Damon Wayans Jr. has a vision for what the Wayans family brand could become, and it looks a lot like Adam Sandler‘s Happy Madison. Speaking on the Killin It Podcast, Wayans was asked what the biggest lesson he’s learned in the entertainment industry has been; he shared a piece of advice rooted in his family’s own approach: the importance of keeping multiple plates spinning.

“I feel like as an actor, like we all are, as stand-up comedians, we have to make sure that we’re feeding all of our beasts,” Wayans said, explaining that being a multi-hyphenate isn’t just about financial survival, but emotional and mental survival too, since waiting around for someone else to offer a role or a show rarely works out.

That instinct to self-generate, Wayans said, is something he learned directly from his family. But he was equally candid about an idea he’d want to bring to the Wayans brand that hasn’t quite been part of the formula yet.

“If I were in charge of the Wayans brand, like, if it was like, Marlon and Sean and all of them, I would be more of an umbrella company,” Wayans explained. Rather than only producing his own projects, like the Scary Movie franchise or White Chicks, he’d want to find other writers and creatives putting out strong work and back them, the same way Adam Sandler has built out Happy Madison Productions by attaching his name and resources to a wider slate of comedic talent.

“Not only am I going to be creating my own stuff, but I’m going to have all these other people kind of orbiting my company, and they’re going to build great stuff,” he said, adding the appeal of taking a producing credit and a percentage without having to write or star in everything himself.

Wayans didn’t stop at his own family when naming who could benefit from that model. He pointed to Tyler Perry as another example of someone with the scale to expand well beyond his own signature genre.

“You need to bring others, and it doesn’t even have to be comedy. It can be horror, it can be drama, sci-fi,” Wayans said, floating the idea of finding creatives to believe in, stepping back, and letting them deliver on their own timelines.

As for what he’d want from his own family specifically, Wayans made clear it isn’t about walking away from what’s worked. The Wayans name is still closely associated with parody, and he was quick to credit that lane as one they’ve mastered. His pitch is about building past it.