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Speaker 1: Welcome to another episode of Strictly Business, the podcast in

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Speaker 1: which we speak with some of the brightest minds working

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Speaker 1: in the media business today. I'm Andrew Wallenstein with variety.

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Speaker 1: Ryan Khalil and Blake Griffin are well known as professional

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Speaker 1: athletes in the NFL and NBA, respectively, but they're also

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Speaker 1: making a name for themselves off the field as partners

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Speaker 1: of their own production company here in Hollywood. Today on

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Speaker 1: the Strictly Business podcast, the two way threats behind Mortal

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Speaker 1: Media are here to talk about finding success in a

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Speaker 1: whole new arena. Right after the break, and we're back

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Speaker 1: with Blake Griffin, he is still with the Boston Celtics

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Speaker 1: going into his fifteenth year in the league, and Ryan Khalil,

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Speaker 1: who in enjoyed a thirteen year career mostly with the

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Speaker 1: NFL's Carolina Panthers.

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Speaker 2: Together, they've produced.

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Speaker 1: A whole bunch of TV shows and movies, most recently

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Speaker 1: including a reboot of the movie White Men Can't Jump

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Speaker 1: for Hulu and the series Hello Tomorrow for Apple TV.

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Speaker 2: Plus.

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Speaker 3: Thanks for coming in, guys, Thanks for having us.

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Speaker 4: Yeah, thanks for having us. Appreciate it.

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Speaker 1: First off, Mortal Media, explain that name? Where did that come?

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Speaker 1: From you guys are immortal athletes' what's that about?

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Speaker 4: Now?

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Speaker 3: I think you know, I think it's rare for athletes

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Speaker 3: to have long careers, and Blake and I, as long

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Speaker 3: as we've known each other, we always knew that going

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Speaker 3: into this business, and so I think for us it

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Speaker 3: was pretty apparent that recognizing our mortality in the game

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Speaker 3: of football and basketball was a good reminder for how

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Speaker 3: rare and how special those experiences and those careers were

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Speaker 3: and are and still are.

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Speaker 2: So made the most sense for us.

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Speaker 4: Yeah, and the beauty of sports is you know, when

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Speaker 4: your career ends, you're still somewhat young, so that mortality

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Speaker 4: in a certain field doesn't necessarily mean the mortality for

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Speaker 4: your future. So early on we always talked about having

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Speaker 4: having our second life after our sports and I love

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Speaker 4: the name. I think it makes sense. But people we

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Speaker 4: always get that question. But it's also kind of fun

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Speaker 4: being able to answer it.

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Speaker 3: Now.

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Speaker 1: The big difference between you guys, of course, is Blake

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Speaker 1: you are still in the game, Ryan retired. Is there

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Speaker 1: a difference there when it comes to operating a business

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Speaker 1: like this. I mean, Blake, you're in the off season

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Speaker 1: right now, but you know NBA will be coming up

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Speaker 1: in what October and summer league's going on right now.

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Speaker 1: So is there a difference in how you do your thing?

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Speaker 4: Yeah, very different. I mean when we first started, we

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Speaker 4: were obviously both playing, but the off seasons sort of

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Speaker 4: offset each other. So it was kind of nice, like

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Speaker 4: one of us was a little bit off and then

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Speaker 4: the other one was off. So now, you know, really

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Speaker 4: with our schedule, it feels like we play every other day.

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Speaker 4: So it's been great since Ryan retired that he's just

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Speaker 4: he's just been there and he's been sort of like

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Speaker 4: leading the ship that way, And for me, I just

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Speaker 4: try to find times here and there. You know, sometimes

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Speaker 4: it might be a game day, you might have thirty

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Speaker 4: minutes for a call, but you get a lot done

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Speaker 4: on the road, or you get a lot done on

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Speaker 4: off days.

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Speaker 3: I'm also really sensitive of his schedule too, almost to

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Speaker 3: a fault where he's like, no, it's fine, don't worry

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Speaker 3: about it. But I'll be like, don't bother blake with

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Speaker 3: that during the playoffs right now, I don't he can.

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Speaker 3: We can deal with that on Monday, and and so

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Speaker 3: it's it's it's it's tough when you're deep in the season. Obviously,

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Speaker 3: off season makes it a lot easier to work on

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Speaker 3: things and develop. But also this business is it's a

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Speaker 3: lot of hurry up and wait, So you are getting

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Speaker 3: into things and then it takes a long time to bake,

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Speaker 3: and you're waiting on a lot of stuff. So it

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Speaker 3: makes it easier in that respect to you know, if

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Speaker 3: you can find windows where you're hustling really hard, there's

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Speaker 3: also a lull that gives you the ability to take

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Speaker 3: a breather and step away, And so I think it

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Speaker 3: ends up working out.

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Speaker 1: So take me back to the origin story of Mortal Media.

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Speaker 1: When did you guys start up? How did you guys

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Speaker 1: meet up?

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Speaker 3: Blake and I know each other through mutual friends for

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Speaker 3: some time, and then we both had a mutual relationship

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Speaker 3: and Thomas Toll, who founded Legendary Pictures.

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Speaker 2: Sure, and.

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Speaker 3: You know, we had both been respectably hustling around town

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Speaker 3: trying to network, meet up with people really understand the

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Speaker 3: business and be sponges in the offseason, and Thomas didn't

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Speaker 3: know we were friends and sort of suggested, Hey, I've

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Speaker 3: met with a lot of athletes who liked the idea

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Speaker 3: of the movie business, but more so putting their name

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Speaker 3: on a poster and you and Blake are one of

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Speaker 3: the few that really talk about it with a real

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Speaker 3: passion and.

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Speaker 2: Wanting it to be a follow up career.

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Speaker 3: And he goes, you know, I think it would be

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Speaker 3: interesting if you guys did it together. And so I

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Speaker 3: called Blake and we were both laughing the fact that

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Speaker 3: we didn't know each other. We're pursuing that, And so

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Speaker 3: we got together, had dinner and really talked about what

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Speaker 3: it could be, what it would look like, how we

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Speaker 3: would do it differently. You know, our biggest thing was

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Speaker 3: the athlete stigma, sort of what Thomas had suggested most

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Speaker 3: athletes want to do in this in this industry. So

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Speaker 3: we talked a lot about how can we pursue it

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Speaker 3: in a way where we can do it under the radar,

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Speaker 3: put our head down, not not have it be a

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Speaker 3: vanity project for us, and and really do it in

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Speaker 3: a sincere way. And and so that's what we did.

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Speaker 3: We we we started in our respective off seasons really

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Speaker 3: just going to different places, interning, meeting with different folks,

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Speaker 3: finding mentors, and really trying to hone in how.

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Speaker 2: We could sort of.

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Speaker 3: Catch up on a lot of inexperience but also find

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Speaker 3: ways in which we could innovate or make a big splash.

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Speaker 1: But wait, how does this star athlete intern? Because that,

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Speaker 1: to me, that's TV show by the way, in and

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Speaker 1: of itself. How do you intern?

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Speaker 3: Well, it's easier for me, I just look like a

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Speaker 3: really big intern. For him, it's a little bit harder.

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Speaker 3: You know, he's a much more recognizable name and face.

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Speaker 3: But he's done it. I know you did it with

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Speaker 3: Funnier Yeah, yeah, I don't know. It's mine was like

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Speaker 3: a crash course internship. I think it was two weeks long.

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Speaker 3: But I like grew up in that kind of era

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Speaker 3: when Funnier Die sort of took off and they were

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Speaker 3: making unbelievable videos and I think I had shot something

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Speaker 3: with them before and we just started talking about how

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Speaker 3: much I love comedy and all that, and they said,

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Speaker 3: why don't you come by? And it's funny now because

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Speaker 3: I'll run into people who are like, hey, you know,

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Speaker 3: we were in the same intern class on your Die

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Speaker 3: and they're you know, working in comedy, the Riders whatever,

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Speaker 3: so we've we've kind of got different passions there. But

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Speaker 3: I don't know, it just it's for me just sort

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Speaker 3: of started with every time I wanted to do it,

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Speaker 3: or I had to do a commercial or whatever it was.

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Speaker 3: I always wanted to be funny, and so after a

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Speaker 3: first round of commercials that I did with a car company, Kia,

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Speaker 3: I asked if I could like sit in while we

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Speaker 3: wrote or while the ad agency wrote, and then sort

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Speaker 3: of gained more and more creative control. And that was

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Speaker 3: kind of what interest got me interested in this.

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Speaker 1: Well, it's interesting about you, Blake, and I remember those

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Speaker 1: Kia commercials. Is you've always been I think you've obviously

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Speaker 1: you've got an interest in producing and the creative side,

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Speaker 1: but you're kind of a performer. You've done stand up

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Speaker 1: a lot. Has that faded for you over time? Are

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Speaker 1: you still interested in that stuff too?

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Speaker 4: I wouldn't say I'm so interested. It was something really

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Speaker 4: fun to do. From time to time, I would do

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Speaker 4: a TV show or a movie here and there, and

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Speaker 4: then I did stand up. I've loved stand up since

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Speaker 4: I was a kid. And got presented with the opportunity

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Speaker 4: to go to Just for Last festival in Montreal and

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Speaker 4: hosts a show called Midnight Surprise where the audience doesn't

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Speaker 4: know who the the meetings that are coming up, but

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Speaker 4: they just know that I'm hosting it, and I said yes,

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Speaker 4: thinging like, oh, I just got to go up and

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Speaker 4: you know, thank you guys for coming, blah blah blah,

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Speaker 4: and I committed to it and they were like, all right,

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Speaker 4: so we just need like eight to ten minutes up

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Speaker 4: top from you. And I was like, oh, okay, all right,

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Speaker 4: So I got to go like write all this stand up.

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Speaker 4: But a long time before that, I think after my

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Speaker 4: rookie year, i'd met a comedian a good friend of mine,

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Speaker 4: Neil Brennan, and he encouraged me to just start writing

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Speaker 4: down thoughts and like writing down maybe they're not jokes yet,

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Speaker 4: but their thoughts that I thought were funny and could eventually,

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Speaker 4: you know, put those together. So I have this whole

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Speaker 4: notes folder on my phone of just like random thoughts.

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Speaker 4: Some work out, some don't. So I just like went

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Speaker 4: to work, wrote about ten minutes and I did it

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Speaker 4: like six nights in a row, just for last But

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Speaker 4: that's not something I'm gonna do in the future or forever.

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Speaker 4: It was just a really cool experience, sort of like

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Speaker 4: an internship, where you go into something that's completely new

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Speaker 4: to you and you walk away and you feel like

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Speaker 4: you have a new tool under your belt. So I've

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Speaker 4: leaned on some of those experiences throughout my life, honestly

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Speaker 4: since I've since I've done that.

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Speaker 1: See, I would imagine the athlete producer is a double

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Speaker 1: edged sword. On the one hand, you guys being athletes,

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Speaker 1: it's going to open a lot of doors people want

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Speaker 1: to meet you. On the other hand, I wonder if

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Speaker 1: you're going to be taken seriously do you encounter that?

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Speaker 4: That was something we talked about, you know, when we

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Speaker 4: first started talking about starting this company. Was the reason

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Speaker 4: we didn't want to just announce right away that we

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Speaker 4: started production company. We wanted to just go meet with people.

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Speaker 4: We wanted to make the phone call to try to

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Speaker 4: get a meeting with them, and then our whole like

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Speaker 4: goal and it probably was like some sort of our

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Speaker 4: weird competitiveness that we have athletes where you want to

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Speaker 4: show people that this is something you really like and

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Speaker 4: something you are passionate about, not just wanting to slap

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Speaker 4: your name on.

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Speaker 3: I think for a lot of athletes or people of

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Speaker 3: recognition like Blake, you know, there is sort of an

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Speaker 3: expectation that that person might make some kind of appearance

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Speaker 3: in the thing to help give it notoriety or at

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Speaker 3: least at the very least, you know, whether it's social

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Speaker 3: media or they're using their following to help amplify whatever

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Speaker 3: that project is. And so for us, we really tried

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Speaker 3: to do the work and explore and develop things that

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Speaker 3: would be separate from that expectation and make that pretty

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Speaker 3: transparent early on, and so I think we knew it

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Speaker 3: was going to take some time. So yeah, I think

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Speaker 3: at the top there is a stigma that we were

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Speaker 3: kind of fighting. But then I think the more we

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Speaker 3: were showing the work we were putting out, and you know,

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Speaker 3: being a producer is a lot like being a GM

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Speaker 3: we're sort of putting all the pieces together. The more

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Speaker 3: we were able to show the studios or the networks

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Speaker 3: that we had, the you know, we had the ability

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Speaker 3: to do that and to put those things together, the

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Speaker 3: more serious we were being taken. And obviously, over time

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Speaker 3: you naturally build relationships and there's more trust involved, and

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Speaker 3: so it makes it easier and easier. And so we

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Speaker 3: knew the long game was we were going to be

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Speaker 3: like rookies again, and we were going to be hustling

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Speaker 3: and grinding, and while we were trying to get away

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Speaker 3: from the athlete stigma. I also feel like we leaned

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Speaker 3: into it in the sense of, you know, we wanted

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Speaker 3: to show we had great work ethic. We wanted to

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Speaker 3: show we had resiliency, especially in a town that sort

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Speaker 3: of rejects you a ton. So we have the experience

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Speaker 3: of failing time and time again and getting back on

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Speaker 3: the horse and smiling and getting back into the fray.

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Speaker 2: And we also.

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Speaker 3: We're very competitive, and that we love when agents or

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Speaker 3: studios would tell us you can ever get that done.

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Speaker 3: That's never going to happen, you know, hang tight, dumb jocks,

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Speaker 3: that's let the grown ups do this, and so we

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Speaker 3: always we just love that so much, and it just

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Speaker 3: it really gave us. You know, you hear athletes talk

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Speaker 3: about it using their hater juice or whatever it is.

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Speaker 3: But we we had a form of that that we

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Speaker 3: were like, Okay, we'll prove you wrong.

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Speaker 2: We'll show you this is how you can do it.

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Speaker 3: And so and that also gave us the ability to

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Speaker 3: really think outside the box because we had a lot

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Speaker 3: of people say, well, this is how it's done, and

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Speaker 3: we'd ask questions like, well, why is that, and nobody

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Speaker 3: would have a great answer. It's just well, this is

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Speaker 3: just how it's always been done. So we thought, okay,

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Speaker 3: well we'll lean into the fact that we're outsiders and

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Speaker 3: we can play dumb and act like we didn't know

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Speaker 3: that you couldn't do it that way or you could

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Speaker 3: do it this way.

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Speaker 2: And so we were we were able to have success

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Speaker 2: with that.

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Speaker 3: And then the more we met with mentors or people

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Speaker 3: that we really looked up to and we got to

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Speaker 3: hear their stories, the more we started figuring out, well,

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Speaker 3: a lot of these people who were really successful were

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Speaker 3: mavericks or they sort of went against the grain or

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Speaker 3: didn't do things the way it's traditionally done. And so

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Speaker 3: we've continued to kind of think that way, although it's

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Speaker 3: harder now that we have some we have some things

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Speaker 3: made under our belt to play dumb, you know, because

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Speaker 3: we've been in it for a minute now. But we're

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Speaker 3: continuing to find ways to think differently and you know,

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Speaker 3: make a splash where nobody else is.

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Speaker 2: Yeah.

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Speaker 4: I think keeping that like mindset to is super important.

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Speaker 4: You know, you when you start out, you don't know much.

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Speaker 4: And then just in our six years or so, we've learned,

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Speaker 4: we've learned some and like Ryan said, we've tried to

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Speaker 4: put our head down and show our work ethic, and

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Speaker 4: you almost get to the point where you sort of

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Speaker 4: know sort of the unwritten rules, you know, how things work.

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Speaker 4: And so I had a thought the other day where

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Speaker 4: it was kind of like, man, I wish I wish

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Speaker 4: I didn't know now what I didn't know then, you know,

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Speaker 4: because you have to just keep reminding yourself to like

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Speaker 4: keep that same mindset of like make the call. Like

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Speaker 4: you maybe you're supposed to go do this like hierarchy

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Speaker 4: and call this person, but sometimes if you want to

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Speaker 4: get something done, you're passionate about something, you make the

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Speaker 4: call and you have to We have to make those decisions,

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Speaker 4: you know, in real time what's what's right and what's

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Speaker 4: quote unquote wrong. But I think throughout our career, I

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Speaker 4: hope we keep your mind it's ourselves of like the beginning,

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Speaker 4: you know, and we just put our heads down and

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Speaker 4: went to work.

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Speaker 1: You know, it's almost now something of a cliche in

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Speaker 1: terms of the producer athlete. You know Lebron James, Tom Brady,

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Speaker 1: you know, your your old Clipper running buddy, Chris Paul.

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Speaker 1: You know, do you guys ever compare notes? Is there

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Speaker 1: something to be or is it when you think when

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Speaker 1: you talk about mentors, is it people who aren't even

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Speaker 1: in the game.

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Speaker 4: Yeah, I would say people outside of the game. You know,

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Speaker 4: everybody has their own style, everybody has their own way

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Speaker 4: of going about going about this. But you're so right,

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Speaker 4: there's now when people are always like, what are you

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Speaker 4: going to do after basketball? I'm always kind of like, like,

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Speaker 4: I gotta say, like a started production company just because

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Speaker 4: people roll their eyes at you. I'm super proud out

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Speaker 4: of the fact that we did. But it's the same thing.

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Speaker 4: It's the oh, another athlete startup production company. So I

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Speaker 4: sort of give him like the quick, like one minute,

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Speaker 4: thirty second spiel of like how we started and the

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Speaker 4: way we approached it. But for the most part, we've

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Speaker 4: met so many great people, especially early on and now

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Speaker 4: with more, more and more projects we get under our belt,

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Speaker 4: more people, the more people we have in our rolodex

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Speaker 4: and are able to lean on, and people if you

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Speaker 4: show that you're passionate about it and you care, people

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Speaker 4: are very willing to help. And that's been a huge

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Speaker 4: help for us.

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Speaker 3: For me.

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Speaker 1: After the break more with Ryan Khalil and Blake Griffin

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Speaker 1: and we're back with Blake Griffin and Ryan Khalil, guys.

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Speaker 1: I think people would be shocked at just the sheer

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Speaker 1: volume of projects that you guys have gone in TV

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Speaker 1: and movies, and so I want to walk through a

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Speaker 1: lot of this stuff, starting with the fact that, you know,

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Speaker 1: I believe earlier this year you signed a find first

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Speaker 1: Look deal with Sony, which I think obviously was probably

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Speaker 1: a big deal for you. Uh how does that change

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Speaker 1: the game for Mortal Media.

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Speaker 3: I think it gives us. It gives us a willing

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Speaker 3: partner in a studio that's aligned with us creatively and

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Speaker 3: allows us to have a shorthand and sort of get

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Speaker 3: quicker through the development process and maybe also at production

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Speaker 3: just because we're there on a lot and we're with

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Speaker 3: a ton of really talented, smart people who like the

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Speaker 3: stuff that we're cooking up, so, you know, versus free

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Speaker 3: agents where you're sort of rustle your run around town,

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Speaker 3: you're you know, you do the gauntlet, you're trying to

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Speaker 3: find a home for something. So I think that will

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Speaker 3: be that will be a huge bonus for us. Unfortunately,

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Speaker 3: the timing of the deal is right in the middle

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Speaker 3: of a writers' strike, so that's been tough. But it's

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Speaker 3: given us an opportunity to refocus on a lot of

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Speaker 3: our unscripted things, and obviously sports unscripted is an obvious

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Speaker 3: path for us given our backgrounds, and that's been both

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Speaker 3: fun and also challenging because there's a huge market for it,

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Speaker 3: but there's also a really crowded market, and there's a

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Speaker 3: lot of stuff that's been done already and a lot

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Speaker 3: of stuff that's trying to be done. So, you know,

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Speaker 3: it starts with us finding something that we're really excited about,

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Speaker 3: whether it's a story or a series that we want

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Speaker 3: to we want to tell. But then there's a new

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Speaker 3: challenge of finding a way that it hasn't been done yet,

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Speaker 3: or finding a way that might be as interesting too,

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Speaker 3: you know, to an audience that it.

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Speaker 2: Is to us.

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Speaker 1: Anything you could talk about yet.

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Speaker 2: No, nothing yet.

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Speaker 3: I mean there's a there's a couple of projects, you know,

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Speaker 3: we just got there. So it's only been a few

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Speaker 3: more Yeah, it's only been a few months. But we

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Speaker 3: have about four or five projects that we're really excited

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Speaker 3: about and that we're working on, and yeah, we'll have

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Speaker 3: more on that soon.

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Speaker 1: And of course, you guys brought white men can't jump

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Speaker 1: the reboot to Hulu. You know, a classic sports movie.

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Speaker 1: What was it like to get that?

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Speaker 2: IP?

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Speaker 1: I would imagine it wasn't easy.

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Speaker 4: No, No. We first had a conversation about this twenty sixteen.

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Speaker 4: I believe it was yoah twenty sixteen. Yeah, and we

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Speaker 4: went to we had a general meeting with Kenya Bears,

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Speaker 4: who was the producer on White Men Can't Jump, and

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Speaker 4: just talked about anything and everything, kind of softly pitched

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Speaker 4: in the idea of like what would White Men Can't

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Speaker 4: Jump look like today? And I think that was the

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Speaker 4: sort of the thing that got him, because you know,

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Speaker 4: White Men Can't Jump the original coming out in nineteen

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Speaker 4: ninety two, this is before the Dream Team of takes

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Speaker 4: basketball to a global stage and since then. I'm incredibly biased,

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Speaker 4: but I think the NBA has grown more since then

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Speaker 4: than any of the major sports, at least globally, and

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Speaker 4: becoming so many, so many other countries and people are now,

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Speaker 4: you know, on the other side of the world are

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Speaker 4: fans of basketball. So and even beyond that, fashion obviously

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Speaker 4: ever evolving, and you know the fact that still today

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Speaker 4: we're still having the same conversations about race. Things have progressed,

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Speaker 4: but things still needed to move forward, and just in

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Speaker 4: the title, it gives you a chance to talk about that.

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Speaker 4: And it was a long process. You know, we can

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Speaker 4: you call this back I think a month later maybe,

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Speaker 4: And it was like, hey, I couldn't say this at

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Speaker 4: the time, but have a deal at Fox where we're

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Speaker 4: gonna do five movies. I want this to be the

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Speaker 4: first one, and we're so excited. Go off, get a

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Speaker 4: script done, rumblings of a Fox, Disney, Disney takeover a Fox,

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Speaker 4: and like, okay, we'll kind of wait. It's like Ryan

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Speaker 4: said earlier, it's just a lot of like get this done,

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Speaker 4: hurry up, talk about it, get excited. Wait. And then

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Speaker 4: that took maybe I don't know, two and a half,

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Speaker 4: three years maybe. Then you get on the other side

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Speaker 4: and you're like, is this project still going? You don't

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Speaker 4: know what exec's going to be assigned to this project.

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Speaker 4: And then finally get through that process and rewrites and director,

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Speaker 4: and I remember the first day of shooting, I was like, wow, like,

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Speaker 4: actually this actually happened. So it was it was a

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Speaker 4: long wait, but it was super worth it, and I'm

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Speaker 4: glad we got to talk about this the same topic,

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Speaker 4: these same topics again, and.

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Speaker 1: You guys have another interesting reboot set up at Disney

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Speaker 1: in The Rocketeer with David I looo again, how do

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Speaker 1: you get your hands on such an interesting, cherished piece

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Speaker 1: of ip like that?

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Speaker 3: That was all Ryan, Well, you gotta be a fan

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Speaker 3: of the property first, and then there has to be

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Speaker 3: a good reason to remy I would say, like for

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Speaker 3: White Men Can't Jump. I remember initially it was more

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Speaker 3: the abstract thought when we talked about recapturing. I don't

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Speaker 3: think we ever set out to remake a classic, but

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Speaker 3: there was just too much of that that was in

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Speaker 3: the spirit of that movie that just made too much sense.

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Speaker 3: And I think the same with The Rocketeer, which is

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Speaker 3: just recapturing some of the fun of that cult movie

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Speaker 3: and then the idea that it was a dormant property

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Speaker 3: and the studios are really keen on finding something that

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Speaker 3: has a built in audience that can mitigate some of

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Speaker 3: the risk of making.

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Speaker 2: A big movie like that.

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Speaker 3: For us, it was just it was an exciting opportunity

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Speaker 3: but also a dunting one. And so I think a

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Speaker 3: combination of a take that they liked and just the

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Speaker 3: pure sincere fandom of it got them excited and nobody

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Speaker 3: was really had their hand up. And so I think,

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Speaker 3: you know, part of producing is sort of doing the

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Speaker 3: dirty work and trying to find out the politics of

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Speaker 3: certain projects or studios and what's happening, what they're looking for,

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Speaker 3: uh you know, uh, who's going where, what's involved with

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Speaker 3: who's involved with what, And so there's a there's a

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Speaker 3: whole ton of there's a there's a lot of groundwork

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Speaker 3: that needs to be laid out first in terms of

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Speaker 3: setting up what the correct political path is before you

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Speaker 3: even get to the idea, because it is such a

438
00:22:24,600 --> 00:22:28,199
Speaker 3: fragile path to get to. And so for us, it

439
00:22:28,280 --> 00:22:30,520
Speaker 3: was recognizing the I P and then finding out what

440
00:22:30,840 --> 00:22:33,879
Speaker 3: was the cleanest path to try to convince the studio

441
00:22:34,040 --> 00:22:40,600
Speaker 3: to let some inexperienced former athletes, current athletes, uh get

442
00:22:40,640 --> 00:22:42,600
Speaker 3: a hand, get their hands on this property and and

443
00:22:42,680 --> 00:22:46,320
Speaker 3: do right by it. And so so yeah, I you know,

444
00:22:46,520 --> 00:22:48,679
Speaker 3: going back to what we were talking about before, the

445
00:22:48,760 --> 00:22:50,800
Speaker 3: athlete of it all, I think it's it's helped us

446
00:22:50,840 --> 00:22:52,920
Speaker 3: get in the doors, but it's still there's still a

447
00:22:53,040 --> 00:22:56,159
Speaker 3: level of talent that has to take place. And so

448
00:22:56,359 --> 00:22:58,440
Speaker 3: and Blake and I are finally are Blake and I

449
00:22:58,520 --> 00:23:01,920
Speaker 3: are constantly trying to figure out where our talents.

450
00:23:01,600 --> 00:23:04,679
Speaker 2: Lie and where tastes lie. I think we have good tastes.

451
00:23:04,840 --> 00:23:09,680
Speaker 3: I think we have an acumen for this that makes

452
00:23:09,760 --> 00:23:13,080
Speaker 3: us good partners. And finding the idea either coming up

453
00:23:13,119 --> 00:23:16,280
Speaker 3: with it in house or collaborating with a writer or

454
00:23:16,280 --> 00:23:20,960
Speaker 3: another producer, and seeing it from start to finish, and

455
00:23:21,040 --> 00:23:23,800
Speaker 3: again just knowing that it's going to be a hard, long,

456
00:23:24,000 --> 00:23:28,280
Speaker 3: uphill battle and staying at it. And so to the

457
00:23:28,280 --> 00:23:32,399
Speaker 3: point a white man can't jump years and years of development.

458
00:23:32,600 --> 00:23:35,960
Speaker 3: And it's a lot of like getting excited, and it's

459
00:23:36,040 --> 00:23:38,120
Speaker 3: kind of like that scene in Swingers where they get

460
00:23:38,119 --> 00:23:40,080
Speaker 3: in the car and they're like Vegas, Baby, Vegas, and

461
00:23:40,119 --> 00:23:41,879
Speaker 3: then it cuts to them like an hour in the

462
00:23:41,920 --> 00:23:42,360
Speaker 3: car and.

463
00:23:42,520 --> 00:23:44,119
Speaker 2: It's kind of Vegas.

464
00:23:44,960 --> 00:23:47,080
Speaker 3: Making movies and TV shows is a lot like that,

465
00:23:47,359 --> 00:23:51,320
Speaker 3: And so you have to really have the ability to

466
00:23:51,440 --> 00:23:53,640
Speaker 3: keep the excitement and energy up on something that you're

467
00:23:53,680 --> 00:23:56,720
Speaker 3: just constantly knocking on the door trying to get over

468
00:23:56,760 --> 00:24:00,280
Speaker 3: the finish line. And so Rocketeer's probably been one of

469
00:24:00,320 --> 00:24:01,200
Speaker 3: our longest ones.

470
00:24:02,800 --> 00:24:05,119
Speaker 4: That was one of the first properties we talked about, yeah,

471
00:24:05,359 --> 00:24:07,359
Speaker 4: when we when we sat down originally to talk about

472
00:24:07,560 --> 00:24:08,359
Speaker 4: starting this company.

473
00:24:08,400 --> 00:24:08,960
Speaker 2: But it's funny.

474
00:24:09,000 --> 00:24:13,520
Speaker 3: We we we came up with a take, obviously being fans,

475
00:24:13,600 --> 00:24:17,399
Speaker 3: and we imbued it with a lot of visuals that

476
00:24:17,440 --> 00:24:20,800
Speaker 3: we thought would really help sell it. And then we

477
00:24:20,880 --> 00:24:25,040
Speaker 3: found a producer. We found a producer that we thought

478
00:24:25,359 --> 00:24:29,480
Speaker 3: would be a really great partner and that Disney like

479
00:24:29,520 --> 00:24:31,639
Speaker 3: that would help sort of bridge the gap of our

480
00:24:31,640 --> 00:24:36,520
Speaker 3: inexperience and having you know, quote unquote an adult on

481
00:24:36,760 --> 00:24:39,919
Speaker 3: the project. And then we pitched it, and then we

482
00:24:39,960 --> 00:24:43,000
Speaker 3: found out that nobody had really been doing anything with it.

483
00:24:43,040 --> 00:24:44,840
Speaker 3: You know, you can you can really make a lot

484
00:24:44,840 --> 00:24:48,360
Speaker 3: of phone calls with insiders either at the studio or agencies,

485
00:24:48,400 --> 00:24:50,639
Speaker 3: and really do a lot of due diligence in finding

486
00:24:50,680 --> 00:24:54,480
Speaker 3: out who's involved with what and where do things lie,

487
00:24:54,560 --> 00:24:56,880
Speaker 3: and then you can really kind of make a calculated

488
00:24:58,359 --> 00:25:01,320
Speaker 3: you can make a calculated sort of gamble on how

489
00:25:01,359 --> 00:25:05,840
Speaker 3: to go about it. And for that one, we really

490
00:25:05,920 --> 00:25:08,480
Speaker 3: kind of want them over with our passion. And then

491
00:25:08,520 --> 00:25:11,520
Speaker 3: it's just been it's been one of those journeys where

492
00:25:12,600 --> 00:25:15,040
Speaker 3: it's it's been good enough for them to keep going,

493
00:25:15,119 --> 00:25:17,160
Speaker 3: but not great to get it over the finish line.

494
00:25:17,200 --> 00:25:19,720
Speaker 3: And so we've we've had ups and downs in the

495
00:25:19,760 --> 00:25:22,680
Speaker 3: development process of it, but it's been it's been really

496
00:25:22,840 --> 00:25:25,240
Speaker 3: it's one of those projects that we we still love

497
00:25:25,480 --> 00:25:28,280
Speaker 3: and we think there's an audience for and we're just

498
00:25:28,520 --> 00:25:31,359
Speaker 3: we're just continuing to chip away at it. And we

499
00:25:31,400 --> 00:25:33,520
Speaker 3: have some news coming up. It's one of those things

500
00:25:33,560 --> 00:25:34,320
Speaker 3: that just won't die.

501
00:25:34,600 --> 00:25:38,360
Speaker 2: It is. It's uh, it's been something.

502
00:25:38,040 --> 00:25:41,800
Speaker 3: That we we've we've really put a lot of heart

503
00:25:41,840 --> 00:25:46,040
Speaker 3: into and so we have some news that hopefully coming

504
00:25:46,040 --> 00:25:47,960
Speaker 3: out of the writer's strike we'll be able to share.

505
00:25:48,880 --> 00:25:50,760
Speaker 3: But yeah, more exciting stuff on that to come.

506
00:25:51,840 --> 00:25:54,640
Speaker 1: Does being producing partners mean you guys have to have

507
00:25:55,240 --> 00:26:03,240
Speaker 1: identical tastes, identical skills or is it about being complimentary somehow?

508
00:26:03,280 --> 00:26:07,200
Speaker 1: And to some degree that question reminds me of like sports,

509
00:26:07,240 --> 00:26:09,639
Speaker 1: where you know, I think about the Celtics and people's

510
00:26:09,640 --> 00:26:12,320
Speaker 1: always talking about Jason Tatum and Jalen Brown. How do

511
00:26:12,359 --> 00:26:14,919
Speaker 1: they compliment each other? You know, are they doing the

512
00:26:14,960 --> 00:26:16,720
Speaker 1: same things? That kind of thing?

513
00:26:17,000 --> 00:26:19,000
Speaker 4: I mean, I think like a lot of is like

514
00:26:19,040 --> 00:26:23,040
Speaker 4: any relationship or any team experience, Like there's trust. There's

515
00:26:23,040 --> 00:26:26,359
Speaker 4: a certain amount of trust that's involved. We do align

516
00:26:26,800 --> 00:26:30,760
Speaker 4: in our taste a lot, but there's there could be

517
00:26:30,800 --> 00:26:32,280
Speaker 4: I don't think there's been yet, but there could be

518
00:26:32,280 --> 00:26:34,239
Speaker 4: a time where I'm like, I just I don't get it.

519
00:26:34,280 --> 00:26:37,719
Speaker 4: But if he's like I love this, do it, you know,

520
00:26:37,800 --> 00:26:42,040
Speaker 4: like there's no there's no there's no stopping a project

521
00:26:42,080 --> 00:26:45,160
Speaker 4: between the two of us. If we're passionate about something,

522
00:26:45,240 --> 00:26:48,399
Speaker 4: then you know that's that's I think that's how it

523
00:26:48,400 --> 00:26:50,639
Speaker 4: should be, so that there's like a certain level of trust.

524
00:26:51,440 --> 00:26:55,040
Speaker 4: And I mean, I think Ryan's been like since before

525
00:26:55,040 --> 00:26:57,919
Speaker 4: he retired killed it, but since he's retired, it's just

526
00:26:58,000 --> 00:27:01,320
Speaker 4: like been like another level. So that's been cool to see.

527
00:27:01,359 --> 00:27:03,159
Speaker 4: And I told him this a while ago, but like

528
00:27:03,880 --> 00:27:07,600
Speaker 4: it makes me more excited for you know that when

529
00:27:07,640 --> 00:27:10,280
Speaker 4: that time comes to be able to step into something

530
00:27:10,520 --> 00:27:13,640
Speaker 4: and put everything you have into it and keep growing

531
00:27:13,720 --> 00:27:16,520
Speaker 4: the company. But to me, it's just trust. I think,

532
00:27:16,600 --> 00:27:20,200
Speaker 4: just knowing that like I trust his taste, I trust

533
00:27:20,280 --> 00:27:22,040
Speaker 4: how hard he works. I trust that he'll go get

534
00:27:22,040 --> 00:27:27,159
Speaker 4: it done. And and like you said, the idea is

535
00:27:27,200 --> 00:27:29,280
Speaker 4: almost like when you just like you sign with a team,

536
00:27:29,560 --> 00:27:32,840
Speaker 4: the idea is awesome, but then you know, training camp,

537
00:27:33,040 --> 00:27:35,880
Speaker 4: the whole regular season, practice every day, like that's all

538
00:27:35,880 --> 00:27:39,080
Speaker 4: the stuff that like it takes to finally make a

539
00:27:39,119 --> 00:27:40,760
Speaker 4: movie and get to the point that you want to

540
00:27:40,760 --> 00:27:43,360
Speaker 4: get to. So I think from that aspect we're used

541
00:27:43,359 --> 00:27:46,080
Speaker 4: to like, you know, it's just going to be a

542
00:27:46,080 --> 00:27:49,360
Speaker 4: long journey and you just sit down and you get

543
00:27:49,400 --> 00:27:49,880
Speaker 4: after it.

544
00:27:51,760 --> 00:27:57,200
Speaker 1: Now, I read a bizarre Gizmoto story recently about an

545
00:27:57,280 --> 00:27:59,920
Speaker 1: action figure that you guys are I mean, it seems

546
00:27:59,920 --> 00:28:02,520
Speaker 1: like gets backwards the way you guys are approaching this.

547
00:28:02,640 --> 00:28:06,960
Speaker 1: Tell me about this new project where it just seems

548
00:28:07,000 --> 00:28:08,280
Speaker 1: strange to me. Explain.

549
00:28:09,359 --> 00:28:11,360
Speaker 3: I think Blake and I have a lot of similar tastes,

550
00:28:12,520 --> 00:28:18,840
Speaker 3: you know, we we both have an affinity for things

551
00:28:18,840 --> 00:28:22,960
Speaker 3: old and new. There's a there's a project we've been

552
00:28:22,960 --> 00:28:27,879
Speaker 3: working on with Vince Vaughan and Peter Billingsley that we

553
00:28:28,840 --> 00:28:30,919
Speaker 3: can't talk about yet, but we've been working on it

554
00:28:30,960 --> 00:28:34,919
Speaker 3: for a while and it's sort of again our approach

555
00:28:35,000 --> 00:28:38,680
Speaker 3: to kind of thinking outside the traditional path of projects.

556
00:28:40,160 --> 00:28:42,320
Speaker 2: And so there's an idea.

557
00:28:42,360 --> 00:28:49,680
Speaker 3: About eighties specifically the era, the golden era of action

558
00:28:49,760 --> 00:28:53,480
Speaker 3: figures of that time, and so sort of as a

559
00:28:53,520 --> 00:28:57,040
Speaker 3: sneak peek into the larger endeavor, we released a limited

560
00:28:57,160 --> 00:29:01,320
Speaker 3: edition statue of this particular.

561
00:29:00,880 --> 00:29:03,480
Speaker 2: Character named Flint Star Striker.

562
00:29:04,200 --> 00:29:07,600
Speaker 3: It's sort of a cross between Star Wars and he Man,

563
00:29:08,160 --> 00:29:10,840
Speaker 3: and so there's a lot of there's a lot of

564
00:29:11,040 --> 00:29:15,960
Speaker 3: childhood fun, childhood memories that have gone into this project

565
00:29:16,040 --> 00:29:21,440
Speaker 3: from everyone involved. And so yeah, it's I'm I'm such

566
00:29:21,480 --> 00:29:23,800
Speaker 3: a big fan boy, so I I sort of love

567
00:29:23,960 --> 00:29:28,000
Speaker 3: the jj Abrams mystery box approach to things, and so

568
00:29:28,080 --> 00:29:30,880
Speaker 3: we we definitely stole a little bit of that magic

569
00:29:30,960 --> 00:29:32,720
Speaker 3: and in what we're doing with this project.

570
00:29:32,760 --> 00:29:34,440
Speaker 2: And so it's fun.

571
00:29:34,480 --> 00:29:37,600
Speaker 3: It's been fun to see, uh, the buzz around it

572
00:29:37,640 --> 00:29:40,280
Speaker 3: so far and the short time we just put it

573
00:29:40,320 --> 00:29:42,120
Speaker 3: out there, and obviously.

574
00:29:41,840 --> 00:29:44,840
Speaker 2: We'll we'll reveal more as time goes on.

575
00:29:45,200 --> 00:29:48,320
Speaker 3: But I think it's a cool way into a window

576
00:29:48,360 --> 00:29:51,120
Speaker 3: and if you want to wait to sort of find

577
00:29:51,160 --> 00:29:53,640
Speaker 3: out more about it, you can do that, or you know,

578
00:29:54,720 --> 00:29:58,680
Speaker 3: I think those things might be pretty valuable in the future,

579
00:29:58,880 --> 00:30:00,000
Speaker 3: so you might not want to miss out.

580
00:30:00,720 --> 00:30:01,640
Speaker 2: You heard it first.

581
00:30:02,000 --> 00:30:06,680
Speaker 1: Here, Well, I am definitely intrigued and.

582
00:30:05,600 --> 00:30:07,959
Speaker 2: In buying one too, right, Andrew, Oh, yeah, what does

583
00:30:07,960 --> 00:30:11,000
Speaker 2: it cost? Yeah? Oh it's uh, we'll get your discount code.

584
00:30:11,280 --> 00:30:18,000
Speaker 1: Nice, nice, awesome. Well, guys, I mean there's a lot

585
00:30:18,040 --> 00:30:21,440
Speaker 1: of stuff coming out of the Mortal Media shop and uh,

586
00:30:21,720 --> 00:30:24,240
Speaker 1: it's gonna be very interesting to follow what you guys

587
00:30:24,240 --> 00:30:27,960
Speaker 1: have got coming. Thanks for coming on the Strictly Business podcast.

588
00:30:28,360 --> 00:30:31,200
Speaker 1: Appreciate your time, Appreciate it, Thank you, Thanks for having us.

589
00:30:37,360 --> 00:30:40,400
Speaker 1: This has been another episode of Strictly Business. Tune in

590
00:30:40,440 --> 00:30:43,920
Speaker 1: next week for another helping of scintillating conversation with media

591
00:30:44,040 --> 00:30:46,560
Speaker 1: movers and shakers, and please make sure you subscribe to

592
00:30:46,600 --> 00:30:49,959
Speaker 1: the podcast to hear future episodes. Also leave a review

593
00:30:50,000 --> 00:30:52,800
Speaker 1: in Apple Podcasts and let us know how we're doing