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We're here on the Sunlight Moonlight podcast program.

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I am Dom Dorman.

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I'm Ryan Habers.

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And we're here on a rainy, rainy and cold night here in the Northeast.

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Very cozy.

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Ryan's got some coffee, I believe.

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No, I have water.

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All right.

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It is late for coffee.

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Oh yeah.

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Can't do that now.

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I have some tea.

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I have some peach tea.

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It's very, very delicious.

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Yeah.

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We are here on the program.

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This is the place where we talk about creative people working and working people being creative.

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Tonight, I should say, we're used to doing this kind of during the day.

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This is the night version.

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Very, very exciting, special program tonight.

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We have writer, director, actress and filmmaker Laura Sweeney, who is a very long time friend

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of mine.

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I don't want to say old friend because it makes Laura sound old.

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But Laura and I have been friends for a long time.

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It makes you sound old too.

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I know.

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I am.

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That's the problem though, is that if Laura and I, let's say Laura and I hypothetically

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went to high school together, that would make us the same age.

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Old is a state of mind, man.

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Ryan, it's been a while since we caught up.

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How is life treating you these days?

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Life's all right.

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I went skiing.

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I had a little bit of an accident.

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Why are you too old to ski?

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Yeah.

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I know.

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I'm hyper extended my arm.

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I'm like a newborn fawn on skis.

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It was my fourth time skiing.

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My family skis.

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My wife, my kids ski.

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So they're like, you got to go.

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I'm like, oh, okay.

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Yeah.

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So I hurt my shoulder.

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It's much better.

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It was a few weeks ago.

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I'm on the mend.

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I got one for you.

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I took my son sledding a couple of weeks ago and I did something to my knee that I can't

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describe, but it is incredibly swollen.

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Oh.

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I can still walk on it, but something is not.

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Something's definitely not.

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Right.

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Did you ice it?

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So I have not yet.

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I should do that.

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Maybe I'll do that tonight.

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You're not my doctor.

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I play one on a podcast though.

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You should definitely ice it.

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I have to go see my orthopedist.

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It's not something.

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Something's definitely broken.

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Oh, you have an orthopedist.

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I did.

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Well, I hurt my other knee.

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What are you rich?

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No, I just break my knees all the time.

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And it's unfortunate because I live in a not a very large house, but a tall house.

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So there's lots of stairs, which are fun to negotiate when you're injured.

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Yeah.

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But no, it's been a good couple of weeks.

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I've been listening to a lot of really fun music and I've been watching a lot of sports.

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I'm a big NFL fan.

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So that, you know, the playoffs have been have been going on.

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It's very exciting to me.

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I don't have a good time.

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A Giants fan.

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I don't have a good team.

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So it's I take pleasure in the demise of the Giants enemies.

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So when teams like the Dallas Cowboys and Philadelphia Eagles lose, it brings me almost

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as much joy as if the Giants had actually won, which is probably it's probably a problem.

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I mean, that's not a healthy way to live your life.

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But that's I think it's part of being a NFL fan.

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You know, I don't like there's people who are like, Oh, can't you just can't just root?

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You know, like you want somebody like, why do you have to root against or people to say

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like, Oh, you're a Yankees fan.

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Like can't you just roof in that too?

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And it's like, you know, pick a side, like stop with all this ambivalence where it's

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like, Oh, it's can't we just like, you know, watch the game and it doesn't really matter.

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I don't I don't like any of that.

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It really and I know I meet a lot of people who are like that.

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Or it's like, Oh, why do you hate the Jets?

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I hate that too.

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I'm like, because I like be a fan of, as you know, I'm a huge sports fan.

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I love all the balls, football, baseball, ski ball, basketball, skiing, you know,

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and I, and I, I, I gamble a lot.

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I bet a lot of money on these games because I'm really good at stats.

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I don't do that.

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And figuring out who's going to win.

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I have friends who bet like three or four dollars on like very odd pieces of the game.

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Yeah.

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And it's like this is going to happen in this moment and like in the fourth quarter, somebody's

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going to like get injured or something and they bet like, you know, three or four dollars

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on these events.

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They're going to throw an octopus out on the ice.

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Yes.

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That will that happens.

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I know.

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Or fish sticks.

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The only reason I know that is from Strange Brew, the Bob and Doug McKenzie movie.

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That's right.

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They played hockey in that.

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Yeah.

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And then stole their clothes.

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And stole somebody.

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Hork their clothes.

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Somebody worked their clothes.

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Somebody worked our clothes.

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So the sunlight moonlight podcast here with our guest, Laura Sweeney, I do, I do want

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to get into it with Laura and we'll bring Laura on in just a moment.

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I want to, we put together some information because I want you to understand Laura's wearing

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many hats.

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So I've seen a lot of her work as both a director and actress and filmmaker, writer.

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And I think it's really fantastic what she's been doing.

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She's been doing it for years.

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And so as I mentioned, screenwriter, director, actress, her scripts have been official selections

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at the Vale Film Festival, Nantucket Film Festival, Holly Shorts, Screencraft, Script

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Fund, Filmmatic, Toronto International Women's Film Festival, and Cascadia International

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Women's Film Festival.

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Her self-produced pilot, Mami Mafia, which is extremely funny, won Best Community Pilot

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at Manhattan Film Festival and was a finalist at Chicago Amercord Art House Television Awards.

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She also co-wrote the short film Solstice, selected for genre lab at Pinewood Studios,

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and she wrote a short film adaptation of John Milton's Paradise Lost, which I can't wait

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to talk to her about, now distributed by PBS.

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So her short film Across won Best Historical Drama at Manhattan Film Festival, and she

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recently directed a short, Tina, by Sherry Davenport, which is currently in film festivals,

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and it's very, very touching and very warm.

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She's currently writing a dark comedy feature called Negotiable, based on her own adventures

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in the real estate industry that she plans to direct this year.

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And she's also co-leader of FilmShop's South Brooklyn chapter and has taught screenwriting

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for Writers' Boot Camp and open screenplay.

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And I mean, if you just put all that together as a working mom as well, I mean, this is

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really, it's incredibly, incredibly, incredibly, incredibly, incredibly, incredibly, incredibly

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impressive.

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Yeah.

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And she came out of Georgetown University, and she also studied acting, as if that weren't

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enough.

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She also studied acting with the Moscow Art Theater, which I really want to hear about

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too.

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So without further ado, Ryan, can we, can we bring, can we bring Laura out?

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Can we, can we start talking to this?

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Let's start.

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Yeah.

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Let me see.

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This Renaissance woman?

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Laura, here, let me get rid of this.

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Hi.

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How are you?

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Hi guys.

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How you doing tonight?

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Thanks for having me.

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This is fantastic.

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Thanks for being here.

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Oh my God.

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What a setup.

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Yeah.

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I feel like such a slouch.

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All of the film festivals and I, and that has to be submitting your work to those film

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festivals has to be an incredibly arduous process.

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It's a mixed bag.

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You know, yes, submitting it, you know, you have to write the film and then make the film

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and then show the film to people and definitely getting into festivals and all the submissions,

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the background task.

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It can be time consuming, but usually at that point you're so psyched that the film is done,

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you can't wait to share it with people and get it out there.

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It's also pretty exciting.

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So yeah.

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Do you find that, because in my musical experience, I always had such a problem, like such a difficulty

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with that second part, which was like the first part is like, you know, the fun part

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and the part that comes like pouring out of you, right?

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There's like, you come up with an idea and then you hone it and then you like, you get

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it to where you want it to be.

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And then you actually can, you know, put technology behind it and film the film, right?

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And you're working with talented actors and you're feeding off their energy.

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And then you're editing the film, you're doing music, you're finalizing everything.

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And then I would always find that like, I just wanted to stop there.

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And like the second part of like, let me get this in front of people and let me try and

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get shows and let me try and get it.

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I'm not using the marketing, I would always like fizzle out there.

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How do you maintain momentum from like writing something through the execution and then like

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all of that other follow up?

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Is that like?

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Yeah.

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Yeah.

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I mean, that's a great question because you can kind of burn out by the time you finish

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the thing.

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You're just like, oh my gosh, I'm done.

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But I guess, I mean, I think with films, you're often crowdfunding on some level or you have

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several people involved who've gotten the project off the ground to begin with.

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So I found myself in those moments not alone with like, now let's get it out there.

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I have someone being like, hey, when is it going to be done to get it out there?

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You know, so it's not just me kind of pulling it along.

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And in fact, I usually try to do some sort of crowdfunding or something like that, even

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when maybe it's not as necessary because that's sort of when you start building your audience.

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Before you even make the film, you're building a community around the project.

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So you have this kind of village of people who can't wait for this thing to get done.

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And often those are the people who kind of are like, hey, are you done with that yet?

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I can't wait to see it.

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And then you're like, oh man, we really got finished the thing and get it out to people.

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And they want to see it.

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So I think surrounding myself with people who make sure I keep going has definitely been

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important to every project.

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But every project is different too.

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Some projects come along and there's just all this energy behind it.

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People can't wait to get it done.

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Others come and it's like all this enthusiasm at the beginning.

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Then everyone disappears and you're alone with the thing and you don't have the money

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and you just have to find a way.

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So each project I always think kind of comes with its own life force.

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So you just made me think of something.

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As a musician, I have a lot.

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I have so much unfinished stuff.

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And it's sort of like you go through the archives and you're like, OK, that one's hitting now.

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I connect with that one more.

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So you get excited about it.

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Do you is it the same thing with film?

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Oh, wow.

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I mean, yeah, I think I have a lot of scripts that are, you know, they say like scripts

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are never completed.

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They're just stopped.

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Like at some point you're like, because I guess with a little different between like

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writing music, well, I guess it's similar.

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It's like it's a film, a screenplay is not the end thing.

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You know, it's sort of a blueprint for the thing you're going to make in a way that

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like the book is the thing.

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So when you finish it, it's finished, you know, the screenplay.

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It's like now I've got to go raise an army and make the thing.

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So there are I have unfinished scripts.

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Usually it's like spinning plates.

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You know, I think I'm moving towards one project.

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But then someone out of the blue comes to me is like, hey, I found someone who wants

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to be in that.

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There's a path for that project.

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Like can we do it now?

250
00:13:53,480 --> 00:13:58,720
And sometimes there's like a drop everything focus on this one and see it through.

251
00:13:58,720 --> 00:14:04,400
But yeah, it can be frustrating because you get really like involved in the creative process

252
00:14:04,400 --> 00:14:08,760
of writing a script with a feature film script, you know, it's quite involved.

253
00:14:08,760 --> 00:14:13,000
You're working on like a hundred, hundred, hundred, twenty page document.

254
00:14:13,000 --> 00:14:14,000
You think it's almost done.

255
00:14:14,000 --> 00:14:16,560
And then you get pulled into another project for six months.

256
00:14:16,560 --> 00:14:18,440
And then you've got to get back into it.

257
00:14:18,440 --> 00:14:25,320
You know, so yeah, they are kind of like kind of like house cats, you know, like you run

258
00:14:25,320 --> 00:14:27,760
to that script and be like, oh, I forgot about that project.

259
00:14:27,760 --> 00:14:29,440
I love that project.

260
00:14:29,440 --> 00:14:30,800
Why didn't that one happen?

261
00:14:30,800 --> 00:14:32,840
You know, it's so involved.

262
00:14:32,840 --> 00:14:35,600
I complain about having to write lyrics for a song.

263
00:14:35,600 --> 00:14:36,600
That's like a page.

264
00:14:36,600 --> 00:14:37,600
Yeah.

265
00:14:37,600 --> 00:14:38,600
150 pages.

266
00:14:38,600 --> 00:14:41,960
I mean, it's mind blowing to me.

267
00:14:41,960 --> 00:14:45,000
It's such a different animal, you know.

268
00:14:45,000 --> 00:14:48,080
Yes, you know, you know, yeah.

269
00:14:48,080 --> 00:14:54,280
When you mentioned Laura, you know, crowdsourcing, so that sort of made me think of something.

270
00:14:54,280 --> 00:15:01,000
Do you feel like, and this is I guess is sort of a leading question, but the advent of crowdsourcing,

271
00:15:01,000 --> 00:15:11,880
do you think it creates a sense of urgency or or responsibility that is could be absent

272
00:15:11,880 --> 00:15:16,960
if you just had like 10 K sitting there to make a movie?

273
00:15:16,960 --> 00:15:25,000
Like I because I know like I'm notorious for like starting songs and not finishing them.

274
00:15:25,000 --> 00:15:30,520
But let's say if I had if I started, you know, crowdsourcing and say, hey, you know, I need

275
00:15:30,520 --> 00:15:32,840
1200 bucks to record the song.

276
00:15:32,840 --> 00:15:33,840
Yeah.

277
00:15:33,840 --> 00:15:34,840
And then people gave it to me.

278
00:15:34,840 --> 00:15:35,840
You got to do it.

279
00:15:35,840 --> 00:15:38,680
I feel like I would have to like bring it finish.

280
00:15:38,680 --> 00:15:39,680
Yeah.

281
00:15:39,680 --> 00:15:46,040
Otherwise you're kind of yeah, it's like it does create a sort of accountability.

282
00:15:46,040 --> 00:15:51,120
And also, I mean, yeah, I feel like with every project I do, because I have a lot of people

283
00:15:51,120 --> 00:15:53,680
asking me like, how do you get it done or whatever?

284
00:15:53,680 --> 00:15:56,720
Young filmmakers who want to just like get their first project, they're waiting till

285
00:15:56,720 --> 00:15:59,480
they have the money, they're waiting till they have this, they're waiting till they have

286
00:15:59,480 --> 00:16:01,360
that.

287
00:16:01,360 --> 00:16:06,280
And I always say, and this might be a little crazy, I always just say, just start saying

288
00:16:06,280 --> 00:16:11,280
you're shooting it like the film is happening and we're shooting it at the end of March.

289
00:16:11,280 --> 00:16:16,560
And as soon as you say that, people think it's true and then it becomes true.

290
00:16:16,560 --> 00:16:19,960
You know, and then suddenly people are like, oh, wow, this person's really going to do

291
00:16:19,960 --> 00:16:20,960
it.

292
00:16:20,960 --> 00:16:23,120
You know, and yeah, you put it out at the crowd funders.

293
00:16:23,120 --> 00:16:27,320
I feel like are helpful because yeah, once again, you're committing to an audience.

294
00:16:27,320 --> 00:16:29,160
It's totally totally.

295
00:16:29,160 --> 00:16:31,520
I mean, not totally, but it's mindset, right?

296
00:16:31,520 --> 00:16:32,520
Yeah.

297
00:16:32,520 --> 00:16:36,000
Like, like, yeah, that's that's I want to steal that.

298
00:16:36,000 --> 00:16:37,000
Yeah.

299
00:16:37,000 --> 00:16:41,440
And we're stealing this this idea that and I'm not going to crowdfund my stuff, but I'm

300
00:16:41,440 --> 00:16:45,080
going to pretend that I am.

301
00:16:45,080 --> 00:16:51,680
You know, like I'm just I'm going to tell myself what you owe this song.

302
00:16:51,680 --> 00:16:54,000
Finish the goddamn song because you owe it.

303
00:16:54,000 --> 00:16:55,960
Yeah, you promised it.

304
00:16:55,960 --> 00:16:56,960
Right.

305
00:16:56,960 --> 00:17:03,640
I like the idea of saying, you know, he said, like, like, I'm going to shoot it.

306
00:17:03,640 --> 00:17:09,120
So it's, you know, like these are the shoot dates like it's scheduled for fourth and fifth.

307
00:17:09,120 --> 00:17:10,120
Yeah.

308
00:17:10,120 --> 00:17:11,800
I change, but those are our shoot dates.

309
00:17:11,800 --> 00:17:18,960
And I think I really am a firm believer in if you know, if you think negatively, you

310
00:17:18,960 --> 00:17:22,600
manifest negative sort of results.

311
00:17:22,600 --> 00:17:25,240
If you think positively, you manifest positive results.

312
00:17:25,240 --> 00:17:30,320
So if you if you're saying that, if you're like, these are the shoot dates, then you're

313
00:17:30,320 --> 00:17:33,720
going to start doing the work involved to get to that point.

314
00:17:33,720 --> 00:17:34,720
So you're ready.

315
00:17:34,720 --> 00:17:35,720
Yeah.

316
00:17:35,720 --> 00:17:36,720
Yeah, that's great.

317
00:17:36,720 --> 00:17:37,720
Wow.

318
00:17:37,720 --> 00:17:38,720
I've learned.

319
00:17:38,720 --> 00:17:41,480
I've already learned so much.

320
00:17:41,480 --> 00:17:44,480
We've been talking Laura Sweeney here on the sunlight, moonlight.

321
00:17:44,480 --> 00:17:46,200
Laura gets it done, man.

322
00:17:46,200 --> 00:17:48,240
For for less than 15 minutes.

323
00:17:48,240 --> 00:17:56,880
And I feel like I've I've I've had an epiphany just as far as like accomplishing work.

324
00:17:56,880 --> 00:18:03,120
Laura, speaking about all the different facets and we'll get into sort of the the idea of

325
00:18:03,120 --> 00:18:05,560
the day job and motherhood and things like that.

326
00:18:05,560 --> 00:18:11,640
But if you look at everything, you know, if you really zoom out and look at your body

327
00:18:11,640 --> 00:18:17,760
of work and look at your bio and look at how many hats that you can and do where what is

328
00:18:17,760 --> 00:18:23,120
like, could you pick a favorite or do you love like all of your children equally in that

329
00:18:23,120 --> 00:18:24,120
sense?

330
00:18:24,120 --> 00:18:30,840
Well, I feel like writing is something I can't live without a little different than the others.

331
00:18:30,840 --> 00:18:35,480
You know, it's sort of a survival mechanism in a way that the others are not like I wake

332
00:18:35,480 --> 00:18:37,760
up every day and I write.

333
00:18:37,760 --> 00:18:42,440
It's just sort of like my go to it's like, you know, drinking water.

334
00:18:42,440 --> 00:18:45,680
But I started out as an actor.

335
00:18:45,680 --> 00:18:47,360
So I definitely remember.

336
00:18:47,360 --> 00:18:50,560
Yeah, we leave it on the stage together.

337
00:18:50,560 --> 00:18:51,560
Right.

338
00:18:51,560 --> 00:18:52,560
Yeah.

339
00:18:52,560 --> 00:18:54,920
It's fun in San Anthony.

340
00:18:54,920 --> 00:18:56,160
So yeah.

341
00:18:56,160 --> 00:19:02,240
But I get like a hankering, you know, for one or the other sometimes out of nowhere where

342
00:19:02,240 --> 00:19:07,440
I'm like, I just want to do a really good role in something or, you know, but writing

343
00:19:07,440 --> 00:19:16,640
I'm always doing and I guess what's happening now is that directing is so all encompassing

344
00:19:16,640 --> 00:19:22,920
that I feel like now that I'm tipping into directing more frequently, it just takes over

345
00:19:22,920 --> 00:19:23,920
everything.

346
00:19:23,920 --> 00:19:28,760
So it's like now that I'm directing more, it's like the opportunity to step away from

347
00:19:28,760 --> 00:19:32,320
that and just write or just act.

348
00:19:32,320 --> 00:19:37,080
It's just like, yeah, it's like you're all in when you're a director on the project.

349
00:19:37,080 --> 00:19:39,520
There's no escape until the thing is done.

350
00:19:39,520 --> 00:19:40,520
And I love that.

351
00:19:40,520 --> 00:19:41,520
I love that.

352
00:19:41,520 --> 00:19:46,480
But it's a little more all encompassing than just writing or acting.

353
00:19:46,480 --> 00:19:49,960
So I don't think I have a favorite, you know, they're all different.

354
00:19:49,960 --> 00:19:50,960
All of my children.

355
00:19:50,960 --> 00:19:54,680
No, and it's a good way to put it though.

356
00:19:54,680 --> 00:20:01,600
I found that throughout my lifetime, there were things, I mean, I, you know, the first

357
00:20:01,600 --> 00:20:05,400
the first things I remember doing was playing music live.

358
00:20:05,400 --> 00:20:08,240
And like that was my, that was my drug, right?

359
00:20:08,240 --> 00:20:10,800
That was like, we had to play shows.

360
00:20:10,800 --> 00:20:15,800
I had to do solo stuff like that was, you know, and then I sort of got into writing

361
00:20:15,800 --> 00:20:20,680
and recording and then I was like, Oh, wait a minute, like, I don't have to flat my stuff,

362
00:20:20,680 --> 00:20:26,200
you know, down the subway and like, you know, have two people show up and feel like shit

363
00:20:26,200 --> 00:20:27,480
about myself for weeks.

364
00:20:27,480 --> 00:20:31,880
And I could just, you know, stay in this little cocoon here and write and record.

365
00:20:31,880 --> 00:20:39,320
So I feel like as, you know, my, as far as my creative journey goes, that it has changed

366
00:20:39,320 --> 00:20:42,560
over the years, like what I gravitate toward.

367
00:20:42,560 --> 00:20:46,760
And I've gone through all these different phases and I think that, but what I notice

368
00:20:46,760 --> 00:20:50,960
about you is that, you know, if I'm putting together a rough timeline, like you're, you're

369
00:20:50,960 --> 00:20:55,840
kind of like, it's not like you've grat like you've graduated to directing and you're not

370
00:20:55,840 --> 00:20:56,840
acting anymore.

371
00:20:56,840 --> 00:20:57,960
Like that's not true.

372
00:20:57,960 --> 00:21:01,640
Like you're still doing all of it from what I can tell.

373
00:21:01,640 --> 00:21:06,840
Um, yeah, I think that that's really interesting that you, you can maintain.

374
00:21:06,840 --> 00:21:11,240
It's not this sort of like, it's not your career evolution to go through these different

375
00:21:11,240 --> 00:21:13,120
roles that you're playing.

376
00:21:13,120 --> 00:21:20,520
It is part of your toolkit and you have all like all of these things like really locked

377
00:21:20,520 --> 00:21:27,000
down and you keep going back and, and you know, doing similar processes because you're

378
00:21:27,000 --> 00:21:28,560
obviously good at it.

379
00:21:28,560 --> 00:21:30,240
And so it's like, it's a really cool thing to see.

380
00:21:30,240 --> 00:21:31,240
Wow.

381
00:21:31,240 --> 00:21:32,720
It does seem like a natural progression though.

382
00:21:32,720 --> 00:21:36,360
Like, you know, it's, so it just started out as an actor, right?

383
00:21:36,360 --> 00:21:37,360
Yeah.

384
00:21:37,360 --> 00:21:38,360
Yeah.

385
00:21:38,360 --> 00:21:43,600
And I was like writing, I have been writing pretty much nonstop since I was like a fourth

386
00:21:43,600 --> 00:21:44,920
grader.

387
00:21:44,920 --> 00:21:48,160
So definitely I think it all started with writing.

388
00:21:48,160 --> 00:21:50,920
But then I wanted to be, the actor was the goal.

389
00:21:50,920 --> 00:21:52,600
I was like, I'm going to be an actor.

390
00:21:52,600 --> 00:21:56,760
And then coming out of college did a lot of acting.

391
00:21:56,760 --> 00:22:02,480
And then actually becoming a parent, I was actually working a lot as an actor when I

392
00:22:02,480 --> 00:22:09,760
found I was having my daughter and that really turned me more into writing again.

393
00:22:09,760 --> 00:22:11,280
I was like, oh, this is just easier.

394
00:22:11,280 --> 00:22:13,760
Like I'm home more, you know, it's easier to control my time.

395
00:22:13,760 --> 00:22:17,040
I can be writing more and I get back to writing.

396
00:22:17,040 --> 00:22:18,040
Yeah.

397
00:22:18,040 --> 00:22:20,360
Yeah, for sure.

398
00:22:20,360 --> 00:22:21,360
So.

399
00:22:21,360 --> 00:22:24,200
And then the directing obviously came later.

400
00:22:24,200 --> 00:22:30,000
No, you know, like I was always kind of directing things, you know, in college and stuff.

401
00:22:30,000 --> 00:22:33,560
Like you have like a group project and we'd be in a circle and everybody would be like,

402
00:22:33,560 --> 00:22:35,560
well, Laura, what should we do?

403
00:22:35,560 --> 00:22:41,680
Okay, you know, so I think that I directed, but I didn't directing, I feel like it's the

404
00:22:41,680 --> 00:22:47,920
most mysterious of the three because I'm when I do it, it's I'm like, am I doing something?

405
00:22:47,920 --> 00:22:49,240
Like, what am I doing?

406
00:22:49,240 --> 00:22:53,080
You know, like, you're sort of at the center of everything so much and you're sort of just

407
00:22:53,080 --> 00:22:57,880
like getting other people to change things a little and this and that.

408
00:22:57,880 --> 00:22:59,800
Like a writing is really clear to me when I'm doing.

409
00:22:59,800 --> 00:23:03,560
There's nothing there and then I write words and then there's something there.

410
00:23:03,560 --> 00:23:04,560
Acting is clear.

411
00:23:04,560 --> 00:23:09,360
Someone hands me a script or a project and then I'm there being filmed.

412
00:23:09,360 --> 00:23:11,360
Directing is sort of like being a parent.

413
00:23:11,360 --> 00:23:15,120
You're just like this person who's kind of in charge of everything.

414
00:23:15,120 --> 00:23:16,120
Kind of doesn't.

415
00:23:16,120 --> 00:23:18,600
Yeah, yeah, no, it has nothing under control.

416
00:23:18,600 --> 00:23:19,600
Right.

417
00:23:19,600 --> 00:23:20,600
Right.

418
00:23:20,600 --> 00:23:22,240
It's a little bit like you're like, you're going to be fine.

419
00:23:22,240 --> 00:23:24,360
You know, everything is fine in the back of your head.

420
00:23:24,360 --> 00:23:26,600
You're like, oh my God, are they ever going to stop dating?

421
00:23:26,600 --> 00:23:28,920
You know, like, I don't know if everything's going to be fine.

422
00:23:28,920 --> 00:23:34,520
You make it seem like it is and like there kind of is a plan and I think they all feed

423
00:23:34,520 --> 00:23:36,200
into each other though, too.

424
00:23:36,200 --> 00:23:41,560
I think that, you know, being an actor for so long and working with so many different

425
00:23:41,560 --> 00:23:49,280
actors has really helped me work as a director because I think one of the keys with working

426
00:23:49,280 --> 00:23:55,520
with actors as a director is like every actor comes from a very different background.

427
00:23:55,520 --> 00:24:00,080
And when you're on a film set, you often have very little rehearsal or none.

428
00:24:00,080 --> 00:24:04,960
So day one, you know, you're going to be shooting that scene like 20 minutes after those people

429
00:24:04,960 --> 00:24:05,960
step on set.

430
00:24:05,960 --> 00:24:07,720
None of them know each other.

431
00:24:07,720 --> 00:24:11,840
You know, one of them is like some Shakespearean actor or somebody's, the other one's a Method

432
00:24:11,840 --> 00:24:19,600
actor and I've found this quicker I can identify like how to communicate with that particular

433
00:24:19,600 --> 00:24:25,000
actor because you know, it's so different the better.

434
00:24:25,000 --> 00:24:29,600
You know, some actors need a lot of attention and just to know they're doing a good job.

435
00:24:29,600 --> 00:24:32,600
Other actors need to know exactly where the camera is going to be and how they should

436
00:24:32,600 --> 00:24:33,600
tilt their head.

437
00:24:33,600 --> 00:24:37,480
You know, they're all worked so differently.

438
00:24:37,480 --> 00:24:41,400
And I've often said like directing is sort of like speaking many different languages.

439
00:24:41,400 --> 00:24:46,720
You know, you communicate with actors, each actor very differently usually.

440
00:24:46,720 --> 00:24:51,000
You communicate with a cinematographer in like a totally different language, the cost

441
00:24:51,000 --> 00:24:56,800
tumor, you know, the sound person, you know, everybody, you're kind of like, yeah, you're

442
00:24:56,800 --> 00:24:58,920
the person in the middle of the sandbox.

443
00:24:58,920 --> 00:25:02,480
Everybody's like throwing everything at you and you're just the point person.

444
00:25:02,480 --> 00:25:03,480
Yeah.

445
00:25:03,480 --> 00:25:04,480
Yeah.

446
00:25:04,480 --> 00:25:05,480
Yeah.

447
00:25:05,480 --> 00:25:10,400
You're kind of building the, you're building the film in a sense like you're, you know,

448
00:25:10,400 --> 00:25:12,640
you're directing the actors, right?

449
00:25:12,640 --> 00:25:17,120
You know, and trying to get us, you know, you kind of have the vision, right?

450
00:25:17,120 --> 00:25:21,320
So it's like you, you're trying to get a specific performance out of them.

451
00:25:21,320 --> 00:25:24,320
So you got to kind of give them tweaks and.

452
00:25:24,320 --> 00:25:25,320
Yeah.

453
00:25:25,320 --> 00:25:26,320
And make sure.

454
00:25:26,320 --> 00:25:30,000
And you're going to have to roll with it because sometimes actors show up and they do something

455
00:25:30,000 --> 00:25:33,400
completely different than what you expected.

456
00:25:33,400 --> 00:25:38,440
So a lot of it is very ego lists of like, that was way better than the idea I had.

457
00:25:38,440 --> 00:25:41,040
Like let's keep rolling the camera, you know.

458
00:25:41,040 --> 00:25:42,040
Yeah.

459
00:25:42,040 --> 00:25:47,880
You know, I was going to ask you specifically to directing of a very pointed question, but

460
00:25:47,880 --> 00:25:50,120
before, before we do that, I'd like to.

461
00:25:50,120 --> 00:25:51,120
Yes.

462
00:25:51,120 --> 00:25:56,080
You have a couple of clips that you sent us and I wanted to, I wanted to play one of

463
00:25:56,080 --> 00:26:00,440
them so that people, because look, when, when you meet, you know, you meet somebody's

464
00:26:00,440 --> 00:26:03,560
cousin or something and it's like, oh yeah, I like, I make short films.

465
00:26:03,560 --> 00:26:05,760
That's like, okay, great.

466
00:26:05,760 --> 00:26:11,400
You know, and then it's, you know, you can't, it can be easily dismissed where it's like,

467
00:26:11,400 --> 00:26:14,720
all right, this is a guy with an iPhone who like, you know, thinks he makes movies or

468
00:26:14,720 --> 00:26:21,640
whatever, but your, your productions are so professional and they are so legitimate.

469
00:26:21,640 --> 00:26:25,440
And so I want to, what I'd like to do is for those listening, you're going to hear some

470
00:26:25,440 --> 00:26:28,920
dialogue and some, maybe some music and background noise or whatever.

471
00:26:28,920 --> 00:26:33,040
But we have a video platform here and I want to, I wanted to show a clip.

472
00:26:33,040 --> 00:26:37,800
Is there a specific clip I can queue up before I ask my, my next question.

473
00:26:37,800 --> 00:26:42,200
Like if you have a favorite or if there's something specific that you feel like really

474
00:26:42,200 --> 00:26:46,480
represents what's going on with you.

475
00:26:46,480 --> 00:26:48,080
Okay.

476
00:26:48,080 --> 00:26:55,800
Maybe in a cross, I would say, I would do something from that.

477
00:26:55,800 --> 00:27:00,080
And I just, I watched this when you made it.

478
00:27:00,080 --> 00:27:06,400
Yeah, that one was sort of the most ambitious because it's set in the 1940s and we had a

479
00:27:06,400 --> 00:27:11,800
vintage car and there was underwater cinematography and basically every production.

480
00:27:11,800 --> 00:27:12,800
And like flashbacks.

481
00:27:12,800 --> 00:27:13,800
Yeah, it was a ghost.

482
00:27:13,800 --> 00:27:15,800
I don't know what I was thinking.

483
00:27:15,800 --> 00:27:17,560
Yeah, I thought it was going to be so simple.

484
00:27:17,560 --> 00:27:19,680
And then I was on set and I was like, what was I thinking?

485
00:27:19,680 --> 00:27:21,680
This is like overwhelming.

486
00:27:21,680 --> 00:27:29,040
Yeah, I actually liked the flashback section, maybe right around there before the water

487
00:27:29,040 --> 00:27:30,520
dunking part.

488
00:27:30,520 --> 00:27:35,600
Yeah, it's, and it's, it's like, it's super creepy.

489
00:27:35,600 --> 00:27:38,160
I mean, I think it's meant to be creepy.

490
00:27:38,160 --> 00:27:39,160
Yeah.

491
00:27:39,160 --> 00:27:44,040
And I want to, I want to just like a little mini horror movie in the middle of a historic

492
00:27:44,040 --> 00:27:46,600
drama is what it was going to be.

493
00:27:46,600 --> 00:27:47,600
Yeah.

494
00:27:47,600 --> 00:27:48,600
Exactly.

495
00:27:48,600 --> 00:27:49,600
Exactly.

496
00:27:49,600 --> 00:27:53,600
You know what, I'm going to do the night time scene.

497
00:27:53,600 --> 00:27:54,600
Okay.

498
00:27:54,600 --> 00:27:55,600
Oh yeah.

499
00:27:55,600 --> 00:27:56,600
I love how that turned out too.

500
00:27:56,600 --> 00:27:57,600
Yeah.

501
00:27:57,600 --> 00:27:58,600
Because we have the World War II.

502
00:27:58,600 --> 00:28:03,920
Because this is really so, so the setup is that we've got, we've got four and it, will

503
00:28:03,920 --> 00:28:04,920
you allow me to do this?

504
00:28:04,920 --> 00:28:05,920
Can I?

505
00:28:05,920 --> 00:28:07,920
If you like, or I can, whatever you want to do.

506
00:28:07,920 --> 00:28:08,920
All right.

507
00:28:08,920 --> 00:28:10,920
So we've got four friends.

508
00:28:10,920 --> 00:28:13,600
There's, there's two sisters and there's two friends.

509
00:28:13,600 --> 00:28:14,600
Yes.

510
00:28:14,600 --> 00:28:20,360
And this is in the late forties and this is after World War II.

511
00:28:20,360 --> 00:28:24,200
And three of the friends have lost husbands.

512
00:28:24,200 --> 00:28:26,600
Yeah, they're widows, very young widows.

513
00:28:26,600 --> 00:28:27,600
Right.

514
00:28:27,600 --> 00:28:28,600
Of soldiers.

515
00:28:28,600 --> 00:28:29,600
23 years old, yeah.

516
00:28:29,600 --> 00:28:30,600
Right.

517
00:28:30,600 --> 00:28:34,000
And the youngest sister is about to get married the next day and they take her out the day

518
00:28:34,000 --> 00:28:38,720
before sort of like a very small bachelorette celebration at the beach.

519
00:28:38,720 --> 00:28:43,680
And there's a real, you know, a realization that there was an event that was, was mysterious

520
00:28:43,680 --> 00:28:47,600
in the past and it gets revealed what the event was.

521
00:28:47,600 --> 00:28:48,920
And it was a personal event.

522
00:28:48,920 --> 00:28:55,760
I don't want to spoil it, but, and then one of the sister who's the bride to be runs

523
00:28:55,760 --> 00:29:00,000
off into the forest and now the three friends are looking for the sister.

524
00:29:00,000 --> 00:29:01,000
Ruby.

525
00:29:01,000 --> 00:29:02,000
Ruby.

526
00:29:02,000 --> 00:29:04,000
Ruby.

527
00:29:04,000 --> 00:29:06,000
Ruby.

528
00:29:06,000 --> 00:29:35,000
Ruby.

529
00:29:36,000 --> 00:30:01,000
There we go.

530
00:30:01,000 --> 00:30:02,000
All right.

531
00:30:02,000 --> 00:30:03,000
Oh, I moved over there.

532
00:30:03,000 --> 00:30:04,000
Yeah.

533
00:30:04,000 --> 00:30:05,000
All right.

534
00:30:05,000 --> 00:30:06,000
I'm going to go to the next one.

535
00:30:06,000 --> 00:30:07,000
Oh, whoo.

536
00:30:07,000 --> 00:30:15,880
It's like studio in a box, but that, I mean, just the whole project.

537
00:30:15,880 --> 00:30:20,400
Talk to me a little bit about like, where did you get this?

538
00:30:20,400 --> 00:30:23,000
Like, how did you get up with this idea?

539
00:30:23,000 --> 00:30:29,000
So, yeah, so this, this project across which, yeah, set in the 1949.

540
00:30:29,000 --> 00:30:31,560
Well, a couple of things.

541
00:30:31,560 --> 00:30:38,320
So I want, I didn't really want to make something about the American war widows of World War

542
00:30:38,320 --> 00:30:39,320
II.

543
00:30:39,320 --> 00:30:41,600
It's a very untold story.

544
00:30:41,600 --> 00:30:44,080
You know, you hear a lot about the war brides who came back.

545
00:30:44,080 --> 00:30:45,080
You hear a lot about the soldiers.

546
00:30:45,080 --> 00:30:51,080
You know, there's so many world war II stories, but the women in the United States really

547
00:30:51,080 --> 00:30:52,800
like held our country together.

548
00:30:52,800 --> 00:30:59,080
It was an enormous gift to the United States and there's very few stories about them.

549
00:30:59,080 --> 00:31:00,080
So that was one thing.

550
00:31:00,080 --> 00:31:04,600
But the other true part of how this came was I was working with a cinematographer.

551
00:31:04,600 --> 00:31:08,080
It's just sort of a disappointing story of creative.

552
00:31:08,080 --> 00:31:10,080
How it's made my favorite.

553
00:31:10,080 --> 00:31:15,280
I was working with a cinematographer and he said, I want to shoot something for my real.

554
00:31:15,280 --> 00:31:19,720
Can you write me something that's for women in a car and there has to be a bridge.

555
00:31:19,720 --> 00:31:29,280
And so I wrote this thing and the script, like one whole bunch of things.

556
00:31:29,280 --> 00:31:30,840
And I was like, wow, maybe we should make this.

557
00:31:30,840 --> 00:31:33,560
This is crazy to make a 1940s short film.

558
00:31:33,560 --> 00:31:34,560
Like why?

559
00:31:34,560 --> 00:31:42,160
But and then this film, it almost happened like two separate times and then it got delayed,

560
00:31:42,160 --> 00:31:44,120
delayed, delayed.

561
00:31:44,120 --> 00:31:46,360
And then it looked like it was really going to happen again.

562
00:31:46,360 --> 00:31:47,360
We got some funding.

563
00:31:47,360 --> 00:31:50,120
We got some interest and we started putting it together.

564
00:31:50,120 --> 00:31:55,960
And then the pandemic hit like right as we were in the film, but it was so perfect for

565
00:31:55,960 --> 00:31:57,240
the film.

566
00:31:57,240 --> 00:32:02,040
We ended up shooting it in 2021, like right after everybody's starting to get vaccinated.

567
00:32:02,040 --> 00:32:07,320
You know, that moment where everybody's like, the war is over, we can like live again.

568
00:32:07,320 --> 00:32:15,000
So we, most of the people on this set, it was like their first project back on set.

569
00:32:15,000 --> 00:32:19,080
So there was this kind of like, the war is over feeling already there.

570
00:32:19,080 --> 00:32:22,960
And in fact, people were socializing so much that it was like, okay, guys, like we all

571
00:32:22,960 --> 00:32:26,400
haven't seen people in so long, like we got a lot to do.

572
00:32:26,400 --> 00:32:27,560
So we had to get to work.

573
00:32:27,560 --> 00:32:35,280
But it was shot mostly outside, which was perfect for that post pandemic shoot.

574
00:32:35,280 --> 00:32:36,280
Yeah.

575
00:32:36,280 --> 00:32:37,880
And so the price is right.

576
00:32:37,880 --> 00:32:38,880
Yeah.

577
00:32:38,880 --> 00:32:39,880
Yes.

578
00:32:39,880 --> 00:32:42,880
You know, I mean, I remember that from like music videos where it was like, well, fuck

579
00:32:42,880 --> 00:32:44,400
it, let's just go outside.

580
00:32:44,400 --> 00:32:45,400
Yeah.

581
00:32:45,400 --> 00:32:46,400
Yeah.

582
00:32:46,400 --> 00:32:47,400
Yeah.

583
00:32:47,400 --> 00:32:48,400
I mean, this location was beautiful.

584
00:32:48,400 --> 00:32:50,880
We shot in Glen Cove, Long Island.

585
00:32:50,880 --> 00:32:52,480
I knew I knew it was a North Shore Beach.

586
00:32:52,480 --> 00:32:53,480
I could tell.

587
00:32:53,480 --> 00:32:54,480
I could tell by the rocks.

588
00:32:54,480 --> 00:32:55,480
Yes.

589
00:32:55,480 --> 00:32:58,600
I mean, it was maybe the one production, I don't want to say error, but the thing I

590
00:32:58,600 --> 00:33:01,960
learned on this was I was like, it's just one location.

591
00:33:01,960 --> 00:33:04,960
But I forgot that it was like this huge estate.

592
00:33:04,960 --> 00:33:09,400
I mean, it might as well have been three different locations.

593
00:33:09,400 --> 00:33:14,200
So but it was outside, which was how we were able to create the time period.

594
00:33:14,200 --> 00:33:19,400
It was really just having this beautiful car and the costumes and props, you know, we

595
00:33:19,400 --> 00:33:22,160
didn't have to dress any rooms or anything like that.

596
00:33:22,160 --> 00:33:23,160
And the makeup too.

597
00:33:23,160 --> 00:33:24,160
I mean, that was a definitely.

598
00:33:24,160 --> 00:33:25,160
Yes.

599
00:33:25,160 --> 00:33:26,160
Definitive.

600
00:33:26,160 --> 00:33:27,160
Yeah.

601
00:33:27,160 --> 00:33:28,720
I know of that time period.

602
00:33:28,720 --> 00:33:29,720
Yes.

603
00:33:29,720 --> 00:33:30,720
Yes.

604
00:33:30,720 --> 00:33:34,920
And you had the dialogue was you had a couple of little lines in there that was little,

605
00:33:34,920 --> 00:33:36,920
you know, or three.

606
00:33:36,920 --> 00:33:38,920
You know, yeah.

607
00:33:38,920 --> 00:33:39,920
Totally.

608
00:33:39,920 --> 00:33:40,920
Yeah.

609
00:33:40,920 --> 00:33:42,520
Let's throw back some sassy suds.

610
00:33:42,520 --> 00:33:43,520
Yeah.

611
00:33:43,520 --> 00:33:44,520
Yeah.

612
00:33:44,520 --> 00:33:48,720
No, it was really those were really nice touches that to me lent to the authenticity

613
00:33:48,720 --> 00:33:55,360
again, not to, you know, and certainly not to trivialize the medium of short film.

614
00:33:55,360 --> 00:33:56,360
Yeah.

615
00:33:56,360 --> 00:34:00,160
But there are, you know, I mean, I think about everybody on Newen College who was like, yeah,

616
00:34:00,160 --> 00:34:03,400
you know, I did a short film and it's like, I had a guy and a girl and then they're on

617
00:34:03,400 --> 00:34:04,400
the bench.

618
00:34:04,400 --> 00:34:05,400
Right.

619
00:34:05,400 --> 00:34:06,400
Yes.

620
00:34:06,400 --> 00:34:08,760
And then there's like no ending and then the kid gets up in the class and says, so this

621
00:34:08,760 --> 00:34:09,760
is how it ends.

622
00:34:09,760 --> 00:34:10,760
Yeah.

623
00:34:10,760 --> 00:34:13,080
You can get to shoot it and like.

624
00:34:13,080 --> 00:34:18,680
It was really unusual because it was so cinematic, you know, it was just like, I call it my

625
00:34:18,680 --> 00:34:23,520
Lord of the Rings because you know, for an independent filmmaker, a short, it's rare

626
00:34:23,520 --> 00:34:29,640
that you get to have like a 1940s car and all these departments asking you, you know, which

627
00:34:29,640 --> 00:34:36,000
scarf to wear and getting all the actors like in the same world and and toughening up their

628
00:34:36,000 --> 00:34:40,640
performances a little bit because we, you know, tend to be like, oh, I'm sad and let

629
00:34:40,640 --> 00:34:41,640
it show.

630
00:34:41,640 --> 00:34:47,840
And these 40s women are like, you got to bear up, you know, very different feel behind the

631
00:34:47,840 --> 00:34:48,840
whole thing.

632
00:34:48,840 --> 00:34:51,280
So it was really a wonderful group of people.

633
00:34:51,280 --> 00:34:56,720
I mean, a drone photographer and yeah, it really had a lot of production elements.

634
00:34:56,720 --> 00:35:01,760
For me, the aerial shot of the car on the sort of beach side road.

635
00:35:01,760 --> 00:35:05,640
That was just so it was so cool.

636
00:35:05,640 --> 00:35:13,040
And let me ask you very pointed about directing, though, is it because I'm sure that different

637
00:35:13,040 --> 00:35:18,160
directors and, you know, a car commercial director is going to be different than, you know, sort

638
00:35:18,160 --> 00:35:19,920
of an indie film director, right?

639
00:35:19,920 --> 00:35:28,360
And so there's, you know, different needs for different, I guess, different scripts

640
00:35:28,360 --> 00:35:30,400
and different projects.

641
00:35:30,400 --> 00:35:35,120
But do you ever feel like, you know, you were describing it before about like sort of being

642
00:35:35,120 --> 00:35:37,840
in the middle of the sandbox and everybody's asking stuff.

643
00:35:37,840 --> 00:35:43,360
Like, do you ever, have you ever gotten to a point where you're sort of like, hey, I

644
00:35:43,360 --> 00:35:45,520
need you guys like to do jobs?

645
00:35:45,520 --> 00:35:48,680
Like why is everybody at like, I mean, I know it's part of your job.

646
00:35:48,680 --> 00:35:49,680
Sunset.

647
00:35:49,680 --> 00:35:54,760
Yeah, it's sort of like, you know, in corporate life, right, to bring it back.

648
00:35:54,760 --> 00:35:57,360
And again, we're on the Sunlight Moonlight podcast.

649
00:35:57,360 --> 00:36:04,080
We're here with multi-talented filmmaker, writer, actress, Laura Sweeney, and we're

650
00:36:04,080 --> 00:36:09,600
talking about creativity for work and work and creativity.

651
00:36:09,600 --> 00:36:15,760
And to that end, like I go back to my corporate days of like managing a multi-site team where

652
00:36:15,760 --> 00:36:20,480
there were days where, you know, I had everybody from senior directors all the way down to managers

653
00:36:20,480 --> 00:36:21,800
and supervisors.

654
00:36:21,800 --> 00:36:26,640
There were days where I was like, can't anybody just like do their, like, why do you need

655
00:36:26,640 --> 00:36:28,240
me for everything?

656
00:36:28,240 --> 00:36:33,760
And it's like, sometimes a lot of times it was an environment that I had created where

657
00:36:33,760 --> 00:36:41,080
you make people sort of reliant on you or you don't give people the authority that they

658
00:36:41,080 --> 00:36:42,560
need to get things done.

659
00:36:42,560 --> 00:36:47,120
And so have you ever had moments like that where you're like, look, you're the actor,

660
00:36:47,120 --> 00:36:51,600
act, you're the cinematographer, shoot, you're the wardrobe person, dress the people, you're

661
00:36:51,600 --> 00:36:53,600
the makeup person, like make them look good.

662
00:36:53,600 --> 00:36:56,400
Like, have you ever been overwhelmed like that?

663
00:36:56,400 --> 00:37:00,200
Or is it more of like a, you know, fluid, like you just go with it?

664
00:37:00,200 --> 00:37:01,760
I mean, every project's different.

665
00:37:01,760 --> 00:37:06,840
I definitely have had moments where everyone's asking me something, you know, there's no

666
00:37:06,840 --> 00:37:09,160
multitasking when you're directing.

667
00:37:09,160 --> 00:37:10,840
It's like one at a time.

668
00:37:10,840 --> 00:37:13,080
Let me talk to her and then I'll talk to you.

669
00:37:13,080 --> 00:37:15,200
Give me two minutes.

670
00:37:15,200 --> 00:37:16,200
Just keeping your cool.

671
00:37:16,200 --> 00:37:20,200
Because yeah, everyone's looking to you for how to behave on set.

672
00:37:20,200 --> 00:37:27,120
But I think that this is sort of a non-answer, but it is my answer is that I get pretty involved,

673
00:37:27,120 --> 00:37:33,160
not exactly a producer, but a little bit very early in the process in choosing the team

674
00:37:33,160 --> 00:37:35,760
that is going to be there.

675
00:37:35,760 --> 00:37:41,360
I've only had a couple instances when I'm not super involved with that because, you

676
00:37:41,360 --> 00:37:45,800
know, you're really choosing who to go into battle with, you know, very early on.

677
00:37:45,800 --> 00:37:50,720
And I've had a few things where I've interviewed someone and I'm like, I just don't know about

678
00:37:50,720 --> 00:37:52,280
this person.

679
00:37:52,280 --> 00:37:55,360
And always that's the thing that goes wrong.

680
00:37:55,360 --> 00:38:00,800
So it's that's the person I have a hard time working with because I didn't listen to myself.

681
00:38:00,800 --> 00:38:06,200
And that ability to discern like that gut instinct of like this person is just not,

682
00:38:06,200 --> 00:38:09,920
they might not be a bad person or bad at what they're doing.

683
00:38:09,920 --> 00:38:12,280
I'm just not feeling them for this project.

684
00:38:12,280 --> 00:38:16,400
They don't seem to get what this is going to be like and in the flow.

685
00:38:16,400 --> 00:38:20,400
And I don't want that person there.

686
00:38:20,400 --> 00:38:24,920
You know, I've gotten better at listening to myself on that.

687
00:38:24,920 --> 00:38:30,040
You know, as I have more experience in this kind of thing, because I've learned the hard

688
00:38:30,040 --> 00:38:31,040
way.

689
00:38:31,040 --> 00:38:34,440
I always say I've learned the same thing every time I direct, which is that I should have

690
00:38:34,440 --> 00:38:39,840
listened to myself more than I did after.

691
00:38:39,840 --> 00:38:44,480
And do you feel like, I mean, you've been doing this, you know, long enough where, you

692
00:38:44,480 --> 00:38:49,440
know, you, you know, the players, you know, it's like, I know, it's like, if you want

693
00:38:49,440 --> 00:38:54,280
to, as a musician, throw a gig together or something like, I know who I'm going to call

694
00:38:54,280 --> 00:38:55,280
to do it.

695
00:38:55,280 --> 00:38:56,280
Yeah.

696
00:38:56,280 --> 00:38:58,840
You do a short hand with certain people.

697
00:38:58,840 --> 00:39:03,520
Like right now they're, you know, two cinematographers who I work with frequently.

698
00:39:03,520 --> 00:39:06,720
And then, you know, I always try to get one if I can't the other.

699
00:39:06,720 --> 00:39:08,560
They're good at different things.

700
00:39:08,560 --> 00:39:10,520
We know how to communicate with each other.

701
00:39:10,520 --> 00:39:12,320
We have a good time working together.

702
00:39:12,320 --> 00:39:14,360
So we just bring that on.

703
00:39:14,360 --> 00:39:17,160
It's always a little challenging when you, yeah, you have to work with someone you've

704
00:39:17,160 --> 00:39:20,200
never worked before or worked with before.

705
00:39:20,200 --> 00:39:24,480
And you have to kind of get to know them while you're getting the thing done.

706
00:39:24,480 --> 00:39:26,920
But yeah, exactly.

707
00:39:26,920 --> 00:39:30,320
You do get like a team of people behind you.

708
00:39:30,320 --> 00:39:36,800
I think the thing more answering your question still dumb that I've faced and like, you know,

709
00:39:36,800 --> 00:39:42,040
I guess today and ask all the Oscar announcements about the lack of female director, blah, blah,

710
00:39:42,040 --> 00:39:49,000
blah, blah, is like, I have been brought onto a set as a director where no one is listening

711
00:39:49,000 --> 00:39:52,200
to me at all.

712
00:39:52,200 --> 00:39:54,280
And I have to prove that I'm the director.

713
00:39:54,280 --> 00:39:59,080
And so that happens, you know, when it's just like a thing for hire.

714
00:39:59,080 --> 00:40:04,880
Do you think that's a, do you think that's directly attributed to, yeah, it is, it is,

715
00:40:04,880 --> 00:40:10,200
you know, I feel like it sucks, you know, I feel like I'm so lucky that I'm so clueless.

716
00:40:10,200 --> 00:40:13,400
There's something in my personality where I was a little clueless about all that for

717
00:40:13,400 --> 00:40:14,400
like 10 years.

718
00:40:14,400 --> 00:40:20,000
And I'm kind of glad because I think if I had known I might have given up, but I kind

719
00:40:20,000 --> 00:40:21,480
of like just let it go over my head.

720
00:40:21,480 --> 00:40:24,520
And by the time I realized it, I was just too far in.

721
00:40:24,520 --> 00:40:29,880
But I've learned a few tricks of how to deal with that when that happens as a director,

722
00:40:29,880 --> 00:40:35,240
because usually it's the cinematographer or somebody else who's ahead of a department.

723
00:40:35,240 --> 00:40:40,400
And what I've learned is like whoever is vetting you, I mean, people do this anyhow,

724
00:40:40,400 --> 00:40:44,360
like as this person, I'm going to direct the saying, we have to take it over, blah, blah,

725
00:40:44,360 --> 00:40:45,360
blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.

726
00:40:45,360 --> 00:40:47,360
And what I do is I'm like, well, I'm running a rehearsal with the actors.

727
00:40:47,360 --> 00:40:48,840
And they're like, no, we got to shoot something.

728
00:40:48,840 --> 00:40:54,460
And I just start I have to choose whatever department I feel like I have an ally with.

729
00:40:54,460 --> 00:40:59,520
And I kind of know like I'm going to stand between you and the camera with the actors

730
00:40:59,520 --> 00:41:00,680
and run a rehearsal.

731
00:41:00,680 --> 00:41:04,060
And then they're like, all right, I guess they are going to direct it, you know, so,

732
00:41:04,060 --> 00:41:08,640
but, you know, yeah, you have to put up with some stuff.

733
00:41:08,640 --> 00:41:13,160
you do, don't talk to Ryan's wife about any of this because her head looks.

734
00:41:14,240 --> 00:41:15,240
Oh, yeah.

735
00:41:16,200 --> 00:41:18,040
Oh, you know, but it's it's true.

736
00:41:18,040 --> 00:41:21,320
No, I know, I know, you know, I don't I don't mean to make light of it,

737
00:41:21,320 --> 00:41:22,600
but it is a shame.

738
00:41:22,600 --> 00:41:23,600
I think that.

739
00:41:25,120 --> 00:41:30,440
I think the irony, especially of, you know, Barbie.

740
00:41:31,400 --> 00:41:36,040
Yeah, the irony there is is so palpable.

741
00:41:36,040 --> 00:41:40,640
It's like, how could you possibly really, really do this?

742
00:41:40,960 --> 00:41:44,480
Now, I will say this, I will say it's a it's a crowded field.

743
00:41:44,480 --> 00:41:48,400
I'm not an apologist by any means, but it's a it's a crowded field this year.

744
00:41:49,880 --> 00:41:53,120
And they did expand all the nominations years ago, right?

745
00:41:53,120 --> 00:41:55,120
It used to be a lot, a lot tighter.

746
00:41:55,240 --> 00:41:56,240
Right.

747
00:41:57,120 --> 00:42:01,680
And box office as evidenced by things like, you know, Avatar box office

748
00:42:01,680 --> 00:42:05,520
is not always equal, creative, creative triumph.

749
00:42:05,520 --> 00:42:06,760
Yes. Right.

750
00:42:06,760 --> 00:42:07,760
And so.

751
00:42:09,680 --> 00:42:10,960
I think there's something to that.

752
00:42:10,960 --> 00:42:15,400
I think it's really unfortunate if you look at Greta Gerwig's body of work.

753
00:42:15,400 --> 00:42:16,400
Phenomenal.

754
00:42:16,400 --> 00:42:18,400
She's an exceptionally talented.

755
00:42:18,400 --> 00:42:19,400
Oh, yeah.

756
00:42:19,960 --> 00:42:24,000
Yeah. And it's not the first time this has happened where everybody gets

757
00:42:24,000 --> 00:42:25,360
nominated in the movie.

758
00:42:25,360 --> 00:42:29,720
I mean, that said, you know, Jane Campion won for best director last year.

759
00:42:29,720 --> 00:42:34,280
It was grossly overshadowed by the Will Smiths punching thing.

760
00:42:34,280 --> 00:42:38,280
You know, yeah, but it's like female director, great female director,

761
00:42:38,280 --> 00:42:40,520
Jane Campion wins best director.

762
00:42:40,520 --> 00:42:42,280
I mean, that should have been the headline.

763
00:42:43,280 --> 00:42:47,280
So, you know, I think that, you know, Greta Gerwig is a great director.

764
00:42:47,280 --> 00:42:48,280
We'll continue direct.

765
00:42:48,280 --> 00:42:54,280
I feel like I see progress in that people are even talking about the

766
00:42:54,280 --> 00:42:55,280
fact that it's upsetting.

767
00:42:56,280 --> 00:42:59,280
I mean, five years ago, this would have happened and nothing.

768
00:42:59,280 --> 00:43:02,280
So there's at least a noticing of that.

769
00:43:02,280 --> 00:43:06,280
But it's a tricky position to be in because like we were talking about

770
00:43:06,280 --> 00:43:10,280
when you walk on set, you want that world to be creative.

771
00:43:10,280 --> 00:43:11,280
You want people to feel safe.

772
00:43:11,280 --> 00:43:15,280
You want to be productive and get things done so you can't like fly off

773
00:43:15,280 --> 00:43:18,280
the handle and scream at the cinematographer.

774
00:43:19,280 --> 00:43:22,280
You know, so, you know, it's a delicate balance.

775
00:43:23,280 --> 00:43:25,280
And that's my generation too.

776
00:43:25,280 --> 00:43:29,280
I feel like, I don't know, I shouldn't say too much, but like different

777
00:43:29,280 --> 00:43:35,280
generations of women, you know, definitely being kind of like a 90s chick.

778
00:43:35,280 --> 00:43:38,280
I'm like, there's a diplomatic way we can handle this.

779
00:43:38,280 --> 00:43:41,280
And that's not maybe I'm wrong, but I just want to try for it.

780
00:43:41,280 --> 00:43:49,280
Well, but, but Gen Xers, I mean, all of us here being Gen X or Cusp, Gen X.

781
00:43:49,280 --> 00:43:51,280
Some of us are all different.

782
00:43:51,280 --> 00:43:53,280
Who is Cusp of Gen X?

783
00:43:53,280 --> 00:43:54,280
Well, Ryan's younger than me.

784
00:43:54,280 --> 00:43:56,280
Oh, not by me.

785
00:43:56,280 --> 00:43:59,280
The truth comes out.

786
00:43:59,280 --> 00:44:01,280
And he reminds me all the time.

787
00:44:01,280 --> 00:44:04,280
And they're like six months.

788
00:44:04,280 --> 00:44:08,280
But, but the idea, Laura, I think it's more of like, yes, I think in years.

789
00:44:08,280 --> 00:44:10,280
There's no, no, no, I'm kidding.

790
00:44:10,280 --> 00:44:11,280
I'm kidding.

791
00:44:11,280 --> 00:44:17,280
There's some, there's something about the Gen X mindset that is can be a

792
00:44:17,280 --> 00:44:24,280
little aloof or sort of ambivalent where it's kind of like, that's not a big deal.

793
00:44:24,280 --> 00:44:25,280
Yeah.

794
00:44:25,280 --> 00:44:29,280
You know, and I think that what you have is that, you know, the generations

795
00:44:29,280 --> 00:44:34,280
after us, you ratchet up the sort of, you know, the, there's lots of tantrums

796
00:44:34,280 --> 00:44:38,280
and there's public, you know, public outcry and things like that.

797
00:44:38,280 --> 00:44:39,280
It's a different world.

798
00:44:39,280 --> 00:44:43,280
I will say when I started, you know, screenwriting in this and that when I

799
00:44:43,280 --> 00:44:46,280
would go to meetings and stuff like and meet other screenwriters and

800
00:44:46,280 --> 00:44:51,280
filmmakers, I didn't used to tell people that I was a mom because it was talk

801
00:44:51,280 --> 00:44:52,280
about it.

802
00:44:52,280 --> 00:44:55,280
And now it's totally different.

803
00:44:55,280 --> 00:44:56,280
It's totally different.

804
00:44:56,280 --> 00:45:00,280
So now it's almost like it's a badge of accomplishment.

805
00:45:00,280 --> 00:45:01,280
Yeah.

806
00:45:01,280 --> 00:45:03,280
I mean, that has changed tremendously.

807
00:45:03,280 --> 00:45:04,280
Yes.

808
00:45:04,280 --> 00:45:07,280
Look, I think, I mean, we all have children here and I think it is.

809
00:45:07,280 --> 00:45:11,280
We see what our, what our, not only what our wives went through for the

810
00:45:11,280 --> 00:45:15,280
actual childbirth process, which is brutal.

811
00:45:15,280 --> 00:45:16,280
Another podcast.

812
00:45:16,280 --> 00:45:21,280
But yeah, it's a whole other podcast, but I did, I did want to touch on that.

813
00:45:21,280 --> 00:45:24,280
I mean, I'm really, really terribly constrained by time.

814
00:45:24,280 --> 00:45:27,280
If you're, I mean, if you have time, we have time.

815
00:45:27,280 --> 00:45:28,280
Sure.

816
00:45:28,280 --> 00:45:31,280
Because there's, there's like a few other things I really wanted to get into,

817
00:45:31,280 --> 00:45:37,280
which is I wanted to talk about motherhood and how you,

818
00:45:37,280 --> 00:45:42,280
do you feel like the experience of being, I mean, being a father, I'll

819
00:45:42,280 --> 00:45:45,280
preface this by saying being a father has changed me.

820
00:45:45,280 --> 00:45:47,280
And I have a son and a daughter.

821
00:45:47,280 --> 00:45:48,280
They're both very young.

822
00:45:48,280 --> 00:45:51,280
And I, I have a father.

823
00:45:51,280 --> 00:45:52,280
I have a mother.

824
00:45:52,280 --> 00:45:58,280
Has changed me in ways I could not even predict or comprehend.

825
00:45:58,280 --> 00:46:00,280
And like, I didn't know what I didn't know.

826
00:46:00,280 --> 00:46:06,280
Like I had no clue what I was in for in a very positive way.

827
00:46:06,280 --> 00:46:10,280
And how do you feel like being a mother.

828
00:46:10,280 --> 00:46:14,280
Changed you at all as an artist.

829
00:46:14,280 --> 00:46:19,280
That existed that was different than the artist you are now.

830
00:46:19,280 --> 00:46:20,280
Wow.

831
00:46:20,280 --> 00:46:21,280
That's a big question.

832
00:46:21,280 --> 00:46:22,280
I, yes.

833
00:46:22,280 --> 00:46:24,280
I mean, I was always artisiting.

834
00:46:24,280 --> 00:46:27,280
You know, it wasn't like I didn't do anything.

835
00:46:27,280 --> 00:46:29,280
And then I did once I became a mom.

836
00:46:29,280 --> 00:46:35,280
However, I think I got a lot more picky about the things I worked on.

837
00:46:35,280 --> 00:46:38,280
I cared more about like what I'm putting into the world.

838
00:46:38,280 --> 00:46:42,280
And also I think I beyond to feel braver because it was like,

839
00:46:42,280 --> 00:46:46,280
I'm going to show my kids, you know, if, if in the very least,

840
00:46:46,280 --> 00:46:50,280
my work inspires my children to go after what they're going to do,

841
00:46:50,280 --> 00:46:52,280
then, you know, I've done something.

842
00:46:52,280 --> 00:46:57,280
When my daughter was a baby and my daughter's now 18,

843
00:46:57,280 --> 00:47:01,280
says this a long time ago, when I, my daughter was a baby,

844
00:47:01,280 --> 00:47:05,280
you know, and I wanted to write, I had to pay a babysitter 15 bucks

845
00:47:05,280 --> 00:47:07,280
an hour to go right.

846
00:47:07,280 --> 00:47:11,280
You know, so like, I was not procrastinating at that coffee shop.

847
00:47:11,280 --> 00:47:15,280
Like pages were getting written. I had two hours, 30 bucks, you know.

848
00:47:15,280 --> 00:47:19,280
So it was like costing me money to work on my artistic stuff.

849
00:47:19,280 --> 00:47:22,280
So the level of commitment definitely ratcheted up.

850
00:47:22,280 --> 00:47:25,280
I probably made a world of difference though, in the sense of,

851
00:47:25,280 --> 00:47:29,280
because I mean, I know for me and my wife,

852
00:47:29,280 --> 00:47:32,280
and I think, I think this happens with parents is that,

853
00:47:32,280 --> 00:47:38,280
especially in the beginning, you lose yourself, you know.

854
00:47:38,280 --> 00:47:43,280
And so I'm sure that like having those couple of hours to be able to

855
00:47:43,280 --> 00:47:46,280
Yeah, dig in.

856
00:47:46,280 --> 00:47:51,280
So outlet, you know, yeah, I remember I was writing these like really dark things.

857
00:47:51,280 --> 00:47:52,280
I don't know what that was about.

858
00:47:52,280 --> 00:47:54,280
It was like the hormones clearing out.

859
00:47:54,280 --> 00:48:00,280
I wrote like a thing about a haunted burlesque club that was like a ghost

860
00:48:00,280 --> 00:48:04,280
story or like this burlesque dancer would peel her skin off.

861
00:48:04,280 --> 00:48:09,280
And he was really dark and I was like, but this little baby during the day, you know, so.

862
00:48:09,280 --> 00:48:12,280
Is that the one on 34th? I think I've been to that one.

863
00:48:12,280 --> 00:48:15,280
Yeah, right.

864
00:48:15,280 --> 00:48:19,280
This was like set back in time. It's like, yeah.

865
00:48:19,280 --> 00:48:22,280
I always think of the slipper room. You guys remember the slipper?

866
00:48:22,280 --> 00:48:25,280
I remember the slipper room. Yeah, for sure.

867
00:48:25,280 --> 00:48:28,280
Lower east side.

868
00:48:28,280 --> 00:48:31,280
Yeah, maybe that script will get made.

869
00:48:31,280 --> 00:48:34,280
But I think that's the one.

870
00:48:34,280 --> 00:48:37,280
You know, burlesque is like a hot end. You never know.

871
00:48:37,280 --> 00:48:40,280
Well, nothing goes with burlesque like children.

872
00:48:40,280 --> 00:48:43,280
Yeah, nothing says being a mom.

873
00:48:43,280 --> 00:48:47,280
I guess there was this sort of balancing of like, you know,

874
00:48:47,280 --> 00:48:53,280
I need to write these dark things because like I'm expected to be this perfect mother.

875
00:48:53,280 --> 00:48:56,280
The rest of the time, which is why I wrote mommy mafia.

876
00:48:56,280 --> 00:48:58,280
I see them on the screen now that's there.

877
00:48:58,280 --> 00:49:02,280
I was taking a screenwriting course at the time and writers boot camp.

878
00:49:02,280 --> 00:49:06,280
And I remember one of my teachers said something like, right.

879
00:49:06,280 --> 00:49:08,280
What you know, right? Who you are.

880
00:49:08,280 --> 00:49:12,280
And I was like, who am I? Who am I? What am I going to write?

881
00:49:12,280 --> 00:49:16,280
And it was like, I'm a mom. I'm a mom. And then like,

882
00:49:16,280 --> 00:49:19,280
I had this idea for the show called mommy mafia,

883
00:49:19,280 --> 00:49:24,280
which is like everyone trusted me because I was a mom with this little baby in Brooklyn.

884
00:49:24,280 --> 00:49:27,280
All the time, everywhere I went, they'd be like, can you watch my laptop?

885
00:49:27,280 --> 00:49:30,280
I'm going to do this.

886
00:49:30,280 --> 00:49:36,280
And I was like, why do they think I'm a good person just because I have a child?

887
00:49:36,280 --> 00:49:38,280
You know, it's also given.

888
00:49:38,280 --> 00:49:41,280
It's like the worst thing you could do to a mother because you're just giving her more responsibility.

889
00:49:41,280 --> 00:49:43,280
Yeah, yeah, yeah.

890
00:49:43,280 --> 00:49:45,280
What's for me? Yeah.

891
00:49:45,280 --> 00:49:48,280
You don't look very busy. Can I give you something to do?

892
00:49:48,280 --> 00:49:51,280
Right. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Exactly.

893
00:49:51,280 --> 00:49:57,280
It's a lot more on, but I had this thought like what if moms were to like, you know, leverage that?

894
00:49:57,280 --> 00:50:00,280
A little, you know, like, as for these, sure, sure.

895
00:50:00,280 --> 00:50:03,280
You know, so I was like, what if moms got, they could get away with a lot?

896
00:50:03,280 --> 00:50:06,280
So that's how I came up with that project. So,

897
00:50:06,280 --> 00:50:13,280
Well, also, I mean, the quintessential, stereotypical, you know, Stroller toting, you know,

898
00:50:13,280 --> 00:50:16,280
Park Slope mom. I was, yeah, I live that whole thing.

899
00:50:16,280 --> 00:50:19,280
And that's, that is a culture unto itself.

900
00:50:19,280 --> 00:50:24,280
Yeah. And I remember, I remember going, what was that bar?

901
00:50:24,280 --> 00:50:27,280
I had an outdoor part was the gate.

902
00:50:27,280 --> 00:50:28,280
Oh yeah, the gate.

903
00:50:28,280 --> 00:50:29,280
Park Slope. I remember.

904
00:50:29,280 --> 00:50:31,280
There's a 5th Avenue there. 5th Avenue.

905
00:50:31,280 --> 00:50:39,280
I remember going there way before I was even, I was even engaged or married, let alone having kids.

906
00:50:39,280 --> 00:50:43,280
And I looked around and I was like, I'm not like, I'm not making this up.

907
00:50:43,280 --> 00:50:47,280
Everybody here either has a child or a dog.

908
00:50:47,280 --> 00:50:51,280
Yeah. And they were like, you're, you're in this like outdoor patio.

909
00:50:51,280 --> 00:50:56,280
And I was just around, it was like, you know, boobs were out, like breastfeeding.

910
00:50:56,280 --> 00:50:58,280
And then people have, you know, feeding dog treats.

911
00:50:58,280 --> 00:51:03,280
It's always just like a guy with a beer. And I was like, wow, this is like, I don't understand this culture.

912
00:51:03,280 --> 00:51:16,280
Yeah. Park Slope is, is its own world. And I definitely like, when we live there too, you know, we were like, you know, starving artists who had kids who were kind of like had jobs and we're trying to, we didn't have like a brown stone or a nanotube.

913
00:51:16,280 --> 00:51:23,280
We were like, we don't have a brown stone or a nanny or, you know, we were really just like barely scraping by at that time.

914
00:51:23,280 --> 00:51:29,280
So, but one of the ideas in mommy mafia was like, you know, some of these strollers are like $40,000.

915
00:51:29,280 --> 00:51:38,280
Just like on the curb and I'm thinking I need a part time job. How am I going to work? And then it's like, that's stroller is $40,000.

916
00:51:38,280 --> 00:51:40,280
Why are they so expensive?

917
00:51:40,280 --> 00:51:48,280
And I was like, you know, just one stroller. They could replace the stroller. You know, is it wrong?

918
00:51:48,280 --> 00:51:55,280
I never knew it. I never knew it. But like, you know, the criminal mind, the creative mind was turning.

919
00:51:55,280 --> 00:51:58,280
That's great though. It's fantastic.

920
00:51:58,280 --> 00:52:01,280
I would never serve mom projects.

921
00:52:01,280 --> 00:52:07,280
I mean, I don't know if you ever saw this one. This was like smaller, but I did a web series called the mother ship.

922
00:52:07,280 --> 00:52:13,280
This was right after we moved to Long Island and my kids were in that age where I was just like driving them to soccer.

923
00:52:13,280 --> 00:52:23,280
I was just like always in my car, like always. And I had this idea for this crazy character, like in between dropping her kids in places.

924
00:52:23,280 --> 00:52:30,280
What if she did like crazy things by herself? And so it's me. I'm it's one project where I'm doing everything.

925
00:52:30,280 --> 00:52:36,280
I shot it. I wrote it. I'm the I wear crazy wig. She's like this crazy Minnesota.

926
00:52:36,280 --> 00:52:41,280
Speaking of, I remember this now that you say the way I remember.

927
00:52:41,280 --> 00:52:47,280
But yeah, she just like pole dancing in her car. You know, she does like yoga. I mean, she's making pancakes.

928
00:52:47,280 --> 00:52:56,280
Like it's just, but it was such an outlet for me at the time, you know, because I couldn't really be doing movies and stuff that much.

929
00:52:56,280 --> 00:53:02,280
My kids were in the age where I just was with them all the time. So I was able to make that, you know, start to finish.

930
00:53:02,280 --> 00:53:09,280
So that was really, it's really cool. I think that that is the way to do it is right.

931
00:53:09,280 --> 00:53:18,280
What you know, you know, because you can get you can get so deep into the nuance and the subtleties of of it's a life really, right?

932
00:53:18,280 --> 00:53:24,280
You know, you're getting into the subtleties of your own life and that being able to communicate that is, is it.

933
00:53:24,280 --> 00:53:29,280
I mean, I think it really comes across, you know. Yeah. Yeah. After sir.

934
00:53:29,280 --> 00:53:46,280
There's also the vulnerability there of sharing, you know, putting down on a piece of paper what it is that you think you do know about how you go about your day or or even I mean the risk of being a female and writing down saying,

935
00:53:46,280 --> 00:53:57,280
I'm going to write, I'm going to write something funny and this is going to make people laugh. Yeah, that's really hard because you have your you're not starting from the same.

936
00:53:57,280 --> 00:54:00,280
You're not playing on an even playing field. Yeah.

937
00:54:00,280 --> 00:54:09,280
And I think that that to be able to do that and to make we were checking video before and we were watching the trailer for mommy mafia.

938
00:54:09,280 --> 00:54:11,280
We were both like laughing out loud.

939
00:54:11,280 --> 00:54:13,280
Just completely ridiculous.

940
00:54:13,280 --> 00:54:28,280
Mommy mafia was so satisfying in that way because we did some readings of that and places and I could tell that some of the people who had to read it and stuff like that.

941
00:54:28,280 --> 00:54:34,280
And right off the bat, like, you know, so that was very satisfying. Yeah.

942
00:54:34,280 --> 00:54:45,280
Look, parents sort of behaving badly is something that is immediately I can immediately identify with your sir, because I'm, you know, I'm an older parent.

943
00:54:45,280 --> 00:54:52,280
Right. I had I had my my son, my first child when I was 41.

944
00:54:52,280 --> 00:54:53,280
I think. Yeah.

945
00:54:53,280 --> 00:54:56,280
And so hard to not sleep.

946
00:54:56,280 --> 00:55:06,280
I'm still doing. But I think there is and I remember my sister had children very young. She had children in her early 20s.

947
00:55:06,280 --> 00:55:21,280
And she was like very, very responsible and like did not was not a risk taker and did not, you know, really sacrificed a lot of her time and her life experience to be with the children and to raise them correctly.

948
00:55:21,280 --> 00:55:34,280
And I think there's a there's a difference in an older parent that is just sort of I mean you're just like that much more tired. You're that much more like like zero tolerance for bullshit.

949
00:55:34,280 --> 00:55:35,280
Yeah.

950
00:55:35,280 --> 00:55:42,280
Like and it's just sort of like, I think it affects the children to I think children of older parents are very different than children younger.

951
00:55:42,280 --> 00:56:03,280
Just because of how like, and it's not like behaving horribly or being a bad parent, but the idea of a parent being sort of like, hey, it's it's compete you're competing with your child to live your life because you're so when you're 41 you're so used to doing your shit.

952
00:56:03,280 --> 00:56:21,280
You know, if you're early 20s, you're kind of like figuring yourself out. Yeah, I don't have like you said you're paying babysitters you didn't have a nanny or whatever and we yeah, we had careers established so we could like get more babysitters or we could have a nanny or pay for

953
00:56:21,280 --> 00:56:41,280
a nanny or pay for a nanny and so it's just an interesting yeah how it affects all of that. I wanted to cover two other things before we, before we head out we are here on the sunlight moonlight podcast we're having a fantastic dialogue here.

954
00:56:41,280 --> 00:57:03,280
So, I'm going to be filmmaker and actor and writer. At the very end, Laura will do a segment with you. Okay, called easy uneasy. Okay, and so what happens in the segment is that Ryan, who is very nice and very sweet.

955
00:57:03,280 --> 00:57:19,280
So, we'll ask you an easy question. Okay. And then I will ask you a question that may make you uneasy. Oh, I love it. My father was a litigator. So, all right, perfect.

956
00:57:19,280 --> 00:57:37,280
But before we go. So, sunlight moonlight podcast here we talk about what creative people do for work, and what working people do to be creative and to that end. You know we've talked about motherhood we've talked about your, your sort of evolution, and your different talents and

957
00:57:37,280 --> 00:57:50,280
your different abilities. Let's talk about work for a little bit how you like, I know that some of this short films there is a there is a flexibility there you're not on a, you know, a six week shoot.

958
00:57:50,280 --> 00:58:04,280
You know you're not renting out all of these, you know, different structures and different buildings and stuff. So you have an advantage there where you can probably do more in a shorter amount of time but being in the real estate

959
00:58:04,280 --> 00:58:16,280
process which requires an immense amount of flexibility. How do you sort of reconcile the things because you're committed to so many people in the filmmaking process.

960
00:58:16,280 --> 00:58:25,280
And then how do you reconcile like, bring in home some bacon, while you're indulging yourself on that other side.

961
00:58:25,280 --> 00:58:38,280
Yeah, I mean that's a great question. When I figured out I will come back. No I mean it's a hot mess I think it's really the answer. Well that's an answer though. Yeah, you know it's ongoing.

962
00:58:38,280 --> 00:58:52,280
I mean I will say it, it does somehow work out has worked out you know I got my real estate license I guess maybe going on nine or 10 years ago, when you know to work in Brooklyn.

963
00:58:52,280 --> 00:58:57,280
I worked in Brooklyn as agent, and then moved it out here.

964
00:58:57,280 --> 00:59:05,280
And now I'm with Compass, which has been great. There's a funny enough. There's a lot of.

965
00:59:05,280 --> 00:59:21,280
What's the word like overlap. You know, I'm constantly trying to be like, I should get a job more in the media and let go real estate and blah blah blah blah and then at that moment, you know, I'll be working with a buyer who happens to be on a television show

966
00:59:21,280 --> 00:59:37,280
and I'm in touch with so and so and it's like, did that really just happen you know so a lot of things like that have come my way I also feel like I've been very lucky with the people I worked with in real estate that they like really support my work and like really enjoy hearing about it.

967
00:59:37,280 --> 00:59:50,280
You know, I'll have a screening in Manhattan and I will pack the house was like 85 tipsy real estate agents I mean like I bring an audience, you know, I mean it's so that has been great you have a built in following.

968
00:59:50,280 --> 01:00:00,280
Yeah, but as far as balancing the time and the thing and whatever I my experience has been when I'm busy making a film I get busy with real estate.

969
01:00:00,280 --> 01:00:05,280
When I'm not doing anything, everything gets quiet. It's like one or the other.

970
01:00:05,280 --> 01:00:13,280
It always happens. It always happens, you know, somehow it keeps working out, you know, the bills keep getting paid.

971
01:00:13,280 --> 01:00:26,280
I always say to people like yeah, let me sell your house they're like no but I love your movie they just want to watch your movies and I'm like, well there's a direct relationship between you know me listing your house and making that movie.

972
01:00:26,280 --> 01:00:41,280
Like, let's do this, you know, and then there is crossover in terms of like locations and things like that, you know, certainly the skills of being an agent and negotiating deals on things and getting things written down.

973
01:00:41,280 --> 01:00:52,280
For locations vendors, all kinds of things like that, you know, I'm not afraid to do that because I spend a lot of my professional life on the phone working things out.

974
01:00:52,280 --> 01:00:59,280
There's very similar skills in a lot of ways. In real estate you're bringing a team together to close the thing.

975
01:00:59,280 --> 01:01:02,280
Similar with the film. Yeah.

976
01:01:02,280 --> 01:01:14,280
I like that. What do you do when when the the creative reserves are low, you know, busy with life. You did say you have a daily writing practice.

977
01:01:14,280 --> 01:01:23,280
Yeah, I meditate every morning. That's the big, big part of my morning, like 15 or 20 minutes.

978
01:01:23,280 --> 01:01:42,280
When the creative reserves are low, though, that's such a great question is I always try to go for at least like a couple hours, you know, sometimes it has to be shorter like somewhere in nature and just like everyone needs to leave me alone for a couple hours and refill the well because yeah,

979
01:01:42,280 --> 01:01:47,280
especially being a parent and everything, you get pretty burnt out.

980
01:01:47,280 --> 01:01:51,280
That always helps me. Yeah. Yeah.

981
01:01:51,280 --> 01:02:13,280
I always, yeah, I always feel I feel like there's well, there's probably more but two schools of thought where it's like some people I think right when it hits, you know, when it's hitting and they have like this period of, you know, being prolific and then and then that's over and then they're okay with it, and

982
01:02:13,280 --> 01:02:25,280
they just live their life and then it comes again. And then I think other people have sort of a daily, whether it's hitting or not, just to keep them the muscle, you know, flexed or whatever.

983
01:02:25,280 --> 01:02:42,280
Yeah, I love just the exercise of writing and journaling as far as like getting projects done and being prolific on any level. For me, my experience is these projects are like, this is a little dramatic, but a little torturous like they just keep bothering me turning up until they're done to the extent that I'm like,

984
01:02:42,280 --> 01:02:57,280
okay, all I need is another creative idea. Like, leave me alone until I finish these three. You know, the ideas come quickly, bringing them into reality is exhausting.

985
01:02:57,280 --> 01:03:08,280
Yeah, that's the thing. I mean, you know, and that's I think it's like normal, especially for greater people to just ideas come in, right? I mean, I get ideas all the time.

986
01:03:08,280 --> 01:03:23,280
But finishing it and making it a thing that's not in my head anymore. Yeah, you know, committing to that one where you're like, that one keeps bothering me. Yeah, that's kind of what happened with that documentary.

987
01:03:23,280 --> 01:03:29,280
I was like, kept thinking about it. Yeah, making the movie.

988
01:03:29,280 --> 01:03:55,280
And when I, you know, when I sort of go dry, I go for like inspiration, like I go to like some of my favorite records or some of my favorite lyrics or performances and I kind of immerse myself and even film to like, I will go and like, watch films that have these, you know, like I'll watch Blade Runner where the score was done by Van Gellis, you know, and I'm just listening and I'm like, God, this is like,

989
01:03:55,280 --> 01:04:03,280
it's like he's from another planet. Yeah. Getting that something something that is so different and so outside of what I'm doing.

990
01:04:03,280 --> 01:04:28,280
I try and bring it like out of me to be a doesn't you're in your head like listen to how wide the world is. You know, you could be doing anything like this or yeah, vision people like Peter Gabriel or like, you know, people who are just sort of doing their own thing regardless of what people are expecting.

991
01:04:28,280 --> 01:04:40,280
And then that always reminds me that like, I don't have to write for anything or anyone, but myself. Yeah, because I'm always trying to like, well, what if people don't like that.

992
01:04:40,280 --> 01:04:53,280
You know, if it's just acoustic guitar, like is that kind of boring. And it's like, listen, man, like, Ryan, we talked about this all the time, Twila Tharp, it said a long time ago about sort of being creatively blocked.

993
01:04:53,280 --> 01:05:07,280
She said, you know, it's all been done before honey, get over here. Yeah. And it's like that idea I mean if somebody like her to say that, where it's like, listen, don't worry about coming up with an invention.

994
01:05:07,280 --> 01:05:09,280
Yeah, yeah, yeah.

995
01:05:09,280 --> 01:05:23,280
Yeah. Yeah, and I think I think that just the fact that we're all human beings. If you like what you're doing chances are someone else is gonna like it as well somewhere in the world. You know what I mean? No one's going to connect with it.

996
01:05:23,280 --> 01:05:37,280
I know, like, I've taught screenwriting a lot and always when I work with writers. I always say like write a really bad first draft like don't get in that mind of later on you're going to need to edit it and make choices.

997
01:05:37,280 --> 01:05:52,280
But it's very hard to have both of those brains going at the same time. Like you just got to let it be whatever it is. And then later on you can worry about what people are going to think or whatever because you can stop that creative process from flowing.

998
01:05:52,280 --> 01:05:56,280
Is that what you do with your daily writing? I wanted to ask that actually.

999
01:05:56,280 --> 01:06:08,280
And my daily writing is like, I forgot to get the thing yesterday. You know, it's very much like sorting out my life on the page. But yeah, but it's a sort of stream of consciousness, right?

1000
01:06:08,280 --> 01:06:13,280
Yeah, it's sort of how I talk to myself, I guess, you know, yeah.

1001
01:06:13,280 --> 01:06:32,280
I want to say something else though about when you get stuck or need to refill the well because what you brought up about like going to a movie or like a different art form than your sort of like chosen now more important pressurized art form, you know, because now when I make a film I'm sort of like mid career.

1002
01:06:32,280 --> 01:06:42,280
So like stuff is expected of me in a way that it wasn't when I was just being creative fun. And even with that is on. Yeah, there's a different level on the street.

1003
01:06:42,280 --> 01:06:55,280
Yeah, I love dance dancing is my outlet. And like, I love it because I'm never going to be like I'm never gonna be a professional dancer as many as teachers have attested to.

1004
01:06:55,280 --> 01:06:59,280
They're like, you're just so human, you know, like, you know, it's great.

1005
01:06:59,280 --> 01:07:04,280
You don't want to go professional. I'm like, yeah, because I don't care. Oh, there's nothing writing on it.

1006
01:07:04,280 --> 01:07:09,280
So it's just the back in the backhanded dance compliment.

1007
01:07:09,280 --> 01:07:16,280
They're like, you got to stop making those faces but it doesn't matter because you're not.

1008
01:07:16,280 --> 01:07:18,280
You're so original.

1009
01:07:18,280 --> 01:07:28,280
So fun. I do Zumba. I highly recommend Zumba for like every problem in your life. Well and then it's also look there's endorphins.

1010
01:07:28,280 --> 01:07:34,280
Yeah, you're getting your heart rate up. Yes, you're getting your frustrations out.

1011
01:07:34,280 --> 01:07:45,280
You feel like, you know, when you're dancing at like exercise class, you feel like you're a pop star, you know, in your head, you, you are a pop star for a second.

1012
01:07:45,280 --> 01:07:53,280
You know, just like, God, you know, years ago, I took me and my neighbor, we were living in Queens and my neighbor upstairs was a good friend of mine.

1013
01:07:53,280 --> 01:08:06,280
And we took these like really like a very serious series of dance classes that sort of culminated in a recital to recitals, like adults.

1014
01:08:06,280 --> 01:08:11,280
And one was swing dancing and the other was salsa.

1015
01:08:11,280 --> 01:08:20,280
And I found that it was so amazing that with with both swing dancing and salsa.

1016
01:08:20,280 --> 01:08:29,280
You know, you're as as the leading man who's leading, you're sort of like you're doing this thing with your arms.

1017
01:08:29,280 --> 01:08:49,280
Right. The one hand in front of you and the other one here. And it's literally like holding a guitar. Amazing. And I found that taking those dance classes changed the relationship I had with my guitar and how I held it how I how I played it, how I approached it.

1018
01:08:49,280 --> 01:08:56,280
And it was like just come and it was an epiphany one day and it was like, you know, a couple weeks before the recital, I was like, I can't believe this is happening.

1019
01:08:56,280 --> 01:09:12,280
Yeah, it was like so, so amazing. And I think that there's something to that, that discipline, you know, there's a lot of take like Jacques Bapan, for example, who's like, you know, world class historic chef, you know, best friends with Julia Child, he was a pioneer.

1020
01:09:12,280 --> 01:09:14,280
And he's an artist.

1021
01:09:14,280 --> 01:09:17,280
And he paints these beautiful pictures of like chickens.

1022
01:09:17,280 --> 01:09:19,280
Yeah, and stuff.

1023
01:09:19,280 --> 01:09:31,280
It's like, everything up to go to this other art form where there's nothing at stake. It can be sort of like your workshop. You know, I come out of a dance class or something. And I'm like frustrated with a project or whatever.

1024
01:09:31,280 --> 01:09:40,280
And then it's just like, let it all go. Forget it. And then it's like, something comes to your mind to coming out of that. Yeah.

1025
01:09:40,280 --> 01:09:41,280
That's really cool.

1026
01:09:41,280 --> 01:09:43,280
Great question.

1027
01:09:43,280 --> 01:09:47,280
Sometimes I have good questions.

1028
01:09:47,280 --> 01:09:53,280
Well, speaking of which, so let's we're gonna we're gonna wind up with our easy uneasy segment here.

1029
01:09:53,280 --> 01:09:54,280
Okay.

1030
01:09:54,280 --> 01:09:59,280
And this is gone a couple of different ways. So I'm just gonna throw that out there.

1031
01:09:59,280 --> 01:10:02,280
Hey, so now Ryan goes first.

1032
01:10:02,280 --> 01:10:05,280
Okay.

1033
01:10:05,280 --> 01:10:12,280
Is there a daily task that you abhor?

1034
01:10:12,280 --> 01:10:19,280
Anything that's like a long application or something that I have to fill in things.

1035
01:10:19,280 --> 01:10:21,280
Yeah.

1036
01:10:21,280 --> 01:10:24,280
You don't like filling out forms.

1037
01:10:24,280 --> 01:10:28,280
You don't have auto fill ready to go on your on your browser.

1038
01:10:28,280 --> 01:10:31,280
No, no, I mean more involved ones.

1039
01:10:31,280 --> 01:10:34,280
Like, yeah, or you're doing your taxes.

1040
01:10:34,280 --> 01:10:36,280
Blah, blah, blah, anything like that.

1041
01:10:36,280 --> 01:10:37,280
Okay.

1042
01:10:37,280 --> 01:10:39,280
Yeah, that's a bummer.

1043
01:10:39,280 --> 01:10:41,280
That's a good one.

1044
01:10:41,280 --> 01:10:43,280
Okay, so that that was the easy question.

1045
01:10:43,280 --> 01:10:44,280
I was easy question.

1046
01:10:44,280 --> 01:10:46,280
Well, that kind of stressed me out.

1047
01:10:46,280 --> 01:10:48,280
Oh, no.

1048
01:10:48,280 --> 01:10:50,280
I'm thinking about my taxes now.

1049
01:10:50,280 --> 01:10:51,280
No, okay.

1050
01:10:51,280 --> 01:10:53,280
Here's the question that may make you uneasy.

1051
01:10:53,280 --> 01:10:55,280
Okay.

1052
01:10:55,280 --> 01:11:00,280
Should convicted felons be allowed to vote?

1053
01:11:00,280 --> 01:11:02,280
Huh.

1054
01:11:02,280 --> 01:11:07,280
I would say no.

1055
01:11:07,280 --> 01:11:09,280
Okay.

1056
01:11:09,280 --> 01:11:11,280
Cool.

1057
01:11:11,280 --> 01:11:28,280
I just like I, I, I sort of agree with it in the sense that when you're living in what is supposed to be an organized society.

1058
01:11:28,280 --> 01:11:36,280
There are some things that you can do that that pay a really sort of heavy price.

1059
01:11:36,280 --> 01:11:39,280
And then that's not good for a family.

1060
01:11:39,280 --> 01:11:41,280
That's what you're looking for.

1061
01:11:41,280 --> 01:11:43,280
Yeah, that's different in felonies.

1062
01:11:43,280 --> 01:11:46,280
When you really look at what's classified as a felony.

1063
01:11:46,280 --> 01:11:51,280
Yeah, they're not good.

1064
01:11:51,280 --> 01:11:53,280
Yeah, you kind of give up a piece of your citizenship, right?

1065
01:11:53,280 --> 01:11:54,280
Yeah, right?

1066
01:11:54,280 --> 01:11:55,280
Like you did.

1067
01:11:55,280 --> 01:11:56,280
No, I think the, the.

1068
01:11:56,280 --> 01:11:58,280
Were those people going to vote anyhow?

1069
01:11:58,280 --> 01:12:00,280
That's my other question.

1070
01:12:00,280 --> 01:12:01,280
I think that's a good.

1071
01:12:01,280 --> 01:12:02,280
Be part to the question.

1072
01:12:02,280 --> 01:12:03,280
That's what I was.

1073
01:12:03,280 --> 01:12:05,280
Maybe with bad that I just asked that.

1074
01:12:05,280 --> 01:12:08,840
understanding and sort of like, you know, how much is a felon?

1075
01:12:09,040 --> 01:12:13,960
Yeah. In their felonous behavior contributing to society.

1076
01:12:14,160 --> 01:12:18,520
I think the flip side is that, hey, if someone makes a mistake and does a bad

1077
01:12:18,720 --> 01:12:23,720
thing and pays a price for it, then they should be sort of like

1078
01:12:23,920 --> 01:12:26,600
allowed back into I agree with that.

1079
01:12:26,800 --> 01:12:29,560
The other folks of what the other folks are doing.

1080
01:12:29,760 --> 01:12:34,800
It's a tough question because, you know, there are it depends on,

1081
01:12:34,800 --> 01:12:37,440
like, there's what did they do?

1082
01:12:37,640 --> 01:12:41,360
And yeah, was the sentence, you know, was the sentence long enough?

1083
01:12:41,560 --> 01:12:43,720
Right. What if they were wrongly convicted?

1084
01:12:43,920 --> 01:12:46,520
There's so many and there's so much corruption.

1085
01:12:46,720 --> 01:12:48,040
Yeah. Yeah.

1086
01:12:48,240 --> 01:12:52,360
Well, I would say in this in the in the case of a wrongful conviction,

1087
01:12:52,560 --> 01:12:56,720
I think it's I would say that they should be allowed to vote again.

1088
01:12:56,920 --> 01:12:58,480
Because if you're sort of like

1089
01:12:58,680 --> 01:13:02,560
nullifying the actual conviction from the get go.

1090
01:13:02,560 --> 01:13:07,840
Well, is the question should they ever be able to vote again even after they do

1091
01:13:08,040 --> 01:13:11,520
their time or is the question while they're imprisoned?

1092
01:13:11,720 --> 01:13:15,320
No, like what like once you're convicted,

1093
01:13:15,520 --> 01:13:20,320
like for your in prison or you're out of prison, out of prison, you're still a

1094
01:13:20,520 --> 01:13:21,960
convicted felon. Good point.

1095
01:13:22,160 --> 01:13:27,920
OK. I my original answer is based on thinking while someone is incarcerated.

1096
01:13:28,120 --> 01:13:31,560
So like, should people who are imprisoned be allowed to vote?

1097
01:13:31,560 --> 01:13:34,000
Yeah, I would say no, that would get really dicey.

1098
01:13:34,200 --> 01:13:36,720
Yeah. I mean,

1099
01:13:36,920 --> 01:13:40,440
but right now convicted felons are not allowed to vote.

1100
01:13:40,640 --> 01:13:45,080
I mean, Laura, I'm a convicted felon and I would like to be able to vote.

1101
01:13:45,280 --> 01:13:46,800
I'm kidding. I'm not.

1102
01:13:47,000 --> 01:13:49,880
I don't have a power in this area.

1103
01:13:50,080 --> 01:13:51,160
I'm not. You know what?

1104
01:13:51,160 --> 01:13:54,480
You should save this for the you said your father's a litigator, correct?

1105
01:13:54,680 --> 01:13:56,320
Yes, he passed away last year.

1106
01:13:56,520 --> 01:13:59,920
But yeah, I'm sorry. I'm sorry.

1107
01:13:59,920 --> 01:14:02,040
Well, he may have enjoyed that question.

1108
01:14:02,240 --> 01:14:06,600
Oh, he would be arguing with you right now. Yeah.

1109
01:14:07,840 --> 01:14:09,400
Well, that's what litigators do, right?

1110
01:14:09,600 --> 01:14:12,600
Yes. Yes.

1111
01:14:13,400 --> 01:14:19,120
When I was a little kid, I called him a hard-nosed alligator because

1112
01:14:19,480 --> 01:14:22,040
it made sense to me I was little anyhow.

1113
01:14:22,240 --> 01:14:24,680
OK, that's well, that's fantastic.

1114
01:14:24,880 --> 01:14:27,720
And I think hard-nosed alligator.

1115
01:14:27,920 --> 01:14:29,280
I like that. Yeah.

1116
01:14:29,280 --> 01:14:31,800
But hey, Laura, we covered a lot of ground today.

1117
01:14:31,800 --> 01:14:33,600
I was afraid we weren't going to get through it all.

1118
01:14:33,800 --> 01:14:38,160
I think I think we covered so much fantastic stuff.

1119
01:14:38,360 --> 01:14:43,360
And I'm so happy for you that you've been able to not only accomplish so much,

1120
01:14:43,560 --> 01:14:49,080
but to be able to experience so much success and recognition for the things that you've done.

1121
01:14:49,280 --> 01:14:52,280
You've always been completely like sweet as pie.

1122
01:14:52,480 --> 01:14:53,480
It was fantastic.

1123
01:14:53,480 --> 01:14:56,120
Laura and I had one of our I'm not going to say which year,

1124
01:14:56,120 --> 01:15:00,000
but we had a high school reunion a couple of a couple of months ago, five years.

1125
01:15:00,200 --> 01:15:07,160
And we were and we reconnected and I'm so glad

1126
01:15:07,360 --> 01:15:11,160
that we're still talking and I track your stuff.

1127
01:15:11,360 --> 01:15:13,400
I think I've contributed to one or more of you.

1128
01:15:13,600 --> 01:15:16,440
Yes, you have. Thank you very much. Yeah.

1129
01:15:16,640 --> 01:15:20,520
And just a humble rag there just because I know Ryan has not.

1130
01:15:20,720 --> 01:15:22,760
So way to go, Ryan.

1131
01:15:22,760 --> 01:15:26,200
I do things.

1132
01:15:27,640 --> 01:15:30,760
And we're here on the Sunlight Moonlight podcast.

1133
01:15:30,960 --> 01:15:39,520
Our guest has been Laura Sweeney, multi talented writer, director, actress,

1134
01:15:39,720 --> 01:15:42,520
the whole the whole shebang, Ryan.

1135
01:15:42,720 --> 01:15:44,200
Thanks so much for coming on, Laura.

1136
01:15:44,400 --> 01:15:45,160
Thank you so much.

1137
01:15:45,360 --> 01:15:47,160
Yeah, thank you so much for having me.

1138
01:15:47,360 --> 01:15:50,640
It's been great to reconnect, Dom, and great to meet you, Ryan.

1139
01:15:50,640 --> 01:15:53,560
And I love what you're doing here. So awesome.

1140
01:15:53,760 --> 01:15:55,040
Well, thank you so much for coming.

1141
01:15:55,240 --> 01:15:56,840
You're welcome back anytime.

1142
01:15:57,040 --> 01:16:02,520
And when you finish, I think it's negotiation negotiable negotiable.

1143
01:16:02,720 --> 01:16:05,200
Yeah. And that will be that will be there.

1144
01:16:05,400 --> 01:16:07,640
Yeah. OK. Feature. Wow.

1145
01:16:07,840 --> 01:16:10,920
OK, so we're going to have a

1146
01:16:11,120 --> 01:16:19,440
feature, a feature film from Laura Sweeney sometime in 2024, 2025.

1147
01:16:19,440 --> 01:16:21,560
I don't want to lock you down. It's 2025.

1148
01:16:21,760 --> 01:16:22,840
Yeah. OK. Yes.

1149
01:16:23,040 --> 01:16:25,080
And it's going to be awesome.

1150
01:16:25,280 --> 01:16:27,680
And we're so happy to have you here.

1151
01:16:27,880 --> 01:16:30,920
Ryan, anything any any final thoughts here?

1152
01:16:31,120 --> 01:16:36,000
I want to have Laura back on for when negotiable comes.

1153
01:16:36,200 --> 01:16:37,040
If you want to.

1154
01:16:37,240 --> 01:16:39,360
That would be great. I'd love to come back anytime.

1155
01:16:39,560 --> 01:16:42,360
Any time. No pressure.

1156
01:16:42,560 --> 01:16:43,320
That's awesome.

1157
01:16:43,520 --> 01:16:46,280
Well, Laura, thank you so much for your time.

1158
01:16:46,480 --> 01:16:47,800
And we'll get after it soon.

1159
01:16:47,800 --> 01:16:49,400
And good luck with 2024.

1160
01:16:49,400 --> 01:16:51,360
I'm sure it's going to treat you very well.

1161
01:16:51,560 --> 01:16:53,640
You too. Great to see you guys. Take care.

1162
01:16:53,640 --> 01:17:18,960
Be safe and keep safe.