057 | INDIGENOUS FUTURES | TOKALA TATUM
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And like Mexican culture, for example, like their music, like, like they're just their music and the genres that they're doing, the way they're infusing it into modern times is so beautiful. And it's really dope and it's taken off. I mean, Latin artists are just huge right now. And then when it comes to Native Americans, I think we really have that, that, that storytelling potential.

Young and Indigenous Podcast is an outlet for people to know about Indigenous knowledge, storytelling, and history. Through our youthful journeys as Indigenous people, young people, and elders share their experiences with us. Without them, we wouldn't be able to do this. About to tell some Reds stories. Stay tuned. Yay, podcast! All right, cool. Um...

Hello everyone, welcome back to another episode of Young and Indigenous. Today I am joined by writer, director, creative genius, Takala Tatum. You want to go ahead and introduce yourself? Go ahead. Yeah, what's up, Roy? My name is Takala Tatum. As Roy knows, I'm from the Yakima and Rosebud Sioux Tribes.

Yakima born and raised from my mother's side, Rosebud Sioux Tribe from my father's side. Graduate from the University of Washington and I've been based in Seattle for pretty much all my adult life, 25 years old right now. So I've been in Seattle for probably about six years. And yeah, I work with Children in the Setting Sun. Came across Roy a couple years ago working on the CSSP's pilot, The Sound,

Me and Roy linked up, and then, I mean, we're about to get into all the stuff, personal projects and the projects that me and him both got going on. Yeah, type shit, type shit. So, bro, how you doing? I don't think I've ever been on a podcast that's this informal. I'm chilling, staying really busy, I guess.

With informal, this is, I guess I get a little more relaxed. More than just being a creative, I'm a full-time business student. Work a part-time job with Daybreak Star Radio as an editor. I'm actually working with Children of the Setting Sun on a certain project that we'll get into later. And then just working on all my creative side projects. Well, I wouldn't treat them as side projects. Once you guys learn about who I am, you'll see how locked in I really am. But yeah, just staying busy on all different types of things. Mm-hmm.

So like creative side projects, does that include They're Not Here? Yeah, yeah. Yeah, They're Not Here, just to give the audience a quick update, is a feature film that I have in development. It's a horror film. It's based around, I'm not going to give, yeah, I'm going to stay away from that. But it's a horror film and every aspect about it.

is, uh, is, is infused with native American culture. So, so I mean, getting into the nitty gritty of it, I'll save it for maybe a couple of minutes in, but it's a horror film. Uh, we just, we just recently had a proof of concept short film that Roy starred in. I actually acted in, it was real low budget, but it just had a whole film festival run. Uh,

Roy wasn't able to make it to any of them, but went through probably maybe 10. Yo chill. Yo chill. Maybe 10 or like a dozen different film festivals. And then it just wrapped up at Bleedingham, which is a local film festival in Bellingham, which is pretty cool. And yeah, that's probably the biggest side project that I got going on right now.

Damn. I was about to ask something about they're not here, but I kind of forget. Oh yeah. You talked about, you talked about, um, like, you know, the cultural influence of they're not here. Um, do you want to maybe develop, like go into a little bit more in depth? Yeah. Yeah. I'm trying to figure out how I tackle this. Cause it gets pretty deep. I mean, uh, talking to one of my good friends, Isaac, uh, he knows how, how deep this film gets. My girlfriend, Yasmeen knows how deep this film gets, but, uh,

I guess starting off with it, I guess talking to who I am, growing up in Yakima, Washington, on the Yakima Reservation, that's where all my people come from. And I guess the type of life I grew up as a Native American was kind of, I don't know how I put this.

I guess as many natives would probably relate to this is I went through a lot. I grew up seeing a lot, especially with alcohol and with drugs and with gang violence and with domestic abuse, all the type of stuff that contemporary Native Americans actually go through. I grew up around the traditions and the longhouse, but when I came home,

it was survival mode. It was just trying to get through the night. It was just trying to get to the next morning so we can make it to school. So that's the type of life I grew up around. And so as I grew older and became a storyteller and really became a filmmaker, those are just the stories I kind of gravitated towards.

And so They're Not Here is a horror film and it kind of takes all those aspects of life that I grew up in. Very specific stories that maybe I could talk about. I think it'll be really cool to talk about. I haven't been able to talk about these type of stories anywhere. I haven't felt comfortable on a film festival and stuff, but I'll definitely open up about it here. But it takes all those real grounded experiences of just natives that are just lost on the res dealing with all this type of stuff. And it puts it through the horror lens so everyone can watch it and get scared and

Yeah, I think that's how I started off. What makes you pick which genre you're going to go with or what medium you want to tell a story in? That's a really good question. I think I answered this recently. I was asked this question and my answer was

uh, it all comes down to the initial emotion I feel with the story. So, so talking about, let's see what we'll talk about my first feature film in a little bit, but my first feature film was torn apart and it was a film about missing murdered indigenous woman. And it was like an action thriller. And, uh,

And the reason it became an action thriller is because when I was doing research and just learning about the topic on a broader scale, like up in Canada and throughout the country, but also on a more personal scale with like people I knew, like my cousins, my aunties, grandmas, everyone that had to live through this type of stuff. The first thing it filled me with was rage, man. I was like, I was just mad. Like, like, I just felt like, man, if, if anything happened like this, like,

i don't know what i'd do i wouldn't be able to control the anger i was feeling of what was happening to our people and so when i started writing torn apart uh it just naturally gravitated towards that i'm like man let me speak to those emotions and really be authentic with that and so when it comes to they're not here uh let's see do i get into this story real instantly uh wherever you feel like yeah yeah i think the first story i have

that sparked They're Not Here, I've never said this anywhere, is growing up around my father, there was a certain point in my life when maybe middle school, it was me and my little brother. He was like, he's seven years younger than me, so I was like 13. He was like down to seven, something like that. And my dad was really bad on alcoholism. And every night he would yell at the top of his lungs, just like nonstop, like it just wouldn't stop.

Wouldn't be able to sleep. Like we'd be going off two, three hours of sleep to go to school. And so that story of growing up around that, I mean, months, maybe years, it gets foggy in my head because I think your brain tries to block out those memories. But it went on for a long time with just nonstop yelling and just

just aggression. He never liked aggression towards us, but his mind just couldn't contain his pain any longer. And so when it came to They're Not Here, in terms of the inspiration for a horror film and just a film in general, when it came to horror, when a horror movie starts out, usually it's quiet and you're like, okay, it's quiet. And then someone screams and you're like, something's happening. But for me, it's the opposite.

I was used to the screaming. Hearing the yelling made me feel comfortable. And then when the yelling went silent, that's when you get scared. And so it was kind of the opposite.

And so once I thought about it that way, I was like, that's a really unique perspective. I don't think I've ever heard anyone speak of that type of perspective. Like the yelling isn't what scares you. It's when the yelling goes silent scares you. Because I don't know if he passed out. I don't know if he's walking around the house or if he left or whatever. You just don't, the unknown. And so that's how it kind of became a horror film. And so...

yeah, when I figure out those type of genres, it really comes down to those initial emotions from the stories. Before we get to the day I died of wind in the knee, just so people could understand who I am, in terms of being a creative, the layout of my projects. So my first feature film was Torn Apart, action thriller on missing murdered indigenous women. And like, this is a full-on feature film. We worked with the Muckleshoot tribe. We shut down a whole rest area. Like we were just everywhere. And, and,

I started the Kickstarter for this with raising $500. That's it. I think we ended up raising like $2,000, but we made a whole feature film off $2,000. And it got distributed. It's on Prime Video. It's on Tubi to this day. So go check it out. But that was my first feature film.

Then I instantly got into my second feature film, which is They're Not Here. I actually wanted to film that just like torn apart off a couple thousand dollars, but it failed. And then as I've grown, I'm like, actually, let me let this marinate a little longer. And it's really growing beautifully right now. So that one's still in development, second feature film. And then I got a couple more projects. And so now people can understand where I'm coming from. I've put in a lot of work. And so now when it comes to...

Now I'm kind of working on graphic novels and comic books, which is kind of interesting because I had been creating my own comics, even though I've never been able to draw. But I've always been creating my own comics since elementary school. And so then I was a film student at the University of Washington and in a screenwriting class, they gave me an assignment. And the assignment was was write a short film with no dialogue.

And so I wrote this short film that was about Wounded Knee. And it was about a young kid at Wounded Knee who lost his life. And he's kind of like in his journey to the spirit world. So it's a real crazy, eerie, dreamlike. He's falling through the earth. He's seeing different people bounce around. People that are dead are alive. It's just a crazy, almost like multiverse type of film. And so I made it. I didn't make it, but I finished the script.

And then I was like, man, I want to film this, but this is going to be impossible. Like, I'm going to have to wait to film this when I'm like a much bigger filmmaker and I could have like a hundred thousand dollar budget. And so I took a step back and, and in the midst of all my projects, you know, like they're not here, even though it's on pause right now and it's growing really well. When it first failed, that hit me hard. I was like, man, I've, I failed inside and, and I've,

constantly pushing myself forward trying to trying to just keep doing something keep doing stuff because I've went through many failures that hopefully will get into this podcast and through these failures the day I died Edwin Nene came back up and you're like I'm like man I can't really get a film off the ground right now what can I do

reach out to roy i met roy 2022 and the first thing roy did is pull out the ipad like out of his freaking back back pocket like bro just pulled it out of nowhere and roy came up to me he's like hey check this out bro just started like yapping about all these illustrations and i'm like damn this man really like like bro's really creative like that because roy makes music i mean you guys probably know roy probably know him a little too much uh you're you're probably like the main yap around the podcast

I do be yapping. I don't know if I'm the main one. But with that being said, when I met Roy and he showed me his illustrations, and then I went through going through my early film career, failures and successes. Then the day I died in Wounded Knee came up, and I'm like, man, let me try starting a Kickstarter. Reached out to Roy. I shared with you the script. You liked it. And I said, if you're interested, you're like, yeah, I'm interested.

And then you cooked up like a mock illustration. And I saw that. I was like, oh, yeah. Instantly created a Kickstarter. And then within like the next month, we already had $3,000 raised. Damn, was it $3,000? Was it $3,000? Yeah, I think it was like $3,500 or something like that. Oh, my gosh. Shout out the Kickstarter. Yeah, yeah. And like in the grand scale, like that's super ultra low budget. Like Roy's working for pennies. But Roy is really passionate. And then I think our creative...

collaboration kind of just clicked and now we're just locked in right now. So that's how the Dad Died of Wounded Knee came out, which is going to be our first comic book or graphic novel. I still don't know what to call it really. I don't know. They're kind of synonymous for me. They might not be. I'm sure it's like different. You know what I'm saying? But they're both pictures. They're both pictures. So that's kind of where I get that from. Shit. Damn. God. God.

When we started that Kickstarter, that feels so long ago, bro. Damn. Yeah, it's been a long process. We've definitely learned a lot about how we work together and just creating something from beginning to end. When you got that pressure of,

of people who gave you money like donated you money you know you got like an obligation to to work hard towards it yeah even if it feels super ultra low budget it's like man it's ultra low budget but to those people that's their hard-earned money you know they threw in 25 bucks 50 bucks one person threw in a whole thousand dollars which is crazy um so so those people like you know the

That money matters to them just like it matters to us. So even if it's just a super low budget, I mean, even making Torn Apart, we just made, we were trying to raise 500. We ended up raising like 2000 or something. And I was like, man, let's do it. Like, what else do we need? We had a group of close knit people who were locked in and wanted to be a part of it. We just filmed it all summer.

And got it done. I edited the whole thing. I did all the sound effects. I was like punching myself, making punching sounds and grunting and heavy breathing and all those type of like anime sounds. And you know, like when they gasp like that. And we just got it done. So the day I died, I won the knee. I think the beautiful thing about comic books is it's a little...

It's a little easier, I guess I could say. I don't want to say that in an insensitive way because I'm not an illustrator. I don't know what your process is. I'm curious. Maybe you could talk about it right now. But it feels a little easier than a film because a film, there's just so many moving pieces. With a comic book, it's a little more contained. It's just me and you kind of locked in. How does it work with your process when you're drawing up these panels? You just kind of let it flow. Really, it's just become an iPad kid for a few hours. Just kind of

and then kind of just start flowing. There's a lot of layers to it, I'd say, depending on what panel I'm drawing for Wounded Knee. Like literally and figuratively. Yeah. There's like a lot of like thoughts, thought layers where it's like, okay, so if like it's snowing here, then how is that going to impact the rest of the environment here? If a horse is, you know, going through the fields and,

what does that leave for like the dust and dirt coming up, the snow on the ground coming up? How does that look? And then even for like the character and like their emotions, like how does it look? And like low key, like when I'm drawing, like I can't help, but like if the character's like in fear, I'm like making the same face. It kind of helps you visualize. Yeah. It helps me visualize it. The mouth and stuff like that. Yeah. Wow. That's super dope. Yeah. Yeah. So in terms of the comic books, I mean, for me,

I think me, like, I'm just a storyteller at heart. I'm not stuck to one different medium. Storytelling is just the biggest thing for me, especially fictional storytelling. Because I know, like, both of us being Native, and even farther than Natives, everyone can relate to this. Like, fictional storytelling has always had the largest impact. Fictional storytelling is reaching way more people than documentary, in my opinion.

It's reaching way more people than a textbook. It really gives you the opportunity to feel stuff.

And I got firsthand experience about that. Like I'm a huge, I'm a huge World War II buff. I'm a huge like just war buff. I love learning about that history. And the way my love for it started was like through movies and through like comic books and stuff like that. And I'm like, man, that movie like Schindler's List, man, like that just hit. I'm talking about like someone saving Jewish people from the Nazi camps. And then I go back and I learn about it. Fictional storytelling like

it's almost like an invitation when I read when I watch a World War two film like Schindler's List or like I don't know a newer one like like Fury with Brad Pitt and John Bernthal like those give me an invitation into that yeah like I feel welcome to be a part of it and then I go learn the the facts on my own uh because now I'm interested so fictional storytelling has always been something that I've just believed in and as I've become a storyteller um

I've just always gravitated towards it. And so, yeah, I'm not attracted to any medium, video games, movies, don't matter, comic books on there. Damn, a Takala Tatum video game would actually kind of go hard. The campaign mode would be crazy. The campaign mode would go crazy. As a storyteller, though, as a native storyteller, I guess, to be specific, like I feel like indigenous storytelling is in like such like a

it's at such a good point right now because it really could like grow in any direction like where do you see indigenous storytelling moving i guess in the next few years where do you where do you see yourself moving towards in the next few years i guess yeah i mean i mean you can't deny that that native storytelling's kind of got the the spotlight right now and i and i feel that everywhere like i've been reading a lot of literature and i'll go to like bookstores and there's just tons of

of Native American authors. Natives are just really thriving in the storytelling aspect. The one thing I always say is that I feel like every culture has something to offer.

I grew up around a lot of Mexicans. Yakima, it's really predominantly Mexican and like in like a few white people in between. The natives are on the res, obviously. And there's even a lot of Mexicans on the res, like Wapato, Toppenish. Like it's a huge Mexican population. And the one thing I've noticed being around these different cultures is that we all have something beautiful to offer to the world. But like we all have a different color paintbrush and we all paint it how we see fit.

And like with Mexican culture, for example, like their music, like just their music and the genres that they're doing, the way they're infusing it into modern times is so beautiful. And it's really dope and it's taken off. I mean, Latin artists are just huge right now. And then when it comes to Native Americans, I think we really have that storytelling potential. I think, I don't know, maybe it's just because we're so connected to our culture, but we just have a lot of depth to us.

People always see us as stoic and I know that's kind of like a bad stereotype, but I think it's kind of true. I think if anyone knows me, they'll be like, yeah, Takala's kind of stoic a little bit. He's just real serious. Yeah, that sounds about right. But there's like a lot of depth and layers to us. I think we've all lived a lot of life. So in terms of where indigenous storytelling is going,

It really does feel like the sky's the limit right now. And that's why I've just been pushing so hard. And that's why I've been like so hungry and just nonstop going for it. Because me personally, just the life I grew up, I always felt like the clock was ticking. Just with life in general, like death and like mortality was always a thing in my mind because I just grew up around it. That's how the day I died of wounded knee came to be because it's literally about a boy who lost his life. He's in this journey to the spirit world.

that story came from me being afraid as a child of what death was like. Like, man, I would think about that. And so, and so the sky's the limit right now. And in terms of that, my perspective is I'm just trying to push as hard as I can because

I just don't feel like me personally, I don't feel like these opportunities last forever. I think we kind of we kind of sit in it and enjoy it and maybe party a little bit too much being excited about the new opportunities we're getting. But me, I'm just like get to work. Once that's finished, I get back to work, you know, pivot somewhere else.

And so I really can't say where it's going to go, but all I know is that I'm going to keep working hard and try to get the most out of it. Kobe Bryant type beat. Job finish? Job ain't finish. You are hella stuck. For those of y'all who don't know, when we first met, Takala said, you know, Roy...

If you didn't come up and be like, yo, you make movies or nah, I probably would not have talked to you at all. No, literally, I would have just wrapped up my job, collected my check. I would have been back on I-5 back to Seattle. Always on to the next project. I think we were wrapping up...

they're not here that proof of concept and then I was like so we partying when we wrap or he's like no what you don't you don't do like a wrap party or nothing like that he's like no job ain't job finish that leads to a really interesting story that I like to bring up is is when it comes to filmmaking and storytelling in general uh

Especially like in these mediums where it's filmmaking, video games, books, whatever, music. I always feel like that that's a privilege, a privilege because not everyone gets to do this. Not everyone gets to, you know, they don't have the they're too stressed about life or whatever to be focused about that type of stuff. And it takes a lot of money to be in this type of industry.

To make these type of projects. And so when it comes to that type of stuff, when I don't really believe in partying like that is when we wrapped up, they're not here. I was like, all right, we're finished. Then everyone just erupts into cheers. The first thing I was in my mind, it was like is I was like, we're we're filming in someone's bedroom.

We're filming in someone's house. And so it's like, you know, we have an obligation, you know, that like literally the job's not finished. It's literally not finished. Like we got to pack up gear, let them get back to their bedrooms and stuff. And for me, I think to be able to get the most out of

storytelling and to push yourself to the farthest, I think what has to excite you the most is the work. I think of what a lot of people struggle with this. They don't really care about the work. They just want to get through the work so they could get to the party. And then that's where people have the most fun. I think if you really want to get the most out of it, your excitement has to come from the work. And that's where I get most excited. Just naturally. Bro is Kobe Bryant with the finals trophy, just looking at it, that one picture.

Everyone around him cheering. Bro's just laying out the trophy. I think that's a really good point because during They're Not Here, I think I really did have the best time just being there performing. Yeah.

When you were deciding to do They're Not Here and film, what was your casting process? What made you be like, yo, Roy, you trying to be in They're Not Here? What's the move? Yeah, that's really interesting when it comes to this one. So if you look up They're Not Here, the poster is two different actors because we kind of jumped around. This proof of concept came out of nowhere. Just this feeling of I got to keep pushing forward.

And so we tried to film the proof of concept right before, like a few months before with these other two actors. It fell through again. We tried to film the full feature with them. It just fell through. We were trying and trying. Didn't work. And it was another failure. And I was like, nope, I'm not accepting that failure. So I instantly pivoted to the they're not here proof of concept that you're a part of. And then when it came to casting, it really just came to like, man, I need to get something done. Like I'm not going to accept a failure again.

And so when it came to the casting, you just popped into my head because you instantly just look really young and the character you played is supposed to be like 14, 15. And so getting someone that...

And so getting someone that has the maturity, you know, like how they cast 30-year-olds to play high schoolers. I was always trying to stay away from that. Wherever you're watching, like, Euphoria or something, you're like, bro, that guy's like 29 years old. CW casting. Yeah. I've always tried to stay away from that. But I realized, I was like, man, you kind of do need that. Because it's hard to cast, like, a literal 10-year-old to play a 10-year-old role. Yeah. Or a 15-year-old to play. And so...

I was instantly, I was like, oh, Roy. It just clicked randomly. That'll actually lead into the next project that we'll talk about later in terms of like how it just kind of clicked again, our kind of creative collaboration. And so it clicked and I reached out to you. You said you were down. And then I had to cast another kid. That one, I just sent out a casting call. A couple auditions came through.

Gavin Henry from the Tulalip tribe got the role and so casted him. That was pretty straightforward. And then there's another character who's the father. And that one was like, man, I just don't have time to get to cast. So I just threw myself into the role. And that was also important for me as a storyteller to kind of feel it out. But in terms of the casting process, yeah, it kind of went three different ways. The basic audition process.

I knew you, knew your look was perfect for it. And then I just don't got time and I need to feel it out for me as a director and writer, throw myself into it. So, yeah, it kind of went three different ways, which is pretty interesting. Would you say it was kind of the same for Torn Apart then? Because that was a much bigger project with a lot more people. So was that just kind of like a casting call? Yeah, yeah. Or was it like a...

i know you you cook yeah it definitely it's definitely a mix of both i think for the most part i mean torn apart was a big film uh with a lot of moving pieces a lot of different characters uh it was a really fun film now that i've kind of grown away from it i could look at it uh objectively and like it's just a fun film and in terms of the casting

There were a few people I knew, like Carlos Narvaez, who's a local in Seattle. Man, I've worked with him on multiple projects before. And so he was always in my mind. I was like, man, I need him for something. And so I got him.

But the majority of the cast was just casting calls. Reach out to like the Seattle film community. And man, there's a lot of talented people out there. I mean, like I've thrown out some names like Giovanni Vasquez, Tommy Tucker Jr., Anthony Love, Mick Loftus, Ian Bourne, Justin Zhang. If I'm forgetting anybody. But man, there's a lot of talented filmmakers and actors down in Seattle. So I just reach out to the community and...

And they're like, yeah, I'm down. I was like, man, we're going off like $2,000. I can't pay you. I can barely feed you. I'll get you some homemade sandwiches and potato chips. We got the Costco granola bars in the back, bro. But yeah, that casting process is pretty straightforward. ♪♪♪

How would you say that you go about like involving the community or giving back to the community through like your storytelling?

That's a good question. I think for me, with native storytelling,

I think ours naturally starts to be very location specific. We all come from different tribes, different reservations. So we all have a different picture in mind. And so when it comes to that in terms of it's, I need it to be authentic. I need it to feel authentic. You know, when I'm thinking about my story, I can picture where it needs to be because I grew up around there. You know, I think a lot of our stories are grounded stories. You know, we, we,

we wouldn't be able to film them on like a soundstage in LA. Or at least for my stories, it would just be impossible. And so when it comes to involving the community, it really is just going down to these communities. You know, I work with the Muckleshoot tribe, a lot of people down there. Shout out to Ronnie and Frankie, people who hooked it up on the Muckleshoot tribe. And I just go down and talk to just normal people. I always just, you know, normal people are the ones who call my name.

And I just gravitate towards them because we just connect. No one who feels like they're too much of a big wig or like, oh, yeah, I'm this big actor or this big person on the res. I run the tribal council or whatever. I just want to talk. No chairman.

Yeah. So I just go down to the community and just talk to people. I don't know how it is up here, but like Yakima Tribe, we got like our Facebook group page. You can join. Michael Shue has their own. Talalip. And so I just send out castic calls like my name's this. I come from here. I'm telling a story about this and I'm looking for a house. I'm looking for a field, whatever. And then I just talk to people on Facebook and stuff like that.

So I really try to involve people through like just the logistics part, the whole process of like what it takes to make a film. I think it just kind of comes naturally. It's not something that I like intentionally. I need to include people, but it just, it's just natural because that's where my mind that that's what's needed is authenticity. Yeah. Earlier you were talking about how fictional storytelling is the one that has the most impact. Would you say that your storytelling has had an impact on your community?

- I'm not sure. I feel like I wouldn't be able to say that for myself. I'd have to have the community speak for me. That's the one thing of me is like, I don't ever wanna claim to be a voice for the people. Like, oh, I'm standing on this stage and I'm speaking for all of you. I've always thought of it of like being a voice through the people, you know, meaning like I'm not taking on any bigger role, making myself feel bigger.

I'm just like going through my people, going through my own life. And the voice comes through that. Like I wouldn't have a voice. I wouldn't be a storyteller. I wouldn't have the ideas unless it was where I came from. And everyone played a part in that. You know, the people I grew up around, the different type of personalities, stories, different households. And so when I think of it that way, um,

I don't think I would ever be able to say like, oh, yeah, I had to impact on my community. That's just not something I would say. Other people could say it for me. And I think I'm still just I've been able to do a lot. I'm not going to sell myself short. I've definitely worked really hard. I got a pretty solid resume, but I'm not quite there yet. You know, I'm still trying to get to the next leap where people are like, oh, yeah, OK, he's he's here now.

I'm still, I'm still on my way. He's here now. They're not here. I'm not, I'm not there yet. I'm not, I'm not here. I'm not here. Oh shit. Uh, so like, yeah, like,

You know, you work with a lot of different people, a lot of different personalities, a lot of different locations. What's been, like, some of your favorite memories, I guess, from working? I have a feeling you're going to ask this question because you're like, who's the best person you've worked with so far? It was on there. Trying to get a shout out. I guess in terms of, like, best experiences, I don't know. I guess boiling it down because...

For anyone who's listening out there, I don't want to feel like I'm just gassing myself up or just having a celebration about myself. So in terms of like the way I'll answer this question, hopefully it could be a little informative. And I think the best way that I've been able to...

build up my career. And what's been the most fun is how I tackled it. I've always been a person that's always been locked in. And I feel like that's why I never had any resistance from family. Like my mom didn't care if I was going to be a filmmaker because she knew like I just had a strong head on my shoulders and I'm going to just go for it. Like I grew up playing basketball. Like when I play basketball, I'm locked in.

Like I wake up 5 a.m., go hit the gym, go to school after school, hit the gym again. Like I've always been that. So when I when I gravitate towards film and I lock, I'm like, OK, I'm doing this. And so when I started school at UW, I was like, I want to make a film every year. And so one of my favorite memories still answering this question is is how I did that. And the first film was a short film called Creed 2.

It was Creed II Res Edition. I was just making a remake, a remake of the training montage of Michael B. Jordan. He's out there in the desert, like hitting the desert with the hammer and stuff. I literally just remade that beat for beat on the Yakima Res. Bar for bar? Yeah, literally. I mean, I went through the film and I was like, each cut, like same seconds, same amount of frames. And so my first film was learning how to make a film.

And then I did like, I call it a half a feature because I didn't really know what I was doing. It was like 40 minutes long. But then I wrote the script of my first original film. And so that one taught me how to write a film. So then I learned how to make a film. I learned how to write a film. And then Torn Apart came and that was a mesh of both. Like, okay, I had some practice. Let me just jump into it. I'm ready. I was just starving, hungry.

And so torn apart came along. I was like, man, I know how to make a film. I know how to write a film. Let me just lock in. So in terms of my favorite memories, just thinking about that journey and how it's gotten me to here, man, it's just, I got a lot of fun memories about those times and how I was able to structure it.

How long would you say Torn Apart took to make, like script writing-wise? Yeah, I think I remember the exact dates. It was 2020, October of 2020 when I first came up with the idea. I mean, I was just laying in bed, and I'm just like, look over to my girlfriend. I'm like, man, I got an idea. It clicked. I'm on my tablet writing the notes. I still got the notes. So October 2020, I think I had a finished script by...

maybe February of 2021, March of 2021. I was like, okay, I'm ready. And then the first portion of 2021 was casting and location scouting. And then once it hit summer of 2021, it was filming all summer from like May all the way to like August. Film all summer. And then throughout the fall and the winter,

I edited the film all fall and winter. And then I had the film finished by like January 7th, 2022. Damn. So yeah, it took me, was that little over a year? And then, and then February 14th is when it came out.

First I uploaded on YouTube, it got like 50,000 views on YouTube, which my biggest project I ever had at that time. I was not expecting that. I was like, man, I'm gonna drop this maybe like 300 views or something. It was getting like 10,000 a week. And I was like, dang. And then looking back at it, I'm like, man, I should have waited to put it on Prime Video and Tubi because I would have turned in the revenue.

but but but people got to watch it i just couldn't wait i wanted people to see it and so luckily it had good success there and then after that i think it and then i got it through the distribution process which anyone could do out there go look up film hub if you have a film i think they even do short films too and then you could just and then film hub is just like literally a hub where it'll it'll distribute it everywhere for you and so i went through film hub free

They only take 10% of the cut of whatever it makes. And then I put it on there and it got on Prime Video Tubi. It's on a bunch of other ones. They put it literally everywhere. But if I said all the names, people wouldn't even recognize it. So yeah, October 2020 all the way to early 2022 is how long it took to finish. Yeah.

Yeah. How was it? What was that like feeling? Like, how did it feel when you saw like the views start racking up on YouTube? Yeah, it felt really good. I was like, I was like, man, I wasn't expecting this. But at the same time, I always had belief in myself. I always knew I was like, I just never I refused to doubt myself. It's just not in my it's just not in me. And so I wasn't too surprised about it caught me off guard. But then after that, I was like, that's cool.

let's get back to work. Job's not finished. Job's not finished. But yeah, that journey of how I structured, learn how to make a film, learn how to write, then just torn apart is really what came to be out of those two. And then the career just kind of took off after that. So like going from torn apart, they're not here, wounded knee,

can you maybe talk a little bit about what you got coming up yeah yeah it's like what's coming up next yeah are we finishing they're not here or like what's the move you know what i'm saying yeah yeah but they're not here we had a proof of concept if you look up my name like on google my name should pop up and then you can find my youtube channel somewhere there i know i do it for us at google me yeah but it's for anyone who's trying to find me um

You should be able to find my YouTube channel, Proof of Concepts, up there live now since the festival runs available. So you can watch it there. Proof of Concepts finished. Now I'm tweaking up the feature script. It's probably about 80% finished, locked, ready to go. And then after that, I'm just trying to get into programs like grants, fellowships, whatever, just to try to get it made. Worst comes to worst, I'm going to make it somehow. It's coming regardless.

But yeah, it's time's coming soon. In terms of what I got up next, there's one project that I forgot to mention. There's a local comic book company here in Washington called MountaineerWest.com. And they produce local comic books and they had this cool series called War Angels. It's a bunch of different fighters from different dimensions that come. And there's one character that's Native American.

Ended up linking up with this comic book company. We did a short film. They liked my work. They ended up hiring me. I mean, it literally jumped like crazy. Directing a short film. And then they're like, hey, we got a feature film that we want to make. Like low end, $300,000 budget. High end, we were looking at like $3 million. And they told me.

I want to bring you on to write it. I want to bring you on to direct it. And I want to bring you on to produce it because it's a Native American film and producing like you could probably help with a lot of the logistics and reaching out to travel communities. So and then directing, they trusted my vision writing. They knew I'd be able to tell a good story. And so we got into development, wrote the script. My producer was really liking it.

I was co-writing it with him because he's the creator of those comics. So he would, he gave me free reigns to tell the story I wanted to tell. He was just making sure the nitty gritty of like, nah, we need this piece of lore in there. We need this piece of this in there. And so, yeah, so we worked together. And then we were going to make it, I think it was 2022, summer 2023, something like that. After Torn Apart, after They're Not Here Failed.

But he was able to get the script into another producer's hands who works at a big streaming service. I won't say the name. But you could probably guess it in your first three tries. If you just guess, throw out some names, you'll know which one. It's that big of a streaming service. But they got the script there, kind of floated away out of my hands. Luckily, I'm still contractually tied to it. So if anything does come out of it, I'll get a bag on the back end. Yeah.

But that's a project that's still kind of in the works, torn apart. They're Not Here is obviously in the works in terms of upcoming projects. I don't know if you want to start that one off or should I? No, no, you got it. You got it. Well, bro, this one's for you. I guess in terms of work coming up, how do I start this off? Children of the Setting Sun is doing their first graphic novel.

And they brought Roy on to creatively direct it. They were just like, hey, we got this comic book like here. And they just threw it to him. And Roy was like, okay. He kind of got tossed the project. And then they were going through it. I don't know how long you guys were going on for it.

But then Roy reached out to me, kind of like how I clicked, like, yo, Roy's perfect for They're Not Here. Roy kind of clicked with me, like, yo, I could bring on Takala as a writer. And so then Roy reached out to me. And this graphic novel is about the Hanford incident, which is the nuclear activity at the Hanford site in Washington.

They ended up boiling down, affecting the Columbia River, affecting a lot of native peoples. And that's the story they wanted to tell through a graphic novel, comic book. And then Roy brought me on. And so now we're both co-creating it. And we got the day I died, I didn't want any cooking, rather than like halfway through it. And so we got two projects coming up. And then this is the graphic novel that we're working on. So this one's centered around the Yakima people. And then...

Wounded Knee is very, well, it's Wounded Knee, so it's your other half. So like, how does that feel to have two different projects that speak to both sides of you? Yeah. It's crazy how it clicked because I mean, uh,

Through all my successes and failures, I've climbed up, I've fell down, gotten back up, refused to give up. And then I had two. And then the day I died of Wounded Knee, comic books sprouted. And that one was about, you know, it's closely related to our Lakota people of South Dakota and North Dakota. And I'm Rosebud Sioux. I grew up, you know, taking a few trips out there with my dad. He's Rosebud Sioux, and he would tell me about Wounded Knee. We went to the memorial site.

And so that one came up and I'm like, man, I'm really telling a story that speaks to that side of me. And then this graphic novel came up and then they want to tell a story about Hanford, which is closely related to the Yakima people. And then that one's closely related to that. And so, man, I don't know how to describe it. It just feels like a blessing. And it just it just kicks me in the third gear. So I'm like, man, I'm just I'm just ready to get to work. I'm so focused on it and just always trying to do it for more than just myself.

And it's really a feeling I can't describe. Yeah, it feels awesome. Do you have a message for the indigenous youth out there? Message to the indigenous youth? Yeah, I think the one thing I would say, no matter where you're coming from, no matter what you want to do, I don't care if you want to be a basketball player, a football player, a filmmaker, a novel writer, whatever.

I be a doctor or whatever. I think the biggest thing that I would say, the one thing I learned with myself, and I guess this kind of goes more into the creative side, but when you're studying people that you want to be like, people always tell you, you got to study these greats. You got to study, they'll name them out. This person, this person, watch all their films, read all their books, whatever this and that. And so everyone goes towards that. But the one advice I would have for native kids, because we come from a world that

It's just a unique perspective. And the one piece of advice I would have them is don't focus on necessarily who you're supposed to be studying. Focus on what you find interesting. Focus on the works or the basketball players, whoever that calls you and study up on their game, study up on their works of art. And the reason I give that piece of advice is because that's something I did naturally. I didn't care about studying Martin Scorsese or whatever.

I wanted to go study, you know, the warriors, the outsiders, you know, films that I grew up on, signs. And by focusing on stuff that interested me, I learned what my voice is instantly. And same thing growing up playing basketball. Like I was focused on players that I like to watch.

And then I would study their game. And so I was able to learn how I like to play basketball way faster than people who are just studying who you're supposed to say. So the advice to the native youth is like, it's like just, and to any youth out there is just, is, is study what you like to study, whether it's a subject, creative work, sport, don't matter. Uh,

And that will allow you to find who you are because that's the ultimate goal. You want to figure out who you are and how you could thrive in your different way. And by me doing that, man, that's how I was able to just skyrocket and figure out my path. Yeah.

So, yeah, that's the one advice I got from him. When you were playing basketball, were you at the native tournaments? Were you a native tournament player too? Yeah. Yeah, I used to play the res ball tournaments on the Yakima Reservation. Mm-hmm.

And, but, but, but I went to school in Yakima, which is kind of the nearby city. It's not, it's not really a city. It's like, I don't know. Yakima is an interesting place. It's not like super urban, very agricultural, but, but, but, but so I grew up playing basketball out there with the, with the white boys and with the, with the Mexican kids. And yeah, for real. With those farmers, with the mean elbows, I mean, thick old Adam's apple popping out, just hit you with the elbow and the chest. And it's like, ugh.

The elbows are real. The elbows are real for sure. But, yeah, so I play basketball all over. Cool, cool.

Has your basketball career inspired your storytelling at all or no? Easily, easily. I was having this conversation with my mom, and I said, you know, I always thought basketball was just locked in on, like so strict. I love the game. I love putting in the work. But the one thing that I realized is I kind of naturally outgrew it.

I was like basketball kind of became boring to me a little bit. I wanted to go home and like be a nerd, read a comic, read a book, go play a video game. So basketball became a distraction.

And but as I got older, I was telling my mom, I was like, you know, I was meant to play basketball, though, because basketball sports in general, they teach you the discipline that they give you the drive. They give you the work ethic. They put you in uncomfortable situations, going to different basketball camps, going to I used to play tournaments in Seattle. And then and you just show up and get work by the city kids. And because they're just a little more mean and tenacious and they they talk a little more trash and afraid to get into your head.

And but going through all of that, it like prepared me for every aspect of my life, including storytelling, because now that same drive, the same tenacity, the same work ethic, that same discipline carried on into my storytelling career.

And so, yeah, I don't think I'd be who I am today without basketball. They say ball is life. And I mean, ball really is life. Like, like it's a part of the culture. Natives and beyond. Seattle's got a big, a big hoop community. The culture is strong when it comes to basketball and basketball specifically. I think it carries on to so many different aspects of life. And so, yeah, yeah. Basketball is crucial on who I am. Were you into other sports or was it just basketball? Yeah.

I used to grow up playing soccer because I had a lot of Mexican friends and so we were always out on the field. When I actually played on teams...

I don't know if I was just in my head, but I just felt kind of insecure because I was just huge. Like I was just like huge. I had this one story. I was playing in a soccer tournament and it was a real grassroots. I'm talking like a straight up Mexican soccer tournament. Like no one speaks English. It's just straight up Spanish. I'm playing with all these kids who are like soccer is life. But I go out there and I'm just gigantic. Like everyone's literally half size of me. And during the soccer game,

it got to a point where all the parents stopped the game. They rushed the field and I was like surrounded by like a bunch of like Mexican moms and dads and they're like, we need to see your ID. They age checked you bro? Literally, I'm not even lying about this. Like, like I got, I got age checked. They're like, man, we need to make sure this kid's nine years old. He's probably like 16. So I literally had to show my ID and then after that I was like, yeah, I don't think I'm meant for soccer. Age checked at nine is crazy.

Yeah, that when I got a little older, me and my friend Isaac actually really got into tennis. Tennis is really cool. I wish I knew about tennis more because tennis is actually a good sport for tall people when they're like when they're serving over the net. Like a lot of those tennis players out there are 6'4", 6'5", 6'6". And so I wish I learned about tennis when I was younger. But tennis became a really big thing. I still really enjoy tennis. I haven't played in a long time, but I was getting into tennis eventually.

quite a bit during high school, the end of high school. When are we going to see the Takala Tatum tennis movie? Tennis movie would actually go hard. Speaking of sports films, it don't go into anything, but the one film that I know I will make one day, sports related, is going to be a boxing film. I love boxing. As I've gone into my adult life, I just love boxing.

call it that sweet science, just keeping them at bay with the jab and watching that type of stuff. I love boxing. I really enjoy it. So when it comes to sports film, I think boxing would probably be the first one that I tell. That one would go crazy. That would go pretty crazy. The Manny Pacquiao biopic directed by Takala Taito. There was this one Native American boxing film. I can't remember the name of it, but I used to watch it a lot.

It was about this farm kid on the rez, native, long hair, boxing at these rodeos. I used to love that movie. I can't remember the name of it. But yeah, a boxing film, definitely. Definitely be in the works one day. For sure. Do you have anything else to really talk about before we wrap? I think I'm good. I'm ready for some Filipino food. For want of getting into the tradition.

Those of y'all who don't know, every time Takala comes to town, we go to a Filipino restaurant. But...

All right, cool. Well, thank you everyone for tuning in. Thank you Takala for making the time to be out here and be on this episode. You can watch Torn Apart directed by Takala Tanum on Prime Video and Tubi and a bunch of other streaming services that he didn't want to name. And you can also check They're Not Here Proof of Concept on YouTube. Eight minute short film. Go check that out. Those are my two public available works right now. Yeah.

Thank y'all for watching. Thank y'all for listening. Thank you. Hey, what's good, y'all? Thank you for tuning in to another episode of Young and Indigenous. This episode was produced by Roy Alexander, Ellie Smith, and Isaac Rivera. Original music by Mark Nichols, Roy Alexander, and Zach Cohen. Huge thank you to our sponsors, the Paul Allen Foundation and the Inotai Foundation.

Young and Indigenous is a nonprofit based in Bellingham, Washington, on the ancestral homelands of the Nooksack and Lummi people. Hyshka for listening. Thanks, y'all. Later.