WEBVTT - How I Made It with Invent.TV Founder Sergio Alfaro 0:00:07.280 --> 0:00:11.840 Welcome to Strictly Business, Variety's weekly podcasts featuring conversations with 0:00:11.920 --> 0:00:15.720 industry leaders about the business of media and entertainment. I'm 0:00:15.760 --> 0:00:19.599 Cynthia Lyttleton, co editor in chief of Variety Today. My 0:00:19.680 --> 0:00:24.320 guest is Sergio Alfaro, founder and CEO of invent TV. 0:00:25.079 --> 0:00:28.200 Alfaro grew up in the Pasadena area in an apartment 0:00:28.280 --> 0:00:32.000 that didn't even have a television. Now he produces dozens 0:00:32.000 --> 0:00:35.559 of hours of TV every year. Invent TV is a 0:00:35.600 --> 0:00:39.400 busy unscripted production banner that has handled production for a 0:00:39.479 --> 0:00:43.120 range of shows. Invent TV is a busy banner that 0:00:43.200 --> 0:00:46.519 has handled production for a range of shows from Doctor 0:00:46.520 --> 0:00:50.120 Pimple Popper, The Real Housewives of Salt Lake City to 0:00:50.240 --> 0:00:54.160 numerous Oprah Winfrey TV specials over the years. He launched 0:00:54.160 --> 0:00:57.680 the company about ten years ago in partnership with investor 0:00:57.720 --> 0:01:02.360 and philanthropist Jeffrey Soros. Alfaro is truly a modern day 0:01:02.400 --> 0:01:07.440 Horatio Alger. He started out in entertainment stocking dressing rooms 0:01:07.480 --> 0:01:12.280 and cleaning up debauchery after live performances. Today he's a 0:01:12.360 --> 0:01:16.399 business owner who was courted for prestigious board seats and 0:01:16.520 --> 0:01:19.080 in the twenty five years in between, he had a 0:01:19.200 --> 0:01:23.720 rise and a fall with the previous company. Alfaro explains 0:01:23.760 --> 0:01:26.080 how he built it back up and what he learned 0:01:26.080 --> 0:01:29.280 from the hard process of failure, and he gives us 0:01:29.319 --> 0:01:33.240 a producer's i view on the unscripted TV marketplace. Right now, 0:01:33.640 --> 0:01:50.360 that's all coming up after this break, and we're back 0:01:50.400 --> 0:01:55.040 with a conversation with Invent TV founder and CEO Sergio Alfaro. 0:01:55.800 --> 0:01:59.640 Sergio Alfaro, CEO of Invent TV, thank you for joining 0:01:59.640 --> 0:02:00.160 me today. 0:02:00.160 --> 0:02:01.200 Thank you for having. 0:02:00.960 --> 0:02:05.080 Me, and dear listeners. Sergio is from Pasadena, which is 0:02:05.120 --> 0:02:09.520 my hometown, and he brought me a gorgeous pie from 0:02:09.600 --> 0:02:12.640 Pie and Burger. That is a very sweet gesture and 0:02:12.680 --> 0:02:16.280 a very Pasadena gesture. Thank you. You have a fantastic 0:02:16.360 --> 0:02:20.200 backstory and inspiring You are a born entrepreneur backstory, and 0:02:20.200 --> 0:02:21.639 I want to talk about that, but I want to 0:02:21.680 --> 0:02:24.639 start by you are also right now in the trench's 0:02:25.240 --> 0:02:29.480 selling shows. Right now, we are five months in to 0:02:29.760 --> 0:02:33.760 the macroeconomic roller coaster ride that has been the second 0:02:34.000 --> 0:02:37.360 Trump administration. What is your sense out there right now? 0:02:37.400 --> 0:02:39.720 Are people still finding their way through the fog? 0:02:40.160 --> 0:02:44.160 I think there's a lot of fear in general job security. 0:02:44.320 --> 0:02:46.560 What's the next hit, and I think it goes globally. 0:02:46.600 --> 0:02:49.280 It's not just the production company's feeling it. I think 0:02:49.320 --> 0:02:52.240 the networks are feeling it as well. Their next bet 0:02:52.400 --> 0:02:55.040 may be the wrong bet, and then that costs them 0:02:55.080 --> 0:02:58.400 their jobs and everybody else's jobs. So I think people 0:02:58.440 --> 0:03:01.639 are playing it safe right now. I think that eventually 0:03:01.680 --> 0:03:04.160 somebody's going to take some swings again and get a 0:03:04.320 --> 0:03:08.079 huge hit on the air, and that might rejigger things 0:03:08.080 --> 0:03:09.760 again and put it back to normal. I think this 0:03:09.880 --> 0:03:10.520 is cyclical. 0:03:11.360 --> 0:03:16.560 In the business of pitching and getting show commissions from outlets, 0:03:16.600 --> 0:03:19.240 we've seen a lot of consolidation. Now. We have in 0:03:19.280 --> 0:03:22.160 many cases, not every single case, but of the major platforms, 0:03:22.160 --> 0:03:26.240 you have single execs or single teams overseeing for broadcasts, 0:03:26.240 --> 0:03:29.560 for streaming, for a cable. How has that been for you? 0:03:29.600 --> 0:03:32.160 As a seller, we try and be a lot. 0:03:32.000 --> 0:03:35.800 More focused on who we're pitching and selling to. I 0:03:35.840 --> 0:03:38.960 think it's like buying a home these days. You can 0:03:39.080 --> 0:03:41.840 name a network and know exactly what kind of programming 0:03:41.920 --> 0:03:45.560 they have. So if you go in kind of open ended, 0:03:45.920 --> 0:03:48.760 here's a general idea, it only works if you have 0:03:48.800 --> 0:03:51.000 some major talent and a lot of buyers that are 0:03:51.000 --> 0:03:52.240 going to go into it. You know, if you're going 0:03:52.280 --> 0:03:55.119 to the NBCs of the world and CBS, then yeah, 0:03:55.120 --> 0:03:58.040 you better come with big talent, big format, big big big, 0:03:58.080 --> 0:04:01.240 and you can get a bidding war. In the unscripted world, 0:04:01.560 --> 0:04:04.240 it's pretty tailored, you know, it's pretty well focused, like 0:04:04.360 --> 0:04:08.600 here's something that suits you, the buyer, and then they 0:04:08.640 --> 0:04:10.760 decide if they're going to put it on their linear 0:04:10.880 --> 0:04:14.400 channel or their streaming channel if they have one. But 0:04:14.640 --> 0:04:17.039 we try and be very focused and thankfully because of 0:04:17.080 --> 0:04:20.320 the relationships we have, whether it's a Lane one of 0:04:20.320 --> 0:04:24.000 my favorite executives in Angelo over Elane's at A and 0:04:24.040 --> 0:04:28.400 E and Angelo's at we TV. We text them, you know, 0:04:28.440 --> 0:04:31.040 we say, hey, here's an idea, and they're so wonderful 0:04:31.040 --> 0:04:34.800 with us to just say not for us, or that's interesting, 0:04:34.880 --> 0:04:38.240 tell us more. Then we focus in on that and 0:04:38.320 --> 0:04:41.800 develop it further and further, and it's it's like anything else. 0:04:41.800 --> 0:04:44.480 It's like a relationship. I feel like we are we 0:04:44.520 --> 0:04:46.680 are trying to sell something like a real estate agent. 0:04:46.760 --> 0:04:48.320 Let me show you a couple of homes. It's not 0:04:48.360 --> 0:04:50.720 always going to be the first home you see. Let 0:04:50.720 --> 0:04:53.080 me show you another one, and that kind of words 0:04:53.120 --> 0:04:55.880 but put a pool in it. Okay, sure, but we 0:04:55.920 --> 0:04:56.799 can't afford the pool. 0:04:57.360 --> 0:05:00.240 That's an interesting analogy, and all my years of talking 0:05:00.279 --> 0:05:02.479 to producers, nobody else has ever made that analogy. But 0:05:02.520 --> 0:05:03.880 that's a great one. Thank you. 0:05:03.960 --> 0:05:06.799 Well, that's what we do. We got to show options, 0:05:06.839 --> 0:05:09.400 and we can be precious either. I think a lot 0:05:09.400 --> 0:05:14.080 of people get precious about their idea, especially newcomers, you know, 0:05:14.200 --> 0:05:17.000 people coming into the industry and here's my idea, and 0:05:17.040 --> 0:05:19.920 it's so great. We've heard it before. We call it 0:05:19.920 --> 0:05:23.120 a mop most often pitched. If I hear one more 0:05:23.160 --> 0:05:26.599 person say this is the Anthony Bourdain of like, oh 0:05:26.640 --> 0:05:29.720 my god, that is like a weekly thing. Still and 0:05:30.480 --> 0:05:32.320 we all smile when they say it, you know. 0:05:32.640 --> 0:05:35.800 Rest in peace, Rest in peace, Love Kitchen Confidential, one 0:05:35.800 --> 0:05:38.640 of the great books of the nineteen. 0:05:38.320 --> 0:05:42.560 Ninety Yeah, these, I mean, but nobody's Anthony boardaining. 0:05:42.640 --> 0:05:45.080 So but let me ask you, is the process with 0:05:45.200 --> 0:05:49.520 the consolidation and the fact that there's fewer people overseeing credit, 0:05:49.600 --> 0:05:52.880 over seeing more platforms, is that appreciably better? Yeah? For 0:05:52.960 --> 0:05:54.440 a pitcher, is it appreciably worse? 0:05:54.480 --> 0:05:56.960 I think it's much better because you know, you don't 0:05:57.000 --> 0:05:58.520 have to pitch to a bunch of different teams, and 0:05:58.560 --> 0:06:01.520 it doesn't have to go through so many more layers. 0:06:01.520 --> 0:06:03.480 There's still plenty of layers, don't get me wrong, but 0:06:04.640 --> 0:06:07.360 it's you're going to one person that could actually think 0:06:07.360 --> 0:06:13.520 about multiple options. Oh, this doesn't work for this linear channel, 0:06:13.560 --> 0:06:15.320 but this could work for our streamers. So I think 0:06:15.839 --> 0:06:19.200 you're pitching into one person that has several options, you know, 0:06:20.080 --> 0:06:23.360 So I think it actually works better quite frankly. But 0:06:23.560 --> 0:06:26.720 the workload for them, I really that's tough. I mean, 0:06:26.760 --> 0:06:29.400 the amount of hats that they're wearing now and the 0:06:29.440 --> 0:06:31.640 things that they're juggling. I have a lot of respect 0:06:31.760 --> 0:06:36.240 for the network executives that are just wearing too many hats. 0:06:36.320 --> 0:06:38.640 In my opinion, it's tough. I have a really hard. 0:06:38.560 --> 0:06:43.640 Job that the scarcity of executive jobs is definitely is 0:06:43.680 --> 0:06:45.840 definitely notable. Let me ask you, is it still fair 0:06:45.839 --> 0:06:47.680 to say that, you know, basically the kind of the 0:06:47.760 --> 0:06:52.039 hierarchy of budget is broadcast, you'll have a pretty solid 0:06:52.040 --> 0:06:55.000 budget because it's kind of got to be big streaming obviously, 0:06:55.080 --> 0:07:00.200 because in some cases to print their own money it's 0:07:00.200 --> 0:07:03.000 a little old school. But and then cable obviously is 0:07:03.200 --> 0:07:06.320 very you know, very much the you know, stretch stretcher 0:07:06.400 --> 0:07:08.120 dollars and make them work, but we'll give you a 0:07:08.160 --> 0:07:11.000 sixty episode order. Is that kind of basically. 0:07:10.600 --> 0:07:12.720 Yeah, yeah, it all works the same and at the 0:07:12.800 --> 0:07:16.640 end of the day, it's everything is manageable. It really is. 0:07:16.680 --> 0:07:19.880 And I feel that again going to people being precious. 0:07:19.960 --> 0:07:22.760 I think right now there's a lot of production companies 0:07:22.800 --> 0:07:25.600 I don't understand why they do it, or they'll literally 0:07:25.640 --> 0:07:28.760 pass on a network because it's not enough money. Like 0:07:28.960 --> 0:07:31.200 roll up your sleeves, figure it out. You know, there's 0:07:32.040 --> 0:07:34.640 you've got to change with the times, and the networks 0:07:34.640 --> 0:07:38.400 are very accommodating to what those needs are and those 0:07:38.400 --> 0:07:42.000 financial changes. You know, it's across the board, so the 0:07:42.040 --> 0:07:45.160 showrunners know what's going on, the camera operators know what's 0:07:45.200 --> 0:07:48.640 going on, the vendors know what's going on. So if 0:07:48.680 --> 0:07:50.960 you want the business, you've got to change with us. 0:07:51.040 --> 0:07:56.320 And thankfully we haven't had struggles working within you know, 0:07:56.440 --> 0:08:00.400 tighter confines with some of the buyers and some of 0:08:00.440 --> 0:08:04.840 the networks. We call our people and thankfully, I mean 0:08:04.840 --> 0:08:07.080 I've been in the business a long time. We have 0:08:07.080 --> 0:08:09.080 a lot of loyalty. We're good to our people. If 0:08:09.120 --> 0:08:11.280 we have the money, we use the same people and 0:08:11.320 --> 0:08:13.680 we take care of them and what we don't. It's 0:08:13.680 --> 0:08:15.720 not even an ask, you know, I'm not asking for 0:08:15.760 --> 0:08:17.480 a favor. I just say, hey, this is what we have. 0:08:17.600 --> 0:08:23.200 We're incredibly transparent with our partners, our vendors, everybody, and 0:08:23.240 --> 0:08:26.760 I think being kind, being honest, being consistent really works 0:08:26.920 --> 0:08:28.040 long term. It does. 0:08:28.440 --> 0:08:31.160 Do you are there sort of advantages Do you enjoy 0:08:31.280 --> 0:08:33.719 working in the kind of three major mediums, whether it's 0:08:33.720 --> 0:08:37.640 for streamer, broadcast, k but you flex different muscles for sure. 0:08:37.960 --> 0:08:41.240 My favorite is still live. You know, I started with 0:08:41.320 --> 0:08:44.200 Ken Rlick that way back in the day. But whenever 0:08:44.240 --> 0:08:47.839 I'm on a live set, that's family. It's different because 0:08:48.040 --> 0:08:53.959 unscripted projects and scripted projects are very contingent to the genre, 0:08:54.160 --> 0:08:56.640 the network, and there are certain people that I would 0:08:56.720 --> 0:09:01.080 consider family within those groups. Live events it's the same people. 0:09:01.280 --> 0:09:04.360 The only person changing is on top the production company 0:09:04.400 --> 0:09:06.280 and the executive producer Serjo. 0:09:06.400 --> 0:09:09.280 This is a great segue. Tell us what it was 0:09:09.320 --> 0:09:13.000 about live events that that was your path into the industry. 0:09:13.400 --> 0:09:17.120 So I got offered a job in the mid nineties 0:09:17.160 --> 0:09:20.560 on a show called Motown Live. So when I grew 0:09:20.640 --> 0:09:23.920 up we didn't have a television. We had a radio 0:09:24.040 --> 0:09:30.000 on top of a refrigerator and we played radio. It's 0:09:30.040 --> 0:09:33.800 a Spanish station that was just always on. And I 0:09:33.840 --> 0:09:35.959 was raised by a single mom, me and my brother, 0:09:36.520 --> 0:09:38.720 and she was always working. She was an auditor and 0:09:39.160 --> 0:09:40.920 travel a lot. My brother and I just kind of 0:09:40.960 --> 0:09:44.679 raised ourselves. We play out on the streets and listen 0:09:44.720 --> 0:09:48.160 to the Spanish radio. So when I got it, when 0:09:48.160 --> 0:09:50.120 I got a job in television, I didn't know what 0:09:50.160 --> 0:09:53.600 that really meant. I was dating somebody at the time 0:09:53.640 --> 0:09:56.520 and the father offered me a job to do dressing rooms. 0:09:56.760 --> 0:09:59.600 I didn't know what that meant. So I went to 0:09:59.640 --> 0:10:03.920 this show a Motel live at Renmar Studios, and I 0:10:03.960 --> 0:10:08.400 would work after college. I would work from i'd say 0:10:08.400 --> 0:10:10.920 about four pm till about three in the morning, sometimes 0:10:10.960 --> 0:10:13.640 two in the morning, and my job was to put 0:10:13.880 --> 0:10:17.960 drinks and sodas and waters and towels in dressing rooms 0:10:17.960 --> 0:10:20.200 of celebrities and motown Live if you know that was 0:10:20.240 --> 0:10:24.360 like Snoop Dog and Bust the Rhymes and just all 0:10:24.440 --> 0:10:29.079 kinds of rowdy groups in the mid nineties. 0:10:29.160 --> 0:10:31.000 These were live TV special live TV. 0:10:30.920 --> 0:10:35.680 Specials, correct, and my job was to fill them with 0:10:36.760 --> 0:10:39.559 supplies when they're there, and then hang out and at 0:10:39.559 --> 0:10:42.320 the end of the night, which was the crazy part. 0:10:42.559 --> 0:10:44.719 It was like the scene of sixteen Candles at the 0:10:44.840 --> 0:10:48.040 end with the pizza on the record player and things 0:10:48.120 --> 0:10:51.000 thrown everywhere, and I would walk in and scratch my 0:10:51.080 --> 0:10:54.160 head and clean up. And this was my job, Like 0:10:54.600 --> 0:10:57.040 I didn't like it, and I was making I think 0:10:57.040 --> 0:10:59.560 it was like seventy five dollars a day. It was 0:10:59.679 --> 0:11:03.080 bad then it's bad now twenty five cents a mile. 0:11:03.440 --> 0:11:05.439 My car only started half the time. By the way, 0:11:05.480 --> 0:11:08.559 I had a seventy one Volkswagen that to this day 0:11:08.600 --> 0:11:10.760 I back in everywhere I go, not because I'm cool, 0:11:10.800 --> 0:11:15.800 but because I'm just you know, I'm scarred. My car 0:11:16.040 --> 0:11:18.559 never started, so I'd have to open the door, put 0:11:18.600 --> 0:11:20.199 it in neutral. If you know how to jump a car, 0:11:20.480 --> 0:11:22.439 push it down the hill, jump in, put it in second, 0:11:22.440 --> 0:11:23.840 pop the clutch, and then I get to go. 0:11:23.880 --> 0:11:25.120 So it facing front. 0:11:25.160 --> 0:11:29.400 Are conduc always so at the end of the season, 0:11:29.800 --> 0:11:33.520 you know, people liked my work ethic. I never complained. 0:11:33.600 --> 0:11:35.920 I just did the job, kept my head down, and 0:11:35.960 --> 0:11:39.400 they offered me another job to go work on another project. 0:11:39.840 --> 0:11:41.960 So at the end of the season. I got offered 0:11:41.960 --> 0:11:45.280 a job to do the Grammys. I didn't know what 0:11:45.320 --> 0:11:48.240 that was. And I would be doing more dressing rooms 0:11:48.240 --> 0:11:50.640 for more celebrities. And I was like, oh, I don't 0:11:50.720 --> 0:11:53.280 know if I want to do that. That doesn't sound appealing. 0:11:53.880 --> 0:11:57.760 But I would be now the coordinator, which is that's 0:11:57.760 --> 0:11:59.079 the guy that was telling me what to do that 0:11:59.160 --> 0:12:03.480 did nothing. Wow, that sounds interesting, and am I going 0:12:03.520 --> 0:12:06.320 to make a little bit more money? And yes, it 0:12:06.360 --> 0:12:10.559 was like twelve hundred dollars. Now I'm nineteen, maybe twenty 0:12:10.600 --> 0:12:13.640 at the time, and I got offered twelve hundred dollars 0:12:13.760 --> 0:12:17.839 a week. That was just out of my mind. I 0:12:17.840 --> 0:12:20.080 mean I still remember to this day. I walked into 0:12:20.679 --> 0:12:23.240 a bank called Washington Mutual at the time it's now 0:12:23.280 --> 0:12:25.680 I don't even know what has transitioned into and after 0:12:25.760 --> 0:12:28.880 taxes like eight hundred and seventy something dollars. I don't 0:12:28.880 --> 0:12:31.320 know what my problem was, but I thought I was busted, 0:12:31.760 --> 0:12:33.800 Like this check is not going to clear, this is 0:12:33.840 --> 0:12:37.080 some sort of this is so much money. There's no 0:12:37.360 --> 0:12:39.680 way that a bank that I don't even have a 0:12:39.679 --> 0:12:43.040 bank account is going to cash this eight hundred and 0:12:43.040 --> 0:12:46.200 seventy something dollars check. So I was paranoid walking into 0:12:46.240 --> 0:12:48.240 the bank. They asked for my ID. I swear I 0:12:48.280 --> 0:12:51.520 was robbing the place. I just felt so much anxiety 0:12:51.559 --> 0:12:54.880 and stress. And then they counted out the money and 0:12:54.920 --> 0:12:56.880 then I'm freaking out that I have eight hundred dollars 0:12:56.920 --> 0:12:59.040 in my pocket and somebody's going to rob me as 0:12:59.040 --> 0:13:02.160 if the world knows and I have eight hundred dollars 0:13:02.240 --> 0:13:05.080 in my pocket. So then I opened to bank account 0:13:05.120 --> 0:13:06.880 so I wouldn't have to carry around that kind of 0:13:07.320 --> 0:13:07.920 large though. 0:13:09.679 --> 0:13:10.200 And that was it. 0:13:10.480 --> 0:13:14.160 I actually there are three moments in my life where 0:13:14.880 --> 0:13:18.240 I feel I have had like this feeling of the 0:13:18.280 --> 0:13:21.400 world changing. That was one of those moments. When I 0:13:21.480 --> 0:13:24.480 was cashing that check and opening an account, I stopped 0:13:24.480 --> 0:13:27.760 for a moment to think, this is a career, Like 0:13:27.960 --> 0:13:30.000 I could actually do this for a living, and if 0:13:30.040 --> 0:13:32.880 I'm making this now, And this is where that epiphany came. 0:13:33.200 --> 0:13:37.600 I had this like flash of Kennerlick's house and his 0:13:37.880 --> 0:13:41.600 cars and the people that I was around from Ricky Minor, 0:13:41.640 --> 0:13:44.800 who now does all these major shows at the time, was, 0:13:44.880 --> 0:13:47.319 you know, starting as a musical director. I don't know 0:13:47.320 --> 0:13:49.400 about starting, but he was definitely on the come up 0:13:49.400 --> 0:13:52.040 in the nineties to Paul Sandwise, who was a music 0:13:52.200 --> 0:13:54.400 like I went to all these people's homes as a 0:13:54.400 --> 0:13:57.559 as a runner, and I just saw everything and how 0:13:57.640 --> 0:13:59.480 beautiful it was and the things that they had, and 0:13:59.520 --> 0:14:02.720 I'm like, oh my god, if I'm this young working here, 0:14:02.840 --> 0:14:04.920 And that was the epiphany, where will I be in 0:14:05.000 --> 0:14:07.800 ten years? That's it? What does the next person do? 0:14:07.880 --> 0:14:10.160 And what does the next person do? And just went 0:14:10.200 --> 0:14:12.880 through that. The other two are pretty basic, not basic, 0:14:12.920 --> 0:14:14.600 but equally as beautiful. 0:14:15.240 --> 0:14:18.320 Don't go anywhere. We'll be back with more from Invent 0:14:18.440 --> 0:14:27.520 TV CEO Sergio Alfaro after this break, and we're back 0:14:27.560 --> 0:14:30.920 with more from Invent TV CEO Sergio alfarow. 0:14:31.600 --> 0:14:33.040 The other one was when I got on my knee 0:14:33.080 --> 0:14:35.360 to propose to my wife, and I knew I was 0:14:35.400 --> 0:14:38.200 doing it. I bought the ring. She was out of town. 0:14:38.880 --> 0:14:41.480 When she left town, I realized we had been together 0:14:41.520 --> 0:14:44.200 two years. I can't live without her. That's what my 0:14:45.000 --> 0:14:47.960 determining factor was. So when I bought a ring, and 0:14:48.000 --> 0:14:49.800 I had this whole plan of when she comes back, 0:14:49.800 --> 0:14:51.000 I'm going to take her to where we had our 0:14:51.040 --> 0:14:53.760 first date. I'm going to propose to her, and when 0:14:53.760 --> 0:14:56.040 I put my knee down on the ground, it was 0:14:56.080 --> 0:14:58.520 like in the movies where like a sonic wave went 0:14:58.560 --> 0:15:02.720 through my body went through the earth earth of responsibility. 0:15:02.800 --> 0:15:06.480 This is it, this is my person for life. And 0:15:06.680 --> 0:15:09.440 it was a great decision. We've been together twenty years. 0:15:09.840 --> 0:15:14.040 Name Tiffany, Tiffany Alfaro, She's a love. And the third 0:15:14.080 --> 0:15:15.880 one was when my first son was born. Not that 0:15:15.920 --> 0:15:18.400 I don't love all my children, but I didn't know 0:15:18.440 --> 0:15:21.160 what it was like to have a child. And I 0:15:21.200 --> 0:15:24.600 think until you do, you really don't know the meaning 0:15:24.640 --> 0:15:28.640 of life at all. You don't know true love. Not 0:15:28.680 --> 0:15:30.800 that I don't love my mom and my grandmother. There's 0:15:30.800 --> 0:15:35.160 something instinctual about having your own child that just changes 0:15:35.360 --> 0:15:39.480 absolutely everything. And the moment my son was born, that 0:15:39.680 --> 0:15:43.280 changed everything for me. And again that same wave of responsibility, 0:15:43.280 --> 0:15:46.080 and it was instant. The moment I held that kid 0:15:46.520 --> 0:15:50.720 in the emergency room, that was it. I knew love 0:15:50.920 --> 0:15:53.480 in a different way. I knew responsibility in a different way. 0:15:53.520 --> 0:15:56.760 And yeah, those are those are the big the big three. 0:15:56.840 --> 0:15:59.280 I guess for me based on what she said, the 0:15:59.320 --> 0:16:02.680 work that you grew up with, what would you say then, 0:16:02.800 --> 0:16:04.880 in like the next five to ten years. What were 0:16:04.880 --> 0:16:08.360 the steps that you took that led you to now 0:16:08.400 --> 0:16:10.680 being the head of your own company and having juggling 0:16:10.720 --> 0:16:12.400 this portfolio of multiple ventures. 0:16:12.640 --> 0:16:15.040 So I was with Kenny for literally, I think it 0:16:15.080 --> 0:16:19.280 was thirteen years. And in Kenny's house there was really 0:16:20.240 --> 0:16:25.280 four people. You know, there was kennerlick Ron Vacilly, Lisa Gears, 0:16:25.360 --> 0:16:26.520 and Paige Hapley. 0:16:26.840 --> 0:16:29.960 All names that you know from credits of a gazillion. 0:16:29.520 --> 0:16:32.760 Show of a gazillion shows. And it didn't matter which 0:16:32.840 --> 0:16:35.200 whether it was the Emmy's or and Grammy's was a 0:16:35.200 --> 0:16:37.920 little different because I was always tied with Cosette. So 0:16:38.280 --> 0:16:41.840 we we would build the shows, just a small group 0:16:41.920 --> 0:16:44.920 of us and knock them down, and it was over 0:16:45.000 --> 0:16:46.640 and over and over, and we would. 0:16:46.360 --> 0:16:51.320 Do and you're talking about physical sets, every rigging cameras. 0:16:50.840 --> 0:16:53.160 Every single thing. So, you know, a show would come 0:16:53.200 --> 0:16:56.960 in and say here's the idea, and then you know, 0:16:57.080 --> 0:16:59.080 Kenny would come up with, you know, some of the 0:16:59.120 --> 0:17:02.000 ideas of the talent and who we're going to use 0:17:02.000 --> 0:17:05.560 for staging and lighting and all these different things, and 0:17:05.600 --> 0:17:09.040 then we would find those people, we would hire those people. 0:17:09.080 --> 0:17:12.000 But again, like I said earlier, it's all the same people. Right, 0:17:12.040 --> 0:17:15.280 It's literally family, and I grew up with all of 0:17:15.320 --> 0:17:20.280 them like literally my entire career. So the transition really 0:17:20.320 --> 0:17:23.359 came for me now running the companies is there was 0:17:23.400 --> 0:17:26.359 a writer strike at the same time there was a 0:17:26.400 --> 0:17:29.360 market crash. This was how many years ago. 0:17:29.200 --> 0:17:30.800 Two thousand and seven, two thousand and eight. 0:17:31.400 --> 0:17:34.280 So at that time I had two kids. I now 0:17:34.359 --> 0:17:37.400 had three at a house. I bought a second house 0:17:37.400 --> 0:17:39.560 that I was going to try and flip because I 0:17:39.600 --> 0:17:42.560 thought it was the right thing to do. Everything came 0:17:42.640 --> 0:17:45.000 to a crashing halt at the same time. There was 0:17:45.200 --> 0:17:50.240 no work for me anywhere. And it's not something I'm 0:17:50.280 --> 0:17:52.960 proud of, but I you know, I'm the breadwinner of 0:17:53.000 --> 0:17:56.480 my household. I don't have a family with wealth that 0:17:56.560 --> 0:17:59.040 I could turn to. I lost my house and I 0:17:59.080 --> 0:18:05.800 had a transition into this new smut business called reality television. 0:18:06.720 --> 0:18:09.840 What the hell is that? I literally had no clue. 0:18:10.040 --> 0:18:12.280 There was this wonderful guy and in your mind it 0:18:12.400 --> 0:18:14.960 had kind of used to call the smut business. It 0:18:15.080 --> 0:18:17.440 had a kind of a negative connotation. 0:18:17.600 --> 0:18:20.840 I mean, you're doing the Emmys and the Oscars, and 0:18:20.920 --> 0:18:23.600 you're doing these huge shows with the biggest stars in 0:18:23.680 --> 0:18:28.280 red carpet. You just think you're so cool. So there's 0:18:28.320 --> 0:18:31.280 this wonderful human being, one of my favorite in the 0:18:31.280 --> 0:18:35.840 industry named Jay Peterson. He brought me into do a 0:18:36.000 --> 0:18:39.359 development tape for a company that he was going to 0:18:39.440 --> 0:18:43.720 called Original Media, not Original Pictures of Original Media. People 0:18:43.800 --> 0:18:46.880 always confuse that. And I came in and I did 0:18:46.880 --> 0:18:51.320 this project. What was crazy is it was a development project. 0:18:51.359 --> 0:18:55.000 And now, having gone through everything I went through, you know, 0:18:55.119 --> 0:18:59.359 losing my home, you know, having losing both homes actually 0:18:59.440 --> 0:19:02.679 because it was I couldn't make the payments, and I 0:19:02.720 --> 0:19:06.600 got offered a job from Jay to be I forgot 0:19:06.600 --> 0:19:10.840 what it was. It was some like development tape, like 0:19:10.960 --> 0:19:13.840 just overseeing eight projects, a tiny little thing. And I 0:19:13.880 --> 0:19:17.400 think I got paid twelve hundred dollars that many years 0:19:17.480 --> 0:19:20.600 later to oversee this project. But it had hope for 0:19:20.640 --> 0:19:22.480 this other job that he was looking at to bring 0:19:22.520 --> 0:19:25.600 me in over to Original Media. So I did it. 0:19:25.640 --> 0:19:27.680 I didn't care, like, look, I need I don't care 0:19:27.680 --> 0:19:30.119 what the job is. I need a job I wasn't 0:19:30.240 --> 0:19:34.000 proud to take less. I get this job and I 0:19:34.080 --> 0:19:36.840 do it, and I'm asking Jay a lot of questions 0:19:36.880 --> 0:19:40.120 that he's so polite and so kind that I'm sure 0:19:40.119 --> 0:19:43.400 I irritated him because it was a development. Now I understand, 0:19:43.400 --> 0:19:45.920 like it was just a sizzle like relax. I'm like, well, 0:19:46.080 --> 0:19:47.920 who's doing the books? He's like the books? 0:19:48.359 --> 0:19:48.639 You do? 0:19:48.720 --> 0:19:49.359 The books? You know? 0:19:49.440 --> 0:19:50.639 And who's getting the insurance? 0:19:50.760 --> 0:19:54.119 You get the insurance? Like you keep out? Just do it, like, 0:19:54.160 --> 0:19:57.080 stop asking me all these questions. The good thing is 0:19:57.119 --> 0:19:59.359 he saw what I was capable of and he offered 0:19:59.359 --> 0:20:03.280 me a job to be a line producer at Original Media. 0:20:03.560 --> 0:20:05.600 So I went over there and. 0:20:05.880 --> 0:20:09.080 Edited by one Charlie Corwin. Charlie went an alumnus of 0:20:09.080 --> 0:20:14.399 this podcast and alumnus of Imagine Entertainment and also in 0:20:14.440 --> 0:20:15.040 the Maullshine. 0:20:15.119 --> 0:20:18.359 Yeah, and they made me a line producer on a 0:20:18.400 --> 0:20:21.520 show called La Inc. We had just brought over Kat 0:20:21.600 --> 0:20:25.040 Vondie from Miami and we were doing this series called 0:20:25.160 --> 0:20:28.679 La Inc. And they wanted me to just look at 0:20:28.720 --> 0:20:30.679 the LA office. Let me know what I think of 0:20:30.720 --> 0:20:33.240 how things are being run and how things are going and. 0:20:34.520 --> 0:20:36.200 Kind of production logistics. 0:20:36.280 --> 0:20:39.439 Christ I wasn't on the creative side yet. I was 0:20:39.520 --> 0:20:42.640 just looking at the numbers. And I because I come 0:20:42.680 --> 0:20:46.040 from a live events background, I tried to apply that 0:20:46.640 --> 0:20:51.560 business acumen to the unscripted world, which worked well. I 0:20:51.600 --> 0:20:53.640 felt there was a lot of waste in my opinion 0:20:53.680 --> 0:20:56.879 that we were just doing I mean, we were just 0:20:57.160 --> 0:20:59.240 there was a lot of I don't know if this 0:20:59.280 --> 0:21:01.520 is appropriate to say, so, I don't know, it's kind 0:21:01.520 --> 0:21:05.200 of great, it was very wasteful. So I was doing 0:21:05.320 --> 0:21:08.240 LA Inc. They brought me into Light Produce la Inc. 0:21:08.280 --> 0:21:11.000 And quickly they're like, hey, could you take on another project? 0:21:11.080 --> 0:21:14.360 The way on scripted working, you can give me ten projects. 0:21:14.400 --> 0:21:18.800 This is not a difficult job for me by comparison 0:21:18.840 --> 0:21:21.240 of what I used to do, you know, even from. 0:21:21.240 --> 0:21:24.480