Latest / The Delicious Culture with Jon Francois / Acting & Storytelling Are Delicious w/ Niki J. Borger

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Acting & Storytelling Are Delicious w/ Niki J. Borger · The Delicious Culture with Jon Francois

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  .com. Once again, that is youareofficestaff .com.
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  I applied for a talent green card, so to say,
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  and that one got denied, which is why I'm traveling
• 0:52
  right now. I love being in America and I love
• 0:55
  the American people, but the immigration situation
• 1:00
  going that legal way has been very frustrating.
• 1:10
  Hello, delicious. Grab a plate and taste the
• 1:12
  delicious culture. I'm your host, John Francois.
• 1:14
  We are feasting on food, pop culture and lifestyle
• 1:16
  with Nikki. You saw my face, right? Because here's
• 1:23
  what happens. I tend to, like, even when I ask
• 1:26
  for the pronunciation before recording, I always
• 1:30
  get nervous during the introduction because I'm,
• 1:32
  because there's this voice in my head, Nikki,
• 1:34
  that's like, don't screw it up. Don't screw it
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  up. Get it correctly. Get it correctly. Uh, burger
• 1:39
  with an O. So That is correct. Yes. I swear.
• 1:45
  I feel like I'm annoying listeners and viewers
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  because you seem like the 10 ,000 guests that
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  I'm always like screwing up the pronunciation,
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  but, um, Borger, what, uh, can you tell me more
• 1:55
  about that last name? That that's a, that's an
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  interesting last name for me. Oh, I wish I knew
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  more. It is German. I'm from Germany and I never
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  met another person with that name until I came
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  to the U S and found out. I think there's a Senator
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  that's also named that way. Um, but that's. That's
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  all I got, German heritage. That is not all you
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  got, because now I want to know how your trajectory
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  from Germany to the US came about. Tell me about
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  that. Well, let's see. I decided to go and then
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  I went. No. Okay. So what I, what I mean is like
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  your life. So did you uproot your life completely
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  from Germany to the U S yeah. And it was anything
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  but that simple for sure. Um, I, uh, let's see.
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  All right. I have a master's in political science
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  and then I decided I wanted to do theater and
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  dance more professionally. Yeah. And so I did
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  musical theater. But I was already getting kind
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  of old and it's a tough business to get into
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  in the US and I wanted to reach more people.
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  So I was like, well, let me go to Hollywood because
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  I always loved movies and storytelling that way.
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  And it's such a powerful tool that I find mesmerizing.
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  And so I looked into it. Right after graduating
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  musical theater school, I actually booked a flight
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  and went to New York and then LA. And then I
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  had this idea that once I'm sitting under a palm
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  tree and Venice Beach or something, I will have
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  a moment of enlightenment of what to do with
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  my life. Which of course did not happen. But
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  that same day in the evening, I went to a random
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  networking event and I met an immigration lawyer
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  and found out that it's actually possible to
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  do this. come to the US as an actor and work
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  in acting. So a lot of work, and it's not an
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  easy feat, but it was possible. And so I made
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  a plan, built a business in Germany to sustain
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  myself, applied for school in the US, did one
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  year of acting and film at New York Film Academy
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  in Los Angeles. And then I was supposed to have
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  one year to work as a visa that you kind of can
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  easily get after graduating from an American
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  college. But then already the pandemic hit and
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  I couldn't do that. So I got a lawyer and they
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  helped me put together my previous evidence for
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  a case for a talent visa. And then I got a talent
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  visa. Yeah. Cause I had already done a bunch
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  of stuff, right? So. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. So a talent
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  visa is pretty much like a work visa, right?
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  Cause like. It's a work visa, but you only get
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  to work in what your talent is in. So you can
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  like, for me, that was only. acting in film in
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  speaking roles. That was a limitation. Okay.
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  So that was pretty rough. In exchange for legal
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  citizenship, you have to work in your specific
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  field that the visa calls for. Yeah, you can.
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  It's only a temporary work visa. You can only
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  work in the field that you applied for. For me,
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  that application was 1 ,700 pages. So I make
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  the stock really, really easy, but there's a
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  reason you pay a lot of money to a lawyer because
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  it's impossible to get on your own. I'm sorry,
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  I'm making weird faces because I want to know
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  more. I want to know what goes into the paperwork
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  that you have to fill out to get this visa. How
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  much do you pay the lawyer? This is, I mean,
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  for a U .S. born citizen, this is new information
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  for me. So I'm referring to this. This is new
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  information? All right. Well, lawyers are around
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  10K plus. Geez. Yeah, 10, 12, sometimes 15K.
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  For me, it was two months full -time work. And
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  can I ask what, because it sounds like the income
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  came from the business that you started in Germany.
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  Yes, but I couldn't pursue that anymore once
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  I was in the US. So I only made the money to
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  support myself for the first two, three years
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  in the US. That was a plan, but I wasn't legally
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  allowed to work in it anymore once I crossed
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  the border. Once I was in the US, I could only
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  work in acting. Can I ask what you did in Germany
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  to sustain yourself financially? And then once
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  that ended, how you financially supported yourself
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  for the lawyer fees in the US? If that doesn't
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  sound too convoluted? No, no, that's fine. I
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  built a business. I was coaching solopreneurs
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  actually. So people that start their own business
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  on their own and are their own brand. And what
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  I was coaching them in was marketing, branding,
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  like bringing out that truthful self within them
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  that can convert in honest, authentic client
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  relationships and then sales eventually. So that
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  was my business, which was super cool. And you
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  can see it's also very related to what I'm good
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  at, right? I have a strong... background in logical
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  thinking. I have a master's in political science
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  and administration with a focus on human resource
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  management and cultures. Then I'm also an actor,
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  so I understand the emotional side, like what
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  feelings are or how you process them, how you
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  access them, how to work with them and all of
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  that. So I combined that into a business and
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  worked in that to make enough money for the first
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  about two years and eight months I had calculated
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  at that time to sustain myself. And then things
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  changed very dramatically, unfortunately, and
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  everything came differently. Is there a specific,
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  I think I'm saying this word correctly, a specific
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  prerequisite to being approved for a talent visa?
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  Like do you have to show them like a demo reel
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  of like work that you've done to prove that you
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  are going to go to the U .S. factory? If only
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  it were that easy. What do you have to do to
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  get approved? For the visa, the O -1B visa, it's
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  six categories out of which you have to fulfill
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  three, I think, at least two, maybe three. I
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  think it's two. And those are, let me see if
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  I can remember fully, you have to have awards.
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  Awards? You have to have awards, yeah. You have
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  to be award -winning. Okay. You have to have
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  done prestigious projects. You have to have had
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  commercial success. You have to be wanted in
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  a way, like, oh, you have to have, obviously,
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  deal memos covering the entire time. And that
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  you got to be there. That ended up being 1 ,700
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  pages of evidence. Wow. Because I have been a
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  performer since I was six years old. I started
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  as a kid with dancing and then I started theater
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  in English when I was in middle school. So I
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  had done really big productions. I had just been
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  in a production between Russia and Ukraine about
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  the war before the war actually happened, just
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  before I came to the US actually. the year before,
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  so on. So when you say 1700 pages of evidence,
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  you literally have to like write in detail, like
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  everything that you've done from the age of six.
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  Is that what you mean by providing 1700 pages?
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  Not everything. No, not that long, but like the
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  lawyer selects what evidence goes in there. The
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  majority does not, but they pick the best pieces
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  and then they write a really long argument, which
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  is 20, 30, 40 cases of pages, and then they support
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  that with the evidence that you provide. For
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  example, I can claim that I was in that Russia
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  -Ukraine project, but I need to support it with
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  the playbill, with the announcement, with press
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  on that, that mentions my name and the importance
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  of the thing, the co -actors that were involved
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  in all of this. So you have to support everything
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  that you're claiming to be. So from the time
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  that you decide to apply for the visa and send
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  in that stuff to the time that you are approved,
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  how long is that process? I don't know. The average
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  always changes. I've heard of people who've waited
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  for a year and a half. I got mine within I think
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  three months the first time and two months the
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  second time. So that was really great. But on
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  that note, I got two talent visas. And then last
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  time I applied, I applied for a talent green
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  card, so to say, which would be valid for more
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  time and would let me work in other areas as
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  well. And that one got denied, which is why I'm
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  traveling right now and I'm not in the U .S.
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  anymore. Why did it get denied? They didn't believe
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  the evidence that I submitted. But yet that evidence
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  was good enough for the visa to work in the U
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  .S. Interesting. Don't, it's a, don't get me
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  wrong. I love being in America and I love the
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  American people. I love how positive everybody
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  is. I love how supportive and uplifting everybody
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  is. I made some of the greatest people in all
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  over the US and in the Midwest, in LA, in New
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  York, but the immigration situation going that
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  legal way has been very frustrating and now leaving
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  the country at least temporarily so I can produce
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  and write as well and not just act after eight
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  years of living there has been a really big heartbreak
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  and a really tough decision. So just so I understand
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  it correctly, you are approved to do talent work
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  in the U .S. but from the U .S. you cannot do
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  work elsewhere. Is that? No, I can, I can only
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  work in acting so far. Okay. And that was not
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  working for me anymore because the industry has
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  changed so much. Um, it's so hard to break into
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  it when you have integrity right now, right?
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  Like it's a lot easier when you don't, uh, but
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  when you have standards for yourself, which like
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  type of commercial you want to do or what type
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  of story you want to tell. then it gets really
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  tricky and I needed the freedom to write and
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  produce the stories I care about as well and
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  that was the visa that I applied for that then
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  was denied. You know it's funny because like
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  when you say you know talent visa being approved
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  for it like on its own it just seems like this
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  umbrella title where you know you could do acting
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  producing directing but the facts that you're
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  specifically like sort of like constrained to
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  acting and are not allowed to you know produce
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  and write the work that you want to write. That's,
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  that's gotta be. Well, you are, you are limited
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  by, uh, what your petitioner allows you to do.
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  So you can't apply for the talent visa on your
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  own. You have to have a person in the U S that
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  kind of sort of owns you. So to say they get
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  to decide everything you get to do and what you
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  don't get to do. Wow. So I guess my question
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  is how What would be the alternative to being
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  able to write and produce your work and get it
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  out there, but through legal means? You know
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  what I mean? Oh yeah. I left the country. I formed
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  my LLC in the U .S. and now I'm doing that. I'm
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  writing and producing in the U .S. just not while
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  being in the U .S. Oh. So you have to write and
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  produce from another country and it could be
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  shown in the U .S.? Is that what I'm getting
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  at? Yeah. And then I'll come back to shoot it
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  because I'm working on my TV show right now.
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  So I can, I'm writing and producing from abroad
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  and then I'll come back on a tele visa for acting
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  to shoot it. And hopefully that will be successful
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  enough that I get the visa that will allow me
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  to do all three. Forgive me. Cause I'm I'm mentally
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  I'm trying to process the logic of all of this
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  with what you're constrained by, you know, with
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  your performing and writing. Yeah, I know. It's
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  very tough. Trust me, like my friends don't even
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  get what I'm doing and how and why. But there's
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  a reason that there is immigration lawyers for
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  all of this because it is very complex and very
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  complicated. And I'm German. I don't do a thing
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  against the law. I never even park without a
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  parking ticket. Like I'm not going to do anything.
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  So I'm just very, very, very proper here in that
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  sense too. Is that a, that's a known thing with,
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  with the Germans is that they're very fastidious
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  and, and very particular about the law. Is that
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  what you're implying? Very particular. Yeah.
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  You do not, you do not do anything against the
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  law in Germany. It's not even a discussion. Hey,
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  I got new glasses. Oh, wait. You wouldn't know
• 14:56
  that if you're only listening, you would only
• 14:57
  know that for sure. If you're watching on YouTube,
• 15:02
  you so that you could tell me in the comments,
• 15:06
  whether you liked my glasses or not, subscribe
• 15:08
  to YouTube at the delicious culture, John Francois
• 15:13
  at the delicious culture, J O N F R A N C O I
• 15:17
  S. And now I'm taking my glasses off because
• 15:20
  again, that's something you can only watch on
• 15:24
  YouTube. What is the show business scene like
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  in Germany? That's a question that came through
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  my mind. It's like how can someone who is an
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  artist succeed there if anything? Yeah, it's
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  not that easy anymore. Well, there is theater
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  which is much bigger than it is in many places
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  in the U .S. because it's still there's a lot
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  of subventions supporting it. So the theaters
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  get a lot of extra money to be able to sustain
• 15:55
  themselves. And then, but they still not paying
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  well. That's at least from what I've heard. Like
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  it's not a way, you can be a theater actor, but
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  it's not a way to build a pension for yourself.
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  There is ways to support yourself. If you can
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  get into like state funded theaters, not just
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  to independent theater. If you can get into state
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  funded ones, there's ways to survive. For film
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  and TV, it's basically still that Germany has
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  public TV. which everybody has to pay for, mandatory.
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  And then there's also private channels. And the
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  public TV productions, they're really good. There's
• 16:33
  some series like a crime series that's been running
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  since the 60s, I think, and has a super strong
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  following, like people who watch it every day,
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  it comes out for decades. And there's quite a
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  few independent productions, but it's not easy
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  to break into. at all because you kind of have
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  to have connections. There's no established pathways
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  of getting the connections or getting any type
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  of in, even finding out about an agency, let
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  alone getting a meeting with them, let alone
• 17:04
  getting represented. None of that is very easy
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  if you don't already have some way. And then
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  for me, I just, I don't vibe with the German
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  storytelling too much. I don't always vibe with
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  the American one either because I just don't
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  believe in black and white stories anymore. I
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  don't believe that the lines are so clear that
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  one person is the hero and one person is the
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  villain and it's, you know, completely clear.
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  I do think the more interesting stories are and
• 17:35
  more truthful stories is where there's, you know,
• 17:38
  a little bit of like the hero is great, but also
• 17:40
  they do this and the villain is awful, but they
• 17:43
  have some reasons. Are you saying that German
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  and American storytelling are the share that
• 17:50
  commonality of that sort of black and white,
• 17:52
  the heroes, the villain, this villain, or no?
• 17:54
  No, I think they're quite opposites. I think
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  in Germany everything is like grayish, and in
• 18:00
  America it's very black and white. Interesting.
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  Now the advantage is that with the black and
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  white you can relate a lot more, you care a lot
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  more, it's a lot more emotional. Now Germans
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  don't do that on purpose. There is very little
• 18:11
  emotion, everything is very subtle and toned
• 18:14
  down and very mental. But I like like a middle
• 18:19
  ground between the two, I guess. It's interesting
• 18:21
  that you think that because like the prestige
• 18:23
  TV era that we've had here in America for like
• 18:25
  the last 15 or 20 years, we've had shows like
• 18:29
  Mad Men Breaking Bad, The Sopranos, where it's
• 18:32
  like the anti -hero, where it's like, oh, yeah.
• 18:35
  So it's interesting that you find the American
• 18:39
  television is very black and white as like the
• 18:42
  hero's always good and the hero's always bad.
• 18:43
  No, not the television, the film. Oh, the film.
• 18:46
  Yeah, yeah, yeah. Oh, yeah. You know what? Yeah,
• 18:47
  yeah. Film is, yeah, probably still... Television
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  is very different. Television is super layered
• 18:51
  and super interesting, but in film, I think it's
• 18:54
  still that way. Why hasn't film in America caught
• 18:57
  up to what TV in America has done in terms of
• 18:59
  like that gray area, I wonder? That's a great
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  question. I think, I mean, look, with TV, you
• 19:06
  get so much... more chances to dive deep into
• 19:09
  a character like and show more layers show more
• 19:13
  aspect show what else is going on. Which you
• 19:16
  don't get with with your shorter on time so you
• 19:21
  have to be to write to that level in a phone
• 19:24
  you have to be super efficient with your writing
• 19:26
  and that's a skill that's not that doesn't come
• 19:29
  easily right that comes with a lot of practice
• 19:32
  like take a sitcom for example. a sitcom is written
• 19:37
  in a way where each scene you enter fairly late.
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  Like you already with the first line, you already
• 19:43
  know that there's been a conflict going on for
• 19:46
  some time and it's already escalated. And then
• 19:48
  they leave the scene already at the decision.
• 19:51
  And that's like what to do next. So each scene
• 19:54
  is maybe a minute long, maybe two max, but usually
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  it's like a minute or less. So now it becomes
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  a fast paced thing that moves really, really
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  quickly, which is how comedy works in that sense.
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  But for film, there's still a lot more traditional
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  writing of the hero's journey. And you have to
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  tell the whole thing. There's the whole visual
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  aspect coming in that you also want it to look
• 20:19
  really pretty. So you can watch it on a big screen
• 20:22
  and it makes more sense, right? Versus TV that
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  is just for you TV at home where you don't need
• 20:28
  great visuals necessarily. But I'm sure there's
• 20:31
  a lot more reasons that I don't know of that
• 20:35
  define that. Yeah, yeah. Going back to the state
• 20:41
  funding for the arts that you had mentioned in
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  Germany, the public TV there, there's a thread
• 20:47
  that I seem to be noticing with countries that
• 20:50
  aren't America, you probably already know in
• 20:53
  this country, there isn't this like easy bipartisan,
• 20:59
  let's come together and support the arts in every
• 21:02
  way, shape possible. I feel like there's a lot
• 21:04
  more federal government support for the arts
• 21:06
  in countries like Canada, like Germany. And I
• 21:10
  wonder why that is. And if you have any thoughts
• 21:16
  on that, please share it because it's baffling
• 21:19
  to me because I think we place a higher value
• 21:25
  in this country on things like owning a gun or
• 21:29
  football and may see the arts as sort of like
• 21:33
  this sort of elitist pretend thing that doesn't
• 21:37
  need to be taken as seriously. But I feel like
• 21:39
  other countries get the idea that there's a a
• 21:43
  very important human and educational value to
• 21:46
  supporting the arts. Oh, absolutely. Yeah. And
• 21:50
  I do think part of that comes just down to recent
• 21:54
  history, like a reason in the sense of like the
• 21:57
  last several generations of people that have
• 22:01
  lived in either the US or in Europe, right? I
• 22:06
  performed in a theater in Germany. About half
• 22:10
  an hour away from my hometown that had been around
• 22:13
  since the 1720s I think it had hosted Mozart
• 22:19
  Beethoven Voltaire in person and I was on that
• 22:22
  same stage and Yeah, and and that's just a there's
• 22:28
  a different closeness there right when you actually
• 22:31
  are in those spaces when you You walk past memorials,
• 22:37
  you see the history. I lived in a house that
• 22:40
  was 850 years old when I moved in. That is older
• 22:44
  than the U .S. And at that time, it was a monastery
• 22:49
  while in that same town the Pope was elected.
• 22:51
  So there's a solid chance that the Pope at that
• 22:54
  time actually walked through the same room that
• 22:56
  I then lived in 800 years ago. That was 600 years
• 23:00
  after that. So I think there's a different closeness
• 23:03
  while the close historical things in the US are
• 23:09
  still like conquering the territory, defending
• 23:13
  yourself in the wilderness, making the area habitable
• 23:18
  and surviving in that. And so I think there's
• 23:22
  just very different, very different experiences
• 23:24
  that stay present. Cause that stuff doesn't just
• 23:26
  go away from one generation to the next, right?
• 23:29
  Like subconsciously you pass a lot on. And when
• 23:31
  it comes to the funding, I actually did read
• 23:34
  a study when I was in college that showed that
• 23:39
  many of those things like funding, things that
• 23:42
  are not primary necessities in Europe are run
• 23:47
  through the state and through taxes just so it
• 23:50
  always functions. While in the U .S. it is run
• 23:53
  through donations and volunteer work. And there
• 23:56
  is like way, way more donations and volunteer
• 23:59
  work happening. in the U .S. that in Europe does
• 24:03
  not happen to that extent. But I honestly I can't
• 24:06
  remember exactly why they what reason they found
• 24:09
  why that's why that's going on. And going to
• 24:12
  the because you had mentioned public broadcasting
• 24:15
  like to because it's like a it's like a taxpayer
• 24:19
  required situation in Germany. Is that what I'm
• 24:21
  getting at? It's taxpayer required. And could
• 24:25
  it be more different than the U .S.? You probably
• 24:27
  already know from looking at the news. But Public
• 24:30
  broadcasting has been under financial threat
• 24:34
  from the federal government for the past couple
• 24:36
  years, so they could just easily say, all right,
• 24:41
  this platform, NPR, PBS, it has political bias,
• 24:46
  so therefore we're just gonna cut funding from
• 24:47
  it. And that's where people can get news, education,
• 24:52
  entertainment, you already know. So can you get
• 24:54
  into... Why, in contrast, Germany is like, no,
• 24:59
  public broadcasting is an essential thing that
• 25:02
  every taxpayer needs to chip into, it's required.
• 25:05
  How do they view public broadcasting versus how
• 25:08
  we view it? Well, not everybody's a fan of it.
• 25:12
  There's people that are for it and there's people
• 25:13
  that are against it, for sure. Is it for similar
• 25:16
  reasons? Do they think there's some kind of bias
• 25:18
  with public broadcasting in Germany as well?
• 25:20
  No, they mostly think that you shouldn't be forced
• 25:22
  to pay for something, especially if you don't
• 25:24
  use it, right? Not everybody watches public broadcasting
• 25:26
  either. Also, the bias aspect, it's... It's hard
• 25:31
  for me to judge. It's definitely still biased
• 25:34
  in Germany a little bit. For sure. It's not as
• 25:37
  neutral. It feels like as it used to be. I may
• 25:39
  be completely wrong about that, but that's what
• 25:42
  it feels like. But the main argument why it exists
• 25:45
  is so it can maintain neutrality as much as possible.
• 25:50
  Now in Germany, the German system was designed
• 25:53
  by the Americans largely right after world war
• 25:56
  two. So. That's why it gets so interesting to
• 25:59
  look at the German political system in comparison
• 26:02
  to the US. And there is not a single decision
• 26:07
  in Germany that can made by a single person ever.
• 26:12
  There's nothing. There's nothing that can be
• 26:15
  made by a single person. So a system that is
• 26:19
  very much based in like true checks and balances
• 26:21
  where there's different parts that make sure
• 26:24
  that the process was correct. So we get to a
• 26:30
  legally like outcome that was made in the right
• 26:33
  way, so to say, and represents democracy. And
• 26:36
  then there's always a separation between who
• 26:38
  actually, you know, decides upon the law and
• 26:40
  then who finally passes it just to make sure
• 26:43
  that they can check in between. So the like one
• 26:48
  person deciding that we now cut funding for that
• 26:52
  entire agency is impossible. It has to be a body
• 26:56
  of people talking it over. It has to be parliament.
• 27:03
  And for the majority of decisions, it has to
• 27:07
  be both chambers of parliament as well. So it's
• 27:11
  a dual chamber system as well, just like the
• 27:13
  US. One represents the states. Basically, one
• 27:17
  is directly voted from the people. There's no
• 27:20
  middlemen in the US, so you vote directly. And
• 27:23
  the leadership role is split in two. There is
• 27:26
  a chancellor and a president. The chancellor
• 27:29
  is the one actually leading parliament, and the
• 27:33
  president is the one that leads the country.
• 27:36
  But they're not involved in day -to -day politics.
• 27:38
  What they do is they check that the policy, like
• 27:43
  the policy -making process, how a law came to
• 27:46
  be, that that was actually correct. And they
• 27:48
  are the one actually signing the laws, if I remember
• 27:51
  correctly. I love your motto, your slogan, so
• 27:55
  to speak, on your pod match profile. That's how
• 27:57
  you and I found each other. And I want you to
• 28:00
  break it down for me. You would describe yourself
• 28:03
  as a life -loving creative on a journey of personal
• 28:06
  growth through storytelling. I love it. You're
• 28:11
  laughing about it. What are your feelings when
• 28:14
  I say that out loud? Are you proud of it? Are
• 28:17
  you insecure about it? What does it mean to you?
• 28:19
  I am proud of it. Yeah, I am. It took a lot of
• 28:23
  work and a long time for me to love my life.
• 28:28
  It took a lot of work to have the confidence
• 28:29
  to say I'm a creative and a storyteller because
• 28:33
  the industry can be really rough and very unforgiving
• 28:36
  in that way. And yeah, I think I'm a decent human
• 28:41
  being. So that's something I'm... proud of in
• 28:44
  a way. Now you say it took a long time to get
• 28:45
  here. Can you give me an idea of the rough edges
• 28:49
  that you had to go through to get to this point
• 28:52
  where you are secure in yourself as a wonderful
• 28:57
  storyteller? Well, it's been a journey for a
• 29:01
  lot of years. I wasn't an abusive marriage that
• 29:06
  got violent. That was my first kickoff where
• 29:09
  I was like, what happens that I'm now this person?
• 29:15
  And in musical theater, my first acting teacher
• 29:19
  told me that I should not be in this business
• 29:22
  and I should leave it right now and find something
• 29:25
  else to do with my life. That's a pet peeve of
• 29:27
  mine, by the way, because I cannot tell you how
• 29:29
  many people with stories like yours I've heard
• 29:32
  where it's like, oh yeah, when I was in high
• 29:34
  school, when I was in middle school, I had a
• 29:35
  teacher tell me that I'm not fit out for this.
• 29:38
  And just the idea that a grown person who's supposed
• 29:41
  to be a mentor, who's supposed to be a source
• 29:43
  of encouragement telling you at that young, tender
• 29:46
  age, you cannot do this, it just really irritates
• 29:49
  me. So I'm really sorry you had to go through
• 29:51
  that. I agree. Thanks. And that is a little bit
• 29:54
  of the issue like with these schools, because
• 29:55
  you tend to get the people that haven't made
• 29:59
  it themselves, right? That's the problem. So
• 30:02
  like with art education schools, it's very rare
• 30:05
  that you get somebody who has actually been super
• 30:08
  successful, because they don't take the time
• 30:10
  to teach or a lot of them don't take the time
• 30:11
  to teach, right? And not to say that they don't
• 30:14
  like do this. He didn't do that on purpose. Nobody
• 30:17
  did that for any bad reasons. They were thinking
• 30:20
  they were doing me a favor and helping me. I
• 30:26
  disagree. And then there was a whole immigration
• 30:29
  situation, obviously, with the U .S. security
• 30:33
  that comes with that, the pandemic, the strikes.
• 30:37
  And throughout that entire time, I also went
• 30:39
  through a series of just tremendous personal
• 30:42
  loss that was really, really hard to deal with.
• 30:45
  So I'm kind of proud that I'm still around, not
• 30:49
  a drug addict yet. Not yet. I hope not ever.
• 30:57
  Okay, so you're running a trade business. You
• 31:00
  know that the phone always rings at the worst
• 31:02
  possible time. Why? The solution, UR office staff.
• 31:07
  UR office staff is an AI receptionist that answers
• 31:11
  for you day and night. It will talk to your customers,
• 31:14
  knows your services and prices. It'll check your
• 31:17
  calendar and even books estimates near jobs you
• 31:20
  already have that day. The details will all be
• 31:24
  texted to you. You don't have to worry about
• 31:26
  it. UR office staff takes care of the texts,
• 31:29
  the emails. It's only 99 bucks a month. Even
• 31:31
  better, if you try it out your first month, is
• 31:34
  only $10. Go to youareofficestaff .com. Once
• 31:39
  again, that is youareofficestaff .com. Earlier
• 31:45
  you described that like acting in this business
• 31:48
  can be tough. It can be tough to go through this
• 31:52
  business if you have integrity. And that word
• 31:56
  integrity stood out to me. Can you give me an
• 31:59
  idea of what roles are examples of roles that
• 32:05
  would destroy your integrity? Like, what would
• 32:07
  you have to do as an actress that you think would
• 32:10
  not be good for your integrity? I can so clearly
• 32:13
  state that. Commercials for fast food or pharmaceuticals.
• 32:18
  Really? That's interesting. Why is that? Because
• 32:21
  I don't think fast food is good for you. And
• 32:24
  I do think a lot of the health issues in the
• 32:26
  US going on stem from the quality of food that
• 32:29
  is consumed. Yeah. Pharmaceutical commercials
• 32:33
  are forbidden in every country of the world,
• 32:36
  except for the U .S. and one more. Wow. So when
• 32:40
  we say pharmaceuticals, it could just be something
• 32:41
  like as like just everything? No, prescription
• 32:47
  meds. Prescription meds cannot be advertised
• 32:50
  for in any other country except for the U .S.
• 32:53
  And I can't remember what the other one was,
• 32:55
  but there's one more where it's allowed. But
• 32:56
  that's the only two places in the world because
• 32:59
  in most places, people believe that you trust
• 33:02
  your doctor and also that it's not good to mess
• 33:09
  with things that you don't know enough about
• 33:11
  and to bring even more attention to that. So
• 33:15
  that would be something I would not be comfortable
• 33:16
  with. Not saying at all that prescription meds
• 33:20
  or medicine or medical technology is not a great
• 33:24
  thing in a lot of ways. I just don't want to
• 33:26
  be telling people look, you have to take this
• 33:29
  and you may get 5 ,000 side effects that may
• 33:32
  ruin their life. But hey, that one will be better.
• 33:35
  Yeah. That's nothing I can do with integrity.
• 33:39
  And I think I get what you're saying. Yeah, I
• 33:41
  think I get what you're saying because like with
• 33:43
  With the American commercializing of pharmaceuticals,
• 33:46
  it can give you the impression that like, oh,
• 33:49
  I'm missing out on something. I'm not solving
• 33:51
  my problem if I don't take this. And going back
• 33:54
  to what you're saying, it's very subjective.
• 33:57
  It's like, it should be a more private conversation
• 34:01
  to be had between you and your doctor. Because
• 34:03
  when you do commercialize it on TV, film, radio,
• 34:06
  whatever, to the masses, people who clearly do
• 34:10
  not need that medicine may get the impression
• 34:12
  that they need it. Oh, for sure. Yeah. And there's
• 34:15
  a reason doctors study for freaking years and
• 34:18
  years. They are the smartest of people to begin
• 34:20
  with. And then they study for such a long time
• 34:22
  to understand what is going on, how things can
• 34:26
  coincide. You have to find a doctor that you
• 34:28
  trust, that they will do the right thing for
• 34:30
  you. But I don't think that the commercials for
• 34:32
  that stuff helps at all. So there's those two.
• 34:36
  And then there is a story that disempower, discriminate.
• 34:44
  or like incomplete in a sense. Tell me more.
• 34:49
  Let me elaborate, yeah. I don't like stories
• 34:54
  where literally anybody, but usually it's a woman,
• 34:57
  is written to make the man look more powerful.
• 35:04
  And that unfortunately is still the case with
• 35:07
  a lot of... um, scripts that I would have access
• 35:11
  to because it's a lot of, you know, beginning
• 35:13
  filmmakers. There's also, you know, in filmmaking,
• 35:16
  there's union and non -union. In the beginning,
• 35:17
  you can only do non -union jobs. Um, so you don't
• 35:21
  even get to audition for the stuff that you're
• 35:23
  actually interested in. Not to say that there's
• 35:25
  not great non -union projects, but it is a lot
• 35:28
  of people starting out and that is predominantly
• 35:31
  males and they have not predominantly been exposed
• 35:35
  to storytelling that is more layered because
• 35:38
  it just hasn't been for so long, right? And that
• 35:42
  goes for, you know, any type of discrimination
• 35:45
  that there can be, whether it's gender, sexual
• 35:47
  orientation, ethnicity or age. That's actually
• 35:52
  why I wrote my own One Egg Place. and made my
• 35:55
  characters almost independent of all four of
• 35:59
  them, because I think that's how storytelling
• 36:01
  should be, and then you find the best people
• 36:03
  and you get a great product. Talk to me more
• 36:05
  about those one -act plays, if you can. Oh, yeah.
• 36:08
  It's called In Between, a gender -neutral one
• 36:10
  -act plays between life and death. They're really
• 36:12
  wacky. Yeah? Yeah, let's hear about it. So there's
• 36:17
  like the offsets the inner related so it's at
• 36:20
  eight place in a related to a form one arc so
• 36:23
  it could be one story but it's also separate
• 36:25
  stories. And they're all in these weird spaces
• 36:28
  like either you know just before you die like
• 36:31
  ninety seven pieces about the last ninety seven
• 36:34
  heartbeats of a person in hospital who's in a
• 36:37
  coma or just before you're born there's one teddy
• 36:40
  bears and sand candles it's like two souls. up
• 36:44
  in heaven that are about to incarnate. And one
• 36:46
  of them's like super excited to go. And the other
• 36:50
  one really does not want to go back to the shithole.
• 36:54
  That's not my judgment, but it's, so they stem
• 36:58
  from my experience from the last several years
• 37:00
  of, you know, going through a lot of loss, accompanying
• 37:03
  close people to the process of dying and the
• 37:06
  conversations we had about what matters in life.
• 37:09
  What is love? What is purpose, right? What does
• 37:12
  it really come down to in the end? And so I wanted
• 37:14
  to write something that is relatable and brings
• 37:19
  a bit of ease and a lighter feeling into these
• 37:24
  heavy topics and maybe helps, you know, someone
• 37:26
  when they're going through a tough time, reading
• 37:28
  something and getting a new perspective that
• 37:30
  can, you know, make it a little easier to deal
• 37:32
  with. Have those plays already been performed?
• 37:34
  Some of them, yeah. The two I mentioned have
• 37:37
  been performed. The other ones have, not as far
• 37:42
  as I know, not yet. Yeah, but we did the table
• 37:46
  read for them, which was super cool. Where were
• 37:49
  they performed and can you describe the audience
• 37:52
  feedback? How it made you feel? Like, what was
• 37:55
  that like? Yeah, we performed them. So I was
• 37:58
  actually also acting in 97 beats. And this was
• 38:02
  at the Extravaganza One Act Fest in Los Angeles
• 38:07
  in 2025. Yeah. Under the leadership. And this
• 38:12
  is where like, I don't know, I don't know if
• 38:14
  you want to describe yourself as like a independent
• 38:17
  playwright or something like that, but like.
• 38:20
  plays or playwrights that may not be usually
• 38:23
  exposed to the masses, this is an opportunity
• 38:25
  for them to be exposed through that festival?
• 38:27
  Is that kind of what the point is? Yeah, that's
• 38:29
  pretty much it. It's a chance for writers to
• 38:32
  start writing their own stuff. And then if it
• 38:36
  fits, because there's specific criteria, what
• 38:40
  type of stories work, they have to be really
• 38:41
  sharp to begin with. So there's a whole writing
• 38:44
  and rewriting process. I did another one for
• 38:47
  that same festival. It was called Ease -E, and
• 38:51
  it was about a guy getting a house robot because
• 38:55
  his wife doesn't want to go cosplay with him.
• 38:58
  Okay. That sounds entertaining. I'd love to see
• 39:00
  that. It was really fun. It was an homage to
• 39:03
  Star Wars, really. Obviously, I couldn't do anything
• 39:07
  else with it. Just, you know, put it up on stage.
• 39:09
  But that one, I genuinely rewrote, I think, 40
• 39:13
  times, at least. How is it performing work that
• 39:16
  you've written? Is it surreal? Is it, I don't
• 39:21
  know. I mean, I'm assuming it's much more rewarding
• 39:26
  than performing someone else's work, but just
• 39:29
  describe how it is, like, you know, performing
• 39:31
  your own words. I don't think it's more rewarding.
• 39:33
  I think it's different. Like, because you're
• 39:36
  more in your head about it because you can change
• 39:39
  it, right? When you get a written script, you're
• 39:41
  like, oh, this is here in the script. This is
• 39:42
  the words. This is like what's happening. So
• 39:45
  that's what we, I don't like it, but I have to
• 39:47
  go with it. When you perform your own things,
• 39:50
  you're like, maybe I should change that tone,
• 39:53
  maybe I should change that character part, maybe
• 39:55
  I should do this, maybe I should do that. It's
• 39:57
  a lot easier to get in your head about it for
• 39:59
  sure. Aside from that. Did that happen where
• 40:02
  you're in the middle of rehearsal, you're just
• 40:04
  like, let me change this, let me change that,
• 40:05
  let me change this and change that. Not the changes,
• 40:08
  but me getting in my head about it for sure.
• 40:10
  That happened a lot. In 97 Peets, I was playing
• 40:14
  the angel. The setting is that a man lies in
• 40:20
  a hospital bed in a coma, heartbeat monitor is
• 40:23
  attached, the wife rushes in and the doctor tells
• 40:25
  her, we don't know what it is yet, but we should
• 40:28
  have the test results like this evening. He's
• 40:30
  definitely in a coma and then we'll see. And
• 40:32
  then all goes black, time slows down, which we
• 40:35
  can hear from the heartbeat slowing down and
• 40:37
  it comes back up. And there's this angel who's
• 40:39
  now waking the guy up and saying, all right,
• 40:42
  it's time to go. He resists. He doesn't want
• 40:45
  to leave his wife. He doesn't want to leave his
• 40:47
  life. He still has, you know, things to do, unfinished
• 40:50
  business that he wants to take care of. And it
• 40:53
  takes a very dramatic turn. Do you want me to
• 40:56
  spoil it or not? I mean, if I'm not ever going
• 40:58
  to see it, sure. I mean, you're probably not
• 41:03
  going to see it. And that's regretful because
• 41:06
  it sounds like a beautiful piece of work I'd
• 41:08
  love to see. Thank you. Well, I am going to tell
• 41:10
  you. So he manages Tuesday, he goes into cardiac
• 41:17
  arrest because the angel tells him, okay, you
• 41:20
  have these 97 beats left before your heart will
• 41:22
  stop. He goes into cardiac arrest and all goes
• 41:26
  black in the black. The doctors come in and they
• 41:30
  resuscitate him and his heartbeat starts again.
• 41:33
  And then the lights come up and the doctor walks
• 41:36
  in and, um, tells the wife that he has, oh gosh,
• 41:41
  it was a disease that, it was a bacterial disease
• 41:44
  that you can get from sweet water, warm sweet
• 41:46
  water exposure in a lake that goes into your
• 41:49
  brain and makes you, like it's pretty bad. And
• 41:51
  the doctor tells her that he will never wake
• 41:54
  up and she now has to make the decision to turn
• 41:58
  off the machines. So after all, the angel was
• 42:02
  there to help, right? It looked like the angel
• 42:04
  was just taking him to, uh make things easier
• 42:09
  and there's an option and she was saying that
• 42:12
  you know you only have these heartbeats left
• 42:14
  trust me it will be better for everybody um but
• 42:17
  in the end it turns out she wasn't his angel
• 42:20
  that's why she couldn't tell him exactly what's
• 42:23
  happening she was the wife's guardian angel and
• 42:26
  she was trying to protect the wife from having
• 42:27
  to make that decision so that was a tough one
• 42:30
  to portray to be the angel right because you
• 42:33
  can take a lot of tones there And it has to be
• 42:38
  very nuanced with what's going on. But at the
• 42:41
  same time, you don't want it to be so heavy because
• 42:43
  it's already a heavy story. So the only way to
• 42:45
  bring lightness in is through the angel. And
• 42:48
  that was something I would get in my head a lot.
• 42:51
  And how were you able to transition from those
• 42:59
  thoughts in your head to just trusting the experience
• 43:02
  and letting it be what it is? How did you get
• 43:04
  out of that? Good director, that is the key.
• 43:07
  Who directed? Wolfgang Botteson. You may know
• 43:11
  him. He played Lance Corporate's Hal Something
• 43:15
  in A Few Good Men. That was his breakout role.
• 43:18
  Wow. How did you get him to direct? We've been
• 43:23
  working together. It's his festival. I was his
• 43:28
  assistant director for the last couple of years
• 43:31
  at that festival. He directed it. We've been
• 43:34
  working together a lot. He will be directing
• 43:36
  one episode of my TV show as well. Great guy,
• 43:39
  phenomenal director, and that is the person that
• 43:42
  you need to get out of your head and to tell
• 43:44
  you, no, it's good. It's right the way it is.
• 43:46
  Take this direction or that. And you have to
• 43:49
  have trust where you can have that type of report
• 43:52
  to easily do things. Hey, look at me. I'm the
• 43:58
  Hip Daddy letting you know to follow me on that
• 44:01
  hippity hip Instagram and TikTok. at The Delicious
• 44:04
  Culture. Instagram and TikTok at The Delicious
• 44:08
  Culture. Watch me do my hippity hop. And the
• 44:14
  TV show that you just mentioned, are you talking
• 44:17
  about the sitcom streaming series, the NFTs?
• 44:19
  Yes, that is it. Exactly. Tell me more about
• 44:22
  that. How did this come about and what's the
• 44:24
  story? All right. NFTs is about three college
• 44:28
  graduates. They're super nerdy. And they get
• 44:32
  one last chance to make their NFT business go.
• 44:36
  and it's not working with any artists that they've
• 44:39
  worked with. They get this one last chance to
• 44:41
  collaborate with a group of influencers, and
• 44:44
  then they find out that they're actually only
• 44:46
  fan stars. So it's about very nerdy people that
• 44:49
  have to get along with very sexy people. Yeah,
• 44:52
  okay. I like that, I like that. NFTs, remind
• 44:57
  me what those are, because I thought, when I
• 45:01
  read your bio about the show, I... felt like
• 45:05
  I just saw the word NFT for the first time in
• 45:08
  a few years. It feels like that's not as much
• 45:11
  of a thing, but remind me what it is. Is it just
• 45:14
  like a digital currency, much like a cryptocurrency
• 45:16
  or Bitcoin? Is that kind of how it works? So
• 45:20
  it lives in that world, and NFT is a non -fungible
• 45:23
  token, which means it has the same or similar
• 45:27
  properties to cryptocurrency in the sense that
• 45:30
  ideally it can't be falsified, copied, stolen
• 45:32
  or anything like that. but it is for actual assets
• 45:38
  and not just currency. The issue with it was
• 45:44
  that it was used in very scanny ways right away
• 45:46
  in the beginning, which was very unfortunate.
• 45:49
  The cool thing that an NFT provides for artists
• 45:53
  is that it comes with a smart contract, which
• 45:56
  you don't get in real life. Like in real life,
• 45:58
  art is often exploited and taken for granted.
• 46:02
  Like there's this notion of, well, they enjoy
• 46:04
  what they're doing anyway, so why should I pay
• 46:06
  for it? And we saw that very heavily. 20 -30
• 46:10
  years ago when it was completely normal to illegally
• 46:13
  download music and films and never pay for anything.
• 46:16
  And an NFT can protect that to some extent by
• 46:20
  giving the artist a smart contract where they
• 46:23
  just have more control of what happens with their
• 46:26
  art, who gets to see it, if it gets resold for
• 46:29
  a bunch of money that they get a percentage of
• 46:31
  that, for example. And that's what I really liked
• 46:33
  about the concept. Also, I haven't had a better
• 46:35
  idea for a name yet. So we're sticking with NFTs
• 46:38
  for now. I love it. I love it. I think you should
• 46:39
  stick with it because it's a, it's a play on
• 46:42
  NFT, the actual abbreviation NFT, but like NFTs
• 46:47
  instead of like plural, NFTS, it's like NFTEASE.
• 46:52
  Teasing. Teasing. Yeah. And by teasing, we mean
• 46:56
  like, you know, the sort of romantic sexual teasing
• 46:59
  between nerdy and sexy people. Is that kind of
• 47:01
  what we're thinking? Of course. Yeah. Yeah, yeah,
• 47:03
  yeah. I think it's brilliant. I think it's funny.
• 47:05
  It makes me want to watch the show. So you had
• 47:07
  mentioned it as a streamer. So it's on a streaming
• 47:09
  service. Are you shopping into streaming services?
• 47:11
  No, no, no. We're actually we're doing a very
• 47:13
  different approach. I cast all my actors, all
• 47:17
  my main actors before I left L .A. And we just
• 47:20
  launched our characters on social media a couple
• 47:23
  of weeks ago. So for now, the characters live
• 47:26
  on social media as if they were real and they
• 47:28
  will interact in comedic ways and post comedic
• 47:31
  things. And from there, we're building an audience
• 47:34
  first and fine tune our comedy and fine tune
• 47:37
  the relationships and really get it to a point
• 47:40
  where it's as good as it can be, which is a great
• 47:43
  thing to do with social media because you just
• 47:44
  get instant feedback, right? Normally with a...
• 47:47
  TV show or a movie, you make something and you
• 47:51
  hope it resonates. And if you're a big studio,
• 47:54
  you can show it to people ahead of time and get
• 47:58
  their feedback on it. But you don't get the testing
• 48:02
  and fine tuning to the degree that social media
• 48:04
  can provide. So we're gonna really use that,
• 48:07
  leverage it, make it the best characters, dynamics
• 48:10
  and comedy possible. And then hopefully we have
• 48:13
  enough of an audience built where we can get
• 48:16
  distribution funding fairly easily. I love that.
• 48:19
  I'm rooting for you. Um, do you think that. NFTs,
• 48:23
  digital currency, if you will. Do you think that
• 48:26
  should be the future of show business in terms
• 48:29
  of how things are monetized? Like, would you
• 48:33
  go so far as to say we should move away from
• 48:35
  the traditional currency that we've been doing?
• 48:38
  Because you had mentioned like, you know, NFTs
• 48:40
  has been seen as a way to better protect the
• 48:43
  art. So I'm wondering about your thoughts on
• 48:45
  that. I'm not sure about like, I don't know enough
• 48:48
  about these things to have. opinion on the currency
• 48:51
  part or I don't understand the tech enough to
• 48:57
  fully judge that, to be honest. I like the values
• 49:01
  that are behind, especially Bitcoin, the independence
• 49:04
  of money and that it can't be corrupted in that
• 49:08
  way, but I don't like the ecological impact it
• 49:11
  still has when the mining does not come from
• 49:15
  like really green energy sources. such as geothermal
• 49:19
  or something like that. And so my biggest take
• 49:23
  on that is really with the production model.
• 49:25
  I do think that is the future. I do think how
• 49:28
  we're producing it is going to be the future
• 49:30
  of independent filmmaking. And I do think the
• 49:34
  future is free in that sense that independent
• 49:37
  filmmaking will have a lot more potential to
• 49:40
  go because we're seeing the studios like are
• 49:43
  really struggling with filmmaking, especially
• 49:44
  TV is a different thing. But with films, it seems
• 49:48
  like any films have done really, really well
• 49:51
  in the past. And I think we'll continue to do
• 49:53
  so because you can tailor it to an audience,
• 49:55
  like to a niche audience, and you can make more
• 49:57
  specific stories and you can tell stories for
• 50:01
  specific people that will really care about it.
• 50:03
  And I love that. Uh, I, I think you have an LLC
• 50:06
  fire, fire wolf entertainment. Um, yeah. So as
• 50:12
  someone who likes ownership of his content, um,
• 50:16
  I've always thought about like, Oh, what does
• 50:19
  it go? Like what is building an LLC? Well, like
• 50:21
  what, what is that? Like what, what does the
• 50:23
  abbreviation even mean? Like, can you, um, can
• 50:26
  you describe like, What that is just the idea
• 50:31
  of like, Oh, I'm going to just kind of build
• 50:33
  this company, so to speak, uh, to, to, uh, brand
• 50:37
  my work under. Well, an LLC is a limited liability
• 50:41
  company and, uh, data is about as much as I can
• 50:45
  tell you about that. Um, I'm going to, uh, if
• 50:50
  you don't mind, I'm going to look this up. Uh,
• 50:53
  what does limited. liability company mean and
• 51:00
  why? Well, it means you're not liable, right?
• 51:03
  If things go south, you're not personally liable.
• 51:05
  If you don't have an LLC, you're personally liable
• 51:08
  for the work you do. which can be tricky. Okay.
• 51:11
  Flexible business structure that legally separates
• 51:13
  your personal assets from your business debts
• 51:14
  and lawsuits. Why it's important. Your home car
• 51:17
  and personal savings stay safe if the business
• 51:18
  is sued or goes bankrupt, avoids corporate double
• 51:22
  taxation while allowing write -offs for everyday
• 51:25
  operating expenses, requires less paperwork and
• 51:27
  record keeping than a traditional corporation,
• 51:30
  lends professional legitimacy to sole proprietors
• 51:31
  or partnerships. Okay. I see. I see. All right.
• 51:35
  Tell me how that is, because you are, I guess,
• 51:39
  the CEO of Firewolf Entertainment. I am. Where
• 51:44
  does that name come from and what does it feel
• 51:47
  like to have an LLC? And, and tell me just, just
• 51:51
  because this is you're, you're talking to someone
• 51:54
  who might want to set one up for himself someday.
• 51:57
  So tell me that experience. Well, I will say
• 52:01
  that I have been, um, I have had the LLC for
• 52:04
  a while. I was many years ago now. My boyfriend
• 52:10
  at that time, we spent the pandemic developing
• 52:14
  a superhero franchise that got options. And that
• 52:18
  was when we came up with the name Firewolf Entertainment.
• 52:21
  His thing was wolves and my thing was the Phoenix
• 52:25
  always. And so we kind of like combined these
• 52:29
  ideas and made it Firewolf Entertainment LLC.
• 52:32
  And we formed the company back then in Oklahoma,
• 52:36
  which is where he lived, to hold the rights for
• 52:39
  these option deals. All of the option deals,
• 52:42
  some of them are still in consideration. None
• 52:46
  of them have happened yet, unfortunately. None
• 52:48
  of them are TV shows yet. And he dropped out
• 52:52
  of the business, out of entertainment entirely
• 52:55
  and let me keep the name. So I only just registered
• 53:00
  the company again in California three weeks ago.
• 53:04
  And now I'm the sole owner and no longer just
• 53:07
  the co -founder. Can you tell me more about that
• 53:10
  superhero franchise that you're talking about?
• 53:12
  Oh yeah, Ascension. Basically, we took all sorts
• 53:18
  of different mythologies from around the world
• 53:20
  and put them into one cohesive universe. And
• 53:25
  the idea is that gods are born as humans and
• 53:29
  they don't know that they're gods. But then something
• 53:32
  happens that makes them ascend and they realize
• 53:35
  that they actually have power. And sometimes
• 53:39
  they remember things from a past life that they're
• 53:43
  still carrying like unfinished business. karma
• 53:46
  in that sense. And they are self -actualizing
• 53:51
  in the sense that they are as powerful as they
• 53:54
  believe themselves to be. And with that concept,
• 53:56
  we were now able to mix and mingle the different
• 54:01
  mythologies and have recurring characters throughout.
• 54:04
  And we developed five, six origin stories, so
• 54:09
  to say, under that. One was Ascension the Last
• 54:14
  Asgardian, which is set in Scandinavia in 200
• 54:20
  AD, and it was about the time of the Vikings,
• 54:24
  so to say, but with that mythological aspect
• 54:27
  of it that the, I can't spoil that, that somebody
• 54:34
  is born into that world of wars and is being
• 54:43
  tasked with something very difficult that he
• 54:46
  then has to fulfill in order to not aggravate
• 54:49
  the gods. And I developed to one of them was
• 54:54
  Ascension Turn of Tides, which is set in 1799
• 54:58
  between the Caribbean and US East Coast. It's
• 55:01
  about a sailor of color who becomes a pirate
• 55:07
  to save his sister. and it's set in the setting
• 55:10
  of the quasi -war between the US and France where
• 55:14
  French pirates took over a bunch of the American
• 55:18
  commercial ships within a year. It's a really
• 55:22
  cool story set in that space of some countries
• 55:28
  have already abolished slavery, some have not.
• 55:31
  The seas are kind of like a free zone, but not
• 55:33
  for everybody. So within all of that chaos, we
• 55:36
  have this hero story of an African American man
• 55:42
  trying to rescue his sister who got kidnapped
• 55:44
  into slavery. And the third one was, oh yeah,
• 55:51
  Amazon Queen. That's my other passion project
• 55:55
  in that sense. That one was set around 1247 BC.
• 56:00
  That's when it starts. I know that's super specific.
• 56:02
  The fun fact is we know a lot about that time,
• 56:05
  actually, just before that Bronze Age collapsed.
• 56:07
  So it's a bit of a game of Thrones worlds in
• 56:11
  the Bronze Age high cultures, which is everything,
• 56:14
  you know, Persia, so Assyria, Egypt, the Hittites,
• 56:19
  the Mycenaean Greeks. And it's a story of what
• 56:23
  an Amazon state would have looked like. Like
• 56:26
  if there was a city state where women were actually
• 56:28
  in charge or have taken over what that would
• 56:31
  have been like. I love that. Yeah. You just are
• 56:37
  a deep well of very unique, wonderful story ideas.
• 56:44
  Like, this is so great and I cannot wait to eventually
• 56:49
  see your work on a big streaming service or a
• 56:53
  theater or what have you. I just think that what
• 56:56
  you're doing is phenomenal. You're very inspirational.
• 56:59
  I do have three delicious questions that I like
• 57:02
  to ask all my guests and I would... I was wondering
• 57:04
  if you would be so kind to answer them for me,
• 57:07
  Nikki. First one, what is the delicious meal
• 57:10
  that you've had lately? Oh, the most delicious
• 57:12
  meal I just had was pozole, I think it's called
• 57:16
  here in Mexico. What is that? I think it was
• 57:19
  called that way. It is a soup with a type of
• 57:23
  corn that is specific to South America or Latin
• 57:26
  America. and vegetables and beef in it. And I
• 57:31
  know it sounds lame because it's a soup, but
• 57:34
  boy. It sounds like something I'd like to try.
• 57:35
  It was really, really, really good. Yeah. I just,
• 57:38
  you know, the food here in Mexico is just so
• 57:40
  freaking good. Why are you in Mexico? Because
• 57:43
  I can be, because I wanted to stay in an American
• 57:46
  time zone for work reasons. And Mexico is one
• 57:49
  of those places that, you know, lets you come.
• 57:53
  If you don't work locally, if you work remotely,
• 57:55
  then that's okay. There you go. Wonderful. That
• 57:58
  sounds like a delicious meal that you can you
• 58:01
  only get it in Mexico or can you like go to like
• 58:03
  a restaurant that serves similar cuisine and
• 58:06
  then maybe I'm honestly not sure. Cause the type
• 58:10
  of corn that is in there, I've never seen it
• 58:12
  outside of Latin America. So maybe, maybe not.
• 58:16
  I mean, USA is not that far away, so maybe you
• 58:18
  can. John Francois here from the delicious culture
• 58:23
  podcast where we have the most entertaining Delicious
• 58:27
  food pop culture and lifestyle conversations
• 58:30
  with a variety of guests. You know it you love
• 58:33
  it if it provides Value to your life whether
• 58:37
  you're at home washing dishes or you are on the
• 58:40
  way to work or school and you need that company
• 58:43
  I Ask you to consider that value by donating
• 58:48
  what you can. Yes, I'm asking for your monies.
• 58:51
  Donate whatever you choose, whatever you think
• 58:53
  I'm worth. I'm a one man operation. I got to
• 58:55
  pay for things here. The editing software, the
• 58:58
  mic, the, the home studio space. Everything is
• 59:02
  not free. As you know, here in America at the
• 59:06
  delicious culture through PayPal and Venmo. Once
• 59:09
  again, at the delicious culture through PayPal
• 59:11
  or Venmo. Any donation is much appreciated. Thank
• 59:14
  you. A delicious pop culture obsession. I mean,
• 59:20
  you should have this in the bag. What is something
• 59:22
  you're watching or listening to that you love
• 59:24
  and you would like to share? Oh, gosh. Don't
• 59:27
  judge me. I'm rewatching Wednesday. for probably
• 59:31
  the fifth time. Why would I judge you? This is
• 59:35
  the Adams family -influenced modern take. I know
• 59:37
  this is with Jenna Ortega starring as Wednesday.
• 59:41
  Louise Guzman, a wonderful actor who actually
• 59:43
  lives right here in the state of Vermont. He's
• 59:45
  in that show as well. I think he plays the patriarchal
• 59:48
  figure. The dad. Yeah. Yeah, tell me about that.
• 59:51
  I know my wife was more into the show than I.
• 59:55
  was, I remember watching the first season and
• 59:58
  how viral that went with the Wednesday dance
• 1:00:00
  of it all. So tell me why you love that show.
• 1:00:03
  I love how she's just so honest about things.
• 1:00:08
  Like she's just unfilteredly saying and expressing
• 1:00:12
  who she is and what she believes. And that is
• 1:00:16
  so inspiring to me as I'm still filtering myself
• 1:00:20
  in what I share and how I share. For example,
• 1:00:22
  like the whole discussion about visas today,
• 1:00:25
  this is the most honest and open I've ever been
• 1:00:27
  about this in public. So far, in most podcasts,
• 1:00:31
  I would have shut down that conversation really
• 1:00:33
  quickly because I was worried about anything
• 1:00:35
  happening from it. Right. So, um, can you, can
• 1:00:38
  you ask why, like what, what, what, what makes
• 1:00:41
  today so, um, I don't know. Like, why now? Why
• 1:00:46
  did you feel like you could be honest and open
• 1:00:49
  about this now, as opposed to any other podcast?
• 1:00:51
  I mean, for once, I'm not in the U .S. anymore,
• 1:00:54
  so I don't have to worry about somebody breaking
• 1:00:56
  down my door. Worst case scenario. For another,
• 1:01:01
  I have a friend in New York who's a lawyer, immigrant,
• 1:01:05
  originally, now U .S. citizen and a lawyer, and
• 1:01:08
  she's been kicking my butt that if you let them...
• 1:01:11
  make you live in fear than they've already won.
• 1:01:15
  That's what she said. Do I have your permission
• 1:01:16
  to release all of what we talked about when the
• 1:01:21
  final version of this podcast interview comes
• 1:01:23
  out? Yeah. Of course. Of course. Yeah. I would
• 1:01:25
  not have said, first of all, everything I say
• 1:01:28
  is true. I don't hide anything in that sense.
• 1:01:31
  And I don't do anything illegal. So I don't really
• 1:01:34
  have a reason to be worried. It was a different
• 1:01:36
  thing if I had made money under the table or
• 1:01:39
  something, but I haven't. So what I love about
• 1:01:42
  Wensai, how she just is herself. And that's so
• 1:01:47
  inspiring in a way. How do you rank the second
• 1:01:50
  season compared to the first season? I mean,
• 1:01:51
  I know there's... I could be wrong, but it feels
• 1:01:54
  like there was more of a mixed reception to the
• 1:01:57
  second season, whereas the first season, it was
• 1:01:59
  just like all everybody could talk about. I think...
• 1:02:04
  I see it more as a second season problem. It's
• 1:02:07
  just like a second show. Like a second of anything
• 1:02:09
  is always rated much harsher than the first one,
• 1:02:12
  because the first one was such a miracle when
• 1:02:13
  it comes out. So the expectations are so much
• 1:02:15
  higher for the second. I personally really like
• 1:02:19
  the second as well. Yeah. I don't think I have
• 1:02:21
  a preference between the two. You celebrate Halloween.
• 1:02:23
  Are you going as Wednesday this Halloween? Oh
• 1:02:25
  gosh. I'm not sure if there is much of Halloween
• 1:02:28
  here. I'm super excited for Dia de los Muertos
• 1:02:30
  here in Mexico, but I'm really - This is true.
• 1:02:33
  Bum that I'm missing all of the Halloween fun
• 1:02:36
  in Los Angeles Like I have such a great time
• 1:02:39
  going to not scary farm last year Yeah, tell
• 1:02:42
  me talk to me about that. I've never experienced
• 1:02:45
  the Los Angeles Halloween. What is it like there?
• 1:02:47
  Oh, that's the only thing that exists for sure
• 1:02:49
  like people New England Halloween would dispute
• 1:02:53
  that I have to say Halloween here in the northern
• 1:02:57
  New England, especially New Hampshire. It's not
• 1:02:59
  that bad. You should try it out Yeah, yeah For
• 1:03:03
  context, I lived in Burbank, right? Burbank is
• 1:03:06
  where the Disney Studios are, it's where Universal
• 1:03:09
  is and Warner Brothers. And so a lot of the people
• 1:03:13
  that live there work in film. And I think part
• 1:03:16
  of the reason Halloween is so big is because
• 1:03:18
  it's the one time a year that the dads get to
• 1:03:21
  express themselves creatively. You think any
• 1:03:24
  other time of year dads are not allowed to express
• 1:03:26
  themselves creatively? Not that much. I do think
• 1:03:28
  the moms care a lot more about Christmas or Easter
• 1:03:31
  or anything like that. I do think Halloween is
• 1:03:35
  the one where the wives withdraw and let their
• 1:03:37
  husbands go nuts a little bit. At least from
• 1:03:40
  what I've seen in my neighborhood, I've predominantly,
• 1:03:45
  largely seen men setting up mini mazes in their
• 1:03:49
  front yards and having... It's crazy because
• 1:03:53
  it's all these film people, right? They have
• 1:03:55
  so much stuff. There's people building entire
• 1:03:57
  graveyards. Or again, there's people building
• 1:04:01
  an entire maze with life actors in their front
• 1:04:06
  yard. That's quite the experience. But also,
• 1:04:09
  there's a lot of mazes in LA, right? There's
• 1:04:11
  a lot of events that you can go to and some of
• 1:04:14
  them are really, really great. My favorite was
• 1:04:16
  not, for sure. Because the level of creativity
• 1:04:19
  was just through the roof in all of them. Looking
• 1:04:22
  forward to Halloween this year in terms of I
• 1:04:25
  don't know. I mean, yeah, I think my wife and
• 1:04:26
  I were going to Rhode Island because we're trying
• 1:04:28
  to like, did take on different Halloween experiences
• 1:04:30
  each year when we can. So I know they have like
• 1:04:32
  a jack -o' -lantern spectacular at a library
• 1:04:35
  there, which is random, but that's what they
• 1:04:37
  do. And then there, I think there's, there might
• 1:04:40
  be some kind of like interesting haunted mansion
• 1:04:43
  tour. So last year was New Hampshire. This year's
• 1:04:47
  Rhode Island. We are broke. So we thought, all
• 1:04:50
  right, we're in the New England region. Let's
• 1:04:52
  take in Halloween experiences that are only like
• 1:04:54
  a few hours drive from us. Um, LA, I mean, I
• 1:04:58
  was there, God, I think the last I was there
• 1:05:01
  was last So I was there during the fall, actually.
• 1:05:06
  I remember like back in 2024, but only like a
• 1:05:08
  few weeks before Halloween. So that was before
• 1:05:11
  it got all decorated with the holiday stuff.
• 1:05:14
  So now that you're describing it the way you
• 1:05:17
  are, and especially having been to Burbank, you
• 1:05:19
  know, to go on the Warner Brothers tour and such,
• 1:05:22
  I definitely have to take in that Halloween LA
• 1:05:24
  experience. I have therapy in less than 10 minutes.
• 1:05:27
  So I have a last question for you. I wish this
• 1:05:30
  could be a longer conversation because you're
• 1:05:32
  so beautiful. to talk to. Wait, let me throw
• 1:05:34
  in one more thing really quick. Sure. What you
• 1:05:36
  really should do is go to Germany. The original
• 1:05:40
  Frankenstein Castle has a Halloween event. And
• 1:05:43
  it's been around since past World War II. My
• 1:05:46
  best friend has been working at his entire life,
• 1:05:48
  basically. And the actors there, they have a
• 1:05:51
  hundred live actors in this real castle grounds
• 1:05:54
  that you're in, thematic as well, and they get
• 1:05:56
  to touch you. So it's a very, very wild experience.
• 1:06:00
  If you ever get the chance, I'll hook you up.
• 1:06:02
  Please, oh my god, we have to talk on message
• 1:06:04
  about that. Last question, what is the delicious
• 1:06:06
  thing that's happened in your life lately, Nikki?
• 1:06:08
  What has happened? No, it was delicious. This
• 1:06:11
  chap was lovely, for sure. This is a great podcast.
• 1:06:17
  Oh, stop it. You're just being charming. You're
• 1:06:19
  making me blush for no reason. No, no, you can
• 1:06:23
  give a real answer. You don't have to. No, you're
• 1:06:26
  a great host. I love that this was a proper conversation
• 1:06:29
  and we just went with it where it would take
• 1:06:31
  us. You're so much fun to talk to and I really
• 1:06:34
  appreciate you for that. Like this was a genuinely
• 1:06:36
  great experience. Oh, thank you. I was looking
• 1:06:40
  forward to this chat. I always get... good feelings,
• 1:06:43
  good vibes from people, even just from messaging
• 1:06:46
  them. And I just had a vibe about you. I have
• 1:06:49
  to say, on a personal note, thank you so much
• 1:06:52
  for being patient with the rescheduling of it
• 1:06:54
  all. I know we were supposed to talk, God, however
• 1:06:58
  many weeks ago, but my wife and I, unfortunately,
• 1:07:01
  we lost one of our dogs, Dexter, so we had to
• 1:07:04
  mourn that day. So thank you so much for being
• 1:07:06
  understanding and patient and being able to talk
• 1:07:09
  with me today. Yeah, no, no, you just had I have
• 1:07:12
  a wonderful, beautiful, creatively inspiring
• 1:07:16
  story. It's talking to people like you that just
• 1:07:20
  reminds myself like, oh yeah, like there is just
• 1:07:23
  value. There is joy. There is. everything in
• 1:07:27
  owning your content, creating your content. This
• 1:07:31
  year has really been a big year of just like
• 1:07:34
  owning the fact that I like to create my own
• 1:07:36
  stuff and go my own way. Because for the longest
• 1:07:39
  time, I was like going on like external validation,
• 1:07:43
  like, Oh, I want to create, but I also want to
• 1:07:44
  be validated by these established sources. And
• 1:07:47
  it's talking to people like you that just really
• 1:07:51
  reiterates like, no, like own your own your stuff.
• 1:07:54
  Don't look for a seat at the table, like build
• 1:07:56
  your own table. So yeah, I thank you. I thank
• 1:08:02
  you for not only being patient, but also making
• 1:08:04
  the conversation worth the wait because I just
• 1:08:07
  find that creating your own stuff is nice. I
• 1:08:12
  love that for you. I really do. And I really
• 1:08:15
  appreciate you for having me. This was really
• 1:08:17
  awesome. Awesome. Awesome. Yeah. Thank you. Thank
• 1:08:20
  you. Thank you. Thank you for being your charming
• 1:08:21
  self. Uh, I was, I look, I mean, I, we can cut
• 1:08:25
  this out if this makes you feel uncomfortable,
• 1:08:26
  but I was very, uh, very much taken by your smile.
• 1:08:30
  You have one of the most beautiful smiles I've
• 1:08:31
  ever seen. Yeah. So thank you for that. So that,
• 1:08:36
  that, that, that always, uh, you know, brings,
• 1:08:38
  brings a good mood. And, uh, before we go, can
• 1:08:41
  you plug where people can find you? Like all
• 1:08:44
  the socials and everything like that? Oh yeah,
• 1:08:47
  for sure. Well, you find Firewolf Entertainment
• 1:08:51
  at firewolfent .com and there's like all the
• 1:08:54
  projects and they're linked as well. And NFTs
• 1:08:58
  currently lives on Instagram and TikTok. So if
• 1:09:02
  you put an NFT series or my name, Nikki J. Bauer,
• 1:09:06
  you will find everything I'm doing and working
• 1:09:09
  on there. You do definitely have to do this again,
• 1:09:11
  Nikki. This was fantastic. And for all of you
• 1:09:13
  listening and watching today. Oh, actually, no,
• 1:09:15
  no, you know what? I'm not going to go without
• 1:09:18
  you describing the wonderful abstract painting
• 1:09:20
  that you have right behind you. For those of
• 1:09:22
  you watching on YouTube, you may notice it. If
• 1:09:24
  you're not watching, you need to watch on YouTube.
• 1:09:26
  Can you talk about that? Because that caught
• 1:09:28
  my attention. I wish I could, but I'm at an Airbnb.
• 1:09:32
  I have no idea what the story is. Yeah, there's
• 1:09:36
  just many different colors. Just describe what
• 1:09:38
  you see behind you. What does it remind you of?
• 1:09:40
  It reminds me of ordered chaos. to be honest,
• 1:09:44
  and I can't really, okay, look, here's why. There's
• 1:09:48
  like, there's lines that are pretty straight,
• 1:09:51
  but then there's also things messing it up. So
• 1:09:54
  I feel like it's a really beautiful mix of the
• 1:09:56
  two of like order, but also chaos, which is something
• 1:10:00
  I love, just, you know, mind and heart, we have
• 1:10:03
  to balance masculine and feminine, you want both,
• 1:10:05
  and then you create a beautiful, colorful picture.
• 1:10:09
  That is, oh, this is going to be cringy, as colorful
• 1:10:11
  as life itself. It's cringy, but it's cringy
• 1:10:17
  in the best way. I love cringe that makes me
• 1:10:21
  laugh. That's the kind of cringe that makes me
• 1:10:23
  laugh. Wonderful. This was great, Nikki. All
• 1:10:26
  right. So let's sign off right now so we can
• 1:10:30
  give time for Riverside to upload this video
• 1:10:31
  and audio. Until next time, everyone, let's deliciousness
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