Redelia Shaw: Always Be of Service
Episode Description:
Redelia Shaw is a producer and educator; she leads the Media Production program at Santa Monica College, where we taped many of our episodes for this season. Her projects include "Race Relay," a multi-media production that explores the state of race relations in America today. She co-produced the documentary "Cocaine Prison," which screened at the 2017 Toronto International Film Festival. An industry second assistant director, Shaw has also worked on "Scandal," "The Office," "Queen Sugar" and "House of Lies." She is also a member of the Western AD/UPM Council Education Committee and the DGA African American Steering Committee.
Transcript:
Anya Adams (00:12):
Welcome everyone to Sista Brunch, the podcast where sisters talk about work in the industry.
Fanshen Cox (00:18):
I'm so excited to have our guest today Redelia Shaw. She is a producer and educator, and she leads the media production program at Santa Monica College, right where we are right now in this beautiful studio. She's also one of the producers behind Race Relay. It's a theatrical production using drama, music, and video to explore the state of race relations in America today. Are there race problems? Is there a problem?
Redelia Shaw (00:44):
Maybe just a few.
Fanshen Cox (00:45):
Okay.
Anya Adams (00:47):
But it's almost all taken care of, right?
Fanshen Cox (00:49):
Yeah, right.
Redelia Shaw (00:49):
Yes.
Fanshen Cox (00:49):
It's post racial since Obama.
Anya Adams (00:53):
The other thing that's great about Redelia is she co-produced the documentary Cocaine Prison. It made its debut at TIFF in 2017?
Redelia Shaw (01:00):
Yes.
Fanshen Cox (01:00):
We should say Toronto International Film Festival.
Redelia Shaw (01:02):
Yes.
Anya Adams (01:03):
Yes.
Fanshen Cox (01:03):
That's what TIFF stands for.
Redelia Shaw (01:04):
Toronto International Film Festival. Yes.
Fanshen Cox (01:05):
Beautiful.
Redelia Shaw (01:05):
It was an amazing experience.
Anya Adams (01:08):
Awesome. It's so interesting because our friend here is this amazing educator, but I met her when she was a trainee. We were both DGA trainees Director's Guild of America. She's worked on a ton of different sets, like Queen Sugar and The Office.
Fanshen Cox (01:23):
Sister show.
Anya Adams (01:24):
House of Lies, Scandal.
Fanshen Cox (01:24):
And she's working on sister shows-
Anya Adams (01:25):
Yes. Scandal.
Fanshen Cox (01:26):
... Like Scandal and Queen Sugar. I'm like wow.
Anya Adams (01:28):
Killed it.
Redelia Shaw (01:28):
Yes.
Anya Adams (01:29):
And she also holds a position at the DGA as one of the members of the DGA African-American steering committee. And also as a part of the Western AD/UPM Council Education Committee.
Redelia Shaw (01:42):
Yes.
Fanshen Cox (01:42):
Nice. And she went to Clark Atlanta and Georgia State. And I love GSU. I've been there a couple of times. It's such a beautiful school, great campus. And I think lots of good people coming out of there and excitingly so many things happening in Atlanta now.
Redelia Shaw (01:57):
It's the number one place for production.
Fanshen Cox (01:59):
Wow. I just want to say after this podcast, guys, you're going to feel really guilty that you're sitting around doing nothing because Redelia is on two committees. She's a teacher, she's a producer, she's a creator. And then you're grading papers and you have friends. How do you do it all?
Redelia Shaw (02:15):
I don't know crazy.
Fanshen Cox (02:18):
You're incredible. How do you do it?
Redelia Shaw (02:21):
The main thing is just knowing that I have this vision that I want out there in the world. And I want to be a part of projects that really support our community specifically and women. And that is really what keeps me going every day. It's like, I feel like how dare I get tired? When I think about just us being in this room, the fact that we are even here, I think about how some people, somebody in our line made an active decision to live. Not like happenstance, not like I'm just going to get through today, but an active decision to stay alive because they were thinking about the future. And they were thinking about a legacy and they were thinking about us before we were even here.
Redelia Shaw (03:09):
And also my grandmother, my mom's mother, she died when I was three months old, unfortunately. And my mom would always tell the story of every morning, my grandmother would get her knees, would hit the floor at 5:30 in the morning. And she would pray for her kids and their kids and their kids. And my mom said the whole house would shake with her praying for us. Her name is Willie Maple. And she built a church across the street from her house with her own hands.
Anya Adams (03:45):
Wow.
Redelia Shaw (03:46):
And it's still standing to this day and it's just so amazing to be a part of that history and that legacy. And she had to drop out of school when she was eight years old in the third grade, that was all the book learning she had. And so the fact that I am able to go to CAU and to go to Georgia State. Now I'm an educator, I'm pursuing a PhD at some point. It's like, how dare I not do that?
Fanshen Cox (04:18):
Absolutely.
Redelia Shaw (04:18):
When 150 years ago it was illegal to teach us how to read.
Fanshen Cox (04:22):
Mm-hmm (affirmative). At what point did you know that storytelling was what you wanted to do, directing was what you wanted to do, producing was what, when did that spark happen?
Redelia Shaw (04:35):
That's very interesting because I think about that often, "Why did I decide I wanted to do?" In the fourth grade, we had to do a project on black history month. And the only people I knew with books was our next door neighbor, Betty Wilder and her husband Harrison. They moved to Florida from New York and Harrison had these books in the closet. They didn't have a bookshelf up either.
Fanshen Cox (05:01):
Wow.
Redelia Shaw (05:02):
And there's like, "Just go into the closet and get a book out," because they had all these black books.
Anya Adams (05:08):
Wow.
Redelia Shaw (05:09):
One of the books was a lynching book.
Anya Adams (05:13):
What?
Redelia Shaw (05:14):
And I don't think they had looked at the boxing years.
Fanshen Cox (05:17):
Right.
Redelia Shaw (05:18):
But I will never forget my nine year old mind looking at these images and the famous one, I forget the brother's name, but it's where they burn them so bad and it looks like he's on a railroad track and there's smoke coming off of him. And I was transfixed.
Fanshen Cox (05:37):
As a nine-year-old.
Redelia Shaw (05:38):
As a nine year old.
Fanshen Cox (05:38):
That's a lot.
Redelia Shaw (05:38):
There was a lot of books in the box-
Anya Adams (05:42):
Sure.
Redelia Shaw (05:42):
But of course this was like a coffee table book and-
Anya Adams (05:48):
The images must have been...
Redelia Shaw (05:49):
And the images have stayed with me to this day. And I remember feeling like, "What is going on?" Just the shock. And as I got older, it had this reinforcement in me to understand more about black people and black history. Starting there, I loved writing, that was my favorite thing. And I wanted to go to an HBCU. I'm at Clark, I fall in love with black history, black culture, everything is taught from a black perspective.
Redelia Shaw (06:27):
And I am assistant editor of the yearbook, my sophomore year. I'm helping out my friend, who's the editor of the newspaper. Literally we would be spending the night there getting the newspaper to bed or working on the yearbook, just really devoted. And unfortunately, and not just there, I think probably all institutions, there's a lack of people helping out with student media, which I think is one of the best places for you to get some experience in writing, leadership, management, knowing how to get things in on deadline. There's a lot of soft skills that you learn in a very safe environment because it doesn't have to be perfect, right?
Anya Adams (07:09):
Right.
Fanshen Cox (07:10):
Right.
Redelia Shaw (07:10):
This is where you get your professional polish. While I was doing that, we came up with this idea to do this TV show called Perspectives.
Fanshen Cox (07:19):
Nice.
Redelia Shaw (07:19):
Because we had a TV studio at Clark. Oh my gosh. We had so much drama with some of the faculty that didn't get behind us, but there was one, Charles Easley. I love him to this day.
Fanshen Cox (07:33):
Again name dropped to Charles.
Redelia Shaw (07:34):
He is amazing.
Anya Adams (07:37):
Okay. Hey Charles.
Redelia Shaw (07:37):
I'm hoping he's going to listen to this podcast.
Fanshen Cox (07:39):
He will. Yes.
Redelia Shaw (07:41):
Because I am blowing you up brother. You were so phenomenal in helping us and be supportive of what it is that we were doing. And because of him, I'm the kind of faculty advisor that I am today.
Fanshen Cox (07:54):
Yes.
Redelia Shaw (07:54):
Because I know that you need people that can open doors, that can make things easier for you to get things done because you're just trying to grow and learn. We weren't perfect, but we knew enough to go buy food for our crew and our guests.
Fanshen Cox (08:09):
Okay. That's such an important stuff.
Redelia Shaw (08:09):
And we have a green room and we built a set. I went to visit, I think last year and Brian Jenkins, who's now over the TV station at Clark. He said, "We still have the brick wall from your set."
Fanshen Cox (08:24):
Wow.
Anya Adams (08:25):
Wow.
Redelia Shaw (08:25):
From 1993.
Anya Adams (08:28):
This is Sista Brunch with Fanshen Cox and Anya Adams. We're going to take a quick musical break. We'll be back in a moment.
Fanshen Cox (08:54):
It's Sista Brunch with Anya Adams and Fanshen Cox . Now back to our interview. One of the things we really want to make sure we talk about is, how do you survive in this industry? When you come in and you don't have resources and you don't know people, and you're really speaking to how early on you started to plant those seeds for yourself. Once you got to college, even if you didn't know what you were doing in the beginning, you were like, "I'm going to go for it." And you created this amazing show clearly.
Redelia Shaw (09:24):
Right.
Fanshen Cox (09:24):
And you had those mentors, but still most importantly you were just going for it. By the time you get out of college is like, you have this experience and you know more than a lot of people that you're going to be encountering here in Hollywood, you've had the hands on.
Anya Adams (09:39):
Yeah.
Redelia Shaw (09:40):
Man, when I tell you, I applied for scholarships all the time and I had gotten an internship to the Philadelphia Daily News for a summer, a paid internship. I was making really good money every week.
Anya Adams (09:52):
Of course.
Fanshen Cox (09:53):
Yes.
Redelia Shaw (09:53):
And it was interesting because it was six weeks in news, on the copy desk, I was a copy editor and six weeks of sports.
Anya Adams (10:01):
Oh wow.
Fanshen Cox (10:02):
Yes.
Redelia Shaw (10:02):
And on the news desk, I was one of two women. And one of two black people. We were the two black people on the news desk and there were no other people of color. They were all white men.
Fanshen Cox (10:15):
How many people?
Redelia Shaw (10:16):
I think it was eight of us.
Anya Adams (10:17):
Okay.
Fanshen Cox (10:17):
Mm-hmm (affirmative).
Redelia Shaw (10:17):
And then on the sports desk, again, I was one of two women. And she was white and in the LGBTQ community. It was such an amazing summer to be a part of that. But I knew I didn't want to do news. I wanted to do something more creative. And while I was on the news desk, Rosemary, the other African American woman said, "There's a production company across the street. You should check them out." And so one day I went over there and it just so happened to be the day they were interviewing George Frazier, the boxer from Manila.
Anya Adams (10:50):
Wow.
Fanshen Cox (10:50):
Okay. Yes.
Redelia Shaw (10:51):
The brother that was in there doing stuff was like, "I'm also shooting music videos on the weekend, come on this weekend and help out."
Fanshen Cox (10:58):
Nice.
Redelia Shaw (11:00):
I'm copy editor by day and then on the weekends, I'm helping out with these music videos all over Philly and we're piling into a cargo van and they will say, "Oh, stop." And then we get off the truck and we set up dolly tracks and we shoot. Of course, I don't know we're stealing locations off of the Philadelphia.
Fanshen Cox (11:16):
Right.
Redelia Shaw (11:16):
Because all the equipment and crafty and props and everything is in that cargo van.
Fanshen Cox (11:21):
Yep.
Redelia Shaw (11:21):
And I'm just riding along for the ride of it.
Fanshen Cox (11:24):
Lovely.
Redelia Shaw (11:24):
And it was so thrilling. I'm 19 and it's like, "This is what I want to do." I get back to Atlanta, I get an internship on Drop Squad. It was a 40 Acres and a Mule production. Butch Robinson, I think was the producer of that. I just didn't get in the right department to really get my full on.
Anya Adams (11:47):
Eriq La Salle?
Redelia Shaw (11:47):
Film... Yeah he was in that. Vondie Curtis‑Hall.
Anya Adams (11:47):
Vondie Curtis‑Hall.
Redelia Shaw (11:47):
Vondie Curtis‑Hall. Yeah. And I didn't get into it as much as I should have because I had such a hands on experience in Philly.
Anya Adams (11:58):
No I'm laughing because I am DV review, worst movie ever, one out of ten. That's terrible. But no, you had some people in there, Kasi Lemmons and-
Redelia Shaw (12:10):
Yeah. It was so good, [inaudible 00:12:10] that film.
Anya Adams (12:10):
Ving Rhames.
Fanshen Cox (12:12):
Wait Kasi Lemmons was in it?
Anya Adams (12:13):
Yeah.
Fanshen Cox (12:14):
I didn't realize she was an actor.
Redelia Shaw (12:15):
But then there was supposed-
Fanshen Cox (12:16):
That pattern keeps coming back for you, right?
Redelia Shaw (12:18):
Yeah.
Fanshen Cox (12:20):
What are those connections between history and who we are now?
Redelia Shaw (12:25):
Right. That's the kind of work I want to do.
Fanshen Cox (12:27):
I love it. And also another pattern that I'm noticing, especially now that Anya read that review is, is that it's good and okay to learn on low risk projects, right?
Redelia Shaw (12:42):
Yes.
Fanshen Cox (12:42):
Like you were doing at school, then doing this first movie-
Redelia Shaw (12:46):
Music video.
Fanshen Cox (12:46):
And the music videos, that's how you cut your teeth. It's not going to ruin your career, it's just getting that experience.
Anya Adams (12:55):
Everybody does it.
Redelia Shaw (12:56):
Yes. And the more you play, the better you get.
Anya Adams (13:00):
Yeah.
Fanshen Cox (13:00):
Yeah.
Redelia Shaw (13:00):
And then we had this thing called host broadcast training program.
Anya Adams (13:04):
Okay.
Redelia Shaw (13:04):
With the 96 Olympics, I'm dating myself so you can see how old I am.
Fanshen Cox (13:07):
It's all good.
Redelia Shaw (13:10):
I was showing to be a tape operator. They were training all of us at various colleges so that we could be interns when the Olympics came to Atlanta. And I got so blessed. I was in the Olympic stadium. For opening and closing ceremonies, I was a camera assistant. And I was on the 50-yard line. It was amazing. And I was supposed to be the RF signal receiver for the cameras during track and field, which-
Fanshen Cox (13:39):
You want to really quickly just say what RF?
Redelia Shaw (13:41):
Yeah. At the time, the cameras, they would send a signal back to the control room from what they were recording. And I was supposed to have the thing on my back and be camera assistant to the camera operators during track and field. But the guy that I was assigned to was like, he had some other person that he wanted. And so I was relegated to control room I, which was fine by me because I was an AC for track and field.
Fanshen Cox (14:12):
Right. Yes.
Redelia Shaw (14:12):
And that was amazing. I was in the control room, I, which was the international feed, which was everyone in the control room was from Finland. It was a Finish team.
Anya Adams (14:22):
Oh my gosh.
Redelia Shaw (14:23):
And I was assigned to a tape operator. I just needed to know the flags and the time code number that I was writing down for him to feed that to the system. Then in Atlanta, I went on to graduate school at Georgia State University.
Fanshen Cox (14:40):
In what fields or?
Redelia Shaw (14:41):
Communication. It's the mastery of communication. And I learned a little 3D, a little visual effects. I was doing compositing. I also shot a small short film while I was there.
Fanshen Cox (14:52):
Nice.
Redelia Shaw (14:52):
I wrote a feature length screenplay and I did a master's thesis because the program, there was a lot of requirements for me to get out of there.
Fanshen Cox (15:03):
I told you all, you're going to feel real lazy after this, just FYI
Anya Adams (15:07):
Yeah. I know am sitting here I'm like, "What am I doing with my life?"
Redelia Shaw (15:12):
I had to do all this stuff to get out of there. But while I was there, I was working on Laffapalooza, it's a comedy festival.
Fanshen Cox (15:22):
Of course you were.
Redelia Shaw (15:22):
Jamie Fox was the headliner. And that's where I met Jamie Fox, Marcus King, all these people. We'd have all these comedians come down and perform. And it was a festival that was really a brilliant idea. I wish they would have kept that up. And then from there, I got a job at a production company and while I was in graduate school. I was doing all this while I was in graduate school.
Anya Adams (15:47):
This is Sista Brunch with Fanshen Cox and Anya Adams. Join our community. We're on Twitter @SistaBrunch and Instagram @sistabrunchpodcast.
Fanshen Cox (16:09):
Did you know what this is? Where you asking? Were you in your head like, what is this? I'm going to tell you. It's Sista Brunch. Now back to our interview.
Anya Adams (16:16):
I think there are three things to being in production and being successful. One, you have to have the smarts. Two, you have to have the drive. And three there's a little bit of sprinkling of luck. Like where have I placed myself? Based on your life story that you've just told us, you really see that, you've placed yourself in places where you've been lucky to ascend into these places. And then you're smart enough to hold onto it and be able to build on it. And I think that's really important for people listening to us about, this whole production world, is that you have to have those three prompts to move along.
Fanshen Cox (16:54):
And also the diversifying the knowledge.
Anya Adams (16:57):
Yes.
Fanshen Cox (16:58):
I feel like I should be afraid to work with you because you know, everybody's job and you'd be like, "You're not doing that correctly." Given all the things that you've done, you could step in on anything and be like, "Let me just take this over," in a good way. That's amazing.
Anya Adams (17:18):
Wow.
Redelia Shaw (17:18):
At the same time though, I feel like I'm not an expert.
Anya Adams (17:24):
Which is what a producer is, right?
Redelia Shaw (17:26):
Yeah.
Fanshen Cox (17:26):
Okay. You have the-
Anya Adams (17:27):
You can continue to grow your skills, but knowing enough to have a dialogue with the experts that are working for you is I think the biggest responsibility of a producer.
Fanshen Cox (17:39):
It's a good point.
Anya Adams (17:40):
Its your job to continue to learn, but you don't have to learn everything. You just need to be able to dialogue.
Redelia Shaw (17:44):
Right. That's definitely true.
Anya Adams (17:46):
And I know you're good at that. I know you are.
Fanshen Cox (17:50):
And you teach it? You've got to be good at that.
Redelia Shaw (17:52):
Yeah. With that company, we have three shows on three different networks.
Anya Adams (17:57):
Wow.
Fanshen Cox (17:57):
Wow. Yes.
Redelia Shaw (17:58):
I think the greatest lesson out of that experience was I thought that I had arrived. I went to a P. Diddy party.
Fanshen Cox (18:05):
You were like yeah [crosstalk 00:18:11] .
Redelia Shaw (18:10):
I'm like, I'm doing it. But what I didn't understand was I was in Atlanta, not in Hollywood. I didn't know really the deal.
Fanshen Cox (18:19):
Okay.
Redelia Shaw (18:20):
And after those shows were aired and we were done, we had this time period of nothing and I hadn't written my thesis yet so I asked for some time off so that I could do that. And I was told, "You need to resign," so I did.
Anya Adams (18:36):
What?
Redelia Shaw (18:36):
And that was the scariest moment for me because I thought that I was at a production company that I was going to be at the rest of my life. You know how you're thinking you are young and you're just joining out?
Fanshen Cox (18:48):
Yes.
Redelia Shaw (18:48):
And I was young. I was really young, but I also knew that I wanted that degree going back to my grandma.
Anya Adams (18:56):
Yeah.
Fanshen Cox (18:56):
Yes.
Redelia Shaw (18:57):
Going back to the slaves in the field.
Fanshen Cox (18:58):
Mm-hmm (affirmative).
Anya Adams (18:59):
Mm-hmm (affirmative).
Redelia Shaw (18:59):
How dare I not? And I called the bluff and I was like, "Okay, this is my resignation," because that was so important because I had already invested so much time into it. And this is all I have to do is write a paper, although it's a little bit more than that.
Anya Adams (19:14):
Yeah.
Redelia Shaw (19:14):
But then I need to go ahead and do that because I'm the type of person I have to finish what I start.
Fanshen Cox (19:20):
Yes. Which they should really appreciate.
Anya Adams (19:21):
No kidding.
Fanshen Cox (19:23):
No matter how long it takes, I'm going to finish what I start. And that turned out to be, I think the best decision ever in my life. I did finish my thesis. In the meantime, I got these jobs with these low budge cable stations, cable channels.
Anya Adams (19:46):
Can I just say one thing, I'm just thinking about it, but you made this choice to leave your job, to finish your thesis.
Fanshen Cox (19:52):
Yep.
Redelia Shaw (19:52):
Yeah.
Anya Adams (19:53):
And I think that's an important thing for other people to think about as well, is that in this industry, people will suck you dry of your talent until you are a husk. It's not about you, it's about the project and the company and the whatever. It's very important to not get colored by all of that stuff and to make choices for yourself. And you may take a step back in doing so, but you'll always move forward again. I truly believe that. Then I feel like you exemplify that as well, but that's something for people to remember when they step into this, because it can be so alluring and seductive and easy to stay in a place that's [crosstalk 00:20:37].
Redelia Shaw (20:37):
And you think you'll never work again.
Anya Adams (20:41):
Yes. And think you'll never work again.
Redelia Shaw (20:42):
And people will talk bad about you.
Anya Adams (20:44):
Yes.
Redelia Shaw (20:44):
And it's like this too shall pass.
Anya Adams (20:47):
Exactly.
Fanshen Cox (20:48):
And the world is wide.
Anya Adams (20:51):
Especially now.
Fanshen Cox (20:52):
Especially now with all the content and so many platforms. The world is wide and so no matter what happens in one place, it does not mean your career's over.
Anya Adams (21:02):
Is over. Exactly.
Fanshen Cox (21:03):
Its just the beginning. Just move on.
Redelia Shaw (21:05):
And that was good because I was humbled. I did multi-camera directing, not big. We were like little jewelry on a table. We had to direct talent a little bit. Kayron had learned how to do graphics and camera, all that kind of stuff because we had this little thing that we did everyday, it was the daily show. And that was really good experience. I did that a number of years. And my friend here in LA was like, "You've got to move here. You got to move, got to move to LA," and I didn't want to. I was going to be fine just working with the little chopper channel, the rest of my life. I think I had some ideas that I wanted to do, but I was-
Fanshen Cox (21:44):
But Atlanta, hadn't had its boom yet?
Redelia Shaw (21:46):
Right. Tyler Perry had not woken up Atlanta yet.
Fanshen Cox (21:49):
Okay.
Redelia Shaw (21:49):
He was still in plays.
Fanshen Cox (21:50):
I'm curious. Got you.
Redelia Shaw (21:52):
He hadn't done-
Fanshen Cox (21:54):
Because now a person might not say you need to go to Hollywood if you're in Atlanta.
Redelia Shaw (22:00):
Right. Exactly.
Fanshen Cox (22:01):
But of course at time it was, everybody was like you have to spend time in Hollywood.
Redelia Shaw (22:02):
And at the time too, I would get on as a PA every now and then rarely on a commercial project in Atlanta. But I'll be honest, being a black person, a big black girl in Atlanta diagno you weren't coming from me like, "Oh yes, come in and be on our show." I remember one time I was a PA for a good commercial and it was fun. And the production coordinator was like, "You're just so enthusiastic." That I was just so, and I probably was really excited to be on set and be on these trucks. And I've been working up until this time. I've doing this since.
Fanshen Cox (22:44):
Yes. You know what you're doing.
Redelia Shaw (22:44):
But I think it just made her feel a little, I don't know.
Anya Adams (22:50):
Intimidated?
Fanshen Cox (22:51):
Uh-huh (affirmative).
Redelia Shaw (22:55):
I don't know.
Fanshen Cox (22:55):
That should be the word for it. Hey, you are listening to sister brunch with Anya Adams and me Fanshen Cox. We will be right back.
Anya Adams (23:11):
Now back to our interview.
Redelia Shaw (23:14):
I did that. And then my friend who lived here, she was like, you got to come to LA and we can just take LA by storm.
Fanshen Cox (23:22):
Okay.
Redelia Shaw (23:23):
Because we can be with Brian Frazier and Ron Howard.
Fanshen Cox (23:30):
Uh-huh (affirmative). Okay.
Redelia Shaw (23:30):
That was the idea. And then I come to LA and it doesn't quite work out that way. But the thing about it is that I still thought I wanted to do film as opposed to, I didn't television seriously. I moved here 2005. I work a little bit, multicam shows. I was a talent coordinator where I met another lifelong friend, her name is Michelle Attar. She is an executive in charge of production, freaking amazing bad-ass producer. Sorry I said ass.
Anya Adams (24:02):
Where?
Redelia Shaw (24:03):
Michelle Attar, she's a freelance producer. She's an executive in charge of production. And besides the Olympics, the other amazing project I worked on that will always be in my memory is I worked on 2009 inauguration.
Anya Adams (24:16):
Cool.
Redelia Shaw (24:16):
She was the producer for the balls, then all of the things that they did for in charge of productions.
Fanshen Cox (24:22):
My goodness. That's amazing.
Redelia Shaw (24:22):
And she's like, "Come to DC and be a production coordinator on this." And I was like, "Thank you, Michelle."
Fanshen Cox (24:29):
That speaks to two things that I think are so important. One is, that you were coming in already with all that experience and being a hard worker, all the things that somebody looks for to know that you could handle a job like that. And two, for her to understand that it really just takes saying, "You're coming with me." Just to make that decision for other black women and say like, "This is what's going to happen, you're going to come and do this," is everything.That's-
Redelia Shaw (25:00):
Michelle isn't black.
Fanshen Cox (25:01):
No, but that's what I'm saying because the fact that she did that with you, I think is lacking often.
Redelia Shaw (25:08):
Yeah. I had worked with her on the Gospel of Music, which was a TV one show. She was the EIC on that. And I did like three or four seasons. And she got to see my work ethic and how I handled myself. And so she felt comfortable bringing me with her. Honestly, when I think of all the stuff that I've worked on, the Olympics and inauguration are two, those are the things that are amazing projects and they're broadcasting projects. Then I get to the DGA, the training program, which I got through that experience.
Anya Adams (25:48):
Let me just say something, all of your experience up until this point, you chose to go to a trainee program.
Fanshen Cox (25:55):
Good point.
Anya Adams (25:56):
It takes a certain personality and a dedication to your process and what you want to do to do that.
Fanshen Cox (26:04):
Yep.
Redelia Shaw (26:04):
Even though I had a lot of experience when I got into the training program, the first show I went on, they were like, they were-
Anya Adams (26:12):
What show?
Redelia Shaw (26:12):
I'm not going to say it.
Anya Adams (26:12):
Will find out.
Fanshen Cox (26:16):
But they will find that they completely dismissed any of your previous experience.
Redelia Shaw (26:19):
Right. And I didn't know how Hollywood did things. I had a lot of experiences in Atlanta, but they were all figuring it out. One of the things that I want to definitely say about us in the community, we have this huge thing right now about diversity and people of color working behind the cameras, especially being producers and making decisions and all that good stuff. The reason why me and my friend did not succeed when I first moved here in 2005 was because I did not feel secure that I would be able to book eight, five times for a show and understand why we have eight grips and eight lighting technicians and base camp and all of that. We were making our stuff by hook or crook. I'm driving around in a cargo van in Philadelphia making stuff happen. Now you're talking about getting permits. You're talking about doing contracts, making sure people are paid correctly, having an accounting department. And I did not know that stuff.
Fanshen Cox (27:22):
Right.
Redelia Shaw (27:23):
The training program helped me see, what I wanted to know was when you put a call sheet together, all those names on the call sheet, you know what that means.
Anya Adams (27:31):
Help you understand the network process?
Redelia Shaw (27:32):
Yes.
Anya Adams (27:33):
Because you'd really been doing an independent process.
Redelia Shaw (27:36):
Correct.
Anya Adams (27:37):
There's two different processes and-
Fanshen Cox (27:37):
And that's really important.
Anya Adams (27:40):
... The network is a whole different culture.
Fanshen Cox (27:42):
Right.
Anya Adams (27:42):
And if you don't know it, it can be extremely overwhelming.
Fanshen Cox (27:47):
Yeah.
Redelia Shaw (27:47):
Right. And we have to know that stuff, but we're usually aren't in places to get the training to learn that stuff because there's only one DGA training program.
Fanshen Cox (27:56):
Yep.
Redelia Shaw (27:58):
And then I would look at the black folk that would come out on these sets of these network shows. And half the time they would not even say two words to me, only one Corinne Huggins, I think that's her name.
Anya Adams (28:10):
Yeah.
Fanshen Cox (28:12):
Calling people up. Hey Corrine.
Redelia Shaw (28:14):
When I tell you this sister would sit down and have lunch with me and what that meant to me as a trainee on that set.
Fanshen Cox (28:24):
We have to do that and be that for one another. This has been amazing and inspiring. And it's so wonderful. And you've said so much of this already during the interview, but if you could just have one drop of wisdom.
Anya Adams (28:42):
Yes.
Redelia Shaw (28:45):
Always be humble and open to learn because we are always learning and you are never too big to learn something new. And definitely that's like, I'm a lifelong learner and be that. Be kind, because you never know who you're talking to and where they're going in their lives. And always be of service. I think that's why we're here. We're here to serve. And I know that was multiple things, but.
Fanshen Cox (29:20):
We will take it. Thank you so much.
Redelia Shaw (29:22):
Thank you.
Fanshen Cox (29:27):
Thank you so much for listening to Sista Brunch with Anya Adams and me, Fanshen Cox. That was our conversation with Redelia Shaw who leads media production at Santa Monica College, where we recorded a lot of our shows for season one. We're so grateful to you Redelia and to Santa Monica College.
Fanshen Cox (29:51):
I can't believe it. That was the final show of our first season, but we will be back later in the year with more shows with some amazing sisters in Hollywood and the media industry at large. Our executive producer is Christabel Nsiah-Buadi, and our show producer is Brittany Turner. All right, while we're making new shows, please visit our website, sistabrunch.com. Listen to all of our past amazing guests. Listen to them a second and third and fourth time. And also please share if you love what you're hearing, you can follow us on Twitter, where @SistaBrunch, on Instagram and Facebook, we are at @sistabrunchpodcast. Talk to you soon.