WEBVTT - Featuring James Morosini 0:00:02.600 --> 0:00:05.000 Hey guys, it's Sammy Jay and welcome back to this 0:00:05.040 --> 0:00:08.000 week's episode of The Left Bureau Podcast. I hope your 0:00:08.039 --> 0:00:10.440 day is going well and I hope this episode hopefully 0:00:10.440 --> 0:00:12.800 makes your day a little bit better. This week I 0:00:12.840 --> 0:00:17.520 got to chat with the incredibly talented writer, director, actor 0:00:17.960 --> 0:00:21.360 James Morrisini. And you may know him from the film 0:00:21.400 --> 0:00:25.360 I Love My Dad, which he wrote, starred, and directed. 0:00:25.720 --> 0:00:29.680 We talked about everything from filmmaking to college days and 0:00:29.720 --> 0:00:32.599 everything in between. I hope you guys enjoyed this episode 0:00:32.840 --> 0:00:38.919 and I'll see you in a bit. By James, Welcome 0:00:39.000 --> 0:00:41.760 to the Last Bureau Podcast. How are you? I'm good, 0:00:41.800 --> 0:00:44.440 I'm ready to be real. I am so excited for 0:00:44.440 --> 0:00:46.120 this because it's so rare that two people from the 0:00:46.159 --> 0:00:49.000 East Coast find each other in l A. Is it 0:00:49.120 --> 0:00:52.400 that rare? I find it very rare. Most people I 0:00:52.440 --> 0:00:56.640 know are either from the Bay Area, Seattle, or like 0:00:56.760 --> 0:00:59.600 twenty minutes outside about or l A. It's good to 0:00:59.640 --> 0:01:02.680 meet fellow East Coaster, you know. I can feel it 0:01:02.760 --> 0:01:06.800 in your spirit. Really, that's so interesting because a lot 0:01:06.840 --> 0:01:09.240 of people say are very surprised when they find out 0:01:09.280 --> 0:01:12.000 I've gotten like, are you from San Diego before? Like 0:01:12.080 --> 0:01:14.479 quite a few times. No, there's like a knowing edge 0:01:14.520 --> 0:01:19.160 to you. That's that's that's how he coasted me. Yeah, 0:01:19.280 --> 0:01:22.280 you're like, I don't have time for this. It's the 0:01:22.360 --> 0:01:24.800 part of me that can cut through crowds that when 0:01:25.760 --> 0:01:28.720 I can feel that kind of that, I can feel 0:01:28.760 --> 0:01:31.920 that attitude in you. I really can. It's ingrained in me. 0:01:32.000 --> 0:01:34.039 I don't know how it's not when you're born and 0:01:34.120 --> 0:01:36.039 raised in like in a city. How do you think 0:01:36.080 --> 0:01:39.400 you'd be different if you're raised here. I think I 0:01:39.480 --> 0:01:41.720 was thinking about this actually because over the summer, I 0:01:41.760 --> 0:01:45.640 traveled for the first time by myself, and I went 0:01:45.680 --> 0:01:48.640 to Paris. It was like a big trip, and I 0:01:48.720 --> 0:01:51.000 was thinking, like, man, being in New York really taught 0:01:51.000 --> 0:01:53.200 me to kind of like I know how to go 0:01:53.320 --> 0:01:56.160 forward and walk forward without looking at anybody and just 0:01:56.240 --> 0:01:59.280 getting my way through. And I think that kind of 0:01:59.280 --> 0:02:01.680 way helped a lot when traveling especially. I don't know 0:02:01.720 --> 0:02:05.000 if i'd have that. I think I'm somebody that when 0:02:05.040 --> 0:02:07.280 I walked down the street, I'm like kind of trying 0:02:07.280 --> 0:02:10.120 to make eye contact with everybody. I don't know why 0:02:10.160 --> 0:02:12.720 I do that. I think I just if you don't smile, 0:02:13.000 --> 0:02:14.440 if you can get a little I don't know if 0:02:14.440 --> 0:02:17.119 I'm looking for a smile or what what is going 0:02:17.160 --> 0:02:19.000 on in my brain that causes me to do that, 0:02:19.080 --> 0:02:21.240 but it is something I do. And then I'm like, 0:02:21.800 --> 0:02:23.840 I'm like, oh, that person doesn't want to look at me. 0:02:24.760 --> 0:02:27.799 I guess it's because I'm not good enough, you know, 0:02:27.960 --> 0:02:30.120 I know what you mean. I'll be walking across campus 0:02:30.120 --> 0:02:33.040 and I just I like to try and make sure 0:02:33.080 --> 0:02:36.000 I don't have a resting bitch face, just because you 0:02:36.120 --> 0:02:39.040 never know when opportunities arise to meet people, so I 0:02:39.080 --> 0:02:40.920 try and have a nice face. And I'm just like, 0:02:41.520 --> 0:02:44.360 how do you feel when somebody just comes right up 0:02:44.360 --> 0:02:46.400 to you, a stranger and it's like, hey, I guess 0:02:46.440 --> 0:02:48.160 that doesn't really happen that all. I don't. I don't 0:02:48.160 --> 0:02:52.640 know happen to you. No, I don't. That's not really 0:02:52.680 --> 0:02:55.680 something people do, like a strangers coming up to you 0:02:55.680 --> 0:02:58.520 and being like hello, I'm this person. And it's weird 0:02:58.560 --> 0:03:01.160 that happen, Isn't it weird the that doesn't happen more 0:03:01.200 --> 0:03:04.400 often that people just go up to you and go hello, 0:03:04.600 --> 0:03:08.040 I'm Johnny and you're like, hey, Johnny, what do you want? 0:03:08.040 --> 0:03:09.960 And they're like nothing, I just thought i'd say hello 0:03:10.000 --> 0:03:13.040 and you're like, well, dude, you want something, Johnny, what's 0:03:13.040 --> 0:03:15.560 going on? I mean movies and TV. I think gave 0:03:15.600 --> 0:03:18.160 me a very false sense of what reality would be 0:03:18.200 --> 0:03:20.480 like just going to high school. I thought it would 0:03:20.520 --> 0:03:22.880 be high school musical, straight up, I feel like where 0:03:23.000 --> 0:03:25.280 And then it was a bunch of prepubescent boys. I 0:03:25.320 --> 0:03:28.079 was like, this is high school. Yeah, high school. You 0:03:28.200 --> 0:03:29.880 were saying on the way up here that high school 0:03:29.919 --> 0:03:32.639 is tricky for you, and I really relate to that. 0:03:32.680 --> 0:03:35.520 It's I mean, high school is tough because everybody is 0:03:35.640 --> 0:03:40.080 trying to figure out who they are simultaneously. So everybody's 0:03:40.320 --> 0:03:44.200 trying out different versions of themselves and they're all just 0:03:44.280 --> 0:03:48.200 kind of colliding into one another. And meanwhile, you're trying 0:03:48.200 --> 0:03:51.360 out a version of yourself and you're like, I remember 0:03:51.480 --> 0:03:56.080 every summer, I feel like I'd discover a version myself 0:03:56.120 --> 0:03:59.200 that I thought was maybe more likable, and then that 0:03:59.400 --> 0:04:02.119 first week or two of school I'd be like, this 0:04:02.160 --> 0:04:05.360 is the new me. Everyone. People would be like, oh cool, 0:04:05.560 --> 0:04:08.640 and like they would enjoy the novelty of this new 0:04:08.720 --> 0:04:10.080 version of me, and then I would run out of 0:04:10.160 --> 0:04:12.920 steam and then I would just revert to whoever I was, 0:04:12.960 --> 0:04:15.080 and ever would be like, oh, it's just him. Still, 0:04:15.280 --> 0:04:18.680 it's just so much easier to be yourself. It's so 0:04:18.800 --> 0:04:22.320 hard add social media onto it in this day and 0:04:22.360 --> 0:04:25.200 age when everyone's still trying to figure out yourself. When 0:04:25.200 --> 0:04:28.400 you have like pressures that you didn't even know existed, 0:04:28.480 --> 0:04:31.719 it's how do you navigate this? It's funny you're closer 0:04:31.760 --> 0:04:33.839 to the high school experience than I am, So it's 0:04:33.880 --> 0:04:36.560 it's more it was your what was your high school experience? 0:04:37.000 --> 0:04:39.920 Like what I mean by closer is just it time wise, 0:04:40.080 --> 0:04:43.320 You're it happened more recently for you, whereas for me, 0:04:43.400 --> 0:04:46.720 I think I've had an opportunity to process it, and 0:04:47.640 --> 0:04:50.200 I don't know like you have, like the distance, Yeah, 0:04:50.320 --> 0:04:53.680 like a few years out from high school? Is that 0:04:53.800 --> 0:04:55.880 kind of where you're at few years out, two or 0:04:55.920 --> 0:04:58.280 three years out? Two years out? Yeah, it's like I 0:04:58.360 --> 0:05:02.120 was still going, how did I even? Like? That? Was terrible? 0:05:03.040 --> 0:05:05.280 And so, but like you know, now I'm like, you know, 0:05:05.720 --> 0:05:08.200 like like twelve years out from high school, so I'm 0:05:08.279 --> 0:05:11.200 kind of like, huh, I'm able to see the more perspective. 0:05:11.680 --> 0:05:15.320 Encountering people from that period of my life has been 0:05:15.360 --> 0:05:18.280 really Um, I guess you just see them as people 0:05:18.320 --> 0:05:21.359 and you're like, oh, man, that they're they're not really 0:05:21.440 --> 0:05:26.720 scary anymore, and you put them on a pedestal that 0:05:26.800 --> 0:05:30.920 they're not bigger than life as a character kind of yeah, exactly, 0:05:30.960 --> 0:05:33.440 like a character. And because you don't know when you're 0:05:33.480 --> 0:05:36.520 that age, you also haven't met that many people. So 0:05:36.600 --> 0:05:40.039 each person you meet feels like much more of a 0:05:40.160 --> 0:05:44.640 distinct presence that you're that feels like a character like you. 0:05:44.800 --> 0:05:47.960 You're like, oh, that's this person and that's the Whereas 0:05:47.960 --> 0:05:50.000 when you're older, I think you just are like, if 0:05:50.000 --> 0:05:52.159 you don't like somebody, you can move on a lot 0:05:52.160 --> 0:05:56.880 more quickly. High school you're trapped without just yeah, you're 0:05:57.040 --> 0:05:59.920 literally trapped with them, Like, how's that at all? Ten? 0:06:00.640 --> 0:06:03.880 I couldn't do that now. It felt really big. I 0:06:03.920 --> 0:06:08.280 remember everything felt really big. But for me, what was 0:06:08.480 --> 0:06:11.200 my outlet was my work. So it would give me 0:06:11.240 --> 0:06:13.799 a perspective to be like, Okay, this feels really big, 0:06:14.360 --> 0:06:17.920 but wait, there is a whole career out there, something 0:06:17.920 --> 0:06:19.919 that I want to do that's bigger than myself. And 0:06:19.960 --> 0:06:22.400 that kind of pulled me away from the high school. 0:06:22.440 --> 0:06:25.400 And so I think having an outlet was really helpful 0:06:25.440 --> 0:06:28.200 for me, and having it be around adults made me 0:06:28.320 --> 0:06:32.160 realize like, Okay, this is only temporary, because I really 0:06:32.200 --> 0:06:34.040 did not thrive in that, and I've always gotten along 0:06:34.080 --> 0:06:36.720 better with adults just because I've always felt older than 0:06:36.720 --> 0:06:40.960 my age. I've always felt similarly, it's hard to remember 0:06:41.040 --> 0:06:44.599 the temporariness of high school when you're you're like, this 0:06:44.680 --> 0:06:48.560 is what it is. Everything, this isn't what it is, yeah, 0:06:48.760 --> 0:06:50.560 and you can't really wrap your head around what it 0:06:50.560 --> 0:06:53.800 would look like after high school. When you're in high school, 0:06:53.880 --> 0:06:57.600 I know, I remember it like college, what is college? 0:06:57.720 --> 0:06:59.440 And then when I got to college, I was like, oh, 0:06:59.520 --> 0:07:02.520 this is just a different type of social experiment, Like 0:07:02.600 --> 0:07:04.880 this is just really you put a bunch of people 0:07:04.920 --> 0:07:08.000 from all over the country, all over the world, grown 0:07:08.080 --> 0:07:12.440 up in different you know, places, different areas, different people, 0:07:12.960 --> 0:07:16.320 and then put them living together in two or three 0:07:16.320 --> 0:07:20.040 people a room, share a bathroom and just post pandemic 0:07:20.400 --> 0:07:22.920 and see what happens. So I feel like that's a 0:07:22.960 --> 0:07:25.920 reality show in itself. I feel like it is. Yeah, 0:07:26.920 --> 0:07:29.120 living through it felt like was like something that I 0:07:29.200 --> 0:07:32.000 didn't realize going into college was that I was like, oh, 0:07:32.040 --> 0:07:34.520 my goodness, there's gonna be so many more mature people. 0:07:34.920 --> 0:07:36.960 But I didn't take into account that it's just people 0:07:37.000 --> 0:07:41.400 from high school also going to college freshman year and 0:07:41.480 --> 0:07:44.640 sophomore year. There is that transition of this isn't high 0:07:44.640 --> 0:07:47.040 school anymore, this is life. And some people, you can 0:07:47.080 --> 0:07:49.200 tell there, will always be stuck in high school a 0:07:49.240 --> 0:07:51.760 little bit. But it's really interesting kind of seeing that 0:07:51.800 --> 0:07:54.520 evolution of people just in the past couple of years. 0:07:55.720 --> 0:07:58.679 Are Yeah, I think some people get to high school 0:07:58.680 --> 0:08:01.360 and then they stay there for ever and they're kind 0:08:01.360 --> 0:08:05.000 of always locked into that version of themselves. What a 0:08:05.040 --> 0:08:07.680 shame not to grow. Well, that just doesn't sound fun 0:08:07.720 --> 0:08:13.160 to me. So was it during high school or college? 0:08:13.200 --> 0:08:15.120 I know you went to college for film, but when 0:08:15.160 --> 0:08:19.560 did you start making films and being interested in filmmaking 0:08:19.600 --> 0:08:22.440 and creating as a whole. Yeah, it's funny. So I 0:08:22.480 --> 0:08:25.920 went to college for theater and film that so yeah, 0:08:25.960 --> 0:08:28.160 So I was studying acting and then I was also 0:08:28.240 --> 0:08:30.560 making a lot of things. And when you're studying acting 0:08:30.800 --> 0:08:34.480 at like a conservatory, you're doing like voice classes and 0:08:34.559 --> 0:08:39.280 movement classes, and like seeing study and voice and movement classes, 0:08:39.320 --> 0:08:43.280 you're I mean, you're essentially you're like rolling around on 0:08:43.320 --> 0:08:45.839 the floor. I mean, for anyone that hasn't taken a 0:08:45.960 --> 0:08:48.600 voice class, if you solve voice class, you'd be like, 0:08:48.640 --> 0:08:52.360 this is the craziest thing. You're like on the floor 0:08:52.440 --> 0:08:55.680 basically doing like different yoga positions a lot of the time, 0:08:55.760 --> 0:08:58.559 and then and then making like sounds like you're trying 0:08:58.559 --> 0:09:02.520 to connect with your like your diaphragm and your because 0:09:02.520 --> 0:09:05.880 it's for theaters, it's super vulnerable, and you're also trying 0:09:05.920 --> 0:09:10.600 to like learn how to access the emotion that lives 0:09:10.600 --> 0:09:15.000 in your body through sound. Similarly with movement, just on 0:09:15.160 --> 0:09:18.040 the movement from But so that's what my college experience 0:09:18.080 --> 0:09:21.400 was like. When you study theater in a program like that, 0:09:21.440 --> 0:09:23.920 you're you're really you learn a lot about who you 0:09:23.960 --> 0:09:27.920 are and about your I hate myself for saying this, 0:09:28.000 --> 0:09:31.840 but your instrument and what what you're made of, But 0:09:32.640 --> 0:09:35.680 you know, I didn't. I've always been a creative person. 0:09:35.800 --> 0:09:37.920 When I was a little kid, I remember I would 0:09:38.000 --> 0:09:40.599 go up to my room and I would make comics 0:09:41.280 --> 0:09:44.760 and I would like come up with stories and then 0:09:44.760 --> 0:09:47.080 I would get really into the world of the story 0:09:47.120 --> 0:09:51.000 and I would I would write and draw these comics. 0:09:51.480 --> 0:09:54.280 I don't know where they came from. I never really 0:09:54.360 --> 0:09:58.840 showed them to anybody storyboarding before storyboarding, and I was 0:09:59.000 --> 0:10:01.120 super I was just like I was always really into 0:10:01.160 --> 0:10:04.720 this idea that like I could tell a story, and 0:10:04.760 --> 0:10:07.520 the more of the story I told, the more real 0:10:07.720 --> 0:10:10.760 it felt, and that I could just keep exploring, and 0:10:10.800 --> 0:10:13.520 there was like more and more the further into it 0:10:13.600 --> 0:10:17.359 I went. I remember I wrote this little comic book 0:10:17.400 --> 0:10:20.520 about I think I was probably ten or eleven years old, 0:10:20.920 --> 0:10:25.120 about like a bunch of like misfit medics like E. M. T. S. 0:10:25.600 --> 0:10:28.000 It was called Breathe and they were all these like 0:10:28.280 --> 0:10:31.640 funky characters that were like trying to save people and stuff, 0:10:31.679 --> 0:10:35.040 and I like wrote several issues of it, and then 0:10:35.080 --> 0:10:40.040 I started the first like big creative endeavor I think 0:10:40.040 --> 0:10:42.600 I had. I mean, my dad got me a video 0:10:42.679 --> 0:10:45.480 camera when I was a little kid, and uh, I 0:10:45.520 --> 0:10:49.040 would like make little movies of my action figures and 0:10:49.080 --> 0:10:52.559 I would like do stop motion with my action figures. 0:10:52.840 --> 0:10:54.959 Well it did, yeah, And so it's like I did 0:10:55.000 --> 0:10:56.720 a lot of that kind of stuff. I was always 0:10:56.760 --> 0:11:00.000 directing my home videos, but I didn't I didn't necessarily 0:11:00.120 --> 0:11:02.679 think about it like I'm a film director. I just 0:11:02.760 --> 0:11:06.040 liked the idea of crafting things and putting it together. 0:11:06.760 --> 0:11:09.240 And then in high school I made a lot of 0:11:09.440 --> 0:11:12.880 shorts and stuff with my video class, and I would 0:11:12.880 --> 0:11:14.880 act in other people's things. But I didn't really do 0:11:14.920 --> 0:11:17.280 any theater in high school. I don't know. I found 0:11:17.280 --> 0:11:20.040 it hard to connect with the folks at my school 0:11:20.040 --> 0:11:23.400 that we're doing theater. And I was more than like sports. 0:11:23.400 --> 0:11:26.520 I was boxing, I was wrestling. I was like, I 0:11:26.520 --> 0:11:28.880 smoked a lot of pot when I was in high school. 0:11:29.000 --> 0:11:32.400 Would you say smoking weed helped you creatively? No, I 0:11:32.440 --> 0:11:35.640 think it hurt me creatively. It made me really paranoid 0:11:35.679 --> 0:11:38.760 and neurotic. And it's funny because I remember watching like 0:11:39.400 --> 0:11:42.360 Fast Times at Ridgemont High or Dazed and confused and 0:11:42.400 --> 0:11:45.479 half baked, and I was like, I loved stoner comedies 0:11:45.960 --> 0:11:49.480 and I was always looking for the experience that characters 0:11:49.480 --> 0:11:51.679 in those films were having around weed. But but I 0:11:51.679 --> 0:11:54.240 could never get there. I always just felt like it 0:11:54.320 --> 0:11:57.960 made my brain move too fast and made me have 0:11:58.080 --> 0:12:02.920 this like meta experiences to whatever I was actually experiencing, 0:12:02.960 --> 0:12:07.600 Like it like oversensitized me and made me question everything, 0:12:07.720 --> 0:12:11.040 and I like I couldn't. It made me super paranoid. 0:12:11.080 --> 0:12:14.079 I think a paranoid bad high is the worst feeling. 0:12:14.600 --> 0:12:16.280 And that was like every time for me, and I 0:12:16.320 --> 0:12:20.360 smoked every day. I don't know. I think I think 0:12:20.360 --> 0:12:22.800 I was like I liked the identity that it gave 0:12:22.880 --> 0:12:25.280 me of like, oh, I'm a stoner. I think I 0:12:25.480 --> 0:12:28.600 fetishized the idea of Like I don't know, there's a 0:12:28.600 --> 0:12:30.360 part of me that thought it was kind of luxurious. 0:12:30.400 --> 0:12:33.240 Like I get home, I smoke a blunt. But I 0:12:33.240 --> 0:12:35.320 would do it and then I would just panic for 0:12:35.360 --> 0:12:40.040 the rest of the day wants not exactly like I 0:12:40.080 --> 0:12:43.320 would try to make it enjoyable for myself, Like I 0:12:43.320 --> 0:12:45.640 would make a bunch of food and like put on 0:12:45.640 --> 0:12:49.320 a movie, but I'd be like breaking out. You're like, 0:12:49.360 --> 0:12:53.360 I like this, I promised why exactly? So then in 0:12:53.480 --> 0:12:55.160 terms of the filmmaking I was doing, I would like 0:12:55.440 --> 0:12:59.360 film when they were like fights at my school sometimes, 0:12:59.360 --> 0:13:02.640 like if they were people that were mad at each 0:13:02.640 --> 0:13:06.640 other in school, they would like plan a fight. They 0:13:06.640 --> 0:13:09.040 would go like, Okay, we're gonna meet up the basketball 0:13:09.080 --> 0:13:13.880 court after school. Uh. I was participant to a couple 0:13:13.920 --> 0:13:16.480 of those throughout my high school experience, but we would 0:13:16.640 --> 0:13:20.040 I would film those and then share them with people 0:13:20.080 --> 0:13:24.760 because they were crazy looking. Um, but I was like, yeah, 0:13:24.800 --> 0:13:27.120 I was like really into that. And then I was 0:13:27.160 --> 0:13:30.360 like making kind of Jackass type videos. I was really 0:13:30.360 --> 0:13:32.480 in the c k Y at the time, which was 0:13:32.520 --> 0:13:35.760 a predecessor to Jackass. And I was also really in 0:13:35.800 --> 0:13:39.400 the Jackass and and I was watching so many films 0:13:39.400 --> 0:13:42.200 and it's funny, I wasn't like. I wasn't like, oh, 0:13:42.240 --> 0:13:45.080 I'm a film kid. I just was obsessed with movies. 0:13:45.480 --> 0:13:47.760 And I didn't really have a ton of friends that 0:13:47.800 --> 0:13:50.240 were also obsessed with movies. I was kind of doing 0:13:50.240 --> 0:13:53.880 it on my own. And then after school, I took 0:13:53.880 --> 0:13:56.600 a year off and I was in New York and 0:13:56.600 --> 0:14:01.560 I tried working as an actor. Um, not super well, 0:14:03.200 --> 0:14:06.200 but you know, at least you did it. I tried, uh, 0:14:06.240 --> 0:14:10.280 And I just like it was just like I didn't. 0:14:10.320 --> 0:14:14.800 I hadn't really developed like life tools yet to to 0:14:14.920 --> 0:14:17.600 really be able to navigate the ups and downs of that. 0:14:17.679 --> 0:14:22.200 And I think so much of any creative work is 0:14:22.240 --> 0:14:25.480 about like really being okay with yourself in a way, 0:14:25.640 --> 0:14:30.200 or or like having confidence in your voice, and I hadn't. 0:14:30.640 --> 0:14:33.560 I didn't have that confidence in my voice. I don't 0:14:33.560 --> 0:14:38.440 think now I have extreme confidence, not in the most confident, 0:14:39.440 --> 0:14:42.680 but it's funny I'm saying that. I'm also like, sometimes 0:14:42.720 --> 0:14:45.560 i feel like I'm creating from a place of my insecurity, 0:14:45.720 --> 0:14:49.960 and I'm like doing it to express what that feels like. 0:14:50.360 --> 0:14:52.440 So it's it's funny. I don't know if you necessarily 0:14:52.480 --> 0:14:57.280 need to feel confident to be fake it till we 0:14:57.320 --> 0:15:00.840 make it, or just be really honest about like I would. 0:15:01.040 --> 0:15:03.320 I think I've gotten a lot more comfortable being really 0:15:03.360 --> 0:15:05.920 honest about who I am and what I'm feeling. And 0:15:05.960 --> 0:15:09.560 I think that's uh, that's helped me create from a 0:15:09.720 --> 0:15:12.240 from a place that I that resonates with me more. 0:15:13.000 --> 0:15:14.960 And I feel like that's kind of the compass I 0:15:15.080 --> 0:15:17.280 used to to determine if it's going to resonate with 0:15:17.320 --> 0:15:20.240 audiences and other people. And it's kind of one of 0:15:20.240 --> 0:15:22.920 those things where if you talk about something and no 0:15:22.960 --> 0:15:24.920 one talks about it, and you talk about you realize 0:15:24.960 --> 0:15:27.280 people are going through it too, and then other people 0:15:27.360 --> 0:15:29.800 start talking about it, and it's just a chain reaction. 0:15:29.800 --> 0:15:32.240 It's just about getting the first one going. It's so true. 0:15:32.400 --> 0:15:35.280 I know, it's it's weird that many of us go 0:15:35.360 --> 0:15:37.600 through the world, and there's this feeling like we all 0:15:37.600 --> 0:15:41.000 have to pretend like we're doing great when in reality, 0:15:41.080 --> 0:15:43.480 like when we're on our own a lot of the time, 0:15:43.520 --> 0:15:47.240 we're not. We're anxious about something or that it's totally 0:15:47.280 --> 0:15:49.840 okay and it's very normal. I think that's what drew 0:15:49.880 --> 0:15:53.360 me to filmmaking, was like trying to capture that experience, 0:15:54.000 --> 0:15:57.000 that universal experience that we're all that we're all having 0:15:57.320 --> 0:15:59.720 on our own or in our own minds, and but 0:15:59.800 --> 0:16:02.160 do it in a context that was super entertaining and 0:16:02.200 --> 0:16:05.880 weird and funky. Do you remember the first movie you wrote? Oh, 0:16:05.920 --> 0:16:08.320 that's a great question. I mean, so the first like 0:16:08.600 --> 0:16:11.640 actual movie I wrote, Like, the first feature I wrote 0:16:11.800 --> 0:16:15.200 was about my high school experience, and I still might 0:16:15.200 --> 0:16:19.040 make that movie. I think movies about high school experiences, 0:16:19.080 --> 0:16:21.600 like real high school experiences, need to be made more 0:16:22.000 --> 0:16:24.680 like I think Eighth Grade showed that really well. I 0:16:24.720 --> 0:16:27.160 hope that gets made because it can relate to it. Yeah, 0:16:27.200 --> 0:16:30.520 that movie is called Acne, and it feels kind of 0:16:30.560 --> 0:16:34.880 like eighth Grade meets Good Fellas. Okay, that's I love 0:16:34.960 --> 0:16:37.400 the pitch. Yeah, that's that's kind of how I how 0:16:37.440 --> 0:16:41.360 I think about it. Um, but the first movie I 0:16:41.400 --> 0:16:44.200 think I ever wrote. I mean, it's it's hard to 0:16:44.240 --> 0:16:48.680 remember exactly. I think I wrote something in college. It 0:16:48.760 --> 0:16:52.920 was about a really sensitive t rex that I couldn't um. 0:16:53.000 --> 0:16:55.560 He couldn't connect with anybody because everyone was really scared 0:16:55.560 --> 0:16:57.880 of him. Sounds like an animated show. It was an 0:16:57.880 --> 0:17:00.560 animated show. Yeah. It was like it was really sensitive 0:17:00.600 --> 0:17:03.800 t rex that couldn't and and all the other dinosaurs 0:17:03.840 --> 0:17:06.879 were terrified of him, and he was like and everyone 0:17:06.960 --> 0:17:09.440 was like the other t Rexes were like, dude, you 0:17:09.520 --> 0:17:13.320 gotta get it together, Like you're kind of like you're 0:17:13.400 --> 0:17:17.239 kind of like, why are he's so over released? And 0:17:17.280 --> 0:17:20.000 he was like he just felt really awkward with his 0:17:20.080 --> 0:17:24.240 little arms, like he he felt uncomfortable in his own skin. 0:17:24.440 --> 0:17:26.840 I think I was maybe working something out through this 0:17:27.480 --> 0:17:30.199 sensitive t rex. And I remember I shared it with 0:17:30.240 --> 0:17:34.560 a filmmaker that I was in school with. I think 0:17:34.600 --> 0:17:37.600 I went were at Coachella and I told him about 0:17:37.600 --> 0:17:40.639 it and there's always a great place for a business, bitch, 0:17:41.440 --> 0:17:43.120 and he just kind of shipped on it. I mean, 0:17:43.160 --> 0:17:46.639 he just told me how he just like made me 0:17:46.680 --> 0:17:48.960 feel like it was a bad idea. And it's funny, 0:17:49.000 --> 0:17:51.800 like thinking about it now, I'm like, that actually sounds 0:17:51.800 --> 0:17:54.520 like a cool show. Like I I don't know. So 0:17:54.600 --> 0:17:58.800 much of creating is just going like trusting your gut 0:17:58.800 --> 0:18:01.240 and being like, if I think it's cool, then it's cool. 0:18:01.280 --> 0:18:04.520 I don't care what anyone else thinks. It's like you 0:18:04.560 --> 0:18:06.480 can listen to what other people are saying, but like 0:18:06.680 --> 0:18:12.000 it's not no one has any idea what they're talking about. 0:18:12.040 --> 0:18:16.360 And it's the people that are making brilliant work are 0:18:16.440 --> 0:18:20.200 just the people that have really realized that the most fully. 0:18:20.240 --> 0:18:22.560 And you're just kind of like, yeah, I think it's cool, 0:18:22.600 --> 0:18:25.919 and I'm going to follow what I like. Yeah, And 0:18:25.960 --> 0:18:29.240 it's having success mean to you, being like if it's 0:18:29.280 --> 0:18:31.640 not successful, it doesn't make a lot of money. I'm 0:18:31.680 --> 0:18:34.119 so proud of what I made because that's what it 0:18:34.160 --> 0:18:38.000 should be. We have to take a quick break, but 0:18:38.080 --> 0:18:40.119 when we come back, I'm going to talk about the 0:18:40.160 --> 0:18:44.159 balance between the economics of filmmaking versus doing something that 0:18:44.280 --> 0:18:48.000 satisfies you creatively, your film, I love my Dad and 0:18:48.359 --> 0:18:56.800 so much more. We'll be right back and we're back. 0:18:57.480 --> 0:19:00.239 You know, it's hard when you're a filmmaker. You have 0:19:00.320 --> 0:19:02.480 to make a living and you have to be realistic, 0:19:02.520 --> 0:19:05.359 but at the same time, it's your creative pursuit. So 0:19:05.440 --> 0:19:08.200 how do you balance the two of those? Yeah, it's 0:19:08.200 --> 0:19:10.280 a great question. I mean when I first got out 0:19:10.359 --> 0:19:17.040 of college, I was catering and bartending and working as 0:19:17.080 --> 0:19:22.119 a uh table service assistant to cocktail waitresses at nightclubs, 0:19:22.200 --> 0:19:25.320 Like I was just doing anything I could to make 0:19:25.480 --> 0:19:28.439 ends meet, uh And then I was also auditioning a 0:19:28.480 --> 0:19:31.800 ton and um and it was a tricky time in 0:19:31.800 --> 0:19:36.440 my life. I was getting these migraines constantly, like several 0:19:36.520 --> 0:19:39.160 a week, to the point where they were debilitating, and 0:19:39.280 --> 0:19:41.320 so it was kind of a dark time right after 0:19:41.400 --> 0:19:45.320 college where I was trying to figure out work as 0:19:45.359 --> 0:19:48.679 an actor and a filmmaker and I couldn't really I 0:19:48.720 --> 0:19:52.720 was just like too anxiety written to to really land anything. 0:19:53.200 --> 0:19:56.720 And then I was working long, long nights working in 0:19:56.760 --> 0:20:00.080 the service industry and then barely making ends meet to 0:20:00.160 --> 0:20:03.800 live in like this tiny, tiny studio apartment in Hollywood, 0:20:04.440 --> 0:20:06.800 And so for a while, the balance was just like 0:20:06.840 --> 0:20:09.720 how do I survive? And then how do I But 0:20:09.800 --> 0:20:12.040 I held myself to account that I was going to 0:20:12.080 --> 0:20:16.480 spend at least one hour every day on my creative work. 0:20:16.640 --> 0:20:19.280 And and and was going to spend an hour day 0:20:19.359 --> 0:20:24.320 just focusing on what really excited me creatively, and then 0:20:24.359 --> 0:20:28.760 that hour grew and became longer. But I just knew, Okay, 0:20:28.840 --> 0:20:32.320 if I can, it's funny. Uh. My uncle was the 0:20:32.320 --> 0:20:37.560 actor Christopher Reeve uh and very famous actor, very famous actor, 0:20:37.600 --> 0:20:41.639 and I when he passed away. Philip Seymour Hoffman was 0:20:41.880 --> 0:20:46.080 around my family a lot and was really good to 0:20:46.320 --> 0:20:50.400 my cousin, Will Chris's son, and he told me that 0:20:50.720 --> 0:20:53.560 I should just you just have to do one creative 0:20:53.600 --> 0:20:57.320 thing every day, or one thing towards your goal every day, 0:20:57.359 --> 0:20:59.240 even if it's small. But if you do that, if 0:20:59.240 --> 0:21:02.639 you do one thing every day, it it occrets and 0:21:02.720 --> 0:21:07.600 those small actions become big results or they become consequential. 0:21:07.680 --> 0:21:10.639 So that's kind of that was kind of my mantra 0:21:11.119 --> 0:21:13.440 for the first couple of years out of college. And 0:21:13.480 --> 0:21:15.920 then I started working as an actor, so I had 0:21:15.960 --> 0:21:19.240 some money, uh, not a ton, but I had enough 0:21:19.240 --> 0:21:22.080 to pay my rent. I didn't have to cater and 0:21:22.119 --> 0:21:25.600 barton stuff anymore. And then I started being able to 0:21:25.680 --> 0:21:30.600 have free time to write and make stuff, and I 0:21:30.640 --> 0:21:33.679 was able to upgrade to a more comfortable living situation 0:21:33.760 --> 0:21:38.360 and started meeting having more friends out here and collaborating 0:21:38.359 --> 0:21:41.119