<Jour'nee Whetstone/"Reva"> Scene 14 B slash D Take 1 <Dominic Hart/Rex> Action!

♪ upbeat music ♪ ♪ The cool and the strong, ♪ ♪ the really really cool and strong.

♪ ♪ The cool and the strong, ♪ ♪ the really really cool and strong.

♪ ♪ The cool and the strong, ♪ ♪ the really really cool and strong.

♪ ♪ The cool and the strong, means be smart learners ♪ ♪ all day long.

♪ (music fades) <Robert Carswell> All right.

Good morning, everybody.

Welcome to day one of The Cool and The Strong.

(applause) Give it up.

I am Robert Carswell, Assistant Principal Joseph Keels Elementary.

The role that I played in The Cool and The Strong was more of a liaison between The Cool and The Strong, Richland School District Two and our scholars at our school, and sitting back and watching our scholars thrive as they get a chance to work alongside the professionals and getting in front of the cameras, and so a lot of the things that you teach them in school with the books and the curriculum now seeing our students apply it and having a chance to really thrive.

<Crew> This going to be a walk through.

<Reva> Okay.

<Crew> All right and...Action!

<Robert Carswell> Last summer is where it all began.

I used to follow Coach Moore on You Tube.

He's a fantastic motivational speaker, but I saw Coach Moore got a job over at the University of South Carolina and so I reached out to him.

We have a mentor group.

It's called Tied to Success at Joseph Keels Elementary for our young men, and I just wanted Coach Moore to come out and just give a motivational speech to our young men just to talk about just another positive figure in front of our scholars, and Coach Moore said, you know, "Let me learn a little bit more about what you're doing over "at Joseph Keels."

So we spoke on the phone and kind of talked about it and he said, "I think we can do a little bit more than that.

", and it just began to blossom and grow from there about the possibilities and the different things, and I think what Coach Moore and the Beamers coming by the school, we began to develop a relationship with the Beamer Family Foundation, who was fantastic.

Not only did they do things for our scholars, but they did things for our educators, our teachers, our morale boosters, letting them know that we can, providing supplies, book bags for our scholars, school supplies, teacher appreciation, supplying snacks and everything, and so it's just been a fantastic partnership, and I believe that it's been a benefit for both sides, because being a former student athlete myself, I used to love going to the elementary school and reading to the students, and I got a great benefit from that as well as the students.

Coach Beamer and I go further back, we actually played against each other in 1999 where we went to Blacksburg when he was with Virginia Tech on a Thursday night, in that game I had 16 tackles and two interceptions, but Virginia Tech came out on top.

So Coach Beamer and I got a chance to kind of talk about that game, but on an occasion such as this, where we have an opportunity to pour into the scholars, not only in the state of South Carolina, but all the surrounding areas, we're more than glad to jump in and put the rivalry aside to work together for a common goal, especially one as positive as this, where you can pour into the community.

Scholars are greatly benefiting and you see our teachers across the state where we can show appreciation for all of the hard work that they do.

<Shane Beamer> We're familiar from living in Columbia before, when we were here as an assistant coach back in 2007, eight, nine and ten with the area and had a great familiarity with it and fortunate that Stephanie Moore was able to connect with Richland Two and along with Emily, as it's been a great partnership with them and want to continue to grow and invest and pour into our youth.

<Alvera C. Butler> Well, I will say Stephanie Moore, her energy is infectious and her energy through coming to us with the Beamer Family Foundation, all the great things that the foundation was doing for the school, pouring time, resources into the school for students and having athletes come out from USC, and the more and more Ms. Moore and I spoke, I learned about the cool and the strong project and why would we not, be involved in it.

Anything that focuses on students doing better, having a mindset of I can, which fits right along with our vision here, you know, we have high expectations, no limitations, and it was going to be another opportunity, another chance for students to have access because that's what it's all about, providing access for students.

So why not marry those two things together and, if not us, who?

Right.

So I'm glad that we - I'm honored, really, that we had the opportunity to be a part of this project.

>> My name is Stephanie Perry Moore, and I have the wonderful pleasure of having a dream come true by being the show runner.

I was in an Atlanta public school, an elementary school, and they brought me in about four years ago and to do reading workshops with students that were not on grade level.

So imagine these were third graders that were reading on a pre-K level.

I didn't know what that was.

I didn't understand what that meant, but when we did the whole workshop, they had to do the title page.

They had cute covers and they were drawing it and then they had cute titles and then they had to write their name by Mary Jane Blue, you know, and so you go around and you read their stuff and an A might have been an X.

They just didn't even really know how to write their name, and so we were inspired, the school district, myself, to work together to say, what can we do?

And so Magic Strong was born.

At that point, I had never written early chapter reader books, so this was very exciting.

I do have a couple of elementary series, but never with illustrations and just to see it all come to life, and I was so motivated because I really wanted to help, you know, figure out a way to make that work, make kids know that they can do it.

<All> Behind the scenes...y'all know.. <Anthony Little/"Duke"> That's not behind the scenes, is it?

It is?

Oh.

<Dominic Hart/Rex> Behind the scenes.

<Anthony Little/"Duke"> All right.

Come on shadowbox... All right.

>> My name is Derrick Moore, and I play the character of Janitor Jackson in the film Cool and The Strong.

<Mr.

Jackson> Your new hire is strangely dangerous.

<Dr.

Strong> Quit exaggerating.

<Janitor Jackson> The class vanished into thin air.

<Derrick Moore> Janitor Jackson, I mean, just to mention Janitor Jackson's name makes me laugh.

I don't know.

I mean, he's...a very unique character, I think, in that he's very, very cynical.

You know, he's very skeptical of... just about everyone.

He questions almost everything.

He's...he approaches life very grumpy and really, really old school.

But, but certainly a character that I enjoyed playing and learning how to get into character as Janitor Jackson was a lot of fun.

My mother worked in environmental services and in really custodial work and for 37, 38 years, and she taught obviously the value of cleanliness, but certainly I think it's of great value.

A lot of times it can be overlooked and sometimes even unfortunately looked at as a slighted a bit, ...but boy I'm going to tell you something, if you remove people who work in that capacity away we will...have significant challenges.

I hope and if it's not already taken place that there is a real relationship between instructional staff and someone that does what Janitor Jackson does and the value that this character brings to the school is unique, and I think there's a place for it.

I think, you know, the old quote someone said, you know, it takes a village to raise a child and you're exposed to children of all backgrounds and experiences, and even a janitor can have an impact and an influence on them, and I think a lot of times they sometimes are closer to young people than you can possibly imagine, and they're looked upon as encouragement figures to help break up some of the, you know, the academia that's in the school.

So great value.

<Robert Carswell> Mr. Gray.

He's not in isolation.

Our fantastic teachers take our students to these magical places daily across the state of South Carolina and do a fantastic job.

So it was not only an honor to sit back and watch that, but I know the teachers and educators across the state can appreciate something that's going to come from their vantage point to show what super heroes we are as educators.

<Derrick Moore> Talking about the joint effort, my wife, Stephanie Moore, has collaborated with me.

She's led all of this, and I've just tried to pick up any pieces and fill in where she's needed me to do so.

Her passion for these...young people is extraordinary, and mine is extraordinary, and, you know, from working with them in our home to, you know, they would come and stay at our home and eat dinner with us and we'd rehearse lines and go over their parts and they would work on how to say it and how not to say it and, you know, and then, you know, balancing that with playtime, and because they're kids and, you know, you can work, but they want to play, play, play, and you have to respect that because that's where they are, and for a quick moment, we want to ask them to be professionals, and if you're going to ask that of them, I think at some point, too, they have to believe in you, too, and I think along the way, they found a real belief in Stephanie and I and we certainly found one in them, and they they've become like our own children and their parents who supported this effort so tremendously, none of this would be possible without all the trips we've made to the to pick them up from school and pick them up from their home and bring them to the locations and all of those things, but the parents were all bought in and they were absolutely phenomenal in making certain they were always ready for us and they were ready to go.

It may have been a day.

I don't think there's ever been a day when they never wanted to work.

I was fascinated with that.

<Sheldyn Moore> Start from "I'm a teacher... that's ready to learn."

<Crew> Okay.

<Sheldyn> Can we start from there, guys?

<Children> Oh, yeah.

<Sheldyn> Thank you.

Let's do this thing.

<Jour'nee> High Five.

<Crew> We're starting... but from the start.

<Sheldyn Moore> High Five.

<Mr.

Gray> Your pencil's up front, right?

When you start, you have to start the same way.

<Jour'nee>I don't know where the pencil went.

<Crew> Is it walk through or real through?

<Sheldyn Moore>We're going to do the real thing.

Keep rolling <Crew> Here we go.

Picture's up <Crew> All right, cameras...

Roll sound.

Roll cameras.

We're rolling.

<Sheldyn Moore> All right.

Slate.

<Crew> Scene 7 Shot C and G Take one...Mark.

Roll the camera.

Camera set.

<Sheldyn Moore> All right, and... action.

<Mr.

Gray> I am a teacher that's ready to learn... >> My name is Sheldyn Moore I go by Sam and I am the director on The Cool and The Strong.

I really enjoyed just being so connected with this.

You know?

It was deeper than just being a director.

It was deeper than just, you know, you know, feeling out my cast and connecting with my crew.

It was...planning this whole thing out.

It was how do we make this hit deeper than just, it's a fun watch, and that was the challenge of my role for this to really, really look at the market and see what's out there that is A. appropriate for kids and be something that they're interested in, And, you know, I was I was just going down all of the different shows that you see on all these different platforms, and I just could not find the show that, you know, was good in both ways.

These kids need something to where they feel is cool enough to watch, but if, it like it has a good message.

I wanted it to feel really raw.

I wanted to feel, you know, that dramedy feel.

I didn't want it to look too child like to where a kid felt as if or a kid maybe ages like 8 to 13 felt like, you know, this was too baby for me, but at the same time it was appropriate for them.

So that was the goal for this is to how do we blend these these, you know, styles together to really create something that everyone can enjoy.

Kids are the best on camera when they're not acting, and that is going to create great actors in the future.

They can just be them, and once they understood them and they made Rex, Reva, Magic, Jour'nee, Dominic and Cameron, it was just beautiful, and I think moving forward, when they get even more confident in the scripts and the having all these cameras around them and the lights and having 35 people in the room and you know, when it's supposed to be an intimate setting, like I just think that they are going to be amazing and they are already asking, "Okay, what are we going today for?

What are we doing tomorrow?

What we doing tomorrow?

And they love it.

<Robert Carswell> When I read the script, I had three faces, three or four faces that popped into my head that I knew these personalities fit these scholars here, and so I'm talking to the scholars to find out if they were interested in something like that, and they jumped right on it.

They were really interested and really, you know, telling them what all is entailed in it and even motivating them a little bit because there was some trepidation on their part where, "Am I ready for something like this?"

>> Can I go in and go in front of a camera and speak well and remember my lines and just kind of motivating them to do that, and then going to the first practice where there was some stumbling over the lines and just trying to, you know, feel their way out in front of the camera all the way to the finished product.

<Sheldyn> And it's even better when you know that you're taking a kid from where they're at and putting them in a better place.

There's a lot of things going on, you know, locally where they live, like where they live.

There's a lot of stuff going on that, you know, kids shouldn't see and shouldn't be exposed to.

So to know that they're doing something different with their time, that is worth it and that can put them, them and their families because that's - Please, can I just give a shout out to their parents, who were there.

They were extras.

They were makeup.

They were hair.

They were, they were catering.

They were everything that you could ever imagine.

And it just I want to bless all of them.

>> Cameron Ellison aka "Magic Strong" is my son.

He's - Yeah, that's my guy.

He came home with the script.

I read it with him.

You know, I wanted to hear what he had to say.

I wanted to, you know, him to act it out for me.

That's my right hand man.

Cameron has always been an outgoing guy...and, you know, I feel that he's going to be very successful in the movie.

as I already see, you know, I just hope the best for him.

<Victoria Corbett> Yeah.

I'm Cameron's mom and so, like growing up, he's always been really talented and everything.

Like, he's always, you know, wanted to do different things and had to be successful in doing those things So, him starting this program, it showed me something different out of him.

You know, I never thought that my son would be an actor.

I would say I'm seeing that he's optimistic, like...he's very determined.

Like there's days where he's like, "Oh, I don't feel like doing this today, "but I'm going to do it."

You know, and I love that about him.

>> I'm Tara Whetstone and my daughter Jour'nee Whetstone is playing Reva Lemon.

She loves the whole cast.

So, it's just really good to see her with such a good group of people and, you know, all the children, you know, with a good group of people and doing something that's positive.

I always make time to talk to her and ask her how her day was and if there's anything she needs, and are you okay?

In our house, you know, I talk to them no matter what it is.

I'll ask them.

They might not want to tell me, but I try to talk to them, you know, because if you don't say anything, nobody can help you.

So I think it shows a lot that, you know, not everybody can do everything the same, but, you know, if you try or if you ask, you can be helped and you can do anything.

<Jason> Well, Dominic, he's our son, and, you know, we're here to go support him.

<Kate> He's Rex.

Yeah.

<Jason> You know, work with some lines with him.

...just had to kind of slow him down, you know,...make him, you know, pronounce each word, you know, and just follow through, you know, and just kind of take his time and, you know, get into character.

You know, that's the main thing.

<Kate>...also, I mean, I don't know if y'all know a lot about it, but Rex in real life struggles with ELA and reading.

So I thought that was really cool that this film is geared towards kind of encouraging those kids that have those struggles because he does, you know.

That's not his best subject, but he's done a lot better.

He really has, you know, towards the end of this year, and I think I can attribute that to this film.

<Robert Carswell> I can say without a doubt that's something I was able to observe not only through academic records, through observation, where you see students now are participating in class, where they're now not afraid to step out there and make a mistake, where they're now, not afraid to participate in front of their peers.

They're now the leaders inside the classroom, whereas maybe before they weren't so confident.

Now you see that confidence really coming out, and also you see them coming down the hall and they're eager to share their successes not only on the set, but also in the classroom.

We're always going to be the student with the perfect attendance, the student always on the all A honor roll.

I wasn't that student.

I wasn't the student on the all A honor roll, but it just took that spark.

>> I just hope that kids are inspired to learn, to be, to have wonder and excitement and energy all towards their learning, because, you know, knowledge is power.

The more you learn, the more you can do, the more opportunities there are for you.

There's so much stuff out there in this big world, and I think kids just really need to be embraced in that way, brought into the world saying, "Hey, look, you can do this, you can do this, "You can do this... You never know, and literacy really opens the door.

It does.

It's actually it's involved in everything.

>> I'm Eli Saliba and I am the director of photography for the Cool and the Strong pilot episode.

Yeah, I'm the one who kind of oversees all lighting and camera departments, and I'm just kind of bringing it to life visually so that we can share this story with everyone.

So many people without the gaffer and the grips and ACs, like nothing I envisioned in my head would be possible.

Sam and I work to kind of build what the overall look of the show is going to be, and then all the people below who are kind of like doing all the technical stuff are the ones who really make it happen.

So I'm just kind of there to oversee that and like help to come up with ideas for adjustments on the fly if we need to, but it's really like everyone who is working with me who like really makes all of this happen.

So I owe them a lot of things.

I mean, it always helps and brings motivation to the job I'm doing when I know the goal of it is to help other people and other kids.

I was very fortunate to be raised in a situation where I was able to follow my dreams and do this and working...

I know not every other kid in this world or the state or this country is able to do that.

So having the chance to kind of help tell the story of anyone can do anything they want if they just put their mind to it and just believe in themselves.

That is something that gets me up at 7:06 a.m. in the morning every day to come back here and do this.

So yeah, it's been a great experience.

Oh, I actually went to school here in South Carolina and College of Charleston.

Go Cougars!

...and I think I had just been looking for internships to do over the summer and I stumbled upon SCETV's Endowment internship and I applied for it and I found out that they have a TV station in Beaufort.

>> And my favorite movie of all time is Forrest Gump.

That was filmed here in South Carolina, in Beaufort.

And so a big reason I took the job instead of coming here in Columbia and going to Beaufort was because of that, and there's really a truly a great experience working with Holly Jackson, who they had just built the set, the new set for By the River.

It was their second season.

So that was my really my first experience at like a TV show, broadcast type production, and so just kind of getting to sit in the background and like watch all that happen was very eye opening, and then also getting to go film in a prison was pretty cool.

We filmed Character In Custody while I was there over that summer.

<Stephanie Moore> Cool for me is something I'm always learning, you know, So cool for me is gosh, cool.

It's a great word.

(exhales) It's relaxing.

You know, it's doing some self-reflection.

You know, it's not going with the grain and what everyone else does, but it's being the best version of you.

I think that's cool because no one can be you, like you can, and so sometimes we think cool is what is the, you know, what's in and what everybody else is doing, but the way I see cool is just being excited about being in your own skin.

<Derrick Moore> Cool.

Well, I think it's... just for me at least, it's being someone that's not impulsive.

I think that's not just so emotionally driven and will react to anything particularly negative things and even things that may not be, but a thinker that will slow down and... really calculate and think through and not just react <Robert Carswell> It depends on how old you are, but I think me as a 44 year old, cool is being able to go out.

You can relate to anybody.

You can make connections with anybody and you're comfortable with yourself.

<Sheldyn> That's what I saw on the outside.

Yeah, especially me as a director.

I try my hardest to remain calm.

I'm never, (laughs) but I try.

I try to act like I got it together, and that's what I think is cool about me.

>> Excitement is confidence.

It's being excited about who you are, knowing what you like and being okay with that.

<Mary Rogers McMaster> Strong is being resilient.

Strong is, if something gets to you, maybe you don't handle a situation right, you know, guess what, that's great.

That's a lesson I'm going to get up and I'm going to try again.

Strong is not being afraid to fail because it's okay.

It's part of learning.

<Stephanie Moore> Strong is when you have to look in the mirror, for me and getting it right and getting it better.

It's not about everybody else.

<Derrick Moore> Power, sort of power, under control, you know, I believe that we all have power, you know, but real strong people or strong experiences are governed by control.

You know, you know, someone once told me that the strong doesn't need to show its strength, but to be strong is to show your restraint, <Shane Beamer> ...being able to withstand the adversity that you may face.

Life is hard and there's going to be tough things or there's going to be things that happen to you that are tough to deal with.

And, you know, to me, being strong is being able to withstand that and overcome it, and whatever adversity you do face in life, you become stronger because of it.

<Justin King> Cool plus strong, equals magic.

<Stephanie Moore> Cool plus strong, equals magic.

♪ "The Cool and The Strong": song begins ♪ ♪ The cool and the strong, ♪ ♪ the really really cool and strong.

♪ ♪ The cool and the strong, ♪ ♪ the really really cool and strong.

♪ ♪ The cool and the strong, ♪ ♪ the really really cool and strong.

♪ ♪ The cool and the strong, means be smart learners ♪ ♪ all day long.

♪ (music fades)