June 30, 2025 • 33 mins
Host Dr. Teresa A. Smith, Dr. TAS welcomes veteran, writer, director, and producer, Omegia Keeys to discuss how she created her Vampire series, DONORS.
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Follow Omegia Keeys
Connect with Dr. TAS at Linktree Bio
Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/talk-with-tas-show--6128538/support
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to this edition of Talk with Tarz. I am
your host, Doctor three Sat Smith, and today I have
with me.
Speaker 2 (00:07):
I'm gonna call it the fire Star.
Speaker 1 (00:09):
Now, you may not know what I'm talking about, but
she has been starting fires and everything that she's been
doing her whole life, from when she was running track
to when she went to the military. When she was
a little girl and she was writing her own Star
Wars stories, she was spirting, she was starting fires then.
So I'm calling her the firestarter. She's a military veteran,
(00:33):
she's the best selling author. She's a real visionary because
it takes a visionary to take an idea like Donors
and create this whole new universe that sort of mirrors
the world that we're living in now. Is I find
it so fascinating. But she's a visionary. She's built about
(00:53):
face media platform. Yeah, she's helping other artists who want
to get their store reads out. She's a filmmaker, she's
a producer. She does it all. That's the reason I
said she is a fire starter. So if you want
to learn how to do this, you're in for a
tree because she's gonna tell us about herself. But you're
(01:14):
gonna learn nuggets along the way. She is a sponge.
She's a sponge. So when you try to figure out
how can this woman do all of this because she's
a sponge, she's absorbing everything that she hears and she sees,
then she runs it through her bank and then she
does it her way.
Speaker 2 (01:32):
So you're in for a tree.
Speaker 1 (01:33):
So all I'm gonna say now is welcome, Amiga. Thank
you for joining me on Talk with Toms and how
are you doing girl?
Speaker 3 (01:40):
Oh fabulous? First of all, thank you for having me.
And I don't know how to follow up with everything
that you just said about me?
Speaker 2 (01:47):
Now what say? No?
Speaker 1 (01:51):
Now, omigga, you know I'm actually Southern. I know you're
in Atlanta, but you're not originally from the South. But
you know, in the South, there's this old joke I
see when I was little girl. They they start I
think it was about a funeral, really, but they start
seeing all this great stuff about a person, and the
people like, let me look to see who they're talking about. Well,
I'm talking about you, and you deserve your flowers because
(02:14):
you have built that industry. And my friend who you know,
Sorry's Web says all the time, have you taken a
moment to think about it. Do you understand the significance
of what you've done? So today I want to give
you your flowers, and I want others to learn at
your foot or at your feet, because you have a
(02:35):
lot of knowledge to depart to others.
Speaker 2 (02:38):
Some I'm a jump right out all right now.
Speaker 1 (02:43):
You had a dynamic journey, Like I said, your military veteran.
You are author, a producer, you're a director. What was
the first moment that you really realize that storytelling was
your calling and not just you know, this creative outlet.
Speaker 3 (03:00):
In two thousand and six, when I was in the
Army and I had wrote a story and one of
my other peers, you know, Sergeant Bird's Song, when she
was reading some of my work and she was over
there giggling and laughing, and you know, but we're not
(03:21):
supposed to be doing all this laughing and giggling. She
was really into my stories then, and that ended up
being the first book that I published. But to be
a filmmaker, that was a whole other journey. That wasn't
until the end of twenty thirteen when I actually stepped
a foot on set for the very first time. That's
(03:45):
when I knew I was where I was supposed to be.
I just as soon as I got on set, it
just all clicked that, you know, everything that I had
had been doing was leading up to that moment.
Speaker 1 (03:59):
Now I got I'm gonna go back because when I
was reading your bio, I was fascinated, and I won't.
I don't want folks to miss anything, because everything that
we do leads us to that moment.
Speaker 2 (04:10):
Like you said in twenty thirteen, it clicked. But when
I was reading your bio, I was like, Now, you
was in the Air Force and you were in the Army.
Speaker 1 (04:21):
Yes, I'm like, okay, I'm a small town girl in
North Carolina. We have We've just gone back to saying
Fort Brad so you know, I know brag and then
oh gosh, and then we have an Air Force base
and I can't even call the name now. But I
grew up thinking you were either in the Air Force
(04:42):
while you were in the Army or.
Speaker 2 (04:44):
The Marines or whatever, but never do the two me.
Speaker 3 (04:48):
So tell me how did you how'd you do that?
Speaker 2 (04:52):
Well?
Speaker 3 (04:52):
Look, I was in the Air Force and I was
military intelligence and for six years, and I was miserable
because military intelligence I can count on one hand how
many other black military intelligence personnel there was at the time.
And so with those dynamics of the good old boy
(05:15):
club and everything, it was either let my contract run
out and be finished with the military altogether, or find
another outlet. Because I tried to get out of military intelligence,
but they kept saying I was mission essential, so I
kind of was stuck. So I found a loophole that said,
you know, you can switch branches as long as you
(05:38):
had a you know, a full bird colonel sign off
on you know. It was I forgot the form, but
I had a full bird colonel from the Army sign
off on it, and I was able to switch over
from the Air Force into the Army, where I found
more faces that looked like me. I was able to
get out of military intelligence. It was basically a lifesaver,
(06:04):
you know, for me, as far as the military goals
going in. You know a lot of people are like,
there's no way the living conditions from the Air Force,
there's no way I would have swapped out of it.
But as a black woman, I needed to see more
of us in those higher ranking positions because I didn't
know when I first joined the military that I could
have went in as an officer because I already had
my degree know that when I first went in. So
(06:29):
I went in and listed first, and then I switched
over to the OCS later on on the army side,
but I didn't know that. So that was the journey
there for the crossover. And then on the Army side
I went into they were just starting forty two Alpha,
which was human resources at the that's what I switched
(06:50):
over into. I needed to be out of military intelligence.
And it's not that I wasn't great at my job,
that was not the problem. But when you're martiest person
in the room with a bunch of white men, that
is a problem. And I had to get away from
that and see more of us.
Speaker 1 (07:08):
And well, you know, I just liked the way because
nothing just happens.
Speaker 2 (07:15):
I just love how God put the pool bird.
Speaker 3 (07:19):
Colonel Colonel full colonel that I helped them with some
of their paperwork and we were hit chatting because I
was I was working on something for a Joint Forces
of training and I helped them with something and she
just randomly was like, you know what, I would love
You'll do great in the army and this and this
(07:40):
and I was like, well, you know, yeah.
Speaker 2 (07:46):
Ooh, and and the rest is history. And we've got
several people who joined us.
Speaker 1 (07:52):
But I want to say the actor Tobias my mind,
he says, the talent, that powerhouse herself. Absolutely thank you
every one for joining us. And you know, even then, Yeah,
I'm looking at that journey.
Speaker 2 (08:06):
You were a powerhouse.
Speaker 1 (08:07):
Then you were able to take lemons and make lemonade.
You didn't get stuck in the role and in the
situation that you were in, and you know that takes discipline,
and I wonder sometimes, how did that discipline, that.
Speaker 2 (08:21):
Drive then help you to create about face.
Speaker 3 (08:25):
Media, because that's all me. I'm very organized, I'm very
I learned everything from the ground up, every position in film.
I know how to do it. And I just want to
shout out after Tobias because that is Lucius from the Yes.
(08:46):
So I learned every single position there was in the
filmmaking world for me to be able to bring to
build about face Media and then go on to also
elevate it to like a bass studio else, you know,
from the ground round up, that's me and bringing people along.
It's just easy for me, being in a leadership position
(09:09):
to work it because that's where that's where I needed
to be all alone. And I don't have to ask
for permission, because why would I doing that. I can
build my own way, my own path, tell my own
stories through my own lens without having to water down
who I am or my actors.
Speaker 1 (09:30):
And that's so important, you know, I would saying it
to someone last night. We should be able and that's everybody,
not just black females or black people. Everybody should be
able to tell their story from their lens. And as
a friend of mine would say, if they don't invite
you to the table, build your own table because there's
(09:51):
nothing stopping you from doing it. And you've done that.
Speaker 2 (09:54):
Yeah, yeah, So I gotta flop back down to.
Speaker 1 (09:59):
Your mother, Joanne Johnson. She was a civil rights activist.
She's a barmber. How has her legacy of truth and
service helped shape your voice as a content creator?
Speaker 2 (10:13):
I mean, I don't know.
Speaker 3 (10:14):
Any other day outside of speaking out. You know, my
father was absolutely there. He's a military man himself. But
Mama is where I get my voice. She when she
was making quilts, she would sit down and it was
story time right there. When she went out for voting
I was right there with her when someone did her wrong.
(10:37):
I was right there with her when she stood up
and she shouted. Now, I have to tell you my
mother is probably if I'm saying she's four foot ten,
I'm being generous. She's a little bitty thing. But she
is so powerful and she is all outspoken. I mean
(10:58):
even to the fact when she used to show up
at the schools. Don't let her teachers speak crazy to us.
Don't let them doing She will fight for us on everything.
And she taught all seven of us to stand up
and fight and say what we have to say. Yeah
I'm number seven. Yeah, she taught us stand up, fight
(11:23):
for what you want. Don't let people. You know, they
could say no, But that's a note to them. That's
not a note to you, exactly, it's.
Speaker 2 (11:33):
A no to them. Well you know.
Speaker 3 (11:39):
You.
Speaker 1 (11:40):
It's say you're a powerhouse and you are unapologetical committed
to telling the stories of underrepresented voices. And I know
that if you were just saying your mother's legacy and
civil rights activists and then as she said, advocating for
you guys. And she went to school with a teacher
whomever was not making the correct language about her kids.
Speaker 2 (12:03):
Now, what advice do you get to creatives who are
told their story won't sell. What advice do you give them?
Speaker 3 (12:10):
Figure out how to do it themselves. Figure it out.
Quit waiting for someone to come save you and save
yourself my advice. Don't expect me to save you, nor
the rest of the world. I can't save you because
I'm too busy saving myself. So you need to figure
out how it's gonna work for you. People are like, well,
I don't have the money. I don't have this. I
(12:32):
didn't start out having the money either, but I figured
it out how to get there. I said, this is
what I want to do. What will it take for
me to get there? I learned every single thing I
can't pay. All of these people in the film said,
so guess what. Let me learn how to do everything
that needs to be done and then start hiring out
(12:53):
from there what I absolutely cannot do.
Speaker 2 (13:02):
Continue.
Speaker 3 (13:03):
I was gonna say, but my team knows like the
team that I have now, I have a real solid team.
I love my team. Oh my gosh, I love my team.
But they also know that if they're slacking, I'm stepping in. Okay,
I got it, because if I have to come in
and do your job in mind there's a problem.
Speaker 1 (13:18):
So and you know, I think that's so important to
learn all the pieces, but you don't want to have
to always do all the pieces. But if you have
to step in because something has happened, you can do that.
And also I think for employees, if I can think
about myself being the employee, that should say to me, one,
(13:39):
I should automatically care about the quality of my work,
and my work at this should be solid.
Speaker 2 (13:44):
But in the then it's not.
Speaker 1 (13:46):
Since I know that you can step in and do it,
I might want to do my job so I can
keep my job.
Speaker 3 (13:52):
I want to because I have no problem. Like when
it comes to filmmaking, filmmaking is a business and if
doing what you're supposed to do, you're costing the business money.
So I have no problem not to be mean, but
if you're not supposed to do baby, you won't be
there tomorrow.
Speaker 2 (14:10):
And did I read someone?
Speaker 1 (14:12):
Did I hear you talk about someone didn't someone wasn't
there or whatever?
Speaker 2 (14:16):
You had to.
Speaker 1 (14:16):
Step in in chat with donors and you just step
right in. Now Here she is directing, but now she's
got to be an extra on set.
Speaker 3 (14:26):
Oh, it wasn't for donors, it was for it was
for another film, because with donors, I already wrote myself
in baby No. But for another film, well, a couple
of films, but for the last one that this happened
on that was a faded reunion. An actress actually did
(14:50):
show up for that. But she showed up and she
had an attitude, and we don't we do not do
attitudes on set. So she showed he had her nose
all up in the air of snoodier than now. So
our casting director at the time, Breg Lockett. She walked in,
he walked her right back out. I jumped in character,
(15:11):
even though I was running one of the cameras. I
jumped in character, got myself together, and I walked in up,
walked in the shot, and we did the scene and
we had a whole bunch of fun with it.
Speaker 1 (15:22):
Well, you know, this is I hope this is not
a bad saying, but it makes sense right now that
you used to say, one monkey, don't stop the show.
Speaker 2 (15:30):
That's a good saying. Yeah, yeah, one am I kind
of stop the show.
Speaker 3 (15:34):
Stop no show. You're not stopping anything, because I will
tell you something that I will do all the time.
I have a conversation with you know, the writer, director,
and the producer. So myself, I say self, what are
we going to do to fix this? And I make
it work?
Speaker 2 (15:51):
Isn't it so?
Speaker 1 (15:52):
It's so liberating when you are all those people now, guys,
I know sometimes it can be a bit taxing, and
sometimes we debate back and forth with ourselves because we're
trying to play out we're playing multiple women said the point,
we're looking at things from multiple perspectives. But isn't it
so nice to be that one person who is doing
(16:13):
all of that and you can come to a decision
real quick? And if it's a decision that you want
to change, because now you've got more information, you can
change it. We don't have to pull nobody in it,
bring no consistence that holds us up.
Speaker 3 (16:25):
No, I want to change this right now, and I
can do that absolutely. But because of that, the team
knows they better stay ready because I will toss them
right on it. Like the team, even the crew knows
today it may be your turn to get tossed in
front of the camera. If something is not going right,
(16:46):
you better get ready too, because but I will put
you on camera too. So like it's a running your
you know, sometimes I just go ahead and say like, oh,
I know somebody on the crew could be this character
or whatnot. I mean, even with my producing partner Kathy
for this, her and Terry are my Terry is the
(17:08):
head of wardrobe and she's also an associate producer on Donors.
And they were just supposed to be these news reporter team, right,
but some other people didn't show up for another scene,
and I was like, well, we could just make these
news reporters disgruntled employees and now of the Human Lives
(17:30):
Matter faction. So it was great to see them there,
especially for some of the scenes where those people you
would never see them do the things that they had
to do up in Donors, And it was so fun,
especially if you have watched the Galla scene and you
get to see Kathy do her.
Speaker 2 (17:51):
Thing in there.
Speaker 3 (17:53):
That was that was fun. If you watch the Gless scene,
you'll know what I'm talking about. When Kathy shows up.
Speaker 1 (18:00):
She now, now I've seen the movie and I know
what happens in the at the galaxy is uh, it's uh,
it's you can now, someone asked me earlier. You can
watch Donors on Amazon Prime. You can watch the series,
and you can rent. You can watch the series, and
you can watch the movie. I watched the movie. The
(18:22):
galaxy scene is very important. I was very disheartened. I
won't expecting that it went to the left. I'm like,
oh my god, I won't expecting that.
Speaker 2 (18:31):
I was.
Speaker 1 (18:31):
I'm like, I'm so glad I decided not to go
and visit with my girlfriend at the Galaxy.
Speaker 3 (18:37):
But what wasn't it so wasn't it so wonderful?
Speaker 2 (18:40):
It was set up so beautiful.
Speaker 3 (18:42):
It was a beautiful, beautiful scene. Everybody was nice and
lit and.
Speaker 1 (18:47):
Hey, but you know, now you mentioned that, and it
was and I just wrote down the human Lives matter
of faction.
Speaker 2 (18:53):
But everybody was so nice. And you see, when I.
Speaker 1 (18:57):
Was watching it because my mother, she always talked me
about music. You know, the lyrics had to say something.
So y'all also taught to when you watch movies, you
can learn.
Speaker 2 (19:06):
And so I'm watching it, and let me just say,
I like the cinematography of the guys look good, the
women look good, or like the outfit. You know, I'm
looking at the eyes. But I'm also watching all this
other stuff and.
Speaker 1 (19:19):
I'm like, okay, we got some hidden well they were
really hidden messages. Basically, I'm gonna say, Donus is a
world that lives beside our world, and so the same
things that are happening in our society right now, it's
happening in their society. And it was interesting to me
how you wove all of that, and so I was
(19:39):
making notes about everything that I was seeing so our side,
you know, going to the Galaxy, and guys, I can't
give it away. You gotta read the movie. We go
to the galaxyne and I'm invited to go. I'm not
the character, but the character's invited to go.
Speaker 2 (19:53):
He don't go.
Speaker 1 (19:54):
Thank god you didn't go. See it didn't turn out
the way we had expected.
Speaker 2 (19:59):
So y'all got to watch The Galaxy and then come
back and let us know what you thought about the Galaxy.
It's not on Amazon Prime, you mean to.
Speaker 3 (20:08):
Fossom is a free website, like, yes, it is also
on Fossome right now. It dropped them there last week
and it will be coming to to me very very
soon as well.
Speaker 2 (20:19):
So yeah, you guys heard it here first.
Speaker 1 (20:22):
Now I said, I didn't know about all these other
places that you can watch the movie and the series.
Speaker 3 (20:28):
Yes, they're they're they're they're dropping, they're dropping. The series
is coming to tob sooner than you think.
Speaker 2 (20:37):
She said, sooner than we think.
Speaker 1 (20:38):
And uh, I am Thompson said, I can testify to that.
So there is no excuse for you not to get
caught up on donors. If you like the supernatural, there's
no excuse. It's everywhere everywhere.
Speaker 3 (20:53):
Even if you don't like supernatural, if you like drama,
if you like a story, it has all of those
elements I have.
Speaker 2 (21:01):
Like.
Speaker 3 (21:01):
Okay, let's say, for example, my producing partner she did
not like vampires at all, but once she started reading
the story several years ago, she fell in love with
the story itself. So the vampires being in her didn't
they no longer matter to her? Out there her face
and I tell you I don't.
Speaker 1 (21:19):
I can't remember the characters. Then I don't even know
why she's coming up right now. But you know the character,
the lady. She's the white lady that wears the weed.
And you know she feel in some kind of way.
Speaker 2 (21:33):
Uh you know, I'm not all.
Speaker 1 (21:35):
Up on it, but she feel in some kind of way.
And then all of the people in her I'm gonna
call it, her house, her cousin. You know, they all
go on that and she feel in some kind of way,
but you know, she was she had a little something
up with her, you know, meeting these people and doing
stuff with them and they don't even know what's getting
ready to happen.
Speaker 2 (21:54):
And then you know, then she lost her cosin.
Speaker 1 (21:56):
So again, you know, I'm like, I'm gonna have to
catch up and see what's going on with her.
Speaker 2 (22:02):
So it seemed like I done got hooked on it.
Speaker 1 (22:04):
Too, but you just told me I can stay in
tune with everything because don't be on tube now. So guys,
I'm telling you the story. I was glued to it,
and I gotta go back and is it Octavian?
Speaker 2 (22:16):
Is it? I can stay right. I do like it.
I like looking and he's an honorable man. Yes or
a bi I love.
Speaker 3 (22:34):
I love the story of Octavian and Nyla. I just
love their behind the scenes. She's so innocent and he's
so worldly, but it's still so cautious and makes her
the center of his world. You know, even with everything
going on, he can center her and treat a woman
(22:57):
how she wants to be deserves to be treated.
Speaker 2 (23:00):
Thank you, he's just not saying, he's not saying the queen,
she's his queen, but he is treating her like the
queen that she is. And she gives him this precious gift. Guys,
I'm gonna tell you what it was.
Speaker 1 (23:12):
She gives him this precious gift, and he recognizes that
and he honors it and he respects it.
Speaker 2 (23:19):
And it's like the people at first are like her,
but then they begin to understand it's something special about this.
Speaker 3 (23:25):
Woman, right, yes, oh yes, yes, I wanted her to
be the girl next door because when you're in this
world of glamour, fabulous, whatever, there's one scene in there
when she's actually when she's looking at the magazine and
I'm on the cover. I'm on the cover of the magazine.
There's that huge, you know, contrast between her and the
(23:49):
everyday woman. I want to be told that everyday woman
who's not all into the fashion. She's the girl next door.
She's working, she's just trying to get by and make
it while while working within the system. She works, she
literally works for the donor system. Yes, okay, you know
(24:09):
it's just a struggle for her.
Speaker 1 (24:11):
Well, now, since she brought up the magazine cover now,
because I did have a question, I may have misinterpreted.
Speaker 2 (24:18):
Something the lady on the magazine cover, which is you
are you his ex?
Speaker 3 (24:24):
No, I am the marketing business woman behind the Donor System.
I am the person that makes those Donors commercials. Because
you see me another time when I'm when I'm at
Tatiana's Covin and I'm all set up having her do
a Donors commercial. I'm the drive. I'm the brand marketer
(24:46):
everything you see all those commercials for the Donor System
where you see a lot more of them in the series.
Those commercial place, all of the marketing, all of the drive.
That's his main In the series, you will see who
he's made is. But in the movie when he's when
they're in his office, you see a picture of his
(25:07):
mate up on the dresser.
Speaker 2 (25:10):
Okay, and that's passion. Okay, okay, okay, okay, I'm gonna
be going back to look at that. Now i gotta
ask one more question. Now, I'm asking stuff as a fan,
but this is gonna help other people.
Speaker 1 (25:20):
I love it when he is talking to the lady
because I have thought about asking them. I said, I
won't go ask when he's talking talking to I think
she's a white lady and she's talking about we got
it basically the Willy Lynx send.
Speaker 2 (25:35):
You WILLI Lynch comes up there. Yes, who is this lady?
Who is this lady? What is her role?
Speaker 3 (25:43):
Doctor Harden? She is the person who helped created create
the donor program, because you know, she synthesizes the blood,
makes the synthetic blood that they could drink. She bring
his creation to life. She you know, is the person
(26:03):
in charge of the people coming in and donating and
registering for the donor system, testing their blood sure it's pure,
all these things. She's part of that. You get more
details with that. But yeah, but she is wonderful, doctor hard.
And that's her name.
Speaker 2 (26:22):
Well, guys, that doctor Harden. Uh he he uh.
Speaker 1 (26:27):
Well let me tell you also, and I'm I'm gonna
go back to my questions. But this is all part
of the losure, the the how she draws you in.
Speaker 2 (26:35):
Guys.
Speaker 1 (26:35):
I thought it was interest because we winded a couple
of times. I thought it was interesting when he was
talking with her.
Speaker 2 (26:41):
She's kind of off to the leftage and I'm watching
it on my television, and it seemed like he was
unless I was looking at her around, almost like he was.
Speaker 1 (26:49):
Looking in a mirror, start having Okay, thank you. Well
she starts having this dialogue. Well, and I'm not gonna
say it exactly right, Well, can we give them a
little more so that they feel she didn't say it
this way, but they feel more important. And I thought
his reaction because I'm like, Okay, he's looking in the
mirror and I'm seeing the reaction. You guys got to understand,
(27:09):
he's hundreds of years old, so it's like he hasn't
forgotten that history.
Speaker 2 (27:15):
That's that he has seen in experience.
Speaker 1 (27:18):
And so the way that he basically got her told
or put her in her place as related to the
donor system and what she thought was not going to be.
She thought it was a good suggestion, not understanding the
historical implications of what she was talking about. And I
was like making notes on another pad, not this pad.
Speaker 2 (27:40):
I'm oh, this is good, this is good.
Speaker 3 (27:43):
Yeah, he said, want me to Willy lynch them.
Speaker 1 (27:47):
Yeah, And so guys, I don't know what Willy Lynch is.
Y'all go back and look at umm. I'm gonna jump
back onto my regular questions instead of talking to her
as a fan.
Speaker 2 (27:57):
But like I said, I am with the movie and
I was drawn, and I'm like, this is really good.
Speaker 1 (28:06):
Now, you also have worked powerhouse productions like Black Panther,
The Originals, and Hidden Figures. How did those experiences help
to help you build your own cinematic empire.
Speaker 3 (28:22):
By the time that I got to those, I was
already in the works of my empire. I was just
on those shows by that time in my career just
to help build funding for my stuff. So it was
the earlier shows that I worked on, the Originals, Vampire Diaries,
Hunger Games, Mock and j Park to the Divergence series.
(28:44):
It was those that helped me dive deeper into the
world building. You know, I already had my story because
you know, Donors was a book prior to all this.
You know, it's been a book since two thousand and nine,
so it's its own little series. But it showed me
how to flesh it out even better because when I
(29:07):
got on The Originals and I started getting copies of
those scripts, it showed me how to write those scripts
and be strong and bring out all this extra energy
that you need for the stories to really unfold. That's
where I call it. That's where I learned from the
School of Hard Knocks from there. Oh and the Walking
(29:29):
Bed I was on there for several seasons too, So
it was those well before we got to sell the
Hidden Figures Black Panther. It was way before those, as
I experience, and the money.
Speaker 2 (29:48):
And that's always important, always. Yeah, you know.
Speaker 1 (29:57):
You you tackled those uncomfortable truth's head all and you
do it with such style, such grace, And I just
want to, you know, publicly, thank you for doing that,
because if we don't discuss our history, we are doomed
to repeat it.
Speaker 2 (30:17):
Yes, and I just applaud you for doing that.
Speaker 1 (30:22):
If someone was watching us today and they're stuck in
this loop of fear, failure, rejection, or being or I
can't be that different, what's the one mindset shift that
you would share to help them break through all of
I'm gonna call it that noise that's kind of holding
them captain.
Speaker 3 (30:43):
People gonna talk anyway. They gonna talk, whether you do
or you don't, so you may as well do it.
They're gonna talk no matter what you do. They talk
about you when you're broke, and they talk about you
when you have money. So I rather be have money
and they could talk about me and they can say,
is she doing too much?
Speaker 2 (31:01):
She doing this?
Speaker 3 (31:02):
Uh huh?
Speaker 2 (31:02):
But yeah, I mean we're gonna talk got line.
Speaker 1 (31:08):
And you just blessed me with that one because I
have said that, and thank you for saying that.
Speaker 2 (31:15):
They gonna talk about you.
Speaker 1 (31:16):
Whether you're broke, they gonna talk about you, you got money,
they gonna talk about you did a good job, if
they did a bad job, they gonna talk. So let
them talk and break three other shackles that are holding
you back. You've heard it from my guess, Amitia keys Amiga.
This has been wonderful. I don't know where the time
has gotten to. Please let the audience know how they
(31:39):
can keep up with you, and again tell them where
they can find donors the movie and the series.
Speaker 3 (31:44):
Hey, you can follow me on at Omega Keys of course,
you can follow Like a Boss Studios as well, and
you can watch Donors on Amazon Fossome, which is just
like you, is free TV. You don't have to log
in or do anything like that. I like to tell
people how to do it because a lot of people
(32:05):
haven't heard of it, but it is very big. You
can watch it on there, and we are coming soon
to too Be Baby.
Speaker 1 (32:12):
Well, guys, you heard here to be Fossome and Amazon,
so you make sure that you get caught up of donors.
Speaker 2 (32:22):
Now the series.
Speaker 1 (32:23):
Does that mean that we gonna get a season two?
Speaker 3 (32:27):
As people are watching, let's run these numbers up so
we can have This is independent filmmaking, So run the
numbers up and then we will get our season two.
And we have some other extra special things coming down
the line next week.
Speaker 2 (32:44):
Four.
Speaker 3 (32:45):
It's tied to donors. It's not donors, but it's tied
to donors. I won't speak too much on it. I'm
just gonna drop it on top of your heads come
next week.
Speaker 2 (32:54):
All right, you heard it here. We've got some new
things coming and I need you guys to watch Watch,
Watch Watch. It is a great series.
Speaker 1 (33:03):
And if I'm fascinated by something, it's good because I'm
kind of hard to please, but it got my attention
and so therefore I'm telling you you're gonna enjoy it.
And you know, give some good eye candy too, you know,
and if the fellas want to look at some pretty women,
they can see some pretty women. But you know, if
a woman want to look at somebody, can you got
some eye candy there and it's a good story. It
(33:24):
really is a good story, so please please support independent
filmmaker Amiga. Keys and Amiga, thank you so much for
being with me. I'm gonna talk to you offline like
I said. And to our audience, thank you so much
for being with us. And until next time, before you go,
try to take care of somebody else.
Speaker 2 (33:44):
Please make sure you take care of yourself first.
Speaker 3 (33:46):
But I now thank you for having me.
Speaker 2 (33:48):
Bye bye.
Welcome to this edition of Talk with Tarz. I am
your host, Doctor three Sat Smith, and today I have
with me.
Speaker 2 (00:07):
I'm gonna call it the fire Star.
Speaker 1 (00:09):
Now, you may not know what I'm talking about, but
she has been starting fires and everything that she's been
doing her whole life, from when she was running track
to when she went to the military. When she was
a little girl and she was writing her own Star
Wars stories, she was spirting, she was starting fires then.
So I'm calling her the firestarter. She's a military veteran,
(00:33):
she's the best selling author. She's a real visionary because
it takes a visionary to take an idea like Donors
and create this whole new universe that sort of mirrors
the world that we're living in now. Is I find
it so fascinating. But she's a visionary. She's built about
(00:53):
face media platform. Yeah, she's helping other artists who want
to get their store reads out. She's a filmmaker, she's
a producer. She does it all. That's the reason I
said she is a fire starter. So if you want
to learn how to do this, you're in for a
tree because she's gonna tell us about herself. But you're
(01:14):
gonna learn nuggets along the way. She is a sponge.
She's a sponge. So when you try to figure out
how can this woman do all of this because she's
a sponge, she's absorbing everything that she hears and she sees,
then she runs it through her bank and then she
does it her way.
Speaker 2 (01:32):
So you're in for a tree.
Speaker 1 (01:33):
So all I'm gonna say now is welcome, Amiga. Thank
you for joining me on Talk with Toms and how
are you doing girl?
Speaker 3 (01:40):
Oh fabulous? First of all, thank you for having me.
And I don't know how to follow up with everything
that you just said about me?
Speaker 2 (01:47):
Now what say? No?
Speaker 1 (01:51):
Now, omigga, you know I'm actually Southern. I know you're
in Atlanta, but you're not originally from the South. But
you know, in the South, there's this old joke I
see when I was little girl. They they start I
think it was about a funeral, really, but they start
seeing all this great stuff about a person, and the
people like, let me look to see who they're talking about. Well,
I'm talking about you, and you deserve your flowers because
(02:14):
you have built that industry. And my friend who you know,
Sorry's Web says all the time, have you taken a
moment to think about it. Do you understand the significance
of what you've done? So today I want to give
you your flowers, and I want others to learn at
your foot or at your feet, because you have a
(02:35):
lot of knowledge to depart to others.
Speaker 2 (02:38):
Some I'm a jump right out all right now.
Speaker 1 (02:43):
You had a dynamic journey, Like I said, your military veteran.
You are author, a producer, you're a director. What was
the first moment that you really realize that storytelling was
your calling and not just you know, this creative outlet.
Speaker 3 (03:00):
In two thousand and six, when I was in the
Army and I had wrote a story and one of
my other peers, you know, Sergeant Bird's Song, when she
was reading some of my work and she was over
there giggling and laughing, and you know, but we're not
(03:21):
supposed to be doing all this laughing and giggling. She
was really into my stories then, and that ended up
being the first book that I published. But to be
a filmmaker, that was a whole other journey. That wasn't
until the end of twenty thirteen when I actually stepped
a foot on set for the very first time. That's
(03:45):
when I knew I was where I was supposed to be.
I just as soon as I got on set, it
just all clicked that, you know, everything that I had
had been doing was leading up to that moment.
Speaker 1 (03:59):
Now I got I'm gonna go back because when I
was reading your bio, I was fascinated, and I won't.
I don't want folks to miss anything, because everything that
we do leads us to that moment.
Speaker 2 (04:10):
Like you said in twenty thirteen, it clicked. But when
I was reading your bio, I was like, Now, you
was in the Air Force and you were in the Army.
Speaker 1 (04:21):
Yes, I'm like, okay, I'm a small town girl in
North Carolina. We have We've just gone back to saying
Fort Brad so you know, I know brag and then
oh gosh, and then we have an Air Force base
and I can't even call the name now. But I
grew up thinking you were either in the Air Force
(04:42):
while you were in the Army or.
Speaker 2 (04:44):
The Marines or whatever, but never do the two me.
Speaker 3 (04:48):
So tell me how did you how'd you do that?
Speaker 2 (04:52):
Well?
Speaker 3 (04:52):
Look, I was in the Air Force and I was
military intelligence and for six years, and I was miserable
because military intelligence I can count on one hand how
many other black military intelligence personnel there was at the time.
And so with those dynamics of the good old boy
(05:15):
club and everything, it was either let my contract run
out and be finished with the military altogether, or find
another outlet. Because I tried to get out of military intelligence,
but they kept saying I was mission essential, so I
kind of was stuck. So I found a loophole that said,
you know, you can switch branches as long as you
(05:38):
had a you know, a full bird colonel sign off
on you know. It was I forgot the form, but
I had a full bird colonel from the Army sign
off on it, and I was able to switch over
from the Air Force into the Army, where I found
more faces that looked like me. I was able to
get out of military intelligence. It was basically a lifesaver,
(06:04):
you know, for me, as far as the military goals
going in. You know a lot of people are like,
there's no way the living conditions from the Air Force,
there's no way I would have swapped out of it.
But as a black woman, I needed to see more
of us in those higher ranking positions because I didn't
know when I first joined the military that I could
have went in as an officer because I already had
my degree know that when I first went in. So
(06:29):
I went in and listed first, and then I switched
over to the OCS later on on the army side,
but I didn't know that. So that was the journey
there for the crossover. And then on the Army side
I went into they were just starting forty two Alpha,
which was human resources at the that's what I switched
(06:50):
over into. I needed to be out of military intelligence.
And it's not that I wasn't great at my job,
that was not the problem. But when you're martiest person
in the room with a bunch of white men, that
is a problem. And I had to get away from
that and see more of us.
Speaker 1 (07:08):
And well, you know, I just liked the way because
nothing just happens.
Speaker 2 (07:15):
I just love how God put the pool bird.
Speaker 3 (07:19):
Colonel Colonel full colonel that I helped them with some
of their paperwork and we were hit chatting because I
was I was working on something for a Joint Forces
of training and I helped them with something and she
just randomly was like, you know what, I would love
You'll do great in the army and this and this
(07:40):
and I was like, well, you know, yeah.
Speaker 2 (07:46):
Ooh, and and the rest is history. And we've got
several people who joined us.
Speaker 1 (07:52):
But I want to say the actor Tobias my mind,
he says, the talent, that powerhouse herself. Absolutely thank you
every one for joining us. And you know, even then, Yeah,
I'm looking at that journey.
Speaker 2 (08:06):
You were a powerhouse.
Speaker 1 (08:07):
Then you were able to take lemons and make lemonade.
You didn't get stuck in the role and in the
situation that you were in, and you know that takes discipline,
and I wonder sometimes, how did that discipline, that.
Speaker 2 (08:21):
Drive then help you to create about face.
Speaker 3 (08:25):
Media, because that's all me. I'm very organized, I'm very
I learned everything from the ground up, every position in film.
I know how to do it. And I just want to
shout out after Tobias because that is Lucius from the Yes.
(08:46):
So I learned every single position there was in the
filmmaking world for me to be able to bring to
build about face Media and then go on to also
elevate it to like a bass studio else, you know,
from the ground round up, that's me and bringing people along.
It's just easy for me, being in a leadership position
(09:09):
to work it because that's where that's where I needed
to be all alone. And I don't have to ask
for permission, because why would I doing that. I can
build my own way, my own path, tell my own
stories through my own lens without having to water down
who I am or my actors.
Speaker 1 (09:30):
And that's so important, you know, I would saying it
to someone last night. We should be able and that's everybody,
not just black females or black people. Everybody should be
able to tell their story from their lens. And as
a friend of mine would say, if they don't invite
you to the table, build your own table because there's
(09:51):
nothing stopping you from doing it. And you've done that.
Speaker 2 (09:54):
Yeah, yeah, So I gotta flop back down to.
Speaker 1 (09:59):
Your mother, Joanne Johnson. She was a civil rights activist.
She's a barmber. How has her legacy of truth and
service helped shape your voice as a content creator?
Speaker 2 (10:13):
I mean, I don't know.
Speaker 3 (10:14):
Any other day outside of speaking out. You know, my
father was absolutely there. He's a military man himself. But
Mama is where I get my voice. She when she
was making quilts, she would sit down and it was
story time right there. When she went out for voting
I was right there with her when someone did her wrong.
(10:37):
I was right there with her when she stood up
and she shouted. Now, I have to tell you my
mother is probably if I'm saying she's four foot ten,
I'm being generous. She's a little bitty thing. But she
is so powerful and she is all outspoken. I mean
(10:58):
even to the fact when she used to show up
at the schools. Don't let her teachers speak crazy to us.
Don't let them doing She will fight for us on everything.
And she taught all seven of us to stand up
and fight and say what we have to say. Yeah
I'm number seven. Yeah, she taught us stand up, fight
(11:23):
for what you want. Don't let people. You know, they
could say no, But that's a note to them. That's
not a note to you, exactly, it's.
Speaker 2 (11:33):
A no to them. Well you know.
Speaker 3 (11:39):
You.
Speaker 1 (11:40):
It's say you're a powerhouse and you are unapologetical committed
to telling the stories of underrepresented voices. And I know
that if you were just saying your mother's legacy and
civil rights activists and then as she said, advocating for
you guys. And she went to school with a teacher
whomever was not making the correct language about her kids.
Speaker 2 (12:03):
Now, what advice do you get to creatives who are
told their story won't sell. What advice do you give them?
Speaker 3 (12:10):
Figure out how to do it themselves. Figure it out.
Quit waiting for someone to come save you and save
yourself my advice. Don't expect me to save you, nor
the rest of the world. I can't save you because
I'm too busy saving myself. So you need to figure
out how it's gonna work for you. People are like, well,
I don't have the money. I don't have this. I
(12:32):
didn't start out having the money either, but I figured
it out how to get there. I said, this is
what I want to do. What will it take for
me to get there? I learned every single thing I
can't pay. All of these people in the film said,
so guess what. Let me learn how to do everything
that needs to be done and then start hiring out
(12:53):
from there what I absolutely cannot do.
Speaker 2 (13:02):
Continue.
Speaker 3 (13:03):
I was gonna say, but my team knows like the
team that I have now, I have a real solid team.
I love my team. Oh my gosh, I love my team.
But they also know that if they're slacking, I'm stepping in. Okay,
I got it, because if I have to come in
and do your job in mind there's a problem.
Speaker 1 (13:18):
So and you know, I think that's so important to
learn all the pieces, but you don't want to have
to always do all the pieces. But if you have
to step in because something has happened, you can do that.
And also I think for employees, if I can think
about myself being the employee, that should say to me, one,
(13:39):
I should automatically care about the quality of my work,
and my work at this should be solid.
Speaker 2 (13:44):
But in the then it's not.
Speaker 1 (13:46):
Since I know that you can step in and do it,
I might want to do my job so I can
keep my job.
Speaker 3 (13:52):
I want to because I have no problem. Like when
it comes to filmmaking, filmmaking is a business and if
doing what you're supposed to do, you're costing the business money.
So I have no problem not to be mean, but
if you're not supposed to do baby, you won't be
there tomorrow.
Speaker 2 (14:10):
And did I read someone?
Speaker 1 (14:12):
Did I hear you talk about someone didn't someone wasn't
there or whatever?
Speaker 2 (14:16):
You had to.
Speaker 1 (14:16):
Step in in chat with donors and you just step
right in. Now Here she is directing, but now she's
got to be an extra on set.
Speaker 3 (14:26):
Oh, it wasn't for donors, it was for it was
for another film, because with donors, I already wrote myself
in baby No. But for another film, well, a couple
of films, but for the last one that this happened
on that was a faded reunion. An actress actually did
(14:50):
show up for that. But she showed up and she
had an attitude, and we don't we do not do
attitudes on set. So she showed he had her nose
all up in the air of snoodier than now. So
our casting director at the time, Breg Lockett. She walked in,
he walked her right back out. I jumped in character,
(15:11):
even though I was running one of the cameras. I
jumped in character, got myself together, and I walked in up,
walked in the shot, and we did the scene and
we had a whole bunch of fun with it.
Speaker 1 (15:22):
Well, you know, this is I hope this is not
a bad saying, but it makes sense right now that
you used to say, one monkey, don't stop the show.
Speaker 2 (15:30):
That's a good saying. Yeah, yeah, one am I kind
of stop the show.
Speaker 3 (15:34):
Stop no show. You're not stopping anything, because I will
tell you something that I will do all the time.
I have a conversation with you know, the writer, director,
and the producer. So myself, I say self, what are
we going to do to fix this? And I make
it work?
Speaker 2 (15:51):
Isn't it so?
Speaker 1 (15:52):
It's so liberating when you are all those people now, guys,
I know sometimes it can be a bit taxing, and
sometimes we debate back and forth with ourselves because we're
trying to play out we're playing multiple women said the point,
we're looking at things from multiple perspectives. But isn't it
so nice to be that one person who is doing
(16:13):
all of that and you can come to a decision
real quick? And if it's a decision that you want
to change, because now you've got more information, you can
change it. We don't have to pull nobody in it,
bring no consistence that holds us up.
Speaker 3 (16:25):
No, I want to change this right now, and I
can do that absolutely. But because of that, the team
knows they better stay ready because I will toss them
right on it. Like the team, even the crew knows
today it may be your turn to get tossed in
front of the camera. If something is not going right,
(16:46):
you better get ready too, because but I will put
you on camera too. So like it's a running your
you know, sometimes I just go ahead and say like, oh,
I know somebody on the crew could be this character
or whatnot. I mean, even with my producing partner Kathy
for this, her and Terry are my Terry is the
(17:08):
head of wardrobe and she's also an associate producer on Donors.
And they were just supposed to be these news reporter team, right,
but some other people didn't show up for another scene,
and I was like, well, we could just make these
news reporters disgruntled employees and now of the Human Lives
(17:30):
Matter faction. So it was great to see them there,
especially for some of the scenes where those people you
would never see them do the things that they had
to do up in Donors, And it was so fun,
especially if you have watched the Galla scene and you
get to see Kathy do her.
Speaker 2 (17:51):
Thing in there.
Speaker 3 (17:53):
That was that was fun. If you watch the Gless scene,
you'll know what I'm talking about. When Kathy shows up.
Speaker 1 (18:00):
She now, now I've seen the movie and I know
what happens in the at the galaxy is uh, it's uh,
it's you can now, someone asked me earlier. You can
watch Donors on Amazon Prime. You can watch the series,
and you can rent. You can watch the series, and
you can watch the movie. I watched the movie. The
(18:22):
galaxy scene is very important. I was very disheartened. I
won't expecting that it went to the left. I'm like,
oh my god, I won't expecting that.
Speaker 2 (18:31):
I was.
Speaker 1 (18:31):
I'm like, I'm so glad I decided not to go
and visit with my girlfriend at the Galaxy.
Speaker 3 (18:37):
But what wasn't it so wasn't it so wonderful?
Speaker 2 (18:40):
It was set up so beautiful.
Speaker 3 (18:42):
It was a beautiful, beautiful scene. Everybody was nice and
lit and.
Speaker 1 (18:47):
Hey, but you know, now you mentioned that, and it
was and I just wrote down the human Lives matter
of faction.
Speaker 2 (18:53):
But everybody was so nice. And you see, when I.
Speaker 1 (18:57):
Was watching it because my mother, she always talked me
about music. You know, the lyrics had to say something.
So y'all also taught to when you watch movies, you
can learn.
Speaker 2 (19:06):
And so I'm watching it, and let me just say,
I like the cinematography of the guys look good, the
women look good, or like the outfit. You know, I'm
looking at the eyes. But I'm also watching all this
other stuff and.
Speaker 1 (19:19):
I'm like, okay, we got some hidden well they were
really hidden messages. Basically, I'm gonna say, Donus is a
world that lives beside our world, and so the same
things that are happening in our society right now, it's
happening in their society. And it was interesting to me
how you wove all of that, and so I was
(19:39):
making notes about everything that I was seeing so our side,
you know, going to the Galaxy, and guys, I can't
give it away. You gotta read the movie. We go
to the galaxyne and I'm invited to go. I'm not
the character, but the character's invited to go.
Speaker 2 (19:53):
He don't go.
Speaker 1 (19:54):
Thank god you didn't go. See it didn't turn out
the way we had expected.
Speaker 2 (19:59):
So y'all got to watch The Galaxy and then come
back and let us know what you thought about the Galaxy.
It's not on Amazon Prime, you mean to.
Speaker 3 (20:08):
Fossom is a free website, like, yes, it is also
on Fossome right now. It dropped them there last week
and it will be coming to to me very very
soon as well.
Speaker 2 (20:19):
So yeah, you guys heard it here first.
Speaker 1 (20:22):
Now I said, I didn't know about all these other
places that you can watch the movie and the series.
Speaker 3 (20:28):
Yes, they're they're they're they're dropping, they're dropping. The series
is coming to tob sooner than you think.
Speaker 2 (20:37):
She said, sooner than we think.
Speaker 1 (20:38):
And uh, I am Thompson said, I can testify to that.
So there is no excuse for you not to get
caught up on donors. If you like the supernatural, there's
no excuse. It's everywhere everywhere.
Speaker 3 (20:53):
Even if you don't like supernatural, if you like drama,
if you like a story, it has all of those
elements I have.
Speaker 2 (21:01):
Like.
Speaker 3 (21:01):
Okay, let's say, for example, my producing partner she did
not like vampires at all, but once she started reading
the story several years ago, she fell in love with
the story itself. So the vampires being in her didn't
they no longer matter to her? Out there her face
and I tell you I don't.
Speaker 1 (21:19):
I can't remember the characters. Then I don't even know
why she's coming up right now. But you know the character,
the lady. She's the white lady that wears the weed.
And you know she feel in some kind of way.
Speaker 2 (21:33):
Uh you know, I'm not all.
Speaker 1 (21:35):
Up on it, but she feel in some kind of way.
And then all of the people in her I'm gonna
call it, her house, her cousin. You know, they all
go on that and she feel in some kind of way,
but you know, she was she had a little something
up with her, you know, meeting these people and doing
stuff with them and they don't even know what's getting
ready to happen.
Speaker 2 (21:54):
And then you know, then she lost her cosin.
Speaker 1 (21:56):
So again, you know, I'm like, I'm gonna have to
catch up and see what's going on with her.
Speaker 2 (22:02):
So it seemed like I done got hooked on it.
Speaker 1 (22:04):
Too, but you just told me I can stay in
tune with everything because don't be on tube now. So guys,
I'm telling you the story. I was glued to it,
and I gotta go back and is it Octavian?
Speaker 2 (22:16):
Is it? I can stay right. I do like it.
I like looking and he's an honorable man. Yes or
a bi I love.
Speaker 3 (22:34):
I love the story of Octavian and Nyla. I just
love their behind the scenes. She's so innocent and he's
so worldly, but it's still so cautious and makes her
the center of his world. You know, even with everything
going on, he can center her and treat a woman
(22:57):
how she wants to be deserves to be treated.
Speaker 2 (23:00):
Thank you, he's just not saying, he's not saying the queen,
she's his queen, but he is treating her like the
queen that she is. And she gives him this precious gift. Guys,
I'm gonna tell you what it was.
Speaker 1 (23:12):
She gives him this precious gift, and he recognizes that
and he honors it and he respects it.
Speaker 2 (23:19):
And it's like the people at first are like her,
but then they begin to understand it's something special about this.
Speaker 3 (23:25):
Woman, right, yes, oh yes, yes, I wanted her to
be the girl next door because when you're in this
world of glamour, fabulous, whatever, there's one scene in there
when she's actually when she's looking at the magazine and
I'm on the cover. I'm on the cover of the magazine.
There's that huge, you know, contrast between her and the
(23:49):
everyday woman. I want to be told that everyday woman
who's not all into the fashion. She's the girl next door.
She's working, she's just trying to get by and make
it while while working within the system. She works, she
literally works for the donor system. Yes, okay, you know
(24:09):
it's just a struggle for her.
Speaker 1 (24:11):
Well, now, since she brought up the magazine cover now,
because I did have a question, I may have misinterpreted.
Speaker 2 (24:18):
Something the lady on the magazine cover, which is you
are you his ex?
Speaker 3 (24:24):
No, I am the marketing business woman behind the Donor System.
I am the person that makes those Donors commercials. Because
you see me another time when I'm when I'm at
Tatiana's Covin and I'm all set up having her do
a Donors commercial. I'm the drive. I'm the brand marketer
(24:46):
everything you see all those commercials for the Donor System
where you see a lot more of them in the series.
Those commercial place, all of the marketing, all of the drive.
That's his main In the series, you will see who
he's made is. But in the movie when he's when
they're in his office, you see a picture of his
(25:07):
mate up on the dresser.
Speaker 2 (25:10):
Okay, and that's passion. Okay, okay, okay, okay, I'm gonna
be going back to look at that. Now i gotta
ask one more question. Now, I'm asking stuff as a fan,
but this is gonna help other people.
Speaker 1 (25:20):
I love it when he is talking to the lady
because I have thought about asking them. I said, I
won't go ask when he's talking talking to I think
she's a white lady and she's talking about we got
it basically the Willy Lynx send.
Speaker 2 (25:35):
You WILLI Lynch comes up there. Yes, who is this lady?
Who is this lady? What is her role?
Speaker 3 (25:43):
Doctor Harden? She is the person who helped created create
the donor program, because you know, she synthesizes the blood,
makes the synthetic blood that they could drink. She bring
his creation to life. She you know, is the person
(26:03):
in charge of the people coming in and donating and
registering for the donor system, testing their blood sure it's pure,
all these things. She's part of that. You get more
details with that. But yeah, but she is wonderful, doctor hard.
And that's her name.
Speaker 2 (26:22):
Well, guys, that doctor Harden. Uh he he uh.
Speaker 1 (26:27):
Well let me tell you also, and I'm I'm gonna
go back to my questions. But this is all part
of the losure, the the how she draws you in.
Speaker 2 (26:35):
Guys.
Speaker 1 (26:35):
I thought it was interest because we winded a couple
of times. I thought it was interesting when he was
talking with her.
Speaker 2 (26:41):
She's kind of off to the leftage and I'm watching
it on my television, and it seemed like he was
unless I was looking at her around, almost like he was.
Speaker 1 (26:49):
Looking in a mirror, start having Okay, thank you. Well
she starts having this dialogue. Well, and I'm not gonna
say it exactly right, Well, can we give them a
little more so that they feel she didn't say it
this way, but they feel more important. And I thought
his reaction because I'm like, Okay, he's looking in the
mirror and I'm seeing the reaction. You guys got to understand,
(27:09):
he's hundreds of years old, so it's like he hasn't
forgotten that history.
Speaker 2 (27:15):
That's that he has seen in experience.
Speaker 1 (27:18):
And so the way that he basically got her told
or put her in her place as related to the
donor system and what she thought was not going to be.
She thought it was a good suggestion, not understanding the
historical implications of what she was talking about. And I
was like making notes on another pad, not this pad.
Speaker 2 (27:40):
I'm oh, this is good, this is good.
Speaker 3 (27:43):
Yeah, he said, want me to Willy lynch them.
Speaker 1 (27:47):
Yeah, And so guys, I don't know what Willy Lynch is.
Y'all go back and look at umm. I'm gonna jump
back onto my regular questions instead of talking to her
as a fan.
Speaker 2 (27:57):
But like I said, I am with the movie and
I was drawn, and I'm like, this is really good.
Speaker 1 (28:06):
Now, you also have worked powerhouse productions like Black Panther,
The Originals, and Hidden Figures. How did those experiences help
to help you build your own cinematic empire.
Speaker 3 (28:22):
By the time that I got to those, I was
already in the works of my empire. I was just
on those shows by that time in my career just
to help build funding for my stuff. So it was
the earlier shows that I worked on, the Originals, Vampire Diaries,
Hunger Games, Mock and j Park to the Divergence series.
(28:44):
It was those that helped me dive deeper into the
world building. You know, I already had my story because
you know, Donors was a book prior to all this.
You know, it's been a book since two thousand and nine,
so it's its own little series. But it showed me
how to flesh it out even better because when I
(29:07):
got on The Originals and I started getting copies of
those scripts, it showed me how to write those scripts
and be strong and bring out all this extra energy
that you need for the stories to really unfold. That's
where I call it. That's where I learned from the
School of Hard Knocks from there. Oh and the Walking
(29:29):
Bed I was on there for several seasons too, So
it was those well before we got to sell the
Hidden Figures Black Panther. It was way before those, as
I experience, and the money.
Speaker 2 (29:48):
And that's always important, always. Yeah, you know.
Speaker 1 (29:57):
You you tackled those uncomfortable truth's head all and you
do it with such style, such grace, And I just
want to, you know, publicly, thank you for doing that,
because if we don't discuss our history, we are doomed
to repeat it.
Speaker 2 (30:17):
Yes, and I just applaud you for doing that.
Speaker 1 (30:22):
If someone was watching us today and they're stuck in
this loop of fear, failure, rejection, or being or I
can't be that different, what's the one mindset shift that
you would share to help them break through all of
I'm gonna call it that noise that's kind of holding
them captain.
Speaker 3 (30:43):
People gonna talk anyway. They gonna talk, whether you do
or you don't, so you may as well do it.
They're gonna talk no matter what you do. They talk
about you when you're broke, and they talk about you
when you have money. So I rather be have money
and they could talk about me and they can say,
is she doing too much?
Speaker 2 (31:01):
She doing this?
Speaker 3 (31:02):
Uh huh?
Speaker 2 (31:02):
But yeah, I mean we're gonna talk got line.
Speaker 1 (31:08):
And you just blessed me with that one because I
have said that, and thank you for saying that.
Speaker 2 (31:15):
They gonna talk about you.
Speaker 1 (31:16):
Whether you're broke, they gonna talk about you, you got money,
they gonna talk about you did a good job, if
they did a bad job, they gonna talk. So let
them talk and break three other shackles that are holding
you back. You've heard it from my guess, Amitia keys Amiga.
This has been wonderful. I don't know where the time
has gotten to. Please let the audience know how they
(31:39):
can keep up with you, and again tell them where
they can find donors the movie and the series.
Speaker 3 (31:44):
Hey, you can follow me on at Omega Keys of course,
you can follow Like a Boss Studios as well, and
you can watch Donors on Amazon Fossome, which is just
like you, is free TV. You don't have to log
in or do anything like that. I like to tell
people how to do it because a lot of people
(32:05):
haven't heard of it, but it is very big. You
can watch it on there, and we are coming soon
to too Be Baby.
Speaker 1 (32:12):
Well, guys, you heard here to be Fossome and Amazon,
so you make sure that you get caught up of donors.
Speaker 2 (32:22):
Now the series.
Speaker 1 (32:23):
Does that mean that we gonna get a season two?
Speaker 3 (32:27):
As people are watching, let's run these numbers up so
we can have This is independent filmmaking, So run the
numbers up and then we will get our season two.
And we have some other extra special things coming down
the line next week.
Speaker 2 (32:44):
Four.
Speaker 3 (32:45):
It's tied to donors. It's not donors, but it's tied
to donors. I won't speak too much on it. I'm
just gonna drop it on top of your heads come
next week.
Speaker 2 (32:54):
All right, you heard it here. We've got some new
things coming and I need you guys to watch Watch,
Watch Watch. It is a great series.
Speaker 1 (33:03):
And if I'm fascinated by something, it's good because I'm
kind of hard to please, but it got my attention
and so therefore I'm telling you you're gonna enjoy it.
And you know, give some good eye candy too, you know,
and if the fellas want to look at some pretty women,
they can see some pretty women. But you know, if
a woman want to look at somebody, can you got
some eye candy there and it's a good story. It
(33:24):
really is a good story, so please please support independent
filmmaker Amiga. Keys and Amiga, thank you so much for
being with me. I'm gonna talk to you offline like
I said. And to our audience, thank you so much
for being with us. And until next time, before you go,
try to take care of somebody else.
Speaker 2 (33:44):
Please make sure you take care of yourself first.
Speaker 3 (33:46):
But I now thank you for having me.
Speaker 2 (33:48):
Bye bye.
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