The Silence Between Us

The Silence Between Us

Mental Health Awareness Month may be ending, but we don’t think this conversation has an expiration date. Lately, we’ve been thinking a lot about shame, silence, and how so many men carry feelings they don’t know how to name. Not because they don’t want help, but because asking for help can feel like admitting defeat. Especially Black men, men of color, and people from cultures where being tough often means staying silent, ignoring our feelings, and burying them somewhere no one can see. Episode 13 of Unscripted Untold started with a question: Is shame keeping people from asking for help, or have we just stopped paying attention to each other? We received listener emails that helped us sit with that question in a real way. No easy answers. No five-step plan. Just an honest conversation about emotional isolation, anxiety, friendship, masculinity, social media, and what it means to check on men before they reach a breaking point, while paying attention to the signs we miss or explain away. We also talk about HBO Max’s Half Man, a series that stayed with us because of how it explores male fragility, rage that turns into violence, repressed homophobia, loyalty, silence, and the emotional debt we carry when nobody teaches us how to process pain, or even how to say “I love you” to other men in our lives. This episode is not about solving mental health. It’s about paying attention. It’s about asking better questions. It’s about remembering that sometimes men don’t need a perfect answer. They need to feel seen, listened to without judgment, and loved without conditions. Mental Health resources: Coffee, Hip-Hop & Mental Health - (https://chhamh.org [https://chhamh.org]) - Chicago-based organization creating culturally grounded mental health conversations and community support. Better Help - (https://www.betterhelp.com [https://www.betterhelp.com]) - Online therapy platform with flexible virtual counseling and financial aid options. Black Men Heal - (https://blackmenheal.org [https://blackmenheal.org]) - Therapist directory and mental health resource platform centered on Black men and boys. BEAM (Black Emotional and Mental Health Collective (https://beam.community [https://beam.community]) - Mental health advocacy, peer support training, and healing-centered resources for Black communities. 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline - (https://988lifeline.org [https://988lifeline.org]) - If you're struggling, overwhelmed, or in crisis, help is available 24/7. Call or text 988 to connect with a trained counselor. You don't have to carry it alone. Unscripted Untold is a listener-supported podcast. To receive new posts and support our work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit unscripteduntold5.substack.com/subscribe [https://unscripteduntold5.substack.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_2]

You Can't Outwork What You Won't Face

There are chapters in your life where nothing seems to be going your way. Not one thing is going wrong. There’s not just one thing to fix, but it’s a season where everything shifts at once. Your career. Your identity. Your sense of direction. And if you’re not careful, you’ll convince yourself that staying busy means you’re moving forward. On Episode 12, we’re joined by Arron Muller, a NYC-based licensed clinical social worker, therapist, and co-founder of Life Matters Psychological Services. He’s currently pursuing doctoral studies focused on men’s mental health, specifically how identity, pressure, and unaddressed emotional challenges impact performance, relationships, and overall well-being. Arron’s work spans private practice, community spaces, and education, and what stood out to us is how direct he is about something most men don’t say out loud: Sometimes we stay busy so we don’t have to feel. This conversation isn’t about “fixing” anything. It’s about recognizing what’s actually happening underneath the surface. We talk about: The illusion of progress. What it feels like when your identity starts to shift. What uncertainty actually does to your mental state. Not in theory. In real life. For Black men and men of color, there’s an added layer. You’re taught to produce, provide, to push through no matter what, to hold it together, don’t cry or show weakness, causing so many men to suffer in silence, which can have deadly consequences if not addressed. And when something shifts—when you lose your job, the ability to provide for yourself and your family, when the version of you that people recognized starts to fade, there isn’t always language for what comes next, so you keep moving. Because stopping feels like falling behind.Because feeling feels like weakness. Because no one really taught you how to regulate your nervous system. Arron breaks that down in a way that’s grounded and honest. He discusses what happens when identity and performance intertwine. What it looks like when men don’t have space to express anything outside of anger. And how uncertainty can quietly put your body in a constant state of stress without you even realizing it. Because this isn’t just emotional. It’s physical. It’s how you move. How you respond and how you see yourself. And if you’re a woman listening to this, this isn’t separate from you. There’s a version of this showing up in the men in your life: -the silence -the pressure -the emotional shutdown -the need to always “be good” even when they’re not This episode isn’t about excusing that. It’s about understanding it. We didn’t come into this conversation with answers. We came into it midway through our own life transitions. Trying to figure out what it means to keep going when things don’t feel clear. Trying to understand the difference between progress and avoidance. Trying to sit with the reality that you can’t outwork what you won’t face. With May being Mental Health Awareness Month, this conversation felt necessary. Not as a statement. Not as a campaign. But as a reminder: Mental health isn’t just about feeling good. It’s about learning how to deal with life on life’s terms—the good, the bad, the pain, and the uncertainty. Learn more about Arron Muller: https://www.modifywellness.org [https://www.modifywellness.org]   This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit unscripteduntold5.substack.com/subscribe [https://unscripteduntold5.substack.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_2]

The Sixth Man Behind the Camera of Sinners

Actor Percy Bell has his own body of work as a performer, but his most recent project required him to step into someone else’s body, so to speak. In the film Sinners, where Michael B. Jordan plays twin brothers Smoke and Stack, Percy served as Jordan’s body double, helping bring both characters to life on screen in ways audiences might not even realize while watching the film. In a culture that often celebrates main character energy, this conversation explores the invisible labor that makes those moments possible, the preparation, precision, and teamwork required to make the illusion of filmmaking possible. On this episode of Unscripted Untold, Evan Majors & Mike Sick sit down with Percy to talk about the craft behind those moments. Percy shares what it takes to execute scenes with precision when one actor is playing multiple characters, the preparation required to match another actor’s physicality and movement, and why he compares the role to being the sixth man in basketball, essential to the team even when the spotlight isn’t on you. After the Academy Awards and Sinners winning four Oscars, it felt like the perfect time to pull back the curtain on the craft behind the performance. If you enjoyed this conversation, want to support what we’re building, join our community by subscribing, leaving a review, and sharing with someone. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit unscripteduntold5.substack.com/subscribe [https://unscripteduntold5.substack.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_2]

The Oscar That Took 100 Years

On Episode 10 of Unscripted Untold, Casting Director and journalist Evan Majors and emcee and Creative Producer Mike Sick sit down with 3X Emmy-nominated TV, film, and theatre casting director and current President of CSA (Casting Society of America), Destiny Lilly, to discuss a historic shift inside the Academy Awards. For nearly 100 years, the Academy Awards did not recognize casting with its own Oscar category. Let that sit. Nearly a century of honoring directors, actors, editors, cinematographers, and production designers, without formally acknowledging the people responsible for assembling the very faces, the chemistry, and the performances that define those films. That changes at this year’s 98th Academy Awards with the introduction of Achievement in Casting. Not just ceremonially. But culturally. Institutionally. Professionally. This conversation unpacks: * What had to shift inside the Academy. * How has casting been perceived and misunderstood? * Why has invisibility often been defined in the works of casting directors? * What does being recognized mean, and what it doesn’t. You don’t have to work in the entertainment industry to understand why this conversation matters. Every great film or TV show begins with people, the actors who bring characters to life, and the chemistry that makes audiences believe in the story. Casting directors help shape those moments long before cameras roll. This episode offers a rare look at that process and why this new recognition from the Academy represents a meaningful shift. Casting isn’t an afterthought; it’s foundational. If you enjoyed this conversation, want to support what we’re building, join our community by subscribing, leaving a review, and sharing it with someone. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit unscripteduntold5.substack.com/subscribe [https://unscripteduntold5.substack.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_2]

Everyone has plans until they get punched in the face.

In this vulnerable Episode 9 of Unscripted Untold, Evan Majors, casting director and journalist, and Mike Sick, creative producer and brand strategist, open up about what it really means to create in the fog. Not the curated version. Not the highlight reel. The real one. When the wins go quiet. When the phone stops ringing.When you start questioning yourself. This is a conversation about what happens when a challenging season forces you back to basics. About separating identity from industry. About refusing to perform strength when you’re actually being refined by the fight. Evan speaks candidly about questioning whether he still has a career in casting during a slow season, and what it takes to rebuild belief without applause. Mike reflects on faith, reinvention, and why the fog is not a detour — it’s part of the journey. Together, they unpack: * Why is uncertainty part of the assignment * How discipline creates stability when emotions fluctuate * The danger of comparing your real life to someone else’s highlight reel * Reinvention as a requirement for longevity * Why action creates clarity, not the other way around * And why waiting for perfect conditions is how you lose the fight This episode is for anyone in a quiet season. Anyone who feels behind. Anyone rebuilding in real time. The fog doesn’t mean you’re finished. It means your journey just got real. 🎧 Listen now If this conversation resonates, subscribe, leave a review, and share it with someone navigating their own fog. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit unscripteduntold5.substack.com/subscribe [https://unscripteduntold5.substack.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_2]