Tosca Musk - Producing Over 30 Films & Creating Passionflix

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What is going on, everyone? Casey Adams here. Welcome back to the Rise of the Young podcast. On today's episode we have Toshka Musk here on the show. Tosca Musk is the co founder of Passion Flicks, which is a premium streaming entertainment service for romance fans creating original movies and other digital content from best selling books while licensing an impressive library of all time favorite romantic novels. She's also the sister of entrepreneurs Elon and Kimbal Musk and daughter of Maye Musk. If you don't know, I interviewed her mother, Mae Musk here on Rise of the young about 30 days ago and we talked about what it was like raising three kids as a single mother. And on today's episode, we talk with Toshka not only about what she's building at Passion Flicks, but what her mother instilled into her and her siblings. So that being said, before we dive into the episode, make sure you take a moment to screenshot this podcast, post it on your Instagram story tag Toshika Musk. Tag myself and make sure you share this episode with a friend. And last but not least, enjoy the episode.

You. Here we go. All right, what is going on everyone? Casey Adams here. Welcome back to the Rise of the Young podcast. On today's episode we have Tosca Musk here with us, the co founder of the streaming service Passionflix. Thanks so much for coming on Taska.

Thank you for having me.

Of course. So first off, I want to ask you, where does your passion for just creating movies come from? You've created over 30 films and I'd love for you to touch on that as well as give us some insight on what Passion Flicks is.

Well, you know, I've been a filmmaker my entire life. When I was very young in a small sort of like concrete building in Durban, South Africa, I went to go and watch Xanadu. It was, you know, finally came to South Africa and they put it on the sort of temporary Projector. And I watched Xanadu, and I came home and I told my mom, that's what I'm gonna do. I'm gonna make people disappear and reappear, and I'm gonna tell stories. So I should have really been in visual effects, but at the time, I thought it was filmmaking. And then I just continued being. Studying acting and filmmaking basically my entire life. And so that's where I've always been. Just this desire and this passion to tell stories, particularly romance stories, and particularly stories about people that connect and communicate and positive people that show, you know, that. That we can have positive and good and happy endings. So that's always been my focus and my strength, and that is what brought us basically to Passionflix, because Passionflix is romance novels, and romance novels are incredibly empowering to women. They're beautiful love stories. They're. They're fun and sassy at times, and they're really about people. Two people who connect and then communicate and. And then figure out how to make this thing work. And then they are together.

It's nice. When was the first movie you created and what was that process like? You know, because I've never made a movie myself. Right. And I'm sure there's a lot of people that they don't understand the concept of it. So for you, what was that first movie like, and what did you learn from that?

Well, I directed my first feature when I was 25. Um, and so I was. I was quite young, and I raised almost all the money to make it. And that was what I learned right away, is that don't make a movie if you haven't raised all the money, because you will not finish it. And that's basically what happened. So it was an incredible learning experience. It was basically like getting your master's degree in film, because I learned how to put together proposals for investors and spoken to distribution companies and put together packages for tax credits for all sorts of things on my very first film. And then you learn that you have to actually go through all the steps and finishing is what's most important.

Very cool.

You touched on South Africa. So I interviewed your mother, Mae Musk, who was an absolute pleasure to have on the show, and she talked about, you know, having three kids and being a single mother. I'd love for you to talk to us about your childhood and what that was like, because I know a lot of my audience absolutely loved that episode, and I'd love to get your perspective on it.

You know, it's. My childhood was pretty awesome. And pretty adventurous. My. Well, I think as you know, my mother was basically a single mother and we didn't have very much money. We were quite poor, I guess, in certain circumstances and, and, but we always had family. We always had everyone together. My mother, my brothers were always hanging out together and we always went to different places. So like in South Africa, you know, I was born in Pretoria and then we moved to Durban, which is on the coast of South Africa, which is what I loved, I love that city so much. And then after that we moved to Bloemfontein, which is the interior of the country. And then we moved to Johannesburg, which is, you know, so, so basically every three to four years I would move to a different city. And you know, while that was, you know, it was, some people might think that that wasn't, that's not a really stable life. It was actually really great for us. I got to experience life in all these places. And then three after being in Johannesburg, we moved to Toronto State. So it taught me was that the world is small and that you can and should try and experience as many places as possible during, you know, the beautiful life that we get to live.

Very cool.

When you, when you were first getting into the filmmaking industry, what was your plan? Because I know there's a lot of people that are, you know, listening to this show that they're, they're starting their careers, you know, a lot of 18 to 25 year olds. So for you, what was your plan before you got into the filmmaking industry?

I lost you there.

Can you hear me once?

I lost you there during that question. Could you say it again?

Absolutely. When you first, you know, decided you wanted to pursue filmmaking, what was your plan? Because I know your mother says a woman makes a plan. What was your plan early on in your career?

Well, when you want to get into the film industry, you have to, you have to create an entire business plan. You know, I started, I came out as a, as I mentioned, I directed that first feature, I also produced it and I realized I didn't have enough money. So you have to, you have to come up with how you're going to prepare for the next one. And so I just taught myself because at that point my producer on the project who was working with me also didn't really know what to do. And I realized that I had to learn how to produce a film very quickly. And so what I did was I made the plan to become the best line producer, which is the person that controls the budget and the financing of the film. How you spend the money. And so I studied accounting, budgeting, scheduling, and I basically just did all these tutorials and then pitched myself as a production manager and a line producer. And then I started line producing all these films. I learned all about, again, as I mentioned, tax credits and all about the financing of films, because in my first film, I didn't have enough money. So I made sure that never happened again by learning everything you could about financing, how you spend money, where that money goes to, and how you can apply for tax credits and incentives in various places in order to make films.

Love that. I know that. First off, congratulations. I saw that you guys raised $5 million, or 4.75 to be exact. I saw the TechCrunch article. What was that process like when raising money for your films and how did you go about doing so?

Yeah, just to Clarify, I raised 4.75 in our first round, which is before we launched Passionflix. And then since then, I've raised another 12. So we've actually raised close to $17 million in two, three years. Yeah. Which is great. So what was it like that? I mean, it was kind of thrilling, to be honest. You know, you create this project and I know the idea is good. Like the idea for Passionflicks is very good. And we have a strong audience and we're laser focused on supplying that audience with content. And we're all fans, so we know what we're creating is going to be appealing to our audience. And so as soon as you have that product that you know is good, going out there and talking to investors about that product is really quite easy. You put together the plan, you say you know where the money's going and how are you going to be spending it and how you're going to be making your money back over time. But at the end of the day, I fully believe in this company. You know, I think it's going to do incredibly well. So it was one of those things that was kind of easy and thrilling to be able to talk to investors about it. And the investors. Just the more investors I spoke to, the more that they would introduce me to others and then introduce me to others. And. And so while when I first started out, I didn't know that I had a network that I could go to, but as you get those first $25,050,000, angel investors, investments, suddenly those people might open a door or introduce you to somebody else that might be able to give you a million dollars, and then somebody else that can give you million and a half and Then you get to the 2 1/2 millions and the 10 millions, and it's really quite amazing how those doors do start to open. You just have to keep pitching. Like I pitched like a hundred times a day.

That's epic.

Yeah, it was insane.

So, Passionflix, how did it come about originally with you and your co founders? And just what have you learned through the process of launching and now building this company?

Well, so it came because I directed a film for Ion and my co founder, Joni Kane, she watched it and she pitched me a script for us to direct. And then when she came out to visit us in la, she's in Massachusetts, and when she came out to visit us in la, she said, actually, I have this idea for Passionflicks about turning romance novels into movies. And I was like, this is amazing. I can totally build a business on this. I can make that happen. I have a bit of a tech background and connections and I've pitched investors so many times in the past. So we put together the plan and then started pitching. And that's basically how it worked was over tuna fish sandwiches with myself, Joni and Gina. And it was really great. And, you know, I think what I've learned from that whole experience is at the end of the day, both Joni and Gina have left Passionflakes. They left within a year of being with the company. And they're great and we love. We're all very good friends still. But what I learned from that is that while people might have a really great idea, you have to be willing to commit 24 hours a day to it. And that has to be your focus. And so sometimes it doesn't work for some people, but you have to be able to implement the idea.

Love it. How often are you guys putting out films?

Well, so we've just finished shooting our 12th feature and we are two and a half years old, so we are. We're releasing as much as we can for a small company. We'll release. We released one in February this year and we'll release three more even during this pandemic. But the idea was we were going to make eight this year, so that's sort of on the back burner. But we had like three or four a year.

Yeah.

What, just through building passion flicks, what excites you the most?

So what excites me the most is that I might have a little influence in how people talk to each other. You know, a little bit of an influence in how people can connect and then communicate. That is the most Exciting thing for me.

Very cool.

I love the word communication, and I spend a lot of times building relationships and, you know, having conversations with high level people. What does communication mean to you and how have you been able to build such a strong, you know, just communication skill set in your life?

Well, communication to me means if you feel something, you must find a way to tell that other person that you feel something, whatever it is, you know. You know, if you. If you are upset about something, you want to be able to openly communicate what you're upset about without fear of people getting, you know, attacked or anything like that. And there's a delicate way of doing it, because I think that really helps strengthen relationships. And that's, you know, that's really what is important to me. So. Yeah, so basically any way that you can take an issue and, and delicately, but very honestly say how you feel about it, I think people respond initially. They might be a little like, oh, my gosh. But I think people will respond so much better and your stress and your own relationships will be stronger.

Very cool.

I wanted to touch on just because after interviewing your mother and now having you on the show and your family, you're also entrepreneurial, you and your brothers and your mother. Is this. I'm just so curious. Is this just something each and every single one of you have a fire inside, or where does this drive for entrepreneurship come from with you and your family? Because it's not every day that you have such an extraordinary family, all killing it in so many different verticals. So where do you believe this comes from?

You know, I think at the end of the day, my mother may have touched on even our grandfather, who, who would be. He was adventurous and he was an entrepreneur himself. And we always saw our mother working from home and having her own business and doing things. And I think at the end of the day, we just. We just firmly believe that if you have an idea and you want to do something and you want to do it in a way that you fully believe can make you fulfilled and happy, then that's what you need to do. And so it's very hard for us to imagine that somebody else would necessarily control our destiny. And so we, you know, we have ideas and we want. We want to do them. And very fortunately, we have. I mean, we have a very supportive family. And I think that if more people had the support of their families to go out there and take those risks, then, you know, we'd have more. Everybody would feel like they could do the same thing, and they should. But I Think just to touch on that, one more. One more thing about risks. One of the things that my mother was very clear on, and my brothers are as well, is that we. And we encourage all of us to go out and take that risk, knowing that each one of us is there to catch us if something goes wrong. We're there. We talk to each other. We're helpful to each other. So we encourage each other to go and take risks and try something different.

Very cool.

That's so beautiful to hear. I wanted to really address something that I know that you guys launched recently at passionflix, which is the Passion Pod, Obviously. This is a podcast. I'd love for you to touch on that. What is the Passion Pod? Why did you guys start it? And how can people listen to it?

Thanks. Well, right now it's on YouTube and I believe a few other places that I'm not. Oh, it's on Apple Podcasts.

Okay.

And so, basically, it was one evening during this wonderful quarantine time, where I was sitting at home and thinking about the different books and stories that we at the office always talk about and how we couldn't really see each other and we couldn't talk about them anymore. So I sent a message out to Lauren and Ali, who work with me at PassionFlicks, and I said, hey, let's do something. Let's do a show. Let's talk about these books and what we're doing and how we're bringing them to life and how we work with the authors and what the fans think. And they immediately jumped on this idea, and they said, great, we'll set up zoom meetings, we'll record it, and we'll put it out there. And it basically just started that way. And our very first episode, we talked about Gabriel's Inferno, which is the movie that's coming out later this month. And I think we got, like, 30,000 views of that podcast within a week. I mean, or a few days. It was insane. The response is very positive. But, you know, I think that our audience just really loves the fact that there are people out there that are willing to talk about romance novels and our love and respect for these stories.

Love that.

Do you have when it comes to podcasts? I listened to the first couple episodes. Loved them. Do you. Are you yourself a consumer of podcasts, or what does that look like in your life?

I gotta tell you, the answer is no, not really. I was. When I, you know, many years ago when they. When they first started coming out, and, you know, I produced a show called Tiki Bar tv, which was considered the first video podcast. Scripted video podcast, back in 2005. 6, 7, 8. Back in the early days. But other than that, I don't really listen to many podcasts, although I have said I have listened to the podcast. It's a comedy podcast called My dad Wrote a porno. Have you heard of it?

I have not. I'll have to check it out.

It's so funny. I mean, these guys are so funny. And it's so. Anyway, yeah, I've not heard of it.

I'll definitely check it out. That's a strong recommendation.

They made it into an HBO show.

Okay, very cool.

Very cool.

I want to just bring up. There's a lot of, like I said earlier, a lot of young people that are listening to this show. Entrepreneurs. What's your advice to a young entrepreneur starting their first company? Because you have so much drive and ambition, and it shows with everything you're doing. So. And also for me, you know, I'm 19 years old, and I try to bridge the gap for listeners on this show to say, hey, I'm 19. Interviewing these quality people. And everyone has a story. So just to recap, what's your advice to young entrepreneurs starting a company today?

You must have a why. Why are you doing this? And it can't be because I want to be rich. It needs to be. I am passionate about this. I want this. I feel I can change the world. I feel like I can contribute. You must have a why as to why you're doing it, because it's. It's gonna take your life. And so, yeah, so the first is why. The second is who are you doing this for besides yourself? You have to be the number one fan and then be laser focused on those people. Laser focused on those people, because then you will succeed. So why and who love that.

I have to ask you now, what's your why?

Oh, my goal is to remove shame from sexuality, specifically in women. And I think that we can do that with taking very, you know, beautiful love stories and having two people communicate and have conversations about it and not showing shame in any kind of intimate situation. So we have a mandate to remove. We have a mandate to remove shame from sexuality and to encourage connection, communication, and compromise in relationships.

I love that. Very cool.

When it comes to just the team culture at Passionflix, what's been your experience with being a leader and how have you been able to build team culture culture in your organization?

Well, we have wine Wednesdays, so, you know, the people that work with me at Passionflix are a family to me. They're so important. I value everything that they say, and they're very good at what they do. And the most important thing is they're fans of what we're doing. They are. They are lovers of the romance genre. It's very important to them as well that we focus on our mandate and that we achieve these goals. And so I highly encourage everyone to go out there and try and do their own thing as much as possible. But at the same time, I love my face time with the people that work with me. I love it. So if I feel I'm not getting enough face time with the people in my company, I will. Like when during the early quarantine days, we did house parties with people and we'd hang out and we just want to talk, and you just continue to foster a strong relationship with the people that work with you. And I think that's the culture at Passionflix.

Very cool.

Speaking of just the quarantine, how has this transition, you know, behavior and having to work from home, potentially, how has this changed your business and how have you guys adapted to this situation?

Well, the first few weeks were really difficult because we were in the middle of post production for miniseries, and so we couldn't really work together. And I think for many people, it was such a stressful time and not. And so many people were unaware still as to what reality will be like. So it was a little tough initially, but slowly but surely, we started communicating. As I mentioned, we just would chat on House Party, but then, you know, we've slowly but surely started to work together in very small groups and staying distant and being very cautious about things. But we are still working. And the only thing that we cannot do is we can't produce any more films. Right. We can't actually make any more content other than our podcast, which is fun until we understand the complexities of, you know, what it's going to be like to have 50 to 60 to 70 people very close together on a film set.

Yeah.

Interesting. Do you think that will resume soon or how are you guys looking at that?

Well, my understanding is that Los Angeles is not even opening until mid July. So, you know, we are looking. We are looking at different states, different countries, different places. At the end of the day, you know, I'm not one to rush into doing anything that's going to put anybody in a difficult situation or make them feel uncomfortable or scared. It's not. While I love making films, we'll spend this time developing more content and we'll come out of this pandemic with, you know, 10 new scripts and BE and actors and directors and everyone on board. So that when we are able to move forward, we'll just move forward with a big bang and. And then have a bunch of content ready to make. But I'm not that eager to jump into it right away.

Very cool.

Do you have any daily habits that you've implemented on a daily basis throughout your journey that you'd point to? Say, hey, these are habits of mine that I'd love to pass on to people listening today?

Well, I really enjoy my treadmill, so I like to go on the treadmill even for an hour every day. But not as a runner or anything crazy. It's actually more of a meditation. So I can just go there, I can listen to music, I can listen to an audiobook. And you can walk at 3 mph, you can go to 6 mph, you can run up and down, you can do all these different things, but it's just basically an hour to yourself where you can, you know, get lost in your own world. That. That's really important to me. It helps to keep me calm. I drink a lot of coffee. A lot of coffee.

Probably not my favorite.

I love my coffee. And I have my kids, right? So I'm very fortunate to have two beautiful children. And anytime I'm super stressed, I go and play like Pokemon or Mario Kart or something like that to remind me what else is in the world. Something fun.

Very cool.

How has having kids changed the way you live? Right. Because for me, I don't have kids yet. My mom always tells me, she's like, hey, when you have kids, your world will change. So how has your world changed from that situation?

Yeah, significantly. For the better. I highly advise it. Oh, you're quite young, so maybe not yet, but. But kids are awesome. Kids are the most wonderful experience in the world. I mean, just the idea that you are now responsible for another human being, really. And you have to. Everything that you say and do, they copy. So you have to really know what kind of person you want to create in the world. And you have influence over that person, direct influence over that person or those people. And so, I mean, ultimately, it's made me, I think I was always a pretty good person, but it's made me a much better person and a much. A better human being, a healthier human being, one who really appreciates communication.

Love that, obviously. Absolutely. Absolutely. Do you have any just outside of passion flicks when it comes to your passions as an individual or where do you spend your time outside of passion flicks? If you do.

Passionflix, I mean, it's about 16 hours of my day, so outside of passion, but, you know, friends. Friends and family. I mean, at the end of the day, you know, in life, you want to make sure that you surround yourself with really good people. So the more I can spend time with my friends and family, time seems to be the biggest gift we can all give each other. And so that's what I do. I mean, I love to hang out with my family as chill as possible, like doing. Just eating lunch and sitting down and chatting. You know, nothing complicated.

Very cool.

Love that. I have two more quick questions before we wrap up here, but I want to ask you because everyone has their own definition of success, but what does success mean to you?

Wow. I think success means to me that I get to do what I love doing because I decide to do it. And that's. And, yeah, so I get to do whatever I decide to do, and I love to do it. That's success to me.

Love that. Very cool.

And last question, Jess, if you were to think back to you're starting your career today, what lesson would you give yourself that you'd want yourself to know as you move along your journey?

I would say the lesson I have learned is, as much as I love my friends, sometimes it's not the best thing to work with friends. So there's a good lesson. It's easier to remain friends than to work with them sometimes. And yeah, so that I think that's the main thing.

Very cool.

Well, before we wrap up here, I want to allow you to tell the people, where is the best place people can stay up to date with Passionflix and everything you guys have going on?

Well, you can check us out. You can follow us on Instagram at Passionflix. We're on Facebook, and we have obviously a Facebook page for Passionflicks. And now we have our podcast. And where else can you pay attention to us? We're@passionflix.com so come visit us@passionflix.com and check out some of our movies. Our site actually allows you to explore all of the movies that we have on the site for free. And only if you want to watch them do you have to pay so you can come check it out.

Love it. Awesome. And last but not least, where's the best place for people to stay up to date with Tosca as well? Is it Instagram or what's the best way?

Well, you can stay in touch with me again. Tosca Musk is my handle on Twitter. And on Facebook. And on Twitter. Instagram. So I'm mostly on Instagram, more so than Twitter. So we'll see you there.

Perfect.

Monarch Legacy of Monsters An Apple Original Series the world is on fire. I decided to do something about it. On November 17th. This place. It's not ours. Believe me. The most massive event of the year arrives. If you come with me, you'll know everything. I promise.

Oh, my God.

Go, go, go.

Monarch Legacy of Monsters streaming November 17th only on Apple TV Plus.