September 6, 2023 • 44 mins
In this week's installment of Locatora Radio, we're joined by Jade Richard Craven, the writer and co-executive producer of the Tubi Original film, Gridiron Grind, a sapphic coming-of-age story for a high school football player.
Gridiron Grind is based on Richard Craven's true experience playing on all-boys football team. We talk to Richard Craven about fact vs. fiction, 22-episode seasons and her journey in Hollywood.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:07):
Loka Tora Radio is a radiophonic novella, which is just.
Speaker 2 (00:11):
A very extra way of saying a podcast.
Speaker 1 (00:15):
I'm Fosa m and I am Mala Munos. Lokatra Radio
is your Brima's favorite podcast hosted by us Mala and Viosa.
Speaker 3 (00:25):
We're two ig friends turned podcast partners, breaking down pop culture, feminism,
sexual wellness, and offering fresh takes on trending topics through
nuanced interviews with up and coming LATINX creatives.
Speaker 1 (00:38):
Known as Las Lokatas, Las Mammis of Meth and Bullshit and.
Speaker 4 (00:42):
Las Borcas Prosas.
Speaker 1 (00:44):
We were podcasting independently since twenty sixteen, but joined iHeartMedia's
Microtura network in twenty twenty two.
Speaker 3 (00:51):
This year, we're continuing to share stories from the LATINX community.
Speaker 2 (00:55):
Bartol Mundo, Welcome to season eight.
Speaker 4 (00:59):
Are you listening? O?
Speaker 1 (01:04):
Laaka moti Is Welcome to Season eight of lok Atra Radio.
Speaker 2 (01:08):
I'm the Osa and I am Mala. How are you?
Speaker 4 (01:12):
Yeah? I'm feeling good.
Speaker 1 (01:13):
I'm wearing a pair of olive green satin pants.
Speaker 2 (01:18):
They're cute. They're real cute.
Speaker 4 (01:19):
It's like a new look for me.
Speaker 2 (01:21):
I love it.
Speaker 1 (01:22):
Styled by Brenda Ani.
Speaker 3 (01:25):
Okay, yeah, let's talk about this because we are working
with the stylist now.
Speaker 1 (01:29):
It's exciting.
Speaker 2 (01:30):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (01:31):
Yeah, it's nice to work with someone that like looks
at your body and then pulls pieces for you based
on your body type and your size and your height
and all of that and knows like, yes, you can
alter this, No you shouldn't alter that.
Speaker 4 (01:47):
So that's fun.
Speaker 3 (01:48):
It's fun. It's been fun. And Brenda actually styled us
for our Michael Dura two year anniversary show, and we
looked great.
Speaker 2 (01:56):
I mean, she did a really good job.
Speaker 3 (01:58):
She pulled a bunch of pieces, came to our house,
is like, did proper fittings. And the proof is in
the pudding. The girl has the eye.
Speaker 4 (02:05):
We have arrived, is how I feel totally.
Speaker 3 (02:08):
I mean, we got nothing but compliments. Robert did our
hair and makeup. M M.
Speaker 4 (02:12):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (02:13):
You know, I love our individual styles. I love our
collective styles. But I will say over the last seven years,
there have been some hits and there have been some misses.
I won't necessarily air out the missus on air, but
I know, and you know what we're talking about.
Speaker 2 (02:32):
I don't know what you're talking about. Tell me where
where were the which was where the missus?
Speaker 1 (02:38):
Well, I think we've had some custom pieces made.
Speaker 2 (02:40):
Oh girl. Yeah that yeah, you.
Speaker 1 (02:42):
Know, needed a little bit more time, need a little
bit more work. And so that's why I'm not naming
anything or being specific, but I think over the years
we tried to like work with different people or just
tried to kind of let's be a little more and
unique and specific and styled. And you know, it worked
for where we were at that point in our career
(03:02):
and our journey. And now we're here and there's a
little more, a little more finesse, a little more pizaz.
Speaker 3 (03:09):
I don't know, Yeah, there's you know, even celebrities with
stylists have misses like all the time, right, I mean
there was entire an entire show Fashion Police just all
about red carpet misses.
Speaker 2 (03:22):
And I think.
Speaker 3 (03:23):
That with us, like we were trying to be custom
and styled and work with a designer, but like no fittings,
no measurements, no budget. She was so in us in
basically day of the show. Yeah, that was early early on.
Speaker 4 (03:39):
It was early on.
Speaker 1 (03:39):
We had this beautiful vision, like we want to work
with a Latina designer, and that's still true, right, and
she's an incredible person and an incredible designer. It would
just we were both so new in our journeys at
the time, you know, And so yeah, it's like just
really funny to look back and then now to see
how like the looks have elevated, oye, even even how
(04:00):
our own style has elevated or changed over the years.
Speaker 3 (04:03):
Yeah, because it's it's not just about oh this is cute,
it's like does it look good sitting down? Does it
look good on camera?
Speaker 2 (04:12):
Does it look good under lights?
Speaker 3 (04:13):
Like?
Speaker 2 (04:14):
Is this going to hold up?
Speaker 3 (04:15):
You know? Is it going to last the whole event?
Am I going to be a Am I going to
be falling apart in tatters?
Speaker 4 (04:20):
You know? Am I going to be falling out of it?
All those things, all.
Speaker 3 (04:24):
These things, the accessories, like are they gonna are they
gonna make a bunch of noise on the mic? Like
all of these things, these details, and Brenda like nailed it.
Speaker 1 (04:33):
Yeah, I mean, an aside from like you know, ethical
reasons of course, like the days of the twenty dollars
fast fashion dresses are behind us. Those were our party
dress days.
Speaker 2 (04:43):
For a long time, for very long, really long time.
Speaker 1 (04:46):
I was cleaning out my closet and I found some
of the dresses that we would wear back in the day,
or that I would wear when we would go out
back in.
Speaker 4 (04:54):
The day, and I.
Speaker 1 (04:55):
Decided to part ways with them because I'm like, why
am I hanging onto this other and sentimental, like I'm
not gonna wear this anymore. It also, you know, doesn't
hold up the same way because it's the fabricius thin.
The quality is not that great, and so I gotta
let it go.
Speaker 2 (05:11):
Truly.
Speaker 3 (05:12):
I mean when Brenda brought us like our new pieces
like now in our stylist era, I'm like, wow, none
of these are from Ros.
Speaker 2 (05:19):
This is.
Speaker 1 (05:21):
I love when people would ask you like, wow, where's
that Alfred from and you're like, Ross, It's literally from Ross,
which is fine, no, Sha, we love Ross. But it's
just a different era where someone can actually shop for
you and it it just saves a lot of time
and pain and er tears.
Speaker 2 (05:41):
Yeah, so many tears.
Speaker 3 (05:42):
I mean, we were styling ourselves for all these events
and all these shoots and all this stuff, all these shows,
and just always running around town scrambling.
Speaker 4 (05:54):
The day of event, day before.
Speaker 3 (05:57):
Yeah, when we did our season eight promo, for Loca.
We were in the guyahonas morning of our shoot, like
trying on dresses and then we walked on over to
the studio and it was crazy.
Speaker 1 (06:08):
It was wild that we pulled that off. You pulled
it off because you did the majority of the shopping
for that shoot.
Speaker 3 (06:13):
And it took forev It was hard. It was hard
to shop. So get you a stylist.
Speaker 4 (06:18):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (06:19):
Honestly, today, we are so excited to be in conversation
with Jade Richard Craven about her journey to becoming a
screenwriter and filmmaker.
Speaker 3 (06:28):
This is a really exciting interview. Jade actually played tackle
football on the boys football team in high school, and
she has turned her story into a movie about a
high school athlete who navigates physical and mental challenges after
making the all male football team, but faces her greatest
challenge when she begins to question her sexuality. So please
(06:50):
welcome to the show, Jade Richard Craven. All right, Jade,
welcome to Look at THRA Radio.
Speaker 2 (06:57):
How are you.
Speaker 5 (06:58):
I'm doing well? Thank you for having me.
Speaker 3 (07:01):
Absolutely, I'm so excited to have you here in studio.
Can you please introduce yourself for our listeners.
Speaker 6 (07:06):
Yes, my name is Jade Richard Craven. I'm a writer
and co executive producer of a new two B film
called Gridiron Grind. I've been working in Hollywood for the
past eight years now. Came up as an assistant on
a Netflix Marvel show called Luke Cage, and then did
a little bit on another show called Goliath with Billy
Bob Thornton, and then I've been working in development kind
(07:28):
of to learn how to pitch and things like that,
sitting in rooms with like, you know, the writer of
a Beautiful Mind and a lot of big time people
at Amazon, and I feel like that really helped me
get to where I am today in terms of you know,
there was a wave of diversity post George Floyd's death,
and a lot of that came with this project, which
(07:50):
was originally called The Hit, and I originally try to
sell it as a TV show and now I'm just
so proud that it is a movie on two B
for free that is a coming of age story about
a young queer girl who plays football. And I happened
to play football in high school.
Speaker 3 (08:06):
So yeah, you did iconically like you were the talk
of the town in high school.
Speaker 5 (08:12):
Thank you.
Speaker 3 (08:13):
Yeah, And I want to ask you about that playing
on the boys football team in Pasadena and just that
experience and how you decided you were going to take
that life experience of yours and turn it into a movie.
Speaker 5 (08:27):
Yeah, it was hard. Thank you for calling the iconic.
Speaker 3 (08:32):
Oh truly, Like it was a moment, like you guys
would understand, Like we're in high school, Jade is on
the football team.
Speaker 2 (08:36):
Yeah, fucking killing it. Everybody knows.
Speaker 6 (08:39):
Like it was cool, It was cool, It was different,
like it was progressive for me.
Speaker 5 (08:43):
You were know I was known.
Speaker 6 (08:45):
Yes, yes, I was a little Like I was telling
someone yesterday, some actor I ran into that. You know,
in Hollywood you have to be a little bit ambitious
and crazy, and I think that's like what it was
for football too.
Speaker 5 (08:58):
I channel that football.
Speaker 6 (09:00):
Energy into my Hollywood endeavors. When I was in high school,
I think it was a bit. What I like to
say is I didn't know it was an issue until
other people saw it as an issue. So I played
football since I was like five years old with all
the boys. My cousin was really influential in that. My dad,
my little brother, and so I guess the men around
(09:21):
me also taught me how to play, and I had
an aunt who was really tough and played with us,
so we were all athletic and I just love football,
and I was like, okay, I'm gonna play. In the
middle school, I was like faster than the boys because girls,
you know, developed faster, and that was really good at
the slant routes and we'd win, you know, championships. And
then comes high school. I wasn't gonna play my freshman year,
(09:42):
which is different from the movie. So frenchman year is
when tackle football starts. Everybody at our high school was
on JV. I was telling them we were making the movie,
like no one tries out at our high school.
Speaker 5 (09:55):
It's not like that, and they're like, okay, you know,
do it.
Speaker 6 (09:58):
I was like, okay, fine, I know how to make
like a tryout scene, but I didn't have that. So anyways,
I started the team late my freshman year, which is
kind of the story of Riley Brooks and Gridiron Grind
starting late junior year, and because I don't know, I
was I was scared to play, and my dad really
noticed that I was sad not being a part of
(10:19):
a team, and so he was he encouraged me to play,
which is true to the story and the movie is
just the timeline is a little bit different. So I
played freshman year JV. Then I played Then I took
a break to play club soccer, and because I liked
a boy and I was like, maybe maybe if I'm
like with the more of the femme girls, then he'll
(10:39):
like me. Yeah, So that's kind of in the story too.
That's the origin of this lovely movie is is just like,
don't do something because someone else, you know, makes you
feel a certain type of way about it. And then
the football stuff was good. Freshman year, I like could
keep up and stuff. But then by the time I
was a junior and senior, you're the guys did grow
(11:01):
faster and stronger, and people I used to be able
to tackle or pair up with, it wasn't the same.
Then I was pairing up with like the kicker, and
so that was really hard because, as you know, mala
I was a pretty good athlete in other sports. So
for basketball, I was on varsity and that actually inspired
like the championship narrative in the movie, because that's when
(11:24):
I want a championship is in basketball. So it was
hard to be like a varsity athlete who was good
in women's sports, but then just kind of like I
was really good at tackling in football, and so I
leaned into that story. The first time around, I tried
to make like the character just the superstar, and it
like wasn't authentic to my experiences. Not writing the movie,
(11:46):
of course, I'm like, Okay, let's dig into my trauma.
Speaker 2 (11:49):
Like into it.
Speaker 6 (11:51):
Like there's scenes I still hate watching. There's one scene
where she trips over her feet because some guys are
taunting her on the sideline, and that happened to me
no when Iver came into my locker room, like one
part of the story. But there was a group of
we were really good my senior year, and so me
and other backup players, third stringers would go in towards
(12:12):
the end of the game and there was this one
time that this guy was a really bad team.
Speaker 5 (12:17):
We were up let's say fifty six to zero.
Speaker 6 (12:19):
I think it is in the movie something like that,
and I go in and they're like, we gotta get
this shut out. We got to make a statement, basically,
don't let the other team's gorny points. And it felt
like all this pressure, you know, at our school, everything
was pressure yeah, yeah, yeah, so these guys were like, throw.
Speaker 5 (12:35):
It at the girl, throw it at the girl, throw it.
Speaker 2 (12:36):
At the girl. And I was like, oh my god.
Speaker 6 (12:38):
Yeah, it just felt like so much so targeted, and
it wasn't It was on the opposite of our sidelines.
So it was something where maybe I could have done
better if they weren't there, but it felt I think
there's a line that Riley has about all eyes on her.
Speaker 5 (12:56):
Which I later was like, oh, that's tupac.
Speaker 3 (12:59):
Yeah.
Speaker 6 (12:59):
Yeah, like it feels like everything she does out there
matters ten times as much, which also translates to women
and queer women in society, right, like everything we do,
we have to be ten times as good as the
mediocre man, you know, equivalent. And and yeah, so that,
like looking back on that as an adult was pretty
powerful too, because there was a lot of stuff.
Speaker 5 (13:18):
I had buried.
Speaker 2 (13:19):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (13:19):
I loved the storyline throughout of like the relationship with
your mom and with the older sister and all these
expectations of excellence and being the best and not quitting,
and like the mother character like being supportive secretly, but
(13:43):
then like with Riley, not really, And so I was
so curious too, like about those dynamics in your actual
high school experience, and and how did you write the
mom and the sister, you know, like how did you
go about translating it to the PA and like that
scary for you?
Speaker 6 (14:02):
Oh, I was so nervous. But I will start with this.
My mom psa. She wants everyone to know she went
to all my games. She is a doctor, and she
was terrified of me getting hurt. But she went to
all my games and she's super supportive and always has been.
So yeah, cause I think there were a couple of
fans who were like, we don't like the mom character.
Speaker 5 (14:21):
I'm like, that was for conflict, this is the story.
Speaker 6 (14:24):
But I did I jokingly say she's uh, And my
mom isn't even like overly feminine. She is just like
very together and very smart, driven, knows what she wants.
And same with my older sister. So I felt like
they had this bond that I was missing out on.
And I have two other siblings too, but I wanted
to focus on that because I remember in high school
(14:46):
there's like a scene, a banquet scene in the movie
and it very much so represented.
Speaker 5 (14:51):
Like it's so silly.
Speaker 6 (14:54):
But I was known as like my mom would introduce
me as, oh, this is the daughter who plays football,
and then this is the daughter who's going to Stanford.
And it was like, oh, okay, so I'm not the
academic one, you know, I only went to another.
Speaker 5 (15:07):
Ivy plus duke I was. I was slumming it.
Speaker 6 (15:12):
Yeah, But so also like the sister encouraging her to
try out for school and like try harder, because I
had that more struggle in like eighth grade, where let's
say I was capable of doing things, but I didn't
have the drive all the time. And so that was
really important to show that my sister also never slept
with a guy I liked.
Speaker 2 (15:33):
Thank, oh good. This is these are artistic choices for drama.
Speaker 6 (15:40):
This is where my soapy you know, WB mind comes
in and I'm like, whoa, it's been yeah. But so
my sister and my my mom they basically like we're
I just I think I felt misunderstood, you know, a
little angsty teenager, the athletic one. It was like my
(16:00):
dad understood me any better. I think the movie portrays
it more like the dad just understands her so much better.
I just think I was really jealous of what I
perceived my mom to like love my sister more. And
so when I was coming out really that came later out,
like in my twenties, and so I was like, Okay,
(16:22):
what was the issue. This is like my own and
real therapy, right, but my own kind of psychoanalysis. Why
was I so hung up on this one guy? And
why was I so hung up on the sister jealousy?
It's like she was the straight version of me, you know,
and I hadn't. I was like queer and bisexual. But
still I was like, Oh, this is gonna make my
(16:42):
parents love her even more kind of thing. So, especially
as a teenager, I was like, if the teen me
was out, what would she feel about her sister dating
the guy she was supposed to date?
Speaker 5 (16:52):
And that's where it just kind of escalated. Yeah.
Speaker 4 (16:54):
I love that.
Speaker 1 (16:55):
Yeah, Yeah, I wanted to ask you because I love
that you're distinguishing like this is movie mom, this is
not my real mom. And so you obviously decided to
dig deep and dig into your personal history, your younger self.
But how did you choose what you were going to
fictionalize and what you were going to stay true to
your story?
Speaker 5 (17:15):
That's a great question. Yeah, I think to be in
bar Vista, No, they know.
Speaker 6 (17:24):
I think when I first wrote it, it was like
real life plus like Riverdale pilot.
Speaker 2 (17:30):
You know, like.
Speaker 6 (17:33):
Okay kJ Appa's character secretly with the teacher, and so
her best friend, who she's you know, unrequited with, is
going to be in love with her sister. It's the
same trope in like almost every teen drama pilot. But really,
if we go back, you know, not to date ourselves.
Like for me, it was like Dawson's Creek first Montreal, right,
but Dawson's Creek the initial pilot is like Katie Holmes's
(17:56):
character is in love with Dawson and he doesn't feel
the same way.
Speaker 5 (18:00):
And there's a new girl who came to town. So
I always was like, what if.
Speaker 6 (18:04):
The new girl was queer and in the main you know,
so it's kind of like if Joey and Michelle Williams's
characters got together. So that was my initial twist on it,
and I was like, oh, that's good.
Speaker 5 (18:15):
And then.
Speaker 6 (18:18):
I guess, in terms of fictionalizing my own life, a
lot of people in it, Like there was no page
in high school. I had a really good platonic friend
who was supportive, A couple of women who were supportive
in my class.
Speaker 5 (18:29):
Who would support me in the locker room, but we
weren't like getting it on.
Speaker 6 (18:32):
Yeah, so I think what I chose to fictionalize the
most was like the queer stuff because all of that
happened for me later in life, which I'm like grateful
for how it happened.
Speaker 5 (18:46):
But I think the dad's stuff is pretty spot on.
Speaker 6 (18:51):
The mom's stuff was like exacerbated, the sister stuff exacerbated.
But also like I had a friend who dated the
guy that I liked and didn't like.
Speaker 5 (19:01):
You know, at our school was very small, so yeah,
very small, very small community.
Speaker 6 (19:06):
Yes, so I think things like that I combine people
a lot of the times do to fictionalize it more.
Speaker 5 (19:13):
I'm thinking who.
Speaker 6 (19:14):
Else like, Yeah, really like, I would say most of
it is pretty accurate to me, minus like the ultra
dramatic things. And then obviously the big part is the
Page Riley love story, which is pretty fictional in for
a high school version. It was based off of a
(19:34):
lot of unrequited crushes I've had in my adulthood, so
we can get it. You want plenty of source material
to drop, well, just knowing I said, we had like
this great Fox Pride panel in June, and I just
said to them, like, I've been the Page and the Riley.
I've been the person who wasn't ready to be out,
(19:55):
and I've been on the other side of it. Probably
been on the other side of it a few more
times where if someone is not ready and you know
you are, like it was.
Speaker 5 (20:04):
It's been really cool.
Speaker 6 (20:05):
We've gotten some more fan traction online with like queer
audiences with like Twitter and stuff, and yeah, we can
talk about that, but like one person pointed out Page's
playlist was like Renee Rap, Grayson Chance, and Kim Petris,
and I was like, yeah, those are all my artists.
But then like, on the other hand, it's like Riley
in the bioscene saying I think the algorithm knows more
(20:27):
than I do. Was like me and my twenties being like,
oh my god, every song queer artists.
Speaker 5 (20:32):
Yeah, like what are they telling me?
Speaker 3 (20:34):
Right?
Speaker 2 (20:35):
Yeah?
Speaker 6 (20:35):
But yeah, so it's cool to see both sides of
it because it's hard and and and sexuality is also
layered too.
Speaker 3 (20:43):
So yeah, I love this tweet that you sent me
speaking of the online chatter, and like this is so
this is how you know that the girlies are loving
it right.
Speaker 2 (20:53):
So to eat this tweet.
Speaker 3 (20:55):
There's a cute little cliche sapphic movie for y'all called
grid Iron Grind. It's about a guarded heighs female football
player fights sexism, sibling rivalry, and self acceptance on and
off the field to as a crash on the team's
pre pre med.
Speaker 2 (21:06):
Girl in a nutshell.
Speaker 6 (21:09):
It's funny because they used my original log line, which
I think they've taken down on IMDb. Right, so about
the self acceptance bought a blah blah blah, and then
she adds in and she has a crush on the
pre pre med girl.
Speaker 5 (21:20):
I'm like, genius, Like we need to just say.
Speaker 6 (21:23):
What it is instead of like, yeah, trying to hide
the fact like that it's a queer movie. Even though
it is a queer movie, no one was trying to
hide it. I just feel like if you target the
right audience, Like once the queer audience found it, they're
like boom, you know, and and my roommates were like WHOA.
I'm like, because we're hungry for good content and people
(21:44):
you know, have pushed back and you know, politics bought
a blauh aah blah. But you look at like heartstopper
or bottoms coming out, and like a lot of people
are really excited about these things because we don't get
as much content, especially for diverse folks. Like yeah, so
to have like a black protagonist, that is what I
was a little afraid of, honestly, because sometimes there's pushback,
(22:08):
as you guys know in different communities about queerness and
you know, oh my gosh, you're you know, why are
you exposing that? Or you're supposed to be like this
version of black excellence and that isn't.
Speaker 5 (22:22):
A part of it.
Speaker 6 (22:24):
So I was a little like, like there were certain
people we had a screening party, and I was just like, mom, like,
if you invite this person, make sure they're cool with
the fact that it's queer, Like I don't want any
any surprises and anyone getting up and being disgusted, you know,
like or whatever.
Speaker 5 (22:38):
It is.
Speaker 6 (22:39):
Just everybody was great, but I you always have to
be like hyper aware of.
Speaker 5 (22:44):
It, I think in both of our communities.
Speaker 3 (22:47):
Yeah, totally, yeah, totally, And I think you're spot on
there is of course, we have the the Love Simons, yes, right,
we have the Chay diaz Is.
Speaker 2 (22:59):
But for the teen girls in color. There's a big
hole there.
Speaker 5 (23:03):
Yes, yes, it's huge.
Speaker 4 (23:05):
I would say.
Speaker 1 (23:05):
The only that I can think of is like XO Kitty.
They came out on Netflix.
Speaker 4 (23:10):
It's a spin off of.
Speaker 1 (23:12):
All the boys I loved right before, and that's a
cute like queer coming of age right aps.
Speaker 6 (23:19):
Right, Yeah, you know what's funny. I saw that as
this movie was coming out. I was like, oh, like
we were onto something.
Speaker 1 (23:25):
Yeah, there's definitely something in the water.
Speaker 4 (23:27):
Yeah.
Speaker 5 (23:28):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (23:28):
Even in grad school when I was in my screenwriting class,
I was writing a coming of age queer, really rom
com but for for youth, right, And so it's definitely
to your point that we're hungry for the stories. We
want to write them, we want to tell them. Yes,
clearly the audience has found your film.
Speaker 5 (23:44):
Yeah.
Speaker 6 (23:44):
No, it's very exciting. And this just happened over the
past month where it was kind of dead in the
water for a second. I was like, okay, but then
you know, once this traction hits and the video of
the oh.
Speaker 3 (23:56):
My god, I love it Spanish Spanish, I used to
do it all the way over here and I'm like,
this is my recap now for that.
Speaker 1 (24:02):
Was gonna be my question, like how did this YouTuber
find the movie?
Speaker 2 (24:07):
If you know?
Speaker 5 (24:07):
And like I don't know, is this person from Spain.
Speaker 3 (24:11):
The account is called to Reinas and they did like
a fan recap of Great Iron Grind.
Speaker 5 (24:16):
It's beautiful.
Speaker 2 (24:16):
Yeah, and the title of the video is I Love Lesbian.
Speaker 3 (24:22):
Page's so good, Like this is what I live for.
Speaker 5 (24:25):
Do you understand? Fan videos are what I live for.
Speaker 2 (24:29):
They're going straight to it. We got new Lesbos, we
got a new one.
Speaker 5 (24:33):
We got new Lesbian, A couple of fresh meat.
Speaker 4 (24:35):
Yeah.
Speaker 6 (24:35):
They really were like, okay, yeah, we we ship them.
But yeah, this video it like it's so beautiful. I
mean I think just like the Spanish language is beautiful.
It talks about the story, but also like it's not
your average sports movie and there's passion and I'm like
like thank you. So my one theory is people really
(24:57):
love the actors who played Pace Marilla Cardoso, and she's
actually Brazilian in I don't know how much of this
I can say, but in the original backstory for Page,
her mom is like the really strict Latina Catholic woman
and like in her dad's chill, right, So she's like
(25:19):
mixed race or biracial.
Speaker 5 (25:22):
But we didn't get to dig into that.
Speaker 6 (25:23):
So if there's a sequel, maybe we'll get into that
because all the parents are really like accepting and I'm like,
but there'll be one, right, yeah, which was also cool,
like I wanted to show that it was about Riley
accepting herself, not her family or sister or anything. Everyone
else was just like whatever, it was her internal issue.
And I think that's how that was for me. But
(25:46):
the other theory I have about like the Spanish global
response is I don't know when to be released as
movies internationally or like which countries. So I know I
have some friends who had to get like a VPN
in Argentina or had to get a VPN in like
the Middle East. But I think it's maybe it was
(26:08):
released later.
Speaker 5 (26:09):
But I do.
Speaker 6 (26:10):
I do think like these videos plus the Twitter, like
I think it's connected. That's what I believe, just chatter
like yeah, you know, like some momentum picked up, someone
found it and then they're like, oh, this is actually
good because you won't know if you're not looking for it,
and that that's what was hard for me, I will say,
is like lack of promotion because I was like, I know,
(26:33):
we have a really good project. The cast and crew
did amazing, The director Kevin did amazing, Naomi who played Riley,
did amazing, and Marilla and Sharon. We just had this
outstanding cast. It all worked out so well, and I
was like, and now you're not gonna, you know, show
the goods like so that was hard, but it's finding
its own audience.
Speaker 2 (26:53):
I think.
Speaker 3 (26:54):
Yeah, the kids who are online, right, they're gonna they're
gonna find it, and they're gonna spread it exactly.
Speaker 6 (27:00):
And that power of social media now it's like wildfire.
Speaker 5 (27:03):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (27:03):
Yeah, and I think it sets up the film to be,
you know, kind of like it's iconic among the youth. Yes,
if they're the ones who are fighting it in promoting.
Speaker 6 (27:11):
Yes, yes, like hopefully a little mini you know, low budget.
Speaker 5 (27:16):
Cult classic kind of Yeah. I would love that. That
would be very special.
Speaker 2 (27:20):
Yeah, not a bad way to start your filmmaking journey.
Speaker 5 (27:23):
Yeah.
Speaker 6 (27:23):
I mean, and it makes me hungry to make like
more things that are meaningful to people, because I think
that was the hardest thing after it came out, being like,
I'm so satisfied with it, but just knowing I reached
some people was really special to me and validated a
lot of like all the late nights and stuff and
the internal turmoil, you know, to be like, I've always
(27:44):
wanted to make a difference for other people who are
going through the same struggles, like maybe they don't have
to come out at twenty five, maybe they can come
out a little earlier or whatever.
Speaker 2 (27:53):
Yeah, love it.
Speaker 1 (27:54):
Yeah, I love that. So you mentioned earlier that you've
been in Hollywood or working in Hollywood for eight years.
So how did you find your way into filmmaking and screenwriting?
Speaker 2 (28:05):
Oh?
Speaker 5 (28:05):
Yeah, I mean it's funny.
Speaker 6 (28:08):
Since I was like little, I've really always loved film
and TV. I joke about like CWWB shows, but that's that.
Speaker 5 (28:15):
Was my jam.
Speaker 6 (28:15):
And so I noticed like all those shows did not
have any black or queer or Latina people on them
at all, you know, maybe like a four episode arc
out of a twenty two season and then it was
like they're gone. But yeah, I think for me, coming
of age wise, like it was always film, TV and sports,
(28:36):
and so mixing those things together made a lot of
sense for me with Gridiron Grind. But in college, I
took a ton of film courses at Duke and they
were amazing, and I kind of had to seek them
out on my own. I wasn't ready to go to
like an NYU or USC and be like I'm Spielberg
and I've had a camera forever. You know, I just
knew I wanted to do it. But I also I
(28:56):
feel like even harder than saying like I'm queer, is
I'm a writer?
Speaker 2 (29:03):
Yeah?
Speaker 5 (29:04):
Yeah, you know that's the ultimate, like yeah, here we go.
Speaker 6 (29:08):
But yeah, I think even the word producer my mom
likes a little better, like, oh, maybe she's like a
little more money.
Speaker 3 (29:13):
She's a producer and skirts so funny, right, so annoying.
Speaker 2 (29:20):
Not that your mom's annoying, No.
Speaker 5 (29:21):
No, she's not.
Speaker 6 (29:24):
Just you know, guys have been the most supportive about
this movie. She's like, uh, everybody needs to watch it.
Speaker 5 (29:31):
No, she's been great. But yeah, the whole writer thing
was scary.
Speaker 1 (29:34):
To the whole writer things, that's hilarious.
Speaker 6 (29:39):
So I wrote a couple of screenplays in college that
were not good, and then I did.
Speaker 5 (29:44):
A bunch of internships in college.
Speaker 6 (29:45):
Every summer i'd come back and the whole Gridiron Grind team,
or at least the producers at bar Vista will tell
you I'm obsessed with like.
Speaker 5 (29:53):
Music and TV.
Speaker 6 (29:54):
So that also is really important to me, and we
got to use this great Fox library, but you know,
it was ultimately like the director's decision, and you know,
me and teen dramas, I'm like, what song's playing at
the end, like that is my And someone a fan
did ask like where can I find this song? Because
it's like a great song they use at the end,
and it's just more complicated now. But I'm like, that's
(30:17):
part of the fandom, you know, that's how you keep
it going, Like me watching the YouTube videos of you know,
Atypical or whatever Netflix show and being like, oh, this
is the moment you know, Casey came out to Izzy
and and then you got to like relive it, right.
So but for me, it was like internships in music first,
(30:37):
and then it's like a lot of networking and hustling,
working for free forever, right yeah, so yeah, two internships
in music, then I did one Lionsgate, then I did
another like small development company, then Luke Cage PA. Right
after graduation, like literally the day after graduation, I was like, boom,
I'm here. Prospect Studios on to Rhymes is right next
(31:01):
door with Gray's and Adam and I.
Speaker 5 (31:02):
Was like I made it. You know, I'm this eager pa.
Then eight years later, I'm like just trying to make
a living. Come on, you know.
Speaker 6 (31:10):
Yeah, it's the grind exactly, the grind. And that's what
I try to tell people about the movie. The title.
I'm like, it had another title, but the grind is real. Like,
so it's the football grind and the Hollywood Grind is
no joke.
Speaker 2 (31:24):
But it worked. It worked. Here you are, yes, you
made the movie. The movie has been made. It's out
in the world for everyone to see.
Speaker 5 (31:32):
Yeah, I mean you could say it has worked.
Speaker 6 (31:35):
I feel like making something is so satisfying and getting
to see it and like I said, reaching fans and whatnot,
telling telling a story that is very special to me
and I think important for the world to see, especially
like in the I'm not just political climate, but the
you know, LGBTQ attacks and stuff on allies and what.
Speaker 5 (31:57):
Yeah.
Speaker 6 (31:57):
So it's just like I hope that at least what
I learned in media classes too, is that a lot
of times when things are really bad politically, things can
get better in the media space because like queer audiences
should want to see queer joy. That's like all you
don't want to see someone dying or not coming out
(32:19):
or you know, I'm like, yes, the girls are gonna
kiss at the end and they're gonna be happy. Like
I'm hesitant to make another one because I'm like, I
don't want them to fight, Like I just.
Speaker 5 (32:26):
Wanted to be like happy.
Speaker 6 (32:29):
Yeah, so, because it's like so rare for us to
get that on screen. But yeah, So then it's like
Luke Cage pa assistant. And then I worked with Jocoker
for a while, who's this great producer, and he kind
of encouraged me to keep writing, but then also do
the development stuff with him. And now it's it's just
(32:53):
about how you how you make a living as a writer,
as you guys know, as an artist. Like it's just
it's tough right now, you know, with the strikes, with
everything going on, and it's it's like a critical moment
of also you want to make something that you're passionate
about or do you want to make something that pays
the bills?
Speaker 5 (33:12):
And those don't always align.
Speaker 3 (33:15):
Speaking of stories, I know you have more stories, yeah
you want to tell yes, So are you working on
something new and or what types of stories are you
hoping to bring into the world And get made.
Speaker 6 (33:27):
So I hope to tell more stories about mental health, honestly,
but it's kind of that is another.
Speaker 5 (33:32):
Form of like coming out. I'm just like, oh yeah, right,
coming out of sad.
Speaker 2 (33:37):
I'm sad.
Speaker 5 (33:38):
I'm like a really.
Speaker 1 (33:39):
Sad right to your parents.
Speaker 5 (33:41):
Yeah no sad.
Speaker 2 (33:43):
Yeah no, it's a sad queer filmmaker. What more, what
did we do?
Speaker 5 (33:50):
She laughs? Yeah?
Speaker 6 (33:52):
Yeah, oh god, I want to tell it in kind
of a dark comedic way. So I have this like
coming of age in your twenties story, so like figuring out,
you know, what type of stories people want to tell
in terms of meaning, like what we'll also sell to,
Like is it a show like Shrinking on Apple Jason
Siegel or like an insecure fleabag? But I think I
(34:15):
want to keep doing the coming of age stories, but
maybe just a little bit older. I've also thought about
the college space a lot. But I wrote this pilot
that ironically was called Abbot like a while ago, I know,
so now I changed it.
Speaker 5 (34:29):
To Atwood, which is good, also very good.
Speaker 6 (34:32):
Yeah, Abbot is great. Oh yeah, Abbit's a hilarious show.
But it's weird because the dramas I love growing up
like are not there.
Speaker 4 (34:41):
Anymore.
Speaker 6 (34:42):
So now it's like you get a half hour drama
dy like Heartstopper or never have I ever love those
two shows, but the hour longs are like succession.
Speaker 5 (34:52):
Only you know, before we were like too much.
Speaker 3 (34:56):
Yeah, I did love your film because it's like there's love,
there's romance, there's complex teen emotions, but like they're safe. Yes,
nothing horrible is happening to them, exactly, I'm not scared
for them exactly.
Speaker 1 (35:09):
You know, yes, yeah, we were talking about that because
we just produced an episode on America fitted as like
canon of work, right, and.
Speaker 5 (35:17):
So I love her.
Speaker 1 (35:19):
And when doing the rewatch of like Sisterhood of the
Traveling Pants, I'm like, this is age appropriate for the
time that we were growing up. So obviously it doesn't
necessarily translate now as an adult, but the themes were so complex,
and I don't know if we have that in the
same way anymore.
Speaker 5 (35:33):
I don't think we do.
Speaker 1 (35:34):
Not with film and not with like a twenty two
episode season, one hour show like Gossip Girl back.
Speaker 2 (35:40):
In the day.
Speaker 1 (35:41):
That's to your point, like, yeah, they only had like
four people of color throughout that whole series, but it's
still had the room to like grow and develop all
the characters.
Speaker 6 (35:51):
Well that's what I I mean, pitch these shows. As
as I was coming up, was like, it's Gossip Girl,
but make it black and queer. Like, I think it's
unfortunate to me that these coming of age stories that
are very much you know, it's TV fourteen or PG thirteen,
whatever you want to call it. But you know, you
might see like some people, some men shirtless or someone
(36:13):
in a bra, but it's like you're not gonna see
them having rough sex like euphoria, right, And I don't
want to, Like, I don't want that, you know, I
want it to be happy.
Speaker 5 (36:21):
I want there to be lessons at the end of
the day. You want them to be safe.
Speaker 6 (36:25):
Yeah, and so yeah, I do want to create more
content like this. And for me, I guess in the
movie space, like you mentioned how to All the Boys
I've Loved Before is kind of in that arena.
Speaker 5 (36:35):
So I don't know.
Speaker 6 (36:36):
I hope for TV that it comes back, and I
think that people are hopefully starting to realize that, you know,
ad based television is not like the Devil, and so
that's how TV has made money for over like one
hundred years. And radio podcasting right is huge, because like
it's profitable too and interesting, and so I think that
(37:00):
wouldn't be my dream. If you know, a two B
or Netflix or whoever wanted to do like a show
like back in the day, I think it would have
to be shorter, like maybe thirteen episodes.
Speaker 5 (37:11):
But I don't know.
Speaker 6 (37:13):
Yeah, if it were with commercial breaks, I do see
like a resurgence, possibly because I think there's an audience
hungry for it. Yeah, I don't know why, it just
like kind of stopped. Yeah, it's a shame.
Speaker 1 (37:28):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (37:28):
And I see the kids.
Speaker 3 (37:29):
I see the kids on TikTok, you know, like, oh
have you seen Heathers, Like have you seen like.
Speaker 5 (37:35):
They go back because they want it, they want it.
Speaker 4 (37:39):
Yeah.
Speaker 6 (37:39):
No, they are all these like young audiences finding you
know One Tree Hill.
Speaker 5 (37:43):
Gilmore Girls, Gotta Kick it Up, Gotta kick it Up.
Speaker 6 (37:46):
Yeah, Yeah, Dawson's Creek whatever it is. And all these
shows are streaming on like eight different platforms, not really,
but you know three.
Speaker 5 (37:53):
It's like you go from.
Speaker 6 (37:53):
Hulu to Netflix to this and they're they're carrying these
streaming sites.
Speaker 4 (37:59):
Yeah, they really are.
Speaker 1 (38:00):
I know they are, and they're and they're the model
that are not being made anymore.
Speaker 4 (38:04):
I know that's not.
Speaker 1 (38:06):
To get all philosophical, No, like that is really something
to consider of, how like the instant gratification of the streamers, right,
and you can.
Speaker 4 (38:13):
Binge it all and I love to binge, right, but
before back in the day, when you got to you
had to wait.
Speaker 5 (38:19):
Week to weeks bright and I love that.
Speaker 6 (38:22):
I love in my head imagining what was gonna happen,
Like are Luis and Brook gonna break up over the
summer or they gonna be together? You know, I loved
those cliffhangers and like live for that stuff, right, and
now there's yeah, instant gratification and what bothershed.
Speaker 5 (38:36):
Me the most about these shows?
Speaker 6 (38:38):
I think, never have I ever did a good job
of it because they would speed up in time a
little bit. But are the Euphoria kids gonna be like
that one? You know, the months of high school? No
be in a month of high school for eight years?
And like I just I missed the shows that would
go from September to April and show you a school
(38:58):
year because then you could actually have character growth.
Speaker 5 (39:01):
Yeah, absolutely, yeah.
Speaker 2 (39:03):
You can follow them, yeah and you grow with them.
Speaker 1 (39:06):
Yeah, But now it's so different and even like a
Gilmore Girls, right, like nothing ever really happened, you know
what I mean, there's obviously story and like it's very
character driven, but there was it was safe risk, like
nothing really dramatic.
Speaker 2 (39:20):
It's all dialogue.
Speaker 4 (39:21):
It was dialogue. It was funny in that way.
Speaker 1 (39:23):
But it's like you no one was going to die
at the end, you know, it didn't feel so high
stakes that you're like, Okay, I gotta take a break
right right?
Speaker 5 (39:30):
Right? Very like heightened girl, I mean not heightened grounded.
Speaker 3 (39:33):
Yeah, did and uh, you know like the Netflix, like
on average those shows like there's two seasons, right, and
like back in the day we were watching we were
watching Lizzie Maguire, that's a raven for years and we
literally watched them grow up.
Speaker 5 (39:50):
Yeah, and we grew up with.
Speaker 3 (39:51):
Them, right, And who are those characters for kids today?
Like who are they watching for ten seasons?
Speaker 5 (39:56):
No, no one?
Speaker 6 (39:57):
And they're not going to remember these shows in like
five years. Yeah, it's just so much rapid content.
Speaker 5 (40:03):
I know.
Speaker 6 (40:04):
That's I'm glad we're talking about this because I feel
like a broken record when I tell by other writers
friends that's so I'm.
Speaker 5 (40:09):
Like, to me, the hate AMTV was in two thousand
and three, Like it's not now, you know, but maybe
it's coming back.
Speaker 4 (40:17):
Yeah, we have the answer.
Speaker 5 (40:20):
Yeah, yeah, I know.
Speaker 1 (40:23):
Yeah, I mean and also just for like global context,
there's still a strike going on, and if they're we're aware.
We support all the writers, the actors.
Speaker 5 (40:33):
We're PROGA, pro SAG.
Speaker 6 (40:36):
Yeah, I'm a pre WG member, but yeah, I support
everything they're fighting for. And I think that if we
did have longer episode orders that would help people have
more jobs.
Speaker 3 (40:45):
Yeah. I think I think the problems that we're discussing
here are some of the things that those writers are
are are also I striking against. You know, they're trying
to fix those issues with the strike as well.
Speaker 2 (40:59):
Yeah.
Speaker 6 (40:59):
Yeah, I think it is just a question of like
if audiences are ready to change, either if it's like
tiered pricing on apps or if it's gonna be like
ad based. Basically, I think that Netflix has spoiled audiences.
Speaker 5 (41:15):
Gosh, but Netflix has.
Speaker 6 (41:17):
Spoiled audiences to a point where it's like, oh, we'll
give you this great premium content, but we're really in
debt and it's like, how can you you can't keep
that afloat?
Speaker 3 (41:28):
Yeah, we end up we pay for our subscriptions and
then we have ads anyways on what you know, it's both,
it's both, and there's just it's a lot to.
Speaker 5 (41:37):
Be is free. It will be on Hulu at some point,
and yeah.
Speaker 3 (41:45):
But for now to be share it with your friends. Yeah,
hell yeah, Jad, I'm so proud of you.
Speaker 5 (41:55):
Thank you so much. I'm I'm very proud of you too.
Speaker 4 (41:58):
You.
Speaker 6 (41:58):
Yeah, No, this is exciting. It's a great jumping off point.
And I'm really grateful, like for everything. There were a
lot of ups and downs to getting this made. I
started writing it.
Speaker 5 (42:08):
Five years ago.
Speaker 2 (42:09):
Wow.
Speaker 6 (42:10):
Yeah, so to get it made is just been so
satisfying and I couldn't be more grateful.
Speaker 5 (42:15):
The cast and crew was really really special.
Speaker 2 (42:17):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (42:17):
Yeah, it's a fun watch. It really is a cute
little sappig film.
Speaker 6 (42:21):
Like I will embrace all of everything she said. Yeah,
I'm like that's perfect. What more could I ask for?
Speaker 2 (42:29):
Jade, Richard Craven, thank you so.
Speaker 5 (42:31):
Much, Thank you both so much. This is awesome.
Speaker 3 (42:36):
Yeah yet great on Iron Grind And I don't know,
do you want folks to follow you?
Speaker 2 (42:41):
Where can folks follow you? That's the thing you want
them to do?
Speaker 1 (42:43):
Yes?
Speaker 2 (42:44):
Yeah, Leg it girl, plug it.
Speaker 6 (42:45):
Okay, I'm at Jade Richard Craven on Instagram. That's my
main advice. I guess I'm trying to get back into
the Twitter game. And that's at Jade like da Stone,
Jade like the Stone, and so that I'm trying to Yeah,
we'll see about Twitter x.
Speaker 3 (43:05):
We we just talked about how Twitter is, like we've
given up on Twitter.
Speaker 5 (43:10):
I don't know.
Speaker 2 (43:11):
We're like, uh, TikTok.
Speaker 5 (43:13):
I guess yeah on TikTok.
Speaker 1 (43:16):
Thanks, she persisted, but she does it a lot more
than any of us.
Speaker 2 (43:22):
We're trying.
Speaker 4 (43:23):
Dude.
Speaker 2 (43:23):
They're on there all.
Speaker 4 (43:24):
Right, look on what is well?
Speaker 1 (43:25):
Thank you for tuning into another Capito Radio. Then thank
you Jane. We will catch you next time.
Speaker 3 (43:31):
Besos Radio, a radio finding novela, is executive produced and
hosted by Me Mala Munos and Viosa Fam.
Speaker 4 (43:40):
Story editing by Me Diosa.
Speaker 2 (43:42):
Audio editing by Stephanie Franco.
Speaker 1 (43:44):
Thank you to our locomotives, our listeners for all of
your support.
Speaker 3 (44:00):
Look at the Radio a radiophonic novella hosted by Mala
Munjos and the asaf Fam
Loka Tora Radio is a radiophonic novella, which is just.
Speaker 2 (00:11):
A very extra way of saying a podcast.
Speaker 1 (00:15):
I'm Fosa m and I am Mala Munos. Lokatra Radio
is your Brima's favorite podcast hosted by us Mala and Viosa.
Speaker 3 (00:25):
We're two ig friends turned podcast partners, breaking down pop culture, feminism,
sexual wellness, and offering fresh takes on trending topics through
nuanced interviews with up and coming LATINX creatives.
Speaker 1 (00:38):
Known as Las Lokatas, Las Mammis of Meth and Bullshit and.
Speaker 4 (00:42):
Las Borcas Prosas.
Speaker 1 (00:44):
We were podcasting independently since twenty sixteen, but joined iHeartMedia's
Microtura network in twenty twenty two.
Speaker 3 (00:51):
This year, we're continuing to share stories from the LATINX community.
Speaker 2 (00:55):
Bartol Mundo, Welcome to season eight.
Speaker 4 (00:59):
Are you listening? O?
Speaker 1 (01:04):
Laaka moti Is Welcome to Season eight of lok Atra Radio.
Speaker 2 (01:08):
I'm the Osa and I am Mala. How are you?
Speaker 4 (01:12):
Yeah? I'm feeling good.
Speaker 1 (01:13):
I'm wearing a pair of olive green satin pants.
Speaker 2 (01:18):
They're cute. They're real cute.
Speaker 4 (01:19):
It's like a new look for me.
Speaker 2 (01:21):
I love it.
Speaker 1 (01:22):
Styled by Brenda Ani.
Speaker 3 (01:25):
Okay, yeah, let's talk about this because we are working
with the stylist now.
Speaker 1 (01:29):
It's exciting.
Speaker 2 (01:30):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (01:31):
Yeah, it's nice to work with someone that like looks
at your body and then pulls pieces for you based
on your body type and your size and your height
and all of that and knows like, yes, you can
alter this, No you shouldn't alter that.
Speaker 4 (01:47):
So that's fun.
Speaker 3 (01:48):
It's fun. It's been fun. And Brenda actually styled us
for our Michael Dura two year anniversary show, and we
looked great.
Speaker 2 (01:56):
I mean, she did a really good job.
Speaker 3 (01:58):
She pulled a bunch of pieces, came to our house,
is like, did proper fittings. And the proof is in
the pudding. The girl has the eye.
Speaker 4 (02:05):
We have arrived, is how I feel totally.
Speaker 3 (02:08):
I mean, we got nothing but compliments. Robert did our
hair and makeup. M M.
Speaker 4 (02:12):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (02:13):
You know, I love our individual styles. I love our
collective styles. But I will say over the last seven years,
there have been some hits and there have been some misses.
I won't necessarily air out the missus on air, but
I know, and you know what we're talking about.
Speaker 2 (02:32):
I don't know what you're talking about. Tell me where
where were the which was where the missus?
Speaker 1 (02:38):
Well, I think we've had some custom pieces made.
Speaker 2 (02:40):
Oh girl. Yeah that yeah, you.
Speaker 1 (02:42):
Know, needed a little bit more time, need a little
bit more work. And so that's why I'm not naming
anything or being specific, but I think over the years
we tried to like work with different people or just
tried to kind of let's be a little more and
unique and specific and styled. And you know, it worked
for where we were at that point in our career
(03:02):
and our journey. And now we're here and there's a
little more, a little more finesse, a little more pizaz.
Speaker 3 (03:09):
I don't know, Yeah, there's you know, even celebrities with
stylists have misses like all the time, right, I mean
there was entire an entire show Fashion Police just all
about red carpet misses.
Speaker 2 (03:22):
And I think.
Speaker 3 (03:23):
That with us, like we were trying to be custom
and styled and work with a designer, but like no fittings,
no measurements, no budget. She was so in us in
basically day of the show. Yeah, that was early early on.
Speaker 4 (03:39):
It was early on.
Speaker 1 (03:39):
We had this beautiful vision, like we want to work
with a Latina designer, and that's still true, right, and
she's an incredible person and an incredible designer. It would
just we were both so new in our journeys at
the time, you know, And so yeah, it's like just
really funny to look back and then now to see
how like the looks have elevated, oye, even even how
(04:00):
our own style has elevated or changed over the years.
Speaker 3 (04:03):
Yeah, because it's it's not just about oh this is cute,
it's like does it look good sitting down? Does it
look good on camera?
Speaker 2 (04:12):
Does it look good under lights?
Speaker 3 (04:13):
Like?
Speaker 2 (04:14):
Is this going to hold up?
Speaker 3 (04:15):
You know? Is it going to last the whole event?
Am I going to be a Am I going to
be falling apart in tatters?
Speaker 4 (04:20):
You know? Am I going to be falling out of it?
All those things, all.
Speaker 3 (04:24):
These things, the accessories, like are they gonna are they
gonna make a bunch of noise on the mic? Like
all of these things, these details, and Brenda like nailed it.
Speaker 1 (04:33):
Yeah, I mean, an aside from like you know, ethical
reasons of course, like the days of the twenty dollars
fast fashion dresses are behind us. Those were our party
dress days.
Speaker 2 (04:43):
For a long time, for very long, really long time.
Speaker 1 (04:46):
I was cleaning out my closet and I found some
of the dresses that we would wear back in the day,
or that I would wear when we would go out
back in.
Speaker 4 (04:54):
The day, and I.
Speaker 1 (04:55):
Decided to part ways with them because I'm like, why
am I hanging onto this other and sentimental, like I'm
not gonna wear this anymore. It also, you know, doesn't
hold up the same way because it's the fabricius thin.
The quality is not that great, and so I gotta
let it go.
Speaker 2 (05:11):
Truly.
Speaker 3 (05:12):
I mean when Brenda brought us like our new pieces
like now in our stylist era, I'm like, wow, none
of these are from Ros.
Speaker 2 (05:19):
This is.
Speaker 1 (05:21):
I love when people would ask you like, wow, where's
that Alfred from and you're like, Ross, It's literally from Ross,
which is fine, no, Sha, we love Ross. But it's
just a different era where someone can actually shop for
you and it it just saves a lot of time
and pain and er tears.
Speaker 2 (05:41):
Yeah, so many tears.
Speaker 3 (05:42):
I mean, we were styling ourselves for all these events
and all these shoots and all this stuff, all these shows,
and just always running around town scrambling.
Speaker 4 (05:54):
The day of event, day before.
Speaker 3 (05:57):
Yeah, when we did our season eight promo, for Loca.
We were in the guyahonas morning of our shoot, like
trying on dresses and then we walked on over to
the studio and it was crazy.
Speaker 1 (06:08):
It was wild that we pulled that off. You pulled
it off because you did the majority of the shopping
for that shoot.
Speaker 3 (06:13):
And it took forev It was hard. It was hard
to shop. So get you a stylist.
Speaker 4 (06:18):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (06:19):
Honestly, today, we are so excited to be in conversation
with Jade Richard Craven about her journey to becoming a
screenwriter and filmmaker.
Speaker 3 (06:28):
This is a really exciting interview. Jade actually played tackle
football on the boys football team in high school, and
she has turned her story into a movie about a
high school athlete who navigates physical and mental challenges after
making the all male football team, but faces her greatest
challenge when she begins to question her sexuality. So please
(06:50):
welcome to the show, Jade Richard Craven. All right, Jade,
welcome to Look at THRA Radio.
Speaker 2 (06:57):
How are you.
Speaker 5 (06:58):
I'm doing well? Thank you for having me.
Speaker 3 (07:01):
Absolutely, I'm so excited to have you here in studio.
Can you please introduce yourself for our listeners.
Speaker 6 (07:06):
Yes, my name is Jade Richard Craven. I'm a writer
and co executive producer of a new two B film
called Gridiron Grind. I've been working in Hollywood for the
past eight years now. Came up as an assistant on
a Netflix Marvel show called Luke Cage, and then did
a little bit on another show called Goliath with Billy
Bob Thornton, and then I've been working in development kind
(07:28):
of to learn how to pitch and things like that,
sitting in rooms with like, you know, the writer of
a Beautiful Mind and a lot of big time people
at Amazon, and I feel like that really helped me
get to where I am today in terms of you know,
there was a wave of diversity post George Floyd's death,
and a lot of that came with this project, which
(07:50):
was originally called The Hit, and I originally try to
sell it as a TV show and now I'm just
so proud that it is a movie on two B
for free that is a coming of age story about
a young queer girl who plays football. And I happened
to play football in high school.
Speaker 3 (08:06):
So yeah, you did iconically like you were the talk
of the town in high school.
Speaker 5 (08:12):
Thank you.
Speaker 3 (08:13):
Yeah, And I want to ask you about that playing
on the boys football team in Pasadena and just that
experience and how you decided you were going to take
that life experience of yours and turn it into a movie.
Speaker 5 (08:27):
Yeah, it was hard. Thank you for calling the iconic.
Speaker 3 (08:32):
Oh truly, Like it was a moment, like you guys
would understand, Like we're in high school, Jade is on
the football team.
Speaker 2 (08:36):
Yeah, fucking killing it. Everybody knows.
Speaker 6 (08:39):
Like it was cool, It was cool, It was different,
like it was progressive for me.
Speaker 5 (08:43):
You were know I was known.
Speaker 6 (08:45):
Yes, yes, I was a little Like I was telling
someone yesterday, some actor I ran into that. You know,
in Hollywood you have to be a little bit ambitious
and crazy, and I think that's like what it was
for football too.
Speaker 5 (08:58):
I channel that football.
Speaker 6 (09:00):
Energy into my Hollywood endeavors. When I was in high school,
I think it was a bit. What I like to
say is I didn't know it was an issue until
other people saw it as an issue. So I played
football since I was like five years old with all
the boys. My cousin was really influential in that. My dad,
my little brother, and so I guess the men around
(09:21):
me also taught me how to play, and I had
an aunt who was really tough and played with us,
so we were all athletic and I just love football,
and I was like, okay, I'm gonna play. In the
middle school, I was like faster than the boys because girls,
you know, developed faster, and that was really good at
the slant routes and we'd win, you know, championships. And
then comes high school. I wasn't gonna play my freshman year,
(09:42):
which is different from the movie. So frenchman year is
when tackle football starts. Everybody at our high school was
on JV. I was telling them we were making the movie,
like no one tries out at our high school.
Speaker 5 (09:55):
It's not like that, and they're like, okay, you know,
do it.
Speaker 6 (09:58):
I was like, okay, fine, I know how to make
like a tryout scene, but I didn't have that. So anyways,
I started the team late my freshman year, which is
kind of the story of Riley Brooks and Gridiron Grind
starting late junior year, and because I don't know, I
was I was scared to play, and my dad really
noticed that I was sad not being a part of
(10:19):
a team, and so he was he encouraged me to play,
which is true to the story and the movie is
just the timeline is a little bit different. So I
played freshman year JV. Then I played Then I took
a break to play club soccer, and because I liked
a boy and I was like, maybe maybe if I'm
like with the more of the femme girls, then he'll
(10:39):
like me. Yeah, So that's kind of in the story too.
That's the origin of this lovely movie is is just like,
don't do something because someone else, you know, makes you
feel a certain type of way about it. And then
the football stuff was good. Freshman year, I like could
keep up and stuff. But then by the time I
was a junior and senior, you're the guys did grow
(11:01):
faster and stronger, and people I used to be able
to tackle or pair up with, it wasn't the same.
Then I was pairing up with like the kicker, and
so that was really hard because, as you know, mala
I was a pretty good athlete in other sports. So
for basketball, I was on varsity and that actually inspired
like the championship narrative in the movie, because that's when
(11:24):
I want a championship is in basketball. So it was
hard to be like a varsity athlete who was good
in women's sports, but then just kind of like I
was really good at tackling in football, and so I
leaned into that story. The first time around, I tried
to make like the character just the superstar, and it
like wasn't authentic to my experiences. Not writing the movie,
(11:46):
of course, I'm like, Okay, let's dig into my trauma.
Speaker 2 (11:49):
Like into it.
Speaker 6 (11:51):
Like there's scenes I still hate watching. There's one scene
where she trips over her feet because some guys are
taunting her on the sideline, and that happened to me
no when Iver came into my locker room, like one
part of the story. But there was a group of
we were really good my senior year, and so me
and other backup players, third stringers would go in towards
(12:12):
the end of the game and there was this one
time that this guy was a really bad team.
Speaker 5 (12:17):
We were up let's say fifty six to zero.
Speaker 6 (12:19):
I think it is in the movie something like that,
and I go in and they're like, we gotta get
this shut out. We got to make a statement, basically,
don't let the other team's gorny points. And it felt
like all this pressure, you know, at our school, everything
was pressure yeah, yeah, yeah, so these guys were like, throw.
Speaker 5 (12:35):
It at the girl, throw it at the girl, throw it.
Speaker 2 (12:36):
At the girl. And I was like, oh my god.
Speaker 6 (12:38):
Yeah, it just felt like so much so targeted, and
it wasn't It was on the opposite of our sidelines.
So it was something where maybe I could have done
better if they weren't there, but it felt I think
there's a line that Riley has about all eyes on her.
Speaker 5 (12:56):
Which I later was like, oh, that's tupac.
Speaker 3 (12:59):
Yeah.
Speaker 6 (12:59):
Yeah, like it feels like everything she does out there
matters ten times as much, which also translates to women
and queer women in society, right, like everything we do,
we have to be ten times as good as the
mediocre man, you know, equivalent. And and yeah, so that,
like looking back on that as an adult was pretty
powerful too, because there was a lot of stuff.
Speaker 5 (13:18):
I had buried.
Speaker 2 (13:19):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (13:19):
I loved the storyline throughout of like the relationship with
your mom and with the older sister and all these
expectations of excellence and being the best and not quitting,
and like the mother character like being supportive secretly, but
(13:43):
then like with Riley, not really, And so I was
so curious too, like about those dynamics in your actual
high school experience, and and how did you write the
mom and the sister, you know, like how did you
go about translating it to the PA and like that
scary for you?
Speaker 6 (14:02):
Oh, I was so nervous. But I will start with this.
My mom psa. She wants everyone to know she went
to all my games. She is a doctor, and she
was terrified of me getting hurt. But she went to
all my games and she's super supportive and always has been.
So yeah, cause I think there were a couple of
fans who were like, we don't like the mom character.
Speaker 5 (14:21):
I'm like, that was for conflict, this is the story.
Speaker 6 (14:24):
But I did I jokingly say she's uh, And my
mom isn't even like overly feminine. She is just like
very together and very smart, driven, knows what she wants.
And same with my older sister. So I felt like
they had this bond that I was missing out on.
And I have two other siblings too, but I wanted
to focus on that because I remember in high school
(14:46):
there's like a scene, a banquet scene in the movie
and it very much so represented.
Speaker 5 (14:51):
Like it's so silly.
Speaker 6 (14:54):
But I was known as like my mom would introduce
me as, oh, this is the daughter who plays football,
and then this is the daughter who's going to Stanford.
And it was like, oh, okay, so I'm not the
academic one, you know, I only went to another.
Speaker 5 (15:07):
Ivy plus duke I was. I was slumming it.
Speaker 6 (15:12):
Yeah, But so also like the sister encouraging her to
try out for school and like try harder, because I
had that more struggle in like eighth grade, where let's
say I was capable of doing things, but I didn't
have the drive all the time. And so that was
really important to show that my sister also never slept
with a guy I liked.
Speaker 2 (15:33):
Thank, oh good. This is these are artistic choices for drama.
Speaker 6 (15:40):
This is where my soapy you know, WB mind comes
in and I'm like, whoa, it's been yeah. But so
my sister and my my mom they basically like we're
I just I think I felt misunderstood, you know, a
little angsty teenager, the athletic one. It was like my
(16:00):
dad understood me any better. I think the movie portrays
it more like the dad just understands her so much better.
I just think I was really jealous of what I
perceived my mom to like love my sister more. And
so when I was coming out really that came later out,
like in my twenties, and so I was like, Okay,
(16:22):
what was the issue. This is like my own and
real therapy, right, but my own kind of psychoanalysis. Why
was I so hung up on this one guy? And
why was I so hung up on the sister jealousy?
It's like she was the straight version of me, you know,
and I hadn't. I was like queer and bisexual. But
still I was like, Oh, this is gonna make my
(16:42):
parents love her even more kind of thing. So, especially
as a teenager, I was like, if the teen me
was out, what would she feel about her sister dating
the guy she was supposed to date?
Speaker 5 (16:52):
And that's where it just kind of escalated. Yeah.
Speaker 4 (16:54):
I love that.
Speaker 1 (16:55):
Yeah, Yeah, I wanted to ask you because I love
that you're distinguishing like this is movie mom, this is
not my real mom. And so you obviously decided to
dig deep and dig into your personal history, your younger self.
But how did you choose what you were going to
fictionalize and what you were going to stay true to
your story?
Speaker 5 (17:15):
That's a great question. Yeah, I think to be in
bar Vista, No, they know.
Speaker 6 (17:24):
I think when I first wrote it, it was like
real life plus like Riverdale pilot.
Speaker 2 (17:30):
You know, like.
Speaker 6 (17:33):
Okay kJ Appa's character secretly with the teacher, and so
her best friend, who she's you know, unrequited with, is
going to be in love with her sister. It's the
same trope in like almost every teen drama pilot. But really,
if we go back, you know, not to date ourselves.
Like for me, it was like Dawson's Creek first Montreal, right,
but Dawson's Creek the initial pilot is like Katie Holmes's
(17:56):
character is in love with Dawson and he doesn't feel
the same way.
Speaker 5 (18:00):
And there's a new girl who came to town. So
I always was like, what if.
Speaker 6 (18:04):
The new girl was queer and in the main you know,
so it's kind of like if Joey and Michelle Williams's
characters got together. So that was my initial twist on it,
and I was like, oh, that's good.
Speaker 5 (18:15):
And then.
Speaker 6 (18:18):
I guess, in terms of fictionalizing my own life, a
lot of people in it, Like there was no page
in high school. I had a really good platonic friend
who was supportive, A couple of women who were supportive
in my class.
Speaker 5 (18:29):
Who would support me in the locker room, but we
weren't like getting it on.
Speaker 6 (18:32):
Yeah, so I think what I chose to fictionalize the
most was like the queer stuff because all of that
happened for me later in life, which I'm like grateful
for how it happened.
Speaker 5 (18:46):
But I think the dad's stuff is pretty spot on.
Speaker 6 (18:51):
The mom's stuff was like exacerbated, the sister stuff exacerbated.
But also like I had a friend who dated the
guy that I liked and didn't like.
Speaker 5 (19:01):
You know, at our school was very small, so yeah,
very small, very small community.
Speaker 6 (19:06):
Yes, so I think things like that I combine people
a lot of the times do to fictionalize it more.
Speaker 5 (19:13):
I'm thinking who.
Speaker 6 (19:14):
Else like, Yeah, really like, I would say most of
it is pretty accurate to me, minus like the ultra
dramatic things. And then obviously the big part is the
Page Riley love story, which is pretty fictional in for
a high school version. It was based off of a
(19:34):
lot of unrequited crushes I've had in my adulthood, so
we can get it. You want plenty of source material
to drop, well, just knowing I said, we had like
this great Fox Pride panel in June, and I just
said to them, like, I've been the Page and the Riley.
I've been the person who wasn't ready to be out,
(19:55):
and I've been on the other side of it. Probably
been on the other side of it a few more
times where if someone is not ready and you know
you are, like it was.
Speaker 5 (20:04):
It's been really cool.
Speaker 6 (20:05):
We've gotten some more fan traction online with like queer
audiences with like Twitter and stuff, and yeah, we can
talk about that, but like one person pointed out Page's
playlist was like Renee Rap, Grayson Chance, and Kim Petris,
and I was like, yeah, those are all my artists.
But then like, on the other hand, it's like Riley
in the bioscene saying I think the algorithm knows more
(20:27):
than I do. Was like me and my twenties being like,
oh my god, every song queer artists.
Speaker 5 (20:32):
Yeah, like what are they telling me?
Speaker 3 (20:34):
Right?
Speaker 2 (20:35):
Yeah?
Speaker 6 (20:35):
But yeah, so it's cool to see both sides of
it because it's hard and and and sexuality is also
layered too.
Speaker 3 (20:43):
So yeah, I love this tweet that you sent me
speaking of the online chatter, and like this is so
this is how you know that the girlies are loving
it right.
Speaker 2 (20:53):
So to eat this tweet.
Speaker 3 (20:55):
There's a cute little cliche sapphic movie for y'all called
grid Iron Grind. It's about a guarded heighs female football
player fights sexism, sibling rivalry, and self acceptance on and
off the field to as a crash on the team's
pre pre med.
Speaker 2 (21:06):
Girl in a nutshell.
Speaker 6 (21:09):
It's funny because they used my original log line, which
I think they've taken down on IMDb. Right, so about
the self acceptance bought a blah blah blah, and then
she adds in and she has a crush on the
pre pre med girl.
Speaker 5 (21:20):
I'm like, genius, Like we need to just say.
Speaker 6 (21:23):
What it is instead of like, yeah, trying to hide
the fact like that it's a queer movie. Even though
it is a queer movie, no one was trying to
hide it. I just feel like if you target the
right audience, Like once the queer audience found it, they're
like boom, you know, and and my roommates were like WHOA.
I'm like, because we're hungry for good content and people
(21:44):
you know, have pushed back and you know, politics bought
a blauh aah blah. But you look at like heartstopper
or bottoms coming out, and like a lot of people
are really excited about these things because we don't get
as much content, especially for diverse folks. Like yeah, so
to have like a black protagonist, that is what I
was a little afraid of, honestly, because sometimes there's pushback,
(22:08):
as you guys know in different communities about queerness and
you know, oh my gosh, you're you know, why are
you exposing that? Or you're supposed to be like this
version of black excellence and that isn't.
Speaker 5 (22:22):
A part of it.
Speaker 6 (22:24):
So I was a little like, like there were certain
people we had a screening party, and I was just like, mom, like,
if you invite this person, make sure they're cool with
the fact that it's queer, Like I don't want any
any surprises and anyone getting up and being disgusted, you know,
like or whatever.
Speaker 5 (22:38):
It is.
Speaker 6 (22:39):
Just everybody was great, but I you always have to
be like hyper aware of.
Speaker 5 (22:44):
It, I think in both of our communities.
Speaker 3 (22:47):
Yeah, totally, yeah, totally, And I think you're spot on
there is of course, we have the the Love Simons, yes, right,
we have the Chay diaz Is.
Speaker 2 (22:59):
But for the teen girls in color. There's a big
hole there.
Speaker 5 (23:03):
Yes, yes, it's huge.
Speaker 4 (23:05):
I would say.
Speaker 1 (23:05):
The only that I can think of is like XO Kitty.
They came out on Netflix.
Speaker 4 (23:10):
It's a spin off of.
Speaker 1 (23:12):
All the boys I loved right before, and that's a
cute like queer coming of age right aps.
Speaker 6 (23:19):
Right, Yeah, you know what's funny. I saw that as
this movie was coming out. I was like, oh, like
we were onto something.
Speaker 1 (23:25):
Yeah, there's definitely something in the water.
Speaker 4 (23:27):
Yeah.
Speaker 5 (23:28):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (23:28):
Even in grad school when I was in my screenwriting class,
I was writing a coming of age queer, really rom
com but for for youth, right, And so it's definitely
to your point that we're hungry for the stories. We
want to write them, we want to tell them. Yes,
clearly the audience has found your film.
Speaker 5 (23:44):
Yeah.
Speaker 6 (23:44):
No, it's very exciting. And this just happened over the
past month where it was kind of dead in the
water for a second. I was like, okay, but then
you know, once this traction hits and the video of
the oh.
Speaker 3 (23:56):
My god, I love it Spanish Spanish, I used to
do it all the way over here and I'm like,
this is my recap now for that.
Speaker 1 (24:02):
Was gonna be my question, like how did this YouTuber
find the movie?
Speaker 2 (24:07):
If you know?
Speaker 5 (24:07):
And like I don't know, is this person from Spain.
Speaker 3 (24:11):
The account is called to Reinas and they did like
a fan recap of Great Iron Grind.
Speaker 5 (24:16):
It's beautiful.
Speaker 2 (24:16):
Yeah, and the title of the video is I Love Lesbian.
Speaker 3 (24:22):
Page's so good, Like this is what I live for.
Speaker 5 (24:25):
Do you understand? Fan videos are what I live for.
Speaker 2 (24:29):
They're going straight to it. We got new Lesbos, we
got a new one.
Speaker 5 (24:33):
We got new Lesbian, A couple of fresh meat.
Speaker 4 (24:35):
Yeah.
Speaker 6 (24:35):
They really were like, okay, yeah, we we ship them.
But yeah, this video it like it's so beautiful. I
mean I think just like the Spanish language is beautiful.
It talks about the story, but also like it's not
your average sports movie and there's passion and I'm like
like thank you. So my one theory is people really
(24:57):
love the actors who played Pace Marilla Cardoso, and she's
actually Brazilian in I don't know how much of this
I can say, but in the original backstory for Page,
her mom is like the really strict Latina Catholic woman
and like in her dad's chill, right, So she's like
(25:19):
mixed race or biracial.
Speaker 5 (25:22):
But we didn't get to dig into that.
Speaker 6 (25:23):
So if there's a sequel, maybe we'll get into that
because all the parents are really like accepting and I'm like,
but there'll be one, right, yeah, which was also cool,
like I wanted to show that it was about Riley
accepting herself, not her family or sister or anything. Everyone
else was just like whatever, it was her internal issue.
And I think that's how that was for me. But
(25:46):
the other theory I have about like the Spanish global
response is I don't know when to be released as
movies internationally or like which countries. So I know I
have some friends who had to get like a VPN
in Argentina or had to get a VPN in like
the Middle East. But I think it's maybe it was
(26:08):
released later.
Speaker 5 (26:09):
But I do.
Speaker 6 (26:10):
I do think like these videos plus the Twitter, like
I think it's connected. That's what I believe, just chatter
like yeah, you know, like some momentum picked up, someone
found it and then they're like, oh, this is actually
good because you won't know if you're not looking for it,
and that that's what was hard for me, I will say,
is like lack of promotion because I was like, I know,
(26:33):
we have a really good project. The cast and crew
did amazing, The director Kevin did amazing, Naomi who played Riley,
did amazing, and Marilla and Sharon. We just had this
outstanding cast. It all worked out so well, and I
was like, and now you're not gonna, you know, show
the goods like so that was hard, but it's finding
its own audience.
Speaker 2 (26:53):
I think.
Speaker 3 (26:54):
Yeah, the kids who are online, right, they're gonna they're
gonna find it, and they're gonna spread it exactly.
Speaker 6 (27:00):
And that power of social media now it's like wildfire.
Speaker 5 (27:03):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (27:03):
Yeah, and I think it sets up the film to be,
you know, kind of like it's iconic among the youth. Yes,
if they're the ones who are fighting it in promoting.
Speaker 6 (27:11):
Yes, yes, like hopefully a little mini you know, low budget.
Speaker 5 (27:16):
Cult classic kind of Yeah. I would love that. That
would be very special.
Speaker 2 (27:20):
Yeah, not a bad way to start your filmmaking journey.
Speaker 5 (27:23):
Yeah.
Speaker 6 (27:23):
I mean, and it makes me hungry to make like
more things that are meaningful to people, because I think
that was the hardest thing after it came out, being like,
I'm so satisfied with it, but just knowing I reached
some people was really special to me and validated a
lot of like all the late nights and stuff and
the internal turmoil, you know, to be like, I've always
(27:44):
wanted to make a difference for other people who are
going through the same struggles, like maybe they don't have
to come out at twenty five, maybe they can come
out a little earlier or whatever.
Speaker 2 (27:53):
Yeah, love it.
Speaker 1 (27:54):
Yeah, I love that. So you mentioned earlier that you've
been in Hollywood or working in Hollywood for eight years.
So how did you find your way into filmmaking and screenwriting?
Speaker 2 (28:05):
Oh?
Speaker 5 (28:05):
Yeah, I mean it's funny.
Speaker 6 (28:08):
Since I was like little, I've really always loved film
and TV. I joke about like CWWB shows, but that's that.
Speaker 5 (28:15):
Was my jam.
Speaker 6 (28:15):
And so I noticed like all those shows did not
have any black or queer or Latina people on them
at all, you know, maybe like a four episode arc
out of a twenty two season and then it was
like they're gone. But yeah, I think for me, coming
of age wise, like it was always film, TV and sports,
(28:36):
and so mixing those things together made a lot of
sense for me with Gridiron Grind. But in college, I
took a ton of film courses at Duke and they
were amazing, and I kind of had to seek them
out on my own. I wasn't ready to go to
like an NYU or USC and be like I'm Spielberg
and I've had a camera forever. You know, I just
knew I wanted to do it. But I also I
(28:56):
feel like even harder than saying like I'm queer, is
I'm a writer?
Speaker 2 (29:03):
Yeah?
Speaker 5 (29:04):
Yeah, you know that's the ultimate, like yeah, here we go.
Speaker 6 (29:08):
But yeah, I think even the word producer my mom
likes a little better, like, oh, maybe she's like a
little more money.
Speaker 3 (29:13):
She's a producer and skirts so funny, right, so annoying.
Speaker 2 (29:20):
Not that your mom's annoying, No.
Speaker 5 (29:21):
No, she's not.
Speaker 6 (29:24):
Just you know, guys have been the most supportive about
this movie. She's like, uh, everybody needs to watch it.
Speaker 5 (29:31):
No, she's been great. But yeah, the whole writer thing
was scary.
Speaker 1 (29:34):
To the whole writer things, that's hilarious.
Speaker 6 (29:39):
So I wrote a couple of screenplays in college that
were not good, and then I did.
Speaker 5 (29:44):
A bunch of internships in college.
Speaker 6 (29:45):
Every summer i'd come back and the whole Gridiron Grind team,
or at least the producers at bar Vista will tell
you I'm obsessed with like.
Speaker 5 (29:53):
Music and TV.
Speaker 6 (29:54):
So that also is really important to me, and we
got to use this great Fox library, but you know,
it was ultimately like the director's decision, and you know,
me and teen dramas, I'm like, what song's playing at
the end, like that is my And someone a fan
did ask like where can I find this song? Because
it's like a great song they use at the end,
and it's just more complicated now. But I'm like, that's
(30:17):
part of the fandom, you know, that's how you keep
it going, Like me watching the YouTube videos of you know,
Atypical or whatever Netflix show and being like, oh, this
is the moment you know, Casey came out to Izzy
and and then you got to like relive it, right.
So but for me, it was like internships in music first,
(30:37):
and then it's like a lot of networking and hustling,
working for free forever, right yeah, so yeah, two internships
in music, then I did one Lionsgate, then I did
another like small development company, then Luke Cage PA. Right
after graduation, like literally the day after graduation, I was like, boom,
I'm here. Prospect Studios on to Rhymes is right next
(31:01):
door with Gray's and Adam and I.
Speaker 5 (31:02):
Was like I made it. You know, I'm this eager pa.
Then eight years later, I'm like just trying to make
a living. Come on, you know.
Speaker 6 (31:10):
Yeah, it's the grind exactly, the grind. And that's what
I try to tell people about the movie. The title.
I'm like, it had another title, but the grind is real. Like,
so it's the football grind and the Hollywood Grind is
no joke.
Speaker 2 (31:24):
But it worked. It worked. Here you are, yes, you
made the movie. The movie has been made. It's out
in the world for everyone to see.
Speaker 5 (31:32):
Yeah, I mean you could say it has worked.
Speaker 6 (31:35):
I feel like making something is so satisfying and getting
to see it and like I said, reaching fans and whatnot,
telling telling a story that is very special to me
and I think important for the world to see, especially
like in the I'm not just political climate, but the
you know, LGBTQ attacks and stuff on allies and what.
Speaker 5 (31:57):
Yeah.
Speaker 6 (31:57):
So it's just like I hope that at least what
I learned in media classes too, is that a lot
of times when things are really bad politically, things can
get better in the media space because like queer audiences
should want to see queer joy. That's like all you
don't want to see someone dying or not coming out
(32:19):
or you know, I'm like, yes, the girls are gonna
kiss at the end and they're gonna be happy. Like
I'm hesitant to make another one because I'm like, I
don't want them to fight, Like I just.
Speaker 5 (32:26):
Wanted to be like happy.
Speaker 6 (32:29):
Yeah, so, because it's like so rare for us to
get that on screen. But yeah, So then it's like
Luke Cage pa assistant. And then I worked with Jocoker
for a while, who's this great producer, and he kind
of encouraged me to keep writing, but then also do
the development stuff with him. And now it's it's just
(32:53):
about how you how you make a living as a writer,
as you guys know, as an artist. Like it's just
it's tough right now, you know, with the strikes, with
everything going on, and it's it's like a critical moment
of also you want to make something that you're passionate
about or do you want to make something that pays
the bills?
Speaker 5 (33:12):
And those don't always align.
Speaker 3 (33:15):
Speaking of stories, I know you have more stories, yeah
you want to tell yes, So are you working on
something new and or what types of stories are you
hoping to bring into the world And get made.
Speaker 6 (33:27):
So I hope to tell more stories about mental health, honestly,
but it's kind of that is another.
Speaker 5 (33:32):
Form of like coming out. I'm just like, oh yeah, right,
coming out of sad.
Speaker 2 (33:37):
I'm sad.
Speaker 5 (33:38):
I'm like a really.
Speaker 1 (33:39):
Sad right to your parents.
Speaker 5 (33:41):
Yeah no sad.
Speaker 2 (33:43):
Yeah no, it's a sad queer filmmaker. What more, what
did we do?
Speaker 5 (33:50):
She laughs? Yeah?
Speaker 6 (33:52):
Yeah, oh god, I want to tell it in kind
of a dark comedic way. So I have this like
coming of age in your twenties story, so like figuring out,
you know, what type of stories people want to tell
in terms of meaning, like what we'll also sell to,
Like is it a show like Shrinking on Apple Jason
Siegel or like an insecure fleabag? But I think I
(34:15):
want to keep doing the coming of age stories, but
maybe just a little bit older. I've also thought about
the college space a lot. But I wrote this pilot
that ironically was called Abbot like a while ago, I know,
so now I changed it.
Speaker 5 (34:29):
To Atwood, which is good, also very good.
Speaker 6 (34:32):
Yeah, Abbot is great. Oh yeah, Abbit's a hilarious show.
But it's weird because the dramas I love growing up
like are not there.
Speaker 4 (34:41):
Anymore.
Speaker 6 (34:42):
So now it's like you get a half hour drama
dy like Heartstopper or never have I ever love those
two shows, but the hour longs are like succession.
Speaker 5 (34:52):
Only you know, before we were like too much.
Speaker 3 (34:56):
Yeah, I did love your film because it's like there's love,
there's romance, there's complex teen emotions, but like they're safe. Yes,
nothing horrible is happening to them, exactly, I'm not scared
for them exactly.
Speaker 1 (35:09):
You know, yes, yeah, we were talking about that because
we just produced an episode on America fitted as like
canon of work, right, and.
Speaker 5 (35:17):
So I love her.
Speaker 1 (35:19):
And when doing the rewatch of like Sisterhood of the
Traveling Pants, I'm like, this is age appropriate for the
time that we were growing up. So obviously it doesn't
necessarily translate now as an adult, but the themes were so complex,
and I don't know if we have that in the
same way anymore.
Speaker 5 (35:33):
I don't think we do.
Speaker 1 (35:34):
Not with film and not with like a twenty two
episode season, one hour show like Gossip Girl back.
Speaker 2 (35:40):
In the day.
Speaker 1 (35:41):
That's to your point, like, yeah, they only had like
four people of color throughout that whole series, but it's
still had the room to like grow and develop all
the characters.
Speaker 6 (35:51):
Well that's what I I mean, pitch these shows. As
as I was coming up, was like, it's Gossip Girl,
but make it black and queer. Like, I think it's
unfortunate to me that these coming of age stories that
are very much you know, it's TV fourteen or PG thirteen,
whatever you want to call it. But you know, you
might see like some people, some men shirtless or someone
(36:13):
in a bra, but it's like you're not gonna see
them having rough sex like euphoria, right, And I don't
want to, Like, I don't want that, you know, I
want it to be happy.
Speaker 5 (36:21):
I want there to be lessons at the end of
the day. You want them to be safe.
Speaker 6 (36:25):
Yeah, and so yeah, I do want to create more
content like this. And for me, I guess in the
movie space, like you mentioned how to All the Boys
I've Loved Before is kind of in that arena.
Speaker 5 (36:35):
So I don't know.
Speaker 6 (36:36):
I hope for TV that it comes back, and I
think that people are hopefully starting to realize that, you know,
ad based television is not like the Devil, and so
that's how TV has made money for over like one
hundred years. And radio podcasting right is huge, because like
it's profitable too and interesting, and so I think that
(37:00):
wouldn't be my dream. If you know, a two B
or Netflix or whoever wanted to do like a show
like back in the day, I think it would have
to be shorter, like maybe thirteen episodes.
Speaker 5 (37:11):
But I don't know.
Speaker 6 (37:13):
Yeah, if it were with commercial breaks, I do see
like a resurgence, possibly because I think there's an audience
hungry for it. Yeah, I don't know why, it just
like kind of stopped. Yeah, it's a shame.
Speaker 1 (37:28):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (37:28):
And I see the kids.
Speaker 3 (37:29):
I see the kids on TikTok, you know, like, oh
have you seen Heathers, Like have you seen like.
Speaker 5 (37:35):
They go back because they want it, they want it.
Speaker 4 (37:39):
Yeah.
Speaker 6 (37:39):
No, they are all these like young audiences finding you
know One Tree Hill.
Speaker 5 (37:43):
Gilmore Girls, Gotta Kick it Up, Gotta kick it Up.
Speaker 6 (37:46):
Yeah, Yeah, Dawson's Creek whatever it is. And all these
shows are streaming on like eight different platforms, not really,
but you know three.
Speaker 5 (37:53):
It's like you go from.
Speaker 6 (37:53):
Hulu to Netflix to this and they're they're carrying these
streaming sites.
Speaker 4 (37:59):
Yeah, they really are.
Speaker 1 (38:00):
I know they are, and they're and they're the model
that are not being made anymore.
Speaker 4 (38:04):
I know that's not.
Speaker 1 (38:06):
To get all philosophical, No, like that is really something
to consider of, how like the instant gratification of the streamers, right,
and you can.
Speaker 4 (38:13):
Binge it all and I love to binge, right, but
before back in the day, when you got to you
had to wait.
Speaker 5 (38:19):
Week to weeks bright and I love that.
Speaker 6 (38:22):
I love in my head imagining what was gonna happen,
Like are Luis and Brook gonna break up over the
summer or they gonna be together? You know, I loved
those cliffhangers and like live for that stuff, right, and
now there's yeah, instant gratification and what bothershed.
Speaker 5 (38:36):
Me the most about these shows?
Speaker 6 (38:38):
I think, never have I ever did a good job
of it because they would speed up in time a
little bit. But are the Euphoria kids gonna be like
that one? You know, the months of high school? No
be in a month of high school for eight years?
And like I just I missed the shows that would
go from September to April and show you a school
(38:58):
year because then you could actually have character growth.
Speaker 5 (39:01):
Yeah, absolutely, yeah.
Speaker 2 (39:03):
You can follow them, yeah and you grow with them.
Speaker 1 (39:06):
Yeah, But now it's so different and even like a
Gilmore Girls, right, like nothing ever really happened, you know
what I mean, there's obviously story and like it's very
character driven, but there was it was safe risk, like
nothing really dramatic.
Speaker 2 (39:20):
It's all dialogue.
Speaker 4 (39:21):
It was dialogue. It was funny in that way.
Speaker 1 (39:23):
But it's like you no one was going to die
at the end, you know, it didn't feel so high
stakes that you're like, Okay, I gotta take a break
right right?
Speaker 5 (39:30):
Right? Very like heightened girl, I mean not heightened grounded.
Speaker 3 (39:33):
Yeah, did and uh, you know like the Netflix, like
on average those shows like there's two seasons, right, and
like back in the day we were watching we were
watching Lizzie Maguire, that's a raven for years and we
literally watched them grow up.
Speaker 5 (39:50):
Yeah, and we grew up with.
Speaker 3 (39:51):
Them, right, And who are those characters for kids today?
Like who are they watching for ten seasons?
Speaker 5 (39:56):
No, no one?
Speaker 6 (39:57):
And they're not going to remember these shows in like
five years. Yeah, it's just so much rapid content.
Speaker 5 (40:03):
I know.
Speaker 6 (40:04):
That's I'm glad we're talking about this because I feel
like a broken record when I tell by other writers
friends that's so I'm.
Speaker 5 (40:09):
Like, to me, the hate AMTV was in two thousand
and three, Like it's not now, you know, but maybe
it's coming back.
Speaker 4 (40:17):
Yeah, we have the answer.
Speaker 5 (40:20):
Yeah, yeah, I know.
Speaker 1 (40:23):
Yeah, I mean and also just for like global context,
there's still a strike going on, and if they're we're aware.
We support all the writers, the actors.
Speaker 5 (40:33):
We're PROGA, pro SAG.
Speaker 6 (40:36):
Yeah, I'm a pre WG member, but yeah, I support
everything they're fighting for. And I think that if we
did have longer episode orders that would help people have
more jobs.
Speaker 3 (40:45):
Yeah. I think I think the problems that we're discussing
here are some of the things that those writers are
are are also I striking against. You know, they're trying
to fix those issues with the strike as well.
Speaker 2 (40:59):
Yeah.
Speaker 6 (40:59):
Yeah, I think it is just a question of like
if audiences are ready to change, either if it's like
tiered pricing on apps or if it's gonna be like
ad based. Basically, I think that Netflix has spoiled audiences.
Speaker 5 (41:15):
Gosh, but Netflix has.
Speaker 6 (41:17):
Spoiled audiences to a point where it's like, oh, we'll
give you this great premium content, but we're really in
debt and it's like, how can you you can't keep
that afloat?
Speaker 3 (41:28):
Yeah, we end up we pay for our subscriptions and
then we have ads anyways on what you know, it's both,
it's both, and there's just it's a lot to.
Speaker 5 (41:37):
Be is free. It will be on Hulu at some point,
and yeah.
Speaker 3 (41:45):
But for now to be share it with your friends. Yeah,
hell yeah, Jad, I'm so proud of you.
Speaker 5 (41:55):
Thank you so much. I'm I'm very proud of you too.
Speaker 4 (41:58):
You.
Speaker 6 (41:58):
Yeah, No, this is exciting. It's a great jumping off point.
And I'm really grateful, like for everything. There were a
lot of ups and downs to getting this made. I
started writing it.
Speaker 5 (42:08):
Five years ago.
Speaker 2 (42:09):
Wow.
Speaker 6 (42:10):
Yeah, so to get it made is just been so
satisfying and I couldn't be more grateful.
Speaker 5 (42:15):
The cast and crew was really really special.
Speaker 2 (42:17):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (42:17):
Yeah, it's a fun watch. It really is a cute
little sappig film.
Speaker 6 (42:21):
Like I will embrace all of everything she said. Yeah,
I'm like that's perfect. What more could I ask for?
Speaker 2 (42:29):
Jade, Richard Craven, thank you so.
Speaker 5 (42:31):
Much, Thank you both so much. This is awesome.
Speaker 3 (42:36):
Yeah yet great on Iron Grind And I don't know,
do you want folks to follow you?
Speaker 2 (42:41):
Where can folks follow you? That's the thing you want
them to do?
Speaker 1 (42:43):
Yes?
Speaker 2 (42:44):
Yeah, Leg it girl, plug it.
Speaker 6 (42:45):
Okay, I'm at Jade Richard Craven on Instagram. That's my
main advice. I guess I'm trying to get back into
the Twitter game. And that's at Jade like da Stone,
Jade like the Stone, and so that I'm trying to Yeah,
we'll see about Twitter x.
Speaker 3 (43:05):
We we just talked about how Twitter is, like we've
given up on Twitter.
Speaker 5 (43:10):
I don't know.
Speaker 2 (43:11):
We're like, uh, TikTok.
Speaker 5 (43:13):
I guess yeah on TikTok.
Speaker 1 (43:16):
Thanks, she persisted, but she does it a lot more
than any of us.
Speaker 2 (43:22):
We're trying.
Speaker 4 (43:23):
Dude.
Speaker 2 (43:23):
They're on there all.
Speaker 4 (43:24):
Right, look on what is well?
Speaker 1 (43:25):
Thank you for tuning into another Capito Radio. Then thank
you Jane. We will catch you next time.
Speaker 3 (43:31):
Besos Radio, a radio finding novela, is executive produced and
hosted by Me Mala Munos and Viosa Fam.
Speaker 4 (43:40):
Story editing by Me Diosa.
Speaker 2 (43:42):
Audio editing by Stephanie Franco.
Speaker 1 (43:44):
Thank you to our locomotives, our listeners for all of
your support.
Speaker 3 (44:00):
Look at the Radio a radiophonic novella hosted by Mala
Munjos and the asaf Fam
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