Yourcinemafilms.com | Actor, producer and co-owner of £7M company 'Wall of Productions', Percelle Ascott goes deep into how him and Joivan Wade have achieved and maintained their success both on and offscreen!
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00:00 We are back, we are back, we are back. I'm really excited for this session. We're closing out the
00:08 festival with a bang. I am really, really, really excited for this session and the reason why is,
00:15 to be fair, when I think about it, we've been blessed to have like top-tier guests, right?
00:21 And yes, we're continuing the standard and the levels with this session. We have got
00:28 - how do I describe this guy? Multi-hyphenate, astute businessman, actor, producer. I'm sure
00:41 he directs and writes but maybe gets other people too because he doesn't have the time.
00:46 And do you know what? Just an all-round great guy. I would also say like he's got great vision
00:55 and he's a sponge for learning which I think definitely requires like a spirit and a heart
01:03 of humility which is only going to continue to take him further alongside his amazing
01:10 business partners. But I introduce to you guys Purcell Ascot. Hey!
01:15 Thank you for having me, man. That was a really beautiful introduction so I really do appreciate
01:24 that. That was wicked. We thank you for being here. So I'm going to jump straight into it, right?
01:33 Like this session is really about, because you do so many things and you do them well and at a high,
01:41 like a really significantly high level, we really just want to get into how you do that, to be fair,
01:48 because I guess there's a lot of stigma, especially like years ago of, you know, yeah, you can do loads
01:57 of things but you may not do all of them well or something's going to suffer. So yeah, I'm just
02:04 going to jump into it, right? So I guess my first point is like, look, you run a multi-million pound
02:12 business. You act, you produce, you manage acts as well. All of this stuff, like it didn't happen
02:20 overnight. So what was like your first experience of having to do more than one thing? That's a
02:28 good question. I would take myself back to when I was in Brit school, when I was training to be an
02:34 actor. That's where I met Javan and we were at school and we were looking at what the next
02:41 opportunity was for us. At the time it was obviously looking at university or drama school
02:45 and me and Javan just knew, we just knew we didn't want to go. And in fact, what we did,
02:51 we did a part-time course at the school which was called year 14 and this would be like our first
02:56 year at university or drama school. But you know, we opted to stay at Brit school for this extra
03:00 year, which was a part-time course. So we got to do, you know, basically create a play in that time
03:07 and at the same time we had like a part-time job and we then discovered, you know, our first
03:12 project, which is Man on the Wall. And when I was doing Man on the Wall Javan, at the same time,
03:17 I was still trying to keep up with school and even work commitments and stuff. That was the first,
03:23 I think, entry level of just trying to like manage and balance. I remember like there was a time
03:28 where we was in, we came to lesson and we both had just done a whole night just of full of,
03:36 full of writing and I think editing as well and just mapping things out. And we got to,
03:41 I think we got to sleep at like five or six AM, school started at, you know, eight or nine. So
03:47 only two hours sleep and it was the first time I'm coming to school and fatigue, I'm so tired. And
03:51 yeah, our teacher just, we fell asleep unfortunately through the lesson and our teacher
03:57 made a comment about it, but she didn't know what we had gone and what we was doing the night before.
04:02 She felt like, you know, we were maybe just hanging out or partying or whatever it was. But
04:06 these times, obviously we were doing so much work behind the scenes. And, you know, it was like,
04:11 it was so hard to explain that to people. It was so hard to explain that to family, to friends,
04:16 to everybody really. And even I actually go back a little bit more. When I was 16,
04:21 I founded my first business, which was a book selling business. And I used to sell books. So
04:28 I used to get books from charity shops for like, say 50p and I sell them on Amazon for say two
04:32 pound. And then I did that just in big quantities. And I was 16 years old doing it all by myself.
04:37 And I had to stay up until 4 AM again, like just packing all of these books into boxes and then
04:44 shipping it to Amazon for them to sell it on my behalf as part of like this Amazon FB system.
04:48 And it was very, very new at the time. So I was doing all right in terms of making
04:52 a little bit of money, 600 pounds every sort of fortnight from selling all these books basically.
04:57 And yeah, again, it was just like the first part of myself, like balancing different things. And
05:04 I think working with Jovan, that was a big thing of just learning how to like, not only being a
05:09 team, but also, yeah, like work out which, what responsibilities we're looking after, but making
05:14 sure that we execute, like if we make a plan, you know, and we're doing what we're going to say
05:18 we're going to do, we're delivering on it as well. And I think very early on as well, we had a,
05:24 we had a perfection, you know, to the execution. So anything we were doing, we has to turn to gold.
05:29 Like it was Man of Moodle, we, you know, reshot the first episode three times. If it was
05:34 any of the short films that we've done, like we will, I will constantly, you know, go and do more
05:39 takes if need be. A lot of the films that me and Jovan have done and acted in together, we sometimes
05:45 like direct it, you know, direct each other. In fact, you know, on those projects because we know
05:51 each other's potential. So constantly we'd always work on one balancing and maintaining like
05:58 multiple things from an early age. And also at the same time, we had to make sure that whatever
06:03 we're balancing still has that touch of greatness and that gold to it because it just was a pride
06:09 thing. It was like, I can't, if I'm going to put my name by this, we have to be proud of it basically.
06:14 And it's, yeah, like do or die, we have to make sure that we go hard basically.
06:19 I love that. I love that. That attention to detail is, and that willingness to redo is quite
06:27 interesting, right? Because I want to know from your perspective, what's the fine line or what's
06:32 the balance between being perfect or getting things done perfectly and then, but it's like,
06:38 but we still have to get it done. Yeah, I think, I think there's a, there is, yeah, like you
06:44 mentioned, there's a fine line, right? There's a fine line for me. I've learned that there's too
06:49 many creatives I feel fail to execute. They fail to actually like release a lot of the stuff that
06:55 they're doing. And obviously I mentioned to you that we made sure things were perfect, but perfect
06:59 to our control. There's obviously elements that we couldn't control. There's things that I wish I
07:05 had the budget for that I could do properly and do it once over. However, I can only make this as
07:10 good as I can make it. And, and, and after that, that that's the best thing I can possibly make it.
07:16 Then I'm proud of myself. I've tried. And I think that's the balance. It's also like not to be too
07:20 indulgent, I think as well as an artist. I think that's one of the big thing I talk to a lot of
07:24 people in my circles and other circles as well. It's like, sometimes as artists, we can be so like
07:29 so passionate, but so what's the word I guess. So we're just scared to release this, this, our,
07:38 you know, to express ourselves that are up to the world because of critique and criticism. But that's
07:42 the only way that we're going to learn basically. So I find that there's a way to like, just, you
07:46 know, step back. Like I think once I've done everything I can to whatever this thing I'm
07:51 making, whether it be something that we're producing for some of the brands that we've,
07:54 we've, we've made content for, or if it's the film side of things, or even if it's, I'm just
07:58 doing a scene on, on set and I'm acting, it's like, I can just, as long as I've tried and I've
08:03 given it my all, then I feel like it's filtered enough ready for the world to basically experience
08:09 and enjoy. And of course there's going to be lessons along the way. And I think like you
08:12 mentioned earlier, it's about being open to learning, like every project we've ever done.
08:17 I don't think we've ever settled or complacency is a word that we're very scared of. It's like,
08:23 we're very scared of being complacent to, oh, this is the standard. And we've, we've hit that now.
08:28 No, it's like, okay, how, how else can we, we always have our debrief sessions. How else can
08:32 we, you know, work on this project again, but do it in a different way? Maybe there's maybe like,
08:36 you know, pros and cons that we can, you know, adapt to, to the process basically.
08:40 So yeah, that's what I would say. Wow. Wow. Wow. Wow. Wow. You know, speaking of learning,
08:46 and just looking at the quality of what you guys do and even like your craft of, of acting, right.
08:55 The reason I say that is because when I watch you on screen, you embody the character,
09:02 um, like I'll take, I'll, I'll even take Shiro's story, for example, it's like, and I'm, you,
09:09 you've probably had this, I like this feedback so, so often, but you really like you transformed
09:18 into Kyle, you were him from the gold tooth, even like the way you were speaking and like small
09:27 manner, like, Oh, you're him. That's not even like, you can't, you cannot see the nice guy per se.
09:34 He doesn't exist anymore. I mean, I guess, I guess like doing things to that quality, right. Um,
09:45 definitely requires like time learning and practice, but with regards to like the learning
09:52 aspects, like how does that take shape for you, um, with regards to acting and producing? Is it
09:59 like courses? Is it like, yeah, um, I think it's a lot of, um, I study a lot of myself, I think,
10:07 and observe a lot of things as I'm doing certain projects. So I think even like the film that
10:13 Shiro's story, there's been moments in my past where I've done say a similar type of work or
10:18 similar type of project, or even more. So I kind of connect to like the emotion of what the character
10:22 is going through. And I think that the emotions for me is what I feel like makes the character
10:27 feel real and more rounded. Um, and that's what makes it feel like your speech, the patterns,
10:33 everything changes your face. Everything has to like, like it just molds itself into this person
10:38 because I'm so connected to understanding them and understanding their why and understanding
10:43 what their drive is. And when I'm so in touch with that as Pessoa Ascot, you know, it makes it easy
10:48 for me to transition over to like, obviously to, to feel as passionately as what, as how Kyle feels
10:54 to whatever the subject matter is. And I think I've always, um, I think of every role in every
11:01 project I've ever done, I've always taken a lesson from every scene, you know, and I think, um,
11:06 again, it goes back to like, when I first started acting, um, doing Wizards vs. Aliens and CBBC,
11:11 that was the first time ever I was working on a job, say four months working on that, right. And
11:17 it was, it was a hard cause I was, you know, 18 and living away from home filming in Cardiff,
11:21 but I had to like learn that every day is almost like a brick that I'm layering. And almost,
11:28 it's like, I think, uh, Andrew Garfield and a few other actors have spoken about this in,
11:32 in different podcasts I've listened to, but, you know, you look at your actors, your, your, uh,
11:36 your, you know, characters arc basically. And I, I almost look at like, okay, every day that I'm in,
11:41 in terms of the schedule, this is a piece that I'm layering. That's going to get me closer and
11:45 closer to building this, like, full, this full character. And, um, that, that kind of helped
11:51 a lot. And also just doing the CBBC stuff, doing a lot of, I, even when I was younger, I did like
11:56 jobs in casualty and I went for a year of just saying yes to everything because I wanted to
12:01 learn. I just wanted to like challenge myself, whether it be a short film, whether it be
12:05 casualty, whether it be new tricks on BBC, I don't, I don't, I don't mind. And yes, it may,
12:10 you know, maybe the strategy may be saturating myself slightly in terms of like roles and stuff,
12:15 but I was able to like work with different directors, different crews, different locations,
12:19 and put myself in different environments that I'm, I became comfortable to, I became comfortable to
12:24 pressure. And then even with like short films before Shiro, we did, uh, we've done like three
12:29 short films before this with fully focused. And, um, why I love short films so much is that you
12:35 have three days to build a character to, to make him feel real, you know? So, and sometimes it,
12:41 there's a film I could call Drawn Out that I worked on with fully focused and I had,
12:44 I was only, I was only actually filming for three days and sorry, three scenes, not even three days,
12:50 I had three scenes across the whole film. So if you watch the film again, I've only got three
12:54 scenes, but again, it was my task in terms of the pressure was to build a character in three
12:59 scenes that makes him feel real. Uh, and, and yeah, like 4D. So, uh, again, when it comes to,
13:05 sorry, to answer your question again, with Shiro and Kyle, um, it was just the same thing. Like
13:11 my approach to performances and characters and stuff is like one, I have to make sure that the,
13:15 you know, the emotion and I want that resonance to feel real. I believe like when you're watching
13:21 something, it's, it's, uh, I mentioned this in the, in the previous podcast I did, but it's all
13:24 in the eyes, you know, for me in terms of emotion. And when you capture you, when, when I found
13:29 myself, when I'm, when I'm in there and I'm in that, say that place with that character, there's
13:34 so many things that I I'm not thinking about. I'm actually just doing based on instinct because,
13:39 you know, your body, I think I've, I wrote about this when I was 16, like emotion is the hardest
13:44 thing to manipulate basically. And I feel like when I tap into something real, then it, for me,
13:49 the emotion, it takes me almost like on a roller coaster where how I speak and how I say things,
13:54 it just, it just does its own thing. It's a bit like, you know, when you're angry or when you're
13:59 crying, you know, if in fact, you know, when you are crying, the first thing you do is you deny it,
14:03 you push that emotion down. And I think when you push that, it obviously has that, that kind of
14:08 like equal and opposite reaction. And then that emotion overtakes itself because it, you know,
14:12 overrides whatever you're trying to push down basically. And then that, that forms obviously
14:16 tears and, and that thing there. But again, it's not to, I'm not trying to show you that I'm upset.
14:20 It's just a feeling that I'm trying to hide. So it's all these little things that I've been doing,
14:24 I guess, for like the last like six to eight years before I did it, Shower of Story. And so when it
14:29 came to that role, even like, I remember having to have a conversation with Rap Man because it was
14:34 Javan who recommended me to like, to play opposite him. Raps hasn't, you know, he wasn't sure whether
14:39 or not I could do it. And I think upon meeting him and had a conversation, I had 101 questions
14:45 for him about the character to try and understand more of Kyle and to kind of like create a
14:49 backstory. And I think Raps has said this before, like, I think he saw my, my determination and hard
14:55 work basically in ethic wise to see that I could, I could take on this role and his character.
15:00 And yeah, it's, I feel like Kyle is one of my proudest, some of my proudest moments because
15:04 it's, I've got messages from people, you know, friends, close friends and family, everyone just
15:09 like, I don't recognize you at all. And obviously as an actor, that's the biggest compliment you can
15:14 receive. Right. And then, you know, it was another step too far when I'm going to certain areas
15:18 around London and people think I'm actually really, you know, from the roads and I'm about that life
15:22 and stuff. And I'm really Kyle and I'm like, you know, it's just, it's an act, you know, it's not,
15:26 it's not, it's not real. But again, I do take it very seriously when I am portraying any character
15:31 that I'm approaching. I think it's just, I have so much respect for the project, for the writer,
15:36 for, for just for the character. I just really want to make sure that when I'm, when I'm watching it,
15:41 you know, I think I'm my biggest critique as well. I can tell my, I can tell when I'm watching
15:45 something of myself where, you know, either whether I, you know, I believe myself or I don't.
15:50 And I just want to, I would like to watch back the content I make and feel like, yes, I believe
15:56 this, this, this character. I don't even recognize myself. I think that's, that's the biggest task,
16:01 really. It's, it's almost a battle, it's a competition and also a challenge of Percy versus
16:06 Percy, you know, nothing else really. I'm not trying to, I'm not trying to like do anything
16:11 for anything else. Like, you know, say it'd be for accolades or, you know, say it'd even be for
16:15 a tent. Like, no, I don't really care. I just care about just embodying a character, whether it be a
16:19 short film, a big Netflix feature film, you know, a series, it doesn't matter, man. It doesn't matter
16:24 how big or small the project is. I just want to make sure that I do an honest job of portraying
16:29 whatever I'm doing, basically. So yeah, that's, that's where I think it comes from.
16:32 - I love that. I love that. Thank you, man. And I guess when we look at production, right,
16:39 from a producer's, from a producing perspective, how did you, where did you learn the, I guess it's
16:46 more the, how did your practical understanding of producing grow? Because now you can, you guys on
16:55 your own can go and do a feature or go and do a series that is TV standard, you know what I mean?
17:02 - Yeah. I think it was just like, you know, something me and Jovan talk about a lot of times,
17:06 yeah. And, and even Dee as well, back in the day was like, we felt like our route in terms of
17:12 creating content from man on the wall and on our journey, even as, as, as artists and actors and
17:17 everything else, basically, we, it almost feels as though our route is the long route. And why I say
17:21 long route is because nothing was kind of handed to us. We had to like work for everything basically.
17:26 And even like speaking to like previous mentors, a lot of the times people did stuff, like they
17:31 stepped in to become, you know, directors or writers and producers after acting, it's because
17:35 they had to that, you know, do it yourself. Otherwise there's this sort of like, there's
17:39 nothing else out there. We have to create the solution to the problem. We might as well, you
17:42 know, create the change that we want to see. And that was a part of it. And also it just felt
17:46 naturally like, you know, it was, it wasn't, it wasn't a choice of like, I wanted to be a producer.
17:52 To be honest with you, I didn't really know what a producer does very early on, but we were doing
17:57 it. We didn't, we just didn't realize that this was, this was the label. So in regards to like
18:01 man on the wall, we were, you know, setting up all of our shoots. We were organizing the schedules.
18:06 We were, we were doing call sheets. You know, this is when we were 18 years old. We, we were
18:10 going to BBC on set there, Javan was doing casualty, I'm doing wizards. And then I would just
18:14 literally study the call sheet and then adopt it and make it my own call sheet for man on the wall.
18:18 Even though we didn't need it, it was just good practice. Like I wanted to, I wanted to raise the
18:23 levels every single time, every single time we were filming, it would take us like a month to
18:27 shoot an episode. So there was so much like organization that had to go into it. I was also
18:32 filming wizards Monday to Friday, so we can only shoot man on the wall for the weekends. And so we
18:38 had to use our time wisely, but to be so efficient with everyone's time, because we were getting so
18:42 much free stuff and people volunteering and things like that. So, you know, we couldn't fail. We
18:47 couldn't drop anything. The ball couldn't drop. So me and Javan just became so obsessive with just
18:52 making sure that, you know, the detail was, was always there because we, we had, you know,
18:56 shoots that didn't go to plan. And, you know, we had people that came to set crew wise that maybe
19:01 didn't charge batteries or whatever it was. And it just, it killed us because it delayed, you know,
19:06 the, from, from the original plan. And that's the biggest thing with us is that when we were young
19:10 as even as young as 18, we had a big, you know, we had a plan. Like the plan was, we knew what we
19:16 wanted to do. Like the Wayne brothers in America, we wanted to go out and create, you know, even
19:20 after Man on the wall, it was like, we want to create loads of films. We want to do a TV show
19:23 here, do film here, do this, do that. So every day and every moment spent was a day closer to us
19:31 getting to where we are today, for example sake. And that's why we were so particular and, and so
19:37 obsessive with, with, with that type of detail. So to also answer your question, when we started
19:42 to now take on the role as producers, I guess, because we were in front of camera, I'm observing,
19:48 you know, as I'm on set in all of these different types of projects that I've done, I'm observing
19:52 just the crew I'm observing and I'm making mental notes of what I would do if I was to change things,
19:57 you know, you know, Oh, you know, for example sake, I might want to have more of an inclusive
20:01 team to do makeup and hair because as actors, it's frustrating for us to have, you know,
20:05 come to set and, you know, I have to come with my set, my hair made, or, or even after, you know,
20:09 be in a chair with someone who doesn't know what they're doing with my dreadlocks. And it just
20:12 takes away from me as an actor, because now I'm stressed out about that or whatever it is. So
20:17 there were so many little things, or it could be with the lighting team or the catering,
20:20 you know, if the catering is good, then the crew are good. You know, if, if, if this department's
20:25 happy with this, and then so I started to pick up all of these little things that people were
20:29 unhappy about. And I was like, okay, cool. If I'm a producer, this is what I would do.
20:32 And, and also this is how I would want to build my sets and everything. All the best projects I've
20:38 been up to a bit being a part of have have always had the secret ingredient of love. Right. And I
20:44 don't mean that in a corny way. I'm serious. I'm talking about when we're so passionate about the
20:48 project that we're trying to create, and you've got all the crew engaged as well as your cast.
20:52 Honestly, I feel like that's the thing that makes it just go to a whole new level in terms of it
20:57 transcends. When we did Shower of Story, we were filming 17 hours, you know, each day to try and
21:01 get that, that, that, that, that project done or whatever it was. So, and that's the passion and
21:06 the creative, you know, driving force for myself, Jovan, Simon, you know, Rita and, and, and yeah,
21:11 Raps as well. So it's like, all of us knew what was at stake and why we wanted to make sure that
21:15 this was perfect. And so the biggest ingredient for me is making sure that there's a happy,
21:21 healthy environment, you know, no toxicity, trying to, you know, help out people wherever
21:27 you can try and be nice to people, you know, make sure that there is that respect there across the
21:31 whole crew and things like that. And obviously make sure that the standards of the levels of
21:37 what everyone, so everyone who's a part of this, we all know what we're trying to do here. This is
21:40 not just a job. We're coming here to like, you know, make some, make some stuff happen. And I
21:44 don't, that's one thing I don't, that's my non-negotiable. Like if it's crew or if it's
21:49 any part of the team, you know, I'm very quick to, and I could sniff it out very quickly as well.
21:54 You know, if someone isn't up to standard or not, you know, like bringing what I need, like,
21:59 I'm very, like, I'll have a conversation with the rest of my, you know, my, my partners at the table,
22:03 you know, Hey, look, there's a department here that I just need to just keep a close eye on.
22:07 So I'm very intuitive and I use my initiative when we know where it matters and stuff. And
22:11 sorry, lastly, to finish your question. - No, just speak, just speak.
22:14 - Even some of the projects that me and the boys did, like the weekend film
22:20 from back in the day, you know, Ojo and stuff like that film had some issues, you know, off camera
22:26 in terms of finishing up the film. And in fact, it was myself, Jovan and our team that took the film
22:32 over from the guys and we finished it basically. And we had no idea how to finish a feature,
22:37 you know, but that was where I picked up the phone. I called Fiona Lamptey, you know, when
22:41 she was a producer at the time, Fruit Tree. I said, Fiona, I need your help. Like, I just worked
22:46 with Fiona recently at this time as well and took her monster. I said, you know, I have no idea what
22:51 I'm doing here, but do you have anybody who can help us with post-production and sound design and
22:55 et cetera, et cetera. And yeah, just through conversations and asking questions, you know,
23:00 with the relevant people I built up, you know, okay, this is how I do it now. You know, this
23:05 is the model, you know, go to the post house, get the sound mix done, the cinema mix and okay,
23:09 fine, fine, fine. And then now I've got that skillset, you know, so although it was frustrating
23:14 up for us at the time to have to like take on that film and produce it ourselves at the end,
23:18 you know, we had, we had to, because again, like I said to you earlier, we had to make sure that,
23:22 you know, everything touches, you know, turns to gold, to gold, sorry. But we were so happy,
23:27 the fact that we had learned something so, so new and so, so important for our journey moving
23:33 forward. So when it came to any of the other films that we're, you know, we're doing now,
23:37 we, you know, we have the confidence now to obviously approach them and produce them. So
23:40 across everything we've ever done, you know, even if I'm just the actor, I'm still a part of it,
23:45 you know, even if I'm at my name's not the producer, I don't care, you know, I don't,
23:48 I don't need the credit to be able to be a part of helping facilitate what's happening, basically,
23:53 to make sure that this is as good as it can be. Again, you know, it goes back to the core thing
23:57 I said to you earlier, like if our names attached to this man, we have to make sure that, you know,
24:02 it's credible. And it's almost like, I do feel this, this relationship with the audience, you
24:08 know, when people do recognize our work or do recognize us in the street, I have this, I feel
24:12 like I owe it to them to make sure that what they see from us is amazing. So like, you know,
24:18 whether it is Does a Shoe Fit for Foot Asylum, or, you know, in the Pink Courtroom for PLT,
24:23 or if it's a film or narrative, or whatever it is, or documentary, you know, I just want to make
24:27 sure that, you know, I love the fact that people can come to us and be like, oh, wow, everything
24:31 you guys do is at a certain level. And that is honestly, like, that's, that's the biggest
24:36 reward. And that's what we've always wanted, basically, for, you know, reputation wise.
24:40 - I can see it. I can see, I can see where you guys are, where you are, like the passion.
24:47 - Yeah.
24:48 - It's been like, that is, like to take, to take a project like The Weekend and not,
24:58 and know where you want to go, but not know how to get there.
25:02 - Yeah.
25:02 - It's only passion that can get you there.
25:04 - Oh, 100 million percent. Absolutely. I mean, I think for us, sometimes as well,
25:10 we've been through so much obstacles, and so much hardship in terms of getting projects over the
25:17 line. Like, I don't think there's anything that you could give us that we haven't been through
25:21 before, or we will be scared of because of how hard things were in the past. You know, I think
25:26 the days of doing Man on the Wall, editing Man on the Wall, back when the software isn't as new
25:32 as it is today, even back to, you know, the computers we have today isn't as fast. You know,
25:36 we spent, you know, I think weeks, like, editing up to like crazy hours in the morning, editing,
25:43 and like having to like, just keep yourself awake, like push, you don't want to sleep because
25:47 everyone else is like, so passionate on this project. Like, I don't want to be the weakest
25:52 link on this team. That was hard. That was so grueling, like not sleeping for like weeks to try
25:57 and just finish the editing stuff. So, when it comes to the stuff that we're doing now,
26:01 we're fortunate to have, you know, the post house, or the editors, and we're paying people for this,
26:06 that, the other. So, I'm not, like, yeah, just, I think Kojo said to us a long time ago, just the
26:11 stripes that we've earned, like doing what we've done, and I, you know, go back to saying that the
26:16 long route, not the short route, basically, it's given us this, this character that just, you can't
26:22 take it away from us. You can take away, you can take away the whole business from us tomorrow,
26:25 if you wanted to, you can honestly, but the information and the wisdom that we have,
26:30 that's priceless. And that's what we've always wanted, basically.
26:32 - I love this, I love this. So, as, as, as things became, like, serious for you guys, acting wise,
26:44 I'm going to talk about the business now, because, like, all this passion has now, you,
26:51 you guys now have, have a business, right? But when, when the business was growing, and you,
26:59 your acting careers, like both of you, you and Jovan, was, like, getting really serious,
27:04 how did you ensure that, like, the business still grew?
27:08 - Man, there was a time, so let's, I'm gonna go take you back to 2017. So, we just moved into an
27:16 office in Old Street, before the one, I think, this is maybe the one that you came to, the one
27:21 before, but basically, it was in Union Lads building, and they kindly offered us a space
27:26 on their, on one of the floors that they had, and moved in there, we were building the company,
27:31 we were making money through Facebook monetization to build up the Wall of Comedy,
27:34 and then we were using that money to invest back into the company, so we built up a social team,
27:39 then we started to do original productions, because we had a vision of wanting to commission
27:43 our own work, so that's where we met Young Philly, and, you know, commissioned questions,
27:47 and things like that, basically, and it was the key thing for us, I think, was the fact that me
27:52 and Jovan grew a solid team, and I think that's the, the thing I always like to focus on when I
27:59 answer this question, it's just the team, like, there was a, you know, Vashti, Jovan's cousin,
28:04 she's phenomenal, you know, a lot of people know Vashti in a lot of circles, and she just can do
28:11 everything, man, she's so versatile, she's even produced and stuff like that, basically, in the
28:14 past, there was a kid, there's a guy called Junior as well, who we got into our team, Sam, who is
28:20 our head, you know, was, he's our head of entertainment right now, in our company, that's
28:24 when we met him, and so we've been working with Sam for the last seven, eight years now, but we,
28:29 we just grew a solid team, a solid team of people who believed in the vision, believed in us,
28:34 basically, and were able to kind of hold the fort, and the big piece that me and Jovan were missing
28:38 was Taff, you know, once we met Taff, we met him through him working with Young Philly on a
28:45 campaign with Game, and Philly did something with Cadet, and, and, and those guys, we had a, like,
28:50 a brand meeting with, with Game as well, to talk about what kind of content we could do, and it's
28:54 so funny, because at the time, the lady who was in charge of marketing for Game, she, she works
28:59 for Anne Summers, and now, you know, we have that relationship with Anne Summers doing loads of
29:02 content there, and yeah, we, you know, Taff came to this meeting as well, and, you know, we spoke
29:07 to, you know, Game, and tried to see what, you know, what we could do, nothing really came from
29:11 the meeting, however, we were like, who's this guy, you know, who's this guy called Taff, man,
29:15 he's, he's like, he knows what he's talking about, you know, and if, funny enough, like, he came to
29:19 the office to drop us, like, a little gift or whatever, just to welcome us, and, you know,
29:24 kind of, like, you know, looking forward to working together, and I think him and Jovan
29:28 got into some conversations about all the comedy in the business, Taff was, you know, just, like,
29:33 out of curiosity, he just said to Jovan, you know, do you mind if I just take a look at,
29:37 you know, you just, what's happening, because I work in finance, and I could probably help you
29:41 guys, and stuff like that, and to be honest with you, you know, that's not mine, and Jovan's, like,
29:45 the strong, strong foot, it's not mine, anyway, Jovan's more, I'd say, like, more in terms of the
29:49 business side of things, but he took a look, and yeah, he saw that, you know, if we didn't change
29:53 things quick enough, basically, like, we were, you know, there was a few things that we weren't
29:57 doing correctly, you know, to kind of sustain the business, and Taff was working with us, basically,
30:03 you know, we kind of had a meeting, spoke to him, you know, he really wanted to help us,
30:08 you know, that help from, you know, just volunteering, kind of thing, turned into
30:11 something quite serious, and he became quite passionate about what we, what we was doing,
30:15 and then, yeah, by the time I got to doing Innocence on Netflix, and I was filming in Norway,
30:21 Jovan got a role in The Purge, and Jovan had to be in New York, filming that at the same time, so
30:26 we had to just, both of us be out the country, whilst we had, like, people, like I said, Vashti,
30:32 Sam, and more importantly, yeah, like, Taff, like, holding down the fort, basically, for us,
30:37 and funny enough, at this time, our Facebook page got deleted from Facebook, due to music copyright,
30:45 and there was no warning, no kind of, you know, hey, guys, like, delete this content, otherwise,
30:51 it's, you know, you know how it works, and stuff, you know, you get, so overnight, we just got an
30:55 email to delete our page of 8 million followers, and that was the way that we were generating
31:00 income, so whilst I was in Innocence, and Jovan was, yeah, doing The Purge, we both basically,
31:06 yeah, we both had to close the company overnight, and we had to, like, you know, I had a list of
31:14 people I had to contact that worked for us, and so did Jovan, we made all the phone calls,
31:19 and had to let everyone go, basically, saying that, you know, their jobs are redundant, because
31:24 we no longer have a business, basically, now, that's probably one of the hardest
31:28 moments of our business life, this was 20, actually, 2018 now, and myself and Jovan,
31:35 then started to work on Shower of Story, at the same time, and this is where it was so mad for us,
31:40 because Shower of Story was blowing up, like, crazy, and then, at the same time, our baby that
31:46 we had been working on for the last six, seven years, was suffering, you know, we didn't know
31:50 what to do with all the comedy, and so, between myself, Taff, and Jovan, we then decided that it
31:57 was probably the right opportunity to maybe look at going into production, because we did so well
32:03 with Shower of Story, and it, you know, did well for Raps's career, and everything else, we were
32:07 like, we want to do more of this, we don't just want to do comedy anymore, we want to do more
32:11 stuff, and also, this is the very early days of Foot Asylum, as well, where we started to work
32:15 with those guys, and collaborate, and so, yeah, we made a choice to basically change, well, and
32:23 evolve, but basically open up Wall of Productions, and then, that, you know, subsequently, is now,
32:27 you know, we're the Wall of Entertainment, because we want to service multiple things, Wall of Talent,
32:32 you know, Wall of Comedy, Wall of Productions, it all sits underneath Wall of Ent, and then, yeah,
32:36 we just, we had to hustle, you know, we worked, and, you know, the main relationship that really
32:42 kicked things off was Foot Asylum, you know, we went from just creating one, you know, random video
32:48 with those guys, and eventually built up a relationship where it was ongoing, to become
32:53 more sustainable, that turned into like a retainer for the year, and that was the first, like, wow,
32:58 it's the first big contract that we can build off the back of this, basically, and then, yeah,
33:03 where we had no team, and, you know, no one working for us, it was just the three of us again,
33:07 we then slowly started to build up again, and, you know, we were like four people in the start of
33:12 2019, in an office in Old Street, on the roundabout, I think, yeah, that's, I'm not sure if that's the
33:16 one you went to, and then, yeah, that team grew, and grew up until the end of, yeah, 2019, we had
33:23 probably about, like, 10 to 12 people working for us, basically, so, yeah, man, we grew quite quickly,
33:28 working with different brands and stuff, and trying to, trying to re, yeah, redesign everything,
33:34 and then the pandemic hit, so, yeah, again, we had to go through another storm of just
33:40 holding onto the ship, and holding onto, you know, the company, and the business again,
33:44 in terms of our relationships, and we found a way to make the branded content work still,
33:49 where we were shooting, you know, basically, selling the kit to the talent, and directing
33:54 them over Zoom, basically, recording what we needed for the brand, and they were still able
34:00 to upload content, but it was just, you know, it was just locked down content, basically,
34:04 and in fact, that was probably, you know, the peak moment for social media, because, of course,
34:08 TikTok, you know, blew up in that time, and people were watching content, you know, more so than
34:13 ever, isn't it? So, I think it really helped, because, of course, of, yeah, people just watching
34:18 social, so, yeah, sorry, bro, yeah, to cut to the future, where we are today, yeah, we survived
34:23 the pandemic, and then from 2021, you know, that was like, okay, cool, let's, you know, slowly get
34:28 back up onto our feet, 2022 was a really good year for us, and then, yeah, '23, I think, yeah,
34:34 each year, it's just been, you know, year on year growth, which is what you can ask for,
34:37 for, as a business owner, and more importantly, I think, Taff, when we first set up, you know,
34:42 all the productions, he said, you know, most small businesses die within the first five years,
34:46 basically, and so, I think a big thing for us was like, hey, we're not dying, I'm looking at that
34:51 five-year mark, and we're going to get there, and yeah, funny enough, I think next year would be
34:57 the first, would be the fifth year, basically, that, you know, we've been alive with all the
35:01 productions, and all of entertainment for, of course, all the comedy's been there since, you
35:05 know, 2015, but just to where we are now, and our positioning, and also, just in terms of, like,
35:11 everything we believed in, you know, what we're doing now, in terms of the content we're producing
35:15 for brands, this is stuff that me and Jovan, and all of us were talking about back in 2017,
35:20 we saw this, we told brands, we said, you know, if you can get, I don't know, we told labels,
35:26 we went to every label in, what is it, Kensington, just talking about the fact that if you put your
35:32 artists and your talent in our shows, this is how we keep them relevant, because it's not just an
35:36 album that they need to find relevancy with their audience, this is where we can keep them hot
35:40 throughout the whole year, because we knew, through the memes and stuff that we're uploading, they're
35:45 getting millions of views every day, so if there's a meme, or there's a show that we can kind of,
35:49 obviously, cut down in terms of snippets and release, then, you know, again, this is the new
35:53 style of Billboard, so we understand how they couldn't see this stuff, basically, so,
35:59 yeah, we were pitching back in 2017, 2018, and I guess, yeah, like I said, Footasylum were the
36:03 first brand to kind of take that plunge and take that risk, and it's obviously paid dividends for
36:07 them, because now they're on two million subs, and, you know, they've opened up more stores
36:12 across London, which is what their plan was originally, before working with us, yeah, so
36:16 the content has made them what we wanted to do, which has made them cool, popular culture,
36:21 basically, you know, and even now, kids don't even, like, think about them just as a fashion
36:25 store, like, they're an entertainment hub, you know what I'm trying to say, that they're a Netflix
36:29 for young people, you know, just on YouTube, because it's content that they deliver that
36:33 Netflix isn't serving, or BBC's not serving, but, you know, of course, you know, today, now,
36:39 you know, we're working with other brands, such as, you know, PLT, Boohoo Man, JBL,
36:44 Channel 4.0 is a big relationship that we have right now, working with those guys, they're
36:50 amazing, they get it, and, yeah, you know, I'm so proud, like, we've been working with those guys
36:56 for, I'd say, two years, last year was, like, the first, like, where we, like, you know, churning
37:00 content and stuff, obviously working with, like, Harry Pinero and Secret Sauce with Chunks and
37:05 Worse In Class and stuff like that, basically, but, yeah, Channel 4.0 is sitting on 200k subs now, so
37:11 again, it's just evidence of how, you know, building up the clients' channels and becoming
37:17 entertainment hubs can really help them and make their audience engaged all year out, all year
37:22 through. - We're all really proud of what you guys are doing, man, because, yeah, it's professional,
37:32 it's, you guys are hardworking, and, yeah, I just love it, I love it,
37:40 from a business angle, everything is amazing, it's amazing. What I wanted to know, right, is,
37:48 given your hard work, your humble learning attitude and your grit, right, when you get, like, a role,
37:55 acting-wise, how do you prepare for it? And I ask that because you don't play around, like,
38:00 from what we see on screen, so I'm sure so many people, they want to know, like, all right,
38:05 give Purcell a role, then what's he doing? What's he doing? - Yeah, it's such a good question,
38:14 it's so, it's kind of hard to, like, answer in a very linear way, but, you know, with, yeah,
38:20 with every, I think, with the bigger projects, and it was so nice, when I came by Netflix,
38:24 it was nice to work with George, George McKay, because he's such a seasoned actor, he's been
38:29 working since he was young, he's worked in films that I admire, you know, 1917 was something I
38:34 watched and I was blown away, I was blown away by it, just, I could see how hard that performance
38:40 was, that is gruelling, you know, the style of the film, if you haven't seen it already,
38:45 it's almost, it's almost one take, basically, of course, there's cut points and stuff, and
38:50 there are moments where they probably had breaks and stuff, but when I watched the behind the
38:54 scenes, they rehearsed probably about a couple of months before they actually started shooting,
38:58 so everything had to be on a particular timing, so as they're holding the steadicam, you know,
39:04 they're passing the camera to the next camera op, basically, to continue the shot, that's when I was
39:09 like, wow, this is like mastery in terms of craft, because it's not, it's much, as we know of acting,
39:16 it's not just about saying some lines, you know, there's so many other variables that you've got
39:19 to take into consideration, such as like, just hitting your mark, you know, working with the
39:23 focus puller to not move too quickly, maybe, or it might be, I don't know, the DLP needs to light
39:28 you in a certain way, but it's awkward, because you want to, you want to walk over here and walk
39:33 there, but you have to find compromises, basically, so on a shoot of 1917, that was so particular,
39:38 it was so nice for me to speak to George, and when we worked together, I asked him a bunch of
39:42 questions, and in fact, the one thing I've always was so intrigued about was almost like, what's on
39:47 the other side, like actors who are performing at that level, like what do they do in their process,
39:52 and after speaking to George, I realised like, I was doing the process that, you know, I thought,
39:57 I thought was sort of like, oh, what is that holy grail, what is the process that I'm not doing right
40:03 now, and in fact, all these years, I have been doing it, basically, I just needed to trust my
40:07 instinct that I was doing it the way that, you know, I guess, the way that I'm supposed to,
40:12 there's not really a right or wrong way in terms of process anyway, it's your way, and that's one
40:16 thing I say to actors all the time, we're all different, like, you know, the truth of me is
40:20 like, I suffer as well with anxiety, definitely, with anxiety issues, like, it's such a weird one
40:26 to describe, but it's like, my anxiety comes through when I'm uncomfortable, and also, I don't
40:32 know what I'm doing, when I don't know the script enough, or the character enough, or whatever's
40:38 happening on the day, I start to lose confidence in myself, I start to doubt and question things,
40:44 and second-guess things, my instinct slowly starts to go away, so it's very good for me to know what
40:51 it is I'm doing, so, you know, like, I study as much as I can in terms of like, my character in
40:56 the script, don't get me wrong, I'm not, I wouldn't say I'm probably, I know there's other actors who
41:01 probably even do more work than me when it comes to script work, you know, I think I take it as far
41:06 as I feel I'm supposed to, then I allow the natural instinct to kick in, basically, as long as I know
41:13 why I'm saying it, where I'm going for my character, what my motives are, and all of this,
41:16 you know, and what we're trying to get from these scenes, and then, and also just the film in
41:20 general, then I just allow myself to play, I think playing is such a beautiful, such an important
41:27 part of acting, because I think when I was younger, I used to beat myself up about performances, like,
41:33 if I didn't say my line, like, if I, I don't know, missed a line, or whatever it was, like,
41:37 constantly just beating myself up because of that kind of perfectionism that I spoke about earlier,
41:42 and where I had to change things was, I knew it wasn't sustainable for me to continue this way,
41:46 and so going to therapy, and working on myself, and stuff, and just enjoying, just, just being
41:51 present with life, I slowly started to remember, like, as much as I love acting, it's not the
41:56 be-all and end-all, it's not, it doesn't make persona of Asgore, you know, there's, there's,
42:01 there's other parts of myself that make persona of Asgore, so I don't need to be so harsh on
42:04 myself if I don't get something right, even if I do a role, and it doesn't come out the way I
42:08 want it to, or performance-wise, or, I don't know, a critic was to say something mad about me, it's
42:11 fine, it's okay, you know, I tried, and that's, that's the biggest thing I take with me with
42:15 every character, and every project, is that as long as you try, P, and you gave it your all,
42:19 then that's what matters, basically, and yeah, it's just that thing where, when I am doing certain
42:23 scenes, I'm always just searching just for the truth, honestly, constantly, you know, like, I
42:29 don't mind a director telling me, I just want, you know, like, I, I get frustrated when directors are
42:35 trying to sort of, like, maybe, you know, protect my feelings, maybe, you know what I mean, like,
42:39 not to say I'll be completely harsh, but just, just let me know where I'm missing it, you know,
42:43 because I'm a very, I feel like, as I'm processing the information, I'm feeling the emotion,
42:49 basically, so when you're telling me where the, what you, how you want this, the character to
42:53 feel, maybe, or what you want from me in a certain scene, I'm processing, I'm actually taking that in,
42:58 like, in, like, physically, physically, basically, I think that's the way I learn,
43:02 and yeah, when it comes to certain big scenes as well, like, that's my, that's where I go into a
43:08 certain zone, basically, that's like, you know, Percy time, because basically, like, it might be,
43:13 again, situations in the past where I've had to deal with pressure in performing, you know, with
43:18 no money or no budget, man, I'm on a wall, we have to do things in one take, maybe, whatever it is,
43:21 going back to the short films, and like I mentioned, you know, we don't have much time to get
43:27 certain things done, we have this window of opportunity, so I've almost conditioned myself,
43:31 and I'm almost programmed now, where I enjoy and thrive when, you know, I say we're under pressure,
43:38 like, the, you know, second AD's like, oh, sorry, the first AD's like, look, we've got 30 minutes
43:41 to get this scene done, that, that's where I come alive, and, and more so the fact that
43:46 I'm, I'm going through the, the beats in my head, I'm processing, like, I'm, even as they're setting
43:52 up, I'm, I'm already where I'm supposed to be, if that makes sense, like, I don't wait, oh, until I
43:59 get on to, in my trip, like, from the moment I get to my trailer to, like, as I'm going make up,
44:03 when I come back to my trailer, like, I've got all of my little things that I do, that I'm preparing
44:08 for, and it's almost like a button that I'm, I'm slowly about to push, it's almost like, even as
44:13 I'm doing something, say, emotional, I'm almost, like, turning the temperature up slowly, basically,
44:18 do you know what I'm trying to say? So, even as we're getting closer and closer, and probably
44:21 sometimes even the crew show, I give the crew, like, because the crew, for me, are such a,
44:26 an important part of, like, the, the piece, like, the, the, the kind of ensemble, because
44:31 they film every day with different, different projects and stuff, they've seen this stuff all
44:34 the time, so where I can do something, can I feel like the crew are engaged, that's why I'm like,
44:39 okay, cool, I've got them, because they're very, like, not to say they're desensitized,
44:43 but whatever it is, but just, I get it, you know, you're, you're back to back with work,
44:47 isn't it? So, I use the crew rehearsal sometimes to kind of, like, again, like, play an experiment,
44:52 and then, yeah, like, you know, just go, you know, work on it, talk to the director,
44:56 I think about, you know, talk to them about the shots and stuff, and the style of how they're
45:00 going to get something in, then, of course, when it comes to the wide, and, you know,
45:04 then I'm playing, then I'm really, like, you know, pushing, you know, where I can and stuff
45:08 like that, and then, of course, there's that little bit of, you know, maybe I might just
45:11 reserve just a little bit in the tank, just for the close-ups and things like that, basically,
45:14 just, just so I can push it to where I need to get to, because, of course, I've done it in the past
45:18 where, you know, you completely exhaust yourself, and you're tired, and, or it could be a thing
45:22 where, I don't know, this is the small things that people don't think about when it comes to acting,
45:26 like, you know, we might break for lunch in the middle of a scene, you know, so I've got to have
45:30 my lunch, come back to that emotional resonance that I once had, and tap into it, and get there
45:36 again, you know what I'm trying to say, in terms of where, wherever I was, so all of these things,
45:41 I'm thinking about, they're so, they're so minuscule to me, or to other people, sorry,
45:45 but they're very, very important to me, like, as part of my process to, like, getting somewhere
45:49 with something, basically, so, yeah, it doesn't matter, like I said to you, like, it doesn't
45:54 matter if it's a short film, or if it's a, you know, someone's paying me £100, or if it's for
45:58 free, like, it's, for me, it's, it's just an exciting challenge to, to see how I can get to
46:04 that place again, and maybe there might be something different I want to try, you know,
46:08 maybe there might be something different I want to change, you know what I'm trying to say, like,
46:10 it's just, I just want to just constantly, you know, keep learning, like I said earlier, like,
46:16 yeah, man, it's this, this thing I've always said to people when I was younger, like, I've always
46:20 looked at learning like a fruit, right, and if, when a fruit ripens, the next part of the process
46:26 that it rots, right, and that's why I look at myself as a fruit, I don't like to say that I've
46:31 ripe, I'm, you know, ripe, or I don't think I've made it, or I am the best, you know, in terms of,
46:37 like, I've hit that level in my craft, like, if I can constantly tell myself, there's areas that I
46:42 can keep improving, I feel like I can keep on getting better and better and better over time,
46:46 basically, you know, so that's the way, like, I like to see it as, man, you know.
46:50 Oh, man, the fruit, the fruit, oh, man, I love that, I love that, I'm gonna take that,
46:58 I'd use it, I love it, thank you. Two last questions, because of your time, is, like,
47:08 what advice would you give to a hungry actor who's where you were 10 years ago,
47:16 and wants to create their own work, but it's like today's climate?
47:21 Yeah, of course, man, of course, yeah, I love that question. I think the biggest thing that we always
47:25 say to people is, if you're trying to create your own work, especially create your own work, is to
47:31 network across, you know, network across, don't network above in terms of, like, look around you,
47:37 like, I think when we were doing Man of Manowar, we were only using and working with people
47:42 who also were on the come up, who also needed the opportunity and the experience, basically,
47:48 to further build on their skill sets. People like Ricardo, who's a DOP, you know, he's an amazing
47:53 DOP, Freddie, who's directing, you know, Man of Manowar, Isla, who did the Corner Shop as well,
47:59 on YouTube, like, all of these guys, like, they were also in the same space as us. And so it was
48:03 easier for us to come together and work on a certain project. And I think, even in today's
48:08 climate, there's so much more opportunity of just the fact of exposure of, you know, engagement with
48:14 the audience and accessibility, because, like, when we were doing stuff, we didn't have Instagram,
48:18 we didn't have TikTok, you know, we had YouTube. And even as a platform, like YouTube, unless you're
48:24 a fan of something, you know, you're going on to YouTube specifically to watch, I'm typing in the
48:28 person that I like with TikTok, you're seeing people that you don't even know, you didn't even
48:32 know about yesterday, but they just pop up in your timeline. The same thing, a little bit of Instagram
48:36 as well, that can happen in the same kind of way. So it's easier, or even just that share button,
48:40 like that little, like, envelope thing that you can send straight to someone on WhatsApp, or send
48:45 straight to someone on TikTok, you know, this uses the advantage, like, even now I've realized that
48:52 the psychology of the social media app, sometimes we just like sharing something that's funny,
48:56 just to like, just to make that person that we love smile. You know what I'm trying to say? Like,
49:01 sometimes I look at some memes, I'm just, I just want to share this to my girlfriend and be like,
49:04 hey, like, you know, I just want to, I just want to see the laughing emojis from her. But, but this
49:08 is what I'm saying, like, it's like, if you see something funny in terms of content, and you're
49:12 an actor, and you're making sketches, say with your friends, wherever it is, people want to find
49:17 the new thing, and they want to share that thing, that experience with someone else, basically.
49:21 So there's so much opportunity there. But yeah, going back to like, the kind of process, I'd say
49:26 is like, yeah, definitely network across. If you're trying to like get an agent, maybe, I would say,
49:32 look at creating your own work, basically, you know, like, even me, even regardless of what I've
49:36 done, like, I'm still in a position where I feel like there's, there's more people that I can show
49:43 in terms of like casting directors, or producers, directors that I've got the range or the versatility
49:47 for other projects. So, you know, I'm talking to my guys right now, you know, Ricardo being one of
49:53 those guys, like we're talking about setting up a shoot, a shoot day, I've written some scripts,
49:58 let's just shoot some scenes, let's just release it on socials. Let's just see what happens. You
50:02 never know what could happen. Someone might look at it, watch it. Oh, there's something here, like,
50:06 we'd love to talk to you guys more about the evolution of this, it could, it could birth into
50:09 a short film or a feature, you just never know. Or it could just gain a new fan, someone else who's
50:14 a casting director that might watch that scene of that I did and be like, oh, actually, I've seen
50:19 this thing that Percy did. And like, even that sometimes, honestly, like I've got roles where
50:24 I know it's out of sight, out of mind. Like, I know I've done something online and just whatever's
50:29 happening. And it happens to me. Sometimes I'm, when I'm casting something, all I could think
50:34 about is the actors that I've seen on my social media, you know, whether they've done some type
50:38 of work or they've posted some kind of picture, whatever it is, but they just, they happen to be
50:43 in my kind of like, my peripheral, you know, of what I'm thinking about project. Cause you know
50:48 how it goes as a producer, you know, you're working on something, time, I've got to quickly
50:53 find someone and also find someone that I trust. And that's the thing about creating your own work
50:57 is like, you know, sometimes the biggest thing is, is just potential. People don't know, obviously,
51:03 what your potential is. And that could be due to wherever the case may be. And also sometimes it's
51:08 maybe it's not even on them to see that potential. Maybe it's on us to show them what our potential
51:13 is. And that's what I mean by creating your own work and put it online is someone can watch
51:17 something can be like, Oh yeah, like I can see that you have this, this type of range. So yeah,
51:21 going back to, you know, if you don't have an agent, maybe create some stuff like Sebastian's
51:25 got, you know, upshot reels. I keep telling every actor that I meet that talks to me about wanting
51:29 to become an actor or wants some advice, go and book a shoot with him right second, right now,
51:34 right this second, because that he's got the, he's got such an amazing platform. He can shoot
51:38 the thing for you, make it look to a high premium quality. And that that's your show rule. You know,
51:44 I'm trying to say like, that can be the thing that you can send to an agent that can make them,
51:48 they can see your performance and go, Oh, so maybe you didn't get the big role in Casualty or
51:52 in Netflix. And you don't, you haven't shown that you can be a lead in something, but you have the
51:57 opportunity to create that scene or shoot that scene basically, and send it to them. And so they
52:01 can, they can see you, you know, in that role and what you can do basically. And lastly, I'll just
52:06 say is just to keep on honing on your craft. I think, you know, even my favorite actors and people
52:11 that like inspire me every single day, I see that they just don't stop working. They just don't stop
52:18 like perfecting what they do, and they get better and better and better. And, and also collaboration.
52:24 Like I think I've learned the most because I've worked with so many different types of people,
52:28 whether it be directors, whether it be producers or other actors, like, and writers too. Like,
52:33 I just, I pick up so much information from so many people, you know, one person that I know
52:38 you're working with, who I absolutely adore. And I'm inspired by Sheila Nautley. Like, she's just,
52:43 like, Sheila is like, I can't describe Sheila in words, bro. Like, she's just,
52:51 she's so, she's so amazing. She's so amazing. But that's what I'm saying. When I met Sheila,
52:56 I was like, wow, like I've met, I've met someone, you know, who is yeah, on a higher plane. I can't
53:02 even like, she's on a higher plane and it was nice. It was so refreshing. And it was, she taught me so
53:06 much through our conversations, just through us hanging out and chilling together. Like, I just,
53:11 there's so many things that she taught me about, you know, one thing that she,
53:15 she told me a quote was like, cinema is, is, it's an empathy machine. And I've taken that quote with
53:21 me everywhere. It just, it hits. And I've always struggled to communicate why I love this thing so
53:26 much. And it's that it has the ability to transform people and change people. So just hanging out with
53:31 different types of collaborators and stuff is going to help you also, I think, doesn't matter
53:35 if you're in different fields, it will just help you nourish you in another field as well. And I
53:39 think that will help you. - Thank you. Thank you, Purcell. You have poured out, man.
53:50 You, na na na, today you've poured out. Thank you. God bless you, man. That was, guys, listen,
53:59 listen, I don't know what else you want. Yeah. You've got someone really top tier here in,
54:07 in so many fields and understand so many different crafts, but also how they interlink.
54:15 And he's really just poured out from his heart in terms of, look, this is how I'm doing it.
54:21 This is, I'm passionate. I continue learning. I'm never going to get there, but I'm not going
54:27 to beat myself up about that. Like, I don't know what you want. Thank you, Purcell. Thank you.
54:34 - No, thank you. I just want to, I just want to give you your flowers right now, bro. I just
54:39 want to say thank you for setting up this platform for us to have an opportunity to speak and,
54:44 and to give our voice, lend our voice to people who need it. And just for even us, this, this
54:49 helps like, you know, looking at your platform, listening to other actors also speak, other
54:54 directors that I'm also fans of, and just, you know, you creating a network for all of us to be
54:59 together in, it's amazing. And I just want to thank you for the opportunity to speak today and
55:05 give the flowers as well to my family. You know, they've supported me through freaking thin to get
55:10 me this far. Everyone from my business partners, Taff and Javan, to everyone in our team, all of
55:15 entertainment. We've had so many people help us throughout our journey. It's been, it's been a
55:22 village to raise us, you know, and, you know, lastly to my, to my partner as well, you know,
55:27 it's amazing to be with someone who is also a big fan of, you know, of what I do and is so supportive.
55:33 And sometimes in the dark days, it's hard to see, you know, that what we're doing is making sense.
55:39 So, yeah, you know, and especially for our mental health is it's so hard, it's so hard as actors and
55:44 artists to kind of keep on pushing sometimes, but, you know, just hold on to your people,
55:50 hold on to your people who love you and who, who shower you with love and hold you up there.
55:55 Basically, that's what I would say to every single person, like everyone, even just one of my,
56:00 obviously my main collaborators, Javan. I always say this, I'm going to say it to everyone, you
56:05 know, that is watching this, like my friendship with him is the reason why, you know, we've built
56:10 everything we built because we've been loyal, we've been honest, we've communicated and, you know,
56:16 we've just been through things together through thick and thin, you know, the hard days as well.
56:21 And sometimes if you're going through something hard, it will get better. It will definitely get
56:26 better. Trust me, just hold on. Don't give up. If you give up, that's when you allow those things
56:31 and those things to kind of, to win basically. And just don't do that. You have so much to show,
56:37 you know, it's just a matter of time, a matter of, a matter of time. I can't describe to you
56:42 moments where before I came by, I was 18 months unemployed, you know, I got a role. They told me
56:49 to cut my hair for, you know, my dreadlocks two weeks before filming. It was just a horrible
56:54 moment, you know, process wise. And then till I met Babak, the director of I Came By on Netflix
57:00 and, you know, before my final audition, he just said to me, by the way, I love your hair. It just
57:05 hit me. It was like the 360 moment I needed of like reassurance that I made the right choice.
57:10 And sometimes we don't know if we're making the right choice, but believe me, your gut will tell
57:15 you and just to keep, keep honoring your gut, keep trusting that gut. And yeah, you know, I just
57:21 can't wait to see what people, you know, do in the UK, man. Let's elevate, let's build this scene,
57:26 man. Let's do and create some magic. So yeah, anyone that wants to work with us, I can't wait
57:30 to work with you. - You just, do you see that last, those last few minutes, just the honesty
57:39 and the vulnerability. Wow. That's a whole nother conversation in itself, but thank you. Thank you
57:48 for doing that because that, that's the side that a lot of people don't talk about. And
57:55 struggle with individually on their own. So like, it's amazing for the wider context of like having
58:03 a girlfriend, having a business partner, having friends and, ah, so yeah, I'm going to start
58:13 talking, but yeah, no, thank you, Purcell. That was amazing. - Thank you, P. - A true gent.
58:18 A true gem.