Keep it Positive, Sweetie - The Process of Storytelling w/ Malcolm D. Lee

Episode Date: August 17, 2025

In this powerful conversation with acclaimed filmmaker Malcolm D. Lee—the visionary behind The Best Man, Girls Trip, Night School and more. Malcolm opens up about his journey from writing scripts in his parents’ basement to building one of the most respected careers in Hollywood. He shares how Spike Lee’s influence inspired him to pursue film, the process of writing The Best Man as a timeless classic, and why every great script starts with a “crappy draft.” Malcolm also dives into the lessons of perseverance during slow seasons, the pressure of rewrites, and the importance of always putting character first.

Calling all my sweeties to the forefront. I'm your host, Chris Renee Hazel, and this is the Keep It Posit Sweetie Show. Hey, sweeties, you already know what time it is. It's your weekly dose of joy, real talk, and a little soul work on the side. I have been so excited about every single guest that we've had this season. We've had nothing but gems dropped every single episode, and today will be no difference. He is a writer, director, producer of work that has spanned over different generations. We all love his characters.

We root for them. We've cried with them. And we've grown with them. You may know him from films like Best Man, Girls Trip, Night School. Kipps family, please give a very warm welcome to Malcolm D. Lee. Malcolm, how are you feeling? I'm well. Good.

You're fresh off the flight. Fresh off the flight. Straight to Atlanta. Very glad to be here, yes. Good. So this is the second stop on your book tour. Yeah. The first one was amazing.

So I guess I got some big shoes to feel for tonight. Oh, you'll be fine. It's going to be good. No pressure. No pressure. You know, let's just have a conversation. I love it. So let's, everyone knows you from your best man film and the television series.

Girls trip, which was one of my favorite. Oh, my gosh. And then I heard that maybe doing another one. As soon as I heard, I was like, I need that. We're working on it. Working on it. Yeah. And Space Jam, the last.

Legacy. People know you from that, but I want to know who Malcolm is. Where are you from? Tell us your journey to get to the best man that has a movie that we've all grown up to and watched for years. Yeah, I was born in Queens, New York. I was raised in Brooklyn. I grew up with both my parents and my brother. And I was at predominantly private school since the fifth grade, since the 12th grade. I went to. and I was the only black male in my class from fifth to 12th grade. What? Yeah, yeah. It was interesting existence. And then went to the Georgetown University, undergrad, went to NYU Film School.

And always had a love for the fine and performing arts, you know, from a very early age. And what those, you know, prep schools did for me was expose me to film and television. very early, animation, video making, and I always like to act and write and draw, you know, create little scenarios with, you know, action figures and things like that. So, yeah, that's, you know, I grew up, I grew up like, you know, like that and, you know, just painting in many different arts endeavors.

And, you know, I think it was certainly encouraged by my family. I think they kind of said, let me explore, like, you know, my. My mom would put me at art classes and things like that. And she was a medical records administrator. She transitioned to be a college professor later on. My father was a school teacher and musician. And yeah. And so we grew up in a limestone in Crown Heights, Brooklyn.

Very nice. I love that. So, wow, it's similar to me, my childhood. I grew up predominantly. white community, was one of the few black kids from kindergarten all the way to the 12th grade and then moved to D.C. You went to Georgetown. That's when I was like, whoa, a whole new world. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, absolutely. Yeah, no, I mean, even going to Georgetown, like, that was more black people than I'd been around in my life. And then it was Howard was right across the, you know,

right across town. So if I wanted to, you know, see more, I could, I could, you know, experience. And it was all, at the time, it was still known as Chocolate City. Yeah, exactly. I mean, so, yeah, I would say primarily good, good happy childhood, you know, pretty well adjusted and, you know, kind of felt like I knew what I wanted to do when I was an undergrad. I mean, I got to work with my cousin Spike. Spike Lee? That's your cousin. That's my cousin, yeah. Wow. You didn't know that.

No, he's in the bloodline. All right. Now you know. Yeah. Yeah, so I got to work with him very early on. He was in film school in the early 80s. and living in my parents' basement. Wow.

And so I got to see very early on the emergence of this great American and now world-renowned filmmaker, who I didn't know at the time was going to be that. Right. But he demonstrated that it was possible to have a career in this industry. And, you know, I got to work with him really from, she's got to have it on through Malcolm X and Clockers and Girl 6. And so that was, you know, great education and a great,

encouragement from him to you know be creative and write black film and you know and really trying to demonstrate how powerful the moving image was

particularly when it came to to black people so it's not something that should be taken lightly because that you know movies television shape attitudes and culture and can affect

people's views of, you know, humanity. So I've always taken that very seriously in the legacy that my family has come from. It's very much been that. You know, my father's side of the family. He had

six brothers and sisters, and they all went to HBCUs. They all played instruments. The instruments skipped my generation. I don't play anything but the radio. And so, you know, That was a legacy that I came from.

The education was important. And because they had seen one filmmaker come out of the basement, they were like, no, you know, why don't you pursue that? Yeah. And, you know, and I was encouraged to do so. Okay, I love that. That is fascinating. Wow.

So Spike Lee is in your basement. I wanted to ask you growing up around predominantly white people and a predominantly white community, where did you find the inspiration to write the way you write for our culture and our community? it is it hits home every single time i'll tell you well you know i i was living my neighborhood that i lived in was black you know and i you know i'd play ball you know down at the local playground you know and there's plenty of you know i play a black experience and it was like that

was that that was like the duality that i was living you know like you know being you know trying to be black enough for my for my for my neighborhood and trying to be you know at least a model minority for the white folks you know and so um that was was the kind of the you know this you know you talk about code switching that was doing that very very right on yeah um but you know what i what it afforded me and what it allowed me to think was like you know i saw you know a lot of different size of the world you know jewish kids christian kids waspi kids whatever and you know and also wealthy kids um and so have an experience that not only in 5th through 12th grade, but also in college gave me a wealth of experience.

And then also going to college, you see different kinds of black people, too, right? So, like brothers from Texas and Atlanta and from California and, you know, the D.C. area, there's lots of different dialects and lots of different, you know, way, you know, mores and way people speak. So, you know, I observed all of that and became friends with lots of different kinds of people and different kinds of black people. people, which, you know, and my experiences at Georgetown definitely influenced and was inspired by my relationships that I made at Georgetown. And so what I was finding, particularly in movies about black people, or not even about black, but they had black people in it, you know, it was very kind of very, very narrow depictions. Yes. Right? You know, so there was the, you know,

there's the Hood Brother, there's the, the quirky friend, or there's always, sassy girlfriend and it's like and then particularly when it came to educated brothers they just like forgot they were black you know they had no cultural specificity of blackness so they would like check their ethnicity of the door and that somehow that meant because you're educated you're speaking the king's english you are you know one way you have a bat up you're behind and you're just like you know you just you just aspire to be white right which is like like which is like not my experience and not these parents of the people that I went to school with. So I was like, this is not real or not authentic to me.

And so I drew on my experiences to create characters that I thought were more authentically, you know, presented. And, you know, movies that preceded the best man, like Love Jones and Soul Food. Even waiting to exhale, at least for the women, you know, were fewer depictions of the black people that I interacted with. Yeah, I love that. Take us to when the idea of best man came, where were you? That's an interesting question. Now, I had done after film school, I'm sorry, before a film school, in between film school and undergrad, I went to do a screenwriting program at Disney.

I got a fellowship. I wrote two scripts, my first two screenplays there. I went to film school, did a couple of shorts, I wrote three more screenplays. That fifth one, I was determined to make, right? It was called Feast and Famine. It was a, you know, romantic comedy, very much in the vein of like an Annie Hall or when Harry and Sally, a classic New York love story. And, you know, I wanted to make the movie.

I was trying to raise money for it. And so when I couldn't do that independently, it was really difficult. And I was just like, you know what? I'm going to write something so commercial that I'm going to sell it. And I'm going to use the money that I sell that with to make Feast and Famine. And that script was the best man. Wow. And so I was in the midst of writing it.

And I was just like, oh, I can direct this. And I will say I knew how it was going to be commercial was I knew that there was you know a dearth of movies about black or a wedding right like the wedding movies are very popular at the time

and so I was like okay I got to do a movie a wedding movie with black people in it and because there hadn't been one to date at that time and I love ensemble movies and I wanted to have a very clear three-act structure and there was built-in set pieces. Your bachelor party. You're the fellas hanging out one night.

The rehearsal dinner and the wedding itself. And that I knew that I was going to have a magic prop in there, which was the book that keeps getting passed around. So I made sure that I had all of the elements of, you know, a commercial movie. before I wrote it. Right. And so when I wrote it, I was like, okay, this feels right. Awesome.

Now how long did it take from writing the best man to it actually getting greenlit? I remember finishing the script. It was, you know, I was up early one morning, and I was, and I just finished it, and I was in my parents' basement, and I walked upstairs, and if this ain't it, I don't know what they want. And I was going to be, like, either become a teacher or go to law school. Wow. Because, you know, what I was trying to make, they weren't trying to make.

So I would say that was, I knew I, what I wanted to do was time it. I'm trying to remember now. I wanted to time the, finishing the script by the time the movie's soul food came out. Got it. Now, also being strategic about how I was going to approach it. And I thought if Soul Food was going to be successful, as I had read about, you know, the, the movie in a trade magazine. And I remember thinking, yeah, like, even though what I'm writing is not soul food,

they'll be looking for the next soul food type of thing where black people are just doing more than just, you know, being in the hood and running from danger, you know what I mean? So I was like, okay, if this movie is successful with Neil Long and Vivica Fox and Vanessa Williams and Babyface is going to be doing a soundtrack. this could do well. Yeah. And if that does well, that would vote well for my script. So I was done with it by the time Soul Foods premiered at Urban World in New York.

And I think that was fall of, or late summer of 98. No, 97, sorry. And then we went around to a couple of different studios. Spike had read it. He was like, this is the one. Oh, wow. And so we met with Columbia. he had a deal there at the time

there's a funny story behind that but I'll get to that later then I would say that was yeah late midfall and then by the time the Academy Awards came around we landed at Universal oh wow okay in March of 98

and they said we like this we want to try to develop it and make it wow how did that feel in that moment when they said, finally, someone's like, we like that. Well, it was funny because it was, it's not that, it doesn't happen like that. Because what happens is, because in fact, the first few studios we went to, they were like, we like it, but it's not for us.

Okay. Right. Yeah. We need to do some development. And Spike is being who he is, it's like, all right, later for y'all. We're going someplace else. Right. So I'm like, uh, maybe we should listen.

Right. But he was like, nope, we're going to find somebody. This, this movie is going to get me. It's okay, fine. So we go to Universal and he says, okay, look, we're going to tell them. They've got to pay you for a rewrite. If they want to do any notes, they're going to pay you for a rewrite. And if they don't like it, we're taking it away.

I said, great. So we're going to listen to their notes. Yeah. So that's what happened. So, you know, there were notes. And they said, here's a little money. And at first I was excited. But when you get, like, the money that they offer, it's great.

But, like, you see where Uncle Sam really comes in and just, I was. I was like, that's what I got. Right. Okay. But fine. I was living in my parents' basement. It was all fine. And did the rewrite in about two months.

Then I was greenlit. So that was exciting. The night that I found out that we were greenlit at a budget, I think we were asking for seven or eight, and they said, you can have it for nine. Oh, wow. Yeah. Because they looked at it as you're going to need nine. And then we actually,

needed more but we were like great so that was very exciting i remember where i was i was in i was in new york my girlfriend who's my who was my wife at the now um and and um another couple and we just came from a restaurant and uh i got the did i have a cell phone then or was it a beeper i don't i'm i'm i'm i'm i'm i remember i was on a pay phone or i was on a um cell phone i think it was the cell phone now. Yeah. And I got a call from my executive at the studio says, yep, you're greenlit. Let's go. Wow. But best man, though, we did

become number one of the box office. How much did that one grossed after getting for $9 million then you... The first weekend it made it's budget back. Okay, perfect. And then it grossed about $34 or $35 million. Yeah. Wow, and that's a huge... Yeah, it was big. It was big. It was very big. Was that, even for that time, for a black film...

Oh, it was very big. Yeah. Even the fact that we we were number one that weekend was huge. Yeah. I mean, nobody makes, nobody gets $9 million and like, oh, you're number one? How do you be number, that's unheard of today. It'd be like, yeah, whatever, $9 million. But nine million, it was, and we beat out Fight Club and a Martin's Gorsese movie and this very popular movie that Ashley Judd had done called Double Jeopardy.

Oh, that was a good one. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So it was, it was, it was a great, great story. Yeah. How did that shift like where you were in your life at that point? It was everything, man. Like, I was like, that was, that, that, after you become, what I like to say is the prom queen. Everybody wants to dance.

Yeah. Right. Everybody wants to, you know, like, you know, give you projects. They all want to say, hey, would you consider this, yada, yada, yada. So it was, it was pretty fantastic. And you, you know, your head can get, you know, swole and you, and blow up and stuff. And again, you know, I'm young. I'm like just new to this business.

But when you start getting accolades and you think, oh, my stuff don't stink, I'm good. Did you go through a phase of? Oh, yeah. I mean, it's impossible not to, right? At whatever age you are or when you're first coming in the business, you know, it's tough to, like, you know, navigate all of that. Absolutely. Because they will, they will, they, I'm sure you've heard of the saying, they'll build you up and they'll tear you down. And it happens, you know.

And sometimes they can be your own doing. Like I wanted to be an author. I wanted to be a writer-director. So if they were coming to me with a script that they were like, well, we'd love you to direct this. And I'd be like, well, I didn't write that. So I don't know. That's not, I'd do better than that. Right.

You know, or if they want you to write something that, you know, but they don't want you to direct it. I was just like, I'm not doing that either. Right. But that's short-sighted. Right. I learn that now. So now you would take the opportunity to like... Well, no, no, I'm post-50 now.

So I'm just like, no, I'm going to do what I want. But at that age, you have to be much more malleable. You have to feel like you got to kind of, you know, look at the entire landscape. And, you know, because what is popular today, what is working now, ain't going to work in a couple of years. Yeah. Right? So you have to, like, really kind of read the tea leaves.

You have to, like, you know, learn to say, well, maybe I can do something with this. I mean, at certain points, you're going to, you know, there's something that they'll give you to be like, I don't know what the heck I'm going to do with this, right? But I think that's the balance, right, of trying to figure out, you know, one's career. But at the same time, it's like, if you don't go through certain things, you're not going to learn. Absolutely. Absolutely. you said what works now may not work 10 years from now you created something right but you actually created something back then that still works today how does it feel that you created something that

is still so relevant and resonates from me being in my teens at that time to me being an adult where I can watch it and still like oh my goodness I still get it you know I feel very fortunate you know my intention this is no this is no lie my intention to make making the best man was to make a classic. Yeah, well, you did that. Was to make a movie that, you know, would stand the test of time that would resonate for decades and generations. And thankfully that happened, you know, thanks to,

I mean, I think in large part to the, where the script, you know, where we started with the script. You know, I wrote a good script, and it was the right script at the right time. You know, a lot of times when, you know, films, the zeitgeist, they're like, oh, like, that strikes a nerve and it's nostalgia, you know, from then on.

so people can't really see any other thing. And so that was the intention. It was never the intention to do a sequel or do a television series or now even a book. You know, it was just like, let me just make a movie that's going to be a one-off. Because I don't want to, I did not want to repeat myself the second time around. You know what I mean? So there was talk of a sequel very early on. But I was like, no, I don't want to do that.

I don't want to be a one-trick pony, and these characters need to live some life. I need to live some life before I decide I want to tackle this again. So it just so happened that, you know, as they would have it, and as I said, around 2010, 2011, business for me was very slow. And what was the big thing then, branding? What was my brand, the best man? Everyone knew that I had done four of the movies. Right.

But they weren't as popular or as. you know, kind of like memorable as the best man and I was like, I think it's time to start doing it. And I started like doing little notes and things on the sequel for years

out there, but never really committing to paper. But I was like, okay, now is the time to try to do a sequel and I picked it to the cast and they were like, let's do it. Yeah. When you look back from over the years and you see the impact that you've made on our community, What is a part of your legacy that means the most to you?

You know, look, I love that black folks in particular love these depictions. Yeah. Right? Like, it is my mission. I firmly believe it's my mission on Earth to show the humanity of black people and to normalize black life in America. You know, I've always wanted to tell a universal story

with black people like we all experience the same human emotions you know and so with this all though the stories are very universal there's a lot of cultural specificity and I always want to do that with my work and I'm glad that people get it it resonates

people you know feel it in here they don't just you know laugh and smile and cry whatever like they it's a part of who they are and they're you know their DNA and you know that it that it resonates and it's great that you know every time candy from cameo comes on everybody does the electric slide i find that pretty amazing right for sure i love that when it comes to your creative process do you wait on something to spark or what what moves

you and then how do you really go through that whole process when it comes to writing it's it's a mixed bag you know and i would say it's changed it's evolved over the years. Sometimes, you know, I wait. When I'm writing something, I'm like, oh, you got to wait to the muse hits me. Around three o'clock is when the muse is going to hit me and play a visit and I can start, you know, really getting creative. But then it gets to a point where you realize, like, this is a job. And, you know, you're always going to write the crappy draft. You have to write the crappy draft. That's so good. You have to, because you have to, you got to get to the And because screenwriting, and now I've found out of novel writing,

it's all about rewriting, you know? You've got to get to the end and then look back and say, okay, oh, that's terrible. Oh, well, that's not so bad. And then you just make it better. You find joy in that process? Huh. He said, oh, sometimes, oh, sometimes it's fantastic.

Sometimes it's like I find myself laughing when things are, are supposed to be funny. I find myself crying when they're emotional. You know, yeah, it's, so that's very joyous, you know. But it's hard. It's a hard price to get there, right? But the thing I have to keep in mind of themselves, you guys got to keep plowing forward.

And even if you're going to not write what's, you know, the story that you're working on, you've got to write something. Yeah. You have to, like, you know, I've learned recently from a writer friend of mine, like, just the beginning of the day, start your brain dumb. You know, I meditate first. I do a meditation and then, you know, try to clear my mind and then go ahead and write what's on my brain, what's on my head. So I can just get rid of that.

And then, okay, now I can get back to the pages that I write. And then, like, just, and it ain't going to be great. It might be great. some days are better than others yeah for sure i think that's with everything um you talked about for some years there was a time where it was really slow for you what were those moments like when you realized you had to play the long game and it wasn't just going to come like you thought like it was coming in 1999 that was the long game too you know i mean i knew i wanted to be the film makers this time i was 19 so by the time i was 25 and in my third year of film school

I was like, this ain't working. Like I, you know, John Singleton made Boys in the Hood by time he was 22. Orson Wells made Citizen Kane by 25. Like, what am I doing? Wow. Right? Yeah. So it is along you have to just, you know, what I've learned is you have to be a little

patient, you have to have perseverance, stick toitiveness, you know? And like I said, you've got to, if something comes along, sometimes it's ridiculous. my agent will give me a script and I'm like they want to make this what what what right why what are they huh and so I remember there was one script

there was a star that was circling it and he was like a supposed to be a Kirk Franklin type right and he and he's like you know he was very much kind of a task master and not a good guy yeah and he ends up in purgatory and he gets into a car accident

ends up in the purgatory and they're like, well, you can go to either heaven or hell or you can go back to this little white town and teach these white people gospel music. And I was like,

they want to make this. They want to make this? They're like, yeah. I was like, they want to make this? And so like, you get, those things happen, you know? And during those

dry patches it's like you just got to try to reinvent yourself like I and during that time that's when I started to move towards television I had written a spec script that didn't get sold and then I said okay let me say I can make a television show and that kept me afloat for a bit because I was able to turn television and get a little bit of money and then that's when I came up when with the branding thing with best man holiday yeah and after that I was like I ain't saying no to nothing when a script comes in and I it's they And they want me to do it. And the train's about to leave the station. All right, give me a week or two, and I'll just go and do it.

Because you can't, you can't just squander these opportunities. When you're hot, you've got to, like, you know, keep hopping on it. But at the same time, you have to have a life balance as well. Right. Let's talk about that. It's not, it's funny, too, because, you know, my wife keeps me in check very much, you know, in terms of, like, making sure that I'm present. Yeah, that's good.

At the same time, she's like, yo, you got to go make that money, too, right? And I remember, it's so funny. I had just done girls' trip, and it wasn't coming out yet, but they had tremendous buzz, right? And Universal wanted to make this movie Night School with Kevin Hart, and I was like, and they redeemed a script, and I read it twice. I fell asleep, but I'm like, I can't do this. Like, this is not a good script, right? And but they were like, oh, it's very important to the studio, blah, blah, blah, blah. They were going to make it, and I was just like, and I talked to over with my wife,

and she was like, well, look, you got to do what you feel, right? And they were going to pay me, you know, a good salary. Yeah. But I was like, you know, girlship was so hard. I had a very hard year between girls from the barbershop. I'm not going to do it. So I tell Will Packer, you know, I'm going to pass. And I hung up the phone.

I was in my office, and I called my wife, and she was like, I said, yep, I passed. She's like, all that money, huh? I was like, but you said, dude, did I say, I should follow my heart. I said, I let her call him back.

So I called back. And I was like, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. I got his points, my, hey, hey, call me back. I'm in. That is hilarious. This one, like the same one she says one thing, but she really means another.

No, actually, you know, she just, you know, again, she keeps me checking. It's like, you know, it's all about checks and balances, right? It's like, okay, you know. think about it but what is it going to mean long term right

and again when you when you say no and that was the other thing too having done that movie that was very important to the studio I got my deal at the studio and there's a whole

this relationship that are very important that need to be you know preserved and cultivated so it's that's the long game yeah did that in turn that deal with him And did that in turn help you with the Peacock deal for the series?

I was already in a, I'm sorry, a television deal with Universal Television. Right. Universal Studios is different, but I have a deal with both of them right now. So it's, I'm one of their soldiers. Love that. Love that. And that's working not good for you, I see. Could be better, but, you know.

I think that's, let's talk about that, too, just the state of Hollywood. You know, we had. the writers had a strike, then the actors had a strike, and then Transvo, they almost had a strike. How has that, one, affected you, and then when you say it could be better? I think everybody in the industry feels like, that's their answer. It could be better. Yeah, I mean, it's a tough time right now, especially the past two years. And then, you know, if you even count the pandemic, you know, before that, that was very, very tough.

A lot of people are losing jobs. The industry is shrinking. Especially after the writer's strike, it is, it's a business that's contracting. And it, this happens. It goes through ebbs and flows. Yes. And so I would say that, yeah, I mean, it's a tough time and they're very much running scared. You know, they're not just saying yes to everything.

They're not, you know, like taking chances on a lot of things. They want the surefire thing. There's no such thing, by the way. But they're relying very much on intellectual property that's, been successful in the past right so that's why you see it in the Jurassic Park being made mission impossible being made you know if the you know they're they're they're they're they're they're going to go to those people are going to show up you know so that's what we're we're we're doing that and a number of other things that we're trying to do original content trying to you know

things like like you know book adaptations to um to the screen and things like that too yeah so you know if it has a follow ever if it has a built-in audience it's easier for the them to say yes. Right. But even that, you know, the development process, finding the right writer, finding the right producer, finding the right actor, find the right talent, trying to find to find the, you know, the schedules that will line up. It's not easy. It's not, it's so true. Yeah, it's true. Talk about book adaptations. One of the questions we all had was like, is he going to turn this book into a series? Because you know, you're going to do three books? Three books. This is the first one of the three. How is the right? How is the right?

writing process for a script and a book different. I think, you know, there's similar in that you, you've got to have character, you have to have story, you've got to write scenes, you have to write dialogue, you have to create a world. However, with a screenplay, it's a lot more contained and a lot more restrictive. Gotcha. But something great can come out of that. right um but it you you have that that classic three-act structure with your you know inciting

incident and your engine that pulls you through the second act and you know the the denou mall and the third act crisis or the end of second act crisis and then the resolution and all these are these are part of movie law you have to do these things um there they're exceptions to that rule but with a book you can kind of take your time a little bit there's a lot more expansive storytelling that goes on when you get into these characters brains and psyches and get to know them on an intimate level i mean people think they know you know harper robin and jordan but they don't know some of their backstory you don't know their upbringing they don't know where they where they came from really you know they might have some idea but and what their their thinking is i mean you can only

tell what they think when they tell you what they're thinking right say it on on television show or a movie or if they're doing voiceover but with a book you're able to do to to to get into their subconscious you're able to also take advantage of all kinds of the sense all all the senses you know the touch the feel the see hearing uh the taste um so you know it's it's a a fantastic more expansive way of storytelling absolutely What made you say it is time to write a book? I love the written word from, you know, early on and fantasized about writing a novel. Really?

Yeah, because, you know, my screenplays have always been too long, right? Like, you know, I remember my first draft of the best man was like a hundred and thirty-five pages. Oh, wow, yeah. And the studio was like, you've got to cut this down. So, you know, I played with fonts and stuff and got it down to 120. big mistake. Once they reset that thing, they were like, oh my God, you've got to cut this. And I was like, oh, well, you know. So, I like having the, you know, the breadth of storytelling in writing a novel. So, like, that was a beautiful process. And I got to, you know,

collaborate with a co-writer named Jane Allen. And she was established in the world. I, you know, I hadn't, you know, had that opportunity. And I knew I wasn't going to be able to do it myself. I do have a day job and so I said I want to try this thing how it could potentially work but it was time and it also time to do it with these characters and this was the this was a kind of an easy foray

or an easier foray than to create characters from Whole Claw there was a backstory that existed there's the characters that existed there were circumstances that you know people were familiar with and even those people who aren't familiar with it I think can still vibe with the with the storytelling that goes

on here so yeah I mean It was time to do it. And I knew that, you know, it would be incredibly difficult to mount another television show or a movie with the story telling that I wanted to do. And to get all those actors back together would be very difficult. Yeah. So I was like, well, let me give this a shot and try it. And because the fans wanted more, you know, from these characters. I thought we were done after final chapters.

And I think it was mainly because of how difficult it was to wrangle everybody and get the studio to agree to, you know, this budget. And it's just not easy. Yeah. Oh, man. So is that mean we may not get any more final chapters? Because we're getting it right there on a written form. We're getting it here.

You'll have it there. And it's a very cinematic experience. Yeah. You know, people are really going to, this is a deeper look at these characters than we've ever experienced before. I will say that we spoke about this too. When you read a book and then you go watch the TV or film adaptation, the book is always better. So I'm excited to really dive in. Yeah, because, you know, look, when you're reading a book, you have what you envision for, right?

And there's probably millions of people's interpretations of, you know, what that is. But when you're watching a movie television show, that's one person's vision, right? It's the director, the writer, maybe five people's vision of what that thing should be. Right. And then you have a bunch of other people, like costume designers and, you know, directors of photography and, you know, production designers that are all going to, like, put their stamp on it as well. So it's a collaborative process, whereas the book is a singular experience, you know, for the reader and for the writer. Yeah. Which one do you enjoy better if you had this? I definitely enjoyed this

and I enjoyed the screenwriting process too you know when it's when it's flowing when it ain't it's hard this is tough I mean I like them both I like the creative process and you know especially you know in television and in you know in this case

with the book I had a collaborator and you know in the television We had writers. So it's always good to, like, you know, get input, and that generates good, healthy discussion. Right. And that generates ideas. When you're, you know, singular and writing your own screenplay,

that's great also. Right. And I do enjoy that too, but, you know. I love that. What part of being a storyteller do you think that people don't get to see? We see the finish outcome, we see everything that you do on TV, but we don't really see the ends and outs.

What is something that you could share with us that we really don't get to see? I mean it's a lonely process it's a it is you know it's a singular

you know process that requires discipline and perseverance and because every day is not going to be a banner day

when you write something you know you mean oh my God this sucks why who would who even cares that about these characters I've got to end of a screenplay

and be like who's going to care right but then you guys say okay wait a minute you wrote it for a reason the idea was it was inspiration behind it okay so what's good about and so it's lonely

it's uh it's it's it takes it takes a lot of discipline because no one's just telling you like oh like you got to reach this many pages in a day right right I mean if you're getting paid you know you do you are supposed to like you know hit some deadlines and that's a lot of pressure

yeah and you know it's not was, you know, work like that. When you say discipline, can you take us through a day with Malcolm D. Lee, like, what that discipline looks like, because I'm sure some people don't even understand the discipline it takes to be a storyteller. What does that look like from your lens? You know, every screenplay has been different, you know. You can't just start writing interior, you know, Max's House day, you know, setting the scene.

You have to, like, do pieces. You got to do a lot of prewriting. you have to like who is this character what does he where does he come from or where does she come from what does he like what's the what you know and so character first that's where i always start with character with character and just you know try to like first what's what story are you telling right and then how is and what's the interaction going to be is it a count what's the tone is it a comedy is it a drama is it a tragedy you know uh you have to figure out tone character story, plot, inciting incident, you know, what's, and what's going to keep this going?

Like, why are we going to be watching? Right. Or, or reading. Reading, yeah. You know, so there's a lot that goes into it. And some of it, at this point, I think it's a little bit intuitive. Other things are just, they take some discussion or, you know, looking, reading other things, It's like reading other books, doing research.

You know, for instance, in this book here, we have a huge section of it that takes place in Ghana. Yes. And, you know, I had to go there for 10 days to, like, just get myself immersed in the culture so I can speak authentically about what an American woman's experience might be there. Somebody's trying to open a restaurant. That's good.

That's good. How was that experience going? Great. Great. I love Ghana. Yeah. You know, it's just very like, travel in the world gives you definitely a different perspective on America and the world, right? Absolutely. About like where we've come from, what was taken from us, what we've endured. It's, it's, it's, it's, and what's still going on.

So it's eye-opening. Yeah, that's so good. When it comes to your book, and you've grown with these characters, how do you approach them now as an adult differ than the way you did as a 20-year-old? That's interesting. I don't know. Look, I look at their commonalities and their humanity and what they're going, what are, what did 20-year-olds go through? It was all the experience that I had, right?

And then, you know, what would happen if, like, you know, you've got kids and, you know, one of your friends was dying? Like, what is that going to be like? What if once I'm having financial trouble? What is that, you know, what if this same group of friends has something, you know, that comes up from their past that is affecting your future? So these are all questions you ask and then, okay, let's put it in the holiday. and see what happens, right? And so, you know, the same thing with the final chapters

and with this book here, you say, what's life like for, you know, post-divorce, you know, for somebody who's very successful like Harper is, who is like, you know, a Pulitzer Prize winner, you know, he's financially independent, he's, you know, and kind of flush with cash and, like, getting a little, you know,

he's outside, you know, you're getting, you know, trying to find companionship. Yeah. But it's not really working. What is it, what is life for, life for, for, for Jordan, who's finally given up the, the grind and gone to self-care? What does that look like for a woman who's, you know, a black woman, a professional black woman who's approaching her 50s, you know, saying, and, and what's looked like for a woman who's raising their very American child, you know, over in, uh, across Ghana. Yeah. And trying to open a restaurant and, you know, the little child is like, you know, having their own opinions and, you know, becoming a teenager and dealing with that.

And, you know, so and then new love and rebirth and all these things that, like, we explore in the novel and then things that that have happened in the past that affect you now. So it's all, you know, those are all themes that you just kind of like, you know, want to tackle. And then on top of it, you know, I'm a better writer now than I was then. like what has to happen right or and what the expectations are on where we're leading and but at the same time you have to trust the material and the characters because they will tell you where it's going to go that's good it's the truth yeah i mean this it's it's i i will say same thing happened in the best man the first best man that happened in this book i i was going along a path i give an example Robin was never

That's the Sinala Lathan's character She was never coming to the wedding In the original draft Really? That's correct It wasn't until we were doing I was doing the rewrite for the studio And you know My producer was like

You know what if she came to the wedding Because all was going to happen was Harper was going to get his He was going to get his ass beat He was going to have his lesson learned And he was going to be like you know what I need to make a stronger commitment commitment to my relationship. He goes home.

He's trying to make a meal for Robin. He's messing it up. And he's like, she's like, what happened? And she's like, here, I, I, he gives her a key to his place. That's nice. But it's not what it needed to be. Once she got there and once you understood, you must put pressure on your main character in order to see what they're going

to do, right? That is how you tell story. It's conflict. It's like, okay, so I was like, God, what's going to happen? Yeah. Right? You know, and you write it and you say, oh, this is good. This is better. She does calm him down. First, she's pissed off and she wants to leave, but he tells

I need you. Please don't leave me. And that's a real thing that was okay. Like, she can help and she's the woman for you. Yeah. Right? same thing in this but I'm not going to tell you the ending

but I was going along a path and Jane and I were talking and Chelsea our editor was like well this is the way this is happening and you really got to think about what this choice and what that choice and what he should do here and what she should do there and I'm like

man yeah we got to do that because that makes sense that's so good I love that how much of your storytelling mirrors your life well some elements

yes but not a ton I mean look I'm going through you know things that like a lot of these characters going through like midlife metamorphosis you know like what my body is changing like you know

yeah I you know do and I do feel like like the best I felt in years but at the same time like your body's like you ain't you ain't 25 no more you ain't 40 And so, like, and you see friends who, you know, we have friends who have wore together for a long time.

They got divorced, especially around this age. Yeah. So there's a reflection for sure that we're seeing, you know, fortunately, unlike Harper, I am still married. Amen. And, you know, I'm, I'm, as much as as I've been on the grind and want to be on the grind and know the grand, I want to push for the grind, like, you know, I, like, Jordan, has trying to find like a balance right so like that's been you know uh healthy as well just trying

to you know figure all those things out um and you know robin being in ghana i get that i get that she's like a she choosing herself she chose herself um and she chose her happiness and she wasn't going to be you know supportive of a man that wasn't going to give a reciprocal um a reciprocity to it's the relationship. And so, you know, I don't know if I fantasize that about being in Ghana, but when I was there, I was like, could I do this? Yeah. Maybe.

If the things keep going where they're going here, maybe. Yeah, that's so true. That's so true. Readers, I've heard the books are flying off the shells. Yeah, yeah. I was just yesterday, my co-writer, Jane, you know, she has a ritual where she, like, She goes, when she's in New York, she gets a little hot chocolate from a certain place, she goes to a Barnes & Noble in midtown and, you know, signs books.

So she went and got the hot chocolate yesterday, went to Barnes & Noble, sold out. Wow. And I was like, word? She was like, yeah. So, and then we had the Schaumburg last night. All the books were sold out, you know, the house was packed. It's fantastic. So, like, I'm glad that people are taking.

to that they care about the story and they want to know the story even though it's not on the big or the small screen they can have their own small screen or big screen experience and what everyone tells me and I believe it and I think it's true it feels like a movie

because you see who the actors were you don't have to picture who they are there's a few new characters that you might say oh who would that be and that's fair go ahead and do that and so you know and the social media has been been pretty robust as well. So we're very excited. That's amazing. For people who are looking forward to diving in the book,

what can you tell them to look forward to? More of the same. If you love Best Man, or if you even like Best Man, you're going to love this book. You know, it's more the same. The humor's there. You know, there's a depth of emotion that's there. There's going to be some surprises. I definitely think people are going to laugh, They're going to talk out loud to the book, you know, they're going to, you know, get angry at characters. They're going to, you know, be sad for characters. They're going to, you know, they should be, you know, when the songs get referenced in there, they should play the playlist for themselves.

Yeah. I think there's going to be a lot to expect. They're going to have a great time. It's a great journey. And I'm hearing that people, just like they binged final chapters, people like, I mean, they watch it, like, multiple times. Yes. And they watched it from like beginning to end in one setting. That's an adventure.

That is what I'm here. People are finishing this book in two days. Wow. And this book is almost 500 pages. Oh, yeah. And the people are like just, it's a page turner. They're just voraciously reading it. That's amazing.

Congratulations on everything. I'm so excited. Excited for you. Appreciate it. Much success. Before we get out of here, I do want to play a little game with you. Oh, playing games? Yeah.

Okay. It's a rapid fire game. So just the first thing that comes to mind. Oh, boy. I'm terrible at these things. I'm an overthinker. Well, some of these you would know because these are like, some of them are direct. Okay.

What is the first script you ever wrote? Oh, Morningside Prep. Favorite film that you didn't direct? Hmm. I was going to say parenthood. Okay. Let's go. Okay.

A book that changed your life. I could change my life, but I changed my life. I would say native son. Good. Most surreal moment in your career so far. I'm sure it has to do with Girls Trip. Probably shooting at Essence of Girls Trip. Yes.

That was crazy that y'all did that. Your favorite author. Probably Richard Wright. Okay. And favorite fictional character? Hmm. do you have a favorite in your in your world like a favorite character oh boy no i i love all these i love all my characters right maybe quentin but he's that's very selfish to say my own character i'm sure there

are others you know in in the movie television that i can't think nobody's coming in my mind my mind's a blank all right last one what is bringing you the most joy right now. I think life in general. Like I got a very good balance. Kids are healthy. Wife's in my corner. I got a book coming out.

I got my career is doing well. I'd like to make a little bit more money. But other than that, I'm good. I love that. Malcolm, thank you so much. Thank you. Thank you.

Get the book. It's on the shelves right now. Or maybe not. Because they're selling out. You're selling out. You better get that book. Yes. Don't be left out the chat.

Listen, do not be left out the chat. Thank you so much. Thank you. This is amazing. Today on the shoes, I am wearing a heart, a liar, pump. My skirt is leopard print by Zara. T-shirt is Christian Dior. Jury Van Cleef, Scaparrelli.

And my earrings are also by Scaparrelli. Get into it. Wow, it feels like maybe the Sweeties need to start a book club and call a meeting because we need to discuss this book and these characters. Make sure you guys like, subscribe, and tell a friend to tell a friend, and make sure you hit that notification button. Until next time, keep it positive, sweeties. Thank you.