Voices of Inspiration

The Art of Perseverance: PJ Barnes' Inspiring Story

• PJ Barnes • Season 1 • Episode 9

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0:00 | 42:24

PJ Barnes' journey is a powerful reminder that perseverance isn’t just a mindset—it’s a lifestyle. From early days of creativity and storytelling to building a production company and navigating the realities of the entertainment industry, PJ has consistently found ways to create his own opportunities rather than wait for them. His passion for storytelling, teaching, and uplifting others shines through every chapter of his path.

We talk about the highs and lows of pursuing a creative career, what it really takes to keep going when things don’t go as planned, and how one life-changing accident shifted his perspective without stopping his momentum. PJ opens up about resilience, community, and the importance of continuing to create—even in the hardest seasons. His story is honest, motivating, and a true testament to staying the course no matter what. 

Episode Highlights

[00:00:38] – I introduce PJ and share how our paths crossed through family and the acting community

[00:05:19] – PJ reflects on discovering his love for acting through creativity, storytelling, and performance at a young age

[00:09:04] – How high school and college shaped his passion for film, editing, and producing his own work

[00:10:20] – The journey to Los Angeles, using gift cards for gas, and learning the realities of the industry

[00:14:33] – PJ shares the challenges of acting and why he chose to create his own opportunities through production

[00:18:48] – Transitioning into directing and the realities of bringing a script to life

[00:23:20] – The life-changing car accident and the difficult days that followed

[00:29:07] – The outpouring of support from the community and how it impacted his recovery

[00:30:16] – Choosing to keep creating during recovery and finding purpose through storytelling

[00:31:41] – His latest film All We Got and the process of writing, filming, and producing during the pandemic

[00:39:36] – PJ shares his philosophy on perseverance and why it’s the key to success

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Website: https://AmeliaOld.com

If this conversation inspired you, share it with someone who needs a reminder to keep going. Don’t forget to follow, rate, and leave a review—it helps more people discover these stories and stay encouraged along the way.

SPEAKER_01

Everyone has a story to tell. We connect and relate to one another when we share our stories. My name is Amelia Old, and I'm your host of Voices of Inspiration. Join me as I share stories of friends, family, and strangers through my everyday life and travels. Who will laugh, possibly cry, but walk away feeling connected more than ever to those around you and ready to be the change our world needs. Everyone has a story to tell. What's yours?

SPEAKER_02

Welcome to Voices of Inspiration. I'm your host, Amelia Old. Thank you for joining me today. If you are new here, I share stories of people in my everyday life and those I meet along the way. I think we all have a story to tell, and it's my desire to give as many people as I can that platform so that we can connect and inspire each other on a deeper level. New York-born PJ Barnes was raised in Charlotte, North Carolina, from the age of 10 on. Always passionate about the arts, PJ found himself attached to theater and joined his first troupe in the eighth grade. High school and college brought musicals and film closer to the forefront of performing. In 2009, PJ and best friend Keith Wellbourne started their production company Screw Up TV. Twelve years later, the duo have completed multiple short films, features, sketches, and web series. PJ has enjoyed a profession of teaching, acting, film, and hip hop over the past decade, and he never misses a chance to help support a fellow artist whenever he can. Thank you for joining me, PJ.

SPEAKER_00

Thank you for having me, Amelia.

SPEAKER_02

It's such a small world, and I always like to talk about the connections that I have with my guest. And I met your mom over 10 years ago in the beauty and fashion industry. And it wasn't until my daughter started taking acting lessons three years ago, acting out studio, uh, that I met you.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah. It's crazy. Yeah, no. I mean, my mom has like I I we got out here in '98. My mom has has always been around. In fact, I was always like Sonia's son growing up. And so, yeah, she's big in the fast industry and and image consulting and whatnot. It is a small world. So I was like, Yeah, that's crazy how that worked out.

SPEAKER_02

I remember seeing your photo on her Facebook page, and this was right after I'd kind of seen you around the acting studio, and I messaged her and I said, Is PJ a family member of yours? I didn't say son because I was like, There's no way she has an adult son. I said, There's no no way, no way. And she was like, Yeah, that's my son. And I said, That is so crazy.

SPEAKER_00

Yes, ma'am. That is me, Madre. Me uh one of my biggest inspirations in life.

SPEAKER_02

So I have never told you this. Uh, but one day I was sitting outside of your classroom when my daughter Harlow had should not have been taking lessons for very long. And I was sitting outside of your class waiting on her to be done. And the these girls in this class are giving you a rough time that day. I mean, and I'm taught acting as well, and I know how it is. Somebody's got to go to the restroom, someone needs water, but they all need to go together in a group. And you know, they were like 11, 12 years old or around that age. And I heard one of them say, You know what, PJ? You work for me. And I remember sitting there and I'm like, this man is clearly a saint because your reaction was so calm and patient. But yeah, funny. And I don't even remember what you said back to her, but I just remember saying to myself, hopefully they're working on a script. And she didn't really just say that to me.

SPEAKER_00

Right. Um I mean, in all my years of teaching, one thing I I I realized is kids will kids are unfiltered. They don't know like when to turn it on and turn it off. I've got a lot of patience, and that's why like I I've always been in good with kids growing up. I have a lot of little cousins and younger cousins, which I think prepped me for uh teaching. Like right when I got in college, I think my sophomore year in college, I was doing like tour college tours for schools and whatnot, and then teaching dance. So I've gotten used to I've heard it all. I've heard it all. I've dealt with dance kids and dance moms and all that. I've I've dealt with everything.

SPEAKER_02

So and that prepared you for fatherhood, too.

SPEAKER_00

Yes. Oh my goodness. Yeah, yeah. This I all the tools I need, all those sometimes I'm like, okay, all right. Wow, this is 24-7. All right.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, it never stops.

SPEAKER_00

Never stops, but yes, man.

SPEAKER_02

So let's talk about your acting career. Like many of us, you have had experience in the industry for a really long time. You live it and you breathe it. And I think I even said to you the other day that even if you want to leave this industry, you're always roped back in every time. I know I've been in and out of the industry for 20 years, and I thought I was finally done. And then when my daughter was three, she said, Mommy, I want to be an actress. And that little dream of hers never went away. And, you know, now she's 11 and wants to be a director too. You started out at an early age like that. What was the moment that you realized, you know what? I really have a passion for acting.

SPEAKER_00

I mean, at growing up as kids, we didn't have i iPhones and so we'd go outside and play games and Power Rangers and just pretend. We used to just call it make believe. I don't know how many kids do that anymore. But so I think just when I found out that there was an excuse to keep doing that, I think sixth grade, I was taking oh it was like a drama slash English class. And then they had one big uh project at the end of the year where you could do a book rapport, something something like four other options. And one of them was like, make a video where you interview the character. Yeah, I had Jesse James, Jesse James, and then I ended up doing an interview style video with my brother. I put my brother on and we made a video where I was Jesse James, and he interviewed me. And I was like, Why would I write sit and write a book report when I can just perform? This is way easier and way cooler. And I think when I got to class and slowly realized, oh, I'm the only one who chose this option. This is super nerve-wracking. But then when we showed it and people were laughing and entertained, I was like, This is really cool. And I think it just kind of went on from that in middle school. I went to South Charlotte middle school out here, and they would they would sometimes have these dare or drug awareness performances, and I would just always think it was really cool watching people on stage performing and whatnot. And we had a theater troupe uh called the shocking players. And I remember in seventh grade, I was really wanted to be on it. I had a few other friends who said they were gonna be on it. We all auditioned, and I think me and another friend got in, but she decided to do yearbooks or so. I was like, it was my first time going into like, okay, I don't know anybody going in, you know, and I fell in love. So it was eighth grade. I was in a troupe. That's also where I started putting my writing to use. I've been writing since like the third grade. I I used to read Goosebumps books and whatnot, and RL Stein.

SPEAKER_03

And oh, I remember those.

SPEAKER_00

Absolutely, yeah. And so I would read them and then write my own stories kind of based off of those. And then so in middle school, I was doing uh like I was writing little mini plays for the other shotgun players to go ahead and and perform. And at the end of the year, there was this performance at Blumenthal called Into the Arts, which was a spoof off of Into the Woods. And my drama teacher asked me to apparently one of the students and the performance aspect had dropped out, and they asked me to be a part of it. And at the time I was intimidated because I was the only middle schooler there. There's a whole bunch of the high school actors, and then I got to perform, and it was in bell call. My first time performing at bell call, it was I didn't realize how big it was because it was a whole bunch of schools and marching bands, so there was it was full because I mean parent support. I just remember walking on stage. I played, I played dreadly locks, it was a spoof on Rumpel Steelskin, like rapple steel skin and whatnot. But so then I went out there and I told my first joke, and I just remember the feeling of people laughing. I was like, This, oh wow, this is cool. And transferred from middle school onto onto a bigger stage, and I think from there, I just knew I wanted to stay in in theater, and so I or in performance. So through high school, I did theater all throughout high school. I went to South Mech, my freshman year in Providence the last three years, and then I went out to and that's kind of when in high school is kind of when I found out, like figured my love for film more so because I was like my my last my senior year uh in high school, we had like an A-day and a B day, and like my B day started. I took TV productions first, where I did like the morning announcements, then it was my theater class, then it was lunch, then I had English, and then I had film.

SPEAKER_02

And so like I had a high school uh schedule like that.

SPEAKER_00

Oh no, I was loving it. It was awesome. Like so like no math, no, like I had math on my A days, but I I've always tried to avoid math. But no, that's that's when I I learned how to start editing in in high school and and just like in junior year, I remember looking at looking at the seniors do their projects and just kind of just really just soaking in kind of like what they were learning. And so by the time I got to be a senior, I was just trying to start producing my uh own things. And high school is where I met my best friend Keith, and we would go uh we would every day after school, uh like we we would walk to work. All of our friends worked at Arboretum, so which is like a walk from Providence. And so I worked at Game Stop here, worked at the movie theater, the other friend worked at Harris Theater. But like when whenever we get off, we'd shoot little videos around the Arboretum, and we'd go to my house and shoot videos at home. And it's just it's always been just a creative thing, and I've just never straight away, you know. And so going into college, I've did the same thing theater and and then and then into film.

SPEAKER_02

And then you you later on went to LA in your 20s, and I heard one interview that you did, and you talked about using gift cards all the way to LA. And I love that because you had this dream that you were gonna get there. Uh, can you talk about that?

SPEAKER_00

No, no, that's uh that's funny. One of the benefits of like of teaching students is like during like holidays, you get gifts from parents, you get like gift cards, and well, oh man, I I feel appreciated. Thank you guys. So, like it was 2013, I believe, early 2013, being my best friend. I I I we had finished college in 2010, spent like an extra year in Wilmington, moved back to Charlotte for a few years. I was teaching at onstage performing arts and just running their shows for a while, and we were making short films. Uh, we had started screw up TV and and we were making some short films and decided, hey, let's let's try to go to LA and see what's gonna happen. I mean, obviously, going back on the planned it way better. We would have had way more money saved up. We had whatever money we had. I got a bunch of gift cards from the parents, and I was like, this is our gas money, this is our gas money the whole way there, and we drove non-stop to LA and didn't spend any money because they yeah, as you said, the gift cards were able to suffice us all three days or two and a half days. We left on a Wednesday and got there on a Friday. We reached it, we had like a snowstorm in the desert. It was a crazy, crazy trip.

SPEAKER_02

I was gonna say, I've made that drive. It is not a short drive.

SPEAKER_00

Not at all. No, like it was bad. I mean, we I don't plan on doing it ever again. I I said that going out there, and then when I ended up moving back, we did it again. But but no, it's it's definitely a grueling trip, which I think uh kind of set the stage for like what what the first few few years in LA would be like, which is just it's it's a it's a grinder out there, you know, because before you go out there, you know, all you have to go on is like the movies and like you know, TV shows. Man, this is awesome. And then you get out there, oh, this is just an old city.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, it's like and I think it's important for aspiring actors, actresses to understand it's not that easy to just go out there. You don't just go and get an agent and start booking roles, you know. You've got to work some other jobs too, and even then, so you might be there three, five, ten years uh before anything happens.

SPEAKER_00

What was crazy is so we got out there in 2013. So there's three years in between me graduating, and so I had three years of like college friends moving out there every now and then, and like never really like paid attention that they weren't doing it. I was like, you know, like never none of them just made it. Like, I don't see it, and so like you get out there thinking this is it, this is it, we're gonna go make it, not realizing at that exact same time there's hundreds of thousands of other people having that same trip right now, going out with the exact same mindset. And just by the if it was that easy, then everybody would just move to LA, which people do, but no, LA taught me a lot. It was definitely a great experience. Like you said, you work a whole bunch of different jobs. I think at one time I was working five different jobs at the same time. I was I was teaching theater at an all-girls school, I was selling solar panels, I was selling Kirby vacuums, I was balleting cars, I was teaching at a gymnastics gym. I don't know how I got that job. I was just keeping kids from falling on their head. I was like, I got you, I'll save you, you know, and so but doing all that, trying to find a way to make things work. I I was still able to be somewhat creative out there, but it taught me how much I love what I wanted to do. We spent, I mean, there's a good nine months where we were living in a car, and you know, at any point, I mean, at any point, Tommy could have just gone back home to North Carolina and I'm like, yeah, we we quit. But I think just going through not having a place to stay, and then finally making it working on those jobs and finally getting to a place where we have an apartment now, that feeling was something that you can't replace. And then, like, but obviously, straight from there, I'm like, now I can make a movie. But LA was definitely a good experience in the journey, you know, went through a whole lot.

SPEAKER_02

What are some other challenges that you have faced as an actor?

SPEAKER_00

I mean, obviously, as an actor through throughout the whole career, you you go through a million different things. Like when you're in the theater world, getting into different theater clicks is always a thing. You gotta have that first audition and get into that first play before you're just like welcome. But I think that's I mean, I'm sure that's for any any circuit around. But I when I think I I instantly realized that uh if I'm only an actor, then by definition, I'm kind of putting my fate in somebody else's hands. And I think right when I graduated college, I got an agent out of Wilmington and started doing auditions for commercials. And this is after like a four-year theater degree. So, like this is a peak actor where I'm just like, I have my degree. And when I'm doing these commercials, and like the biggest, biggest paying commercial I did was a was a Burger King commercial. And in the actual final edit of the commercial, I just like walk up to the counter. I'm like, I can't put that on my reel. That's not it's not like it's not like acting anything.

SPEAKER_02

It's not acting.

SPEAKER_00

Anybody can do that, you know, and then for whenever I would get an audition for like a bigger project, like three stooges, the movie. The remake, don't you guys remember that movie? It did come out, but uh, you know, all my auditions for for the most part, and it's changed now, but like my auditions were like thug number one, street performer two, and I was like, okay, well, I I can do more than this, you know. I didn't go to school for this. Me and Keith started screw up TV while I was still at my my senior year in college. We started in 2009, but it was at that point after graduating where I was like, I've got to make my own stuff to like in order to show people what I can do. Otherwise, I'm pigeonhell to whatever opportunities I'm given, if I'm given the opportunities. And yeah, I mean, just just just being in the industry, whether you're you're black or a woman or or anything, honestly, you I mean, there there's enough like there's great people in the industry, but then there's some people in the industry were like, How did you have any friends growing up? You know, so just no noticing at at an early age in my like post-college career that I've I'm gonna I've gotta kind of try. It was one of those I I can write, I have a camera, I've been shooting stuff with with this guy for years. Why can't I just write stuff that I want that I think is cool? Stuff we've been doing on the side the whole time, even so that's kind of where I started really taking it seriously. So, and as far as the acting business, I would say that was the first real difficult challenge for me to kind of just face uh face is like, okay, I don't want I don't want my career to be dependent on somebody else, you know. And that's just growing and learning, there's like a gift and curse. Because on the other hand, I was getting paid for Burger King commercial. Exactly.

SPEAKER_02

So you pay for the camera equipment that you need.

SPEAKER_00

Absolutely, absolutely. That had sent me so far on one path of like I'm doing this, is my path. I'm not my I'm not really trying to take a whole bunch of auditions and everything like that, you know. But then I was like, well, no, those auditions were making me money, so let me find a balance here where I can take auditions, but not take the audition thinking this is gonna be my big break. I'm taking the audition like this is a check. If something happens, that's awesome. But this is a job I can do where I can find something to work on in my craft. You know, I I've moved into directing and producing. And so just just getting into that, I've just seen other challenges, which I think a lot of time challenges come from just a lack of knowledge from people. There's there's knowledge that out there for people. Like now in in the YouTube social media economy, people are realizing I can take my future into my old hands. And so now people are more so doing that. But yeah, no.

SPEAKER_02

And you have transitioned from being an actor to a director. What do you think is challenging about bringing a script to life?

SPEAKER_00

I would say one thing that you as a writer, it's easy to get married to every detail of your script because it came out of your head, it's your baby. But I think writing so much and producing so much, I I've learned to like distance or allow myself to let an idea grow, knowing that there's going to be three versions of a product. There's the version that you write, there's the version that you shoot, and then there's a version that you edit and cut together. And so just having trust that everybody that you bring onto the project has the best uh a final outcome in mind. Sometimes, you know, actors bring different ideas to to a set than you originally have, and and just being okay, or getting to the point where like I I gave you a skeleton of what this character could be. You go ahead and fill out the soul. I would say one of the hardest parts is probably dealing with people's schedules. So the more people you have, the harder the schedule. And depending on what the project is, certain projects we do more for fun. So they're they're not so paid. But so if you're not paying people, then you can't really you have to ask, when are you free? When do you mind coming out? And but e even on you know, paid events, people have you know, just just working with different size casts. We we shoot from anything from sketch comedy to a feature film. For example, yesterday, three of us met up to do a sketch and we didn't know what we're shooting, but we met up and like, okay, here's the three who we have. Let's see what we can do with what we have here. Sometimes, but if it's an evolved sketch, and we know we need this person, this person, that person, and we don't have that person, then we can't shoot the whole, you know what I mean? And so I think dealing with just schedules and whatnot, I organization isn't my strongest suit. I think that would be my biggest challenge as a director. There, there are definitely people who I'm like, and there's two different types of directors, but there's definitely people who I like who I look at like you, like you would be a great director in the sense of like I know uh your organization, like Alicia Price. She's somebody I'm like, I can't wait to see what you direct because I know it's gonna be very aligned to amazing. She is absolutely, absolutely. And that's just been been been one of the it filmmaking is problem solving, and so uh what whichever area you're weaker in is is is the main area you're gonna be doing the problem solving in. I would say those are probably some of the biggest challenges.

SPEAKER_02

What advice would you have for an actor on the best way to research and approach a role?

SPEAKER_00

It so I I'll take this into it depends. So if it's a fictional character, uh if you're not playing somebody who exists already, I would say try to pull out every character from in yourself. Don't look at it as putting the mask on of the character because if you do that, you you're already kind of separating yourself in the character, you know. But what people want to see is is truth on on screen. I mean, we can as more eleventh now than then because everybody watches podcasts and YouTube videos and they're just people. And so when you're you want To find out where they're coming from, so the point of view and perspective is very important. Obviously, you hopefully it's should be very hard to relate to just like a serial killer, you know. You know, but you know, but there there's times where, like, I'm sure you're in traffic or or you're in store where you're like, I'm gonna go crazy, and so you want to find out how did this person get to where they are, and then so I I would say uh look for the soul of the character and find out where they're coming from and why they are who they are, and and and and and start trying to find how you can relate that with yourself. Maybe you're not not a serial killer, like maybe you just have like a list of people that you don't like in your head, or maybe you're you have really bad road rage, or maybe you're uh really OCD about everything, you know what I mean? And people who like leave their shoe or put their shoes on on the carpet drive you crazy. So find ways to to connect yourself with the character, and uh and the and the harder the character is the bigger the challenge is, but a lot of the times the bigger the challenges that that that's when you find some of your most exciting work, I feel.

SPEAKER_02

Two years ago, uh your life changed within seconds, and you were involved in a very serious car accident. Can you talk a little bit about that night and the days after yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00

So that particular night, so we I I had been back in Charlotte. So this was 2019. The accident happened January 13, 2019. I'd been back in Charlotte for almost three years. We got back in August of 16. And so my first two years back in Charlotte, I was working, I was teaching like almost seven days a week nonstop. And I was doing that one to I just had uh a new son. And so just overworking myself to the point where I was like, let me take some freedom to myself and start trying to. I didn't want to lose, leave LA and then lose everything that I wanted to do. Like starting a family doesn't mean you have to end your dreams. When I stopped that, I started focusing on my career more. I took up Uber as a second job. I just started to shoot the first season of our show Sketch, which was a new sketch comedy show that I wanted to shoot out here in Charlotte. And we I'd met a few people over the few years I was out here, started kind of working with them. We were shooting a sketch one night, it was pranked, and after we were finished, my DP needed a ride home uptown Charlotte. So I gave him uh a ride home, and then I decided to do a few Uber rides while I was out. So I did a few Uber rides. I think I did three Uber rides, and the lady last lady tipped me pretty good, and so I was like, Well, that's my night, you know. I got I made more money than I want, but I thought I would tonight, so I was gonna head on home. I started the head home, and the next thing I know, I I woke up in my car, and so it was really kind of jarring. I've only been technically unconscious one other time in my life, other than being asleep, one other time in my life, but it it was just a weird feeling of of just confusion, kind of like wanting to know where I was. It was feelings of like, where am I? Oh, I'm in my car. What happened? Oh man, did I I messed up? That was I was like, I messed up, I did something wrong, right? Hit something, and then you know, then it was I'm alive, okay. Now clearly wasn't my time. So then I started looking around in the car. I kind of hear some people outside. I'm trying to call my wife or my mom to let them know I'm okay. Uh, but my phone is like busted, and I was like, I was like, man, I drop my phone all the time. And of course, now it's smashed. So it's always like okay. And like I remember it fell on my hand because my arm was dislocated. I didn't realize that my arm was dislocated. I didn't realize I was hurt at all. I thought I was like being batman. I was like, internals okay, I think I'm good. It's like not the case. Then yeah, no, then there were people shining flashlights trying to wake me up or or trying to see if I was awake. And I was like, I guess, I guess I was knocked out, or what whatever. And then they told me to stay away from the door. They were trying to open the door. I was but my knee was messed up, or I didn't realize my knee because I'm I'm skinny. I was like, I know I'm skinny, but I know I'm bone legged, but this ain't this thing wrong here. Yeah, so so it was interesting. So then they cut me out the car and put me on the gurney, and that's when I realized I was like, Oh, I'm hurt because I felt like my my my pelvis shift, and so then I guess then the ambulance is when they start gassing you with that medicine because that's when things start getting kind of crazy and like kind of like just in and out. I just remember seeing uh wall or ceiling tiles, and then in and out, then being under like some kind of CAT scan machine and in and out. Then at one point I thought it was like at one point I thought it was like strapped 50 feet up in a wall, but I was I I think I was just lying. I don't know, I was all disoriented.

SPEAKER_03

You were going through a lot of shock, yeah.

SPEAKER_00

I was going through a lot, I remember they because my phone I wanted to call my parents, yeah, yeah. Because eventually I was like, I gotta call my parents, I gotta call somebody. I was like, I'll just flashing in and out. I've got to let someone nobody knows where I'm at. So I was like, I wanted to call my parents, and at the time I was also I was Ubering, but there were a few other people, disabled people who I was uh driving around town. And I remember which I mean the lady who I was supposed to pick up the next morning, she was missing a leg. And I remember just like trying to tell everybody, let her know that I'm not gonna make it more. I'm trying to tell the doctors, like, please let her because she's because she doesn't know I was in an accident, so she's gonna be waiting for me. Then I remember them saying that that they might have to amputate my leg because of the bone that was broken, arteries broken. And so I was like, No, please don't do that, save my leg. I don't care if you uh I don't care if the leg is all you save if you so but no, it was it was definitely interesting, and then I do, and then I spent the next 10 10 days um in the hospital kind of recovering, you know.

SPEAKER_02

I remember during that time, and of course you and your family would know better than I would, but it seemed to have been that the entertainment community really surrounded and embraced your family during that time. And I thought that that was really special, having come from a different market myself and still somewhat new to Charlotte. My, you know, my experience has been in Atlanta, and I thought that that was just it seemed like just a small community that just really wrapped their arms around you.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, no, I mean, honestly, that's I mean, that that still it still means like a lot to me, you know. I I think work a lot, you know, and so I don't I don't ever like take time to like look back at like kind of like what what I've done or anything like that. So I think I hadn't realized how many people I I knew at that time and or you know, it was no, it was definitely touching. And I think I can probably attribute a lot of that to my recovery as well, you know.

SPEAKER_02

Were you afraid during that time that it would affect your future career?

SPEAKER_00

For sure, absolutely. I was in a wheelchair, and so I I I had danced my whole life as well. Uh as a choreographer, I just choreographed West Charlotte as a musical, you know. So I I I wasn't sure what everything was gonna be like, you know. You know, the doctor said you're gonna recover soon. I'm like, doc, I can't, I got five people helping me move from one bed to another bed. I can't even get up to use the bathroom. Like, I I could so it was it was definitely hard, but I I made a decision that like I I I can't I can't sit down and mope and stare at the ceiling and look at the wall and do all that. I got a wife and I got a kid and I'm alive. I can't just be depressed the rest of my life. I got a whole like, well, what if I live another 80 years?

SPEAKER_02

And as an outsider looking in, you know, obviously I followed your journey and you didn't sit back. I mean, you were filming pretty quickly once you were home. Um, yeah, you didn't wait.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, no, I'm I I had the advantage. Like, like look, I'm I'm glad that I started filming a a passion project before my accident because then it gave me something to pick right back up on and focus on where I didn't have to focus on being in a wheelchair. I could focus on still being creative, you know, and it just became another challenge. You know, I now I can't, I can still write this. I don't have to be in every sketch now. Now I can bring in more people to help on and and and do the stuff that uh do the stuff that that I can't, and and for the stuff that I can do, I I did that. I'm so thankful for for all the people who came in and and help and helped with the season, not only because they're helping with the season, but they were also helping me kind of like recover and and and get back to where to where I am now, and and it allowed me to have a lot of different new relationships and friendships that have I hope to continue.

SPEAKER_02

So well, I think that that shows who you are and your character for those people because you made an impact on their lives. So of course that they would want to be there for you. So I think that that shows a little bit of who you are, you know. And you've continued, I mean, you got married a few months later and you're continuing to your family. So you have all these amazing things. Do you have anything else in the works that you can talk about? I know you just had a project that uh was released recently that you filmed during the pandemic.

SPEAKER_00

Yes, ma'am. Yeah, we yeah, we shot we shot a feature film that's called All We Got. It's uh all done to Charlotte Talent, mostly Charlotte Talent. Yeah, mostly Charlotte. I don't think anybody came from her. So E B came for she's kind of from Charlotte. No, so uh yeah, so we I started started writing, so we talked about Alicia earlier, you know, and Natasha Natasha Adams is is a is another actress who I who I met with within the past few years. We we were on the improv team, and then she's one of the other people who who came in and was there during like my whole recovery and whatnot.

SPEAKER_02

And so just another very talented person, super talented.

SPEAKER_00

One thing I love is like like I love talented people, you know. I I love talent and my whole life. Whenever I've I've seen a talent that I feel like I have a chance to try to work with, I try to work with them or try to find a way, you know. And that's been from middle school when I was writing like the things plays and shocking players, or they call Chris Shinner's a really good actor. I hope you I hope he says yes to my play, you know. So like I had I I'd known I wanted to work with these actors for for a while. I was trying to figure out what the project would be. And my senior in college, I did a play called Um Our Lady of Honda 21st Street. And that was kind of I was gonna try to produce that play and kind of bring up bring a home whole bunch of those actors on. And then I was like, let's just make a short film. And so I like like I reached out to uh Keith, who is he so we we we we both moved out to LA at the same time, but I moved back when my son was born. So he was still currently out in in LA. I reached out to him and said, Hey man, uh, you know, these these two actresses out here, Alicia and Tasha. I got this idea. I want to shoot something with him. They're super talented. I got this idea, and I always have crazy. I I can have a crazy idea. I was like, let's do like a western with like bandits on the run, and the whole movie takes place like one night where we're on the run and they're in and they meet each other, and and so and he was like, I don't know if you have the budget for that. And PJ, are you you know, I've never seen you on a horse before. All right, let's let's bring it back down. And so he's like, let's do a family film. It's like, yeah, a family film that works. And so that and sometimes I feel like he does it on purpose, but like he'll give me a spark and he knows I'll run off with it and get to the lab and start and everything like that. But uh, but yeah, so it it started off kind of being like a short film, and then we just kept on writing. It it's all we it's called all we got. We called it a a dysfunctional family dramedy. And as we were kind of putting it together, and whenever we would bring it up to talk to somebody about it, uh they would always relate to the story, which was there's these four siblings. The oldest sibling moved away from her crazy home and family and whatnot. And then one day she gets a call from her youngest uh sibling saying that their mother passed away and she has to come home, and they kind of got to figure out what to do with like the will and affairs and everything. And everybody has a family, and that at some point everybody's going to have to go through the situation in some way or another. There's no relationship quite like you have with like your sibling. There's so many different dynamics and and whatnot, and not everybody always gets along. And sometimes, even if two people are the same person, then sometimes they don't get along more. But we also wanted to kind of kind kind of tell the story, the overall arcing story of family, and that as an adult, sometimes we gotta have these hard conversations, you know. Two two things I've learned as an adult is one, you're not the center of everybody's universe, and two, you're not always right, you know. And so one thing that we wanted to show in all these siblings' arguments is to show where everybody was coming from so the audience can see, okay, I can see how they got to this point, and you can empathize with everyone, like, and you can see how just the misunderstanding or lack of understanding of understanding could cause a rift, you know, where where the oldest daughter thinks that she left the family, but she left her siblings together to have each other, they look at hers as you've abandoned us, you know what I mean? And so there's these all these juxtapositions and and and and realities and whatnot that we we wanted to kind of touch on with that. And so, but yeah, uh, we wrote it in March, we shot it, then the pandemic happened. We shot it uh right around at the end of June when things kind of opened up a little bit in July. We got lucky because one one Perry Fowler, Petra's, is is one of the main restaurants that we use for, and it was closed because it was a pandemic, and so we're like, hey, can we come in here and film? And he was like, Yeah, come on through. And so one thing I've learned is like like the worst you can hear is no from somebody, you know, and so I'm never afraid to ask anybody for anything, you know, because if they tell me no, I I don't burst into fire or anything like that. You know, life goes on. We filmed 17 days, but that was over the course of like two and a half months, I would say. And then I started editing it in the winter, and then it came out uh on Amazon in February, and I was on Tubi TV and uh YouTube movies and YouTube TV and Google Play. Yes, ma'am, yes, ma'am. But that that's another thing when when it comes to just like knowledge. Like, I feel like like I I've been studying the distribution for the past. I mean, we shot a movie in LA that we never put out. We found a few movies, like kind of feature-length, but we decided like they were never at something where like we we want this to be our first thing out there, and so I think that's I mean, all we got is by means no one's it's not perfect, it's not it's no big blockbuster movie or anything like that as far as budget or whatnot. But it was the first one where we're like, we think this one's good enough where we can put it out there and and represent like what we can do. There, there's another film being made by two two friends of mine, uh called No Justice, No Peace, a producer and now I'm just kind of helping them out, just trying to help them make sure that they get it done. And even though we got all we got out on platforms, I still learned some lessons along the way. So I'm gonna take my lessons and uh help help them along their way. I'm working on a haunted house film right now, which I pitched to a pitch competition back in January, and it was in the top three picks. That one I'm kind of in wait and see mode because that that's on a different level than anything I've done before, because I think there's gonna be a little bit of backing a budget for that one where I'm used to working with what I call the the MacGyver budget. You know, what do we have in our pockets? You know.

SPEAKER_02

Well, it sounds like you have quite a bit going on.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, I I try to stay busy, but then sometimes I I I I overwhelm myself.

SPEAKER_02

But um I know that feeling. Where can our listeners find you in all of your projects online?

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, they can find so all of our sketch and funny stuff is at screw up TV. That's at screw up on uh at screw up TV on Instagram. Uh you can go to screw up TV Productions or Screw Up TV on YouTube and Facebook. The movie is all we got. That is all we got. Uh, that is on Amazon Prime. Give it a good rating if you if you like the movie in the review. All we got. It's also on Tubi TV. It is also on YouTube. If you just have YouTube, type it in. And then there's you can rent or buy it on YouTube, and it's on Google Play as well. But that is where you can find some of our work. If you want to follow stall pictures of my family and kids, follow me at Plymouth Jones. Uh, it's plymouth Plymouth Jones.

SPEAKER_02

And I will make sure to link to all of these websites under the notes of this episode at Voicesofinspiration Podcast.com. PJ, you've been through a great deal and you continue to rise above. Do you have a favorite quote or any words of wisdom that you would like to leave with our listeners?

SPEAKER_00

Um, so hard work and perseverance. I would say the only I I heard this a long time ago, and I think it I think just my lived experience just proves it true. I think the most successful personality trait or the only personality trait that almost guarantees success is perseverance. You know, I don't think like I out of my graduating class and college, I don't necessarily think I'm any talented than any of my peers or whatnot. There's people who just stopped along the way, you know, uh it's not a race, it's a marathon. So go after your dreams and and know that you're gonna fall down. It's not gonna be easy, otherwise, everybody will do it. And if it's something that you really want to do and you really want, you're going to persevere. I definitely like after my accident, I definitely had my days when I was just like upset, you know, and it's totally valid to have those days and whatnot. But know that you can't live in there and you have to get out of it. You know, when I was when when I was living in a car, there's a lot of other people who are also living in cars who are probably still living in their cars, and it's a mindset thing. And once you give in to a certain mindset, then it's hard to come back from that. So just stay on that track of artwork, perseverance, and knowing that this is my journey. My journey is unlike anybody else's journey. And I might make it faster than other people, I might take me longer, but whatever it is, it's your journey. And so that's that's what I would have to say.

SPEAKER_02

That's great advice. Thank you for being with me today.

SPEAKER_00

No problem. Thank you for having me.

SPEAKER_02

Um, thank you for inspiring and and encouraging hundreds of young people and your peers in this industry. I know that my own daughter looks up to you as an actor and as a director and as a comedian. And I look forward to really continuing to follow your journey and your path to see what you will do. I know that you will do some amazing things.

SPEAKER_00

Thank you. Well, yeah, you will definitely hear from me because Harlow is an amazing talented actress, and so I don't have to look far, far from from for whenever I need her type.

SPEAKER_02

So thanks. Thank you to our listeners. There are hundreds of thousands of podcasts out there, and I'm so grateful that you have chosen to join us. My name is Amelia, and I'm your host of Voices of Inspiration. Everyone has a story to tell. What's yours?

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Amelia Old

Host