Club Shay Shay - Will Packer

Episode Date: January 9, 2023

Film producer Will Packer steps inside Club Shay Shay this week and joins Shannon to talk about his Hollywood history, producing some of the most recognizable and highest-grossing films we know and love. He also dives into last year's Oscars, where he produced the show that saw the infamous Will Smith slap occur. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoicesSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Wake up with football every morning and listen to my new podcast, NFL Daily with Greg Rosenthal. Five days a week, you'll get all the latest news and the best analysis delivered by the time you get your coffee. The show hits every single game every single week, but I can't do it alone. So I'm bringing in all the big guns from NFL media like Colleen Wolf. Subscribe today and you'll immediately be smarter and funnier than your friends. Listen now on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Can't get enough football? Look no further than the Good Morning Football podcast.

Join me, Jamie Erdahl, alongside Peter Schrager, Kyle Brandt, and Akbar Bajabiamila for a daily breakdown of the league's biggest stories. Hey, you want to know the secret ingredient that makes Patrick Mahomes unstoppable? Or maybe which reality show best describes the Jets season? Look no further. We've got recaps, retweets, and reactions to all the wild moments you might have missed both on and off the field.

Make sure to listen to the Good Morning Football podcast Monday through Friday on the iHeartRadio app or wherever you get your podcasts. Look at Tiffany. There are some allegations that were made that since been dropped. You feel comfortable you're going to be able to go to a studio say, look, we're going to do this movie. I need I need the original cast. I do. I do. Girlstrip 2. I can't make it without her. You know, it is. Yeah. Hello, welcome to another edition of Club Shea Shea.

I am your host, Shannon Sharp. I'm also the proprietor of Club Che Che. And the guy that's stopping by today is one of Hollywood blockbuster hitmakers. He's grossed over a billion dollars worldwide. Ten of his films have debuted at number one at the box office. Executive producer, entrepreneur, Hollywood record-breaking filmmaker, Will Packer. My guy. Will, how you doing?

I'm in the club. What you talking about? I need to talk to you about your security. Had to show my ID like twice. Yeah, yeah. I'm over there.. What you talking about? I need to talk to you about your security. Had to show my ID like twice. Yeah. I'm over there. I'm like, hey, man, but I know Shannon. They said everybody knows Shannon.

Yeah, but you can never be too cautious. I see. You're getting crazy out the dark out here now. Tough to get in here in club Shea Shea. We got similar roots. You live in A. I still have a home in A. Yeah. How's A been?

HBCU, grad. HBCU fam. Come on. Stop about it. Fam you. You already know. Absolutely. Absolutely. How's A been? HBCU, grad. HBCU fam? Come on, stop talking about it. Fam U. You already know. Absolutely. How's they treating you? I like it, man. You know, I shoot probably

half of my stuff in Atlanta and the other half literally around the world. So I shoot in Atlanta every chance I get. I was a part of the group that actually lobbied to get the tax credit there. A lot of people don't know, that's why so much production is happening in Atlanta. It's going crazy.

Georgia is number one. Yeah, we don't pass Cali. They don't pass Cali. For on-location filming, it passed Cali and New York. Wow. Meaning like if you're shooting out in the world. Now, LA still got the stages, right? So more people shooting stages in LA and New York.

But in terms of being out in the world, it's Georgia. So, you know, like myself and Tyler Perry and Turner, we all were part of a group to lobby to get the tax credit, and it has gone crazy. So I love it, man. What made you decide to come to LA? You originally, excuse me, go to Atlanta. You're a Florida guy, born in Florida.

What made you decide to say, you know what, I'm going to set up roots in Atlanta? Because I was graduating from FAMU, right? Me and my partner at the time, a guy named Rob Hardy, had made our first little movie. It was called Chocolate City. Okay. It was a movie about black college life. Okay.

And we said, okay, we got this little movie. Right. We had an audience that cared about it at our school. Hollywood didn't care. Right. Okay? People watching this don't think you're just going to make a movie and all of a sudden the chairman of Paramount and Universal are going to be calling you. It don't

work like that. You got to hustle your way into the game. So we had this movie and we said, you know what? We can move to New York. We can move to LA. We're going to be another fish in a big pond. Or we looked at Atlanta. The music industry was popping when we came in. This is back when you're talking about LaFace records and Rowdy records

and So So Def. Yeah. Organized noise. All that was really starting. The Atlanta scene was really starting to burst. And so we moved to Atlanta thinking, you know what? While we're trying to get our film hustle on, we'll shoot music video. Right. And we'll have like a symbiotic relationship with the music industry.

Right. We couldn't get one music video, bro. We couldn't get nobody hired. Because everybody knew each other. We were the new guys. Right. So we were kind of not in the clip. In the industry. Okay. We couldn't get one music video, bro. We couldn't get nobody hired because everybody knew each other. We were the new guys. Right. So we were kind of not in the clip, so to speak.

But you know what that did for us? It forced us to independently shoot our own stuff. Right. And so we moved to Atlanta and shot our first independent movie outside of college. It was called Twa. Right.

Starring Kenya Moore. It was an erotic thriller. And it did well, man. It popped for us. What made you decide, you know, and I tell people all the time, I think everybody that goes to a PWI,

predominantly white institution, should have to spend a quarter or semester at a historically black institution to get that, to see what homecoming is like, that experience, to see the step show, the sorority, you're in the park, and you're in the student center. And you're playing dominoes and you're playing spades or whatever the case may be.

And playing in the background of fraternities and sororities coming through the set, stepping. You got to feel that. It's different. Is that what you wanted when you shot the movie Chocolate City? Is that what you wanted to portray on film? You wanted to give people a sense of what it's like to be at a historically black institution? 100%.

Because we were there. I shot it while we were still students at FAMU. Okay. We wanted to get people to feel that culture. Okay. That same thing you're talking about. Because they really are. You know colleges are communities.

Yes. So imagine, especially if you're African American, the safest space, the most competitive space, and an area where you can really feel at home, challenged, loved, and pushed to be the best you you can be. Right. That's my experience on the HBCU campus. We wanted to showcase that.

And Chocolate City, to this day, is still the first historically black, first movie shot on an HBCU campus by its students. Right. Right? It also was a precursor for my first number one movie, which was Stomp the Yard. Oh, yeah.

I made Chocolate City, then went off and made some other movies, and I always wanted to go back and set another movie at HBCU. So my first kind of big mainstream hit was Stomp the Yard, which took me back to my HBCU roots. You majored in engineering, got a degree in engineering. How the hell do you go from engineering to shooting film? Yeah, it's different. Yeah, yeah. I asked myself that.

Engineering, like, I'm going to build a bridge. I'm going to build a building. I'm going to build a road. Nah, I'm going to get behind the camera and shoot. Bro, I did a lot of math and science, physics, thermodynamics, and I'm sitting on set right now like, where am I using this? What was the point with all those late hours? Exactly.

Here's the thing I'll tell you, though. It actually helped me to hone my analytical mind. Okay. And you kind of can't overstate how important that is, even in a creative industry. Right. I think that it gives me a leg up on my peers, the fact that I use my analytical skill set that I got from that engineering degree. Now, I ended up majoring in engineering because I got a scholarship. Coming out of high school, I was strong in math and

science. And there was a push to get more African-Americans in the STEM program, science, technology, engineering, mathematics. And so I got a scholarship to go there. I didn't want to go to FAMU. You wanted to go to an Ivy League. I was accepted into an Ivy. Shannon Sharp. I was like, listen, I got the grades. I got accepted. I'm not going to FAMU. Kids trying to go to FAMU was cheating off me in high school. I'm not going over here with y'all. What happened was we had a president who was

a visionary of FAMU at the time. His name was Dr. Frederick S. Humphreys. God bless him. He's passed on. But he said, I want the top black students in the country to come to this school. And you know how you do that? Money. He went out and he went to corporations and he got major scholarships, right? He came and sat in my living room at my house like I was a D1 athlete and recruited me to go to FAMU. He said, listen, I know you want to go to Penn. I know you got accepted to Yale. I know you want to go to

these other schools. But let me tell you what we do at FAMU. We're going to make you excellence. We're going to care about it. And you are going to do things that you could never do at those other schools because we're going to care about you as a person, not just a number, not just a student. I still didn't want to go. Now here's what happened. A funny thing happened on my way to the Ivy League. Okay.

Dr. Humphries came and dropped a bag of cash in that living room. I don't mean literally, but with his scholarship money. Scholarship, stipend, full room and board, everything. My parents said of cash in that living room. I don't mean literally, but with the scholarship money. Scholarship, stipend, full room and board, everything. My parents said, oh, that's nice. Hey, what they giving you over at that old Ivy League that you want to go to? How much they give you? I said, well, you know, they're not giving me nothing.

But they let me in. They said, guess what? Your little black self is going to go to college. Best decision that was ever made for me. And it really is about that cycle of excellence. You know, here you have somebody that said, listen, we can do as well as anybody else and we can get the top students in the

country. And I happened to be one of those students at the time, got recruited to go there and did it because we did have that financial incentive and I didn't have that elsewhere. My parents said, listen, you can go to an Ivy later and get your MBA if you want, but this is where you're going to start. It was the best thing that ever happened to me, man.

What is it about historically black institutions? It's like homecoming is a big, giant, giant cookout with like 5,000, 10,000 of your closest friends. But there's the sense that you mentioned, the sense of community. Yeah. Is that, you know, you're standing out, everybody is suited and booted. Because I don't know how, I mean, when I would go to my brother, he was at the University of South Carolina, and I'm seeing people in sweats and they like pajamas.

I'm like, where they do that at? Yeah. We suited and booted. Clean, baby. We got on Lee jeans. We got on Calvin Klein. We got on Azad. We got on Doc Sutter.

We to the nine. It's a fashion show. Yes. Come on, man. Stop playing. You know how we do. of week to the nine. It's a fashion show. Yes. Come on, man. Stop playing. You know how we do. We had to. Absolutely.

But it's like you said, everybody needs to experience that. Yes. I got a lot of friends went to PWI. I got friends that play ball and all of that. Yeah. And they all say, man, I wish I'd had just a little bit of that experience. Yeah. And here's the thing.

It stays with you in a different way. It does. That's taking nothing away from any other sport. No, no. But you know like I know. When you go to an HBCU, that is your family for life. Yes. For life.

What is it that you think that makes Atlanta so many black successful? Yeah. Gravitate there. You mentioned yourself. You mentioned Tyler Perry. Yep. Steve Harvey has a home there. Absolutely. So many of today's Hollywood and celebrities,

entertainers migrate to Atlanta. Yeah. Why? Success begets success. You see other people doing it there and you go, you know what, I can do it too. Right. I know that's what's happening in entertainment.

Right. You know, I know that I was there very early, Tyler was there very early. Now you have other people, you know, you name it, from Ryan Coogler with Black Panther to a lot of the big movies are shot there because people see what we've been able to do. There's a true community there.

There's an environment, not just in entertainment, but you look at politics, you look at business. It is a place where you do have a lot of high-achieving African Americans that are succeeding, and then they're bringing other people along to work with them and to help. And so it becomes a network and it becomes a positive cycle.

Cycles don't always have to be negative. You talk about cyclical things, it can be positive as well. I think we're seeing that in Atlanta. I'm looking at you, T.I. was in your movie Takers. Ludacris had a project Dancing Through the Snow. When you get ready to shoot a movie,

do you have an idea of who you'd like to star in the movie? Or do you, how far along is the movie before you start to say, okay, I think this guy would be perfect or I think she would be perfect? Yeah, that's a good question. I mean, you always know. You always have an idea who you want in the movie, right?

Ain't no guarantee you can get him. That's correct. Ain't no guarantee you can get him. It doesn't always work out like that, I was in the movie, right? Ain't no guarantee you can get them. Ain't no guarantee you can get them. It doesn't always work out like that. I was going to say, right? I made the movie Girls Trip. I knew for a fact, Regina Hall was the absolute first person we went to. Love Regina, one of my most frequent collaborators. I knew we wanted her.

Had a conversation with Latifah and Jada, and they said, man, we have not worked together in so long. We would love to work together. Now I got my three. Right. We were not thinking about Tiffany Haddish for that final role. Right.

So I went in, knew that I wanted actresses on a certain level. So I knew I wanted Regina. Had a great conversation with Latifah and Jada. That worked out. Now I got to finish out that final role. Right. And then we went out and we cast her. She came in and killed the audition.

Right. So it's like, you know, being a producer is like being a project manager. Right. You really have to know how to put all the pieces together. That's my job. Right. Because say, what does a producer do? Because people get confused. They think it's like a director.

You yell at action and cut. Right. I always use the analogy that if you look at the Oscars, the final award of the night is Best Picture. Right. Who gets Best Picture? That's the producer, right? That's after. Best director, best cinematography,

best sound, best editing, all of that. The producer was responsible for hiring all those other people, putting all the elements together, and ultimately the final product is what the producer's judged on. Now that we've started off with Girls Trip, we're going to get to that later. You're thinking about doing a sequel.

Yeah, man. Original cast or a different direction? I got to have a cast in there. I got to take them. Because people love those ladies. Yes. They love those characters. Yeah.

That was my first time seeing Tiffany Haddish. I had no idea who she was. Really? A lot of people did. And she stole the show. Actually, she stole the show. To be honest yeah all of them were great yeah love latifah yeah uh love jada uh regina hall she's one of my favorites

but tiffany haddish it was her mannerisms and and everything was just like she was a breakout i mean because she was everybody else that came in and auditioned for that role they were playing the character that's right on the page. But that's her. Tiffany became the character. She took what was on the page and took it to the next level. Every now and then you have an actor that's just made for a role. Kevin Hart. Kevin had been in the game

for years. He hadn't had that mainstream breakout success. We did our movie Think Like a Man. And he needed just that platform. And if you see Think Like a Man, he's kind of the maestro. He's in there, you know what I mean? All the guys are around him.

He's our narrator. It was the perfect platform for his talent, his skill set. Idris Elba, another one of my frequent collaborators, his first movie after The Wire was a little movie I made called The Gospel. And it was a faith-based film. It just came in and played a Southern preacher. And it was just the platform at that time

that helped introduce them to new audiences that didn't know them, right? Right. So that's what it's about. As a producer, you're just trying to put the pieces together. It's like a puzzle, man. And everything got to fit. If it doesn't, the movie doesn't work.

You look at Regina, excuse me, not Regina, but you look at Tiffany, there are some allegations that were made that since been dropped. You see the situation that happened with Jada and Will at the Oscars. We'll touch on that a little later. And Tiffany says, everything that I had is dried up. You feel comfortable that you're going to be able

to go to a studio and say, look, we're going to do this movie. I need the original cast. I do. I do. I certainly hope so. I think that, you know, we are in a time period where there's not a lot of nuance. It's just black and white, and the reality is that we live in a gray world. And I think that, you know, she's very talented,

obviously very remorseful, and has come out and apologized. And so I certainly hope so. And I certainly would advocate for her. You know, Girl Strip 2, I can't make it without her. You know? Come on. Because I don't know who you can cast in that role. It would feel very obvious that you didn't have her. Right.

So we'll see how these things go. But, you know, it is... I always tell people that it becomes a tricky conversation when you align the art with the artist so much and you don't have a separation between art and artist. And that doesn't mean that you justify bad behavior. It just means that sometimes, I'm even talking about Tiffin, I'm talking about in general,

you have to look at the art and you have to judge the art and then you can also judge the artist and sometimes one doesn't work you know what i mean you can't enjoy the art art because you don't like the artist that's fine right but you do have to have a separate conversation between art and art so when you talk about the art girls trip too i would definitely want those four labels what where are you on cancel culture it seems that we're now that if somebody makes a mistake it's unforgiving no matter no matter how? It seems that we're now that if somebody makes a mistake, it's unforgiving. No matter how small it is, now we're done with you. You can't do this anymore.

And like I said, we're going to talk about the incident later. But I'm still going to buy it. If Will Smith does a movie, I'm going to go see it. Yeah. If somebody does something, I'm going to go see it. I'm not going to let that happen. Yeah. Yeah.

It's, like I said, nuanced, bro. You know, listen, you in the public Yeah. Yeah. You have, it's like I said, nuance, bro. Um, you know, listen, you in the public eye. Yes. You are in media. You are every day.

Yes. Right. Yeah. Microphone in your face. Yes. And you got a whole bunch of people waiting for you to say just one little thing. Yeah. Please.

They wait. You got the Shannon sharp haters. Yes. That's like, please say something. Yeah. Jump on. Right.

That's the world that we live in now. Unfortunately, I love what social media can be at its best. Right. That's like, please say something we can jump on, right? That's the world that we live in now, unfortunately. I love what social media can be at its best, right? It's the democratization of power to the people. Right. Everybody has a voice. Your voice can be heard. You don't have to be a Shannon Sharp.

You don't have to be a Will Packer. Right. The other side of that is that you have a lot of people that weaponize it, man. Yes. You have a lot of people, and there's no room for a conversation other than you did wrong you have to be canceled you're out of here we don't deal with you we're going to do everything we can to stop you from here on out right well there's no room for growth or redemption when you do that okay there's no room for a conversation for people to learn also right

my opinion i think think intentionality matters. What was your intention? What is your intention? Doesn't make it right. You can still do wrong while intending positive, but we have to take that into account in my opinion.

So I think that it's a pendulum that swings. You talk about cancel culture. There's been a lot of things that, you know, you look at African Americans and media, a lot of opportunities

that we haven't had that we should have had. Right. However, I think that you do have a pendulum that has swung so far that you do have a group of people that say, once there's anything that we can take issue with, that's it. That it's over for that person. And very frequently, I don't agree. Now, I work in this industry. I know a lot of these imperfect people just like you do.

And a lot of times their intent is strong, in don't agree. Now, I work in this industry. I know a lot of these imperfect people just like you do. Right. And a lot of times their intent is strong. Right. In the right place. It's a process. It really is. That pendulum is swung one way, it'll swing back the other way. We just got to figure out we can all do better and be more progressive as a society.

But it doesn't always mean that we throw out every person that makes a mistake. Right. I'm looking at comedians because I think it's getting harder and harder for them to do their job. Now, we know there are certain things that, like, Eddie Murphy, I don't know if Eddie could have. In today's time, the jokes that he told on Delirious and Raw,

Bernie Mac, Robert Harris, yeah, that is a different time. How do they walk this fine line? Because what they do, they take actual, true things that have happened, and they make them funny. Yeah. I watched Dave Chappelle's monologue on Saturday Night Live.

It was the greatest monologue. Yeah. The way he wove and talked. Hey, he's like, there are landmines. I mean, it's full of landmines. Yes, yes. And he's stepping over every landmine. Yes, so deft. Just stepping, absolutely. Didn't get him one time. Not one time.

It matters how you say it. Because he said some of the same types of things that others have said, but the way that he said it, he is an expert storyteller. Yes. And that's the answer to your question. Comedians, right? And I've had this conversation with Kevin Hart.

I've had this conversation with Rob. It matters how you deliver it and how you say it. You can say a lot of stuff, right? But the way that you say it matters. Even if you look at the other side, somebody like a Donald Trump, right? I don't care where your politics are. He's not a comedian. He has said some things that 90% of the people could not say.

Right. But the way he says it in a charismatic way, which speaks to a certain segment of the population, allows him to get away with it. That is the reality. Right. So when people say, well, you just can't be a comedian these days, I disagree. I think you have to work very hard to... It's getting harder, though.

You have to be careful. You have to be really good. But what does that mean, Shannon? Does that mean that the bar is higher? Like only like because the best, you know, you've got to get better. The cream will rise to the top. Yes. You know, like Chappelle hadn't gotten in a bunch of trouble. Oh, a certain, you know, group of people. He has. But I also think it's the way that you say and there's a deafness and D D-E-F-T, to the way that he handles

controversial subjects and situations, and he's a master storyteller. Is it because it's sometimes that you can make something funny and it takes the edge off of it. For sure. Because people are laughing. People are like, when he kind of says some of the same things that got the other

guys in trouble, you do realize that he's saying this, right? But the way he said it, it didn't feel like he was talking down to someone. And the thing is, he pulled out a note. Yeah. And he apologized. He apologized. Off the rip. He said, Kanye, that's how you buy some time.

That's all you had to do. Buy some time. You mentioned your politics. You're a very political person. Obviously, you care. We should. We're citizens. And people think, I think sometimes people think, if you're famous, you're a very political person. Obviously, you care. We should. We're citizens. And people think, I think sometimes people think

if you're famous, you're an athlete, that you're unaffected. You're unimpacted by what's transpired. I care. I care about the economy. I care about inflation.

I care about, you know, the hunger and things, the homelessness. I care about those things. Yes. Yes. Having money doesn't exempt you from world problems.

At all. Maybe give you a better avenue to be able to deal with those, but money doesn't exempt you from world problems. At all. Maybe give you a better avenue to be able to deal with those, but it doesn't exempt you. Right. You're a big Stacey Abrams proponent. Are you surprised? I mean, the last time she ran, she lost by 80,000 votes. This time it wasn't even close. Are you surprised that it was such a blowout this time around?

I wasn't because I think it just speaks to where Georgia is right now. Yeah. I think that there was first of all, Stacey's incredible. Yes. She ran an incredible campaign the first time. And a lot of people thought because in 2020 and then 2021, when we had the Senate runoffs, we got two Democratic senators, a black man and a Jewish man. Correct. In the state of Georgia. Yes. But what people don't really understand is that it was a very

unique confluence of events that allowed that to happen. Okay? You were coming off 2020 where you had Georgia Republicans and Republicans nationwide that just said, I'm not going to vote for Trump. Right. Okay? You said you had people that literally voted all the way down the ticket and did not vote for him. They said, I'm just I'm tired.

And normally, for the most part, you vote down ballot from top to bottom. That is correct. You had a lot of people that did not vote there. Then in that runoff, you had him and a lot of other people saying, well, the election is rigged. Right. It's fraud everywhere. So you had a lot of Republicans that stayed. They did not come.

And Ossoff and Warnock benefited from that because those of us that work very hard to energize a Democratic base, we got our folks out. Right. This time around, there was a big push amongst Republicans. You see that every midterm. The party that's not in power usually comes out and comes strong. And so in Georgia, ultimately, you still do have a lot more Republican registered voters. And so their base is bigger than a Democratic base there. Stacey was

up against that. Now, it speaks to when you look at Senator Warnock, it speaks to the fact that he was up against a very flawed candidate because just about every other statewide race in Georgia, the Republicans won. Correct. But that one, they couldn't get it there. Right. That a lot of people that said, I can't do that. Right. I can't hold my nose and punch that Walker ticket. Right. So obviously we're going to have a runoff, I think it's December 6th. It is. Between Senator Warnock and Herschel Walker.

Yeah. And look, I don't have anything. I don't want to come out here and speak bad about Herschel. But I think what is, for me, my problem is, is that he's allowed them to make him a caricature of the worst stereotype that's been portrayed on us for hundreds of years. And it's embarrassing. The way he's taught, he has

like, he has, I mean, to hear him talk about certain things, I'm like, seriously? I'm like, people, seriously? Here's a challenge, and I'm saying this to you. Black man to black man. Successful black man to successful black man. High profile media black man to somebody that also works in media, right?

Here's the challenge, Shannon. It hurts us to see a black man in that position. Now, if Herschel Walker was doing almost anything else, selling cars or hosting a late night show, anything, right? I wouldn't have any issues. And I would have a problem with people, you know, making fun or demonizing or characterizing him in a negative way. But you're talking about running for one of the most powerful positions in the country. Yes. It has to matter.

Yes. And we know for a fact that you've got people on the other side that say we're going to prop up somebody that is unqualified. Qualified. We are very intentionally going to put somebody in a position who does not have the qualifications, right?

Qualifications have to matter when you're talking about the U.S. Senate, brother. Yeah, it should. That's what's painful. I hate the fact that we have a black man running for Senate who is so severely unqualified and is so very clear.

And he happens to be running against another black man, right? Happens to be a pastor and you have a lot of evangelicals in the South, in Georgia, that are like, well, I'm gonna vote for Walker. I'm not gonna vote for the pastor, I'm gonna vote for the other guy. That's just about you being in your own echo chamber

and just following along with the political divide. It's not about the most qualified candidate. Nobody of any intelligence is going to argue that. Correct. Right? But it just shows where we are, and so we feel we do. And a lot of people, like, we know they are using this brother. Right.

He's allowing himself to be used. But you know what? Sometimes the hardest people to see that is the person that's being used. Oh! Oh! You know, we've all seen that. Man, she him or he's using her yeah absolutely they don't see that but you're on the outside you're sometimes you're so close you don't feel or you can't sense what's actually going on that's we're looking at this and like and we're watching all these the voters tie themselves up in pretzels they ask you know they're so this republican base is so against abortions where herschel played for abortions well that's different

hold on what do you mean yeah i thought you'd say killing an unborn child is murder but if he's driving the lady to the to the place and paying for it what is that well it all depends on what is god that's between him and his god oh really yeah so what about the woman and her god yeah yeah you can justify anything when you want to. You don't want to look at the truth. You want to justify it? You can. Right. You know, and that's what's happening there. And by the way, you said

it. If you think he is going to these rallies and looking at these people and thinking, I'm qualified. I got a chance to win. I might win. I should win. Right. That's how he's thinking of it. He's not looking at it as there is a structure that is using you. Right. Right?

To try to undermine something that's happening with another political party. Not because you are qualified or we want your ideals or we want your skill set. No. We just need a body. Yeah. We need somebody that's popular. And you know like I know. In Georgia, God Football Family, and that

order switches depending on the day of the week, brother. He's still a legend. A legend. Absolutely. People look at him and they say some of the most, the fondest memories I have were with him running the ball. You know, taking Georgia across the end zone. I will always love him. I'll always have a fondness. That's the power of

sports. Nothing wrong with that. But when you blur the lines and you talk about putting somebody in a position of real power, that's where it gets disturbing. That's where we got a responsibility to do the right thing. Were you always a big sports fan? Yeah, man. You played sports growing up? I did. I did play football. I was the small, fast dude.

You know what I'm saying? I don't know about Shannon Sharp this time. I played in Florida, so we had some dogs. Florida football is, yeah. Florida football is it. What you mean is I know you're a Georgia boy, but we right there with you. Yeah, the football is king in the South. The football is king in the South.

Yeah, I played football, baseball. I was an athlete growing up. I got a son who played college ball at Harvard, incidentally. So, yeah, I got a little DNA in me. Did you want to play professionally? Absolutely not. I knew I didn't have. That wasn't in the cards for me. That was never – I mean, you know, if it was in the cards,

you know what I mean, I would have done it. But that was definitely not in the cards. I didn't have the frame, the stature, or the athletic ability, if we're being honest. The movie things turned out okay, though. You graduated magna cum laude. I graduated – thank you, Lordy. You know, I mean, you were trying to get a degree. You didn't get out of there, huh? I made you the eligibility. I didn't need you, Lardy. You know, I mean, you

tried to get a degree. I majored in eligibility. I didn't need to stay in for the football season. How about that, E? Two point? Got you. Two point seven five it is. I mean, bachelor of science degree in electrical engineering. Yes, sir. Yes, sir. Yes, sir.

Did you, when you're growing up, you're like, hmm, what do I what did you want to be? What did Will Packer want to be when he was growing up? A boss. That's the truth. I wanted to be a boss. OK. I didn't know what kind. I didn't know. I wanted to be in charge. Right. You want to tell somebody else what to do. I want to have my own company, my own business. Right. So my parents explained to me, well, that's entrepreneurship. Right. That's what you want to go after.

OK. But it really was this ideal of, I want to be the person that's calling the shots. Correct. I didn't know how. I didn't know exactly the industry or the field. OK. But they said, all right, well, what you got to do is bust your ass. Right.

You got to work hard. That was instilled in me very early. Right. You got to go out there. If you're putting your name on it, you better be giving 110%. And so that's why ultimately I made the grades in high school, went to college, majored in engineering. Didn't want to be. That was

not my dream, but that was where I got the scholarship. Magna cum laude, as you said. Bust my ass working very, very hard in engineering. I still use that mindset, as I mentioned, an analytical mindset, even in making my movies today. A lot of people think you can just decide to wake up and work hard.

Now, if you haven't been honing a work ethic, if you're not the person that's been working hard and learning how to work hard, you're not going to just all of a sudden be like, oh, I want to do this. Well, you'll work hard for a couple of days or a couple of months and then you'll turn it back off. Because working hard is in you. It has to be in you. And you have to be doing that at a very young age. That's right. That's right. Absolutely.

And by the way, sometimes doing it in areas that, you know, may not be your passion. Correct. I tell people that all the time. You'll find your passion. Right. But while you're in whatever you're in, bust your ass with that. Be the best whatever you can be. When I came out of FAMU, the first movie I interned on, I was the lowest,

lowest, lowest on the totem pole. Right. I was under the PAs. I was an intern in the camera department i was the absolute best camera intern that anybody on that set had ever seen i showed up early i stayed late i did everything they wanted me to do i was around there wrangling the cables got them right my cables never got twisted i did whatever i needed to do right because my name was on it now i looked and i said well i want to be the producer i don't want to be doing this i don't want to be getting coffee to this person, that person.

But you got to do what you got to do. Put in the time. Sometimes in this generation with the instant gratification, you have a lot of people not willing to put in that work. But I'm somebody that got to where I am by learning how to grind from an early age and it's paid off for me. That's what I tell kids. I say, I think

you should have, it's kind of like, you know, in sports people do, guys do one thing. Now they just play football. They just play basketball. They just do one thing. And I apply this to life and jobs. I say, do a lot of things because it'll tell you what you don't want to do once you get older. Because I can assure you, if you don't want to do that as a kid, you damn sure not going to want to do it as an adult.

Things are easy as a kid. I mean, I did a lot of jobs. I was like, okay, I don't want to catch chickens. I don't want to crop tobacco. I don't want to clip onions. I don't want to pick it as an adult. Things are easy as a kid. I mean, I did a lot of jobs like, okay, I don't want to catch chickens. I don't want to crop tobacco. I don't want to clip onions. I don't want to pick up pecans. I don't want to load watermelon or bale hay. I don't want to do field labor. So that early on in my life, I'm like, I don't want to do that.

And then I started playing sports. And then I found that you can make money playing sports. Oh, that's what I want to do. That's what I want to do. That's what I want to do. That's how I want to get my family. But you also were extraordinarily gifted at it. Yes, yes.

You found something that you like to do and that you could do really well. So a lot of people that want to be Shannon Sharp don't have the skill set or the work ethic. But sometimes you're good at one thing, you don't want to do it, and you deny that gift trying to go to a gift that you're not blessed with. That is very true. That is very true. I agree. So what you got to do, find the thing that you are good at. Okay. Do that. Sometimes you'll find your passion along the way. You're absolutely right. You have people that are good at one thing and say, but I think I want to do something else. Is there a way for you to combine it? Is there a way for you to do this

until you got enough resources where then you can step out and chase something else. Is there a way for you to combine it? Is there a way for you to do this until you got enough resources where then you can step out and chase something else? Right. But don't give up what you're good at. Right. Because if you're really good at something, I believe everybody has a talent. You good at it, go for it and go hard.

Right. Wake up with football every morning and listen to my new podcast, NFL Daily with Greg Rosenthal. Five days a week, you'll get all the latest news, previews, recaps, and analysis delivered straight to your podcast feed by the time you get your coffee. No dumb hot takes here. Just smart hot takes. We'll talk every single game every single week, but I can't do it alone.

So I'm bringing in the big guns from NFL media. That's Patrick Claiborne, Steve Weiss, Nick Shook, Jordan Rodrigue from The Athletic, and of course, Colleen Wolfe. This is their window right now. This is their Super Bowl window. Why would they trade him away? Because he would be a pivotal part of them winning that Super Bowl. I don't know why, Colleen. Catch the podcast, the NFL Daily with Greg Rosenthal every day.

Subscribe today and you'll immediately be smarter and funnier than your friends. And who doesn't want that? Listen now on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. How did going to an HBCU help you in your movie career? It gave me a different perspective than a lot of my peers.

Number one, it taught me who I'm making my movies for. When I made my first movie, Chocolate City, it was starring other kids that went to school with it. It was a nobody in that movie. We barely knew what we were doing. We were trying to keep the shots in focus.

Right? You shot it on camcorder? We shot it on super 16 millimeter film. I see you get some little Savannah State shade in there, brother, I didn't have a camcorder, okay? I had some film, all right? Y'all see him over here, Club Shay Shay. I knew when I was at the line trying to get in here,

Club Shay Shay was gonna take some shots at me. So I had this movie that we shot and nobody in Hollywood could give a damn about Chocolate City, right? But guess what? We had our world premiere. We were in Lee Hall, which is our auditorium on campus. We had a formal premiere.

We made everybody go out and rent tux. You know these students. Yeah, yeah, yeah. They barely got money. We make, go to the casino or something, rent you a tux. You know what I'm saying? Rent you a ball gown because we taking this very seriously.

Right. Now, I invited everybody, all the big dogs in Hollywood, right? I invited everybody. You had a studio, the chairman of Fox, Universal, Paramount, so I invited all of them, okay? My mama was like, did you invite Oprah? I said, Mama, Oprah's not coming.

She said, you invite all them other people. Invite Oprah. I said, okay, Mama, I'm gonna invite Oprah. On the day of the premiere, I'm standing on stage, getting ready to introduce my movie, and the whole front row is empty because I had saved seats for all these Hollywood people. Now, none of them RSVP'd, mind you. Not one person had the decency

to even say, I'm not coming. They didn't let me know they got the invite. That front row was empty because Shannon Sharp, what if a whole fleet of private jets had showed up at Tallahassee Regional Airport the day of my premiere? I had to be ready for them. Right.

I had saved a seat for Oprah with a plus one. She could have brought Stamman or Gale. It didn't matter, right? Whole front row is empty. But guess what? Every other seat in that auditorium was packed. Wow. And that's when I learned,

I'm not making my movies for the front row. I'm making them for everybody else. That's what I learned at an HBCU And I have been Making movies for an audience And then expanding beyond that audience Ever since Wow

Did it leave you a little like damn Could nobody show up They couldn't send like a gopher They couldn't send a sister They couldn't send anybody Because I thought you know we had gone through all this trouble And worked hard and made this movie like you know They couldn't send like a gopher. They couldn't send a sister. They couldn't send anybody. A little bit. Because I thought, you know, we had gone through all this trouble and worked hard and made this movie. Like, you know, Hollywood's got to care, right?

No, they don't. You know what made Hollywood care? After we made that movie and we sold T-shirts, hats, soundtracks, we convinced the second run theater that was showing movies for like $1.50 after they would leave the main theaters. That was a thing back in the day. We convinced them to show our movie over and over again. And for the kids in Tallahassee, at FAMU, it was a big deal. Right. And they would go see the movie every weekend, right?

Right. We ended up taking that. We had borrowed about $20,000 to make that movie. We ended up making about $100,000. Wow. As broke college students. Right. That's when I realized, oh, this is my Ivy League training.

This is my MBA level education and entrepreneurship right here. And I also realized that there's power in understanding your niche and who you're making your movies for. That's what I learned at an HBCU. I learned that I need to know my audience, make my movies for a specific audience, and by the way, make money without Hollywood. That's the only reason Hollywood started returning my calls, because I was making money without them. They'll leave you out there on your own if you're not doing nothing and making no noise.

Right. But if you want to get Hollywood's attention, you go out there and you make money without them. Right. Then my phone started ringing. How does someone from an HBCU with no connections to Hollywood, no inner workings,

like, all of a sudden they started taking you serious. It was that you made movies that made money without their help. They're like, well, hell, you making money. Let me get some of that. Absolutely. Hollywood is good for that. But now, let me just make it clear. It wasn't just that we started making money.

We were willing to do and out-hustle other people. Right. So even after that movie, Chocolate City, that movie, Trois, that I made, right? We literally drove from city to city to city. We rented a Ford Excursion. We'd print up a bunch of flyers. We would drive to a city, hand out flyers, and say,

our movie is premiering this weekend in your theater in your town. We would go. I would hand out flyers at churches. I would hand out flyers at strip clubs. I would go to the radio station and say, hey, can I just get on for 30 seconds after you come out of your next commercial break just to tell people about my movie? We hustled. We drove that Ford Excursion from Birmingham to Charlotte to Memphis

to Jacksonville, Tennessee to Columbus, Georgia. Drove it all the way up to Chicago. I know every city I went to, 19 markets, because I drove to every single one, got a little room at a Motel 6, Super 8, wherever we could afford to stay in, and we drove city to city to city. And ultimately, we were able to make a million dollars in the theaters with that movie well we were willing to do what others weren't now today you got youtube you can push a button you can put it out there yeah yeah you got to work

harder you got to figure out another way because a lot of people can get views but back then we had to go to every single city so that's how we really got put on the map what gave you the idea to do stomp the Yard? You mentioned Chocolate City was the first one shot exclusively on an HBCU campus. And then you came with Stomp the Yard, Columbus Shore. Unbelievable movie. Loved it. You remember that? I do remember it.

You shot it in the AU Center? I did. I did. Yeah. You know where I shot most of it? Morris Brown. Mo Brown. Mo B. Mo B was there. It was available, you know. Unfortunately, they were going through some challenges, right? And so their campus wasn't active. Right. We shot Stomp the Yard right there at Morris Brown College in the AUC. And it was inspired by my, I'll tell you exactly what happened. I wanted to make a movie about black

college life. Okay. I had made our first in Chocolate City. I went out to Hollywood and I was like, hey, I got this movie. I want to make it about fraternities and stepping and HBCUs. Them people looked at me like I was crazy, Shannon Sharp.

They didn't know anything about fraternities or stepping. Or HBCUs. They said, y'all going to black college. I said, y'all know y'all can go to white colleges, right?

We can accept y'all now. But they don't step. I said, first of all, they don't do a lot of things that we do. And y'all don't call it the yard. And they don't call it, and they don't, We call it the yard. Homecoming ain't step. I said, first of all, they don't do a lot of things that we do. And y'all don't call it the yard. And they don't call it.

We call it the yard. Homecoming ain't homecoming. It's different. You know what I mean? Love to my PWI folks, but y'all don't do it like we do. Y'all putting raisin in the potato salad. That's why we can't do half of it. Shannon over here throwing shade.

Club shade. Shade. Talking about that unseasoned chicken at the PWI. That was Shannon. Straight out the pack on the grill. That's Shannon Sharp.. That was Shannon. Straight out the pack on the grill. That's Shannon Sharp. Ain't nothing there. Straight out the pack to the grill.

So I had to go and convince them that this was not a movie about all that stuff they didn't understand. I said, you know what? It's a dance move. It's a really good dance move. It's like a style of dance you've never seen before. We're going to combine two different styles of dance and make a movie around that.

That's how Stomp the Yard got greenlit. And then I made it my movie around black college campus. Around black college life, I would say. Do you have me? I'm looking at you, Think Like a Man, Ride Along, Obsessed, Takers, No Good Deed, The Wedding Ringer. I mean, you know, Girls Trip. Yeah. I mean, I'm looking at Think Like a Man, grossed $96 million worldwide, $12 million budget.

Ride Along, $150 million, $25 million budget. And you executive produced Straight Outta Compton. Do you, I mean, obviously probably the one that, what movie do you say put Will Packer on the map? Stop the Yard. Stop the Yard because I went out and I pitched it to every studio and they all passed on it. And then it came out of nowhere and opened number one and then everybody started calling me and saying why you didn't bring us that movie and I said I did bring that movie right you said no you know that's the

one that made people say oh we have to take him serious right because that's what Hollywood reacts to right they they follow the numbers they don't care about like if you make dollars it makes sense period period it's a bottom line business it's a bottom line business and so once I was able to They follow the numbers. They don't care about like, you know. If it make dollars, it makes sense. Period. Period. It's a bottom line business. It's a bottom line business. And so once I was able to come out and I was the number one movie in the country for two weeks in a row. Right.

And people said, who the hell is Will Packer? Right. What is this movie Stomp the Yard that we didn't know about? But I had an audience. I had a demographic that was going to come out. Like I said, it wasn't the front row I was making that movie for. It was everybody else. Right.

Got people excited about it. Right. That's how I got on the map, to be honest with you. The movie Think Like a Man is from the book Steve Harvey. Yeah. What was it like working with Steve? And then you're like, Steve, bro, you giving all the secrets away. Bro, come on now.

Damn. Something we just got to keep. We keep that amongst ourselves. Listen, there's a saying I know you don't know about. It's the game is to be sold, not told. Exactly. Steve sold the game. Yeah, there's a saying I know you don't know about. It's the game is to be sold, not told. Exactly. Steve sold the game. Yeah, man, Uncle Steve.

Steve, Uncle Steve said, I'm going to sell it. Yeah. Whether y'all appreciate it or not. You know, I was one of the first people to call him about that book. I called him, and this is what, like you asked about me living in Atlanta

versus living in L.A., right? I'm in L.A. a lot, work in Hollywood, but Atlanta's home. It puts me in a different circle of people. And what happened was I saw Sisters in the Hair Salon, and they were passing around copies of Steve's book, right? And you would have people like, hey, bring my copy back. I didn't get to finish. It's my turn. Hand it to me.

And I saw that happening. I said, you know what? You're not seeing all the sales. They're passing this around. So this book has a buzz and has a relevance that is hard to quantify. You know what I mean? The publisher may not even realize

that you sold one copy of the book, but ten people read it. So I called Steve very early. I said, man, I want to turn your book into a movie. It's not even a narrative. He said, I'd have never your book into a movie. He said, it's not even a narrative. He said, I'd have never imagined it as a movie. Then it hit bestseller. Then he went on all the morning shows.

Then he went on Oprah twice. Now everybody in Hollywood started calling him. To Steve's credit, he remembered the first dude that called him about that book. And he said, you know what? Everybody calling me to turn it into a movie because the book's a hit now. I'm going with will packer i'm gonna go with the guy who called me first and said he wanted to turn this into a movie i said steve i'm not gonna let you down i got you and we open number one with that movie to put kevin hart on the map in a different way 96 million dollars later we did a sequel and and got other stuff in the works as well man it's that grind

and that hustle man but you know what that's that grind and that hustle, man. But you know what? That says something. That Steve, like all these other big movie studios came in. Yes. And he could have been just like, you know what? But the bro man came to me early on. Yeah, he did. Because you didn't think it was going to do anything until all of a sudden

I had peaked. See, I started going here. When I was here, you wasn't hollering at your boy. That's right. Right. Back then didn't want me. But he definitely was. That's that's who he is. You know what I mean? There was a loyalty there. He said, I'm gonna get his brother a chance. He was one of the first people to call. And then I went with his

blessing. Now I was able to go get a major studio on board. We made that with Sony, put an amazing cast. Yeah, I'm looking at Kevin Hart, Taraji P. Henson, Gabrielle Union, Chris Brown, Wendy Wee. Like I said, when you when you like, OK, I want amazing cast together. Yeah, I'm looking at Kevin Hart, Taraji P. Henson, Gabrielle Union, Chris Brown, Wendy Williams. Like I said, when you're like, okay, I want to do this movie, got Steve Harvey's blessing,

studios have signed on. Now, how do you start to go about the cast? You got to get a good script, right? We had a script, and then it was, who can be in it? Who can bring this to life? First person I wanted was kevin hart okay i knew similarly hollywood wasn't checking for kevin at that time but similarly

to the way i knew about steve's book in places like in atlanta right off the hollywood grid all people were talking about was kevin hart they were bootlegging his dvds like crazy right watching that's when youtube was just starting to really pop. Watching his videos and his stuff over and over. And I would watch my kids watching Kevin. I was like, this dude is having a moment, but it's not like he's selling so many, you know, units of his comedy special. So Hollywood

doesn't really know how hot he is right now. He was one of the first people I went after. Ran into him at the airport. I said, brother, I'm making a movie. Same thing. Same man did this to you. I said, I'm making a movie. He he knew a couple of my movies before but we didn't really know each other i said give me a shot let me work with you to make this movie i want you to star in my new movie that i'm making based on steve harvey's book he said i'm in i'm in and he gave me that chance right because at that time hollywood wasn't coming after him but he was hot in the streets

i made that move i said i got you Put him in the middle, and then it was about how do we put a great ensemble cast around. I'm so proud of that cast, man. You talk about Gabby, and you talk about Taraji, you talk about Regina Hall, you know. Talk about Michael Ealy and Romney Malco and Terrence J. Terrence J got that role. He wasn't even supposed to be in the movie. He showed up

at the table read. I didn't have anybody cast for that role. We were reading it, right? You do a table read, everybody sits around and actually acts out the script while you're reading it. And Terrence J came in. I said, listen, I don't know that I can get you in this movie, but sit in for this part of Regina Hall's love interest

in the table read. He was so prepared. He had studied so hard. He came in. Everybody else was reading their scripts. Terrence J didn't need a script because he had memorized the whole thing. He knew all his lines. He was completely off book, we call it, and he was acting his ass off in that table read

and that's how he got the role. Wow. He was willing to do what it took. You also worked with Oprah. How did you work with Oprah? Because it's Oprah. Yeah. It's Oprah. It's like there's certain people, like when you gotta go by one name, Oprah. Yeah. Denzel. Yeah. It's Oprah. It's like, like there's certain people like when you got to go by one name,

Oprah. Yeah. Denzel. Yeah. Sam. Yes. You know what I'm saying? Period.

And she's, I read here, she said, hey, don't have me looking crazy. She did. She did. I went,

I went, I went to Promise Land. That's Oprah's estate. Yeah. Okay. And I got invited. I got called up to the estate. I went to Promise Land, and I pitched

her, you know, my show ideas for her network, for OWN Network. And one of the ones I pitched was this dating show called Ready to Love. And she liked it. I said, listen, Oprah, one of the things the dating reality scene is missing is a show where you have grown folks, adults, right, who are not in their 20s. In your 20s, you don't really know what you're looking for anyway. Right. I said, let's do a show with people in their 30s and 40s.

Correct. Who have experienced something, lived some life. Maybe they were divorced. Maybe they have kids. And also, by the way, African-Americans. That's not a viewpoint that you typically see. She loved it. But she definitely said, listen now, you know, I ain't done a lot of this reality TV, Will.

Right. It's my name all over. Don't have me looking crazy. She told me that right there at Promise Land. I said, oh, Queen, oh, I got you. Yeah, she said she didn't want black people. She wanted black people done right. She didn't want no mess, no negative stereotypes.

That is correct. She's serious about that because her name is on it. Yes. It's also who she is. Right. Tyler Perry. Yeah, man. He was one of the first. I mean, he started out with these these DVDs.

Madea, the place. Unbelievable. And I think I've got all every last one of his DVDs. Yeah. And I'm like, man, I remember bringing them home and showing them to my sister. My sister laughing. My mom, my mom was laughing. My grandmother thought they were hilarious. And he takes Madea and turns it into what it became. And we see what he has become. What's it like? I mean, you shoot at his studio, right? Yeah. Yeah. I've shot at his studio. I've had office at his studio. You know, he's my brother and my friend. You know, what he has done has really changed the game. Right. Because before Tyler, there was not a filmmaker that owned a studio outside of Hollywood that Hollywood had to take seriously. Right.

Black, white, or other. And for him to create, and in Atlanta, he has a studio that is on par with any of the Hollywood studios. Big. I'm talking hundreds of acres. Right. If you ain't been there, we got to get you down there to check it out. I got to check it out. I gotta check it out.

It's on an old military. That's right. It was an army base that was not being used and he took over. The army base was like 400 plus acres. He has 300 of them as his studio. He built it. Everything is top notch, top of the line.

And he did that, as you said, off of Madea. Your aunts and family, sister, cousin, y'all, they weren't the only one laughing. He touched a nerve within the black community. People saw themselves and the family members, they knew. Everybody had a Madea, an uncle, a crazy aunt. And that's how they talked, too.

He said, I'm not sugarcoating it. I'm giving it to you straight. You said something, and I heard you say, I realized that I wasn't making movies for the front row. I was making a movie for back there. He's learned that early on. That blacks, okay, that's what I't making movies for the front row. I was making a movie for back there. Yes. He's learned that early on. Yes. That blacks, okay, that's what I'm making. I'm making movies for them.

Yeah. They love this. And everybody's like, man, I'm sure Hollywood at the time didn't take him serious. At all. But like ain't nobody going to, a six foot four man dressing up, dressing up, and nobody's going to buy it. Yes. And then before they knew it, he was wildfire. He had caught fire.

And the blaze was too big to put out. So now they got to take him serious. Now they want to do business with him. Absolutely. That's how, like I said, Hollywood calls when you make money without him. He did something that I admire and that I've done also in my career, which is put people in positions that they haven't seen themselves right call it underserved audiences and underserved experiences

and people saw themselves and people they knew on screen in a different way with tyler's movies and and some of my movies as well and that's an opportunity that traditional hollywood did not care about right until it became profitable. Right. They weren't making movies, you know, the thing like a man's and girls trips. No. And Tyler's stuff and some of these. They weren't. That wasn't something Hollywood had done frequently. Right.

Because they didn't see the value in it. Right. But you had big audiences that said, we want to see ourselves. Right. We want to laugh, cry and everything in between. Correct. And so it's up to filmmakers like myself to go out there and force Hollywood to pay attention by showing

that there is an economic viability to that audience. Our audience is one of the most persuasive, loud, influential audiences, and especially black women. That's what they do. And other people follow them because they have to because they're so loud. They're like, what are they talking about over there? I got to go find it. You know? Girl Strip wouldn't have made the money it made

off of just black people. Yeah, but they'd be talking in the movie too, though, Will. Yeah, child. Whoa! Whoa! You not in the bar and beauty shop? You can't be doing that. I can't say nothing because my wife is one of the worst offenders. How the producer's wife going to be in the movie?

That took her to see, there was a movie called Be Quiet. What's the movie? Quiet Place. Quiet Place, the whole point of the movie, Shannon Sharp, is you have to be quiet or the aliens will hear you and kill you. Right. So we end the movie and everybody's nervous on the edge of their seats.

You can barely hear the popcorn. Cut to Mrs. Pack. Oh, no, don't go. Get out of there. Don't go in there. Babies. Jesus Christ, I'm so embarrassed. Babies, hon, what are you saying?

No, no, no, did you see that? It's a quiet movie. My wife is a stereotypical black woman in the movie. I can't take her. I'd be like, no, no. Did you see that? It's a quiet movie. My wife is a stereotypical black woman in the movie. I can't take her. I'd be like, baby, we're going to watch it on streaming. Idris Elba. Yeah, man. He was in a movie.

The Beast. Was it The Beast? Beast, yep. I saw that. Running from the lion, shot in South Africa. Did you check it out? I did. Thank you, brother.

I can't say that I was terrible. I wasn't. But see, they did the lion roll. They killed the lion brother. They killed his brother. Well, they did. And so, you know, he was going to get that get back. He wanted his get back.

And by the way, he got a lot of get back. The lion ate like 10 people in the movie. What did you want? You wanted the lion to eat Idris? No, no, that wasn't the get back. Yeah, but he could have got one of the kids, though. Oh, set it sharp. You know what get it. Yeah, but he could have got one of the kids, though. Oh, Shannon Sharp. You know what?

When we do our Packer Sharp productions, we're going to have to have a lot of memes because your movie is going to go dark. Shannon's trying to get the kids ate. What are we doing? Just one, just one. You want to eat one of the kids? It was two girls.

Shannon, it was a father and two daughters. You want one of the daughters? You should have put a boy in it. Yeah, yeah, yeah. OK, you know, we're going to have to have a meme. But for me and you going to produce it together, we're going to have to have a talk about how dark your movie is going to be, brother. Yeah, you're going to be.

Well, Idris, somebody got. I mean, because like Denzel and Trainor Day. Denzel got killed off in the end. And it was beautiful. He deserved to get killed. Denzel was the antagonist, okay? The antagonist in this movie was the lion, not Idris. He was just trying to defend

his family oh jesus what time is the production meeting for packer sharp productions because we need to we need to have a meeting over here at the end of club shea shea his daughter yes actually interview for the role how difficult was it to say i'm sorry you didn't get it. It was not easy. Eson is her name. Eson Elba. She's an amazing young actress and you're going to be hearing more about her. Here's what I'll say. Is it true that he really didn't want her to

be in it? No, that's not true. I can tell you for a fact, to Idris' credit, he said, I want the best person for the role, right? He wasn't like, you gotta have my daughter. And he wasn't like, I'm not gonna have her because she's my daughter.

She went through the same process as everybody else. Came out, auditioned, did callbacks, the whole thing. And ultimately, at the end of the day, there was somebody else for that role that was better. Idris accepted it. I called her myself because I've known Eson for years. at the end of the day, there was somebody else for that role. Right. That was better. Idris accepted it. I called her myself because I've known Esau for years. Me and Idris go back, right?

So I've known her. And as I said, she's a talented young actress. Right. She's very mature about it. She was disappointed, obviously. But she worked and earned that. I will tell you, it is, somebody else who's like that is Ice Cube. A lot of people think that O'Shea just got the role in Straight Outta Compton because he was Cube's son. Had to audition,

callbacks, had to beat out people, like had to work hard. One thing I will say is that those are two people, Idris and Cube, who they're not giving anything to because they want them to be stronger. Some of that's cultural too. Our parents say you got to work for it. I want you to

have it, but you're going to be stronger if you have to work for it. And that's what happened with Idris. But I don't know who else could have played Q because O'Shea looked just like her dad.

He put that curl on her. He killed it. Yeah, yeah. You produced Obsessed with Beyoncé and Idris. Yeah. Would you like to do another movie with Beyoncé?

For sure. Absolutely. You know, she did the Oscars. She doesn't do the Oscars. That's not her thing. And it was really only because of the relationship that I have with her, herself, my producing

partner, Shayla Cowan. We called her and, you know, and B made it very clear. The only reason I'm opening the Oscars is because of you. So it's that relationship. I would work with her in a heartbeat. You want to talk about work ethic? You're not going to outwork B. You are not going to outwork Beyonce. Whatever it is she's doing,

she goes a thousand percent. She has earned her position, rightfully so, because she outworks everybody. She's extremely talented. She has all the good. She has the skill set. She has the look, the sound. She has all of that. But none of that would matter if she didn't work as hard as she did.

So she has a lot of fans. I don't mean fandom. I mean people like me that are advocates for her within the industry because we know how hard she works and she always delivers. You work with Nia Long and Uncle Buck. And obviously we know what transpired her relationship.

Have you spoken to Nia? I, I, I said, no, I haven't, I haven't spoken with her. I wanted to definitely, you know, give her, give her some time. She and I are good. We're close. You know, I've known her for years. Obviously, you know, know he made through her. And, you know, just, you just, you just, you just keep somebody like that in your prayers.

You know what I'm saying? You let that be a personal thing. I think he will ultimately, you know, land on his feet and they'll figure out what they're going to do. Right. Is there somebody that you haven't worked with that you like to work with? A lot. I haven't worked with Denz.

You mentioned Denzel. Okay. You know. Put it out there. Manifest it. Yep. Sam Jackson. Yeah, put it out there.

We're going to manifest that. Yeah. Yeah. And by the way, big supporters. Likeifest it. Yep. Sam Jackson. Yeah, put it out there. We're going to manifest that. Yeah. Yeah, I know. And by the way, big supporters. Like, it's all love. Like, when I see them, they like, hey, brother, we see you. Yeah. We see you doing your thing.

Keep going. Right. You know, very encouraging. So Sam and I got close a couple times. It just hadn't happened yet. So it'll happen when it's right. I mean, you know, it's kind of like I look at, like, Denzel, and I've met him.

His son used to work out when savannah used to i mean savannah atlanta he trained without training we worked out together but denzel seems mythical yeah i mean that that voice and the enunciation and the cadence yeah he don't miss uh-uh he don't miss nope nope it ain't a bad Denzel role. Bad Denzel. You may not like the movie, but Denzel did his thing in that movie. Yeah. Whatever it is. You know, from Glory, they filmed Glory and Savannah. We had a lot of people that went out there

and was extra in Glory. Yep. And then Cry Freedom. Yes. Bantu, Steve, and Biko. Absolutely. Unbelievable. You know one of the movies that I like that don't get a whole lot of credit? What? I like Devil in Blue Dress.

Yeah. Yeah. I like Harlem. A Walter Mosley book. Yeah. Harlem Blues. Yeah. I mean, like you said, Denzel can't miss. No, he can't.

He got me from Malcolm X. You like the old school, I see. Yeah, man. You're old school, man. You like the old school. Training Day was great. What about John Q? Man, I love John Q.

That's one of his underrated classics. Like I said, I mean, what movie did we say, oh, man, Denzel was, what movie can we say, oh, man, Denzel was bad in that movie? You're not going to see it. He takes it very seriously. But he'll be on it. He's going to come hard. Fences?

Yep. Yep. Absolutely. No, he's a legend. Let's just give it to him. I mean, that's the gold if there's such a thing. You know what I mean? When you talk about acting,

you know, black or white, right? On any Martin Luther. He can stand on ten toes down. But I think Devil in Blue Dress is probably the only movie. Man on Fire, Courage on the Fire, on the fire, Courage on the Fire, you know, Hurricane. I mean, it's like, I think for me

Malcolm X was the movie. Really? Because he looked like him. He spoke like him. The enunciation, the phonetic, the cadence in which he spoke. Yes. Man, he played that part. How he did not win the Academy Award for that? Well, you know.

Back then, but we already know. But anyway, we're going to move right along. I was going to say, I think you want to get into that Academy Award and what should and shouldn't have happened. Okay. I'm looking at Girl's Trip Trip. Girls Trip 2, you shot the first one for about $12-19 million. Obviously, the budget will be a lot bigger this time. So where are they going

now? They went to New Orleans? So where are they going now? We're trying to figure it out, man. I'm open to suggestions. What do you think with this Packer-Sharp? First of all, you probably want to kill everybody. No, you know, girls, they go to Miami. They go to the Dominican. They go to

Jamaica. Is Dominican really that popular with the ladies, though? I know the fellas go to Dominican all the time. Why you think they going? Well, golf. Okay, let you tell it. I ain't never heard of no golf course in the Dominican Republic. Paddleboarding. Why do you think they're going? Well, golf. Okay, let you tell it. Ain't nobody going to do that.

I ain't never heard of no golf course in the Dominican Republic. Good paddle boarding. You know what? I want to keep my show. I will let him. At Shannon Sharp with an E on it. I mean, that's what I'm thinking. I mean, where else they going?

We got to go somewhere. Miami? Yeah, but y'all can do better than that. You don't think? You got to be. We don't want to go exotic? I'm telling you, we having a little session right now. The Dominican. Dominican is good. I just don't know if

that's like, when you talk about girlfriends and they say, okay, we gonna do a girlfriend's trip, where do we most want to go? Is DR on that list? Maybe it is. Yeah. Okay. Jamaica. Okay. You spend a lot of time in DR? No! Huh? No. Your voice got real high on that answer. I have Okay. You spend a lot of time in DR? No. Huh? No.

Your voice got real high on that answer. I have not. You there? No, I've never been to DR. I've never been to DR. Why are you stuttering? No, I haven't. You've never been to Dominican Republic? I have not.

Seriously? Nope. Really? Never been to Jamaica? What? Nope. Oh, we got to get you in the Caribbean. No.

Come on, Unc. What you doing? What's wrong with the Caribbean? I'm trying to get. They got great. I'm trying to get. Clean the Caribbean. Come on, what you doing? What's wrong with the Caribbean? They got great. I'm trying to get and stay in a relationship. That's what I'm trying to do. And the Dominican is not going to help that. I see you not trying to help my cause.

Wake up with football every morning and listen to my new podcast, NFL Daily with Greg Rosenthal five days a week you'll get all the latest news previews recaps and analysis delivered straight to your podcast feed by the time you get your coffee no dumb hot takes here just smart hot takes we'll talk every single game every single week but I can't do it alone so I'm bringing in the big guns from NFL media. That's Patrick Claiborne, Steve Weiss, Nick Shook, Jordan Rodrigue from The Athletic, and of course, Colleen Wolfe. This is their window right now. This is their Super Bowl window.

Why would they trade him away? Because he would be a pivotal part of them winning that Super Bowl. I don't know why, Colleen. Catch the podcast, the NFL Daily, with Greg Rosenthal every day. Subscribe today, and you'll immediately be smarter and funnier than your friends. And who doesn't want that? Listen now on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. You

produced the Oscars. I did. And that moment happened. When did you think, like when Chris Rock said the joke, and then as Will got up, did you think it would go the way it went? And when it happened, what went through your mind? So when you do a big live show like that, you have many rehearsals.

You do the whole show and you run it through multiple times. Yes, I know. It's live. You want very little room for error. So you rehearse every aspect of the show. So we had done Chris's part of the show. Right. Right?

In there, on the stage. He had done his monologue, his little, you know, his jokes. He had a section already worked out. And when he got up, almost immediately, he was off book from the monologue that we had rehearsed. Right. Right? And so I didn't think much of it at all because it's rock.

Right. So if it's anybody you want to go off book, it's rock. He got this. He going to play to the crowd. When he made the joke, the first thing that the director did was pan to Jada. No question. And when Jada made that face that clearly said,

I am not amused and this is not funny to me, I cringed. I immediately went, ugh. Because if she had kind of laughed at it, it still would have been kind of a, you know, okay, Rock, you're going there. But if she laughed at it, we would have just kept it moving. When she made that face, I said, ooh, okay. I said, all right, Rock, bring it back. This is me.

I'm in the back. You said, you're not in his ear, but you said. I'm not in his ear. He's not. He don't have the ear. I'm in my director's ear. Right. And we're talking to our camera people,

because we're trying to decide where to go. Meaning with the camera. Right, right. So I said, oh, bring it back. Come on, Rock. Bring it back. All right. You know?

Then you see Will starting to come towards the stage. Right. When I tell you nobody in that room knew what was about to happen other than Will. And I'm not even sure Will knew what was about to happen when he stood up. Right. So, no, I did not know. And when he got up, I wasn't sure that it had actually been a slap. Right.

I thought this was some kind of bad joke. Okay. That the two of them. Right. Only one of them some kind of bad joke that the two of them had put together. But wasn't that funny? So I said, okay, well you got to clean this up. Y'all got to bring it back or make a joke or something. And it wasn't until Will got back in the seat and he started yelling what he yelled to the stage that we all knew

oh, it's real. We got a problem. Did you ever think about Fade to Black? Here's the thing. It's a good question. I've been asked that, right? So here's what happened. When you're doing live television, you are literally, it's like a tennis match. You're following the ball. That's what you do.

So he made the joke. We cut to Jada because it was about Jada. We had cameras all through the audience. Will went on stage. We still did not know it was serious until Will started yelling what he was yelling. We're covering him because that's what you do. You're following him. You don't want to miss the joke if it's some kind of a joke.

Right. Once we realized that he was dead serious about it, we had nowhere to cut to. Okay? We're in the middle of presenting the award for documentary, which Questlove ended up winning. I didn't have anywhere to go but to follow the action in that room, right? And it happened so fast that we didn't know, OK, we need to fade to black, go to commercial. No, it was like, OK, how do we get out of this?

Right. All we could do at that point was follow the action. I didn't have something to ask, why didn't you cut to somebody else in the room, get off a wheel? I'd have a person in that room I could cut to because everybody's faces was shocked, aghast. Right. So... Did they know it was for real?

Because you said you thought it was a joke. None of us knew it was for real until Will got back to his seat and started saying... He started yelling, I told you to leave my... That is correct. At that point, it was clear this ain't a joke. He's serious. We could tell by Chris' reaction. By the way, Chris saved the rest of the show.

I know. I already know what you're about to, because this, you know what y'all about to get right now at Club Shea Shea? Y'all about to get a, you better be glad it wasn't me. That's what you're about to get from Santa's shots. You're about to get a, what would happen if you was up there? Chris is the ultimate, first of all, Will, you and I both know. Ain't nobody running up? He'd have never done that.

Now, hey, I don't want Will Smith canceled, but I feel that there are a lot of people that's made jokes about Jada. I didn't think it was such an egregious joke that warranted that type of reaction. That's not my wife, so I can't. Maybe somebody said if I'm married and somebody said something. But I think this was a buildup. That joke wasn't what caused that.

There is a buildup that people have been taking to saying things about Will. How he the first guy to win a Grammy for rap? How he the first guy to do? And it kept building, it kept building and it reached that crescendo that night. I hate that it reached that crescendo that night because that was his night.

And unfortunately, his night's going to be overshadowed for perpetuity for that incident. That is correct. That is correct. That is correct. It will always be remembered by them. I also hate it because it was a good show. It was great. I'm just going to tell you.

And, yeah, you know, I did it. Me, Shayla, we made, you know, we made the show. I'm proud of it. But even if I did, we had more people watch that show than had in years. My goal was to reverse the trend of the ratings going down. And we did outside of the slap. I ain't gonna lie. I wasn't gonna watch it. I just tuned in. It's what happened when I tuned in.

That happened. You tuned in for the slap? No, no. You were supposed to. I had Beyonce. I had Megan Thee Stallion. Come on. I had a good show for you. I know. Why did you not watch the show? I wasn't gonna watch the whole show. But then after he did that, I was like, well, Chris, we're going to get some get back. Let me see what's going to happen.

So let me see you go get that get back. You know we got to get back. We got to steal. You steal me, I got to steal you back. Chris left. Chris left immediately. He didn't want no part of it. He got off stage.

I went back, talked to him, had a conversation. He probably said, I can't believe that you know what did that. He said, man, I'm out of here. He said, this is stupid. He said, I'm out. I said, you sure? You good? What you want me to do? He was like, man, he was on his way. He said, this is stupid. He said, I'm out. I said, you sure? You good? What you want me to do?

He was like, man, I'm, I'm, he was on his way to Guy Fieri's after party. He said, man, I'm about to go get me a drink. I'm, I'm, this is stupid. He was, he was so kind of disgusted with it all. He just wanted to get out. Right. Did you talk to Will after the show?

Did you talk to? I talked to everybody. I talked to everybody. He was very remorseful. Still is. Very remorseful. Yeah. Yeah. And he felt very bad. He had a personal conversation

with me because this was the first Oscars that was produced by an all-black producer. Yes. This was the first time in Oscars history. Yes. Everything. Everything was black. Catering service was black. Catering service. Y'all had mac and cheese. Everything was black. We had black

conductors. Yeah, yeah. People that were bringing out the Oscars for HBCU. Y'all gave them and cheese, everything, everything was black. We had black conductors. Yeah, yeah. People that were bringing out the Oscars for HBCU. Y'all gave them the black church fans there back then. Come on, man. I had D-9 spinning.

We're going to have some flavor now. Yes! You know what I'm saying? It was a good show. I'm proud of the show. I wanted to have representation you don't normally see

on that stage. I hate that ultimately, that night, when we had so much black excellence. Yes. And just diverse excellence. I don't care if you're talking about blacks,

Latinos, the first deaf actor to win an Oscar. All of that I'm very, very proud of. First non-binary queer actress, Ariana DeBose. At the end of the day, I think the show, you know, of course

that is something that will be remembered by, but I'm very proud of the end of the day, I think the show, you know, of course that is something that will be remembered by. But I'm very proud of the substance of the show. And a lot of people tuned in, even though you didn't help. Thank you. I did. I watched. You did not. You watched too late.

No, no, no, no. If you tune in with the slap, the ratings are already in. The slap was too late. What? I'm telling you. I went up 60% before the slap. By the time you get there, that was in the third hour of the show. But I keep. What were you watching

on Sunday night other than the Oscars in February? Football went on. What were you doing? I don't remember. See? He's probably playing that trip to DR. That's the problem. If you stick with me... But I got to... Now I got to stay. Now I can't leave. You got to see what's going to happen.

You know how people watch television. They watch television incrementally. I watch a little bit. I flip to something else. I come back. I flip. But once I saw that, I couldn't hear. You had to see what was going to happen. I hope they don't cut the break.

Because if they cut the break, I might miss something. They won't be able to get that. Will, I appreciate it. My brother. Come on, man. Much success, much love. I appreciate everything you do. Thanks for giving me a couple of minutes.

Come on, man. Anytime, brother. Thank you. All my life. Been grinding all my life. Sacrifice. Hustle paid the price. Want a slice.

Got the roll of dice. That's why. All my life. I be grinding all my life. Look. All my life. Been grinding all my life. Sacrifice.

Hustle paid the price. Want a slice. Got the roll of dice. That's why. All my life. I be grinding all my life. Slice. Got the rolling dice.

That's why all my life I've been grinding all my life. Wake up with football every morning and listen to my new podcast, NFL Daily with Greg Rosenthal. Five days a week, you'll get all the latest news and the best analysis delivered by the time you get your coffee. The show hits every single game every single week, but I can't do it alone, so I'm bringing in all the big guns from NFL media like Colleen Wolfe. Subscribe today and you'll immediately be smarter and funnier We'll be right back.