Meagan Good on Hollywood pay disparity

This past weekend, Hollywood actress Meagan Good made an appearance at The Pavilion, at the Cradle of Humankind, just north of Johannesburg. She was accompanied by her well-known sister La’Myia Good and their cousin, Dijon Talton.

The Hollywood stars walked the red carpet and mingled with local stars from e.tv’s hit  drama Smoke & Mirrors, including Lusanda Mbane, JT Medupe and Meshack Mavuso Magabane.

Sowetan was there to take in the atmosphere and sit in on an insightful round-table discussion.

What’s the secret to longevity in the acting industry?

Meagan: To walk in your most authentic self and not compare yourself to anyone else. To remember and know what you bring to the table that nobody else brings, and, as you do that, the rope will reach out to meet you as you continue to walk it consistently. Just like the man mining for diamonds, who quits just as he’s inches away from the diamond, this industry requires you to love and have passion for the craft — it has to be bigger than all the other stuff, such as fame. It has to come from the heart. It’s also important to remember not to do anything you’ll ever regret while walking this journey.

Are actors paid their dues?

Meagan: Taraji P Henson revealed that the first time she made a decent amount of money [from acting] was when Tyler Perry paid her — that’s true for me too. I’ve been in the business since I was four years old, that’s like 39 years — and the first time somebody paid me what I should get paid was probably a year ago. There have been plenty of times when I’ve been broke, when I’ve been in between jobs, hosting a party just to make money to pay rent. [To be honest] it’s not always what it seems, but the biggest thing [for us] is to value ourselves and make sure that as we go along, we continue to practice that so that the people working with us, value us, and pay us appropriately.

Is it possible for actors to branch into production?

Dijon: It was a natural transition for us. We all started as child actors. When I was in my early 20s, I was able to work with some incredible filmmakers such as Ava DuVernay and Justin Simien, They gave us permission as black people to dream bigger. We are often told that being a director or producer is an old white man’s sport ... but these [filmmakers] gave us the permission to tell our stories and put our hat in the race.

Meagan: What I found was that my agent and manager at the time weren’t that supportive. They’d tell me: “Just be an actor, and just do that”. There wasn’t a lot of help, we literally had to figure it out by ourselves — this is in terms of raising money and the few things we had just to go and make this movie. And, because we can’t work on the movie every day, we’d often resort to the weekends — through this, we continued to learn and teach ourselves through the people who were around us. We were also quite surprised at the things we already knew as actors, which transitioned to directing and producing. Sometimes you don’t need someone to co-sign your dream.

How do we overcome the barriers between African and American storytellers?

La’Myia: In the world we live in, we’re all experiencing a lot of the same thing, and when you see something from someone else’s perspective, it shows the art of storytelling that combines the two worlds. I wouldn’t say language is a barrier, but [more than anything] we should aim to activate stories that are honest, authentic and genuine. I’m not saying there won’t be challenges, but good storytelling and authenticity help bridge that barrier.