Latest / (re)Visitation Rights / RVR Artist Spotlight 01: JC Manuel | The Work Is Personal. Our Questions Not So Much.
Transcript
- Revisitation Rightspod: Welcome to the Revisitation Rights Podcast. I'm Pat. I'm Brandon. JC. Again we have JC for a second time this week. Thanks for having me back. Right. So JC, introduce yourself a little bit. Let everybody know what you do. As far as filmmaking. JC Manuel from ⁓ New Jersey. ⁓ actor, actor for about five years now. ⁓ worked with Pat on a few films and ⁓ and Brandon. ⁓ great, great, great guys. ⁓ looking forward to working with them again on some new projects that are coming up. ⁓ all all exciting. ⁓ that's about it. You know. All right, so I hate when podcasts make you wait till the end of the show to find out what people have going on. Uh-huh. Let everybody know what you have going on up front. So film Yep, film wise. Film wise right now, ⁓ definitely working on two projects with you. don't know how much we can talk about that right now, so I'll leave that there. ⁓ but we w got two great projects that are coming up. ⁓ hopefully one gets started sooner, ⁓ than later, you know, rather rather than later. ⁓ so looking forward to that one. And ⁓ that's it, you know, just just Doing our kind of some short films here and there, working on some small things. Nothing really big right now. ⁓ I did have something lined up that I'm supposed to be filming later on this year, which is another feature. ⁓ which I get to play a jujitsu guy, so that's kinda cool. So I'm waiting to hear about that right up my alley. ⁓ actually a jiu-jitsu instructor. So I got a cool scene there. So I got I got a couple of things in in in the in the pipeline there. So now did you have to are you gonna have to train for that? Or is it just whatever whatever your know your basic knowledge of Jiu Jitsu is always kinda like the basic knowledge. So what we still gotta discuss is sort of like what what as an instructor, what he wants me to be instructing that day. So that's still kind of up for conversation. ⁓ I do have the script and everything, but like there's no dates, there's nothing yet. So it's kinda like really open. So it might just be like later on this year. Gotcha. ⁓ I worked with him with this with this one ⁓ filmmaker a couple of times already in the past. ⁓ great guy. he also makes some really good films. ⁓ but ⁓ yeah, yeah. So I think we're gonna discuss like what he wants me to be doing. ⁓ 'cause the movie revolves around his character. ⁓ so I'm kinda like just part of that story. So it's it's a cool part. So now I know ⁓ auditions in New York have been really struggling at the moment. How is it for someone that's not in the union that's not tagged, that's not Do you have manager? ⁓ I d actually I don't know how to answer that right now because I'm I'm in between. I'm in between. I'm in between. ⁓ so someone that's not having that actually has to go out and find their own work. How how are auditions for that right now? ⁓ they're very far few and in between. So I I find it I I think as an actor today with an agent, at least from my experience and some of the people around me, ⁓ you definitely gotta go out and get your own work. A hundred percent. You can't just rely even with an age, you can't just rely on your agent. you know, the agent probably has a long r a long list of actors, you know, she's they're probably going down their list. ⁓ so in the meantime, I think you should probably be very proactive and kind of going going out and and and you're, you know, Be on ⁓ on on those websites and just looking for gigs on your own, you gotta do that. You know, casting networks is what I use, actors access. ⁓ those are the two main ones. ⁓ there's always backstage, but I always found backstage to be a little, you know, it could be a hit or miss there, I think. Damn. But it's pretty good. It's pretty good. I mean, I I found some good work on there in the past, you know. You you know what's wild? Like ⁓ from a filmmaker's perspective. Backstage's layout and the way they make ⁓ casting, like looking for chaos, finding chaos, separating shits on actors access and casting network. It makes it so much easier. I think it's very user friendly. I think the the kind of like their system is works well. They're they're they're really good. I just think sometimes anyone can be on, you know, Backstage, I think, you know, compared to like an actor's access where it's kind of a little tighter in there, you know? So I refuse to use actors access anymore. I've used it three times and all three times was nothing but headaches. I also I also don't appreciate them charging I think for actors to upload a self tape. Yeah. That I don't appreciate whatsoever. Like I I if you want to pay a yearly fee to access it, I'm I'm that's fine. I'm okay with that. You know, everybody has to make a little money here and you know, it's a business, right? Yeah. But to charge an actor To upload, what is it? Like, it's like $20 a minute or something like Like $20, $20, yeah, it's like $20 a minute or something like that. So like, I I know how I write. So normally I'll I will send a two or three page side. Like I'm not just gonna send one page because anybody can do a page. Normally when you I mean anybody with a little bit of talent. Uh-huh. Normally when you start getting into like that. minute, minute and a half, you kind of see people either struggle or accelerate. And that's usually why I do like a anywhere from like a two, maybe two and a half minute. Like I personally don't even care if you're off book or not. Like that that's not a big deal to me. I need to see your mannerisms. I need to see how your delivery and, you know, off book or not, I don't think that really has so much to do. I mean As a professional, yes, you should be. Yeah, for sure. I for me, I don't look for that. It doesn't it's not doesn't rank high on the things I'm looking for. But for them to charge you a dollar ⁓ twenty dollars for one minute self tape. Yeah, it gets it gets pretty pricey. I find that dis I find that disrespectful. And you're still paying a yearly charge. Yeah. I I find that disrespectful. I won't use it just off principle. Yeah. It is much cheaper than like a back what's backstage a year, like two hundred something dollars for the year? I'm not an actor, so I don't know. I don't pay anything I think. I think it was like two something or it was it was a couple of hundred bucks at least or a hundred and something dollars on the highway. Sure I always I always get ⁓ like, ⁓ get backstage for sixty percent off, seventy percent off. You know, I think Yeah, you do see that they do get deals. Yeah, you get deals. You know, so But but actors actors access. And actors access really seems to have the better work in s it you know, where you have like shade. No. Well they shade. No, no. It's just it's they seem to have more work. They're backed by casting directors. That's why they have the work and everything. Yeah. So it it's a it's a little different, the stuff you see on there, but not to say that backstage isn't good. I'm not knocking no shade to backstage, but ⁓ I mean, I don't care either way. I just 'cause I've I've used Backstage. I think I paid I had all three at one time. I think now I just stopped paying for backstage. Tax write off. ⁓ for sure. Everything's a write off. But I mean, I th we I told you why I won't use actors' access. In casting network, I just I despise their layout. Yeah, casting networks. ⁓ casting networks, I think, is a little better than Actors Access, because it's a little closer to backstage, I think. You know, it is, but it is. But they they crash for me, ⁓ casting network just crashes. So casting network, yeah, casting network, the reason I started using it's not stable enough for me. So I the reason I started using them more, I was getting a lot of auditions from this other agent that I was working with for commercials, and it seems like A lot of commercials seem to be primarily on Cassie Network. So because everything that he worked on was he worked on a hundred percent he's on Casting Network. And I guess I'm still on his list. I kind of freelance with him. ⁓ he would send me a bunch of stuff all the time. But commercial's always a little, you know. Every time I do one, I look at it, I go, My God, I look like such an idiot. Like I really gotta send this in. I'm like, damn. You know. So it's like it's like you know, there's no there's no there's no ⁓ n there's nothing written, there's no words. I have to teleport. So what does that look like? So if you teleport, so I just go tele ⁓ wow. You know, I'm like you know, so it's like these little things. It's like, man, it's just few you feel weird doing it, but spin yourself around. ⁓ man. You know? ⁓ it it's weird, but man, commercials are actually great. They actually behave well. They they do. They do. Probably make more in a commercial than in a lot of parts. ⁓ a hundred percent. ⁓ especially as like a a cinematographer or a director, you make way more It's crazy. It's crazy. Way more. But it's cool. It's cool. So going back to your point about the auditions, what's your process in auditioning? So let's say you get sent some sides. Mm-hmm. How do you attack that differently than you attack a role? Then after already landing a role? Because I've So I know both of you guys have seen ⁓ my film Method Man. So how that started was you know, I started in a group chat, whatever. And I'm not an actor. So I kind of wanted that experience so I could write it true. And so I put, you know, on backstage, on backstage, and I applied to everything, even if it didn't fit me, which I hate when people do it to me, but I did it anyway. And ⁓ So somebody sent me an audition tape. They're like, ⁓ send in the sides, whatever. And I wanted to see how it was, so I can, you know, you know, kind of like read like firsthand research for the for the the script. And I wound up changing the script from Method Man to kind of fit what I went through because I did a hundred and something takes. Like I really butchered that fucking audition. So what's your process in preparing for the audition as opposed to you already landed a role, how you prepare for the role? So I think I honestly could say there's two different processes for that. So the first one, for me, I get sides today. Normally auditions are due the next day or they might be due in two days. I might have two, three days. But I don't like I don't sometimes it depends. I've had well, some of them been the next day and some of them been maybe I have two days to do it. So ⁓ I never like giving it when it's due. I like doing it immediately, ⁓ for an audition. So what I'll do, I have a sheet and I have like a PDF of it on my phone where where it kind of breaks down a character, how to break down a character. So it's asking me all these different questions like who am I, where I'm from, objective. And I kind of try and and read this and define the character in whatever I'm reading in the size that I just got. ⁓ sometimes obviously they're just sides, so they could be the middle of a part of a story. So I don't know what happened before. I don't know what happened after. So I I'll I'll make up my own story and I'll give it purpose, right? In a way for me. nothing I really normally share, right? So I might write something out. I might just have something in my mind, maybe just a couple of notes to kind of draw me To that moment that I'm reading. And then what I'll do is once I understand what I'm reading, I just I really do a lot of repping and I rep it and I and I make sense to it. Like I try to relate to it. I draw from moments, ⁓ if I can. and I'll just rep it because just to hold that information and sometimes I'm not fully memorized. Like if it's like the same day or something like that, I might have. not enough time and I gotta work all day, so it's it's kinda tough. ⁓ so I have other things I do around that too, to get me around. So at least when I read it, it doesn't sound like I'm reading it. You know, it sounds like I'm I like I know it, like I am the character. ⁓ but it all goes back to understanding the character, right? so that's kinda like how I handle I handle that. ⁓ when when I land a a a part for a movie or a role, I kind of engulf myself in this. So it's like the same thing, but a little deeper. ⁓ I actually write, ⁓ I write out my scripts. I like rewriting everything by hand. I think there's a neurological connection when you write and recite at as you're writing. Cause you actually you talk a lot faster than you write, obviously. So I would say it as I'm writing it, so it's really slow. And somehow that works for me and it helps me connect with it. and then I've already done, let's say if it's something I've already o I obviously I auditioned for it. So some of that process is there. So I re look at what I've done and then reanalyze that and then I now I have a better understanding to the story. And then I'll dig into that story a little deeper and then just work on that, along with repping it. I must say my lines a thousand times. I also have an app that I use ⁓ which is like a reader app. And I I'll put my lines in there. And so while I'm driving, while I'm in the gym, while I'm working, I have headphones on. Those lines are going off. ⁓ use it to go to sleep. And I recite them in the morning when I wake up, first thing like right in bed. I don't even get up without saying ⁓ So I do whatever I can to to really like make that part of, you know, I engulf myself in in the role as best as I can. So it's a lot of work, you know, in that sense it's a lot of work. I'll tell you, I did I've done a few plays. the first time I did a play, man, I was scared as hell. It it was it's not like being in front of a camera. You got an audience and you're like, yo, if I screw up a line, there is literally no, hey, take two, take two, you know, can't there's no restart. Can't do that. So it's like, man, how do I get through this? And I remember we didn't have a lot of practices, so I asked for more practices. I said, I think one a week isn't enough. Like this is crazy. So then I I I ⁓ I got everyone together and we did more. We did multiples. And then I had to I took and I had I it was Jeff was in this in the play with me actually. And it was a great play. They were both great. Great experience. And it was nerve-wracking, man. It was just really, I didn't have a tough time like I thought I would. So I think I was in my head more than anything else. I think once you start doing the work, it kind of just happens. You know, it all comes, right? It's sort of like I haven't started the work yet. So I was like, ⁓ my God, how am I gonna do this? How am I gonna do this? You know, I gotta memorize all this. I had, I think I had 30 pages I had to have memorized worth in dialogue. So I was like, man, this is a lot. You know, I'm like in every single scene. And Jeff was the same. And ⁓ we were going through it. I'm going through it. But you know what's cool about that? When you're rehearsing twice a week or three times a week, you're we're rehearsing the whole thing. So it becomes like you're with everyone. So everyone's kind of like, you know, hitting their marks. Everyone's doing this. So there's relations to what you're saying when you're saying it. when you're standing here, right? So those kind of those make connections too for you. ⁓ so I rewrote I think I wrote out that pole play on my own, everyone's lines, about three, four times. So, you know, I like just writing them, writing them in sections and as I'm going through it. And then I I just picked it up. I think it took me like a couple few weeks and I I got that pretty down. And then so when you're at rehearsal You know, I I after a while I didn't need a script anymore. Like I I knew all my lines already, way before the play was there. So I I went into the play really comfortable, at least with my character. That was cool. I did see some people get a little closer. They weren't memorized during some of the rehearsals. To be honest, rehearsal one, you should already be memorized. You shouldn't be memorizing through rehearsal. ⁓ so you should be memorized rehearsal one. So if you know, hey, Brandon, we're doing a play, we start rehearsals next month, you should be prepared for rehearsal one, right? So because that makes your rehearsals even better. Right? Does that affect you? Not being memorized? If somebody else is not memorized. ⁓ like let's say you guys are in a flow and then No, I think you kinda they kind of fuck everything up a little bit and you know they're not memorized. Sounds irritating more than anything. It can. ⁓ I've seen some people flub some lines, but like they picked it up right away. So they kinda recovered. They just improv through it and then I just I knew my line was next. ⁓ 'cause you almost in that in that case, you almost know your line and everyone else's lines. It's like knowing a song, right? Mm-hmm. You know a song. So so you almost know everyone's lines. And it's like kind of by default because you're rehearsing all these people all the time. So it just kind of sticks. ⁓ I maybe yes and no to your question. I think it's I think it's circumstantial. You know, it depends depends a little bit. Like if they really screw up and stop, it's like, ⁓ shit, you know, everything's done now, right? ⁓ luckily whoever flubbed I remember someone flubbing a couple of lines. Luckily they never stopped. They literally just they just went through it. You actually almost you don't even know they you can't even tell that they didn't know a line. ⁓ so I would practice for that too. Like when I recite them in the car, like I'll improv after my lines, before my lines, like I just make shit up, you know, just go through my lines and I'm saying things before, things after, in between, like, 'cause all that stuff gives me content to remember the actual what I'm supposed to remember. Mm-hmm. I think once you know the story and once you understand the character, the lines kind of just work themselves out, you know, in a sense. But I know also know that's something you also you always gotta work on. It's a muscle. It's like being in the gym. So it's like when you go to the gym, you know, you're working out, you're fit. If you stop going, you're gonna get unfit. For sure. ⁓ fancy word. Unfit. So I think that happens too. So practice is good. So since like, you know, Jeff and I do, you know, well, it's really Jeff does a lot of little shorts that we do. We've been experimenting a lot. So that's all like little extra training that we do. You know, there's shorts, ⁓ he'll send me a couple of sides. I learn them in a day or so, same day or whatever, I get there, we do some improving, and then he films it and we make these cool little scenes. ⁓ I think that's super helpful because although we're having fun and we're just playing around, We're training. You're getting your hours in. We're getting my hours in. So I'm exercised. Yeah. So you I think it's so important. You constantly gotta do that. You always gotta be you always gotta be working on something. Always be in a class. I'm always in a class. I try to do a class once a week. So I'm always so I got class Tuesday. So I actually gotta check my email, see if I got my sides 'cause I I haven't checked yet. And tomorrow's Monday. So whatever I got, I gotta know by Tuesday. But You know, I'm always training, I'm always doing something. ⁓ I think it's just if you're doing something at least once a week, I think you're good. For me. I know there's actors who don't do that who are just I gotta work. If I don't work, I feel it could go away. For me. You know. But that's always been my thing. I always found that fascinating about ⁓ how you have to approach a role different for every like an audition you have to approach it different for casting you have to approach it different. It's it's not like ⁓ like a filmmaker where you approach everything the same throughout. Right. Right. You know, like pre production is the same. I mean different, you know, different films obviously, but pre production is always the same. You know what I've noticed? I've made a lot of mistakes on on auditions and it's good. You audition a lot and and you you watch them and And you're worried about maybe it's easy to be too big. You know, you got this small frame. You gotta stay within this frame. Of course. You can't move around too much, you know? Not for me, but you know what I'm saying? But like all this stuff, you know, so you you're trying to follow all these kind of rules, these self taping rules, ⁓ that are kinda like taught to you. And I I think, you know, it's hard because you don't wanna be over too big, but you know It it all depends. It depends who's watching it. Cause someone, you know, what you might think is great, he might think is terrible. You know? So it's like always it's all circumstantial on who's watching this stuff. So it's like it's like, you know, I I do it the way I think I it should be done, and that's it. I send it, I f do it, I forget it. If they call me, they call me. That's my job. My job is to audition. The rest is just icing on the cake. I I do notice there is a lot of overacting, trying to be bigger than the role is. Or names. Na names. We want names. Or the complete opposite. You know how many tapes I've watched in the past ⁓ my god. How is it when you go through tapes? I imagine it's painful watching the same scene hundreds of times. No, you know what? It's Verily kind of know. I'm very meticulous with my what casting process. So I I have a look in my head. So my character is usually written general. Right? So they could be black, they could be white, they could be Asian, they could be anything. So I have a look in my head for each race. Then I have a look in my head for how if it's 'cause sometimes I might change up my film and just make it a female lead instead of a male lead or a male lead instead of a female lead. So I'll have a look in my head for the male, for the female, a a generic look that, you know, that I think would in my in my head. So I start with that. And if it's somebody that I just can't see in the role, no matter how good they are, I just can't see it, they're getting cut no matter what. Unfortunate, right? But that has nothing to do with acting. has nothing to do with the actor. Right. That's just right. The character doesn't work. For me, for me, the acting comes last. So that right there, boom, done. So now, let's say, ⁓ so for instance, my last film had sixteen hundred submissions for four roles. So approxim I mean the lead, you know, had like seven or eight hundred and the rest, you know, less. Yeah. So out of that, I probably sent out a self tape for maybe fifteen, twenty percent of those. right off the bat. So I'm I'm pretty strict with it. Like I you know, and I also have a list of people that I will never work with. So if they if they submit, it's an automatic no. So I I do have a very actually I think Brandon FC did you did I show you the list? No, so so it's funny because you know when I was working on my second one, you know, I was sending you some of these actions like no, no, no, no, no. But it was based off of like I've either worked with them or I have people within the circle who have done things with them and it's gonna be a headache for you on production. Like the day of, it's gonna make your job so much harder. So just cut ties now. Yeah, hold on, you have this is not like a mental list. You have an actual list? No, I have it written down. It's an actual list. ⁓ It's an actual list. Because I do I do work on a lot of projects and a lot of like independent directors will come to me and Because I guess they like the way I cast or, you know, whatever, whatever it is. They'll ask me to help them cast their films. So, you know, whether I get their login through Actors Access or a collaborator on backstage, however, however it works out. So I'll be like, listen, you know, I'll go through the list and I'll look at who they have. I'll be like, listen, just so you know, this person here has been, you know, negatively recommended to me by three other directors. And then, you know, so just so you this is this is what they say. So think twice before I'm not gonna tell them not to cast them. If it was my film, they're cut immediately. But I'll give the person a warning. Like, hey, you know, I was told this person is very difficult on set, or this person showed up late two out of the three days. And like that's something I don't tolerate. I don't tolerate people being late. So That right off the bat is automatically gonna get you cut. I don't give a fuck what the excuse was. If you were late two out of three days, never again. I I I was late today, 705. I might I'm not gonna make it. Yeah, that yes, you were. You were. You were. We're about to start. Shit, man. All right, all right. Gotta get my gotta get it together. So then I'll go to, you know, then I'll before I even ask for the self-tape, I'm gonna look at their headshot. So if their headshots fit, I'm gonna go to and then I'll watch their video. You know, the the reel that they have on their on their ⁓ on their profile. So now if there's a stark difference in look, I might cut them. ⁓ if so like if the role calls for, you know, a young adult. So let's say somebody between like twenty and thirty, and you're having people that clearly look like a teenager or clearly look like they're forty. I guess that ⁓ I guess that happens because people just keep some They just submit. They submit. I I understand. ⁓ yeah, yeah, yeah. They they submit to everything. They submit, yeah. But then from there they just try to show you that when I look at their Then I'll I'll start contemplating. So I don't automatically yes or no anybody. So I act there's a process to everybody. Like unless as long as they fit the look. Once they fit the look, then there's a process to it. If they don't fit the look, it's an X, you know, make everybody's life easy. Okay. Whatever. That makes that make sense. Then I'll look at their resume. No. ⁓ fuck that. Then then I then I look at their resume. I'll be like, all right, you know, do I know do I know anybody that they work with? Okay. You know, then I'll send it through. They send the tape back and you know a lot of people I I know how I write and I know it's not the easiest to I'm not a very actor friendly writer. I'm a final product friendly writer, but like to actually audition because of the way the tonalities change in most of my scenes, it could be in the same same monologue. You're going up and down emotionally. And I purposely send out those sides to see if people can catch it. And they adjust to it and they do it. Asshole. Asshole. I auditioned. I auditioned for one of your movies. It wasn't just yours. ⁓ I don't know if I could say the name of that, but ⁓ No, yeah, you can't. You you auditioned for he auditioned for Onboarding Death and Offboarding. Yeah, offboarding, off boarding. Yeah. So I I'll tell you, man. ⁓ Jeff, you're gonna be on that? Who? You're gonna be on that, Jeff? J C J C Jeff Jeff's not here. Damn. But but yeah, I I auditioned. I didn't I didn't get it though. I don't think I got it. I definitely didn't get it. See, I'm fair. Pat said, no, this guy was late five minutes to my last thing. I'm That's it. Five minutes to the podcast. He's done. He ain't making it. So ⁓ dude, when I saw those sides, I read it and Death had like It's hard, right? It's a lot of it's a lot of dialogue. I'm like, man. And I'm sitting there with Jeff and Jeff goes, Jeff says, Pat didn't write this. I Pat when he says he goes, he didn't fucking write this. He goes, There's no way. This doesn't even sound like him. He goes, How are you supposed to memorize this all now? It's like, he goes, All these pages. Did you read how many it it's really long dialogue? So I was like, man. Well, when I said that, I s I I tell people, do what you can. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So You know, you don't have to do the whole thing, do what you can, but this is the scene. But I did send you the scene for context. No, no, of course, of course. I got the I got the whole scene. Let me ask did I sound all right when you saw the self tape? Like like like it just came it just came down to appearance. No, no, I g I get that. It didn't sound like did it sound because I wasn't off book. No no, it was it was a good take. It was a good take. So I was like now I'm curious to see this. I was like, Man, I think how am I gonna do this? And you know, and it's you know, I took I took a couple of takes 'cause there's a lot of words, right? It dude it think the paragraphs were like super And it was very up and down very up and down. But it was a really great scene. I was like, Man, this is so like I go, if I could make this work, this is this is pretty cool. Right. So I saw I found it fun and challenging. And 'cause I thought it was really hard. It's gotta be one of my hardest, ⁓ one of my hardest auditions from like See that's the thing. Jeff only Jeff only sees the dark work. That was a fun that was that was a very fun movie. Dude, I can't wait to see that movie. Did you guys finish that? It's about three. Dude, I can't wait to see. So there's there was a there was like a string. Where there's like a s a first cut string so far. ⁓ I actually have to go back ⁓ mu tomorrow. I'm gonna go through it and start adjusting ⁓ you know, some fine tooth cuts. Yeah. Because the the editor I I've worked with a few times, so we're kind of very on the same page for the most part. So his first strings are usually pretty good. So then it's just me going in and tweaking, like, you know, I don't want you to cut here. Can you stay, you know, three frames longer on this take on this side? Yeah. as opposed to cutting. So it it we're at that point right now. So you gave me another shot. You sent me another set of sides after for another another part. ⁓ my God, I forgot what it was, who who the character was. So when I submitted for death, I ⁓ yeah you gave me some feedback and that didn't work out. I was trying to get I was trying to get my people on. I know. So I was like, man, I actually found that second character harder For the audition than death. And it was like half the material. It was more normal. Oceans roll. Yeah. ⁓ okay. But for the audition, I guess maybe I just kind of really sunk, you know, dove deep into death at that moment. ⁓ I was just digging how crazy and different it was, and and it was crazy because I was I I read most of that. I had all the sides up as I'm as I'm going through my scene through it. through that self tape. It was just a lot to memorize. I couldn't it was like a day or a couple of days or something like that. it was kind of quick. But I think you gave me more time than that, but I couldn't get to it 'cause I think I was with work and everything. So by the time I got to it, ⁓ like I was working with it along the way. But then when I got to the when I was auditioning, I was like, man, I'm still a little I'm not all memorized. So I had to have that up for for some of the parts. But ⁓ that was fun, man. That was that was that was a good audition. That was good. That was fun. See, when you say people give you two, three days, I find out, wow, I give two, three weeks. Yeah. Yeah. Like I I never give anybody less than two weeks. So I'll I'll put in the ad, like sides went out, what's today? Today's the eighth. Sides went out on the seventh. Is due the fifteenth, right? Whatever ⁓ no. So it'll be the twenty first, whatever it is, like two weeks later. If you apply any later than that, it's still due the twenty second. So that's on you. Yeah, so so so that's different. We're independent. When you're talking about like T V, Law and Order and stuff. ⁓ yeah, I know. They're they're immediate. 'Cause they're filming today for next week. So like ever w every week is an episode. So whatever you know, when you're auditioning now and it's Wednesday, they gotta have everything done by Friday 'cause they start filming Monday. So when you But they're also like You know, dialogue's kind of like quick and rapid paced. Yeah, quick and rapid paced, a little different. Not so much up and down. It's kind of very straight. Which is which is kinda hard to do, you know, 'cause you're used to a little a little dynamic. A little acting. A little acting. And you're like, it's so easy to overact on that. It's like, you know, I'm all disaging. Jeff helped me out with two of them. And ⁓ man, it was a really good part. They gave me a whole scene. I was gonna be an inmate. And I was like, man, if I get this, this is so dope. I got like eight, nine lines in here. This is crazy. It's a whole part. So I I I never got a call back for that. But ⁓ and I don't think you get callbacks for Law and Order. I think they just let you know and you just go to set. I think it's it just off the self tape because it's too close. I don't think there's time for callbacks. and ⁓ but yeah. But I I did that audition and I remember just going through and Jeff goes, ⁓ man, that's too much. You gotta tone it down. You know, and he's trying to help me out. So we did a few takes of that. but yeah, it's kinda hard to keep it that law and order style sometimes. Depends. I d I think I think where I mess up is focus too much on what I think it's supposed to be. I should just do it and let it go. You know? Yeah. Right? Just do it. And don't worry about what it's supposed to be. Like, you know, within reason, of course, but just Be who you create in that role. And then that's it. At least they could see something and then they let them fix it. You know? I was I was gonna say, ⁓ to to your thing, JC, that's ⁓ very f very common with dance too, where if you get an audition, it's like a day or two before and then you just have to kind of like scramble. So ⁓ I know a lot of my friends they just have to like drop whatever they're doing and find a way to make it to the audition. Obviously you don't and you don't have time to prep for it because you usually, you know, you're if you're If you get an audition for like a big artist, you know, you're dancing for the choreographers. So you need to like study their style and their movement and look at how their previous artists are on stage and like, you know, you have to kinda prep all that before and then you're in like a room with like fifty people in this small crowded space and you can't see the choreography and it's so sweaty that the mirrors are fogged up and you know, they'll throwing like the most in dance shit at you and you gotta get that shit in like thirty minutes. That's so intense, bro. That's intense. But do they did they do self tapes for dance? No. I thought everything like for I thought they did. For the big for the for like big, like if you're if you're with usually like it's you know, it's going through agencies, so usually the agents will cast you based off of what they're looking for and usually it's it's all in person. Hmm. There's multiple rounds too. So if you get like to the the last ones and you're usually sometimes artists will actually pop up in there and they'll just be like s in the front, just like staring at you. And then you're just like, I don't want to fuck up. Don't fuck up. It's crazy. Man, when I get those auditions for like Law and Order, when I've had them 'cause I've had ⁓ in the past, I'll get them and it's like they come in mid morning sometimes. You know, you get them like early in the day, you know, like ten o'clock, nine, eleven. And it's like, ⁓ my God, I got a law and order. I go shit. I'm looking at my calendar, gotta cancel this, gotta cancel that, go through all the cancellations. I'm working right then and there as I'm working, so hopefully my job's not too busy that day. And then I I film and do the self-tape that same day. I submit that same night. Because there's a thing. So if they give you two days or three days or whatever they give you, ⁓ a lot of times, ⁓ You know, you wanna be the first ones they look at. Because by the t if you submit, let's say if it's due today, ⁓ it's due Thursday at six PM or Thursday, twelve PM, you submit at n that morning, eight AM on Thursday, they've already probably picked who they wanted. They've already looked at a bunch. So you don't wanna like be that last person coming through the door. I think you wanna be the first person going in. You wanna do it right away, get it out the way. So that's what I try to do. Yeah, so you would be the benchmark. Yeah. You try to. And then it's like, you know, then when they're looking at everyone else, if they happen to like yours, they're like, ⁓ man, they you're always in the back of their head because you made that impression. So you become like that benchmark, and it's like, at least you're in the running, you know, and ⁓ and ⁓ or really being considered. but it's it's tough, man, because you try to get it in immediately, get it out of the way as fast as possible. So if it's one or two lines, no big deal. That's nothing. If it's a scene, that might even be easy too, because it's just a scene, you know? It's it's maybe just some back and forth dialogue. You just gotta get to understand who the who that who that is, ⁓ that character, and just and and and get in gear quick, you know. A lot of times those shows are just working off looks, right? I think so. I think so. You don't so I you and so those roles that we get that we audition for you can only get from an agent. You can't you can't get that out you can't get that on your own. They're not out there like that. ⁓ I Jeff's done a couple of them, you know. He's done I remember I remember him texting me him in his fucking cop uniform from the trailer. He sent me the yeah, he texted me too. He's like, ⁓ man, I'm here. I go, Man, that's a weird looking uniform when he did Godfather Harlem. I go, man. He goes, Yeah, man, it's nineteen seventy. I was like, ⁓ that makes sense now. Like that doesn't look like a cop uniform. Y C A cop uniform. He had the short shorts on. I was like, man. But that was cool, man. Jeff Jeff's a great actor, man. I love working with Jeff. I think I think when I work with Jeff, I'm sorry. When I work with Jeff, I feel like like it picks me up a little bit. Like it brings me a little higher, you know, in in the terms of of what we do. ⁓ he's he's really good to work with. Yeah, what did I say? Iron sharpens iron, right? That's cool, man. It's cool. We're gonna say, Brandon, I cut you off. No, no, you're good. You're good. ⁓ it's sometimes hard vocally ⁓ with this podcast not to like talk over each other. But I just had a question I wanted to follow up on what you said earlier. How is that to be like in your job? You know, you kind of have like this life built around you, you know, you have a family and then like how is it like what's going through your head when you're having to adjust like in real time when you get like an audition. Like what what type of mindset are you put into when you have to kind of switch gears really quickly? ⁓ man. Brand the last place you want to be is inside my head. That place is bad. It's too much shit in there. ⁓ it's tough. You know what? Luckily my family, you know my c my son, you know, Justin, he's he's also an artist, so he's super supportive. So if I need stuff, I need help, him, Jaden, they both help me. My wife helps me. ⁓ so they're all supportive. Like I say, hey, I'll call them, give them a head start, give them a heads up, say, Hey, I'm gonna come home, but I gotta go straight downstairs. I gotta work on this self team. So they already know, like, ⁓ man, you know, so we have like little routines, who's taking out the dog, who's doing this. So we all kind of just cover for each other. ⁓ so I could just get that out the way and ⁓ and we help each other out. Work wise, that can get complicated. ⁓ I'm really busy at work. So sometimes, you know, we got a group chat and I see you guys chatting all the time and sometimes I can I can't even respond. I'm like, man, I gotta like keep my head here. Cause my head, bro, I'm all over the place. ⁓ it's very easy for me to, you know, lose track of what I'm doing. So I purposely gotta stay like in focused. I'm a designer, you know, I'm a structural designer. So I do a lot of ⁓ point of purchase displays and packaging. So that's my day job. so kind of like an engineer. So so it's it's kind of a very involved. So we do a lot of like testing and lab testing. There's always a lot of people around us, always a lot of stuff going on there. And it's a very busy environment. So it's kind of hard to focus on that. That's why, like, if I'm working on my desk or I'm I'm doing some prototyping in the back, I might have my headphones on. I listen to my lines like instead of listening to music or anything. And I'm just like reciting them to myself quietly, just to make sure I know what I'm saying and understand it, what's different, any tonalities, w you know, how should I say this? So at least all that stuff is always like at least in the back of my head as I'm working. So sometimes it gets it's tough, you know. It's tough. Sometimes I can't. If I if I'm too busy and whatever project I'm working on at work is too involved, then I might have to separate because then I can't, you know. Gotta focus on one thing, you know. So it depends. It it's it's always very crazy how in you know, as as as artists, you get these things that, you know, they come across as like last minute and then they just always expect all of us to always be available to just drop whatever else we're doing and then to come and cater to them. Yeah. Yeah. That happens at my job and with acting. They both do that. Yeah. So it's it's it's it's kinda crazy. Normally at work, It's very easy to stay late all the time because we have a lot to do. So it's very easy to be there till six, seven. I mean, I think the longest and I haven't done this in long time. The longest I've been at my job is thirty-two hours. Nonstop. Wow. Which is crazy. ⁓ tapping out. That was also like fifteen years ago. I can't do that today. I'll pass out. There's no way I would do that today. Can't make it. ⁓ Dude, it's just so crazy. My job is crazy because we work against timelines, you know, like like an architect. So it's like it stuff is due. You know, we also have short timelines. You know, I got five days to do a whole structure, build it, test it, make sure it works, all this stuff, check for product fitment. So it's a lot of work. So if I you know, and if we've rotated like twenty jobs at a time, it gets pretty intense. So luckily it's not that busy right now, but ⁓ But what I'll do, like let's say my the other guys are there, the rest of I say, Hey guys, I can't stay tonight. I gotta bill out of here five on the dot. I got some family stuff going on or or I gotta something I gotta work on, you know, ⁓ something personal. And ⁓ that's it. You know, I just make sure I leave on time and then I just go straight home and handle this. I'll give my wife a heads up and that's it. I kinda take it as it comes. You know? That yeah, I think that that just shows the level of commitment you're you're at because as you just dis as you just just explained that you know your job doesn't it's not a job to where you just kinda sit there and do nothing. So it's like you have to really be on your march. You have to really be on top of your stuff. Otherwise balancing like that with like the acting and preparing for like your roles and your lines, if you're not really locked in then it's like you it's not gonna get done. Yeah. It's it's it gets tough sometimes. Sometimes with these auditions. Well the role, not so much because with the role, I have a lot of time. Right. So we have like like we got weeks. We're not filming now for another month. So it's like I got time. You know, that I don't have to like leave tomorrow at a certain time and you know do anything crazy or drastic. There's plenty of time. But when an audition comes on that's a commercial that they I gotta submit it by, you know, it came in Monday. I gotta have it in by Wednesday noon. It's like shit. That means Monday night. I gotta have it in, right? That's what that means to me. So it's like I don't wanna be Wednesday and Tuesday, 500 people already submitted for that already. You know, so it's like I gotta submit this immediately. So it's like immediately I I go home, I'm doing my lines. I might start looking at it after work because in that case, if I happen to be really busy at work, I gotta really focus there, make sure that's done. customers taken care of before I move on to the next. So it's like it's all it all depends, but it it it's it it it does get a little complicated sometimes, at least for me. And then I also live everything's an hour away. So between work, the gym, my job, everything's an hour commute. It's like a big triangle, yeah. So it's well he has to take a helicopter everywhere. No, no helicopters. No helicopters. You don't do helicopters? Have you ever been on one? No. Nah. Really? Ever ever since ever since twenty twenty, I'm I'm kinda good on that. I I hear you. I hear you, man. I hear ya. I hear ya. That's yeah, hell it kinda. So is that crazy? So it's probably crazy when you wake up ⁓ JC in the morning and then you just see Pat's like on coffee, ⁓ pre work. Thank God for Pat's text in the morning. That's what wakes me up. I'm like, ⁓ shit, I gotta get to work. So I see that text, I'm like, ⁓ man. ⁓ See that's what people fuck it up because everybody knows I go to bed early. So, like right now everybody knows I'm sleeping. My phone's going off. So whoever is texting me right now is gonna get texts at four or five in the morning. It's nine fourteen. You're in bed by what time? I'm asleep by eight thirty every night. Normally. Now except for sun except for Sunday. Except for Sunday. So like Meal prepared. So No, Sunday is now podcast day. Otherwise I'd be asleep at eight thirty. So hang on. So what do you do like after the podcast? T well you're gonna go to bed late tonight, like eleven. Nah I'm gonna go upstairs. Let's say we end at nine forty-five. I'll be asleep by ten. Your wife has before that. Are you and your wife on the same sleep schedule? I hear the dogs brawling right now. So I think they're I think everybody's up. But ⁓ so we're we're close. So I get up at four, I get to the gym at five, and I'm home by like six fifteen. So she leaves for the gym at like five forty five. So we kind of overlap a little bit. But she she's like an hour, hour and a half later to bed, hour and hour and a half later to wake up. Okay. Okay. So my what my wife is on your schedule. My wife is up every day. Maybe not what time you get up? Four? ⁓ four ⁓ five, but I get up no matter what. Like I can wake up without an alarm at four ten. But my alarm is set for four ⁓ five. Debonic. Yeah, I it's that crazy. That's like that's like ungodly hours. ⁓ Neela's up like around five. Saturday, Sunday, Monday. That's just her schedule. She's in bed by nine. So it's like she's probably in bed already, or on her way to bed. And it's like, it's like, I'm like 12 and 7. You know, like midnight is seven. I can't do that. It's crazy. Well, remember. If there's no you know, I train a lot, so my gym time's at night. So I go to the gym, I might have like a jujitsu class and and a and a muatai class right after. So it's like two hours of that, right? So but and everything's an hour and a w ⁓ an hour away. That that's kinda that's kinda tough being an hour away from everything. Everything's like forty five minutes. So it's like a a lot of commuting. So it's like by the time jujitsu starts at seven, muatai starts at eight, I'm done at nine, I'm home at ten. You know? It's about right. It's about right. So it's like I gotta eat, gotta shower, g get my bag ready for the next day. Put the laundry away, my dirty laundry, 'cause I come with like a whole bag of, you know, clothes from the gym. Gotta put that away. By the time I'm in bed it's like twelve thirty. Damn twelve thirty at best. I can't. And then I'm the only time I'm ever up that late. I'm like a way. Yeah, yeah. So it's yeah. It's tough. So I kinda I I I wish I could do that. Like I 'cause I like the earlier schedule, but it's just like my lifestyle is just not there yet, you know? See, I I I can't train at night. I gotta do it in the morning. So that's why when I'm sometimes some days you'll catch me. a pre workout. I'm a workout you know, pre workout drink, I'm a workout into it. I'm already a coffee deep. So sometimes you catch me in a mood. That shit ain't just seven AM. It's like lunchtime, man. It's ready for lunch. But I'm probably yeah. I also use like Dex through the phone. Mm-hmm. So I can type on my keyboard as I'm working Never translated. Type on my keyboard. It never translates correctly. ⁓ it translates perfectly. Well No, the talk to text. My talk to text, nah, it doesn't work well. What what but when I use DEX What is that? It works perfectly. So it's like a little now they have it wireless, but ⁓ It's just basically you could use your phone on your desktop. ⁓ So I can go right into Google Messages and just instead of using my phone to talk to ev you know, for everything. Yeah. I'll just type it on my lap. So that's why you see shit fucking walls of text because I'm just Like people think I'm sitting here like this. Nah, I was like I remember I used to rock a Blackberry long time ago. Do you ever have the Blackberries? Do you all remember the keyboards? A long time ago, yeah. Dude, I still got mine. I used to have them with the little ball in the middle, with the little mouse in the middle. Dude, I would type on that, never misspelled words, no not many typos, just far and few in between. Pretty good typing, really fast. Ever since I had the iPhone, I can't get it. I got typos everywhere. It's like the text and talk don't work. I'm like, shit, man. Are my fingers too fat? You know, am I hitting the wrong keys? That's my problem. You know? And then I send. I never I never proofread because I'm always in a hurry. So I send that and then I look back from this later. I say, I don't know what the hell that says. I'm like, what was I trying to say? But it's like shit. I gotta redo that whole thing again. So I remember with Blackberry man, I never had an issue. I'd always thought that was a great phone for that, because of the typing. But there's a there's a good movie that they did, ⁓ I think last year that they released on like the history of Blackberry. I think it's on Apple. I think Apple was it was I don't think it was called Blackberry, but it wasn't the same. Yeah. Dude, that was a great phone. Wasn't it the same guy? ⁓ I d I know you're talking about E I can't remember. Or was it the other Edgerton? I there's Edgertons. They're not brothers, but they have the same last name. I I recommend that one for you, JC. It's like just interesting to see like that business aspect of the start, and then it kind of shows when their demise happens when iPhone comes out. They're like shitting bricks. Yo. So yeah. Yeah, it's pretty crazy. Do you like those type of movies? Me? You guys like those type of movies? I want ⁓ those documentaries? No, like ⁓ an actual film, like about like hot Cheetos. I thought that was cool. Yeah, I definitely like that. I like that movie. Like you like those style movies, like a true somewhat, you know, based on Yeah, I I definitely don't mind that. I actually rather watch that than the real documentary in some instance because I I just think it's it's a fun way of learning ⁓ about that topic, right? Or that individual. ⁓ 'cause it's in a kind of more in a movie format. It's a biopic. So but I definitely yeah, I love biopics. Smashing machine, man. Who doesn't like that? So I think my favorite my favorite, I guess, like buy I guess ⁓ adaptation from a book. I think I sent this one to you, Pat. It's ⁓ called Barbarians of the Gate. Like anything that has to do with the financial services, like f I'm in, like Margin Call was. ⁓ my God, that's a great movie. Love that movie. That was great. Not that I can remember. That was a good movie. What's the other one called? There's another one. The big one ⁓ it's ⁓ there's a one called the big short The Big Short. That's that's that's the housing market, yeah. That's the one with Ryan Gosling, I think. My God, I haven't seen these movies in years. Steve Carell. Steve Carell. Yes. Yeah, that's it. Yeah. Why the fuck did I say Ryan Gosling? Who played who He was in he was in there? He was in there. Who played He was? Yeah. Let me see. Let me look this up for a second. Yeah, I'm not a I'm not really a biopic kind of kinda guy. I don't really like documentaries either, so. But I I'll I'll watch the biopic if it's like I like the Hot Cheetos one, but I like Hot Cheetos, so it's kinda But is it yeah, I think it it's gotta be a topic I'm into. It's gotta be a or a person I'm into, right? So ⁓ Hot Cheetos was definitely cool. That's a cool s I don't know how Honest that biopic is though. I because I I I Yeah, I mean they're never you know, it's always a f you know you gotta Hollywood up yourself to make an interesting story. There's a fleffer on set at all times. With hot Cheetos, yeah. Some people rent it. That's pretty spicy, man. It's pretty spicy. ⁓ that's gotta hurt. ⁓ definitely. None of my business. It will be if you ⁓ partake in a fluffer. ⁓ Would you film a biopic? Huh? And you honestly I don't really think there's some like a person that I'm that invested into to do it. Maybe a company one, but again Ron James. ⁓ no. ⁓ I don't think there's a company either. Like I'm I don't think so. I guess that definitely can't be like a that's gotta be a regular budget film and permissions and like a little more that's a lot involved in that. I think to do it like To do it right. To do it right, yeah, you kinda need to be into the subject. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. You know, it's I I just don't think there's someone or something that I'm really that invested into to actually come up with a concept and figure out how to do because a good biopic is only a short period of time in their life. A lot of them try to package just too much into it. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. And they don't come out good like that. If they focus on like a short little aspect of their life, I think those are the better ones. Yeah, the story that they're just trying to tell. The reason for the sh the reason for the biopic. Yeah. So so Jamie Foxx was supposed to redo Mike Tyson. I guess we're all waiting for that. It's been like ten years he's been talking about Who's waiting on that? I he's been talking about it for a long time. He even had pictures of training for it and like I saw it. All that stuff years ago. I think it's almost 10 years now he's been talking about it. I I don't know. He doesn't have the size for it. No. He'll never he's also he's also pushing fifty five. Yeah, he's not gonna be able to pack on that size without a little help. Yeah. They they have another one. They have another one, don't they? Well they had they they did. They the one on Hulu. Hulu, I think, yeah. Yeah, but I don't think he did that well. No, I actually stopped watching that. I'm gonna be honest, I stopped watching that because Mike Tyson doesn't support That's fair. Do you know that? They had Michael Jai White. Yeah, that was well, I've seen that. I don't think I don't think Tyson knew about that either. I don't think he was in jail during that. During the film. I think if he if Michael Jai White was just a little better of an actor, like I like Michael J. White. If he was just a little better of an actor, damn. I think he would have ⁓ I'm I'm a huge it would have been a snatch. I'm a huge Michael J. White fan, by the way. No, I I I love his movies. He's a good actor. I I just I I he has the physicality, he has a look, he has everything. Yeah. I just think he was not like You still see him. Like usually in a biopic, you want to be engulfed into that person. As much as he looks like him, as much as he he kind of moved like him. Yeah, yeah. Like Jamie still saw Michael Jones. Jamie Foxx when he did Ray. Yeah, like you couldn't Yo, that was Like that was Ray. That was Ray. A hundred percent. Like what do you have? You have ⁓ what's his name? Sean Ann in Milk. ⁓ my god. Right? Then you have ⁓ Will Smith and Mohammed Ali. Yep. Like there's so many ri like you see them like lost. Daniel Day Lewis is A I mean, nobody's ever been around Abraham Lincoln. But you watch that, you tell me you don't see Abraham Lincoln. You tell me you see Daniel Day Lewis? No, you don't see anything. Daniel Day Lewis is an animal, dude. Crazy crazy What movie is that? Lincoln. Lincoln. Okay. He played he played Abraham Lincoln. Okay. I'm I I I might be on the I I I still gotta see more. I think we talked about it. I still gotta No, I I think I s I I think I still gotta see more of ⁓ that actor list. Brandon, we gotta work on your movie list. I think we gotta work on your movie list. That's why we started the podcast. Dani Daniel Day Lewis, I'm like, I'm like, is he good? Is he is he good? Daniel Day Lewis? I saw him in one movie and I was like, what the fuck is this? See now, I I was talking with about this dude yesterday. ⁓ I'm I'm I'm definitely gonna get hate for this. This is definitely gonna get clipped up, but If you take him and you take Denzel, right? Two that they will fucking act circles around you in a drama. I think their range is limited. What? Daniel Day Lewis? I think JC's reaction to you is like, I don't know. When have you seen when have you seen then so ⁓ no sorry, not limited, it's genre limited. Okay. Maybe. I don't think I've ever seen Daniel Day Lewis in a comedy. Horror? What you know, have you seen He did a horror. I don't know. I d I haven't watched a lot of his movies. They're they're you know, he's Selective. ⁓ so now where you have someone like Will Smith, not saying he's a better actor than either one of ⁓ but you could see Will Smith in a comedy. You could see him in a big budget action. Yeah. Yeah. You can see him in a big He's very versatile. He's a he fits everywhere. He's he's very versatile. Biopic. Biopic. He's a great biopic. Denzel's probably my favorite, but you compare him to someone like Jake Gyllenhaal, who's also very, very good. He is great. I like him too. But his is he? His genre range is amazing. Is he? Really? Jake? You don't like him? ⁓ You don't like him. You don't like him. But even still, now you take Jonathan Majors. He's in comedy, drama, you know, action. So he can't I mean, he hasn't really dove into the comedy, but he's action, drama, like he can show you that he I can do A lot of this. You know what? Whereas you see Denzel and Gladiator, you're not gonna lose your New York accent in night in in Rome. You know, I seen Gladiator. I'm gonna have to watch that again because I don't think I remember that. So I'm gonna watch that again. Gladiator too. That paying me to walk. And that's a good that they took out the kissing scene too. They did? That w whatever that is. Yeah. I d that doesn't matter to me. But I'm gonna watch that again. I'll tell you right now, Gladiator 2 is nowhere near as good as the original one. No, not even close. Not even close. It shouldn't even be Gladiator 2. It should have been something else. Yeah, I agree with that. ⁓ you know who I think it's really funny? You because I love comedy movies. ⁓ sometimes I gotta take a break. Like I remember I was watching Black Rabbit, and did you see that, by the way? On Netflix? No, I I I took a timeout for TV shows. Okay. ⁓ in November. So I I I haven't watched any T V shows since November. I wanna finish up ⁓ a couple of scripts that I have. And T V shows kinda just take too much time. Yeah. As opposed to just movies watching ⁓ you know, watching the movie. That I found that to be so intense and so good I had to take a break. I was like, I can't watch this. I'm like too involved. Like I can't I ca it it's pulled me in so deep. I'm like, dude. Jason Bateman to me is one of my favorite actors. I just I like the way he works. He's very like he does a lot of dark stuff though, the thriller, dark, you know, Ozark and stuff like that. He throws a comedy at you like like Game Night. You know, you seen the movie Game Night, which is I Game Knight. Dude, was a great movie. I what I like about Ja Bateman is that in real life he's like a really nice guy 'cause I listened to some of his podcasts and everything. I I kinda like he's Looks like a really easy going, nice guy. But in these movies, he plays like this whole different character, it's like super sarcastic, very witty, short, like an asshole. And he does it so well. Like I I love his characters all the time. But dude, Black Rabbit was so good. ⁓ I was like, dude, but it was so deep. I was like, I I took a break like two, three weeks. I was like, I can't watch this. I can't watch this. It's like I can't sleep at night now. It's like it's too much. So I was like, I took a break from that and then I finished it. That's a really good show, man. Really good show. Highly recommend. When you get back to it for the both of you. Yeah, it it it it's on my list. Just Jude Law kind of turns me off to it. Really? I thought he was pretty good too. He's a good actor, man. Wow. Actually, together, together, I think they did that elevated elevated made each other better? Yeah. I think so. I think I see that in Black Rabbit. Let me know what you think. I mean it's on it's on my list. Yeah. So ⁓ I'll I'll get to it probably ⁓ once we wrap finishing on ⁓ the film. Yeah. Industry, you gotta put that on your list too. I know it's on my list too. Haven't seen that. Phenomenal. ⁓ my gosh. It's so good. I think it's it's up there. It's it's it's a little bit it's like succession is probably my number one. No, it's probably my number two. And then I would put industry probably like right there below beneath it. I haven't seen succession either. Time out, time out, time, time out. I know we're out of time, but no, time out. So, industry and succession over the Sopranos, over the wire, over Oz, over Boardwalk Empire, over Yes. Yes, yes. I think they're different types of different shows. I think they're different. Get it out of here. You are out of here. Get it out of here. No, get it out of here. No, no, no, no, no. The goofiest how succession was Sean is an automatic no. But it's it's so like it's so relatable. I guess if you work in that industry, you know, if you kind of work in that You're biased. Stop being biased. No, no bias. But the way that they're able to accurately portray how none of these people on this show are likable, but yet you're so entertained by like the inter, like the ins and outs, the intertwinings of the family dynamics mixed with business. ⁓ it the Sopran is just ⁓ I meant the the first described the Sopranos. But the Sopranos looks like it was shot in the 2000s. It like you know the nineties. Even worse. Succession looks like it was shot with a fucking handicam. Nah, it's it's beautiful. It's a beautiful film. Beautiful TV show. Beautiful TV show. How many seasons? ⁓ it's five. I don't think I think it's too many seasons. I can't I can't I can't I can't give it that much time. It's too much. ⁓ what's the ⁓ man, there was another show similar to Succession, came out before it. What's it called? With ⁓ Billions. Billions. Good show. I like billions. Not Sopranos. No, no. It got a little goofy. I think I think towards the end I didn't watch the last couples, the last season or something. I I think I stopped. I stopped mid wave maybe. I think three or four. Yeah. It started getting a little a little funny for me. So JC, are you a fan of ⁓ like fantasy sci-fi? ⁓ depends. I don't know. ⁓ I like more regular stuff. Okay, so no no going so you're not gonna go see Elded, ⁓ Elden Ring. ⁓ no like let's go into like a fantasy and we go like Legend of O Chi. No animes, none of that type of stuff. What is that? Yeah, nobody knows what Elden Ring is. Read the room, buddy. Read the room. There's a So A twenty four is producing that ⁓ it's based off of a game. It's like one of the highest selling games. What is the first What g what game is that? What's the name of the game? Elden Ring. Elden Ring. I I think I heard of the game. I think I heard of the game. Yeah. Is it like A twenty four got the rights? No. I w I mean I would watch it. I mean, isn't Fallout part of a game? I hear that's really good. I haven't watched that either. ⁓ yeah, I did play Fallout when I was a kid, but I never finish it. ⁓ the TV show's a little goofy though. Hmm. Hmm. Someone a couple people told me it's really good. They like it. But they used to play Fallout before. ⁓ I think it depends. I think it depends. I could get into it. I'm kinda open. I'm not I'm not like, you know, closed door. But I'm more like real life stuff. Real shows, you know, like something serious, drama. I do like a lot of comedy. You know who I think is a really good comedy actor? I don't know if I'm gonna get I don't know if you guys are gonna agree, but Kevin Hart has to be the funniest guy that ever walked this earth. Hmm. Do you agree? I'm gonna disagree. That's a hot take. And I'm ⁓ man, no? You don't think he's funny? The only time I laughed ever at Kevin Hart was that one clip in Fortio version. Outside of that, get him off my screen. ⁓ my God, really? I even when he's with The Rock. No. Central intelligence. No. I can't He slapstick kinda like tries to be funny. It doesn't feel like natural. I don't see Slapstick. That that's my thing. I think his standup is funnier than him on the shows on in movies. Because I think he tries a little too hard in the movies and films. Whereas a standup he kinda comes off more natural. I get I get that his but I think that's the character he's playing because he's always playing like an overzealous he's playing like this high anxiety, overzealous guy, you know, all the time. In his movies. That's what he gets. But I I did like him with Wesley Snipes in that show. Dude, that was a good show. That was different. I that that was different. I I that was different. I wasn't expecting it and it wound up being pretty decent. And what about that other movie? With ⁓ Brian Cranston. ⁓ my god, that's such a great movie. I forgot the name of the movie now for some reason. Just in my mind. But I I when you said that I was like, that's w I know that's where you're where you're going with that. First of all, Brian Cran ⁓ he's a great actor. That guy. and but I'm still fucking I'm still mad. Fucking succession over Sopranos and the Wire. He's not gonna let this go. But you haven't even watched it. I don't give a fuck. There's no way. There's no way. But then but then I'm also gonna I'm and I can't relate to Game of I can't relate to Game Thrones and Game of Thrones is way better another Sopranos. I'll give you another show. No fuck you. No way. It's gotta compete with Sopranos. It's way better. Way better. Not even rose. Game of Thrones is way better than Sopranos. The worst part of the Sopranos is better than the best part of Game of Thrones. No, that's not true at all. I can't watch Game of Thrones. I didn't watch it. Hundred percent. Yo, that's wild. My wife was like I don't think she talked to me for any of those seasons. She was just focused. I'm talking to two old guys right now. That's what's happening. How about suits? I never watched suits. Did you watch it? No, I never watched it. You never watched it? That's a good show. That's a good one. Suits was good. ⁓ I have a thing. I have a thing with like cable ⁓ like free cable. Not like ⁓ like premium cable and regular T V. Like I need language, obviously, you know. FX? No, yeah. I I think there's sometimes I like I watch the F I won't watch it on FX. I'll watch it on like a streaming where they don't block out some stuff. Niptuck, they didn't block out anything as a kid, 'cause I remember watching that as a teenager. I don't think I've seen that either in Niptuck. I didn't have cable. That's good. Yeah, it's wild. Sons of Anarchy. Got goofy. ⁓ I did like it. I I liked it. We're done. We're done. I gotta go. Come on, man. I I like it. Sons it got a little absurd. Dude, that was a great. You think that's better than Mayan's or Mayan's was better? I like the Mayans better, actually. Really? I well, I like Mayan's. I just think Sons of Anarchy was better. I think Sons of Anarchy, you got connected to the characters. The characters made that show. Whereas the Mayans, I think the story kind of you didn't really have that same feeling to the characters as you did on Sons of Anarchy. But the Mayan story wasn't as goofy as Sons of Anarchy was. Okay. So is what drove that show. Yeah. Because you liked everybody and even if you didn't like them. You were and you know, they were attention grabbing. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Where the Mayans, I honestly I didn't give a fuck about any of the characters. Like they just didn't really like connect. But the story. But I like the story of the Mayans better. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I th I think Jax, the guy who played Jax, I forget his name all the time. I don't know his name. ⁓ what's his name? Charlie something. Charlie something. And it was Charlie, but I don't know his last name. Noonan Hunan. I just maybe I just killed his last name. But ⁓ yeah. But ⁓ dude, he was great. He was really good in in ⁓ I thought he played a great character as Jax. I I never even knew he had r an accent until after like midway through the seasons, you know? I was like, man, that's so crazy how they could just like remove their accent, you know? That's kinda wild. That's how it was with ⁓ Stringer Bell from The Wire? Yeah. Idris Elba. ⁓ yeah, yeah. Because, you know, we didn't have the internet back then. Yeah, it was ⁓ one, ⁓ two, maybe? Dude, he was a great actor, bro. Real like, you know, th didn't have the internet as it was, as it is today. So until the series was over and I saw him like on an interview, I was like, Crazy, right? Crazy. It's crazy, isn't it? It's crazy. What about that movie he did? It's like a Western movie. He was locked up and they broke him out. ⁓ yeah, it was good. The Harder They Fall? Yeah, The Harder They Fall. Dude, awesome movie. That was a good movie. That was a good movie. I I liked it. Did you see that, Brandon? Going going. I did not. You should put that on your list. That's actually Going back. That's a good movie. Going back to ⁓ yeah, going back to the wire, as you brought that up, and I'm just thinking about how season two just kind of knocks it down a peg just because of You're out of your fucking mind. Season. Season two literally how everything we could do, I could do five hours on the wire. Some of the goofiest shit I've seen on TV. I'm gonna have to rewatch. I'm gonna have to rewatch the wire. I've only seen episodes. I I never got into the wire. And it's crazy because those ⁓ at the time I was training with a lot of my My cousin's a CEO. A lot of people are correction officers, the police that all they did was watch the wire and it was around me all the time. ⁓ I I I don't wanna I don't wanna say the guy's name, but there's ⁓ an officer on the show. He used to we used to train boxing at Bally's on Jamaica Avenue back then. They had ⁓ they opened up a Bally's and we had a little boxing thing in the back. And he used to come in and train during the ⁓ during the down the downtime. You still box training wise? Nah, nah. ⁓ occasionally like I'll, you know, speed bag it, heavy bag it, but no ⁓ no sparring or anything. My my joints are all fucked up. Like it's Yeah, yeah. I'm old, man. My body's falling apart. Yeah. I I hear you, man. Like I'm not against it. I'm not against it. Like if I had some extra time. Yeah. But I I haven't. Yeah. I'm still my mind is fucking blown. I what? Succession over the wire and Soprano. Sopranos and wire are one A and one B. There's no way Why I can't I can't take your your critique ballot because you never finished succession. So you're basically shut it off. Right. So you're basing it off of like a snapshot and you didn't even watch it play out. I think I think we should all watch one of these shows and have a podcast for each episode. I'll do the Mayans. How about that? I can't do I can't do Succession. The way the way it was shot forced me to turn it off. I don't Okay, so then do Game of Thrones. I don't know if I could do Game Thrones. Game of Thrones is it's so good. I've watched Game of Thrones, I've watched House of the Dragon and I ⁓ it's so good. It's so good. I just heard they came out with another show. I haven't Yes, the Seven Kingdoms. I haven't watched it. Because no T V shows until ⁓ this film was wrapped. So I'm still reading the books for Game of Thrones, so I'm I'm I'm going back Like I I think last year I went to do a rewatch of Game of Thrones and now I'm reading the first book 'cause his his books are like seven hundred pages and he's got like How many seasons is Game of Thrones? I think the f the original is seven. Eight. And then it's eight. And then House of Droid. You meant to say seven seasons too many. Well ⁓ well so so so it fell off at the end because they ran out of source material because they just didn't have anything else to write. ⁓ pull from from the the books, but ⁓ House of Dragons season three is about to come out I think in a couple of is that new and then they have a new ish, but it's it's it's fucking amazing because it it goes into the arc of the Targaryens. Did you just say it fell off towards the end? Yeah. Sopranos and wire never fell off. So that right there nullifies it. Well the well the wire falls off at ⁓ in season two and then it picks back up. So if you can so if you can if you can if you can like muster season two, then it gets good. But season two is goofy. Season two shows you exactly how the whole thing works. But it just it's it's so f it's so far left from season one that it's like, what am I watching? Exactly. You're you're you don't understand the point of the show then. It's not about No, it's just like it's about the whole show is about Baltimore. It's that has nothing to do with anybody other than Baltimore. And it shows you how Baltimore is ran through politics, the schools. And how all of it is connected to the drugs which come in through the docs. And distributed to everything else. It's like watching ⁓ C S PAN, man. Well, you go from an it a season like season one into something completely it's jarring. It slows down completely. So now if you watch season two separately without knowing anything about season one, it's an amazing season. But you go you're going from something You're already connected to these characters. You're connected to the street characters more than the cops. Right? They take them all out. And now you go into Dead Girls in a Can, you go into a whole bunch of other things that really have nothing to do with it. And then every once in a while you get back to the get back to Avon, get back to everybody else. It's kind of like, ⁓ But if you're paying attention to the show, you see how everything. Even at the very end, who is the one that they had to go back to? The Greek. So the Greek is basically there, pupp, puppet pulling everybody's strings. Everything was to get the money to get back to the Greek to get the connect. We're talking the wire. We are talking the wire. Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah. I'm gonna I'm gonna have to watch this again. Don't get it twisted. I think it I I think it's probably top five. HBO. I'm not sure where we rank into in terms of all time TV series, but there was another show around that same time. They was called The Corner, it's from Baltimore. Brandon, you That's what it's based off. That show, The Corner. That's what it's basically. That show was like I love that shit. It was a mini show. Okay, so the corner the corner is the same writer d writer, showrunner, everything, has some of the same cast. And it's the short series, like the the limited series, which the wire is based off. So the wire takes that and expands it into six seasons. And instead of just showing the corner, the corner is now how the corner operated. Now they show you how Baltimore operates through the newspaper, through the street, through the schools, through politics, through the police department, it shows you everything instead of just how the corner oper I didn't know those two were were connected like that. ⁓ okay. Identical. They're it's just an expanded version of the corn. Okay. Okay. Same even some of the same cats. Yeah. Yeah. Man, that's pretty good. I'm gonna have to watch that. Maybe that's we should watch that. So it depends on my mood. I would say Sopranos, wire, wire, sopranos one and two. And Better Call Souls below succession. Below succession. And then Better Call Soul Number Three. Hey, where does Cobra Kai land in all this for you guys? Never seen it. I was just waiting for Pat to close me out. Kick me off the ⁓ that was pretty good. And that's the ⁓ That i that is the end actually. We went over twenty five minutes. ⁓ man. But I I did not I did not finish it. It got a little too weird. I it's it's definitely teenish, I I think the way they they they filmed it, like the the show itself. But I I I mean I had to watch it because I was a big karate kid fan when I was little. So I just had to go through it. I I stopped at the the school brawl. Okay. Okay. Where somebody like somebody like kicked somebody over the fucking f over the awning and he fell down the stairs. After that I'm like, nah, I'm I'm I'm tapping out. So I watched it. I thought it was cool. I thought it was just cool to see the other side 'cause it kinda took the villain out of the, you know, the original cast and kinda you kinda like him in this a little bit. All right. Well, that's it. So J C ⁓ You got any projects that people can go check out right now? ⁓ there's one on my off the top of my head, there's one on my Instagram. ⁓ if you go on my links, there's a sh there's a link to one of my movies there, which is ⁓ I can't believe I forgot the name of it. But it's out there. It's ⁓ it's a pretty good film. It's ⁓ Hollow Something. It's right the link is right there. There's an older movie I've done. There's also flowers that you could find on YouTube. Okay, JC, thank you for coming on. Thank you for having me, man. I can't wait for you guys to have me back. Had a great time. Thank you, J C. Anytime. All right. But you can't agree with Brandon though. That's that's a that's the rule. No. Sopranos, man. Definitely Sopranos guy for sure. A hundred percent. It's still one of the smart man. One of the best shows ever made. Smart man. Y'all are can y'all are comparing it to shows y'all haven't even watched fully. So I I can't take your opinions at all.