WEBVTT - Blake Griffin, Ryan Kalil Make the Jump From Pro Athletes to Producers 0:00:08.000 --> 0:00:11.480 Welcome to another episode of Strictly Business, the podcast in 0:00:11.480 --> 0:00:13.880 which we speak with some of the brightest minds working 0:00:13.920 --> 0:00:18.079 in the media business today. I'm Andrew Wallenstein with variety. 0:00:19.040 --> 0:00:22.920 Ryan Khalil and Blake Griffin are well known as professional 0:00:22.960 --> 0:00:27.200 athletes in the NFL and NBA, respectively, but they're also 0:00:27.280 --> 0:00:30.160 making a name for themselves off the field as partners 0:00:30.240 --> 0:00:33.920 of their own production company here in Hollywood. Today on 0:00:34.000 --> 0:00:38.000 the Strictly Business podcast, the two way threats behind Mortal 0:00:38.080 --> 0:00:41.199 Media are here to talk about finding success in a 0:00:41.240 --> 0:00:52.520 whole new arena. Right after the break, and we're back 0:00:52.680 --> 0:00:55.880 with Blake Griffin, he is still with the Boston Celtics 0:00:56.120 --> 0:00:59.640 going into his fifteenth year in the league, and Ryan Khalil, 0:00:59.680 --> 0:01:02.440 who in enjoyed a thirteen year career mostly with the 0:01:02.560 --> 0:01:05.039 NFL's Carolina Panthers. 0:01:05.080 --> 0:01:06.679 Together, they've produced. 0:01:06.280 --> 0:01:09.600 A whole bunch of TV shows and movies, most recently 0:01:09.600 --> 0:01:13.200 including a reboot of the movie White Men Can't Jump 0:01:13.319 --> 0:01:17.000 for Hulu and the series Hello Tomorrow for Apple TV. 0:01:17.120 --> 0:01:17.520 Plus. 0:01:17.760 --> 0:01:20.120 Thanks for coming in, guys, Thanks for having us. 0:01:20.160 --> 0:01:21.640 Yeah, thanks for having us. Appreciate it. 0:01:21.720 --> 0:01:25.480 First off, Mortal Media, explain that name? Where did that come? 0:01:25.480 --> 0:01:28.680 From you guys are immortal athletes' what's that about? 0:01:28.959 --> 0:01:29.080 Now? 0:01:29.240 --> 0:01:33.560 I think you know, I think it's rare for athletes 0:01:33.600 --> 0:01:35.760 to have long careers, and Blake and I, as long 0:01:35.800 --> 0:01:39.360 as we've known each other, we always knew that going 0:01:39.400 --> 0:01:43.000 into this business, and so I think for us it 0:01:43.120 --> 0:01:48.080 was pretty apparent that recognizing our mortality in the game 0:01:48.160 --> 0:01:53.440 of football and basketball was a good reminder for how 0:01:53.520 --> 0:01:58.200 rare and how special those experiences and those careers were 0:01:57.880 --> 0:01:58.840 and are and still are. 0:01:58.960 --> 0:02:01.160 So made the most sense for us. 0:02:01.520 --> 0:02:04.360 Yeah, and the beauty of sports is you know, when 0:02:04.440 --> 0:02:07.800 your career ends, you're still somewhat young, so that mortality 0:02:08.320 --> 0:02:12.000 in a certain field doesn't necessarily mean the mortality for 0:02:12.320 --> 0:02:16.519 your future. So early on we always talked about having 0:02:16.840 --> 0:02:22.400 having our second life after our sports and I love 0:02:22.480 --> 0:02:24.239 the name. I think it makes sense. But people we 0:02:24.280 --> 0:02:26.200 always get that question. But it's also kind of fun 0:02:26.240 --> 0:02:27.000 being able to answer it. 0:02:27.360 --> 0:02:27.440 Now. 0:02:27.520 --> 0:02:29.560 The big difference between you guys, of course, is Blake 0:02:29.639 --> 0:02:33.799 you are still in the game, Ryan retired. Is there 0:02:33.840 --> 0:02:36.959 a difference there when it comes to operating a business 0:02:37.040 --> 0:02:39.760 like this. I mean, Blake, you're in the off season 0:02:39.919 --> 0:02:42.520 right now, but you know NBA will be coming up 0:02:42.520 --> 0:02:46.000 in what October and summer league's going on right now. 0:02:46.040 --> 0:02:47.880 So is there a difference in how you do your thing? 0:02:48.760 --> 0:02:51.200 Yeah, very different. I mean when we first started, we 0:02:51.240 --> 0:02:55.080 were obviously both playing, but the off seasons sort of 0:02:55.080 --> 0:02:56.720 offset each other. So it was kind of nice, like 0:02:56.760 --> 0:02:58.880 one of us was a little bit off and then 0:02:58.919 --> 0:03:01.880 the other one was off. So now, you know, really 0:03:01.919 --> 0:03:04.280 with our schedule, it feels like we play every other day. 0:03:04.360 --> 0:03:08.600 So it's been great since Ryan retired that he's just 0:03:08.840 --> 0:03:10.799 he's just been there and he's been sort of like 0:03:10.919 --> 0:03:13.840 leading the ship that way, And for me, I just 0:03:14.000 --> 0:03:17.000 try to find times here and there. You know, sometimes 0:03:17.040 --> 0:03:18.640 it might be a game day, you might have thirty 0:03:18.639 --> 0:03:21.040 minutes for a call, but you get a lot done 0:03:21.080 --> 0:03:22.520 on the road, or you get a lot done on 0:03:22.600 --> 0:03:23.120 off days. 0:03:24.120 --> 0:03:27.079 I'm also really sensitive of his schedule too, almost to 0:03:27.160 --> 0:03:29.200 a fault where he's like, no, it's fine, don't worry 0:03:29.200 --> 0:03:31.520 about it. But I'll be like, don't bother blake with 0:03:31.560 --> 0:03:33.880 that during the playoffs right now, I don't he can. 0:03:34.000 --> 0:03:37.480 We can deal with that on Monday, and and so 0:03:37.560 --> 0:03:41.480 it's it's it's it's tough when you're deep in the season. Obviously, 0:03:41.520 --> 0:03:43.880 off season makes it a lot easier to work on 0:03:43.960 --> 0:03:47.600 things and develop. But also this business is it's a 0:03:47.640 --> 0:03:49.520 lot of hurry up and wait, So you are getting 0:03:49.560 --> 0:03:51.760 into things and then it takes a long time to bake, 0:03:51.840 --> 0:03:53.320 and you're waiting on a lot of stuff. So it 0:03:53.360 --> 0:03:55.880 makes it easier in that respect to you know, if 0:03:55.880 --> 0:03:58.800 you can find windows where you're hustling really hard, there's 0:03:58.800 --> 0:04:01.160 also a lull that gives you the ability to take 0:04:01.200 --> 0:04:02.920 a breather and step away, And so I think it 0:04:03.000 --> 0:04:03.800 ends up working out. 0:04:04.720 --> 0:04:07.920 So take me back to the origin story of Mortal Media. 0:04:08.160 --> 0:04:10.600 When did you guys start up? How did you guys 0:04:10.640 --> 0:04:11.120 meet up? 0:04:12.400 --> 0:04:14.600 Blake and I know each other through mutual friends for 0:04:14.640 --> 0:04:18.520 some time, and then we both had a mutual relationship 0:04:18.560 --> 0:04:20.760 and Thomas Toll, who founded Legendary Pictures. 0:04:20.800 --> 0:04:22.320 Sure, and. 0:04:23.560 --> 0:04:28.680 You know, we had both been respectably hustling around town 0:04:29.000 --> 0:04:31.800 trying to network, meet up with people really understand the 0:04:31.800 --> 0:04:35.800 business and be sponges in the offseason, and Thomas didn't 0:04:35.839 --> 0:04:39.200 know we were friends and sort of suggested, Hey, I've 0:04:39.200 --> 0:04:41.120 met with a lot of athletes who liked the idea 0:04:41.360 --> 0:04:44.240 of the movie business, but more so putting their name 0:04:44.240 --> 0:04:46.200 on a poster and you and Blake are one of 0:04:46.200 --> 0:04:49.039 the few that really talk about it with a real 0:04:49.080 --> 0:04:49.760 passion and. 0:04:49.720 --> 0:04:51.680 Wanting it to be a follow up career. 0:04:52.400 --> 0:04:54.400 And he goes, you know, I think it would be 0:04:54.400 --> 0:04:56.719 interesting if you guys did it together. And so I 0:04:56.800 --> 0:04:59.320 called Blake and we were both laughing the fact that 0:04:59.360 --> 0:05:02.800 we didn't know each other. We're pursuing that, And so 0:05:02.880 --> 0:05:06.160 we got together, had dinner and really talked about what 0:05:06.200 --> 0:05:07.840 it could be, what it would look like, how we 0:05:07.880 --> 0:05:11.120 would do it differently. You know, our biggest thing was 0:05:11.560 --> 0:05:14.520 the athlete stigma, sort of what Thomas had suggested most 0:05:14.560 --> 0:05:20.120 athletes want to do in this in this industry. So 0:05:20.160 --> 0:05:22.159 we talked a lot about how can we pursue it 0:05:22.160 --> 0:05:24.119 in a way where we can do it under the radar, 0:05:24.200 --> 0:05:27.599 put our head down, not not have it be a 0:05:27.640 --> 0:05:31.240 vanity project for us, and and really do it in 0:05:31.240 --> 0:05:34.320 a sincere way. And and so that's what we did. 0:05:34.080 --> 0:05:37.920 We we we started in our respective off seasons really 0:05:38.240 --> 0:05:42.280 just going to different places, interning, meeting with different folks, 0:05:44.000 --> 0:05:47.719 finding mentors, and really trying to hone in how. 0:05:47.560 --> 0:05:48.400 We could sort of. 0:05:49.920 --> 0:05:52.799 Catch up on a lot of inexperience but also find 0:05:52.839 --> 0:05:55.560 ways in which we could innovate or make a big splash. 0:05:55.680 --> 0:05:59.359 But wait, how does this star athlete intern? Because that, 0:05:59.520 --> 0:06:01.320 to me, that's TV show by the way, in and 0:06:01.360 --> 0:06:03.160 of itself. How do you intern? 0:06:03.360 --> 0:06:05.440 Well, it's easier for me, I just look like a 0:06:05.480 --> 0:06:09.080 really big intern. For him, it's a little bit harder. 0:06:09.400 --> 0:06:12.359 You know, he's a much more recognizable name and face. 0:06:14.360 --> 0:06:15.960 But he's done it. I know you did it with 0:06:16.279 --> 0:06:21.960 Funnier Yeah, yeah, I don't know. It's mine was like 0:06:22.000 --> 0:06:25.240 a crash course internship. I think it was two weeks long. 0:06:26.000 --> 0:06:28.560 But I like grew up in that kind of era 0:06:28.680 --> 0:06:31.159 when Funnier Die sort of took off and they were 0:06:31.160 --> 0:06:34.240 making unbelievable videos and I think I had shot something 0:06:34.240 --> 0:06:38.159 with them before and we just started talking about how 0:06:38.240 --> 0:06:40.240 much I love comedy and all that, and they said, 0:06:40.240 --> 0:06:42.320 why don't you come by? And it's funny now because 0:06:42.320 --> 0:06:44.479 I'll run into people who are like, hey, you know, 0:06:44.560 --> 0:06:47.520 we were in the same intern class on your Die 0:06:47.560 --> 0:06:50.039 and they're you know, working in comedy, the Riders whatever, 0:06:51.520 --> 0:06:53.680 so we've we've kind of got different passions there. But 0:06:55.480 --> 0:06:57.200 I don't know, it just it's for me just sort 0:06:57.200 --> 0:06:59.120 of started with every time I wanted to do it, 0:06:59.360 --> 0:07:02.159 or I had to do a commercial or whatever it was. 0:07:02.240 --> 0:07:05.400 I always wanted to be funny, and so after a 0:07:05.480 --> 0:07:10.080 first round of commercials that I did with a car company, Kia, 0:07:10.760 --> 0:07:12.400 I asked if I could like sit in while we 0:07:12.440 --> 0:07:16.640 wrote or while the ad agency wrote, and then sort 0:07:16.680 --> 0:07:18.680 of gained more and more creative control. And that was 0:07:18.760 --> 0:07:20.720 kind of what interest got me interested in this. 0:07:21.400 --> 0:07:23.560 Well, it's interesting about you, Blake, and I remember those 0:07:23.640 --> 0:07:27.360 Kia commercials. Is you've always been I think you've obviously 0:07:27.360 --> 0:07:30.320 you've got an interest in producing and the creative side, 0:07:30.320 --> 0:07:32.800 but you're kind of a performer. You've done stand up 0:07:32.880 --> 0:07:35.920 a lot. Has that faded for you over time? Are 0:07:36.040 --> 0:07:38.080 you still interested in that stuff too? 0:07:39.200 --> 0:07:41.600 I wouldn't say I'm so interested. It was something really 0:07:41.640 --> 0:07:43.800 fun to do. From time to time, I would do 0:07:43.840 --> 0:07:47.440 a TV show or a movie here and there, and 0:07:47.480 --> 0:07:50.240 then I did stand up. I've loved stand up since 0:07:50.240 --> 0:07:52.560 I was a kid. And got presented with the opportunity 0:07:52.600 --> 0:07:54.960 to go to Just for Last festival in Montreal and 0:07:55.120 --> 0:07:57.720 hosts a show called Midnight Surprise where the audience doesn't 0:07:57.760 --> 0:08:01.280 know who the the meetings that are coming up, but 0:08:01.360 --> 0:08:05.080 they just know that I'm hosting it, and I said yes, 0:08:05.160 --> 0:08:06.760 thinging like, oh, I just got to go up and 0:08:06.800 --> 0:08:09.080 you know, thank you guys for coming, blah blah blah, 0:08:09.240 --> 0:08:11.200 and I committed to it and they were like, all right, 0:08:11.240 --> 0:08:13.280 so we just need like eight to ten minutes up 0:08:13.320 --> 0:08:16.040 top from you. And I was like, oh, okay, all right, 0:08:16.120 --> 0:08:18.360 So I got to go like write all this stand up. 0:08:18.440 --> 0:08:20.840 But a long time before that, I think after my 0:08:20.920 --> 0:08:23.480 rookie year, i'd met a comedian a good friend of mine, 0:08:23.520 --> 0:08:27.680 Neil Brennan, and he encouraged me to just start writing 0:08:27.720 --> 0:08:30.800 down thoughts and like writing down maybe they're not jokes yet, 0:08:30.800 --> 0:08:34.200 but their thoughts that I thought were funny and could eventually, 0:08:34.720 --> 0:08:36.679 you know, put those together. So I have this whole 0:08:36.840 --> 0:08:39.360 notes folder on my phone of just like random thoughts. 0:08:39.360 --> 0:08:41.400 Some work out, some don't. So I just like went 0:08:41.440 --> 0:08:44.960 to work, wrote about ten minutes and I did it 0:08:45.000 --> 0:08:46.640 like six nights in a row, just for last But 0:08:47.000 --> 0:08:50.560 that's not something I'm gonna do in the future or forever. 0:08:52.280 --> 0:08:54.559 It was just a really cool experience, sort of like 0:08:54.600 --> 0:08:56.920 an internship, where you go into something that's completely new 0:08:56.960 --> 0:08:58.720 to you and you walk away and you feel like 0:08:58.720 --> 0:09:01.800 you have a new tool under your belt. So I've 0:09:01.880 --> 0:09:05.040 leaned on some of those experiences throughout my life, honestly 0:09:05.640 --> 0:09:06.760 since I've since I've done that. 0:09:07.480 --> 0:09:10.520 See, I would imagine the athlete producer is a double 0:09:10.640 --> 0:09:15.280 edged sword. On the one hand, you guys being athletes, 0:09:15.559 --> 0:09:17.840 it's going to open a lot of doors people want 0:09:17.880 --> 0:09:21.760 to meet you. On the other hand, I wonder if 0:09:21.800 --> 0:09:27.199 you're going to be taken seriously do you encounter that? 0:09:27.200 --> 0:09:29.120 That was something we talked about, you know, when we 0:09:29.120 --> 0:09:32.439 first started talking about starting this company. Was the reason 0:09:32.480 --> 0:09:35.000 we didn't want to just announce right away that we 0:09:35.160 --> 0:09:38.360 started production company. We wanted to just go meet with people. 0:09:39.000 --> 0:09:41.000 We wanted to make the phone call to try to 0:09:41.000 --> 0:09:43.280 get a meeting with them, and then our whole like 0:09:43.360 --> 0:09:45.400 goal and it probably was like some sort of our 0:09:45.400 --> 0:09:48.680 weird competitiveness that we have athletes where you want to 0:09:49.640 --> 0:09:53.280 show people that this is something you really like and 0:09:53.320 --> 0:09:56.600 something you are passionate about, not just wanting to slap 0:09:56.600 --> 0:09:57.040 your name on. 0:09:58.040 --> 0:10:01.080 I think for a lot of athletes or people of 0:10:01.120 --> 0:10:05.800 recognition like Blake, you know, there is sort of an 0:10:05.800 --> 0:10:09.760 expectation that that person might make some kind of appearance 0:10:09.800 --> 0:10:12.280 in the thing to help give it notoriety or at 0:10:12.360 --> 0:10:16.040 least at the very least, you know, whether it's social 0:10:16.120 --> 0:10:20.360 media or they're using their following to help amplify whatever 0:10:20.360 --> 0:10:24.320 that project is. And so for us, we really tried 0:10:24.400 --> 0:10:28.680 to do the work and explore and develop things that 0:10:29.040 --> 0:10:34.040 would be separate from that expectation and make that pretty 0:10:34.080 --> 0:10:37.600 transparent early on, and so I think we knew it 0:10:37.679 --> 0:10:40.240 was going to take some time. So yeah, I think 0:10:41.080 --> 0:10:43.240 at the top there is a stigma that we were 0:10:43.280 --> 0:10:45.600 kind of fighting. But then I think the more we 0:10:45.640 --> 0:10:48.520 were showing the work we were putting out, and you know, 0:10:48.600 --> 0:10:50.400 being a producer is a lot like being a GM 0:10:50.760 --> 0:10:53.600 we're sort of putting all the pieces together. The more 0:10:53.640 --> 0:10:56.719 we were able to show the studios or the networks 0:10:56.800 --> 0:11:03.400 that we had, the you know, we had the ability 0:11:03.440 --> 0:11:05.960 to do that and to put those things together, the 0:11:06.000 --> 0:11:08.880 more serious we were being taken. And obviously, over time 0:11:08.920 --> 0:11:12.079 you naturally build relationships and there's more trust involved, and 0:11:12.160 --> 0:11:15.199 so it makes it easier and easier. And so we 0:11:15.280 --> 0:11:18.000 knew the long game was we were going to be 0:11:18.040 --> 0:11:20.520 like rookies again, and we were going to be hustling 0:11:20.520 --> 0:11:24.280 and grinding, and while we were trying to get away 0:11:24.280 --> 0:11:26.839 from the athlete stigma. I also feel like we leaned 0:11:26.840 --> 0:11:30.840 into it in the sense of, you know, we wanted 0:11:30.880 --> 0:11:32.760 to show we had great work ethic. We wanted to 0:11:32.800 --> 0:11:35.720 show we had resiliency, especially in a town that sort 0:11:35.720 --> 0:11:38.920 of rejects you a ton. So we have the experience 0:11:38.920 --> 0:11:41.120 of failing time and time again and getting back on 0:11:41.160 --> 0:11:43.960 the horse and smiling and getting back into the fray. 0:11:44.040 --> 0:11:44.880 And we also. 0:11:46.360 --> 0:11:49.439 We're very competitive, and that we love when agents or 0:11:49.480 --> 0:11:51.520 studios would tell us you can ever get that done. 0:11:51.600 --> 0:11:56.280 That's never going to happen, you know, hang tight, dumb jocks, 0:11:56.320 --> 0:11:59.440 that's let the grown ups do this, and so we 0:11:59.480 --> 0:12:02.120 always we just love that so much, and it just 0:12:02.320 --> 0:12:06.360 it really gave us. You know, you hear athletes talk 0:12:06.360 --> 0:12:09.120 about it using their hater juice or whatever it is. 0:12:09.160 --> 0:12:11.120 But we we had a form of that that we 0:12:11.120 --> 0:12:12.760 were like, Okay, we'll prove you wrong. 0:12:12.800 --> 0:12:14.960 We'll show you this is how you can do it. 0:12:15.040 --> 0:12:17.120 And so and that also gave us the ability to 0:12:17.200 --> 0:12:19.120 really think outside the box because we had a lot 0:12:19.160 --> 0:12:21.520 of people say, well, this is how it's done, and 0:12:21.520 --> 0:12:23.800 we'd ask questions like, well, why is that, and nobody 0:12:23.840 --> 0:12:25.560 would have a great answer. It's just well, this is 0:12:25.600 --> 0:12:27.640 just how it's always been done. So we thought, okay, 0:12:27.679 --> 0:12:31.240 well we'll lean into the fact that we're outsiders and 0:12:31.280 --> 0:12:33.240 we can play dumb and act like we didn't know 0:12:33.320 --> 0:12:34.959 that you couldn't do it that way or you could 0:12:35.040 --> 0:12:35.640 do it this way. 0:12:37.200 --> 0:12:40.920 And so we were we were able to have success 0:12:40.960 --> 0:12:41.319 with that. 0:12:41.520 --> 0:12:45.200 And then the more we met with mentors or people 0:12:45.280 --> 0:12:47.040 that we really looked up to and we got to 0:12:47.080 --> 0:12:50.080 hear their stories, the more we started figuring out, well, 0:12:50.080 --> 0:12:52.160 a lot of these people who were really successful were 0:12:52.240 --> 0:12:54.640 mavericks or they sort of went against the grain or 0:12:54.720 --> 0:12:57.280 didn't do things the way it's traditionally done. And so 0:12:58.200 --> 0:13:01.040 we've continued to kind of think that way, although it's 0:13:01.240 --> 0:13:04.960 harder now that we have some we have some things 0:13:05.000 --> 0:13:07.240 made under our belt to play dumb, you know, because 0:13:07.240 --> 0:13:10.280 we've been in it for a minute now. But we're 0:13:10.280 --> 0:13:14.840 continuing to find ways to think differently and you know, 0:13:15.720 --> 0:13:17.600 make a splash where nobody else is. 0:13:18.640 --> 0:13:18.840 Yeah. 0:13:18.880 --> 0:13:21.360 I think keeping that like mindset to is super important. 0:13:21.559 --> 0:13:24.640 You know, you when you start out, you don't know much. 0:13:24.840 --> 0:13:27.319 And then just in our six years or so, we've learned, 0:13:27.440 --> 0:13:30.520 we've learned some and like Ryan said, we've tried to 0:13:30.559 --> 0:13:32.960 put our head down and show our work ethic, and 0:13:33.160 --> 0:13:34.840 you almost get to the point where you sort of 0:13:34.880 --> 0:13:38.680 know sort of the unwritten rules, you know, how things work. 0:13:38.720 --> 0:13:41.400 And so I had a thought the other day where 0:13:41.400 --> 0:13:42.920 it was kind of like, man, I wish I wish 0:13:42.960 --> 0:13:45.200 I didn't know now what I didn't know then, you know, 0:13:45.280 --> 0:13:47.440 because you have to just keep reminding yourself to like 0:13:47.520 --> 0:13:50.840 keep that same mindset of like make the call. Like 0:13:50.920 --> 0:13:53.319 you maybe you're supposed to go do this like hierarchy 0:13:53.320 --> 0:13:55.679 and call this person, but sometimes if you want to 0:13:55.720 --> 0:13:58.440 get something done, you're passionate about something, you make the 0:13:58.480 --> 0:14:01.760 call and you have to We have to make those decisions, 0:14:01.840 --> 0:14:04.120 you know, in real time what's what's right and what's 0:14:04.400 --> 0:14:07.960 quote unquote wrong. But I think throughout our career, I 0:14:07.960 --> 0:14:11.840 hope we keep your mind it's ourselves of like the beginning, 0:14:12.080 --> 0:14:13.599 you know, and we just put our heads down and 0:14:13.880 --> 0:14:14.439 went to work. 0:14:15.280 --> 0:14:18.440 You know, it's almost now something of a cliche in 0:14:18.559 --> 0:14:23.680 terms of the producer athlete. You know Lebron James, Tom Brady, 0:14:24.440 --> 0:14:27.960 you know, your your old Clipper running buddy, Chris Paul. 0:14:29.160 --> 0:14:32.160 You know, do you guys ever compare notes? Is there 0:14:32.280 --> 0:14:34.440 something to be or is it when you think when 0:14:34.440 --> 0:14:37.320 you talk about mentors, is it people who aren't even 0:14:37.360 --> 0:14:38.000 in the game. 0:14:39.480 --> 0:14:43.440 Yeah, I would say people outside of the game. You know, 0:14:43.480 --> 0:14:45.840 everybody has their own style, everybody has their own way 0:14:45.880 --> 0:14:49.480 of going about going about this. But you're so right, 0:14:49.520 --> 0:14:52.080 there's now when people are always like, what are you 0:14:52.080 --> 0:14:54.240 going to do after basketball? I'm always kind of like, like, 0:14:54.280 --> 0:14:57.120 I gotta say, like a started production company just because 0:14:57.160 --> 0:15:00.160 people roll their eyes at you. I'm super proud out 0:15:00.160 --> 0:15:02.880 of the fact that we did. But it's the same thing. 0:15:02.920 --> 0:15:06.120 It's the oh, another athlete startup production company. So I 0:15:06.200 --> 0:15:09.120 sort of give him like the quick, like one minute, 0:15:09.160 --> 0:15:12.800 thirty second spiel of like how we started and the 0:15:12.800 --> 0:15:17.120 way we approached it. But for the most part, we've 0:15:17.160 --> 0:15:20.840 met so many great people, especially early on and now 0:15:20.880 --> 0:15:23.120 with more, more and more projects we get under our belt, 0:15:23.520 --> 0:15:26.640 more people, the more people we have in our rolodex 0:15:26.720 --> 0:15:28.760 and are able to lean on, and people if you 0:15:28.880 --> 0:15:31.200 show that you're passionate about it and you care, people 0:15:31.280 --> 0:15:34.520 are very willing to help. And that's been a huge 0:15:34.560 --> 0:15:35.080 help for us. 0:15:35.120 --> 0:15:35.400 For me. 0:15:39.160 --> 0:15:42.920 After the break more with Ryan Khalil and Blake Griffin 0:15:50.160 --> 0:15:54.480 and we're back with Blake Griffin and Ryan Khalil, guys. 0:15:54.640 --> 0:15:57.600 I think people would be shocked at just the sheer 0:15:57.760 --> 0:16:00.600 volume of projects that you guys have gone in TV 0:16:00.680 --> 0:16:02.960 and movies, and so I want to walk through a 0:16:03.000 --> 0:16:05.320 lot of this stuff, starting with the fact that, you know, 0:16:05.480 --> 0:16:08.400 I believe earlier this year you signed a find first 0:16:08.400 --> 0:16:13.280 Look deal with Sony, which I think obviously was probably 0:16:13.280 --> 0:16:15.800 a big deal for you. Uh how does that change 0:16:15.800 --> 0:16:18.760 the game for Mortal Media. 0:16:19.640 --> 0:16:23.480 I think it gives us. It gives us a willing 0:16:23.520 --> 0:16:27.080 partner in a studio that's aligned with us creatively and 0:16:27.560 --> 0:16:30.920 allows us to have a shorthand and sort of get 0:16:31.000 --> 0:16:35.480 quicker through the development process and maybe also at production 0:16:35.880 --> 0:16:38.360 just because we're there on a lot and we're with 0:16:38.400 --> 0:16:41.720 a ton of really talented, smart people who like the 0:16:41.720 --> 0:16:46.240 stuff that we're cooking up, so, you know, versus free 0:16:46.240 --> 0:16:49.320 agents where you're sort of rustle your run around town, 0:16:49.400 --> 0:16:51.880 you're you know, you do the gauntlet, you're trying to 0:16:52.200 --> 0:16:55.520 find a home for something. So I think that will 0:16:55.560 --> 0:17:01.880 be that will be a huge bonus for us. Unfortunately, 0:17:01.880 --> 0:17:04.880 the timing of the deal is right in the middle 0:17:04.880 --> 0:17:09.080 of a writers' strike, so that's been tough. But it's 0:17:09.119 --> 0:17:11.480 given us an opportunity to refocus on a lot of 0:17:11.480 --> 0:17:15.600 our unscripted things, and obviously sports unscripted is an obvious 0:17:15.760 --> 0:17:20.080 path for us given our backgrounds, and that's been both 0:17:20.160 --> 0:17:23.679 fun and also challenging because there's a huge market for it, 0:17:23.760 --> 0:17:26.159 but there's also a really crowded market, and there's a 0:17:26.160 --> 0:17:28.080 lot of stuff that's been done already and a lot 0:17:28.160 --> 0:17:31.679 of stuff that's trying to be done. So, you know, 0:17:31.760 --> 0:17:35.119 it starts with us finding something that we're really excited about, 0:17:35.240 --> 0:17:38.160 whether it's a story or a series that we want 0:17:38.160 --> 0:17:41.879 to we want to tell. But then there's a new 0:17:41.960 --> 0:17:44.480 challenge of finding a way that it hasn't been done yet, 0:17:44.640 --> 0:17:47.440 or finding a way that might be as interesting too, 0:17:48.240 --> 0:17:49.720 you know, to an audience that it. 0:17:49.720 --> 0:17:50.200 Is to us. 0:17:50.960 --> 0:17:52.679 Anything you could talk about yet. 0:17:53.600 --> 0:17:54.400 No, nothing yet. 0:17:54.520 --> 0:17:57.439 I mean there's a there's a couple of projects, you know, 0:17:57.440 --> 0:17:59.640 we just got there. So it's only been a few 0:17:59.640 --> 0:18:03.119 more Yeah, it's only been a few months. But we 0:18:03.200 --> 0:18:05.159 have about four or five projects that we're really excited 0:18:05.200 --> 0:18:08.600 about and that we're working on, and yeah, we'll have 0:18:08.640 --> 0:18:09.359 more on that soon. 0:18:10.400 --> 0:18:14.119 And of course, you guys brought white men can't jump 0:18:14.400 --> 0:18:18.080 the reboot to Hulu. You know, a classic sports movie. 0:18:18.520 --> 0:18:21.439 What was it like to get that? 0:18:21.560 --> 0:18:21.840 IP? 0:18:22.119 --> 0:18:24.399 I would imagine it wasn't easy. 0:18:25.320 --> 0:18:29.680 No, No. We first had a conversation about this twenty sixteen. 0:18:29.720 --> 0:18:35.160 I believe it was yoah twenty sixteen. Yeah, and we 0:18:35.280 --> 0:18:37.560 went to we had a general meeting with Kenya Bears, 0:18:38.119 --> 0:18:40.520 who was the producer on White Men Can't Jump, and 0:18:41.440 --> 0:18:44.720 just talked about anything and everything, kind of softly pitched 0:18:44.760 --> 0:18:47.480 in the idea of like what would White Men Can't 0:18:47.520 --> 0:18:50.280 Jump look like today? And I think that was the 0:18:51.359 --> 0:18:53.960 sort of the thing that got him, because you know, 0:18:54.000 --> 0:18:56.600 White Men Can't Jump the original coming out in nineteen 0:18:56.680 --> 0:19:00.639 ninety two, this is before the Dream Team of takes 0:19:00.720 --> 0:19:04.439 basketball to a global stage and since then. I'm incredibly biased, 0:19:04.480 --> 0:19:07.600 but I think the NBA has grown more since then 0:19:08.119 --> 0:19:11.800 than any of the major sports, at least globally, and 0:19:11.920 --> 0:19:15.520 becoming so many, so many other countries and people are now, 0:19:16.200 --> 0:19:17.560 you know, on the other side of the world are 0:19:17.560 --> 0:19:23.680 fans of basketball. So and even beyond that, fashion obviously 0:19:24.200 --> 0:19:27.879 ever evolving, and you know the fact that still today 0:19:27.880 --> 0:19:32.160 we're still having the same conversations about race. Things have progressed, 0:19:32.480 --> 0:19:35.080 but things still needed to move forward, and just in 0:19:35.119 --> 0:19:37.880 the title, it gives you a chance to talk about that. 0:19:38.080 --> 0:19:41.800 And it was a long process. You know, we can 0:19:41.880 --> 0:19:43.800 you call this back I think a month later maybe, 0:19:43.840 --> 0:19:44.960 And it was like, hey, I couldn't say this at 0:19:45.000 --> 0:19:47.400 the time, but have a deal at Fox where we're 0:19:47.480 --> 0:19:49.080 gonna do five movies. I want this to be the 0:19:49.080 --> 0:19:53.119 first one, and we're so excited. Go off, get a 0:19:53.160 --> 0:19:59.200 script done, rumblings of a Fox, Disney, Disney takeover a Fox, 0:19:59.240 --> 0:20:02.480 and like, okay, we'll kind of wait. It's like Ryan 0:20:02.520 --> 0:20:04.560 said earlier, it's just a lot of like get this done, 0:20:04.640 --> 0:20:07.360 hurry up, talk about it, get excited. Wait. And then 0:20:07.400 --> 0:20:09.680 that took maybe I don't know, two and a half, 0:20:09.760 --> 0:20:12.320 three years maybe. Then you get on the other side 0:20:12.320 --> 0:20:14.440 and you're like, is this project still going? You don't 0:20:14.480 --> 0:20:17.280 know what exec's going to be assigned to this project. 0:20:18.240 --> 0:20:21.960 And then finally get through that process and rewrites and director, 0:20:22.000 --> 0:20:27.560 and I remember the first day of shooting, I was like, wow, like, 0:20:27.680 --> 0:20:32.960