Stronger Together: How One Documentary Can Spark a Movement

Erik  05:46

we want to welcome all of our listeners to another episode of Minority Report podcast with Erik and Kerel. Each episode, we talk with real leaders and operators in business, tech and media, and we're delighted to welcome Mr. Bill Hampton, who's the founder of Fisk Street Films, and also Mr. Chico Bryant, who's the founder and CEO of today's featured guests and United Venture Productions. 

‍

Bill Hampton  06:30

Chico having us Yes,

‍

Erik  06:31

absolutely welcome. Welcome Pleasure to meet

‍

Kerel Cooper (Zoom)  06:34

you guys. It's

‍

Chico  06:34

a pleasure. The pleasures are all mine or ours.

‍

Erik  06:37

Yeah, likewise, excited to jump in and get to know what's happening, because you guys are busy. Yes, they're busy. Want to learn more about what's happening with Fisk street films and also with United venture productions. But before we do that, for our listeners and for our viewers, tell us a little bit about you, chico. So Chico, tell us about you and what you're up to these days. Okay,

‍

Chico  07:12

born and raised in Jersey City, native of Jersey City, graduated from njcu as a marketing major. In 94 I did in an unpaid internship at Uptown records. And in 95 another unpaid internship at Def Jam went off to band Dula records, where I was just pretty much a floater, just doing whatever left there and started my just independent company, management production company for just managing producers, engineers, recording artists. And took a break from the music industry for quite some time. I think the What am I most challenging? But most, one of my most challenging tasks that I have today, but beautiful, is just being a father. Took some time, you know, I have four four my babies, three girls, one boy and my beautiful wife, missus. Mrs. Bryant, correct.

‍

Erik  08:25

That's great, you know, Chico, I want to take a second to point out, you pointing out the unpaid relationship, and, yeah,

‍

Chico  08:36

paid portion of

‍

Erik  08:37

it, because I think that's significant. You know, yes, tell tell us about, kind of like, Why, recognizing that now all these years later, right? But kind of thinking about how it was unpaid, and everything you did there. Tell us about what that's like and why it

‍

Chico  08:51

was back then. It was, it was, it was amazing. I loved every, every moment of it, because back then, for me, it was, it was all about learning, you know, I wanted to be a part of the industry. And, you know, whenever friends of mine say, Dude, you like you just, you know, you got it. You're at Uptown right now. So, yeah, that's my job. So I would never say, I never looked at it as an internship, that that was my job, you know. So it was, it was challenging. It was, it was very challenging of knock a lot of you, because around that time, when I got in puffy, he got, you know, he already had his deal with Arista. So a lot of ANRs, they were really looking at interns closely, because that's how he got his start. And we were not respected at all, so we really had to tread lightly. But just the knowledge that I gained from interning there was was amazing. That's why, that's why I'm the person I am today. You know, I'd be completely honest with you, I've, I've learned more from people screwing me around, you know, no pun intended, you know. But, you know, just give me all the wrong information. You know, the hustle part was, was just real, you know, you had to hustle. And those labels back then, it was street labels, you know. So you had to really figure out, you know, figure out your your lane, and stay in it. And then watches. Watch those that was, you know, that was, that was over. You watch them closely. You just learn from them.

‍

Erik  10:29

You know, you know you mentioned Jobs and Bill, you know, you wear several different hats. You have many different jobs as a, as a sort of multiple entrepreneur and founder and responsible for several businesses. Tell us. Tell us what's keeping you busy in addition to your film company,

‍

Bill Hampton  10:53

well, I also have a tax business. I do taxes and financial planning, and this is my busy time of the year, as with most tax businesses. But my firm does a little bit more than just taxes. Do financial planning, we do business entity formations, we do business financing, life insurance wills and trusts. So my firm is a little more comprehensive than your typical tax fund. And so that's what's keeping me busy, along with some other, you know, outside pursuits. I'm a volunteer for an organization called score. I meant to other business owners would help them with their business plans, help them find financing, some sort of way of giving back to our community. And then also, you know, I'm producing a film with with Chico that I'm really excited about

‍

Erik  11:43

great

‍

Kerel Cooper (Zoom)  11:44

and Bill, people always ask me this question, because, similar to you, I have multiple things going on. Where do you find the time?

‍

Bill Hampton  11:55

It's called time management. It's tough. It's a lot of you know, late nights where you're working on one business during the day, maybe working on something else during the evening. And you just have to have that drive and that passion for what you're doing, and then you find the time.

‍

Erik  12:12

Yeah, you know, Bill, I want to, I want to ask you about Fisk street films and sort of move into what you just mentioned with Chico, you're excited. I think it's a tremendous story. Bill, start start us off, and then, and then Chico, maybe round it off. Tell us about this exciting project that you're releasing. Tell us a little bit about what's happening with this roads?

‍

Bill Hampton  12:43

Well, Chico brought this, um, idea to me. Chico is my brother in law, so he's married to my sister, and, you know, we've become close over the years. And he came with me, with came to me with an idea, and he said, Hey, I've got some information. Um, I want to do a film, actually, you know, he started on it, and he said, Hey, will you go on this journey with me? You know, I need your advice. I need your help. I need your insight. And he told me about what was going on. And I was like, Yeah, I'm interested in this. This sounds like a really good story that needs to be told. And, um, and I jumped in, and I've been, you know, on board since then, and I'll let you, let Chico tell more about the specifics of it, since it's his baby, you know, it's his birthday and and, you know, maybe I'm just part of the team to help, you know, bring it to the masses. Great. Thank

‍

Erik  13:32

you. Yes, chico. You know, it

‍

Chico  13:34

was funny. What Bill said is, I, I remember giving bill a call asking if he knew any investors. And he said, Well, pretty much, what do you need investors for? So when I told him, he said, You know, that's interesting. You know, what struck me about my brother in law is the fact that he don't jump into anything so very critical about a lot of stuff. Plus, you know, he has that. He has a law background. So, yes, I will, you know, call him and ask him for his for his advice. And, you know, what does he feel about this project that I'm working on? And he said, You know what, I'll invest that blew me away. Because, you know, this joke he used to torture me when I was a kid, and I was dating a sister, like, you know, I was, like 1617, years old. That's how far back we go, like in the, you know, in the early 80s, you know, and I'm dating myself, but I'm really dating him, but, but it was, you know, unpunished. That's the, that's the name of the of the film, unpunished is about this, the story talks about Carl Cavalier, young man that, you know, I saw him on the Roland Martin unfiltered show, and he was talking about Ronald green, you know, the murder of Ronald green. I took interest in that because as I'm looking at him, he reminded me of myself, you know, young guy, very brave, and I just couldn't believe that he had the balls to do that. Said, you know, I love this with how, how this really came about was he mentioned a familiar name, a person's name. He said one of his mentors is Dr delacey Davis. Now, delacey, Dr de la CIE Davis. He is a good friend of mine, and he's, uh, he's a former sergeant from East Orange New Jersey. So I called de lacy right away, and I say, Listen, do you know a call Cavalier? He said, Yeah. He's like, you know? I said, what type of person is he? He says, he's a good guy, you know, I like him. Can you connect us? He said, Absolutely. Within two and a half hours, he connected us via an emo thread, Carl and I emailed each other. I finally called him. We spoke for a little while, and I said, You know what, I would love to do a documentary on you. I'd love to tell you a story. And he said, Yeah, you know, but under one condition, you tell the truth, and no sugar coat anything. I said, Absolutely. I said, Let's Let's go. The funny part to this whole story was, once I got off the phone with him, I looked at my wife, I said, you know, because I told her ahead of time what I was going to do, I said, Call, you know, I spoke to Carl, and he said he wants to do the documentary. And she said, Okay. I said, I gotta get cameras. I gotta get a crew. I had nothing. Yeah, it was literally an idea, and I honestly didn't think he was going to bite. And this was during the pandemic. This is 2020, this one, everything was, you know, shut down, and Chico

‍

Kerel Cooper (Zoom)  16:28

is, is this the first documentary you're ever

‍

Chico  16:30

my very first documentary, my very first documentary. So I was, I was nervous as hell, and I was like, how am I how I'm going to pull this off, because I already opened up my mouth. It, you know, asked this guy, he doesn't even know me, so he's putting the trust in me because of the Lacey. So I contacted some friends of mine that are cinematographers that I've known for years. And I told him, you know, just a project that I want to, really want to get into. You know, one of my other partners, Anthony and Fain. And they say, you know, Anthony was like, let's go. I contacted Fain, you know, Fain, tall, white guy, blonde hair. And I said, Okay, he may be a challenge. The same thing. He said, Let's do it. And that's, that's exactly I was, you know, how was, how United venture and this story came about.

‍

Erik  17:23

And Chico,

‍

Kerel Cooper (Zoom)  17:24

why is it important for you to tell this story like, what? Why? Why this one as your first documentary?

‍

Chico  17:31

You know what for? For so many years, you know, from seeing Amadou Diallo to seeing Rodney King to various others, Philando Castile that's been murdered by cops, and you really don't get the full story from the family. And in highlighting the perpetrators behind the police officers and unpunished, is not just focusing on the police officers, per se, it's really focusing on the overall corruption, you know, within the system, you know. So that's, that's, that's why you know Bill and I, you know another, another reason why, like, I'm so happy that my brother law is a party, because he has that law background. So time to time, I would sit and talk to him and say, Listen, you know, are we going about this the right way? And he will always give us feedback. When I started this journey, when, you know, I got everybody together and we went to Louisiana, we had no idea how corrupt, you know, that that area, that's such a beautiful state. So, you know, the people are beautiful as well. But we had no idea of the level of corruption that we were facing. And we were actually traveling to some of the most dangerous areas, you know, clans areas. And, you know, it's, it's quite a few people say, like, you know, like, what led you to this? I said, Oh, God. Oh God. I said, I can't take a lot of credit. I said it was all God driven. He gave me the vision, you know. I said, this is my task. I'm just going to go for it and we will protect it all, all throughout.

‍

Erik  19:13

That's great, chico. I want to ask you about United venture productions. Your slogan is stronger together. Yes, did you pick that? Why did you pick that, and how did you pick that?

‍

Chico  19:27

Because, because we are. Do you remember the planet of the Avis, the most recent one? Do you remember when Caesar, you know, was in, you know, we had to get put into a facility where there were only all apes, you know, and not in a home that he was, that he was raised in, and other apes, they didn't really take to him. And it was that Maurice, the the chimpan, the ringer tank, and he was pretty much he had that he had one twig and he snapped it, and then he had, he says, you know, with one twig. You know, when you like peoples, when you when you snap it, you can separate us. You know, we're weak, if it's just one of us, but if you put multiple together, you know, all at once, it's hard to break. We're such a powerful people. We're such a loving people. But I don't think a lot of us really truly understand the power that we truly have. We can literally change the whole dynamic of this country period, you know, you know. So that's not that's another reason why I chose, you know, we're stronger together. We have to work together. And that's, you know, this is not just a another documentary that you look at and say, oh, man, I feel sorry for the family. I you know, we me Bill, and you know, we all told and bill actually say, you know, this is history. He said, This is a movement, you know. And we really want to get in contact with public you know, public figures and you know, governors, mayors, what have you. And for all of us, not just a few of us, but all of us to come together say, Listen, these laws are going to change. Because it's very different. When you're in front of these families, and it could be five to seven years later and they're still crying on the on the death of their loved one, it breaks you. And when I saw the video of of Ronald green, it broke me. It broke me. I said, that's, that's my brother, that's my brother in law, that's my friends, that's me, you know, so and for the for these cops to have, you know, for these cops to hide, not just them, but the governor is involved. The corridor, you know, was complicit in the cover up the Colonels. You know, we didn't realize it. There were so many people behind the scene that was covering up. So, of course, the number one question is, how many, how many more other murders, or, you know, acts of violence have these guys have committed? You know? So, because once one or two go down, somebody's going to talk. So they have to protect them. The judges are and the judges are corrupt as well. I don't live there. We don't live there. I'm only taking the advice, and you know, it from the people that live there talking to Mr. Cavalier and Miss Mona Harding, you know, just the mother that's been constantly going back and forth trying to fight the system, she said it's the whole system is corrupt. So us being from that, us being outsiders, it worked for us, you know, because other people who we were trying to interview, they just wouldn't do it. They wouldn't, you know, we could have gotten more, but they refuse,

‍

Erik  22:41

yeah, fascinating. You know, I'm curious. You know, there's, and for those haven't seen it and you have an opportunity to see it, there's, there's some powerful moments, you know, from his mother, there's some powerful moments, yes, captured there as a parent. For both you and Bill, parent, as parents, you know Chico, you mentioned you have three girls and a boy, yeah. And even not as a parent, but just as as someone who was able to hear directly from her, what are some what are some things that you feel like you've you've learned through her experiences, through the family's experiences, that sort of make its way into your lives.

‍

Chico  23:29

Oh, my God, this woman never gives up. My son has been going since 2019 and I spoke to miss moda. I call her mom. I spoke to her like a week and a half ago, and she said, this, Chico, this is my life's mission. The strength behind this woman is simply amazing, where most people would just fold and say, You know what, I can't beat the system. She's still going just to go further. Call Cavalier. They, they, you know. This is a man that you know. He he pledged an oath, and he stood on that, and he did his job, and they crucified him for that, you know. And they, they really try to ruin his career, and you gotta watch out for him in the future, because they try to destroy him. Now he's in law school. Carl Cavalier is, you know, he will be one of the top attorneys. You know, you know coming, coming soon. You know he and I talking, we have such a bond now, he's like my younger brother. And you know he, you know he's, I tell him, keep your head up. He's like always, you know, this guy is fearless. Just talking to, you know certain people that know him, he's like an old soul. But you know, again, just to answer your question, just the strength you know that Miss, miss, harden has. You know that just this took me, took me to the next level. I said, if, if this woman is is strong enough to do what she's doing and not quit, I'm not doing it, because putting this document together together was extremely challenging. There were many nights, but I said, What the hell am I doing? You know, and I had to purposely not tell a lot of people about it, because certain people who I did tell it said, If I were you, I wouldn't do it. And my response to them was, you're not me, yeah, you know, I'm not that guy that's that sees something on TV, and get to get my fingers working either get on IG, and I do this and I do that, because majority of times, you're not going to do anything, and that's the truth. You're not going to do anything because the fear, you know, but, um, I think this was, this is my superpower. This is our superpower, where we could tell the story and really get it to the masses, and we, we're focused not just locally, but globally.

‍

Erik  25:51

Yeah, that's great. And Bill, I wanted to ask you, and I think this would be helpful to draw, you know, even larger audience, you know, to the film. But Bill, can you, I don't want to assume everyone knows, sure. And Bill, maybe you could take us through the story of Ronald green and take us through what occurred. That would be helpful, I think. Yeah,

‍

Bill Hampton  26:18

absolutely so. In 2019 Ronald Green was a black motorist. He was pulled over by Louisiana State Police. He decided to flee in his vehicle. There was a car chase that ensued. He ended up crashing his vehicle, but he wasn't injured from the crash. Louisiana State Police caught up to him, and they pulled him out of the vehicle, and they beat him to death. It was on camera. They punched him, they used flashlights, they kicked him, they pepper sprayed him, and this is all on body camera. He was pleading for his life. They and this was like after they handcuffed him. So it wasn't like he was fighting them, you know, before the handcuffs, after they handcuffed him, they were still beating him and with their fists, with their flashlights, um, and they laid him on his stomach. So there were complications from probably laying on your stomach from the pepper spray, he ended up dying. So that's when the cover up started. You know, a senior police officer came on the scene, and they, I guess, tried to put a story together, and they said that he died from a car crash. When he went to the hospital. The doctor was like, This ain't a car crash. These bruises and didn't come from a car crash. He, you know, the doctor had seen what, you know, what effects a car crash would have on a vehicle? Um, if you look at the vehicle, your vehicle had barely, minimal damage. He didn't hit a tree. He hit like a shrub, so there was minimal damage to the vehicle. So he didn't die from the impact from the car crash. So there was a cover up, you know, from from the beginning, then they said there was no body camera footage. They hid the body camera footage for over a year, and when the internal affairs division of the Louisiana State police saw the body camera footage, they wanted to prosecute their own officers, but the colonel of Louisiana State Police did not allow them to prosecute. Did not allow them to present the case to the district attorney's office. They also had the body camera footage. The governor of Louisiana at the time was informed that a motorist had died, and he didn't say anything. He didn't, you know, say, hey, let's do an internal affairs investigation, because we have somebody that, you know, a motorist died. So you have a number of different things that were part of the, part of the cover up. And not only that, they also shipped his body out of state. Normally, they have partners in the state of Louisiana, but they shipped his body to another state. Again, part of the cover up, his mother couldn't even find his body for a while, so that was another issue. And so basically, when you have all of these factors, then call kevala, who was a black state trooper. He also, you know, started hearing whispers about the case, and so he looked into it, and he found the body camera footage. And he's like, wait a minute, they're saying there's no body camera footage. There is, you know, it's here. So they wouldn't release the body camera footage to the family. They also said that it didn't exist. So Carl Cavalier blew the whistle, and that's basically he was, he leaked the video. He leaked that to the to the press, and then that's when, you know, the light, basically, the sunshine was, you know, started to show on the case. And you know what Paul Cavalier was brave. You know what he did? He ended up getting, losing his job because of what he did. There were some officers that were involved who, one officer basically killed himself. He, you know, got notification he was going to be fired over this incident. He drove his vehicle into a ditch or over a bridge and in a one car accident, and we believe that it was a suicide, because this individual was a driver instructor, so he know how to drive safely. So he decided to, you know, we believe kill themselves, that his family would get the pension. So that was one officer. Some other officers were never charged until, like, I think this happened in 2019 they weren't charged in 2024 there were two officers that were sentenced to one year probation, no jail time, nothing. And other officers retired and wasn't, you know, charged at all. So there was a civil rights investigation by the Biden administration, but they decided not to bring charges for whatever reason, and they made that announcement literally Biden's last week in office, the District Attorney's Office, you know, again, made a sweetheart deal with the officers and gave them probation for killing a man. And there was no you know, investigation to the cover up that you know, saying there was no body camera footage that, you know, he they lied about how he died. So it was really, you know, and this was before George Floyd, this is before Tyree Nichols. And we felt like this story needed to be told, just like, you know, James said, We're telling history here. And, you know, we look at it as, you know, Emmett Till's Mother, you know, she had that open casket because she wanted people to see. She wanted, you know, to the story to be told, and people to know the public, to know the world, to know and that's what we're trying to do in that, in that same kind of vein of telling history here and and so that's what, you know, got me involved in, and I was like, This is not right. And you know, they shouldn't, you know, get away with this. And this is why we call it unpunished. And unfortunately, this is only the first in a series of documentaries. We have other stories just like this that we are going to tell, and those will be coming out as well. We those are in the works and and so unfortunately, we have a number of people have been killed by the police, and their stories not as famous as so many other people out there. And we want to, you know, just tell their stories and get their families an opportunity to not talk about how they died, but how they lived, you know. And that's what we feel is important, is, you know, how they lived and who these were real people. And that's what we want to to to focus on

‍

Kerel Cooper (Zoom)  33:02

Bill, thank you for that. Very helpful to us, I'm sure, very helpful to our listeners. You know, the question I have for for you is, what do you want people to either take away or do after watching this documentary, or the others that you said that you guys have have coming. What's the what's the call to action here?

‍

Bill Hampton  33:28

Well, the call to action here is that one of the call to action is that we want to eliminate or reduce or change, you know, police immunity, you know, that's, that's basically allowing, you know, you know, cops to kill people and get away with it. And, you know, the qualified immunity, you know, it's, it's not appropriate when you beat somebody to death, you know, that's not part of the job. That's not part of, you know, arresting somebody, you know, once you arrest somebody, they're in your care, and you have to, you know, make sure that you treat them. You know what, you know to keep them alive and not not kill them. And you can't hide behind qualified immunity and say, I was in fear for my life. You know when you're beating a handcuffed person and punching it. You know a person, and you know that that's not, that's not, you know, reasonable amount of force. And so that's what the call to action is, is to say, Hey, this is not right. We need to, you know, have police not try to cover things up. And we need to re examine qualified immunity so that people can't get away with killing somebody, you know, and then trying to justify

‍

Erik  34:40

it. Excellent. Thanks, Bill. Bill Chico, really appreciate you spending some time with us and helping to share what you're doing with United venture productions and, more importantly, with unpunished. A lot of our listeners and viewers like to stay in touch, learn more, find out about our guests, and then also what you're working on. What are some ways that our listeners can find their way to learn more about United venture productions and then also unpunished? How can they find you?

‍

Chico  35:19

Well, you can go to to the website United venture productions, and we have the trailer up there for people to see. And so you're going to start to see other projects that's going to be posted. Also we have far as the social media apps, have someone publicist that's working on a social media site from LinkedIn, Instagram, YouTube, that's gonna be coming very soon.

‍

Erik  35:47

Excellent. Thank you very much. And thanks again for helping us to understand what you're working on and the importance of this film. And thank you Bill, thank you Chico, and thank you everyone for listening to another episode. You can find more episodes wherever you find all of your audio and video. Just look for Minority Report podcast search.

‍

Chico  36:10

I'm sorry to interrupt you, whoever's listening to this podcast that's located in Kansas City, Missouri, we will be there this week. We're showing our film on Saturday the 29th at 8:30pm at the AMC theater in Kansas City, at the film festival at at Kansas City Film Festival. So again, thank you gentlemen for allowing us this opportunity to to be seen and heard and talk about our project. Thank you so much

‍

Erik  36:42

Absolutely. Thanks everyone.

‍