WEBVTT - Andy Siara on Force Majeure 0:00:00.680 --> 0:00:03.680 Welcome to Movie Crush, a production of I Heart Radio. 0:00:29.480 --> 0:00:33.000 Hey everybody, and welcome to Movie Crush Friday Interview edition. 0:00:33.880 --> 0:00:38.800 We've got Andy Sira virtually in my basement this week. 0:00:39.120 --> 0:00:41.479 Andy is an old friend of mine. I told the 0:00:41.560 --> 0:00:44.159 story a bunch, but if you have not heard, uh, 0:00:44.159 --> 0:00:47.360 Andy and his older brother Joey, we're in the band 0:00:47.479 --> 0:00:50.360 Henry Clay People, and they became friends of mine through 0:00:50.400 --> 0:00:53.760 the Stuff You Should Know podcast and eventually recorded the 0:00:53.760 --> 0:00:56.760 theme song to our TV show, as well as having 0:00:56.760 --> 0:00:59.480 me on stage to play with them, and me going 0:00:59.520 --> 0:01:01.960 to see them a bunch of times. And they're just 0:01:02.040 --> 0:01:06.399 good dudes. And Andy is now a movie writer, everybody. 0:01:06.480 --> 0:01:09.520 He wrote that great new movie that's out right now 0:01:09.560 --> 0:01:11.640 on Hulu and at a drive in here you called 0:01:11.800 --> 0:01:16.160 Palm Springs starring Andy Sandberg. And it's really great. And 0:01:16.200 --> 0:01:19.479 I'm super excited and proud and kind of blown away 0:01:19.480 --> 0:01:22.920 that Andy has dipped his toe in the pond as 0:01:22.920 --> 0:01:27.080 a screenwriter, and uh has had such success so quickly. 0:01:27.400 --> 0:01:29.319 It's really really great. It doesn't always go that way. 0:01:29.360 --> 0:01:32.200 And Andy knows that he's very humble, sweet guy, and 0:01:32.680 --> 0:01:35.200 I'm sure you will love him as much as I do. 0:01:35.319 --> 0:01:39.039 So here we go with Andy Sarra on the Great 0:01:39.120 --> 0:01:48.280 Great movie from two for masure. How you doing? How 0:01:48.360 --> 0:01:55.520 you guys hanging in there? You know, it's sir, weird time. UM, 0:01:56.520 --> 0:02:02.400 I feel you know, lucky that to kind of break 0:02:02.480 --> 0:02:05.400 up the monotony. You know, we we had to move 0:02:05.760 --> 0:02:11.120 during this whole uh pandemic and quarantine. UM oh yeah, 0:02:11.160 --> 0:02:13.000 I was gonna ask if that was the same now. Yeah, 0:02:13.000 --> 0:02:16.400 we moved to Eagle Rock, um from Culver. We kind 0:02:16.400 --> 0:02:20.400 of backed ourselves into a corner because the new baby 0:02:20.520 --> 0:02:26.840 is coming in five weeks now, and I forgot Amanda's 0:02:26.919 --> 0:02:29.960 doctor and our hospital is on this side of town. 0:02:30.080 --> 0:02:31.920 So we just we always knew we had to I 0:02:31.919 --> 0:02:34.200 mean for the past whatever eight months, seven months, we 0:02:34.240 --> 0:02:38.280 knew that we had to move by um summer for 0:02:38.360 --> 0:02:42.480 this baby, and we did not know that the world 0:02:42.480 --> 0:02:45.639 would be shutting down. So it definitely made it made 0:02:45.639 --> 0:02:49.520 it a little more difficult. Um where over an Eagle 0:02:49.720 --> 0:02:51.400 you don't have to name your address, but where an 0:02:51.400 --> 0:02:55.320 Eagle Rock generally am we are in the the armpit 0:02:55.400 --> 0:02:57.639 of the of the two and the one thirty four 0:02:57.919 --> 0:03:02.000 up behind that that target. Um there. I never actually 0:03:02.560 --> 0:03:06.280 been up on that hill there. Um, I didn't really know. 0:03:06.720 --> 0:03:08.440 I knew it existed because I drove by it so 0:03:08.480 --> 0:03:12.400 many times. Um. But it's a it's a great quiet 0:03:12.440 --> 0:03:16.720 neighborhood up here. Um. And yeah, it's like this this 0:03:16.800 --> 0:03:20.720 old I think fifties subdivision that has just now been 0:03:20.760 --> 0:03:23.920 like you know, it's gone through the whole renovation process 0:03:24.400 --> 0:03:27.200 over the you know, twenty years, and it's just I 0:03:27.240 --> 0:03:32.080 don't know, but very kind neighbors, just walkable, you know, 0:03:32.240 --> 0:03:34.880 but but still hilly. And I don't know, I'm into it. 0:03:35.000 --> 0:03:37.960 I dig it. I love it, man, I'm glad I 0:03:38.000 --> 0:03:40.800 know exactly where you're talking about. Uh, look what I'm 0:03:40.800 --> 0:03:45.080 wearing today in honor of you guys, my Henry Clay 0:03:45.120 --> 0:03:49.680 people T shirts. Everyone knows the story. So I'm not 0:03:49.680 --> 0:03:52.400 going to bore the listeners for the million time with 0:03:52.400 --> 0:03:54.960 how we met. But I did want to talk a 0:03:55.000 --> 0:04:00.120 little bit about you're growing up life and what it 0:04:00.200 --> 0:04:02.400 was like. Always I'm interested in sort of the culture 0:04:02.440 --> 0:04:05.880 of the household and how movies and and TV and 0:04:05.920 --> 0:04:11.880 stuff comes your way as a kid. Um, Well, where 0:04:11.880 --> 0:04:15.200 to begin. I mean, I think I'm pretty sure that 0:04:15.240 --> 0:04:20.120 my dad took me to see Batman, and that was 0:04:20.160 --> 0:04:22.840 the very first movie I saw in the theater and 0:04:23.400 --> 0:04:28.120 which original? Um, okay, and I that's what I've been told. 0:04:28.160 --> 0:04:30.359 I don't know if that's just you know, that's the 0:04:31.000 --> 0:04:36.039 story that's been told throughout the years. But I mean 0:04:36.080 --> 0:04:42.839 to me, uh, when we we moved from Whittier in May, 0:04:43.000 --> 0:04:46.160 end of May of ninety three, um to your Belinda, 0:04:46.839 --> 0:04:51.160 Orange County birthplace of Richard Nixon something something they are 0:04:51.200 --> 0:04:54.599 still proud about for some reason. Uh. Yeah, birthplace of 0:04:54.839 --> 0:04:59.040 southern California concerned. It's it's it's it's weird that I like, 0:04:59.080 --> 0:05:03.920 I like, I had to seek at a library. Uh 0:05:03.960 --> 0:05:07.760 and um, but we moved there in yeah, the end 0:05:07.800 --> 0:05:10.920 of May. I was that was the end of my 0:05:10.960 --> 0:05:14.240 second grade year. And but we we moved during this, 0:05:14.360 --> 0:05:15.880 you know, right at the top of summer. So and 0:05:15.920 --> 0:05:17.960 I was a shy kid, and Joey and I were 0:05:17.960 --> 0:05:21.720 not close buds yet. Um, Joey my older brother, I know, 0:05:21.760 --> 0:05:25.240 I know you know that, but too you know, yeah, 0:05:25.240 --> 0:05:27.200 we we weren't close yet, and I was I didn't 0:05:27.240 --> 0:05:30.640 have the courage to go knock on neighbors doors to like, 0:05:30.800 --> 0:05:35.360 you know, come hang out and play. Um. And since 0:05:35.440 --> 0:05:37.960 I wasn't in we weren't the third grade headn't started yet. Um, 0:05:37.960 --> 0:05:40.960 I didn't have like the forced friendships that come with school. 0:05:41.320 --> 0:05:45.719 So I was just I was a lonely but fine 0:05:46.040 --> 0:05:50.000 but still lonely depressed. But again it's not that depressed 0:05:50.040 --> 0:05:56.000 because time it was, you know, I fine middle class kid. Um. 0:05:56.160 --> 0:05:59.200 And then on June my dad took him in to 0:05:59.240 --> 0:06:03.279 see Jurassic bar and then, uh, it all changed, changed 0:06:03.320 --> 0:06:07.440 everything I saw nine times that summer. Um. Yeah, I 0:06:07.520 --> 0:06:09.240 knew that was a big, big thing, and I saw 0:06:09.240 --> 0:06:11.000 that it was it was taken already, So therefore I 0:06:11.040 --> 0:06:15.000 can't we can't talk about that today. Uh I've I've 0:06:15.080 --> 0:06:18.080 talked about that one to death. But yeah, my mom 0:06:18.080 --> 0:06:21.200 and then my mom's best friend gave me her that summer, 0:06:21.279 --> 0:06:24.720 or maybe that Christmas gave me her like old VHS 0:06:24.760 --> 0:06:27.600 shoulder amount camera, and I started making a bunch of 0:06:27.760 --> 0:06:31.720 short films like I'm really bad bad short films. Um. Like, 0:06:32.040 --> 0:06:35.440 but I would convince my my teachers throughout the end 0:06:35.440 --> 0:06:38.480 of elementary school into high school to like, let me 0:06:38.720 --> 0:06:42.640 um instead of writing book reports, Uh, let me do 0:06:42.760 --> 0:06:46.600 like a let let me do the Western Game. But 0:06:46.760 --> 0:06:48.760 a five minute short of the Western Game, or Romeo 0:06:48.760 --> 0:06:51.720 and Juliet or in high school we did The Crucible 0:06:52.000 --> 0:06:54.720 but then make but just making little short films about it. 0:06:55.080 --> 0:06:58.720 Um so but asked for like the way movies came 0:06:58.760 --> 0:07:02.400 into my life, it was know my I remember I 0:07:02.400 --> 0:07:06.640 remember very clearly from like Jurassic Park until you know 0:07:07.200 --> 0:07:11.960 ninety seven night that was very much of my dad's 0:07:12.000 --> 0:07:19.320 son in h we you know River Wilde. Uh remember 0:07:19.320 --> 0:07:21.800 seeing this the double feature of Twister and Mission Impossible 0:07:21.800 --> 0:07:26.440 at our theater multiple times in intim That's why, that's why, 0:07:27.520 --> 0:07:29.720 that's why I suggested, you know, maybe talking about Twister. 0:07:30.320 --> 0:07:36.520 Uh went on the really really loved disaster movies for 0:07:36.560 --> 0:07:39.320 a while, um because I was just kind of that 0:07:39.440 --> 0:07:43.640 perfect age. Uh. Dante's Peak was another huge one for me, 0:07:43.840 --> 0:07:48.559 deep impact. Um. And then there was the Magical Year 0:07:48.680 --> 0:07:53.400 of nine, um, which I just yeah, I just read 0:07:53.480 --> 0:07:57.640 this this book that Joey got me for like and 0:07:57.880 --> 0:07:59.800 I read it back in December. It was about how 0:08:00.640 --> 0:08:03.920 nine was the best year for film, um and you 0:08:04.000 --> 0:08:10.600 know perhaps history. Uh what's it? What's it's I should 0:08:10.840 --> 0:08:16.360 is it called? I think so it was something like that. 0:08:17.120 --> 0:08:18.680 I lent it to a friend, Otherwise I would just 0:08:18.680 --> 0:08:21.520 grab it right now. Um, I find it now. That 0:08:21.560 --> 0:08:23.880 sounds cool. We cover a lot of ninety great and 0:08:23.880 --> 0:08:26.560 and it goes just from um. And it was cool 0:08:26.600 --> 0:08:28.280 because I was reading it right up right before we 0:08:28.320 --> 0:08:31.000 went to Sundance for our movie. And the whole first 0:08:31.400 --> 0:08:35.080 chapter is about like Blair Witch Project, and and it 0:08:35.120 --> 0:08:38.320 goes month by month um and covers the year the 0:08:38.320 --> 0:08:39.520 movie that came out the year, so that was like 0:08:39.559 --> 0:08:41.320 it also had this whole story about Sundance. So it 0:08:41.360 --> 0:08:42.880 was kind of a nice primer for me going to 0:08:42.920 --> 0:08:46.000 Sundance for my first time. But yeah, that that year, 0:08:46.600 --> 0:08:51.160 I was also that perfect age of very impressionable age 0:08:51.160 --> 0:08:53.880 of I think twelve or eleven and twelve that year 0:08:53.960 --> 0:08:58.360 or twelve, twelve and thirteen, um and yeah. So therefore 0:08:58.520 --> 0:09:02.800 I become obsessed with Spike Jones and Condrey and Kaufman 0:09:02.880 --> 0:09:06.960 and Pete Anderson and Alexander Payne and David Russell and 0:09:07.120 --> 0:09:11.640 uh yeah. And so then from and and Joey had 0:09:11.679 --> 0:09:15.320 kind of like shown me, you know, he had his 0:09:15.320 --> 0:09:19.000 his VHS box set of Kubrick Um that I think 0:09:19.080 --> 0:09:21.839 came out the year before, maybe like right before I 0:09:21.960 --> 0:09:24.280 was White Shut, And so I kind of started like 0:09:24.360 --> 0:09:26.839 dabbling that but didn't. I didn't as a as a 0:09:26.840 --> 0:09:32.720 twelve year I didn't quite understand Clappercorn. Uh. It was um. 0:09:33.320 --> 0:09:36.000 But from that point on through you know, the next 0:09:36.000 --> 0:09:39.200 several years up to college, that's those kind of became 0:09:39.240 --> 0:09:43.000 the movies that I obsessed over. And now it's I'm 0:09:43.040 --> 0:09:46.240 just you know, my goal is to combine my love 0:09:46.280 --> 0:09:51.600 of big budget disaster films or monster films or alien 0:09:51.640 --> 0:09:53.880 films like Independence Day. That was another big one that 0:09:53.920 --> 0:09:56.680 my dad still talks about, like, uh, like how we 0:09:56.679 --> 0:09:58.480 went and saw that I think four or five times 0:09:58.480 --> 0:10:02.240 in a theater together. Um and uh. And it's funny 0:10:02.240 --> 0:10:04.400 because he actually he brought it up to me the 0:10:04.440 --> 0:10:06.520 other day. It's like, remember when we went and saw 0:10:06.600 --> 0:10:10.640 July four And I'm like but and then he's like, 0:10:10.720 --> 0:10:13.320 you know, the the alien one and and then that's 0:10:13.320 --> 0:10:16.640 how he remembers it for some reason. Uh and yeah. 0:10:16.800 --> 0:10:18.160 And so now I just I just want to you know, 0:10:18.240 --> 0:10:23.920 combine my the the prestige films of you know, the 0:10:25.200 --> 0:10:27.960 you know, nine on that I kind of filled up 0:10:28.000 --> 0:10:30.200 with two like with that this on on, this this 0:10:30.320 --> 0:10:33.040 adventury part that I grew up with and I didn't 0:10:33.040 --> 0:10:36.040 really grew up with many like too much in the 0:10:36.040 --> 0:10:40.240 sci fi world. Uh my, I think on the spectrum 0:10:40.240 --> 0:10:42.760 of adventure films versus like sci fi films to get 0:10:42.800 --> 0:10:46.000 with the Indiana Jones on one side and uh and 0:10:46.360 --> 0:10:48.800 Star Wars on the other side, that we were we 0:10:48.800 --> 0:10:51.199 were far more of an Indiana Jones family. And then 0:10:51.520 --> 0:10:56.560 I've now come to like love the Star Wars world. Um. 0:10:56.600 --> 0:10:58.959 But you know, but I think because we as a scity, 0:10:59.480 --> 0:11:01.320 we were told every day that this is this is 0:11:01.320 --> 0:11:03.719 what we're supposed to love, and yeah, you have to. 0:11:03.920 --> 0:11:05.880 But then then I've kind of just I have grown 0:11:05.920 --> 0:11:08.720 to love it though I've just I've just given in 0:11:08.760 --> 0:11:16.360 to the pressures of marketing. When did you start playing guitar? Um? 0:11:16.400 --> 0:11:22.320 It was it was sixth grade. For Christmas, my brother 0:11:22.440 --> 0:11:25.720 gave me his his first guitar, and so that was 0:11:25.720 --> 0:11:27.640 my first gude. It was at the squad Fender Squire 0:11:28.280 --> 0:11:31.360 um and see I got that and it was it 0:11:31.400 --> 0:11:35.320 was covered in stickers of you know, O C punk 0:11:35.360 --> 0:11:40.440 bands and SKA bands and then I played remember that 0:11:40.480 --> 0:11:42.439 it was the sixth grades and I played the talent 0:11:42.480 --> 0:11:44.719 show that year and me and um, a couple of 0:11:44.760 --> 0:11:48.520 buddies covered Damn It by Blankney two, and that was 0:11:48.640 --> 0:11:53.320 it was the that was the beginning of the music phase, 0:11:54.280 --> 0:11:59.360 which is now done. Wait, actually I don't. I don't 0:11:59.360 --> 0:12:01.800 even know if I own guitar anymore, because I because 0:12:02.200 --> 0:12:04.680 I don't say that. I'm so mad at you right now. 0:12:04.840 --> 0:12:08.280 We part. Part of that is because Joey and I 0:12:08.280 --> 0:12:12.480 would because for all of my twenties and when we 0:12:12.480 --> 0:12:14.640 were in the band and we're living together. You don't 0:12:14.640 --> 0:12:17.440 make any money as a band, so like we would 0:12:17.480 --> 0:12:20.679 just sell each other's equipment back and forth to each 0:12:20.720 --> 0:12:23.040 other to like help pay rent. And I think the 0:12:23.360 --> 0:12:26.200 last exchange was, like I needed money, so I sold 0:12:27.280 --> 0:12:32.920 uh the guitar that I was playing to Joey. And now, yeah, 0:12:32.400 --> 0:12:34.480 I have to be honest, I don't. I'm not sure 0:12:34.480 --> 0:12:36.360 I ever even owned the s g outright. I think 0:12:36.520 --> 0:12:38.319 I think it may have always been Joey's. But then 0:12:38.320 --> 0:12:40.520 I kind of like really co opted it. And then 0:12:40.880 --> 0:12:42.960 but he's been using it, so he came and picked 0:12:42.960 --> 0:12:45.240 it up, and then he picked up my amp to 0:12:45.440 --> 0:12:47.840 go record, and so now I have a I have 0:12:48.000 --> 0:12:52.000 this acoustic guitar like that I would I would use 0:12:52.040 --> 0:12:55.000 for like the songs for kids stuff, um, and that's 0:12:55.120 --> 0:12:57.320 that's on the wall in the living room that I'll 0:12:57.360 --> 0:13:01.600 take down every uh every a few weeks to play 0:13:01.720 --> 0:13:09.280 down by the Bay or old McDonald for But otherwise like, yep, well, 0:13:09.320 --> 0:13:11.360 I mean, I'm just giving you a hard time. Of course, 0:13:11.360 --> 0:13:14.880 you've moved into a the professional phase of your career 0:13:14.920 --> 0:13:17.040 and there's nothing there's no shame in like leaving behind 0:13:17.120 --> 0:13:19.679 traveling around in a stinky van and not making any money. 0:13:19.720 --> 0:13:23.400 And you had that experience, which is super cool, and 0:13:23.400 --> 0:13:26.400 that's how I met you, guys. Uh, but don't ever 0:13:26.440 --> 0:13:28.520 stop playing, is all I gotta say. I think you'll 0:13:28.520 --> 0:13:30.040 get back into it one day, like you'll have an 0:13:30.040 --> 0:13:33.440 old man band when you're my age. That's maybe, I 0:13:33.480 --> 0:13:37.200 don't know. It's I've noticed with um with Joey and 0:13:37.240 --> 0:13:40.120 then Noah. I don't know if he ever met Noah. 0:13:40.160 --> 0:13:42.360 He was our He was the original bass player in 0:13:42.360 --> 0:13:44.880 our band. He and I. He and I met in 0:13:44.880 --> 0:13:48.680 a creative writing class at u C. I bonded over 0:13:48.840 --> 0:13:50.640 pavement and then it just happened to be like the 0:13:50.679 --> 0:13:52.439 day I met him was a day our bass player 0:13:52.559 --> 0:13:55.720 quit and I was like walking with Noah. I was like, hey, 0:13:55.760 --> 0:13:58.280 do you play bass. He's like, no, I play guitar, 0:13:58.640 --> 0:14:00.480 but close enough, like gold you want to be you 0:14:00.480 --> 0:14:02.600 want to be in a band. And then he he 0:14:02.840 --> 0:14:06.000 joined Henry Clay People and was um with us for 0:14:06.200 --> 0:14:09.960 up until like the touring years started. Anyway, the reason 0:14:10.000 --> 0:14:12.280 to bring him up is that he and Joey both 0:14:12.320 --> 0:14:16.360 have that that's I don't want to call it a 0:14:16.440 --> 0:14:21.200 like a disease, but it's um where if they walk 0:14:21.240 --> 0:14:24.320 into a room and there's ever a guitar that's like 0:14:24.400 --> 0:14:26.760 just sitting there, they have to pick it up. They 0:14:26.800 --> 0:14:29.160 have to play. They're the guys that will always bring 0:14:29.240 --> 0:14:32.920 the guitar to like camping trips or because they always 0:14:32.960 --> 0:14:36.640 have to have it. Um. And and I remember, and 0:14:36.880 --> 0:14:40.440 I remember and like high school, Uh, I was just 0:14:40.480 --> 0:14:42.640 you know, I was just watched watching a movie in 0:14:42.680 --> 0:14:46.240 my room with my high school girlfriend. And then uh, 0:14:46.320 --> 0:14:49.440 you know it's like private time. Um. And then Joey 0:14:49.520 --> 0:14:52.480 just really just walks in just like strumming the guitar, 0:14:52.840 --> 0:14:55.320 like not not thinking. It's like it's it's another part 0:14:55.360 --> 0:14:58.000 of his brain that just like it's it's just I 0:14:58.000 --> 0:15:02.520 don't know, he zones out, uh, and I and he 0:15:02.520 --> 0:15:04.880 he and Noah always had that. I never had that, UM, 0:15:04.920 --> 0:15:07.240 And I think that's why once we called it a 0:15:07.320 --> 0:15:10.200 day on the band, like, it was kind of easy 0:15:10.320 --> 0:15:13.440 for for me to not look back too much. I do. 0:15:13.560 --> 0:15:16.280 I do love playing live. We had our we did 0:15:16.320 --> 0:15:20.800 this other kind of side band, um Fakers for two years. 0:15:21.240 --> 0:15:24.040 But I saw one of those shows, and what I 0:15:24.120 --> 0:15:26.280 loved about that was just I mean, I love playing live. 0:15:26.320 --> 0:15:29.600 I think it's just fun to perform, but I hate recording, 0:15:30.040 --> 0:15:32.440 I hate practicing, so all those things that you actually 0:15:32.840 --> 0:15:35.840 need to be good at for being a successful band. 0:15:35.920 --> 0:15:42.240 I I just what was the highlight, uh, before we 0:15:42.240 --> 0:15:44.800 move on to screenwriting stuff, what was what was like 0:15:44.840 --> 0:15:47.960 the highlight for you band wise? Either coolest moment or 0:15:48.000 --> 0:15:50.240 biggest gig or if those are one and the same, 0:15:52.000 --> 0:15:54.920 covering t Rex the Tabernacle with you, it's pretty incredible. 0:15:55.840 --> 0:16:00.360 Come on you guys, Yeah, that that was cool just 0:16:00.400 --> 0:16:03.840 because I had, you know, been to coach Alla every 0:16:03.920 --> 0:16:07.720 year right from from two thousand four when UH was 0:16:07.720 --> 0:16:10.880 in high school. And I remember that's when Pixis played 0:16:10.960 --> 0:16:15.040 right before Radiohead, and that just just incredible. UM and 0:16:15.120 --> 0:16:18.040 get que and not you remember that was the first 0:16:18.080 --> 0:16:19.440 band we saw that day. And I was a big 0:16:19.480 --> 0:16:23.360 que and not youthan and um, and so going to 0:16:23.400 --> 0:16:26.160 coach Alla I think every year from that point um, 0:16:26.200 --> 0:16:31.880 and then getting to play in Yeah, it was just like, oh, 0:16:32.640 --> 0:16:35.760 I don't I don't need this. I had a feeling 0:16:35.800 --> 0:16:38.600 in the moment actually, or like just leading after the show, 0:16:38.640 --> 0:16:40.120 like yeah, this is probably the best it's going to 0:16:40.200 --> 0:16:43.800 get for the bands. And we remember after we you know, 0:16:44.920 --> 0:16:47.360 for an hour before our set and we're just kind 0:16:47.360 --> 0:16:49.840 of just you know, hanging out until we go and play. 0:16:49.960 --> 0:16:52.840 I just said, you know, I'll see you guys in 0:16:52.840 --> 0:16:55.160 a little bit to my to the band and to 0:16:55.280 --> 0:16:58.280 my family and just I just kind of walk the 0:16:58.800 --> 0:17:03.560 grounds on my own and just to kind of, you know, 0:17:03.760 --> 0:17:06.560 soak it in because there was Yeah, I always I 0:17:06.560 --> 0:17:09.200 always knew there as a shelf life. Just didn't know 0:17:09.240 --> 0:17:12.280 when my shelf life was gonna um you know. Of course, 0:17:12.320 --> 0:17:15.359 So did Joey come walking up with his guitar and 0:17:15.520 --> 0:17:19.760 interrupt your moment? Part of me thinks that I maybe 0:17:19.800 --> 0:17:22.040 did hear him like go back onto the stage like 0:17:22.119 --> 0:17:25.040 check check his guitar sound, and I'm just trying to 0:17:25.080 --> 0:17:27.280 like be at peace, and then I hear him like 0:17:27.520 --> 0:17:30.960 I could see that. There's many images that are burned 0:17:31.000 --> 0:17:34.919 in my brain of like being on stage or recording 0:17:34.920 --> 0:17:37.720 of Joey, you know, his head down to the amp 0:17:38.240 --> 0:17:40.400 um to try to find that perfect sound. And that's 0:17:40.400 --> 0:17:41.960 the other thing of like he and I know you 0:17:41.960 --> 0:17:44.360 guys have talked a lot about you know, passing back 0:17:44.359 --> 0:17:51.199 and forth pedal pedal knowledge. Yeah, and yeah, that he 0:17:51.280 --> 0:17:54.040 has had I don't know, hundreds of of pedals and 0:17:54.200 --> 0:17:57.119 guitars and amps over the years. Um and he's always 0:17:57.119 --> 0:17:58.920 in search of that perfect sound. But you will never 0:17:58.960 --> 0:18:03.600 find that perfect sound soon. That's the well, the uh 0:18:03.720 --> 0:18:07.680 the For non musicians, it's called gas. It's called either 0:18:07.840 --> 0:18:12.919 guitar or gear acquisition syndrome. And it's real. Yeah, I 0:18:12.920 --> 0:18:22.160 can tell you. Yeah. So I want to talk about 0:18:22.160 --> 0:18:24.720 screenwriting for a little bits because rarely do I get 0:18:24.760 --> 0:18:28.840 a bona fide big shot Hollywood screenwriter in here. That 0:18:29.960 --> 0:18:35.359 tiny shot definitely not big shot. And I thought we 0:18:35.359 --> 0:18:37.000 should could talk about a f I for a little 0:18:37.000 --> 0:18:39.399 bit because you went through the a FI program and 0:18:39.440 --> 0:18:43.080 I think it would be instructive for people who consider 0:18:43.520 --> 0:18:46.439 film school or programs like a FI. So what was 0:18:46.480 --> 0:18:49.000 that like and and was it worth it? And just 0:18:49.119 --> 0:18:50.680 sort of walk us through a little bit what a 0:18:50.800 --> 0:18:56.879 f I was all about. Um, I mean, it's it's funny. 0:18:57.359 --> 0:18:59.840 I think it's important for listeners to know that you 0:19:00.000 --> 0:19:02.520 wrote one of my letters of recommendation for IF. I 0:19:04.200 --> 0:19:08.280 I bet it did have a huge, a huge part 0:19:08.280 --> 0:19:12.760 of it all um af I was it was great. 0:19:13.480 --> 0:19:17.040 I it's it's it's hard. I have a it's very 0:19:17.080 --> 0:19:20.600 expensive to go there, and I did not. I mean, 0:19:20.640 --> 0:19:24.679 I my parents were are lovely, but we didn't have like, 0:19:25.440 --> 0:19:28.440 they're not made of money, so I I They're big 0:19:28.480 --> 0:19:32.520 thing was to help me with undergrad. But then once 0:19:32.560 --> 0:19:36.159 I have that, I'm good to go. Uh. And so 0:19:36.359 --> 0:19:38.280 I didn't. They didn't want me to enter the world 0:19:39.080 --> 0:19:42.919 buried in debt. And then I spent the next six years, 0:19:43.040 --> 0:19:47.600 five years after undergrad in the band, not buried in debt, 0:19:47.640 --> 0:19:52.320 but definitely like living in debt. Uh, Hans Joey writing 0:19:52.320 --> 0:19:55.520 a song called living in debt. Uh, It's because like 0:19:55.760 --> 0:19:58.000 but that was always you know, just credit card bills 0:19:58.040 --> 0:19:59.800 here and there, but we didn't have any school debt. 0:20:00.160 --> 0:20:02.879 And then all of a sudden, the band's done, and 0:20:02.920 --> 0:20:04.879 I don't, I don't, like, there's nothing else I know 0:20:06.280 --> 0:20:08.920 that I want to do with my life. I didn't 0:20:08.920 --> 0:20:10.960 know how to do anything else, not that I could. 0:20:11.119 --> 0:20:12.960 I even knew if I knew how to do that either. 0:20:13.280 --> 0:20:15.639 But I was like, Okay, well, if I have to 0:20:15.640 --> 0:20:17.560 go two hund dollars in the debt, I mean, at 0:20:17.600 --> 0:20:19.480 that point, it's just monopoly money. It doesn't make that 0:20:19.480 --> 0:20:24.399 that's not real. Uh. And so I did that, and 0:20:24.440 --> 0:20:28.040 I'm still in debt for that UM and that's terrible 0:20:29.520 --> 0:20:31.720 that that's the that's the terrifying thing about it is 0:20:31.760 --> 0:20:33.920 that like it's it's so much money. And that's that's 0:20:34.080 --> 0:20:39.399 my problem with you know, the top film schools is 0:20:39.440 --> 0:20:42.640 that like I was only able to make that kind 0:20:42.680 --> 0:20:47.199 of UM. But it can be looked at as a 0:20:47.200 --> 0:20:51.520 foolish decision, uh to go to school to go into 0:20:51.520 --> 0:20:53.800 that much debt when you can you know, you can 0:20:53.880 --> 0:20:57.919 download script notes. Uh. And that's like that is a 0:20:58.640 --> 0:21:01.840 it's a public service they're doing, UM and you can 0:21:01.920 --> 0:21:05.000 learn so much from that. UM. But I can only 0:21:05.040 --> 0:21:08.760 make that decision to go to film school and go 0:21:08.800 --> 0:21:10.760 into that much debt because I knew still in the 0:21:10.800 --> 0:21:13.800 back of my head, I had a safety net of 0:21:14.080 --> 0:21:19.879 like my wife was successful and working. Um, but you 0:21:19.920 --> 0:21:22.320 would we're just we're just boyfriend girl friend of the time. 0:21:22.359 --> 0:21:24.840 But still, like, you know, I knew that I had 0:21:24.880 --> 0:21:30.679 that my parents are of good health and if worst 0:21:30.680 --> 0:21:32.720 case scenario, I can always just like I knew, I 0:21:32.720 --> 0:21:35.399 could fall back and live with them at some point 0:21:35.640 --> 0:21:39.320 if if if I needed to. UM, And I don't 0:21:39.359 --> 0:21:43.480 know that's that's because of that. It's a shame because 0:21:43.520 --> 0:21:47.160 it weeds out so many more unique points of view 0:21:47.200 --> 0:21:52.000 than than my own. To be honest, that's that's your village, 0:21:52.040 --> 0:21:54.760 you know, and we're lucky to have villages around. Yeah, 0:21:54.800 --> 0:21:58.560 And I hope that especially now, I hope that you know, 0:21:59.080 --> 0:22:01.480 I know that s C has kind of made some changes. 0:22:01.680 --> 0:22:03.600 I think if like you come, if come from a 0:22:03.600 --> 0:22:06.280 household that has that makes less than I think it's 0:22:06.280 --> 0:22:09.720 eighty thousand a year it's tuition free, or if I 0:22:09.760 --> 0:22:11.600 think that's what it is, I'm it could be wrong. 0:22:11.640 --> 0:22:13.639 But I know they're trying to change, and I'm hoping 0:22:13.640 --> 0:22:15.320 that a f I does too, because I do think 0:22:15.320 --> 0:22:18.800 that the education I got an a f I was incredible. Um. 0:22:18.880 --> 0:22:21.600 And it's the best part about it is this like 0:22:21.720 --> 0:22:25.800 immersive experience where it's two years where you the reason 0:22:25.880 --> 0:22:27.560 you go with so much that is also you're getting 0:22:28.080 --> 0:22:30.639 you have to cover your living expenses because you should 0:22:30.640 --> 0:22:32.359 not be going to do other jobs. So you can 0:22:32.400 --> 0:22:35.960 actually really immerse yourself for two years in the program 0:22:36.000 --> 0:22:39.920 and focus on nothing else, nothing else but just making things. 0:22:40.119 --> 0:22:43.200 And I thought so, well, one of the coolest things 0:22:43.240 --> 0:22:46.639 to me about going to going back to school was 0:22:47.400 --> 0:22:54.600 I look back on my uh high school years and before. Um, 0:22:54.640 --> 0:22:59.119 I have one really close friend from those years. You 0:22:59.160 --> 0:23:02.320 know Ryan, You've met Ryan before. Yeah, he's like, you know, 0:23:02.359 --> 0:23:05.280 my best buddies since third grade. Um. Otherwise I'm not 0:23:05.320 --> 0:23:07.280 that close too many many people from high school. I'm 0:23:07.280 --> 0:23:10.520 still you know, Facebook friends or Instagram buddies whatnot. But like, 0:23:10.720 --> 0:23:12.840 I'm not that close to as many people from high school. 0:23:12.840 --> 0:23:15.040 And same thing for college. My one friend from college 0:23:15.080 --> 0:23:17.440 is Noah, who became you know, one of my other 0:23:17.480 --> 0:23:21.280 best buddies. Um. But and I think part of that 0:23:21.400 --> 0:23:26.240 is that, like I I had Entertainment Weekly. My favorite 0:23:26.280 --> 0:23:28.640 favorite day of the week was was Friday's when I'd 0:23:28.640 --> 0:23:31.639