1 00:00:08,119 --> 00:00:11,280 Speaker 1: Welcome to another episode of Strictly Business, the podcast in 2 00:00:11,280 --> 00:00:13,360 Speaker 1: which we speak with some of the brightest minds working 3 00:00:13,440 --> 00:00:17,160 Speaker 1: in the media business today. I'm Andrew Wallenstein with Variety, 4 00:00:17,760 --> 00:00:21,040 Speaker 1: Adam Sandler, and Jennifer Aniston reunite in the sequel to 5 00:00:21,200 --> 00:00:24,880 Speaker 1: the Murder Mystery franchise, out this week on streaming. To 6 00:00:25,040 --> 00:00:28,560 Speaker 1: direct the movie Netflix turned to my next guest. But 7 00:00:28,760 --> 00:00:32,280 Speaker 1: Jeremy Garrilick is not just another writer director. He also 8 00:00:32,360 --> 00:00:35,320 Speaker 1: has built a really interesting business that began with a 9 00:00:35,360 --> 00:00:39,519 Speaker 1: pretty unorthodox transaction. He bought a high school. We'll be 10 00:00:39,520 --> 00:00:50,920 Speaker 1: back with Jeremy in just a minute to find out why. 11 00:00:51,600 --> 00:00:54,360 Speaker 1: Now we're back with Jeremy Garlick, the director of Murder 12 00:00:54,440 --> 00:00:57,640 Speaker 1: Mystery two, which is out now on Netflix. Welcome to 13 00:00:57,680 --> 00:01:01,000 Speaker 1: Strictly Business. So I think listen may not necessarily be 14 00:01:01,080 --> 00:01:03,600 Speaker 1: familiar with your name, but they know your work. You've 15 00:01:03,600 --> 00:01:07,320 Speaker 1: done everything from direct that Kevin Hart comedy, The Wedding Ringer, 16 00:01:07,560 --> 00:01:10,600 Speaker 1: doing a script polish on The Hangover, and of course 17 00:01:10,600 --> 00:01:13,240 Speaker 1: we're going to talk about your American high movie series 18 00:01:13,280 --> 00:01:15,600 Speaker 1: in a moment. But is it safe the same Murder 19 00:01:15,640 --> 00:01:18,240 Speaker 1: Mystery too? Is this sort of like the biggest project 20 00:01:18,240 --> 00:01:22,240 Speaker 1: you've ever done. This is one percent the biggest project 21 00:01:22,240 --> 00:01:24,160 Speaker 1: I've ever done. This is the biggest movie I've ever done, 22 00:01:24,240 --> 00:01:27,880 Speaker 1: for sure. Okay, And how did you come to direct this, 23 00:01:28,120 --> 00:01:31,560 Speaker 1: especially because you've got your whole interesting side business going 24 00:01:31,600 --> 00:01:35,360 Speaker 1: with American High Yeah, it's a great question. I got 25 00:01:35,360 --> 00:01:39,800 Speaker 1: a call out of nowhere from agents saying do you 26 00:01:40,440 --> 00:01:46,360 Speaker 1: have any interest in directing Murder Mystery Too? And I said, yeah, 27 00:01:46,400 --> 00:01:51,200 Speaker 1: I do. That's simple. Apparently I was on a short 28 00:01:51,240 --> 00:01:58,880 Speaker 1: list of possible directors that jen Aniston wanted to meet with. 29 00:01:59,360 --> 00:02:01,360 Speaker 1: I knew and I worked with her on the film 30 00:02:01,360 --> 00:02:03,760 Speaker 1: of The Breakup, which was your big break right. You 31 00:02:03,800 --> 00:02:06,120 Speaker 1: wrote the script you I wrote the script of The 32 00:02:06,200 --> 00:02:08,720 Speaker 1: Breakup with Jay Lavender, who was my co writer and 33 00:02:08,760 --> 00:02:12,400 Speaker 1: co producer. We co produced it. Vince Vaughan was a 34 00:02:12,400 --> 00:02:15,800 Speaker 1: producer on that movie, and we we got it to 35 00:02:16,120 --> 00:02:18,760 Speaker 1: Jennifer Aniston and she said she read the script and 36 00:02:18,800 --> 00:02:20,760 Speaker 1: she wanted to do it. And we made that movie 37 00:02:20,800 --> 00:02:24,320 Speaker 1: a long time ago, and jenn and I have he'd 38 00:02:24,400 --> 00:02:27,560 Speaker 1: been in touch ever since, and I've always wanted to 39 00:02:27,560 --> 00:02:30,800 Speaker 1: work together. And I got that call out of the blue. 40 00:02:31,960 --> 00:02:34,040 Speaker 1: It was a nice call to get. Yeah, I mean Hey, 41 00:02:34,200 --> 00:02:37,280 Speaker 1: it's nice to have high powered friends like that. Now, 42 00:02:37,320 --> 00:02:41,120 Speaker 1: this was the first time you worked with Sandler? What 43 00:02:41,240 --> 00:02:43,560 Speaker 1: was it like working with someone? I mean, this is 44 00:02:43,600 --> 00:02:48,639 Speaker 1: a comedy legend too, So Adam Sandler was my hero 45 00:02:49,480 --> 00:02:53,000 Speaker 1: from the time I was growing up. Saturday Night Live. 46 00:02:53,040 --> 00:02:54,920 Speaker 1: When I was in high school, all I wanted to 47 00:02:54,960 --> 00:02:59,880 Speaker 1: do was write jokes for Adam Sandler. I walked around 48 00:03:00,200 --> 00:03:05,799 Speaker 1: doing Billy Madison and in fact, my sister, my older sister, 49 00:03:06,960 --> 00:03:11,440 Speaker 1: won a raffle to go to Saturday eight Live. I 50 00:03:11,520 --> 00:03:14,280 Speaker 1: was in I think I was fifteen. I went with 51 00:03:14,280 --> 00:03:19,079 Speaker 1: her to Saturday Night Live and were they were doing 52 00:03:19,120 --> 00:03:21,160 Speaker 1: one of those They were doing a skit where they 53 00:03:21,200 --> 00:03:23,239 Speaker 1: were using our seats, so we had to go stand 54 00:03:23,320 --> 00:03:25,040 Speaker 1: on the side. And I was standing on the side 55 00:03:25,040 --> 00:03:27,079 Speaker 1: of the stage and all of a sudden I look 56 00:03:27,160 --> 00:03:32,359 Speaker 1: up and it's Adam Sandler and um he was. I said, oh, 57 00:03:32,400 --> 00:03:34,160 Speaker 1: what are you dressed up as? And he said, oh, 58 00:03:34,240 --> 00:03:37,560 Speaker 1: I'm doing UM. I was like, are you doing weird? 59 00:03:37,600 --> 00:03:39,880 Speaker 1: Are you dressed as? I was like, are you dressed 60 00:03:39,880 --> 00:03:43,120 Speaker 1: as weird Al Yankovic And he said no, no, that'd 61 00:03:43,160 --> 00:03:49,080 Speaker 1: be funny though He's he was Gary Delabate Howard's Dern Show, right, 62 00:03:49,280 --> 00:03:52,720 Speaker 1: and he was in So Sweet and I had met 63 00:03:52,800 --> 00:03:55,400 Speaker 1: him a couple of times playing basketball, and we had 64 00:03:55,440 --> 00:03:57,960 Speaker 1: talked about working together a few times in Los Angeles. 65 00:03:58,040 --> 00:04:00,880 Speaker 1: In Los Angeles when I was out here, you know, 66 00:04:00,920 --> 00:04:02,360 Speaker 1: I was at Sony. I would play at the Sony 67 00:04:02,360 --> 00:04:03,720 Speaker 1: a lot of All of a sudden, Adam Sandler which 68 00:04:03,880 --> 00:04:06,240 Speaker 1: up in the so Many lot and he was playing 69 00:04:06,280 --> 00:04:10,200 Speaker 1: basketball with Adam Sandler, which was pretty incredible. I had 70 00:04:10,200 --> 00:04:12,200 Speaker 1: written a script a while ago that he had read 71 00:04:12,240 --> 00:04:15,240 Speaker 1: and we met on that he liked and wanted to do, 72 00:04:15,840 --> 00:04:19,000 Speaker 1: and we had always talked about working together. And now 73 00:04:19,200 --> 00:04:22,960 Speaker 1: I had to interview to direct the movie. And what 74 00:04:23,080 --> 00:04:25,040 Speaker 1: is it like interviewing with Adam? Saying, I mean you're 75 00:04:25,040 --> 00:04:28,039 Speaker 1: talking about interviewing with Sandler? Yes, okay. So I had 76 00:04:28,120 --> 00:04:31,400 Speaker 1: gone through, I had pitched my take on the movie. 77 00:04:31,520 --> 00:04:34,960 Speaker 1: I had met with all the different producers. There's a 78 00:04:35,000 --> 00:04:37,640 Speaker 1: lot of producers on this movie. I had met all 79 00:04:37,640 --> 00:04:41,640 Speaker 1: the producers. Then I met with Netflix, had met with 80 00:04:41,760 --> 00:04:44,640 Speaker 1: Jen and then I had to do the final meeting 81 00:04:44,640 --> 00:04:47,479 Speaker 1: and interview with Adam. And I kept on getting text, 82 00:04:47,520 --> 00:04:50,000 Speaker 1: Oh it's going to be tomorrow at eleven o'clock, he's 83 00:04:50,040 --> 00:04:52,520 Speaker 1: gonna call you the next day. It was like on 84 00:04:52,640 --> 00:04:55,080 Speaker 1: Thursday at two o'clock, he's gonna call. And this kind 85 00:04:55,080 --> 00:04:57,000 Speaker 1: of went on and on for a couple of weeks, 86 00:04:59,160 --> 00:05:02,919 Speaker 1: and then I got a text that said something like, hey, Bud, 87 00:05:03,080 --> 00:05:06,240 Speaker 1: you're around. I said, yep, any any time, and then 88 00:05:06,279 --> 00:05:09,960 Speaker 1: he FaceTime and me from the golf course I was in, 89 00:05:10,200 --> 00:05:12,320 Speaker 1: I was in Kazan, I was in Syracuse, New York, 90 00:05:12,680 --> 00:05:16,120 Speaker 1: by my house, and I walked around and he was 91 00:05:16,400 --> 00:05:20,920 Speaker 1: in between holes. Just we were talking about life and 92 00:05:21,080 --> 00:05:23,680 Speaker 1: kids and really nothing to do with the movie. At 93 00:05:23,720 --> 00:05:25,400 Speaker 1: the end of the at the end of the college 94 00:05:25,440 --> 00:05:27,880 Speaker 1: was like, all right, let's do this. This will be fun. Hey, 95 00:05:27,920 --> 00:05:30,320 Speaker 1: that's what it takes. Not bad. Did he remember you 96 00:05:30,600 --> 00:05:33,880 Speaker 1: from your basketball days? He did, he did. He did 97 00:05:33,960 --> 00:05:36,599 Speaker 1: remember me. He remembered me from my basketball days. He 98 00:05:36,640 --> 00:05:39,799 Speaker 1: remembered me from a few times that we had spoken 99 00:05:39,800 --> 00:05:44,840 Speaker 1: about business. And he definitely he checked me out for sure, 100 00:05:44,880 --> 00:05:47,320 Speaker 1: because I know a bunch of people who were who 101 00:05:47,360 --> 00:05:51,400 Speaker 1: he had called ahead of time, and yeah, I was. 102 00:05:52,200 --> 00:05:54,280 Speaker 1: It was obviously a dream come true to be able 103 00:05:54,279 --> 00:05:56,360 Speaker 1: to work with him. So what was your approach to 104 00:05:56,360 --> 00:05:58,839 Speaker 1: the material, because what I remember from Murder Mystery the 105 00:05:58,880 --> 00:06:01,520 Speaker 1: first one is it's the mix of who Done It, 106 00:06:01,560 --> 00:06:04,599 Speaker 1: but it's also kind of silly comedy. I mean, are 107 00:06:04,600 --> 00:06:06,720 Speaker 1: you staying in that vein with number two or did 108 00:06:06,720 --> 00:06:09,760 Speaker 1: you do something different? Yeah, it's a little bit of 109 00:06:09,800 --> 00:06:13,880 Speaker 1: a genre bending movie. They wanted this to be more 110 00:06:15,200 --> 00:06:18,120 Speaker 1: more of like Taken and a little bit more action. Eka, 111 00:06:18,680 --> 00:06:23,520 Speaker 1: So I really and worked off of Jamie Vanderbilt script 112 00:06:23,520 --> 00:06:25,960 Speaker 1: and Jamie created a He wrote the first one and 113 00:06:26,000 --> 00:06:29,080 Speaker 1: he created amazing characters and did a great job with 114 00:06:29,120 --> 00:06:31,560 Speaker 1: the second script two. When I came in, I really 115 00:06:31,600 --> 00:06:35,279 Speaker 1: wanted to build upon what he had initially put in 116 00:06:35,320 --> 00:06:39,760 Speaker 1: there and did a lot with the romance between the 117 00:06:39,760 --> 00:06:41,760 Speaker 1: two of them, really try to push the comedy and 118 00:06:41,960 --> 00:06:45,320 Speaker 1: really try to push the action a lot. And James 119 00:06:45,400 --> 00:06:49,440 Speaker 1: was actually incredibly helpful during the entire process. We worked 120 00:06:49,440 --> 00:06:54,080 Speaker 1: together and yeah, this is so when you watched this movie, 121 00:06:54,640 --> 00:06:57,400 Speaker 1: it's hard to say what genre it falls into it 122 00:06:57,680 --> 00:07:00,520 Speaker 1: exactly because there's definitely a who Done It, there's definitely 123 00:07:00,560 --> 00:07:03,440 Speaker 1: an element of action. There's a huge element of action, 124 00:07:03,760 --> 00:07:07,120 Speaker 1: and of course there's a romance between Adam and Jen 125 00:07:08,080 --> 00:07:12,920 Speaker 1: and yeah, and it's funny and the thing I remember 126 00:07:12,960 --> 00:07:17,120 Speaker 1: about the Breakup movie was also somewhat of a genre bender, 127 00:07:17,160 --> 00:07:20,280 Speaker 1: where it seemed like it was a typical romantic comedy 128 00:07:20,480 --> 00:07:22,280 Speaker 1: and then it gets a little dark towards the end. 129 00:07:22,320 --> 00:07:24,880 Speaker 1: I mean that was something back in the day where 130 00:07:24,920 --> 00:07:28,720 Speaker 1: you didn't see romantic comedies go there. And I'm just curious, 131 00:07:29,120 --> 00:07:32,520 Speaker 1: you know, how did you get a studio to take 132 00:07:32,560 --> 00:07:35,120 Speaker 1: the leap with material like that at the breakup or 133 00:07:35,120 --> 00:07:37,960 Speaker 1: a murder mystery the breakup? Oh, so the Breakup we 134 00:07:38,000 --> 00:07:42,840 Speaker 1: wrote a pretty um we wrote a pretty great script, 135 00:07:42,960 --> 00:07:45,239 Speaker 1: Like as a team, we wrote a pretty great script, 136 00:07:45,280 --> 00:07:48,720 Speaker 1: and we wrote it on spec and we went out 137 00:07:48,760 --> 00:07:51,480 Speaker 1: to every studio and Vince had just come off of 138 00:07:52,520 --> 00:07:56,320 Speaker 1: wedding Crashers. I think so he was. He was definitely 139 00:07:56,320 --> 00:07:59,640 Speaker 1: a hot commodity. Yeah it was. He was couldn't have 140 00:07:59,640 --> 00:08:04,680 Speaker 1: been hot. And we went out with it and every 141 00:08:04,720 --> 00:08:08,440 Speaker 1: studio wanted it. Almost all of them said, well, we 142 00:08:08,480 --> 00:08:11,320 Speaker 1: want this, but we want you to change the ending, 143 00:08:12,320 --> 00:08:14,520 Speaker 1: which was the dark part. We won't spoil it for 144 00:08:14,520 --> 00:08:16,240 Speaker 1: those who haven't seen it. I read to end those 145 00:08:16,240 --> 00:08:18,920 Speaker 1: fifteen years ago. Hey, it's still out there. I remember 146 00:08:19,000 --> 00:08:22,040 Speaker 1: getting a call from Scott Stubor, who was the head 147 00:08:22,040 --> 00:08:24,240 Speaker 1: of Universal at the time, and that was the head 148 00:08:24,240 --> 00:08:28,080 Speaker 1: of Netflix, and he said, I love this script so much, 149 00:08:28,240 --> 00:08:31,240 Speaker 1: and I want to do it here, and I don't 150 00:08:31,280 --> 00:08:34,319 Speaker 1: want you to touch this ending. This is the perfect ending. 151 00:08:34,360 --> 00:08:39,040 Speaker 1: And we ended up going with Scott Steubert at Universal 152 00:08:39,679 --> 00:08:43,920 Speaker 1: and we shot it. And after we shot it, we 153 00:08:43,960 --> 00:08:48,880 Speaker 1: tested the movie and I remember the head of this studio, 154 00:08:49,360 --> 00:08:52,360 Speaker 1: I think it was Ron Meyer at the time. We say, 155 00:08:52,480 --> 00:08:56,240 Speaker 1: I think his line was have them get together at 156 00:08:56,240 --> 00:08:57,960 Speaker 1: the end and you get back the brink struck in. 157 00:08:59,040 --> 00:09:03,160 Speaker 1: So we ended up having to go and reshoot an ending. 158 00:09:03,200 --> 00:09:06,600 Speaker 1: We should reshot two different endings. One it was a 159 00:09:06,640 --> 00:09:10,199 Speaker 1: big Hollywood ending, it was pretty ridiculous. And then we 160 00:09:10,240 --> 00:09:12,880 Speaker 1: shot what's now in the movie, where there's kind of 161 00:09:12,880 --> 00:09:16,640 Speaker 1: a there's a glimmer of hope at the end that 162 00:09:16,920 --> 00:09:22,200 Speaker 1: maybe they'll get together at some point in time. But 163 00:09:23,280 --> 00:09:27,080 Speaker 1: at the time, when you had dark endings like that 164 00:09:27,160 --> 00:09:31,240 Speaker 1: or endings that weren't the perfect Hollywood ending, testing doesn't 165 00:09:32,080 --> 00:09:36,400 Speaker 1: people don't love those endings. But I'm so happy that 166 00:09:36,440 --> 00:09:39,360 Speaker 1: we stuck with that because over the years I received 167 00:09:39,440 --> 00:09:45,800 Speaker 1: so many emails and comments about how much people appreciated 168 00:09:45,840 --> 00:09:48,600 Speaker 1: that ending because it was so true to life. And 169 00:09:48,640 --> 00:09:50,160 Speaker 1: I'm curious. You know, you've worked on a lot of 170 00:09:50,160 --> 00:09:54,240 Speaker 1: films since then. Do you feel that Hollywood has become 171 00:09:54,800 --> 00:09:58,440 Speaker 1: more or less risky in terms of the kind of 172 00:09:58,480 --> 00:10:01,000 Speaker 1: creative decisions that you know back then that was so 173 00:10:01,320 --> 00:10:05,360 Speaker 1: courageous for a movie like that. Is Hollywood still friendly 174 00:10:05,400 --> 00:10:09,680 Speaker 1: towards that kind of material? I think Hollywood itself is 175 00:10:09,800 --> 00:10:12,520 Speaker 1: not friendly to that, is less friendly to that kind 176 00:10:12,520 --> 00:10:19,000 Speaker 1: of material. Right now, everything is algorithms, right, but there 177 00:10:19,040 --> 00:10:22,880 Speaker 1: are companies like A twenty four or our company, American High, 178 00:10:22,880 --> 00:10:28,240 Speaker 1: where you where you're seeing a lot of original thoughts 179 00:10:28,240 --> 00:10:32,439 Speaker 1: and original visions that are kind of outside of the 180 00:10:32,480 --> 00:10:38,839 Speaker 1: Hollywood system. We'll talk more about American High. We'll be 181 00:10:38,880 --> 00:10:49,000 Speaker 1: back in just a moment with Jeremy Garrelck. We are 182 00:10:49,120 --> 00:10:52,800 Speaker 1: back with Jeremy Garlick. He is the director of the 183 00:10:52,880 --> 00:10:57,600 Speaker 1: new Netflix movie Murder Mystery Too. Let's talk American High. 184 00:10:57,679 --> 00:11:02,480 Speaker 1: Murder Mystery Too is separate from that. This is this 185 00:11:02,559 --> 00:11:04,920 Speaker 1: is really it's one of the more fascinating stories I've 186 00:11:04,920 --> 00:11:09,400 Speaker 1: heard in terms of taking an unusual entrepreneurial role to 187 00:11:09,679 --> 00:11:14,720 Speaker 1: making movies. You bought a high school in Syracuse, New 188 00:11:14,800 --> 00:11:19,720 Speaker 1: York walk back towards what made you do something like that? 189 00:11:19,800 --> 00:11:24,200 Speaker 1: What was the point of it? Thank you? I was 190 00:11:24,360 --> 00:11:27,760 Speaker 1: I had just finished shooting The Wedding Ringer with Kevin 191 00:11:27,760 --> 00:11:31,000 Speaker 1: Hart and Josh Gad and it tests that one tested 192 00:11:31,080 --> 00:11:35,560 Speaker 1: through the roof at the time, and I was everyone saying, Okay, 193 00:11:35,600 --> 00:11:36,559 Speaker 1: what do you want to do next? What do you 194 00:11:36,600 --> 00:11:38,680 Speaker 1: want to do next? I said, I want to do this. 195 00:11:39,400 --> 00:11:41,439 Speaker 1: I want to do it in orated high school comedy, 196 00:11:41,480 --> 00:11:44,080 Speaker 1: like the movies I grew up on Fast Times at 197 00:11:44,120 --> 00:11:47,520 Speaker 1: Ridgemont High and Poor Keys and of course super Bad 198 00:11:47,520 --> 00:11:52,040 Speaker 1: and all the John News movies. And the studio response was, 199 00:11:52,480 --> 00:11:55,400 Speaker 1: we can't make this kind of a movie. And I said, 200 00:11:55,400 --> 00:11:57,760 Speaker 1: I don't understand. If we're you know, we could make 201 00:11:57,800 --> 00:12:02,160 Speaker 1: this movie for five, five, ten million dollars, And they said, well, 202 00:12:02,200 --> 00:12:05,319 Speaker 1: you still have to spend twenty to twenty five million 203 00:12:05,360 --> 00:12:08,840 Speaker 1: dollars to put it out there, and if the movie 204 00:12:08,920 --> 00:12:13,040 Speaker 1: makes seventy five in the box office, which would be massive, 205 00:12:13,720 --> 00:12:18,400 Speaker 1: it's still not worth that risk when the same studio 206 00:12:18,520 --> 00:12:23,439 Speaker 1: is doing Spider Man, right. So this was the philosophy 207 00:12:23,480 --> 00:12:25,880 Speaker 1: at the time from all of the studios. So nobody 208 00:12:25,920 --> 00:12:30,280 Speaker 1: wanted to make these So I was trying to figure 209 00:12:30,280 --> 00:12:32,319 Speaker 1: out why and like, why couldn't we just do this 210 00:12:32,520 --> 00:12:36,439 Speaker 1: on our own? And I started just read. I started 211 00:12:36,440 --> 00:12:39,480 Speaker 1: telling everybody all I want to do, every agent, every producer, 212 00:12:39,559 --> 00:12:41,040 Speaker 1: all I want to do is make high school movies. 213 00:12:41,080 --> 00:12:42,920 Speaker 1: I want to find this R rated high school movie. 214 00:12:42,960 --> 00:12:45,880 Speaker 1: We started getting all of these submissions, and as I'm 215 00:12:45,920 --> 00:12:49,120 Speaker 1: reading the high school movies, they all have the same sets. 216 00:12:49,160 --> 00:12:53,400 Speaker 1: It's always it's a gym, it's the auditorium, it's the 217 00:12:53,440 --> 00:12:58,600 Speaker 1: local diner, it's the classroom. And having been on a 218 00:12:58,640 --> 00:13:02,439 Speaker 1: bunch of movies Spittrol Schumacher for a while, I was like, Oh, 219 00:13:03,080 --> 00:13:07,320 Speaker 1: the locations are It's are so expensive. There's such an 220 00:13:07,320 --> 00:13:11,040 Speaker 1: expensive part of making a film that I wonder if 221 00:13:11,080 --> 00:13:14,440 Speaker 1: we made instead of just doing one movie, if we 222 00:13:14,520 --> 00:13:19,800 Speaker 1: made three high school movies and we just said everything 223 00:13:19,880 --> 00:13:23,480 Speaker 1: it was the same same location. And I try to 224 00:13:23,559 --> 00:13:26,160 Speaker 1: like run the numbers as to what that would would 225 00:13:26,200 --> 00:13:29,760 Speaker 1: save us, and it ended up saving about a third 226 00:13:29,800 --> 00:13:33,120 Speaker 1: of the cost in terms of the production cost. So 227 00:13:33,160 --> 00:13:35,360 Speaker 1: then I was just thinking, if I were to just 228 00:13:35,720 --> 00:13:39,400 Speaker 1: own the location and can completely control the location, we 229 00:13:39,400 --> 00:13:41,160 Speaker 1: could store all the equipment there, we could have all 230 00:13:41,160 --> 00:13:44,880 Speaker 1: the production there, we could house people close by, We 231 00:13:44,960 --> 00:13:49,720 Speaker 1: could make a pretty expensive looking, high quality film for 232 00:13:50,960 --> 00:13:54,880 Speaker 1: a third of the cost. So I started googling, you know, 233 00:13:55,360 --> 00:13:58,320 Speaker 1: I literally just started googling how to buy a high school, 234 00:13:58,440 --> 00:14:03,080 Speaker 1: like high schools for sale, and um, many high schools 235 00:14:03,080 --> 00:14:05,240 Speaker 1: were for sale, there were a lot of them. And 236 00:14:05,480 --> 00:14:09,600 Speaker 1: I was looking in tax incentive where there were tax incentives, 237 00:14:09,720 --> 00:14:12,400 Speaker 1: and I was looking in Detroit, and I was looking 238 00:14:12,400 --> 00:14:15,600 Speaker 1: in Georgia, and I got one one popped up on 239 00:14:15,679 --> 00:14:18,959 Speaker 1: my loop net account. In loop I've not heard that. 240 00:14:19,040 --> 00:14:20,920 Speaker 1: I was a little plugged for loot neet. I hope 241 00:14:20,920 --> 00:14:25,080 Speaker 1: I can get some some free membership from loop neet 242 00:14:25,120 --> 00:14:28,760 Speaker 1: on that um. But it was in Liverpool, New York, 243 00:14:28,800 --> 00:14:32,040 Speaker 1: and it looked like the perfect John Us town and 244 00:14:32,120 --> 00:14:36,160 Speaker 1: a perfect John Us thing um building. And I just 245 00:14:36,360 --> 00:14:39,560 Speaker 1: remember Will, who was my assistant at the time now 246 00:14:39,640 --> 00:14:41,800 Speaker 1: my partner. We hopped on a flight and we flew 247 00:14:41,840 --> 00:14:44,720 Speaker 1: to Liverpool, New York, which is a suburb of Syracuse, 248 00:14:45,240 --> 00:14:47,520 Speaker 1: and I said, this is this is it, like this 249 00:14:47,600 --> 00:14:50,880 Speaker 1: is where we're going to make this happen, and um, 250 00:14:50,920 --> 00:14:53,800 Speaker 1: I bought this, made an offer, bought the school for 251 00:14:53,880 --> 00:14:57,560 Speaker 1: how much we have to ask it's public, it's public records, 252 00:14:57,600 --> 00:15:00,360 Speaker 1: so it was a million we we I bought it 253 00:15:00,400 --> 00:15:03,560 Speaker 1: for a million dollars. Wow. It's one hundred thousand square 254 00:15:03,680 --> 00:15:08,040 Speaker 1: foot building on eight acres a lane. So coming from 255 00:15:08,080 --> 00:15:11,440 Speaker 1: Los Angeles, where land and buildings are very expensive, it 256 00:15:11,440 --> 00:15:15,880 Speaker 1: seemed like a pretty incredible deal. Did you get backers 257 00:15:15,920 --> 00:15:19,520 Speaker 1: to help you with this investment? I took out a 258 00:15:19,560 --> 00:15:22,560 Speaker 1: lot of yes. I took out a lot of loans, 259 00:15:23,720 --> 00:15:28,680 Speaker 1: went into a lot of debt and was able to 260 00:15:29,560 --> 00:15:33,640 Speaker 1: do it. And then once I had the high school 261 00:15:34,280 --> 00:15:39,720 Speaker 1: and this business plan, I then went to a handful 262 00:15:39,720 --> 00:15:43,840 Speaker 1: of different investors and backers and initially made a deal 263 00:15:43,920 --> 00:15:49,000 Speaker 1: with Mickey Ladell or ld Entertainment, who was just incredible 264 00:15:49,120 --> 00:15:51,520 Speaker 1: who when I pitched him this idea, he was like, great, 265 00:15:51,560 --> 00:15:54,400 Speaker 1: let's do it. And but I would imagine you may 266 00:15:54,440 --> 00:15:56,200 Speaker 1: have pitched this elsewhere and people might have thought you 267 00:15:56,240 --> 00:15:58,520 Speaker 1: were nuts. I mean, this is different I did. I 268 00:15:58,560 --> 00:16:02,920 Speaker 1: pitched it to a bunch of places and everyone thought 269 00:16:03,000 --> 00:16:06,520 Speaker 1: I was nuts, and everyone asked to see the scripts. 270 00:16:06,520 --> 00:16:08,440 Speaker 1: I was like, well, let's see what the scripts are, 271 00:16:09,320 --> 00:16:12,480 Speaker 1: and Mickey didn't even Mickey was just like, I trust you. 272 00:16:12,520 --> 00:16:14,880 Speaker 1: I trust that you're you know, just from what you've done. 273 00:16:15,360 --> 00:16:17,440 Speaker 1: I believe in you. I believe in this vision, and 274 00:16:17,480 --> 00:16:19,040 Speaker 1: if you want to go do this, let's just go 275 00:16:19,120 --> 00:16:22,200 Speaker 1: do this. And he was able. He basically started writing 276 00:16:22,280 --> 00:16:28,120 Speaker 1: checks and we started making these low budget high school movies. 277 00:16:28,320 --> 00:16:30,680 Speaker 1: But I'd imagine it's not so simple to walk into 278 00:16:30,920 --> 00:16:33,920 Speaker 1: a town in Syracuse and say, hey, I'm just going 279 00:16:33,960 --> 00:16:38,640 Speaker 1: to start making movies here. Okay, so this is probably 280 00:16:38,680 --> 00:16:42,800 Speaker 1: a podcast in and of itself, but yes, I the 281 00:16:43,440 --> 00:16:47,200 Speaker 1: school is located in the village of Liverpool, which is 282 00:16:47,200 --> 00:16:49,960 Speaker 1: a small village. It's a suburb of Syracuse, and there's 283 00:16:50,000 --> 00:16:52,840 Speaker 1: a there's a mayor of Liverpool, and there is a 284 00:16:53,240 --> 00:16:57,880 Speaker 1: board in Liverpool. And I had purchased the building and 285 00:16:57,960 --> 00:16:59,880 Speaker 1: we were ready to go, and we were told that 286 00:17:00,640 --> 00:17:03,960 Speaker 1: we couldn't make these movies because it wasn't zoned for 287 00:17:04,040 --> 00:17:09,040 Speaker 1: commercial use. I said, so, okay, so this plan already 288 00:17:09,080 --> 00:17:13,280 Speaker 1: starting off. Not so again. I said, what's a zoned for? 289 00:17:13,480 --> 00:17:16,240 Speaker 1: They said it zoned for a school. It's zoned for 290 00:17:16,320 --> 00:17:19,800 Speaker 1: either a trade school or or high school. I said, well, 291 00:17:19,840 --> 00:17:22,600 Speaker 1: we're going to let's start a school. And we then 292 00:17:22,640 --> 00:17:27,159 Speaker 1: went around to all the local university Syracuse University on 293 00:17:27,200 --> 00:17:29,879 Speaker 1: a doga community college. When we went around and we 294 00:17:29,960 --> 00:17:32,439 Speaker 1: pitched all of these colleges on what we were going 295 00:17:32,480 --> 00:17:36,119 Speaker 1: to do, and we partnered with all the colleges to 296 00:17:36,160 --> 00:17:40,000 Speaker 1: create internships where these students would come and they would 297 00:17:40,000 --> 00:17:42,600 Speaker 1: work on our films and we would whoever was coming in, 298 00:17:42,600 --> 00:17:46,800 Speaker 1: whatever producers, actors, directors would be the teachers and the 299 00:17:46,880 --> 00:17:49,480 Speaker 1: mentors for all of these students, and we became a 300 00:17:49,560 --> 00:17:54,240 Speaker 1: qualified trade trade school. That's just genius. But what we 301 00:17:54,240 --> 00:17:56,960 Speaker 1: were doing it just to solve that initial challenge of 302 00:17:57,920 --> 00:18:02,479 Speaker 1: you can't do business here. And what the result was 303 00:18:02,480 --> 00:18:06,720 Speaker 1: was we created a local crew where there really was 304 00:18:06,760 --> 00:18:10,760 Speaker 1: no local crew before. And the school is now a 305 00:18:10,920 --> 00:18:14,320 Speaker 1: huge part of our business. We've I think we've we've 306 00:18:14,440 --> 00:18:19,080 Speaker 1: had over one hundred crew members become union crew members 307 00:18:19,400 --> 00:18:23,159 Speaker 1: having gone through our academy training program. So it was 308 00:18:23,200 --> 00:18:29,679 Speaker 1: an accidental solve that resulted in um in a huge 309 00:18:29,720 --> 00:18:34,880 Speaker 1: part of our business model. So fast forward how many 310 00:18:34,960 --> 00:18:38,040 Speaker 1: years now as American hyve in operation five years and 311 00:18:38,080 --> 00:18:40,800 Speaker 1: you've made how many movies over that time? Wow? That 312 00:18:40,800 --> 00:18:44,480 Speaker 1: that is a very good question. I think close to fourteen, 313 00:18:45,320 --> 00:18:50,040 Speaker 1: maybe fifteen, and COVID was COVID was was a struggle 314 00:18:50,160 --> 00:18:53,520 Speaker 1: because nobody was making movies during COVID. We actually were 315 00:18:54,000 --> 00:18:57,679 Speaker 1: think we were the first movie to movie studio to 316 00:18:57,800 --> 00:19:04,160 Speaker 1: go back into production during COVID. And if you were 317 00:19:04,200 --> 00:19:07,959 Speaker 1: all of these movies on Hulu, no, So the first 318 00:19:08,000 --> 00:19:11,800 Speaker 1: one was bought by was Sony. It was distributed, bought 319 00:19:11,840 --> 00:19:14,320 Speaker 1: and distributed by Sony called Holly Slept Over. Then there 320 00:19:14,359 --> 00:19:20,600 Speaker 1: was Banana Split, which was universal. Then there was there 321 00:19:20,760 --> 00:19:25,680 Speaker 1: was the Ultimate Playlist of Noise right Um. Then there 322 00:19:25,760 --> 00:19:29,119 Speaker 1: was a movie called Big Time Adolescence which was bought 323 00:19:29,119 --> 00:19:32,640 Speaker 1: by Hulu at Sundance. C Davidson was in that one 324 00:19:33,560 --> 00:19:37,840 Speaker 1: from Saturday Night Live. Jason Orley wrote and directed the script. 325 00:19:39,160 --> 00:19:43,919 Speaker 1: And we then made our deal with Hulu to do 326 00:19:44,280 --> 00:19:48,119 Speaker 1: got It eight movies for Hulu. And now we're learning 327 00:19:48,160 --> 00:19:50,239 Speaker 1: that you were doing more for them. Yeah, we have 328 00:19:50,280 --> 00:19:53,000 Speaker 1: one more with Hulu on the original deal, and then 329 00:19:53,040 --> 00:19:55,399 Speaker 1: we have another slate. We just closed a deal to 330 00:19:55,400 --> 00:19:57,720 Speaker 1: do another slate of films for them, which we're really 331 00:19:57,720 --> 00:20:01,280 Speaker 1: excited about because we've had a pretty amazing working relationship 332 00:20:01,320 --> 00:20:04,880 Speaker 1: with So. How looking back at you know, you took 333 00:20:05,359 --> 00:20:08,440 Speaker 1: a really interesting risk. Did it play out the way 334 00:20:08,440 --> 00:20:10,440 Speaker 1: you thought it was. Did you learn things that maybe 335 00:20:10,480 --> 00:20:17,240 Speaker 1: you weren't even expecting. This played out so differently than 336 00:20:17,800 --> 00:20:22,280 Speaker 1: anything I could have ever imagined. I didn't really have 337 00:20:22,320 --> 00:20:25,119 Speaker 1: a full plan when I was going into it. I 338 00:20:25,160 --> 00:20:27,200 Speaker 1: was kind of like, Oh, this could be this could work, 339 00:20:27,240 --> 00:20:29,240 Speaker 1: this could be fun, and we'd go make a few 340 00:20:29,280 --> 00:20:31,720 Speaker 1: movies and see if this works. This could be a 341 00:20:31,800 --> 00:20:35,280 Speaker 1: fun thing. I was going to do them out a 342 00:20:35,280 --> 00:20:39,359 Speaker 1: little bit higher of a budget and with the hope 343 00:20:39,359 --> 00:20:45,800 Speaker 1: of everything being theatrical, and then theatrical basically was killed 344 00:20:46,200 --> 00:20:49,720 Speaker 1: during our first release of Banana Split, and Big Time 345 00:20:49,720 --> 00:20:54,840 Speaker 1: Adolescents were supposed to be theatrically released and they were 346 00:20:55,960 --> 00:20:59,679 Speaker 1: so Banana Split came out the week that Tom Hanks 347 00:21:00,000 --> 00:21:03,040 Speaker 1: announced that he had COVID and the NBA was canceled 348 00:21:03,160 --> 00:21:05,960 Speaker 1: right about March twenty twenty, I want to say yeah. 349 00:21:06,040 --> 00:21:08,800 Speaker 1: And then Big Time Adolescence was scheduled to come out 350 00:21:08,960 --> 00:21:15,600 Speaker 1: theatrially two weeks later, and that basically changed our entire 351 00:21:15,680 --> 00:21:21,639 Speaker 1: business model into just stream a streaming business model. The 352 00:21:21,680 --> 00:21:26,359 Speaker 1: biggest thing I probably didn't expect was the impact on 353 00:21:26,600 --> 00:21:32,440 Speaker 1: the local community and economy. Um. I've had so many 354 00:21:32,480 --> 00:21:37,920 Speaker 1: people who are in Syracuse who who've wanted to be 355 00:21:39,040 --> 00:21:42,200 Speaker 1: in the film industry who just didn't have the opportunity 356 00:21:42,240 --> 00:21:45,159 Speaker 1: because they can't leave Syracuse for you know, family reasons 357 00:21:45,480 --> 00:21:51,000 Speaker 1: or financial reasons, and people people who have been working 358 00:21:51,000 --> 00:21:54,639 Speaker 1: with us now for four or five years. And what 359 00:21:54,760 --> 00:21:58,239 Speaker 1: he didn't expect is that now every there are so 360 00:21:58,280 --> 00:22:00,760 Speaker 1: many people who depend on us. How people to employ 361 00:22:00,800 --> 00:22:09,760 Speaker 1: there full time? Probably ten okay, but we're consistently making films, 362 00:22:10,280 --> 00:22:16,000 Speaker 1: so people make the bulk of their their living just 363 00:22:16,119 --> 00:22:20,439 Speaker 1: working on our movies, which is a tremendous amount of 364 00:22:20,520 --> 00:22:25,040 Speaker 1: pressure because I I've had people say, oh, thank you, 365 00:22:25,320 --> 00:22:28,120 Speaker 1: we can now have a family. My wife is now pregnant. 366 00:22:28,320 --> 00:22:30,199 Speaker 1: Now we could feel good having your family, And I'm like, 367 00:22:30,240 --> 00:22:34,400 Speaker 1: oh God, don't put that one on me. But that's 368 00:22:34,440 --> 00:22:37,840 Speaker 1: the thing that I didn't I didn't expect to have 369 00:22:38,680 --> 00:22:42,200 Speaker 1: the impact on the local community and feel like that 370 00:22:42,400 --> 00:22:45,760 Speaker 1: was now my job more than actually making the movies, 371 00:22:45,840 --> 00:22:48,000 Speaker 1: if that makes sense. Sure, I feel more of a 372 00:22:48,080 --> 00:22:53,080 Speaker 1: responsibility to continue to make movies for the local community 373 00:22:53,080 --> 00:22:59,080 Speaker 1: and local economy then I that would have ever dropped 374 00:22:59,119 --> 00:23:02,200 Speaker 1: up now is every movie that you're doing in American 375 00:23:02,280 --> 00:23:05,480 Speaker 1: high in that sort of teen friendly vein that you 376 00:23:05,520 --> 00:23:08,120 Speaker 1: set out to do, or do you branch out or 377 00:23:08,280 --> 00:23:11,560 Speaker 1: so for the most part, um, the movies we're making 378 00:23:11,560 --> 00:23:14,119 Speaker 1: are in the teen space, sort of the John Usian 379 00:23:14,280 --> 00:23:21,160 Speaker 1: type films, but with a diverse cast and telling stories 380 00:23:21,200 --> 00:23:24,080 Speaker 1: of characters that would have been in the background and 381 00:23:24,160 --> 00:23:25,879 Speaker 1: John you use movies or like the butt of the 382 00:23:25,920 --> 00:23:28,919 Speaker 1: joke and having them be the main characters. We have 383 00:23:29,119 --> 00:23:32,000 Speaker 1: branched out if a script jumps out at us as 384 00:23:32,080 --> 00:23:36,240 Speaker 1: being particularly special, like, um, we did a film called 385 00:23:36,320 --> 00:23:40,720 Speaker 1: I Love My Dad, Yeah right, with Patton and James 386 00:23:40,760 --> 00:23:44,520 Speaker 1: Morrissini wrote in and directed. It was just incredible and 387 00:23:44,880 --> 00:23:46,919 Speaker 1: it was just one of those scripts where I started 388 00:23:46,920 --> 00:23:50,640 Speaker 1: reading I couldn't put it down. So so we did 389 00:23:50,400 --> 00:23:54,040 Speaker 1: do that film, and we will branch out if there's 390 00:23:54,080 --> 00:23:56,960 Speaker 1: something special, But for the most part, we're doing high 391 00:23:56,960 --> 00:24:00,840 Speaker 1: school high school stuff. That's our main focus. And describe 392 00:24:00,880 --> 00:24:03,800 Speaker 1: the market today for those movies, because you were saying 393 00:24:03,800 --> 00:24:07,000 Speaker 1: earlier that financially there was a time where Hollywood was like, yeah, 394 00:24:07,040 --> 00:24:09,560 Speaker 1: this doesn't make sense. Now I assume in the streaming 395 00:24:09,560 --> 00:24:11,840 Speaker 1: age it makes a lot of sense, or maybe it's 396 00:24:11,840 --> 00:24:15,560 Speaker 1: still to sledging to get these done. It's all tough. 397 00:24:15,680 --> 00:24:18,359 Speaker 1: Everything's tough. It's not easy to get a film made 398 00:24:18,440 --> 00:24:22,800 Speaker 1: at all. Every movie we've made so far has been 399 00:24:22,800 --> 00:24:27,840 Speaker 1: a miracle and has taken a lot of work. I 400 00:24:28,960 --> 00:24:33,160 Speaker 1: what I know is that people still like watching these movies. 401 00:24:33,640 --> 00:24:36,600 Speaker 1: My kids who are My oldest is thirteen. All of 402 00:24:36,640 --> 00:24:40,120 Speaker 1: his favorite comedies were from before he was born. So 403 00:24:40,200 --> 00:24:43,880 Speaker 1: there's a market out there. It's just about figuring out 404 00:24:43,880 --> 00:24:49,320 Speaker 1: a way to get it to this market. And that's 405 00:24:49,320 --> 00:24:52,840 Speaker 1: what we've really been pushing to do. And you described, 406 00:24:52,920 --> 00:24:55,760 Speaker 1: you know, John Hughes as someone who kind of loomed 407 00:24:55,760 --> 00:24:59,320 Speaker 1: as an influence for these movies. I'm curious due today's 408 00:24:59,520 --> 00:25:04,680 Speaker 1: teen movies. Are they just a completely different sensibility than 409 00:25:04,800 --> 00:25:07,919 Speaker 1: back then or actually it's very similar. You No, I 410 00:25:07,960 --> 00:25:13,880 Speaker 1: think it's it's it's very similar being a teenager's universal. Um, 411 00:25:15,400 --> 00:25:18,360 Speaker 1: it's the same. You know, teenagers want the same thing 412 00:25:18,840 --> 00:25:23,400 Speaker 1: now as they did back then. They want they're discovering 413 00:25:23,480 --> 00:25:25,879 Speaker 1: who they are. There's you know, it's all about first 414 00:25:25,920 --> 00:25:27,800 Speaker 1: It's the first time you fall in love, it's the 415 00:25:27,800 --> 00:25:30,440 Speaker 1: first time you kind of discover your parents aren't perfect. 416 00:25:30,600 --> 00:25:34,360 Speaker 1: The first time you you try alcohol, or you try drugs, 417 00:25:34,440 --> 00:25:37,159 Speaker 1: or you you steal a car and driving into a 418 00:25:37,280 --> 00:25:40,320 Speaker 1: lake or whatever that thing is that that's your first. 419 00:25:41,080 --> 00:25:47,400 Speaker 1: The technology has changed, and the storytelling has the logistics 420 00:25:47,400 --> 00:25:51,400 Speaker 1: of storytelling has changed because of technology. Um, the voices 421 00:25:51,440 --> 00:25:54,520 Speaker 1: have changed because there are a lot more opportunity for 422 00:25:55,480 --> 00:25:59,679 Speaker 1: people of color, um for for um, for people of 423 00:25:59,720 --> 00:26:05,800 Speaker 1: the LTQ community to have a voice. But it's still 424 00:26:05,800 --> 00:26:09,040 Speaker 1: all about discovering who you are and finding love and 425 00:26:09,280 --> 00:26:13,480 Speaker 1: you know, feeling loved and popular and um. So it's 426 00:26:13,560 --> 00:26:17,439 Speaker 1: it's all universal. It's just it's just updated logistically. But 427 00:26:17,480 --> 00:26:20,000 Speaker 1: it's interesting to hear you describe kind of this diversity 428 00:26:20,040 --> 00:26:22,560 Speaker 1: because it makes me think back to those teen movies, 429 00:26:22,560 --> 00:26:26,240 Speaker 1: which we're not only kind of lily white cast wise, 430 00:26:26,359 --> 00:26:29,720 Speaker 1: but like some of the things you watched you watch 431 00:26:29,840 --> 00:26:32,320 Speaker 1: now some of the jokes they got away with then 432 00:26:32,680 --> 00:26:37,199 Speaker 1: that were racially insensitive, and it's just sort of like it. 433 00:26:37,480 --> 00:26:41,679 Speaker 1: Political correctness did not really exist in the Hughes age. 434 00:26:41,680 --> 00:26:44,080 Speaker 1: And I'm curious, do you feel the weight of that 435 00:26:44,480 --> 00:26:47,040 Speaker 1: as you're making movies today. Do you feel you have 436 00:26:47,080 --> 00:26:50,240 Speaker 1: to be in too narrow a lane? Um, I don't 437 00:26:50,240 --> 00:26:52,399 Speaker 1: know if we have to be in too narrow a lane. 438 00:26:52,480 --> 00:26:56,280 Speaker 1: It's definitely I definitely feel it because we want to 439 00:26:56,960 --> 00:27:02,040 Speaker 1: be telling stories a modern stories, and the modern age 440 00:27:02,440 --> 00:27:10,679 Speaker 1: is political correctness. The it's definitely a challenge. It's definitely 441 00:27:10,720 --> 00:27:14,679 Speaker 1: a challenge comedically for someone like me who was raised 442 00:27:14,760 --> 00:27:18,439 Speaker 1: on Porky's and some of you know, some of the 443 00:27:18,480 --> 00:27:21,320 Speaker 1: John Use films, which are just crazy. If you go 444 00:27:21,359 --> 00:27:23,040 Speaker 1: back and you watch them, you're like, oh, my gosh, 445 00:27:23,040 --> 00:27:27,359 Speaker 1: I can't believe they said that, or um, so it's not. So. 446 00:27:27,440 --> 00:27:29,520 Speaker 1: It takes a lot. There's a big learning curve for 447 00:27:29,800 --> 00:27:32,840 Speaker 1: for people my age who grew up that way, which 448 00:27:32,920 --> 00:27:37,359 Speaker 1: is why I really love having first time directors and 449 00:27:37,480 --> 00:27:40,320 Speaker 1: first time writers. In fact, we've had I think nine 450 00:27:40,480 --> 00:27:45,000 Speaker 1: or ten first time directors and many of them female, 451 00:27:46,160 --> 00:27:53,840 Speaker 1: queer people of color, and I'm I'm watching them and 452 00:27:53,920 --> 00:27:57,120 Speaker 1: kind of providing the kind of the tools for them, 453 00:27:58,040 --> 00:28:00,600 Speaker 1: but I want to see their voice. I want to 454 00:28:00,640 --> 00:28:04,800 Speaker 1: see the story told through their eyes, if that makes sense. Totally. Now, 455 00:28:04,880 --> 00:28:07,960 Speaker 1: to bring the conversation full circle, and we talk about 456 00:28:08,000 --> 00:28:11,199 Speaker 1: something like murder Mystery too, which is not necessarily in 457 00:28:11,240 --> 00:28:14,440 Speaker 1: the vein of the American high stuff. Do you do 458 00:28:14,480 --> 00:28:17,520 Speaker 1: that kind of movie because you don't want to be pigeonholed. 459 00:28:17,560 --> 00:28:19,760 Speaker 1: You want to be a director and a writer or 460 00:28:19,760 --> 00:28:24,440 Speaker 1: a producer who's going to do other things, Well, yeah, 461 00:28:24,480 --> 00:28:28,560 Speaker 1: I mean I think I did this movie because I 462 00:28:28,600 --> 00:28:31,680 Speaker 1: got a call that Jennifer and Adam want to meet 463 00:28:31,760 --> 00:28:34,359 Speaker 1: for me to direct a massive movie for them. It 464 00:28:34,400 --> 00:28:36,760 Speaker 1: was a dream come true and I definitely could not 465 00:28:36,840 --> 00:28:42,240 Speaker 1: say no to the opportunity. Sure, and if those opportunities 466 00:28:42,360 --> 00:28:45,000 Speaker 1: come along, I know I'll weigh them out based on 467 00:28:45,680 --> 00:28:49,440 Speaker 1: against what I have going on at American High. Being 468 00:28:49,440 --> 00:28:52,760 Speaker 1: able to do these bigger films is definitely helpful for 469 00:28:52,800 --> 00:28:56,480 Speaker 1: the American High model because it allows me to get 470 00:28:58,120 --> 00:29:00,400 Speaker 1: it allows me to continue to make connection ends with 471 00:29:00,600 --> 00:29:04,920 Speaker 1: cost and with crewe to have to learn more on 472 00:29:04,960 --> 00:29:07,040 Speaker 1: how to make these films. So many people who are 473 00:29:07,040 --> 00:29:11,000 Speaker 1: doing these larger movies want to come and work on 474 00:29:11,040 --> 00:29:15,560 Speaker 1: the smaller, fun indeed films that we're doing. So it's been, 475 00:29:15,600 --> 00:29:19,000 Speaker 1: it's been. It's been really helpful. It's been, and I'll 476 00:29:19,040 --> 00:29:22,600 Speaker 1: continue to do them move forward if they let me. So, 477 00:29:23,000 --> 00:29:24,600 Speaker 1: you know, a murder Mystery too could lead to a 478 00:29:24,680 --> 00:29:27,760 Speaker 1: Murder Mystery three. Or you're doing Sandler's next project or 479 00:29:27,960 --> 00:29:31,560 Speaker 1: Asison's next project at some point do you have to 480 00:29:31,600 --> 00:29:33,640 Speaker 1: pick a lane though, or it's like, no, I gotta 481 00:29:33,800 --> 00:29:37,480 Speaker 1: keep minding the American High Store, I can't do X. 482 00:29:37,680 --> 00:29:40,560 Speaker 1: Or there's room for both. There's definitely room for both. 483 00:29:40,680 --> 00:29:44,880 Speaker 1: I am incredibly grateful to have the greatest partner in 484 00:29:44,880 --> 00:29:47,800 Speaker 1: the world, Will Phelps, who started as my assistant. He 485 00:29:47,840 --> 00:29:50,360 Speaker 1: flew with me that night to on the Red Eye 486 00:29:50,400 --> 00:29:52,840 Speaker 1: to go look at the school and has you know, 487 00:29:52,840 --> 00:29:56,280 Speaker 1: he kind of had to take on a lot of 488 00:29:56,280 --> 00:29:58,720 Speaker 1: the responsibility while I was doing some of the I 489 00:29:58,760 --> 00:30:01,640 Speaker 1: did a show called Best Work Weekend Best Worst Weekend 490 00:30:01,680 --> 00:30:05,640 Speaker 1: Ever on Netflix in LA while we were getting American 491 00:30:05,720 --> 00:30:09,560 Speaker 1: High off the ground. So he really took on a huge, 492 00:30:10,440 --> 00:30:13,239 Speaker 1: huge amount of responsibility. And he's an incredible producer and 493 00:30:13,320 --> 00:30:15,400 Speaker 1: I have a lot of faith in him. If I'm 494 00:30:15,400 --> 00:30:17,400 Speaker 1: going to go off and do something and take time, 495 00:30:17,440 --> 00:30:21,800 Speaker 1: that good stuff is gonna happen. Is there a next 496 00:30:21,880 --> 00:30:24,760 Speaker 1: level or a next phase for the American High business? 497 00:30:24,800 --> 00:30:26,960 Speaker 1: Do you buy another high school and another part of 498 00:30:26,960 --> 00:30:29,840 Speaker 1: the country or I don't know, at a junior high 499 00:30:29,880 --> 00:30:31,840 Speaker 1: I mean, how does it work? We actually have been 500 00:30:32,200 --> 00:30:37,800 Speaker 1: we've been we've been keeping our eyes open for another space, 501 00:30:38,880 --> 00:30:43,000 Speaker 1: potentially a university a college so that when we graduate 502 00:30:43,040 --> 00:30:45,360 Speaker 1: from high school we can go into the college space. 503 00:30:46,560 --> 00:30:51,240 Speaker 1: We've been looking at various states again with tox incentives. 504 00:30:51,480 --> 00:30:54,200 Speaker 1: One of the challenges with the upstate New York, which 505 00:30:54,400 --> 00:31:00,000 Speaker 1: has an incredible incentive, it doesn't have above the lineup incentive. 506 00:31:00,040 --> 00:31:03,360 Speaker 1: If so you're kind of limited to the amount of 507 00:31:04,200 --> 00:31:06,120 Speaker 1: the size of the film you can make up there. 508 00:31:06,440 --> 00:31:09,520 Speaker 1: That being said, there's a bill now that the Governor 509 00:31:09,600 --> 00:31:17,040 Speaker 1: hokel is recommending a budget word includes above the line. 510 00:31:18,360 --> 00:31:20,240 Speaker 1: They will be voting on that in April, and if 511 00:31:20,280 --> 00:31:22,680 Speaker 1: that happens, and I hope it does, we're gonna try 512 00:31:22,720 --> 00:31:28,080 Speaker 1: to really build an upstate New York and not necessarily 513 00:31:28,080 --> 00:31:31,760 Speaker 1: look out of state. So American High could become American University. 514 00:31:32,280 --> 00:31:35,720 Speaker 1: It's like you're building in an entire American cinematic universe. 515 00:31:36,240 --> 00:31:38,840 Speaker 1: That was actually the initial That was actually the initial 516 00:31:39,280 --> 00:31:43,719 Speaker 1: concept was to have American High be the the universe. 517 00:31:43,760 --> 00:31:48,680 Speaker 1: It was a cinematic universe where the extra who would 518 00:31:48,880 --> 00:31:51,600 Speaker 1: kind of be the nerd who is thrown into the 519 00:31:51,640 --> 00:31:55,520 Speaker 1: locker in one film, was actually the star of night. 520 00:31:55,600 --> 00:31:58,840 Speaker 1: And we were going that was the initial pitch and 521 00:31:59,000 --> 00:32:02,960 Speaker 1: something we're hoping to get back to very soon. But yes, 522 00:32:03,000 --> 00:32:05,480 Speaker 1: it's funny you bring up the American Eye Universe, which 523 00:32:05,520 --> 00:32:09,680 Speaker 1: is something that we've been talking about for many, many years. Well, 524 00:32:09,760 --> 00:32:14,080 Speaker 1: congratulations both on Murder Mystery Too and the renewal of 525 00:32:14,080 --> 00:32:16,760 Speaker 1: the Hulu deal. Can't wait to see what movies come 526 00:32:16,800 --> 00:32:18,840 Speaker 1: from you next, Jeremy, thanks for taking the time out. 527 00:32:19,320 --> 00:32:22,280 Speaker 1: Thank you, Andrew. It's good to talk to you and 528 00:32:22,720 --> 00:32:30,760 Speaker 1: it's so good to see it. This has been another 529 00:32:30,800 --> 00:32:33,920 Speaker 1: episode of Strictly Business. Tune in next week for another 530 00:32:33,960 --> 00:32:37,800 Speaker 1: helping of scintillating conversation with media movers and shakers, and 531 00:32:37,840 --> 00:32:40,120 Speaker 1: please make sure you subscribe to the podcast to hear 532 00:32:40,160 --> 00:32:43,960 Speaker 1: future episodes. Also leave a review in Apple Podcasts and 533 00:32:44,120 --> 00:32:45,400 Speaker 1: let us know how we're doing