Latest / The Delicious Culture with Jon Francois / Scream 7 Is Delicious w/ Mark J. Parker

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Scream 7 Is Delicious w/ Mark J. Parker · The Delicious Culture with Jon Francois

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Delicious, grab a plate and feast on the delicious
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culture. I'm your host, John Francois. We are
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feasting on food, pop culture and lifestyle with
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Marc Jay Parker. And oh my God, what a resume
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this guy has. He's a film, TV, theater director,
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producer, casting director, acting and media
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coach, podcaster, screenwriter, playwright, video
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editor, SAG, after actor. What don't you do,
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Marc? I know. Isn't it annoying? It's too much.
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It's too much. I'm like, okay. Right, but then
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you know how it goes sometimes in it's like there's
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nothing to do like it with all that's with all
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the stuff We do in this business some weeks.
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You're crazy busy. And then sometimes you're
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like, hello has anyone out there, you know, so
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yeah Exactly. So it's helpful to have as many
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skills in your plate as possible just to keep
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yourself as busy as possible. So I do not blame
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you. I had the good fortune of being directed
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by Mark in a TV comedy pilot that he's producing
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called Murder Loves Company. And I think it's
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still in the post -production process. Oh, yeah.
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Yeah, I've been slow with it, but I'm editing
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it as well, which I like editing sometimes when
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it's something I've... Written directed produced
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cast. I'm like, oh my god. I can't keep looking
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at that You know what I mean? So it takes a while
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and just life in general, you know It's it's
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post on an indie thing as you can imagine, right?
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It just it can never be a priority because then
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there's other things going on and you're chasing
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money here and there So yeah, we're still working
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on it, but it's looking really good It's very
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funny, which is good because you know, you think
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it'll be funny when you do it right? When you're
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on set. And then when it actually is funny, when
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you're like piecing it together, like, okay,
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all right, we got something good here, you know?
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So yeah, that'll be done in the coming months
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for sure. I want to have a premiere if we can
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and get as many people back and then we'll start
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submitting it to festivals and you know, that
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whole thing. I love that. We'll see if we can
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talk a little bit about that experience later
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on, because I had a great time shooting my part
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that day with you and the crew. And as for the
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editing thing, I totally get that. I mean, that's
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the because I edit my own podcast of course you
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know the trouble you run into is just like balancing
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that mixture of like oh i want to be involved
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in the creative process i want to make sure the
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audio quality the content everything is great
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but then because you want everything to sound
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well you're listening to it over and over again
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and then by the time the final product comes
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out it's just like ah get it away from me i want
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to move on to something else right it's like
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okay enough right that's why usually whenever
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i shoot something because i just shot a couple
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things already this year so far i need like a
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break Like with murder loves company, we'll talk
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more about it, but like that was my biggest shoot
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yet as like an independent producer. Like I've
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worked on TV shows, but I mean, that's a whole
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team, right? This was just mostly me and Greg
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are our fellow producer. So I mean, five days
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of like all that. I was like, I don't want to
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look at this like for the rest of summer. I need
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to take a break. Right? So yeah, you gotta, you
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gotta take breaks. If you're like looking at
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the same thing for too long, that's when we go
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crazy. Right? Oh, absolutely. I could, it could
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definitely be torturous. Um, all right. So let's
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get into. The three questions that anchor this
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podcast, like I said, they have to do with food,
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pop culture, and lifestyle. We'll start with
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the first one. Mark, what is a delicious meal
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that you've had lately? What a good question.
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Okay. I'm so boring. I'm like, what is a delicious
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meal I've been having lately? I don't know. Cause
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like I'm on a budget, lots of cooking at home,
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lots of very simple food. So if I can change
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the question slightly, John, if it's allowed
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instead of favorite meal, I'm a big snacker and
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I've been having some delicious snacks lately.
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So does that count? Can I tell you some good
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snacks? Absolutely. I'm a big snack guy as well.
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Go ahead. Right. I feel like, especially with
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winter in New England, you know, like, Oh, I
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just, I want all the good snacks. Okay. Everybody
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here's some snacks. I've just discovered recently
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this is so funny I sound like I'm 12 okay okay
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it's smart food popcorn but it's Doritos nacho
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cheese flavored holy cow holy cow everybody addicting
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I got a big bag of BJ's Because I'm like, okay,
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this will last me a while. All right It's already
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halfway done and I got a couple days ago. So
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good. So good. So, okay, that's number one Just
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yesterday. I realized oh my gosh, it's Girl Scouts
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season. Hello So I went to I went to girl scouts
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comm put in my zip code found a troop Okay, I
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am late to the game. This was new I guess in
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the last year or two Adventurefuls cookies. Have
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you had any of those yet John? No, no describe
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it to me. It's it's a newer cookie It's like
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part brownie inspired. So it's kind of like fudgy
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chocolatey with caramel in the center. Holy cow
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Oh my gosh that box I got yesterday. It's already
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in Date alert alert like danger. We are almost
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done. So good. So good chocolatey The girls even
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told me put it in the microwave for five seconds
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No more and it's gonna be just the right amount
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of moist. I haven't done that yet. But yeah adventure
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fools They're new and holy cow. Okay, there's
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that. Oh, okay. I could keep going. I also discovered
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I'm a cheese at home Okay, I've been a cheese
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it fan for decades, right just like comfort.
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Okay Can you tell when I'm like editing or like
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working around the clock? I'm like, all right,
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snacks, snacks, snacks, right? Um, so cheese,
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it has this great like medley. Oh, I should have
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looked, I forget what it's called. They have
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like a medley line now of like different, um,
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things in the box, not just cheese. It's anymore.
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There's like a really good, uh, I think they
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call it like snack mix with like pretzels and
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like crackers and cheese. Right now there's a
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new one where it's like. Oh my god I should have
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looked it's like a it's like a zesty one with
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like more cheesy goodness in it oh my god but
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those Cheez -Its snack boxes holy cow again yeah
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I get a box a couple days later I'm like whoa
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I I eat all that by myself in just two days.
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Whoa. So there's that. I kid you not, Mark. The
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Cheez -It snack mixes, I got on that because
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my, because my wife would buy like these big,
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these, these big large packs of the snack mixes
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and I needed to like increase my snack. uh, load,
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so to speak, because I Uber and Lyft drive for
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a living. So I have to have food out on the road
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to keep myself sustained. And that's in between
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lunch and dinner. So I'm having my peanut butter
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crackers. I'm having my protein bars. Um, I'm
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having my monster trail mixes, my apples, my
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bananas, whatever. And if I run out of any of
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these snacks, I need to substitute it with something
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else. And I was like looking around the cabinet
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in our kitchen and boom, she's at snack mix.
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I'm like, all right, let me try this. And I've
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just been in heaven. I mean, The Cheez -Its,
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the pretzels, the pretzel stick, the whatever
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else they have in it. They got like some good
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crunchy, like other flavors. Oh my god, you have
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to try the new one. It even says on the box,
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brand new. I'm like, ooh, oh god, I should have
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taken a picture of it at least to remember. But
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yeah, John, I am right there with you. My wife
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is angry at me right now because I've been eating
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all of it and I've been leaving nothing for her.
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She's like, oh my god! Forget it, right? Like
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it ends up becoming, I know this, you guys are
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probably gonna listen and be like, this guy,
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Mark, is not very healthy. I am, I swear. I'm
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a vegetarian. I eat so many veggies and rice
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and I'm like, let me just have some Cheez -Its,
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right? But like literally some days I'll just
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like get some handfuls of the Cheez -Its snack
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mix. And that just becomes my lunch. Cause I'm
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like, wow, I'm stuffed. Cause I just ate a box
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of these delicious Cheez -Its. Oh my God. Yeah.
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I'm so glad you're there with me. I love Cheez
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-Its. This is not sponsored by Cheez -It yet,
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but maybe. Maybe one day. Hello, we're available,
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right? Yeah, yeah, yeah. So yeah, that's really
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good. Yeah, but I have to say about the smart
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food popcorn. I have not tasted the Doritos,
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nacho cheese flavored. I will say smart food
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popcorn. Like I work for a Vermont stage part
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time. They're a small professional theater company.
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So I do like house managing and box office shows
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for them. And they will like provide concessions
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as most theater productions do. And one of them
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is the smart food popcorn. And because we work
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on staff for low pay, we're allowed to like grab
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concessions for free. Great mood that I'll get
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in during intermission. Actually, no, not during
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intermission. When the show's going on, when
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the audience is in the theater, knowing that
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I can just munch on smart food popcorn, maybe
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some Flamin' Hot Cheetos, maybe some cookies,
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crackers. It's the best! That right there, okay,
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that's a commercial. That right there is a commercial
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for smart food, right? Guy working hard, audience
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going in, right? The show starts, he opens up
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a bag, he sits like in the back in the dark,
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and he's just like, okay, now it's my break and
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I can enjoy smart food. See? It writes itself.
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But can I ask, can I ask what about the Doritos
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nacho flavored smart food popcorn is, um, substantial
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is needed compared to just getting a regular
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Doritos nacho flavored chip? Oh, oh wow. What
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a question. What a question. Okay. I love this.
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See, I could talk about snacks all day. That's
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a thing. Of course. Okay. So it's funny. Growing
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up, like, I loved, like, Cheez -Its, Cheetos,
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um, Tostitos, right? I, for whatever crazy reason,
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not until, like, being, like, a legit adult,
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not even, like, 20, like, I'm talking, like,
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in my 30s. That's when I started really discovering,
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like, Doritos. And I'm like, why did I never
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really care about Doritos as a kid? So that's
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why I'm a little... Doritos chips aren't always,
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like, my go -to. Right. They're great. I'll eat
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them on set. Like I'll like I'll get like a small
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bag. I'll rarely get like a big bag of Doritos.
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I'd rather get a big bag of like Sun chips or
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other flavored chips. Right. So I think that's
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just my weird like I was late to the Doritos
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chip game. But the Doritos nacho cheese on that
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soft popcorn, that's smart food. It's just like
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you're just eating cheesy clouds of heaven. It's
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so nice. The handfuls. I'm like, I'm just going
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to get one handful because I try not to have
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that like during the day because like popcorn
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already just feels like such a nighttime thing.
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Right. But sometimes I'm like, all right, I need
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to reward myself with a handful of this popcorn.
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And that handful becomes like six handfuls. Right.
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But so I hear you. I I basically long story short
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have. you know, realize later in life how good
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Doritos chips are. But there's just something,
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guys, about the popcorn. I think it's just a
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nice texture with this flavor. It's new, which
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also is just exciting, right? Like it's a bag
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I hadn't seen before. I was like, I'm going to
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try that, right? So that's... It's just a must
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try for sure. I know what you mean about the
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smart food texture. There's just something about
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that softer chewier popcorn texture that they
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give. And then you combine that with the nacho
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cheese flavor and the little bit of like, even
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if it was just regular cheese flavored, right?
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There's like smart food. That's just regular
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cheese, you know, that like powder of the, of
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the cheese on your fingers. I don't know. And
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it's not too messy, like a Cheeto, right? Which
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is still delicious, but you know, that's going
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to get all over it. Like, Oh man. The texture
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and the feeling, so good. And another similar
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cheese. This isn't a new thing. I've loved this
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for years, but John, since you love the Cheez
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-It snack mix, this is so funny. I hope you're
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okay with this conversation. No, no, it's okay.
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It's okay. Before you get to that point, going
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off to your point about the popcorn at night,
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lately a night snack for me is Orville Redenbacher
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buttery popcorn with vanilla ice cream. Like
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there's just something about the mixture of the
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salty and the sweet that just brings me to heaven.
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No, you don't put like the popcorn in the ice
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cream. You're not mixing like that. No, okay.
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Nothing crazy. Okay. All right. Cool. Yeah. I
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was going to say like, whoa, right? But yeah,
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a little bit of both. Separate but equal. Oh
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good, I love it. No. Yeah vanilla ice cream lately
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I've been on like a vanilla kick, which is funny
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because I'm normally not I give me like the stronger
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flavors But yeah, like a nice like yellow vanilla
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or like vanilla bean I'm like, which is like
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a little bit of like chocolate syrup. I'm like,
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okay. This is really nice. Very simple, right?
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But um going back real quick to the cheese at
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snack mix. There's another snack mix That's in
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a bag called munchies. Have you heard of her?
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I think I've heard of munchies. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah
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and Doritos are in that and whole Oh yeah, that
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is like standing in the kitchen zoning out and
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just like binge snacking. Oh yeah, munchies for
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sure. They're a little bit older. The cheese
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at snack mix is a newer kind of almost, I think
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like copycat of the munchies snack mix. So the
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munchies came first. To me they did for sure.
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I've known about them for a good few years now,
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for sure. And they're cheap and check it out.
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Cause it's same thing, pretzels, some like Cheetos
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in there. What's interesting about munchies is
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it's different. brands together like it's on
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the bag it says like Doritos Cheetos they're
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probably all owned by like some you know big
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corporation but yeah so it actually on the bag
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has the label like the logos of everything that's
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in it so equally good but the cheese it's neck
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mix might be just a touch better there's something
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about it that's like a drug right I'm just like
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Whoa, you know, so and I got to confuse with
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the checks snack mixes for a moment. Aren't they
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similar or is it? Yeah, I don't love the checks
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mix. I've tried that many times over the years.
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I do like the checks mix. Um, it's a deserty
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one. It's a sweet one. Um, muddy buddies, I think
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it's called where it's like chocolate. Um, those
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are good chocolate and peanut butter. And then
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there's also one that's chocolate and mint. Um,
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I'm all for those, but the savory ones, I don't
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know. They're not as strong for me. I need like
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a cheesy, I need like a, like a Pringle, like
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I need something with like a bite, right? And
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the Chex savory ones, they're just kind of plain.
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They're good if you just need like a plain kind
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of crunchy snack. I usually like something a
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little more flavorful. And my last snack that
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I want to tell you, since you were talking about
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like protein bars on your, on your drives around
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town, right? I just got this for, um, one of
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my shoots that I just did, um, at BJ's. I'm like,
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all right, yeah, cause, cause, so basically I
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just did like two short shoots, short film shoots,
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kind of back to back, like a few weeks apart.
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And an actress in the first one was like, do
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we have any like protein snacks? And I was like,
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ooh, good question. Not really. She was like
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any cheese sticks? Like I, cause I, I'm always
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careful with like dietary restrictions, you know,
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like, so I'm like, no, I kind of just got like
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granola bars and like. Jesus, you know and like
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yeah, you know, and so I was like, okay good
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to know I gotta get like a protein bar because
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granola bars like fruity bars aren't necessarily
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Any good for us, you know what I mean? Although
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I have a bunch but so Protein bars a really good
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recommendation. I love and you're probably to
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love these John They're like I forget how many
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grams of protein but it was good. It was like
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a good a good mix Nature Valley chocolate and
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peanut butter protein bars. I think I've had
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those before. Yeah, you might have had those
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Yeah, they're they're they're simple. You know,
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just like I wish they were longer or bigger.
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Um, pretty simple. Um, I feel like it was maybe
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like 20 grams of protein or something. Really?
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Maybe that's a little extreme. Maybe 15, but.
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Delish so good and I like it because it's got
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that like kind of rice see Taster texture to
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it. You know what I mean? Yeah, where it's like
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the chocolate peanut butter and like that kind
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of I think it's probably rice But or quinoa,
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I don't know something a little crunchy in there.
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Oh boy. Oh boy. What a good snack So yeah, oh
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my god. Are you familiar with the grocery store
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chain hannaford? Oh, of course. Oh, yeah, okay
15:01
there So, are you based in Maine where we shot
15:05
the TV pilot? Yeah, well, I'm a little complicated
15:08
right now. I'm now based... No, so when I met
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you, I'm in New Hampshire. I'm in Dover. I'm
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right on the edge of Maine and New Hampshire.
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Oh, I see. But I still co -own a house that I
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have in Kittery for a little bit longer. Just
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got divorced, so like doing all that. So yeah,
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I mostly now live on the New Hampshire side,
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but right on the seacoast where Maine and New
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Hampshire... I've been there for six years this
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month. Got it. All right. So being from Vermont,
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we're fellow Northern New Englanders. Because
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I forget, where in Vermont are you? So me and
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my wife are based in Richford. Okay, Richford.
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Is that near? What's that near? It's only two
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miles from the Canadian border. Oh my God, you're
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that far up there? Yeah. Holy cow. John, when
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you worked on the shoot, oh my God, how many
15:55
hours did it take you? I didn't realize you were
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back on it. It was only like a three hour drive.
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No, no big deal. Okay. All right. And you were
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able to just go there and back on the same day.
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One long day. I was considering staying the night
16:07
in Maine, but because it was a fantastically
16:12
concise eight hour kind of day by six or seven
16:16
o 'clock in the evening when I was released,
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it was like, Oh, okay. enough energy to drive
16:21
home, so it was all good. Okay, good. Wow. Yeah,
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you're up there. Oh my God. If it's cold down
16:27
here, it's got to be so cold up there, John.
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How do you do it? You know what? Yes, we've had
16:33
cold days the past few months, but this past
16:36
week, we had like a few days of spring weather,
16:39
beautiful, 60 degrees, sunny. And even when it
16:42
got like wintry with the snow again, it's still
16:45
mild in like the 30s and 40s. Yeah, spring's
16:47
coming. Yeah, I hope so. I hope so. We need it
16:50
to happen now and permanently because winter
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should be done. I forget. Have you been in Vermont
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like your whole life or have you been up there?
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No, no, no, no. Originally from Connecticut,
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also lived in Philly, Iowa, upstate New York.
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Me too. And I've been in Vermont for seven and
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a half years. Okay, so you and I have moved more
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and more north over our lives for sure, I see.
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I will have to say the Girl Scout cookies to
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bounce off of that. My wife also a big fan of
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the Girl Scout cookies and I'm also like taking,
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taking, taking because... January, February,
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you know how it is. Like you order the Girl Scout
17:26
cookies and she will always go crazy for a Thin
17:29
Mint. She will put the Thin Mints in the freezer
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and that crunch and that coldness. Talk about
17:36
a freezer Thin Mint in your ice cream, in that
17:38
vanilla ice cream. That is a treat. Okay. You
17:41
can even crush it up. Oh my gosh. Cookies and
17:44
cream style, right? Oh yeah. It's funny how Thin
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Mints are one of the few things I feel like the
17:49
general population can come together on, right?
17:52
Like, If you know someone who doesn't like a
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thin mint, they are totally in the minority.
17:57
It's like, Whoa, okay. Right. Everyone loves
18:00
a thin mint. It's so funny. Cause when I got
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these cookies yesterday, um, the woman who was
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like running the troop said something about thin
18:06
mints that I guess it's like, there's a shortage.
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Cause they're so popular that she's like, yeah,
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we, this year we haven't really had that many
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boxes. Cause they've had to like take them elsewhere
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and like, there's just not enough. So yeah. Oh
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yeah. Oh yeah. And, and, and at first, uh, because.
18:22
to my wife getting me on the Thin Mints, I was
18:24
always just a shortbread Girl Scout cookie guy.
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And I would mention this to my wife and she'd
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be like, really? Shortbread? Ew. Like, it's so
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boring. Like, the people that, you know, insult
18:33
me for liking vanilla ice cream. They just think
18:35
it's just boring and dull. But, yeah, no, I don't
18:37
know. Just the idea of, like, a minty -tasting
18:39
cookie just never... is something I'd never understood.
18:44
But then you taste it and it's like, oh, yeah,
18:47
I could not stop eating these. I could eat, like,
18:49
a whole... One sleeve in one sitting, you know?
18:51
Oh, absolutely. If you can't do one sleeve in
18:54
one sitting, like I'm, I worry about you. Are
18:56
you okay? Right. How are you not addicted? I
18:58
hear you though, John, because some minty, whether
19:01
it's like mint chocolate chip ice cream can be
19:03
just too much for me. Right. Like I said, like
19:06
I like a flavor, but if it's like, like mint
19:07
can just be overpowering, but what's good about
19:10
those cookies is it's the right. Mix, you know,
19:13
it's a percentage of mint. It's mostly chocolatey
19:16
I'd say probably what 70 % more just chocolatey,
19:19
but that's 30 % of mint I feel like or maybe
19:21
it's more I don't know but it's the right it's
19:23
the right amount right because you have a minty
19:26
thing that starts to burn after a while. You're
19:28
like, okay, no more of this, you know? Yeah.
19:31
That crunch on the inside, though, is what does
19:33
it for me. There's just something about, like,
19:34
you have the chocolate. Yes, you have the mint.
19:36
But when you have that crunch on the inside,
19:38
whatever they put on the inside there that gives
19:40
it that crunch, it sends me. It sends me. Thank
19:44
you, Girl Scouts. Thank you for your service.
19:47
Right now, after this, I might have to go buy
19:48
more. Because by the time I got there, which
19:51
I also feel like I'm... such a novice because
19:53
back in the day when I lived in New York City,
19:55
my coworker right next to me at ABC, she was
19:57
my Girl Scout hookup. So I would just give her
20:01
cookies all over the office. Now I'm like, well,
20:04
yeah, who do I know who's a Girl Scout? So I
20:06
just go on the website. I'm like, oh, I'll stop
20:08
by. I didn't realize, no, you need to get there
20:10
the minute they're available because they're
20:12
like, oh yeah, I got there towards the end of
20:14
the shift. And they're like, oh, we had a lot
20:16
more. I'm like, oh, you did. So now we know,
20:20
which makes sense. You got to go. in the morning,
20:22
you know, to stock up. As early as possible.
20:27
I pulled a naive move, a novice move. I'm like,
20:31
I'll stop at like four, like before they close.
20:34
I'm like, oh, you know, these girls, they have
20:35
two boxes left. So I got, yeah, the adventurefuls
20:39
and I think, yeah, the shortbread ones. What
20:41
are those? I think they call them like tree foils
20:43
or whatever. They're just like the vanilla like
20:46
cookie that I love. I don't judge anyone on the
20:50
Girl Scout. Love. Yeah. You know what I mean?
20:52
Like if you love something, enjoy it. Like I
20:54
don't, I hate coconut and people love, what is
20:56
it? The Samoas or whatever. Those, those girls
20:59
have like, no way, no way. I'm glad you agree.
21:02
Cause many people are like, you hate coconut?
21:04
Yeah. The flavor, the texture. No. I think the
21:09
only thing coconut that I liked was when I was
21:11
a kid my grandmother and I come from a Haitian
21:13
family there was this coconut soda that I guess
21:16
they drink a lot of in Haiti and That was good.
21:19
But other than that coconut cake coconut cookies
21:21
anything with coconut in it. It's like I don't
21:23
care for it I don't care for yeah certain things
21:25
sure if it's in something like deep in there,
21:28
right or like yeah if it's like a drink but not
21:30
coconut water because You don't know How is it
21:41
that bad? Is it something inappropriate? Yeah,
21:45
yeah, I don't want to get you rated R but um
21:48
or NC 17 but no, it's just it's like um, it's
21:51
just like it tastes like Just like a cloudy like
21:55
like like a slick Liquid like okay, I'm not a
22:01
fan but people love it and I know it's very hydrating
22:03
great I'll stick with water regular water. But
22:06
yeah, like even coconut like shavings on a cake
22:08
or like on a cupcake I'm just like, oh, that's
22:11
a bummer, you know, yeah, so but people love
22:13
it, which is great I honestly feel like I might
22:15
be slightly allergic to it too You know, like
22:17
how there's certain things we're like, yeah I
22:19
won't send you to the hospital but like it starts
22:21
to make your mouth a little itchy a little irritated
22:23
I'm just like coconut just overall is a no for
22:26
me You know, so you guys have your Samoas, I'll
22:29
have everything else. Now, uh, I mean, we could,
22:32
we could always cut this out, but like, I'll
22:36
give you an example. Bowen Yang from the Las
22:38
Colteritas podcast almost ruined the taste of
22:42
Cool Ranch Doritos for me when he says that it
22:44
tastes like semen. Does coconut water tastes
22:47
like semen? Is that what you were getting at?
22:50
That is so funny. Wait a minute. I've had Cool
22:53
Ranch Doritos, and I would never... I would never
22:57
think that they taste like that. Now I got to
22:58
try them again and see. That's crazy. But yes,
23:00
coconut water, absolutely. Like, yeah, I'm not
23:03
the only one that has said that. Like, yeah,
23:07
absolutely. Like, yeah, yeah, yeah. So not exactly
23:11
like it, of course, because that would be really
23:13
not a popular product, but it's too much like
23:16
it that it's like, oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. No,
23:17
no, no. Yeah. Oh, my Lord. That's really funny.
23:24
So let's get to question number two, the pop
23:26
culture part. What is a delicious piece of pop
23:28
culture that you've consumed lately? It could
23:30
be a TV show, movie, music, play, book, anything.
23:33
Love it. Love this question. You're speaking
23:35
my language. Okay. There's so much. And also
23:38
so little. I feel like I am behind on everything.
23:42
I don't know why, but like I'm not watching TV
23:44
as much, which is crazy for me. Like I guess
23:46
I'm just busy and right. But a couple of things,
23:49
but one thing specifically that I want to give
23:50
some love. It just came out Friday the 13th,
23:53
just a couple of days ago as of this recording,
23:55
a new indie movie that premiered at South by
23:57
Southwest a year ago and now is in at least select
24:00
theaters. I don't know if it's wide slanted.
24:03
Have you heard about slanted? No, tell me about
24:04
it. Oh, it's, I really like it. It's getting
24:07
a little bit of hate. I think because it's not
24:09
perfect, but my expectations for everything now
24:12
are just low. So whatever, but slanted it is,
24:16
um, it's probably about anywhere between 90 and
24:18
maybe a hundred minutes. It goes pretty fast,
24:21
but it is a. dark comedy, light horror, like
24:26
body horror kind of movie. It's a few genres
24:27
mixed together, which is kind of funny because
24:29
the whole thing is about mixing race, but it's
24:32
like a, I'd say overall it's like a sci -fi dark
24:36
comedy about an Asian teenager who Um, you know
24:42
has moved with her family to a very white I forget
24:45
where it is, but it's kind of like middle america
24:48
town So she's surrounded by blonde white girls
24:50
And she is the odd one out and you immediately
24:53
you you meet her when she's a kid There's a little
24:55
bit of like a flashback and um, and then we see
24:57
her as a teen and it's crazy this actress I don't
24:59
know her name, but she looks she could play like
25:01
aquafina's sister. They look identical They like
25:04
the hair i'm just like whoa, you guys need to
25:06
be in a movie together because that'd be fun
25:08
But anyway, so as a teen It shows how she's just
25:13
become obsessed with like blonde, beautiful culture,
25:17
because that's like what she was kind of forced
25:18
into. So she's on like TikTok, following the
25:22
most popular girl in school, following these
25:24
influencers that are giving beauty tips on how
25:26
to be like whiter, right? It's really, it's really
25:30
twisted. Even though it's a comedy, it talks
25:32
about some really dark things, you know, that
25:35
I think a lot of people of other races especially
25:37
women probably think of you know because it was
25:40
a writer and director i need to remember her
25:42
name as i tell you but uh anyway so there's a
25:45
procedure that makes you whiter. And there's
25:48
this company that reaches out to her on TikTok
25:51
saying, you are one of our like fastest followers,
25:55
you know, like you, you see all of our content
25:57
right away. Cause you're glued to your phone.
25:58
Do you want to like be eligible for this new
26:01
thing we're doing? She of course clicks. Yes.
26:04
She wants to be prom queen. And so I won't give
26:07
anything away, but she finds out about this new
26:09
procedure goes to this shady ass like place meets
26:13
this doctor. And it's all about. it even says
26:16
the tagline that the doctor has a line in the
26:20
movie. He says, if you can't beat them, be them.
26:23
And so this Asian girl becomes a blonde white
26:26
girl, McKenna Grace, who you've had on your show,
26:28
who I love, who was also a long time ago. Yeah,
26:30
I was looking through all your episodes and love
26:33
her. She is such a scream queen. She's great
26:35
in this movie. She's also in scream seven, which
26:37
I'm happy to talk about as well. But yeah, so
26:40
she becomes McKenna Grace and antics ensue and
26:45
things go off the rails and it's like who's this
26:47
hot blonde new girl oh my god you know when meanwhile
26:50
it's actually this this this asian teen who we've
26:54
been really feeling for so and the parents everyone
26:57
is so good i don't know why it's getting some
26:59
hate i think because maybe it's a little tonally
27:02
uneven but for me That's what kind of helps it
27:05
stand out because it's a story that can't really
27:08
have just sort of one genre or one tone, you
27:11
know? So let me see. Real quick, the writer -director,
27:14
her name is, just to give her a shout out, Amy
27:17
Wang. Amy Wang wrote, directed, and produced
27:19
it. Yeah, the leads are Shirley Chen and McKenna
27:22
Gray. So check it out if you like. It's a little
27:25
gross, but we've seen way more gross movies.
27:27
I'm a big horror fan, so I don't love when they
27:29
get too gory. And this gets a little yucky at
27:32
times, but... most horror fans will be like,
27:35
barely, you know? So check it out. It has a lot
27:38
to say about society, about our modern world,
27:41
about social media, which I do love, you know,
27:44
like get out like a lot of recent horror films.
27:47
It's more than just a scary movie. It's saying
27:49
something. I really enjoyed it. It kind of reminds
27:52
me of eugenics in a way, like just this idea
27:55
of like, oh, like the, the, this, the, the, the
27:59
archetype or the model of a beautiful person
28:02
as someone who's, you know, blonde and white
28:03
with blue eyes. Like I'm getting a little of
28:06
that in the description of the movie. So it's
28:08
really, really fascinating. I'm also getting
28:10
like hints of the, of the substance with Demi
28:13
Moore when you talk about the body horror. Yeah.
28:15
Which I have not seen yet. Oh, you've got to
28:17
check it out. Oh yeah. It's, it's a little gross.
28:20
me because I am such a needle phobe and there
28:22
are a lot of needles of course she has to inject
28:24
herself so I only really watched probably like
28:28
half of it because the other half I was closing
28:30
my eyes and looking away but oh yeah check it
28:33
out John oh such a such an interesting movie
28:36
it's very kind of David Lynchian it's very strange
28:40
there's not a ton of dialogue talk about a dark
28:43
comedy because it is funny but it is yeah I'd
28:46
say honestly the substance is more Comedy than
28:48
horror. It's just body horror in that it's gross
28:51
and you know, the ending is crazy and everything
28:53
but check it out Yeah, no this people have even
28:56
said and it's so true. This is sort of like the
28:58
substance meets mean girls Maybe with like almost
29:02
like a little dash of like a 13 going on 30,
29:05
you know, kind of like someone There who's always
29:09
been there, but we don't know that she's there.
29:11
You know what I mean? That kind of thing like
29:12
that out -of -body Because that's when there's
29:15
some good comedy is like people have no idea
29:17
that this is the girl they bully and now they're
29:19
like, oh my god You're amazing. So there's that
29:22
kind of like out -of -body stuff But really like
29:25
it and an actress Elaine Hendrix who if you don't
29:27
know her name, you probably know her face She
29:29
was in the parent trap with Lindsay Lohan. She
29:31
was in Romeo Michelle. She's always a good like,
29:35
kind of bitchy, pompous, kind of, like, rich
29:37
lady, blonde. She's in it in, like, a very supporting
29:41
role, but, like, really good stuff with her,
29:44
where, like, the writer -director is making fun
29:45
of those rich, usually white people who help,
29:49
like, communities in, like, Africa or India and
29:53
help build a school, whatever, right? And then,
29:55
meanwhile, she hires this Asian man, our lead
29:58
actresses, our lead character's dad, to clean
30:00
the house, and she's, like, rude to him. So,
30:03
it just has a lot... a lot to say about, in a
30:06
very interesting, both comedic and dramatic way,
30:10
about just how, about race in 2026 or 2025, you
30:15
know what I mean? Like, and just how outwardly
30:17
we're one way and then inwardly we're another
30:19
way. And I dug it. I was into it. When it ended,
30:22
I was kind of like, oh, I want to see what happens
30:24
more, you know? I doubt we'll get a sequel. I
30:26
think it's just too small of a movie that way,
30:29
you know? But hopefully it's doing well. I don't,
30:31
I don't know. what the box office is going to
30:33
be like. Are you saying that it's still on the
30:36
film festival circuit? No, it's in theaters now.
30:39
Oh, okay. Yeah, because I saw it. I don't know
30:41
if you have a regal near you, but both regal
30:44
and AMC do this fun thing. Monday night's $5
30:47
mystery movies, which are great. I started really
30:50
doing them a lot. I guess I started last year.
30:52
And so this was the mystery movie last Monday
30:55
at my local regal. But it's worth it. It's worth
30:57
more than five bucks. I really enjoyed it. So
31:00
it's in the theater. I love that. I wonder bouncing
31:03
off of the $5 mystery movie. I wonder if movie
31:05
theaters are still doing like the middle of the
31:08
week, like Monday, Tuesday, like, Oh, see a movie
31:11
for only five or $6. Oh, yes, they are regal
31:14
is regal does Tuesday night. I think it's seven
31:16
or $8 now. Um, and I'm so cheap, um, just cause
31:19
you know, I'm a freelancer in entertainment.
31:21
Money's not always flowing that like, I will
31:23
go to the theater on Tuesday nights, not only
31:25
to see it for the cheaper night, but I won't
31:27
get a ticket online. Cause I don't want to pay.
31:28
fees. I want to go directly to the old school
31:31
kiosk because who has like a ticket taker or
31:33
like who has like a an actual like box office
31:35
like employee anymore. But I go to the kiosk
31:38
and that way it's really it really is seven or
31:40
eight. It's not like 10 with like these stupid
31:42
fees. You know what I mean? Which I hate. If
31:45
I have the regal app and I'm getting a ticket
31:47
for regal why is there a fee? But I understand
31:50
it's like a third party app all that crap you
31:52
know. Yeah everybody needs their money. Everyone
31:55
needs their money everyone's got fees but I am
31:58
always like, I don't want to pay any fees. I
32:01
will do whatever I can to never pay the ticketing
32:04
fee. Come on. Right. That's how we get ripped
32:07
off with concerts now with Live Nation and Ticketmaster.
32:10
The ticketing fees, the ticket might be 50 bucks,
32:12
but then it's like, all right, that's 110 dollars.
32:14
It's like, yeah, yeah. I used to work. I used
32:16
to work for a secondary ticket market when I
32:18
lived in Connecticut, like a stop hub. It's called
32:20
Ticket Network. And the large reason why I left
32:23
the job after two years was I was just tired
32:26
of hearing customers. over the phone blame me
32:28
for all the ridiculous service fees that these
32:31
sellers would charge on these tickets that I'm
32:33
charged with you know or I'm assigned to selling
32:35
to the customers over the phone and I'm just
32:37
like It's a percentage at the ticket price and
32:40
this is how people get paid. And it's just, it's
32:43
terrible. It's terrible. So yeah. It's hard.
32:45
I understand. Cause I understand in that, you
32:47
know, your point of view working for this company
32:49
that's helping people, you know, yeah. So someone's
32:51
got to make some money, but maybe there's a limit
32:54
or something too. I don't know. I don't know.
32:56
Right. That's why I'm like, let's just barter.
32:58
Can we go back to bartering? Why do we need to
33:00
like, can we, I'll give you this. Can you give
33:02
me that? I barter sometimes on my, on my sets
33:04
where I'm like, Hey, I can't really pay you for
33:06
this thing. but I'll give you a free acting class,
33:09
or on your film, I will work a day for free,
33:12
or you know, whatever. You gotta barter sometimes.
33:13
Got it, got it. So bartering, I was about to
33:15
ask who bartering is, but it's basically bargaining.
33:17
Oh yeah, totally, oh yeah. Right, like back in
33:19
the day, before we had capitalism, yeah, villages,
33:23
villagers would just barter, like, I'll give
33:25
you two pieces of bread and you gotta come milk
33:27
my cow, or I don't know, right? So I'm like,
33:29
let's just barter again. Let's get rid of money,
33:32
right? Easier said than done. Exactly. Exactly.
33:37
Impossible now. Yeah. And just another point
33:40
about the movie theater pricing. Not too long
33:42
ago, my wife and I saw Smile 2, the sequel to
33:46
the horror movie Smile in the theaters. And just
33:49
for tickets and a soda and a water, it was like
33:54
almost 50 bucks. And we're just like, whoa, okay.
33:58
I mean, I know it's a Saturday. Yeah, I know
34:00
I was gonna say you can't really go on a Saturday
34:02
night anymore If you do you better sneak in all
34:05
your food, right? Yeah, cuz even a water a water
34:08
I think it like my regal in in Portsmouth, New
34:10
Hampshire I think it's like four or five bucks
34:13
for just a normal bottle of water It's like yeah,
34:15
and don't get me wrong I get it movie theaters
34:17
because I used to actually intern for my friends
34:19
Drive -in Film Festival years and years ago and
34:21
I helped her with it for years and that's where
34:23
one of my films had a screening but yeah, I learned
34:26
like Concessions are where movie theaters actually
34:29
can make money and survive, you know, because
34:31
the ticket pricing Movie theaters make really
34:34
just a small percentage of that and that's only
34:36
after a certain amount of time has gone by Like
34:38
opening weekend a lot of that money goes directly
34:40
back to the studios So that's when so I get it,
34:43
you know, they got to kind of raise the prices
34:44
of concessions But guys like water or like a
34:48
soda for eight dollars. Come on There's gotta
34:51
be something else and that's why it's crazy regal
34:53
now sells clothes like there's regal there's
34:55
mannequin In the lobby with like clothing. I'm
34:59
like interesting. Okay Wow Yeah further further
35:03
for the person that wants to enthusiastically
35:05
say hey, I love movie theaters. I want to wear
35:07
it on my hoodie That's so odd like it's like
35:11
it's like a little like five below in the lobby.
35:14
I'm like, okay Not for me, but I hope someone's
35:17
helping you out by buying, I don't know, a little
35:20
Star Wars toy or a regal hoodie or something.
35:23
So Jesus Christ. So if you're saying movie theaters
35:25
make a lot of their money from concessions, I
35:27
would imagine that these movie theater owners
35:29
and employees are just hoping that like almost
35:31
every movie is like a three, four hour long epic
35:34
thing so that the customers are more likely to
35:36
want to get the popcorn, the soda, get themselves
35:38
comfortable. And right. Absolutely. Yeah. They're
35:41
like bring on the like Marvel and like the killers
35:44
of a flower moon and like all these three hour
35:46
movies, you're so right. Meanwhile, audiences
35:48
are like, come on, when is this ending? Can I
35:51
ask because it seems like you're very knowledgeable
35:56
about movies. Has there been a big event in the
35:59
movie theaters where they've made a substantial
36:02
amount of money since Barbenheimer back in 2023?
36:05
Because I feel like that's the last time that
36:07
theaters were getting good press, good income.
36:10
And ever since then, it's just like Who goes
36:12
to the movies anymore? Not too many people. They're
36:14
struggling. Well, we, if you look at boxofficemojo
36:17
.com, which I'm looking at all the time, um,
36:20
yeah, Barbenheimer was a big event for sure.
36:23
We're like, honestly, even if you weren't interested
36:24
in either movie, you're like, I'm going to go.
36:26
Cause like, this is a thing, right? So that was
36:28
probably the last true, like organic, just like
36:32
movie theater, movie going event. But oh yeah,
36:35
some movies for sure are making millions like
36:37
scream seven. Um, which I'm a massive horror
36:40
movie fan. You'll see. Behind if you're watching,
36:43
where's my where's my ghost face? There he is.
36:45
I'm a big I'm a big big big scream fan, but um
36:48
that just it's breaking records for the franchise
36:51
I mean, it's already made I think all over the
36:53
world probably now like 160 million So and that
36:57
just came out a couple weeks ago So certain movies
36:59
are making bank still for sure like big big big
37:02
big, you know breaking Breaking records breaking
37:05
franchise records. But yeah, you're probably
37:08
right. We're like at least culturally It has
37:11
there been such a moment there might have been
37:14
I feel like avatars always like making a lot
37:17
of money, which is yeah Because they're so long
37:19
and they're the same movie over and over again.
37:21
I'm like what changed? Okay, now there's fire
37:24
before there was water. Okay, the story is the
37:27
exact same We're seeing the same thing play out
37:29
there remakes of each other, right? Um, so I
37:32
still haven't seen that. I still haven't seen
37:33
the recent I saw the first two with my family
37:37
in theaters, but the recent one, Fire and Ash,
37:39
I haven't seen it, and I don't really care to
37:40
see it, because it's just - Yeah, right? There's
37:42
something about it. Yeah. The blue people after
37:45
a while, it's just, it gets boring, you know?
37:46
Yeah, I'm just like, okay, I've seen a - I mean,
37:49
unless there's like a cool new villain? But like,
37:52
okay, so now you're just, I don't know. The second
37:55
one I really enjoyed. I saw that at home. I got
37:56
a SAG screener because it was nominated for,
37:59
I guess, stunts. And that was good. But I mean,
38:03
thank God it was at home. I paused so many times
38:05
to go pee. So in the theater, it's just like,
38:08
this one, this latest one is longer than Titanic.
38:10
I'm just like James Cameron. Okay, buddy. Like,
38:12
I love that you have that stamina, but we gotta
38:15
reign of it. Right. And I guess it made a ton
38:18
of money. I assume we're getting more. But I
38:19
remember he was saying recently, he probably
38:21
saw the headline where it's like, if this third
38:24
one doesn't make a certain amount, we're just
38:26
going to stop. Because I'm pretty sure he already
38:29
filmed the other ones. It's just all the post
38:31
-production work. So it's probably like, we'll
38:33
just stop work. But I haven't really heard much
38:35
about it. He's making the other ones. I think
38:37
he's making maybe one or two more. Avatar 3 certainly
38:41
made its money at the box office. And yeah, to
38:44
your point, yes, there have been movies that
38:47
have broken box office records. I mean, I'm just
38:48
thinking in the last few years, since the pandemic,
38:51
you have your not only Avatar, but you have your
38:54
Wicked, you have your... What's that movie with
38:58
Jack Black where he did it with Jason Momoa the
39:00
Minecraft movie that was oh, yeah, that was huge
39:03
Yeah, and then you have like animated stuff too,
39:05
right? You got like the Mario movies That made
39:10
a massive chunk of money, you know, and then
39:12
of course Yeah. Oh yeah. So every now and then
39:17
you have those big tent poles where like, maybe
39:20
because of inflation, but just now, I think also
39:23
just to get out of the house because we are,
39:26
many of us are working from home or at least
39:29
streaming or watching so much TV that it's like,
39:32
yeah, go to the event movies. Those event movies
39:34
are making bank still. What's hard is, and I
39:38
just saw, I think an Instagram post about this,
39:41
which was so accurate. I think it was on threads.
39:43
Someone, that I started following said it so
39:46
well that now we're seeing so many like big,
39:50
big, big budgeted movies, you know, that that
39:52
can command a big investment. Right. So you have
39:56
like 50 million plus like starting with like
39:59
something. more kind of modest, like a Scream
40:01
7, all the way up to The Wicked, The Avatars,
40:04
where it's just hundreds of millions. And then
40:07
you have, like, a popular one now that just came
40:09
out that I need to see, what is it, Undertone,
40:11
a new horror movie. Like, then you have the smaller
40:13
films that are, like, five million or below.
40:15
You're not really getting any more. Very few
40:18
of those, like, 20 million movies, which were,
40:20
when we were growing up, those were everywhere.
40:23
Those were, those were the core of movie theater
40:26
movies, or like... anywhere between 10 to 30
40:30
million, right? Those are like non -existent.
40:33
It's either small, which is funny because like,
40:35
you know, working with me on Murderloves Company,
40:37
like a five million budget and oh my God, that
40:39
is not small. But for these movies, you know,
40:42
for studios, it's small. You have that or you
40:45
got like a hundred million, you know. And I wonder
40:47
why we don't have that mid -level anymore. Streaming.
40:50
That all went to streaming. Like Netflix and
40:53
Hulu and Peacock. If anyone's making movies for
40:56
streaming, that's where like the $10 million
40:59
movie, 20 million, you know, especially Netflix
41:02
and say, I'm not a big Netflix guy because I
41:05
just feel like so much of his crap. But they
41:08
have the budget to actually make these like mid
41:12
-level movies and some of these massive movies
41:14
too, which is crazy. So it all went to streaming.
41:19
And, um, last question here. What is a delicious
41:22
event that has happened in your life lately?
41:26
This is just anything positive that's occurred
41:28
in your, in your life that you would like to
41:30
share with us. Oh, wow. What a nice question.
41:33
What a nice question. It could be work related
41:34
or it could be personal related. Um, gosh, what
41:38
do I want to talk about the most? Okay. Well
41:41
then you know what? I was going to talk about
41:43
work, but I feel like we've already talked about
41:44
some stuff I've done. I'm going to, I'm going
41:45
to lean towards the personal thing, which also
41:47
again with with question two a little bit but
41:50
so going back to scream seven Not a perfect movie,
41:54
but really, really fun. I feel like it got a
41:55
lot of hate. Some of these haters are so loud.
41:59
It does its job of being thrilling, entertaining,
42:01
fun. So a couple of weeks ago, um, basically
42:04
like I'm in my late thirties. So I've been watching
42:06
this franchise since, since the beginning. Right.
42:09
And, um, so a couple of weeks ago, I went back
42:11
to New York where I used to live. I lived in
42:13
New York for 14 years and some of my great friends
42:15
are there and they are fellow scream diehards.
42:18
So all along, once this movie was announced,
42:20
I was like, okay, I'm going to like. Either they're
42:22
coming to me or I'm going to them. We are going
42:24
to see the new screen movie together. Cause five
42:26
and six, a six I saw by myself, which I go to
42:29
the movies all the time by myself, but like for
42:31
an event movie like that, I was like, this feels
42:32
kind of weird to be going solo, you know? So
42:35
I'm like, I'm going to go with my friends. And
42:36
it was just a really nice moment. It was really
42:39
great. I saw twice that weekend, once regular
42:41
at the Alamo. Do you know Alamo draft house?
42:44
Have you ever been to one of those? Yeah. Yeah.
42:46
What's so special about it? I mean, I know they
42:48
don't, they like literally serve you food at
42:50
your seat. Oh yeah, it's, it's like full menu,
42:53
which is, which here's the thing, everybody.
42:55
Great idea. Really good food. Also, they're just
42:57
really quirky. Like the carpeting is the carpet
42:59
from the shining at every Alamo. The nearest
43:02
one to us is I think Boston. I don't think there's
43:04
any in Vermont. It'd be nice if there was one
43:06
in Portland, Maine, but yeah, they're, they're,
43:08
they're a smaller chain, but still huge. But
43:10
yeah. So the food, they have a wait, you can
43:13
write it down. Like the waiter comes to you,
43:14
you know, they have like, we were drinking champagne
43:17
during scream seven, which was also an accident.
43:19
We just wanted white wine, but. They got us bottles
43:21
of champagne on ice. It was like, okay, full
43:24
bar, full menu, delicious food. The downside
43:27
with that everybody. And I don't want to be too
43:29
much of a downer because having a meal and a
43:31
movie, love it. I love dinner and a movie. I
43:33
love even small theaters. There's a good place
43:35
that I went to in Vermont two years ago for the
43:38
eclipse. Right near, oh gosh, where was I? Hold
43:41
on. I was near, what's like, up north there,
43:45
what's the, why can I not think of the city in
43:47
Vermont, the town that everyone loves? It's right
43:50
there on the lake. Burlington? Yes, Burlington,
43:52
duh. Right near Burlington, maybe like half an
43:55
hour from Burlington, really cute little movie
43:58
theater with a bar and like you can bring your
44:01
entree in. I love all that stuff, right? But
44:03
the one downside with Alamo is it can get noisy
44:05
because then, you know, food's being served during
44:08
the movie, like clank clank, people ordering,
44:11
like, so you're hearing, so it's... I love it,
44:14
but it's not, if you want to like really zero
44:16
in on a movie, which most of the time I do, I
44:18
had no talking, no texting, like let's watch
44:20
what was made, right? Yeah. It can be a little
44:23
risky, but it's a really cool vibe. So it's giving
44:27
like a dinner theater vibe. Oh, totally. It's
44:30
absolutely dinner theater. Yeah. Where like,
44:32
you know, if you need something, the waiter comes
44:34
up and they whisper, but it's like, you know,
44:36
right next to you, the guy's like ordering something
44:38
and you're like, okay, can you, I'm trying to
44:39
like watch what the killer is. Like, all right,
44:42
enough, you know? So that's one downside. But
44:44
another amazing thing about Alamo is they are
44:47
serious about talking and texting. So one complaint
44:49
about someone, they will, I've seen it, they
44:51
come up. to you if you're the one talking or
44:53
texting and say you now have one official warning.
44:55
If you get another complaint, we pull you out.
44:58
So, you know, they're the best in terms of like
45:01
respect for the movie going experience because,
45:04
you know, these are some of these crowds. My
45:05
God. But anyway, so it was just a really nice
45:10
experience, you know, and also we were big Traders
45:13
fans. Talk about another thing I've been loving
45:15
is the Traders, you know, of course. So I'm all
45:17
caught up now on U .S. I need to catch up on
45:20
UK. But So it was like Thursday night, got together
45:24
at my friend's house, watched the Traders finale.
45:27
So it was just like a big weekend for us. You
45:28
know, the next day, watch the Survivor 50 premiere,
45:32
which I'm not the biggest Survivor fan, but I
45:33
mean, this season, I mean, I'm totally checking
45:35
it out. Right. And then Scream 7. So it was just
45:38
like all these like big moments, you know, and
45:41
having good food went to like, you're from Connecticut,
45:43
you know, Frank Pepe's pizza. I do, of course.
45:47
Yeah. So yeah, we were in like Yonkers and had
45:50
Frank Pepe. So good food, really great conversation.
45:53
And just like the excitement between us for these
45:55
things that we love and this movie, you know,
45:57
and even though it's not like the best thing
45:59
in the world, some things fall flat. We just
46:03
had a great time. And then being back in the
46:04
city and having dinner, I kind of felt like a
46:07
tourist again, you know, and like going to IMAX,
46:09
talk about a massive screen right there on 68th
46:13
Street in Manhattan. So yeah, I'd say that was
46:16
my very delicious, very full long weekend in
46:20
New York with some old friends and some old characters
46:24
and hosts like Jeff Probst in Survivor. I'm like,
46:27
wow, okay, he's still doing this. That's amazing.
46:29
Right. So being reunited with all these people.
46:32
So I'm embarrassed to say, and I think I said
46:33
this on a previous podcast episode, I have not
46:36
seen any of the screen movies, even the first
46:39
one. What the hell? John, wait a minute. Wait
46:43
a minute. How is that possible? How old are you?
46:45
I am so shocked that there are seven. I thought
46:47
there were like maybe two or three, but the fact
46:50
that there are seven. Uh, that is so funny because
46:53
that's literally what my dad said. We were at
46:54
the theater on new year's day when I was visiting
46:56
my parents, seeing the house made and there's
46:58
trailer for scream seven and it comes on and
47:01
he looks, he whispers to me, he's like seven.
47:03
Cause I saw the first three with him when I was
47:05
a kid. So he's like seven. So that you aren't
47:07
giving me my dad right now. Wow. Wait. Okay.
47:09
How old are you? I am 34. So I could have seen
47:13
a screen. Yeah, you're right there. Like, okay.
47:16
And you're from Connecticut. Were you where in
47:19
Connecticut are you from? Uh, first. Britain
47:21
and then West Hartford. Okay. So you're not far
47:24
from like, it's not like you grew up in like
47:26
the woods, you know? No, no, no, no, no. It's
47:29
like, it just scream was just there. It just
47:31
wasn't your thing. No, no, no, no. It's just
47:33
not something that I never sought out. It's always
47:36
something that I've heard about, like, you know,
47:37
those pop culture things that like you hear about
47:39
over and over again, like, Oh, everybody's watched
47:40
this, but you just never think to seek it out
47:43
on your own. And scream was just one of those
47:46
things. So from what little I know about it,
47:49
there's ghost. So for someone like me who has
47:52
never gotten into the franchise, what's a great
47:56
short elevator pitch that you can give to me
47:59
that will motivate me to dive into this franchise?
48:03
Oh my God, please dive in. Okay, I'm about to
48:05
start. You're talking to someone who made, my
48:07
most popular film is a Scream fan film that I
48:09
won awards for and it's on YouTube. It's called
48:11
25 Years After Woodsboro, which is the town where
48:14
the movie starts for the original's 25th anniversary.
48:17
And I think since it turns 30 this year, original
48:19
I might make another fan film and it might be
48:22
like a little prequel but okay John so um how
48:25
where do I start okay Scream which was originally
48:28
called Scary Movie Oh. Because it's all, yeah,
48:32
which is funny, because the Weinsteins... There
48:34
is a Scream movie. Yeah, which spoofs Scream,
48:36
right? So, it was changed because the Weinsteins
48:40
thought, this sounds funny, right? Which it is
48:43
darkly funny. The Scream movies are always a
48:45
perfect blend, a very hard blend of comedy and
48:48
true, serious, dark, like, terror, right? Because
48:52
we see, and I've made some, and, you know, Murder
48:54
Loves Company is, I wouldn't say a horror comedy,
48:56
it's like a murder mystery comedy, right? We've
48:59
seen so many com - about death, but very few
49:02
can pull off the true laugh out loud, very self
49:06
-referential, and like terror, you know, who's
49:09
next, who's the killer, right? But in a nutshell,
49:12
Scream is a classic murder mystery. It's a whodunit.
49:15
They're always whodunits, right? The tagline
49:17
for the first film, especially when it came out
49:20
in the mid-'90s when horror was a lot of like
49:22
Friday the 13th's, Jason, a lot of bad B movies
49:25
straight to like Cable. I mean, horror needed...
49:28
a refresher, right? So the poster with Drew Barrymore's
49:32
face, they marketed her as the lead when, I think
49:35
by now, I don't think it's a spoiler, we know
49:37
she's not the lead, but she was so smart to be
49:40
like, hey, why don't you use me? I'm one of the
49:42
biggest stars of the original movie, right? But
49:45
on the poster it even says, solving this mystery
49:47
is going to be murder. Like it was all about
49:49
mystery, right? Over the years, you know, the
49:52
horror aspect has grown for the franchise, but
49:55
it's a slasher. Basically, a movie, horror movie
49:58
loving A horror movie loving killer is targeting
50:02
teens at a high school in town, much like the
50:05
horror movies that he has watched over the decades,
50:08
right? 80s, 90s, 70s, right? And it's up to this
50:12
lead girl, Sidney Prescott, and this tabloid
50:15
reporter, Gail Weathers, Courtney Cox, coming
50:18
to town trying to get a hot story to find out
50:20
who's killing people. And that's the original.
50:23
And then from there, it continues. We follow
50:25
Sidney to college. We follow her into adulthood.
50:29
Then there's kind of almost like a spin -off
50:31
story with, like, new, um, Woodsboro teen kids
50:36
that have a link to these killers. So every movie's
50:38
a different killer. It's not like Freddie, Jason,
50:41
Michael Myers, which I love all of them as well,
50:43
where it's kind of supernatural, where they just
50:45
keep coming back. No. Every killer, it's a new
50:47
person. and they're somehow connected to the
50:51
characters. And I'll just leave it at that. Quality
50:54
-wise, how would you rate the seven screen movies
50:57
that have been out so far? Some people say it's
50:59
their least favorite. I put it right in the middle.
51:01
I put it right in the middle. Um, a lot of it
51:04
really works. Um, there's some great acting people
51:07
knock horror, uh, but I feel like honestly, especially
51:09
in the last, I don't know, 30 years, horror has
51:12
had some of the, and even longer, honestly, horror
51:14
has had some of the best acting. I'm an acting
51:17
coach and I teach a lot of horror acting and
51:19
it is hard. People are like, Whoa, okay. I didn't
51:21
think like, and I have to think about it this
51:22
much. I'm like, yeah, you're fighting for your
51:25
life. Like come on, you know? So, um, I mean,
51:28
when you think of like Tony Collette and hereditary,
51:30
I mean, great. Performances in this new movie.
51:32
I would put it right in the middle You know like
51:35
one and two are one and two for most people for
51:38
most fans Some people love two over one and I'm
51:41
totally fine with that because two is fantastic
51:43
But oh John has your wife seen any of these movies?
51:46
Oh, for sure. Absolutely. She even is just like,
51:50
wait, what? Really? Wow. Okay. Well, you're not
51:53
alone because like, and I don't know if it's
51:54
a New England thing, because I grew up right
51:56
outside of Philly. I lived in Philly for a bit
51:58
and I'm a Jersey boy. So I don't know if my proximity
52:01
to a lot of pop culture and cities and just like,
52:04
I don't know, because I feel like that area just
52:06
knows a lot of movie stuff. I've learned that
52:09
now that I've lived in New England for six years,
52:11
a lot of people don't know things that like I'm
52:14
obsessed with. They're like, oh, yes. Scream?
52:15
Oh yeah, Buffy? Oh, we didn't have tea. I'm like,
52:18
what? Like, oh my God, these things are such
52:20
a huge part of my DNA that I'm like, whoa, we
52:23
almost speak a different language, you know?
52:25
But check them out, John. The new movie will
52:28
probably come to Paramount Plus sometime in late
52:30
April if they stay on their schedule. So you
52:33
should just, they're all on Paramount. I'm pretty
52:35
sure, every one of them. So Scream 1 and 2, there's
52:38
a high pedestal on that for a lot of people.
52:42
3, 4, 5, and 6. What about 3, 4, 5, and 6? I
52:45
would say three's a little rough because of Columbine
52:48
back in the day, like they had to rework the
52:50
horror and make it less bloody and less serious,
52:53
you know? people killing people. So that changed
52:56
a lot of movies at that time. Three's a little
52:58
rough. Three's on the lower end for me, but it's
53:01
a perfect, keep in mind, John, since, oh my gosh,
53:03
yeah, you don't know this. But back in the day
53:06
in the 90s and in early 2000, 26 years ago when
53:09
Scream 3 came out, that was the end. It was a
53:12
trilogy. It was from the get -go. Kevin Williamson,
53:15
when he wrote the first film and the script was
53:17
going around and there was a bidding war for
53:19
Scary Movie at the time, he had a treatment for
53:21
Two and Three and Three wrapped it all together.
53:23
So his idea for three was scrapped because the
53:26
Weinsteins are messy, awful people. But anyway,
53:30
three wraps up the story very well. So some fans
53:33
say like, you know what, I really just count
53:35
three as like, like the first three as that scream.
53:38
These other sequels where there's kind of no
53:41
real just literally minutes before meeting you,
53:43
I was talking to my good friend about the franchise
53:45
and how like, now there's kind of no planned
53:48
through line for a new trilogy. It's just sort
53:51
of coming up with sequels as they go, which is
53:53
fine, but Scream from the Gecko always had a
53:57
beginning, middle, and end, right? And there
53:58
are interviews, if you go on Insta. or YouTube,
54:00
there are old interviews with Wes Craven, the
54:02
director, RIP, went to his grave site in Martha's
54:07
Vineyard this summer and it's so cool. But him,
54:09
Nev Campbell, David Arquette saying like, yeah,
54:11
no, this is it, three, this is it. And Nev Campbell
54:14
has even said, we don't want a four, five, six,
54:16
seven. And it's like, and here she is starting
54:19
at seven, right? So three's a little rough, but
54:21
it brings it home really well. So I can't hate
54:25
it. And it's so meta. What's amazing about at
54:28
least the original trilogy, and four, is that
54:32
they're meta. It's meta -commentary about movies.
54:35
Like, what I loved as a kid seeing it, I was
54:37
so interested in the trailers, but when watching
54:39
it, I'm like, oh my god, this movie is meant
54:41
for people like me. When I watch these characters
54:44
talking about movies, talking about scary movies
54:47
and what you should and shouldn't do, and then
54:49
they're doing that, I'm like, oh my god, this
54:51
is for movie lovers. So even if you're not a
54:54
horror movie fan, the movies are rarely that...
54:57
Brutally scary you've seen scarier stuff, right?
55:00
It's ultimately a love letter to for people who
55:03
love movies, right? Cuz every pretty much every
55:06
sequel talks about rules They're kind of getting
55:09
away from that now and leaning just more into
55:11
the murder mystery, which is fine But I do miss
55:14
Kevin Williamson has said like I think because
55:16
it's been copied so many times from other movies
55:18
and shows That it's like alright. We can't really
55:20
deconstruct the genre anymore. It's getting old.
55:22
I still love it but so it's it's It makes fun
55:26
of scary movies while being a scary movie. So
55:30
yeah, three and four are kind of on the lower
55:32
end. Before's got an amazing killer motive that
55:36
was ahead of its time. So I can't totally, I
55:38
can't hate any screen movie. It's impossible.
55:41
And then five and six was great because it took
55:43
it to New York, which is funny because my fan
55:45
film that I made before six was out is set in
55:47
New York. So I'm like, okay, I'm owed money.
55:50
Someone stole my idea. No, they're very different.
55:54
Some of the middle ones are a little weak, but
55:58
this seventh one is certainly not all bad. I
56:04
don't know because of social media. I think people,
56:05
especially as a filmmaker, people are willing
56:08
to give their opinion a little too easily. It's
56:10
like, okay, chill out. You know, you had a good
56:13
time during that big set piece and that big death
56:16
and that big twist. So, okay, it's just for this
56:20
one. Not every killer is a great killer. Like
56:23
when they reveal, cause you know, there's always
56:24
the reveal at the end. Some are far better than
56:27
others. That's all I'll say. So. And there's
56:30
an eight. There's a scream eight I hear coming
56:32
out. They haven't officially announced it, but
56:34
this movie is making so much money. Of course
56:36
there will be one. It's a no brainer. I'm excited.
56:39
But yeah, I think they're figuring out what the
56:42
story will be, who will direct it. Cause Kevin
56:43
Williamson, who created the franchise just directed
56:46
it, but he has just announced he's stepping back.
56:48
He doesn't want to direct it. I think there was
56:50
probably a ton of pressure. I think also, even
56:53
though the movie has made tons of money, it's
56:54
gotten so much criticism. So I think sadly he's
56:57
like I'm not doing that again. It's a lot of
56:59
pressure So I think they have to figure out who's
57:02
gonna make it Paramount and before them the Weinsteins
57:05
because Paramount took it from the Weinstein's
57:07
once right they you know It seems like they both
57:10
are not the easiest companies to work for. Lots
57:13
of like revolving doors. So, but we're going
57:16
to get it. Oh yeah, totally. And we're getting
57:17
scary movie six this year, which I cannot wait
57:19
for. I'm sure. Have you seen scary movie movies
57:22
or no? Maybe not. Wow. Okay. So wait, John, are
57:26
you just not a horror guy? You probably just
57:28
don't like scary stuff. No, no, no. I am. I've
57:29
loved, I mean, not, not a passionate horror guy,
57:32
but lately in the last few years in between like
57:35
Jordan Peele movies and like, and Sinners and.
57:39
and weapons, and the Conjuring movies. I've seen
57:44
some of those with my wife. So here and there
57:46
are horror movies I've seen. I prefer to see
57:48
it with people. It's definitely not something
57:51
I'd see on my own because there's just something
57:53
about like the shared, like, oh my God, reaction
57:56
that you get with a community of people with
57:58
horror movies. So I have a very sort of casual
58:01
every now and then approach to horror movies.
58:03
That's probably why I have not seen scary movies.
58:08
Yeah, no, I'm so bad. No, it's amazing. I'm so
58:15
impressed that you've gotten away through life
58:17
without seeing these movies. Because for me,
58:20
I mean, they're just like, they're everywhere.
58:22
Like they're on my feed, you know, everything.
58:24
But what's like a franchise that you're obsessed
58:26
with? Or like a show or is there something that
58:28
you just know so much about? Something off the
58:31
top of my head? Not really. I mean, I think I've
58:36
certainly consumed a lot of TV shows and movies,
58:40
but to point to one franchise that I know backwards
58:45
and forwards, that's gonna be, yeah, that's gonna
58:47
be a tough one. Okay. Superheroes or... Just
58:52
name me an iconic franchise, and I'll tell you
58:53
if I know it. Terminator. No, I have not seen
58:57
a Terminator movie. You haven't seen any of them?
59:00
Okay, wait, wait, wait, wait. Okay, sorry. Okay,
59:02
so what do you, what are some of your comfort?
59:06
Movies. Let's say like from the past you're like
59:08
when it has a big anniversary because my show
59:10
I talk about movies with a big anniversary. So
59:12
like what's a movie we're like, that's 30 years
59:14
old. I have to watch it. I have to rewatch it.
59:17
Uh, well, uh, just off the top of my head, a
59:20
comfort movie that I've watched a lot of times
59:22
in the past. I haven't watched in a while though.
59:24
Uh, lately remember the Titans. I love remember
59:27
the Titans with, uh, with, with, with, with Denzel.
59:30
Yeah, that's a good one. That just turned 25
59:32
in the fall. I think. Yeah. Cool. Okay. All right.
59:36
anything like from when you were a kid kid though
59:38
like i mean you were a kid then we were kids
59:40
but like anything like um before you were born
59:43
anything old like halloween or um back to the
59:46
future or oh god indiana jones like any of those
59:51
franchises that are like classics star wars Star
59:55
Wars, yes, I've seen all the Star Wars movies.
59:59
Definitely they're not comfort watches, but I've
1:00:01
seen all of them. Indiana Jones, I've seen one
1:00:05
of them. I think the first one in the theaters
1:00:08
with my wife when it was COVID and they were
1:00:10
showing nothing but old movies in theaters. Not
1:00:13
my cup of tea, but it was nice to see it. Okay,
1:00:16
all right. Yeah, what was the other franchise
1:00:18
that you mentioned? Back to the Future or...
1:00:22
Watched those movies went back in high school.
1:00:24
I could not get into them and I think I think
1:00:26
I sat through like three or four of them I just
1:00:28
could not I couldn't get into them. Okay. Yeah,
1:00:31
you know Marvel wise I'm thinking of the Ant
1:00:33
-Man movies. That's probably And it's not everybody's
1:00:36
favorite Marvel movie, but I just I love it I
1:00:38
love the Ant -Man because it was a great mixture
1:00:41
of action and comedy especially It's crazy how
1:00:46
he's aging in reverse Yeah, yeah, yeah, I'm trying
1:00:53
to think what about TV shows. What's like a TV
1:00:55
show that you could rewatch rewatch Cheers and
1:00:59
the West Wing. Okay. All right. Yeah, so maybe
1:01:02
all right. Gotcha Do you think maybe more of
1:01:04
a TV person than a movie person or not necessarily
1:01:06
in some respects? Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Yeah, cuz
1:01:09
some people are yeah the West Wing I've think
1:01:10
I've given it like I've watched it beginning
1:01:13
to end like maybe two or three times It's just
1:01:15
one of those wonderful comfort watches Yeah,
1:01:19
and you know, it's funny. I've never seen it
1:01:21
I've never seen The West Wing. It's wonderful.
1:01:23
I should. It seems amazing, right? It's wonderful.
1:01:26
It's just, there's just a nostalgia to the way
1:01:28
the drama is presented from that period of time,
1:01:32
late 90s, early 2000s television. And also because
1:01:35
of the toxicity of the politics nowadays to just
1:01:38
be reminded that like, oh yeah, there was a simpler
1:01:40
time in politics and I can view it through this
1:01:43
show was great. And Cheers probably one of the
1:01:47
best, maybe the best sitcom of all time. love
1:01:51
that in that it lasted 11 years and there and
1:01:54
and it didn't jump the shark at all like the
1:01:56
quality great the quality is just sustainable
1:01:58
throughout the 11 season run because the characters
1:02:01
are established and Because they're established
1:02:04
you could form a lot of brilliant funny situations
1:02:07
around them. So Yeah, yeah those shows off the
1:02:10
top of my head if I had to go back and do a comfort
1:02:13
rewatch I wouldn't mind doing that again. Oh,
1:02:15
I love good picks. I know you're making I want
1:02:17
to watch the both because cheers. I've seen episodes
1:02:19
but I've never watched it all the way through.
1:02:21
So, and it's funny, a friend of mine down near
1:02:24
me is watching this. I forget what it's streaming
1:02:27
on, but it's on something and she's watching
1:02:29
each episode. So, okay, she might be having a
1:02:31
comeback, baby. It's funny, I worked with Kirsty
1:02:34
Alley years ago on Dancing with the Stars and
1:02:38
she was quite a character. So, yeah. Yeah. My
1:02:42
introduction to Kirsty Alley growing up, she
1:02:44
did a... a wonderful world of Disney TV movie
1:02:49
called Toothless. I don't know if you've ever
1:02:50
seen Toothless. Yes, I remember that. But what
1:02:52
was, was it the Tooth Fairy? Was she the Tooth
1:02:54
Fairy? Yeah, yeah, yeah. She was the Tooth Fairy.
1:02:56
Yep. Yep. So that was my introduction to her.
1:02:58
And then gradually found Cheers, found her through
1:03:02
that. I know, I know she was on the Look Who's
1:03:04
Talking movies with John Travolta. Oh, of course.
1:03:06
Yep. I haven't seen those, but I've heard of
1:03:08
them. Oh, okay. They're good. They're really
1:03:10
fun. Oh, yeah. Yeah. Oh, yeah. That's probably
1:03:13
where he recruited her for Scientology. Oh, maybe,
1:03:15
maybe. And then there was that period of time
1:03:17
where late night talk show hosts were making
1:03:19
cruel jokes about her weight. I remember that.
1:03:21
Right. Yep. She got bigger and yeah. She was
1:03:24
in her own show called Fat Actress because of
1:03:26
that. I remember. There you go. That was like
1:03:27
a one or two season thing. Yep. Yeah. She's a
1:03:31
character. When you say she's a character, I
1:03:34
wonder what you mean by that. Like, can you tell
1:03:37
more? I mean, she's just wacky. She's just wacky,
1:03:39
wacky, wacky, wacky, wacky, wacky. But you can
1:03:41
sort of tell that just by watching her, you know
1:03:43
what I mean? Like, back in the day in Cheers,
1:03:45
she was a babe, and she seemed pretty composed,
1:03:49
and just kind of like smart. If I remember correctly,
1:03:53
she was introduced into Shears as a babe that
1:03:56
Sam Teddinson's character would flirt with. I
1:03:59
believe so, yes. And then it didn't take long
1:04:00
for her to turn into a klutz, like a comedic
1:04:03
klutz. Oh, how funny. Okay, yeah, yeah, yeah.
1:04:06
And I guess once the producer's writers discovered,
1:04:09
like, oh my god, Kirsty Alley is a great, like,
1:04:11
slapstick comedy actress, they moved more into
1:04:13
that and made her less of a babe. That makes
1:04:16
sense, yeah. Yeah. And she's, she's a great comedian.
1:04:20
I mean, when you look, I also, I grew up with,
1:04:22
um, uh, God, it takes two. She was an, it takes
1:04:26
two with the Olsen twins. Remember them? Yeah,
1:04:28
also to his yes, they're so right. They are,
1:04:31
of course, but now they're not, you know, acting
1:04:32
nearly as much. But um, but she was great in
1:04:35
that and very funny. So yeah, she just was very
1:04:38
kooky. She got kookier as she got older, for
1:04:40
sure. And I think she probably got in trouble
1:04:43
in the news before her death saying some bad
1:04:46
things. And yeah, she was just kooky. Yeah. I
1:04:50
worked on Dancing with the Stars a few seasons
1:04:51
back in New York when they, when I forget why,
1:04:54
but like, I guess some of the contestants would
1:04:56
have to go to New York. or whatever, whenever
1:04:58
they had to travel, like a crew. So sometimes
1:05:01
they'd have to rehearse in New York, but like
1:05:02
David Arquette. What did you do with Dancing
1:05:04
with the Stars? Where was your... So for that,
1:05:06
I was like a PA. I was a story PA. So I would
1:05:08
have to take notes during the rehearsal shoots.
1:05:11
So she, like let's say it's her and her partner,
1:05:14
dance partner, and like if they fight, they're
1:05:16
like, she's like, I can't do it. It's like, okay,
1:05:18
look at the time code with the camera guy. And
1:05:20
we're like, okay, tension over, like, can't do
1:05:23
this move. You know, any of the highlights for
1:05:25
then the editors to pull. You know, because for
1:05:27
that show, it's mostly live, but then they do
1:05:29
the packages of what's going on. How was your
1:05:32
week? And it's like, well, Kirsty struggled with
1:05:34
this dance a lot. I don't know if she's going
1:05:36
to win. So it's like, yeah. 0107 she curses and
1:05:41
falls, you know, all that kind of stuff. So really
1:05:44
taking a lot of like transcribing notes. I was
1:05:46
doing that a lot for a while. Oh, yeah. A few
1:05:49
people have done everything. Oh, I've been around.
1:05:51
I'll read a book someday. But oh, yeah, like
1:05:53
people don't know, like some of that show I worked
1:05:55
with on an Oprah special. Like, yeah, it's funny
1:05:58
because like moving to New England, I've really
1:06:01
made like more indie filmmaking and coaching
1:06:03
my life. But back in New York. Oh, my God. I
1:06:05
bounced around from show to show talk shows.
1:06:07
Tyra Banks, I worked on Tyra's show the last
1:06:09
season, the talk show, which was absolutely bonkers.
1:06:13
Wendy, Reedus and Kelly. Have you seen the America's
1:06:15
Next Top Model documentary? I haven't seen it
1:06:17
yet. I need to see it. Did you see it? I have,
1:06:20
yes, and Tyra does not come off well at all.
1:06:22
Which, you know what, I'm happy about because
1:06:24
I was worried that she was producing it and she
1:06:26
wouldn't, but I'm glad she's not producing it.
1:06:28
I'm glad she doesn't come because she was, I
1:06:30
mean. What was your experience on her talk show?
1:06:32
What was the, what was bonkers about it? Oh God,
1:06:34
now you're going to get me in trouble. I mean,
1:06:36
it's not that juicy. Yeah, no, it's not that
1:06:38
juicy. It's listeners will be like, Oh, but and
1:06:40
I posted this on my Instagram, which is public,
1:06:42
so no big deal. But, um, there's a picture of
1:06:44
us. If you go to MJP underscore POV, everybody,
1:06:47
you'll scroll down and you'll see me drunk on
1:06:50
champagne and a picture with her. Um, we look
1:06:53
very cute, even though we don't know each other.
1:06:55
It was the last, uh, it was the last, uh, wrap
1:06:57
party when we were canceled, but, um, got my
1:07:00
photo with her. But anyway, I have said publicly
1:07:03
that, um, So I was the talent slash travel assistant
1:07:09
on Tyra for the final season. So what was I doing
1:07:11
before that? I think I was working on Celebrity
1:07:13
Apprentice. with, you know who, sadly, um, working
1:07:16
with those celebrities. And I think then that
1:07:18
ended and then that's when I did Tyra. I forget
1:07:20
the order of things now, but, um, so I would
1:07:23
be in charge of greeting the guests and helping,
1:07:26
you know, uh, coordinate cars to the airport,
1:07:29
that kind of thing. My team, my bosses would
1:07:32
like get flights and stuff for people. Like I
1:07:35
met Beyonce, my friend Fumi and I like greeted
1:07:38
her and she truly like just floated into the
1:07:41
loading dock and into the elevator. and was very
1:07:43
like, quiet and soft. And I was like, right this
1:07:46
way, elevator will take you right up to the show.
1:07:49
Um, but so I was told to never be in the stairwell
1:07:53
with Tyra. I don't know why I never asked why,
1:07:56
but, um, you know, we had the elevator, but many
1:07:58
times, you know, that was in use, especially
1:07:59
if she had to use it or, or guests, you know,
1:08:01
so the stairwell from like main floor up to the
1:08:04
studio, the studio was, I don't know, third floor.
1:08:06
And that was what the green rooms and everything.
1:08:07
It was just chaos, just chaos, whether it was
1:08:10
a celebrity guest or some of these. Absolute
1:08:13
wacky real regular people guess I've had to I've
1:08:16
had to wake people up in their hotel rooms I
1:08:18
had to grab a man's breast pump because he was
1:08:21
on the episode about men who I could I guess
1:08:24
could I don't know had breast milk I don't know
1:08:26
really crazy things I greeted all kinds of crazy
1:08:29
people But so I was told early on you can never
1:08:32
be in the stairwell at the same time as her She
1:08:34
doesn't like it if you are you have to move to
1:08:37
the wall and freeze So is that because like the
1:08:39
stairwell is her silent? to focus before going
1:08:43
on the show? Is that what it is? Maybe. Maybe.
1:08:44
You might be right. I should have asked. I just
1:08:47
was kind of like, I kind of laughed it off like,
1:08:48
OK, right? Kind of like with Wendy. I was actually
1:08:50
just telling a friend this earlier this morning,
1:08:52
which is wild. With Wendy, I was told, like,
1:08:54
Wendy does not like to see the guests until they're
1:08:57
on the stage together. So keep them far apart.
1:09:01
Keep them in the green room, right? Which I understood.
1:09:03
That wasn't a crazy rule. I understood. But sometimes
1:09:06
it would happen, where a celebrity guest was
1:09:07
excited, and it happened with Alyssa Milano.
1:09:11
Wendy and Alyssa and Alyssa was like, hi, Wendy.
1:09:13
And I kept trying to say, Alyssa, Miss Milano,
1:09:15
please stop, stop. She's going to do whatever
1:09:18
she wants to do, right? And then Wendy like gave
1:09:20
me such a look. I was like, sorry, but it's like,
1:09:24
these things happen. But so yeah, maybe Tyra,
1:09:26
I don't know, maybe something in her past. Who
1:09:28
knows, right? Maybe it's out there where she
1:09:31
had a traumatizing incident in a stairwell. Maybe
1:09:34
she, I don't know, doesn't want anyone looking
1:09:37
at her butt up the stairs. Not that, I don't
1:09:40
know. I think these larger -than -life celebrities,
1:09:43
maybe they point a factor to their success to
1:09:47
some superstition, so then they just follow that
1:09:50
superstition through and through to the point
1:09:52
of looking absolutely batshit insane to those
1:09:56
of us on the outside looking in. Yeah, no, I
1:10:00
mean, with Wendy, like, I get, like, you want
1:10:02
to get a fresh spontaneity with the guest. But
1:10:06
if there's like one situation where it's kind
1:10:08
of accidental, kind of unplanned, kind of spontaneous,
1:10:10
where a guest just happens to run into, I mean,
1:10:13
you're Wendy Williams. You've been this established
1:10:15
broadcaster, this great communicator. Like you
1:10:17
can just say like, Hey, you know, Alyssa, nice
1:10:20
to see you. Looking forward to having you out
1:10:22
there. I'll see you in a second. I just have
1:10:23
to prep. Like you can adjust that. Yeah, I think
1:10:28
it was hers. I think you're sorry. I think it
1:10:29
was her superstition because I had to do is say,
1:10:31
Hey girl, all right, I'll see you out there.
1:10:33
And then you just act surprised and hug again,
1:10:35
you know, but because with Regis and Kelly back
1:10:38
when I worked on it almost like 15 years ago,
1:10:41
they usually would go into the green room. They'd
1:10:44
knock on the person's door and be like, hi, and
1:10:45
they'd meet. So everyone's different, right?
1:10:48
So yeah, sorry, go for it. No, no, no, it's okay.
1:10:52
I know that David Letterman had that same thing.
1:10:54
He would never want to meet with the guests beforehand
1:10:57
because he was very, like, superstitious and
1:10:59
paranoid about the conversation that we have
1:11:02
on the air. It needs to be genuine, spontaneous,
1:11:04
not some kind of pre -planned thing that we talk
1:11:06
about beforehand. But Regis and Kelly, especially
1:11:10
Regis, Regis could talk for days, I imagine,
1:11:13
off the air as well as on the air. I could totally
1:11:15
imagine him smooching with the guests beforehand.
1:11:18
Oh, yeah. He's already talking. He's just like,
1:11:19
you tell me where I need to... go. I'm just going
1:11:21
to keep talking. Right. So yeah, everyone's different.
1:11:24
Oh, yeah. Yeah, they're all they're all such
1:11:26
stars, of course. Kelly was so cool. But but
1:11:29
yeah, Tyra. So I was walking up the steps just
1:11:32
by myself. I think I was rushing up to whatever,
1:11:34
get someone. No one was with me, but she could
1:11:37
hear my footsteps. And I realized it was her.
1:11:39
She was walking with a producer. And who knows,
1:11:41
maybe it was also hearing maybe like producer
1:11:44
and her were talking about the show and she heard
1:11:47
my footsteps and it was distracting. I really
1:11:49
don't know. But the look she gave me. She turned
1:11:53
around. I remember her hair whipped around. It
1:11:55
was a horror movie. Her eyes were like wide and
1:11:59
she looked down at me. And I just remember I
1:12:01
immediately froze and went out and put my back
1:12:03
up against the wall and looked away. And I just
1:12:05
waited there until she cleared. And then I looked
1:12:08
up and I was like, okay, I think I can go. It
1:12:10
was so weird. It was so weird. I'm so sorry you
1:12:12
had to deal with that. I just - It's funny now.
1:12:14
We can laugh about it, but at the time I was
1:12:16
like - Yikes, am I in trouble? And no one, no
1:12:18
one cared, no. Wendy was far crazier behind the
1:12:22
scenes. Like, I would get screamed at by her.
1:12:24
I got screamed at one day. Oh, oh, oh yeah. Wendy
1:12:27
was, yeah. I just like, oh, it was, and that
1:12:30
was the early days. I think I joined at the end
1:12:32
of season one into season two. I only lasted
1:12:34
six months. I was like, this is... This is crazy,
1:12:37
guys. This is crazy. What are you getting screamed
1:12:40
at about? I got screamed at by this woman, Deborah,
1:12:43
and this I have no problem saying publicly, because
1:12:45
she was so nasty to me. But I was the talent
1:12:48
coordinator there. And man, I'm not lying, John.
1:12:51
It was so much work. It was just one of me and
1:12:53
two bosses. I worked with the talent bookers.
1:12:55
We were booking not only the celebrity guests,
1:12:57
but then booking their travel. Oh my it was working
1:13:00
around the clock like I would go I remember like
1:13:02
one time going the movies at night and instantly
1:13:04
falling asleep I was so tired, but so the wardrobe
1:13:07
woman who would do Wendy's wardrobe and she would
1:13:11
kind of glance at the celebs because the whole
1:13:14
goal was not to wear the same color as Wendy,
1:13:16
but it's also like, I don't think most people
1:13:18
care about that who are watching the show, whatever,
1:13:21
right? And Mel B, Scary Spice, was there wearing
1:13:24
a black dress similar to Wendy's. And I had Mel
1:13:28
B and I probably had Jenny McCarthy and I had
1:13:31
like a whole list of celebs because each room
1:13:32
was filled, right? It's never just one, right?
1:13:35
And okay, she looks good, whatever. And I guess
1:13:37
I forgot to tell... Debra. Oh boy, she screamed
1:13:40
at me. I remember all my coworkers heard it was
1:13:42
in the hallway. I think Mel B probably heard
1:13:44
screamed just a few inches from my face, but
1:13:47
like in my ear. Oh my gosh. I remember crying
1:13:50
in the stairwell. Her assistant was like, she's
1:13:52
a bitch. Like just ignore it. But I was like,
1:13:55
this is not, this is not what I meant to be doing.
1:13:58
This is so not. And then like the legal team
1:14:00
would always be on my case because there was
1:14:02
always giveaways. And if a celebrity was there
1:14:04
to give a book away, like I think one day I Didn't
1:14:09
get them to sign the form and like whatever the
1:14:11
form was not actually needed I don't know There
1:14:13
was just like a thing to just have on file that
1:14:15
like they were okay that we gave their book away
1:14:17
It's like obviously there are they're here to
1:14:19
talk about the book, right and one person I forget
1:14:22
me. I don't Terry Hatcher. I don't know. I forgot
1:14:24
to get the form Screamed at me and I screamed
1:14:27
back and that was it. I was like, you know what?
1:14:28
I f -ing quit. Goodbye. And I waited until Wes
1:14:31
Craven came. I gave a three week notice because
1:14:34
Wes Craven, this was right before Scream 4. He
1:14:36
had directed a movie that wasn't so good called
1:14:38
My Soul to Take, a horror movie that kind of
1:14:41
came and went. But he was coming. We booked him
1:14:44
and the actor Max Teriot who's now on like some
1:14:47
CBS fireman show. Um, and I was like, that will
1:14:50
be my last day. And my bosses were like, okay,
1:14:52
cool. Thanks for staying for three more weeks.
1:14:54
And I met Wes and then I said, goodbye. And I
1:14:57
haven't worked in talk shows in a long time.
1:15:00
So yeah. So between Tyra Banks, Wendy Williams,
1:15:02
and especially all the rumors that came about
1:15:04
of like what it was like to work on Ellen DeGeneres'
1:15:06
show. Um, I don't know, man, maybe I'm naive,
1:15:10
but I would think that with the pressure of producing
1:15:13
daytime talk shows day after day, that there
1:15:16
would be some conversation from the higher up,
1:15:20
some awareness of, okay, the least we could do
1:15:23
to sort of balance out this high pressure, busy
1:15:28
working environment. is to have kindness, compassion,
1:15:32
patience, to make it as much of a lovely place
1:15:36
to work as possible. But no, I mean, clearly
1:15:39
these are the higher ups that screamed at you.
1:15:43
These are people that let the pressure get to
1:15:44
them, that unfairly screamed at you, berated
1:15:47
you, verbally abused you, whatever you want to
1:15:48
call it. And I don't know, because I guess there's
1:15:52
just a certain perception that, oh, this is what
1:15:56
it takes to be in Hollywood. You have to be just
1:15:58
this sort of brash, mean, egotistical, bleh,
1:16:01
in -your -face kind of person. That kind of way
1:16:04
of doing things was accepted for so long, and
1:16:06
now, I don't know, I mean, is it changing for
1:16:09
the better? Are we still having this issue? Like,
1:16:12
I just, I don't know. I agree. And also, it's
1:16:15
like... especially nowadays. I mean, luckily
1:16:17
the few talk shows that are left seem to be successful,
1:16:20
right? Long running, which is great. I hope Drew
1:16:23
is cool. I hope Kelly Clarkson's cool. They seem
1:16:25
cool, you know, no complaints, right? So latest
1:16:27
on that. So I know Drew Barrymore was renewed
1:16:29
for a couple more seasons. Kelly Kelly Kelly.
1:16:33
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Because I'm shocking.
1:16:35
Well, not really shocking, because she's had
1:16:38
a lot to deal with the past few years. So she
1:16:40
had a divorce. She moved from LA to New York
1:16:44
for the show. Her ex recently died. The husband
1:16:48
that she divorced from recently died from some
1:16:50
kind of health issue. Oh, I didn't realize that.
1:16:53
Oh, gosh. Maybe I forgot. She's got kids to take
1:16:55
care of as a single mom. I mean, so I, I'm not
1:16:59
surprised. I mean, she's been going through a
1:17:00
lot and I think she, uh, and also it's just very
1:17:03
hard to make a daytime talk show successful in
1:17:06
this day and age when the market is so saturated
1:17:08
and, uh, there's lots of content options on streaming.
1:17:12
Um, Sherry Shepard's, yeah, Sherry Shepard's
1:17:15
show has been canceled. Sherry's canceled. Um,
1:17:19
Karamo from Queer Eye. He had a talk show that
1:17:21
was canceled. is Access Hollywood. I worked for
1:17:25
Extra for a while ago with Mario Lopez. I didn't
1:17:27
realize he switched over to Access Hollywood.
1:17:29
So yeah, a lot of those shows, like... Daytime
1:17:32
and I know like Access Hollywood wasn't daytime.
1:17:34
Although they might have had a little daytime
1:17:36
segment, but it's tough. And it's so, I mean,
1:17:38
all of TV, all of broadcast TV is like this,
1:17:41
but especially daytime is every day. It's like,
1:17:43
what are the ratings? It's constant pressure.
1:17:46
So yeah, it's like, I understand attitudes, but
1:17:48
at the same time, and I say this with love because
1:17:50
some people I know still work in talk shows.
1:17:53
I spent a good amount of years in talk shows,
1:17:55
but I can safely say there's not a lot of. artistry
1:17:59
to it, right? It's not a film. So that's when
1:18:02
I kind of knew like, all right, I not that like,
1:18:04
I'm an artist, but like, I need to work with
1:18:07
some creative storytellers, right? I just kind
1:18:10
of knew like, you guys aren't really telling
1:18:11
a story where we're passing the time together
1:18:14
in fun ways, which is great. Don't get me wrong.
1:18:16
I love watching clips of these shows, these interviews,
1:18:18
right? I saw pink filled in for Kelly Clarkson
1:18:21
and pink was a great host, right? So yeah, it's
1:18:23
what we're doing right now, right? It's talking
1:18:25
and I love that stuff, but it's should not be
1:18:28
so chaotic and harsh. That intense, that taking
1:18:31
that seriously. Yeah. Yeah, it's right. It's
1:18:33
just the system of the ratings is just not healthy.
1:18:37
And especially now when we know that you're going
1:18:39
to get a much lower rating point than you would
1:18:43
have gotten like 10, 20, 30 years ago, because
1:18:44
again, like everything so splintered out in terms
1:18:47
of audience, like everybody's watching everything
1:18:49
mostly online. So you would think that there
1:18:52
wouldn't be as much obsession about ratings because
1:18:54
of that. But no, no, with daytime television,
1:18:57
that's what they live and die by. So we'll see
1:19:01
what happens with that. To wrap things up, Mark,
1:19:07
like I mentioned at the top of the show, you
1:19:08
and I had worked together. You directed and also
1:19:13
wrote this TV pilot, Murder Loves Company. Did
1:19:15
you also write it? Yeah, I adapted it from a
1:19:18
pre -existing script. So yeah, wrote, directed,
1:19:20
produced, cast, edited. Yeah, a lot of it. Great
1:19:24
experience. I loved it. I drove in three hours
1:19:28
from Vermont to Maine where it was shot and met
1:19:31
friendly faces, you yourself included. Did you
1:19:34
know anyone? I forget, John. Did you already
1:19:36
know anyone there or no? No, no, no, no. I was
1:19:39
completely green to everybody. And yeah, I feel
1:19:43
like people were just kind of coming from all
1:19:44
over. Southern Vermont to New York to Boston
1:19:50
like I just felt like there were there was a
1:19:52
lot of variety and where people were coming from
1:19:54
but I wonder if you could tell what the what
1:19:58
the pilot is about if you don't mind sharing
1:20:00
what my part was because I just remember just
1:20:03
having a nice relaxed chill fun day on set getting
1:20:06
to know people and just being in the moment with
1:20:09
a story yeah I'm glad you had a good day where
1:20:11
luckily the scene you were just sitting the whole
1:20:13
time Okay, go out there and hang out or okay,
1:20:16
come to set and you just sit, right? Easy, right?
1:20:18
Easy for you. Um, but no, you're one of the suspects,
1:20:21
which is so fun to play. You are one of the suspects
1:20:24
in this murder mystery. But yeah, murder loves
1:20:26
company. It was originally called murder love
1:20:29
and company, I believe. So I was hired to develop
1:20:32
it for, as a TV show because Greg, our, uh, Greg
1:20:35
Pomeroy, my co -producer on it, who hired me,
1:20:38
he was part of a, this is like the height of
1:20:40
COVID. He was part of a zoom radio play group.
1:20:43
and the writer of the original scripts, they
1:20:48
would read these murder love and company radio
1:20:50
plays on Zoom and like put them online. And it
1:20:52
was just a fun thing for actors to kind of put
1:20:54
on voices and, you know, play suspects and do
1:20:57
little murders and stuff and all that kind of
1:20:58
thing. So he's like, I really think this has
1:21:01
legs as a TV show. Would you want to develop
1:21:03
it with me? So that's how I was brought on. And
1:21:06
we had been talking about it before we shot it
1:21:08
at least a year, I think. So yeah, you know,
1:21:11
no offense, but I cleaned up the script. it was
1:21:13
a little bit of boomer humor, and I sort of modernized
1:21:17
it a bit, changed the title, added some characters.
1:21:19
But yeah, the story is what it originally was,
1:21:23
you know? So I adapted it and kind of rewrote
1:21:26
it. But the first episode, Murdered by Popcorn,
1:21:29
a woman that is not very well -liked is in a
1:21:33
local theater audience with John and a few other
1:21:36
suspects, seeing a show that is not really all
1:21:38
that exciting, but people are here for various
1:21:40
reasons, right, at this kind of community theater.
1:21:42
And this woman comes in, people don't like her.
1:21:45
All of a sudden she starts choking on her popcorn
1:21:47
and dies. And they realize the popcorn was poisoned.
1:21:50
Dun, dun, dun. Who did it? So, and so yeah, there's,
1:21:54
there's scenes that you weren't even part of,
1:21:56
John, where our main characters are this couple.
1:21:58
So I tweaked it and the original script, it was
1:22:00
sort of a Seinfeld -esque like standup comedian.
1:22:03
And so I instead made it like an older couple
1:22:06
in Maine who's kind of bored with life, maybe
1:22:09
having their own kind of like problems and they
1:22:11
love true crime, like a lot of us do. They're
1:22:13
watching all the docs and they listen to the
1:22:15
police scanner and they hear murder, a death
1:22:18
at the theater. Oh, well, we got to go. And so
1:22:20
the story as a show, if we ever get to make more
1:22:23
episodes or, you know, someone buys it would
1:22:25
be following this couple being nosy and kind
1:22:29
of inserting themselves into local. crime cases
1:22:32
and so yeah so John who knows your character
1:22:35
could maybe come back that could be fun I never
1:22:36
really thought about how because he it's basically
1:22:39
problem of the week there's kind of like some
1:22:40
through lines there's the detective that over
1:22:43
the next few episodes because what we shot was
1:22:45
not only the first episode but I thought it would
1:22:46
be smart to shoot highlights of episodes two
1:22:49
and three as well to kind of package you know
1:22:52
so detectives always there and he's kind of recognizing
1:22:55
this couple more and more like wait a minute
1:22:56
how do I know you and then it's like all right
1:22:58
what's going on why are you always showing up
1:23:00
and so Uh, there's, there's that through line,
1:23:03
you know, um, but yeah, usually it's pretty much
1:23:06
problem of the week. So at the end of every episode,
1:23:09
you'll, you'll see who the real, uh, culprit
1:23:11
is. It's, uh, I was going to say something, but
1:23:14
I got to keep it, uh, private. Got to keep it.
1:23:16
But, um, but yeah, it's, it's a fun, it's silly,
1:23:19
silly. I kind of, when we were sort of re tooling
1:23:23
it, I was thinking it's, it's kind of like, um,
1:23:25
Oh God. Only murders in the building, you know,
1:23:28
especially with with Steve Martin and Martin
1:23:29
short that age group, you know That's similar
1:23:32
to our leads our lead couple and then of course
1:23:34
everyone else is all ages But yeah episode 2
1:23:37
it is a dance class someone dies at the fault
1:23:41
being pushed down steps in heels dancing class
1:23:44
So that was really fun to shoot episode 3 is
1:23:46
models male models So all these guys in their
1:23:49
underwear and a model slips on the runway. Oh,
1:23:51
that was not an accident Yeah, so we got like
1:23:56
one full episode and then kind of like a sort
1:23:59
of like a this season on little trailer that
1:24:02
I'm cutting together for to show to entice people,
1:24:05
you know that we have more ideas and it's they're
1:24:07
all ideas that were originally written by the
1:24:09
original writer and I'm just kind of tweaking
1:24:11
them just for a more modern audience, a more
1:24:15
modern kind of what's cool and comedy right now
1:24:18
kind of thing, you know. So yeah, so I'm excited.
1:24:23
And I think I was telling Greg, I think not only
1:24:26
will I edit it as the way we shot it, which is,
1:24:28
you know, standard horizontal, widescreen, you
1:24:31
know, for like TV, but I think we can also turn
1:24:33
it into a vertical since those are so popular
1:24:35
now. You know about vertical series? I do not
1:24:37
know. Oh, oh, wow. Yeah, that's big in the acting
1:24:40
world. Um, vertical series now are huge. They
1:24:43
started in China and they're really popular in
1:24:46
LA. There have been maybe only a couple shooting
1:24:48
in New England. I'd love to work on one. And
1:24:50
vertical, you're saying like size wise, like
1:24:52
the way you're seeing the show. Yep. It's all
1:24:54
on your phone. Remember Quibi? Quibi a few years
1:24:58
ago. Right. That really came and went. I was
1:25:00
excited. I was kind of into it. It's so funny.
1:25:02
It's that all over again, but these are very
1:25:05
popular, cheap to make. They're like soap operas.
1:25:07
Some are horror, some are sort of a lot of fantasy,
1:25:11
not really comedy. It needs to be like comedic
1:25:13
elements in a drama, but they are literally like
1:25:16
little they call them micro. Microdramas. Oh,
1:25:19
yeah. I shot something like that in Los Angeles
1:25:22
last summer. It was a little mystery web series.
1:25:27
I didn't know they were called vertical series,
1:25:28
but yes, I shot something exactly like that.
1:25:30
Verticals. Microdramas. Yeah. Oh, that's cool.
1:25:31
So did you, you flew out yourself out there?
1:25:34
Did they fly you? Oh, wow. I flew out there myself.
1:25:37
They paid for the time that I was on set, but
1:25:40
I took care of everything else myself. I just
1:25:42
wanted to be a part of the experience. Is that
1:25:44
out? Is that on like one of the apps or not yet?
1:25:46
Yeah, yeah, yeah. I forgot what it was. because
1:25:48
it was released so long ago, but yes, it's out.
1:25:52
An actor I've cast a lot on. What would you do
1:25:54
at ABC that I, the show I work on? He is so he's
1:25:58
going from vertical to vertical in LA. It's amazing.
1:26:00
He is like in demand because now they're like
1:26:02
the new soaps. So now we have like micro drama
1:26:05
stars, right? So, and sag, you probably, you
1:26:08
might've heard sag recently made a verticals
1:26:11
contract. So now union people can do them. So,
1:26:14
and like now, what did I just read? Lifetime?
1:26:17
is now doing verticals, and another company,
1:26:20
oh God, it wasn't Netflix, but it was another
1:26:22
big name, is now gonna pump money into verticals.
1:26:26
So it's not going away. They're still kind of
1:26:31
like made fun of a little bit -ish. Of course,
1:26:34
yeah, I would see why. You know, because like
1:26:35
the one you were on, was it kind of low budget?
1:26:38
Ish. Yeah, I'd say so. Yeah. Yeah. Right. And
1:26:40
like the writing, I'd love to write one. I have
1:26:43
a friend who's writing some, but, um, I guess
1:26:46
the writing is pretty simple, but yeah, you probably
1:26:49
know every episode is only like one to two minutes,
1:26:51
which is funny because I've chopped up some of
1:26:53
my fan films on TikTok into chapters. So I can
1:26:56
already, I'm already kind of like on the precipice.
1:26:58
I'm like, yeah, someone like bring me on for
1:27:00
a vertical, but yeah, those are getting very
1:27:02
popular. So we're going to be seeing more of
1:27:03
those. Hopefully we see some more in New England.
1:27:05
That'd be great. You know, awesome. All right,
1:27:07
well, wonderful. So looking forward to seeing
1:27:10
when you produce one of those and looking forward
1:27:12
to seeing Mother Loves Company that's coming
1:27:13
out. Yeah, I'll let you know. I'm hoping we can
1:27:15
get the group together for some sort of premiere
1:27:18
if you want to drive a few hours again. Oh, please.
1:27:19
That'd be fun. I'm absolutely down. Absolutely
1:27:22
down. But yeah, the goal is because many film
1:27:24
festivals also take TV pilots. So that's a goal
1:27:27
to submit it. big festivals like Series Fest
1:27:31
that focus on TV. So that'd be a goal. And yeah,
1:27:35
at the bare minimum, putting it online ourselves,
1:27:38
you know, and maybe having it air on local TV,
1:27:42
like in Portland, Maine, maybe in Vermont, you
1:27:45
know, like local access television. But yeah,
1:27:48
it'd be nice for someone to, if not buy it outright,
1:27:52
which is always the goal in TV, which is tough
1:27:54
because TV is like crazier than ever right now,
1:27:56
at least maybe support the show and want to donate
1:27:59
money to maybe make more. So we'll see. We'll
1:28:02
see right now. I'm just like, let me just finish
1:28:04
editing this damn episode that's taking forever.
1:28:07
Cause we shot it almost a year ago, which is
1:28:08
why it was like, yeah, it was late. It was the
1:28:14
last week of may. It was like right before June.
1:28:16
I remember the first I think was our last day.
1:28:19
So it was right after Memorial Day weekend. Mm
1:28:22
hmm. Holy shit. So yeah, I'm hoping to have it
1:28:24
done by then. So usually I feel like usually
1:28:26
things take at least a year. I'm always impressed
1:28:28
when any indie filmmaker can get something done
1:28:30
in less than a year. I'm like, OK, well, I just
1:28:33
I have such a demanding freelance schedule that
1:28:35
like and then also I just need to chill. So but
1:28:39
no, it'll be done soon. I'm very excited because
1:28:41
the beginning's all edited and we really like
1:28:43
it and it works. Yeah, I'm right around I'm actually
1:28:47
at the part where we meet you editing wise so
1:28:49
I'm about halfway through. See ya! Yeah, I'm
1:28:52
excited for people to see it. Love it. Where
1:28:53
can we find you Mark J. Parker to keep in touch
1:28:56
with all the fantastic things you're doing? How
1:28:57
can we find you on socials? Thank you. Yeah,
1:28:59
find me on socials. I'm on Instagram and Facebook
1:29:01
at MJP POV. That's my sort of film company. You'll
1:29:04
see all my film stuff there. You can listen to
1:29:06
my podcast. My pod Insta is at release date rewind
1:29:10
where like I mentioned, I talk about mostly movies,
1:29:12
but some TV shows as well talk about music, pop
1:29:15
culture from the past. So everything has to be
1:29:17
at least 20 years old all the way up to a hundred
1:29:19
years old. So we get nostalgic on that. So you
1:29:22
can find me there on socials. And yeah, I'm on
1:29:25
YouTube. You can see a lot of my films are free
1:29:27
on YouTube. They're on a site I co -created called
1:29:29
Sparrow. If you want to rent and give me a buck,
1:29:32
that'd be nice. So yeah, I'm easy to find. You
1:29:36
can find me. All right. Love it. Listen to The
1:29:38
Delicious Culture wherever you get your podcasts
1:29:39
on Apple, Spotify, iHeart, SiriusXM, wherever
1:29:41
you get your podcasts. If you have any feedback,
1:29:44
comments, questions, whatever concerns, anything
1:29:46
about this episode, feel free to email us, thedeliciousculture
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If you like us on Spotify, give us a five star
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1:30:02
review. It really helps. And thank you again,
1:30:05
Mark, for for being on here. And we hope to come
1:30:08
have you come back just alone to tell like all
1:30:10
of your show business stories because I'm just
1:30:12
so fascinated by it. Yeah. Hey, let me know.
1:30:14
This was so nice, John. And you got to get on
1:30:16
my show sometime. But we need we need you to
1:30:17
watch like some classic like Yes movies. Yeah,
1:30:20
we got some homework to do. Yes. Yes, definitely.
1:30:24
Definitely. Count me in. I will definitely be
1:30:26
there. All right, cool. For all of you listening
1:30:28
and watching, let's deliciousness ring.