WEBVTT - Written by Stu Krieger… (Part 2) 0:00:14.920 --> 0:00:16.959 Thank you for joining us on this Parkapper episode of 0:00:16.960 --> 0:00:20.479 Magical Rewind. We've got one of the OG's friend of 0:00:20.520 --> 0:00:23.239 the show knows where a lot of the bodies are buried. 0:00:23.680 --> 0:00:24.480 Help to write. 0:00:24.680 --> 0:00:27.200 Basically most of the movies that we love, we say 0:00:27.200 --> 0:00:29.360 his name all the time. I mean, we're gonna be 0:00:29.360 --> 0:00:33.479 talking about smart House, We're gonna be talking about true Confessions, 0:00:33.520 --> 0:00:36.720 We're gonna be talking about I can't even i can't 0:00:36.760 --> 0:00:39.120 even have a proof point xenon. 0:00:40.680 --> 0:00:41.240 I'm not even. 0:00:41.680 --> 0:00:43.440 I'm gonna let him tell us his resume from now on. 0:00:43.560 --> 0:00:46.800 It's like every time, because it's insane. He's the man 0:00:46.840 --> 0:00:50.280 who put the words into people's mouths in movie after 0:00:50.320 --> 0:00:51.240 movie after movie. 0:00:51.280 --> 0:00:54.480 Please help us. Welcome once again Stu Creeker. 0:00:57.160 --> 0:01:01.280 Hey, welcome back Shirt. 0:01:01.480 --> 0:01:03.320 Yes, love this shat. 0:01:05.040 --> 0:01:07.399 Oh that is amazing. Well, thank you for joining us 0:01:07.440 --> 0:01:08.000 once again. 0:01:08.640 --> 0:01:10.280 So happy to see you guys. 0:01:10.160 --> 0:01:13.000 Because we have Yeah, and we've now watched a whole 0:01:13.080 --> 0:01:15.840 bunch more of the films that you've written. 0:01:16.319 --> 0:01:17.040 So many more. 0:01:17.240 --> 0:01:20.760 It feels like every week we're saying either Stu Kreeger 0:01:20.959 --> 0:01:24.920 or Paul Hoan just over and over and over again. 0:01:25.160 --> 0:01:25.399 Yep. 0:01:26.680 --> 0:01:28.640 So I mean we just Sabrina. 0:01:28.680 --> 0:01:31.640 Should we just jump right in because we know we 0:01:31.680 --> 0:01:33.080 want to. We want to get to as many as 0:01:33.120 --> 0:01:34.920 we can while we have you here. 0:01:34.959 --> 0:01:37.640 Full disclosure. The only one I haven't watched in the 0:01:37.680 --> 0:01:41.320 recent past just proof Point. So if I'm a little 0:01:41.319 --> 0:01:43.800 fuzzy on that, I've had every intention of doing it 0:01:43.840 --> 0:01:46.000 this week and just life got too busy. 0:01:46.280 --> 0:01:48.520 I understand. So we'd like to start with poof Point. 0:01:49.360 --> 0:01:53.200 No, I'm kidding, well, well, we would love to start 0:01:53.240 --> 0:01:56.400 so one of the fan favorites, which we knew even 0:01:56.440 --> 0:01:59.080 before going in, and one that even I'd heard of 0:01:59.320 --> 0:02:02.440 before starting this podcast, because again I'm the old guy, 0:02:02.480 --> 0:02:04.320 so I'm going back and trying to learn, but it 0:02:04.400 --> 0:02:09.919 was in the zeitgeist. We want to start with Smart House, Yes, 0:02:10.240 --> 0:02:13.360 which we recapped and which we both really enjoyed. 0:02:15.320 --> 0:02:17.680 So, I mean, I don't even know where to jump in. 0:02:18.200 --> 0:02:20.960 First of all, how did you first hear about this 0:02:21.000 --> 0:02:23.360 project and how did it take off? 0:02:23.760 --> 0:02:24.160 Yeah? 0:02:24.240 --> 0:02:27.080 So my relationship with Disney Channel, as you guys know, 0:02:27.200 --> 0:02:30.840 started with Xenon and I had done two films before 0:02:30.840 --> 0:02:33.120 the dcoms were a thing for them, so they knew me, 0:02:33.160 --> 0:02:35.239 they knew my work. I did the parent Trap two 0:02:35.320 --> 0:02:38.160 and the Freaky Friday remake that was Shelley Long and 0:02:38.200 --> 0:02:40.880 Gebby Hoffman. So they knew me, they knew my work. 0:02:40.919 --> 0:02:43.480 That's how I got in the door for Xenon. Then 0:02:43.639 --> 0:02:46.920 we'll get to that, yeah. But then with Smart House, 0:02:46.960 --> 0:02:49.560 it was a project already in development. There had been 0:02:49.639 --> 0:02:52.600 a bunch of drafts, and kind of what happened for 0:02:52.720 --> 0:02:54.800 me with all the projects I did for them is 0:02:54.840 --> 0:02:57.520 either I was the only writer or the last writer, 0:02:58.280 --> 0:03:01.000 and the feather in the cap being the last strat 0:03:01.240 --> 0:03:03.200 is it means you gave them the draft that they 0:03:03.240 --> 0:03:06.839 could greenlight and get into production on. So with Smart House, 0:03:06.880 --> 0:03:09.480 it was basically when it came to me, it was 0:03:09.520 --> 0:03:11.480 we loved the premise, we love the setup, we love 0:03:11.520 --> 0:03:13.840 a lot of the mechanics of it. We don't feel 0:03:13.840 --> 0:03:16.600 that yet has the heart, and that's something you seem 0:03:16.680 --> 0:03:18.360 to do really well for us. So can you kind 0:03:18.400 --> 0:03:22.320 of go back and reconfigure the relationships, reconfigure some of 0:03:22.320 --> 0:03:25.400 the underlying issues of it. And one of the things 0:03:25.400 --> 0:03:30.280 that kind of shocked the heck out of me when 0:03:30.320 --> 0:03:32.480 I went back and watched it is some of the 0:03:32.560 --> 0:03:35.720 real talk between the father and son kind of blew 0:03:35.760 --> 0:03:38.480 me away in a way that I didn't fully remember it, 0:03:38.520 --> 0:03:40.400 and I was kind of amazed that Disney let me 0:03:40.400 --> 0:03:42.600 get away with it and didn't kind of pull it 0:03:42.640 --> 0:03:46.160 back and tone it down. And so that's something I'm 0:03:46.280 --> 0:03:48.120 very proud of. But I also think it's part of 0:03:48.120 --> 0:03:50.960 why the film has resonated the way it has, because 0:03:51.040 --> 0:03:53.280 so much of them, especially now that I'm on social media, 0:03:53.360 --> 0:03:55.600 I see all that thread of oh my god, what 0:03:55.680 --> 0:03:57.600 this meant to me as a kid, or I had 0:03:57.640 --> 0:04:00.440 lost my mom, or seeing this relationship or all those 0:04:00.440 --> 0:04:02.480 beautiful things I now get to see that I didn't 0:04:02.480 --> 0:04:04.960 really know in the time or have been such a 0:04:05.000 --> 0:04:07.000 rewarding part of the smart House experience. 0:04:07.480 --> 0:04:08.960 Well, that's one of the things that we talked about 0:04:08.960 --> 0:04:11.640 that really resonated with us was the was the quiet 0:04:11.640 --> 0:04:14.960 moments in the movie, because so often in dcoms you'll 0:04:15.000 --> 0:04:17.800 get some decoms that have great directors, great casts. I 0:04:17.920 --> 0:04:20.200 keep bashing this movie. I don't mean to continue bashing 0:04:20.200 --> 0:04:23.840 this movie, but we keep going with Dad Napped and 0:04:23.920 --> 0:04:26.880 where it's just there's no real quiet moments. It doesn't 0:04:26.920 --> 0:04:28.760 make a whole lot of sense. It's just very let's 0:04:28.880 --> 0:04:31.080 it's a good excuse to get cover kids with slime, 0:04:31.120 --> 0:04:32.799 and again there's a place for that in the Disney 0:04:32.839 --> 0:04:37.880 Channel obviously, sure. But yeah, the thing we loved about 0:04:37.920 --> 0:04:41.880 Smart House was those moments of it was real. I mean, 0:04:41.880 --> 0:04:44.120 in my yes, the house was was robotic and it 0:04:44.200 --> 0:04:46.359 had all the cool kind of Disney effects, but then 0:04:46.400 --> 0:04:49.880 you had these moments of you know, we we this 0:04:50.000 --> 0:04:52.520 kid not wanting to replace his mom, not wanting his 0:04:52.640 --> 0:04:54.880 dad to move on, not wanting you know, wanting the 0:04:54.920 --> 0:04:56.440 family to just be there, and it was just such 0:04:56.440 --> 0:05:00.240 another layer of the film. Was that all you what 0:05:00.320 --> 0:05:02.520 was any of that there when you got the original 0:05:02.560 --> 0:05:04.680 script or was all of that kind of something that 0:05:04.720 --> 0:05:05.080 you did? 0:05:05.880 --> 0:05:10.000 Most of it was me, I mean again humble brag, Sure, no, 0:05:10.080 --> 0:05:13.360 of course, but there was the a whole idea of 0:05:13.400 --> 0:05:16.719 like using pat and the whole montage of the fifties 0:05:16.760 --> 0:05:19.480 mom and I loved all the parody sitcoms that they 0:05:19.480 --> 0:05:20.560 did with my three. 0:05:20.360 --> 0:05:23.080 Moms or whatever. Yeah, but you know, all of that. 0:05:23.240 --> 0:05:26.000 I loved how they executed the vision. But that idea 0:05:26.080 --> 0:05:29.000 of trying to learn what a mom was from that, 0:05:29.240 --> 0:05:31.320 you know, those sitcoms of the fifties, that was all 0:05:31.360 --> 0:05:33.320 stuff that I brought to it, and then out of 0:05:33.360 --> 0:05:35.400 that sprang me but what's a real mom? 0:05:35.520 --> 0:05:36.680 What does a mom really mean? 0:05:36.720 --> 0:05:39.400 And like I said, the moment that kind of blew 0:05:39.400 --> 0:05:42.360 me away was when Kevin Kilner whirls on Ryan and says, 0:05:42.480 --> 0:05:44.080 you're not the only one who lost somebody? 0:05:44.320 --> 0:05:46.360 Yes, And it was like, dude, damn. 0:05:47.160 --> 0:05:47.560 I know. 0:05:47.800 --> 0:05:52.479 I remember rewatching it going whoa ye, Like I mean, 0:05:52.600 --> 0:05:55.640 because how real is that moment? And I'm sure, like 0:05:55.680 --> 0:05:58.520 you said that the people, that is probably a moment 0:05:58.560 --> 0:06:04.320 that really stuck with kids because Disney didn't always tap 0:06:04.360 --> 0:06:07.640 into that they you know, it wasn't a fluff moment. 0:06:07.800 --> 0:06:11.840 It was straight to the point, very real, and something 0:06:11.880 --> 0:06:15.279 that kids needed to hear too, you know, because parents 0:06:15.279 --> 0:06:18.960 had a hard time talking that directly to kids as well, 0:06:19.360 --> 0:06:23.200 you know, and that and navigating a very hard and 0:06:23.240 --> 0:06:27.440 sensitive subject like another parent dying. This was just such 0:06:27.480 --> 0:06:31.520 a great moment for it to be so real, for 0:06:31.640 --> 0:06:34.599 the parent to not just worrying about the kid's emotion. 0:06:35.200 --> 0:06:37.360 Yeah, I think we touched on it last time, but 0:06:37.560 --> 0:06:40.600 I was saying that, you know, in my entire experience 0:06:40.640 --> 0:06:43.440 with the Disney Channel, my personal mandate was I'm not going. 0:06:43.440 --> 0:06:44.320 To do a dumb dad. 0:06:44.800 --> 0:06:47.640 Yes, yeah, really, you know we talked about that troph 0:06:48.000 --> 0:06:50.719 Dad's an idiot and yep, pually incompetent, and so that 0:06:50.880 --> 0:06:52.840 was one thing again in this movie that was really 0:06:52.880 --> 0:06:56.279 important to me that he be a fully dimensional character 0:06:56.400 --> 0:06:58.640 as well, and that he have a point of view 0:06:58.640 --> 0:07:01.240 and he'd be able to you know, be kind and 0:07:01.279 --> 0:07:03.360 loving and be all those things but still push back 0:07:03.400 --> 0:07:08.440 about I've got my needs too. Yeah, you know, seeing 0:07:08.440 --> 0:07:10.720 it in retrospect, that is one thing I'm very proud of. 0:07:11.320 --> 0:07:11.560 Yeah. 0:07:11.880 --> 0:07:14.160 Now, what was it like working with LeVar Burton? Was 0:07:14.200 --> 0:07:16.160 were you did you get to collab with him at all? 0:07:16.480 --> 0:07:17.480 Or yeah? 0:07:17.720 --> 0:07:18.200 I was not. 0:07:18.400 --> 0:07:20.640 I mean kind of what my m with most of 0:07:20.680 --> 0:07:24.040 the decons was I would be around for the table, 0:07:24.120 --> 0:07:27.440 read around for some rehearsals, around a couple of days 0:07:27.440 --> 0:07:30.120 of shooting, and then dip out because like again I 0:07:30.120 --> 0:07:32.560 think we touched on this about my aversion to being 0:07:32.600 --> 0:07:33.119 on set. 0:07:33.400 --> 0:07:33.640 Yep. 0:07:36.040 --> 0:07:38.040 Uh. LaVar was amazing. I mean he was just he 0:07:38.200 --> 0:07:40.680 so got it. The couple of meetings we had we 0:07:40.680 --> 0:07:43.200 were very very much on the same page. And then 0:07:43.560 --> 0:07:45.760 I had one wonderful day that I've talked to my 0:07:45.840 --> 0:07:49.040 students about so often, because I say, you will never 0:07:49.200 --> 0:07:51.800 get over the first day you get to be on 0:07:51.840 --> 0:07:54.000 the set of something that you envisioned in your head 0:07:54.040 --> 0:07:55.680 and you're going type type talk. 0:07:55.960 --> 0:07:58.280 You know, there's screens over here, and there's Kitsen over here. 0:07:58.320 --> 0:07:59.000 And then did it. 0:07:59.520 --> 0:08:01.680 And when I got to the set for the first time, 0:08:01.720 --> 0:08:03.040 he said, you want to come see in the Smart 0:08:03.040 --> 0:08:06.640 House and I was like, yeah, I do. I have 0:08:06.880 --> 0:08:09.800 my my daughter would have been probably like eight or 0:08:09.840 --> 0:08:11.840 nine years old. I had her with me and we 0:08:11.960 --> 0:08:13.840 were going from room to room and sitting in the 0:08:13.840 --> 0:08:16.200 big chair and you know, seeing the screen to doing 0:08:16.240 --> 0:08:19.360 all that, and LeVar was so wonderful about I want 0:08:19.360 --> 0:08:21.200 to make sure you see every nook and cranny, not 0:08:21.280 --> 0:08:24.400 just where we're shooting today, because it's all constructed on 0:08:24.440 --> 0:08:26.520 a couple of sound stages out and see me Valley. 0:08:28.040 --> 0:08:29.560 So getting to do that was wonderful. 0:08:29.560 --> 0:08:31.800 And like I said that, we were very very much 0:08:31.840 --> 0:08:34.199 in sync of what the movie was, and I loved 0:08:34.200 --> 0:08:36.360 how he executed it and what his vision was. But 0:08:36.400 --> 0:08:38.840 there was no kind of tug of war or conflict 0:08:38.880 --> 0:08:39.480 with any of that. 0:08:40.000 --> 0:08:41.040 Nice's really cool. 0:08:41.200 --> 0:08:44.400 Were you really happy with all of the inventions of 0:08:44.440 --> 0:08:46.520 the smart House, Like, was there anything when you went 0:08:46.640 --> 0:08:48.800 up they could have done that better? Or was it 0:08:48.920 --> 0:08:52.680 just like, yes, they totally did it just as I wanted. 0:08:52.960 --> 0:08:53.760 No, they dailed it. 0:08:53.800 --> 0:08:55.520 I think for me the moment was when I saw 0:08:55.600 --> 0:08:57.920 the dailies of the big arm coming out and grabbing 0:08:57.960 --> 0:08:58.640 the newspaper. 0:08:59.000 --> 0:09:00.480 Yes again, you. 0:09:00.400 --> 0:09:02.720 Know, you're always very aware of their budgets and what 0:09:02.840 --> 0:09:05.160 they're going to be able to do and not do. 0:09:05.320 --> 0:09:08.240 And with that, I thought all of the effects really worked, 0:09:08.240 --> 0:09:10.480 and all the big screen stuff and yeah. 0:09:10.800 --> 0:09:13.199 I think the only one we picked apart was with 0:09:13.320 --> 0:09:16.760 the Oranges and we're like, how is she getting the 0:09:16.800 --> 0:09:28.400 produce under the You gotta remember it's a Disney movie. 0:09:28.480 --> 0:09:31.680 Sparkle and pixie dust on some of this stuff. Of course? 0:09:32.280 --> 0:09:32.920 Was it? 0:09:32.960 --> 0:09:34.760 Was it a big win when you found out that 0:09:34.840 --> 0:09:36.360 Katie Siegal was going to be playing the role. 0:09:36.800 --> 0:09:38.160 Absolutely, How did she. 0:09:38.120 --> 0:09:40.000 Get involved in it? 0:09:40.240 --> 0:09:41.440 I do not remember. 0:09:41.440 --> 0:09:43.600 I mean, I'm assuming because it was not a decision 0:09:43.640 --> 0:09:45.280 I was involved in it initially that it was just 0:09:45.320 --> 0:09:49.000 the casting people going hey, let's try right, And then 0:09:49.040 --> 0:09:50.559 I got the word she's. 0:09:50.400 --> 0:09:52.160 In and it was like, guess she is. 0:09:52.760 --> 0:09:56.120 That's cool, And she actually was working the day that 0:09:56.160 --> 0:09:57.920 we visited the set, so I got to read her 0:09:57.960 --> 0:10:00.200 and she was in the full Patrick Galea and I 0:10:00.240 --> 0:10:02.240 have a picture somewhere of being in her with the 0:10:02.280 --> 0:10:03.600 apron and the hole smash. 0:10:03.720 --> 0:10:06.880 Oh that's great, that's amazing, very fun. 0:10:07.240 --> 0:10:07.440 Then. 0:10:07.640 --> 0:10:09.240 So one of the other things we notice is that, 0:10:09.640 --> 0:10:13.800 of course it's Disney. They love their synergy, so they 0:10:13.840 --> 0:10:18.319 had there's the scene with Bewitched the group popping up. 0:10:18.760 --> 0:10:22.240 Is that something where they come to you and say, hey, 0:10:22.559 --> 0:10:24.760 this band has to be in there some way, or 0:10:24.800 --> 0:10:26.160 is it just righte a pop band and. 0:10:26.080 --> 0:10:28.640 We'll get somebody to come in and be the pop band. 0:10:28.640 --> 0:10:29.360 How does that work? 0:10:29.559 --> 0:10:33.360 Yeah, that's really the second choice. Okay, okay, construct the 0:10:33.440 --> 0:10:35.599 scene so there is a band involved. 0:10:35.320 --> 0:10:36.960 And then they just go and try to find a band. 0:10:37.120 --> 0:10:38.680 Yeah, yeah, okay. 0:10:38.679 --> 0:10:39.079 Interesting. 0:10:39.080 --> 0:10:41.160 I always wondered if they came in, like we're trying 0:10:41.160 --> 0:10:44.319 to release, trying to get this band out, make it Bewitched, 0:10:44.360 --> 0:10:46.080 But no, they just say make it a pop band and. 0:10:46.080 --> 0:10:49.440 Go from that they whoever they can get to. 0:10:50.720 --> 0:10:50.880 Yeah. 0:10:54.320 --> 0:10:56.880 Sometimes, like with cow Bells, Allie and A J were 0:10:56.880 --> 0:10:59.199 already attached when I got involved in that project. 0:10:59.559 --> 0:10:59.760 Yeah. 0:11:00.080 --> 0:11:01.840 Times it work the other way of you know, we're 0:11:01.880 --> 0:11:04.880 doing a movie for them, right it it's fini laar 0:11:04.880 --> 0:11:06.520 as you can be with what their stick is and 0:11:06.600 --> 0:11:07.679 kind of you know. 0:11:14.840 --> 0:11:17.040 Okay, wait, should we stay on cow I want to jump? 0:11:17.040 --> 0:11:17.680 Do we jump around? 0:11:17.679 --> 0:11:20.520 No? Let's stay on cow Bell's Let's stay We talked 0:11:20.520 --> 0:11:25.600 a little cow Bells last time. So curiously, again, in 0:11:25.640 --> 0:11:29.280 the writing process, is this something to where already script 0:11:29.320 --> 0:11:30.800 exists and it's like, hey, Stu, can. 0:11:30.720 --> 0:11:33.240 You can you can you stew this cow Bells script up? 0:11:33.440 --> 0:11:34.000 Or is this? 0:11:34.480 --> 0:11:34.840 It was? 0:11:34.880 --> 0:11:36.040 Okay? 0:11:36.640 --> 0:11:40.200 So curiously, when you have to do something like that 0:11:41.000 --> 0:11:43.480 and you know that you've got Ali and Aj who 0:11:43.480 --> 0:11:46.920 are already attached, is where when then you take a 0:11:46.960 --> 0:11:49.839 script like that? Is it then okay, I've really got 0:11:49.920 --> 0:11:53.560 to add more to the characters that they have, or 0:11:53.640 --> 0:11:58.520 is it more I've got to really focus on just 0:11:58.640 --> 0:12:01.199 making Ali and Aj the star that Disney wants them 0:12:01.240 --> 0:12:01.440 to be. 0:12:02.600 --> 0:12:04.520 It was really a little bit of both. 0:12:04.920 --> 0:12:07.640 I mean I was not terribly terribly familiar with them 0:12:07.640 --> 0:12:09.520 before I came to the projects. So then I did 0:12:09.559 --> 0:12:12.360 my due diligence and saw I could see it, saw 0:12:12.400 --> 0:12:15.560 the dynamic between them. But then it was also I 0:12:15.559 --> 0:12:17.800 don't think we talked about this last time. Stopped me 0:12:17.840 --> 0:12:20.480 if we did, but but there was. It was post 0:12:20.600 --> 0:12:23.280 nine to eleven. And my thing with all of these 0:12:23.320 --> 0:12:25.280 movies was always I want to do any kind of 0:12:25.280 --> 0:12:29.200 research I can so that I have a base of knowledge. 0:12:29.200 --> 0:12:32.160 It's coming from a reality thing. How does a dairy work? 0:12:32.200 --> 0:12:35.360 How does that whole process of the pasteurization and anything 0:12:35.400 --> 0:12:36.720 they might be involved? 0:12:36.720 --> 0:12:37.400 And happened. 0:12:37.960 --> 0:12:40.360 So I was nosing around and trying to get a 0:12:40.480 --> 0:12:44.520 dairy that I could tour, and I got one lined up. 0:12:45.160 --> 0:12:48.440 Nine to eleven happened. They came back and they said, 0:12:48.679 --> 0:12:50.760 one of the things that we're now paranoid about is 0:12:50.760 --> 0:12:54.160 somebody getting in and poisoning the milk supply, because that 0:12:54.200 --> 0:12:57.800 would be another terrorist. We're sorry, no outsiders can come. 0:12:58.280 --> 0:13:00.360 We can't get to clearance. We have to cancel the tour. 0:13:00.440 --> 0:13:04.280 You cannot come. So I said, okay, you know, I understand, 0:13:04.360 --> 0:13:06.600 I'm disappointed, but is there anybody I could talk to? 0:13:07.200 --> 0:13:08.959 And the guy I got on the phone said, now, 0:13:08.960 --> 0:13:11.640 why were you coming initially? Because I really can't tell 0:13:11.640 --> 0:13:14.080 you anything. And I said, well, I'm working on a 0:13:14.120 --> 0:13:16.920 movie for Disney for the Disney Channel, Oh you are 0:13:19.920 --> 0:13:22.120 suddenly I'm dropping threadits And he goes, well, I really 0:13:22.160 --> 0:13:24.199 can't tell you anything, but what kind of questions did 0:13:24.200 --> 0:13:25.200 you have if I could? 0:13:25.920 --> 0:13:26.280 Okay. 0:13:27.520 --> 0:13:29.120 I ended up on the phone with him for almost 0:13:29.160 --> 0:13:31.280 an hour, and every time he would say, Okay, I 0:13:31.320 --> 0:13:33.200 can't really tell you that, but if I didn't tell you, 0:13:33.240 --> 0:13:34.360 this would be the answer. 0:13:34.760 --> 0:13:35.240 Okay. 0:13:35.360 --> 0:13:37.760 So they tried to help as much as was possible. 0:13:38.600 --> 0:13:38.840 Cool. 0:13:39.920 --> 0:13:42.080 So I ultimately did not physically get to go, but 0:13:42.160 --> 0:13:44.199 he was really really helpful in terms. I just had 0:13:44.200 --> 0:13:47.120 a whole page of questions and he told me without 0:13:47.160 --> 0:13:47.640 telling me. 0:13:48.200 --> 0:13:49.600 Yeah, now. 0:13:50.120 --> 0:13:54.280 And so from a writing standpoint, you again, you're Disney 0:13:54.320 --> 0:13:56.960 Channels usually has a pretty specific tone. 0:13:57.040 --> 0:13:57.559 We've noticed. 0:13:57.559 --> 0:13:59.360 The thing that's funny is that we've noticed that that 0:13:59.360 --> 0:14:02.200 tone has changed over time. We're watching movies now, like 0:14:02.280 --> 0:14:04.560 prom Pact or zombies or anything. And while there are 0:14:04.600 --> 0:14:06.680 certain tropes that they kind of hit, no matter what, 0:14:07.120 --> 0:14:09.720 they've definitely gotten more adult than they were in say 0:14:10.040 --> 0:14:14.720 the mid nineties or even the late nineties. Was there 0:14:15.360 --> 0:14:19.280 something that you tried to hit in every film you 0:14:19.320 --> 0:14:22.880 did where it's kind of it became almost your signature 0:14:23.080 --> 0:14:25.480 of you could tell this is a stue project because 0:14:25.560 --> 0:14:27.240 this happened in every film he did. 0:14:27.320 --> 0:14:28.200 Is there a. 0:14:28.080 --> 0:14:31.240 Certain almost I don't want to use the word easter egg, 0:14:31.920 --> 0:14:34.720 but certain stew thing you would do For every script 0:14:34.760 --> 0:14:38.280 that you wrote, there's usually. 0:14:38.640 --> 0:14:43.200 Some homage to previous Disney movies or Disney lore. It 0:14:43.240 --> 0:14:45.240 was very, very funny because when I did Parent Trap 0:14:45.320 --> 0:14:47.680 two for them, I was I think we talked about 0:14:47.680 --> 0:14:50.480 this also a bit, just a giant, insane Hailey Mills 0:14:50.520 --> 0:14:53.000 fan and so like out of my mind that I 0:14:53.040 --> 0:14:54.440 was going to get to write a movie for her 0:14:54.440 --> 0:14:57.400 and meet her to the point we are still friends. 0:14:57.640 --> 0:15:00.200 I did that with eighty six. I just got an 0:15:00.200 --> 0:15:02.040 email from her last week because I wrote her on 0:15:02.080 --> 0:15:05.480 her birthday in April and she was given the update 0:15:05.520 --> 0:15:07.440 on the kids and the grandkids and all. 0:15:07.520 --> 0:15:08.280 That was amazing. 0:15:08.360 --> 0:15:11.280 But the really funny thing was so because I was 0:15:11.320 --> 0:15:13.760 such a fanatic, all of the characters in that movie 0:15:13.760 --> 0:15:15.960 are named for other roles that she played in her 0:15:16.000 --> 0:15:20.920 early Disney movies. Really her boss is Walter Elias because 0:15:20.920 --> 0:15:24.720 Walt's middle name was Elias. And then when we met, 0:15:25.040 --> 0:15:27.360 I said something about it and she goes, what And 0:15:27.400 --> 0:15:30.680 I said, Mary Grant was your character in The Castaways. 0:15:30.960 --> 0:15:34.680 Nikki Ferris was your character some in Moonsclarers. 0:15:34.080 --> 0:15:36.000 And she goes, oh my god, I didn't even realize 0:15:36.040 --> 0:15:38.560 that she. 0:15:38.520 --> 0:15:39.240 Had forgotten it. 0:15:39.280 --> 0:15:42.320 But almost every single character in that movie is named 0:15:42.320 --> 0:15:44.760 for roles she had played in previous Disney movies. 0:15:44.920 --> 0:15:46.360 That's awesome. 0:15:47.680 --> 0:15:51.440 So you did that along. Also within your d coms 0:15:51.640 --> 0:15:52.240 that you read. 0:15:52.160 --> 0:15:54.280 Yeah, there would be little drops of something that was 0:15:55.000 --> 0:15:55.600 some other. 0:15:55.480 --> 0:15:57.240 But you got to give us some of them. 0:15:57.320 --> 0:15:59.280 Yeah, what's your favorite one's. 0:15:59.880 --> 0:16:01.440 Or smart house that you remember? 0:16:01.920 --> 0:16:05.480 Oh man, I have to really think back because it 0:16:05.600 --> 0:16:09.240 was always something that was, you know, again related to this, 0:16:09.320 --> 0:16:10.760 but an homage backwards. 0:16:10.800 --> 0:16:12.560 So I'll have to think about that one. Okay. 0:16:12.760 --> 0:16:15.200 I think I'm so curious to know what they. 0:16:15.040 --> 0:16:17.800 Are, especially if you can think of one that we 0:16:17.920 --> 0:16:21.920 haven't seen yet so we can like look for I think, Oh, 0:16:21.960 --> 0:16:22.720 I think that's great. 0:16:22.800 --> 0:16:24.720 I can't come with it on the spot, I'll email 0:16:24.760 --> 0:16:25.120 you after. 0:16:25.440 --> 0:16:28.120 Yes, that's that's all we need. That's all we need. 0:16:28.480 --> 0:16:32.440 Okay, let's let's go to True Confessions. Now. 0:16:32.440 --> 0:16:33.920 This is one of the few movies that we talked 0:16:33.920 --> 0:16:37.680 about that was based on a novel going in so 0:16:38.440 --> 0:16:41.240 it was written in the form of a diary. How 0:16:41.560 --> 0:16:44.520 how does that change the way you approach a script 0:16:44.520 --> 0:16:49.040 when a it's from existing ip not just an existing script, 0:16:49.080 --> 0:16:51.680 but a book and then also a book in a 0:16:51.720 --> 0:16:55.040 completely different form. How do you tackle writing a script 0:16:55.040 --> 0:16:55.760 for something like that. 0:16:56.480 --> 0:16:58.440 A couple of different things connected with that, which was 0:16:58.560 --> 0:17:03.560 really interesting backstory. At that point, I had done at 0:17:03.640 --> 0:17:07.480 least five movies for them and a producer that I 0:17:07.520 --> 0:17:11.520 had worked with on other things, and ultimately True Confessions 0:17:11.640 --> 0:17:15.159 was the first one, and then we did something for 0:17:15.280 --> 0:17:17.639 ABC Family. Oh Going Too The Map is the other 0:17:17.680 --> 0:17:21.000 one that she produced. But with this, she came to 0:17:21.040 --> 0:17:22.520 me with the book and she said, I think this 0:17:22.560 --> 0:17:24.760 would make an incredible dcom I know you have a 0:17:24.800 --> 0:17:27.399 relationship with them. Do you want to go in together 0:17:27.440 --> 0:17:30.440 and pitch it? And when I approached the executives about 0:17:30.480 --> 0:17:33.080 coming in, they said, just so you know, there have 0:17:33.080 --> 0:17:34.960 been two other sets of writers that have brought us 0:17:35.040 --> 0:17:38.320 this book that we passed on it. We're only going 0:17:38.359 --> 0:17:40.680 to take the meeting because of our relationship with you. 0:17:40.760 --> 0:17:43.639 Come in and tell us your take. And so pressure 0:17:43.760 --> 0:17:47.199 was on, Yeah, you know, we've already passed twice. But 0:17:48.440 --> 0:17:50.800 and then when Jennammemma and I went in with the book, 0:17:51.200 --> 0:17:53.880 I had already kind of conceived that again, we got 0:17:53.880 --> 0:17:55.840 to take what was a diary and make it active, 0:17:55.840 --> 0:17:58.560 make it visual, make it physical, maget all those things. 0:17:58.560 --> 0:18:00.680