Huriyyah Muhammad: Producer

Episode Description:

Huriyyah is the co-founder and former Executive Director of The Black TV & Film Collective (BTFC), a NYC based non-profit arts organization dedicated to developing storytellers of African descent. 

Through her work there, Huriyyah has mentored countless filmmakers, consulting one-on-one and leading workshops on a range of filmmaking topics from networking and building teams, to fundraising, crowdfunding, principal photography and post. Through her leadership at the Black TV & Film Collective, Huriyyah launched the Black Producers Fellowship, awarding filmmaking grants of $25,000 to increase the knowledge and body of work of Black Producers. 

Huriyyah has a deep knowledge of independent filmmaking, having produced a number of award-winning fiction films. Her projects have been invited to The Sundance Film Festival, Tribeca Film Institute, Outfest, Newfest, AFI, Austin Film Festival, New Voices in Black Cinema, the American Black Film Festival and many others. 

TRANSCRIPT:

[00:00:00] Fanshen: Hey, Sista Brunch family, welcome back to another episode of the Sista Brunch podcast, where we share the stories of Black women and gender expansive people thriving in entertainment and media. We so appreciate you being here for another season with us, and for all the ways that you uplift us and our guests.

[00:00:22] Be sure to follow us on Instagram at Sista Brunch Podcast. Sign up for our monthly newsletter on our website, Sistabrunch. com, which actually is monthly, but we'll also be releasing it weekly during the regular season. That's how you can also follow all of these exciting updates that we have for you, like Sista Brunch going to the Sundance Film Festival, where we will cover all the films by and about Black women and gender expansive people.

[00:00:49] We're returning to essence this. We're partnering with Black Girls Film Camp this season and sharing our shows with their alumni co hosts for a few of our episodes. [00:01:00] Lots of amazing things are happening, and we are so grateful to you, our listeners, for listening and sharing, reviewing, and finding ways to support us and our guests.

[00:01:11] And that brings me to today's guest, who is dedicated to supporting Black films filmmakers and all the work that they do. Our guest is Hurriyah Muhammad. She is a powerhouse in the world of independent filmmaking. She's celebrated for her role as the co founder and former executive director of the Black TV and Film Collective.

[00:01:35] You got to follow their work if you're not doing it already. What are you doing listening to Sista Brunch and not being part of the Black TV and Film Collective? She's a mentor. She's a workshop leader. She leads workshops on pretty much every aspect of filmmaking. She really is an expert in all.

[00:01:52] She's done a lot. And so she's got all this knowledge that she shares. She launched the Black Producers Fellowship, which [00:02:00] grants 25, 000 awards towards enhancing the work of Black producers. She also won the Sundance Creative Producing Award in 2020 for the narrative feature, Farewell Amour, by director Ekwa Msangi.

[00:02:15] I can't wait to talk about that a little later, but I have to just plant a seed that one of our show creators, Christabel Nsiah Buadi, also our executive producer for seasons one through three, she's been working with recently had Equin Msange on her podcast, The Cipher, to talk about Farewell Amour. She got to see it.

[00:02:34] I'm jealous because I haven't seen it yet, but I'm gonna make sure I see it. And now let's welcome our lovely guest, Hurriyah Muhammad. 

[00:02:42] Hurriyah: Wow. Thank you. That was such an amazing introduction. And you used the word powerhouse. . 

[00:02:47] Fanshen: Yeah, , I was, I'm always like, what are these, what are the, how do I describe this person in one word?

[00:02:53] And I felt like it was perfect for you. Oh, that's 

[00:02:56] Hurriyah: sweet. Thank you. 

[00:02:57] Fanshen: Yeah, absolutely. We'd love to [00:03:00] ask our guests to take us as far back as they would like. Could be your birth, if you want to go that far, your parents, birthday, grandparents, as far back as you would like to share with us the journey of how you got to being the powerhouse that you are.

[00:03:18] Hurriyah: Interesting. It all started in a land far away. I love it. I'm ready. No I'm a native of Cleveland, Ohio Cleveland in the house. And I am a baby girl in a family of eight children. This whole thing about birth order is I really think it's true because for me being the baby, it really protected me.

[00:03:42] And in that protection, it gave me a sense of security. To go out and explore and just take on the world as I saw, fit. And so I got into this industry after a failed career as a novelist. [00:04:00] I always wanted to write the great American novel, but I was never disciplined enough to 

[00:04:06] Fanshen: actually 

[00:04:06] Hurriyah: do it.

[00:04:07] I would get like a hundred pages in and I would lose interest in that particular story and those particular characters. And I would be on to the next one. And then I was watching this really amazing show that I'm sure you know called Girlfriends. And yeah, everybody loves girlfriends, right? 

[00:04:25] Fanshen: We've had Kelly Edwards on, I think, three times, who was one of the development executives that helped create the show.

[00:04:32] Yes, we love it. 

[00:04:33] Hurriyah: I love Kelly. Yeah, she's, she gave me some advice a few years ago that always stuck with me. She, now when you say powerhouse, that's a powerhouse. 

[00:04:40] Fanshen: She is, and you are too. Absolutely. 

[00:04:43] Hurriyah: Okay. Okay, I receive it today. Good. Bye Bye. And so I was watching Girlfriends and I was like, somebody's writing this.

[00:04:49] I can write this. And I had never really considered screenwriting or, entertainment, media. And no time did it ever [00:05:00] enter my brain to say, this is actually a career that I could pursue until I was watching that show. And I realized that, hey, why don't I try my kind of hand as a screenwriter?

[00:05:10] And I found that it was right in line with my stamina as a writer because it's about 120 pages And it's not even a whole page. It's like the middle of the page, And so and I was really good at it, and I took a couple of classes and I said, you know what? I'm gonna move to los angeles and i'm gonna become a screenwriter.

[00:05:27] I don't know anybody in la I didn't know where I was gonna live. I didn't know where I was gonna work. I had never been to la before but I knew that I was too young to be doing something that I was not passionate about at the time I was working in advertising and I was really good at it. I was an account supervisor managing my campaigns, advertising campaigns.

[00:05:50] Fanshen: Okay. And we should also mention just to go back a little bit that you studied computer science at Spelman. Is that right? That's right. 

[00:05:59] Hurriyah: Yes, [00:06:00] Spelman in the house. 

[00:06:00] Fanshen: I love it. I love it. I think you might, I can't believe this, but I think we've had Howard grads, but I'm like, is this our first? This can't be our first Spelman grad.

[00:06:10] Now I'm gonna feel bad that I said that because I know we'll go back and see them, but I did want to point out that you studied computer science. You were going to be a novelist. And you were in advertising, and I just love when our guests have these kind of varied backgrounds, and that we can see how they came together to make sense that you ended up.

[00:06:30] So I'm curious if computer science, and certainly having gone to Spelman, if that also affected part of this journey at all. 

[00:06:38] Hurriyah: It's so interesting because I remember one time I was having a conversation with my baby brother because I'm actually not the youngest child. I have a baby brother. Oh, okay.

[00:06:46] So he's the baby boy and I'm the baby girl. Okay. And he had went to the army straight out of high school. And when he got out of the army, he said he didn't want to go to college because he didn't know what he wanted to major in at that time. And I said to him, Omar, if [00:07:00] I look back over the.

[00:07:02] Twists and turns that my career had taken, it makes total sense where I am now, I can totally connect the dots looking in reverse, but back then I could have never have charted. 

[00:07:14] Fanshen: Yes. You 

[00:07:15] Hurriyah: know how. Yes. Going left is going to, open up this door. And then when I walk through that door, this other opportunity or this other thing is going to pique my interest and that's going to lead to something else.

[00:07:27] But everything looking back, set me up for the next thing. For me, computer science was mandated. My mom, she told me, listen, you're gonna major in a science or you're gonna come home and you're gonna go to Cleveland State. Which one? Wow. Okay. Yeah. Black mothers, , they're like, because I was majoring in English, 'cause I, like I said, I wanted to novelist and my mother was like, how is that gonna pay the bills?

[00:07:49] You better major in a science to stop playing because I was good in math and sciences. So I said, okay, I'm gonna major in computer science. But you know what that degree did for me. It [00:08:00] taught me how to problem solve very analytically, and very unemotionally, and just approach problems from a very analytical standpoint.

[00:08:09] If I go left, what's going to happen? If I go right, what's going to happen? If I go forward, what's going to happen? If I don't move at all, what's going to happen? If I take one step back, what's going to happen? And I think that in my career as a producer and just in life in general, It really helps to be able to look at problems with more of a rational type of viewpoint.

[00:08:31] And then, layer on all those other things like our emotions and our sense of the world and our sense of identity and all of that kind of stuff. But computer science really helped me. 

[00:08:41] Fanshen: I love that. I love that. And then you did business. Did you do an MBA? 

[00:08:47] Hurriyah: I did. I did an MBA. Okay. So basically, so I went to LA.

[00:08:50] And I said, let me get on a set up. I'm going to be a screenwriter. Let me figure out how to make movies, because I have no idea how to make movies. [00:09:00] I need to figure out how movies are made so that I can write something that somebody actually wants to make. I answered an ad for a Production assistant.

[00:09:08] And of course they emailed me back right away because that's free labor. And they gave me an address for a house in Crenshaw, like off of Crenshaw. And like I said, I'd never been to Los Angeles. I knew really nothing about it. And so I'm like, Oh my God, my only frame of reference really is boys. And I'm like, I'm going to get like the crips and the bloods and they're going to car and I'm like, so I was petrified driving over to this address, but I said, I got to do it for my art.

[00:09:38] And, I was gripping the steering wheel so like tight, my knuckles were turning white. And I just realized that man, he's, this neighborhood is nice. These homes are very 

[00:09:48] Fanshen: big. Got palm trees out front. And 

[00:09:53] Hurriyah: so I get to the house and the door is wide open and I just follow the voices back. So the kitchen and there was a [00:10:00] production meeting that was happening and it was the director the cinematographer and an executive producer sitting around the table and Three men and none of them looked at me.

[00:10:09] None of them even acknowledged. I'm sure I said hello They didn't even bother to turn and I just sat down at the table and started listening and they're saying now we need this We need that. No, we need this and they said I need a script We need a script supervisor somebody write that down and I said I can do that And then all of a sudden, all these guys turned to me, they showed up and they turned to me and they said, You could do that?

[00:10:29] I was like, sure. Now, I didn't know what a script supervisor was. I told you I never made a movie before. I know, I was like, wait a minute, you went from PA to script supervisor. I love it. And it shows the nature of that production. If somebody could walk off the street, 

[00:10:43] Fanshen: get a 

[00:10:43] Hurriyah: job as a script supervisor, but I actually started producing that film for them.

[00:10:47] And, It was in conjunction with another woman who was actually also an actress on the film, but she knew how to make movies and she was a producer, but she was acting in the film. So it was only so much she could do. And so [00:11:00] she and I teamed up and it's, for me, it was just common sense. You have to tell people what time they need to be, they need to be there.

[00:11:06] You need, you have to have food for people. You have to have a shelter, you have to like, create an environment in which people can do Their best work and that really launched my producing career because from there I produced another film, and another film, but I never took my eye off the goal of screenwriting.

[00:11:22] And after a few years, I got an opportunity to to produce a film that I had written. And so that was the first screenplay that I had that was optioned.

[00:11:35] This is Fareeha Muhammad, and you're listening to Sista Brunch.

[00:11:42] Fanshen: Sistas and siblings, thank you so much for listening to Sista Brunch, where we champion the triumphs of Black women and gender expansive people in entertainment and media. Let's pick up where we left off with our remarkable guest and the powerhouse Hurriyah Muhammad. [00:12:00] And just before we do that, though, we do ask you, our dear listeners, to share the love.

[00:12:05] Tell us what you think of the show. Tell us your favorite brunch items by leaving us a review on Apple Podcasts or on Spotify or wherever you listen to your podcast.

[00:12:19] Tell us about that project. 

[00:12:21] Hurriyah: Listen, I think that I said to myself at that time, I'm going to become a producer because Producing, I want to be at the top of the totem pole, I want to be the one hiring and giving jobs and I don't ever want to have to wait for someone to give me a job. I want to be at the top of the industry.

[00:12:41] And what I didn't know at that time is independent producers are not at the top of it. No,

[00:12:49] Fanshen: no. We'd like to think we do a lot. We do a whole lot, but we don't get to make the decisions, do we? 

[00:12:59] Hurriyah: Yeah, [00:13:00] I didn't know, that this industry is a lot like, I give the parable of someone, if you never, Seen or encounter an elephant before if someone blindfolds you and they ask you, you know What is an elephant and you're like you have the tail and you're like, oh An elephant is like this long skinny thing with some hair on it Or somebody else has the ear and they're like, oh it's an elephant It's this big floppy thing and it's like like cartilage.

[00:13:26] It feels like cartilage and it's a little bit like velvety You know if somebody else has the tusks they're going to give a different Transcription by CastingWords Answer for what an elephant was and I didn't have The sys because I had too much confidence at the time, I thought I knew everything I understand like Korea this is just one vantage point of the industry, but I don't take anything away from my journey Because of the fact that I would that I am now able to produce Content and produce films that allowed me to then when I was ready begin to produce the films that I had written and [00:14:00] directed.

[00:14:00] If I had not done it that way, then I would have been waiting for someone looking for a producer and it wouldn't open up all the wonderful. opportunities that it's opened up. Like Sundance, and working with Equa, and so many other things. 

[00:14:14] Fanshen: Yes, I love it. I love it. Okay, you mentioned Equa.

[00:14:18] I want to touch a little bit on the Black TV film and film collective, because at what point did you Start to both understand yourself as a producer, but also step into this leadership role of founding something that was going to, help so many black folks who are in the industry. 

[00:14:41] Hurriyah: Yeah. So in, 2008, that's when the market crash, the housing market crash, 

[00:14:48] Fanshen: the 

[00:14:48] Hurriyah: housing market crash.

[00:14:49] Fanshen: It was, it sounds right. Something happened. Some miserable time. Yeah. I think the previous WDA strike, it was like, there was all kinds of stuff happening. It was all 

[00:14:59] Hurriyah: kind [00:15:00] of craziness. And and no one was invested in independent films at that time. And also, my mom was sick at that time, so I wanted to come back to the East Coast and take care of my mom.

[00:15:09] And so I did that for two years, and then my mom passed away, and I was like, okay what am I gonna do? Am I gonna go back to L. A.? Am I gonna stay here? On the East Coast, and I was like, I really want to go to school again. And I never thought I would ever say that because when I got out of Spelman, when I graduated, I said, I'm never going back to school again.

[00:15:28] That's it for me and formal education. But I was thirsty, for that type of environment again. And it felt safe at that time where it felt like a little bit of the wind, hey. Had gone from my cells and I was grieving a lot, and I wanted to be also on the east coast because that's where my family was and that's where my best friend was.

[00:15:49] So I decided to go and that's when I got and NYU had a dual degree program. They had, they have the MBAs MFA program and it, I was like, okay, that sounds really cool. But the way [00:16:00] it works is you have to be admitted both to the MFA as well as the MBA. And so I applied TCH didn't offer me any money.

[00:16:10] And so I was like, all right, I'm not gonna go to school to get an MFA and have 

[00:16:14] Fanshen: not in that expensive city, but 

[00:16:17] Hurriyah: I am. But I was interested in the MBA and they also offered me some money. So I was like, okay. So I got my MBA and then while I was on the East coast, I had never worked in this industry on the east coast before.

[00:16:29] And I really love, like just making films, so I started producing shorts. And we're in LA, I was producing features. So if you look like in my IMDb, you'll see, I went from producing features to producing a lot of shorts. And that's because I came to the East coast while I was in school. And I started just meeting people who had scripts, who had a couple of dollars and it was like a, like a side hustle for me while I was in school to produce these shorts on the side and it was fun, but [00:17:00] I got entrenched in the filmmaking community here in New York.

[00:17:04] I started to just meet people who were attracted to the things that I knew and I started doing like table reads and I was going to events and I would invite, some of the black artists that I was meeting to go to these events with me. And before you know it we started a meetup group.

[00:17:22] And we had so many people in the meetup group coming to our events that we would have a waiting list and we would tell people, listen, you don't show up, you're not going to be able to come to one of our events again for 3 months. You're not going to be able to get on the RSVP list because people who could have come.

[00:17:37] And then we said to ourselves, you know what we're doing there. This really should be a nonprofit. And we said, okay, if we get to 1, 000 members before the end of the year, we're gonna start a non profit. And we got to maybe 979 or 78 or something like that. And the next year, we formalized as the Black TV and [00:18:00] Film Collective.

[00:18:00] And honestly, the Black TV and Film Collective is such a big part of my heart, because it is artists who are coming together and not relying on You know somebody to give us this or help us in this way, but we're just helping each other. We're saying okay show up And if you keep showing up with your script, it's going to get better because we're going to continue to table read it.

[00:18:23] We're going to continue to give you feedback on it. And when you're ready to shoot it, guess what? We're going to be invested in it and we're going to help. So many of my projects I could not have done were it not for the Black CVF Film Collective. And I know that there's so many other projects that would not have gotten done were it not for the Black CVF Film Collective.

[00:18:40] There's a woman named Christine Shaw, she's a cinematographer, and it's so amazing because I had lost track of her, and then I saw her on Instagram, and she actually is one of the sideline camera operators for the Boston Celtics. And I was,[00:19:00] 

[00:19:00] Fanshen: oh, see, that's the best, that's the best. And there's 

[00:19:04] Hurriyah: so many stories of people who I remember Sam Hicks, who now he owns, a camera, a gear rental company in Los Angeles called Sam shot it. And I remember when Sam Was first starting out and was coming to our events and he didn't even know how to write a script, you know There's I love it 

[00:19:25] Fanshen: A big time producer, like it's just so many That's what led you to make the fellowship, it sounds too, which is and it's what we want to do at Sista Brunch, it's on, on one hand, we want to uplift the current work, right?

[00:19:38] Part of it is, this is somebody who's working right now, you should know them, you should know their work, you should support their work, but also we started to realize now that we've done, this is our fifth season, that we're also creating this archive. Because when we look at our guests from, even from season one, who have gone on to do amazing things, it's yes, this is [00:20:00] what this is about.

[00:20:01] So for that fellowship, can you share what does the fellowship entail? How can folks get it? Yeah. 

[00:20:10] Hurriyah: Oh, it's the Black Producers Fellowship. And I, For me, it was basically there's a lot of support out there when I say a lot, that's not true. There is some support out there for directors and there's some support out there for writers, but there's very little support out there for Black producers.

[00:20:30] And myself, having walked the road of the independent producer, I know how hard it is to find support for our work and to find community. So that's really what led me to say we need a Black Producers Fellowship. 

[00:20:45] Fanshen: Hey, it's Fanshawe, and we are so grateful to you for tuning in. We're taking a quick break here, but don't go anywhere, because we would love it while we're on pause, if you would head over to Instagram and follow us at Sista [00:21:00] Bunch Podcast.

[00:21:01] We also post our clips on Tik Tok on Trujillo's Tik Tok. So that's at Trujillo Media, T R U J U L O Media. You can also find us at that same profile on our YouTube channel, Trujillo Media. 

[00:21:17] Hurriyah: Honestly, I say if you're out there, join the Black TV and Film Collective and just listen for updates on when the fellowship is opening back up.

[00:21:26] Our fellows, the first year, our cohort, there was pens and pencils and that went on to win a NAACP, was nominated for an NAACP award, or either won an NAACP award. There's so many others, the mechanics roles that played at so many different film festivals. I'm having a mama moment.

[00:21:45] I have a three year old. So my, sometimes it's hard for me to remember things, but 

[00:21:49] Fanshen: When you're a powerhouse, that happens. And I, obviously, just knowing about you, knowing about the, all the work you do I'm just like, there's so much [00:22:00] synergy. Obviously, we're gonna be in touch after this about all the things.

[00:22:04] I want I would love to talk about your process of actually producing something. Because our listeners, a lot of our listeners, are curious about the film industry and not necessarily in it. And then we've got, plenty of folks who do know, but maybe they're executives, or maybe they're cinematographers, and they also don't necessarily know the process.

[00:22:25] So maybe we could take Farewell Amour as an example, or if you have something you're working on now that you want to share, but walking us through that process of Either you find something you love and you want to produce it, or someone comes to you as a producer. Could you give us like the quick version of what that looks like from a soup to nuts, as they say, like all the way through distribution?

[00:22:50] Hurriyah: Yeah, sure. Like with Farewell Amour, I was lucky because I found somebody that I love, which was Ekwa Masangi. And she and I had been working [00:23:00] together for a couple of years. And she told me this story about her aunt and her uncle who were separated for over 20 years and how they managed to stay married and also raise a son, across the country.

[00:23:12] across oceans and, build a house back in Kenya while her uncle was here in the U. S. and how her, on her uncle, still held out hope. That they would be united, you know reunited again as husband and wife and as a family one day You know when that guy was just you know This was the their tests here on this earth and I was like that's really interesting Equa you should write about that and so she did she started writing about it And you know the producing process starts with something like that.

[00:23:41] It starts with finding some Intellectual IP, in, in other words, a story that you really are just captivated by and something that just it's like a, it's like something you don't want to let go of, because it is so hard, [00:24:00] anything made or to make anything. So it has to be. a story and also people that you really want to go through the fire with, and that, no matter how many years it's going to take you to make it, because it took us five years to make Farewell or more, maybe even six when we started from that point.

[00:24:17] And so Equa, she started right working on the script. And at the same time, I started finding us development funds for the film and, trying to pad the coffers in terms of funding. And we got a grant called the Jerome Foundation Grant, which was our first money in for the film. And after that kind of made it real.

[00:24:38] Okay, because the Jerome Foundation Grant was like a 30, 000 grant. And so we said, okay, this is a nice piece of change. So let's keep going. This is there. This is something. And then after that, we got Niska, which was probably like 25, 000. And we started applying for fellowships and labs. And Thereafter, I got the Sundance Producing Fellowship, which more than a grant, it came with [00:25:00] mentorship and also really, oh, before that, we got, the first thing we got was the Tribeca.

[00:25:07] Institute grant. 

[00:25:08] Fanshen: Oh, yeah. 

[00:25:09] Hurriyah: And the thing about it is the grants, the fellowships, and the labs, they all track each other's projects. So once we got Tribeca, that put us on the radar for Sundance, and Sundance started really paying attention to us. And I remember at Tribeca, they have a these industry meetings.

[00:25:26] And we met with the woman who runs the Sundance screenwriting lab. And the first thing she asked us, and she only asked us one question. She said, and everybody else that we met that day had asked us like, how much is it going to cost? What's your timeline? What's this? What's that? And she sat down at the table and she said, how's it going to make me feel?

[00:25:45] And I went out of shishy poofoo Sundance TV. What you 

[00:25:52] Fanshen: mean?

[00:25:57] That's what it's about, isn't it? Wow. [00:26:00] That's 

[00:26:00] Hurriyah: what it's about. That's why 

[00:26:00] Fanshen: we make, 

[00:26:01] Hurriyah: that's why we make movies to, to feel something and people and that's why we don't turn away because we feel something, and so the question was spot on. And so I'm so grateful that we got into the lab and that.

[00:26:15] Because we learned so much going through the Sundance Producing Lab and it introduced us to the industry in a way that was just amazing for our, for us and our project. And similarly, we workshopped the films through not only Sundance, but also through so many other labs that we got into and we went through like maybe 17.

[00:26:37] Versions of the script. And that's what producing is. Producing is finding collaborators, finding people who believe in your film. Find, going out there, finding people who will advocate on your behalf, and introduce you and get you into rooms that you can't get in yourself, and especially independent producing.

[00:26:57] And that's what it was like. And [00:27:00] simultaneously, I knew that we were going to shoot the film in my neighborhood. So I, I'm a big people person. As Equal was writing the film, I was thinking about locations in my neighborhood and, befriending and, or further, Developing the relationships of like entrepreneurs and folks who own the shops like the dance shop and the local theater and it is places that I knew we would need for locations.

[00:27:25] And so I probably like. Soft prep that film for about a year before we shot it so that once we finally had the money We could just hit the ground running it and producing this is that's what it is It's about those small steps that you take and you just keep going, you know So many times people are gonna ghost you funders are gonna ghost you they're gonna meet you and they're gonna say Oh, I'm so excited about this.

[00:27:48] This sounds so interesting. Send me the information. Send me your deck. Send me your material Send And then you'd never hear from them again, 

[00:27:54] Fanshen: but you 

[00:27:54] Hurriyah: just got to keep going, 

[00:27:55] Fanshen: yes. Ah! Yes. Oh, my [00:28:00] goodness. You're a perfect guest. So we're gonna, we're gonna close this out because you're a mama and I, and you continue to be a powerhouse and we want to let you get some rest and joy and all those things in between all the work you do.

[00:28:14] So we have our final signature Sista Brunch question, which is that you and young Hurriyah are sitting down to a Sista Brunt. What are you both eating? What are you both drinking? And what do you tell her? 

[00:28:32] Hurriyah: I think we're having a tea party.

[00:28:37] With some apple juice and some graham crackers. 

[00:28:43] Fanshen: Sweet. 

[00:28:44] Hurriyah: And I'm going to tell her like, don't worry so much. Things are gonna happen. For you and because of you and it's all going to work yourself out. And don't worry so much and try to have fun along the [00:29:00] way. 

[00:29:00] Fanshen: Sweet. Hurriyah Muhammad, thank you so much.

[00:29:04] Thank you for being here and for all that you do for the filmmaking community and for all of the stories that I know you will continue to help birth into the world that really matter. Thank you. 

[00:29:17] Hurriyah: Thank you so much. I really appreciate being here. And I hope that I said something that somebody, it resonated for someone and it helped someone along the way.

[00:29:28] Fanshen: A big thank you to our listeners for subscribing, for sharing your reviews, for sharing the shows with your friends and family and colleagues and community, and for lifting up our guests and their projects, most importantly, for all the ways as well, that you share your stories with the world. You can read the transcripts of every single episode and find show notes on our website, SistaBrunch.

[00:29:56] com. You can also sign up for our newsletter on the [00:30:00] website. Season five of Sista Brunch is brought to you by TruGelow Productions. Our show creators are Anya Adams, Christabel Nsiah Buadi, Brittany Turner, and me, Fanshen Cox. Sista Brunch is a Women Make Movies Production Assistance Program project.

[00:30:17] We acknowledge that the land we record our podcast on is the original land of the Tongva and the Chumash people. We cannot wait to see you next time. Take care, everybody.