The Truth About Sacrifice: How Much Sacrifice Does It Take to be A Film Creator?

We are not talking about cliché sacrifice like just “working harder.” We are talking about the behind-the-scenes choices, the lonely nights, the missed milestones, the identity shifts, and the mindset evolution. The kind of sacrifice that doesn’t just cost you sleep, but sometimes even costs you relationships, routines, or parts of the old you that can’t come with you into the next season.

Carlos Torres — the storyteller who turned self-study into cinematic success. A Screenwriter, Actor, and Film Producer, Carlos didn’t wait for permission—he created his own lane. Armed with nothing but a stack of books and an unshakable passion for film, he studied the craft relentlessly until his vision came to life on screen. Carlos believes, “Anybody can write a script. But not everybody can tell a story.” 

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Oh there was a time people counting leave out.

Speaker 2 (00:16):
Put there moping me.

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I'm moved inside down and I got to know.

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To bother me. I know who I help. I'm created
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discyphosis and this pssibility.

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is no time really.

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the iNTS still isself pay delis can say all the.

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think what following this plan?

Speaker 1 (01:46):
Head gleam died all. Wait then it's nine either style mad.

Speaker 2 (02:02):
Welcome, Oh it is Tuesday. Welcome to seek elevation or
should I say these seek elevation experience with yours truly,
Attorney Alakeisha, I am an attorney, but I may not
be yours. So I'm not giving you legal advice, but
I am giving you empowerment, and it may include legal

(02:23):
information because that's what you should have access to. It's
time for us all to just start winning. We have
to start winning, so welcome. This is where real issues
and real people, all of that, real conversations takes in
a stage because change does not happen in silence. And

(02:43):
today we're going to talk about the truth about sacrifice,
the truth about it.

Speaker 5 (02:48):
Now.

Speaker 2 (02:48):
I'm not talking about when we say sacrifice, Oh, work hard,
work hard, and just sacrifice. I'm talking about that behind
the scenes choices, those lonely nights, those missed milestones. Let's
talk about it. We always posting stuff. We always talk
about the things we got right. We show our highlight

(03:09):
reel of our life, and we'll even post those reels,
those sharings as if they are sacrifices. No, we have
miss milestones, we have identity shifts. We're constantly evolving where
sometimes we're constantly figuring ourselves out and those that we're

(03:30):
connected to are constantly figuring us out. The mindset evolution
is serious, and that's why some people don't do it,
because it is serious. When we have to face it
and visit it, it could be very uncomfortable. A lot of
us are very comfortable in our familiar chaos. Let's be honest,

(03:50):
I'd rather be in this chaos that I am familiar
with than constantly going through this evolution that is new
and unfamiliar. So I'm talking about the kind of sacrifice
that doesn't just cost you sleep, but it can cost
you relationships, it can cost you routines that you have
to get rid of parts of the old you to

(04:13):
come into the next season of you. So we're gonna
get into that, and I'm happy to have the guests
that I have on today to talk about it. This
has been almost like two years in the making to
be there, but we're here right now. And prior to
coming on and starting here, we were getting deep. I
had to stop the conversation because we were already getting

(04:35):
so deep. So for me, who best to bring on
but someone who understands what that true sacrifices that it's
more than hard work some things. I'm gonna be honest
with you right now. I'm gonna say something that's probably
an unpopular opinion. Just hard work. Hard work is not

(04:55):
gonna always get you the things you want. It's not.
There's a lot of other things that go into that ideal,
the ideology of hard work. So if you're wondering why
the next level level may just seem out of reach
for you. It may be more of you know, a

(05:19):
strategy problem, not a sacrifice problem, right, strategy meaning I
need to strategize and know that I need to evolve.
I need to strategize to know that I need to
let go of this. I need to strategize to know
all of the things. So tonight we are we are

(05:41):
going there. Yes we are, we are going there all
the way there. And I also want to hear from
you too. If you live, share your thing, let us
be transparent. That's how we elevate together. If you watch
this on replay, comment we need to create basis, not

(06:02):
just for entertainment and not just for talk growth, but
for building. We need to literally build. So I'm gonna
bring on my guest, Carlos Torres. And Carlos is the storyteller, right,
the storyteller who turned self study. This is why I

(06:26):
talk about like the sacrifice. Can you imagine you're self studying.
I was listening to one of Viola Davis's interviews and
she was talking about the school of Julliard versus her
natural situation and studying and how there was a disconnect
there she had to rediscover, circle back around to find
she always had it but for Carlos to self study

(06:51):
into his cinematic success that he defines as success, it's serious.
It takes sacrifice, you know, as a screenwid era actor,
a film producer, and a lot of times those in
film production interchanged in those roles. Sacrifice and that takes

(07:11):
a lot because it's a different mindset to being as
a film producer. It's a different mindset to being as
a screenwriter, and of course we know it's a different
mindset to being as an actor. But Carlos, no, he
didn't wait for permission, didn't wait for anyone to say
you can or can't do something. He created his own lane,

(07:32):
armed with nothing but a stack of books. How do
you keep knowledge? How do you keep the secrets? How
do you keep the gyms away from people? What did
they say right? Put in a book? Armed himself with
a stack of books and an unshakable passion, and passion
also means sacrifice. Passion means to sacrifice, to give up

(07:58):
unscheckable passion for fear, and he studied the craft relentlessly
until his vision or visions started to come to life
on screen. I do want to say, like in twenty sixteen,
he wrote and he produced and starred did I say

(08:18):
three things? Oh my gosh. And his first short film
wasn't letting no One tell him No No was not
an option? His first short film Game of Redemption, and
that project, it didn't just turned heads, but it opened
up doors for Carlos and doors that he refused for

(08:39):
someone else to open, doors that he refused just to knock.
But he did the thing for doors to start opening.
The buzz around his work called the attention of actors
and indie filmmakers that were eager to collaborate for Carlos' work.
And then he followed up in twenty eighteen with his

(09:01):
film The Warrant, which won Best Action Short Film at
the New York International Action Film Festival and then later
was nominated for Best Drama at the Los Angeles International
Film Festival. So Carlos knows sacrifice. And one of the

(09:21):
things that he always says is anybody can write a script,
but not everyone or everybody can tell a story. So
tonight we're gonna tap into the man that understands that
anyone can write a script, but not everyone can tell
a story. And we're gonna tap into his mind, and

(09:43):
you know, see who lives and breathes as a storyteller
on top of tapping into you all. So whatever platform
you are on, listen well, but if you want to engage,
come on over to YouTube, Facebook you can engage as well.
On over. I want you to not just listen, but
to engage. So with no further ado, Hello, hello.

Speaker 5 (10:10):
Hey, that was a very good intro. I couldn't Oh,
I couldn't write that better myself.

Speaker 2 (10:19):
And that's what. Yeah, listen, I tried. I stay as
truthful to it and give it what it is, give
it life because to your point, like you said, anybody
can write a script, but not everybody can tell a story,
just like anybody can write anything, but not everybody can
give life to those words. And one of my gifts
is I don't just write things I give I I

(10:41):
let the life that wants to live through those words
come out. And that's the life that wanted to live
through the words for you. So welcome, thank you, thank
you for having me listen. I'm so finally, I'm happy
it finally has happened.

Speaker 5 (10:55):
Yes, yes, we're here. Yeah, I'm happy to be here.
You know, like I said, we've been working on this
for a long time.

Speaker 2 (11:03):
For a long time thisuse Listen. They could be delayed,
but it will never be the Niles was supposed to happen.
A time makes perfect. I'm happy that it happened now.
When I decided in season three to go live, I'm
so happy it happened now. The Impact twenty six, I
love it. Oldies but goodies and still I'm gonna replay
those actually replay them as oldies but goodies, but this Live.

(11:27):
I'm gonna even bring some of them back. This Live.
I love it because it gives people an opportunity to
engage live, but it just also gives an opportunity to
just go go with the flow. See what happens right
because what wants to be said are told or discussed
through us. So I'm happy it happened right now. How
are you today?

Speaker 5 (11:46):
Oh? I am doing great, magnificent. All the good words
in the dictionary can't even sum up to how I'm
feeling right now. Just to be here live with everyone
in front of Elakeisha.

Speaker 2 (12:00):
And you too, and and and for full transparency, you
all one of my clients as well. Listen, I have
amazing clients. I mean, anyone that truly gets to know me.
Will know that I have to My clients have to
be amazing like they just do. They have to be amazing,
and they have to be heartfelt and they have to

(12:22):
be more than surface. I don't just rep anybody. I
wrap those that are deep and understand life and push
through life. All right, So when we're gonna get started here,
let's go. We're talking about sacrifice, right, Carlos. And as
you heard what I said when I when I want
us to talk about sacrifice, I don't want us to

(12:43):
talk about the cliche of you know what people think
sacrifice mean, and we say it means, it means, you know,
just grind. You have to sacrifice and grind sacrifice what
you have to grind, but sacrifice literally? Is that to
your point you mentioned having a passion sacrifice. There's a
lot of times losing something sacrifice sometime is being willing

(13:04):
to scarce to do that. But what's one thing that
you had to sacrifice that on your journey? Because everything
is self, you did your thing, but that no one
warns you about, saying, while you do this and you're
choosing this industry to do this on your own, what's

(13:27):
one thing that you absolutely had a sacrifice that no
one warned you about.

Speaker 5 (13:31):
Oh, there's a very good question, because when you brought
up the sacrifice, like when the average person think of
a sacrifice, you think of instead of working a ten
hour shift, you're working fourteen hour shift, you know, to
sacrifice twelve or fourteen to make more money. No, we're
not talking about This is much more deeper than that,

(13:54):
which means that you know you have something, you have
something great, sacrifice it for something evil or vice versa.
You know, you do something evil and you sacrifice something
to make it good. But the path took it took
you to get there, you know, kind of just really

(14:14):
screwed things up. So for me to your question, for me,
what sacrifices have I made? Was the sacrifices of just
stop and listen, you know, because for me it's you know,
we we think that we know it all and then
you know, once we hit a brick wall, then we
first thing we say is, oh, woe is me? You
know why? You know, why did this person or why

(14:36):
did that person did this? And instead of looking into
the mirror of yourself, So sometimes you have to like
learn the sacrifice of being ignorant and change that ignorant
to stop and listen and learning. So I have to learn.
I have to learn to learn, you know. So you know,
in order to learn is to learn. You know, in

(14:57):
order to learn is to build. In order to build,
you have the build in order to build. And I
know that's kind of going over people's head, like Dode,
what are you talking about? But you know, it all
makes sense because sometimes the simplest things that we learned,
you know, growing up, you know, become so so much
of a big deal and it's be like wow, that
that was like very profound, even though something a quote,

(15:17):
something so little just becomes so profound when you just
stop and you learn to learn.

Speaker 2 (15:24):
And then go over my head, now when you just
said that's what I wanted to get down to, let
us call it out like you said, you have to sacrifice.
You have to give up wanting to be ignorant or
being ignorant. No, listen, that is comfortable. This is not.

(15:46):
Let's how real can we all be? You all come on,
let's let's let's talk about it right and and we
even say there is even a quote or saying ignorance
is bliss, it's not. Can I tell you even in
the legal field, right when you do something and that

(16:10):
you're not supposed to do, whether it's infringing on somebody's
intellectual property, whatever, it is. The one thing, the one
saying we have in the legal field is ignorance is
not a defense. So even when you didn't know, that
is not your defense. Depending on what the situation is,

(16:31):
it may mitigate what the punishment is, but it doesn't
get you out of the punishment, and it may mitigate
the punishment. So how in one breath we're saying you're
completely held accountable for your ignorance, and another breath we
walk around saying ignorance is bliss. No, so we have
to sacrifice saying I only know what I know. We

(16:54):
only know what we know, right, you don't know what
you don't know, But because we know we don't know,
we have to dig. But my sister brought up a point.
We had a conversation over the weekend. She had an
amazing she's a great and she's figuring out all the things.
But one thing she said we was in conversation with

(17:15):
the group, is how do you even know? Because someone
brought up we have everything now and reach, so we
shouldn't say we don't know. But her question was, but
how do you know what to dig for if you
don't know what? You don't know? So how did you
start shifting mentally? How do you know in my ignorance,

(17:35):
I have to sacrifice that I have to start building
and knowing how do you know what to go for
to start building? What were some of the things that
you did to put you on that track?

Speaker 5 (17:46):
Well, for me, I learned through other people, you know,
because sometimes when you're in different fields, you know, you
hear people, Oh, in order to do this, you know,
this is this is what I learned and you know,
to X and z to get more good at where
I am now. So sometimes you know, learning from other
people is a lesson for yourself as well, you know.

(18:09):
And once again, I know that sounds another cliche, but
for me it was I was learning from the mistakes
of other people. And even though that, you know, I'm
not ignorant to the to the fact that hey, I'm
gonna make some mistakes myself. But once again, it's the sacrifice.
Am I going to get rid of this?

Speaker 1 (18:29):
Uh?

Speaker 5 (18:29):
This know it all? Or I think I know it all? Mentality?
In order to bring more, you know, bring more knowledge
in you know. So so that's like one thing that
I definitely did was just learn from other people, you know,
learn from the mistakes of other people, you know, as
well as learn from the success of other people as well,

(18:51):
because it each goes hand in hand, you know, because
you know, you never define about you know, about your success.
You only define about your failures, you know. So it's
you know, when you're when you're good at what you do,
you know, they never defined, you know, like oh, he
thinks he's too perfect, but when you show flaws, it's, ah, okay,

(19:13):
there it is. That's that person, you know. So they
take your flaws and they try to use it against you.
So it's up to the individual if you learn to
take your flaws and you know, perfect them, you know,
not be perfect, but perfect them, so you could be
a better person.

Speaker 2 (19:32):
So you always speak of my language. That's the one
thing I always say. It's not about us being perfect,
it's about us perfecting And it means totally two different things.
But I want to back up because you just gave
us something. I love what you just said. When we
don't know what we don't know and we're trying to
sacrifice the ignorance. How do we go out there to

(19:56):
know what to look for? Surround yourself around those people
that you see yourself elevating like, and also pay attention
to some of the people that you're around that you
don't want to be alike. I love you said that.
So one of the first things we have to do
is make sure that we surround ourselves around the people
to get some type of spark that we can create

(20:16):
into a flame, a burning desire to know more about
that spark that we just seen. I want to back
up to what you just said, though, because I know
you had to encounter that a lot. If you're especially
being self taught, self studied, there had to be a
lot of things that fail. And you're around a lot
of people, especially if they hate and they want to

(20:38):
define you by those failures. How did you shift emotionally?
So now we talked about mentally, So how do you
shift emotionally when you're the self studied person in such
a demanding and I don't know, high profile industry. How
did you deal with that that you got identified by

(20:58):
your failures?

Speaker 5 (21:00):
Well, I had to keep myself emotionally responsible, you know,
And and it's it's like I said, it's very draining,
like things could be like very draining. So for me,
I had to had to like learn emotionally, like, you know,
don't take things personal. We say that all the time,
and entertainment businesses that, hey, don't don't take things personal.

(21:21):
You know, it's you know, it's it's all gonna work out,
cross cross shit teaser got your eyes and you know,
and it's like, hey, what does that even mean? You know? So,
so for me, I had to hold myself, you know,
emotionally responsible, saying that, hey, you know, there's going to
be a thousand there's going to be a thousand no's,
you know, but hey, can I learn something from those

(21:45):
one thousand no's or or am I going to just
just feel like, oh, just just totally obliterated by somebody
telling me no, you know so. And I think that
we're so used to the know that the yes, you know,
that one yes that we can get we'll be thinking
somebody's trying to punk us or someone's trying to get

(22:06):
over on us, you know, because we're so used to
the to the nose, you know, and sometimes those nose
are people who are trying to drag you in a
different direction, you know. So if so, that's why you
have to hold yourself emotionally responsible, because sometimes you have
to you know, like like guard your feelings in order

(22:26):
to like think properly, you know, because sometimes we uh
drag ourselves emotionally without the logic first, you know, so
we have to reverse that with logic and then you know,
feel your feels. You know, we're not saying that, hey,
you know, you know, you know you're not supposed to
feel anything. You know, feel your feels, but do not

(22:47):
you know, let that be an action into you know,
into the public guye or you know, you know, or
a public figure for that matter. You know.

Speaker 2 (22:57):
So, yes, so what you just described is what's called
emotional intelligence. Like you said, you have your emotions and
you're putting that thought with it, So you have to
have emotional intelligence. Sometime we just focus on just the emotion,
but we don't take that emotion and put what's supposed

(23:20):
to be with it, to be present and aware in
what it's telling us. Not to just let it consume us,
but to let it guide us, direct us, and drive us.
And I love that you just said too, that you
know you had to do all the things you needed
to do when you got all of the nose, like
I got all these nose, got all the nose. But

(23:41):
what I always tell people, especially when you're in it,
like you're in it right self directed, you only need
one yes. You don't need a million of them, you
need that one good yes. So all of the nose
to your point, there's something to learn learn.

Speaker 5 (24:01):
In that. No, So.

Speaker 2 (24:06):
If there's anything that you can think about, especially in
the journey of the nose, some people might say, well, no,
because you need to do X y z and you
need to do more of X y z. Is there
a big lie that you what's the biggest lie that
you feel if any was told to you about sacrifice
that you need to do and then this will happen.

Speaker 5 (24:23):
Ooh, the biggest lie that was told to me was, uh,
you know, everybody has your best interest. You know that,
you know, like everybody has your best interest, you know,
And that that was like the like the biggest lie
I ever told because once again, you know, once I
put my ignorance aside, I had to learn to learn,
so I have to like learn from the examples of others.

(24:48):
So for me, it's like like wow, like it's like
like this, like this, this is what it is, like
are you kidding me? So I've really had to just
just learn to learn, you know that you know, and
and I, like I said, I know that's a cliche
for a lot of people, but trust me, like when

(25:09):
when you hit certain situations that that basic saying is
like wow, if you start feeling like a hundred emotions
all in one, like wow, that that just really hit
me over the head because it just makes so much sense.
So so for me, you know, it was other people
trying to put their sacrifices on me of so of

(25:32):
things that that they felt that they should sacrifice, that
they didn't sacrifice, that they should put it on me.
And it's like, hey, we're not on the same journey.
Yes we're we're on the same playing field, but your
journey is not my journey, you know, So like your
falls could be you know, okay, you just you just

(25:53):
tripped over and fell. My fault is oh I just
fell fell off a whole balcony and broke broke every
bone in up, just just for a sacrifice that you
didn't make. But you're trying to put it on me,
you know. So you know, so you can make me,
you know, the crash dummy, you know, and then then
I'll be the you know, the person trying to tease.

(26:14):
The person next to me is like, oh, the mistake
I made was listening to the mistakes of somebody else.
You know, so so, and I think that statement is true.
Is you know, you know, don't do don't do as
I say? Just you know? Or or am I getting
backwards don't do as I do, do as I say
or something like that? But yeah, but yes, it's you know,

(26:35):
it's it's deeper than you know, than what you think
you know.

Speaker 2 (26:39):
Well bow wow, wow, listen, you just said that's a
big one, the biggest lie. Well, I'm gonna pull from
that about sacrifice is a lot that somebody else told
you that you need to sacrifice. That was their sacrifice
that they didn't do, and they put their sacrifice on you.
That's a lie that's not mine. That's not mine to
own it. JESU Deep, listen, is there something since we

(27:01):
went back to knowledge, is there's something that's in your
lack of lack of knowing? This is Vonda asking this,
is there something in your lack of knowing that will
show up to reveal to you that there is something
that you need to enhance in your knowledge, like in
your lacke. So we mentioned that around people, right, we

(27:21):
surround ourselves around people and we may know that we
need to learn something. But is there something in your
lack of knowing that will show up or for you
that has done this, that will show up to reveal
to you that there is something that you need to
learn to enhance your knowledge or knowing ability to grow.

Speaker 5 (27:37):
Oh man, that's a phenomenal question. So so for me,
the answer is like right behind me these books that
does right behind me. Because you know, when you don't
have like a lack of knowing anything, you know, you know,
you seem to you know, people seem to think they
know it all. You know. So and it's like when
you have knowledge behind you, you know it and it

(28:00):
really like it really carries you, you know, because throughout
any journey, any journey in my life personally, is is
just learn learning these learning these things here because because
I'm telling you, knowledge is the most powerfulest thing that
that you can ever you can ever own, and and

(28:20):
that's one thing nobody can ever take from you. And
then when you look at society, today like like we uh,
like we talked before before it got started, was that
we're we're we're distracted society. Now we're like we're very distracted.
We're distracted on our phones. We're distracted everything. Like if

(28:40):
you just look around you the we're all distracted on
our phones. Like we're all distracted, you know. And and
for me me personally, I'm just like aware like everywhere
you know. Like, so, so that's like my my lack
so yeah to her question, like my lack of knowing
is is fear of not knowing, you know, and I

(29:01):
don't want to be in the fear of not knowing
you know, so and and being knowledgeable with books behind you,
you know, it doesn't make you know it all. It
makes you more knowledgeable. It makes you grow have more
wisdom of things. You know. So that's you know, my take,
you know, well, my perspective on things like that.

Speaker 2 (29:19):
No, I love that. And why did my phone have
to ring? When you said why did my phone have
to ring? Where you mentioned that? But I turned it
off quickly so I'm present. But no, I agree with
you because I know there's something I don't know right,
I may not know what I don't know. But if

(29:43):
there's some lane I'm going down, I know there's something
I don't know to be on a level where I'm
focused to go. And so my lack of not knowing
is making me ask those questions of what is is
it that I don't know to help me where I
need to go? And I just start thinking about those things,

(30:07):
drintling down, do I what is it that I want
to do? Where do I want to go? So, just
to give you a specific example, like even just using
you know, lego, if I know that I'm helping individuals
build legacies, not just you know, do a paperwork, make

(30:28):
sure these terms are great and then we sign them,
but build legacy, I know that there's things that I
don't know about solid legacy. I'm going to go drill
down what is it that I need to know? How
are other people taking this from other people? Where's that

(30:50):
gap between being able to protect it, keep it and
grow on it versus someone who's able to manipulate it?
Between there, I know there's a knowing that I need
to know, So I just write what I want to do,
and my lack of knowing specifically drives me to what
I want to know, I hope that mine and Carlos

(31:14):
kind of addressed that, Vonda, So I love what you
said too. So let's talk about knowing knowing ourselves when
you have to go down this lane and figure it out,
be able to be accepted because you're trying to get
accepted no matter what, and this thing you're trying to

(31:36):
get accepted and acknowledge whatever that definition means to you
because going to these film festivals doing this. Let's talk
about identity a little bit. When you think of who
Carlos is, who Carlos was, and who Carlos wants to be.
What are some sacrifices, especially of old versions of yourself

(32:00):
that you had to let go of going into and
what are some that you're thinking about that you may
have to do moving forward.

Speaker 5 (32:06):
There's a very deep one. So for me, for me,
it's anger, you know, because you know when you're when
you when you grow up around a certain environment or
certain things, you know, you know that anger becomes you.
And then what you do, you you you bestow that
anger and your personal relationships, your working relationships, and just

(32:29):
your your professional relationships, and it and it just kind
of like really doesn't really doesn't mess, you know very well.
So I had to sacrifice like the anger that I
had in order you know, the o me had to
sacrifice that. And I had to learn to grow out
of that because because sometimes you know, being angry is

(32:51):
you know, mad at the world. You could be mad
at the mad at the world and mad at no
one at the same time, you know, because the world
doesn't owe you nothing, you know. So so so in
order to you know, not feel anger, I had to
not be angry at angry at myself, you know. So
it's it's more so me taking responsibility and accountability of

(33:16):
like the decisions I made when I was angry, you know.
So and then and then the most explosive thing that
happened was the angry turned into the writing, you know,
which turned into the filmmaking. And then you know, and
I remember I had went to therapy in my early twenties,
and the therapist was like, yo, you need to stick

(33:37):
with that stick, you know, in the most professional way
he put it, Hey, just stick with that, you know,
like whatever you're doing, it's working, you know. And then
I wrote myself out of therapy. I wrote myself, wrote
myself out of therapy because you know, the anger. The
anger is so strong, but it was so powerful and
I just didn't know how to use it. And when

(33:58):
I used it, you know, I'm you know, and jumped
into the film thing because it was something creative. You know,
I was always creative. I just didn't know how to
place things. And that's why I say, like emotional intelligence
is the most important thing, because you know, it's always
important to feel. You feel, So when you know how
to place your emotions in certain things the right way,

(34:21):
you'll have better results and better outcomes, and you know,
and then you know, you know, you just have like
just just a better perspective on life and just things
in general. You know.

Speaker 2 (34:33):
So what did you see happen? So when you started
letting go anger, what was the difference between what wasn't
happening and what started happening? Like you said, your anger
inspired if if that's the word I'm just using cause
maybe you shouldn't have, but it inspired your writing and
things that you actually produce. But when you let go

(34:54):
of that anger, what more did it open up versus
what it was actually blocking? And it may not just
be in your work. It could be blocking because of family, whatever,
But what was it.

Speaker 5 (35:06):
What did you say? I had to learn that, you know,
not I had to sacrifice of learning like not everybody
understands your language, and where do I language? And I
know people say, oh no, no, it's not about foreign language.
It's about your your life, like you know, your perspective language,

(35:29):
you know, and in like a lot of like a
lot of family, they may not understand you know, your passion.
Some people may say, oh, you know, you're you know,
oh this is a waste of time or you know,
get a job, or you know this is not going
to pan out for you. So and these can be
the people that have your best interest at heart, you know,

(35:50):
and sometimes you have to sacrifice of just saying no
to them. Even the people that you love and you
hold dearly, sometimes you have to sacrifice and just say, like, know,
like our sacrifice you be disappointing in me knowing that
you know, what I know is better for me because
once again I have the emotional intelligence to know that, hey,

(36:12):
after block out the people that I love the most
in order to get to where I need to get to,
and then when it pays off, you know, instead of
saying people saying that why are you doing that? You know,
they'll be saying, how did you do it? How did
you do it? So when people when people ask you

(36:33):
the how, that's when you know you've you've got something great,
you know, instead of so when that wild turns into
a how, that's when you know you got something very phenomenal.

Speaker 2 (36:44):
Listen, I'm gonna go to and I hope I pronounced
this right, Miss Directories, And if I didn't, I'm gonna
say miss d It kind of goes to what we
were talking about now, is a film writer, like where
does your continued inspiration come from? What we just heard
some of your inspiration. We're using your place in space
of anger. It was coming from there. And I love

(37:07):
how you just said your language, like your the language
you speak, can actually come from the motion. So you
can have a script, a story, you can write something.
If you writing from anger, it's going to be told
one way. If you're writing from a different place of emotion,
it would be told another way. I never thought about
that because you said language. But the answer question is
where does your continued inspiration comes from? Because that is

(37:29):
something like how do you don't get the block and
you just continue to be inspired.

Speaker 5 (37:34):
The most simplest answer I could give is is reading
and studying. You know, so for me just reading it
just you know, knowledge is so underrated. You know, reading
is just so underrated because you know, in order to grow,
you know, to grow the beast, grow the creativity, had
to study and read because you know, when you when

(37:57):
you read and you study, you know it it just
becomes a thing. Like for example, like you can have
a plant, you know, a plant, you know, you just
when you give it water, you give it sut light
every day, it continues, it continues and grows, and it grows,
you know because that plant can turn to a tree,
and then that tree could turn into a forest. You know.
So so yeah, my inspiration comes from the books that

(38:21):
I read and you know, in the studying because that's
how you know, you grow in which goes into the
writer's block situation because it kind of goes hand in
hand because I get asked that question a lot, because
I can just produce a script like this, you know,
and a lot of people say, have you ever get
writers block? And to me, you know, sometimes people think

(38:45):
that I'm being sarcastic when I say this. When people
say you get writers block? The first thing I say
is what's that? Because you know, writer's block to me
is just something that that's blocking your mind for trying
to reach a certain goal in your life. So for me, uh,
in order to avoid you know, writer's black as they
call it, you know, you have to continue to read,

(39:08):
you have to continue to study, you have to continue
to learn, you know, because when when you do this,
writer's black is here, like writers black is here. But
you know, the knowledge just keeps growing and growing, so
it just it just doesn't stop. So the more knowledge
you gain from reading and studying, you know, the more
unstoppable you know that I've became.

Speaker 2 (39:28):
So yeah, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, listen, you're saying
it like you're definitely speaking right. So just like our
life is inspiration for our drive, our vision, writing, singing,
when you dive into some of these books, there's something

(39:51):
in there that even because you read it, you will
pick up on it differently. You and I can read
the same book and different elements of what's in that
book would be magnified to me then would be to
you because of my mind and place and space I
am reading it, hype or the tour, whatever, It's different interpretations.

(40:16):
It's how you're reading it, who's reading it? I should
say so, I think that is an amazing thing to
that is an amazing tip to dive into whether it
is autobiographies, biographies, whatever the case is, because there's something
in there that may spark something else within you to tell. Lastly,

(40:39):
a lot of books that's out there. We're reading books
because we want to know something. So instead of individuals
being authors, they can sing their answer to individuals. They
can write the movie to individuals. They can have a
platform and speak the answers. Just go into books to
see what people are asking. I love that. I had

(41:03):
to post ets production said, listen, godless, we need that film.
Why did that come here? So what's the difference between
for you, sacrifice versus self sabotage? Because we speak sometimes

(41:26):
we crossed the line on a lot of words right
Sometime they intersect. We have like you were speaking of
the word anger, a very heightened emotion could be cross
intersect with something else that's not anger. Self sabotage versus sacrifice.

(41:50):
Have you experienced that in full transparency times when you
self sabotaged a situation or yourself and was identifying it
as sacrifice.

Speaker 5 (42:01):
Oh so that's a deemon right there. So so for me,
I think that they both go hand in hand. They're
both like brother and sister and marriage and you know,
and you know, brother and sister and then also like
husband and wife and marriage and and this is and
this is why I say that because, like I said earlier,
sometimes we we accumulate sacrifice from working eight hours to

(42:26):
twelve hours for a bigger check. But you know, but
this is a lot more deeper. So sometimes you can
sacrifice someone someone well I'm gonna use the film industry
for for example, you know, So, so you can sacrifice
someone that you've worked with, you know, or someone that

(42:50):
helped you get you know, get there. And then let's
say someone from you know, the higher reps in Hollywood
comes on and say, hey, I see what this person
is doing. But hey, I can get you. I can
get you higher. I can get you higher. All you
have to do, you know, is there's so many words

(43:10):
without saying it, get rid of this person. So sacrifice,
get rid of this person, you know, and then I
can get you higher. But what people do understand is
when you get higher in this way, that's when the
self sabotaged comes in because you you just self self.
You know, you self sabotize yourself for you know, for this,

(43:31):
for this X y Z amount or or whatever it is, fame, money,
whatever it is, You self sabotize yourself to get there,
you know. And then we see it in the entertainment
business all the time, where you know, some people there,
you know they're in love with the money, but when
they get there, their money Okay, the money's not here.
You know, when you're, when you're when your main goal

(43:52):
is money, and when you get there, the money is
not there. You get there for fame. If you just
say get there for fame, you get there. When you
get the fame, you wouldn't know what to do with it,
how to handle it, you know. And then and then
what happens when all that fame becomes you, you know,
you won't even be you anymore. And then what what
leads to that is you know, alcoholism, druggism, you know,

(44:15):
and you know this happens all the time. And then
then what happens is you know, your your you sacrifice
yourself and you sabotage yourself all at once because the
innerview is gone. It's completely gone. And that's the reason
why when people they turn the drugs and you know,
different things, you know, because you are not even you
no more. Because it all started with this person who

(44:38):
had a you know, who saw the vision in you.
But you decided to jump over here because the person
you know, because the person over here, because you felt like,
you know, it's not on the right path. But this
person has morals. This person has morals and self respect
is self dignity, you know, but you rather jump on
over here to like you said, self sabotage and sacrifice.

Speaker 2 (45:03):
I love that because that is exactly what happens. Individuals
don't realize when they're making that decision, and that happens
a lot. There's some people people that would have was
there with you, help bring you up. And then again
where I say we crossed the line, we do have
a saying that you know, certain people who are supposed
to be with you to a certain point, you're supposed
to drop them. Well, you got to pay attention to

(45:25):
win and how and how. There's more qualifiers to that,
because sometimes people just drop people because they were told
that somebody else got something better. But the better is
something that's actually going to sabotage you in your life
because you're self sabotaged and yourself making those decisions and
burning bridges, cutting them down and never be able to

(45:48):
cross back over them and realize this other thing over
here was just a temporary thing. So, in full transparency,
have you done that? Have you done where you made
a decision and you looked back and had to say,
you know, it brought you to a dark place, possibly
not drugging all that stuff, I don't know, but it

(46:09):
brought you to a place and then you had to
circle back around say I learned from that, and this
is the path I'm on now.

Speaker 5 (46:17):
Well, proudly, as a proud Puerto Rican that I am,
I can honestly say, you know, on the stead, I
can honestly say that I've never done that, and here's why.
And here's here's the reason why, because you know, you know,
when I have to because every morning I have to
look at myself in the mirror every morning. I can
lie to this person, I can lie to that person,

(46:39):
but the thing is I have to look at me
in the mirror every morning. You know, I have to
look at myself and say, hey, I made I made
a certain decision or I sacrificed or done wrong to
this person, you know, just to you know, climb up.
So for me, I can honestly say I haven't done
that because simply simply for me is that, you know,

(47:02):
do others as you want to be done, unto you.
You know, I wholeheartedly believe in that. And then when
it comes to the you know, like the film industry
and things like that, people that I work with, you know,
you know, they enjoyed working with me and you know,
and building good business rapport with everyone. So I never

(47:22):
like sacrifice, you know, something in me to you know,
put onto somebody else or vice versa. You know. So
and that's the reason why I like my slate is
so clean. And that's when like back to what I
said about the anger, you know, transferred to the more
of the film world, because when I got to the
film world, I was I felt like I was at

(47:43):
peace because it's just it's just me and my creativity
and I could just create the world how how I
see it, you know, and and I just did it
all through my understanding and my own wisdom and my
own trials and tripulations. So you know, that's you know
that's how you know, that's for me. But sorry, if

(48:04):
I disappointed anybody out there, you know, you know.

Speaker 2 (48:07):
No, I hope you didn't, because we have to be
transparented so people can hear when there's people that did
and know that it's possible not to do. And the
prayer though, is that you can remain the same because
we know the higher you go up to Letitia's point,
all of these industries operate. That is the template. What

(48:28):
do we hear all the time? Calls anytime we do anything,
if whether it's whether it's contracts, whether it's UH doing
a project, we'll always hear individuals say industry standards. Those
are the two words you're gonna hear. I don't care
what industry are you in, Well, this is the industry standard.
The industry standard is the template, right.

Speaker 5 (48:51):
Yeah, and I have I have to say this too,
and I have to say this too, uh and you
know to pick it back right off which you just said. Uh.
With me being self taught in the film you know,
in the film world, you know, just learning everything once again,
reading and everything. You know, there's there's people who've been
to school, you know, I'm you know who've been to

(49:12):
school for filmmaking and things like that. And I've been
asked that question a lot when people asked me, Hey,
what school did you go to?

Speaker 1 (49:21):
Uh?

Speaker 5 (49:21):
You know, and I and I tell people, I know,
I didn't go I didn't go to college for this.
I self taught myself. You're like, like really. And then,
and here's where things get tricky. Was where that you know,
I could be at a film festival or a movie
premiere with you know, other filmmakers, you know, and this
person went to film school and I did not. And

(49:42):
then you know, and then you know, they we start
mingling and talking about okay, okay, what school did you
go to or how did you do this? How did
you do that? When people who went to school they
downplayed people like me, you know, could they say it like, hey,
you know, I went to school for this. I went
to school for this. And for me personally, I'm glad

(50:03):
I didn't go to film school. And for one simple reason,
one simple reason only. It's just that as a filmmaker,
regardless of you're a screenwriter, director, you know, whatever you're
learning to feel is in the film world. One thing
one thing you do know is that once you graduate
there's no Netflix for them to put you in. There's

(50:24):
no lions Gate for them to put you in. There's
no Paramount, there's no Sony, there's no Columbia Pictures that
you know, there's none of that that they can put
you in once you graduate, because like once you graduate,
you're on your own, you know. So I said, I'd
rather I'd rather dig my brain in this five hundred
page book, you know, gain gain much knowledge as I

(50:46):
can hear or you know, or I can now you know,
we're in the place of YouTube with social media, you know,
like there's people in the industry on social media to say, hey,
this is what it's this is how you do this,
and this is you know, the industry your standard. Like
you just said, Okay, this is what you're supposed to
do here. So it's like you're learning from people. The
power of social media is you learn from other people

(51:08):
that's actually in the industry, you know. So so for me,
I'm just glad I never went because like you know,
it's like, hey, there's no you know, like I said,
there's no film production company that can put you in.
So like whether it's like being a doctor or a
lawyer or a scientist, because once you graduate, if you're
a lawyer, there's a law firm that can put you in.

(51:28):
If you're a doctor, there's a clinic or a hospital
they can put you in, you know. But as a filmmaker,
once you graduate, you get over close to one hundred
thousand dollars of student loans you have to pay back.
And it's like, you know, and you're working in McDonald's
and you graduated six years ago, and you're working from
job to job to job, still trying to pay student
loans for a career that you're not even into yet,

(51:50):
you know. So so it's which is best to find your.

Speaker 2 (51:53):
Own way, which is why some of them may lose
themselves and become what they want, what the industry wants
them to be, in order for them to get or
fulfill what they feel their desire or dream is because
they like, at the end of the day, there's other
things on why they're doing it, and that's why they
start to buy into the self sabotage and the other sacrifice.

(52:13):
But I want to point out real quick with ms
d said, because that was going to the point I
was making about Viola Davis her interview and to your
point what you just said right now about film school.
She was saying that she went to the film school
and it taught her how to be, you know, prepped

(52:34):
her for these roles of the gentle woman, the woman
in love, you know, all the roles that are you know,
made for you know what she termed as a soft
white woman. But it never they never teach roles like
I Forgot, the lady in the raisin in the sun,
like the answer Mama, all these strong roles. So she

(52:54):
she learned all those the way to display and perfect
them those roles. And then when she got out of school,
the roles that she learned for were not casting her
what she looks like. And then the other roles that
would have cast her she's not strong enough, black enough,

(53:15):
And she was stuck and she had to let go
all of what taught her because it put her in
a box. She had to come out of the box
and find what that natural thing was for her and
that versatility was for her. That the school actually locked up, Yeah, yeah,

(53:36):
and school wasn't a thing at the end of the day.

Speaker 5 (53:40):
Absolutely absolutely yeah. And one thing in regards to film school,
like it can it can teach you structure but one
thing it doesn't. It doesn't teach you the business. Yeah,
it doesn't. Like it teaches it could teach you how
to craft a sentence together. But one thing it doesn't
teach her. It doesn't teach you the business. And the

(54:00):
business is very shady. It's it's it's you know, like
like oh you you you already know you you've done this,
You've been doing this, so you already know, so like it.
It doesn't teach you the business. And me, I want
to learn the business thing about about things, you know,
like like don't don't lie to me, tell me my
script is good. You won't get you know, like what

(54:22):
do you what do you hiding underneath the contracts that
that you know that you're giving me, you know, because
you know, like companies can can a sheet of paper
is like a gun, you know. You know. They they
slap the paper across the table from you, and it's
a gun. They're telling you that they rob me, but
they put it in all miscommunicated words that you don't understand.

(54:45):
So that's that's the gun on their desk, you know.
And that pin is your blood that you sign it
that they that they just shot you with you know,
so I don't you know, don't tell me how great
my story is. And you know, I don't care all that.
I want to know, like you know what you're doing.
You know what you're doing that can ruin me for
the next ten fifteen years, because one thing that I

(55:08):
did here is you know, you don't determine when you're
done with the industry. The industry determines when it's done
with you. But I'd rather be done with it on
my terms than than somebody trying to rob me with
a paper, you know, with six pieces of paper with
words I don't I can hardly understand, you know, so.

Speaker 2 (55:27):
Calls. You can't be doing this. We got so many
bus so much time, and you keep dropping things because
you already know you speaking my language. And that's in
any area, whether it's film school and I meant to say,
Viola Davis was acting school, right, So totally different, yes,
but the same thing. But any schools, right, they're teaching

(55:49):
you that thing to be controlled, not to control, and
they don't teach you this. Whether we're talking about in
school right in general, there may be some very you know,
expensive schools that do teach it. No one's teaching you
the business of anything that they're teaching you. And like
you said, you go through all of that to learn

(56:13):
how to create this thing to be controlled, but you
don't even they don't even teach you at least the jargon,
the communication, the language what did you call it, you
said something language, the.

Speaker 5 (56:24):
Life language, like the like, the emotional language, the verbal language,
you know, the the integrity language, the knowledge language. You know,
it's not just you know, it's not just words. You know,
it's it's it's deeper. It's deeper than that, you know.

Speaker 2 (56:40):
And the industry language, or should I say the business language.
Shoud they teach you enough industry of what you need
to know. But how do we navigate these conversations where
you're not speaking Spanish and I'm speaking something else. You
said Puerto Rican, so I had to throw that in there,
and then you're speaking something else. We have to make
sure that those who are the content creators, those who
are are the ones with the intellectual property. To begin with, Yeah,

(57:05):
I understand you. You're gonna give me all high. You
start with the gym, you start with the things that
make people billions, you all start with it. But to
your point, when they're done with you. You're not the ones
that leave with it because you never were taught that
language and understanding. And I'm happy a lot of us
are willing and starting to learn now and are hungry

(57:28):
like you. Like you said, oh, and I.

Speaker 5 (57:33):
Definitely want to throw this out there, you know, to
all the all the entertainers and you know things out there,
A lawyer will save your life. It will save your
life and save and saving millions. It is saving millions because,
like you know, some people may say, oh, you know,

(57:55):
they're so thirsty for the opportunity that they may not
may not may not get it again. And you're like, oh,
I need to sign this now. Okay, let me sign
this now and I can figure it out rest. I
can figure out the rest later. But the thing is
you won't be able to figure it out later because
the damage has already been done, you know. So I
just think that you know, to all the creators out there,

(58:17):
a lawyer will save you, will save your life and
save you and save your your career longevity.

Speaker 2 (58:25):
And I'm gonna ad a disclaimer to that honest, trustworthy, authentic,
real lawyer will save your life, because what I want
people to know to what I've been teaching them is
and we see it happen in every industry, no matter
what the title, agent, manager, attorney, all these titles, and

(58:47):
they just go for the title and not that the
person attached to that title. So I want us to
start learning too. Absolutely, the intention of an attorney is
to save your life, not to just throw your lifeline.
Make sure you never need one. But do understand that
a lot of people have lost so much. And I'm

(59:09):
gonna be transparent. That's what we do on seek elevation,
and so i want us to elevate. And I'm speaking
to you as an attorney. There are some people who
lost so much because they try to do that the
right way. To your point, I'm going to find the
attorney so I don't lose it. I'm going to find
the agent so I land XYZ situation. I'm gonna find
that managers in my life is together and they got

(59:30):
the crook, the crook and the crook, and they end
up worse off. So while we're elevating, know that the
roles in which you know help you elevate, but know
that you need to start vetting now and making sure
that they're real. So I'm gonna be transparent with you
on that. There was something you said and I lost

(59:53):
it in that going there because you said something I
was like, ooh because like Tavana's point, like that was loaded,
which you just no, I'm sorry, listen, No words are powerful,
So don't say that because that means it's gonna stop
you from going deep. We want you to go We're
tired of hearing people just talk. Let we want people
to be transparent. We want people to be honest. I

(01:00:15):
want my guests to be honest and I'm gonna be
honest because change has to happen.

Speaker 5 (01:00:19):
Now.

Speaker 2 (01:00:20):
Enough is enough, and we all say things that feel good.
What are we doing to help people to really make it?
Is there a time? That's what's going to ask you
an example of obviously for me, but is there example
of when you didn't understand that and you got screwed
over because you said to yourself the same thing, I

(01:00:41):
can handle this, I can do that later, I do
that next time. I will deal with this situation? Is
deal and you got screwed in a situation.

Speaker 5 (01:00:55):
Didn't vet properly. And what I mean by vetting properly
is the people that's in you know, in your circle,
you know, because you know when we when we talk
about of things that or someone that can sabotage you know,
you you know we you know we we always talk
about the outside, you know, but we never talk about

(01:01:17):
the internal things that goes on you know, on film
sets to be to be example, you know, so it
can be well for me personally, it's you know, somebody
didn't didn't take the work serious enough. You know that
can that that cost me the award that I wanted
or that can you know that can like falster me, uh,

(01:01:39):
a certain person that I wanted to work with that
I finally got a chance to work with, but because
somebody else wasn't diligent enough of professional enough to really
you know, you know, Harry, you know, help carry the
bandwagon because you know, once again you know, once you know,
when you have a team, you know, you're all in it,

(01:02:00):
all in it together. So it's like when one person falls,
I'm supposed to help you get up, you know, so
not if you know, someone falls, then the whole ship
goes down, you know. So so yeah, that happened to
me a couple of times. So you know, so it's
it's just all about you know, vetting properly, you know,
you know, vetting the right individuals properly, because you know,

(01:02:22):
like somebody can be in the same industry as you,
but because you know they you know, they may have
certain agendas like, oh, Okay, this person does X y
Z better than me, so let me you know, let
me knock him down a few inches just so I
can grow taller, you know. So so it's just all
about just you know, vetting things properly. You know, just

(01:02:43):
because someone says they can do something doesn't mean that
they you know, they're really good at you know.

Speaker 2 (01:02:49):
So that inside circle, that that that inside the.

Speaker 5 (01:02:52):
Circle is most important. The circle is most important because
because the circle can turn into a triangle could you know,
could could turn all types of shapes you know, and.

Speaker 2 (01:03:05):
Have points everywhere because you didn't vet. And that goes
to the point we were making not just vet those
who supposed to bring us certain expertise to protect, but
those who supposed to be bring a certain expertise in
what you do to help you actually prosper. And and
please let me throw this extra thing out there. When
I was speaking about finding someone trustworthy, honest, authentic, also

(01:03:26):
make sure because everybody and their mama and their daddy
and everybody else is telling you I do X, y Z.
To your point, it is the same thing in those
expertise fields.

Speaker 5 (01:03:38):
Right.

Speaker 2 (01:03:39):
Just because someone has ees Q behind their name doesn't
mean I'm familiar with this industry. I see you know,
you may have somebody who's a personal injury attorney and
they just need a check and you see attorney and
then they're telling you that they're going to provide this
particular legal service. They have to bring themselves up the
speed to understand those industry language and what those things

(01:03:59):
look like. So I want to throw out there too,
just because someone as an attorney or whatever, does it
mean it's every area. That's like me jumping in and
trying to do a criminal Now, although I have the
wherewithal and I have the understanding and the training and
the teaching and then satia, but appetite to be a

(01:04:19):
learner like you. I could bring myself up to speed.
But the one thing I don't know, I can't get
in front of those judges. They don't know me. You
need relationships. I don't know how that judge is. So
I can't even prepare based on me being familiar with
how this judge is. So be careful of the professionals
and your inner circle who said they could do something

(01:04:42):
that Can you do this that I'm asking you for?
I just had to throw that in there too, because
you just brought that up by's so I said, you're
always seeing something that is saying something that is stretching
the mindset. What are some tips and nuggets you can
help people, or anything that you went through going through
or planning to do. How can people continue to bust

(01:05:04):
through and get noticed? I mean even with the indie artists.
I like that you are focusing on that. A lot
of times we downplay our opportunities, like what are some
things is it proof of concept posting on YouTube? What
are some things that really get traction and breaking through?

Speaker 5 (01:05:21):
Oh, to be honest with you, you know that there's a
lot of people say, oh this works, this works, or
this work, so you should try this, try this. The
best thing is try everything, because try everything and see
where it sticks. Like for example, like you know, some
people can blow up off TikTok. You know, you know
some people get you know, get get phone calls and

(01:05:42):
emails because they saw somebody on TikTok, you know, you
know with something that they've done, or Facebook, Instagram is
the same thing. YouTube it's the same thing. Sometimes film
festivals is another thing. Or sometimes you know, the traditional
way of of an attorney who you know has relationships
with people. You know, you know that there's like there's

(01:06:05):
like not like not only one way. You know, so
if when people if people tells you like, okay, this
this way is the way, you know, there's multiple ways.
It's just all about finding the journey that's right for you.
So if tik tok is your thing, and you know,
and you know trust believe a lot of people blow
up off that. If that's you, hey make that, make

(01:06:28):
that your niche is, you know, just try other avenues
to see what sticks. You know. So it's like there's
like no one way, but my thing is consistency, uh,
talent and and once again you know, having that circle.
You know. But but out of all of those things,
you can have all of those things, but one thing
you need to have to wrap all that in the

(01:06:49):
bow and and have that first you know, first priority
mail delivered is that attorney. That attorney, Because like I said,
you can have all of these things but without without
that attorney, that that stuff, it doesn't mean nothing. You know,
you did all that whole work, all that consistency for nothing,
when you know, when one person could just just saved

(01:07:12):
your life, you know, just saved your could saved your money,
you know, save saved your time and heartache, you know,
and you know and your career that lasted only two
years or two minutes of fame. But that lawyer, you
just you just lasted thirty years, forty years, fifty years.
You know, you do Denzel numbers, Semuel numbers. You know,

(01:07:32):
you know in the game. So so you know it's
up to you. It is up to you know you
as a creative to make that choice, you know.

Speaker 2 (01:07:40):
So so yeah, an outside of even just protection, we
know we live in a world of perception. Having uh,
those individuals once you vet them, such as attorneys and managers.
When you have those individuals and they're doing the talking
for you, it changes how the conversation starts and ends

(01:08:01):
because when it's just you, they're already putting you in
a box where they're completely belittling you. They already want
to belitter you because they want to win. Right, It's
just the game can't hate it. It's like you probably
might look down on something because you want to win.
But when you create that perception, you already change the

(01:08:21):
conversation before the conversation starts. So are you telling individuals
to so what different things? There's no one way? So
it was the best way if someone's feeling stuck to
get those breakthroughs, to be able to get those awards
like you got to get noticed? Is the best way
to start with trying everything and see what has traction
and then once you see what has traction to really

(01:08:43):
start focusing on that thing and mastering that thing, or
pick something that you want to do and focus on
it and be consistent. So which way is the best?
Not the best way? But which way were you saying?

Speaker 5 (01:08:56):
So I'll say you following your skill setting at your
passion because you know, passion has changed, you know, like
like for example, I could be passionate about baking the
cake one day the next week to say I don't
want to do this no more, I want to I
want to bake lasagna now, you know, but when you
follow your skill set, your skill set, you know, opens
more doors for you. So I say follow your skill

(01:09:17):
set because your skill set doesn't doesn't fluctuate, it stays there,
you know. So so you know, to you know, question
like which avenue should should a person choose, it's it's
it's just all about finding what what works for you,
you know. So I say, you know, go fishing, you know,
go fishing, because I'd rather I'd rather go out there

(01:09:40):
and fact figure out for myself more so than putting
myself in somebody else's hands. Who who means me? Who
you know means no good to me. So I'd rather learn,
you know. So even even if like that one that
one road wasn't you know, okay, okay, that okay, that
that was a roadblock right here. Let me let me
try this road right here, I'd rather do that myself.

(01:10:02):
That someone leading me down the wrong one way that
can lead to something catastrophic, you know. So I'd rather
learn from my own mistakes than somebody putting them mistakes
on me, which can cost me even more, you know.
So that's how you know I'll be all.

Speaker 2 (01:10:20):
Right, So go fishing. Let me ask you something since
I have you, because we're getting close to wrapping up,
and if you guys have any question that we missed
or he didn't drop please share them. Thank you for
the engagement thus far, because I wouldn't have thought to
ask those questions or go there although he's dropping it
you actor, director, writer, So let me ask you something
that I have you here. I mean, I understand you

(01:10:41):
have to get into into roles as an actor. You
have to get into what it is. And I understand
a little bit about method acting, right, So I'm just
thinking about it. After you know, Centers came out. I
have to go see it. I haven't seen it yet.
The other movie, the one with Tyler Perry had out
somebody I think was possessed. It was the one with

(01:11:01):
Glenn Close I think her name is. She played in it.
So they talked about bringing specific type of people in there,
and Taraji mentioned this to tap into something else. So
I understand you have to get into character, but I'm
asking you, how true is it that you open up
other realms in order to embody Ah, the character that

(01:11:27):
you have to deliver.

Speaker 5 (01:11:29):
Oh yeah, it's uh, it's it's very deep because even
though like it's it's called acting, you know, you're really
not acting, You're you're really being something you know, So
like so you know, acting you know, you know, it's
it's kind of like a word they used to cover
up what's really happening, you know, but you know behind

(01:11:51):
those pages when you break it down, so so you're
really being something, you know. So so in the script
someone could say, oh, such and such was angry, you know,
get out my house, you know, and then an actor
or just say get out my house, get out my house.
But being angry is you know, we all have like

(01:12:13):
that emotion about being angry. So you know, when you
ask yourself, how am I when I get angry? You know,
and it's like, oh, that's that's nothing pretty, you know,
or or someone's or if the script say being happy,
you know, or you know, like how happy do I
have to be? So it's like you have to you
have to like really really be it, you know. And

(01:12:34):
and once again this is where being an actor becomes
very complicated and very you know, because you know, when
you're portraying a role, you know, you're you're actually being something.
So basically you're extracting an energy into your body. So
so so for example, if if if if I'm a

(01:12:56):
police officer, I'm me just go that if I'm a
police officer, my job is police officer, you know, and okay,
in this scene requires you know, arresting someone or you know,
arrest someone. Then when I go to arrest someone, you know,
the person who's playing the fugitive is you know, it's
being hostile and you know, then there's this whole back

(01:13:17):
and forth. So the energy inside of you is like, okay,
I have to really embody this person, like i'mn have
to really like be like be that, be that that
that officer that's that's doing certain things. So like when
so like when roads be so deep, when you get
so deep into it, you know, you have so much

(01:13:39):
energies inside of you. You know, it's so deep that
you might have to have therapy after you're done because
you have to get that energy that you bestowed in you,
you know, out of you. You know. So and that's
like that's one thing that they don't teach you, is
about the energies that you have to collect, you know.

Speaker 2 (01:14:00):
And so now you answered this, so there's no myth
or nothing. It's true. And so when we speaking about sacrifice,
that's why I said we're going to go deeper. It's
not sacrifice. Work hard. You're sacrificing your energy. You're sacrificing
the disruption, the piece of the balance of your energy

(01:14:20):
in order to make it in these industries because that's
the actor. But you also have where you're standing at
and you're positioning at. I was listening to Ryan Coogler
talk about how he was speaking to somebody on set
about some custom jewelry. I think one of the female
was the main actress. Michael B. Jordan came up in

(01:14:43):
the middle of a conversation and he included them. He said,
what do you think about the beads versus this? And
Michael B Jordan's response was I'm indifferent. It wasn't his
response that caught Ryan's attention when he said it, he said,
his eyes were far away and it was in a
tone and voice that wasn't Michael B. Jordan. He said,
that's my boy. He was the twin. When he walked

(01:15:06):
up to him, he was already prepping for it. He
stopped the conversation. He said, until everyone get your cameras out.
Now we're filming this particular scene he's in. The Twin
is in him, and so the director had to jump out.
Everyone had to jump out of their thing to get
in that mode to embody the energy that was actually present.
So to bring and to be great in your craft.

(01:15:27):
The sacrifice, a literal sacrifice. You have to kill yourself
in the moment. Two being something else as deem, who's
your favorite director?

Speaker 5 (01:15:43):
Oh, who's my favorite director? You know? Well, for me,
but I don't. I don't really do the favorites when
it comes to Hollywood. But you know, I'm I'm by
I'm gonna be biased when I say this. My favorite
directors are the people that I work with because they understand.
They they understand my language, they understand my voice. You

(01:16:05):
know when they when they read the pages, you know,
they know exactly you know they have they have an
insane mind like me. So when you have a director
that has the same insane mind like you, you know,
and and is able to create their voice you know
from what from what you've done, you know that that's

(01:16:26):
my favorite director. So my favorite directors are the people
that I work with in my circle because you know,
we we we're growing together, We're you know, we're involving together,
you know, and and like I said, we're elevating together,
no pun intended, you know, and we're and we're just
all striving for the same thing together. So so the
rectors that I that I work with are like are

(01:16:47):
my personal favorite because they understand me. They understand my language,
they understand my voice, they understand the madness that that
comes out of these scripts that I write. So you know,
so they they all understand me. So that's you know,
that's my answer.

Speaker 2 (01:17:01):
Okay, So one last question to share whatever you want
to share. I know you'll probably have somebody on your
team in the role who probably do you know, music selection,
music placement and all that. What do you look for
though when you are in that full control, even if
you bring somebody on, if it's you doing it or
somebody else, what do you look for and how can
someone get an opportunity for music placement in the different

(01:17:26):
projects that you actually do.

Speaker 5 (01:17:28):
You know, once again, it's all about the vetting process,
you know, because somebody could say, hey, I'm a director.
You know that that's cool, but what you know, but
what does your work say to me? You know, like
that does your work speak volumes to me? You know?
So and some people just because someone is a director
or a writer or actor doesn't mean that you have

(01:17:50):
to work with them because you know, it has to fit,
you know, like has like like a good marriage, like
it like it all has to fit, you know. So
it's it's just all about you know, just finding that
that right finding the person that has the same exact
voice as you. You know. So so it just you know,
don't don't network with someone just because why should. I

(01:18:14):
just used the work network. I hate that word network,
but but I just say, you know, collaborate with people
that has that same voice, that same drive as you,
because like guarantee, you know, you're gonna you're gonna gonna
reach mountains that nobody can't even climb.

Speaker 2 (01:18:32):
So if you're looking for anything outside then from hearing
you say, even if it's a music placement, the sounds,
whatever you do, it has to be you select uh
content or people that feeds or you feel is aligned
with whatever that project vision is or your vision as
a person as a whole. That's how you make that selection.

Speaker 5 (01:18:53):
Absolutely absolutely, you know, it's all about having that voice,
you know. So like you know, so if that music,
So if that music, you know, because music is it
is all a part of life. You know, music is
all a part of life, so you know, so it's
all about because when we listen to music, you know,
we we listen to music based off how we feel it.
You know. So like if you know, if if someone

(01:19:15):
is having a good day, somebody can can throw you know,
can throw on a song that makes them feel like,
oh yeah, I'm this I'm having a good day, but
this song makes me want to get up and dance
because I'm really having a good day, you know. So
it's just all about finding that voice, you know. It's
all about that voice.

Speaker 2 (01:19:33):
So what do you want to share with the people?
What do you have coming up? What do you already have?
I'll already watched Oh this you still have me Karma
out that film that mean, Oh geez, whoa, Yeah that
was good.

Speaker 5 (01:19:50):
We got a lot of work, Yeah, we got a
lot of work to do behind the scenes in regards
to that. But but yeah, but but yeah, but yeah,
So so far, I'm working on the web series right now.
I don't want to give out the names to it.
You know, we're early development right now, so we're working
on the way of the series. I'm also working on
the stage play right now, so I'm I'm in rehearsals

(01:20:11):
for that and that's going to be later in September.
So so I'm working on that the stage place called
My Mama's Era. It's a musical, so I'm starring, starring it.
We're not starting it, but I have a role in it,
you know. So I don't want to give myself there,
you know, I don't want the director to come for me.
But yeah, I definitely have a role in that. So

(01:20:31):
that that stage place coming out in September. And also
I'm working on a couple of short films for the
summer time. So I'm like just staying staying productive, you know,
not busy, but staying productive, you know. So and then
also you know, and and like I said, behind the scenes,
you know, working with you behind the scenes, you know,

(01:20:52):
you know the lawyering and stuff, you know that that
sort of stuff. So the audience don't even know all that,
but you know, yeah, yeah, we're working, working.

Speaker 2 (01:21:01):
Work, because when we work, we don't just talk about this.
We build like we have a conversation now, delic Seriously,
I'm using this platform to actually show up in the
capacity I'm always showing up. So I begin deep. But
all my clients, everybody, so attorneys just attack. We sit
and we talk about the things that needs to be
done to elevate, to think differently, to move differently, and

(01:21:24):
all of the other things. How where can people connect
with you because you know what you got going on
and they want to collaborate whatever, Where can they connect
with you?

Speaker 5 (01:21:33):
You could connect with me on my website www. Dot
This is carlostours dot net. So everything everything is linked there,
you know, from the social media is to the everything
you can find everything all in one spot. You know,
not gonna you know, send you here, send you there.
Everything is in one spot. My website, this is carlostours

(01:21:54):
dot net. You know, if you want to work with me,
you know there's a contact me there. You know you
can reach out to me and you know I'll be
happy to work, you know, happy to work. But you
got to go through my lawyer first.

Speaker 2 (01:22:07):
And this is uh C A R L O.

Speaker 5 (01:22:10):
S T O R R E S yep, yep, gotten it.

Speaker 2 (01:22:17):
Christ. So that's where you would go to a to connect.
All right, So that this was amazing. I I appreciate
your time. I swear I wish I could.

Speaker 5 (01:22:30):
This could go for two hours a week.

Speaker 2 (01:22:33):
To contain myself. That's why I always get into my
meditative state because voice is my thing, and I can
go and go and go, but you have to get
people enough they can go back, they can they can
uh re listen and all the good things, and then
they can always be part twos and all that stuff.
So you have to just give it enough people to
digest take those things so we can actually be actionable
so connecting it can go from there. So I appreciate

(01:22:55):
you so much. Of course we're gonna talk very soon.
Oh yeah, thank you, and so everyone else who is
who has tuned in. I thank you so much. I
definitely see you over that on Instagram too. Hello, no hearts,
I know colel love you. I see everyone. Thank you
so much for engaging over here on YouTube. I'm sorry

(01:23:17):
to get a chance to look at LinkedIn, and I'm
hard to get a chance to look at Facebook. Let
me put this up as I do my outro. Uh
where did it go? Right here? I'm gonna put that
up as I do it. Yes, you are a beast.
So that is a rap for today's episode of Seek

(01:23:38):
Elevation Experience. I thank you so much for tuning in
and engaging. But please remember, please remember this. The more
you know, the more you grow. We talked about that
the more you learn, the more you can earn because
you know how to vet things out. But when you share,
you show care. So please share this so we're building together.

(01:24:00):
And when you're even having those conversations with other people,
you're coming from the same place in space. To Carlos point,
we got to be a line in one mind. So
when you share, your show care. So don't keep this
knowledge to yourself. Share Carlos' segment, spread the wisdom, tag
a friend, and let us elevate together. And until next time,
I want you to keep striving, keep growing, and most importantly,

(01:24:23):
keep seeking elevation. Yes pun intended, So see you next time.
Peace and progress stay there, Carlos