August 7, 2025 • 44 mins
Join host Coline Witt in this captivating episode of Eating While Broke as she sits down with Danielle Solomon, a talented creative producer and screenwriter behind projects like 'Hey Boo' (available on Peacock and Tubi) and the hit show 'Mind Your Business' on Bounce.
Danielle shares her family's nostalgic 'Pork and Beans and Cheese' recipe while recounting her inspiring journey from a single-parent household in Virginia to breaking into the entertainment industry. She opens up about her early struggles, landing her first internship, selling her first show, and navigating the challenges of ownership, representation, and distribution.
Through candid reflections, Danielle highlights the importance of resilience, creativity, and embracing independent content creation in today's digital landscape. This episode is packed with valuable insights and inspiration for aspiring creators and storytellers.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hey, guys, welcome to another episode of Eating While Broke.
I'm your host, Colleen Witt, and today we have very
special guests. Creative producer screenwriter Danielle Solomon's in the building.
Hey hey, and most of you guys know her from
Hey Boo that you now. You can watch that on
teacock and toob Yeah, and a very well known show
(00:23):
on Bound called Mind.
Speaker 2 (00:24):
Joe Business, Mind Your Business.
Speaker 1 (00:26):
Yeah, Mind your Business, which is a hit show on Bounce.
Speaker 2 (00:30):
Yep.
Speaker 1 (00:30):
So before we get into tea on everything screenwriting and
creative production wise, let's get into what you were eating
long before the accolades.
Speaker 2 (00:40):
So this is pork and beans and cheese. I considered
this a Daniel's delicacy. That's my grandmother's family. I don't
really know people that like couldbine pork and beans with
scheddar cheese. Like I would go out to places because
we usually eat this for breakfast, and I would go
out to places and I look at the menu, I'm like,
where's the pork and beans and cheese. I think it's
just my family that does this.
Speaker 1 (01:01):
Definitely, I didn't even know that. I didn't even know
that was a breakfast thing.
Speaker 2 (01:05):
But yeah, we used to eat this for breakfast. Sometimes
we would have like other things like eggs, grets, but
sometimes it'll be just that bacon in a.
Speaker 1 (01:11):
Biscuit, bacon and a biscuit. Porkan beans. Now I was
talking best before the carat started rolling, So go ahead
and tell everybody the difference between pork and beans and
baked beans.
Speaker 2 (01:22):
So porking beans, it's not it doesn't have that like
sweet taste like the baked beans, the butsh or whatever
I can, so, yeah, it doesn't have that sweet taste.
But it's a tomato sauce. So yeah, I feel like
that's the big.
Speaker 1 (01:36):
Yeah, let's go to Brokeville. And so when we got
(02:04):
the dish with ingredients, I said pork and beans. And
then I was like, okay, do baked beans come with
hot dogs? And then I said, where is she talking
about pork and beans? And then lo and behold, there
is a can in the world that says pork and beans.
And so now we are the proud owners and recipients
of a dish that I can honestly say, I don't think.
Speaker 2 (02:25):
I've ever heard. Yeah, I think it's just my family
that does this because every time I go out I'm
from Virginia, but my family is from North Carolina, and
I feel like we're the only ones that does this
for breakfast.
Speaker 1 (02:39):
None of your friends did it.
Speaker 2 (02:40):
No, That's why I'm like, I don't think it's like
a known thing.
Speaker 1 (02:45):
And then she's dropping the cheese, so her your dish
is essentially like three dollars. Yep, it could feed at
least three to four people. And she's the most expensive dish.
Speaker 2 (02:56):
Yep.
Speaker 1 (02:56):
The expensive ingredient in it.
Speaker 2 (02:58):
I see. And it's protein, so you got to be.
Speaker 1 (03:01):
And it's protein. Oh are you trying to say that
this dish is considered healthy?
Speaker 2 (03:08):
I love that optimisticness. The protein counts for something, So yeah,
we're gonna turn this up.
Speaker 1 (03:13):
So either this is a family tradition or you guys
were really struggling at some point and you guys did not.
Speaker 2 (03:19):
My grandmother got it from her mom, and her mom
had ten kids, so maybe, yeah.
Speaker 1 (03:24):
Oh this is your grandma. You said your grandma's mom
was struggling. She passed the tradition on, which is a
beautiful tradition. I'm just in a joking move, but I
love this dish because I love to say the broke
with the dish, the better the story. Yeah, but in
your case, this is a household Now.
Speaker 2 (03:43):
We thought this was like something like it was up
there with grits.
Speaker 1 (03:46):
Wow. What was the last time you had this?
Speaker 2 (03:49):
Probably when I was back home in Virginia. I think
my grandma made some or my mom made it. Yeah,
I usually have it when I'm back home.
Speaker 1 (03:58):
So you'd be like, like, yo, you guys got the
pork and bees ready. No, I'm genuinely carrious you like, yo, Yeah.
Speaker 2 (04:08):
You need this with some eggs. If I want like
a big breath fix, I get this with some eggs.
Speaker 1 (04:13):
Eggs on the side, are in it?
Speaker 2 (04:14):
Eggs on the side, Yeah, Bacon, biscuits or toes or
sausage and then maybe some grits. It just depends.
Speaker 1 (04:23):
Okay, take me back to before the last home visit,
way back, and I don't want to talk smack about this,
because guys, I totally respect these dishes. I'm just in
a very playful mood right now. We was all eating
this cheese bless our stomachs because we were sweet. Jared
and I we was chomping right.
Speaker 2 (04:42):
Yeah. After this, you might yeah get a good cleaner.
Speaker 1 (04:45):
Yeah, So go ahead, tell me what was going on
way back, way back, not recent home visits.
Speaker 2 (04:54):
Way back in Virginia. I was a product of a
single my disk, so we just spent a lot of
time at my house. We used to live there practically
for most of my life. So it used to be
six of us at a time in a two bedroom,
one bedroom house.
Speaker 1 (05:08):
Wait, how many kids?
Speaker 2 (05:10):
Just me and my brother? And so its me and
my brother, my mom, my uncle, and my grandparents. Okay,
all in one house. Oh yeah, you all lived together
for the most of my adolacing years. We all stayed
in the same house in new Port News.
Speaker 1 (05:24):
Okay, yeah, your mom was working a lot of jobs or.
Speaker 2 (05:27):
I think got the most. She probably worked like three jobs,
which is probably where I get it from.
Speaker 1 (05:32):
Okay, yeah, yeah, okay, two parent household? Where was pops
to two parent household?
Speaker 2 (05:40):
I don't know where he was at, but I ain't
gonna say he wasn't, Like at one point we were
living together, but I really we really didn't have a
relationship with him. So he was around, he was in
the area, but we ain't see him.
Speaker 1 (05:54):
Guys didn't see him at all, really, but y'all knew
who he was.
Speaker 2 (05:58):
Yeah, we knew who he was, Yeah, you knew who
we were and that was that.
Speaker 1 (06:02):
Did your mom ever speak on it?
Speaker 2 (06:04):
She's trying not to like really talk bad like down
on him. Even my grandma, like they never try to
talk down on him. Like we knew what it was like.
They ain't have to say nothing because it was actions
speak out than words.
Speaker 1 (06:15):
Yeah, did you ever have a longing for him or anything?
Speaker 3 (06:18):
You know what?
Speaker 2 (06:18):
I grew up in a house where even though we
ain't have much, it was felt like I didn't really
miss as much. And then I grew up in like
an area where a lot of people like had some
come from some wilar situation. So it was like, that's
it is what it is. It wasn't until I got
older then I'm like, oh, okay, when I seen other people,
they had their two parent households, different things like that. Okay,
I did miss out on something, but when I was
(06:39):
growing up, I really it wasn't really like something at
the top of my mind for real.
Speaker 1 (06:43):
Okay, Yeah, that's good to know.
Speaker 3 (06:46):
So you growing up with a family full of love
in pork and beans, and somewhere along the journey you
aspired to be on the other side of the television
but what sparked that inspiration.
Speaker 2 (07:00):
So my uncle he used to have this huge collection
of DVDs in the living room, mostly like black Cinema,
like the Spike Lee Best Man, all that different type
of stuff, and that was like my I would consider
my intro to like cinema. And I didn't know at
the time that I wanted to get into film and TV.
I knew I wanted to do something like in the
(07:22):
arts and in that world because I used to draw
a lot and different things of that nature. But that
was like my early film school because I watched all
the films that you could think of. Some of the
films I probably ain't had no business watching, like Players
Club all that type of stuff, ice Cube movies, and
yet I was like my early introduction to like film
and different things of that nature. And we also used
(07:42):
to watch like upn all the sitcoms back in the day.
I used to go back and watch ninety six comms
with him and my mom and different things that would
come on television.
Speaker 1 (07:51):
Would you say that it wasn't just like what you're watching,
but the good vives of what it was doing to
your family, like a family pass hour.
Speaker 2 (07:59):
Yeah, it brought us together, like all get in the
living room like on weeknights and watch like The Parkers
or One on one and different things of that nature.
Speaker 1 (08:07):
So, yeah, at what point do you start to say
I like this enough to pursue it or even think
it's a viable option.
Speaker 2 (08:16):
So in middle school I went to this It had
this art slash communications program, and then we had like
our own studio where we used to do like the
morning announcement and we used to do like different shows.
And it was an actual class too. So I feel
like that class, out of all of my classes, I
really like, and like we used to do a lot
(08:36):
of different things in there, and I'm like, this is
what I want to do. I ain't really care about
going to math or other things. I wanted to do this.
Speaker 1 (08:44):
Did you start sharing these feelings with your family.
Speaker 2 (08:48):
Yes, And they were pretty much just go for whatever
you want to do. It wasn't like discouraging, oh no,
you need to do this, like Yeah, they were pretty
much get you a job. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (08:58):
But did they make you lean towards college.
Speaker 2 (09:02):
Yes. It was either college or the military because it
was a big like military in Virginia, and I chose
college because I was not going to the military.
Speaker 1 (09:11):
Was any of your family members in the military.
Speaker 2 (09:13):
A lot of people.
Speaker 1 (09:14):
Not your mom though, No, not my mom. Okay, So,
by the way, this is looking very gooey and good.
Is that what it's supposed to look like? It looks
pretty good.
Speaker 2 (09:24):
Yeah, I think we got It's not as quite as
my grandma's, but we got a good consistency going. And
I think crackers.
Speaker 1 (09:30):
I feel like this would go go with some saltine.
Speaker 2 (09:32):
Oh, we used to just eat us for breakfast.
Speaker 1 (09:35):
It looks good.
Speaker 2 (09:36):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (09:37):
I can see the cheese and the tomato sauce going
well together.
Speaker 2 (09:40):
Yeah. I think it's about dying.
Speaker 1 (09:43):
Look at you, I think grandma.
Speaker 2 (09:46):
Hold on, let me check, because I don't want you
to get no big chunk of cheese.
Speaker 1 (09:51):
I don't mind it. I was eating chunks before. I
had fifteen chunks in my cup and you need a bowl. Yeah,
go ahead. So you decide, Hey, I'm going to pursue this.
I'm going to go to college because military seems probably possible.
Speaker 2 (10:09):
Dance absolutely not. I was not going to the military.
Speaker 1 (10:13):
That's good. And so you go into college and then
what are you majoring in college?
Speaker 2 (10:20):
In high school I did a lot of reporting sideline
reporting and different things of that nature. So oh, let
me go to journalism route. So I'm major. My concentration
was journalism, but my major on my degree it says
degree in Media Journalism and Film because we took all
different types of classes.
Speaker 1 (10:37):
Okay, at what point during this are you like, Okay,
where did you go to school? You said, Howard? Howard,
So I will come on, fill up a chair. We're
going to do a taste test on this. Chairs, let's
try this together.
Speaker 2 (10:53):
I don't want to burn my mouth.
Speaker 1 (10:57):
You're right, and it's not really baked being ish, but
there is a little sweetness to it.
Speaker 2 (11:01):
Yeah, it's a little bit, not a lot.
Speaker 1 (11:02):
I'm trying to see if I could taste the cheese,
but I feel like I can't, but I could feel
the texture of cheese. Am I tripping?
Speaker 2 (11:11):
Nope?
Speaker 1 (11:12):
For all y'all at home, I highly do not recommend this.
Speaker 2 (11:16):
This. This is a three and a half and not
a three and a half.
Speaker 1 (11:21):
We'll say, if you are starving and you need a
filling meal.
Speaker 2 (11:25):
Oh, it's gonna fill you up.
Speaker 1 (11:26):
Yeah, it's like a cheese after taste and you need
this all the time growing up.
Speaker 2 (11:33):
It's not terrible but on all the eating while broke.
Speaker 1 (11:37):
This is.
Speaker 2 (11:42):
This is broke broke eating while I broke broke.
Speaker 1 (11:45):
What I like about this is the first time we've
had it. And I almost hooked you up with baked beans.
I promise you if you go in the back kitchen,
there's a can of baked beans.
Speaker 2 (11:54):
Thank god. Some part of me was like, no, where
is the port going for baked beans? I need an oven.
Speaker 1 (12:01):
This is a one and donners. But I love that
you came with this dish because it's unique and it's broke.
We've had guests that come on and they have somehow
they've tallied up one hundred dollars grocery bill, and I'm like, yeah,
I think you missed the mission.
Speaker 2 (12:14):
Oh no, yeah, no, Like I said, it was six
of us in the house.
Speaker 1 (12:18):
We have to make it work.
Speaker 2 (12:19):
So you decide to major in.
Speaker 1 (12:23):
Media film broadcast journalism yep, and from there you graduate.
What's your next play?
Speaker 2 (12:31):
Senior year? No, I would let me get it back, Okay,
I would go back to maybe like junior or senior year,
maybe sophomore year. Oh, it's all a blur. But I
decided I didn't want to do journalism anymore. But it
was too late in my matriculation to change my major.
So I started taking playwriting classes and the Fine Art
(12:52):
School and screenwriting. I took that later my senior year,
and I was like, you know what, I just want
to get into the entertainment side and that the news.
So like I would skip classes to go pa on
different television specials in Dcy. Okay, Yeah, I would just
try to like find different things to do intern and
that kind of got me into wanting to do more
(13:12):
of the entertainment side. So like my senior year, I
just got it. I was trying to get into this
program called HBCU to LA where you like get an
internship and they provide housing and you like work with
either Disney or Like I had interview with Disney owned
BT didn't get not one internship from them, And so
then I was like, I think I was sick. One
day in my dorm and I was just scanning through
(13:33):
the channels because we didn't have cables, so I would
just scan through the channels trying to find something to watch,
and I came across the Bounce okay, and I was like, Okay,
what's this. They remind me like of the early two
thousands upn type of vibe. I looked them up and
so I just sent the email to a random general
bounce email and HR responded and it was like, Hey,
you want to come to Atlanta for a interview.
Speaker 1 (13:55):
I was like, what kind of email did you send them?
Speaker 2 (13:57):
I was just basically saying, hey, I just came across network,
just saying all the things that I'd done and what
I was interested in, and it was like, Okay, you
want to come down to Atlanta for an interview? Because
they had an internship program, so they had like different
college students a part of their internship program. I was
like sure, and I was like, oh shoot, I'm gonna
get to Atlanta. So I just used my work study
money and brought a flight and flew down there for
(14:18):
a day.
Speaker 1 (14:19):
Did you tell your family about this? Yeah? Okay.
Speaker 2 (14:21):
I flew down there for a day and did the interview,
and then when I came back, they said I got it.
Speaker 1 (14:27):
And then were you like, oh my god, how am
I gonna live over there?
Speaker 2 (14:30):
Yep?
Speaker 1 (14:31):
So what'd you do?
Speaker 2 (14:32):
I took all the money that my family and family
friends gave me from graduation. I think my granddaddy and
my uncle James gave me some extra money on the.
Speaker 1 (14:40):
Side shut out to them.
Speaker 2 (14:42):
Yeah, they got me a train ticket because I couldn't
afford a flight, so they got me Amtrak train ticket
from DC to Atlanta.
Speaker 1 (14:50):
But how are you gonna survive in Atlanta?
Speaker 2 (14:52):
So I was able to find a place that kind
of fell through. So I wasn't homeless. I was of
a home, and so I knew somebody down there and
it was like, Hey, just come stay with me and
we're gonna figure it out. So I want to stay
with them. They had a friend that was staying in
like this off off campus student housing and she was like, yeah,
just pretend like you're meet for the summer and you'll
be fine. So that's how I pretend like I was
(15:14):
her for the summer, and I stayed at her off
campus housing.
Speaker 1 (15:18):
Oh there was a term you used in that you
said you weren't homeless, but you wasn't.
Speaker 2 (15:22):
I was of a home, so yeah, so I just
slept on a couch And that's hilarious. I love that.
I love that.
Speaker 1 (15:29):
I just wanted to Yeah.
Speaker 2 (15:30):
I wasn't on the street, but I was in somebody
else's home.
Speaker 1 (15:33):
There wasn't OK and they looked out that he didn't
have to break her off anything. She just looked out, No,
she just said, look, I ain't trying to stay here.
Speaker 2 (15:40):
You can pay me. I think it was like seven
hundred a month and I was only there for two months.
So I just gave her like the money so I
could stay in her and her a little sweet that
she had. They had like kitchen and the living room
and everything, and I think she only had one other
roommate on the other side. I think the other two
were like gone for the summer.
Speaker 1 (15:56):
Oh so it was a sweet look. Yeah, so for
two months, what happens once the two months are.
Speaker 2 (16:01):
Up though, So the two months was up, the internship
was up. But I did have a conversation with Sorry,
I did have a conversation with my direct report, like
the boss I was working for, about wanting to come
back if they had any opportunity, So I would say maybe.
Around September, I came back to Atlanta as a temp
(16:22):
for the department. It was the original programming department, and
that temporary position was only posed to last until February.
Before February could come, they offered me a full time position.
Speaker 1 (16:32):
Oh no, So then you're officially in Atlanta, yep, and
your family's singing praises and everything. You are excited yep.
So then what happens from there?
Speaker 2 (16:42):
Just grinding, trying to learn everything. And one thing that
my boss at the time stress was I get to
know every department head, everybody that work in the department.
So I spent most of my internship trying to learn
the different departments and how they work with our department,
not just staying isolated. So it was a lot of
that and just working on different shows. At the time,
(17:05):
they didn't have a big post production department, so I
was helping out with posts. I was reading scripts and
different things, and yeah, just grinding it out, getting up early,
catching the bus, then catching the trains so I can
get to bucket.
Speaker 1 (17:19):
So at what point does mine your business come into play?
Speaker 2 (17:22):
So maya business come in twenty twenty two? Yeah, twenty
twenty two. It happened before Hayboo, or it happened after
Hayboo after.
Speaker 1 (17:31):
That's what I'm saying. But mind your businesses would bounce right, Okay,
So I don't want to skip over, Okay, then go
hey Boo first.
Speaker 2 (17:37):
Okay, I go hay booth while I'm in Atlanta. I
really didn't know a lot of people there, so I
mainly just like in my free time, right try working
on my craft in different things. And then I was
applying to all of these fellowships Disney, NBC like they
all had these fellowships, and then the smaller fellowships, and
then I came across.
Speaker 1 (17:54):
What's a fellowship.
Speaker 2 (17:55):
So a fellowship is basically they take a group of writers,
they bring them in. You do it from workshops. Sometimes
it's paid, and you just get immersed into the whole
right inside of that level. And then after the fellowship
you should have something like already finished or you're developing something,
or you can use whatever you worked on as a
(18:16):
sample to get staff on like a show. So that
was like what I really wanted to do, instead of
going like the writer's PA route and going to writers Assistant,
I wanted to get into a fellowship. So I just
kept applying, got rejected every year by all of them,
and then I started applying to like smaller ones, and
then I came across Heartbeat. I applied one year, I
(18:36):
didn't get it, and that was I think that was
the first year. And then the second year, I almost
forgot about applying it to it until a coworker told
me like, hey, are you gonna apply to this Heartbeat Fellowship?
I was like, oh yeah, and I put it off
and then it was like, up, the deadline's here. So
I heard up and rolled a skip and that's what
I submitted.
Speaker 1 (18:54):
And then they accepted it and you did you want?
How did it work?
Speaker 2 (18:59):
So basic? They narrowed it down to people that they
wanted to interview. So I did an interview with one
of the co founders of the program, Candice, and also
the program manager, which was Jennifer at the time, and
so we did an interview and then after that kind
of was just waiting to see and then I remember
it was like before my birthday or either on my birthday,
(19:21):
Jennifer had called me. She was like, hey, so what
is your schedule looking like for this? Then? And the
third I'm like, why would she be in that? And
so then I think, like the day before my birthday
I found out I got the fellowship?
Speaker 1 (19:33):
Nice, yep, how long was the fellowship?
Speaker 2 (19:36):
The fellowship was for a year, but the writers strike
cut that year little short.
Speaker 1 (19:42):
So yeah, okay, so then what happens from there, Britt,
is this when you start to think about Habu?
Speaker 2 (19:50):
So Habu was with the Fellowship.
Speaker 1 (19:52):
Oh, Habu was what you submitted?
Speaker 2 (19:53):
Yeah, Habu was what I submitted, and it just after that,
it probably went like through a couple of rounds of
notes with them and then the director logan and yeah,
after that they went to shooting it. So I came
out here for that shoot. I was flying back and
forth a lot from Atlanta to la from my job
and then for Haybow different things that they wanted to
(20:14):
do with the Fellowship. And once Habu was shot, I
was working on the show at Bounce called Accurate Age.
We were on set and me and one of my
coworkers we were talking about, Okay, we got Accurate Age,
but what else are we going to be working on.
What's going to be like the Companion show to this?
What other programming? And so we was like, okay, let's
(20:35):
start brainstorming and thinking of a show to go with
this or to like air after this. So we had
something in the bank.
Speaker 1 (20:41):
And this wasn't something This wasn't a part of your job,
right this is so I was on the.
Speaker 2 (20:46):
Development team and we Accurate Age was developed in house,
So do develop ideas in house and just outsource to
a production company bring it to life. So it was
a part of my job, but like really taking this
INITIATI was but my pay grade. Like but we was like, hey,
we need something to do because like, yeah we need
a job. Yeah, we need to show reps. And then
(21:08):
just going back to getting no different departments like they
were saying like like the older sitcoms are performing well,
like on the streaming platforms and on our fast channels,
Like it would be nice if we could get something
of that same wheelhouse. So we put our brains together
and that's how we came up. It was called Family
Affair before it became maya business. Yeah, and then you
(21:30):
pitch it yeah, So we pitched it too. I made
sure all the team was on the call. Wasn't like
a certain intervie. I was like, I want the whole
original team on a call, and I need I to
pull people to the south. I need you to pack
me up on it. And so we pitched it to them.
They loved it, and so our next step was to
find a writer to write the pilot episode. And if
the pilot episode, like the script was good enough. Then
(21:52):
they were green lighted.
Speaker 1 (21:53):
And when they greenlighted, what does that mean, Like you
sold your first show? Yeah, it basically mean you were
going to series, Like, yeah, what was that ex experience
like for you? So when they did greenlight it, I
was no longer at Bounce. I left Bounce to go
to Fuse because I was now out here living in
LA and at the time, I was just a senior
(22:14):
coordinator at Bounce, but the money that I was making
was more so affordable for Atlanta in that LA and
then there were a whole bunch of layoff talks. So
I was like, I need to find another way to
make more money, and this is not it. So I
left Bounce to go to Fuse, and I also left
to really go ham on my writing. And then that's
when the strikes happened. But you were also doing the
(22:36):
Heartbeat Fellowship.
Speaker 2 (22:37):
Yeah, the Heartbeat Fellowship Sundance that all happened.
Speaker 1 (22:41):
Yeah, So you got a lot of overlap, a lot
of overlaps. When you leave, they still have the rights
to buy mind your business.
Speaker 2 (22:48):
Yes, So when you work for a network and you
pitch ideas internally.
Speaker 1 (22:53):
They own the idea. Yeah, Womb Womb like, I can't there.
They own it because you pitched it while you were
an employee. Yeah, so if you would have left and
then pitched it, then I would own it. So they
own it.
Speaker 2 (23:13):
But that's the whole point. I feel like that's the
reason why they really wanted to do the show, because
they're like, Okay, we got this internal idea that we
can hold on to and we can take out and license,
like don't but it ended up being a top show
for them. Yep.
Speaker 1 (23:26):
So you knowing that, is there a part of you
that thinks also that maybe you walking in some of
the talks or the rhetoric that was going on, could
have because if you would have stayed as an employee,
what would you have gotten after pitching that show? Nothing?
Speaker 2 (23:40):
Nothing but working long hours on the show and still
making my salary. That's crazy.
Speaker 1 (23:47):
Yeah, I don't know if that should be allowed for real.
Speaker 2 (23:51):
Yeah, it's like two far. I know certain networks they
may break you off a little something extra if you
it's just.
Speaker 1 (23:59):
Gave them like more than what they invested in you, basically, Yeah,
and you're cool with that. Earth how do you feel? So?
Speaker 2 (24:04):
I was a little salty because it was like I
was supposed to. When I left the company. We had
conversations before, Hey, you can come back as a consultant.
This is your show that you created and that didn't
happen because of budget cuts and the strike.
Speaker 1 (24:20):
But it's also one of their top performing shows. Yeah, yes,
be super salty. Yeah, so I just look at it
like this way. If I can create that show, I
can do another one. So I'm past it now. Yeah,
But like at the time, I was very Yeah, I'm
still trying to get past it, but it.
Speaker 2 (24:37):
Was very salty. But I just that's messed up, man.
Speaker 1 (24:40):
Yeah. I would be complaining for at least six months.
Speaker 2 (24:42):
And then it was this whole thing about my created
by credit. I'm like, in my employee agreement it said
like any idea y'all own. It didn't say nothing about
me not getting my proper credit.
Speaker 1 (24:52):
Did they give it to you?
Speaker 2 (24:53):
Yes, they had to give it to me because one
of the executives that was there when I was there
at the time, he made sure when we signed the
writer onto write the pilot, he said, hey, all three
of these ladies are getting created by credit. Put that
in an agreement.
Speaker 1 (25:06):
The other two ladies there still.
Speaker 2 (25:08):
One is there the other one was like a contract
work for hire, so she wasn't a full time employee
with the y'all just giving up your gold. Okay, got it,
she wasn't, So she was just hired on to be
the writer and work on the show and be executive
producer and all of that.
Speaker 1 (25:21):
So we'll shout out to him for fighting for y'all.
Speaker 2 (25:24):
Yeah, so I appreciate JJ for doing that because if
that wasn't there, they probably would have found some way
to not give us our credit.
Speaker 1 (25:31):
Yeah, so then you're over at Fused having that Fuseland.
Speaker 2 (25:35):
So Fuse was unscripted, which was I did unscripted that Bounce,
but Fuse was like a different type of unscripted. So
I'm glad I did get that experience and work on
different shows, and one of them was Big Freedom Means Business,
sex sales. We had a sports yeah, we had a
lovely Yeah. We had a sports show called Like a Girl.
That was cool to see come because we like revamped
(25:58):
the show while I was there, So that was cool
to see that come to. And Fruistion and and yeah,
it was a different type of shows they branded content.
That was my first time experience with working that in
depth with branded content. We was exploring different content.
Speaker 1 (26:11):
But you say branded content, what does that mean?
Speaker 2 (26:13):
So let's say Times best company, I want to say
it out loud decided they want to sponsor on this
segment of me cooking. Yeah, the porky means and cheese.
That would be branded branded content.
Speaker 1 (26:26):
Damn, go fuse.
Speaker 2 (26:27):
I wanted to get.
Speaker 1 (26:28):
I wanted to get eating while brokenfused at one point,
I don't think they wanted us, but yeah, they have
some good content. That said, they got sex Cells, which
is pretty good and that's a top show for them, right.
Speaker 2 (26:38):
And I used to watch like the uncut versions before
they had the edit it for so yeah, it's very
but it was very interesting too, Like I think it's
a good concept.
Speaker 1 (26:48):
Yeah, great, shout out to the Weeezy. I love her,
super cool chick. So your affuse, what's the next play?
Speaker 2 (26:57):
I was still trying to pursue my write in, but
it was it's hard being like post strikes and a
lot of shows not renewing and like different opportunities and
then the whole like representation having issues with them. Hey
can you give me some rooms? Cause like I was
like using my network to get meetings and trying to
get my stuff read, and so I was like, Okay,
(27:20):
maybe I could just write the full length film of
hay Boo and try to get back into Heartbeat. So
I started like ID eight and what I wanted the
full length version of Heyboo to look like, and start writing.
And so now I have a shopping agreement where Heartbeat
time is winding down, but I'm trying to get it
(27:40):
somewhere at some studio streamer whoever wants to take it on.
But yeah, that was like my thing of trying to
get hay Boo, trying to update some of my other
scripts so when those meetings do come in, I could
be prepared.
Speaker 1 (27:54):
So how do you get it? At Peacock and two B.
Speaker 2 (27:57):
Peacock and Twoby was all through Heartbeat. That's what their
whole arrangement as far as like distributing the films and
that stuff. So we wasn't really involving that part. It
just said, oh, it's gonna be on Peacock. And then
one day I was at home and I was on
Toby and I saw it on to I was like,
oh it's on Toby.
Speaker 1 (28:13):
Too, Oh wow, yes, And then what do those checks
look like from that standpoint.
Speaker 2 (28:19):
I only got paid once by a heartbeat, and that
was for the script.
Speaker 1 (28:24):
Then it was a fellowship.
Speaker 2 (28:25):
Yeah, it was like a stipend.
Speaker 1 (28:27):
But they don't own it, right, they own Heybi, this sucks,
but this is the I love that you're sharing this
because I think that we all think, Okay, we created something,
we land this big deal and there's this huge payout
or whatever. But this definitely has to be like the
most roller coaster of emotions ever. Yes, but it's also
(28:48):
confidence boosting because you're obviously a creator that's able to
sell amazing content that's getting picked up. The question is
how do you demand your worth? On the other side,
you just gotta be what's the word that I can
use for you just gotta be on it. You gotta
make sure your representation is on it. Did you have
(29:09):
representation on both of these accounts?
Speaker 2 (29:11):
No? I got hay boo and did my business all
by myself. I didn't get representation.
Speaker 1 (29:16):
So after the fact, well, hey boo, you did after
the fact too. That's interesting.
Speaker 2 (29:24):
Yeah, So I say this representation is good to have,
but it's more so knowing people Like if I wasn't
working within the network, I probably wouldn't have been able
to get a pitched the show in twenty twenty two,
and by I want to say, twenty twenty four is
Aaron on television. And that's because we were working at
the network and trying to push it through and I
(29:45):
was on my boss like, hey, do we got disapproved legal?
So I feel like I had an advantage when I
was at the network to able to get stuff like
green lay because that wasn't the first show that I
pitched and got like a green light. The other one
I pitched was a game show, but it died in
like upfront, so I was familiar with how the process work.
But with this one, like I had the other departments
(30:05):
backing me up. I felt like that was my advantage.
And yeah, I didn't really need representation because I was
already in the system.
Speaker 1 (30:13):
But do you think that was a plus or negative?
Because on one end, it's a plus because it got
your stuff pushed further and you know what they're looking
for on both sides of the camera now, right, so
you can consider yourself like a double threat, triple threat, right.
But on the downside, there's a little bit of for
lack of better word, it just seems like a little
bit of a dog eat dog because yeah, because of
(30:34):
the affiliation of the network.
Speaker 2 (30:36):
Yeah, so it's, uh, you gotta you win some and
you lose some. So you just got to take into
accounts like, hey, you need to get a credit, but
how are you gonna go about getting that credit? You
get that credit, that'll take you up a notch. So
when you do go out on your own, at least
you have something versus than having nothing.
Speaker 1 (30:53):
Yeah, so I wasn't trying to cut you off.
Speaker 2 (30:57):
Oh no, go ahead.
Speaker 1 (30:59):
What would you say, is your next play after everything you've.
Speaker 2 (31:03):
Learned, after everything I learned? My next play? I'm sorry, y'all.
I'm not used to doing interviews. It's been a minute.
My next play is, I'm looking at how these content
creators are getting on TikTok and YouTube shorts and stuff
and just posting not random stuff, but it's not a
big budget production, and they're getting the brand deals and
(31:27):
they're getting the views and they're building their audience. So
I feel like my next direction, as far as going
to indie route, I'm looking more so into content creation
and creating stuff for social because I know that's where
the younger people are older people are on it. If
you put it on Facebook, you know they're gonna eat
it up. So that's like my next route. That way
I can develop my own IP and own it so
(31:50):
when somebody do see it, I ain't want to pick
it up. It's be like a similar situation with Isa
Ray and Opera Black Girl and stuff like that.
Speaker 1 (31:57):
Or but now during the Ray era, I don't know
if the algorithms were as algorithm as now, because like
sometimes we could post and we'll have a good six
months and then we'll have a six months of what
is wrong? Yeah, And I don't think it's the content.
I think it's more so the algorithm. Yeah, if you
changing them around.
Speaker 2 (32:15):
Yeah, you could say that. You also say it's oversaturated.
But I also feel like if you do have something
that you want to put out there now, it's the
time to just put it out there versus waiting and
then if somebody do come along and they're like, oh,
we want this, and you sign your rights away from
it because you don't really have much leverage in the game,
versus building your own audience and going to indie route.
(32:38):
That's what it's looking more like now, given with the
state of the industry.
Speaker 1 (32:42):
Yeah, so you're still doing screenwriting though.
Speaker 2 (32:45):
Yeah, I'm still right. I'm still trying to push hey
Boo out there.
Speaker 1 (32:49):
But I don't understand if they own it, why would
you still want to push it.
Speaker 2 (32:53):
Because we do have a shopping agreement between each other,
so I can't take it out. I have permission to
take it out to pitch to different streamers and studios. Yeah,
so that's what my main thing is, trying to get
it made it to a full length film. That way,
it's another credit under my belt, money, all that type.
Speaker 1 (33:11):
Of stuff, And so you can take it out right
from the Yeah.
Speaker 2 (33:14):
I could take it out now that I'm under the agreement,
but like, once the agreement is up, then we have
to go back to the table, like, hey, we need
a little bit more time so we can get it somewhere.
Speaker 1 (33:23):
Wow. Wow, that's a lot of pressure. Do you have
friends that pitch you on you looking over their pictures
a lot?
Speaker 2 (33:30):
Yeah?
Speaker 1 (33:31):
How does that feel?
Speaker 2 (33:33):
It feels good that they trust me to look over
the stuff. I don't try to be too hard on
them because I know like how it feels to be
on the other side and be a creative and you
sensitive about your art. So I try to be as
nice about it, but also tell them like, hey, this's
not gonna work, or you may want to go back
and look at this. But they do come to me
a lot with different pictures or ideas they think I
(33:55):
should do.
Speaker 1 (33:56):
You're open to all of that. What advice do you
give to people now, knowing everything that you learned about
the industry.
Speaker 3 (34:02):
And get close with this mic friend?
Speaker 2 (34:05):
Pick up your phone and shoot something. Wow, Just pick
up your phone and shoot something, and you never know
what it can become. You might not even post it,
but just getting it out there, putting it out there,
getting it out your head and something that you can
see visually. I feel like it helped. Like I just
go back to the moment where I was at sun
Dance in the theater and my name pop up written
(34:27):
by Danielle Solomon. I'm like, oh, wow, it's out there.
Speaker 1 (34:30):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (34:31):
So like even if nobody else see it, or you
show it to your family or like, just pick up
your phone and shoot something and don't have to be
too much. It could just be like a short or
it could be like a little skit that you call
or you don't post. It's just getting that practice in
and just building something if you get in the habit
of doing that, Because it's good to just write and
(34:52):
watch TV and study it, but it's also good to
actually like film something.
Speaker 1 (34:58):
Yes, And in regards to like joining the bigger companies
like Heartbeat, Bounce, FEUs and all of that, what do
you feel knowing what you know now?
Speaker 2 (35:07):
Like joining it as a Yeah, it wouldn't be my
first stop. My first thought would be trying to build
my own audience. That way I can leverage myself more
when I go.
Speaker 1 (35:20):
To You think getting out bigger audience is more important
than getting the credits. This is a random at this
point in the game for me. Yes, wow, Yeah, that's
a big statement. Yeah, I agree. I feel like everything's
going to social media route. But there are theories that
(35:41):
they're saying like that social media may and which I'll
be honest, like the day social media dies would probably
be one of the happiest days of my life because
everything is around it. It's like we're but it's also
very controlled by the who's a who. I heard that
when Trump got elected everyone ended up following him. I
(36:03):
don't know if my I don't think I ended up
like they said that if you went on your feed,
you'd see that you follow him. Now, I was just like,
how can we trust something that's so like listening in
Like you say, cat food around your phone, yet cat
food and like you have say you're following ten thousand
or two thousand friends, you're only seeing like ten of
(36:23):
your friends stuff.
Speaker 2 (36:25):
Yeah. I was reading something about Tyler Perry and his
early days and how he had like an email list.
I feel like social media is a good start, but
it's not like a stop. Like you try to figure
out how you can stay connected with your audience beyond that,
maybe you do a live show or something, or if
you in the comedy, do a little improv type of thing.
(36:45):
But I feel like social media is a good start,
but it shouldn't be the stop. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (36:51):
I tell a lot of people when I do a
lot of event marketing, and I tell people all the
time social is cute, but at the end of the day,
you want cell phone numbers and email addresses because however
that person uses that social you cannot control the ogurith
can't control the output. Which you do need to know
is that anytime you sell a ticket or promote something,
(37:12):
that person needs to see that impression six to eight
times or to making a purchase, or prior to adjusting
their schedules. You gotta figure out every way possible to
catch those email addresses and phone numbers, because the real
power lies in having that direct contact to phone.
Speaker 2 (37:26):
Yeah, and a good example of that with Maya Business.
It didn't really have a big marketing push compared it
to the other shows and mounts, and I noticed that.
So I was like, So, me and Danielle Dominique, the
other co creator of the show, we was like, Okay,
we need to drop this in our group chets. We
need to tell our family members and different people to
watch it because they're not really pushing it out there,
(37:48):
and like you said, people need to see it at
least six to eight times. So our family was posting
in our alumni groups, and she was in a sorority.
Her sorority was posting it and supporting it. And that's
how I was able to become the higher original premiere
ever and Bounce history was word of mouth and telling
people versus them putting together this whole marketing plan because
it didn't get the huge marketing rollout that it should
(38:10):
have gotten.
Speaker 1 (38:11):
Yeah, yeah, agreed. Why I've learned so much from you.
Thank you so much for cooking for us. I respectfully
know it was like making mad jokes about your dish,
but I feel like it was like a wealth of
knowledge and full transparency on a super rocky road that
I can only imagine has been like really emotional. Yeah,
(38:33):
I think because I feel like I would have twitched
a couple of times.
Speaker 2 (38:37):
A lot of people would have crashed out by now,
gave up. But it's what else Mama gonna do if
I don't do this.
Speaker 1 (38:42):
So are you getting emotional?
Speaker 2 (38:43):
Yeah, I little bit why.
Speaker 1 (38:47):
I'm just curious.
Speaker 2 (38:48):
Yeah, it's just been I'm sorry, it's just been a
long it's been a heart. It doesn't seem like it's
been a long journey, but it's been a long journey,
and it's been really hard just trying to, you know,
stay and stay on the right track. Because it's easily
it's easy to get discourage, it's easy to get feel
like you're never gonna achieve anything. And I feel like
(39:11):
because I was able to at least get something done,
it's given me the motivation to keep going. Okay, I
was able to do this when I was in this position,
I know I can do more now.
Speaker 1 (39:20):
So what are the things that make you doubt yourself?
Because I completely completely empathize with at least you have
these markers saying I took an idea and I'd proven
that I was able to land it and other people
were able to profit. What was the thing that makes
you feel like you constantly have to tell yourself to
try again or not give up or not pivot.
Speaker 2 (39:43):
I honestly feel like it's just it's not me. But
then like I know I can do it. I can
see it in my head, like I know, Okay, this
could be real. It's just things that's out of my
control that I can't control that kind of makes me
doubt myself. I'm like, dang, because they're not high in
this show got canceled, this is show I wanted to
write on, and things like that discouraged me and make
(40:05):
me doubt, Okay, why am I doing this? But then
it's like I always remind myself, what else will I
am I willing to do if I'm not doing this
that will make me content, that will not have me
living in regret.
Speaker 1 (40:18):
And what's the answer. Nothing?
Speaker 2 (40:20):
Nothing. So it's like I had no choice but to
do what I'm doing, try to keep going in pursuing.
Speaker 1 (40:26):
It, and then how do you manage your finances through
that whole process.
Speaker 2 (40:31):
I gotta work sometimes, I gotta work jobs that's not
as oh I'm on set. No, I'm actually doing customer
service work.
Speaker 1 (40:39):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (40:40):
Yeah, And you know it's jobs that you ideally don't
want to do and you never know what This industry
is very unpredictable. I got laid off at FUSE in January,
so I've been just trying to hustle to try to
keep up so I can stay here because I don't
want to leave here and not accomplish what I set
out to do here before I go back home. So
I was like, I have to find ways to make money.
Speaker 1 (41:01):
Yeah, and I think that's the reality of it all.
I personally hold on like three jobs, right, Yeah. I
tell people like only in La you meet people that
work a forty hours job, get off uber and then
they side side house so it's babysitting, and that is
the normal here.
Speaker 2 (41:20):
Yeah. That was being when I was confused. I was
working full time and then I was working part time
because it was like, let me pay this stuff off,
like to do the loans that way I can take
out another loan so I could do the short film
or do anohing, a little animated something, some type of
product of my own. So that was like my whole thing.
I was like working to get stuff paid off so
I can take out not the loan and dude.
Speaker 1 (41:40):
Sorry, Yeah, I think that God left these accolades at
the right time for you to know like you're heading power.
It has to be that God. Hey, I know this
road looks rocky as hell, but don't forget you had
this and you brought it to life. I think the
creators the greatest thing someone could ever do is be
(42:02):
like the imitation of God. Have a vision for something
and create it and give it life like something that
no one thought to exist. Or you were just like
bringing an idea to life, as to me is like beautiful.
But who else see you? Thank you, Thank you for
the vulnerability.
Speaker 2 (42:18):
Yeah, I'm never.
Speaker 1 (42:22):
Eats and cheese for breakfast, please Lord, Please, No, I
take that back, because you you say something like that,
you're gonna end up eating it.
Speaker 2 (42:31):
So no, I'll take it back. Take it back. It's
not my favorite dish.
Speaker 1 (42:37):
But like I say on this show, the broke of
the dish the better. The story in this story was
truly amazing and inspiring, and I love that you're vulnerabile
about it. Where can everybody keep up with Danielle Solomon?
And I want to say support, hey boo. I don't
know if we should be support to mind our business?
Speaker 2 (42:54):
Should we? Y'all can watch it if I want to
watch the first season, I recommend.
Speaker 1 (42:59):
The first season.
Speaker 2 (43:00):
I'm only hating because I feel some type of way. Yeah,
everybody do, but yeah, definitely support the first season. I'm
not gonna tell people not to watch it because it's
black people behind the camera, black people in front of
the cameras. Don't want to take away from what they're doing.
Just black. No Bounces was never owned by black people,
but so we just capitalizing all them. Yeah, but I
(43:24):
would say support them a chance because we don't have
that many shows, and the shows we do have are
being canceled left and right. Okay, support Yeah, I would
say still support it, but mainly hey boo, because I'm
still trying to get the full in version. Yeah, so
you can watch that on to be in Peacock.
Speaker 1 (43:43):
And every time, like Kevin Harr would be like, yo,
hey boo.
Speaker 2 (43:48):
Hit up Kevin. Yeah, so he can get on his
people be like, yeah, let's get this somewhere.
Speaker 1 (43:52):
Let's get it somewhere. Thank you so much for your
time and feeding me baked beans, baked beans, and she
and pease and like I said, y'all, this is a
great feeling dish.
Speaker 2 (44:05):
It's not good when it's cold.
Speaker 1 (44:06):
It's not it's fairly good. It's fairly good when it's warm.
Thank you so much for your time. I really appreciate you,
and you guys better go out there and follow at
Danielle Solomon.
Speaker 2 (44:18):
Is that?
Speaker 1 (44:18):
How is that?
Speaker 2 (44:19):
Instagram? Is Danielle Michelle TV TikTok Danielle Michelle writes, I
know it's all over the place, but yeah, TikTok and
Instagram for.
Speaker 1 (44:27):
Sure, daniel Michelle TV.
Speaker 2 (44:30):
Instagram, and then Danielle Michelle writes, TikTok.
Speaker 1 (44:33):
Okay you heard it here first.
Speaker 2 (44:35):
Peace out, y'all. Peace
Hey, guys, welcome to another episode of Eating While Broke.
I'm your host, Colleen Witt, and today we have very
special guests. Creative producer screenwriter Danielle Solomon's in the building.
Hey hey, and most of you guys know her from
Hey Boo that you now. You can watch that on
teacock and toob Yeah, and a very well known show
(00:23):
on Bound called Mind.
Speaker 2 (00:24):
Joe Business, Mind Your Business.
Speaker 1 (00:26):
Yeah, Mind your Business, which is a hit show on Bounce.
Speaker 2 (00:30):
Yep.
Speaker 1 (00:30):
So before we get into tea on everything screenwriting and
creative production wise, let's get into what you were eating
long before the accolades.
Speaker 2 (00:40):
So this is pork and beans and cheese. I considered
this a Daniel's delicacy. That's my grandmother's family. I don't
really know people that like couldbine pork and beans with
scheddar cheese. Like I would go out to places because
we usually eat this for breakfast, and I would go
out to places and I look at the menu, I'm like,
where's the pork and beans and cheese. I think it's
just my family that does this.
Speaker 1 (01:01):
Definitely, I didn't even know that. I didn't even know
that was a breakfast thing.
Speaker 2 (01:05):
But yeah, we used to eat this for breakfast. Sometimes
we would have like other things like eggs, grets, but
sometimes it'll be just that bacon in a.
Speaker 1 (01:11):
Biscuit, bacon and a biscuit. Porkan beans. Now I was
talking best before the carat started rolling, So go ahead
and tell everybody the difference between pork and beans and
baked beans.
Speaker 2 (01:22):
So porking beans, it's not it doesn't have that like
sweet taste like the baked beans, the butsh or whatever
I can, so, yeah, it doesn't have that sweet taste.
But it's a tomato sauce. So yeah, I feel like
that's the big.
Speaker 1 (01:36):
Yeah, let's go to Brokeville. And so when we got
(02:04):
the dish with ingredients, I said pork and beans. And
then I was like, okay, do baked beans come with
hot dogs? And then I said, where is she talking
about pork and beans? And then lo and behold, there
is a can in the world that says pork and beans.
And so now we are the proud owners and recipients
of a dish that I can honestly say, I don't think.
Speaker 2 (02:25):
I've ever heard. Yeah, I think it's just my family
that does this because every time I go out I'm
from Virginia, but my family is from North Carolina, and
I feel like we're the only ones that does this
for breakfast.
Speaker 1 (02:39):
None of your friends did it.
Speaker 2 (02:40):
No, That's why I'm like, I don't think it's like
a known thing.
Speaker 1 (02:45):
And then she's dropping the cheese, so her your dish
is essentially like three dollars. Yep, it could feed at
least three to four people. And she's the most expensive dish.
Speaker 2 (02:56):
Yep.
Speaker 1 (02:56):
The expensive ingredient in it.
Speaker 2 (02:58):
I see. And it's protein, so you got to be.
Speaker 1 (03:01):
And it's protein. Oh are you trying to say that
this dish is considered healthy?
Speaker 2 (03:08):
I love that optimisticness. The protein counts for something, So yeah,
we're gonna turn this up.
Speaker 1 (03:13):
So either this is a family tradition or you guys
were really struggling at some point and you guys did not.
Speaker 2 (03:19):
My grandmother got it from her mom, and her mom
had ten kids, so maybe, yeah.
Speaker 1 (03:24):
Oh this is your grandma. You said your grandma's mom
was struggling. She passed the tradition on, which is a
beautiful tradition. I'm just in a joking move, but I
love this dish because I love to say the broke
with the dish, the better the story. Yeah, but in
your case, this is a household Now.
Speaker 2 (03:43):
We thought this was like something like it was up
there with grits.
Speaker 1 (03:46):
Wow. What was the last time you had this?
Speaker 2 (03:49):
Probably when I was back home in Virginia. I think
my grandma made some or my mom made it. Yeah,
I usually have it when I'm back home.
Speaker 1 (03:58):
So you'd be like, like, yo, you guys got the
pork and bees ready. No, I'm genuinely carrious you like, yo, Yeah.
Speaker 2 (04:08):
You need this with some eggs. If I want like
a big breath fix, I get this with some eggs.
Speaker 1 (04:13):
Eggs on the side, are in it?
Speaker 2 (04:14):
Eggs on the side, Yeah, Bacon, biscuits or toes or
sausage and then maybe some grits. It just depends.
Speaker 1 (04:23):
Okay, take me back to before the last home visit,
way back, and I don't want to talk smack about this,
because guys, I totally respect these dishes. I'm just in
a very playful mood right now. We was all eating
this cheese bless our stomachs because we were sweet. Jared
and I we was chomping right.
Speaker 2 (04:42):
Yeah. After this, you might yeah get a good cleaner.
Speaker 1 (04:45):
Yeah, So go ahead, tell me what was going on
way back, way back, not recent home visits.
Speaker 2 (04:54):
Way back in Virginia. I was a product of a
single my disk, so we just spent a lot of
time at my house. We used to live there practically
for most of my life. So it used to be
six of us at a time in a two bedroom,
one bedroom house.
Speaker 1 (05:08):
Wait, how many kids?
Speaker 2 (05:10):
Just me and my brother? And so its me and
my brother, my mom, my uncle, and my grandparents. Okay,
all in one house. Oh yeah, you all lived together
for the most of my adolacing years. We all stayed
in the same house in new Port News.
Speaker 1 (05:24):
Okay, yeah, your mom was working a lot of jobs or.
Speaker 2 (05:27):
I think got the most. She probably worked like three jobs,
which is probably where I get it from.
Speaker 1 (05:32):
Okay, yeah, yeah, okay, two parent household? Where was pops
to two parent household?
Speaker 2 (05:40):
I don't know where he was at, but I ain't
gonna say he wasn't, Like at one point we were
living together, but I really we really didn't have a
relationship with him. So he was around, he was in
the area, but we ain't see him.
Speaker 1 (05:54):
Guys didn't see him at all, really, but y'all knew
who he was.
Speaker 2 (05:58):
Yeah, we knew who he was, Yeah, you knew who
we were and that was that.
Speaker 1 (06:02):
Did your mom ever speak on it?
Speaker 2 (06:04):
She's trying not to like really talk bad like down
on him. Even my grandma, like they never try to
talk down on him. Like we knew what it was like.
They ain't have to say nothing because it was actions
speak out than words.
Speaker 1 (06:15):
Yeah, did you ever have a longing for him or anything?
Speaker 3 (06:18):
You know what?
Speaker 2 (06:18):
I grew up in a house where even though we
ain't have much, it was felt like I didn't really
miss as much. And then I grew up in like
an area where a lot of people like had some
come from some wilar situation. So it was like, that's
it is what it is. It wasn't until I got
older then I'm like, oh, okay, when I seen other people,
they had their two parent households, different things like that. Okay,
I did miss out on something, but when I was
(06:39):
growing up, I really it wasn't really like something at
the top of my mind for real.
Speaker 1 (06:43):
Okay, Yeah, that's good to know.
Speaker 3 (06:46):
So you growing up with a family full of love
in pork and beans, and somewhere along the journey you
aspired to be on the other side of the television
but what sparked that inspiration.
Speaker 2 (07:00):
So my uncle he used to have this huge collection
of DVDs in the living room, mostly like black Cinema,
like the Spike Lee Best Man, all that different type
of stuff, and that was like my I would consider
my intro to like cinema. And I didn't know at
the time that I wanted to get into film and TV.
I knew I wanted to do something like in the
(07:22):
arts and in that world because I used to draw
a lot and different things of that nature. But that
was like my early film school because I watched all
the films that you could think of. Some of the
films I probably ain't had no business watching, like Players
Club all that type of stuff, ice Cube movies, and
yet I was like my early introduction to like film
and different things of that nature. And we also used
(07:42):
to watch like upn all the sitcoms back in the day.
I used to go back and watch ninety six comms
with him and my mom and different things that would
come on television.
Speaker 1 (07:51):
Would you say that it wasn't just like what you're watching,
but the good vives of what it was doing to
your family, like a family pass hour.
Speaker 2 (07:59):
Yeah, it brought us together, like all get in the
living room like on weeknights and watch like The Parkers
or One on one and different things of that nature.
Speaker 1 (08:07):
So, yeah, at what point do you start to say
I like this enough to pursue it or even think
it's a viable option.
Speaker 2 (08:16):
So in middle school I went to this It had
this art slash communications program, and then we had like
our own studio where we used to do like the
morning announcement and we used to do like different shows.
And it was an actual class too. So I feel
like that class, out of all of my classes, I
really like, and like we used to do a lot
(08:36):
of different things in there, and I'm like, this is
what I want to do. I ain't really care about
going to math or other things. I wanted to do this.
Speaker 1 (08:44):
Did you start sharing these feelings with your family.
Speaker 2 (08:48):
Yes, And they were pretty much just go for whatever
you want to do. It wasn't like discouraging, oh no,
you need to do this, like Yeah, they were pretty
much get you a job. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (08:58):
But did they make you lean towards college.
Speaker 2 (09:02):
Yes. It was either college or the military because it
was a big like military in Virginia, and I chose
college because I was not going to the military.
Speaker 1 (09:11):
Was any of your family members in the military.
Speaker 2 (09:13):
A lot of people.
Speaker 1 (09:14):
Not your mom though, No, not my mom. Okay, So,
by the way, this is looking very gooey and good.
Is that what it's supposed to look like? It looks
pretty good.
Speaker 2 (09:24):
Yeah, I think we got It's not as quite as
my grandma's, but we got a good consistency going. And
I think crackers.
Speaker 1 (09:30):
I feel like this would go go with some saltine.
Speaker 2 (09:32):
Oh, we used to just eat us for breakfast.
Speaker 1 (09:35):
It looks good.
Speaker 2 (09:36):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (09:37):
I can see the cheese and the tomato sauce going
well together.
Speaker 2 (09:40):
Yeah. I think it's about dying.
Speaker 1 (09:43):
Look at you, I think grandma.
Speaker 2 (09:46):
Hold on, let me check, because I don't want you
to get no big chunk of cheese.
Speaker 1 (09:51):
I don't mind it. I was eating chunks before. I
had fifteen chunks in my cup and you need a bowl. Yeah,
go ahead. So you decide, Hey, I'm going to pursue this.
I'm going to go to college because military seems probably possible.
Speaker 2 (10:09):
Dance absolutely not. I was not going to the military.
Speaker 1 (10:13):
That's good. And so you go into college and then
what are you majoring in college?
Speaker 2 (10:20):
In high school I did a lot of reporting sideline
reporting and different things of that nature. So oh, let
me go to journalism route. So I'm major. My concentration
was journalism, but my major on my degree it says
degree in Media Journalism and Film because we took all
different types of classes.
Speaker 1 (10:37):
Okay, at what point during this are you like, Okay,
where did you go to school? You said, Howard? Howard,
So I will come on, fill up a chair. We're
going to do a taste test on this. Chairs, let's
try this together.
Speaker 2 (10:53):
I don't want to burn my mouth.
Speaker 1 (10:57):
You're right, and it's not really baked being ish, but
there is a little sweetness to it.
Speaker 2 (11:01):
Yeah, it's a little bit, not a lot.
Speaker 1 (11:02):
I'm trying to see if I could taste the cheese,
but I feel like I can't, but I could feel
the texture of cheese. Am I tripping?
Speaker 2 (11:11):
Nope?
Speaker 1 (11:12):
For all y'all at home, I highly do not recommend this.
Speaker 2 (11:16):
This. This is a three and a half and not
a three and a half.
Speaker 1 (11:21):
We'll say, if you are starving and you need a
filling meal.
Speaker 2 (11:25):
Oh, it's gonna fill you up.
Speaker 1 (11:26):
Yeah, it's like a cheese after taste and you need
this all the time growing up.
Speaker 2 (11:33):
It's not terrible but on all the eating while broke.
Speaker 1 (11:37):
This is.
Speaker 2 (11:42):
This is broke broke eating while I broke broke.
Speaker 1 (11:45):
What I like about this is the first time we've
had it. And I almost hooked you up with baked beans.
I promise you if you go in the back kitchen,
there's a can of baked beans.
Speaker 2 (11:54):
Thank god. Some part of me was like, no, where
is the port going for baked beans? I need an oven.
Speaker 1 (12:01):
This is a one and donners. But I love that
you came with this dish because it's unique and it's broke.
We've had guests that come on and they have somehow
they've tallied up one hundred dollars grocery bill, and I'm like, yeah,
I think you missed the mission.
Speaker 2 (12:14):
Oh no, yeah, no, Like I said, it was six
of us in the house.
Speaker 1 (12:18):
We have to make it work.
Speaker 2 (12:19):
So you decide to major in.
Speaker 1 (12:23):
Media film broadcast journalism yep, and from there you graduate.
What's your next play?
Speaker 2 (12:31):
Senior year? No, I would let me get it back, Okay,
I would go back to maybe like junior or senior year,
maybe sophomore year. Oh, it's all a blur. But I
decided I didn't want to do journalism anymore. But it
was too late in my matriculation to change my major.
So I started taking playwriting classes and the Fine Art
(12:52):
School and screenwriting. I took that later my senior year,
and I was like, you know what, I just want
to get into the entertainment side and that the news.
So like I would skip classes to go pa on
different television specials in Dcy. Okay, Yeah, I would just
try to like find different things to do intern and
that kind of got me into wanting to do more
(13:12):
of the entertainment side. So like my senior year, I
just got it. I was trying to get into this
program called HBCU to LA where you like get an
internship and they provide housing and you like work with
either Disney or Like I had interview with Disney owned
BT didn't get not one internship from them, And so
then I was like, I think I was sick. One
day in my dorm and I was just scanning through
(13:33):
the channels because we didn't have cables, so I would
just scan through the channels trying to find something to watch,
and I came across the Bounce okay, and I was like, Okay,
what's this. They remind me like of the early two
thousands upn type of vibe. I looked them up and
so I just sent the email to a random general
bounce email and HR responded and it was like, Hey,
you want to come to Atlanta for a interview.
Speaker 1 (13:55):
I was like, what kind of email did you send them?
Speaker 2 (13:57):
I was just basically saying, hey, I just came across network,
just saying all the things that I'd done and what
I was interested in, and it was like, Okay, you
want to come down to Atlanta for an interview? Because
they had an internship program, so they had like different
college students a part of their internship program. I was
like sure, and I was like, oh shoot, I'm gonna
get to Atlanta. So I just used my work study
money and brought a flight and flew down there for
(14:18):
a day.
Speaker 1 (14:19):
Did you tell your family about this? Yeah? Okay.
Speaker 2 (14:21):
I flew down there for a day and did the interview,
and then when I came back, they said I got it.
Speaker 1 (14:27):
And then were you like, oh my god, how am
I gonna live over there?
Speaker 2 (14:30):
Yep?
Speaker 1 (14:31):
So what'd you do?
Speaker 2 (14:32):
I took all the money that my family and family
friends gave me from graduation. I think my granddaddy and
my uncle James gave me some extra money on the.
Speaker 1 (14:40):
Side shut out to them.
Speaker 2 (14:42):
Yeah, they got me a train ticket because I couldn't
afford a flight, so they got me Amtrak train ticket
from DC to Atlanta.
Speaker 1 (14:50):
But how are you gonna survive in Atlanta?
Speaker 2 (14:52):
So I was able to find a place that kind
of fell through. So I wasn't homeless. I was of
a home, and so I knew somebody down there and
it was like, Hey, just come stay with me and
we're gonna figure it out. So I want to stay
with them. They had a friend that was staying in
like this off off campus student housing and she was like, yeah,
just pretend like you're meet for the summer and you'll
be fine. So that's how I pretend like I was
(15:14):
her for the summer, and I stayed at her off
campus housing.
Speaker 1 (15:18):
Oh there was a term you used in that you
said you weren't homeless, but you wasn't.
Speaker 2 (15:22):
I was of a home, so yeah, so I just
slept on a couch And that's hilarious. I love that.
I love that.
Speaker 1 (15:29):
I just wanted to Yeah.
Speaker 2 (15:30):
I wasn't on the street, but I was in somebody
else's home.
Speaker 1 (15:33):
There wasn't OK and they looked out that he didn't
have to break her off anything. She just looked out, No,
she just said, look, I ain't trying to stay here.
Speaker 2 (15:40):
You can pay me. I think it was like seven
hundred a month and I was only there for two months.
So I just gave her like the money so I
could stay in her and her a little sweet that
she had. They had like kitchen and the living room
and everything, and I think she only had one other
roommate on the other side. I think the other two
were like gone for the summer.
Speaker 1 (15:56):
Oh so it was a sweet look. Yeah, so for
two months, what happens once the two months are.
Speaker 2 (16:01):
Up though, So the two months was up, the internship
was up. But I did have a conversation with Sorry,
I did have a conversation with my direct report, like
the boss I was working for, about wanting to come
back if they had any opportunity, So I would say maybe.
Around September, I came back to Atlanta as a temp
(16:22):
for the department. It was the original programming department, and
that temporary position was only posed to last until February.
Before February could come, they offered me a full time position.
Speaker 1 (16:32):
Oh no, So then you're officially in Atlanta, yep, and
your family's singing praises and everything. You are excited yep.
So then what happens from there?
Speaker 2 (16:42):
Just grinding, trying to learn everything. And one thing that
my boss at the time stress was I get to
know every department head, everybody that work in the department.
So I spent most of my internship trying to learn
the different departments and how they work with our department,
not just staying isolated. So it was a lot of
that and just working on different shows. At the time,
(17:05):
they didn't have a big post production department, so I
was helping out with posts. I was reading scripts and
different things, and yeah, just grinding it out, getting up early,
catching the bus, then catching the trains so I can
get to bucket.
Speaker 1 (17:19):
So at what point does mine your business come into play?
Speaker 2 (17:22):
So maya business come in twenty twenty two? Yeah, twenty
twenty two. It happened before Hayboo, or it happened after
Hayboo after.
Speaker 1 (17:31):
That's what I'm saying. But mind your businesses would bounce right, Okay,
So I don't want to skip over, Okay, then go
hey Boo first.
Speaker 2 (17:37):
Okay, I go hay booth while I'm in Atlanta. I
really didn't know a lot of people there, so I
mainly just like in my free time, right try working
on my craft in different things. And then I was
applying to all of these fellowships Disney, NBC like they
all had these fellowships, and then the smaller fellowships, and
then I came across.
Speaker 1 (17:54):
What's a fellowship.
Speaker 2 (17:55):
So a fellowship is basically they take a group of writers,
they bring them in. You do it from workshops. Sometimes
it's paid, and you just get immersed into the whole
right inside of that level. And then after the fellowship
you should have something like already finished or you're developing something,
or you can use whatever you worked on as a
(18:16):
sample to get staff on like a show. So that
was like what I really wanted to do, instead of
going like the writer's PA route and going to writers Assistant,
I wanted to get into a fellowship. So I just
kept applying, got rejected every year by all of them,
and then I started applying to like smaller ones, and
then I came across Heartbeat. I applied one year, I
(18:36):
didn't get it, and that was I think that was
the first year. And then the second year, I almost
forgot about applying it to it until a coworker told
me like, hey, are you gonna apply to this Heartbeat Fellowship?
I was like, oh yeah, and I put it off
and then it was like, up, the deadline's here. So
I heard up and rolled a skip and that's what
I submitted.
Speaker 1 (18:54):
And then they accepted it and you did you want?
How did it work?
Speaker 2 (18:59):
So basic? They narrowed it down to people that they
wanted to interview. So I did an interview with one
of the co founders of the program, Candice, and also
the program manager, which was Jennifer at the time, and
so we did an interview and then after that kind
of was just waiting to see and then I remember
it was like before my birthday or either on my birthday,
(19:21):
Jennifer had called me. She was like, hey, so what
is your schedule looking like for this? Then? And the
third I'm like, why would she be in that? And
so then I think, like the day before my birthday
I found out I got the fellowship?
Speaker 1 (19:33):
Nice, yep, how long was the fellowship?
Speaker 2 (19:36):
The fellowship was for a year, but the writers strike
cut that year little short.
Speaker 1 (19:42):
So yeah, okay, so then what happens from there, Britt,
is this when you start to think about Habu?
Speaker 2 (19:50):
So Habu was with the Fellowship.
Speaker 1 (19:52):
Oh, Habu was what you submitted?
Speaker 2 (19:53):
Yeah, Habu was what I submitted, and it just after that,
it probably went like through a couple of rounds of
notes with them and then the director logan and yeah,
after that they went to shooting it. So I came
out here for that shoot. I was flying back and
forth a lot from Atlanta to la from my job
and then for Haybow different things that they wanted to
(20:14):
do with the Fellowship. And once Habu was shot, I
was working on the show at Bounce called Accurate Age.
We were on set and me and one of my
coworkers we were talking about, Okay, we got Accurate Age,
but what else are we going to be working on.
What's going to be like the Companion show to this?
What other programming? And so we was like, okay, let's
(20:35):
start brainstorming and thinking of a show to go with
this or to like air after this. So we had
something in the bank.
Speaker 1 (20:41):
And this wasn't something This wasn't a part of your job,
right this is so I was on the.
Speaker 2 (20:46):
Development team and we Accurate Age was developed in house,
So do develop ideas in house and just outsource to
a production company bring it to life. So it was
a part of my job, but like really taking this
INITIATI was but my pay grade. Like but we was like, hey,
we need something to do because like, yeah we need
a job. Yeah, we need to show reps. And then
(21:08):
just going back to getting no different departments like they
were saying like like the older sitcoms are performing well,
like on the streaming platforms and on our fast channels,
Like it would be nice if we could get something
of that same wheelhouse. So we put our brains together
and that's how we came up. It was called Family
Affair before it became maya business. Yeah, and then you
(21:30):
pitch it yeah, So we pitched it too. I made
sure all the team was on the call. Wasn't like
a certain intervie. I was like, I want the whole
original team on a call, and I need I to
pull people to the south. I need you to pack
me up on it. And so we pitched it to them.
They loved it, and so our next step was to
find a writer to write the pilot episode. And if
the pilot episode, like the script was good enough. Then
(21:52):
they were green lighted.
Speaker 1 (21:53):
And when they greenlighted, what does that mean, Like you
sold your first show? Yeah, it basically mean you were
going to series, Like, yeah, what was that ex experience
like for you? So when they did greenlight it, I
was no longer at Bounce. I left Bounce to go
to Fuse because I was now out here living in
LA and at the time, I was just a senior
(22:14):
coordinator at Bounce, but the money that I was making
was more so affordable for Atlanta in that LA and
then there were a whole bunch of layoff talks. So
I was like, I need to find another way to
make more money, and this is not it. So I
left Bounce to go to Fuse, and I also left
to really go ham on my writing. And then that's
when the strikes happened. But you were also doing the
(22:36):
Heartbeat Fellowship.
Speaker 2 (22:37):
Yeah, the Heartbeat Fellowship Sundance that all happened.
Speaker 1 (22:41):
Yeah, So you got a lot of overlap, a lot
of overlaps. When you leave, they still have the rights
to buy mind your business.
Speaker 2 (22:48):
Yes, So when you work for a network and you
pitch ideas internally.
Speaker 1 (22:53):
They own the idea. Yeah, Womb Womb like, I can't there.
They own it because you pitched it while you were
an employee. Yeah, so if you would have left and
then pitched it, then I would own it. So they
own it.
Speaker 2 (23:13):
But that's the whole point. I feel like that's the
reason why they really wanted to do the show, because
they're like, Okay, we got this internal idea that we
can hold on to and we can take out and license,
like don't but it ended up being a top show
for them. Yep.
Speaker 1 (23:26):
So you knowing that, is there a part of you
that thinks also that maybe you walking in some of
the talks or the rhetoric that was going on, could
have because if you would have stayed as an employee,
what would you have gotten after pitching that show? Nothing?
Speaker 2 (23:40):
Nothing but working long hours on the show and still
making my salary. That's crazy.
Speaker 1 (23:47):
Yeah, I don't know if that should be allowed for real.
Speaker 2 (23:51):
Yeah, it's like two far. I know certain networks they
may break you off a little something extra if you
it's just.
Speaker 1 (23:59):
Gave them like more than what they invested in you, basically, Yeah,
and you're cool with that. Earth how do you feel? So?
Speaker 2 (24:04):
I was a little salty because it was like I
was supposed to. When I left the company. We had
conversations before, Hey, you can come back as a consultant.
This is your show that you created and that didn't
happen because of budget cuts and the strike.
Speaker 1 (24:20):
But it's also one of their top performing shows. Yeah, yes,
be super salty. Yeah, so I just look at it
like this way. If I can create that show, I
can do another one. So I'm past it now. Yeah,
But like at the time, I was very Yeah, I'm
still trying to get past it, but it.
Speaker 2 (24:37):
Was very salty. But I just that's messed up, man.
Speaker 1 (24:40):
Yeah. I would be complaining for at least six months.
Speaker 2 (24:42):
And then it was this whole thing about my created
by credit. I'm like, in my employee agreement it said
like any idea y'all own. It didn't say nothing about
me not getting my proper credit.
Speaker 1 (24:52):
Did they give it to you?
Speaker 2 (24:53):
Yes, they had to give it to me because one
of the executives that was there when I was there
at the time, he made sure when we signed the
writer onto write the pilot, he said, hey, all three
of these ladies are getting created by credit. Put that
in an agreement.
Speaker 1 (25:06):
The other two ladies there still.
Speaker 2 (25:08):
One is there the other one was like a contract
work for hire, so she wasn't a full time employee
with the y'all just giving up your gold. Okay, got it,
she wasn't, So she was just hired on to be
the writer and work on the show and be executive
producer and all of that.
Speaker 1 (25:21):
So we'll shout out to him for fighting for y'all.
Speaker 2 (25:24):
Yeah, so I appreciate JJ for doing that because if
that wasn't there, they probably would have found some way
to not give us our credit.
Speaker 1 (25:31):
Yeah, so then you're over at Fused having that Fuseland.
Speaker 2 (25:35):
So Fuse was unscripted, which was I did unscripted that Bounce,
but Fuse was like a different type of unscripted. So
I'm glad I did get that experience and work on
different shows, and one of them was Big Freedom Means Business,
sex sales. We had a sports yeah, we had a
lovely Yeah. We had a sports show called Like a Girl.
That was cool to see come because we like revamped
(25:58):
the show while I was there, So that was cool
to see that come to. And Fruistion and and yeah,
it was a different type of shows they branded content.
That was my first time experience with working that in
depth with branded content. We was exploring different content.
Speaker 1 (26:11):
But you say branded content, what does that mean?
Speaker 2 (26:13):
So let's say Times best company, I want to say
it out loud decided they want to sponsor on this
segment of me cooking. Yeah, the porky means and cheese.
That would be branded branded content.
Speaker 1 (26:26):
Damn, go fuse.
Speaker 2 (26:27):
I wanted to get.
Speaker 1 (26:28):
I wanted to get eating while brokenfused at one point,
I don't think they wanted us, but yeah, they have
some good content. That said, they got sex Cells, which
is pretty good and that's a top show for them, right.
Speaker 2 (26:38):
And I used to watch like the uncut versions before
they had the edit it for so yeah, it's very
but it was very interesting too, Like I think it's
a good concept.
Speaker 1 (26:48):
Yeah, great, shout out to the Weeezy. I love her,
super cool chick. So your affuse, what's the next play?
Speaker 2 (26:57):
I was still trying to pursue my write in, but
it was it's hard being like post strikes and a
lot of shows not renewing and like different opportunities and
then the whole like representation having issues with them. Hey
can you give me some rooms? Cause like I was
like using my network to get meetings and trying to
get my stuff read, and so I was like, Okay,
(27:20):
maybe I could just write the full length film of
hay Boo and try to get back into Heartbeat. So
I started like ID eight and what I wanted the
full length version of Heyboo to look like, and start writing.
And so now I have a shopping agreement where Heartbeat
time is winding down, but I'm trying to get it
(27:40):
somewhere at some studio streamer whoever wants to take it on.
But yeah, that was like my thing of trying to
get hay Boo, trying to update some of my other
scripts so when those meetings do come in, I could
be prepared.
Speaker 1 (27:54):
So how do you get it? At Peacock and two B.
Speaker 2 (27:57):
Peacock and Twoby was all through Heartbeat. That's what their
whole arrangement as far as like distributing the films and
that stuff. So we wasn't really involving that part. It
just said, oh, it's gonna be on Peacock. And then
one day I was at home and I was on
Toby and I saw it on to I was like,
oh it's on Toby.
Speaker 1 (28:13):
Too, Oh wow, yes, And then what do those checks
look like from that standpoint.
Speaker 2 (28:19):
I only got paid once by a heartbeat, and that
was for the script.
Speaker 1 (28:24):
Then it was a fellowship.
Speaker 2 (28:25):
Yeah, it was like a stipend.
Speaker 1 (28:27):
But they don't own it, right, they own Heybi, this sucks,
but this is the I love that you're sharing this
because I think that we all think, Okay, we created something,
we land this big deal and there's this huge payout
or whatever. But this definitely has to be like the
most roller coaster of emotions ever. Yes, but it's also
(28:48):
confidence boosting because you're obviously a creator that's able to
sell amazing content that's getting picked up. The question is
how do you demand your worth? On the other side,
you just gotta be what's the word that I can
use for you just gotta be on it. You gotta
make sure your representation is on it. Did you have
(29:09):
representation on both of these accounts?
Speaker 2 (29:11):
No? I got hay boo and did my business all
by myself. I didn't get representation.
Speaker 1 (29:16):
So after the fact, well, hey boo, you did after
the fact too. That's interesting.
Speaker 2 (29:24):
Yeah, So I say this representation is good to have,
but it's more so knowing people Like if I wasn't
working within the network, I probably wouldn't have been able
to get a pitched the show in twenty twenty two,
and by I want to say, twenty twenty four is
Aaron on television. And that's because we were working at
the network and trying to push it through and I
(29:45):
was on my boss like, hey, do we got disapproved legal?
So I feel like I had an advantage when I
was at the network to able to get stuff like
green lay because that wasn't the first show that I
pitched and got like a green light. The other one
I pitched was a game show, but it died in
like upfront, so I was familiar with how the process work.
But with this one, like I had the other departments
(30:05):
backing me up. I felt like that was my advantage.
And yeah, I didn't really need representation because I was
already in the system.
Speaker 1 (30:13):
But do you think that was a plus or negative?
Because on one end, it's a plus because it got
your stuff pushed further and you know what they're looking
for on both sides of the camera now, right, so
you can consider yourself like a double threat, triple threat, right.
But on the downside, there's a little bit of for
lack of better word, it just seems like a little
bit of a dog eat dog because yeah, because of
(30:34):
the affiliation of the network.
Speaker 2 (30:36):
Yeah, so it's, uh, you gotta you win some and
you lose some. So you just got to take into
accounts like, hey, you need to get a credit, but
how are you gonna go about getting that credit? You
get that credit, that'll take you up a notch. So
when you do go out on your own, at least
you have something versus than having nothing.
Speaker 1 (30:53):
Yeah, so I wasn't trying to cut you off.
Speaker 2 (30:57):
Oh no, go ahead.
Speaker 1 (30:59):
What would you say, is your next play after everything you've.
Speaker 2 (31:03):
Learned, after everything I learned? My next play? I'm sorry, y'all.
I'm not used to doing interviews. It's been a minute.
My next play is, I'm looking at how these content
creators are getting on TikTok and YouTube shorts and stuff
and just posting not random stuff, but it's not a
big budget production, and they're getting the brand deals and
(31:27):
they're getting the views and they're building their audience. So
I feel like my next direction, as far as going
to indie route, I'm looking more so into content creation
and creating stuff for social because I know that's where
the younger people are older people are on it. If
you put it on Facebook, you know they're gonna eat
it up. So that's like my next route. That way
I can develop my own IP and own it so
(31:50):
when somebody do see it, I ain't want to pick
it up. It's be like a similar situation with Isa
Ray and Opera Black Girl and stuff like that.
Speaker 1 (31:57):
Or but now during the Ray era, I don't know
if the algorithms were as algorithm as now, because like
sometimes we could post and we'll have a good six
months and then we'll have a six months of what
is wrong? Yeah, And I don't think it's the content.
I think it's more so the algorithm. Yeah, if you
changing them around.
Speaker 2 (32:15):
Yeah, you could say that. You also say it's oversaturated.
But I also feel like if you do have something
that you want to put out there now, it's the
time to just put it out there versus waiting and
then if somebody do come along and they're like, oh,
we want this, and you sign your rights away from
it because you don't really have much leverage in the game,
versus building your own audience and going to indie route.
(32:38):
That's what it's looking more like now, given with the
state of the industry.
Speaker 1 (32:42):
Yeah, so you're still doing screenwriting though.
Speaker 2 (32:45):
Yeah, I'm still right. I'm still trying to push hey
Boo out there.
Speaker 1 (32:49):
But I don't understand if they own it, why would
you still want to push it.
Speaker 2 (32:53):
Because we do have a shopping agreement between each other,
so I can't take it out. I have permission to
take it out to pitch to different streamers and studios. Yeah,
so that's what my main thing is, trying to get
it made it to a full length film. That way,
it's another credit under my belt, money, all that type.
Speaker 1 (33:11):
Of stuff, And so you can take it out right
from the Yeah.
Speaker 2 (33:14):
I could take it out now that I'm under the agreement,
but like, once the agreement is up, then we have
to go back to the table, like, hey, we need
a little bit more time so we can get it somewhere.
Speaker 1 (33:23):
Wow. Wow, that's a lot of pressure. Do you have
friends that pitch you on you looking over their pictures
a lot?
Speaker 2 (33:30):
Yeah?
Speaker 1 (33:31):
How does that feel?
Speaker 2 (33:33):
It feels good that they trust me to look over
the stuff. I don't try to be too hard on
them because I know like how it feels to be
on the other side and be a creative and you
sensitive about your art. So I try to be as
nice about it, but also tell them like, hey, this's
not gonna work, or you may want to go back
and look at this. But they do come to me
a lot with different pictures or ideas they think I
(33:55):
should do.
Speaker 1 (33:56):
You're open to all of that. What advice do you
give to people now, knowing everything that you learned about
the industry.
Speaker 3 (34:02):
And get close with this mic friend?
Speaker 2 (34:05):
Pick up your phone and shoot something. Wow, Just pick
up your phone and shoot something, and you never know
what it can become. You might not even post it,
but just getting it out there, putting it out there,
getting it out your head and something that you can
see visually. I feel like it helped. Like I just
go back to the moment where I was at sun
Dance in the theater and my name pop up written
(34:27):
by Danielle Solomon. I'm like, oh, wow, it's out there.
Speaker 1 (34:30):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (34:31):
So like even if nobody else see it, or you
show it to your family or like, just pick up
your phone and shoot something and don't have to be
too much. It could just be like a short or
it could be like a little skit that you call
or you don't post. It's just getting that practice in
and just building something if you get in the habit
of doing that, Because it's good to just write and
(34:52):
watch TV and study it, but it's also good to
actually like film something.
Speaker 1 (34:58):
Yes, And in regards to like joining the bigger companies
like Heartbeat, Bounce, FEUs and all of that, what do
you feel knowing what you know now?
Speaker 2 (35:07):
Like joining it as a Yeah, it wouldn't be my
first stop. My first thought would be trying to build
my own audience. That way I can leverage myself more
when I go.
Speaker 1 (35:20):
To You think getting out bigger audience is more important
than getting the credits. This is a random at this
point in the game for me. Yes, wow, Yeah, that's
a big statement. Yeah, I agree. I feel like everything's
going to social media route. But there are theories that
(35:41):
they're saying like that social media may and which I'll
be honest, like the day social media dies would probably
be one of the happiest days of my life because
everything is around it. It's like we're but it's also
very controlled by the who's a who. I heard that
when Trump got elected everyone ended up following him. I
(36:03):
don't know if my I don't think I ended up
like they said that if you went on your feed,
you'd see that you follow him. Now, I was just like,
how can we trust something that's so like listening in
Like you say, cat food around your phone, yet cat
food and like you have say you're following ten thousand
or two thousand friends, you're only seeing like ten of
(36:23):
your friends stuff.
Speaker 2 (36:25):
Yeah. I was reading something about Tyler Perry and his
early days and how he had like an email list.
I feel like social media is a good start, but
it's not like a stop. Like you try to figure
out how you can stay connected with your audience beyond that,
maybe you do a live show or something, or if
you in the comedy, do a little improv type of thing.
(36:45):
But I feel like social media is a good start,
but it shouldn't be the stop. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (36:51):
I tell a lot of people when I do a
lot of event marketing, and I tell people all the
time social is cute, but at the end of the day,
you want cell phone numbers and email addresses because however
that person uses that social you cannot control the ogurith
can't control the output. Which you do need to know
is that anytime you sell a ticket or promote something,
(37:12):
that person needs to see that impression six to eight
times or to making a purchase, or prior to adjusting
their schedules. You gotta figure out every way possible to
catch those email addresses and phone numbers, because the real
power lies in having that direct contact to phone.
Speaker 2 (37:26):
Yeah, and a good example of that with Maya Business.
It didn't really have a big marketing push compared it
to the other shows and mounts, and I noticed that.
So I was like, So, me and Danielle Dominique, the
other co creator of the show, we was like, Okay,
we need to drop this in our group chets. We
need to tell our family members and different people to
watch it because they're not really pushing it out there,
(37:48):
and like you said, people need to see it at
least six to eight times. So our family was posting
in our alumni groups, and she was in a sorority.
Her sorority was posting it and supporting it. And that's
how I was able to become the higher original premiere
ever and Bounce history was word of mouth and telling
people versus them putting together this whole marketing plan because
it didn't get the huge marketing rollout that it should
(38:10):
have gotten.
Speaker 1 (38:11):
Yeah, yeah, agreed. Why I've learned so much from you.
Thank you so much for cooking for us. I respectfully
know it was like making mad jokes about your dish,
but I feel like it was like a wealth of
knowledge and full transparency on a super rocky road that
I can only imagine has been like really emotional. Yeah,
(38:33):
I think because I feel like I would have twitched
a couple of times.
Speaker 2 (38:37):
A lot of people would have crashed out by now,
gave up. But it's what else Mama gonna do if
I don't do this.
Speaker 1 (38:42):
So are you getting emotional?
Speaker 2 (38:43):
Yeah, I little bit why.
Speaker 1 (38:47):
I'm just curious.
Speaker 2 (38:48):
Yeah, it's just been I'm sorry, it's just been a
long it's been a heart. It doesn't seem like it's
been a long journey, but it's been a long journey,
and it's been really hard just trying to, you know,
stay and stay on the right track. Because it's easily
it's easy to get discourage, it's easy to get feel
like you're never gonna achieve anything. And I feel like
(39:11):
because I was able to at least get something done,
it's given me the motivation to keep going. Okay, I
was able to do this when I was in this position,
I know I can do more now.
Speaker 1 (39:20):
So what are the things that make you doubt yourself?
Because I completely completely empathize with at least you have
these markers saying I took an idea and I'd proven
that I was able to land it and other people
were able to profit. What was the thing that makes
you feel like you constantly have to tell yourself to
try again or not give up or not pivot.
Speaker 2 (39:43):
I honestly feel like it's just it's not me. But
then like I know I can do it. I can
see it in my head, like I know, Okay, this
could be real. It's just things that's out of my
control that I can't control that kind of makes me
doubt myself. I'm like, dang, because they're not high in
this show got canceled, this is show I wanted to
write on, and things like that discouraged me and make
(40:05):
me doubt, Okay, why am I doing this? But then
it's like I always remind myself, what else will I
am I willing to do if I'm not doing this
that will make me content, that will not have me
living in regret.
Speaker 1 (40:18):
And what's the answer. Nothing?
Speaker 2 (40:20):
Nothing. So it's like I had no choice but to
do what I'm doing, try to keep going in pursuing.
Speaker 1 (40:26):
It, and then how do you manage your finances through
that whole process.
Speaker 2 (40:31):
I gotta work sometimes, I gotta work jobs that's not
as oh I'm on set. No, I'm actually doing customer
service work.
Speaker 1 (40:39):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (40:40):
Yeah, And you know it's jobs that you ideally don't
want to do and you never know what This industry
is very unpredictable. I got laid off at FUSE in January,
so I've been just trying to hustle to try to
keep up so I can stay here because I don't
want to leave here and not accomplish what I set
out to do here before I go back home. So
I was like, I have to find ways to make money.
Speaker 1 (41:01):
Yeah, and I think that's the reality of it all.
I personally hold on like three jobs, right, Yeah. I
tell people like only in La you meet people that
work a forty hours job, get off uber and then
they side side house so it's babysitting, and that is
the normal here.
Speaker 2 (41:20):
Yeah. That was being when I was confused. I was
working full time and then I was working part time
because it was like, let me pay this stuff off,
like to do the loans that way I can take
out another loan so I could do the short film
or do anohing, a little animated something, some type of
product of my own. So that was like my whole thing.
I was like working to get stuff paid off so
I can take out not the loan and dude.
Speaker 1 (41:40):
Sorry, Yeah, I think that God left these accolades at
the right time for you to know like you're heading power.
It has to be that God. Hey, I know this
road looks rocky as hell, but don't forget you had
this and you brought it to life. I think the
creators the greatest thing someone could ever do is be
(42:02):
like the imitation of God. Have a vision for something
and create it and give it life like something that
no one thought to exist. Or you were just like
bringing an idea to life, as to me is like beautiful.
But who else see you? Thank you, Thank you for
the vulnerability.
Speaker 2 (42:18):
Yeah, I'm never.
Speaker 1 (42:22):
Eats and cheese for breakfast, please Lord, Please, No, I
take that back, because you you say something like that,
you're gonna end up eating it.
Speaker 2 (42:31):
So no, I'll take it back. Take it back. It's
not my favorite dish.
Speaker 1 (42:37):
But like I say on this show, the broke of
the dish the better. The story in this story was
truly amazing and inspiring, and I love that you're vulnerabile
about it. Where can everybody keep up with Danielle Solomon?
And I want to say support, hey boo. I don't
know if we should be support to mind our business?
Speaker 2 (42:54):
Should we? Y'all can watch it if I want to
watch the first season, I recommend.
Speaker 1 (42:59):
The first season.
Speaker 2 (43:00):
I'm only hating because I feel some type of way. Yeah,
everybody do, but yeah, definitely support the first season. I'm
not gonna tell people not to watch it because it's
black people behind the camera, black people in front of
the cameras. Don't want to take away from what they're doing.
Just black. No Bounces was never owned by black people,
but so we just capitalizing all them. Yeah, but I
(43:24):
would say support them a chance because we don't have
that many shows, and the shows we do have are
being canceled left and right. Okay, support Yeah, I would
say still support it, but mainly hey boo, because I'm
still trying to get the full in version. Yeah, so
you can watch that on to be in Peacock.
Speaker 1 (43:43):
And every time, like Kevin Harr would be like, yo,
hey boo.
Speaker 2 (43:48):
Hit up Kevin. Yeah, so he can get on his
people be like, yeah, let's get this somewhere.
Speaker 1 (43:52):
Let's get it somewhere. Thank you so much for your
time and feeding me baked beans, baked beans, and she
and pease and like I said, y'all, this is a
great feeling dish.
Speaker 2 (44:05):
It's not good when it's cold.
Speaker 1 (44:06):
It's not it's fairly good. It's fairly good when it's warm.
Thank you so much for your time. I really appreciate you,
and you guys better go out there and follow at
Danielle Solomon.
Speaker 2 (44:18):
Is that?
Speaker 1 (44:18):
How is that?
Speaker 2 (44:19):
Instagram? Is Danielle Michelle TV TikTok Danielle Michelle writes, I
know it's all over the place, but yeah, TikTok and
Instagram for.
Speaker 1 (44:27):
Sure, daniel Michelle TV.
Speaker 2 (44:30):
Instagram, and then Danielle Michelle writes, TikTok.
Speaker 1 (44:33):
Okay you heard it here first.
Speaker 2 (44:35):
Peace out, y'all. Peace
Host
Coline Witt
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