Latest / Indie Film Hustle® - A Filmmaking Podcast / IFH 775 - Breaking Into Hollywood: The Power of Authentic Connections and Creative Vision with Jameson Parker
Transcript
- 0:03Speaker 1: You are listening to the IFH podcast Network. For more
- 0:07Speaker 1: amazing filmmaking and screenwriting podcasts, just go to ifahpodcastnetwork dot com.
- 0:13Speaker 2: Welcome to the Indie Film Huscle Podcast, Episode number seven
- 0:15Speaker 2: seventy five. Start writing no matter what. The water does
- 0:20Speaker 2: not flow until the faucet is turned on.
- 0:22Speaker 3: Louis lemore.
- 0:25Speaker 1: Broadcasting from the back alley in Hollywood. It's the Indie
- 0:28Speaker 1: Film Hustle Podcast, where we show you how to survive
- 0:32Speaker 1: and thrive as an indie filmmaker in the jungles of
- 0:35Speaker 1: the film biz. And here's your host, Alex Ferrari.
- 0:40Speaker 2: Welcome, Welcome to another episode of the Indie Film Hustle Podcast.
- 0:42Speaker 2: I am your humble host Alex Ferrari. Today's show is
- 0:45Speaker 2: sponsored by Rise of the Film Entrepreneur. How to turn
- 0:48Speaker 2: your independent film into a profitable business. It's harder today
- 0:52Speaker 2: than ever before for independent filmmakers to make money with
- 0:54Speaker 2: their films from predatory film distributors ripping them off to
- 0:58Speaker 2: huckster film aggregators who pray upon them. The odds are
- 1:01Speaker 2: stacked against the indie filmmaker. The old distribution model of
- 1:05Speaker 2: making money with your film is broken, and there needs
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- 1:11Speaker 2: the entrepreneurial filmmaker or the film entrepreneur. In Rise of
- 1:15Speaker 2: the Film Entrepreneur, I break down how to actually make
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- 1:20Speaker 2: turn your indie film into a profitable business. With case
- 1:24Speaker 2: studies examining successes and failures. This book shows you the
- 1:28Speaker 2: step by step method to turn your passion into a
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- 1:38Speaker 2: will set you up for success. The book is available
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- 1:46Speaker 2: to order it, just head over to www dot filmbiz
- 1:49Speaker 2: book dot com. That's film bizbook dot com. Enjoy today's
- 1:55Speaker 2: episode with guest host Dave bullis.
- 1:58Speaker 4: So In this week's episodisode, my guest is a producer
- 2:02Speaker 4: of the Summer of eighty four and it's currently producing
- 2:05Speaker 4: the upcoming series Julie and the Phantoms, which is set
- 2:08Speaker 4: to release in twenty twenty. He's a development director at
- 2:13Speaker 4: Brightlight Pictures. Without further ado with guests Jamison Parker.
- 2:18Speaker 5: I started as an actor. I spent a lot of
- 2:20Speaker 5: time as a kid wanting to be an actor and
- 2:22Speaker 5: was in theater through high school and I went to
- 2:25Speaker 5: school for it. I went to college for it up
- 2:29Speaker 5: here in Vancouver, did a big conservatory theater program at
- 2:35Speaker 5: the University of British Columbia. I worked for a long
- 2:37Speaker 5: time in professional theater in Canada. Well, I guess a
- 2:40Speaker 5: couple of five, six years a long time, and then
- 2:44Speaker 5: wanted to start making my own work and thought, you know,
- 2:50Speaker 5: if I'm going to do this, if I'm going to
- 2:52Speaker 5: like produce my own work, I want to learn how
- 2:54Speaker 5: to do it properly. So, you know, started putting a
- 2:57Speaker 5: few things together. Met Sean Williamson who Bright Light, and
- 3:03Speaker 5: just to ask them, hey, look, how do you how
- 3:05Speaker 5: have you been doing it? You've been doing it for
- 3:07Speaker 5: a long time. How do I get to where you are?
- 3:09Speaker 5: And he took me under his wing and showed me
- 3:11Speaker 5: how to produce properly and gave me the the tools
- 3:16Speaker 5: to go out and find material and start producing stuff
- 3:20Speaker 5: for bright Light, and the rest just kind of took
- 3:23Speaker 5: off and all of us, all of a sudden, I'm here, uh,
- 3:27Speaker 5: you know, with a couple of movies under my belt
- 3:28Speaker 5: and excited for more and a couple of things on
- 3:30Speaker 5: the horizon and working on my first TV show now.
- 3:33Speaker 5: So it's it's been it's been an incredible ride with
- 3:37Speaker 5: Bright Light over the past. I've been with them now
- 3:39Speaker 5: for five years.
- 3:41Speaker 3: So do you think that's still that still happens.
- 3:44Speaker 4: It's almost like an apprenticeship, you know, when you're you're
- 3:46Speaker 4: able to approach Sean, you know, you know a lot
- 3:49Speaker 4: of the the you know, when you the internships you
- 3:51Speaker 4: hear about, they don't really kind of lead anywhere.
- 3:54Speaker 3: Did Do you think he kind of.
- 3:55Speaker 4: Like you almost struck gold by by forming that relationship
- 3:57Speaker 4: and you just kind of were in the right place
- 3:59Speaker 4: at the right time.
- 4:00Speaker 5: I think so, man, I think that there I think
- 4:03Speaker 5: there's a lot of people who still believe in that
- 4:09Speaker 5: kind of formation, the apprenticeship kind of formation. I think
- 4:12Speaker 5: that there are few and farther between. And you know,
- 4:17Speaker 5: there are a lot of internship opportunities out there, especially
- 4:21Speaker 5: in LA that don't lead to anything. The way that
- 4:27Speaker 5: I came to Bright Light was a little unconventional, But
- 4:30Speaker 5: I do think that I did luck out by meeting
- 4:34Speaker 5: Sean and and and him taking me under his wing here.
- 4:38Speaker 5: But then you know, I saw the opportunity and jumped
- 4:43Speaker 5: on it. And there's been a few people who have
- 4:45Speaker 5: been given this same opportunity here at the company that
- 4:48Speaker 5: I've seen falter and you know, not make the most
- 4:52Speaker 5: of it. So I think it's a little bit like
- 4:54Speaker 5: I got lucky but also really wanted to capitalize on
- 4:57Speaker 5: what was given to me. And so, yeah, it's tough.
- 5:02Speaker 5: It's tough to form those relationships that are actually meaningful
- 5:06Speaker 5: and somebody who genuinely cares about bringing up young producers
- 5:13Speaker 5: and writers and directors and has the ability to do so.
- 5:18Speaker 5: You know, usually those people who can make a real
- 5:20Speaker 5: difference in your life are so hard to get a
- 5:22Speaker 5: hold of and so hard to pin down in their time.
- 5:27Speaker 5: I was pretty relentless with Sean, so in the beginning,
- 5:31Speaker 5: just kind of knocking on his door and knocking on
- 5:33Speaker 5: his door, and eventually he had to had to schedule
- 5:36Speaker 5: a coffee with me.
- 5:38Speaker 3: Well that's kind of like the catch twenty two.
- 5:40Speaker 4: You know, usually the people you want to meet are
- 5:43Speaker 4: too busy actually making things, and the reason you want
- 5:45Speaker 4: to meet them is because they're actually making things.
- 5:48Speaker 5: Yeah, and I think, you know, you kind of have
- 5:51Speaker 5: to look. I've and asked that question a lot like
- 5:53Speaker 5: how do I, you know, how do I break in?
- 5:55Speaker 5: How do I find those people? And it's like, well,
- 5:57Speaker 5: look at your look at the people in your life
- 6:03Speaker 5: and your circle of influence, and see what the six
- 6:06Speaker 5: degrees of separation are to somebody. Make it personal and
- 6:12Speaker 5: try and work those routes. I met Sean because his
- 6:16Speaker 5: son went to the same high school as I did,
- 6:20Speaker 5: but years after me, and one of my old teachers
- 6:25Speaker 5: was like, Hey, I know you're doing this. Would you
- 6:27Speaker 5: like to meet Sean? And I said I would love to,
- 6:29Speaker 5: And so I kind of lucked out that way. But
- 6:32Speaker 5: it's been the same with other mentors in my life.
- 6:34Speaker 5: A gentleman by the name of Todd Black. Todd runs
- 6:37Speaker 5: a company called Escape Artists and they do you know,
- 6:40Speaker 5: they did The Upside and The Equalizer movies, and he's
- 6:43Speaker 5: been an incredibly successful producer for many, many years. And
- 6:48Speaker 5: I was introduced to Todd through a friend just kind
- 6:53Speaker 5: of the same thing, you should meet this person, and
- 6:55Speaker 5: Todd has been incredibly generous with his time and it's
- 7:00Speaker 5: been a very very cool working relationship. So yeah, I
- 7:06Speaker 5: think it's there are opportunities out there, you just kind
- 7:10Speaker 5: of have to really dig to seek them out sometimes.
- 7:15Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, that's very true.
- 7:17Speaker 4: And you know you mentioned breaking in, which you know
- 7:21Speaker 4: I was, which is in my notes to talk about.
- 7:23Speaker 4: But you know, since you actually brought it up, you know, what,
- 7:25Speaker 4: what advice do you have.
- 7:26Speaker 3: For breaking in?
- 7:27Speaker 4: Because you hear all these you know, there's a lot
- 7:29Speaker 4: of different theories or recommendations or advice that you hear
- 7:32Speaker 4: out there about how to break in. Some people say
- 7:35Speaker 4: do it with the specscripts. Some people say do it
- 7:37Speaker 4: with a making a short film. Some people say maybe
- 7:40Speaker 4: even start with an apprenticeship, as the old way was
- 7:42Speaker 4: kind of like that.
- 7:43Speaker 3: So so what do you what do you feel on that, Jamison?
- 7:48Speaker 5: I mean, look at I think it's it's uh, there's
- 7:51Speaker 5: a lot of advice out there because there's a million
- 7:53Speaker 5: different ways that you can do it, and I think
- 7:57Speaker 5: what really helps is self awareness and figuring out, Okay,
- 8:00Speaker 5: this is what I want to do, this is where
- 8:02Speaker 5: I want to be, and these are the tools at
- 8:06Speaker 5: my disposal. You know, some people won't be as lucky
- 8:10Speaker 5: and won't have you know, one or two degrees of
- 8:14Speaker 5: separation from somebody who will give them the time. And
- 8:18Speaker 5: then I think you need to work on your craft
- 8:19Speaker 5: hone your craft, go out and also go out and
- 8:23Speaker 5: meet those people, but not in a like very obviously
- 8:30Speaker 5: networky way. I'm so opposed to that word. I need
- 8:35Speaker 5: to go on network because it's not about networking. It's
- 8:39Speaker 5: about forming real human relationships with people and finding things
- 8:43Speaker 5: that you have in common and that maybe film, you know,
- 8:47Speaker 5: it may be film, it may not, but creating real
- 8:50Speaker 5: relationships with people and understanding what your point of view
- 8:55Speaker 5: is like the number one thing I think to break
- 8:57Speaker 5: in there's just a lot of white noise out there.
- 9:00Speaker 5: And then I always go back to the Duplas brothers,
- 9:03Speaker 5: Always go back to the Duplas brothers, Mark and Jay,
- 9:06Speaker 5: who would always say, just keep making shit, just keep
- 9:12Speaker 5: making shit. The cavalry isn't coming. The cavalry isn't coming.
- 9:18Speaker 5: And they were like, the first short films that you
- 9:21Speaker 5: make will be terrible, and then you'll make a few
- 9:23Speaker 5: that are just a little less terrible, and then they
- 9:25Speaker 5: get less and less terrible until it's something passable. So
- 9:28Speaker 5: keep you know, it's there's an element of perseverance that
- 9:33Speaker 5: kind of permeates everybody's story. There's every success story, there
- 9:38Speaker 5: is this, yeah, this element of perseverance and banging your
- 9:43Speaker 5: head against the wall until the brick cracks. You know
- 9:45Speaker 5: it is I feel that a lot too.
- 9:50Speaker 4: So Jamison, you know you mentioned networking. You know, do
- 9:53Speaker 4: you ever go to any of these networking events, because
- 9:55Speaker 4: I'm sure you get invited to like ten thousand events,
- 9:58Speaker 4: you know a month is there.
- 10:01Speaker 2: We'll be right back after a word from our sponsor
- 10:08Speaker 2: and now back to the show.
- 10:10Speaker 4: Do you ever go to any of these events and
- 10:12Speaker 4: you just kind of feel that, you know, maybe sometimes
- 10:16Speaker 4: these aren't the best approach to this, do you know
- 10:19Speaker 4: what I mean?
- 10:20Speaker 5: Yeah, Yeah, I get invited to a few. I mean
- 10:23Speaker 5: Vancouver's community is a lot smaller than Los Angeles when
- 10:26Speaker 5: I when I'm in LA, Like I split my time
- 10:28Speaker 5: between between Vancouver and Los Angeles. When I'm in LA,
- 10:31Speaker 5: there's a lot of invites and there's a lot of
- 10:32Speaker 5: these things, and I think it's about choosing the right
- 10:37Speaker 5: ones when you get to a certain point, Like there
- 10:40Speaker 5: is a value there for sure to just to be
- 10:43Speaker 5: around people and to meet people. But I actually I
- 10:47Speaker 5: actually have a great success story from from these networking events.
- 10:50Speaker 5: Where there's one in Los Angeles called the Little Black
- 10:53Speaker 5: Book event, and I think it's phenomenal, lots of lots
- 10:57Speaker 5: of junior executives. People are great companies, who are doing
- 11:01Speaker 5: cool things, who are you know, really really hungry and passionate.
- 11:06Speaker 5: Go to this event and I was taken to it
- 11:08Speaker 5: by another producer of bright Light, like three maybe more
- 11:15Speaker 5: years ago, and that is actually where I met first
- 11:17Speaker 5: met Matt Leslie who wrote Summer of eighty four. When
- 11:20Speaker 5: he first pitched me Summer was that one of these
- 11:23Speaker 5: networking events. And so I have a really great relationship
- 11:28Speaker 5: with them, and you know, have seen direct success come
- 11:34Speaker 5: out of it. So I do believe in spending your time,
- 11:39Speaker 5: which is your capital, spending your time on doing these things,
- 11:42Speaker 5: going to south By Southwest, going to can going to
- 11:45Speaker 5: Toronto if you can, and going to these festivals and
- 11:48Speaker 5: meeting people and swapping ideas and stories, and yeah, I
- 11:53Speaker 5: think there's a great advantage to them being a part
- 11:56Speaker 5: of a community.
- 11:58Speaker 4: Well, you know, that's fantastic, Like you were able to
- 12:00Speaker 4: actually meet the writer of Summer of eighty four there,
- 12:03Speaker 4: so you know, what, what are some of the you
- 12:04Speaker 4: know kind of like, what what did he do that
- 12:06Speaker 4: was actually you know right, or just.
- 12:08Speaker 3: Kind of what did he do that didn't seem you know, you.
- 12:11Speaker 4: Know what I mean, when you go to a lot
- 12:12Speaker 4: of these network events, some people just screamed desperation and
- 12:16Speaker 4: then yes, and then if you're really unlucky, you meet
- 12:18Speaker 4: somebody like me there and you're like, oh god, I'm
- 12:19Speaker 4: never going to these things again.
- 12:21Speaker 3: But but uh.
- 12:24Speaker 4: But you know when you see all these people there,
- 12:26Speaker 4: and some of these people just so just like I mean,
- 12:29Speaker 4: they're they're just ready to latch onto anybody for anything,
- 12:32Speaker 4: You're like, WHOA, Well.
- 12:34Speaker 3: You know what I mean, it's so so what was
- 12:36Speaker 3: the way that you were approached?
- 12:37Speaker 4: You know that that was actually where where you were like,
- 12:40Speaker 4: you know what, I actually want to hear this pitch.
- 12:44Speaker 5: Matt is really Matt is a really down to earth guy,
- 12:49Speaker 5: and we just spoke in a very human way. We
- 12:53Speaker 5: just kind of and that's kind of what I love.
- 12:56Speaker 5: Like it's not so focused I get out of this interaction,
- 13:03Speaker 5: you know, and it's less about having a real human
- 13:07Speaker 5: connection than it is about what can I what kind
- 13:10Speaker 5: of transactional piece can I pull from this person? And
- 13:16Speaker 5: you know, Matt is was, uh and always will be
- 13:20Speaker 5: a very engaging person who is super passionate about his
- 13:24Speaker 5: work but has a. He does have a confidence to
- 13:28Speaker 5: him that you go, this is an off putting it all,
- 13:32Speaker 5: which is great. And so that was you know, we
- 13:34Speaker 5: had a real, a real conversation and you can kind
- 13:38Speaker 5: of tell, Okay, this is a guy that you know,
- 13:40Speaker 5: not only do I want to read his script, but
- 13:42Speaker 5: I also want to hang out with him more. And
- 13:45Speaker 5: Matt and I have become great friends over the years.
- 13:48Speaker 5: I am such a big, big fan of his. So
- 13:53Speaker 5: it's I don't know, it was something very just normal
- 13:59Speaker 5: about it and less transactional, which is what really turns
- 14:02Speaker 5: people off.
- 14:04Speaker 4: So did some of the advice that like Sean gave
- 14:08Speaker 4: you helped to kind of like, did you know, kind
- 14:10Speaker 4: of decipher some of that meaning?
- 14:12Speaker 3: You know, when you're you're listening to a pitch, you know,
- 14:15Speaker 3: is this idea fully realized? Can you envision this in
- 14:18Speaker 3: your head? You know? Can you see the poster?
- 14:20Speaker 5: Uh?
- 14:21Speaker 3: You know, would this be even marketable?
- 14:24Speaker 5: You know? Uh?
- 14:25Speaker 4: And not only here in America, but you know overseas
- 14:28Speaker 4: and stuff like that. Is that some of the things
- 14:30Speaker 4: that went through your head when you're hearing the pitch.
- 14:35Speaker 5: Honestly, it was just a movie that I wanted to see.
- 14:38Speaker 5: I wanted to see a lot of those things, like
- 14:41Speaker 5: you know, can you see the poster, can you see
- 14:43Speaker 5: the trailer? Is it going to do well overseas? Like
- 14:46Speaker 5: that is? Those are notes from studio execs and and
- 14:54Speaker 5: it's it's tough because we don't you know, we don't
- 14:56Speaker 5: have a marketing department here, we don't have h distribution arm,
- 15:01Speaker 5: we don't have a foreign sales arm here. So yes,
- 15:04Speaker 5: we have an understanding of the market and kind of
- 15:09Speaker 5: hope that we fit within that. But I mean, my
- 15:13Speaker 5: philosophy has always been more about what movies I want
- 15:19Speaker 5: to make rather than what movies the market wants to see.
- 15:23Speaker 5: I kind of feel like if you chase that, if
- 15:26Speaker 5: you chase what's doing well in the marketplace, you're always
- 15:29Speaker 5: going to be behind the eight ball, you know what
- 15:31Speaker 5: I mean. And you get things like Gemini Man, and
- 15:35Speaker 5: you get things like what was the Big Terminator Dark
- 15:40Speaker 5: Fate that bombs at the box office, and you know,
- 15:43Speaker 5: you're responding more to a market than to a great
- 15:48Speaker 5: story or a really cool piece of acting and casting
- 15:55Speaker 5: in something. And when he pitched me Summer, it was
- 16:00Speaker 5: I could see the movie, I understood what it was,
- 16:02Speaker 5: and I grew up loving those films that he referenced
- 16:05Speaker 5: the Goonies stand by me, disturbing a rear window was
- 16:10Speaker 5: a big one. Was a big influence for us and
- 16:12Speaker 5: for them on the script. Like but it was really
- 16:17Speaker 5: when he sent me the look book that I was like,
- 16:19Speaker 5: oh shit, this, I have to I have to read
- 16:21Speaker 5: the script immediately. That was that was a big one
- 16:24Speaker 5: for that movie that I was like, this is really cool.
- 16:29Speaker 3: You know when you.
- 16:30Speaker 4: See these movies that come out like Gemini, Man, you
- 16:32Speaker 4: mentioned Terminator, you know, it seems to be that that's
- 16:36Speaker 4: what the studios are always chasing. It's either the big
- 16:38Speaker 4: superhero movie or it's a reboot remake of you know,
- 16:42Speaker 4: a piece of the series, you know what I mean,
- 16:44Speaker 4: a series that you know what can come out. That's why,
- 16:47Speaker 4: you know, I've always been trying to gravitate towards seeing
- 16:49Speaker 4: original films now because you know, it's it's it's weird
- 16:53Speaker 4: to say this, Jamison, but and sometimes it's harder to
- 16:56Speaker 4: actually get to see those movies because they maybe don't
- 17:00Speaker 4: have a release on like Netflix or something like that,
- 17:03Speaker 4: and they're certainly not going to be in the theater
- 17:05Speaker 4: because they're you know, there's superhero movies and reboots in there,
- 17:08Speaker 4: so it's you know, you have to really start to
- 17:10Speaker 4: kind of be on the look for those types.
- 17:12Speaker 5: Of things you really do. And I just feel like
- 17:18Speaker 5: people are starting to get tired of the reboot of
- 17:23Speaker 5: the reboot. I mean I know that I am. I'm
- 17:25Speaker 5: also like you and I are a different class of filmmaker.
- 17:28Speaker 5: Different and not class, I guess is the wrong word,
- 17:30Speaker 5: but a different type of film watcher. Like we spend
- 17:35Speaker 5: our lives talking about movies and seeking things out. It
- 17:40Speaker 5: is too bad that all that is out there now
- 17:43Speaker 5: are franchises and reboots and you know, something based on
- 17:48Speaker 5: an ip that there's a you have to really really
- 17:51Speaker 5: seek out cinema that is original and interesting, and then
- 17:56Speaker 5: there's things that break through like Jojo Rabbit and I
- 18:01Speaker 5: mean even some of the Tarantino stuff is is a
- 18:05Speaker 5: tour cinema is like really great original cinema, but it
- 18:09Speaker 5: is drawn, it is driven, sorry by a star, it
- 18:14Speaker 5: is driven by some kind of narrative. So uh yeah,
- 18:21Speaker 5: I wish that there was more of an appetite for
- 18:24Speaker 5: some of those original stories. TV is where it's at
- 18:29Speaker 5: though right now, that's where people are putting all of
- 18:31Speaker 5: those stories.
- 18:33Speaker 4: Right right, and and you know that's where you see
- 18:35Speaker 4: stuff like Breaking Bad, and you know you get to
- 18:37Speaker 4: see all the Game of Thrones and all. Well, even
- 18:39Speaker 4: though that's an existing property. You mean, that's a bad example,
- 18:42Speaker 4: but yeah, but you know what I mean, it's still.
- 18:45Speaker 5: But like Succession. I'm watching Succession right now or see
- 18:51Speaker 5: on Apple TV or what else I mean, Like you said,
- 18:57Speaker 5: Breaking Bad, mad Man, all the great exams pools of
- 19:00Speaker 5: television right Like, yeah, there's a TV is where original
- 19:07Speaker 5: stories are being told right now.
- 19:09Speaker 3: So what are some of your favorite TV shows in
- 19:11Speaker 3: the past couple of years? Have you seen?
- 19:14Speaker 5: I spent a lot of my time watching movies because
- 19:17Speaker 5: we typically developed films. But the stuff that I have
- 19:23Speaker 5: watched that I have loved, Like I am in the
- 19:25Speaker 5: middle of Succession now and really really love it. Mad
- 19:31Speaker 5: Men is actually is probably one of my all time favorites.
- 19:34Speaker 5: There is just something I love about those kind of
- 19:38Speaker 5: corporate dramas, and I've always been fascinated by advertising. I've
- 19:44Speaker 5: realized that mad Men is a very stylized, fictionalized version
- 19:50Speaker 5: of the ad agency world, but it's still endlessly fascinating
- 19:57Speaker 5: to me.
- 19:59Speaker 2: Will be right back after a word from our sponsor
- 20:05Speaker 2: and now back to the show.
- 20:10Speaker 5: And then we got to work with Rich Summer on
- 20:15Speaker 5: Summer Maybe four, which is really cool and really fun.
- 20:17Speaker 6: And also I once that I've loved like, oh, actually
- 20:24Speaker 6: both of Phoebe Waller Bridges shows crashing and.
- 20:30Speaker 5: Oh my god, what I'm blanking right now?
- 20:35Speaker 3: Yeah, I'm sorry. I'm not even familiar with it, so I.
- 20:37Speaker 5: Don't know, it'll come to me. It's just one. I'm
- 20:40Speaker 5: just having a brain fart right now. A lot of
- 20:43Speaker 5: Sherlock I loved, like there is there's just a lot
- 20:45Speaker 5: of great TV.
- 20:49Speaker 4: So when you know, you mentioned that, you know, you
- 20:51Speaker 4: do a lot of work with movies primarily, you know,
- 20:55Speaker 4: and we were talking about original you know, stories and
- 20:57Speaker 4: you know, finding those original screenplays. So James to kind
- 21:01Speaker 4: of take me through like how you find like a
- 21:04Speaker 4: piece of material and then how you go about, you know,
- 21:07Speaker 4: kind of developing that piece of material.
- 21:10Speaker 5: Flea Bag. Flea Bag is the name of the show.
- 21:12Speaker 5: Thank you.
- 21:14Speaker 3: I thought I thought that was your heads. I was like,
- 21:16Speaker 3: I don't know what he's talking.
- 21:16Speaker 5: About, Like, I don't know what he's talking about. How
- 21:18Speaker 5: do I find a piece of I mean, look, it's tough.
- 21:20Speaker 5: It is like it's like gold mining. Really, it's like
- 21:24Speaker 5: gold mining, except the version of gold that you're looking
- 21:28Speaker 5: for changes for each person who's looking for it. It's
- 21:31Speaker 5: it's very weird, like you have to sift through a
- 21:34Speaker 5: lot of rock and mud and dirt to get to
- 21:37Speaker 5: something that you want to spend time with. And it's about,
- 21:43Speaker 5: you know, it's about finding a germ of an idea
- 21:45Speaker 5: in something. It's about finding something worth spending time on
- 21:52Speaker 5: and something that is really engaging. At least that's what
- 22:00Speaker 5: it is for me, because then you're going to end
- 22:02Speaker 5: up spending so much time with it on rewrites and
- 22:06Speaker 5: having to pitch the thing to a million different people,
- 22:10Speaker 5: first to bring directors on or maybe another writer to
- 22:13Speaker 5: come and do a rewrite, and then it's actors and financiers,
- 22:17Speaker 5: and you're always talking to agents and managers and you
- 22:21Speaker 5: have to have this passion for that project that is
- 22:28Speaker 5: unrelenting or it's going to become such a slog because
- 22:31Speaker 5: you spend so much time with these pieces of material.
- 22:34Speaker 5: So yeah, it's about finding something you love. And then also,
- 22:38Speaker 5: I mean, on top of that, it's about finding people
- 22:41Speaker 5: that you like working with. I mentioned how much. I
- 22:44Speaker 5: liked working with Matt and Steve on Summer of eighty four,
- 22:48Speaker 5: but ourkss two who directed the film are just such great.
- 22:53Speaker 5: I mean, they're fun filmmakers. They put a lot of
- 22:56Speaker 5: their really phenomenal energy up on screen, and they are
- 23:05Speaker 5: just so so great to work with that I've got
- 23:08Speaker 5: two more projects with them because I enjoy what they enjoy.
- 23:13Speaker 5: We have a great kind of back and forth and
- 23:16Speaker 5: understanding of each other as filmmakers, and I want to
- 23:21Speaker 5: help develop their voice and and take it out into
- 23:25Speaker 5: the marketplace.
- 23:27Speaker 4: So you know, just you know, with knowing all of that,
- 23:30Speaker 4: you know, when you do, like actually go out there
- 23:32Speaker 4: and to find materials, I mean, do you get materials
- 23:35Speaker 4: like like you know, maybe submitted to you, like, hey,
- 23:37Speaker 4: the script was on the Blacklist, or hey, this script
- 23:40Speaker 4: was you know, rated by script Shark, or this script
- 23:43Speaker 4: was on the on the was a filelist for the
- 23:47Speaker 4: Nicole Fellowship.
- 23:48Speaker 3: Is that one of the other ways you find screenplays?
- 23:51Speaker 5: Yeah? I mean there are agents and managers who I
- 24:00Speaker 5: who I appreciate their taste and have a good relationship with.
- 24:03Speaker 5: I get stuff from them. I get stuff from actors
- 24:07Speaker 5: and writers and directors that I know or that you know,
- 24:11Speaker 5: bright Light knows that we work with. I'm also going
- 24:16Speaker 5: out and kind of mining some of the things that
- 24:20Speaker 5: I love, whether it's books or plays or articles that
- 24:28Speaker 5: I think would make great films and finding, you know,
- 24:32Speaker 5: something that we can start to build out. So it
- 24:38Speaker 5: really comes in a lot of different forms. Sometimes we
- 24:42Speaker 5: get things, Sean gets things sent to him by directors
- 24:45Speaker 5: that he's worked with in the past or writers that
- 24:47Speaker 5: he's worked with in the past and wants to to
- 24:50Speaker 5: work with them or see if there's something in a
- 24:53Speaker 5: script that they've sent to him. So it comes to
- 24:55Speaker 5: us in a lot of different forms, for sure, But
- 24:57Speaker 5: there is always some kind of vetting process before it
- 25:04Speaker 5: gets to before it gets to me or Sean or
- 25:08Speaker 5: anybody else at bright Light for sure.
- 25:11Speaker 3: Yeah.
- 25:12Speaker 4: And you know, you again, like we were talking about
- 25:14Speaker 4: with the networking, you always have to have some kind
- 25:16Speaker 4: of vetting process for a whole number of reasons.
- 25:19Speaker 3: But you know, you always want to make sure that relationship.
- 25:22Speaker 4: Again, like you said, it's not going to be like
- 25:23Speaker 4: a transaction or you know, what are you doing for
- 25:25Speaker 4: me right now?
- 25:27Speaker 5: Yeah, Yeah, it's always going to be hopefully a genuine interaction.
- 25:36Speaker 4: Right right, And then you know, anyone to be able
- 25:38Speaker 4: to build on that, and you want to be able
- 25:40Speaker 4: to keep going, you know, and make like you know, two, three, four, five,
- 25:43Speaker 4: six movies, you know, and.
- 25:44Speaker 3: Just keep growing and building together.
- 25:46Speaker 5: Right, That is that would be the ideal. For sure,
- 25:51Speaker 5: doesn't always work out that way. I mean not everybody
- 25:53Speaker 5: works well together, but that is the ideal, you know,
- 25:59Speaker 5: to be able to work with the same people that
- 26:02Speaker 5: you enjoy working with time and time again.
- 26:05Speaker 4: So you know, just to kind of continue with that question, Jamison,
- 26:09Speaker 4: you know, have you ever seen like some someone's like YouTube,
- 26:13Speaker 4: short film and and then become interested in, you know,
- 26:15Speaker 4: maybe like working with that person. The reason I ask
- 26:18Speaker 4: is because you know, you kind of if you look
- 26:21Speaker 4: at like what was that movie Kung Fury, that's when
- 26:24Speaker 4: he came out, or even the guy who did Too
- 26:26Speaker 4: Many Cooks, I mean he was able to get you know,
- 26:30Speaker 4: some tracks on that. Then you see like the other
- 26:33Speaker 4: the I forget what his name is.
- 26:35Speaker 3: I think it's is the guy who did the Evil
- 26:37Speaker 3: Dead remake? Is it Alvarez?
- 26:39Speaker 5: I think his name is, oh, yes, Alrez.
- 26:44Speaker 4: Yes, And then uh so he did Panic Attack and
- 26:46Speaker 4: then he was able to make you know, Evil dead
- 26:50Speaker 4: do you see you know, do you ever actually you know,
- 26:52Speaker 4: maybe go on YouTube where anybody you know, at bright
- 26:54Speaker 4: light ever, you know, look at what anyone's doing in
- 26:57Speaker 4: that sort of realm you know, on like youtubebe or
- 27:00Speaker 4: you know, Vimeo or anything like that.
- 27:04Speaker 5: I'm sense stuff for sure, there's some sense stuff. It's
- 27:09Speaker 5: tough because YouTube is such has such a glut of
- 27:14Speaker 5: material on there that it's if I if I spent
- 27:20Speaker 5: any amount of time on it, if I spend any
- 27:23Speaker 5: amount of time that would actually yield results, I would
- 27:26Speaker 5: be only doing that, like there's just not enough hours
- 27:30Speaker 5: in the day. So but I am sense stuff like
- 27:35Speaker 5: people like, hey, what do you think about this director?
- 27:37Speaker 5: What do you think about this short film? And there
- 27:39Speaker 5: was like I can point to one in particular. There's
- 27:41Speaker 5: a filmmaker by the name of Brian Petzos, and Brian's
- 27:44Speaker 5: made a couple of short films. One was called Tiki Taki,
- 27:47Speaker 5: almost called Lightning Face. And my friend Greg Loretano, another producer,
- 27:52Speaker 5: sent me his material and was like, Hey, I'm trying
- 27:54Speaker 5: to put together this guy's feature. Would you be interested
- 27:57Speaker 5: in helping? And immediately you could see that the guy
- 28:00Speaker 5: had a style, he had a point of view. He
- 28:04Speaker 5: was an incredibly deaft filmmaker, and so it was definitely
- 28:07Speaker 5: something that I wanted to be involved in. I didn't
- 28:11Speaker 5: end up being on the feature with them, but I did.
- 28:16Speaker 5: I was, you know, really really excited about this filmmaker
- 28:19Speaker 5: and it ended up getting made, which was great. So
- 28:24Speaker 5: I'm excited to see the film and still talk to
- 28:26Speaker 5: Brian and Greg about the movie regularly, which is awesome.
- 28:32Speaker 4: Yeah, because the reason I brought that up was just
- 28:34Speaker 4: because that's kind of the medium kind of lends itself
- 28:38Speaker 4: towards filmmakers as more and more people have gotten have
- 28:41Speaker 4: gotten on there. But like you pointed out, you know,
- 28:43Speaker 4: there's a gluttony on there. And two, you know, things
- 28:46Speaker 4: can't be you know, monetized anymore if they're if they're
- 28:49Speaker 4: you know, YouTube is you know, censorship.
- 28:52Speaker 3: Has gotten like really really out of hand.
- 28:55Speaker 4: I mean, hell, I'm even demonetized, so like I I
- 29:01Speaker 4: you know, so basically it's it's like you have to
- 29:03Speaker 4: be very you know, super squeaky clean and no violence.
- 29:07Speaker 4: So it's kind of hard if they're if they're hoping
- 29:09Speaker 4: to get any you know, monetization from views on that
- 29:11Speaker 4: side of it.
- 29:12Speaker 3: But on the flip side.
- 29:14Speaker 4: You know, it can gain some exposure with people like
- 29:16Speaker 4: David F. Sanmdberg is another example. He actually started on
- 29:19Speaker 4: YouTube and then he made the lights out.
- 29:22Speaker 5: Yeah, I mean, look, it is it's it's more about
- 29:26Speaker 5: I think it's less about YouTube more about people who
- 29:30Speaker 5: are just making material like that is the that is
- 29:33Speaker 5: the kind of thread between all of these people is
- 29:38Speaker 5: that they're just they're making ship, right, They're they're out
- 29:41Speaker 5: there and they're actually getting their hands dirty and doing
- 29:47Speaker 5: things and that you know, whether they shone through on
- 29:51Speaker 5: YouTube or because they just sent a private link to somebody.
- 29:58Speaker 2: We'll be right back after a word from our sponsor
- 30:04Speaker 2: and now back to the show.
- 30:09Speaker 5: They they're out there making things and refining what they
- 30:13Speaker 5: like and figuring out what they want to do behind
- 30:15Speaker 5: the camera. It's I think that's the common thread rather
- 30:18Speaker 5: than YouTube or Vimeo or whatever the hosting platform is.
- 30:25Speaker 3: Yeah. Yeah, that's a good point.
- 30:26Speaker 4: You're trying to actually, you know, you know, build a
- 30:28Speaker 4: channel out of that stuff. And you know, it kind
- 30:30Speaker 4: of ties in because you know, your your first project
- 30:32Speaker 4: was White Ninja. That was so that was based of
- 30:34Speaker 4: a webcomic, you know, but again it's it's kind of
- 30:36Speaker 4: like the similar idea. You know, they went out, they
- 30:38Speaker 4: put something out there, and they were finally you know,
- 30:40Speaker 4: they were able to develop it.
- 30:42Speaker 3: And you know then all of a sudden, now it's
- 30:43Speaker 3: it's a it's a web series or a TV show.
- 30:46Speaker 5: I mean, yeah, yeah, White Ninja. It was such a
- 30:49Speaker 5: cool project. I mean that web comic was web one point. Oh,
- 30:55Speaker 5: it was so so early on, and it was an
- 30:58Speaker 5: idea that a friend of mine had had had to
- 31:00Speaker 5: turn it into a digital series when that was kind
- 31:04Speaker 5: of everybody was chasing digital and they were chasing you
- 31:09Speaker 5: any kind of platform, Snapchat series. We were we were
- 31:12Speaker 5: working with Vine and before that was defunct, and just
- 31:16Speaker 5: thought that that platform lent itself so beautifully took this
- 31:22Speaker 5: resurgence of the of the comic strip. You know, what
- 31:25Speaker 5: does a comic strip looks like? Look like outside of
- 31:28Speaker 5: the Sunday papers and in this digital world, and thought
- 31:32Speaker 5: that these six second kind of loops were the perfect
- 31:35Speaker 5: place to I guess rebirth the the comic strip. So
- 31:44Speaker 5: it was cool for a minute, and then as soon
- 31:46Speaker 5: as we finished season one, Vine shut down and we
- 31:49Speaker 5: were like, oh shit, okay, well where are we going
- 31:54Speaker 5: to put this now?
- 31:57Speaker 4: Yeah, I remember Vine, but I know what you mean,
- 32:00Speaker 4: Like there's always you know, and all those social media channels,
- 32:03Speaker 4: there's always seems to be something that's kind of it
- 32:07Speaker 4: was like intuitive to that, you know what I mean,
- 32:09Speaker 4: like a piece of content that's intuitive to that type
- 32:12Speaker 4: of channel, like just like Vine once to that.
- 32:15Speaker 5: Yeah, I think it was. I think it was a
- 32:17Speaker 5: cool experiment. After season one, I had already I had
- 32:23Speaker 5: been that I guess deep in with bright Light and
- 32:26Speaker 5: that was that was when I kind of left that
- 32:30Speaker 5: show and went on to do just bright Light things.
- 32:34Speaker 5: So this the first season was really cool, and it
- 32:37Speaker 5: was interesting to develop for a completely different platform. I mean,
- 32:41Speaker 5: we're doing it now for Jeffrey Katzenberg's Quibi. We're making
- 32:45Speaker 5: a series and it is it's very interesting, these new
- 32:50Speaker 5: distribution models and these new ways that you can connect
- 32:54Speaker 5: and get your product out to.
- 33:01Speaker 3: Right right.
- 33:02Speaker 4: And then you know, because you actually have another TV
- 33:03Speaker 4: show that you're actually making right now, which is uh, you.
- 33:06Speaker 3: Know, Julian, the phantoms you actually want to do.
- 33:10Speaker 4: I actually want to talk about that, I mean, because
- 33:12Speaker 4: I actually I haven't in fun of me, but I'm
- 33:15Speaker 4: actually interested to hear your your kind of your your
- 33:18Speaker 4: your take on it.
- 33:19Speaker 5: Yeah, I will. I can talk about it as much
- 33:22Speaker 5: as I can talk about it. It is based on
- 33:27Speaker 5: a Brazilian television show. It is a Netflix original with
- 33:35Speaker 5: music and dance and drama and comedy, and it's really
- 33:41Speaker 5: fun and gorgeous show. Executive produced and some of the
- 33:46Speaker 5: episodes directed by a gentleman by the name of Kenny
- 33:49Speaker 5: or Tega. And Kenny is like mister song and Dance.
- 33:53Speaker 5: He's the dude when it comes to filmed musical theater
- 33:58Speaker 5: and musical on film, you know, somebody who worked with
- 34:03Speaker 5: Gene Kelly and Donna Summer and Michael Jackson and directed
- 34:08Speaker 5: Newsy's and hocus Pocus and all the high school musicals
- 34:11Speaker 5: and Descendants franchises, and so he is an incredible creative leader.
- 34:20Speaker 5: And this project for me is more of a you know,
- 34:23Speaker 5: all the stuff that I've done to this point has
- 34:26Speaker 5: been very independent and di y. You know, even though
- 34:31Speaker 5: Summer of eighty four was, I mean technically a studio
- 34:34Speaker 5: movie with Gunpowder and Sky acting as the studio, it
- 34:39Speaker 5: was still very much a small movie. It was we
- 34:43Speaker 5: had a lot of creative control over it, and we
- 34:46Speaker 5: had a lot of fun making the film that we
- 34:48Speaker 5: wanted to see. But this for me is a big
- 34:56Speaker 5: learning experience.
- 34:58Speaker 4: So when I so you probably so I mentioned Netflix
- 35:02Speaker 4: and I was like, so, I didn't even know this
- 35:04Speaker 4: was going to be on Netflix.
- 35:04Speaker 3: So that's a huge congrats.
- 35:06Speaker 5: Man, Oh thanks man. Yeah, I mean it's a very
- 35:10Speaker 5: crazy time to be working with the company, you know,
- 35:13Speaker 5: just seeing how they react to seeing how they react
- 35:19Speaker 5: to all of these other streamers and distribution platforms coming in.
- 35:24Speaker 5: It's been very cool to talk with our colleagues at
- 35:28Speaker 5: Netflix so and interesting to work for a company that
- 35:31Speaker 5: is so on the cutting edge, you know, treats their
- 35:34Speaker 5: creatives with such such reverence. It's it's awesome, you know,
- 35:40Speaker 5: it's a really great company.
- 35:42Speaker 4: Yes, I mean every creative I mean, right now, that's
- 35:45Speaker 4: the that's the goal as a Netflix series.
- 35:49Speaker 5: Yeah, yeah, it is. It's cool. It's and it was
- 35:53Speaker 5: something that we are I mean, Sean has done a
- 35:56Speaker 5: couple of them, but I'd always wanted to work with them,
- 35:58Speaker 5: and we in two seasons of a series called Haters
- 36:01Speaker 5: Back Off and a couple of movies for Netflix. But
- 36:04Speaker 5: to actually get to do this, it's it's cool. They're
- 36:07Speaker 5: putting a lot of a lot of weight behind it
- 36:10Speaker 5: because they see a lot of potential in Kenny's work. Obviously,
- 36:14Speaker 5: he's created hits and made a lot of money for Disney,
- 36:17Speaker 5: and Netflix wants a little bit of that, I think,
- 36:21Speaker 5: and I.
- 36:22Speaker 3: Hate us back off. That was from Miranda Sings.
- 36:24Speaker 5: Right, that was yeah, Now I wasn't I didn't work
- 36:27Speaker 5: on that, but it was a it was a bright
- 36:28Speaker 5: light show.
- 36:29Speaker 4: Yeah, okay, you know, I actually enjoyed that.
- 36:33Speaker 3: I actually thought that.
- 36:34Speaker 4: That was because a friend of mine was a big
- 36:36Speaker 4: fan of Mirinda Sings the YouTube series, and then he
- 36:39Speaker 4: I I started watching the Netflix show, and I actually
- 36:43Speaker 4: think they hit the groove pretty well with that.
- 36:47Speaker 5: It was very offbeat, for sure, I thought it was.
- 36:51Speaker 5: But you know, she has a super specific type of
- 36:54Speaker 5: comedy and that really clicks with a lot of people,
- 36:58Speaker 5: and so I think she was It was a really
- 37:01Speaker 5: fun series. But and we got to make two seasons
- 37:06Speaker 5: of it. Yeah.
- 37:07Speaker 4: Yeah, I think the uncle and I forget what the
- 37:10Speaker 4: actor's name is, but he he was kind of like
- 37:12Speaker 4: the the more traditional comedy sense.
- 37:14Speaker 3: That's why, you know, I think that's why when Marina
- 37:17Speaker 3: had her quirky sense of comedy. I think that's why.
- 37:19Speaker 4: That's why I accomplied each other well, particularly that the
- 37:22Speaker 4: pilot episode I thought was really well done too, you know,
- 37:25Speaker 4: just shooting a commercial and a pet store like shooting
- 37:28Speaker 4: that pilot and yeah, I just thought that was really funny.
- 37:31Speaker 5: Yeah, it's very cool, man. She was awesome and it's
- 37:34Speaker 5: actually crazy doing that show was apparently the hardest show
- 37:42Speaker 5: to control from a security standpoint, Like her fans were
- 37:48Speaker 5: crazier than Sean and the company had ever seen worked with,
- 37:53Speaker 5: you know, everybody, Anne Hathaway and Robert Redford and Shilah
- 38:01Speaker 5: buff and Nicholas Cage and Samuel L. Jack, like he's
- 38:05Speaker 5: worked with so many people, and the heart the you know,
- 38:09Speaker 5: the craziest fans that they'd ever seen was for her.
- 38:12Speaker 5: It was kind of kind of funny.
- 38:14Speaker 4: So so basically they would just like find out where
- 38:16Speaker 4: they were filming and just kind of like they didn't
- 38:18Speaker 4: want to leave until they met her or something like that.
- 38:20Speaker 5: Yeah, oh yeah, sneaking her in and out of places
- 38:24Speaker 5: and oh yeah it was. It was crazy.
- 38:29Speaker 4: So, you know, just speaking off you know, crazy, you know,
- 38:33Speaker 4: Jamie say, what what is the hardest producing obstacle We've
- 38:36Speaker 4: ever had to overcome?
- 38:37Speaker 3: He has a question. I always make sure to ask producers.
- 38:40Speaker 4: You know what, what is that that the biggest challenge
- 38:43Speaker 4: that you've either had to to to kind of figure
- 38:46Speaker 4: out on.
- 38:46Speaker 3: Set or or what have you. You know, what, what
- 38:49Speaker 3: was that? What was your biggest challenge?
- 38:52Speaker 5: Hm hmm, that's a good question. Actually, I'm trying to
- 38:59Speaker 5: think of if I can point to anything. I mean, look,
- 39:03Speaker 5: none of these problems that you have on set are
- 39:09Speaker 5: life or death. For the most part, they really shouldn't be.
- 39:12Speaker 5: Like we're not out here making We're not out here
- 39:14Speaker 5: saving lives. We're making filmed entertainment for television and the
- 39:19Speaker 5: movie theaters and some of the streamers, I guess now,
- 39:22Speaker 5: But so we don't have people's lives in our hands.
- 39:25Speaker 5: So anytime that there's a big quote unquote crisis, it's
- 39:29Speaker 5: always we always try and remind ourselves, at least here
- 39:34Speaker 5: at Bright Light that it's not life or death. To
- 39:38Speaker 5: just take a minute, take a breath, and we can
- 39:40Speaker 5: figure it out, and if it can be solved with money,
- 39:42Speaker 5: it's not really a problem. So trying to pinpoint like
- 39:47Speaker 5: a huge challenge, I think it's mostly just people and
- 39:50Speaker 5: making sure that everybody is as happy as they can be.
- 39:57Speaker 2: We'll be right back after a word from our sponsor,
- 40:03Speaker 2: and now back to the show.
- 40:06Speaker 5: You know, you're working with one hundred and fifty two
- 40:10Speaker 5: hundred people on set. There's always going to be problems
- 40:14Speaker 5: and egos and you know, things to solve. But I
- 40:20Speaker 5: think it is really just navigating how you how you
- 40:27Speaker 5: deal with people and how you deal with ego. That's
- 40:32Speaker 5: a daily challenge for sure, to just kind of keep
- 40:35Speaker 5: it as mellow and I guess calm as possible, you know,
- 40:42Speaker 5: And that's why that's why we do this. We want
- 40:47Speaker 5: to make want to make movies and want to be
- 40:50Speaker 5: on set and create something rather than being in the boardroom.
- 40:54Speaker 5: So those long hours and the tough challenges are of
- 41:00Speaker 5: fine trade off.
- 41:02Speaker 4: So that so you know, a lot of this does
- 41:05Speaker 4: come down to you know, communication and you know kind
- 41:07Speaker 4: of diffusing bad situations and stuff like that. You know,
- 41:11Speaker 4: just having the different producers on here. That's kind of
- 41:13Speaker 4: what I've i've you know, inferred from just interviewing you know,
- 41:17Speaker 4: different producers like yourself is one. You have to be
- 41:20Speaker 4: able to communicate to everybody. And most of the producers
- 41:25Speaker 4: that I've had on here and most of the producers
- 41:27Speaker 4: that I've met everybody from you know, you know, producing
- 41:31Speaker 4: stuff you see in the theater, to producing you know,
- 41:34Speaker 4: indie films to producing whatever. That seems to be the
- 41:37Speaker 4: big thing is also they want to be able to
- 41:39Speaker 4: a lot of them are more approachable, meaning on set
- 41:42Speaker 4: they're approachable, like if you want to come talk to
- 41:44Speaker 4: about something, they're pretty approachable. But in that in that way,
- 41:49Speaker 4: that's that's sort of what I've found is that it's communication,
- 41:52Speaker 4: you know, being a people person.
- 41:55Speaker 3: I've only worked with with maybe.
- 41:57Speaker 4: Two producers who don't want to talk to anybody ever
- 42:00Speaker 4: for whatever reason. I don't know why, but they're just like, hey,
- 42:03Speaker 4: everyone stay away from me unless you're the director or whatever.
- 42:06Speaker 4: So you know what I mean, it's most of them
- 42:08Speaker 4: are pretty much have those two things in common.
- 42:11Speaker 5: Yeah, I mean, that's it. I think that that's a
- 42:14Speaker 5: lot of this industry is communication and people skills. Right.
- 42:19Speaker 5: It doesn't matter if you are on set talking to
- 42:22Speaker 5: a grip or if you are in development talking to
- 42:26Speaker 5: a writer. You're always trying to get people on the
- 42:29Speaker 5: same page, and you, as the producer are kind of
- 42:34Speaker 5: the meeting spot for everything you're watching over the entire project.
- 42:39Speaker 5: From a thirty thousand foot perspective, and so you are
- 42:42Speaker 5: always trying to bring people into that same vision and
- 42:47Speaker 5: keep them on track. Like I said, whether you are
- 42:50Speaker 5: on set or whether you are in development, like it
- 42:55Speaker 5: is always just dealing with people and how do you
- 42:58Speaker 5: couch certain things? You know, how do you how do
- 43:02Speaker 5: you deal with one person versus the next because not
- 43:04Speaker 5: everybody responds to certain tactics. Well, yeah, it's it's it's
- 43:11Speaker 5: a it's a people business for sure, it's and that's
- 43:13Speaker 5: why you know, that's why kind of the come full circle.
- 43:16Speaker 5: It's it's a trust business, and it's hard to break
- 43:19Speaker 5: into people hire the same people again and again and
- 43:23Speaker 5: again because they have great working relationships with them and
- 43:28Speaker 5: they speak a common language, and they know, you know,
- 43:31Speaker 5: in high stress scenarios, they can count on this person
- 43:39Speaker 5: and they can count on them time and time again.
- 43:41Speaker 4: So you know, yeah that I've found that out too,
- 43:46Speaker 4: you know, just just working with the same people over
- 43:48Speaker 4: and over again.
- 43:48Speaker 3: There's a reason why directors, producers, et cetera. Do that stuff.
- 43:52Speaker 4: It's just because you know, they've built their relationship. It's trust,
- 43:56Speaker 4: you know, just you know, when I do different things,
- 44:00Speaker 4: it's like, you know, sometimes you want to work with
- 44:02Speaker 4: a different director of cinematography, and then all of a
- 44:04Speaker 4: sudden you realize this wasn't such a good idea.
- 44:07Speaker 3: So you know, it just happens.
- 44:10Speaker 4: I mean, I've been on a set before where you know,
- 44:13Speaker 4: the director's cinematography is just not cooperative and just wants
- 44:17Speaker 4: to be off on his own and doesn't want to
- 44:18Speaker 4: talk to anybody, and you're like, oh, okay, I don't
- 44:22Speaker 4: know how this is gonna work. But but you know,
- 44:25Speaker 4: it's stuff like that. That's what you know about. The
- 44:27Speaker 4: biggest obstacle that that that question. I always again, I
- 44:30Speaker 4: just reaterly. I always asked that to producers just because
- 44:32Speaker 4: you see the gamut of you know, you show up
- 44:34Speaker 4: to a location and it's not you know, maybe it's
- 44:36Speaker 4: not ready or something's different. You know, your director's cinematography
- 44:40Speaker 4: doesn't want to show up, or you have somebody to
- 44:42Speaker 4: show up and.
- 44:42Speaker 3: They want to you know, they want to ask for
- 44:44Speaker 3: more money the day of. By the way, all those
- 44:47Speaker 3: things I mentioned have happened to me in one way
- 44:48Speaker 3: or another.
- 44:51Speaker 5: It's it's a very challenging role to be in and
- 44:56Speaker 5: you're juggling so many different things and there's so much
- 44:59Speaker 5: going that they're abound to be crazy problems.
- 45:03Speaker 4: Yeah, yeah, absolutely absolutely, Uh you know, you know, Jamison,
- 45:07Speaker 4: we've been talking for you know, just about forty five minutes,
- 45:11Speaker 4: you know, just to just to kind of put a
- 45:13Speaker 4: period at the end of all this. Is there anything
- 45:15Speaker 4: that we can get a chance to discuss that you
- 45:17Speaker 4: wanted to discuss right now or anything anything at all?
- 45:23Speaker 5: No, nothing that comes to mind. I mean, uh, it's
- 45:29Speaker 5: so great. It's so fun to talk to people about
- 45:32Speaker 5: the nuts and bolts of making independent cinema. And it
- 45:37Speaker 5: is a it is an incredible passion of mine. I
- 45:40Speaker 5: love I do love working in TV, and I'm having
- 45:43Speaker 5: a phenomenal experience with this show. But there is something
- 45:47Speaker 5: so satisfying about kind of knuckling down and uh and
- 45:53Speaker 5: making independent film that I love. So I'm excited. I've
- 45:59Speaker 5: got one in the in the pipe for June July
- 46:02Speaker 5: next year that we'll shoot here in Vancouver, it looks like,
- 46:05Speaker 5: and I'm excited to kind of get back to those
- 46:10Speaker 5: independent roots while I'm in between some of these more
- 46:14Speaker 5: studio gigs, you know.
- 46:17Speaker 3: And that's really cool.
- 46:18Speaker 4: And you know, whenever, never, if you ever want to
- 46:20Speaker 4: come back on Jamison, you know, when when any of
- 46:22Speaker 4: these projects come out, please let me know, and I'd
- 46:25Speaker 4: be glad to have you come back on.
- 46:27Speaker 5: I appreciate it. Man, this has actually been a really
- 46:30Speaker 5: great experience. You were right at the top when you're like,
- 46:32Speaker 5: I haven't had a bad time yet. Yeah, this is
- 46:35Speaker 5: this is great kind of no holds bar conversation.
- 46:39Speaker 2: Yeah.
- 46:39Speaker 3: Yeah, absolutely, And you know, I'm glad you had a
- 46:41Speaker 3: good time. And where people find you out online? Do
- 46:44Speaker 3: you have any social media channels or any websites you
- 46:46Speaker 3: want to give out?
- 46:47Speaker 5: Yeah, I mean I'm brad. Light Pictures dot Com is
- 46:50Speaker 5: where we're putting up everything that we do. I'm on Twitter,
- 46:55Speaker 5: I'm on Instagram, but I keep Instagram kind of just
- 46:59Speaker 5: for me, so Twitter and and uh and bright Light
- 47:03Speaker 5: Pictures is where I usually am, like you did before this.
- 47:09Speaker 5: My IMDb is where it has all the stuff that
- 47:12Speaker 5: we're currently I'm currently working on and stuff that's coming up.
- 47:15Speaker 5: And that's a great place to to find out what's
- 47:19Speaker 5: what we have at bright Light and what I got
- 47:20Speaker 5: going on here too.
- 47:22Speaker 3: And everyone.
- 47:23Speaker 4: I'm gonna link to all that in the show notes
- 47:25Speaker 4: at Dave bollspodcast dot com. You know, it's kind of funny.
- 47:29Speaker 4: I got Dealer, I got in trouble with YouTube, and
- 47:33Speaker 4: I got in trouble with like Apple. You know, I
- 47:35Speaker 4: am this close, Jamison, just being a race for the
- 47:38Speaker 4: internet completely. I just I just keep pissing off these
- 47:41Speaker 4: giant Internet corporations.
- 47:43Speaker 5: Uh.
- 47:43Speaker 3: And I don't even I'm not even trying to do anything.
- 47:47Speaker 3: I got in trouble with.
- 47:48Speaker 4: Facebook over over posting uh this podcast, and I'm like,
- 47:51Speaker 4: all right, well I'm back in a thousand.
- 47:54Speaker 3: So I'm telling you it's like it's like I've done.
- 47:58Speaker 3: I'm just I'm this close.
- 48:00Speaker 4: Away from just pissing off every Internet giant and now
- 48:03Speaker 4: and then I won't be able to do.
- 48:04Speaker 5: Anything but the gatekeepers. Yeah.
- 48:08Speaker 4: So seriously, my god, I haven't pissed off Riser or
- 48:11Speaker 4: Comcast yet, so I need to work on that.
- 48:14Speaker 5: So but still the beginning of the week, you got time?
- 48:19Speaker 4: Yeah, yeah, right, yes, what I can do this week?
- 48:22Speaker 4: But everyone, it's Dave Willie's podcast. I have all my
- 48:25Speaker 4: social media channels on there. I have every episode of
- 48:28Speaker 4: the podcast on there as well. And again, thank you
- 48:31Speaker 4: for everyone who always keeps sharing this podcast, and Jamison,
- 48:34Speaker 4: I want to say thank you so much for coming
- 48:36Speaker 4: on and this has been a blast.
- 48:38Speaker 5: Thank you so much for having me man really excited
- 48:40Speaker 5: to keep listening to your podcast and hopefully beyond it
- 48:45Speaker 5: again in the future.
- 48:47Speaker 2: I want to thank Dave so much for doing such
- 48:49Speaker 2: a great job on this episode. If you want to
- 48:50Speaker 2: get links to anything we spoke about in this episode,
- 48:52Speaker 2: head over to the show notes at any filmunco dot
- 48:55Speaker 2: com Forward slash seven seventy five. If you haven't already,
- 48:58Speaker 2: please head over to Filmmaking podcast dot com, subscribe and
- 49:03Speaker 2: leave a good review for the show. It really helps
- 49:06Speaker 2: us out a lot.
- 49:06Speaker 5: Guys.
- 49:07Speaker 2: Thank you again so much for listening to guys. As always,
- 49:09Speaker 2: keep that hustle going, keep that dream alive, Stay safe
- 49:12Speaker 2: out there, and I'll talk to you soon.
- 49:15Speaker 1: Thanks for listening to the Indie Film Hustle podcast at
- 49:18Speaker 1: indiefilm hustle dot com. That's I N D I E
- 49:21Speaker 1: F I L M h U S T l E
- 49:24Speaker 1: dot com.