Rising Star Scott Evans On The Five Things You Need To Shine In The Entertainment Industry

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…You have to be aware and clear on what it is that you want for your life, then you have to release that perfect vision. Getting there isn’t going to look how you envisioned it and it certainly will not be linear, and that’s the part that you have to enjoy. Once you reach your goal, I can guarantee you, in the words of Maya Angelou, “It will become time to dream a new dream.” It will never be the end goal you thought it was going to be in the beginning, but it will be the next thing in your career that you need to happen.

I recently had the pleasure of interviewing Scott Evans. Currently, he is the co-host of ACCESS HOLLYWOOD and host of AMERICA’S BIG DEAL on the USA Network.

NBCUNIVERSAL also just announced a development deal with him in television and streaming, so he’s one to watch!

Scott is going beyond his entertainment news career to now become a creator in the television development space, focusing on telling the stories of often unheard communities: Black, LGBTQ+, etc. As an Emmy nominated entertainment journalist, Scott is a TV personality with an all-encompassing audience reach. In that relatability, he remains a proud representation and champion of black culture in mainstream entertainment news.

Scott, thank you so much for joining us in this interview series. I guess first things first, can you tell our readers a bit about your backstory and how you grew up?

I was born in New Jersey to a young mother, who was just 20 years old when she had me. We ended up moving to Indianapolis, where she raised me as a single mom. While there, I got involved with an organization called Indiana Black Expo, which allowed me to see black people not only achieving excellence but who were affecting the community by bringing people together, informing and empowering them as well. Through this experience, I was exposed to people such as Muhammad Ali, Jesse Jackson, Al Sharpton, and Mike Tyson, all of this at a young age.

Through this organization, I was able to perform on stage, in front of crowds, and this is where I fell in love with the idea of being able to affect the masses through forms of entertainment.

When I was in middle school, I joined a program called Youth Video Institute and learned the basics of video production and visual storytelling and instantly fell in love with it.

I started as a camera operator and we started a television show called 360 Degrees, which was a youth-directed and produced TV series with a bunch of teenagers telling stories we found interesting which ranged from college, dating, sex, and even teen homelessness. From there, I cut my teeth on what it meant to tell a story, capture, and keep an audience engaged.

When I was in third grade, Stacy Paetz was working as a courtside reporter for the Pacers for Fox Sports Network. She ended up booking me a gig as a young Reggie Miller playing against a young Larry Bird for the player intro videos. I remember the shoot feeling like such a major thing like wow! I’m a movie set!, but looking back, it was simply a camera operator, an audio engineer, and lighting, but it felt like a huge production for me. I mean, I got $50 and a day out of school and I told my Mom on the car ride home, I think this is what I want to pursue as my career. I remember her looking at me like, ok, let’s slow down a little bit here.

But, I felt as though I was going to pursue this, even if it wasn’t on television or in front of a camera. It might be through stuff like talent shows, which would allow me to do things like dancing in front of an audience or hosting events, stuff like that. I believed I had found my calling at a young age, and since I already had some success and achievement in it, it was as though it was meant for me. When it came time for college, I was offered a full ride to Purdue, so I figured it was the right thing to do and seemed to make the most sense… until the didn’t.

Wow, that was a fantastic story! Can you share a story about a funny or interesting mistake that you made when you were first starting and what lesson you learned from that?

I’m not sure if you would call this funny or not, but it was something I learned from. I was at an AFI honor event for Denzel Washington in Hollywood and I was on the red carpet. During these events, you have to get the attention of the person that you’re wanting to speak with because they’re likely zoned in on the moment, focused on photos and the press, so you have to work a little harder to get them to see you. Once you try and get them to notice you, you’re just hoping for some sort of a reaction or for them to want to come up and talk with you.

During that moment, I saw Jennifer Aniston, who is one of those people everyone wants to talk to about whether she’s working on a new project, what she’s currently promoting, etc. This was also around the time that The Morning Show production had just been announced and while there was no trailer, it was known that Jennifer Aniston and Reese Witherspoon had been producing and leading the show for Apple TV.

So, I saw her on the red carpet and before I realized what I’m saying, I just got so excited that I ended up grabbing her and shouting “Rachel! Rachel Green!”. She shoots me a look like really?

I tell her, “Oh man, I am so sorry. I just wanted to say how great you look tonight and was wondering if I could ask you about The Morning Show.” She looked at me and said “there’s nothing to talk about yet. We haven’t done anything” and I just remember it as a time that I kicked myself over and over again with how disappointed I felt with myself.

I ended up seeing her again at the actual junket for The Morning Show and retold her the story of what happened that night on the red carpet and apologized because I didn’t want her to feel like it was a reductive experience. I told her, you’ll always be Rachel to me and she grabbed my hands and asked me “have you ever watched an episode of Friends?” and I responded with “of course! Who hasn’t?!” We went on to have a nice exchange after that.

During that promotion of The Morning Show, Jennifer and Reese ended up reenacting a scene from the show during our interview and when they were done, I told her “thank you for showing up in that way.” For me, it made me realize that I need to own up to my experiences. Whether it’s a mistake, something in your realm of expertise, or whatever type of situation you find yourself in, you need to be able to apologize if needed, roll with it, step up and stand strong. Owning your space and whatever that means for the moment and being authentically you.

I don’t know if that answers your question, or it’s necessarily funny, but that was my takeaway from my experience.

Super. I’m sure you’re working on some exciting things. So can you share with our readers some of the most interesting or exciting projects that you’re working on now?

I have been fortunate to work on shows and teams that love what they do. They not only love it, but they’re great at what they do and they have this innate or intrinsic desire to tell as many sides of the story or include as many perspectives as possible. You know, I think our team at Access Hollywood does a great job of including as many cues and varied backgrounds when it comes to sharing the story and the significance of the impact.

I am, though, super excited about this new deal with NBC and Universal because they see me as a person who can usher in more stories with a focus on richness when it comes to culture and even more richness when it comes to texture. I’m personally really excited about some of the things I’m working on that are in the developmental stages with Peacock and NBC as well. For the longest, I’ve believed that it could be a reboot to Sister Sister. We all remember the show, but now it would be the two sisters who are grown up and both pursuing careers in the entertainment industry in Los Angeles and the things that they experience while working towards that dream.

I also have a radio show coming out with Amazon in February that I’m looking forward to. It’s going to be based on helping people get excited to tackle the day ahead, but also hearing stories of people working to overcome obstacles in their lives. It will also include elements of scripted drama, relationship advice, what’s happening that day that gives people an opportunity to talk about what they’re fearful of, excited about, what they’re aiming for and how we’re all connected. So I’m looking forward to working with them and their belief in me to take this opportunity to the next level. I’m also really looking forward to working with Peacock as well on an entire slate of scripted and non-scripted television shows.

But, if I can be completely honest here, it is not even necessarily the shows that I’m on working on developing that I’m excited about, I’m also glad to have the opportunity to meet other storytellers who are looking for ways to collaborate on things they are working on, and being able to create something new with them as well. I’m ecstatic about this time in my life, with the networks I’ll be working with, and all the newness of being able to create a new era, a new space, and how that will eventually become my new normal. Overall, I’m just really excited about the future and everything that it holds.

Scott, you’ve been blessed with success in a career that can be challenging. Do you have any words of advice for people who want to pursue a similar career path, but who seem daunted by the prospect of failure?

I think you need to embrace failure. To know that rejection is part of this industry as a way to filter out who is serious, who is committed, and who is not. I think that you need to reexamine, reimagine and redefine what rejection and a ‘no’ mean to you. It doesn’t necessarily have to mean that this isn’t the right career field for you, or that you are not worthy, it may just mean that you aren’t prepared for that particular experience, or even that the experience isn’t a right fit for you, but in the end, whatever is right for you, that ‘no’ will become a ‘yes’. It will feel undeniable. I cannot tell you how many times I have sat with another actor, host, or musician and we talked about how they felt as though they bombed an experience or failed a portion of the process, and it ended up working out for them anyway. I also can’t tell you how many times I’ve talked with an actor about them believing they nailed it, thinking there was no way they weren’t going to get it, and they end up getting rejected. But looking at them now, that didn’t prevent them from getting back at it.

Digging in, doing more to expand their knowledge, their awareness of what they are pursuing, and understanding that things might not always pan out the way you expect, but you have to keep going. I say this all the time, especially to young people who are in the pursuit of a hosting or an entertainment career; “journalism is something that you have to be tethered to the dream, very closely tethered to the outcome and to the goal that you set for yourself.” You also have to release yourself from the thought that your career path is going to be a straight line. As anybody in the industry can tell you, their career wasn’t exactly what they thought it would be, and they would have never imagined the obstacles they would have to overcome, or the opportunities that would come their way, or even the way their path would lead to success.

So, you have to be aware and clear on what it is that you want for your life, then you have to release that perfect vision. Getting there isn’t going to look how you envisioned it and it certainly will not be linear, and that’s the part that you have to enjoy. Once you reach your goal, I can guarantee you, in the words of Maya Angelou, “It will become time to dream a new dream.” It will never be the end goal you thought it was going to be in the beginning, but it will be the next thing in your career that you need to happen.

Much of our writing talks about the importance of diversity in entertainment. So this may seem obvious, but again, I think it’s important to articulate. Can you share three reasons with our readers about why you think it’s important to have diversity represented in film and television and how that can potentially affect our culture?

I can give you a very specific example. I’m currently watching Encanto, the animated story of a family and their experience with the supernatural. In the movie, there is a young boy with beautiful brown skin and a big curly afro and I just remember looking at the screen and thinking to myself, ‘damn, it’s weird to me to think that I’ve never seen this type of kid on-screen before.’ And within days, I’m seeing people post images of their kids or a kid they know standing in front of the screen, with the image of this little boy behind them and you can go through the captions with most of them mentioning something very similar to how I felt, about how representation is so important and how finally my kid sees someone like themselves on screen.

While I understand this is a cartoon character, it’s someone who makes them feel like it’s ok for me to exist, to be me. It’s normal for me to be in this space and have the audacity, and the authority to feel validation for once and know that who I am is completely ok. For example, when it comes to media, I believe it is important to see those types of representation, to show every kid out there that you deserve to follow your dreams, take up space and feel as though you are seen.

I believe another reason that I am excited about this deal with NBC and Universal, is that I realized that there are so many stories to be told, experiences to be shared and to share that we’re all humans at the end of the day. While we might be different, we are similar in more ways than we think. While so many people are talking about the divisiveness of our country, I believe there is a way that we can show everyone how truly connected we are.

You know, I look at shows like Grand Crew on Peacock, and I look at the fact that it’s one of the very few sitcoms that has an all black cast and the plot of the show is they follow these 4 people around and show that the regular black experience isn’t stricken by poverty, anchored in addiction or drug use and it’s not peppered with some sort of struggle beyond existing. It’s about being young and just figuring out who you are and what you want to be. I believe Issa Rae described it as “it’s just black people being black and living life”. It’s a really powerful thing to see.

So, I guess to answer your question, I think representation matters because it allows you to believe, to trust in something, and know what that is. And that you deserve to take up space, you have the right to dream, and I think in a way, that normalizes some of the things that might be a part of our experience or our culture that other people might not realize.

To be honest, I’m over all the white shows and white experiences being the only option or being the most popular shows on television. I believe it’s time to shake things up and make sure those who find themselves as part of a culturally diverse experience are also able to find themselves in a homogenous experience as well.

Amazing! So, Scott, you are a person of enormous influence. If you could inspire movement, that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people. What would that be? Cause you never know what your idea can trigger.

It’s funny that you say I’m an “influencer”. I don’t agree with that statement, but I do understand that’s just the nature of the question. Not to sound super name droppy, but I was talking with Lady Gaga and her mom about kindness and the work the Born this Way Foundation is doing. The type of kindness that she brings is what I think can change the world. Compassion and kindness, how to lead with it, and how it can make a huge difference not only in the choices you make in your life, but for others around you as well are a big part of her mission and I think that’s really important.

So, I think the answer to that question for me is, the movement that would do the most good would come down to what they refer to as the trickle-down effect. I believe that when we prioritize compassion, that understanding follows. When we talk about the divide in our country, a lot of these things could be worked out by us just simply showing more compassion and kindness to those around us.

Okay, fantastic. We are very blessed that prominent leaders read this column. Is there a person in the world or in the US with whom you would like to have breakfast or lunch? They might see this, especially if we tag them.

Ohhh… Who would I want to have lunch with? There are so many options!

Okay, if I had to pick someone, I would say Issa Ray. I have been following her since Awkward Black Girl on YouTube. I was an extra on the show and I loved her then, and still love her now. I would love to have lunch with her because of the effect she has on not only the industry, but on young black people about going after their dreams, getting started on their own, and not waiting for someone, say HBO, to pluck you out of obscurity. She inspires you to go on your terms and at your own pace and stay true to your desires.

Issa has gone from YouTube to HBO and is now working on an NBA-sized deal with them to create more content. With that, she also created a shift in the industry that with the wrap-up of Insecure after five seasons, now networks are wanting more shows like that. Because of this, they’re going to start looking at creators who are similar to Issa to bring them to market. For this, I would love to sit down with her because she has taken stock of the dream that she had when she launched her first show and it has grown into a multi-pronged empire for her. There’s music, events, TV and I’ve heard rumors of some film and book deals in the works. I’d like to discuss with her at what point in the success of Insecure, did she begin to expand her dream? I’m just curious about it.

But really, there are so many more that I would love to have lunch with. Tyler Perry would be an amazing person to sit down with, talk about life, how he’s been a one-man-band most of his career, what it feels like to have a studio bigger than Warner Bros., Disney and Sony combined. Also, what it means to have a black man doing all of that in Atlanta. At the end of the day, there are just so many people that I would love to spend the time with.

Super. Let’s pray that it happens. Well, Scott, it’s been a pleasure and a delight to connect to you and learn from you and I’m excited to continue watching the ascension of your career and continue to watch your star rise.


Rising Star Scott Evans On The Five Things You Need To Shine In The Entertainment Industry was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.