Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Speaker A: Foreign.
I'm Luke Steinfeld.
[00:00:07] Speaker B: And I'm Wyatt Sarkisian.
[00:00:09] Speaker A: We made the 5050 podcast to support you on your filmmaking journey.
[00:00:12] Speaker B: 50% business, 50% creative.
[00:00:14] Speaker A: Every Tuesday, a new how to.
[00:00:22] Speaker B: So to give some context about this episode, we've been thinking about doing a solo, quote, unquote, solo episode for some time.
Solo meaning the both of us talking to each other. A little peek behind the curtain of the 5050 partnership. The 5050 spirit.
I actually just came from an acting class.
[00:00:45] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:00:46] Speaker B: Taught by Santi McLean, who was in the studio just a couple weeks ago and talked to us about action theater. And I went and did it.
I did the thing.
[00:00:56] Speaker A: Luke. Oh my God. How was.
[00:01:00] Speaker B: Was good. I told him after. It felt like, first of all, so great to like, get back into my body, be present, touch the floor, take the shoes off, like, really feel connection.
At one point, he described everybody in the acting class as like rubber bands between each other and how it's just a constant push and pull between people.
And I think that was like a beautiful framework of. And I know I'm already like, in the clouds. You're like, what the fuck is this guy talking about? But it was nice to feel present and in the moment, and it was like an action theater crash course. And if you want to know more about that practice, you can go listen to our Santee maclean episode, which was awesome.
[00:01:41] Speaker A: Yeah, you can. Come on.
[00:01:42] Speaker B: That's a great episode too. And also getting to hear him teach too was really cool.
[00:01:47] Speaker A: How was that? I feel like he's a great teacher.
[00:01:50] Speaker B: He is a great teacher. And you could tell I was like, trying to be really tuned in about, like. Because I. I was like, I'm not going to think about what time it is, but I know he has to. So I would, like, see his eyes as he looks at the clock and I'm like, I know what you're doing, Mr. Teacher. Okay, teacher.
[00:02:04] Speaker A: You know how big was the class it was?
[00:02:09] Speaker B: I think it was like eight people.
[00:02:10] Speaker A: Yeah, that's a good size eight people
[00:02:12] Speaker B: in like, a little dance studio.
[00:02:14] Speaker A: Nice, man. I didn't know. I thought you just meant acting class. Like, acting class, you know?
[00:02:18] Speaker B: No, I mean, you know, I think this is like one of the many methods that you can take part in. It was definitely, like, weirdly, it was a little less rigorous than some of the classes that I've done in the past. As far as, like, physical body first acting or whatever you want to call it.
[00:02:34] Speaker A: Was this just a one off class or it's like a, like A program.
[00:02:39] Speaker B: It's not a program. He does do it every month, so it's like a drop in every month. I told him I did want. Because he, he. As I mentioned before, it was kind of a crash course of like we did an exercise for 10 minutes and then skipped to a next one. And like, we didn't necessarily get a chance to really get into each component of the practice.
And he was like, yeah, like usually, you know, in this practice you would do three hours just doing sounds. So you would just do three hours and we did like, you know, 20 minutes of sounds and. Or 20 minutes of mirror exercise or whatever it is.
[00:03:11] Speaker A: This class was two hours or an hour. How long was it?
[00:03:14] Speaker B: Two hours, 15 minutes, I would say.
[00:03:16] Speaker A: Yeah, that's pretty substantial. It's like.
And I assume the first couple mins was like little intro and then like, okay, let's take our shoes off, let's introduce ourselves, get comfortable with each other and then get into it. Yeah, that's fun.
[00:03:31] Speaker B: Yeah. Yeah.
[00:03:32] Speaker A: Nice, dude.
[00:03:33] Speaker B: It was fun.
This is one of those days where things are just back to back to back. I don't know if you're feeling that you're, you're. I want to talk to you about what you're up to these days too because I, I'm curious about like. Because you're on set obviously.
[00:03:47] Speaker A: Yeah, man.
[00:03:48] Speaker B: Five days a week sometimes into a six day.
[00:03:51] Speaker A: Yeah, not yet actually. This, this time we've, we've just been.
Although, you know, we're. We're finishing Saturday morning.
[00:04:00] Speaker B: Right, right.
[00:04:01] Speaker A: And so all of a sudden weekends feel a bit more condensed. But I will say, and we've spoken about this, but like, you know, when you have a limited amount of time to do things, that limited time becomes very intentional and like, you don't really have time to overthink and to second guess. And so with the prep, with the festival and everything, which is now passed, which is crazy. It happened on Sunday.
Like, you know, it's usually, let's say four hours of time to like work on this thing. I now have 30 minutes.
[00:04:35] Speaker B: Or like totally.
Or like the amount of calls that you're making for the festival has to. You have to pack more into a short amount.
[00:04:42] Speaker A: Exactly. Which honestly really appreciated because I definitely can spend some time overthinking.
[00:04:50] Speaker B: But part of the process.
[00:04:52] Speaker A: Yeah, but, but this was our eighth one and like, luckily the, the machine has been built and a lot of this stuff and the relationships are already kind of there and happening and our team knows what's up and exactly the Team.
[00:05:05] Speaker B: The team knows their role exactly when they first get there, you know.
[00:05:09] Speaker A: Yeah, man. And so it all. It all worked out.
[00:05:14] Speaker B: What are the main takeaways from the festival? Because the festival happened on. On October, exactly a week ago, October 18th.
[00:05:22] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:05:23] Speaker B: And we can also get into like the post festival reception and the sort of relationships, the lasting relationships that are being built.
[00:05:30] Speaker A: Totally. I mean, the response is always. And it's really fun because it seems to just sustain in the. In the sense of positivity. There hasn't really been a festival yet where people have left being like, man, that, that sucked. You know, which I think that could happen, you know, like, people could definitely say that about something. But yeah, it would be a great
[00:05:53] Speaker B: sign of like, yeah, we got to sort of pivot this.
[00:05:57] Speaker A: Maybe we got to think about something else.
But it's. It's fun to hear, you know, when people are like, this is a really exciting collection of short films. And like, the people here I love and like, the vibe is so welcoming and this and that. It's like, it definitely feels good when people are experiencing something how you want them to experience it, you know, and more.
[00:06:20] Speaker B: Totally.
[00:06:21] Speaker A: And on the response of it, like, I mean, the genre of horror is so hot right now.
Every time I say that, I feel like I'm in Zoolander, that Hansel is so hot right now.
But the genre is like obviously the hottest thing on the planet. And so I think we definitely were able to get a substantial amount of industry eyes because of that. We always do. But like this time specifically, and that was really cool to see and continue to see as they're on now, like hitting us up, being like, I want to chat with this person. What's this person up to? Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, that kind of thing.
[00:06:58] Speaker B: Yeah,
[00:07:01] Speaker A: the.
[00:07:01] Speaker B: The festival ran very smoothly. It felt like there were like, no hiccups.
We can kind of. I. I do want to, like, talk about the sort of lineup and the curation because you, you definitely took more of the reins on curating the lineup of the five shorts.
And I want to talk about the intention behind that curation.
[00:07:23] Speaker A: Sure.
[00:07:23] Speaker B: And also paired with a conversation surrounding that last short because I think that was like a fascinating. I'm just so fascinated by the genre of horror in general, but specifically when you include a film, like the last film, which we can get into, definitely.
Which has an accompanied trigger warning and brings up something for every person in the audience, everybody has a different relationship with the topic at hand. So I wanted to talk about like the Curation with you.
[00:07:53] Speaker A: Yeah. I mean, I'm happy to talk about creation. I think that the last film we can talk about for sure. But I also would love to talk about that with Isan, who's the filmmaker of that, when we have guys on and stuff. Yeah. Because he is a super interesting story and, like, how he approaches filmmaking and his art and, like, what he makes is super interesting.
[00:08:12] Speaker B: And I got to hear Dylan was here.
Dylan was Here was the. Was the short title of the film. Yeah.
[00:08:19] Speaker A: But on the curation side, man, I mean, I don't. I don't really talk about it much, but it. It definitely is a.
It's. I love that. I love that aspect of the festival, and that's aside from, like, actually being there on the day and, like, having a great time with cool people and having a shared experience, like, watching movies with a group of people that love movies.
I would say the actual curation part, which is something practically done in a vacuum.
[00:08:48] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:08:48] Speaker A: You know, when it actually comes down to program the actual, like, okay, here are the final films. Let's program these.
That is definitely something that is kind of just done with a little bit of intuition and, like, it's our eighth time doing it, so I don't know. I definitely. I. I lean on the. On the side of simplicity, and I. I think, like, we only had five films this year, and I'm definitely someone that believes that less is more, and I'd much rather people leave being like, I need more. I want more.
[00:09:21] Speaker B: Yes. And there's no doubt at the same time that. There's no doubt at the same time that that's enough. You know, there was. Nobody was like, oh, it seems like it was a. You know, that was a short amount of time we were in that room. Like, it still felt very full.
And I think also, like, Matt and Kelsey being, you know, a pair, like, just. It just feels like there's large filmmaking teams taking part in each film.
[00:09:47] Speaker A: It feels very full. And I think the. Like, I love film festivals. I've been to a bunch of festivals, and I went to a ton, specifically when I was building 5050 at the beginning, just to kind of get a sense of the space and see how the pros do it.
And I remember going to this festival in New York, and I spent the whole day watching movies, and you've heard me say this, but at the end of the day, I was like, the last thing I want to do right now is socialize. Like, I cannot see. Like, I've been in a theater watching short after short, and then Feature after feature and then short and it's like.
I'm not kidding, I can barely remember my name right now.
[00:10:29] Speaker B: Yeah. And you've gone through like it. And you've gone through a full on emotion, emotional roller coaster.
[00:10:34] Speaker A: Yes. You're drained. You're super drained. And that's festival. Festival fatigue is a very real thing. And so when building 5050 in that like ideating phase, it was like if we're doing this, let's be hyper aware of the audience and make sure that we're not draining people because 50 50. Yes. Like business and creative. But also like we have the first half of the night and the second half we have the screenings and then we have the reception. Like the conversation piece is just equally as important. Exactly.
[00:11:06] Speaker B: That's something we told the filmmakers. Definitely. We try to make it so that there's like such a communal aspect. Not just from like a, you know, 30,000 foot view, but communal aspect amongst the filmmakers. We want them to feel like they're part of like a class. Like a. Yeah, like a graduating class or something. You know, like they totally like they're. And their equals with us and that they're putting on the festival too. Like this is a time for them to.
They're almost like leading the festival as much as us.
[00:11:37] Speaker A: It's a, it's a showcase, you know. And I think when you have a hyper curated program rather than 100 shorts, which by the way, I wish we could program all the shorts ever because there is so much talent out there.
[00:11:50] Speaker B: Totally.
[00:11:51] Speaker A: But with what we're dealing with right now, like what makes sense for us most is is this hyper curated festival, this showcase.
And a large part of programming is also they're basically interviews of like the, the equivalent of like background checks and like seeing who these filmmakers are and where they come from and what they've made and what they're going to make because they also represent us and our brand when we're there in person, you know, with our industry contacts and the industry trusts us. That trust is something that like if you lose, it's gone, you know? Yes.
[00:12:28] Speaker B: And that you only have like one time to like if someone comes and they don't like, like it, they're never coming again.
[00:12:34] Speaker A: Yeah. It's like, why would I go back?
[00:12:35] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:12:36] Speaker A: Which is fun. And it keeps us on our toes. Because there is a lot of competition and I don't really feel the competition in this sense because I don't see this as like a competitive, like I'm not trying to be competitive with 50. 50. It's very much just like a win, win, win since day one of, like, if you're on the business side, you get to meet cool filmmakers and also other industry folks. If you're a creative and get good food. Yeah.
[00:13:02] Speaker B: Have good food.
[00:13:03] Speaker A: It's always running the thing. Gets also, like, have good food. Have good food.
Exactly. It's just all about the food.
[00:13:11] Speaker B: Yeah, it's kind of just about the food.
[00:13:13] Speaker A: It really is just about the food. When you're.
[00:13:14] Speaker B: I'm kind of just thinking it's about. I'm kind of actually just thinking it's about the food.
[00:13:17] Speaker A: You know what I. Lunch or something. Are you. Are you hungry?
[00:13:20] Speaker B: Yeah. So as far as, like.
Do you want to see what I have next to me right now?
[00:13:24] Speaker A: What'd you get? You got, like a big.
[00:13:26] Speaker B: No, it's not. It's not a get. It's a. What did I find? It's not like I went out. I'm coming straight from Burbank. Only had breakfast.
Bagel and avocado for breakfast.
[00:13:38] Speaker A: Nice.
[00:13:39] Speaker B: A bowl of cereal.
Trader Joe's, like. Oh, dude, some knockoff Trader Joe's.
[00:13:45] Speaker A: Something that's so soggy.
[00:13:47] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:13:48] Speaker A: By the time we're done.
[00:13:49] Speaker B: Oh, absolutely.
[00:13:50] Speaker A: But you got more than that, though, right? You have, like a whole box of cereal or something.
[00:13:54] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah. I'll eat the rest of the box after this. Of course.
[00:13:57] Speaker A: Good. Okay.
[00:13:58] Speaker B: It's just one of those weekends, you know.
[00:13:59] Speaker A: Dude, cereal is something that I started eating again recently, and it's so good, dude.
[00:14:07] Speaker B: Yeah, it's really good.
[00:14:08] Speaker A: It's.
[00:14:08] Speaker B: It's only. But it's only good when that. When there's the contrast with the milk and the cereal.
[00:14:14] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:14:14] Speaker B: You know, if it. If it gets all saga kins, then.
[00:14:17] Speaker A: Yeah. No, I don't. I'm not a soggy guy. Some people like soggy. Some people, like, they want to have the cereal in the milk for a while so that they could eat it when it's soggy.
Yeah.
[00:14:27] Speaker B: If you. If you make it all sog monkey, then it's like, fully, you know.
[00:14:32] Speaker A: Is this the first acting class you've done in a while? This one?
[00:14:35] Speaker B: Yeah. Can you tell?
[00:14:37] Speaker A: No. I mean, do you. Do you like acting classes?
[00:14:41] Speaker B: I do. I.
I haven't. I mean, I've acted. The last time I acted was not in an acting class.
[00:14:49] Speaker A: What, like the web series, you're saying?
[00:14:51] Speaker B: Yeah, web series. A short film after that. But, like.
[00:14:54] Speaker A: And what was that called?
[00:14:56] Speaker B: The short film.
[00:14:57] Speaker A: What was the web series in the short film called?
[00:14:59] Speaker B: Oh, yeah, the film Bros of Greenwich Village.
[00:15:01] Speaker A: And where can we find that?
[00:15:03] Speaker B: YouTube.
Thousands upon thousands of views on YouTube.
[00:15:07] Speaker A: There you go.
[00:15:09] Speaker B: But besides that, I have not acted a lot in the past year. The web series came out October, actually last year.
[00:15:18] Speaker A: Wow.
[00:15:19] Speaker B: Or it ended. We did a week by week basis. So it ended October 8th or something.
[00:15:25] Speaker A: So you.
[00:15:26] Speaker B: So it has not been since wrapped,
[00:15:28] Speaker A: but you guys wrapped. You finished shooting the whole series by
[00:15:32] Speaker B: the time early June and then post turnaround October.
[00:15:36] Speaker A: So it's been over a year. Well, no, because now you're doing your. Your socials. Your social.
[00:15:40] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah, yeah. Doing. Doing social stuff. Getting back into the acting grind. And I've, you know, done here and there little things like, like I love like a pilot reading. Like I'll always hop into something, play a character.
But it felt good. I mean, I still am not acting in front of like the phone camera is so different because you're, you're. It's only you, you know, so you're playing director too, because you're like, you just like, do you do a three minute take of saying the same line over and over and you're like, I guess there's something in there. I'll find out. You know, like, there's nobody watching you. When you're a director, you can watch the person, see how they did it and see if you like it. You just like, I'm gonna try every possible way to say this line and then, you know, search.
[00:16:27] Speaker A: That's fun though. I mean, there is a sense of like seamlessness in that and like no one's judging you aside from yourself, which might be the biggest judge of all.
[00:16:37] Speaker B: But at the same time, I do feel like sometimes my performance is fueled by other people in the room, whether it be, you know, in an acting class, like now. Like, I even was aware there were parts when you were doing partner stuff and other people are doing something and you're not being perceived by anybody except for the person you're in the scene with. But there are other times where the class is sitting, you know, against the wall and it's you and other and another person.
And I feel like as an actor, I love when there are eyes on me and it's like an audience situation. Like, I, I do genuinely get energy from that. So when you're alone in a room filming yourself, it's not as, you know, you. You have to find energy in different places.
[00:17:22] Speaker A: Yeah, well, you have, you have that stage background, so that makes sense.
[00:17:26] Speaker B: I do.
I even remember, like for film bros filming the. I Flew to New York to like film a promo just for like marketing purposes. A little short that we did.
And getting to be in the room at like we did like a little comedy sketch and in the room trying to get the people behind the camera to break, like to the point where I could like see the boom isn't in the shot, but I can see it shaking because the person is laughing. Like there's nothing better than that. Trying to get people to laugh, you know?
[00:17:59] Speaker A: Yeah, man.
[00:18:00] Speaker B: And that makes you go one step further, especially in a sketch, you know, how fucking crazy can I go with it?
[00:18:05] Speaker A: And when you're alone doing that, you're just like insane because you're like, say something. You start laughing. And it's like constantly.
[00:18:11] Speaker B: I mean. And a lot of my sketches have to do with a regular scene. And then there's one weird person that's like the classic sort of sketch format.
[00:18:20] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:18:21] Speaker B: And to be the weird person, sometimes you got to be a little loud.
[00:18:24] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:18:25] Speaker B: You can't be a little like, you can't be insanely loud when you're like in an apartment complex with other people.
[00:18:31] Speaker A: I guess you could be, but you know, mackenzie.
[00:18:33] Speaker B: Well, what I do is I stay at the office until I, you know, I finish work at seven and then I make sure nobody's there. Like, like the, the custodian has left, dude.
[00:18:42] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:18:42] Speaker B: And it's 8pm And I just like go into an office, close the door and I just like film all the parts.
[00:18:47] Speaker A: I love that. I love that it's you.
[00:18:52] Speaker B: It's peaceful, it's nice.
[00:18:53] Speaker A: Are you fine? I just. Peaceful is interesting because first of all, Dave Bautista, right, that actor.
[00:19:01] Speaker B: Love.
[00:19:01] Speaker A: I didn't know he was like a wrestler before. Yeah, wwe, I think. Yeah. I saw this old photo of him. Like there's like this cool photo series of like, like floor seats at NBA games. And he was in there as like a young dude. I was like, David, like what?
[00:19:21] Speaker B: Right, right. But like how he was.
[00:19:23] Speaker A: He was saying something of how like performance is a Zen state for him, which is really interesting because it's almost like meditative. But do you, do you find that as well with your own stuff where it's like. Cause you said it like you're in the office, you're alone.
Do you find that Zen esque state in performing or does it feel like.
[00:19:45] Speaker B: I don't know if it's that. I don't know if it's that. Like I don't feel like in the moment. I'm not like, wow, I'm So calm and peaceful. Like, I try to get riled up, if I need to be riled up, be listening to the other person who oftentimes is not there because it's a sketch and where I'm playing everybody. But I think looking at it in retrospect, I am insanely present. And it's one of the only times in my day where I'm not thinking about a million things.
I guess it is this balance between the creative and the business side sometimes of if I'm hearing a pitch.
As a producer working at a production company, I am thinking about a million things while the person is talking, because you're taking notes, you're thinking about, is this too close to a project that we have in development? Is this too. Is it too dark for our taste? Like, all these things go through your head as you listen to the person telling the story.
But when you're acting or when you're in an acting class or whatever it is, you have to just listen and be very present and in.
Almost like in what they're doing. Only so in that case, it's one of the only times where I can, like, be outside of myself, you know, And I do think that the peace comes from there.
[00:21:09] Speaker A: Outside of yourself or like very inside of yourself, you know, because it sounds like it's a very in tune, I guess, kind of both, maybe.
[00:21:16] Speaker B: Yeah, both. Both acting is listening and like, there's so much comfort in that, in being able to be outside of yourself in that way.
[00:21:25] Speaker A: I often return to directing that short in France, and we were rehearsing a scene and there was. It was just such a sense of like, well, that whole being on set is definitely like, you're super present. And I'm not looking at my phone. Like, I'm not. You look at the time and it's, you know, hours past, whatever, the whole thing. But, like, I don't know, man, it's. It's interesting. It's like a.
And even. Even on this movie right now that we're on, like, I'm obviously not directing, but, like, just being there. There's this strange, like, you're there and I'm like, let's say there's a scene where, you know, it's a mom and the son in the house. And, like, the son exits at the end because she throws him out of the house.
And like, when he exits, you're kind of like, I don't know. I want to, like, look at my feet. Like, I don't want to look at him. It's Like a different universe almost.
You know what I mean? It's like. Yeah, it's this weird. Like.
[00:22:30] Speaker B: Like. Like you don't know what I'm getting at.
[00:22:32] Speaker A: Yeah. Because it's like, it almost. It's like a magic trick. It's like you're saying, again, I'm not.
[00:22:38] Speaker B: Like, if I see you. If I. Right. If I see you, I'm gonna try and unpack. If I pack this. If I see you and we make eye contact, then you are no longer your character.
[00:22:48] Speaker A: Yeah. You're gonna. You're gonna fall out of it and be like, oh, that's that guy from set. Like this.
That's real. Yeah. Yeah.
[00:22:55] Speaker B: That's fascinating.
[00:22:56] Speaker A: But it's a. You know, and it's. You kind of, like, live in this.
[00:22:59] Speaker B: It's a. Well, it's a respect thing, probably to
[00:23:02] Speaker A: some, maybe, but I think it is the presence thing where, like. Right. Like, he's present in that moment of the scene where, like, his mom is kicking. It's not a scene. It's. Right. Like, you're an actor. You understand that. Of, like, believing what you're doing is truth or whatever.
[00:23:15] Speaker B: Of course. But I guess you. You being a part of it now makes it a scene.
[00:23:20] Speaker A: No, like, I'm. I'm saying the opposite. I'm saying, like, I'm. Like.
I'm the noise. I'm the outside world looking in, literally. And, like, I'm. In a way. So all of a sudden, I could distract him or something.
There's just. I'm just getting at the presence thing, I think.
Totally, like, being super present with it.
[00:23:39] Speaker B: What are. What are the vibes?
I'm just like, what are the vibes on set when it's getting. You're doing so many night shoots so late, and people are like. I would assume throughout this process, you're more than halfway through.
[00:23:50] Speaker A: Right. Yeah.
[00:23:51] Speaker B: At this point of production. And, like, is the energy waning or is that tiredness, like, informing different things? Like, I know different directors have different philosophies about, like, if we get a good take, are we moving on? Or do we want to grind the actor into the ground to some extent or get to bring out the best ultimate performance?
And then actors have different philosophies about that.
What's the style on set as far as that exhaustion informing the project?
[00:24:23] Speaker A: I would say the director absolutely knows what he wants.
Sometimes shockingly, wow. Like, this. This guy knows what he wants.
As in, if there's. We. We'd spend a couple hours for a setup, and we do One take and he's like, great. Moving on. I was like, whoa.
[00:24:42] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:24:42] Speaker A: Respect. Very cool.
Regarding energy and stamina, I think, like, any production. Production's really hard, man. Like, I don't. I don't think it's. I don't think there's such thing as, like, oh, that movie was so easy to make.
[00:24:56] Speaker B: No.
[00:24:56] Speaker A: I don't know if anyone's ever said that. I was talking to a buddy of mine on set who was on dune and he was, you know, lighting up, talking about it and his time with Denis and everything. And like, where.
[00:25:07] Speaker B: Where do they film at?
[00:25:08] Speaker A: Everywhere, bro. Just the. The world. Like Olivia just say earth. You know, like, they were everywhere and
[00:25:13] Speaker B: sometimes, you know, maybe they'll head to a different planet. Yeah. Like, Mars tax credits are.
[00:25:18] Speaker A: Dude, they were in Morocco. They were in Jordan. Yeah. The Mars tax credit, like 15% or something. Yeah, yeah, they were in. They were in Saudi Arabia.
[00:25:27] Speaker B: Crazy.
[00:25:28] Speaker A: Like, they were everywhere, dude. But yeah, he still is, like, letting up, talking about it. And that's an ode to Denis as a director. And like, you know, they don't have shade.
[00:25:38] Speaker B: No.
[00:25:39] Speaker A: In those dunes.
[00:25:40] Speaker B: Nope.
[00:25:40] Speaker A: And the desert and those guys are like, very rare to find track, like dolly track and on the sand. Yeah.
[00:25:47] Speaker B: Insane.
[00:25:48] Speaker A: But all that to say, I think. I think there's definitely a.
A way to keep crew morale up. But also just knowing that, like, it's not a surprise, guys, like, we're making a movie. This is not going to be easy, but I think there is that sense of trust and like, if you have the respect as a leader, then. Then folks will be able to. To do those 17 hour days and come back the next day like, all right, let's do it again.
[00:26:14] Speaker B: It's insane.
I don't know what. Just hearing from you during this whole time, I feel like this is like the most extensive on set experience that I've witnessed. You have, like, close up.
[00:26:28] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:26:29] Speaker B: And I continue to question if I. If I am cut out for that, for.
To be on set in that way.
[00:26:38] Speaker A: I don't know, man.
It's insane. I mean, stamina is a real thing, though. You're a runner. Like, I don't just wake up and run a mile like the. You got us. Like, you run half a mile or a quarter mile, then a half and a mile, like. And all of a sudden you're running eight miles or 10 miles.
[00:26:53] Speaker B: It is an endurance.
[00:26:54] Speaker A: The first couple weeks, I was shot, My feet were destroyed. Everything. I was like, this is going to be really difficult.
[00:27:02] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:27:02] Speaker A: At this point, like, the stamina.
[00:27:05] Speaker B: You just wake up at three and just.
[00:27:07] Speaker A: You're just ready, man. You're just like, this is. This is what it's going to be. And I think a lot of it really is a mentality, too. Like, you could either wake up and be like, I am struggling right now, like, this is going to be really difficult, or, hi, Mackenzie.
[00:27:22] Speaker B: Thank you so much.
I told her if she wanted to, she could bring me a little food.
[00:27:27] Speaker A: If she wanted to.
[00:27:28] Speaker B: Yeah, if she wanted to. You know, you got to keep the option open. Yeah, yeah.
[00:27:32] Speaker A: It's not like, thank you, Mackenzie.
[00:27:37] Speaker B: So I have a lot of food next to me, which I, of course, will not eat during the podcast because to spare everybody, you can eat. I'll mute myself if I do that.
Sorry, you were saying?
[00:27:47] Speaker A: Just a stamina thing. Yeah. As in it comes. And you would be very, like, you have the mentality, you have the mindset. You could absolutely do this.
[00:27:58] Speaker B: I think it's probably just because I'm doing my own thing and very busy, so I'm like, I can't imagine doing that right now. But if I were to like, you did clear your schedule to some extent and be like, this is what I'm doing for the next three months.
[00:28:11] Speaker A: It wasn't much of a right. Like, the festival landed right in the middle. Like, it's insane movie was.
But again, that's what I was getting at the beginning of. Like, when you have limited free time, it becomes very intentional. And in doing so, it's like back in the day in high school, when you have sports practice or games, instead of four hours for homework, you have two hours. You get it done, you know? Yep. You figure it out.
[00:28:35] Speaker B: Mm, crazy.
So I wrote down for this episode, which we're now more than halfway through, I wrote down life check in life check.
[00:28:47] Speaker A: I love that.
[00:28:48] Speaker B: Which I feel like we've done that in a good way. We do that.
And now the audience gets to witness that festival, which we talked about.
And just to continue on the festival stuff, we are so excited to have all the filmmakers from the festival on the podcast at some point.
[00:29:08] Speaker A: That'll be fun.
[00:29:09] Speaker B: In addition to our regularly scheduled, you know, our reach outs, people that, you know, want to come on our referrals, like, you know, it'll be regular programming along with, like, these amazing, talented filmmakers who we get to talk with about their experience about the festival and. And their projects and then their futures.
[00:29:28] Speaker A: Yeah. Which is. These filmmakers were dope, for sure. Yeah. These. These guys were the real deal.
[00:29:34] Speaker B: Every year. Every year, it Gets. I mean, it just elevates in so many ways.
[00:29:39] Speaker A: We have to, man.
[00:29:40] Speaker B: We have as we, as we do our best to. As well as, as people. You know, Like, I, I think the, the cool thing about this podcast is that we're not, like, we're not journalists, we're not reporters, we're not critics. We're just like people who are kind of also trying to do the thing.
[00:29:55] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah.
[00:29:56] Speaker B: The people we talk to are, you
[00:29:58] Speaker A: know, dude, it like, selfishly, and I've said this too on the podcast, but the thought of 5050 was to get my work seen and to also meet people that I could like minded people that I can make stuff with and
[00:30:13] Speaker B: learn from and learn from, or that's what the podcast is.
[00:30:16] Speaker A: Well, that's exactly. But like, that, that mission has remained throughout and we get to learn from some really cool people because of the podcast.
Like our peers, dude, people. People are very knowledgeable. It's so funny when, when they're like, ah, why. Why would you invite me on? Like, I don't know anything. And then they come on and they're like.
[00:30:37] Speaker B: And they're so ready to talk.
[00:30:38] Speaker A: Yeah, it's awesome.
[00:30:41] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:30:41] Speaker A: Is there anyone who's like a dream guest for you?
[00:30:44] Speaker B: Well, I told you. I. I told you. He's coming on, though, is the thing. It's a. He's coming on next weekend.
We're interviewing him. I told you. I'm not going to say who it is because I don't want to jinx anything, but this is a guy who, admittedly I would love to be doing what. Exactly what he's doing.
[00:31:01] Speaker A: Wow. Okay.
[00:31:02] Speaker B: In, you know, in the next few years, he's just a super talented sketch comedian who I really resonate with his brand of comedy and more than that, just like, respect the hell out of him and what he's doing. So that'll be very cool.
What about you? Is there anybody who you would love to have on?
[00:31:26] Speaker A: Dude, there are so many people. But I also don't want to say. I don't want to, like, jingle. I know.
I feel like every time I, like, oh, yeah, like I'm getting coffee with this person and it just completely doesn't happen, you know?
[00:31:40] Speaker B: Right, right.
[00:31:41] Speaker A: It's like. Yes. When you hold secrets, it's like, yeah,
[00:31:45] Speaker B: that's why you do it. Because there's always the chance, you know,
[00:31:48] Speaker A: I'm still taking this script around that I'm like, currently rewriting.
[00:31:52] Speaker B: The one that I read?
[00:31:53] Speaker A: Yeah, the one that you read a while ago. Yeah. I Had coffee this week.
[00:31:58] Speaker B: Is there a new draft?
[00:31:59] Speaker A: There will be. I'm, like, in the process of doing that, most likely in, like, December. But I had coffee this morning. Someone just wanted to meet after reading it, and it was an interesting conversation. It was, like, a theater production company that, like, definitely it was the right person to talk to.
[00:32:17] Speaker B: Yeah, same. Same sort of vibes.
[00:32:19] Speaker A: Yeah, same sort of vibes. The horror comedy people.
Definitely a lot of overlap. It was a good conversation. It was just an interesting kind of, like, chat, you know? Yeah.
[00:32:32] Speaker B: He read it prior or they read it prior.
[00:32:35] Speaker A: She read it. Yeah, she read it twice. She read it a few weeks back and then read it again this morning, like, before to prep. And I was like, that's cool for her, but super. It's just. It's, you know.
Yeah. It's interesting, man, to, like, start putting yourself out there, dude. You know? Dude. I mean, talking to people about it.
[00:32:54] Speaker B: I'll talk relatively openly about our buddy Zach Takowski, who. Who went to high school with us, and I went to NYU with him, and I basically just tried to, like, copy everything he did for a long time. Like, he was. He was like, the big theater act.
[00:33:09] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:33:09] Speaker B: At Brentwood. And I was. I then sort of tried to take, you know, the reins and do that in my own way. But then, you know, we. Through Covid, we lost touch a bit, and we've rekindled our friendship, and it's been, like, the best thing ever. And he's two years older than us, and he is.
He's a coordinator at a management company doing amazing stuff over there, but at the same time, he's, like, taking out scripts. And this guy has, like, written tons of scripts.
[00:33:37] Speaker A: Wow.
[00:33:38] Speaker B: And he's just now shopping the scripts around to managers. And, like, he's at the point. Right. Which we talk about a lot with our 50. 50 filmmakers of, like, what point is representation actually Advantageous. Yeah, advantageous. When you've done.
Maybe you've done a fellowship or you've done the program or you've written enough scripts and you've sent them around and you found success. You've gotten stuff set up places. Like, at one point.
At what point do you need a manager? And he's definitely at that point. And he was describing that process as vulnerable, you know, of. Like, he's used to sending his work around, but the idea of someone representing you, you know, and. And, like, it's a whole different ball game.
[00:34:20] Speaker A: And he also has seen the other side. Like.
[00:34:24] Speaker B: Absolutely.
[00:34:24] Speaker A: He lives on that side. And so all of A sudden it's like, well, I know how they talk about these clients. Like, how do I want them to talk about me?
[00:34:32] Speaker B: Yeah, exactly.
[00:34:33] Speaker A: That's interesting.
[00:34:34] Speaker B: And also, like, reps have their own style and sometimes it's fucking brutal the way that they talk to you.
[00:34:39] Speaker A: Maybe he. Honestly though, he probably has a bunch of knowledge on, like, okay, I know I really mess with these people and like, how they talk to their clients. Like, I should definitely try to reach out to them.
[00:34:50] Speaker B: Totally, totally.
I think he's figuring out that process, but I'm still chasing him. I told him early November I would reach out to him to get him on the podcast because I think it's going to be a great conversation.
[00:35:02] Speaker A: I see Ben, his brother around town, always.
[00:35:05] Speaker B: Ben's a good guy. Did he move? Did he move to.
He moved to Silicon Valley or somewhere.
[00:35:12] Speaker A: I don't think so. I don't know. I know he's.
[00:35:16] Speaker B: I mean, you said you don't think so.
[00:35:17] Speaker A: I don't think so.
[00:35:19] Speaker B: Okay.
[00:35:20] Speaker A: Yeah, I don't think so.
[00:35:23] Speaker B: Well, we are short on time today, but there is something that I really want to talk about, which I'm sure everybody specifically wants to hear our take on it, which is the documentary that everybody has seen except for you, probably.
[00:35:39] Speaker A: Oh, right.
[00:35:41] Speaker B: You can see everything.
And I just wanted to take a pulse on how comfortable are you speaking about it.
How comfortable are you hearing my. Just general thoughts instead of fully getting into the plot of anything.
[00:35:59] Speaker A: Dude, go for it.
[00:36:00] Speaker B: Just some takeaways that I have.
[00:36:02] Speaker A: Absolutely.
[00:36:04] Speaker B: And I'll speak vaguely so that people who haven't seen it still can see it. Because I understand that it is simply a theater space issue to some extent. Like people actually can't find a time to watch it, which is amazing. It's an amazing problem to have.
I, first of all, to carry that acting conversation. I learned a ton about acting from it.
[00:36:27] Speaker A: Wow.
[00:36:28] Speaker B: Because there is a part of this documentary in which someone, and I'm going to be super vague and not even name it's not one of the main characters who you might think of by seeing the marketing and trailer and stuff, they bring someone in who has given an award winning performance, an Emmy winning performance, they bring someone in and they have to then, in the aftermath of that performance, reckon with that performance.
And after reckoning with that performance, they learn new information about the person that they were impersonating and then they use that new information to create an even better performance.
So you watch it.
Never again will we get to see an actor do a performance reckon with it. Because, first of all, that's crazy. Like, you never get to see. That's my alarm. You never get to see actors,
[00:37:36] Speaker A: like,
[00:37:36] Speaker B: their reaction, like, the general response. And there's lots of moral complications that come with representing, quote, unquote, real people.
[00:37:44] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:37:45] Speaker B: You know, but then to get to fully to. To be able to see, as an audience member, someone fully wrecking with that and then learn stuff about how that person was affected by their performance and then do it again.
It's fucking crazy.
[00:38:02] Speaker A: Dude.
[00:38:03] Speaker B: That's just a small tidbit. I hope I didn't give too much away to you.
It's all very vague. I know.
But overall, the documentary was absolutely outstanding.
Time flew by. I'll have to go see it again.
I hate. I hated when I hadn't seen it, people saying exactly what I'm saying right now. Like, I know it's annoying of people just being like, well, you just got to see it. But, like, at the end of the day, I'd like to think that I'm doing you a service by trying not to say a ton about this documentary because it is so amazing to experience this for the first time.
I hope it gets all the nominations possible for the Oscars. That's my final sort of thought.
[00:38:44] Speaker A: Dude, I hope so, too. I'm a big Lance fan.
[00:38:47] Speaker B: Yeah, I know you are.
[00:38:48] Speaker A: And Fielder. But this movie, actually, that I'm on the sound team did primetime.
[00:38:54] Speaker B: That's amazing.
[00:38:55] Speaker A: And so I've been picking their brain for the entirety of production and then.
[00:38:59] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:38:59] Speaker A: To kind of talk about. Because Prime Time. I love Prime Time.
I just have not had a chance to see the doc yet. I absolutely will.
[00:39:08] Speaker B: I know. And I need to see Prime Time, too.
[00:39:11] Speaker A: Prime Time's great, but I'm very much looking forward to seeing this doc. I've not heard one. Literally have not heard one bad thing about it.
[00:39:20] Speaker B: Yeah. And I also think that everybody will have their own. Like, it's. It's one of the only docs I've heard people describing their experience. As you see the documentary, you kind of all just file out in silence. And then afterwards, outside of the theater, you know, under the marquee, just, like, little groups form and start, like, whispering and talking about it. And then the whispering gets a little more heated and people start arguing a little bit in, like. But the argument is, like, it's overshadowed by a. What the fuckness of the whole thing of, like, you know, like, I can't argue too much because the more you see, the less, you know, like, that's the whole thing about this documentary.
[00:40:00] Speaker A: So crazy.
[00:40:02] Speaker B: Crazy. An awesome watch. Obviously recommend it. I don't need to be the person to tell you that, though.
[00:40:07] Speaker A: Yeah, I gotta see it.
[00:40:09] Speaker B: Are people talking about it on set? Have people seen it?
[00:40:12] Speaker A: A few people have seen it on set. Set again, though. Sets. Just a different universe. Whole world, like, it's just a different.
But everyone around here is talking about it. Like, all my roommates are there right now seeing it with, like, a group of people, like, for the second time.
Yeah, man, it's. It's cool to see and respect to Lance. He seems like a great dude and very well deserved, you know?
[00:40:39] Speaker B: Agreed.
All right. I'm looking at the time and unfortunately, we do need to close this up.
But I think it. I think it was a great episode, dude.
[00:40:49] Speaker A: Who knows? Who knows?
[00:40:51] Speaker B: I think it was fun. I think we should do this more often. I also check ins.
[00:40:55] Speaker A: It's a great idea.
[00:40:55] Speaker B: Little life check in. Combined with, you know, what we've seen.
[00:40:59] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:41:00] Speaker B: You know, what we're watching. Because I think it's, you know, it's a way to showcase our tastes.
[00:41:05] Speaker A: I can all.
I'll tell a quick story if you want.
[00:41:08] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:41:11] Speaker A: I've been last manning on set. Right.
Which basically just means exactly what it sounds like. You're the last guy on set. You got to make sure all the crew is back at base or home. They all have a ride. Basically.
This week we were in Pomona, which is like an hour, you know, hour 20 away from where we're at.
Kind of close to you, Wyatt, actually, maybe. But we all stayed late, hotels, whatever, the whole thing. But we were rapping pretty late that whole week. And on Thursday, to give a tiny bit of context, the actual location we were at is, like, known to be haunted and.
Yeah, whatever.
And we were in this. Where we were shooting, like, set was just like cul de sac.
It's like it almost looks like Universal Studios or something or it's like the facades of homes and like, some homes are actually built there, Whatever.
And it's Thursday night. It's like, getting late. I'm last manning again. And there's like, the camera crew is left and. And sound is left and, like, the grips are leaving right now. And so they're coming towards me to the vans. I like, like, great. I'm go check on sound. Sounds coming towards me. And camera's still far away in the lot.
And there are three sound people. Two of them were walking towards me, and I was like, oh, where's the third?
Like, ah, she's, she's locking up. She's locking up the house on the corner. She's locking up. I said, okay. So I walk up to the house on the corner, right? It's probably like 2:33 in the morning at this point. I walk over the house on the corner. It's locked up. Like, oh, she must be in the camera truck area, right?
[00:42:53] Speaker B: And these are like fake houses, right?
[00:42:55] Speaker A: These are practically fake houses, right? Like no one lives there.
[00:42:59] Speaker B: They're sets, their sets.
[00:43:03] Speaker A: I am basically like, I see the house is locked up. Like, great, you must be in the camera lot area. I turn to the lot to walk towards that.
In doing so, the door opens behind me. This is not, this is real, the door. I hear a door open. I turn.
There's a man standing on the porch.
I've never seen this guy. And he looks at me, he's like staring at me. He's strange looking, dude. And he goes, I'm the site rep. And I literally, I'm not kidding, dude. I like look down like, oh, I'm. I'm running right now. Yeah, Like, I'm fully running.
And I sprinted, like, ran back to the vans.
My whole. I was like, I had like, my hair on my neck was sticking up. The whole thing.
[00:43:54] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah.
[00:43:55] Speaker A: And I was like, I'm going to hang by the Vance. And then the last sound girl and camera ended up coming back and like, whatever.
Did not see that guy. Like, I, I, when I looked back, like, no one was there.
The following day, I tell this story to my buddy who's like one of the props guys. And he's like, dude, oh my God. Like, that's fucked up. Like, oh my God, you saw a ghost? Like, no, I did not. Bro, you're tripping.
And later, like a couple hours pass, he's like, luke, come here, come here, come here. You got to hear this. And he pulls me over to this.
He's like our fire safety officer, this older dude who's like, been working there for a while, like working in that area for a while. And he's like, tell him. Tell him what you told me. Tell him what you told me as any. He's tapping the, the fire safety officer to tell me what. And he's like, yeah, what about like, the site reps? And he's like, yeah. He's like, yeah. I mean, they're, they're two ladies.
[00:44:47] Speaker B: Whoa.
And did your stomach just drop?
[00:44:51] Speaker A: My stomach dropped.
[00:44:54] Speaker B: That's so scary, dude.
[00:44:55] Speaker A: Dropped.
I will leave you with that. Happy Halloween.
[00:45:00] Speaker B: Jesus Christ.
Bye.
[00:45:03] Speaker A: Bye.
Did you learn something? I'm like your mom. Did you learn something in this episode? I hope so. Or not. That's okay. Thanks for hanging. Make sure you follow us at the 5050fest on Instagram and we give us five stars because. Why not? Why not subscribe? Why not? You know why not. Okay, bye.
