# Overcoming the Odds: He highlights how sustainable success comes from mastery of craft, relationship-building, and treating creativity as a business.

An episode of [Money Making Conversations Master Class](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/podcast/1264705641), 1 Jun 2026, 29 min.

Audio: https://podtrac.com/pts/redirect.mp3/traffic.omny.fm/d/clips/e73c998e-6e60-432f-8610-ae210140c5b1/b1db7263-d1a3-4d00-8976-af62012aab44/4514cba8-12b2-402d-a82a-b441010b99a7/audio.mp3?utm_source=Podcast&in_playlist=35a10561-3e1b-4d05-a529-af62012aab6a

Listen and subscribe to Money Making Conversations on iHeartRadio, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, www.moneymakingconversations.com/subscribe/ or wherever you listen to podcasts. New Money Making Conversations episodes drop daily. I want to alert you, so you don’t miss out on expert analysis and insider perspectives from my guests who provide tips that can help you uplift the community, improve your financial planning, motivation, or advice on how to be a successful entrepreneur. Keep winning! Two-time Emmy and Three-time NAACP Image Award-winning, television Executive Producer Rushion McDonald interviewed Kurt Farquhar. Television & Film Composer, Founder of Fall Crop Productions and True Music Pro Notable Credits: The King of Queens, Girlfriends, The Parkers, Being Mary Jane, The Proud Family, The Neighborhood, Black Lightning Awards: 10 BMI Awards Tenure: 38+ years in television Purpose of the Interview The purpose of this interview is to educate and inspire creatives, entrepreneurs, and professionals about longevity, adaptability, and wealth-building behind the scenes. Kurt Farquhar’s journey highlights how sustainable success comes from mastery of craft, relationship-building, and treating creativity as a business—not chasing visibility or fame. Rushion McDonald uses Kurt’s career as a blueprint for: • Building mailbox money through residuals • Staying relevant across decades of industry change • Monetizing intellectual property • Leveraging relationships to sustain opportunity Core Themes Discussed • Longevity vs. “getting on” • Behind-the-scenes success • Residual income (“mailbox money”) • Adaptability in changing industries • Creative originality • Relationship capital • Diversifying income through ownership • Treating art like a business Key Takeaways 1. Staying In Is Harder Than Getting In While many focus on breaking into the industry, Kurt emphasizes that lasting success requires constant reinvention. “The continuing it for the 30-plus years has been way harder than the getting in in the first.” Insight: Longevity requires discipline, humility, and evolution. 2. Behind-the-Scenes Roles Can Be More Sustainable Kurt chose composing over performing, allowing him to age into his career rather than age out of it. “In television and film… all I’ve got to say is John Williams is in his 90s and still composing.” Insight: Choose lanes that allow long-term relevance and recurring income. 3. Residual Income Is Real Wealth Rushion and Kurt discuss “mailbox money”—recurring payments from past work. “If you just had the mailbox money for King of Queens, you’d be fine.” Insight: True financial freedom comes from owning work that keeps paying. 4. Adaptability Is Non‑Negotiable Kurt has survived massive industry shifts—from analog tape to digital production—by embracing change. “Sustain that good idea, change it, polish it up, and mold it for the changing times.” Insight: Talent without adaptability becomes obsolete. 5. Originality Comes From Listening, Not Forcing a Style Kurt avoids creative stagnation by serving the story, not his ego. “I don’t come in every day trying to force the singular style I’ve done for 38 years.” Insight: Longevity depends on collaboration and humility. 6. Relationships Are Career Currency Kurt credits long-term success to consistently showing up for people—before they’re powerful. “If you only call someone once you read they’ve got something coming up, it’s already too late.” Insight: Relationships built without agenda produce lasting opportunity. 7. Saying “Yes” Creates Opportunity Kurt embraces what he calls the power of yes. “I figure I can say yes more than you and end up making more and doing better.” Insight: Opportunity favors those who remain open, prepared, and professional. 8. Ownership Multiplies Creativity Into Business Kurt built True Music Pro, a licensing library used across major networks and streaming platforms. “I realized companies were licensing…

## Transcript

[0:00] Speaker 1: Welcome to my show. I'm Rashon McDonald, a host of
[0:02] Speaker 1: Money Making Conversations Masterclass, where we encourage people to stop
[0:06] Speaker 1: reading other people's success stories and start planning your own. Now.
[0:10] Speaker 1: You don't want to miss an episode, so please take
[0:12] Speaker 1: a moment right now to follow or subscribe to Money
[0:14] Speaker 1: Making Conversations Masterclass. It's free. You can follow me on
[0:18] Speaker 1: the iHeartRadio app, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen
[0:22] Speaker 1: to your podcast. New Money Making Conversations Masterclass episodes drop daily.
[0:27] Speaker 1: I want to keep you on alert because my guests
[0:29] Speaker 1: provide tips on how you can uplift your community, improve
[0:32] Speaker 1: your financial planning, motivation, or advice on how to be
[0:36] Speaker 1: a successful entrepreneur. Now, let's get this podcast started. My
[0:40] Speaker 1: guest is a ten time BMI Award winner, four for
[0:43] Speaker 1: his work on the King of Queens, two for Being
[0:47] Speaker 1: Mary Jane which was on b ET, three for the Neighborhood,
[0:50] Speaker 1: and one for the Game. His Far Crop Production is
[0:53] Speaker 1: a full service music for picture company. They offer music composition,
[0:59] Speaker 1: music vision, music editing, music clearance and usage. Are over
[1:04] Speaker 1: ten thousand plus songs in his library. Please welcome to
[1:08] Speaker 1: Money Making Conversations Magic Last allegend a star far call.
[1:12] Speaker 1: How are you doing, Kirk?
[1:14] Speaker 2: Too good to be true? How about yourself?
[1:16] Speaker 1: Don't go to the Kirk. It's been like I think
[1:19] Speaker 1: twenty eighteen last time I was able to sit you
[1:22] Speaker 1: down and interview you about your success. Man, you're a
[1:26] Speaker 1: very special brother man in the industry. So as we
[1:29] Speaker 1: can start tell people exactly what you do, Kirk.
[1:32] Speaker 2: Well, I've started out as a composer for television. Means
[1:38] Speaker 2: I write the themed songs and underscore for numerous TV
[1:45] Speaker 2: shows going all the way back to Mosha and the
[1:49] Speaker 2: Parkers and Girlfriends and one on one and stuff.
[1:52] Speaker 1: A lot of stuff that's really culturally rooted in our memories,
[1:57] Speaker 1: like of great TV shows. Like when you say girlfriends,
[2:01] Speaker 1: like I said, uh, you know being Mary Jane. Uh,
[2:06] Speaker 1: these are shows the neighborhood. Let me just go back
[2:09] Speaker 1: right here. Let me say some more names your girlfriends
[2:11] Speaker 1: which I didn't have, black Lightning, Uh, the Proud Family,
[2:16] Speaker 1: Abraham Lincoln not easily broken, the perfect match. How you know,
[2:21] Speaker 1: everybody trying to figure out everybody want to be on
[2:23] Speaker 1: stage to be Michael Jackson. You know, everybody wanted to
[2:25] Speaker 1: be up there to be Prince everybody wants to be
[2:28] Speaker 1: the performer on America's Got Talent. You are making your
[2:32] Speaker 1: money and being very successful, successful being behind the scenes.
[2:37] Speaker 1: How are you doing that?
[2:38] Speaker 2: Well, I've been doing it in spite of mine. I
[2:41] Speaker 2: started doing it in spite of myself.
[2:43] Speaker 1: Okay, okay. So he was in front music.
[2:45] Speaker 2: You wanted to be wanted to Yes, I wanted to
[2:48] Speaker 2: be every musician grew up, wanted to be the lead singer,
[2:52] Speaker 2: wanted to be this that you know, and uh, you
[2:57] Speaker 2: know in that in the recording business. Uh, once you
[3:00] Speaker 2: turn twenty nine, it's like it's over with a lot
[3:03] Speaker 2: of folks don't really want to know about what you
[3:06] Speaker 2: what your gifts are, ye know. Whereas in television and film,
[3:10] Speaker 2: all I've got to say to you is John Williams
[3:13] Speaker 2: is in his mid nineties and still composing, has been
[3:17] Speaker 2: still composing films.
[3:18] Speaker 1: So give people a little history of John Williams. Like,
[3:22] Speaker 1: you know, John Williams some great movies that he's done.
[3:25] Speaker 2: John Williams is the composer who did all of the
[3:30] Speaker 2: Star Wars movies, all of the virtually everything that you
[3:36] Speaker 2: see with with Harrison Ford. It's just he's done so
[3:43] Speaker 2: many films it's hard to.
[3:49] Speaker 1: Those type of movies. You do them and did you
[3:51] Speaker 1: give residuals on them? Correct? Now? So that's all the
[3:55] Speaker 1: famous mailbox money.
[3:57] Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, that's that's a big part of television. You
[4:01] Speaker 2: would if you just had the quote unquote mailbox money
[4:06] Speaker 2: for King and Queen's you would be you. You'd be fine. You,
[4:15] Speaker 2: you wouldn't be you wouldn't be complaining very much, you
[4:19] Speaker 2: know the things that the thing is it is not
[4:22] Speaker 2: to just do it one time, but to do it
[4:24] Speaker 2: again again. You'll find that when so many people are
[4:29] Speaker 2: are trying to figure out how to get in and
[4:32] Speaker 2: trying to to get get the work happening for them
[4:37] Speaker 2: on ourselves on a on a constant basis. But it's
[4:42] Speaker 2: it's I've been I'm in my thirty eighth season of television.
[4:46] Speaker 2: I will tell you that the continuing it for the
[4:51] Speaker 2: for the thirty plus years has been way harder than
[4:56] Speaker 2: the getting in in the first. Isn't that true?
[4:58] Speaker 1: You know? I think about my life, you know, and
[5:01] Speaker 1: and the journey to get in and and but sometimes
[5:04] Speaker 1: the journey to stay in is like really even tougher,
[5:08] Speaker 1: you know, because it's so competitive and then people going yes, I've.
[5:16] Speaker 2: Never gotten a single job where somebody else didn't didn't
[5:20] Speaker 2: want to want to be sitting in that seat instead
[5:21] Speaker 2: of me. Most of my jobs, after I get it,
[5:26] Speaker 2: they're still trying to get me.
[5:27] Speaker 1: Absolutely, Absolutely, that's.
[5:29] Speaker 2: That's a real thing. Uh Uh. But you can't let
[5:34] Speaker 2: you can't let you can't let that stop. You can't
[5:37] Speaker 2: let the fear of it stop you. It's like what
[5:39] Speaker 2: you were saying in your intro. Uh. Even the folks
[5:42] Speaker 2: around you who will constantly, especially when you're in entertainment,
[5:47] Speaker 2: and that they constantly tell you that this isn't a
[5:49] Speaker 2: real job. You know, I said, Well, and when they
[5:52] Speaker 2: when they say that it's not a real job, I
[5:55] Speaker 2: want to take them out the bird Bank and I
[5:58] Speaker 2: want to go to that green and white building with
[6:00] Speaker 2: the black ears on top of it and tell and
[6:03] Speaker 2: tell all those folks at Disney that they have to
[6:06] Speaker 2: get out because they're not working in a real job.
[6:08] Speaker 2: And when I'm finished with them, I should walk across
[6:11] Speaker 2: the street to Warner Brothers and say, get out because
[6:14] Speaker 2: you're not doing a real job. You're getting a real
[6:17] Speaker 2: check every week, but you're not doing a real job.
[6:20] Speaker 2: That's uh, That that fear of it because most people
[6:25] Speaker 2: don't do this for a job. That fear is what
[6:29] Speaker 2: keeps people out and this fantasy that it's that that
[6:33] Speaker 2: that can only happen to this person. You know, if
[6:37] Speaker 2: you treat it like a business, it might treat you
[6:40] Speaker 2: in kind.
[6:41] Speaker 1: You know, you know, and now and now I admire
[6:43] Speaker 1: what you're saying, because you are a unique talent and
[6:47] Speaker 1: some and you have a unique skill and when you
[6:50] Speaker 1: and that's a very small group of people, and that's
[6:53] Speaker 1: when people kind of minimize it because they can't understand
[6:57] Speaker 1: everybody in the sta what a mail box a postman does,
[7:00] Speaker 1: or bank teller does, cashier does because he sees on
[7:03] Speaker 1: a regular basis a composer, would that be the proper
[7:07] Speaker 1: title for you? Okay, a music composer you're giving Let
[7:12] Speaker 1: me just reiterate everybody who I'm talking. I'm talking to
[7:14] Speaker 1: Kirk Farquhar. Some of this work you're very familiar with,
[7:18] Speaker 1: being Mary Jane, the Neighborhood. He's won ten BMI's and
[7:22] Speaker 1: the bm MY Award is what be.
[7:24] Speaker 2: And my high awards are for composers. The top composers
[7:28] Speaker 2: is essentially you are You're the person that's putting more
[7:31] Speaker 2: music more music or your show is more popular, and
[7:36] Speaker 2: you're think of it like the Billboard Awards. You sell
[7:40] Speaker 2: more records an award. I've been blessed to be on
[7:45] Speaker 2: a number of really big hit TV shows and thankful
[7:53] Speaker 2: for it. But the continuing it, as we were saying,
[7:57] Speaker 2: is the big deal that is too to be in
[8:00] Speaker 2: the game thirty eight years and still coming at it
[8:04] Speaker 2: hard and fresh and having and still being relevant something
[8:08] Speaker 2: that people actually do want. You know, It's not I'm
[8:12] Speaker 2: not just there because I because I still like me,
[8:17] Speaker 2: but because people are still requiring and still want what
[8:21] Speaker 2: it is that I have to do. I've changed with
[8:23] Speaker 2: the times, getting in that first flash. Everybody gets that
[8:27] Speaker 2: one good idea, you know, and then and then want
[8:30] Speaker 2: to run with it. Well, sustain that good idea and
[8:34] Speaker 2: change that good idea and polish it off and molded
[8:38] Speaker 2: and modeled for for the changing times. If you think
[8:44] Speaker 2: about all the things that I've seen my time, how
[8:48] Speaker 2: different music is to them. When I started out, you
[8:52] Speaker 2: put you delivered music on quarter inch tape and fifteen niphs.
[8:57] Speaker 2: You know today you you're sitting in a dark room
[9:01] Speaker 2: by yourself on a computer pad. You know, Pump pump,
[9:04] Speaker 2: you know, and and you should shoot the team when
[9:07] Speaker 2: when you and I worked together, if I forgot the
[9:11] Speaker 2: music on the way over to the to the mix,
[9:13] Speaker 2: there's no way. I have to get back in the
[9:16] Speaker 2: car and go back across town, grab the music and
[9:21] Speaker 2: and meet you back there.
[9:22] Speaker 1: And when you say work together, you know, I met
[9:24] Speaker 1: him on Mosha. That was my good friend Vita Spears
[9:28] Speaker 1: and Sheriff Finny Johnson introduced me to this man's talent.
[9:32] Speaker 1: Then I went over to the Parenthood, did the Parenthood
[9:36] Speaker 1: with you? I did Sister Sister, the Twins, Tea and
[9:39] Speaker 1: Tamar Miley with our girl Felicia Anderson.
[9:42] Speaker 2: And and the Big Big Time, Yes, Steve Big Time.
[9:47] Speaker 1: When the w B did that, I brought him over
[9:49] Speaker 1: there relationship, and then we went over to UH then
[9:54] Speaker 1: then the Parkers with Monique, and then I got out
[9:58] Speaker 1: of the sitcom business, and when made Steve Harvey's career.
[10:02] Speaker 1: But all the while you've just been still building your catalog.
[10:06] Speaker 1: I got to ask you this question because originality and
[10:09] Speaker 1: not being a victim of copy catty, copy catty your success.
[10:14] Speaker 1: How do you pull that off?
[10:17] Speaker 2: You know, first of all, you know it's it's it's
[10:25] Speaker 2: not just my idea. I have to when you when
[10:29] Speaker 2: you're in music, the picture you are, it's not you're
[10:33] Speaker 2: just doing an album, you're doing I'm doing music to
[10:37] Speaker 2: a story that you came up with, Sorr. I work
[10:40] Speaker 2: with somebody else and I do music to a story
[10:42] Speaker 2: that Michael Whitehorn came up with. Or I'm doing a
[10:45] Speaker 2: story to what Ralph Barkoor, Abta Spirits and Sarah Finny
[10:48] Speaker 2: Johnson come up with. And if you're really really taking
[10:53] Speaker 2: the job seriously, you're listening to what they're saying. You're
[10:57] Speaker 2: listening to the vision that they have, and you're co
[11:01] Speaker 2: opting that and bringing that into your train of thought
[11:05] Speaker 2: and you say, okay, this is something else. Let me
[11:08] Speaker 2: go about that in a different way. I don't come
[11:11] Speaker 2: in every day thinking, okay, now, let me force force
[11:15] Speaker 2: feed the singular thing that I've done and the style
[11:19] Speaker 2: that I've done and force feed it to everybody for
[11:21] Speaker 2: thirty eight years. If that was the case, I wouldn't
[11:23] Speaker 2: be here for thirty eight years later. I don't believe.
[11:26] Speaker 1: But you know, because every one of your concepts are different,
[11:29] Speaker 1: and that makes you special. Now you're an African American,
[11:33] Speaker 1: and so a lot of people feel that your talents
[11:35] Speaker 1: were probably leaning that direction. What have you done to
[11:38] Speaker 1: make sure people understand the diversity of your music skills.
[11:42] Speaker 2: I've done shows like King of Queens to make which
[11:45] Speaker 2: I was doing at the same time as Moasia and
[11:47] Speaker 2: The Parkers, you know, at the exact same time, and
[11:53] Speaker 2: I actually created I believe that around the same time
[11:56] Speaker 2: as the as The Parkers, and on the I had
[12:00] Speaker 2: meetings for him on the same day, you know, and
[12:03] Speaker 2: you I took what Michael Whitehorn was saying he wanted
[12:08] Speaker 2: for his story and came up with thoughts that were
[12:12] Speaker 2: reverberated around that. And then I walk over and talked
[12:17] Speaker 2: to Ralph and Vida and Sarah about what they wanted
[12:21] Speaker 2: for the Parkers and which was a total different thing,
[12:25] Speaker 2: you know, and see what they're see what they're creating,
[12:28] Speaker 2: and see if you can allow yourself to be a
[12:31] Speaker 2: part of the entire story and the world that they're creating.
[12:36] Speaker 2: They created a whole other world. And look, I've always
[12:43] Speaker 2: from the beginning of my life as a musician, I've
[12:48] Speaker 2: always been attracted to different sounds in different styles. I
[12:51] Speaker 2: wrote my first symphony when I was twelve. I went
[12:53] Speaker 2: to the National Conservatory music in Belsize, France. I toured
[12:57] Speaker 2: with Freddie Hubbard doing jazz in my twenties, I you know,
[13:02] Speaker 2: uh and and I put out R and B and
[13:05] Speaker 2: hip hop records of myself with myself as a singer.
[13:09] Speaker 2: You know, I'm all over the place. And some of
[13:11] Speaker 2: my favorite music to ever do is country in Western
[13:14] Speaker 2: which a lot of people don't know you. You know,
[13:17] Speaker 2: you know Kurk Parker, you know he loves his country
[13:20] Speaker 2: in Western So, you know, the root stuff.
[13:22] Speaker 1: The thing that I remember last time I interviewed you,
[13:24] Speaker 1: I'm telling ever about a long time ago because the
[13:26] Speaker 1: brother's busy. I'm so fortunate to have him in my
[13:29] Speaker 1: Atlanta studios, was talking about black Light. Yeah, and you
[13:34] Speaker 1: were you were so used. What did you hear the music?
[13:38] Speaker 1: I dropped that it was like it was like it
[13:41] Speaker 1: was like an R and B hit song from back
[13:43] Speaker 1: in that day, and you were just so excited of
[13:47] Speaker 1: the song's placement in that episode. So that's a certain
[13:52] Speaker 1: amount of energy that's real tied to your creativity. So
[13:56] Speaker 1: when you look into it, because music does play a
[13:58] Speaker 1: major role in trans musicians and emotions and drummers, whether
[14:02] Speaker 1: it's a stinger or the up and down tones of
[14:06] Speaker 1: music when they walk in the room. If you took
[14:09] Speaker 1: away that music, it really can take away the tone
[14:12] Speaker 1: and the development of scenes and stories. Correct.
[14:15] Speaker 2: Yeah, and that that's a show where it all elements
[14:19] Speaker 2: of music were important to it. The songs that are
[14:25] Speaker 2: here Caro Lemon would do, would put in and to
[14:29] Speaker 2: the the score. They really really let me do some
[14:33] Speaker 2: interesting things. And you told me that, and we were
[14:36] Speaker 2: I remember we were talking about before how I was
[14:39] Speaker 2: taking hip hop beats and and and taking it apart
[14:44] Speaker 2: and putting it in more of an orchestral point of view.
[14:47] Speaker 2: So the so the trombones and tubas were doing where
[14:50] Speaker 2: the kick drum and the trumpets would be the snare
[14:54] Speaker 2: and and you say, I like this feel. I don't
[14:58] Speaker 2: know why. It's comfortable to me. It's that classical stuff,
[15:03] Speaker 2: but it's not, you know, right, So we try to
[15:05] Speaker 2: put together again, allowing yourself to be influenced, you know,
[15:11] Speaker 2: by the world around you. The creatively creatively creatively is
[15:18] Speaker 2: a thing because the world keeps changing and interesting things happen.
[15:22] Speaker 1: Please don't go anywhere.
[15:24] Speaker 2: We'll be right back with more money making.
[15:25] Speaker 1: Conversations, masterclass. No, I need for you to do me
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[16:04] Speaker 2: I remember earlier in my career recording in a in
[16:09] Speaker 2: a studio that was in this gentleman's garage and it
[16:13] Speaker 2: wasn't the most sound pool place that we ever heard.
[16:17] Speaker 2: And I kid you not, we were. I had the
[16:19] Speaker 2: band playing all live and they were going through all
[16:22] Speaker 2: of the changes that I had written for them to do.
[16:25] Speaker 2: And then in the distance while we're recording, I heard
[16:31] Speaker 2: a dog barking. I kept hearing this dog barking in
[16:35] Speaker 2: this other tonality, and he kept doing it at the
[16:39] Speaker 2: same place, and I said, and in the same key.
[16:42] Speaker 2: I said, Oh my goodness, guys, this is what we're
[16:45] Speaker 2: gonna do. And I changed up the piece of music
[16:49] Speaker 2: to go in the in the in the key and
[16:52] Speaker 2: the register of of where the dog was barking at it,
[16:57] Speaker 2: and everybody, all my producers thought, oh, what a great idea,
[17:01] Speaker 2: what a great What made you think to go and
[17:03] Speaker 2: make that shift at that point? That's so cool, I said,
[17:06] Speaker 2: if I told you, you wouldn't believe me.
[17:08] Speaker 1: So let's talk about some current stuff, Kirk. You know,
[17:11] Speaker 1: I want to keep talking about you. You're stuck in
[17:14] Speaker 1: the past because this brother right here. The Proud Family
[17:17] Speaker 1: season four premieres in July. Yeah, okay, The Proud Family.
[17:21] Speaker 1: Christmas Brown is coming up. Okay, Beyond the Gates, the
[17:25] Speaker 1: hit soap opera, I think it has been renewed for you
[17:27] Speaker 1: season three.
[17:28] Speaker 2: We're we're one and a half months into our second season, right,
[17:34] Speaker 2: and then they picked us up for another two seasons
[17:37] Speaker 2: beyond that, so it'll be three years from now for us.
[17:41] Speaker 2: Before before we're talking about what's new and a brother?
[17:44] Speaker 1: And that was that your search first soap opera genre?
[17:48] Speaker 2: Yeah, it was interesting there. That's five days a week, right, yeah, yeah, yeah,
[17:54] Speaker 2: two hundred and thirty five episodes a year and moving
[17:58] Speaker 2: up from there. Sheila Duxworth that to me about it
[18:03] Speaker 2: and almost five years before it started, and she says,
[18:08] Speaker 2: I got this thing that's coming up, and her vision
[18:11] Speaker 2: was that she wasn't going for the typical soap opera,
[18:15] Speaker 2: daily daytime drama sort of sound. And as you'll find out,
[18:20] Speaker 2: a lot of the people that are working on the
[18:22] Speaker 2: show come out a nighttime. You know. I had never
[18:25] Speaker 2: done anything in terms of a daytime so in my
[18:30] Speaker 2: entire life, and I thought, why not? You know, she
[18:33] Speaker 2: told me that they were going to be trying to
[18:35] Speaker 2: make it special and try to do something different with it.
[18:39] Speaker 1: The power relationships really tells a part, a major part
[18:44] Speaker 1: of your story.
[18:45] Speaker 2: It's a big deal.
[18:45] Speaker 1: Yeah, talk about relationships and how people need to understand
[18:50] Speaker 1: you can have a talent, but relationships can be a
[18:53] Speaker 1: major asset to the longevity of your career, delivering quality
[18:57] Speaker 1: work and people making recommendation.
[18:59] Speaker 2: I always tell people I only work for Steven Spielberg.
[19:02] Speaker 2: You know, I say, I see my producer, come in,
[19:06] Speaker 2: my director, come in. I see Steven Spielberg, and act accordingly.
[19:10] Speaker 2: If you if you were working with Steven Spielberg and
[19:14] Speaker 2: you were and he said, oh, well, guys, it's going
[19:16] Speaker 2: to be really late tonight. Where it's going to be well,
[19:18] Speaker 2: I don't know when we're going to get out of here.
[19:21] Speaker 2: Half of you would not would not think to have
[19:25] Speaker 2: called your significant other to say I'm not coming home
[19:28] Speaker 2: you just I'm working for Steven Spielberg.
[19:30] Speaker 1: Oh my god.
[19:31] Speaker 2: You know we'll do that for all your other producers.
[19:34] Speaker 2: I give my whole heart and soul to them. I am.
[19:39] Speaker 2: I am there for them one and and it's in
[19:43] Speaker 2: the good times and the bad times that producers have.
[19:47] Speaker 2: Some of my biggest producers are people that came up
[19:51] Speaker 2: to me earlier in their career and needed something, needed
[19:55] Speaker 2: some music, and I said yes, then as well, my
[19:58] Speaker 2: my whole thing is the power of I figure I
[20:01] Speaker 2: could say yes more than you and and and end
[20:05] Speaker 2: up making more and doing better. I don't. Most people
[20:10] Speaker 2: in the arts can't always tell you what is going
[20:14] Speaker 2: to be that success. So I got out of the
[20:18] Speaker 2: business of trying to figure out which one is going
[20:21] Speaker 2: to be the winner. I said, if I actually knew
[20:24] Speaker 2: they would, they would have me bronzed and sitting out
[20:27] Speaker 2: in front of Sony Seguards the way. You know, it's
[20:31] Speaker 2: it's that's not the case. I do a simple thing
[20:35] Speaker 2: that my uh my producer brother Ralph told me, I said,
[20:40] Speaker 2: I do I do my job. I do it the
[20:43] Speaker 2: best that I can, and I move on to the
[20:45] Speaker 2: next one.
[20:45] Speaker 1: There's a more project, bull Run tempted to Love the
[20:50] Speaker 1: number two Love single Black Female the best you can.
[20:54] Speaker 1: It's Kevin Bacon's movie.
[20:55] Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, that was Kevin Bacon. Again, not not of
[21:02] Speaker 2: a film that most people would have thought of this,
[21:06] Speaker 2: the older black composer would have been the one to
[21:12] Speaker 2: that they choose to do this music. But I I
[21:15] Speaker 2: believe that I did something that was different, that was pertinent,
[21:19] Speaker 2: and again it was a relationship that I've had, you know,
[21:23] Speaker 2: that goes back years. I keep these relationships going even
[21:28] Speaker 2: when I am not working with folks. If you only
[21:31] Speaker 2: want to call someone and talk to them once you've
[21:36] Speaker 2: read in the trades that they've got something coming up,
[21:40] Speaker 2: it's already too late. I'm I'm seriously because I seriously
[21:45] Speaker 2: care about them. I'm seriously reaching out to people and
[21:49] Speaker 2: seriously letting it be known that I'm there for them.
[21:55] Speaker 2: So that because by the time when it's getting going,
[21:58] Speaker 2: if you're not top of mind, probably not going to
[22:01] Speaker 2: be in the mix.
[22:01] Speaker 1: Absolutely a couple more projects. Ruth and boys.
[22:05] Speaker 2: That was a big one for us.
[22:06] Speaker 1: Number one on Netflix, number one, number one on Netflix.
[22:11] Speaker 1: You know again, now a great project you've been tied
[22:15] Speaker 1: to the neighborhood with starring Cedric Entertainment comes to an end.
[22:20] Speaker 1: What are your feelings and did you compose any special
[22:22] Speaker 1: music in the last season or the final episode there?
[22:26] Speaker 2: The final episode is very very special and there is
[22:29] Speaker 2: some special music right taking you right to the end.
[22:34] Speaker 2: That kind of shows the emotion that I think everybody
[22:37] Speaker 2: was feeling on that show. That show has been on
[22:40] Speaker 2: eight years straight and then it has been in the
[22:44] Speaker 2: top of the rankings throughout that whole time. Yes, even
[22:51] Speaker 2: today it's one of the top shows. Even as they're
[22:54] Speaker 2: going off the air, it is one of the top
[22:56] Speaker 2: shows to be on TV. That doesn't happen by accident.
[23:01] Speaker 2: That happens with a lot of a lot of solid
[23:06] Speaker 2: work and care. The executive producer, Jim that first started
[23:13] Speaker 2: the show. When Jim first talked to me, he said
[23:18] Speaker 2: what he wanted to do with the show. He made
[23:21] Speaker 2: an interesting thing, he says. He says, Kurt, I don't
[23:24] Speaker 2: I'm not trying to make a party that's so cool
[23:28] Speaker 2: that only the cool kids come in he says, I'm
[23:31] Speaker 2: trying to make I'm trying to make a big party
[23:34] Speaker 2: for everybody to come and and and it seems like
[23:37] Speaker 2: that they accomplished that. Sedjac Entertainer has been an amazing
[23:43] Speaker 2: person to work with. A musical ear he has, oh,
[23:47] Speaker 2: he has a very musical ear. You know. He has
[23:50] Speaker 2: come into the studio with me a number of times,
[23:53] Speaker 2: not only with the Neighborhood, but with Proud Family. He
[23:57] Speaker 2: plays Uncle Bobby on Proud Fam. He's he's that that
[24:05] Speaker 2: that glue, thatd essentral thing, his vision of how this
[24:09] Speaker 2: is supposed to be and what sort of comedy this is,
[24:12] Speaker 2: and what sort of stories we're telling, which is sometimes
[24:14] Speaker 2: some very very tough and important stories that he's telling
[24:18] Speaker 2: that are very uh linked to what's going on. And
[24:22] Speaker 2: that's why I think so many people appreciate that show.
[24:26] Speaker 2: But he finds a funny way to put it. But
[24:28] Speaker 2: he's been decent and supportive of everybody in the cast.
[24:33] Speaker 2: I feel like he was supportive of what I did musically.
[24:37] Speaker 2: He's supportive of all of the other acts and all
[24:39] Speaker 2: the people that are behind the scenes.
[24:41] Speaker 1: I have a couple of questions before I'll let you
[24:43] Speaker 1: go Kurk. Your music library, I mentioned it earlier. Tell
[24:48] Speaker 1: us about it, and how can one gain access to
[24:50] Speaker 1: licensed music in your library?
[24:53] Speaker 2: Well, I had noticed years ago that other companies were
[24:58] Speaker 2: licensing music into I said, jeez. And I looked at
[25:02] Speaker 2: one company. You had licensed more music in my more
[25:05] Speaker 2: minutes of music in my my TV show than I
[25:08] Speaker 2: had in it, And I said, okay, that's crazy. You
[25:12] Speaker 2: know I can make one of those. If I had
[25:16] Speaker 2: known how hard it was and listen to the naysayers,
[25:21] Speaker 2: I might not have done it. But I went on
[25:22] Speaker 2: and blindly went moved forward and got a library of
[25:27] Speaker 2: my own, and I not only used it to license
[25:31] Speaker 2: in my TV shows, but it's in TV shows on
[25:34] Speaker 2: virtually every single network out there, NBC, ABC, Fox, We're
[25:40] Speaker 2: on b E T, We're on HBO, We're on all
[25:46] Speaker 2: the streamers, all of the streamers. It's you know, you
[25:49] Speaker 2: just have a website. Yes, it's called true Music true
[25:53] Speaker 2: musicpro dot com.
[25:55] Speaker 1: To true musicpro dot com.
[25:57] Speaker 2: Yes, and you can reach out to the folks that
[26:01] Speaker 2: True Music Pro and they can help you license a
[26:04] Speaker 2: piece of music.
[26:05] Speaker 1: I'll be remissed if I sat down here and you
[26:09] Speaker 1: have the last named far quah and not bring up
[26:12] Speaker 1: your brother Ralph. Well, yeah, true mentor of mine in
[26:16] Speaker 1: their business when I was a writer in Hollywood, A
[26:19] Speaker 1: ment of so many, so many writers in black and
[26:23] Speaker 1: white in this business. A true legend in this business.
[26:26] Speaker 1: As you stated ear just started on happy Days as
[26:29] Speaker 1: an a sister, right. Uh, talk about tell us what
[26:32] Speaker 1: he's doing. And I know he's part of Proud Family. Yeah,
[26:35] Speaker 1: not like you know, he's not. He's not busy, but boy,
[26:39] Speaker 1: he is a special guy.
[26:41] Speaker 2: Yes, he and his partner Bruce Smith are developing a
[26:48] Speaker 2: ton of new projects that you'll hopefully be seen soon
[26:52] Speaker 2: over at at Disney and Disney Plus. And as as
[26:57] Speaker 2: you said earlier, we have the new Proud Family Louder
[26:59] Speaker 2: and Router that'll be coming up this summer. Just last
[27:04] Speaker 2: week and I think this is just amazing. They have
[27:10] Speaker 2: Disney had a live action figures of Proud Family, Penny
[27:17] Speaker 2: Proud walking around Disneyland, and I said, I don't think
[27:22] Speaker 2: that that's ever happened before. And my hat is off
[27:27] Speaker 2: to Ralph and Bruce and what they've achieved. Proud Family
[27:33] Speaker 2: is a historical piece of work. And these guys work
[27:39] Speaker 2: their tails off to bring you some interesting and special stories.
[27:44] Speaker 2: All I can say is, everybody, if you love Proud Family,
[27:48] Speaker 2: if you've only heard of Proud Family, you have got
[27:51] Speaker 2: to see this season four of Proud Family, Louder and
[27:54] Speaker 2: Prouder coming in mid mid July. It is the best yet.
[27:59] Speaker 2: It is absolutely amazing and I can't say enough about it.
[28:03] Speaker 1: Well, Kirk, I have Can it not be almost another
[28:07] Speaker 1: decade before we sat down again? But of course if
[28:09] Speaker 1: I do, the resume ain't gonna be even longer working
[28:13] Speaker 1: on that. You special man, because you've been a special
[28:15] Speaker 1: in my life. I've been able to share our relationships
[28:19] Speaker 1: and the industry, whether it's a reality show with Steve
[28:22] Speaker 1: Harvey on Big Time or sitcoms on The Parkers or
[28:26] Speaker 1: Sister's Sister. But you've been a special brother, and you've
[28:28] Speaker 1: always been the same, always been the same, right there
[28:31] Speaker 1: and dead on. You're gifted man, and when you share
[28:34] Speaker 1: your story, it comes with a lot of humbleness, a
[28:37] Speaker 1: lot of thank you for coming on Money Making Conversations,
[28:40] Speaker 1: master Classes, thank you, thank you for having me, thank
[28:43] Speaker 1: you for listening to this episode. No, I need for
[28:45] Speaker 1: you to do me a favor right now to follow
[28:48] Speaker 1: or subscribe to Money Making conversation. It's free and you
[28:52] Speaker 1: can find it on the iHeartRadio app, Spotify, Apple Podcasts,
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[29:01] Speaker 1: or subscribe money making conversations keep winning

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