SPEAKER_02 0:57

Directors need to take acting classes so that directors can speak to actors correctly and not just say, Oh, be sad, be happy. Those are results.

SPEAKER_00 1:08

Welcome to Acting Smarter Now. I'm Lydia Nicole, actor, producer, and your acting career coach here to help you cut through the noise, own your craft, and take your career from undiscovered to unstoppable. How many of you have been on a set and had absolutely no idea how to talk to your director? You wanted to say something, ask something, maybe contribute something, but you didn't want to step on anybody's toes and you didn't want to come off looking unprofessional. Well, today that changes because my guest is award-winning director, Sundance Honoree, and one of the most exciting voices in independent films, Miss B. Monet. So without further ado, let's go to the interview. You have worked on so many different genres from short films to documentaries to commercials and even working with Warner Brothers. Your ability to go from different formats is amazing. But what is your brand and what would you prefer to be doing?

SPEAKER_02 2:16

Yeah, it's so funny you asked me that amazing question. Um, I would prefer, and thank you for acknowledging the different formats that I do. I would say that I would love to be telling more stories in the narrative format. Like would, you know, would love to tell more features and to direct more music videos. I just feel like with narrative films, you really get a chance to really showcase your abilities, your sensibilities, your voice. Um, and then music videos, you just can have a really great time and creativity. I just love that part. So I think those two formats I would love to be doing more of. Um, nothing against commercials, because you know, we still need to get this money. But my special sauce, I would say, is telling uh stories about Black womanhood and black girlhood. A lot of my stories do, I think show the nuance and the vulnerability and the humanity of who we are. Um, so I would say that my special, my special sauce is, or the sassone is, you know, put in um, you know, that extra pepper, that lemon pepper, that, you know, um Jamaican curry sauce, you know, to show, hey, black women, we are glorious. We are so fortifying, so magnetizing. I was just a part of just a beautiful weekend um this past weekend, and just to see how many brilliant, beautiful black women who still don't get a chance to tell their stories is always interesting to me. And so I think there's always that need to showcase the people that I see as unsung heroes uh who sometimes have never been documented before. So yeah, I would say my saison, my special sauce is telling stories about black women and girls.

SPEAKER_00 4:08

Okay, so some of the work that you've done, first of all, you have a documentary called Black Girls, which is very high on the IMDB Pro ratings, which I was very impressed. Uh yes, yes. I don't even look at that stuff. Well, I look at everything, I look at everything. So it it's there, but you know, you started out of the gate pretty spectacularly. You you did a project with Reese Witherspoon, you did music video of Janet with Janet Jackson, you also did something with Rosario Dawson. And even though you you were talking about black women, you also embrace women because one of your big projects was with Reese Witherspoon. So staying on the women's theme, because we're in a climate right now where women are being diminished and degraded and trying to be put on the side. What is it about you as a director that can tell a woman's story better than a man can?

SPEAKER_02 5:23

Ooh, yes, it's yes. Um, I love these questions. These are so thoughtful and curating, I must say. And I just love how, yeah, they're speaking to my soul. But what makes me, yes, able to tell stories about women, women of all races, backgrounds, religions, is the fact that I am a black woman first, but I'm a woman. You know, I'm a woman who understands what it feels like to be unseen, to be to feel uninvisible, to feel like the world sometimes looks past you. And I know what it feels like to feel like almost like a pariah and an outcast, and to speak to people who feel invisible. Um, I feel like there's so many women, no matter how you present, just sometimes feel like um the world is looking past them, or they can't be brave enough to speak up. They can't be brave enough to speak and tell their stories. And I'm always trying to penetrate and show that you can, you know, that there's so much power in using your voice. You know, you're only given one voice, two ears for a reason, uh, which means we should listen more than we speak. But I think women should be speaking more, especially with all that's happening with Trump and um DEI going away. And then, you know, I've seen it also as a woman who works in the commercial space. Unfortunately, I'm feeling the impacts of Trump and this administration with the decisions that they're making against women and women's bodies. I'm feeling that directly as a commercial director. I have not been hired as much as I usually am. And I believe that is it is a direct result of this administration's decision and insensitivity around the arts, around women and our stories and our bodies. And that is why platforms like yours are so important to amplify, you know, underrepresented voices, women's voices. Now more than ever, we all really need to band together. There really needs to be a sense of solidarity, no matter what your religion is, what your background is, whether you got a disability or not, whether you're pregnant or not. Like this is not the time to be almost like allowing our differences to, I don't know, to divide us even more or displace us because that's that's what that's that's really what's at the center.

SPEAKER_00 7:57

I'm gonna displace women who are powerful, um, because it it makes me look less than. That's that's the to me, that is the story that that's that's the demonic story that's going out there. So I believe we're in spiritual warfare, but that's another story. Um, but if we're talking about what has occurred the last year, there have been in the first year alone, maybe even the first few months, over 300,000 Black women were uh fired or laid off of their jobs. And we're not talking low-level jobs, we're talking management, we're talking, you know, the C-suite level that they were let go. And so how I see it is it's a challenge. It's it's like, oh, you're not gonna stop me. What I love about you, Miss B. Monet, is that you are scrappy, you are a fighter, you do not wait for jobs, you create your jobs. And I think as a filmmaker today, it doesn't matter who you are, what your color is, what your uh sexual preference is, what your uh uh gender is, you have to be scrappy. You have to do what you feel uh inspired as a creative to do. You can't sit around and wait. And and with that being said, you have a GoFundMe thing happening right now with Divas with Disabilities, which I love the title. Um, tell me about that short that you're getting ready to do.

SPEAKER_02 9:50

Yes, um and you know, and I am scrappy, I have had to be scrappy for so long that it would be nice to not be scrappy, but I do think that it makes me a better filmmaker from having to be resourceful um and not having a silver spoon in my mouth because I can truly appreciate what it means to start something and finish it. Right now, I'm directing and producing, like you said, a short documentary called Divas with Disabilities. And I'm so grateful to be able to tell the story of two women who unfortunately didn't have disabilities, you know, they weren't born with disabilities, which is why I want to create more visibility around the film because you can get a disability at any point in your life. You don't know when, if that might happen. Um, for instance, like my mom didn't have rheumatory arthritis, but she's had that for some time. So I've seen what it's like to see her, you know, have this disability for a lot of my life with her. Um, but going back to the story, one woman, her name is Miss Donna, she grew up in DC and she wanted to be this artist, this performer. Um, and she's so vivacious of a person. And so, you know, she's very shy in one way, right, with her family, or like to the world, I would say, but with her family, she's this gargarious character. But one day, unfortunately, when she was, you know, a teenager, late teen, she had her leg literally break in half on the DC bus because her parents unfortunately did not take the diagnosis seriously that her there was bone, her bone was deteriorating and she had a rare bone disease. And so imagine in the 70s becoming an amputee. So she's been more disabled than she has been able-bodied. Um, and so she created an organization called Divas with Disabilities to amplify and help women who have disabilities. And then Ms. Zell, who you see dancing in the footage with the blue tool, she um also did not have a disability as a Caribbean woman from Montserrat, um, and was born there and came over here. Uh, you know, grew up in New York, became a performer, worked with Alvin Ailey, modeled, was in boomerang, all the things. Um, and then her life also took a drastic change when um she unfortunately was diagnosed with a brain tumor and left uh part of her body paralyzed. So she, but she still moves, you know, she still actively is a dancer and a performer, but her body is different now. So the film is about how these women use reclamation and joy to still um, you know, be brave in these moments when your body may feel like it's failing itself. And how do you still reclaim your story and who you are despite having, you know, these life-altering things happen.

SPEAKER_00 14:31

I want to go back to being scrappy. I just want to say something about that because I believe that's your superpower. When we're young, because I can speak for myself, being young, you don't see that as your superpower. It looks like everybody else has it easier, but by you being scrappy, it brings you to the front of the line more times than not, because you're not waiting for someone to hand you something. So I just want to say to you, as your elder, embrace being scrappy because that is the thing that's going to get you over. That is the thing that, especially when you have a project that you believe in and nobody else does, you can't sit and wait. You know, you have to move. And so embrace that part of you. That's something God gave you. That's a gift. That's a gift. You you were just speaking of the woman who started the divas with disability program, but she was shy. She was quiet. It, you know, there's something to be said about the uh loud voice gets the attention, right? The squeaky wheel gets the oil. And so many artists never speak up, never show up, never push for their dreams. So they die never realizing what they wanted. You have exceeded what many have wanted to do. So I just I just want to share that because sometimes we feel like I'm working so hard, I'm working so hard. But that part of that is the journey. I don't know why we think as artists that everything's supposed to be easy because we have a talent, but it is not. You know, you have to keep doing what you do and keep showing up, and it's like having a garden. You have to continue to work the garden. You know, you every every season you gotta go out in the garden, you gotta pull the weed, you gotta sometimes, you know, you gotta dig up old plants and then replant stuff in that area to keep the garden beautiful. And as artists, that is what we have to do. It is a constant tending of our creative garden. And we have to see it as look at us, we have this plot of dirt, and we are planting what we love, you know. And there's something to be said about being an artist that that you can continue to paint the canvas, and you know, you make, you know, the canvas always comes blank, but it's up to you to choose the colors, what you want to do, a landscape, you want to do a portrait, what what is it that you want? That's the freedom that we have as artists and as women, and to just keep pushing and keep doing and keep making. And I'm being reminded of a documentary, I believe it was a documentary that you did with the woman from the Me Too movement.

SPEAKER_01 18:04

Yes.

SPEAKER_00 18:05

What did you learn from that? Uh what did you learn from working uh on that project and and looking and seeing this woman who was doing something that was pretty courageous?

SPEAKER_02 18:19

I really appreciate your assessments and also you talking about watering your garden. I think she had a huge, I mean, Miss Tarana Burke, who what a powerhouse. Um, before the Me Too movement, she had been doing this work in Alabama for so long. And I think the artists that are are willing to put themselves out there and be brave and bold and courageous and brilliant are also facing inner things, right? So she never spoke up about what was happening to her, and it was really amazing to see this woman speak in this way that I was just so captivated by, but also how hard it is to speak about trauma and sexual violence, and then to be bullied, you know, online for going through the act of violation, but then also actively trying, creating an organization that never got its credit until other until Hollywood shined the light on it, and then also actively being bullied, being talked about, being mocked, having all these things happen to you. So it was just for me a class and an observation on resilience, true resilience, you know, true bravery and courageousness, because most people don't like talking about their trauma. And I think artists were forced to either confront it and be truth tellers or to kind of let those demons remain in us and not transmute the energy. And so I love that this woman was is still a force. I hate that her work, I think, got kind of like overshadowed because a lot of actresses who were more famous, who are more palatable, were kind of like twisted up in the orbit in the vortex of what was happening. And I felt like maybe her, I felt like her work was personally getting overshadowed by actresses who were finally coming out. And yes, it's great that they were declaring what was happening, but it's such like the system of this world for a woman, a woman of color, to not really get the the credit that she deserves. I love that she didn't allow her to stop doing that work. And she did get a lot of visibility with I think the people that do matter. But I think she also realized that oh, just because a lot of famous people want to be my friends now, they're still not my friends. They're just doing this because they also need cachet. They need to stay relevant. And I think that also, even working with Queen Lynn Tifa, I love that she's always like, I have my day ones, though. You know what I mean? I have the people who truly love me, truly have me. Um, and so I'm really grateful to know women like that who, yes, to the public, they're these mega superstars, but they also are powerhouses that are so firm and their boundaries and how they stand up. I always love to meet women like that because they show me that it does get better, you know, this life thing. Because sometimes I don't feel like I always have examples in my life, right? Of women who are in media, you know, and so sometimes I feel like I'm throwing spaghetti on the wall hoping that it sticks. And so it's always great to feel like you have role models that you can see yourself in.

SPEAKER_00 22:11

With all these black women who have been courageous in um the media, in film, in television, in music, what can you give me one specific thing you have gotten from Queen Latifah, from uh Janet Jackson, from Rosario Dawson, and whoever else uh that I haven't mentioned that, you know, working with them said, oh, wait a minute, she's doing this. I'm going to now incorporate that in what I do. Because it's one thing to see people doing stuff and go, oh, that's kind of cool. Ooh, but it's another thing to use it as a class where you are now incorporating it into your life.

SPEAKER_02 22:57

Yeah, no, like, because I think, you know, people see that, okay, you've, I guess, been rubbing elbows with the elite, right? And these folks that folks dream of, you know, working with Reese Witherspoon was a dream, working with the queen, right? Amazing. What I love about Queen Latif is that she is who you think she is and more. She walks into a room and she is this magnifying energy of a woman, but she also has this presence and this humor that I'm like, oh, you can be funny. Like, I can still be myself, you know? And I'm just like, okay, cool. So I'm just gonna crack jokes with you too. Like for her birthday. I like literally sent her like a meme of Omar Epps, like, you know, like, and that's our relationship. And I love that she's just she's always kept her door open to me. I've known her since 2019, uh, when I did Queen Collective, and she's always been truly an asset to me and the other filmmakers who have been through her program. And that's not necessarily indicative of most programs, with you know, places like a Tribeca or Sundance. Most of the time, when you're doing programs, they kind of like, Great, we did this program with you. We did our thing. And it's great to see that someone of her caliber still keeps her door open, still, you know, sends opportunities. Uh, her producer sends. An opportunity um last year and the year before, where I was able to go to Slovenia and document a woman who is uh doing incredible activism work over there around war initiative, around abortion rights, so many things. Uh, Nika is her name. And then I was able also to document black folks who are in the alumni association over at Harvard Law. And I was just like, am I gonna, I don't know. I was just like, are these people gonna be stiff, you know? And they actually were, it was like some of the, it was one of my favorite experiences actually documenting impressive people because they were so regular, but the way that they spoke was so eloquent. Um, and it was just like, oh, we also we all face similar things, even with going to these impressive, prestigious schools, we're still facing a lot of the injustices across different industries. And then Rosario, also gorgeous, beautiful, stunning, um, but also very funny, you know, and very politically um involved. And so I love that all these women black, mixed, white, whomever, have just shown me what it's like to be a powerhouse in my own right, you know, and to authentically show up as myself. And I think that's nothing that film school teaches you, you know, they teach you about being an auteur, and that's cool. But the rules are different when you are a woman, they are different when you're a woman of color. I don't, I'm never gonna be anybody's victim, but I know that the the system is different for women. Um, but I think I'm also like I'm I'm ready for the challenge, you know. Like on my IG uh profile, the song that I love is Never Scared by Bone Crusher. And that's kind of like my anthem as a person navigating in this industry. I don't always have a blueprint, but I try to take the gems from the different people that I've met and that are still in my life, and I just try to add those things to my Rolodex to say, okay, well, this person showed up like this, so why can't you? Not in a way of me trying to be like them, but if I'm gonna make art, the best art is authentically yourself. And people like Audrey Lord, um, people like Nina Simone, people like Solange and Frida Kahlo, oh my god, these women so inspire me. You know, Gwendolyn Brooks, Fanny Lou Hamer, like folks, I I think art and activism are always very important to me. And women who weren't afraid to be bold and to say what nobody else wanted to say, those are always the women that I'm always like, oh, I found my people. But I feel like in today's cluster of wherever we're living in, people are so afraid to just say the wrong thing, or I'm gonna offend this community.

SPEAKER_00 27:42

And I think the best art I offend everybody all the time, it's all good. Okay, okay because I like it, it's all good. You so I I I want to stay here for a minute because you just mentioned artists, political figures, women who cared, who said, I'm going to push back against what you say. I'm not letting it crush me. I'm pushing against it. I think no matter who you are, as a as a female, as an artist, you cannot become the victim of somebody else wanting to dim your light. You have to keep pushing back. I came up in the the 60s and 70s when the feminist movement was just coming through. And I was very fortunate in that from 13 to 18, I worked at a radio station in New York called WBLS, and I got to be around these women who suffered in the 50s, you know, got uh got put to the side, were not given opportunities, and in the 70s they came kicking, they were not being denied nomas. And to me, to be able to see women before me, how they move, how they moved with grace, because you know, I came from the streets, I'm scrappy and I'm a fighter, I will fight you. That is where I came from. But these women taught me how to fight with grace and elegance, and and because of it, I've gotten better. Now, will I fight you? Yes, I will. And if I gotta take my earrings off and put my grease on, I'm for that. I don't have a problem. You might be bigger than me, but I'll get a bigger stick. So, but as a woman, we have to continue the fight. We have to continue to stand and and speak our truth and move. The courage comes when you say, I want to get this done. And you do it. There's always gonna be obstacles. No matter who you are, there are always obstacles. If you're trying to build a building, you know, and you run out of lumber or you run out of cement or whatever, that's an obstacle. How are you gonna how you gonna complete the building? And the thing is not to let the obstacle defeat you. You gotta be creative in going, how do we work around this? So they've taken jobs from black women specifically, uh, in under the guise of it was DEI and not seeing what these women brought to the party and how they made the they made the corporation, they made the business so much better because they were there. So they can they can they can keep you from playing their games, but that doesn't mean you can't make your own games. And that is what an independent filmmaker does, that is what a creative does. They make their own games, their own rules, and they just play by it because you you mentioned Queen Latifa and Aris Witherspoon. They've created their own empire, their own way of doing stuff. And it's like, okay, you want to do that? Okay, I'm gonna just keep going this way. Those are the role models to follow. There's always challenges, but to be in the place of gratitude, I'm in this space. How fantastic! How fantastic. I get to go to Slavonia. I didn't even know what Slavonia was or where it was, but I get to go there, I get to speak to people all over the world. I get to, I get to share their lives, their vision. I get to do that. You know, you talk about um having gone to NYU and what you didn't get, and but what you did get has brought you to this place. It has allowed you to touch so many things. Being a black woman, you've gotten to touch a lot of things. I heard an interview you did where you said, you know, you weren't uh the pet uh student in class that, you know, that there were students that the teachers fawned over and they were like, but yet they're not doing their art right now. They're not living as artists, they probably have nine to five jobs and uh no no shade on them, but I think sometimes, and and I I I've talked about this with my daughter a lot. Um, when she was in elementary school, you know, it was hard for her. And she wanted to, you know, she wanted to go to another school. I was like, no, you are staying here. You're gonna do this every day. It was like, you, nope, nope. But when she got to high school, she blossomed because of what she learned and the challenges that she had in elementary school, where they weren't, she wasn't embraced because she was one of the few black girls there. They weren't giving her stuff. And but my thing was I don't care what they're not giving you. You got this, you're doing this. Let's go, we're moving. And when she got into high school, you know, she brought her magic, she did her stuff, and when and and um, you know, she had applied for the film program in high school, in the high school that she got into, but they didn't accept her into that film school. I said, that's all right, you're gonna do your own project. And she outshined all those kids that were in the film department because she wasn't waiting. So she would go to the classes and say, Hey, for extra credit, can I do a film in science or in math? Can I do a film? Can I bring what she had to the party? I think sometimes we may think that when we're in school, be at college, high school, whatever, and there are other kids that are getting treated like the bell of the ball, that they have it easier. But the fact is, because they got coddled in school, because they were told how fabulous they were, they were not prepared to fight when they got out of school. I went to a reunion of one of uh my elementary school, and there was a girl um who in my class who was she was like the darling of of the school. 35 years later, we have this reunion or 40 years later, and I it broke my heart because she said to me, I've never had it as good as I had it in elementary school. Wow. So that said to me, she never grew because she didn't know how to fight for herself, how to make her own way. What the gift is you took the tools that they did give you, and you said, I'm making these my weapons. These are my weapons, I'm gonna use this. You know, it it is you've learned camera, lighting, sound. Um, you've learned all these uh skills to make you a better director. Your scrappiness, your um determination has gotten you to be working. What they don't tell you in school is that when you get out of school, life starts, and then you gotta figure everything out with the tools they've given you. Now you gotta figure out life. You gotta figure out business, you gotta figure out money, you gotta figure out how you live, how you build community, how you do what you do. So I just wanna I just wanna say that for whoever's listening, because we think when we go to uh uh an art school or an acting school or a film school that they're gonna give us everything. No, what they're giving us is just the basics of that discipline. They are not giving you the business model, they are not giving you the mindset model. That is all you got to learn that when you get out of school. But you have to be willing to go through the challenges and find a way through. There's always a way through. You know, you may need to take a nap so that you can be fresh and ready to go, but there is always a way through, or around, or above, or underneath. Maybe you got to dig in the basement to get to the next building. Maybe you got to go over, have somebody drop you from a helicopter, but there's always a way to get what you need. So I just wanna I just wanna say that because as artists, we think, oh, they're supposed to give us everything. See, I didn't go to, I didn't complete college. I went, uh, I went for two years. I was like, this ain't working for me. I I'm gonna go, I gotta go get what I need. I gotta go get my my stuff and figuring it out, figuring it out, not waiting for somebody to get, not waiting for someone to give us. The people who who wait are never satisfied or fulfilled. Because they didn't earn it, they didn't put in the work, they did not plant their garden. They got a garden that was given to them, and and when it was given to them, there were no instructions to say, okay, you got to water this every day. Uh, you gotta go in there and pull the weeds, you gotta go in there and and and take out the buds, you know, once the flower is done, pick that out so you can keep it going. You gotta you gotta tend it, you gotta take care of it. And as an artist, you have to take care of it. So I want to ask you, what do people misunderstand about what a director actually does, especially when you're on set with actors?

SPEAKER_02 39:11

Oh, and I also, yeah, I feel like you're I just want to say your interviews are legendary. They're iconic because you actually value true journalism and you actually do your research and you actually educate yourself on the person, right, that you're speaking to, and it's not just these fly-by-night questions. And I just really appreciate your authenticity and like you really being a vessel in this way. Um and even if I can say something about some of what you were talking about, I will say that my secret sauce is also because I know you're a person of faith, I can also speak in that way, is that I am the answer to a lot of people's prayers before me, right? Amen.

SPEAKER_00 39:59

Amen.

SPEAKER_02 40:01

A lot of uh family prayers. My parents, you know, as I've gotten older, just like really try not to get emotional, but like, you know, all the things that parents sacrifice for you to be in the position that you're here right now to be at a at a spellman, to be at an NYU. Um and yes, it was hard, but at the same time, like it was a boot camp, you know. God knew that I needed to probably have this experience because they weren't gonna be used to this, unfortunately. And I don't have to be a victim, right? I'm a victor. Um, but um I don't know, I just felt like I had to like say that too, because I think sometimes people are like, Yes, but like I want to know about all the film stuff, and like, did you watch 400 blows? And like I watch these things, right? But also my secret sauce is the spirituality component too. Like, I believe in prayer, I believe um in talking to God about what is happening, why am I in this? Why you got me doing this?

SPEAKER_00 41:11

And he loves that, and that's the beauty of having a relationship with God as a creative because he's the big creator, we're the little creators. So for us to tap in and say, Lord, what am I supposed to be doing? You gave me this gift now. How am I supposed to use it and show me, open that door, make a way for me where there is none? You know, what I love in the Bible it says he makes a way for us where there is none, but he only makes that way when we are walking in faith, not letting obstacles deter us. He, you know, in in uh the book of Joshua, the first chapter of Joshua, it says he is with us wherever we go, he's with us. Do not be afraid, do not be discouraged, do not be dismayed, for I, the Lord, am with you. I am with you. And so if you uh if you are following your God, then you have to trust that your God is gonna make a way where there is no way, because the world will say, you see, they fired 300,000 black women. What makes you think you're gonna get through, my God? God says so. That's all God said it uh years ago. I got connected with Bill Cosby. Every time I was doing a movie, a TV show, whatever, I would make postcards to say, hey, I'm in this movie, I'm doing this, blah, blah, blah. So I had a target list of people I wanted to work with. Bill Cosby was on my list, Robert Redford was on my list, and so I would send stuff to them. I was like determined, I am going to work with these people. So I sent it to Bill Cosby and he responded. And so I don't have a bad story about about Bill Cosby. I only have a good story, so I can only tell you my good story. Um uh, you know, I'm not what he did, he did, but none of that was on me. I had a lovely relationship with Mr. Cosby because I was ghetto. That's why. Because I'm ghetto. And um, and I talked to Bill, probably like nobody else would talk to Bill. So he had called, and and I was like, okay, what am I gonna say? Uh you know, when he calls me back, what am I gonna say? So as soon as I heard his voice, I said, Bill, I need a job, I need a job for about a month. Um, Bill had been calling all these heavy people, like the the head of Columbia, the head of casting in the Colombian calling them. I said, Okay, and I call and they said, Well, we don't know who you are. I said, That's okay. Bill said, Bill said, so I that was all I was saying. And and um, I called the head of casting, and they called my agent, and my agent said, Well, they want you to send a tape. I said, No, Bill said they have to audition me. No tape, they have to audition me. So I so I did this for a whole month. I was praying one morning, and I heard God say, you know, you keep telling people, no matter what they say to you, it's okay, Bill said. It would be nice if you said what I said. That was it. The mic dropped. That was it. I was like, you know what, God, you are right, you are right. I didn't grow up in church, so I I you know, I don't come. My my background is not from the church, it is from the street, but I heard God all the time as a little kid, and so I heard God say, it would be nice if you said what I said. So I to this day, I say what God says. So when I start to feel um dismayed or discouraged, I go back to Joshua chapter one. I said, My God did not give me a uh, you know, God, what did God say? And there's in the New Testament, there's a scripture that said, God did not give me a spirit of fear, 2 Timothy, in the book of 2 Timothy, God did not give me a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind. If I'm walking in fear, if I'm walking in blaming, if I'm walking in uh murmuring, um, I know I am out of line with God. I'm out of order because that is not how my father talks to me. So why am I talking like the devil? And I started to watch, oh, look at what came out of your mouth. Now you know that's not right. That is not right. Let's go apologize, Lord. I am so sorry. Uh you did not raise me like that. Let's go. Let's let's do this, let's do this. So I just say to you, if you're walking with God, make sure that you keep Him it with you on the walk. Because there's only room for one uh, you know, with you. So you gotta always make sure who's walking with me. Hey, devil, I didn't let you, I didn't tell you to come and get out, kick him out, God. On in holy spirit, come on in. So I'm just saying that it is important as an artist to know what you're going for. Keep your eyes on God created you for times such as this. He could have created you at any time, at any time, but he created you for now. So what are you supposed to do now? How will you operate? Because he's given you the gifts, he's giving you the skills. And and when he doesn't open a door for you, it's either it's not time or that's not the door for you. Or you have to learn some other stuff before you can walk through that door. Because sometimes we want to run before we even started walking. But we we learn all the all those scars that you've gotten, all those battle scars, is just to make you better, girl. It just makes you better. It's like I get to walk with all my scars and say, Yeah, I'm here. Thank you, Jesus. Let's go. What you got for me? Let's go. Oh, that's nothing. I've handled people like that before. Yeah, get out of my face. And you just keep going. You just keep doing it. Look, what is because I I came into entertainment early, I didn't know anybody. I just walked into the radio station and they they said, Oh, this little girl is crazy. We need to keep her here. But I didn't know anybody, I just knew I wanted to meet this jockey. That was it. And he, because uh, he needed to meet me. That was my that was my whole thing. Well, he needs to know who I am. And I ended up staying there five years. But one of the things that I learned early on was that it didn't matter if there were celebrities. They all went to the bathroom, they all farted, they all, you know, they it it was not pleasant. And so I could talk to them like I could talk to the person in my neighborhood. It was the same thing. Just because you did a movie or you had a big record or you traveled, you're still a human being who has needs, who has hurts, who, you know, who has feelings. And sometimes you are not a good person. And just because you did all these things doesn't mean you are a good person. So uh, you know, uh, and I've met a lot of them that I was like, I do not like this person. I do not like them. That the gift is different from the person who got the gift. It's different. And so we have to look at people for their humanity, not just their their gifting. Because, you know, uh the gifting sometimes gets in the way. It's like, are you a good person or not? You know, I I don't care what I I don't care if you're rich, I don't care if you're wealthy, I don't care if you created um uh the best song in the world. I don't care. Are you a good person? Do you treat the busboy well? Are you mean to the assistant? That's what I want to know. Thank you very much. So I just say that and I go back now to my question. When you have um when when actors are coming to your set, what do you want them to know about the the directing process? What is it that because a lot of people have it wrong about what directors do?

SPEAKER_02 50:24

Well, I think that there's a lot when it comes to actors, right? I think also directors need to take acting classes so that directors can speak to actors correctly and not just say, oh, be sad, be happy. Those are results. If you want them to get to that point, you need to be able to communicate how do I want this person to evoke, invoke, and evoke this particular emotion, you know, that I'm hoping that they can get to and giving them results, that ain't gonna do it. I feel like directors do so much stuff that people are just like, oh, you just say action. No, there's so much people management that you have to do. Um, I would say that that's really what you're doing as a director. Yes, you're responsible for the box and getting those beautiful performances, but you're so much, there's so much behind the scenes that people have no idea. You know, like for instance, if you're gonna direct a short film, are you writing the short film or is someone else writing it? You know, there has to be a blueprint to even get department heads. Department heads are then the people who help you make this beautiful vision that you have inside your head or that you've written. You gotta get, you know, um, a director of photography who is the person who's actually filming the thing that you say you want to make or is inside your head. Then you need to get a producer. They're the ones who are responsible for all the behind the scenes. And hopefully you have one who doesn't want to direct, you know. Then you got to get um, and you're communicating with them about logistics, about location, about location agreements, about deal memos. Who are how are you gonna pay your director of photography versus how you're paying the PA? Doesn't mean that the PA is not also important, but you're paying people different rates, unfortunately, because of their labor and their expertise. But the PA one day won't be the PA if they wanted to be in this business. So there's so many things that I think people don't understand that directors do and oversee that it's beyond just saying action. It's a lot of psychology, it's a lot of how do I speak to Lydia versus how do I speak to Lexi versus how do I speak to Celine? You know what I mean? Um, and what is everybody doing in tandem? I mean, I I liken directing and filmmaking to a church or a school system. You have the person who's at the top, right? Who's overseeing all the honey bees, you know, like that's what I call my community because my name is B Monet, really is Brittany, but we go by B. And so you have this ecosystem, right? Of bees that are ultimately creating the hive. And so it's just kind of like, but everybody has their particular expertise that we want to usher in. You got the bumblebees, you got the honeybees, and you got the queen bees, you know.

SPEAKER_00 53:32

And I think it's and they're all needed for the garden.

SPEAKER_02 53:35

They're all needed for the garden that will be watered and that will be beautiful by the time spring comes, you know. Um, or hopefully you're not in a drought, you know, but still you're still working to get that beautiful garden, which is like a film. And so I just think the best I as a director am very I'm an empath, I'm very empathetic, very sensitive. But I know when I am working with department heads, I have to put on a different, I wouldn't say persona, but part of myself, because I am a leader. And so I have to be able to still communicate effectively. I think a lot of being a director is communication, and it's a lot of communication. And so for me, it's like, how do we communicate and get a shorthand going so that when we're on set, there's hopefully no tension. And if there is tension that arises, I am someone who doesn't want to, as a director, when I'm directing, I don't want to expound upon the problem in front of everybody. I'm gonna bring you to the side and I'm gonna say, hey, this is what's going on. I'm gonna confront you, but it's not gonna be in a way that I'm dogmatically coming at you in like this nasty way. I may have to get stern with you. No, like it's like almost like directing for me is like almost like you're especially directing commercials, it's like being a mom, right? Where you're just kind of babysitting the client and you're making sure that they're happy. But directing my own things, it's where I really feel like I get to really invoke, you know, what I see in my head. So I love directing and I love working with actors. I think that they're such talented beings. And I hate that people sometimes think of actors as props. I don't. I see them as folks that if you allow them to, and everyone on set is a potential collaborator if they feel brave enough and if they feel safe enough to share their ideas. Sometimes their ideas are better than yours, and you shouldn't be afraid, as the captain of the ship, to say, hey, this actor has a better idea on what the character should be doing in this moment that I didn't think of. And I'm gonna acknowledge their brilliance and what's so wrong with that. And I think maybe the reason why God also has me in this industry is because I think a lot of people in film are not humble. I think people feel like they have to be haughty, they have to be prideful. Don't get me wrong, I'm proud of the accomplishments that I've accomplished, but I also recognize who was able to open those doors for me. Yes, hard work and dedication and being tenacious. Yes, I got those things. But I also recognize that God also opened those doors for me and allowed me to be in such spaces where I could even be the first black woman to direct a Cadillac commercial, right? Where even when I was on a panel talking about that yesterday, I'm like, yeah, all these things have happened, but I also know unfortunately, I had to achieve a lot of these things just to be taken seriously.

SPEAKER_00 56:50

But that's also God positioning you. Just remember that that He's positioning you in those spaces. And you said something about collaborating with the the actor. Um so what um came to me is sometimes actors have uh disag they disagree with your creative choice, right? Uh, like you want to go this way, you want to go left, they want to go right. And it could, I've seen I've been on sets where it has caused an it has caused an explosion, it has caused like a riff. What would you say um to an actor would be the best way to approach you or any director in a way that gets heard and not creates more conflict or creates a a tear in the production?

SPEAKER_02 57:52

Yeah, that's it's that's such an excellent point. And thankfully I've never had that, but if I did have, because I also really am so intentional about creating a space of curation and uh thoughtfulness and care. And I think maybe that's just being a person of color that the world sometimes can be so violent to us that it's like I don't want to also do what the world does. I want to create a space of care, but that still doesn't mean that we're disagreements are not gonna happen or we're not gonna have a difference of opinion. I feel like if that does happen, please pull me to the side and be like, hey, B, I really think we should try this, this, and this. I prefer sometimes when there are ideas that people have pulling me to us to the side as opposed to declaring in front of the set, because then it's like, okay, well, who's directing now? And that has to be tampered, and then you have to like tame the beast too, where it's like, yes, we're we're allowing you to voice your opinion, but we got to be careful because I don't want now people thinking that you're the director and not me. And that's not a heady thing. It's just like who's steering the ship, you know. So if you got an idea, bring me to the side and be like, hey, I think this and this, this, and this, you know, or how about we try this? And I think it's also great for actors because I'm about to work with actors with a workshop that I'm doing at NYU. I'm so excited to work with them because they're gonna be learning filmmaking from me. And so I think it's gonna be so cool because we're always trying to work with actors, right? But now to be able to tell them this is what a wide shot communicates, this is what a close-up communicates. And just to hopefully see their minds just like move, you know, is gonna be so cool. But going back to what you were saying, yeah, I would hope that if something like that did happen, that we could also be adults, right? Because we're not gonna always agree. We don't. And we're we have different personalities, we have different upbringings, we're different, but I don't appreciate when something becomes an explosion because that um escalates. Like I'm thinking about for one of my short films that I did at um at NYU called Queen, my actor, unfortunately, something told me not to choose her, and I should have told her. I shouldn't have chosen her. Um, not my main actress, but an actor in the film. Um, what happened is that my producer was like, oh, B, I think you should go with this person. And I listened to her, and I didn't listen to myself. And I've learned over the years that sometimes for I think for me, the first thought is the best thought because usually it ends up being correct. I was like, I hear what my producer is saying, but I don't know, there's something I ended up choosing this person. Do you know that this person, this actor, I've never worked with her again, but she ended up coming to set on the most important day, like six to seven hours late. So the day that we really needed to get this moment, we ended up getting it, but it was it wasn't great. And I wasn't able to direct her in a way to get her down because she was a stage actor, and because she also felt embarrassed uh uh by coming to set late. And her only excuse is that she read the call sheet wrong. And so she thought her time was X, and it wasn't. So by the time she comes on set, she's already in this frantic uh predicament because I think she felt embarrassed, and so I wasn't able to get her down. But do you know that even with me trying to force that scene into the movie, it didn't work because she's screaming and yelling, and the moment needed to be smaller and grounded and quiet, but the scene is not in the movie, and it didn't need to be. And I fought that for a really long time because sometimes we think, oh, I wrote this, da-da-da-da-da. But just because you wrote it doesn't mean it needs to be in there. So I think one thing I could tell directors, or if you want to direct, or if you're an actor and you want to move into directing, don't be afraid to kill your darlings. Don't be afraid to be like, oh, I could cut this. Oh, let me do a scene, let me do a version of the film where I literally just get no audio. I mean, no, um, yeah, no dialogue from the actor. So that you cover the scene in such a way that if the dialogue is not working, that you can just get you can cut to glances. So then you've covered yourself in such a way that, oh, I'm good. Because if this dialogue is not hitting, and if I ad lib and that's still not hitting, I have glances. And that might be more palatable, that might be more potent than you trying to force this dialogue that's just not working. So that's an example for me. I can remember of just like, God, I was like, I was like, am I not directing her right? Like, what's going on? But it was really, I think, just the fact that she was so embarrassed that she came to set late, she didn't have a good excuse. And it was a really hard scene. It's about abuse and rape. And you know, in this moment, the other actor is talking about what happened to her. But uh, I think it's okay because I think it was overwritten. And I think uh because that scene is not in there, the scene at the end makes more sense and hits heavier because we didn't have this moment. Maybe in the future it makes sense, maybe, but also maybe not. So I've yeah, it's interesting with being a filmmaker, as you get older, I think you get better.

SPEAKER_00 1:04:34

Now that you had that experience, if that were to ever happen again, and let's say you chose the actor, let's say there was an actor you chose and they got to set late and they were uh out of sorts. Have you because I I would imagine that you played that in your head a few times after it was done, like actors do? I could have done it this way, I should have done this, I should have. Did have you come up with something that would allow the actor to now get grounded in that moment? Or have you, you know, in all the playbacks in your head, what what would you do differently going forward?

SPEAKER_02 1:05:24

Yeah, I mean, for me, I practice a lot of breath work and a lot of meditation. So we might have a moment where, you know, I ask other people to leave, and it's just me and the actor, like in a private space, and we might do a meditation, like literally grounding ourselves, getting on the floor, holding hands, and really like putting on a meditation, doing breath work to kind of just ground them again and ground me with them, right? Because I'm their mirror. So they're looking to me for direction. So I can't, I think it's like relationships. You can't just be like, I'm gonna find the speck in your eye, and you're the one to blame. I have to also take responsibility too. Um, yes, there's craziness happening all around me, but at the same time, the most important thing, I think, on set is still you. It's hard to say that because everything is important, right? But at the end of the day, everybody is just watching that performance.

SPEAKER_00 1:06:23

Right.

SPEAKER_02 1:06:24

So I think whatever I could do to ground them, especially if it's a moment that has to happen. Like if I'm being hired to develop, I mean, to like direct television or something. Um, and this is the moment, I still gotta get the moment. This isn't, oh, I have to, I'm gonna take it out. No, you still are being hired to direct, then you better execute, right? So they don't want to hear, oh, well, let's just take it out. No, this showrunner commissioned a writer's group to write this.

SPEAKER_00 1:07:02

Someone wrote it and it's up to you to deliver it.

SPEAKER_02 1:07:06

Deliver it. Yeah, you don't just get to be like, okay, well, it's it doesn't work. Film works a little bit differently. So I would do what I could, you know what I mean? And I think that would be definitely a solution in my head, you know, that I would try. If that didn't work, I'd ask the assistant director or maybe the producer, hey, you know, especially if it's a show, right? Where they're working with these people in tandem, you work with them more closely and more intimately. Do you have any suggestions here? Because what I'm trying is not working. Do you want to talk to them or do you want me to be present? Let's go again.

SPEAKER_00 1:07:49

Yes.

SPEAKER_02 1:07:50

I think the best directors are not afraid to be like I like just because I'm the director doesn't mean that I always have the answers. Right. But I think because the way of the world is, especially the way that uh filmmaking and the industry is, you better have the answer. You better not cry. Right? Especially as a woman leader, you better not show any form of weakness. So even if I don't have the answer, I'm not gonna outright say that, but I'm going to find an answer. So I'm gonna find a solution, whether it's I figured it out or I had to take it from my tail, right? But I'm gonna figure something out, or someone else is gonna help me arrive to that moment. Um, especially when you're working with like named talent, right? Like if this was uh, you know, network television or HBO, Apple TV, insert whomever, I still have to deliver. So in that moment, I'm gonna find something. And I'm gonna use, and that's why you employ all these people, right? Like I'm just thinking about people who don't know anything about filmmaking. When you look at the credits of a movie or a TV show, they're all these people. So you need to also rely on the people that are around you to help you in this moment, despite you or in spite of you being the person at the top. You sometimes may not always have the answers, but you better figure it out though. And quickly.

SPEAKER_00 1:09:31

You mentioned you create a space for the actor to feel safe. How do you transmit that that this is a safe space? How how do they know, hey, we're we're in good hands because we're with B. Monet?

SPEAKER_02 1:09:46

Um, because I love actors so much, I try to like meet up with them if I can. You know, I try to do informal coffees or like, you know, just like learning more about them. So usually the first time we're meeting on set is not the first, like the first time, like on set may be our first time meeting in person, but at least there's been some type of interaction, even if it's been over Zoom or over phone. Like I still try to familiarize myself with them and not just in the work, but who they are as a person. Because I feel like I try to almost approach filmmaking like anthropology and sociology. Like you can't just be like, okay, just get to the thing. It's like, I think it's important as filmmakers and storytellers to know who we're with, you know, and not just get to the work automatically. I think we have to like girt ourselves and build up to that moment. I mean, and I'll ask an agent, like, hey, can we still have a like you can be present, but I would like to get to know this person. Um, I'm thinking a lot with like commercials and stuff. Like, I just directed a WNBA player like a month ago, but before the end of the year last year, I spoke to her on Zoom. It was very weird because it was just like her and I are speaking for like an hour about something that happened to her. And it almost also felt, which is why commercial directing is weird for me. It felt like the hens, I hate to say that, but it just feels like the other people needed to see how we were gonna interact. So it was almost like a weird case study of like we're being evaluated from our interaction. And it was just very strange to me because I know how to interact with like that is a gift that I've been given that I can speak to anyone. I can speak to the prostitute, I can speak to the president, I treat people, I give every man, woman, a hundred percent, you know, I like just like what you're talking about. I treat celebrities no different than the crackhead walking down the street, or who's like, I'm gonna watch your car. You know what I mean? And I think that approach has helped me because I call myself, you know, the people's filmmaker. And maybe because I have been able to be scrappy, I'm able to speak to anybody. And I know that that is a quality that sometimes people hate about me because they know that I can speak to anyone. And I think a lot of filmmakers um are so shy and so reserved, and they don't want to put themselves out there. And I'm just like, it's very interesting how you want to comment on the human condition, but yet you can't even speak to people, or the way that you speak to people is in this horrible, gruesome way because you feel like you need to be the tyrant and you need to be yelling and screaming to feel like the man or the woman. And I just hate that about film where it feels like I think you can still be firm and friendly, but you don't have to be a dick to be in this industry, you know.

SPEAKER_00 1:13:10

I like that yeah, and so it it it makes me think now because you're from what I gathered, you were talking about the stars, the top actors. That actor who comes in and has maybe three, four lines is very nervous, you know, is overthinking everything in their head, and they're coming on set, their eyes are bigger than light bulbs, and they're, you know, how do you make them feel safe? Or what can they do to make themselves feel safe? Maybe that's a better question.

SPEAKER_02 1:13:51

I think for me, when actors name the nerves, it makes me know that they're nervous and that's okay. And so I'm so now I'm aware of the nerves. I I may sense it, but then when they also vocalize it, it's like, okay, now I gotta like almost like help your nerves so that we can get what we need to get, right? Because this is a working machine, people are being paid to be here. We still have to deliver a performance. So even though you're nervous, I'm gonna try to like almost like I don't know, I'm I'm not, I want to be a parent one day. But if your kid is like nervous to like ride a bike and they're looking to you to come for confidence, for comfort, that's no different than I think sometimes being a director, being a mom on set, you know, being that cheerleader, but also sometimes you got to be stern. Um, so in that moment, I would look at them and I'd be like, hey, it's just me and you. I know all these other people around. And I've and I love working with non-actors, people who have never been documented on screen with black girls. I directed over 20 interviews. Not everybody was, you know, who has been on screen before. So it's always a joy for me. And I and I say that, you know, I'm grateful that you're here. I practice gratitude and abundance. So I let them know, thank you for being here. I very much appreciate the fact that you decided to be here and you are allowing all these strangers to document your story. And the same thing would go with film, you know, of like, thank you so much for being here. I might pull them to the side, I might give them a little pup talk, and then see if they can do it. And if they still can't, in the moment I may interrupt them, I may encourage them, and then we go again. And usually from that, I say that, you know, it works out, but affirming them constantly, even if they're like, I'm messing up, I'm messing up, I'm their biggest cheerleader. I'm thinking about even um a commercial that I did, the only commercial I did for 2025, which is about to come out soon. Um, we were working with an influencer and she kept on messing up her lines. And so I had all these ideas of what I wanted to do, you know, as a director. I'm like, I want to do this 180 situation, I want to have a jib and an overhead shot, and I want to do all this camera work. None of that happened because she had to be in the middle of these two megastars, and these two megastars are Disney stars. They have been performing, and you know, they're actors, there's they're singers, they know what's up, you know, they're able to get lines like that, but she couldn't conceive of shooting out of order. So we had to shoot chronologically. So unfortunately, even though I wanted to do, oh, let's do the last shot first, let's do this, none of that was able to happen because she couldn't conceive in her mind that, like, this is not an influencer video where we're going from start to finish, we're gonna shoot out of order, and it didn't happen. So thankfully, even though I did not have an AD that believed in me, we were able to get all because again, I'm a very hardworking person, but I also pray before I go on set. So we are still that's my secret Sassong, truly, too. And so I'm like, I know what you're saying, AD, who doesn't believe in me, but we're gonna be able to deliver this. And so by the eight, by the time we got to lunch, we got through all of the script, even though it was a three shot. So technically, we delivered everything by lunch, even though it wasn't interestingly shot, we still delivered all everything by lunch. And I know that in his mind, he's like, How is this woman able to do this? I'm able to do this also because I create care and I kept on encouraging her, but also God. But it's just, I use that as an example of like this woman was not able to get the lines, you know, out of order. But it was my job to create a safety um and sensitivity around the fact that she is nervous out of her mind to be with two Disney stars and she smacked dab in the middle, and she had a lot of hard language that she had to also regurgitate, and they didn't have those lines, so they also were helping her, right? And they were also like, it's okay, affirming her. So she had a lot of affirming affirmation, right? From me, from these two Disney stars, from also the script suit, who had to be annoying and be like, no, you said uh as opposed to the. Like that's how like anal we had to be on this one.

SPEAKER_00 1:19:20

So what do you wish every actor knew before they stepped onto your set for the first time?

SPEAKER_02 1:19:26

I wish every actor knew before they step on my set, something that I get to direct them on. I I would say, I wish that every actor that I worked with just knew that I really am your biggest cheerleader. You know, I got your back. I'm open to feedback, I'm open to suggestions, but also I want you to crush it. I want you to blow us away. You know, I want you to be phenomenal in this moment. I don't want you to cower and like come in like this. I want you to be as bold and brave and brilliant as I know that you can be, because obviously that's why we're hiring you, right? Whether it's the commercial agency that decided to cast you or I casted you for a personal project, I'm gonna work with you and I'm gonna, I mean, I'm gonna pull out what I feel like is your goodness and your greatness. And so I'm always trying to tap into that. You know, I find that my style is I see the beauty in everybody and the things that other people may see as quirks and qualms and annoying little features about someone, and I'm always trying to show the brilliance of someone. And I I love those little nuances of a person, so don't be afraid to show it and don't be afraid, I think, to also play. Um, I find that a lot of actors, some actors are so in their head that they don't want to play. And I think that playing is one of the best things we can do as adults is not be so fixated on the template that is the script, and to be willing to try new things because I'm I'm a very adventurous person in general, and I love actors who want to play with me because I love ad live and I love experimentation. So it's like the script is just it's just words, it's how you invoke those things that really make it so dynamic and make it so make it come to life. And so if you're willing to, let's do it. But I find some actors are just so in their head, like I'm just thinking about this influencer. She was just so in her head that there was no, there is really no way that I could make her not in her head.

SPEAKER_00 1:22:01

I want to go back to to that setting because you are director for hire. You everybody was hired, you had nothing to do with them being hired. And then you have an AD who is on some level undermining you in not in not trusting you and not allowing you to do what you do fully and continuing to question you. As a director for hire, um, what's beautiful about you is that you can you can bounce back and forth to whatever I can be for hire or I can deliver my own work and do the stuff. You you made a uh I'm gonna back up for a second because you made a comment about, you know, actors just playing and letting go of the material. But when you are hired on a on a show, on a commercial as a director, that there is a difference, or you're or you're hired to shoot a film and it's been written by someone who is esteemed, who's won awards, who's done stuff, you have to, as the actor, you have to factor in that they want their lines to come out of your mouth the way they wrote it, you know, and you have to find a way to do it that that makes it organic, that makes it fun, that makes it but but you have to deliver those those lines. You cannot add uh when they have the you have to be very precise. So in in those situations, when you are working and and you you basically it's you against everybody else. How do you show up mindset-wise to knock it out the park?

SPEAKER_02 1:24:02

So one of the things is I surrender to the fact that this is not something that I'm financing. So because I'm not financing this commercial project, I have to lament and kind of suspend my disbelief to the fact that this may be something that I love. This project may not be something that I love. Sometimes I'm doing something for, sometimes I'm directing certain projects for a meal, not necessarily for the real. And so it's really hard to say that as a director because you want to love everything that you direct. I love directing, but I don't always love the system that is around directing. I don't love the politics and the bureaucracy and the micromanagement. I'll never say that I love that. I love directing actors and non-actors and telling incredible stories. That's what keeps me in the business. Um, but I don't like, I don't love the business aspect of it. I don't. Um, so when I'm directing a commercial, I just am like, okay, we're gonna try our best to get what we want. But if there's so much resistance around me trying new things or trying to innovate or trying to be experimental, copy. We'll just go back to the script. So I'll push it in the sense of I will try to get what I want as a director because I want to show them that, hey, I know what you've written here, and I know that you've been with this material maybe for 18 months or two years, and I'm coming in as the last woman standing, right? The last person, a part of this particular project. So you've been with this, and so I want to honor that. And so I'm wanting, I'm wanting you to trust me to elevate the vision of this. But if you still don't trust me, then okay, we will go back to the script. And that's even what happened with the WMBA player project. I believe what we delivered when she was just free flowing with me was so beautiful. And that's exactly what we did in the call before, you know, the end of the year. It was very free free-flowing. My style is very much probing and asking follow-up questions when I feel like, oh man, I want to go down that path more with the person. But when again, I'm not financing something, I still have to honor what's happening. And if there is a script and they are and they are so adamant on their words, I also have to, I feel like actors and directors are very similar that way. I also have to be open to the fact that they don't want to hear my ideas, but that doesn't still mean that I'm still not great at what I do. And so just because they don't want to hear my ideas and I tried it, let's go back to the script. So that's what ended up happening. We did a little bit of what I wanted, right? Where she spoke free-flowing and it was more organic, it was more emotional, it was vulnerable, it was transparent, the way that I like storytelling. They wanted to hear their words. So the eye line changes slightly, but she then reads from the teleprompter their words because they didn't, they liked what we were doing, right? But they still wanted her to execute in the way that they envisioned. So that's an example of I'll try it my way as a director, but at the end of the day, I'm not financing this. And because I'm not financing this shoot, there is somebody bigger than me that I right have to answer to because they're financing this whole shoot. And so if they want their words to be delivered in a certain way, great. And I might say, okay, this lives on my drop box. This may not be something that I share because I may not stand behind the full execution of how they end up putting everything together. And it's really hard, I think, being a commercial director because every time I direct something, I want to love it. I really do. But sometimes by the time it's edited, or they may still consult me as a director to say, oh, B, how would you edit this? I give them my notes, but that still doesn't mean that they may take my feedback. And it hurts my feelings, you know. I'm I'm sensitive, I'm an empath, I'm an artist. Um, so it's it's hard, you know. But then I think, okay, you did a month of work worth of work, you know, with this particular company, with this client. So now you can do your own stuff. So that's kind of like my way of like constantly having these inner conversations with myself, where it's like, yes, you may have wanted this to be for the real, but by the time it's edited, it's colored. Because I also find that happens too. I oftentimes don't like the way things are colored. Um and I'm just talking about color correction on black skin. I find that the people who sometimes are editing stories about black stores or black women and the things that I direct, I don't like the way that the colorist colors the gradation of the film or the short film, the commercial, because usually they're whitewashing out the skin. So then they're not honoring the skin tone because they're not thinking about a person of this hue. They're thinking about someone of a different hue. So then I don't even end up liking it from that standpoint either. So it's just really hard when then people think that's what your storytelling is. When it's like, no, my storytelling is so much more than this commercial, but when you're Not giving an opportunity in these spaces to prove yourself, then the work end up and it ends up looking a certain way and being a certain way. And then that's what then people critique you uh by the work that you've put out there. That's not even maybe indicative of your true skills.

SPEAKER_00 1:30:45

What I hear though, uh that to me is a positive is that you can be a team player. You may not like it, and I think that's important for uh whoever's watching or listening to this is that we don't always like um stuff that, you know, because you're you're a hire, you're you're a director for hire. There are actors, actors for hire. They're not doing their own projects, they're in somebody else's project. And it's being a good team player. Uh, you know, I'm gonna give you my best, even though you might, you know, switch it up, change it, colorize it in a different manner that I believe in. But at the end of the day, I understand that this is your baby. I'm just being the the surrogate or the caretaker for it right now. But I appreciate uh the opportunity to be in the space with you to work with your baby. It's not my baby, it's your baby. And and I think that is important for us as artists to be aware of when we are coming into somebody else's space. We're coming in to serve their baby, not our baby. You know, and so it I I I I appreciate you talking about that. Um, I want to get to you were one of a few directors selected to reimagine a star is born for uh Warner Brothers for their hundredth anniversary. What was that like for you? And in you being chosen, how did that first of all, how did that make you feel being one of a few to reimagine such an iconic uh project of an iconic studio?

SPEAKER_02 1:32:41

Yeah, I mean, it still blows my mind um to be nominated through Urban World Film Festival um as one of the filmmakers to pitch to Warner Brothers um my take on two films. So basically, what we had to do is well, what they were doing for this, you know, reimagination of um a star is born and Warner Brothers basically like it was their 100th anniversary, and so they needed to select six filmmakers, but they went to diverse film organizations and they said, Hey, who are some of your filmmakers over here? And so then we all had to pitch our ideas, and then we were selected as the final six to um championing these films. Um, so the films that I pitched on were a Star is Born and then Calamity Jane, which is where I wanted to do this like cyborg, afro-futuristic Western. But they were like, Okay, girl, no. Like, that's cool, but no. Um, but do you want to do a star is born instead? We really like you. Um, and so I was just like, okay, cool. I would love to do a star is born. It's one of my uh favorite movies, um, especially by them. There's a lot of Warner Brothers films that I mean, I love The Matrix, uh, Rosemary's Baby, also by them. It's like lots of films by them that are just like out of this world. Um, and so just like, yes, I will be a part of this program, why not? Like what? Um, and so it was kind of like this then figuring out like what would the story be because it's a short, it's not a feature. And so um they were like, oh, we want to do like a TikTok creator uh, you know, approach. How do you feel about taking on an influencer or taking on the approach of you know, someone who becomes famous on TikTok or a social media platform and then rising to fame? And I was just like, okay, I'm up for the challenge. Um, but then the film kind of my reimagination, yeah, my reimagining around this film kind of got to a sci-fi approach because we weren't quite landing on um the TikTok aspect. And so, because I also wanted it to be more interesting, and so I was thinking maybe we could put in more genre elements, maybe we could have a thriller component. So they weren't really feeling that. Um, and so then we went to um, you know, yeah, like it took on different iterations, it's kind of crazy, and then finally got to the sci-fi approach. Um, and now you see that on Warner Brothers, or you see it on HBO Max, Disney Um Plus, and on Hulu, but it was such a whirlwind because we were, I think it we were, it was six of us, and we were all on the WB lot for a week. We got to meet with different people over at Warner Brothers, um, like Pam Abde and people at New Line Cinema, and it felt like this Cinderella experience, you know. Um, and we met with folks at SAG Indy, and I was just like, oh my god, maybe my career will go to the next stratosphere from doing this short. And I think we all were feeling like that. And then the strikes came. And so it just always feels like for me, sometimes with film, I'm always getting closer to getting to the next stratosphere in my career, and then something outside of you know, my control happens. And I think a lot of people feel like that in different generations, um, where it's just like just something, I don't know, like historic happens, you know, that's just outside of your control.

SPEAKER_00 1:36:49

I I think also, I mean, you know, it's it's that thing of we can't control the outside, right? But yeah, what how can you move the ball after that situation? How can you how can you continue, even though there's all this chaos happening, which we're in chaos right now, how do we continue to move the ball? And listening to you uh talking about the the different iterations and the collaboration of saying, okay, you like that. Well, we it it says to me again, what a wonderful team player you are. Um, because I'm looking at your your strengths, I'm looking at your skills, not not the the discouragements or you know, the well, we gotta go, you know, we were going to Brooklyn, but now we're going to Queens. Um but in the flexibility of your art, because that's what I keep hearing. And I I just want you to hold that, that this is a journey. Being an artist is a journey, and you are you're really acing it. It may not seem like it, or it may feel like you know, it should happen two years ago. No, it happens when God says it's time, but along the way, you are getting all these beautiful skill sets, all these things that are growing you and making you even better as a director, as a woman, as a creator. It's like all of this is there's a payoff in all of this. Don't ever feel because that's what that is, what the enemy would want you to think. Like, oh my God, this is so hard. You know, the Bible says life and death are in the power of the tongue. So we have to keep speaking, speak the good things, speak what God said, not what the circum what it looks like, because we have a tendency to speak what it looks like. Nope, I don't care what it, I don't care what it looks like. God said, and I'm moving this way, you know, and the prayer is thank you, God, that you are working behind the scenes to make me move where you created me to go. Yes, not what my idea of it is, but where you are taking me to. Uh, there's another scripture in the Bible that says, um, uh, you know, uh, write the vision down. And in in Joel 2, 2, 2, and 3, it says, write the vision down, for it will surely come, even though it delays, even though it tarries, even though it's gonna take longer than you thought, your time is not God's time, you know. And I can tell you as a prayer warrior that I've prayed for stuff and it took years, decades. I I I'm thinking of I was at a church for 30 years, and the first couple of years that I was there, we were it was like it was a very small church, a starter-up church, and we were in a rec center. And and we grew from 15 to 50 people. And my pastor at the time thought it would be a great idea to go and rent the Saban Theater, which at the time was called the the Ebel, uh, no, the Wilshire Theater. And that theater held and holds 3,000 people. There was 50 of us. So what he did was he rented it out for four Sundays for the uh in a month, and we were going there, and me and and two other prayer warriors, we had our oil, we were laying hands on that whole building. I was going around laying hands on the building, the church, the the seeds, everything. This, you know, the congregation is gonna overflow. There's gonna be so many people, we're gonna have to have another service. So at the end, it it didn't happen. At the end of that month, it didn't happen. We actually lost uh members because they thought he was being uh that he was not being a good steward, blah, blah, blah, blah. Can I tell you that prayer showed up 19 years later? 19 years later, he was diligent doing what he needed to do with the the church, with the people, and we would we would grow, we would get to 500 people, and then there would be some division and it would split in half. Literally, we'd lose half of the the population of the church. And this went on for maybe 10, 12 years. We lost people. There would be a fight, um, you know, there would be some kind of division, the the music department, the the the choir, or something, or we had an assistant pastor who decided they were gonna go, and then they would just take people. It was crazy. But 19 years later, five services, they had a satellite um at Seasun, Northridge, and he said, you know, this is too much. We need to put everybody in one place. He rented the Saban for us to be in one place, and I have forgotten about that prayer. I had forgotten about that prayer. And we get in the building, I sit down, I felt something tap me on my shoulder, and I turned and I heard the Holy Spirit say, look around, this is what you prayed for 19 years ago. It was overflowing, the the balconies were full, it was full outside, they had to do a second service, and we were in there for about a year with two services. So I I say that to say to you and to whoever is listening is that sometimes when you pray, it doesn't mean it's not happening, it just means not now. And you have to keep speaking those words that it is, it is. We don't know when our big moments will come. We don't know that. But if you're consistently making good art, if you're consistently growing, if you're consistently just uh pushing through, God provides, He makes a way where there is none. Him giving you these commercial jobs is to keep you afloat, to keep you eating, to keep you paying your bills. It, you know, so instead of you having a traditional nine to five, these uh commercials are your nine to five. And and and walking in a great, I get to I get to meet people, I get to be of service, I get to show them I'm a team player, and I get to try things. Okay, well, that didn't work. Okay, cool, no problem. But I just want you to know God has not left you, he has not forsaken you, he hasn't forgotten about you, he is with you. You just have to trust the process and trust that everything you're learning is only making you better. It's only make is sharpening your tools, you're sharpening your stuff. You know, with every problem, you come up with a solution. It is it is maturing you, it is at the end of your life, what will happen is all that all those wonderful uh all those wonderful obstacles will become your diamonds. Because as we go forth, and nobody, you know, they don't teach us this in school, and uh it's like we always see an obstacle as oh my god, there's another another strike. I don't know if I can take it. Uh look at what they they're diminishing the business. Oh my god, it's really bad for artists. It's no, it's not. It just nothing stays the same. Everything changes. It's we're always in change mode, always in change mode. And we are being asked, okay, how will you change? How will you move your ball? How will you continue to show up? How will you do this? So if there's a strike, what kind of uh maybe I can do a couple of panels, maybe I can put together a couple of panels, bring some artists and talk about, let's talk about art. Okay, we we may be in a we may be in a crunch right now, but that doesn't mean we can't keep creating. We don't stop because there's a strike. We can't work, cool, no worries, but this is what I can do. What can I do? How do I show up? How do I uh how do I continue to grow my tribe? How do I continue to grow my maybe I'm gonna do some salons? Hey, I'm gonna rent out this venue, I'm gonna have um, I'm gonna do an artist night. I'm gonna bring all these fantastic artists of colors, and we're just gonna gather and talk art and we're gonna talk about what we love, how how empowering is that? See, we say we're not victims, but the minute there's an obstacle, we go into that mindset. We go into, oh my God, I thought I was gonna, you know, and and and this is stuff that I've had to learn. You know, I I had that, you know, I in my 20s, I would go, okay, this is gonna be the job. This is the one. You know, I did a job, and then nope, that's not the one. Oh my God, I got the Jefferson's a two-parter. This is the one that's gonna send me. Nope, that wasn't the one. Oh my god, I got stand and deliver. Oh, I'm the third lead. They cut me out of the movie. Oh, this isn't the one. But it is you keep going and going, and you know, God keeps showing up. He said, keep going, keep going. I so I so I did a movie called Stand and Deliver. Uh when we started the film, I had the third lead, the third lead. And I was like, This is it, this is the one. This is it. Well, by the end of the film, I was reduced to a glorified extra. That's how I see it. Um, and I was devastated. I'm gonna tell you, I was devastated. I I walk off of the Warner Brothers lot and I am done. I'm like, that's it. I don't, and God said, No, that's not it. You are gonna go back to them and tell them you're gonna help them promote the movie. I was like, I'm not gonna go back and you're gonna go back and tell them you're gonna help them promote the movie. So I said, Okay, now I'm surrendering. Okay, God, what do you want?

SPEAKER_01 1:48:11

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:48:12

Um, so I I tell the publicist, uh uh Edward James almost as publicist, God, you know, God talked to me. He said, I'm supposed to promote this movie, blah, blah, blah. He said, Well, I don't know. You know, he said, Well, why don't you write a proposal and then, you know, bring it to me, I'll give it to the people. But, you know, I don't get your hopes up. That was on a Friday, Friday afternoon. I took him to lunch to run this by him. And he was like, nah, I don't think so, but go ahead and do it anyway. So I go back home, I'm making calls, I'm calling back East. I'm calling, I I had a uh a friend of mine who had been my assistant at one point. I said, Hey, I gotta do a proposal. I need your help. He comes, we uh I call, I I try to figure out, okay, how can I set up publicity things for me to do in New York? Blah, blah. I pulled it all together by 5 p.m. Friday, took it, had had copies made of it. My friend did a beautiful job. Monday morning, nine o'clock. I go back to Warner Brothers. I have 25 copies of this proposal. I hand it over to the guy, and he says, Okay, well, I'll give it to them, but don't expect anything. I said, Okay, cool. I let it go. Uh, and that was back when we didn't have cell phones, we didn't have pagers, none of that. I come back home, my phone is ringing off the hook. He says, They want you to come back now. He says, and whatever you do, don't tell them anything about what God told you. I said, Okay, cool. I come back in, I don't know what to expect. The head of publicity comes to me. We're sitting in a little cube, I'm sitting in a little cubicle. She walks in and she says, When do you want to start?

SPEAKER_02 1:49:59

Whoa.

SPEAKER_00 1:50:00

So a film that I had gotten cut out of basically all my big parts, God used it. I went on tour for a whole year, going all over the country, promoting this film to high schools. And because of that, because of me uh being open and doing what God told me to do, I was able to start doing stand-up comedy because I it was something I wanted to do for a bunch of years, and I would write out my material and then I put it out. But because I had to do, go speak to these schools and be in front of these auditoriums, no script, no nothing, just coming in and just speaking out at the top of my head, I was like, I I can do this, I am doing this. This is I'm doing this. People are actually listening to me, people are engaging there. So I just want you to know that even though you, you know, you you thought this was gonna be the moment, the moment is showing up. It just may not show up how you want it to, but you just have to trust. The more you do the work, things are gonna come for you. There, you know, it's like God is working it all out for your good. It said, What the devil intended for evil, God works for your good. So it it is, you know, it's just about you keeping your vision, keeping your perspective of where you want to go. What is it that you want to be doing? Keep writing your stuff, keep doing your stuff, knowing that God puts you here to do something great and mighty. And this is just the beginning of it. So you're learning all this stuff, continue to accumulate all those artists, build salons, build, you know, one of my favorite things is to have dinner parties with artists where we just talk about art. So I have maybe eight to ten people and I cook for them and we sit at the table for the rest of the night and we we just talk art.

SPEAKER_02 1:52:16

Oh, I love that. Oh my God.

SPEAKER_00 1:52:18

I you can do that in a restaurant. You can, you know, say, hey, you got that back room. Can, you know, can I uh book that back room? From 6 to 11, and invite people and say, hey, it's a$25 charge. You get fed, and we talk art. You feed your body, you feed your your creativity, and you you you sharpen each other with love and encouragement to keep going. So instead of it becoming a gripe fest, it's an encouragement fest. Let's do this. We can do this. Who do you know? Who do you know? Who do you hey? Let's put this together. Let's create a coalition. Let's create a um a collective. Let's do something that's never been done before. Those 300,000 women that have been let go, a lot of them started doing their own thing. Not waiting to go, okay, well, when this blows over, it's like, no, I gotta eat now. So what am I gonna do now? I'm gonna create an AI, uh, a new AI uh app. I'm gonna do this, I'm gonna do that, I'm gonna, I'm gonna pivot and do this. Take my skills, take my my gifts, and I am going to do this because what the devil intends for evil, God works for good. He works for good. So even though, man, that was terrible that you got let go. That was terrible that that project didn't get done. That was terrible they cut you out of it. That was terrible they fired you from that gig. That was terrible. But here's what we're doing now. Yeah. Because had I not been cut out of that film, I would have never been able to do that year tour. And I would never have thought I can do comedy. I'm doing comedy, which I did for 14 years because of that, that experience of me going to speak at schools all over the country. I spoke to schools, and then because of that, I got to be a spokesperson for an organization called Athletes and Entertainers for Kids that I did for five years, going into elementary schools, uh, doing all kinds of speaking things because that was the gift that God had given me that was showing up. It was like, oh, okay, so now use your gift. Go ahead, use your gift. And because of that, I got to go work in youth prisons, working with kids, encouraging them, championing them because of my art and my gift. And so I say to you, you are the scrappiest girl I know. You are you are so amazing, you have so much. Your agent is God, and that's all you need to know, my friend. God is with you wherever you go. Keep showing up, keep doing what you do, keep growing, keep uh being the team leader, the team player, the team uh uh mascot, whatever it is that you're put in that position to be, just keep doing it with your light shining bright because you were born for a time such as this. And people, and you may not see it because you're looking at your challenges, but there are people looking up to you right now. They're looking, they say, Oh my god, B. Monet, she, you know, she went to Spelman, she went to NYU, and then she started getting all these grants and doing all these things, and she did. They're not talking about your your failures, they're not talking about your challenges, they're talking about your wins. It's like you can have the biggest challenge with getting a movie done. People don't aren't gonna know that, they just see the movie that's on the screen.

SPEAKER_02 1:56:28

You're right. They they do, then they have no idea the the back, the you know, the background of what's happening behind the scenes. And I'm like, oh, how do I quantify all of what I've experienced?

SPEAKER_00 1:56:42

But you don't have to to them, you just show your art. And then when you get in a room with artists, you share with them how to get past that. See, that's where the gift is. How do we're going to have challenges? Again, that is not what they teach us in school or in studios or, but we will always have challenges. We will we will be uh um sexually um, I don't want to say assaulted, but you know, like people will try. They will try to diminish you, they will try to um uh violate you in different ways, not always sexually, sometimes it's verbally, sometimes, but they will try it. How do you come out on the other side? What is it that you do to keep you going? You know, uh you you learn things along the way. My favorite mantra is I've not been here before. So it's all new. I'm always learning. I'm always, you know, okay, what how do I learn? How do I grow? How do I do this? You are God has given you a mission, he's given you a call. He's so you have to trust that with the vision that he's given you, he will give the provision. And and because you have already been learning how to release, it's just continuing to practice that. I breathe in, I breathe out, I am present with God, and he's gonna make a way where there is none. You know, and sometimes him not letting you get there at a certain time, he's protecting you from something you don't even know what it is. So you have to trust, you know, uh you know, I'm I'm speaking to you like you are my younger self. So I'm telling you what, you know, I had to learn uh and and go, it's all good. It's all good because I've gotten knowledge. I've I've I've I've sharpened my skills, I've sharpened my communication skills, I'm better at speaking to people. I'm not I'm not quick to want to fight with somebody, you know, I'm not quick to get in their face, and and that is a blessing. That's you know, that is how God has been working with me because yeah, I and so learning how to use the system for me instead of fighting the system.

SPEAKER_01 1:59:16

Yes.

SPEAKER_00 1:59:17

So as a union actor, I now know when something happens onset that is not good, I call my union, say, hey, this is going on. I need you to help me. And and this is why I tell actors, it is important. It's good to be non-union for a period of time so you can learn, develop, and grow, but you want to be in union because union protects you in ways that you as a freelance actor cannot. They will not pay you, and there's no you there's none you can do when you're in the union and they don't pay you, it's on, like Donkey Kong. They got to pay you. They you will get your money. And and then, and what I know of the director's uh um guild is that they're even more tenacious about making sure you get your money. The union is there to protect the artist, and you know, and I can complain and say, Yeah, but I gotta pay all these dues. I pay my dues so gladly. I am so happy because you know what? I've been through periods of time when I couldn't pay my rent. And I could go to the the SAG office and say, I need to pay my rent and get that rent check and go pay my rent. There, there's so many perks that come with being a union member, whether it's the writers' guild, the director's guild, or sag after, or even the producer's guild. I'm not as familiar with them, but I'm sure that they too uh take care of their people. I can tell you the writers guild is they are amazing. The director's guild is amazing, and and the sag uh after people are amazing, but we don't um get, we don't do our homework, we don't do our research, and as artists, we go, well, you know, they're not, you know, there's a job that's non-union, and uh, I gotta get I gotta get paid and I re no, do not prostitute yourself. If you're in the union, you just you forfeiting non-union is is a good thing. It's a good thing because it it it says you're more valuable. You know, one of the things that I do not like about SAG after they have something called FICOR. And I I I think that is the worst thing that could have happened to our union because actors don't value themselves enough to go, wait a minute, I deserve more. If I do that union job, I will not get residuals, I will not get health benefits, I will not get pension. And and and you got to start, you know, at some point you gotta let go of non-union and say, no, wait a minute. I deserve all those perks that union gives. There are so many perks, and you you get to build a different um community. When you're in union, you get to go to those meetings, you get to meet other other col other artists um in in that medium, and though meeting those people, being in those rooms will get you more work because then they go, oh man, you know, I was offered this job, but I can't take it. Hey, do you want it? Because I can give them your name. I can pass that on. So I just wanted to to share that as we are talking about the challenges that we as actors, writers, directors go through. And that you have to think bigger picture, bigger picture. How do I get stuff done? How do I how do I get what it is? Where do I want to go, first of all? Where do you want to go? What do you want to be? You want to be an indie filmmaker and be the rebel and non-union forever? Okay, that's all right. But in doing that, you're always gonna be scraping by. You're always, you know, you're never gonna be taken seriously, even though your work is high quality, you're not gonna be taken seriously. That you have to be able to turn jobs down, even though you uh you feel like, oh my God, if I turn that down, I won't eat. I won't, I won't have, you know, money for next month. But God makes a way because you're trusting God. God makes a way. So um my last question for you, my friend. I'm sorry that I went on that rant, but you know, good. We sharpen each other, right? We we we give each other things to grow, we all grow together, you know. I'm only as good as you are. I'm only as good as you are, and and that is how we have to look at community. I'm only as good as my fellow artists are. If they're not good, I'm not good. That's it. So if the right producer who is watching this interview right now says, Oh, I kind of like her. What do you want them to know about you and what you're ready, what you can give them in maybe one of your projects? Hey, I have this project because you you mentioned um Calamity Jane as cyborg, and I thought, oh my god, that is brilliant. That would be a great project. Woo, let's do that. We haven't seen that. So, anyway, uh, what would you like them to know that you have as far as a feature film that you would be interested in showing them?

SPEAKER_02 2:05:19

Listen, the girl's got a Rolodex, you know, of films that she's working on and wanting to champion. I think it's just more so finding the right collaborators who will trust my sensibilities. I think for me, that's one of the biggest things that I want in a producer. It's been a challenge for me to find a producer who really is in sync with me.

SPEAKER_00 2:05:42

Let's break down your wish list in a producer.

SPEAKER_02 2:05:45

I want a producer who understands me as an artist and as a person. You know what I mean? Like I want to feel like we're we're friends and not just collaborators. Because I feel like if there's a friendship component, we understand who we fundamentally are as humans and what's important to us. And I just think that having that through line is gonna help us create this beautiful creation together. And I think when it's just about the art, we're missing out on all of the inner workings of who a person is. And so I would love a friend who also happens to be the producer of the film, of the films that I want to produce or want to direct, uh, write and direct. I also want producers who really try their best to get the best vendors and collaborators to elevate the vision of the film. You know, I mean, I want them to go to bat. I want them to feel like they're birthing this project alongside me. They are the surrogate mother or surrogate father, right? Who's like championing and being the godmother or godfather of this project. And, you know, they speak about it positively, both in front of me and behind my back. Because sometimes, you know, you have producers who, in my case, who want to direct, or they use words like, oh, this is very you have very ambitious ideas. So when I hear words like that, it makes me feel like, oh, you think that I can't execute these ideas because you don't conceive how someone like me could direct it, or maybe we don't have enough resources to make them happen. And so I really want someone who truly believes in me as an artist and is going to find other people who are gonna go to bat and championing this project, um, whether it's from a resource standpoint, whether it's from an access standpoint or getting actors who are of a certain caliber to make the projects happen. Um, those things really mean the world to me. And someone who's hardworking and can crack a joke, you know, because if we're gonna be in bed with each other creatively for a while, I want to feel like we can have some humor too. Like it's not just so serious and so detrimental. Like, yes, we're trying to get financing around a project, but I want to feel like I can literally let my hair down around you, right? And like I want you to feel that way too. I don't want to feel like I'm walking on eggshells. I want to feel like I'm creatively and personally safe around the people I create with because I haven't always I haven't felt like that. Like even your introduction was interesting for me because it's like, yeah, I am a filmmaker who has worked across different mediums, but who do I really want to be as an artist? You know, and I think that's always the thing, or the perplexing like strife, you know, when you don't have a silver spoon in your mouth, right? It's like I want to be making this type of art, but then what's happening is that people may perceive me in a different way. And so I really want to be brave enough to make my art happen come hella high water. And I think that's just where I'm at as an artist, is that if I have to do some Chitlin circuit stuff, I think maybe that's what we have to do. Or if I have to go international to get financing and to get people who believe in me, then maybe that's what I have to do. But I think I'm just in a I'm finally in a place of like, let's throw spaghetti on the wall.

SPEAKER_00 2:09:40

So let's not throw spaghetti on the wall. Let's be intentional about what we want. Ah, let's just be intentional. No, but I think uh I think when we're throwing spaghetti, it's we're not trusting God.

SPEAKER_02 2:09:55

It it is that I'm okay.

SPEAKER_00 2:09:58

You know what I'm saying? It there's an intentionality of saying, I'm getting this movie done, I'm doing this, I'm getting this movie done. So you can come along with me or get out the way, but I'm getting this movie done. That's intentionality. Throwing stuff uh uh on the wall. I've got five projects. Let's see which one will uh work. No, yeah, what is your spirit telling you is the one is the baby that needs to be born right now? See, you're you are a filmmaker, you are universal, you are global, you can touch a lot of things. There's no shame in that. That just means you have more capabilities than other people, you which all of it works, you bring all of that into whatever project you are doing. So it's really important for you not to feel bad. That's your that's part of what makes B Monet B Monet. You know, Ryan Kugler is a genius in his in in his own way, but so are you. It it it's it's not I I don't take anything from him to give to you. Why can't both be lifted up? So we're looking for a producer who's going to champion your work, who is going to fight for you in front and behind you, someone who's can who can be connected to the right people to get the financing for the project, and somebody who's not trying to usurp your your creativity, your uh being a director, but they are secure enough in what they do and they love being producer. They love it, they love it, love it, love it. So that's what we're looking for. And we're taking applications, please bring it in. We're looking for that that producer who is not afraid of a woman. If it's a man and if it's a woman, they're not trying to compete. We're looking for that producer who is ready to make movies, money, and win awards. Yeah, that is what we're looking for.

SPEAKER_02 2:12:13

I'm like, you, you, the way you worded that, yes, everything. You need to be my publicist.

SPEAKER_00 2:12:18

Yes, like what we're looking for. I'm just saying. So I just want to say thank you so much. Thank you for taking the time. Thank you for your courage. Thank you for being one of the the young Mavericks out there just taking it and and and sharing it and imparting it to the younger ones that are coming up after you. I cannot wait to do the next um interview with you to hear all the more amazing things that you are doing because sometimes we need to reflect back to us all the great things we've done and not all the challenges we've had to go through. And you have done amazing work since coming out of NYU. Amazing, brilliant, wonderful, just learning and adding to your special sauce and just making a wonderful gumbo. So I am so proud of you, B. Monet. I am so proud of you, and I can't wait for you to get your awards because it is time. So thank you for joining us. Thank you. I love you. You are amazing.

SPEAKER_02 2:13:42

You are too. You're just, oh my God, what you're doing here is so special and so unique and so needed, especially right now. And I thank you for having me be a part of you know, your and your space, right? But also thank you for being brave and bold enough to just amplify, you know, artists all over the world who need a shot, who need a space to be themselves, you know, who need an opportunity to just say, This is my story. I don't know if anyone cares, but there is someone who cares and someone who does need to see people care.

SPEAKER_00 2:14:20

And and people need to see what courage looks like. And because when we get And see what it looks like, then we can try it ourselves. B Monet just handed you an incredible masterclass. So, what are you gonna do? Apply it. Yes, that's what you're gonna do. You're gonna apply some of the stuff that she gave you. My name is Lydia Nicole, and you've been listening to Acting Smarter Now, where we don't just talk about the dream, we work it. If today's conversation opened something up for you, please let me know in the comments below. And while you're there, please make sure you subscribe so you can get every episode as it comes out. And don't go anywhere because we've got another phenomenal interview for you coming right up. And until next time, please go and be unstoppable.