- 1 week ago
Actress, producer and director, Terri J. Vaughn, chats with Sharí Nycole at the EXCELERATEHer Summit about her new Netflix series, “She The People,” and how the hit show is a bright spot in her 30-year Hollywood career.
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00:00I've been in this business for 30 years. I've been pitching and trying to create my own show
00:07for 20 years. I've got everybody grabbed that. That's two decades. For those of you who want
00:14a show, you write out your deck, you write your script out today and you want the show next week.
00:20Now is when it's supposed to be. And there are moments along the journey where,
00:26you know, cause I'm always trying to like breathe, enjoy the journey. Enjoy the journey,
00:32even in the midst of it all. Enjoy the journey. So there's moments where you do enjoy it. And then
00:38there's so many moments in this business where it's devastating. It's harsh. It's hard. It feels
00:46lonely and it's devastating. So, but now is the time that it is supposed to be.
00:53Yeah. I am looking forward to being the next Lieutenant Governor of our great state,
01:00Mississippi. I hate this politics shit. Mama, have you been smoking weed? I chew it. That's the best
01:10way to do it. What's going on Essence fam? It's your girl Cherie Nicole still here at the Accelerate
01:17Summit Conference. And I've got Terri J. Vaughn with me and she is literally a jack of all trades.
01:23And I was just calling her a seasoned staple in this industry before the camera started rolling.
01:28And Terri, it's been a lot of buzz around you the last 48 hours because of a huge announcement that
01:33went down while you were here. While I was here. She, the people is coming. Yes, it is. Yes,
01:39it is. I'm so, just no word. I have, I'm so thankful. I'm so grateful, thankful, excited, just full
01:48of joy. Yeah. Yeah. You know, you work your butt off for something for so many years. Hmm. And
01:56it's, and it has come out just to be honest, exactly how I envisioned it too. Wow. And this
02:07is a project that I've had for about six years or so. And timing is everything. And God knows so much
02:14more than we do. Cause all those years I was like, why God, why hasn't it, why, why, why hasn't it
02:19happen? It's such a good show. Why don't people want it? Why, why, why? Cause it wasn't time.
02:26And now it's a, it's, it's so time. It's time. It's time. It's time.
02:32Terri, I, I'm a comment watcher. I go in the comments and it's interesting. You talk about
02:37just how much you've sown into this industry, because that's what I've been saying in the
02:41comments. People are congratulating you celebrating this. They're like, we're so happy for you.
02:45You, you've been in this for doing this for a long time. What, what does it mean for you? And I ask
02:50you this because one of the main veins of the conversations I've been having this last couple
02:54of days is community. Yeah. What does it mean for you to be embraced like you are by the creative
03:00collective that you have been? It really feels good because, you know, sometimes you feel like
03:07you're in a bubble. Yeah. I feel like you're, you're alone. You're fighting this fight alone. And I know I
03:11have several peers that I admire and I'm a full cheerleader for every, I, yes, you are
03:17certainly a cheerleader. And I'll never stop doing that no matter what, because that's how
03:24God made me. And there have been times when I've been like, okay, well, I'm going to stop
03:30cheering everybody. I don't hear nobody cheering me. You know, but it ain't even about that.
03:34Yeah. And then, and then you don't know. It's like, I'm living in this bubble thinking one thing.
03:41Yeah. And then this comes out today. And like you said, it's so much love being poured back. And I'm
03:46like, Oh, I didn't even think they were paying attention. Where were y'all? When I thought that
03:50nobody was looking and giving me some claps and some hugs. So, but I think we all kind of feel that
03:55way. Absolutely. Because we, you know, we are focused. Yeah. We're really grinding it out. We're doing
04:01stuff that we love. It's not an easy business. And we just keep going, keep going, keep going.
04:07Because if you don't keep going, then you don't get this opportunity. Absolutely.
04:11It will just stop. If you stop, it'll stop. Absolutely. And so, yeah, 20 years in of pitching
04:18my own show, I've been in this business for 30 years. I've been pitching and trying to create my
04:26own show for 20 years. I've got everybody grab that. That's two decades. For those of you who
04:33want to show you, you, you write out your deck, you write your script out today and you want the
04:38show next week. Yeah. 20 years. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Um, and the 20 years in, and it, it now is when it's
04:50supposed to be like, and there are moments along the journey where, you know, cause I'm always trying
04:56to like breathe, enjoy the journey. Yeah. Enjoy the journey, even in the midst of it all. Yeah. Enjoy
05:02the journey. So there's moments where you, you do enjoy it. And then there's so many moments in this
05:09business where it's devastating. Yes. It's harsh. It's hard. It feels lonely and it's devastating.
05:17So, but, but God, but God, um, it now is the time that it is supposed to be. Yeah. You know,
05:26it's supposed to happen now and it feels amazing. It's interesting. You talk about the ebbs and flows
05:31and, and over the course of your career, let's stick with his 20 years. And now this news comes out,
05:36um, this week. Is there one thing that's come to light for you about that, that journey now that
05:43you're seeing your, your creation blossom and bloom as it has that you didn't necessarily consider
05:49before this accomplishment? In all honesty, I felt like, um, like I've always obviously believed
05:58that I could have my own show. I've always believed that. So that's why I've never stopped trying. Yeah.
06:04Because I really did believe that. But when I sold this show to Tyler Perry, um, and when do we sell it?
06:16Like it's been a year, two years. It happened fast. Once it happened, it happened fast. I really felt
06:22like I felt the shift in me when, um, so for this particular project, which, um, I was inspired to
06:31do this project about six years ago. And when I first, when it first came to me and I tried to
06:38share it and pitch it with people, people were like, I don't want to, they don't want to touch a
06:41political, a show about politics, a political show. It's like, it's a funny show. Right. It's a political
06:46satire. We'll have fun. Ha ha ha. But I've, I truly believe it. I didn't believe enough.
06:52Like I believed I could have my own show, but there was also a part of me that did not believe
07:00enough. Why that, that, that I should be chosen to be the one maybe, or that I was on the same
07:09caliber of like a Kerry Washington or even Issa Rae. And I didn't realize I didn't believe I believed,
07:17but not enough. Like it gotta be like dead on enough. Yeah. And with this project,
07:26when we went on strike in 2023, I had had this project already, but we were all on strike and
07:34I was like, you know what? This is the perfect time. Let me get back focused on this show that
07:40I have set aside. I called my writing partner who I had met like a couple of years before in
07:47told her about it. So when we vibed and I loved her, her name is Naya Palmer. And I called her,
07:52I was like, I know we're on strike, but would you be willing to write like the 15 page proof of
07:58concept? I can get together a team and we shoot a proof of concept while we're on strike. So when
08:03the strike is over, we'll have something that we could show people instead of trying to pitch it.
08:09Cause I've been pitching for 20 years and I haven't sold anything yet. I've gotten close a bunch of
08:14times, but so, and she was like, hell yeah, let's do it. So that's what we did. She wrote the same.
08:22I start putting together the team to shoot this two day proof of concept that we were going to shoot.
08:30I thought because of the topic of our show, it was important to find a voice to join me on the team
08:39as a producer. Yeah. That, um, would make sense. I was in Atlanta. I live in Atlanta. Kisha Lanzabottom
08:46makes sense all day. Oh, easy. In the political space. Absolutely. Um, and so I called her and I
08:53was like, I have this show idea. I want to run by you. You know, would you meet with me? And she was
08:58like, yeah. So we met and I told her what the show idea was and she loved it. And she was like,
09:03absolutely. Yes. Let's do it. So this is me because I was even, I even was worried about
09:09calling her like, Hey, we don't talk all the time. I don't really, I'm that close with her. I know her
09:14and we're cool, but I'm just calling her out the blue. Should I call her? And I kept telling me,
09:18yes, call her, call her. But that was me like forcing myself. No, you believed, believe, call her,
09:25believe that she's going to say yes, believe that this project is moving forward. So I had along this
09:30whole process. I kept reminding myself, believe more. Why? Believe more. Because maybe 10 years ago,
09:38I may not have been so bold to call her out the blue. Yeah. And so it's that kind of belief. And
09:45so stuff like that kept happening along the journey with this particular show. And so put all my heart
09:53and soul with able to find an investor because now I got Keisha Lance Byte. Right. Producing with me.
09:58So I was able to get the funding to shoot the proof of concept. We shot it. It was edited. And these
10:04are all with my peers, my friends. We're doing this. Community. And so we shot it. It came out
10:12exactly like I wanted it to because I was like, guys, when we shoot, it has to look like it could
10:18air on TV. It can't look like it's a, you know, it's anything less than something you would see on TV.
10:24And we got it right. They got it right. The team got it right. And so when that strike was over,
10:32I had ready to go, ready to go. It went out into the world. And we got calls back to back,
10:39wanting to meet, wanting to meet, wanting to meet about this show. And so we're prepping ourselves,
10:44me, Naya and Keisha. We're prepping for these meetings. When I tell you ever from,
10:50from the first meeting, our first meeting was with Tyler's team. And they offered it right there in
10:56the meeting. We didn't even pitch. They were pitching why we should go to them. They were
11:01telling all the reasons why it makes sense for us to go there to do the show. And every meeting after
11:07that was just like that. Everybody pitched us for our show. And Tyler was the one, he made sense for us.
11:18He made sense. And I'm so happy. So happy.
11:22Do you know how inspiring that is? Because it's, it's so cool how you sew and you do the work and you
11:29do the work and you do the work. And then you get to a place where it's done. You don't have to do it
11:34anymore, even in spaces where it's assumed that you will have to. Yeah. If you all don't take
11:39anything else from this conversation, you better do the work and keep going. Yeah. And believe more
11:44like Terry is saying. I do want to ask as we sit at the precipice of a very challenging political
11:51climate, even in this country, what can people expect from She the People? And I know we're going
11:56to laugh and have a good time, but the overall of what you want people to walk away with when they
12:01experienced this show. So the show idea came to me when my, uh, friend London Bree became the mayor
12:07of San Francisco. I'm from San Francisco. And when she became the mayor of San Francisco, she had so
12:14much pushback, so many challenges. First time ever San Francisco had a black female mayor. Um, one of the
12:24richest cities in our, in our, uh, country. Yeah. So it was a big deal with a huge deal and watching,
12:31knowing her story, knowing her upbringing, very humble beginnings. We both grew up in different
12:37hoods in the city, in San Francisco. She grew up in Fillmore. I grew up in Hunter's Point. So I know
12:42her upbringing. She was raised by her grandmother because her mother wasn't able to care for her and
12:47her siblings. So that's her upbringing. That was her life. And to watch her come up in this political
12:55climate in a city like San Francisco and become the mayor. I was like, that's a character that is
13:03juicy with all kinds of experiences and challenges. Um, so I was inspired when that happened. And I've
13:13told her this, I was like, I'm going to create a show. It's in this inspired by your journey. So we
13:21will, we are really talking about all the crazy obstacles and disparities and racism and sexism.
13:33We're talking about all the things and our political climate that we've been in for the past couple of
13:38years. It's given us so much material. So it's all, it's on the show. The material is in the show.
13:45God, this, I'm like, God, he knows what he's doing all the time.
13:51When we were shooting, we didn't know that Kamala was going to, well, run for purpose. None of that was
13:58existing when we started doing this, but all this kept happening. So we're pulling stories from what's
14:05happening as we're working. So it was just beautiful.
14:11It's, I love the divine timing of this.
14:14Divine.
14:14And as we've talked about your journey and in self-discovery, even in this conversation,
14:19I do want to ask you one word or adjective that describes your makeup, how God wired you,
14:27how you're made. One word or adjective.
14:28Oh, wow. How God made me. Sensitive. Sensitive.
14:37You carry the sensitivity with a sense of calmness. Like, from the moment I met Terry,
14:42I was actually very kind of shocked because I've seen the other characters you play on TV and
14:46sometimes even relate the character to the person. So when I met you the first time some years ago,
14:50I was like, she's so calm and centered and sweet. And this industry can be nuts. Like,
14:57let's just be honest. Like it can be volatile. Yeah. How do you stay grounded in your calm amidst
15:05all of the things that encompass this industry, especially because you're in front of and behind
15:09the camera? You experience energies on both, on both eyes.
15:12For me, I think it's always just been in perspective that my career, my work, I love, but it is my career,
15:19my work. It's my job. And I use my job to make a difference, to be a voice, to represent.
15:27But my, my, myself, my person, my kids, my husband, my mom, my sister, my grandma, that's my foundation.
15:37I'm so blessed because I get to, I get to really live out fully in both sides of my life.
15:44And I don't want to not have either one. Yeah. So my, my life is very chaotic. It's very
15:52messy and chaotic because I got three kids, I got a husband, and I have a wonderful career that I love.
16:00So my time for me, my, my meditation, my prayer, like I have an altar set up in my closet where I
16:11pray, pray and meditate every day. There's something about that.
16:15Every day, every day. And it's really important for me. I have to do that. Um, and just, just really
16:25valuing this. Yeah. You know, I love connection. Yes. Yeah. I love sharing. I love understanding.
16:35So yeah. So connection with people and feelings. And that's why when you ask me, nobody's ever
16:41asked me that before, an adjective that describes myself. Um, that's why I say I feel like sensitive
16:47is one. Yeah. Not sensitive. Like I'm like. Fragile. Yeah. Not that sensitive. Sensitive. And I feel
16:54like, I feel your energy. Yeah. I feel a connection. I feel love. I feel, and I like to, I like give it,
17:02you give it back. Yeah. You give it back. When I hug you, you may feel it. I mean it. If I'm a hug
17:08you, I'm going to mean it. Yeah. Sensitive that way. And I think all of that keeps me branded.
17:16Terry, I adore you. I love you. You know that. Thank you for doing this. I am so, so happy for you. I
17:23cannot wait to support this show. You guys make sure you support it as well. Black creatives. We have to
17:30band together. Yeah. We talked about a season two. It happens right now. So when this releases,
17:36make sure you check it out. May 22nd, Netflix.
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