Jenise Whitehead: I’m Unapologetic About Who I Am
Episode Description:
Jenise Whitehead is a digital utility and film loader. If you don’t know what that is, you’ll find out all about it on this episode. She learned her trade through Panavision’s two year program in 2016 and has worked on several shows since, including “Insecure” on HBO and the Netflix show GENTEFIED. She’s a talented musician and actually studied Spanish in college.
She didn’t think about working in Hollywood until she went to the OutFest of Los Angeles, where she heard about a program called “Outfest Outset.” She applied to the program, got in and co-directed a movie, called “Gideon’s Cross.” Anya and Fanshen talked to Jenise last summer—in Anya’s apartment, no less— about how to advocate for yourself when you’re relatively new to the game—and even about how she improved her earning power.
Transcript:
Fanshen (00:12):
Hey everybody. Welcome back to Sista Brunch with me, Fanshen Cox and my gorgeous, talented, smart, Anya Adams. We have this great guest today on our show. Her name is Jenise Whitehead. She's a digital utility and film loader. Raise your hand, make a comment if you even know what that is. Now she learned this trade through Panavision's two year program in 2016 and since then, Jenise has worked on many, many shows, including Insecure on HBO and also the Netflix show Gentefied , which is also doing really, really well.
Fanshen (00:48):
Jenise got her first taste of the business when she co-directed a movie called Gideon's Cross as part of the Outfest Outset program. Look at how you can get started. Somebody who didn't even go to film school, okay? She did not go to film school and not only did she not go to film school, she didn't have anybody in her family that had a background in anything that had to do with Hollywood.
Fanshen (01:13):
She's a talented musician and she studied Spanish in college, which I'm excited about because I did too. That was my major in undergrad. Jenise considered careers in both fields, but all of that changed when she got into the Outfest program in LA. She's going to tell us all about that.
Fanshen (01:33):
We talked to Jenise last summer and we were actually in Anya's apartment. We got to cover all kinds of subjects how to advocate for yourself when you're new to the game in Hollywood and how she ended up improving her earning power. Just before that though, Jenise is going to start by telling us how her career goals changed after she spent a year abroad in Espania. Here we go.
Jenise (02:01):
I came back home and said, "Okay. I either want to see what the music industry is like, what TV is like and film", because I thought TV and film were separate, with features and TV. I just wanted to just flow. I had missed Pride in Madrid, I missed Pride in San Francisco, LA. I said, "Okay. let me just go to this film festival, Outfest Los Angeles."
Fanshen (02:19):
Yeah, cool.
Anya (02:19):
Oh cool.
Jenise (02:20):
At least they'll have queer films. There's going to be some queer films of color. The one I really remember was the Alice Walker Beauty and Truth, and they had Ava DuVernay moderate, and I remember I had just heard of her because she had done Sundance maybe a year or two before.
Fanshen (02:33):
Yes, yes.
Anya (02:33):
Cool.
Jenise (02:34):
really didn't know what she was about yet, but I was like, "Okay." I was abroad, you're reading about people talking about a new Renaissance and this and that creatively and we grew up down the street from the [inaudible 00:02:47].
Jenise (02:47):
It's full circle in that way that's if I'm watching this documentary with this black woman that's talking about her queerness and her womanhood and also her Southern roots and walking through the house she grew up in. Did you see that documentary?
Fanshen (02:59):
No. I'm like [crosstalk 00:03:00]...
Jenise (02:59):
She's walking in her childhood home and she's trying to describe ... You know how writers talk. Writers can talk about their characters like they're sitting right next to them. She has all the ghost of her characters in this house and as she's looking at the wallpaper, she's talking about how back when she grew up, her mom had basically taken paper bags and made wallpaper out of it.
Fanshen (03:19):
Wow.
Jenise (03:19):
The house was condemned, but you're seeing basically the brown paper bags still peeling off the walls in the house. When I was there, they introduced this program by basically being like, "You're between the ages of 16 and 24 and you're young and queer. You just want to make the film, come make it with us", and so I was like, "Okay, I'm broke."
Fanshen (03:37):
Wow. I'm broke.
Jenise (03:39):
I applied and then when I got in, somebody said, "Do they know that she don't know how to make a film?" I was like, "Yeah, they know that", and they like, "And they still want you?" I'm like, "That's what they said." We went there and he made a film.
Fanshen (03:51):
Okay, listen, what do you think was in your application that really spoke to them?
Jenise (03:59):
Well, I just spoke about who I was and the kind of images I want to see. Some of my friends saying, "Yeah, we've never been closeted, but when you grow up in South LA, it just looks different."
Fanshen (04:10):
Yeah.
Jenise (04:10):
Your family knows, but it's still a certain way that you even have those conversations. That's the approach. It's just different. I did that film and I just kept, basically...
Anya (04:21):
When you say you did that film, what did you do? [crosstalk 00:04:23] What exactly did you do?
Jenise (04:23):
Let's give y'all the memoirs.
Fanshen (04:29):
We want to know, Jenise. We want to know.
Jenise (04:32):
So one of my partners they hooked me up with in the program, his name is Damon Williams. He wrote this short film. The way they put us together, you break up in groups. It was modeled after Femme Independence Project [inaudible 00:04:41].
Fanshen (04:41):
Great.
Jenise (04:42):
You take 15 people, break them up in groups. Somebody is a writer, somebody's the director, and the other person a producer, it's like that.
Fanshen (04:48):
Okay.
Jenise (04:48):
His script was about what would it look like if the thing, which was AIDS in his film, that the society tells you is the monster or the beast, this really evil, fear-mongering thing, what if it's the thing that actually saves your life?
Jenise (05:03):
It was a short film playing with those elements about queerness and Sci-fi and hella black.
Fanshen (05:09):
That's awesome.
Jenise (05:10):
That's the film that we made. It's called Gideon's Cross.
Fanshen (05:12):
Nice.
Jenise (05:13):
We made it in 2014.
Fanshen (05:13):
Yes.
Anya (05:15):
Hey, it's Anya. And you're listening to Sista Brunch. We'll be right back.
Fanshen (05:24):
Join our community. You can join us on Twitter @sistabrunch and also on Instagram @sistabrunchpodcast.
Anya (05:39):
Hey, y'all welcome back to sister brunch. This is Anya Adams. Let's get back to our conversation.
Fanshen (05:44):
Our guests know how to do more than just the thing that they're coming on here to just talk about.
Anya (05:50):
To talk about, yeah.
Fanshen (05:50):
That means everything. I mean, it means first of all, racism, because we have to, right?
Jenise (05:55):
Yeah, necessity.
Fanshen (05:56):
We have to know all of it, right? But also it makes you better at the job that you came here to talk about.
Jenise (06:03):
We talk about that a lot. How the job you may currently have may be the clinical entry level, but you have to go through so many more steps than somebody's nephew who just happened to be unemployed at the time.
Anya (06:12):
Right.
Jenise (06:12):
And it's really aggravating when you see it. You don't want to get distracted by it. And it's like...
Fanshen (06:16):
Right. I get distracted by it.
Jenise (06:20):
You know what a film year is. Film years with think dog years. You're not a model. You don't age out. If anything, you're supposed to get more seasoned.
Anya (06:24):
Right.
Jenise (06:25):
But at the same time, I've only been at it for five years and you see people who just don't even try and they're the one that's hiring you as a day player. It's really aggravating because you want to push them out but at the same time you're going to be humble. Like, "Okay, well I'm new in film years. Let me take my time with it." But at the same time they got to go.
Fanshen (06:42):
[crosstalk 00:06:42] Okay, so you did this film.
Jenise (06:43):
Yeah, I did the film.
Fanshen (06:44):
You probably got a taste of filmmaking from that.
Jenise (06:46):
I got a little taste of it, a little bit of at least how a student film, short will work. Those tests were run. I kind of put the word out with the mentor I had at the time when I shot the film, her name is Tari Segal. Now she DPs [inaudible 00:06:59] TV.
Fanshen (07:00):
Oh, cool. All right.
Jenise (07:00):
At the time she was doing music videos and such and she just doing her own thing. So I was like, "Listen, I want to get into filmmaking." One of her biggest pieces of advice to me was unless you go back ... Where I went to school, it's called Columbia College, Chicago. She was like, "I really try to just get on sets." Maybe it's a AFI set here or just help out somewhere there. Just shadow. You can come shadow me. I don't care. Basically just get your feet wet."
Jenise (07:25):
Then somebody else said, "Well, my brother's a first AC." I was, like, "I don't even know what that is."
Anya (07:29):
Right.
Fanshen (07:29):
What is a first AC? [crosstalk 00:07:31].
Jenise (07:32):
If you have a A camera first AC.
Fanshen (07:35):
So AC is assisted camera.
Jenise (07:37):
Assisted Camera. If you have your A camera first AC, they're the ones that have the operator's back when it comes to building their camera, but also the DP's back when it comes to managing the whole department. Managing staffing, managing gear, and also managing bills. Managing setups. When they're doing rehearsals, they're the ones calling out how we're building. When they call for a camera, we just roll right in.
Anya (07:59):
When you say building you mean, "We need this lens on the camera, or"?
Jenise (08:02):
Yeah, we need this lens. We need 40 on sticks. Make them standard some rolling spreaders.
Fanshen (08:07):
Yep.
Anya (08:09):
Slow down for one second so we can talk about that. So on your phone, if you're interested in camera lenses, you can buy an app called Artemis. There's also an app called CAD Rage and they have all the different lenses and all the different cameras on it so you can pair them together depending on what you're working with and see.
Jenise (08:26):
And take stills with it.
Anya (08:27):
And take stills with it and mini video camera.
Jenise (08:30):
You can put the camera's info into the phone. You're shooting on a Alexa mini. You could put that in there, you're shooting on optimal lenses. You could put those in there. That's the thing that's crazy with cameras. That technology changes, we want to say every six months, but it's even quicker than that.
Fanshen (08:45):
Yeah. Hey, what I was going to ask you about that too, because obviously the job of a focus puller must have changed drastically and continues to with digital, right?
Jenise (08:53):
Continues to change because even what you focus pull with, you can use a system like Preston Systems, which is one way of doing it. It's kind of the legacy way of doing it. Or you can use the new technology that they have how the ARRI WCU-4. It just depends on what you prefer also.
Jenise (09:11):
Basically all these different manufacturers, some of them make cameras and accessories. Some of them only make accessories.
Fanshen (09:16):
Let's back up for a second. If I'm watching you on set, I come on set and there you are, tell us where you are on set and what I exactly what you do if I'm watching you physically.
Jenise (09:29):
Right now, I'm working as a film loader. If you see me on set, nowadays, the way staff is that sometimes I do utility work as well, which is running Village. My first concern is making sure everyone can see.
Fanshen (09:39):
And this is Video Village where people are able to...
Jenise (09:42):
Video Village, where producers are able to see it and watch the content, able to give notes and feedback. They sit there with their sound comps. They can hear audio as well, seeing the picture.
Fanshen (09:52):
All right. So they're usually separated from the set, but not that far, and you've got wires running...
Jenise (09:57):
Not too far. Keep them as close as possible. A good enough distance where they can discuss what's happening.
Fanshen (10:01):
Okay.
Jenise (10:01):
I guess fast forward with the story is that when my first AC tell me, "If I hire you right now, kid, I'm going to fire you before lunch, so the best thing you can do for yourself is I'll put in a good word for your Panavision Hollywood where we always go prep."
Jenise (10:13):
At the time he was a first AC, always working for this one DP, always go to Panavision Hollywood. He said they had this two year program there that's unadvertised, only paper applications. If you just keep calling them nonstop, they'll hire you, but just drop my name.
Jenise (10:27):
I was being naive then. I don't want to just drop somebody's name.
Fanshen (10:30):
I'm good myself [crosstalk 00:10:33].
Jenise (10:30):
I was calling them from March until Labor Day and after every major holiday. They kept telling me call back. Then when I finally dropped his name, they said, "Oh, you should have just said that."
Fanshen (10:42):
Which is such an important thing about Hollywood is how important.
Jenise (10:46):
Yeah, it took six months. It's like, "Call back after Memorial day, call back before July, call back for Labor Day."
Fanshen (10:51):
Swallow your pride sometimes and name names.
Jenise (10:53):
Yeah, and just drop your name.
Anya (10:54):
Drop a name.
Jenise (10:56):
You're so afraid of being a person that's pulling that card or using that nepotism. I just should have just dropped the name. At least it would have got me interviewed sooner.
Jenise (11:03):
They use their referrals to be able to sift through the pile because she would have a pile of 300 applications. At least get the interview. It's easier for them to just pull you out the stack because they have a heavy workload every day.
Fanshen (11:14):
Yes, the name matters.
Anya (11:15):
You went and got experienced there...
Jenise (11:17):
At Panavision.
Anya (11:17):
With the intent to come back to work on set, but being at Panavision you learned all about the practicalities of camera. You probably made yourself very invaluable in the sense that whatever show you worked on that was connected to Panavision, you knew how to repair those cameras, you knew all those kind of things.
Jenise (11:34):
That's exactly what I do. You use it as a calling card in that way, because if they can trust you. This is all about again, building trust. If they can trust in the rental house to get the thing they ask for immediately. They're having their DPs giving their changes all day long. The DP may go, At 2:00 PM, they've almost prepped the majority of stuff, "Hey, actually I think I want to do this instead." Well now you got to flip all that stuff and get them everything they need.
Jenise (11:56):
It was just a building a game of trust because working at Panavision takes you away from set.
Anya (12:00):
Right.
Jenise (12:01):
I was one of those kids who didn't go to film school, didn't have experience on set, only knew about three people just from the little experience that I had with Outset. So it's like, "Well now I hope those people can trust me to bring me on set", and I had to learn set, which is a whole different beast.
Fanshen (12:15):
This is a whole new world.
Jenise (12:17):
I did have few people who liked me. A DP named Paulie Morgan and I said she was the first one to give me a job out the gate. She was telling me, "Hey, you don't have a job leaving?" I said, no, because a lot of people finish the program early, having a TV show or movie or something.
Fanshen (12:30):
Oh.
Jenise (12:30):
I was like, "No, not yet", trying to be helpful. "Hopefully. I work hard, somebody's got to call", just being patient for it. She was like, "Well, I got this Netflix thing. AC, come to my B camera's second. Well actually you're in 600 as a loader. Just come day play with us.
Fanshen (12:46):
600 is a union?
Jenise (12:47):
600's a union.
Fanshen (12:48):
Okay.
Jenise (12:49):
We're IATSE.
Fanshen (12:49):
How did you get into the union?
Jenise (12:51):
Working at Panavision gives you that camera background, but don't have your days yet. They have a position that's utility, so it's not roster. At least then they had three different rosters. It was commercial, TV, and then industry experience.
Jenise (13:04):
One of the guys who had just finished, they were just like, "Well, listen, join as utility. You don't have to pay the 5,000 upfront, but you do have to pay the deposit and the rest is broken down into payments, no interest."
Anya (13:15):
It's 5,000 in total or once you get in do you...
Jenise (13:18):
In total for the position.
Anya (13:19):
Okay, but then once you move up?
Fanshen (13:20):
For utility?
Jenise (13:21):
You do pay dues, you pay the difference as you move up.
Fanshen (13:23):
Okay.
Jenise (13:24):
At least the baseline is joined as utility 5,000. You know a lot of people based on people who finish here who are working on their show. You know what shows your friends are on. Then you know what shows that your mentors or your future bosses will be on because you helped them prep.
Jenise (13:42):
He basically told me, "Make an Excel sheet", and I still struggle with Excel, but at least I had them all aligned. It was just like, "Okay, these are the friends I know that are working in my position that are out already and these are the people who are ACs who could hire me, and these are shows that they're going to be on." I basically blasted everyone say, "This is my end date at Panavision. If you ever just need a extra hand, I'm already 600."
Anya (14:06):
You're listening to sister brunch. We're going to take a quick break. We'll be right back with more of our conversation with Jenise Whitehead.
Fanshen (14:23):
Hey, welcome back to Sista Brunch. I'm Fanshen Cox and now back to our conversation.
Fanshen (14:28):
I'm going to bring this up because we're seeing some recurring themes in our stories and I think they're important. You talked about why you were able to move up and people wanted to work with you again, which is that you were pleasant to work with. For real. It's tough too, because there can be pleasant and then folks can also walk all over you. How do you...
Jenise (14:51):
That's a struggle still.
Fanshen (14:52):
Especially in this industry, when you don't look like anybody else who's there, right?
Jenise (14:57):
Right.
Fanshen (14:58):
How do you walk that line between being somebody who is pleasant to work with and that they enjoy being around, but at the same time, standing your ground, if you're being abused?
Jenise (15:09):
Yeah. It's been difficult. One thing I've learned is that you do have to advocate for yourself and starting out, that was the hard part. People say just be sweet, just be sweet, and you think that that they would carry, and it just doesn't.
Jenise (15:21):
It's also choosing the ACs who will also back you up when they see that starting to happen because with the hierarchy of it, with my position, everyone else is my boss. Really going to the job the thing I had to learn was was picking the ACs who didn't have that kind of personality from the old way they did camera. They'd treat their loaders like a personal assistant.
Fanshen (15:42):
Okay.
Jenise (15:43):
Then also find the ACs who would advocate for you as well, who actually had that authoritative power to be able to say, "Okay, no, that's not how we're going to run this department this year." It's been difficult. I wouldn't say I've mastered that yet. It's still one of those things because if I get aggravated or even if it's rightfully so, based on appearances, you're going to be that angry black bitch.
Fanshen (16:06):
Right.
Jenise (16:07):
It was just one of those things that I'm still working on that's like, "How do I balance being kind and also considerate and it not be like, I don't want ACs telling me, "Oh, Denise is, amazing. She'll do it", without even asking.
Anya (16:20):
I feel like it's very difficult and especially in positions like you're in where you are on the bottom of the totem pole. It doesn't matter about the camera department or the rest of the crew. You are looked upon as the bottom of the totem pole. So there's a lot of stress with that.
Jenise (16:37):
That's the crazy thing with that because when it comes to authority and who has the right to say what, sometime you'll see, at least within my department, you'll have a certain hierarchy that is so old school it's belittling in a lot of ways. Then you'll see the creator of a show go make their own plate, but then you'll have this AC tell you they don't like a certain sauce, you know what I mean?
Jenise (17:00):
It's still bizarre and I feel like it's changing, but not fast enough.
Fanshen (17:04):
We know when you become the DP...
Jenise (17:06):
Oh yeah, I'm not going to be that way.
Fanshen (17:07):
We know how you'll be when you are...
Jenise (17:09):
Oh, no. I don't even let people now because sometime now if a PA is really green and they see that you're hustling, at the end of the day you're still union. You'll see a PA trying to do things for you because they want to maybe get to union. I'm still like, "No, no, no. I can throw away my own trash, I can get my own water." You don't have to haze people to be able to give them the information they need to go forward.
Fanshen (17:30):
Let's talk about salary.
Anya (17:31):
Oh yeah.
Jenise (17:32):
When I first left Panavision, I was only making about 20 grand a year. I basically penny pinched and I was at a deficit by putting certain expenses on credit cards and then putting the rent and stuff on cash or splitting the check by being like, "Okay, the first check of the first half of the month is going to go towards other expenses, but I'm going to save about half of that because the second check of the month is going to go towards all the rent."
Jenise (17:55):
Then first year out, it ended up doubling. It was about 55 or thousand. Then last year it doubled from that and I made over six figures.
Fanshen (18:04):
How did that work? How did that happen?
Jenise (18:06):
It was the number of shows that took because Panavision is nine to five and I finished that in the fall, so I had a pretty slow winter. Then I got my first, I guess, big break with TV, with Insecure season two. After that I said, "Okay, I never had a non-union career. I only had those six months between Panavision and Insecure Season two to just day play with union stuff and then do some non-union commercials just to get my feet wet.
Jenise (18:29):
Then after Insecure, I never did another non-union job unless it was a favor for somebody because I just told myself in that moment, "Okay, if I do this well, the right people will notice and they'll bring me on to the next thing." I did one more show that year in the fall, based on a recommendation from someone. Then that fall/winter job carried over to spring. I did another job back to back, did a summer job back to back, and I took the winter off last year. So it was kind of like...
Fanshen (18:54):
Because you could. You were like, "You know what? I can actually take some time off now because I made so much."
Jenise (18:59):
Exactly. That's another thing I had to learn too.
Fanshen (19:00):
Taking time off?
Jenise (19:01):
Yeah, taking time off and not being afraid if you take that time off someone won't call you for the next one.
Anya (19:05):
Right, because it is kind of scary in this industry when you are working project to project, you always feel you need to have that next job to stay relevant.
Jenise (19:17):
People would be asking you before you even wrap. You'd be a month from wrapping and people would be like, "So who are you going with next? Who's hiring? Who's calling? Who's your DP?"
Fanshen (19:20):
Yeah. Right.
Anya (19:22):
How'd you deal with that? [Close to the pressures of 00:19:24].
Jenise (19:24):
Twitter.
Fanshen (19:26):
Twitter?
Jenise (19:28):
They had this group on there called Black Creatives.
Fanshen (19:31):
Yes.
Jenise (19:32):
See, you know about it. People forget to talk about the spiritualism of freelance work and about how much of it is not only investing in yourself, but just trusting that the good will pay off.
Fanshen (19:42):
Yeah.
Jenise (19:42):
That's just what it was with money. I at least told myself that, "Okay, if I work hard enough, the money will follow the money will follow." If I chase the money, I'm going to work with people I don't like or don't shoot real well, or just aren't operating on the same morale. At least what I tell myself, and it's been paying off and that way to say, "Okay, well now I'm not at a deficit. Now I can save, now I can invest, now I can do things differently."
Anya (20:06):
Do you feel like you had to do the Panavision program to be able to get into where you are versus some other person who knows...
Jenise (20:15):
I definitely do.
Fanshen (20:15):
White man. She means some white man.
Jenise (20:16):
Yeah. You know I talked about that on my shows when I felt like I was treated pretty poorly last summer. One of the ACs who told me, "I want you to know that you're not just basically a person just go fetch stuff. You're not just our runner." We were talking about that, how we both had the same training, just at different branches of Panavision and people didn't doubt that he knew X, Y, and Z when it came to the department.
Jenise (20:39):
Whereas with me, if I step on and you're new, they want to talk to me like this is my first time on set without even really interviewing me to see where I came from, what shows, who I may have worked for. I feel like sometimes if I was a white boy, they go, "Okay, what show were you on? Oh, my buddy's on that show." Whereas with me, they treat you like they're doing you a favor just from allowing you to be there without even truly interviewing you and even though you're experienced.
Fanshen (21:01):
Yeah.
Anya (21:02):
Yeah. Just having now really talked to you about your experience, you seem way more qualified than a lot of the loaders.
Fanshen (21:11):
You are.
Anya (21:12):
I mean, that's the lowest position.
Jenise (21:13):
The camera. That's an entry level.
Anya (21:15):
You are such an asset to any camera department because of your knowledge and I feel like it's usually a PA. We were talking about Spielberg and Colin Trevorrow and how he saw himself and this young guy and let me give you an opportunity and that's typically how that goes.
Jenise (21:33):
Right. I've have good opportunities from that, if there's ever been a beat and the boss has asked me, "Hey, what's your end goal, because this ain't it." They've brought me along the ride along to see the tech scouts and put the good word in.
Fanshen (21:45):
That's great.
Jenise (21:46):
Opportunities have come from it and it's just a matter of, of patience knowing that if you're putting the work in, it'll come back to you tenfold, it's just a matter of when not if.
Fanshen (21:57):
Do you let people know that that's what you want?
Jenise (21:59):
I do.
Fanshen (21:59):
Oh good.
Jenise (21:59):
I'm talking about balancing that. I don't do it unsolicited. I do come in and just focus on my work and then when people start to notice like, "Okay, you're more than just that", and they talk to me about it. Then I do let them in on what the end goal is.
Anya (22:11):
See, but this is what I'm getting at though. You are obviously doing something different than most of the loaders are doing. What do you think that is?
Jenise (22:21):
Number one, appearances. When I walk onto set, I feel like I'm unapologetic about who I am. I don't have to play straight. I don't have to straighten my hair. I don't have to do these things because I just am who I am as a matter of fact. So there's that.
Jenise (22:33):
There's certain things you may not think are "militant" or "revolutionary". Some people may say, "Okay, well this kid, obviously is not going to apologize for X, Y, Z", even down to my accent. I'm not going to clean up for you. You just got to understand it because I've got you. You've got to understand me. We're speaking the same filmic language here.
Anya (22:52):
Yeah.
Jenise (22:53):
Then making sure, like with Village, some loaders utilities just patch their little wireless, they give you picture, and then you never see him again. Me, I'm old school. If I pass by you, just like my grandma used to say, if you're walking up to an elder, you're going to say good morning first.
Jenise (23:06):
I always say my good mornings. I always say my how are you's, and we talk. Some people at camera may not like that, but it's worked out for me for the bigger picture. It's just a matter of just getting to know people, getting to know people that you're working with, and not thinking too much into the culture of hierarchy.
Jenise (23:23):
Some people don't even talk to the PAs. They only want to schmooze with a certain producer because they want this job. I don't even think that works out in the big picture.
Fanshen (23:31):
That PA could be Matthew Cherry, you know what I'm saying?
Jenise (23:37):
Yeah, exactly [crosstalk 00:23:37] Just the way they come up. The way I see myself is right now I'm really enjoying camera department. I still am enjoying witnessing the aspect of cinematography on that level. I'm still finding value in playing my part in camera, but at the same time, I feel like there's so much more I could be learning from a production aspect that I don't want to seem "distracted" from what I'm doing on camera. It's really cool how we tell the story from this side of the lens, but what about from the other side? How my mother says two sides of the same coin.
Anya (24:07):
That's awesome. Thank you so much.
Fanshen (24:08):
Thank you so much for being here.
Jenise (24:08):
Thank you.
Anya (24:22):
That was our conversation with Jenise Whitehead. Janise is a digital utility and film loader and has worked on several shows, including Insecure on HBO. That's where we met.
Anya (24:35):
Thank you again for listening to Sista Brunch with Fanshen Cox and me, Anya Adams this week. We hope you've enjoyed the show. Shout out to Christabel Nsiah-Buadi, who's our executive producer. She's the one with the British accent who interrupts us from time to time. Our show producer and all around social media queen is Brittany Turner.
Anya (24:52):
We'll be back next Tuesday, so look out for us then. Don't forget to subscribe and rate our show wherever you get your podcasts. Visit our website, we're at sistabrunch.com and follow us on Twitter @sistabrunch, on Instagram @sistabrunchpodcast and on Facebook @sistabrunchpodcast. See you next week.