March 13, 2025 • 33 mins
Host Dr. Teresa A. Smith, Dr. TAS welcomes Wayne Franklin to discuss the re-release of his novel, Urban Contemporary.
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Follow Wayne Franklin
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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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to this edition of Talk with Taz. I am
your host, doctor Teresa Smith, also known as Doctor Taz.
Today I'm joined by a powerhouse and storytelling. He's an author,
he's a screenwriter, and he's even a publicist, and that
is Wayne Franklin. Wayne is celebrating the twenty fifth anniversary
(00:22):
of his novel he's re releasing it Urban Contemporary, and
today we want to talk a little bit about the
true events behind the book and give this unique perspective.
You know, Wayne, you know, to be twenty five years
in the game and then ready to re release something
(00:42):
that introduced you to almost say air quotes, society or
to the world, that's something to really be proud of,
because a lot of people they don't last twenty five years.
Speaker 2 (00:55):
So first of all, let me give you your accolades.
Speaker 1 (00:57):
There you have your really like a shiny start for
those of us who are still somewhat bathed in this community.
So welcome to the show officially, Thank you, and we're
gonna just jump right in.
Speaker 2 (01:12):
Okay, now, waye, your novel.
Speaker 1 (01:16):
I've been Contemporary. It's based on true events. What inspired
you to transform your personal experiences into a novel?
Speaker 3 (01:25):
Well, when I wrote the novel.
Speaker 4 (01:27):
Well before I wrote the novel, I was in my
first marriage and it was not great, and I was
pretty depressed about it. And I'm a big movie movie buff,
and I was watching this movie that called Sibling Rivalry.
Speaker 3 (01:43):
Came out a long time ago and it had Kersey
Alley in it.
Speaker 4 (01:46):
But the plot of that movie she her husband was
a doctor and all this family were doctors, and they
ignored her a lot. So she wound up having an
affair with somebody she met in a bar not and
once they had the affair, he died at the hotel.
Come to find out the personality affair with was her
(02:08):
brother in law that she had never met before.
Speaker 3 (02:10):
Blah blah blah blah blah.
Speaker 4 (02:12):
So you go through that whole thing, and at the end,
she's really depressed because of what happened, and her husband
leaves and she goes into a deep depression. Doesn't know
what to do, so she starts writing and the movie ends.
She wrote a best seller getting all that out, and
I said I should try doing that, and I just
had took to legal pads and started writing. And after
(02:36):
a while I had a stack of legal pads about
this big and then it transferred that over to a
stack of typing paper about that big and I.
Speaker 3 (02:45):
Stuck in the shoe boxes. I don't know what else
to do with it.
Speaker 4 (02:48):
And at the while all this happened, that marriage came
to an end, and the person that I was dating then,
who became my second wife, we were at Barnes and
Noble one day and she called me over and said look,
and there was a sign on the shelf to say
get published today. And I said, okay, let's figure this out.
(03:11):
And that was twenty five years ago. And I got
published and got a copy of.
Speaker 3 (03:21):
A book in the mail, and I was all happy,
and that was pretty much it.
Speaker 4 (03:24):
I didn't know what else to do with it, so
I didn't do any press or any publicity. I didn't
do anything with it. One of the ladies that I
worked with at the time, her mother had a book club,
so they all bought the book and did it for
their book club. And that was like the height of
my fame at that point, because I was excited. I said,
(03:45):
people are reading this and I get to talk about it.
And I didn't do anything else from there. That was
just my claim to fame.
Speaker 3 (03:49):
YEA.
Speaker 4 (03:50):
I wrote a book and you can get it on Amazon.
And that was the end of it. And I didn't know.
I didn't know what else to do. So fast forward
through the second marriage stars to fall apart, and you know,
people knew I wrote the book, and I've written screenplays
based on the fact that I wrote a book, and oh,
can you write my script?
Speaker 3 (04:10):
So I became a screenwriter.
Speaker 4 (04:12):
And I never did anything else in my book except say, yeah,
I wrote this, and that was pretty much the end
of it. And then as this marriage fell apart, I
met my current girlfriend while working.
Speaker 3 (04:26):
On a movie set.
Speaker 4 (04:27):
I was running down and she was, as we call her,
the clacker girl. So and you know, we got to
know each other over that summer that we were filming
doing the movie. Come to find out, she has two
books out and she had gone through all the publicity
and the release parties and everything, and she's like, how
(04:48):
can you to do anything? I said, I didn't know
what to do, and I didn't know who to ask.
So she got me introduced to different people to get
my name out there, and she said, we have to
do something for the twenty fifth anniversary.
Speaker 3 (05:02):
So this coming November is twenty fifth anniversary.
Speaker 4 (05:05):
So we're doing press and everything to rep up to
the re release in November.
Speaker 1 (05:12):
Well, you know, when you were talking Wayne, I was
thinking life imitates art and I'm like, was it life
imitating art?
Speaker 2 (05:22):
Yeah?
Speaker 1 (05:22):
Because you you were watching Sibling Rivalry, And I'm about
to look that up because I do vaguely remember that
because I really like Christy Ally and I love movies,
So you know, I'm gonna look that up.
Speaker 2 (05:35):
But what we're.
Speaker 1 (05:36):
Done, and then I'm thinking, okay, so life is imitating art.
Speaker 2 (05:41):
And I was thinking, okay, so you've reat your novel.
Speaker 1 (05:47):
So now we've moved forward and you got published that day.
Speaker 2 (05:52):
Now you're learning or.
Speaker 1 (05:55):
You're working the process of an author with the you know,
doing the circuit, you know, getting your book out, getting yourself.
Speaker 2 (06:03):
In front of people.
Speaker 1 (06:04):
But I want to go back a little bit when
you talk about writing about real life experiences that can
be so powerful because we have individuals in the audience
who may be established writers and some who will listen
to this on the replay who are wanting to write
and they want to share their personal story. Were there
(06:27):
any moments during that writing process when you had those
stacks of legal paths that were especially tough for you
to write and you know, put down on paper for
other people to read.
Speaker 4 (06:40):
A lot of it it was hard because as I
was writing it was it was cathartic, so it would
get everything out and a lot of it came across
like a like a journal entry, right, but of course
you know I'm changing the names of the people. But
write it out and reread it. A lot of that
(07:02):
was hard because you know, I went through a lot
of different things already, and then to have to revisit
it it was painful. But once it was all over,
I'd gotten it all out, and so it was like
it was like the book, the published work, was a
bonus on top of me getting all this pain and
(07:23):
anguish out of my body.
Speaker 3 (07:26):
So it's like that was the I was gonna say
that that was the I was. It wasn't really.
Speaker 4 (07:34):
I didn't know what to expect. I've always been creative,
and I didn't know what to expect when I uh,
when I did it. But like, I just figured there
would be something I would write and be done with,
but it became so much more than that, and I
wasn't really expecting. I was happy, I was proud, I
was excited, because I was like, I'm you can get
something from me on Amazon.
Speaker 3 (07:56):
But it took so long. I mean, you know, I
got it done. I started writing in ninety five.
Speaker 4 (08:02):
And it was published in two thousand and I was
happy with that at that point, not thinking it could
go this far.
Speaker 1 (08:10):
Mhm.
Speaker 2 (08:13):
What I was gonna say when was?
Speaker 1 (08:17):
And I was gonna ask because I understand that you
said it was cathodic for you and then you had
a work product that could benefit other people. Were you
ready though at that point, not the work product, well, maybe.
Speaker 2 (08:35):
The work product, but were you ready?
Speaker 1 (08:37):
Because I believe we all have stories, you know, and
I've shared my story and I shared it very openly
that I was. I was, let's say, at the age
of four. I was bullied as a child, bullied as adult,
lost my sight when I was in the sixth grade.
Some of my uncle shot and killed are in front
of us.
Speaker 2 (08:55):
But I shared my story.
Speaker 1 (08:57):
But I was ready to share my So when you
were writing in the legal past, were you ready to
share the story or did your readiness come through that
cathartic writing process.
Speaker 3 (09:16):
When I wrote it.
Speaker 4 (09:17):
Well, the thing is, I've always been I've always been
told I'm an oversharer, I will tell everything, and yet
this happened, and this happened next, and you know, not
necessarily looking for sympathy or anything. So when I when
I wrote it, I wasn't even thinking about that. And
it's funny when you said that, it reminded me of
when I went to the to the book club that
(09:41):
I was about. They started asking me questions and I
said the things that were asking me, I'm going I
didn't even think about that, because they pointed out that
up to a certain chapter, Chuck, the character's name is
Chuck Deville, that Chuck was one way and then once
(10:01):
he met rock Sand then he was this way, and
they did you do that on purpose? And I was like,
I didn't even realize I did that. But and that's
when you said how the work could help other people.
I wasn't even thinking about it. I was it was
really selfish in me at the beginning. All I'm doing
is writing and getting it out of me because it's
(10:21):
driving me crazy. But then to find out that it
helps somebody, that that literally blew me away because I
wasn't no, I was not expecting that.
Speaker 2 (10:30):
Well, you know, have you read your book recently?
Speaker 4 (10:35):
Yes, because I'm working on list has given me me
the stinky right.
Speaker 3 (10:39):
Now, Yes I am.
Speaker 4 (10:40):
I am reading it because I'm supposed to be working
on the audiobook, but I've left. I've read it maybe
a couple of months ago, and I'm it's funny. Every
time I read it, I go, that was a really
good book.
Speaker 1 (10:54):
And I asked the question because I know every time
I pick up something, it could be anything, it could
be a scripture in the body, but I always get
something different from it. And when the ladies in the
book club are saying, well did you know that? Did
you really plan to do this?
Speaker 2 (11:10):
And You're thinking, well, I didn't even know I did that, right,
And that's.
Speaker 1 (11:13):
What I'm like, We have you now gone back read
it and sat with the plot and how you did
your twist and your turns.
Speaker 2 (11:23):
And my mentor was saying, give yourself a pat on
the back.
Speaker 1 (11:28):
That you were that created, but you weren't even thinking
that when in your conscious mind. It was that unconscious
mind that was really weaving the story in such a
way that the audience is fascinating.
Speaker 4 (11:43):
Right, And it's funny, you said, because granted every time
I read it, like, oh, this is great, blah blah blah.
But I never looked at it like people are gonna
love this. I looked at it like I did something.
I wrote a good paper, you know, I wrote a
good report or whatever. But and like when I wrote it,
my mom, I let her read it, and I was
(12:07):
nervous about that, but I let her read it.
Speaker 3 (12:09):
She said, Wayne, it's good. I'm like, you have to
say that. You're my mom.
Speaker 4 (12:13):
And anytime I would hear people go, oh this is good,
I'm like, they're just being nice.
Speaker 3 (12:18):
Call the space fade.
Speaker 4 (12:19):
I've always suffered from low self esteem and having this talent.
I looked at it like, well, yeah, but it's just
me now I have I have three I have three sons,
and my youngest son is the same way. People absolutely
love this kid. Love this kid, love just about everything
(12:44):
he does. And he's like, well, you just saying that,
you're just being nice, And it like breaks my heart
when I hear him, because I'm like, no, you are awesome.
And as soon as I say it, I'm like, don't
you remember hearing that before? So it's like, yeah, it's
it's to me. Back then, it was yeah, I wrote
a book, and a lot of people are like, oh
(13:05):
my god, you're an author.
Speaker 3 (13:07):
I'm like, yeah, thinking like it's.
Speaker 4 (13:09):
Just something that I did once, not realizing the impact
that it has on people. And now this this far
into the ino the future, looking at it and hearing
people talk about it, I go, well, I guess it
was more than just for me.
Speaker 3 (13:25):
Well what did you you?
Speaker 1 (13:26):
Well, now, maybe not really. What was your hope that
the readers would take away from the story.
Speaker 3 (13:32):
Nothing. I was just I wrote a story. I was like,
here you go.
Speaker 4 (13:36):
But and see, having this conversation it makes me think
about stuff. It makes me think about the fact. What
got how I got into becoming a screenwriter because I
went to this church I went to. I was in
the drama ministry, So you know, you're doing the stuff
not thinking anything.
Speaker 3 (13:55):
I'm like, I like to write.
Speaker 4 (13:56):
So we're writing and this guy that was in the
ministry comes up and goes, Wayne, I'm gonna be in
a movie.
Speaker 3 (14:00):
I'm like, Oh, that's sweet, blah blah blah blah blah.
Speaker 4 (14:02):
And the guy that's making the movie goes to this
church and I go, oh, all right, cool, and then
he goes but he doesn't know how to make a movie.
And I said what do you mean. He said, he
doesn't know how to write a movie. So I told
him about your book. I'm like, okay, and I gave
gave him my copy and he read it. No, he said,
and he's gonna call you. And I said, that's fine.
He called me that week and he said, I read
(14:24):
your book. I want you to write my movie, and
at some point I want to turn your book into
a movie.
Speaker 3 (14:32):
Twenty five years ago, think nothing of it. I'm still
in contact.
Speaker 4 (14:38):
With that os Leon of IMIL Productions here in Columbus, Ohio,
still in contact with him.
Speaker 3 (14:43):
He's the reason.
Speaker 4 (14:45):
Giving him that book was the reason I got into screenwriting.
Speaker 3 (14:50):
No thoughts, no plans. After when I wrote him like,
here's a book.
Speaker 2 (14:55):
I got on my sister, you could I just love it.
Speaker 3 (14:59):
When he definitely knew what he was doing, I had
no clue. I had no idea.
Speaker 2 (15:10):
Quote that way.
Speaker 1 (15:12):
Since you talked about this gentleman and the potential screenplay,
I know you work on the audio.
Speaker 2 (15:18):
Now.
Speaker 1 (15:20):
Do you feel that with mainstream literature there's a well,
some people would say there's a lack of diversity, particularly
when it comes to love and identity.
Speaker 2 (15:32):
And personal growth.
Speaker 1 (15:35):
How do you think that urban contemporary could help fill
that gap, nor.
Speaker 2 (15:40):
What you know now. I don't want you to think
about when you wrote.
Speaker 1 (15:43):
It, because you were writing from a different mindset and
let you speak. I want to say this, I'm a
firm believer in time, God's time, because sometimes we think.
Speaker 2 (15:56):
We're ready, but we're not ready yet and.
Speaker 1 (15:59):
They're still experiences that we have to have. So now
that we're twenty five years later and the world is
different too, yes, how we see that it might help
fill that gap.
Speaker 4 (16:09):
Well, Oh, as you were saying that, all these things
are popping in my.
Speaker 3 (16:14):
Head, so there are where do I start? There's there
are a lot of different genres.
Speaker 4 (16:23):
In modern literature, and I have created my own.
Speaker 3 (16:31):
I feel like I've created my own meat.
Speaker 4 (16:35):
In literature because again, this is all I'm smiling a
lot because I'm thinking about how all this came together.
When I was working on the screenplay, then trying to
write other screenplays for as that, I am l this
guy who was.
Speaker 3 (16:51):
Another producer he was working with.
Speaker 4 (16:55):
I'm not not going to say any names because I
don't know what happened, but he was working with a
writer from Columbus who's like known across the country.
Speaker 3 (17:07):
Across around the world, I'm guessing.
Speaker 4 (17:09):
And you know, I gave him a copy of our
Kids Centbrary and he read it and he said, yeah,
this is not the same as what we're doing, because
he said, yeah, what we're writing is definitely ghetto lit.
Speaker 3 (17:20):
First time I'd ever heard that, Yeah, ghetto you know literature.
Speaker 4 (17:27):
Right, And in the back of my head, I'm like,
I'm definitely not ghetto. So I was like, yeah, I
don't know that urbicantembrary would fit with that. I'm not
your average bear like looking at me. If people see
(17:48):
see me, they have no idea what's going on inside,
because I am so not a stereotype that is, it's wild.
So I wrote this book from at the point at
the time.
Speaker 3 (18:00):
I wrote it.
Speaker 4 (18:00):
I wrote it like from the pov of where.
Speaker 3 (18:03):
I wanted to be.
Speaker 4 (18:04):
It's nice, you know, nice job, nice place to live,
a nice car, you know, And that was And I
don't even think they use the word buppy anymore, but
I called mine buppy litt because there's a certain there's
a certain level that the characters have in this book
(18:28):
and in the sequel, and you know, it's kind of like, Okay,
it's kind of like the opposite of there are other
people wanted to make Urban Temporary into a movie, but
I've seen the other movies that they had done, and
(18:49):
there was always a rape, there was always.
Speaker 3 (18:54):
Drug dealer that, and I'm like, that is so not
what this is.
Speaker 4 (19:00):
So I kept trying to fit into those boxes. And
after a while, I'm like, I have my I just
got to make my own box buppy lit. And that's
where I am with this, And like and the the
the person who's movie I worked on two years ago,
uh Mark Cummings with a Walk on Water Entertainment. The book.
(19:21):
The movie we did is called When Three Become One
And I was running ning sound and through the whole process,
I'm listening to the actors and I'm reading the script
and this and that, and I said, this is buffy Lit.
If buppy Lit were a movie, it's that level. I mean,
you know, it's a great story, but it's it's and
(19:42):
that is that's the level. That's the level in my head.
I'm like, this is definitely not ghetto lit. This is
buppy Litt. And when I looked at Mark's other films,
I look and I'm watching you know, his progression as
he becomes uh makes more movies. And I'm like, that's
the exactly the same lane.
Speaker 3 (20:02):
And I don't.
Speaker 4 (20:03):
I haven't even asked Mark if you know if he
has a niche or a genre that he considers it.
But I thought, that's where urban Contemporary is. That's where
my next two books are in that same, that same realm.
Speaker 2 (20:18):
Well, you know, I want to say this because as
you were talking.
Speaker 1 (20:22):
I got a download Protect your It said baby. But
I'm gonna say, child, you gotta protect your child. Urban
Contemporary is your child.
Speaker 3 (20:31):
Yes, and you have to protect it.
Speaker 2 (20:33):
You gotta protect it.
Speaker 1 (20:35):
And you kind of alluded to this already, but I
want I want you to be a little more specific
with it because what I'm here is at this moment
in time. So you know, we do stuff because I
do it too. And I look at him like, oh.
Speaker 2 (20:49):
Did I write that? Yeah, you're out of it. I
didn't realize I was writing that at the time.
Speaker 3 (20:54):
It seems to me.
Speaker 1 (20:57):
That with this child, this baby, there are certain misconceptions,
are social norms that you're challenging through this novel. And
that's the reason why I say you got to protect
the baby. So can you speak on that just a
little bit.
Speaker 3 (21:16):
Yes.
Speaker 4 (21:19):
I always go back to the video I saw a
couple of months ago, and the man was talking about
how black men you know what our challenges are, and
you can't act a certain way, you can't be a
certain way without being judged. And when I started video
it like, I was like, that's exactly what I'm talking about.
Speaker 3 (21:38):
Like this book, you.
Speaker 4 (21:40):
See, as Lisa, as my girlfriend said, you see it
from a man's point of view. You see the pain
from a man's point of view, because any other time
we're we're not allowed to be emotional. We're not allowed
to be sad, we're not allowed to be silly, we're
not allowed to be happy. So as the guy in
that video was saying, you have to be stoic at
(22:00):
all times in order to be accepted. I remember I
have a I had a dog whose name was Chuck,
named after the.
Speaker 3 (22:10):
Character, and a little fluffy corgy.
Speaker 4 (22:12):
Right, And some guy was moving out of my apartment
complex and he had a pit bull that was as
tall as me.
Speaker 3 (22:21):
But the pit bull loved me.
Speaker 4 (22:22):
Every time he saw me, it jumped on me and
blah blah blah, and he had to move and couldn't
keep the dog. He said, you want to take him.
I'm like, I don't think Chuck is gonna deal well
with this dog. And he made a comment, so you
take this when you get you a man's dog fullift,
and I'm like okay.
Speaker 3 (22:41):
And then at the time.
Speaker 4 (22:43):
I told him, I said, yeah, Lisa basically will never
visit me again if I keep this dog because she
doesn't like pitbulls. She gonna come back. Don't let her
push you around. And I'm sitting there going, it's not
about that that I'm that guy. I'm gonna check I'm
you know, And and a lot of people look down
(23:03):
because of that. Think I've been looked down upon for
being a good person, for asking questions instead of just
ordering people around and saying this is what you're gonna do.
Speaker 3 (23:14):
And this is what you're not gonna do. I'm not him.
So that urban semper is going to challenge that. I
looked at people.
Speaker 4 (23:25):
People who haven't read it will look at it and go,
what kind of man is this?
Speaker 3 (23:29):
And what kind of man is that? That is me?
It's this is the type of person I am. I
am I'm not.
Speaker 4 (23:38):
So I can be selfish selfish, but I'm more selfless
because if I'm in this relationship, I want you to
have the best and I want the best. It's not
all about me. But that's looked down. Fine, that's looked
down as as weak and oh and so I always
(23:59):
have to says Lisa, keeps saying, this is gonna be
a best seller. This is gonna be because you're gonna
speak to a lot of women because women don't know
this side. A lot of women are.
Speaker 3 (24:11):
Just like all men and dogs because of this, this,
this and this. And she told me.
Speaker 2 (24:19):
I loved Okay.
Speaker 3 (24:22):
She said.
Speaker 4 (24:26):
She used to have a she had a friend that
they used to sit around over the weekends and just talk,
you know, have conversations, and they would say, I wonder
if there are any men sitting around having this same conversation.
So she's like, she said, women are gonna love this.
They're gonna eat this up because they get to see
the other side. And of course, mister low self esteem, okay,
(24:49):
if you say so, but people are people are people
are responding, people are saying things just like that, saying
we needed to see this side.
Speaker 2 (24:58):
So and you know, I agree with Lisa.
Speaker 1 (25:05):
I think that I I think I think men and
women are going to be recepted. And I think the
reason I say that is I said, for multiple reasons,
you know, being considered. I go back to the gentleman
that was moving out and now now I'm gonna give
(25:25):
you a man's dog.
Speaker 2 (25:27):
What is a man's dog?
Speaker 4 (25:29):
Uh?
Speaker 1 (25:29):
You know we hit the same statements as relates to women.
Uh you know you got to I got to be
the uh superwoman.
Speaker 2 (25:37):
Well, I can't be a superwoman because I'm a human being.
Speaker 1 (25:41):
You know, I'm just I'm fragile, but not fragile the
way you think. But I can only do so much
at the same time. Also, but when you talk about that,
I'm thinking considered. Well, to me, that's matters. And I
think sometimes we've gotten away from just regular old man
and being considerate of someone, as you said, just ordering them.
(26:05):
And it's very easy because we just be moving so
fast and it's the way we socialize now. But you know,
urban contemporary makes us kind of take a step back
and look at things differently. And I think this thing
of being self less and you know, my thing for
(26:25):
the twenty twenty five and our own problem is about respect.
And so what I will say to you when you
talk about the low self esteem. We are taught to
respect everyone else. But as I said, and I said
this online, and I said to my mother auf blind,
but you didn't teach me how to respect myself. I
(26:47):
don't know what that looks like. And sometimes it means
I'm telling myself.
Speaker 2 (26:52):
That I'm good enough.
Speaker 1 (26:54):
Did you talk about your youngest son. I have to
teach myself that. I have to teach my children that
because society will say that you've got to fit into
this mode. And if I don't fit into that mode,
then does that mean that I'm less than? And I
just see there's so many opportunities for conversations to ignite
(27:15):
and go so many different ways as a result of
urban contemporary. So I think that, you know, I believe
the book is gonna be well received with the relaunch. Now,
you know, I got to get this question out. Are
you gonna add any additional information in there that folks
might want to get the new edition?
Speaker 3 (27:35):
It's going basically the same book. But I figured.
Speaker 2 (27:41):
You are, so you are?
Speaker 3 (27:43):
You do know what way?
Speaker 2 (27:44):
I'm not gonna buy into that. I'm not gonna buy
into it.
Speaker 1 (27:47):
It makes good sense, but I'm not buying into that,
but I'm not gonna sign off on that. But you know,
but truthfully, though, you can also leverage some of the
insight that you gain from individuals who will have braided
in the past and who will be reading it, because
that will help you to share it with different audiences.
(28:11):
Because I see so many different Like I said before,
I see so much that can come out of a
heart maybe I don't know if I should say it,
but a different type of story. And I'm gonna say
heartwarming because heartwarming means different things to different people, you know.
Speaker 2 (28:30):
And to be able to see the other side of men.
Speaker 1 (28:34):
Of color, yeah, and I'm gonna say of color, not
black men, men of color, because men of color, and
I'm using that very loosely. There're gonna be lots of
men that will see themselves in there. There will be
lots of women that will see either their mate or
their brother or their father, regardless of their ethnicity race.
(28:58):
They will see that in the vigil.
Speaker 2 (29:00):
In the character, and that then sparks.
Speaker 1 (29:04):
The dialogue that we need because I think that we
can never forget the importance of our our men and
our facts at least, because we need be both the male,
the man and the woman. It was the man and
woman family, right, and we need both of them working together.
(29:28):
So now for those who might be just discovering your work, yes,
where can they get a copy of You've mentioned it already,
but where can they get a copy of Urban Contemporary?
Speaker 3 (29:40):
It's available on Amazon.
Speaker 4 (29:43):
That it's either you can look up Urban Contemporary, but
it's easier to look up Urban Contemporary w R. Franklin
because just Urban Temporary will take you. You got to
go through a bunch of different titles to get to mind.
If it doesn't come up w R. Franklin, do Wayne
Franklin or contemporary Urban Contemporary?
Speaker 1 (30:02):
Well, I know it's there because I downloaded my e
book a couple of days ago, so I know it's there,
And I just.
Speaker 2 (30:09):
Put Urban Contemporary and.
Speaker 1 (30:14):
Talking about yes and show that the picture yah because
it's the picture of the Gentleman.
Speaker 2 (30:19):
So that but they'll know what it looks like. You're
going to see the.
Speaker 1 (30:22):
Picture of the Gentleman because I, like I said, I
downloaded and I just put Urban Contemporary, uh in Amazon,
and I was able to download the e book. So
waye if you can one last thing that you'd want
to leave with the audience. What would that be.
Speaker 4 (30:45):
I guess I would say it's okay to be yourself.
It's okay to be the you that got made. You
don't have to try to fit into other other people's
uh mold. Like you said, other people's what they expect.
And yes, it's already it's okay to be yourself. You
(31:07):
don't have to because a lot of people say, oh,
I love you, I love you just the way you
are as long as you do this in this and this,
You don't have to follow that list.
Speaker 3 (31:15):
Just be you.
Speaker 1 (31:18):
And that's a powerful message. Way to be you who
you are, Love you for who you are, accept you,
and don't allow other people to.
Speaker 2 (31:28):
Change you because you're uniquely created.
Speaker 1 (31:31):
And I think the Urban Contemporary shows that that book
was uniquely created out of your life experiences and it's
resonating with audiences. It resonated then, it's resonnating now, it's
going to resonate in November when you re release it.
Speaker 2 (31:48):
And to think you are just being you.
Speaker 3 (31:52):
Yes, I didn't think about that.
Speaker 1 (31:55):
Yes, it's being well, wait till audience how they can
stay in contact with what you're doing so they don't miss.
Speaker 4 (32:03):
Anything okay, I'm I'm on Instagram under this is WR Franklin.
I am on Facebook under w R Franklin Media, and
I also have a YouTube channel YouTube channel and this
WR Franklin Media. Or you can go to my website
which is WR Franklin Media dot weeblee dot com.
Speaker 1 (32:30):
Well, Wayne, thank you so much for joining me today
and sharing our big contemporary with my audience and your
journey and how you're really going to.
Speaker 2 (32:41):
Be changing how we view literature that.
Speaker 1 (32:45):
Buck and I cannot wait to see where everything is.
It's always a pleasure to have innovative individuals talk with
TODs and so I thank you so much for joining
me today.
Speaker 3 (33:01):
I enjoyed this.
Speaker 1 (33:03):
Thank you you, and also thank you to our audience.
Speaker 2 (33:06):
Thank you everyone for joining us.
Speaker 1 (33:08):
So when I know says if they don't invite you
to the table, create your own table, and you know
they're right, you create your own box. But we've been
doing that forever, I think sometimes we forget that we
have that ability. And that's another reason I think it's
so timely that Urban Contemporary is about to be relaunched,
(33:30):
because it shows again that we have what we need
to create what we want. We just got to believe
it because he's yes. So again, thank you so much, Wayne,
and thank everybody for joining me. And until next time,
before you go try and take care of somebody else,
(33:51):
please make sure you take care of yourself first.
Welcome to this edition of Talk with Taz. I am
your host, doctor Teresa Smith, also known as Doctor Taz.
Today I'm joined by a powerhouse and storytelling. He's an author,
he's a screenwriter, and he's even a publicist, and that
is Wayne Franklin. Wayne is celebrating the twenty fifth anniversary
(00:22):
of his novel he's re releasing it Urban Contemporary, and
today we want to talk a little bit about the
true events behind the book and give this unique perspective.
You know, Wayne, you know, to be twenty five years
in the game and then ready to re release something
(00:42):
that introduced you to almost say air quotes, society or
to the world, that's something to really be proud of,
because a lot of people they don't last twenty five years.
Speaker 2 (00:55):
So first of all, let me give you your accolades.
Speaker 1 (00:57):
There you have your really like a shiny start for
those of us who are still somewhat bathed in this community.
So welcome to the show officially, Thank you, and we're
gonna just jump right in.
Speaker 2 (01:12):
Okay, now, waye, your novel.
Speaker 1 (01:16):
I've been Contemporary. It's based on true events. What inspired
you to transform your personal experiences into a novel?
Speaker 3 (01:25):
Well, when I wrote the novel.
Speaker 4 (01:27):
Well before I wrote the novel, I was in my
first marriage and it was not great, and I was
pretty depressed about it. And I'm a big movie movie buff,
and I was watching this movie that called Sibling Rivalry.
Speaker 3 (01:43):
Came out a long time ago and it had Kersey
Alley in it.
Speaker 4 (01:46):
But the plot of that movie she her husband was
a doctor and all this family were doctors, and they
ignored her a lot. So she wound up having an
affair with somebody she met in a bar not and
once they had the affair, he died at the hotel.
Come to find out the personality affair with was her
(02:08):
brother in law that she had never met before.
Speaker 3 (02:10):
Blah blah blah blah blah.
Speaker 4 (02:12):
So you go through that whole thing, and at the end,
she's really depressed because of what happened, and her husband
leaves and she goes into a deep depression. Doesn't know
what to do, so she starts writing and the movie ends.
She wrote a best seller getting all that out, and
I said I should try doing that, and I just
had took to legal pads and started writing. And after
(02:36):
a while I had a stack of legal pads about
this big and then it transferred that over to a
stack of typing paper about that big and I.
Speaker 3 (02:45):
Stuck in the shoe boxes. I don't know what else
to do with it.
Speaker 4 (02:48):
And at the while all this happened, that marriage came
to an end, and the person that I was dating then,
who became my second wife, we were at Barnes and
Noble one day and she called me over and said look,
and there was a sign on the shelf to say
get published today. And I said, okay, let's figure this out.
(03:11):
And that was twenty five years ago. And I got
published and got a copy of.
Speaker 3 (03:21):
A book in the mail, and I was all happy,
and that was pretty much it.
Speaker 4 (03:24):
I didn't know what else to do with it, so
I didn't do any press or any publicity. I didn't
do anything with it. One of the ladies that I
worked with at the time, her mother had a book club,
so they all bought the book and did it for
their book club. And that was like the height of
my fame at that point, because I was excited. I said,
(03:45):
people are reading this and I get to talk about it.
And I didn't do anything else from there. That was
just my claim to fame.
Speaker 3 (03:49):
YEA.
Speaker 4 (03:50):
I wrote a book and you can get it on Amazon.
And that was the end of it. And I didn't know.
I didn't know what else to do. So fast forward
through the second marriage stars to fall apart, and you know,
people knew I wrote the book, and I've written screenplays
based on the fact that I wrote a book, and oh,
can you write my script?
Speaker 3 (04:10):
So I became a screenwriter.
Speaker 4 (04:12):
And I never did anything else in my book except say, yeah,
I wrote this, and that was pretty much the end
of it. And then as this marriage fell apart, I
met my current girlfriend while working.
Speaker 3 (04:26):
On a movie set.
Speaker 4 (04:27):
I was running down and she was, as we call her,
the clacker girl. So and you know, we got to
know each other over that summer that we were filming
doing the movie. Come to find out, she has two
books out and she had gone through all the publicity
and the release parties and everything, and she's like, how
(04:48):
can you to do anything? I said, I didn't know
what to do, and I didn't know who to ask.
So she got me introduced to different people to get
my name out there, and she said, we have to
do something for the twenty fifth anniversary.
Speaker 3 (05:02):
So this coming November is twenty fifth anniversary.
Speaker 4 (05:05):
So we're doing press and everything to rep up to
the re release in November.
Speaker 1 (05:12):
Well, you know, when you were talking Wayne, I was
thinking life imitates art and I'm like, was it life
imitating art?
Speaker 2 (05:22):
Yeah?
Speaker 1 (05:22):
Because you you were watching Sibling Rivalry, And I'm about
to look that up because I do vaguely remember that
because I really like Christy Ally and I love movies,
So you know, I'm gonna look that up.
Speaker 2 (05:35):
But what we're.
Speaker 1 (05:36):
Done, and then I'm thinking, okay, so life is imitating art.
Speaker 2 (05:41):
And I was thinking, okay, so you've reat your novel.
Speaker 1 (05:47):
So now we've moved forward and you got published that day.
Speaker 2 (05:52):
Now you're learning or.
Speaker 1 (05:55):
You're working the process of an author with the you know,
doing the circuit, you know, getting your book out, getting yourself.
Speaker 2 (06:03):
In front of people.
Speaker 1 (06:04):
But I want to go back a little bit when
you talk about writing about real life experiences that can
be so powerful because we have individuals in the audience
who may be established writers and some who will listen
to this on the replay who are wanting to write
and they want to share their personal story. Were there
(06:27):
any moments during that writing process when you had those
stacks of legal paths that were especially tough for you
to write and you know, put down on paper for
other people to read.
Speaker 4 (06:40):
A lot of it it was hard because as I
was writing it was it was cathartic, so it would
get everything out and a lot of it came across
like a like a journal entry, right, but of course
you know I'm changing the names of the people. But
write it out and reread it. A lot of that
(07:02):
was hard because you know, I went through a lot
of different things already, and then to have to revisit
it it was painful. But once it was all over,
I'd gotten it all out, and so it was like
it was like the book, the published work, was a
bonus on top of me getting all this pain and
(07:23):
anguish out of my body.
Speaker 3 (07:26):
So it's like that was the I was gonna say
that that was the I was. It wasn't really.
Speaker 4 (07:34):
I didn't know what to expect. I've always been creative,
and I didn't know what to expect when I uh,
when I did it. But like, I just figured there
would be something I would write and be done with,
but it became so much more than that, and I
wasn't really expecting. I was happy, I was proud, I
was excited, because I was like, I'm you can get
something from me on Amazon.
Speaker 3 (07:56):
But it took so long. I mean, you know, I
got it done. I started writing in ninety five.
Speaker 4 (08:02):
And it was published in two thousand and I was
happy with that at that point, not thinking it could
go this far.
Speaker 1 (08:10):
Mhm.
Speaker 2 (08:13):
What I was gonna say when was?
Speaker 1 (08:17):
And I was gonna ask because I understand that you
said it was cathodic for you and then you had
a work product that could benefit other people. Were you
ready though at that point, not the work product, well, maybe.
Speaker 2 (08:35):
The work product, but were you ready?
Speaker 1 (08:37):
Because I believe we all have stories, you know, and
I've shared my story and I shared it very openly
that I was. I was, let's say, at the age
of four. I was bullied as a child, bullied as adult,
lost my sight when I was in the sixth grade.
Some of my uncle shot and killed are in front
of us.
Speaker 2 (08:55):
But I shared my story.
Speaker 1 (08:57):
But I was ready to share my So when you
were writing in the legal past, were you ready to
share the story or did your readiness come through that
cathartic writing process.
Speaker 3 (09:16):
When I wrote it.
Speaker 4 (09:17):
Well, the thing is, I've always been I've always been
told I'm an oversharer, I will tell everything, and yet
this happened, and this happened next, and you know, not
necessarily looking for sympathy or anything. So when I when
I wrote it, I wasn't even thinking about that. And
it's funny when you said that, it reminded me of
when I went to the to the book club that
(09:41):
I was about. They started asking me questions and I
said the things that were asking me, I'm going I
didn't even think about that, because they pointed out that
up to a certain chapter, Chuck, the character's name is
Chuck Deville, that Chuck was one way and then once
(10:01):
he met rock Sand then he was this way, and
they did you do that on purpose? And I was like,
I didn't even realize I did that. But and that's
when you said how the work could help other people.
I wasn't even thinking about it. I was it was
really selfish in me at the beginning. All I'm doing
is writing and getting it out of me because it's
(10:21):
driving me crazy. But then to find out that it
helps somebody, that that literally blew me away because I
wasn't no, I was not expecting that.
Speaker 2 (10:30):
Well, you know, have you read your book recently?
Speaker 4 (10:35):
Yes, because I'm working on list has given me me
the stinky right.
Speaker 3 (10:39):
Now, Yes I am.
Speaker 4 (10:40):
I am reading it because I'm supposed to be working
on the audiobook, but I've left. I've read it maybe
a couple of months ago, and I'm it's funny. Every
time I read it, I go, that was a really
good book.
Speaker 1 (10:54):
And I asked the question because I know every time
I pick up something, it could be anything, it could
be a scripture in the body, but I always get
something different from it. And when the ladies in the
book club are saying, well did you know that? Did
you really plan to do this?
Speaker 2 (11:10):
And You're thinking, well, I didn't even know I did that, right,
And that's.
Speaker 1 (11:13):
What I'm like, We have you now gone back read
it and sat with the plot and how you did
your twist and your turns.
Speaker 2 (11:23):
And my mentor was saying, give yourself a pat on
the back.
Speaker 1 (11:28):
That you were that created, but you weren't even thinking
that when in your conscious mind. It was that unconscious
mind that was really weaving the story in such a
way that the audience is fascinating.
Speaker 4 (11:43):
Right, And it's funny, you said, because granted every time
I read it, like, oh, this is great, blah blah blah.
But I never looked at it like people are gonna
love this. I looked at it like I did something.
I wrote a good paper, you know, I wrote a
good report or whatever. But and like when I wrote it,
my mom, I let her read it, and I was
(12:07):
nervous about that, but I let her read it.
Speaker 3 (12:09):
She said, Wayne, it's good. I'm like, you have to
say that. You're my mom.
Speaker 4 (12:13):
And anytime I would hear people go, oh this is good,
I'm like, they're just being nice.
Speaker 3 (12:18):
Call the space fade.
Speaker 4 (12:19):
I've always suffered from low self esteem and having this talent.
I looked at it like, well, yeah, but it's just
me now I have I have three I have three sons,
and my youngest son is the same way. People absolutely
love this kid. Love this kid, love just about everything
(12:44):
he does. And he's like, well, you just saying that,
you're just being nice, And it like breaks my heart
when I hear him, because I'm like, no, you are awesome.
And as soon as I say it, I'm like, don't
you remember hearing that before? So it's like, yeah, it's
it's to me. Back then, it was yeah, I wrote
a book, and a lot of people are like, oh
(13:05):
my god, you're an author.
Speaker 3 (13:07):
I'm like, yeah, thinking like it's.
Speaker 4 (13:09):
Just something that I did once, not realizing the impact
that it has on people. And now this this far
into the ino the future, looking at it and hearing
people talk about it, I go, well, I guess it
was more than just for me.
Speaker 3 (13:25):
Well what did you you?
Speaker 1 (13:26):
Well, now, maybe not really. What was your hope that
the readers would take away from the story.
Speaker 3 (13:32):
Nothing. I was just I wrote a story. I was like,
here you go.
Speaker 4 (13:36):
But and see, having this conversation it makes me think
about stuff. It makes me think about the fact. What
got how I got into becoming a screenwriter because I
went to this church I went to. I was in
the drama ministry, So you know, you're doing the stuff
not thinking anything.
Speaker 3 (13:55):
I'm like, I like to write.
Speaker 4 (13:56):
So we're writing and this guy that was in the
ministry comes up and goes, Wayne, I'm gonna be in
a movie.
Speaker 3 (14:00):
I'm like, Oh, that's sweet, blah blah blah blah blah.
Speaker 4 (14:02):
And the guy that's making the movie goes to this
church and I go, oh, all right, cool, and then
he goes but he doesn't know how to make a movie.
And I said what do you mean. He said, he
doesn't know how to write a movie. So I told
him about your book. I'm like, okay, and I gave
gave him my copy and he read it. No, he said,
and he's gonna call you. And I said, that's fine.
He called me that week and he said, I read
(14:24):
your book. I want you to write my movie, and
at some point I want to turn your book into
a movie.
Speaker 3 (14:32):
Twenty five years ago, think nothing of it. I'm still
in contact.
Speaker 4 (14:38):
With that os Leon of IMIL Productions here in Columbus, Ohio,
still in contact with him.
Speaker 3 (14:43):
He's the reason.
Speaker 4 (14:45):
Giving him that book was the reason I got into screenwriting.
Speaker 3 (14:50):
No thoughts, no plans. After when I wrote him like,
here's a book.
Speaker 2 (14:55):
I got on my sister, you could I just love it.
Speaker 3 (14:59):
When he definitely knew what he was doing, I had
no clue. I had no idea.
Speaker 2 (15:10):
Quote that way.
Speaker 1 (15:12):
Since you talked about this gentleman and the potential screenplay,
I know you work on the audio.
Speaker 2 (15:18):
Now.
Speaker 1 (15:20):
Do you feel that with mainstream literature there's a well,
some people would say there's a lack of diversity, particularly
when it comes to love and identity.
Speaker 2 (15:32):
And personal growth.
Speaker 1 (15:35):
How do you think that urban contemporary could help fill
that gap, nor.
Speaker 2 (15:40):
What you know now. I don't want you to think
about when you wrote.
Speaker 1 (15:43):
It, because you were writing from a different mindset and
let you speak. I want to say this, I'm a
firm believer in time, God's time, because sometimes we think.
Speaker 2 (15:56):
We're ready, but we're not ready yet and.
Speaker 1 (15:59):
They're still experiences that we have to have. So now
that we're twenty five years later and the world is
different too, yes, how we see that it might help
fill that gap.
Speaker 4 (16:09):
Well, Oh, as you were saying that, all these things
are popping in my.
Speaker 3 (16:14):
Head, so there are where do I start? There's there
are a lot of different genres.
Speaker 4 (16:23):
In modern literature, and I have created my own.
Speaker 3 (16:31):
I feel like I've created my own meat.
Speaker 4 (16:35):
In literature because again, this is all I'm smiling a
lot because I'm thinking about how all this came together.
When I was working on the screenplay, then trying to
write other screenplays for as that, I am l this
guy who was.
Speaker 3 (16:51):
Another producer he was working with.
Speaker 4 (16:55):
I'm not not going to say any names because I
don't know what happened, but he was working with a
writer from Columbus who's like known across the country.
Speaker 3 (17:07):
Across around the world, I'm guessing.
Speaker 4 (17:09):
And you know, I gave him a copy of our
Kids Centbrary and he read it and he said, yeah,
this is not the same as what we're doing, because
he said, yeah, what we're writing is definitely ghetto lit.
Speaker 3 (17:20):
First time I'd ever heard that, Yeah, ghetto you know literature.
Speaker 4 (17:27):
Right, And in the back of my head, I'm like,
I'm definitely not ghetto. So I was like, yeah, I
don't know that urbicantembrary would fit with that. I'm not
your average bear like looking at me. If people see
(17:48):
see me, they have no idea what's going on inside,
because I am so not a stereotype that is, it's wild.
So I wrote this book from at the point at
the time.
Speaker 3 (18:00):
I wrote it.
Speaker 4 (18:00):
I wrote it like from the pov of where.
Speaker 3 (18:03):
I wanted to be.
Speaker 4 (18:04):
It's nice, you know, nice job, nice place to live,
a nice car, you know, And that was And I
don't even think they use the word buppy anymore, but
I called mine buppy litt because there's a certain there's
a certain level that the characters have in this book
(18:28):
and in the sequel, and you know, it's kind of like, Okay,
it's kind of like the opposite of there are other
people wanted to make Urban Temporary into a movie, but
I've seen the other movies that they had done, and
(18:49):
there was always a rape, there was always.
Speaker 3 (18:54):
Drug dealer that, and I'm like, that is so not
what this is.
Speaker 4 (19:00):
So I kept trying to fit into those boxes. And
after a while, I'm like, I have my I just
got to make my own box buppy lit. And that's
where I am with this, And like and the the
the person who's movie I worked on two years ago,
uh Mark Cummings with a Walk on Water Entertainment. The book.
(19:21):
The movie we did is called When Three Become One
And I was running ning sound and through the whole process,
I'm listening to the actors and I'm reading the script
and this and that, and I said, this is buffy Lit.
If buppy Lit were a movie, it's that level. I mean,
you know, it's a great story, but it's it's and
(19:42):
that is that's the level. That's the level in my head.
I'm like, this is definitely not ghetto lit. This is
buppy Litt. And when I looked at Mark's other films,
I look and I'm watching you know, his progression as
he becomes uh makes more movies. And I'm like, that's
the exactly the same lane.
Speaker 3 (20:02):
And I don't.
Speaker 4 (20:03):
I haven't even asked Mark if you know if he
has a niche or a genre that he considers it.
But I thought, that's where urban Contemporary is. That's where
my next two books are in that same, that same realm.
Speaker 2 (20:18):
Well, you know, I want to say this because as
you were talking.
Speaker 1 (20:22):
I got a download Protect your It said baby. But
I'm gonna say, child, you gotta protect your child. Urban
Contemporary is your child.
Speaker 3 (20:31):
Yes, and you have to protect it.
Speaker 2 (20:33):
You gotta protect it.
Speaker 1 (20:35):
And you kind of alluded to this already, but I
want I want you to be a little more specific
with it because what I'm here is at this moment
in time. So you know, we do stuff because I
do it too. And I look at him like, oh.
Speaker 2 (20:49):
Did I write that? Yeah, you're out of it. I
didn't realize I was writing that at the time.
Speaker 3 (20:54):
It seems to me.
Speaker 1 (20:57):
That with this child, this baby, there are certain misconceptions,
are social norms that you're challenging through this novel. And
that's the reason why I say you got to protect
the baby. So can you speak on that just a
little bit.
Speaker 3 (21:16):
Yes.
Speaker 4 (21:19):
I always go back to the video I saw a
couple of months ago, and the man was talking about
how black men you know what our challenges are, and
you can't act a certain way, you can't be a
certain way without being judged. And when I started video
it like, I was like, that's exactly what I'm talking about.
Speaker 3 (21:38):
Like this book, you.
Speaker 4 (21:40):
See, as Lisa, as my girlfriend said, you see it
from a man's point of view. You see the pain
from a man's point of view, because any other time
we're we're not allowed to be emotional. We're not allowed
to be sad, we're not allowed to be silly, we're
not allowed to be happy. So as the guy in
that video was saying, you have to be stoic at
(22:00):
all times in order to be accepted. I remember I
have a I had a dog whose name was Chuck,
named after the.
Speaker 3 (22:10):
Character, and a little fluffy corgy.
Speaker 4 (22:12):
Right, And some guy was moving out of my apartment
complex and he had a pit bull that was as
tall as me.
Speaker 3 (22:21):
But the pit bull loved me.
Speaker 4 (22:22):
Every time he saw me, it jumped on me and
blah blah blah, and he had to move and couldn't
keep the dog. He said, you want to take him.
I'm like, I don't think Chuck is gonna deal well
with this dog. And he made a comment, so you
take this when you get you a man's dog fullift,
and I'm like okay.
Speaker 3 (22:41):
And then at the time.
Speaker 4 (22:43):
I told him, I said, yeah, Lisa basically will never
visit me again if I keep this dog because she
doesn't like pitbulls. She gonna come back. Don't let her
push you around. And I'm sitting there going, it's not
about that that I'm that guy. I'm gonna check I'm
you know, And and a lot of people look down
(23:03):
because of that. Think I've been looked down upon for
being a good person, for asking questions instead of just
ordering people around and saying this is what you're gonna do.
Speaker 3 (23:14):
And this is what you're not gonna do. I'm not him.
So that urban semper is going to challenge that. I
looked at people.
Speaker 4 (23:25):
People who haven't read it will look at it and go,
what kind of man is this?
Speaker 3 (23:29):
And what kind of man is that? That is me?
It's this is the type of person I am. I
am I'm not.
Speaker 4 (23:38):
So I can be selfish selfish, but I'm more selfless
because if I'm in this relationship, I want you to
have the best and I want the best. It's not
all about me. But that's looked down. Fine, that's looked
down as as weak and oh and so I always
(23:59):
have to says Lisa, keeps saying, this is gonna be
a best seller. This is gonna be because you're gonna
speak to a lot of women because women don't know
this side. A lot of women are.
Speaker 3 (24:11):
Just like all men and dogs because of this, this,
this and this. And she told me.
Speaker 2 (24:19):
I loved Okay.
Speaker 3 (24:22):
She said.
Speaker 4 (24:26):
She used to have a she had a friend that
they used to sit around over the weekends and just talk,
you know, have conversations, and they would say, I wonder
if there are any men sitting around having this same conversation.
So she's like, she said, women are gonna love this.
They're gonna eat this up because they get to see
the other side. And of course, mister low self esteem, okay,
(24:49):
if you say so, but people are people are people
are responding, people are saying things just like that, saying
we needed to see this side.
Speaker 2 (24:58):
So and you know, I agree with Lisa.
Speaker 1 (25:05):
I think that I I think I think men and
women are going to be recepted. And I think the
reason I say that is I said, for multiple reasons,
you know, being considered. I go back to the gentleman
that was moving out and now now I'm gonna give
(25:25):
you a man's dog.
Speaker 2 (25:27):
What is a man's dog?
Speaker 4 (25:29):
Uh?
Speaker 1 (25:29):
You know we hit the same statements as relates to women.
Uh you know you got to I got to be
the uh superwoman.
Speaker 2 (25:37):
Well, I can't be a superwoman because I'm a human being.
Speaker 1 (25:41):
You know, I'm just I'm fragile, but not fragile the
way you think. But I can only do so much
at the same time. Also, but when you talk about that,
I'm thinking considered. Well, to me, that's matters. And I
think sometimes we've gotten away from just regular old man
and being considerate of someone, as you said, just ordering them.
(26:05):
And it's very easy because we just be moving so
fast and it's the way we socialize now. But you know,
urban contemporary makes us kind of take a step back
and look at things differently. And I think this thing
of being self less and you know, my thing for
(26:25):
the twenty twenty five and our own problem is about respect.
And so what I will say to you when you
talk about the low self esteem. We are taught to
respect everyone else. But as I said, and I said
this online, and I said to my mother auf blind,
but you didn't teach me how to respect myself. I
(26:47):
don't know what that looks like. And sometimes it means
I'm telling myself.
Speaker 2 (26:52):
That I'm good enough.
Speaker 1 (26:54):
Did you talk about your youngest son. I have to
teach myself that. I have to teach my children that
because society will say that you've got to fit into
this mode. And if I don't fit into that mode,
then does that mean that I'm less than? And I
just see there's so many opportunities for conversations to ignite
(27:15):
and go so many different ways as a result of
urban contemporary. So I think that, you know, I believe
the book is gonna be well received with the relaunch. Now,
you know, I got to get this question out. Are
you gonna add any additional information in there that folks
might want to get the new edition?
Speaker 3 (27:35):
It's going basically the same book. But I figured.
Speaker 2 (27:41):
You are, so you are?
Speaker 3 (27:43):
You do know what way?
Speaker 2 (27:44):
I'm not gonna buy into that. I'm not gonna buy
into it.
Speaker 1 (27:47):
It makes good sense, but I'm not buying into that,
but I'm not gonna sign off on that. But you know,
but truthfully, though, you can also leverage some of the
insight that you gain from individuals who will have braided
in the past and who will be reading it, because
that will help you to share it with different audiences.
(28:11):
Because I see so many different Like I said before,
I see so much that can come out of a
heart maybe I don't know if I should say it,
but a different type of story. And I'm gonna say
heartwarming because heartwarming means different things to different people, you know.
Speaker 2 (28:30):
And to be able to see the other side of men.
Speaker 1 (28:34):
Of color, yeah, and I'm gonna say of color, not
black men, men of color, because men of color, and
I'm using that very loosely. There're gonna be lots of
men that will see themselves in there. There will be
lots of women that will see either their mate or
their brother or their father, regardless of their ethnicity race.
(28:58):
They will see that in the vigil.
Speaker 2 (29:00):
In the character, and that then sparks.
Speaker 1 (29:04):
The dialogue that we need because I think that we
can never forget the importance of our our men and
our facts at least, because we need be both the male,
the man and the woman. It was the man and
woman family, right, and we need both of them working together.
(29:28):
So now for those who might be just discovering your work, yes,
where can they get a copy of You've mentioned it already,
but where can they get a copy of Urban Contemporary?
Speaker 3 (29:40):
It's available on Amazon.
Speaker 4 (29:43):
That it's either you can look up Urban Contemporary, but
it's easier to look up Urban Contemporary w R. Franklin
because just Urban Temporary will take you. You got to
go through a bunch of different titles to get to mind.
If it doesn't come up w R. Franklin, do Wayne
Franklin or contemporary Urban Contemporary?
Speaker 1 (30:02):
Well, I know it's there because I downloaded my e
book a couple of days ago, so I know it's there,
And I just.
Speaker 2 (30:09):
Put Urban Contemporary and.
Speaker 1 (30:14):
Talking about yes and show that the picture yah because
it's the picture of the Gentleman.
Speaker 2 (30:19):
So that but they'll know what it looks like. You're
going to see the.
Speaker 1 (30:22):
Picture of the Gentleman because I, like I said, I
downloaded and I just put Urban Contemporary, uh in Amazon,
and I was able to download the e book. So
waye if you can one last thing that you'd want
to leave with the audience. What would that be.
Speaker 4 (30:45):
I guess I would say it's okay to be yourself.
It's okay to be the you that got made. You
don't have to try to fit into other other people's
uh mold. Like you said, other people's what they expect.
And yes, it's already it's okay to be yourself. You
(31:07):
don't have to because a lot of people say, oh,
I love you, I love you just the way you
are as long as you do this in this and this,
You don't have to follow that list.
Speaker 3 (31:15):
Just be you.
Speaker 1 (31:18):
And that's a powerful message. Way to be you who
you are, Love you for who you are, accept you,
and don't allow other people to.
Speaker 2 (31:28):
Change you because you're uniquely created.
Speaker 1 (31:31):
And I think the Urban Contemporary shows that that book
was uniquely created out of your life experiences and it's
resonating with audiences. It resonated then, it's resonnating now, it's
going to resonate in November when you re release it.
Speaker 2 (31:48):
And to think you are just being you.
Speaker 3 (31:52):
Yes, I didn't think about that.
Speaker 1 (31:55):
Yes, it's being well, wait till audience how they can
stay in contact with what you're doing so they don't miss.
Speaker 4 (32:03):
Anything okay, I'm I'm on Instagram under this is WR Franklin.
I am on Facebook under w R Franklin Media, and
I also have a YouTube channel YouTube channel and this
WR Franklin Media. Or you can go to my website
which is WR Franklin Media dot weeblee dot com.
Speaker 1 (32:30):
Well, Wayne, thank you so much for joining me today
and sharing our big contemporary with my audience and your
journey and how you're really going to.
Speaker 2 (32:41):
Be changing how we view literature that.
Speaker 1 (32:45):
Buck and I cannot wait to see where everything is.
It's always a pleasure to have innovative individuals talk with
TODs and so I thank you so much for joining
me today.
Speaker 3 (33:01):
I enjoyed this.
Speaker 1 (33:03):
Thank you you, and also thank you to our audience.
Speaker 2 (33:06):
Thank you everyone for joining us.
Speaker 1 (33:08):
So when I know says if they don't invite you
to the table, create your own table, and you know
they're right, you create your own box. But we've been
doing that forever, I think sometimes we forget that we
have that ability. And that's another reason I think it's
so timely that Urban Contemporary is about to be relaunched,
(33:30):
because it shows again that we have what we need
to create what we want. We just got to believe
it because he's yes. So again, thank you so much, Wayne,
and thank everybody for joining me. And until next time,
before you go try and take care of somebody else,
(33:51):
please make sure you take care of yourself first.
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