The Breakfast Club - INTERVIEW: Malcolm D. Lee On 'The Best Man,' Spike Lee, Sable Bourbon, Essence, Peacock; Career Success +More

Episode Date: July 15, 2025

Today on The Breakfast Club, Malcolm D. Lee On 'The Best Man,' Spike Lee, Sable Bourbon, Essence, Peacock; Career Success. Listen For More!YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@BreakfastClubPower1051FMSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an iHeart Podcast. Just like great shoes, great books take you places. Through unforgettable love stories and into conversations with characters you'll never forget. I think any good romance, it gives me this feeling of like butterflies. I'm Danielle Robay and this is Bookmarked by Reese's Book Club. The new podcast from Hello Sunshine and iHeart Podcasts, where we dive into the stories that shape us on the page and off. Each week, I'm joined by authors, celebs,

book talk stars, and more for conversations that will make you laugh, cry, and add way too many books to your TBR pile. Listen to Bookmarked by Reese's Book Club on the iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. The Girlfriends is back with a new season, and this time I'm telling you the story of Kelly Harnett.

Kelly spent over a decade in prison for a murder she says she didn't commit. As she fought for her freedom, she taught herself the law. He goes, oh, God, Harnett, jailhouse lawyer. And became a beacon of hope for the women locked up alongside her. You're supposed to have faith in God, but I had nothing but faith in her. I think I was put here to save souls by getting people out of prison.

The Girlfriends, Jailhouse Lawyer. Listen on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. I knew I wanted to obey and submit, but I didn't fully grasp for the rest of my life what that meant. For My Heart podcasts and Rococo Punch, this is The Turning, River Road. In the woods of Minnesota, a cult leader married himself to 10 girls and forced them into a secret life of abuse. But in 2014, the youngest escaped. Listen to The Turning River Road on the iHeartRadio app,

Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. I'm Bob Crawford, host of American History Hotline, a different type of podcast. You, the listener, ask the questions. Did George Washington really cut down a cherry tree? Were JFK and Marilyn Monroe having an affair? And I find the questions. Did George Washington really cut down a cherry tree? Were JFK and Marilyn Monroe having an affair? And I find the answers. I'm so glad you asked me this question.

This is such a ridiculous story. You can listen to American History Hotline on the iHeartRadio app, Apple podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Wake that ass up. It's early in the morning. The Breakfast Club. Morning everybody. It's DJ Envy, Just Hilarious, Shalemane the guy. We are The Breakfast Club. Lauren LaRosa is here as well.

And we got some, you got a special guest in the building. Yes indeed. We have Malcolm D. Lee. Good morning. What's going on? How are you feeling? I'm great. Now Malcolm D. Lee is a writer, director and producer. He's worked on so many different things. The Best Man, Girl's Trip,

Night School, The Best Man, Final Chapter. So many in the name. How are you feeling this morning, brother? I'm fantastic. I'm very glad to be here. Happy to have you, man. You just put out a book called The Best Man, Unfinished Business. I need to know why would you continue The Best Man series as a book rather than a movie or TV show? Well I've always loved the written word. Number one I'm a storyteller at heart. It's very difficult to mount a television show in a movie. Getting all those great actors back together, very difficult. And I've fantasized about being a novelist. I thought, okay, here's an opportunity to try my hand at novel writing,

do it with characters that are already established, they have backstory already, and let me give it a shot. Plus, it gets the story out faster. I mean, fans said they wanted more, and I thought we were done at the final chapters on Peacock. Still number one on Peacock, the way, but I said okay, this is a way for me to try novel writing and get the story out to fans quicker. But if you have another story, why wouldn't Peacock, being that y'all broke records on

Peacock, as you said it was the number one show on Peacock, still number one on Peacock, why wouldn't they say no no no no no Malcolm we need that here? Well listen I'm not saying that they wouldn't or didn't ask but I thought at the time it was uh I was done but then the idea came to be okay let's try it uh as a as a book and I think we can tell more in-depth story uh with the book you know. You know, you get to use all five senses. We're kind of trained on three different characters in this. Harper, Robin, and Jordan, right? And so they're the kind of like the crux of the franchise.

And I felt like here's an opportunity to not only be more expansive in the storytelling, but also let's get into the psyche of these characters in a more in-depth way. Is it possible to get everybody back together? let's get into the psyche of these characters in a more in-depth way. Is it possible to get everybody back together? Yes, but it's very difficult. Very difficult.

Money, time? Money, time, keep, yeah, keep going. It's difficult, I mean, like, those are all working actors, right? And it's tough to get them back together. Then you have budget constraints, you have demands in the network and the studio. With a book, it's just me and my co-author, Jane Allen, to just say, okay, here's a story that I want to tell.

I want to go back, if you don't mind. Malcolm D. Lee coming up in this industry. Yes. You write The Best Man. Yep. So how do you go from here? How do you get it to where it is being young, being first time doing it, to getting the opportunity to even do it? So break it down where you from and how you how you even came up with the concept and idea. Okay so to start you know I the best man was my sixth screenplay and I wasn't even trying to direct it at the time. At the time I had written another romantic

comedy that I was trying to fund. I couldn't find the money for it. I said to direct it at the time. At the time I had written another romantic comedy that I was trying to fund, I couldn't find the money for it. I said I'm gonna write something so commercial that I'm going to take that money when I sell it and make my independent movie. But in the midst of writing it, it was also called My Homeboy's Wedding at the time. And I was like, I'm never gonna use that title.

So it was called My Homeboy's Wedding. It was in the beginning, that's why I named it. But I knew that was never gonna be the was called My Homeboy's Wedding. It was in the beginning. That's why I named it. But I knew that was never gonna be the title. My Homeboy's Wedding. That was not a good... My Homie's Wedding. My Homie's Wedding. No, no.

So I knew that wasn't gonna be the title, but I was like, okay. So in the midst of writing, I said I could direct this. And I remember giving it to Spike. He had to read all my screenplays. I already had an agent by that time as well, but nothing was happening. Where are you originally from? I'm originally from, well, I was born in Queens, but nothing was happening. And where are you originally from? I'm originally from, well, I was born in Queens,

raised in Brooklyn. Okay, you're the first cousin? Yeah, we're first cousins. His father, my father, who's now deceased, my father's still around, he's our brothers. And so, yeah, so then I was in my parents' basement, I finished the script, and I said, if this ain't it, then I don't know what I'm doing

I'm gonna probably be a lawyer or or or or a teacher Okay, and so I handed the script to spike and he said this is the one and so right after that We went to Columbia pictures we had a deal at the time and You know the sort of process we didn't land anywhere until maybe six, eight months later at Universal, because Spike was the kind of person that said, if they don't wanna do it, we moving on. Right?

And so, meaning like, we're not listening to any notes. We're not, here's the script, we're making this movie. Right? And Columbia was like, well, I'd like to do a little bit of work. He was like, F that, we outta here. And so I was like, well, I'd like to do a little bit of work. He was like, F that, we outta here. And so I was like, well, I'm just kind of playing catch with the whole town.

I'm kind of like, okay, all right, maybe. And then we went to Disney and then a few other places and we were getting like, well, we'd like to do a little work and he was like, we're outta here. And then I was like, can we slow down a little bit, please? So Universal said, hey, we'd like to see the script. Okay, I'll get the pay you to do the rewrite and then if they don't like it at the end,

we go someplace else. I said, all right, fine, we'll just, you know, we'll slow it down. So that's what happened and you know, the process started. I did a two month rewrite and got it to a place where it was the right script at the right time. You know, like if Love Jones or Way into Exhale or Soul Food didn't precede that movie,

it wouldn't have gotten made. The acting community was ready for it. Here were eight roles for black actors that could just be people and not, you know, characterizations or caricatures or sidekick or the sassy one or the hood nigga or whatever, you know, it was like, hey, this is like just eight post-graduates who are, you know, coming back.

And it was, you know, it had the right tone also. So, you know, it kind of worked out that way. And I, and certainly my idea was to make a classic movie. It was not- You did that. Thank you. No, and that was, that. And that was the intention. But beyond that, I wasn't thinking about anything else.

Just happened to be, you know, been able to turn into something more over the years. And how involved was Spike with the first Best Man movie? You know, Spike, you know, pretty much said. He was mad at one point, he was like, all right, do it on your own. That's pretty much what it was. He said, okay, you know, the script is good.

You know, the guy greenlit. He showed up the first day of shooting. We had a couple of, you know, disagreements about casting and, you know, music and stuff like that. But, you know, I stuck to my guns about who I wanted and what I wanted. And he was like very supportive of it. He was there for day one of the shoot

in the very beginning in the morning, said, good luck. and he was like very supportive of it. He was there for day one of the shoot in the very beginning in the morning said, good luck. And he was out. And then, you know, I saw him in the edit. You know, he looked at a cut and he was like, change, maybe, maybe consider changing this, change that. And that was it. He let me spike is very much the person that's like, it's the director's vision. You do you make your movie. Right.

I was going to ask you, I was I rewatched the best main final chapters before I started this and in one of those episodes Harper hints at they're supposed to be this spin-off about the love story between him and Nia Long, but then this book kind of gives that vibe to was that did you drop the egg on purpose or that just happened? Like that. No, I wish I could say that it was all like part of a master plan, but no, you know, but you you write things and then You see what's what has been established and you know try to build off of that So and building off of that because you decide to explore Robin Harper and Jordan's lives like separately separately even though they're so intertwined. Right. How did you decide that, I know you mentioned it was only these three characters,

how did you know like this was the story? Because there's so many spin-offs that we learned about in Final Chapter. And we're going to like right so like this is the book one of a trilogy right and so I know that the plan was I'm gonna start with these three because I think these the three that that people are most interested or the most kind of polarizing because you know Robin had made some decisions in the last in the Final Chapters that people are most interested or the most kind of polarizing, because Robin had made some decisions in the final chapters that people were very upset about. So I wanted to give her a chance to explain herself. And I will say also, let me just back up a little bit.

Doing a television show, as you said, be great to do, but it's also very restrictive in terms of budget and in terms of story. We wanted to do 10 episodes. We're only able to do eight because of, again, many different things, schedules and whatnot. So, again, being able to do it in a book is different. So, in doing these three characters, I wanted to like kind of like get answer those questions about, you know, what's going on with Robin and, I'm sorry, with Jordan and Harper. What's Robin doing?

Because they're still intertwined because they still share a child. It's been a long time together. And then in book two and three, we get into Lance's POV. We're getting into Quentin's POV, Candace, Shelby, and expand on the story from there. But you know, and we were gonna end it

with these three. These three characters were gonna be like, we were gonna end it with these three characters were gonna be like we were gonna wrap up their story but they're going to continue because we have a bit of a cliffhanger at the end of unfinished business. You know black content can have tremendous success but still not get respect from whatever platform or our industry. So how did Peacock react to the success of the best man final chapters? They were ecstatic.

They were ecstatic. I mean, I don't wanna say necessarily that it saved the network, but it certainly was a big boost for the network. So they want more from me. They would love to have another best man. But again, it's very, very tough. Yeah, but saying you would love to have something

is one thing, showing and proving it through the actual budget is another. Is that the problem? I think that's part of it, it's a challenge. It's a real challenge. I mean, again, in terms of what they value, and this book, you know, again, in terms of, like, what they value and what they, like, this book, for instance, takes place in four different cities,

two different continents. To have that kind of budget to make that movie with all these actors would take Avengers type money, right? You know, I mean, I'm exaggerating, but, like, that's what it would take. Do they think it's worth it? I don't know, because it's like how much, I don't know how streaming works versus the subscriptions versus how much they can afford and how much, I don't know how streaming works versus subscriptions

versus how much they can afford and how much they're gonna be able to spend and how much they want, what they value. I don't know, but all I know is, okay, here's an opportunity to tell the story in another way and listen, the books get turned into television shows and movies all the time.

So, but that wasn't the intention here. We'll see what happens. We have a surprise with the success of The Best Man and how well it's did since 99. Cause it's like a never ending story that, you know, it's generations and new generations of kids watching and listening and viewing. Yeah, you know, I'll say that.

Cause I'm surprised it was 99. I had to look at my damn 99. Yeah, man. I don't know. Yeah, it was,. I had to look at my damn 99. Yeah, I don't know Yeah, it was I listen Like I said, I intended and I thought I could make a classic But I thought that was gonna be it like, you know, and I didn't want to be you know a sequel type thing cuz like it's like they wanted a sequel right away and I said

No, I want I want other stories to tell I want these characters to grow and I'm glad I waited because No, I want other stories to tell. I want these characters to grow. And I'm glad I waited because, you know, there is more story to tell. As we, as a people, get more mature and get, you know, different stimuli and different things that enter our brain, it's like, you know, and especially as we get older, right,

and the culture changes and shifts and whatnot, I wanted to be able to infuse that with these characters as well. So, you know, the fact that I was able to do it has been great, you know, like, and really with Best Man Holiday, it was also a very strategic move in terms of like, what's the, everything was about branding

around 2012, right, you know, 2010, right? And they were like, okay, what's my brand? And I needed to work too, because I wasn't working a whole bunch. And I said, okay, it's time to make another sequel or make another Best Man movie, because my brand is the a whole bunch. And I said, okay, it's time to make another sequel or make another best man movie. And because my brand is the best man. So that's what happened.

And, you know, we met made it so that the best man holiday had a cliffhanger also that we didn't tell another story. But, you know, at the time, Universal Pictures was not meeting where I wanted to meet budget wise, you know, for another movie. So I shifted to make a series because streaming was so popular at the time. I thought, okay, we could tell more story.

And I knew I had two more movies that I wanted to tell there. And then I thought, okay, now we're done. But we're not done. It's crazy though, because when you mentioned the Avengers, I was just sitting here thinking about like, how the universe of like those type of characters work, and this is a universe. Like I would literally follow storylines and not even just the main characters, but we were introduced to their children.

Like LJ has a story, you know what I mean? So it kind of is that, but it doesn't seem like from what you're saying, it's getting that vibe when you go to these networks. Now mind you, I did not try. I did not try to say, oh, I want to make another show. I didn't say, like, let's make another one. I got other things in the works that may or may not have to do with Best Man. But I wanted to write the book first. That's what I felt like was the next logical step.

Again, mounting a show is very difficult and it's cost a lot of money. There's a lot of demands, a lot of compromises that have to happen. And again, gathering all that talent, you know, for a span of time is also a challenge. And I'm getting old. You know, I want to do things that, you know, that move me, that motivate me, and I think this is a good way to do it. And again, it can always shift and change, but I have to do, wrote this book and write two more.

How do you navigate the balance between cultural storytelling and commercial expectations? Interesting, I try not to worry too much about commercial success. I have an eye on it always. I mean, when I wrote Best Man, that was both commercial, and I wanted to write something commercial, but something that I thought would speak to me and the people that I, that audience that hadn't been, had been underserved at that point. So I always have one eye on commerce

and one eye on artistry, and then just try to hopefully make those meld. And you have to keep an eye on what's happening. You know, like wedding movies were very popular at that time. There had not been a black wedding movie to date. And I said, okay, well, I love ensemble movies. I love the dramedy tone of storytelling.

So that's what I wanna try to do. And again, it was the right script at the right time. And I just try to make the best movie that I possibly can. And if it's not my job to market it, it's their job to market it, you know? And if I've given you a movie that has playability, it's your job to make it marketable. I was gonna say that finding the right movie

at the right time was kinda similar to what you guys did with Girl Strip. 100%. At this point, are networks coming to you trying to find that, like what's the right movie at the right time, because it seems like that's a part of your brain now. Well, I think they're always trying to copy. It's a copycat

industry right? Whatever's successful they're gonna try to make more of that. I think with Girls Trip, you know, both Hangover and Bridesmaids preceded that movie. And Will Packer came to me and he said, Mal, let's take actors from Best Man and Think Like a Man and let's take actors from best man and think like a man and let's make you know the hangover treatment for black women at Essence. I said 100% I'm in right and so you know it just kind of it was again another right place right time type of deal. It has to be the right script also. Did it break your heart when you saw this stuff that was happening with Essence just recently? You know, it's funny. I did not I was there right I was promoting the book. I didn't have I didn't notice You know what other folks were noticing because you know, I was being shifted from this place to that place or whatever

I didn't really like it, you know I wasn't really exploring and I went you know to the concerts and things like that It's a little bit the attendance was down, right? But I said I was like it wasn't as packed as it usually right but I think some of that has to do with economics concerts and things like that. It's a little bit, the attendance was down, right? That's what I said, it wasn't as packed as it usually is. Right, but I think some of that has to do with economics. I mean, folks ain't got it. Yes, people broke.

Yeah, people don't have the disposable income. You know, it's not strictly just because, you know, management has changed. I think that's part of it, or at least that's the sense I'm getting from people online. I didn't have that experience. I felt like, oh, oh, this has really changed. This is gonna sound stupid, but you should do a guy strip.

I've seen so many guys that go to New Orleans because they're looking for women, right? And they know that they're looking for, whether it's married women that take their ring off for that weekend, or it's single women that's out there. There's so many fellas that put their flyest outfit on and their hat and they go out there looking for it.

It's gonna be called the YN, the young niggas. That's what it's gonna be called. It's called the old niggas. It is, it's the old niggas. Oh, if you're on the bar, you old and you doing that at Essence, it's something wrong. It is, like, well, it's not necessarily, I mean, like.

It's an older scale of men that come to Essence and they be looking for it. You shouldn't be no 40, 50 year old bachelor in a pack still chasing women at S.S.F. It's not like that though Because you should have been grown and mature and should have been already a family person by then It's the mature rundown, it's not like yo, light skin You're old predator at that point How old do you think the women are?

The women age, rage and age at S.S.F. It's a mature yo yo, hate light skin, or hate brown skin. By the way, when we think about girls' trip. American history is full of wise people. Well, women said something like, you know, 99.99% of war is diarrhea, and 1% is gory.

Those founding fathers were gossipy AF, and they loved to cut each other down. I'm Bob Crawford, host of American History Hotline, the show where you send us your questions about American history and I find the answers, including the nuggets of wisdom our history has to offer. Hamilton pauses and then he says, the greatest man that ever lived was Julius Caesar. And Jefferson writes in his diary, this proves that Hamilton is for a dictator based on corruption. My favorite line was what Neil Armstrong said, it would have been harder to fake it than to do it.

Listen to American history hotline on the iHeartRadio app, Apple podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. From iHeart Podcasts and Rococo Punch, this is The Turning, River Road. I knew I wanted to obey and submit, but I didn't fully grasp for the rest of my life what that meant. In the woods of Minnesota, a cult leader married himself to 10 girls and forced them into a secret life of abuse. Why did I think that way? Why did I allow myself to get so sucked in by this man and thinking to the point that if I died for him that would be the greatest honor. But in 2014, the youngest of the girls escaped and sparked an international manhunt.

For all those years, you know, he was the predator and I was the prey. And then he became the prey. Listen to The Turning, River Road, on the iHeartRadio app, Apple podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Show me how good it can get today, God, and show the rest of the world what we already know. It can't get no better than being hella black, hella queer, and hella Christian. My name is Joseph Rees.

I am the creator and host of Hella Black, Hella Queer, Hella Christian. A fully black, fully queer, fully human, fully divine podcast that explores society, culture, and the intersections of faith and identity. Listen to Hella Black, Hella Queer, Hella Christian to hear conversations about what it means to sound the way you look. I think what I've had to make peace with is that every iteration of my voice is given to me by God, and I love it. Books that validated our identity. The library now for me is a safe space

as someone who is writing books that they're trying to take off of shelves. And how we as black queer folks relate to our Christianity. Listen to Hella Black, Hella Queer, Hella Christian on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcasts. So what happened at Chappaquiddick? Well, it really depends on who you talk to.

There are many versions of what happened in 1969 when a young Ted Kennedy drove a car into a pond. And left a woman behind to drown. There's a famous headline, I think, in the New York Daily News. It's, Teddy escapes, blonde drowns. And in a strange way, right, that sort of tells you. The story really became about Ted's political future, Ted's political hopes.

Will Ted become president? Chappaquiddick is a story of a tragic death and how the Kennedy machine took control. And he's not the only Kennedy to survive a scandal. The Kennedys have lived through disgrace, affairs, violence, you name it. So is there a curse? Every week we go behind the headlines

and beyond the drama of America's royal family. Listen to United States of Kennedy on the iHeartRadio app, Apple podcast, or wherever you get your podcasts. Gina Hall was married. Yep. Right? Tiffany was the wild single one. But Jada was divorced and so was...

Jada was divorced. And Latifah was free also. So it would have to be... Yeah, so the guys have to have a different backstory than just being a bunch of wild... By the way, and be like that. Like, I'm not saying that we're not doing or we are doing a guys trip movie, but you're not, you did not plant that idea in

my head. Just want to make sure. Just to be clear. But it's funny because you go out there and you know, the guys that used to be able to drink, they take two shots to pass out now. Guys need naps now. It's funny though, but I see it all the time. I agree, I agree. I mean, yeah, I think we wouldn't do at Essence for guys. But even though like I had a best friend, a really good friend rather, who said, like I was telling him, I was doing best girls trip and he was like, oh, Essence?

I got a bunch of Essence wives. And I was like, oh, interesting. So like they say, the women that you don't have a chance with in regular time you got it you got a shot with Essence weekend. There be people that be like they free they single that weekend. I've been. Oh you been? No no no I ain't but I've seen no I've seen all the no no no I know I'm just saying I've seen that like I've seen people and there's a lot of stories too people revisit Essence Fest on their anniversary because they met there and now they're married like there's a lot of stories too. People revisit Essence Fest on their anniversary because they met there and now they're married.

Like there's a lot of that. It's kind of like homecoming. Yeah. Yeah, it's what happens. Just like homecoming. But I was asking you about that and your branding and networks coming to you because in Best Man,

one of the things that Harper is trying so hard to do is like not let the networks take too much of him and be like whitewashed. How do you do that? Because you're working with these big platforms, but like it's still very much us, and we feel it. Right, well, you know, I, first of all, I try to have as much integrity as possible

in the storytelling I'm trying to tell. My mission on this earth is to tell elevated stories about black people and making sure that our humanity is highlighted and that we normalize black life in America. That's my mission in life, particularly when it comes to black men. That's what I've been put on this earth to do. That's my, that's, and that's,

and most of the time they respect that, particularly if they think it's gonna make money. You know what I mean? So like, that's just part of my DNA. Oh, that's good. Cause when you do this best guy, whatever it is, when you do this story about the men going to Essence, you gotta have every single type of man represented.

So you gotta have the one man that's there letting these dudes know how stupid they look. Like, chill out, like, yeah, nah. You know what I'm saying? Like, we should have been past this already. We need to go back to the room. Nah, we gotta go one more club, one more bar. Let's go to the strip club.

No, we old now. Okay, you know what I did which happened after Best Man, the final chapter, and because of the success of Girl's Trip, I thought that was gonna make other platforms say, you know what, there's other shows we can do that with, like Girlfriends. I feel like Girlfriends is just sitting there,

and Girlfriends is a show that we didn't get no closure on. So it would make all the sense in the world to do something like that. So I don't understand why when we have success with something like the best man wedding, Hollywood doesn't say that's the new mandate. We need more of that. I think you know a lot of that has to do with behind the scenes stuff too. You know you don't know what's going on with again with schedules, with the creative the creative process, where people's heads are, how much money they're offering

to produce something like that. I think Mara has talked about doing a Girlfriend movie. I think Yvette LeBow has talked about rebooting Living Single in some form or fashion. But I mean, again, it's like, you know, what they're currently doing versus what, you know, is on the horizon versus what studios are gonna do or pay for. I mean, the business of filmmaking in studios in Hollywood

is contracting, it's shrinking, it's not expanding. You know, it's only getting smaller. So, you know, and they're only gonna do things that have IP, and those are great. So, you know, and they're only gonna do things that have IP, and those are great examples of IP that already exists, that they can build on. But is it difficult to do those positive type of movies? Like, you know, you look at what it costs to do that best man and how much it made,

and how much it costs to do a girls trip and how much it made. I feel like we should get more of that, but we don't see any of that. Like you don't see a loving basketball. You don't see a best man anymore. You don't see a lot of those movies anymore that's positive.

You don't see it as many. For Ever on Netflix, which is really good. Yeah. I'm talking about movies. Well, movies are very, it's very hard to get people to get out of their homes to go to a movie theater nowadays. Cause everything is so easy on streaming. It's like, oh, I'll just turn it on.

To get people to come out of their homes and buy popcorn or get a babysitter or whatever, that's a increasingly, it's got to feel like an event. Otherwise like, or that, you know, I'm going to miss out on something if I don't go see it. And so that's what the students are really struggling with right now is like, what, what, because it costs so much to not only make a movie but to market and promote a movie that like it's gotta be worth the shot.

Can they make, are they making their money back when it's on a network like that? Like, like you spend, let's say whatever it costs to do a movie and they put it on a Netflix, right? Is Netflix making their money back? Because the subscriptions, they're gonna make that money monthly anyway. Is it worth it for them for that?

I think it is. Otherwise they'd stop making it. Yeah, I mean, I think they, yeah. They, their costs are not as high when it comes to marketing promotion, and it's available across the world. So they have a lot of ways that they can make money. I think streaming is just easier for people

to click on things, but they also, you have to have certain things happen right away. Otherwise people will be like, eh, I don't wanna watch that, I'm going to something else. That's what, I've not made a movie for a streamer, I mean television show. I think movies on streaming can be very, can get lost and be very forgettable

because people are just kinda like, eh, whatever, you know, that's cool, that was nice. But it's like, and so that would be very hard for me to take and feel like, oh, I'm making some kind of cultural impact. I think movies do have the ability to culturally be impactful. And that's not always the case.

You can't always be culturally impactful, but in a movie where, you know, Girl Trip, obviously is one of those movies, Best Man is one of those movies, you just hope that deserve a big canvas and people will go see them. I agree, because when you set it up as a TV series, that's more of an event.

When Best Man Final Chapter is eight episodes, it's like, oh shit, I gotta watch this. But if it was just Best Man the movie, I'll probably watch, but it's not an event. Right, exactly, exactly. I think fortunately we were able to platform it in a way that it gave Peacock a lot of subscribers based on, you know, this great cast and this great franchise.

So, you know, we were very, very fortunate to do that. And I would like to keep doing that in television to tell those kind of eventized type of stories. And it's wild that we don't look at it like that. Cause if you get in eight episodes of our series, that's like four movies. Yep. It felt like it too. that's like four movies. Yep. It felt like it too.

It felt like it too. When it comes to the book, do you have to run the characters arcs past the, you know, the Alums and the Taye Diggs's of the world? Like this is where I'm taking y'all characters? No. I mean, you know, especially in this form, it's like these characters came from me.

So I own them and I dictate where they go. It's, you know, where they do have an influence is like, you know, what they look like and their voices and their facial expressions. And, you know, I think that's, you know, part of the storytelling, but no, I wouldn't be consulting them. It's not, the only time you have to consult them

is when it's time to actually do it. And then on that, or to make a movie or a television show, and in that instance, that's when a collaboration is happening. But on the book, it's just me and my co-author, Jane Allen, and the editor. The only reason I ask is because one day you're gonna have to get them to play these characters,

again, for this story. They live in real life, people still talk to them. Maybe, maybe not. I don't know, again, we don't know. I mean, when that time comes, if that time comes, then we'll cross that bridge. None of the characters have called you about the book and been like, hold on, now why did I have to,

like nobody, Taye Diggs, Nia Long, nobody's called you? About that? Yeah, or like just being like, yo, I like where you took the character, cause like Nia Long or Jordan's finally getting a reprieve. Well, Harold and Morris and Taye, my business partners in Sable, have read it, and they've given me feedback.

The others, I haven't heard from yet in terms of there that they've read it Wait, it depends on budget too, cuz you could get a cheap version of Morris right there. That's the Versions of things, but you know, but that would never work for this You have to have the original ingredients. It would never they kill you if you recast. Oh, I would say certain words either Yes, like a list what what can't say certain words either. He has like a list. Like what? What can't he say? Like words with S's. Words with S's. I could say that you got a little dent in your face. You wouldn't want to cast them. You missing a little bit of edge. You listen right at the top. You were talking about your co-author Jane Allen. Yes. So she did Black Girls Must Die Exhausted. Correct. I read, I didn't know that there were different iterations of the book. I read the first one that she did. Yes, there's two more. Okay, and that one, I mean, I work in media, so it spoke to me like so clearly.

Oh wow, okay. When I saw that she was your co-author, I'm like, oh, Jordan's life is literally like a lot about what Jane writes about. Interesting. Like, just because she talks a lot about black women trying to figure out, basically not like to wither yourself away by like Surviving life. How can you live life? And then I thought about the black woman in this series and I'm like Oh, I wonder if y'all came together because you thought that way or did it just happen? well, I mean when I interviewed with J I'd read her I'd read her books and

Then I sat down with her to talk about the the process. I really liked her her life experience, you know She had been an attorney. She had worked for Prince. She had worked for Lady Gaga she had had a number of entrepreneurial businesses before she decided to become an author and so I really like that and And I liked her writing and I thought she'd be additive particularly as a black woman You know who had had corporate experience, you know with the telling of these stories So it was pretty much a no-brainer. Well, it really wasn't a no-brainer until she said to me, like, why are you doing this?

I said, well, I'm trying to exercise new muscle. I'm trying to get into novel writing. She's like, no, no, what for? Like, what are you doing? I said, I don't know. I thought that was pretty explanatory. And then she said, do you wanna win? And I was like, huh, yeah, I wanna win.

Do you wanna be, are you all in on this book? Are you just trying to just was like, huh, yeah, I wanna win. Do you wanna be, do you want this, are you all in on this book? Are you just trying to like just be like whatever with it? And I was like, no, I'm all in. I want, and I love that spirit, you know, of like someone that's like got the same kind of work ethic that I do that's like, okay, let's push ourselves to make the best product possible.

And I think we've done that with the book. You know, I think the people are really going to, if they've loved the best man, the best man holiday, and the series, they're gonna love the book because it's more expansive storytelling. It's, I think, in more depth than the movies and television. You're able to do things in movies and television that you can't, or in a novel that you can't do

in movies and television. It's like, you use all five senses. You use the feel, taste, smell, see, hear. It's all those things are engaged and it's a very cinematic experience because you already know who the characters are, what they look like. What legacy are you personally building

that's distinct from the family name, the Lee name? I think there are some intersectionality between what Spike has done and what I'm doing and what Spike is continuing to do. And primarily that's elevating the humanity of black people and the normalization of black life. Don't forget Joey. Joey Lee?

Joi. Joi, damn. My cousin, yeah that's okay. No, trust me, Spike's brother, David is a photographer. I don't know, I'm trying to create my own lane. I have created my own lane. It's different from what Spike does.

Spike is like a true filmmaker artist, right? I tend to make movies, although I'm trying to like be an artist, you know? But, you know, my lane has been like trying to be much more of the commercial route. And again, it's about normalization of black life in America and abroad. How did you know, or why did you decide

to finally explore Taye Diggs and Sanai Lathan's character like not trying to get back together because Harper and Robin. Harper and Robin. Yes. Because I feel like there's been times where like we see them go apart, but then I always thought that they would try and figure it out again, especially. Yeah, I mean, I wanted to explore, you know, what life was like, you know, post divorce and, I mean, I want to explore what life was like post divorce and the circumstances behind that, because Harper could have probably made some different choices. But now he's got all the trappings of success. He's got the bachelor pad in Dumbo, Brooklyn. He's got critical success as being a Pulitzer Prize winner, but he's alone, right?

I mean, he's not lonely, but he alone. And you know, he's enjoying his bachelor lifestyle, but he doesn't quite fit into his life the way he used to. And especially with his friends, he's a seventh wheel. And in this book, he is kind of asking himself the question, did I do the right thing? Have I, could I have done better? And so is there gonna be reconciliation?

Perhaps, you know, Robin's over in Ghana, and I went to Ghana, by the way, to do some exploration and just probably get, put my foot on the soil and breathe the air and taste the food and be with the people so I could really fill out that side of the story and explore what life was like for a returnee to Ghana. So yeah, I mean, there's a lot of explanation or I would say exploration of what was the right thing and should he return to

a woman that was like made him the man that he is. And you know, also he's got his daughter, his preteen daughter that's missing him as well, you you know across the Atlantic. So it's a lot for him to be thinking about and there's also his friendship, his long-term friendship with Jordan and you know are they going to finally link up and finally get together and are they really soulmates or not? You're smiling. Have you finished the book? No I didn't finish, but last time that we talked I asked you did you give my girl Jordan a reprieve? Did she finally get her situation together?

What did I say? We were at Ruth's picnic, you said I had to read the book, you wouldn't tell me anything, but in reading it so far, I feel like she's in the middle, it's like yes and no. You didn't finish the book? It was a long book. So you gotta wait and see. You're about to come to and no. But you ain't finished the book. It was a long book, I don't need to. So you gotta wait and see. You gotta finish the book.

You're about to come to a whole conclusion and you ain't finished the book. No, I was just about to ask about, so where I'm at so far, I think she's doing a lot of self-like. Yeah, she's in therapy right now. Yeah. Yeah, she's doing some self-help.

Mm-hmm. Choosing herself and trying to get herself right and ask herself the questions of why she is the way she is. We get to explore where she grew up and how she grew up and we get to meet her parents in this book as well. So I think we're doing a lot of exploration with Jordan and the choices that she made. And she does, for the longest time,

she was always about the grind and making sure that she could get to the top of that corporate ladder and it really didn't serve her at the end of the the day and now she's like, you know what my heart has never been what's led me and now I do want love I want to be chosen I want I want all the things that you know a woman like her should have. decision to go that route was yours fully or Jane's or both of you guys together. Just because we didn't really know. I never realized until reading the book. I didn't really know much about Jordan outside of all of her accomplishments. Right. And that's been a big conversation with black women. Yeah, yeah. No, I mean, no, I certainly want to explore all those things.

I want to explore some of them in the series. But, you know, time constraints, right? I'm able to do that now and certainly collaborating with Jane was a great help. You know what I mean? We crafted the story together. I knew kind of the general direction I wanted to go, but once you start working with somebody,

particularly a black woman that gives you a different perspective than you have, this is great story building. So it was a collaboration, I'll say. That's right, well we appreciate you for joining us. Yes, go get the book, man. The Best Man, Unfinished Business. This story ain't gonna never end.

Nope. It's not. Why would it? And I wanna say, particularly, you know, black women are going to read this book and engage, and they're going to like, but I want people to be reminded that I did write this for black men.

I wrote the original for and about black men, and I want black men be reminded that I did write this for black men. I wrote the original for and about black men and I want black men to read the book. And if they don't wanna read, listen to it on audio, right? You know, like just, I want them engaged and I want them to have, we had a very spirited debate on one of my book tour stops in Baltimore where like men and women started like

going at it, you know, about like different perspectives. And I think this is, it's a healthy, robust debate that can be had and if black men will engage on this. Is there any singular love story in The Best Man that's a reflection of your personal views on love? My personal views on love? I don't know about, maybe. There's definitely parts of me in it.

You know what I'm saying? So like, fortunately, I, unlike Harper, even though I've been selfish in my time, I am not divorced and I'm not planning on it. And there's a balance that has to happen with your career aspirations and your family life and your partner that's going to either support you or not. You know, and so, I think what's important is the love

that not only that the characters have with one another, the men and the women, the husbands and the wives, but also amongst the fellas, right? Like the brotherhood, the friendship, the support that they have for one another, and holding each other accountable as well. So that's certainly a personal thing of mine for sure. All right, well Malcolm D.

ladies and gentlemen, appreciate you for joining us. Thank you, thank you very much. Shout out to Bourbon, man. Yeah, I'm trying it right now. Oh, you are? Wow, how about that? She's all for him. Sable Bourbon.

Oh, by you, Morris Chestnut, who else? Harold Perrino and Taye Diggs. And so we came out last August, and we're getting around the country and exposing people to Sable. It's a great, great pour. What's the title mean? I mean the name.

Well, Sable is another name for black. It's luxurious. It's rich. And I think it's very much emblematic of what we consider as our friendship and our brotherhood. And this bourbon is bottled in brotherhood. And so we wanted to bring the best man experience because every scene where the fellas got together

they were drinking a brown spirit and we said, okay, let's make our own. And so it's emblematic of that experience of brotherhood. And you can take it away with you and have a sip with your fellas. Or the ladies! All right. Lawrence got it up already.

Yeah, I see. Malcolm D. Lee is The Breakfast Club. Good morning. Wake that ass up. Early in the morning. The Breakfast Club. Just like great shoes, great books take you places. Through unforgettable love stories and into conversations with characters you'll never

forget. I think any good romance, it gives me this feeling of like butterflies. I'm Danielle Robay and this is Bookmarked by Reese's Book Club, the new podcast from Hello Sunshine and iHeart Podcasts, where we dive into the stories that shape us, on the page and off. Each week I'm joined by authors, celebs, book talk stars, and more for conversations that will make you laugh, cry, and add way too many books to your TBR pile. Listen to Bookmarked by Reese's Book Club on the iHeart Radio app, Apple podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. The Girlfriends is back with a new season,

and this time I'm telling you the story of Kelly Harnett. Kelly spent over a decade in prison for a murder she says she didn't commit. As she fought for her freedom, she taught herself the law. He goes, oh God, Harnett, jailhouse lawyer. And became a beacon of hope for the women locked up alongside her. You're supposed to have faith in God,

but I had nothing but faith in her. I think I was put here to save souls by getting people out of prison. The Girlfriends, jailhouse lawyer. Listen on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. I knew I wanted to obey and submit, but I didn't fully grasp for the rest of my life what that meant.

For My Heart Podcasts and Rococo Punch, this is The Turning, River Road. In the woods of Minnesota, a cult leader married himself to 10 girls and forced them into a secret life of abuse. But in 2014, the youngest escaped. Listen to The Turning River Road on the iHeartRadio app, Apple podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. I'm Bob Crawford, host of American History Hotline,

a different type of podcast. You, the listener, ask the questions. Did George Washington really cut down a cherry tree? Were JFK and Marilyn Monroe having an affair? And I find the answers. I'm so glad you asked me this question. This is such a ridiculous story. You can listen to American History Hotline on the iHeart Radio app,

Apple podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. This is an iHeart Podcast.