(upbeat music)
- Hey, Hey, I am Makiah Green
a film and TV producer, creator, and all around bad (bleep).
Um, I am an executive producer on Lizzo's
Watch Out for the Big Grrrls.
Everyone always asks me, what does a producer do?
Like what does that even mean?
What does it mean to executive produce a TV show?
The short answer is everything, we do it all.
On this show I was brought on
to help conceptualize the creative.
So what do we want this show to be?
It was very important to the team
that this wasn't a traditional competition show
where we just saw women at each other's necks fighting
and being catty to get to the top that
we wanted this to be a show that was empowering
and affirming.
So I was in there with the casting team.
One, making sure that these girls could dance.
And two, making sure we had a wonderful representation
of skin tones and body types.
You know, there really is no one type of big girl.
And so we wanted to make sure that as many people
possible felt seen.
Once we had our girls, we had to figure out, you know, okay
where are these girls gonna live?
Where, where is this?
What's the big girl house?
What's the vibe working with the art team
and the production design team to make sure
that these girls had the best of the best,
the creme de la creme, okay?
Another thing that we do is, you know,
go in throughout the post production process
and work closely with the editors
to make sure that the girls look great.
But a lot of love care and intention went
into this beautiful journey.
And um, so, yeah,
I was behind, behind the scenes on and off.
So now we're about to get into some of my favorite moments
from the show and some of the best behind the scenes moments
that you may have never heard of.
- [Lizzo] Hey little Jayla!
(Lizzo laughin)
- Oh my God!
- Cue the music.
♪ Turn it up! ♪
- It's a two-parter for Jayla
because she's a sweetheart and she's also a secret weapon.
She was always sure to show up for every single person
if they were going through a crisis
even when she was going through her own crises.
- I was not ready.
I'm trying not to cry.
- Aw, yes, all right man when she start crying
after her audition it broke my little heart.
But she came back in that battle though.
- Jayla - and this can sound really cliche
or like a (bleep) answer.
But I think that Lizzo saw something in me
that I never saw in myself.
♪ Up in here, up in here. ♪
I know the steps.
Like we've done it over and over again
we've drilled it.
(Makiah woohing)
And I just kind of kind of got to say screw it and like
listen to what my heart is wanting
and that's to (bleep) be here.
- This flip - Ooo yes!
♪ Y'all gon' make me go all out ♪
up in here, up in here.
- You are a star, a star.
- [Woman] Give it to us, hey
- We can be a different type
of Barbie for a different type of girl, I love that.
Like, I'm the bald headed, you know, dark skin
chocolate Barbie for the baldheaded, dark skin
little girls growing up,
like that may have alopecia - that feels good.
- Charity is a fighter because with just her profession
in the marketing world and everything
I thought she was gonna come in and you know
like have a lot to shed in terms
of like her professionalism and that sort of thing.
When I tell you, she came in there ready to eat
and only continued to grow from episode to episode.
Like, I feel like there was moments almost
in every episode where she shocked me
in a beautiful, beautiful way.
And yeah, see, this is the moment
when the girls had to dance for their life.
In episode six, when I tell you Charity
was the only one who had a smile
on her face, she came, ready, prepared.
She knew her steps.
She had her stamina, her shorts were falling down.
She did not care, okay.
She said, I'm gonna get, I'm not going home.
- Arianna.
- Hello.
- I just couldn't take my eyes off of you.
- Oh my God, thank you.
- You had it all.
- When I think of Arianna, I think of
the beauty of evolution.
The way that she just opened herself up to grow
to get messy.
Every note that she got from the team about just
wanting to see her let loose a little bit.
I could tell she really took it to heart.
And even when that wasn't the easiest thing for her to do
she fought through that.
And when I look at Ari now, and I think of like
the girl who first walked through those doors,
I see just an evolved soul.
- Now I want you to let the performance go
and I want you to breathe like you just
survived a global pandemic for the last 16 months.
- She had gone through so much trauma
in 2020 with losing her grandmother and just
like seeing her let go shifted something in me.
You know, it was just like really beautiful to watch.
Because I could tell she came
in like wanting to perform and like wanting to be perfect.
And like she is perfect.
And yet it's like, girl, it's okay.
Like let loose, release.
Like you don't have to hold onto all of that anymore.
Cause you are safe.
- Ashley.
Wait, is that her back there?
(Women cheering)
- Ashley is bossed up.
She's just bossed up.
Style, crazy. Hair, crazy.
Just out of control.
I can hit a high kick, I can give you emotion,
I can give you hip hop, I can give you whatever you need.
She got there and I was,
I don't know what I was expecting fully, but I like had
I was just like curious
like what her personality was gonna be like
and how she was gonna mesh with the other girls.
And when I tell you she came in there
and was the life of the party.
She always had a motivational message
for somebody at dinner,
but then she also had jokes for days, honey, okay.
- [Ashley] Period.
- Ashley always talk about period.
- [Ashley] Yes, so good.
- Yes, Ashley, how do you feel
looking at yourself right now?
It's givin', it's givin' Essence.
- It is giving Essence, girl.
- It's beautiful.
- This looked like your style, you brought it to life.
- Yes, oh my gosh.
When Ashley hit the choreo for Naked, she bodied it.
I felt like I was watching just like
new age, praise dance, okay?
Like she gave her all and I thought
that that piece was the perfect piece for her to just
show off what she can do and the range of what she can do.
Just impeccable.
- My style in general just, you know, is different.
So I feel anxious because like my look
is what people see first.
And if you take away all of this, you know
what do people see?
- Moesha is bold from the minute I saw her audition video
I was obsessed and she just lives for herself.
She makes decisions for herself.
And I just really respect that about her.
And I think a lot of the other girls
respected that about her as well
because she's just like, look, this is what it is.
This is how I'm getting it.
And if you like it, great, if not love to you, sis.
- Yes, work, Moe!
- So I get on stage and I'm still like, girl, just do it.
- I was so proud of Moe this night.
I know y'all saw episode five,
the infamous runway episode with SZA.
And what you didn't see is the hours behind schedule
that we were running behind because we had so many snafus
between getting everybody's hair and makeup right,
making sure they liked their wardrobe.
Like it was mayhem, but we got it done.
And I was especially proud of Moesha because she really
was not feeling.
She had like this like elaborate idea
for what she wanted her look to be.
And when it all came together, she wasn't really
feeling her suit.
And instead of just rocking with it,
she was like, no y'all I don't like this
and I'm not going outside until it's fixed.
And I really respected that because
you have to advocate for yourself.
You have to advocate for yourself.
Like I remember that night I was running backstage
trying to help all the girls, some girls, you know
rightfully so, I got it, they were nervous.
And they didn't want to say like, hey,
I don't really love this outfit.
So I had to go up and look everybody in the eyes like
Hey sis, do you like your outfit?
If no, like, you know, we will make time to fix it
but Moesha, I didn't even have to prod her.
She was already doing that for herself.
And it just like really made me proud because she is very
into style and she has a very specific aesthetic
and she did not want to compromise that.
- [Woman] Come on little Kiki.
- Kiara is showing me good energy.
- Every time you see my girl Kiki, she is hitting it.
Ain't nobody stepping on her.
I firmly believe that she is the show's best kept secret.
Everybody in the industry needs to go ahead
and book her cause she good for it.
(hip hop music)
- [Makiah] Damn, okay.
- Y'all may or may not know this
but my girl Kiki is an Aries.
And you know, Aries a lot of times
can be misunderstood because they are direct
and are excellent communicators in my mind
they know exactly what it is they wanna say.
And so Kiki, I feel like did a wonderful job
of constantly mediating in the house
and just saying things when they needed to be said
and not in a disrespectful way at all.
Just like very much so keeping the peace.
Very much so giving bestie energy and just helping
to keep the vibe where it needed to be.
- But I definitely see you at Bonnaroo.
So come get your all-access pass.
(Women cheering)
- I promise imma shine, I heard you, I heard you.
Heard you, heard you, heard you.
♪ Yeah she the one, one, one. ♪
- [Woman] Ooo I love this catwalk, give us energy, yeah!
- Isabel, AKA Isa-bea from the Bay.
Izzy is a performer, okay.
When I tell you Izzy will turn it on.
She knows when to turn it on
and she knows how to turn it on.
(catwalk music)
- Cute, innocent, girl-next-door vibe.
When she first walks in, compared with this K-pop ass slap?
Come on, it's the growth for me.
It's the duality, actually, it's the duality
Cause baby girl can do both.
- Thoughts, emotional thoughts.
It's a dream to be here and to be able to
do stuff like this.
But I also have other dreams in Korea.
- And that's real.
The thing is don't nobody do one thing anymore.
Ain't nobody about to just be in a job for 55 years.
So she's thinking ahead, like yes, I'm a dancer.
This dance stuff is cute, but baby girl also gotta
pay the bills when we not getting booked for tours
and things, so I understand that on a practical level
I understand, but also get your life, sis.
- Dip it in, dip the toes in.
- This woman not only moves me
and she just keep on getting better
and better and better with her dance.
Sydney, come and get your award, hoe.
- Sydney, oh my gosh.
From the moment I saw her audition video
I was under the impression that she was gonna
come in and be the leader of the house.
And then as we saw episode one, she got injured.
She done hurt her ankle.
We were all just like, what is going on?
Like she's supposed to be one of the stars of the show,
like what's happening.
But she made good on that.
She ended up being one of the stars of the show
and really just pushed through.
I will say, I think that was also a part of her struggle,
a little bit, you know like focusing.
She was trying so hard to be perfect.
Now and I tell her all the time, Sydney girl,
you are perfect, you don't even gotta try.
- Jasmine.
- Hi!
- When you walked on that stage, I saw your eyes.
You looked right through me.
- Yo Jasmine is committed, okay.
Like she came in like, this is one of, this is a chance
that I am taking on myself.
I remember our first day on set when we held the auditions.
Jasmine had everybody in tears, like just talking
about her story and talking about her commitment to dance
and to just getting to this point, like she came
in the gate hot in the best way possible.
And just like just came in and, and proved herself.
Yes, those eyes, I don't see, you can see it in her eyes.
She just looks at you like
I want this and I'm gonna get this.
- If you grab my attention,
you're doing what needs to be done.
And I commend you for that.
- I'm extremely proud of myself.
This is a beautiful moment.
Like at the end of the day
we are all here for the same reason.
We wanna dance for Lizzo and we love to dance.
♪ I go deep, so deep, till' you sleep. ♪
Count sheep, wake yah up from (bleep) all week.
- Yes, Jasmine, that's what I'm saying.
She, she will serve you face.
She will serve you finger waves.
Like she is original.
(Runway music)
- [Woman] Wow.
- When we were doing casting interviews,
Asia was one of the few - the only person
I think I cried with because her vulnerability
and just sharing her story
and just talking about what she has had to
pull out of herself to be present for this moment.
I'm just like, I'm a stan, I'm a full stan.
- Asia wait, okay, no seriously.
You're so (beep) bomb, bad, and cute.
- [Asia] Thank you.
- And I love this like, this glass, this eyeglass
it's just very, it's sophisticated,
but it's also just like a little hoe.
- When SZA said Asia was a little hoe that sent me
it was so on the nose.
We did not know how this look was gonna turn out.
Asia was determined to have her pixie cut
and determined to dye it blonde.
We were like, okay girl, like it's gonna be giving
auntie vibes.
She was like, that's exactly what I'm going for.
And she completely owned it.
And when she was crawling backstage girl
what are you doing?
- Well, I'm about to crawl during your (bleep) moment.
- But I also I understand it.
Wasn't a lot of room back there.
I could see how she thought we couldn't see her
but girl it's cameras everywhere.
- Crawl down and hand me my Bonnaroo pass.
I feel like I have arrived.
- Well, she took it like a G you know what I'm saying?
It was an embarrassing moment.
And she took it like a G and that's Asia for you.
She's a G.
To the big girls, I am forever
proud of every single one of you.
I hope that as you watch this show
and run it back that you are just
in awe of yourself and affirmed
in your own power and beauty, both inside and out.
Y'all deserve every single opportunity that is
coming to you.
I hope to see y'all on every single tour I go to.
Every single music festival I'm at.
I wanna see at least five of y'all on stage period.
And that is all folks.
Thank you for tuning in to me, loving on the big girls.
It's something I love to do anyway.
So welcome to my world.
If you have not checked out the show already
make sure you go stream that on Amazon Prime Video.
Lizzo's Watch out for the Big Grrrls.
(dramatic music)