Beyond Fame: Jaleel White on Film Festivals, the "It Factor," and Judging Episodic Content

Renowned actor Jaleel White joins us for an intimate chat on the Cinematography for Actors podcast, offering fresh insight into the world of film festivals. With his debut as a judge at the Mammoth Film Festival, Jaleel brings an engaging perspective on how actors can mesmerize audiences without the crutch of celebrity fame. He humorously reflects on his UCLA film school days, weighing the value of traditional education in a digital age brimming with readily available knowledge. Get ready to explore the mystique of the "It Factor" and how it transcends mere name recognition in captivating storytelling.

As Jaleel opens up about his experience judging episodic television entries, we discuss the art of balancing time management with our shrinking modern attention spans. Despite his TV background, he shares his newfound appreciation for the thrilling diversity of content within the episodic category. This episode is a treasure trove of behind-the-scenes insights, highlighting the passion and dedication of filmmakers and judges alike. Whether you're an industry veteran or a curious newcomer, join us for a compelling look at the ever-evolving landscape of film and television.

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Transcript

Speaker 1 0:00

I'm looking for actors that aren't going to draw me out of the store.

Speaker 2 0:02

Yeah.

Speaker 1 0:03

I don't really care about fame at all, like I really don't, like. It's like oh, this is a name and really a lot of people do. It's like they get more excited about the name of your people that they see. Yeah, there's a quality I swear there's an it factor in a performer that just makes you want to watch them.

Speaker 4 0:20

Yeah, Right, yeah, right. This is the cinematography for actors podcast. More than a podcast, cinematography for actors is a vibrant community devoted to bridging the gap between talent and crew. Each week, our show offers transparent, insightful conversations with industry leaders. We unveil the magic behind the scenes, from candid discussions about unique filmmaking processes to in-depth technical exploration. Join us in unraveling the intricacies of filmmaking, one episode at a time. It's more than just cameras and lenses we aim to inspire, educate and empower as we peel back the curtain on the art of effective storytelling. Now on to the episode Hi. This is another special short episode of the Cinematography for Actors podcast. I'm sitting here on our wonderful couches at the Mammoth Film Festival with my co-host.

Speaker 3 1:13

Jack T, gibson Jack T.

Speaker 4 1:15

Gibson and we're sitting here with Give us a name Jalil White. Here he is, and he is one of our judges this year and something I asked you earlier that you refused to answer, but maybe I can get an answer now I didn't refuse.

Speaker 1 1:29

I paused. I wanted to save all the good stuff you're gonna throw him under the bus before the man can even speak if there's one thing I wanted to speak into this giant mic that you gave me, that brought you by a hot dog on a stick now he's ready to tell us what did you judge this year, shorts features.

Speaker 1 1:50

I judged episodics which I believe were for television. Okay, I really got into it. It was. I finally got a chance to put my my useless UCLA film school degree to to use. We love it we love it.

Speaker 4 2:03

No shade to UCLA. Oh no, no, no, don't get me wrong. I degree to use we love it.

Speaker 3 2:06

No shade to UCLA. I love UCLA.

Speaker 1 2:09

Believe me, I'm going to eight. Clap you right now. I love my school. Once you become a father and you're several decades removed from your college experience, you go. They overcharged me. They overcharged me, they overcharged me.

Speaker 3 2:21

Yeah, this is an expensive school. They have a charge, they have a charge, they have a charge, they have a charge, they have a charge.

Speaker 1 2:26

Yeah, this is an expensive school. Yeah, no, college is very expensive right now. No, I'm serious, unfortunately, because Education so much of it can be found online. Now, especially during pandemic, a lot of people started looking at the value of a college education below doctorate and master. Now that's different, because you have a discipline, right there. I don't want this to become viral. Jaleel White is down on the college experience.

Speaker 3 2:51

Jaleel White says no one go to college. No one go to college.

Speaker 1 2:54

That is not what I'm saying, but I'm saying, if your, parents are going to have to hawk the house for you to go to college you know you can learn this shit online.

Speaker 4 3:04

Yes, you can. Okay, so since it is your first time judging a film festival, did you find, while you were doing, you're watching beforehand, correct? And you're getting all of your decisions in before you come here okay. Is there anything about the process that you followed that you would change if you did another time?

Speaker 1 3:21

I think they were very lenient about the time frame. You know that I appreciated Just the attention span and the demand on all of our time these days. You know it's not easy to just keep carving out time to watch. You know an hour or longer of something, so they might have known that. Or I might have just been discriminated against because I haven't done enough movies and I've been more on television, so they gave me Episodic. I don't know if I should feel some kind of way about that, but I watched some really cool stuff.

Speaker 1 3:47

I watched some cool stuff, though in Episodic I did. Okay, maybe that's what I'm qualified currently to weigh in on, though.

Speaker 3 3:55

Don't worry, we're not live. You can feel however you want to feel.

Speaker 1 3:58

Sandpaper was good. It stood out. Puncher's Chance stood out. Quite a few of them stood out. What about those episodes?

Speaker 4 4:04

stood out to you.

Speaker 1 4:05

You know I felt like with those two in particular. I really appreciated the connecting storyline.

Speaker 1 4:13

I felt like the things that they set up. They paid off. And since my category was specifically episodic, do you want to watch another episode? It was really my, was my criteria. I think that's tougher to achieve in comedy and I just think the bar is higher for that because you got to. You know there was I forgot which one I watched. It was. I think it was called the Selectman and there was a character named Billy that stood out for me quickly.

Speaker 1 4:35

I was like they might as well just call this show Believe in Billy. It was actually a piece of dialogue, but on the dramatic side Punch's Chance in particular and Sandpaper they really paid off the story that they were trying to tell thematically.

Speaker 3 4:48

Yeah, great notes for all you episodic submissions.

Speaker 4 4:51

Yeah, is this mostly pilots?

Speaker 1 4:54

I don't know if they were pilots or not. Specifically, the running times felt like that. So maybe they were.

Speaker 3 4:59

Maybe they were pilots, yeah Well you're also a pretty prolific actor yourself. Thank, you, thank you and when watching these, I mean all the submissions, but obviously for this go-around episodics are there kind of common themes that you see in any of the submissions that are red flags or take you out of the story. That's something good for anyone watching to know if they're going to submit.

Speaker 1 5:21

Yeah, no, that's a damn good question. I think some of the red flags that I look forward to, or look, I'm sorry, I think some of the red flags that I Can't wait to see certain red flags.

Speaker 4 5:29

Yeah, you're right. He was like oh, I saw that.

Speaker 1 5:33

Press pause, move on to the next Some of the red flags that will stand out, though, are, on the comedy side, things that are tonally off right from the gate. You know, I think the most important thing with comedy is tone. Anytime you want to tell a comedic story, you got to let us know. Is this surreal right off the bat? Is this grounded in reality? Is this nail the genre? Tell me who I'm supposed to be focused on in in really the first minute yeah we have some exciting news.

Speaker 2 6:04

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Speaker 1 6:25

Sometimes the also be consistent with your lead characters. So sometimes at a level below pro, they'll set you up with a lead character and then deviate from that person. It was like whoa, we were supposed to be focusing on her.

Speaker 1 6:39

And it sucks when that happens when you were actually starting to be drawn in. The other thing I look for, though, is I look for sharp editing. The biggest stars of our future really are going to be the editors. Editing is something that's at everyone's fingertips now, from your phone to at a cinematic level, so I think even that most average viewer is a critic of editing. Now, really, yeah, is the editing helping or hurting the pacing?

Speaker 2 7:13

of the story Mm-hmm.

Speaker 1 7:14

The lighting Mm-hmm matters to me a lot on dramatic side.

Speaker 3 7:18

Yeah.

Speaker 1 7:19

What mood are you setting? You know, it's really just the overall production value that I'm looking for is. Let me know, are you professional?

Speaker 2 7:26

Yeah.

Speaker 1 7:28

Or just whatever story you're telling. I'm looking for all those categories.

Speaker 3 7:32

Yeah, and.

Speaker 1 7:32

I'm also. I'm looking for actors that aren't going to draw me out of the story.

Speaker 3 7:35

Yeah.

Speaker 1 7:36

I don't really care about fame at all, like I the story, yeah, I don't really care about fame at all like I really don't like. It's like, oh, this is a name and really, though, a lot of people do, yeah, it's like they get more excited about the name of your people that they see.

Speaker 1 7:49

Yeah, um, there's, there's a quality, I swear there's an it factor in the performer that just makes you want to watch them yeah, right and they either have it or they don't, and that's a tough one to weigh in on openly yeah because you don't want to hurt anybody's feelings. But name names, like I was let's hear it like in mine, in my category, I watched uh, this one called uh sandpaper and it was just like the two leads in that were just they.

Speaker 4 8:14

They put me in yeah do you think that it factor happens when someone, someone, is placed in a role that is truly authentic to what they can bring to the table? It's not like this person has talent or this person doesn't. It's this person is in the right role for them or they're not.

Speaker 1 8:32

You know what? All talent can be misused. True, all talent can be void of direction. When I am acting, I love great direction. I love it when, a you know, sometimes you get these quiet directors who don't even say much, but when they do speak up they always have something smart to say and it's like ooh, okay, like I've had certain directors literally maybe only talk to me like two or three times, talked to me like two or three times, and it was like but every time you guys spoke, they had something to help them. That really helped me better understand the tone that they were looking for. So, yeah, I think that answers your question.

Speaker 4 9:07

Yeah, yeah, it does. Yeah, was there any criteria that the festival gave you for episodic that you're looking for?

Speaker 1 9:12

they didn't really give me a hard criteria. I kind of set one for my own and I was do, I want to watch another episode. Great yeah uh, that was my number one criteria. Yeah, it's. How quickly do I want to watch another episode? Um good criteria, you know I don't, and I don't even think it has to be a cliffhanger to want to watch another episode that's why I said for for comedy.

Speaker 1 9:31

If I were to give a note out there to people who are looking at submit future submissions. Worry more on about character development yeah whenever I'm, I'm, uh, whenever you introduce me to somebody, how well am I getting to know the many dimensions of this person in in as little dialogue as possible?

Speaker 1 9:52

yeah character development. What about? This person jumps out to me. Be funny, quickly, that's not over the top, right, you know, are they, are they? Are they ocd, are they? You know there's many different things, comedically, that a character can inhabit so if I see one character that I like in a comedy, I'm like great. If I see two, you are. I'm halfway to saying I want to watch another episode, okay great, there we go, yeah, yeah.

Speaker 4 10:15

Well, I think, specifically.

Speaker 3 10:17

what is cool is all those, all those categories that you listed that you're looking out for, that maybe have some trouble spots, aren't you know? Having more money and a bigger budget can certainly help those things, but they're not exclusive to that. You can work on lighting, you can work on you know your tone and all those categories you listed, without a big budget. That's all stuff that you can do, just bettering your own craft.

Speaker 1 10:40

Yep, yep, yep. So I put a lot of this on the directors.

Speaker 2 10:44

Yeah.

Speaker 1 10:44

I really do. Directors and editors they're the superstars of the future. Yeah, that's what I look for.

Speaker 4 10:49

Okay, great, thank you so much, julia. Yeah, before we wrap it up, I want to know what category do you hope that you judge next time?

Speaker 1 11:00

Oh wow, You're going to make me put myself on the hook. Best editing.

Speaker 4 11:07

Daryl White wants to judge best editing for your film festival. Great, thank you so much for being with us.

Speaker 3 11:13

You got it. See you all next time. Join us in bridging the gap between talent and crew. Start by subscribing on your preferred podcast platform. Sign up for our newsletter to stay up to date on vendor discounts, community events and new podcast releases, and educate yourself through our free course releases on YouTube. It all starts at cinematographyfractorscom and, if you liked this episode, consider leaving a review to make it easier for other listeners to find us.