Lessons from Devalle family

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GYTn23KTsKw&t=329s

I need to tell my story

people tell their stories and they are unapologetic, like rappers.

Not everyone is going to like the content.

benefit from being on social media?

It's a virtual own portfolio. people can share it. and looking at analytics around it. we don't concentrate from negative comments. we focus on what people like. then we say, okay we'll give them more of that. 

Do not wait for anyone to validate your art. we were contact about reality Tv just because of the story of a NFL player coming back to Brooklyn. all they asked was do ya'll fight? do you and your brother fight? not enough risk there. analytics has proven all of those people wrong.

We have been contacted by every network to make our own scripted and non scripted show. K's been interviewing non stop. she has no acting experience. its about who knows you. hey, i think she's capable of doing this, and we will give her a chance. this all started I'm delivering to your doorstep, to your door our content.

How did Black love happen?

They reached out to us. I'm gonna create the show, I'm gonna create this season and see what happened. and then OWN picked it up, shopping it around and got a second season. it ended up being on OWN for the second season. 

Black men and woman are being constantly dehumanized. we hug we kiss, black people loving on each other. You consume what you consume and you think that's all black people are like. It will see black people as human, it will be harder to put someone down and put a bullet in them.

Let's give people this content. people don't know what they want until it's available.

Motherhood

Children that depend on you forces you to level up and get it together. I want them so badly for them to see that. How much your childhood impacts the way you are. dance, pour into them into what they need to be their best self. our parenting styles are completely different.  if they are half the man he is, we are good.

When you are the oldest, everyone is focused on the youngest one so you focus on yourself. having kids is the unconditional love. I worry about my kids, they can do anything and my love would never change for them. every decision I make will impact them, for the rest of their lives. 

The only thing i have to do is make sure i give him the tool he needs. he is thinking why is daddy mad at him? he walked and said are you still mad at me? I was angry and didn't do the slap 5. I have to be contestant of how I spend time with him. It affects how he functions. 

It taught me who I am as a person. When did I project my feelings into another person. I would have only learned that as a dad. 

Q: Where do you pull for inspiration? how do you keep the ingenuity to keep scripting.

When you create from your own life there is always content. the humor in a normal situation is the gift. We have to be consistent with our content. we have to deliver consistently. a video a day. I'm like no, not today. I said, everyday.  one page is a minute. What would you say if I said this, and he is like my acting class. school of devale, what are you channeling, what are you doing here. 

It's the way my mind works. i see things and I'm like that's hilarious. you are a creator, producing and executing. you want to make sure the audience gets the punch line. What helps me is, we have the flexibility with our children that is works for us. 

brand partnership- when you create content that is consumable by everyone but especially for people that spend money. we build those relationships with all of these brands. brings our content to this brand. I already know how much money I am wroth. so you can't make me cut a check for less than what we make. and we are careful of what partnerships we partake in.

At what stage did you know that you need a manager? 

to be honest, I knew. I was tired of taking the emails and the paperwork. talent and negotiating they always try to talk you down. the pitbull knows how to get the bag. how much do you have to engage the ellises? what is your budget and we are not doing anything for free. we found our manager organically. she worked on the brand side. she wanted to meet with my wife and they met. She said give me 6 months. if you are excited about what I do, we can talk going forward, and after 2 months I'm like we have to sign her. she handles email. she comes to us everyday. this is what i have. She presented the podcast, you need a manager to push you in the direction of where you can go. its been taking off. its going to be a year in July (podcast). when someone is a great person, they can forsee the beauty and potential in you. she's s hustler like us, from NY. I don't have to be the bad guy. there's been brand who was given us big paycheck but wanted right to license for a year.  it was good amount of money. 

you will never be able to get anyone to pay you what you are worth. If you count your pockets, they are bigger bags out there. 2 days later, we got a brand and only license for 1 hour. brands talk, how much you paid? and black and brown always get underpaid. Don't let brand coerce you into changing your content. it is organic and authentic to what we do, 

You gotta be strong to yourself. 

Q: how to support each other as individuals. the Ellises are not a married couple.

I always tell her you can be bigger than any woman on TV. she's a way better host. my diction is bad. she is great at hosting. We don't want all our content to be all about love and marriage. he is a doer. he has always been like that. he's always been in a position to prove himself. That's not the way god wants you to achieve it. the more successful people have a story. When it comes, it comes.