Latest / Yeah Buddy! Podcast / Miracles and Movies: James Paul Nelson's Incredible Journey

Transcript

Miracles and Movies: James Paul Nelson's Incredible Journey · Yeah Buddy! Podcast

0:00
Music.
0:31
Yes, yes, yes. What's going on, world? This is your man, Buddy Romney,
0:34
and we are back at it with another episode of the Yeah Buddy Podcast.
0:39
And if this is your first time tuning in, thank you for checking out the podcast.
0:43
And if you are a returning friend to the show, hey, man, welcome back, y'all.
0:47
Grab a seat, tune in. We got a great episode for y'all. Like,
0:50
you know how we do on every episode.
0:52
I try to bring some of my friends in the entertainment business.
0:55
We chop it up, see what we got going on, talk about our crazy-ass adventures
0:59
working in show business.
1:01
And this episode is like the same you know
1:03
like no other i got my friend he's a very talented actor
1:07
director mainly a screenwriter he's had
1:09
his films shown at film festivals all around the country from europe all the
1:14
way to milan and all these other crazy places i'm pretty sure he's going to
1:18
tell you about today y'all but for right now i want y'all to make it loud and
1:21
make it live for my good friend mr james paul nelson in the building y'all how's
1:26
it going how's everybody How are you doing?
1:28
Sure. Happy to be here talking to a good friend of mine about what we do.
1:34
Yes, sir. Yes, sir. Thank you for coming in on to the podcast, James, man.
1:39
First off, like, how did we meet? We met.
1:43
How did we meet? That is. It was a very, it was a very interesting because it
1:46
was always like, because I'm like, like, like I would introduce you to people
1:50
and then you would always introduce me to people.
1:52
But like, how did we meet?
1:55
Because I always, yeah, because I always felt like the people who like. like
1:58
i always thought it was the people who you introduced me to or the person i introduced you
2:01
to was like the person who how we first met but then they was
2:04
always like no you introduced me through james or something like that i don't
2:06
know what it was yeah that's that is funny that that we don't even know how
2:10
this happened how we met but we we had people that we knew from each other yeah
2:17
and connected with through each other and they're telling us that you guys knew each other,
2:24
before you guys, yeah. That was a very, yeah.
2:27
I can't even remember. We're going to figure it out at some point throughout
2:32
this podcast how this whole thing got together and stuff like that.
2:35
But either way, man, you're here, man. I'm happy to have you on the show, man.
2:38
Last time I had you on, we was on the Funny Business Podcast,
2:41
but now we're here on the Yeah Buddy Podcast so we can catch up with what you had going on and stuff.
2:47
Last time we chopped it up. What's been going on in the world of.
2:51
James, Paul, Nelson? Well, like, as you know, like I had a crazy situation,
2:57
October 21st, 2023, I almost died in a car accident that put me in a coma for 34 days.
3:05
And like, I fractured my C6 and seven vertebra in my neck.
3:13
So technically I'm supposed to be a quadriplegic right now. And then I had a
3:18
traumatic brain injury and that, so like my brain was bleeding.
3:22
And if you, if you notice this little thing right here, that,
3:25
that little like scar there, there, there was an actual tube going through my
3:30
head to drain the blood from my brain.
3:33
And then so that they were paranoid about like what I would become when I do get out of that coma.
3:39
Like they knew I would get up. Like they knew they, they could,
3:43
because I hadn't died yet because like the thing, like they were seeing different things.
3:49
But like a while this happened to my lungs collapsed twice.
3:54
So like all of those things already, like the doctors were fearing the worst.
4:00
They were preparing my family for the absolute worst that could potentially happen.
4:04
But when I came to in the last week of November.
4:09
They were so shocked because like I, I was talking like, I literally,
4:14
I thought I had just been sleeping over sleeping for two or three days and I
4:19
was in the hospital for some reason.
4:20
So I was like, can I go home? And they're like, can you go home? Are you serious?
4:24
Like, you know, you, your crazy ass was in a coma for 30 something days.
4:29
And you know, and then all of the, what I just mentioned, all those things,
4:32
they were like, we really thought you were going to be, you know,
4:36
they thought I'd be in a vegetative state, you know.
4:40
Wheelchair bed ridden complete they
4:42
even told my parents i'd like don't like don't be
4:46
surprised if he's talking to you like a seven-year-old because
4:50
and he doesn't remember anything so me remembering even you and like having
4:55
the conversation which is what we just talked about i'm not supposed to be able
4:59
to do any of these things it's crazy and like all of last year i actually had like I had, well,
5:07
two short films killing in the film festival circuit.
5:12
It was screening all around the world. And I was a semifinalist or a finalist
5:17
in many places. But in four places, I actually won.
5:23
My actress won for Best Actress. I won for Best Writing.
5:28
We won for Best Indie Short Film, Low Budget.
5:35
Because that's the thing, like some festivals have a category where,
5:40
because it's not fair, because there are some people that have short films.
5:45
Yes, they have short films, but they spend $200,000, $300,000 on a short film.
5:51
You know, they made that short film look like a freaking movie,
5:55
basically, or whatever, or they had that kind of production onto it.
5:59
So that they, there are certain film festivals that they, they have a qualification
6:04
of like, if your film was under $5,000 or less, that's indie short film,
6:11
low budget, anything above that is what it is above that.
6:16
And so i won for that and then it's just crazy it's just i was winning for all
6:23
these awards and one of them i won a san francisco international film award while i was in a coma.
6:30
For for like it was insane like i couldn't even be in san francisco for it because
6:36
i was in the hospital asleep it was just crazy it was crazy so i'm having the
6:41
most ridiculous year because it's or a little over a year now,
6:45
but like, I could easily not be here.
6:48
I could easily, or not just not be here. I could be here, but in a way worse condition.
6:54
Yeah. And you could have been like a, like a vegetable issue.
6:58
Basically, basically. And I'm not, you know, I was like, God saved me.
7:02
Like, I'm just like, yo, I don't know if you believe in God or not.
7:06
I don't know what God to believe in, but I believe in God and God saved me because like I have,
7:12
cousins who are nurses and when I was going through what I was going through,
7:18
they gave the foot, like the the, like.
7:22
I forget what you call it. Like the notes and like technical notes of like what
7:27
my body went through and they were giving it to specialists in their hospitals.
7:32
The specialists were saying he's going to die or he's going to be completely
7:39
not normal, completely like, you know, so they were preparing them for what
7:43
could be because of how bad I was injured.
7:46
And this is how I am right now. You know, and it's insane.
7:49
It's insane to be winning all these awards and
7:53
then you know even now next week i'm going
7:56
to la for oscars pre-party and like they invite they invited me to the emmys
8:02
they invited me to the grammys and now i'm going to the oscars pre-party you
8:07
know from la today you know and it's insane it's insane they just like you know
8:11
what all that happening for me but like i there i still have challenges.
8:16
Like I don't have a job like per se, because I've been out for so long recovering
8:20
for over a year, but that's one thing I'm working on now.
8:25
I'm actually looking to talk to some of the state agencies to be an editor for them.
8:30
So, cause I can do that at home. I can edit video,
8:34
you know, they can just send it to me and whatnot and I can edit the video at
8:37
home and send it to them yeah and
8:40
i could also like with what
8:42
else happens going to la and networking for
8:45
that i could potentially be an editor or a writer
8:48
or an actor or a director for somebody you know and knowing that it's just like
8:54
hey this this guy is walking around when he shouldn't be it's crazy what was
9:00
the coma like the car if you don't mind me asking i'm sure what was the coma okay.
9:07
It was like sleeping with no dream
9:10
so that's why when i woke up i
9:13
thought i was only sleeping for like two or three days
9:16
and then i woke up in the hospital yeah like that's that's why when i woke up
9:21
i was like hey can i go home and that's when they woke up feeling hella rested
9:25
home yes this was like the best part something like that something like that
9:30
like i was i was way rested But at the same time,
9:34
like, yeah, I was like, there was no dream.
9:36
Like there was no, I didn't see anything. I didn't have nothing.
9:41
No, I can't say I saw God or anything like that. But I can tell you is like,
9:45
God protected me because like.
9:47
Knowing that your c5 c6 and
9:50
c7 vertebra are you the back of your neck it's
9:53
right there i fractured that like that
9:56
i that could easily the spinal cord could easily
10:00
snap and i could not be
10:03
able to do any of this walk around and i've been dancing at
10:06
clubs i've been gone walking around talking about
10:09
light railing around and it's like you know this that's not normal that is not
10:14
normal like you know and i even had the funny thing is the uber drivers who
10:19
i tell tell this stuff to some of some of them call me black superman you're
10:24
not black yeah i know you're not black
10:28
superman well you know black people all right so let's ship let's shift it a
10:37
little bit i don't want to get too heavy on like the the traumatic the traumatic
10:40
stuff but you was for something like that's such a weird thing like for like
10:44
filmmakers bro because like we'd be like,
10:46
it takes a lot to go with to like make it a film make it
10:49
a short film that even just get it and submit it to like film festivals
10:52
and shit like that so you're like to see all the all the success happening yeah
10:56
but they're like and i could easily not be here for any of it yeah well i mean
11:00
you yeah like yeah it's like not be there for any of it but then also to wake
11:03
up to that type of to wake up to that type of news and be all yeah it had to
11:07
be something that was kind of like Reassuring Oh absolutely You know you just Okay Absolutely.
11:12
Absolutely You know that's the thing Like this is something I've been wanting
11:15
to do For so long I mean I wrote my first Screenplay at 19 years old I'm 42 now,
11:21
You know, like that was how over 20 years ago, you know, and then I've written nine screenplays.
11:28
One, I was hired to write for somebody else.
11:32
I don't know what he did with it, you know, because like he it was like somebody
11:37
hit him up to write like a specific story for the man's name was Sully Garner.
11:43
I'm not too sure if he's still alive. He was a survivor of the Holocaust.
11:48
I read his book light one candle
11:51
and then i wrote i wrote the screenplay for.
11:54
It and gave it to the my friend who had me do it
11:57
and i don't know what he did with it ever since and so i'm hoping.
12:00
Because at the time sully that was that.
12:03
Was 2011 i think when that by
12:06
the pilot yeah yeah and so like i don't know
12:08
how i think sully at the time was going to be 92 93
12:12
years old so it's 2020 what five
12:15
now so like i don't know if sully's still alive
12:18
but like they were trying to get that film made before before
12:21
he passed away so he could see like you know
12:24
that that whatever did he die i don't know oh i was
12:26
like you may sound like he like he did or something no he didn't die
12:29
in in the holocaust he survived yeah because he was the pilot right yeah
12:32
yeah he said he's about like what's solely we talk about the pilot
12:35
dude no no what's solely we talk his name is sully garner
12:38
okay he's he he was a sir he said he was 13
12:41
years old and he was in oshowitz in the
12:44
in the concentration camps and like he
12:47
he had a life story that he wrote a book about and then
12:50
the book like somebody got somebody hit
12:53
somebody somebody somebody and like it got to me
12:56
so i wrote the first draft of that screenplay and
13:01
gave it to the person who had me do
13:03
it for him and then they paid me they paid me for that and
13:07
then i was like okay cool but like i never found out whatever happened
13:10
to that that story if it was ever made yeah but
13:13
like yeah that was something i did that was one of the screenplays but that
13:16
was the only one i ever got paid the right and he basically just paid me 500
13:21
bucks because it took me a month to write so i just wrote it in like three and
13:26
a half weeks and i just sent it back to him and he was like here's 500 bucks.
13:31
So I was like, okay. This was when you was down in L.A.? No,
13:35
this was when I was back in Sacramento.
13:37
Oh, okay. And it was about 2011
13:41
or 12 when it happened. Oh, so this was before you went down to L.A. No.
13:45
No, you watched your first screenplay at 19, but this about the solo guy happened on your way.
13:50
Yeah, this was like my eighth screenplay when I wrote. Oh, okay. Okay.
13:55
Yeah. And so what is your process like being like a screenwriter when it comes
14:00
to writing for yourself compared to like somebody else want to write for you?
14:05
What's your what's your process like? Well, when I'm writing for myself,
14:08
I think up stories all the time, and I'm saving stories.
14:14
I'm saving ideas that I want to use for something in the future,
14:17
and I just keep it in my memory and just hold on to it until I find pieces where it'll fit.
14:25
And then what I've been doing is, because I'm an independent filmmaker myself.
14:30
What i've been doing i i look for actors
14:34
actresses and people who i
14:37
can like use to tell the story
14:40
that i already have and so when i meet these
14:43
people or know these people could be great
14:46
for that i try to reach out to them and get
14:49
them involved early so that they know
14:52
i'm writing it for them and then i'll write
14:56
the story all the way through it takes me about three
14:58
and a half four weeks to write from from zero pages
15:02
all the way to 100 120 pages about four
15:05
weeks right just go ahead and write all
15:08
the way through and then send it to them and if they like it we try to work
15:12
on and you make it but like the screen the full-length screenplays i've written
15:16
i haven't had too much success in getting it made because i don't have like
15:22
the type of network that has the money to finance projects that are.
15:27
Two, three, four or $500,000 to make, you know, but like for the,
15:32
what I've been doing is now the short films, I've been financing that myself with my own money.
15:38
I've been financing my own short films and producing it and doing exactly what I told you.
15:44
I already have some of these stories in my head and then I meet an actress or
15:48
I meet somebody somewhere.
15:50
And then it makes me think oh i think i could
15:53
get this person to play this role
15:56
i already have in a story i have and then
15:59
i tell them i just tell them pitch it to them and if
16:02
they accept i write it i write it for them and then
16:05
we we work on it and we do it yeah okay
16:08
and so the short films that
16:11
you said that you had going on during that
16:14
when you was going through your whole like the cobra period and
16:17
all that type of stuff you had two films going around
16:20
at the time that was yeah submitted yeah what
16:24
were the films it was one is a comedy called
16:27
funny girl fuck buddy so the it's a ridiculous comedy about two comedians who
16:33
like each other but like they start a relationship but after a while they they
16:40
kind of like find out about or the man finds out about the girl's past,
16:46
and he can't live with,
16:48
the ex-boyfriend.
16:51
Things that he's finding out.
16:53
So he starts panicking and that causes the drama that breaks up the relationship.
16:58
And so that's what Funny Girl Fuck Buddy is about.
17:02
Man, how did you come up? Because I remember you talking about the title.
17:05
I was like, man, what the fuck kind of title?
17:07
I was like, what the fuck kind of title is called Funny Girl Fuck Buddy?
17:13
How did you come up with that title.
17:16
It was just because,
17:18
funny girl because we're we're comedians so it's
17:21
like she's a female comedian my character is
17:24
a male comedian and so it's like okay so she's
17:27
a funny girl and then like i hooked up with her so it's
17:30
like fuck buddy so i just thought it would be and there there
17:33
is a movie called funny girl with barbara streisand i think and like it's just
17:39
i thought it was funny the title that funny girl fuck buddy as just like a nod
17:45
to that but then twisting it around to make it something comedic.
17:52
Okay what was it well because i
17:54
remember when he was doing the research for this and stuff like that you was hitting up
17:57
like the open mic you told me not to do it you told me not to do that i told
18:01
you not to do that title yeah but like it's whatever you know you do it man
18:05
i ain't mad at it is get it submitted to film festival i i was wrong i'll admit
18:10
it but no the the process like are you because you don't normally do stand-up
18:15
comedy you just kind of did comedy,
18:17
yeah you did stand-up comedy in order to do the like for
18:20
the the research the backstory and all this type of stuff for the characters
18:23
and stuff like that what did you grasp what did you take away from your time
18:27
doing stand-up comedy what did you take away from that comedy world i enjoyed
18:32
my time like doing all the open mics and then i got my start with lance woods
18:37
like he shout out to Lance Woods.
18:40
Lance Woods was like the very first guest we had on the show.
18:41
He helped me launch the podcast.
18:43
So yeah, shout out to Lance Woods. Yes, he was there. Oh, yeah, yeah.
18:46
And John Q, right? John Q, yeah, man. Shout out to Lance Woods.
18:49
They helped me. They was very instrumental to me launching my podcast.
18:53
So thank you to both of y'all.
18:55
But it was, are you saying? Yeah, no, I met Lance because I was working for
18:59
the Sacramento Kings. I was in guest services.
19:02
So I would see Lance come in and I would always come up to Lance and I would
19:06
talk to him. I'd be like, yo, what's up, Lance?
19:08
And we just, you know, go back and forth joking or whatever.
19:11
And then a couple, about two years later, I was going to do like a short film
19:17
that I needed a stand up, like, like role, not role, but like a scene in like a club.
19:25
Where my character is doing stand-up.
19:28
So I asked Lance, I said, hey, Lance, can I open for you one night somewhere
19:32
and just record it to use it for my short film or whatever? And he was just like, yeah, why not?
19:39
I don't care. And so he did. He let me do it. But I had to talk to Live Nation
19:44
because it was at the punchline.
19:46
And so I had to get it cleared with Live Nation before I could do it.
19:51
And so I did. I cleared it with Live Nation. and then
19:54
it was insane it was insane i opened for lance woods
19:57
at the punch line in sacramento that was
20:00
the first time i ever did stand-up comedy like
20:04
most people people first time is like i'm at
20:07
i'm at him on this list i
20:11
don't know what's going on but yeah that's that's what's up that's insane that
20:14
is an insane first time doing like you know stand-up comedy well i had i enjoyed
20:19
it so much I started going around and doing stand-up comedy all around Sacramento
20:24
at different places that were doing stand-up comedy now, open mics.
20:29
And that's, I know I, I met you somewhere. Was it an open mic?
20:32
Was it an open mic? I think it might have been.
20:34
Now that it's, it had to have been an open mic. Yeah. Maybe Marcia had introduced
20:38
us or something like that. I don't fucking know. Yeah, somebody.
20:41
Okay. We're going to get to the, we're going to, we're going to figure it out.
20:44
The further we get down into this podcast, we're going to figure out how this
20:47
whole thing happened. Yeah.
20:49
But it was continue to talk about yeah do the well yeah i well i
20:51
started for about a year and a half i was
20:55
almost every week at least
20:58
one open mic at least and then
21:01
you started an open mic at the cornerstone
21:04
shout out to the cornerstone and i started i i
21:07
went to that i was going to that too so like you
21:10
know that i knew i already knew you at that time and
21:13
then we you know we were talking that you were like hey just come to the cornerstone i
21:16
was like yeah i'll come cornerstone and i was doing open mics
21:19
and just saying a bunch of ridiculous shit yeah yeah
21:23
the cornerstone open mic man we had the cornerstone open mic fucking
21:26
lit bro like for being an open mic especially were you
21:29
there when we was doing it in the back patio yeah the back patio the
21:32
back lit bro we had that we had uh what
21:35
the cantina alley yeah cantina alley was fucking pissed at us man they hated
21:40
us we was taking all their customers and shit like they would be going down
21:44
the cantina alley or whatever and they would just see like an open mic going
21:48
on like what's this going on and they'd walk into it they was mad we was having.
21:54
Competitions like with DJ Etta with his speaker and then like the cantina alley
21:59
was competing with their DJ it was funny yeah the police got called the police
22:05
got called that's why I got shut down,
22:08
I wasn't there somebody just called me up and shit like that that was funny
22:13
that was wild You remember how Lamar's always trying to be as calm,
22:18
cool, and collected as possible?
22:19
That was the very first time. I was doing a 420 show out in Oakland and he had
22:25
called me up on my way back to Oakland. That motherfucker was just freaking the fuck out.
22:29
Oh my God, police is here. They canceled over.
22:32
Yo, what the fuck is going on? That's what happened.
22:36
I didn't know that. Yeah, police came in and shut our shit the fuck down.
22:44
So anyway, so you're taking a funny, funny girl fuck, buddy. So.
22:48
You uh doing the research hit it up the different open mics and all that
22:50
yeah yeah i did the research to play that character did
22:54
you felt it help like you know absolutely it helped and
22:57
it makes it to this day like if i if i
22:59
want you know want to i'll do some more open mics and
23:02
you know get back into the comedy scene but it's
23:05
not like i'm getting paid for it or anything so it's like i i
23:08
don't i don't consider myself a stand-up comedian but
23:11
at the same time there's a lot of people not getting paid to do
23:14
stand-up comedy that consider themselves stand-up comedians so don't worry
23:17
no worries at
23:20
all about that yeah that's funny that's funny
23:23
no just joking but be it for real no but so like a title like that funny girl
23:30
fuck buddy what was it like submitting it to film festivals that were they receptive
23:35
did they say did they give you any pushback about the title there was no pushback
23:38
no because they knew like when i wrote on the.
23:42
Thing in film freeway explaining it yeah like you know it's it's
23:46
two comedians who meet and then when when you and
23:49
then that's the thing about film freeway too they can you they can
23:52
watch your short film like the whole
23:55
way through when you have it on there and there so they
23:57
can see it and watch it and then decide is this
24:00
something i want i want in my festival i'll reach
24:03
out to this filmmaker i'll offer them discounts or even a waiver if they feel
24:09
like it's good enough to Receive a waiver you can get a waiver For it so it
24:13
doesn't even cost you anything To submit to them so that that It got into about
24:17
four festivals On a full waiver So that was cool but like.
24:23
Yeah, it was shot on an iPhone.
24:26
You know, that's the thing. We used an iPhone as our main camera.
24:30
And like, if you watch that short film, it looks like a straight short film
24:36
straight up. And so it makes it, it's done.
24:38
Like my Ethan Eskelson was my DP and assistant director.
24:43
And he, he really, he made it look like what it needed to look like.
24:49
We won for best mobile phone short
24:52
film at the san francisco international film awards
24:55
nice and that while i was in a coma that's a big one right that's a big one
25:01
yes that's a big one yeah so that's like are you serious like you know i couldn't
25:07
even be in san francisco for that but like so that's what happened yeah it was
25:11
crazy and how many film festivals did that get submitted For like total altogether?
25:15
Maybe about 20. And it got into about 11. Nice. Nice. Nice. Nice.
25:19
You bet. That's over 500.
25:21
Over 50%. Yeah. That's dope.
25:23
That's good to see the success.
25:26
Yeah. And then what was the other film that you had? Dirty Dirty Games.
25:31
Dirty Dirty Games. Dirty Dirty Games is a story about an actress who like, what's it called?
25:40
Was dating a writer Goes back into the writer's life And Because he wrote like a story That.
25:50
Highly alluded to her and so
25:54
she wanted to get back into his life for a reason and he's
25:57
already dating a new actress and tries.
26:02
To like work her way in there
26:05
and like what's it like tempt
26:08
him to leave her his his current
26:10
girlfriend and go back to her but it
26:14
turns out she was playing him the whole time so
26:17
it was a crazy crazy story but that
26:20
one won me awards all in
26:23
milan in the international
26:27
gold awards the like the
26:30
hollywood golden age awards like all
26:33
and it got into in new york the the new
26:36
york film awards the la film awards it
26:39
got into it didn't win but it got in but it was there
26:42
it was there and it was a semi-finalist in
26:45
melbourne australia in korea in
26:48
china in tokyo this is
26:51
what i mean i'm i was getting into festivals all around
26:54
the world but i couldn't go because like i was spending
26:58
the year recovering from my accident and i'm
27:01
happy to say i'm fully recovered yeah you know it's just and then
27:04
still reaping rewards and like Technically I
27:08
can still submit Those two films to film
27:11
festivals All around the world Right now and I still get hit up Because the
27:16
ones that I won awards With they're Telling me like yeah submit something else.
27:21
To us we'll give you guaranteed selection We'll give you this we'll give you.
27:24
That We want something else you make You know I'm like where the fuck were you guys A couple years ago.
27:31
What I was What I was like,
27:35
yeah when i was all good yeah before the
27:38
traumatic injury seriously seriously so what
27:42
kind of research did you go with to make it like the movie like dirty dirty
27:45
games you played a whole bunch of women and shit i was playing
27:49
a whole bunch of women no you were lying to them and shit i was lying to a bunch
27:53
of no i didn't have to do research for that i just thought it would be funny
27:57
but just you know like as a guy you're dating somebody new and then you see
28:03
somebody you were dating in the past that you were okay with,
28:06
but you broke up, you broke up for a reason,
28:09
but there's still something there because you were dating them at some point.
28:13
I just put that into the, the, the same collective of like, Hey.
28:18
What, what would a guy feel?
28:20
Well, you know, knowing that you're dating somebody new, there's somebody in
28:24
the past that likes you or whatever.
28:26
And she's, she was, it's, you know, yeah, they didn't work out then.
28:30
Well, what the heck is going on she's coming back into my life and
28:32
like throwing herself at me in a way you know
28:35
just the temptation to that that's what i was playing off
28:38
of when i was acting that i was just like okay i'll just
28:41
play that and then i i won't i won't ruin the surprise of like what happens
28:47
in that short film but there's there's some depth and like crazy things that
28:53
happen because of that scenario there you go no i see that i remember i saw
28:58
it a couple times it's definitely you know pretty.
29:01
It felt like it was something like a true crime documentary.
29:05
You said this story right here couldn't be like a true crime documentary of
29:09
all these twisted turns of scored lovers and all this type of shit.
29:15
And the thing is, I'm proud of that because...
29:19
I met Wei Zhen Lau in the Clout Film Festival in San Francisco.
29:26
One of my films, Addiction, won at that festival. I think she won for Best Actress.
29:33
I saw her and I was like, she's pretty. She's talented. I'm going to get her
29:38
information. So I got her number.
29:40
And then two days later after that festival, I called her and told her,
29:44
Like, hey, I have a story about like that, like, you know, about like you're an actress,
29:51
I'm a writer or something, and I'm dating somebody else, but you're trying to come back into my life.
29:56
I'll write this story for you to play the lead role. And she thought,
30:02
okay, you know, that's something I've never had.
30:04
Because she told me for the longest time, she kept playing roles of the nanny,
30:10
the nurse, the neighbor.
30:12
She was never that type of character so
30:16
it was new for her that's a that's something
30:19
i want to tell writers right there if you really
30:22
want to get somebody like to work with you if you have the ability to write
30:27
them something that they have never done before and they're interested in that
30:32
helps that's what that's how i got her and so i wrote that role for her and
30:38
a couple days later when I was done, I sent it to her and she loved it.
30:41
And we literally two and a half, three weeks later, she came to Sacramento and we shot it.
30:47
Yeah. No, that's interesting because I heard a similar story like that.
30:50
So when I worked on, when I worked on Fruitvale Station, like,
30:55
you know, Ryan Coogler, Michael B.
30:56
Jordan and stuff like that. And Ryan Coogler was just talking about like.
31:00
What he kind of did to kind of like get michael b
31:03
jordan like on board you know to play like to
31:07
play in the character and he would say that like
31:09
yeah the writing possible one it was something different that michael b jordan had
31:12
never like a character he had never played before you know australia grant
31:15
i'm telling the true story and then also like
31:18
he incorporated like aspects that
31:21
he knew about michael b jordan's life into the
31:24
screenplay so then when he's reading he's like oh i can really
31:27
relate to this character you know yeah and like a lot of because is
31:31
that so that you feel like like screenwriters do like if you that is a smart
31:34
screenwriter right there that is a smart screenwriter because
31:37
like you you have to know that here's the
31:40
thing there's so many scripts written every day there's
31:43
script there's scripts being finished there even right now a script
31:46
just got finished right now somebody just finished a script right now
31:49
well you don't know how good it is you know
31:51
you you don't know what what entails what.
31:55
The different things that are in that story and they.
31:59
Sometimes they they mess around and they have things.
32:02
That don't make sense in like for the
32:05
characters there's not enough depth for characters
32:08
it's very cliche or whatever
32:11
it happens all the time you've seen it over and over again
32:14
these are all things that's going to make a rod an actor
32:17
not want to work with it because it's like i've
32:21
seen it you know i've seen it i've i've seen
32:23
or i or i've done this i've done this i've done
32:26
this they're going to keep thinking i want to keep doing things
32:29
like this there are some actors that are
32:32
willing to do that why because of the
32:34
amount you're paying them yeah you know when miramax
32:38
when universal one of these companies toss
32:42
millions of dollars at you it's gonna make
32:45
you reconsider whatever the fuck they're trying to throw your way yeah
32:48
but not all the time are they being offered roles
32:51
that give them a six-figure seven-figure
32:55
payday that's not every day that's not
32:58
all the time and so that's one
33:01
way that the a-list and big actors
33:05
get what they get because because of how well-known
33:08
they are how talented they are they're being given roles
33:11
and they're being thrown so much money that they have to consider doing it but
33:17
like if you are a writer that doesn't have that kind of access to that kind
33:22
of money no connections the best way to make your role good for your actor is what i just.
33:31
You one hour earlier i have stories
33:34
in my head multiple like 15 20 stories
33:38
in my head that are pieces pieces of stories that are just i'm going to write
33:43
someday for somebody i like writing for people yeah i like because it makes
33:51
it gives them the the ownership of the okay this writer is now.
33:57
Told me the story of whatever, and I like the general gist of the story.
34:03
Now I want to see how he writes my character for this role and see the dialogue
34:11
I'm saying, see the actions I'm taking, and all of that.
34:15
When I see all of those things, I can really consider, is this something I want to do?
34:21
But what I've been doing is I get them to commit to me before I even write it.
34:28
So when I'm writing it, it's almost like they have a piece of the writing process.
34:32
Like a puzzle or something. Yeah, it's a piece. It's a piece of the puzzle.
34:35
And it's just like, it makes it so good. That's why I felt like those two short
34:41
films that I did, Funny Girl Fuck Buddy and Dirty Dirty Games,
34:45
was so good because both actresses had a piece of my writing process and both
34:51
of their performances were good.
34:53
I mean diana didn't win for funny girl
34:55
fuck buddy but her performance still did a good job though yeah
34:58
but she still did a really good job and then
35:01
wei jin won she she was a
35:04
finalist in korea for best actress and she won in milan for best actor yeah
35:09
so it's just like you know and that that makes me even feel better because as
35:14
a writer director i helped you i i did my job in getting my actress that kind of recognition,
35:21
that kind of support, that kind of performance.
35:26
So take it like that same similar mentality, like being like a screenwriter.
35:30
I'm going to write something.
35:31
I have an actor in mind. I'm going to write it tailored towards that actor.
35:36
Is there some sort of like a way where we could take that same sort of process
35:39
as filmmakers up here in Sacramento?
35:41
Because a lot of times we like try to buy, oh, we got a piece to L.A.
35:45
You know we try to do something to like you know bring like we
35:48
try to bring hollywood up here and like that but
35:51
like i feel like one of the big missteps that we have up
35:54
here as filmmakers is we we make stuff that
35:57
we want to see compared to stuff that like
36:00
the movie studios want to want to
36:02
be seen you know what i mean so do you think that's the same
36:05
sort of approach that we should start taking like for filmmakers up here
36:08
if our goal is to be like no hollywood and
36:11
be you know this big movie still is like we should we should make rather than
36:14
make it because a lot of actors say well this is you know
36:17
because it's something that they're so passionate about they think that everybody's
36:21
gonna be passionate about it whereas all like no i should make something that
36:25
it may not like just making a movie should be passionate enough but make it
36:31
something that you know that like if it's for you know i want to get onto these
36:34
streaming services or get to serve,
36:36
wherever it may be you kind of have to write something that.
36:41
They'll say yes to, that they'll want to put on their platform.
36:45
I make the films that I want to make because I'm trying to tell the best story
36:51
in that world that I created for that.
36:55
I'm just trying to tell the best story I can in everything I do.
36:59
I could care less if nobody likes it or whatnot, but when other people do like
37:06
it and it shows and I'm getting the feedback I'm winning awards and all that stuff.
37:13
It lets me know that my, my like feel and my, uh, what, what do you call that?
37:19
Like just different things that like, you know, you, you, you cater to as a
37:25
storyteller is, is something that people like,
37:29
you know, like the, and all I can do is just make, write the best stories I
37:34
can write with the best people I can, I can get the act in it and tell the story the best way possible,
37:42
present it the best way, and then let it happen from there. Let me see your microphone. Sure.
37:47
I'm going to just charge you real quickly. It's all good. No worries.
37:50
Well, no, you keep on talking this shit. Or did you just turn it off?
37:53
I think you just turned it off.
37:54
Okay, for sure. No worries.
37:57
So, no, that's good that I want to hear your opinion on that because,
38:02
like I said, a lot of people, a lot of filmmakers up here have this whole...
38:07
Trying to be... L.A., trying to be Hollywood, trying to be this or that.
38:12
I'm just trying to tell the best stories I can tell. With what... As an independent...
38:21
I'm just trying to keep talking. It's all good. As an independent filmmaker,
38:25
I don't have access to guys with millions of dollars that we could just go and
38:31
spend nine days, spend two weeks shooting.
38:35
A film somewhere You know for like all kinds of money And like get it Produced
38:43
and get it Distributed because that's the other thing.
38:46
It's one thing to make a movie getting distribution for your
38:49
movie is another thing like to you know for it to
38:52
actually be seen and be shown but i
38:55
got lucky i have a roku deal with for my
38:57
short films and if i make a feature film i
39:01
can get it to roku for the roku channel and things
39:03
like that for a feature but like you
39:07
know there's also to be and there's also other platforms but
39:10
you know it just you need a
39:13
distributor to be and if you can get it
39:16
shown in theaters and get the old
39:19
platform of that yeah that that's one way to make
39:22
money because like i've been told like from
39:25
other filmmakers that they they make films they
39:28
have it they take it to a theater they rent
39:32
out a theater for x amount of weekends for
39:36
i don't know how many weekends in a row or whatever they show
39:39
it they they they have their cast
39:42
they're signing autographs or whatever you know
39:45
like putting it out and then they so they
39:48
make like they're distributing it themselves yeah it costs money for that oh
39:53
yeah it costs money for all of that yeah and so that that's the thing like you
39:56
know a lot of people don't have that kind of access and money so that's why
40:01
when it comes to like filmmaking for me i'm just trying to make the best films
40:05
i can make and let it, you know.
40:08
I get it out to as best ways I can get it out and show as many people as I can show.
40:14
And then from there, if I can get the network and build my network to get people
40:19
who have access to that kind of money, who have access to that kind of other things,
40:25
well, then when that day comes, well, I would like to jump and cross that bridge,
40:29
but I haven't gotten there yet. Yeah. But I'm trying, you know? Yeah.
40:33
That's the next thing I wanted to ask you about was.
40:37
I said, because I'm speaking from like a, like a up here Sacramento perspective and stuff like that.
40:43
Cause you've been down to LA, stuff like that. I'll get into that in a little
40:45
bit too. You had to have that.
40:48
Seeing both sides of it from being in Southern California, being in Southern California.
40:54
With, like I said, I feel like a lot of up here, it's like you said,
40:57
everybody's like, it's all about like, you know, the art of it.
41:00
Of course, you know, they want to show it off, you know, show it off to you.
41:03
But like up here, like our main attention is like making the best piece of art,
41:07
which is not saying nothing wrong with that, but like I make the best film possible,
41:10
make the best film possible, make the best film I can make possible,
41:12
you know, the most artistic thing possible.
41:15
But then when it comes to like the business side of it, which now is like the
41:20
post-production and like marketing and like I say, distribution,
41:24
getting it out there and stuff like that.
41:26
That's one of the parts where I feel like we lack.
41:29
Like I said, the access, we don't have the access to it. you know say we don't
41:33
have the money for it we don't have the knowledge of how important,
41:39
truly truly important like marketing is you know in
41:42
order to get it it's at least 50 percent of the budget yeah yeah like that's
41:46
what i tell people all the time like whatever whatever it is that like whatever
41:49
your budget is for the movie you know to actually get it made you better be
41:54
willing to at least put 50 percent up for that for marketing just for marketing
41:58
just to get it out Yeah, for people to know.
42:00
Yeah, and that right there is... You could have made, what is that, freaking...
42:05
Like, what did Orson Welles make again? I can't remember right now. It was Citizen Kane.
42:12
You could make Citizen Kane again in a movie that innovative and that great.
42:17
If nobody knows about it, nobody knows where to see it, nobody knows anything,
42:21
you didn't do anything. Yeah. Yeah.
42:25
Especially nowadays. Yeah. Especially nowadays. The marketing is huge.
42:30
And then another thing that's kind of changed like with the marketing is
42:33
like or at least that's the way we we feel we
42:36
need to put out like movies and stuff like that social media has
42:39
changed everything so much too to where like yeah it's
42:42
like social media has changed the game so much that people
42:45
forget that like the old school way of doing
42:48
things is still there and not
42:51
only that it's still there it's still very much like the blueprint
42:54
for like how these industry still
42:57
work and operate they just will take
43:02
like what you know what the
43:05
next popular person is doing that doesn't have the access to
43:08
you know access to the distribution doesn't have
43:10
the knowledge of the distribution doesn't have the money for the distribution like
43:14
that they have all those states and they'll just take whatever they
43:16
see them doing that's working and then they'll just put the money behind
43:19
it for themselves they kind of just like yep take
43:23
it over so i said so the old school way of doing things like if you
43:26
want to you know go out to these film festivals you know these you know
43:29
i guess you call like door-to-door sales but like i said going to like going
43:33
to these film festivals being in front of these people's faces that's still
43:36
the most important thing as far as like getting out there if you want to get
43:39
your as a filmmaker if you want to get your get your film scene and get some
43:44
sort of recognition and stuff like that it's.
43:47
It started to lean towards social media but it's not there yet but you kind
43:52
of start to see the the change that's happening yeah and then so besides that
43:58
then you had oh la bro we let's talk about la for a little bit of stuff like
44:02
that let's talk about la because you're headed down to,
44:05
la for pre oscars oscars pre-party how did this come around well that's just
44:10
it like Like September last year, I got hit up.
44:15
I got an email from a guy from LA Live, like the company that also runs Crypto Arena.
44:23
And he told me, he said, hey, we're inviting you to come see the Emmys.
44:29
I'm like, okay, how much is that?
44:31
And they were like, $550 is the cheapest ticket. But the ticket I would want
44:37
you to get is about $1,200. hundred.
44:39
I was like, I told him, I said, oh man, I don't have a ride to LA and I don't
44:43
think I have the money to, to get, you know, to get that ticket.
44:47
And he, and he goes, you know what?
44:49
That's ridiculous because somebody gave me your information to like,
44:54
I can, he, he, he didn't tell me who it was that gave him the,
44:58
the, the information, my information, but he said.
45:01
Okay, because you can't come to the Emmys, that's one thing.
45:04
But when, when the Grammys and the
45:07
Academy awards come around we'll see and i
45:10
was like really and he was like yeah yeah we'll see and
45:13
so i kept his number then february
45:17
comes out like uh late january comes around i
45:20
get invited to the grammys and like same guy
45:23
narby his name is oh his nickname is narby but like
45:26
narby hits me up and i i call him i'm like is
45:29
this real you inviting me to the grammys he said yeah he said
45:32
but the cheapest ticket to the grammys because of the fires in la the cheapest
45:38
ticket was three grand yeah i couldn't afford that you know if i couldn't afford
45:43
550 for the emmys there's no way i can afford three grand for for the grammys
45:48
yeah but then he told me again he goes oh my god he goes like he said,
45:52
that there are people like telling me to keep inviting you to these things but
45:57
we'll see what i can do he said all he said is we'll see what i can do for the
46:02
academy awards i was like are you serious and he said yeah.
46:05
And then about two and a half, three weeks ago, I got the invite from LA Today
46:11
saying that, hey, come to the LA Today pre-Oscars party and just RSVP for this.
46:19
And I was like, oh, shit, RSVP immediately.
46:22
And then did that because I was like, yeah, that they've been trying to.
46:27
And it's it was it's been happening like more like it happened with the first one.
46:33
It was addiction. and then but like they were
46:36
just giving me invites to different movies
46:39
that they were showing and then they were having like
46:42
the cast and crew like watch the movie with the audience and you would have
46:48
a q a and you could meet the cast but i wasn't going because it was in la and
46:53
i didn't at the time i wasn't willing to drive to la but like i did i really
46:57
didn't understand that kind a connection that they were already sending me.
47:02
But then they, you know, when they start inviting me to the freaking awards,
47:06
the Emmys, the Grammys, and the Academy Awards, okay, I'm going.
47:10
I'm going to try to find a way to go to that, obviously, because that's not
47:14
just a movie to watch or whatever.
47:17
That is a ridiculous networking opportunity.
47:20
And I know you're going to be there, too. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
47:23
I'm trying to make the trip down to L.A. with y'all, man.
47:25
I'm trying to make that shit happen, bro. Yeah, that would be ridiculous.
47:31
Oscars, Oscars, Academy Awards, Buddy and James, Walk the Red Carpet.
47:35
That would be insane. We're putting it out there in the air,
47:37
man, but knock on wood, we put that out there.
47:39
I don't know if that's what you're supposed to knock on wood,
47:41
but we just knock on wood anyways.
47:44
We're putting that into the atmosphere, bro. We'll be at the Academy Awards
47:47
here with the next two to three years doing something. Yeah.
47:53
So you're going back to LA. You was originally down in LA for a little while and stuff like that.
47:58
2005 I moved to LA I
48:01
was 20 22 years old
48:04
I moved to LA I moved to Irvine so
48:07
that's south of LA that's Orange County I was there
48:10
for three years but like things
48:13
didn't work out for me too well and so I ended
48:16
up moving back up here but while I was there I
48:19
don't want to talk about too much of the next stuff you know what I mean but yeah
48:22
what happened was I was doing extra work
48:24
so I was on er csi alias
48:28
i was an i was a background extra on those
48:31
tv shows and then on the movie bring it
48:34
on all or nothing i'm in that was that with solange yes with solange and hayden
48:40
panetti air rihanna was in that movie yeah she was she was that's the only way
48:44
you had the set that she was i was not on set when she was there that would
48:49
have been ridiculous yeah that's funny what was it like being an extra down in L.A.?
48:54
It was cool, but the thing was... Were they assholes? Were the people rude?
48:58
Was they mean? Did you feel like the competitive spirit?
49:01
From what I could see, everybody was okay.
49:05
I had no issues with anybody. My problem was I lived in Irvine,
49:10
and the actual sets were Altadena, Pasadena, or wherever else all around LA.
49:19
And then the drive from my house to there,
49:23
I would leave at 4 in the morning to get
49:26
to where I needed to get to because of traffic because
49:29
of how far i would need a two-hour commute yeah
49:32
to get to work that'd be an extra and then
49:35
i showed up like two minutes late one
49:38
time for that movie to bring it on all
49:41
or nothing yeah and then they told me you can't work today i
49:44
was like are you serious like i drove from i i drove
49:48
from irvine and there was what can i i can't do
49:51
anything about the traffic i can't do anything about all
49:53
that what are you trying to tell me to do leave at three in the
49:56
morning don't sleep and just like you
49:59
know it just didn't know they probably would though but that's what i'm
50:02
talking about like like have like like the difference
50:05
and stuff like that like if you're up here and you don't don't ever want
50:08
to be late yeah to like a set but like up here in
50:10
the bay area like if you're late it like they'll get on you about it but they're
50:15
not going to be all like especially like two minutes yeah hey hurry up to set
50:19
you know i'm saying like you need you need to get here right now but to be all
50:22
like to show up and then for them to be all like hey man Yeah,
50:27
that's what they used to do.
50:28
That's the difference between LA and San Francisco.
50:33
The drive from, like how you said, where you got to get to, that's very similar
50:37
to the drive from Sacramento to the Bay Area. You know what I mean?
50:41
It's just like San Francisco, San Jose. That's about the same.
50:45
Two hours. Two hours, yeah. That's about the same drive.
50:49
Especially in the morning like that. Yeah. Especially with all the cars going
50:53
to work and all that stuff. It takes about. Did you get any SAG vouchers working on that?
50:57
I did not. I think I was supposed to, but I only worked two days,
51:01
and I needed to work that third day, the day that they took me off.
51:05
That would have gave me the SAG voucher to be SAG. Okay.
51:10
Interesting. And so I got eliminated before I could be SAG. You got eliminated
51:14
before you had a chance to actually get up in the game? Yeah, exactly.
51:18
But you're a screenwriter, though. That's not really your goal to be SAG.
51:22
You just do it because that's what filmmakers do to make a living down there. They do extra work.
51:28
And extra work is cool because, like I said, it's very chill.
51:31
It's low maintenance, low responsibility, very little responsibility.
51:38
So little responsibility, it's almost so easy to get in trouble being an extra
51:44
because all you have to do is just sit down and be quiet.
51:47
But for some reason being an extra that is the hardest thing in the world is
51:53
to sit down and to shut the fuck up it's been the one thing especially when
51:58
you're in that atmosphere and there's a whole bunch of like.
52:01
There may be like celebrities around or something
52:04
like that you just that that it's hard to be quiet
52:07
but like that that's that's what the that's like
52:10
being an extra it's so so easy low
52:13
maintenance low responsibility but it's it's entry-level
52:17
work into the business so you wanted
52:20
to be like a screenwriter it makes sense because just
52:23
being an extra now you can hop in you can do
52:26
like like pa work or something like that and then
52:29
from there now you're now you can jump in
52:32
like with the skip suit the script supervisor so now you'll be on the script
52:35
supervisor team you'll be on the camera team camera exactly and
52:38
work your way up and then not only that but i
52:42
mean there's people that these filmmakers that you see on these these movie
52:45
sets they all have aspirations to make movies of their own too or at least collaborate
52:49
with other filmmakers and then they have the and the best thing about them is
52:53
they have not only access to the equipment but they also have access to the
52:56
knowledge of what you're talking about to make a quality film, to actually.
53:02
Help you see your project through the way you want to see it,
53:05
because you could come out and be like,
53:06
let me just pick this guy and pick this guy.
53:08
I mean, I know it's not this guy's responsibility, but he could do this now
53:11
and stuff like that, and now you got a whole bunch of,
53:14
I don't want to say inexperienced people, but inexperienced people working on your film.
53:19
And it's something that you're so passionate about. And they may not have this.
53:22
They may have the passion about filmmaking, but they're not passionate about
53:25
making your film. I'm just here to work.
53:27
But then they don't have the work experience to satisfy you as a filmmaker.
53:32
So now there's just this big old headbutt of like, make my damn movie.
53:36
And then they're like, well, we are. We just don't know what the hell we're doing.
53:40
You know so that's the that's one of the benefits that
53:43
you get to from working on these major
53:46
film sets is you you get to see it you get to see what
53:49
professionalism looks like yeah you get to see how it's
53:52
done you get to see the difference between i mean even though you're non-union
53:56
you're working on a union project you get to see the the the level of professionalism
54:00
and what it takes to actually get this done to where like if you want to go
54:05
ahead and make like you can still do non-union projects that's no problem but
54:09
seeing the professionalism that it takes,
54:12
to make a union project you could take those same things and
54:16
make your union projects make it just be professional when i say professional
54:20
i don't mean like these big cameras and lights and all that type of stuff i
54:26
mean professional like how are you treating people on set you know things like
54:30
that okay so i mean i don't know if that makes sense or not but no it doesn't It makes sense.
54:38
So right now, man, yeah, you're going down to LA. Cool. We got that.
54:42
Right now we're going to kick it to my favorite part of the show. You know what it is.
54:47
That's right, y'all. It is time for the Mount Rushmore, y'all, Mount Rushmore.
54:56
And you know how we do the Mount Rushmore every episode. I give our guests their
55:00
subject or something like that. They got to get their top four of whatever that
55:05
may be and stuff like that.
55:07
So right now we got James on his phone, but it's all good.
55:11
You ready to play the Mount Rushmore? Yeah. Okay, so for sure.
55:14
So for this Mount Rushmore, what we are going to do, man, you've been traveling
55:18
all around the country and all that type of stuff. You had a lot of film festivals
55:20
played over in Asia and stuff like that. Yeah.
55:23
So we are going to do your Mount Rushmore. It's going to be a little stereotypical, my bad.
55:27
But it's going to be your top four Asian-American filmmakers.
55:32
Okay. Okay. I'll go with first. i'll start
55:36
with akira kurosawa the japanese
55:40
director that like you know
55:43
what he did seven samurai and like other things i i forget the yojimbo and what
55:51
else like he's got so many he he's an amazing guy like amazing like director
55:57
and then i i make sure i have this guy's name The names right,
56:02
yeah The director who made Parasite
56:06
The Korean director Bong Joon-ho Joon-ho Bong
56:09
Joon-ho That film is amazing And I can't wait to see what else he makes So like
56:16
that's the next And then Wong Kar-wai And then I forget if Wong Kar-wai is Chinese
56:24
or I can't remember if he's Korean or Chinese And then.
56:30
John Woo. Is that John Woo? Yeah. All right, I'll give you John Woo.
56:35
John Woo class. That's probably the only person that I do.
56:37
But that's why I ask people to Mount Rushmore because I want to know what inspires you.
56:41
Yeah. That way you can put me up on game and educate me on all these spellbangers
56:45
that I don't know because, you know, there's so many of them and stuff.
56:47
Yeah, yeah. So John Woo, I'm familiar with his work. Was that Crouching Tiger?
56:54
Crouching Tiger? I don't know if John Woo did that. Yeah.
56:58
No, Crouching Tiger is somebody else. That was somebody else to go look it up.
57:01
But I swear I have seen some of his films, though. Yeah. But yeah, go through the list.
57:06
The list is Akira Kurosawa, Bon Joon-Ho, Wong Kar-Wai, and John Woo. Okay.
57:16
And so give a breakdown on like why each of these people Okay.
57:23
Kurosawa is probably like one. He's one of the greats.
57:27
Like one of the greatest like directors. he made films in the 60s, 50s, 60s.
57:32
When I was in film school, I was learning his films.
57:36
And then Bong Jo Ho, the Parasite director, I felt that that film is so strong in what he did.
57:46
I'm just curious to see what else he'll do because he's so good.
57:51
And then Wong Kar-wai, same thing.
57:54
His films, too, have different vibes to it that just keep you going.
58:01
And then John Woo is just like the action. This motherfucking guy makes action
58:05
films you wouldn't believe.
58:08
And that's the reason. Yeah, that's the reason for those four.
58:11
If you're going to go Asian, those are the four.
58:14
I'm going to look up John Woo real quick. I know I'm trying to figure out which.
58:18
He did. Which one was it? John Woo did one with Good God He's done a big one
58:24
That that's I forget it Yeah Uh Yeah.
58:29
No. Yeah, I'm not sure. Yeah, I'll look about those.
58:35
Yeah. Yeah. All right. No worries. All right, cool. So those are the people
58:40
that you had going on and stuff like that.
58:41
Before we do wrap up this here episode, was there anything else that you wanted
58:46
to let the people know, James?
58:48
Well, other than happy to be alive and everything that's going on and continue
58:53
to just make films and be in this condition because, again, you just watched
58:58
me speak for, I don't know how long I've been speaking.
59:01
And for me to be able to articulate myself like this, remember I have permanent brain damage.
59:09
My brain was bleeding and I could easily be dead and like not even be able to
59:15
talk, not even be able to communicate anything or remember anything.
59:20
That's, it's, it's a miracle that I'm even in this condition.
59:24
I just, I'm just grateful and thank god every
59:27
moment of the day and just every new person i
59:30
meet every new experience thank you
59:33
thank you i could easily not be here for any of this you
59:36
know so how how can i just be more grateful and you know thank doing your show
59:41
yeah tell people tell people where they could follow you at where they could
59:45
find james poe no on ig it's james da great 916 so james the great 916,
59:55
you know, and then I'm on Facebook.
59:58
You can find me and just search James Paul Nelson and you're going to find me there.
1:00:03
And on Twitter, it's, I think it's James Paul, it's James Nelson 916.
1:00:09
And then one more time, what was the name of the Roku channel where people can watch a movie at?
1:00:13
You can watch the Roku channels are Scenes Plus and Fancy a Movie.
1:00:19
So if you have a Roku TV or a Roku plug-in device, I forget what you call those things.
1:00:25
But like you can download that channel, Scenes Plus or Fancy a Movie.
1:00:30
On Fancy a Movie, I actually have my own queue that it shows you six or seven
1:00:37
of my short films. and it'll play them all.
1:00:40
If you wanted to play them all together at the same time, all the way through, you could do it.
1:00:45
And then, yeah, that's what I'm, my Roku deal so far.
1:00:51
And you know me, man, Buddy Robin. You can catch me at Yeah Buddy ENT,
1:00:55
everything social media.
1:00:56
You can catch me at Yeah Buddy Entertainment on YouTube. And,
1:00:59
of course, you can always go to the website, www.YeahBuddyENT.com.
1:01:05
And if you want to listen to the podcast, you can listen to us on all streaming
1:01:09
platforms I think there's Spotify, Pandora.
1:01:12
IHeartRadio and Podbean and then yeah man
1:01:15
that was it y'all this was the Yam Buddy podcast thank
1:01:19
you and again if this is your first time tuning into the podcast thank you for
1:01:23
tuning in and checking out if you are returning friends to the podcast hey man
1:01:28
welcome back I'm glad to see you back here again and then thank you for being
1:01:31
here and then as I said you can follow us everywhere we'll be back next week and all that good stuff,
1:01:36
man, keep us in your prayers. We will do the same for you.
1:01:39
Please, everybody, stay blessed out there. Stay safe. It's a crazy-ass world.
1:01:43
And I want to see y'all back here for the next episode.
1:01:46
So I will catch y'all then. Deuces.