In this episode of Film Center News, we sit down with Producer Mae Stone and she gives us her perspective on the Katt Williams interview. As an added bonus, we get into the drama behind The Color Purple movie.

This is Film Center.

Your number one show for real entertainment industry news.

No fluff, all facts.

Now, here are your anchors, Derek Johnson II and Nicholas Killian.

Hello everyone, welcome to Film Center.

My name's Derek Johnson II.

I'm Nicholas Killian.

And today we are joined by Hey y'all, it's Mae Stone.

Hi Mae, how you doing today?

I'm good, how are y'all?

Doing pretty good, really good.

It's good to finally get you on, I've known you for a while now.

I know, right now I'm glad to be here, this is adorable.

Yeah how you been?

I've been great, honestly.

I have I've been tackling a couple of new things.

I'm already working on how I want to plan out the rest of my 2024 as far

as any other productions and just well independent production specifically a

couple collaborations I have coming up with some of my other producer friends,

so I'm really excited I got a lot to look forward to Fantastic and as you

guys know we do keep this show on the road so currently we are here at BJ's

restaurants in Burbank, California As you may remember it from previous episodes.

Oh yeah.

Why don't you tell us a little bit about your background before

we get into you being a producer.

How did you become the you that you are today?

Let's see how far back I want to get.

You're from France, right?

No, I'm actually from Dallas, Texas.

And I am a Cowboys fan, it's America's favorite team.

Oh, don't start with me.

Do not start with me.

I'm also a Mavs fan and shout out to the Rangers.

But so I went to the University of North Texas.

My major was They call it Converge Broadcast Media.

Before that, I was a pre RTVF.

What is Converge Broadcast?

It's the convergence of all medias.

Radio, television, film web.

It's the Thanos of media.

You know what I'm saying?

So basically, I do it all, is what I'm saying.

And before that, my pre major was radio, television, and film, but then I changed.

And then I had a cute little internship with CW33 in Dallas as a

social media intern, so that was fun.

Was it your first real dig into media?

Actually, yeah.

Actually, yeah, it was.

Outside of me working for the at the radio station at school, then I

finally got the internship in Dallas and that was, I'm really grateful

for that to be able to start in like top five, you know what I mean?

Just for an internship.

What was the process of you getting that internship?

So basically I just had to I think I was just looking around for different

internships at like I said, just the top media companies across Dallas.

I needed the internship in order to graduate, otherwise I

probably wouldn't have done one.

But I, looking back, it was very important that I did get an internship too.

How did you go about Knowing that you, how did you go about getting the internship?

Like, where?

Literally, I just googled it.

I just, I googled just different internships.

NBC, ABC, CW, CW33 just happened to have an internship coming up

and I was just right on time.

I applied for it, one of the reporters reached out to me, interviewed me

for it and then I just, I got it.

So I was working there for about three months.

For social media.

I did a little bit of everything.

I did do some logging, transcribing.

I went out on the field for reporting.

What did your parents think about this?

Have you, did they know from like earlier this is always, you

always wanted to be in media?

Yeah, definitely.

Growing up I was always acting, so I was always doing community

theater singing and stuff like that.

always performing.

But then I just wanted to give, give it a try just for,

reporting and producing as well.

And so that's been pretty lucrative for me.

So my parents were, they were just like, go for it, even after I graduated from

UNT, I was home for about seven months, and then I finally got a job as a TV

news reporter, but it was in Oklahoma.

I don't tell nobody, I used to live in Oklahoma, but I

was in Oklahoma for a year.

Shout out to the state of Oklahoma for helping out Ms.

Stone here.

. Yo.

How did you like it?

What was the, what was it like living in Oklahoma?

Living in Oklahoma?

Oh my God.

They have such a wide array of weather.

I saw like real snow for the first time and I hated it.

It was like almost up to my knees.

It was crazy.

But I love the people and the food was so good.

Like they had the same type of hospitality.

But, my only thing though is, I, hard news was just not for me.

And I, some people say, if it's not hard news, then what are you gonna do, fluff?

And it's just if that's not what you want to call it, fine, but, I don't mind

doing some investigative journalism, I prefer entertainment journalism,

or just, just stuff like this, just talking with people who are doing like

really cool things for the community and stuff like that is what I prefer.

But, the murders and the burglaries, I was like, I had enough.

You had enough of it.

It's depressing.

The Oklahoma murders.

Murders in Oklahoma?

Oh my God, yes.

Is that all you, was that what they always had you covering was murders?

No, it was a wide array of things.

So I might be covering a fundraising event on Monday, but then

Tuesday I'm covering a murder.

And did you ever get, now this is before YouTube was super popular and

we saw all the back BTS funny clips.

Or do you think there's one of you floating out there

on the internet right now?

YouTube was very popular.

So you might would see me, honestly.

All right, so everyone go to the internet right now.

No.

Search up Mason, Oklahoma.

No, you won't find me.

I have scrubbed the internet.

What How did you get the job in Oklahoma?

Literally, there was this one platform called like TV jobs

or something like that, tvjobs.

com.

So I just, shout out to them.

I guess so.

They give you like the exact email essentially of all of the like

directors and stuff to get hired.

Yeah, they do.

So that's pretty much it.

I literally just went and I applied for it and I was, I got the job.

I had about two interviews and then I got the gig so then I had to move

three hours away up to Oklahoma.

What did your parents say?

I hate to say it, and you had the experience in backing, you

were qualified for the job.

Yeah.

Man, that was so simple.

These people have all twists and turns before they get there.

I applied for about 200 reporter jobs, though.

Multimedia journalist producer, writing newscast.

No, that's why it took me seven months, because some people do

get hired right out of college.

But, unfortunately, I had to, it's the waiting game a little bit.

But my parents, they were cool about it.

My dad, he tried to train me.

He cracked a joke about it, too, because, Oklahoma got the tornadoes and stuff.

He was like, don't get swept up.

I'm like, whatever, dude.

So is that so then what brought you to Los Angeles?

I mean I've always been an actor and I've just loved performing theater is really

my first love and that's what really Helps me to build my confidence Just being in

front of the camera and being on stage.

So I'm in theater in high school.

Oh, absolutely I've always done theater.

I was in theater in high school.

I did community theater.

I was in theater.

Since I was a little kid, I was always like performing and

stuff like that and doing little musicals and stuff across Dallas.

So I was just like, I really want to give that a try.

And if you want to get into entertainment, you don't go back to Dallas.

You know what I'm saying?

So I went to Los Angeles.

Yeah, it was, were you a shy kid when you were little and that and theater is what

helped you bring you out of your shell?

I wasn't really shy like that.

But I'm an only child, so I definitely was pretty introverted,

but, it taught me speak from your diaphragm, just, stuff like that.

Being able to make a connection with the audience and stuff.

So it just really helps me to build those skills, if anything, to social skills.

Yeah, I build on top of that.

I loved it.

So then if you had this background where you go from Dallas.

Oklahoma, and you did, you were in Los Angeles, we're in Burbank now.

When was the day you were like, okay, I'm going, that's it, I'm leaving?

What was the time or day or what was the moment you were like, oh, I'm gonna go,

that's it, I'm done with the tornadoes.

I'm done with Oklahoma.

I like Tex Mex, but I gotta go, I gotta go.

Yeah.

I gotta go to the west side.

Los Angeles was always on my mind even before I moved to Oklahoma.

But I was like, you know what, this would just be my stepping, stepping stone.

And the stepping stone it was.

Honestly, it was just like, I took my little trip out here, you know how you

take the trip beforehand sometimes.

Turned in a couple resumes, figured out what area I want to live in.

Cause I didn't know nothing really about Los Angeles.

I visited here before, before vacation, but I wasn't driving.

I didn't know nothing.

I was 13.

So I just took that trip.

I went back to Oklahoma, pack myself up, and then I just packed

my car and I just drove out here.

Yeah.

When I was here last time, I was, yeah, when I was here before that

trip, it was just for a vacation.

I was 13.

So you was not reporting at 13 in Oklahoma.

Yes I was.

What was that, can you talk about what that trip was like when

you came here when you were 13?

Do you remember what happened?

I do remember actually, yeah.

I remember like even the car that we was driving and everything.

Like I went over to visit the Hollywood sign.

You drove all the way over.

No when we got here, when we got off the plane, we rented a car and I was

staying in Hollywood, but like I'm saying, I remember the rental car we

had and everything, but it was cool, I was staying on Hollywood Boulevard?

Not on Hollywood Boulevard, but it was some like little

boutique hotel or something.

The one on Sunset?

I don't even know.

It was like the W Hotel?

No, not the W, I don't even remember what it was.

I don't remember the hotel, but some little boutique hotel though.

How long did you stay in L.

A.?

For vacation?

Maybe five days.

What did you do?

Everything.

We did all the sightseeing and everything.

We did the beach.

We did the Hollywood sign.

We did the Hollywood Boulevard.

I mean everything.

Ate the food.

We did it all.

Was there any Oh, go ahead.

Was there anything you were surprised at whenever you got here to Los

Angeles that you weren't prepared for?

When you, not when you were 13, but like when you moved out here for serious When

I finally moved out here I don't know, some people are like, it's going to be a

culture shock, but I wasn't that shocked because I feel like UNT was already

so diverse and that really trained me to, texas is surprisingly diverse.

It really is.

It really is.

And I don't think people know that or understand it.

You really won't know until you come out there.

I think people just think it's like just Hicktown or whatever.

It's of course there's those areas, but it's, Texas is really quite diverse.

I feel like every state has those areas.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah.

That's crazy.

Did I answer your question?

Yeah, you did.

So then so you came out here, and what was your first job out here in Los Angeles?

Oh my goodness, my first job?

Okay, so I got with a temp agency.

When I first got out here, it was literally just ironically, I think

I was working at a marketing agency.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Really?

Yeah.

What kind of marketing agency?

Oh my goodness, I can't, but it was for a I think it was in the

marketing department for a non profit.

Which, non profits are crazy on their own, because, it's so much,

it's underfunded, it's low paid, but the CEOs are still making millions

of dollars, so that was wild to me.

That is insane.

They do make a lot of money.

Yeah, they really do.

But I enjoyed it.

You know what I mean?

That was pretty much it.

I just, from there, I was like a communications director.

I was I did something else in marketing.

But I was just the temp agency was just moving me all

around Los Angeles, basically.

So I know you from producing.

For those of you who are listening, she's helped produce some

things I've been involved with.

When it comes to your producing skills, when were you first able to

step into that role of producing?

I first stepped into it, honestly, when I was working just with my

internship and then even with the television station at UNT.

They gave me the chance to basically, I was, but it was

more like newscast producing.

So I would build the show, build the A block, B block, all of that, the breaks.

And so I was like, dude, I really love this.

Like I'm building a show out and people are enjoying it.

You know what I mean?

I'll do the segments and everything.

So I just, I really loved all of that.

But then when I moved out here, there was this other company that I was able

to work with which is called after buzz.

And so it's a company that's owned by Maria Menounos.

And and her partner.

And honestly, I was, man, I felt like the casting producer.

I would bring in other guests.

I would build out the show and everything.

It was just so freaking cool to me.

I was like, I really love this job.

So I've had my own little fair share of it.

Does this mean you're done acting?

No, I'm not done acting.

It just means I still want to do everything.

I'm still doing a lot of I'm going to be doing a couple more

productions with some of my friends.

That's what I have coming up here soon.

But I'm still definitely doing For producing or for acting?

For acting as well, yeah.

But I definitely, shoot, I'm still going on auditions.

I still have my, three agencies and everything too,

so I'm doing it all at once.

What happened to that producing job that you were just talking about?

So the producing job just closed, basically.

It, it ended.

And it was just contract anyway, so you're saying with me and DJ, right?

No, I'm talking about with Maria.

Oh, so I honestly, I worked there.

So I just told all of me and DJ's business.

Nah, yeah, nah, yeah.

She's not referring to like when we previously worked there.

You're talking about the first thing, right?

Yeah.

Okay, now, okay.

Yeah.

LOL.

See, this is what happens when you work in Hollywood.

You see so many people.

You do so many different projects.

You're like, okay, which project was that?

Huh.

Are you with the other project or this one?

Number 475 or number 675?

The one in 2020 or 2021?

Which one?

So honestly, I worked for them for three or four years, but

then I just got like another gig.

I just started working with it as separate network.

And that was pretty much it.

I appreciate it for what it did.

I would never would have been able to interview Lee Daniels

or Oprah or John Singleton.

Yeah.

You interviewed all those people.

Yeah, I did.

So I have some of your favorite ones that you interviewed.

My favorite interviews honestly, so we would do a recap of a show based, I think

what you do with maybe Southern Senpai, I think, but we would do a recap of this one

show that was called Star, and it got Lee Daniels, he's a mega producer, director.

here in Los Angeles, it caught his eye and his PR people reached out to

us and they invited us to his office up in Beverly Hills, basically.

And so I got to go into his office and interview him about Star,

his show at the time, anything else he had going on in life.

Really his upbringing and the fact that he recognized my face and knew like

he was able to speak to my personality like that was so freaking cool to me.

I did slide him my headshot as well.

Obviously nothing else came of it.

Yeah, but Lee Dan Hughes, holla at me.

Did he did you guys have a conversation before the interview?

No, we didn't.

We just literally went in there, shook his hand, and we sat down

and he just talked with us.

We didn't get the pre interview jazz.

We didn't do all of that.

Or post interview, huh?

Yeah.

But, we did speak to his PR people a little bit ahead of

time, but not with him yet.

Alright, Mae.

What?

Now it's time to go ahead and So Every time we bring someone on the show, we

usually then talk a little bit more about, what's going on in the industry right now.

And something that's really interesting that's going on in the industry is that,

I think it's, I think it's the most viewed interview within 48 hours on the internet.

Today is January 9th, and as of now, it has cleared the 20 million views.

Cat Williams.

Yeah.

Talking to Mr.

Shannon Sharpe.

Yeah.

Whew.

Nicholas, you wanna ask her the first question about this?

Because it is about our industry.

I loved it, honestly.

Just as an actor now I've done some standup comedy myself as well.

So I think sometimes people assume that everything is always all fun and game.

So just being able to see and hear from his perspective no,

these are issues I've had.

People stole my jokes, people took my writing, people took this gig

from me or I wasn't getting paid.

Adequately on this gig.

I think it's people are treating you inappropriately or unfairly

talk about the business aspect of those things as well You know what?

Cuz it's not all ish and giggles, so I appreciated that

perspective, but it was hilarious.

I literally sat down and watched the whole thing.

I don't even care I don't be fair with you.

I had to watch it like two or three times First of all, I don't

I haven't seen every episode Of The Shea Room, I believe it's called.

But Oh, Club Shea.

Club Shea.

Yes, child, Club Shea.

I haven't seen every episode.

Huh.

But it is almost three hours long.

I don't recall his other ones being even half of that length.

I didn't think they were.

They're usually maximum and I don't know.

Yeah.

Maximum.

Shannon Sharpe said that he was talking when he got in the room.

They were talking for 30 minutes before they even started recording.

They started drinking before they started recording.

He said, I didn't even get through all of my questions.

He said, I had so much more left in the vault.

He's I didn't even get to talk to him about everything

I wanted to talk to him about.

So that was so obvious.

Sat down and just started waiting for it.

Just rocket shifted.

I do as a producer myself, like Shannon said that, Oh, if you watch

the interview, Kat Williams rants for 30 minutes before Shannon can

really even start to ask him anything.

He does not step in and be like, how do you, so both of us have worked in

in pre podcasting and producing audio.

Yeah.

How would you, as a producer?

Would have handled oh actually as an interviewer.

Yeah, I would have handled that situation.

You have someone who's just ranting It's all good stuff though.

Yeah, but you gotta you know as an interviewer.

It's your job to control the situation It is and I think too.

That's the thing where Whenever you come out with a show, you can really just be

anybody and have a show, but I, that's where, and I hate to sound elitist,

but when you've had that training, you know when to cut in and stop the

interviewer bring it back on track, and so it did veer off a little bit, I'm

not gonna lie, but it, dang, it still made for a viral moment, so it's just

I can't really be too upset about it.

It didn't veer off to anything that was, Bad.

Rear it off in good ways every single time.

Sure.

The bad depends on who you ask.

Some people I'm sure they didn't like all the comments.

The whole interview was a viral moment.

Yeah exactly.

It's I'm not too mad about it, but personally, I would have had to stop it

at some point and be like, all right, dude, let's get right back into it.

And then there was some things that Kat Williams said, like I was reading 3, 000

books a year and I was just like, how do you, I'm like, Shannon, please ask him

about that and dive a little bit deeper.

You don't, okay.

So there's 365 days.

In a year.

3, 000?

That means you're reading like at least 10 books a day.

Now, this is prior to Audible.

Prior to audiobooks.

This man was it pamphlets?

I could read 3, 000 pamphlets.

000 pamphlets in a year.

I would read that.

And then, because there's another point where he, Cat Williams is I got

accepted into college at like age 6.

seven or something super early that actually I've heard several

rumors of that before the interview came out, but Dive into that.

You know what?

Like how do you get how do you find placement for that?

How do you do that?

You were young.

He's a young black man a young black boy from what from where he's from with

Cleveland I think he said yeah Ohio i'm like, come on now ask about that.

I really wanted to dive a lot deeper you would have dived deeper.

Oh my god.

Yes, Shannon was like, I'm not going to have a show after this.

He did say that.

I was like, how, what do you mean?

He's like, how am I going to have a show after this?

Because all of us younger people were like, oh, everybody's going

to be knocking on the door.

And then Cat Williams said the same.

He's everybody's going to want to come to your show now.

I'm like, exactly.

And now, something that's quite interesting that Nicholas brought up,

because as soon as it, as soon as it came out, me and Nicholas were alerted.

We watched the whole thing.

I've seen it several times just because there's so much to unpack.

I feel like I didn't, Get everything on the first watch.

All my friends that come over, I'll be like, we gotta watch

the Kat Williams interview.

So I just put it on display and I'll be like, listen to this, watch this.

The craziest part about the interview is not even the interview.

It's the people that responded to the interview.

And the craziest part was, and this is what I was telling him,

nobody is saying he's lying.

No, of course not.

They're all saying he's a hater, but they're not saying he's lying.

Yeah.

That's a crate and Cat Williams was I had the receipts.

Yeah.

Now, to be fair, Cat Williams is the a lot of people were trying to

oh, get back at him by saying, Oh don't make me call a seventh grader.

Maybe.

Yeah, when he got.

At the same time.

That sounds to me, like you're deflecting.

Yeah.

That doesn't mean that cat's wrong.

Yeah.

You hear about some of these things like, okay, it's gonna get a little blue,

because, I'm not gonna say exactly what he said, and we have to stay clean, but, he

said he wanted to get to a certain level with still being a virgin, in the sense.

And, I still feel like, That is because it was the whole Me Too

movement and things like that, but I feel like it's still very prevalent.

Do you want to speak to, have you had an experience like that where

people have offered you to do things that were inappropriate?

Hell yeah, I'm a woman.

Yeah, absolutely.

There was this one, and I don't mind, it was this one Man, I was actually

out doing my whole red carpet thing as an entertainment journalist, and

I had, sometimes when you're just out there on the red carpet, you'll

just talk with other journalists and other photogs and stuff.

You will exchange information with one another and connect

your network and everything.

So I definitely thought that he was going to be a network.

And he was a photog for E!

News.

And he was like so I was like, hey man, if you just want to link up let's go

for a coffee, you know what I'm saying?

Cause I was trying to get in also on the production side or just what, get

in where you fit in type of thing.

And he was like, I'm sorry, is this about work or is this a hookup?

And I was like, excuse me?

So he definitely thought that I was like trying to hook up with him and he was an

older guy, like old enough to be our dad.

Why is it always the old people?

It was so weird.

It's the one our age.

It's always the old people.

It was so weird.

And he could have easily scrolled up in the text message to know that

this was a business, connection.

But yeah, no that definitely happens.

But thank God for the gift of discernment.

You know what I mean?

Because not everybody is worth it.

You really have to learn, especially as a woman, when somebody's

just trying to waste your time.

Because sometimes people try to get you in the studio, they try to take you out for

a lunch date, Coffee, dinner, something.

It's so weird.

I've definitely had that issue too, where somebody talks to me as if

they wanted to do business with me, but it was really just a date.

And he's asking me a thousand questions about if I'm in a

relationship and how did I meet my man.

It's weird.

That happens.

100 percent does not happen.

I have not had that experience as much as you have.

Yeah.

But it has happened to me once or twice.

Ooh, was it a cougar?

Yeah.

Yeah.

Being an African American male.

Yeah.

There is some.

Older caucasian females.

Yeah, that believe that their status allows them to do similar things.

Yeah, and you're so moisturized, too Yeah, he's moisturized He's got that shea butter

on yo face Yeah exactly Here's another thing that Cat brings up when he talks

about, so you're a producer And that means that you know when it comes to projects

you got to know everything Who, you're there to be, it's way easier to produce

when you're there at the beginning, right?

So where you know the casting, the writers, directing,

stuff like that, right?

And as a producer, you're also a bit of a wrangler, right?

Getting all the people together.

For sure.

Something that Kat talks about is, prior to someone even meeting you

as a producer, is the gatekeeper.

As someone who does a lot of different producing, how would you advise people to

navigate around possibly some gatekeeping?

Because there is a lot, there is 100 percent still huge gatekeeping

happening here in Hollywood.

Absolutely.

And you've had some amazing opportunities.

Yeah.

How would you give someone who's like maybe looking to do what

you do, how would you advise them to get around some gatekeeping?

It's kind of cliche, but if a door closes, find a window,

there's so many different avenues.

And that's why I love about being in Los Angeles is there's so many different

avenues that you can go through.

As far as gatekeeping, I have the technical experience.

I have about 10 years of experience.

Like I could easily be doing, A newscast or something like that for e news or

beyond with ESPN or something like that.

But it is difficult, like it is, it really is a fight out here and you

have to prove that you're not only talented, but you know how to do

the business side of things as well.

So I would just say just stick with it, really just keep grinding.

It is sounds so cliche, I'm so sorry, but it's just like Sometimes doors will close

and there are absolutely gatekeepers out there, but don't let that get you down.

You know what I mean?

Because it's difficult for me being a woman, being a black woman.

People are not always as interested in giving me an opportunity because they're

going to assume just off the top that I don't know what I'm talking about.

I don't know what I'm doing.

So I've definitely been in positions where I was the most

qualified, but I wasn't given a job.

For whatever reason.

That's not even really my main concern.

But, it definitely happens, but I just would say for anybody, my advice would

be just don't let that deter you at all.

Don't be discouraged.

Speaking of being a black woman, could you speak to the egos that

you've had to handle and how you went about handling them?

Yeah!

I'm a Southern girl, so I'm very upfront.

I prefer to handle things one on one with somebody, but it's a little

bit different here in Los Angeles.

You can't really pull somebody outside and be like, let's have a conversation

about this so that we can move forward.

It's a little different in the South.

It's really different.

So sometimes if God forbid, if I have to have, somebody neutral

in there or speak with HR, just depending on what the case is.

But other than that, like I just, I make it plain, one

thing that I've noticed that.

Some other women will do in the workspace that I do appreciate is when I would say

something and then maybe like a man would try to cut me off, another woman will

come in and she'll affirm what I said.

Back to what her point is to, to Maystone's point is she said we should

do this and I think this would work.

You know what I mean?

So I really appreciate that perspective as well, but, and I think even with

working with DJ, there were a few times where I had an idea, and it would work

really well and the DJ was like, am I, did you already say this before?

And I was like, yeah, I have said this before.

It was so many times.

I was like, you're just reiterating what I've already said.

But I appreciate when he would actually just affirm what I've already said.

Yeah.

It was quite, when me and when me and May were working together, it was ridiculous.

I.

I hand to guide.

May would say something that was a really great idea and obviously worked.

And the executive at the time would shoot it down in the same breath

like May would say it and then this executive would be like no.

And then I go well how about this?

Say the exact same thing.

Yeah.

And just cause I know that she'll accept it And then

executive will be like, Oh yeah!

Oh yeah!

And then I would literally say, Didn't you just literally say this?

Yes.

That would, that's crazy.

It's really annoying.

And it even got to the point where even the two graphic designers who were not

the producers of their graphic design, but they'd be like, no, to her point,

like that definitely makes sense.

We should absolutely try to explore that.

It's oh, okay.

It's ridiculous.

By the way, I should mention that this executive was female.

Yeah.

This executive was not a a male, it was a female.

So nobody is really, exempt from that.

I think sometimes, black people can be hard on black people.

Women are harder on, on women.

A lot of black female executives.

Yeah.

Speaking of harsh, black female executives, I don't mean to cut you off.

We were just talking about that.

Let me cut you off.

But while we have you here, I honestly, I need to ask you a

little bit about Taraj Henson.

And the color purple.

Because remember she was on the She's been around making, she was

making the rounds crying on the news about like how she's not making

enough as a black female actress.

Yeah.

Then, you have Oprah, who comes in and is I'll provide you with a job that, The

Color Purple was already in production.

Yeah, for sure.

It was already happening.

Yeah.

When when she started doing all this.

Yeah.

But, Oprah is the one doing this to her.

Who is another black woman.

How does that make you feel?

I don't know if I could even fully blame Oprah, because Oprah is

not the full production either.

So it's there's many in order for Taraji P.

Henson to not be paid fairly, there's many steps.

There's a lot of steps, that's true.

But she, for some reason, specifically blames Oprah.

And it's not like it would be different if she was some sort

of faceless, nameless person.

It's Oprah's production company.

It's Oprah who's the executive producer.

You know what I'm saying?

And it's there's a whole bunch of steps between her and Oprah.

And I'm pretty sure that's how she got away with it.

But isn't it still, it's still odd.

It's like the situation that you and I had when we had a black female executive.

And yet it took, and yet I am male for some reason had to repeat

things that you were saying.

Yeah.

So from what I saw, just, she seemed as if Oprah was a lot more supportive than some

of the other, executives who were also part of the making of the color purple.

But you I said, I think.

If we, my issue is, if we talk about Oprah, then we have to

talk about many other executives.

But I think Oprah is the most hyper visible person there.

So it's easy to be like, Oprah, you did this wrong.

Oprah, you did that wrong.

That's true.

But, if Oprah is one of the executive producers, I would absolutely, I

would also expect Oprah to be on top of that, to ensure that especially

your black female talent is being paid fairly, being paid correctly.

And they're literal color purple.

Yeah.

You know what I mean?

And, I think too, some people, Don't care because we're talking about

hundreds of thousands of dollars or like a million dollars to get signed on

and the everyday person Ain't getting that we ain't signing jobs for that.

So they're like, oh my god It's just a wealthy looking out for the wealthy

But when you look at the grand scheme of the full production, they did have

the money for that You know what?

So that's just where my mind goes as well.

And I'm always gonna feel like listen if you're the male lead is getting paid

more than you and you're doing the same amount of work like that is unfair,

or if you're having to drive after working 14 to 16 hours, that's extremely

unsafe on a production standpoint.

Especially if you're sleepy, right?

Driving sleepy is worse than driving drunk.

Yeah, you get eepy.

I think what a lot of people don't realize A lot of times in the

entertainment industry, regardless of the race or the gender of the

person, I think a lot of people don't realize, especially in Taraja P.

Henson's case, is, say you get signed on, and you make, I don't

know, five million dollars.

Yeah.

What a lot of people don't realize or understand is, Taraji P.

Henson doesn't get that five million dollars.

Yeah.

She has to divide that up amongst many people.

A whole team of people.

That helped her get that job.

Exactly.

And so you might end up with five hundred thousand dollars

or six hundred thousand dollars.

And you got to make that stretch until your next job.

Which you don't know when that is.

Nobody knows.

Exactly.

I'm not saying it's not possible, but Still, you don't know when that, when

you're going to get another gig, and then you have, especially if you have

kids, you got your mortgage, you got your car payment mortgages out of here.

They're not small and you got to stay, a lot of people, they feel like

they have to stay here in Los Angeles cause that's where the work is.

So it's really difficult.

It's I can't be locked up for a year and only get paid this much.

I'm not, I understand what I'm talking about.

Seems like a lot of money to you guys.

Yeah, but in the grand scheme of things It's not money at all because when

your mortgage is really like 20 30, 000 that 500k evaporates really fast.

Yeah, and if you have kids that are going back to school, you have you know

You're paying not only for that Then you paying for your regular utilities

everything else then also you now need to go audition for how who knows

how long to go find some other gig.

And let's say you do get the gig.

They might not start production for another year.

Yeah, exactly.

The way that you have to make the money stretch is really crazy to be honest.

And then if you don't make enough money in a certain year, you

lose your insurance with SAG.

So it's like a lot of.

It's like a rolling, effect.

It's really hard for people.

Maystone, I appreciate you coming on.

I really enjoy it.

Where can people find you at?

Oh, thank you.

So you can find me on Twitter, TikTok, Instagram, at Maystone.

That's M A E, stone with two T's.

Yeah, just holla at me, man.

And I'll definitely be having some upcoming projects here pretty

soon and some streamers going on.

So I definitely look to hear from you all.

Alright, everyone, this has been film Center News.

My name's Derek Johnson ii.

I'm Nicholas Killian.

And we're here with May Stone and we'll see you next time.

See you.

This has been Film Center on Comic-Con Radio.

Check out our previous episodes@filmcenternews.com.

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Until next time, this has been Film Center.

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