Jennifer Lopez

 Daniel: Jennifer, thank you so much for joiningus here today. Jennifer: Thank you. Daniel: Your new movie, Second Act takes onsome pretty meaty workplace topics. Jennifer: Yeah. Daniel: The idea of your career being feelingstuck or barriers, either real or internal, they’re stopping people from getting towhere they want to get. You have a million projects going on. There’s so many different things you cando. Why is this a story that you wanted to tell? Jennifer: I just feel like it’s every person. Somebody says, “Oh, it’s the every girlor the every woman,” but it’s every person. There’s a time in all of our lives wherewe want to get ahead, where we have an ambition, where we want to do more, where we want tosucceed further. And sometimes we hit a wall and we don’tknow how to get past it. And we realize at the end of it, hopefully,you get to the point where you realize the only thing that’s stopping you is you. And you can break through any barrier. But sometimes that’s a long road, that’sa hard journey. Daniel: Have you had that experience? Jennifer: I mean for me, there’s been somany times because this business is pretty unforgiving when it comes to being rejected. You get rejected a lot. I say for the 40-something movies I’ve done,I’ve gotten 100 no’s in between. And that’s just the nature of what we do. Maybe 400, who knows at this point. But it’s definitely a feeling that I’mfamiliar with, yeah. Daniel: One of the interesting parts aboutthe character is that, she doesn’t have a college degree. She feels left out because she doesn’t havea college degree. I’m curious, when you hire people, do youlook for degrees? Do you think it’s important? Jennifer: It’s a yes and no question, right? It’s great if somebody has an amazing education. But I know from my own experience and my ownlife and other people that I work with, that you don’t have to have a degree to havevalue or to be of tremendous worth to different businesses. That street smarts, that experience, thatjust kind of internal kind of creative know-how is just as valuable as a degree. And I think that’s what this movie dealswith a lot, which is a great thing because most people don’t have the privilege ofgetting that type of education. I know I didn’t, nobody I knew growing updid, and still a lot of us have been successful. Daniel: So do you make it a point, you haveso many people working for you or working with you, you can make choices about who’son the set with you. Are you working for degrees? Do you actively go out and look for peoplewho don’t have degrees? Jennifer: I never did, I have to tell you. I never did. I always went more with vibe and energy. And tell you the truth, it’s really about,I’m looking for a hard worker, a hard worker who’s not afraid to work like 24 hours aday. If that sounds crazy, it’s because we are. I am and everybody who works for me as well. And then recently as I’ve gotten more intokind of owning businesses and going from a licensing model to an ownership model, I realizeI need people who have more business experience. And so yeah, I’ve been looking more at thatlately. Daniel: Would you talk a little bit aboutthat moving from licensing to ownership? What made you make that change, and what areyou looking for? Jennifer: I’ve been of the mind a long,long time that the way it’s done in Hollywood and the way artists are kind of handled andtaken care of, that there was something wrong with the fact that we bring. We are the scarce asset and we bring so muchto the table and we usually get the smallest piece of the pie. And without us, nothing can really happenbecause they need the ideas, they need the performer, they need all of this stuff, theyneed to creative and all that kind of everybody is adding is the money. And kind of money you can get anywhere ina sense, right? In private equity world and in the businessworld it’s like, “Oh, it’s just money, right?” And you’re like, “Really? It’s just money. So I’m actually the thing that you need.” Daniel: You’re the product, yeah. Jennifer: Right, you’re the product. I knew there was something wrong, I just didn’tknow what it was. It wasn’t until, really Alex came into mylife and had such a nice grasp of the business world, and so much experience in his own lifein real estate and in business, and dealing with private equity firms and things likethat. Where he was like, “Oh yeah, you’re right,it is wrong.” This licensing model that we had been doingand quite successfully. We maxed out. I don’t think between me and my team, therewas anybody who’s doing it in a more successful way as far as I’m concerned. We were hitting on all cylinders. But deep down I knew that when I made a companyalmost $2 billion. And I only came home. Literally, I don’t even know what the percent…it had to be like 5% of that. It may be less, much less. Yeah, much less than that. That there was something wrong. Daniel: But at the time it must’ve felt. You’re known for your negotiating skills. You drive hard deals that benefit you. Now when you look back, are there things yousaid, “Oh, I should have done that?” Jennifer: We really weren’t driving harddeals. I think we were the ones who were like, theywere driving the hard deals and getting all the money. And we were kind of like, “Oh, thank you.” There’s this thing with artists where wefeel so much gratitude to be able to do what we love to do, that we don’t give ourselvesa value and worth that we deserve. I think women do have this problem as well. And I think now and in this moment in time,in this day and age, it’s shifting for women. And I feel like it also has to shift for artists. And they need to understand their worth andvalue as well. And what they bring to the table, and needto own the things that they do as well. Daniel: Your career path, I think if you lookback, you’re incredibly successful, done a lot of amazing things. But you’ve had ups and downs in your career. Jennifer: Oh, yeah. Daniel: When you think back to those downs,is this the kind of thing that has a hangover effect on you? Were you’re like, “Oh, I don’t everwant to go through that again?” How do you use those points in your careerwhich weren’t great? Jennifer: I look at them now, and I thinkyou really just plowed through those. And that’s the thing, it’s like you can’tstop. You have to kind of keep on going. Failure is not falling down and making a mistake,or choosing the wrong movie, or doing the wrong thing at the wrong time. It’s stopping. Stopping is the failure not continuing forwardis the failure. Not keeping going until we don’t listento our gut enough, telling us this is not the right thing for you right now. You’re doing this out of fear instead ofout of love. That’s usually when it went winds up inmisery. That’s the thing, I think that is the bestthing to think about in those moments. It’s like, am I doing this because I’mafraid of something or am I doing this because of love? And usually that’ll set you on the rightpath. Daniel: You must have people asking you allthe time, how to be the next Jennifer Lopez. What kind of career advice do you give people? Jennifer: It’s hard because there is noone set path for any one successful person. I feel like everybody takes a different path. There’s no actors that I talk to that go,“Oh, we all started at acting school and then from there, we did plays. And then from plays, we went to television.” There’s like no one way to do it. I started as a dancer, and then I thoughtI was going to do Broadway and I didn’t. I did some tours abroad, and then I came backhere and I got a job as fly girl on In Living Color. And then I started studying acting. And then from there, I got my first televisionshow, and my first development deal. And then from there, I got my first movie. There was a process to it that I couldn’thave predicted or planned or have said, “I’m going to do this, this, this and this.” It just all happened the way it happened. And I think all you can do is know where youwant to go and take steps every single day in that direction, whatever that is. And getting better at what you do and I thinkthat gets you there. Where that will take you, I cannot tell you. But, I do know that if you just wake up everyday and go, this is what I’m going to do, this is what I’m going to be. And today this is the thing that I’m doingto kind of keep going in that direction, eventually you will get there. Daniel: Do you think that your character inthe movie does that? Jennifer: I think that she’s given up alittle bit. I think she’s gotten to the point in herlife where she’s been at this value club shop for 15 years. And for six years, she’s been the assistantmanager and she knows she deserves a promotion and she’s made the store better and sheadds all this value. And at the end of the day, she’s lookedover by somebody who has an Ivy League degree. And that really is her last blow. And I know I’ve had that in my career, andthat was after I was successful. So that is a really true, honest thing thateverybody can relate to, of where you get stuck and almost give up. Daniel: So is there one particular takeawayyou want people to have when they leave the theaters? Jennifer: I think my favorite thing that peoplehave said is that they leave the theater inspired. They leave the theater inspired. And that’s my favorite thing about beingan artist in general. Is that you can inspire people to dream theirown biggest dreams. Daniel: That’s great. Well, Jennifer, thank you very much for joiningus. This is terrific. Jennifer: Thank you, thank you so much.