Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Speaker A: Their whole interview process. I guess I can talk about the interview process. I mean, it was crazy. I wasn't even considered. I cold emailed again, just like jumping in this guy's email. I used my Knicks email because I would always do that to meet people. Like, you know, everyone wants the msg, signature Knicks producer, all that stuff. So I found this guy. They were deep in the process and they were interviewing a lot of theater people, but it just like wasn't connecting. And my job while it was at the Knicks, it was, I was kind of like the convergence of culture. I was doing like building a brand that was more than sport. I was building, you know, like a lifestyle brand, all these types of things. I obviously was a huge fan of A24. They basically sent me four bullet points that a whole thing, crazy thing that I got the interview just by sliding in this guy's email cold.
And they were like, here's four bullets. And I made a 35 page brand deck. I basically pitched them the brand when I, when I interviewed. And that, that got me noticed. They didn't give a, you know, what about me until they're like, oh, let's give this guy a try. And then I literally in photoshop made a 40 page deck at my office, you know, within the day that they got back to me.
[00:01:04] Speaker B: I'm Luke Steinfeld.
[00:01:06] Speaker C: And I'm Wyatt Sarkisian.
[00:01:07] Speaker B: We made the 5050 podcast to support you on your filmmaking journey.
[00:01:10] Speaker C: 50% business, 50% creative.
[00:01:13] Speaker B: Every Tuesday, a new how to.
[00:01:14] Speaker C: That was the voice of David Jacobson. The A24 marketing extraordinaire is spearheading an unprecedented endeavor for the company into the theater space.
So we chat about that and so much more. You know, if, if New York City were to be a person, it would probably be David. So we probably shouldn't tell you that he's originally from Florida. Oh, oops.
Well, keep up with us in this episode. You won't want to miss it.
[00:01:48] Speaker B: Before we get into it, can you just give us the, the, I guess like the log line of like what you're doing so we can kind of dig into it?
[00:01:57] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah, that's totally fine. I'm just the head of marketing for trailing theater, which is, you know, newly acquired by A24.
You know, it's a theater that's been around since 1923.
The longest, the longest running off Broadway theater in New York City going on.
[00:02:14] Speaker C: It's beautiful. It's right in the West Village, right?
[00:02:16] Speaker A: Yeah. Are you, are one of you guys LA or Luke? Are you la?
[00:02:19] Speaker B: We're both. We're both LA based, but Wyatt went to school at nyu. I live in New York for a bit. We definitely have a lot of crossover.
[00:02:26] Speaker A: I mean. Yeah, it's just like. It's like. Like you said, it's like prime real estate in terms of just like, where it is. And it also. It was funny enough. It's like a culture shock for me because, you know, it's like, it's cool and like a 24 of it all, but it's, like, still very much that, like, West Village, incredibly affluent.
You know, it has, like, a French restaurant. It's like.
[00:02:46] Speaker C: It's like.
[00:02:46] Speaker A: You know, it is.
[00:02:48] Speaker C: It's like. It's kind of like the Geffen in L. A A little.
[00:02:52] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
[00:02:54] Speaker C: Far as, like, the. The crowd goes in that area.
[00:02:58] Speaker A: Yeah, the crowd is not like. Yeah. Like. Well, like, we had Natalie Palamides, who's literally, like, a clown comic who, like, started her show in Elysian Theater, which is like.
It's awesome. That's, like, where you want to go. Like. Like, my favorite place in the country to see entertainment is Largo. That's my favorite place. Go to Largo ever.
[00:03:15] Speaker B: All the time. You go to Fumi Sushi. Fumi across the street, man.
[00:03:20] Speaker A: Oh, well, it's always, like. It's always like, a long line to get into. Or is that the one that's like, the one that has, like, the fire outside when it's like, sitting Florida time. Yeah.
[00:03:29] Speaker C: You gotta go right when it opens. I've been there once, and it was totally fine because you go right when it opens and you're guaranteed to see.
[00:03:35] Speaker A: But if you.
[00:03:36] Speaker C: Then if you don't go right when it opens, you're just waiting for people to finish their whole.
[00:03:40] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah. You're. Wait, we went to, like, some other Asian place next to it. The last time I went with my buddies, my friends. I actually took my friends who are, like, pretty big online comics now. Their names are the Metro Brothers. Have you ever seen them?
Ryan and Aiden. Their friends are like, Grace Reitster. What's her name? The girl who's from, like, Chair Co. And she's huge online.
[00:03:57] Speaker C: Oh.
[00:03:58] Speaker A: Never been. They had never been to Largo. They're like, whoa. They just moved to, like, Santa Monica in la. Those poor guys. They didn't know where they were moving to.
But, yeah, that. Does that help with what? My job in log line. Yeah, that gives us.
[00:04:10] Speaker B: That gives us the size.
[00:04:12] Speaker A: Yeah. Head of marketing. So it got acquired in 2023, and then took two years to sort of reopen. We reopened.
[00:04:17] Speaker B: Wait, so you were, you were, you were running marketing for Cherry Lane before they acquired you guys?
[00:04:22] Speaker A: No, no. So I was, I was working for the Knicks and Rangers as a producer, working with a lot of celebrity talent and like doing a lot of stuff around, like tent pole events. I use celebrities for like all star campaigns and influencers for all star campaigns or being beginning of season stuff. And then I was responsible for like our influencer program. So I had like New York Nico as like our like brand directing ambassador. So like he did a podcast with like me and like we had Josh Safdie, we had John Stewart, we had like Clyde Frer. Edie Falco. Just like a very New York type thing.
[00:04:58] Speaker B: Are you having that overlap with a 24? I was, I said, you. So you're already having that overlap with a 24? A little bit.
[00:05:06] Speaker A: I mean, I was just, I was just a fan since. I mean, I, you know, I didn't go to film school. I, I didn't go to NYU like any of these people. Like, I remember I visited NYU one time for volleyball and I remember like, you know, I'm from Florida. Like I. My life, my only chance at like getting that sort of culture was like on. I'll talk about in the podcast. But like I had like a blog that I was, I was like, we're.
[00:05:28] Speaker B: In the podcast, by the way.
[00:05:29] Speaker A: This is the podcast. Oh, we're rolling. Oh, rolling. Oh, I thought we were doing preemptive stuff. Yeah, sorry.
[00:05:35] Speaker C: They love everything.
[00:05:37] Speaker A: That's how natural it is. You don't even know. I know you guys. That's. That's a secret trick in the biz. You know, you start rolling. Yeah, start, get. Just started.
But yeah, no, I, you know, I didn't go to film school or fricking anything. Like, you know, I, I couldn't even get a fricking job for the life of me. For. I remember like everybody was like, oh, junior year in college, it's like your intern year, right? I was like, is it because, like I can't get anyone to like respond to my emails. I got thrown out of my first interview. I can tell you guys so many stories, but yeah, I remember I interviewed for a, for a frickin at this place called Paradigm Talent Agency have ever heard about. I'm going to Google it right now. We do like representative. Dude, they threw, they made an example out of me because I guess I was being like 20.
[00:06:19] Speaker C: They used to represent Sydney Sweeney.
[00:06:22] Speaker A: Did they used to. What a loss for them.
Let's wait. Is this like their website now? Oh, my God, this can't be it. I mean, yeah, they represented a ton of people, but I remember the HR woman, like, called me in and on a random Wednesday and made me cry and threw me out and made an example out of me and said, I'm. I am like, bombarding their team with emails. And I was like, I'm just trying to get a job. And you know, Jesus made me cry. And that was my.
[00:06:48] Speaker C: And look at you now. Well, I want to say, overall, you.
You grew up in Florida, right?
[00:06:56] Speaker A: Yeah, I grew up in South Florida, West Boca Raton.
[00:06:59] Speaker C: And you, you went from. And you're talking about, like, you know, all these New York guys and everything, but you, you grew up in Florida and then you wind up having a podcast with Josh Safdie. Like, there's, there's nothing more New York than that.
[00:07:13] Speaker A: You've.
[00:07:13] Speaker C: You seem very much like a New York guy.
[00:07:16] Speaker A: I am, I'm. I'm fast. People call me at a 24. Like when I, when I joined a 24 in February, they were like, you're like Marty Mouser. And I was like, who? Cuz, Like, I didn't. Marty. Marty supreme was like, Marty supreme was like 10 months later. But now when I watch it, I'm like, oh, is like, is this a disc? Because he's like a terrible person. Talks really fast.
I guess that part.
[00:07:35] Speaker B: But yeah.
Wait, so. So you went from. From Knicks, right? More in like the sports side of things. Like, when did you clearly. I mean, it sounds like you didn't have much experience like in theater or even a passion or interest or did you? Okay.
[00:07:48] Speaker A: Oh, I had a ton of passion and all. Again, I wanted to work in entertainment my whole life. Like, I. Yeah. When I, When I graduated, my first job was. Actually found my badge. My first job.
Literally just now as I was finding my headphones, my first, I lied to my parents and told them that I got a job for Nike Corporate in New York.
And it was really just working at Nike Town, wearing sweats and having a badge. This is. Yeah, this is. I worked on the second floor of the old 57th Street Nike Town.
[00:08:18] Speaker C: Oh, wow.
[00:08:19] Speaker A: And so while I was in it, so I just did like a two month making $12 an hour picking up shifts. And then I got really lucky. I got. I met someone who worked for Rolling Stone. And I was like, hey, can I, can I like maybe get an internship there? Like, I really wanted to be in music. I studied journalism in high school. I Mean, I was in journalism high school and studied journalism in college. I went to Florida State, and I wasn't being pushed. Like, I wasn't being, like, pushed creatively. Like, you know, Barry Jenkins went to Florida State. I just was not meeting the. I wasn't meeting the right people. I was in a fraternity, and, like, all those people cared about was, like, drinking. And I joined it for. Because I was, like, really into sports. They, like, recruited me for sports. And then I. I was not around creative people ever. Like, my. I was looked at even. And even later when I moved to New York and early on and I kind of found different friends, but I was, like, made fun of for liking, like, Burn After Reading and, like, the Coen Brothers and like, weird movies. Like, that's how bad the people I was hanging. Like, they were just not the type of.
[00:09:10] Speaker B: They were on the same train. What. What sport did you play coming up?
[00:09:14] Speaker A: I. I played. It's not that cool. I played volleyball, and I played club volleyball for. At Florida State University, and.
[00:09:21] Speaker C: Wow.
[00:09:22] Speaker A: I'm on the B team, you know, stupid.
[00:09:24] Speaker C: Sure.
[00:09:25] Speaker A: But it was a cool thing that I was doing, and I got to travel a bunch for it and stuff.
[00:09:28] Speaker C: I mean, huge sports school, right? Like, you. Yeah, that's kind of. That's what you do when you're there, right?
[00:09:34] Speaker A: Yeah, you do that. You do a lot of drinking and you do. I mean, it's a small college town, but. But again, there was. Barry Jenkins was not a thing yet that I was not. My parents aren't even. No one in my family was like, here's the thing that you can do. Like, I actually grew up making videos and, like, cutting the. Like, cutting highlight clips for people. Like, that was kind of my thing. I was like, the video editor. So, like, my friends who were really good. I would use Windows Movie Maker when I was, like, 10 to 12 and, like, make their highlight tapes because they were, like, the number one soccer team in the world. So we would make, like, really dumb videos. I'll make Jackass videos. So I was always making stuff, but I just didn't think that would ever be a career. My parents were very concerned. You know, I was. I was. My buddy who a really good friend I grew up with, he works for now. You ever heard of the company called Overtime?
[00:10:18] Speaker B: Yeah. Yeah.
[00:10:19] Speaker A: Like a sport. So he's now, like, the.
[00:10:22] Speaker B: One of the biggest.
[00:10:24] Speaker A: I work.
[00:10:24] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:10:25] Speaker A: Yeah. I worked for them for two years. Him. And I grew up cutting, you know, before Instagram. You know, like, Omar. That kid Omar. Kid Omar now works he now works for House of Highlights and SportsCenter. But, like, we used to go to this website called don't blink mixtape.com and they would somehow get highlight clips the moment they were posted to, like, SportsCenter. And we would go on there and like, rip clips and make like. I remember making, like, Rudy Gay mixtapes and like, all these types of. I was always making movies and stuff. Right. But also I'm not doing that, but I was making content, which is. Right, which is what I was just kind of what I'm doing, doing now.
[00:10:58] Speaker C: So, yeah, for sure. I, I'm curious, like, when you were, you know, when you lied about having the job at Nike Corporate and you moved to New York, what was your, like, what was your mindset? What was your attitude when you're working at the Nike store and, like, are you just meeting every person you can meet? Is that just, like, ingrained in you?
[00:11:13] Speaker A: Yeah. Yes, I am such. My dad used to say, the squeaky wheel gets the oil. That was the only thing. But he again, he sold life insurance. But again, that's like a trait. Like, when you sell life insurance, you started, it's completely commission based. Like, I remember he tried to Trojan horse me and like, hey, do you want to see, like, Drake in Sacramento at, like, this very small concert where Drake first started? And I was like, oh, my dad's taking me on a trip to Sacramento when I was like, 17. And it was an insurance convention, but we got to see Drake and I was meeting there and I was like.
[00:11:41] Speaker C: Drake was doing insurance convention corporate gigs at the time?
[00:11:45] Speaker A: No, he was doing like, an amazing outdoor. It was like the club, I'm gonna butcher this thing. But he was doing this thing. He had like, the opener was like, J. Cole and Two Chains and Weekend were the openers. But my dad was like, hey, do you want to go to this concert? And he's like, my dad's like, never got me anything in my life. I remember asking my dad for 10 minutes, $10 to go play basketball at University of Miami. And he was like, absolutely not. So he took me to this car and then he was like, you can do like, look at all this. I work at insurance. Check out what I do. And I was like, oh, no.
[00:12:14] Speaker C: You're like, I'm more interested in what Drake is doing up there. Why would you take me to this?
[00:12:18] Speaker A: Yeah, I was always more interested in, like, the camera people. Just, you know, so my, I, I, I didn't. You know, a lot of people I meet, especially in New York, they're like, oh, my parents did this, or my dad is a dp or my mom was a writer. And I don't know what this came from. I. I really just.
I. I started blogging when I was really young using, like, blogspot.com. that was, like, really where I used to meet people online. I used to meet artists and rappers that I liked off MySpace. I remember covering people from my blog called the boogie.blogspot.com.
i was a freshman. I met a bunch of seniors in high school in our. In our.
In our journalism program. I work for the school paper, and I would just.
I really wanted to be a music journalist or like a rapper correspondent or whatever the.
[00:13:01] Speaker B: That was. Was almost famous. You remember that movie? Of course.
[00:13:05] Speaker A: Of course. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. No, that. My inspiration was just like, I. I really wanted to be like. I really liked, like, Joe La Puma. You know, he's like the sneaker shopping guy. I like. He was like.
I was like, that's a comp for me. You know, he went to Penn State. He didn't go to, like, an Ivy League school.
[00:13:24] Speaker C: Like a state.
[00:13:25] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah. But, like, to get. Because I just wasn't that. I mean, I had really good grades, but I. I met so many smarter people. But to get back to your point, I. When I moved to New York, and again, like, getting up to New York, the reason I got tossed out of that interview is because I was just firing on all cylinders. I was tweeting at this guy, Danny Nunez. He was like, the head of Brand PR for. I can remember all these people names for Jordan Brand. It was called Taylor Strategy. And I was like, this guy works for Jordan, but Jordan is affiliated with Tail. I just really wanted to, like, meet these type of people who did branding and content and strategy. So I would DM Twitter dm. I could probably pull them up right now. I would reach out to so many people, dude, and so many. And people would actually take. Joe Lapuma actually took a, like, an hour phone call with me, and I was like, hey, should I take this real estate job, or should I go to New York and work at Nike Town like you did? He worked at Finish Line, and he took like, an hour and a half call with me. He was like, oh, I'm gonna go meet, like, Victor Cruz and Ronnie Feig. These, like, sneaker. I wanted to be in, like, fashion and, yeah, what I wanted to do, but I was just hitting people up.
[00:14:26] Speaker C: It seems like you at the time and maybe you still now could do so many jobs. Like, it seems like You? Yeah, because you're you. You seem like such a passionate person and like a fan first, you know, so you just, like, it seems like you just want to be, like, around it and get close to it, you know, it.
[00:14:43] Speaker A: I. I think that's the perfect way of putting it. I was a fan first. That's how I think. You know, like, I'm just a consumer at heart of all these things. I love things. I love flooding my brain with trivial. You know, like, the Golden Globes are on right now. I'm going to watch the Golden Globe. I'm a culture vulture. I mean, all my posters in here, all, like, paraphernalia from concerts and things I've been to. I've just been loving this stuff. And then I just started asking questions like, how do you use a camera? Like, I started using my dad's crappy Sony and then turned into, like. Then I bought myself a photo. I mean, I'm. I'm looking at your podcast earlier. All these people, like, make films. I don't make films. I make content. I do branding and marketing and, and strategy and brand identity and design and, you know, I'm in Photoshop and Premiere, but not anything extended.
[00:15:27] Speaker B: Can we dig into. Into brand identity a little bit and like. Yeah, how. And maybe, honestly, if we just use Charlene as a. As a use case, if that's. Or a case study or something of like, that'd be great. I assume it's the most fresh on. On your mind and you're probably still in the process of this, but like, yeah, I guess, like leading up to launch and everything. Like, can you talk about those conversations of just building that brand identity and somehow. Yeah, I guess maintaining the history while also meeting that in the middle with a 24's own branding.
[00:15:55] Speaker A: That's. That's a great point too. So, like, you said that I didn't have a theater background. Number one, didn't. I saw a ton of shows. I mean, I. I literally have a framed playbill of like a Mulaney. Oh, hello. Is like my favorite show ever. Like, I saw that in 2016. It was John Mulaney and Nick Roll, of course. Funny enough that when they worked out that show, that was Cherry Lane, they did the first show ever of that at Trailing, which is ironic. I mean, I only knew Cherry Lane from a comedy standpoint. I would. Brennan and Rob.
[00:16:21] Speaker C: I saw Alex Edelman there, like in season one or whatever, before he went on Broadway, all that. You know, he's.
[00:16:27] Speaker A: He's such a friend and such a nice Guy, he sent me a voice note after he did a show. Just like the nicest guy ever.
But yeah, I think the brand, it was crazy because I was doing, I was working for the Knicks and the Rangers and this job came up and I was like, wow, you know, I found out that these people had been there for two years without a marketing director. And this was February and at the time we were supposed to maybe we're eyeing opening in May. So I was supposed to turn this thing around in, in two months or something. We ultimately, we all ultimately ended up in September. But that was a shoot that was a huge thing for me is like how to do it. Because the, their whole interview process, I guess I can talk about the interview process. I mean it was crazy. I wasn't even considered. I cold emailed again, just like jumping in this guy's email. I used my Knicks email because I would always do that to meet people. Like, you know, everyone wants the MSG signature and Nick's producer, all that stuff. So I found this guy. They were deep in the process and they were interviewing a lot of theater people, but it just like wasn't connecting.
And my job while it was at the Knicks, it was, I was kind of like the convergence of culture. I was doing like building a brand that was more than sport. I was building, you know, like a lifestyle. Right. All these types of things. I obviously was a huge fan of H24 and a huge thing for me was like, you could land the plane really bad. I don't know if you've, I mean, I'm not going to talk, I'm not going to name the theater that I'm going to reference. But there are certain theaters that have been possessed or reclaimed ownership by other larger corporations that have like completely like lost.
Lost the magic, you know. So that's the main thing. The main thing was like I, I, they basically sent me four bullet points that a whole thing crazy thing that I got the interview just by sliding in this guy's email cold.
And they were like, here's four bullets. And I made a 35 page brand deck. I basically pitched them the brand when I, when I interviewed. And that, that got me noticed. They didn't give a, you know, what about me until they're like, oh, let's give this guy a try. And then I literally in photoshop made of 40 page deck at my office and you know, within the day that they got back to me. So that was really huge. So branding was really big. I mean we made a book which is back there, it's called 100 Years of Cherry Lane. So, like, I have a special thing. So it's really cool because that was. I got to, like, help make that book barely, but, like, to a degree. But the history was really important, especially launching it, because we knew there'd be a lot of new eyes on this place. A lot of, like, A24 fans or, like, people who just around the West Village. And like, the main goal was for them to not for them to walk in and be like, look at this new theater. Like, no, it's very important to, like, talk about the history. So all of our graphics and all of our materials are, like, very texturized and grainy and rough and not clean. And they're not just like, Impact. Like, everything has a. Has a texture over it, right? Has a gritty texture. Whatever it is. The typography is old. It's not like, new Impact font. You know, a lot of the marketing we did rolling out was I made this, like, visual with this amazing animator that I collaborate with in. In la. His name is Tom Goulette. You should look at his Instagram. He's unbelievable. He's like, my. He makes me look really, really good. I tapped in a lot of people to help with this project, so it's not just me.
But yeah, a lot of the materials that we made are, like, building this universe of, like, this is what Cherry Lane was like in the 20s, and then it became this thing with the Paul Gilmore era in the 50s. And then, you know, it really rose to prominence with, you know, Ex XYZ plays in the 80s, 90s, and then a little bit of new ownership in the 2000s. So there's just like, so many eras of this place. So it's important to honor that. Even our awning, I was in. I was helpful, like, making sure the awning was, like, reminiscent of, like, the 80s when, like, truest existed. You know, that's.
[00:19:59] Speaker C: Awnings are huge in that. In the theater world, you know, they are.
[00:20:02] Speaker A: And. And we found this old image of.
I mean, there were some amazing plays even recently in the 90s and 2000s was David Mamet. And but yeah, true. We found this amazing photo from Sam Shepard's True west. And we were like, oh, that should be the awning. So really, it's just like, just a little passion and love and care and just like, making sure you don't forget about what the place, you know, the rich history of the place. That was really important.
[00:20:24] Speaker C: Yeah. What was that research process like? Were you having conversations with people who, you know, have lived in the West Village. Our theater people.
[00:20:33] Speaker A: Yeah. So we kept.
At the time, we kept the main theater gm. She was, like, the stage theater manager for the last 25 years. So my first, I was like, oh, my God, this woman's going to hate me. I'm like, I don't know anything about theater. She was, like, saying things that I had no idea what she was talking about. So I just, like, buried. Buried my. They gave me all these materials. They gave me, like, a bunch of, like, Google sheets, and. And I basically like, hey, we're working on this book. You can, like, sift through these materials. So I kind of learned about all the errors. And then once I started, I just, like, sifted through all the storage. I mean, there's so many crazy things that I mean. I mean, all the materials. There's a great play called to be Ungifted in Black that, you know, all these, like, materials that I found out, I was like, oh, let me look at this playbill, and, like, reverse engineer all this stuff. To this day, I mean, I'm not gonna sit here and say that I'm, like, a theater savant. I know what I'm doing, but I just know that. I just knew that we were not gonna land this plane. Well, unless we had some sort of, like, reverence to the past and, like, didn't open up and, like, slap you. You don't even see A24 logos on the actual Cherryland Theater. Really anything. So that's.
[00:21:35] Speaker C: That's interesting. I'm. I. I have kind of some big questions about, first of all, like, why. Why did this acquisition take place? Like, what. What was the strategic part of it? And then from your perspective, why did you originally cold email? Like, what did you see in hearing that this acquisition was happening that made you want to be involved?
[00:21:55] Speaker A: Yeah. So I can't really. I mean, I can give you the rough synopsis, but I wasn't there when they were making those decisions. But I know this live entertainment everywhere, and Amazon owns Audible Theater, and, you know, everyone is just getting into live. It's like, kind of. I think that was just the next foray for H24. You know, they have merch. And again, even with merch, like, we. We had our first, like, sort of pop up. Like, a 24 hasn't even had, like, a real physical presence anywhere. So I think that was really important in the heart of New York and the heart of this, like, again, the ethos and the artistic haven. Yeah. And it wasn't even the artistic it was like this was a place. Like the thing I love about Cherry Lane, like we said about, oh, hello. It's like people took a risk on a play there and then it went to Broadway. You know, it feels like the indie like, catapult moment, like the jump off point and then it goes to, you know, which is what a 24 is. Right? A 24 is kind of like that happy medium between like commercial. I mean, it's independent film company, but it has that commercial exposure and that sort of one. So I think that was the, this, the people. I mean, the people, Bill. A24. It's crazy. You know, I've been around for 12 years. I've been here for not even 12 months. So it's, it was, it was a great, it was a great snag by them. And we were really worried about. I think there was like, if you look on Reddit, there's a lot of like, trepidation and sort of people being like a little bit not so loving the move. But I think we really did a good job this, this, this year. As you know, I think we did a really good job in the way we approached sort of everything that we've done so far.
[00:23:24] Speaker C: Absolutely. We've, we've had theater people on the podcast and we've definitely, like, discussed it. We've discussed it briefly and, and it is been kind of a thing. And this was, you know, maybe almost a year ago at this point that we had this conversation on the podcast, but I remember it was kind of like a well, we'll see sort of thing, you know, so it was. Which is we, we were, we were.
[00:23:45] Speaker A: Thinking the same thing. We were like, we don't know if it's gonna go well. We were like, shit. We had like a block party. And we were like, oh, like, is that even too much? We had this, it ended up going very well. But we're, you know, we were like. I remember them telling me what's. I was like, they're like, should we have like an opening party? I'm like, honestly, no. Like, I don't think we should do these sort of like, flashy sort of things. But I think we've done a really good job. I've taken really good pride in. I know the people that I work with. It. What work with at Cherryland's a very small, nimble team. It's like working for a startup again. So, like, to go to your latter question, I was like, you know, I was working for the Knicks. Knicks is awesome. I got to meet I used to use that job to parlay it to meet like indie comedians. And you know, I remember reading like Rajat Suresh and. And I remember being just. I remember meeting like Ben Marshall and the SNL guys. I'm friends with them now. Like John Higgins, barely friends with him. But I was just like, oh, do you guys want like tickets? Like, you know, I just wanted to be in. I worked in sports for a long time, almost four years. But I was really, I was becoming a different person. You know, my first job I worked, I was working for a club. Like the biggest nightclub in the country is called Tower Group in Italy. And then, then I moved to Bushwick and they thought I was a weirdo because I was hanging out with, you know, other types of people. I started working for, like, you know, like a hip hop R B club or I did photos on the side and they didn't understand that. So I just, I'm con. As a creative person. You. I'm just growing all the time. I'm never going to be complacent. Like, you know, I turned 34 this Friday, but I still, like, I'm always asking questions. I'm still like. And that's why I love living in New York is the moment you think, like, I'll have one day where I think I'm really good at my job. And then, you know, the other day we had a Show with Lizzie McAlpine and her photographer is like Gracie Abra. And I do photos on the side too. And I met this girl, Gabriella Hughes, and I was like, oh my. Like, I just. She blew me away. And I'm like, I'm the dumbest person in this room. Like, I just want to keep feeling like that, you know, I live in New York because there's other people that are constantly pushing you. And I just, you know, I.
Again, when I was at the Knicks, I was like, kind of run that down. I got to see what's next for me. So I've never been satisfied. I've always, again, go into Florida State. I always felt like I was a few.
I was a few steps behind. So I've had to like, kind of pick up the pace a little bit because so many people have so many great backgrounds and great connections and. And I want that for myself. Selfishly, I'm a very career driven person. You know, I wanted to be in those rooms. So for better or for worse, I parlayed my, like, jobs. And so, I mean, even now I get to meet so many cool people that I would Never.
And I'm not in it for like a transactional thing like to go out of so and so party. It's like I want to know like what inspires them. I want to know like how they work on things. I love meeting like dps and cinematographers and you know, I, I again I mainly make social content and whatnot, but I get to meet like playwrights and directors. Like, it's so, it's so cool.
I just make content. So, so that's really it.
[00:26:31] Speaker B: It's. It's such a cultural hub, man. And, and you know, I know you keep saying you make content, but like, I think in today's world specifically, like content has taken such a different shape, you know. And like you talked about the intention and the, the I wrote down the passion, love and care that you guys put into like this branding for the Cherry Lane Theater. Like that's content with real intention is. Is art, man. You know, and absolutely you're making that, you know, and it's working clearly.
[00:26:58] Speaker A: So thank you. I mean, I mean, yeah, that's a huge. Like, even today we had a reshoot some. We're gonna reveal our cast for our next show. Our next show. We already announced the show. It's called you got older. The, you know, the stars, Alia Shocket from like Search Party and obviously the rest of the development.
And you know, they were even like amazing. They were like, yeah, it's really great. And she started asking me questions. I brought like an ARRI camera, like an art, like which is like a standard for like, you know, when you're doing film and shooting like large format stuff, you know, and we have with like a super prime 50 on there wasn't. We just created like a rig and we're making our content. If you look at like Broadway content, it's like not great. Like I've heard that they have like agencies and these type of people. I'm the only person.
So that's why I wanted to come over to Cherry Lane. They were like, you were going to be this.
We, we all want to like have autonomy at some point, you know. I feel like I paid my dues again. I worked for Tao Group where I ran 10 different brands and social and paid ads, distribution and I did back end ticket sales. So I do, I do everything here. It's like that's all I, you know, I, I definitely collaborate with people, but I'm trying to push myself and I was, I. If I'm not, if I'm not being pushed, like I'm a Again, the thing with the Knicks, I was like, if I don't do this certain thing, they're still going to make a bazillion dollars this year. Like I don't care. Like I feel my worth every single day at Cherryland. I get to watch.
Yeah, I get to, I mean, building for their social presence. I do, I do their, their merch and their design and you know, it's amazing to see like how quickly tickets are sold. It's been selling out. I have a great program and director Danny Raitt from, from Saturday Night Live. And you know, she, one of our first series she got was like Sophia Coppola, Sundays. And so it's just, it's really crazy. And, and like I got to talk to Sophia and I was like, hey, can I make you like this logo and this little intro? Like it's really cool. I, I, I, I, I obviously am like very self deprecating. I'm like, and I see you guys have like filmmakers on and I'm not that, but I take pride in like what I do at a small scale and.
Yeah.
[00:28:53] Speaker C: We'll be right back.
[00:28:59] Speaker B: Are you sick and tired of spending months on short films that get seen by just your uncle? Are you sad and bored of editing all the time and all that footage for just 10 views? Well, now's the time to change that. Submissions for the 5050 Comedy Fest are open now. Get your work seen by professionals who can actually advance your filmmaking career. Not your uncle. Unless your uncle happens to be at a top tier talent agency like caa, UTA or wme.
Check out the episode description for the submission link or head to filmfreeway.com and search for 5050 Comedy. 5050 Comedy is on May 3rd. Submitting to 5050 Comedy may lead to money, fame, fast cars, boats, planes, helicopters, cybertrucks and lifelong friendships. 5050 comedy is on May 3rd. We look forward to seeing you there at 5050 comedy May 3rd. Your uncle is not invited unless he works at a top tier talent agency like CAA UTA. WME May 3. 5050 comedy May 3. 5050 comedy. Maybe May 3. We look forward to watching your comedic short film May 3.
[00:30:01] Speaker C: We try to operate in, you know, it's a 5050 podcast because it's 50% creative, 50% business. So we really do try to operate in that space. We don't value one over the other. And we just had like a, you know, a coordinator at a talented agency on this morning.
[00:30:18] Speaker A: What talent? What talent agency? I love talking about. Oh, Verve. Yeah, yeah.
My girlfriend sent me a video. She's like, I think you'll like this post. And it was like a pie chart of like who represents what in the industry.
[00:30:28] Speaker C: Like, oh my gosh.
[00:30:30] Speaker A: I mean, I just, I'm obsessed with that stuff. Like I, I. Do you ever watch like everybody's Live with John Mulaney, like this amazing joke and they were just talking. I think they had a bit with Richard Kyne. It comes out and he's like, oh, we're gonna read like the trades. Like so and so is now represented by Endeavor and so and so is represented by uta. And they were just like naming yeah. Certain artists, celebrities.
Recently. Recently it was just like such a, such a bit for nobody. It was so totally. I have to look.
[00:30:58] Speaker B: Yeah, that's. That's our community.
[00:31:01] Speaker C: That's.
[00:31:01] Speaker A: That's. No. Dude, your. Your community is so crazy. So like I got a first taste in it when I worked.
So when I worked for the Knicks as a talent producer, you know, I would work with influencers and the influencers under that umbrella too. And I would call people and they'd be like so and so hold for like they would. It was like I was like on Entourage, like they would pick up and they were like immediately like hold going first. I'm like I was being transferred to like so many different people. I had. So I got, had a few like dick swinging contests with some agents who were just like so rude about like certain conch. Oh my God.
[00:31:32] Speaker C: You got, you gotta work, you gotta work through that. You know, like a lot of we, we really try and vet our guests and, and in terms of if we're going to have a, an agent on or someone who does mostly business, it's going to, we're going to try and talk about art as much as possible. Same with an artist. We try to talk about business and how they got to where they got and how they work through that. You know, it's cutting through the, a lot of, A lot of this, especially here in la.
[00:32:03] Speaker B: I'm sure you can relate to this or see it. But like having I'm on. I'm very much on the creative side and having. Being able to speak to so many folks on like the agency side of things, you really start to understand, at least for me and learn that like that is such an art form as well. Like there's such an art to the business, there's such an art to conversation, an art to sales. Like that. That in itself is such an art form and there's a history there. You know, it's really Interesting to, like, talk to these people. Like yourself, too, by the way. You know, I mean, you're right in the middle.
[00:32:37] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah, yeah. But no, that's a good point. I mean, I, I. And yeah, basically, going back to your question, I just wanted to be around, like, when I was working for the Knicks, no one gave the crap. They were just like, oh, you're getting me tickets, and we're gonna make, like, a tick tock. Now I'm, like, making real art. Like, I'm like, you know, again, we had our first show. Natalie Palamides, she's an incredible artist. I got to, like, dictate her whole look and her show.
And again, we put, like, people in ponchos in the front row. And I. And our play programs are different. And, like, you know, we're not sponsored by the Shoe Bird organization. You know, like, it's not a typical program. I got to make like, I probably have it here. Probably have so many things. Yeah. You know, when you go to normal show, I went to all. This is the most recent one. I went to all out. Yeah.
[00:33:20] Speaker C: How was that? Did you see All In?
[00:33:23] Speaker A: I saw All In. Yeah. I saw in being a millennia head. And, you know, I saw that one with. I mean, I've read all of Simon Rich's books. Like, I can just talk about who I'm influenced. Dude.
[00:33:31] Speaker B: How.
[00:33:31] Speaker A: What do you.
[00:33:32] Speaker B: How much time do you have? And it.
[00:33:34] Speaker A: Like, I don't have a lot of time. I mean, so, like, my. My. I. Yeah. But this is. This Playbill that I made with. It's really cool. Like, we didn't have. I mean, just for better or for worse, we didn't get a sponsor. Right. So I made this sort of, like, zine. So, like, very kind of about again. It's so silly, but it's cool that I get to do this.
[00:33:50] Speaker B: Like, you design you.
[00:33:51] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah, yeah. I do most of our design. And then I have this amazing designer that I put on retainer because again, it's just me. I can't be. I'm not going to be a head of marketing and be in Photoshop all day. Yeah, he's this kid in Barcelona that reached out to me, like, years ago on Instagram, and I was like, maybe one day something, dude. And now. And now I text him more than, like, anybody in my family. Like, dude, I have such a bad. Oh, I'll show you this. I also am just like, you know, I. I would say I'm like a art director, too, because I, you know, I work. When I worked at overtime, I did apparel and all their sort of direction and, you know, we'll, we'll go through a million variations just to get to the perfect. And it could be type and topography and spacing and all, you know, these are, these are all of our. I mean, most of these things look the same, right? But we're just constantly. Yeah, you know, I'm, like, coaching these people.
[00:34:38] Speaker B: It's amazing.
[00:34:39] Speaker A: But, yeah, but I definitely do. Yeah. Like, Simon Rich is amazing. I wanted to be like, a Simon Rich meets, like, Michael Wilbon. That's a bad example.
[00:34:47] Speaker C: Bill Michael Wilbon.
[00:34:49] Speaker A: You know what I'm saying? Like, I used to watch, like, the sports reporters when I was younger and Mitch, Mitch Albom.
Those are the people I used to like. And now I like. My favorite person right now is, like, Lance Oppenheim. I'm like, holy, how is.
[00:35:00] Speaker C: Listen, man. Like, I, I, that's so fun. To mention Simon Rich and Mike Wilbon in the same conversation is very, it's very me.
I've listened to pti, like, every night for the past.
[00:35:12] Speaker A: Of course.
[00:35:12] Speaker C: However, of course I listen to it as a podcast, like an actual freak. But.
[00:35:17] Speaker A: Yeah, well, you like Pablo Torre too. I mean, now, I mean, dude, look at what Pablo Torre did. Pablo Torres making spots on that show, and now he's just unraveling. Yeah. Oh, he's scorching earth with all these.
His show is amazing. I mean, there's just so many good. Like, I think you guys are understanding. I consume so much stuff, so I'm like, holy crap, I suck. So every day I'm, like, just pushing myself to learn a new skill or. On you.
[00:35:40] Speaker C: That's a really interesting frame of mind. And I feel like Luke, you could probably relate to that too. Having Luke curates a film festival and watches, you know, hundreds of shorts for a comedy festival. Like, Luke, how do you feel about yourself after you watch, like, 100 funny shorts?
[00:35:56] Speaker B: It depends. It depends, you know, depends on the day. But I hear you, man. Like it sometimes.
[00:36:01] Speaker C: It's inspiring.
[00:36:02] Speaker B: Absolutely.
[00:36:03] Speaker A: It's so inspiring. Yeah, it's. It's so inspiring. I mean, I, I don't even know to the extent of what you guys do, but you guys probably see, like, you said, a zillion times more than me. Like, but also, there is some not, not that I'm the person to say this to you, but sometimes you meet that person that you're really impressed by, and then they're kind of not as impressive as you think. So that's definitely a thing. So it's like you want to keep that degree of separation, of course. But that's another thing too. As you get closer in the industry, you're just like, oh, the magic is gone once you meet this person. But there are no. There's of course so many talented people.
And I got. Yeah, that's just, that's. What are you going.
[00:36:39] Speaker B: Are you still, Are you still starstruck by people at this point?
[00:36:44] Speaker A: I also have this weird thing where it's like, like I'll tell you, I got starstruck by my star stricken moments are like really embarrassing. Like Lance Oppenheim that would like, I would be freaking out. Like he would be walking scot free in like any part of the world. And I'll be like, oh my God. Like I remember one time when I went to my first SNL after party, which is like such a cool thing for me. I can't believe I got invited to one. Even though like anyone could get, you know, you just have to know like an intern. I don't even know, right? And I remember Dan Bola was there and I was like. And then, I mean I saw like when I saw Dana Carvey one time, I freaked out. I'm not going to lie. I saw Dana Carvey. Yeah.
[00:37:20] Speaker C: Luke and I were at lunch and Henry Winkler walked by.
[00:37:23] Speaker A: Oh no, that would be number.
[00:37:26] Speaker C: I froze. I never freeze too. I like, I, I pride myself on being a keep. I'm able to keep my cool. But that was like, whoa, dude, this.
[00:37:34] Speaker A: Should be the podcast. You should just talk to people in the industry and say who, who, who are you guys still.
Dude, Henry Winkler. I would freak out. I am. I mean he posted a picture. Yes. I mean his. Do you follow him on social media?
[00:37:45] Speaker C: I actually don't.
[00:37:46] Speaker B: I don't either.
[00:37:47] Speaker A: Dude, dude, his TikTok.
Yeah. Link in the bio. He needs it. He needs it.
Dude. He is like. I mean Henry. I read Being Henry. I read that last year. If you read his, his memoir, it's incredible. Yeah, Yeah. I mean Barry, Barry is my favorite show of 21st century or at least of the 20s.
Barry's. I mean Hiram Orai, that's another person. I'm like, this is the best here on. Mariah is like a genius. Like the way that he shoots things, it puts. I mean Vince Gilligan, I can just. I love talking to like talking about directors or just watch, you know. There was always those fears in the early 2000s and the tens. It was like Spike Jones and like PTA and now and then it was the Safdies and then it was like, I mean, Vince Gilligan has not done it for cinema yet. But I mean, if you watch like Better Call Saul, you're just like. You can watch that show with the. I mean, most of the time they don't even talk in Better Call Saul or in. Or in Pluribus. But like, you can watch that show with the sound off and learn so much about filmmaking, visual stories. Cameron Unique spake.
[00:38:47] Speaker C: Yeah, it's really interesting for, for a TV guy. He's like added so many classic filmic elements. It's crazy.
[00:38:53] Speaker A: He's. It's like, I will watch anything he does until the end of time. Yeah, yeah. Again, I'm not a filmmaker, but if I was, I would take all these reference points because these are just some of my favorite people. You know, I really, I started watching like. I mean, Albert Brooks is like my favorite of all time. He's less cinematic, more just like incredibly, incredibly, like cerebral. You know, it's like the older you get them, really, the more you realize like Steve Martin is really fucking dumb. And like Albert Brooks was like, so Albert Brooks is like the Nathan Fielder level of our time almost. And like.
Crazy.
Yeah. I like talking about other people. I don't make any. I just am so impressed by everybody, man. It's crazy.
[00:39:34] Speaker B: It's amazing to be able to have like in, in the current space too. Of like, you're clearly an insatiable kind of curiosity, but also just like being a sponge.
[00:39:45] Speaker A: Like you're.
[00:39:45] Speaker B: You have like this encyclopedic knowledge of, of content in general. Right. Like film, theater, any of that tv.
I mean, I.
Sounds just like a perfect kind of job to have. Right? Like with a 24 and cherry Lynn, like it's a dude.
[00:40:02] Speaker A: It's. Are you kidding me? I. I mean, right here on my desk is a Solara hat. You know, RIP Alara. That was the old Southeast production group.
But now I do. When I got this job, I remember when I. I put a post. I don't even believe in like manifesting or any of that spiritual, but I put a post and I put like a 24 marketing director. I got how to get like bullied into applying for that job because I just never thought I would have got it. So.
[00:40:23] Speaker B: Yeah. So why, why, why it asked that we never got to it. But about like, what, what was it about the job that like stood out to you?
[00:40:31] Speaker A: A24 is my favorite company ever. And I'm like, oh, I get to be on the ins. Yeah. So I, you know, I Been a fan of a 24 since bling ring and Sophia Coppola and Spring breakers and all that stuff. And again, all these people. I used to go to those movies by myself because no one wanted to go with me back, which is crazy to say.
I was just meeting the wrong people. I was like hanging out people like in Murray Hill must have been or something like that.
But yeah, no, I just saw that job. It just was posted online and I saw like thousands of people applied to it. And I have like these two really good friends, Jordan and Anu, who they work for Sweet. This place called Sweet Chick. Really cool, small own little place in New York City. They make like fried chicken and waffles. Amazing. And we were all sitting down, we were just like, what are we going to do next? We were all just like, oh, I'm going to happy my job. Like, we were just like pushing each other to do a thing. And they showed me this job that was posted and I was like, that's cool, but I'll never ever get it. But I was really drawn to it because I went to see Rami Yousef and, and I knew about oh hello. Being there. And I know I was a big theater, I wasn't a, I wasn't like a musical theater person. But you know, most of the people that I follow, they all were doing Broadway. Like, you know, I was seeing Jake Gyllenhaal doing Broadway back in the day. I mean I've seen you know, some, again some Elaney and Kroll. Neil Brennan do his show with Cherry Lane. So I just, I just, I don't know, I just, I wanted to work.
[00:41:48] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:41:48] Speaker A: 24.
[00:41:49] Speaker C: It feels like your, your way into Broadway is through comedians.
[00:41:53] Speaker A: Yeah. Oh for million million million percent. Like even like shouldn't go think about True West. It was like John C. Reilly, you know, it was like those, and Phil, Sy Hoffman and doing that type of thing. And then you know, even Belushi did it and, and you know, those were people that. So I, I, I just, I grew up definitely like loving comedy and idolizing comedians and then, you know, that's basically what that art form is. Especially with like, you know, Billy Crystal doing 600, 700 Sundays. What is it? I don't know, 700 Sundays. I mean, all that type of art form. I was so drawn to that. Yeah. So yeah, definitely, definitely comedy was my way in. I'm trying to think. I mean, I grew, I have, I'm in the middle. I have two sisters, you know, so we would see like Wicked a Bunch. And we, my sisters, you know, would scream Mamma Mia. All the time.
[00:42:37] Speaker C: Yeah, same.
[00:42:39] Speaker A: Yeah. You know, you know, you know how it is.
[00:42:41] Speaker C: I also have two sisters and.
[00:42:43] Speaker A: Yes, you get it. Yeah. I mean, yeah. I mean, I, they culturally can't even keep up with me at this point. That's another. Are your sisters like, do they like, are you. Are you like, are they. Wait, are they from New York or where are you originally?
[00:42:55] Speaker C: I'm from la. Luke and I are both grew up together in la.
[00:42:58] Speaker A: But you went to school in nyu.
[00:42:59] Speaker C: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
[00:43:00] Speaker A: Cool. Cool. Yeah. I mean it's. Yeah, man. I mean, once you come to New York, it's like theaters. I mean, now and then. Now I work for an off Broadway. Off Broadway is just as hot as.
Just hot as Broadway, man.
[00:43:09] Speaker C: Absolutely.
[00:43:10] Speaker A: I think Mary Omari was huge.
[00:43:12] Speaker C: Oh my God.
[00:43:13] Speaker A: A year ago.
[00:43:14] Speaker C: Yes.
I, I asked that, you know, that sort of comedian centric question because. Yeah, I, I observed that in, in your taste. Seeing these Simon Rich plays and seeing, you know, Millennium Kroll early on and there's a lot of sort of just like, you know, the, the Birbiglia esque sort of comedian storytellers, right. That are. That are very deeply ingrained kind of into the Cherry Lane type culture and.
[00:43:38] Speaker A: Things like that huge Cherry Lane guy. Oh my God, he did the, the new one maybe there before went to Broadway or one of those.
[00:43:47] Speaker C: But I also ask that because obviously A24 is primarily a film company and TV, but we, we've sort of discussed. We love talking about the overlap between theater and film tv and I'm curious if there are. Are there conversations as a company about how you can sort of blend the two with, you know, with this theater being a sort of.
Obviously it's a, it's a catalyst for new work and things like that and, and the potential crossover with adaptation and things like that.
[00:44:19] Speaker A: Yeah, I, I think for now. And we made a good point of saying this is too. Is like, you know, it's, it's a main point for discovery. It's like, it's a.
It's like sort of give back to the community and keeping art alive and what probably would have been a place that would have been scooped up by another brand that wouldn't have cared about or, you know, respected the reverence and the historical origin of this place. And I think that's just a huge thing. 824, you know, it's not a.
You know, you're not making a lot of money, if at all off this place. You Know, it's purely for. For art, for new voices, for discovery. It's a cultural hub. You know, that's like.
[00:44:53] Speaker C: It's for brand as well, right? It's.
[00:44:55] Speaker A: Yeah, it's for. Yeah, it is. But. But again, a lot of our stuff, like a lot of our H1 24 hour, like, no one has even considered doing. You know, we did Natalie Palamides again. That was our first show. It's like a clown. Clown comic. So everyone thinks it's like the A24 theater and the Hereditary is going to be adapted into play. Like, I'm sure that that's. It may be in the back of people's mind, but it's. It's really just to be a cultural hub for sure and like to just sort of expand the horizons in terms of just like making live theater and. And, you know, there's theater, there's art, there's. I mean, if you look at the program, the programming is definitely a little reflect. You know, Sofia Coppola is a huge A24 alum to a degree, but, yeah, I think that's definitely sort of down the road there. But for now, we're just like. For now, we're just not trying to ruin the magic of this place, you know.
[00:45:46] Speaker C: Absolutely. And that's very, like, honorable of you guys, because I try to, to some extent, speak on behalf of the theater community, and that's the answer they're looking for. They're not looking for someone to fully filmize it, you know.
[00:45:59] Speaker A: No. Like, you know, like Annie Baker, who did like, Janet Planet and, you know, directed the flick. And that was, you know, everyone is massive fan of her. And, you know, we're doing like a Playwrights Horizons, sort of a basic. Like a free postgraduate, if you're selected to it, you know, where she gets sort of mentoring. We're doing like a. Like a mentorship program with Andy Baker. It's pretty incredible. So, you know, obviously she has made a. You know, Janet played an incredible film with us in the past, but we're still honoring, you know, theater at the core. And, you know, we're not going to do Josh Shafty this. You know, I mean, we had Safdie and Ronnie the other day, and they're great, but right now it's just kind of like, you know, I think financially it was. That place was in a tricky spot, and we were able to come in and sort of help them out and then again, sort of restore again, just like light restoration to the place.
They were doing such a great job beforehand. They it's like a. We were given the keys to the Ferrari. It's like an incredible, like, shiny new toy that A24 just got to be like, look what we have as well. And it's. It's. It's an amazing pairing. It's been fantastic. It's so cool. Yeah.
[00:47:02] Speaker B: What do you do in your free time? Or I guess the follow up is, do you have free time?
[00:47:08] Speaker A: Oh, yeah. I mean, I mean, if you ask my girlfriend, like, she's like, certain she'll be like, what do you think? Oh, you're thinking about work. Like, I just can't. I. I really love the shop so much. We went, like. She tried to take me to, like, some meditative thing the other day, and she saw like, my, My. My eyes just going. And my. My feet just like moving really quickly. I try. I try to relax. I. I mean, right now I'm watching like, football all day. I'm gonna. I. I don't even know what's happening. The second half of this game. I watch. I still like a lot of sports. I go to a lot of theater. I go to the movies all the time. I have a Regal Unlimited pass. You know, it's amazing. Deal. I'm not going to plug re. I'll plug it.
No, do it. Do you guys have a. Well, in la, it's different. You guys have the best.
Yeah, but you guys have. Come on.
[00:47:53] Speaker B: We have. Yes, yes, yes.
[00:47:55] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:47:57] Speaker B: The Regal Unlimited pass. We have, like, the AMC Stubs pass. But yeah, we have like, the cinema text out here.
[00:48:03] Speaker C: Going to see a movie in theaters is hard in New York. From my.
[00:48:07] Speaker A: Really? Nah, nah, nah.
It depends where you live.
[00:48:12] Speaker B: The Angelica, the. The Villages on Houston.
I lived right above that.
[00:48:17] Speaker A: That changed my life, that place. Obviously, like, when I first moved there, I was like, all right, there's cool. And then I look like I can name everything, dude. I mean, the Film Forum Village Film form is beautiful. Yeah, dude. I mean, Nighthawk. Are you kidding me? That's where I was put.
[00:48:31] Speaker B: I saw an Oju, an Ozu, whole kind of like I spent there at the Film Forum watching.
[00:48:40] Speaker A: Yeah, they do like. Yeah, they do that. They do that too at Nighthawk. Will do, like, themed or like, director weekends and now, like, that's cool. John Wilson. John Wilson has like, the Low Cinema and Ridgewood, which is where I live for a very long time. It's very, very formative being in Bushwick. That's like.
I would say it's like. It's like Echo Park. Ridgewood in Bushwick is Like, is like Echo park equivalent, for sure.
But yeah, I mean, I. I go. I just see a lot of. See a lot of stuff, man. I mean, I recently just finished Death Stranding by Hideo Kojima. You ever played that game? I'm not even a video game person, but he's like, the greatest.
[00:49:11] Speaker B: He's the guy. He's the guy.
[00:49:13] Speaker A: Yeah, dude. I mean, a 24 is producing that movie. I don't know. Look it up. Look up Elden Ring, A24 and Death Stranding. I mean, that's just huge. I also have, like, a few of my New York friends, though. We just love. We love this stuff. We go to museums, we go to movies all the time.
See a bunch of shows, go to. I mean, I can. Barry Ballroom is one of my favorite venues here. Brooklyn Steel, obviously. Bam. Opera House is incredible.
[00:49:37] Speaker C: Beautiful.
[00:49:38] Speaker A: Yeah, there's so many. And then. And then now I like, live at Cherry Lane. I pretty much live in the West Village, which is a crazy thing. But, yeah, my free time.
[00:49:45] Speaker B: Not a bad place to live.
[00:49:47] Speaker A: Yeah, I live in Williamsburg, but it is.
It's crazy. It's been in my days, but yeah, I'm just. I'm just like. I just like stuff, man. I. I watch a lot of t. What am I watching right now? I'm finishing the Comeback right now with Lisa Kudrow, which is again, another head of its time. Fucking Chevy.
[00:50:03] Speaker C: Yeah, definitely like a slept on show, dude.
[00:50:06] Speaker A: Michael Schur was like an original, like, contributor to that show or like, producer.
I got another person. I mean, Michael Sherd created.
Yeah. Oh, man. I mean, I mean, some of his earlier.
[00:50:15] Speaker C: We don't even need to say what he made.
[00:50:17] Speaker A: Yeah, exactly. Yeah. He's also like a big sports junkie, but I'm just saying, like, it's so interesting to be like. You know, I remember especially with the 50th happening and watching all those SNL docs and seeing like Robert Smigel and all those types of people and all these, like. I don't know. I don't know, all these New York staple sort of people. But, yeah, I just watch a lot of stuff in my free time. I.
I just tore my ACL a couple months ago, so that was a bummer. So that got me playing video games. Yeah. Playing basketball. I played ball. Yeah. Yeah. But playing basketball, I tore that. So that was. That was a challenge. So when I got this job and I was flying to London the next day, I tore my ACL the day before. And I was like, oh, I think I just sprained. My knee. And then I went on a flight and I was like, oh my God. Blew up. And then I came back and I was just thugging it around London, meeting all these producers and play people like limping. And then thank God, honestly, because they were just like. I found out what was wrong with me. But yeah, I'm very active, if you can't tell by the way I talk. I move fast, I consume things fast. I'm just. I'm biking around the city, doing everything. I mean, I'm here for a reason. A lot of my friends have kind of like waved the white flag and moved back to Florida, but I'm like, I would never. Yeah. Even consider leaving this place.
[00:51:25] Speaker C: I think you fit. Your vibe. Fits New York as much as anybody I've ever met, probably.
[00:51:30] Speaker A: Oh, thank you. That's a compliment. Thank you. I love LA though. Dude. I love the East. Wait, where. Where in LA do you guys live?
[00:51:36] Speaker C: I'm in Silver Lake. Luke's on the.
[00:51:38] Speaker A: I'm on.
[00:51:39] Speaker B: I'm on the west side.
[00:51:40] Speaker A: Yeah. What. How west? What are we talking here? I'm.
[00:51:42] Speaker B: I'm in Brentwood. I'm in Brentwood.
[00:51:44] Speaker A: Oh, Brentwood. Oh, wow.
[00:51:45] Speaker C: There's a surge of young people moving to Brentwood, apparently.
[00:51:48] Speaker A: Really?
[00:51:49] Speaker B: Dude, there's a. We're getting. All the east side people are coming here.
[00:51:52] Speaker A: Really? Why?
I don't know.
Wait, wait, what are you. What. What are your go to's. Wyatt and Silver? Like, what do you like, where do you like to go?
[00:52:01] Speaker C: Oh my God. Like to eat or to go out or. What are we talking about?
[00:52:04] Speaker A: Anything. Like, do people even go out? I don't really go out.
[00:52:07] Speaker C: Yeah, no, not really. Azizam.
[00:52:09] Speaker A: The.
Yeah.
[00:52:11] Speaker C: Persian place.
[00:52:12] Speaker A: Yeah, of course. That's. That's newer, right? That's newer on the boulevard?
[00:52:15] Speaker C: I. I think so. I've only lived. I. I lived in Sherman Oaks a year ago, so I moved here a year ago.
[00:52:20] Speaker A: Oh, you moved in? Like, See, Sherman Oaks is like a sec. Technically the. The Valley. It's like the suburbs by the Valley, right?
[00:52:26] Speaker C: It's very much suburbs. It's a lot of strollers. I got sick of the strollers. I moved to Silver.
[00:52:31] Speaker A: Nice. Like, exactly. There's like basically those like strip malls, but like very nice. Like there's like an REI in Sherman Oaks, right?
[00:52:37] Speaker C: There is. Yeah, I think there's an rei. There's the Westfield Mall. There's, you know, but yeah, but Silver, I love la. I live. I live in a spot that's like a. A little closer to East Hollywood. But it's still technically Silver Lake, so I kind of get the best of both worlds, which I'm like, it's seven minutes to Koreatown. I went to this great shout out to a place called Biriami Kebab House.
[00:52:59] Speaker A: It is.
[00:53:01] Speaker C: I found it. Just.
[00:53:02] Speaker A: I'm gonna add that to my Google. My Google calendar is crazy. My Google, like want, you know, want to go to's or whatever.
[00:53:08] Speaker C: They will.
Biriami Kebab House.
It's also. Kumail Nanjiani posted about it. He had it for Thanksgiving, which I had actually gone to it before he posted about it, which kind of solidified that it's like a legit type.
[00:53:22] Speaker A: That's amazing. I mean, that's like. I mean, send me that. It's so funny. I mean, obviously I follow everything in la. Like, I love like Squirrel in la. And like, I mean the Max and Helen's thing right now is crazy, guys. I mean, I, I love it's. But like every day there's a. There's a private event there and I see everyone talk. I mean, there's great diners in LA shout out like Langers and there's like Clark's and then there's Millie's and Millie's in Silver Lakes is good.
Squirrel.
[00:53:47] Speaker C: Squirrel is like, it's. It's a. It's a little like pricey for what it is. I. I live like a couple blocks away from Squirrel. Not to real my location, but.
[00:53:55] Speaker A: No, no, no, that's good. It's like bird. Yeah. Yeah, you're by. So you're by Courage. Courage is crazy too. I mean the line. The line culture is crazy, but like, I'm from.
[00:54:04] Speaker C: I'm not big on line culture.
[00:54:06] Speaker B: David, you don't, you don't seem to be a guy that would, that would wait in line.
[00:54:09] Speaker A: No way. Oh my goodness, no. I'm like such a hater. Like, I love a lot of things, but also I'm so critical. Like, I'm like the most judgmental person you could ever meet. I'm just like, oh, this is cooked now. This is. Oh my God, if I see.
But no, dude, I wanted. Before I got this job, I was really trying to move out to la. And you can do both.
[00:54:28] Speaker C: I feel like, I mean, I.
At the beginning of every year, I've made a ode to myself to just like, when are my New York trips going to be? Like, I already have one planned. I know there's going to be another one. Like, I try to. I try to just be there at least twice because it's important. It grounds it.
[00:54:44] Speaker A: Oh, I can only imagine you need that more than me going to la. Honestly, like, you need, I feel like you definitely need a bit of the gr. I know it's so cliche, but, like, you need to struggle. Like, I struggle. You know, there's so many areas when you struggle in terms of commuting and grabbing your groceries. You don't have a car and you're like farmers carrying your back, and it's just, it's brutal. And the, the people here and the hustle and bustle and.
But no, dude, I love LA so much. I want to move to, like, Highland park or Yorok for sure, if I was there, because I feel like that's, that's the extension of, of talk about commute.
[00:55:18] Speaker C: It's not great if you're living over there and you're trying.
[00:55:20] Speaker A: Oh, well, that's, Yeah, I wouldn't even. I, I, I, we very much take for granted in New York, like, how I can get from A to Z. And I, I, City bike. I used to have a bike, got stolen, but now I just like city bike. It, it's easier.
[00:55:31] Speaker C: My bike got stolen out here too. It can happen in both places.
[00:55:33] Speaker A: Oh, it can happen anywhere. I, I had, like, a BMX bike that was, like, purple and yellow. I don't know what I was doing. So silly. Yeah, that's.
[00:55:40] Speaker C: That basically it was. Was steal me written on it, was it?
[00:55:43] Speaker A: Basically. I, I, yeah, I was asking for it. I was. And then I left it by the subway. I was being so overzealous. I left it for, like, a week. It was my fault. 100. My fault.
[00:55:52] Speaker C: Yeah, yeah, that'll happen.
Well, I want to be conscious of time, and you're a busy guy.
[00:55:57] Speaker A: Yeah. The Golden Globes. Are you guys gonna watch the Globes?
[00:55:59] Speaker C: Of course.
[00:56:00] Speaker B: I'm recording.
[00:56:00] Speaker A: Come on.
[00:56:01] Speaker C: Recording them?
[00:56:01] Speaker A: Yeah, I'm recording.
[00:56:02] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:56:02] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:56:04] Speaker C: What's the dream, man?
And I know that's vague, but what's the dream?
[00:56:08] Speaker A: The dream is. The dream is just to keep going, to keep, like, being excited when I wake up every day. And, like, the dream is what I'm doing right now, obviously. It sounds so freaking corny, but it's not gonna stop there. My dream is just to, I don't know, I, I, When I was younger, I really wanted to be the head of strategy for, like, Jordan or Rolling Stone or for, like, a major brand. And now I'm working for a 24, which is my favorite company company. So the dream is to just keep being so cliche that's coming out of my mouth. Just keep being curious and like, just not getting old yet. Like, I am unk. You know what I'm saying? But like, I feel like I have such.
I have like, youthful energy and I realize that and I just don't want to, like, slow down until I'm like 50.
So I got a lot to do. I got a lot to do here and. And I want to stay at a 24 for a long time. I mean, we'll see what happens there. So.
[00:56:56] Speaker B: Yeah, where can. Where, where can. Where can we like kind of. And our listeners just follow along with. With Cherry Lane, like, just to see.
[00:57:03] Speaker A: The programming follow Cherry Lane. I mean, I run.
I'm director of marketing, but I'm the only marketing person. So you can just go on cherrylanetheater.org you can go on their Instagram. And we don't do tick tock or anything like that.
It's pretty simple. Oh, man. You guys, the. The globes. The globes red carpet pictures. You got, you got. You guys are not even gonna be able to catch up. You're so. We're an hour behind.
[00:57:26] Speaker C: I'm gonn hour to look at the heated rivalry guys probably.
[00:57:30] Speaker A: Oh, I know. Oh, my God. Between Rolling Stone, Jess, Jared, Vanity Fair, but oh, my God, the cut all these brands. Jesus Christ, look at this right now. But yeah, I think the goal is just to keep just. The goal is to just not give up and not leave New York and go back to Florida like all my other friends. And that's the dream. And like, keep making stuff. And then hopefully I would love to make something one day too. Like, I'm so inspired by Lance Oppenheim and I. I love everything. I think he's just my favorite person right now. Like, he made Some Kind of Heaven and he's doing that new movie, Rob Pattinson now, which is like a crime drama. And then he. If you guys ever see Ren Ren Fair, like, he's so good at, like, being scrappy and telling a story with like, not even a crew. I think that's like. I would love to do something like that one day. That's like a doc or something like that. So. Yeah, that's it.
[00:58:13] Speaker B: I love that. And you definitely will, bro. Seriously, this is.
[00:58:16] Speaker A: I want to. I. I hate talking about that. Well, we'll just, we'll get.
Yeah, we'll do a little group chat if you guys need anything. If you guys ever want to come see a show. Cherry Lane absolutely would love to. And I'm sure we'll see each other. I mean, I was in LA a couple times for work last year, so maybe this year we'll see.
[00:58:33] Speaker C: Let's do it. Let's do it. Appreciate you, man. Thanks for.
[00:58:35] Speaker A: Thank you, guys. I hope. I hope some of this was usable, but I doubt it.
[00:58:38] Speaker B: So amazing.
[00:58:40] Speaker A: Thank you. Thank you. All right, guys. Thank you so much.
[00:58:42] Speaker B: Peace. Thank you, man.
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 give us five stars, because. Why not? Why not subscribe? Why not? You know why not. Okay, bye.
