September 4, 2024 • 32 mins
Two-time Emmy and Three-time NAACP Image Award-winning, television Executive Producer Rushion McDonald, interviewed Attorney Jalene Mack, America’s Favorite Entertainment Attorney, and discussed ten tips on developing your business and avoiding signing a contract that can ruin your dream. There are bad contracts, and there are scam contracts. Tell us the difference between the two.
Where can you go if you don't have much money for legal advice?
Ten tips on how to develop your Business
#1 Identify Your Project
#2 Make sure you have a Plan
#3 Form a Team
#4 Prepare a Budget
#5 Form a Business Entity
#6 Get an EIN
#7 Open a Business Bank Account
#8 Protect Your Assets
#9 Contracts
#10 Marketing
Jalene is not only an entertainment attorney but this industry renaissance woman and ARTivist has successfully integrated the demanding roles of wife, mother, TV & Film producer, writer, actress, playwright, and author of The Business of Stage, Screen & in Between, Entertainment Attorney Jalene Mack’s Practical Advice for Performers, Playwrights & Producers by keeping the focus on her long-term goal “to make an impact on the entertainment industry.” From her base in Houston, she has expanded her reach into the film centers of Las Vegas, NV, Miami, FL, Atlanta, GA, Los Angeles, CA, New York, NY, Chicago, IL, Baltimore, MD, New Orleans, LA and the UAE. Ms. Mack’s legal skills in Arts & Entertainment include a wide range of matters regarding Film & Television (scripted and unscripted), from development through distribution, Theater, Music, Books, Performing Artists, Contracts, Film Finance, Distribution, Federal Trademark & Copyright Registration and more. Jalene has served as either Producer or Production Attorney on over three dozen or more films and TV series. A few recent films she produced/executive produced or served as production attorney include Senior Moments, The Pillow Case (BET+), Staycation (ALLBLK), Friend Zone (Tubi), One Crazy Christmas (BET+), The Great Divide (BET+) and My B.F.F. (Aspire). Hip Hop Family Christmas and its sequel, Hip Hop Family Christmas Wedding (VH-1), Safe Room (Lifetime), and North of the 10 (BET+), were filmed in L.A., Chicago, and the UAE. A few clients, former or present, include Steve Harvey, Rushion McDonald, Tommy Davidson, Kim Burrell, AJ Johnson, Kiana Dancie, LeToya Luckett, Thomas “Nephew Tommy” Miles, Kenny Smith, Carl Payne, Greg Carter, Datari Turner, Rhyan LaMarr, Jilly Anais to name just a few. In addition, she’s compiled a long list of acting credits in over 40 productions, including Better Call Saul, Batman vs. Superman: Dawn of Justice, and AllBLK’s Houston drama 5th Ward, a hit television series of two seasons. Look for her alongside Jamie Foxx in The Burial out on Amazon Prime. She even won a Hollywood & Africa Prestigious Award (HAPA) for Best Supporting Actor for BET’s film Christmas Belles. She is also a proud member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc. You can find Jalene on all social media and professional platforms: @JaleneMack. Websites: www.jalenemack.com, www.mpac-arts.org
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:05):
Welcome to the show.
Speaker 2 (00:06):
I am Rashaan McDonald, the host of Money Making Conversations Masterclass,
where we encourage people to stop reading other people's success
stories and start planning their own. Listen up as I
interview entrepreneurs from around the country, talk to celebrities and
ask them how they are running their companies, and speak
with nod profits who are making a difference in their
(00:26):
local communities. Now, sit back and listen as we unlock
the secrets to their success.
Speaker 3 (00:31):
On Money Making Conversations Masterclass. All right, this is Rashaan McDonald.
We're here another show. Just so happy. You know, in
the midyear, when you sit down, you start trying to
figure out what I'm gonna do on the second half
is called planning, called preparation, And that's why I do
this show to bring people on that can set the
stage or trigger information that you need to hear, or
(00:56):
engage you into a position that I didn't know that
I need to get I act together. I need to
start preparing for twenty twenty five. Can you believe that, Yes,
you should start preparing for twenty twenty five if you're
projecting a growth in your business, if you're projecting an
opportunity to generate revenue in your business. You have to
be thinking about twenty twenty five. Yes, I'm Rashan McDonald.
(01:17):
I host this weekly Money Making Conversation Masterclass show. The
interviews and information that this show provides really it's for everyone.
It's time to stop reading other people's success stories and
start living your own. If you want to be a
guest on my show, listen up. Please visit Moneymakingconversation dot com.
That's Moneymaking Conversation dot com and click the b A
(01:38):
guest button. That's right. It'll ask you for information and
guess what, I am the only person that reads that information.
I take it upon myself to book everybody on this
show because I want to get a sense of the
value you can bring as far as content to this show.
That is really I'm so excited. So many people are
just walking up to me. So many people are telling
me that they are being interviewed on the show, and
(02:00):
people are going to look at their products, go to
their places of business and being recognized by being interviewed
on Money Making Conversation Masterclass.
Speaker 1 (02:09):
Get well, let's get this show rolling.
Speaker 3 (02:11):
My guest has an eagle eye when it comes to
reviewing bad contracts. Don't sign a contract that can ruin
your dream. And she is a trademark registering and expert.
She has successfully integrated the demanding roles of wife, mother,
TV and film producer, writer, actress, playwright, and Arthur Please
welcome to the Money Making Conversation Masterclass, America's favorite entertainment attorney,
(02:35):
Jayleen Mack.
Speaker 1 (02:35):
How you doing, Jayleen?
Speaker 4 (02:37):
Hey, hey, hey, wow for having me back.
Speaker 1 (02:43):
Look at you.
Speaker 3 (02:44):
I'm just happy you just came back from a con
film festival.
Speaker 4 (02:49):
I was at. I was at the ABFF, I was
at Essence.
Speaker 1 (02:57):
So you being on my show is that a step down?
Speaker 3 (03:00):
Because you just said can you said the Black Film
Festival at Miami. You said the Essence, the world's largest congoveration,
a gathering of black women and black people, or nearly
a half million people go down to that event annually.
That when they retired and said bye bye the Frankie,
Beverly and Mays at their final show. So now you
(03:21):
own money making Conversation Massacres. Thank you very much for
your time. Thank you very much for your time.
Speaker 4 (03:26):
Well, I really want to say thank you for having
little old me on your big old platform.
Speaker 3 (03:31):
There you go, well, you know it's time to get
down the business of you of just personally.
Speaker 1 (03:36):
They always tell you, I have.
Speaker 3 (03:37):
A relationship with individuals who I bring on the show.
From a standpoint of my relationship with entertainment attorney Jayleen Mack,
she has personally handled all of my trademarks that I've
done throughout my managing of Stve Harvey and other clients
and business.
Speaker 1 (03:53):
Associates I've had.
Speaker 3 (03:55):
That relationship has been over at least twenty years, wouldn't
you say, Jayleen.
Speaker 4 (03:59):
Yes, when did you open up hip hop? No?
Speaker 3 (04:05):
No, no, I'm talking talking about I'm talking about legally
hip hop was thirty two years. That's thirty two years.
That's thirty two years. I'm talking about when you finally
got out of college. You know, put that plaque up.
I'm being a I'm a lawyer officially, all that good stuff.
Then we started coming to me with Sean, give me
a shot, give me a shot, I can do this,
I can do this. And I gave you your shot,
and we've been I've been turning you for registrations for
(04:28):
my trademarks. And how important is it just to do
it right when it comes to trademark and protecting your brand.
Speaker 4 (04:35):
Yeah, but just to correct you, I started doing legal
work for you back then when you had hip hop.
I'm just trying to take you back. That's how old
you are, not me.
Speaker 3 (04:45):
Oh okay, thank you, thank you very much. That's absolutely
because because like I said, the look everybody a little
history on me. In nineteen ninety two, I had a
comedy club called very popular comic club in Houston, Texas
called the Hip Hop Comedy Stop. Everybody played that club
and even the Beyonce and Destiny's Child performed at that club.
In fact, I brought them on stage one of the
(05:05):
very first performances with that club.
Speaker 1 (05:07):
But it was a who's who of.
Speaker 3 (05:09):
Comedy entertainment that came through there as well as celebrities
you know from you know, the Willie D's Scarface. Everybody
who's who who in the Houston market as well as
a tour through town dropped into that comedy club. And
that's why I met Jayleen and her friends. They really
were very instrumental in making my club a success and
(05:29):
keeping the doors open. As they say, I keep the
lights on. And that relationship that's about a relationship. You know,
you developed something you don't know what is going to
mean five years or ten years from now. And now
we're on this show today talking about a career that's
basically international when it comes from your for your legal service,
Could you tell some of the people that you represent
now or contractually or can you say that on my show?
Speaker 4 (05:53):
Well, I represent a lot of in the general scheme
of things, actors, producers, writers, directors, authors, playwrights, UH, film producers,
television producers as far as some clients that I've represented
(06:13):
that don't mind me saying, obviously I've done legal work
for you, Greg Carter, who's a filmmaker. I've done work
for Kim Barell, Steve Harvey. Uh, just really tons of people,
even athletes.
Speaker 3 (06:33):
Now, when you when I called to Day about setting
up what this show is going to be about, and
you said, Rashan, I really want to talk about the
lure of the bad deal. How people are will scam you,
even from an entrepreneurial standpoint, even from a film production standpoint,
into how when you say the lure of the bad deal,
explain them all these exactly what that is and how
(06:55):
they can be trapped by.
Speaker 4 (06:58):
So, if you are a writer and you have a
script and you've been shopping for either a producer or
a financier, or you're a producer who has a script
and you've been shopping with a financier for some money
(07:19):
to get your movie made. Sometimes you'll come across people
who are not in the industry who want to be
in the industry, or they claim to be in the industry,
but their credentials are not quite up to par, and
so they may represent that they have access to money
(07:42):
or endless amounts of money, and they entice that to
have a conversation, right, And sometimes it's about really the
association of a project that might put them on the
map as opposed to the other around. And I say
(08:02):
that because I've seen money people or alleged money people
offer funding and it'll be you know, it could be
hundreds of thousands or millions of dollars. But the more
you dig, the more you realize they can't show proof
(08:22):
of funds, or the more you dig you find out
this person isn't legitimate because this business is big, but
it's small at the same time. So if you ask
enough question, or if you dig and you see that
the person you're dealing with doesn't have a digital footprint. Right,
(08:45):
you can't go to IMDb, you can't go to LinkedIn
to find anything. Nothing out there. Right, you might look
up the name and the face doesn't match, or their
credentials early is are similar to some executive right at
Netflix or whatever. I've seen all of that happen. But
(09:07):
my point of identifying, just in a general sense of
people with a bad lure that ve vet due diligence
is everything. I've seen it all.
Speaker 3 (09:22):
You know when you do that, And I've been fortune
unfortunate and fortunate to see the good and the bad
of that. And it all comes down to people excitement.
They they always always tell people, don't get in this
business with the lottery mentality, meaning that moment that that
somebody's offered you is going to be the one, the
one that makes you a star, the one that gives
(09:43):
you a hit movie, the one that's gonna make you rich.
Is when you have that lottery mentality, is when you
fall victim to these type of scams on a regular basis.
Because somebody can pull up in a in a in
a rolls ross that could be rented. They can they
can walk you to a building until you they're gonna
shoot the movie here may not even have a relationship
(10:06):
with that building. But because you and the rose Wars,
they've they've taken you to a nice restaurant and now
all of a sudden, now you now they're gonna tell
you they need a deposit. They're gonna need a deposit
from you. Now, Okay, they sold, they're supposed to supply
the funding that, but they're asking you for a deposit,
so they're gonna put it in.
Speaker 1 (10:27):
They say xcro escrow.
Speaker 3 (10:29):
That Scrow's a dangerous turn because if you don't have
control of that signature on the escrow account, then gets
what they're gonna control the money. And so it's really
important that in this business. And I'm bringing an expert
like attorney Jayleen mack On here to let you know
that I can say that, but she can verify that
correct early.
Speaker 4 (10:49):
Absolutely. I'm gonna tell you what I've seen as the
latest trend. Uh. Some company represents themselves as a production
company with relatedationships to all the networks, and they'll say
that their contact at ABC Company wants to buy a
(11:11):
particular script from some producer. There's already a dollar amount.
The script hasn't been received by that executive nor read.
But there's already an offer on the table, and the
middle company, the production company, is telling this producer with
(11:35):
the script that you need to sign this contract attached
us and we'll be able to close this deal for your.
Speaker 3 (11:52):
Right.
Speaker 4 (11:52):
And they never put and never are all three parties
in one room, if that makes any sense to you.
Speaker 3 (12:00):
Absolutely, you keep talking to the same person and they
keep talking to the other person that you never see.
Speaker 4 (12:06):
That you never see. And the way the contract reads,
you have to assign copyright to that script to that
production company which.
Speaker 3 (12:18):
Means they now have rights to your project. Here that
clearly now what you don't ever want to do is
give away rights to your project, and so when you
try to get the rights back, you don't have rights anymore.
So your dream project, your dream idea, you know your
I've been working on this thing for fifteen, ten years.
Five years idea came to me a miracle of God,
(12:40):
moment told me to write this book. It's gone because
you've signed away your rights. And I'm gonna tell you something.
You can't get it back. You cannot get it back.
Those deals that they have you sign an iron clad
and that's why she's telling you when I say she
I'm talking to attorney Jayleen Mack is telling you that
do your research. Don't get so excited that this is
(13:01):
the moment of moments. Don't ignore other people telling you, hey,
are you moving too fast? What do you know about
this person? Listen to people who have common sense that
will lead you from making a bad mistake, and that
which leads what you say into bad contracts. And you
see a lot, unfortunately, you see a lot of bad
contracts in your life when it comes to entertainers.
Speaker 4 (13:23):
Why is that, Well, some people just don't put the
money aside, you know, put a budget aside to hire
a lawyer. And it's because, well, you know, I've googled
some information on Google, or I saw a template on
the internet, and I feel like, I know it nothing.
(13:45):
I don't need a lawyer to take a look at
this deal. That's one approach, right. I've seen also cases
where they hire the wrong lawyer to redew the deal.
Speaker 3 (14:02):
And can you telling me somebody who is a corporate
lawyer over here trying to do an entertainment contract, or
somebody who's a patent lawyer trying to do a contract
for a movie, a contract for a television or talent contract,
and so all your cousins who got this good rate
is gonna do go, do you a solid and do this.
(14:24):
But what got me was you saying rashan. Their people
go online, they will download the contract as a template.
They google to contract for actors, a contract for writers,
a contract for TV or fan producers, and they say
that's their contract.
Speaker 4 (14:42):
Right right. The thing with templates, it might be a
good starting point, but it's not necessarily where you're in, right,
So you have to know how to navigate the language.
You have to know what's missing, You have to know
what's there, whether or not that's applicable to your situation.
(15:04):
And the best best thing to do if you are
not a season producer with the experience that maybe over
time you've seen enough good contracts because you've had representation, right,
and maybe you're using the same template and so and
and and pretty much everything's the same except maybe the
(15:28):
compensation and the and the actors. You might be able
to make some changes and get away with it, but
rarely is any contract or repeat deal right to the t. So,
in my opinion, even if you feel like, well, I
can draft the initial contract and I feel like it
(15:49):
looks pretty good. I would still hire my lawyer to
lay last eyes on it, right, that's the best thing
to do.
Speaker 3 (15:58):
I'm talking to America's favorite in entertainment attorney, Jayle Mack.
When we get back after this break, I'm going to
ask her top ten tips on how to develop your business.
Top ten tips on how to develop your business. Don't
go into where you listen to money Making Conversations Masterclass
and I am speaking with America's favorite entertainment attorney, Jaylee Mack.
Speaker 1 (16:19):
Be right back.
Speaker 5 (16:20):
Please don't go anywhere. We'll be right back with more
money Making Conversations Masterclass. Welcome back to the Money Making
Conversations Masterclass hosted by Rashaan MacDonald. Money Making Conversations Masterclass
continues online at Moneymakingconversations dot com and follow money Making
(16:44):
Conversations Masterclass on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.
Speaker 3 (16:49):
She's an actor, wife, mother, television and film producer, playwriting
after I had were fortunate of knowing her over thirty
two years, watching to grow as a as as a
student at Texas University get a law degree, and I
also trusted her for advice as far as my trademarks.
(17:10):
But we want to offer some of the same advice
to you as a listener, tips on how to develop
your business. I have I have ten ideas that you
ten ten things you sent over to me. So I'm
gonna start with number one with you attorney Mac, and
then you give me a comments.
Speaker 1 (17:26):
Is that fine?
Speaker 4 (17:27):
Sure?
Speaker 1 (17:28):
Okay? Cool?
Speaker 3 (17:29):
Starting with number one, you said, identify your project, please explain, so.
Speaker 4 (17:35):
I can tell you we're specifically talking about film and
television as far as the entertainment industry, but really this
applies to music and other areas of entertainment. But it
also applies for any entrepreneur we're talking about. So even
if you're, you know, selling candles, a lot of this
(17:56):
will be beneficial to you. So it comes to projects. Obviously,
in the film world, you want to identify are you
shooting a movie, a feature film, or a short. Will
this be a scripted project or unscripted. In the television world,
for instance, is it a documentary? You just want to
(18:19):
identify what is it that I'm trying to do, because
that's going to go into how you develop that concept.
If you're a hire writer, if you're going to write
it yourself, this is going to lead to how much
money I need. So the first thing is to identify
what it is you're trying to do.
Speaker 3 (18:37):
And that's really really important as if you're an entrepreneur
because of the fact that I have a company and
I have a lot of people.
Speaker 1 (18:44):
With a lot of products.
Speaker 3 (18:45):
I have a lot of people different different small business
bis visions, but they don't know what the point of
view of the vision of the point of view of
the business, and so identify your project. Number two is
make sure you have a plan.
Speaker 4 (19:01):
Yes, like across the board in any business, it is
best to have a business plan. Even if you are
financing your endeavor personally, you still want to have a
roadmap and that's what the business plan will do for you,
(19:21):
and particularly people in film and television that are independent producers.
You also want to have a finance plan. So not
just a business plan to give you the roadmap of
how to get your project done, but a finance plan
will help you identify where the money comes from, when
(19:44):
it comes in, how it's going to be applied, how
are you going to get your project done from the
development and concept through sale and distribution of it. And
again that helps with any entrepreneur.
Speaker 3 (20:00):
I have to agree with that on so many levels.
I get so mad at people. I see the word
mad people coming. I got this idea. First of all,
ideas not registered. It's just an idea. It's not flushed out,
you know, as the character developments and the projects not
flushed out. I don't know how many characters you got.
Speaker 1 (20:18):
Who's the lead?
Speaker 3 (20:19):
Have you developed a relationship with a star, who's to
start the project? It's just a great idea to get mad.
It's a great idea. Okay, I'm not saying it's not
great idea. I'm just telling you help me out because
right now it's an idea. I can't build on your
dream if I don't understand it. What's your plan? And
that's also people do that with business. They want to
(20:40):
I got some biscuits. They're the best biscuits in the world. Okay,
how you gonna how you're gonna manufacture these biscuits? If
if a thousand people walk through that door today, how
are you gonna manage it? What you're gonna do? You know
how many employees a you're gonna have? You know, I
know that for a fact out of comedy club. Comedy
Club started with just my relatives manning the doors. They
used to do it for free, right then all of
(21:00):
a sudden, I started making a little money. Then they
wanted checks. I didn't budget to pay my relatives. I
didn't budget for that. I didn't have a plan and
play it. I just wanted to tell jokes, invite people
in for ten dollars, which eventually I realized that the
state wanted they tax money, so.
Speaker 1 (21:17):
I would It wasn't getting ten dollars. I didn't have
a plan.
Speaker 3 (21:21):
So when she talks about both ways, she can talk
about the entertainment industry, but it all comes back to
business business now. Number three is former team girl. I
got something to say after you talk about this form aighteen.
That's number three. Number one was identify your project. Number
two make sure you have a plan. Number three form
a team.
Speaker 4 (21:43):
So so important. I just made this comment at the
essence best talking to the audience. If you're a producer,
you don't have to be the smartest producer. You don't
have to know everything. Every experience is going to be
(22:04):
something you learn from. But if you are putting together
a team, make sure you build a team that makes
you the best producer you can be. Right, so you
surround yourself with talent. You surround yourself with people who
know more than you. Right, you also surround yourself with
(22:27):
people who are not yes people, because you need to
know the pitfalls, you need to know the pros and cons,
and you need people around you. They help you make
the best business decisions you can make, keeping in mind
the best interest for your projects. And not only that,
not just your projects, but you have investors to pay back.
(22:49):
So it's super important that you surround yourself with other
good producers, with a good lawyer, a good accountant, a
good pr team find the best scenario when it comes
to a financier that makes sense for your project. If
you're going to get money from other places, and I
(23:10):
can go on, but the key is put together a
good team.
Speaker 1 (23:16):
You better believe it.
Speaker 3 (23:16):
I didn't have an accountant, I didn't have an HR person.
I told my wife we pulled money out of retirement
at the time, savings didn't have a budget attacked. Let
me not jump the gun because I'm about to say
budget and that's number four. Prepare a budget. So I
don't want to slide into that too much without you
comment on it. Because if you're going to form a
(23:38):
team you gotta prepare a budget. Talk to you about that.
Speaker 4 (23:42):
Attorneyment absolutely, So if you know what it is you're
trying to do, right, let's say you're trying to make
a movie or douce a product or project, you obviously
have to have somebody who's good at putting budgets together,
who can identify the needs and services and how much
(24:04):
things cost and the best route to take to get
these things done, to put a budget together. So it's
not a matter of saying, well, I want to shoot
a movie and I think a thousand dollars is enough, right,
you know, obviously you want somebody experience in what things cost,
(24:27):
and that is a line producer in the film business
that will do that for you, because it's important to
know if your movie has special effects, is it has
special video effects? Are there cars being blown up? Or
is there a car chase? Are there fight seems to
(24:48):
be choreographed? Everything has a cost. Hotels, locations, feeding people,
you got crew, actors, et ceter All those things have
to be identified in a budget and if you've never
done it before, don't take a stab at it. Hire
(25:10):
the right people to do the job.
Speaker 3 (25:12):
Absolutely, you know, it's really funny people when you start
talking about budget and people the right teammate. You know,
if you open a Mexican restaurant and you hire somebody
the cook, he knows I do soul food. You know
you got to have the right people doing the right thing.
You're opening the bakery and that person all they know
how to do is cook pies. You know, That's it.
(25:33):
They can't do nothing else at your baker. But they
told you they know how to bake. It's that resume
going to the right place. I know we're going to
run short on time, but I want to get to
a couple of things I think they need to have.
Speaker 1 (25:44):
No.
Speaker 3 (25:45):
We talked about number one, identify your project. Number two
is make sure you have a plan. Number three is
former team. Number four we just talked about the prepare budget.
Number five is form a business entity. What are you
doing there? Number six is get a EI in number
for your business. Number seven, open a business account, not
(26:06):
your personal account, your business account. Number eight. Protect your assets.
Number nine the floors yours contracts.
Speaker 4 (26:16):
Yes, yes, yes, we know. Everything should be reduced to writing.
It should represent what you negotiated. Obviously, you want to
protect your intellectual property, your interest in ownership. Every aspect
(26:37):
of the four walls of the agreement should be considered.
And once again I would not rely on myself to
prepare a contract. I would go to the experts, such
as a lawyer that is experienced in your area. And
I will say this, even if you have an entertainment
(26:58):
related matter, not all entertainment attorneys are equal. And if
you're a film producer, not all entertainment attorneys no film
and television production, which is a whole other language. So again,
make sure you get a lawyer who's very experienced in
(27:18):
what it is you're trying to accomplish.
Speaker 3 (27:22):
Now, the last one, you got your business open, you
got your movie marketing. You know, people think they can
just open their door, tell everybody they got great food,
and people just gonna line up and show up. People
think they got a great movie project. They're gonna let
everybody know it in the theater and we ready to go.
Speaker 1 (27:43):
Okay.
Speaker 3 (27:44):
So I really think it's really, really, really important that
people understand what's going on here when you're starting to
put together these assets. When you go down this top
ten list, marketing is the key, and it can create
so much drama. If you don't understand what's going on
because you didn't know what your brand was. You know
what your point. You didn't iventify your project. You have
(28:04):
a plan, you to have a team around. You didn't
prepare a budget, budget did include marketing. You never have
a business entity, you never got a business number. You
still operating out of your personal checking account. You didn't
protect your assets. I want to say, I want to
allow you to comment on that, and I say allowed,
But I think you should talk. We should tell people
how do you protect your assets?
Speaker 4 (28:26):
Sure? So, obviously you have intellectual property, so you may
have a copyright that you need to protect, a trademark.
In some instances someone might have a patent. Doesn't necessarily
apply here. As far as your scripts are concerned, you
can register them with the United States Copyright Office, or
(28:49):
you can deposit them with the Writers Guild of America
East or West. You want to do everything you can
to obviously protect your in is other things to consider
or non disclosure agreements? Right? What do you mean when.
Speaker 1 (29:09):
Non disclosure agreement NDA? What does that mean?
Speaker 4 (29:12):
Yes? And NDA A non disclosed dispose your agreement and
that deals with confidentialityy uh? Between you and another party.
As to business, you know, discussions that you have between
the two of you. You may want to protect some
of the content that comes out of that. That could
(29:35):
be your client list, that could be some trade secrets. Uh,
anything that you wouldn't want the general public to know.
You know, ideas right, you would want to NDA. Now,
I'll tell you a NDA is a deterrent, but it
is not iron class. And the reason why I say
(29:56):
that a lot of people will exchange in NDA. You know,
sign my the NDA, I'll sign yours. It could be mutual,
that's great, but it doesn't really speak to pillow talk, right.
And the only reason you would know somebody breached in
n DA is if you hear about it or you
hear it from a third party. So it doesn't do
(30:19):
away with what I call pillow talk, you know the whispers, right,
And that that's always concerning for me. And so I
always like clients to know that NDA is a deturning factor.
But it's but it's not fool proof.
Speaker 3 (30:36):
Wow, this has been great information our world of wrong
and appreciate you for coming on my show. Uh, got
any upcoming events that you want to tell everybody about?
Anybody about knows you just wrapped up essence, just finished
the ABA. Any upcoming project you want to fill us
in before we close out the interview of speaking to
Attorney Jayleen Mack.
Speaker 4 (30:55):
Well, I do want to people want people to know.
If they want to get more information on our top
ten tips that I just discussed, it can go to
my book The Business of Stage, Screen and the in
Between and it's a practical guide for performers, playwrights, filmmakers
(31:15):
and any entrepreneur.
Speaker 1 (31:18):
Cool.
Speaker 3 (31:18):
Well, I think, well, friend, thank you for coming on
the show. Thank you for giving more wisdom to say.
I do not lie when I say America's favorite entertainment
attorney Jaylen Mack based out of Houston, Texas, but she's worldwide.
She's worldwide from Dubai to New York to Houston to Mexico.
She's there doing her job and changing the game more
(31:41):
important to keeping people out of bad contracts and maybe
becing people aware of that there are scams out there.
Just because it sounds like a good deal does not
mean there it is ill is a good deal. I
talked to you soon, Attorney Mac.
Speaker 4 (31:53):
Thank you.
Speaker 3 (31:54):
This has been another edition of Money Making Conversation Masterclass.
Posted by me Rashaun McDonald. Thank you to our guests
on the show today and thank you for listening to
audience now. If you want to listen to any episode
I want to be a guest on the show, visit
Moneymakingconversations dot com. Our social media handle is money Making Conversation.
Join us next week and remember to always leave with
(32:16):
your gifts.
Speaker 1 (32:17):
Keep winning.
Welcome to the show.
Speaker 2 (00:06):
I am Rashaan McDonald, the host of Money Making Conversations Masterclass,
where we encourage people to stop reading other people's success
stories and start planning their own. Listen up as I
interview entrepreneurs from around the country, talk to celebrities and
ask them how they are running their companies, and speak
with nod profits who are making a difference in their
(00:26):
local communities. Now, sit back and listen as we unlock
the secrets to their success.
Speaker 3 (00:31):
On Money Making Conversations Masterclass. All right, this is Rashaan McDonald.
We're here another show. Just so happy. You know, in
the midyear, when you sit down, you start trying to
figure out what I'm gonna do on the second half
is called planning, called preparation, And that's why I do
this show to bring people on that can set the
stage or trigger information that you need to hear, or
(00:56):
engage you into a position that I didn't know that
I need to get I act together. I need to
start preparing for twenty twenty five. Can you believe that, Yes,
you should start preparing for twenty twenty five if you're
projecting a growth in your business, if you're projecting an
opportunity to generate revenue in your business. You have to
be thinking about twenty twenty five. Yes, I'm Rashan McDonald.
(01:17):
I host this weekly Money Making Conversation Masterclass show. The
interviews and information that this show provides really it's for everyone.
It's time to stop reading other people's success stories and
start living your own. If you want to be a
guest on my show, listen up. Please visit Moneymakingconversation dot com.
That's Moneymaking Conversation dot com and click the b A
(01:38):
guest button. That's right. It'll ask you for information and
guess what, I am the only person that reads that information.
I take it upon myself to book everybody on this
show because I want to get a sense of the
value you can bring as far as content to this show.
That is really I'm so excited. So many people are
just walking up to me. So many people are telling
me that they are being interviewed on the show, and
(02:00):
people are going to look at their products, go to
their places of business and being recognized by being interviewed
on Money Making Conversation Masterclass.
Speaker 1 (02:09):
Get well, let's get this show rolling.
Speaker 3 (02:11):
My guest has an eagle eye when it comes to
reviewing bad contracts. Don't sign a contract that can ruin
your dream. And she is a trademark registering and expert.
She has successfully integrated the demanding roles of wife, mother,
TV and film producer, writer, actress, playwright, and Arthur Please
welcome to the Money Making Conversation Masterclass, America's favorite entertainment attorney,
(02:35):
Jayleen Mack.
Speaker 1 (02:35):
How you doing, Jayleen?
Speaker 4 (02:37):
Hey, hey, hey, wow for having me back.
Speaker 1 (02:43):
Look at you.
Speaker 3 (02:44):
I'm just happy you just came back from a con
film festival.
Speaker 4 (02:49):
I was at. I was at the ABFF, I was
at Essence.
Speaker 1 (02:57):
So you being on my show is that a step down?
Speaker 3 (03:00):
Because you just said can you said the Black Film
Festival at Miami. You said the Essence, the world's largest congoveration,
a gathering of black women and black people, or nearly
a half million people go down to that event annually.
That when they retired and said bye bye the Frankie,
Beverly and Mays at their final show. So now you
(03:21):
own money making Conversation Massacres. Thank you very much for
your time. Thank you very much for your time.
Speaker 4 (03:26):
Well, I really want to say thank you for having
little old me on your big old platform.
Speaker 3 (03:31):
There you go, well, you know it's time to get
down the business of you of just personally.
Speaker 1 (03:36):
They always tell you, I have.
Speaker 3 (03:37):
A relationship with individuals who I bring on the show.
From a standpoint of my relationship with entertainment attorney Jayleen Mack,
she has personally handled all of my trademarks that I've
done throughout my managing of Stve Harvey and other clients
and business.
Speaker 1 (03:53):
Associates I've had.
Speaker 3 (03:55):
That relationship has been over at least twenty years, wouldn't
you say, Jayleen.
Speaker 4 (03:59):
Yes, when did you open up hip hop? No?
Speaker 3 (04:05):
No, no, I'm talking talking about I'm talking about legally
hip hop was thirty two years. That's thirty two years.
That's thirty two years. I'm talking about when you finally
got out of college. You know, put that plaque up.
I'm being a I'm a lawyer officially, all that good stuff.
Then we started coming to me with Sean, give me
a shot, give me a shot, I can do this,
I can do this. And I gave you your shot,
and we've been I've been turning you for registrations for
(04:28):
my trademarks. And how important is it just to do
it right when it comes to trademark and protecting your brand.
Speaker 4 (04:35):
Yeah, but just to correct you, I started doing legal
work for you back then when you had hip hop.
I'm just trying to take you back. That's how old
you are, not me.
Speaker 3 (04:45):
Oh okay, thank you, thank you very much. That's absolutely
because because like I said, the look everybody a little
history on me. In nineteen ninety two, I had a
comedy club called very popular comic club in Houston, Texas
called the Hip Hop Comedy Stop. Everybody played that club
and even the Beyonce and Destiny's Child performed at that club.
In fact, I brought them on stage one of the
(05:05):
very first performances with that club.
Speaker 1 (05:07):
But it was a who's who of.
Speaker 3 (05:09):
Comedy entertainment that came through there as well as celebrities
you know from you know, the Willie D's Scarface. Everybody
who's who who in the Houston market as well as
a tour through town dropped into that comedy club. And
that's why I met Jayleen and her friends. They really
were very instrumental in making my club a success and
(05:29):
keeping the doors open. As they say, I keep the
lights on. And that relationship that's about a relationship. You know,
you developed something you don't know what is going to
mean five years or ten years from now. And now
we're on this show today talking about a career that's
basically international when it comes from your for your legal service,
Could you tell some of the people that you represent
now or contractually or can you say that on my show?
Speaker 4 (05:53):
Well, I represent a lot of in the general scheme
of things, actors, producers, writers, directors, authors, playwrights, UH, film producers,
television producers as far as some clients that I've represented
(06:13):
that don't mind me saying, obviously I've done legal work
for you, Greg Carter, who's a filmmaker. I've done work
for Kim Barell, Steve Harvey. Uh, just really tons of people,
even athletes.
Speaker 3 (06:33):
Now, when you when I called to Day about setting
up what this show is going to be about, and
you said, Rashan, I really want to talk about the
lure of the bad deal. How people are will scam you,
even from an entrepreneurial standpoint, even from a film production standpoint,
into how when you say the lure of the bad deal,
explain them all these exactly what that is and how
(06:55):
they can be trapped by.
Speaker 4 (06:58):
So, if you are a writer and you have a
script and you've been shopping for either a producer or
a financier, or you're a producer who has a script
and you've been shopping with a financier for some money
(07:19):
to get your movie made. Sometimes you'll come across people
who are not in the industry who want to be
in the industry, or they claim to be in the industry,
but their credentials are not quite up to par, and
so they may represent that they have access to money
(07:42):
or endless amounts of money, and they entice that to
have a conversation, right, And sometimes it's about really the
association of a project that might put them on the
map as opposed to the other around. And I say
(08:02):
that because I've seen money people or alleged money people
offer funding and it'll be you know, it could be
hundreds of thousands or millions of dollars. But the more
you dig, the more you realize they can't show proof
(08:22):
of funds, or the more you dig you find out
this person isn't legitimate because this business is big, but
it's small at the same time. So if you ask
enough question, or if you dig and you see that
the person you're dealing with doesn't have a digital footprint. Right,
(08:45):
you can't go to IMDb, you can't go to LinkedIn
to find anything. Nothing out there. Right, you might look
up the name and the face doesn't match, or their
credentials early is are similar to some executive right at
Netflix or whatever. I've seen all of that happen. But
(09:07):
my point of identifying, just in a general sense of
people with a bad lure that ve vet due diligence
is everything. I've seen it all.
Speaker 3 (09:22):
You know when you do that, And I've been fortune
unfortunate and fortunate to see the good and the bad
of that. And it all comes down to people excitement.
They they always always tell people, don't get in this
business with the lottery mentality, meaning that moment that that
somebody's offered you is going to be the one, the
one that makes you a star, the one that gives
(09:43):
you a hit movie, the one that's gonna make you rich.
Is when you have that lottery mentality, is when you
fall victim to these type of scams on a regular basis.
Because somebody can pull up in a in a in
a rolls ross that could be rented. They can they
can walk you to a building until you they're gonna
shoot the movie here may not even have a relationship
(10:06):
with that building. But because you and the rose Wars,
they've they've taken you to a nice restaurant and now
all of a sudden, now you now they're gonna tell
you they need a deposit. They're gonna need a deposit
from you. Now, Okay, they sold, they're supposed to supply
the funding that, but they're asking you for a deposit,
so they're gonna put it in.
Speaker 1 (10:27):
They say xcro escrow.
Speaker 3 (10:29):
That Scrow's a dangerous turn because if you don't have
control of that signature on the escrow account, then gets
what they're gonna control the money. And so it's really
important that in this business. And I'm bringing an expert
like attorney Jayleen mack On here to let you know
that I can say that, but she can verify that
correct early.
Speaker 4 (10:49):
Absolutely. I'm gonna tell you what I've seen as the
latest trend. Uh. Some company represents themselves as a production
company with relatedationships to all the networks, and they'll say
that their contact at ABC Company wants to buy a
(11:11):
particular script from some producer. There's already a dollar amount.
The script hasn't been received by that executive nor read.
But there's already an offer on the table, and the
middle company, the production company, is telling this producer with
(11:35):
the script that you need to sign this contract attached
us and we'll be able to close this deal for your.
Speaker 3 (11:52):
Right.
Speaker 4 (11:52):
And they never put and never are all three parties
in one room, if that makes any sense to you.
Speaker 3 (12:00):
Absolutely, you keep talking to the same person and they
keep talking to the other person that you never see.
Speaker 4 (12:06):
That you never see. And the way the contract reads,
you have to assign copyright to that script to that
production company which.
Speaker 3 (12:18):
Means they now have rights to your project. Here that
clearly now what you don't ever want to do is
give away rights to your project, and so when you
try to get the rights back, you don't have rights anymore.
So your dream project, your dream idea, you know your
I've been working on this thing for fifteen, ten years.
Five years idea came to me a miracle of God,
(12:40):
moment told me to write this book. It's gone because
you've signed away your rights. And I'm gonna tell you something.
You can't get it back. You cannot get it back.
Those deals that they have you sign an iron clad
and that's why she's telling you when I say she
I'm talking to attorney Jayleen Mack is telling you that
do your research. Don't get so excited that this is
(13:01):
the moment of moments. Don't ignore other people telling you, hey,
are you moving too fast? What do you know about
this person? Listen to people who have common sense that
will lead you from making a bad mistake, and that
which leads what you say into bad contracts. And you
see a lot, unfortunately, you see a lot of bad
contracts in your life when it comes to entertainers.
Speaker 4 (13:23):
Why is that, Well, some people just don't put the
money aside, you know, put a budget aside to hire
a lawyer. And it's because, well, you know, I've googled
some information on Google, or I saw a template on
the internet, and I feel like, I know it nothing.
(13:45):
I don't need a lawyer to take a look at
this deal. That's one approach, right. I've seen also cases
where they hire the wrong lawyer to redew the deal.
Speaker 3 (14:02):
And can you telling me somebody who is a corporate
lawyer over here trying to do an entertainment contract, or
somebody who's a patent lawyer trying to do a contract
for a movie, a contract for a television or talent contract,
and so all your cousins who got this good rate
is gonna do go, do you a solid and do this.
(14:24):
But what got me was you saying rashan. Their people
go online, they will download the contract as a template.
They google to contract for actors, a contract for writers,
a contract for TV or fan producers, and they say
that's their contract.
Speaker 4 (14:42):
Right right. The thing with templates, it might be a
good starting point, but it's not necessarily where you're in, right,
So you have to know how to navigate the language.
You have to know what's missing, You have to know
what's there, whether or not that's applicable to your situation.
(15:04):
And the best best thing to do if you are
not a season producer with the experience that maybe over
time you've seen enough good contracts because you've had representation, right,
and maybe you're using the same template and so and
and and pretty much everything's the same except maybe the
(15:28):
compensation and the and the actors. You might be able
to make some changes and get away with it, but
rarely is any contract or repeat deal right to the t. So,
in my opinion, even if you feel like, well, I
can draft the initial contract and I feel like it
(15:49):
looks pretty good. I would still hire my lawyer to
lay last eyes on it, right, that's the best thing
to do.
Speaker 3 (15:58):
I'm talking to America's favorite in entertainment attorney, Jayle Mack.
When we get back after this break, I'm going to
ask her top ten tips on how to develop your business.
Top ten tips on how to develop your business. Don't
go into where you listen to money Making Conversations Masterclass
and I am speaking with America's favorite entertainment attorney, Jaylee Mack.
Speaker 1 (16:19):
Be right back.
Speaker 5 (16:20):
Please don't go anywhere. We'll be right back with more
money Making Conversations Masterclass. Welcome back to the Money Making
Conversations Masterclass hosted by Rashaan MacDonald. Money Making Conversations Masterclass
continues online at Moneymakingconversations dot com and follow money Making
(16:44):
Conversations Masterclass on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.
Speaker 3 (16:49):
She's an actor, wife, mother, television and film producer, playwriting
after I had were fortunate of knowing her over thirty
two years, watching to grow as a as as a
student at Texas University get a law degree, and I
also trusted her for advice as far as my trademarks.
(17:10):
But we want to offer some of the same advice
to you as a listener, tips on how to develop
your business. I have I have ten ideas that you
ten ten things you sent over to me. So I'm
gonna start with number one with you attorney Mac, and
then you give me a comments.
Speaker 1 (17:26):
Is that fine?
Speaker 4 (17:27):
Sure?
Speaker 1 (17:28):
Okay? Cool?
Speaker 3 (17:29):
Starting with number one, you said, identify your project, please explain, so.
Speaker 4 (17:35):
I can tell you we're specifically talking about film and
television as far as the entertainment industry, but really this
applies to music and other areas of entertainment. But it
also applies for any entrepreneur we're talking about. So even
if you're, you know, selling candles, a lot of this
(17:56):
will be beneficial to you. So it comes to projects. Obviously,
in the film world, you want to identify are you
shooting a movie, a feature film, or a short. Will
this be a scripted project or unscripted. In the television world,
for instance, is it a documentary? You just want to
(18:19):
identify what is it that I'm trying to do, because
that's going to go into how you develop that concept.
If you're a hire writer, if you're going to write
it yourself, this is going to lead to how much
money I need. So the first thing is to identify
what it is you're trying to do.
Speaker 3 (18:37):
And that's really really important as if you're an entrepreneur
because of the fact that I have a company and
I have a lot of people.
Speaker 1 (18:44):
With a lot of products.
Speaker 3 (18:45):
I have a lot of people different different small business
bis visions, but they don't know what the point of
view of the vision of the point of view of
the business, and so identify your project. Number two is
make sure you have a plan.
Speaker 4 (19:01):
Yes, like across the board in any business, it is
best to have a business plan. Even if you are
financing your endeavor personally, you still want to have a
roadmap and that's what the business plan will do for you,
(19:21):
and particularly people in film and television that are independent producers.
You also want to have a finance plan. So not
just a business plan to give you the roadmap of
how to get your project done, but a finance plan
will help you identify where the money comes from, when
(19:44):
it comes in, how it's going to be applied, how
are you going to get your project done from the
development and concept through sale and distribution of it. And
again that helps with any entrepreneur.
Speaker 3 (20:00):
I have to agree with that on so many levels.
I get so mad at people. I see the word
mad people coming. I got this idea. First of all,
ideas not registered. It's just an idea. It's not flushed out,
you know, as the character developments and the projects not
flushed out. I don't know how many characters you got.
Speaker 1 (20:18):
Who's the lead?
Speaker 3 (20:19):
Have you developed a relationship with a star, who's to
start the project? It's just a great idea to get mad.
It's a great idea. Okay, I'm not saying it's not
great idea. I'm just telling you help me out because
right now it's an idea. I can't build on your
dream if I don't understand it. What's your plan? And
that's also people do that with business. They want to
(20:40):
I got some biscuits. They're the best biscuits in the world. Okay,
how you gonna how you're gonna manufacture these biscuits? If
if a thousand people walk through that door today, how
are you gonna manage it? What you're gonna do? You know
how many employees a you're gonna have? You know, I
know that for a fact out of comedy club. Comedy
Club started with just my relatives manning the doors. They
used to do it for free, right then all of
(21:00):
a sudden, I started making a little money. Then they
wanted checks. I didn't budget to pay my relatives. I
didn't budget for that. I didn't have a plan and
play it. I just wanted to tell jokes, invite people
in for ten dollars, which eventually I realized that the
state wanted they tax money, so.
Speaker 1 (21:17):
I would It wasn't getting ten dollars. I didn't have
a plan.
Speaker 3 (21:21):
So when she talks about both ways, she can talk
about the entertainment industry, but it all comes back to
business business now. Number three is former team girl. I
got something to say after you talk about this form aighteen.
That's number three. Number one was identify your project. Number
two make sure you have a plan. Number three form
a team.
Speaker 4 (21:43):
So so important. I just made this comment at the
essence best talking to the audience. If you're a producer,
you don't have to be the smartest producer. You don't
have to know everything. Every experience is going to be
(22:04):
something you learn from. But if you are putting together
a team, make sure you build a team that makes
you the best producer you can be. Right, so you
surround yourself with talent. You surround yourself with people who
know more than you. Right, you also surround yourself with
(22:27):
people who are not yes people, because you need to
know the pitfalls, you need to know the pros and cons,
and you need people around you. They help you make
the best business decisions you can make, keeping in mind
the best interest for your projects. And not only that,
not just your projects, but you have investors to pay back.
(22:49):
So it's super important that you surround yourself with other
good producers, with a good lawyer, a good accountant, a
good pr team find the best scenario when it comes
to a financier that makes sense for your project. If
you're going to get money from other places, and I
(23:10):
can go on, but the key is put together a
good team.
Speaker 1 (23:16):
You better believe it.
Speaker 3 (23:16):
I didn't have an accountant, I didn't have an HR person.
I told my wife we pulled money out of retirement
at the time, savings didn't have a budget attacked. Let
me not jump the gun because I'm about to say
budget and that's number four. Prepare a budget. So I
don't want to slide into that too much without you
comment on it. Because if you're going to form a
(23:38):
team you gotta prepare a budget. Talk to you about that.
Speaker 4 (23:42):
Attorneyment absolutely, So if you know what it is you're
trying to do, right, let's say you're trying to make
a movie or douce a product or project, you obviously
have to have somebody who's good at putting budgets together,
who can identify the needs and services and how much
(24:04):
things cost and the best route to take to get
these things done, to put a budget together. So it's
not a matter of saying, well, I want to shoot
a movie and I think a thousand dollars is enough, right,
you know, obviously you want somebody experience in what things cost,
(24:27):
and that is a line producer in the film business
that will do that for you, because it's important to
know if your movie has special effects, is it has
special video effects? Are there cars being blown up? Or
is there a car chase? Are there fight seems to
(24:48):
be choreographed? Everything has a cost. Hotels, locations, feeding people,
you got crew, actors, et ceter All those things have
to be identified in a budget and if you've never
done it before, don't take a stab at it. Hire
(25:10):
the right people to do the job.
Speaker 3 (25:12):
Absolutely, you know, it's really funny people when you start
talking about budget and people the right teammate. You know,
if you open a Mexican restaurant and you hire somebody
the cook, he knows I do soul food. You know
you got to have the right people doing the right thing.
You're opening the bakery and that person all they know
how to do is cook pies. You know, That's it.
(25:33):
They can't do nothing else at your baker. But they
told you they know how to bake. It's that resume
going to the right place. I know we're going to
run short on time, but I want to get to
a couple of things I think they need to have.
Speaker 1 (25:44):
No.
Speaker 3 (25:45):
We talked about number one, identify your project. Number two
is make sure you have a plan. Number three is
former team. Number four we just talked about the prepare budget.
Number five is form a business entity. What are you
doing there? Number six is get a EI in number
for your business. Number seven, open a business account, not
(26:06):
your personal account, your business account. Number eight. Protect your assets.
Number nine the floors yours contracts.
Speaker 4 (26:16):
Yes, yes, yes, we know. Everything should be reduced to writing.
It should represent what you negotiated. Obviously, you want to
protect your intellectual property, your interest in ownership. Every aspect
(26:37):
of the four walls of the agreement should be considered.
And once again I would not rely on myself to
prepare a contract. I would go to the experts, such
as a lawyer that is experienced in your area. And
I will say this, even if you have an entertainment
(26:58):
related matter, not all entertainment attorneys are equal. And if
you're a film producer, not all entertainment attorneys no film
and television production, which is a whole other language. So again,
make sure you get a lawyer who's very experienced in
(27:18):
what it is you're trying to accomplish.
Speaker 3 (27:22):
Now, the last one, you got your business open, you
got your movie marketing. You know, people think they can
just open their door, tell everybody they got great food,
and people just gonna line up and show up. People
think they got a great movie project. They're gonna let
everybody know it in the theater and we ready to go.
Speaker 1 (27:43):
Okay.
Speaker 3 (27:44):
So I really think it's really, really, really important that
people understand what's going on here when you're starting to
put together these assets. When you go down this top
ten list, marketing is the key, and it can create
so much drama. If you don't understand what's going on
because you didn't know what your brand was. You know
what your point. You didn't iventify your project. You have
(28:04):
a plan, you to have a team around. You didn't
prepare a budget, budget did include marketing. You never have
a business entity, you never got a business number. You
still operating out of your personal checking account. You didn't
protect your assets. I want to say, I want to
allow you to comment on that, and I say allowed,
But I think you should talk. We should tell people
how do you protect your assets?
Speaker 4 (28:26):
Sure? So, obviously you have intellectual property, so you may
have a copyright that you need to protect, a trademark.
In some instances someone might have a patent. Doesn't necessarily
apply here. As far as your scripts are concerned, you
can register them with the United States Copyright Office, or
(28:49):
you can deposit them with the Writers Guild of America
East or West. You want to do everything you can
to obviously protect your in is other things to consider
or non disclosure agreements? Right? What do you mean when.
Speaker 1 (29:09):
Non disclosure agreement NDA? What does that mean?
Speaker 4 (29:12):
Yes? And NDA A non disclosed dispose your agreement and
that deals with confidentialityy uh? Between you and another party.
As to business, you know, discussions that you have between
the two of you. You may want to protect some
of the content that comes out of that. That could
(29:35):
be your client list, that could be some trade secrets. Uh,
anything that you wouldn't want the general public to know.
You know, ideas right, you would want to NDA. Now,
I'll tell you a NDA is a deterrent, but it
is not iron class. And the reason why I say
(29:56):
that a lot of people will exchange in NDA. You know,
sign my the NDA, I'll sign yours. It could be mutual,
that's great, but it doesn't really speak to pillow talk, right.
And the only reason you would know somebody breached in
n DA is if you hear about it or you
hear it from a third party. So it doesn't do
(30:19):
away with what I call pillow talk, you know the whispers, right,
And that that's always concerning for me. And so I
always like clients to know that NDA is a deturning factor.
But it's but it's not fool proof.
Speaker 3 (30:36):
Wow, this has been great information our world of wrong
and appreciate you for coming on my show. Uh, got
any upcoming events that you want to tell everybody about?
Anybody about knows you just wrapped up essence, just finished
the ABA. Any upcoming project you want to fill us
in before we close out the interview of speaking to
Attorney Jayleen Mack.
Speaker 4 (30:55):
Well, I do want to people want people to know.
If they want to get more information on our top
ten tips that I just discussed, it can go to
my book The Business of Stage, Screen and the in
Between and it's a practical guide for performers, playwrights, filmmakers
(31:15):
and any entrepreneur.
Speaker 1 (31:18):
Cool.
Speaker 3 (31:18):
Well, I think, well, friend, thank you for coming on
the show. Thank you for giving more wisdom to say.
I do not lie when I say America's favorite entertainment
attorney Jaylen Mack based out of Houston, Texas, but she's worldwide.
She's worldwide from Dubai to New York to Houston to Mexico.
She's there doing her job and changing the game more
(31:41):
important to keeping people out of bad contracts and maybe
becing people aware of that there are scams out there.
Just because it sounds like a good deal does not
mean there it is ill is a good deal. I
talked to you soon, Attorney Mac.
Speaker 4 (31:53):
Thank you.
Speaker 3 (31:54):
This has been another edition of Money Making Conversation Masterclass.
Posted by me Rashaun McDonald. Thank you to our guests
on the show today and thank you for listening to
audience now. If you want to listen to any episode
I want to be a guest on the show, visit
Moneymakingconversations dot com. Our social media handle is money Making Conversation.
Join us next week and remember to always leave with
(32:16):
your gifts.
Speaker 1 (32:17):
Keep winning.
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