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From Street Hustling to Cannes – How One L.A. Actress Got $2,400 to Pitch Her Natural Hair Documentary (Part 2)
Friday, July 18, 2014 at 6:02PM 
When IndieGoGo no longer seemed promising for actress Nydia Simone’s crowdfunding campaign, she turned random people on the streets of Los Angeles into benefactors of her Cannes Film Festival trip. The experience quickly came with some hard but important lessons as she met with strangers in several areas including Long Beach, Old Pasadena, UCLA, Baldwin Hills and Crenshaw Plaza.
Getting donations from people who generally don’t carry cash on them when they’re surfing was among Simone’s many obstacles. Still, that Hermosa Beach experience was nothing compared to getting kicked out of The Grove by the concierge and later visiting Beverly Hills – a place she believes is so pretentious, you can feel the judgment oozing out of people. When a man who donated to the Cannes trip asked if Simone was homeless, she started wondering if her signage deterred potential supporters.
In the end, she is certain that all successful moments during this entire stint pounding the pavement was made possible by letting go of her pride and talking to God. I met with Nydia Simone before she flew off to France and we discussed how this New York native went from living out of a carry-on bag to getting over $2,400 in two weeks for her Natural Hair Documentary.
Madlab Post: How many hours a day did you spend holding signs and collecting donations for your Cannes trip?
Nydia Simone: An average of 3-5 hours a day. In the beginning, it was three hours and then I was thinking “If I’m gonna get this money, I need to average like four or five hours a day!” and that’s just standing outside. That doesn’t count me going there – and I take public transportation. So, it takes time to get there and it takes time to get back. I remember one time it took me over two hours to get to a place and I was a little upset because all I got was $35 at this beach but I did get a really cool idea after that. The thing is, you live and you learn.
In between getting money for Cannes and auditioning for film and television roles, actress Nydia Simone also worked with production crews.In total, it takes up your whole day because you leave in the morning or mid-morning, you get to your spot and by the time that’s done, you go home.
You collect all these business cards and you’re emailing people “thank you for this” and people that want you to work with them or send them your headshot or information, blah, blah, blah!
Half of these people are bullshit. So, you have to figure out which ones are real but you never know. I’m going to be interning with a distribution company that I met on the street.
I don’t know what will come of that but I’m going to absorb notes and work as hard as I can so that they go “That girl right there is going to be somebody and do something amazing! We better watch her!”
Why did you choose those particular locations where you went to collect donations for your trip?
The most important thing was traffic. High traffic wins over…whatever. Sometimes I would get advice but I stopped listening to people because they were giving horrible advice. People told me to go to Hermosa [beach] – that was a horrible, horrible place! It was probably pretty good for what they were doing, but for what I was doing, I needed to be somewhere else. So, I’ve researched high traffic areas in L.A. when I ran out of ideas.
I learned that places where there is community, the people in that community are more likely to donate than those in tourist spots. When I went to Hollywood and Vineland – I could only stay for an hour that day because I have so much to do – but I got one dollar in an hour. Maybe I could’ve gotten $20 in the next five minutes -- you never know, but that’s not a good place for me to be.
Is there a stake in the community? North Hollywood was really good because a lot of people live and worked in L.A. and they believed in dreams. Crenshaw was great because black people are more likely to donate. Period. It’s a community, they want people in the community to do well; the older people in that community want young people to do it! It is common for people to collect donations this way. People don’t do it as much in California but I feel like what I did wasn’t so outlandish. Maybe it was, but I was so desperate that I was like “I don’t care,” (laughs).
Of all the places you went to collect donations, which spot brought the least amount of donations and what areas contributed larger donations?
The most amount I received was at Crenshaw Plaza -- $201 in one day. The least amount of money was West Hollywood and that was like $30. However, a lot of factors go into it because what time of the month are you going? Everybody has money at the beginning of the month. At the end of the month, their funds are a little low. It was the end of the month when I went to West Hollywood. Maybe I didn’t go to a good spot.
Maybe I didn’t have as much traffic as I was expecting. You can’t be on private property; you have to be on public property. The most I got was $35 or $37, so that was probably the worst place just because people didn’t have cash on them; If you’re in a bathing suit, then you’re probably not carrying any cash. I know I still have a lot to learn about crowdfunding, but, I make more money collecting cash on the street than on IndieGoGo.
What factors attributed to your IndieGoGo campaign falling short of its goal online?
My video was basically just me and my computer. Definitely your video is very important – if it’s nicely edited, if you have it done professionally, you’re probably going to get more money. I edited my video on iMovie and threw it up on there; you can see the black couch in the background.
When we’re face-to-face, I can sell you on my film, what I’m passionate about and what I want to do. It’s either you’re going to donate or you’re not. If you’re not, let’s move on to the next person. It’s very straightforward. Online, people have to take out their credit card, look at the numbers, and type them in. Soon it’s like “I don’t think I want to do this anymore. Oh, the pizza is here! I forgot,” so it’s a lot easier to get money now, on the street.
What role does making movies, particularly documentaries, play in furthering your goals as a Television actress on Nickelodeon or Disney channels?
This came because I learned that as a black actress, in Hollywood, we just don’t get hired. People are like “Oh no, I hired a black girl last week” and a lot of people will agree that yes, black people do get hired – but not that much in Hollywood.
If I’m going to be working here, I’m going to have to create my own work. Otherwise, I’ll just be sitting around twirling my fingers.
I’ve wanted to do this documentary for 2-3 years and planned on waiting until I was seasoned and know more about show business but if I wait, I’ll just be waiting. This has already provided opportunities for me. I’m working on a new television network called the G-Block for teens and tweens. As soon as I figure out when we’re going to be shooting, then I’ll be able to start my production schedule. I’ve noticed that when you’re on a moving train, everything just comes. But when you’re waiting, nothing comes.
Stay tuned as my conversation with actress/producer Nydia Simone continues, where we cover…
- How Facebook played a role in her decision to seek out movie investors in France.
- Why she changed her business major to acting while studying at The City College of New York (CCNY).
- How she survives in L.A. while making time to attend church with one of Hollywood’s elite couples.
If you missed my chat with Nydia Simone about her Natural Hair Documentary, read Part 1: HERE.
What are some of the most pretentious cities/towns YOU'VE ever visited?
Who is YOUR favorite natural hairstyle wearing actress?
*Photos courtesy of Nydia Simone
Reader Comments (5)
This has been such an enlightening conversation to see/read. I have attempted crowdfunded and am not the best as collecting funds (lol!!) But I must admit that the part about older generations being supportive when they see a young person trying to be about something positive, I have to agree with that. :-)
When I lived in San Diego, I loved visiting different areas. La Jolla is a beautiful area but it did not have the pretentious air I got to feel when a friend and I spent the day touring Rodeo Drive. OMG!
I'm glad she was able to make a go of it. I'll confess, I'm white, and I don't really give much thought to whether a person has her hair natural or relaxed. But I can see that society wanting a black person's hair to look more "white" is an issue. I was reading an article this morning where several styles that would seem nice for natural, untreated hair are banned by the military, including just a nice, short afro. This certainly is prejudice, and it shouldn't be tolerated.
I'm visiting from the A to Z list. I enjoyed reading your post.
It's such a shame that black people get hired so rarely in Hollywood. They follow the social dynamic I guess. Great insights into this important film.
Angela,
Collecting the dough is hard in many scenarios. I wonder if the ADD that our tech culture has makes online funding a bigger challenge. Crowdfunding is a difficult beast to handle indeed...I've underestimated how hard it can be, even after doing research on statistics, trends, etc. and reading about case studies on projects that succeeded and projects that fell short of the goal.
Considering that the youth are the future of the generations that came before them, it's no wonder we have to figure out if we need to be worried or if we can relax...all based on which direction the youth are going in. You and Nydia have me hesitant to go to certain parts of California now, lol. I guess maybe I'll stick with San Diego (still planning to visit for the first time, one of these days) and some other more friendly places on the West Coast.
Wanda,
Thank you for your comment on this post. I was watching The Today Show on NBC earlier this week and one of the Hosts Tamron Hall mentioned someone saying that natural hair (on African-American women) looks unprofessional; a perspective that I find kinda annoying but can understand how it came to be given how society and generally defines "professional." Several months ago, I read a piece about military rules against certain natural hairstyles for women in the military but, at that time, I didn't make much of it because it's possible that the organization put some hairstyle rules in place for safety measures.
At least, that's what I imagine their reasoning to be behind that. Unfortunately, we live in a world where prejudice exists in most every nation and culture. Ours (America) just happens to be with regards to race and in many other cases, gender and sexual orientation. It is sad but this is the reality that we are dealing with here. It only changes and gets better if more people exhibit the positivity that they wish to see in the world around them within themselves. It starts with us and is up to us to shape the world or inspire the world with our own actions, behavior and way of living.
Maurice,
There's no surprise that the social dynamic influences a lot of decision-making in Hollywood, due to it being a business first. Hollywood seeks numbers and profit so the work caters to what the masses wants...or at least, what they think the masses wants based on generalizations of what certain types of characters (doctor, lawyer, mother, wife, business tycoon, drug addict, convict, mafia boss, family man, dead beat, etc.) are perceived to be like in the eyes of the public. If you give the people what (you think) they want, then chances are high that the work will be a box office draw.
Among actors and actresses, women have it harder than men when it comes to finding roles but actors in the latino and asian communities are also hired less often, so that's more unfair and/or unbalanced dynamics in play there. Still, in many cases it all boils down to one factor....casting for film is not a race thing or a gender thing...it's a Money thing. I'm glad you enjoyed reading about Nydia's quest to make her Natural Hair Documentary.
Wow, that's an good amount.