September 29, 2023 • 30 mins
In this episode, we turn the spotlight on the man behind the scenes, Ri-Karlo Handy, the founder and CEO of Sunwise Media and the executive producer of this very podcast. With an illustrious career spanning over two decades, Ri-Karlo shares his journey from his early days in the industry to becoming a creative force to be reckoned with. He dives into the fascinating world of content creation, revealing insights into his role as the showrunner and developer of 'Rebuilding Black Wall Street,' a groundbreaking docuseries that's making waves. Moreover, Ri-Karlo sheds light on his passion for diversifying Hollywood through The Handy Foundation, a non-profit dedicated to equipping black and brown communities with vital skills in editing and visual effects. Tune in for an inspiring conversation with a true industry trailblazer.
Host IG:@itstanyatime
Guest IG: @rikarlo
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Okay, so share a little bit of spoilers with us.
What should people be excited to see in this program?
Speaker 2 (00:05):
I mean, look, I think the cool thing about this
show is that one it's a black Joy show. Anybody
that's interested in Reno history. There's a lot of things
that anyone can enjoy because it's just a great story. Right.
But I'm specifically excited about this show because our history
is currently trying to be ripped from schools. Right. We
(00:28):
homeschool our kids. We homeschool our kids because we want
to make sure that they are their education is curated.
Speaker 1 (00:36):
You're listening to Money Moves powered by Greenwood, a finance
podcast dedicated to dropping all the knowledge and gems from
the world's leading celebrities, entrepreneurs and experts, and tech, business
and more. I'm your host, angel investor, technology enthusiasts, and
media personality Tanya Sam. Each week, we talk with guests
who are making significant strides in their fields and learn
(00:57):
how they are making their money Mood. Someone who's looking
to make your money move, 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
(01:18):
us on social media at Greenwood and me on all
things social at It's Tanya. Time to stay locked in
too new episode. Hey, Money Movers, welcome back today. We
have an entertainment trailblazer with us and I am so
excited to share his journey. Ricrlo Handy is the CEO
of Sunwise Media and he is also the executive producer
(01:40):
and showrunner for Rebuilding Black Wall Street. He is over
thirty years of experience creating, content, producing and show running
for some major television networks. Rikharilo, Welcome to the podcast.
Speaker 2 (01:53):
Thank you for having me. And we didn't mention, but
we've been producing this poscust together there.
Speaker 1 (02:01):
Too, your horn too much? But yes, you're also the
EP for Money Moves powered by Greenwood.
Speaker 2 (02:06):
Yeah, but I wanted to say that because this is,
you know, our baby that's been growing up. So I'm
proud of this show too.
Speaker 1 (02:12):
We brought the baby together. Is that weird?
Speaker 2 (02:14):
But yes, yeah, yeah, we're going to go with it.
Speaker 1 (02:17):
So I want to start off by talking about your
journey and how you got here. You were a father,
You've been a renowned producer for many, many years. Take
us back to early Ricarlo and I always ask our guests,
what did you think success would look like? How did
you think about money? And how has that changed as
(02:38):
you sit here now, as you know, a pretty accomplished producer.
Speaker 2 (02:41):
It's funny, I've heard you ask that question a lot,
and I always thought I had the answer, but it's
actually a loaded question. But I will say this. I
started young as a production assistant when I was a
teenager working on music videos in the Bay Area, and
all I wanted to be was a music video director.
Like it was just that simple. Like they had the
nice car, they were making a lot of money, they
(03:03):
were hanging out with you know, they were doing all
the things that I thought I wanted to do as
a teenager. And I did achieve that. By the time
I was eighteen years old, I started directing for master
P and Bond, dozen Harmony and back ten. So you know,
had had videos on one on System Park, which was
like I thought, once that happened, I would be rich.
I thought I made it. Yeah, but you know, low
budget videos end up on load on six in park two.
(03:25):
So my whole point there, though, is I think what
changed about my idea of money. I used to think
that certain jobs, certain titles, would mean that I would
be rich. And I think that some people think once
I'm a CEO, or once I'm a director, or once
I have this certain title, I'm rich. And once I
(03:45):
became a director, I was far from rich. And it
was hard to get directing jobs. And so even though
I had directing job and I was able to make
a living for a few years doing that, from eighteen
to about twenty two, I actually didn't get financially stable
and really afford to be able to buy home and
things like that until I was editing consistently. And that
(04:06):
was the first big lesson where it was like, it
wasn't about a particular title, the title. It was about
having enough valume of business. And you know, so if
you're selling selling buttons yep to millions of people, you know,
and somebody's selling something very expensive to not very many people,
it doesn't really matter. It's just about value at that point.
Speaker 3 (04:25):
Wow.
Speaker 1 (04:26):
Okay, so now you're going from a couple music videos
to directing much larger productions. How did you make that shift?
And I want to ask specifically for insight into who
the people along the way were that helps you recognize
this is what I need to do to create bigger
business and bigger wealth for me in my business.
Speaker 2 (04:47):
One hundred percent. I don't think that I knew early
on what was going to net the results that I wanted.
And sometimes you just go through like doing things and
then you start to look back and be like, oh,
it was all these people along the way, right. And
the one thing that I can say for sure and
a lot of people's Hollywood experience is not this. I
had a lot of support. I had a lot of
(05:09):
people rooting for me or people that would help me,
but I also would ask you know what I mean.
So it was that exchange. But you know people like
Darren Grant who's a director of television, Rachel Curl who
does a lot of commercials, Jeff Clanagan, who runs all
of Kevin Hart's business, you know with laugh out loud
and those kind of things. I've known Jeff since I
was fifteen years old. He gave me my first directing
(05:30):
job right at eighteen for Master p And so these
are the people that I've known that kind of helped
me grow up in the business. And ironically I got
a shout out Robin Lodicker Johnson specifically, she used to
run BET as far as the unscripted development. She was
my production manager when I was a director, and then
when she got into television and became an executive. There
(05:54):
was a trust there, right, So she gave me my
first opportunity to run a TV show with James Debo's,
which was the Keuhr Cole Show The Way It Is Wow.
And that was what in two thousand and seven, so
just a couple of years ago.
Speaker 1 (06:07):
Well, you know, you obviously are grateful to all the
people that helped you, and I know that you like
to pay it forward a lot, and you have the
Handy Foundation. Tell us a little bit about the Handy Foundation.
Speaker 2 (06:18):
The Handy Foundation came, and I think a lot of
things come that don't really look like opportunities, right like,
and you just got to turn it into that and
I went, I went viral, and there's a lot of
you know, information out there about that moment. But in
twenty and twenty or twenty twenty, I went viral looking
for black editors online and it turned into an opportunity
(06:41):
because you know, anytime you get a lot of press,
that's what any business can hope for. But I got
all the press with no business right and I was like, well,
am I going to promote my my production company? Or
like what am I going to turn this viral moment into?
And really what I ended up doing was just listening
to what the need was, like why is this thing viral?
And what is the need out there? And the needers creed.
(07:03):
So the problem with the Handy Validation solved and is solving,
is really the access to technical training. There are tons
of jobs and there's tons of opportunities in Hollywood entertainment.
And when I say Hollywood entertainment, I mean think about
content as in every business. Now, if you are a
doctor's office, you want to have a video. Everybody needs it,
(07:25):
but but people have to find people that are proficient
in doing that, and there's a huge gap. People coming
out of film school, people coming out of high school
don't have that opportunity. So what the Handy Foundation does
is really mimics my experience. Is it wraps people around
you that have experience, help gives you some training connections
makes connections exactly.
Speaker 1 (07:46):
That's fantastic. I want to talk about rebuilding Blackwall Street
because this is such an incredible project that is telling
the stories of how we are reconstructing, you know, a
tragic historical event. You've partnered with Greenwood, with the Oprah
Network and of course Sunwise Media. Tell me about why
(08:07):
this project was so important to you.
Speaker 2 (08:10):
I think at some point I reached a point in
my career and prior to doing Greenwood, I was head
of the Prior to doing the Greenwood stuff with Ryan Glover,
we were both at Bounced TV. He was the president
and I ran original programming, And so it was interesting
because probably right before right around twenty nineteen twenty twenty,
(08:32):
I kind of made a shift personally to be like,
I want to just do projects that are very meaningful,
and that's harder to do in our business yea. And
it's a longer road and we knew that, And so
that's kind of what Step wanted.
Speaker 1 (08:45):
To stup you there, because you know, for those money
movers that are listening, why is it hard is it
harder for people to color to raise money to fund
the projects that we want to put into the world,
Like why is it hard.
Speaker 2 (08:58):
It's hard because most television executives and producers want to
make sure they keep their jobs and what that looks like.
And it's the same thing in the music industry, you know,
when I was doing that, Like things that are successful,
people just duplicate, right, it doesn't fit what we're already doing.
I mean, the networks even put out mandates or what
(09:18):
they're looking to do, and it's usually based on the
ratings from the previous year, and so give us more
of what we love exactly. You know, we are this
network and we do this thing, and we don't do
this other thing right, and maybe it didn't work another time,
but that even gives you less ammunition to try something new.
So it's very hard to be innovative in an industry
(09:40):
where people are trying to not lose, right, because there's
no it's risk right, Like that's everybody knows being an entrepreneur.
Anybody do something innovative, it might be risky, and so
you know, sometimes you'll every you know, every project has
its own journey. But it's harder generally for these projects successful.
(10:00):
But I've had some success. We're projects that are considered
a little more earnest, you know what I mean, Like
we did the Harlem Low Trotter Show Saturday Morning program
and we got nominated for a Daytime Emmy, and we
blew out the ratings on Saturday Mornings that hadn't you know,
hadn't reached that height. But I think we have a
specific formula and that we kind of honed in different areas.
(10:21):
And I've been a part of a lot of shows
that might have been considered earnest and we've had some
success there, so I knew kind of some formulas that
might work.
Speaker 3 (10:28):
All right.
Speaker 1 (10:28):
So now rebuilding Black Wall Street, what was the seed
that really made you passionate about telling these stories?
Speaker 2 (10:38):
I grew up in Oakland, you know, my family are
very grew up in Wabasiki. My grandmother's from Wabacicki, Arkansas,
which is where Hughey P. Newton's from. Elgis Cleaver, who's
one of my grandmother's cousins. So growing up, my dad,
my grandmother, and my parents, we always were aware of,
(11:00):
you know, just what it would take to build community
and what it would take for our people to be
you know, successful, you know what I mean, Like all
the different plights of African Americans, So that's always been
an interest of mine in different areas. And then also
like raising up our folks to learn about financial literacy
(11:21):
and grow our businesses in our community to be self sustainable,
which is what interested me in partnering with Greenwood from
day one on everything on the commercials, on the podcasts,
on all the content, and so the TV show Rebuilding
Black Wall Street was just an extension of that, because
what I tell people all the time is, you know,
you don't have to come up with twenty five ideas.
(11:42):
You're going to come up with twenty five different ways
to solve the same problem, and one of them is
going to work.
Speaker 1 (11:49):
Making a production like this is a huge endeavor. Tell
me about some of the hurdles that you guys experienced
in getting the show to the finish line.
Speaker 2 (11:58):
Well, I mean it starts development, right because when anytime
you come up with an idea like this, he you
need the people to do it, and you need the resources.
And the first step really was getting this actual viable tape.
So I have to shout out car Duncan, who I
know you spoke to who you know when we were
on the ground trying to figure out even what the
(12:20):
story was. She knew everybody, right. Her mom walked into
a room we were doing a bunch of interviews for
Untold Stories and with Ringwood, and she came in with
a box of like all this information that we didn't know, right,
and she's like, oh, yeah, this is what happened, and
you know, like articles and artifacts, and it was almost
like it was head on the platter. Now, I've known
(12:41):
car for years and had no idea that she was
even from Tulsa. Wow, you know what I mean. And
so we just happened to be there for the centent
at the same time, and it just was it all
clicked At that moment. I was like, oh, we can
actually do this, because a lot of times people have
ideas but they don't actually have the way to get
it done.
Speaker 1 (12:57):
Well, there, it seems like there was a beautiful synchronicity
and like this was a story that was just dying
to be told for you know, the people that lived there,
the families, the ancestors, and the lives that were lost.
So like this needed to be told and especially by
people that were connected and passionate, people like yourself. But
I know it wasn't easy, so talk more about some
(13:18):
of those hurdles that you guys face.
Speaker 2 (13:19):
So that was the first hurdle and then and then
you know, fortunately because of car we got over it
pretty easily. But we still have to find people. But
I think the development process of a television show is
harder than people think. This is actually two years and
two years in the making, you know, from the day
that we not from the day that we first conceptualized it,
(13:41):
from the first day that it sold. It's been two years. Wow, right,
So I think sometimes people think that you sell a
TV show and it's just like it comes on two
weeks now. It is a process internally with the network,
with partnerships. You know, we hadnfortunately on this show, Group
M and Emotion Group came in and helped with the
financing of the show through a program partnership there with
(14:04):
Warner Brothers Discovery the you know, also Warner and Discovery
we're going through a merger during that time and they're
still completing that, so you know, kind of being on that,
you know, outskirts of experiencing what that might be like,
these two huge companies merging and the impact that I'd
have on you know, our project just one of thousands.
Speaker 1 (14:24):
Did you find that you had people who didn't want
this story to be told?
Speaker 2 (14:30):
You know, it's interesting you say that, because now that
I think about it, when we came to Tulsa, nobody
knew what we were doing, right, Everyone that came to
Tulsa before had done a straight documentary about what happened
in nineteen twenty one, and everyone thought that that's what
we were doing. And I think this would be a
(14:51):
good time to share a trailer because if you don't
know what our show is, it's a combination. Right. It's
a home renovation business renovation show, and it has documentary
clips in it that really tell backstories to give you context,
but it's also following real people today, so it's really
a hybrid. And that's hard to pitch. Yeah, right, you're like, oh,
what is that? Is it? Like? This show is like that? Though, know,
(15:12):
it's like no other show you've ever seen, and it's
hard to tell people that until they see it. So
I think, you know, we can we can maybe show
a trailer and show people what it is.
Speaker 3 (15:24):
Welcome to Tulsa, Oklahoma. This is the historic Greenwood District,
better known as Black Wall Street, A little Better a
thriving African American community, once spanning forty square blocks.
Speaker 1 (15:37):
Greenwood was created because we were excluded.
Speaker 3 (15:40):
Unto the massacre of nineteen twenty one.
Speaker 4 (15:43):
Greenwood was burned to the ground and over three hundred
people were murdered.
Speaker 2 (15:49):
And fifty six homes burnt down.
Speaker 3 (15:51):
This history is recent enough that there are still three
people to live through it. The spirit of Black Wall
Street survived, and the.
Speaker 2 (15:58):
Story of Greenwood is finally being told. My family was
here for the nineteen to twenty one race Massa. They
had a house on Lansing Street.
Speaker 1 (16:09):
We've been a lady's pressure.
Speaker 2 (16:14):
We're just trying to do good.
Speaker 3 (16:16):
We're trying to do good.
Speaker 5 (16:21):
One hundred years later.
Speaker 3 (16:22):
Is descendants of that community of building a new legacy.
Speaker 1 (16:25):
We don't have providers of color in Tulsa.
Speaker 2 (16:28):
I'm building a space.
Speaker 1 (16:30):
Doing this well myself has been very challenging, and.
Speaker 2 (16:32):
We're here to help.
Speaker 3 (16:33):
I really know you're doing.
Speaker 2 (16:36):
Today is the.
Speaker 3 (16:38):
Day our team of designers, builders and texperts are seeking
out Black Wall Street descendants.
Speaker 2 (16:45):
This is where my grandfather's business was.
Speaker 3 (16:48):
Entrepreneurs and community leaders.
Speaker 1 (16:50):
Just more to black history, miss slavery and the civil
rights bolts, right.
Speaker 3 (16:54):
To learn about their goals for restoring their community.
Speaker 5 (16:56):
I want to be part of the solution to help
make a difference.
Speaker 3 (16:59):
And rebuild black Wall Streets one brick at a time.
It looks really good.
Speaker 2 (17:13):
I have no idea how we're going to get all
of this done. Hold on, man, this is not the
White Bridge.
Speaker 1 (17:18):
Oh my god, it's time to be celebrating the opening
of a black owned restaurant in the middle of region.
Speaker 3 (17:32):
I'm your old sports chestnut, and together we are rebuilding
Black Wall Streets.
Speaker 1 (17:47):
Okay, so share a little bit of spoilers with us.
What should people be excited to see in this program?
Speaker 2 (17:52):
I mean, look, I think the cool thing about this
show is that one, it's a black joy show. Anybody
that's interested in Rento history. There's a lot of things
that anyone can enjoy because it's just a great story.
Speaker 3 (18:05):
Right.
Speaker 2 (18:06):
But I'm specifically excited about this show because our history
is currently being trying to be ripped from schools.
Speaker 3 (18:15):
Right.
Speaker 2 (18:15):
We homeschooled our kids. We homeschool our kids because we
want to make sure that they are their education is curated.
But what was interesting I was really reflecting on this today,
Like growing up, I saw a ton of stories about
the Holocaust, saw a ton of stories about different atrocities
that different groups have experienced, and I feel like the
only one I ever saw about us was slavery. Right,
(18:38):
And for me, this is a blueprint, I think for
us to tell more of our stories from an empowering perspective,
because one it tells this you know, Holocaust size story
of that wasn't just happening in Tulsa, by the way,
was happening nationwide, right, you know, we were terrorized for decades. Right.
(19:04):
One of the facts that I that I learned in
this process is, you know, black folks applied for more
patents in this country between eighteen sixty five in nineteen
twenty than they did from nineteen twenty till today. Wow,
And it was due to do that. That's an incredible fact,
that is that's because we experienced so much. Hey, it's
(19:27):
all good, it's all good with you know some white
folks during that time. And we had this promise that
everything was going to be different, and nineteen around the
early nineteen hundreds, we learned it was not. And that's
when you get your Jim Crow laws, et cetera. And
so we're telling a different story I think about America
than's ever been told. And I think we're also telling
(19:48):
you the part of what those descendants of those folks
are doing now, much like you might learn about a
Holocaust survivor's descendant. And so I just I'm excited to
give folks that perspective on their own history because so often,
as black folks in this country and abroad, we don't
know our history. What's your last name mean, I don't
know where your people from, We don't know you know
(20:10):
what I mean? And this is our normal conversations. But
now we can start to put some of those pieces together.
So I'm excited for that. And you know, there's this
rap group fire Lower Africa featured that that we do
an episode on and they encapsulated the story in their
own way through music, right and it's a really popular
kind of call to actions in their in their music.
(20:33):
And then you know, we feature, you know, the medical
industry that's lacking there in the Birthing area. There's a
black farmer that we that we spend some time, but
we also spend a lot of time with this group
called twelve fifty six that are rebuilding homes. The twelfifty
six homes to holding fiatures fims that we're destroyed. So
their organization is raising money in honor of that, and
(20:54):
they're helping some of the individuals. And lastly Kevin Johnson
who's building fixes surrounds and bringing employment, you know what
I mean, Like people were crying at the opening. I
interviewed one of his waitresses and she was crying because
she was so proud to work for someone black at
a real nice, you know, thriving national business and they
(21:18):
hadn't had that experience. She had had that experience in
Tulsa of working for someone with this size business that
was black owned, and so I'm just excited to bring
those kind of stories to TV.
Speaker 1 (21:28):
To life, to TV to our homes. Carlo, thank you
so much for bringing these stories to our screens and
our homes and carrying the voices of all of the
people that I'm trying to talk to. But please tell
our viewers where they can find you, how they can
find the show, and where they can follow you on
social media.
Speaker 2 (21:47):
Awesome. So one, you can definitely watch the show starting
Friday nights on the opraenh Winfrey Network September twenty ninth,
also be streaming on Max after that in November, and
then you can you can follow me at some wise Media,
at Recarlo or at Handy Foundation. Those are all the
(22:07):
igs and or Handy Foundation dot com and somewismedia dot com.
But excited to be here and I'm glad. I'm really
really excited for you be able to share this show
and tell their friends because it just continues the mission
of Greenwood.
Speaker 1 (22:21):
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, Moneymovers,
if this were easy, everyone would do it. So take
the lessons you've learned from this episode and apply it
(22:43):
to your life. Hey, Moneymovers, has anyone told you today
how awesome you are? If not, hear it from me?
And I want to take a moment to express my
gratitude for your continued support and engagement. Our journey through
discussions with remarkable guests and entrepreneurs has been nothing short
of inspire and empowering for me and I hope.
Speaker 5 (23:02):
For you too.
Speaker 1 (23:03):
I encourage you to catch up on any episodes you
might have missed or those that you might want to
go back and revisit. In fact, let me share a
quick clip from one of my favorite conversations episode, we
sit down with acclaimed film producer Will Packer. Let's talk
about going out on your own. You started Will Packer Productions. Yes,
that's huge thing. You're like, I'm going to do this
on my own. I'm going to create more of these
(23:24):
blockbuster movies. How are you structured different? How do you
feel your success has been different than the average production house.
Speaker 5 (23:32):
It's a lot different.
Speaker 4 (23:33):
One is that it was built from the ground up
with an audience first mentality. So for me, because I
started off making little, tiny independent movies, you know, one
at FAMU one. After I graduated, I had to hustle
and independently distribute those films to the audience. I've always
kept an eye on who am I making the project for.
(23:53):
Who do I know is going to see this movie?
I am somebody that believes don't worry about making content
for everybody, don't worry about trying to be all things
to all people, but be everything to some people.
Speaker 5 (24:06):
That is my model.
Speaker 4 (24:07):
That is a tenant of mine. I believe in that
I don't have to be all things of all people,
but I need to be everything to some people. And
that audience that I have had that has supported me
that I'm very, very thankful and grateful for. I have
continued to feed and serve that audience even as we
expand beyond it. That's one of the things that makes
us different from a lot of production companies out there.
(24:28):
The other thing is that I have set my company
up to be very malleable when it comes to how
we think about content and projects. So, for example, when
we get a pitch or a ip an article, a
book brought into us, we don't only think about it
in one particular way. We don't think, okay, this was
this was pitched to us as a movie. If it
(24:49):
doesn't work as a feature length movie, then we can't
do anything with it.
Speaker 3 (24:53):
Right.
Speaker 4 (24:53):
It's the equivalent of if you and I we have
a shoe company, right, that's what we do, and or
we have had we make hats and somebody bring us
a great design for a shoe, We're going to try
to stick the shoe on our head and say it
doesn't really work.
Speaker 5 (25:05):
Right.
Speaker 4 (25:06):
But if we have a company that is able to
monetize and exploit across different mediums, then you say, that's
not a hat, but it's a great shoe, and.
Speaker 1 (25:14):
Let's figure out a race to go versatility absolut versatility
to do the same thing.
Speaker 4 (25:19):
In my production company, if somebody brings something in, we say, well,
is it a doc, is it a limited series?
Speaker 5 (25:24):
Is it a podcast? Is it a feature? Is it
a scripted series? Unscripted? And we have the ability to
do all those things, so now we're not pigeonholing ourselves.
Speaker 4 (25:32):
That's something that's very very important, especially when you think
about scaling of biness.
Speaker 1 (25:35):
You know, that's really important, I think in this industry
and not the norm because obviously in a lot of
these legacy industries they're like, well, this film has to
be only made for this audience and it has to
be a romance. It can't have action in it. You know,
it's very like what is it and what does it
look like? So you can put it into a box.
So I can see how looking at your array of
products that you've put out from reality unscripted to some
(25:57):
of my favorites your TV series Being Married.
Speaker 3 (26:00):
To ease too.
Speaker 5 (26:01):
You know, they're really different, but you know what you're
going to get. Yeah, yeah, thank you. I appreciate that.
Speaker 4 (26:07):
I always again try to keep that audience first, think
about who I'm making it for.
Speaker 5 (26:11):
Make it for a number.
Speaker 4 (26:12):
Back to the money part of this, make it and
put in resources that make sense based on the profit potential.
Speaker 5 (26:18):
Of a project.
Speaker 4 (26:19):
Don't overextend, right, don't go out and don't raise more
money than you need.
Speaker 5 (26:23):
Spend what you need to spend in order to have success.
Speaker 4 (26:25):
Don't wait until you raise Maybe you set a goal
for X, right, if you're never going to get to
X in set a date and say by the time
I reach, you know, a year from now, however much
I raised, that's the budget of my project. That's what
I did with our movie Twah, which is the movie
we made right after Chocolate City, just graduating. We had
(26:46):
this dream of raising a bunch of money and we
could never get there, and we said, you know what,
we could spend the rest of our lives trying to
raise this money. So what we're gonna do is, instead
of having a financial goal, we're going to set a
date goal and whatever we're able to raise by that
particular date.
Speaker 5 (26:59):
That's the budget of the movie, and that's exactly what
we did.
Speaker 1 (27:02):
I'm going to talk about movie budgeting because I think
this is interesting. Okay, how do you cut costs on
a production set?
Speaker 2 (27:07):
Yeah? Like that?
Speaker 1 (27:08):
I think is the nitty gritty that's really hard? Is
it in the actors? It is in wardrobe? There's so
many pieces that go into a successful film. How do
you cut costs? Nowadays?
Speaker 4 (27:17):
The answer is yes, all those erarans, right, because in
you can make a movie for any amount of money.
Speaker 5 (27:25):
All right, you can make a movie for five dollars.
It's gonna look like a five dollars movie. Comes to
me Instagram, I'm making movies. But hey, yes, you can
make a movie with five hundred million.
Speaker 3 (27:34):
Yes, right.
Speaker 5 (27:35):
It's just about the story you're trying to tell in
the ways you tell it live. That's in the execution.
Speaker 4 (27:39):
So when you think about budging a movie, you have
to think about where do I want to put the
majority of my resource. Resource allocation is so important in
any industry, but especially in the movie business. So if
there are certain stars that this movie does not work
without these stars, it doesn't work without it. I have
to have these stars you gotta pay what you gotta
(27:59):
pay to get those stars. You got a concept that is,
you know, a big high concept movie people relate to.
It's kind of does it have to have a big
star in it? Then you spend your money elsewhere. Maybe
you put it on your director, or your script or
your wardrobe or other elements of it.
Speaker 5 (28:15):
It's always a balance.
Speaker 4 (28:16):
It's always figuring out what are the essential elements that
I need to make this movie. That's what I do
every time. What do I have to have in order
for this movie to be successful? You put your priority,
You prioritize the resources there. Then everything else you spend
what you have to, but no more than that if
it's a non essential element, which is hard sometimes yeah,
because you get people to say, well, it's all essential,
(28:38):
it's all important.
Speaker 5 (28:39):
Of course it is, but you still have to priority.
And that's the same.
Speaker 4 (28:43):
I don't care if you're starting a rescue right, doesn't matter.
Prioritize what do you have to have, what's essential. Put
the majority of your resources.
Speaker 5 (28:51):
There and the rest. Spend what you need to, but
no more than you have to.
Speaker 1 (28:55):
You know, we have a lot of really successful entrepreneurs
and founders, and I hear this a lot. I think
some of the most successful entrepreneurs, CEOs, bosses are able
to make really important decisions quickly, swiftly, and with certainty.
Speaker 5 (29:09):
And that's what makes a good leader.
Speaker 1 (29:11):
Yes, and you can cut through and read through all
that stuff not vacillating on like oh should.
Speaker 5 (29:16):
Be you know, have this car or this, and you
can make moves really fast.
Speaker 4 (29:20):
Yes, yes, yes, no, you said it. You got to
cut through it, cut through it, get to what's important.
Don't spend a lot of time. Goes back to me saying,
keep the main thing, the main thing. Don't spend a
lot of time on things that are not important. Prioritime and,
by the.
Speaker 5 (29:33):
Way, one of the most important resources that we all have.
Speaker 4 (29:36):
And I don't care if you're you know, Tanya, Sam
will Pack or somebody that's just starting off trying to
get to this level time time time. You know it,
and I know it because it's the thing we have
the least of. Right, somebody asked me to come and
be a part of something, I would much rather cut
a check. I'll much rather say can I donate? Because
I can't come.
Speaker 5 (29:55):
I can't tell you in LA.
Speaker 4 (29:57):
Time is the most important resource and so even when
you're just starting out, protect your time. Where are you
spending your time? Are you spending your time? You should
be doing something every day towards trying to reach your goal.
Every day, even if it's small, make sure that you're
progressing every day. My favorite word is onward, positive perpetual progression.
No matter what, onward, always be moving forward.
Speaker 1 (30:21):
Money Moves is an iHeart Radio podcast powered by Greenwood
Executive produced by Sunwise Media, Inc. 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 Moves podcast powered
by Greenwood, so that you too can have the keys
to financial freedom you so rightly deserve. Until next time
Okay, so share a little bit of spoilers with us.
What should people be excited to see in this program?
Speaker 2 (00:05):
I mean, look, I think the cool thing about this
show is that one it's a black Joy show. Anybody
that's interested in Reno history. There's a lot of things
that anyone can enjoy because it's just a great story. Right.
But I'm specifically excited about this show because our history
is currently trying to be ripped from schools. Right. We
(00:28):
homeschool our kids. We homeschool our kids because we want
to make sure that they are their education is curated.
Speaker 1 (00:36):
You're listening to Money Moves powered by Greenwood, a finance
podcast dedicated to dropping all the knowledge and gems from
the world's leading celebrities, entrepreneurs and experts, and tech, business
and more. I'm your host, angel investor, technology enthusiasts, and
media personality Tanya Sam. Each week, we talk with guests
who are making significant strides in their fields and learn
(00:57):
how they are making their money Mood. Someone who's looking
to make your money move, 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
(01:18):
us on social media at Greenwood and me on all
things social at It's Tanya. Time to stay locked in
too new episode. Hey, Money Movers, welcome back today. We
have an entertainment trailblazer with us and I am so
excited to share his journey. Ricrlo Handy is the CEO
of Sunwise Media and he is also the executive producer
(01:40):
and showrunner for Rebuilding Black Wall Street. He is over
thirty years of experience creating, content, producing and show running
for some major television networks. Rikharilo, Welcome to the podcast.
Speaker 2 (01:53):
Thank you for having me. And we didn't mention, but
we've been producing this poscust together there.
Speaker 1 (02:01):
Too, your horn too much? But yes, you're also the
EP for Money Moves powered by Greenwood.
Speaker 2 (02:06):
Yeah, but I wanted to say that because this is,
you know, our baby that's been growing up. So I'm
proud of this show too.
Speaker 1 (02:12):
We brought the baby together. Is that weird?
Speaker 2 (02:14):
But yes, yeah, yeah, we're going to go with it.
Speaker 1 (02:17):
So I want to start off by talking about your
journey and how you got here. You were a father,
You've been a renowned producer for many, many years. Take
us back to early Ricarlo and I always ask our guests,
what did you think success would look like? How did
you think about money? And how has that changed as
(02:38):
you sit here now, as you know, a pretty accomplished producer.
Speaker 2 (02:41):
It's funny, I've heard you ask that question a lot,
and I always thought I had the answer, but it's
actually a loaded question. But I will say this. I
started young as a production assistant when I was a
teenager working on music videos in the Bay Area, and
all I wanted to be was a music video director.
Like it was just that simple. Like they had the
nice car, they were making a lot of money, they
(03:03):
were hanging out with you know, they were doing all
the things that I thought I wanted to do as
a teenager. And I did achieve that. By the time
I was eighteen years old, I started directing for master
P and Bond, dozen Harmony and back ten. So you know,
had had videos on one on System Park, which was
like I thought, once that happened, I would be rich.
I thought I made it. Yeah, but you know, low
budget videos end up on load on six in park two.
(03:25):
So my whole point there, though, is I think what
changed about my idea of money. I used to think
that certain jobs, certain titles, would mean that I would
be rich. And I think that some people think once
I'm a CEO, or once I'm a director, or once
I have this certain title, I'm rich. And once I
(03:45):
became a director, I was far from rich. And it
was hard to get directing jobs. And so even though
I had directing job and I was able to make
a living for a few years doing that, from eighteen
to about twenty two, I actually didn't get financially stable
and really afford to be able to buy home and
things like that until I was editing consistently. And that
(04:06):
was the first big lesson where it was like, it
wasn't about a particular title, the title. It was about
having enough valume of business. And you know, so if
you're selling selling buttons yep to millions of people, you know,
and somebody's selling something very expensive to not very many people,
it doesn't really matter. It's just about value at that point.
Speaker 3 (04:25):
Wow.
Speaker 1 (04:26):
Okay, so now you're going from a couple music videos
to directing much larger productions. How did you make that shift?
And I want to ask specifically for insight into who
the people along the way were that helps you recognize
this is what I need to do to create bigger
business and bigger wealth for me in my business.
Speaker 2 (04:47):
One hundred percent. I don't think that I knew early
on what was going to net the results that I wanted.
And sometimes you just go through like doing things and
then you start to look back and be like, oh,
it was all these people along the way, right. And
the one thing that I can say for sure and
a lot of people's Hollywood experience is not this. I
had a lot of support. I had a lot of
(05:09):
people rooting for me or people that would help me,
but I also would ask you know what I mean.
So it was that exchange. But you know people like
Darren Grant who's a director of television, Rachel Curl who
does a lot of commercials, Jeff Clanagan, who runs all
of Kevin Hart's business, you know with laugh out loud
and those kind of things. I've known Jeff since I
was fifteen years old. He gave me my first directing
(05:30):
job right at eighteen for Master p And so these
are the people that I've known that kind of helped
me grow up in the business. And ironically I got
a shout out Robin Lodicker Johnson specifically, she used to
run BET as far as the unscripted development. She was
my production manager when I was a director, and then
when she got into television and became an executive. There
(05:54):
was a trust there, right, So she gave me my
first opportunity to run a TV show with James Debo's,
which was the Keuhr Cole Show The Way It Is Wow.
And that was what in two thousand and seven, so
just a couple of years ago.
Speaker 1 (06:07):
Well, you know, you obviously are grateful to all the
people that helped you, and I know that you like
to pay it forward a lot, and you have the
Handy Foundation. Tell us a little bit about the Handy Foundation.
Speaker 2 (06:18):
The Handy Foundation came, and I think a lot of
things come that don't really look like opportunities, right like,
and you just got to turn it into that and
I went, I went viral, and there's a lot of
you know, information out there about that moment. But in
twenty and twenty or twenty twenty, I went viral looking
for black editors online and it turned into an opportunity
(06:41):
because you know, anytime you get a lot of press,
that's what any business can hope for. But I got
all the press with no business right and I was like, well,
am I going to promote my my production company? Or
like what am I going to turn this viral moment into?
And really what I ended up doing was just listening
to what the need was, like why is this thing viral?
And what is the need out there? And the needers creed.
(07:03):
So the problem with the Handy Validation solved and is solving,
is really the access to technical training. There are tons
of jobs and there's tons of opportunities in Hollywood entertainment.
And when I say Hollywood entertainment, I mean think about
content as in every business. Now, if you are a
doctor's office, you want to have a video. Everybody needs it,
(07:25):
but but people have to find people that are proficient
in doing that, and there's a huge gap. People coming
out of film school, people coming out of high school
don't have that opportunity. So what the Handy Foundation does
is really mimics my experience. Is it wraps people around
you that have experience, help gives you some training connections
makes connections exactly.
Speaker 1 (07:46):
That's fantastic. I want to talk about rebuilding Blackwall Street
because this is such an incredible project that is telling
the stories of how we are reconstructing, you know, a
tragic historical event. You've partnered with Greenwood, with the Oprah
Network and of course Sunwise Media. Tell me about why
(08:07):
this project was so important to you.
Speaker 2 (08:10):
I think at some point I reached a point in
my career and prior to doing Greenwood, I was head
of the Prior to doing the Greenwood stuff with Ryan Glover,
we were both at Bounced TV. He was the president
and I ran original programming, And so it was interesting
because probably right before right around twenty nineteen twenty twenty,
(08:32):
I kind of made a shift personally to be like,
I want to just do projects that are very meaningful,
and that's harder to do in our business yea. And
it's a longer road and we knew that, And so
that's kind of what Step wanted.
Speaker 1 (08:45):
To stup you there, because you know, for those money
movers that are listening, why is it hard is it
harder for people to color to raise money to fund
the projects that we want to put into the world,
Like why is it hard.
Speaker 2 (08:58):
It's hard because most television executives and producers want to
make sure they keep their jobs and what that looks like.
And it's the same thing in the music industry, you know,
when I was doing that, Like things that are successful,
people just duplicate, right, it doesn't fit what we're already doing.
I mean, the networks even put out mandates or what
(09:18):
they're looking to do, and it's usually based on the
ratings from the previous year, and so give us more
of what we love exactly. You know, we are this
network and we do this thing, and we don't do
this other thing right, and maybe it didn't work another time,
but that even gives you less ammunition to try something new.
So it's very hard to be innovative in an industry
(09:40):
where people are trying to not lose, right, because there's
no it's risk right, Like that's everybody knows being an entrepreneur.
Anybody do something innovative, it might be risky, and so
you know, sometimes you'll every you know, every project has
its own journey. But it's harder generally for these projects successful.
(10:00):
But I've had some success. We're projects that are considered
a little more earnest, you know what I mean, Like
we did the Harlem Low Trotter Show Saturday Morning program
and we got nominated for a Daytime Emmy, and we
blew out the ratings on Saturday Mornings that hadn't you know,
hadn't reached that height. But I think we have a
specific formula and that we kind of honed in different areas.
(10:21):
And I've been a part of a lot of shows
that might have been considered earnest and we've had some
success there, so I knew kind of some formulas that
might work.
Speaker 3 (10:28):
All right.
Speaker 1 (10:28):
So now rebuilding Black Wall Street, what was the seed
that really made you passionate about telling these stories?
Speaker 2 (10:38):
I grew up in Oakland, you know, my family are
very grew up in Wabasiki. My grandmother's from Wabacicki, Arkansas,
which is where Hughey P. Newton's from. Elgis Cleaver, who's
one of my grandmother's cousins. So growing up, my dad,
my grandmother, and my parents, we always were aware of,
(11:00):
you know, just what it would take to build community
and what it would take for our people to be
you know, successful, you know what I mean, Like all
the different plights of African Americans, So that's always been
an interest of mine in different areas. And then also
like raising up our folks to learn about financial literacy
(11:21):
and grow our businesses in our community to be self sustainable,
which is what interested me in partnering with Greenwood from
day one on everything on the commercials, on the podcasts,
on all the content, and so the TV show Rebuilding
Black Wall Street was just an extension of that, because
what I tell people all the time is, you know,
you don't have to come up with twenty five ideas.
(11:42):
You're going to come up with twenty five different ways
to solve the same problem, and one of them is
going to work.
Speaker 1 (11:49):
Making a production like this is a huge endeavor. Tell
me about some of the hurdles that you guys experienced
in getting the show to the finish line.
Speaker 2 (11:58):
Well, I mean it starts development, right because when anytime
you come up with an idea like this, he you
need the people to do it, and you need the resources.
And the first step really was getting this actual viable tape.
So I have to shout out car Duncan, who I
know you spoke to who you know when we were
on the ground trying to figure out even what the
(12:20):
story was. She knew everybody, right. Her mom walked into
a room we were doing a bunch of interviews for
Untold Stories and with Ringwood, and she came in with
a box of like all this information that we didn't know, right,
and she's like, oh, yeah, this is what happened, and
you know, like articles and artifacts, and it was almost
like it was head on the platter. Now, I've known
(12:41):
car for years and had no idea that she was
even from Tulsa. Wow, you know what I mean. And
so we just happened to be there for the centent
at the same time, and it just was it all
clicked At that moment. I was like, oh, we can
actually do this, because a lot of times people have
ideas but they don't actually have the way to get
it done.
Speaker 1 (12:57):
Well, there, it seems like there was a beautiful synchronicity
and like this was a story that was just dying
to be told for you know, the people that lived there,
the families, the ancestors, and the lives that were lost.
So like this needed to be told and especially by
people that were connected and passionate, people like yourself. But
I know it wasn't easy, so talk more about some
(13:18):
of those hurdles that you guys face.
Speaker 2 (13:19):
So that was the first hurdle and then and then
you know, fortunately because of car we got over it
pretty easily. But we still have to find people. But
I think the development process of a television show is
harder than people think. This is actually two years and
two years in the making, you know, from the day
that we not from the day that we first conceptualized it,
(13:41):
from the first day that it sold. It's been two years. Wow, right,
So I think sometimes people think that you sell a
TV show and it's just like it comes on two
weeks now. It is a process internally with the network,
with partnerships. You know, we hadnfortunately on this show, Group
M and Emotion Group came in and helped with the
financing of the show through a program partnership there with
(14:04):
Warner Brothers Discovery the you know, also Warner and Discovery
we're going through a merger during that time and they're
still completing that, so you know, kind of being on that,
you know, outskirts of experiencing what that might be like,
these two huge companies merging and the impact that I'd
have on you know, our project just one of thousands.
Speaker 1 (14:24):
Did you find that you had people who didn't want
this story to be told?
Speaker 2 (14:30):
You know, it's interesting you say that, because now that
I think about it, when we came to Tulsa, nobody
knew what we were doing, right, Everyone that came to
Tulsa before had done a straight documentary about what happened
in nineteen twenty one, and everyone thought that that's what
we were doing. And I think this would be a
(14:51):
good time to share a trailer because if you don't
know what our show is, it's a combination. Right. It's
a home renovation business renovation show, and it has documentary
clips in it that really tell backstories to give you context,
but it's also following real people today, so it's really
a hybrid. And that's hard to pitch. Yeah, right, you're like, oh,
what is that? Is it? Like? This show is like that? Though, know,
(15:12):
it's like no other show you've ever seen, and it's
hard to tell people that until they see it. So
I think, you know, we can we can maybe show
a trailer and show people what it is.
Speaker 3 (15:24):
Welcome to Tulsa, Oklahoma. This is the historic Greenwood District,
better known as Black Wall Street, A little Better a
thriving African American community, once spanning forty square blocks.
Speaker 1 (15:37):
Greenwood was created because we were excluded.
Speaker 3 (15:40):
Unto the massacre of nineteen twenty one.
Speaker 4 (15:43):
Greenwood was burned to the ground and over three hundred
people were murdered.
Speaker 2 (15:49):
And fifty six homes burnt down.
Speaker 3 (15:51):
This history is recent enough that there are still three
people to live through it. The spirit of Black Wall
Street survived, and the.
Speaker 2 (15:58):
Story of Greenwood is finally being told. My family was
here for the nineteen to twenty one race Massa. They
had a house on Lansing Street.
Speaker 1 (16:09):
We've been a lady's pressure.
Speaker 2 (16:14):
We're just trying to do good.
Speaker 3 (16:16):
We're trying to do good.
Speaker 5 (16:21):
One hundred years later.
Speaker 3 (16:22):
Is descendants of that community of building a new legacy.
Speaker 1 (16:25):
We don't have providers of color in Tulsa.
Speaker 2 (16:28):
I'm building a space.
Speaker 1 (16:30):
Doing this well myself has been very challenging, and.
Speaker 2 (16:32):
We're here to help.
Speaker 3 (16:33):
I really know you're doing.
Speaker 2 (16:36):
Today is the.
Speaker 3 (16:38):
Day our team of designers, builders and texperts are seeking
out Black Wall Street descendants.
Speaker 2 (16:45):
This is where my grandfather's business was.
Speaker 3 (16:48):
Entrepreneurs and community leaders.
Speaker 1 (16:50):
Just more to black history, miss slavery and the civil
rights bolts, right.
Speaker 3 (16:54):
To learn about their goals for restoring their community.
Speaker 5 (16:56):
I want to be part of the solution to help
make a difference.
Speaker 3 (16:59):
And rebuild black Wall Streets one brick at a time.
It looks really good.
Speaker 2 (17:13):
I have no idea how we're going to get all
of this done. Hold on, man, this is not the
White Bridge.
Speaker 1 (17:18):
Oh my god, it's time to be celebrating the opening
of a black owned restaurant in the middle of region.
Speaker 3 (17:32):
I'm your old sports chestnut, and together we are rebuilding
Black Wall Streets.
Speaker 1 (17:47):
Okay, so share a little bit of spoilers with us.
What should people be excited to see in this program?
Speaker 2 (17:52):
I mean, look, I think the cool thing about this
show is that one, it's a black joy show. Anybody
that's interested in Rento history. There's a lot of things
that anyone can enjoy because it's just a great story.
Speaker 3 (18:05):
Right.
Speaker 2 (18:06):
But I'm specifically excited about this show because our history
is currently being trying to be ripped from schools.
Speaker 3 (18:15):
Right.
Speaker 2 (18:15):
We homeschooled our kids. We homeschool our kids because we
want to make sure that they are their education is curated.
But what was interesting I was really reflecting on this today,
Like growing up, I saw a ton of stories about
the Holocaust, saw a ton of stories about different atrocities
that different groups have experienced, and I feel like the
only one I ever saw about us was slavery. Right,
(18:38):
And for me, this is a blueprint, I think for
us to tell more of our stories from an empowering perspective,
because one it tells this you know, Holocaust size story
of that wasn't just happening in Tulsa, by the way,
was happening nationwide, right, you know, we were terrorized for decades. Right.
(19:04):
One of the facts that I that I learned in
this process is, you know, black folks applied for more
patents in this country between eighteen sixty five in nineteen
twenty than they did from nineteen twenty till today. Wow,
And it was due to do that. That's an incredible fact,
that is that's because we experienced so much. Hey, it's
(19:27):
all good, it's all good with you know some white
folks during that time. And we had this promise that
everything was going to be different, and nineteen around the
early nineteen hundreds, we learned it was not. And that's
when you get your Jim Crow laws, et cetera. And
so we're telling a different story I think about America
than's ever been told. And I think we're also telling
(19:48):
you the part of what those descendants of those folks
are doing now, much like you might learn about a
Holocaust survivor's descendant. And so I just I'm excited to
give folks that perspective on their own history because so often,
as black folks in this country and abroad, we don't
know our history. What's your last name mean, I don't
know where your people from, We don't know you know
(20:10):
what I mean? And this is our normal conversations. But
now we can start to put some of those pieces together.
So I'm excited for that. And you know, there's this
rap group fire Lower Africa featured that that we do
an episode on and they encapsulated the story in their
own way through music, right and it's a really popular
kind of call to actions in their in their music.
(20:33):
And then you know, we feature, you know, the medical
industry that's lacking there in the Birthing area. There's a
black farmer that we that we spend some time, but
we also spend a lot of time with this group
called twelve fifty six that are rebuilding homes. The twelfifty
six homes to holding fiatures fims that we're destroyed. So
their organization is raising money in honor of that, and
(20:54):
they're helping some of the individuals. And lastly Kevin Johnson
who's building fixes surrounds and bringing employment, you know what
I mean, Like people were crying at the opening. I
interviewed one of his waitresses and she was crying because
she was so proud to work for someone black at
a real nice, you know, thriving national business and they
(21:18):
hadn't had that experience. She had had that experience in
Tulsa of working for someone with this size business that
was black owned, and so I'm just excited to bring
those kind of stories to TV.
Speaker 1 (21:28):
To life, to TV to our homes. Carlo, thank you
so much for bringing these stories to our screens and
our homes and carrying the voices of all of the
people that I'm trying to talk to. But please tell
our viewers where they can find you, how they can
find the show, and where they can follow you on
social media.
Speaker 2 (21:47):
Awesome. So one, you can definitely watch the show starting
Friday nights on the opraenh Winfrey Network September twenty ninth,
also be streaming on Max after that in November, and
then you can you can follow me at some wise Media,
at Recarlo or at Handy Foundation. Those are all the
(22:07):
igs and or Handy Foundation dot com and somewismedia dot com.
But excited to be here and I'm glad. I'm really
really excited for you be able to share this show
and tell their friends because it just continues the mission
of Greenwood.
Speaker 1 (22:21):
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, Moneymovers,
if this were easy, everyone would do it. So take
the lessons you've learned from this episode and apply it
(22:43):
to your life. Hey, Moneymovers, has anyone told you today
how awesome you are? If not, hear it from me?
And I want to take a moment to express my
gratitude for your continued support and engagement. Our journey through
discussions with remarkable guests and entrepreneurs has been nothing short
of inspire and empowering for me and I hope.
Speaker 5 (23:02):
For you too.
Speaker 1 (23:03):
I encourage you to catch up on any episodes you
might have missed or those that you might want to
go back and revisit. In fact, let me share a
quick clip from one of my favorite conversations episode, we
sit down with acclaimed film producer Will Packer. Let's talk
about going out on your own. You started Will Packer Productions. Yes,
that's huge thing. You're like, I'm going to do this
on my own. I'm going to create more of these
(23:24):
blockbuster movies. How are you structured different? How do you
feel your success has been different than the average production house.
Speaker 5 (23:32):
It's a lot different.
Speaker 4 (23:33):
One is that it was built from the ground up
with an audience first mentality. So for me, because I
started off making little, tiny independent movies, you know, one
at FAMU one. After I graduated, I had to hustle
and independently distribute those films to the audience. I've always
kept an eye on who am I making the project for.
(23:53):
Who do I know is going to see this movie?
I am somebody that believes don't worry about making content
for everybody, don't worry about trying to be all things
to all people, but be everything to some people.
Speaker 5 (24:06):
That is my model.
Speaker 4 (24:07):
That is a tenant of mine. I believe in that
I don't have to be all things of all people,
but I need to be everything to some people. And
that audience that I have had that has supported me
that I'm very, very thankful and grateful for. I have
continued to feed and serve that audience even as we
expand beyond it. That's one of the things that makes
us different from a lot of production companies out there.
(24:28):
The other thing is that I have set my company
up to be very malleable when it comes to how
we think about content and projects. So, for example, when
we get a pitch or a ip an article, a
book brought into us, we don't only think about it
in one particular way. We don't think, okay, this was
this was pitched to us as a movie. If it
(24:49):
doesn't work as a feature length movie, then we can't
do anything with it.
Speaker 3 (24:53):
Right.
Speaker 4 (24:53):
It's the equivalent of if you and I we have
a shoe company, right, that's what we do, and or
we have had we make hats and somebody bring us
a great design for a shoe, We're going to try
to stick the shoe on our head and say it
doesn't really work.
Speaker 5 (25:05):
Right.
Speaker 4 (25:06):
But if we have a company that is able to
monetize and exploit across different mediums, then you say, that's
not a hat, but it's a great shoe, and.
Speaker 1 (25:14):
Let's figure out a race to go versatility absolut versatility
to do the same thing.
Speaker 4 (25:19):
In my production company, if somebody brings something in, we say, well,
is it a doc, is it a limited series?
Speaker 5 (25:24):
Is it a podcast? Is it a feature? Is it
a scripted series? Unscripted? And we have the ability to
do all those things, so now we're not pigeonholing ourselves.
Speaker 4 (25:32):
That's something that's very very important, especially when you think
about scaling of biness.
Speaker 1 (25:35):
You know, that's really important, I think in this industry
and not the norm because obviously in a lot of
these legacy industries they're like, well, this film has to
be only made for this audience and it has to
be a romance. It can't have action in it. You know,
it's very like what is it and what does it
look like? So you can put it into a box.
So I can see how looking at your array of
products that you've put out from reality unscripted to some
(25:57):
of my favorites your TV series Being Married.
Speaker 3 (26:00):
To ease too.
Speaker 5 (26:01):
You know, they're really different, but you know what you're
going to get. Yeah, yeah, thank you. I appreciate that.
Speaker 4 (26:07):
I always again try to keep that audience first, think
about who I'm making it for.
Speaker 5 (26:11):
Make it for a number.
Speaker 4 (26:12):
Back to the money part of this, make it and
put in resources that make sense based on the profit potential.
Speaker 5 (26:18):
Of a project.
Speaker 4 (26:19):
Don't overextend, right, don't go out and don't raise more
money than you need.
Speaker 5 (26:23):
Spend what you need to spend in order to have success.
Speaker 4 (26:25):
Don't wait until you raise Maybe you set a goal
for X, right, if you're never going to get to
X in set a date and say by the time
I reach, you know, a year from now, however much
I raised, that's the budget of my project. That's what
I did with our movie Twah, which is the movie
we made right after Chocolate City, just graduating. We had
(26:46):
this dream of raising a bunch of money and we
could never get there, and we said, you know what,
we could spend the rest of our lives trying to
raise this money. So what we're gonna do is, instead
of having a financial goal, we're going to set a
date goal and whatever we're able to raise by that
particular date.
Speaker 5 (26:59):
That's the budget of the movie, and that's exactly what
we did.
Speaker 1 (27:02):
I'm going to talk about movie budgeting because I think
this is interesting. Okay, how do you cut costs on
a production set?
Speaker 2 (27:07):
Yeah? Like that?
Speaker 1 (27:08):
I think is the nitty gritty that's really hard? Is
it in the actors? It is in wardrobe? There's so
many pieces that go into a successful film. How do
you cut costs? Nowadays?
Speaker 4 (27:17):
The answer is yes, all those erarans, right, because in
you can make a movie for any amount of money.
Speaker 5 (27:25):
All right, you can make a movie for five dollars.
It's gonna look like a five dollars movie. Comes to
me Instagram, I'm making movies. But hey, yes, you can
make a movie with five hundred million.
Speaker 3 (27:34):
Yes, right.
Speaker 5 (27:35):
It's just about the story you're trying to tell in
the ways you tell it live. That's in the execution.
Speaker 4 (27:39):
So when you think about budging a movie, you have
to think about where do I want to put the
majority of my resource. Resource allocation is so important in
any industry, but especially in the movie business. So if
there are certain stars that this movie does not work
without these stars, it doesn't work without it. I have
to have these stars you gotta pay what you gotta
(27:59):
pay to get those stars. You got a concept that is,
you know, a big high concept movie people relate to.
It's kind of does it have to have a big
star in it? Then you spend your money elsewhere. Maybe
you put it on your director, or your script or
your wardrobe or other elements of it.
Speaker 5 (28:15):
It's always a balance.
Speaker 4 (28:16):
It's always figuring out what are the essential elements that
I need to make this movie. That's what I do
every time. What do I have to have in order
for this movie to be successful? You put your priority,
You prioritize the resources there. Then everything else you spend
what you have to, but no more than that if
it's a non essential element, which is hard sometimes yeah,
because you get people to say, well, it's all essential,
(28:38):
it's all important.
Speaker 5 (28:39):
Of course it is, but you still have to priority.
And that's the same.
Speaker 4 (28:43):
I don't care if you're starting a rescue right, doesn't matter.
Prioritize what do you have to have, what's essential. Put
the majority of your resources.
Speaker 5 (28:51):
There and the rest. Spend what you need to, but
no more than you have to.
Speaker 1 (28:55):
You know, we have a lot of really successful entrepreneurs
and founders, and I hear this a lot. I think
some of the most successful entrepreneurs, CEOs, bosses are able
to make really important decisions quickly, swiftly, and with certainty.
Speaker 5 (29:09):
And that's what makes a good leader.
Speaker 1 (29:11):
Yes, and you can cut through and read through all
that stuff not vacillating on like oh should.
Speaker 5 (29:16):
Be you know, have this car or this, and you
can make moves really fast.
Speaker 4 (29:20):
Yes, yes, yes, no, you said it. You got to
cut through it, cut through it, get to what's important.
Don't spend a lot of time. Goes back to me saying,
keep the main thing, the main thing. Don't spend a
lot of time on things that are not important. Prioritime and,
by the.
Speaker 5 (29:33):
Way, one of the most important resources that we all have.
Speaker 4 (29:36):
And I don't care if you're you know, Tanya, Sam
will Pack or somebody that's just starting off trying to
get to this level time time time. You know it,
and I know it because it's the thing we have
the least of. Right, somebody asked me to come and
be a part of something, I would much rather cut
a check. I'll much rather say can I donate? Because
I can't come.
Speaker 5 (29:55):
I can't tell you in LA.
Speaker 4 (29:57):
Time is the most important resource and so even when
you're just starting out, protect your time. Where are you
spending your time? Are you spending your time? You should
be doing something every day towards trying to reach your goal.
Every day, even if it's small, make sure that you're
progressing every day. My favorite word is onward, positive perpetual progression.
No matter what, onward, always be moving forward.
Speaker 1 (30:21):
Money Moves is an iHeart Radio podcast powered by Greenwood
Executive produced by Sunwise Media, Inc. 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 Moves podcast powered
by Greenwood, so that you too can have the keys
to financial freedom you so rightly deserve. Until next time
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