Making Pondo with Richard "Chomps" Thompson

 In this episode we talk with Richard Chomps Thompson. Richard played Dan (or is it Ron?) in The Love Song of William H. Shaw.

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Transcript

SPEAKER_03 0:00

Welcome to season two of Making Pondo and Talking Pondo. Talking Pondo is a podcast where Cliff and Marty give each other a film to watch and talk about them in detail. Some episodes will include a special guest. Making Pondo is a podcast where Cliff and Marty talk to people they have worked with and discuss their experiences on set.

SPEAKER_05 0:21

Today on Making Pondo, we talk with Richard Chomps Thompson, who played Dan in the love song of William H. Shaw.

SPEAKER_03 0:30

Alright, Marty, we're back.

SPEAKER_05 0:32

We're back. It's another episode of Making Pondo where me and Cliff talk to uh people we've worked with in film, TV, etc. etc. That's right. Who do we have today? Well, our special guest today, he was in uh the love song of William H. Shaw. He was.

SPEAKER_03 0:51

He played Dan or Ron. It doesn't matter.

SPEAKER_05 1:00

Um, uh thank you.

SPEAKER_04 1:06

Uh it's very good to be here. I'm Richard Chomps Thompson. Um I am was very, very pleased to be able to be uh Dan, and uh that was his official name.

SPEAKER_03 1:18

Um and um not that Billy could remember it, but that was indeed his official name.

SPEAKER_04 1:24

Exactly. But but without spoiling anything, uh you know, he eventually remembered it. He gets you know, eventually. But um yeah, it was it it was an awesome, awesome experience. Um I am ready to answer any questions. You you have you have me on and I'm ready to talk. I'm very excited.

SPEAKER_03 1:46

Well, thanks. First off, thanks for thanks for coming on the show. We appreciate you appreciate you being here. Um and thanks for being in the movie. We appreciate you. Um I told you more than one at one point that your work was we really appreciated your work. It was really great. And uh it was fantastic to have you on the set. You're you're you're you're got good energy, you're not uh trying to distract people or pull focus. You're there, you're intent on your work, and you're doing what you're doing, and and your work's good. So I really appreciated you being on it. I I want to thank you. That was uh that's a mighty compliment.

SPEAKER_04 2:17

I I appreciate that very much.

SPEAKER_03 2:19

Um as soon as I saw you do the first take of the first scene, I looked at Marty, I was like, yeah, yeah, it's gonna work, it's gonna work just fine. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. We're good. We're solid. It's gonna be good. You do you do really well, especially on with reacting. What I told Marty, one of my favorite things is that he's he's really reacting off of Billy's lines and kind of some of the wild shit that Billy's saying during these scenes. He's you can really see him, he's the audience. Yes, you know what I mean? Going, oh my god, what the hell no?

SPEAKER_04 2:47

You know, so you know it's uh um there's there's a uh a phrase that you know many actors are aware of it where it's like you're not just saying the words, you're listening, you're you're reacting. Um but what I've I have learned is to really, really listen is to not expect. And so when Bradford says things, it's a realistic reaction because it's kind of like um you you it it's it's a surprise. You can you can know the words, but then um when you're working, when you're when you're actually in that piece, it's new, and I feel that brings it to life.

SPEAKER_03 3:33

Yeah, you did a great job of it. Really good. Thank you. Really super excited. Martin, what's our first question here, bud?

SPEAKER_05 3:40

Well, how did you start working with us, or how did you find us? It's been, geez, like four years since we shot those scenes, which is crazy to think.

SPEAKER_04 3:51

But was it Eric that brought you to us? Well, I was following you guys around secretly in the bushes for a while. And then I ran into Eric and uh it was KissMet. No, um I had um I was uh uh friends with another actor, one of the major actors in it, uh Mike Gwill. And um we were associates, and uh Mike was filming, he was shooting uh those those particular scenes for you know for your uh shooting schedule. And um I saw a call coincidentally at the same time. There's a I forgot exactly forgot where, but I saw the call and I put in for both um Dan and uh the alcoholic, the guy who who uh winds up on the street club parking lot. And um I was called back for Dan. And what was really cool about it is that meeting with Eric actually is continued. We're we Eric and I are still friends. Like I as a matter of fact, I'm working with Eric on another project um that I was very gracious to be able to work with. That is we're doing the crew um the casting party tomorrow, like to showing the episode that oh nice.

SPEAKER_01 5:09

Oh wow.

SPEAKER_04 5:10

So it's um I really appreciate being able to know you. You guys have been wonderful. Uh, even when we saw over at Tuscon, uh I still remember our awesome Star Wars conversation. Uh so trust me, it it's it's really meaningful to be able to work with you too.

SPEAKER_03 5:26

My my my favorite moment uh of that whole screening is the lights come up after it's because the it that movie played like a I mean to that crowd in particular, like a dream. They got all the jokes, they they they got all the sentimentality. I think somebody at one point was crying in the in the eye, you know, in the in the audience, and then the lights come up and everybody's clapping. You come running up to me, you go, Jesus, you didn't tell me this is gonna be like a fucking real movie. Like a real movie. Exactly. You didn't you do you know what you've done? And I'm like, I think so. You know, you know what you've done. Uh I I still remember that and and I I still I have a great appreciation for you for that because it was you were you just to see the excitement uh in your face of like holy crap, you did a you know, you really made a great film. Yeah, you know, I think so too, but you know, it's nice to hear other people echo that sentiment for sure. Absolutely.

SPEAKER_04 6:21

And and you know, and I feel also because uh uh during that talk back, it wasn't just you know, it's always nice to hear like great job, but you know, I feel that with filmmaking or any type of artistry, we we don't do it just for the good jobs, right? We like to hear what what landed, what connected, what made it important to you, and what what made it worth it to me? Why do you know? And it was uh uh in that audience at Tuscom. Um yes, there were a lot of people that were invested because they they were in it. They they were but what was fantastic about it was that this movie wasn't a novelty. It's not a novelty, it's not like hey, we just got some people and we filmed it together, and it's to make ourselves feel good. It does make ourselves feel good, but it it's a movie that we can share a wonderful memory in because it it came out it came out better than a lot of TV that's out there. Like, uh and I I will tout it up real talk, absolutely.

SPEAKER_03 7:32

Right on. So uh so basically, so through Mike, you met Eric, and then it's one of the that's another thing. We it always seems like the people that we end up working with that we connect with other people end up making stuff, which we love. It's like, oh cool, they end up doing a thing together, right on. Like Bradford's doing a thing with um uh our the D the DP from the last picture. They did they did a thing, right? Or something like that. I can't remember. Yeah, they did their own little thing. So there's people it's fun. We all work together, and then suddenly you guys everybody runs off and kind of is like, hey, you and I, let's work together, make a project. Absolutely. I that's cool.

SPEAKER_04 8:08

I um there's a a script, a pilot that um I'm ironing out uh but it's done. But anyway, and I was talking to Bradford to play um um a hitman named Windex. That you know, so anyway, because Bradford has that that uh that very sardonic quality that when he says something, it's like I'm tired of life, but I'm still here.

SPEAKER_02 8:35

No, I know exactly what you mean.

SPEAKER_04 8:37

Yeah, very, very well. And um uh any event, so but you're right, like there are so many people that we got to meet. Um, Drew, I was in um a couple theater pieces with Drew.

SPEAKER_03 8:49

Um he's great.

SPEAKER_04 8:51

Oh, yeah, he's a very, very uh, very, very proficient performer.

SPEAKER_03 8:56

Absolutely. Yeah, smart guy, smart dude, sharp as a whip. Sharp as a whip, sharp as a tack.

SPEAKER_04 9:02

Sharp. I sharp, I'm gonna go sharp as a whip. I like that. Sharp as a whip. So whip with a knife tight at the end of it. There you go.

SPEAKER_05 9:10

There you go. That's the whip I meant. So you also do some screenwriting as well?

SPEAKER_04 9:16

Yes. Um, so I'm fortunate. Uh uh I'll give the brief summary. Um started off as a writer. I I came into uh performing arts, film, and stage um as an outsider. Love movies, love storytelling, been writing for many years. Um I have like uh a James Beard nominee, uh James Beard nominee for some articles I wrote for some magazines a long time ago. I used to work for uh Gourmet News. So I travel the country and write about food. Um and then um yeah, that's even a lot of people.

SPEAKER_03 9:50

That's that's very cool. Top Chef is one of my favorite shows of all time. I'm a big, I'm a big foodie type dude.

SPEAKER_04 9:55

It is very, it's a very, very fun subject. Yeah, absolutely. But uh and do technical writing. So I'm a writer by trade. And um I had written a couple scripts and put them out there. Um, and coincidentally, on my birthday in 2017, I got a response back from a theater saying, Hey, we saw your script, we want to produce it. Can you come in? So I was like, Yep, absolutely. I went I went to meet them and they looked at me and said, Do you act? And I said, I act every day. And um I started from community theater uh being uh an agent of yes, like anytime they said, Oh, can you do lights? I don't know, but I'll learn it. Um, can you do set design? Sure. I would always say yes over and over to everything. And um uh someone had told me during a show in 2019, um, because I didn't have any formal training, I just did the stuff that I knew, and what people kind of tell me I always listen to everybody. And uh this uh who became a conservatory teacher, he walked up to me after the show and he said, You're brilliant, you you're so brilliant, you're gonna make a fool of yourself. And um which was a great I was like, who are you again? And um he started showing me a lot of technique and form, Stanislavski technique, and um from there I started moving into film, getting cameras and or getting a camera and then another camera eventually, and sound stuff and like you know, just doing making making a movie. Um I uh yeah, I I've been very, very fortunate to be able to create with some really, really uh incredible people.

SPEAKER_03 11:45

Awesome. That's uh that's pretty awesome. Um yeah, we always like to talk to writers and collaborate with writers and bounce ideas back and forth. That's cool. We didn't I didn't know you wrote wrote it all. I don't honestly don't much know much about you. That's one of the reasons why we brought you on the show is we can kind of kind of learn a little bit more about you. Exactly.

SPEAKER_04 12:03

It's like leave them wanting more.

SPEAKER_03 12:05

That's right.

SPEAKER_04 12:06

So I won't tell you the big secret. Um but um yeah, I so my writing, um I've I've like I've written a couple features. In fact, just you know what, just recently, just in um October, November of last year, I was DP for a feature that is the assembly cut just got finished. Um it was all it was a it was a big shoot. It was the it was a big shoot. Um but um so the the stuff that I write typically um I try to expand my horizon. Um right now I'm writing a uh uh a slow burn horror. Um I can't say too much about it because there is a specific contract in place that I I don't remember if I'm allowed to say. Um but it's a slow burn horror from a a well-established um horror writer. And um it is, I consider it like a mix between uh Aaron or Ari Astor's Hereditary and Um uh The Assassination of Jesse James by the coward Robert Ford. So it's a um a interesting mix. Oh man, yeah, it's uh we see storytelling, trauma, and uh the magic, the old magic of the desert, right? Of the of the southwest. So that's being done. In fact, I was I was writing it up because I have to have it done tomorrow.

SPEAKER_03 13:37

Um Southwest Western horror, basically.

SPEAKER_04 13:40

Southwest Western horror. But you know, but the thing is, so I could talk for a lot longer.

SPEAKER_03 13:45

Um, I'm I mean, we're literally in the process of writing Western horror as we speak, so that's funny.

SPEAKER_04 13:50

Oh, I I would be very happy to talk to you about um some things just to hear what you gotta say. Absolutely. There I you and it's it's what I speaking of Western, I think it's really kind of interesting. Um I feel that the this location, Tucson or the Phoenix area, we we have been stuck in a pigeonhole because of the past uh of uh filmmaking. Arizona is a very well-known, has a well-known past of being a huge filmmaker for a lot of the spaghetti westerns uh not spaghetti westerns, but a lot of westerns and stuff that were able to be shot out here.

SPEAKER_03 14:29

Sure. And I mean old Tucson's a real thing for a reason.

SPEAKER_04 14:33

Exactly.

SPEAKER_01 14:34

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 14:34

But when they stopped that, you know, people stopped coming. But what is interesting, I've recognized, is that larger studios that do come out here, because we've had a couple, um, we've had HBO that came out here for um a pilot, JJ Rhodes came out here. Yeah, I remember that. Yeah, um, I was able to, I was fortunate enough to do um some uh uh PA work and grip work with um a couple of the another uh other bigger um I say bigger, that's all small budget, but like 500,000 or 200,000 movies that came out here. But the bigger studios, they they see Arizona as a western, as a as a place for cowboys, you know, cowboys and clean them up. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And you know, I find um I was talking to uh some friends of mine that Tucson, especially, but Arizona in particular, is um has a Southwest surrealism about it. Tucson's weird in a really great way. It is unusual. And I feel that um if there was a project that could help illuminate the weirdness of how the history of the of the Wild West is a part of us, but is not the only thing of us, they would see a very, very unique place to to um film it that wasn't just catered to Westerns.

SPEAKER_03 16:05

Yeah. I mean it's it's it there a few have happened in in in there too, son. Like Revenge of the Nerds is filmed at the end of the day. So there's there's been some there's been some there's been some films that aren't westerns that have big that have been shot, but you're right, it's the the town is mostly defined by oh, that's where they shoot a lot of westerns. Or used to. Used to yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_05 16:26

I think one of the last good ones that came here was like uh Transformers 2 before the tax incentive ran out. So we were getting, you know, because they'd go to like the airplane graveyard and do stuff like that, but yeah, it's mostly old Tucson, you know.

SPEAKER_03 16:40

Well, but you guys you guys have got your own film film incentive back now, right? So kind of working on it, you know.

SPEAKER_04 16:46

Yeah, they they uh you know I I I'm not going to bog down this conversation with the the funds of legislative action, but they're trying to do it in a way that is not necessarily a tax incentive, but more like a um uh uh a f uh uh a fiduciary um uh grant, I would say is the like the best analogy. Like interesting. If you come here and you say you're gonna if you're if you're from an outside company and you're gonna come here and it's gonna cost you X dollars and you can show us X dollars because you're bringing people in, um then we will pay you money so that you use the services out here that you can use.

SPEAKER_03 17:32

Um it's so it's cash in front, it's cash in front rather than cash recouped after, basically.

SPEAKER_04 17:38

Exactly. Interesting. Yes. Um because they're if I understand correctly, um it's tethered with the tourism department and the Arizona Commerce Authority, uh, of which I'm actually registered with as talent and crew, where the uh Arizona now has a repository of filmmakers and actors that uh when a when a company or production house from another state says, Hey, do you know anybody? Do you have people? They literally go to their registry and they can say, These are the people, and we've certified them. It's it's a certified process. Right. Um which it they're they're going in the right direction, right? Like I of legitimizing um filmmaking out here.

SPEAKER_03 18:26

Interesting.

SPEAKER_05 18:28

Interesting. Um I'm glad that's still a thing because that was a lot more prominent before the internet, but now at least there's still I mean Oklahoma's tax incentive opened up.

SPEAKER_03 18:41

I mean, Killers of the Flower Moon was shot here, um uh Reservation Dogs is shot here, Tulsa King is shot here. Bunch of stuff, bunch of great stuff is being shot here, and there's a lot of production. I mean, there's production companies that have popped up everywhere supplying these productions with you know people, and there's even weird like apprenticeship programs where you can get into a production company and be kind of apprentice your way into being a grip. Oh, I'm a PA, I was a grip, now I'm into electric, now which is fantastic, it's really good. And you know, yeah, I'd like to see you guys get something like that going. That'd be great.

SPEAKER_04 19:14

Uh I I I wholeheartedly agree with that.

SPEAKER_03 19:18

And it's good to know that there's a place to look for where the talent is when we start putting uh oh dude, that's yeah, every time that we do it, it's like, well, Craigslist and this person, and do we know anybody? And yeah, uh, you know, I think our first film, like our first real one, was mainly off of Craigslist, where we just put and then flyers in different places trying to get get together an audition, you know.

SPEAKER_04 19:41

You know what? I and I imagine you you know this analogy. A lot of times it's like, hey, do you want to be in this? Sure, great. Uh you said yes, no takesy back, please. You know, and um the uh lovingly, we you you take what you can get a lot of times, you know. Um you know it's it's really nice that it's really nice that there is now, I feel an environment in Tucson at least that I've noticed where um those that are performing are taking it more seriously. Now, mind you, my I've I've only been I I want to preface what I'm about to say, I've been a part of performing arts and especially Tucson's um uh uh uh segment for like the last seven years, five years, yeah, five, seven years. So I'm I'm I'm a newbie, right? Um but I had recognized that there seemed to be a when I first started, there seemed to be a reliance on hey, let's we need somebody, let's get anybody. And a lot of the anybodies recognized it. And I feel that when incentive in bettering your craft starts becoming more apparent, the quality of the thing that you are doing is better because you are doing better, but then also the credibility from others that want to work with you increases, and so it's not just we need anybody, we want that person, yeah. And um, you know, it's it's taken some time, at least for in my perspective, but I feel that it's been moving that way. There's some really fantastic, talented artists um out here that's yeah, I feel kind of the same way.

SPEAKER_05 21:49

Uh it it's funny. About seven years ago is when we made Revenge of Zoe, and that's when we started really switching into a newer level of. more I don't want to say more professionalism, but more putting a a value on on yourself and what you do so people less less taking what you forget and and more making choices and not demanding things but searching for better things. Having the ability to be able to find them and more cast rows and hey can you get in front of the camera and read a few lines to actually holding auditions and bringing people in and you're working with people who want to do the crap as opposed to people who are doing you a favor for the weekend.

SPEAKER_04 22:30

Exactly that's absolutely right. That's absolutely I I wholeheartedly agree.

SPEAKER_05 22:35

Absolutely because we're just trying to move uh forward with it. I mean there's nothing wrong with doing film as a hobby and we kind of started almost in that way but we always had the goal to eventually I mean don't quit your day job as they always say but it would be nice to be able to get the machine up and running so we're making a movie every year or two and maybe getting a little notoriety of people watch it, you know, like it.

SPEAKER_04 23:02

Yeah I mean and and the reality is um this work filmmaking and filmmaking in particular but all performing arts in their own particular ways is the most unique I feel most unique um profession because it's the one thing where you you pay for it first before you can get any get financial compensation back. And and um you had you had stated something Marty that I think I I mentioned this a lot um when I talk to my friends it is it goes back to understanding the business of things the business of art and so I like I said I was an outsider I worked for an engineering firm I was working with an engineering firm when I first started doing movies and made a feature an original manuscript for Tucson French Festival which had Tucson French Festival change their rules because it was um it was a thought provoking piece. There's credibility there's visibility and there's financial and so for instance and and knowing how to navigate what is worth doing something for what the what you're gonna be compensated by is really important. There are projects that I'm not gonna get paid but I want to work with these people I want to work with them so much and and I want to make sure that they know who I am there's a thing like yeah it's not paying much but you know what they I I said I would do it they I know they need me I'm gonna help them out or there's other ones where it's like I don't really I'm not I'm kind of invested I'm I'm cool with the project but I'm really needing to make sure my bills are paid and um the by recognizing that I feel that it gives filmmakers a um or those they're in those that are in this environment wanting to become filmmakers or want to be uh any role within it allows you to better navigate this very roller coaster um uh uh profession because it is it it's as you said four years ago you shot it four years ago and then a year ago it would it or you know six months ago year ago it it came out it it takes a lot of time and um especially for indie film like for for movies that are coming from those that are driven by the love of the craft and wanting to build upwards dude that that is like all heart and soul with like you know the fumes in the gas tank that are driving it forward um I so I I I feel that with that rec with that understanding um there is growth to be coming from it I'm sorry I could talk about this a lot I got us I got really excited questions and I could talk movies for a while I could talk about this for a long time so I don't want to this is this is what Marty and I do every what four or five hours a week on a call and talk just like this um so we do have some standard questions we kind of go through so the first one was how do we meet you um my one of mine is um do what kind of do you like getting feedback as an actor do you like getting feedback from directors do you not like getting feedback what's some good feedback that you've gotten from a director and this is kind of a selfish question because I like to hear what other directors are kind of telling people that are sparking with them so I can maybe put it in my repertoire.

SPEAKER_03 27:06

But um I'm curious I'm curious what you know how do you like to work with the director what's good feedback you've gotten from them anything like that.

SPEAKER_04 27:13

Absolutely um before I answer that question I I'd like to provide a a very poignant analogy for this so like I had mentioned I I'd worked in the corporate arena um uh for a while for a number of years and in the position that I was at with the amount of money that so I I helped procure um uh federal grants and so like I was tasked with you know this year you got to bring in 1.8 million or whatever it was there are certain amounts and that already incurs kind of pressure and then you're dealing with other people with that kind of pressure and then you're dealing with people that are acclimated to being a holes like and and because it works. I mean it's a very very bravado and I don't mean engineering but money money procurement kind of can be and so when I started going and working with directors like you know to me I was like oh that's just an instruction like to me I I have yet to meet someone who really um that made me feel uncomfortable or unsafe or anything like that. They may have they may not have been as competent as I had assumed they were but I feel that um if I'm an instrument and I'm on the stage and I have brought the things that I think or in film and I bring the things that I do but they say okay do it angry. Now that that may not be a clear instruction so I'll try to give out oh angry like this or angry like there's a lot of angries um I feel that the director has a vision and that vision they can see it locked in their mind. A lot of a lot of very passionate directors are like this their ability to convey it may not be as articulate but they see something that they want and for me personally um I've worked with directors that didn't know how to articulate very well um but thank goodness I could I knew how to ask questions to get what they were trying to get at which I don't think some actors or some people can have because as an actor unfortunately when someone when you do your best I was practicing all week I know my character or my character he grew up on the hard streets of wherever and I made it this whole world and I'm gonna say this line the dogs are over there and they're saying all right that's fine but can you say it like sadder um you know a lot many people especially that are new I feel they um take offense by it like are you saying that what I'm doing is not good when that's not it's like the directors are saying hey look no no no you could be great but I don't want a pizza I want a steak I'm asking you to give me a steak right now and so um when it comes to my the best director the best director that I've got to work with um that's a that's a very very um uh that's a hard question um no best feedback from a director yeah best feedback maybe or is it like signaling somebody out you know yeah is there something yeah yeah you don't have to call anybody out but it like you know was was a piece of feedback that you got that was like oh shit just light bulb okay so I was in a movie where I was playing an abusive husband and but the thing was is that they did not um show any physical violence it was just a domineering element and in this particular scene um my wife was going to leave but I stop her from getting from leaving out the door and then I don't even push her but it's like I get in her way so that she has to back back inside the room and I just close the door and then you start hearing like that muffled argument sound. Sure and after that scene um I got the best type of response where they were like um no I I know you're not really like that but man that that was that was kind of scary man I know you're not like that when when when when people are trying to can like try to say I'm not really scared of you I know you're not like that but dude like you know so that that's always good. It makes me feel like okay I'm I'm bringing what needs to be gotcha I love it is there a dream role as far as acting goes like any particular type of character you'd like to play um yes I would love to play one of those characters that is on an impressionable series um but isn't the lead uh uh I I want to be the Alec Baldwin in uh Glengarry Glen Ross I want to be the dude that comes in like whoa who is that dude or the Omar Little in the wire or the Jesse Pinkman in Breaking Bad. I want to be um a character that is startled startlingly um uh profound and lingers um if i i i feel that I am working towards that i i when i started doing this um like taking it seriously um i looked at it like a medical degree like okay you know what this is gonna take if i'm gonna do this in all aspects i got to give myself eight years of building that up and giving myself goals because that's the hardest part like um uh making money we talked about this earlier i had to really learn like i gave up that engineering job i had to make a choice do i want to do do i want to act and write or am i gonna work more than full time because it was a lot of hours i mean like it's it's a lot of hours and i could you know it was hitting that breaking point i couldn't do both and um i made that i made that choice i ate a lot of mac and cheese and and like the and campbell soup because like you know it it wasn't um it at the beginning if there wasn't much to be made but um that slow progress you start getting more seen or recognized started working more in phoenix and and texas a couple times and um you start getting as you know start being able to say yeah these are my rates for these are my day rates and um uh like for the theater out here in Tucson I I've been under study twice at Arizona Theater Company.

SPEAKER_03 34:44

I have like an actor's profile with them now which is uh that's like the biggest theater out here um and it's it's it's taken some time but um I've been able to leverage my writing skills to work with individuals that offer me the flexibility to do movies and do performing arts and that's kind of that shift that needs to be done it's like it's like that always be on set you know what I mean yeah sounds like I was gonna mention uh you were talking about the characters like that like Giancarlo Esposito like from Mad Men jumped to my mind immediately that's that that powerful important character that comes in and you know sort of profound so you know yeah absolutely yes I if I may share this I have a film reel on my page I didn't realize it when I when it was put together but when I watched it I was like oh wow that's an interesting cue all of the major roles that are shown on this film reel I'm doing this I'm pointing I'm points at people and I was like wow okay that's my signature move is there you go hey it's good to have a signature move that's I mean I if you if you look at most actors big film stars they play the same thing Kellen Eastwood made a career out of 40 years of playing the same gruff asshole for every movie that he was in right because he knew that's what the audience responded to you find the thing that you do that the audience responds to and you try to I mean even when you play a different character you're probably going to work that in some way because you know the character you know you know audiences like to respond to it right that's why that's why Vince Vaughn's kind of patter is so he does it in every movie almost right you know because he knows what's the audience is like about him. That's absolutely right it's the Denzel Washington it's like uh uh or the Tom Cruise it's you know we know who we're getting they they they play themselves as the character really well as opposed to the the uh I was gonna say Daniel Plainview the uh Daniel day Lewis who kind of does the exact opposite which is phenomenal but um um yeah there's there's a difference between actors and movie stars in my opinion yeah oh my yes yes movie stars are like I was telling talking about well I want to play that same character but I want to do it as pirate I want to play that same character but I want to do it as a race car driver I want to play the same character but I want to do it as a as a as a uh cowboy cowboys and Indians Western and then care you know real actors are like I I don't give a shit what role you give me I'm just gonna do the role exactly that that's yeah uh you're absolutely right and um I feel in my particular case um I have it took a while to learn I had to start really learning and exercising saying no because that's a hard thing especially in in in an environment where saying no can mean you may you may not do anything else with people right that that one role where you're you know being the bus driver again or being the thug again could have led to being the president and whatever but you have to make those determinations and I you know I feel that because I write and and sometimes produce um I've afforded myself and this is the best way if I if I really want a role I will write myself a role because that's I can guarantee myself that like I don't know and and it sounds it sounds um glib or or uh it sounds like a glib aspect but the reality is um sometimes if it's a project that I'm passionate about if it's a thing that I wrote that I'm like oh my god I I I love this I want to do this right um you know sometimes that's the only way it's going to be done right um until until I'm until I am uh recognized enough where I can write a script and then someone says hey here's 50 money go do it yeah okay well if you insist you know but I I'm not there yet so that's the dream that is absolutely that is that's absolutely right yeah we know that too because uh you know yeah you we we write scripts for ourselves so we have something to make you know it's that kind of but it's also the stories that we want to tell too so you get better as a writer yeah yeah yeah um do you have a music movie so I like to ask this question and and it sometimes it will confuse the guest which is understandable but do you have a a movie based on music that you like or about music not necessarily a musical I know what you're saying like like a like a musical theme a tone yeah like a like a that thing you do or a Nashville or a uh Daisy Jones in the six you know it's something it doesn't necessarily be about a band but it's about music or or that isn't necessarily a musical do you have a favorite it's a weird question I get it but no no no not at all I mean the the one that pops off into my head right away would be the doors because um you know it we we you see one of my personal uh interests one of my favorite subject subject matter is um the plight of the artist and you know and maybe why I'm so into these movies Marty a little bit is the whole plight of the artist thing makes sense it you know and there is it's like there there is a um there is a struggle no matter what there's a struggle even even with success um you know like uh uh going to the doors seeing Jim Morrison literally be so uh destructive but find creation in it is like the Pablo Naruta like artist he he's the dude that um refutes his own life he would give up his life for that art that music that and he and I mean he he he definitely put himself to the paces um and I kind of feel like it it's like a um I think we're all familiar with uh Taylor Swift Taylor Swift the multi gajillionaire who uh writes very similar songs but hey they are catchy and you know I'm not gonna knock them there's some songs I'm like all right cool and her her determination is inarguable oh yeah you gotta respect you gotta respect the grind the grind and and someone I forgot who had said this it was oh Lana del Rey Lana delay like someone had asked her well what do you feel about Taylor Swift you know um her her iconography and Lana del Rey basically said she's where she's at because she wanted it that bad she she wanted it that bad and um yeah you don't get to the top without a massive amount of drive no no and a massive amount of effort I mean that's definitely a massive amount of effort and and a massive amount of money too that that helped a massive amount of money yeah and and and eventually now she's insulated with an entire machine behind her right she's built that up she's built that up and here it comes here comes the Taylor Swift machine exactly I will I will say this and this is not knocking it this is recognizing Oracle no that's just that's just that's just how it works.

SPEAKER_04 42:43

That's how it works like you know it's like um you know it's like a lot of the the the famous actors the the Henry Cavills the um Emilia Clarks all these people they and I know pivoting from musicians because I do have one more music movie. Oh please no no go ahead that's uh Selena with uh oh fuck I love that and and the and the only reason I bring that up is because the one made J Lo a star dude that's good that's the movie that made J Lo a star if there was one sentence from that movie is there a sentence that you remember from that movie that you could recall right now um so for me it's always I'll do anything for Salinas for Salinas I'm gonna put it in my in the garage with torn from the bumper of Salinas exactly exactly that's fantastic I'd forgotten all about that that's so great absolutely going to the the plan of the artist and then like filmmaking again one of those illusions of of being an actor or being successful and I mean and I mean successful as in you make So much money, you're on you're in magazines, you're being talked about on websites and stuff. It's that you know, Henry Cavill, he he gets denied roles a lot. They go like through 400 auditions a year, a year, and then they get two. And so that's with knowing with the with the consistent um environment of having you know uh uh conservatories that they get to go to, working out, not having to worry about bills, and literally having 500 auditions to go to. And that's those are the movie star, those are the big names. What do we do when you're starting out but you're still working, you know, from eight to five, and you you're afraid of asking for the day off to do the movie, and if you even get selected, and it's uh that plight because there are artists that are still working at Circle K, but you know, that can come and help out, you know what I mean?

SPEAKER_03 45:04

Yeah, there's I mean, there's uh uh the there's a soap opera star that was just killed in LA for uh I don't remember his name, but he caught three three guys. He was coming off of his bar shift. He's a bartender at a club. He's on Days of Our Lives. He's a regular. And he's uh or at least a regular special guest.

SPEAKER_00 45:26

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 45:26

And he has to work a bar at night to pay his bills. And he comes out of the bar, catches three guys trying to steal a catalytic converter off his car, and they they kill him for it. They shoot him and kill him over it, right? So it's like you can even be on television and still have a regular fucking job to pay your bills. That's insane. That's inscre that's that's the where that's the part of my mind where I'm like, Jesus, if I actually get to the point where I'm working in Hollywood and I'm on television and I have to work at Starbucks at the same time, what the how do I mentally deal with that shit, right?

SPEAKER_05 45:57

Like what's the thing? Yeah, when people see people on TV and they just assume that they're they just assume you've made it and you haven't made it. There's a harsh reality to a lot of it, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 46:10

That's right. It's because of the because of the the lie of I hate to say so um uh pessimistically, but it's it's the lie of the Hollywood dream. And I mean the the the lie isn't like, oh, you know what? I'm gonna leave Omaha and I'm gonna go to be discovered. All I gotta do is be a waitress for just a couple days, or I I gotta I have the best script. All I need is just to slide that script under the plate and they'll read it and they're gonna love it, and that's gonna shoot me the frame. No, this one as a writer, you guys both know this. How frustrating is it in a movie where someone's oh okay, starting. Then it's like a monster cough.

SPEAKER_01 46:58

Shut up. No. No.

SPEAKER_04 47:04

No. That's so true. You know, it's like the if if if there was a um if there was a a better truism of those that came in, because I do believe that there are those that come from the ground go up. But that is a whole different level of of expectation. It's not fun. It's it it's it's harrowing in some regards, but no one wants to watch a movie of happily working at you know an insurance agency place, and then at night you're doing low-budget comic, uh, you know, college flicks until you get that one movie that, oh wow, I made$7,500 from I don't have to work at Starbucks anymore. This is the best day of my life. Yeah, you know, it's exactly. It's always they uh a lot of the movies they they have to be like, yeah, you know, he was a great writer, but he was addicted to heroin. What's he gonna do?

SPEAKER_03 48:06

Heroine or right? He was he was a great writer and he had to pay his fucking bills. Let's see that.

SPEAKER_04 48:13

I now I want to write a script, heroin or right.

SPEAKER_05 48:20

So, sorry. You could say we woke up from the Hollywood dream and we're living the reality of you don't have to move to California. The pandemic shifted things so much that it was already happening to where I mean even the whole Arizona scene has changed over the last years.

SPEAKER_00 48:38

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 48:39

The fact that we're doing this recording right now, and we're all in I mean, both you and me, Richard, are in Arizona, but Cliffson, Oklahoma, we're making the recording happen. Like we're on the street.

SPEAKER_03 48:48

Yeah, tape taped auditions are very, very common now. You can, you know, you don't have to go to 500 auditions, you don't have to drive back and forth in LA, living in LA, back and forth in these studios to audition. You just send in a tape, you just do a zoom call, you just record yourself, you know. And and I mean, that's that's got its own level of you know, that's got its own level of shit you gotta deal with.

SPEAKER_05 49:09

Oh, yeah, there's still plenty of work to do, but it's shifted to uh you know, shifted for sure.

SPEAKER_04 49:14

Yeah, yeah, yeah. No, it absolutely it absolutely has. I kind of liken it. Um this is a direct example of this uh new uh epoch in um uh uh entertainment, storytelling, or in this case filmmaking. Um you know, if if we go through let's say silent era to um classic movies to um contemporary films to uh streaming services, it's the first time where the like the the whole idea of the uh the blockbuster, that blockbuster idea is so so recent, people don't really think about it. Like a lot of money that was made even from great movies like Back to the Future or uh you know anything from you know the 80s, 70s, 80s, 90s, even early 2000s, you you made a lot of money from the back end from DVD distribution, from uh you know, tapes, cable, yeah, cable those things, and that also encouraged the cult classic because you know what? You could walk into a movie, you could walk around and like say, What the heck is this? And then that helps inspire that. But not only has um that that removal of a product altered the way in which you can make money from uh this art, but um we're seeing it right now with this, because this and I say this um objectively, this right here, this conversation is a um peripheral product, right? It's a it's a it's a an item that helps uh provide depth into the team that you worked with and your thoughts and your ideas and the company itself and the love song for of William H. Shaw, it's it's a product as well. And what needs to start happening is how how how can we get paid for these peripheral products as the other hardware ones are now no more? Because I think that would be something we would all like to um have, right?

SPEAKER_05 51:27

Yeah, yeah. The the more things we make, the better they get, which puts more of a value on us, I guess.

SPEAKER_04 51:32

And it's yes, absolutely, you know. Uh it's like what we should do is we should just start doing, you know, making coffee mugs with just our face. Like, hey, Richard Chomps Thompson, and I'll just sell uh coffee mugs in my face.

SPEAKER_05 51:45

Well, we certainly want to start making some some swag of frenzy stuff. And oh my god, you absolutely have to do it. You know, Frank Powers came up to us after the screening, all energetic as well, like, why don't you have them on the t-shirts and the bumper stickers? And it's like, well, uh, it's a great idea, but it all comes down to the money as well. But even that doesn't cost that much. But that's something we'd like to do, is get more of that out there because you know, maybe learning to self-market and sees the movie, who knows?

SPEAKER_03 52:14

Yeah, learning to self-market is is it's a it's a weird thing.

SPEAKER_05 52:20

It's weird.

SPEAKER_03 52:21

You you you either you know you either really have an unabashed ability to sort of promote yourself or you don't. Right. That's and and to me it's almost like a it's almost comes down to like a lack of self-awareness, right? Where like there's a certain person that's like, I don't give a shit, this is me, and and then other people are like, uh that's fair, that's absolutely on the person who has that ability. I kind of admire it. You know, I I mean I admire this ability to just kind of constantly self-promote yourself. I don't watch Vanderpump Rules or K the Kardashians, but I admire this constant ability that they have to to sell I don't see any artistic or intrinsic value in what they do, but they seem to have this ability to promote themselves in a way that people watch their shit or it generates revenue for them. Which is fucking wild to me. But but I I and I'm not I'm not hating the game. Um I may hate the game, but I can't hate the player. No, exactly. You know, right? Like I get it. I go make your money, go do your grind, go do what you gotta do, but I don't get it.

SPEAKER_04 53:33

And I I I I wholeheartedly agree. And because when it comes down to it also, um it's it is a realization of what you want to do. I rem I remember do you know I don't know if you're familiar with uh uh Avay uh Diamako. He's uh he he worked out here, he was a really fantastic filmmaker out here. He's moved to Texas. Um I and I'm so fortunate to work with him. Um he's shown me cinematography stuff, blah blah blah. But any of it, so we were talking, and I was like, yeah, man, I need to get a um I had a zoom uh a zoom wheel for my lens, right? And I was like, yeah, we were talking about it, and I was like, yeah, I need uh the particular um uh uh attachment. And he was like, well, yeah, no, this person I go to, they make it, they have a 3D, uh 3D printer and they make them. And I said something like, oh dang, I'll I'll I can buy a 3D printer and make it. He said, Wait, do you want to be the guy who makes those things or do you want to be the person who is using it? Because it's gonna take you're you're taking away from the thing you want to do by doing that.

SPEAKER_03 54:38

Trying to do everything, yeah. Yeah, it's like um that's the biggest thing that we learn. Sorry to interrupt, but we we learn stop trying to do everything. I mean you pay the money, pay the money, pay the fucking money. You're gonna have to find it, right? Pay it, and and let a guy worry about your shot. Let a guy worry about your guy or girl, worry about your audio, let this other person worry about your second set decoration, let somebody else worry about your damn script so you can focus on what the f you need to do to get it across the finish line in the best in and get your like you said, this vision in your head that you've had this entire time. You know, every fit everybody who's creative or is an artist who's at the helm or the forefront has the vision, has that idea of this is how I want it.

SPEAKER_00 55:27

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 55:28

You know, and so yeah, I I completely, I completely agree. Not to interrupt, apologies for interrupting, but yeah.

SPEAKER_04 55:33

So absolutely you're you are all good. I uh I I I 100% agree with you. You're absolutely right.

SPEAKER_05 55:40

In the beginning, you know, you have to wear every hat. You don't have a choice. But we're coming up on our sixth film, so we're hoping we can have a larger crew.

SPEAKER_03 55:48

And it it it does help you learn like the jobs, like where you're like, well, this is kind of how I like my lighting to run, this is kind of like what I want my sound to sound like. But but then people who are really good at it deliver something so over the what you expected, you're like, oh my god. Perfect.

SPEAKER_04 56:04

Yeah, well, so and uh, I would say that um like so from starting at the beginning, you're absolutely right. Like, you know, if it's your first project and you don't no one knows you, or you're just or usually that drive, like, I'm gonna make a movie. Uh you don't even know what the thing is. You can have read all the books, most like most likely you don't read any of them. You just know I can do this, I can do this. But it goes back to those three forms of um uh of compensation because I feel that like in probably this case, you'd even said you there are people that you knew, like, hey, uh they wanted to do great in front of the camera, yeah. And you know what? Like sometimes that change just giving that chance, like someone said, I don't know it, but I want to learn it, then let's go ahead and learn. Bring bring that, and that is a lot of times uh more than enough. I mean, it's it's best. Uh who's what's her name? Beans? Is uh who is uh who is the producer? Who is uh um uh she she was one of the producers, she was also in La Song for William Shah. She was the one who said, I like him, he's feisty. Biscuit! Biscuit! Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. So she and I when when we were at that um film festival, she and I like uh had a connection because she does um uh uh microelectronic work, and I that's what I would do. I would write papers on on that. And so we were talking about that, we're talking about just the industry itself and blah blah blah. And then um getting in going into movies, it was just um she like she said that she'd never acted before, she never did it, but that or she carried that her or just the acting bit, not just not to mention all of the other roles that she played. Yeah, she was the movie over over and over again, yeah. Over and over again. Like she did she did so much, and it didn't matter that she didn't have a background in it. She had that um desire to do it, and and that self-defined to do it well, not just to do it, but to do it well.

SPEAKER_03 58:12

And um she was a m massive new element for us on on Love Song, as far as bringing in somebody to help Jeff with with the artistic side of it, the set dressing, the costumes, the thing, and then of course she comes in and does I think she was in what Mario, three or four costumes in that that film or something like that. She's in a movie already. I mean, she yeah. I mean, she went from being in the movie to being an associate producer to now where she'll you know she'll probably you know end up being a co-producer on something at some point. She understood she's beginning more and more to understand how the films are made and the elements that make them up, and she can manipulate quite a few of them very well, especially when it comes to the artistic side. She's fantastic at that stuff.

SPEAKER_04 59:00

Yeah, and and not not to um uh to over uh overshadow your guys' role in it, giving the opportunity so someone can say associate producer on a film, on a feature film, on a good feature film, yeah. That is that is a credential that many students in film school don't even get to. Like it's you know what I'm saying? It it's really it's I I feel from what I know from what it's from what it always sounds like, um that the relationship that you guys had with um the crew, I because I only I was only on set with you guys for one day. Um, it was a fun ass day. It was a great day. It was awesome, like it was a great day. Um but it I could tell right away that one, okay, the biggest one, you guys are um professional. And I say that, you know, uh I say that because a lot of times um you you held you held a standard of professionalism in how things are gonna be done, what was what was required, what was needed, and um how people should carry themselves on it. You can tell when you're on set when people don't care. Um and I like you guys cared.

SPEAKER_03 1:00:40

I mean I don't care. If you're not if you're not into it, don't do it. Because we're not paying much. Like you gotta you gotta love it. You guys because we're I mean we're gonna feed you and you're gonna get a little bit of money out of it.

SPEAKER_05 1:00:51

We'll drive you to set, you know, if you want to.

SPEAKER_03 1:00:53

We'll drive you to set and that type of thing. But but other than that, bro, you've gotta you gotta love it. You got because we're gonna ask you to, you know, we're gonna ask you to be working for eight, ten, twelve hours.

SPEAKER_05 1:01:02

You gotta master our passion for it, you know.

SPEAKER_03 1:01:04

Yeah.

unknown 1:01:05

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 1:01:05

And I think that also, I think what Marty just said, I think we we exude some very big passion on set, and that can be infectious.

SPEAKER_05 1:01:12

And also, I don't expect anybody to come on and and do work and and think that they're working for free or they're it's like, no, no, always communicate and say, hey, I need to pay my bills this month. I can't do this or that. And we'll totally understand that. We're not trying to make people work for nothing. But at the same time, we want people to share the passion that we do because then we're all on the same page, kind of.

SPEAKER_01 1:01:34

That's absolutely right.

SPEAKER_05 1:01:35

So work my day job too. You know, I don't have tons of money, but if somebody needs a little extra something to make this viable, we'll see what we can do, you know.

SPEAKER_03 1:01:44

And we're always willing to carve up the pie, too. Like, you know, for the for the for the principals and for people who, you know, we really are absolutely intrinsic to what we're doing, you know. Hey, look, if the film takes off and it makes money, you're gonna get some back end. We're gonna give you percentage of the backend. Here's a little bit of a. It might take a while, there's no telling, but you know, right now we're like, you know, who knows? We might be, I don't want to jinx us, but we're talking to some distributors. Maybe we're signing something for these three films, and we can maybe start generating some money and and showing people, hey, look, after the bills got paid, you actually made you made a little bit of money. Here's some money to go out for dinner. I mean, it may not be a lot, but you know, that's it's it it's that is yeah, absolutely.

SPEAKER_04 1:02:25

That's that is it's a mark of of good ethic. Um without I'm not gonna drop any names, but I can say this. Um it's unfortunate that there are still places you can go and work, but they are very attuned to legalities, and they they understand, well, hey, if you didn't fight for your contract, or if you didn't fight to get that in writing, they can kind of ghost you, and you know, for a day player or something, it kind of is a sucky um lesson. Yeah, when you're like hey, uh, am I gonna get paid? Oh, yeah, no, talk to them, talk to them. It's your you talk to 10 different people, but no one knows. And no one, you know, that that it's a shame that that happens. So it's really cool that you know, I got paid to make funny faces and and uh line.

SPEAKER_03 1:03:35

I told you I told you that before you were perfect. You're you you you have a very strong ability to react in the moment, and that's so especially in a comedy, especially when you're working against a guy like Bradford, who's a who's a he's a great actor, and you're just keeping pace with him the entire time. Some of those double take faces you make were just fucking perfect. And I told I I told Marty the from the first time I saw him standing behind the camera watching, I looked at her, I was like, this is it, yeah, this is the guy. Like there's no reason that there's no worry about it. He's got it. And and I'm super excited because he's one of the first scenes in the movie. Yeah. And he's there and present. He's the audience reacting to Billy, and he's giving Bill, he's giving the audience these cues to how we're gonna react to Billy throughout the movie. And fucking nailed it, man.

SPEAKER_01 1:04:20

If it'd been just some guy standing there all you know, waiting for the scene to be hurt, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 1:04:26

So yeah, you got a little bit attic bald in there. Oh man, yeah. I wanted to thank you guys. I know I thanked you during Tuscom, but I need to thank you again. Seeing it on the screen, you guys did just give me that first scene. You bookended me. That is dope.

SPEAKER_03 1:04:40

Like that is so well appreciated. Yeah, you get to pass out the chip at the end and bring him up and congratulate him, and yeah.

SPEAKER_04 1:04:49

Exactly. Like I uh but if I if uh I wanted I wanted to ask, not even ask a question. I wanted to compliment on one major thing because I've talked to my brother. I you uh you have no idea how many people I've talked to about this movie, and they say when and they always say, Well, when can I see it? And I'm like, I don't know. I I wish I could tell you guys because I don't I don't just say you should watch this. I don't I try to typically not do that only because it's kind of it reminds me of like being you know in middle school, like, hey, you want to read my poetry?

SPEAKER_03 1:05:25

Right, right.

SPEAKER_04 1:05:26

You know, but um, and so if someone sees it and they happen to see it, that's cool. But this I've I've been plugging, um, but I I wanted to I wanted to um just ask one question if I can before if you if you have one totally. No, this this was my introduction to the um uh uh uh Revenge of Zoe trilogy. Like I didn't even know about them until this. And so just as one major compliment. I don't think I I think if you haven't heard it, you need to hear it again. You made the the the third movie so well it you did not need to see the first two to understand what happened in the first two to get it. That is profound, just by itself, that's fantastic. Um but the second larger one, the one that I found myself um talking at length with my spouse, probably to an annoying degree.

SPEAKER_03 1:06:32

Um, we've all been there.

SPEAKER_04 1:06:34

Oh yeah. Um is what the setup was. Because I would say this movie, what what I always say, like what made this this is a movie. This I was told I was told my brother, dude, you could put if you if you happen to click on this movie on Saturday afternoon and we were hanging out at home, you would keep it on that channel. That that's that's the kind of movie this is. That's how good this movie is. You could be at home and you click it, and if you click to TNT, you know when you're just channel surfing or just like I don't know what to watch, and you happen to see a thing, and then you're kind of stuck on it. You you're stuck enough to not keep moving, and then you're like, all right, and then you walk and you're like, dude, I didn't even know it's a it was a surprise. That's this kind of movie. So you you guys presented very, very realistic and dark subject matter in such a light-hearted way. It reminded me of movies in the 80s, and I that's that to me is a comp it should be the biggest.

SPEAKER_03 1:07:34

I take it that way. Yeah, absolutely.

SPEAKER_04 1:07:36

It's like it was, you know, we movies in the 80s were were movies that were their own self-contained universe that believed themselves. That that's on that's all you needed to know. And this is the type of movie that like when you think about it, um uh uh uh uh William, William drinking that scene when he says, so what, so excuse me while I save the world. That is that that's a t-shirt right there. So excuse me while I save the world. Like those things were literally he goes on a bender to force his friends to at least because he knows that that guilt of not of doing what's right, that's what's gonna take. There are so many elements that were rooted in realism that it's kind of like the revenge of the nerds, like um those those thematic elements that people bring about, like, you know, in a new uh era of perspective when they're like, you know, the dude was wearing like the guy's mask when he was with the other guy's girlfriend. That's kind of not cool, but uh you you you made a movie that was so smart. It was smart.

SPEAKER_03 1:09:03

And I remember the I remember the conscious choice of because we're like, look, you know, in the in in the Revenge of Zoe, you know, Billy's off his rocker, he's he's pretty, you know, out there on drugs and so on and so forth, and they really you know the boys kind of walk him through that, right? So the next step is his, what are we what's his sobriety like, right? And I remember Marty and I making a conscious decision talk talking about it, and I'm saying, well, look, you know, I I'm a child of Alcoholics Anonymous, I've been through that. I've we I can easily represent that in a very realistic manner, however, it's gonna be a fucking bummer. There's not a lot of comedy there. There's not a lot, I mean, the reality of alcoholism isn't really it can be. There are time there there are times when some, you know, the the the the absurdity of it is very funny. But that kind of comedy that we were going for was so it was like, okay, we're gonna have to just kind of take this approach where we deal with the seriousness of it, but we don't acknowledge it, and we just move and we sort of move past it in a way that's lighthearted, but also you can see him dealing with it throughout the movie and getting to that point. Like breaking sobriety, like you said, breaking sobriety to force his friends to kind of deal with their shit is what he knows is gonna work. And because he's tried everything else and it's not working, yes.

SPEAKER_04 1:10:22

And and and in and even more so, this is another dark point, which is beautifully done. His friends, the people that yes, he hurt, but that were important to him, didn't even go to his sobriety. Right. Like, like you you know, the the one uh one of the the overarching theme that I saw was about um uh uh uh not relinquishing, but affirming the connection or affirming a relationship, right? Like everybody in some form or fashion throughout the movie was not taking the step forward to be cool, to do to to to do what they really wanted. Their stubbornness of whatever their intention was was holding them back, and that stubbornness prevented being able to move forward and let go. Like in uh what's Eric's line? Like um, he said, uh sorry, the the the other gentleman, I think his name is Robert. I I might be the guy who played Pete. Yes, Pete. Nate, Nate, Nate, yeah. So it's the what it's in the third act, they're sitting in the car, and um uh and Nate's like, well, maybe you should just be have like a better personality. Touche.

SPEAKER_03 1:11:44

Yeah, how yeah, maybe you can explain to me how you overcharge your customers by 40% and they still buy shit. And he's like, it's called charm, dick.

SPEAKER_00 1:11:50

Called charm, called Dick.

SPEAKER_04 1:11:54

Exactly, it's called charm. And it's like touche, like that's like it, you know, it's it's those things, um man, uh all of that, all of that. It I will say this, I said it before, I'm not gonna try to make more work for you guys, but if you if you ever needed someone to do something for like a series or just hey, make make a beat list, or hey, make a summary of because dude, the characters are awesome. These are people that I want to watch.

SPEAKER_03 1:12:29

And God, I've heard I mean I hear that. I've hear that from so many people, Marty. It's like we've talked about breaking it down, we've talked about taking the three films and breaking it down into three seasons for Netflix or some series, and just saying, you know, look, just give us, you know, fit I don't know, 100 grand an episode, fifty thousand dollars an episode. We could probably knock this out pretty easily and give you you know ten episodes a season, thirty episodes of this growth of these guys as they go through owning this conflict store and meeting this dude, all these different things. So it's it's it's funny that you say that like I've heard that from more than one people. It's like these are characters that I really want to hang out with.

SPEAKER_04 1:13:06

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 1:13:08

Yeah, oh my god.

SPEAKER_04 1:13:10

It um they are. Uh if if that happens or whatever, please keep me in mind, or even if it's for uh horror movies in the West, uh you know, um I hope that I can uh reach out.

SPEAKER_03 1:13:24

We've got some stuff on the burners right now. It's time to go, pardon my language, or pardon my cough. It's time to go next level, I think. So we're looking at a hundred thousand dollar movie, probably, or something in that range. Um so you know, it's gonna have to be a hell of a script, it's gonna have to be a hell of a cast, you know, all that type of stuff. So I mean, all these people that we work with, that's the one thing we do is we we end up assembling this group and just moving forward, and as we move forward, the group kind of grows, right? So you're unfortunately you're in the Pondo family at this point, and really there's no escape, there's no escaping it. There's no 'cause it's like a black hole. You're not escaping the orbit. It's too much too much gravity to pull you back in.

SPEAKER_04 1:14:05

That'd be exactly right. Absolutely. That's absolutely I'm Oh, you'll you'll you'll hear from us for sure. Oh man, that's uh yes, yes, yes.

SPEAKER_05 1:14:14

Probably the first thing will be to come back on and talk about a movie like we were mentioning.

SPEAKER_03 1:14:19

Yeah, like we'd love to have you on and give you a movie and you give us a movie, and then we'll just talk about, you know, we'll just review the movies and talk about that's that's what our talking pondo, that's what Marty and I do, is we do I give him a movie, he gives me a movie. But we j we just did uh Breaking Away and the Mystery Science Theater movie. That was the last two that we just reviewed. So we'd love to give you the two of us will give you a movie, you give us a movie, we'll watch them, and then we'll get on the podcast to talk about them. Oh my god. Yes. That'll be fun.

SPEAKER_04 1:14:48

Absolutely, absolutely. I would be down for that.

SPEAKER_03 1:14:50

Right on, right on. You got any other questions you want to ask?

SPEAKER_05 1:14:55

Well, I I think we really ran the gamut there. It was a great conversation.

SPEAKER_03 1:15:00

Really was. Um it's been fantastic and to talk to you again. Um like I said, you were fantastic in the film. I loved your vibe on set, and I definitely would like to get you involved in something or in in some way and something else that we're working on. So when we get to that point and we're ready to bring people in, I mean I'm sure we'll reach out to you. Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 1:15:19

I I'm thank you very much. I'm very, very excited. Of course.

SPEAKER_03 1:15:22

Yes, we are too. All right, guys. Well, Richard, thanks for being on. I really appreciate it. And again, um, we'll we'll probably hit you up here in a bit and and we'll do that whole talking pondo and and you give us a movie, we'll give you a movie. Are we sure?

SPEAKER_04 1:15:35

Oh, yeah, that's yes, please. Yeah, please reach out for that. I'm I'm very, very happy to do that.

SPEAKER_03 1:15:40

All right, guys. We'll see you. All right. Thanks, Richard.