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00:00written and how we're going to get them funded right and I see that as the biggest problem and
00:07it's probably the biggest problem that I have for those that I represent we talk about getting
00:13writers together directors together pulling everyone into one pile so that we could work
00:17and maybe we all work and get your story told and then we work on your story and then you bounce it
00:23off and and building this collective and that's something that we've been trying to put together
00:28and do and I think once we're able to figure out that Hollywood will get more stories and get full
00:37stories and a broad range of stories but I think the African creative needs that assistance we need
00:43that platform to be able to do that almost even like residency program exactly where you're just
00:49paid to be creative you're paid to create you know and you have that support you have housing and that's
00:56something that we actually put together and have been pitching but also the right minds have not
01:01come to the table to assist us and help us to bring that together so yeah may I add to that I think
01:10it's important as we think about co-creating together the Africans and African-Americans and folks in the
01:19diaspora that we look at the entire chessboard and see what moves we need to make and regarding people
01:27being available some it doesn't look the same anymore I think open conversation needs to have happen use me
01:34like go let's approach people with access and see what they're willing to do in terms of collaborations
01:41because I will tell you no one's asking me for anything at all and I'm going around I'm going back to Nigeria
01:51trying to like guys like what's up let's do something what's up what's up what's up we're already having lunch all right
01:56all right yeah thank you so much so we're gonna go to Q&A and before we go there I just want to say you know a lot of times we go places we hear these conversations we sit here for a few hours and then we go outside and some
02:10times nothing changes so I would urge everyone all of us everyone here have these conversations with someone that you're sitting next to have these conversations with your friend and really make efforts to be that change don't come up with an idea and let that idea die like really talk about it with other people help bring it to maturation and then that way we all can see the change that we want to see
02:34all righty so we will take the first question you can do a quick intro
02:41hi my name is
02:45hello
02:47hi my name is Lisa Miranda and I am a creative from Cape Verde in West Africa and I'm working on projects there and I noticed that even within Africa and the Lucophone countries the Francophone countries there's just not yet this platform or that I know of something that kind of bridges the creative
03:03and collaborators and even access to you know the grants the funds all of that within Africa and I noticed that it's kind of scattered where it's like some African countries they're like oh we're looking for resources in Holland or in France but how do you guys foresee this kind of coming together so we can use the resources that we have as a continent but then also make it strong enough that we can pour it out and and you know get the the the money and the
03:33resources that we need to keep the creatives going forward
03:40I think it's it's difficult and challenging because because all of this is relatively new and I'll speak for myself and my company we started in East Africa and then into South Africa and we're trying to build and build the bridges and connect the dots between the territories
04:00it's hard where you are and what we need is more people who are coming to the continent to help build platforms I think we in the last five years we've done extraordinary things with the talent that we represent and we've moved mountains and we've gotten over hills and there's a long way to go but we're also one agency one agency who's committed to connect the dots and move people across the pond
04:30and I think when there's more people and I think when there's more people focused on it we'll be able to have greater impact I hope that answered your question
04:37I didn't solve it but I'm sorry next
04:44hello thank you all for being here today my name is Aaliyah Habib I am from the East Coast I started as an actor and during the pandemic I made the transition to move to L.A.
04:57and pursue my career as a writer but as an artist in the industry what are your thoughts in terms of so I'm a mixed background of freed and enslaved Africans and we always hear the conversation in Hollywood of you know Africans playing American roles and Americans playing African roles so I'm interested in what your thoughts on are on black Americans playing African roles
05:25because when they do there's always this backlash of oh their accent wasn't right or whatever
05:32but I know that for me and I know a lot of black artists who are interested in getting more in touch with their roots and enclosing that gap globally in the diaspora what are your thoughts and reflections on the opposite?
05:53it's an extremely complex question that you asked but one that I think is important to discuss you know for me I think you have to look at historically what has happened right I feel like I love that there's this desire to reconnect with the African continent black Americans are going back and large numbers gone a year of return everyone's doing their tests and studies and finding out their ten point or
06:22four point five percent Nigerian or four point five percent Nigerian or whatever it may be and it's a beautiful thing I don't say that facetiously
06:29but I think if it's about telling global stories you know I think there needs to be thought given to opportunity and access right as an actor I want to take on incredible challenging dynamic roles I play a black American that
06:50that we eventually made Nigerian on dynasty but that wasn't the impetus of the character and so I have to challenge myself and say okay valid point that you're saying there's this kind of like this backlash of black American plays an African I just feel like as this journey of black Americans finding their connection in Africa and bringing that to Hollywood storytelling happens just allow Africans at the table do you know what I mean?
07:18I mean allow us in the same way that you know black America felt often like whites were co-opting their stories where the writers directors of everything and not having an authentic voice for black America the same thing that women have been saying about men are writing all our stories and now you see like black women bonding together you know making sure that their voices are being infused into the storytelling I would just say give consideration to that
07:48But I'm not thinking that much of an experience without an honest problem, I would just try to be an African American experience without making an investment in that experience.
07:56Love that people want to take on these challenging roles.
08:01Yes, there's always the eye roll of, okay, the accent wasn't there, the accent was there.
08:04But if I'm looking across the board at a film or a story and its origins are in Africa
08:10and the majority of the characters are African, and I'm going through IMDb credits,
08:14I'm like, okay, who's the writer, who's the director, who is behind this?
08:17You know, how many Africans are actually in this?
08:19And I don't think that's like a reach or a wrong thing to ask and to want to ascertain and ensure
08:30because you want to make sure that the voices are authentic.
08:33So have those people who've had that experience, whose stories you are telling at the table
08:38and involved in the story, and then pick the best actor for the role.
08:42I agree with you in terms of picking the best actor.
08:47Picking the best actor for the role, that's where I'm actually on the fence, actually.
08:53Because living in Nigeria, you hear the frustration of Nigerian artists
08:59and, you know, seeing mainstream films come about and it's a Nigerian or it's a South African
09:07or whatever, and it's not as authentic as it could be.
09:12Why didn't they cast this person?
09:14Oh, what's it now?
09:16Like, it's just very frustrating.
09:18But at the end of the day, just with me living in Nigeria,
09:22they pick certain people based off of the fact of their marketability.
09:25Are they going to be able to sell the product?
09:28Are they going to be able to help the producer get their money back?
09:31So there's just so many things that come into account.
09:34So I totally understand where Sam is coming from.
09:37But from a producer's standpoint and where the money's coming from, it's layered.
09:44It's layered.
09:45That's how you get Will Smith as a Nigerian.
09:47So this has been an absolutely incredible panel.
09:57We are...
09:58Wait, we're good to hold this person.
10:00No, no, no.
10:00What did you say?
10:01Okay, this...
10:01No, obviously.
10:02You know the Nigerians are the panel.
10:04Like, what's up?
10:06No, I'm kidding.
10:07Okay, no, seriously.
10:08We have to wrap this up.
10:09Honestly, you guys, this has been an absolutely incredible panel.
10:12Thanks to each and every one of you for being here.
10:15Thank you so much to Essence for truly having conversations that matter.
10:19And like I said before, the only way to move forward is through partnership.
10:23So I hope that you meet people here today that you can find ways to partner with and figure out how to move projects forward.
10:30May I say one thing?
10:32I want to highlight the fact that Essence has been doing a great job in terms of bringing people together to co-create.
10:39Thank you so much.
10:40Especially the work Sidra Smith has done with the...
10:43Oh, Sidra!
10:44Yes!
10:44That's the film festival where she's merging the Hollywood and Nollywood world.
10:49Yes.
10:49And I think that's super important.
10:52And we should continue to make those kinds of spaces available.
10:54Can I say that Sidra actually traveled to Nigeria?
10:58So she came on ground to Nigeria to see and experience.
11:01And she's now here bringing it all on here.
11:04We love you!
11:05So we appreciate you, Sidra.
11:07We love you.
11:07Thank you all so much.
22:07Now, this is a little dangerous.
23:37And so, I remember being a 10th grader in high school and getting my classmates together
23:43and because I went to a performing arts high school, that wasn't a threat for us, but we
23:48were the only ones that that wasn't a threat for.
23:50And so, and so, we were the quick, you know, things and car teacher, yeah.
24:00And so, we were Yes, we were in a instalment for a lot of people, and we were in a mall doing
24:01as a small school district.
24:03And so, you know, yeah.
24:03I mean, you know, we were in aимо-a-and-a-s people, because we were in a factory of in the
24:12trenches.
24:13kids from other schools i know i was a 10th grader doing the most even then right right and so it was
24:21for me the movement that we got showed that hey people are gonna do and trample over things as
24:29long as they don't think anybody cares about it and people who do care about it sometimes don't
24:36think that their voice matters enough to advocate for it it just is what it is and i'm from north
24:42philly okay very very very poor come on north philly yes yes and we didn't have much growing up and i'm
24:49one of seven and so for me being a middle child too having to learn how to advocate in a in a crowd of
24:57kids was was was one thing um and so then it just lent itself naturally to me being able to advocate
25:05for other people so that was the first time for me i love that y'all can clap for that
25:10and i'm and my job is to help you catch these gems so jerry dropped a lot on y'all but i'm gonna just
25:15remind you of one of them she said about using your privilege honorably so it doesn't matter how
25:21marginalized you may be because you may be but you still may be more privileged than someone else and
25:26how do you use your privilege to advocate for other people thank you for that gem jerry yeah yeah
25:32kendrick what about you
25:33kendrick what about you we got fangs in we got fangs in we got fangs in hey hey we got essence
25:38okay bite me in it bite me
25:40i told y'all trigger warning i told y'all
25:47all right so i'm professional um mine is not gonna be nearly as good i wasn't doing that in high
25:57school we ain't doing no protests uh but y'all creative you know y'all were performing arts i
26:05mine was not um but i do remember um i'm gonna try to compete with you i do remember the time i
26:14remember the time that we uh changed the district um no i i uh we had to have in order to have a step
26:24team i had a really weird high school where we had like really hood kids we had people with super low
26:31income and then we had wealthy wealthy kids and uh you can imagine they looked a little different
26:38um and so it was considered like a white school by the standards of not the demographics of the
26:48school but like the resources it had that did never go to the black kids at the school or were used
26:55to target the black kids at the school um and so they they were you know in the south i grew up in
27:03houston you know there's yeah yeah yeah it's time you know it's what it is mostly that's what we do
27:10so uh you know they had we have step teams and high school fraternities and sororities and it's a
27:17whole like world it's a life and they you know those are at the black schools in our school one of the
27:25step team wanted uh high school fraternity sorority but they said it was they were gangs so they made
27:31us in order to get in order to join the step team it had to be an rotc oh my god
27:39junior rotc so i joined up uh and was like let me get this step team going yeah and we did you know
27:49we kids they said you can't do this you can't do that you can't do anything gratuitous we did a
27:54little pop you know a little boop and they were like no kicked us out to school no more step team
28:00oh wow yeah so i i drove up 45 minutes to the north side because it was this dope step team i was like
28:11let me get these people down here and i used to wake up early which is a big deal like right now i'm still
28:17asleep um so like waking up earlier than you got to be at school when i think we had to be at school
28:23like 6 30 in the morning so i would wake up earlier get there try to interview teachers which one would
28:30be our sponsor i went and asked the other other uh students i mean i'm 16 15 years old driving up by
28:39myself going up to the schools being like hey which schools are to um oversee uh the gents here who
28:45oversees the dukes who oversee you know whoever whatever the fraternity or sorority was and how
28:51did y'all get them here and then i started a petition um at the school to get uh the step team reinstated
28:58now it was not successful but uh like nothing actually happened no one ever acknowledged that
29:07we had a petition i got a lot of signatures um but it was not effective but that's what happened
29:13right at the school but what i will say outside of the school we formed our own step team and it was
29:20uh co-ed or whatever you know no there were no restrictions as to who could be in it it wasn't
29:27good but we had a community you know what i'm saying so that's what i built out of that you know
29:32how to build community based on the same values um and then we changed the district and everything
29:39was so different after that um listen listen but you still won because at this big big age i still
29:45don't drive so that is hilarious but but i think you tell i think you're teaching us something about
29:53there's power even in our failure yeah absolutely it doesn't mean you shouldn't use your voice there's
29:58power in the failure how many of y'all have alexa at home alexa got alexa in your life alexa turn on
30:04my lights alexa well well alexa came about because we had a disastrous fire phone that was trash
30:12but in the failure of that the technology actually produced alexa yeah yeah yeah so that's what you
30:17reminded me of yeah and redefining success like our institutions and the communities that we build
30:23don't belong in institutions that weren't built for us yeah that's right that's right
30:30jerry the beautiful thing that you get to do for us you did so beautifully for us every week two two
30:37episodes a week yes you you brought the amazing beautiful words of tracy oliver to life
30:45in the character of ty but i want to talk about your words and you and i had a very uh intentional
30:51conversation earlier this year about words and your word for this year was ownership what does that mean
30:58ownership to me means one it's important to um even think about the word ownership it's a privilege
31:07for me to think about the word ownership because my ancestors couldn't always think about that word
31:12that's right so i have to take a moment to acknowledge that yeah and so what this year
31:18of ownership for me is about is owning things meaning having investments right that's the real
31:23surface level but having ownership of my body having ownership of my time and what that means is
31:31yeah i know y'all want me to stay an extra 30 minutes but i don't want to that's right that's right and
31:37i don't care to share with you why i don't want to that's right goodbye i just don't right yeah right
31:44and and and also being having autonomy over my nose yeah in the quest for my ownership and having grace
31:53for myself in moments where my ownership is compromised and i don't know what to do
32:00because those are actually the most important moments not the moments that i know how to say no to
32:05yeah but the moments that i don't or that i used to say yes to and now i'm realizing that i can't
32:11anymore that's right and so in having grace for myself around that and being transparent with my love
32:17circle the people that i love the people who are fostering my my my my my jungle you know those people
32:25having conversations with them constantly about how that those things are changing for me and recognizing
32:32people who greet it with ease yeah and people who want to push up against it because you're creating
32:39a boundary around something no longer benefits them and that's important and so in ownership there is
32:47lots of isolation which is okay but it's a thing to to note right and a thing to embrace and beautiful
32:54things happen in isolation period come on y'all masturbation i don't know who chose these two people
33:07to put it beyond this panel but we here now no um no i uh i have i actually i i roll with i can't
33:22say his name because i didn't ask for permission to tell the story but um i know right it can my phone
33:28be doing that i don't even know how to turn it off we gonna pray they find whoever but bless them yeah
33:33pray we're talking about faith in jesus name in jesus name um but for real um i've traveled around
33:43with them uh doing like to standing rock and all these different huge inflection points and um catalyst
33:51of movements and you know the trauma um and he was uh professed to be atheist like i'm just i don't
34:01believe in this and that and i you know i'm like i respected my dad was too um and so i'm like okay
34:09cool and as he would offer up i didn't ever have to ask he would offer up his journey as he started
34:16really digging into activism and he said at one point it grew and grew to the point he said i think
34:23activism is my religion i think that's my spirituality that's what what i believe in this is how i see to
34:29change things you know and it started to open him up to spirituality he ain't got to believe what
34:34i believe but you know by any means i love that but um i i kind of did the same thing i when i first
34:41got to la uh i went on a journey trying to figure i'm like you know is it islam is it you know is it
34:49am i going to go to temple am i going to go to the and you know the church be the church you know
34:55church be church and sometimes and so i you know i had a long journey um but it was
35:05eye-opening to even think like all the religious things that don't really apply to your spirituality
35:11that we uh equate with spirituality that we equate with our spiritual journey um when it's either a
35:17business or a way to organize a community there are tools to be able to usher people into
35:24a space that's safe where they can be vulnerable enough to open up to the possibilities of something
35:30other than what they see um and so a lot of people manipulate that right and so it was on that journey
35:38through activism where it opened me up to see that there were so many people outside of the church
35:43outside of any major religion that were doing the work that these people profess to do
35:49in these institutions but they're applying it every day and they their life is it their life
35:56if you're talking about jesus is so much closer to jesus than anybody that i've ever seen in the church
36:01and they're all queer they're all black they're all women they're all dope they're all creatives they're
36:08all organizers they're they have the same values of liberation and wellness and it's not an organized
36:17major religion it's actually attacked every day right and so it opened my my mind up to what
36:23our purpose on this earth is which is with whether you are creative whether you are an accountant
36:30whether whether you are just boring and don't do nothing with your life
36:37there's room for all there's room for all yeah yeah yeah we need those boring people but i feel like
36:42no matter what that is your purpose if you don't know it yet is to leave this world and people
36:48better than you found them that's the liberation process so it is liberation that is our purpose that
36:54is our spirituality no matter what we believe in that organized the organizing of that spirituality for
37:00ourselves yeah the common thread that you just drew for all of us is it's all about humanity and love
37:06yeah yeah give it up for that now listen how many of you out here are working actors crew members you
37:13in a union right right okay so you see all these hands out here these are working folks they're working
37:20every day on sets in productions sometimes when you're in that position and if you're not the creator
37:26you know this is one gig and you're trying to get to the next gig right so talk to these folks about
37:32how do you use the power of your voice and advocate for yourself or others when you
37:36when you're dealing with the fragility of you know i'm still trying to get the next gig
37:44that is tough yeah see i thought you was going somewhere else with fragility but
37:51yeah but for me and this is just being honest and this is how i operate and nobody has to operate
37:59how i operate but for me no job is worth any sort of trauma or trigger on me or anybody else that's
38:08right yeah and i remember the first year of filming harlem we had and this sometimes can get me into you
38:16know whatever but it is what it is but we had a um a scene at the club where ty meets the white girl
38:24okay if you've seen the show you know you know um and there was an extra who was distraught and i was
38:33like and it and for i'm such an empath that it i had to address what was happening yeah and so i i asked her
38:40i was like you know what was happening and and some um pa on set had made um this person feel like like was
38:50like kind of pushing this person in multiple directions or something like that and and she
38:55just felt like um you know she she needed something and she felt like she was kind of being dismissed
39:02and this is like lots of most of these extras are like queer people and we're in a queer space
39:08and for me i'm like well i want you to know that i see you and i hear you uh when we have a moment
39:15i can find the person and we can have a discussion about it um this is not the type of energy that we
39:22and we've never you know we all the extras that come on our show are like oh my god this is the
39:26greatest experience i've had and not that we would that's something that you know we're trying to do
39:31we're just being us and being nothing in this authenticity but i also don't want people to feel
39:37uncomfortable in a space that i'm in if i can do something about it and sometimes i think that might
39:42come and you know bite my ass in the ass but that's how i feel and so um for me if i'm in a space and
39:53somebody is doing harm to me or somebody is doing harm to someone around me and i think to myself
39:59i can't say anything because that might compromise my place i almost got kicked out of grad school
40:05i i'm i'll be on because i'm like at this point y'all don't care about niggas
40:15and i don't care to have a degree from a place i don't care about niggas
40:18so i'm like that type of stuff is important to me and so but but i have to i have to be
40:33okay with the risk yes i have to be okay with you spent two and a half years here jerry
40:38you might not get the other year and a half out you done spent about 90 000 upwards okay
40:46but i have to be okay with that risk and ultimately when you start to speak up you find that there are
40:52more people who have been in your position or who are in your position or who are willing to advocate
40:56for you not always and as a woman a lot of time more often than not no right we have to find our
41:03community and so and so it's a real it's also um also looking at like your identity and how your
41:11identity plays a part and i know that my grad school was a a dangerous and toxic place for
41:16black women specifically and for me it was like a five-year cycle that all the people who went there
41:22before kept talking about and i'm like so if one we don't archive what has been happening it's going
41:26to continue to be a five-year cycle so let's get an archive going let's get an organization going so
41:32that we can talk up like really discuss what's happening and let's let's let's let's let's be in the
41:38process of of hiring hr because it's feeling like cooning yeah yes hr be feeling and you're like wait
41:47but i i told you that this happened and this happened and this heaven and nobody's doing oh but then you
41:53at lunch with the master oh that's the issue that's the issue so anyway i say speak up
42:03yes yes yes yes yes and jerry i love how you're still using that same energy today
42:12for yourself and others constantly and so we see you yes absolutely kendrick i don't even know if you
42:20want to follow that but you can i don't ever want to follow jerry um but um yeah i mean i'm not
42:31normally normally i'm the one who gotta say that so i'm like grateful the thing is me and jerry probably
42:38been kicked out of a lot of things um and that's something about you know advocacy that you gotta know
42:44like a great fighter isn't afraid to get hit it's not like they won't get hit it's not you you just
42:54a lot of you get up yeah when you're afraid to get hit you move the wrong way you scared you
43:02you done you know all it take is one uh you know what i'm saying so you gotta take one good you gotta
43:09learn to take it's good sometimes some that's what being in the front lines is unfortunately um
43:15sometimes you gotta take a couple hits and you know me and jerry sometimes we be the ones to take
43:20them hits um but i think the other thing to think about what what prepares you for them hits um you
43:28know because you don't have to take them like everybody else you don't have to take them like me and
43:32jerry necessarily and put yourself but but you have to build community based on values based on
43:38values of liberation make sure that y'all got each other's backs um it's not ever it's not just about
43:45you know let me make sure that this that people know that this is happening or this harm is happening
43:52so that other people might benefit behind me it's not just that it's literally people happening right
43:59now yeah you know it's happening right now yeah and other people absolutely are experiencing it
44:04yeah so you have to look for those people you will have tricky conversations yeah and you document
44:11those conversations you think about how you how they went how they can go better next time and then
44:17you have the next conversation and you start to build with the people who have similar values who you like
44:23to work well with you start to hear about the efforts that they are um pursuing within the organization
44:30or outside of advocating for other people advocating for themselves and then y'all build based on that
44:36but you have to organize we're always worried about reaching up to get some help right no you need to
44:43help me there hasn't ever been a benevolent oppressor
44:49come on now when you speak the words they don't wake up one day and be like oh you right let me give
44:59you your shit back
45:03benevolent oppressor you know yeah so you have to you do have to advocate for yourself and sometimes
45:11that's going to take some um there's a potential of of backlash there's a potential of a hit coming back
45:18right because people want to protect their power and the thing the the best the best reason i mean
45:25the best way to to uh boon yourself to support yourself and give yourself get yourself grounded
45:32so that you can be 10 toes down when that fight is about to happen yeah is you have your backup you
45:38know what you feel like when you got all your cousins ready right you know what i'm saying right
45:43and so you got to know them cousins with you everywhere you go yeah and uh what's her name god
45:48dang it uh gloria uh who the one that uh pushed the gun aside in that famous photo she's like um
45:57no no no no not stein uh dang she was a black panther i think and she pushed pushed the gun aside like
46:04and she said um she said you know i it wasn't that i wasn't afraid she said it wasn't that i know i
46:12wasn't afraid but when i went in there i thought i thought to myself if something happened to me
46:18them cleveland is gonna come back that's what she said yeah
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