It looks like it's
gonna be a good year. From the first step of schemin'
with Gary to now the first step to a pilot on
television with Mr. Morris Will O'Kelly, 2013 is
moving right along.
I first worked
with MO'Kelly when he was producing Tavis Smiley's
show in 2008-2010. I basically recorded the guest's
portion of an interview on-location that they then
edited together to sound as if the guest was
in-studio. Also did some video work for the show on
their 5 year anniversary. It was at that moment that
Mo said something very cool to me. He was running
ragged trying to get drops from the celebs at the
anniversary (I ended up doing it for him) and he
stopped, turned around and said:
"Adam, you're very
professional and I appreciate that. You come on
time, you do whatever you can to help, thank
you."
That one moment
knocked me back. To say it was unnecessary for him to
do that is to say the least, he was literally
running from place to place. I also wasn't doing
anything special, when you're hired to do some thing -
you just help. Team effort - just gooooooooo. But so
many people managing situations don't stop to say
that. He did, and I always remembered it. We
maintained a Facebook friendship after he and Tavis
parted ways and he even helped me get so much
publicity for "You're a Mean One Newt Gingrich" at the
end of 2011.
In the spring of
2012 he got his own talk show and I couldn't have been
happier for him. He was in the shadow of Tavis for so
long and I just kinda rooted for him. It was some
time last year when I was reading one of his facebook
thread (dude gets into some serious shit on FB - sound
familiar?) and I noticed how similar we operated.
Fact based, blunt and clear. There was one major
difference: race. Not just perspective, Mo's entire
environment here in LA is different. And even though
(strangely now that I think of it) all of my
video reel clients are black or hispanic, I'm a
home-body. Mo is part of a community day-in and
day-out. His worldview is from a place I will
never know and the only thing we have in common is
that we're old enough to know the foundations of
political correctness as it applies to race.
Black/White relations were the entirety of our
childhood. Just isn't true in the same way anymore.
However, while he is on the side of fighting for
equality and a post-racial America I found a sliver of
disagreement where we could passionately
argue...
...what if we're
there? So many people think post-racial or post-gender
means everyone has an easier road but what if it
simply means being a straight-white male sucks too?
What if this is as good as it gets. What if all the
things we saw as bad stereotypes 30 years ago are now
so watered down with good examples that they don't
even register? I can argue that a teenager today
simply doesn't see race the way Mo and I did 30 years
ago... because media has splintered and our image of
black and white america has been splintered. And by
splintered - I mean there's
SOOOOOOOOOOOO MUCH MEDIA now that
nothing resonates as it did. You see a bad black
stereotype of a "Thug" and 2 seconds later you see the
president and 2 seconds later you see a boring
character on a tv show where race isn't even
considered - he's just hot. Or she's just pretty. So
many things now hit our brain that race just isn't
what it used to be...
...unless you're
of a certain age where you're so conditioned to see it
- you point it out now almost like some post-traumatic
stress disorder. This, I believe, is the basis
for a TV show. Discussing these topics and shaping a
post-racial America. There comes a point when advocacy
for equality is almost TEACHING racism to a
generation that it didn't even occur to. I don't
mean it's wrong to teach history, but we run the risk
of becoming dinosaurs (much like Jesse Jackson was to
Barack Obama in 2008) if we don't try and understand
how the youth sees things.
So I set up a
meeting with Mo for today and I came by a little early
to sit in having no idea he'd actually have me on. And
wouldn't you know I had to put my theory to the
test before I ever even really explained it to
him. And could there be a worse example? The most
racist ad ever made, yet was made by a black kid born
in 1991? Being the only white dude, I had to and make
this work...
...wheeeeeeeeeeeeew.
What an impossible, exhausting thing to argue - but
exactly what the show would be about. There's a myriad
of stories in the news that have a black/white twinge
to them and I still contend that we're old. We were
taught forms of racism that allow us to SEE potential
instinces of it, but it doesn't mean they are.
So we went out
after the show and talked for another hour or so and
he's definitely on board. So all we really need is an
event in the news that has that component and we'll
simply do a two camera shoot of a couple segments
in-studio and I'll piece it together as a pilot
presentation as if it's "our show". I have no
intention of interfering with his actual radio show,
he's a badass and worked hard for that shit. I just
think we have something special I can pitch to
Friedman at MSNBC.
Alright - here's
to career stuff. ;-) Thank you Mo! This is gonna be
fun.
