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Speaker 1: What are your kids watching?

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Speaker 2: Family entertainment, particularly for children, has hit a rough patch,

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Speaker 2: but a renaissance could be coming. Christian McGuigan has founded

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Speaker 2: a new studio that plans to reclaim entertainment for the

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Speaker 2: kids from the ideologues. Stay for this edition of the

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Speaker 2: Arroyo Grande podcast. Come on, I'm Raymond Arroyo. Welcome to

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Speaker 2: Arroyo Grande. Go subscribe to the show. Now turn the

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Speaker 2: notifications on so you know what's coming, and there's a

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Speaker 2: lot coming. We're starting a news segment this week before

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Speaker 2: our interview. You've heard of the counter culture, This is

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Speaker 2: the culture counter First up, Patti Lapone issued an apology

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Speaker 2: after trashing fellow thesbian's Audra McDonald and actress Keisha Lewis.

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Speaker 2: These are Broadway actresses that you probably never heard of.

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Speaker 2: But the only reason I bring this up is because

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Speaker 2: everyone deserves respect.

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Speaker 1: Stay with me.

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Speaker 2: Patty Lapone is a Titanic talent. She became a star

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Speaker 2: when she created the world of Avida, and though Argentina

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Speaker 2: wouldn't cry for her, she made a lot of other

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Speaker 2: people cry. I've seen her so many times on stage

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Speaker 2: and she's a supreme talent. Easily the best Mama Rose

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Speaker 2: and Gypsy I've ever seen that maybe the best it

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Speaker 2: ever was. She's a force of nature. She also has

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Speaker 2: a really big mouth and no filter. In a recent

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Speaker 2: New Yorker interview, Lapone complained about being in a Broadway

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Speaker 2: show that shared a wall with Alicia Keysa's show called

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Speaker 2: Hell's Kitchen. It was so loud during her songs that

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Speaker 2: Lapone went to the theater management, who fixed the problem.

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Speaker 2: Then she sent flowers to the cast of Hell's Kitchen,

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Speaker 2: which brings me back to Keisha Lewis, who was in

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Speaker 2: Hell's Kitchen and decided to land based Lapone on social media.

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Speaker 2: Miss Lapone, these actions, in my opinion, are bullying. They're offensive,

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Speaker 2: they're racially microaggressive. Audra McDonald, who is also an African

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Speaker 2: American Broadway star, liked that post. So in this recent

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Speaker 2: interview with The New Yorker, Lapone called Lewis the B

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Speaker 2: word and said McDonald and she were no longer friends. Well,

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Speaker 2: five hundred self titled theater artists signed a letter demanding

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Speaker 2: demanding that Patty Lapone be held accountable for her blatant

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Speaker 2: act of quote racialized disrespect against these two beloved artists.

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Speaker 2: In response, Lapone apologized in a statement for her demeaning

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Speaker 2: and disrespectful comments. That was the proper thing to do,

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Speaker 2: but it raises a few questions. In the same New

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Speaker 2: Yorker interview, Lapone called Glenn Close the B word and

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Speaker 2: said that her old boyfriend Kevin Klein was a lothario.

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Speaker 2: Why did the five hundred theater artists not care about

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Speaker 2: the tree?

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Speaker 1: And to those beloved artists, what.

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Speaker 2: Kind of microaggressions was Lapone engaged in there? They were

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Speaker 2: just as mistreated as MacDonald and Lewis, but no one

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Speaker 2: wrote a letter demanding accountability for those comments.

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Speaker 1: Here's the problem with all of this.

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Speaker 2: Patty Lapone has for years and years yelled at and

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Speaker 2: assaulted her audience whenever she felt like it, for everything,

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Speaker 2: forgetting to wear face masks to taking pictures.

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Speaker 1: Stop stop taking picture right now.

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Speaker 3: Put your mouth over your nose.

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Speaker 2: That's why you're in a theater. That is the rule.

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Speaker 1: If you don't want to follow the rule.

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Speaker 2: ABC News even praiser for leaving the stage to snatch

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Speaker 2: a cell phone from a patron who was annoying her.

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Speaker 2: The legendary star re enacting the real life drama on

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Speaker 2: stage last night is this lady right here and I just.

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Speaker 1: Found the phone.

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Speaker 2: They saluted her for her brazenness, news stories celebrated her audacity.

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Speaker 2: But when Patty Lapone turned that same rudeness, that same

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Speaker 2: audacity on her peers, she suddenly engaged in one microaggression

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Speaker 2: too many. Where were the five hundred theater pros when

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Speaker 2: the audience, their audience were yelled at and regularly demeaned,

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Speaker 2: degraded by Patty Lapon? I guess they were thrown in

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Speaker 2: the same pile as Glenn Close and Kevin Klein. I

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Speaker 2: have a curtain call out, a note that should be

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Speaker 2: inserted in the first page of every playbill You're ready.

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Speaker 1: Rudeness is rudeness, no matter who it's directed toward.

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Speaker 2: And if you want respect, try first defending the people

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Speaker 2: who have no speaking parts, the people who paid for

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Speaker 2: those expensive seats, who make your jobs possible. Fellow stars

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Speaker 2: may get offended by something said about them, but imagine

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Speaker 2: paying to I have someone berate you, and you're still

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Speaker 2: expected to applaud them to steal a line from Gypsy.

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Speaker 2: And this goes for miss Lapone and the five hundred

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Speaker 2: theater artists. Your mantra should be let me entertain you,

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Speaker 2: not let me defamee you. Next up on the counter,

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Speaker 2: actress Sidney Sweeney, the gen Z Bombshell, is selling a

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Speaker 2: new soap infused with her actual bathwater. I wish I

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Speaker 2: were joking.

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Speaker 1: It's called Sydney's Bathwater Bliss. All I can say is

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Speaker 1: anyone but you.

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Speaker 2: I don't care if it's the tub remains of j

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Speaker 2: Lo and Godzilla combined. Who wants to bathe in someone

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Speaker 2: else's bathwater?

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Speaker 1: Are you sick?

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Speaker 2: The only bath I would get into after someone else's

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Speaker 2: at Lurd's. And guys, if you're this desperate to get

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Speaker 2: next to a movie siren, hang out at a movie

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Speaker 2: premiere or check into The Four Seasons after she checks out.

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Speaker 2: Any product may with a runoff of somebody you've never

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Speaker 2: met before should probably include a disease.

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Speaker 1: Test and a Z pack.

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Speaker 2: Finally, before I close the Culture counter, it seems that

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Speaker 2: snow Whites poisoned Apple may have taken out more than

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Speaker 2: just a princess. In the wake of that disastrous live

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Speaker 2: action movie that frightened off families, Disney just announced that

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Speaker 2: it is laying off hundreds of employees from multiple divisions TV,

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Speaker 2: film marketing, staff, casting, and development and financial operations are

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Speaker 2: all getting acts. Sadly, this is what happens when you

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Speaker 2: don't give the audience what it wants, and year after

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Speaker 2: year defy them. They just stopped coming and people who

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Speaker 2: probably weren't responsible pay the price. Sad This is a

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Speaker 2: good segue to our deep dive. For a while, we've

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Speaker 2: been having a problem with family entertainment. What kids see

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Speaker 2: shapes their future and ours. Christian McGuigan is an executive

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Speaker 2: who's founded a new studio, Sycamore Studios, to bring the good,

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Speaker 2: the beautiful, and the true to a screen near you.

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Speaker 2: We talked about the state of family entertainment and how

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Speaker 2: to restore it. So Christian, Leelo and Stitch broke the

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Speaker 2: Memorial Day record with one hundred and eighty three million

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Speaker 2: dollar opening weekend box office, which is pretty incredible.

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Speaker 1: Why did that live action work?

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Speaker 3: I think it's a combination of things. One, there is

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Speaker 3: a demand, particularly what we call like multi generational intellectual property.

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Speaker 3: If it's something that I grew up with and I loved,

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Speaker 3: I'm going to be much more apt to bring my

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Speaker 3: children or people to bring their grandchildren to see a

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Speaker 3: film like that. And ultimately it's it's Hollywood, remembering that

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Speaker 3: the family audience is here, and not only is it here,

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Speaker 3: but it's lucrative, and it's something that the family audience

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Speaker 3: if they're looking to go to the movie theater as

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Speaker 3: an outlet for not only entertaining but also bonding with

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Speaker 3: the family, they're just looking for good, true, and beautiful entertainment.

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Speaker 3: And the Lelo and Stitch movie, which has been one

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Speaker 3: of the most merchandised piece of IP over the last

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Speaker 3: twenty years. Unbeknownst to a lot of folks, they realized

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Speaker 3: this was a movie that I only I want to

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Speaker 3: see because it brings up a certain amount of nostalgia,

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Speaker 3: but it's also a movie I want to introduce to

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Speaker 3: my kids or my grandkids.

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Speaker 2: Well, and people forgot that whole the I think it

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Speaker 2: was something like sixty three percent of the audience for

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Speaker 2: the movie. Somebody sent me the statistics. Sixty three percent

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Speaker 2: were gen xers and people with no children, meaning it

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Speaker 2: was a nostalgia play. These are kids who grew up

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Speaker 2: with it on television, there was a television series, or

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Speaker 2: saw the movie and replayed it. As you mentioned, and

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Speaker 2: I want to get to that later about that relationship

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Speaker 2: that families have with this kind of material. What did

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Speaker 2: Disney do wrong Christian in recent years and what ales

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Speaker 2: children's films today?

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Speaker 3: So what we've seen really over the last four to

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Speaker 3: five years, and maybe it's over a decade or so,

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Speaker 3: where families were starting to say, Wow, I don't like

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Speaker 3: the way that character speaks to their parents, or I

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Speaker 3: don't like the fact that no Disney princess has a mother.

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Speaker 3: There's been things that people have had bones to pick

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Speaker 3: with the Walt Disney Company, but it was still the

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Speaker 3: Walt Disney Company. It was still the brand that you

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Speaker 3: knew you could love and trust virtually no matter what.

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Speaker 3: And then over the last five years what started to

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Speaker 3: happen was they started introducing elements of the entertainment that

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Speaker 3: what we at Sycamore Studio is called the middle seat test,

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Speaker 3: where we say, if this is a topic that while

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Speaker 3: on a middle seat of an airplane you don't want

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Speaker 3: to have a conversation with a stranger about it, probably

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Speaker 3: shouldn't be in children's entertainment. And when you start introducing

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Speaker 3: that into children's entertainment, you start complicating parents' lives, you

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Speaker 3: start making it more difficult, and you start on the

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Speaker 3: really negative end of this, you start introducing topics and

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Speaker 3: conversations that parents need to determine when and where they're

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Speaker 3: going to have those conversations with their children, and you're

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Speaker 3: in some cases forcing them to have them before the

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Speaker 3: parents or most definitely the children are ready to have those.

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Speaker 3: And when that happens, especially with the Mama Bears, that's

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Speaker 3: when the clause start to come out and you start

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Speaker 3: to you know, broach that trap trust. And we've seen it.

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Speaker 3: Eighty million Americans last year avoided Walt Disney entertainment films

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Speaker 3: because of politics, and that's that's wild to even say that.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, and I want to get.

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Speaker 2: Into some of that, but you know, you mentioned just

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Speaker 2: a momentary pit stop. You mentioned the princesses not having

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Speaker 2: mothers and or or fathers that disappeared in these movies.

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Speaker 2: There was a biography, Christian have you ever read this?

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Speaker 2: And it was spiked by the Disney company, but it

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Speaker 2: was called If the Memory Serves Hollywood's Dark Prince, and

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Speaker 2: it was about Walt Disney and his personal biography, and

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Speaker 2: they were talking about his parentage, which I won't get into,

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Speaker 2: but they thought, you know, he had very he had

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Speaker 2: very Hispanic looks, and they think his father may have

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Speaker 2: had an affair with you know, a member of the household,

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Speaker 2: not his mother, and that that may they have worked

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Speaker 2: its way out in his art.

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Speaker 1: Do you think there's any truth to anything?

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Speaker 2: You know what?

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Speaker 3: Yeah, I've read a lot of biographies on Walt. I

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Speaker 3: don't know. I haven't read that one, but I do

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Speaker 3: know that his relationship with his father was rough, to

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Speaker 3: say the least. It was very very dark. And then

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Speaker 3: you know, he bought his parents a house. He and

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Speaker 3: Roy bought his parents a house. His mother passed away

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Speaker 3: in the house because of the gas leak. You know,

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Speaker 3: they were the things that will never ever wanted to

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Speaker 3: talk about, not even with his own children. Now, in

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Speaker 3: some defense of the screenwriter, it's much easier to write

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Speaker 3: an empathetic character, as particularly a child who doesn't have parents, right,

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Speaker 3: you have to save the cat moment right off the bat.

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Speaker 3: And we've had this even we're doing the Doctor Doolittle film,

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Speaker 3: and as we've been talking with our writers, they were like, well,

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Speaker 3: it's much easier for them to make mistakes if they

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Speaker 3: don't have a mother there to make sure that they don't.

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Speaker 3: We say, no, absolutely not. In Sycamore Studios, movies, there's

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Speaker 3: always a mother and a father, and we just got

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Speaker 3: to figure it out. We got to work a little

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Speaker 3: bit harder to make that happen.

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Speaker 1: So funny that you say that.

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Speaker 2: When I was writing my Will Wilder series, which is

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Speaker 2: an adventure fantasy series I wrote for Random House, they

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Speaker 2: initially they said they're too many characters here, because it's

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Speaker 2: one of the few middle grade stories where the whole

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Speaker 2: family goes on the adventure with the kid.

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Speaker 1: And I liked that idea. I wanted that idea.

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Speaker 2: Because it's a sense of continuum and you realize the

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Speaker 2: sins and the flaws of the parents work their way

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Speaker 2: out in the children, and sometimes they have to deal

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Speaker 2: with these things they never bargained for. I thought it

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Speaker 2: just made more interesting tale. But a very famous children's

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Speaker 2: writer who shall remain nameless, but I bet you can guess,

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Speaker 2: advised me against it, and she said, you really should

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Speaker 2: just have the kid and his friends. It's a simpler, cleaner, right,

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Speaker 2: And she was probably correct because it did cause.

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Speaker 1: A lot of narrative problems along the way.

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Speaker 2: But I'm so glad I went down that path, and

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Speaker 2: I know you're committed to that idea. The kind of

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Speaker 2: the full family. Why do you think the recent live

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Speaker 2: action snow White floundered the way it did?

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Speaker 1: What's your take on that.

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Speaker 3: There's any number of challenges I think that that film

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Speaker 3: had from the very beginning, from certain casting choices, from

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Speaker 3: things that we're getting out in the media to I

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Speaker 3: personally wouldn't touch snow White. I mean, that film is

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Speaker 3: absolute cannon. It is timeless to this day. I mean,

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Speaker 3: you think about my co founders and I we have

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Speaker 3: let's see, we've got fifteen children under the age of

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Speaker 3: ten between our leadership team, and we talk about this,

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Speaker 3: the timelessness of not just snow White, but the timelessness

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Speaker 3: of animation. What other film from nineteen thirty seven Am

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Speaker 3: I going to show my children? Right? But I can

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Speaker 3: show them snow White seven days a week because it

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Speaker 3: has that timeless beauty and that timeless story. And it

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Speaker 3: was the film that if you go to this day,

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Speaker 3: if you go to the Walt Disney headquarters, on the

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Speaker 3: facade of the building, you see the seven dwarves literally

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Speaker 3: holding up the roof of the building, and that is

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Speaker 3: that is true, and the Walt Disney Company would not

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Speaker 3: exist today where it not for Snow White. So I

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Speaker 3: think touching it and trying to do anything different with

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Speaker 3: it was a problem in and of itself. And it

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Speaker 3: appears that that just it was one of folly after

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Speaker 3: another and it got away from them.

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Speaker 2: Well, and you can't shatter the narrative and change the character.

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Speaker 2: I mean, you can't do that on the audio. It's

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Speaker 2: pulling a fast one on your audience, and they would

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Speaker 2: punish you for that. Disney lost, by the way, and

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Speaker 2: you mentioned this one hundred and thirty one million dollars

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Speaker 2: between Wish in twenty twenty three. That was a flop,

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Speaker 2: an animated movie that really went nowhere. Light Year in

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Speaker 2: twenty twenty two. They all flopped. Did ideology capsize those productions?

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Speaker 2: Did the ideology overwhelm whatever good features remained in those projects?

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Speaker 3: Yeah, And I think we actually saw the inverse of

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Speaker 3: that with a lot of other movies that came out

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Speaker 3: at the same time. You take a movie like Super

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Speaker 3: Mario Brothers, which is not you know, I wouldn't argue

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Speaker 3: is redeeming it any way. It's not through any redemptive lens.

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Speaker 3: It's not. It doesn't have any political agenda, but it's

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Speaker 3: not touching any of those middle seat topics. It's just

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Speaker 3: a fun kids movie. And I can say definitively, I

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Speaker 3: took my children to see that movie because it was

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Speaker 3: it was co signed by another friend of ours who

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Speaker 3: had seen it, and they said, no, it's great, it's

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Speaker 3: not your kids are going to learn anything. They're not

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Speaker 3: going to be changed as people. But it's a fun,

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Speaker 3: entertaining movie. And Raymond I fell asleep in it, and

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Speaker 3: that in and of itself is a vote confidence.

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Speaker 1: Christian.

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Speaker 2: I spent most of my time in children's movies falling asleep.

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Speaker 2: That's what, in fact, my children still joke we went

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Speaker 2: to I remember going to the first Despicable Me. And

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Speaker 2: you know, when you're in between sleep and being awake,

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Speaker 2: and I guess someone on the screen said, you know,

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Speaker 2: you know.

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Speaker 1: You're a great father.

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Speaker 2: Grew you're a great father, And in my half sleep,

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Speaker 2: half awake state, I yelled out, I guess at the

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Speaker 2: top of my voice, unbeknownst to me until the kids

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Speaker 2: were shaking me, I said, you.

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Speaker 1: Are a terrible father. My children still never let me

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Speaker 1: live that down.

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Speaker 2: So I think it's a father's obligation to sleep at

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Speaker 2: least fifty percent through most of these children's films, which

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Speaker 2: is a terrible indictment of those movies.

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Speaker 3: It is, but I was comfortable doing that, and actually

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Speaker 3: what woke me up, Raymond, similar to your children shaking up.

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Speaker 3: My children were laughing. That will raise me up out

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Speaker 3: of the stupor now what we're doing at Sycamore. The

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Speaker 3: way that I like to tell people is I say,

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Speaker 3: we want to create entertainment so good that you, as

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Speaker 3: a father or as a mother, or as a caregiver,

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Speaker 3: don't want to leave the room, but it is so

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Speaker 3: good that you can. And that's a challenge that a

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Speaker 3: lot of parents have felt in the last five to

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Speaker 3: ten years, where if they put something on, even if

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Speaker 3: it was a series that they grew up with or

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Speaker 3: it's a relaunch or something new that seems innocuous, most

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Speaker 3: parents at some point have come into the room and said,

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Speaker 3: what in the heck is are you guys watching? Or

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Speaker 3: a conversation or a question that's been asked to say,

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Speaker 3: what made you ask that question? And when they find

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Speaker 3: out it was the entertainment they were watching, again, this

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Speaker 3: has opened up an opportunity. It's like, let's just make

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Speaker 3: entertainment that's good enough for anybody in the room. But

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Speaker 3: if you do need to leave the room, or if

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Speaker 3: you're like me and you need to take a quick

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Speaker 3: cat nap on a Sunday afternoon, you can do that.

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Speaker 3: And if I can make that promise to parents, Katie

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Speaker 3: bar the door.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, it's like Snanislovsky, he said, I go to the

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Speaker 2: theater to nap.

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Speaker 1: So do I.

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Speaker 2: You know, your Sycamore Studios reminds me of my friend

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Speaker 2: the flaharities, Michael and Chick Flaherty, who founded Walden Media,

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Speaker 2: and they were committed to telling, you know, in their case,

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Speaker 2: these classic literary children's stories they wanted to bring to life,

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Speaker 2: and they did. They Narnia and Charlotte's Web. I mean,

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Speaker 2: they did a whole cannon of film, The Bridge to Terabithia.

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Speaker 2: Tell me there's a temptation I see now where folks

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Speaker 2: on the right side of the aisle are trying to

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Speaker 2: create kids entertainment that runs in the other direction. And frankly,

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Speaker 2: I'm not wild about ideological entertainment in either direction.

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Speaker 1: What's the problem with that?

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Speaker 3: In your estimation?

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Speaker 1: Is there a problem with that?

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Speaker 3: I think there is a problem with that. Now, granted,

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Speaker 3: anybody can make any entertainment they want it's we're not

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Speaker 3: trying to pass a law saying you need to make this,

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Speaker 3: you need make that, or here's what you're doing wrong.

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Speaker 2: It's up.

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Speaker 3: Everybody can make whatever they want. Let's let the market decide.

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Speaker 3: Let's let the audience decide. Yeah. Where we see an

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Speaker 3: issue with that is in reversing the sort of ideal

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Speaker 3: logical side of it is you're treating children as a

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Speaker 3: means to an end, and ultimately it's your own end.

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Speaker 3: We see children as a means in and of themselves,

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Speaker 3: and ultimately you're training them for ideological battles that aren't

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Speaker 3: even going to be relevant when they're of age. You're

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Speaker 3: thinking of ten, fifteen, twenty years down the line. And ultimately,

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Speaker 3: if these children don't know virtue, if they're not taught

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Speaker 3: about the good, the true, and the beautiful and real virtue,

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Speaker 3: it doesn't matter how pure their political ideological indoctrination is.

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Speaker 3: If they don't understand what courage means, what it means

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Speaker 3: to be truly humble, what it means to practice true friendship,

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Speaker 3: none of that training or that that indoctrination is going

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Speaker 3: to matter whether it's on the left or the right.

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Speaker 3: So for us, it's about telling timeless stories, right, If

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Speaker 3: you're talking about topical stories and this day and edge

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Speaker 3: for children, something's gone terribly wrong. If you're talking about

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Speaker 3: timeless stories like snow White, a film from nineteen thirty

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Speaker 3: seven that is as relevant today, and it's in its

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Speaker 3: beauty and its grandeur and in in the story that

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Speaker 3: it tells. That's ultimately what needs to happen in a

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Speaker 3: topical story. If we're telling something topical, we know we're

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Speaker 3: going the wrong direction. If it's timeless, if it's something

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Speaker 3: that we think our great grandkids are going to be watching,

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Speaker 3: those are the types of stories that really need to

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Speaker 3: be told, and we think we are in a position

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Speaker 3: to tell them no.

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Speaker 1: And I've seen it. I mean I've seen it.

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Speaker 2: When I go and read for children, they crave a

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Speaker 2: sense of wonder. They bond with entertainment and with a

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Speaker 2: story in the way no adult could ever do. I mean,

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Speaker 2: there's a giving themselves over to the imaginative reality of

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Speaker 2: that story that a child, a journey they go on

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Speaker 2: that no adult audience can ever really imbibe. What's missing

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Speaker 2: from children's entertainment today, from children's films, from the films

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Speaker 2: you're seeing now, What's the missing element, if you had

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Speaker 2: to identify one or two, I.

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Speaker 3: Mean, I think a big part of it. There is

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Speaker 3: a lot of great stuff that's been coming out of late.

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Speaker 3: There's a lot of films that have really been speaking

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Speaker 3: to audiences, and I think what we see as missing

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Speaker 3: is not only that timelessness and the entertainment, but something

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Speaker 3: that is you know, like the super Mario Brothers film,

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Speaker 3: which did tremendously well, did almost a billion dollars of

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Speaker 3: the box office. So this is not a critique on

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Speaker 3: that film in any way, but a lot of the

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Speaker 3: films that we see, even though sometimes the ones that

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Speaker 3: perform quite well at the box office, they're empty calories then.

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Speaker 3: And I have I have five children, so I have

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Speaker 3: a nine year old and eight year old, a six

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Speaker 3: year old to two year old, and a little baby

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Speaker 3: in heaven. And the way that I see it is

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Speaker 3: their reaction to those films. So the movies that after

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Speaker 3: we see them and they enjoy them and we have

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Speaker 3: a great time, they're never to be spoken of again.

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Speaker 3: Those aren't films that are going to have that lasting power.

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Speaker 3: But those films that you know as a father, where

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Speaker 3: the children they want to take on those characters. They're

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Speaker 3: not dressing up like Luke Skywalker, they're becoming Luke Skywalker.

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Speaker 3: They're not trying to take on the character of even

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Speaker 3: The Little Mermaid as it were. One of my my

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Speaker 3: co founder, Tim Record, his daughter's three years old. Why

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Speaker 3: does she love The Little Mermaid so much? A movie

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Speaker 3: that came out when I was in elementary school, is

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Speaker 3: because at bath time, she gets into the bath and

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Speaker 3: she becomes Arial the Little Mermaid, And when she gets

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Speaker 3: out of the bath and towels off, she becomes Arial

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Speaker 3: the Princess. And she relives She embodied that, relived it.

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Speaker 3: And she was actually on a cross country's flight with

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Speaker 3: Tim's wife, and Tim was like, oh my gosh, my

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Speaker 3: three year olds going across the country. I'm going to

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Speaker 3: download twelve movies on the iPad just to make sure

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Speaker 3: everything's taken care of. All she watched was The Little

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Speaker 3: Mermaid from Los Angeles to New York, over and over

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Speaker 3: and over again, because it has that nature. So if

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Speaker 3: we can imbue that in films, if they can be

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Speaker 3: films that kids can not only go back to time

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Speaker 3: and time again, but parents can be excited for them

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Speaker 3: to go back to time and time again. To point

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Speaker 3: to him and say, yes, conversations we can have about

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Speaker 3: that film are actually going to evolve as my chill

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Speaker 3: child ages. Conversations about that film will be able to

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Speaker 3: catalyze certain bigger conversations. I think what Mike and Ship

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Speaker 3: Flaherty did at Walden. If you watch The Chronicles of Narnia,

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Speaker 3: you can have a conversation where I read that book

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Speaker 3: with my children. I told him we're going to watch

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Speaker 3: the movie and I did no editorializing in the movie.

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Speaker 3: And when Aslan is being murdered and killed at the

434
00:22:10,400 --> 00:22:12,480
Speaker 3: end of the film, my eight year old turned to

435
00:22:12,520 --> 00:22:15,000
Speaker 3: me with tears in his eyes, true story and said, Daddy,

436
00:22:15,040 --> 00:22:19,240
Speaker 3: that's just like Jesus that he made the allegorical connection

437
00:22:19,440 --> 00:22:22,160
Speaker 3: without me having to do a Sunday school lesson. That's

438
00:22:22,200 --> 00:22:25,240
Speaker 3: that past Watchful Dragons that C. S. Lewis talks about.

439
00:22:25,240 --> 00:22:27,320
Speaker 3: If we can strip it of the stained glass, we

440
00:22:27,440 --> 00:22:30,320
Speaker 3: have opportunities to speak to the heart of these children,

441
00:22:30,680 --> 00:22:33,560
Speaker 3: and we think at Sycamore we have the responsibility to

442
00:22:33,560 --> 00:22:33,800
Speaker 3: do that.

443
00:22:34,040 --> 00:22:35,920
Speaker 1: Yeah, no, I agree, it's important work.

444
00:22:36,119 --> 00:22:40,240
Speaker 2: You were a vice president at Participant Media, a global

445
00:22:40,280 --> 00:22:43,639
Speaker 2: content VP at another company. Why did you decide to

446
00:22:43,680 --> 00:22:46,080
Speaker 2: start your own studio, why not just go to another

447
00:22:46,119 --> 00:22:47,359
Speaker 2: studio and work for them.

448
00:22:47,920 --> 00:22:52,160
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean that would have been much easier. Frank Raymond.

449
00:22:53,080 --> 00:22:55,040
Speaker 3: When Tim Record and I got together and Tim had

450
00:22:55,040 --> 00:22:57,359
Speaker 3: been nominated for an Academy Award for a Beautiful Short

451
00:22:57,359 --> 00:22:59,640
Speaker 3: Animated Film, he directed a movie called The Star, which

452
00:22:59,720 --> 00:23:02,320
Speaker 3: is because one of the most beloved Christmas movies of

453
00:23:02,600 --> 00:23:05,840
Speaker 3: the last decade or so, huge Sony film and it

454
00:23:05,880 --> 00:23:08,240
Speaker 3: was watched for nineteen and a half million hours last

455
00:23:08,280 --> 00:23:11,120
Speaker 3: December on Netflix. That movie came out seven years ago.

456
00:23:11,440 --> 00:23:14,239
Speaker 3: Again talking about that timeless nature of it, but we

457
00:23:14,320 --> 00:23:19,040
Speaker 3: saw an opportunity because we knew that parents like ourselves

458
00:23:19,080 --> 00:23:22,760
Speaker 3: of young children didn't have those opportunities to engage with

459
00:23:22,800 --> 00:23:25,040
Speaker 3: films that they were excited to see on a monthly

460
00:23:25,080 --> 00:23:28,359
Speaker 3: basis or even a bi monthly basis. And we said, well, now,

461
00:23:28,640 --> 00:23:31,080
Speaker 3: what has stopped people from getting into this business before,

462
00:23:31,119 --> 00:23:33,000
Speaker 3: Because this is the most lucrative business that you can

463
00:23:33,000 --> 00:23:35,960
Speaker 3: get to in entertainment, kids and family IP is three

464
00:23:36,080 --> 00:23:39,280
Speaker 3: ps the size of live action and music combined. Right,

465
00:23:39,359 --> 00:23:42,560
Speaker 3: this is where what Walt Disney knew was his flywheel

466
00:23:42,600 --> 00:23:45,920
Speaker 3: of entertainment merchandise. Right, And we said what's stopping people?

467
00:23:45,960 --> 00:23:47,800
Speaker 3: And he said, well, one is the Walt Disney Company

468
00:23:47,840 --> 00:23:49,880
Speaker 3: is the eight hundred pound guerrilla. For the last hundred years,

469
00:23:49,880 --> 00:23:52,679
Speaker 3: it has dominated the kid's space. It has created the

470
00:23:52,680 --> 00:23:56,520
Speaker 3: American imagination for most children for multiple decades. And then

471
00:23:56,560 --> 00:23:59,000
Speaker 3: second is that cost of production and distribution. It's just

472
00:23:59,040 --> 00:24:01,800
Speaker 3: been a really, really costly thing to make animated films

473
00:24:01,840 --> 00:24:04,439
Speaker 3: and series. What's happened is both of those things have

474
00:24:04,600 --> 00:24:07,600
Speaker 3: changed dramatically. Now we have people saying I want something

475
00:24:07,640 --> 00:24:10,920
Speaker 3: different than the Walt Disney Company. And then secondarily, from

476
00:24:10,920 --> 00:24:13,439
Speaker 3: a business perspective, the cost of production has dropped so

477
00:24:13,520 --> 00:24:16,440
Speaker 3: dramatically that now we have an opportunity to compete on

478
00:24:16,520 --> 00:24:19,720
Speaker 3: equal footing. We looked at that took inspiration from people

479
00:24:19,760 --> 00:24:22,760
Speaker 3: like Mother Angelica. Your book was a huge inspiration, and

480
00:24:22,840 --> 00:24:24,639
Speaker 3: I thought, well, we got to do the ridiculous if

481
00:24:24,640 --> 00:24:27,080
Speaker 3: we expect God to do the miraculous, and so we

482
00:24:27,160 --> 00:24:28,399
Speaker 3: have to step out in faith and do it.

483
00:24:28,800 --> 00:24:32,200
Speaker 2: Yeah, what are you doing differently? What do you envision

484
00:24:32,280 --> 00:24:34,320
Speaker 2: differently from other companies? Look, there are a couple of

485
00:24:34,320 --> 00:24:36,879
Speaker 2: other people in this space. I'm going to talk about

486
00:24:37,000 --> 00:24:39,200
Speaker 2: one of them in a second. How do you envision

487
00:24:39,440 --> 00:24:42,360
Speaker 2: separating yourselves from what they're doing currently.

488
00:24:42,920 --> 00:24:45,920
Speaker 3: So you have the major entrench studios in the US,

489
00:24:46,200 --> 00:24:49,399
Speaker 3: and it's those are big battleships, right. They have a

490
00:24:49,400 --> 00:24:53,200
Speaker 3: lot of entrenched opportunities, both from a financial perspective and

491
00:24:53,480 --> 00:24:56,240
Speaker 3: the relationships that they've developed over time. But they're really

492
00:24:56,240 --> 00:24:58,720
Speaker 3: really expensive. The Walt Disney Company is an example. Their

493
00:24:58,760 --> 00:25:01,080
Speaker 3: movies cost about one hundred fift two hundred million dollars

494
00:25:01,119 --> 00:25:02,800
Speaker 3: to make. They cost you know, they take four to

495
00:25:02,880 --> 00:25:05,560
Speaker 3: six years. We look at something like Frozer, it takes

496
00:25:05,640 --> 00:25:08,200
Speaker 3: upwards of ten years to make that movie. It's difficult

497
00:25:08,200 --> 00:25:10,120
Speaker 3: to make an impact on society if we're only making

498
00:25:10,160 --> 00:25:12,080
Speaker 3: a movie every every decade.

499
00:25:12,280 --> 00:25:12,399
Speaker 2: Right.

500
00:25:13,680 --> 00:25:17,119
Speaker 3: Secondarily, there's a lot of beautiful independent animation coming out

501
00:25:17,160 --> 00:25:19,639
Speaker 3: of Europe which is actually very cost effective but looks

502
00:25:19,720 --> 00:25:22,240
Speaker 3: at the same high quality. But most of that is

503
00:25:22,280 --> 00:25:26,679
Speaker 3: coming from Western Europe, from French Belgian creators, and when

504
00:25:26,680 --> 00:25:28,800
Speaker 3: those films come to the United States and you watch them,

505
00:25:28,840 --> 00:25:31,000
Speaker 3: you're like, Wow, this is a beautiful movie. But these

506
00:25:31,080 --> 00:25:34,040
Speaker 3: jokes are very strange and this dialogue is very weird,

507
00:25:34,280 --> 00:25:36,320
Speaker 3: and you realize, oh, I'm watching a French film that's

508
00:25:36,320 --> 00:25:38,440
Speaker 3: been dubbed into English, and so we said, well, what

509
00:25:38,480 --> 00:25:40,000
Speaker 3: if we could combine those two things, What if we

510
00:25:40,240 --> 00:25:46,600
Speaker 3: create the long excellence of American writers and directors in

511
00:25:46,720 --> 00:25:50,720
Speaker 3: this filmmaking space. We combine that with beloved globally known

512
00:25:50,800 --> 00:25:53,520
Speaker 3: IP but then we're actually able to produce it at

513
00:25:53,600 --> 00:25:55,880
Speaker 3: the highest level, but for a budget that actually makes

514
00:25:55,920 --> 00:25:59,200
Speaker 3: sense from business perspective. We combine those things together and

515
00:25:59,240 --> 00:26:01,600
Speaker 3: Sycamore is actual creating a really unique model in the

516
00:26:01,680 --> 00:26:04,080
Speaker 3: space such that we have films that we can make

517
00:26:04,200 --> 00:26:08,000
Speaker 3: overseas and eventually back in the United States once that

518
00:26:08,119 --> 00:26:11,200
Speaker 3: makes sense from a technological perspective, but at the highest

519
00:26:11,240 --> 00:26:13,240
Speaker 3: quality level. So our first film is written by the

520
00:26:13,280 --> 00:26:16,680
Speaker 3: writers of the Paw Patrol movies, directed by Tim Recert,

521
00:26:16,760 --> 00:26:19,320
Speaker 3: my co founder. Our second film, which from your good

522
00:26:19,359 --> 00:26:23,320
Speaker 3: friend Ben Hackey, is being executive produced by Jeremy Latcham,

523
00:26:23,359 --> 00:26:26,160
Speaker 3: who produced every Iron Man, Avengers, Guardians of the Galaxy,

524
00:26:26,280 --> 00:26:29,439
Speaker 3: Spider Man Homecoming. So for the first time, we actually

525
00:26:29,520 --> 00:26:33,480
Speaker 3: have folks looking to make an impact in culture and

526
00:26:33,680 --> 00:26:36,520
Speaker 3: the market, but doing it at the highest level, not

527
00:26:36,680 --> 00:26:38,840
Speaker 3: just a bunch of guys that might believe what we

528
00:26:38,920 --> 00:26:40,640
Speaker 3: might believe, or they might even go to church where

529
00:26:40,640 --> 00:26:42,400
Speaker 3: we go to church and we're really pulling for him,

530
00:26:43,000 --> 00:26:45,480
Speaker 3: but actually working with folks who know how to do

531
00:26:45,600 --> 00:26:48,280
Speaker 3: this at the highest level and give ourselves and frankly,

532
00:26:48,400 --> 00:26:50,760
Speaker 3: our investors and our partners the best opportunity for.

533
00:26:50,800 --> 00:26:53,080
Speaker 1: Success and children and families.

534
00:26:53,359 --> 00:26:55,280
Speaker 3: Amen. Amen, Christian.

535
00:26:55,359 --> 00:26:57,560
Speaker 2: What do you make of the success of that King

536
00:26:57,640 --> 00:27:01,680
Speaker 2: of Kings film? Over Easter, another animated film made over

537
00:27:01,800 --> 00:27:04,880
Speaker 2: sixty million dollars in its domestic run.

538
00:27:05,640 --> 00:27:06,760
Speaker 1: What did that tell you?

539
00:27:07,640 --> 00:27:09,960
Speaker 3: Yeah, it tells us there's a there's a big hole

540
00:27:10,080 --> 00:27:12,800
Speaker 3: in the space. In January, we had dog Man, which

541
00:27:12,840 --> 00:27:14,840
Speaker 3: was a film from DreamWorks, which was the number one

542
00:27:14,880 --> 00:27:17,000
Speaker 3: film in the world, right based on a best selling

543
00:27:17,040 --> 00:27:20,119
Speaker 3: graphic novel series for kids. And then but for King

544
00:27:20,160 --> 00:27:22,600
Speaker 3: of Kings, we don't have another animated film in theaters

545
00:27:22,680 --> 00:27:25,159
Speaker 3: until June of this year. Wow. So if you were

546
00:27:25,160 --> 00:27:27,040
Speaker 3: a family of young children like we are, and like

547
00:27:27,119 --> 00:27:30,280
Speaker 3: there are one hundred and seventy million homes that are

548
00:27:30,359 --> 00:27:32,800
Speaker 3: very much in this space, they didn't have anything to

549
00:27:32,840 --> 00:27:34,880
Speaker 3: go see a movie theaters other than say, a movie

550
00:27:35,080 --> 00:27:37,080
Speaker 3: like the Minecraft film, which is going to do a

551
00:27:37,200 --> 00:27:40,240
Speaker 3: billion dollars, right, So there was an opportunity in this

552
00:27:40,440 --> 00:27:43,040
Speaker 3: space and King of King stepped in and said, you know,

553
00:27:43,480 --> 00:27:47,040
Speaker 3: faith is not a genre. Faith is an audience. And

554
00:27:47,160 --> 00:27:49,600
Speaker 3: so when folks, particularly on Easter weekend, they say, Hey,

555
00:27:49,640 --> 00:27:51,159
Speaker 3: what's a great movie that we could go see. That

556
00:27:51,280 --> 00:27:54,000
Speaker 3: movie was made for sub twenty million dollars in Korea

557
00:27:54,720 --> 00:27:58,000
Speaker 3: and it's a movie that is spoken to audiences in

558
00:27:58,080 --> 00:28:00,240
Speaker 3: a really meaningful way, and I think is going to

559
00:28:00,240 --> 00:28:02,280
Speaker 3: be one of those films that families want to watch

560
00:28:02,480 --> 00:28:03,840
Speaker 3: year after year after year.

561
00:28:04,640 --> 00:28:07,320
Speaker 1: Tell me how streaming has impacted all of this.

562
00:28:07,800 --> 00:28:12,760
Speaker 2: How does streaming and the constancy of that cycle, if

563
00:28:12,800 --> 00:28:17,760
Speaker 2: you will, and the expectations, How has that changed family entertainment?

564
00:28:17,960 --> 00:28:22,000
Speaker 3: Has it? Yeah? I mean the dust is still settling

565
00:28:22,080 --> 00:28:24,720
Speaker 3: on streaming. I mean the streaming wars are over Netflix one,

566
00:28:25,560 --> 00:28:28,840
Speaker 3: so it's not war anymore. But the dust is very

567
00:28:28,920 --> 00:28:31,520
Speaker 3: much still settling in a few ways in good ways.

568
00:28:31,560 --> 00:28:34,600
Speaker 3: And that it's created an opportunity for more supply, for

569
00:28:34,720 --> 00:28:37,280
Speaker 3: more voices to be heard, for more opportunities for more

570
00:28:37,320 --> 00:28:39,800
Speaker 3: at bats. That's even started to settle down a little bit.

571
00:28:40,080 --> 00:28:42,960
Speaker 3: But where that change has happened, particularly in family entertainment,

572
00:28:43,040 --> 00:28:45,640
Speaker 3: is if you're working on a subscription model, you're not

573
00:28:46,000 --> 00:28:49,400
Speaker 3: judged by the quality of a single film and a filmmaker,

574
00:28:49,480 --> 00:28:52,400
Speaker 3: isn't it You're more or less judged on do I

575
00:28:52,520 --> 00:28:55,760
Speaker 3: keep my account? Am I going to stay subscribed? And

576
00:28:56,080 --> 00:28:59,120
Speaker 3: what they have found is the number one genre of

577
00:28:59,240 --> 00:29:02,120
Speaker 3: entertainment on streaming for retention, which is that's that's what

578
00:29:02,240 --> 00:29:04,520
Speaker 3: all these streamers are looking for is the kids in

579
00:29:04,600 --> 00:29:06,880
Speaker 3: family space. At any one time, if you look on

580
00:29:06,960 --> 00:29:10,840
Speaker 3: the top ten list, whether it's Amazon or HBO or Netflix,

581
00:29:11,080 --> 00:29:14,400
Speaker 3: you're seeing a lot of animated films because families and

582
00:29:14,480 --> 00:29:16,360
Speaker 3: kids are always looking for things they want to watch.

583
00:29:16,520 --> 00:29:20,040
Speaker 3: So it's increased the opportunity on the supply side. I

584
00:29:20,120 --> 00:29:22,680
Speaker 3: think it's changed that some of the demand metrics in

585
00:29:22,800 --> 00:29:26,240
Speaker 3: what people are expecting, and so that theatrical window is

586
00:29:26,240 --> 00:29:28,360
Speaker 3: still very much open in the kids in family space

587
00:29:28,440 --> 00:29:31,280
Speaker 3: and particular in the animated space. And if you're able

588
00:29:31,360 --> 00:29:33,560
Speaker 3: to crack that, if you're able to speak to families

589
00:29:33,720 --> 00:29:36,480
Speaker 3: in the theater in that theatrical environment, not only is

590
00:29:36,480 --> 00:29:40,840
Speaker 3: there a lucrative opportunity, but it builds, it builds a

591
00:29:40,960 --> 00:29:44,360
Speaker 3: connection to that intellectual property and to that story that

592
00:29:44,560 --> 00:29:47,920
Speaker 3: a streaming first movie hasn't quite been able to prap yet.

593
00:29:48,120 --> 00:29:52,720
Speaker 2: No, there's a disposability in the stream or churn of content.

594
00:29:53,080 --> 00:29:54,800
Speaker 1: I mean, just by the nature of what it is.

595
00:29:54,960 --> 00:29:59,120
Speaker 2: I mean, you know, Charlie Saren is once again saving

596
00:29:59,200 --> 00:30:04,400
Speaker 2: the world with her band of Militia. There's only so

597
00:30:04,480 --> 00:30:07,880
Speaker 2: many times you can redo and watch that movie and

598
00:30:08,640 --> 00:30:11,760
Speaker 2: you see a sameness creeping into the family space of

599
00:30:11,880 --> 00:30:14,720
Speaker 2: their offerings as well. So the theatrical film that can

600
00:30:14,800 --> 00:30:17,080
Speaker 2: break through has a huge opportunity, as you said, a

601
00:30:17,160 --> 00:30:19,880
Speaker 2: double play, and again you mentioned it earlier. It's so important,

602
00:30:20,000 --> 00:30:23,320
Speaker 2: such a great insight. Families really want a long term

603
00:30:23,440 --> 00:30:27,840
Speaker 2: relationship with these movies, and the children, by their nature

604
00:30:28,000 --> 00:30:32,120
Speaker 2: do they just connect and it becomes playtime, it becomes

605
00:30:32,200 --> 00:30:33,360
Speaker 2: their imaginative life.

606
00:30:33,640 --> 00:30:35,840
Speaker 1: It's a much bigger thing than just an hour and

607
00:30:35,880 --> 00:30:37,320
Speaker 1: a half that they're spending in a theater.

608
00:30:37,840 --> 00:30:40,640
Speaker 3: Absolutely, absolutely, it becomes part of their world, quite literally,

609
00:30:40,680 --> 00:30:42,680
Speaker 3: a part of their world, and when it's really successful,

610
00:30:42,680 --> 00:30:44,080
Speaker 3: it becomes a part of every part of the world.

611
00:30:44,080 --> 00:30:46,160
Speaker 3: You need the backpack, you need the shoes, you need

612
00:30:46,280 --> 00:30:48,080
Speaker 3: the games, you want to go to the live show. Right,

613
00:30:48,480 --> 00:30:51,280
Speaker 3: this is what Walt knew, I mean, Walt sold I

614
00:30:51,360 --> 00:30:54,920
Speaker 3: think there was something like twelve million snow White commemorative

615
00:30:55,000 --> 00:30:57,880
Speaker 3: glasses that came out in nineteen thirty seven. I mean

616
00:30:57,920 --> 00:31:01,080
Speaker 3: that movie did, inflation adjusted close to four billion dollars

617
00:31:01,120 --> 00:31:03,960
Speaker 3: at the box office. And you know, the Walt Disney

618
00:31:04,000 --> 00:31:06,479
Speaker 3: company starting to merchandise, and that wasn't something they came

619
00:31:06,560 --> 00:31:08,760
Speaker 3: up with recently. Walt knew that from the very beginning.

620
00:31:09,000 --> 00:31:12,720
Speaker 2: M Yeah, from the mouse sears to the coonskin hats

621
00:31:12,760 --> 00:31:15,800
Speaker 2: that yep, Davy Crockett pushed on all those children in

622
00:31:15,880 --> 00:31:18,720
Speaker 2: the throughout the fifties you are working. You mentioned it

623
00:31:18,760 --> 00:31:22,200
Speaker 2: a moment ago on an animated version of Doctor Doolittle.

624
00:31:22,400 --> 00:31:26,560
Speaker 2: Why that property, Christian? Yeah, thirty years old, Rex Harrison

625
00:31:26,600 --> 00:31:28,640
Speaker 2: did it? Robert Downey Junior did it?

626
00:31:28,760 --> 00:31:30,920
Speaker 1: Not long ago? Hasn't it already been done?

627
00:31:31,680 --> 00:31:33,400
Speaker 3: That's a great question. Well, we look at that and

628
00:31:33,680 --> 00:31:35,800
Speaker 3: through a slightly different framing where I say, all right, well,

629
00:31:35,840 --> 00:31:38,400
Speaker 3: there's a property that has one hundred million copies sold

630
00:31:39,000 --> 00:31:42,320
Speaker 3: throughout history of the Doctor Doolittle franchise. The franchise as

631
00:31:42,360 --> 00:31:45,000
Speaker 3: a whole, non inflation adjusted, has done almost eight hundred

632
00:31:45,040 --> 00:31:47,680
Speaker 3: million dollars at the box office. And you and I

633
00:31:48,000 --> 00:31:50,520
Speaker 3: and my grandparents and my parents, everyone knows who Doctor

634
00:31:50,560 --> 00:31:52,720
Speaker 3: Doolittle is, Oh, yeah, you're the duologists who can talk

635
00:31:52,760 --> 00:31:57,280
Speaker 3: to animals, right, My children, my parents' grandchildren, they don't

636
00:31:57,360 --> 00:31:59,640
Speaker 3: have a touch point. Robert Downey Junior one just just

637
00:31:59,720 --> 00:32:02,880
Speaker 3: sort of predated the Gen Alpha young gen Z audience.

638
00:32:03,240 --> 00:32:07,000
Speaker 3: And so what we see is this is actually a story,

639
00:32:07,120 --> 00:32:10,560
Speaker 3: a piece of intellectual property that has multi generational appeal

640
00:32:11,040 --> 00:32:13,520
Speaker 3: that hasn't been done in the animation space which we're

641
00:32:13,600 --> 00:32:15,840
Speaker 3: looking at, and hasn't been told in the way. So

642
00:32:15,920 --> 00:32:18,160
Speaker 3: we're not doing a shot for shot retelling of anything.

643
00:32:18,200 --> 00:32:22,040
Speaker 3: Although a funny story. Raymond, my father in college, worked

644
00:32:22,040 --> 00:32:25,560
Speaker 3: as a grip on the Rex Harrison Doctor Doolittle movie.

645
00:32:26,480 --> 00:32:29,160
Speaker 3: He was in charge of carrying the stuffed crocodile from

646
00:32:29,280 --> 00:32:32,160
Speaker 3: set to set. So he's gonna have a little Easter

647
00:32:32,240 --> 00:32:34,320
Speaker 3: egg in the back of our film. But we see

648
00:32:34,360 --> 00:32:37,200
Speaker 3: it as a story that also is an amazing vehicle.

649
00:32:37,200 --> 00:32:39,040
Speaker 3: It's a toy box for us, for us to work

650
00:32:39,120 --> 00:32:41,440
Speaker 3: in and for us to use and say, how can

651
00:32:41,480 --> 00:32:44,520
Speaker 3: we tell a story here about vocation? How can we

652
00:32:44,960 --> 00:32:47,520
Speaker 3: tell a story about real friendship? And how can we

653
00:32:47,600 --> 00:32:50,840
Speaker 3: tell a story that using Doctor Doolittle as a character

654
00:32:51,080 --> 00:32:54,200
Speaker 3: and using the franchise as that toy box, that we

655
00:32:54,280 --> 00:32:57,360
Speaker 3: can tell a story that can have that timelessness shelf life,

656
00:32:57,720 --> 00:32:59,160
Speaker 3: so that parents are going to be wanting to go

657
00:32:59,240 --> 00:33:00,800
Speaker 3: back to this. They're going to be wanting to go

658
00:33:00,880 --> 00:33:03,160
Speaker 3: back to this, and it's something that every child at

659
00:33:03,160 --> 00:33:05,360
Speaker 3: a certain age believes they can do. Will just talk

660
00:33:05,400 --> 00:33:07,240
Speaker 3: to animals and so what would that look like?

661
00:33:07,920 --> 00:33:10,760
Speaker 2: Tell me about Zeta the space Girl. Yeah, has been

662
00:33:11,240 --> 00:33:12,600
Speaker 2: Hackey's graphic novel.

663
00:33:12,880 --> 00:33:15,840
Speaker 1: Why that property? What trew you all that? Yeah?

664
00:33:15,920 --> 00:33:19,800
Speaker 3: That's another one again, three novels in the series. Actually

665
00:33:20,080 --> 00:33:22,200
Speaker 3: very few people know this, but Zita named after a

666
00:33:22,280 --> 00:33:27,240
Speaker 3: thirteenth century Italian saint Zita, and Tim and I, my

667
00:33:27,320 --> 00:33:29,040
Speaker 3: co founder, we fell in love with the book, and

668
00:33:29,240 --> 00:33:30,920
Speaker 3: my children fell in love with the book, and we

669
00:33:31,040 --> 00:33:35,200
Speaker 3: have this extraordinary test case and that we'll read scripts

670
00:33:35,240 --> 00:33:37,400
Speaker 3: and books to our children. And I get the nine,

671
00:33:37,480 --> 00:33:39,120
Speaker 3: eight and six year old together and I see what

672
00:33:39,200 --> 00:33:41,560
Speaker 3: they're responding to, and so I knew my daughter it's

673
00:33:41,600 --> 00:33:44,640
Speaker 3: a female heroine, Zita. She gets taken into this space

674
00:33:44,680 --> 00:33:46,640
Speaker 3: world to try to save her friend, and I knew

675
00:33:46,680 --> 00:33:48,240
Speaker 3: she was going to love it. By the next morning,

676
00:33:48,320 --> 00:33:51,160
Speaker 3: she had a green blanket tied around her back. And

677
00:33:51,200 --> 00:33:53,479
Speaker 3: she said, Daddy, look, I'm Zita now. My boys.

678
00:33:53,600 --> 00:33:54,400
Speaker 1: I was a little I was.

679
00:33:54,480 --> 00:33:56,000
Speaker 3: I wasn't sure. I wasn't sure if they were going

680
00:33:56,040 --> 00:33:57,320
Speaker 3: to they were going to respond to it, And so

681
00:33:57,400 --> 00:33:59,200
Speaker 3: I waited for two weeks. I waited for two weeks.

682
00:33:59,200 --> 00:34:01,760
Speaker 3: I didn't say anything about the book. Two weeks later,

683
00:34:01,960 --> 00:34:04,120
Speaker 3: I said, boys, do you remember that Zeta the Space

684
00:34:04,200 --> 00:34:06,120
Speaker 3: Girl book we read? And they said yeah. I said,

685
00:34:06,120 --> 00:34:08,239
Speaker 3: do you have any favorite characters from it? And they

686
00:34:08,320 --> 00:34:11,839
Speaker 3: started rattling off all of these extraordinary characters that Ben

687
00:34:12,000 --> 00:34:13,799
Speaker 3: in his imagination had come up with. And I thought,

688
00:34:13,840 --> 00:34:16,120
Speaker 3: wait a second, we have something here. If a nine

689
00:34:16,160 --> 00:34:19,319
Speaker 3: to six year old boys and girls are drawing into

690
00:34:19,440 --> 00:34:21,719
Speaker 3: this and it's one of those properties that they're taking

691
00:34:21,800 --> 00:34:23,920
Speaker 3: it off the page and bringing it into their play,

692
00:34:24,280 --> 00:34:28,160
Speaker 3: there's a massive opportunity here. We sent it to Jeremy Latcham, who,

693
00:34:28,239 --> 00:34:30,560
Speaker 3: as I mentioned before, had done every Iron Man, Avengers,

694
00:34:30,600 --> 00:34:33,239
Speaker 3: Guardians of the Galaxy. He's done six billion at the

695
00:34:33,280 --> 00:34:35,520
Speaker 3: box office and the films that he's been affiliated with.

696
00:34:36,120 --> 00:34:37,879
Speaker 3: He read it to his daughter and he came back

697
00:34:37,920 --> 00:34:39,960
Speaker 3: to me and has said, well, my daughter said, Daddy,

698
00:34:40,000 --> 00:34:41,920
Speaker 3: you have to make this into a movie. And so

699
00:34:42,000 --> 00:34:44,200
Speaker 3: we said, great, let's make it happen. It's one of

700
00:34:44,239 --> 00:34:46,360
Speaker 3: those properties. And not every book we read has that

701
00:34:46,560 --> 00:34:49,520
Speaker 3: that special sort of fairy dust. But what Ben has

702
00:34:49,560 --> 00:34:51,960
Speaker 3: been able to create in this world with Zita, and

703
00:34:52,080 --> 00:34:54,480
Speaker 3: Zita doesn't have any superpowers, she gets taken into this

704
00:34:54,719 --> 00:34:57,879
Speaker 3: very brutal galaxy that she's not familiar with. She doesn't

705
00:34:57,920 --> 00:35:00,600
Speaker 3: have any superpowers, but what she can do is she

706
00:35:00,800 --> 00:35:06,040
Speaker 3: brings love, forgiveness, real virtue. Her ability to create friendship, alliances,

707
00:35:06,280 --> 00:35:09,120
Speaker 3: forgive even people that are her enemies, has the power

708
00:35:09,200 --> 00:35:11,280
Speaker 3: to not only save her and her friend, but ultimately

709
00:35:11,360 --> 00:35:12,399
Speaker 3: the power to save the world.

710
00:35:13,160 --> 00:35:15,480
Speaker 1: That's a story I want to watch their fun books.

711
00:35:15,760 --> 00:35:16,560
Speaker 1: Who is okay?

712
00:35:16,840 --> 00:35:19,160
Speaker 2: I'm going to give you the Arroyo Grande questionnaire. I

713
00:35:19,239 --> 00:35:22,040
Speaker 2: asked everybody who comes on the show. I hope you

714
00:35:22,080 --> 00:35:24,800
Speaker 2: haven't been peeking. Who is the person you most admire?

715
00:35:24,960 --> 00:35:29,040
Speaker 3: Christian That's an easy answer. That's my wife Kara, to

716
00:35:29,239 --> 00:35:35,160
Speaker 3: see firsthand the quiet heroism that goes into motherhood. And

717
00:35:35,920 --> 00:35:37,759
Speaker 3: what I've learned more and more as I've gotten older

718
00:35:37,960 --> 00:35:41,279
Speaker 3: is the greatness in most things is not usually in

719
00:35:41,320 --> 00:35:44,120
Speaker 3: the spectacular, it's in the consistent and I would say

720
00:35:44,239 --> 00:35:47,040
Speaker 3: most mothers that I've seen this modeled with my wife,

721
00:35:47,120 --> 00:35:49,279
Speaker 3: both as a mother and as a wife and as

722
00:35:49,360 --> 00:35:52,520
Speaker 3: just an extraordinary person. It's her, ten times out of ten.

723
00:35:53,080 --> 00:35:55,000
Speaker 1: Who is the person you most despise?

724
00:35:55,800 --> 00:36:00,360
Speaker 3: Oh Lord, Luckily I could say, I don't have a

725
00:36:00,400 --> 00:36:02,920
Speaker 3: lot of people on my list, anyone who who abuses

726
00:36:03,040 --> 00:36:06,520
Speaker 3: or hurts children. This is probably the only place where

727
00:36:07,239 --> 00:36:09,560
Speaker 3: if I was in charge politically, I'd have to stand

728
00:36:09,600 --> 00:36:12,640
Speaker 3: before Saint Peter and have some explaining to do, because

729
00:36:13,200 --> 00:36:17,000
Speaker 3: there there is no depths. And I listen, I'm a

730
00:36:17,239 --> 00:36:20,200
Speaker 3: I'm a Christian. And Jesus was very very clear when

731
00:36:20,239 --> 00:36:23,520
Speaker 3: it came to misleading children and are all loving and knowing.

732
00:36:23,600 --> 00:36:25,759
Speaker 3: Lord made it very clear that one should have a

733
00:36:25,800 --> 00:36:27,960
Speaker 3: millstone tied around their neck could be tossed into the sea.

734
00:36:28,400 --> 00:36:30,799
Speaker 3: So needless to say, their top of my list.

735
00:36:31,080 --> 00:36:33,440
Speaker 1: Yell, if Jesus agrees with you, you know you're on

736
00:36:33,560 --> 00:36:34,160
Speaker 1: safe territory.

737
00:36:34,160 --> 00:36:34,560
Speaker 3: I'll take that.

738
00:36:34,719 --> 00:36:36,960
Speaker 1: I'll tell you what's your best feature?

739
00:36:38,080 --> 00:36:44,600
Speaker 3: Oh Lord? Uh? I think, uh, I hope it's there.

740
00:36:44,640 --> 00:36:46,480
Speaker 3: I don't have any duality. What you see is what

741
00:36:46,560 --> 00:36:48,960
Speaker 3: you get. I'm one of those people. There's there's there's

742
00:36:49,040 --> 00:36:53,960
Speaker 3: no other version of myself. It's Hey, our relationship is

743
00:36:54,000 --> 00:36:55,640
Speaker 3: what it is. You're not going to find out anything

744
00:36:55,680 --> 00:36:58,960
Speaker 3: about me later or you're Our interactions are always going

745
00:36:59,000 --> 00:37:01,520
Speaker 3: to be above board, and that's ultimately how I how

746
00:37:01,520 --> 00:37:02,800
Speaker 3: I'm wired and how I've been raised.

747
00:37:03,160 --> 00:37:04,240
Speaker 1: What's your worst feature?

748
00:37:04,800 --> 00:37:09,680
Speaker 3: Oh gosh, can we extend this show by forty five minutes? Lord?

749
00:37:11,080 --> 00:37:13,080
Speaker 3: It would have to be Listen. I'm an Irishman through

750
00:37:13,120 --> 00:37:16,279
Speaker 3: and through. I've been able to keep my temper at bay.

751
00:37:16,440 --> 00:37:18,239
Speaker 3: I think I have a very long fuse, But when

752
00:37:18,280 --> 00:37:21,680
Speaker 3: that fuse is lit, I would have to say. That's

753
00:37:21,680 --> 00:37:23,440
Speaker 3: something that I work on on a daily basis.

754
00:37:24,080 --> 00:37:24,960
Speaker 1: What do you fear?

755
00:37:25,200 --> 00:37:29,680
Speaker 3: Christian? The same thing that our dear mother Angelica feared

756
00:37:29,840 --> 00:37:32,600
Speaker 3: that I get to meet our creator one day and

757
00:37:32,800 --> 00:37:34,320
Speaker 3: he says, look at all the things you could have

758
00:37:34,360 --> 00:37:37,040
Speaker 3: done had you just trusted me more. That's the only

759
00:37:37,120 --> 00:37:37,759
Speaker 3: thing that I fear.

760
00:37:38,360 --> 00:37:40,319
Speaker 1: Yeah, the greatest virtue is what.

761
00:37:42,760 --> 00:37:46,520
Speaker 3: It's got to be humility. I think that's that's the bedrock,

762
00:37:46,560 --> 00:37:48,879
Speaker 3: the found real humility. Not not woe is me, I'm

763
00:37:48,920 --> 00:37:52,200
Speaker 3: not worthy of anything, but actually understanding where you are

764
00:37:52,480 --> 00:37:54,239
Speaker 3: in light of this, and that not only is there

765
00:37:54,320 --> 00:37:58,120
Speaker 3: something greater than us, but that ultimately everything that we

766
00:37:58,320 --> 00:38:01,680
Speaker 3: have comes from the world. I think David Mammont, who

767
00:38:01,680 --> 00:38:03,680
Speaker 3: I know is a good friend of yours, I think

768
00:38:03,719 --> 00:38:06,680
Speaker 3: he embodies it. Because people who have real humility, they

769
00:38:06,760 --> 00:38:10,239
Speaker 3: ultimately have an extraordinary confidence because they know it's not

770
00:38:10,320 --> 00:38:13,120
Speaker 3: all about them and they know what they don't know.

771
00:38:13,360 --> 00:38:17,320
Speaker 3: And I've seen that embodied. I binge David mammontt interviews

772
00:38:17,360 --> 00:38:20,040
Speaker 3: anytime in one pops up and he I think he

773
00:38:20,160 --> 00:38:22,880
Speaker 3: really embodies it. For someone with his track record and

774
00:38:23,200 --> 00:38:25,800
Speaker 3: his background and the success that he's had to have

775
00:38:25,960 --> 00:38:28,440
Speaker 3: the true real humility in the small things and in

776
00:38:28,520 --> 00:38:30,879
Speaker 3: the big things. You can see why he's as great

777
00:38:31,000 --> 00:38:33,960
Speaker 3: as he is because he knows where his greatness comes from,

778
00:38:34,000 --> 00:38:35,040
Speaker 3: and he knows what he doesn't know.

779
00:38:35,360 --> 00:38:35,560
Speaker 1: Yeah.

780
00:38:35,640 --> 00:38:39,800
Speaker 2: No, there's a confidence in his not only his worldview,

781
00:38:39,880 --> 00:38:43,640
Speaker 2: but his opinion of the arts and life and the world.

782
00:38:43,840 --> 00:38:46,360
Speaker 1: And I love that. You got the cross promotion in

783
00:38:46,480 --> 00:38:49,920
Speaker 1: Christian very good after this. Go watch David Mammot on

784
00:38:50,200 --> 00:38:50,840
Speaker 1: Royal Grande.

785
00:38:50,920 --> 00:38:53,480
Speaker 2: It was a funny, great interview and Christian getting him

786
00:38:53,520 --> 00:38:56,000
Speaker 2: to smile is a near impossibility, and they pulled it

787
00:38:56,120 --> 00:38:56,680
Speaker 2: all up.

788
00:38:56,800 --> 00:38:57,120
Speaker 3: Terrific.

789
00:38:57,320 --> 00:39:00,000
Speaker 1: The word you could not live without.

790
00:39:02,280 --> 00:39:07,880
Speaker 3: The word. I could not live without amen. Oh right,

791
00:39:08,040 --> 00:39:10,279
Speaker 3: I probably say that more than almost any word, right,

792
00:39:10,360 --> 00:39:11,759
Speaker 3: I believe that's what it means.

793
00:39:11,840 --> 00:39:15,920
Speaker 2: So your I couldn't live without word is very different

794
00:39:15,960 --> 00:39:16,359
Speaker 2: from mine.

795
00:39:16,400 --> 00:39:19,000
Speaker 1: But I won't tell you what it is. We'll leave

796
00:39:19,040 --> 00:39:21,040
Speaker 1: it there. It would not be in one of your movies.

797
00:39:21,080 --> 00:39:24,800
Speaker 1: I can promise. What is your greatest regret? Christian?

798
00:39:25,520 --> 00:39:27,719
Speaker 3: You know, I don't have any macro regrets about I

799
00:39:27,960 --> 00:39:30,640
Speaker 3: think I believe in God's providence, in God's will, and

800
00:39:30,719 --> 00:39:33,080
Speaker 3: even some wrong decisions that I've made, it's all in

801
00:39:33,200 --> 00:39:36,920
Speaker 3: the greater plan. Definitely, Mike. Anytime I've mistreated someone or

802
00:39:37,280 --> 00:39:40,000
Speaker 3: or been short with someone or haven't, I would go

803
00:39:40,120 --> 00:39:42,359
Speaker 3: back ten times out of ten and change those those,

804
00:39:43,080 --> 00:39:45,879
Speaker 3: you know, interactions or relationships that went sour that didn't

805
00:39:45,920 --> 00:39:48,120
Speaker 3: need to be and that was my fault. Yeah, I'm

806
00:39:48,160 --> 00:39:49,520
Speaker 3: not one of these people that says I have absolutely

807
00:39:49,520 --> 00:39:52,360
Speaker 3: no regrets. Those are absolutely regrets. I would love to

808
00:39:52,400 --> 00:39:54,560
Speaker 3: go back in time. But the big ones, jobs that

809
00:39:54,600 --> 00:39:59,360
Speaker 3: I've taken, decisions I've made, you know, school decisions, not

810
00:39:59,480 --> 00:40:02,080
Speaker 3: a regret. It led me to where we are right now,

811
00:40:02,120 --> 00:40:03,120
Speaker 3: which is where God needs me.

812
00:40:03,200 --> 00:40:04,399
Speaker 1: To be a friend of mine.

813
00:40:04,440 --> 00:40:08,680
Speaker 2: Mike, who is a very successful engineer, had a question

814
00:40:08,800 --> 00:40:11,279
Speaker 2: he would ask everybody interviewed, and it was this one,

815
00:40:11,600 --> 00:40:13,440
Speaker 2: what do you know that other people don't?

816
00:40:14,200 --> 00:40:17,359
Speaker 3: Oh gosh, that's a great like a Peter tile I question.

817
00:40:17,800 --> 00:40:20,680
Speaker 3: Great question. Yeah, yeah, I would go back to that.

818
00:40:20,840 --> 00:40:24,680
Speaker 3: It's it's probably greatness is not in the spectacular, it's

819
00:40:24,719 --> 00:40:27,319
Speaker 3: in the consistent. So much, I don't care if it's

820
00:40:27,320 --> 00:40:30,480
Speaker 3: Michael Jordan or my wife. So much of the greatness

821
00:40:30,520 --> 00:40:32,720
Speaker 3: that comes from that is not in that one moment

822
00:40:32,800 --> 00:40:36,719
Speaker 3: in time. It's in the consistent commitment to virtue, which

823
00:40:36,800 --> 00:40:39,239
Speaker 3: ultimately is is that excellence that we seek. I think

824
00:40:39,280 --> 00:40:42,000
Speaker 3: Mother Angelica is another great example of that. Granted there

825
00:40:42,000 --> 00:40:44,560
Speaker 3: were those moments in time, but it was it was

826
00:40:44,640 --> 00:40:47,600
Speaker 3: her her humble commitment to doing what she felt she

827
00:40:47,800 --> 00:40:50,920
Speaker 3: was called to do and understanding that I can't there's

828
00:40:50,960 --> 00:40:53,120
Speaker 3: no days off. I can't. I can't take off a

829
00:40:53,239 --> 00:40:56,560
Speaker 3: day from from God's calling. I have to just be consistent,

830
00:40:56,680 --> 00:40:58,279
Speaker 3: even in those times where I don't feel like it.

831
00:40:58,640 --> 00:41:00,839
Speaker 3: That's that's something that I think if more people knew,

832
00:41:00,840 --> 00:41:03,839
Speaker 3: they wouldn't be always seeking out the game winning shot,

833
00:41:03,960 --> 00:41:05,520
Speaker 3: but it would be parentually putting more of the time

834
00:41:05,600 --> 00:41:06,080
Speaker 3: in in the gym.

835
00:41:06,600 --> 00:41:09,600
Speaker 2: Yeah, what's the best piece of advice you've ever received.

836
00:41:11,000 --> 00:41:12,520
Speaker 3: I mean, when I went to work in Hollywood for

837
00:41:12,560 --> 00:41:16,920
Speaker 3: the first time, my mother who you know, Raymond, right

838
00:41:16,960 --> 00:41:18,840
Speaker 3: before I went. So I went to work in a

839
00:41:19,040 --> 00:41:21,880
Speaker 3: secular Hollywood studio and it was my first day of

840
00:41:21,960 --> 00:41:23,920
Speaker 3: work and I called my mom. I was excited, and

841
00:41:24,000 --> 00:41:27,560
Speaker 3: she said, don't forget Christian You're probably the only Bible

842
00:41:27,640 --> 00:41:30,200
Speaker 3: these people are ever going to read. And that stuck

843
00:41:30,280 --> 00:41:33,120
Speaker 3: with me. That was one of those opportunities where I

844
00:41:33,239 --> 00:41:35,680
Speaker 3: realized it wasn't just hey, you know, put out a

845
00:41:35,719 --> 00:41:38,040
Speaker 3: good showing because you're a representative of the family. That

846
00:41:38,160 --> 00:41:41,520
Speaker 3: type of thing was. It was understand that, particularly in Hollywood,

847
00:41:41,560 --> 00:41:43,000
Speaker 3: and it's not unique to Hollywood. It could be any

848
00:41:43,040 --> 00:41:45,920
Speaker 3: number of industries that you might be the only Christian

849
00:41:46,000 --> 00:41:49,000
Speaker 3: influence that they have on a regular basis. And that's

850
00:41:49,040 --> 00:41:51,160
Speaker 3: a lot of pressure, but it's also a lot of responsibility,

851
00:41:51,160 --> 00:41:53,279
Speaker 3: and that's something that I've taken seriously, not just in

852
00:41:53,360 --> 00:41:56,359
Speaker 3: that job, but in the industry as a whole.

853
00:41:56,840 --> 00:42:00,439
Speaker 1: Christian. What's your favorite book and the last one you read?

854
00:42:01,560 --> 00:42:04,879
Speaker 3: The last book I read was actually a book called

855
00:42:04,920 --> 00:42:08,480
Speaker 3: An Empire of their Own by Neil Gaebler. Terrific book

856
00:42:08,560 --> 00:42:10,880
Speaker 3: about the history of Hollywood and in particular all of

857
00:42:10,960 --> 00:42:14,520
Speaker 3: the studio heads in the early Golden Age of Hollywood.

858
00:42:14,520 --> 00:42:17,760
Speaker 3: That's that's a time period that I find so romantic

859
00:42:17,840 --> 00:42:21,040
Speaker 3: and beautiful, and the early Louis B. Mayer and Adolf

860
00:42:21,160 --> 00:42:24,280
Speaker 3: Zucker and all that group. Just an extraordinary book about

861
00:42:24,360 --> 00:42:27,800
Speaker 3: the Testament to those folks and what they built in

862
00:42:27,960 --> 00:42:31,479
Speaker 3: that stage. The last book I read, I'm not gonna

863
00:42:31,480 --> 00:42:33,920
Speaker 3: lie this is now, I'm not trying to front here, Raymond.

864
00:42:34,000 --> 00:42:37,360
Speaker 3: It was your biography of Mother Angelica. I listened to

865
00:42:37,480 --> 00:42:41,360
Speaker 3: the audio version. Was your impression of Mother Angelica is

866
00:42:42,000 --> 00:42:45,520
Speaker 3: his second to none. So it was a tremendous because

867
00:42:45,560 --> 00:42:47,840
Speaker 3: we were in the middle of fundraising for our company,

868
00:42:48,480 --> 00:42:51,560
Speaker 3: so listening to that book and hearing about the history

869
00:42:51,600 --> 00:42:55,640
Speaker 3: of EWTN and the role that mother had in establishing

870
00:42:55,719 --> 00:42:59,120
Speaker 3: something and finding ways where sometimes she was stepping out

871
00:42:59,480 --> 00:43:02,120
Speaker 3: most time she was stepping on faith when not only

872
00:43:02,280 --> 00:43:03,920
Speaker 3: was the bridge not there, but she couldn't see it

873
00:43:03,960 --> 00:43:06,560
Speaker 3: if it were. And so that that was that's been

874
00:43:06,560 --> 00:43:09,560
Speaker 3: a really I've recommended that book to more people than

875
00:43:09,600 --> 00:43:10,480
Speaker 3: I can admit.

876
00:43:10,680 --> 00:43:11,520
Speaker 1: I love it. Well.

877
00:43:11,600 --> 00:43:14,560
Speaker 2: No, she was obviously a great light in my life.

878
00:43:14,600 --> 00:43:17,239
Speaker 2: And I always think of that line and I guess

879
00:43:17,280 --> 00:43:19,920
Speaker 2: it applies to what you're doing now. You know, she

880
00:43:20,000 --> 00:43:21,960
Speaker 2: would say, you got to take the first step. The

881
00:43:22,120 --> 00:43:25,480
Speaker 2: grace only comes when you step. And that's the scary

882
00:43:25,560 --> 00:43:28,399
Speaker 2: thing about providence. You have to kind of go there

883
00:43:28,480 --> 00:43:31,680
Speaker 2: to get the grace, and it's a it's a faith walk.

884
00:43:31,800 --> 00:43:34,080
Speaker 2: Final question, what happens when this is over?

885
00:43:36,040 --> 00:43:38,680
Speaker 3: My prayer is that I get an opportunity to give

886
00:43:38,719 --> 00:43:41,560
Speaker 3: an account, and you know, I can say to Saint

887
00:43:41,600 --> 00:43:45,520
Speaker 3: Peter before you say anything, and make my case right.

888
00:43:46,040 --> 00:43:47,799
Speaker 3: And and the hope is that when it's all said

889
00:43:47,840 --> 00:43:50,160
Speaker 3: and done, you you get the greeting of my good

890
00:43:50,200 --> 00:43:54,880
Speaker 3: and faithful servant. That's that's that's what I'm swinging for ultimately.

891
00:43:54,760 --> 00:43:57,200
Speaker 2: Well, Christian, I also hope that he will have seen

892
00:43:57,400 --> 00:43:59,320
Speaker 2: one or two of your films at that point and

893
00:43:59,440 --> 00:44:02,600
Speaker 2: realized good work and the good effects of that work.

894
00:44:02,680 --> 00:44:06,279
Speaker 2: So that'll get you a fast pass at least into purgatory.

895
00:44:06,400 --> 00:44:08,920
Speaker 2: And you can come sit in my suite. We'll be

896
00:44:09,000 --> 00:44:09,680
Speaker 2: together for a while.

897
00:44:09,680 --> 00:44:13,280
Speaker 3: We'll do we'll do another interview Raymond. Yeah, the Purgatory Files.

898
00:44:13,440 --> 00:44:16,000
Speaker 1: I love it. Christian mcgreigan, thank you so much.

899
00:44:15,880 --> 00:44:18,000
Speaker 3: For being here, my pleasure. Thank you, Raymond.

900
00:44:18,640 --> 00:44:19,680
Speaker 1: Here's the hole for me.

901
00:44:19,840 --> 00:44:23,960
Speaker 2: I loved what Christian mcgregan said about consistency, doing the

902
00:44:24,080 --> 00:44:26,600
Speaker 2: right thing, staying on the beam, doing it day in

903
00:44:26,680 --> 00:44:27,200
Speaker 2: and day out.

904
00:44:27,440 --> 00:44:29,799
Speaker 1: It's not about the quick hit or the big goal

905
00:44:30,239 --> 00:44:31,160
Speaker 1: or the big swash.

906
00:44:31,480 --> 00:44:36,399
Speaker 2: It's about staying at the grindstone every day and doing

907
00:44:36,520 --> 00:44:38,920
Speaker 2: what's needed, what you're called to. And I love and

908
00:44:39,160 --> 00:44:43,399
Speaker 2: certainly that characterizes art. It's an important component of any

909
00:44:43,600 --> 00:44:47,239
Speaker 2: artist and really any parent. You got to be there

910
00:44:47,480 --> 00:44:49,759
Speaker 2: every moment. It's not about the quick hit or the

911
00:44:49,840 --> 00:44:52,080
Speaker 2: quick trip, it's about being there every day.

912
00:44:52,440 --> 00:44:54,359
Speaker 1: I hope you'll come back to a royal Grande soon.

913
00:44:54,640 --> 00:44:56,839
Speaker 2: WHI live a dry, constricted life when if you fill

914
00:44:56,880 --> 00:44:59,919
Speaker 2: it with good things, it can flow into a broad thrive.

915
00:45:00,600 --> 00:45:02,400
Speaker 1: Arroyo Grande. I'm reading at Arroyo.

916
00:45:02,520 --> 00:45:05,600
Speaker 2: Make sure you subscribe like this episode. Thank you for

917
00:45:05,760 --> 00:45:09,640
Speaker 2: diving in, and we'll see you next time. Arroyo Grande

918
00:45:09,760 --> 00:45:13,080
Speaker 2: is produced in partnership with iHeart Podcasts and is available

919
00:45:13,360 --> 00:45:16,439
Speaker 2: on the iHeartRadio app or wherever you get your podcasts.