Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Herschel Grangent Jr.. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Herschel, appreciate you joining us today. Did you always know you wanted to pursue a creative or artistic career? When did you first know?
Although I didn’t pursue content creation until MUCH later in life, I have to say that I always knew deep down that it was something I wanted to do. When I was very young (we’re talking 5 or 6) I would make up these little shows with two characters talking back and forth. The characters would be… well, they would be my hands. And I would have them interact with each other like people do with shadow puppets.
There would be a scenario, a protagonist, an antagonist, a rising action, a falling action, the whole nine yards.
This would include me doing different voices for each character. I won’t give the characters’ names because I am honestly debating on making them into a real children’s show! Stay tuned. We shall see…
I have to pause and give love to my parents for not dismissing any of this as just having imaginary friends and actually encouraging me to stick with it.
I continued this sort of thing later into my childhood, recording Orson Welles-type radio shows into a tape recorder (with sound effects) and even doing fake talk shows. Most of the time I would recruit my sisters as my actors, singers, etc. and yell at them when they would veer from the storyline. Fun times.
As I got a older I began to pursue other things, but it never fully went away. I was constantly analyzing movies, TV productions and radio broadcasts to see how I could recreate that sort of thing and even do it better if I ever got the chance.
Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers?
I am an actor, voice actor, talk show host, writer, producer and director originally from Atlanta, GA (Grove Park/Zone 1 to be exact). I am a University of Georgia graduate with a degree in broadcast news who served in the United States Army as a Radio/TV broadcaster, newspaper reporter, photographer, editor and Public Relations professional.
After being honorably discharged I worked for a while as a professional spokesperson and crisis communicator before going to work in emergency management. I got very comfortable in a stable job, but there was always a yearning to do something else.
I thought about all the pretend shows I would do as a kid. And I was CONSTANTLY writing scripts and short stories, either in one of many composition books or on whatever computer I had at the time.
As the years went by I would make sure my writings made it onto a flash drive and into the next new computer. And eventually I even transcribed the handwritten scripts from the composition books into Word files.
But I wasn’t doing anything with them.
Then almost overnight Atlanta transformed into a hub for creatives.
I saw people I had known for years (who I never even realized were aspiring content creators) overcoming fear and bringing their stories to life on YouTube and other streaming services.
I saw people putting rag-tag creative teams together that are now thriving.
But what truly lit the spark for me about seven years ago was seeing my wife (Actress Tawania C. Grangent) overcome her hesitation from starting an acting career *air quotes* “later in life”.
We had successfully raised three children to adulthood, and this is usually a time to settle into life and chill out. It’s a very unconventional time to be starting as heavy an undertaking as an acting career. But it had been her dream for some time, and she wanted to go for it. Her self motivation was my motivation.
We decided to work together to help her grow her acting resume and it was a chance for me to bring some of these pretend characters to life.
We started Q.U.E.E.N. Productions–which stands for Quietly Uniting Each and Every Nuance–and produced our first feature film “Composition” which is now available on our website (www.grangententgroup.com).
We later split Q.U.E.E.N. into Tawania Grangent Entertainment (TGE) and Sigma Square Media.
We produce short films, provide audition taping services and handle artist management through TGE, and we produce feature films, talk shows and other projects through Sigma Square Media.
TGE now has over 10 shorts under its banner on YouTube to include “Patient 47”, “Constance 8:17” and others. I am super proud to have directed most of them.
Sigma Square Media was the conduit for “Pseudo”, the award-winning psychological thriller that is currently on Tubi TV. We are also in pre production on the feature film “Reparashun”, a horror concept that I am just about finished writing.
Our team has grown and shrunk over the years, but we now have very solid core. We write, produce, shoot, edit and even act in our productions. But we also provide an avenue for up-and-coming creatives to be great.
We have used a very wide range of Atlanta acting talent in our productions.
And for those writers who have scripts that they don’t know what to do with, we sit down with them and figure out how to bring them to life. We do this with knowledge we’ve gained through trial and error and by just having candid conversations to figure out what their end goal is.
We didn’t really have anyone to show us the ropes when we started making our films, so whenever someone genuinely seeks help with getting started we don’t mind helping. I think that is what sets me and my team apart. We know it is a dog-eat-dog business, but we also know that there is enough work for everyone so we will reach back and help those who truly need it.
Currently I am most proud of “Pseudo”.
Writer (I mean AMAZING writer) Briana Cole trusted TGE with her short film “Patient 47”. My wife produced the hell out of it and co-starred in it, and I directed it.
Briana was so impressed with what we did with that short that she considered it a no-brainer for us to take the reins on her feature script “Pseudo”. It is still making waves in the festival circuit and has won numerous awards.
As a writer, I know that your script becomes your baby. For someone to trust you with their life’s work is truly an honor.
That is what I would want potential clients to know. We will protect your script as if it were our own and as long as you are serious about the commitment it takes (both financial and otherwise) to get it done, we will work with you as long as it takes for it to be everything you ever could have dreamed.
Do you think there is something that non-creatives might struggle to understand about your journey as a creative? Maybe you can shed some light?
I think the hardest thing for folks outside the content-creation world to understand is that support takes on a different shape when you are trying to get recognized in this independent film world. “Wow, I really enjoyed that movie”, and “I’m so proud of you, keep up the good work” are truly truly amazing things to hear from friends and loved ones.
But getting everyone to break away from their busy lives and commitments to share and promote your work is a tall order. Especially when social media is not something that is a priority for them.
As a 51-year-old who didn’t grow up with it, I have to be honest with myself and say that it isn’t a priority for me either. But I have learned over the past five-plus years that it doesn’t matter how great your content is if it doesn’t get likes, shares and follows.
Sometimes I believe that somewhere the greatest movie ever has already been made. But no one will ever see it because the creative behind it didn’t push enough traffic to their streaming platform.
What’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative in your experience?
The most rewarding aspect of being a creative is going through the pre-production and casting process and having a vision of how characters and environments will look and interact in real life… and then having it all look and sound precisely how you wanted it to. It takes my breath away.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.grangententgroup.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/herscheljrthevoice/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/HerschelJrTheVoice/
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/herschelgrangentjr/
- Youtube: https://youtube.com/channel/UC1sFe8PeWdKeKHE0MEwTqCg
- Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/user_details?userid=H4nUnhN9fq7CobhJMtAfbQ
- Other: IMDb: https://pro.imdb.com/name/nm8234582?ref_=hm_prof_name TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@herscheljrthevoice