Always Thankful!
Being thankful for the good things is a daily habit of mine. I am thankful for so many things; my good health, family, home, job…
This year I realized that I have grit!
I make my shows because I want these stories to exist in the world and I do not stop making them despite the nos and rejections. (Stopping is an option, but isn’t really a consideration.) I am thankful for my grit.
Why would I stop doing what I love doing when I know that knowing the people in my stories has helped me and will probably help you? Didn’t you listen to Harlem Queen then thought about it and then discovered the badass boss b*tch(es) in your family?
Besides, what else am I going to do with my time?
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All of the nos this year really got me down. No is easy for a lot of people because doing nothing is really easy.
As an independent artist, I have to constantly get through the nos. Not taking it personal is…impossible - for me. Maybe someone else can not take it personal.
But I got through it. How? By focusing on what I do have. I have you! I have a very impressive credit with Tristar/Sony! I have a beautiful collection of work that entertains and inspires!
And I’ve just come to the conclusion that:
The rejections are from idiots who just don’t know no better.
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Did you know that I make these shows with just a few thousand dollars? Production companies with budgets do what I do for tens of thousands of dollars. Yes, tens of thousands - PER episode! They make one episode for $10,000, I make one episode for $2500.
I make my shows with a few thousand dollars. That is to pay the actors and the sound designer and sometimes an editor and a recording engineer. I pay SAG insurance. When we recorded in a recording studio, I bought food, paid for rehearsal space, hired production assistants. The point is, I didn’t skimp on paying what I needed to pay for.
I do not know what those big production companies are using all that money for. I edit myself most of the time so that I don’t have to pay for an editor. I produce and direct because I can not afford to pay people to do that. I do the marketing, publicity.
Oh, and I still have to read and research and write the show, but that is truly the fun part. As an indie artist you have to do it all because you don’t have any money to pay people to do it. I suppose if I was getting paid to do all of that work, it would total about $7500 per episode.
That is why I take long breaks between seasons. So that I can research and write while working my day job to save money to pay the people who help me make these shows. My goal is to at least earn back what I pay out - to break even. It takes a long time to earn back that money.
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As you may know, we are on our last season of Harlem Queen. On November 11, I will publish episode 3 of 5 episodes. I’ve been wanting to incorporate ALL of the Boss Madames of this era since I started the series in 2019. Now is the time! Please check it out.
What are my plans once the series is done? 1. Keep promoting it and my other shows. 2. Adapt it to the stage. 3. Make a spinoff.
Yes! I wrote a spinoff series, which stars Stephanie’s estranged daughter, Michelle Mondesir. The story is set ten years later (the 1940s) in Atlantic City, which was quite a hot spot for musicians, performers, gamblers and mobsters. I’ve been seeking funding this past year and applied to grants to pay the folks to act, edit and sound design.
What will I do if I don’t get the funding? I will probably still make at least two episodes because like I said, I have grit and I believe this story should exist in the world. If I don’t get the funding, it will just take me longer to make it because I will have to save up the money. I’m here to do what I was put here to do and I believe I was put here to share these stories.
And here’s the kicker, once I make the show, people will be like, ’Oh, why didn’t you ask so and so for funding? Or ask me for help?’. (eyeroll and shrug)
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Progress
Many of you may already know that I am in the process of adapting Harlem Queen to the stage.
I’ve had some lovely people take the time to explain the process of making a play to me. (heart emoji).
I’ve had a few people say, ‘Keep me posted.’. (eyeroll, but OK)
I’ve even had a few people say yes I want to help! (grinning heart emoji)
I’ve never made a play. I am starting from scratch.
A big part of my process includes going to see shows. I learn a lot by seeing shows. These are the shows that I saw the last two weeks of October. I go and see at least one show a month. But several shows have been extended so I rushed to see them before they closed.
I am in the process of re-writing the script. I asked a terrific writer, Alle Mims who also makes audio dramas and recently got their MFA from Columbia University to help me adapt the script to the stage.
I am seeking investors and producers. I don’t know anyone in the theater world, but I am learning who the movers and shakers are.
I am applying to fellowships for space, access to scrips, money to pay the actors and getting “rejected”. So now I just ask the theaters directly for what I need. One theater sent me the script of a play that I want to use as a template for my play! I asked and they sent it to me!
In order to gain support and share my work, I go out A LOT. I go to shows. I go to networking opportunities. I also write people on Instagram. I find their contact information on IMDB and I reach out to them. (Actually, my friend Karen finds the information on IMDB because she has an IMDB account. ).
I’m thrilled to be able to go out.
I had a life threatening brain hemorrhage a few years ago. (My doctors like to tell me, I should have/could have died.) So to be able to get on the subway and walk to a theater and sit for 2 hours and get myself back home is a big deal.
Most people do not respond, BUT the most exciting response I received recently was from LaChanze.
I met her when I went to see a play she produced titled Other. I highly recommend the play.
LaChanze Productions is a big deal. Different producers do different things. If you look at a playbill there could easily be a dozens producers listed. A producer may help develop the script, they may help find funding, they may help actually put the show together (find a venue, casting, etc.). Coincidentally, I went to see several plays that LaChanze co-produced; Wine in the Wilderness, Trouble in Mind, The Outsiders, Other, Jaja’s African Hair Braiding, Buena Vista Social Club Musical. Harlem Queen would be an obvious fit, right? I sent her my deck. I will keep you posted.
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Only six subscribers away from 200. I would love to reach 200 by the end of the year. It’s a pretty number, isn’t it? So if you know anyone who would be interested in coming along on this journey of making something out of nothing, please encourage them to subscribe. Thank you!
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I got my check from TriStar/Sony for co-writing the Stephanie St. Clair story with Terence Winter for Melina Matsoukas to direct. I put most of it in savings and treated myself to the bamboo earrings below. I’ve wanted these earrings since I was 14, 15, 16 years old. It took 40 years and I love wearing them!
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I MUST shout out the dopest audio drama creator and sound designer out here - Xperience J.
Xperience J. has created the soundscapes for all of my shows; Harlem Queen, The Courtship of Mona Mae, 1972, Dancers on the Shore. That dope music you hear in 1972? Xperience J. found it. Those crystal glasses filled with gin? Xperience J. That gun battle? You guessed it, Xperience J.
Please check out her latest series.
Moitreyee: A Faceless Film
Plagued by writer’s block and a strained marriage, a bestselling author becomes entangled in an affair with the newly hired housekeeper. As dark secrets emerge, he finds himself in a race against time to safeguard his loved ones from a looming danger.
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That’s it!
Thank you for reading, listening, sharing!
Love,
Yhane