Melvina Hayes Builds Her Cast Like a Family, and They Keep Coming Back

22 Apr Melvina Hayes Builds Her Cast Like a Family, and They Keep Coming Back

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On The Jeff Crilley Show, writer, director, and founder Melvina Hayes explains how three decades of performing other people's stories led her to launch The Mpower Mint, produce a Dallas-set micro-drama series, and rewrite the rules of independent filmmaking by putting people before production.

The Stoic CEO Who Finally Smiled

The animation company's CEO wouldn't give Melvina Hayes a single readable expression. He'd had problems with past writers, and through every revision meeting his face stayed flat — no nod, no frown, nothing. Hayes delivered her script, made the requested changes, and scheduled one last meeting. She sat across from him, waiting.

"He finally cracked a smile," Hayes recalled on The Jeff Crilley Show, laughing at the memory. "I was like thank you." He later posted a review on her website: "We really feel heard and we appreciate you for listening to us and sometimes it's hard to get that from creative." For Hayes, that sentence captured something larger than one satisfied client. It was proof that the way she works — immersive, emotionally precise, stubbornly attentive — actually lands.

The story of how she got there stretches back three decades, from a childhood TV appearance in California to a Dallas studio where she now directs her own series, coaches actors between takes, and plans vision-casting events across Texas.

Bit by the Bug at Four

Hayes traces everything to a single moment. "I was four years old when I went on a TV show," she told Crilley. "I was bit by the bug instantly." From there she did theater, growing up in the Bay Area before moving to Los Angeles to pursue acting full-time.

But performing someone else's words eventually felt limiting. "I realized I wanted to actually create more stories not just tell the stories," she said. "Wanted write them myself." She enrolled in an MFA program in writing. By the time she sat in Crilley's studio, she had stacked up what she described as "three decades of performance and two plus decades of writing." The sum of those years became the foundation of her company, The Mpower Mint.

The Question That Changes Everything

When Hayes meets a new client, she doesn't lead with deliverables or timelines. She asks one thing: How do you want people to feel? Crilley flagged the line before the cameras even rolled, struck by how different it was from the standard intake process.

"That is imperative for me," Hayes explained. "It's just kind of a hallmark of my writing aesthetic is that I have to be able to immerse myself in your brand and and connect with you, your mission, your values, your intention and what services or products you're offering to your audience." She offers a 100% guarantee on every project — press releases, multimedia editorials, stakeholder kits, animation scripts — because the emotional homework happens before a single word gets written. "I only wanna win doing that," she said.

From Performer to Producer

The Mpower Mint operates on two pillars. One is the service side: creative storytelling for brands, events, and corporations. The other is intellectual property. Hayes owns a deep catalog of written work accumulated over decades, and she's now strategically developing it for screen.

The first property out of the gate is DFW Hype, a Dallas-set drama centered on three women navigating ambition, loyalty, and danger. Hayes wrote it years ago. The project accelerated when she met cinematographer Timothy Alexander White through her work as project manager and host for the Denton Black Film Festival's Filmmaking Awards brunch. "I've taken all of that experience and confidence that I have in front of the camera and on stages and I'm now directing and producing," she said. The team has already shot a pilot trailer and a season teaser and is preparing to film ten episodes of vertical micro-dramas. "All of this has happened within a year," Hayes said, "and it's just all gas and no breaks for me on this piece."

An Ensemble, Not a Roster

Ask Hayes what she's most proud of on DFW Hype and she doesn't mention the trailer or the upcoming shoot. "The opportunities that I'm creating for other people," she said without hesitation. "So that's just a part of my purpose in life."

Her production model breaks from industry convention. Rather than casting actors per role, filming quickly, and moving on, Hayes rehearses with her cast extensively, coaches them on projects beyond her own, and treats the group like a repertory company. "I just wanted more than actors to fill roles or crew to fill roles in order to get visibility, deals, and make money," she explained. "So my approach has been to establish an ensemble, like a company, like a family." The feedback has reinforced the approach: actors telling her they've started writing again, that they're returning to filmmaking. "I'm playing a long game here," she said. "And I want people who are invested not only in me and where I'm going, but I'm invested in where they're going."

Casting Vision Across Texas

Hayes is expanding that community-first model beyond production. Her upcoming event, the Audacity of Belief, brings actors, directors, producers, and investors into the same room — a vision-casting gathering designed to offer early access to her growing IP portfolio. The first event will be in Houston, with a Dallas edition planned a few months later. "I have been challenged to broaden my community, so I'm starting in Houston," she said.

The Denton Black Film Festival, now in its twelfth year, remains a key part of her orbit. The festival hosts sixty to seventy events over three to four days, drawing filmmakers internationally — a Brazilian filmmaker took home an award this year. Hayes has served as project manager and host for two years, and the connections she's built there, including White, have fed directly into her own productions.

Leaping Before the Net Appears

Asked to speak directly to a young woman who might aspire to follow her path, Hayes offered a one-word answer first: "Don't." Then she explained. "The only way that I have come and continue to come and being my best self is being true to who I am," she said. "We know what that is when we quiet all the noise down around us and just listen to those little whispers. And once we honor that, I believe that's called, or I call that leaping and then trusting that the net will appear."

Melvina Hayes is a writer, director, event host, and founder of The Mpower Mint, producing culturally grounded content across film, live events, and digital media. Learn more at shempowerslit.com. This episode was recorded at The Jeff Crilley Show studio in Dallas, Texas.

Key Topics

  • asking clients how they want people to feel
  • building an ensemble cast like a family
  • the Denton Black Film Festival
  • DFW Hype micro-drama series
  • growing an intellectual property division
  • the Audacity of Belief vision-casting event
  • creative storytelling for brands and corporations

Episode Timestamps

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Episode Chapters

  • 00:00 – Introduction
  • 01:23 – Meet Melvina Hayes: A Storyteller Since Age Four
  • 01:51 – From Acting to Writing: Melvina's Creative Journey
  • 02:35 – The Empowerment: Services and Business Pillars
  • 03:41 – How Do You Want People to Feel?
  • 04:26 – Success Story: Writing for an Animation Company
  • 06:16 – Denton Black Film Festival and Community Impact
  • 08:14 – DFW Hype: From Pilot to Series Development
  • 09:30 – DFW Hype Teaser Premiere
  • 10:49 – Creating Opportunities and Building Community
  • 13:40 – The Audacity of Belief: Upcoming Vision Casting Event
  • 15:07 – Advice: Be Authentic and Trust Your Purpose
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