Brutal Honesty & Hilarity: Jeanine Daniels Talks ‘Auntie’s Advice’ Exclusively Streaming On BOSSIP

Jeanine Daniels Talks “Auntie’s Advice”

Jeanine Daniels is a creator who loves to make people emote and touch on various feelings. Those feelings including heartbreak, peace, insecurity, and joy. With that in mind, it’s no secret that the Claremont College grad wants to spread hearty laughs in one of her projects that you can stream on BOSSIP right here.

After already releasing projects like “Petty Fitness”, “She’s Gotta Point”, “His & Hers” and “Kitchen Therapy” thePLUGtv head is giving us “Auntie’s Advice”, a six-episode show that came together on a “broke hunch:” In it, “Auntie” Jeanine and her brutally honest guests respond to submitted questions.

It’s smart, quirky and hilarious as hell and features her quick wit and at times “horribly opinionated” commentary.

Below we talk to Jeanine about Auntie’s Advice, real-life advice from auntie figures in her life and even challenge her to do our job by creating a BOSSIP headline.

BOSSIP: What inspired you to create Auntie’s Advice?

“What inspired me to create aunties advice is two-fold. On one hand, my team and I were looking to create shows for thePLUGtv that we could actually afford to produce. Creating content isn’t cheap, there’s locations, cameras, lighting & sound equipment, hard drives, wardrobe stylists, makeup artists, talent, editors, directors, producers, and of course, craft services because you need to feed all these people doing you a solid. Then after everything is said and done, you need to be able to go into post-production with something that actually makes sense with doable goals. We didn’t want anything that needed too much color correction, ‘cause that’s money, we didn’t want anything that required too much sound editing, ‘cause that’s money. We didn’t want anything that relied too heavily on outside talent, ‘cause that’s money, scheduling, and more favors to ask. Guerrilla content makers often cast themselves as leads in their project because it’s cheaper, and you know you’ll always show up for no pay. It’s just economical really. Does it hurt that I’m funny, and a little too honest? I’mma say ‘No.’

Because I’d created entertaining, easily producible content like this before, we knew it could be done again but what we could do was put a different spin on it.

That brings us to the other reason I created the show; my friends are FUNNY. We sit and talk for hours, and just shoot the s*** about random everyday situations that we’d found ourselves in, and we’re always trading theories, ideas, experiences, and debatable advice. And I thought to myself, we should make a show about giving out some of this advice. Not that I’m saying it was good, bad, useful, right or wrong advice—I didn’t care about that. What I cared about was that it was just horribly opinionated, incredibly funny, and brutally honest, just like an Aunties Advice. I married this idea with the need for a show that we could produce with just two people in a room and limited equipment and Aunties Advice was born.

Two of the homies said we could shoot at their places, the Residency Art Gallery and Comfort LA, then we corralled another group of friends to be guests, and another to handle cameras, sound, directing. My original editor had a phenomenal idea when I gave her creative license over the show after we shot. She said “I can do whatever I want right?” I said yeah, she said “Cool, I’m about to send you a cut.” And when I saw it, I screamed. She used exceptionally crude drawings to illustrate certain things, and it was… BRILLIANT. She got recruited into a gig she couldn’t refuse and couldn’t be my editor anymore, but she basically put in the place the style of the show insisting we do illustrations. One of my best friends, and guests, Michelle Threatt (@mye_belle) draws, so I asked if she could do my illustrations. She had trouble at first, always over illustrating too beautifully, but finally, she got the hang of stick figures. Michelle banged out over 200 hundred drawings for the show strictly off the strength of homies supporting homies. Eventually, I paid her when I got some bread.

Two people in my circle mentioned they wanted to direct. One is making her way through the ranks at HBO and the other is a talented photographer. Their names are in the credits as the directors. I have friends who do amazing music, I needed music—boom. Their names are in the credits under musical features. I had friends who just wanted to support me and be apart however they could—boom, they supported me and all got credited for it. Something I’m really big on is creating an opportunity for those who can benefit from it. In my spirit, everyone involved got something from the show whether it was experience, exposure, a new skill, creative opportunities/outlets, or a show to be able to share in general. I know I did.

During later episodes, I realized Aunties Advice could be a great platform for comedians on the come up to showcase their talents outside of the stage and I got amazing people to pull up by just sliding into DMs on Instagram. Never underestimate the power of just asking.”

More on the flip.

BOSSIP: Tell us about your favorite moment/episode of Auntie’s Advice.

“[That’s] impossible to answer. It’s like asking a mom which of her kids is her favorite, she knows, but would never say. I love all the episodes for different reasons. But I can say one of my favorite moments is a space in time that happens every episode but never makes it to screen. It’s that moment when, halfway through the shoot, a guests is on the couch, excited about something and says a bad word. Then they tense up and go, “Wait, can I curse?!” And I say “Yes, of course’.

Their shoulders relax, and they settle a little deeper into the seat cushions and smirk. That’s the moment I know the shoot is about to get a little better because now they’ve just realized “freedom without restriction”. It happens every-time. That would definitely be one of my favorite moments.

If I had to just pick a few moments they’d be as follows;

1. Jeremy’s episode… his declarations about threesomes fixing a relationship stalled by insecurity issues.

2. Shawanna’s episode… just being on set with my bestie.

3. Rome’s episode… the moment, when he had to sit and really think about a question that was posed about a guy saying he accidentally kissed a guy.

4. Michelle’s episode… the disgust on her face hearing some of the questions that made her think back on how much she’s matured.

5. Teddy’s episode … the penis drawings because they make me laugh uncontrollably every time. And I drew them. So sue me.

6. Tierra’s episode … her unbridled honesty concerning her general dislike for friendliness with coworkers. It’s the best.”

BOSSIP: What’s the best advice an auntie (either by blood or by association) ever gave you?

“Back when I was dating an older friend of mine, an auntie who we shall call “Sharon” was talking to me about the pool of men I was choosing to entertain myself with. Sharon suggested I try a different pool and mentioned someone who I never even thought of as a potential candidate. Immediately turned off by the thought of this person who didn’t fit my physical standards quota and other unnecessary estimations of trivial worth, I said: “Naw, I’m good though.”

Curious why I would turn down someone who was seemingly such a good catch outside the fact he didn’t have a beard, wasn’t tall, and not within the hue of “twin brother darkness, Sharon inquired “Why not?” Without the slightest hesitation, “Because he’s not my type” rolled off my tongue quicker than cheap butter melting through hot rice. Before I even had a moment to smirk at my own confidence, she said; “Interesting.”

That should’ve been an indicator that she wasn’t finished with me but I was too smitten with my own self to notice. Until she dealt the finishing blow. “And when was the last time things worked out with ‘your type?’’ She asked taking a sip her Incredible Hulk she then just walked away before I could respond.

It took me only seconds the register the blow of her question, that wasn’t a question, It was a statement. Now at this function, surrounded by friends, she had quickly decimated my self satisfying confidence into dust, molecules, atoms, whichever is smallest. A smile forced its way to my face because it had to, I had to save me from the embarrassment. Soon after that I was royally roasted by my friends who sided with her. It took me a while to admit she had a point, not just in men, but in many aspects of my life.

A common definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over while expecting a different outcome. She stopped me from going insane. That was the best advice I’ve gotten from an “Auntie” type so far.

On the next page, Jeanine tells us about the music in Auntie’s Advice and shares a self-created BOSSIP headline!

Tell us about the music used on Auntie’s Advice.

“As a former music executive, my father took great pride in surrounding me with an array of diverse music from an early age. It was ingrained in my DNA to be a music lover, and I found ways to include music in all of my creative endeavors. Naturally, in every project I do music is a big focus for me and I employ it, more often than not, to execute stories, add to the dynamic, and guide the energy. Handpicking and personally sourcing Indie music for my work had always been a great source of pride for me, and after executive producing my first mixtape, the artists I’d worked with starting inviting me to the studio to help guide the sound for the next project. They began making music just for me and that blew my mind. Since then, I’ve learned first hand the hard work, sweat, dedication, and magic it takes to make good music, something I wasn’t aware of previously. I feel like I have a personal and moral obligation to the artist I work with now to make sure I show the world they gifts.

It’s very important to us that the musicians who work with my company feel good about the collaboration in all aspects, especially continued opportunities for exposure. So we make sure that consumers of our content see our artists as more than just background music that they are unconsciously bobbing their heads to. We take pride in promoting who they are, their connection to the content, tagging them, displaying links to their music, and whatever else we are capable of.

Most of the artists on Aunties Advice are longtime collaborators turned friends who have gone above and beyond when it comes to creating soundscapes for the work we’ve done. The music brings the tempo up, accentuate punch lines, and even guides laughter to emphasize the joke. There’s a lot of synergy between the content and musical landscape within it.

My title song, “Aunties Advice” by Marie Amaya and the ending song “Batman” by Richard Wright (currently featured in HBO’s Native Son) gave me the energy I was looking for with the series and was a no brainer to when we heard them. Charles Stella, another collaborator turned friend I met directing “The Purple Panties Podcast” by Zane on Sticher, also came through and brought a lot of his personal style to the show’s soundscape. I’d ask him to emulate something and he’d have it ready the next day and It’d be perfect.

My friends Ant Dzze, Young Indiana, R.C , Eddie Holmes, and Van Clayton, have been supplying me with incredible music for years, so as soon as I told them about the project they were all on board. When You keep talented people around you, it’s not hard to build dopeness, and I might be biased, but I think our music on the show is dope.”

Auntie’s Advice artists:

Richard Wright
Twitter – @Itsthewrightone
IG – @itsthewrightinsta

Anthony Ruffins
Twitter – WUncleAntt
IG – @Anttdz

Brandon Corder
Twitter – @Beatsxbeer
IG – @Beatsxbeer

Malcolm Caldwell
Twitter – @Young_Indiana
IG – @YoungIndiana

Ryan Markham
IG – @Ry_rye

Jabari Moore
Twitter – @jbizthaill
IG – @jbizthaill

Louis McGee
IG – @UrCaptain

Nicholas Clayton
Twitter – @Vannclay
IG – @Vannclay

Michael Lloreda
IG – @Micwest

Eddie Holmes 

IG- @Eddieholmesjr

Willie Turner III
IG – @Ayiro

Marie Amaya
Twitter: @Soundbreathlight

Charles Stella 

IG- @cstellamusic

BOSSIP: If you could write your own BOSSIP headline about Auntie’s Advice, what would it say?

“That’s a tough one… I’m not good about talking myself up so it might need to be incongruently ignorant like;
“Incredibly Talented Wildly Slept On Guerrilla Content Creator Recently On OWN Network Show Recharges Her Roots With Brutally Honest Advice Show Now On BOSSIP”

For more content from Jeanine Daniels check out ThePLUGtv (https://www.youtube.com/theplugtv)