Extended vision relating to the dual projects

 THE IDEA BEHIND DUAL PROJECTS 

THIS ARTICLES GOES DEEPER INTO THE IDEA OF MY VISION AND PATHWAY TO SUCCESS   
 
 THIS IS A DEEPER DIVE INTO A VISION... 

 When you do projects with indie artists, its usually a 'film and goodbye situation'. There is no building on the project or the characters themselves. All of my life, I wanted to be a person who created stars. When I was a kid, while everyone was listening to pop, rnb, rap and rock, I was reading Hollywood Biographies. One of my favorite subjects was that of Motown. Berry Gordy had a musical dream. He received a loan from his family for 800 dollars. From that amount, he created Motown. From Motown he created the biggest legacy of superstars the world has ever witnessed. Smokey, Michael Jackson, The Supremes, Diana Ross, Gladys Knight, Stevie Wonder, The Four Tops and the Tempts just to name a few. All Superstars. What is equally impressive is the fact that creating these superstars didn't just change their life for the better because the chain reaction was massive.  Its a dream that became a gift that keeps giving. Many people today are successful in life due to that 800 dollar dream even if Berry wasn't directly connected to their success. For example Berry had nothing to do with Janet Jackson's iconic success on paper. However had it not been for Berry discovering her brothers The Jackson Five, Janet may have never gotten an opportunity to shine. Tracee Ross from Blackish may have never had a chance to star in multiple hit tv shows had it not been for her mom Diana Ross's journey. Diana was discovered by Berry. Sheryl lee Ralph received her big start playing on Broadway due to her being cast in a story loosely based on Motown and the Supremes (Dreamgirls). Thousands of Musicians and Broadway stars are working due to the music from Motown and the gigs created from the platform. Lots of current artists of this generation have become successful due to being influenced by the works and stars of Motown. Berry's dream is endless. He has come to earth and not only made millions of fans a soundtrack to life , but he has been the reason of success for thousands and thousands of talent. While I soaked up all that study of him as a kid.... I said to myself: I WANNA BE LIKE THAT! 

 It wasn't about me being front and center..it was always about my existence in this world changing lives! Berry has to be super proud that he changed the lives of thousands upon thousands of people.

 In my first speech from stage nearly 30 years ago (I was a little kid when I started) I told the audience I was there for the actor. My goal was to illuminate opportunity for talent who may not have had a chance to be seen. There was no internet then and creating stars didn't have the gigantic push of social media. By 2025, I have auditioned over 200 thousand actors and cast thousands in my career. A few of those actors have gone on to star in Television shows, ICONIC movies in legendary roles and also nominated for OSCARS.   
 As a young one, I had a head full of stories that I wanted to put into action. I went out and found the biggest theater I could find in LA to not just put up a show, but a spectacle. The idea of a black box theater did not intrigue me. I wanted something where I could do a bigger type of extravaganza with a huge red curtain, extensive lights and bombastic sounds. I never wanted to be a playwright and still do not consider myself one. This was about a kid who told stories everyday of his life and wanted them out in the world through every type of outlet possible. From elementary through high school, I would write these serialized stories and include all of the students, teachers, faculty and bus drivers in them. There would be a cliff hanger after each episode that usually put a teacher or student's life hanging in the balance. The school ate it up. The deans, principals and security guards would anxiously wait for my next written episode every Friday. I couldn't get away with this today. Those stories I told would put me in a mental evaluation facility if I were a student in this era. Can you imagine kids today writing stories at school where kids were holding faculty hostage at gunpoint? Then gleefully passing those stories out to deans, principals and teachers? They would be thrown under the jail today.  I wrote those stories and the teachers and principals ate it up! It wasn't just about the craziness of the plots, but the deep dialogue I would write.  What a time to let my creativity fly unchecked.
 In the 90's, I found a theater that could facilitate my dream. It was going to be expensive, but the catch was I had the option to hire the entire theater crew. In doing so, I didn't have to beg, borrow or ask friends for help. Again it was expensive, but I could actually begin putting my stories out for the general public to consume.
 During my debut event, one of the first words that came from my mouth when addressing and welcoming the audience was that I was there to give opportunity to actors who may not have had a chance to be seen. I meant it. For the next 28 years I created a myriad of shows that brought in institutions such as Sony, BET, Warner Brother and Universal. Even MTV were among the many entities, talent agencies and smaller production companies that walked through my production audiences. Several actors were plucked from my very stage from these entities. 

I loved doing these shows. Standing in the light. Entertaining audiences. Hearing the emotions reverberating from the seats.  One of the greatest moments in my journey was after one show I went out into the audience and greeted many of the fans. At the head of the stage waiting to meet me were three ladies. A grandma, her daughter and a teenage grandchild. Three generation of women with the biggest smiles on their faces welcomed me into their field of gravity. They wanted to tell me how much they enjoyed the show. That is a memory I will never forget. To entertain people with different backgrounds and three generations to boot was incredible.  It was a moment I will cherish forever and I will always tell that story. I have encountered many eye opening special moments during my shows.

 
 When I first started the spectacles, there were only 3 networks. There was no streaming. Tik Tok did not exist and You Tube wasn't a possibility. I was selling tickets for $15-$25 dollars and filling up the 500 seat venue without a sweat.  Humans wanted to get out and see something unique and different and I was enjoying providing that experience. At the time, local cable was still a thing and you could advertise in the market of the city your show landed in. I remember hearing incredible comments on a regular basis from people that attended my shows. My favorite comments were the ones where people would profess that they had never seen 'anything like it'. Such a fun time.  However by 2017, the world had changed.  Social media had become a big influencer. Entities such as The Kardashians helped to usher in a new world of branding over talent. True, studied artists had become less the focus against how many followers one had. I have seen so many tik tokers reach fame and monetary success where true talented actors who mastered the craft of acting couldn't even buy a walk on role. More unique and boutique restaurants opened which allowed for more places to socialize. Clubs and malls expanded which meant people had more things to occupy their attention. It was also the era that killed local plays. Or at least put them on life support. 'Creators' who couldn't really write or tell stories were renting out local box theaters and putting up shows that truly had no direction. Audiences were paying 35-60 bucks for black box performances with storylines that weren't cohesive. A lot of times the plays were just talking, trying to maybe make a political or social statement.  This era of playwrights forgot that the stage was a place where people come for escapism. Not to be hit in the face by everyday politics or the negative things rotating in the news and amplified by social media. Audiences started associating local theater as a preach point instead of good old entertainment. POP creators like myself suffered as a result and audiences across the play field of LA starting waning. It eventually became a rare achievement to fill up venues in California. Even box theaters became a task to max out. Social media, multiple networks, dozens of cable channels, tik tok and eventually the pandemic boom of streaming from giants like AppleTV and Netflix aided in reducing audiences...it was also the cheapening of the local theater brand by people incapable of telling entertaining stories.   

 I have never made money doing my shows. It may be an odd confession for someone who has been doing these things since 1996...but it's a truth. I never did it for money. This was about a kid just  wanting to get his his writing out there. Still why would I have done something so deep and expensive for so long? One word answer... Passion.   I have entertained thousands and thousands of humans in my career...and that to me was incredible gratification.
 

Here is why I don't make money:
 The shows cost me about 20k each to produce if you factor in rental, promotion, theater rental prices, crew, rehearsal space, insurance, stationary, craft services and many more various expenses.  If I film a movie for the show, you add the exorbitant cost of that endeavor. I rented out an office in Hollywood to make it easier to interview actors. That's another several thousand. I usually record a promo at Stevie Wonder's popular and prestigious radio station in LA: Another few thousand to have the ad in rotation. I have done this for 29 years without ever asking for help or taking money from anyone. I have never borrowed a dime from a single human in my life time. In 2023, I did a show after we were on the other side of the Pandemic. I hadn't done a show in a while and when I arrived at the theater for the production meeting, I learned all of their beautiful backdrops and cycloramas (where I could manipulate the stage to look like a park, a beach, a living room, a bar etc) had been removed by a disgruntled, former stage manager. I feared I wasn't going to ever be able to put on a show again. I had a meeting with several theaters and learned of a Broadway-level projector where one could illuminate a backdrop behind the actors and change the scenery at the drop of a hat in explosive, professional faire. I invested in this item in order to keep the shows going.  This item with its professional lens cost me 25k. So in essence the show from fall of 2023 cost me over 50k to produce. The check I received for ticket sales totaled up to $1200 or somewhere in that vicinity. We even had a nice crowd to boot. The tickets were only 25 bucks.  When doing a show like this, there are a lot of comp tickets given out to industry. You do this because you want your talent to be seen. To be fair, the pro-projector can always be used in future shows of course and eventually make back its money.

 This particular night in 2023, an exec from Netlflix and Sony Pictures reached out me. We had a story in the show called 'The Murder of Gorgeous'.  They wanted me to submit a series BIBLE for that show. They were also really talking about the  'possibilities' of two of the actors.  This is why I do what I do. 

 In order to be smart about continuously doing these type of shows, I decided a while back to do the story lines as dual projects. That way I could combat such big losses of money. So when I put up a production at the big theater, the show consists of 5 to 8 vignettes (short stories) typically ten minutes long. These stories  usually give the audiences a taste of a bigger story. This is called the preview. Then I take the vignettes to their own theater in the middle of Hollywood. At this theater I really rev up the illumination of the actor. The promotion, the Hollywood invitations etc. Everything is geared toward the actors. The promotion surrounds the actors just as much as it pushes the glory of the plot. Just like late 90s cinema where the movie was promoted under the actor in a major way: Halle Berry in this, Tom Cruise in that, Schwaznegger starring in this, Will Smith leading in that.  It was a time that really turned actors into superstars or elevated then-current stars into Box Office juggernauts.  This has always been my vision.  
 In closing: Stage productions usually work when you have a show with name artists. Artists with popular or proven names will fill seats. Doing a big spectacle with unknown names is a risk unless maybe it's Broadway where the 'street' alone is the superstar. Even there, the world has witnessed times when no name risks have paid off such as in Wicked and Hamilton. Each of those productions have launched several actors into cinema success. But it is still a risk. One that takes a visionary to believe in the talent in front of them and invest creatively and financially. My goal was to illuminate on a unique level and I felt Box theaters didn't provide the bigger than life imagery that spectacle venues do. Spectacle venues attracts entities such as BET and Warner Brothers, both of which have sent reps to our shows and have handpicked talent over the course of 29 years.

The preview and play are considered one part of the project. Then there is the short film filmed on a set. The short film is a story based off of the play but with a short film script. This is why it is considered a dual project.

 I am still a young man with a vision...I only want to work with actors who believe and appreciate vision...
 I've been misunderstood and devalued. I have bumped into people who thought they were too good in their own shoes. However its the people who take to time to understand me. Those that understand the high benefit of vision..that will themselves  benefit in the end...