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Will Packer did not build his career by waiting for Hollywood to discover him. In fact, Hollywood initially wanted very little to do with him.
That makes his journey especially relevant in 2026 as filmmakers and creators have more ways than ever to bypass traditional gatekeepers. Packer, a Florida A&M University graduate and brother of Alpha Phi Alpha, built his foundation independently before becoming one of Hollywood’s most commercially successful Black producers. His movies have collectively earned more than $1 billion worldwide, with credits including Stomp the Yard, Think Like a Man, Ride Along, Straight Outta Compton, Girls Trip and Night School. In 2022, he also made history as the first Black producer to lead the producing team behind the Academy Awards.
Packer’s more recent endeavor is a producer on Kevin Hart’s 72 Hours. Hart, in cahoots with Netflix. The team has built an impressive creative history together through projects including Think Like a Man, Ride Along, About Last Night and Night School.
AllHipHop caught up with Packer in New York, where the conversation moved from Hart to mortality, Hip-Hop and the lesson Packer believes aspiring filmmakers and creatives need to hear most: stop waiting for permission.
AllHipHop: We’re here with a legend, Will Packer. He’s also my frat brother, but he’s in red though.
Will Packer: I am. Don’t hold that against me. I always got the black and gold in my heart.
But I think because this is Miami, this felt like I needed to be loud. You know what I mean? Me and the wife came out and said we were going to bring some of that Florida flavor to this whole thing.
AllHipHop: Of course. Red is my favorite color, as you can see from our logo, so I hold nothing against you. What attracted you to this movie?
Will Packer: You know what? My guy Kevin. I’ve made more projects with Kevin than I have any other actor, and the same is true on the other side. He and I are each other’s most frequent collaborators.
You know what you’re going to get with Kev. He’s going to work hard. He’s going to come in. He’s going to bring the funny. He’s going to bring the unpredictability. And that’s so dope.
Especially with a project like this, you need that. You want that kind of energy and you want to have that serious work ethic because these guys were going toe-to-toe, man.
They were trying to one-up each other every step of the way, brother. It was fun to see.
AllHipHop: Let me flip the title into a Hip-Hop question. If you had 72 hours to live, what do you do?
Will Packer: Like I’m about to die in 72 hours?
AllHipHop: There’s the famous rap song “24 Hours to Live.” DMX, The LOX and them. This is just a play on that. It’s a Hip-Hop question.
Will Packer: All right. So the question is, if I had 72 hours to live?
You know what? I’ll be honest with you. It wouldn’t look very different than my life today.
I try to live every day to the fullest. I really do. I try to absolutely go out because tomorrow’s not promised. And I am somebody, like a lot of people, that has lost people close to me unexpectedly.
So it’s definitely taught me a lesson about making sure that you don’t push off until tomorrow what you can do today. Don’t assume tomorrow is coming.
The people that I lost, they all had plans. They all had things they were going to do. They all had things they were waiting to do when they got to a certain point.
Don’t wait. That’s my advice. Don’t wait.
Start today. Not just because you might have 72 hours to live. You’re going to live longer than that. That’s not the point.
The point is, you don’t wait because if you don’t start today, you’ll never start.
AllHipHop: You give a lot of advice. I follow you on Instagram and you share a lot of wisdom. I’ll put myself in the mix. For somebody trying to get into Hollywood, what advice would you give them? Take into context that the world is changing. There are all types of new technologies and platforms now. What advice do you have?
Will Packer: You know what?
You got to start on your own. Do not wait for Hollywood. The only reason that I got Hollywood’s attention is because I did it on my own. Period. Point blank.
I was able to go out and create content, and this was before you could just do it with a cell phone. I could go out and shoot it without asking Hollywood’s permission because Hollywood, frankly, they weren’t returning my calls.
They didn’t want anything to do with me.
So I would advise anybody interested in getting into the content game, getting into media or even getting into mainstream Hollywood in the more traditional way, go out and do something on your own.
Prove your worth.
Hollywood will come to you.
