Celebrity Interview | Entertainment & Film Industry - The Art of Authenticity: Anne-Marie Johnson's Journey

Greg Staffa 0:00

You're listening to the Staffa Corner Podcast, a Staffatarian look at entertainment and life with your host, Greg Staffa. My guest this episode is a talented actress, anne-marie Johnson. She is basically my entire childhood of growing up, from different strokes to Hill Street Blues, to what's happening now in the heat of the night and in living color, and thanks for joining us. Thank you for having me so you grew up in Los Angeles, born and raised.

Greg Staffa 0:35

Yes, was an actress always kind of one of those things that you're, I mean you're in that area, you're kind of surrounded by the bombardment of advertising and movie, this and movie that. Is that something that was kind of predestined for you?

Anne-Marie Johnson 0:50

No Well, if you like, I have a faith in my faith in God. I think it was predestined for me, via what God thought I would be best at doing to provide entertainment to the public. But I grew up in a very middle class existence. My father was a police officer, my mother was a school teacher. I went to public schools, lived in the same neighborhood. I still live in the same neighborhood. I've lived here my whole life, so I was not surrounded. Even though the general assumption of Los Angeles is an industry town, it really isn't, because we have multiple industries that support this city, hollywood just being one of the most well-known. But no, I don't believe where I lived had any influence. It was just something that I knew I wanted to do ever since probably first grade, and my parents supported me throughout the whole process.

Greg Staffa 1:55

And what kind of a child were you growing up?

Anne-Marie Johnson 1:57

Believe it or not, I was very quiet. My mom and dad were really worried about me, but I was the youngest of four and, like I said, for me it was idyllic. I had a very wonderfully loving family and just really kind of a bland Ozzie and Harriet existence. I was very fortunate the family was intact. It was a middle class existence. We dealt with we were we dealt with a lot of racism, but my family structure was so strong that it didn't necessarily cause trauma because we dealt with it and it was great. I loved my childhood, absolutely loved it, absolutely loved it.

Greg Staffa 2:41

So was it, and I've talked to other actors and actresses and a lot of them and you said, believe it or not, but a lot of them tend to be shy, reserved kids, and acting was a way to kind of incorporate, to become someone else, to not be themselves anymore. Instead of being that shy child, they could be anything that they wanted to be and that escape allowed them to kind of discover themselves in playing other people. Is that some of that for you?

Anne-Marie Johnson 3:08

No, it was. It was, I think my folks were just concerned that I was really quiet up until the age of four. Then, come five, I exploded into, you know, the person that I am today. I never considered my love for acting as a escape, as a form of escape. I didn't want to escape who I was and who I am because I'm really quite happy For me just acting. I wanted to entertain, I wanted to, I just wanted to perform, but I did not want to disappear or be anybody else other than myself. But I, I think I gravitated to the arts, to. You know, it was always in choruses and orchestras, classical orchestras and acting. I just really grav, really gravitated to the arts and loved every minute of it.

Greg Staffa 4:08

Now you went on to go to school again, staying in LA. You got a degree in acting and theater. Instead of asking really about your college, I want to jump forward a little bit. You've been vice president of the Screen Actors Guild. You ran for president of the Actors Union. You've been very active in what goes on in the Hollywood aspect of it. If I take the two the Actors Guild vice president and you're schooling in Los Angeles how much do the two mesh? As far as teaching you what you need to know and then being a vice president and seeing where these actors are coming from and wishing they could do this or that, did you learn a lot of what you real world stuff, or how did that go?

Anne-Marie Johnson 4:52

it was interesting boy. No one's ever asked that question. I had a really great public education experience. All of my education was through public schools and at that time public schools were much more entrenched with art, civics, community service. Unfortunately, those requirements have fallen by the wayside. Community being active in your class, just being active and participating, were pivotal to the formation of who you are and who you would become.

Anne-Marie Johnson 5:32

And when I became involved with union politics, it kind of it was a natural gravitation to another level of that. I love working in committees, I love working teamwork, I love politics, and that's what union is. Union is politics, just a different form of it, and it was oh, I was always taught to give back. Politics was also a way of honoring those who came before me and trying to strengthen, continue and strengthen the policies, the working in wages conditions within our union, and that was the best way to do it. So, like I said, this is my last year. I've been doing it since 1995. So this is my last year. My seat is up in a couple of months and it's been a great experience.

Greg Staffa 6:29

If you were to take the knowledge that you have, not only as the vice president of the Screen Actors Guild not all the work that you've done, but just as an actress in general. If you were to teach a one week class, go back to UCLA and could choose any topic that you could teach

Early Career and Union Politics

Greg Staffa 6:45

young actors and actresses. That would be that you would see as a value to them. What kind of class would you teach?

Anne-Marie Johnson 6:52

Probably business, the business of what it takes to be an actor, because there's much more business than there is art. Art is probably the last thing that is required in this industry. I mean, you don't have to be that innocent to realize that very little art is appreciated in the entertainment industry. It truly is a business, and schools and institutions that concentrate on the entertainment business do a horrible job preparing young actors for the business side of it, and the business side of it is much more important for longevity than the art side of it. We have a lot of untalented people in this industry who do quite well and have been in the business for decades, and that's because there was a certain sense of business, of survival savvy, and sometimes you can't teach that. But there are tools that are missing in the arsenal of actors, and so I would definitely concentrate on what it takes to because an actor I can only talk about actors, but actors, we're a business, we're our own corporation, and so many actors have absolutely no idea what that means.

Greg Staffa 8:20

Not to get too far off topic, but do you think that agents and publicists, and so I, did have a little bit more responsibility in that regard, or is it on the actor themselves to figure things out?

Anne-Marie Johnson 8:31

It's on the actor themselves, because agents and publicists and managers you'll have many of them in your career Many, very few actors stay with the same team for a significant period of time. So you, the actor, really must know what you're, especially if you're in a union. You really have to understand your contract. You have to understand the business. You have to understand the rules and regulations and the overwhelming majority of actors they don't want that. They just want to eat the sausage. They don't want to see it being made. They don't want to know any of that. And that's where many mistakes are made.

Anne-Marie Johnson 9:11

I was really part of a collection of actors who really took it seriously, and so I can negotiate my own contracts. I don't expect that from every actor, but an actor needs to know the bare minimum. I mean, at a minimum, know what you need to know when you enter that set. Before you enter the set. Do not rely on an agent or a manager or a movie of the week starring Robert Urich oh, wow, and it was called His Mistress and I don't even know if that's on my, but that was my. I played a secretary, it was a speaking role. That's what got me into Screen Actors Guild, but that was my first union job was a movie that we called His Mistress, with Robert Yurk.

Anne-Marie Johnson 10:11

Isn't that funny.

Greg Staffa 10:12

I know it's not on your Wikipedia, it's not on your.

Anne-Marie Johnson 10:16

I know.

Greg Staffa 10:19

Trust the internet.

Anne-Marie Johnson 10:21

They make so many

The Business Side of Acting

Anne-Marie Johnson 10:23

mistakes. I mean, my IMDb page is 95% 95 accurate, but there are, uh, just maybe four or five credits that I have no idea what they are hopefully they're good movies.

Greg Staffa 10:36

At least that way you can you know they won't box off as bombs that you're tied to yeah, I have no idea, I should look, I should actually look that up so one thing I just wanted to delve briefly on is a particular movie that you did early on in your career and I fully admit as a young well, not young anymore, but as a man growing up nude scenes never I was a guy like a woman shows up naked and didn't even think about it and in all honesty, it wasn't really until star trek into the darkness. Uh, there's a brief scene with alice eve, where she's in her bra and panties and I thought to myself that's kind of odd. It just didn't seem like it fit. There, looked like they were putting her in there because she looked beautiful and you did a movie, robot jocks, and in all of your research it it says this is her one nude scene. Like we should like take pride in that or take note of that. That that's, and you did it early in your career.

Greg Staffa 11:37

And I just wonder is that something that, as a struggling actress, you just had to agree to? Or was that something that you chose to do because it the scene itself? It didn't really need to be in there. I mean, you could have done the scene without it. Was there pressures to do that then, and then you never did one again? Was it because you became talented enough and knew your contract enough that you didn't have to go back and do that.

Anne-Marie Johnson 12:03

Well, it was interesting because at that time when I was cast to do Robot Jocks, I had already done a film. I'd been on two series at that point, so I was at the beginning of a very lengthy and successful career. So I wasn't struggling. I was working on two shows at the same time and it was just things were going quite well.

Anne-Marie Johnson 12:34

The reason for that particular scene was the background of the character that I was portraying. She was considered a gen jock, which was a it was kind of way, kind of. It was way before its time. It was non-binary. We were all created to be physically fit, regardless of our assigned gender. So we were considered gen jocks of our assigned gender. So we were considered gen jocks. We were perfect specimens of athletically healthy and mentally strong fighters. We were warriors. And so it did actually make sense because I was not the only nude person. I just happened to be the only female nude person, but I was nude in a locker scene with dozens of men and it didn't mean anything to us. We saw each other as the same, so it was really way ahead of its time. So it wasn't a scene for gratuity's sake. It was a scene to emphasize the fact that our sexual differences for Jen jocks meant nothing, but it did mean something to the old old school warrior played by Gary Graham. It did mean something to him. He found that very odd and very titillating. But not for the other people, not for the Jen jocks. So that was the purpose for that scene and no, there was no pressure. I knew it was in the script. I met with stewart gordon, the wonderful stewart gordon, the director, during casting and then before we left for italy and even during our filming schedule in italy. It was really well handled and, um, very tasteful and the only only reason why my career.

Anne-Marie Johnson 14:27

I actually did another scene, but I was under the covers. It was for a Jackie Collins miniseries called Lucky Chances and interesting story about Lucky Chances, which was a great miniseries. I think it was a six hour miniseries. It was really fantastic and my character ages from age 17 to 70. And she was in her younger years. She was a prostitute.

Anne-Marie Johnson 14:57

So there was a scene where I am naked with, oh gosh, I forget the character's name. Anyway, we were in bed and you can't see anything and we were wearing uh, we were wearing safety clothing underneath the, the, the covers. But then the director said okay, now we're going to do the European version. And, marine, I want you to take off your clothes and I want you to exit the bed and I want you to walk around the bed.

Anne-Marie Johnson 15:26

And I said, buzz, that's not in the script. And he said I know, I know, but, and keep in mind, there were like 150 people on the set, it was a full set, and, and Jackie Collins was on the set, actually, and all the executive producers, and, and so the director said no, no, no, this is the european version, because in europe they like having this type of nudity and you're a lovely woman, don't be afraid. And I said no and he said, he said well, if you don't do that, if you don't do it, I'm going to shut down the whole set and people will have to go home and money will be lost. And I said I don't give a shit, shut down the whole set. And he did, and, but I never did what he requested. And that's the pressure. That.

Anne-Marie Johnson 16:17

And I, I, I knew I was right because I knew the rules and regulations of a contract, and I also knew I was right because my parents taught me to know when you're right. And I was right and he thought he was going to intimidate me into taking my clothes off for his own quote, unquote shits and giggles. There was no European version and I knew it was an NBC project and that European version line didn't even exist and no one stood up for me. No one stood up for me. I had to stand up for myself and he shut down the set and I didn't care and I left the set, I put on my clothes and I went home was there any?

Standing Against Exploitation

Anne-Marie Johnson 17:13

repair. I mean, were you deemed a diva for a while? Was there any repercussions from that? Who? A good diva is a person who won't be taking taken advantage of. But everyone knew I was right, just that. But no one wanted to stand up to the director, buzz Kulik, who is no longer living. But he had an exceedingly successful career both in major motion pictures and television. He was the go-to person and. But I didn't care. I knew I was right and so you know he shut down the set. That's on him. Nbc wasn't going to blame me and the next day I got my call time and I went back to work and I never spoke to him. The direction was given to me by the second AD. I never spoke to him again and we we shot the rest of the miniseriesies. But I was not going to be made a fool and just be clear.

Greg Staffa 18:05

I wasn't implying that you were a being, a diva. I just meant were they trying to label you as a diva, just as a? You know, he tried to yeah, yeah, no.

Anne-Marie Johnson 18:13

No, I understood I didn't take offense to. He probably tried to, but nbc knew better not to because by then I was on a hit series, I was well respected and you know he would not have succeeded with that BS line of European version. So I never heard from anyone with regard to NBC or any of the other entities involved and I continued work without a problem. I just chose never to speak to him.

Greg Staffa 18:46

Now with intimacy coordinators nowadays. Is that something that would never happen again, or is there still a hidden kind of push for that?

Anne-Marie Johnson 18:56

I think in fact there's a current lawsuit right now. Not that I know the details of it or if it's a legitimate lawsuit or not, but I know that there's a stunt woman who's suing kevin costner and his production company for for supposedly forcing her to do a scene that was not approved in the script and it was improvisational. It was very traumatic. I don't know if there's a lot of validity in it, because you know that type of stuff, uh, maybe in smaller projects happen, but not in really big budget where there are myriad people standing around going. Now you can't really do that, but it does still happen. Even with intimacy, just because you have an intimacy coordinator on the set doesn't necessarily mean that that intimacy coordinator is not intimidated by the producer or the UPN or anybody else on that set. So it's really up to the actor to rely on their own knowledge and their own chutzpah and just say no, this is uncomfortable, it wasn't in the script, I didn't approve it and I'm not going to do it.

Greg Staffa 20:01

True. Now you have done a lot of amazing work. I mean, looking at IMDb, the correct parts of the IMDb, you were basically my childhood, appearing on different shows, different strokes, you know, hill Street Blues In the Heat of the Night, in Living Color. At what point did you realize that you had made it to a point that you were successful? You had, I mean, was it early on or was it a struggle for a while? What was? Was there like a cruise control moment where you, you felt that the stability is kind of there there for you?

Anne-Marie Johnson 20:39

I think. I think that in the heat of the night although I had done three series prior to in the heat of the night in the, in the heat of that was probably the, the career maker, the television career maker, because it was such a sought after role. And talk about prestige, I mean that today. Can you imagine if a series like that on the network were made today with iconic actors like Howard Rollins and Carol O'Connor? I mean, come on, that was a career maker for me and I've always appreciated the trajectory of my career and I've always I still continue to audition.

Anne-Marie Johnson 21:32

Rarely am I offered roles. Rarely, I mean. I don't even think there's a statistical number that I could provide, but so it's never. I wish there had been a moment where I could be on cruise control and kind of say, hey, I am. I am at this point in my career, or at least for the past few years, been able to pick and choose what I was going to audition for. But I still audition, albeit I'm in a higher category, but I'm still auditioning. I've been auditioning since the very first audition. But I would have to say, in the Heat of the Night not only was career-making, but it just opened so many doors for me.

Greg Staffa 22:17

Which is why you left for In Living Color, correct.

Anne-Marie Johnson 22:21

Well, not really. I left because I saw the writing on the writing on the wall. I knew that howard was leaving and you can't have althea without, without virgil, and but I knew howard was no longer interested in doing the role any longer and I was smart enough to know that when the second on the call sheet, who your character is attached to, is no longer going to be on the show, not long before, it's not long before they kind of figure out a way. So I left and it was very. It was a seemingly painful decision to make, but I knew I was making the right decision because, um, I think not that the audience wanted to see less of Althea Tibbs. I just think the show was not going to have enough room for Althea Tibbs, and so I I sensed that. So I left of my own accord. It was very difficult, it was. It was somewhat acrimonious, uh, internally, but I left.

Anne-Marie Johnson 23:34

But during my 118 episodes of In the Heat of the Night, which I never missed a day of work, I was never late. I mean, I loved that job, even though we were shooting on location. I absolutely loved that job. My reputation was intact. So there have been very nasty breakups between series, regulars and series. None of that was attached to me. It was very it was. We kept it internal. No ill will was made public. It was actually a very clean breakup.

Anne-Marie Johnson 24:14

And then a couple of weeks later I got a phone call and I don't even think it was made public about my leaving no, it wasn't made public. And I got a phone call from Tommy Davidson. He and I had done a really funny feature film a couple of years before I left In the Heat of the Night and he said are you still on In the Heat of the Night? I said no, that was my last season. And blah blah blah. He said you want to come play with us? And I said yeah, you know that was my last season. And blah blah blah. He said you want to come play with us? And I said yeah, and he goes, okay.

Anne-Marie Johnson 24:46

And the next thing, you know, I'm on In Living Color. It was Tommy Davidson and obviously I had known the Wands because I had done I'm Going to Get you Sucka. So it wasn't like out of nowhere. But I didn't have to get, I didn't have to meet with the network, I didn't have to meet. It was like yeah, anne-marie Johnson's available and it was wonderful. It was a wonderful transition to go from such a um, uh, deep and emotionally challenging in the heat of the night to, you know, in living color. It was great. It was great to return to comedy because I've been, I've done both my whole career.

Greg Staffa 25:28

I never got into Saturday night live, never got into mad TV, but living color was my my go-to kind of sketch comedy. It was just really funny.

Anne-Marie Johnson 25:41

I mean, listen, listen, it's. Comedy is hard. Uh, comedy is is probably the hardest form of art, uh, that you can, that you can create. Because in a drama unless there's something wrong with you if in a drama you can create sad situations that 90% of the public will relate to, but in comedy, comedy is so subjective, it's so individualized, it's so personal that it's really hard to create something that 90% of the public will respond to positively. So but for some reason the wayans really knew that secret sauce and they were able to create a sketch comedy show that kind of. Although it didn't run as long as other shows, it kind of hit the mark each and every time and that's hard, that's, that's

In Living Color and Cultural Representation

Anne-Marie Johnson 26:39

really difficult to say, but they did it was there a lot of political stuff going on because it was a black sketch?

Greg Staffa 26:47

Yes, for the most part, I mean you had Jim Carrey on it Was there a lot of. I mean, as a kid I didn't view it as when we don't play that that wasn't a black skit to me, that was the funny skit to me it was very well, but that was the creativity of the Wayans.

Anne-Marie Johnson 27:08

But it was very political and it was consistent with the time and the Tracy Ullman Show. And without the Tracy Ullman Show and In Living Color and the Sim simpsons you would have never had a fox network. True, it just, it just would not have happened.

Greg Staffa 27:27

But in living color was exceedingly political and did you feel it as a performer during it, or is that a little bit, yeah scenes oh no, we felt it, we made, we uh, it was intentional.

Anne-Marie Johnson 27:39

A lot of it was cultural, it was very Afrocentric, but it crossed the barriers and so people who are not African-American could still laugh at it and kind of sense what was going on, depending on the age of the viewer. But we were very satirical, just like Hollywood Shuffle. Hollywood Shuffle was an exceedingly political Afrocentric message. You saw the same and I'm going to get you Sucka, but that was really broad comedy. You saw the same pushing of the envelope in In Living Color.

Greg Staffa 28:19

You think these days, and even back then, we compartmentalize shows too much where we say living color is a black sketch comedy, dr ken is a asian, you know family comedy where we put these labels on, versus just seeing it as a comedy or as as what it is, I mean, like the cosby show. I know people say it's been whitewashed, but I thought I grew up on the Cosby show and I never thought of it as a black show or a black family show. Do we or does the industry kind of compartmentalize these things into putting labels on it that really shouldn't be there? I mean, isn't living color just a comedy show?

Anne-Marie Johnson 28:59

No, no, cause it was a. It was a comedy show written by and for, uh, people of color, because we had been our audience, our viewing audience had been ignored for so long. Okay, so I think it's. I think it's critical that there are shows created by marginalized communities, uh, in order to be introduced to viewers who would have never even taken the time to take a break and take a look at something that wasn't in their comfort zone. So I celebrate shows that highlight the fact that they are different than than others. I don't, I don't mind the labeling. We've been labeled our whole lives. Why should we stop now, you?

Greg Staffa 29:49

know I.

Anne-Marie Johnson 29:49

I, I don't, I don't mind it and in fact you know, bill Cosby show, the Bill Cosby show put aside Bill Cosby himself. Okay, put that aside. That show was so whitewashed and so they, they, they, they did their best to try to make the Huxables unrecognizable for any type of ethnicity Black, brown, white. You know it was. It was unattainable, it was fantasy and that's why it's so dated. When you look at it and you really have more non-Black people wishing for the good old days than you do Black people about that show.

Anne-Marie Johnson 30:36

If you take a while, they would have a poignant moment about Martin Luther King or Coretta Scott, but it was almost as if they were doing the obligatory Black History Month. That's why In Living Color was so popular, because we were not ashamed of the difference. We celebrated the difference. We didn't try to assimilate and just be another Saturday Night Live. That would have been a mistake. So I love when shows are organically different. I don't like it when it's really so blatantly contrived that you just want to go. Okay, I get it. All right, the messages, I hear you, I hear you. But if you really take a look at the Bill Cosby show, it was just so homogenous. It was like really, where does this exist? It kind of gave a false message as opposed to a tangible message.

Greg Staffa 31:40

So you have done lots of shows. You have been a guest on several different shows. You've done like eight episodes of Days of Our Lives Jag. You were on several episodes Melrose Place, but then you've also had single guest appearance episodes. If I was to say, for the next five years, I can guarantee you the same amount of money to either do one show for five seasons or be on five different shows for one season or just a guest star. Which would you prefer? The money is the same. Do you enjoy long-term creating a character? Do you enjoy creating a short-term character? What do you prefer?

Anne-Marie Johnson 32:20

Well, here's my union hat. The money wouldn't be the same. What do you prefer? Well, here's my union hat. The money wouldn't be the same. Because when you're a series regular let's say you're on a show, you're a series regular, all shows produced and the series runs for five years. It'll go into syndication or in some type of rerun format where the revenue will flow. It'll continue to flow. Right, it may not be great, but it continues the flow which keeps your health insurance current and keeps your retirement current.

Anne-Marie Johnson 32:48

If you guest spot, if you're doing guest star here, guest star there, guest star there, for the next five years, there's no guarantee that show will ever rerun. So I would much rather and it it's nice to be on a show where you know everybody, you know the crew, you know your audience, the audience knows you, you know the network, you know the studio, you know your fellow actors. It really becomes I don't want to call it a family, but it really becomes a group. You're a team and you're striving for the same outcome. I love guest starring, I really do.

Anne-Marie Johnson 33:26

But you're always the odd child at the little table during Thanksgiving. You're not at the main table, doesn't matter how pivotal your role is, you're still a guest star, they're nice to you, and then five days later you're gone. They don't even care about you being a series regular, especially for a series that runs for five seasons, which is unheard of. Now you really, you get into the groove and you, it takes a while to feel comfortable on the set. Right, it takes, it takes multiple, multiple episodes to be comfortable in your skin. So I would, if I could, I would be blessed in either situation. I would much rather opt for being a series regular for five seasons than anything else.

Character Longevity and Future Projects

Greg Staffa 34:13

Right now we're in a day and age where we're seeing stars return you know the return of the Star Wars characters, or return of you know this and that where they're making their first appearance in 20, some years. Is there a character that you played? You know at any point in your career was only an episode or a season where you'd love to see a reason that that character is brought back and play again now, many years later?

Anne-Marie Johnson 34:40

I did a recurring role um, no, I think I only know it was recurring on on that's so raven and I had the best time ever and I would love to see that character return. I would love to see that character be able to participate in that Raven-Symoné world because she is probably the funniest woman I've ever worked with. She's really a strong director and just a lovely person to be around. So it would probably have to be that. So Raven, the care Donna Cabana was the name of the character. It was a great, great, uh character. I think that would be wonderful. I would really enjoy coming back, uh, on NCIS as Bobby Latham. I love Bobby Latham. She was on the original Jag Loved to reprise that character. She was great. So I loved Bobby and you know I've been very fortunate.

Anne-Marie Johnson 35:53

There was a character I played named Sharon Upton Farley on Girlfriends, which was a blast. So I would have to say, um, because in the heat of the night, without howard and carol and and everyone else, it just wouldn't do. It would just, it would be more heartbreaking than anything else because howard's gone, carol's gone, hugh is gone, it would just be. It would be heartbreaking, but with with that's a raven, and with jag and with girlfriends. I think that would be.

Greg Staffa 36:26

Those would probably be my top three, yeah wrapping up, I just have two more questions for you. If steven spielberg came to you and said you've been in hollywood a long time, you've done, you know, a lot of work with actors and actresses, you've seen how things run and everything like that, here's Steven Spielberg money. What is a story that you want to tell? Let's go ahead and do it.

Anne-Marie Johnson 36:50

I actually okay, no one's ever asked me that question. So I'm actually producing now. I've got a movie out now.

Anne-Marie Johnson 36:57

My husband and I co-produced he was a screenwriterwriter, director and I'm the star of the film and it's called the addiction of hope and we're working on our distribution deal. It's a lovely, lovely film. It's probably the best work I've ever done. So hopefully soon we're in the festival circuit and we're screening across the country. But but we're we're, you know, trying to get that, that sweet spot distribution deal, so we can have a uh, a national theatrical release and then it would go on a streaming platform. But it's called the addiction of hope and it's just beautiful. But it is the best work I've ever done. But I'm loving producing and I'm actually in pre-production, pre-development with a friend and we are creating a story which is really important to me about the first African-American police officer and he was once enslaved and then became a police officer. So we're in development, early development of that, and so Steven Spielberg said okay, emery, here's your budget. This is that. That's the story that I would be telling.

Greg Staffa 38:09

And is there somewhat of a tribute to your dad with that Cause? Your dad used to be a yes, yeah, most definitely.

Anne-Marie Johnson 38:15

Um, my, my parents were the best parents in the world for me, you know, and my father and I my mother and I were very close. My father and I were exceedingly close, and my father loved being a police officer. Even though he went on to another wonderful career after retirement, he really loved serving the community as a police officer. So I've stayed very engaged with law enforcement and have produced public service announcements and other things, and so I found the story was brought to my attention by a group of African-American police officers and an archivist who has spent decades on this story, and so now my goal is to bring it to light, because it's a story that needs to be told. So that would be the project Nice.

Greg Staffa 39:11

Finally wrapping things up, and I appreciate you coming on. Anne-marie Johnson, when we talk about you so often, it comes with actors from different strokes Hill Street Blues, what's Happening Now, the Heat of the Night, and those are all things that you've done, you know, in the past. When you get up in the morning and look in the mirror, splash a little water on your face, who is it that you see?

Anne-Marie Johnson 39:34

Oh, you ask really good questions. That's probably the best question I've ever been asked. I see myself. I see a very, very blessed woman of God who was blessed to have terrific parents and who I understand my self-worth and I have a lovely husband. We've been together since 1986. And we are each other's best friends. And so when I look into the mirror, I just thank God every morning that I've been given this opportunity and I live outside of myself and I serve my community through my church and through the projects that I'm fortunate enough to be in, and I just try to be a decent human being. So when I look in the mirror, I see Anne-Marie Johnson, the decent human being.

Greg Staffa 40:30

Well said, anne-marie Johnson. Thank you so much for coming on. I appreciate your time and look forward to seeing the future projects that you mentioned, and I'll keep an eye on those and try to promote those when those come out. Thank you.

Anne-Marie Johnson 40:43

Thank you, and this has been a pleasure. I appreciate the homework that you put into this, so thank you very much and thank you for the great questions.