- 22 hours ago
As artificial intelligence continues to revolutionize the film industry, new career paths are emerging at the intersection of technology and storytelling. This panel will explore how AI is impacting jobs in screenwriting, visual effects, editing, casting, and beyond, creating opportunities for filmmakers, content creators, and tech innovators alike. Industry experts will discuss how professionals can adapt, upskill, and leverage AI tools to enhance creativity rather than replace it. Whether you're a filmmaker, aspiring creator, or tech enthusiast, this conversation will provide insights into the evolving job market and how to stay ahead in Hollywood’s AI-driven future."
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00:00Good morning, everyone. That's what I like to hear. Hi, my name is Shelby Stewart. I'm an
00:07associate editor at Essence Magazine, and I'm so happy to have you guys here. You guys could have
00:12been anywhere, but you are right here with me, and that means a lot. Today, this morning, we are
00:17talking about the next era of AI in filmmaking. We have a lot to discuss because we've heard that
00:24AI is all the rave right now. There's a lot happening with it, and so we have some amazing
00:29panelists that are going to join me to have this conversation. So I'm going to welcome
00:33to the stage Noelle Braham and Siobhan Charles. Give them a round of applause.
00:54So good morning again, guys. I want you guys to start off by introducing yourself.
00:59to the audience and letting them know what you guys do.
01:01Nice. Hey, everybody. How are you feeling? New Orleans, what's up? Essence Festival, Black
01:06Excellence. Let's go. My name is Siobhan Charles. I'm a multi-hyphenate creator, founder of Future
01:13Creatives, also a longtime advocate for people of color in the technology industry, musician,
01:20creator, signed to Ford Models. I do a lot. My family's Caribbean, so y'all know I got to do
01:26it all, Trinidadian. But yeah, no, I'm happy to be here. Thank you so much.
01:30Yes, absolutely.
01:32What's happening? Essence, how y'all doing today? How y'all doing today? Make some noise.
01:36Come on, baby. God is good?
01:39All the time.
01:40All the time?
01:41All the time.
01:42Amen. We're getting cracking.
01:43Amen. Amen. I love that. I love to hear that. And so I already sort of primed the audience,
01:49and so we know that AI is shaking things up in every part of filmmaking and creativity. And so
01:55where do you see it having the biggest impact right now?
02:00I think it's been incredible. I mean, we've seen AI's impact and didn't even know we were looking
02:05at it through special effects and VFX. I think now you're seeing it being implemented in a lot of
02:12new ways from sound design, from actual actors and actresses, obviously, which is controversial and
02:19getting more controversial. But it's been interesting to see it. And it's been more
02:23interesting for me on the tech side just to see how we are making it a part of our toolkit and how
02:30we are really starting to get access to spaces that we never had before because we have this new set
02:38of tools. Absolutely. And to formally introduce myself, my name is Noelle Bram. She mentioned the
02:44co-founder of the Me Show Film Festival, and I'm also an Emmy-nominated filmmaker.
02:47Hold on. Let's clap for that.
02:50Let's go.
02:51Okay.
02:53I'll start with Oscar Michaud's history. For those who are familiar or maybe not familiar,
02:58Oscar Michaud, essentially from the 1920s to the 1940s, wrote, direct, produced, and distributed
03:04over 44 feature films. And he did it independently, operating outside of the traditional Hollywood
03:09commercial financing system. Michaud's goal was to bring together polarizing worlds that otherwise
03:15would never intersect black, white, rich, poor, rural, and urban. So what he would do is create
03:20these projects and take it all around the country, not only selling it out of the trunk of his car,
03:25but also screening the work in predominantly white theaters. Right? And so he understood and he looked
03:30at himself not only as just a filmmaker, but he saw himself as well as an entrepreneur. And for any
03:36creator, whether you act, whether you write, whether you direct, it's so key that you see yourself as a
03:41business and you move like that, not just a brand, you're not just building a brand, you're also
03:46building a business as an independent filmmaker and or artist. So when we think about technology
03:52right now and the way in which it's impacting not only Hollywood, but the industry as a whole,
03:57it's incredible. The technological advancement and how we're able to pretty much bring down costs,
04:03right? Alone, Netflix has estimated they can bring down some of the costs of their projects by 50%.
04:0750%. They're also, Ted Sarandos, the CEO said that there's a 10% potential increase in even
04:13telling better stories. So all filmmakers should be studying and learning the system so that they
04:18can implement it within their business, not just their stories. Absolutely. And I think you made a
04:25great point that I think beyond filmmaking and creativity, us as black people, we need to be
04:30up on game about AI because it's going to essentially infiltrate, if it hasn't already, a lot of different
04:36industries, you know? And so there has been a lot of fear around AI replacing these creative jobs, but
04:42I think what you just said is a great segue into my next question. So what are some ways, it's opening
04:47up new roles for filmmakers and creatives?
04:53So one thing that there's been a lot of dialogue around right now is the importance, A, of just black
04:59black people being in STEM and in tech, us having a seat at the table versus waiting for somebody to
05:05build something or build chat GPT or open AI and then we're using it. We need to also be on the
05:11inside of these companies. I've spent a lot of time on my end professionally at companies like
05:17Twitter, Instagram, TikTok, Meta, and it's so critical for us to be at the table with the engineers who are
05:24building products for us to be the engineers. And there are some really great career opportunities
05:31now when it comes to coding and AI and actually like generating AI coding and AI engineering to learn
05:37how to prompt yourself and to learn how to build out prompts, which now gives us a seat at the table
05:43where we're creating the information systems that AI is building off of. Like we're now in the brain of
05:49AI versus just using the brain of AI. And I think everybody thinks entertainment, TV, film, and the sexy
05:55things, but we need to be on the technical product side as well.
06:00Absolutely. I think that is also making me think about just the ethics of AI, right? Because we see that we
06:06should be, like you said, in the brain of AI, but we also know that it does have a few negative impacts. So can you
06:13both kind of talk about the ethics of AI right now?
06:15Well, we need to be careful in some ways for sure. If you think about the story of Prometheus,
06:21you know, Zeus specifically told Prometheus, do not give man fire. Fire now represents knowledge,
06:27it represents power, it represents technology. And the reason why that fire was a big controversy
06:33within the story is because man did not know how to properly harness it. When we look at artificial
06:38intelligence and the idea of singularity, meaning that human beings will not have the ability to control,
06:44nor can we predict how the AI itself is going to advance and it will be completely out of our
06:50hands. That's scary to think about. It can not only obviously have benefits, but there can certainly
06:54be some serious consequences as well. So I think that we have to not only be responsible in how we
07:01go about developing and manufacturing. I mean, we're really close to singularity. And I mean,
07:05it makes me incredibly nervous. And I know you could definitely speak to this a lot better than I
07:08can. But what I could definitely tell you for filmmakers, you know, ensuring that we're ethical,
07:14you know, making sure that talent is aware if we are going to embed any form of artificial
07:18intelligence within the project, if we're looking to dub or if we're looking to maybe utilize whatever
07:23it is that we captured in other projects. And then I also think on a corporate level, we have to make
07:29sure that we're more transparent. They need to start putting more AI labels on information,
07:35right, on images, on things, so that we're informed about what's man-made versus what's machine-made.
07:43Siobhan, do you want to chime in?
07:45Yeah, no, I think I 100% agree with everything being said. There's also some great organizations
07:51like Algorithmic Justice League, Black in AI, Black for AI, that are galvanizing around these
07:58very things. And as Black people and Black creatives, we need to be a part of those conversations. So I
08:05think there's a ton of fear-mongering going on. And it's valid, right? The biggest thing we need to look
08:11into also is terms of service. What are we signing up for when we use these platforms? How is our IP
08:16being governed? As much as it's a tool, you also have to understand you're feeding your identity
08:22and your IP and information into it. So bare minimum, understand where it's going. It's not just
08:28disappearing into the interwebs. It's literally going somewhere. It's being stored somewhere in a
08:34data bank or some engineering bank in Idaho somewhere. It's like the information is being
08:39stored, you know? And as it's being computed, AI is all memory-based. So your ChatGPT, the more you feed
08:47into it, the better it performs for you. But you have to see it as an entity, not just some computer,
08:54some outer thing. Like it's actually a part of the fabric of what we're doing and we're feeding our
08:59IP into it. Yeah, I love that you said that because actually very recently I watched a TikTok where a guy
09:06was saying, imagine you're asking ChatGPT advice about something that's going on in your life and someone
09:13else is trying to write a book on ChatGPT and they use your exact story. And so I want to ask, this is a
09:20great kind of opening into owning your IP in AI and what that looks like or what the next steps are.
09:28Well, I think that we have to ensure that as storytellers, we're developing programs in our own
09:34skill sets, not only to tell stories to humans, but also machines. And I think to Siobhan's point in terms of being
09:41cognizant of what we're feeding it, at the end of the day, the idea is that, in my opinion, AI is not a
09:48competitor, it's a collaborator, right? AI should not be complementing your skill sets, it should ultimately
09:54be, excuse me, not supplementing your skill set, it should be complementing your skill set and
09:58accentuating what you have. But in order to do that properly, you have to learn it as well inside out.
10:05I don't like a lot of things, but it doesn't mean that I'm going to stop myself from developing a greater
10:10understanding so I can defend myself from any potential threats, and also figure out how that
10:15thing can align with my self-interest. So when we think about, again, copyrights, when we think about
10:21intellectual property, when we think about the stories that we're telling, we have to be cognizant
10:25of how we're going about utilizing it, but we are aware of how we utilize it by first understanding how
10:31it works in the first place. Is that not right? So, and I think it's even just beyond ChatGPT.
10:36One of the things I can definitely say is that every, again, I'm going to say founder, but when I mean
10:41founder, creative as well. Every creator's job or founder, right, is to ultimately fire themselves from
10:48wearing so many different hats. And typically it goes from founder to generalist to specialist, right?
10:55Where you're able to take off those hats and then ultimately bring someone else on who can help you with that
11:00job. AI stands right there and it gives a great path for founders to go from being that founder
11:06to being able to bring on generalists who can help you out with a lot of mundane and repetitive tasks.
11:11But did I kind of get a little off track with, or am I?
11:14No, this is, this is great.
11:15All right. Sorry, I go in rabbit holes sometimes, but I'll kind of land there and I'll let Siobhan take it for me.
11:21No, that was good. I'm hanging with you.
11:22That was really good. That was great.
11:24Keep going. Keep going.
11:26Yeah. I think that we've got to build literacy. You can't, you can't start to analyze what you don't understand.
11:36We have to build literacy. There are courses, even Google is offering a lot of free courses on AI.
11:42I think it's time for us to build literacy to understand the back end of it because we're on the front end.
11:48We're, we're always consuming. We're always, you know, building these platforms up.
11:54I wrote a book called Black Internet Effect.
11:57That's all about how black IP is the cornerstone of the internet.
12:02It runs off of us. If we were to all turn off our phones, people would be effed.
12:06All these companies would have nothing to sell.
12:08They'd have nobody to sell to. They're selling us back to us.
12:11So I think the importance is really understanding the value of your IP, but also it's the same thing as you're on Facebook, you're on TikTok, creating videos.
12:21Your IP is on TikTok now. Your IP is on IG, IG Reels.
12:26You know, it's, it's kind of all similar realms of understanding, but start looking into the back end.
12:32Start really using the tools to better understand the tools.
12:36Ask ChatGPT what their terms of service are.
12:38You know what I'm saying? Go in and ask it about what are you doing with my information.
12:43Go online, research.
12:45I think we just need to be a lot more technical minded.
12:48We're so consumption based that we need to start thinking about like an engineer.
12:53Start thinking about how things are being built and how you're fitting into that system.
12:57Absolutely. I love the idea of staying vigilant because a lot of times we're not reading those terms of service or how they're using our information.
13:04So what are some tools, you know, outside of the general like open AI, ChatGPT, what are some AI tools that more black creatives, storytellers, filmmakers in this room should get familiar with?
13:18I would say runway is a phenomenal tool that helps with visual effects and also animation.
13:23A lot of times, Sue, what you're seeing mid-journey, you can create images from there and then put it into other programs that can help further animate it.
13:32Casting.ai, obviously ChatGPT can provide support when it comes to getting feedback or coverage on your script and you can help develop the model in a way to say, hey, I want you to analyze this like a script doctor.
13:44I think we have to become also well-versed in how we go about prompting because at the end of the day, we are the ones that guide the intelligence, right?
13:52So the better our prompts, the more descriptive our prompts, the better the results will be.
13:57There are also other programs that come to mind.
14:00Sarif.ai helps to respond to your emails.
14:04Once again, we talk about how sometimes filmmakers get so just bogged down with all the details and information and communication coming left and right.
14:12Sarif.ai gives you the ability to literally have an executive assistant that will respond to messages and communications on your behalf.
14:19I actually know the founder, too.
14:20He's a really cool dude.
14:21His name is Steve.
14:22But I definitely highly recommend it because when you have so much being thrown at you, you need to ensure you stay structured.
14:30If you want to look at the areas of your life that are probably really stressful, more than likely, they also lack no form of structure.
14:36So the more structured you are as a creative, as a business owner, as a futurist, as a visionary, the better you'll be as well.
14:45Siobhan?
14:46I need to meet that dude you talking about who did it.
14:48I got you.
14:49I need him right now.
14:51Assistant?
14:52Virtual?
14:52Right now.
14:54Yeah, I would say mid-journey for sure.
14:57I like mid-journey because you can build all types of different outputs visually, video.
15:02So I've been on social, I'm on social a lot, and I've seen some incredible use cases of creators and influencers where, you know,
15:12we're able to kind of jump into our creative direction bag, not just being in front of the camera,
15:18but also thinking about, you know, if Chanel or a brand contacts me about a campaign, I'm able to now help productize the campaign.
15:27I'm not the only product.
15:28I can go into mid-journey, figure out how to take this static video or this photo and transform it into, you know, a real-time image.
15:36It sort of allows you to have more creative control.
15:39And I would say, too, apps like Prequel and, you know, obviously there's CapCut as well.
15:46There's Adobe.
15:48Also, Adobe Firefly is incredible.
15:50There's just a lot of tools that I've found have shaved off hours of video editing, hours of content creation, even down to just generating captions.
16:02Once AI learns your voice, you're actually able to coach it to type things up stylized by your sort of syntax and the way you talk,
16:12which, again, can be seen as scary, but it also is helpful if you're working on a huge campaign.
16:16You just shaved off 10 hours of writing original copy, writing your own blog post.
16:21I work in communications and PR, so, you know, there's a lot of fear in my field as well around AI can now pitch the New York Times.
16:30AI can now do these things, but you really have to pair it with human understanding and human cognitive ability and, you know, reading the room.
16:40AI can't show up in the room for you, so I think it's about, you know, as much time as you spend behind the screen, you know,
16:49what are you doing in real life as well to help meet those goals and make connections, not getting too lost in automating every aspect of it
16:56because that's a whole other wormhole where you're just on the computer 24-7 and now you're not out representing your brand in person.
17:03IRL still does matter.
17:04Can I also?
17:06Yeah, go ahead.
17:06Absolutely.
17:07That's so beautiful what you said there because if we as a people aren't taking 10% to 20% of what we're netting on a yearly basis
17:14and putting it into coaching, into development, and into education, then we are behind.
17:22You should be taking at least 10% to 20% of your yearly gross revenue and putting that into developing you.
17:29Nothing else.
17:30And it's so important because we know black people are typically the last to be first and the first to be last.
17:36We also recognize that we sometimes operate with a Eurocentric model of individualism,
17:42meaning we are all in our own little silos rather than being more interconnected in the way we need to be.
17:48I think there's an African proverb that said a group of spiders can even tie up a lion.
17:54So it's important that not only should we be investing in ourselves and learning these processes and systems,
18:00you don't need a mentor.
18:01You need a coach.
18:02A mentor is just a glorified friend to justify why is this person so much over than you or vice versa, right?
18:08But a coach is going to actually pop the hood.
18:11A coach is going to identify the areas you need improving as a filmmaker, as an entrepreneur.
18:16A coach is going to work with you and to help you identify for you.
18:19Here's what's working.
18:20Here's what's not working.
18:21And you should be taking the revenue you make and investing it back into you.
18:28Round of applause for that.
18:29That was great.
18:31That was really good.
18:34So now I want to ask you guys, how is AI changing how you personally think about and interact with creativity and storytelling for yourselves?
18:45I feel like you're on a roll.
18:47Yeah, yeah.
18:47You need to keep on.
18:48All right, I guess.
18:52All right.
18:52The advent, in my opinion, here's what I've looked at it.
18:55The advent of the camera did not take away the painter.
19:03It only gave birth to the filmmaker.
19:05So when I'm looking at artificial intelligence, and not only am I running the film festival with my team of eight, but I'm also managing about seven or eight department heads.
19:15When it comes to the film that I'm working on, it's called Angel City.
19:18It follows an aspiring artist who essentially is determined to make it in the cutthroat world of Hollywood, speaks to those two sectors.
19:25What I'm saying is, how can I improve my workflows and processes?
19:29How can I, at the end of the day, go home and not be stressed out about so many different things?
19:33I've mentioned some of the programs, like Sareef, but let's talk about project management systems.
19:38Who in here is on Monday?
19:40Who uses Monday?
19:41Let's go.
19:42Who in here uses Asana?
19:44Let's go.
19:45So even within our project management systems, what kind of workflows are we establishing and utilizing, and how is artificial intelligence helping us to ultimately automate, running not only CRM campaigns to build new relationships, to expand our knowledge base, but also meeting with people, sitting down with them.
20:03So for myself, I'm looking at AI as a means to help me not only in my day-to-day, but I'm also using it to help me expand my business by meeting more people, going out there, ushering in more business, helping me to become more efficient so that I'm not losing my hair, managing so many different sectors or my team, and ensuring my team is also buying into that.
20:24Yeah, and I would say I use AI a lot to find gaps, to find gaps in my workflows.
20:34One great thing about AI is it's honest, unapologetically, which is hard to get from human beings, and hard to get from yourself even.
20:44When you're in the storm, the eye of your own storm, when you're in the eye of your own life, it's hard to see the gaps because you're in the trenches.
20:51You're in survival mode.
20:52You're just trying to make it work, especially if you're an entrepreneur, a black founder, creative.
20:57Odds are you have 1,000 jobs, and you don't have enough time of the day to think about your mental health, all these things.
21:04And I've found prompting into ChatGPT, what are some things I'm not thinking about?
21:09I've seen prompts as well online of, if you were someone or an entity trying to slow down my momentum, what would you do?
21:17And then you see, and you're like, wow, I'm doing that to myself.
21:21Wow, or that's happening right now.
21:23How do I combat it?
21:24How do I tactically get to my goals?
21:27We're always big picture thinking, but I'm really into the tactics.
21:31How am I going to really get from point A to B?
21:33And project management is huge, Asana is big, Slack even, a lot of the softwares that we use day to day have AI workarounds or AI integration.
21:44So I've found AI to be helpful in helping me find gaps, helping me figure out my scheduling, just tactically solving problems, taking big concepts, breaking them down into small, understandable, bite-sized, digestible pieces of information to get you from point A to B.
22:04What are the gaps in your schedule?
22:05What are the gaps in project managing?
22:07What am I not thinking about in this campaign?
22:09What are some ideas that are off the wall that I might not be thinking about?
22:13What are my blind spots?
22:14Ask your chat GPT or AIs those prompts.
22:19Learn how to build great prompts.
22:21I love that you guys have both said similar things, finding the gaps and then also using it for automations and using it for the things that you may not always be thinking about.
22:31So where do we as creatives draw the line between inspiration and authorship?
22:36You know, I just had a discussion with a musical friend of mine who's a Grammy Award winning musician and singer songwriter.
22:46And he told me that many songwriters are now using AI for songwriting and like song prompting, which is I found very interesting.
22:54As, you know, as a person who is big on lyrics and as an emcee and writer, it starts to get tricky, right, when you come into that.
23:04But they told me that they're actually prompting it in stylized ways to think about song titles and concepts that they might not have thought about.
23:11So they're not relying solely on it, but they're relying on it for just other perspective and more so as kind of if you're in the studio with somebody and you're bouncing around ideas.
23:23It's kind of more of like a partner and or a tool versus the brain behind what you're doing.
23:29But I do think it comes down to what you're comfortable with and where your ethos and ethics lie.
23:35And I think where's your voice in it all?
23:38What AI hasn't done is lived your life.
23:41AI doesn't know your battles, your journeys and your identity to the point where you're walking in your own shoes.
23:48AI can never be you or do you.
23:50AI won't have your heart.
23:53And we see that a lot in journalism.
23:54It won't ever have your tone of voice either.
23:56Yeah, I think that everyone should have a AI attorney on their team who specializes it so that if you have questions or you want to ensure, hey, what are the ramifications based on A, B, or C?
24:11You can go to someone who's knowledgeable about the law because I think a lot of people are just figuring it out, right?
24:16So if you don't have, you're using AI, which we all are, you should also have someone who specializes it from a legal standpoint.
24:23And so how we talked about like becoming more literate.
24:28So where would you say our first step should be as creatives?
24:33Well, Siobhan definitely spoke to it in terms of making sure that we look in the margins.
24:39That's where we're going to succeed.
24:40And I think we have to look at our schedule and really start committing ourselves to dedicating X amount of time over a long period of time to the education.
24:48And we already talked about coaching and we talked about development.
24:50But I think that what's critical, you know, Oscar Michaud once said that the barrier to success is the barrier to success.
24:59I'm not going blank here.
25:01Oscar Michaud once said that there is no barrier to success which diligence and perseverance cannot hurdle.
25:06That our self-image is so powerful, it unwittingly becomes our destiny.
25:11So what I really want to get into by me saying this is what is your psyche and how do you see yourself?
25:18Because your identity is going to be connected to the things you consume, what you decide to write, how you decide to create, the things you decide to talk about, who you decide to hang out with, which ultimately impacts you as a filmmaker.
25:32When you look at his history, and I go back to Michaud, they denied him from being able to direct his own film when he was initially approached about them buying ownership of his first book called The Homesteader.
25:44So Michaud said, okay, well, if you guys are going to deny me, then I'm going to go out here and I'm going to do it myself.
25:49So for us now, having the technologies that we have at our disposal, if we're not given 200% every single day, we're cheating life.
25:58And what is the point of existence if we're ultimately going to cheat what God has gave us?
26:03What's the greatest gift of even being here right now?
26:07You are on fire right now.
26:10Absolutely.
26:11And so how do we make sure AI doesn't just reflect, you know, the actual biases that we actually see here in real life and that we experience in real life, in Hollywood, as creatives, entertainers?
26:25It's going to.
26:26It already is.
26:28And I think we need a seat at the table, right?
26:33Absolutely.
26:33We have to, these conversations are important to build literacy, but we have to be in the room.
26:39We have to be at the tables.
26:40The boardrooms, the writing rooms, the engineering rooms, we have to be at the table.
26:47And I think, and also look at others who are at the table.
26:50Willonius Hatcher was just named one of the most influential voices in AI by time.
26:56He also made BBL Drizzy.
26:58So I think it's look at people in the space who are revolutionizing the space.
27:04Willonius Hatcher's POV is, he sees AI as reparations.
27:08He sees AI as we can take back creative control and power institutionally as black creatives.
27:15That's an incredible, enlightening perspective.
27:18That's good.
27:18Right?
27:19Yeah.
27:19And Steven Spielberg thinks the opposite, which is funny because he's always had the access.
27:24Right.
27:24Mm-hmm.
27:25So, start to look at, again, the Algorithmic Justice League, black and AI.
27:31Look at these small groups that are starting to mobilize around literacy and not fear.
27:37And I think to that, it's not even us being in the room and having a seat at the table, but
27:44we need to be the ones who are making the code and manufacturing that seat and the table.
27:48Yeah.
27:49We have to continue to invest in one another.
27:52We have to continue to back each other to the best of our ability.
27:56If we can't sow money, then sow your time.
28:00You know, creatives need support more than ever.
28:03We see what's happening in Washington.
28:05They're rolling back this initiative.
28:07They're rolling back this one.
28:09They got more rollback sales than Walmart right now.
28:13We got my Walmart, bruh.
28:15Yeah.
28:15Every day.
28:16So, we have to make sure that we're standing beside each other.
28:20We have to make sure that we're investing with each other.
28:23We have to understand how to work well with each other.
28:26It's a paradigm shift that's needed within our community before anything else.
28:31We can't expect white people to do things that we aren't doing for each other.
28:35We can't hold them to a higher standard.
28:37So, if there's ever time for our community to not only band together, and that's not just
28:42to go out and have a good time or to, you know, drink or gossip.
28:46I'm talking about us to come together.
28:47What is the idea?
28:48Let's work on it.
28:49Okay.
28:50How do you work?
28:51Okay.
28:51Here's how I work.
28:52Now, more importantly, let's give each other grace in between.
28:56Let's work through the challenges and the differences of our mindset rather than writing
28:59the person off.
29:00Let's ensure that we're building each other up in a way that's positive.
29:04Let's make sure that we're using the community that's behind us to get to an even higher level
29:09because we know they don't got us.
29:11They don't got us.
29:14So.
29:15Yeah.
29:15The last, I mean, there's always been war on black creativity, but the last one at scale,
29:21Harlem Renaissance came out of it.
29:23James Baldwin, Duke Ellington, you know?
29:26So, it's like, yes, they're doing rollbacks.
29:29Yes, this has been going on.
29:31They're just talking out loud about it now.
29:34So, it doesn't change our trajectory.
29:37It doesn't change our mission.
29:38It doesn't change our purpose.
29:39It doesn't change what God has given us.
29:42So, we need to be louder, prouder, and to your point, collectively coming together.
29:47Absolutely.
29:48And so, I want to hear from the both of you.
29:50What is your vision and your future of a film and creative industry, and what does it look
29:55like to you in this next era?
29:57Wow, that's a great question.
30:04When we see, when we look at what happened with Hollywood and what's going on right now
30:08with YouTube, right?
30:11YouTube is a number one watch platform, right?
30:14Warner Brothers had an opportunity to potentially purchase and invest in YouTube when it first
30:18came out.
30:19Paramount had an opportunity when it first came out, right?
30:22Even Netflix, if they were considering, they could have even maybe captured YouTube when
30:27it first came out, but they didn't.
30:29And the reason they didn't is because they didn't realize that an open source platform
30:33like YouTube was going to outpace and beat an entire industry like Hollywood.
30:38Greed, at the end of the day, ultimately is a regression to progress and innovation.
30:46Complacency and not diversifying not only storytelling in the workplace is a regression to progress
30:52and elevation.
30:53I believe that in the future, that there are going to be more opportunities created by
30:59people of color, for people of color, and we're going to do it on a way that is even
31:03more Tyler Perry's that will be put out there, more Ava DuVernay's that will be birthed and
31:07created.
31:08We'll see more writers and directors than we've ever seen in this space, more folks who actually
31:12have ownership rather than allowing them to lease back our success to us.
31:17I love Black Panther, don't get me wrong.
31:19But the problem I have is that that's still owned and operated by a white institution.
31:24Ryan Coogler didn't make that money.
31:26Thank God he did when he came to centers, and that's why he wanted to maintain ownership
31:29over it, of course.
31:31So what I see in the future for us as a people is ownership.
31:34And we get to that ownership once again by working with each other, by investing and making
31:39sure we're taking the time to get the coaching and the development that we need, by using the
31:45technological advancements and systems that are readily available by way of AI, and most
31:50of all, before anything, by keeping God first.
31:53Amen.
31:54Amen.
31:54Amen.
31:58Plus 1,000.
32:00I think the future that I want to see is happening.
32:04I mean, this is the future of TV and film right here.
32:06YouTube is TV and film.
32:08Your phone, vertical format.
32:11I was at Instagram when we launched Instagram Stories and IG Live and longer video.
32:16So to see where vertical video is going and to see, look at all of our, all the people
32:23speaking, even at this festival, all of our Black content creators.
32:27They're the new Hollywood.
32:29They are the new faces of TV and film.
32:31They are that comedian at home with his phone and his iPhone.
32:35They're Hollywood.
32:37They're the next generation of faces and talent that are actually grossing more money on, you
32:43know, IG than some films are.
32:46Right?
32:47They're bigger than, talk about media platforms.
32:50They are the new media platforms.
32:52They have more reach and more eyeballs than the New York Times.
32:54We have the influence.
32:56We don't need to ask for permission or go to these systems to validate our creativity
33:01or IP.
33:02We are the systems.
33:03We're the new system.
33:04So I think it's incredibly important to acknowledge that and to your point, figure out how we can
33:10get our hands on capital, on liquid cash.
33:14Investment, yes, but investment, you have to pay that back.
33:17When you go get investments, you go get advances from these structures, they want their money
33:21back tenfold and then they want a piece of the pie.
33:23They want a piece of your company or your idea.
33:25How do we figure out how to get our hands on actual liquid cash and cash pooling each
33:30other, investing in each other right now in real time?
33:33If a hundred of us add $10, then now we've got X amount of money.
33:38How do we all get away from this idea that we need to be millionaires before we can invest?
33:44We need to be rich.
33:45We need to be on before we give back.
33:47No, we need to lift each other up as we're climbing.
33:50We're going to climb higher that way.
33:52I want everyone to stand and give our panelists a round of applause for this powerful conversation.
34:00This was amazing, y'all.
34:01And before we go, of course, I want you guys to share with the audience where they can find you
34:10after this conversation on Instagram, social media, everywhere.
34:14Tap in with me at Noel, N-O-E-L, Braham, B-R-A-H-A-M.
34:20And then follow the Me Show Film Festival.
34:23Again, Me Show, M-I-C-H-E-A-U-X, Film Fest on Instagram and all social platforms.
34:29Additionally, make sure you guys go to YouTube and check out YC Combinator.
34:34They are a nonprofit that provides support, and they also have a gang of education and
34:40insight into entrepreneurship from not only pitching, like Siobhan was talking about, to
34:44understanding the mechanics of raising capital.
34:46In addition to some of the older videos, you can look at, like, a whole masterclass they
34:52give.
34:52So I highly recommend it.
34:53Can you say your name, Noel?
34:55What's your name?
34:55Oh, Noel, N-O-E-L.
34:58And then last name, Braham, B-R-A-H-A-M.
35:04Nice.
35:05You can find me and Future of Creatives online, and most importantly, in the streets, doing
35:10the work.
35:12We're on Instagram, at Future of Creatives.
35:14I'm at Siobhan C, S-H-A-V-O-N-E-C.
35:18Siobhan at futureofcreatives.com is my email.
35:21We're trying to stay connected in every way possible to create the shift that we need,
35:26one day, one step, one idea at a time.
35:30Absolutely.
35:31Thank you guys so much.
35:32One more round of applause, y'all.
35:35Can we also give it up for the hosts?
35:36Yes.
35:37Wasn't she amazing?
35:37Our fabulous moderator.
35:38Our moderator and host.
35:40She was awesome.
35:41Thank you guys.
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