HOW TO: Fill Needs and Evolve as a Writer (w/ Brandon Scott Wolf)

[00:00:00] Speaker A: At Neil Patrick Harris, they sat me down and said, we have three writers here. They are all very experienced. They have been working on the show for a couple weeks already, and they have figured out the meat of the sandwich. Now we need you to come in and be the bread. Can you be the bread? And so the bread of that show was writing intros, outros, creative bits around the show. And I was like, I can totally fill this need. I know how to write monologue jokes. I know how to write snappy, quippy dialogue. I can. I can be the bread. [00:00:37] Speaker B: I'm Luke Steinfeld. [00:00:38] Speaker C: And I'm Wyatt Sarkisian. [00:00:39] Speaker B: We made the 5050 podcast to support you on your filmmaking journey. [00:00:43] Speaker C: 50% business, 50% creative. [00:00:45] Speaker B: Every Tuesday, a new how to. [00:00:47] Speaker C: This week, we chat with Brandon Scott Wolf, a writer and comedian who is not only a testament to achieving career longevity as a writer, but but also working at the intersection of advertising, writing, and social media. We hope you like it. [00:01:11] Speaker A: Yeah, I see that. I also. I love a podcast. I think it's one of these things that gets put out into the world and people go, oh, that's kind of interesting. But really, it's a device to make friends. Right? Totally. This is. This is it. [00:01:27] Speaker C: That's. That's absolutely. I mean, it gives us an excuse to, like, talk to a person every week who at least one of us hasn't met, you know, who has done. [00:01:38] Speaker A: A better job bringing guests on. [00:01:40] Speaker C: Oh, that's a great question, I think. [00:01:41] Speaker B: Why? Why? It's done some. [00:01:43] Speaker A: I don't know. [00:01:44] Speaker C: There. There's periods where we do, like, three in a row of, like, Luke's people. So Luke. I don't know. [00:01:50] Speaker B: Luke's people. [00:01:51] Speaker C: Yeah. [00:01:52] Speaker A: Unquote. Not the white. I have. No. [00:01:56] Speaker C: We are luckily. I mean, you know, luckily. For better or for worse. Like, at the point where we can start, like, sort of dming people, and we have enough to show that they're like, oh, this is, like, maybe a real thing, and they'll want to come on, you know? [00:02:11] Speaker A: So I went through your Spotify playlist, and I listened to a couple episodes, and I was impressed. I was like, okay, this isn't a gotcha pod. They're not trying to ruin lives. They're making friends talking about the industry. And the industry is such a loose term. You know, there's comedy, there's film, there's advertising. And that's where I come in. Comedy, film, advertising. I feel like this is my area. [00:02:40] Speaker C: Living at the intersection of it. [00:02:42] Speaker A: Yes. Which I think almost everyone you've Talked to probably is because that's the world we live in right now. And everyone is dabbling, everyone is learning, everyone is growing. And that's why I'm here. I want to learn more about you two. So on this episode of the 5050 pod, I am host Brandon Scott Wolfe, here with Luke Steinfeld and Wyatt Sarkeesian. Wyatt, Luke, can you tell me a little bit about how you met? [00:03:10] Speaker B: Oh, yeah, I mean Wyatt and I, I don't know if you heard this one, but we, we've actually been going to school together since we were about three or four. [00:03:22] Speaker C: Yeah. [00:03:22] Speaker B: Maybe five. [00:03:23] Speaker C: Maybe five. Four or five. Kindergarten. We've known each other forever, so we have a sort of built in rapport and we've stayed whether, you know, he went to usc, I went to school on the east Coast. Not saying which one. [00:03:40] Speaker A: I like that. I like that little bit of mystery. [00:03:44] Speaker B: I went to school in New Haven. [00:03:46] Speaker A: Yeah, you went to Sally's a pizza. [00:03:50] Speaker C: Yes, Sally's Pizza Parlor. [00:03:52] Speaker A: Very good pizza. And then there's also. What's the other pizza spot there that's really good? [00:04:00] Speaker C: Pepe's. [00:04:01] Speaker A: Pepe. Frank Pepe. Yes. [00:04:05] Speaker C: But yeah, so we, we, you know, were on different routes but staying sort of parallel to each other still. And then we, we came back together when I moved back to la and ever since then we've been very parallel in terms of our aspirations and our, and our more than that kind of our outlook on the industry and just like trying to, you know, we've been, we've been side to side trying to, trying to navigate the, the treacherous waters together, you know, which I'm sure you know you know a lot about. And do you, do you have anybody like that, like off the bat, do you have a, anybody who you grew up with, who you're like still navigating the, the industry with? [00:04:47] Speaker A: Not necessarily anyone I grew up with, but I have a ton of friends from college I went to and I'll say the school, Penn State, Penn State University, the Nittany Lions. And I had a great experience there. I started looking for opportunities to like find like minded people that were outside of the typical frat situation. [00:05:13] Speaker C: Sure. [00:05:14] Speaker A: And I ended up going to this club called Froth P H R O T H. It was a reboot of a club that existed at Penn State over a hundred years ago and it was like the Onion. So I ended up writing for this comedy group and I started within my first year just like writing too many articles and none of them were standouts. But at one point the head Writer at the time said, oh, Brandon, like I love to see this drive, this energy, especially from someone who's an underclassman. I would say one third of your articles are good. And so at that point, like I kept writing and building, but I was also writing with a bunch of really great people. There's a handful of friends who still do comedy stand up writing that I keep in touch with frequently. They're in New York, they're in dc, they're wherever. And I'm out here in la, obviously, but not to all the listeners out there, obviously you can tell them out here in la, but there are a lot of really close friends who I made through froth and then they helped me found this club called Second Floor Standup, which is one of the most proud. I don't even want to call it like a career mile marker or anything like that, but starting a standup comedy club in college, having that build from myself and four or five, six other friends doing standup in my second floor apartment in downtown State College, Pennsylvania to, to then within a year winning best new student Organization. Then the following year we won the national College Comedy competition put on through rooftop comedy and TBS. And the Club 10, 15 years later is still around is the thing that I'm proud of. [00:07:12] Speaker C: Yeah, what a great. That's like such a great thing to be able to say and claim to be know something that you took part in. [00:07:21] Speaker A: So like if I go back to Penn State and there is a second floor show, I will pop in, I'll meet the current crop of student comedians and it's always nice to see that, hey, it's just a banner. They don't know who I am, but I know who they are. And I think that is really, really nice, especially because people come out of that and I do end up making friends with certain comedians. And you know, it's one of those situations where they say, oh, you founded the club, you were one of the founders, you were a comedian in this thing. What did you do to get to where you are? And I never look at myself and say, oh, that's, that's a success. You know, this is someone who is wildly successful because like, how do you measure that? But I will say that coming from that pod of people and still staying in contact with a good amount of them who are great friends of mine. And that is what matters the most to me. [00:08:17] Speaker C: Yeah. [00:08:18] Speaker A: So to answer your question, college friends, the college friends who are in entertainment are still working with me on a handful of different projects. And sometimes it's not projects. Sometimes it's like, hey, we're throwing a bachelor party, which is also a project. [00:08:31] Speaker C: Of course, in a way. [00:08:33] Speaker A: Yeah. But yeah, it's so cool that you and Luke know each other since I don't want to say diapers, but if you're, you know, finding five years old wearing a diaper, four years old wearing a diaper. No. Shame on that. [00:08:44] Speaker C: Or if you're like Luke and you were, you know, heading into middle school, still doing it, you know. Yeah, yeah, it's totally fine. Listen, I know that's not the first time a diaper into middle school joke made on the podcast. [00:08:57] Speaker A: I was gonna say, I know 80 year olds who wear diapers, which, like, also true. It's cool. Diapers are chill. How have you brought this up before? I don't, I don't. [00:09:07] Speaker C: I think it was the same sort of. I think it was the same sort of origin story thing. [00:09:11] Speaker A: Thing. [00:09:11] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:09:12] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:09:13] Speaker C: But to, to put it back on to you, Brandon. I, I know you at. As a writer. The place where I used to work represents you. And, and, you know, are on your management team. And, and you just always like, as, as an assistant, you don't get many, like, emails from clients saying like, hey, we should like, grab drinks or we should like, get coffee. I don't remember exactly what you said, but it was like, it was. You were reaching out to me, which was unbelievable because from my perspective as an assistant, like, I have a very regimented way of going about things, which is like, oh, like, you know, you schedule meetings for a person a couple of times and then you're talking on the phone with them, maybe you have read their writing and are complimenting them and then they're like, oh, what do you want to do? You know, there's like a specific structure to the assistant, like the proper way of an assistant getting to know a client and eventually like, you know, seeing them and becoming friends with them. Right. And you like, cut that in, into, you know, just a straight up, like, hey, like, nice to meet you. You, like, saw me as a person, which is like, you know, assistants don't get to have that a lot. So, like, I really appreciated that. And we've been like, getting coffee ever since and I've sort of, you know, risen up in my career slightly and. And you've obviously had tons of jobs since then, and I've, I've. It's been really fascinating to see your trajectory. So right off the bat, I just want to say, like, thank you for doing that because it's very meaningful for, you know, someone a couple years older to just, you know, stretch out their hand and do that. [00:10:52] Speaker A: Well, one you are equally in need of. Thanks. But because you reciprocated, you said, yeah, I would love to get coffee, I would love to hang out. I like to think that this industry is all about making friends. I think life is all about making friends. And I say that in the sense where, you know, you want to have friends in the business, out of the business. Sometimes, you know, you only have 24 hours in a day, seven days a week. But it's nice to get a positive message, have a conversation with someone that ends up feeling positive because we're surrounded by negativity, we're surrounded by no's. For years, pre pandemic, I did stand up and all that was was getting in front of crowds. You would occasionally do really well, and then you would occasionally have nights where you're bombing and you do poorly and people don't to hear what you have to say. They don't care about you, they don't see you as a person. And we're all people. We're all people. We all do positive stuff from time to time. We all do negative stuff from time to time. We're all learning, we're all growing. We're all trying to figure it out. And so why not make a community? Why not figure it out together? And I think that's what you and Luke are doing with this 5050 podcast and your festival. I think you are doing the practice, what you preach. When you accept an invitation, it's the same as offering an invitation. And like, we do live in a world where people second guess themselves. People say, oh, am I good enough? Am I talented enough? The answer is, you are talented enough. You are good enough. Sometimes you just need to continue putting in the effort and that's in the work, whether it's writing, illustrations, animations, directing, or friendship. And sometimes, you know, saying, hey, man, I'm Brandon, you have maybe scheduled a couple meetings for me, but could you, you know, grab coffee with me in the next two weeks? Like, matters a lot. And like, I've done that and message people and sometimes it goes nowhere. And then sometimes I get lifelong friends. Like, it's all a crapshoot. And I don't know, sometimes it's good to, like, take a step back and be like, hey, it was nice I sent that email. All right, good for me. But also like, whatever. Like, it's all. [00:13:22] Speaker B: Absolutely. [00:13:22] Speaker C: It's always, you know, you get into to a position where I'm sure you're asked to coffee, you know, a lot by younger people in the industry. And just to remember that there's, there's always people that you can be reaching out to too. You know, you're never, you're never too good to be constantly reaching out and trying to make more friends, you know. [00:13:41] Speaker A: And age wise, I don't think it matters. I, I have had conversations with folks who are 20 years older than me, 30 years older than me. I've reached out to people who are younger, older, the same age, just saying, like, hey, I'm Brandon, I would love to sit down and talk with you for about 15 minutes. And yeah, that 15 minutes usually leads to an hour, two hours, whatever it is. And beyond that. And honestly, I attribute that to the International Radio and Television Society. I was in this fellowship program years ago where they selected college students who wanted careers in media. And this group maybe takes on 20 different students from across the country every year, gives them housing in New York City and sets them up with a, like, internship. And so I ended up working at an ad agency one summer, and it was an absolute blast. I learned a lot, made a ton of friends, ended up sitting down with, you know, the heads of HBO in New York, the heads of this, that, or the other company. And you got a real feel for the media landscape. So they, they kind of just taught me message. As many people as you can who are interesting and see where it goes. It's spaghetti against the wall. I think spaghetti against the wall makes a ton of sense. And if you go to my website, there is actually a picture of me with a bowl of spaghetti on my head. And that, that picture is really what the industry is. [00:15:12] Speaker C: That's kind of you. It's kind of you in a nutshell. [00:15:14] Speaker A: Yeah. Make a mess, be silly, have fun. [00:15:17] Speaker C: I love that. What, at what point in your career was that? The International Radio and TV Society. That was after college. [00:15:26] Speaker A: That was the summer after college. I applied the previous summer and I got rejected. And then my senior year, I applied again and they accepted me. And honestly, they were going to place me at the Daily show, but their connections fell through like three, four weeks before it started. And I ended up at an ad agency, which. A small ad agency in New York city with maybe five to 10 people. Was an incredible experience. [00:15:53] Speaker C: Yeah, blessing in disguise, definitely. [00:15:55] Speaker A: I ended up being a production assistant. I ended up seeing how brainstorming works at that level. And they were working with large clients. They were working with, like, Paramount, they were working with Viacom. They had connections with different insurance agencies and all sorts of places. And so I got to see how ads get made. [00:16:15] Speaker C: Yeah, and it's. Yeah, it's really cool. It's really cool. As a, as a person who now works sort of tangential to marketing and advertising, I, I see just how creative those people like. It's, it's amazing to see they, like, they just cut to the chase. They're, they're writers. They, they get around a table and just spit ideas back and forth. Was that, was that also just like good writing development for you? [00:16:40] Speaker A: 100%. Being able to see people in their mid-20s, 30s and 40s, like, sit around and discuss, hey, we have this client. This is their want. How can we execute this in a creative way that actually gets to the point? So that, to me is such a superpower for all writing. You, you need, you know, if you're writing a feature, you still need that log line. You still need a sentence that hooks people. Otherwise why would I read 110 pages? This is crazy. So get in, hit your beats that you want to tell your story. Find that emotional arc and show people where that growth is going to be while you tell your tail. [00:17:25] Speaker C: Totally. [00:17:25] Speaker B: What, what was the dream? Coming out of school. [00:17:29] Speaker A: I wanted to write comedy. I wanted to be a comedy writer ever since probably like high school. I started seeing the, you know, Comedy Central Presents and I was like, stand up comedy is really fantastic. And I loved watching that, like, crop of new comics come up in the, you know, early 2000s, 2005 area. And then I went to college and I started working, you know, as a writer for Froth. And I was like, this is really what I want to do. Which ended up leading to an internship at the Onion. The summer before the International Radio and Television Society. I was, I was there as an editorial intern in New York, which was a phenomenal experience. And then I ended up moving towards, oh, I want to be a stand up. In college. I like writing, I like getting on stage. Stage. If I could do it for an Onion style satirical newspaper, I could do it for myself by standing in front of a group of people. And I started building out that kind of a world. We won the national college comedy Competition and I was fortunate enough to be able to perform on TBS's Lopez Tonight, which was a late night show at the time. And at Just for Laughs when they had it in Chicago, I was on like a night New Faces block with Lil Rel Howery and Theo Vaughn and crazy at that point, you know, I was like, things are happening. Things are going really well. Maybe I'll do stand up full time. Maybe I'll be a writer full time. Got this irts, you know, advertising taste a little bit. And after that summer, I ended up living in my parents attic. Not their basement, their attic. [00:19:10] Speaker C: And let's make that clear. [00:19:12] Speaker A: Yeah, attic is different than basement. Less sad. [00:19:15] Speaker C: Totally, totally different vibes. [00:19:17] Speaker A: More of a. Hey, he's an eclectic artist. You know, he's eccentric. [00:19:22] Speaker C: He's not like, yeah, he's not like the antisocial, like Dungeon Master, you know, he's. He's a. He's just figuring himself out upstairs, you. [00:19:31] Speaker A: Know, I'm upstairs, I'm screaming, I'm having fun. I'm laughing at my own jokes, all of that sort of stuff. Stuff. [00:19:37] Speaker C: You're screaming. [00:19:38] Speaker A: Yeah, well, screaming my jokes. I'm, you know, getting very loud up there. My parents are like, knock it off. You know, they're yelling. [00:19:45] Speaker C: It's a happy household overall. [00:19:47] Speaker A: Yeah. Yes, very much so. And I started interning and taking classes at the Upright Citizens Brigade. So UCB Sketch Comedy Track. I didn't really have an interest in improv. Not that I think improv is bad, but I like improv. I made a ton of friends over the years through improv and ucb, but I was like, stand up in writing. That's a lot already. So I focused on that. I ended up getting, you know, like an internship at UCB where I was literally cleaning toilets next to comedians that we all know their names and they're very successful. And from there I was like, I want to write for snl. And I saw online, this was like, to answer your question, you know, of what I want to do after college, I was like, I would like to write for SNL in any capacity. And so I saw online, Twitter was huge at the time, before it became X. And I saw people posting. I am a contributing writer to SNL Weekend Update. So I figured, hey, let's figure out a creative way to also do that. Because if something exists, if a job exists, there's a way you can get to it. And usually on your way to get to getting to it, you either get the job, land the position, find your happiness, or what you think will be happiness, or you've worked at something, you've gotten good at it, and there's a pivot and you find something even better. [00:21:14] Speaker C: It's like any good script, right? You either get the goal or you don't get the goal, but you get the, you know, the sort of emotional payoff. [00:21:20] Speaker A: It's like, yes, yes, exactly. So I was writing on a Twitter account called@hiremesnl Years and years and years ago. [00:21:31] Speaker C: This is, this is your account that you made. [00:21:34] Speaker A: Yeah, I thought this was a good idea. I thought this was a great idea to get seen. Just say, hey, hire me snl. It's a clear message. I took some of my ad agency background experience and I said, this will get their attention. And so while I was interning at ucb, I was always either mopping, cleaning, or writing monologue jokes down. And so every day I would find five new setups. I would say, okay, XYZ did this. And then. And there's a cadence to it. You know, you learn voice, you learn. At the time Set Myers was the host. It was. And so I was always trying to find the. Or the one word joke. [00:22:17] Speaker C: Well, how. Before that, how do you find those? The. The premises? Like, how do you find. Are you looking at the news? Weird news? Like, what does that, what does that look like yesterday? [00:22:27] Speaker A: Yes, very, very much so. I was always on Huffington Post. I was always looking at their weird news section. I was looking at politics. I would hop to cnn, I would hop to the New York Times, whatever was the number one trending story of the day. And I've side note, I've always loved news and telling stories. I'm a print journalism communications major at Penn State. So I always liked hearing other people's stories and just like seeing how the structure worked. And so finding that structure for a monologue joke was super important to me. And then after writing 20 plus a day, I would take the one that was actually a joke and I would put it on @hiremesnl. So I did that for about nine months to a year. Then I ended up reaching out to a Weekend Update producer. [00:23:19] Speaker B: And were you getting, I'm sorry, were you getting numbers on those tweets at all? Like, were people responding? [00:23:24] Speaker A: Some of them would, would go and get like, you know, 50, 60 likes at most. But the majority of them, it wasn't about the numbers, it was about the consistency. And when I reached out to this producer at Update, who also was on Twitter and he had a website and was like, contact me if you want to ask me any questions. So I randomly did. He, very nice. Reached out to me, said, yes, I see what you're doing. Let's hop on a call. And we just started talking about, hey, this is the form. This is how you end up building Weekend Update every weekend. And he was like, keep doing what you're doing. And in A couple months, I'll reach out with an opportunity to submit as a contributor. So he was good on his word. And, you know, I ended up submitting probably five jokes. I was in my bedroom, upstairs in the attic, like, laughing, cracking up, being nuts. And I submitted it and two days later they sent me an email that said along the lines of like, congratulations, you're a part of this year's contributing writer group. Which. I was losing my mind. I lived with my parents. [00:24:37] Speaker C: Amazing. [00:24:38] Speaker A: Outside of Philadelphia. I was working with a friend of mine from college on an original pilot and I got this email and I just started, like, freaking out. And my buddy, he was freaking out for me. [00:24:51] Speaker C: And your parents were like, keep it down. [00:24:53] Speaker A: Yeah. And they were like, we don't support your dreams or vision. We just don't see it. And I was like, okay. My parents are actually quite supportive. They. For my first UCB class, they drove me from Philadelphia to New York and then just dropped me off, like, in the middle of 34th Street. And we're like, good luck. Okay. My. But yeah, that's how I started, like, moving towards comedy. And at some point at ucb, someone said, if you're going to write for comedy, people need to see your face. People need to know you. And so I had probably like a year, year and a half break of doing stand up. And that was enough of a push to be like, you know what? I should do the open mic. I should do the open mic here. I was going. I didn't live in New York. I was still obviously with my parents. And I would take the train from Trenton, New Jersey, every week, every Friday from Hamilton, New Jersey, or Trenton, New Jersey. Those are the two stops near me all the way up to Manhattan. And then I would sleep on my college roommate's couch after working a shift as an intern at ucb. And after six months, a couple of the people that worked at UCB, who I'm still friends with to this day, like, I saw them last week, they're out here in la. They were like, hey, you've never missed a Friday. You're always dedicated. We see you writing your monologue jokes. Would you be interested in working Saturday nights as a bartender? And so I said yes. Slept at my friend's place. You know, every Friday night, Saturdays, I would work as a bartender. And then around midnight, I would run to Penn Station and I would take a train all the way back to Hamilton, New Jersey, or Trenton, hop in a car and drive home. And so for a couple of years, I was just doing that until, hey, this felt steady enough where I could stop my bartending or stop my busboy job at my parents house. I had a little money saved and I could go up to New York and be a bartender, ticket taker, intern at UCB and you know, try and try and get by as best as possible. But like that was the thrust. And then when I was in the city, I was like, oh, I want to do more standup. I started hosting shows with friends, with new friends, acquaintances, all sorts of different people. And it got to a point where I was like, okay, I am enjoying this. I enjoy coming up with hire me SNL type stunts type ideas. And around 2015 I ended up launching a dating website for myself as a joke called date brandon scottwolf.com which was the number one online dating site for me, Brandon Scott Scott Wolf. And I was using it as a bit just to hopefully get some laughs. But I put it on Facebook and someone reached out who I was friendly with in Penn State, at Penn State and he said, this is really interesting, funny, different. Would you want to talk about representation? And so I ended up getting an agent through this and management and made a lot of great contacts. And I had interviews with like Australian morning news because of this. I had interviews with like Japanese newspapers. I talked with Irish public radio at one point. So like this idea just started stretching pretty far. And a lot of positives came from that. And at one point, through my new like agents managers, I ended up writing for Best Time Ever with Neil Patrick Harris, which was the only late night live variety show on NBC other than Saturday Night Live. And that got me into the Writers Guild of America east and started snowballing my career a bit more towards comedy writer. [00:29:00] Speaker B: Wow. [00:29:01] Speaker C: Totally. So where, and forgive me if I lost the thread on this, but where did, where did Weekend Update fall into this? And what was, what was that like once you actually got that position? [00:29:11] Speaker A: Weekend Update was a fantastic like writing boot camp. I, to be clear, have never been inside 30 Rock. So it never became the Tuesday overnights. You hear the stress from any outside forces having to put on the live show. I just had to submit either 5, 10, or at one point, I think it was 15 jokes per week. And so I just continued to do what I did for about three seasons. And then that position as contributing writer ended up disappearing because I believe the WGA message SNL and was like, you can't have this. You need to have full time staff. Right? [00:29:53] Speaker C: Yeah, that, that makes sense. Yeah. [00:29:55] Speaker A: But at that time, as they said, hey, this is the end of the road here, which totally understood, and I'm so thankful to be able to have that opportunity. That's when the date Brandon's Got Wolf website went up. That's when I ended up getting some traction. So, like, continuing to write was the. [00:30:14] Speaker C: Most important thing, and still that's the through line. Yeah, yeah. [00:30:18] Speaker A: And so I ended up, you know, being a staff writer on a show, and there were only four writers, and it was such a remarkably exciting time in my life. [00:30:29] Speaker B: Can you. Can you talk about just getting representation and those first kind of meetings? And were you meeting with a lot of people or is this just kind of the first people that came to you and you're like, yes, let's do it. Like, talk, talk about that process. [00:30:46] Speaker A: So for me, and I've learned a lot since getting my first reps, is that the process is different for everyone. My process was I started a stunty comedy campaign around dating. Something that was in everybody's life that you could point at and say, hey, look at this thing. Isn't this kind of funny, quirky, different, unique. And once you find that niche, you end up exploring, hey, what else is out there? But because, like, I didn't even know, oh, you need to get, you know, an agent. You need to get a manager, you need to get a lawyer. You need to get this, that, or anything. And, I mean, you don't need to do any of that. To be honest, like, I'm learning as we go that, like, hey, this path for myself is different than everyone else, and it will continue to be different from everyone else. But, like, for me, if you can create something and show the world to that it is special and that you have something to offer, if you can solve other people's problems, if you can make someone's day memorable, if you can give people an outlet to talk and start a conversation or build a community, all of that is going to move you in a positive direction. And so the agent who reached out to me, it was on Facebook, we were already friends from our Penn State days, and he was a junior agent at the time at caa. So I heard caa. I know CAA is a big agency. And I immediately was like, I would love to learn more and have a conversation. And so that's how I ended up there. And then from there, I asked my agent, hey, are there any managers that you could recommend? [00:32:37] Speaker B: And he was there. Like, him being a junior agent, he's probably hungry to sign people looking for young talent like yourself that's clearly making waves has a lot of potential. Like, what was the conversation? Was it just one conversation? Was it in that general? He was like, I want to sign you. Let's do this. Or was it like, let's keep talking, Like, I need to see samples. I need to see a portfolio. Like, what do you want to do, Brandon? Like, what's next? Or was it really just like, here's this dating thing. I want to put you on a press junket, and like, let's go. [00:33:08] Speaker A: So the conversation was more so, hey, you know me from college. We crossed paths a couple times. Why don't we talk about what you want to do? And I essentially was like, oh, I've been writing comedy for X amount of years already. I am trying to build out, like, stand up at this point. And. And he did not even really know that I was writing comedy or doing stand up. He just thought it was an interesting story and kind of reached out to be like, could we create a Date Brandon Scott Wolf sitcom? And I instantly was like, this seems like a fantastic idea. And I would like to further prove myself by getting on other shows as a writer, helping create, meeting other people my age, learning from people who may be older than me, all of that sort of stuff. And he started sending a handful of packets, and that's how we started moving forward. And technically, I think I was a hip pocket, which means that you're not actually signed to the agency, but it's. [00:34:15] Speaker C: Like a trial period, kind of. Yeah, yeah. [00:34:17] Speaker A: The one person you know at that agency will send you packets, will be there for advice, and. And if anything on your end pops off to the point where you need someone to negotiate on your end, they'll be that person, slash, bring it to their wider team. Right. So I ended up writing for Best Time Ever with Neil Patrick Harris, and that was through caa. They gave me the packet, but when I went in for my interview there, I wasn't sure if they actually read my packet because the first thing that happened as I walked in the door, they said, there's date Brandon Scott Wolf. Can we go out on a first date? And that's all they knew about. So I was like, okay, I'm 25. You know, I have a dating website. I can definitely be here and help you build out this variety show. But, yeah, that was the conversation. And to get management, they essentially at the agency were like, do you want to talk to this company? And I ended up just talking with that company, and there were two managers at Brillstein who were working with a lot of comics. In their early 20s. And it seemed like the correct fit for me. So another conversation where it was like, what do you want to do? And I was like, well, I really want to be a writer, and I'd like to build out these, like, sitcom worlds or work in adult animation. I'm a huge fan of that area. And they just had this conversation with me that was very casual and like, yeah, we can help you out. So just more packets came my way, and then you end up having agents and managers, and you get just, like, emails. You know, maybe it's once a week, maybe it's a couple times a week, then maybe it becomes once a month, and then, you know, you go from there. So that was my experience with those reps. And it was really great to personally learn that the companies I was at at that time were probably not the correct fit for me. Everyone repped at the companies where I was at back then, repped people who were writing for 10, 15, 20 years. They wrapped celebrities who are household names. So, like, when you have a Ryan Reynolds and you have a Brandon Scott Wolf, who's going to get the majority of the attention? And that is what I started seeing. And I was like, okay, I need to do more work on myself. I need to do more work on my writing, and I need to continue to grow if I'm going to continue to flourish in the entertainment industry. [00:37:00] Speaker B: It's such an interesting point because you hear that a lot where it's like, I mean, for example, my roommate's a model, and he signed to, like, a. A top back in the day. Was signed, like, at the very top agency and has had trouble with exactly what you're saying of, like, he's. He's getting very little attention compared to the models who have millions of followers. But there definitely is still something for him to have that name on his resume of, like, repped by. So did you find any kind of, like, legitimacy or some sort of, like, okay, maybe your agent's not sending you a ton of packets or something, or opportunity. But, like, Brandon's able to send a cold email and be like, hey, I'm rep by caa, I would like to send you my stuff or something? [00:37:51] Speaker A: Yes, 100%. I would say that cold emails are a superpower. And once you start collecting credits or experience that you can share with people, whether it's, I'm repped at this agency or I've been a contributing writer to SNL Weekend Update, that opens doors, Being able to say, I have proven myself is huge, and that's like a lot of where, you know, you look at executives or studios and you say, why are they rebooting ip? Why are they not taking any chances? It's because they want to surround themselves with people who have proven themselves or IP that has proven itself because everyone is just trying to secure their station, continue to grow themselves. And the best thing you can do is say, I'm surrounding myself with the best possible people. And like your roommate, your roommate might not have thousands upon thousands or millions of followers, but he has the representation so he can point to that. And so you just need to leverage your superpowers. You need to leverage your experience. You need to say, hey, I've made positive waves in this world and I can help you solve your problem, which goes back to advertising or any form of entertainment. There's always a client, there's always a need. And can you fill that need? Can you go and say, all right, Disney is looking to get into adult animation. They're trying to find female skewing shows ages 18 to 35. Who are we going to go to? Let's see. All of the adult animation writers who are women, who identify as women and can fill this need for us. And they'll go to the writers for Rick and Morty. They'll go to the writers for Solar Opposites. They're already in house and they'll go, okay, these three writers, these five writers, these 10 people, and then they'll fill their need. And so, like, if you can do that for people, then you're going to be successful. And so that's all I've ever kind of tried to do. [00:40:06] Speaker C: Yeah, filling need as a writer is a really interesting way of looking at that. At what point did you kind of figure that out? Was that, you know, post Neil Patrick Harris or, like, what. At what point did that all sort. [00:40:21] Speaker A: Of shape out at Neil Patrick Harris? They sat me down and said, we have three writers here. They are all very experienced. They have been working on the show for a couple weeks already, and they have figured out the meat of the sandwich. Now we need you to come in and be the bread. Can you be the bread? And so the bread of that show was writing intros, outros, creative bits around the show. And I was like, I can totally fill this need. I know how to write monologue jokes. I know how to write snappy, quippy dialogue. [00:40:56] Speaker C: Totally. [00:40:57] Speaker A: I can. I can be the bread. And so, like, that was an aha moment that really clicked for me. And going off of that, like, if you work in branded content, if you work for a production company, you're looking to build your sandwich, you're looking to build whatever you need to do, whatever you need to make for that meal. Not to go too food centric, but that's the reality of it. And that's a solid comparison. [00:41:25] Speaker C: Yeah. [00:41:26] Speaker B: So then that. That transition from. Or when it was time you started feeling a little antsy perhaps with your agents and your managers, like, can you talk about that period? And then like, kind of, I guess a different or fresh perspective that you might have had going into this next round of representation. Or did you go independent for a while? [00:41:48] Speaker A: So for myself, I didn't go independent, although at a time I probably was independent. But I've always seen myself as like, even if I have a manager, even if I have an agent, you have to do the work for yourself. Like, I'm doing these cold emails, I'm reaching out to places, I'm saying, hi, I'm Brandon Scott Wolf. I'm a former contributing writer to this. That the other thing I'm currently working on this. Can we have a conversation? And I would say that, like, post Neil Patrick Harris. There was like a year or so where I think I got rejected by the biggest names in Late night, all of them, you know, from Fallon to Cordon to, you name it. And I was like, okay, I don't know what I'm gonna do, but I can control what I can control, and that is writing. So I just doubled down on writing sitcom pilots, adult animated pilots, all sorts of different stuff. And at one point, I ended up selling a pilot to a company that they wanted the ip. I ended up getting to be a voice actor on this. It was called Action News. It was about an elite group of mercenaries who reported on the news or reported on the world while simultaneously blowing into smithereens. So it was very adult, you know, swim kind of a vibe. And that gave me the opportunity to be like, oh, there are people out there I can write for. And while I was trying to, like, figure that out and build original series, I got a message from a friend of mine who I was actually hosting stand up shows with in New York. And he was like, hey, do you want to come out to LA and help me launch Will Smith on social media? And so I ended up doing that while also having conversations with my current reps who I met at the Neil Patrick Harris show. My rep at that time was at a company called Buckwald, and she used to work as a producer or an associate producer on Best Time Ever. So I had These two things going. I was like, over here I have an agency, it's a boutique agency with a friend who actually like picks up the phone and wants to hustle for me, which is really fantastic. And then over here I have this social media advertising brand branded kind of job in Los Angeles. [00:44:18] Speaker C: Really unique job. And, and I do actually remember that Will Smith was like one of the first huge celebrities to put stuff on YouTube. Like, I vividly remember those videos. Yeah, what, what year was this? Just to give, give reference. [00:44:32] Speaker A: That was back in, I want to say, I started sending in like freelance like ideas. December or November of 2017. Okay, so the Neil Patrick Harris show was in the summer, fall of 2015. Then I had like a year and a half, chunk of like, I have some savings. I'm going to continue to do some stand up, I'm going to write adult animated shows, I'm going to write sitcoms. And then this Will Smith opportunity popped up and I was like, you know what, I'll go there for two weeks. And the two weeks ended up turning into a month and the month turned into a year, and a year turned into a six year experience which had me as like the senior development manager, where I was actually like sitting down with a group of people and trying to think up new shows that were either animated for kids, adult animation, unscripted, all sorts of different stuff, and it was a blast. Like I, I was able to be a development manager while simultaneously being like a YouTube social strategist, a copywriter, someone who would come up with, you know, not only the game plan, but like the execution. Then hop on as a creative producer, work with writers in a writer's room and then like build out everything from 10 second Instagram clips to half hour YouTube vlogs to TV shows that are on Hulu or, you know, we had a special on Oculus. And it wasn't just with Will. We ended up developing a lot of projects and working with people like Ryan Reynolds, Shaq, Megan, the Stallion, the Dimilio sisters. Just a ton of great talent and I had a blast there. Just, just kind of going in every day and having a different job. [00:46:38] Speaker C: Yeah, it also was a job that, that you got brought on sort of for like a, you know, it seems like it was like a two week trial period or they just needed this thing. You're just filling that need and once that need is filled, they're like, oh, we should keep this guy around, you know, and we should, you know, at some point, I assume you had like a full time position There. And you were like, that was, that was your job. And then it seems like you were kind of on the forefront of like this huge celebrities realizing that they need to appeal to audiences in a different way than just being in movies. And that advertising experience comes in for you and you were really like on the cusp of something and it makes sense that you were working with other celebrities and actually and, you know, appealing to audiences for, for different people. [00:47:29] Speaker A: You know, the advertising aspect of it goes across the board for entertainment. Like late night television only exists because it was a way to be commercials. It was commercials that were not commercials. It was talk about your project, come in, talk about what you're doing. Oh, you're selling a new line of clothes. Can. Can we see it? And then, you know, you see the new line of clothes. Isn't that fantastic? There's a couple joke in there. [00:47:52] Speaker C: Yeah, it's funny. Keeps. Yeah, right, right, exactly. [00:47:56] Speaker A: And. And it's, you know, 100% dead on. Like, will other celebrities, people who are a listers want to stay relevant. They want to win over Gen Z, Gen Alpha. They want to not disappear. They want to be cast in more movies. They want to be socially relevant. And a great way to do that is to. To hop on social media if you can control your own narrative. [00:48:23] Speaker C: That's exactly what I was gonna say. It's a matter of. I mean, would you rather do press for a bunch of Australian local news stations or just put yourself on YouTube and incubate it in house? Or simple answer or. [00:48:38] Speaker A: The third option is while you're doing the press tour, film yourself and have extra content. So then every day you can remind people, hey, I went to Australia, I met this influencer, I went to this news station, did xyz, and look at me now. You're watching me from this angle. [00:48:55] Speaker C: This is. [00:48:55] Speaker A: Yeah, used to see me from that angle. [00:48:57] Speaker C: This is me in real life doing the thing. [00:48:59] Speaker A: Yeah, it just, it just opens up the humanity. It makes people realize that, you know, authentic stories are being told. It's the kernel of truth, of, hey, I'm feeling like, you know, my day is not going so hot. And this is what happens to me on a day that I wake up on the wrong side of the bed and I want to show you guys how I try and improve myself. You know, this is my story and let me show it. Instead of, hey, this newspaper near the cash register at the grocery store says that I'm involved in some torrid affairs. Everyone thinks I'm awful. You can control that more so and it's advertising, it's marketing, it's self publicity. And hopefully, if you're doing it in a, in an honest way, you're sharing more truth than falsehoods. And I think that's what our team did really well. We were in communication with Will. We were able to say, hey, what do you want to do this week? Give him a menu of options of, we're taking a trip to South Carolina. It's going to be a golf adventure. It's going to be meeting this local person with an interesting story. And then he would go, I want to do that, I want to do that and I want to do this. And then we got to go on adventures as well. [00:50:26] Speaker C: Yeah, it's. I, I work closely with welcome to Wrexham, which is a show about a soccer team that was sort of down on its luck in a community that was down on its luck and Ryan Reynolds and Rob Mack coming in and giving a little boost to the community and taking ownership of the soccer team. And one thing that we try to do in that show is finding those stories in the community and who's going to the local bar and talking with the, you know, who's, who's the 95 year old woman who's gone to every single match, you know, for the past X amount of years? Like, can we, can we talk with that person? So it, and it equates to you thinking about who's the local South Carolina person who's worked at the shop for 50 years, you know, and can we have our star talk with them? And all that stuff is really, it's really, it's cool from a storytelling perspective, especially like an unscripted perspective. [00:51:28] Speaker A: It's also journalism, like, totally. I went, I went to school for that because I liked hearing what people had to say, hey, can you share your most interesting perspective? Write it down and then go, all right. They don't necessarily know how to tell a story, but they have a story. How can I help them shape this? So there's a news lead, which is a log line. It's the first sentence in any story. Who, what, why, where and when. And then, okay, here's some fun, colorful quotes, and maybe by the end of it, you've made someone's day better by telling them about another human being, another situation, giving them some form of escapism. [00:52:06] Speaker C: Totally. [00:52:07] Speaker B: What was the mission on day one with Will Smith? Like, with. With the team and I guess with that project as a whole, from my. [00:52:17] Speaker A: Point of view, it was to bridge the gap between him and an audience. Who may not know him. So, like, people in their 30s, 40s, 50s, 60s know Will Smith from the Fresh Prince, Whether it's his rap hip hop days or the show the Fresh Prince of Bel Air, which was my introduction as a kid from Philadelphia myself, I always watched the Fresh Prince. I thought it was a hilarious show. I was catching reruns because I'm, you know, slightly too young to be seeing them live as they were airing. But the mission was to say, hey, this is the guy from Bad Boys. This is the guy from, you know, I am Legend. This is the guy from Independence Day, Men in Black, Men in Black, Hitch, all of those films from the early 2000s that people may be familiar with. If you're 15 years old, if you're 20 years old, even if you're 25 and insane, he still has a lot to offer. He is hilarious. He is. He is a guy who is Will Smith. Like, he. You meet Will Smith and you're like, he's got an X factor. I see it. He's got that. It. That Hollywood, you're a star feeling. I don't know if either of you have ever met him. I assume it's similar to a Ryan Reynolds. You know, you. You walk into a room with Ryan and you're like, that's where the attention's going in a good way. You're like, very cool to see. So he ended up getting on YouTube at first and then Instagram and then Tick Tock as the platforms continued to grow and change because that's where the people were that he wanted to say, hi, allow me to please, you know, reintroduce myself. Let me say, you know me from this maybe, or maybe you don't, but I'm also going to be in the. The new Aladdin movie. And I'm also going to be in this bad boys 3 that is coming out. And I'm also going to be in this Gemini, man, Whatever the movie was like, it became a device for him to directly engage with the people that he wanted to talk with. And totally, there's the power, the parasocial relationship of social media that you're making friends. It is all about making friends. You want to go to the box office and support your friends. You know, like, I want to turn on a show on HBO Max, and see, this is my favorite podcaster out there. If my favorite podcaster has a show now, I want to pay attention to the show. And like, those are the ripple effects of social media. And so, like, to Will's credit, he saw that and he hired people that have been in the industry where they. [00:55:08] Speaker C: Were comedians, they were writers, they had websites asking. [00:55:13] Speaker A: Dating website. Yeah. And like a team was built out. There were great editors, there were great camera ops, there were fantastic talent across the board. And, you know, you have to surround yourself with the best in. In order to grow. [00:55:28] Speaker B: I was going to ask if there was a correlation between like the success on YouTube and box office, like selling tickets, if you guys saw that at any point. [00:55:39] Speaker A: So I would. I would say yes. There were a handful of different moments when Aladdin came out. One of the big questions around it was, okay, how is this live action going to work and be successful when everyone looks at the animation, so specifically Robin Williams as the genie? Because that was the role Will was going to play. And he did. And we collectively talked about like, okay, how can we solve this situation in a way where people don't go, eh, Robin did it better. And so we put a post together, hired an artist who can draw on the Disney style and drew Robin Williams's genie and then a cartoon version of what Will would be as the genie. And it was more of a thank you post. Like, thank you, Robin. You inspired me. Yeah. And Will was like, yes, we should do this. This is the correct move. I want to honor Robin Williams. And from there we saw the numbers grow for the movie to. I believe at the point it was like the number one live action Disney movie. [00:56:53] Speaker C: It's definitely over a billion. It's. [00:56:55] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah. That specifically did. Did well. And I remember like people internally saying what I just said. People being like that helped tremendously. Now I know folks in the industry, if you have a show where you say influencers, people don't want it. People. There have been enough. Like this influencer ended up getting a sitcom and it failed to have that be a. Oh, no, this is bad. But if you just use some fancy advertising, marketing, whatever strategy, relabel, the influencer is saying, hey, this is a comedian. They're a working actor. They have millions of followers online, and they have also produced their own indie movie or their own indie cartoon or whatever that then opens the door more so totally positive meetings. [00:57:48] Speaker C: And it's framing better, you know? Yeah, it's all about framing. It's. It's a person who's developed independently their own unique perspective, you know, instead of an influencer. And it's kind of the same thing, you know, the. A person who's built a comedy audience on their own. [00:58:06] Speaker A: It's so much more important to find people who have built on their own than it is to just find a person who has globbed on to some other thing. Totally. And I'm not saying that, like, hey, if you put an influencer in something, it's not going to not work. It might, like, whatever package gets put out into the world, whether it's a movie, a TV series, a podcast, there are talented people. It's just about right place, right time, right situation, and then having that access to grow and being able to say, like, hey, I created this thing. Let's see where it goes is so important. And, like, these are lessons I take with me to today. Like, I have worked on countless projects over the years in many different shapes and forms. The majority of them don't move forward. The majority of them I've never seen a dollar from. The majority of them are seen as failures. And I think failing is very important. And I don't know if anyone has ever said this on your show. Maybe they have before, but, like, the best thing you can do is fail and then learn from your mistakes, because that's where the growth comes from. From. And I have gotten to the point where, like, a year or so ago, I ended up, you know, moving away from the Will Smith position, and I ended up working for, you know, a bunch of different ad agencies. I worked as a branded content, like, creative lead at Heartbeat, which is Kevin Hart's company, for a couple months. And then there was some times where I was like, I don't know what I'm going to do next. Let me double down on myself and write. And I've written pilots and I've written feature scripts. And outside of sending them to my management, outside of sending them to friends, they live on my hard drive. And so, like, I have made a point of trying to build things that the world can see more. So even if they're rough around the edges. And so I. [01:00:04] Speaker C: You've also, by the way, in a year, written so much. Like, it's. It's crazy. I remember we were at drinks a couple weeks ago and you were like, I guess I have written a good amount. And, like, can you just say how much you've written in the past year? Because it's really remarkable. Even with. I know you work a job now and you're like, you know, what have you done? [01:00:26] Speaker A: So I. I've never stopped writing. I am always writing. I feel like maybe I have 25 to 30 original pilots. I probably have five original movies. Some of them are right on my own. Some of them I'm writing with friends. Some of them are half hours. Some of them are hour longs. I have taken a step back and there was at one point, one calendar year where even saying as collaborators or clients or whatever you want to say, I wrote for Will Smith, Kevin Hart, and SpongeBob SquarePants. You know, the big three. [01:01:03] Speaker C: Yeah, the holy Trinity, Smith, Hart, spare pants. [01:01:08] Speaker A: And that's like crazy to me. And that's like the paid work I was receiving. But, like, my brain never stops. I like, I like building worlds. I like working with friends. Like, last year I wrote a comedy feature. I wrote an original pilot, a. I developed a couple series. I have a weekly web comic that is now turning into like an adult animated series of shorts. And I'm just going like, I like it. It's fun to me because it's a hobby. I've rearranged my brain to being like, comedy. Writing comedy, it is a hobby. There are so many talented, funny, amazing people out into the world, like out in the world right now who are doing paid comedy work and so many more who are doing work but not getting paid. And it's very competitive. It's very difficult to find that success that you initially think, oh, I'm going to write for SMS snl. I'm going to have my own features. I'm going to build and build and build. But, like, you know, at a certain point, you just have to double down and do it because you enjoy it. And so, like, one of the things that I really love doing right now is this comic strip I'm working on that I actually shared with Wyatt a couple weeks ago. And the only reason why it is being made is because I went to an ad agency mixer and I ended up meeting this cartoonist there named Nate Fakes. And he has a fantastic weekly syndicated cartoon in newspapers across the country. It's a gag comic called Break of Day. And we started talking and I told him, hey, I've worked in development, I've worked in advertising, I'm a comedian, comedy writer. And we exchanged numbers and a couple weeks went by and he actually reached out to me, he sent me that email and he said, hey, I have an idea. I love talking with you. You were super funny and just like one of the only kind people to me. Could we hop on a call? And I was like, yes, you were fantastic. Talk with. I love meeting you. And it turns out that he works at a flea market every week in Palm Springs. And so I started talking about my childhood with my parents going to flea markets every single weekend. They called it antiquing. They would love, you know, to go to the Philly suburbs, New Hope, Pennsylvania area and see what they could get at a flea. And he said, I have an idea for a show about this character named Danny who sells muffins. And I was like, okay, that's a very Bob's Burgers idea. Can we build a crew of characters, maybe a family around this one character? But also, why don't we build it out so the flea is our sandbox? Because there's so much that can happen. [01:04:13] Speaker C: Totally, totally. [01:04:15] Speaker A: And so we ended up creating this show called Palmdale Flea about this white trash himbo entrepreneur named Danny, who runs Danny's Muffins with his on again, off again girlfriend. [01:04:27] Speaker C: Disgusting muffins, flies all around. [01:04:31] Speaker A: And he's running this with his on again, off again girlfriend's 8 year old son, whose name is Greg. And I just thought Greg was a great name, super fun. And we just started running at this idea and I said to him, hey, why would we write a 30 minute pilot that will just sit on a computer? Why don't we tap into his superpower of illustrations and comics and just start writing four panel strips? And so I started writing these four panel strips. He started illustrating them. We maybe wrote 12 to 15 of them. And then we started a TikTok and an Instagram and started putting them on the platform and we started doing that weekly. And then we started saying, hey, animation, adult animation was our original goal. Can we start adding voices? And so I started doing some of the voices I do Danny, which is a very high yada, yada, you know, great, get over here. And then Greg is. I'm Greg. I'm very high pitched and I'm having a lot of fun. I'm a very smart kid and I work in advertising. My dream is to be a coordinator at a marketing firm, like that kind of a thing. And my wife Jackie, who is a fantastic director, writer, producer. We actually have a production company ourselves called Twin Fungus Productions. She plays Greg's mom, Crystal. And that's kind of the formula we've had up until a couple months ago when we started making animated versions of these comic strips. So the comic strips worked as storyboards that we then were able to just be like, this comic is funny. It did well online. Let's try and turn this into a 30 second short. And Nate is so wonderful and talented and he has a work ethic that matches or beats my work ethic, which is so impressive. He has been making these shorts hand drawn, all on his own. And so like I cover the writing and voice acting, and he does the illustrating and animating. And we have a team that really works well. And we've since gotten a couple stand up comedians that I'm friendly with, a couple people that have worked at different producers, production companies that have been getting into voice acting and really just building out the world of Palmdale Flea. [01:07:02] Speaker C: That's incredible. And there's so much to unpack there. And I think it's a testament to not rushing something and not just putting it out into the world right away and having it grow very organically. And clearly you made it an important choice to build out your own ip, you know, build out this world, create those comic strips, not rush. Yes, the goal eventually is to make it into an adult animated thing, but to not just write a pilot and start sending it out, to slowly build out the world. And it's such a superpower almost that you have of this world building, you know? Yeah. What were those conversations like with your illustrator? [01:07:51] Speaker A: I think that, like one, the best thing to do is make a friend. We've been over that part already. And usually a lot of my friendships are based around projects, and sometimes, you know, these projects will grow for years, but they're excuses to just, like, be around people that I like. You and Luke are doing why you and Luke right now have a podcast. And yes, you know each other since you're five, but you could lose touch if you don't talk about your shared passions of working in the industry of writing, producing, acting, creating. And the friendships that, like, I have found as an adult in particular, that have been positive are, you know, based around, hey, we're creative. And, hey, we're creative goes really far. And so like Nate and I talked about every single day I have another project. It's. It's a whole. Whole different. Different ball of wax. But like, that project is one of these pilots that I wrote with a friend and that started, you know, it started years ago. And even if we don't write every single day, we still talk. We'll send each other memes. He's in my life, I'm in his. And it's a fun buddy that I know. Hey, you like this thing? You're a fan of? Say, I think you should leave with Tim Robinson. So am I. Let's send each other a couple clips. This was a funny edit someone put together. [01:09:21] Speaker B: And so are you a Tim fan? [01:09:24] Speaker A: I am. I would love to work with Tim Robinson, Sam Richardson, the whole I think you should leave group, the whole gang. [01:09:33] Speaker C: Yeah. [01:09:33] Speaker A: Yes, The Detroiters World, you know, Very, very funny, Conor. [01:09:38] Speaker C: Big fans. [01:09:39] Speaker A: Very funny. [01:09:40] Speaker B: Yeah, Conor's amazing. [01:09:43] Speaker A: Yeah, I think, I think there's a lot of really talented, great people out in the world and would love to work with them, but also would love to work with people I haven't heard of or people I'm just meeting. My door is, you know, as you all know, it's open. I'm here to make, create, spread myself, possibly too thin, lose a couple projects here and there. [01:10:06] Speaker C: I'm with you on that. I have to mention I have to say it because I won't stop thinking about it until I say it out loud. But the Tim Robinson sketch where it's the Bachelor esque reality show and he is one of the contestants, but all he wants to do is go on the zip line. [01:10:25] Speaker A: The zip line. So good. [01:10:27] Speaker C: And in every interview, it's just him in the background going on the zip line into the pool. And it's like, dude, you're supposed to like, meet the girl and like, try to like, win her over. He's like, no, I'm just here for the zipline. And it's just one of the funniest things ever. [01:10:39] Speaker A: Such an incredible sketch. And it's just, it's always just funny to build a world where just one person's the weirdo. [01:10:47] Speaker C: Like, yeah, he's created a character for himself in which he's kind of playing versions of the same character of this guy. Just is not on the same page as anybody else in the scene. Always. [01:11:00] Speaker A: Like, he has a show coming out on HBO Max soon and I'm hoping it's an anti sitcom where he is the crazy person and the rest of the world is very normal because that's kind of his thing. Like, I think it's so funny to be just like, I'm loud but I'm normal and not realizing that, like, what you're doing isn't normal. The movie, the movie Friendship was so funny, but it really hit for me. I don't want to do any spoilers. Listen. If anyone listening has not seen the movie Friendship before, skip forward 8 to 15 seconds. When have you both seen. Yeah, when his wife gets lost in the sewer. That's the, the funniest part of the movie, just because it's so bizarre to me. And then that's when he goes on his, like, licking a toad trip. And like, there's a ton of crazy stuff. But that moment, to me, I was like, oh, this went from regular buddy comedy movie with some quirks to like, yeah, they really wrote A movie where a woman gets lost in the sewer. All right, great. This is crazy to me. And then it lets you have those moments where Connor Ali comes in the garage and starts screaming. And then, you know, the best. The best line in the movie. [01:12:13] Speaker C: That was so great. [01:12:14] Speaker A: I don't think we ever should have pulled out of Afghanistan. And then, yeah, like, people clapping to. That is so funny. [01:12:23] Speaker B: I thought, because I. I saw that in theaters a few times. Like, I went with friends and I went by myself, but. [01:12:30] Speaker C: Loser. [01:12:31] Speaker A: I know. That's cool, man. I like. I. I love. [01:12:35] Speaker B: No, I do. I love Tim. I'm, like, the biggest Tim fan. But there's. I mean, just that whole movie. But I thought it was amazing how in a theater, you that. That first shot when they're in that, like, therapy circle and she's talking about, oh, my God, some trauma or something, and you start seeing a little bit of his face at the edge of the frame. Everyone starts laughing in the theater. It's like, people just immediate. And it's like, it sets a precedent of, like, yeah, we're all here because we love. I think you should leave. Like, we love Tim Robinson Detroiters. [01:13:09] Speaker A: Like, everything he's done, he has done a thing without social media that people try to do with social media, and he has created the parasocial friendship. We all are friends with Tim, and we are just rooting for him. Like, a friend of mine who used to be a neighbor, my wife and I moved. He's still living there. He's just not my neighbor anymore. He went to a local bar in Los Feliz, and Tim Robinson was there recently, and someone was like, hey, man, this is Tim. And my friend was drunk, and he essentially was just like, I know who you are. I am a fan. I don't want to say anything inappropriate to ruin this moment. And then he just walked away. And Tim must think he's, like, a crazy person, maybe gets that all the time. But, like, people realize, like, oh, the way I feel about you is a certain way, and it's maybe a never meet your heroes kind of thing of, like, I don't want to get to know the real you too much, because what you have already showed me is fantastic. [01:14:14] Speaker C: And I'm sure that character, the extremely awkward, doesn't understand how normal stuff works, is. Is a part of him, you know? And I think he's. And he's just, to be honest, like, it's a part of all of us, you know? And that's probably on a deeper level. That's why we resonate with it so much, you know, because we all have that, like, moment when you're, like, at a party and you're like, wait, what if I just did something absolutely insane right now? Like. Or what? Like, I'm. I shouldn't be thinking about this thing right now, you know, like, you, like. [01:14:46] Speaker A: Walked up to the guacamole and you put your hand in it and picked it up instead of the chips and be like, I'm the only one who can eat guacamole now. Right. Like, that's a jumping off point for a. Oh, this person's crazy sketch. [01:14:59] Speaker C: It's a decent trip transition into what you're doing now, actually, which I. I want to touch on it. If you're comfortable sharing and everything, you know, your current gig, I think it's number one, a testament to how you've had this through line of sketch comedy even, you know, since ucb, since Penn State, and. And, you know, filling that need. Right. So do you want to take us through just briefly? Because I want to be conscious of time and I know we could chat forever, but take us through what you're doing now. Yeah, sure. [01:15:31] Speaker A: So there's been this through line of advertising, marketing, branded entertainment. I've had the ability to work with a ton of different household names, whether it is Will Smith, Kevin Hart, SpongeBob SquarePants and shout out. [01:15:49] Speaker C: First of all, Kids Choice Awards is something you've written on for a long time, so we shouldn't. [01:15:53] Speaker A: Yes, I love the Kids Choice Awards. I love Nickelodeon working with SpongeBob and Patrick and Sandy, the voice actors behind them. [01:16:02] Speaker C: Squidward's a little harder to work with, I hear. [01:16:05] Speaker A: Very difficult. An absolute diva. Tough, tough, tough character to actually, like, nail down and befriend. But all of these opportunities have led me to this current position I have, which is a senior writer for Ford Motor Company. And to me, working for Ford has been absolutely fantastic because it is a household name, similar to all of the other names that I just mentioned. It is a brand people know. It is a brand people trust. And I'm able to work with so many talented people on an internal training platform that Ford has for all of their dealership employees. And they brought me in and a handful of other folks and built an entire department to make their training more engaging, more sticky, and solve a problem that they had, which was, how do we get people to pay attention to the important XYZs of a game plan? How do we get people who potentially, you know, don't know anything about cars and get them to not only learn about it, but care about it. And ultimately my job and every job is one about people. The car industry, the entertainment industry, it's all people. And so like sitting down, having these conversations, learning from folks about what they want, what's the best way to engage them, what will be sticky, what will be positive, what will actually help you grow is so important. And so like my day to day is primarily that it's like, okay, we have a project, it's to teach, you know, people who work at a dealership about a specific thing and how do we do it in a way where the first five seconds has an engaging hook that makes them not want to click away. It's very social media, very advertising, very marketing. How do we give them the correct information? And you talk with a lot of internal stakeholders. There are executives, there are executive producers in this department. And how do we end up making it 30 seconds, 90 seconds, 5 minutes max and getting everything we need to across and not be boring. Some topics can be very boring at any company. And I'm sure like Microsoft I saw had a position that was similar to this being advertised on LinkedIn. I've seen Dickies, the clothing brand, have similar positions. Like the thing that's really interesting to me about where I'm at is that it is an entertainment job in a non entertainment field. And if you have the ability and experience of years of comedy, years of writing, years of directing, you can find a lot of blue ocean, a lot of white space, whatever you want to call it, by just expanding your horizons and saying, I don't need to work at Paramount, I don't need to work at cbs, I don't need to work at Fox, I don't need to work at Disney, I can work XYZ place, I can grow and figure out a new challenge, I can pivot while also using all of my skills and I can have a lot of fun doing it. I can't really get into the like. And this project I'm doing. [01:19:41] Speaker C: Sure, sure, of course. But I, it's a really interesting career move if, if anything, you know. And I, I think feel like. [01:19:51] Speaker A: For. [01:19:52] Speaker C: Me as a writer, one of the things that I struggle with, what every writer struggles with, is stability, right. And finding that sort of the port in the storm. And I think you've really been able to, you know, since, you know, leaving Will's company and working with Kevin and kind of doing all these sort of smaller gigs, being able to find that port in the storm and finding that place where you can like get simple things like health insurance and benefits and all this stuff and work and be part of a company with company culture and everything and contribute to that and also like have this built in audience and put your own comedic spin on stuff. Like just, you know, the stuff you've told me off camera has been very journalistic. [01:20:40] Speaker A: Wyatt. [01:20:40] Speaker C: Off the record, off the record conversations we've. But I was struggling for words there. But just kind of finding finding ways to put your comedic spin on stuff and, you know, maintain that unique voice but also be working on this, you know, animated series and comic series outside of has just. It's so inspiring and impressive to me and it's like exactly what I want to be doing someday. So I personally am like, this is so cool. That was kind of the, you know, one of the reasons why I wanted to have you on. Just like, overall there's this through line of like career longevity as a writer, which I think you've really figured out. [01:21:19] Speaker A: Well, one, thank you. I, I have really enjoyed my time in general. I, I'm never going to stop writing. If my job was teacher, if my job was electrician, if I was, you know, a grave digger, if I, which. [01:21:43] Speaker C: By the way, I've. I've always wanted to work at a cemetery. It's like a weird. I've always. That would be fascinating. [01:21:50] Speaker A: One of the first pilots I wrote was called Funeral Home and it was about a family that works as, you know, funerary care and that, you know, right now you could point at teenage euthanasia and be like, that show exists. But it always was a fascinating world to me as well. And if you're, if you find a little bit of kernel of truth inside yourself, it's, it's worth following through with. And if you believe that you're a writer, if you believe that you're a comedian, if you believe that you're a director, do it. Nike has it correct. Their advertising, their marketing is correct. Just do it. Put yourself out there, make friends and continue to move forward. Because in life, you know, you're going to learn, you're going to grow, and maybe one day I won't want to write. Maybe one day I'll want to garden and I'll be like, you know what? I've had this hidden passion of gardening buried deep in the soil of my being and I need this seed to grow and become a beautiful plant. But yeah, for me, it's always been about being creative. And I think having my current position is very creative. And outside of work, I do Everything as a hobby. So, like, this year, I've written a movie with a friend of mine. We probably have 30 drafts of it. And I've written Palmdale Flea and I have a couple other projects moving in a positive direction. And I think about that stuff during the workday, after the workday. And, you know, it's great to have stability, like you were saying as I was coming out of college, in particular, my dad, my mom, they would say that to me. Like, they have been very supportive my entire life. They understand, hey, Brandon's creative. He wants to build these worlds, tell these jokes, share stories. But they've also been like, you need a job, you need to be able to pay rent. And like, you know, I've been a bartender. I have worked as a writer, I've worked, you know, as a freelancer, I've worked at production companies, and now I'm working as a writer for a non entertainment brand. And that to me is stability. And this past year, I've been incredibly happy. I feel like life has been going in a positive direction. My wife and I run Twin Fungus Productions, which is our production company. It's a lot of genre films. Our tagline is offbeat stories that grow on you. And so, yeah, this year has been great. I'm working full time, I have insurance, and, you know, I'm able to pay those bills while also collaborating with a lot of great friends. [01:24:48] Speaker C: Well, we really appreciate you coming onto the pod and we're, we're happy to hear that you're feeling the success and, you know, wishing you so much success in the future. Of course. And I know we'll. We'll keep chatting and hopefully we'll get you involved in 5050 too, the festival, because you obviously have tons of festival experience and it seems like you're a Twin Fungus is a good company to keep around. [01:25:09] Speaker B: Absolutely. It's a great name. [01:25:11] Speaker A: Yeah. I can't wait to be a part of hopefully a 5050 fest in the future. Whether it's with Megaskull, Palmdale Flea, some other project that I haven't even sunk my teeth into yet. But thank you also both for having me on this podcast. Your show is fantastic. You're both fantastic. What, what do you guys want to plug? [01:25:31] Speaker C: Oh, my God, just the podcast. Keep listening, keep listening. Send it to your friends. Rate it. That helps. Rate it 5 stars. Absolutely. Review it. All that. But listen, man, thank you for coming on and we'll, we'll chat soon. Soon, I'm sure. [01:25:45] Speaker B: Thank you, Brandon. Nice meeting you. [01:25:47] Speaker A: Please make me look good. All right, bye. [01:25:50] Speaker C: We'll do our best. [01:25:59] Speaker B: 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 we. Why not? Why not subscribe? Why not? You know why not. Okay, bye.