing up that you saw
that just really kind of you know, you saw those themes.
If you didn't realize it right then, you were like,
you know, it was kind of starting to help you
figure out and develop what your style was.
Speaker 1 (09:22):
I wouldn't say style, but just like things that just
just settle in my heart, real heart, like Love Jones
or Comeing to America, Boomerang, even Friday, but most of
the time, it was I'm always finding things that resonate
with how I feel on the inside. So sometimes even
when I listen to a certain artists and music, the
bas in it or even how the person says their
(09:43):
voice or certain violind just kind of inspires my thought creation.
So it's more just finding things that like feel like me.
That's why my hair end up turning pink, because I'm
just like, I'm always pretty happy inside and listen for happy,
you know. So I just try to find things that
I identify with that's dope.
Speaker 3 (09:58):
That's dope. So go back.
Speaker 2 (10:00):
So you're coming out of a Georgia state, you're starting
to do some internships, you know, you start to get
some experience, like can you walk us through kind of
early stages of your career, Like what were some key
steps or some like I always say, like inflection moments,
you know. One they always kind of tell people that
I think our careers are kind of like a series
of you know, hills and plateaus in a sense. So
you know, what were some of those moments and key
(10:22):
kind of moments early on that really, you know, helped
you get into the industry and establish yourself.
Speaker 1 (10:26):
Interning just interning and just asking as many questions because
I'm one of those people where I feel like whatever
goal I have, I'm going to get there at a
certain point, so I try to just be very present.
So when I was interning, I would just try to
be the best intern that I could be or the
best PA that I could be. And when I was
in school at Georgia State, there's this a lab called
the Digital Aquarium, and I worked there and I had
(10:49):
to be able to teach other students like all the
editing software, all the video equipment, and then from that,
you know, it's like a different skill set to be
able to learn and teach somebody, especially other students. So
that actually was like my biggest flakes. And then somebody
in college said, if you learn how to edit, you'll
be a stronger director, which was the best thing ever
(11:09):
because I still probably like save me percent of my projects.
And it helps too, because I'm more of a quiet
person for the most part, I'm starting to be more extroverted,
but also just like it helps me to like interpret
what I'm saying to other people. And then so I
would say, just like every kind of point I would
get to in my career, I would just stay present
in that so if I was the PA. That's why
(11:31):
some people now just know me as a producer and
some people just know me as an editor, because I
would never be around you and be like, well, I'm
a director if you hired me to produce for you,
and vice versa. So so I think every step I
got to felt like, you know, a victory for me
at that moment. You know.
Speaker 2 (11:47):
Yeah, now you know, we're in this space nowadays where
you know, everybody kind of wants to just start off
at the top. I remember one unique situation where I
was VP at a very large company, and you know,
it always kind of would try to mentor the interns.
And I had this one kid I'll never forget. He
came to me. You know, at the end of the internship,
kind of the goal is to get an entry level job, right,
And so I remember I would talk to this kid
(12:08):
and he came to me one day and said I
asked him, I said, you know, you're almost at the
end of your internship. Have you started applying for like jobs,
like what's kind of your next thing? And he said, yeah,
I've been applying for jobs, but I already know the
job I want, And I said, oh, cool, show me
what you're applying for. And he was applying for a
job that was higher than I was in the company.
And I kind of asked him, I said, you know
that doesn't make any sense, right, Like you're an intern
(12:31):
and now you're applying to be like a senior SVP, right,
And I asked him, I said, what makes you think
that you're qualified to go from intern to SVP? And
he looked at me dead in my face and said,
my mama told me I could be whatever I want
to be when I grow up. And I said, and
you know what she did, but your mama also should
have told you got to take some of the steps.
(12:51):
And so the reason why I say that is kind
of asked, like, what were some of the things you
really learned during your internship process? You know that that
kind of time because everybody kind of has the So
I don't like calling it paying dues. I just kind
of like on it getting experience, Like what are some
key lessons that you learned being an intern kind of
in the business that kind of helped you as you
grew in the business.
Speaker 1 (13:10):
Yeah, And I would say also even before then, a
lot of stuff I learned came from being athlete, as
to run track and play softball. So a lot of it,
like the endurance and like kind of self reliance comes
from sports because you kind of like are just running
against yourself. Especially on track, You're like when you're running,
you're beating your own time, so you realize this is
(13:30):
really my own thing against myself. So that kind of
mindset will go throughout my internships and stuff. So even
if it's like I'm on the internship, I wouldn't be
the first person that's trying to be in somebody's face,
the person that's over us, because I feel like that
person who will see me if I just kind of
keep doing my own thing, and so on internships, I
would just try to stay present, whether it's just like
I need you to fold some papers, I'm gonna get
(13:51):
the best paperfolder I can be, you know, and just
try to like learn that one skill set because I
always felt like, well, my goal is this bigger one,
but I needed a master all like the little steps.
And then I also was super shy, so it helped
them land to me if they felt like, oh, well,
she's just really loyal, She's going to be there. So
I would just think on people seeing that I was
loyal so I could stick around, and I was a
(14:12):
hard worker. So I would say the internships I learned
like a number of things. The biggest one would be
how to keep things confidential, because like, there are so
many projects that passed my plate every day. Most of
the time I don't sign NDA's at all, but it's
just like it's just a given that you should not
you know, say anything about the project. Or sometimes you
(14:33):
may work on project for like three months and it
just didn't come out. That's happened with like the Apple
iPhone tens and those came out. We had done this
big commercial spot, it never came out, you know. So
that's probably the biggest thing I learned from internships. And
also you kind of it's like having siblings. You see
what worked and what didn't work for somebody else. So
sometimes I'd be like, I don't do that, you.
Speaker 3 (14:55):
Know, I know very much of seeing it first.
Speaker 2 (15:00):
I always say, like internship, again, it's just opportunities to
get the experience with a little less risk. Yes, you know,
once you start kind of getting in there and you
got a you know, full time job and other obligations,
your risk level, you know, kind of goes up, and
the wrong mistake, not just one mistake, but you know,
the wrong mistake could impact you. But like as an
intern you can kind of act, you know, say, I
don't know, I'm just trying to learn, right, So it
(15:20):
gives you an opportunity to kind of and bump your
head a little bit without you know, as much a
risk at the end of the day, you know what I.
Speaker 1 (15:26):
Mean, right, absolutely? And then also I was in college
at the same time I was doing internships, so I
was still like teaching th students at the Digital Gram.
So by the time I graduated, I didn't go from
a production assistant to PM to production coordinator. I don't know,
I just want a production assistant to director. At this point,
I already knew all the things. So the internships taught
(15:48):
me and like, oh I am on the same level.
Is this my person in this area, and this was
what I need to work on. So I would just
kind of learn on the internships and then go home
and finish learning the other part of what I needed
to learn from them.
Speaker 2 (16:00):
Okay, And and just for the again for the uninitiated
for a second, like how would you define the difference
between a producer and a director, like what does a
producer do versus what does a director do?
Speaker 1 (16:13):
Yes, my favorite analogy that I came up with it
with is a director and a producer are like a
bride and the wedding planner. So the director is the bride,
so she knows her vision. I know, I want to
have a rustic wedding. I want my colors to be
let's try blue and pink, and I want it to
even feel like a ranch style, like whatever the hell
(16:33):
she comes with it right, And the producer slash wedding
planner is the person that knows all these vendors to
pull off that director's vision. So it's like, okay, I know,
like the venue that will fit your vision. So those
are the two differences for the most part. Now, when
it comes to like TV and film, producers sometimes are
the ones that you know are financing the project, they're
bringing on like bigger investors, they're bringing on different crews,
(16:56):
so it just it just depends. But for the most part,
is the bride and the wedding planner.
Speaker 2 (17:00):
And what do you think the hardest part about being
a producer is versus on the other side as a director.
Speaker 1 (17:06):
Producing well for me as and I think it's because
I was I've always been a director, so I've always
been a little bit. Like I described myself like this,
like producing is like being on espresso. Directing is like
being on CBD.
Speaker 3 (17:23):
So it's just I get the reference.
Speaker 1 (17:27):
Yes, so you got my CBD self and you want
me to be like that thought, I'm like, hold on,
let's just let's just talk, let's just think about it.
So it's really more of a mindset thing. Are the differences.
And I love amazing producers. Being one for a little
bit helped me to really love them even more. But
I just did not like it myself. Now, did you
ask me that question? What was the question you asked?
Speaker 2 (17:48):
No, it's kind of what's like, what is the biggest challenge,
like as a producer versus director, Like, what's the biggest
challenge of being a producer versus on the side.
Speaker 1 (17:57):
The biggest challenge for both roles actually is just hard conversations.
You just are having a different type the producers having
conversations with multiple teams, multiple people, usually about like money
and logistics, which is tough in itself. Directors hard things
is putting your ego aside for projects that are not yours.
(18:17):
Like even if it's an artist or a commercial, it's
not my project, it's not my story. It's ultimately their story.
I'm just the vessel. So it's putting the ego aside
for that and also just like communicating, because a lot
of directing it's like the technical part, but even more
is the people part. So like if I see an
artist is tapping out, then I'm going to cut some
scenes before they have to show me that they're tired,
(18:38):
or the person in front of the comedy is to
trust me, or the client needs to trust as well,
or sometimes well, all the time, I get men's playing
a woman's playing on set, but I also recognize that
a lot of that is just ego. People want to
show me that they're the best, so I get that
out the way up front and I'll tell them I
think you're amazing at whatever. So a lot of it
(18:58):
is just like the mental part of the two of directing.
So you know, it's just a lot of things put together.
Speaker 2 (19:03):
Well, let me ask kind of going back on the
man's planning and women's planning stuff. I'm sure as a
as a black woman producer and director, You've probably dealt
with a number of unique challenges, right, It's probably ranged
everywhere from just getting people on the same page to
getting funding or distribution. Like what are some of those
obstacles and how do you overcome the More importantly, like
(19:24):
what's some advice that you would have for other people
to kind of overcome similar obstacles.
Speaker 1 (19:28):
Yes, it happens all the time. And I think that
it's not even just the woman thing and black women thing.
It's also a temperament thing. I think people want directors
to be allowed and boastful, but that's just not who
I am at my core. And I also notice, like
when I try to change myself and my style and
I'm not thinking as creatively and as a director and
(19:48):
artists is I have to stay in my raw state,
no matter what that is, whether it's where I tell
them the complete truth in uncomfortable situations. But with that
is that people just if I'm not loud, which I'm
never people will just kind of like let their ego
step in. So I'll get man explaining about like one
producer was telling me what a tech scout was. A
(20:10):
text scout is like the most basic thing, you know,
in production, and this just happened like two months ago.
I was like, oh, that's what it is. Thanks got it,
you know. So it happens all day, you know, and
you just decide which ills you can just like left,
I feel like it feels like Nats. It feels like this,
you know, even down to if I say I want
(20:31):
that wall to be purple, well we can do magenta,
can do this? Is this? No, No, here's purple and
here's a pantel. So even like me saying things direct
like that is odd for people. I noticed. I think
people are just used to like this kind of like
trauma type directing. Then you just being kind. So I
think that's been people have been getting used to that.
But if they don't, I don't care. I'm the director
(20:53):
either way. So I just kind of just but it
feels like Nats. The man's splaining and when I'm saying it,
that feels like this, you know, just like on set,
and it happens most sets, it happens, you know, so
I just kind of you just unfortunately, you have to
get used to it. And but that's why it's important,
like to know your stuff, to always study. I'm always studying, learning,
being vulnerable, figuring out what I can do better, figured
(21:15):
out what went great, and then also so many other
people on set that are watching me, so I have
to just like cuss people out under my breath and
then have a direct conversation, and then also manage the
times when I do call someone out one set, you know,
like one time I had an ad introduce everybody else
assistant director, director, director, this person, this person Maya, and
(21:36):
I was like my and I had said, Maya, who,
And so I have to check them in front of
other people because it's a few other people of color
around and women who need to know that you can
speak up, It's okay to speak up. So and it
also just I prayed so hard for these opportunities, and
so usually when I'm on set, I'm like praying so hard.
Lord take over just increases I decrease. So it's usually
(21:59):
the conversation is from here to hear. So those little
nets I'm like, me getting out of the zone to
talk to you and be negative is taking me out
from this relationship here, and that is like the most
important to me. So usually it is that's why it
feels like, Okay, I know what it takes God is
and what happened, Okay, got it? Okay, you can almost
predict what people are gonna have they're going to act
towards me.
Speaker 2 (22:18):
But you know any who, Yeah, I mean, look, I've
been on a number of sets. I've worked in the
creative space for a while. It's always interesting, you know
how many people kind of grew up and like really,
when I say grew up, kind grew up in the
industry in like very toxic environments. What I kind of
tell people all the time is there's a lot of
folks in the creative industry like PTSD, and it takes
(22:38):
a lot of times they need to be around a
few situations or examples with people that you know, don't
lead that way to kind of start to revert back
to themselves because they really came up in such a
you know, a crazy space, whether it was an advertising
or creative and they had people yelling at them that
they thought that was the way they had to operate.
But then it takes a while from to understand like, no,
that's actually not what's this necessary?
Speaker 3 (23:00):
Even less?
Speaker 2 (23:01):
Now, like this is a mad man no more, y'all,
Like you can bring your real self to work and
work with people and be respectful, right, Like, you don't
have to yell at people to get things done. I
don't even think that helps get things done.
Speaker 1 (23:11):
It doesn't help. It doesn't help. I find that everyone
needs to feel their best, whether it's my PA's or
my acs. And I'm more of a one on one
conversation type director, and I find that that helps the best.
It helps me feel less nervous sembling into me like
and if you have to yell, you just have to.
I think it does take an adjustment when people work
with me to say, oh, I can just like talk
(23:32):
in this tone and talk to her and get sub
done and we can actually have a good time and
also work at the same time. So it's an adjustment.
It's interesting seeing people do it. I'm like, hmm, you
talk to the hell y'all.
Speaker 2 (23:56):
Our larger budget projects, you know, are those bills get
more stressful? Like, Like, what's like the difference between a
large what is a large budget? Maybe that's a better question.
Even when it comes to pros, it's considered to be
a large budget for like a TV commercial or a
video shoot.
Speaker 1 (24:11):
Large budget it would be a million and up. I
got my cherry popped on that one this year. But
for the most part, TV commercials are like between two
hundred thousand five hundred thousand. Music videos are between fifty
fifty thousand and three hundred thousand, depending on the artists,
and sometimes they're twenty if it's just like you know,
(24:34):
just a newer artist. So it just really depends on
the artists. But with all the jobs, so music videos
move a lot faster than commercials. Commercials move fast. Music
videos move at the speed of light, and so with
that you just have to you know, work on being
sharp and also know which crew to call that can
back you up. For commercials, it's about maybe two weeks
(24:57):
of planning after they are worth the job. But it's
just more communication. So I'm putting together a whole deck
for the art team, and then another whole deck for
the wardrobe team, and then a whole another deck to
talk through lighting. So you're just talking a lot more.
So your schedule is usually leading up to commercial shoot.
My schedule is open because my producer is going to
pack it up with like meetings to talk through every
(25:17):
single detail, like every little thing from like we had
a bear on set for that. Anderson shoot, let's talk
to the bear ringler. Okay, well I want some butterflies.
Let's talk this, Let's talk to the VFX team. So
you're just having like a number of conversations over and
over again. So you just have to get used to
communicating over and over, used to visual communicating, used to
be in patiently communicating and knowing that it's the group project.
(25:40):
Commercials are more group projects. Music videos are more like
vibes and just seeing you and the artists doing your
thing now in that.
Speaker 2 (25:48):
Now, how does storytelling plan to all that? So, for example,
you know whizkly to hit you up. He sends you
a song and ask you about directing his video. But
then you've got to figure out, like what story you're
kind of can comunicating. I know, the song might be
helpful because you kind of have lyrics to go off
of versus a commercial. But again, how does storytelling get
involved in the creation of these different types of projects?
Speaker 1 (26:11):
Yeah, and usually that's what people need directors for because
you can have a video this that straight performance space.
But if you more are more story director, then you
can insert little stories in there. And so I try
to do that when I can. I have like little storylines,
and so this just truly the director's call. Sometimes the
artists think of it, but usually director's call. And then
in the creative commercial space, usually it's the creative director
(26:35):
that came up with the whole idea. Like the Anderson
pod video that was a rare one where they said, well, maya,
let's see what idea you have. But normally the creative
director comes with the idea. But it then they hire
the director to bring that vision to life. So they
even have like from the storyboards done. So I look
at their boards and say, okay, like what's the backstory?
(26:55):
So they'll tell me the backstory of the people, and
so it's up to me, like to make sure that
the audience understan it's what that back three was. And
so usual it is down to like, oh, excuse the mom,
let's put a car seat in the back. So that's
something that the director comes up with, just like the
little visual cues so that we understand in thirty seconds
the emotion and what's going on.
Speaker 2 (27:14):
Okay, So so then what are the visual cues. Look,
I saw the Anderson pop commercial and I mean they
got guitars or eyes on them, and like you said, well, yeah,
it was cute, but how does that come to life? Like,
how does that how does that story manifest itself?
Speaker 1 (27:29):
So when that came about the brand and the creative
director at the agency was Carlo, and Carlo was just like, well,
we decided we want to do I decided we want
to do a music video. Eye is in him and
so he was like, well, just do whatever you want
to do. The thing is that this car is we
wanted to see it in nature and I also sold
out until twenty twenty five, so we don't need help
(27:49):
selling the car. We just want to do something cool.
And I was like, Okay, let me think about it.
And so usually I'll think about the artists and I'll
watch every single video they've ever done, even if it's
our is that I love like Anderson Park. I am
a fan fan. But even with that, I still just
like look at his Instagram with the stuff he's in
the past, just to make sure I'm not doing something
that he already did, and then I'll just like let
(28:11):
myself daydream about it. And Anderson is really cool because
he's an artist, but he also gets a little weird.
It's a little sexy, so you can just it's a
number of things that you can do with him. So
when I thought about the instruments, I was like, what
if he's like and we also had to incorporate the
car a little bit. So I was like, what if
he's leaving his house and then but he's leaving behind
(28:32):
his old equipment and he's only taking his newer stuff,
so they can take this journey into the forest and
all these things can happen. So the a lot of
times where sometimes you'll have a chance to like insert yourself,
and I try to do that as an artist. So
the eyeball things are just my thing. I thought it
would be cute. I'm like, what if the instruments were
like sad? You know? So I think so the directors.
(28:54):
That's the thing in the commercial space is how can
you put your little sprinkles in there around like the creator.
So usually mine or I'm trying to do more of
than certing of myself. Usually it just be like if
it's a person of color and it's cool, you know,
it's my op and now it's like, no, I can
lean into my little weird part. And so the eyeballs
was that for me.
Speaker 2 (29:12):
Now see that's interesting, not just because of that, but
because it also makes me think about, you know, how
people can potentially be using AI and stuff very soon
in the videos, right, And so I mean, you know
the under Armor video that came out that was completely
AI generated. I don't know if you saw, but I
think Motorola Rasor just dropped the video that was completely
AI generated, And you know, people have a lot of
(29:33):
feelings about that, especially on the filmmaking side. You know,
what are your feelings on kind of the impact of
AI video and is it a good thing? Is it
a bad thing for the industry? Like what's your thoughts
on AI when it comes to the kind.
Speaker 3 (29:44):
Of work that you do.
Speaker 1 (29:46):
Yeah, and my friend Wes Walker did the under Armor
commercial that had people up in arms, but I thought
it was beautiful. The thing is that AI stuff has
been around forever for years, and you saw a Jurassic
part and you know, jobs and all that stuff. So
I think now it's more consumer friendly, so people feel
more frightened by it. But it's always been around and
(30:07):
I think that as filmmakers we just have to keep
adjusting to it. I don't think that it's going anywhere,
but I also think that like nothing can be the
human mind, you know, just like you know, we won't
be at our computer all day because we want to
go see a concert, we want to see our favorite athletes,
So those things are still happening, so I think, you know,
and also with these AI programs, they're only pulling from
(30:29):
what somebody else already did, so it's never going to
be complete originals. So I would say it's something that
we do have to learn into just a little bit,
but also just keep learning how to pivot because it's
going to be something new all the time. But I
don't think there's anything to be afraid of at all.
Speaker 2 (30:43):
Yeah, I was watching this really interesting talk that asking
Kutcher did he say he was playing around with Sora,
which is the tool that open AI is building kind
of internally right now for video production, and he was
talking about, yeah, I was able to, you know, generate
this short movie or short video clip of and again
you can only short stuff right now, but obviously once
you know, it'll get it'll get better with time. But
(31:04):
he was saying, you know, I was able to generate
this this short video clip of a ultra marathon runner
like running through the desert, and it didn't require me
to hire a stuntman. No actors, you know, they have
to go on set. I was able to kind of
generate this thing and it wasn't perfect, but it was
good enough. And the thing that he said that was
really interesting to me was he was like, you know,
at a certain point, there's going to be more content
than there is eyeballs to consume it. You know, like,
(31:26):
why would somebody watch, you know, your movie when they
can watch their own movie?
Speaker 1 (31:30):
Right?
Speaker 2 (31:30):
Like why would somebody watch Jurassic Park when they can
make it Jurassic Atlanta Park And all of a sudden,
the dinosaurs are her own bankhead, right, you.
Speaker 3 (31:39):
Know, But what do you think about that?
Speaker 2 (31:40):
Do you think there'll be a world where, like consumers
start to get more involved and start creating their own content,
we'll to get out of control. And again, if so, like,
how do people that work in your space embrace those
tools so that they can continue to kind of stay
relevant in the head of the curve?
Speaker 1 (31:53):
Yeah, I'm always a fan of white learning the rules.
I can break them, so, like learn every program so
I can like do my thing and put twist on it.
But I don't think there's anything to be afraid of.
I think that you know, people are doing all these
scare tactics, like remember when the year of two thousand
was coming, let's get all this water is. So I
(32:19):
think that it's kind of like the same thing where
people feel like it's going to be a certain way,
but more people are not using that than it's. It's
like even from like the tiktoks and things that are
still around, and you have people that still use it.
It's like there's people that still love Snapchat, but it's
just not something I use every day, or people that
use uh it's like virtual glasses.
Speaker 3 (32:38):
Vision pros, like the augmented reality stuff.
Speaker 1 (32:42):
I'm not using that more. I know why people that are.
So I think it's going to be a statement of
people that are always in those my movies and always
that type of content. But then you have the people
that actually want to meet their favorite actor, they want
to work with their favorite athletes, and so I think
that it's going to be a world. It's going to
be two things have to happen at the same time.
But you know, we're still humans, and humans are still
(33:02):
the same way forever. You know, we aren't like given
birth to things that have electricity and it. You know,
we're still souls and beings in hands. So I don't
think any of that the real the real build things
are going away.
Speaker 2 (33:13):
So would you would you ever create a kind of
a completely AI generated you know, short movie or short
film or something like that. Like I watched what was
the one dating app? I think it's called and I
can't think of the other one The Gentlemen. They were
playing the music back and forth.
Speaker 1 (33:29):
Yeah, yeah, true story.
Speaker 3 (33:31):
Yeah, would you ever?
Speaker 2 (33:32):
Would you ever actually, you know, make one, even if
it's just kind of try it out and see how
the technology works.
Speaker 1 (33:38):
Yeah, yeah, absolutely, never say that. Really, you know, you
don't know until you try. You might like it, you
know what I'm saying.
Speaker 3 (33:46):
Give it a shot, right, you don't know until you
know he shot, you don't know.
Speaker 1 (33:49):
Yeah. And then also, just like you like the people,
the actors and athletes and people that we love, is
like they're they're showing their skill set and just like
every generation like what's the name of that? So all
the murders in the building, it has Steve Martin and
Martin Sure. I'm like, oh my god, they are still hilarious.
And I love watching that show because it's like they're
still doing their thing in this age at the AGR now.
(34:12):
So I think it's just as artists, we're just finding
new ways to like show where we're artists and you know,
show where we are who we are, you know what.
Speaker 2 (34:20):
All these new technologies and everything is happening. Like, what
are your thoughts on kind of the value of going
to film school versus learning on the job. There's a
lot of people, you know, especially now with YouTube and
just to get how easy a lot of these different
tools and applications are to use, a lot of people
just kind of started up and figuring it out. So
you know, what do you kind of think about you know,
what do you think about the value of it still
going to film school versus just getting started?
Speaker 3 (34:42):
You know what, what's where's the difference? Lie?
Speaker 1 (34:45):
Yeah, I think the difference is just how we learn.
I always tell people, you don't have to go to
film school. I went, you know, I think it helped
me just learn how to work with people, be more
like outgoing because I was more of an introvert. So
I think it's just where the value is. You did
not have to go to school for that. So I
think I love that it's more accessible. It also helps
me too, because when I get on sets, I don't
(35:06):
have to keep hearing here in the first flack women
I work. But you know, it's just like things, you know,
So I would love seeing more of us on set,
not just black women, but just people of color, and
usually I don't see a lot of us at all.
So I think making it more accessible helps it. But
even with that, it's still you still have to learn
how to work with people. So it's not just the
(35:26):
skill set, it's like the interpersonal skills, and I think
that's what college she just but you can still learn
that outside of school.
Speaker 3 (35:33):
Absolutely.
Speaker 2 (35:33):
So I don't know if you you know, learn how
to shoot Uncle Poochi in film school, but you know
you started off and what was that twenty twenty two
with your with your uncle? You know he's driving the Cadillac,
he's vegan, Like how did they get started? You know,
where did Uncle Poochie come from? And you know what's
what we are? Some great things that have happened since
you started working with them?
Speaker 1 (35:52):
Oh yeah, pleas Memphis. My whole family, like I said,
we're from Memphis. So that's my mom's little brother. They're
just to be your part. And I wanted to document
him for years, and I always wanted to use a
film camera or a different camera. And so I had
one point in my life when I was going from
like I took off my producing hat all together because
I only wanted to concentrate on directing. And then with that,
(36:15):
I was like, well, let me just move back in
with my parents. I won't say yes to producing jobs.
And so that was the end of twenty nineteen, and so,
you know, the very next year was twenty twenty, and
so he was coming over. He came over with my
mom's house to pick up his fur coat, and he
was like this, put out your camera for me. So
I put out my little cannon camera and filmed them
and I just put them on Instagram and it went viral,
and I was like, huh, but I thought that I
(36:37):
had to have a certain camera, and I realized it
was just more about like the story and the content
and just he's so interesting. So and then I also
just you know, if I hadn't to move home, that
wouldn't happened. So you know, if it wasn't twenty twenty,
we wouldn't have been at home. So so many things
were just perfect about that moment, and I would wonder
why people loved him so much. I think because people
said that also showed like my eye. So no matter
(36:59):
how crazy a person of color is going to look
in front of my lens and never gonnak that crazy entertaining. Yeah,
but I'm not ever gonna put anybody in the bad
light in any way. So I think it just kind
of showed them my style. And then from that, Vogue
magazine reached out that year and they're I'm like, well,
we don't have a piece for Vogue, but we would
love to direct for Self magazine. And then a lot
(37:21):
of just jobs just come from just how I document
my uncle and his son. I just cut out for
parts where you know, he talking crazy, and I'm just like, like,
I'm not going to include that, sir, thank you.
Speaker 2 (37:33):
Yeah, you know, the magic is in the edit a
lot of times, you know what I'm saying, magic to
make sure I just.
Speaker 1 (37:39):
Let I just let him go and it's cut it.
I'm like, right there, what's.
Speaker 2 (37:43):
Been one of the biggest, you know, the biggest opportunities
you know for you and your brand that's happened out
of that? I know, I think Snoop Dogg reached out
or kind of shared it, but like, what are some
other things that have happened. So you started working with uncle.
Speaker 1 (37:54):
Poaching, I would say, yeah, Snoop for shared. Getting signed
to my commercial agency, I end up like using a
bunch of my savings and then directing and writing a
commercial with my uncle Pouchi because brands need to see
that I could tell a message and a story in
thirty seconds, so I used him. So I'm like potential
(38:15):
people love him anyway, and then that's how I would
get most of my commercial jobs from like Honda and
for and even ARII different brands. I remember ARII had
it in their deck once. They were like, we want
to shoot this like my en Oh that's awesome. And
so even now that I'm scient to a commercial rep,
people are always like, we love Grow a Pair. That's
the name of the commercial I did with him. But
grow a Pair that was just something I made up
(38:37):
with Georgia Pairs. I was like, yeah, Georgia Pears paid
us to do that. So so all these projects and
then I think it just has been helped me to
like be content with my voice and how I see
us and it's been helpful so that people understand how
I'll make us look on camera.
Speaker 2 (38:54):
You know, it's interesting because I mean with the stuff
that we do at butter Atl, right, like we create,
you know, as allays say, content at the speed of culture,
and so you know, we always look for ways to
just see and create content that like resonates and lands
kind of authentically. And as I look back over it,
it's always kind of been a series of just like
inflection points, because what I've learned over the years is
(39:15):
you never know what the thing is going to be.
You never know what the thing is going to be.
It's going to all of a sudden open up a door.
And I can definitely point to a few pieces of
content that they were in. Some of them were very
low production, not to say that what you were doing
with that production, but like yeah, like I look. The
biggest one I remember we did was I literally took
a I went ordered the six piece wings from h
(39:35):
JR Crickets, and we put all we put five wings
on a plate and I took had my intern take
a bite out of each one. I said, oh, the
first one, take a small bite, and it gets bigger
and bigger and bigger than the last one. I just
want you to just eat it all the way down
to the bone, right. And then we put that plate.
We took just a regular photo, no special effects, no editing,
put it on Instagram and said through one through five,
(39:57):
how do you eat your wings? When I tell you
that post ended up? Chrissy Teagan is arguing with people
on Twitter about it about if you not a five,
don't come to my house. Complex picked it up. You know,
hot Ones is reaching out to us.
Speaker 1 (40:14):
Uh.
Speaker 2 (40:15):
It even became a story on the Today Show, and
so is this and so like even what you're talking
about when Uncle Puci right, like you just saw an
opportunity to kind of create this content. You don't know
what's gonna come from it. One thing I just want
to kind of tell content creators and people that are
making content in general is you never know what the
thing is. And so what I would always tell my
team is you got to just keep throwing.
Speaker 1 (40:36):
You know.
Speaker 2 (40:36):
It's like again, the example always kind of gives is
if you learn how to juggle, you know what you
do is you watch them, don't wash the hand they're
they're they're throwing with wash your hand, they're catching with
because if the hand they're catching with it's like moving
all over the place, they're not throwing consistently. And so
what I've just learned over the years is you got
to throw consistently. You just got to put stuff out
there and not get overly caught up about you know,
(40:58):
a lot of times again we were worried about how
it's going to look or get how it gets perceived.
Speaker 3 (41:02):
And again we do different things.
Speaker 2 (41:03):
But just even in that example, right, like, I'm sure
it sounds like there have been things that you did
it just because you want to do it, or you
did it because you felt like it felt fun, and
it wasn't about doing some super highly produced thing that
somebody's going to createive direct. You did it because it
felt good to you, and all of a sudden it
pops off, and that feels really good, right like when
you did something authentic and it just popped off. Besides
the capoocia, there have been other things like that that
(41:24):
you just worked on because you wanted to do them
that have really popped off for you.
Speaker 1 (41:29):
Yeah, And you know, I think that's why we love
butter Atl Going back to y'all too, because y'all always
do things just like plass your little hood and like
y'all feel like everybody should like even some stuffing that
y'all do, like every season you love like this is
where you are. I was like, yeah, how hot it is?
Or hell's at it? I'm like, I love that, you
(41:50):
know so much. And I was just telling someone that earlier,
I do these consultation calls where creative some call sometimes
like actors who want to move into directing or a
creative who wants to do something else, and they can
just call and we just talk about whatever they want.
And I was telling I heard that same thing this morning.
It's consistency, and with consistency, your audience will tell you
(42:10):
what they like from you, because sometimes we think it's
the other thing that's like super polished. It's never that.
And so I always found that, like my little dumb
ideas and my little blonde stuff, it just comes out
of nowhere, does this? Like I remember one time for Halloween,
I was like, I want to be a meme and
I kind of feel that myself. It was two rappers.
(42:35):
It was two guys on stage rapping and one was
a bit more effeminate, and so that was where viral
and I was just like, I want to be that
for Halloween and it just went viral. Or just like
this animation I did of Beyonce's mom when the remix
to the Savage came out with Megan and Beyonce, and
I was like, what do I put Beyonce's mom's head
on this girl's body? And this is something that I
(42:55):
just wanted to do because I was it was three am,
I was bored, and that went viral too. So I
just found like when I just do things that I
am toikleed by that's a little dumb, it always does great.
Speaker 2 (43:05):
Yeah, and that's because again, other people find that same
stuff interesting.
Speaker 3 (43:09):
I think.
Speaker 2 (43:09):
I think a lot of times we just get so
in our head. You know, we like to you know,
we like to hold up all our experience and our
degrees and we think that we have to like overengineer it.
And I'm telling you, never know what the thing is
and a lot of times stuff and that's what I've
learned and making content every day for like the last
six years.
Speaker 3 (43:27):
Right, It's just you never know what the thing is
going to be. So that truly resonates with me.
Speaker 1 (43:31):
You know.
Speaker 2 (43:31):
One last question I would to ask for we get
ready to get out of here. Is so you just
mentioned you do consultation calls, like what's the what's the
best advice you've ever received? Like what's the advice that
maya table goes by.
Speaker 3 (43:42):
And lives by?
Speaker 1 (43:44):
Man, what's for me is for me. What God has
to me is for me. So no matter if, like
if I gave you my whole Rolodex, my whole phone,
my whole computer with all these contacts in it, and
I give you all the information, I know your blessing
is still not my blass. So I don't have a
reason to be jealous or of anyone. That also comes
down to like the timing of things. I'm not I'm
(44:07):
aggressively submitting on all these projects, but I'm not so
behold and where I'm like so upset when I don't
get it, I'm like, well, shit, it didn't happen, and
I move on. But I know the thing that the
projects that our mind have always been mine. So no
matter if I didn't get it, that was you know
what I'm saying. When you think about it was never
your project. If you didn't get it, here weren't yours.
And so I rely heavily on that and the things
(44:27):
I do, and that brings me a lot of peace.
So that's what I would say. What's mine is always mine.
What's meant for you, It's always meant for you.
Speaker 2 (44:34):
It's the truth I tell people all the time. Y'all
try to beat y'allselves to y'all destiny. Man, if it's
there for you, ain't nobody. You don't have to run.
If it's there for you, it'll be there when it's
supposed to be there for you. But y'all are trying
to beat yourself to your own destiny. And if you
get there too early, it's not gonna be ready.
Speaker 1 (44:50):
You know it's not gonna be there. Yeah, you wanna
be ready. I always say that, like I want to
be ready to direct Denzel Washington and was I read
there like five years ago? No? Am I there? Now? Hey,
I can direct anybody, and even down to like I
don't have kids. I want kids. I want to kids
so bad since I was sixteen, And recently I've been
saying like, well, God knows that, and if that's something
that God knows and there's something I want he wants
(45:12):
me to have about have those right now, So that's
giving me a lot of peace too. Be like, well,
shit made them so be a good auntie. I don't know,
you know what I'm saying, Like you know, so we
are just like taking what God gives us and just
doing the best that we can. But some things you
just just have to stay present. And so I just
choose to stay present all the time.
Speaker 2 (45:28):
Absolutely, well, you being present today was a gift, So
we appreciate you. Miss my table. Before we get out
of here, please, how can people find you? Get in
contact with you? How can they hire you as a
director for their next project?
Speaker 3 (45:42):
Go ahead and do your thing.
Speaker 1 (45:45):
You can find me on maya table, dot com, in
aya table or maya table on all social media. And
that's my real last name. People always think it's a
fake name. I'm like, no, it's the whole table family.
My great great great granddad was a slave and then
when he got out of the slavery, we figured he
wants to change his last name. He looked around, he
was like, table, that's we feel like that's how it happened.
(46:06):
But yeah, just the table, Maya Table.
Speaker 3 (46:09):
And don't be asking her what she's going to bring
to the table.
Speaker 2 (46:12):
She is the table, miss Maya, Table Maya, thank you
so much for joining us on button Nomics. You are
the best and we really and truly do appreciate you.
Speaker 1 (46:20):
Thank you too.
Speaker 3 (46:21):
You are the best, absolutely all right.
Speaker 2 (46:26):
You've been listening to button Nomics and I'm your host,
Brandon Butler, comments feedback. Want to be a part of
the show, Send us an email today at Hello at
butterdomics dot com. Butter Nomics is produced in Atlanta, Georgia
at iHeartMedia by Ramsey, with marketing and support from Queen
and Nike. Music provided by mister Hanky. If you haven't already,
hit that subscribe button and never missed an episode, and
(46:46):
be sure to follow us on all our social platforms
at butter dot at l. Listen to button Nomics on
the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.
Host
Brandon Butler
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