Antoine Allen, Filmmaker and Co-Host of Unscripted Conversations Podcast: ...And I think that's very important I think the people previous us they paid
the way but didn't give back there's a lot of famous actors and producers out
there you like who do you who do you help that's why I love people like the
Kevin Hart's the top areas that worldpackers the 50 cent that's helping
and talent we have a lot of great times out there that paved the way for us
broke the door but then put on one up and I think this generation arm is doing
it we hope in one way another know we started this pocket series they give a
voice the show you are that you have to put your money where your mouth is
you you have to help your neighbor you have to help your peers this should be
like a duty there's no reason to get in this business or any type of industry
and make all this money have what success in your not giving back oh we
Lester Greene, Actor/Co-Host of Unscripted Conversations Podcast: Don't even have everything we're giving back yeah yeah there's no excuse yeah no
it's no excuse yeah on top of the food chain you should be able to get back
what's the worst thing that you wasn't a median and they said about you or maybe
they say that I don't think you to swallow or pigeon one man was that worth
telling em it like what I think maybe last year when I was pitching this very
concept to an investor and he said that he thought it was a good idea but he
wanted me to come back with a partner and and yes that was yes and so I felt
like well first of all I don't need a partner right that's number one and the
fact that he alluded to the fact that I needed a male partner to make this
happen I found extremely offensive but needless to say he came for the VIP tour
yeah yeah and he apologized if I misunderstood right if I misunderstood
cuz that's always what it boils down to right but it wasn't a misunderstanding
wasn't and I walked away from there thinking I'm gonna have to do this alone
Wow and I did and that's another about this business you got to be your own
best friend you know you have a big vision don't get mad at people's not
gonna see your vision it's your vision don't get mad but like you said when
it's up and going they can buy a ticket to your premiere right and because what
happens is artists a soul sister we seek that validation right you have to be
your own light Lester what is your moment my moment there yeah well let's
talk about it let's talk about it this is unscripted conversations I
didn't plan on talking about this so I recently produced a film call I got a
call back with my guy Chris great project you would think everything was
great on set and wasn't the best experience of my life and I'll just say
this we put out the project has been winning awards it's been getting
nominated great it's a great project but some of the other cast members didn't
share the same energy but I didn't let that's not after was made before during
after they didn't share that same energy and I almost felt like they didn't
appreciate what I did for them and now that it's winning more awards they're
starting to come around what I find it the whole project
but initially somebody else is supposed to go in on it with me and it never
happened but I said you know what I want this project to take off so I'm not
gonna just walk away from it I'm just gonna adjust myself and make it happen
that's what I do like you would you you didn't give up you didn't walk out and
say oh well I guess I can't do this I got it from from someone who has been
producing projects right for years you can't do it for them you have to do it
for you right
so what I've learned is that when I go in and I produce a project I have to go
in knowing that I'm doing this for me because I want this story told because I
want the outcome to be XYZ because there's always gonna be that one
ungrateful difficult complicated person yeah and your money is on the line and
when you're a producer that's really difficult yeah because you're footing
the bill and the attitude at the same time yeah and then you're too far in so
now you can't get out and now it's all about the deliverables how do I get the
deliverable so that I could you know get my money back but you have to do it for
you yeah and I think for me when I first started in his industry
I had his guy tell me um you're black but that she was Spike Lee or another
black filmmaker you're not gonna make it and we said it this was early 2000s I
was like it was kind of hard not to believe what he said when you turn on a
cable channel and I were 20 channels it's made me five make up of African
American Latino or age of content so I had a role out how to reprogram myself
and realized that when you in any type of industry that's dominated it's a
market for everything you really gotta listen to yourself yeah
if I listen to that guy I will be like oh I can't do it because of my
complexion we're not born when we were born we
don't get the chance or the control of how we start but we do have control how
we end another what the actuary's guy yeah and I think that very point because
we don't have control yeah you know yeah you know we we we brought up in a crazy
world right but we still had that control how are we gonna end this
chapter I think all of us here and everybody watching we're all making a
book the first chapter might be horrible the second track might be really great
you write in your own book and you decide to whisk on video that chapter um
another thing I want to talk about goes up
do you ever deal with audits come to you or you ever deal with mental health
because I think a lot of artists this is a rejection industry through depression
yeah this is a rejection industry and I think a lot of artists yeah a lot of
times here let me get to next stuff because of that yes yes the a lot yeah
how you ever dealt with it or knew someone that I know a lot of artists
right now better actually not a lot but I know two that are living in shelters
yeah Wow right and that that's got to be hard on a lot of levels right it's one
thing when you don't have money right it's another thing when you don't have
money because of a choice that you made and when they choose to follow their
dream and this is why monetizing is so important you choose to follow this
dream and you put everything on the line for that dream and then you lose you
lose your house your car your family right because it's hard for men who have
to be providers to be pursuing this dream when they're expected to provide
right and for women to be pursuing this dream and we're supposed to be home
taking care of kids so and then and that's still the stereotype today even
today in 2018 I think that we do need to address that because rejection is hard
you know I told the story about my daughter who started auditioning when
she was like three and when she was like six or seven and she would go and she
really understood what was happening she would say mommy did they call yet that
they call yet and I started to tell her the production company went out of
business the place burned down because I couldn't bring myself to say to her you
didn't get the part because I felt like it was it was already going to create
issues in her because the one time I did say you know you didn't get it they went
with the other girl but why mommy why what's wrong with me and when a kid says
to you at six what's wrong with me that's a that's the beginning of the end
right and so I had to learn to help her deal with that and cope with that and
and you know with counselors and actors and other people who could set examples
because the other thing is nobody talks about it yeah
that's another issue right if we all talked about what it's like to be
rejected what it's like to have nothing what it's like to not get what you think
you deserve if we could have a conversation in our communities about
these things I think it would be everybody would be much better sir
nobody wants to talk about not so mention hopes is very good point
especially nowadays you know we see a lot of actors we sell out our artists as
social media is like the inventing zone and Leicester I know you see a lot of
your peer actors online you know basically crying for help I see you to
tell me some things you'd be saying yeah well I'll tell you what most people do
and this is just from an actor's standpoint
oh I booked this job oh I'm going to California and shoot this movie oh I got
a callback oh this is net you never see actors pose oh I didn't get the job
oh they went with somebody else oh I was on hold for this commercial but they
decided to pick somebody else so what I do is every now and then I post
something about that I'll say listen I put the truth exactly I'll say I was on
hold for this show and I didn't get it like right now I'm on hold for two shows
high maintenance and bull right and if I don't get it I'm gonna pose and say
listen I was on hold for these two shows I was grateful for the opportunity to
even audition but I didn't get the roles cuz I want people to realize that it
doesn't always end happily you don't always get the job so basically so my
talent you don't fall into this force reality I think social media allowed you
create your own world it's nothing wrong with that but this do you have to think
about if Instagram Twitter Facebook shut down we had I started with nothing I
started before faith myspace well you really gotta go out there and really
touch your orders and a lot of my talent out there don't get confused with the
likes and views because what happens is those ain't real consumers when I do my
premieres and stuff I may have 100 like some I have 200 likes
it's all about who's gonna vote off that computer shut up and go to your shows
support you put your money where your mouth is and if you're all going with
depression seek help talk to a friend talk to a therapist because
what happens is we we we in this industry that you only get a hundred no
before you get your first yes yeah and that internally get damage to my mind
what we're doing is not normal it's like you know especially because
what happens is when you're doing this you're going forward you're going
forward and a lot of people go back because like I got a job got bills to
pay you know when my partner's ug no we tell
me you need a job in a dream this is not 1990 this is not the eighties I tell
everybody get a job I know pushing for the actors I know you're gonna spend a
lot of time in a casting room cut that out because you spend the 80% I'll let
someone to tell you is you gonna make it or not cut that's percentage up spend 80
percent yourself in 20 percent in the casserole because to be honest the truth
everybody have a certain look if you're Caucasian if you african-american if you
laugh tune in aging you look at the demographic look at the shows on TV you
know that wait a minute I have a low percentage so take some of your money
and produce your own short films stock your own film festival you know being at
student cinema cafe tonight and being in how data is amazing it's amazing this
person took her money where everybody say F yourself you're not good it's okay
me start my own and also well I want act you and to go around for people that's
watching this and they feel rejected they feel like they not gonna go nowhere
what kept you going what kept you going when things was like make this right
when I was writing checks with the kids college a baby I said to my kids you
better get scholarships because your college degree is like this wall is
hanging here the tuition yep your meals
yeah so what kept me going I think I didn't give myself an option like there
is no choice no choice is I have to do this and I don't know how but I knew
that I had to do it and and so I spent hours and I had this whiteboard in my
room and I would write on it I would get up in the middle of the night and I
would draw a wall and and the red and these red things you see here I would
draw them and the screen and all the chairs and I and I would be like
visualizing I love it and then it was about you know finding a space that met
my budget that I could bring this thing to life but so I would erase and then I
would go back and draw more things and then I would do numbers and how much am
I gonna charge the artist and how much am I gonna make and then when I started
doing that math I was like okay well I can't just through the theater because
then I can't offer the prices I want so half of my board was white what am I
gonna put over here there goes the cafe and so it was all just sort of a like a
vision board like they do and that's and it was just I worked on it until it just
there was no option that's all like you know it's kind of like when I um when I
was younger and I and I wanted to have children and you know that thing about
the clock ticking that thing is real yeah right and so that's all you can
think about because that's all that you want and so for me this thing was was
just it's what I wanted so there was no other way and that's great because I
think everybody can have their own vision board I just have a refuse to
lose mentality yeah anybody knows me I just really believe in myself and of
course I might doubt myself here and there or feel a little dejected but for
the most part I'm always moving forward I feel like you just have to keep going
it's so important to just keep going because things kind of work themselves
out as you move along but if you stop then you have nothing right there's
nothing left so you just got to keep moving got to keep the wheels rolling
and once you know how to get up that's the thing yeah right
sort of like when you're learning at a roller skate right and or ice skate and
you fall once you know how to get up you're not afraid to fall cuz you know
how to get up your point so and I think for me is I was in a shelter for a year
and being the shelter being homeless that's a bad feeling and then you have
two options you get a job you retire 67 you die all you can have a like that you
like wow this was adventure yeah guys this was a triptych conversations all
the stuff that we talked about yeah we didn't there was definitely no yeah yeah
there's no guys this is unscripted conversation and to an hour less degree
em on Stewart film courage we have
you