0:00  

Hello! 


0:00  

Welcome! Thank you for joining us.


0:00  

Thank you for having me


0:00  

Of course! Fantastic choreography by the way.


0:00  

Thank you! I didn't choreograph it but I, I am a dance a dance artist, so it was fun to do 


0:14  

Lovely, lovely. Are you here alone?


0:15  

Um, my director, Derrick Small. was supposed to sign on. You guys are running early. Oh, he I think he's here. Looks like. 


0:24  

Can you hear me?


0:26  

Yeah., we can hear you. Yeah. So that's my director and then I produced and sort of wrote the whole thing and kind of orchestrated the shoot and stuff.


0:37  

Brilliant. Please introduce us. I would love to know more about this.


0:47  

Yeah. So my name is Jasmine Wright And I'm outside right now. Sorry. It's kind of loud. I did this project years ago and like, it was probably like 2016 or 17 when I lived in LA, and I had just gotten there and I was trying to get seen as an actor and you know, do the whole grind. And originally I I wanted to do a Catwoman piece, because I wanted to showcase myself as a dance artist and show that I can do action and I could do physical stuff, and I could also act. Plus, I had the costume already because I did kids, superhero and Princess parties. So I was like, well, I'll just do Catwoman. And originally, I was just going to shoot it on my iPhone and shoot it at Griffith Park. And just, you know, I was kind of half assing it and then I started to think about it more and some of the people I met already in context I'd made who I knew could possibly help me and I was like, I could probably make this a little better than just shooting on my iPhone in the park. So I sat down and kind of thawed out a very brief scene, but a scene that I could put like, hopefully a lot of production value into, because it was my first film my first self produced project, so I didn't want to do something that was too big and too long and unachievable. And the only person of color that I had found, who had played Cat Woman, you know, there's so many cat women out there was Halle Berry, Halle Berry at the time that I knew of. And that particular film wasn't received very well which was kind of disappointing because I was like, Oh, she's a person of color, like me. You know, it's nice to see a version of yourself on the screen. And so I did a little more research, and I found Eartha Kitt from many many years ago and I had never heard of her but she played cat woman for a little bit back and like, want to say is like the 70s? 60s, something like that. But she was amazing. Like she was just eloquent and confident. And she was like that in real life, too. She actually had a really impressive life history. So that kind of inspired me to give my take on Cat Woman and, you know, try, try to get my face out there as as the next cat woman. So that's kind of that's how it all began. My team, I sort of handpicked from people that I'd worked with on short films while I was down there. My camera guy, my director of photography, champ Robinson, I met him I was working on one of his shoots, and at the end of it, he was like, Hey, if you ever want me to, you know, shoot something for you. As a as a favor to pay back, like, just let me know. And I'm sure he didn't have in mind the big production I planned, but later on, I was like, 'hey, still offering those camera skills?' and he was super busy, but I was grateful that he followed through and came with his fancy camera and stuff. So I thought that's my camera guy. The other actor, Austin. I found him on that same shoot. He was super cool. He was like a he's a Nigerian actor and bodybuilder. And yeah, like, super impressive guy. And I was like, you gotta be my bad guy. And he's super nice in real life. So that was a little hard for him, but he was great. 


4:22  

And I'd love to introduce my director, Derek Small. I found him I had worked on a couple of his personal projects, and he had a very poetic way of writing and the stuff that he shot was very moody. And he was just very artistic and I liked working with him. I could tell that he had a good eye. And so I asked him to help me because I couldn't act and director it. It just it would have been too much. So I brought him on. Someone introduced me to a stunt guy who worked for Marvel and he kind of took me under his wing and was like, Hey, I know you don't you're not a stunt person. But you want to pull this off like I can help you with the choreography. We can do something that's not too complicated, where it still looks clean and good. And his name was Cedric Harris. He helped me out, like, tremendously. Otherwise we might have looked a little silly up there. And yeah, that was my main team. Kenneth Bower did the music and the sound design. And I was really blessed to find him because I went through a couple other composers and they just weren't getting the sound that I had hoped for. And then he came and it was just like, [insert angelic ah], my storyboard artists, Tyler Arns. He did the artwork that I used in my credits, and he's just a friend from my hometown, and he was like, 'Hey, I'd love to help' and he's like, super artistic and talented. And I wish I could have used more of his storyboard art actually, in my film, because it was so good. And then lastly, our makeup artists, Jake and Alyssa helped me do the cat scratches. Andrew Kharleesi helped with the lighting. We have a lot of other people helping but that those were kind of our main, our main set of people. And we were all just like artists trying you know, trying to do the LA thing out there and doing the grind and just, we're all came together to just make something. so yeah.


6:34  

That must have done a good service, moving.


6:41  

I moved back home but I'm still still acting just doing it from a different place now.


6:49  

Amazing, amazing actor by the way. And an amazing producer even though I don't know if she really wants to like go down that road but I think every would love to ever produce the level of detail that she thought through because I think it makes it directors job a bit easier and im a  producer and even I was like pleased 


7:14  

Thank you. I just wanted things to go smooth like I'm a planner I just I want the I had been on sets where things weren't planned out and it's just it's a time zapper you know, so I wanted to try to plan as much as I could you know and stuff of course things change on set the day of but if you can plan it, you know, you definitely should. And I think it was Derrick my director who actually is either Derrick or champ my DP. One of you guys told me that I needed a shot list. So I was like, 'Okay, I know what that is' And then you were like, 'You need a camera placement map' and I didn't know what that was. I was like what? And when they explained it to me, I thought they were joking. It was like I had to draw like a diagram of the scene. Like put all the furniture in there and then put a little X where the cameras supposed to be for every angle and every shot. I didn't know people did that. I was like that's so tedious. But


8:12  

They wanted to do it right. I remember we were in in some kind of conference room oing over it.


8:21  

Yeah, that was hard. That was the hardest part. I think was that just like yeah, but I'm glad I did it. I think it helps the day of you know, certain things changed, but it helps to have a plan that you can refer to


8:33  

Well done. I think you actually managed all the details quite seamlessly. 


8:44  

Thank you 


8:46  

I know there are people out there that are meticulous enough to play about where the camera actually moves forward that somebody would actually move furniture just continuously do the shot. Just with whatever angles you actually chose. It was just so flattering.


9:06  

Thank you. And Derek helped. Derek helps a lot with that Derek did the editing because I didn't know how to edit at that time. And I remember I think I put him through the wringer a bit he sent me a couple versions and I was I was real nitpicky about certain things and he took it and you know, fixed it and kept sending me back stuff and so he Yeah, he was very helpful in the editing


9:33  

it was my first time editing an action sequence like that, so.


9:42  

Action is hard. It's hard.


9:45  

The pacing is intense when it comes down to action.


9:49  

Yeah, that's where my stunt guy helped as well. Like he would watch the edit and he'd be like, No, that's, you know, that's not going to work. You should try this. So It really was a team effort. I couldn't have done it. I couldn't have done it on my iPhone in the park. By myself like I originally planned


10:13  

Do you guys have a website that we can actually follow you at. I would love to actually see more of your work or so.


10:21  

Yeah, you can. You can find me on YouTube at my username is all one word. Jasminedancer13. And, yeah, I have a bunch of random stuff up there. The only other big project I produced recently was a music video tribute to fallen police officers. I was a police officer for a quick minute. In 2019 2020 I'm not anymore I decided it wasn't for me, but I just I made something that hopefully would honor the profession and just what I learned in it. So here's the more more projects but producing is like Derek said it's it's tiring like it's. Oh my god, the work. Haha.


11:04  

I totally understand being in theater production, for example. Or really any production.


11:08  

And that's live! like, you can't take that back. Derrick Is there any place we can follow you? I don't know if you're on social media anymore.


11:30  

I am on Instagram is created by vs. on YouTube. Just go to DSR History Productions on Derrick Small History Productions.


11:45  

Okay, we can put that in. We'll put that in the chat.


11:53  

Well, I guess one last question. I mean, how would you give encouragement to people that want to actually be in your spot right now. I know being an independent filmmaker is always a thankless job and sometimes you have to actually make these projects out of passion.


12:15  

And that was another thing I did raise some money to do this to kind of curb the costs, but not nearly enough to pay everyone what they were worth. Like everyone got a very small stipend which you always feel bad because it's like you know what they're worth and we're trying to make stuff so we can get to the point where we can pay those rates you know that we want to. But yeah, I would say just keep my biggest downfall right now is like kind of becoming too isolated, you know, between COVID and then I became a mom. So, you know, just life happens and I'm just now trying to get back out there and stay in the community. Like try to stay connected to people, stay on people's radar. Don't be shy about networking, which is hard for me. I'm an introvert so that was always tricky for me. But yeah, just keep networking keep finding people. You never know you know who you work with. Even though it might be a small project you just you never know who's going to who's going to skyrocket one day and just be that next. You know, that next Christopher Nolan. So yeah, just don't underestimate people and just always stay. Stay humble but but know your self worth too what's important. I don't know if Derrick has anything to say.


13:34  

I would have to add that a little bit. Just you know, especially because,I work full time and I think the pacing of the projects I do, it's really slow like once a year so the learning is also a little bit slower. So if you can get to a place where you're either able to grind for real with this filmmaking thing, or you can balance out your life a little more to encourage yourself with a space to do more art, then I wouldn't I wouldn't push for that and recommend that because at my current pacing, I think the grind is not necessarily there because there is some study coming in. And I'm not saying that everyone is blessed with that opportunity, but it does take away from the ability to consistently pursue art seriously


14:23  

And talk to your families about it you know, let let them know how important it is to you. Because that can be hard to sometimes families think well, 'Oh, it's just a stupid little hobby. But if you need to explain to them like 'no, this means a lot to me' and that way they can know how to be supportive to you.


14:41  

Very, very true. I have friends that are actually stunt actors and, you know, families always don't get it. They don't get it, especially, like, military backgrounds or education backgrounds.


14:59  

Military is hard. My dad's military and it took them a while to understand the artistic side of me but they're your parents will always love you. You just got to get through to them sometimes. Yeah,


15:14  

Exactly. thank you. Thank you so much for this wonderful piece


15:18  

Yeah! Thanks for having us. We appreciate it.


You can watch the entire interview here: