In order to know where you're going as an
actor, you need to know where you've been
as a people, right? The evolution
of our culture and how it's been
portrayed throughout the years.
Everything from birth of a nation where
the KKK was the hero to Black Panther,
where Chadwick Boseman as the
king of Wakanda saves. Work.
That was a clip from the new series
inside the black box where they
discussed the role that race plays
in the entertainment industry.
Joining us live to discuss the show
more in depth are inside the black box,
host Emmy winning actor Joe Morton,
along with celebrity acting coach
and casting director Tracy Moore.
Thank you for joining us this morning.
Thank you, yeah, thank you.
We're thrilled to have you
on and I wanted to ask,
can you tell us about the new
series inside the black box?
Inside the black box, the new series
is a platform for people of color.
In the entertainment business,
ranging from actors to directors,
casting directors, producers.
It's an opportunity for
us to tell our stories,
our truths from their conversations that
we have among ourselves and our colleagues.
But it's time to share these stories
because I think that when you share the
authentic truths about your journey,
then it's inspiring, empowering.
But it also opens up this world to things
that they have never been exposed to.
And we're going to talk about my experiences
as a casting director working with.
White directors who want me to tell
black actors to be more ghetto
or urban to the skin color.
Kim Williams,
who is vice president of Disney.
She talks about how.
The image in Hollywood is that light
skin black actresses get leading
roles and then darker complected,
black actresses get other roles and so
one of the things that is important for
her is to breakdown those walls and to,
you know,
look at talent as talent and not
as the complexion of their skin.
And we also give actors of color a
platform to showcase their talent
through improvs and theater games.
And it's love.
It really is a love fest and I
also call it an experience and so
we want everybody to experience
all the the nuances and the gems
and and the things in which you
know we're presenting to you.
I think it's great that there's
going to be a series like this
and you mentioned it a little bit,
but I wanted to ask what role
would you say race plays in
the entertainment industry?
Well, you know what?
If you look at the world around us, right?
I mean, race plays a huge role
in terms of who gets this job,
who does not get this job?
You know what? The whole idea with
what happened with George Floyd?
I mean, I think in some ways.
Terrible things happen and those terrible
things open the doors to wonderful things,
and I think because the pandemic was
on and people were sequestered in their
homes and stuck to their television sets,
the horrible thing that happened to
George Floyd opened opportunities and
opened minds so that suddenly things that
were no longer possible were possible.
Suddenly you can do an all
black Western on Netflix.
You can do a movie about what it
means to pass, that is, you know.
Someone who is who was a an African
American who can pass for white.
You can do a movie with a comedian that's
not a comedy anymore at black comedian.
That's not a common anymore.
And now it's. It's a drama.
You can do things because
suddenly the world opened up.
Those were things that
were not possible before.
As Tracy was saying,
you know,
there was a time when you know if
you were light skinned you got
the you got the role and with your
dark skin you couldn't then if
that was actually something that
was going on in the real world.
If you were a light skin.
Woman in the real world.
You probably got the job as
a secretary if you were dark,
skinny probably ended up pushing
a broom somewhere and all those
things have begun to change because
of conversations like the ones
we're having inside the black box.
Because people are coming forward
and talking about their history and
their stories and what they've had
to overcome and how they overcame
and what their goals were.
I mean,
Darnell Martin talks about when
she did Cadillac records,
what story she wanted to tell
and and how she had to.
Deal with the studio in terms of
getting that story told and and
now that's something that didn't
exist before and now exist.
There never was a so-called
foreign market before.
For for Black Film because of
12 years of slave,
that kind of opened up and
because of of of of of.
Those things opened up.
Things have changed,
but race has always been kind of
right there in the middle of it all.
Yeah, I think it's so important
that these conversations are
happening and more doors are
opening for people of color and
I wanted to ask about your show.
Some of Hollywood's biggest
names are on your show.
Could you tell our audience
who they might recognize?
Oh, they're gonna recognize Phylicia Rashad,
Raven, Symone, Omar, Dorsey, Norm,
Lewis, Mark Jeffries, Tobias Treveon.
Trevelyan, I apologize so we also have
people that you are not gonna recognize
and that's the beauty of the show as
well because we're putting faces on
names on credits that you read and don't
know that there are people of color
but I wanna let our viewers
know For more information you
can catch inside the black box.
It premieres tonight on crackle.