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<v Speaker 1>Oh Lad with mo Okay.

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<v Speaker 2>Six. The Amazon Prime video series Classified follows fifteen year

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<v Speaker 2>old Oakland student Ella, who's arrested at a protest and

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<v Speaker 2>facing serious jail time. Ella avoids incarceration thanks to her stepmother,

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<v Speaker 2>who you'll meet in just a moment, who's well connected.

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<v Speaker 2>The catches that ell of Us moved to South Africa

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<v Speaker 2>for the rest of the school year, but beneath that,

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<v Speaker 2>there's a story of international intrigue. In fact, Spycraft Entertainment,

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<v Speaker 2>a global production company run by former senior intelligence officers,

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<v Speaker 2>co producers and consults on the series.

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<v Speaker 3>Live in Oakland, protesters are calling for change.

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<v Speaker 2>He messed up, El, he messed up real bad.

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<v Speaker 3>I don't know what strings your father had to pull

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<v Speaker 3>to get you out of here.

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<v Speaker 1>Come here, Welcome to South Africa. Left to the back,

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<v Speaker 1>left to the right, Step to the stage.

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<v Speaker 3>You're excited about school tomorrow.

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<v Speaker 2>Enjoy your first day this year.

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<v Speaker 1>He is for the rest of your likes. This is

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<v Speaker 1>where kids of politicians, pop stars, and diplomats and their children.

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<v Speaker 1>I've been assigned as your orientation guy.

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<v Speaker 3>Nice try do Try. That was pretty dope.

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<v Speaker 1>The new kid from San Francisco, right, I think You're

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<v Speaker 1>pretty badass. Did you kids?

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<v Speaker 3>Tell me?

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<v Speaker 1>What's up with all the security?

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<v Speaker 3>This is your personal emergency code.

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<v Speaker 1>Memorize it please? What did you say your mom does again?

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<v Speaker 3>I'm the CIA station chief for South Africa.

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<v Speaker 1>Very funny, all that rightiness, Laca.

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<v Speaker 3>You know, but it doesn't that presidential inauguration was their target.

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<v Speaker 3>We believe that boy's dad might be able to lead

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<v Speaker 3>us and you.

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<v Speaker 1>Can help Ella.

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<v Speaker 3>Thank you.

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<v Speaker 1>They'll go go.

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<v Speaker 2>There'll be difficult things that you have to do, dangerous man.

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<v Speaker 1>Going home.

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<v Speaker 2>It's not an option.

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<v Speaker 1>I want my life fat what's going on with Tiana?

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<v Speaker 3>This is your new life?

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<v Speaker 1>Are you gonna love this place? Can just feel it?

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<v Speaker 2>And Classified is now available on Amazon Prime and Tonight.

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<v Speaker 2>Comedian actor and series creator Khaki so Ladiha and co

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<v Speaker 2>star Christine Horn both joined me to preview it. Welcome friends,

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<v Speaker 2>Thank you for coming on tonight.

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<v Speaker 1>Thank thank you for having us.

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<v Speaker 2>Coky, so let me start with you. There's something about

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<v Speaker 2>coming of age on and off the screen, same but different.

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<v Speaker 2>We've all been sixteen, but not sixteen at this time

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<v Speaker 2>in this world, and the world always shifts. What is

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<v Speaker 2>it about just trying to tell a coming of age

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<v Speaker 2>story through adult eyes.

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<v Speaker 1>For me that as you say, coming of age and

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<v Speaker 1>for me coming of age zone as a kind of

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<v Speaker 1>constrapping kind of forever as under construction as people where

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<v Speaker 1>we kind of later in the construction. If you are

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<v Speaker 1>walls when you're in your forties, you're like a higher

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<v Speaker 1>war that you know at fifteen year old is like

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<v Speaker 1>the beginning foundations. You know, I always find that so fascinating.

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<v Speaker 1>And what do us then kind of to add that

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<v Speaker 1>that grand that complication was doing that through this kind

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<v Speaker 1>of twisted world of espionage, you know, not like being

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<v Speaker 1>a spy James Bond, but like like real espionage where

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<v Speaker 1>you're gonna have to betray your friends. You're gonna have

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<v Speaker 1>to pretend to be something you're not. You're gonna be

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<v Speaker 1>told by grown ups who are supposed to tell you otherwise.

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<v Speaker 1>They're gonna tell you there lie. They're gonna tell you

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<v Speaker 1>to do all sorts of things that are wrong, if

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<v Speaker 1>you know, in favor of God and country or whatever

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<v Speaker 1>it is that they will give you as their reasons.

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<v Speaker 2>Christie, listening to Cocky Soo's answer, you know, there is

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<v Speaker 2>history that shows us every generation has its time of

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<v Speaker 2>protest and invariably, the older generation never approves of how

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<v Speaker 2>the younger generation chooses to protest, and using Coky Soo's

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<v Speaker 2>answer as a jumping off point, this story may be fictional,

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<v Speaker 2>but the generational dynamics still ring true, do they not?

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<v Speaker 3>Absolutely? I mean, at the height of any revolution as

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<v Speaker 3>young people, and because they have less to lose, right,

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<v Speaker 3>there's less on the line for them.

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<v Speaker 1>So that's what I love about this story.

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<v Speaker 3>We follow Ella who is very fiery and fed up,

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<v Speaker 3>and she has her strong beliefs and she's not afraid

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<v Speaker 3>to go for what she believes, and even though there

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<v Speaker 3>are you know, you know, repercussions on the other side

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<v Speaker 3>of that, and so I think the audience will be

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<v Speaker 3>able to connect with that, whether that was once them

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<v Speaker 3>or that is them currently. But then getting to see

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<v Speaker 3>and watch Ella unfold and come into herself as she

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<v Speaker 3>is forced to live in a new place that is

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<v Speaker 3>unfamiliar to her, a place that she has probably made,

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<v Speaker 3>has some stereotypes in her mind and preconceived notions, and

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<v Speaker 3>all of that gets shattered and we go on this

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<v Speaker 3>wild journey with her as she discovered South Africa.

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<v Speaker 2>Kaki, So let's talk about some of those preconceived notions

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<v Speaker 2>and stereotypes. You're speaking to an American audience, largely one

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<v Speaker 2>probably unfamiliar with the South Africa of the twenty first century.

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<v Speaker 2>How would you characterize the country now post apartheid.

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<v Speaker 1>You know, we talk about the universality of like human life.

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<v Speaker 1>You know, you land anywhere in the world today, if

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<v Speaker 1>you were to Uber on your phone, you're gonna call it.

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<v Speaker 1>If you're looking for a coffee shop, there's gonna be this.

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<v Speaker 1>It's kind of a grand globalization that's happening thanks to

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<v Speaker 1>American corporations. So the world is very much the same.

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<v Speaker 1>Like whether it's good or bad, I don't know, but

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<v Speaker 1>there's a kind of universality or genericness that's that didn't

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<v Speaker 1>happen because of globalization, and I think that, you know,

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<v Speaker 1>with a show like this, you get to show that.

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<v Speaker 1>And obviously there's always unique things South Africa coming out

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<v Speaker 1>of a part that being in this new place now

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<v Speaker 1>where black people have a lot more mobility, a lot

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<v Speaker 1>more freedoms, and having this American African American character who

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<v Speaker 1>has an idea of blackness coming into this place and

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<v Speaker 1>seeing how that gets subverted or how, you know, seeing

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<v Speaker 1>the blackness through different eyes, and I think for like

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<v Speaker 1>a global diaspora audience, this becomes like a point of

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<v Speaker 1>cool conversation about identity, about ru Yah and so on,

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<v Speaker 1>and how we fit in the world, especially from the

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<v Speaker 1>perspective of a sixteen.

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<v Speaker 2>Year old Christine classified as we're talking about maybe a

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<v Speaker 2>coming of age story on the surface, but we've been

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<v Speaker 2>hinting at it and jumping around talking about it from

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<v Speaker 2>a distance. It's an international spy thriller. Without giving it

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<v Speaker 2>all away. You as Ella's stepmother, Diane knows some pretty

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<v Speaker 2>powerful people around the globe. How does Ella's life change

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<v Speaker 2>in the series beyond just her physical address?

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<v Speaker 1>Great question.

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<v Speaker 3>Well, Ella's life changes because she soon finds out that

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<v Speaker 3>I'm the CIA station chief, and which means, yes, I

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<v Speaker 3>am intertwined with some very powerful people and some unscrupulous

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<v Speaker 3>people as well. And Ella wants something and I want something,

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<v Speaker 3>and so I use that to my advantage and I

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<v Speaker 3>make her work for me.

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<v Speaker 1>And so she ends up going to a school.

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<v Speaker 3>And this isn't giving too much away, but you'll see

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<v Speaker 3>she ends up going to a school where diplomats go

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<v Speaker 3>and they send their kids to, and the wealthy students

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<v Speaker 3>go there and so there's lots of connections that I

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<v Speaker 3>require her make so that she can get what she

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<v Speaker 3>wants and I can get what I want.

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<v Speaker 2>Congress, So am my introduction. I talked about how Spycraft Entertainment,

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<v Speaker 2>a global production company run by former senior intelligence officers.

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<v Speaker 2>One of the co producers a classified How did that

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<v Speaker 2>process work as far as having a script and telling

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<v Speaker 2>a story but also making sure it was authentic on

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<v Speaker 2>many levels.

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<v Speaker 1>Yeah, I think it's kind of the original talent. They

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<v Speaker 1>came and said, look, this is how we lived, this

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<v Speaker 1>is what we used to We use our children as

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<v Speaker 1>these tools national security, and so we were very judgmental, like, well,

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<v Speaker 1>how did you do your kids? You know, this is

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<v Speaker 1>how you know, this is how you secure the country,

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<v Speaker 1>this is how you secure the world, and so. But

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<v Speaker 1>there's obviously the real life stories and there's like fiction,

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<v Speaker 1>there's how do you make this compelling screen? Because the

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<v Speaker 1>real spy whenever you research spycraft and being spies, it's

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<v Speaker 1>always so boy, it's always so anti James Bond, right, Like,

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<v Speaker 1>real spies will tell you about how spying is boring

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<v Speaker 1>and it's time consuming. You know, there's a lot of

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<v Speaker 1>waiting and there's no sexy James bondiness that's happening. So

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<v Speaker 1>Lutra is great that like there was something that I

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<v Speaker 1>needed to be ever to tap into because of this

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<v Speaker 1>kind of grounded young adult drama and this kind of

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<v Speaker 1>family drama that's happening. But we also wanted the excitement,

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<v Speaker 1>that kind of danger, that betrayal of the intrigue and

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<v Speaker 1>so on. So in the middle of there, we would

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<v Speaker 1>write script send it to them. They'd go, this, wouldn't

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<v Speaker 1>They were really kind of concerned with the initiated, you know,

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<v Speaker 1>they wouldn't use an ambulance a secret car. That's what

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<v Speaker 1>happens in the movies. You know that when you have

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<v Speaker 1>the secret ambulance with like the communications in the back

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<v Speaker 1>like we see it in the movies. They're like, yeah,

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<v Speaker 1>an ambulance because people would expect an ambulance to help

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<v Speaker 1>them if any accident happened, so they would use a

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<v Speaker 1>different type of card. We're like, oh, but this type

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<v Speaker 1>of stuff happens, and of course it happens, yes, but

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<v Speaker 1>not an ambulance, you know. So there was always these

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<v Speaker 1>types of little stories, little things, and some parts of

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<v Speaker 1>way we would both agree, but it's more exciting if

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<v Speaker 1>it's an ambulance, or it's more exciting if we catch

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<v Speaker 1>as fire and they're like, yeah, we'll let it's lie,

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<v Speaker 1>you know. But generally we try as much as possible

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<v Speaker 1>to make it authentic and as grounded as possible. That

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<v Speaker 1>was kind of the running thread was that this has

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<v Speaker 1>to feel real, this has to be we gott watch

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<v Speaker 1>this and go, oh man, that that kid is as fire.

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<v Speaker 1>When you you imagine Ella as a three year old,

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<v Speaker 1>you know that's gonna be so messed up. She's gonna

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<v Speaker 1>be really it's not a lot of cigarettes and being

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<v Speaker 1>a badass.

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<v Speaker 2>Well, I can't wait. We're gonna be checking it out.

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<v Speaker 2>Classified now available on Amazon Prime Video. I want to

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<v Speaker 2>think my guests Kagi so Ladija and also co star

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<v Speaker 2>Christine Horn. Congratulations. Can't wait to see all of it.

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<v Speaker 1>Thank you, Thank you sir, Thank you for having us.

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<v Speaker 1>And also Amazon FREEV if you don't have a subscription

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<v Speaker 1>and you like three things, Yes, we like free