0:00

Would you say that every woman has insecurities?

0:02

I wouldn't say all women have maybe insecurities, but I would argue to say most do Some of the most beautiful women in the world live here, right here in LA, and you wouldn't think they have these insecurities people think because you just see them.

0:17

You see the literally the highlights of their lives on social media.

0:20

Women tend to be judged more harshly versus based on the way they look.

0:25

Looked them, man. That's how they're valued. It's based on how they look in the most basic sense.

0:29

Yeah, and then men tend to be valued based off, like, the resources they provide.

0:33

Yeah, definitely, men have insecurities, and I think that I wish there was a place where men could feel more open to talk amongst each other about their insecurities.

0:43

I think for men, like I said, a lot of guys, every guy wants to have a thick dick, so that's gonna be something.

0:50

Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to Andromeda.

0:53

Today we have two very special guests.

0:55

I'm gonna allow them to introduce themselves. But these are two filmmakers who produce an amazing, amazing film that I actually watched two and a half times.

1:04

I was getting trying to get to my third time, but you guys came.

1:07

So if you guys wanna introduce yourself, what you guys do, names and all that good stuff, we'll go from there.

1:14

Yes, well, thank you so much for having us. My name is Alyssa Amandla, and I am the co-producer of the Body Stories, the publicist, social media director and I'm also Malik's wife.

1:27

Nice, love it, and my name is Malik Amandla.

1:30

I'm the director and producer of the Body.

1:32

Stories. Love that, love that. So let's start with the juicy stuff.

1:36

How did you guys meet? That's the juicy part.

1:41

Well, we met in college. So we've been married for two years, but we've been together for almost 10.

1:45

And we met on campus.

1:48

She always likes to tell the story, so, yeah, I'll let her do it.

1:51

What's the story? Give me the juicy version of the story.

1:53

It's not super juicy. So I was at CeCen, rep CeCen and I was standing.

2:02

We had a food court situation where they had multiple food options at the food court.

2:05

So there was a Panda Express and there was a El Pollo Loco.

2:09

He was at Panda. I was at El Pollo Loco, I was wearing this really bomb green dress.

2:14

I remember I saw him looking at me and then she numbed and then I went to class early which I never do and he walks past and I was like hey, you're Panda guy.

2:26

And he was like hey, you're El Pollo Loco girl.

2:30

That's hilarious.

2:30

But then he went into class and I was like okay, cool, and I was talking to somebody else outside the class and he comes back outside the class because he said the professor said the food smelled too good.

2:39

Yeah.

2:40

So I still don't believe that. I think he came out to talk to me.

2:43

But it's fine, that's move, that is move.

2:46

And then the rest is history. He asked for my number, and here we are.

2:51

The rest is history. Love that. Okay. So I see you guys actively work together.

2:55

Obviously, you guys co-produced the film together.

2:58

Is that, was that planned?

3:00

Was this, how did that come about, where you guys are actually working together to produce films and creative work and so forth and so on?

3:08

We were actually doing a deep dive in our Facebooks all the way back to 2014.

3:14

And there's a post where I'm thanking my girlfriend at the time and saying thank you, alyssa, for being a producer and publicist on my documentary.

3:24

So that was literally a decade ago where she was working on projects with me.

3:29

We'd only known each other for a few months and literally every film that I've made since then she's been a part of so probably like 10, 12, every project, literally yeah, so she makes, she elevates every project that she's a part of.

3:46

She makes every single project a part of better.

3:48

So she's the first person I thought of. I was like, yeah, let's do this together.

3:52

And she's like it's gonna be a big commitment, all right, and yeah, we're batting a thousand projects together.

3:59

No, no, that's amazing, but I think that's the ultimate goal, right?

4:02

There's couples in that they just two different fields of work, so I think two minds are greater than one, right.

4:08

And you probably couldn't have done it the way you probably still could have done it, but it wouldn't look the way it looked without her help.

4:15

So shout out to you, shout out to you on that one.

4:18

And diving into this latest project I don't know if that's your latest is that the latest project?

4:23

The Body Stories.

4:24

Yes.

4:25

Man, it's so deep. It's deep on a lot of levels.

4:29

And before I dive into why I think it's deep, if you guys wanna give the audience or just give me a background on what inspired it, why did you wanna make it and the process behind that, for sure.

4:40

So I've been doing filmmaking and photography for 13 years and I've met a lot of models, a lot of actors, a lot of actresses, and I've noticed that on their social media what I see on their social media it's like literally just a tip of the iceberg.

4:56

A lot of times we'll see beautiful models, beautiful actors, and think like, oh yeah, everything's going well with them, everything's going good, they look good, their lives are we're seeing that highlight reel, so their lives look amazing.

5:07

And then when I'm meeting them in person, I'm seeing like so much more depth beyond what I'm just seeing on their social media.

5:13

I'm just seeing their work ethic, I'm seeing their insecurities, their vulnerabilities, their power and their strength.

5:20

And that inspired me to make this documentary, because I'm like, oh, I want the world to be able to see what I get to see when I'm meeting these real human beings and not just meeting their representative on social media.

5:32

Yeah, yeah, okay. So, and you like the idea of it.

5:37

Yeah, I mean, as cuddly and sweet as it sounds, I didn't initially necessarily want to be a part of the project because I knew that it was going to be a lot.

5:45

Yeah, and it was a lot like.

5:47

Shooting 33 women across LA County is a lot.

5:52

But as a woman, though over the years a lot of people have, because at least you knew photography, he's a photographer and he's a filmmaker and you know, sometimes women would be like how are you comfortable with your husband doing that?

6:04

But if they actually know my husband they've been on set with him they would see like these women feel so vulnerable around him.

6:11

They feel so comfortable. And I think there's a lot of power in that, as a man in this industry, that you can make a woman feel that comfortable.

6:17

And that makes me feel comfortable as his, as his partner, as his spouse.

6:21

So I think it's an honor and we've heard a lot of creepy stories like we're in LA.

6:26

So you know that's not always the case for photographers and filmmakers, but people really love working with him and that's inspiring to me.

6:35

So are you typically there on set.

6:37

So when we first got together in 2014, like the first 50 sets I was on.

6:42

I was like let me see what this is about.

6:46

Right, but we're 10 years in and I'm rarely there anymore.

6:50

I have a level of comfort he's a professional and, yeah, there's no need.

6:55

That's what's up. And 10 years in.

6:57

I'm sorry I have to divert just a little bit how.

7:01

10 years is a milestone most people never achieve and never will achieve.

7:07

You know. So how? What's the key to having a relationship lasting that long?

7:11

I know there's a lot of bullshit that comes with it, but give me the secret sauce.

7:16

Yeah, I'll let her give her her perspective to.

7:19

But for me personally, before I met Alyssa, my longest relationship was six months, so I literally just always had them entirely of.

7:27

Okay, one day when I'm successful, then I'll find somebody that's ready to move into the castle with me and we'll move forward from there.

7:37

I didn't think I would meet somebody that was willing to be a part of the process of building the castle, be part of the grind and work our way up together.

7:45

And I'll say that the biggest key for us being together this long is her willingness to build the castle with me, for us to power down as a unit.

7:56

And the number one thing beyond that is communication.

8:00

Like we are, we are.

8:02

We take it to the most extreme of how honest and open we are with each other.

8:06

Like most people, relationships might be 80 90% honest.

8:11

Yep, we're like 100%. I want to know everything you think, everything you feel.

8:16

We have complete trust and vice versa.

8:19

Okay, I love that perspective, Man's perspective yeah it's very similar.

8:24

I think I remember early on he saw us think that we were going to break up when we had argument because his long relationship was six months.

8:31

So, it was like are we breaking up? I'm like, no, malik, we're not breaking up.

8:35

But yeah, I think for me I never met anyone like Malik.

8:40

We met my senior year in college so I had dated mostly a lot fraternity guys and being honest.

8:45

Not a lot of substance there to the news shout to the news black fraternity.

8:51

But with him he was unlike anyone I ever met.

8:53

He had this work ethic and you know he's been saying for the last decade that he's, you know, going to be a great filmmaker and he's been consistent with that.

9:00

So for me it was just very new, very different.

9:03

And he was very honest to the point where sometimes it hurt my feelings.

9:07

I remember really early when we were dating, I think I was at his house and we were like five days in a row, like to the point I was like packing clothes, yeah, and he was like you know, you can leave, right, and that really hurt my feelings.

9:18

I was like, oh my God, this guy's such an asshole, like why would he say that to me?

9:22

But you know he didn't say like you can leave, don't come back.

9:24

But he's like you know, go home, I'm playing, I'm gonna play 2k, I'm gonna consume and I'll see you in a bit, and that kind of thing is just it was new for me.

9:32

So I think communication is huge and it's just, like I noticed early on, the kind of man Malik was and I feel like when you're with a man that has a work ethic, that has a grind, either you're going to be supportive or you're not.

9:44

And I'm just type of woman where I could rock with ambition and goals.

9:47

Every woman can't do that, especially now.

9:51

That's a whole nother podcast. That's a whole nother podcast for another day.

9:55

We're not gonna get too off track because this generation is a little crazy, but besides, let's get back on track with the body stories Go ahead, just real quick.

10:04

I just want to also mention one more key component yeah, because it took me a while to learn this but also just having a willingness to compromise.

10:14

A lot of people would say marriage is hard work and probably for the first six, seven years of our relationship I would have looked at them and been like no, I think as long as you're compatible, it's not going to be that much hard work.

10:26

But on the front end of our relationship she was the one that was sacrificing and compromising so much that it just made it easier for me.

10:34

But at some point I'm just seeing, at some point she's basically showing me how to love.

10:38

Seeing her, seeing how devoted she is into loving me, it made me want to reciprocate that even more.

10:46

So then later into our relationship I'm like okay, you know what?

10:49

We're not always going to do, just things I want to do.

10:51

I need to also be able to sacrifice.

10:53

I need to compromise too, and sometimes that's doing things you don't want to do and it takes effort.

10:57

But I am reciprocating the love that she's showing me and I think that is also allowing us to continue to move forward with our marriage Love that let's give a like, a subscribe, a clap for Black love, right?

11:10

No, seriously, it's like, as crazy as it sounds, black love is rare, right?

11:16

We're the least married, we're the, you know, most incarcerated, highest in disease, most single mothers, and so to see a success story, at least publicly, it means a lot and it's very inspirational.

11:29

Hopefully this message touches somebody's, touching me.

11:32

So, yeah, I want to get back to the body stories, right?

11:37

So what really caught me off guard was some of the most beautiful women in the world, right, live here, right here in LA, and you wouldn't think they have these insecurities deep within because you just see them.

11:51

You see the, literally the highlights of their lives on social media, on Instagram.

11:55

What was your experience when getting to know these women, seeing that they all have insecurities that they're hiding inside?

12:03

Yeah, I would say the what led the foundation for me understanding that was all the photo shoots and photography.

12:09

So sometimes you would, I'll be shooting a woman that would be conventionally beautiful and we're about to shoot and I would see her, like in a mirror, just keep touching herself up like, does this look okay?

12:21

Oh, how about this Am I? And then constantly looking at her phone and even after receiving the photos, sometimes because my style of editing is very, very natural, I don't do a lot of Photoshop or airbrushing, so sometimes Most of them would be happy with their photos, but some of them would be like oh, I just I don't like the way it looks, like I, I don't like this wrinkle, I don't like this spot right here and or the cellulite, I'm just like this is it's natural, this is you naturally.

12:47

So it's giving me insight into how many insecurities they have, and so many of it is stuff that only they would notice.

12:54

Literally no other human being on the planet may notice some of these things about them, but because they notice it, it has a deep impact on them.

13:01

So that was something that I noticed even before doing the documentary and then going through the process of shooting the documentary I was just more prepared and open for, for that just going into it.

13:13

Yeah, absolutely. I just want to say from my perspective, remembered like the first 50 shoots.

13:17

I was with him and I saw very early on that some of these models, some of the most beautiful women, that would make me feel like really insecure if I'm being transparent, but they Need to help, posing like I would be behind the camera, where behind Malik, and showing them how to pose and how to turn their Bodies, and you know they're like do I look okay?

13:35

Like is this okay? And I just saw that you know some of them were really insecure and as women, I think as a woman, you know we experienced men too, but that'd be like another documentary.

13:46

I'll be good one.

13:47

But yeah, so you know, you just get to see how Insecure these women can be, even though the perception might be that they're immensely beautiful, like, what problems do you have?

13:57

So would you say from a woman's perspective, would you say that but what do you think, based on what you've seen, that every woman has insecurities, or do you get to a certain level within where you don't have insecurities?

14:10

I Don't know, I don't want to speak for all women.

14:12

I don't want to cancel.

14:15

But I do. I don't.

14:18

I wouldn't say all women have have, maybe, insecurities, but I would, I would argue to say, most do.

14:24

I think humans in general that you know, we always are looking for better and we want to look better especially.

14:30

I don't know about you, know your audience, but I'm in LA, I'm from LA, I'm born and raised out here, so living out here is hard and as a woman like I'm, I'm a natural woman.

14:42

I work out. I'm currently doing like 75 hard, like a fitness journey, and but even I thought about plastic surgery.

14:49

I would be lying if I said I haven't. I think it's.

14:51

You know, being in this industry sometimes it can make you feel very insecure and you're comparing yourself like on social media I'm guilty of it, which isn't healthy, which I think that's why it's documentary so powerful, because it's like All these different types of women, different sizes.

15:07

There were very thin women, very plus-sized women, but they all had the same issues.

15:14

Yeah, yeah, and so do you feel like when these women get plastic surgery, is it?

15:20

Is it a mask, try to hide something?

15:22

How do you feel about?

15:25

How do you feel about that, the plastic surgery part?

15:27

Because you, you said as well that you thought about plastic surgery, right, so I want to get I.

15:32

What's your mindset behind that?

15:34

I'm a little illicit get first. But yeah just from the insight that I've seen.

15:39

I've seen a Wide scope, so some of the women that I'll say the biggest takeaway was one of the women that got that had Her breast enlarged Mm-hmm she's.

15:51

She was saying that whatever insecurities that you have before the surgery, you're still gonna have before it.

15:55

So it's important to oh, yeah, yeah, after the surgery, whatever insecurities you have, you're still going to have.

16:00

Even though you physically changed, on the inside you will still have filled the same way.

16:04

So I do think that it is important to take in mind keeping to prioritize the mental health journey and prioritize finding the comfort and love within yourself before you start going through physical alterations, because that's how people Start having body dysmorphia and getting botched and going through all of these risks that lead to Different injuries, that sometimes death Mm-hmm yeah.

16:29

And they don't know how far they're going because the way they see themselves Is different from how everybody else sees them, so deep.

16:37

Yeah, absolutely, and I wouldn't say that all People who get plastic surgery is a mask, mm-hmm.

16:43

I think that some people they look at it as like an enhancement, kind of like if you, you know, get something added to your car that you just want to make it look even better than what it is.

16:52

It's not always insecurity, but I think for me specifically, when I thought about it, it was more from an insecure place.

17:00

Mm-hmm. So, wow, this is deep, this is so deep.

17:04

So let me ask you this what is, like, the biggest takeaway you got from the film after you know this 30, the 30 plus woman interview?

17:14

You put the whole thing together, you. You watch it probably hundreds of times.

17:17

What would you say is the biggest thing you took away from that?

17:21

That's a few things. One of the benefits of shooting in LA, hmm, is that the 33 women in the documentary are literally from all over the world.

17:30

We have someone from Kazakhstan and Russia, asia, like Africa, like.

17:36

We literally have people from all over the world that move to LA for whatever their passions or their pursuits are, yeah, and we have a wide variety of complexions, heights, ethnicities, cultures and Every where.

17:50

Everybody's journey with their body was so, so similar, no matter how different their backgrounds were.

17:55

So that was a big takeaway for me is that we might see each other as people from completely different worlds, but there are some universal experiences that we are all going through.

18:05

And Another big takeaway for me was that a lot of these experiences that we were all going through, or beneath the skin, it's not apparent to everybody.

18:14

Again, on the surface, it might look like everything is fine.

18:17

Oh, you're a beautiful woman, you'll be all right, you're good to go, you're conventionally pretty, you're the ideal body type, or even what people go through that are plus size or skinny.

18:27

You might think that you already understand.

18:30

Oh, I already know what struggles you go through being plus size.

18:33

I have no idea. You don't know if it's a health condition, you don't know if they work out every day, you don't know if they eat healthy and you don't know what, how, you don't know like the cumulative effect of the burdens they carry.

18:44

So you might think like, oh yeah, it might be hard, but you might be thinking from the perspective of it might be challenging from one day.

18:50

You might not be thinking that they might have been struggling with that since they were two or three years old.

18:55

They'd be getting called names, they'd be getting bullied since they were two or three years old and that might compound some of the challenges they some of the challenges they go through.

19:02

And that's the and the deepest part of that for me is social media Right, when, when we go on social media and we see these, these beautiful, this conventionally beautiful woman, and he said, wow, she's so perfect or she looks so good, and the problem with that was not a real problem, but the perspective of that is the younger generation watching this, right, the Gen Gen Z, I think, is what they're called.

19:25

Yeah, you know they're, they're, they're watching this and this is all they know.

19:30

They only know a world where perfect, where you're scrolling on social media and it's perfect woman, hypothetically speaking, it's edited, so forth and so on.

19:38

And now they think something's wrong with me and it gets deeper depression because you're just seeing a whole bunch of perfect people.

19:45

Well, like you said, it's it's a lot deeper on the inside, in ways portrayed on Instagram or TikTok or so forth and so on.

19:51

So I love how it exposed that side of it.

19:54

It doesn't matter how you look, it's always everybody's finding their own demons on the inside Right Now.

20:00

Do you think men go through similar things that?

20:04

I don't know if you ever shot men or you do photo shoots for men and things, but do you think men go go through similar things?

20:11

Definitely. I think it's to a different extent.

20:15

So I think in general in our current society, women tend to be judged more harshly versus or based on the way they look.

20:24

Look them in there. That's how they're valued is based on how they look in the most basic sense yeah.

20:29

And then men tend to be valued based off like the resources they provide yeah.

20:33

So we tend to not be judged as critically for our bodies or the way we look Like.

20:39

Even Jay-Z has a line. He's like I'm a billionaire, I'm cute, like it doesn't matter what I look like.

20:44

Look at the resources I've built, look at my value versus.

20:48

Women tend to be valued based off of how they look, and there's a lot of billion dollar industries based upon that.

20:54

So I do think that men do go through it, but I think that it is more pronounced within women, but for men it might look a little different.

21:03

I think men height seems to be a pretty big thing for us.

21:07

So like seems to be a big difference between 511 and six feet, apparently that's like a seven inch difference.

21:16

The ongoing meme?

21:17

Yeah, for sure, but a lot of short guys like really struggle with that because there are a lot of women.

21:24

Well, I would say a lot of women, but it seems to be a A paradigm out there, the six standards, six feet, six figures, exactly, it's what every woman seems to walk and the shame is that a short guy can check off a lot of boxes.

21:40

He could be attractive and nice and compassionate and ambitious, but if he's a little shorter then he might automatically be off a lot of women's list just based off of the height.

21:50

Yeah, yeah, I think for men, like I said, a lot of guys, every guy wants to have a big dick, so that's going to be something, or is that?

21:58

you good, you good or they want to have.

22:00

You know, they want to be big and large, and I did a day.

22:05

Most guys are going to be the average size, because that's what the average is, it's the norm, it's the majority.

22:10

Yeah, a lot of guys with porn and stuff are pressured into wanting to be bigger, especially as black men too.

22:15

I think that we are expected to perform at a certain sexual level and that's just automatically the perception based off of how we could be over sexualized in the media.

22:25

And then I think Asia and me and my experience the opposite of that, where they may be have made feel pressured to perform because they expect it to do less in the bedroom.

22:35

So I'll say those are like two of the biggest ones height, the size of penis or dick, whatever.

22:40

Yeah, and then just in general, so this is a plus size community and body positivity activism for women when it comes to being plus sized, yeah, but we don't really see that for men, no, so for men it's like you better get your ass in the gym, yeah.

22:56

Like you better.

22:58

You better put down that cake. Yeah, yeah, we're not talking like oh, love your curves, love yourself.

23:03

So I think that that's something that a lot of men may battle too, just in terms of how we look.

23:09

We're only really seeing all the superheroes, guys that are steroids, muscles, and that's even though that's really 1% of guys.

23:18

We're expected to think of that as the standard.

23:20

Yeah, so I didn't. I didn't a day, though I think it's harder for women, just because their value is more linked to how they look Well, nah, man, that was really good.

23:29

That was really good. I want to get your perspective on it.

23:31

On men in securities Do you feel like men have insecurities and and what?

23:36

What have you noticed with men in securities?

23:39

Yeah, absolutely. Some of the most insecure people I know are men.

23:41

I definitely think men have insecurities.

23:44

I would agree with my husband for sure. But like we have a group, a friend group that is predominantly, we have like a male friend group that we went out with after documentary and they were all excited and they're like you need to do one next for men, because we have our issues too.

23:58

So I would agree.

24:00

But to your comment about you know, plus size men, I think there's some validity to that.

24:06

But I would also argue that if you're a plus size man but you have six figures, most women aren't gonna care.

24:14

And.

24:14

I think that that is necessarily the healthiest thing, but I think that's the reality.

24:17

Like you know, there's a lot of bigger men.

24:20

But you know, I think that it's hard for bigger men maybe who don't have money Facts Because if you're a bigger man and you have money, you probably still gonna get what you wanna get, but if you're a bigger man and you don't have money, I think that's when it's when it can be more difficult, which I don't agree with at all.

24:35

But yeah, definitely men have insecurities and I think that I wish there was a place where men could feel more open to talk amongst each other about their insecurities.

24:47

That's very true. That's not happening at all.

24:49

I rarely see it happen. You know, I think there's some conversations out there but just to have like a row space where they could just be.

24:57

Like man, homie, I'm just not feeling hot today, you know like.

25:01

I just think that.

25:03

But like something like that, your friends will probably bully you to like, like you said, get in the gym, bro, you know, put down the cake, work out, work on yourself.

25:11

Because, men, I just feel like it's we're here to protect and provide.

25:15

And if you can't do that, on to the next right.

25:18

And I feel like a lot of that comes with as a man, right, Even, for example, you said even a bigger guy, hypothetically speaking if he has money, then he could get what he wants.

25:29

But to what extent? Right, To what extent?

25:31

Because I feel like if you're not trying to be the best version of yourself as a man, whether that's in your career or mentally, physically, whatever it is, then you're leaving a lot of options on the table, or at least you're not maximizing your potential, what you can attract to yourself.

25:48

So, even as a man with money and you're excelling with finances, you could be doing way better, in my opinion, if you, you know, excel physically, mentally, emotionally as well.

25:59

So it's so much deeper than finances as well, when, man, I think we use that as a coping mechanism oh, I got money, I'm a millionaire, I'm six figures when there's so much deeper than that.

26:09

No, I would agree absolutely, and men definitely have their struggles, for sure, but I think maybe women are just more open to talking about it, which is why maybe we can heal more from it, which is why I think documentary was such a great experience for us to see and have these people on these platforms to really open, because even the women, to be honest, I think they were really shocked by how common their issues were.

26:33

These women did not know each other 33 women.

26:36

They came to the screening and a lot of them were like wow, I didn't even know that, I didn't know that you were going through that.

26:41

They had no idea how common our issues were.

26:45

Yeah, deep, deep. So are you gonna do one for men?

26:48

And this is not about men, this is listen, this is about the beautiful woman out there.

26:53

But I just gotta throw some love for the fellas out there, because we need it and we need attention and the conversation needs to be had as well.

27:00

So I have a few different ideas for future volumes.

27:05

Yeah.

27:06

So I was thinking, yeah, there could be one focusing on men.

27:09

There could be one focusing on parents, their experiences, how their bodies change and the connection with their kids.

27:15

Focusing deeper on athletes, dancers, people from different, like East Coast, where their experiences be different from the West Coast going to international.

27:25

So there's definitely a lot of different options, a lot of different avenues that you could go.

27:28

The sky's the limit for sure.

27:30

So how long does it take to script, write, shoot, edit a film like that?

27:42

So for the body story specifically, it was spread out so we would shoot like one or two every other weekend.

27:48

It ended up taking about six months of shooting and then two months of editing.

27:54

The process can be streamlined.

27:56

If we were doing it full time, like if we had our Monday through Friday available, but we were just shooting like a day here and there, if we could streamline the process we could probably knock out the whole thing in probably like four months, like three months of shooting, one month of editing and then be good to go.

28:13

You know, for me editing is the most tedious part.

28:16

I hate it. Man. There's editing sitting down and by bad I just.

28:21

I love shooting and recording and doing the fun stuff, but when you gotta sit down and just piece all together, that's the annoying part for me.

28:29

No, I hate editing too, but I have.

28:33

I don't know if you use Adobe.

28:35

Yeah, Premiere Pro.

28:36

Premiere Pro Shout. Premiere Pro sponsored the podcast.

28:39

But no, I hate editing as well.

28:43

But I have learned to kind of fall in love with the process because you're essentially like the director of the project, right, and it's dope to not to have that content in your hands and you can.

28:55

You know, essentially it's your vision. It's your vision and it's your baby and you can kind of like cultivate and grow your baby up the way you want it to.

29:03

So I've learned to try to appreciate it.

29:06

I've tried hiring editors and they did decent jobs, but it never came out the way that my brain and my vision was, and I'm like you know what.

29:13

I think. I do this myself, but for you guys, what's next?

29:18

What's on the horizon besides filming?

29:20

Creating another film, what's next?

29:26

Well, my life is very, very much ingrained with filmmaking, like it's something I take extremely seriously.

29:32

I'm dedicating my entire life to it. So what's next is always going to be film is always going to be online, yes, sir, and the next project coming up will be an anthology series that's going to be like a horror, artsy, psychological type series.

29:48

Okay, it's interesting that we're doing promo stuff for the documentary right now, but the documentary is like a tip of the iceberg and the type of films and cinema that I create.

30:00

But yeah, the next is just continuing to submit the film to film festivals and then get into some really twisted dark arts.

30:09

I think that it's interesting to talk to real people and see what vulnerable issues that they're going through and seeing letting that be filled to create characters that are going through real stuff and letting that add depth to the character, so that they're not just a caricature and we can actually have substance in the horror and art that we create, and then a couple of years later down the line, we have our first kid.

30:37

Oh no, I see y'all not thinking about kids yet.

30:39

Oh yeah, we're thinking probably in the next, probably like three years three years about that time.

30:45

But we just like when, we be pragmatic and just plan it out well, we don't want the kid to come into our lives and be a burden.

30:52

We want it to be a blessing. So we just want to make sure that we are responsible and prepared before we take that next leap, but we're looking forward to it.

31:00

I love that response bro.

31:02

Yeah, and I said I always wanted to be like a wife and like a partner before I'm a mom.

31:08

Yeah.

31:08

Like I want to take my time and get used to be called wife for a while before I hear mommy yeah.

31:15

And now that's beautiful to hear, because most people not, let me not say most people hypothetically speaking, statistic wise, within the black community it's literally the most single mothers of all races, so it's a lot of mommy and not wifey.

31:30

So to, like I once said earlier, let's take the opposite approach.

31:34

That's deep, that's really deep.

31:37

It is, it's really deep Just looking at the numbers.

31:39

I was going to do an episode on the black family right when I drove into the numbers the the highest in disease, highest in hypertension, you know, most single mothers, most incarcerated, so forth and so on, but I just never got to it.

31:54

So to see an outlier you got the outliers on the podcast is dope in itself, but we're approaching the 30 minute mark here and a little past 30 minutes now.

32:05

So what final words would you guys want to leave for the audience about the film?

32:10

What's coming next? All that other good stuff, yeah.

32:13

Plug your socials as well.

32:14

OK, yeah, so I'm, I'm co-producer, filmmaker, but I also am like really into my fitness journey.

32:20

Right now. I'm literally doing 75 hard.

32:23

Have you heard of that? I?

32:24

have Is it is? Tell me more about it 75 hard.

32:27

It's essentially 75 days. It's two workouts a day, 45 minutes.

32:31

One has to be outside Ten pages of a nonfiction book.

32:36

Gallon of water a day, no alcohol, no edibles, no cheat meals like a diet of your choice, and I'm on day 22.

32:49

So my I say all that to say my Instagram is fitless lifestyle, because I'm really just about, you know, just taking care of my body, and what that means is just like for me.

33:01

I'm not trying to look like a certain kind of way, but I really just want to see what my potential is in my body, naturally.

33:08

So that's and that really ties into the body stories as well Yep, and to the audience, I just want to say to the women out there and the man but if you guys are dealing with any type of insecurity about your body, you're definitely not alone.

33:20

Like we've all been there, and I just would encourage you to journal, to practice self love and just love on your body a little bit.

33:29

Like literally touch your body and think it, because it's your vessel and I think sometimes we can get really hard on ourselves, but I think it's important to remember like this is your body, it's your only body.

33:39

So, like, do what you can and love it and cherish it through the process.

33:43

Because I think through my fitness journey a lot of times I'm just, sometimes I'm thinking about like where I want to be, but I think it's important to love where I'm at.

33:52

We forget that sometimes, as humans, it's always what's the next go, what's the next step, what's the future, what's happening tomorrow?

33:58

But right now the present is a gift.

34:01

That's what we call it the present right.

34:03

Yes, didn't Kanye say that.

34:05

Somebody said that.

34:08

Yeah, I think Alyssa put that very well that ultimately, a lot of times we get fixated on the destination and even if you're not happy with where your body is right now or where you are in your life right now, I think it is important to embrace the journey.

34:22

I might even saw an interview with Kobe RIP.

34:27

I know RIP to the goal and they were asking him which one do you relate more to?

34:31

Do you love winning or do you hate losing?

34:33

And he said neither. He's not result oriented, he doesn't have fixate on the results, he just focuses on the progress Process, the process, exactly.

34:41

He just focuses on the process, on getting his shots in every day, working on his body, eating healthy, and I think that's just really important to focus on the day to day, focus on the process, focus on the grind.

34:52

Don't worry about the results, because the results will come from that daily deposits you put in your socials, and my Instagram is Malik Productions M-A-L-I-K Productions and we are just two people that are constantly working, constantly writing, constantly putting out art that is entertaining but also has substance.

35:14

So follow us on our journey.

35:16

For sure. I'm definitely going to plug the film in the description below when I'll plug our socials and all that good stuff.

35:22

But man, this was a phenomenal episode Quick, straight to the point, but a lot of gems and value dropped.