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In 2021, fewer than 2% of all top grossing films have been directed by women of color.

However, this is changing.

More streaming services are outpacing the percentage of women and underrepresented directors for original films Netflix, Amazon Prime, Disney+, and HBO Max.

The inclusion on streaming platforms gives us hope for women pursuing a career in entertainment.

Tonight, we meet a director and writer currently closing the gap.

I'm so happy you're joining us.

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.

It's been such a while since I've seen you.

Yes, I know it's been several years, and it's my pleasure.

Thank you for having me.

Well, what's so interesting about you is, I mean, we both met at an entertainment event, but what I love is your story because I think it's so encouraging to mom or women making transitions.

So I before we get into why you're here and the incredible work you've done over the last few years, I like to spend this first part of the segment, our audience getting to know you.

So tell me a little bit about a little bit about your background, why you're interested in entertainment, and then maybe the one moment where you, you knew you needed to make a transition, right?

Well, born in New York City, raised in Maryland, the youngest of three.

And my parents, you know, they always encouraged us to just go after our dreams and to do what was in our hearts.

So from a very young age, Angela, I knew I was always telling stories.

I was always telling stories.

And from a young age, I knew I wanted to do something along those lines.

I didn't know what.

Okay.

And probably around age 8 or 9, I started writing and I just in.

That's just right.

When we first moved to Maryland and I started writing little short stories for several years, and then when I went to middle school, I started writing little comedy skits, and me and my friends would perform these comedy skits, on stage.

So it was and I was inspired by I Love Lucy.

Totally with Lucille Ball was one of my favorites at the time.

Yes, yes.

So I was from a young age, just loving comedy.

And, I was that kid that was, you know, always making you laugh and I always wanted to to just see someone smile.

That was just my.

That was just me, you know?

And fast forward a few years, my writing wasn't in comedy anymore.

It kind of went a little dark, a little crazy.

And are you a teenager, though?

As a teenager or something?

So sometimes that happens.

So some of us do in our teenage years, I get a little dark there for a little bit dark.

My mom, I would like write little short stories and I'd give it to her and she would be like, are you okay?

There's nothing to talk about.

You just talk to someone that yes, I love that.

Oh, your mom.

So I was like, she was so wonderful.

She is amazing.

She is amazing.

And she has been my biggest cheerleader.

So mom is still here.

Mom is still here.

I love this.

Just gets to see you see her from those dark days to now.

Yes, exactly, exactly.

Both my parents are.

You know, I'm so grateful that the Lord has continued to spare their lives.

And they're still here, in great shape and in good health.

In Maryland, the same house that I was raised in.

And, they are just tickled with how, you know, your journey.

My journey?

Yeah.

Because my mom will say from a little girl, I mean, she you.

This is what you wanted and this is what you have.

And it's just, you know, I owe it all to God.

It's it's it's amazing him.

But at some point, you knew that you wanted to be in entertainment something, writing something.

But at some point during your journey.

So when you get ready to graduate, do you go and major in entertainment?

And so how does that move from that journey?

So tell us about that because it happens.

Yeah, exactly.

I just kind of went off in a different path.

I was going in the fashion world and but then that kind of switched into advertising.

so it seemed like one thing after another.

It just continued to morph into something else.

And, I just saw the hand of God just opening doors little by little.

I knew I remember as a little girl, you know, I would do my acceptance speeches.

Other little girls.

Did, you know, for your Academy Award in front of the mirror?

With your with your brush.

Right?

Right.

Did you know I did not do that?

Yes, I know nothing about that.

I was not.

So it, But after, Wow.

I moved here.

And when I turned 25.

Oh, okay.

Before my 25th birthday, I remember asking my mom because I was I had moved back to New York, and I remember asking my mom when I came back to Maryland, I said, okay, I'm going to leave it.

My mom and I are very close.

I'm going to leave it up to you.

This was back when there weren't cell phones, and it was long distance and would cost a gazillion dollars if you made this right?

Yeah.

So I gave her a choice.

I said, you can do.

I'm going to move.

So do you want to make a long distance call or an international call?

And she just kind of looked at me like, yeah, right.

Whatever.

She said long distance.

I said, okay, I'm going to California.

So then I moved to California, a few months later and she was like, wow.

If I said international, where were you going to go?

I was going to London.

So yeah, it.

Was I don't know why, but anyway, so I come out here at 25, I meet my, husband, now ex-husband, and we have a family, you know, my wonderful son.

And we start a business and we were in the in the entertainment, but it was in the casting side, and it was great.

It was great.

but again, I still wasn't sure where I wanted to be.

I had stopped writing, you know.

Right after a little bit after high school, I had stopped, like, really putting a lot of interest in writing.

So I had, you know, when we separated and split, I moved back to Maryland to be closer to family.

And I started I ran a talent agency, and then I ran an ad agency so that I ended up working in advertising.

So I started writing again because I worked with small business owners, and I started writing copy because we basically kind of packaged them and did their advertising for them.

So I started writing copy.

And I have a question for you.

So you you are because of working with your ex-husband, you actually did a talent agency and then you moved back home and you start your own agent, talent agency, slash advertising agency where you starting to do writing, but it's not what your heart's desire is.

Do you feel like something's missing or are you just going through this journey?

I was just going through the journey.

I was just going through the journey.

When we started the casting company here.

And when I moved back east, I started running.

I wasn't, I wasn't working, I was, it wasn't mine.

I was working there for a talent agency.

And then with the advertising agency, I was running the the DC division and, I wasn't I thought I was going to probably stay in the industry in advertising and then probably like a year or two later, I, and we're saying I just started, I thought I was going to just journal, my divorce, that process and how I felt going through the divorce.

So you're doing like a self-care journey of including journaling.

Okay.

That's what it was starting to be.

And then I sat down and I started writing.

And then it it literally angle.

It morphed into something else.

And it it ended up being a psychological thriller.

So it was a novel that I didn't realize it.

It was it just started flowing out.

The first paragraph was about maybe a divorce happening, a looming divorce, and then the rest of it.

I have no idea where it came from, but it just started coming out and that's when the writing just just, you know, started to just come out.

Again because it was already there.

It just was suppressed.

Right?

Yeah.

Yeah.

It just started to come out again.

And so from there on, I just continued to write and then my just before my son was about to go into middle school, my ex-husband had moved to Las Vegas.

And, I wanted Ryan to be closer to his dad.

So we moved to Las Vegas and I get to Vegas and, again, I'm still writing.

Okay.

And I started working at Clear Channel.

Yes.

No, it.

Well, yeah.

So I worked there and in advertising.

Worked at a soft adult contemporary station.

sunny 106.5.

Can I do a shop?

Yeah, yeah.

You know, you can't.

That'll probably help with anything, too.

They might find something out there.

Oh.

Okay.

Good.

So I work there, and, again, I'm writing copy for my clients.

Yes.

And I ended up going, getting into print.

So I left radio and I went to print.

So I basically did television, radio and then print.

So I did the whole gamut.

Yes, you did.

And, I love them all.

There was, you know, you love them, love TV probably the most.

So working in print, I'm reading the magazines and I'm like, I think I want, I want a column.

I want to start writing, I want a column.

So I left the one publication I was with and went to another one, Nevada Family Magazine and I had a little column, Single Parenting in the city.

And, it was, it was it was great.

And that just kind of moved me.

The magazine ended up closing after a few years, and it I ended up moving to another, doing freelance work with another publication.

And that led me to becoming a managing editor for, a lifestyle magazine, called Prime Plus magazine.

And it was just kind of again, I had been there maybe at this time, probably almost 8 to 10 years, and I again, like, I want to I want to do more, I want to I want to write stories.

I I ended up I write, I wrote a book on, that's the single, what is it?

the Helicopter Parents Guide to Surviving Senior Year, and it was a book that helped guide parents, mostly immigrant parents or first time college students.

Yes, through that high school application process.

Because you know how arduous that process is.

So it was a book to guide them through that process, get their kids out of high school and into college.

So wrote that book, you know, self-published and it was just still I still want it.

You know, there was more inside.

There was yeah, there was more inside me.

So I'm going to stop you right there, because that's a perfect way for us to segue to the break and have our audience come back.

So you can tell us how this burning sensation inside you made this transition to what we're seeing in that do today.

Oh, does that work?

That's great.

Oh, wonderful.

Okay.

That you're I know you're not going anywhere.

We'll be right back.

Welcome back.

When we left off, a vet had something burning inside her belly.

And I told her to hold off and tell us when we come back from the break.

So tell us you had something burning in Sizemore.

You knew that you had to get out at.

Yeah.

You know the story.

Guys are there, and they're just like, they just needed to come out, right?

So I wanted to start writing movies and I had no idea how to go about doing that.

I watched tons of movies and followed, you know, had my favorites.

So I started reading books and on screenwriting and taking workshops.

You know, I'd come to L.A and do a few workshops.

literally leaving your home in Las Vegas, and.

I'd come here for the weekend to take a weekend seminar on, you know, story or whatever it was, you know, writing summits, you know, that sort of thing.

And I and I would and this was probably, it well, now there there are tons of, you know, lessons that you can do on YouTube and in that class, master classes, anything like that.

But that wasn't there.

So I would make my way here and, I had the full support of those around me.

I really did, and I, and I really attribute it to this, you know, that my family.

Yes.

My close friends.

so eventually.

So my son, when he graduated, from high school in 2008, he went off to college.

So now I'm an empty nester.

So what do you do?

Right.

And that's why your story has always been so inspiring to me.

Because you really, you put jumped both feet in and started this journey.

Yeah.

I, I moved back to California, back to Los Angeles, and 2014.

But prior to that, I was still kind of studying.

And I met a man at an event in Las Vegas who used to write, who did a had a show years ago, and he started mentoring me, and I started writing a script again.

I'm just reading books.

I got my little final draft.

I'm trying to.

Figure it out.

I don't know what I'm doing, but I'm trying to.

Figure they're still trying to figure it out.

Yeah, but you're doing such a wonderful job.

I love this story.

Oh, so.

It's, so my first.

So I moved back here, and, I ended up learning about a film festival, a writing competition, a Christian writing competition.

It's called the 168 Rite of Passage.

Okay, competition.

And what they would do, they would give you a theme that there was a theme for the year.

Okay.

And the competition won 68 as 168 hours.

So you have a week to write up to a 12 page script integrating that verse and that theme.

I got it, okay.

I had never written anything on paper before.

Right?

I just kind of played around with Final Draft.

I still I'm not.

No, I went to one of the classes out here and they did a little workshop, one final draft, and I was very happy to learn that bit.

So I entered the competition and, my script, they, they assign you, a mentor.

They call them a development executive.

So they assign you a D, and that development executive usually has about maybe six writers total that they're working with throughout that way.

Okay.

And I, you know, just had a wonderful D. And so my, my script made it to the semifinals, my first one.

So I was very excited.

So that was very encouraging.

Yes.

Especially for someone that this is your first time.

And it's very.

Did I do this right.

Is it formatted properly.

You know.

Yeah.

She was a teach you without the format.

They're not even.

They're not even gonna.

Look at.

No.

Yeah.

Yeah.

So you had to make sure.

So she was, you know, my mentor.

She was, Claire's.

And she was just incredible and just very encouraging and, you know, in, you know, helping me, you know, making sure I formatted it properly.

Okay.

So then just kind of fast forward.

So I, I do this every year.

This was my thing because I just loved number one.

It was, a Christian film festival, a Christian writing competition.

And I wanted, you know, most of the things I do are family friendly, if not faith based.

so it was just it was ideal.

Yes.

And it was a wonderful community.

That's what it sounds like.

Yeah.

It was a wonderful community.

so for about five years, I think I entered the competition writing on the writing side.

And then probably after that, I think maybe 5 or 6 years.

And then I started to I went on the other side and I became the de.

I became the mentor.

So now I'm still involved and I work with the writers now, as they.

Do so now you are paying it forward.

Now I am paying it forward.

I was I newly was, asked to join the, board.

So I am the newest member of the 168 film project.

So it's it's been this full circle moment with with them and and they've been just so incredible and encouraging and instrumental in just me honing my skills, you know, as a writer.

And they also have that they speak competition and then also a film competition where you produce your film.

So one of my scripts, Sunday School.

Now this all makes sense.

Sunday School, was a finalist and the DP that I had at the time, we've both done projects together.

Some element.

This is a development executive.

Thank you.

That was and she was like, I love this.

I want to produce this.

And I said, okay.

So and I said, you know, and I think I want to direct.

So we ended up producing Sunday School together.

I directed it.

And they always say, your first time directing don't work with children or animals.

Right?

Okay.

Yeah, I kind of do.

Yeah.

Oh yeah.

I worked with yes.

Six kids and they were great.

and it went on to, to be nominated for, I believe it was 5 or 6 awards.

yeah.

We received six nominations and we won two.

It was for nominations.

I'm sorry, I don't remember anyway.

And we were.

Yeah, it is.

And we ended up winning.

best right of passage.

And at the festival, we ended up winning audience favorite.

So it was, it was wonderful.

Well, and this story that you're telling, especially because it is about the entertainment industry.

And a lot of times, you see, when people are watching, they think if you don't hit your certain stride by a certain age, which is normally by 21 or 22 that you don't, yeah, you're done.

But then also to you, you don't ever hear about the strong community behind that.

And so my question to you is, how were you able to recognize the strong community that you found with the 168 project?

And what is your advice to other, you know, people wanting to make this transition into this industry, like, middle of life.

Yeah.

Transition.

Well, you know, they because it was, you know, you kind of got to know everyone that was involved, whether it was, not necessarily the writing side, but on the film side.

Yes.

you just found that everyone was encouraging it every step of the way, wherever you were in your career, if you were just getting getting started, they were willing to help.

if you had, you know, gone on and done other things, they were there to to just and cheer you on and, and support you.

So it's just this community and I have lifelong friends from that.

so that's going through even the 168 I wanted to learn more, you know, I wanted to just now, you know, you mentioned the halfway mark, right about.

Age 70.

Five.

Like, I know what I said, our viewers out there, sorry about that.

No, that was our viewers, right?

Yeah.

A little the way of our life.

We want to make a transition to.

That's exactly.

Because that's kind of what I was doing.

Yeah.

It was.

Yes, it was making the transition.

before I left Las Vegas, I started doing PR with a really good friend of mine that brought me back here.

Okay.

And, so I, I made a promise that I was going to just really give it, you know, as much of myself as I could, which meant I'm not going to I'm going to try not to work a full time job.

So I transitioned to be like a gig worker.

Yes.

So you're kind of working all these different gigs you're doing wearing 50 million hats.

because you know that deep down inside you have to do that because you need to be available to to just kind of pivot on a dime.

If you need.

To.

Your heart is is where your heart is.

And yeah, to give that up.

Yeah.

Well, and there's another film that you wrote that's I don't even know if it's still out there on the streaming bet.

But before we end our time together, I would love to hear that story.

So the audience knows to look out for us.

Oh, absolutely.

a royal surprise.

And it is still streaming on Bet+.

And every so often I'll get a text saying, oh, your movies on Beat Her.

So it's great.

So they're still airing it?

that came about.

I had gone back to school and, because I wanted to take more writing classes and that kind of morphed into production classes and, you know, you name it.

So I ended up getting a degree in, film and television and with the emphasis in screenwriting.

So but when Covid happened and we did this pivot to online classes, one of the classes that I was taking, I was actually a T.A., and one of the classes, and the professor would start having, guest speakers and one of the guest speakers, I had had just purchased his book, and I had sent him an email thanking him for his time for being in class.

And I'd watch one of his movies, and I had just said, oh, I really enjoyed your movie.

I said, this is pretty much, you know, the types of movies that I write.

Long story short, we're the best of friends now.

But he was looking for a Christmas script, and I had to and I sent that to him and he optioned them.

And in that whole process, he had sent one of my Christmas scripts to the producer of a royal surprise.

And she wasn't, you know, acquiring anything at the time.

But she says, I love her writing.

I'd like to hire her to write a script.

We wanted to shoot a movie in South Africa, and he put us together, and that's how a royal surprise came to be.

I love it well, Yvette, and definitely in our audience.

And we'll see a little bit of clip that they probably already saw it, but they will definitely see that.

Yvette, thank you so much for sharing your story because it's not, it's weird.

We talk about entertainment, but the inspiration behind your story, you give all of us hope that if we still have something burning inside of us, that we should take that leap and get it done and step out in faith.

So thank you so much for that.

Never too late.

It's never too late.

No perfect way to end our our episode today.

Thank you, thank you, and thank you for joining us on everybody with Angela Williamson.

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