Latest / Indie Film Hustle® - A Filmmaking Podcast / IFH 708: Writing the INSANE World of Machette with Alvaro Rodriguez

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IFH 708: Writing the INSANE World of Machette with Alvaro Rodriguez · Indie Film Hustle® - A Filmmaking Podcast

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  You are listening to the IFH podcast Network. For more amazing filmmaking and screenwriting
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  podcasts, just go to IFH podcast network dot com. Welcome to the Indie
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  Filmhustle Podcast, Episode number seven, so eight do or do not? There
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  is no try Yoda broadcasting from the back alley in Hollywood. It's the Indie
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  Film Hustle Podcast, where we show you how to survive and thrive as an
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  indie filmmaker in the jungles of the film biz. And here's your host,
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  Alex Ferrari. Welcome, Welcome to another episode of the Indie Film Hustle Podcast.
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  That's film bizbook dot com. Enjoy today's episode with guest host Dave Bullis.
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  Joining me tonight is Alvo Rodriguez. Alvro is a screenwriter who is currently
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  working on season two of From Dusk Till Dawn, the series. His career
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  in film actually began when he began rifting on a Spanish guitar for the hero's
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  musical theme and his cousin, Robert Arriguez debut film Arameliacchi, which began a
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  collaboration that has lasted over two decades. Alvrow how are you, sir?
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  I'm doing great. How are you pretty good? It's the weather MPa has
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  gotten a lot better over the past few days. That's good. Same here
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  in Austin. Oh nice. You know, I actually want to talk to
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  you about Austin before I get to that. So could you give us a
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  little more detail about your background, you know, and how you know everything?
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  You got started in the film business? Sure? Well, you know,
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  I grew up with the love for movies, and I grew up with
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  a love for reading and writing and always wanted to be a novelist. And
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  would you know, say, well, I know it's a hard road to
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  try to do, and uh, you know, I'll probably end up being
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  a teacher, which I was for a time, but I want to,
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  you know, to keep writing. But I had this cousin, Robert,
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  who you know, when I first remember spending any time with him, we
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  were kids at my grandmother's house in South Texas, sitting in the back of
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  the truck, and he was talking about this new movie that had just come
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  out, which she hadn't seen yet, but seemed to know everything about how
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  the director had done this shot and how this was done and all this stuff
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  and my jaw was just on the floor of the truck because I realized I
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  finally found someone who loved movies, Baby Moore and I and that movie was
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  called The Sca from New York, John Carpenter's movie the early eighties, and
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  and it was just like, you know, I lighted off on my head.
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  I was probably in the fifth grade or so, and I started to
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  write my first little scripts. Had written a parody of the TV show Dallas,
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  and just thought, you know, this is great. I'm going to
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  write the scripts. Robert will direct them, and his sister Angela or his
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  older sister, and my older cousin she starred, and she wanted to be
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  an actress, and it actually did happen. I mean she she became an
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  actress. She was in a several movies and including the movie that I wrote
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  was called Shorts. So you know, it was amazing. It was amazing
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  to see that all finally kind of come come true. But and then you
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  know, later on I did music for his first show and Mary actually,
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  like you mentioned, and right after that we started collaborating on a script together
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  which never got made called Till Death was Part, which we wrote for an
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  actress that Robert had met and thought it was going to be the next big
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  thing and she was almo Hiah and uh and ever since then, I just
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  you know, was writing on different projects with him, you know, contributing
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  scenes or dialogue or our ideas going movies like Four Rooms and Road Racers and
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  the later plants RR and then the rep Shorts and Machetti together, so you
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  know, and then you know where did you know? And well, actually
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  you know, I'll get to that later from Gus Soil Dawn because I don't
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  want to get you know, two far ahead. But I mean that's absolutely
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  amazing, you know, No, you know that, you know, you're
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  able to collaborate with a family member, and it was so amazing He's able
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  to open all these doors for you, and you know that. I mean,
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  you know, and that's you know a couple of those things I want
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  to touch on. So just really quickly, are you at the Southwest Southwest
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  Festival right now? I am? Indeed, Yeah, we're shooting. We're
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  shooting my episode, Dustil Dawn's second season, second episode right now and just
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  happens to coincide with West Festival. So been able to go and uh,
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  you know, do some screenings and and uh, you know, the networking
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  and stuff like that. It's been fantastic. So are you filming this series
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  in Austin? Then yeah, the entire show shoots in and around Austin.
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  So Robert here's his own studio, Troublemaking Studios, where he's shot many of
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  the films. Uh here in Austin, which is right next to Austin Studios,
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  where we're also have sets and we're shooting in and around town on different
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  locations. Machete was shot entirely here in Austin's too, on those set and
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  on those stages and in and around town. So it's it's amazing. It's
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  amazing to be able to have that kind of those kind of facilities and just
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  a great crew and great people that that uh you know, Robert uses uh
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  again again on all these different projects. So make sure our you know,
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  our little TV show looks like a like a big feature project. I mean,
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  I mean that's amazing me able to work with the same crew and everything
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  over and over. You know that that is a great benefit. And also
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  it's great that you know, he has his own studio right there in Austin.
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  You know the reason I asked where you're streaming. It was because you
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  know, with all these film tax credits and that there's a you know,
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  the debate about you know, do they work, do they not work?
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  You know, I know, sometimes you get thrown through a loop, you
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  know. You know, like season one of Banshee was filmed in South or
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  North Carolina and season two was actually filming here in Pennsylvania. Yeah, well,
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  I mean Austin is Austin has really become over the last couple of decades,
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  you know, quite a film and television production hub. You know,
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  this new series on ABC, American Crime, takes place in the best of
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  California, but was shot entirely in Austin. Hopefully they'll be back for season
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  two. Uh. And uh, you know it's it's it's really amazing.
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  There's that Uh. Austin. You know, it just has developed a really
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  strong reputation for film and television. A lot of people want to be here.
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  You know, we had guys in our in our cast that have you
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  know, bought places here and you know, our and I've heard the same
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  stories from other other crew members on other projects that they've worked on and from
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  other people that you know, awesome is a place where you know, actors
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  want to come and they want to work here, and because they have such
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  a good time in the city and the city is very open to all those
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  kinds of it's a great creative, creative nexus here in Austin. Yeah.
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  I've always heard that, and I've always heard that slogan keep Austin weird.
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  Yeah, so we're doing that part. We're doing our party to keep it
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  weird. Uh. You know. So, what's one of the coolest things
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  that you have seen thus far at the south By Southwest Festival. Well,
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  last I went to a screening that was Saturday as the thirtieth i think the
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  thirtieth first anniversary screeting of The Road Warrior, but was George Miller director in
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  attendance, and we got to see kind of a sneak after the film of
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  the New Fury Road, the new mad Max film. We got to see
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  about seven or eight minutes of that, and then a special trailer that was
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  just cut for stut By Southwest and Warner Brothers had struck a brand new print
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  of the Zone. So it just it was absolutely me seeing and push Road
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  Warriors such a huge influence on both Robert and myself and h Robert actually got
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  to uh to do an episode of his series and already called the director's chair,
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  so he's you know, interviews different directors. He just aired the the
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  latest one a week or so ago with Francis Hort Coppola that he got to
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  film an episode with George Miller, and uh, you know, it's just
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  it's just amazing to see to see something like that in thirty five millimeter.
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  I think they said it is the only film it south by Southwest that was
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  screening a thirty five millimeter on the big screen in uh in a beautiful theater
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  downtown Austin, the Paramount, which is celebrating its under anniversary this year.
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  So it's just like, you know, and that's that's a really amazing account
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  of priceless experience. Uh, to see something like that. We'll be right
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  back after a word from our sponsor and now back to the show. Yeah,
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  I mean, I know you can't go into detail, but you know,
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  you know, what did you think of a couple of minutes of the
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  new of the New Man? Max relied to say, Yeah, it was
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  amazing, It was really amazing. I mean, it was such a it
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  was it was such a tease. It was. It was it was like,
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  please give us more, Please give us more, you know, because
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  it just it looks beautiful and and I'm Hardy, Tom Hardy who plays Man
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  Max look athic show atleast the wrong the entire cast. It it just has
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  uh it looks like a Road Warrior, you know, turning it up to
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  eleven and you know, Thunderdome everything, and plus it's just it's I can't
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  wait be it. Somethings makes this thing and it just looks absolutely amazing for
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  you know, fans of that that kind of film. I can't imagine that
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  anybody's really going to be disappointed. Uh, it just it looks. It
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  looks Feller. I couldn't wait to see it after that taste of it last
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  night. And that's good to hear coming from an actual fan of the original
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  as well, you know, because you know with the you know, the
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  the sort of the trends you see now in film is you know, there's
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  a lot of remakes, there's a lot of you know, old you know
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  properties, established properties that are getting you know made updated like uh you know
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  a minute where even TV shows. But you know, it's good that there
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  are you know, personally, like twenty one Jump Street. I thought that
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  was hilarious, Like you know what I mean, I went in there with
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  them, was no expectations that I came out and I said, Wow,
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  that was actually pretty damn good. Yeah. Absolutely, I mean I think
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  that's the thing. You know, the remakes and reboots and reimagining you often
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  get, you know, short trips, and people say, you know,
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  there's no more reason, like well, you know, just because the Colin
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  Brothers made True Grit doesn't erase the first film, you know, doesn't erase
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  your original And a lot of things, you know, writing and entertaining and
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  stories are it's such a it's already inherently a system of recycling, you know,
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  that the system of taking something old and getting it a new spin in
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  some way. And obviously you could fall on that as a touch. But
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  I think when you have talent and uh and this will to sort of like
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  make something better or make something with your own touch, and you have someone
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  like George Miller who you know, at the helm of of of taking Mad
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  Max and doing the remagining or reboot or whatever you want to call it,
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  that you know you're in the hands of a Master and and there are so
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  many you know, it's a whole new generation who weren't able to experience The
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  Road Lawyer the first time it came out in the context in which it came
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  out, you know, in the context in which it came out, it
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  was like this, uh, you know, this supposed apocalyptic feature that we
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  seem to be so close to now. And that's one of the things that
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  that makes I think the movie resident and uh doing the original again and and
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  giving giving a new ideas for what the this reboot is going to be,
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  you know, So I you know, I don't have the same sort of
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  uh negative outlook on those kinds of things. I guess. You know,
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  some some people call things from cliche, and I a say, now it's
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  kind of cliche. It's the universal truth, so just go with that.
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  Yeah, you know, and I agree with you, albro. You know,
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  sometimes what what I seem to see from even my friends is there's two
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  kinds of attitudes they have. Either they go like, uh, they either
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  say like we see something like, you know, like a big budget blockbuster,
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  whether you're it's a superhero movie or you know, Transformers or have you.
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  They'll say like, you know, if they didn't like it, they'll
• 13:50
  say, oh, well, you know, what, what did you expect?
• 13:52
  They know, bla blah blah blah, you know, or the other
• 13:54
  one is it's overrated or you know it's this or that. I mean,
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  it just seems to be like if they like when someone does try something new,
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  they're sort of like, you know, you us something new. It's
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  almost like there's a trend you know in movie reviewers of like, oh my
• 14:11
  god, why are they doing this? And then you know that's where spewers
• 14:13
  can say like, hey, we try to do something new and nobody wants
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  to go see it. Yeah, that's true, right, And there's this
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  thing, you know, and dessel Gone is reimagining as a television series to
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  reimagining as the movie and taking that world further. You know, so in
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  so many ways, you know, we're joky of it too, but we're
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  trying to do something else with it, you know, we're trying to take
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  it further and uh and you know, develop characters, bringing new characters that
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  just utilize that world. And and we have to have the other thing to
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  remember exactly what you said. This is a This is in so many ways
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  of business and sometimes it's easier, it's a different it's an easier spell to
• 14:50
  spell someone something that they think they already know and but it's just but now
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  it's it's it's the same, but it's different. And and it's it's that
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  kind of ability to take take something that that people already are familiar with and
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  give it back to them in a new way. And I think that when
• 15:09
  when you do that well, people respond to it well. And that was
• 15:13
  one of the great things about working on the show is that, you know,
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  it was very it was a parent very early on that everybody involved,
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  the cast and the writers and the directors that were brought on board direct episode,
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  they were all coming to this as a as as a bit of a
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  passion project. Nobody was really there, in my opinion, just kind of
• 15:35
  picking up the check and you know, walking away from it. Everybody was
• 15:39
  really invested in in in the project. I think you just you get it.
• 15:45
  You get a sense of that when you watch the stuff, and so
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  you know, I think that's that's the best you can to help for,
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  and that's can ask for. Oh yeah, absolutely, And you I've watched
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  the whole the whole first season, and you know, I can definitely tell
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  you know, you have both of them, of the Gecko brothers, they
• 16:03
  both you know, one looks like Clooney, one looks like Tarantino. I
• 16:07
  thought, I mean that was excellent casting by the way. I was like,
• 16:08
  well, I mean I could you know, the the you know,
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  finding someone looks like Tarantino. He has a unique look. So I was
• 16:15
  like, man, that what it must have been either the easiest casting session
• 16:18
  ever or the hardest casting session effort, because you know, I mean,
• 16:22
  either you have to look through a ton of headshots or like, you know,
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  only two got you know two or even closely resemble uh, you know,
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  actors who were submitted, and you know, and when I watched this
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  and when I watched it, you know, especially the first couple episodes,
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  it takes place, you know, in that same little convenience store with the
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  sheriff and and you know, and you know, it was you know,
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  very well done. And and then there's also you know, you know,
• 16:45
  for those who haven't seen it, there's also a whole layer that you've added
• 16:48
  to the TV show as well. Yeah. Absolutely, I mean in that
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  opening, in that opening episode, which is very based on the first five
• 16:53
  or ten minutes of the film. You know, in the film of character
• 16:57
  for the Texas Ranger. Oh oh, it's played by Michael Parks and he
• 17:02
  gets killed off in that first ten minutes of film, and we had you
• 17:06
  know, Don Johnson playing the character on our show. You know, there's
• 17:10
  a tremendous actor in at begin there, but we were going to extend his
• 17:14
  role so that even though his character died in the first episode, he was
• 17:18
  in flashbacks for the next few episodes, and so you've got to see more
• 17:22
  of that character. And that's a lot of the fun of the project,
• 17:27
  like this too, is that it exists in this special you know world called
• 17:33
  the Tarantino Universe, you know, the Tarantino Verse. You know, Earl
• 17:37
  McGraw shows up in Planet Terror, Earl McGraw shows up in other other Tarantino
• 17:42
  things. So you've got this kind of continuity of story and things like that,
• 17:48
  these characters that kind of show up in these different Tarantino kind of related
• 17:53
  things. And so it's it's amazing to have a small part in that in
• 17:59
  that worlds. Yeah, and I think you've done a phenomenal job, you
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  know, I, you know, I when I first heard about you know,
• 18:07
  the dustledone series. You know, I was like, you know,
• 18:11
  it was just gonna be a continuation, you know, it was just gonna
• 18:12
  be a prequel. And then I launched. I was like, oh wow,
• 18:15
  it's really interesting what they've done here, and they sort of well,
• 18:18
  you know, I was just gonna say, back in the day, you
• 18:22
  know, back in the late nineties, I actually had Robert was out in
• 18:26
  Japan promoting a film he did, called the Faculty, and we were messaging
• 18:30
  each other online and he said, you know, Dimension and their Max were
• 18:34
  interested in doing a couple of sequels Dustildon probably would be straight to video and
• 18:41
  shot back to back and asked me if I had any ideas, and so
• 18:44
  I pitched an idea for basically a sort of spaghetti western prequel to dust hold
• 18:48
  On, which we ended up making as Dustldon three, The Hangman's Daughter,
• 18:52
  with Michael Parks playing a real real life character named Ambrose Beers who had disappeared
• 18:57
  in Mexico around the time of the Mexican Revolution, and so it was great
• 19:03
  to have already kind of had the background of doing research the story also sort
• 19:08
  of the genesis of Stony Santanico Pandemonium. Charak had played by it Salahiak and
• 19:14
  the original film and kind of came up with this different backstory for her and
• 19:18
  researching all the sort of meso American mythologies of aspect and mind things and our
• 19:26
  own special ideas about what these these creatures were that inhabit this, uh,
• 19:32
  this Bordellos south of the border, and so coming to the show again it
• 19:38
  was like thinking some of some of those same ideas a bit, but going
• 19:41
  so much further with them and creating, you know, more back story and
• 19:45
  more more sort of lines of a story and plot and character arts and all
• 19:52
  of that kind of stuff. We'll be right back after a word from our
• 19:56
  sponsor and now back to the show. That really was was fun to work
• 20:07
  with and comming up with ideas for for for the season, especially since you
• 20:12
  know, after the first season the movie is over. We kind of took
• 20:15
  that that movie and turned it into tenets television, obviously with a lot of
• 20:19
  new material, a lot of new characters added. The character that will drive
• 20:22
  all Aroma plays is one of three characters that Cheeks Marine plays in the film
• 20:27
  Carlos, and then the movies movie is not much of a character, and
• 20:32
  then our show Carlos has become on the main, you know, a huge
• 20:36
  part of the show, a big anchor for the show. And now season
• 20:41
  two, like you know, the world is open again, and so to
• 20:45
  being able to create the season arc that you know that takes us completely out
• 20:52
  of the movie now, the following these characters and allowing the stories and storylines
• 20:57
  and arcs to grow from character instead of you know, just following what we
• 21:02
  had already seen. You know, it was a great challenge and also just
• 21:06
  a great opportunity to try to do something interesting in New So so Olvera.
• 21:11
  When you when you're you know, working together, I imagine you know,
• 21:14
  before each season, you know, you and all the other writers are in
• 21:17
  the room together. You know, how much how much outlined do you do
• 21:19
  before you actually all get started writing your own episodes? Well, it was
• 21:23
  it was a really kind of an amazing process we had. They had kind
• 21:27
  of an eight week stretch last summer to to just talk out where we were
• 21:33
  going. And one of the one of the think really invaluable things that we
• 21:37
  did was we brought in each of the main characters, each of the main
• 21:41
  actor in one at a time, to come into the room and talk about
• 21:44
  their characters. You know, tell you know, tell me what you thought
• 21:47
  about season one. How do you feel your character, you know, feels
• 21:49
  at the end of season one? How does your character feel about other characters
• 21:53
  and on the show. But what did you like about season one? What
• 21:56
  did you not like about season one? What would what would you do?
• 22:00
  What kinds of things you know, would you like to see your character doing,
• 22:03
  and stuff like that. And that really kind of gave us a lot
• 22:06
  of ideas. And we started out with with with some ideas about where we
• 22:10
  thought we would go in the season. But you know, it was a
• 22:14
  it was a really evolutionary process and a really collaborative process. I think that
• 22:18
  was that was amazing. And uh and then as far as outlining, now
• 22:22
  there's there's so much of of you know, like they say, so much
• 22:26
  of writing is rewriting, so much of writing it's also a prewritting process before
• 22:32
  the scripts of of you know, writing outlines, having them you know,
• 22:34
  brought to the table, having them torn apart and rebuilt. You know,
• 22:40
  ideas that that you know we had for you know, a big finale that
• 22:44
  that might get just push you know further uh or closer to you know,
• 22:51
  before the end of the season, so we can even go further from the
• 22:53
  big idea that we had and all those kinds of things. You know,
• 22:57
  it's it's a really is sort of a you know and nothing is written in
• 23:03
  stone sort of thing as we're in that process and things are very fluid and
• 23:07
  flexible with the with the idea of being open to open to trying to collaboratively
• 23:15
  and individually, you know, bring bring your a game and keep constantly trying
• 23:21
  to challenge ourselves to make things better. When one of the things our show
• 23:23
  owner has kind of instilled in all of us, there's this idea of you
• 23:29
  know, our show owners are guy named Arlos Potos on Seal Shows and uh,
• 23:33
  you know, great record and Intellivision, And one of the things,
• 23:37
  you know he would say is if someone brought an idea that everybody thought,
• 23:41
  Hey, that's a really good that's a really good idea of characters, you
• 23:44
  know, we do that, Let's see you can earn it. You know,
• 23:47
  let's just not try to put a pin over here and say by this
• 23:49
  time this has to happen. So let's really see if we can get our
• 23:52
  characters to that point organically through the characters themselves getting to that, to that
• 23:59
  good idea. You know. So it's a it's a it's a it's a
• 24:03
  real challenge and uh but you know it's both like you know, we're all
• 24:08
  working together to do to try to do that, and you know, it's
• 24:14
  really great to have a showrunner, you know, with a lot of experience,
• 24:18
  you know, to actually sort of guide it along. I mean,
• 24:21
  uh, you know, I've actually tooked other writers other shows and they've mentioned
• 24:23
  how important that person can be because you know, like you just said,
• 24:27
  you know, people have to earn it and you can't sort of force it
• 24:32
  just because hey it's a cool idea, right yeah, no, absolutely,
• 24:36
  and that and that's I think that spirit really continues on even as we're shooting
• 24:41
  an episode, you know, to come up with an idea, even as
• 24:44
  we're shooting and say, you know, maybe this needs to happen. Well
• 24:47
  it's you know, let's let's not try to force it. Let's let's really
• 24:49
  try to find a way to make it, to make it seem like a
• 24:53
  natural, organic part of the story. And so you know, there's a
• 25:00
  uh and we're just really really uh fortunate and uh, you know, theyve
• 25:06
  created these constellations of great great crew, great actors, you know, great
• 25:11
  director's photography and great directors on our episodes to really kind of try to,
• 25:17
  you know, to do the best that we can with with with ideas and
• 25:21
  with the scripts and uh and you know, try to put out something that
• 25:25
  that people will will be intrigued by and want to keep watching. So you
• 25:30
  know, uh, Albro, now that you have you know, you you
• 25:33
  have you know, uh, the episode and everything from the writer's meeting,
• 25:37
  you know, how do you personally sit down to write? I mean do
• 25:41
  you so I mean, I know you probably have a couple of points and
• 25:45
  a couple of things that you have to incorporate in the episode. But do
• 25:48
  you sort of do you sort of break it out into the eight parts,
• 25:51
  like you know, the eighth structure theory or do you know, do you
• 25:53
  just do the traditional free act or do you not do any of that and
• 25:56
  just go go full forward in Oh, you know, we definitely stick to
• 26:00
  a structure. You know, on our show, we kind of go with
• 26:03
  what we you know, present as a five act structure, you know,
• 26:07
  and and the outlying you know will reflect the act breaks and you know said
• 26:15
  sometimes there's a fluid in those change. We'll always try to have a really
• 26:18
  good, strong, you know, act out and then a strong act and
• 26:22
  uh, you know between the breaks and stuff like that. So you know,
• 26:26
  the outline process is fairly rigorous and and and there's really as detail as
• 26:32
  we can possibly make it, and then other things there's left us, you
• 26:34
  know, with our chain calls in a writer's opportunity to you know, kind
• 26:38
  of you know, when you're writing the script, actually find something that you
• 26:42
  know will will not have maybe not have been in the outline or not.
• 26:48
  It's clear in the outline that's suddenly in the writing of the of the script
• 26:51
  itself. You know, methods, But as far as the writing process,
• 26:56
  you know, it's it's a lot of crying, a lot of pro fascination,
• 27:00
  a lot of you know, pulicidal thoughts, and then somehow putting together
• 27:04
  something that that you know it's going to be challenged again, you know,
• 27:11
  And I think that's that in a lot of ways, that's a that's a
• 27:14
  liberating part of the thing too. You know, there's realizing that, uh
• 27:18
  that you know, it's our duty to try to give the best that we
• 27:25
  can, but realize that you know, it's always going to be improved upon.
• 27:30
  If we're always going to it's still a malleable thing in the moment that
• 27:33
  you shoot it, because there are things that happen, our new ideas that
• 27:40
  come in. One of the one of the great things about this particular season
• 27:44
  is that we were able to have, you know, all of our scripts
• 27:47
  written before we actually started shooting, and so that allowed, you know,
• 27:52
  for a certain amount of you know, being able to go over the entirety
• 27:59
  of the of the season, of the scripts and really try to, you
• 28:03
  know, make sure all the setups were set up and all the payoffs were
• 28:07
  paid off, you know, and and everything got hit. So I mean
• 28:12
  it uh uh, you know, it sets the ball pretty high, so
• 28:18
  hopefully we can we can we can make that jump. So, you know,
• 28:25
  has your writing style sort of changed over the years, you know,
• 28:26
  from you know, obviously I was looking at your IMDb and you know,
• 28:30
  your first actual writing credit is you know, from Dustled on three Hangwin's Daughter.
• 28:36
  So when you put that to you, where you are now, has
• 28:38
  your writing uh sort of a process changed a lot. I think the process
• 28:45
  has probably changed a bit, and I think that the style has probably changed
• 28:48
  a bit. I mean I remember it back to that time. You know,
• 28:52
  one of the executives who was at the mansion at the time said,
• 28:55
  you know, your script is great. It reads almost like a novel.
• 28:57
  And I realized that I was, you know, I really wasn't training as
• 29:00
  a screenwriter. A lot of this was, you know, kind of learning
• 29:03
  by doing. I didn't. I never had taken any kind of screenwriting classes
• 29:07
  or anything like that, and didn't go to school screen idn't. It was
• 29:11
  probably an English major, but I had a lot of background in both.
• 29:15
  I had three semesters of creative writing as an undergraduate in poetry of all things.
• 29:19
  And then I was also an entertainment journalist for the student newspaper. I
• 29:23
  was just an entertainment editor, and you know, and I had done some
• 29:29
  news stuff too. I was working in a newspaper when I was writing Dusseldon
• 29:32
  three, and I felt like, you know, those things, which I
• 29:36
  sort of discounted, were actually strong primers for screenwriting, because the screenwriting it's
• 29:44
  so much about the essence of things. We'll be right back after a word
• 29:48
  from our sponsor, and now back to the show, and such a skeletal
• 29:57
  structure that the poet lent lent itself to that because in poetry, so many
• 30:03
  times you're trying to create you know, sensations and images and emotions, and
• 30:07
  a reader in the sea words as possible, creating these images in the see
• 30:11
  words as possible. And in journalism, you know, it's kind of this
• 30:15
  this just the facts man kind of reporting, you know, which also lends
• 30:18
  itself to screenwriting. So those were those were those were actually powerful, you
• 30:22
  know, sort of set up tools for me. But you know, even
• 30:26
  then, I feel like like I learned to kind of find my voice.
• 30:32
  I think my voice was there in that in the first script in Paying and
• 30:37
  Start. It wasn't the first script that written, the first script that you
• 30:40
  know, got made. And then to uh to kind of hone that down
• 30:45
  and keep trying to you know, to to convey as much information as possible
• 30:53
  and must becomic way possible and and try to really find the power of the
• 31:00
  language in order to you know, to convey in the reader's minds. You
• 31:04
  know that might be a reader is picking up the script and is the one
• 31:07
  who's going to pass it on to the next guy or not, or to
• 31:11
  you know, actually have a shooting script and have you know, the director
• 31:15
  read this and say, you know, this is how we're going to do
• 31:18
  this, or the director photography read this and say it is how it's going
• 31:21
  to be shot without using you know, without telling them exactly what they're going
• 31:25
  to do, but just to be able to sort of fuss that out for
• 31:29
  themselves in the script that you've written. So yeah, I think it's definitely
• 31:33
  evolved. I use that word again as part of the process, and that,
• 31:38
  you know, I hope that I can keep, you know, keep
• 31:41
  evolving and keep getting better at what I'm doing. And you know, I
• 31:47
  mean it's it's you know, it's amazing that you know, you always you
• 31:48
  know, finding new ways to improve. You know, I've noticed that too.
• 31:52
  You know, you touched on something about you know, you said the
• 31:55
  script read like a novel, you know, as I as I do more
• 31:59
  screen running as well, uh and even read scripts, I've realized I've finally
• 32:02
  realized now that actually reading screenplays that have either been produced or not produced,
• 32:07
  but have been like either either bought or optioned, really gives you a give
• 32:13
  gives you a view into that world that you know, any screenwriting guru or
• 32:19
  whatever can't give you, if you know what I mean. Absolutely. I
• 32:22
  mean, I think that's the thing too. And I spent I spent a
• 32:25
  long time once I started really writing, and you know, hanging as daughter,
• 32:30
  and after that of managing a library of of of anything I thought was
• 32:36
  useful. But among those, you know, practically every book on screenwriting ever
• 32:39
  written. And I was always trying to find you know, I was always
• 32:45
  trying to find short cuts. Maybe is not the right would but but sort
• 32:49
  of techniques or ideas of things that could help me, you know, uh,
• 32:52
  in the process. And the problem with that sometimes, and it loves
• 32:57
  for me, was that, you know, it could become a c because
• 33:00
  if it's actually become kind of a stifling had a stifling effect. And when
• 33:05
  I was writing, and I would be like, you know, I don't
• 33:07
  know what I'm going to do next, but I know the answer is probably
• 33:09
  on this shelf over here somewhere, or these shelves or this whole you know,
• 33:14
  this room of books. And and I think that the more that the
• 33:19
  more the more that you actually do in the process, the more that you're
• 33:21
  actually involved in the writing process, the less that you feel like you need
• 33:25
  those kinds of things because you've already sort of you've you've made them a part
• 33:30
  of yourself. They're inherent in your own sensibility because you know, you've been
• 33:35
  a reader your whole life. You've read, you've read scripts, so you've
• 33:37
  read novels, you've seen movies. You understand the language of film, you
• 33:42
  understand the language of screenwriting, and and I think, if you know,
• 33:45
  it's sort of getting to that point where, you know, I always kind
• 33:50
  of used the example of when I was an undergraduate. When I first got
• 33:53
  to the University of Texas, I tested out of sixteen hours of Spanish,
• 33:59
  you know, and I never had to take my I never had to take
• 34:01
  Spanish at the college level, and I felt like I never really got as
• 34:06
  intensive training in Spanish as I could have. And it wasn't until years and
• 34:10
  years later I was finally like reading books in Spanish and realizing I wasn't translating
• 34:15
  into English in my head as I was reading. I was just understanding it.
• 34:20
  And I think it's the same thing with the writing. It's like I
• 34:22
  had I already had the language of screenwriting and the language of cinnama in my
• 34:27
  brain, and I just needed to kind of tap into it and realize that
• 34:30
  all of these things are many of them were already inherently a part of my
• 34:36
  h my own sensibilities. Yeah. Yeah, And you know, I've realized
• 34:42
  it too. Is that when you you know, sort of and when you
• 34:45
  start doing it, and you know, doing it is the most important part.
• 34:47
  When you start getting in there and actually writing and you know, being
• 34:51
  resistance and and and you know, you start to realize you don't need those
• 34:55
  signposts as much, you know what I mean. So you know, I
• 34:58
  mean you I'm sure you've heard of, like you certain rules like oh,
• 35:00
  by page seventeen, this has to happen, and you know, and you
• 35:05
  realize that, you know, those guide posts aren't like definitive rules, they're
• 35:09
  just you know, either I guess you could say principles or you know,
• 35:14
  someone was just like, hey, look I noticed that on pay seventeen of
• 35:16
  these scripts this happened, So therefore here's a rule, right, Well,
• 35:21
  I mean that's the thing I mean I did. I did take workshops later
• 35:23
  on, especially like I didn't say the Cat workshop here in Austin with Blake
• 35:27
  Snyder when he was when he was still alive, and and it was it
• 35:30
  was it was the first screenwriting workshop I've ever done and it was so amazing
• 35:34
  to me because what Blakes had done in his book and then the workshop was
• 35:37
  to take you know, the sort of the sort of fifteen beats and how
• 35:42
  to show you how, you know, if you could look at Jaws and
• 35:45
  you could look at you know, a comedy and you could look at a
• 35:47
  horror film, you could look at whatever jol or it was, you would
• 35:51
  always sort of find these sort of fifteen things in it. And the way
• 35:53
  that he described them this is, you know, it's like the casual Friday's
• 35:57
  version of the you know story or or Blue Hunter or whatever that that it
• 36:04
  was. It was so accessible, you know. And but I think you
• 36:07
  thinking about those things you too, is that you really kind of have to
• 36:10
  take them as as a descriptive and not not prescriptive. You know, it's
• 36:15
  describing a thing that already exists. And when you you know, you can
• 36:21
  you can definitely apply them and they it will help you and structure. But
• 36:23
  but don't be so confined to to a page number or anything like that.
• 36:28
  Just like just know that that that that this is sort of for the way
• 36:32
  stories have been told throughout time. And that's why I feel like so much
• 36:35
  of it is inherent. It's not telling you stuff that you already know,
• 36:37
  that putting it in the language that makes it sort of accessible and easy to
• 36:42
  understand, you know. So I think I think all those things are valuable.
• 36:45
  I don't discount them in any way, shape or form. But I
• 36:47
  think that you realize that you know that that uh, it's kind of telling
• 36:52
  you things that you sort of already intrinsically know, uh and maybe have just
• 36:59
  not thought of in those terms before. Gives you, gives you a terminology,
• 37:02
  gives you a way to name the parts you know of the body of
• 37:07
  your story and uh and realize, hey, you know the knee bones connected
• 37:12
  to the shin bone, and that that's that's that's the way that the body
• 37:15
  works, that's the way story words. And if you, you know,
• 37:20
  if you put these pieces together and realize that that there's a framework, then
• 37:23
  you can kind of, you know, mess around with that and twitch things
• 37:27
  around and and surprise yourself even uh, with hopes that that that's going to
• 37:31
  surprise the reader and that's going to surprise your audience. And I think the
• 37:36
  other thing is is to not discount at all the value of actually working with
• 37:40
  actors and actually being involved in the process so that you know, only for
• 37:47
  me, I was always kind of described myself as a guy chained to the
• 37:51
  laptop in the dungeon and that these are all just the voices in my head
• 37:53
  I was writing out. And when you're actually, you know, on set
• 37:59
  where actors like Don Johnson or Robert de Niro in the shedding, you know,
• 38:04
  is you know, doing it blinds you wrote and bringing his own sensibilities
• 38:07
  to them and stuff like that. It's like it opens up. You know,
• 38:13
  It's like if we were on the chakra level, he's just like,
• 38:15
  you know, your mind explodes. You reach the crown and you reach Nirvano,
• 38:20
  and you know, someone like Robert de Niro is doing your dialogue and
• 38:22
  bringing this whole other sensibility to it, but you didn't see even as you
• 38:27
  were writing it. That can influence the way that you approach writing, approach
• 38:32
  trying dialar, or approach writing scene or whatever it happens to be, you
• 38:36
  know what I mean. Oh, yeah, that's a very good point.
• 38:39
  You know. Sometimes I'll sit in with script readings, so you know,
• 38:45
  I I actually I co found that a writer's group two years ago and we
• 38:49
  still meet, you know, we meet twice a month, and you know,
• 38:51
  when everyone's done, we actually stage reading, especially get actors and have
• 38:55
  I just have a you know reading in a conference from altogether, and you
• 39:00
  know, and it's you know the writers who actually who wrote that particular script.
• 39:05
  You know, they're always fransically taking notes because you're actually hearing now you
• 39:07
  know, different voice added to that. You know, because again, like
• 39:12
  you said, they come to you know, putting their inflection on the character
• 39:15
  right, absolutely absolutely, and just you know, even things that you thought
• 39:21
  work on the page that don't work, you know, in the reality of
• 39:23
  the situation or or And that's it's another thing too. It's like just an
• 39:29
  example of last season of UH working in an episode that I've written with Robert
• 39:35
  Patrick, and we were rehearsing the scene sitting around the table with Robert Patrick
• 39:38
  and Mason Damn for Brandon Zu who would play Kate and Scott Fuller, his
• 39:45
  children on show, and there was a moment I was just kind of kind
• 39:49
  of glanced over at Robert and he just had this look on his face and
• 39:53
  I just told him, I said, you know, I can't even look
• 39:55
  at you because you're selling You're so intense right now, you can do more
• 40:00
  with one look than than if I gave you a page of dialogue. We'll
• 40:06
  be right back after a word from our sponsor, and now back to the
• 40:13
  show. And realized that the physicality or the actor is something that never could
• 40:20
  sort of under underestimate in the in the writing process, and realize that you
• 40:25
  have to you have to leave something for the actor, do something for the
• 40:30
  actor to do. Recently in Los Angeles, I went to some screenings of
• 40:34
  films that John Boorman made straying Lee Marvin in a particularly point Blank, in
• 40:38
  a movie called Tell Them the Pacific, and joyne Epstein I think his name,
• 40:43
  has had written biography of Lee Marvin. You know, told a story
• 40:46
  about a scene in Point Blank in which Marvin's character sees comes back to see
• 40:52
  his wife who basically get him up or watched it as he was allegedly killed
• 40:59
  and left her dead and he comes back just to see her and realizing or
• 41:05
  thinking that he's going to kill the guy who tried to kill him. If
• 41:07
  he's been new checked up, it was wife and had this scene where we
• 41:12
  had all this dialogue, me Mormon, had all this dialogue with his life
• 41:14
  and he just asked if he could not say any of it and just have
• 41:17
  the conversation beyond from the life side and you and so assist his wife kind
• 41:23
  of talking to him as if they're having a conversation, but it's only her
• 41:28
  lines, and he's just giving her look. He hesus looking, and he's
• 41:31
  just he's just acting without dialogue. And you see how much how smart that
• 41:37
  is, first of all, and how brave it is for an acting to
• 41:39
  say, I can do this without words. You know, I can do
• 41:43
  this with my own physicality, with my own presence, without you know,
• 41:46
  without having to just say everything that I feel. I can show you that.
• 41:51
  And to think about that as a writer is you know, it's you
• 41:55
  know, it's it's an amazing sort of lesson in realizing that that this this
• 42:00
  really is a skeleton, and it's the actors and it's the directors of photography
• 42:05
  and directors and the lighting and everybody else that puts the flush on those bones.
• 42:10
  And and you know, that's it's something I think about, you know,
• 42:15
  in the process of writing and find to uh kind of leave that leave
• 42:21
  that space. You know, that's what the white space is, I think,
• 42:23
  you know, on the page, the white space is a place where
• 42:28
  the actor shines. The white space is where it's not you know, sort
• 42:31
  of snapping thisess of the dialogue or how well you have those action lines.
• 42:36
  It's it's the actress themselves, the characters that are that are breathing between this
• 42:40
  and between those lines, and h you know, I I talked about Jonathan
• 42:51
  Richmond song about Development Underground. He has the line and where he says they
• 42:54
  played less notes and lets more space, and that sort of thing I tried
• 42:58
  to do in the screenwriting, kind of play a less nuts and leave more
• 43:00
  space, leave that space there for the for the actors to inhabit. And
• 43:06
  I think when you really have a strong scene like the scene I think it's
• 43:10
  my favorite scene in that episode where these these characters are sitting together realizing that
• 43:16
  they're they're kind of stuck in this place and and step Gecko is kind of
• 43:21
  fortunate them to confront their own demons in this number one point. We've scene
• 43:27
  that. But the ballot is good. That it's it's it's it's really what
• 43:31
  the actors bring to it. It's really so much of what they're what they're
• 43:36
  showcasing, their own talents and their own capabilities that you know, it provides
• 43:43
  a lesson to me as a writer. Yeah, it's sort of you know,
• 43:47
  uh, adding that layer of subtext, you know, and it's sort
• 43:51
  of you know, finding a way to actually say things that are actually coming
• 43:53
  out and saying them and all the things below the surface. And you know,
• 43:58
  I've never actually seen that movie, but I will make sure to actually
• 44:00
  check that out, because that would you know, that's a nominal way to
• 44:04
  you know, to tell a story. Yeah, play let me And I
• 44:07
  think he also gave another example another movie that Lee Marvin did with director Richard
• 44:12
  Brooks called The Professionals, which is a Western. It's also you know,
• 44:15
  I'm sure it's a big influm on planting Tarantino and things like that too,
• 44:20
  but point blanks and The Professionals and talent specific which is basically, in a
• 44:24
  lot of ways a silent films. Lee Marvin and to share Mafooni, the
• 44:29
  Japanese actor are stranded on an island in World War two, and you know,
• 44:35
  one of them speaks, sings. One of them speaks Japanese was remade
• 44:37
  in a way as Enemy Mine in the eighties by will from Peterson that Dennis
• 44:42
  played in New Gausta as a sci fi movie where you know, a human
• 44:46
  and alien there crash landed on this planet, and uh, you know,
• 44:52
  you just they're just such strong lessons for a writers. I think, to
• 44:57
  look at structure, to look at how stories told, and to look at
• 45:00
  the you know, the third you reminded of of how much can be done
• 45:07
  with silence, or how much can be done with with look with with with
• 45:13
  the telling the story. Robert told him the story. I'm not sure it's
• 45:15
  actually in the director's care or not. That's something that the Francis starboy had
• 45:20
  told him, and he was hearing the interview about you know, something he
• 45:22
  liked to do with the actors are shooting an entire scene without dialogue, just
• 45:27
  as a just as a rehearsal, as a practice, you know. And
• 45:30
  Robert say he never he never actually done that before, but he was really
• 45:32
  intrigued to try it, you know. And and I think that those you
• 45:37
  know, there's something, there's something they can be gained by that there's there's
• 45:43
  definitely a lesson to be learned from the writing standpoint and from the director standpoint
• 45:50
  too, you know, because you're not dependent on what's coming out of the
• 45:52
  actors now as much as you are, you know, remembering that this is
• 45:58
  cinema. You know, this is a visual medium. People remember shots,
• 46:02
  people remember quotes from movies all the time. But you know, when you
• 46:07
  have a scene and you let the actors and have sort of really inhabit that
• 46:09
  scene and you don't not in a hurry y'all cut, uh, you know,
• 46:14
  you can find some some impressive moments and hopefully you know, remember them
• 46:21
  in a way that that will illuminate your own writing. Least I did,
• 46:27
  and that is a very interesting technique as well. You know what I uh,
• 46:30
  in one of these you know film books I have. I know you
• 46:34
  can't see it right now, there's a whole shelf of screamining books behind me,
• 46:37
  of films and everything else one tree. I'm sure, I'm sure we
• 46:40
  probably have almost the entire same library. But but you know, there was
• 46:45
  a technique where the guy actually says, watch your favorite film without sound,
• 46:51
  and you know, and he is just see how every scene plays out,
• 46:54
  absolutely absolutely. You know, one piece of advice that are often given people
• 47:00
  who you know, either in a workshop that I've taught or or lead or
• 47:05
  you know, people asked me about you know, writing something. And I
• 47:08
  said, well, you know, like you've seen lots of movies, so
• 47:12
  what's your you know, think of a movie that that has a great scene
• 47:15
  in it that you really love, and then try to find the screenplay for
• 47:19
  that movie and read the scene. Read read what does that look like on
• 47:22
  paper? You know, you have this favorite scene from you know, I
• 47:25
  don't know the Exercist or Clive in in La or I'm really breaking examples,
• 47:30
  but you know, what does that look like on paper? Well, it
• 47:36
  was just an action scene? What are the action lines? Reads? Like?
• 47:37
  You know, how does what does that look like? And just to
• 47:40
  see the thing that you've always seen completely visual visually, and what does that
• 47:45
  look like when it's words on paper? You know? And uh and you
• 47:51
  know, to see how that was translated to become the scene that you loved
• 47:53
  in the movie. I think that's a that's a really strong lesson to kind
• 48:00
  of just just to just to experience that in a different way. And matched
• 48:06
  him up. Yeah, and I agree. That's something I've done too,
• 48:09
  is actually go out and find the screenplays of things like I speaking of which
• 48:14
  you know, uh, you know the Oscars weren't you know too long ago.
• 48:17
  As soon as I watched Birdman and ran Budapest Hotel, I was like,
• 48:21
  I gotta see these screenplays, right. I think those two and Whiplash
• 48:25
  are definitely the best written movies in the Oscar Race, and those are three
• 48:32
  screenplays. I was like, I just want to see how they did this.
• 48:36
  Uh, and you know, it's phenomenal. Actually, I had one
• 48:37
  of the writers of Birdman, alex Dan Hilaris on here, uh, you
• 48:42
  know, about fifteen episodes ago, and he was, you know, SA
• 48:45
  is awesome to be able to pick his brain, but as it is yours,
• 48:47
  because you know, you're the guy who actually wrote you know, uh,
• 48:51
  you know, you know these films that you know we're talking about,
• 48:52
  so you can actually tell us, no, this is what I did,
• 48:54
  you know. And you know, speaking of which, you know, uh,
• 48:58
  I want to ask you, you know about Machette and you know,
• 49:01
  I wanted to ask you, you know, did you come up with this,
• 49:06
  you know, the inception of this idea or was it was it Robert
• 49:07
  or was you was it of your brainstorming? It was always Robert. It
• 49:12
  was always Robert and Danny. I mean I think, uh, you know,
• 49:15
  when Robert first met Danny Ferrho when he came into audition for Desperado.
• 49:21
  You know the story Colles with Robert took one look at Danny's if you're the
• 49:23
  guy, Robert, Danny was auditioning for a character called Navajas, which means
• 49:28
  knives, and he's a nice shower in Desperado with Antony and Derek. It's
• 49:31
  not high. And you know, Danny had been packing for many years already,
• 49:37
  usually playing you know, Doug number three or you know, the bad
• 49:39
  guy us fall apart, and you know, Robert, just like he said,
• 49:45
  became fast friends with Danny and said, you know, it would be
• 49:47
  great to make a movie in which you're the you're the hero. You know,
• 49:51
  you're the guy. We'll be right back after a word from our sponsor,
• 49:59
  and now back to the show. And I think that was sort of
• 50:04
  the inception of Machette. And Robert had written kind of a long treatment scriptment
• 50:08
  kind of thing for for a Machete character. And then when it came time
• 50:14
  to make Grindhouse, you know which Robert made Planet Terror from Tarantine and made
• 50:19
  Death Troops and has released a double feature, and it came up with this
• 50:22
  idea of really kind of going with the whole double feature drive in concept and
• 50:25
  doing spake trailers for movies that didn't exist, and so Machete became one of
• 50:30
  those things. And it was like, well, great, we can just
• 50:34
  make the take trailer. We never have to make the movie. But then,
• 50:37
  you know, even though briand House, uh, you know, sort
• 50:39
  of underperformed with the box office, the trailer for Machete sort of took on
• 50:45
  the life of its own on YouTube and things like that, and people really
• 50:50
  responded to it. So it became the thing where you know that roll were
• 50:54
  actually going to do. And uh, and I, you know, I
• 50:58
  started writing around the time of Grindhouse. I was there and wrote a little
• 51:04
  bit of dialogue that's actually in the trailer with Cheech as the priest. And
• 51:07
  then you know, later on just started you know, working from the trailer
• 51:12
  basically and creating a new story, you know, a full of story out
• 51:15
  of it, and having uh uh you know, creating more characters. Uh,
• 51:21
  just all the character though you know, the short Nrigue's character, that
• 51:24
  Don Johnson character, all those kinds of things that just it just really evolved
• 51:31
  over over time until you know, we actually knew the film and uh,
• 51:36
  and you see, you know, you see how how it turned out.
• 51:40
  Yeah, and I thought it was phenomenal and you know, and you know,
• 51:45
  you know, it was that grindhouse theme. You have the cuts of
• 51:46
  scratches and you know, and you know, uh and it's just you know,
• 51:51
  and Danny is a perfect guy to play a guy. I mean,
• 51:53
  he looks at a guy named Machete day. Yeah, oh absolutely. I
• 51:58
  just did a panel with him a comic con and Fort Lauderdale two weeks ago.
• 52:02
  You know, someone's from the audience ask, you know, what was
• 52:05
  your favorite character and he said, you know, Machetti and March of Brady.
• 52:13
  You know, I had to ask him how that happened and he said,
• 52:15
  yeah, you know, my my manager said, you know, I
• 52:19
  think we got a super Bowl commercial. And he was like, you're kidding.
• 52:22
  You know, what do I have to do? Well, you have
• 52:25
  to be a Marcher Brady. You know, I got'ta do it. So
• 52:31
  that was that was that, you know, even that it's just like,
• 52:36
  uh so amazing. It was so amazing. Say it's just it's it's it's
• 52:40
  terrific. I'm I'm I'm glad to should be a small part of of you
• 52:46
  know, the sort of Prashona that Danny has, you know, has been
• 52:53
  able to inhabit as that character. So when you know, when they were
• 52:59
  filling with Okay, we were you on set every day or were you not?
• 53:02
  Or you just a few days or yeah, I was on a few
• 53:06
  days, I was on off and on. It was you know, it
• 53:07
  was amazing, It was amazing. I got to you know, Beyoncet when
• 53:12
  Robert de Niro was there, and you have to talk to him a bit,
• 53:15
  and you know, he was so he was so generous and so so
• 53:19
  kind and and I think the thing about you know, the thing about him
• 53:23
  too was that you know, he was he had had expressed interest in becoming
• 53:30
  involved in the project early on to play to play this senator. And in
• 53:37
  the original draft of the script, the senator was just the guy that gets
• 53:39
  shot. He was not really a character in the script. So it really
• 53:44
  started having to try to build a character out of this guy. And so,
• 53:47
  you know, with the thing that you know, we understood from from
• 53:52
  Robert de Niro was that it wasn't interested in, you know, doing it
• 53:55
  unless there was really something there to do, and it didn't want people to
• 54:01
  feel he was just you know, picking up a check and so, uh,
• 54:06
  you know, started coming up with ideas and starting in dialogue and concepts
• 54:10
  and stuff like that, and we'll get responses like that, it's good,
• 54:14
  that's good. Keep coming, keep coming, and uh, you know,
• 54:16
  finally hit on sort of the finale of his character and you know, these
• 54:22
  speeches that had written for his character, you know, when he's signed on.
• 54:27
  And one of the funny things is in the finality of the film,
• 54:31
  after he's been shot and he's he's dying on the floor, on the ground,
• 54:37
  you know, with Lindsey Lohan dressed as a non hovering over him,
• 54:38
  with Begune, he's sort of kind of blanking out. He starts in my
• 54:45
  script, at this one draft of it, he starts reciting the Act of
• 54:47
  Contrition and the Catholic Act of Contrition, uh in Latin. Like he's reverting
• 54:53
  back to his actual you know, he's not really a Texan and all this
• 54:57
  stuff. And Robert read the that thing and he's like, well, what
• 55:00
  the hell is this? And I was like, you know, he's not
• 55:01
  really a texting. He's running back to his you know, New York childhood
• 55:06
  or whatever, and he's an altar boy. He resigning the active contrition,
• 55:08
  good forgiveness before he dies, and it's like that, you know, he's
• 55:13
  never going to do that. And then they were on set one day and
• 55:16
  I got a call from Elizabeth Amigan, those producer on the film. She's
• 55:20
  like, oh, we need to we need the Latin. I was like,
• 55:22
  what are you talking about? It's like the Latin thing. But the
• 55:24
  neo says he's working with a priest. He wants to get it right.
• 55:30
  Oh, Chad, but that was the same name he was, so he
• 55:34
  became just that completely prepared. He knew every line of dialogue and he did.
• 55:39
  You know, he was never a thing where you know, I don't
• 55:43
  on my line or whatever like that. Please you know, he was.
• 55:46
  He was totally into it and I think he had a really good time doing
• 55:51
  it. He satainly, had a you know, it was definitely a highlight
• 55:54
  of my professional career as a writer to say, well, you know,
• 56:00
  I did a movie with Robert Denierland and Lowerhand and Chael and everybody else.
• 56:06
  But you know, you know, he was definitely an actor who I'd grown
• 56:09
  up, you know, just loving every jone that he has done. And
• 56:15
  uh, it was so impressed with him and his presence. I had stories
• 56:21
  my cast for a lot of the actors. They never worked. They've just
• 56:23
  been really fortunate people that just always think to bring their a game, you
• 56:29
  know, and a little a little movies. And that asked me such a
• 56:32
  high as a writer of two to say, you know, hey, Alfred,
• 56:36
  who's you know you know a movie? Oh, we had you know,
• 56:38
  Robert de Niro and uh so absolutely, and you know you also,
• 56:44
  you know you touched on your you had Lindsay lohand and also you had Steven
• 56:46
  Seagal in the movie as well. With Steven Seagal, it was great.
• 56:52
  We had you know, Don Johnson you know, written some things. You
• 56:57
  know, Robert has spent a lot of time with Don Johnson before and uh
• 57:00
  and so you know we used something like little spraises said dot Johnson said in
• 57:05
  the script. And I was sitting with him one day on set and he
• 57:07
  was like, oh, I love this is great. You know, but
• 57:09
  I say stuff like that, like how did that blow your stirred up?
• 57:13
  And I said, I know, it's well, we put it into the
• 57:15
  ship. We wanted to be very natural for you. It was. It
• 57:20
  was, you know, just amazing, really amazing. Even during the editing
• 57:24
  process, I was sitting with with my cousin Rebecca and who robert younger sister
• 57:30
  who had done I was working on the film as well. We were watching
• 57:34
  the Genio scene and I said, and just stop it for a minute.
• 57:36
  So what's the matter. So I just need to pick a minute. You
• 57:38
  know, that's Robert Jenniro and saying lines I wrote, you know, in
• 57:44
  my room. And now it's just you know, it's just like I didn't
• 57:47
  made a minute, but you know, it's great, and whenever stuff like
• 57:52
  that happened, it's just like it's important to just say thank you. It
• 57:57
  would be amazed by it all, and you know, and that is that
• 58:00
  is aftinutely amazing and and you know, like you said, it's also as
• 58:07
  I've been finding it would have gratitude as well and always based and live in
• 58:09
  the moment and not you know, just sort of when you saw see Robert
• 58:13
  Niro and just want to stop it there that that that's you know, that's
• 58:15
  amazing. Alvro. I was just, yeah, I still get getting customs
• 58:22
  right now thinking about it, you know. Uh, And it was it
• 58:24
  was you know, it's a great, great experience and you know, the
• 58:28
  movie did well, and uh, you know, I was just really proud
• 58:32
  of, you know, the way it turned out and realized that, you
• 58:35
  know, the flast draft is the final edit of the movie. You know,
• 58:38
  there's so much of that movie that that so so many ways that movie
• 58:43
  was improved by id edit and really making me something together. And uh,
• 58:49
  you know, it's far from a perfect movie, but definitely something I'm I'm
• 58:54
  proud of and uh and you know it was it was a great experience been
• 59:00
  And you know, I particularly like the final battle between Segal and Trejo because
• 59:07
  if you asked me, you know, in a million years, I never
• 59:08
  would have guessed that, you know, those two ever would have crossed paths
• 59:13
  and you know in any movie, because they sort of do different movies,
• 59:15
  you know, and but they were able to come together for for Machette machettee
• 59:20
  and it's just you know, I mean I thought it was very well done
• 59:22
  too. And Segal was still doing his aikido and you know, Trejo still
• 59:27
  swinging the machine the machette days, he's still a kind of street ball style.
• 59:30
  I thought it was very well choreographed as well. I thought it was
• 59:31
  phenomenal. Yeah, well thanks, I mean, you know that's again it's
• 59:37
  it's it's like, you know, part of that part of the whole process
• 59:40
  with Machette too, is realizing fairly early on this is going to be in
• 59:45
  so many ways to kind of kitchen sing expree writing, it's like nothing is
• 59:49
  off bar, nothing is you know, out of bounds, everything is everything
• 59:52
  is possible. You know, you could have a scene where a guy would
• 59:54
  called down building with you know, someone's in testing. We'll be right back
• 1:00:00
  after a word from our sponsor and now back to the show. Or you
• 1:00:09
  know, Michelle established those cops you know, or the fake cop through through
• 1:00:15
  the back of his of the seat and from the back seat of the car
• 1:00:17
  and then steers the car by turning his machete through the guy. You know,
• 1:00:22
  had stuff like that, and it's and uh, you know, so
• 1:00:24
  it was it was it was pretty liberating and in that way too, and
• 1:00:30
  realizing that you're going to have this this crazy final showdown where will you know,
• 1:00:35
  uh, there was anything was possible and you could have you know,
• 1:00:38
  sword fight with machete and you know, and integal and his sort just you
• 1:00:44
  know, it's it was just turning everything up to a lot of my hope.
• 1:00:50
  So you know, uh, when when you were actually writing it,
• 1:00:52
  did you actually know Sogal was going to cast in that part or did you
• 1:00:54
  actually you know, sort of you know, evolved that part later on when
• 1:00:59
  Skaal was cast. A little bit of both, a little bit of both.
• 1:01:02
  I mean, the character was starting to be there before it was Sigal
• 1:01:06
  and then knowing it was the gal things were you know, we're enhanced and
• 1:01:09
  attitude. It was it was really I that was part of the process with
• 1:01:14
  with the movie itself, and even from Lindsay Lohan's character too. I mean,
• 1:01:19
  Robert you know, told me, if I you can get Lindsay Lohand
• 1:01:22
  to play the part, but it's not even a part. You know,
• 1:01:24
  we've gotta we gotta try to you know, give her some stuff and and
• 1:01:28
  just sort of you know, hit on these different little ideas that this kind
• 1:01:31
  of you know, gave her, gave her her own arc and uh and
• 1:01:36
  uh and and told a little story. You know. So it was great,
• 1:01:40
  It was, it was it was it was so much fun to be
• 1:01:44
  a part of that that that PoTA and you know, that's great that everything
• 1:01:50
  was able to come together, you know, very very you know and something
• 1:01:52
  I mean, you know you've been involved in movie making for you know,
• 1:01:55
  uh do it with two decades now, and you know you know whatever can
• 1:01:59
  go wrong will go wrong in a film set. And you know, or
• 1:02:02
  even even beyond that, you know, even when things are in development and
• 1:02:05
  so good, you've were you able to put it together. But I mean
• 1:02:07
  again, if you have any listener out there has not seen a check day,
• 1:02:09
  I urge you to go out there and check it out. It's phenomenal
• 1:02:15
  alvro. You know, we've been talking for about an hour now, would
• 1:02:17
  you mind just taking a few quick questions I've got sent in? Sure,
• 1:02:22
  Okay, I'm sorry that was an hour flew by. Yeah, it always
• 1:02:29
  seems to work out that way, which which I don't know if I just
• 1:02:32
  asked the right question or you know, I just sort of I don't know.
• 1:02:36
  So, but you know, I'm glad it flew by because I mean,
• 1:02:39
  yeah, because I mean it's a conversation. Yeah, it's a conversation.
• 1:02:43
  You know, when you when you're talking, you're you're having your conversation.
• 1:02:46
  You're not looking at your watch. So that's the way. That's good.
• 1:02:51
  So our first question is Alvrow, Would you ever consider directing your own
• 1:02:55
  film? Absolutely? Absolutely, I definitely am interested in doing that. Years
• 1:03:02
  and years and years ago, I had written, uh it was actually my
• 1:03:07
  first screenplay, and I was, you know, hoping to direct. It
• 1:03:14
  was going to be very low budget, very independent Texas space project. It
• 1:03:17
  never really got off the ground, but sort of as a as a training
• 1:03:22
  for that, I went and made a short film on video and that you
• 1:03:27
  know, no one has ever seen, no one will ever see, but
• 1:03:30
  you know it and it happened so quickly. It was not much of a
• 1:03:35
  lesson to me, except to realize that I needed a lot more experience to
• 1:03:39
  do it, you know. And then for a long time, I just
• 1:03:44
  you know, whenever I would ask that question, I would say, you
• 1:03:45
  know, you know, I just right now, I'm just really trying to
• 1:03:47
  focus on being a better writer. That's still my answer. I'm still trying
• 1:03:51
  to focus on being a better writer. But I'm definitely interested in doing that
• 1:03:57
  bet of the role behind the camera, and uh, you know, I
• 1:04:00
  think that's part of the to be part of the great opportunity of working on
• 1:04:05
  Dustl Dawn is that it's as a writer of the episode you sort of writer,
• 1:04:11
  producer. You're there upset, You're you're working with the actors as much
• 1:04:15
  as you want to. And so I've had you know, pretty hands on
• 1:04:18
  experience in terms of, you know, working with the actors, rehearsing with
• 1:04:23
  the actors, you know, even helping block scenes and things like that that
• 1:04:29
  you know, that to me, it's like again sort of more fuel for
• 1:04:31
  the fire really wanting to take the opportunity to try to do, you know,
• 1:04:39
  to direct as well. I mean, I guess it's it's the thing
• 1:04:42
  too of that lesson and I feel like I've I've learned or I am learning
• 1:04:46
  about you know, these sort of these sort of things that are sort of
• 1:04:50
  that I have the language or cinema in some way already in my brain and
• 1:04:56
  that I can you know, I can approach these things, uh, in
• 1:05:00
  that way. You know, we're still with a with a very open,
• 1:05:05
  very open heart and mind thing. You know, I'm always going to try
• 1:05:09
  to be learning. I'm I'm the director in training or a writer and training
• 1:05:15
  or whatever, you know, but you know, learning by doing and trying
• 1:05:18
  to be as involved in the process as possible. I mean, and that's
• 1:05:25
  awesome. You're gonna actually you're actually gonna you know, writing or directing your
• 1:05:28
  own film. So yeah, because honestly, because then you could you know
• 1:05:31
  be like you know, your your cousin or Tarantino was, you know right
• 1:05:34
  and direct and you know, really put your stamp on the film kind of
• 1:05:38
  like you know, the a tour theory of filmmaking. But this time,
• 1:05:41
  you know, you know, you can say that because you know you have
• 1:05:44
  you're the writer, director, you know, and you you know I tell
• 1:05:46
  you, yeah, well, you know, I think the theory is a
• 1:05:49
  wonderful is a wonderful concept, and I certainly think that it holds true.
• 1:05:54
  You know, in a lot of ways directors and especially other directors, you
• 1:05:58
  know, they definitely have the stamps. But I think that's the thing that
• 1:06:01
  maybe I realized coming from the from the perspective of the writer and just sort
• 1:06:08
  of being why I'm a wall sometimes in in on set or whatever in any
• 1:06:13
  kind of environment when you see the process that you know, it's so filmmaking
• 1:06:19
  and television is the most collaborative, greative form that there is. In my
• 1:06:24
  mind, it is it is completely a collaboration. Uh, nothing's possible without
• 1:06:30
  you know, everybody input and everybody's efforts to make this thing happen. You
• 1:06:35
  know that if you really want to be enought tour, you know, write
• 1:06:39
  poetry, there's no one that's ever going to say, you know, I'd
• 1:06:42
  really love to write a poem with you, you know. And and I
• 1:06:48
  think that's I mean to me that that's uh, that's that's I think that's
• 1:06:53
  in a lot of ways why you know, Robert has has really dependent on
• 1:06:58
  and and creative relationship with people with whom he can look again and again,
• 1:07:02
  actors and and people behind cabinet because there's a there's a sort of shorthand uh
• 1:07:09
  language that it becomes developed, you know, and there's a there's uh,
• 1:07:14
  a sort of unwritten expectations of what people are bringing to the table. And
• 1:07:18
  and it doesn't mean that he doesn't direct the obviously does, but he's able
• 1:07:24
  to to to get what he wants by by virtue of having a really strong
• 1:07:31
  cast, improved and uh and and I think he would be the first person
• 1:07:36
  to acknowledge that, you know, it may not have been that way in
• 1:07:42
  the early days because he was so he was so hands on, he was
• 1:07:45
  so you know, with El Mariachi and the short films that he made before
• 1:07:48
  then, you know, it was always a thing of he was really trying
• 1:07:54
  to become a master of all trades. Not just a jack of all trades,
• 1:07:57
  but a master of all of him because he never knew what was going
• 1:08:00
  to be the thing that was going to get him a job. You know,
• 1:08:03
  maybe people will hate my movie, but they'll love the way it was
• 1:08:08
  shot, and I'll get a job as a pp and they they'll hate,
• 1:08:12
  you know, they'll hate the the way it looks, but they love the
• 1:08:15
  spirit, they love the dialogue, and I'll get hired as a writer.
• 1:08:18
  And so he was always you know, really trying to find the best in
• 1:08:21
  himself to fill all those roles, to see which one, you know,
• 1:08:26
  was going to be the one thing that people respond with it and they have
• 1:08:29
  to respond to all of it, you know, in so many ways.
• 1:08:31
  And uh uh but you know now in the you know, on the big
• 1:08:38
  scale, it's really impossible to do that so much anymore. And you know,
• 1:08:44
  and I think that, you know, whenever you see these speeches,
• 1:08:46
  uh, when people accept awards and they you know, they thank you know,
• 1:08:50
  the writers or they thank the producers, and they you know, they
• 1:08:54
  thank the people who put this thing again, and it's it's there's so much
• 1:08:59
  of the of the community experience. And I think working well said every movie
• 1:09:02
  is a miracle. And the miracle is that you could get all these different
• 1:09:05
  people who may have all kinds of different opinions to work together for the common
• 1:09:10
  part. And that's really I think what's what strong director gus the sort of
• 1:09:15
  united united teams and get everybody you know, working for the good of the
• 1:09:20
  of the project and doing their best. Yeah, and uh, you're just
• 1:09:25
  to add on, you know, you said, you know, the director
• 1:09:27
  is a guy that sort of leads a team and builds a team. That's
• 1:09:29
  so true. And uh, you know, uh, one thing that I
• 1:09:32
  you know, I've always heard is the idea of genius around which means,
• 1:09:38
  you know, always hire people that are smarter than you are. Yeah,
• 1:09:42
  and you know that and that way you know, uh you know, and
• 1:09:45
  they said, you know, we're part of the director. Director's job.
• 1:09:48
  It can be you know, taken care of just by hiring a good you
• 1:09:51
  know, having a great script. We'll be right back after a word from
• 1:09:56
  our sponsor and now back to the show. Having a great cinematographer and then
• 1:10:04
  having great actors and then you know, you pretty much you know, it's
• 1:10:09
  only yours to mess up from there, right right. I mean as if
• 1:10:13
  I were to go direct a film right now, I would have no idea,
• 1:10:15
  you know, well, what kind of lightning am I going to use?
• 1:10:17
  Or what's the right terminology for this piece of lighting or that piece of
• 1:10:21
  lighting or this this lens of that lens. I would have no idea at
• 1:10:26
  all. You know, I might have, you know, a very very
• 1:10:30
  very basic idea, but I mean that again that's the thing I uh,
• 1:10:35
  you know, it would be a matter of really kind of surrounding yourself with
• 1:10:39
  people who know what the what their tasks are. That's they know their strengths.
• 1:10:44
  So you're you're trying to put together a team. Well not everybody has
• 1:10:47
  the same strengths, but because you put together a team, now you're you're
• 1:10:50
  a pretty vast team. And uh, it's just you your job to make
• 1:10:55
  sure that that it all times comes together and the way that you want it,
• 1:11:00
  and you keep pushing to you know, instead of you get what you
• 1:11:02
  want. Yeah, we have very well said and and our next question is,
• 1:11:11
  uh, Albrow, what advice could you give for someone trying to break
• 1:11:15
  into Hollywood. Uh. You know, I always feel guilty about that question
• 1:11:19
  because you know, I didn't, you know, in a lot of ways,
• 1:11:23
  I'm working into Hollywood, and what I have done is you know,
• 1:11:28
  being able to do to work with with Robert. I'm million married projects,
• 1:11:33
  I'm out, I'm working with other with other people on their projects, and
• 1:11:36
  I'm getting other things off the ground, features and stuff like that. But
• 1:11:41
  you know, obviously I feel like I had a you know, a huge
• 1:11:47
  door open up for me that I scrambled to it to see that. But
• 1:11:54
  I at the same time, Uh, you know you mentioned that, you
• 1:11:59
  know, twenty years the film make experience, but a lot of those years
• 1:12:00
  I wasn't make Tall. A lot of those years I was not I was
• 1:12:04
  not as involved as I as I could have been. I never really kind
• 1:12:09
  of took the bull by the horns and said, you know, I'm going
• 1:12:11
  to go LA and I'm going to try to you know, uh to work
• 1:12:15
  my way into the system and uh, you know, everything as a high
• 1:12:17
  in place. But I would say that, you know, uh, to
• 1:12:23
  kind of follow up with your genius arounds like this is to try, you
• 1:12:27
  know, if there's so much in this in my experience to lease. I
• 1:12:30
  don't know if I can speak to the business, but I'll definitely say in
• 1:12:33
  my experience that you cannot undervalue the power of relationships. And every every time
• 1:12:44
  that that I have have had any kind of of success, any kind of
• 1:12:50
  forward movement, it's always been build upon the relationship and meeting looking yourself in
• 1:12:57
  the space where you can meet people and and and and find common interests and
• 1:13:02
  things that you can do. I mean, one of the huge things for
• 1:13:05
  me was when Machete came out in two thousand and ten, I was invited
• 1:13:11
  to be a panelist at the Austin Frum Festival, and I really literally was
• 1:13:15
  the guy changed to the laptop in the basement for such a long time,
• 1:13:17
  even though I had been already done just around three and eight years earlier,
• 1:13:23
  I was suddenly, you know, up on stage, you know, doing
• 1:13:26
  panelists with real working, professional screenwriters that I had somehow primed into thinking I
• 1:13:30
  was one of them. And uh, you know, it really opened a
• 1:13:35
  lot of doors for me because I became instant friends with a lot of people
• 1:13:40
  I'm still friends with today that have helped me in so many ways. And
• 1:13:44
  there's times, you know that I would go to California and you know and
• 1:13:46
  try to set up you know, meetings, you know, from the point
• 1:13:50
  of plane landed at going up coffee with one guy to sah, you need
• 1:13:54
  to go talk to this guy, so you should meet this person and then
• 1:13:57
  coffee and breakfast and lunch and drinks anders and you know, after things and
• 1:14:01
  just like really networking, putting your best foot forward, you know, uh
• 1:14:05
  and being a being a bridge builder and trying to you know, to find
• 1:14:13
  those things, you know, find the ways that that that that will help
• 1:14:18
  you get where you want to be, you know. And I found that,
• 1:14:20
  you know, having goods on brand and californing in Los Angeles especially,
• 1:14:25
  there's always has been over the last couple of years. Espectually, there's been
• 1:14:29
  a huge, huge from me. It's almost like uncanny, just the sort
• 1:14:32
  of change of change of things that you know, someone I didn't know,
• 1:14:36
  you know, last week, two weeks later was saying, you know,
• 1:14:43
  I would like to you know, work on a project this year, or
• 1:14:45
  would you like to be involved in this or would you know what you would
• 1:14:49
  you get some ideas about this, and then something happens. You know,
• 1:14:54
  It's just it's pretty amazing but I think that's the thing, is that you've
• 1:14:58
  got to put yourself in the position create that kind of environment, you know,
• 1:15:02
  so you know, as it means starting gunning small in your means,
• 1:15:06
  starting in a local writership and do that and find they find the people in
• 1:15:11
  the lights brup that you really compliment uh with being not an eye, but
• 1:15:16
  you know that that that that are, you know, brings something to the
• 1:15:19
  table ether maybe you can work with them or maybe they're going to work with
• 1:15:23
  you, and uh and just start, you know, really start building building
• 1:15:30
  your relationships as you're building your own talent and building your own skills. And
• 1:15:35
  then you know, it's just push. And I think that's the thing.
• 1:15:40
  It's pushed as much as you as much as you can. I don't know,
• 1:15:45
  I know enough to say about it. And they're just for sure,
• 1:15:47
  you know, I wish everybody good blocked and you know, we're we're we're
• 1:15:51
  living in an age right now where the demand for content. I don't think
• 1:15:55
  there's ever been as high as they're going. The opportunities have never been as
• 1:15:59
  plant with well, I they are right, I mean in a long way.
• 1:16:03
  And and I think that that just sort of the willingness to to say
• 1:16:10
  I'm ready, I'm ready for work, I'm ready for for you know,
• 1:16:14
  I'm ready to take this to the next step. And and enjoying yourself in
• 1:16:18
  the next is good advices. I think. I think care and you know
• 1:16:28
  again, you know, just on networking meetings and you know, just finding
• 1:16:30
  out what you can do for people and being a bridge builder. And you
• 1:16:32
  know, again, I think that's key, not sort of so much asking
• 1:16:38
  what other people can do for you, Well, you can do for other
• 1:16:40
  people, uh, because you know, people don't want to, you know,
• 1:16:43
  be sold too constantly. It's like, you know, like when I
• 1:16:45
  talk to people about social media, to Albrez, they I always tell people,
• 1:16:50
  they know, don't constantly promote yourself, you know, don't constantly talk
• 1:16:54
  about this, you know, because that's just a turn off. No one's
• 1:16:57
  gonna follow you just to hear all about you constantly, right right, Oh,
• 1:17:01
  that's true. I mean I think that's the thing that you know,
• 1:17:04
  social media is still in its infancy in a lot of ways. And uh,
• 1:17:09
  and that's that is a lesson that people who put through learning. I'm
• 1:17:12
  learning it too, And you know, I think that there's this the thing
• 1:17:17
  about social media. It's a really kind of I think you'd try to use
• 1:17:21
  it in in you know, in your in your best interests. It's not
• 1:17:27
  always to be self promoted, but to be sharing, you know, to
• 1:17:30
  share other people's processors, you know, and and promoting other people's other people's
• 1:17:35
  projects and stuff like that. So when someone you know, a friend of
• 1:17:39
  mine post, you know, my friends are trying you I have a Kickstarter,
• 1:17:43
  you really trying to get this project up the ground. You know,
• 1:17:45
  if I had twenty bucks, I'll vote into the also, and I've never
• 1:17:47
  met these other guys, they're friends or my friends. You know, I'll
• 1:17:51
  throwing the money and I'll from other than on my Facebook page or whatever.
• 1:17:55
  If you know, if if I can do that, you know, I
• 1:17:59
  just you know, I want to share, you know, whenever I do
• 1:18:02
  social media stuff, whether it's like Facebook, Twitter or Instagram or whatever,
• 1:18:06
  you know, there, you know, you could be a nable gazer and
• 1:18:11
  you can just be all about me and you me, And I definitely do
• 1:18:14
  some of that and say, oh look here i am in the writing room
• 1:18:16
  and I'm you know, some semi exotic location and Los Angeles or whatever,
• 1:18:23
  and or or I'm saying, you know, you need to be watching this
• 1:18:29
  show American Crime. It's the greatest show on television right now. And people
• 1:18:31
  are really going to dig it because I have friends that are active on the
• 1:18:35
  show, purchase guys made show, and it's just like, you know,
• 1:18:41
  that's the kind of thing that that I'd like to do and just try to,
• 1:18:45
  you know, try to you know, the kind of spread the good
• 1:18:49
  rule. Yes, and and uh, and you know, you just like
• 1:18:55
  there's so many people that in so many connections that you can make. I
• 1:18:57
  mean, I've never met you in person. I only know you from from
• 1:19:00
  Twitter and things like that. And I wouldn't be doing this podcast if you're
• 1:19:05
  you know otherwise, you know, So I'm and and uh, you know,
• 1:19:12
  it's an amazing tool and it can I can, I can those relationships,
• 1:19:15
  if can they can connect people together in ways if they you know,
• 1:19:19
  would have would have been impossible ten years ago. So I think it's great.
• 1:19:27
  Yeah, and I find a lot of guests through Twitter too, because
• 1:19:29
  that's how I think we initially met and then and then now yeah, you're
• 1:19:33
  right, it's you know, and using Twitter as a networking tool has been
• 1:19:36
  awesome for me. Just meeting people and just seeing what they're working on and
• 1:19:41
  stuff like that. I've actually tinkered around about actually writing a book about how
• 1:19:45
  how I use Twitter as a networking tool. That's a great idea. Oh,
• 1:19:49
  that's definitely true about it. We'll be right back after a word from
• 1:19:56
  our sponsor and now back to the show. Well, thank you. Uh
• 1:20:05
  it's it's it's on my pile alvrow of like you know, the eight million
• 1:20:09
  bigs, don't I want to write It's like, Okay, that's a good
• 1:20:11
  idea. Maybe I should do that. You know. It's it's one of
• 1:20:15
  those things you know, I'm gonna get around to someday. Right now,
• 1:20:18
  you know, I'm just focusing on some other actual writing things. But you
• 1:20:24
  know, we've been talking for about you know, an hour and in eighteen
• 1:20:26
  minutes or so, so you know, you know, and I know you
• 1:20:29
  know you're busy, and you you know, I don't want to keep you
• 1:20:30
  too much longer. So you know, in closing, is there anything that
• 1:20:34
  we didn't discuss that you know, you wanted to mention or talk about.
• 1:20:40
  I think we shoumbered it. I just you know, I would just say
• 1:20:43
  that, you know, it's it's uh like I said, I'm I feel
• 1:20:47
  like i'm uh, I'm not, maybe not, I'm the last person to
• 1:20:54
  give advice, but but you know, still feel like i'm I mean,
• 1:20:59
  I'm trying to be learning every day. I'm trying to keep that that perspective
• 1:21:03
  on everything. But I know that there's things that I picked up that if
• 1:21:06
  I can impart to someone else, uh and they can get something out of
• 1:21:11
  it, you know, I think that's great. I mean it's like,
• 1:21:15
  you know, use what you can use, and you know which can't use
• 1:21:18
  to throw away, you know. And I think that's the same thing that
• 1:21:21
  so many of the so many of the things that are out there for for
• 1:21:25
  fire and writers or you know, writers that are trying to break into the
• 1:21:28
  business, you know, uh with you know, just because you know you've
• 1:21:34
  read it in the book or it's you know, you've got to make the
• 1:21:39
  experience valuable to yourself. You know. I did teach for a short while.
• 1:21:43
  I taught a course Texas A and L in Dallast and a study spills
• 1:21:48
  course of all things. And I had the students who read this and diff
• 1:21:51
  from a Herman Melville novel that nobody reads anymore. Paul Redburn about a boy's
• 1:21:56
  first journey to see and he's taking his and he's going to Liverpool, and
• 1:22:00
  he's taking his father's guidebook to Liverpool. And when he gets to the city
• 1:22:04
  and he opens up the guidebook, you realize that the city has changed,
• 1:22:09
  and you know, his father's guidebook really wasn't much helpful to him anymore,
• 1:22:13
  and he had to sort of find his own way in the city. There
• 1:22:15
  were some things that were saying and there's some sort of landmark, but the
• 1:22:19
  city had changed. And I think that, you know, the lesson I
• 1:22:24
  was trying to impart at that time, it's like, you know, I'm
• 1:22:26
  giving you a lot of ideas about how to kind of manage your time,
• 1:22:29
  how to study, how to how to work in groups, how to do
• 1:22:31
  all these things. You know, you might find it some of the most
• 1:22:34
  of it is useful to you. You've got to find what works and not
• 1:22:38
  be afraid of trying anything, and uh of of being open to experiences and
• 1:22:44
  really trying to build on, uh, build on your base, and and
• 1:22:48
  never sit back on it and say, you know, I know it all
• 1:22:53
  and and and people would just have to work at my genius, you know.
• 1:22:58
  Uh, it's it's constant. It's a constant learning protect and I'm still
• 1:23:04
  doing it. So I wish everybody listening and trying to do those things the
• 1:23:11
  best of the best of luck in doing them. Very cool, and you
• 1:23:15
  know, that's a very very awesome positive message outbro. Thanks very small about
• 1:23:20
  the positive. That's that's good. It's good to be about the positive,
• 1:23:25
  because you know, there's fortunately negative people in this world. So you know,
• 1:23:29
  you know, you know, Alvro, I want to say thank you,
• 1:23:31
  thank you very much again for coming on. Thank you. I really
• 1:23:35
  appreciate it. Oh, you know pushes all mine. Uh So, you
• 1:23:39
  know where can people find you out online? I'm on Twitter, at l
• 1:23:44
  O d Z, I'm on uh Facebook, I think the same thing at
• 1:23:48
  las. Uh. Oh, we'll find me around. I don't have a
• 1:23:55
  studied or anything like that. Uh, but uh, you know I'm often
• 1:24:02
  doing you know, different events. I'm not really doing anything in south By,
• 1:24:05
  but every year I'm pretty active with the Awesome Phone Festival doing panels and
• 1:24:11
  round tables and and you know every October. You can definitely find me around
• 1:24:15
  there. But uh, you know you want to look with me up and
• 1:24:20
  pick an eye out on on l Ray Network for deskil Don season two later
• 1:24:26
  this year, so hopefully, uh, we've got to get stuff in store
• 1:24:30
  for fans of the show. And you know, the original the first season
• 1:24:33
  is there's already on Netflix in its entirety, or if you're like, you
• 1:24:39
  know, really into it, you can you can get the Blue Way or
• 1:24:43
  DVD set with all the extras and commentaries and fun stuff like that. And
• 1:24:49
  you know, and I also I'll make sure to look to everything in the
• 1:24:51
  show notes as well, so uh, you know, everyone, if you
• 1:24:55
  you know, if you don't everyone in the l Ray Network or you've never
• 1:24:59
  act so you have seen that albrows Twitter, just look click on the show,
• 1:25:03
  just click on the links in the show notes and you'll be taking right
• 1:25:05
  there. And also I'm also be a link to Dustled on season one,
• 1:25:10
  So okay, if you haven't checked that out yet, uh, please do
• 1:25:13
  because it's very cool, especially if you have enjoyed the the movie it's based
• 1:25:16
  off of. And again, like you know, Avon and I've said,
• 1:25:20
  it just expands upon that. So uh, you know, in closing,
• 1:25:24
  everyone, thanks you for listening. You can find me at Dave Bullis dot
• 1:25:28
  com and Twitter. It's at Dave Bullis should be at Dave Underscore Bullis and
• 1:25:32
  you know there's you know, tons of the show note links that if you
• 1:25:35
  want to you know, stalkman any other social media sites, they're there as
• 1:25:39
  well, and uh so cool albroad. Thanks again, buddy, and you
• 1:25:45
  know, I wish you the best of luck with you know, season two
• 1:25:47
  of Dust hold On, and you know, if you ever want to come
• 1:25:49
  back, man, please let me know. The door is always wide open.
• 1:25:53
  Thanks. I really appreciate it talking to you. Yeah, good talking
• 1:25:56
  me too, Maun all right, for sure, have a good night,
• 1:25:59
  buddy. I want to thank Dave so much for doing such a great job
• 1:26:02
  on this episode. If you want to get links to anything we spoke about
• 1:26:05
  in this episode, head over to the show notes at Indie Film Muscle dot
• 1:26:09
  com. Ford Slash seven oh eight. Thank you again so much for listening
• 1:26:13
  to guys as always, keep that hustle going, keep that dream alive,
• 1:26:15
  Stay safe out there, and I'll talk to you soon. Thanks for listening
• 1:26:18
  to the Indie Film Hustle podcast at Indie film Huscle dot com. That's I
• 1:26:24
  N D I E F I L M h ustl dot com.