Latest / WIXN AM 1460 - Shaw Local Radio / Talk-Line with Rock Falls native Frank Harts

Transcript

Talk-Line with Rock Falls native Frank Harts · WIXN AM 1460 - Shaw Local Radio

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Good morning, Sock Valley. You've joined the Waking crew here
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: on FM ninety five to one and AM fourteen sixty WIXN,
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: where you're never more than moments away from all the
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: local news, sports and entertainment, along with the hits needed
• 0:13
  Speaker 1: to start your day. It's eight fifteen on your Friday,
• 0:16
  Speaker 1: January sixteenth morning, and that means it's time for talk line.
• 0:19
  Speaker 1: And today we're joined by someone who proves you can
• 0:21
  Speaker 1: grow up in the Sack Valley and still make a
• 0:23
  Speaker 1: big impact on the world stage. I'm talking about Frank Hartz.
• 0:28
  Speaker 1: He's an actor, writer and director and Rock Falls native
• 0:31
  Speaker 1: who's been making serious waves on the film festival circuit, Netflix,
• 0:35
  Speaker 1: and just about everywhere. He's the director of the award
• 0:37
  Speaker 1: winning short film Be True to Your School, which took
• 0:40
  Speaker 1: home Best Narrative Short at the rain Dance Film Festival
• 0:43
  Speaker 1: in New York, one of the most respected festivals in
• 0:45
  Speaker 1: the world. Frank's also an accomplished actor, appearing in the
• 0:48
  Speaker 1: Academy Award nominated film Rustin, along with television roles on Billions,
• 0:53
  Speaker 1: Prodigal Sun, Blue Bloods, and Master of None. Another credits,
• 0:57
  Speaker 1: I don't have time to mention here, but He's a
• 0:59
  Speaker 1: nineteen ninety eight graduate, also of Rock Falls High School.
• 1:01
  Speaker 1: He was inducted into the Schools Performing Arts Hall of
• 1:04
  Speaker 1: Fame in twenty twenty two, and just from local theater
• 1:08
  Speaker 1: halls to major film and television productions, he's built a
• 1:10
  Speaker 1: career rooted in storytelling, creativity, and staying true to where
• 1:14
  Speaker 1: he came from. So I'm excited to welcome rock Fall's
• 1:17
  Speaker 1: own Frank Hearts to the show this morning. Frank, how
• 1:20
  Speaker 1: are you, sir?
• 1:20
  Speaker 2: Good morning, Good morning, Good morning everyone.
• 1:22
  Speaker 3: How are you, Brandon?
• 1:24
  Speaker 2: Good to talk to you against there.
• 1:25
  Speaker 1: It is good to talk to you as as well. Frank.
• 1:27
  Speaker 1: I'm doing awesome here moving into the weekend. A little
• 1:30
  Speaker 1: snowy here, but we're Midwesterners. We know that. You know that, Frank,
• 1:35
  Speaker 1: I do.
• 1:35
  Speaker 2: I still I still have the sled out just being cake,
• 1:38
  Speaker 2: But I do have to correct. I have to correct
• 1:40
  Speaker 2: you on one thing you said, I grew up in
• 1:42
  Speaker 2: the area there. I never grew up.
• 1:48
  Speaker 1: Well, that must explain why you've done so well in
• 1:51
  Speaker 1: your career, keeping that child like that frame of mind.
• 1:55
  Speaker 1: Oh man, you know, I just got I gotta ask.
• 1:58
  Speaker 1: I think a lot of us want to know, is
• 2:00
  Speaker 1: when did you first really realize that acting or storytelling
• 2:03
  Speaker 1: is was going to be your path.
• 2:05
  Speaker 2: Maybe the do know, the tenth time in the principal's office,
• 2:10
  Speaker 2: I just I mean, in all seriousness, I was I
• 2:13
  Speaker 2: had a lot of energy and no place to really
• 2:16
  Speaker 2: put it other than maybe the tasseling corn every now
• 2:20
  Speaker 2: and then. But I found that, you know, the the
• 2:26
  Speaker 2: stage was just a place where I could sort of
• 2:28
  Speaker 2: release some of that energy and get praise for it
• 2:31
  Speaker 2: or you know, acceptance for it instead of you know,
• 2:33
  Speaker 2: a a suspension. Not that it ever really happened. I
• 2:39
  Speaker 2: mean I just cracked a few jokes every now and then,
• 2:41
  Speaker 2: so it wasn't really that bad except that one time.
• 2:45
  Speaker 2: But I think that you know that that the key
• 2:47
  Speaker 2: is just to find For me, it was to find
• 2:50
  Speaker 2: a place to just focus the energy in between martial
• 2:52
  Speaker 2: arts and the stage. Uh, you know, that was that
• 2:55
  Speaker 2: was where I was able. Oh and a lot of
• 2:57
  Speaker 2: like a lot of talking.
• 2:59
  Speaker 4: Uh.
• 2:59
  Speaker 2: I was talking a lot of junk on the sidelines
• 3:02
  Speaker 2: for many and many and many sports, you know, because
• 3:04
  Speaker 2: I couldn't really play very well, so that I was
• 3:07
  Speaker 2: like the designated talker, you know, I just stand on
• 3:10
  Speaker 2: the side for baseball games and just make the other
• 3:12
  Speaker 2: team sweat, go out and try to wrestle and look
• 3:15
  Speaker 2: like I was going to do something because I was
• 3:17
  Speaker 2: big and muscular and very very attractive, but I had
• 3:21
  Speaker 2: no technique, and you know, so I just reverted back
• 3:26
  Speaker 2: to you know, the stage.
• 3:28
  Speaker 1: And I got a no friend because I spent a
• 3:31
  Speaker 1: fair share of my time in the principal's office. How
• 3:34
  Speaker 1: old are you want to know? I went to Rock
• 3:35
  Speaker 1: Falls High. I want to know if we ever sat
• 3:37
  Speaker 1: next to each other waiting for that conversation.
• 3:40
  Speaker 2: Oh my goodness, you know I'm I'm Did you say
• 3:44
  Speaker 2: how old am I?
• 3:45
  Speaker 1: Yeah? I'm forty two?
• 3:46
  Speaker 3: Forty two?
• 3:47
  Speaker 1: Forty two?
• 3:47
  Speaker 2: Man, you are old.
• 3:49
  Speaker 1: I'm feeling it more and more.
• 3:51
  Speaker 2: Good God, I'm forty six.
• 3:53
  Speaker 1: Oh man, see I missed you by a few years.
• 3:55
  Speaker 1: We would have been sitting next to each other in
• 3:58
  Speaker 1: that office.
• 3:59
  Speaker 2: Yeah no, oh, totally no, you didn't. I was still
• 4:01
  Speaker 2: in your class. I was held back about.
• 4:03
  Speaker 3: Four or five years.
• 4:04
  Speaker 1: Okay, okay, no, just kidding.
• 4:06
  Speaker 2: I actually uh yeah, ninety eight was the grand year,
• 4:12
  Speaker 2: and that was you know, I was. I shot right
• 4:16
  Speaker 2: off to New York after after that, you know.
• 4:19
  Speaker 1: Yeah, shooting off there and with zero industry connections when
• 4:22
  Speaker 1: you left home at that. I mean, what was the
• 4:25
  Speaker 1: hardest lesson you had to learn early on in the
• 4:27
  Speaker 1: business with no connections like that?
• 4:30
  Speaker 2: You know, shout out to the to the public libraries
• 4:33
  Speaker 2: around there in rock Balls and Sterling and those awesome librarians,
• 4:36
  Speaker 2: because that was my only connection to the industry. At
• 4:39
  Speaker 2: one point, I was like, so, now how do I
• 4:40
  Speaker 2: get on TV? You know, to the librarians. He's like, well,
• 4:43
  Speaker 2: I think you need to start by reading this book
• 4:45
  Speaker 2: about Ronald Reagan. And that was pretty much, you know,
• 4:48
  Speaker 2: my own Yeah, you're right, the only connection of the industry.
• 4:50
  Speaker 2: But anyway, so I you know, I got involved in
• 4:52
  Speaker 2: the community theater there at Timberlake Playhouse. Met a casting
• 4:56
  Speaker 2: director from Chicago who came in to direct the show
• 4:58
  Speaker 2: one summer and was like, you got something, kid, and UH,
• 5:01
  Speaker 2: you know, introduced me to my first agent and UH
• 5:03
  Speaker 2: in Chicago, and you know book my first TV series
• 5:07
  Speaker 2: there on CBS called Early Edition, you know, and UH
• 5:12
  Speaker 2: was very very proud to make that, make that that
• 5:14
  Speaker 2: that lead there to Chicago television and you know, did
• 5:18
  Speaker 2: every play I could do in high school again, along
• 5:21
  Speaker 2: with all the sports and the martial arts and you know,
• 5:24
  Speaker 2: uh Key club and student council and I mean you
• 5:27
  Speaker 2: name it. I was, like I said, I was bored,
• 5:29
  Speaker 2: so I was trying to be involved in as many
• 5:30
  Speaker 2: things as possible.
• 5:31
  Speaker 1: Well, that certainly worked out very well for you. Was
• 5:33
  Speaker 1: a good way to go. And I mean your your
• 5:36
  Speaker 1: your film won Best Narrative Short at the rain Dance
• 5:38
  Speaker 1: Film Festival in New York. I mean, which is an
• 5:41
  Speaker 1: incredible feat. What did that moment feel like, especially knowing
• 5:44
  Speaker 1: I know in our conversations, you know that you had
• 5:46
  Speaker 1: mentioned that was a bucket list festival for you.
• 5:49
  Speaker 2: Yeah, it's it's it was exciting because you know, the
• 5:52
  Speaker 2: short film sometimes you you know, it's really just a
• 5:54
  Speaker 2: calling card that you used to you know, get the
• 5:57
  Speaker 2: funding to make a future film or a bigger movie
• 5:59
  Speaker 2: or the direct televi vision. But in this case, it
• 6:01
  Speaker 2: was my second short film, and I was just happy
• 6:04
  Speaker 2: that it was being received so well, you know, we
• 6:06
  Speaker 2: put a lot into it and I'm excited that it
• 6:10
  Speaker 2: you know, it's now available to uh to stream on PBS,
• 6:13
  Speaker 2: you know, dot com and uh you know, or via
• 6:16
  Speaker 2: the app, and you know, it's it was it was nice.
• 6:19
  Speaker 2: I mean, it was great. I mean, you know, it's
• 6:20
  Speaker 2: good to have a moment when you can be recognized
• 6:22
  Speaker 2: for whatever work you do. But really, in the end,
• 6:25
  Speaker 2: it's that's just sort of a byproduct. Everything is just
• 6:27
  Speaker 2: about you know, it's about the work, you know, and
• 6:30
  Speaker 2: keeping your head down doing the job, whether it's in
• 6:32
  Speaker 2: front of the camera behind and then if the accolades come, then.
• 6:35
  Speaker 3: That that's that's great.
• 6:37
  Speaker 2: And so it was nice to get a you know,
• 6:39
  Speaker 2: a little pat on the back. And now now the
• 6:41
  Speaker 2: real work begins to uh, you know, make a make
• 6:43
  Speaker 2: a feature film, you know.
• 6:45
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 6:45
  Speaker 1: And and for those who haven't seen, what is be
• 6:48
  Speaker 1: true to your school really about? Underneath the surface?
• 6:50
  Speaker 2: I mean, it's really just about respecting your gifts, you know,
• 6:55
  Speaker 2: to not take your gifts for granted. In the end,
• 6:57
  Speaker 2: you know, it's about this young Haitian American math genius
• 7:01
  Speaker 2: who you know, she's very good at math, but doesn't
• 7:06
  Speaker 2: really appreciate her talents and is forced into a situation
• 7:09
  Speaker 2: where she has to use those skills to live or
• 7:11
  Speaker 2: die basically.
• 7:12
  Speaker 1: And I mean, you've you've spoken about math being a
• 7:14
  Speaker 1: childhood fear of yours. How did you just decide to
• 7:17
  Speaker 1: turn that fear into a film because I also feared math,
• 7:20
  Speaker 1: maybe for different reasons than you. I wasn't good at it,
• 7:23
  Speaker 1: but you turned it into a film.
• 7:24
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 7:25
  Speaker 2: Anything that seems so definitive. I was like, you know this,
• 7:27
  Speaker 2: this can't be true that they're saying that this one
• 7:29
  Speaker 2: plus one always equals to come.
• 7:31
  Speaker 3: On now, But it was all it was. Yeah, it was.
• 7:34
  Speaker 3: I sat down one.
• 7:35
  Speaker 2: Dan was like, Okay, so you want to make a
• 7:36
  Speaker 2: film about something scary. What are all the things you're
• 7:39
  Speaker 2: you're scared of? And you know the things you've been
• 7:40
  Speaker 2: scared of from the time you were very young or
• 7:44
  Speaker 2: and you know.
• 7:44
  Speaker 3: Anyway, math popped into my head.
• 7:46
  Speaker 2: I said, well, let's make a little uh, a little
• 7:48
  Speaker 2: uh dramedy or you know, a movie about about math.
• 7:53
  Speaker 2: I don't know. It started with that, and then I
• 7:54
  Speaker 2: saw this YouTube video these young Nigerian math geniuses on
• 7:58
  Speaker 2: this like math game show, and they were surrounding this
• 8:01
  Speaker 2: teacher in the center who would fire these equations off
• 8:04
  Speaker 2: at them and they would answer the They would answer
• 8:06
  Speaker 2: these complex equations before you even get half the question out,
• 8:09
  Speaker 2: and I just I thought it was really cool to see.
• 8:11
  Speaker 2: And I said, well, well, I take one of those people
• 8:13
  Speaker 2: and put them into in the Bronx, you know, and
• 8:17
  Speaker 2: in this movie be true to your school and that's
• 8:18
  Speaker 2: where Ruby was born.
• 8:19
  Speaker 1: So yeah, now with someone who's acted for years, you know,
• 8:22
  Speaker 1: what what was it like and what was most surprising
• 8:26
  Speaker 1: for you when you actually, you know, fully stepped into
• 8:29
  Speaker 1: the director's chair.
• 8:30
  Speaker 3: You know, that's a great question.
• 8:31
  Speaker 2: I mean I think that you know, a lot of
• 8:33
  Speaker 2: actors they say, well, you know, I've been on a
• 8:37
  Speaker 2: lot of I've seen or just people in general, maybe
• 8:39
  Speaker 2: I've seen a lot of television, or I've seen a
• 8:41
  Speaker 2: lot of movies. I know I could probably direct one.
• 8:43
  Speaker 2: And I was one of those people and I said,
• 8:44
  Speaker 2: you know, I've been on a lot of sets. I've
• 8:47
  Speaker 2: learned through osmosis. But and so I'm sure that I can,
• 8:50
  Speaker 2: you know, direct a movie. And you know, in the end,
• 8:53
  Speaker 2: I was able to. But it wasn't quite as seamless
• 8:57
  Speaker 2: a transition as I thought it would be. I mean,
• 8:58
  Speaker 2: I mean, I guess it was, you know, the end,
• 9:00
  Speaker 2: but it there was there was more work involved than
• 9:05
  Speaker 2: I thought there would be.
• 9:07
  Speaker 3: Because you're really.
• 9:08
  Speaker 2: You're everyone depends on you. You're there from beginning to end.
• 9:11
  Speaker 2: You know, it's as an actor you come in. You know,
• 9:14
  Speaker 2: you get your lines, you know, you do your your thing,
• 9:16
  Speaker 2: and you and you go home. As a director, you're
• 9:18
  Speaker 2: you're there from you know, AM to PM and and
• 9:22
  Speaker 2: the whole you know, ship is depending on you. And
• 9:27
  Speaker 2: and if you haven't taken your time to do the
• 9:29
  Speaker 2: proper pre production and gotten the best team together possible
• 9:34
  Speaker 2: and you know, like you know, put all your ducks
• 9:36
  Speaker 2: in a row, then you'll find on day one that
• 9:39
  Speaker 2: things start to go south very fast. And so I
• 9:41
  Speaker 2: was fortunate enough to have a really great team in
• 9:44
  Speaker 2: place for both of my for my films, short Films
• 9:48
  Speaker 2: and two Wongs, and also be through your school, so
• 9:50
  Speaker 2: that on day one when we called action, you know,
• 9:54
  Speaker 2: everything was running smoothly because we've done that prep.
• 9:56
  Speaker 3: We you know, we were ready to go.
• 9:57
  Speaker 1: You know, yeah, you know. And as as an industry outsider,
• 10:01
  Speaker 1: somebody who's you know, I'm definitely a film officionado. Like
• 10:06
  Speaker 1: the thought of somebody going from acting to directing, it
• 10:09
  Speaker 1: at least to me, almost feels like overwhelmingly, like like
• 10:13
  Speaker 1: night and day, like two different worlds that are right
• 10:15
  Speaker 1: there on the same set. Was that kind of the
• 10:19
  Speaker 1: feeling or frank are each other just a second everybody.
• 10:23
  Speaker 1: We'll return with Frank Karts in a moment. We're just
• 10:25
  Speaker 1: having a couple of technical snaffoos. We'll be right back.
• 10:28
  Speaker 1: Enjoy a little music, and we'll see you in just
• 10:30
  Speaker 1: a few moments. All right, everybody, it's a thirty on
• 10:33
  Speaker 1: your Friday, January sixteenth morning, and we're back with talk Line.
• 10:36
  Speaker 1: We just had a small technical snaffho, but that's all right.
• 10:40
  Speaker 1: We've got rock Falls native actor writer director Frank Karts
• 10:43
  Speaker 1: back on the line with us. Frank, how you doing good?
• 10:46
  Speaker 2: Sorry that the NARCOLEPSI really hit some point you can't help,
• 10:51
  Speaker 2: but man, it is what it is.
• 10:53
  Speaker 1: You live your life to the fullest and it hasn't
• 10:55
  Speaker 1: stopped you.
• 10:57
  Speaker 2: There I go again, Oh, there I go again.
• 11:01
  Speaker 1: Well, if you were with us on the earlier part
• 11:04
  Speaker 1: of the conversation, we were talking about Frank's time and
• 11:08
  Speaker 1: experiences as a director. But for a lot of audiences,
• 11:11
  Speaker 1: they know you from Rusting, Prodigals on Billions, Master of
• 11:15
  Speaker 1: Them and others. How did being part of an OSCAR
• 11:17
  Speaker 1: nominated film like Rusting change things for you professionally?
• 11:21
  Speaker 2: Well, you know, I mean, it's it's always I love
• 11:24
  Speaker 2: working with Netflix, you know, and I've been a part
• 11:28
  Speaker 2: of some really great projects with them, and most recently
• 11:31
  Speaker 2: you know, of course The Beast in Me and which
• 11:34
  Speaker 2: you know, seems to be getting a lot of attention,
• 11:36
  Speaker 2: which is great. And then of course we have part
• 11:40
  Speaker 2: of the fun now having a Netflix run as last week,
• 11:44
  Speaker 2: which is great.
• 11:45
  Speaker 4: We had I think over twenty million views in the
• 11:46
  Speaker 4: first few days, which is really awesome, and it's you know,
• 11:49
  Speaker 4: in the top top ten on Netflix right now. And
• 11:51
  Speaker 4: so that was sort of a contingulation of the fun
• 11:54
  Speaker 4: that I had with the Rustan cast, you know, which
• 11:57
  Speaker 4: was really really great to work work.
• 11:59
  Speaker 1: With that team, absolutely, and you know, I gotta ask
• 12:03
  Speaker 1: I got you here, and don't mean i'd say, I
• 12:04
  Speaker 1: don't mean to put you on the spot, but you'd
• 12:06
  Speaker 1: know better on lying. Frank, you were absolutely right that
• 12:10
  Speaker 1: The Beasts and Me is getting a lot of tension.
• 12:12
  Speaker 1: Anything you can tease about that project without getting in trouble, I.
• 12:15
  Speaker 2: Mean, it's all out there.
• 12:18
  Speaker 3: It's all out there.
• 12:18
  Speaker 4: I mean it's a mini series, so it's you know,
• 12:20
  Speaker 4: it's our limited series.
• 12:22
  Speaker 3: So that's I think that Well.
• 12:23
  Speaker 2: I don't know, anything can happened, but I think it's
• 12:26
  Speaker 2: all out.
• 12:27
  Speaker 3: There right now.
• 12:28
  Speaker 4: Everything is, there's nothing to.
• 12:29
  Speaker 2: All of the secrets are out, and you know, I
• 12:32
  Speaker 2: had a you know, a different pilot episode.
• 12:36
  Speaker 4: You know, I did one scene there and it was
• 12:37
  Speaker 4: just a quick little thing, but I was just so
• 12:39
  Speaker 4: thrilled to.
• 12:40
  Speaker 2: Be part of that team and work work with Clayre Dames.
• 12:42
  Speaker 3: I just thank You's so wonderful.
• 12:44
  Speaker 4: You know, I really enjoyed her on Homeland and I
• 12:46
  Speaker 4: love you know Howard Gordon, who you know, was create
• 12:50
  Speaker 4: her Homeland and gave brought her who created the beast
• 12:53
  Speaker 4: in me. And it's a great team of people.
• 12:55
  Speaker 3: So that that was really.
• 12:55
  Speaker 2: Great and and I got to go from that right
• 12:58
  Speaker 2: into another Netflix body which was really fun. H called
• 13:02
  Speaker 2: The Last Missus Parish, directed by the great Robertson Mechis
• 13:06
  Speaker 2: who did Back in the Future and cast Away White
• 13:10
  Speaker 2: and you know Polar Express.
• 13:11
  Speaker 1: Yes.
• 13:13
  Speaker 2: So it's just I've been going from sort of one
• 13:16
  Speaker 2: really great creative team to another, which is, you know,
• 13:19
  Speaker 2: sort of where you hope to be at this point
• 13:21
  Speaker 2: in your career. And so it's just been a thrill.
• 13:23
  Speaker 4: To be taking these rides and working with actors who
• 13:27
  Speaker 4: are always bringing their a game and then learning from
• 13:30
  Speaker 4: you know, directors as well as I'm ut said an
• 13:33
  Speaker 4: acting form sort of watching their craft as well and
• 13:37
  Speaker 4: growing as a director while I'm while I'm.
• 13:40
  Speaker 1: There, you know. And and that point, you know, kind
• 13:42
  Speaker 1: of brings up a question for for me, is that
• 13:46
  Speaker 1: at you know, with you being being able to, you know,
• 13:48
  Speaker 1: part of all these these projects now and having all
• 13:51
  Speaker 1: these credits under your belt, how are you how do
• 13:53
  Speaker 1: you choose your roles at this stage of your career?
• 13:56
  Speaker 2: I pretty much I've just been fortunate that the offers
• 13:59
  Speaker 2: that come in just the things I want to do.
• 14:01
  Speaker 2: I mean, like you take, for example, Stumble on NBC
• 14:04
  Speaker 2: that you know that seems to be getting a lot
• 14:06
  Speaker 2: of you know, attention right now, Take a fun half
• 14:09
  Speaker 2: hour comedy, you know, direct the camera, similar to like
• 14:13
  Speaker 2: what The Office was about? This about a cheerleading team,
• 14:16
  Speaker 2: you know, and you know, this role comes in and
• 14:18
  Speaker 2: I'm like.
• 14:19
  Speaker 3: Are you kidding me? This is pure fun?
• 14:20
  Speaker 2: You know, I mean, who doesn't want to play a
• 14:22
  Speaker 2: character named Tom Batshit? You know, come on, man and
• 14:28
  Speaker 2: jen lyon the lead on the show is just a
• 14:31
  Speaker 2: dream to work with. I mean, ultimate professional, good people,
• 14:34
  Speaker 2: you know, like you don't show up the set and
• 14:36
  Speaker 2: then like okay, where is everybody. She's the number one
• 14:39
  Speaker 2: in the call sheet, but she's coming in and she's
• 14:41
  Speaker 2: saying hello to you and and you know, treating you
• 14:45
  Speaker 2: like but the equal colleague that you are, which is
• 14:48
  Speaker 2: you know, always a reminder for me too when I'm
• 14:51
  Speaker 2: you know, in that number one spot to how I
• 14:54
  Speaker 2: want to be, you know, to the rest of my cast.
• 14:56
  Speaker 2: And no matter where you are on the call sheet
• 14:58
  Speaker 2: or where you are.
• 14:59
  Speaker 4: On the crew, it's it's a reminder that we're all
• 15:02
  Speaker 4: in this together, you know, and in a world with
• 15:05
  Speaker 4: so much craziness happening.
• 15:07
  Speaker 3: And sometimes it's it's just a simple thing to be.
• 15:09
  Speaker 2: Kind to each other, whether you're in a professional environment
• 15:12
  Speaker 2: or in person. And so yeah, man, they come across
• 15:16
  Speaker 2: the desk and they're like.
• 15:18
  Speaker 3: They're just they're all good.
• 15:19
  Speaker 2: So far, so far, they're good, Like say yes, yes, yes, yes,
• 15:22
  Speaker 2: you know. And there were honestly, there was a dry
• 15:25
  Speaker 2: period there when coming out of the we had two
• 15:28
  Speaker 2: strikes in the industry and some wildfires that unfortunately happened
• 15:32
  Speaker 2: last year in Los Angeles was affected a lot of
• 15:34
  Speaker 2: people that I'm close to and affected the entire industry.
• 15:37
  Speaker 2: So the beginning of last year twenty five.
• 15:40
  Speaker 3: You know, things were very.
• 15:41
  Speaker 2: Dry, very slow for me anyway, I think for a
• 15:43
  Speaker 2: lot of people. And so you know, it was a
• 15:45
  Speaker 2: thrill to have this rush of great projects come back
• 15:49
  Speaker 2: onto my desk, you know, in the second half of
• 15:53
  Speaker 2: twenty five, and just really, you know, I was really
• 15:56
  Speaker 2: appreciative of the foss of being turned back on, so
• 15:58
  Speaker 2: to speak.
• 15:59
  Speaker 1: No, absolutely, is there any kind of gosh, I don't
• 16:02
  Speaker 1: know if you want to call it another bucket list
• 16:04
  Speaker 1: item or kind of dream role that you'd like to
• 16:07
  Speaker 1: land someday, you know, I.
• 16:10
  Speaker 2: Just I think that. I mean, come on, I mean
• 16:14
  Speaker 2: I have to do I have to do a Marvel bode.
• 16:16
  Speaker 1: At some point, I was gonna suspect you might say that,
• 16:19
  Speaker 1: and if you didn't, I was gonna ask if you'd
• 16:21
  Speaker 1: want to be a superhero, wouldn't want to get to
• 16:23
  Speaker 1: do that.
• 16:23
  Speaker 2: I got one chance left to get these abs, and.
• 16:28
  Speaker 3: I'm gonna do it.
• 16:30
  Speaker 2: And I'm gonna do it.
• 16:30
  Speaker 3: I'm gonna do it.
• 16:32
  Speaker 2: I mean, I am gonna. I've been and that's I've
• 16:34
  Speaker 2: been taking a real serious look at I mean, my my,
• 16:38
  Speaker 2: my health this year and in the past six months
• 16:41
  Speaker 2: or so, I've really jumped back into the gym and
• 16:44
  Speaker 2: on the nutritional train and lost about you know, i'd
• 16:46
  Speaker 2: say about sixty pounds over the past you know, four
• 16:50
  Speaker 2: or five months, and just been working really hard to
• 16:53
  Speaker 2: get my fix pack back man and get ripped so that, hey,
• 16:58
  Speaker 2: I can not only do a Marvel movie, but how
• 17:00
  Speaker 2: about live So you know, und I got two kids,
• 17:03
  Speaker 2: you know, we got Hendrix and Brixton on our seven
• 17:06
  Speaker 2: and four and uh, you know, my my lovely wife, Shelly,
• 17:09
  Speaker 2: and you know, I just want to I want to
• 17:10
  Speaker 2: be here for them and be the best.
• 17:13
  Speaker 3: You know. I can have a little bit of a
• 17:14
  Speaker 3: bad thought, but.
• 17:14
  Speaker 2: Not too much, but not too much.
• 17:16
  Speaker 1: I hear you. I am on the same kind of
• 17:19
  Speaker 1: mind frame movement, you know, in my forties now starting
• 17:22
  Speaker 1: to have that same kind of mind and the same thing
• 17:23
  Speaker 1: as you. I think. I'm like, I uh, you know,
• 17:26
  Speaker 1: it doesn't matter that if i'm you know, I'm not
• 17:28
  Speaker 1: going to go compete on the physique stage. But if
• 17:30
  Speaker 1: I can be around, if I can feel good, if
• 17:32
  Speaker 1: I can chase after my grandkids when they come along,
• 17:35
  Speaker 1: I think that's kind of what it's all about. And
• 17:37
  Speaker 1: you couldn't really ask for more at that point.
• 17:39
  Speaker 3: No, No, that's it.
• 17:40
  Speaker 4: I mean, that's they They want you down there on
• 17:42
  Speaker 4: that floor.
• 17:43
  Speaker 2: They say, get down, move around, you know, act like
• 17:46
  Speaker 2: you can.
• 17:46
  Speaker 3: You know, they don't care.
• 17:48
  Speaker 2: Now age you are.
• 17:49
  Speaker 1: Now you get you get action ready. I want to know,
• 17:51
  Speaker 1: do you want to play a superhero or a villain?
• 17:53
  Speaker 3: Superhero?
• 17:54
  Speaker 1: Superhero? Oh?
• 17:56
  Speaker 2: But I say that, but you know, at the same time,
• 17:59
  Speaker 2: you know, obviously Marvel comes to me or even DC
• 18:03
  Speaker 2: and they're like, you know.
• 18:04
  Speaker 3: You know, we want you to play the Joker.
• 18:06
  Speaker 2: You actually you know what now that I said it
• 18:08
  Speaker 2: out loud, the Joker is the top of my.
• 18:10
  Speaker 4: List I think as far as characters I want to play.
• 18:12
  Speaker 2: So maybe a villain.
• 18:13
  Speaker 1: I'm telling you, I uh, you know, shout out to
• 18:16
  Speaker 1: all the superheroes there. But for some reason, when I
• 18:18
  Speaker 1: was growing up, it was always and admiring those roles.
• 18:21
  Speaker 1: It was it was the villain. And and yeah, I
• 18:23
  Speaker 1: gotta agree with you. The Joker is that kind of
• 18:27
  Speaker 1: pinnacle villain and being able to get into the mind
• 18:30
  Speaker 1: and play that character so many kind of ways and
• 18:32
  Speaker 1: so interesting. So well, I'm glad to get a Batman
• 18:35
  Speaker 1: fan out there.
• 18:36
  Speaker 2: Oh man, I got my first Batman VHS tape and
• 18:40
  Speaker 2: I think eighty eight when it came out with bat
• 18:42
  Speaker 2: Nicholson as a joker. Yes, as Batman. I think I
• 18:45
  Speaker 2: played that thing so many times that the tape came
• 18:48
  Speaker 2: out of the I came out of the DHS.
• 18:50
  Speaker 1: I absolutely, you know, I've always respected he he'th Ledger's
• 18:54
  Speaker 1: version of it. That was such an iconic reimagining. But
• 18:57
  Speaker 1: Nicholson had always been my favorite joker. That Tim Burton
• 19:02
  Speaker 1: Batman rendition was always my first introduction on the big
• 19:04
  Speaker 1: screen to the character. So that's what's always lived in
• 19:09
  Speaker 1: my mind. But anyways, we'll move on from from Batman
• 19:12
  Speaker 1: until we get you under the Cowl or under the Jokers.
• 19:16
  Speaker 1: You were talking about working and I know the last
• 19:18
  Speaker 1: time that you and I had talked about your first
• 19:21
  Speaker 1: feature film directing. Tell us about that.
• 19:24
  Speaker 2: Well, you know, I haven't directed it yet, so that
• 19:26
  Speaker 2: it's in the works.
• 19:28
  Speaker 1: Okay, I was curious on the update.
• 19:29
  Speaker 2: Yeah, no, Yeah, that one is in We're in the
• 19:33
  Speaker 2: pre production stage and I was sort of basically raising
• 19:36
  Speaker 2: the money that we're raising the money, which you know,
• 19:40
  Speaker 2: I learned about a lot of that how to do
• 19:42
  Speaker 2: two shorts. So right now while we're doing that, I'm
• 19:45
  Speaker 2: working on what they call vertical shorts now, which is
• 19:48
  Speaker 2: something that I can produce with a very low overhead,
• 19:52
  Speaker 2: you know, sort of on my own. And basically it's
• 19:54
  Speaker 2: a series of about you know, eight to ten ninety
• 19:57
  Speaker 2: second episode and I'm doing with my wife, Shelley. I
• 20:00
  Speaker 2: think people are going to really really be excited about
• 20:04
  Speaker 2: it when I see it. It allows us to really use
• 20:08
  Speaker 2: all the colors in the palette and you know, it's
• 20:11
  Speaker 2: about it, you know, it's about something that's really fun.
• 20:13
  Speaker 2: Right now, I think people are into I see His
• 20:15
  Speaker 2: and Hers is doing very well on that. But but
• 20:16
  Speaker 2: it you know, it's a husband and wife, you know,
• 20:18
  Speaker 2: detective team. And I won't get into the specifics of
• 20:22
  Speaker 2: the storyline right now, it because peoplere gonna get to
• 20:25
  Speaker 2: watch it, but it's I think we're gonna have some
• 20:27
  Speaker 2: fun with it and in the bite size ninety.
• 20:29
  Speaker 3: Seconds each at the max, and I.
• 20:32
  Speaker 2: Think it's going to be it's called Blue Hill Road
• 20:34
  Speaker 2: and you know it'll be ready for folks to consume
• 20:37
  Speaker 2: very soon.
• 20:40
  Speaker 1: Well good, I'm glad to hear that. And because you know,
• 20:43
  Speaker 1: once you've had that out and you can talk a
• 20:45
  Speaker 1: little bit more about it, i'd love to have you
• 20:47
  Speaker 1: back on the show and able to spill the beans,
• 20:50
  Speaker 1: so to say. And you know that that leads me
• 20:52
  Speaker 1: to another point from you know, our previous conversations, you've
• 20:55
  Speaker 1: mentioned that representation matters. Do you feel the industry is
• 20:58
  Speaker 1: finally opening up at all or a thing like these
• 21:00
  Speaker 1: vertical shorts the way that our creators are having to
• 21:02
  Speaker 1: go to kind of push those door doors open for themselves.
• 21:06
  Speaker 2: You know, honestly, I don't know if the industry is
• 21:09
  Speaker 2: opening up or closed back, you know, in terms of
• 21:11
  Speaker 2: how people are seeing, you know, things, I guess it's
• 21:15
  Speaker 2: so hard to gauge it. You know, it's all speculation,
• 21:17
  Speaker 2: I suppose, depending on I guess it in the eye
• 21:20
  Speaker 2: of the holder, depending on whether you're working or not working,
• 21:22
  Speaker 2: or I think that the message has always been for me,
• 21:25
  Speaker 2: create your own stuff if you.
• 21:27
  Speaker 3: Can, that will be the key to open all doors.
• 21:31
  Speaker 3: No matter who you are, what race.
• 21:33
  Speaker 2: Or you know, size or gender or whatever, it doesn't
• 21:35
  Speaker 2: matter if you show the folks what you've got.
• 21:38
  Speaker 3: And it took me a.
• 21:39
  Speaker 2: While to figure that out, or to actually I always
• 21:41
  Speaker 2: knew it, but it took me a while to actually
• 21:44
  Speaker 2: lock into that and do it. But I think sooner
• 21:47
  Speaker 2: someone can can find their their home boards creatively and
• 21:51
  Speaker 2: present that to the world, the better because then the
• 21:54
  Speaker 2: networks and the studios and all those folks they're gonna
• 21:56
  Speaker 2: know what to do with you bring the interviews to them.
• 21:59
  Speaker 2: You don't have to wait for somebody's call your phone
• 22:01
  Speaker 2: or what which is they never they're not going to
• 22:02
  Speaker 2: do that. You basically have to show them what you got.
• 22:05
  Speaker 1: And I mean that that is a terrific point. And
• 22:09
  Speaker 1: I mean not just positive thinking. I mean because you've
• 22:13
  Speaker 1: taken I mean you've literally taken that and went from
• 22:16
  Speaker 1: the cornfields to Hollywood, right. I mean, it's it's not
• 22:20
  Speaker 1: about having to you know, been born in New York
• 22:22
  Speaker 1: and engrossed on the you know, on on on the
• 22:25
  Speaker 1: big stages. I mean, and I think that's a really
• 22:28
  Speaker 1: important thing here that I want to ask is for
• 22:30
  Speaker 1: students or creatives who might be listening, you know, in
• 22:33
  Speaker 1: small towns like Rock Falls and others who think that
• 22:36
  Speaker 1: dreams like you know, like this, and success like yours
• 22:40
  Speaker 1: feels impossible. What do you what do you tell them?
• 22:42
  Speaker 2: Whether you believe it is impossible or possible, both things
• 22:46
  Speaker 2: are true. I like that, you know, I mean it's
• 22:48
  Speaker 2: it's it's up to you. You know. It's a mindset thing,
• 22:52
  Speaker 2: you know, and some people.
• 22:53
  Speaker 4: Are born with it.
• 22:55
  Speaker 2: From the beginning and some others have to work on it.
• 22:57
  Speaker 2: But it's it's a matter of believing in yourself thing
• 23:00
  Speaker 2: more and striving for just always striving for better, being
• 23:04
  Speaker 2: appreciative and satisfied with what you have and in the
• 23:07
  Speaker 2: moment and all that stuff. But if you really want
• 23:09
  Speaker 2: to be successful, it doesn't matter. I mean, I mean,
• 23:12
  Speaker 2: now you can. Oh my goodness, Like I said before,
• 23:15
  Speaker 2: I had the lovely librarians around there to help me.
• 23:17
  Speaker 3: But now you know, and and great teachers.
• 23:19
  Speaker 2: You know, great coaches and teachers are judy to you know,
• 23:23
  Speaker 2: at Rockwell High School. But now folks can go on
• 23:25
  Speaker 2: the Ian Yeah, YouTube, you got, you have all the
• 23:28
  Speaker 2: access to information is just you know, for good or bad,
• 23:32
  Speaker 2: it's it's all right there.
• 23:33
  Speaker 4: So it doesn't matter if you're in a cornfield.
• 23:35
  Speaker 2: But it doesn't matter if you're in a big city
• 23:36
  Speaker 2: or you know, anywhere in the world. You can reach, uh,
• 23:41
  Speaker 2: you can sell, you can self distribute, you have you
• 23:43
  Speaker 2: can reach the world without having to beg somebody to
• 23:46
  Speaker 2: give you a chance. And as a matter of fact,
• 23:47
  Speaker 2: if you if you self distribute and put your stuff
• 23:49
  Speaker 2: out there and it's good, all the classic networks and
• 23:53
  Speaker 2: studios are.
• 23:53
  Speaker 4: Gonna come running after you anyway.
• 23:55
  Speaker 2: They're gonna be, oh my gosh, where's this person. Oh
• 23:57
  Speaker 2: they're in the little of a cornfield and Illinois. Oh great,
• 24:00
  Speaker 2: go get them, let's go. You know, like, it doesn't
• 24:02
  Speaker 2: matter where you are. This matters what you do and
• 24:05
  Speaker 2: how you do it and who you do it with.
• 24:07
  Speaker 2: I think the sooner you can build an a team
• 24:10
  Speaker 2: of people, create that you can trust just to to
• 24:14
  Speaker 2: That's why you see the same folks working with the
• 24:16
  Speaker 2: same people over and over again. If you find that
• 24:18
  Speaker 2: team that core early on, and you just keep creating
• 24:22
  Speaker 2: and putting your signature out there, and you know, as
• 24:25
  Speaker 2: long as you believe in it, that's the most important
• 24:27
  Speaker 2: thing first. And then I guarantee you're going to find
• 24:30
  Speaker 2: at least a small group of like minded people out
• 24:33
  Speaker 2: there who are going to also believe in what it
• 24:35
  Speaker 2: is that you do. And it could be a millions,
• 24:37
  Speaker 2: you know, but the main thing is, you can't do
• 24:39
  Speaker 2: it to try to be some You can't start out
• 24:42
  Speaker 2: saying I'm going to do this so that I can
• 24:43
  Speaker 2: become famous. You have to do it because you love
• 24:46
  Speaker 2: it and because you want to share something. There's something
• 24:48
  Speaker 2: creative that you want to get out, get that out
• 24:50
  Speaker 2: of your system.
• 24:51
  Speaker 3: And if you get it out truthfully.
• 24:52
  Speaker 2: And honestly, all that same and all you know, that's
• 24:56
  Speaker 2: stuff that the money, all that stuff will come if
• 24:58
  Speaker 2: if it's truly I was I was gonna say this,
• 25:00
  Speaker 2: but sometimes people deserve don't even get it. So really,
• 25:02
  Speaker 2: if it's just meant to happen, if it's in the stars,
• 25:05
  Speaker 2: So just keep your head down, keep creating.
• 25:07
  Speaker 3: I mean, it's like what.
• 25:08
  Speaker 2: You're doing, Brandon. You know you're out here, You're on
• 25:10
  Speaker 2: the on the radio every day, you know, doing your thing.
• 25:13
  Speaker 2: You know what I mean. You know you start writing
• 25:16
  Speaker 2: as a writer. Now you just get your voice out
• 25:18
  Speaker 2: here every day people are hearing your voice.
• 25:20
  Speaker 3: Next thing, you know. You know.
• 25:22
  Speaker 2: Anyway, I'm not going to predict your future, but the
• 25:24
  Speaker 2: point is you're an example of someone who's out here
• 25:27
  Speaker 2: doing it every day and that's all you can do.
• 25:29
  Speaker 1: No, I could not agree with you more. I'll be honest.
• 25:32
  Speaker 1: At one point, you know, when I was much younger,
• 25:35
  Speaker 1: I always loved the thought that of being able to
• 25:38
  Speaker 1: do what I'm doing now, But it quite felt like, oh,
• 25:40
  Speaker 1: that's impossible. You couldn't. You couldn't do that. And I
• 25:43
  Speaker 1: had the, you know, kind of the same mindset that
• 25:45
  Speaker 1: I think a lot of others have of like, oh, well,
• 25:47
  Speaker 1: you know, I'm you know, from this area. It's smaller,
• 25:49
  Speaker 1: I'm not from the big cities, Like, how's that ever
• 25:52
  Speaker 1: going to be a thing for me? But I think,
• 25:54
  Speaker 1: you know, it just goes to show if you're willing
• 25:56
  Speaker 1: to work hard and keep pushing towards your endeavor, sooner
• 25:59
  Speaker 1: or later, you know, you end up getting what you want.
• 26:02
  Speaker 1: But you got to be able to to continue to
• 26:04
  Speaker 1: do it to never let know be an answer. I
• 26:07
  Speaker 1: don't imagine that you you left Rock Falls out for
• 26:09
  Speaker 1: Hollywood and just were able to sit on a trust
• 26:12
  Speaker 1: fund until you found a role that they just magically
• 26:15
  Speaker 1: put in your lap. You had to chase after it
• 26:18
  Speaker 1: trust fun.
• 26:19
  Speaker 2: Wouldn't that be nice?
• 26:21
  Speaker 1: I'm still waiting, I am. I would be a great
• 26:24
  Speaker 1: forty two year old adoptive son to a nice rich couple.
• 26:28
  Speaker 2: Oh my.
• 26:29
  Speaker 3: You know what, though, I will say, it's still so.
• 26:30
  Speaker 2: Good to earn it all yourself, You know, it does.
• 26:33
  Speaker 2: I would have taken that trust fund. And you know,
• 26:34
  Speaker 2: but that Becky brings me to another point and nobody
• 26:36
  Speaker 2: had to run to him. But my you know, my mother,
• 26:40
  Speaker 2: you know, surely surely surely he made name, you know,
• 26:44
  Speaker 2: not surely Rockcod. But she it was so so supportive.
• 26:48
  Speaker 2: I mean, if she had she's seventeen years old, man,
• 26:50
  Speaker 2: But let me tell you I didn't. My age was nothing.
• 26:53
  Speaker 2: It was hard work for her, but she got the
• 26:55
  Speaker 2: job done. It was always always supportive of me and
• 26:59
  Speaker 2: my stud by other three siblings, and we all excelled
• 27:03
  Speaker 2: all over to you know, great you know, we all
• 27:06
  Speaker 2: followed our dreams. And it was because of the support
• 27:08
  Speaker 2: of my brother, you know, and and my you know,
• 27:11
  Speaker 2: people like my grandfather who dressed the Sody just passed
• 27:15
  Speaker 2: a short time ago, who at Frank card Stead a senior,
• 27:17
  Speaker 2: you know, and my grandmother and Bobby Hart they you know,
• 27:20
  Speaker 2: these people were so supportive of me. So anyway, I
• 27:22
  Speaker 2: felt like to say, yes, you can have the vision,
• 27:25
  Speaker 2: you can have the dream, you can have the drive,
• 27:26
  Speaker 2: but I.
• 27:27
  Speaker 3: Hope you also have great family.
• 27:29
  Speaker 2: If you don't have that, find a mentor who can
• 27:32
  Speaker 2: really be there for.
• 27:33
  Speaker 4: You when you have no one else to talk to.
• 27:35
  Speaker 2: Because there can be there can be a lot of
• 27:37
  Speaker 2: there will be there will be a lot of nos
• 27:40
  Speaker 2: in this industry and no matter what, no matter what
• 27:42
  Speaker 2: industry you're is, and you need to have a thick
• 27:44
  Speaker 2: skin guest. But else you need someone to to help you.
• 27:48
  Speaker 4: Sort of spiritually and emotionally every now and then that
• 27:50
  Speaker 4: you can sort of offload and talk to.
• 27:52
  Speaker 2: So I would say, find yourself, Mama, surely.
• 27:58
  Speaker 1: I love, I absolutely love that takes that advice.
• 28:01
  Speaker 2: No, I'm sorry, one more thing, I'd be released, and
• 28:04
  Speaker 2: that that also brings me even into the modern to
• 28:07
  Speaker 2: the current time, which is now. I have a very
• 28:09
  Speaker 2: supportive partner and my wife Shelley, you know, so you
• 28:12
  Speaker 2: know again, I could probably try to do something on
• 28:15
  Speaker 2: my own, but all it does to have a great
• 28:17
  Speaker 2: partner like my wife Shelley is the same same idea
• 28:20
  Speaker 2: and amplifies it, takes you further faster and find people
• 28:24
  Speaker 2: out there who can be a great support system for.
• 28:26
  Speaker 3: You who really believe in it.
• 28:27
  Speaker 2: They don't just say it, they prove it when you
• 28:29
  Speaker 2: really need them.
• 28:31
  Speaker 1: Anyway, I couldn't agree more. You know, my Shelley's name
• 28:34
  Speaker 1: is Sarah, that's my wife. She's been there for me
• 28:36
  Speaker 1: and and I you know, wouldn't be where I am
• 28:38
  Speaker 1: today without that. I completely understand that, Frank, around of time,
• 28:41
  Speaker 1: But is there anything you want to plug before we go?
• 28:43
  Speaker 2: No, No, I just want to let people know that
• 28:44
  Speaker 2: The Hearts and Minds Podcast will be back soon. We
• 28:47
  Speaker 2: had to take a break because I wanted to transfer
• 28:49
  Speaker 2: from uh, you know audio that I wanted to really
• 28:53
  Speaker 2: bring the gest and live and so we've been taking
• 28:57
  Speaker 2: some time to set up so that I can be
• 28:59
  Speaker 2: there with people on one in person the Hearts and
• 29:01
  Speaker 2: Minds Podcast.
• 29:02
  Speaker 3: We'll be back.
• 29:03
  Speaker 2: The first five episodes are available now on all wherever
• 29:07
  Speaker 2: you get your podcasts and also YouTube and stuff stat
• 29:09
  Speaker 2: but thank you for your patience, and we take a
• 29:11
  Speaker 2: break to set up for something even greater here in
• 29:15
  Speaker 2: twenty six. It's going to be very exciting. I'm going
• 29:17
  Speaker 2: to have some great guests face to face.
• 29:19
  Speaker 1: Well I can't see that. I can't wait to see
• 29:21
  Speaker 1: what you do and I look forward to having you
• 29:23
  Speaker 1: back on the show to talk more about it. Frank,
• 29:25
  Speaker 1: thank you so much for joining us today.
• 29:27
  Speaker 3: That's awesome.
• 29:27
  Speaker 2: Vinda Man, have a great day.
• 29:28
  Speaker 1: Ros you too.