1 00:00:05,728 --> 00:00:09,991 I want you, for a moment, to look at your life as a movie. 2 00:00:10,224 --> 00:00:11,444 As a young child - 3 00:00:11,444 --> 00:00:13,745 when I thought about the movie of my life - 4 00:00:13,745 --> 00:00:16,468 I'm the middle child of three boys 5 00:00:16,468 --> 00:00:20,059 and one of the few African-American executives in Hollywood. 6 00:00:20,059 --> 00:00:24,076 Well, when I go back and look at my life, when I was young growing up in the church, 7 00:00:24,076 --> 00:00:27,240 they said, "DeVon, you can't go into Hollywood. 8 00:00:27,240 --> 00:00:30,005 That's the devil's playground; that's Sodom and Gomorrah." 9 00:00:30,005 --> 00:00:34,975 But I said, "I believe God is calling me in the movie of my life into Hollywood 10 00:00:34,975 --> 00:00:38,230 to tell stories that can change the world." 11 00:00:38,230 --> 00:00:41,512 "But DeVon, if you go to Hollywood, you're going to lose your faith. 12 00:00:41,512 --> 00:00:42,578 Don't you understand 13 00:00:42,578 --> 00:00:45,579 that that is a town that does not respect who you are 14 00:00:45,579 --> 00:00:46,931 or the God you serve?" 15 00:00:47,141 --> 00:00:49,756 But as a young child, I would say, "Wait a minute. 16 00:00:49,756 --> 00:00:53,090 You're teaching me in the Bible that faith allows me to do all things 17 00:00:53,090 --> 00:00:55,834 and I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. 18 00:00:55,834 --> 00:00:56,790 But all of a sudden, 19 00:00:56,790 --> 00:00:59,787 I get to the gates of Hollywood and the power of God stops? 20 00:00:59,787 --> 00:01:03,566 Tell me, What am I supposed to believe? 21 00:01:03,566 --> 00:01:07,291 Does faith work or does fear work? 22 00:01:07,291 --> 00:01:11,510 Because you're telling me intellectually that faith is supposed to guide me, 23 00:01:11,510 --> 00:01:13,936 but then you're teaching me to practice fear 24 00:01:13,936 --> 00:01:16,978 the moment I get outside the doors of the church." 25 00:01:17,423 --> 00:01:21,169 So you can only imagine as a young boy, when you get smart with your elders, 26 00:01:21,169 --> 00:01:23,418 they say, "Boy, don't you get smart with me." 27 00:01:23,598 --> 00:01:25,568 And I said, "I'm not trying to get smart. 28 00:01:25,568 --> 00:01:28,328 I'm just trying to understand what is the path in life 29 00:01:28,328 --> 00:01:30,675 that is going to lead to success." 30 00:01:30,675 --> 00:01:32,219 And so as a young child, I said, 31 00:01:32,219 --> 00:01:35,656 "Listen, I've watched these movies like 'Rocky' and 'Back to the Future.' 32 00:01:35,656 --> 00:01:40,128 What I loved about 'Rocky' is that he thought he was a bum. 33 00:01:40,440 --> 00:01:42,744 And when he got the chance to fight Apollo Creed, 34 00:01:42,744 --> 00:01:44,299 what was his number one goal? 35 00:01:44,299 --> 00:01:46,779 He said, 'I don't even care if I win. 36 00:01:46,779 --> 00:01:50,510 I just want to go the distance.'" 37 00:01:50,919 --> 00:01:53,985 When I would see movies like that as a kid, I said, "That's me." 38 00:01:53,985 --> 00:01:55,405 You know, as a middle child - 39 00:01:55,405 --> 00:01:56,984 Any middle children in the house? 40 00:01:56,984 --> 00:01:59,027 Okay, we'll have a support group after this. 41 00:01:59,027 --> 00:02:01,883 Alright, you know we need a little extra care and counseling 42 00:02:02,332 --> 00:02:05,139 because the older one, my older brother, he was the oldest, 43 00:02:05,139 --> 00:02:06,780 and my youngest was the baby, 44 00:02:06,780 --> 00:02:09,643 and here I am, the middle child, kind of put off to the side. 45 00:02:09,643 --> 00:02:13,109 But when I would see films, I would get inspired. 46 00:02:13,109 --> 00:02:14,105 And I said, 47 00:02:14,105 --> 00:02:17,907 "I want to be able to make movies that can absolutely touch people 48 00:02:17,907 --> 00:02:20,409 in the way that 'Rocky' and 'The Color Purple' 49 00:02:20,409 --> 00:02:22,527 and 'Back to the Future' did for me." 50 00:02:22,527 --> 00:02:23,860 But I had to make a choice. 51 00:02:23,860 --> 00:02:26,581 I said, "Am I going to go against what I'm being taught 52 00:02:27,391 --> 00:02:29,852 and follow where God's voice is leading me? 53 00:02:29,852 --> 00:02:32,677 Or am I going to follow those who may be ill-equipped 54 00:02:32,677 --> 00:02:34,317 to develop my movie 55 00:02:34,317 --> 00:02:37,285 and become what they think my story should be?" 56 00:02:37,615 --> 00:02:38,616 Well, at a young age, 57 00:02:38,616 --> 00:02:41,614 I said, "I have to believe that God is the director of my story, 58 00:02:41,614 --> 00:02:44,229 and I'm going to follow Him to the industry." 59 00:02:44,229 --> 00:02:46,757 And so here I am, an 18-year-old young man, 60 00:02:46,757 --> 00:02:49,100 got into the University of Southern California. 61 00:02:49,100 --> 00:02:51,328 I go in for my first internship interview 62 00:02:51,328 --> 00:02:53,657 at the management company that manages Will Smith. 63 00:02:53,657 --> 00:02:55,904 I'm literally about to get my foot in the door. 64 00:02:55,904 --> 00:02:57,963 At the end of the interview, the lady says, 65 00:02:57,963 --> 00:03:00,805 "DeVon, is there anything else you want us to know?" 66 00:03:00,805 --> 00:03:02,855 And right there, God is speaking in my ear. 67 00:03:02,855 --> 00:03:04,683 He said, "Tell her about the Sabbath." 68 00:03:04,683 --> 00:03:06,406 Now you must understand something. 69 00:03:06,406 --> 00:03:08,495 As a Christian, I grew up observing Sabbath: 70 00:03:08,495 --> 00:03:11,600 Friday night sundown through Saturday night sundown, I don't work. 71 00:03:11,600 --> 00:03:15,201 It's the day that I take off for observance, rest, and restoration. 72 00:03:15,201 --> 00:03:18,541 I'm there in the internship interview about to get my foot in the door, 73 00:03:18,541 --> 00:03:19,430 Hollywood, 74 00:03:19,430 --> 00:03:21,438 and God says, "Tell her about the Sabbath." 75 00:03:21,438 --> 00:03:25,193 I said, "Lord, after I get the internship, I'll tell her all about the Sabbath." 76 00:03:25,193 --> 00:03:25,982 (Laughter) 77 00:03:25,982 --> 00:03:28,269 You know how we are: we love to get what we want, 78 00:03:28,269 --> 00:03:30,422 and then we'll start moving the pieces around 79 00:03:30,422 --> 00:03:32,343 about what we can and cannot do. 80 00:03:32,343 --> 00:03:34,175 But after a moment of silence, I said, 81 00:03:34,175 --> 00:03:36,404 "Well, I can not take this internship 82 00:03:36,404 --> 00:03:38,922 if it requires me to work on the Sabbath." 83 00:03:39,264 --> 00:03:41,589 And it was quiet, just like it is now. 84 00:03:42,206 --> 00:03:43,640 And after a moment of silence, 85 00:03:43,640 --> 00:03:46,379 she said, "DeVon, don't worry. We can work around that." 86 00:03:46,379 --> 00:03:48,408 What that taught me in that moment 87 00:03:48,408 --> 00:03:52,447 is that it's not about just the door of opportunity opening in your scene; 88 00:03:52,504 --> 00:03:54,727 it's about how you walk through the door. 89 00:03:54,921 --> 00:03:56,674 Because every door that opens 90 00:03:56,674 --> 00:03:59,531 that does not allow you to fit your faith and who you are, 91 00:03:59,531 --> 00:04:01,901 I argue it is not a door to go through. 92 00:04:02,090 --> 00:04:03,395 You have to understand 93 00:04:03,395 --> 00:04:05,212 that when you are walking in your path 94 00:04:05,212 --> 00:04:07,352 and you are walking in the movie of your life, 95 00:04:07,352 --> 00:04:10,185 the scenes in your life will conform around you 96 00:04:10,185 --> 00:04:14,330 if you have enough faith to be exactly who God created you to be. 97 00:04:14,330 --> 00:04:18,276 I don't buy into this idea that you have to compromise who you are, 98 00:04:18,276 --> 00:04:19,650 compromise what you believe. 99 00:04:19,650 --> 00:04:22,331 As a matter of fact, be even more bold than who you are, 100 00:04:22,331 --> 00:04:23,982 more bold than who you believe, 101 00:04:23,982 --> 00:04:26,029 because you are the hero of your own story, 102 00:04:26,029 --> 00:04:30,365 and if you don't believe your story - guess what? - ain't nobody else going to. 103 00:04:30,365 --> 00:04:33,472 C'mon, yeah. You give yourself a round of applause on that one. 104 00:04:33,472 --> 00:04:35,242 (Applause) 105 00:04:36,642 --> 00:04:37,984 But here's the challenge: 106 00:04:37,984 --> 00:04:41,086 We get into scenes of our life where we want to give up hope. 107 00:04:41,344 --> 00:04:42,553 As a studio executive, 108 00:04:42,553 --> 00:04:45,519 one of the things I do is develop scripts into movies. 109 00:04:45,519 --> 00:04:48,480 But there are some scripts we develop for a very long time 110 00:04:48,480 --> 00:04:50,887 and it never looks like it's going to get made, 111 00:04:50,887 --> 00:04:53,230 and we call this creative time "development hell." 112 00:04:53,230 --> 00:04:55,278 Some of you have been in development hell, 113 00:04:55,278 --> 00:04:57,153 because you had an idea for your life. 114 00:04:57,153 --> 00:04:58,165 You've been trying, 115 00:04:58,165 --> 00:05:01,116 you've been pushing to allow that idea to get into production, 116 00:05:01,116 --> 00:05:02,711 but you seem so far away from it 117 00:05:02,711 --> 00:05:04,780 that you don't know what you're going to do. 118 00:05:04,780 --> 00:05:06,682 And in this moment, in development hell, 119 00:05:06,682 --> 00:05:08,695 it is so tempting 120 00:05:08,695 --> 00:05:13,102 to give up on the very idea that brought you this far. 121 00:05:13,626 --> 00:05:16,123 You must realize that in development hell, 122 00:05:16,123 --> 00:05:19,649 when you're going through a time where you're about to give up on yourself, 123 00:05:19,649 --> 00:05:20,616 give up on your God, 124 00:05:20,616 --> 00:05:23,257 give up on your friends, your dreams and your beliefs, 125 00:05:23,257 --> 00:05:26,319 this is when you have to go back to the original idea 126 00:05:26,319 --> 00:05:30,602 that motivated your life, and hold on to it, and don't give up. 127 00:05:30,932 --> 00:05:32,623 Because you know why? 128 00:05:32,623 --> 00:05:35,187 Because it is just like a scene of a movie. 129 00:05:35,187 --> 00:05:38,298 There are some good scenes, there are some bad scenes, 130 00:05:38,298 --> 00:05:39,883 but if you keep walking forward, 131 00:05:39,883 --> 00:05:40,870 guess what? 132 00:05:40,870 --> 00:05:43,414 The hero always wins. 133 00:05:43,414 --> 00:05:45,441 And you know what makes the story good? 134 00:05:45,441 --> 00:05:47,566 The conflict the hero faces. 135 00:05:47,566 --> 00:05:49,386 So when you go through bad scenes, 136 00:05:49,386 --> 00:05:53,484 that must mean you are getting ready to be prepared to be victorious. 137 00:05:53,484 --> 00:05:54,548 You must know 138 00:05:54,548 --> 00:05:57,918 that a bad scene with conflict is not meant to take you down, 139 00:05:57,918 --> 00:06:01,916 but it's meant to actually bring out the hero in you and build you up. 140 00:06:01,916 --> 00:06:05,572 If I could allow us to label this scene that we're in right now, 141 00:06:05,812 --> 00:06:06,839 I would call it: 142 00:06:06,839 --> 00:06:09,057 "Locked up, but not locked down." 143 00:06:09,197 --> 00:06:10,443 You must get this, 144 00:06:10,443 --> 00:06:12,838 anyone who is in Ironwood Prison right now: 145 00:06:12,838 --> 00:06:14,547 You might be locked up, 146 00:06:14,727 --> 00:06:19,320 but they don't have enough iron in the universe to lock down your spirit. 147 00:06:19,320 --> 00:06:21,272 You have to keep your spirit up. 148 00:06:21,272 --> 00:06:22,751 You have to keep believing. 149 00:06:22,751 --> 00:06:25,625 You have to know that what you see is possible. 150 00:06:25,625 --> 00:06:26,632 (Applause) 151 00:06:26,632 --> 00:06:27,852 Do you know why? 152 00:06:27,852 --> 00:06:32,427 Because in the movie of your life, you will succeed. 153 00:06:32,427 --> 00:06:36,857 Don't let your current circumstance dictate your destiny, 154 00:06:36,857 --> 00:06:38,201 because your destiny 155 00:06:38,201 --> 00:06:41,116 will be set up in the moment that you're in right now. 156 00:06:41,116 --> 00:06:42,533 Yes, conflict will come, 157 00:06:42,533 --> 00:06:43,721 but if you have faith, 158 00:06:43,721 --> 00:06:46,089 if you like who looks back at you in the mirror, 159 00:06:46,089 --> 00:06:49,286 everybody that comes against you going to have to step back and say, 160 00:06:49,286 --> 00:06:50,228 "Wait a minute. 161 00:06:50,228 --> 00:06:52,226 We didn't know they had that much power. 162 00:06:52,226 --> 00:06:54,357 We might as well go ahead and let them out 163 00:06:54,357 --> 00:06:57,836 because there are other people out there who need the hero that's within." 164 00:06:57,836 --> 00:07:01,189 When you're getting ready to give up on your movie, step back and say, 165 00:07:01,189 --> 00:07:03,560 "No, no, no, no, no. This movie is still good." 166 00:07:03,560 --> 00:07:07,579 It just might take a little longer than you thought. 167 00:07:07,579 --> 00:07:08,861 Don't be impatient. 168 00:07:08,861 --> 00:07:10,798 Don't be getting so much anxiety. 169 00:07:10,798 --> 00:07:11,986 Relax. 170 00:07:12,649 --> 00:07:16,398 Because you are going to win in the end. 171 00:07:16,598 --> 00:07:18,501 Thus saith the Lord.