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From Issa Rae to Quinta Brunson, social media has helped launch the careers of some of today's top film & television creatives. Come learn tips and tricks for how to master the art of digital creative content creation and get more eyes on your skillset as a rising or aspiring actor, filmmaker, writer, director or producer.
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01:48Jeff Klanigan's coming up next.
01:49He is the president and chief distribution officer at Heartbeat,
01:53which is Kevin Hart's multi-platform media company creating entertainment
01:58where comedy meets culture.
02:00Bigger claps, please.
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02:47I will jump right into it.
02:49Morgan, we will start with you.
02:51Morgan, we'll start with you.
02:52Can you share how social channels like IG, Reels, TikTok, and other platform-specific tools
02:58impact projects in the very early stages, either positively or adversely?
03:04So we'll start with you, Morgan.
03:05Yeah, sure.
03:06Just speaking on personal experience, you know, Bel Air started as a three-and-a-half-minute
03:10short film that I made in my hometown in Kansas City.
03:14And, you know, I like to say, like, the Internet is what really propelled that into what it
03:19is today in a lot of ways.
03:20You know, we spent zero marketing dollars when we released that short.
03:24In fact, we actually released it four years ago today on March 10th.
03:29Congratulations.
03:30The fact that we're here, it just felt, you know, kismet, so to speak.
03:33But the Internet, you know, the excitement of the audiences, you know, on Instagram.
03:40And TikTok wasn't really as big at the time, but social media really propelled it.
03:44And what it did is demonstratize it to studio execs, right, and network execs to say,
03:50there's an audience for this.
03:51And that spurs along the conversation when they see the engagement from people on social.
03:56Okay.
03:57And like you said, TikTok wasn't available.
03:59Maddie, I know when you did Straight Outta Brooklyn, none of this was happening.
04:03Not a bit, not a bit.
04:05Yeah, but I know you're up on it, so.
04:06Yeah.
04:07I mean, you know, there was no social media when I did Straight Outta Brooklyn.
04:10It was all community, word of mouth.
04:12And that's literally how I made Straight Outta Brooklyn.
04:14We're going to an African-American radio station in New York.
04:18How many New Yorkers in the house?
04:20Yeah, there we go.
04:21So I went on WBLS radio station, and I talked to everyday people, and I said I shot a short
04:27just like you did, and I was looking for investors, and I had a screening.
04:33I happened to be at NYU, and Malcolm Jamal Warner was one of my friends, so I invited Mal
04:38Jam to come down because he was pretty hot.
04:41And literally, that's literally how Straight Outta Brooklyn got birthed, by just everyday
04:45people investing in before social media.
04:49Yeah, perfect.
04:50Yeah, same question.
04:52I'm a distribution staffer.
04:53I'm a distribution staffer.
04:54So putting on a distribution head, one of the things you have to keep in mind is that
04:59the studios, distributors, streamers, and networks, they're all data-driven.
05:03So what happens is that when you walk into these networks, there's none of us.
05:08People don't, like us, we're not sitting in there.
05:10So you got a bunch of what I call data heads chopping up numbers.
05:14What social media does is that you can curate, develop an IP or a concept online and walk
05:22in the door with real data when the data is your community.
05:26Like if you walk in and say, I have this IP, and you've got 100,000 followers on it, well,
05:32you've developed an audience around an IP, and that's the kind of data they're looking
05:35for.
05:35So a lot of times when you guys are out pitching or going to networks, understand it's not just
05:40the concept that will drive them to a green light, it is the data.
05:44And I think social media has kind of broken the walls down, especially for independents
05:48to kind of develop your own stuff, develop IP.
05:51Whether you're an actor, writer, producer, director, you can develop an audience online
05:55around concepts.
05:57Gina?
05:58Yeah, I mean, I use social media a lot as a stand-up comic.
06:02I mean, that's my first job, so to speak.
06:06Everything else has come afterwards off the back of that.
06:08But I was doing that even before the social media.
06:11I was using things like YouTube.
06:14You know, I'd try and make my own specials.
06:18I never, you know, I got to America, nobody knew who I was, so I'm like, Netflix ain't
06:22giving me a special, Showtime isn't.
06:24So I'd get a camera crew, book a theatre, sell tickets, shoot my own special.
06:30I shot it myself.
06:31I shot the three specials you see on Netflix, two of those hours I shot myself.
06:35So I was always about making my own content, and then I'd get clips of it, and I'd put
06:41it online.
06:42I'd put it on YouTube, and I'd go, look, there's this special.
06:44And that's how I ended up selling, not selling it to Showtime, licensing it.
06:49There's a difference.
06:50To Showtime.
06:50There's a difference.
06:52And that way you, you know, you're using social media to propel it, but then you still
06:56own the product at the end of it.
06:58So I licensed it.
06:59They own it for 12 months.
07:00They show it.
07:01I get it back, and I can resell it to anybody I want, and that's what I do.
07:05That's perfect.
07:06That's perfect.
07:07So it's always good to make your own content and market it yourself.
07:11You can't wait for people to give you shit because they're not.
07:14Right.
07:14And, you know, especially for us, we have to actually make people see you have to bring
07:20the product complete in most cases and go, look, the work is already done.
07:24Just take it online, and that's how you get it.
07:26Exactly.
07:27So, Morgan, I want to ask you a question because many of us in this room, how many remember
07:30when they first saw on their feed this reimagining of the Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, and we were
07:36like, what is that?
07:37I kind of like that, right?
07:39So how are you able to optimize your short-form content for social media in ways in which, like,
07:45you understood algorithms, you understood the timing limits, you understood hashtags and
07:51things like that?
07:51How did you give us a little insight on that?
07:54Yeah, you know, it's so interesting because, like, when we put it up on YouTube, it started
08:00on YouTube.
08:01Again, we spent no marketing dollars.
08:03There wasn't some huge push, really, on social.
08:05It was just, I think, the concept.
08:08And for me, it's always, in my mind, it's like, make something that's, like, undeniable
08:12creatively.
08:13You know?
08:14So that's always been where my focus has been my entire career is, like, what can I control?
08:18And that's my craft.
08:20You know, that's what I put into the art.
08:21That's the tone of the vision of what I see and how I put it on screen.
08:25And I think that's served me very, very well in my career to where, you know, that, you
08:31know, March 10th, 2019 happened to be a slow news day.
08:34You know what I'm saying?
08:35There was nothing crazy that kind of dwarfed it, and it caught a spark.
08:38And then all of a sudden, the homies back home in Kansas City are like, yo, it's on Facebook
08:42going crazy.
08:43It's up to 50 million.
08:44You know, it just kind of took on a life of its own.
08:47So for me, it was really just starting out with quality and making sure the integrity
08:50of the vision was in place.
08:52And once that's there, I think people who saw it were surprised because they felt like
08:56the handmade quality of it.
08:57Even if people didn't necessarily like it right away, I think there was a respect there
09:01because people can tell, like, you know, this is coming from somebody who really cares
09:04about quality and is trying to express something honestly.
09:07And then, you know, the internet, you know, it'll cut through the noise, I think, if the quality
09:11is there.
09:11Correct.
09:12Very good.
09:13I remember seeing it, and I remember all the noise about, will it happen?
09:17Will it won't?
09:17Will it?
09:17You know, so congratulations on second season as well.
09:24So, Jeff, you have a big job, Chief Distribution Officer at Heartbeat.
09:31So tell us a bit about what's going on at Heartbeat, which is, again, a multi-platform entertainment
09:36company, emerging comedy and culture.
09:39So what's going on?
09:39That's a big question.
09:42So Heartbeat is divided into three divisions.
09:45We have studios, media, and Pulse.
09:49So think about it like a flywheel.
09:51So studios makes the content.
09:53We produce content.
09:54We're funding content.
09:56We're developing content.
09:57Once studios makes the content, distribution, which is under media, has to exploit the content.
10:03So whether that's license to Netflix, take it to Peacock, self-distribution, international
10:09distribution.
10:10Like, we just took one of our projects at Die Hard, did a worldwide deal with Amazon.
10:14So the distribution part is in charge of getting the product out to the global audience.
10:21And Pulse, which is our marketing company, does the marketing around it.
10:25So we kind of have this flywheel.
10:27So we operate just like a studio, so we can make the content, distribute the content, and
10:31then market the content.
10:32Okay.
10:34So for all you content creators, there's somebody here who's distributing content.
10:39Gina, where did the idea for Bob Hart's Abishola come from?
10:44It's so funny, because everybody thinks it was my show idea because of the Nigerian element.
10:50What had happened was the year before I got Bob Hart's Abishola, I'd been pitching.
10:55I'd been around all the networks, and I was pitching a TV show idea, which was based on
11:00my background as a Nigerian immigrant and children.
11:03Well, I'm not.
11:04I was born in England, but a child of Nigerian immigrant in a different country and trying
11:08to make it.
11:09And all the networks were like, yeah, dude, dude, we really like you.
11:16You're really funny, but we just don't know what to do.
11:19I got a lot of doors shut in my face.
11:22And it's just so funny because the universe works in a certain way.
11:25I kind of put that project aside, and I was like, all right, let me do some other things
11:29and concentrate on some other things while I try and revisit this, maybe in a year's
11:33time.
11:33Because, you know, sometimes what things are wanted and liked, it's kind of cyclical.
11:39You know, sometimes something might be in right now, and this is the hot thing.
11:43And, you know, maybe you're just ahead of your time.
11:45I found out a lot of times over my career, I've been ahead of my time.
11:49I've been pitching stuff that people have gone, we don't get it.
11:51And then a year later, someone else is doing the same thing.
11:54And I was like, bitch, I pitched that shit a year ago.
11:57And it happens.
11:59So I put the project aside, and a year later, I get a call out of the blue from my agent
12:07saying, Chuck Lorre wants to meet you.
12:10Chuck Lorre is the genius behind Big Bang Theory, Two and a Half Men, Mike and Molly,
12:14like massive, the biggest sitcoms on TV at the moment.
12:18So I got a call to fly over from New York, I was living in New York, to go meet him.
12:22Long story short, I met him, and he was like, you know, I went on vacation to Africa,
12:28and I want to make a show with Africans.
12:32And I was like, we're in Africa, though.
12:34It's a big place, Chuck.
12:35It's a big...
12:37Obviously, I didn't say that in the room, but that was just in my head.
12:39That was in my head.
12:41But he wanted to make a sitcom, but not another Mike and Molly.
12:45He wanted the female protagonist to be a Nigerian woman.
12:50And I was like, okay, that sounds interesting.
12:52And what brought you to me?
12:54And I'm thinking, they're like, I know we saw you on The Daily Show, The Tonight Show.
12:57We've seen your special.
12:58And they went, oh, we typed into Google, Nigerian female comic.
13:02And they found me on Google.
13:06But you know what?
13:08At first, I was furious.
13:10I'm like, you guys ain't done no research.
13:12But then I was also like, you know what?
13:15That's the quality of the content that I was putting online.
13:18That when they went online to look for someone who could help them create this show,
13:23all my stand-up specials that I'd been making over the years,
13:26again, I don't even know if anybody's watching this,
13:28but I'm just going to put it online.
13:29And so that was what they found.
13:32So that's how they found me.
13:33And so I had a meeting with them.
13:35You know, I said no at first,
13:37because I was worried about being exploited as an African,
13:39because I was like, I don't want my story in the hands of these white men.
13:43I don't know if I like this.
13:44And I did say no initially.
13:46But then my brother and best friend called me from London
13:49and cursed me out for two hours,
13:51saying that I'm missing an opportunity to bring our stories out.
13:55And I was like, you're right.
13:56So long story short, I sat in a room with them for two weeks,
13:59wrote a pilot with them.
14:02And originally they wanted to bring me on as a consultant,
14:04but by the time we got two days into this pilot,
14:07they were like, yeah, forget this consultant business.
14:09You're going to be an exec producer and writer on this show.
14:12And obviously, and that's how it came about.
14:14Wonderful.
14:15Let me stay with you.
14:17Let me stay with you for a moment, Gina.
14:19So have you leaned into the online audiences for Bob Hart Abishola
14:26and all of the comments that they make
14:27and how much they love this show?
14:29Or has anything that they've said
14:31made you rethink anything in the writer's room?
14:32No, because I'm not about creating
14:38for what people think they want.
14:40I create the story and people come
14:42and they might learn something
14:44and discover that they love something
14:46that they may not have thought that they did.
14:48So I don't follow the comments.
14:50I look at the comments just to make sure
14:52that we're doing some stuff right,
14:54but I don't let them dictate what the stories are going to be.
14:58But I'm very much about being on,
15:00my online presence is pretty strong.
15:02I try and post stuff on the regular
15:04and I like to keep my audiences engaged.
15:07But, you know, our show's on CBS.
15:09It's mainly old white people,
15:10so it's difficult.
15:13I watch it.
15:14I know, but you watch it
15:16because you came to an event.
15:18You know, it's hard getting it across to people.
15:21No, it's true.
15:21Look, here's the thing.
15:23I try my best.
15:24Who watches the show?
15:25Seven of you.
15:27That's what I'm talking about.
15:28That's what I'm talking about.
15:30The show is excellent.
15:32Okay, who's going to watch the show?
15:33It's an excellent show.
15:34There we go.
15:35All right.
15:36It's on HBO Max now,
15:37so now, young people,
15:38go on HBO Max and watch the show now
15:40so you don't have to go to CBS.
15:42Okay.
15:43All right.
15:43We're going to watch the show.
15:44We're going to keep it on air.
15:45We're going to keep this show on air.
15:46Right, people?
15:47Yeah.
15:48We just got picked up for season five,
15:50but we're doing sound right.
15:51We're doing sound right.
15:51Congratulations.
15:55Maddie, so straight out of Brooklyn.
15:59The Inkwell.
16:00The Inkwell.
16:02Teaching at AFI.
16:03Yep.
16:03All the things.
16:05But you're also a video game executive.
16:07Can you quickly share with everybody in here
16:10what the opportunities are for writers,
16:13black writers, black creators in the video game?
16:15Yeah, well, it's pretty big
16:19because African-Americans, people of color,
16:22are huge consumers in the video game business.
16:26Okay?
16:27When you think about writing a screenplay
16:30for film or TV,
16:33think about writing for video games.
16:36I created this class at the American Film Institute,
16:40and I focus on writers
16:42because the video game industry
16:44needs more writers.
16:47Why do they need more writers?
16:48Because people want stories,
16:50immersive stories,
16:51and it pays a lot of money.
16:55A lot of money.
16:56Just look at the numbers on the video game,
16:58the weekly numbers,
17:00or the monthly numbers
17:01that a console game,
17:02Call of Duty,
17:04Grand Theft Auto, etc.,
17:06and see the numbers,
17:07and you see how the video game industry
17:09makes more money than film and TV combined.
17:13Combined.
17:15There are people,
17:15there are young people
17:16and older people right now,
17:18millions of people playing games right now,
17:22buying games right now,
17:23and we,
17:24as African-Americans
17:25and people of color,
17:27need to get on the backside,
17:30not the consumer side,
17:31but the backside
17:33on writing for video games.
17:35One thing is this coding,
17:37of course, right?
17:38I'm not talking about coding,
17:40I'm talking about the writer.
17:41When I became the creative director
17:43and art director for Ubisoft,
17:45I don't know how many Ubisoft,
17:46Splinter Cell, Ghost Recon,
17:48here we go,
17:48we got gamers in here.
17:50I got an opportunity
17:51to become the creative director
17:52and art director for Ubisoft in Paris,
17:56the first African-American man
17:57to run a video game development team
17:59of over 200 people.
18:01Right?
18:04Actually, I want to say something.
18:06Matty, you should give him
18:07a little more background.
18:08Matty was a prolific director,
18:09went to the video game industry,
18:11but his story is ridiculous.
18:14You should give him
18:14a little bit of background
18:15on how you transitioned.
18:16Thank you, brother.
18:17I always have a co-moderate,
18:19just so you don't know.
18:20Thank you, brother.
18:21No, Matt,
18:21because his story is like
18:25there's all kind of jobs
18:26and all kind of paths
18:27you can take in the entertainment industry
18:29that a lot of times
18:30you don't really know about.
18:32Most people don't think,
18:33okay, if I'm a writer or a director,
18:34there's this whole veto gaming industry
18:36over here
18:37that you can apply your skills to
18:38in Matty's example.
18:40Yeah, well.
18:40Please tell your story.
18:41Look, I was born and raised
18:42in Red Hook Housing Project
18:43in New York,
18:45the roughest and toughest
18:46and biggest housing project
18:47back in the 80s,
18:49and came from a family
18:51that was pretty rough growing up,
18:54as far as my father's concerned,
18:56being an alcoholic,
18:56coming back from the Vietnam War,
18:58just like a lot of black men
19:00couldn't find his way.
19:02And so I decided to write a film,
19:05but that's not the first thing.
19:07My mother gave me film books
19:09and I started stealing film books
19:11in public.
19:11I don't know why I stole,
19:12because there ain't nobody in there.
19:13Anyway, so I had about 250 film books
19:16under my bed,
19:17in my bedroom, rather,
19:20and I graduated pretty early,
19:24and I went to John Jay College
19:26for criminal justice,
19:27and look at me,
19:28I'm not guarding nobody, y'all, right?
19:30And so I applied to NYU film program.
19:34I got in,
19:35and everything that the professor was saying,
19:37I read and learned
19:38from the years of reading
19:39all these film books.
19:41So I told my mom and sister,
19:43I need your credit cards.
19:45And they were like, really?
19:46And I said, yeah.
19:47And so they gave me their credit card,
19:49access to their credit cards,
19:5010,000 each.
19:52Back in the day, y'all,
19:53I shot,
19:54there used to be
19:5535-millimeter raw stock film,
19:58not digital.
19:59So I used $20,000
20:01of my family's credit cards
20:03and bought raw stock
20:0535-millimeter film.
20:08I kept half of it.
20:10This is the Brooklyn side of me.
20:11Kept half of it.
20:12I took the other half,
20:14and I resold it
20:15to another company.
20:16So then I had $10,000 in cash,
20:1910,000 film in stock,
20:2110,000 in cash.
20:22I hired a DP
20:23that had a 35-millimeter camera.
20:26I cast in Harlem,
20:27put myself in it,
20:29and I shot a short movie
20:30on 35-millimeter.
20:34Then I went to a radio station.
20:36I talked my way to WBLS.
20:38And I talked to everyday people,
20:40and I said,
20:40I have a New York limited partnership.
20:42I need your help.
20:44And I raised $77,000 in one night.
20:47Wow.
20:50And that $77,000 went,
20:53and I thought it was over, right?
20:55You know, it was like,
20:55okay, I made the movie.
20:57Then I met the great,
20:58late Jonathan Demme,
20:59who was directing
21:00Silence of the Lamb.
21:02And he kind of became
21:04my godfather in a sense.
21:07And he enrolled me into Sundance.
21:09Sundance was young at the time,
21:11and I won the Special Grand Jewelry Award
21:13at Sundance,
21:14and I was 19.
21:16Yeah.
21:17And from there,
21:20I came,
21:21I was the flavor of the month.
21:22You know, Jeff,
21:23I was on Oprah.
21:24I was on the cover
21:24of all these different magazines.
21:26I was this kid from New York.
21:27I had a three-picture deal at Sony
21:29with my brother,
21:31John Singleton,
21:31God bless him.
21:32And he told me,
21:33showed me the way
21:34through the studio system
21:36because I'm an independent filmmaker.
21:38But then when I reached the age of 20,
21:40I got an opportunity
21:41to direct the Inkwell,
21:43which was fantastic.
21:44How many Inkwell fans
21:45we got out here?
21:45So now let me tell you
21:47how the story,
21:48my story turned, though.
21:50Because after Inkwell came out,
21:52Inkwell came in number three.
21:54Three.
21:55And that wasn't good enough
21:56from what the studio said to me.
21:59I didn't get any second chances.
22:01So they said,
22:02you're in director's jail.
22:03I didn't know what jail,
22:05I know what jail jail is,
22:06but director's jail.
22:08What director's jail is,
22:09if you don't meet the standards
22:10of Hollywood,
22:11the only way out,
22:13that means nobody wants
22:14to hire you as a director.
22:15That's what they said to me.
22:17The only way that you can get out
22:19is you got to write your way
22:21and write a script
22:22and attach yourself to direct.
22:24And that's what I did.
22:26I wrote the Tupac Shakur project
22:28at HBO.
22:29I wrote a project
22:30with the Great Lake Whitney Houston
22:31at Showtime.
22:32I was writing,
22:33writing, and writing.
22:34And then I got the opportunity
22:37to meet the CEO of Ubisoft,
22:40who was like,
22:40I met him at E3,
22:42and he had this game
22:43that was on the floor,
22:44and it was not really good.
22:46And he says,
22:47what do you think?
22:47I said,
22:48if you want to break
22:49into the American market
22:50like Grand Theft Auto,
22:51you need a good story.
22:53And he says,
22:53would you come to Paris?
22:54I said,
22:55oui, yes.
22:56You paying?
23:00Yeah, oui.
23:00I'm coming.
23:02I'm coming.
23:03So it paid you
23:04to come to Paris?
23:04Yes, I went to Paris.
23:05I lived in Paris for two years.
23:07As I mentioned,
23:08I became the creative director
23:09and art director
23:10for the entire team in Paris.
23:12I had a team in Hong Kong
23:13where I directed cinematics.
23:15I had a team in Seoul, Korea.
23:17I was, like I said,
23:18a lot of great people
23:20all over the world,
23:21different cultures,
23:22but they never saw
23:23African-American men,
23:25you know,
23:26have a vision
23:27and bring that vision
23:29into fruition
23:30in the video game world.
23:31So I say this
23:32to all the writers,
23:33directors, and producers,
23:34especially the writers,
23:35think about writing
23:36for video games
23:37and go get that money.
23:39Yes.
23:40Thank you for that, Maddie.
23:41I'm going to make
23:41a Bob Haas-Abishola game.
23:43Watch.
23:46Let's line up for Q&A.
23:48While I also let you know
23:50that the same way
23:51that Gina has licensed
23:53her content,
23:54guess what?
23:55Maddie licensed
23:56straight out of Brooklyn.
23:57He owns it now,
23:58and that's very rare,
23:59so please clap for that.
24:03One rule for Q&A,
24:05no pitching.
24:06Oh, yes.
24:07Okay.
24:08Let's go.
24:08Hi, I'm Courtney.
24:09I am an unscripted producer
24:10turned TV writer,
24:12and I also just started
24:13in comedy,
24:14so my question is to you.
24:15Gina, I have a question.
24:16So I've been going out,
24:18going out,
24:19and as a black girl
24:20doing comedy,
24:21I come from Chicago,
24:23which is just the heart of seeing,
24:24and as a black girl
24:25doing comedy,
24:26it can be a little discouraging
24:27because, I'm sorry,
24:28but white people
24:29just ain't that funny.
24:30So how do you,
24:31how do you,
24:33like,
24:33how do you just carve out
24:34your own way?
24:35Like, how do you just be
24:36unapologetically yourself?
24:38Like, how do you stand in that?
24:39Why are you not trying to compare
24:40and be like,
24:41do I got to do this silly stuff?
24:43Whatever.
24:44It took a long time
24:45to be comfortable
24:46in just telling my story
24:47and just being,
24:48because people kept telling me,
24:49you need to be more of this,
24:50you need to be more of that.
24:51But when I came,
24:52by the time I came to America,
24:53I was like,
24:54you know what?
24:54I'm just going to be
24:55who the hell I am
24:55because trying to fit
24:57into other boxes
24:57never got me anywhere.
24:58So it was,
25:00it was a long-hand struggle.
25:02Like,
25:02I didn't get bookings immediately.
25:04Sometimes what I do
25:05is I go to the comedy club
25:06and sit at the back of the room
25:07and wait for a black comedian
25:09to be late.
25:10Mm-hmm.
25:13That's how I got deaf comedy jam.
25:16Somebody was late
25:17and they were like,
25:18we need someone to go up
25:19and I was like,
25:20I'm here.
25:21And that's what I did.
25:23It was a lot of hustle,
25:24just going into rooms
25:25and just sitting
25:26and just hustling, hustling.
25:29So I'd say just stay true
25:30to your own story,
25:31have your own voice,
25:32don't listen to anybody else's voices
25:34and don't look at anybody else.
25:35That is always the harder thing.
25:36I spent a long time
25:37looking at other people
25:38and going,
25:38wait, I'm better than them.
25:39Why are they getting this?
25:40Why are they...
25:40You have to be like tunnel vision.
25:43Focus on your own story,
25:44your own thing
25:45and the universe will reward you.
25:47You're like, trust.
25:48Also, what I tell you,
25:50don't just play black comedy clubs.
25:52Funny is funny, right?
25:53Yeah.
25:53You should be able to go
25:54to any comedy club.
25:55Absolutely.
25:56Well, this is the thing,
25:57like they just not...
25:58Like,
25:59how going to New York
26:00is just tough.
26:02Like, you got to be like,
26:02it don't matter if you're white,
26:03black, or whatever,
26:04you got to come.
26:05You have to go.
26:06Yeah.
26:06LA is not...
26:07To me,
26:08if you want to do comedy,
26:10LA is the place
26:11where you come
26:12when you've done your comedy
26:13everywhere else
26:14and you're ready
26:14for the next step.
26:15LA is full of actors
26:17doing seven-minute monologues
26:18trying to get on TV.
26:19That is not fucking comedy.
26:21Excuse my language.
26:22That is not comedy.
26:22And that's the struggle
26:23you'll find in Los Angeles.
26:26But if you stick
26:27stick to what you're doing,
26:28stick to being better,
26:30stick to keep writing,
26:31hit every room.
26:32I play gas stations,
26:35coffee room,
26:37I will go anywhere
26:38that there was a microphone
26:40I would go
26:40just to get the stage time
26:42and just keep getting better.
26:44You'll cut through the crap.
26:46Great advice.
26:47You're welcome.
26:50Hi, y'all.
26:51My name's Alexandria.
26:52I'm an actress
26:53and my question
26:54is kind of primarily
26:55for you, Mr. Rich,
26:56but if anyone
26:57has anything on this,
26:58my career goals
27:00include being
27:01a monster, alien, whatever,
27:04in a mocap suit,
27:05in a video game,
27:06or on cinema.
27:07And I'm un-repped
27:08and I don't believe
27:10in waiting until I'm repped
27:11to try to make
27:13a thing happen.
27:14I'm going to do my thing
27:15while I was
27:15to try and get repped.
27:16Is there anything
27:17I can be doing now
27:18to, now that I'm
27:20out of winter hibernation,
27:22to be on set
27:24for a video game
27:25or, again, film, TV,
27:27being an absolute crazy person
27:29as a different creature?
27:31I think, hey, look,
27:32mocap, facial capture,
27:34for those who don't know,
27:35that's basically
27:36a kind of a cat suit,
27:39per se, with balls.
27:40And I did the facial capture
27:42where you put all,
27:44and you do the CG
27:44and you actually move
27:45and you're doing
27:46all the capture
27:47for the characters.
27:48What I suggest you do,
27:50as I mentioned,
27:52is write your own game.
27:56Now, I'm not saying console.
27:59Console, $20 million,
28:01$10 million.
28:02I'm saying mobile.
28:04Everybody has a phone
28:05in here, right?
28:06The mobile video game world
28:08is as big as console games.
28:11So what I would say to you
28:12is kind of design
28:13what kind of game
28:15that you want to do,
28:16you know,
28:17that you can actually
28:18do all the mocap, right?
28:19There are developers,
28:20may not be in America,
28:22but there's developers
28:23in Asia, in Europe,
28:25that you will find
28:26that you can develop a game
28:28for $10,000, right?
28:31If, you know,
28:32you got to go outside,
28:33right, of this country.
28:35So you have to start
28:36looking at developers,
28:38not in the U.S.,
28:39but outside.
28:40a team here
28:43that designs your character
28:45that you want to do,
28:46right?
28:47But think about making
28:48video games,
28:51device, tablet device.
28:54Don't think about console
28:56right now
28:56because consoles
28:57cost a lot of money.
28:59Unless you have...
29:01I never would have thought that.
29:04Thank you so much.
29:05That's so valuable.
29:08Do we have other questions?
29:10Do we have time
29:11for more questions?
29:14We did have one?
29:15Ah, come on!
29:19Oh, no.
29:20Oh, I just got to know.
29:21We ain't got time.
29:21Okay.
29:22So...
29:23Oh, one more!
29:26One more!
29:29Gina, I have to say
29:31that I watched
29:32Bob Hart
29:34the very first night
29:36for the moment
29:36that I wish
29:37everybody would watch.
29:38It's a great show.
29:39This is to Maddie
29:40and Jeff.
29:41How do you create...
29:42And I remember
29:42we were on the set
29:43of King Richard
29:43right before the shutdown
29:45and we were in the tent
29:46and Will's in character
29:47as Richard
29:48and he wouldn't break.
29:49And I'm like,
29:50big dog,
29:51I love you.
29:52I don't see Jeffrey
29:53in this show.
29:53He's just like,
29:54nah, we got to have Jeffrey.
29:55Like, stay with it.
29:56Just stay with it.
29:56Give it another week.
29:57And I said,
29:57all right.
29:58And I started watching
29:59Top Boy.
30:00And a vision hit me
30:06to go deeper
30:07and learn more
30:08about culture
30:09in East London.
30:10You know what I mean?
30:11So I was watching that
30:11but it just led
30:12to just a deeper dive
30:13into that world
30:14and I wrote this backstory
30:16on Jeffrey
30:17that I pitched
30:17and now he's
30:18many people's
30:18favorite character
30:19in the show.
30:20And so it just comes
30:22from, again,
30:23personal experiences,
30:24things that I'm interested
30:26in creatively
30:27and artistically
30:27and I think just
30:28being able to go
30:29a level deeper
30:30and I got to give
30:30a big shout out
30:31to Will for challenging
30:32me in that regard
30:33and I love that character
30:34as well
30:34and he's got such
30:35a rich backstory
30:36but it just came
30:37from that creative
30:38push and challenge.
30:39So challenge yourself,
30:41dig deep,
30:42get good characters.
30:43Okay.
30:44I wish we had more time.
30:45We had a whole game
30:46we were going to play
30:47but we don't have time
30:48but thank you so much
30:50for coming.
30:50Please give a warm
30:52round of applause
30:53for everybody on the stage.
30:53Thank you guys.
30:55Thank you all for coming.
30:56And the next panel
31:00is coming up shortly
31:01so stay with us.
31:02Okay.
31:57You
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