Beyond The Threshold
Beyond the Threshold is a weekly podcast hosted by award winning audio editor, Sidney Evans. This show dedicated to interviewing black audio professionals in a variety of roles, while highlighting the lessons and experiences it takes to achieve success in the field.
The goal is to build a platform that connects and supports those established in audio, while also inspiring those looking to break into the industry.
Beyond The Threshold
Ep.5 : From Arkansas to Hollywood w/Melisa D. Monts
Text Beyond the Threshold w/ your thoughts or questions!
In this episode of Beyond the Threshold, host Sidney Evans is joined by Melisa D. Monts, a NW Arkansas native who is a writer, producer, audiobook director, CEO of Diamond MPrint Productions and Co-Founder of Sister Sign Productions.
In this episode we discuss:
- Her early aspirations growing up in NW Arkansas that resulted in a move to LA.
- The key roles & experiences that shaped her transition from writer to producer.
- The natural shift that resulted in her working on audiobooks and podcasts.
- Lessons on seizing opportunities, negotiations, and her creative process.
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How to follow or connect with Melisa:
Website: https://melisadmonts.com/
Linkedin: www.linkedin.com/in/melisadmonts/
Instagram: www.instagram.com/sheisnotmelissa/
Tiktok: www.tiktok.com/@sheisnotmelissa
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Ask for what you want, because I just ask for things and if people say no, okay, but if they say yes, great. Getting my foot in the door for the entertainment industry was. I just called up schools and asked if I could work on their student films and they were like we don't really get people asking that, but sure.
Sidney Evans:Tune in as we give flowers to Black men and women making waves in the audio industry. I'm your host, sidney Evans, and this is Beyond the Threshold. Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to Beyond the Threshold. I'm your host, sidney Evans, an award-winning audio editor, mixer and producer. Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to Beyond the Threshold. I'm your host, sidney Evans, an award-winning audio editor, mixer and producer.
Sidney Evans:For those of you who don't know, on this show I interview Black men and women working in the audio industry, highlighting the lessons and experiences it takes to achieve success in the field. As always, we got another great episode in store for today. Field as always, we got another great episode in store for today. And speaking of experiences, today's guest has quite a few of them, so I can't wait to hear the background regarding those experiences. And when a guest agrees to come on the show, I actually send them a link to fill out their bio and a couple of other questions as well. And usually that's where people really are excited about sharing the roles they held and the productions and projects that they worked on. And in today's guest she did share her roles, but she I felt like she went kind of modest on the productions, and you know the shows and you know name dropping all the the people that she's been involved with, so I'm'm going to make sure she does share some of that throughout the course of the interview.
Sidney Evans:To give a little background on her, she's a native of Northwest Arkansas and currently resides in Los Angeles. She's a TV and film writer and producer, a podcast host and producer, audio book director and a novel writer and, for those who are familiar with sports and the triple double or baseball, the triple crown I don't know, we need to come up with some type of term for somebody who writes, produces, is talent and directs, but I'm going to think about that off air and I'm going to get back to you on that. She's also the CEO of Diamond Imprint Productions and co-founder of Sister Sign Productions. So, without further ado, I'd like to introduce Melisa D. Monts guest, . Welcome to the show, melissa.
Melisa D. Monts:Thank you. Thank you for having me. I'm so excited to be here.
Sidney Evans:Yes, I appreciate you coming on. As she said off air she doesn't do a lot of podcast interviews recently but, as you learned throughout today's episode, she is in front of the mic quite a bit, so hopefully it'll come back, you know, immediately. But yeah, I don't have too much other than kind of just getting into your story and your upbringing. What was your inspiration, I would assume, out of all of these, out of all that's happened in your illustrious career? I just wanted to say illustrious. So did you start off with writing like the foundation for you?
Melisa D. Monts:So growing up I actually wanted to be an orthodontist. You know, my undergrad degree is in biology, but I took writing classes for fun. Well, I thought they were just for fun and I really enjoyed them and I excelled in them. And a screenwriting class presented itself my senior year in college and I was I just I took the class and I really liked it and then I was like maybe I should. I really wasn't feeling the dentistry field anymore. I took a dental class for the first time and I was like I don't know if this is actually what I want to do. Let me see this other thing that I've been really excited about this. When I was in elementary school I used to write like little scripts based on Power Rangers that I would have my classmates act out during recess. So it was always something that was there. But my parents were pushing me to be a doctor. But then when I told them that I was interested in the entertainment field, they were still like completely on board with that. So they've always been supportive.
Sidney Evans:Okay, that's cool. Well, you definitely had me at Power Rangers and I'm glad you mentioned that, like whether your parents were supportive or not, because I was going to ask, like, were you encouraged to kind of take a more traditional route as far as career? It's kind of either one extreme or the other, as either you're encouraged to, you know, be a dentist or a doctor, go to school, do all those things a very linear way, or you have parents who are like super creative themselves, whether it be like musicians or a dancer or some type of artist, and that kind of obviously just rubs off on the child. So I'm glad you shared that. So, college I guess you took the class in college and realized that's more what you wanted to do, or maybe it was even just from taking the dentistry courses what you didn't want to do. But what was the moment when you decided that you were actually going to pursue and take it seriously and dedicate a lot of time to it?
Melisa D. Monts:So I was in, like I said, I was in college taking the writing classes and I took a playwriting class and then a screenwriting class, you know, just for fun. They didn't add anything to my biology degree. I actually went into college with already 30 hours, so like from taking classes at community college while I was in high school and so my senior year I really didn't have to be there, but why would I go into the real world?
Sidney Evans:Yes, let's delay that process a little bit longer.
Melisa D. Monts:Yeah, so I was taking I took screenwriting, playwriting, golf, gymnastics, like just fun classes. I really, really enjoyed the writing and I like got to a point where I was like I don't know what I want to do. So I went and talked to my counselor and she was like, well, you've taken these classes that you do enjoy and you don't. You haven't enjoyed like the dental class that you take. Why don't you explore this? And me being in Arkansas? Now there's like the Bentonville Film Festival and Arkansas has like a great program for kids, like for film.
Melisa D. Monts:But at that time there really wasn't anything film related that was going on that I knew about and so I hadn't really thought about it as a career. So then when I started looking into it, that next year I went and just kind of called up schools in California and was like in Los Angeles and I was like, hey, can I come work on some student films? And they said, sure, we don't really get this request, but you can PA. So they connected me with students, worked on things at UCLA, usc and AFI and I really, really enjoyed it. So I shadowed would come back to Arkansas. I was working in the health like using my degree working in the health field, saved up some money, and then once I really you know, was really cemented in this is what I wanted to do, I moved out to LA. I went to UCLA's program that they have, where I studied entertainment studies, tv writing and as well as directing and producing. So that's how I got my foot in the door.
Sidney Evans:Yeah, that's kind of well. That's very ambitious. Coming from Arkansas, did you go to college in Arkansas?
Melisa D. Monts:Yeah, I went to the University of Arkansas. I mean, I was born in Arkansas, I lived in they call it like a corporate America brat my mom worked for Kraft Foods for most of my childhood and we moved around a lot, so I've lived in numerous different states and then we wound up back in Arkansas during when I was in eighth grade, and so then I and my mom also went to the University of Arkansas. So you know legacy in that way, and so I had always, no matter where we lived, I had always planned on going to the University of Arkansas.
Sidney Evans:Okay, cool. So so, from Arkansas to LA. So when you got to LA and got that experience, those first initial experiences, did you? Did it become clear to you, Like when you started, I guess, like how did it kind of happen? Like it seemed like you were kind of doing a little bit of everything, Like when did you discover that, like writing was either your thing or it might be the path of least resistance, or did like a specific idea come to you and you were like nobody else is doing anything like this, Like I want to work on something you know in this style or in this vein, and it wasn't presented. So you're like well, I just got to write it in order to do it. Like how did that kind of work?
Melisa D. Monts:I mean I would say my first there's no one. There's no new ideas. There's no new ideas, it's just different executions of the same things that have already existed. But I wrote several things and with early writers, nothing that you write in the beginning is actually good, but you get it on paper and it's a learning process from that. But I knew when I made the move, I knew that I would be working in the entertainment industry and I didn't. There's, there was no like second thing, there wasn't anything else. I knew when I moved.
Sidney Evans:OK. So you went through that process of just getting it out on paper, writing, perfecting the craft. When was the moment where you realized you had something like this is really good, and was that the first thing that other people agreed was good or like did you does? There are ongoing process of you just people like you know, taking you serious as a writer or someone wanting to like, invest or give you an opportunity to like okay, this is, this is solid. Let's try to actually do something with this, because I know the the process for getting stuff made is is a long process and even though you might get a, you know, a deal to write it, you might write it they could probably just buy it from you and then change it up a little bit. Or did they come back to you like okay, we like the initial idea, let's present it to somebody. Make changes. What was that like?
Melisa D. Monts:Well, with the writing. I would say that has always been the long-term goal, but I kind of got off that path. So I've always been writing but producing kind of became the main thing. So after I finished school, I did a few intern while I was in school and then, after I did a couple internships, then I got a job working for a company called Indomal, which is big in reality TV, where I was an office production assistant. And then after that I went on to work for a writer, director, producer as their assistant and, you know, kept my head down really learning more from the people that I was surrounded by. And then I went on to produce a series and got into podcasting.
Melisa D. Monts:And then I will say like recently, during the pandemic, I really refocused myself on writing and I did Stowe's writing program. I was accepted to that last year and I've placed in several like competitions for writing. And so I was like okay, melissa, you were out of it for a while, now you're back in it. And so now I'm writing a short form drama series for a company. I can't talk too much about it because things are a little bit under wraps right now, but should learn more soon but writing a short form drama series series that's two parts. Each one will have about 40 to 50 two-minute episodes for that, and then also for a company called Riddick. I am writing a web novel for them which is about werewolves. It's available now. It's the number one hottest novel right now on the website. That I'm really excited about. And then I'm also with my manager. She's also a producer and so she has the rights to a novel called Jane Anonymous and asked me to adapt that, so I'm working on that as well.
Sidney Evans:Okay. So you, I wasn't cause I, upon preparing for this episode, I saw obviously I mentioned you, you did all those things, but I wasn't sure of the timeline, so I had kind of knew that it would be jumps and twists and turns. So but you did mention podcasting and this is obviously a platform to highlight people working in audio. So like how, how did the podcasting thing happen? I know you said you got into that and then eventually, obviously you started your own company. So like what were your first experiences with that? And then when you're like, okay, I've kind of perfected that skill or I kind of know what to do. So I kind of want to, you know, be at the helm and start my own company.
Melisa D. Monts:So with the audio and podcasting. So one of the internships that I did I had it was with a director that I had seen that they were crowdfunding for a film that they were working on, and so I reached out to see if he needed work or an assistant to work on that film. And that film didn't end up going. But he reached out and he was like hey, I need an assistant to work on that film. And that film didn't end up going. But he reached out and he was like hey, I need an assistant editor for another project. And I was like I've never edited in my life and he asked me. He said well, I'll teach you. And so I learned how to edit from him and the main editor that were working on that project and it gave me like very basic skills. I was mostly just doing string outs where I was laying out the footage, but it gave me the basics for working in editing software. And then when I was working for that producer director, when I was his assistant, he was already working on the first podcast that I worked on, which is Not Too Deep, with Grace Helbig, and that was something we were doing in addition to the other TV film projects that we were working on, and so I was like an assistant, working as a PA on that podcast. And then one week the editor had gone out of town and so the producer asked me. He said would you be interested in editing this? I remember you saying that you could edit and I was like I said I was an assistant editor, I wasn't really like editing, but it was going to be extra money so and I was assistant at that time could use extra money. So I was like, yeah, I can do that. So I went home and I really just learned how to edit by watching videos on YouTube and got good at it. And I got so good that the producer eventually was just like you can just edit these from now on. So I did that and because of that and then the skills that I was getting while I was shadowing and just learning, like I said, I was absorbing so much information Then I eventually moved up to being a producer at that company and so we were producing Not Too Deep and then other shows, just kind of naturally.
Melisa D. Monts:I never really advertised that I was a podcast producer. People would just naturally come and ask like, hey, would you produce this show, or they had been guessed on what we were doing on Not Too Deep, and so that's really how I got into podcasting. The company came about because when we were working on Mr Student Body President, which is a digital series that ran for four seasons, I had to because I was working. It was a company called Go90 that no longer exists. It was Verizon's company, but it was a phone app.
Melisa D. Monts:And so when I was working with them there and I was no longer working under that producer that I had been an assistant for, but I was still working with him, and they needed me to have a loan out, so that's an S Corp, llc, etc. And so I just made my company so that they could pay me. And then, as more projects came along and I moved away from working with that producer, all the things that I worked on eventually became part of the company. Then I hired an assistant, I hired an editor, hired you know things. Just as things came along, I would hire more people and the company grew from there.
Sidney Evans:I guess from the early stages of podcasting, like there was no really I don't know pipeline of people who were just doing a podcast and they were kind of like coming from other industries. So it made sense to not initially be like, oh, I'm a podcast producer. It was like no, I kind of do you know other things TV, film, radio, whatever it is and then you just apply that skillset to podcasting and then you become a podcast producer and those became like the blueprint and then it eventually became like a title in itself. So that makes sense. So we covered your writing, producing, editing as well, but you also under that under the umbrella of your company, direct audio books. So and I've said this a couple of times during the interview already, but how did that come about?
Melisa D. Monts:So everything really comes from the writing. I was at a writer's retreat it was a screenwriting retreat that was in Palm Springs over a weekend and I was there just to you know, meet other women writers and we were just having fun and working things out and doing different workshops was a audiobook producer from Penguin Random House, and so she asked me when we were talking she knew that I worked in podcasting. She asked me had I ever thought about directing audiobooks and I was like I didn't even know audiobooks had a director. But you seem like you have the experience and she's also a black woman and she was saying that they were increasing like diversity at the company. And she asked me if I would want to come and um shadow a producer while or a director while they were um doing an audio book. And I said sure. So I went to the office and shadowed and I really enjoyed it, and this was at the end of 2019. They were like it'll take a couple months to get you on your first book, but we think you have the right mindset to direct, and so I directed my first book in March of 2020.
Melisa D. Monts:So that was when the pandemic hit. Everything had shut down and so my first book I didn't have anybody there with me to help me really, because and if this had been normal times, then I would have been in the studio and somebody would have been there to help guide me but I was doing this virtual and this is at a time where people weren't really understanding virtual, so there was a lot of kinks to work out. I was one of the first people to do an audio book virtually, but I did that. And then my best friend, who also I co-host my podcast, most of my podcasts with Megan Rinks. She also had a book that was coming out at that same time that she had written and she was supposed to go in studio to record that, but then and that was actually at a different company, that wasn't Penguin, and so, but then because of the pandemic, they were just like we're not sure how to go about this.
Melisa D. Monts:And then Megan was like well, my friend, she's an audio book director. Again, at that time I had done one book and I think it was a children's book actually, and so she was like she can do it. And they were like OK, so I did her book and then after that I did more with Penguin, did her book, and then after that I did more with Penguin. And now, since then I've done last week I directed my 50th book, I believe so, which was with another friend, so that was great, but I directed 50 books I had. I directed Amanda Gorman's book, call us what we carry, which was nominated for a Grammy. So things have been good in the audiobook space.
Sidney Evans:Okay, speak to audiobooks. I'm trying to get into them. I list recently, recently listened to Will Smith's book via audio because I couldn't physically read it as much as like I got into it, so I was, I couldn't read it as fast as I could listen to it, or whatever. But the thing about audiobooks that's interesting is that and maybe this is your experience as well like the narrator is very important because I prefer ones where, like because I listen to a lot of stuff or consume a lot of stuff, where they're like autobiographical or you know it's like a memoir or something, so they have a somebody has a connection to it, and I prefer them to voice it because obviously there's a direct correlation, but sometimes, like, if you're doing it, obviously if it's like fiction or something like that, it's made up, so it has to be somebody you know, random and just I'm not to say that they're good or bad, but just like their tone or how they deliver or whatever can kind of take you, it can bring you into the story or it can take you out.
Sidney Evans:Um, and I was assumed that y'all spent a lot of time trying to like, get tonality and inflection and obviously when you just have audio you don't have a visual to to it, those things are much more important. But like what would you say kind of was the biggest? Based off of what I'm hearing, like this was probably the thing that was kind of the most out the blue or random, maybe, you know, you didn't foresee it coming. So like what was the, I guess, kind of like the biggest challenges in regards to doing that, outside of your initial challenge of not being able to be in studio?
Melisa D. Monts:Yeah, one thing is that with audio books I am there as part of like the hiring phase. I'm there like at the end, so I'm not involved in hiring the talent or anything, or even picking the talent. They're already booked and then I get booked. So I don't have as a director, you don't have any control of who the narrators are. But the companies do a really good job of training. If they're not already working in voices and voice acting, there's a lot of training. I mean, penguin Random House has a wonderful program that they have where new narrators can sign up and get the experience that they need.
Melisa D. Monts:But yes, the first I'd say like 10, 15 minutes we're really trying to nail what the tone for the rest of the book is going to be. Talking through it, I'm asking questions. I also have already read the book and I've already prepped it, looking up words, making sure we've got the correct pronunciations and things like that. But then when we get to the studio it's usually I'll have them read the first chapter and if the tone isn't right then we're going to, you know, workshop it a little bit and then go back and redo the first chapter. But I'm also stopping, in the same way that a film director is doing. I'm cutting and giving notes, and then we can continue on.
Sidney Evans:Okay, cool. So I do want to move forward a little bit. Thanks for sharing that. But before we move forward, I want to back up for a second, because obviously your foundation is writing, which is we have made very clear. But I'm curious to know like your like your creative process for writing. Like, do you seclude yourself like, do you like to be isolated? Do you like to like go out and kind of be amongst the people, maybe go to like a coffee shop, maybe just to I don't know whether it's really getting maybe just getting the idea down and then secluding yourself to flush it out? Is it something that you I don't know like you'd like to do activities non-related to writing, so like the ideas can kind of come and flow, to remove yourself from the pressure of having to to have an idea at that moment? I know there are a lot of different ways people do things to ultimately get to the end result, to have something that's well written. So I'm curious to what that process looks like for you.
Melisa D. Monts:I'm constantly writing down ideas as they come to me. So if I have like a little inkling of something, I'll write it down and just put it away. It might not be the thing that's forefront. Like, right now I'm working, I'm writing three different projects, but they're not things that I actually had the initial idea for, because I've been hired to write these things. But I have like a storage bank of ideas. But if it's something that I have an idea for, then I'll take it.
Melisa D. Monts:And when I'm ready to write it because I just kind of let things come to me as they do, naturally I'll sit on it and just like kind of just think about ideas. I just like to sit and let it marinate and then I'll write down just like plot points that I have for different things that would happen in the story and then I'll craft my characters around, how I want them to behave in certain situations and then really do character work on each of those individuals, like imagine them in certain situations, right? Maybe if I'm having trouble with something, I'll write them into a short story where they're figuring something out, and then I'll outline what I'm actually doing and then sit down and write and the first draft it's like a dump, it's not really good. But then after I write the first drive, I'll sit with it for a minute and then put it away and then come back to it and during this time, like the characters are kind of just talking to me in my head and then I can really sit down and write it.
Sidney Evans:Okay. So that's interesting. It kind of puts me. It kind of reminds me of something that I watched. It's been a while now, but I watched, like behind the scenes documentary on Boys in the Hood.
Sidney Evans:For those who don't know, you know John Seagal wrote it, directed it. He would say that once everybody got on set and before they actually started shooting, just to prepare or whatever, obviously you have the script for the film film, but then you also they would do things to where they would have the actors be the characters and act situations that didn't have anything to do with the movie but it had to do with the character. So you can figure out the character. So I would assume that's a little bit different with your own writing, but that's the same thing. Though I were to like, I feel like, the ideal and maybe the scenes and general general ideas, I might be okay yet, but actually getting the characters in the scene and writing the dialogue and using it to kind of connect the dots is, uh, would be very difficult, you know, in my opinion. So how do you go about writing good dialogue?
Melisa D. Monts:So for when I'm writing, sometimes like I know what I want them to say, but I'm not sure how I want to say it. So I'll write just like dummy dialogue to go in the spot. Or I'll put like or I know how the person's going to respond, but I don't know what the thing is that's going to trigger the response yet. So I'll just have just hold words or hold phrases in or writing down the general idea of what I want. But it's important to me just to get everything down on the page. And then I go back and refine the dialogue and then also I read it out loud, usually with my assistant, who's also my sister, so we sit down and read through everything. I mean, even I had this one script that had like a 10-year-old girl and I have a 10- 10 year old niece and so I had her read the dialogue for that and like made sure that it sounded like how a 10 year old would speak. So just going back and forth, I mean.
Melisa D. Monts:And then I know professional writers deal with this too. But you get notes back from the studio and sometimes, like I recently got a note back that was just like this is like really good, but we need to make it more simplistic for the audience. So so I had to I have to go back in and make it more plain language and not the flower, but that's like a studio specific note If it was something and again, this is a project that I didn't have the idea for, so, like if it was something that was my own idea, I would fight harder against that. Um, because I think you should trust your audience. Um, but I'm going to appease the people that are paying.
Sidney Evans:Speaking of speaking of pay, and we're going to move on from the writing stuff, but I just wanted to. It's such an important skill to have, so I really wanted you to dive deep in regards to that, because it can be the foundation for everything, as it was for you, and just lead to a lot of other things. But we're not gonna spend too much time on, like being compensated in money and things like that, and I'm not gonna get too specific. But I just kind of know you're a general approach to like when you're getting paid to do things, like, do you go in, you know, having a specific number in mind and then you go up and down from there.
Sidney Evans:Do you go into situations? You know, okay, I know people who are interested in hiring me. They have more of a bigger budget, so I know I'm going to shoot higher. I know this. May you know, this company over here may have a smaller budget, but the stuff that they do I love and I would really like to work on something like this, so I'm more willing to negotiate. Or do you just go in and you know you're hard and firm and if they're able to meet it, they can. If they're not, you know you thank them and you move on to something else. So just kind of want to know your general approach as opposed to like specific numbers and things of that nature.
Melisa D. Monts:Yeah, so for podcasting, I've been doing this for years. I've been doing it since 2015, I think. So I've been in it, like I'm seasoned in podcasting and I've been working in it for a while and my skills are vast, from like actually writing shows for hosts to being on the microphone. Um to editing Um, I don't really edit that much anymore. I have um, a team now, um, mostly Coco shout out to Coco, um, that edit, Um, but um.
Melisa D. Monts:But I know what my rate is for podcasting. I don't go any lower than what my actual rate is and if people like have people coming to me pitching me stuff all the time, and if it's not worth what my rate is, then I won't take it. I'm just like, like you said, thank you. Like I said earlier, with podcasting I've never sought out anyone to work with. It's always come to me and then come back to me and be like we actually need your skill set, and I've also been.
Melisa D. Monts:I've also like worked with bigger companies like Stitcher, where they have specifically where I've worked my podcasts are part of their like programs that pay out, but I don't work for the company, and they've also they've brought me shows on their own or asked me to fill in when they're down a producer or something, so it's very set for that. With audiobooks, there's a set rate for everything. So I'm not I work with with mostly with Penguin, Random House and Harper Collins, and there's a set rate for both of those. There's no negotiating with it. With writing, I'm more flexible on that, just depending on what the project is. If it's something that I really want to work on, then I might have a lower rate, but it's always a negotiation.
Sidney Evans:Right, okay, that makes sense and I really did want to touch on it because a lot of times in media or people who are in the creative industry, like those, you're going to get to that at some point.
Sidney Evans:So you gotta kind of be knowledgeable, knowledgeable about it. But usually people who are creatives aren't, like I would say, like the I don't know. They're not as capitalistic like you know. They're kind of more like I'm doing it for the art and to a certain point. But you do have to cross that barrier to. Sometimes it's like okay, ultimately it's going to end up you have to make a business decision at the end of the day. So you want to be well-versed as far as to, obviously you know charging what you're worth, but then also being flexible depending on the project and things like that.
Sidney Evans:So I did want to touch on that. Okay, so we're getting close to the end here, but I did want to touch on you actually being in front of the mic and you know being a host on shows consistently. So I thought your concept was was interesting for how you have a show for every day of the week. So I'll let you kind of explain, like the idea behind that, how that came about and it obviously share the name of the shows, because we want to promote all the things that you're involved in and, to be honest, the friday one, I don't want to say it. I'll let you say it because you have to. There's gonna have to be a disclaimer, some type of explanation going along with that.
Sidney Evans:Yes, so this is a this is somewhat of a a family friendly podcast, so I'll, I'll let you explain it the best way you can even this, the tuesday one.
Melisa D. Monts:If you really think about it, it actually isn't what you think. It is, um, but um. So me and my friend, megan um, well, it started off of producing her podcast Don't Blame Me, it was before we were actually like really close, but we started doing that in 2017. And she was the host. She's a digital creator, so she's the host of that show and then it got to the point where sometimes people ask questions. It's a call and advice show point where sometimes people ask questions. It's a call and advice show, and sometimes people would call in and they would have like questions that she might not have experience in. Then me, as the producer, I would chime in to add in, you know, just some flavor, and we would have guests on the show. And we would have guests on the show and then, as the show went on, we were still having guests, but people were asking for more of me on the microphone, and so then it would be every other week it would be her and I, and then having the guests on the off weeks. But then when we were like leaning for us, we were like we don't really need the guests anymore. It gets fun with just the two of us. And then when the pandemic hit, it was just like okay, this makes it easy. We were like we'll just have it, just be the two of us going forth, and our audience really likes that like really likes it a lot. And since then since we started it in 2017, she's become like my best friend and so people really like our friendship. And then we were like thinking about what we would want our next thing to be for our brand. So you mentioned Sister Sign Productions earlier. That's her, my company with her. And so then we were doing I think we were doing one call and somebody said something like but would I be wrong to do this? And we were like wait, that's like we both had this like moment where we just looked at each other and was like let's now do, but am I wrong as a show? And so with that one, it's like we say it's like people that didn't take our advice from don't blame me. And um, we yes, and and so like. And so now they're asking were they wrong in this situation? And so that's where but am I wrong? Came about. And then the other shows see you next Tuesday. I will say that I haven't updated my website yet, but last week we actually changed the order of how we, how the shows come out. Now, um, but am I wrong? Is on Monday. See you next Tuesday is on Tuesdays, but it you actually? I'm just going to skip it and just say what see you next Tuesday is. See you next Tuesday is, um, now, um, where we read the results from, but am I wrong? So we'll post, like, people's thoughts on if they were wrong in the situation, and so we'll do it on our Instagram and then people will vote and then they'll write in and share their own experience with that or give their own thoughts, and so that's what See you Next Tuesday is. And then Thursday is Don't Blame Me, and then Friday, fisting Friday.
Melisa D. Monts:It was a joke, okay, it was a joke that we were like we don't know what to call this show, and it was. We were just like people write in, like give us some ideas, and no one had anything else. They like we actually love this, uh, so it stuck. Um, it stuck, and so, uh, that's where we're just talking, doing catch-ups with each other. Um, uh, because we were cutting out like 30, 40 minutes of when we were doing Don't Blame Me and we like had mentioned it to our audience, and we also have a Patreon, which is like the people that we like know, know, because we do live streams with them twice a month and like they get, we know them like on a personal basis, like I consider, like some of them, my friends now, and so they were like, well, we want to hear the conversations y'all are having that you're cutting out. And so now we specifically just have an episode of us just talking and catching up.
Melisa D. Monts:And then Just Between Us is a separate podcast with Allison Raskin and Gabe Dunn and that is a variety show that deals with mental health and has guest experts on and talking about topical shows, and so at the end of that show I come on and rate the shows. On our regular shows, on the variety shows, I come in and rate it at the end as the producer. But then they started asking me like to be part of the last segment called Topics, where we're talking about current events or just any topic really, and so I started doing that as a regular part. And then every other week we have another show called Too Long Did Read it, where we're looking into things on reddit and discussing that, and they wanted me to be a part of the full episodes for those. So that's what wednesday is okay.
Sidney Evans:So I one thing that I'm noticing is that, um, I figured out the cheat code because y'all, y'all, y'all are using, like other people, like you're, you're you're coming with the content ideas without having to come up with it yourself. Like you're sharing other people, like you're, you're you're coming with the content ideas without having to come up with it yourself. Like you're sharing other people's stories, like what you just mentioned, you're, um going down like the reddit rabbit hole, which you know, if you're careful, you'll get stuck forever. Um. So I think that, and I was already.
Melisa D. Monts:Yeah, I mean every other day.
Sidney Evans:Whether people want to admit it or not, every I think everybody has took that route somewhat. That's pretty cool. Like I said, I love the idea, so I'm glad you shared the backstory on all of those, and especially Friday. Thank you for clearing that up.
Melisa D. Monts:I mean, did I really clear it up though the name is not really. Yeah, I mean it does, it's just alliteration.
Sidney Evans:The story behind it is the story behind it, you know, um? So, given all the your experiences for someone cause? So because on this platform, not only do I want to, you know, share the experiences of the people that I have on, I also wanted this to be an inspiration and a resource for people who would like to get into the industry. So you could probably get a ton of advice based on you know, what you've seen. But what would be like the top thing that you would share for someone looking to break into audio or in the media industry in general?
Melisa D. Monts:My top thing is that ask for what you want, because I've just I just asked for things and if people say no, okay, but if they say yes, great. So I like I told you in the beginning me like getting my foot in the door for the entertainment industry was I just called up schools and asked if I could work on their student films and they're like we don't really get people asking that but sure. And so I met a lot of people that way and I got hands on experience. And then once I got here, you know I would. I did a bunch of internships and this was they've changed the laws since then, but at that time it was they were unpaid internships and you can't do that anymore unless it's for credit for schools. But I did a lot of internships that weren't specifically in the field that I was like I said I was specifically here for writing, but I learned how to do everything. I learned how to produce, I learned how to edit and producing became my main way to make money for most. Even right now, producing is the main way that I make money and so, because I had all those skills to fall back on that I had learned, I asked to work on that short film that I eventually learned how to edit on.
Melisa D. Monts:I asked to now like for this writing job that I have now with the company I. They were hiring for an editor editor for the screenplays, like to go through and edit them. I didn't want to do that but they weren't hiring for a writer. I just put my resume in but I made it very clear that I was a writer and they're like we're hiring someone else for the editor, but would you be interested in a writing position? And so then it was there. And then, like for the novel I just I asked. I was like, do y'all, you know, need anybody else to like write one of these novels? And they said yes. So ask for what you want, but also have the skills to back it up. So make sure that you're done the work already.
Melisa D. Monts:Constantly, yes, like you're constantly adding things to your education, to your background, so that you know how to do things. So, the working on the student films I had no experience, but you don't need to experience for that, so, but then that laid the foundation for everything that I've done up until now.
Sidney Evans:Okay, that's solid advice and that's something that seems to be pretty consistent, maybe not specifically like ask what you want, but how you connected that to like being able to do a lot of different things, like kind of getting around the thing doing what you have to do to get around the thing that you want to do, learning those skillsets, absorbing those skillsets.
Sidney Evans:And you know, maybe you initially want to be a writer In your case you still want to, but sometimes, like, you get introduced to something else that's closely related and then you just it just takes a slight pivot and you know you have something like sustainable and you're still in within that same sphere and you still have that. You still have that same level of satisfaction. So I agree completely, all right. So, uh, for the last portion of the show we're just going to, um, let's ask you a few questions to kind of, uh, get your take on certain things. Usually they are audio related, um, but because you have made it clear that you are a writer as well, I'm going to make an adjustment specifically for you.
Sidney Evans:So, the first question is going to be who has been your biggest inspiration as a writer?
Melisa D. Monts:Shonda Rhimes. I really like working in the soap opera space. That is. My long-term goal is to work on the daytime soap opera, but she does nighttime soaps, she's primetime soaps and you know she's a screenwriter, she's a television writer, she has a podcast network, she wrote a novel for Bridgerton, so like she does all the things that I'm doing too, just on a bigger scale, and so that's who I really am aspiring, you know, not to be the next Shonda Rhimes, be the next Melissa D Montz, but like she's a big inspiration for me.
Sidney Evans:Okay, makes a lot of sense, and I actually hadn't thought about, like what your response would be, but if I would have, I probably would have put my money on saying it would be her. So, um, okay. So next is your favorite album of all time, your favorite, your favorite.
Melisa D. Monts:I. I used to listen to a lot of music, like a lot of different types of music, and I will say, in my older I'm in my thirties, but in my older age I have really just listened to specific artists, um I but I would say like I guess it's not technically an album but is a soundtrack and it's the waiting to exhale soundtrack.
Sidney Evans:Okay, um, I knew you were going to say that once you started going that way, I honestly I would have to agree with that Probably think it's the best movie soundtrack ever. And I recently I like to go to, like you know, record stores and when I was with my girlfriend and it was the CDs, it was like one of the first places I actually sold CDs and they had like a big collection.
Sidney Evans:I would be like you know it would be, it would be gold if we could uh find that way to exhale soundtrack and we got worked our way over to the W's and went through was the first, very first one, so I was like it was there, it was there um yeah, I don't know how many people carry that, but yeah, uh, that's definitely a classic. All right, um next, well, I'll skip it. I don't know. I'll probably skip this from favorite music producer because you'll probably say, like babyface, because he produced the way to excel soundtrack stuff I do love babyface, but uh, missy elliott would be my favorite music producer.
Melisa D. Monts:I think that she makes music that um. Her stuff that she made in the 90s still sounds new today. She makes very like. Her music is always relevant. So Missy Elliott.
Sidney Evans:Yeah, timeless and even it was super, it was progressive for the design and it still holds up, which is kind of crazy. And I'm trying to find the super duper fly vinyl without actually just going on the internet and ordering it, but I'm having trouble. Um, okay, next last two. What, uh favorite film score?
Melisa D. Monts:that's hard for me because it's not really something I pay attention much to. Um, but, uh, and I watch more television than I watch movies, but, um, but I would say like, if we're talking like tv, I would go with Scream Queens the first season. I think that they the way that they use music to tell the story. It was like an additional character to the show and the way that they use music really was. It was fun, like it added to the, even though, like they're killing people left and right on their show, they're using the most off the wall songs to like be the soundtrack to these deaths. Um, and the score too, um, and I think I thought that was. It was a brilliant yeah, that is brilliant.
Sidney Evans:Like you said, it's like it's like adding another character. Very cool, um, all right.
Melisa D. Monts:Last one favorite tv theme song Favorite TV theme song, the Young and the Restless song, and then how Mary J took it and made it a song too.
Sidney Evans:Oh yeah, I remember the Mary J version because I was actually struggling to remember because it was etched in my brain at some point, but it's been so long since I've heard it, but now that when you made the Mary J reference, it came back to me, so that's pretty cool. Okay, interesting. Solid answer.
Sidney Evans:Solid answers Some things I was expecting some things I wasn't expecting, all right. So, yeah, I think that brings us to the end, but can't let you go without giving you a moment allowing you to share. I know you shared a few things that you're working on now, but how can people you know check out some of the stuff that you worked on, what to be on the eye for new things that you have in the works and how they can connect with you if they like to do so?
Melisa D. Monts:Yeah, you can follow me on Instagram. She is not Melissa. There's links to both my business and my professional but personal website in both. Those links are in the links in my bio, or you can just go to Diamond M-P-R-I-N-T dot productions is my business website and then my personal slash business website is Melissa M-E-L-I-S-A-D-M-O-N-T-S dot com and you can check out my podcast. Don't Blame Me. Well, I'll just say the sister sign slate of podcasts are all on one feed, so you can. If you type in Don't Blame Me, it should come up wherever you get your podcast. You type in Don't Blame Me, it should come up wherever you get your podcast. You can read my web series In the Dead of Night on the R-E-A-D-I-C-T app on your phone and then just be on the lookout for other projects that I'm producing and writing coming out within the next year.
Sidney Evans:Okay. So y'all, make sure you take heed and make sure you go and support Melissa. Thank you, melissa. This was a great conversation. I reached out to you and we're super responsive and we made it happen really quickly.
Melisa D. Monts:That doesn't always happen that way, so I was waiting on notes back on my script, so I had a little downtime.
Sidney Evans:I got in where I got in where I could fit in. Yeah, thank you for coming on. I appreciate you and for everybody listening. Thank you for tuning in. Thank you for joining us on today's episode. Please don't forget to subscribe to the show and leave us a review. If you'd like to work with me or connect, connect. Please go to soundbossitcom and schedule a call there. You can also check out the full list of productions I've worked on. If you'd like to connect on social media, my handle is soundbossitcom on twitter and instagram and I'm sydney evans on LinkedIn. Don't forget to follow Beyond the Threshold on Instagram as well. I'll catch you on the next episode.