We were lucky to catch up with Carl Jackson recently and have shared our conversation below.

Carl, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today We’d love to hear from you about what you think Corporate America gets wrong in your industry and why it matters.

Corporate destroys art. We can live without corporations but we can’t live without art and creativity. This SAG and Writers strike is a joke to me if I am honest. It’s another example of what happens when pen pushers try and control a narrative over the people. We don’t need more money or banks controlling our society. We just need that system to no longer exist. You take away the line that is drawn between the rich elite and the poor and crime goes away immediately.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

Our core business is film and television. We distribute films in theaters globally and have deals with FOX and Buffalo 8. We also own 8 television networks that are currently available on DistroTV, ch. 170 and 171, Freecast, ch. 3815 and 3816, theGrio, TV STREAM, all Sony Vizio, Hisense, and TCL smart TVs, Mansa Streaming Service, PLEX, MyBundle, PZAZ. Our networks are CJC, CJC 2, CJC Cinema, CJC Global, 77 Network, TheGrid, The Grid Cosmopolitan, and our new teen network Raé. It’s been a long time coming but it’s finally here. Carl Jackson Studios + launching in March 2024 in America, Canada, Brazil, and Spain. We were approached by a technology company and they felt my brand was big enough to compete with PlutoTV, Xumo, HBOMAX, Peacock, and Netflix. Was very shocking to me. Anyway, the platform will not just carry my television networks and movies. It will also carry an additional 80 channels from other popular networks and over 500 popular movies. CJC, CJC 2, CJC Global, CJC Cinema, TheGrid, TheGrid Cosmopolitan, and TheGrid Africa will also be available on the new platform. And a new teen network named after my daughter called Rae Network. This platform is 100% owned by Carl Jackson Motion Pictures Studios and will be available on Connected TVs and OTT devices including Samsung TVs, Roku TVs, Vizio TVs, Amazon Fire, iOS and Google Play.

What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?

I learned that you can’t trust everyone. Everyone isn’t trying to be your friend, sometimes they are learning how to become your foe. There is only one way to know if a person has your best interests at heart. They do what you ask with joy. It’s a feeling. You can feel when someone is fake but our ego tells us otherwise.

How did you put together the initial capital you needed to start your business?

We fund in-house because I can’t trust anyone to give me the money and let me lead. They think because they have money that makes them smart. Intelligence and money don’t ALWAYS go together. If I could find someone that would write me a check and say, “Carl we believe in you. Go build your vision”. That would be a miracle from Heaven.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.CarlJacksonentertainment.com
• Instagram: CarlJacksonStudios
• Facebook: CarlJacksonStudios
• Twitter: CarlJacksonEnt
• Youtube: @CJCtelevisionnetwork

Image Credits
Carl Jackson Studios CJC Networks (where applicable)