WEBVTT - Todd Garner on Arthur 0:00:00.200 --> 0:00:02.960 Welcome to Movie Crush, a production of I Heart Radio. 0:00:28.800 --> 0:00:32.320 Hey everybody, and welcome to Movie Crush Friday Interview Edition, 0:00:33.120 --> 0:00:36.400 Live in Person Edition. Everybody. This is the first time 0:00:36.400 --> 0:00:40.160 I've actually met with a guest face to face since Boy, 0:00:40.240 --> 0:00:42.199 I'm trying to remember who the last person even was. 0:00:42.640 --> 0:00:44.080 I have to go back in the old calendar, but 0:00:44.200 --> 0:00:49.199 it was sometime and probably February or March. But today 0:00:49.880 --> 0:00:52.400 I had a great opportunity to sit down and talk 0:00:52.479 --> 0:00:56.760 to Todd Garner. Todd is the name you may not know, 0:00:57.400 --> 0:01:00.120 but if you start looking at his IMDb pay g 0:01:00.280 --> 0:01:02.320 will be a little intimidated because Todd is a movie 0:01:02.360 --> 0:01:06.440 producer and he has his fingerprints on a lot of 0:01:06.480 --> 0:01:10.280 big movies. He was the i think co president of 0:01:10.319 --> 0:01:14.560 production at Disney for ten years, and just a freelance 0:01:14.600 --> 0:01:17.240 producer for many many years I think after that, and 0:01:17.319 --> 0:01:19.680 before that, he's been doing it for a couple of decades. 0:01:20.319 --> 0:01:24.400 Movies like thirteen going on thirty and Triple X and 0:01:24.880 --> 0:01:27.520 the The Mall Cop series, which we have a fun 0:01:27.560 --> 0:01:30.680 little talk about, and h boy, you know, once we 0:01:30.760 --> 0:01:33.240 kind of got into the discussion, I realized just how 0:01:33.240 --> 0:01:36.440 many movies Todd has worked on. It's great and we 0:01:36.480 --> 0:01:38.520 had never met before, but he was in town working 0:01:38.520 --> 0:01:40.399 on a movie. He is the stuff you should know 0:01:40.440 --> 0:01:42.800 and movie crush listener, and he reached out just to 0:01:42.840 --> 0:01:45.400 say hi, and I said, let's get you in the studio. 0:01:46.080 --> 0:01:48.200 Turns out Todd is a great guy and he picked 0:01:48.200 --> 0:01:50.520 a great movie, one of my favorite all time comedies, 0:01:51.080 --> 0:01:54.600 the movie from One starring Dudley Moore and Liza Minnelli 0:01:54.640 --> 0:01:59.560 and Sir John giel Good. Arthur, such a great film 0:01:59.600 --> 0:02:01.560 and we really had a great talk about it. So 0:02:02.000 --> 0:02:05.520 without any further delay, here we go with the super cool, 0:02:06.120 --> 0:02:13.960 super nice my new pal Todd Garner on Arthur. I'm 0:02:13.960 --> 0:02:18.040 sitting here in person for the first time in sixteen 0:02:18.080 --> 0:02:21.520 months with somebody with a human and this is Todd Garner, 0:02:21.560 --> 0:02:27.120 everyone movie producer of Boy, Black Hawk Down, Anger, Management 0:02:27.800 --> 0:02:31.400 thirteen going on thirty, one of my all time guilty pleasures. Great. 0:02:31.560 --> 0:02:33.720 I love that funny story about that. I can't wait 0:02:33.760 --> 0:02:36.320 to hear it. Triple X, the new Mortal Kombat movie, 0:02:36.400 --> 0:02:40.800 many many, many more films, all very big studio films, 0:02:41.560 --> 0:02:46.600 and you're I think only my second producer. I had 0:02:46.639 --> 0:02:49.680 Merril Poster in which is a lot of fun and uh, 0:02:49.760 --> 0:02:52.919 I'd love to talk a little bit about producing, because 0:02:52.960 --> 0:02:55.480 I think there's such And by the way, you're you're 0:02:55.680 --> 0:02:57.920 very sneaky because I didn't know you had a podcast. 0:02:57.960 --> 0:03:00.200 You didn't even tell me that until I found it 0:03:00.400 --> 0:03:04.480 yesterday called the producer's guy, Todd Garner in Hollywood's Elite, 0:03:05.120 --> 0:03:08.640 which is great. I listened to the Cassiean l how 0:03:08.680 --> 0:03:12.920 do you say It Always? Episode this morning and the 0:03:12.960 --> 0:03:16.760 Walter Hill episode, which is just fantastic. His voice is 0:03:16.800 --> 0:03:18.880 just incredible, oh man, And I was glad to hear 0:03:18.960 --> 0:03:21.120 you like gushing. And I was like, all right, I 0:03:21.160 --> 0:03:23.360 don't feel bad because when I have people on here 0:03:23.400 --> 0:03:26.919 I love. I'm very sick of fantic too, and I'm 0:03:26.960 --> 0:03:29.239 just like, you're the best, and I love everything you've done. 0:03:29.280 --> 0:03:31.840 And it's like breaks all the rules of quote unquote interviewing. 0:03:32.440 --> 0:03:35.280 But you were all over Walter Hill. Yeah. I loved it. Yeah, 0:03:35.560 --> 0:03:39.280 I gush over. I mean I started it because this 0:03:39.480 --> 0:03:42.080 very question, like what does the producer do? Yeah, and 0:03:42.520 --> 0:03:45.600 obviously the news is not great for producers really, yeah, 0:03:45.600 --> 0:03:47.920 and that was kind of one of the reasons behind it, right, Yeah, 0:03:47.960 --> 0:03:49.600 I mean there was there was numerous reasons that was. 0:03:49.680 --> 0:03:52.480 One is to clear up misconceptions about what producers do, 0:03:52.960 --> 0:03:55.680 the real producers that you know, not the twenty five 0:03:55.760 --> 0:03:58.600 year old guys that are at bars passing out you know, cards, 0:03:58.600 --> 0:04:00.360 because that's one side of it. And then the Harvey 0:04:00.360 --> 0:04:02.880 Wine scenes clearly the other side of it. Yeah, it's 0:04:02.880 --> 0:04:05.360 the working producers that make a make a living and 0:04:05.680 --> 0:04:07.400 really love what they do in our on set and 0:04:07.840 --> 0:04:11.560 do the work. And then and then weirdly, here in Atlanta, 0:04:11.760 --> 0:04:14.680 I was shooting a movie and uh, Neil Maritz, who 0:04:14.800 --> 0:04:16.880 has done all The Fast and the Furious is and 0:04:17.760 --> 0:04:21.760 my other friend Marty Bowen, who has done um a 0:04:21.760 --> 0:04:26.120 ton of movies, including the Twilight series. Uh, we were 0:04:26.120 --> 0:04:29.279 all sitting around having a beer and and and you know, 0:04:30.040 --> 0:04:32.760 I heard complaining like, oh man, the business is over, 0:04:32.839 --> 0:04:36.400 like we're screwed, we're dinosaurs. And I realized I had 0:04:36.440 --> 0:04:39.400 four movies shooting, Marty had five, and numerits like has 0:04:39.839 --> 0:04:43.440 was doing Passengers with Chris Pett and Lawrence as well 0:04:43.480 --> 0:04:46.880 as having The Fast. Like, guys, if if we're if 0:04:46.880 --> 0:04:49.360 we're putting that rhetoric out there that the business is over, 0:04:49.400 --> 0:04:52.839 what chance does any students have because because you know, 0:04:53.320 --> 0:04:57.360 most of the entertainment press dines in in and you know, 0:04:57.800 --> 0:05:00.800 doom saying because there's so much change right now in 0:05:00.800 --> 0:05:03.039 the business, and in terms of the way that the 0:05:03.080 --> 0:05:05.839 business is so rapidly changing, in terms of it's it's 0:05:05.920 --> 0:05:10.280 all content now in quotes and yeah, and and and 0:05:10.320 --> 0:05:11.800 I think that just scares the ship out of people 0:05:11.800 --> 0:05:14.839 with people don't understand it. But then you really look 0:05:14.880 --> 0:05:17.279 at the pure numbers of it. When you know, when 0:05:17.320 --> 0:05:20.640 Netflix is spending a billion dollars in content, and that 0:05:20.720 --> 0:05:23.760 was that was, you know, the big shark in the water. 0:05:23.839 --> 0:05:26.400 Everybody was terrified that was going to end the movie 0:05:26.400 --> 0:05:29.000 business and the theatrical going experiences over and then the 0:05:29.040 --> 0:05:31.400 pandemic hits, and and I just really wanted to counteract 0:05:31.440 --> 0:05:34.520 that in the way you're saying the sycophanic gushing. I 0:05:34.560 --> 0:05:37.120 really am in a positive person about the business. I've 0:05:37.120 --> 0:05:41.080 been doing this for thirty years, and I you know, 0:05:41.120 --> 0:05:42.680 I don't have a paycheck. I only get paid if 0:05:42.680 --> 0:05:45.520 a movie gets made. So I should probably be the 0:05:45.520 --> 0:05:48.400 most fearful negative person right out there. And I just 0:05:48.440 --> 0:05:52.279 couldn't do it because I remember being a young person 0:05:52.320 --> 0:05:53.919 coming up and wanting to be in the business and 0:05:53.960 --> 0:05:59.160 reading and studying the business and hearing the same doom 0:05:59.240 --> 0:06:03.039 bullshit then and so as a history of the movie 0:06:03.080 --> 0:06:06.039 business and really reading a ton and a ton of 0:06:06.120 --> 0:06:08.880 history about it, you just realize it's the same stuff. 0:06:09.520 --> 0:06:13.800 You know. And when when television started, movie businesses over. 0:06:14.080 --> 0:06:16.680 In fact, we even going back sound it's over. Nobody 0:06:16.720 --> 0:06:20.279 wants to hear actors talk. And then from color like 0:06:20.360 --> 0:06:23.120 color is too it's too real. Nope, that's it. Over 0:06:23.160 --> 0:06:25.440 television for sure, it's going to kill them. It's gonna 0:06:25.520 --> 0:06:26.960 end it. And not only did it not kill the 0:06:26.960 --> 0:06:29.120 movie business, you could actually promote your movies on the 0:06:29.160 --> 0:06:32.960 television and sell them to television. And then vhs, Oh boy, 0:06:33.000 --> 0:06:35.440 that's it, right, you're just gonna record that's an in DVD. 0:06:35.480 --> 0:06:37.960 Oh god, pirating like it looks as good as the 0:06:38.000 --> 0:06:42.320 movie Pirating DVD. There, that's it. And it just never happens. 0:06:42.440 --> 0:06:44.280 It's just like the little engine that could. And so 0:06:44.360 --> 0:06:48.040 I just wanted to say to anybody who was interested 0:06:48.040 --> 0:06:51.679 in the movie business, and for sure young people, that 0:06:52.160 --> 0:06:54.600 it's not just go do it, follow your dream. I 0:06:54.600 --> 0:06:56.320 don't want to talk to anybody out of their dream. 0:06:56.320 --> 0:06:59.000 And it's a hard business for sure, but I just 0:06:59.040 --> 0:07:00.680 want It's always been hard, yeah, and I want to 0:07:00.760 --> 0:07:03.200 encourage people and if I can do it, anybody again. 0:07:03.520 --> 0:07:07.000 What was your start Like you talked about reading about 0:07:07.000 --> 0:07:09.600 the business and wanting to get into it. What what 0:07:09.600 --> 0:07:12.000 were you doing. I started in theater and high school. 0:07:12.080 --> 0:07:15.560 Originally I wanted to be an architect, and then I 0:07:15.600 --> 0:07:17.400 got into a drafting class and I was like, this 0:07:17.440 --> 0:07:19.680 sucks too much. I can't do this. It's just straight 0:07:19.680 --> 0:07:23.320 lines and protractors, really nerdy people with me. And then 0:07:23.400 --> 0:07:26.800 my buddy said, you gotta come try this improv class 0:07:26.840 --> 0:07:29.360 in in in theater and it was just awesome. I 0:07:29.360 --> 0:07:33.360 could run around and be funny and stupid, great looking 0:07:33.360 --> 0:07:36.200 girls in the theater department. Was so much better than drafting, 0:07:36.800 --> 0:07:38.200 and I just fell in love with it. And so 0:07:38.680 --> 0:07:40.800 at first kind of thought, well, maybe I'll be a director. 0:07:40.840 --> 0:07:43.400 I don't know, maybe a be a stand up comedian. 0:07:43.440 --> 0:07:45.800 I don't know, I'll figure this out. What year was this. 0:07:46.240 --> 0:07:48.200 I graduated my school and eighty three, Okay. I was 0:07:48.240 --> 0:07:51.000 in the San Fernando Valley and none of my entire 0:07:51.560 --> 0:07:54.040 families in the business. Nobody knew anything about the In fact, 0:07:54.160 --> 0:07:56.520 my father stilt to this day, we'll send me an 0:07:56.560 --> 0:07:59.920 article like, great article I'm producing. I'm like, okay, he says, 0:08:00.120 --> 0:08:02.560 and you know, just doesn't still waiting for the other, 0:08:02.720 --> 0:08:04.280 you know, my finally, my I have a degree in 0:08:04.320 --> 0:08:06.880 economics and film from Occidental College and he's still waiting 0:08:06.880 --> 0:08:09.040 for that econ degree to kick in. I lived in 0:08:09.040 --> 0:08:12.720 the ego rog yeah, yeah, yeah, and so uh then 0:08:12.800 --> 0:08:14.640 I then I thought maybe would be a producer, but 0:08:14.640 --> 0:08:17.160 I didn't know anything about producing. So you know, you 0:08:17.280 --> 0:08:19.440 go and you see movies and you read the books 0:08:19.480 --> 0:08:22.400 and about special effects. And I made some student films 0:08:22.400 --> 0:08:24.840 in high school and then I went talk to Old College, 0:08:24.880 --> 0:08:28.240 which didn't have any film classes at all. But I 0:08:28.280 --> 0:08:32.000 got an internship. Back in the day when the industrial 0:08:32.120 --> 0:08:35.640 video was huge, they were spending so much money on 0:08:35.720 --> 0:08:37.560 because it's like this new thing where you could like 0:08:38.040 --> 0:08:41.320 teach people through video, right, So I got a job 0:08:41.480 --> 0:08:44.760 at Pacific bell Um as an intern in their in 0:08:44.800 --> 0:08:48.199 their in their you know, instructional video department. And then 0:08:48.240 --> 0:08:50.440 I learned how to edit, and so I really became 0:08:50.440 --> 0:08:54.040 an editor first. So I edited. We're editing out one 0:08:54.080 --> 0:08:57.760 inch and it was Ampex and Ampex had a system 0:08:57.800 --> 0:08:59.720 that was called the Ampex A system which is just 0:08:59.760 --> 0:09:02.800 base sleep meant Ampex Computerized editing, which is really a 0:09:02.840 --> 0:09:06.439 precursor to UM all of the new you know, software 0:09:06.440 --> 0:09:10.320 based systems and so not that many old timers wanted 0:09:10.360 --> 0:09:12.400 to learn. It Back in the day was all CMX. 0:09:12.520 --> 0:09:14.480 It had thousands of buttons that said, you know, like 0:09:14.559 --> 0:09:18.360 you know, dissolve right cut. This was like you had 0:09:18.360 --> 0:09:22.000 you was worked like a computer. And so I I, 0:09:21.840 --> 0:09:24.240 you know, I worked for Playboy, I worked for did 0:09:24.280 --> 0:09:27.400 cut music videos, I cut it, worked for the Olympics 0:09:27.440 --> 0:09:30.440 for so but and then I realized I'm just sort 0:09:30.440 --> 0:09:32.280 of getting further away from what I really want to 0:09:32.280 --> 0:09:36.439 do was produce, and I quit and went to work 0:09:36.480 --> 0:09:39.439 at Wells Fargo Bank, you know, because I thought maybe 0:09:39.480 --> 0:09:42.320 I'll go to business school. And then insanely, like the 0:09:42.360 --> 0:09:44.400 only person of my father's ever met in the movie 0:09:44.800 --> 0:09:47.120 in the movie Business, he was playing golf with this 0:09:47.120 --> 0:09:51.160 guy who worked at Paramount Television, and and my background 0:09:51.200 --> 0:09:53.760 seemed like I had wanted this job in my whole life, 0:09:53.800 --> 0:09:55.840 because I had a degree in economics. I worked in 0:09:56.000 --> 0:09:58.840 production and I got a job on their Senior Hall 0:09:58.880 --> 0:10:02.560 show as his as his Huntain at Paramount So I 0:10:02.600 --> 0:10:05.559 was on the lot and that really showed you, Oh 0:10:05.600 --> 0:10:08.640 my god, there's a movie and my deals now at 0:10:08.640 --> 0:10:11.600 Paramounts in my office is on the lot. Sounds amazing. 0:10:12.200 --> 0:10:14.600 And I was there and you know, played, you know, lunch, 0:10:14.640 --> 0:10:16.839 you'd go play basketball and Jason Bateman would be there. 0:10:17.679 --> 0:10:20.160 I realized that was it was done. And but I 0:10:20.160 --> 0:10:22.240 did also realize I didn't know how to read a script. 0:10:23.200 --> 0:10:25.760 So I went do you used to like extension? And 0:10:25.840 --> 0:10:28.199 took a class from Bob Greenblad, who was was the 0:10:28.280 --> 0:10:31.080 chairman of NBC and then was the chairman of Warner Brothers. 0:10:31.120 --> 0:10:33.640 He was us a story editor at Lorimer at the 0:10:33.679 --> 0:10:36.800 time and taught me how to read a script. And 0:10:36.840 --> 0:10:39.119 then from there I got a job as an assistant 0:10:39.480 --> 0:10:42.720 in UH at Columbia Pictures, and then I got my 0:10:42.760 --> 0:10:44.440 job at Disney, and I was at Disney for ten years, 0:10:44.440 --> 0:10:47.959 and I became co president production after ten years. It's 0:10:47.960 --> 0:10:52.200 a long road, man, that's not It's so easy. Yeah, 0:10:52.240 --> 0:10:54.480 And and that's the other thing I tell people, you know, 0:10:54.760 --> 0:10:57.560 if ever I'm like speaking in classes or whatever, it 0:10:57.559 --> 0:11:00.760 doesn't matter. Man. The road is never straight right ever, 0:11:01.000 --> 0:11:05.319 you know, and especially now with podcasts like your podcast 0:11:05.360 --> 0:11:08.640 and technology and you can get anything on the web 0:11:08.679 --> 0:11:10.960 now and you can you can shoot a movie on 0:11:10.960 --> 0:11:14.760 your phone. Yeah, I had to use Super eight such 0:11:14.800 --> 0:11:17.720 a pain in the app and uh so there's just 0:11:17.960 --> 0:11:21.160 the barrier to entry is almost non existent. Now, what 0:11:21.280 --> 0:11:23.840 kind of producer are you? Like? What is your what 0:11:24.000 --> 0:11:28.120 is your job entail day to day, movie to movie. Yeah, 0:11:28.160 --> 0:11:31.840 so working in the studio system for you know, over 0:11:32.040 --> 0:11:37.040 ten years, I really got an edge of fast education 0:11:37.080 --> 0:11:41.320 and what makes a good producer. Um So I trained 0:11:41.360 --> 0:11:44.120 at the feet of Jerry Bruckheimer and Adam Sandler and 0:11:44.280 --> 0:11:47.200 guys like that that go to the set every day. 0:11:47.640 --> 0:11:52.640 Are there do the work? Um and and are the 0:11:52.800 --> 0:11:55.800 captains of the ship? You know? And then and then 0:11:55.800 --> 0:11:59.360 I also saw the managers that aren't producers and the 0:11:59.400 --> 0:12:01.680 hangers on that aren't pricers, and the people that you know, 0:12:01.760 --> 0:12:03.839 gave a little dough, they get a producer credit. I 0:12:04.720 --> 0:12:08.360 knew the difference, and I really wanted to be the former, right, 0:12:08.640 --> 0:12:13.040 beat on the ground, beat on the ground. Yeah, it's funny. 0:12:13.120 --> 0:12:15.760 Rob wriggle Um who who who have done a couple 0:12:15.760 --> 0:12:18.280 of things with he he he was in the Marines 0:12:19.040 --> 0:12:22.400 and he talks about producing like taking the beach right, 0:12:22.559 --> 0:12:24.080 and you take the beach of foot at a time, 0:12:24.400 --> 0:12:27.760 you know. And so if you're not there every day 0:12:27.800 --> 0:12:31.400 and sitting there physically, then you don't have a voice. 0:12:31.559 --> 0:12:33.199 You really don't. I mean, you can get a phone 0:12:33.200 --> 0:12:35.720 call from your in your office in Los Angeles, and 0:12:36.160 --> 0:12:38.160 you can make your best guests, but unless you're there 0:12:38.240 --> 0:12:40.800 to see the intricacies of why this decision happened, you 0:12:40.840 --> 0:12:42.760 can't really do it. So that's the kind of producer 0:12:42.800 --> 0:12:46.880 I wanted to be. Yeah and um and you know, 0:12:46.920 --> 0:12:50.239 and also just the kind of producer that was agnostic 0:12:50.280 --> 0:12:52.680 in terms of genre. I've done a ton of comedies 0:12:52.720 --> 0:12:55.480 because I love them, yeah, um, and I grew up 0:12:55.480 --> 0:12:57.079 with them, which is what we're gonna talk about today, 0:12:57.080 --> 0:12:59.640 Like you know, Stripes and Arthur and Raising Arizona and 0:13:00.000 --> 0:13:01.920 you know, all these movies that a lot of the 0:13:01.960 --> 0:13:05.800 Howard Hawks stuff. These are movies that I grew up 0:13:05.840 --> 0:13:07.800 with and completely fell in love with. So I have 0:13:07.840 --> 0:13:10.319 an affinity for the genre, and I love the people 0:13:10.320 --> 0:13:13.319 that make those movies. But I also wanted you know, 0:13:13.360 --> 0:13:14.920 I worked on No Brother, Where Arn't Tho, I worked 0:13:14.920 --> 0:13:17.880 on Love, I worked on you know, I worked on 0:13:18.000 --> 0:13:20.160 ed Wood and I worked on a lot of all 0:13:20.200 --> 0:13:22.360 those movies on the I done no brother yet actually 0:13:22.840 --> 0:13:26.800 yeah yeah, and uh and you know I love those movies. 0:13:27.000 --> 0:13:30.880 Um not not my my biggest strength. There's that's a 0:13:31.880 --> 0:13:35.080 you know, it's a singular voice. And the people that 0:13:35.120 --> 0:13:39.559 produce those movies, you know, mostly are writer producers. But 0:13:39.559 --> 0:13:43.559 but the people that producers movies are really main working 0:13:43.559 --> 0:13:47.800 to give that person their voice work to h I mean, 0:13:48.080 --> 0:13:50.520 and and I think I was better suited as an 0:13:50.520 --> 0:13:53.520 executive to work in that job, to be able to 0:13:53.559 --> 0:13:55.679 just you know, I when when the Coen Brothers, who 0:13:55.720 --> 0:13:58.040 I'm madly in love with, came in to pitch me 0:13:58.120 --> 0:14:00.000 O brother, they basically just said it's white trash Home 0:14:00.040 --> 0:14:02.959 is Odyssey, And I said, right done, I got it. 0:14:03.000 --> 0:14:05.520 I'm in like, say no more. I mean, they can 0:14:05.520 --> 0:14:08.840 do whatever they want, though, right they Weirdly, what's funny 0:14:09.040 --> 0:14:11.320 is at that time because that was a touchdown picture 0:14:11.800 --> 0:14:14.520 at the time, you know, because Disney had bought Mirror 0:14:14.600 --> 0:14:18.600 Max and uh, Harvey was going through crazy transition. Now 0:14:18.760 --> 0:14:23.880 it's all now everybody knows why insane person, But people 0:14:24.000 --> 0:14:25.880 like you know, there were there are certain people that 0:14:25.920 --> 0:14:28.680 were like, let's try different distributors, and Oh Brother was 0:14:28.720 --> 0:14:32.160 a tough one for them because it wasn't cheap. And 0:14:32.480 --> 0:14:35.560 my boss Joe Roth at the time, he loves filmmakers 0:14:35.560 --> 0:14:38.920 so much that you know, Edward was a huge swing. 0:14:38.960 --> 0:14:41.560 I mean, that's black and Wood movie but someone no 0:14:41.600 --> 0:14:45.480 one knew about um, oh Brother, um and punch Unk 0:14:45.520 --> 0:14:47.480 love those kind of movies. He was just willing to 0:14:47.560 --> 0:14:50.760 just just go ahead and give them the resources that 0:14:50.800 --> 0:14:53.080 they need to make make them. And and a lot 0:14:53.120 --> 0:14:55.520 of those people that work in in in that kind 0:14:55.520 --> 0:14:59.440 of independent distribution, as you heard from the Cassium podast, 0:15:00.440 --> 0:15:02.960 they're really counting to nickels and dimes. You know when 0:15:02.960 --> 0:15:04.960 you used to go into those old offices at Merrimax 0:15:04.960 --> 0:15:07.520 in New York, they were just like final cabinets and 0:15:07.600 --> 0:15:10.400 you know it was just like the most bare bones. Yeah, 0:15:10.520 --> 0:15:14.239 and so they wanted to save every penny um and 0:15:14.240 --> 0:15:17.600 and we were, you know, we were really filmmaker friendly 0:15:18.040 --> 0:15:20.240 at that time. You know, you said something a second 0:15:20.240 --> 0:15:24.120 ago and just then filmmaker friendly and Joe Roth love filmmakers. 0:15:25.040 --> 0:15:29.360 You also hear stories about directors who hate actors, producers 0:15:29.400 --> 0:15:35.120 who hate writers, or filmmakers like, what is that all about? Well, 0:15:35.280 --> 0:15:37.200 have you ever built a house or been in any 0:15:37.240 --> 0:15:41.320 sort of construction, Not personally, but we renovated our house 0:15:41.360 --> 0:15:44.360 a couple few years. Yeah, I mean generally it's gonna 0:15:44.400 --> 0:15:46.720 go wrong. Yeah, I mean, it's always just always happens, 0:15:47.240 --> 0:15:49.520 you know, the general rule is going to cost twice 0:15:49.520 --> 0:15:52.960 as much, twice as long. And when you're in that pause, 0:15:53.520 --> 0:15:55.640 I think so much of it is is subjective in 0:15:55.720 --> 0:15:58.080 terms of like, well, I like my house to look 0:15:58.120 --> 0:15:59.960 like this, I like my walls to look like I 0:16:00.120 --> 0:16:03.400 like this kind of fixtures, And and perhaps the contractor 0:16:03.520 --> 0:16:06.640 or the designer is like, do you really want that 0:16:06.720 --> 0:16:11.560 concrete floor with the you know, you know Victorian outside. Yeah, 0:16:11.560 --> 0:16:13.120 that's why I want you. That's what I wanted, and 0:16:13.160 --> 0:16:15.960 so you So that's the kind of way the making 0:16:15.960 --> 0:16:18.240 a movie is right, because everybody has the movie in 0:16:18.280 --> 0:16:20.080 their head when they come in. Everybody, I don't care 0:16:20.120 --> 0:16:22.560 if you're the sound guy. You know, I can't tell 0:16:22.600 --> 0:16:26.480 you how many times I've been on a set and 0:16:26.640 --> 0:16:28.600 anybody comes in this is not the way I saw 0:16:28.640 --> 0:16:32.280 that set, because they're all reading the script, not the 0:16:32.320 --> 0:16:35.120 way I saw this at all. And and and I 0:16:35.160 --> 0:16:39.400 think that there's a there's a inherent in human beings, 0:16:39.400 --> 0:16:44.920 just an inherent insecurity. And so the insecurity is this 0:16:44.960 --> 0:16:47.920 is what I thought, And your insecurity lead you to 0:16:48.000 --> 0:16:52.320 go this is the way it should be. And um, 0:16:52.440 --> 0:16:55.120 I've done it so long. I know that feeling. I 0:16:55.160 --> 0:16:57.320 have it every day on the set where you go, 0:16:58.120 --> 0:17:00.400 that's not the way I said, Right, you have to 0:17:00.440 --> 0:17:04.160 just kind of go, okay, but you know this will 0:17:04.359 --> 0:17:07.200 this will be fine, you know, unless it's not. Though, 0:17:07.200 --> 0:17:10.000 how do you draw that distinction if your gut? Your 0:17:10.040 --> 0:17:14.880 gut is really pretty telling. Jim Brooks um had on 0:17:14.960 --> 0:17:17.720 his has on his monitor when he any films. And 0:17:17.880 --> 0:17:20.800 I learned this from Nancy Myers. She just has gut 0:17:20.960 --> 0:17:22.800 on her monitor and she she says she got that 0:17:22.800 --> 0:17:25.200 from Jim Brooks. And it's just this feeling you get 0:17:25.240 --> 0:17:27.600 when so I'll give you a perfect example. There's a 0:17:27.640 --> 0:17:30.600 scene in this movie and I was watching it and 0:17:30.640 --> 0:17:33.480 I had an idea and a lot was going on. 0:17:33.560 --> 0:17:37.200 We were late rain, you know, are they shooting in Atlanta? 0:17:37.760 --> 0:17:40.399 Really fun with the lightning every every day, So like 0:17:40.600 --> 0:17:42.640 a lot going on, Like it doesn't matter, it's gonna 0:17:42.640 --> 0:17:44.360 be fine. Is this what you're working on now. Yeah, 0:17:44.520 --> 0:17:46.240 moo working on a movie right now called Senior Year 0:17:46.240 --> 0:17:50.679 with Rebel Wilson and a wonderful filmmaker by the name 0:17:50.720 --> 0:17:52.600 of Alex Hardcastle who's worked in television. This is his 0:17:52.720 --> 0:17:56.960 first feature. And so you know, I'm very aware that, 0:17:57.800 --> 0:17:59.479 you know, I have a lot of opinions, and I'm 0:17:59.480 --> 0:18:01.120 going to try to do my best to help him 0:18:01.160 --> 0:18:03.560 make the best movie he can know and and Rebel 0:18:03.800 --> 0:18:05.919 to make the best I did isn't romantic with her 0:18:05.960 --> 0:18:08.080 as well. And so I had this idea, and I 0:18:08.400 --> 0:18:11.439 should probably say this idea, but I already know if 0:18:11.440 --> 0:18:13.159 I go say this idea, it's going to require a 0:18:13.240 --> 0:18:16.080 prop and everybody's going to be like, really, I mean 0:18:16.480 --> 0:18:18.359 and I and I go, I'll be fine. And I 0:18:18.359 --> 0:18:19.720 went to sleep, and I woke up next morning. I 0:18:19.720 --> 0:18:21.760 don't know, fuck it, I'm I should have said something. 0:18:21.760 --> 0:18:24.080 And I went to the director and I go, wouldn't 0:18:24.080 --> 0:18:25.800 have been better if the scene would have had this 0:18:25.840 --> 0:18:27.720 thing in it? And he goes, oh my god, I 0:18:27.720 --> 0:18:30.400 wish you would have said that, because even like thematically 0:18:30.440 --> 0:18:33.160 it's it's it would have worked better. And so we're 0:18:33.160 --> 0:18:35.679 going to reshoot it, you know, Yeah, and it's not 0:18:35.760 --> 0:18:37.879 that it was wrong. It's just that there was a 0:18:37.880 --> 0:18:41.240 better idea, and a better idea that's not it's low 0:18:41.240 --> 0:18:43.920 impact enough because it's a tiny little moment and it'll 0:18:43.960 --> 0:18:45.760 be very easy to read. So you do the math 0:18:45.840 --> 0:18:47.280 and see the math, and you go, it's not going 0:18:47.320 --> 0:18:49.600 to be He's not going to disrupt the whole world. 0:18:50.320 --> 0:18:54.080 But there are times when you know, if something look 0:18:54.119 --> 0:18:56.639 hopefully again, boots on the ground right, If you're a 0:18:56.680 --> 0:18:58.879 good producer, you've been on the tech scouts, you're not 0:18:58.880 --> 0:19:01.000 walking into a building going wait a minute, I didn't 0:19:01.040 --> 0:19:03.600 this is This isn't a church. We're supposed to be 0:19:03.680 --> 0:19:05.239 in a you know, in a school. What the hell 0:19:05.320 --> 0:19:06.879 is happening? You know, like, well, dude, you should have 0:19:06.920 --> 0:19:09.760 been on the scout, the four scouts. We did, so 0:19:09.800 --> 0:19:12.280 at some point you have to be in on it 0:19:12.280 --> 0:19:15.160 early enough. And inevitably is always going to be things. 0:19:15.200 --> 0:19:17.160 It's a visual medium, so it's always gonna be things 0:19:17.520 --> 0:19:20.720 where a joke or or a scene or or a 0:19:20.800 --> 0:19:24.679 character description is very well written, but visually it's impossible 0:19:24.720 --> 0:19:28.359 to get what you read right. It's either it's just 0:19:28.680 --> 0:19:32.199 too complicated, it's the audience won't it's not clean. So 0:19:32.240 --> 0:19:34.200 there's a lot of times where something's written and it's 0:19:34.240 --> 0:19:35.560 great and you see it on its feet you're like, 0:19:35.960 --> 0:19:37.960 this isn't this isn't working the way we thought, and 0:19:37.960 --> 0:19:41.240 then you just have to adjust um. And that's and 0:19:41.240 --> 0:19:45.040 and so you know, a good producer will help the 0:19:45.080 --> 0:19:49.280 person make their movie and and support them and be 0:19:49.720 --> 0:19:51.439 and in a lot give them all the tools to 0:19:51.440 --> 0:19:53.560 be the best they can be, to to allow them 0:19:53.600 --> 0:19:57.240 to just throw the ball. Now with the first time filmmaker, 0:19:57.280 --> 0:20:00.159 is that something you enjoy or is this I've I 0:20:00.240 --> 0:20:02.399 gotta say I've never done the math, so this is 0:20:02.440 --> 0:20:04.160 I'm just gonna say this, and it's probably total bullshit, 0:20:04.240 --> 0:20:05.679 but I feel like I've worked with more first time 0:20:05.720 --> 0:20:09.480 directors than anybody really well, because when I was doing 0:20:09.840 --> 0:20:12.240 when I was working with Jerry Bruckheimer, when I when 0:20:12.240 --> 0:20:14.720 I was at Disney, I worked on pretty much every 0:20:14.800 --> 0:20:18.280 movie from with Jerry, from Crimson Tied through Pirates of 0:20:18.280 --> 0:20:20.760 the Caribbean, that whole runny he had at Disney. I 0:20:20.840 --> 0:20:23.120 was there those little movies. Yeah, and he loves work. 0:20:23.160 --> 0:20:26.160 He loved working with quote unquote first time directors because 0:20:26.200 --> 0:20:29.199 most of the time they were commercial directors. So he 0:20:29.240 --> 0:20:32.000 started with Ridley and Scott and Tony Scott, Michael Bay 0:20:32.080 --> 0:20:34.960