July 1, 2026 • 51 mins
Text me what you think of today’s episode!
A lot of us have a dream we quietly put away because life gets loud. Today we sit down with Philadelphia-born filmmaker and entrepreneur Derek Shaw, and he’s proof that “later” can still turn into real momentum if you’re willing to start small and keep showing up.
We talk about where Derek’s storytelling starts, from a fifth grade teacher who pushed him to write more, to the years he “sat it in the closet” while working full time, raising a family, and building side businesses. Then comes the turning point that changes everything: he starts writing again after decades, and that decision becomes the bridge to screenplays, production, and building Ruby Street Productions.
Derek breaks down the nuts and bolts of independent filmmaking: buying a cheap camera, making early short films, and turning a weekend hobby into feature projects like Blissfully Unmarried and his dark comedy Bedridden. We get honest about film financing, earning investor trust through reputation, navigating SAG requirements, and why film distribution can be harder than making the movie. Derek also shares what it took to get Bedridden onto Amazon and Apple TV, why he chose self-distribution, and what he’s chasing next with bigger budgets and bigger names.
If you’re into indie film, screenwriting, self-distribution, creative entrepreneurship, and building a sustainable production company, this conversation is packed with practical insight and real-world perspective. Subscribe, share this with a friend who needs a push, and leave a review so more listeners can find the show. What’s one daydream you’re ready to dust off?
Guest Links
Assorted Conversations Links
Assorted Conversations Facebook Page
- Stay up-to-date on podcast happenings and share them with your friends
Assorted Conversations Podcast Facebook Community
- A collaborative and supportive community for you to engage with us, our guests and other listeners
- Share your passion, network and connect as we all pursue what makes us happy.
- Exclusive behind-the-scenes content and info
- Special online events for community members
NOW on TikTok
Follow us on Twitter
Follow us on Instagram
Support Assorted Conversations on Buy Me a Coffee
Say hello or ask a question: aconvospod@gmail.com
Credits
Music Credit: True Living by Patrick Moore
Royalty free music license purchased at soundotcom.com
Listen
Watch
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
SPEAKER_06 (00:09):
Everyday people following their passions.
SPEAKER_00 (00:13):
That's probably like one of the highlights of my life
so far.
Just being able to be creativelike that.
I mean I've always wanted.
SPEAKER_02 (00:22):
And then I decided to get another hive, and that
turned into a lot of hives.
SPEAKER_04 (00:28):
As long as I can do that, I want to be a good
citizen.
Help people out.
SPEAKER_06 (00:33):
Putting themselves out there, taking chances, and
navigating challenges along theway.
SPEAKER_05 (00:40):
I I absolutely identified with having stage
rides because, you know, anytimeI went on stage, I just felt
like I was having a heartattack.
SPEAKER_01 (00:47):
Very first laugh, very first practice session, I
crashed, turned the car upsidedown, made a spectacle of
myself, and I got back on thathorse and started riding again.
SPEAKER_06 (00:56):
As they pursue what makes them happy and brings them
joy.
SPEAKER_03 (01:02):
As long as people are having a good time and I
have the opportunity to putsmiles on people's faces, I I
love what I do.
SPEAKER_06 (01:08):
I have done things that I never thought I could do.
SPEAKER_04 (01:13):
To have somebody tell me how real it looks and
how, you know, from their actualmemory.
Because that's telling me Icaptured what I was trying to
get.
SPEAKER_06 (01:24):
Welcome to a sorted conversation.
I'm your host, Helen.
Hello, and thanks for tuning in.
You know, after speaking withthis week's guest, it got me
wondering about you guys, andand also a little
self-reflective with myself.
(01:47):
Was there something you loved todo, maybe even excelled in in
your younger days, maybe even asfar back as a fifth grader?
But you pushed it aside becauseyou didn't see a way forward, or
because other things tookpriority.
I know I did.
For me, it was broadcasting.
(02:09):
I wanted to be a radio DJ so badgrowing up.
I loved music, I loved to talkand make people laugh, and
that's basically what I went toschool for.
But once I graduated, I faced somuch competition in the Boston
media market, and I was upagainst other recent grads who
(02:33):
had graduated from Emerson, BC,BU, and they had interned at all
the big radio stations in thearea.
I let all of that distract mefrom what I wanted to do.
Now the good news is I did findother avenues that got me
excited and allowed me to becreative in other ways.
(02:54):
But after a 20 plus year careerin learning and development, I
eventually found my way back toa mic.
This week's guest had a similarjourney, but he was much quicker
about getting back to what heloved than I was.
Dust off your daydreams, take alisten to this week's
(03:15):
conversation, and I'll see youon the other side.
Today's guest is aPhiladelphia-born filmmaker,
entrepreneur, and storytellerwith a strong working-class
foundation and a sharp creativevision.
He is the founder of Ruby StreetProductions and has built a
(03:37):
career spanning film, media,real estate, and business.
His work includes the featurefilm Blissfully Unmarried, the
award-winning web series The ManCode, and his latest release,
the film Bedridden.
With studies in business andfilm plus decades of real work
(03:58):
experience, he bringsauthenticity, grit, and heart to
everything he creates.
He is driven by ownership,legacy, and turning life
experiences into compellingstories while continuing to grow
as both a producer and abusinessman.
I am so excited to welcome thisweek's guest, Derek Shaw, to
(04:22):
Astorted Conversations.
Hi, Derek.
Hey, how are you doing?
Glad to be here, Ellen.
I am glad to have you here.
You have such an interestingjourney to talk about.
So let's get started.
Where did where did it allbegin?
Did it begin with film?
Did it begin withentrepreneurship?
(04:43):
What was the starting point foryou?
SPEAKER_07 (04:46):
I have always liked to write.
So early in elementary school, Ithink I remember fifth grade.
My fifth grade teacherencouraged me to write.
You know, when you just hand inhomework.
She said, I see something here.
You need to expand on, you know,I'm only, I don't know, where
are you, fifth grade?
10, maybe?
(05:06):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_08 (05:07):
Maybe.
SPEAKER_07 (05:07):
Yeah.
And she was like, you know, justthe stuff you hand in, I need
you to write more.
You know, she would actuallygive special assignments just
for me to hone my writing craftin the fifth grade.
SPEAKER_08 (05:20):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_07 (05:21):
So it's something I just love to uh be creative.
You know, I always had storiesin my head, and she wanted me to
express them.
SPEAKER_06 (05:31):
Oh, that's awesome.
Do you remember anything thatyou wrote back then?
SPEAKER_07 (05:36):
Uh no.
Not from fifth grade.
SPEAKER_06 (05:40):
Yeah, I was gonna say I couldn't remember anything
from fifth grade.
But anything like, you know,through your teen years or high
school years that you wrotegrowing up that maybe has stuck
with you.
Because I know with a lot ofwriters, there's always the germ
of a story, and they may takeyears to work it, rework it, or
get it where they want to.
SPEAKER_07 (06:02):
I remember in high school, I we had just read Man,
Child in a Promised Land by uhby uh with Bald.
And I wrote the Derrick Shawstory, and I I more I framed it
out like Man Child in thePromised Land.
So, you know, I wrote, I wasonly in high school, but I wrote
(06:24):
my life story, and my motheractually took it to work and she
was showing people, look, thisis my son's life story.
And they're like, all right,he's 16, he has the life story,
but it was it was entertaining.
So back then, she was like, ah,you're good.
And I'm like, you know, you'remy mom.
You're supposed to say that.
Yeah.
(06:44):
Because you know, she passed itaround the office, and they were
all, they were, they had a ball.
SPEAKER_06 (06:50):
Oh, that's awesome.
That's awesome.
So from a young age, you you hadthe stories, you had the
creativity, and you were framingstories in a way that resonated
and entertained people.
SPEAKER_07 (07:01):
Yeah, I've always wanted to entertain.
I just I wanted to be an actor,but I don't think I was any good
at it.
SPEAKER_08 (07:10):
Uh-huh.
SPEAKER_07 (07:10):
So I was better telling stories than recreating
someone else's work.
Right.
Right.
You know.
SPEAKER_06 (07:17):
Well, and that's a gift in itself.
SPEAKER_07 (07:20):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_06 (07:20):
That's a gift in itself.
SPEAKER_07 (07:22):
I tried stand-up comedy for a little while.
SPEAKER_06 (07:25):
Did you?
SPEAKER_07 (07:26):
I did too.
unknown (07:27):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_07 (07:27):
I had stage fright like crazy.
I couldn't take it.
Yeah.
So the first time I was heckledwas the last time I did it.
unknown (07:35):
Oh.
SPEAKER_07 (07:35):
If I I, you know, I didn't know the comedians had
off nights.
You know, back then, you know,the Eddie Murphy and the Martin
Larzers and the Seinfelds.
I always thought every night wasa banger.
I didn't know they had.
Had I known that, I would haveprobably kept doing it.
My first bad night, I was like,oh, I'm horrible at this.
You know, and I quit.
(07:56):
I never did it again.
SPEAKER_06 (07:58):
Yeah, it it's funny.
I did about 30 open mic nights,and I never got heckled, but I
definitely had those nights ofpolite golf claps and you know,
little chuckles to make you feelbetter because people feel bad
for you.
And I I every time the the the30th open mic was as terrifying
(08:20):
as the first.
So I'm like, why am I torturingmyself?
And I, you know, looked at otheravenues, improv comedy and and
comedy writing.
And I had a couple localcomedians, you know, give me
some feedback saying if you wantto do stand-up, here's what you
have to improve on.
But don't feel like you have toimprove on anything to be funny
(08:41):
because your writing is funny.
It's just not stand-up writing.
SPEAKER_08 (08:45):
So yeah.
SPEAKER_06 (08:47):
Yeah, I feel you.
So after high school, where didyou take your gift for
storytelling?
SPEAKER_07 (08:55):
I sat it in the closet.
Uh huh.
So at 19, you know, I was I wasin college, so I had to join the
workforce, workforce.
So, you know, I had to put allmy dreams and aspirations in the
closet.
You know, I got married at 22.
I was 19 when I when I wasemployed by Verizon, well, it
(09:19):
was Bell of Pennsylvania backthen in 1986.
So for 35 years, I pretty muchdid nothing.
I just, you know, I I wouldthink about it, but I had to go
to work.
You know, I had bills to pay,you know, I ended up married
with three kids.
There was no time for dreams.
I had to get them up and readyto go.
(09:41):
Right.
The craziest thing is the day Idecided to start writing again,
I remember it like it wasyesterday.
I stopped by my mother's house.
I was like, I think I want towrite again.
She's like, Oh, I was wonderingwhy you didn't do it, such and
such and such.
She's like, Can you go to thestore and pick up my medicine?
So it was a prescription.
(10:01):
So I sat in the parking lot foran hour and I started writing a
book.
I came home, my mom had passedaway.
The crazy that she passed awaydead while I was at the store
picking up her prescription,writing for the first time in 30
years, she passed away.
SPEAKER_06 (10:20):
Oh my gosh.
SPEAKER_07 (10:22):
Is that crazy?
Yeah, I I came back and foundher.
She was gone.
SPEAKER_06 (10:27):
Oh my God.
Oh, God bless her.
God bless you, Jesus.
SPEAKER_07 (10:31):
The day I started writing again.
Craziest thing ever.
But, you know, I took it okay.
She told me to start back upagain.
So from then on, I startedwriting again.
You know, that's that's when Ipicked it back up.
Like in 2004, I started writingagain.
So from 85 to 2004, I hadn'twritten anything.
SPEAKER_06 (10:53):
Right.
SPEAKER_07 (10:53):
And in 2004, I I picked up the pen and started
once again.
SPEAKER_06 (10:59):
Did it did it come back to you?
Had there been things, you know,floating around in your brain
that you wanted to get done onpaper?
Or did did you start fresh?
SPEAKER_07 (11:09):
Well, no, it I've always had ideas.
I just never put pen to pad.
You know, over the years I'vealways, oh, I want to do this
and I want to do that.
I just never did it.
But I had an idea floating in mymind, and I said, okay, let me
write this.
And I finally started writingit.
SPEAKER_06 (11:26):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_07 (11:26):
And and that that opened the door, that opened the
floodgates.
So after that, I've been writingever since.
SPEAKER_06 (11:32):
Oh wow.
What was the first piece youwrote when you came back?
Was it a story?
Was it a book?
Was it screenplay?
SPEAKER_07 (11:38):
It was a book.
It was a book.
It was a book about a an NFLkicker.
You know, in the NFL, the kickeris the one who gets the least
amount of accolades.
Right.
You know?
So I it was a it was a comedyabout a kicker who had to
navigate his way through theNFL.
SPEAKER_06 (11:58):
Oh wow.
Oh, that must have been funny.
SPEAKER_07 (12:00):
Yeah.
I don't know what I did with it.
SPEAKER_06 (12:02):
But you know, I was gonna say, did it get published?
No.
SPEAKER_07 (12:07):
You know, I you wrote everything in notebooks
back then.
Right.
Right.
Didn't have a computer, so thenotebook is floating around
somewhere.
I wish I could find it.
You know, I I want to write itagain and turn it into a movie.
And it's it's on my list.
But it my list is so long ofstuff that I want to do.
SPEAKER_06 (12:27):
Well, now in 2004 you wrote that.
So you wrote it as a book.
When did you when did you leaveVerizon and and start your your
other businesses?
Because you are so you're soensconced in a couple different
things.
SPEAKER_07 (12:48):
Well, during Verizon, I I did real estate.
I stopped buying houses, I builta portfolio, and I was always uh
uh I have ADD, so to speak.
I need something to do.
I always keep busy.
So it's a superpower.
SPEAKER_06 (13:05):
Yeah, well Especially when you're an
entrepreneur, it can be asuperpower.
SPEAKER_07 (13:10):
Yeah, so you know, I used to, when I worked for
Verizon, I would get up fiveo'clock in the morning, go to
Home Depot, get all my supplies,take them over to the house, go
to work at eight o'clock.
At five o'clock, I would gostraight over to the house and
start working on the house untillike midnight.
And then the next day I would doit all over again.
It was it w I had a system.
(13:30):
But like I said, I had a family.
That did not help the marriage.
You know, we had plenty ofmoney, but there was no
togetherness.
So we kind of we grew apart.
SPEAKER_06 (13:42):
I'm sorry.
SPEAKER_07 (13:44):
Yeah, well, you know, it's a superpower, but at
the same time, it it's yourkryptonite.
SPEAKER_06 (13:49):
Yeah, yeah.
Good point.
Good point.
SPEAKER_07 (13:51):
Yeah, but I I I've always had to keep it moving.
You know, I used to buildcomputers in my spare time and
sell them.
You know, I just it was a hobbythat I picked up and I enjoyed
it and back in the early 2000s,you know, I could build one real
cheap and sell it and make anice profit from it.
SPEAKER_06 (14:08):
Right.
unknown (14:09):
Yeah, right.
SPEAKER_06 (14:10):
So you've Yeah, you've always had I don't want
to say a side hustle, but you'vealways had a side hustle.
You've always had uh balls up inthe air.
SPEAKER_07 (14:23):
Yeah, yeah.
Well, I worked for Verizon for38 years.
I retired three years ago.
SPEAKER_06 (14:28):
Uh-huh.
SPEAKER_07 (14:30):
So, you know, well, I started the video production
company in 2010.
You know, I started well, youknow, I was writing and writing
and writing, and stuff was justsitting on the shelf.
Because I transitioned frombooks.
A book is hard to write.
A book takes so long.
(14:50):
Yeah.
A movie's a whole lot easier.
A script is way easier thanwriting a novel.
So I started writing scripts,and I had five or six scripts
just sitting, you know, livingin Philadelphia, no connections.
There was no way for me to getit to somebody to produce it.
(15:10):
Right.
I could only get my friends toread it.
And I don't know any friends whoknow it.
I'm not Tarantino, you know,quitting Tarantino gave it to a
friend who gave it to a friendwho gave it to somebody.
SPEAKER_08 (15:20):
Right.
SPEAKER_07 (15:21):
I don't have those friends, you know.
SPEAKER_08 (15:23):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_07 (15:24):
So I went to a seminar with Robert Townsend.
And he he said, it was in NewYork.
I wrote up, took a day, and hesaid, for writers such as myself
who don't know anybody, you needto learn to shoot your own
content.
Never even considered it before.
All I wanted to do was write.
And he encouraged us, look,start shooting.
(15:47):
So I went out and bought acamera for$150.
And then he said, start small.
You know, I wrote a littlethree-minute film.
Matter of fact, my first filmwas I made it in black and
white, and it had no soundbecause I didn't know how to do
sound.
So it was like a Charlie Chapmantype thing.
So I wrote that and uh I put itaround the internet and people
(16:11):
started enjoying it.
SPEAKER_06 (16:13):
Oh good.
Did you uh was it YouTube?
SPEAKER_07 (16:17):
Uh yeah.
Okay.
Funny story.
I took a class at Academy of theArts in San Francisco.
It was a film class that I tookonline.
And matter of fact, that was aproject for the class.
The teacher gave me a C in it.
You know, I'm like, all right,this is such and such and such.
A couple months later, you know,on the internet, and I see an
(16:40):
advertisement for Academy of theArt San Francisco.
And they were saying things youcould learn at this school, and
they were using my film topromote things that you can use
at this film.
SPEAKER_06 (16:52):
Are you kidding me?
SPEAKER_07 (16:53):
I got a C.
I got a C on a film.
But now they're using it topromote things you can learn at
Academy of the Art SanFrancisco.
I was like, Wow.
Okay.
Yeah, so you know, you neverknow what's going on.
SPEAKER_06 (17:07):
There's some royalties due there, I think.
Holy cow.
So really you just rolled upyour sleeves and went to it
while you're still providing foryour family, learning, learning
in the direction you wanted togo in, and still doing real
(17:30):
estate flips and buildingcomputers.
Holy cow.
Holy cow.
SPEAKER_07 (17:36):
So, you know.
Yeah, it was it was my weekendhobby, I'll say.
You know, every now and then Icall a couple of my friends.
Yo, I I want to shoot this film.
You know, come hold the camerafor me.
Or come hold the mic.
You know, first film I just hadmy my family in, and then I got
a couple friends, and then mynetwork started growing.
(17:57):
People I know a guy I grew upwith, me and him know each other
forever.
As I was learning to shootfilms, I found out he's in
acting class.
So now he's my star.
You know, he's been my star fromearly on.
So anything I do, he's in it.
He may not star in it, but he'sin everything I do.
Because he and I startedtogether.
SPEAKER_06 (18:22):
Kind of like Adam Sandler.
unknown (18:25):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_06 (18:26):
He uses he uses all his buds.
All his buds.
And they may not get starringroles, but they are there.
That's ver that is very cool.
So what was the first film youyou actually produced, uh wrote
and produced?
(18:46):
Full feature?
SPEAKER_08 (18:47):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_07 (18:48):
Or or short.
Full feature.
Oh, Blissy and Mary.
Okay.
Since I was a you know, I wasworking full-time, I used to
take classes here and there, youknow, just to see if I can pick
up stuff.
SPEAKER_08 (19:00):
Yep.
SPEAKER_07 (19:00):
And I took a class at Wilmington University, and I
had access to all this equipmentthat I've never even seen
before.
You know, they're teaching youhow to use the camera, the mic,
and I'm in class and I'm askingduring class, I said, okay, we
have access to all of this.
We have a network.
Do y'all actually make filmshere?
(19:22):
And he was like, Well, it's filmschool.
I'm like, yeah, but have y'allmade a film?
They were like, no.
I'm like, okay, well, y'all arelucky that I'm here.
You know, we're getting ready tomake it.
I decided that day we weremaking a film.
And I grabbed a couple studentsand I wrote, well, yeah, I
(19:42):
finished right.
I had something that I hadstarted.
I was like, okay, this is lowbudget.
It doesn't need many locations,it doesn't need many people.
And that's how I shot my firstfilm.
You know, I had no idea how toproduce or anything, but I knew
how to make shorts.
I made shorts.
So I I handled it like putting abunch of little shorts together.
(20:04):
And we made a full-featuredfilm.
SPEAKER_06 (20:07):
Oh, that's fantastic.
And is that blissfullyunmarried?
SPEAKER_07 (20:11):
Yeah, yeah.
And then he threw that a couplefilm festivals, and distributor
and a film festival had saw him,saw it.
He was in all he was like, yo,do you have your film
distributed?
I'm like, no, I'm pretty muchjust putting it in festivals.
He he grabbed it and he threw meon Amazon early on.
(20:32):
So it's it's really hard to geton Amazon now.
But 10 years ago, yeah, and Iwas making money.
I would like this hobby actuallyturned into something I can make
money from.
SPEAKER_06 (20:43):
Oh, that's funny.
And now you know, Ruby StreetProductions, it's a full
production house.
It's not just your films, it'straining videos, wedding videos.
What what else does Ruby Streetdo?
SPEAKER_07 (20:57):
Well, pretty commercials, like you said,
trading videos.
We're trying to get thistelevision show on the air.
Hopefully by September we shouldbe able to.
It's a sports television networkthat we're trying to get on.
So we're trying to produce ashow for that.
But anything film related.
(21:18):
You know, we do documentaries.
We've done a couple ofdocumentaries.
You know, we'll shoot your filmfor you, we'll partner up with
you to shoot your film, we'llshoot our stuff.
We do it all.
SPEAKER_06 (21:29):
Yeah.
I I was on the website.
I looked at uh a bunch of stuffthat was up there.
Phenomenal work.
Like well shot, clean.
When did Ruby Street Productionshappen?
You know, as you started to geta little bit of of success and
and you got your short films notjust in film festivals, but on
(21:53):
Amazon.
How did that kind of take offfor you?
SPEAKER_07 (21:59):
Well As I started doing the shorts, you know, back
in the day, you made no moneyfrom shorts.
Shorts was pretty much justpractice and entertaining.
I wish I would have kept it upbecause people are making a lot
of money from shorts right now.
So, you know, we should havestayed in the short business.
We were ahead of the game.
We just didn't know we wereahead of the game.
(22:19):
You know?
So once we did our shorts, wedecided we wanted to try to make
some money.
So it's pretty much five of uswith Ruby Tree Productions.
So, you know, I founded it.
And once again, one of my guysat Barraga, he was in film
school.
Somebody I see every day.
We talked in the Lunchroom.
I had no idea he was in filmschool.
(22:40):
He found out I was making films.
He's like, yo, you might comeon.
And we collaborated, my buddyMark.
And then him and I, we startedRuby Street Productions.
And then from there, you know,people just kept jumping on,
jumping on board.
SPEAKER_06 (22:57):
Yo, that's funny.
So you worked with him and nevereven knew he was in acting
class.
SPEAKER_07 (23:03):
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
SPEAKER_06 (23:05):
That, you know, it's funny.
That is the premise for thepodcast.
Is I worked with people and Iused to have a pod partner, and
we were both talking one dayabout, you know, you think you
know somebody because you knowthem like in a friend context or
a work context.
And you really don't because youfind out they're doing these
(23:26):
amazing things in their sparetime.
And it happened to be a womanthat I worked with in my day job
in learning and development.
She had a consultant, thelearning and development
consultant company, and we wereone of her clients.
And I didn't see her for thelongest time.
And I jokingly said to one ofher coworkers, I was like, is
(23:48):
she cheating on us with uh withanother client?
And she said, no, she took sometime off to tour short film
festivals through Europe.
I'm like, I had no idea she wasa short film buff.
And the person said, Well, sheisn't, but she wrote one and it
got made and it got entered intoall of these festivals.
And I was like, I need to have aconversation with her about
(24:09):
that.
So it's amazing what people do,you know, outside of the context
that you know them in.
Yeah.
So that is really cool that youfound a collaborator.
Yeah, yeah.
That's so cool.
So from there, where did, youknow, once you founded Ruby
(24:29):
Street Productions, I mean, Ican't imagine that it's easy to
get distributorship.
I can't imagine it's even easyto get funding to, you know,
make a film, whether it's ashort or it's a if it's a
feature film.
So how how did how did thefinancing piece come together
for you?
SPEAKER_07 (24:51):
Okay.
Well, with the Blissful You haveMary, we actually treated it
like a bunch of little shortfilms.
It took us eight months toshoot.
I think we only shot maybe 12days, but that took eight
months.
You know, we get a coupledollars, we shoot this weekend,
and then we may not shoot againfor another six weeks.
And then we may have to do that.
Right.
So you guys were funding it.
(25:11):
Yes.
Yeah, we had to fund that all onour own.
So, you know, it w it was reallow budget.
You know, it may have taken us$15,000,$16,000 to make that
film.
But distribution just fell onour lacks.
You know, somebody at the filmfestival.
Yeah, he once he got us onAmazon, then he called me and
(25:32):
was like, yo, I think I can sellthis to Africa.
Do you want this in Africa?
I was like, okay.
I think in Africa it was calledShuka for Love, and then he sold
it to Germany.
So he ended up being like aninternational distributor and
trying to go places that I'venever been.
So that the film, BlissfullyUnmarried, that's a$15,000 film,
(25:55):
has been all over the world.
Wow.
So, you know.
Refutation is a thing.
SPEAKER_08 (26:02):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_07 (26:02):
You know, once you you get one made, and then
people see that you you're notjust wasting their time and
money.
That's how Bedridden was funded.
We we had a couple of hours, andthen it's the stranger thing.
People heard that we werelooking for investors, and I was
(26:24):
literally getting calls ofpeople offering me money.
SPEAKER_06 (26:30):
Wow.
SPEAKER_07 (26:32):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_06 (26:32):
And was that based on the success of Blissfully
Married?
SPEAKER_07 (26:38):
Well, just us.
They they've seen us hustle,they've seen us work.
Yeah.
You know, we've been the showswe've been doing, you know,
we've we've we've shot andeverything.
Just on reputation, peoplebelieved that they were not
gonna waste their money.
You know, you meet a lot ofpeople over the years, and
people they remember perceivedyou're about business.
(27:02):
Yeah, they were more thanwilling to to open up their
wallets and be like, here, youknow you need some money.
Which is I had somebody who Ididn't even tell that I was
looking for money, and theycalled me and like, yo, I heard
you're doing a film, like suchand such and such.
You got all the money you need?
I'm like, no.
He's like, all right, well, howmuch you need?
Like, well, how much you gonnagive me?
(27:24):
I wanna like, well, I can giveyou 10 grand.
Man, he's like, All right, I'llgive you 10 grand, but I want to
be an executive producer.
Man, you ain't saying nothingbut a thing.
You are now an executiveproducer on bedridden.
SPEAKER_08 (27:39):
Wow.
SPEAKER_07 (27:41):
But even then when the film first opens up, his
name is in there because hey, hewanted to be there for 10 grand.
By all means.
SPEAKER_06 (27:48):
Yeah.
That's fantastic.
Wow.
So, and I I actually got to seeBedrid and I and we talked a
little bit off mic.
I laughed.
Tell me where that story camefrom.
Did you write it?
SPEAKER_07 (28:04):
Yes, me and one of my, once again, guy I grew up
with, my buddy Magic.
He and I grew up maybe threeblocks away from each other.
His brother and I played on thesame baseball team.
So I've known him since I was12, 13 years old.
But you know how you knowfriends and you see them every
now and then, you lose touch.
(28:24):
Yeah.
I entered one of my shorts intoa film festival, and he was at
the film festival.
He entered one of his shorts.
So I'm like, yo, what you doinghere?
Like, oh man, I'm doing films.
I'm like, ah, you lying.
All right, dude, we're workingtogether.
So, you know, we already had arelationship.
We start working together, and Iwas like, I started this film
(28:44):
bedridden, and I was stuck afterlike page 20.
He's like, let me look at it.
I gave it to him, but he gave itback with like another 20 pages.
And then I did 20 pages, and Igave it back to him.
And we just went back and forthwith it.
And, you know, that's the firsttime I actually writ wrote
something with a partner.
(29:05):
So, you know, his writing styleis completely different than
mine.
So it just meshed together, youknow, his style and my style.
SPEAKER_06 (29:14):
Did did you guys ever have any creative
conflicts?
Because I know when when twocreatives get together, if there
are two different ways of doingthings, sometimes there's a
clash.
Did you experience that?
SPEAKER_07 (29:27):
Oh, yeah, yeah, we clashed.
But he did understand.
I started this without him.
So he let me be the captain.
So, you know, he my word was thelast word.
So, you know, that's that's howwe got over that hurdle.
(29:47):
So I was directing it.
He was like, look, man, youknow, he he came to ease with
it, but we had some arguments.
You're like, man, I need this inthe film.
I'm like, I don't think it'sgonna work.
So you know, but we've beenfriends for 30 years.
So it was nothing, yeah, nothingmajor, but you know, we did have
(30:08):
some discussions.
SPEAKER_06 (30:11):
Well, I know when I had my pod partner on this, we
approached things differently.
And it was the same thing.
It was never, you know, a a ahurtful disagreement.
It was always in service of thepodcast and and and the
listeners and the guests.
But yeah, we had we had a coupleheated exchanges when we didn't
(30:33):
think or when we didn't agree.
And that's that's just I thinkpart of the game.
Sometimes you're just betterafterwards.
SPEAKER_07 (30:40):
Yeah.
Well, you know, I I respectedhim as a writer.
I was like, look, I respect youridea, man.
I love some of your ideas, butyou know, I don't know
everything.
It's just like you're not gonnalove all of mine.
So, yeah.
It's it's gotta be a mutualrespect.
unknown (30:58):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_08 (30:58):
But we work good.
SPEAKER_06 (31:01):
So the story of Bedridden.
Walk walk listeners through it.
I mean, I know what the story isbecause I've watched it and I've
laughed.
But uh but give us a synopsis.
SPEAKER_07 (31:17):
Okay, a well-to-do family is completely
dysfunctional.
So the head of the family, who'sEarthquake, he's the head of the
comedian Earthquake, he is thehead of the family and he gets
into a car accident.
Now, now he's in a coma.
So while he's in a coma, he canhear everything that's going on
around him.
(31:37):
He has this consciousness, hejust can't talk or move.
So he finds out why the family'sso dysfunctional, and he learns
he's pretty much the reason thewhole family is so
dysfunctional.
It's all his fault.
So he learns why he's in thecoma, how and why everybody's
why they are.
SPEAKER_06 (31:58):
Yeah, I there are some really funny parts in it.
I laughed like hell, but it itit's a gr I thought it was a
great story, and I love theending.
It wasn't a cheesy ending, itwas a really realistic ending to
that whole story.
Did that come from somethingpersonal in your life, or did
(32:19):
that come from your imagination?
SPEAKER_07 (32:24):
Well, the ending was actually my writing partner, and
I think it was personal for himbecause it was actually longer,
and I had to cut part of it out.
He was not happy that it was cutout because it was personal to
him.
I'm like, look, you know, it wecan't have a three-hour movie.
So, you know, some stuff has togo.
So the ending was it waspersonal to him, and you know,
(32:46):
he felt it, and you can feel itin his writing, but you know,
like uh it's only 90 minutes.
You know, we can't have a30-minute ending in a 90-minute
movie.
Right.
So yeah, it was it was personalfor us.
SPEAKER_06 (33:01):
Sha, how how has Bedridden done for you?
I know I was able to watch it onAmazon.
Has it been distributed anywhereelse?
SPEAKER_07 (33:10):
Uh it's on Amazon and it's on Apple TV right now.
So we actually just begunnational marketing.
Yeah, we have only done localmarketing.
We last month we had ourpremiere in the DC area,
Baltimore, you know, Potomacarea.
So we pretty much just marketedright there to see, give a feel
(33:34):
of how we're doing it.
It did pretty well in that area.
So we are about to do thenational marketing campaign.
SPEAKER_06 (33:43):
Oh, that's awesome.
Now, how what what's thenational marketing campaign
include?
SPEAKER_07 (33:49):
Well, uh I don't know.
We pay somebody to do it.
So you know, marketing is not mything.
So, you know, they said don't bethe smartest one in the room.
So, you know, I decide we justpay somebody.
Yeah.
Yeah.
We pay somebody who this is whatthey do.
(34:11):
You know, I I know how to make amovie, but I don't know how to
market a movie.
You know, I do have investorsthat I need to pay back.
So you know, we hire people todo what they do.
SPEAKER_08 (34:24):
When um will it be in movie?
SPEAKER_06 (34:29):
Do you expect it to be in movie theaters?
SPEAKER_07 (34:32):
No, no, it's just it's just pretty much gonna be
online.
We just had to premiere in atheater.
But one of somebody wanted tobuy it and put it in theaters.
But we're doingself-distribution.
They they didn't want to give usmuch money.
They was like, man, I think thiscan make a lot of money, but
we're gonna give you a coupledollars now, wink wink, and then
(34:55):
we'll give you the rest later.
SPEAKER_06 (34:57):
Couple dollars.
SPEAKER_07 (34:59):
You know.
Yeah, so uh everybody has theirown accounting system.
So, you know, to make twomillion, and the paperwork only
says it made 150,000.
So we were leery.
So we decided to doself-distribution.
So that's how we got on Amazonand Apple TV.
(35:21):
We just went to an aggregatorand got it on there ourselves.
SPEAKER_06 (35:24):
How hard is self-distribution?
Are there challenges there?
SPEAKER_07 (35:30):
Oh my goodness, yes, there is.
I thought making a movie wasgonna be the hardest part of
this.
You know, getting financing forthe movie, getting it done, I
thought that distribution hasbeen by far the hardest part of
the process.
So pursuing the distribution andbecause we we tried to sell it
(35:50):
first.
We were like, okay, let's sellit, make our money back, and
make another movie.
But it's it just didn't work outthat way.
People wanted it, but it wasalways, okay, I'll give you a
seven-year deal, but I'm onlygiving you this much up front,
which doesn't cover nowherenear, you know, and then two
years, it may take us four yearsto make our money back with some
(36:13):
of the deals that they wanted togive us.
So with self-distribution, youknow, if it does well, you get
the money now.
But you have to take a chance onyourself.
That's that's the hard part.
SPEAKER_08 (36:26):
Right.
SPEAKER_07 (36:26):
I've had some sleepless nights, but so far, I
I think we'll do okay.
SPEAKER_08 (36:32):
I think we will be fine.
SPEAKER_06 (36:39):
Yeah.
What what were some of thechallenges that you faced that
made distribution kind of thehardest part of getting
bedridden out there?
SPEAKER_07 (36:51):
Well, okay.
You you don't wanna you you havetrust issues.
You know, you gotta give it topeople that you don't know and
hopefully they're gonna do theright thing.
You know, you end up findingyour thing on 52nd Street on a
stand before anybody else seesit.
(37:11):
So just getting it to the rightperson that you could trust.
Now Netflix was interested.
And the person we got it to,they held it for a long time
before they even looked at it.
And then once again, it was itwasn't a deal that we were
(37:32):
comfortable with, but you know,it took a long time to find out.
So for six or seven months, wejust sat and waited when our
hands are in our pockets untiljust to get an answer that we
didn't like.
And then, you know, we took thatand we went somewhere else, and
we had to wait three or fourmonths.
(37:54):
You know, you're in line forthem to even watch your movie.
So unless you know somebody.
SPEAKER_08 (37:59):
Right.
SPEAKER_07 (38:00):
And then, you know, you you wait three or four
months, you get the answer, theygive you a deal, or they don't
give you a deal.
But either way, if they give youa deal you don't like, then you
have to start that process allover again.
Start all over again.
Yeah, just that process alonewas a long going from
distributor to distributor,trying to find something that we
(38:23):
felt was in our best interest.
And that's what we finallydecided, let's just do it
ourselves.
SPEAKER_08 (38:31):
Wow.
Wow.
SPEAKER_06 (38:33):
Well, that I mean, that's good that you're you're
moving forward.
You've got the you did the localand it did well locally, and now
you're focused on the national.
So I'm excited to see where itgoes.
How how has the distribution onAmazon been for you?
Are you are are people seeing itand watching it?
SPEAKER_07 (38:53):
Yeah, but since we only did local marketing, we're
we're getting good reviews,people who've seen it.
So people around Washington,D.C., uh they're the only ones
who know this it's out, youknow?
So that's why we have to get thenational person to let everybody
(39:14):
know that it's out.
SPEAKER_06 (39:16):
Yeah.
Yeah.
Well, and we'll get the word outthrough the little podcast right
now.
SPEAKER_07 (39:25):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_06 (39:27):
How where where do you see yourself going from
here?
I mean, what, you know, once youget bedridden up and off the
ground and you get through thenational campaign and you get
your investors paid back, what'sthe next project for you?
SPEAKER_07 (39:43):
We have two that we're looking into.
We have another, we anothercomedy, but it's a bigger budget
comedy.
So this really has to do well.
We have somebody, a couplepeople who are interested, but
everybody wants to see what thisdoes.
So, you know, we we're trying togo bigger, like between
(40:05):
blissfully and married andbedridden was miles apart.
You know, blissfully unmarried,it was just me and my whole
team.
We made a film, we got luckydistribution.
But with Bedridden, we went sag.
We had to get sag actors, sagcontracts.
Have you ever dealt with sag?
It's it's overwhelming.
(40:26):
So we actually had to hire aproducer who knew more than us.
Once again, don't be thesmartest one in the room.
So we hired.
Jossie Vance worked on a TV showwhile and out.
So she helped get us to the nextlevel.
She had connections.
Well, she's the one who got usEarthquake and Donald Rollins.
(40:48):
You know.
Oh, wow.
Yeah.
Well, we hired a casting agentfirst, BMG Casting.
And she actually told us, look,I had this producer who's
looking for her next project.
And we met with her.
We liked her.
She liked us.
She liked the script.
She said, let's do this.
And she helped us navigatethrough SAG.
(41:09):
Because, you know, we still belost in the ocean trying to deal
with SAG.
That is that is something thatbeginners do not do yourself.
You need somebody experienced.
And she helped us navigate thatmountain.
SPEAKER_06 (41:24):
Wow.
So I I and it's funny, I didn'trealize that.
I didn't realize they were sagactors.
SPEAKER_07 (41:33):
Oh, yeah.
Yeah, well, Donnell Rollins hasbeen wanted Dave Chapel Show.
Have you seen Dave Chapel show?
SPEAKER_06 (41:41):
Yes.
Yeah.
Yeah.
No, I I knew he was.
And I and I've seen Earthquake,but I didn't, I guess I just
didn't put two and two togetherand think they were sag.
I just thought it was, oh, maybethey knew each other, or you
know, it was kind of agrassroots independent film as
opposed to, you know, Hughes andSad actors.
(42:01):
That's amazing.
SPEAKER_07 (42:02):
We're together before.
But yeah.
Yeah, Earthquake throwing up theneighborhood.
I think it's on TBS.
Yeah.
SPEAKER_08 (42:10):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_07 (42:10):
So yeah.
Once you're SAG, you can't justdo anything.
You know, a sag actor can't justdo any film.
It's all these, all this redtape that's got to be done.
Yeah, gotcha.
I had to make it a sag film toget sag actors.
So most of the actors in therewere sag actors.
SPEAKER_08 (42:31):
Yeah, the cast was fantastic.
SPEAKER_07 (42:34):
Well, yeah, well, the between the casting agent
and my producer, they helped usget to the next level.
Because, you know, Glissely andMary, it was pretty much, you
know, Uncle Bob and my buddy RayRay.
That's what Gliesley and Marywas.
So, but we we knew how to make amovie.
We just didn't know how to makethis type of movie.
SPEAKER_06 (42:55):
Right.
Oh, so exciting for the next forthe next step.
So you said the the next projectis another comedy and it's a
bigger budget.
SPEAKER_07 (43:09):
Yeah.
Yeah, it's a lot bigger budget,and we're going for bigger
names.
And it's the next one's actuallytwo employee and an employer who
don't like each other get stucktogether on a deserted island.
Matter of fact, it was one thatwas just out, it was a drama.
(43:33):
I can't remember.
And some, it was just out acouple months ago.
But this is a comedy with thetwo of them stuck together on a
deserted island.
That's funny.
SPEAKER_06 (43:42):
Oh, I'm excited.
So, how long does it take forsomething like that to get put
together?
SPEAKER_07 (43:51):
Well, if you have the right people, once we hired
the producer, I think it mayhave taken us three or four
months.
months to get started shooting.
So this may take a little bitlonger, so you know, we probably
have to find an island first ofall that we can shoot at.
(44:11):
But you know, just all theparticulars, you know, probably
a lot more involved.
Yeah.
But I'm hoping to get it startedby the end of the year.
SPEAKER_08 (44:23):
Oh, that's awesome.
SPEAKER_07 (44:25):
Or if not, in the spring.
That's awesome.
So yeah, that's a it's a it's alot of moving pieces on that.
SPEAKER_06 (44:31):
Yeah.
Oh, I bet.
I can't even imagine fromlocation to casting to budget
and uh I it I it would bemind-boggling to me.
And and I'm probably justscratching the surface of what's
needed.
SPEAKER_07 (44:53):
They gave me that bill.
I was like oh what?
SPEAKER_08 (44:58):
For bagels?
Yeah I know crazy stuff.
SPEAKER_06 (45:06):
So Derek moving forward where do you see Ruby
Street Productions going?
SPEAKER_07 (45:16):
Well every project we try to do push the envelope
just a little bit more, get alittle bit better, try, you know
take a little bit more Alcassusat night for the for the ulcer.
So we push ourselves hard but atthe end of the day we always sit
back and we're like ooh we'reglad we did it.
(45:36):
But during oh my goodness.
Oh my goodness.
SPEAKER_06 (45:39):
Yeah.
Yeah.
SPEAKER_07 (45:40):
I'm surprised we're all still friends.
SPEAKER_06 (45:41):
But we are well I mean you don't grow when you're
comfortable so it's good to getuncomfortable and if you can
look back and see the first filmwas this the second film was
that the third film is going tobe this then you know sorry all
the El Caselsa was worth it.
SPEAKER_07 (46:02):
Yeah yeah all that is so fantastic for you where
can folks find you online youcan find me anywhere Derek
dotshaw Instagram FacebookTikTok you can find me at
bedriddenovie.com you can catchme there.
I'm all over social media rightnow.
SPEAKER_06 (46:23):
So yeah just Derek.shaw you google it I'll
pop up somewhere I'm all overthe place I definitely will and
I'll make sure all those linksare in the show notes so folks
can go watch some of your filmsor take a look at what Ruby
Street Productions offers andyou know get to know you and and
(46:46):
sit patiently and wait for thenext project to come out.
I'm gonna have to go back andwatch Blissfully married I I
didn't get a chance to see thatone.
And then you had a web series.
SPEAKER_07 (46:57):
Yeah the man code yeah the man code yeah we won a
couple of awards with that onewe're trying well right now
vertical drama is the big thing.
Yeah so we're getting ready tobring back the man code and see
if we can do that a verticaldrama at the same time we're
trying to get a uh a televisionshow on the on on a network on a
(47:20):
you know regular a regularnetwork oh not the sports one
well yeah the sports one we'retrying to get it on the regular
network oh oh oh yeah um so onequestion uh again come the rain
(47:41):
oh again comes the rain yeahokay that was with Carl Payne
from Martin Bill Cosby that fellapart we shot a promo for that
and we were going to get it donehis schedule got tied up our
schedule got tied up you know hewas actually supposed to be in
(48:03):
bedrid.
You know once we couldn't getfunded for Then Comes the Rain
because it's a period.
And it goes back into the 70sand that costs a lot more money.
Once you need the old cards andthe old clothes that gets a
little pricey.
So yeah then we put that on aback burner and he was going to
do bedridden but he startedanother project and then he
(48:25):
couldn't get off of it.
So you know we we had to move onwe couldn't wait for him to
finish his project.
So that's it Yeah the sizzlereel was awesome I was like
where can I watch this?
That was that was my pride andjoy.
I love that script yeah that'sone of my favorite scripts that
I've written and I couldn't waitto shoot it.
(48:48):
But yeah the the financing onthat we couldn't get green lit
not yet but it's not over withyeah oh I hope I hope you do
because the sizzle rail wasawesome yeah Carl's a fantastic
actor you know he's actuallyShakespeare trained people don't
know that because he's usuallyin comedies and he does funny
(49:09):
stuff but he's he's he does hecan do Shakespeare.
He's actually uh his range isincredible.
SPEAKER_06 (49:18):
Oh that's awesome.
Oh I hope I hope the planetsaligned so that you two can work
together.
Yeah so do I so do I and thatone gets made.
Well Derek thank you so much forall of your time I have loved
hearing about your journey infilmmaking and really kind of
the the nuts and bolts ofrolling up your sleeves, doing
(49:39):
what you have to do in order tobe able to do what you want to
do.
And I wish you continuedsuccess.
And you too I hope this podcastgets you everywhere you need to
go well thanks from your yourlips to God's ears thanks so
much.
All right thank you for havingme I learned an awful lot about
(50:05):
drive resourcefulness andbuilding a reliable network from
chatting with Derek.
He could teach a masterclass onjuggling and how to make your
dreams a reality the things thatstood out to me the most about
my conversation with Derek ishow he continually sought to
(50:27):
learn from taking that class inSan Francisco where they
bootlegged his video projectthat only got him a C to all the
time he took to learn fromothers in the business curiosity
has always led him higher in hispursuits.
If you'd like to see more ofDerek's work and stay up to date
(50:52):
on his future projects jump downto the show notes for his links
and I really recommend checkingout Bedridden.
It's a very funny dark comedyand I really enjoyed it.
While you're in the show notesdon't forget to connect with me.
All my socials are linked thereas well.
(51:12):
As always thank you forlistening and supporting and
don't forget tell a friend aboutthe podcast word of mouth is the
most popular way folks find newpodcasts to listen to again
thank you for your support andI'll see you in two weeks
Everyday people following their passions.
SPEAKER_00 (00:13):
That's probably like one of the highlights of my life
so far.
Just being able to be creativelike that.
I mean I've always wanted.
SPEAKER_02 (00:22):
And then I decided to get another hive, and that
turned into a lot of hives.
SPEAKER_04 (00:28):
As long as I can do that, I want to be a good
citizen.
Help people out.
SPEAKER_06 (00:33):
Putting themselves out there, taking chances, and
navigating challenges along theway.
SPEAKER_05 (00:40):
I I absolutely identified with having stage
rides because, you know, anytimeI went on stage, I just felt
like I was having a heartattack.
SPEAKER_01 (00:47):
Very first laugh, very first practice session, I
crashed, turned the car upsidedown, made a spectacle of
myself, and I got back on thathorse and started riding again.
SPEAKER_06 (00:56):
As they pursue what makes them happy and brings them
joy.
SPEAKER_03 (01:02):
As long as people are having a good time and I
have the opportunity to putsmiles on people's faces, I I
love what I do.
SPEAKER_06 (01:08):
I have done things that I never thought I could do.
SPEAKER_04 (01:13):
To have somebody tell me how real it looks and
how, you know, from their actualmemory.
Because that's telling me Icaptured what I was trying to
get.
SPEAKER_06 (01:24):
Welcome to a sorted conversation.
I'm your host, Helen.
Hello, and thanks for tuning in.
You know, after speaking withthis week's guest, it got me
wondering about you guys, andand also a little
self-reflective with myself.
(01:47):
Was there something you loved todo, maybe even excelled in in
your younger days, maybe even asfar back as a fifth grader?
But you pushed it aside becauseyou didn't see a way forward, or
because other things tookpriority.
I know I did.
For me, it was broadcasting.
(02:09):
I wanted to be a radio DJ so badgrowing up.
I loved music, I loved to talkand make people laugh, and
that's basically what I went toschool for.
But once I graduated, I faced somuch competition in the Boston
media market, and I was upagainst other recent grads who
(02:33):
had graduated from Emerson, BC,BU, and they had interned at all
the big radio stations in thearea.
I let all of that distract mefrom what I wanted to do.
Now the good news is I did findother avenues that got me
excited and allowed me to becreative in other ways.
(02:54):
But after a 20 plus year careerin learning and development, I
eventually found my way back toa mic.
This week's guest had a similarjourney, but he was much quicker
about getting back to what heloved than I was.
Dust off your daydreams, take alisten to this week's
(03:15):
conversation, and I'll see youon the other side.
Today's guest is aPhiladelphia-born filmmaker,
entrepreneur, and storytellerwith a strong working-class
foundation and a sharp creativevision.
He is the founder of Ruby StreetProductions and has built a
(03:37):
career spanning film, media,real estate, and business.
His work includes the featurefilm Blissfully Unmarried, the
award-winning web series The ManCode, and his latest release,
the film Bedridden.
With studies in business andfilm plus decades of real work
(03:58):
experience, he bringsauthenticity, grit, and heart to
everything he creates.
He is driven by ownership,legacy, and turning life
experiences into compellingstories while continuing to grow
as both a producer and abusinessman.
I am so excited to welcome thisweek's guest, Derek Shaw, to
(04:22):
Astorted Conversations.
Hi, Derek.
Hey, how are you doing?
Glad to be here, Ellen.
I am glad to have you here.
You have such an interestingjourney to talk about.
So let's get started.
Where did where did it allbegin?
Did it begin with film?
Did it begin withentrepreneurship?
(04:43):
What was the starting point foryou?
SPEAKER_07 (04:46):
I have always liked to write.
So early in elementary school, Ithink I remember fifth grade.
My fifth grade teacherencouraged me to write.
You know, when you just hand inhomework.
She said, I see something here.
You need to expand on, you know,I'm only, I don't know, where
are you, fifth grade?
10, maybe?
(05:06):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_08 (05:07):
Maybe.
SPEAKER_07 (05:07):
Yeah.
And she was like, you know, justthe stuff you hand in, I need
you to write more.
You know, she would actuallygive special assignments just
for me to hone my writing craftin the fifth grade.
SPEAKER_08 (05:20):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_07 (05:21):
So it's something I just love to uh be creative.
You know, I always had storiesin my head, and she wanted me to
express them.
SPEAKER_06 (05:31):
Oh, that's awesome.
Do you remember anything thatyou wrote back then?
SPEAKER_07 (05:36):
Uh no.
Not from fifth grade.
SPEAKER_06 (05:40):
Yeah, I was gonna say I couldn't remember anything
from fifth grade.
But anything like, you know,through your teen years or high
school years that you wrotegrowing up that maybe has stuck
with you.
Because I know with a lot ofwriters, there's always the germ
of a story, and they may takeyears to work it, rework it, or
get it where they want to.
SPEAKER_07 (06:02):
I remember in high school, I we had just read Man,
Child in a Promised Land by uhby uh with Bald.
And I wrote the Derrick Shawstory, and I I more I framed it
out like Man Child in thePromised Land.
So, you know, I wrote, I wasonly in high school, but I wrote
(06:24):
my life story, and my motheractually took it to work and she
was showing people, look, thisis my son's life story.
And they're like, all right,he's 16, he has the life story,
but it was it was entertaining.
So back then, she was like, ah,you're good.
And I'm like, you know, you'remy mom.
You're supposed to say that.
Yeah.
(06:44):
Because you know, she passed itaround the office, and they were
all, they were, they had a ball.
SPEAKER_06 (06:50):
Oh, that's awesome.
That's awesome.
So from a young age, you you hadthe stories, you had the
creativity, and you were framingstories in a way that resonated
and entertained people.
SPEAKER_07 (07:01):
Yeah, I've always wanted to entertain.
I just I wanted to be an actor,but I don't think I was any good
at it.
SPEAKER_08 (07:10):
Uh-huh.
SPEAKER_07 (07:10):
So I was better telling stories than recreating
someone else's work.
Right.
Right.
You know.
SPEAKER_06 (07:17):
Well, and that's a gift in itself.
SPEAKER_07 (07:20):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_06 (07:20):
That's a gift in itself.
SPEAKER_07 (07:22):
I tried stand-up comedy for a little while.
SPEAKER_06 (07:25):
Did you?
SPEAKER_07 (07:26):
I did too.
unknown (07:27):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_07 (07:27):
I had stage fright like crazy.
I couldn't take it.
Yeah.
So the first time I was heckledwas the last time I did it.
unknown (07:35):
Oh.
SPEAKER_07 (07:35):
If I I, you know, I didn't know the comedians had
off nights.
You know, back then, you know,the Eddie Murphy and the Martin
Larzers and the Seinfelds.
I always thought every night wasa banger.
I didn't know they had.
Had I known that, I would haveprobably kept doing it.
My first bad night, I was like,oh, I'm horrible at this.
You know, and I quit.
(07:56):
I never did it again.
SPEAKER_06 (07:58):
Yeah, it it's funny.
I did about 30 open mic nights,and I never got heckled, but I
definitely had those nights ofpolite golf claps and you know,
little chuckles to make you feelbetter because people feel bad
for you.
And I I every time the the the30th open mic was as terrifying
(08:20):
as the first.
So I'm like, why am I torturingmyself?
And I, you know, looked at otheravenues, improv comedy and and
comedy writing.
And I had a couple localcomedians, you know, give me
some feedback saying if you wantto do stand-up, here's what you
have to improve on.
But don't feel like you have toimprove on anything to be funny
(08:41):
because your writing is funny.
It's just not stand-up writing.
SPEAKER_08 (08:45):
So yeah.
SPEAKER_06 (08:47):
Yeah, I feel you.
So after high school, where didyou take your gift for
storytelling?
SPEAKER_07 (08:55):
I sat it in the closet.
Uh huh.
So at 19, you know, I was I wasin college, so I had to join the
workforce, workforce.
So, you know, I had to put allmy dreams and aspirations in the
closet.
You know, I got married at 22.
I was 19 when I when I wasemployed by Verizon, well, it
(09:19):
was Bell of Pennsylvania backthen in 1986.
So for 35 years, I pretty muchdid nothing.
I just, you know, I I wouldthink about it, but I had to go
to work.
You know, I had bills to pay,you know, I ended up married
with three kids.
There was no time for dreams.
I had to get them up and readyto go.
(09:41):
Right.
The craziest thing is the day Idecided to start writing again,
I remember it like it wasyesterday.
I stopped by my mother's house.
I was like, I think I want towrite again.
She's like, Oh, I was wonderingwhy you didn't do it, such and
such and such.
She's like, Can you go to thestore and pick up my medicine?
So it was a prescription.
(10:01):
So I sat in the parking lot foran hour and I started writing a
book.
I came home, my mom had passedaway.
The crazy that she passed awaydead while I was at the store
picking up her prescription,writing for the first time in 30
years, she passed away.
SPEAKER_06 (10:20):
Oh my gosh.
SPEAKER_07 (10:22):
Is that crazy?
Yeah, I I came back and foundher.
She was gone.
SPEAKER_06 (10:27):
Oh my God.
Oh, God bless her.
God bless you, Jesus.
SPEAKER_07 (10:31):
The day I started writing again.
Craziest thing ever.
But, you know, I took it okay.
She told me to start back upagain.
So from then on, I startedwriting again.
You know, that's that's when Ipicked it back up.
Like in 2004, I started writingagain.
So from 85 to 2004, I hadn'twritten anything.
SPEAKER_06 (10:53):
Right.
SPEAKER_07 (10:53):
And in 2004, I I picked up the pen and started
once again.
SPEAKER_06 (10:59):
Did it did it come back to you?
Had there been things, you know,floating around in your brain
that you wanted to get done onpaper?
Or did did you start fresh?
SPEAKER_07 (11:09):
Well, no, it I've always had ideas.
I just never put pen to pad.
You know, over the years I'vealways, oh, I want to do this
and I want to do that.
I just never did it.
But I had an idea floating in mymind, and I said, okay, let me
write this.
And I finally started writingit.
SPEAKER_06 (11:26):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_07 (11:26):
And and that that opened the door, that opened the
floodgates.
So after that, I've been writingever since.
SPEAKER_06 (11:32):
Oh wow.
What was the first piece youwrote when you came back?
Was it a story?
Was it a book?
Was it screenplay?
SPEAKER_07 (11:38):
It was a book.
It was a book.
It was a book about a an NFLkicker.
You know, in the NFL, the kickeris the one who gets the least
amount of accolades.
Right.
You know?
So I it was a it was a comedyabout a kicker who had to
navigate his way through theNFL.
SPEAKER_06 (11:58):
Oh wow.
Oh, that must have been funny.
SPEAKER_07 (12:00):
Yeah.
I don't know what I did with it.
SPEAKER_06 (12:02):
But you know, I was gonna say, did it get published?
No.
SPEAKER_07 (12:07):
You know, I you wrote everything in notebooks
back then.
Right.
Right.
Didn't have a computer, so thenotebook is floating around
somewhere.
I wish I could find it.
You know, I I want to write itagain and turn it into a movie.
And it's it's on my list.
But it my list is so long ofstuff that I want to do.
SPEAKER_06 (12:27):
Well, now in 2004 you wrote that.
So you wrote it as a book.
When did you when did you leaveVerizon and and start your your
other businesses?
Because you are so you're soensconced in a couple different
things.
SPEAKER_07 (12:48):
Well, during Verizon, I I did real estate.
I stopped buying houses, I builta portfolio, and I was always uh
uh I have ADD, so to speak.
I need something to do.
I always keep busy.
So it's a superpower.
SPEAKER_06 (13:05):
Yeah, well Especially when you're an
entrepreneur, it can be asuperpower.
SPEAKER_07 (13:10):
Yeah, so you know, I used to, when I worked for
Verizon, I would get up fiveo'clock in the morning, go to
Home Depot, get all my supplies,take them over to the house, go
to work at eight o'clock.
At five o'clock, I would gostraight over to the house and
start working on the house untillike midnight.
And then the next day I would doit all over again.
It was it w I had a system.
(13:30):
But like I said, I had a family.
That did not help the marriage.
You know, we had plenty ofmoney, but there was no
togetherness.
So we kind of we grew apart.
SPEAKER_06 (13:42):
I'm sorry.
SPEAKER_07 (13:44):
Yeah, well, you know, it's a superpower, but at
the same time, it it's yourkryptonite.
SPEAKER_06 (13:49):
Yeah, yeah.
Good point.
Good point.
SPEAKER_07 (13:51):
Yeah, but I I I've always had to keep it moving.
You know, I used to buildcomputers in my spare time and
sell them.
You know, I just it was a hobbythat I picked up and I enjoyed
it and back in the early 2000s,you know, I could build one real
cheap and sell it and make anice profit from it.
SPEAKER_06 (14:08):
Right.
unknown (14:09):
Yeah, right.
SPEAKER_06 (14:10):
So you've Yeah, you've always had I don't want
to say a side hustle, but you'vealways had a side hustle.
You've always had uh balls up inthe air.
SPEAKER_07 (14:23):
Yeah, yeah.
Well, I worked for Verizon for38 years.
I retired three years ago.
SPEAKER_06 (14:28):
Uh-huh.
SPEAKER_07 (14:30):
So, you know, well, I started the video production
company in 2010.
You know, I started well, youknow, I was writing and writing
and writing, and stuff was justsitting on the shelf.
Because I transitioned frombooks.
A book is hard to write.
A book takes so long.
(14:50):
Yeah.
A movie's a whole lot easier.
A script is way easier thanwriting a novel.
So I started writing scripts,and I had five or six scripts
just sitting, you know, livingin Philadelphia, no connections.
There was no way for me to getit to somebody to produce it.
(15:10):
Right.
I could only get my friends toread it.
And I don't know any friends whoknow it.
I'm not Tarantino, you know,quitting Tarantino gave it to a
friend who gave it to a friendwho gave it to somebody.
SPEAKER_08 (15:20):
Right.
SPEAKER_07 (15:21):
I don't have those friends, you know.
SPEAKER_08 (15:23):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_07 (15:24):
So I went to a seminar with Robert Townsend.
And he he said, it was in NewYork.
I wrote up, took a day, and hesaid, for writers such as myself
who don't know anybody, you needto learn to shoot your own
content.
Never even considered it before.
All I wanted to do was write.
And he encouraged us, look,start shooting.
(15:47):
So I went out and bought acamera for$150.
And then he said, start small.
You know, I wrote a littlethree-minute film.
Matter of fact, my first filmwas I made it in black and
white, and it had no soundbecause I didn't know how to do
sound.
So it was like a Charlie Chapmantype thing.
So I wrote that and uh I put itaround the internet and people
(16:11):
started enjoying it.
SPEAKER_06 (16:13):
Oh good.
Did you uh was it YouTube?
SPEAKER_07 (16:17):
Uh yeah.
Okay.
Funny story.
I took a class at Academy of theArts in San Francisco.
It was a film class that I tookonline.
And matter of fact, that was aproject for the class.
The teacher gave me a C in it.
You know, I'm like, all right,this is such and such and such.
A couple months later, you know,on the internet, and I see an
(16:40):
advertisement for Academy of theArt San Francisco.
And they were saying things youcould learn at this school, and
they were using my film topromote things that you can use
at this film.
SPEAKER_06 (16:52):
Are you kidding me?
SPEAKER_07 (16:53):
I got a C.
I got a C on a film.
But now they're using it topromote things you can learn at
Academy of the Art SanFrancisco.
I was like, Wow.
Okay.
Yeah, so you know, you neverknow what's going on.
SPEAKER_06 (17:07):
There's some royalties due there, I think.
Holy cow.
So really you just rolled upyour sleeves and went to it
while you're still providing foryour family, learning, learning
in the direction you wanted togo in, and still doing real
(17:30):
estate flips and buildingcomputers.
Holy cow.
Holy cow.
SPEAKER_07 (17:36):
So, you know.
Yeah, it was it was my weekendhobby, I'll say.
You know, every now and then Icall a couple of my friends.
Yo, I I want to shoot this film.
You know, come hold the camerafor me.
Or come hold the mic.
You know, first film I just hadmy my family in, and then I got
a couple friends, and then mynetwork started growing.
(17:57):
People I know a guy I grew upwith, me and him know each other
forever.
As I was learning to shootfilms, I found out he's in
acting class.
So now he's my star.
You know, he's been my star fromearly on.
So anything I do, he's in it.
He may not star in it, but he'sin everything I do.
Because he and I startedtogether.
SPEAKER_06 (18:22):
Kind of like Adam Sandler.
unknown (18:25):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_06 (18:26):
He uses he uses all his buds.
All his buds.
And they may not get starringroles, but they are there.
That's ver that is very cool.
So what was the first film youyou actually produced, uh wrote
and produced?
(18:46):
Full feature?
SPEAKER_08 (18:47):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_07 (18:48):
Or or short.
Full feature.
Oh, Blissy and Mary.
Okay.
Since I was a you know, I wasworking full-time, I used to
take classes here and there, youknow, just to see if I can pick
up stuff.
SPEAKER_08 (19:00):
Yep.
SPEAKER_07 (19:00):
And I took a class at Wilmington University, and I
had access to all this equipmentthat I've never even seen
before.
You know, they're teaching youhow to use the camera, the mic,
and I'm in class and I'm askingduring class, I said, okay, we
have access to all of this.
We have a network.
Do y'all actually make filmshere?
(19:22):
And he was like, Well, it's filmschool.
I'm like, yeah, but have y'allmade a film?
They were like, no.
I'm like, okay, well, y'all arelucky that I'm here.
You know, we're getting ready tomake it.
I decided that day we weremaking a film.
And I grabbed a couple studentsand I wrote, well, yeah, I
(19:42):
finished right.
I had something that I hadstarted.
I was like, okay, this is lowbudget.
It doesn't need many locations,it doesn't need many people.
And that's how I shot my firstfilm.
You know, I had no idea how toproduce or anything, but I knew
how to make shorts.
I made shorts.
So I I handled it like putting abunch of little shorts together.
(20:04):
And we made a full-featuredfilm.
SPEAKER_06 (20:07):
Oh, that's fantastic.
And is that blissfullyunmarried?
SPEAKER_07 (20:11):
Yeah, yeah.
And then he threw that a couplefilm festivals, and distributor
and a film festival had saw him,saw it.
He was in all he was like, yo,do you have your film
distributed?
I'm like, no, I'm pretty muchjust putting it in festivals.
He he grabbed it and he threw meon Amazon early on.
(20:32):
So it's it's really hard to geton Amazon now.
But 10 years ago, yeah, and Iwas making money.
I would like this hobby actuallyturned into something I can make
money from.
SPEAKER_06 (20:43):
Oh, that's funny.
And now you know, Ruby StreetProductions, it's a full
production house.
It's not just your films, it'straining videos, wedding videos.
What what else does Ruby Streetdo?
SPEAKER_07 (20:57):
Well, pretty commercials, like you said,
trading videos.
We're trying to get thistelevision show on the air.
Hopefully by September we shouldbe able to.
It's a sports television networkthat we're trying to get on.
So we're trying to produce ashow for that.
But anything film related.
(21:18):
You know, we do documentaries.
We've done a couple ofdocumentaries.
You know, we'll shoot your filmfor you, we'll partner up with
you to shoot your film, we'llshoot our stuff.
We do it all.
SPEAKER_06 (21:29):
Yeah.
I I was on the website.
I looked at uh a bunch of stuffthat was up there.
Phenomenal work.
Like well shot, clean.
When did Ruby Street Productionshappen?
You know, as you started to geta little bit of of success and
and you got your short films notjust in film festivals, but on
(21:53):
Amazon.
How did that kind of take offfor you?
SPEAKER_07 (21:59):
Well As I started doing the shorts, you know, back
in the day, you made no moneyfrom shorts.
Shorts was pretty much justpractice and entertaining.
I wish I would have kept it upbecause people are making a lot
of money from shorts right now.
So, you know, we should havestayed in the short business.
We were ahead of the game.
We just didn't know we wereahead of the game.
(22:19):
You know?
So once we did our shorts, wedecided we wanted to try to make
some money.
So it's pretty much five of uswith Ruby Tree Productions.
So, you know, I founded it.
And once again, one of my guysat Barraga, he was in film
school.
Somebody I see every day.
We talked in the Lunchroom.
I had no idea he was in filmschool.
(22:40):
He found out I was making films.
He's like, yo, you might comeon.
And we collaborated, my buddyMark.
And then him and I, we startedRuby Street Productions.
And then from there, you know,people just kept jumping on,
jumping on board.
SPEAKER_06 (22:57):
Yo, that's funny.
So you worked with him and nevereven knew he was in acting
class.
SPEAKER_07 (23:03):
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
SPEAKER_06 (23:05):
That, you know, it's funny.
That is the premise for thepodcast.
Is I worked with people and Iused to have a pod partner, and
we were both talking one dayabout, you know, you think you
know somebody because you knowthem like in a friend context or
a work context.
And you really don't because youfind out they're doing these
(23:26):
amazing things in their sparetime.
And it happened to be a womanthat I worked with in my day job
in learning and development.
She had a consultant, thelearning and development
consultant company, and we wereone of her clients.
And I didn't see her for thelongest time.
And I jokingly said to one ofher coworkers, I was like, is
(23:48):
she cheating on us with uh withanother client?
And she said, no, she took sometime off to tour short film
festivals through Europe.
I'm like, I had no idea she wasa short film buff.
And the person said, Well, sheisn't, but she wrote one and it
got made and it got entered intoall of these festivals.
And I was like, I need to have aconversation with her about
(24:09):
that.
So it's amazing what people do,you know, outside of the context
that you know them in.
Yeah.
So that is really cool that youfound a collaborator.
Yeah, yeah.
That's so cool.
So from there, where did, youknow, once you founded Ruby
(24:29):
Street Productions, I mean, Ican't imagine that it's easy to
get distributorship.
I can't imagine it's even easyto get funding to, you know,
make a film, whether it's ashort or it's a if it's a
feature film.
So how how did how did thefinancing piece come together
for you?
SPEAKER_07 (24:51):
Okay.
Well, with the Blissful You haveMary, we actually treated it
like a bunch of little shortfilms.
It took us eight months toshoot.
I think we only shot maybe 12days, but that took eight
months.
You know, we get a coupledollars, we shoot this weekend,
and then we may not shoot againfor another six weeks.
And then we may have to do that.
Right.
So you guys were funding it.
(25:11):
Yes.
Yeah, we had to fund that all onour own.
So, you know, it w it was reallow budget.
You know, it may have taken us$15,000,$16,000 to make that
film.
But distribution just fell onour lacks.
You know, somebody at the filmfestival.
Yeah, he once he got us onAmazon, then he called me and
(25:32):
was like, yo, I think I can sellthis to Africa.
Do you want this in Africa?
I was like, okay.
I think in Africa it was calledShuka for Love, and then he sold
it to Germany.
So he ended up being like aninternational distributor and
trying to go places that I'venever been.
So that the film, BlissfullyUnmarried, that's a$15,000 film,
(25:55):
has been all over the world.
Wow.
So, you know.
Refutation is a thing.
SPEAKER_08 (26:02):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_07 (26:02):
You know, once you you get one made, and then
people see that you you're notjust wasting their time and
money.
That's how Bedridden was funded.
We we had a couple of hours, andthen it's the stranger thing.
People heard that we werelooking for investors, and I was
(26:24):
literally getting calls ofpeople offering me money.
SPEAKER_06 (26:30):
Wow.
SPEAKER_07 (26:32):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_06 (26:32):
And was that based on the success of Blissfully
Married?
SPEAKER_07 (26:38):
Well, just us.
They they've seen us hustle,they've seen us work.
Yeah.
You know, we've been the showswe've been doing, you know,
we've we've we've shot andeverything.
Just on reputation, peoplebelieved that they were not
gonna waste their money.
You know, you meet a lot ofpeople over the years, and
people they remember perceivedyou're about business.
(27:02):
Yeah, they were more thanwilling to to open up their
wallets and be like, here, youknow you need some money.
Which is I had somebody who Ididn't even tell that I was
looking for money, and theycalled me and like, yo, I heard
you're doing a film, like suchand such and such.
You got all the money you need?
I'm like, no.
He's like, all right, well, howmuch you need?
Like, well, how much you gonnagive me?
(27:24):
I wanna like, well, I can giveyou 10 grand.
Man, he's like, All right, I'llgive you 10 grand, but I want to
be an executive producer.
Man, you ain't saying nothingbut a thing.
You are now an executiveproducer on bedridden.
SPEAKER_08 (27:39):
Wow.
SPEAKER_07 (27:41):
But even then when the film first opens up, his
name is in there because hey, hewanted to be there for 10 grand.
By all means.
SPEAKER_06 (27:48):
Yeah.
That's fantastic.
Wow.
So, and I I actually got to seeBedrid and I and we talked a
little bit off mic.
I laughed.
Tell me where that story camefrom.
Did you write it?
SPEAKER_07 (28:04):
Yes, me and one of my, once again, guy I grew up
with, my buddy Magic.
He and I grew up maybe threeblocks away from each other.
His brother and I played on thesame baseball team.
So I've known him since I was12, 13 years old.
But you know how you knowfriends and you see them every
now and then, you lose touch.
(28:24):
Yeah.
I entered one of my shorts intoa film festival, and he was at
the film festival.
He entered one of his shorts.
So I'm like, yo, what you doinghere?
Like, oh man, I'm doing films.
I'm like, ah, you lying.
All right, dude, we're workingtogether.
So, you know, we already had arelationship.
We start working together, and Iwas like, I started this film
(28:44):
bedridden, and I was stuck afterlike page 20.
He's like, let me look at it.
I gave it to him, but he gave itback with like another 20 pages.
And then I did 20 pages, and Igave it back to him.
And we just went back and forthwith it.
And, you know, that's the firsttime I actually writ wrote
something with a partner.
(29:05):
So, you know, his writing styleis completely different than
mine.
So it just meshed together, youknow, his style and my style.
SPEAKER_06 (29:14):
Did did you guys ever have any creative
conflicts?
Because I know when when twocreatives get together, if there
are two different ways of doingthings, sometimes there's a
clash.
Did you experience that?
SPEAKER_07 (29:27):
Oh, yeah, yeah, we clashed.
But he did understand.
I started this without him.
So he let me be the captain.
So, you know, he my word was thelast word.
So, you know, that's that's howwe got over that hurdle.
(29:47):
So I was directing it.
He was like, look, man, youknow, he he came to ease with
it, but we had some arguments.
You're like, man, I need this inthe film.
I'm like, I don't think it'sgonna work.
So you know, but we've beenfriends for 30 years.
So it was nothing, yeah, nothingmajor, but you know, we did have
(30:08):
some discussions.
SPEAKER_06 (30:11):
Well, I know when I had my pod partner on this, we
approached things differently.
And it was the same thing.
It was never, you know, a a ahurtful disagreement.
It was always in service of thepodcast and and and the
listeners and the guests.
But yeah, we had we had a coupleheated exchanges when we didn't
(30:33):
think or when we didn't agree.
And that's that's just I thinkpart of the game.
Sometimes you're just betterafterwards.
SPEAKER_07 (30:40):
Yeah.
Well, you know, I I respectedhim as a writer.
I was like, look, I respect youridea, man.
I love some of your ideas, butyou know, I don't know
everything.
It's just like you're not gonnalove all of mine.
So, yeah.
It's it's gotta be a mutualrespect.
unknown (30:58):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_08 (30:58):
But we work good.
SPEAKER_06 (31:01):
So the story of Bedridden.
Walk walk listeners through it.
I mean, I know what the story isbecause I've watched it and I've
laughed.
But uh but give us a synopsis.
SPEAKER_07 (31:17):
Okay, a well-to-do family is completely
dysfunctional.
So the head of the family, who'sEarthquake, he's the head of the
comedian Earthquake, he is thehead of the family and he gets
into a car accident.
Now, now he's in a coma.
So while he's in a coma, he canhear everything that's going on
around him.
(31:37):
He has this consciousness, hejust can't talk or move.
So he finds out why the family'sso dysfunctional, and he learns
he's pretty much the reason thewhole family is so
dysfunctional.
It's all his fault.
So he learns why he's in thecoma, how and why everybody's
why they are.
SPEAKER_06 (31:58):
Yeah, I there are some really funny parts in it.
I laughed like hell, but it itit's a gr I thought it was a
great story, and I love theending.
It wasn't a cheesy ending, itwas a really realistic ending to
that whole story.
Did that come from somethingpersonal in your life, or did
(32:19):
that come from your imagination?
SPEAKER_07 (32:24):
Well, the ending was actually my writing partner, and
I think it was personal for himbecause it was actually longer,
and I had to cut part of it out.
He was not happy that it was cutout because it was personal to
him.
I'm like, look, you know, it wecan't have a three-hour movie.
So, you know, some stuff has togo.
So the ending was it waspersonal to him, and you know,
(32:46):
he felt it, and you can feel itin his writing, but you know,
like uh it's only 90 minutes.
You know, we can't have a30-minute ending in a 90-minute
movie.
Right.
So yeah, it was it was personalfor us.
SPEAKER_06 (33:01):
Sha, how how has Bedridden done for you?
I know I was able to watch it onAmazon.
Has it been distributed anywhereelse?
SPEAKER_07 (33:10):
Uh it's on Amazon and it's on Apple TV right now.
So we actually just begunnational marketing.
Yeah, we have only done localmarketing.
We last month we had ourpremiere in the DC area,
Baltimore, you know, Potomacarea.
So we pretty much just marketedright there to see, give a feel
(33:34):
of how we're doing it.
It did pretty well in that area.
So we are about to do thenational marketing campaign.
SPEAKER_06 (33:43):
Oh, that's awesome.
Now, how what what's thenational marketing campaign
include?
SPEAKER_07 (33:49):
Well, uh I don't know.
We pay somebody to do it.
So you know, marketing is not mything.
So, you know, they said don't bethe smartest one in the room.
So, you know, I decide we justpay somebody.
Yeah.
Yeah.
We pay somebody who this is whatthey do.
(34:11):
You know, I I know how to make amovie, but I don't know how to
market a movie.
You know, I do have investorsthat I need to pay back.
So you know, we hire people todo what they do.
SPEAKER_08 (34:24):
When um will it be in movie?
SPEAKER_06 (34:29):
Do you expect it to be in movie theaters?
SPEAKER_07 (34:32):
No, no, it's just it's just pretty much gonna be
online.
We just had to premiere in atheater.
But one of somebody wanted tobuy it and put it in theaters.
But we're doingself-distribution.
They they didn't want to give usmuch money.
They was like, man, I think thiscan make a lot of money, but
we're gonna give you a coupledollars now, wink wink, and then
(34:55):
we'll give you the rest later.
SPEAKER_06 (34:57):
Couple dollars.
SPEAKER_07 (34:59):
You know.
Yeah, so uh everybody has theirown accounting system.
So, you know, to make twomillion, and the paperwork only
says it made 150,000.
So we were leery.
So we decided to doself-distribution.
So that's how we got on Amazonand Apple TV.
(35:21):
We just went to an aggregatorand got it on there ourselves.
SPEAKER_06 (35:24):
How hard is self-distribution?
Are there challenges there?
SPEAKER_07 (35:30):
Oh my goodness, yes, there is.
I thought making a movie wasgonna be the hardest part of
this.
You know, getting financing forthe movie, getting it done, I
thought that distribution hasbeen by far the hardest part of
the process.
So pursuing the distribution andbecause we we tried to sell it
(35:50):
first.
We were like, okay, let's sellit, make our money back, and
make another movie.
But it's it just didn't work outthat way.
People wanted it, but it wasalways, okay, I'll give you a
seven-year deal, but I'm onlygiving you this much up front,
which doesn't cover nowherenear, you know, and then two
years, it may take us four yearsto make our money back with some
(36:13):
of the deals that they wanted togive us.
So with self-distribution, youknow, if it does well, you get
the money now.
But you have to take a chance onyourself.
That's that's the hard part.
SPEAKER_08 (36:26):
Right.
SPEAKER_07 (36:26):
I've had some sleepless nights, but so far, I
I think we'll do okay.
SPEAKER_08 (36:32):
I think we will be fine.
SPEAKER_06 (36:39):
Yeah.
What what were some of thechallenges that you faced that
made distribution kind of thehardest part of getting
bedridden out there?
SPEAKER_07 (36:51):
Well, okay.
You you don't wanna you you havetrust issues.
You know, you gotta give it topeople that you don't know and
hopefully they're gonna do theright thing.
You know, you end up findingyour thing on 52nd Street on a
stand before anybody else seesit.
(37:11):
So just getting it to the rightperson that you could trust.
Now Netflix was interested.
And the person we got it to,they held it for a long time
before they even looked at it.
And then once again, it was itwasn't a deal that we were
(37:32):
comfortable with, but you know,it took a long time to find out.
So for six or seven months, wejust sat and waited when our
hands are in our pockets untiljust to get an answer that we
didn't like.
And then, you know, we took thatand we went somewhere else, and
we had to wait three or fourmonths.
(37:54):
You know, you're in line forthem to even watch your movie.
So unless you know somebody.
SPEAKER_08 (37:59):
Right.
SPEAKER_07 (38:00):
And then, you know, you you wait three or four
months, you get the answer, theygive you a deal, or they don't
give you a deal.
But either way, if they give youa deal you don't like, then you
have to start that process allover again.
Start all over again.
Yeah, just that process alonewas a long going from
distributor to distributor,trying to find something that we
(38:23):
felt was in our best interest.
And that's what we finallydecided, let's just do it
ourselves.
SPEAKER_08 (38:31):
Wow.
Wow.
SPEAKER_06 (38:33):
Well, that I mean, that's good that you're you're
moving forward.
You've got the you did the localand it did well locally, and now
you're focused on the national.
So I'm excited to see where itgoes.
How how has the distribution onAmazon been for you?
Are you are are people seeing itand watching it?
SPEAKER_07 (38:53):
Yeah, but since we only did local marketing, we're
we're getting good reviews,people who've seen it.
So people around Washington,D.C., uh they're the only ones
who know this it's out, youknow?
So that's why we have to get thenational person to let everybody
(39:14):
know that it's out.
SPEAKER_06 (39:16):
Yeah.
Yeah.
Well, and we'll get the word outthrough the little podcast right
now.
SPEAKER_07 (39:25):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_06 (39:27):
How where where do you see yourself going from
here?
I mean, what, you know, once youget bedridden up and off the
ground and you get through thenational campaign and you get
your investors paid back, what'sthe next project for you?
SPEAKER_07 (39:43):
We have two that we're looking into.
We have another, we anothercomedy, but it's a bigger budget
comedy.
So this really has to do well.
We have somebody, a couplepeople who are interested, but
everybody wants to see what thisdoes.
So, you know, we we're trying togo bigger, like between
(40:05):
blissfully and married andbedridden was miles apart.
You know, blissfully unmarried,it was just me and my whole
team.
We made a film, we got luckydistribution.
But with Bedridden, we went sag.
We had to get sag actors, sagcontracts.
Have you ever dealt with sag?
It's it's overwhelming.
(40:26):
So we actually had to hire aproducer who knew more than us.
Once again, don't be thesmartest one in the room.
So we hired.
Jossie Vance worked on a TV showwhile and out.
So she helped get us to the nextlevel.
She had connections.
Well, she's the one who got usEarthquake and Donald Rollins.
(40:48):
You know.
Oh, wow.
Yeah.
Well, we hired a casting agentfirst, BMG Casting.
And she actually told us, look,I had this producer who's
looking for her next project.
And we met with her.
We liked her.
She liked us.
She liked the script.
She said, let's do this.
And she helped us navigatethrough SAG.
(41:09):
Because, you know, we still belost in the ocean trying to deal
with SAG.
That is that is something thatbeginners do not do yourself.
You need somebody experienced.
And she helped us navigate thatmountain.
SPEAKER_06 (41:24):
Wow.
So I I and it's funny, I didn'trealize that.
I didn't realize they were sagactors.
SPEAKER_07 (41:33):
Oh, yeah.
Yeah, well, Donnell Rollins hasbeen wanted Dave Chapel Show.
Have you seen Dave Chapel show?
SPEAKER_06 (41:41):
Yes.
Yeah.
Yeah.
No, I I knew he was.
And I and I've seen Earthquake,but I didn't, I guess I just
didn't put two and two togetherand think they were sag.
I just thought it was, oh, maybethey knew each other, or you
know, it was kind of agrassroots independent film as
opposed to, you know, Hughes andSad actors.
(42:01):
That's amazing.
SPEAKER_07 (42:02):
We're together before.
But yeah.
Yeah, Earthquake throwing up theneighborhood.
I think it's on TBS.
Yeah.
SPEAKER_08 (42:10):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_07 (42:10):
So yeah.
Once you're SAG, you can't justdo anything.
You know, a sag actor can't justdo any film.
It's all these, all this redtape that's got to be done.
Yeah, gotcha.
I had to make it a sag film toget sag actors.
So most of the actors in therewere sag actors.
SPEAKER_08 (42:31):
Yeah, the cast was fantastic.
SPEAKER_07 (42:34):
Well, yeah, well, the between the casting agent
and my producer, they helped usget to the next level.
Because, you know, Glissely andMary, it was pretty much, you
know, Uncle Bob and my buddy RayRay.
That's what Gliesley and Marywas.
So, but we we knew how to make amovie.
We just didn't know how to makethis type of movie.
SPEAKER_06 (42:55):
Right.
Oh, so exciting for the next forthe next step.
So you said the the next projectis another comedy and it's a
bigger budget.
SPEAKER_07 (43:09):
Yeah.
Yeah, it's a lot bigger budget,and we're going for bigger
names.
And it's the next one's actuallytwo employee and an employer who
don't like each other get stucktogether on a deserted island.
Matter of fact, it was one thatwas just out, it was a drama.
(43:33):
I can't remember.
And some, it was just out acouple months ago.
But this is a comedy with thetwo of them stuck together on a
deserted island.
That's funny.
SPEAKER_06 (43:42):
Oh, I'm excited.
So, how long does it take forsomething like that to get put
together?
SPEAKER_07 (43:51):
Well, if you have the right people, once we hired
the producer, I think it mayhave taken us three or four
months.
months to get started shooting.
So this may take a little bitlonger, so you know, we probably
have to find an island first ofall that we can shoot at.
(44:11):
But you know, just all theparticulars, you know, probably
a lot more involved.
Yeah.
But I'm hoping to get it startedby the end of the year.
SPEAKER_08 (44:23):
Oh, that's awesome.
SPEAKER_07 (44:25):
Or if not, in the spring.
That's awesome.
So yeah, that's a it's a it's alot of moving pieces on that.
SPEAKER_06 (44:31):
Yeah.
Oh, I bet.
I can't even imagine fromlocation to casting to budget
and uh I it I it would bemind-boggling to me.
And and I'm probably justscratching the surface of what's
needed.
SPEAKER_07 (44:53):
They gave me that bill.
I was like oh what?
SPEAKER_08 (44:58):
For bagels?
Yeah I know crazy stuff.
SPEAKER_06 (45:06):
So Derek moving forward where do you see Ruby
Street Productions going?
SPEAKER_07 (45:16):
Well every project we try to do push the envelope
just a little bit more, get alittle bit better, try, you know
take a little bit more Alcassusat night for the for the ulcer.
So we push ourselves hard but atthe end of the day we always sit
back and we're like ooh we'reglad we did it.
(45:36):
But during oh my goodness.
Oh my goodness.
SPEAKER_06 (45:39):
Yeah.
Yeah.
SPEAKER_07 (45:40):
I'm surprised we're all still friends.
SPEAKER_06 (45:41):
But we are well I mean you don't grow when you're
comfortable so it's good to getuncomfortable and if you can
look back and see the first filmwas this the second film was
that the third film is going tobe this then you know sorry all
the El Caselsa was worth it.
SPEAKER_07 (46:02):
Yeah yeah all that is so fantastic for you where
can folks find you online youcan find me anywhere Derek
dotshaw Instagram FacebookTikTok you can find me at
bedriddenovie.com you can catchme there.
I'm all over social media rightnow.
SPEAKER_06 (46:23):
So yeah just Derek.shaw you google it I'll
pop up somewhere I'm all overthe place I definitely will and
I'll make sure all those linksare in the show notes so folks
can go watch some of your filmsor take a look at what Ruby
Street Productions offers andyou know get to know you and and
(46:46):
sit patiently and wait for thenext project to come out.
I'm gonna have to go back andwatch Blissfully married I I
didn't get a chance to see thatone.
And then you had a web series.
SPEAKER_07 (46:57):
Yeah the man code yeah the man code yeah we won a
couple of awards with that onewe're trying well right now
vertical drama is the big thing.
Yeah so we're getting ready tobring back the man code and see
if we can do that a verticaldrama at the same time we're
trying to get a uh a televisionshow on the on on a network on a
(47:20):
you know regular a regularnetwork oh not the sports one
well yeah the sports one we'retrying to get it on the regular
network oh oh oh yeah um so onequestion uh again come the rain
(47:41):
oh again comes the rain yeahokay that was with Carl Payne
from Martin Bill Cosby that fellapart we shot a promo for that
and we were going to get it donehis schedule got tied up our
schedule got tied up you know hewas actually supposed to be in
(48:03):
bedrid.
You know once we couldn't getfunded for Then Comes the Rain
because it's a period.
And it goes back into the 70sand that costs a lot more money.
Once you need the old cards andthe old clothes that gets a
little pricey.
So yeah then we put that on aback burner and he was going to
do bedridden but he startedanother project and then he
(48:25):
couldn't get off of it.
So you know we we had to move onwe couldn't wait for him to
finish his project.
So that's it Yeah the sizzlereel was awesome I was like
where can I watch this?
That was that was my pride andjoy.
I love that script yeah that'sone of my favorite scripts that
I've written and I couldn't waitto shoot it.
(48:48):
But yeah the the financing onthat we couldn't get green lit
not yet but it's not over withyeah oh I hope I hope you do
because the sizzle rail wasawesome yeah Carl's a fantastic
actor you know he's actuallyShakespeare trained people don't
know that because he's usuallyin comedies and he does funny
(49:09):
stuff but he's he's he does hecan do Shakespeare.
He's actually uh his range isincredible.
SPEAKER_06 (49:18):
Oh that's awesome.
Oh I hope I hope the planetsaligned so that you two can work
together.
Yeah so do I so do I and thatone gets made.
Well Derek thank you so much forall of your time I have loved
hearing about your journey infilmmaking and really kind of
the the nuts and bolts ofrolling up your sleeves, doing
(49:39):
what you have to do in order tobe able to do what you want to
do.
And I wish you continuedsuccess.
And you too I hope this podcastgets you everywhere you need to
go well thanks from your yourlips to God's ears thanks so
much.
All right thank you for havingme I learned an awful lot about
(50:05):
drive resourcefulness andbuilding a reliable network from
chatting with Derek.
He could teach a masterclass onjuggling and how to make your
dreams a reality the things thatstood out to me the most about
my conversation with Derek ishow he continually sought to
(50:27):
learn from taking that class inSan Francisco where they
bootlegged his video projectthat only got him a C to all the
time he took to learn fromothers in the business curiosity
has always led him higher in hispursuits.
If you'd like to see more ofDerek's work and stay up to date
(50:52):
on his future projects jump downto the show notes for his links
and I really recommend checkingout Bedridden.
It's a very funny dark comedyand I really enjoyed it.
While you're in the show notesdon't forget to connect with me.
All my socials are linked thereas well.
(51:12):
As always thank you forlistening and supporting and
don't forget tell a friend aboutthe podcast word of mouth is the
most popular way folks find newpodcasts to listen to again
thank you for your support andI'll see you in two weeks
Popular Podcasts
Betrayal Weekly
Betrayal Weekly is back for a new season. Every Thursday, Betrayal Weekly shares first-hand accounts of broken trust, shocking deceptions, and the trail of destruction they leave behind. Hosted by Andrea Gunning, this weekly ongoing series digs into real-life stories of betrayal and the aftermath. From stories of double lives to dark discoveries, these are cautionary tales and accounts of resilience against all odds. From the producers of the critically acclaimed Betrayal series, Betrayal Weekly drops new episodes every Thursday. If you would like to share your story, you can reach out to the Betrayal Team by emailing them at betrayalpod@gmail.com and follow us on Instagram at @betrayalpod and @glasspodcasts. Please join our Substack for additional exclusive content, curated book recommendations, and community discussions. Sign up FREE by clicking this link Beyond Betrayal Substack. Join our community dedicated to truth, resilience, and healing. Your voice matters! Be a part of our Betrayal journey on Substack.
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com