Full Transcript for Brand Building: Executive Producer states longevity comes from reinvention The Harlem Globetrotters predate the NBA and helped globalize basketball.

3: I got more read, I got, I got forgot death. 00:05:23 Speaker 2: And we will get deeper because okay, the Harlem Globe Trotters one hundred years Now, there's a certain responsibility for Aspire TV Plus and you to deliver you know, relevance. Why should we watch the Harlem Globe Trotters. Now, before the call, I told you Lewis Dunbar, he went to college with me, one of the oldest, one of the oldest members Houston Cougar's universe, Houston Cougars of the Harlem Clo trilogy. 00:05:50 Speaker 1: Now you're telling me his sons on the team now. 00:05:53 Speaker 2: But but that responsibility of delivering black content, there's historical black content. Yeah, and you work with them before. What's to spend now that gains my interest other than seeing them on black on the basketball court doing what they do. 00:06:10 Speaker 3: Well, you know, here's the thing. And I got to give a shout out to the to the Harlem Glowtrotter's team, the office, to executives brom Win and Keith and the team there they are. They're the architects of this because you know, you got to think back to the pandemic, right, you know, for a long time, the Harlem Glow Trotters in the eighties were on sitcoms, were you know, in your home, they were on Gilligan's Island, right, They were celebrities in the way that NBA players are celebrities now. And obviously the NBA got really popular and I kind of really overtook them a lot of other sports and other things. But the Harlem Glotrotters are way older than the NBA. They you know, twenty thirty years older than the NBA. You know, they're the ones that spread basketball around the world. 00:06:56 Speaker 2: We'll chang to play for the Harlem glow Charters. 00:06:59 Speaker 1: Before he od lot of. 00:07:00 Speaker 3: Year, it was like, you know, imagine like the WNBA in some of these WBE players now they're getting their salaries up for But for a long time, they would play overseas and they would come over here, and that's how it was with NBA early on. You know, they would be like, I'm a hallan lowd trotter, but I also playing this thing called the NBA too, right, But obviously NBA has grown massively and now they have a worldwide footprint as well. But I share that to say for context, they disappeared from the spotlight, you know, as far as being on television, you know, in the nineties and in the early two thousands, et cetera. And there was a concerted effort after the pandemic to bring them back to the spotlight and get the folks, get folks back interested in seeing them on television and seeing them in media and not just going to the games. The cool thing about their business though, is they never stopped touring. They never stopped making people smile around the world. And there's a lot of you know, youth every year that their first basketball experience is the Hallan lolwd Trotter. So I think that that there's this kind of nostalgia for folks that have been wite some his kids, and with the TV shows, we're bringing them back to

the adults and the adult experiences because these are grown folks that know how to have fun and know how to you know, dance and hang out and have good advice to give and you know, so they're interesting individuals off the court as well. 00:08:15 Speaker 2: Great I'm talking recall O Handy. He's the executive producer and the show runner of Harlem Glow Trail Secrets of the City. Now here's the fun part about this. You know, I grew up with Metal Locke Landham currently need the Driven right now. I can visually just see these moments man when he would do that hook shot from half court and make it. 00:08:35 Speaker 1: I was like, how how could he do that? 00:08:37 Speaker 2: And consistently did that, you know, and the famous running around with the bucket and then throw the bucket. 00:08:44 Speaker 1: One time it was just it was just paper and next time it's real water. 00:08:48 Speaker 3: You know. 00:08:49 Speaker 2: All those great moments still make me smile. And when you look at the Hall of Glow Traders and they're traveling, you're traveling with them. These are these are tall black men. Okay, so immediately when they land into airport they get attention, going to restaurant to get attention. How do you make that work of people making decisions? Are they basketball players? 00:09:10 Speaker 3: Are they? 00:09:10 Speaker 1: Are they the Lakers? 00:09:11 Speaker 3: Are they? 00:09:11 Speaker 1: You know they just started well potentially you know their money, right, Yeah. 00:09:17 Speaker 3: Depending on what country you're in with the Globetrotters, you know, you might get mobbed, you know what I mean, Like especially in Australia, the UK. You know, they sell out the O two, you know, which is the big arena in London. You know. So there's definitely cities and places where where they're as big of a celebrity as anybody. And when you walk it around you do have to manage it. You know to say hey, no, no more autographs, no more pictures, things like that and keep it moving. But they're such nice guys, like genuine you know, guys and girls to this. There are female Globe Trotters and they they are just the nicest people you to me, they were just warning genim that's part of I think you've got to be a nice person to be a Globetrotter, you know what I mean. And so they they are you know, like I said that bachelors are good will, so they don't mind it at all. And I think it's a cool experience for the people because there's a lot of it is family, you know, a lot of young people. So you can't be uh, you know, you can't be an a hole, you know, you gotta be. 00:10:10 Speaker 2: Good, absolutely, And I think that's that's the responsibility that comes on. 00:10:14 Speaker 1: You know, you're gifted. 00:10:16 Speaker 2: I remember a couple of years ago I had I was doing a contract with their National Guard, and I invited members of the Globe Trotters to just be introduced to the audience on the campus of Clark Atlanta University. And they're basketball skills. Let's forget the fact that the personality they're just gifted individuals. From a basketball standpoint, Are you ever some of those trick shots? 00:10:42 Speaker 1: Read? Are you ever in all those things? I see them on the YouTube, I'm going like, how does how do they do that? 00:10:49 Speaker 3: Well? Look, you shoot with them, you know, sometimes you want to give it a shot right right. I remember I was shooting with them one time, and they'll shoot the ball from the baseline from the opposite in the the court right and just and just shooting and make it. I couldn't even get it all the way over to the who right right right. My ball was falling short of the of the area, you know, you know. So it's not that they're athletic, you know what I mean? And they and they and they and they train, you know, they trained. They have a special boot camp they go to to be a Harlem low trotter. And I got to experience that boot camp. Okay, and that's serious. 00:11:24 Speaker 2: Please don't go anywhere. We'll be right back for more Money Making Conversations master class. No need for you to do me a favor right now to follow or subscribe to Money Making Conversation. It's free and you can find it on the iHeartRadio app, Spotify, Apple, podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts, please do me that favor, follow or subscribe money Making Conversations. Welcome back to Money Making Conversations master class with me Rashawn McDonald now, because I want to really bring that into perspective because the fact that you know, you see brilliant talents like you know, Steph Curry, you know he's shooting antics and I shouldn't use the word antics, you know, because they're just incredibly gifted talents. I just want to make sure that people understand that they're in Bassidor's good wills. But these are extremely talented athletes who play basketball. 00:12:22 Speaker 1: Do the athletes who play the role? That's what they're playing? 00:12:26 Speaker 3: A role? 00:12:27 Speaker 2: You know, because they're not they're playing games against the same people all the time. They're playing to win, they're playing to entertain. What's that mindset as you're a producer that you're trying to capture and also keep that energy up consistently when you're all the show run of this series and you're all the executive producer, you know, it's interesting. 00:12:47 Speaker 3: I don't know if you're familiar with track right, but like my son runs across country, okay, and it's still a competitive sport, but mostly you're trying to pr which is your meet your personal best, right right. And I think that the Globetrotters are extremely competitive, not only with each other, with the other teams, but you know, they got to make all these shots. It's not you can't. You can't pretend to shoot the ball and pretend to make it. You've got to actually make the basketball. You got to be able to dribble, you got to be able to dunk, you got to be able to do all these athletic things. And they

keep out doing themselves. You know, when you go see a glow Trotter show now it's different in a whole other level than it was you know when you may have seen it ten years ago. And and I think that's what makes the Globetrotters, you know, actual, the players who they are, because they're they are really competitors, and they're masters at their craft because they've been doing it for years. A lot of these guys have in these players, they've been playing basketball since they was young, you know, and uh and so and so this is just you know, like like you said, with Steph Curry, you know, he I think I think he takes I don't know, some actronomical number of shots a year for practice and then maybe ten percent or five percent of those shots you know, actually in a game, you know. And I think it's the same thing with the glow Trotter. They're working hard off the court all the time. 00:14:05 Speaker 2: Let's go back to the show, because, like I said, I you know when I you know read I'm telling you. So it's kind of like a walk down memory lane for a person my age talking to everybody who's hanging around, people who I have respected all my life, their talent and entertainment. Fact that we're talking about the whole of it, Holland Grove, Driters, and then to see that they've been able to sustain it for a hundred years, that means yeah. 00:14:26 Speaker 3: I mean how many how many black businesses can we say are one hundred years old, which which I think is awesome, you know what I mean, Like, I think. 00:14:33 Speaker 1: That recognizable, recognizable. 00:14:36 Speaker 3: Recognizable too, Yeah, recognizable have still the admiration of the audience and in all ages. So I mean that's why I was like, whatever they need, I want to keep help grow on the brand. And I want to. 00:14:48 Speaker 2: Not just say black just one hundred years. We talked about nighteen twenty six. Okay, you can start just naming Nate. You're talking about Brand Rockefellers because series and closed came. You know, all these these businesses that have been legendary in that period have not stood the test of time. And when you look at that, let's talk about you kind of mention it when you was like talk about the pope and different everythings. If these areas of the shows, what is the just talk about what does an episode feel like in general? 00:15:21 Speaker 1: Because there's a travel show. 00:15:23 Speaker 3: It's a travel show. But you know, one of the elements of the show is called Secrets of the City because we give you secrets. We literally you know, that's when you watch the show, like you got to watch the Mexico episode. You know, people have seen photos of how you you know, can take a balloon hot air balloon over the Pyramids the right right, so see, but like, how do you do that? What's the best way to do that? What are all the little secrets around that area and the timing of how you should book it. You know, we went to London and north of London, you know those the little the rock structure that is really popular. The name is escaping me right now. But there's secrets to be able to get access to these artifacts in these historical places. You know that people don't know, you know, because you just go to the website and you experience it like a tourist. But they they're haul and glow trotters. When they go to the pyramids, they ride dirt bikes right up to the base of the pyramid and it's the whole little secret. It's called the back alley of the back alley of the pyramids is the way they went in and not the front, you know. And so I think there's cool little little things like that, nuggets. But also, you know, because because of the show and the audience is an aspire, we're also giving you very unique x BAT communities that you can connect with in each city, very unique areas you should visit in each city that have the diaspora and different historical elements. Like Brussels, we talk about where the chocolate really comes from from Africa and taking responsibility for that, you know what I mean. So like it's just I think it's documenting all these things that might be important to you, not only as an individual that wants to travel, but as a part of this larger African American and African diaspora. 00:17:13 Speaker 1: Cool. 00:17:14 Speaker 2: We're talking to the showrunner, executive producer. Been around for twenty five years, That's what he's saying there, twenty five years. But you know, they always know we've been hustling the way longer than that. Recaller, you know, and you have been a champion for opportunity. And I always tell people, you know, I kind of really I kind of started the show as a mentoring platform, be able to yeah, the people ask me questions or how I get in the industry. But you've been better than that. You've been delivering the goods on giving people opportunities. You started a foundation. Tell us why that is important because it's ongoing today and the impact you've had in the industry over the years. 00:17:50 Speaker 3: Recall them, Yeah, you know, I always say, you know, a lot of people have a lot of complaints about how hard it is to get in the industry, and I've been very fortunate. You know, since I was fourteen years old, I had really good mentors, people that took me under their wing. You know, I was an eager kid, so from working on independent films as a teenager to being a part of these programs in high school that allowed me to get on TV show sets and things like that. It just it just seemed natural to me that that's something we should do. So I've always done it, you know, when I was a show runner, I would get people chances, even on Secrets of the City. You know, we have a lot of folks doing their job for the first time. You know, I've always been the one willing to give someone their first shot, because a lot of times that's the hardest one to get. But we formalized it into the Adie Foundation in twenty twenty because there was a viral moment, but mainly it was a

realization that there aren't a lot of black folks in post production because they don't get the opportunity to learn how to do those skills in college. You know, in film school. No one's teaching you how to group and stink for American idol in film school, right and there's there's a various particular skill and you can't get that job unless you know how to do it. And so we started training people and offering them to the industry, and it started with a class of eight people. You know, partner with the Urban League in twenty twenty and today, you know, we have over four hundred alumni that are working on all your favorite shows from the Michael Jackson movie all the way to all the Power Universe shows in twelve different occupations. We do hair and makeup and so it's just really been growing. And now we're a nationally recognized registered apprenticeship program partner with the California Film Commission, and it's just amazing to see it grow. Now it's this thing that's outside of me that's just growing and I'm you know, watching it just can keep blossoming it, which is awesome. 00:19:41 Speaker 2: Well, you know, I really appreciate it. That's why they bring it up. I know the current administration wants to, like you remove color lines. I would tell people this, I've been black all my life. And I say that I make that statement because when I walk in the room, you see me for my color verts and the other people don't have that distinction. You know, they can work a room and I don't know if they're Jewish or do know if they Polish, Italian or French until they tell me so. Because you can make a decision about me based on stereotypes and based on what you preconceived notions or an experience you may have had with another person of color, then that that can hamper my opportunities. What you're doing is significant, and I just wanted to make sure that yes, you're a survivor, Yes you went on MTV B E T, but you don't forget reed and I want to make sure I congratulate you on it. Give you a flowers, brother, because when you see people you know and hopefully they're doing the same thing, you know, hopefully they are understanding how they got in the business, because that's important, and it's equally important that you representing on a show like this. I'm sure as by our TV had a lot of people they can come to, but they got to get the most qualified person to tell the Harlem glow Trotter story. That's important that you didn't you earned this shot as a showrunner. You earned this shot as a executive producer. Tell us about that. 00:21:00 Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean, I think it's interesting, Like I have always been trying to understand how things work, you know, and that's a lot of the decisions I made. A lot of opportunities I went after were to get to the point to understand the business and make those kind of moves. So with my company, some Wise Media, you know, we've been doing a lot of independent things, but we've been blessed to be able to inform these partnerships because it's trust there, you know. So this is actually a really big factor of our business that people missed. Our business is less about skills and creativity and more about trust. Yes, right, And when people trust that you can do and actually what you say you're going to do, they will partner with you, you know, and as long as you come through. And so as an editor, I built trust, you know. And then that allowed me to produce a Kisha Cole show because I was an editor and they wanted me to edit the second season. I was like, I can't edit the second season, and let's I'm producing it too, because I want certain things to be a certch way. So I became a producer and I'm producing a bet And then you know, got to go to the development and network side. Because I produced so many shows, I was like, can you trust me with your network? So there's Bounced TV now that trust me with their whole slate of originals, you know, and so and so that's kind of been the path I've been on, is really building these strong relationships where people trust that I'm going to deliver for them. And I think if you do that in whatever business you do, whether you've got, you know, a cupcake shop, are you trying to be, you know, a producer or director. You want to build trust with the distributors or the people that you need to trust you to deliver so you can so you can do your craft. 00:22:43 Speaker 2: You've seen his work on MTV own BT and stars hit series like Satsan Sinats. That was the last time I interviewed him, and I don't want that to be a long period break. 00:22:53 Speaker 1: Like we have for this. 00:22:54 Speaker 3: I'll be back anytime you want. 00:22:55 Speaker 2: Thank you, brother, But right now he's on here talking about the Harlem Globe Trotters. Secrets to the City is a show on on Inspire TV. Thank you again, brother for coming on my show, and thank you for being a blessing man. Because when they told me this interview came to me very quickly and they said Rashan and they told me who it was. They told me the subject matter, which was a Harlem glow Trotters, so organization that you know for a fact, man, black Faces weren't on TV for a long time as reg and when Harlem Clobe Trotters were on TV on a regular I could always count on every year seeing the Harlem Glow Trotters on TV and then and they brightened my day. And to see you bringing them back with Aspire TV plus, you know, I guess being the. 00:23:40 Speaker 1: Inspiration of it. 00:23:42 Speaker 2: I want to thank you, brother, and congratulate both parties for making this happen one hundred years. 00:23:46 Speaker 1: Brother, I can't say that one hundred years. 00:23:49 Speaker 3: And if you want to stay tapped in with what we got going on, you can follow me at ricarlo r I k r l O and aren't the Harlemlow Trotters and follow Aspire TV as well. Like on the social media. 00:23:59 Speaker 2: You stay well well, I'm tapped in today, brother, and we're gonna put the word out about it you and let everybody know the great work you continue to do. Let's say fifty years, I get the interview me and you be sitting there and they with much much much grayer hair, my brother, much much much grayer hair. But continue work, continue great work, and thanks Inspired TV plus. 00:24:17 Speaker 1: Bye bye, all right, thank you, thank you for listening to this episode. 00:24:21 Speaker 2: No, I need for you to do me a favor right now to follow our subscribe to Money Making Conversations. It's free and you can find it on the iHeartRadio app, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Please do me that favor. Follow a subscribe Money Making Conversations. Keep winning.