 Hustler nigga, big shit, big shit, big shit, big shit. Name another podcast like this, who gonna bring it to the table? Boss talk. Check it, check it, check it. This is Unique Hustler, she boy, E-CEO. And I'm here with the lovely official, Mr. Makeup. What's going on? None, none, none. Say, man, hey, hey, another day, another dollar. Yes, sir. You know what I'm saying? Hey, it's going down, man. So we got a guy here today, man, special guy. A guy who really, you know what I'm saying? He really impressed me with what I seen, you know? Cause I know hard work is something else. And when you do something extraordinary and other people are not able to accomplish it, man, it do something to me. You got push, man. We got C. James, C. James in the building, man. What's going on, senior? What's good, what's good? Man, C. James, man. You're a breath of fresh air, man. I know I worried you're talking to you on the phone crazy, but it's all good. No, not at all, not at all. I just, I was excited when you sent me the clip, man. You know, the movie, man. Nice guys finish last. Yes, nice guys finish last. Man, how did you, okay, we're gonna get into it. I gotta say, whenever he sent me the clip, cause I'm hard on, cause I watch every and any movie, right? Yes, you're moving fanatic. But the first thing came to my mind is like, the acting is really good. It was a no fake act, I call it fake acting, because some people act and I'm like, no, that emotion, the facial expression, the, no. I still watch it depends on, you know, what it is, but I'm like, yours just look like it needs to be on a big screen somewhere. That's what it looks like. Man. The quality is awesome. Let's go back, let's start it, start it from time. Who is C. James senior? Who is, who is he? From back in the days, from two, three, four, five, six coming up. Like who is C. James? We can go back. Who is he? Like, who is this guy? Single mom, dad? Yeah, definitely single mom. Low income, grew up in a hood, literally right, where they film, game banging in Little Rock, all those cast that y'all seen on their documentary on HBO. Grew up and knew a lot of them. Not too far from Little Rock Central High School, which is where I graduated from. I had the opportunity to play some football, that's what kept me out of a lot of the, troubles and streets. And a lot of times I like to tell people, I'm more like a two-park when it comes to that type of stuff. Like he always used to say he tried to get in the streets, but the older cast would be like, nah, bruh. It's not for you. We see something in you, like you need to be doing something else. That's good. But you know, sometimes we still got above our heads, you know. And although your dad wasn't there, did you ever build a relationship with him? Did you ever know him? Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. I always say, and it's the crazy thing about it too, people always make it seem like, aw man, was you mad at him? Nah, I was never mad at him ever. Like I just, I've always, from a young age, just kind of been like independent. Like I never, like you can't miss something that wasn't there, if that makes it. But he came around all the time. Okay. It wasn't to see us. Yeah, you know what I mean. But he showed up, right? He came around, he did a little something. It could have been worse, because a lot of people don't even never met their father, don't know what he looks like, anything about him. Yeah, and exactly. He a cool cat, you know, I can't say, he didn't do nothing. He did a little something. He came around, I knew who he is. I know my family. And he, you know, he a good dude. You know, he, you know what I'm saying? We all here, you know what I'm saying? I ain't never been mad at him. If it wasn't for him, you wouldn't be here. Yeah, that's true, that's true. And that's the thing that you have to, you have to acknowledge that. My dad had his faults, man. Facts. I mean, he was abusive. If he was there, he may have got what I got. And some of that, you know, I can't take it back. But at the end of the day, I went through some things that, okay, having a daddy, I was like, damn, if this is a dad, you know, at some points in your mind, you tackle with that. But, you know, you do a tug of war with it. But definitely I understand that having a father in the home is important. But having the right attitude with the right father where there's been conditioned correctly that had a right father, that's a whole another level. And it's not even just the right father, it's the right male role model. Because some people didn't have the father figure in their, or a father in their life, but they had a father figure who, you know, helped them in their growth, in man to manhood. So I always say the hood literally raised me. Like. I hear that a lot. Yeah, literally, like, that's what I say. Like, I'm not here trying to do this. Like, no, you don't need to do that. Or then, you know, some people that was like, yeah, we'll let, you know, go and get you some weed, you know, go and do this, so and so, so and so. But like I say, football really kind of steered me away from a lot of this stuff. I chose not to partake in a lot of things because I was really good at it really. And you liked football. What position did you play? You look like a running bag. I play running bag. Yeah, yeah, you look like you running, running, running. How can you just look at somebody and tell? I'ma give it to him, man. How can you do it? You know what you run by the 4-4? Yeah, yeah, yeah, I'm the man, yeah. How can you look at somebody and tell what position? Cause you can tell because I'm the same way he is. You short, you ain't really just a big tall guy cause they put you on the line or put you at receive or something if you're fat. So you know. But I ain't no switchin' the D-Vac though. Yeah, yeah, you can do D-Vac. I did that too. That's kind of your statue, you know what I mean? Yeah, so. I was just asking, I was just curious. Yeah, yeah, you from Jamaica. Y'all call football and soccer, soccer, football. You know what I mean? Football. No, we don't say like that. No, no, no, no, how do they say it? Just football. Oh, what the hell, what now? We heard it right. No, but football, like what y'all do, we call it rugby. Rugby. Okay. Cause that's what the English does. You know, is it black? They don't have helmets and pads though. They sure don't. Yeah. It ain't the same. It ain't the same. It just looks different. The helmet and the pads, it looks different. Well, it's just America. Yeah. I ain't trying to trip. I ain't captain. Yeah, you're right. There's a lot of things that's just America. Yeah, well, it's just a place to, the way you need to come whenever you want to get it done. You know what I'm saying? I'll let your boy see you and me go. I won't say anything. CJC, let me get out of trouble right quickly. So, so when you coming up, you know, you running that ball, you know, you run up in there and one of them lying back and hits you, you know, yeah, yeah, yeah. Was you quick on your feet or was you? Yeah, I never got hit hard. And I've been playing, I play football from like age eight all the way up to about 25, 26. So you did through college? Yeah. They could angle you. They didn't know. I never took a hard hit. And I've never broken anything, never torn anything. My whole like. Blast. Yeah. And like I said, when I think about there from age eight all the way up to 25, 26. Wow, you're blast. Blast. So what happened to detour you from that, from football? From, honestly. Didn't get drafted? Well, no, I always had the mindset that I was more than just a football player. So if I was going to make it in the league, I was going to be like Jim Brown. Yeah. See me on the TV screen, got multiple business, doing stuff like that. So I always saw myself as more than just that. So did the movies or did the acting pull you away from that? Honestly, as I got older, I just didn't have the same motivation because I started realizing the politics going into it. And then going up in, that's what I was going to get to, going up in a single-player home, not having the right people around you. You have to figure things out on your own. So it was hard navigating it. Just something as simple as filling out your financial aid. Mama, fill this out. I don't know what to do with that. Don't worry about it, mama. I figured out, I got it. I've been filling out ever since, you know what I'm saying? Stuff like that. Going to the college and get ready to enroll. Oh, you need $200 for your doing deposit. I'm a high school student, you know what I'm saying? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Mama, can I get $200? I ain't got it. Oh, I ain't got no $200? Ah, bet, don't worry about it. I'll have to go get it. So that's what I'm saying. I always, everything I got, bet, don't worry about it, mama, I got it. You got it out the mud. I'm a hustler, I got it out the mud. At least you gave her the opportunity. You always went to her and asked her first. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, but I didn't know. You know, I didn't know. That's, like I say, you got the right people around. You got a father figure who actually have been to college or a mom that been to college. They can teach you like, you need to take your ACT. You need to be prepared to do this and do that. I didn't know nothing. So I'm like, I didn't know how to pay a deposit for this. You know, so I didn't know. So all of that prepared me for where I'm at now. So I'm not scared to get out there and try. That's why I love the internet right now because honestly, parents don't really have to know because honestly, you have some kids who are first generation college students. Appearance still don't know. Exactly. And you can always say, let's go research it together or you go look it up. And, you know, these kids are very self-motivated where like our daughter, she'll go online and figure everything out and say, mommy, the sign right here. That's all you got in mommy's sign right. And I'm like, no, I gotta read this to see what you, what you let me sign. That's what I say all the time. I say I'm jealous of, that we didn't have Google. Exactly. You know, I couldn't, like I say, we had the encyclopedia, but you got to get a ride to the library. They close at a certain time. You know what I'm saying? Oh, it was bad. Just think about that. I'm older than that. I mean, you had to go to the phone booth. You didn't have a cell phone. I can do that. I can do that. I can do that too. I can do that too. Or the rotary phones that go. The rotary phones. All of that stuff is the best miss that we have and talk to kids. And these kids don't know it. Because they don't know it. They don't know it. No, they don't know that. And I always tell, because I work with kids too. Now I tell them, I say, there's no excuse now. I was like, you can literally ask Siri or go to Google and say, how do you do this? And it's gonna give you the instructions on how to do that. I've never had that opportunity up until here recently as I got older. So I was like, all the stuff I did, I had to figure it out. And sometimes you got to feel, you know. But even just the way how these kids think, because even if they didn't go and research something and you're stuck where technology is concerned, and you say, hey, I'm stuck here. How do you think I should go by doing this? They'll just come off the head with something and you're like, oh, that makes sense, you know? And I'm like, it's just the way how they think nowadays compared to how we think from back then. So what did you go to college for? Business administration. Not even the movie. Not even the movie. So that's, like I say, I always knew I was gonna be a business minded person. So I was like, I'm a majoring in business. I actually got four degrees. I got a bachelor's in business administration. I got a master's in business administration. And then I got a associate's in the African American male leadership, Christian leadership, I'm sorry. And then associate's of business administration. So I graduated from a small HBCU in Little Rock, which is crazy because it's not too far from where I grew up at. Arkansas about this college. And there we actually talked about, it's crazy how this police brutality stuff. This is in 2007, eight, how we were talking about how we need community policing. And we actually helped bring in a program called the OK program, where they specifically work with black males. Wow. Yeah, well, police officers, black police officers only work with only black males. Oh, wow. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Who it looked like. Yeah, so we actually work with that program. So I've been on this, a lot of people. Arkansas is really good with stuff like, because we had, what's his name? Oh my God, let me see. Arkinspire, Arkevious. Arkevious also. He's from Arkansas, isn't he? No, no, he's from North Carolina. North Carolina. The other guy that we have from Arkansas was the young guy that came down and went to prison upstate. Oh yeah, yeah, yeah. That's who was from Arkansas. But Arkevious was dope. He flew in from North Carolina. No, but what I was trying to allude to is that a lot of these smaller towns or these towns have resources for young black men, like programs. And I love that. And I really feel that they need to do a lot more of that here in Texas. Yeah, definitely, man. Anytime we can help. But it starts with us in the community. You know, if we see a little boy in the neighborhood, like C. James, just C. James period, not senior, because he wasn't senior at that time, right? Right, right. So C. James walked out the door and I'm in the hood, you know what I'm saying? Yeah. C. James don't have a father. I know that. Black men, we know that we came through a lot of impoverished times. We know that we came through a lot of things like slavery and all type of stuff that we didn't get reparations counseling or anything like that. So we have to grab one another and consult with our younger children just walking around these neighborhoods. If we don't do that, then we definitely don't need to be talking about them. You don't pull his pants up. Do you see how they act? I hate when people do that. Because they're not talking to them, but talking about them and it doesn't help anything. So I don't even like those conversations. And that's another thing too. That's what I always say. You don't have to always, like all you have to do is plan to see. Yes. And sometimes I know a lot of us can be hardheaded at a young age, but like I say, all it takes is a conversation. And sometimes even if you just talking at us, we hear some of it, some of it. Correct. And some of it gonna stick. So you see him, hey, young man, man, keep doing what you're doing. That's good. You know, motivate him. So don't talk about them or stuff like that, but not to get too far off subject. So I've always kind of been into arts and I want to kind of tell stories. I started modeling like around 2007, taking pictures and stuff like that. Then that pulled me into acting. I did a stage play. Then I started doing commercials. Then I did some movies. And how old were you at that time? 20, 21. Okay. How hard it is to get into the modeling industry. And how hard it is to get into the modeling industry. Yeah, you didn't go out of the bar. I did all this in the bar. That's dope. And that's another thing. People are like, you got a good resume for a while. Because people would think that you have to get out of small towns to get into the big city to get exposure. How did you get that exposure? Taking pictures, playing around, and then... So the internet helped you? The internet. MySpace, Facebook. Yeah. And I remember, I'm not gonna name-drop people, but it's been photographers that are huge right now. They were reaching out to me like in 2007, trying to give me to take pictures. And this was back then, it was free. You know what I'm saying? Stuff like that. So now they're charging $2,000, $3,000. I'm like, it's crazy, stuff like that. Yeah, I met, who was that Tyson? Beckford. Beckford, oh yeah, yeah. So he was like my idol, like... Yeah, I met him in Vegas. Oh yeah. I dumped on him, you know. I was on what floor? I was on the 54th floor. He's like, I'm on the 18th. I say, hey, bro. But he's, we had a crew. We always have, we move like a unit, huh? Yeah. But who are those people? But that's good though that you did modeling because when I think about modeling, back then, it's a case where you had to be tall. Back then, you know, nowadays they have so many different kinds of models. Back then it was, people were just mainly concentrating on runway model, you know, certain type of models. Now you have hair model, nail model, Instagram model, this model. So height don't really have that much. I feel like I was one of the first Instagram models. I feel like, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Like we did a calendar and that thing kind of was like a lot. A viral a little bit. Yeah, I had a couple pictures go viral. But like I say, this was before, you know, it was considered a call it viral, you know, before there was, you know, an Instagram and Facebook. Let's favor, man. God give you favor, man. That's favor from God. Yeah. Yeah. My next question about modeling is so crazy because I'm thinking about back then. I'm not thinking about now. Right. But back then when male models became my thing. Right. I know a lot of people are thinking that, oh no, he's gay. And I already knew you were going to say that. I'm saying you like the world thing. I'm going to say that. Because I'm going back to back in the days when they were, but people were looking at them like. Even to this day, they still, you know, stereotyped and say that about him. So how does that, you know. I mean, at the end of the day. Did you get that a lot? So, I don't know. Maybe, maybe not. But you know, people whisper and say stuff. But like, I do remember guys kind of looking like, I do you and your, on the internet and your draws. But now I see everybody doing it, you know, stuff like that. But I don't know, I've always been my own person. And like I said, I got it out the mud. You can't, I don't care about what people think or say about me. I mean, it do, I hear it and I'm like, what? Just leave your girl around me though. Already, that's it. Like yeah, yeah, yeah, since you think that. And if you really want to know, just ask somebody. That's all I'm saying. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Now I like it. Yeah, I'm at your throat. And then, and like I said, I've been off the porch. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. The most unique is, there's talking like that. I remember you had all the Nintendo games, all the games in the school. Your mama told you you couldn't play with me when I was little, so. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. I was a little buggy in here. I was out there in the streets, in the streets. In the streets. I had to be in the streets before I was in the race. So finish your story, because you haven't gotten to the film part yet. So yeah, so like I said, I went from stage plays to doing commercials to movies. And then I got to a point to where, okay, I want to tell my, I want to do a movie, because I've always looked at that type of stuff. So you've been in some movies before? I have. Which one? This was filmed in Arkansas. It was a film called Greater. Was that your first film? Actually, it wasn't. My first film was called. I think this guy looks experienced. He's doing too damn good on that show. I was about to say, yeah, because how many films did you have to go through before you became this good? Um, it's not, it hasn't been a lot though. He's like mad. I mean, I honestly, and people ask me where I get my training from. I always say elementary school. Yeah, I get it. Cause you feel like that's where it developed. That's where it developed, elementary school. Like, that's where it came from. But my first movie was like in 07. A small part. No, I was a lead character actually. Really? Yeah, I was a lead character. The first one. Okay, awesome. Yeah, it was Freedom. That's the name of it. It was Freedom. So I can look it up and I can find it? No, you can't. Like, man, it was a bunch of stuff that went wrong with the posts. You know how I go. You know what it is, the posts. God, the one that... Listen, that was your training, man. That's training, man. I love God, man. You don't even know what you're doing. But God already got a plan. I keep saying that. You think you know, you don't know. You walking into purpose and don't even realize what you're doing. You don't know what an end goes. You don't know. But God has a plan for you. Exactly. Right? So you just kind of channeling that in and you say, well, I'm gonna go over here. God said you was gonna go over there. You had to learn that. You had to learn to move on. Exactly. Man, I like that, man. So, okay. Did you finish with your... Okay, so I did that. And like I said, I did. It was another movie that was kind of big with a big budget that shot in Arkansas. Like I said, it was called Greater. It was based on Brandon Burrell's worth. And I was kind of like an extra on that. And then I was an extra in God's and I did, too. Oh, really? Yeah. I, too, man. Were you sitting in the classroom or something like that? Honestly, so by this time, I had my own agency in Little Rock. I was called to... Did they film it there? They did. I didn't know that. They did. We watched part one, part two. There's a three, too. There's a three, too. Yeah, we watched all three. So the producers are from Arkansas. Oh, really? I didn't know that. Oh, that's dope. But you were only in two? I was only in two. With that one, my agent called and said, hey, you got booked to be a reporter. So I was supposed to be a reporter when we got there. But you weren't. Well, they changed. Well, they noticed. Well, we had like real deal news cameras. You know, those things probably 30 pounds. And he was like, just so happened that the other person that we casted, like they were women. It was like, it's just not cool for us to have women carrying around those. Right, yeah. So if I am seen as a camera over, I like that. They got to see him. Yeah, yeah, yeah. But that was God again. Yeah, yeah, yeah. He's basically preparing you for what you're about to face. Yeah. But we about to get to it, man. Oh, yeah. Yeah, right? Oh, yeah. Yeah, yeah. Nice guy's finished last. Nice guy's finished last. I want to get into that thing, man. I really love the way it looks, man. I want to understand how you came up with your own way of doing things. Well, and you wrote it too. Well, so I don't say that brought me to, I wanted to tell my own stories. So my little league football coach, he had, he played a major role in my life, but until this day, he's still coaching to this day. But he, he coached, I don't know if you remember Keith Jackson, he played for the Eagles, the Packers, tight end. He from Little Rock Rock. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. He, University of Oklahoma, tight end. Okay. He coached him as a kid. He still coached to this day. So this year is a 50th anniversary. So I wanted to tell a story. I did a documentary. So I wrote, produced and did a documentary on him. So that was my first film. And that was, it was, well, it's considered a feature. It's over, over 40 minutes. Wow. So I did that documentary. That's on my website into the Sunset Productions.com. But he's a Vietnam war vet. I want to kind of tell that story, how he got two Purple Hearts, some presidential citations, a Silver Star and a Bronze Star. And I came back to, not from just serving this country to serve his community for the next 50 years. Don't. Be cancer twice. Wow. So. That's worth telling. Yeah, yeah. So after I shot that documentary, I was like, that's not enough. After talking to one of my friends, I wrote a script. So I wasn't afraid to get in and learn how to write scripts. So I started doing my research, Google, YouTube and all of that. Utilizing my resources, asking people what's the best software. So I ended up probably going in a negative to buy the software, you know. Yeah, the software ain't cheap. Yeah, so I went about the software and just started writing. And that's, I just wrote the script. And then I noticed that after I finished the script, I got people to read it. People was like, it's a good story, it's good. And then I was like, okay, I'm gonna try to get it shot. That's like, I couldn't, it's hard when you're starting out, like you can't just walk in and be like. I don't know how hard it is to find actresses and actors to. Well, when I wrote it, I didn't, I initially was like, I'm just gonna write it, like, and then pass it off, somebody let them shoot it. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. So one of my mentors though, he was like, man, you should shoot it yourself. I'm like, man, this is, I got this army that we got tanks and stuff. Cause he, how he got one is, his silver star, he, like the tank driver got, basically got blinded by explosion. And they were like stuck on the other side and the enemy was shooting. And it was like, we gotta get the tank before the enemy get there and go save them. He was like, I go do it. And he jumped up and took out a runner. Why they shooting? That better. Jumped to the tank and drove the tank back. Wow. You know, so I'm like, like, like I say, I was like, I don't have the money to tell it to us. I don't have no damn tank. I'm gonna get the tank from him. I'm like, that's gonna be me. I don't got that type of money. So I was like, I can't shoot this. Can't go somewhere and just rent a tank and like, I'm gonna use this tank. You ain't got no tanks everywhere. Knicks and the hood got a truck. Right, right. You probably go to the base and probably pay a couple of hundred thousand. Oh, a hundred thousand dollars. That's right. And what year was this? I wrote it in like, like 16, something like that. 16, 17. You didn't knew me. I could have got you a tank. I'm not playing. I know who got a tank. Oh, for real? Yeah. And he bought a bunch of stuff. Remember, we sold purses over at their shop at broadband. They bought all kind of army equipment, all the old stuff. And he didn't know what to do with this stuff. He gets a lot of money buying stuff. So that was, but you didn't know you're buying. I got that boy tanked to Arkansas. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Imagine seeing that on the road going. You have to. You got to put it on. You got to put it right here. But yeah, so what happened with that? So I still have the script to this day and I never was able to get anybody to look at it and try to, you know, do anything with it. So again, that's God. Exactly. I'm cold with it. I see everything that's happening. There's a time and place for everything and it will get out there sooner or later. Right. Just hold on to it. That's exactly what I'm doing. So I was like, okay, the next script I write, I'm going to shoot it myself. Okay. That's how this came along. So that's how nice guys finish last came along. Wow. And where did you get the inspiration for to write this? Okay. So. Were you the nice guy that finished last? Well, I've been accused of being a nice guy. I don't know. I can be very nice. I can be very nice. Yeah, you can do whatever you gotta do. Yeah, but for the most part, I am a nice guy. What I always say, what's considered a good or nice guy, somebody who got good intentions and actually doing right by, you know, they try to do right by God and also their woman, mom, family. So, but this particular story it kind of gave me a little bit inspiration. I'm divorced over a year now, but after divorce, I just like, which I was prior to divorce. I knew what I was going to write a script, but I didn't know which, because I love all journals, sci-fi, horror, like I didn't know what I was going to do first. So I was just like, everybody like a love story. So I was like, okay, everybody been divorced. I mean, a lot of people have been divorced. A lot of people have been married. A lot of people have been broken up. A lot of people have been cheated on. So I was like, I'm going to talk about a lot of that type stuff. So I was like, I think a good title would be nice guys finish last. Like people say, man, you too nice. You too nice. So I'm like, you don't know me though. I'm nice, but I was like, just because I'm genuine, I'm nice, but I'm far from a push over. So you not going to just get over on me. So how long did it take you to write it? Honestly, so I wrote it. So I came up with the, I've made my mind up. From the draft to the finished product. So you have all of that to go through. All right. I made my mind up that I was going to start my own production company in 2019. Probably around November, November, December, I figured out that I wanted to tell a romantic comedy. So I was telling some people, I was like, hey, I want to start my own company. I want to shoot my own movie and I want you to be in it. So I was lining people up and telling them what I'm trying to do, what I'm going to do. So you didn't do a casting call. You already knew exactly who would fit this role. Originally, originally. So we're going to get there. God. God all the time. Before the script was even in the works, I hadn't even found my LLC for my production company yet. But I was telling people this is what I'm going to do. And I was like, I'm coming to you first and telling you because I want you to be a part of it. So like December, 2019, I was like, okay, I made my mind up. I'm going to do this romantic comedy. And January, I started writing like the mid-July, January 15th of 2020. This is before COVID hit, all of that. So keep in mind, I don't know COVID going to hit or anything. So January 15th, started writing it. By mid-February, I had probably like 60 pages. And I'm like, oh man, I've been flying through this. But when I got to 60, I'm like, I haven't said everything I need to say. So I got to come up with some more. So I was like, okay, what's a lot of the stuff that people are talking about and being through and like, how can I make this different? So I knew that I wanted this to kind of be like something that would, that's similar to the best man. That's one of my favorite movies. Yeah, I like that one. Yeah. I like me some Morris Chestnut. Do you? You do? And that's who a lot of people say our favorite though, that's Morris. But I actually like say this, I just like the movie. I wish my co-hosts here, he think you look like Morris Chestnut. But he ain't here right now, but everybody tell him that too. He does not. That's what they say, everybody tell him, Morris Chestnut looking nigga. Yeah, these niggas is Morris Chestnut. But I remember there was a documentary. It's gone, I couldn't find it anymore. But Malcolm D. Lee is a person who wrote and directed that movie, which is Spike Lee's Cousin. But he talked about how a lot of studios passed on the best man because they could not understand how educated black people could curse and say the n-word. Wow. So I was like, whatever, whatever script I do, I'm gonna make sure I curse and say the n-word. I know that's right. Yeah, yeah, yeah, let's go. And you know, a lot of the controversy too here lately. We have white writers writing for black shows. That ain't good right there. So I was like, I'm gonna make this as authentically black as possible when we gonna curse and say the n-word. And we gonna talk about black stuff on purpose. So in this movie, we talk about stuff that you, like that maybe black Twitter would talk about. So stuff like that. So I added a lot of that in there. But you keep it as realistic as possible. Right, right. Let's get into this trailer. Go ahead. Let's see what we got there. The man I hear ain't no good. Lion, toxic, chin-ass dogs. Woo. I don't like someone getting that feeling. I'm not even gonna keep my voice. But just a successful guy, got a nice job, nice car, nice clothes and bread. That attract hoes. Period. She said you are a really nice guy. Stop it, I'm too nice. Here we go. Usually when people say that, they assume that you don't get angry and you don't push over. I am far from a pushover. And I always get angry. What the hell is that, right now? I'm not gonna talk to that man. I don't understand, he got so angry. Where's my girl like girls? I mean, I wouldn't even be a little job right now. That's your problem, man. All right, I got a problem, but you over here let the whole put you in the whole seat. Look, man, it's a difference between attracting bad chicks and hoes, man. See the G-A-A-P formula states that assets equals liabilities plus owners effort. Excuse me, I hate to bother you, but what's your name? Are you following me? You do know that's weird, right? No, no, no, no, no, I swear it's nothing like that. So you mean to tell me the ones that have value are the assets? Exactly. And the ones that don't are the pesky ass liabilities. Tell me again why I couldn't pick you up from your house. Oh, I don't know, you could've been a convict, a murderer, a... Wait? What? Bro, what you doing with my wife? That's my wife, you and what the... I'm not perfect, you ain't perfect, you ain't perfect, period. Marriage ain't what it used to be, it ain't sacred no more. I mean, when it comes to love and things like that, you know, guys, they get scared. No, you got it wrong. I would say when I was a child, I thought and spoke as a child. But now you're a grown-ass man, so grow your ass up. She didn't say that, man. I like him. What book? That ain't 607, something like that. He don't have nobody to buy, we saw that on TV, two jokes. Is he from Arkansas as well? He's from Atlanta. He's from Atlanta, he's good. She cheated? He's good. Yes, she did. Damn! Those guys really do finish life. Wow, man, that's dope, man. Yeah, so I wanted to kind of tell a story from a black male's perspective. Yeah, I kind of wanted to tell a story from a black male's perspective, something that I could relate to and then not where we're bashing black men. As you know, a lot of people always talk about my boy Tyler Perry make us look bad in most of this movie. But you have, no, yeah. I know some people who say that. A lot of them, I don't say that. I know people who say that. He always paint a narrative of black men not being good fathers, and I don't like that. Yes, that is little girl, he was a good dad. No, yeah, but that was that far and few between. But he right, majority of the stuff he right kind of degrades our brothers. Good deeds, that was good. Well, good deeds, but it still had his brother over there acting a fool. You know what I'm saying? And all I'm saying is. At least he had him present. I like Tyler Perry movies, but we do have to have movies where we balance. Our people need to see fathers doing good things. Y'all don't want us to do good things. Of course. Well, you can if this is the narrative that's being painted. We got some good brothers, man, love his son. This brother here, he not gonna run out on his child. So we need to paint those pictures as well. I've been with my kids. Am I doing okay? You're doing a wonderful thing. Okay, well, you know, you feel me, right? Now let's get back to this movie. I wanna talk about, because that trailer was dope, man. That made me wanna see the movie like tomorrow, you know? And I'm gonna be real with you. The acting is on point. You guys look so, you look, you don't look broke. I love that fact. You got, yeah, man, come on, baby. That's on purpose. So that's what I was getting ready to get at. I love it, man. So like I said, I wanted to tell a black story, you know, from a black male's perspective, but also show where the guy actually was in the right. You know, most movies, the guy was actually cheating or doing like in some type of inappropriate relationship. This guy actually was trying to do right by his girl. He didn't wanna be a cheater, you know? He wanted to be faithful, even though he could have had any girl he wanted. He had all the money and all the things he wanted, but he was committed to her. But as you can see, she cheated, you know what I'm saying? So, and that lets you know too, though, it's more than just, you know, six and money and cars, like people still find a reason to do what they wanna do. It don't matter, you can have it all. So that's kind of what I wanted to tell with that. And also the image that I wanted to portray was that nobody was broke in this movie. You know, we all were successful. We all had good jobs and we were always in suits. Yeah, and that's dope. I like it. And that was on purpose. So I'm projecting that image of black people and black males on purpose. And you did a hell of a job. I like that, man. Yeah, I thought about that. But then for the person who, I love the movie and everything like that, but for a person who like, I wanna do that. I wanna create something like that for, to portray black fathers. You know what I mean? How hard would it be for a person, say, example, myself, who have no idea about how to do any of this, but have the passion for it to get up and say, okay, I'm gonna create my own film. I want my own production company, just like what you did and carry out the whole act. How hard is that and where would I have to start? So that's like, I was telling him earlier, and I looked at the camera right here. He's like, oh, you know, cameras. I was like, well, I literally, I didn't know nothing about cameras this time last year. Well, yes I did, because I purchased my black magic pocket cinema 4K. So I'm talking about, get it in, then. I purchased that like around May. So I got my stimulus check and I bought that. That's dope. So I was like, I'm gonna buy my own camera, just in case, like I said, I plan to shoot it last year, but like 2019, I didn't know nothing about nothing as far as cameras and equipment, but I went on YouTube once I made my mind up in like December of 2019, that I was gonna shoot my own movie using, or try to use my own equipment. So I started doing my research on YouTube and Google. What's the best cameras? If you're gonna produce a movie, like how do you do it? A lot of times they're gonna say, you gotta use your resources, your friends and family, you may have to ask them to work long hours for free, where if you can get this location for free, do this and that, which I already kind of knew that. I knew a lot of people, but Google YouTube starts, you literally say how to produce a movie, Google that, and it's gonna be. And it's not that hard. I mean, so it's a lot of pieces to that. So it is hard. And paperwork, getting everything written down on paperwork, like you got your LLC, they gotta do all of that to make sure they're, did you have to go to a lawyer to make sure that you had all the paperwork? No, no, no. You creating your LLC, like you want to come up with your name is yours, you know, doing that part. But now you wanna get a lawyer as far as contracts when you get ready to get active. Working with actors. Yeah, with other actors, that's what I was thinking about because I know just to create your LLC and have your business, that's fine. But when you're thinking about liability with actors on a certain set, and you're doing something, you know, you'd wanna have some sort of insurance and documentation and stuff like that. How did you pick your cast? So like I said, originally I picked, I handpicked people that I knew that kind of acted and did stuff, but the way God works, none of those people, except for maybe two of them, was able to actually do it. So how did you get this new cast? So I talked to my mentor, which he's made about four films, Coyote Miller. Sound like Coyote Miller or something like that. And he's in Arkansas? He's in Arkansas. Yeah, yeah, yeah, we gonna talk to you one day. Yeah, yeah, he's my mentor. He kind of was like, well, man, I know somebody that can do the casting for you. So he hooked me up with Monika Reed. Shout out Monika Reed. Yeah, yeah, shout out Monika Reed. She became my casting director and she was like, I got you. So she put together a cast of people and she had him do auditions and she selected the certain people. But me being who I am, I was like, hold on, hold on, hold on. You have to handpick them. Yeah, yeah, yeah, I was like, cause Kyle, he said he don't like this. So he'd like just give it to people and tell them to handle it. But I was like, hold on, hold on, hold on, this man. So I was like, okay, I'm actually playing this role. Cause she didn't know I was playing, I'm like, I'm actually playing this role. And I was like, I got a person that I already told them that's playing this role and this role. I like it. And then she was like, but you didn't, I'm like, this my movie, I'm just what I'm doing. That's what you're both doing. And then I was like, okay, where is this person from? And I'm like doing the math. I'm like, so who, I was like, okay, I see this person down here is from Arkansas. This person down here is from Arkansas. Like there's playing smaller roles. And I was like, I know them too. They're good actors and actresses. So I'm going to move them up to play this role, play this role. So I have to do a numbers game too. So cause, Cause the further you live is the more expensive it's going to be. So I have to move some people around. And I have to, like I say, I'm like, well this person playing this role for freak, like for me, they doing a favor for me. You know what I'm saying? So, and they're good. Like I say, you see these. But it's going to benefit them when they do it for free because then once the show blows, they'll get more exposure that way. Well, it's not just that. So the ones who did do it for free, they got like producer credit and stuff like that. But like I say, I just knew that they were accountable as well. So I can count on them for anything. So that is well and they were good. So I have to kind of work that. We can have our little spout back and forth. Cause it's like, I'm like, I appreciate you. I promise you. This is what happens in business and dealing with something is great. You got to have these back and forths, these tug of wars to make something develop in a way that's going to be great. Nobody just goes in and it just works out smooth. So the fact that you did check her about it and talk to her about what your vision is that God gave you. That's dope. And see, but that wasn't the end of it though. So she made these selections off of, kind of her little short list of people, but I was like, no, no, no, no. I was like, I kind of wanted to kind of use this as networking or marketing as well. So I was like, we need to get on actors access and put a cash and call out there. So she was like, oh, okay, we can do that. So I was like, if anybody's better than them, we're gonna go with them. That's dope. How do you categorize them as being better? Do you look at film that they've done before and be like, okay, or they have to come in? Audition, I was about to say. That's what I thought. Yeah, they're audition. So we put a cash and call out and we had people lined up. Lined up from all over the United States, probably 500, 600 people that auditioned. That's dope. And you were sitting down there watching every audition. I didn't, she did. She just, she did. So you let her do that part? Yeah, I let her do that part. That's what I was paying her for. So after all those came back, we actually decided to go with most of the people that she had handpicked because their auditors were better, but we pushed it and the word got out around about it. So that was the first thing to kind of put the word out. Because people are gonna look, especially the people that you turned down, they're gonna be waiting to see it to see. Oh no, they're not, I couldn't get better than that. They didn't, you know, so they're still gonna watch it. So it's still gonna be beneficial for you. Right, right. And so that's how we came up with the cash right there. So I had set a goal after, you know, like they say, whenever you decide, we put a date on something that kind of make you work towards it. So I set a goal of wanting to shoot it by August and then I finally reached out to, or got a hold of a cinematographer, a DP, and Live Maze, shout out Live Maze, who's also- Okay, shout out Live Maze. Live Maze. Maze. Yeah, he also is a recording artist. He's dope, pretty dope. He shoots music videos and stuff. What genre of music does he do? R&B. R&B. R&B. R&B. Okay, we got to look him up. Dude, I'm looking for, well he shot the movie with him, so I got to find this kid. I'm going to need him. Yes. One day I'm going to get my role going, man. I got to write my script up. You got to connect right there. Well, I got to connect and I got some cameras. We better get down, baby. Don't even trip, man. CJ, give me a name. Nice guy, I can't go with that when I got to come up with my own name. So how much does a budget like your film cost? The roundabout seeker. You don't have to give me, you don't have to give me, it can be a while, because for a person, I don't because you said some people, you said some people you didn't pay. So I know all of that and I'm keeping all that into consideration. But if somebody, I go right back to a person who would like to do something like this and have it in their mind, okay, I got to go get this, I got it, but how much it's going to cost me? So that's the thing though, it just depends upon you. That's what I always say. It depends upon you and who you know and your resources. So a thing about Hollywood, you never really kind of give your budget. And the ones that do, like it's not, they didn't, they say they lie a lot about the budget. But I can tell you. It costs two meals, maybe three meals to get this move on. So I can tell you that my cinematographer, he and I negotiated a rate for him. But you gotta, like I say, you gotta use your smarts and say, all right, this is what I'm trying to do. And I always say, I can't put a price on somebody else's work. Correct, that's right. So I can't really tell you how much it's gonna cost you because your uncle may do this, you do this, you got cameras, you know what I'm saying? But they know their worth. So you're gonna have to negotiate with that. But I was able to negotiate it. I was like, he was like, man, I'm gonna be real with you. This is the conversation. He was like, people coming to me all the time want to shoot stuff. But he was like, what's your budget? And I was like, yeah, yeah, I was like, I'm gonna be real with you, bro. I want to pay this amount. He was like, he was like, you meet me at this amount, we can do it. I was like, bet. So he probably wouldn't expect me to say, okay, bet. So I was like, what do I need to do? And he was like, just send your deposit. So I was like, okay, send me your information. I'll send your deposit. Is he from Arkansas? He's from Forest Mill, Arkansas. So I hung up the phone, got his information, sent him a thousand dollar deposit and then we locked in the date. But he was like, he was like, nah, I don't think we should do it that soon. He was like, let's do it a little bit later in October. And he was like, that way you've been saved up to a lot more money. And he was like, you'll be able to organize things a little bit more. So I was like, okay, bet. So I appreciate him for that. And I also, that's another thing too. People don't, no, I picked up a second job, full-time job to help pay for the movie too. So I was working the full-time job while working my other job to kind of save up and get some things in order. How long is the film? Hour 20 minutes. Hour and 20 minutes. So yeah, this is a real feature film. Yeah, I realize that. So how long, how long did it take you to, I know you talk about how long it took you to write it. But from writing to filming it, finding people to its finished product. How long is all of that? Because a lot of times we see movies and they hold back movies for years. It took about two and a half years. I wrote the script. No, cause he just wrote it last year, in January. So yeah, I wrote it and casted everybody and had a trailer come out within a year. That's dope. That's dope. Why do people be holding back? You know, it annoys me. So that's why, so when I, that's another thing shout out to Tyler Perry. I kind of looked at his last few movies, you know, he talked about how he filmed them within a week. So I was like. Cause he has his own, everything right there, just. Exactly. So I was like, I don't have my own, but I know people that got stuff. So I was like, that's the approach that I'm gonna take. So I saw my movie within a week. So is that a reason why people hold back? It's hard to, yes, you gotta get the paperwork. You gotta have access to certain things. So it's just, and then the funding, like it's just, it's hard as hell to get somebody to invest in an idea. Or maybe sometime, because example, you know how some movies come out and you have part one, part two, part three? Yeah. And then you have part one, part two come out like a year, one behind each other. Yeah. Then all of a sudden part three comes out three years later on and I'm like. Well, it's a business too though. So you, you gotta, all right. So just because you were in part two, doesn't mean you want to come back and do part three. Because they can't afford you now. You got bigger. That or you, you already signed up to work on another project. So nine times out of 10 is usually what it is. They're working, their schedule was busy. So they have to work around, especially the biggest star schedule. So that's how sometimes you have to recast and get somebody else because the other person isn't able to do it. Or they, they, they have went up, like they're doing bigger and better things. So that's the majority of it. Yes. Because once I do something, I know the strategy. Yeah. It should be a easier process the next time. So next time, when me and you do ours. Yes. Yes. It ain't going to take us long at all. No. So basically when we get offline, I tell you, hey man, I need to do this. And we need to know how long it's going to take, how much my budget going to be, what we're going to do together. We're going into partnership. You're going to be like, this is what I can do it for. This is what it's going to come. Yeah. Yeah. Straight like that. Straight like that. See what I'm saying. And because you're a production company, somebody can actually hire you to, to shoot and do their film. Well, I, I actually, so I'm, so right now, this is what I'm doing. I am investing in me and my ideas right now. I'm not doing other people's stuff right now. But eventually. Eventually I will, but I'm telling the stories that I want to tell, if that makes sense. He's going for his Tyler Perry move. Yeah. Because it's not going to stop. Because Tyler Perry is retired with a lot of his stuff. So now is a good time to take that spot. Yeah. When this nigga stop, he going to be talking to Denzel, watching somebody. He not coming back over here. I'm telling you now, I'm going to try to lock in with this guy right now. Yeah. He going to be dealing with Forrest Whitaker. And this is a whole different level. So I'm not going to be able to, hey man, you remember me? Nah, I don't remember. And, and you know, it's funny though, because it's been quite a few people that have told me they're proud of me and that this project doesn't look like a first time project. It doesn't. Not at all. It doesn't at all. So. It's going to move fast. That's why when he told me, it's your first time doing it. I woke up that morning. Yes. I woke up. I said, look at this right here. She do a movie. And I wasn't upset that he woke me up because it was for something good. So I wasn't upset. I was like, you gotta see this. This nigga, he ain't just no regular cat right here. Yeah. And he didn't even tell me it was your first time that day. It's, I will overheard him saying it to somebody because he was, he's showing to everybody. Yeah. Everybody. Y'all need to see this. I'm friends with this guy. When he told that person that, I'm like, no. That's his first time? Yeah. Yeah. You did an amazing job. And I was a lead actor in it. So I was in 99% of the scenes. Tyler Perry. That's the same. Don't tell him to do it too. Don't tell him to do it too. He didn't start off doing it like that. No, he didn't start off. This cat doing it, but he ain't start off in play. So we got, see James going into his own life. He did a play. He did a play. No, I'm talking about he didn't start off doing plays and going around trying to budget like that. So that's not his story. And playing a female. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Would you ever play a female role up in on a wig and all of that? We stiff niggas. We talked about that one time on here. Dave Chappelle shook all the stuff about that. We don't do that. Yeah, yeah. I mean, and it is not to knock anybody. Jamie Foxx. That's J. Martin on this one. Yeah, yeah. Kevin Hart? So. Yeah, he done it. And when you look at it and you take, yeah, when you look at it too and you take, let's just say you take the art serious, if that makes sense. And you're a professional actor and you're into it. You drama and acting, you take it serious. Like you're playing a character. It's not. So it's not. Yeah, I get it. So I see that side as an actor. But you personally wouldn't do it. No, because I know me. It'll be hard for me to be even taking serious if I were to do that. Like I can't even get into character if that makes it. I wouldn't put myself in a position to do something that I can't do. Okay, so you're doing a romantic scene right now. Yes. So what is your acting range? Can you do, you'll do horror action, romance, you'll do comedy. What genre of film would you not or cannot do at this moment? It ain't nothing I can't do. Okay, I just wanted to see. Just things that he won't do. Other than what you just listed, is there anything else you would not do? I mean, you mean as far as playing a certain role? Or a certain genre of. Certain genre. Some people are just strictly comedians in how they act. Some people, you cannot take them serious playing. I can see you acting in a comedy role. You know? Oh yeah, so this is like. Like I'm talking about stand up. Like you going on the stage. Can you do action? You can do that. Now I'm trying to get this out of here now, still. I can see you going on the stage, acting like Kevin Hart or somebody. So in the trailer, you probably couldn't tell when I was speaking in the green. And if you go back and watch it, you'll hear my voice. I was actually doing my invitation of Barack Obama. Okay. So I do some pretty good invitations of some people. I wanna hear it right now. On the spot. On the spot. Miss Jamaica. That was good. I wanna hear the rest. I wanna hear the rest. That was dope, man. I'd like for you to come down to the White House and meet Michelle. That's dope. No, that's dope. I hear it. You have to be able to do that actor. You have to be able to do it. Just like it's so crazy because like example Idris Elba. I did not know that he had originally having a London accent. British accent, yeah, yeah. I did not know that till I was watching him on an interview because most of his movies are an American accent. He's not the only one either though. I know it's a lot of them from England that I did not know that unless you do any research but when you see them in movies they sound like it is a regular American person. It trips me out. Have an accent out. Yeah, definitely, man. I definitely know that I'm gonna have to get my stuff together. If you act like Obama, I gotta come over some. You know what I'm saying? I'm going for the- What other impersonations can you do? I'm going for the Jamie Foxx. I can do Cat Williams. I can do, let me see. She didn't put me on the spot. I can do some Elmo. I can do- It's a few of them I can do. I can't even, you just put me on the spot, but yeah. I just love the fact that you- Stop. You went out on- See y'all. Cat Williams. Yes, yes, Flare. I like that. Oh, so I was asking you earlier about action. Do you think you can do an action film? Yes, yes, yes, yes. Do all your stunts and tumbling and run after people. I have stunt training, yes. You have stunts. So you, did you, when did you do stunt training? 2019, 2019. How long did it take? My first movie, I did some stunts. What are you talking about? This ain't no other movie. I played football. Get on the ropes, that's what we did out there. My first movie, I think, we fell through a table and did all that type of stuff. So I took some training. I went to, like I take classes and stuff too. So I went to some stunt training classes and they taught us how to fall and how to telegraph punches and stuff like that. You know, a lot of times in the movies, you wanna go with punches as fast as you can, but slow it, like try to stop right before you get to the person, but you can't go slow. How many times do you do that in a punch in a person for real? And that happens a lot in a lot of happens a lot. But that's why a lot of times they just say, hit me, because the reaction gonna be real. You gotta do it in a couple of takes though. But it's a dangerous, dangerous, dangerous career, being a stunt double. Or even some actors say, I don't wanna stunt double, I'm gonna do this on my own because there have been actors in the past who've died. In roles like Bruce Lee's son, he did as well, but they had stunts like crazy stunts. I definitely see myself doing like action movie. This next script that I'm about to work on is gonna have some action stuff. Max, do you feel like C. James is the full package, huh? You feel like you can do action, you can do horror? Yes. You can do it all. Yes, and like I said, that's what I said. I didn't know. You tried any damn way. Yeah, it ain't nothing you can't do. You gotta put your mind to it. But like I said, I didn't know what movie I was gonna do first. Like I said, I like the all jump. It made sense doing this first though, because you appeal to more people doing this. Yeah. Well, I can't wait till you bring the premiere to Dallas. I hope that happens. And I specifically got an all black cast in here on purpose. No, no, no, you're doing it right. And we're in a different time and it's time for you to walk through the door. Something new is needed right now for this whole new movement with the digital movement, the way it is, the way social media waves is right now. We hadn't had that new guy to come through the door anyway. Am I right? You're right. So that new guy needs to come through the door now. We had Tyler Perry who started out in plays and we had Denzel on the older, when they first started letting brothers get in the movies and hell flip Wilson and all the rest of them boys. Sam and David's Jr. Now I see James Sr. trying to come through that door. You know what I'm talking about? And I like that. It's like the fact that you, your boss, you put up your own money, you got into the whole process. You didn't try to pay and delegate everything out in a way to where you didn't stay close-nitch. I'm loving that, man. And I definitely know that some other brother gon' see this and he's been inspired to do a movie but he don't know how. Oh man, I've had, one of my buddies, Rich Johnson, he was like, bro, you have inspired me. He said, if I do anything, I'm gonna make sure I chat you out because you just lit a flame in me. He was like, I'm, he said, I just created my LLC from my production company this week. So it's like, it's been a few people that was like, man, you got me, I want to write a script and do a movie. It does, man. I mean, we was in Vegas and I was at different places where youngsters were carrying the cameras around. And I remember this Michelin guy from Michelin, S.R. What was that clothing brand that gave us some hoodies? I can't remember. You remember when he was over there, he kept seeing me, second year he seen me. He was like, man, you need to do a movie, man. Stop just doing the following round, like just doing the back scenes, you know, the BTS behind the scenes of what's going on with the shows. Man, you got all this camera equipment. He like, man, you need to go ahead and use it and just do a movie. He was excited about a movie. He just felt like I could do it. I never got into it like that, but I'm pretty sure I could figure it out. I know I could figure it out. You know the best movies. Ain't nothing I can't figure out. Honestly, you know what the best movies to me, cause I love romance, I love action. Action is my number one. I love those too. But true stories. Yes. Finding true stories. I told you, my first script I wrote, on my coach. Right, on your coach. Yep, true story. Finding more of that because, but you had to find like really amazing stories, you know, that can touch people's life and stuff like that. Can we find that one? I don't know. The documentaries. You said it's on your website. The documentaries on my website. Tell us your website again. IntoTheSunsetProductions.com. Okay, because. Go ahead. I think that even, just to know that somebody actually went through that. When you're watching these movies, you're like, that's for real. But how much of true stories are really true stories when you really watch them on TV? So that's, you're right. They have to Hollywood a lot of stuff. Exactly. So, when I wrote this, when I tried to keep it as much as often because I could, but you know, you gotta make it. Is that why they say based on a true story, because they know it's not a hundred percent true story? Yeah. Or you can say inspired by a true story. Inspired by a true story. Yeah, yeah. But this, I try to keep it as authentic as I could. But the main thing was to kind of tell the story. So. How would we be able to identify with your movie? Like Forrest December, The Logo, something. You know what I mean? Okay, so like, quite honestly, believe it or not, a lot of the backbone to this story is biblical. Okay. I heard a couple of scriptures. Yeah. That was on purpose. Okay, okay. So like you say, the guy think like a man, you know. Also, in one scene, once you see it, we talk about the definition of love, what is love? You know, love is patient, love is caring and there's not, you know, all that. So. We call the Bible a few times in this movie. Okay. That's dope. And that's, I'm trying to get people to, you know, look and reflect on what, what, what, what does this character do? No, wait a minute. You said, you say the word, the name nigga. Yeah. And what else? You curse. You curse. And you get to do some scriptures. Yeah. Now that's the way life really is. Exactly. And that's, that's literally why my mentor, he said, that's why this movie is, is, is going to, going to do good. That's exactly what it is. Because that's realistic. But that's boss talk one-on-one. Everybody knows people that are like that. I heard what you said. That's boss talk one-on-one. That's exactly what you're doing. So that character that you was just talking, you heard him quote the Bible, but he the craziest one. That, and that's how it is. But that's life. That's, that's good. And we all know people like that. And that's exactly what he said. But it's dope that you would be real like that. Yeah. Most people trying to script it in a way that they can perfect it in a way that where it don't show certain flaws. And, and, and we gotta stop doing that. But I can't understand why because people like realistic. People like, just like in music when you have musicians come on here and they're, you know, so, well, so-called some of them are rapping around or singing about their life, their heartbreak and whatever. And somebody else, cause there's not one person in this world that's going through the same. I mean, they're the only ones going through that thing. There's always somebody else going through or went through something that you're going through at his current moment. So when you're doing this film and the things that you're putting in this film, people are going to relate to it. Right. And be like, oh yeah, I've been that person or I went through that or I'm going through that right now. Yeah. Let me ask you this. Will we get another trailer before it comes out or is it too late? You know, sometimes they'll throw you a trailer right at the end of the time, aren't they? No. Cause you got the capability. I could. No, I'm not. Why? No, the reason why, because- Right up on the first, the right thing before it's about to come out. My daughter and I are the same way where we'll watch trailers. I hate when I watch trailers and by the time I go watch a movie, I'm like, I already know everything that's going to happen in a movie. Yeah. It's so predictable. I feel like it told too much already. It told too, yeah, because I don't like, give me some things that I never expected. Yeah. That I never expected. You know, we watched a movie last night. Oh, night before last, what? Was it night before last? Yeah, I mean I didn't come watch it with y'all. What was the name of the movie that we watched? I didn't want to watch it. Shamaria, what was the name of the movie? The one we watched together. She was excited about it. Cruella? Cruella. I heard the movie was dark. No, it was really good. It was really good. The reason why we said it was really good is the fact that things happen in that movie. We were like, no, that just happened. Like, really? We love movies like that where you see one thing on the trailer, but when you watch a movie like, I didn't know that was coming. And that's rare for us because a lot of movies are very predictable to us. And I made this one to not be as predictable as it was. Let's see how not predictable this is gonna be while we watch it. Because we think we're professionals where that is concerned. I'll be watching it. As soon as it comes, we'll be at the premiere, though, when you come to Dallas. Is it gonna be a formal premiere where we have to dress up? Yes. Yeah, of course. See, I ain't got no problem with that. We step in. We step us. That's how the other one is. I don't know if you've seen the flyer for it, but... Yeah, I think I've not seen you the flyer. No. But the next thing I'd like to know is where would we or anybody else, if they did come to the premiere, where would they be able to find this movie? Yeah, that's us a good question. Thank you. My whole approach to this actual film thing was the Master P Tyler Perry approach, owning your own product, right? You know, not selling it and just owning it. So right now, the way the industry is set up, I don't have any big name stars in the movie right now. Usually you have to have a big name star to get distribution, you know? So, Nick Flicks, Hulu, whoever, BET, they won't even look at you unless you have a big star or you have a big name. I'm not worried about that, though, because the guy got me. So I had a plan for that. Like I say, my whole approach was I'm gonna own it. So I was like, the way I'm gonna go about this, I'm gonna go so hard and push it that by the time... They're gonna request you to put it on their platform. Right. But okay, at an observation we've been making... It didn't look good, man. Appreciate it. Yeah, an observation we've been making recently and this has to do with television. And we know it's a lot of people are starting their own television series on TV and these different stuff. When back in the days, it was only big people, big, but now smaller people are able to get on these shows. Do you know the reason why? Cause we have our own assumptions, but do you know? Like smaller people, what do you mean? Like when you say smaller people, just I'll say like really, reality TV and a lot of different people that's getting opportunities in certain cities that wouldn't normally, they're getting a... You see what I'm saying? For example, you start your production company, you can go start something on TV right now. As of right now, the reason why is because it's just so many avenues for content. That's right. And it's needed. That's exactly what I was thinking. That's what we were really... Yeah, it's just needed. Like you have to meet some people where they are. You know, everybody's big, it can't be everywhere. Right, cause that's what it used to be before. It was like big producers. You've been in the business for years. You just came up with new television series and you just put it on. It wasn't no person who's just starting out or small, that's what I call small, somebody who's just starting out in that business that can just get on television just like that. Yeah, so I mean, it's just so many avenues for content that's needed. That's the reason why. Cause you can... You know, honestly, my original plan was to not even like, I'm not... I wasn't messed up about getting into theaters or on Netflix. Like I was like, I'ma just drop this movie on Facebook. You could drop it on Facebook? No, no. YouTube? Or you could drop it on YouTube and have charge rates for it. Remember what, like being Big D Mogul, he was talking about, you can close doors and open doors on YouTube and Facebook and make it to where it goes to the people and you get, you know, you get... Because you gotta think about this, you people watch movies on, cause I watch movies on YouTube, quicker than I watch it on almost anything else cause you have your phone with you. Even sometimes quicker than I watch it on Netflix. And YouTube, yes they pay you, and they pay you on like watch time, but how many people gonna sit down and watch a full length movie? We all are going to sit down and watch a full length movie rather than when you have like a tutorial or you have somebody talking, they'll go skip, skip, okay, let me get to this part. Okay, now, and you know, but when you watch the movie, you can watch the whole thing. No matter if it's an hour and a half or whatever, you're gonna sit down, make the time, I'm gonna watch this movie. So you're gonna make your money on YouTube. Might not be as much as you'd make it on some other platforms, but you're gonna make some money. And then I don't know if people realize that Red Table Talk with Will and Jada, right? Yeah, and they're only on Facebook. Only on Facebook. And I think it's ball in the family, that's only on Facebook. I haven't seen that one. That's Lonzo Ball and... Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, you're right, you're right. They're only on Facebook, so... I remember when you decided to go there. Yeah, so like it's... They must be paying them good. When I sit down and think about that, I'm like only on Facebook. Only on Facebook. Man, they got billions of dollars. So I was like, I'm trying to get like them. But nobody does movies only on Facebook. That's what I was on. That's what I was on, so... But you have to be producing it like back to back. Yeah, but so the only thing is I would, I was trying to figure out how to monetize it, instead of just putting it out there for free and then building up followers and then trying to make money out of it. I think YouTube is the best way to go. Yeah, but no, so I got a plan though. So that's another thing too. Like I say, God works in mysterious ways. I was thinking that it was small, right? It kept growing bigger and bigger. There's been three people reach out to me about distribution. Oh, let's do it. And this is before they even seen the trailer. Really? How did they... The poster. You saw the poster. No, cause he hasn't showed it to me. Let me show the poster for you. They saw the movie poster in the title. So as a guy, he's like, I saw this movie poster in the title. He said that... So after this is the trailer, they go a little crazy. Well, he said, once I saw the poster in the title, he was like, this doesn't look like a low budget movie just based off the poster. It looked like they put money behind it. So that's exactly what he was... Just off the poster, you can tell that. I can know off of a movie, but not off of a poster. So yeah, that's another thing too. So I wanted to make sure that my... You know, y'all see them movie posters. I'm like, aw, this is a low budget movie. I wanted to make sure that I did not have that look. He can't watch anything like that. I'll watch whatever, I don't care. I can't watch it. It didn't look like it's like I had my cousin do the... Oh, okay. That's a cool pose. I like that. So I feel like with the... And it's different. I like that. If you see it up beside trolls or whatever, you would stop and say, what is this? Yeah, that's a nice poster. You put a lot into it. I'm definitely loving the fact that you're independent and that you got a place where we first started this. We had people to come and try to be a part of how we put out our stuff. And everybody, I was trying to be a part of it after they see the process has started. But I like the fact that you're independent. You're making sure that this is your baby. And you're not just gonna let everybody be holding and kissing. I don't know what their mouth being. Right. Don't touch my child. She's only a month. Right. You see what I'm saying? So you're doing it right. I like it, man. I actually like it a lot. So just like he mentioned earlier, had a great idea talking about portraying fathers in a good light. Would that be something that you would be maybe- That was where I was gonna- Would write something about? That's what I was- And create a movie about? Yeah, yeah, yeah. That's what I was talking about. Oh, oh, oh, oh, I'm sorry. I'm sorry about that. Okay, cut that out. No, no, I'm sorry. So this is what I was getting to, like, like I said- I like that. I've done this. There's been several people reaching out to me like, I'm gonna do a movie. I'm gonna do a movie. I'm gonna do a movie. So I'm like, all right, chill out right now. I'm doing what I wanna do. I work for me right now. But I was like, so you- I was like, I got a real good friend. He wants to do a movie. So I was telling him, I was like, look, I could do it. But I was like, no, my cousin also pointed out, he was like, man, there's people that's been in Hollywood their whole lives, right? It is like big name people. None of them have a written, produced and started their own movie. First of all, none of them, a lot of them haven't written the script. So first of all, we gotta get the script written. You can't- That's exactly right. I heard you when you said it when you first started. We gotta get the script written. 60 pages. No, it was, so that was what I wrote. You started with 60 pages, but how many pages did you end up with? You know what it says? Yeah, I was gonna say, I didn't get to that. So I didn't finish writing the script until like June. And my computer went out for like a month and a half. So it ended up being like 130 pages. Oh, so you doubled that? Yeah. With a little bit more, okay. So now I know how many pages we need. So usually they say, that's an idea of my research. Usually they say it's about a minute per page. So an hour and a half movies about 120 pages. How many drafts did you have to do before you got to the, like did you have to like, you know how when you watch movies? I did about it. You ended up and throw it in the trash. Oh no, that sucks. No, I don't, I don't, so I'm new school. I get on a laptop and, and if I want to change something, I can go back and do that. So that's on purpose because it prevents me from having to throw stuff away and starting over. So I just go in and that's like, so I think that's where we're at now. All that other stuff, you watch that on a movie, let it go. But it can happen where just like his computer went down. If you had that, you know, paper writing, time machine backing up. Yeah, the software backs it up. That's right. Yeah, yeah, yeah. We ain't playing no game. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I did buy the software, final draft, like I say, I have to do my research. I heard about that. Yeah. Well, I definitely want to say that when, when the close of the movie, the anticipation comes to when you do the premiere, even if it's in Arkansas, I can come down there too. You know what I mean? As long as you invite us and the givers say advance notice, we can come down. Okay. You're not that far of a drive? No, I'd like to. No, that's five hours. Yeah. And I remember I took you down through there. Yeah. You didn't know where you were going. He was surprising me. I took her down the middle, down the middle, so. Oh yeah. You had to go through Arkansas. You had to come through 30, 40, baby. Yeah, yeah. I know about it. I used to come down there a lot. Oh yeah. Yeah, I'm a hustler, so. Yeah. I come through it. I will come to that. What y'all know about Little Rock though? Little Rock. I know y'all got a Benny Hunters right there. Yeah. You know what I'm doing? And I know you boys think y'all gangbangers in the 90s. My son wants to go. You want to go right? Yeah. Where you can go and, you know, that spring water. Yeah. Yeah, because he was asking me about that the other day. And I was like, well, you got to go to Arkansas for that. He's like, okay, when are we going? Yeah. And I just want to say thank you, man, for coming up, man, like you did. Coming up and coming for boss talking, checking us out, man. And we're going to push this out there. But I appreciate you for coming up and sharing this time with us. Exactly. I want to do the same. I want to, if it's not in doubt, like I can come to the premiere down there and in doubt. Because I'm dope like that. I can do what I want to do. I'm independent. There you go. There you go. Somehow you like our platform. Oh, that's dope. That's dope. I like it. Like I said, what's outside of that? Oh, he ain't playing. Oh, man. And you checked out a couple of our videos before? Yes, I did. And what did you think? I was like, okay, he asked a good question. He's a fool, too. See, we love to know what everybody's opinion. See, it's different than me, man. I shoot from the hip. He's the star of the show, bro. You think so? I think you're the star, but I think we both got our own ways, man. And I think, mind more, I've been like this, so I'm not acting, you know what I'm saying? I'm really just being me. So everybody else is throwing it. Everybody else, everybody else, I think, be, you know, trying to stay in composure or whatever. I'm just being me. So it's easy. I can sit here and you can sit anybody there and I'm having a good time. Because in my mind, it's about what I'm doing. Yeah. Ain't nothing wrong with that. It's kind of a throw though, like y'all said. But I definitely appreciate you for coming on the show, brother. And I said, oh, hey, you didn't get to go to Touching Skin. I was mad about that. Oh, man. When you told me that, I got it. We gonna see him tonight. It was crazy yesterday. Flices was like crazy. It was a delay. I was like, I could've drove, but. Wow. Flices was crazy. Yeah, delay. I had him sit up too. Delay, delay, delay, delay, like. Yeah, you could've drove. Yeah, I could've drove. I was like, wow. But it's all good, man. God knows what he's doing. He does. There's nothing that he. He does. And when you leaving? Sunday. Sunday. When you come back, when you come back, because we got a good relationship with people. And you gonna get to meet them tonight at the Gala, right? We going out there tonight. Did you say I'm the flyer for it? I didn't say I'm the flyer, but you got it. I got it. Okay. So we gonna go down there and have a good time, man, and try to enjoy the rest of the evening, huh? Yes. I gotta go home and get ready. Okay, okay. Well, man, CJ, man, we appreciate you. CJ's junior. Senior. He got a junior. CJ's senior. He throwed me because he came senior after the son was born. My dad didn't ever say senior. Hell, he just said his name. Right. I'm the original. That's all it is. And everybody called you junior. Yeah, I got to be junior the whole time. You know what I'm saying? But definitely, man, we appreciate you, man. We love you, brother. We wish you much success. If there's anything we can do in Dallas here to help with anything, I mean, hey, I'll try to do whatever. You may need a scene down here. You know, I deal with the city a lot. We may have the permanence and stuff. We can stand in. Well, I stand in and I can act a little bit too, I think. Well, you've been acting the fool the whole time, so. God bless you, man. Let me shut this down, man. This been another great segment of Boss Talk 101. And we have.