December 20, 2023 • 13 mins
This week, we're revisiting our conversations with Will Packer. In this episode, acclaimed producer Will Packer shares his journey to success in the film industry, from his early days as an aspiring entrepreneur to his current role as the founder of Will Packer Productions. He shares valuable advice on the importance of a creative and business mindset in entertainment, and his unique approach to producing films that never lost money. Join us for this inspiring and insightful conversation on how to succeed in the film industry.
Host IG:@itstanyatime
Guest IG: @willpowerpacker
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Thanks to MasterCard for sponsoring this episode. Head to MasterCard
dot com backslash small Biz to learn how they're amplifying
and supporting black women entrepreneurs.
Speaker 2 (00:11):
Take what you can get your hands on. Prove have
a proof of concept. Is very much in my industry,
but in any industry. Prove that you can take that
and you can monetize and be successful with it.
Speaker 3 (00:22):
That's what I did. I said I could take twenty
thousand dollars and turn to one hundred thousand.
Speaker 2 (00:26):
Then I had two hundred thousand, which is a budget
of our next film, and we turn that into a million.
Now boom. So now I'm showing that when I go
and people invest in me, I'm turning that back.
Speaker 3 (00:36):
I'm giving it back.
Speaker 2 (00:37):
That's another reason why we have to think long term
in terms.
Speaker 3 (00:41):
Of how we're monetizing our product.
Speaker 1 (00:44):
You're listening to Money News powered by Greenian Finance podcast
dedicated to dropping all the knowledge and gems from the
world's leading celebrities, entrepreneurs, and experts in tech, business, and more.
I'm your host, Angel investor, technology enthusiasts, and media personality Sam.
Each week we talk with guests who are making significant
strides in their fields and learn how they are making
(01:06):
their money up. If you're someone who's looking to make
your money moved, you're in the right place. So open
up your notes app and lock us in, because this
podcast will give you the keys to the kingdom of
financial stability, wealth, and abundance you so rightly deserve. Before
we start the episode, I'd like to remind you to
check us out at gogreenwood dot com and follow us
(01:26):
on social media at Greenwood and me on all things
social at It's Tanya time to stay locked in to
new episodes. This episode is brought to you by our
partner MasterCard, bridging the Wealth Gap together with Green Money.
On this episode, we sit down with acclaimed film producer
Will Packer as he talks about how to make money
in film. So I want to get into a little
(01:47):
bit of money talk here. Okay, in this industry, how
do people make money? You know, from a producer standpoint,
who are the people who are making money? And how
do you make money? So when you're looking at your
next picture, yeah, what does that look like?
Speaker 3 (02:00):
Yeah?
Speaker 2 (02:01):
So the movie industry and entertainment in general is all
kind of very similar in that you've got major the
traditional system. I'll start there.
Speaker 3 (02:12):
You've got major financiers.
Speaker 2 (02:14):
They look like a Universal Pictures or they look like
a you know, BMG or a Warner Brothers Music or
Disney like they look like you know names that you've heard.
Speaker 3 (02:24):
Before, right, and they finance projects.
Speaker 2 (02:28):
They finance content creators to create content that typically.
Speaker 3 (02:33):
They then own.
Speaker 2 (02:35):
Right, they pay you to create it, they own it,
and depending on the success of that, they will pay
you based on a success. So you got your compensation
that you get upfront for making it, and then you
have what we call contingent compensation that's your backing that
is depending on Okay, you're gonna pay me to make
an album or movie and then it's a big old hit, Well.
Speaker 3 (02:53):
Then you'll get a percentage of the profits.
Speaker 2 (02:55):
Typically the financier that is that's financing the product, they
own the project and they are the ones that determine
what the distribution for that project is.
Speaker 3 (03:04):
So that is generally how it works.
Speaker 2 (03:07):
There's a lot of nuances and wrinkles, and you know
a lot of you can be independent, you can own
your own stuff, you can raise your own money. It's
hard to get into that system where you're first when
you're first starting off. So for me, I had to
independently raise the funds. I had to independently go out
and create my ow projects because HO wasn't going to
give me anything, right, they weren'ting to fund my projects
before I was a known commodity. But the thing about
(03:28):
the entertainment industry is the best way to get the
attention of the traditional system is to make money and
be successful on your own.
Speaker 3 (03:39):
Then they start coming. Okay, they start.
Speaker 1 (03:41):
So this is the thing that I think a lot
of young people, as we've said, getting very daunted by. Right, Well, okay,
I have to make money, to make money?
Speaker 3 (03:49):
How do I do this?
Speaker 1 (03:49):
And in this really interesting industry? And I want to
talk about fundraising because I feel like, you know, for yourself,
being a black man walking into a very legacy production
call it White, how were you able to successfully fundraise
and sell? Hey, I would like to tell you why
this movie about several black women going on vacation to
(04:12):
New Orleans or straight out of Compton will generate revenue
because this idea of this narrative, it's true of production,
it's true of startups technology, and a lot of black
people go, well, how am I going to get the
money to make money.
Speaker 2 (04:25):
Yeah, it goes back to that tenant that we talked
about of what are the resources you can get your
hands on to provide a proof of concept?
Speaker 3 (04:35):
And I needed that.
Speaker 2 (04:36):
I needed before I could ever walk into a room
and say give me, you know, tens of millions of
dollars to produce a Girl's Trip.
Speaker 3 (04:44):
I needed to show that I could take a much smaller.
Speaker 2 (04:47):
Amount of money and be successful with that.
Speaker 3 (04:50):
That's what was key for me.
Speaker 2 (04:52):
So I went out initially and raised money from African
American invests. Yep, not a lot, not nearly as much
as I would need to produce the level movies that
I produce now.
Speaker 3 (05:01):
I couldn't do that then, but.
Speaker 2 (05:02):
I could raise a little bit of money and produce
a little movie and then turn that little movie into
a success. These are the baby's financially viable that is
translatable in any industry. Right, take what you can get
your hands on, prove have a proof of concept. Is
very much in my industry, but in any industry. Prove
that you can take that and you can monetize and
(05:24):
be successful with it.
Speaker 3 (05:26):
That's what I did.
Speaker 2 (05:26):
I said I could take twenty thousand dollars and turn
to one hundred thousand. Then I had two hundred thousand,
which was the budget of our next film, and we
turned that into a million dollars. So now I'm showing
that when I go and people invest in me, I'm
turning that back.
Speaker 3 (05:40):
I'm giving it back. That's another reason.
Speaker 2 (05:42):
Why we have to think long term in terms of
how we're monetizing our projects, because you gotta think, Okay,
let me. We took everything that we had and put
that money on the screen so the project would be successful.
Speaker 3 (05:53):
Didn't put it in our pockets. We were thinking long term.
Speaker 2 (05:57):
I didn't want to say, okay, you're paying me one
hundred thousand dollars, make it move.
Speaker 3 (06:00):
Wh I need fifty thousand dollars.
Speaker 2 (06:01):
I work very hard and I'm going to do all
the jobs. No, I took nothing, put it all on
the screen. But then turn that one hundred thousand dollars
into more money, right, and you.
Speaker 1 (06:11):
Know what investors cannot argue with that. This is where
this is where I tell people, you know, greed, Trump's race, greed,
Trump's excellence. Oprah says it the best right, the best
way to like outwork and win is through excellence.
Speaker 3 (06:23):
Yeah, that's exactly what it is. The most powerful color
in business is green.
Speaker 1 (06:27):
Yes, well, I think you've been really clear about making
the distinction about number one, using all the assets that
you have available to you, Yes, you know, free resources.
But then there's also going to investors and making them
a promise that you were going to take their money
and make big returns.
Speaker 3 (06:43):
Yes.
Speaker 1 (06:43):
Yes, I think that's something very different that people need
to understand how that works in your industry.
Speaker 3 (06:48):
That's the bottom line.
Speaker 2 (06:49):
Sometimes we get caught up in not the main thing.
You got to make the main thing, the main thing.
Keep the main thing to make. The main thing is
that return. That that's your track record, that's your resume,
more so than anything else, more so than the pedigree
or the degrees.
Speaker 3 (07:05):
Or the network that you have when you walk in
the room.
Speaker 2 (07:07):
The main thing is how you have been able to
create return, create profits for people that prioritize that. Those
are the investors. They prioritize what is my return? Tanya,
you may be great. I like you, love the way
that you do your podcast, that you dressed, and I
like your.
Speaker 3 (07:24):
Network and all that.
Speaker 2 (07:25):
The big thing is that when I give you a dollar,
you give me back five.
Speaker 3 (07:29):
I will invest in you forever.
Speaker 1 (07:31):
And guess what if you give me back ten, I'm
coming back with more people.
Speaker 2 (07:34):
Absolutely, because I'm gonna tell people this is a good bet,
this is a successful person. We need to align ourselves with.
That's how the investors make money. Same thing as true
in my industry and in my career. I have always
been very fortunate that I've never made a movie that
lost money.
Speaker 3 (07:51):
Who say that again.
Speaker 2 (07:53):
That is something that not a lot of people in
Hollywood can say because it is such a speculative industry.
Speaker 3 (07:58):
But every project.
Speaker 2 (07:59):
Now, the key to that is making sure that when
I'm making a project, I'm thinking about what I'm putting into.
Speaker 3 (08:04):
Right.
Speaker 2 (08:05):
So we're throwing around numbers here. My first project was
twenty thousand, next for two hundred thousand. Now my budgets
are in the millions, but the budgets.
Speaker 3 (08:11):
Are very strategic.
Speaker 2 (08:13):
It's not just well, I want to, you know, get
fifty million dollars to make this movie because I think
that's what I deserve. It's what I think about it
with a very clear and sober business head. What do
I need in order to justify the audience that I.
Speaker 3 (08:29):
Can get from that movie.
Speaker 2 (08:31):
Because if I can make a movie for fifty but
it's only gonna make fifty.
Speaker 3 (08:35):
I didn't win. That's not a reason trying to win.
Speaker 2 (08:37):
But if I could make that same movie for thirty
and it makes fifty.
Speaker 3 (08:41):
Now I've got a profit.
Speaker 2 (08:42):
If I can make it for thirty and it makes
one hundred, I'm making even more than I would if
I made that movie for ninety.
Speaker 1 (08:48):
So this is also super fascinating to me because I
think to win in this space, not only do you
have to have a creative eye be able to identify talent,
but the business side of it. And I think this
is a lot where a lot of people will fail
in the arts entertainment industry, no question, because they don't
have this three sixty view of how to make money,
how every dollar will make money. So was this you
(09:10):
or did you start to at some point realize you
needed to hire people on your team that could also
have that view and those abilities for success.
Speaker 2 (09:19):
Yeah, you touched on something really really key, especially in
the arts and entertainment industry. For me, I always had
an eye towards business because that's what drove me to
get into it. I had an eye towards business, and
all the business principles that make an industry work and
in this case, entertainment, and then I fell in love
with storytelling.
Speaker 3 (09:38):
That's what the superpower.
Speaker 2 (09:40):
What I tell people is that if you really are
creatively driven, you want to be a director, you want
to be a writer, that's your passion, nothing wrong with that,
But then align yourself with someone who has that business
acumen so that you are not undercutting your ability to
tell a story, to write a script because you don't
(10:01):
understand or not positioning.
Speaker 3 (10:03):
Yourself in the best way from a business standpoint.
Speaker 2 (10:05):
Have somebody on your team that does have that skill
set that that is the priority for them. Partner with
them so you can focus on the own. But make
no mistake, there is no world where you're going to
be successful in business where you're not focused on the.
Speaker 3 (10:20):
Business principles that are necessary to be successful.
Speaker 1 (10:23):
Absolutely, absolutely, and I know you've created a really Olympic
level team.
Speaker 3 (10:29):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (10:29):
Looking back now, and we'll come back to money because
it's my favorite topic. But looking back now, who were
some of the key people through this illustrious career that
you think could really helped elevate your brand, your business
and your success. Yeah.
Speaker 3 (10:42):
No, question.
Speaker 2 (10:43):
You're only as strong as your team, period. I don't
care who you are. I don't care you name the
most successful person in the world. They have an incredible
team around them. There are multiple people. I go back
to my days at FAM. You and Rob Hardy, and
he had the Dridsey. He was kind of the creative guy,
whereas I was thinking about business and I was helping
him to focus on the art side of it because
I had my own business. And he was the one
(11:03):
that said, I want to be a director. I want
to be the next Spike Lee or Steven Spielberg, right.
That was his vision and so I aligned with him.
That was very helpful and successful. The Hudland Brothers they are,
you know, a well known famous African American movie producers.
They produce House.
Speaker 3 (11:21):
Party in Boomerang.
Speaker 2 (11:22):
Frankton and Reginald Hudland gave me my first internship.
Speaker 3 (11:26):
After I left FAM Youth.
Speaker 2 (11:27):
That was the first time I was able to see
how a Hollywood movie was done firsthand, because I had
only done independent move up to that point.
Speaker 3 (11:34):
I learned.
Speaker 2 (11:35):
I was in there and I paid attention to what
they did. They were very instrumental. And then when you
think about after I got out and I was doing
my own projects now, it was important for me to
hire people around me who understood the same vision. Somebody
very important in that process with Shayla Cowen. Syla produced
the Oscars with me. A lot of people may know
her name from that. She is somebody that has been
(11:57):
me a very long time. The reason she's a great
fit for my companies because she has a strategic eye,
she thinks long term as well, and she's a very
very loyal supporter. In this industry, you've got a lot
of people. It's very cutthroat, right, A lot of industries are.
It's very aggressive, very ambitious, and so what that means
a lot of times is that you have people that
are just figuring out, how can I do what I
(12:18):
need to do for me? How can I just do
just enough in order to then make my next move.
There's not a lot of loyalty because that's not typically
rewarded in an entertainment setting. But if you can find
people that are really good, really smart, really strategic and loyal,
now you find somebody that you got a lining combination
that's an absolutely necessary and winning combination for sure.
Speaker 1 (12:38):
Tune in Fridays we conclude our conversation with acclaimed film
producer Will Packer. Thanks for listening to today's episode. If
we helped you make your money move, please share it
with your community, subscribe and leave us a review on
iHeartRadio and Apple podcasts. Follow us on social media at
Greenwood and visit us at Gogreenwood dot com for more
financial tips and remember, money Movers. If this were easy,
(13:02):
everyone would do it. So take the lessons you've learned
from this episode and apply it to your life until
next time. Money Moves is an iHeart Radio podcast powered
by Greenwood Executive produced by Sunwise Media. Aim For more
podcasts on iHeartRadio, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or
wherever you get your podcasts from. Make sure to tune
in Monday, Wednesday and Friday and subscribe to the Money
(13:24):
Moves podcast powered by Greenwood, so that you too can
have the keys to financial freedom you so rightly deserve
Thanks to MasterCard for sponsoring this episode. Head to MasterCard
dot com backslash small Biz to learn how they're amplifying
and supporting black women entrepreneurs.
Speaker 2 (00:11):
Take what you can get your hands on. Prove have
a proof of concept. Is very much in my industry,
but in any industry. Prove that you can take that
and you can monetize and be successful with it.
Speaker 3 (00:22):
That's what I did. I said I could take twenty
thousand dollars and turn to one hundred thousand.
Speaker 2 (00:26):
Then I had two hundred thousand, which is a budget
of our next film, and we turn that into a million.
Now boom. So now I'm showing that when I go
and people invest in me, I'm turning that back.
Speaker 3 (00:36):
I'm giving it back.
Speaker 2 (00:37):
That's another reason why we have to think long term
in terms.
Speaker 3 (00:41):
Of how we're monetizing our product.
Speaker 1 (00:44):
You're listening to Money News powered by Greenian Finance podcast
dedicated to dropping all the knowledge and gems from the
world's leading celebrities, entrepreneurs, and experts in tech, business, and more.
I'm your host, Angel investor, technology enthusiasts, and media personality Sam.
Each week we talk with guests who are making significant
strides in their fields and learn how they are making
(01:06):
their money up. If you're someone who's looking to make
your money moved, you're in the right place. So open
up your notes app and lock us in, because this
podcast will give you the keys to the kingdom of
financial stability, wealth, and abundance you so rightly deserve. Before
we start the episode, I'd like to remind you to
check us out at gogreenwood dot com and follow us
(01:26):
on social media at Greenwood and me on all things
social at It's Tanya time to stay locked in to
new episodes. This episode is brought to you by our
partner MasterCard, bridging the Wealth Gap together with Green Money.
On this episode, we sit down with acclaimed film producer
Will Packer as he talks about how to make money
in film. So I want to get into a little
(01:47):
bit of money talk here. Okay, in this industry, how
do people make money? You know, from a producer standpoint,
who are the people who are making money? And how
do you make money? So when you're looking at your
next picture, yeah, what does that look like?
Speaker 3 (02:00):
Yeah?
Speaker 2 (02:01):
So the movie industry and entertainment in general is all
kind of very similar in that you've got major the
traditional system. I'll start there.
Speaker 3 (02:12):
You've got major financiers.
Speaker 2 (02:14):
They look like a Universal Pictures or they look like
a you know, BMG or a Warner Brothers Music or
Disney like they look like you know names that you've heard.
Speaker 3 (02:24):
Before, right, and they finance projects.
Speaker 2 (02:28):
They finance content creators to create content that typically.
Speaker 3 (02:33):
They then own.
Speaker 2 (02:35):
Right, they pay you to create it, they own it,
and depending on the success of that, they will pay
you based on a success. So you got your compensation
that you get upfront for making it, and then you
have what we call contingent compensation that's your backing that
is depending on Okay, you're gonna pay me to make
an album or movie and then it's a big old hit, Well.
Speaker 3 (02:53):
Then you'll get a percentage of the profits.
Speaker 2 (02:55):
Typically the financier that is that's financing the product, they
own the project and they are the ones that determine
what the distribution for that project is.
Speaker 3 (03:04):
So that is generally how it works.
Speaker 2 (03:07):
There's a lot of nuances and wrinkles, and you know
a lot of you can be independent, you can own
your own stuff, you can raise your own money. It's
hard to get into that system where you're first when
you're first starting off. So for me, I had to
independently raise the funds. I had to independently go out
and create my ow projects because HO wasn't going to
give me anything, right, they weren'ting to fund my projects
before I was a known commodity. But the thing about
(03:28):
the entertainment industry is the best way to get the
attention of the traditional system is to make money and
be successful on your own.
Speaker 3 (03:39):
Then they start coming. Okay, they start.
Speaker 1 (03:41):
So this is the thing that I think a lot
of young people, as we've said, getting very daunted by. Right, Well, okay,
I have to make money, to make money?
Speaker 3 (03:49):
How do I do this?
Speaker 1 (03:49):
And in this really interesting industry? And I want to
talk about fundraising because I feel like, you know, for yourself,
being a black man walking into a very legacy production
call it White, how were you able to successfully fundraise
and sell? Hey, I would like to tell you why
this movie about several black women going on vacation to
(04:12):
New Orleans or straight out of Compton will generate revenue
because this idea of this narrative, it's true of production,
it's true of startups technology, and a lot of black
people go, well, how am I going to get the
money to make money.
Speaker 2 (04:25):
Yeah, it goes back to that tenant that we talked
about of what are the resources you can get your
hands on to provide a proof of concept?
Speaker 3 (04:35):
And I needed that.
Speaker 2 (04:36):
I needed before I could ever walk into a room
and say give me, you know, tens of millions of
dollars to produce a Girl's Trip.
Speaker 3 (04:44):
I needed to show that I could take a much smaller.
Speaker 2 (04:47):
Amount of money and be successful with that.
Speaker 3 (04:50):
That's what was key for me.
Speaker 2 (04:52):
So I went out initially and raised money from African
American invests. Yep, not a lot, not nearly as much
as I would need to produce the level movies that
I produce now.
Speaker 3 (05:01):
I couldn't do that then, but.
Speaker 2 (05:02):
I could raise a little bit of money and produce
a little movie and then turn that little movie into
a success. These are the baby's financially viable that is
translatable in any industry. Right, take what you can get
your hands on, prove have a proof of concept. Is
very much in my industry, but in any industry. Prove
that you can take that and you can monetize and
(05:24):
be successful with it.
Speaker 3 (05:26):
That's what I did.
Speaker 2 (05:26):
I said I could take twenty thousand dollars and turn
to one hundred thousand. Then I had two hundred thousand,
which was the budget of our next film, and we
turned that into a million dollars. So now I'm showing
that when I go and people invest in me, I'm
turning that back.
Speaker 3 (05:40):
I'm giving it back. That's another reason.
Speaker 2 (05:42):
Why we have to think long term in terms of
how we're monetizing our projects, because you gotta think, Okay,
let me. We took everything that we had and put
that money on the screen so the project would be successful.
Speaker 3 (05:53):
Didn't put it in our pockets. We were thinking long term.
Speaker 2 (05:57):
I didn't want to say, okay, you're paying me one
hundred thousand dollars, make it move.
Speaker 3 (06:00):
Wh I need fifty thousand dollars.
Speaker 2 (06:01):
I work very hard and I'm going to do all
the jobs. No, I took nothing, put it all on
the screen. But then turn that one hundred thousand dollars
into more money, right, and you.
Speaker 1 (06:11):
Know what investors cannot argue with that. This is where
this is where I tell people, you know, greed, Trump's race, greed,
Trump's excellence. Oprah says it the best right, the best
way to like outwork and win is through excellence.
Speaker 3 (06:23):
Yeah, that's exactly what it is. The most powerful color
in business is green.
Speaker 1 (06:27):
Yes, well, I think you've been really clear about making
the distinction about number one, using all the assets that
you have available to you, Yes, you know, free resources.
But then there's also going to investors and making them
a promise that you were going to take their money
and make big returns.
Speaker 3 (06:43):
Yes.
Speaker 1 (06:43):
Yes, I think that's something very different that people need
to understand how that works in your industry.
Speaker 3 (06:48):
That's the bottom line.
Speaker 2 (06:49):
Sometimes we get caught up in not the main thing.
You got to make the main thing, the main thing.
Keep the main thing to make. The main thing is
that return. That that's your track record, that's your resume,
more so than anything else, more so than the pedigree
or the degrees.
Speaker 3 (07:05):
Or the network that you have when you walk in
the room.
Speaker 2 (07:07):
The main thing is how you have been able to
create return, create profits for people that prioritize that. Those
are the investors. They prioritize what is my return? Tanya,
you may be great. I like you, love the way
that you do your podcast, that you dressed, and I
like your.
Speaker 3 (07:24):
Network and all that.
Speaker 2 (07:25):
The big thing is that when I give you a dollar,
you give me back five.
Speaker 3 (07:29):
I will invest in you forever.
Speaker 1 (07:31):
And guess what if you give me back ten, I'm
coming back with more people.
Speaker 2 (07:34):
Absolutely, because I'm gonna tell people this is a good bet,
this is a successful person. We need to align ourselves with.
That's how the investors make money. Same thing as true
in my industry and in my career. I have always
been very fortunate that I've never made a movie that
lost money.
Speaker 3 (07:51):
Who say that again.
Speaker 2 (07:53):
That is something that not a lot of people in
Hollywood can say because it is such a speculative industry.
Speaker 3 (07:58):
But every project.
Speaker 2 (07:59):
Now, the key to that is making sure that when
I'm making a project, I'm thinking about what I'm putting into.
Speaker 3 (08:04):
Right.
Speaker 2 (08:05):
So we're throwing around numbers here. My first project was
twenty thousand, next for two hundred thousand. Now my budgets
are in the millions, but the budgets.
Speaker 3 (08:11):
Are very strategic.
Speaker 2 (08:13):
It's not just well, I want to, you know, get
fifty million dollars to make this movie because I think
that's what I deserve. It's what I think about it
with a very clear and sober business head. What do
I need in order to justify the audience that I.
Speaker 3 (08:29):
Can get from that movie.
Speaker 2 (08:31):
Because if I can make a movie for fifty but
it's only gonna make fifty.
Speaker 3 (08:35):
I didn't win. That's not a reason trying to win.
Speaker 2 (08:37):
But if I could make that same movie for thirty
and it makes fifty.
Speaker 3 (08:41):
Now I've got a profit.
Speaker 2 (08:42):
If I can make it for thirty and it makes
one hundred, I'm making even more than I would if
I made that movie for ninety.
Speaker 1 (08:48):
So this is also super fascinating to me because I
think to win in this space, not only do you
have to have a creative eye be able to identify talent,
but the business side of it. And I think this
is a lot where a lot of people will fail
in the arts entertainment industry, no question, because they don't
have this three sixty view of how to make money,
how every dollar will make money. So was this you
(09:10):
or did you start to at some point realize you
needed to hire people on your team that could also
have that view and those abilities for success.
Speaker 2 (09:19):
Yeah, you touched on something really really key, especially in
the arts and entertainment industry. For me, I always had
an eye towards business because that's what drove me to
get into it. I had an eye towards business, and
all the business principles that make an industry work and
in this case, entertainment, and then I fell in love
with storytelling.
Speaker 3 (09:38):
That's what the superpower.
Speaker 2 (09:40):
What I tell people is that if you really are
creatively driven, you want to be a director, you want
to be a writer, that's your passion, nothing wrong with that,
But then align yourself with someone who has that business
acumen so that you are not undercutting your ability to
tell a story, to write a script because you don't
(10:01):
understand or not positioning.
Speaker 3 (10:03):
Yourself in the best way from a business standpoint.
Speaker 2 (10:05):
Have somebody on your team that does have that skill
set that that is the priority for them. Partner with
them so you can focus on the own. But make
no mistake, there is no world where you're going to
be successful in business where you're not focused on the.
Speaker 3 (10:20):
Business principles that are necessary to be successful.
Speaker 1 (10:23):
Absolutely, absolutely, and I know you've created a really Olympic
level team.
Speaker 3 (10:29):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (10:29):
Looking back now, and we'll come back to money because
it's my favorite topic. But looking back now, who were
some of the key people through this illustrious career that
you think could really helped elevate your brand, your business
and your success. Yeah.
Speaker 3 (10:42):
No, question.
Speaker 2 (10:43):
You're only as strong as your team, period. I don't
care who you are. I don't care you name the
most successful person in the world. They have an incredible
team around them. There are multiple people. I go back
to my days at FAM. You and Rob Hardy, and
he had the Dridsey. He was kind of the creative guy,
whereas I was thinking about business and I was helping
him to focus on the art side of it because
I had my own business. And he was the one
(11:03):
that said, I want to be a director. I want
to be the next Spike Lee or Steven Spielberg, right.
That was his vision and so I aligned with him.
That was very helpful and successful. The Hudland Brothers they are,
you know, a well known famous African American movie producers.
They produce House.
Speaker 3 (11:21):
Party in Boomerang.
Speaker 2 (11:22):
Frankton and Reginald Hudland gave me my first internship.
Speaker 3 (11:26):
After I left FAM Youth.
Speaker 2 (11:27):
That was the first time I was able to see
how a Hollywood movie was done firsthand, because I had
only done independent move up to that point.
Speaker 3 (11:34):
I learned.
Speaker 2 (11:35):
I was in there and I paid attention to what
they did. They were very instrumental. And then when you
think about after I got out and I was doing
my own projects now, it was important for me to
hire people around me who understood the same vision. Somebody
very important in that process with Shayla Cowen. Syla produced
the Oscars with me. A lot of people may know
her name from that. She is somebody that has been
(11:57):
me a very long time. The reason she's a great
fit for my companies because she has a strategic eye,
she thinks long term as well, and she's a very
very loyal supporter. In this industry, you've got a lot
of people. It's very cutthroat, right, A lot of industries are.
It's very aggressive, very ambitious, and so what that means
a lot of times is that you have people that
are just figuring out, how can I do what I
(12:18):
need to do for me? How can I just do
just enough in order to then make my next move.
There's not a lot of loyalty because that's not typically
rewarded in an entertainment setting. But if you can find
people that are really good, really smart, really strategic and loyal,
now you find somebody that you got a lining combination
that's an absolutely necessary and winning combination for sure.
Speaker 1 (12:38):
Tune in Fridays we conclude our conversation with acclaimed film
producer Will Packer. Thanks for listening to today's episode. If
we helped you make your money move, please share it
with your community, subscribe and leave us a review on
iHeartRadio and Apple podcasts. Follow us on social media at
Greenwood and visit us at Gogreenwood dot com for more
financial tips and remember, money Movers. If this were easy,
(13:02):
everyone would do it. So take the lessons you've learned
from this episode and apply it to your life until
next time. Money Moves is an iHeart Radio podcast powered
by Greenwood Executive produced by Sunwise Media. Aim For more
podcasts on iHeartRadio, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or
wherever you get your podcasts from. Make sure to tune
in Monday, Wednesday and Friday and subscribe to the Money
(13:24):
Moves podcast powered by Greenwood, so that you too can
have the keys to financial freedom you so rightly deserve
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