WEBVTT

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You are listening to the IFH podcast
Network. For more amazing filmmaking and screenwriting

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00:00:08.800 --> 00:00:14.000
podcasts, just go to IFH podcast
network dot com. Welcome to the Bulletproof

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screen Writing Podcast, Episode number three
zero seven. Writing is easy. All

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you have to do is sit at
a typewriter and bleed. Ernest Hemingway broadcasting

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from a dark, windowless room in
Hollywood when we really should be working on

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that next draft. It's the Bulletproof
Screenwriting Podcast, showing you the craft and

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business of screenwriting while teaching you how
to make your screenplay bulletproof. And here's

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your host, Alex Ferrari. Welcome, Welcome to another episode of the Bulletproof

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Screenwriting Podcast. I am your humble
host Alex Ferrari. Now. Today's show

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is sponsored by Bulletproof Script Coverage.
Now. Unlike other script coverage services,

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screenplay or TV script covered by professional
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screenplay dot com. Well, guys, Today on the show we have Oscar

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winning screenwriter Alex Blanaris, and Alex
is one of the creative forces behind the

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remarkable Oscar winning film Birdman. Now, Alex and I sit down and have

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a very deep conversation about what it
was like coming up, how he turned

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down working on very big movies with
some big directors, where he almost got

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ousted by his agency, how he
got his agency in the first place,

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and what happened when he was asked
to be a writer on Birdman, and

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so much more. This is a
inspiring and educational conversation. So sit back,

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relax, and enjoy my conversation with
Alex Delaris. I'd like to welcome

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to the show, Alex Delaris.
How you doing, Alex, I'm doing

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well. How are you? I'm
doing great? My friend well, first

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off, great name. I'd like
the first name. It it works.

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I think I think it means leader
of men if you look at That's what

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my mother used to tell me.
Yeah, from Alexander. Of course your

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mother would tell you that because you're
Latino, and that's what my mother would

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tell me as well. That's right, that's right, I tell you.

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It's a really funny thing right now. So you know my relationship with my

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dear friend and my director alesand calls
me, never calls me Alex always calls

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me Tokayo her namesake, right,
And then I was producing films with the

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two directors that I'm now developing films. Are talking about this later anyway.

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One of them is her name is
Alex from Chicago. Right now I'm doing

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a Colombian I'm producing this Colombian artist
film. Her name is Alisanda and her

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director is Alekandra Mahia. So every
time we're on the call, you're like,

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which Ali Alex three, Alex two
seven, Alex is? We have

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no idea who's who? And growing
up I couldn't meet one Alex. But

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now they're everywhere. I know they
weren't as popular back then, but listen

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Man. Thank you so much for
coming on the show. I've been a

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fan of your work and what you've
been doing outside of obviously Birdman and other

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things you've done as well. But
my first question to you, sir,

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is how and why did you want
to get into this insane insanity that is

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the film industry. I mean I
sort of backed into it a little bit.

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I grew up in this tiny little
town called East Rockaway, Long Island,

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and I had a movie theater across
the street from me, one of

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those big old movie there is called
the Criterion, and it was one of

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those ones back because I'm I'm I'm
old now, so I'm talking about like

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late seventies, and it would one
movie theater, big curtain balcony. They

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played one movie. If it was
good, they played it for six months.

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If people were coming, like they'd
never change. And my house wasn't

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the greatest place for me to hang
out in, so I used to sneak

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across the street and just sneak in
a movie theater and watch movies all day.

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And that's when I fell in love
with movies. So I was like

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ten years old and I was watching
movies like Cramer versus Kramer and you know,

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Great Santini and Justice for All These
were all my favorite movies. They

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didn't Rocky Too and stuff like that, but I was watching anything that was

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there. So then in high school
I fell in love with theater, and

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for one second it was going to
be a theater actor. And then one

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second later I knew I wanted to
direct theater. So then I studied theater.

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And I had a weird life.
Man like I had a weird life.

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I didn't. I had some tough
times, but I found myself in

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a little university in North Miami called
Barry University. Oh yeah, I know

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Barry very well. You know Barry. There you go. Well, I

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was at Barry for two years,
and then I came back to New York

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because again I was a total mess. But I was studying theater, and

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then I was in the restaurant business
because I had to make a living.

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And one day I wrote a script
for a friend and somebody saw it and

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liked it. Next thing, I
knew, people wanted me to write instead

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of do anything else. And it
was easier to do when I was working

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in the restaurant business because you could
get home at two in the morning at

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right. You couldn't get home at
two in the morning and direct anything,

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you know what I mean, I
couldn't for the time off. And then

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my scripts just got Danny Ayello is
actually my fairy godfather. I know if

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you know, Danny rest in peace, Danny the unbelievable actor from Do the

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Right Thing and Moonstruck. And Danny
got a play of mine and fell in

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love with it and said, who
the hell are you? I need to

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work with you. And we did
a bunch of readings and he was like

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my fairy godfather. And then he
got me to Johnny Planko, who's a

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very famous manager who handled like Lauren
McCall on, Peter O'Toole and all of

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you. He asked, yeah,
I mean more like Anthony Quinn, Paul

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Schrader. Now, I mean it's
amazing. And Johnny, because I was

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doing a play with Danny who represented, said do you want a manager?

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I was like you He said yeah. I said, you're You're the only

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person I would be the only person
on your client list that I didn't know.

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And he said, nonetheless, I
think you're going to be good.

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And he signed me. Got me
to Cia. CIA, got me Alejandro,

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Alexander Yantidu and I did Beautiful Together, the first of our dem movie.

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I wrote a four drafts of that
before I eased out, and then

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we got back on Birdman and the
rest is history four films and then the

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rest of my film stuff. But
I've done plays and Broadway and stuff as

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well. That's how I got there, That's how you got them. So

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it's it's interesting because so many,
so many people listening right now are still,

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you know, working in the restaurant
business trying to get their scripts made.

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But you were also in New York
at the time, right, so

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it was a little difference. Kind
of like I always tell people, if

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you want to get hit by a
car, you got to go where the

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traffic is. That's fair enough.
Yeah, and New York and LA are

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kind of those two places. Would
you agree, I would agree. I

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mean, eventually you have to find
your way there, because if you're going

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to creep up into a writer's room
or if you're you know, you can

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write scripts from anywhere and submit them
and but yeah, better that you're mingling,

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meeting somebody sees your staff. Of
course, your your analogy is right,

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Yeah, And it's interesting that it's
it's this this business in general,

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there's oh, you always need to
have like a Donny Brasco style person,

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not an Italian, but I'm saying, a person who vouches for you to

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give you some sort of credibility to
open a door. Like Daniello was your

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guy, was your fairy god,
you know father. Essentially he was the

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one and when people said, oh, if Danny's looking at him, he

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must be so he just need one
person to open that creaked that door open,

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and then your talent. I think
that's an interesting point because those those

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people that you say that might be
listening, all of you out there that

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might be listening that are that are
trying to get there or still work in

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a restaurant business, which I did
for twenty four years. By the way,

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I wasn't a successful writer, so
I was almost forty so um.

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But there's also so we don't jump
straight to Danny I Yellow because you could

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be listening to this going like,
Yo, how the hell do I meet

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Danny I Yellow? That's the problem. But that's not how it happens either,

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right. How how that happened was
I wrote a play. I did

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that play in a staged reading.
Somebody in the reading was a friend of

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my friend who was an agent,
like commercial agent, a guy named Doug

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Keston from paradig Amazing Commercial Agent.
Amazing guy goes to the He loved the

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play and at the time, the
actor that I had in the part was

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going out, but he loved the
play so much. He's like, can

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I help you, you know,
find somebody. I was like, oh

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my god, that man. At
the time. By the way, I'm

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living in a eight foot by five
foot room in Brooklyn eating Chinese food for

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five days, you know what I
mean, like terrible. And he calls

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me up a few days later and
says, how would you feel about Danny

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Aello? I'm like, were you
crazy? Like that was like right,

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like, well, let's get it
to him. And there's a funny story

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about that. I won't go into
it, but my point was it wasn't

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just oh, hi, here's that
Danny Aello. Of course, because it

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was doing a little reading of a
play in a little place where a bunch

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of friends. Somebody was there.
He said, I liked it. So

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it's not just you know, it's
about how you build relationships, how you

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network. And this gets back to
your ago where the traffic is. The

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more people you know, if you're
doing good work, somebody notices, tell

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somebody else, and then you get
to Danny Illo, which gets you through

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the fence to whatever happens next.
So there is a you know what I

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mean? Yeah, absolutely, I
agree with you one hundred and ten percent.

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The point is that, yeah,
you have to just do work because

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you didn't write. You didn't write
that first script thinking that you were going

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to get someone like the Danniella to
open a door for you. You were

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just doing the work. But I
have to ask you, man, and

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this is something I think a lot
of people listening would would identify with.

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How did you keep going until?
I mean, all those years you said,

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twenty four years in the restaurant business. We'll be right back after a

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word from our sponsor, and now
back to the show. What kept you

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going following the dream of being a
writer and a director. I mean,

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but I I let it die.
It was never a writer. It was

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always I just wanted to direct theater. You know, I never thought I

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would be a writer. I didn't
plan on it, so I let it

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die. I was very dysfunctional.
I grew up in a house that was

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no good. I was drinking too
much booze when I was too young.

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I lived on the street for a
couple of months in New York City.

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Like it was a mess, man. I couldn't have my lights on.

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You know. It was bad.
But I always loved it, right.

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I love theater, I loved stories. I love film always. And then

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I got into the restaurant business.
What happens is you sort of get numb

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because when you have an to pay
your bills and it just gets you enough,

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and then you you're so depressed that
you're not doing what you love to

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do that you finish work at the
restaurant at one, and then you drink

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your face off till four, you
know, and then you rise some repeat

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for about what turns into two days
to ten years, you know. And

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I did everything there was to do
in a restaurant, from washing dishes and

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peeling shrimp to owning one um which
you know, uh, in general,

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managing all that stuff. But one
day I just quit it. Um two

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thousand or something. I just quit
it and ran to Florida. But then

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I said, I'm gonna try it. So I wrote the plays and then

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it worked. UM so I didn't
keep the dream alive in the middle.

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I just envied the dream and it
was really depressing time for me. Um

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and still to this day when i'm
you know, I swear to God like

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this is my house, this is
my office, as my man cave down

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here because you have a drum set
back there. So oh yeah, I

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was gonna say this is a very
Yeah, my Yankees baseballs are there?

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Is that a golden globe back there? Yeah? I think, yeah,

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of course. And there's no night. There's no night that I don't or

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morning that I don't wake up and
come down here and go what the hell

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happened? Like I I wake up
every day like I mean it like super

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grateful like like that. But it's
crazy, you know how I got from

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there to here, and that for
anybody listening like that, like there is

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a road, it just takes.
The road is the road, you know.

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And I think people get to scards
everybody. Oh you do things,

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you submit it. Yeah, but
you know agents aren't reading your ship and

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you're not setting them straight to a
studio like it seems impossible, but it

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is. Like you said about doing
the work, about having friends read,

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about opening up your circles to people
who are more in the business, and

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your talent hopefully will naturally float you
up, you know, toward the top

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um if you if you network enough
and give your stuff enough and have good

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soul and help other people, and
you know, I believe that I'm living

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proof of the luckiest son of a
bitch in the world. Yeah, it's

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it's it's a beautiful I love what
you're saying. It's actually really beautiful because

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it's there's so much hardship trying to
get into this business. It is it

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is absolutely brutal, so arguably the
most difficult business in the world to crack

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into. Really it's you're you could
be a brain surgeon faster, honestly,

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Yeah, or more directly, that's
true. Absolutely, Yeah, There's there's

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no question because there is no path. And I love when you said the

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path is the path. The journey
is the journey, and it's different for

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every single person. No one else
is going to write a play who then

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a friend season than an Agencyson.
Then it gets to a Danny, a

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yellow caliber actor who then opens a
door for you. They get you.

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Nobody's gonna pat that. And my
biggest mistake growing you know, coming up

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in the business is I just started
seeing everybody else's I was like, Oh,

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that's how Robert Rodriguez did it,
Well, maybe that's what I should

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do, or that's how Kevin Smith
did it, because I came up in

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the nineties. So it's like,
yeah, and then it ever works.

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Yeah, you have stories about him
giving blood and raising the money from you

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direct hearny filmmakers I've talked to.
It was like, yeah, I gave

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blood too, And I'm like,
how did that work out for you?

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Bro? I'm still hustling, man. I'm like, that was his God,

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that's his bad. So you gotta
find that path for yourself, I

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think is the big thing. So
you finally get to to Cia, you

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get to means that's but yeah.
But at the time, but when you

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met Alejandrew, was Alejandro Alejandro yet
or was he just uh? He had

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just finished No, he had just
got won the Golden Globe for and was

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nominated for all the Oscars from Babble. Oh that's right, the Babble.

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He did better do that. Also, he was already out the Hunter,

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he was already on the battle.
He did his first three movies with an

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unbelievably talented writer named Yer Mariaga who
twenty one Grahams and Battle Right, and

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then those guys parted ways and he
was looking for another writer. And this

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agent in New York from CIA,
who Johnny Plant Danny and by introduced me

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to Johnny. Johnny submitted my stuff
to CIA. At CIA, there was

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a theater agent named Olivier Saltan who's
still my agent, one of my best

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friends. And Olivier fell in love
with my play Still Life and Crazy because

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Alejandra, I think we've just moved
from Paradigm to CIA, I believe.

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And he was looking and he had
parted ways with Giermon and he was looking

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for writers and CIA since he was
a new client, and he was,

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you know, just on babbling.
He's you know, up and coming as

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one of the biggest directors. And
they sent him a pile of scripts.

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And the way Alejandro told me my
story was like he read through a million

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scripts and called CIA. It was
like, it's not working. I can't

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find it. Went through the bottom
of his pile and there was my play,

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not a movie script, my play
Still Life, and he read it

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and they called up you know,
his people CEA and said, who the

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hell's that guy? I need to
talk to that guy, and they called

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me in New York City. I'll
never forget. I was in my sweatpants,

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eating a TV dinner off a trade
with my wife watching the Yankees played

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Toronto Blue Jays. I'll never forget
it. And I got a phone call.

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It's like, is this Alexander?
And I said yeah. I said

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this is I read your Place to
Life. It's full of blood. I

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want to drink your blood. That
was literally the first thing mother said to

249
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me. Ever, that's what he
said. And my wife was swooning because

250
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she thought he was so good.
And she's like, oh, and I'm

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like, what is happening right now? He's like, can you come to

252
00:16:19.759 --> 00:16:22.399
it late tomorrow? I got on
a day I'm playing. That was a

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Tuesday night. I got on a
plane the next day and the next night

254
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he and I were having dinner discussing
what would become the film Beautiful. Two

255
00:16:30.399 --> 00:16:33.559
days later he called my agents and
he's like, I want alex he's my

256
00:16:33.600 --> 00:16:37.759
writer and I joined him in Spain
and we wrote beautiful. Dude. It's

257
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crazy, bro, that's insane.
The same These are the kindest stories that

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00:16:44.480 --> 00:16:48.200
are heard about in the in the
in the back alleys of Hollywood, and

259
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you're like, this is what happened. This is you. It happened for

260
00:16:51.720 --> 00:16:53.399
you too. And they'll say these
kind of stories, but that's such an

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Literally, the universe was guiding you. There's just no utch, there's no

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other explanation, there's no makes no
sense. And make it a pile of

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scraps from all these imagine the famous
street writers that were in the pile.

264
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And then he picks out a play
at the bottom by play from New York.

265
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Yeah, I remember somebody's done to
me. I forget who was.

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But are we calling the story?
He's like like they eat told, Like

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I forget who it was. Somebody
high up and see one of the you

268
00:17:22.920 --> 00:17:26.400
know, owner Kevin or Bran or
something, and he was like, uh,

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you know Alex, I found my
writer, Alex. They were like,

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oh my god, that's amazing.
Why didn't we think of it?

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It's a perfect you know marriage.
And then they called New York and like,

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00:17:36.000 --> 00:17:38.880
who the hell is Alex? And
they were like, oh, he's

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a playwright. Olivia hasn't like get
on the phone, he needs to get

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on a plane. And I was
like, that's that's how that's how that

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went. And did you ever did
youervery see the movie The Big Picture with

276
00:17:48.200 --> 00:17:52.680
Kevin Bacon? Yeah it was.
It's kind of had a little bit of

277
00:17:52.680 --> 00:17:57.759
that vibe too, like who is
who's this guy? He's the highest guy

278
00:17:59.200 --> 00:18:02.240
we need to get hold. Yeah, nobody knew me. I was brand

279
00:18:02.279 --> 00:18:03.720
new. So all right, so
you fly out? Do you fly out

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of Spain to meet on the hundre
starting? I flew from New York to

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La okay, oh to La.
And then well when you started to work

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with with Alejandro, Yeah, as
as a collaboration. Well, first of

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00:18:14.480 --> 00:18:15.240
all, when you went to meet
him that night, Dude, what is

284
00:18:15.240 --> 00:18:19.480
that like? Bro? How do
you look like? I can't I can't

285
00:18:19.480 --> 00:18:22.240
even tell you the joy of it? Like, I'm I'm a schmuck,

286
00:18:22.240 --> 00:18:26.319
I'm not making any money. Um, But I get out there. He

287
00:18:26.359 --> 00:18:29.559
picks me up for dinner in his
car. We go to this Italian restaurant

288
00:18:29.599 --> 00:18:32.240
that we still go to now.
It's a little outdoor place like not it

289
00:18:32.279 --> 00:18:33.599
doesn't look super fancy, but it's
really good. The food's great and he

290
00:18:33.640 --> 00:18:37.400
loves it and they're letting him smoke
out on the patio, which in La

291
00:18:37.480 --> 00:18:41.920
you can imagine good um. But
we're we immediately hit it off, right,

292
00:18:41.279 --> 00:18:45.480
so we're like three bottles of wine
in and Alexandro I don't know if

293
00:18:45.519 --> 00:18:51.240
you remember the movie Beautiful, but
Alejandro like gets up from the table and

294
00:18:51.240 --> 00:18:53.319
he's like no. And then we're
on the water and I don't go to

295
00:18:53.400 --> 00:18:57.480
sea. You looked up dead body
floating like eyes looking at your dead body,

296
00:18:57.480 --> 00:19:00.640
and there's everybody eating right around this
in their instaurant. When he get

297
00:19:00.720 --> 00:19:06.839
so passionate and he just starts doing
this another money and all of a sudden,

298
00:19:06.880 --> 00:19:10.359
like a grave yard in the water, and I was just I loved

299
00:19:10.400 --> 00:19:15.079
every minute. But you can just
picture the people nearby going, how is

300
00:19:15.119 --> 00:19:18.519
that? La? It's just it? And we yeah, we thought in

301
00:19:18.599 --> 00:19:22.240
love on our first day. Yeah, oh that's amazing. And so let

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00:19:22.240 --> 00:19:26.680
me ask you, working with someone
like Alejandro, who's obviously a genius,

303
00:19:26.720 --> 00:19:30.200
He's an absolute genius, what are
some of the lessons you learned as a

304
00:19:30.240 --> 00:19:33.960
writer working with him, specifically on
that first project. And then we'll get

305
00:19:34.000 --> 00:19:38.960
to Birdman. Well, the first
project was amazing because here I am in

306
00:19:40.000 --> 00:19:42.559
this whirlwind that I go, I
go to Spain, to Barcelona where that

307
00:19:42.599 --> 00:19:48.359
movie takes place, and it's about
street people, um African immigrants who sell

308
00:19:48.440 --> 00:19:49.920
the purses, and the video takes
like a big part of the story.

309
00:19:49.920 --> 00:19:52.720
And the story is how he added
out of them, has two kids and

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00:19:53.440 --> 00:19:56.640
he's dying and he has no place
to leave them. His wife is sort

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00:19:56.640 --> 00:20:00.559
of bipolar, and he doesn't have
family, and he and that money.

312
00:20:00.599 --> 00:20:08.160
And we'll be right back after a
word from our sponsor, and now back

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to the show. This whole thing, it's so sad. What do I

314
00:20:14.799 --> 00:20:18.000
do with this? What do I
do with these kids? Um? So

315
00:20:18.079 --> 00:20:22.319
we went to Barcelona for a week
or two. We did the research,

316
00:20:22.400 --> 00:20:25.720
We interviewed, we went to the
little apartments of these people and how hard

317
00:20:25.759 --> 00:20:29.319
they work and how tough they live. It was really uh. And then

318
00:20:29.400 --> 00:20:33.000
saw sites and you know, you
sort of got what we what we needed.

319
00:20:33.039 --> 00:20:34.640
And then he said make it your
own, you know, now make

320
00:20:34.680 --> 00:20:38.279
it your own. And I went
back. I moved to Barcelona for about

321
00:20:38.279 --> 00:20:42.279
a month. My wife is my
best partner, UM, my wife Nila,

322
00:20:42.400 --> 00:20:45.759
and she was like, just go
because I wanted to be there.

323
00:20:45.880 --> 00:20:48.240
So about the streets in Barcelona.
So I lived there and I just typed

324
00:20:48.240 --> 00:20:52.480
it out and I handed it to
Alejandro and he said to me like,

325
00:20:52.799 --> 00:20:55.920
this is not what I wanted.
And I was like, I thought he

326
00:20:55.960 --> 00:20:59.039
was kidding at first, and he
was like, no, this all of

327
00:20:59.039 --> 00:21:00.680
a sudden he said it sad.
I was like, oh shit, like

328
00:21:02.160 --> 00:21:03.920
he means this. And we did
all the work together. We talked about

329
00:21:03.920 --> 00:21:07.079
it like I didn't, and he
said, I'm gonna go to Mexico.

330
00:21:07.119 --> 00:21:08.359
I gonna write a few scenes and
then I'll send them to you and you'll

331
00:21:08.359 --> 00:21:10.920
see more of the tone. And
I was like, oh my god,

332
00:21:10.920 --> 00:21:12.279
it's for real. And I remember
sitting on a couch and I gotta admit

333
00:21:12.720 --> 00:21:18.000
I was. I was crying like
I would be too. My wife was

334
00:21:18.039 --> 00:21:19.960
just you know, and I was
just so sad, not only because it

335
00:21:19.960 --> 00:21:23.880
was Allahnder, but because, like
I felt strongly about what I had done.

336
00:21:25.200 --> 00:21:27.680
No, no, the story um. And then he sent me some

337
00:21:27.759 --> 00:21:34.519
scenes and I realized, oh no, I'm not I liked him. We

338
00:21:34.599 --> 00:21:38.880
liked each other so much, and
I'm like, I can't write that story.

339
00:21:40.160 --> 00:21:42.359
So I talked to Nila, I
talked to my agents, and then

340
00:21:42.400 --> 00:21:45.839
finally one night I got on the
phone with Alahameder and I was like,

341
00:21:45.480 --> 00:21:51.720
brother, I can't write this.
You're a genius and this movie is going

342
00:21:51.759 --> 00:21:56.640
to be amazing, but I'm not
your guy, um, and I'll make

343
00:21:56.680 --> 00:22:03.359
it worse because I don't believe that
that isn't my understanding and I'm too close

344
00:22:03.440 --> 00:22:07.640
after a month with these people that
I wrote, but you can use everything

345
00:22:07.640 --> 00:22:11.000
I wrote and I'm sorry. He's
like, well, you know, Getti

346
00:22:11.079 --> 00:22:12.279
and I used to hammer it out, and I'm like, yeah, if

347
00:22:12.279 --> 00:22:15.640
I thought we were close, but
we're not close, and I'm just going

348
00:22:15.680 --> 00:22:19.200
to hurt your movie. And it
was funny because it was the only guy

349
00:22:19.200 --> 00:22:23.200
that understood, like I remember the
night, I think Hilly count it the

350
00:22:23.200 --> 00:22:26.359
same way. We both was really
sad about it. We were like we

351
00:22:26.519 --> 00:22:32.400
knew it was strictly about the work
and he respected that and I respected him

352
00:22:32.400 --> 00:22:36.480
so much. And that was it, and I didn't talk to him again

353
00:22:36.599 --> 00:22:40.559
until he was going to do the
premiere, which not a premiere screening at

354
00:22:40.559 --> 00:22:42.319
the Solo House in New York and
he invited me, and I was so

355
00:22:42.400 --> 00:22:45.880
nervous. I brought my friend Olivier, my agent, just to hold his

356
00:22:45.960 --> 00:22:49.400
leg because I was so nervous,
and everybody was there, like Julian Stable

357
00:22:49.519 --> 00:22:53.640
was there and I was fun.
So I was there and I watched the

358
00:22:53.720 --> 00:22:56.559
movie and a lot of the stuff
for the father and the kids stuff was

359
00:22:56.599 --> 00:23:03.359
still had my stuff and spirit in
it, and and so that relieved me

360
00:23:03.400 --> 00:23:07.480
a little bit. And then the
other stuff was the other stuff. Um

361
00:23:07.119 --> 00:23:11.319
and uh. He was so nice
about it, and we have lunch the

362
00:23:11.359 --> 00:23:14.319
next day and he said, what
did you think? I like? What

363
00:23:14.440 --> 00:23:17.319
am I supposed to say? I
was like, it's a beautiful movie.

364
00:23:17.759 --> 00:23:21.559
I still stand where I stood before. I think when it focuses on this

365
00:23:21.599 --> 00:23:23.799
thing, it's I feel more of
that. When it doesn't, I sort

366
00:23:23.839 --> 00:23:30.400
of don't. But and you know, like my reps and people stopped talking

367
00:23:30.400 --> 00:23:33.319
to me for a little while because
they thought, here's this here's this new

368
00:23:33.359 --> 00:23:37.240
guy, and he's a vain,
crazy, difficult and I was none of

369
00:23:37.240 --> 00:23:41.000
those things. But they didn't know
that. Alejandro knew that. And sorry

370
00:23:41.000 --> 00:23:45.799
to make this story longer than it
should, but so I resigned from the

371
00:23:45.799 --> 00:23:48.200
film. I was on the first
name on special credits. UM. I

372
00:23:48.240 --> 00:23:53.240
remember sitting with my friend Brad Frying
and watching and clip of Javier on the

373
00:23:53.240 --> 00:23:56.480
Oscars that year, and I standing
my buddy Brad, who was an actor

374
00:23:56.599 --> 00:24:00.559
who standing right next thing I'll never
forget, and they were showing the clip

375
00:24:00.559 --> 00:24:03.400
of how Yet It because he was
nominated for Best Actor for that, and

376
00:24:03.440 --> 00:24:04.240
I said, look at that,
Brad. I said, that's the closest

377
00:24:04.240 --> 00:24:08.119
I'm ever going to get to an
Academy award right there, like that thing.

378
00:24:08.400 --> 00:24:12.680
And Brad was like, get a
whiskey, like I was. I

379
00:24:14.119 --> 00:24:18.119
was screwed. I'm bying. Yeah. And then so at my agents,

380
00:24:18.720 --> 00:24:22.799
you know, we're not pleased,
and understandably, but they didn't hear the

381
00:24:22.799 --> 00:24:25.880
whole story. And then I went
to I used to write in Puerto Rico.

382
00:24:25.880 --> 00:24:27.119
I used to write on the West
coast, and he Sabello whenever I

383
00:24:27.119 --> 00:24:30.839
went to go write. And I
was working on a musical of the Bodyguard

384
00:24:30.839 --> 00:24:34.559
of all Things, the Lawrence Hazed
In movie, and I was doing a

385
00:24:34.759 --> 00:24:37.799
musical for England. And I got
there and I got a call from Alecandro

386
00:24:37.960 --> 00:24:42.200
and he said, to Gayo,
he said, I have an idea.

387
00:24:42.400 --> 00:24:47.160
It's a comedy, dark comedy in
one take, and I want you to

388
00:24:47.200 --> 00:24:51.279
write it with me. And I
said, man, nothing would make me

389
00:24:51.319 --> 00:24:53.359
happier. We have unfinished business and
I would love that, and he said,

390
00:24:53.400 --> 00:24:56.400
do you mind because the guy who
the guys who replaced me were Nico

391
00:24:56.480 --> 00:25:00.200
and Armando are beautiful. They're the
ones that are quite with Alendro. He's

392
00:25:00.200 --> 00:25:03.599
like, do you mind if I
bring this guy Nico in with me?

393
00:25:03.640 --> 00:25:06.240
And I was like, miss mother, Yeah, sure, what am I

394
00:25:06.400 --> 00:25:10.279
saying? No? Um? But
you know, then I got a call

395
00:25:10.319 --> 00:25:11.599
from my age and who was like, hey, I heard you. Yeah,

396
00:25:12.079 --> 00:25:17.440
of course, of course. Um, it's understanduddy, it's understand buddy,

397
00:25:17.519 --> 00:25:21.680
pal Yeah I heard. Yeah,
I heard you had a kid two

398
00:25:21.759 --> 00:25:26.279
years ago. UM. But like
I said, I understand it, I

399
00:25:26.319 --> 00:25:29.400
really do. UM. So then
we flew to New York. I met

400
00:25:29.480 --> 00:25:33.839
Nico and it took Niko and I
one day to become brothers. And then

401
00:25:33.079 --> 00:25:37.880
Nko and I were writing Birdman.
UM. And then Armando came in and

402
00:25:38.000 --> 00:25:41.279
was doing album the story and Ala
Handro you know, had the idea and

403
00:25:41.519 --> 00:25:45.920
and and I'm sorry, And that's
that's how that happened. I thought I

404
00:25:45.000 --> 00:25:49.200
turned that off. Um, that's
how that happened, in the craziest,

405
00:25:52.440 --> 00:25:56.119
in the craziest way. Um.
We ended up working on Birdman and that's

406
00:25:56.160 --> 00:26:00.000
how that story went. So I
guess I risked every thing I didn't mean

407
00:26:00.039 --> 00:26:03.839
to. I still I don't know
if I went back in time now,

408
00:26:03.880 --> 00:26:07.440
I probably wouldn't have done it again. And my wife was a champ for

409
00:26:07.519 --> 00:26:11.519
standing by my side, as was
my age in Olivier. Because you imagine

410
00:26:11.519 --> 00:26:14.279
how crazy that sounds. Well,
yeah, you know, I mean you

411
00:26:15.839 --> 00:26:18.079
man, that's I mean, brother
man. That is a hell of a

412
00:26:18.160 --> 00:26:22.799
story because you just you get your
shot with arguably, you know, one

413
00:26:22.799 --> 00:26:27.400
of the greatest directors of his time, of his generation, and everyone knew

414
00:26:27.400 --> 00:26:33.200
he was going in that direction without
question, and you decide to have in

415
00:26:33.279 --> 00:26:41.880
Hollywood integrity, as I put it
out in quote, integrity for the story.

416
00:26:41.279 --> 00:26:45.200
Like it sounds insane, this is
Hollywood talking, this is a Hollywood

417
00:26:45.200 --> 00:26:48.079
thing. How the agents looked at
it. But Ole Hunter understood where you

418
00:26:48.119 --> 00:26:53.720
were going with it and respected it
because you're right. Because a Hollywood director

419
00:26:53.720 --> 00:26:59.039
the would have a Hollywood writer who
might have not had the same sensibility as

420
00:26:59.079 --> 00:27:02.039
you would have been like, this
is my shot, I'm gonna bammer it

421
00:27:02.039 --> 00:27:03.599
out with him, and it might
have made the film worst, but you

422
00:27:03.680 --> 00:27:07.240
outed up. She said, this
is nothing. I probably should have um,

423
00:27:07.559 --> 00:27:11.440
but I did. I just respected
him so much, and I was

424
00:27:11.519 --> 00:27:12.920
like, I'm not going to get
in the way of this genius, Like

425
00:27:12.960 --> 00:27:17.400
I'm gonna write that badly. I'm
gonna write that badly. And this is

426
00:27:17.440 --> 00:27:21.160
my first shot. And and you
know, like I said, I don't

427
00:27:21.200 --> 00:27:22.799
I don't know if I do the
same thing again today, I'd like to

428
00:27:22.839 --> 00:27:27.039
think I would. Um. I
was making no money at the time when

429
00:27:27.079 --> 00:27:30.240
I quit, you know, as
making two plays off Broadway in New York,

430
00:27:30.279 --> 00:27:34.440
which pays you all about twenty five
thirty thousand dollars in total in some

431
00:27:34.480 --> 00:27:37.720
of the biggest off Broadway theaters in
New York, by the way, and

432
00:27:37.720 --> 00:27:41.960
they still you know, there's no
money in it. And you know,

433
00:27:41.039 --> 00:27:44.960
my wife was making all the money
at that time. She calls me her

434
00:27:45.000 --> 00:27:48.319
startup. Now to this day,
I love that, Yeah she does.

435
00:27:49.640 --> 00:27:53.000
But she stood by me. But
yeah, Alejandro knew what I was saying,

436
00:27:53.200 --> 00:27:56.359
and I was saying, I'm not
going to get in the way of

437
00:27:56.359 --> 00:28:00.240
your vision of this of this film, and nobody else got it, but

438
00:28:00.319 --> 00:28:02.759
he got it and then came right
back to me. And now we've done

439
00:28:02.839 --> 00:28:06.880
four together. We're still doing stuff
together where brothers, Um, I love

440
00:28:06.920 --> 00:28:11.720
him, So it just worked out, man. It definitely worked out the

441
00:28:11.720 --> 00:28:15.519
way it's supposed to work out for
you. And it's the thing that's great

442
00:28:15.519 --> 00:28:18.720
about it is looking in from the
inside out. From outside in it's insanity,

443
00:28:18.759 --> 00:28:19.920
but from the inside out it makes
all the sense in the world.

444
00:28:22.279 --> 00:28:27.079
It looking back, yes, looking
back, looking back when you're in it,

445
00:28:27.319 --> 00:28:30.599
not so much. Now. I
have to tell you about bird Man

446
00:28:30.640 --> 00:28:37.279
Man. I was that year.
I heard about Birdman, and obviously it

447
00:28:37.319 --> 00:28:40.680
looked it looked really interesting, and
I was a fan of Alejandrew and I

448
00:28:40.759 --> 00:28:45.599
watched it and I'll never forget my
first impression of Birdman. I turned to

449
00:28:45.680 --> 00:28:48.559
my wife and I said, Oh, my god, that's what a director

450
00:28:48.759 --> 00:28:53.839
is. I haven't seen a director
direct, really direct, and have such

451
00:28:53.880 --> 00:28:57.160
a clear vision in such a long
time. And that's not a slight on

452
00:28:57.200 --> 00:29:03.160
any other director, just at that
moment. His vision was so vivid for

453
00:29:03.240 --> 00:29:07.319
that film, and it just was
like he took you by the nose and

454
00:29:07.440 --> 00:29:11.519
carried you through the entire movie and
the performances and the one shot. And

455
00:29:11.559 --> 00:29:17.200
I'm like, what is going on
when you're writing that with him? It's

456
00:29:17.279 --> 00:29:22.920
insane story. Yeah, everything is
a little bit like it's insane. The

457
00:29:22.039 --> 00:29:26.440
characters are all over the place,
meaning that like, there's so many different

458
00:29:26.480 --> 00:29:30.240
things going on in that story.
How did you keep it all? That's

459
00:29:30.319 --> 00:29:33.079
I guess that's why you needed three
or four writers on it. We'll kind

460
00:29:33.079 --> 00:29:37.359
of keep it all in check.
I would tell me Alejandra had a strong

461
00:29:37.519 --> 00:29:44.039
vision of what it was. He
had a very strong vision, and Armando

462
00:29:44.079 --> 00:29:47.960
as a director as well, and
a very good one at that. They

463
00:29:48.079 --> 00:29:52.279
tend to be story guys, I
mean Alejanders generating a story, and Nico

464
00:29:52.359 --> 00:29:56.839
and I are the sort of writing
guys, like how do we make that?

465
00:29:56.880 --> 00:30:00.279
How do we put that into you
know, exterior Saint James Theater,

466
00:30:00.319 --> 00:30:06.519
New York City. We'll be right
back after a word from our sponsor,

467
00:30:10.079 --> 00:30:15.839
and now back to the show.
I think, like I said, Nico

468
00:30:15.880 --> 00:30:19.799
and I had became inseparable and we
were finishing each other's thoughts, and we're

469
00:30:19.799 --> 00:30:22.279
two very different kind of writers.
Like I don't know if you saw it.

470
00:30:22.480 --> 00:30:26.400
Nico has a really quirky, great
film called John and the Hole that

471
00:30:26.599 --> 00:30:33.759
was just it was in the Stupid
Bright in the Pandemic. But right he's

472
00:30:33.839 --> 00:30:44.160
Nico is a an absurdist at heart. He's an abstractionist and I'm a dialogue

473
00:30:44.920 --> 00:30:48.599
action conflict and together it was that's
what bird Man is. Right. Either

474
00:30:48.640 --> 00:30:52.440
you have Michael Keaton and I'm a
stone and you're not important, blah blah

475
00:30:52.440 --> 00:30:55.880
blah, get used to it,
or you have him eating below an ego

476
00:30:55.880 --> 00:30:57.839
and I don't know this play is
chasing me around with a tiny hambra hidden

477
00:30:57.839 --> 00:31:00.920
meaning in balls or Birdman flying,
and that's Nico. And the two of

478
00:31:00.960 --> 00:31:04.680
us just loved each other's styles,
even though we don't write in each other's

479
00:31:04.680 --> 00:31:10.480
styles, so we would laugh,
you know, um So, I think

480
00:31:10.799 --> 00:31:14.680
speaking for myself, I mean,
I know, Alejandro, I'm gonna you

481
00:31:14.680 --> 00:31:17.079
know, I'll tell you a million
ways why all hundred is a genius.

482
00:31:17.440 --> 00:31:22.880
Um. But speaking for myself in
this particular style played right into my strength

483
00:31:22.880 --> 00:31:29.200
as a playwright. Right of course, dialogue scenes clever, keeps moving,

484
00:31:29.799 --> 00:31:33.519
it's not elliptical. Um. For
me, it was like going home,

485
00:31:33.960 --> 00:31:40.440
you know, to to my plays. Um and I love that. Um

486
00:31:41.440 --> 00:31:47.720
So. I focused on that.
Nico focused on the more esoteric, and

487
00:31:47.799 --> 00:31:52.200
Alejandro is a master of both.
He's a master of the fifty fifty and

488
00:31:52.200 --> 00:31:56.400
two people in a room going at
each other and He's a master of the

489
00:31:56.519 --> 00:32:05.720
visual epic weep move. But I
think the best thing I can say about

490
00:32:05.839 --> 00:32:14.759
my partner Alejandro is that his guts
just don't lie to him. He knows

491
00:32:14.839 --> 00:32:19.000
in a way like when he and
Chievo that our DPM. When him and

492
00:32:19.119 --> 00:32:24.559
Chievo are standing there and working it
out, you just sit back and I

493
00:32:24.559 --> 00:32:28.519
don't know what to say. You
you you, You just sit with your

494
00:32:28.799 --> 00:32:35.000
mouth shut and watch It's It's a
stunning thing to see happen. Their instincts

495
00:32:35.079 --> 00:32:40.839
are so pure and have adrenaline in
them by all by themselves. And that's

496
00:32:40.920 --> 00:32:45.599
what for me. The best bird
Birdman to you was what Good Fellas was

497
00:32:45.640 --> 00:32:50.119
to me when I saw it.
He just pull yanked you into this world.

498
00:32:50.599 --> 00:32:52.160
And then you're in this world and
you you just don't get out of

499
00:32:52.200 --> 00:32:57.400
it. It's just trap it and
go. And I feel like Alejandro outside

500
00:32:57.400 --> 00:33:00.240
of the righting, I'm just talking
about his direction, did that like man

501
00:33:00.279 --> 00:33:01.240
with you like it or love it? And people love it and people hate

502
00:33:01.240 --> 00:33:05.359
it? Like I get both,
I really do um. But for the

503
00:33:05.359 --> 00:33:07.079
people who love it, I think
it feels like that you got pulled into

504
00:33:07.079 --> 00:33:10.640
this ride and it's dark and it
moves and you just don't know what's happening.

505
00:33:10.640 --> 00:33:14.200
It doesn't feel familiar in a way, which is, you know,

506
00:33:14.279 --> 00:33:16.640
really lovely. I think un rare
and rare these days and rare. Yeah,

507
00:33:16.640 --> 00:33:21.079
I thought that last year about that
about Everything Everywhere, which wasn't my

508
00:33:21.119 --> 00:33:23.240
favorite film, but I certainly loved
it. But it felt like, oh

509
00:33:23.240 --> 00:33:28.720
shit, yes, right, two
rocks or boulders are speaking to each other.

510
00:33:28.720 --> 00:33:35.559
That's perfection. Mike's are those hotdog
hands? Why get to the bagel?

511
00:33:35.599 --> 00:33:37.279
We're good? Yeah, no,
no that and don't even get me

512
00:33:37.279 --> 00:33:42.359
stopping. I had the boys on
the Daniels on before they were the Daniels,

513
00:33:42.880 --> 00:33:45.079
and and just hearing the story of
how that, I'm like, you

514
00:33:45.079 --> 00:33:47.839
guys are insane. It's insane said
that movies. And it was so wonderful.

515
00:33:47.880 --> 00:33:51.799
It was such a wonderful film as
well. Yeah, and you know,

516
00:33:51.839 --> 00:33:55.359
speaking of Chivo, I mean Chivo
had a run there of three three

517
00:33:55.400 --> 00:34:00.079
Oscars in a row grab Revenant,
yeah not not not a bad run.

518
00:34:00.480 --> 00:34:07.079
And then Alejandro had backed the back
Oscars for Best Director, which I don't

519
00:34:07.079 --> 00:34:09.119
know if that has that happened before. It has I think once or twice

520
00:34:09.159 --> 00:34:14.119
before. I remember it's a rare. It's a rarity. It's definitely not

521
00:34:14.239 --> 00:34:19.360
something that happens often. Working When
when you're saying this this thing, when

522
00:34:19.400 --> 00:34:22.360
you're watching Chivo and are working on
set and they just know that they trust

523
00:34:22.360 --> 00:34:27.480
their gut. It sounds to me
like they're just that thing that we all

524
00:34:27.480 --> 00:34:30.519
all the creatives, all of creatives
do when we try to connect to the

525
00:34:30.519 --> 00:34:35.960
ether, to connect to the source
of whatever creativity is. It seems that

526
00:34:36.000 --> 00:34:40.599
they have a very strong connection to
it and they trust it implicitly, like

527
00:34:40.679 --> 00:34:44.840
they just because a lot of times
as a writer or as a director,

528
00:34:45.199 --> 00:34:47.320
you second guess you're kind of like, oh, maybe, maybe not.

529
00:34:47.519 --> 00:34:52.360
It sounds like these guys are like
it's like watching the Beatles writing a song

530
00:34:52.400 --> 00:34:57.480
and those documentaries just like just they're
firing on all cylinders. Yes, that's

531
00:34:57.559 --> 00:35:00.559
that's why I've been in the room. I mean, I've been privilege to

532
00:35:00.559 --> 00:35:02.440
be in the room. It's crazy, and I think I want to be

533
00:35:02.480 --> 00:35:07.239
clear because I you know, I
know and have been friendly with with you

534
00:35:07.320 --> 00:35:15.440
know, Alexandro Alfonso Guilletimo del Toro
Geebo. Um. I'll say this,

535
00:35:15.920 --> 00:35:21.039
if the world's still around in fifty
years, they're gonna be full chapters in

536
00:35:21.159 --> 00:35:25.119
film books about that these three guys
in that period of time, and they

537
00:35:25.159 --> 00:35:30.840
make very different movies, but they
all come from the same place. This

538
00:35:30.880 --> 00:35:37.000
is what they where They're gonna call
Mexican. The Mexican cinema of the odds

539
00:35:37.320 --> 00:35:49.440
is this passionate like it's not the
genius of Paul Thomas Anderson or the genius

540
00:35:49.559 --> 00:35:57.400
of the Cohens, which are massive
geniuses. But the difference in style with

541
00:35:57.480 --> 00:36:05.639
the Mexicans for me is this lead
by the gut balls out. The mistakes

542
00:36:05.639 --> 00:36:10.320
are part of the you know,
like I watched Todd's movie with Kate h

543
00:36:12.599 --> 00:36:16.559
tar Oh, yeah, it's it's
it's perfection, it's it's it's I don't

544
00:36:16.559 --> 00:36:22.679
mean the story or I just mean
it's constructed in a way that's so perfect

545
00:36:22.360 --> 00:36:31.159
um and it's super wonderful. Our
guys aren't like that. They're even when

546
00:36:31.159 --> 00:36:35.199
it's choreographed to an inch of its
life. The mistakes are part of the

547
00:36:35.320 --> 00:36:37.800
joy of it. The car chase, Famous car Chase and City of men

548
00:36:38.639 --> 00:36:44.760
Uh, you know the guieron is
sequence and Pans labyrinth that that keeps cutting

549
00:36:44.800 --> 00:36:50.480
back and forth like they just do
things and it's the totality of their instinct

550
00:36:51.199 --> 00:36:54.559
that is what's right. Not the
perfection of what they're doing. Even their

551
00:36:54.599 --> 00:36:59.039
stuff is pretty unbelievable, but you
know what I mean, And I think

552
00:36:59.119 --> 00:37:02.159
that's what that's what this moment and
those guys have in common, this instinct,

553
00:37:02.199 --> 00:37:07.159
like you said, this, this
this barometer that that just it.

554
00:37:07.280 --> 00:37:10.559
It just takes them the right way
and lady takes them somewhere a right.

555
00:37:10.760 --> 00:37:14.360
I mean you look at Get On
or Get Off. Yeah, look at

556
00:37:14.360 --> 00:37:20.519
Getmo stuff. I mean it's so
guietemo like. There's just no there's no

557
00:37:20.519 --> 00:37:22.199
one else on the planet who can
make a film like no like, and

558
00:37:22.239 --> 00:37:28.880
those are the best kind of film
filmmakers are. You can't see anyone else

559
00:37:28.920 --> 00:37:32.719
making your avatar regardless, you can't
see you can't see anyone else making et

560
00:37:34.360 --> 00:37:37.639
like. You just can't see that. It's not possible. It's the DNA

561
00:37:37.760 --> 00:37:44.000
is so mixed in that, you
know, don't make any like Like Spielber

562
00:37:44.079 --> 00:37:46.760
couldn't make a Good Fellas, but
it's not going to be Marty's Good Fellas,

563
00:37:47.000 --> 00:37:52.159
no either, And Marty could have
made Jaws, right, not gonna

564
00:37:52.760 --> 00:37:54.880
It's just not going to be the
same, that's right. It's it's it's

565
00:37:54.880 --> 00:37:59.800
all right. Working with Alejandro now
on so many projects, what is like

566
00:37:59.840 --> 00:38:07.280
the biggest lesson you've learned as a
writer working with him? He has a

567
00:38:07.800 --> 00:38:15.880
he has a a bullshit meter where
you can write something really really great,

568
00:38:15.559 --> 00:38:19.920
you know, and you know writers, we usually hate ninety percent of what

569
00:38:19.960 --> 00:38:22.920
we write, but you'll find something
to say, oh, that's that's really

570
00:38:22.960 --> 00:38:25.159
great, and he's like, yeah, it's it's really good, really good.

571
00:38:25.199 --> 00:38:29.679
I'm not going to use it,
um because I can do that whole

572
00:38:29.719 --> 00:38:32.360
thing you just did if I just
do this with the camera door there.

573
00:38:32.440 --> 00:38:35.639
But it's great, nice idea.
What else do we have? And you're

574
00:38:35.679 --> 00:38:39.320
like, I just I spent three
weeks. What are you talking about?

575
00:38:39.559 --> 00:38:44.119
And then you're watching You're like,
yep, yep, he was right.

576
00:38:45.320 --> 00:38:50.400
They have an amazing way to get
past is an amazing It's again, it's

577
00:38:50.400 --> 00:38:54.519
his truth meeter. He just he
just knows if it feels, you know,

578
00:38:54.719 --> 00:38:59.000
right or wrong, or whether it's
an image or a line. He

579
00:38:59.119 --> 00:39:04.159
just he has an you know what
he comes from music like Alehammer was very

580
00:39:04.239 --> 00:39:07.679
much from music. Um, I
think he was when I was in the

581
00:39:07.719 --> 00:39:10.000
restaurant business. I think he was
a dj um, but music means a

582
00:39:10.039 --> 00:39:17.039
lot to and that's how he I
think that's his paradigm. He sees everything

583
00:39:17.119 --> 00:39:22.760
as this sort of rhythm and music, and whether it's time for a dissonant

584
00:39:22.800 --> 00:39:27.840
note or harmony, he'll he'll he'll
know, sort of enjoy. But that's

585
00:39:27.960 --> 00:39:30.760
that's what it feels like. Um. And he's he's taught me to lean

586
00:39:30.880 --> 00:39:37.039
more on, like stop being so
polished and stop saying everything, say what's

587
00:39:37.320 --> 00:39:39.079
get down to the center of it. And he's made me better. I

588
00:39:39.079 --> 00:39:45.000
mean, he made me better instantly
with Murdman, and even seems beautiful that

589
00:39:45.920 --> 00:39:50.280
you know that that survived. He
just makes me better. Now. I

590
00:39:50.320 --> 00:39:54.079
always like asking this question from people
who've won oscars, What was it like

591
00:39:54.320 --> 00:40:00.719
being in the center of the storm? Will be right back back after a

592
00:40:00.719 --> 00:40:08.840
word from our sponsor, and now
back to the show that was Birdman,

593
00:40:09.000 --> 00:40:14.800
the whole pomp and circumstance. You're
going into award shoft to awards show and

594
00:40:14.840 --> 00:40:17.880
everyone's you're the best, you're the
greatest. This destroys most most people,

595
00:40:17.920 --> 00:40:22.679
it does in Hollywood. We've seen
that a thousand times. How did you

596
00:40:22.800 --> 00:40:25.960
deal with being in the middle of
this whole a hurricane. Essentially, it's

597
00:40:27.000 --> 00:40:30.239
the eye of the storm essentially.
Well, I think I think the greatest

598
00:40:30.320 --> 00:40:37.920
thing about being a screenwriter is that
nobody knows who you are. That you

599
00:40:38.000 --> 00:40:42.159
have to tell some I was funny. I was at a funeral. My

600
00:40:42.239 --> 00:40:44.840
great answers like one hundred and seven
years old, God blesser and I was

601
00:40:44.880 --> 00:40:46.960
a funeral and somebody I hadn't seen
in twenty years, my army inside of

602
00:40:46.960 --> 00:40:50.400
the family, came up to me
at the funeral. I was like,

603
00:40:50.440 --> 00:40:52.159
oh my god, you're famous.
I said, I'm not. Things like

604
00:40:52.239 --> 00:40:54.519
you're famous. We saw you in
the Oscar and I said, I'm nothing.

605
00:40:54.880 --> 00:40:59.400
I said, what's your favorite movie
that you ever saw in your whole

606
00:40:59.440 --> 00:41:02.199
life? And she said Shawshank Redemption. I said, who wrote it?

607
00:41:02.960 --> 00:41:07.960
She said, what's your second favorite
movie? Time cast a blank? I

608
00:41:08.000 --> 00:41:12.960
was like, who wrote it?
Like nobody, not like only movie people,

609
00:41:13.119 --> 00:41:15.239
you know what I mean. So
screenwriters, you get you're under the

610
00:41:15.320 --> 00:41:19.880
radar. Plus there was me Nico
Armando, like we were all sneaking on

611
00:41:20.000 --> 00:41:22.079
the Alejandro. You know, everybody's
looking for him as the director, as

612
00:41:22.079 --> 00:41:25.880
the auto or naturally, so it
wasn't that crazy. So we we had

613
00:41:25.920 --> 00:41:30.400
the joy of being able to be
part of it and still be able to

614
00:41:30.519 --> 00:41:32.039
enjoy it with our wives. And
like we had a ball at the Golden

615
00:41:32.039 --> 00:41:35.960
Globes. We were getting drunk at
the table. We had a we had

616
00:41:35.960 --> 00:41:37.760
a ball, like the whole time, we just had a ball because it

617
00:41:37.840 --> 00:41:43.360
wasn't it wasn't real. You know, we weren't under any pressure at all.

618
00:41:43.840 --> 00:41:47.039
Um, So it was fine,
Like I was there, I'll show

619
00:41:47.039 --> 00:41:49.800
you. I don't know if I
can go get it for you, but

620
00:41:49.840 --> 00:42:08.239
it's a startling no. Please gook
a if you if you go, if

621
00:42:08.280 --> 00:42:14.880
you go to um whatever YouTube wherever
you watch the you know, Birdman winning

622
00:42:15.000 --> 00:42:21.440
Best Picture or whatever. We had
one screenplay amazing, Alejandro had one director

623
00:42:21.519 --> 00:42:24.960
TiVo one. UM. We were
hoping Michael would win. I'm still sor

624
00:42:27.559 --> 00:42:30.239
yeah, but so we had done
our thing and then best picture. So

625
00:42:30.280 --> 00:42:32.519
the best picture you win and everybody
goes up on stage. So now we're

626
00:42:32.559 --> 00:42:36.559
up there with Emma and Ed Norton
and you know, all the fame.

627
00:42:36.639 --> 00:42:38.880
I'm like, nobody's looking at me, like Arna milschen Um, Jim Scotch

628
00:42:39.000 --> 00:42:43.440
to all the great producer um.
And I'm standing up there and I'm like

629
00:42:43.440 --> 00:42:46.559
well, literally nobody at home or
in this theater is looking at me,

630
00:42:47.559 --> 00:42:51.920
so you can see it in the
YouTube video. I reach into my pocket

631
00:42:52.199 --> 00:42:53.800
and I take out my phone and
I just go like, I don't aim.

632
00:42:53.840 --> 00:42:58.519
I just go like this and I, you know, turn that camera

633
00:42:58.639 --> 00:43:00.880
really fat one click. I put
it right back in my pocket. I'm

634
00:43:00.920 --> 00:43:04.320
like, I probably got you know, somebody's feet, but I had to

635
00:43:04.360 --> 00:43:07.679
try it. Well. The picture
that came out on my phone was this,

636
00:43:08.639 --> 00:43:15.400
wow, oh my god, everyone
who's listening, you gotta go on

637
00:43:15.480 --> 00:43:21.719
to YouTube. But why look at
this well and that is amazing is holding

638
00:43:21.719 --> 00:43:24.079
the oscar and the god light that's
coming right down easy. And there was

639
00:43:24.079 --> 00:43:28.840
like Jared Leto and Clint Eastwood and
my wife is here in front of Harvey

640
00:43:28.880 --> 00:43:31.400
Weinstein and an a win tower in
the Red Threat. Oh good lord,

641
00:43:31.920 --> 00:43:35.480
but I got that. Did you
give that to I'm assuming you gave that

642
00:43:35.480 --> 00:43:37.840
tall hunk. I didn't give it
to anybody. He asked me for it.

643
00:43:37.880 --> 00:43:39.199
I was like, nope, that's
mine. You want to visit it,

644
00:43:39.239 --> 00:43:45.679
come to my house. But it
was a wonderful moment of an example

645
00:43:45.760 --> 00:43:50.920
of like I was just enjoying it. I was just and there's yeah.

646
00:43:51.000 --> 00:43:53.480
Yeah, it's so crazy, man, I would show you some other stuff

647
00:43:53.519 --> 00:43:57.719
if this was a if we were
on the video, because there's a video

648
00:43:57.719 --> 00:44:00.559
of my friends who all gathered in
New York City in a base and fifty

649
00:44:00.559 --> 00:44:04.400
of my best friends. Yeah,
and when we win. That's the only

650
00:44:04.400 --> 00:44:07.400
thing that ever made me cry that
year. Was they sent me that that

651
00:44:07.559 --> 00:44:09.800
night at four in the morning or
whatever. Oh, there's a video of

652
00:44:09.800 --> 00:44:16.079
them nervous and then these Eddie Murphy
says Bergman, and they I mean erupt

653
00:44:16.119 --> 00:44:20.480
and cry and laugh and they had
won it and they'd be so emotional.

654
00:44:21.000 --> 00:44:24.239
Um, it's still one of my
favorite moments. My god, brother,

655
00:44:24.400 --> 00:44:29.360
that's that's it was fun. It
was. It's fun. Now after you

656
00:44:29.400 --> 00:44:32.400
win the Oscar, then of course
everybody in town you're wanted. You're an

657
00:44:32.440 --> 00:44:37.519
Oscar winner. Now you're yeah,
you're an Oscar winning screenwriter. Everybody.

658
00:44:37.599 --> 00:44:39.280
How did the town treat you different? Did it treat you differently? It?

659
00:44:39.320 --> 00:44:43.000
Did it treat you the same?
I mean, you're ready, You're

660
00:44:43.000 --> 00:44:45.039
not a kid, so you I
think you can handle whatever comes your way

661
00:44:45.039 --> 00:44:50.159
a bit better than if you were
jointy and gotten that. Yeah, and

662
00:44:50.239 --> 00:44:52.679
I also lived through you know,
not so great time. So I'm,

663
00:44:52.960 --> 00:44:58.079
like I said, I'm generally grateful. Um, yeah, things change,

664
00:44:58.519 --> 00:45:01.079
you know, Uh, the job
has become different. You make your agent's

665
00:45:01.159 --> 00:45:07.039
job easier because they can go out
and say, you know, it wasn't

666
00:45:08.719 --> 00:45:14.639
there were four of us credited on
the film, so you know. But

667
00:45:14.800 --> 00:45:17.840
yeah, author started coming differently,
and then once I got on zooms with

668
00:45:17.880 --> 00:45:22.800
people they understood who I or in
person means they understood who I was.

669
00:45:22.880 --> 00:45:28.360
Then it definitely created more work.
Obviously a little bit more money and I

670
00:45:28.400 --> 00:45:34.119
don't have to pitch stuff as much
anymore. I can if it's personal.

671
00:45:34.679 --> 00:45:37.360
But the biggest advantage is people come
to you and say, hey, how

672
00:45:37.360 --> 00:45:40.960
about this? And you know,
I tend to want to work with with

673
00:45:42.360 --> 00:45:46.639
like young not young, but new
filmmakers makes me happy. Like I just

674
00:45:46.679 --> 00:45:51.159
did Carmen, which is out now
with Benjamin Yet. That was his first

675
00:45:51.159 --> 00:45:54.119
feature and he has an amazing eye. I'm doing with Resident with Renee.

676
00:45:54.119 --> 00:46:00.000
I'm doing the Puerto Rico film because
I love the still searching for it.

677
00:46:00.039 --> 00:46:04.039
And then occasionally I'll do the you
know, do allow you talking about doing

678
00:46:04.079 --> 00:46:07.079
something else now, but I'll do
the other ones as well. Um,

679
00:46:07.360 --> 00:46:10.920
but I get now. It's more
I get to a little more ability to

680
00:46:12.039 --> 00:46:15.039
choose what I want to do and
not have to hustle as it were,

681
00:46:15.760 --> 00:46:17.440
um, you know as much as
I used to, Thank God, because

682
00:46:17.440 --> 00:46:21.760
I'm fifty five, so I don't
have the energy for it. Brother,

683
00:46:21.800 --> 00:46:22.880
he's telling me about him. Man, it's getting tough out here to hustle.

684
00:46:22.960 --> 00:46:28.199
Keep keep that hustle going. When
when you wake up and you hear

685
00:46:28.239 --> 00:46:32.119
things popping a greeky and you're like, oh, oh hell man, yeah

686
00:46:34.440 --> 00:46:37.079
to the bathroom. So this so
the start up paid off for your wife

687
00:46:37.159 --> 00:46:44.000
essentially? Yeah, yeah, yeah, she's smart. She's all the smart

688
00:46:44.039 --> 00:46:47.000
one. Yeah, my my wife
was. My wife called me the uh

689
00:46:47.119 --> 00:46:53.280
not an investment, but not an
endowment, but uh some sort of financial

690
00:46:53.280 --> 00:46:58.559
instrument that pays off years later.
Yeah I knew, I knew, Yeah

691
00:46:58.599 --> 00:47:00.920
exactly. She's like, oh,
it's finally are the payoff. It's like

692
00:47:00.920 --> 00:47:02.880
it's only taken Like, yeah,
it's a long term investment. This one

693
00:47:02.960 --> 00:47:09.079
this was how old are you?
I'm forty eight? Are you're forty eight?

694
00:47:08.599 --> 00:47:14.599
Forty? Baby in the baby you
and I walked over the same dead

695
00:47:14.599 --> 00:47:19.960
body, sir, Okay, so
please and Alejandro was shooting them like and

696
00:47:20.000 --> 00:47:28.800
then so so you worked also as
a co producer on the Revenue, which

697
00:47:29.039 --> 00:47:32.840
is again another man. I mean, he was just nailing these things back

698
00:47:32.920 --> 00:47:37.199
to back back. I was just
like, what is what is this man

699
00:47:37.320 --> 00:47:39.679
on? And can I get some
like? It was remarkable you worked as

700
00:47:39.719 --> 00:47:42.760
a co producer. I'm assuming you
helped it a little bit on the back

701
00:47:42.840 --> 00:47:45.000
end of the writing or polishing or
Ko and I helped with the story a

702
00:47:45.000 --> 00:47:47.920
little bit, and we helped.
We had advised on on that sort of

703
00:47:47.960 --> 00:47:51.880
thing, and we're close to him
when he when he needed us. Um

704
00:47:51.960 --> 00:47:57.000
during that period, Um, would
you want set? Nico went to set.

705
00:47:57.199 --> 00:48:00.440
I was in New York. I
was working on my music and I

706
00:48:00.480 --> 00:48:02.519
was working with get Him on something
at the time, so I didn't get

707
00:48:02.559 --> 00:48:07.599
to go, but um Nika went
um and it was crazy, all the

708
00:48:07.599 --> 00:48:12.360
stories and I would get I would
get the phone calls. Um. But

709
00:48:12.719 --> 00:48:15.400
that's just another example of those two
mania. I don't think he'll ever do

710
00:48:15.440 --> 00:48:17.599
that that. I mean, he
just did Barter, which is insane.

711
00:48:17.639 --> 00:48:22.159
But like Revenue was like three hours
of light. They're using all natural light,

712
00:48:22.480 --> 00:48:27.079
four degrees, they run at snow. They gotta go to Patagonia,

713
00:48:27.480 --> 00:48:31.599
you know, going, you know, method in his way like a madman,

714
00:48:31.800 --> 00:48:36.639
like he wanted to live it all, like he ate it up and

715
00:48:36.679 --> 00:48:39.000
lived that. I mean, I'm
so glad he won for that because he

716
00:48:39.079 --> 00:48:43.920
was he literally was going to kill
himself until they gave him an oscar.

717
00:48:43.920 --> 00:48:46.400
For God's sake, someone to kill
himself in revenue. I mean, he

718
00:48:46.519 --> 00:48:50.480
might as well have. It was
in the freezing water. He's eating buffalo

719
00:48:50.519 --> 00:48:53.079
liver. Like. The guy's a
maniac um and an incredible actor. And

720
00:48:53.400 --> 00:48:59.000
I'm so glad they rewarded him.
But that that was everybody just you know

721
00:48:59.360 --> 00:49:02.320
whatever, risking life and limb to
make a film. And I think you

722
00:49:02.360 --> 00:49:05.719
can see it in the in the
imagery. I think you can see it

723
00:49:05.719 --> 00:49:09.000
in the film, I mean the
the the when I heard the stories coming

724
00:49:09.000 --> 00:49:14.280
out from the set, and I
had a few friends of mine who worked

725
00:49:14.400 --> 00:49:17.400
here and I would hear stories,
I'm like, this can't be like three

726
00:49:17.440 --> 00:49:21.280
hours of natural light. I mean, I know it's Achieva, and I

727
00:49:21.480 --> 00:49:25.280
mean Achieva, I trust, but
Cheese like it's crazy and it's great.

728
00:49:25.440 --> 00:49:30.320
What's the craziest story that you could
share publicly that you heard. We'll talk

729
00:49:30.360 --> 00:49:34.880
about the non public hard hard.
Yeah, the hard part is what we

730
00:49:34.920 --> 00:49:40.239
can say publicly. Um, because
I when I heard is that that he

731
00:49:40.280 --> 00:49:45.000
had there was a ringing of a
bell or something like that, or a

732
00:49:45.119 --> 00:49:49.599
siren once a day to remind everybody
what they were, why they were doing

733
00:49:50.119 --> 00:49:52.840
what they were doing, something like
that. I don't know, I'm trying

734
00:49:52.880 --> 00:49:58.920
to think of what because there's a
lot of really good stories. Um,

735
00:49:59.079 --> 00:50:06.199
we'll be right back after a word
from our sponsor and now back to the

736
00:50:06.239 --> 00:50:09.400
show. I don't know if I'm
allowed to say it, so I'm gonna

737
00:50:10.119 --> 00:50:15.159
I I yeah, I'm not.
I'm gonna refrain from that question. Okay,

738
00:50:15.159 --> 00:50:17.880
Well after we stop off, fine, you can tell it. But

739
00:50:19.039 --> 00:50:22.559
I'm telling you I'm yeah, I'm
gonna start a show one day and just

740
00:50:22.760 --> 00:50:29.440
record the things I get they stopped, because that's the best stories ever.

741
00:50:29.639 --> 00:50:31.800
Man, that's gonna be the end
of your No. No, I'll do

742
00:50:31.840 --> 00:50:37.039
that when I'm like ninety and everyone's
dead already. Yeah, sure, I'm

743
00:50:37.960 --> 00:50:39.599
no. No, no, of
course, of course, there were a

744
00:50:39.639 --> 00:50:43.800
lot of crazy stories, and a
lot of it had to do with you

745
00:50:43.800 --> 00:50:49.559
know, jumping into ice cold rivers, people thermal doctors on set um.

746
00:50:49.719 --> 00:50:55.000
But how hard they how hard they
pressed. Um. All you all you

747
00:50:55.039 --> 00:50:58.800
have to think about is if we
talk about that window of light. If

748
00:50:58.800 --> 00:51:00.840
you've got anybody here has ever listening, has ever made a film, and

749
00:51:00.920 --> 00:51:04.440
you think about how much a setup
is and what it takes. And if

750
00:51:04.519 --> 00:51:08.159
you think about that sort of opening
sequence of The Revenant, even in cuts,

751
00:51:09.079 --> 00:51:14.239
that that battle scene, even if
you could contemplate it in cuts and

752
00:51:14.360 --> 00:51:19.679
try to understand how that was all
orchestrated with within windows of time that would

753
00:51:19.679 --> 00:51:24.800
provide light, it would seem insurmountable, Like how they did it. I'm

754
00:51:24.840 --> 00:51:30.119
still not I have no idea.
It's it's yeah, it is. It

755
00:51:30.320 --> 00:51:34.519
is a masterpiece, to say the
least. My friend. Now, you

756
00:51:34.519 --> 00:51:37.679
you have also been directing as well. You've directed, um features, you've

757
00:51:37.679 --> 00:51:40.400
directed, did you have a direct
You've directed? A future areadywhere I haven't

758
00:51:40.400 --> 00:51:45.880
directed my full length shorts directors.
I directed a long short about thirty five

759
00:51:45.000 --> 00:51:50.480
minutes called in This Our Time,
based on a play I wrote. I'm

760
00:51:50.519 --> 00:51:53.280
set up to direct, to direct
my first feature, which is actually the

761
00:51:53.320 --> 00:51:57.880
adaptation of the play I told you
Alijandra read to Find Me in the First

762
00:51:57.880 --> 00:52:00.760
Place, which is a play called
Still Life. Yeah, we're just trying

763
00:52:00.760 --> 00:52:07.639
to tie up the actors. I
have the um, just the genius DP

764
00:52:07.400 --> 00:52:15.159
UM, Luca Biggatzi who did and
young Pope I mean he's he's a monster,

765
00:52:15.639 --> 00:52:19.039
UM. And he read it and
loved it and has has told me

766
00:52:19.079 --> 00:52:22.159
he wants to do it. I
have a really great production designer, David

767
00:52:22.239 --> 00:52:23.719
Rockwell here in New York, who
designs all of New York. Is a

768
00:52:23.760 --> 00:52:28.679
very New York piece. Um.
And we're just trying to sew up the

769
00:52:28.760 --> 00:52:31.679
actors. We have the financing and
God willing, I'll be able to announce

770
00:52:31.719 --> 00:52:37.920
something soon. UM. Next year, we'll finally, UM, we'll finally

771
00:52:37.920 --> 00:52:42.440
shoot it. Now, from the
experience you have had on set as a

772
00:52:42.480 --> 00:52:45.559
director, there's always that day that
we all feel like the entire world's coming

773
00:52:45.559 --> 00:52:50.000
crashing down around us. I'm assuming
that was every second on Revenant, but

774
00:52:50.519 --> 00:52:54.639
yeah, yeah, UM, what
was that day for you and how did

775
00:52:54.639 --> 00:52:59.639
you overcome it? I think that
was that was my first day. Um.

776
00:53:00.079 --> 00:53:05.559
I had some I had three excellent
actors. We had a scene that

777
00:53:05.679 --> 00:53:10.360
was in a bar with two terrific
actors, an intimate scene, dialogue,

778
00:53:10.360 --> 00:53:19.920
heavy hard, and I had a
DP who was excellent. Um who his

779
00:53:20.079 --> 00:53:22.880
name is, Barry Marko Witz.
I'll say it. He's great. Um.

780
00:53:22.960 --> 00:53:30.519
He shot Crazy Heart, shot shot
the Apostle. Yeah, and he

781
00:53:30.559 --> 00:53:31.920
did this job for me for like, you know, eight dollars in a

782
00:53:31.960 --> 00:53:36.679
sandwich, because he liked the script
and he wanted to work together. He

783
00:53:36.800 --> 00:53:39.199
was he's a great guy. Um, but he's a big personality. And

784
00:53:39.239 --> 00:53:43.159
he was on set, and then
I had these producers that were wandering around

785
00:53:43.159 --> 00:53:46.320
on set and I just didn't have
control of it. And it was my

786
00:53:46.440 --> 00:53:52.920
first day on on any sort of
feature, short or long h a short

787
00:53:52.920 --> 00:54:00.000
film, but it was my first
day and I didn't know how to stand

788
00:54:00.119 --> 00:54:06.119
up and how to take control,
and things just spiraled one by one.

789
00:54:06.519 --> 00:54:10.800
People started in the vacuum in my
absence. They started making decisions that were

790
00:54:10.840 --> 00:54:15.119
contradictory, and it was you know, it was a whole thing. And

791
00:54:15.159 --> 00:54:19.679
we got through it and we got
a good we got good takes out of

792
00:54:19.679 --> 00:54:22.639
it, thank god. But the
next day, you know, I thought

793
00:54:22.679 --> 00:54:24.000
long and hard about it the night
and the next morning I got the whole

794
00:54:24.000 --> 00:54:28.719
set together. I said, whatever
went wrong yesterday is all on me,

795
00:54:30.280 --> 00:54:32.239
but it's not happening again. And
this is how it's going to go,

796
00:54:32.320 --> 00:54:36.760
and they responded, my whole crew
was amazing, and they were I think

797
00:54:36.800 --> 00:54:39.880
they were grateful to hear it.
So it really was a lesson for me

798
00:54:40.159 --> 00:54:45.320
because when I'm directing theater, I'm
entirely comfortable, but I think my self

799
00:54:45.440 --> 00:54:47.559
doubt about you know, I'm not
going to talk to you. I don't

800
00:54:47.639 --> 00:54:52.920
understand the full ramification of a lens
choice, Like I understand the basics,

801
00:54:53.639 --> 00:54:58.519
but I don't understand the full ramifications
of it. And I felt like,

802
00:54:58.559 --> 00:55:00.159
since I didn't, I wanted to
do a fur But then when you defer

803
00:55:00.199 --> 00:55:05.800
too much, it falls down around
you. So I learned right away that

804
00:55:05.880 --> 00:55:09.559
you just want to be specific about
Look, this should feel claustrophobic. This

805
00:55:09.639 --> 00:55:14.679
should feel like you can't escape the
cage of this table. And then your

806
00:55:15.000 --> 00:55:17.760
cinematographer says, ah, okay,
in that case, we're gonna use this,

807
00:55:17.760 --> 00:55:21.400
and we're gonna and all of a
sudden and they're lighting and they're like,

808
00:55:21.440 --> 00:55:22.800
now, now, now we have
So really, even if you don't

809
00:55:22.840 --> 00:55:28.599
know the specifics, as long as
you know the action of the scene,

810
00:55:28.719 --> 00:55:30.119
the feeling of the scene, what
you want from it, and you and

811
00:55:30.199 --> 00:55:35.320
you and you have good people and
you explain that, uh, you find

812
00:55:35.360 --> 00:55:37.960
things get better. But my first
day felt like a landslide getting away from

813
00:55:38.000 --> 00:55:42.760
me. And it was a horrible, helpless feeling. Um, thank god,

814
00:55:42.880 --> 00:55:45.039
it is it is, it is. It's brutal, mash friend.

815
00:55:45.400 --> 00:55:50.719
I'm trying to make you day.
Yeah. Yeah, that that that that

816
00:55:50.840 --> 00:55:54.039
dragon is just coming after you every
second that comes down, lights going down.

817
00:55:54.559 --> 00:55:57.840
Yeah, ot, you gotta Oh
no, I can't go into ot.

818
00:55:57.960 --> 00:56:00.639
We can't afford no, no,
no, no, no, it's

819
00:56:00.039 --> 00:56:04.280
it's it's brutal. Man. Now
I have to ask you, because I

820
00:56:04.320 --> 00:56:07.519
am of Cuban dissensor. Yes,
and I have to ask you what it

821
00:56:07.559 --> 00:56:15.360
was like working with the legendary Gloria
I mean, I mean Gloria and Emilio.

822
00:56:15.719 --> 00:56:21.480
I grew up in Miami. I
remember when Miami stab Machine hit Dude.

823
00:56:21.559 --> 00:56:25.719
It was a phenomenon five eighty six. I try to explain to people

824
00:56:27.679 --> 00:56:32.719
he was just a phenomenon and funny, funny side note. My first job

825
00:56:32.719 --> 00:56:38.800
in Miami as an editor was for
the director of all of those early music

826
00:56:38.880 --> 00:56:44.760
videos. Oh really, like Rhythm's
Gonna Get You get on your feet.

827
00:56:45.039 --> 00:56:49.079
I'm not sure if he did the
very I don't think he did um doctora.

828
00:56:49.599 --> 00:56:52.599
I think he did doctor. I
don't think he did Gonga. But

829
00:56:52.079 --> 00:56:54.320
but he was there, so he
you know, and everybody who works in

830
00:56:54.360 --> 00:57:05.159
Miami Errol Errol um anyway, so
it was growing up man like when Konga

831
00:57:05.280 --> 00:57:09.519
hit like it was a phenomenon.
It was absolute phenomena. Every every wedding

832
00:57:09.519 --> 00:57:16.440
in bar Mitzvah in the country's still
it was. That was a little crazy

833
00:57:16.480 --> 00:57:21.159
for me. Um. All right, So, by the way, for

834
00:57:21.199 --> 00:57:24.039
the record, you're talking about the
Broadway musical. I wrote on your Feet

835
00:57:24.079 --> 00:57:29.199
for them about their life story.
And now you'll be happy to know that

836
00:57:29.199 --> 00:57:31.960
we're working on the film version now. Um, so that should be really

837
00:57:32.000 --> 00:57:38.320
fun. Um. It was amazing. I met them my friend Nick Scandelius,

838
00:57:38.320 --> 00:57:43.280
who's a producer for the Needleland or
organization on Broadway. UM had seen

839
00:57:43.360 --> 00:57:45.239
the had seen a reading The Bodyguard
that I had written the other musical for

840
00:57:45.320 --> 00:57:49.519
the West End, and I guess
you know, he knew I was Latino

841
00:57:49.599 --> 00:57:52.599
or half Latino, and and and
he saw that I had done like what

842
00:57:52.639 --> 00:57:57.320
they called jukebox musical with Whitney's music. He said, we'd come down to

843
00:57:57.360 --> 00:57:59.599
Miami and I said, I don't
think I'm gonna you know, I was

844
00:57:59.639 --> 00:58:01.039
busy, like, I don't think
I'll be able to do it, and

845
00:58:01.119 --> 00:58:04.239
so just come down and talk to
them, so they need to know what

846
00:58:04.239 --> 00:58:06.679
it's would be like. And I
went down, I talked to them,

847
00:58:06.760 --> 00:58:08.239
and for me it was something else
too, like you know, I grew

848
00:58:08.320 --> 00:58:13.639
up like I have a very I
mean, yeah, I have a funny

849
00:58:13.679 --> 00:58:17.320
story about Gloria, UM, but
um off another I could tell. I

850
00:58:17.320 --> 00:58:21.559
could tell that one because we've talked
about that story. First of all,

851
00:58:22.079 --> 00:58:24.800
I love them and they're like family
to me, like I love them,

852
00:58:25.079 --> 00:58:31.519
um, the media, the whole
family, um um, Emily and Naive

853
00:58:31.599 --> 00:58:36.639
as well. UM. So I
met her and me and they were talking

854
00:58:36.639 --> 00:58:38.559
about and I said, well,
if it was me, I would tell

855
00:58:38.599 --> 00:58:43.000
the writer who's going to do this? And I would say this because I

856
00:58:43.000 --> 00:58:45.199
did all the research. I read
their books, they sent me all the

857
00:58:45.280 --> 00:58:47.519
DVDs, I did the bio like
and I said, oh, and and

858
00:58:47.760 --> 00:58:50.840
if it was me, I would
tell the writer. And somehow I got

859
00:58:50.840 --> 00:58:52.719
to the end of it and Glorios
like, you keep saying you're gonna tell

860
00:58:52.760 --> 00:58:53.320
the writer, but She's like,
I want you to be the writer,

861
00:58:53.800 --> 00:58:55.800
and I was like, Gloria,
I told Nick, I'm just not sure

862
00:58:55.840 --> 00:59:00.199
I was doing revenue. I was
helping with revenue at the time. I

863
00:59:00.239 --> 00:59:01.679
was doing some things. I was
like, I'm just not and she's like,

864
00:59:01.719 --> 00:59:04.519
well, well, And by the
time we were done, we're in

865
00:59:04.519 --> 00:59:07.760
the parking lot and Gloria's you know, she's not a very She's not giant

866
00:59:08.199 --> 00:59:13.360
in a in a hype man.
She's giants in other ways, in other

867
00:59:13.400 --> 00:59:15.840
ways and almost every other way.
Her heart is giant, and her personality

868
00:59:15.880 --> 00:59:21.320
is giant, and her talent is
giant. But she's short. And I

869
00:59:21.360 --> 00:59:23.880
remember her in the parking lot of
their offices in Miami looking up at me,

870
00:59:24.480 --> 00:59:29.159
and she's like, your mother's park
Cuban, right. I was like

871
00:59:29.239 --> 00:59:34.440
yeah. She just looked at the
shot won't disappoint her. And I was

872
00:59:34.440 --> 00:59:39.079
like, cornyo, what do I
do now? I like one I got

873
00:59:39.119 --> 00:59:43.039
to the airport and I called my
agent. I said, I think I'm

874
00:59:43.079 --> 00:59:45.719
doing the stuff on musical and he
was like really. I was like,

875
00:59:46.199 --> 00:59:50.320
I think I'm doing it, because
the minute I told my mother I would

876
00:59:50.320 --> 00:59:53.320
have been done. No. No, I was a very mafioso style way.

877
00:59:53.360 --> 00:59:58.840
Oh she went full on me.
She went full we'll be right back

878
00:59:58.960 --> 01:00:07.719
after a word from our sponsor and
now back to the show. And thank

879
01:00:07.760 --> 01:00:09.679
god she did because it turned out
to be one of my favorite experiences.

880
01:00:09.719 --> 01:00:15.840
We're still friends to this day.
She's a beautiful human being. The story

881
01:00:15.840 --> 01:00:20.320
I tell, which is slightly embarrassing, Oh God, is that I went

882
01:00:20.320 --> 01:00:22.119
into her. She hasn't in her
house. She has this place she calls

883
01:00:22.119 --> 01:00:25.400
the lair, and she was just
the one on the one on Star Island.

884
01:00:25.440 --> 01:00:28.880
Is that she needs to live it
yea, yeah, so side house

885
01:00:28.880 --> 01:00:31.000
and has this loft and that's where
all computers and stuff is. And she

886
01:00:31.079 --> 01:00:35.800
was doing this like blog this sort
of and she invited me to be on

887
01:00:35.880 --> 01:00:37.800
to talk about on your Feet,
so I went. We didn't know each

888
01:00:37.840 --> 01:00:43.199
other that well then and we were
just talking and she was like, oh,

889
01:00:43.239 --> 01:00:45.320
we're talking about the musical. I'm
doing research. And she's like,

890
01:00:45.360 --> 01:00:51.320
no, it's like this video of
which videos did she show me? Like

891
01:00:51.320 --> 01:00:52.840
a music video that she did a
music video? It was one of the

892
01:00:52.880 --> 01:00:55.119
later ones, a little balad.
But she's in the white shirt with the

893
01:00:55.199 --> 01:01:00.559
black you know, with the tight
and I don't know what I was thinking

894
01:01:00.559 --> 01:01:04.360
because I'm fifty five. But I
looked at it and I was like,

895
01:01:05.320 --> 01:01:07.960
oh my god, I had the
biggest crush on you, as if I

896
01:01:08.000 --> 01:01:12.519
just remembered. And then I realized, oh shit, I'm citty with Glorious.

897
01:01:12.719 --> 01:01:15.320
I don't want to sound like a
creep, like did you just say

898
01:01:15.360 --> 01:01:17.239
that out loud? You just used
at it out loud with my mouth hole

899
01:01:17.760 --> 01:01:22.480
and right too. I immediately must
have turned like brick red and I was

900
01:01:22.519 --> 01:01:24.320
like, I don't mean that in
the best. She's like, darling,

901
01:01:24.400 --> 01:01:27.920
I will take it anywhere I could
get it, Like I was like,

902
01:01:27.960 --> 01:01:30.320
oh my, oh my god,
it came right out of my mouth.

903
01:01:30.440 --> 01:01:35.559
I was looking at her, going, oh, I remember being like really

904
01:01:35.599 --> 01:01:38.800
attracted to you years. Yeah,
in my teenage years, being really attracted

905
01:01:38.840 --> 01:01:42.800
to you, you and me both
brother. It's there's nothing, there's nothing,

906
01:01:42.559 --> 01:01:45.920
there's no shame, there's she was
Gloria. He's still going just now.

907
01:01:45.000 --> 01:01:51.920
She's gorgeous. We had a ball, and God, did my mother

908
01:01:52.199 --> 01:01:53.760
ever win it all right because she
got to go to all the premiere she

909
01:01:54.039 --> 01:01:57.639
I think my mother has seen that
show more than me and Gloria. I

910
01:01:57.679 --> 01:02:00.679
think it's possible, like my mother
has seen that show, like it goes

911
01:02:00.719 --> 01:02:04.239
to Miami. She sees it.
She went, They're playing a little little

912
01:02:04.599 --> 01:02:07.800
tiny theater up and run. Listen, bro, listen, I was listen.

913
01:02:07.840 --> 01:02:12.000
I was when I was coming up
in Miami. I was an editor,

914
01:02:12.039 --> 01:02:15.199
and I was editing basically commercials and
music videos and things every all the

915
01:02:15.199 --> 01:02:17.119
big stuff that was playing on Don
in Miami, and I got to work

916
01:02:17.159 --> 01:02:22.000
with. I did a lot of
stuff for Univision and Telemundo and that kind

917
01:02:22.039 --> 01:02:24.840
of stuff too. And I did
an I did one with cheat with Don

918
01:02:24.920 --> 01:02:30.199
Francisco. I did a commercial with
Don Francisco from Yeah, Bro, if

919
01:02:30.239 --> 01:02:34.519
I tell you when I told my
parents that I hadn't met Salo, I

920
01:02:34.559 --> 01:02:38.519
haven't met Don Francisco. I'm editing
a commercial with Don Francisco. No,

921
01:02:39.039 --> 01:02:43.840
the entire Cuban family knew that,
Like, oh my god, alex is

922
01:02:43.840 --> 01:02:50.760
famous. Yeah, plex it's fair. People in Havana knew that. Yeah.

923
01:02:50.840 --> 01:02:54.480
Yeah, So you can imagine,
yeah, yeah, you can imagine

924
01:02:54.519 --> 01:02:59.800
when I brought my family back to
you know, you can you imagine me,

925
01:03:00.599 --> 01:03:02.280
Oh my god, that must have
been like and she's the sweetest,

926
01:03:02.400 --> 01:03:07.119
Like I can't even explain I can't
even explain it. She's so loving.

927
01:03:07.800 --> 01:03:12.320
She's such a good person. It
didn't matter who you brought. Because when

928
01:03:12.320 --> 01:03:15.360
we were on Broadway in the Marquis
Theater, there's this little it's very funny.

929
01:03:15.400 --> 01:03:17.159
There's this little room they put aside
that they had a little bar,

930
01:03:17.239 --> 01:03:21.079
and Emilia would just be making you
know, rum and cokes for me and

931
01:03:21.199 --> 01:03:25.000
him and I agree all like it
was a party in that room. That

932
01:03:25.079 --> 01:03:30.119
room the Gloria called the g Spot
by the way, that was her name.

933
01:03:30.199 --> 01:03:31.679
That was her name for the thing. She said, you know,

934
01:03:31.760 --> 01:03:35.639
mostly most men can't find it,
so we'll be here on our own.

935
01:03:35.840 --> 01:03:38.639
Um. Wow, Gloria's joke.
It was very funny. Um. But

936
01:03:38.679 --> 01:03:43.320
we used to stay there and it
didn't matter. Like one time I had

937
01:03:43.360 --> 01:03:47.960
this lady who took care of our
kids and and and she was a Caribbean

938
01:03:49.599 --> 01:03:54.760
um, lady Doris, And she
was just a ginormous Gloria fan. And

939
01:03:54.840 --> 01:03:58.599
I was like, I got it, so I brought it. And Gloria

940
01:03:58.719 --> 01:04:04.239
has a room for of important people, but she spends fifteen minutes of a

941
01:04:04.320 --> 01:04:09.719
thirty minute or twenty minute intermission talking
to these two. And I'm like,

942
01:04:09.840 --> 01:04:14.440
this lady, that's how good this
lady. And Amy is like they're just

943
01:04:14.519 --> 01:04:17.760
the most approachable, lovely human beings
they ever wanted me. My father was

944
01:04:17.800 --> 01:04:21.920
telling me, like he used to
see Gloria and Emilia like at like malls,

945
01:04:23.719 --> 01:04:27.280
trying to get there, like playing
music before they like right, just

946
01:04:27.320 --> 01:04:30.320
trying to get themselves up off the
ground. And they're like, yeah,

947
01:04:30.400 --> 01:04:31.480
oh yeah, we know, we've
seen it. We saw them coming up.

948
01:04:31.480 --> 01:04:35.079
And then that's when Conga hit and
they were playing weddings and bartments was

949
01:04:35.119 --> 01:04:41.840
in Miami while they were selling out
arenas in South America. It was crazy,

950
01:04:42.079 --> 01:04:45.360
the story because it because they weren't
famous here yet because they're famous.

951
01:04:45.920 --> 01:04:47.880
Yeah, you gotta see the you
gotta see the either the show when it

952
01:04:47.880 --> 01:04:50.880
comes by or the or I'll take
you next time it's there. It comes

953
01:04:50.880 --> 01:04:57.280
around all the time. Oh my
god, oh god, oh my god,

954
01:04:57.440 --> 01:05:00.199
you're kidding them. U. So
I'm gonna ask you a few questions

955
01:05:00.239 --> 01:05:02.880
ask oh, my guests, my
friend, what advice would you have for

956
01:05:02.920 --> 01:05:12.360
a screenwriter trying to break into the
business today, trying to make it worthwhile

957
01:05:12.480 --> 01:05:23.400
and not clich I think, don't
don't try to write for somebody else,

958
01:05:24.320 --> 01:05:29.239
because most people out there are doing
that. So if you write with your

959
01:05:29.280 --> 01:05:32.119
own personality, Like your talent is
your talent. Nobody knows how talent you

960
01:05:32.199 --> 01:05:39.039
are or aren't. Nobody knows.
People will make choices on what they think

961
01:05:39.079 --> 01:05:42.639
your work is, but they just
don't know. So the one thing I

962
01:05:42.679 --> 01:05:45.000
say is original voices tend to find
their way through. The one advantage of

963
01:05:45.039 --> 01:05:50.360
screenwriter has that other disciplines of the
arts don't have is if you write original,

964
01:05:50.440 --> 01:05:56.639
good scripts, solidly structured, good
characters, solid dialogue. If you

965
01:05:56.679 --> 01:06:01.119
write that, you're gonna work.
If you it anywhere near a door and

966
01:06:01.159 --> 01:06:03.920
get through it, you're gonna work. As opposed to an actor you're like,

967
01:06:04.119 --> 01:06:06.519
well you have that mole on your
face. You're five to seven.

968
01:06:06.559 --> 01:06:12.119
I need five to eleven. You're
you know, writers, It's like substance

969
01:06:12.559 --> 01:06:16.119
wins more than anything else. So
be yourself as much as you can,

970
01:06:16.440 --> 01:06:19.159
because the minute you try to write
like what you think they want to hear,

971
01:06:19.719 --> 01:06:24.599
you have seven the other writers out
of eighty doing the same thing,

972
01:06:25.159 --> 01:06:29.119
and nobody. You'll never You can't
stand out, and it won't matter because

973
01:06:29.880 --> 01:06:33.480
that's not your talent. That's you
imitating somebody else's talent. So I would

974
01:06:33.480 --> 01:06:38.559
say, try to be true to
yourself, hear your voice, don't fake

975
01:06:38.599 --> 01:06:45.920
it, and don't manipulate your characters, like, don't be objective to them

976
01:06:45.920 --> 01:06:47.159
when when you're writing a scene.
That was a big thing for me,

977
01:06:47.400 --> 01:06:54.199
well is put yourself in their place. Don't don't say he says to her,

978
01:06:54.280 --> 01:06:56.280
or she says to him. Don't
look at it from out here.

979
01:06:56.679 --> 01:07:00.239
Take his point of view, hear
her, feel what you feel that,

980
01:07:00.360 --> 01:07:01.760
take her point of view, feel
what you feel. You have to be

981
01:07:01.760 --> 01:07:04.679
a little bit of a method actor
about it when you're writing scenes and dialogue.

982
01:07:04.960 --> 01:07:08.719
And then of course you know,
as much of Aristotle as you can

983
01:07:09.079 --> 01:07:12.920
digest is amazing. Action, conflict, reverse, and you know, surprising,

984
01:07:12.960 --> 01:07:16.599
inevitability and those things are crucial and
you'd be shocked how many times you

985
01:07:16.639 --> 01:07:18.920
don't see them in a scene when
you ask a writer, well, who

986
01:07:18.960 --> 01:07:21.719
wants what from? Who has the
action in the scene, and they well,

987
01:07:23.599 --> 01:07:26.079
and you're like, well, that's
why it's not popping right there.

988
01:07:26.199 --> 01:07:30.480
So that's my best advice. Really, I think if you had a chance

989
01:07:30.480 --> 01:07:31.960
to go in a time machine and
go back to time and talk to that

990
01:07:32.000 --> 01:07:35.559
little guy at the beginning of your
life, what advice would you give him?

991
01:07:39.360 --> 01:07:44.079
So I mean, hold on,
like, hold on it. I

992
01:07:44.199 --> 01:07:49.400
know how bad it is. I
know you can't believe it, but this

993
01:07:49.559 --> 01:07:56.199
crazy thing is going to happen if
you just keep holding on. And and

994
01:07:56.239 --> 01:07:58.360
I would have said that to myself
as a little kid. I would have

995
01:07:58.360 --> 01:08:00.599
said that to myself as a teenager. And I would have said to myself

996
01:08:00.639 --> 01:08:04.280
at age twenty four, like when
it was dark, just you just just

997
01:08:04.400 --> 01:08:10.760
hang on and keep believing, and
keep being good to people, and keep

998
01:08:10.880 --> 01:08:13.400
it trying to be good to yourself. That's what I would have told him.

999
01:08:13.840 --> 01:08:16.800
And obviously, don't walk off a
beautiful Please, don't walk off a

1000
01:08:16.880 --> 01:08:20.640
set with a famous director on your
first film in Hollywood, you pompous idiot.

1001
01:08:23.000 --> 01:08:25.840
I would have said that too.
What is the lesson that took you

1002
01:08:25.880 --> 01:08:31.800
the longest to learn, whether in
the film industry or in life. In

1003
01:08:31.840 --> 01:08:39.760
life, I'm still learning it,
which is to forgive myself. I'm super

1004
01:08:40.119 --> 01:08:47.039
hard on myself. My inner monologue
is horrifying. I'm trying to fix that,

1005
01:08:47.359 --> 01:08:49.600
you know, every day. I
have two little kids now, I

1006
01:08:49.600 --> 01:08:55.560
have an eleven and twelve and a
nine. I'malia and Elena. Um.

1007
01:08:56.920 --> 01:09:02.319
But I'm I've been terrible to my
self and I need to I need to

1008
01:09:02.520 --> 01:09:17.119
not be in the industry. It
was be passionate, inspire people don't impress

1009
01:09:17.199 --> 01:09:23.000
them, right, Sometimes we try
to impress somebody, but you don't want

1010
01:09:23.000 --> 01:09:25.840
to impress them. When I talk
about somebody asked me about a film,

1011
01:09:25.880 --> 01:09:28.039
I say, well, I would
do it this way. I speak the

1012
01:09:28.039 --> 01:09:30.239
same way I'm speaking to you.
Now. I'm like, I will hear.

1013
01:09:30.359 --> 01:09:31.800
I'm like alahanaa. Maybe that's why
we got along, because that's how

1014
01:09:31.840 --> 01:09:39.720
I describe scripts. So inspire people
don't, don't try to impress them.

1015
01:09:39.760 --> 01:09:45.640
And then finally I do have to
say it. Those simple Aristotelian principles have

1016
01:09:45.760 --> 01:09:51.039
carried me so far, the idea
of surprising the inevitable conclusions to beat scenes

1017
01:09:51.800 --> 01:09:58.199
entire films. Holy shit, I
can't believe that happened. Of course that

1018
01:09:58.319 --> 01:10:05.880
happened. We'll be right back after
a word from our sponsor, and now

1019
01:10:06.039 --> 01:10:11.279
back to the show. Right that, if I was paying attention, I

1020
01:10:11.279 --> 01:10:15.159
would have known. And you think
about your favorite sort of narratives, narrative

1021
01:10:15.159 --> 01:10:17.439
films, and you're going to find
that Pan's labyrinth, right, Holy shit,

1022
01:10:17.520 --> 01:10:21.399
I can't believe she's doubt Oh of
course I wasn't you know everything from

1023
01:10:23.159 --> 01:10:27.159
usual Suspects to the Godfather the Birdman
when he of course, holy shit.

1024
01:10:27.399 --> 01:10:30.039
Of course, if you're paying attention, I would you would have seen it.

1025
01:10:30.279 --> 01:10:32.479
That rule carries you a long way
if you can write cleverly into it.

1026
01:10:32.680 --> 01:10:35.880
The thing I told you about manipulating
your scenes, about being outside them

1027
01:10:35.880 --> 01:10:40.960
when they talk, that's a big
deal. And and action and conflict.

1028
01:10:41.000 --> 01:10:45.399
So I don't think it's running behind
the I'm not going to get up again.

1029
01:10:45.439 --> 01:10:47.920
But there's this is all navy blue
because there's a movie screen in here,

1030
01:10:48.119 --> 01:10:53.359
but behind the oscar, and it's
a navy blue cover is my poetics,

1031
01:10:53.439 --> 01:10:57.560
my Aristotle's poetics. I keep it
right behind the oscar to remind myself

1032
01:10:57.880 --> 01:11:01.119
that that thing has nothing to that's
nothing but luck and the grace of God

1033
01:11:01.199 --> 01:11:06.600
and a gift for my family.
But what's behind that was what got me.

1034
01:11:08.359 --> 01:11:11.800
M h. I had a chance
at that lottery. Was that book

1035
01:11:11.800 --> 01:11:15.159
that's behind it? And it meant
it's changed. It changed my life.

1036
01:11:15.159 --> 01:11:18.560
And I didn't start as a writer. I became one and and and that

1037
01:11:18.640 --> 01:11:24.000
was it. And the hardest question
of all, my friend, three of

1038
01:11:24.039 --> 01:11:30.239
your favorite films of all time?
Oh? God Um today today. No,

1039
01:11:30.520 --> 01:11:34.439
they haven't changed in a long time. Okay. Amadeus, oh the

1040
01:11:34.920 --> 01:11:41.520
most forms Amadeus, good Fellas,
Yeah, which I don't. I just

1041
01:11:41.600 --> 01:11:44.600
remember seeing three times the first day
it open. Then I didn't know what

1042
01:11:44.680 --> 01:11:48.960
the hell was going on, and
then it gets a little harder. Um,

1043
01:11:49.039 --> 01:11:56.920
Godfather is ridiculous. Um. But
I love you know, I love

1044
01:11:57.039 --> 01:12:01.479
Moonstruck. I love it. Just
makes my heart explode with envy for John

1045
01:12:01.680 --> 01:12:11.119
the writer the cage. Oh yeah. The other things for the writers out

1046
01:12:11.119 --> 01:12:15.319
there as well is is don't not
get your stuff out there even when,

1047
01:12:15.479 --> 01:12:17.399
Like I'm a mentor in the Writer's
Guild program and I'm producing a film right

1048
01:12:17.439 --> 01:12:24.399
now in New Mexico from a Colombian
Queer identifying writer director named Alessandra la Caraza.

1049
01:12:24.800 --> 01:12:28.600
She was my one of my This
is interesting, and the Writers Guild

1050
01:12:28.640 --> 01:12:31.239
Mentors program, I was a mentor. She wasn't my mentee, but she

1051
01:12:31.359 --> 01:12:34.359
was in the program. And I
told them in a group, there was

1052
01:12:34.399 --> 01:12:39.000
about twenty of them, and I
told them I have a development company.

1053
01:12:39.119 --> 01:12:42.560
So if you have a script that
you're proud of and you want to send

1054
01:12:42.600 --> 01:12:44.640
it to me, send it to
me. Just make sure that it's your

1055
01:12:44.720 --> 01:12:46.880
last draft, not your first.
For now. Make sure that there's no

1056
01:12:46.960 --> 01:12:51.000
typeos that don't do any don't send
me anything that tells me you were careless.

1057
01:12:51.279 --> 01:12:54.920
But if you send it, it'll
get read. And out of about

1058
01:12:55.720 --> 01:13:01.199
fifteen or twenty of them, she
was the only one, well either one

1059
01:13:01.319 --> 01:13:05.439
or two, yeah, that sent
it. Well, it turns out she's

1060
01:13:05.479 --> 01:13:10.880
going to have a story like my
story because right now they're in pre production

1061
01:13:10.920 --> 01:13:15.760
in New Mexico. Residentists starring in
her film. Uh Leslie Grace is starring

1062
01:13:15.760 --> 01:13:19.720
in her film. She's directing it. It's a little budget, it's gonna

1063
01:13:19.720 --> 01:13:26.000
be about two million. But it
came because she had the balls to to

1064
01:13:26.239 --> 01:13:28.039
have the script, be proud of
it and sent it in. I read

1065
01:13:28.039 --> 01:13:29.600
it, I was like, I
love the script. I showed it to

1066
01:13:29.640 --> 01:13:32.079
a bunch of people. They love
the script. And now we're producing her

1067
01:13:32.399 --> 01:13:38.079
first feature. That's an awesome great
So be brave, you know, and

1068
01:13:38.199 --> 01:13:42.239
don't don't be cynical, like be
brave and yeah, you should be more

1069
01:13:42.239 --> 01:13:45.640
surrounding yourself for other artists. Surround
yourself with people. The more people,

1070
01:13:45.920 --> 01:13:50.720
the more you have a chance to
climb weird stairways. Alex Thank you so

1071
01:13:50.800 --> 01:13:56.560
much for coming on the show.
It has been such an honor and privilege

1072
01:13:56.560 --> 01:14:00.840
and just hilarious talking to you by
friend, and I feel like that anyway.

1073
01:14:01.560 --> 01:14:03.640
You know, those are the best
interviews when I when I hear the

1074
01:14:03.640 --> 01:14:08.279
guests, Oh god, I hope
I didn't say something I shouldn't have said.

1075
01:14:08.640 --> 01:14:11.680
That's always the best conversation. Yeah, yeah, it's okay, you

1076
01:14:11.720 --> 01:14:14.479
won the oscar ready, It's fine, I can retire, right, you

1077
01:14:14.479 --> 01:14:17.000
agree with you did? You're good
because all you gotta do is take when

1078
01:14:17.000 --> 01:14:20.560
you rent is due. Just show
them the oscar and they don't even charge

1079
01:14:20.560 --> 01:14:23.399
you. That's the way it works, right, beat him with it.

1080
01:14:23.399 --> 01:14:27.760
It's really out. Just killed them, bury them. Thank you. Thank

1081
01:14:27.800 --> 01:14:29.920
you for not only being on the
show, brother, for being an inspiration

1082
01:14:29.960 --> 01:14:32.279
to so many writers out there.
My friend, Alex, I appreciate you

1083
01:14:32.359 --> 01:14:36.399
man, all right, brother,
thank you. I want to thank Alex

1084
01:14:36.479 --> 01:14:41.840
so much for coming on the show
and sharing his journey and dropping his knowledge

1085
01:14:41.840 --> 01:14:44.520
bombs on the Tribe today. Thank
you so much, Alex. If you

1086
01:14:44.520 --> 01:14:45.920
want to get links to anything we
spoke about in this episode, head over

1087
01:14:45.920 --> 01:14:50.880
to the show notes at Bulletproof Screenwriting
dot tv. Ford Slash three o seven.

1088
01:14:51.319 --> 01:14:55.159
Thank you so much for listening to
guys as always, keep on writing

1089
01:14:55.520 --> 01:14:58.800
no matter what. I'll talk to
you soon. Thanks for listening to the

1090
01:14:58.840 --> 01:15:08.359
Bulletproof screen Right podcasts at bullip Groove, Screenwriting dot tv, m