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Thank you.

Film distribution is a complex field that involves many factors, including copyright laws, changing marketing strategies, and new ways of screening films.

Tonight, our guest is a film executive navigating this field.

I'm so happy you're joining us.

And then you from Los Angeles.

This is KLCS PBS.

Welcome to everybody with Angela Williamson.

An Innovation, Arts, education and public affairs program.

Everybody, with Angela Williamson is made possible by viewers like you.

Thank you.

And now your host, doctor Angela Williamson.

Sidney Levine is our guest.

Sidney, thank you so much for being here.

My pleasure.

Thank you for having me.

I want our audience to get to know you because you are bringing a unique background we've never had before to talk about on the show.

And that is the background of.

I actually call you more of a film executive.

Would that be true?

Could be.

That's what I put on the questionnaires.

Film executive.

And how is that different from someone who goes in and they produce a film, and then they hope people come and see it.

Oh, well, that's a one off.

You get the money, you make the film.

An executive is more or less hired by a company and executes the job, and it goes on and on until you're fired or they downsize or whatever.

And how did you get into that type of position?

I had no idea what I was ever going to do.

And, I taught and after teaching, I realized that wasn't going to change the world.

And my friends here in Los Angeles, where I was raised, said, come in the film business.

It's fun.

And I thought I could use some fun.

And in those days to go in, you were secretary.

If you were a woman, if you were a man, you worked in the mailroom.

And somehow the agents, I worked at the talent agency, and they would try you out here and there.

They'd get to know you.

So I started as a secretary to a talent agent who was booking music for movies and after about a year, I learned other things about the agency, and someone else offered me a job as a literary agent.

And after a while, I didn't want to be an agent, I tried production, I hated prod I was reading the trades and I got a job to be the first female trainee as an executive in international film distribution with 20th Century Fox.

Okay.

International Film distribution.

What does that mean?

That was the question I had.

I said, what's distribution anyway?

And someone at the talent agency jokingly said, it's a bunch of old men in gray suits.

And I thought, oh, good, I'll be the first to liven up.

The crowd.

Of old men in gray suits.

Oh, so?

So, I went for the interview with the head of 20th Century Fox International.

Handsome, gray haired man, really nice suit.

And he said, why do you want to be in film distribution?

Why not Coca-Cola distribution?

And I understood, oh, that's what distribution is, getting a product out to people like Coca-Cola.

And I said, because I think films could change the world.

That's all such a hackneyed phrase.

Now.

But it came to me in 1975 and he kind of figuratively patted me on my head and said, okay, you've got the job, because I was naive and honest and, there was affirmative action, which I had no idea it was happening also.

And it said, if a woman is qualified and asked for the job, she's got to get it.

I had no idea about that.

And so that's what actually because in this business we say get your foot in the door.

So that's what got your foot in the door.

That got my foot in the door.

Well, actually, working at the talent agency did too because it was a really good agency.

Well, and to have that on your resume is important too.

Yeah.

When we think about film distribution today, it's entirely different.

So when you started out as a trainee, what did you learn?

I mean, this is international.

So are you taking filmed from America and trying to distribute that in other languages and other countries?

How does that work?

Yeah, it was international.

So I and I was an executive in training with 20th Century Fox.

So I would take the 20th Century Fox movies that were mostly made in the United States mostly.

And we were in the Dutch office.

So we would put them out in Holland and they'd, we'd look at it and discuss it and do the marketing campaign and get it into the theaters.

And that was about it, because no home video existed in 75.

So I learned the politics of the company more than how to do it, because the how to do it was pretty simple.

It sounded like it was simple.

But, you know, I'm not going to have you sit here and not talk about the politics, because how do you navigate that?

Because we're talking mid 70s.

Still women, women haven't really started hitting those high powered jobs yet.

No.

And and then on top of that you're going into a training.

And normally when I hear about a trainee in a new program there really isn't a lot of guidelines go in there.

So so how do you navigate that on top of.

Yes, the packaging sounds simple, but it sounds like most of your time is spent going navigating through, trying to get that packaging done.

Am I right or wrong?

Yeah.

I mean, it would fill a book and I had to learn the language, right?

Also Dutch and a year.

It was a year training.

And the politics were something else.

Unbelievable.

I couldn't tell you, couldn't begin to tell you.

And I know, I know, sometimes we have to keep those trade secrets.

It's what I call.

It is not a secret.

The first thing I got there was the lawyer for 20th Century Fox International said, we don't really want women here.

but you came back every day.

Yeah, I came back every day.

I felt like they punched me in the nose half the time.

But I made it through.

And then I decided with the last decision I had to make about staying, I decided to leave, and I left, and I came home to the United States, and I went into education on short films because I knew educational, and it was a bit less stressful.

Well, and what I'm hearing from you, too, is that every step that we make in our life can come back to help us do something new, something different, and also take us out of those stressful situations.

Yes.

Because before you went into film and you went into distribution, you were in education, right?

Yeah.

And when you come back here and start working on educational videos, are they videos that are put inside classrooms or.

Are they were short films that maybe were the Academy Award winning shorts and some of the subjects would fit for, public schools and some of the subjects for universities, libraries, businesses.

And so we knew where we would play.

So it was distribution again.

And I was lucky enough to be able to buy the films for the company.

So I got to see a lot of great short films, and then I would pitch it as this will fit the curriculums of public schools, or this is a university topic, and it was fabulous.

I got to say.

Well, and so I want our audience to really follow your journey, because it's really the reason why you're here today.

And and at this point, you're back, you're working, in educational videos.

How does Sydney start to work on this database called Film Finders.

So I want to just go back one step to the 20th Century Fox.

I thought the world was my oyster.

I had made it.

I was the 20th Century Fox, and I was so proud of myself.

And I felt like I failed terribly because of the politics that I had to deal with.

And I felt like such a failure.

And I came home and my mother said, you know, you should just get to work, do anything, clean floors.

It'll take you out of depression.

And I went through the phonebook and I called every company.

Do you want someone?

And finally, when I got to the P, the guy said no.

And then he called me back.

He said, actually, if you want to work the phones and sell rentals of these movies, I'll give you a job.

I said, I'll take it.

And it just moved me up into back into the business.

But I started from total failure as far as I was concerned, and I think that's really important.

I thought I would die from my failure.

But I've seen things.

In fact, I didn't read it today, but I just got something in my email that talked about how failures can help you be the best you can be, or get to the next step.

Yes.

How do you get through that?

Because you could get into a depression, right?

Even even though now you look at it, you are breaking barriers back then.

I know.

But you're not thinking that.

No, they were breaking me.

based on what you learned from that, what can you tell young people trying to be in this business today?

Yeah, well, I'll say don't take anything personally because they don't know who you are.

They're only reacting to something in their mind that you're representing.

And you cannot take it personally because it'll ruin you.

It ruined me.

It was like, oh, my God, I'm a failure.

You're you've got what you want to do in your mind and in your heart.

You just keep doing it.

Yeah.

I mean, you learn from your failures.

You learn a lot.

I mean, when I see people putting on their airs, their important selves, I think I know what's under that because I've seen it.

I've been there.

It's, you know, you do what you want to do.

You do it well.

You care about people.

You follow your heart.

You'll make it.

But you've got to not let those people stop you because they will.

If you let them get to you personally, you gotta switch it back on to them.

Isn't that part of the journey, though, is the failure part so that you can realize your true potential and how you can get yourself to your next big break, or things like that.

Yeah, you almost can't stop.

Gotta keep on.

You gotta keep persevering.

And you get it.

The ones who win are the ones who last.

That's important to know.

Yeah, because a lot of people don't realize when they quit.

so you accept this job.

And this is the job with the educational videos.

And it happened at a time.

And this is always going on that the technology of film is changing.

And it happened at a time when the technology was becoming home.

Video was just starting.

So now we want to talk about home video because I remember this.

Well where are we talking.

The home video where you had the betas or where we decided, okay, maybe we should use VHS.

Talk about politics.

the Beatles were with Disney and VHS was with 20th Century Fox.

One favored the other.

And so we watched this fight between the Beatles and the VHS and who would win and how that would happen, because actually the Beatles were better.

But the politics of the situation 20th Century Fox one.

Because that really that change really quickly.

I mean, when home video came out, it was about getting the beta machine and the Beatles.

And then all of a sudden, if you got that, you needed to go back out and get a new machine and get the VHS.

And that's what lasted for years before we saw DVD.

That's right.

Yes.

Yeah.

So.

So how does distribution change?

So it always democratizes, which is really important.

Okay.

So suddenly movies could be seen by many, many more people.

And because more people could see it, more money went into the making of it and more people could also make the movies, and they could make a cheap movie, and it would not go into theaters, but just go home to the guy who wanted to drink beer and sit on the sofa and watch an action adventure film, or the kids who want to see a horror film.

And so more people could make lower budget movies for more people to watch.

And then DVDs came and that gave another infusion of cash because suddenly consumers had to buy DVDs.

Now online is a whole nother world.

And it throws the international and domestic distribution scene into disarray, into the confusion.

And that's a good way to get in when things are confused.

Someone who can think kind of straight, yeah, can get in.

It's a good moment.

Because what you can do is actually create that path.

Yes, because no one else knows and you don't know, but you can give it a try.

You're young.

Give it a try.

And so, yeah, it's up to me.

It's totally fascinating.

I love it.

Well, you know, this is a perfect way to end.

Our first segment When we come back, I want you to tell us what you're doing now.

Because everything that you've been taught that you've learned, not only just in the industry that you've learned about yourself is actually goes into what you're doing today.

So I want you to talk about that when we go back okay.

Thank you.

Come back to hear more from Sydney.

So what do I do with.

Just look at some.

Mom, did you really need to buy two can openers for our emergency kit?

I can't help it, they were two-for-one.

What's this?

We need to keep our family communication plan safe in case of an emergency.

Thanks Tita!

We should think ahead to keep mom and dad safe when it floods this year.

I've got an evacuation route loaded on my phone.

I've got an updated list of dad's meds.

And I've got just what we need to get them to take this seriously!

VO: Start a conversation with your family and plan together for emergencies.

Welcome back.

I loved hearing about your journey, but that journey is really the reason why you're here today.

So tell us what you're about to do.

Well, I'm about to do my last, thing.

I mean, this is my swan song.

I'm 80.

I can't believe I'm 80.

No.

No way.

And I started, I was younger.

Oh my goodness.

So this is like, the last thing that I'm interested in doing.

I've done film, I bought films, I started my own company, I had a database, I sold it to IMDb and then started consulting with film festivals, markets like Cannes Market and Berlin Market.

Teaching younger filmmakers how to get ahead and working with film commissions, doing a lot of consulting.

And this, as I said, is the last.

So I find us in a very confused state these days.

We're all like, what's happening to our society?

We're watching terrible things happen and we feel helpless.

And I was told by Walter Benjamin, okay, philosopher, I read in a book.

When we're confused, we need to go back to where we started.

Because at the beginning, everything is possible.

And then it develops as it develops.

And I thought, okay, let's go back to where we started, really started.

And I'm been raised in America.

I've watched I've been part of the struggles here.

And I thought, our roots are in Africa and I watch African movies and they are low budget and they're not so good.

But they're so compelling.

I love I like watch some of them.

Some of them.

Okay.

If you look like the Hollywood Nollywood.

If you look like the Hollywood Nollywood.

Yeah.

Nollywood.

The Nigerian films.

No.

But number one, Spotify music is Afrobeats, which is also Nigerian.

Now why don't they use that music in their movies?

Because it's too expensive.

The composers make a lot of money.

They don't want to work for a no budget movie.

So there's this disconnect within the territory.

Okay, but there's also a disconnect with art and the earliest roots of music, I gotta say, I think are African.

And certainly you see rap in major studio movies in Korea.

Everyone tells stories using rap.

Jazz is worldwide.

The music of coming out of Africa.

The African diaspora is so important.

And yet there's this exclusion of blacks.

And I thought this is just backward.

It all started there.

The creativity today there is incredible.

But there's a big disconnect.

And we watch a movie and we are not aware that 50% of what we're absorbing is the sound of it.

We're not aware of that.

We just think when we watching a movie unfold in front of a story.

So I said to the Berlin market, because I work very closely with the Berlin market.

And they're worried because the money is drying up.

The government doesn't have as much for culture as they used to because they have a military budget.

They have to start to feed.

It's all plays into the whole picture.

Okay.

So I said, I think we could bring another revenue flow in if we looked at music as part of film and bring it into the market as a commercial thing.

But to do that, we have to educate the composers in how to work with the films, and we have to educate the film people how to work with the composers.

And, I spoke to Sony Music Publishing in Nigeria and he said, you're right.

I mean, a composer, he's the one who said composers don't want to work for a no budget movie because they're getting paid.

They're not getting paid what their European counterparts are getting paid, but they're getting paid.

So, he said, we need to educate everyone.

And if I had the data to educate, then I could use that data to convince Sony there is a market here that we're not using.

And it goes on and on with this chain of command and where the market is and the creativity is in Africa.

And the biggest growing market is the youth in Africa.

It's a young, young continent.

No, it well, we just did some episodes there.

So I'm educating myself as I go.

And I went to a friend who's a big producer in Germany, in USA, they, Constantine films.

They just have September 5th out now.

I was just talking about that to our teleprompter guy is phenomenal.

Oh, I'm so glad.

Oh, you know the movie.

Well, when I was starting to do consulting, the head of production, there was just starting his career, and he asked me as a consultant to help him meet people in LA.

And then we went our separate ways.

He grew into the big head of Constantine, and we met at a party at the Berlinale a few years ago.

And he said, Sidney, if you ever want anything, just ask.

So I said to him, Martin, I want to do film, Afro film music and bring it to the market.

And he said, okay, let's talk to the head of the music department, Constantine.

And he says, you know, I listen to pop music from Africa, but I know nothing about bringing them in and scoring.

I don't know who the composers are.

I don't know if they have orchestral.

I don't know if they have tax rebates.

I don't know anything about the movie scene for music.

So if you made a panel, I would be on it.

I want two composers from Africa and a producer, and I want these questions answered.

Is there money?

Is there a tax incentive?

Are there composers?

Do they do sound music?

Do the soundtracks?

And he said, and you should talk to this person, this person, this person.

So I did that.

I also talk to my black friends.

And one said, oh, you should talk to this guy.

He has a film in the Berlinale.

And he said, yeah, I'd love to come and talk composed.

It's called dreamers.

It's going to be in the Berlin Film Festival and he's a composer.

He happens again to be from Nigeria.

I don't know why everything is from Nigeria.

They really are getting their own little entertainment capital.

There it is.

I know it's low budget, but I mean just and it's the energy that's there too.

The energy is so creative on that.

And in that country, yeah, it's you just getting you're getting all kinds of different things from there.

But interesting.

I love that you So we just got a whole bunch of we have like, five panels discussions.

One is about mentoring and it's all, it's a mix with some whites, but I'm trying to keep it more black because it's more or less for the black audience, but from everywhere.

Not Africa, from the Caribbean, from everywhere.

Us support us is kind of hard to get because us, is in its own little bubble with blacks too.

I mean, if they go to Africa, they learn, but if they're here doing their Hollywood thing, it's as closed to others as it is as it is.

It's a closed.

Off little club.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

So it's been interesting to see that.

And my partner, in this because she was doing something called Afro Berlin and Afro Can and she's, proud of her name is she is French Afro.

You're what you call it Afro peon or you're.

Yeah.

FPN okay.

Yeah.

And she lives in Stockholm, but she's been doing this for five years in Cannes and two years.

This is her second year in Berlin and the Berlin market said go talk to her.

So we're partners and we are learning so much, working together about how to be with people, how to talk to people, how people talk to us and what it means to us.

We're like bouncing thing.

It's the first time I've had a working relationship, I gotta say, with someone who is honest, open and we can collaborate.

And in my mind you're talking and I'm thinking collaboration.

And this is so important.

It's everything collaboration.

We're not trying to stake each other out.

We're not jealous.

Because you both have the same mission.

And this is to see this come to life.

Yeah, well I think your swan song.

Is that what you call it?

Yeah, I think it's phenomenal.

I know that that's what you're getting ready to do as it starts to develop.

I hope that you will keep in contact with us so we can share more about this, because I think we're going to see something some major changes.

But before we finish our conversation, I have to ask you, how can our audience, keep in touch with Sydney?

Oh, wow.

Well, you can read my blog, which is it?

Blogs.com, Sydney's buzz.

We're gonna make sure we put that on the.

Dot com dot.

Com.

so before we finish in talking about everything that you've done to get here to today, what advice can you give to anyone out there that's interested in being in this type of part of the industry?

In the distribution part of the industry, the business.

Part, business part, let's just say business in general, I.

Like that.

Well, I never liked business myself.

I wanted to be an art.

So I'm in the business of art.

And doing business is also an art, in itself.

So if you're interested in it, take some lowly job with some distributor, whether in US or an international sales agent who does it, licenses it to the rest of the world, take a lowly job and learn what happens on the bottom and move up that way.

Because if you try to start, start at the top company, but start at the bottom of it.

But the top company.

Don't choose some schlock company and do the work because people take note and they want someone who works hard and knows what they're doing.

So the best way is to start at the bottom and move up.

And that's the advice that people have been giving for a very long time.

And it's still true today.

It is indeed.

Thank you so much.

It was such a pleasure to hear about.

And that's what I want our audience to hear about your next step.

Because really what you're doing is you're bringing people together and that's all a part of our legacy.

So thank you so much for doing.

Thank you.

And thank you for joining us on everybody with Angela Williamson.

Viewers like you make this show possible.

Join us on social media to continue this conversation.

Good night and stay well.

Hi, I'm Angela Williamson, host of everybody with Angela Williamson.

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Again thank you for watching Cox PBS.

Like that.

But I know you're too busy to write a book, but.

Well, I'm writing, but not that.

Oh, well, you have this episode that you can use.

Yeah, that's true.

That was interesting that you let us say.

I had no idea.

Oh, I love it.

I love thank you for flying with me.

Excuse me.

We're rolling.

Okay.

We're ready to go whenever you go.

Okay.

You ready to go?

Great.

Great.

And you have, Everything sounded great.

Yes, we loved it.

We just want mix.

Okay?

Sure.

The director loved it.

Okay.

Wow.

Yeah.

All was good, Right.

In five, four, three, two.

Welcome back.

I loved hearing about your journey, but that journey is really the reason why you're here today.

So tell us what you're about to do.

Well, I'm about to do my last, thing.

I mean, this is my swan song.

I'm 80.

I can't believe I'm 80.

No.

No way.

And I started, I was younger.

Oh my goodness.

So this is like, the last thing that I'm interested in doing.

I've done film, I bought films, I started my own company, I had a database, I sold it to IMDb and then started consulting with film festivals, markets like Cannes Market and Berlin Market.

Teaching younger filmmakers how to get ahead and working with film commissions, doing a lot of consulting.

And this, as I said, is the last.

So I find us in a very confused state these days.

We're all like what's happening to our society?

We're watching terrible things happen and we feel helpless.

And I was told by Walter Benjamin, okay, philosopher, I read in a book.

When we're confused, we need to go back to where we started.

Because at the beginning, everything is possible.

And then it develops as it develops.

And I thought okay, let's go back to where we started, really started.

And I'm been raised in America.

I've watched I've been part of the struggles here.

And I thought, our roots are in Africa and I watch African movies and they are low budget and they're not so good.

But they're so compelling.

I love I like watch some of them.

Some of them.

Okay.

If you look like the Hollywood Nollywood.

Yeah.

Nollywood.

The Nigerian films.

No.

But number one, Spotify music is Afrobeats, which is also Nigerian.

Now why don't they use that music in their movies?

Because it's too expensive.

The composers make a lot of money.

They don't want to work for a no budget movie.

So there's this disconnect within the territory.

Okay, but there's also a disconnect with ar and the earliest roots of music, I gotta say, I think are African.

And certainly you see rap in major studio movies in Korea.

Everyone tells stories using rap.

Jazz is worldwide.

The music of coming out of Africa.

The African diaspora is so important.

And yet there's this exclusion of blacks.

And I thought this is just backward.

It all started there.

The creativity today there is incredible.

But there's a big disconnect.

And we watch a movi and we are not aware that 50% of what we're absorbing is the sound of it.

We're not aware of that.

We just think when we watching a movie unfold in front of a story.

So I said to the Berlin market, because I work very closely with the Berlin market.

And they're worrie because the money is drying up.

The government doesn't have as much for culture as they used to because they have a military budget.

They have to start to feed.

It's all plays into the whole picture.

Okay.

So I said, I think we could bring another revenue flow in if we looked at music as part of film and bring it into the market as a commercial thing.

But to do that we have to educate the composers in how to work with the films and we have to educate the film peopl how to work with the composers.

And, I spoke t Sony Music Publishing in Nigeria and he said, you're right.

I mean, a composer, he's the one who said composers don't want to work for a no budget movie because they're getting paid.

They're not getting paid what their European counterparts are getting paid, but they're getting paid.

So, he said, we need to educate everyone.

And if I had the data to educate, then I could use that data to convince Sony there is a market here that we're not using.

It's very interesting.

And it goes on and on with this chain of command and where the market i and the creativity is in Africa.

And the biggest growing market is the youth in Africa.

It's a young, young continent.

No, it well we just did some episodes there.

Well it's very exciting.

So I said to Berlin I want to bring in film music.

They said, okay, go first, talk to the Nordics.

They have it very well organized.

Last year I brought them in.

I said, bu I really want to bring in Afro.

And part of this exclusion and die is that and die.

Die.

And now they're being excluded is ridiculous.

People.

We're all in this together.

And the ones who should be excluded are the ones who are saying, I'm excluding you because they're the minorit and we're all in this together.

And I want people to want to be a part of this new African growth and begs to be a part of that instead of saying, we will allow you into our circle.

So, I know it sounds kind of icky.

Well, and it also sounds to me that this is bigger than bringing in Afro ethnic music into the film industry.

This is about changing ou humanity to where we should be.

Yes, it's going back to our roots and looking at it a different point of view.

The creativity coming out of Africa and the ability of already existing movies to recreate themselves.

So they're not making sequels and, you know, the same old, same old, and they can start to understand, what it all means.

It's not just commercial.

It's not commercial, but you're you've mentioned something that I think is really important too, is you talked about the disconnect, I mean, the disconnect between the two important parties that need to get together to make this happen.

Is that where Sydney comes in is to make sure you fix this disconnect so that we can get to this next part.

Well, I.

Mean, I don't know anything about music except I know what I like people who say that, but it's true.

So I'm educating myself as I go.

And I went to a friend who's a big producer in Germany, in USA, they, Constantine films.

They just have September 5th out now.

I was just talking about that to our teleprompter guy is phenomenal.

Oh, I'm so glad.

Oh, you know the movie.

Well, when I was starting to do consulting, the head of production, there was just starting his career, and he asked me as a consultan to help him meet people in LA.

And then we went our separate ways.

He grew into the big head of Constantine, and we met at a party at the Berlinale a few years ago.

And he said, Sidney, if you ever want anything, just ask.

So I said to him, Martin, I want to do film, Afro film music and bring it to the market.

And he said, okay, let's talk to the head of the music department, Constantine.

And he says, you know, I listen to pop music from Africa, but I know nothing about bringing them in and scoring.

I don't know who the composers are.

I don't know if they have orchestral.

I don't know if they have tax rebates.

I don't know anythin about the movie scene for music.

So if you made a panel, I would be on it.

I want two composers from Africa and a producer, and I want these questions answered.

Is there money?

Is there a tax incentive?

Are there composers?

Do they do sound music?

Do the soundtracks?

And he said, and you should talk to this person, this person, this person.

So I did that.

I also talk to my black friends.

And one said, oh, you should talk to this guy.

He has a film in the Berlinale.

And he said, yeah, I'd love to come and talk composed.

It's called dreamers.

It's going to be in the Berlin Film Festival and he's a composer.

He happens again to be from Nigeria.

I don't know why everything is from Nigeria.

They really are getting their own little entertainment capital.

There it is.

I know it's low budget, but I mean just and it's the energy that's there too.

The energy is so creative on that.

And in that country, yeah, it's you just getting you're getting all kind of different things from there.

But interesting.

I love that you So we just got a whole bunch of we have like, five panels discussions.

One is about mentoring and it's all, it's a mix with some whites, but I'm trying to keep it more black because it's more or less for the black audience, but from everywhere.

Not Africa, from the Caribbean, from everywhere.

Us support us is kind of hard to get because us, is in its ow little bubble with blacks too.

I mean, if they go to Africa, they learn, but if they're here doing their Hollywood thing, it's as closed to others as it is as it is.

It's a closed.

Off little club.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

So it's been interesting to see that.

And my partner, in thi because she was doing something called Afro Berlin and Afro Can and she's, proud o her name is she is French Afro.

You're what you call it Afro peon or you're.

Yeah.

FPN okay.

Yeah.

And she lives in Stockholm, but she's been doing this for five years in Cannes and two years.

This is her second year in Berlin and the Berlin market said go talk to her.

So we're partners and we are learning so much, working together about how to be with people, how to talk to people, how people talk to us and what it means to us.

We're like bouncing thing.

It's the first tim I've had a working relationship, I gotta say, with someone who is honest, open and we can collaborate.

And in my mind you're talkin and I'm thinking collaboration.

And this is so important.

It's everything collaboration.

We're not trying to stake each other out.

We're not jealous.

Because you both have the same mission.

And this is to see this come to life.

Yeah, yeah.

Oh well I think your swan song.

Is that what you call it?

Yeah, I think it's phenomenal.

I know that that' what you're getting ready to do as it starts to develop.

I hope that you will keep in contact with us so we can share more about this, because I think we're going to see something some major changes.

But before we finish our conversation, I have to ask you, how can our audience, keep in touch with Sydney?

Oh, wow.

Well, you can read my blog, which is it?

Blogs.com, Sydney's buzz.

We're gonna make sure we put that on the.

Dot com dot.

Com.

You can read my blog and you can email me.

Oh okay.

We'll make sure we put the email down so you don't have to say.

But the email of Sydney, the email to so before we finish in talking about everything that you've done to get here to today, what advic can you give to anyone out there that's interested in being in this type of part of the industry?

In the distribution par of the industry, the business.

Part, business part, let's just say business in general, I.

Like that.

Well I never liked business myself.

I wanted to be an art.

So I'm in the business of art.

And doing business is also an art, in itself.

So if you're interested in it, take some lowly job with some distributor, whether in US or an international sales agent who does it, licenses it to the rest of the world, take a lowly job and learn what happens on the bottom and move up that way.

Because if you try to start, start at the top company, but start at the bottom of it.

But the top company.

Don't choose some schlock company and do the work because people take note and they want someone who works hard and knows what they're doing.

So the best way is to start at the bottom and move up.

And that's the advice that people have been giving for a very long time.

And it's still true today.

It is indeed.

Thank you so much.

It was such a pleasure to hear about.

And that's what I want our audience to hear about your next step.

Because really what you're doing is you're bringing people together an that's all a part of our legacy.

So thank you so much for doing.

Thank you.

And thank you for joining us on everybody with Angela Williamson.

Viewers like you make this show possible.

Join us on social medi to continue this conversation.

Good night and stay well.

Oh, wow.

I didn't know that.

Wow.

Wow.

It's so exciting.

It's like it's a whole nother world.

Wow, wow.

And so when you're in Berlin you mentioned how many panels?

Five.

Yeah, I'd say five.

Maybe there's more.

I straight at nine.

It's over at four.

And then a day before there's one, it's huge.

How do you coordinate.

Prudence does everything.

Everything.

That's a good team, mate.

She's incredible I.

So how does this work?

How do you do this?

Oh, not me, I do.

Oh, she's so extraordinary.

Someone is going to take her.

She's amazing.

Oh.

She's amazing.

Wow.

So how I learned, started watching, Nollywood was because the person that brought my hair, she she's actually from Ghana, but Nigeria.

And they found just this market to work with this low budget film.

So every time I'm in there, she's bringing my hair.

We're watching it.

Oh, and so that's what I've sort of just got that funny.

This is got that great.

But oh my goodness.

I just watching the busines of it and watching me just turn and burn these things so quickly.

And everything.

And so that's what I that's what brought it to the attention.

But but it is, it's some of the sound sometimes.

Okay.