WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:02.899 You know, you usually expect the most influential 00:00:02.899 --> 00:00:06.360 figures in entertainment to have, like, immediate 00:00:06.360 --> 00:00:08.640 universal name recognition. You say Spielberg, 00:00:08.699 --> 00:00:11.679 you say Scorsese, and a very specific cinematic 00:00:11.679 --> 00:00:13.720 image just instantly pops into your head. Right. 00:00:13.779 --> 00:00:15.779 I mean, they operate as their own cultural brands. 00:00:15.980 --> 00:00:18.019 You know exactly what you're getting before the 00:00:18.019 --> 00:00:19.780 opening credits even finish rolling. Which makes 00:00:19.780 --> 00:00:22.399 their legacy very clean. Right. very visible. 00:00:22.820 --> 00:00:25.980 But then you look at the actual landscape of 00:00:25.980 --> 00:00:29.219 pop culture over the last 40 years and you realize 00:00:29.219 --> 00:00:31.460 that some of the most profound influences on 00:00:31.460 --> 00:00:34.000 your own childhood, the visual styles, the chaotic 00:00:34.000 --> 00:00:36.280 pacing, the comedic tones that actually shape 00:00:36.280 --> 00:00:39.700 your sense of humor, They were crafted by people 00:00:39.700 --> 00:00:42.000 operating almost entirely under the radar. Oh, 00:00:42.000 --> 00:00:44.079 absolutely. They're the hidden architects of 00:00:44.079 --> 00:00:45.899 our nostalgia. I mean, they are the creators 00:00:45.899 --> 00:00:48.200 who built the house you grew up in, even if their 00:00:48.200 --> 00:00:50.539 name isn't actually on the mailbox. Yeah, that's 00:00:50.539 --> 00:00:52.780 exactly it. And that brings us to the mission 00:00:52.780 --> 00:00:56.859 of today's Deep Dive. We are unpacking the incredibly 00:00:56.859 --> 00:00:59.759 fascinating, just wildly unpredictable career 00:00:59.759 --> 00:01:03.119 of an American filmmaker named Savage Steve Holland. 00:01:03.420 --> 00:01:06.209 Such a great topic. Right. To do this, we've 00:01:06.209 --> 00:01:08.829 pulled together his Wikipedia page alongside 00:01:08.829 --> 00:01:12.409 a stack of retrospectives and industry analyses 00:01:12.409 --> 00:01:15.090 of his career. We really want to figure out exactly 00:01:15.090 --> 00:01:18.269 what it means to build a legacy when the front 00:01:18.269 --> 00:01:20.689 door of Hollywood just kind of slams shut in 00:01:20.689 --> 00:01:22.090 your face. Yeah. And if you don't immediately 00:01:22.090 --> 00:01:24.290 recognize his name, I guarantee you recognize 00:01:24.290 --> 00:01:27.560 his fingerprints. Oh, 100%. So. setting the stage 00:01:27.560 --> 00:01:30.480 for you. His career isn't just long. It is like, 00:01:30.900 --> 00:01:32.819 relentlessly adaptable. Yeah, we're looking at 00:01:32.819 --> 00:01:35.379 a creative force who is actively working from 00:01:35.379 --> 00:01:39.280 1983 all the way up to 2020. I mean, he's not 00:01:39.280 --> 00:01:42.060 just a traditional director. He's a writer, a 00:01:42.060 --> 00:01:45.030 producer, an animator, and a voice actor. The 00:01:45.030 --> 00:01:47.209 journey he takes through those four decades is 00:01:47.209 --> 00:01:49.489 wild. We're gonna explore some high -profile 00:01:49.489 --> 00:01:52.269 cinematic stumbles, legendary 80s cult classics, 00:01:52.670 --> 00:01:55.310 and this unbelievable career pivot that completely 00:01:55.310 --> 00:01:58.150 dominated kids' television. It really is an incredible 00:01:58.150 --> 00:02:00.510 arc. But... we have to start where his journey 00:02:00.510 --> 00:02:03.909 began, because his early days are just the absolute 00:02:03.909 --> 00:02:06.450 stuff of Hollywood myth -making. He starts out 00:02:06.450 --> 00:02:09.710 with this raw, undeniable talent, driven by an 00:02:09.710 --> 00:02:12.689 early love for animation, and he ends up at the 00:02:12.689 --> 00:02:15.310 prestigious California Institute of the Arts, 00:02:15.610 --> 00:02:18.169 which most people know as CalArts. Right. And 00:02:18.169 --> 00:02:20.729 we have to remember, CalArts in the late 70s 00:02:20.729 --> 00:02:23.430 and early 80s was essentially the ultimate training 00:02:23.430 --> 00:02:25.590 ground for modern animators and filmmakers. Like 00:02:25.590 --> 00:02:28.509 a talent incubator. Exactly. The incubator that... 00:02:28.400 --> 00:02:31.620 a massive wave of the talent that would go on 00:02:31.620 --> 00:02:34.240 to define, you know, the Disney Renaissance and 00:02:34.240 --> 00:02:36.080 Pixar. So he's swimming in that talent pool, 00:02:36.159 --> 00:02:39.280 right? Yeah. And he creates this semi -autobiographical 00:02:39.280 --> 00:02:42.099 short film called My 11 -Year -Old Birthday Party. 00:02:42.490 --> 00:02:44.650 And this isn't just like a fun little student 00:02:44.650 --> 00:02:46.789 project that his classmates politely clap for 00:02:46.789 --> 00:02:48.629 in a lecture hall. No, not at all. It actually 00:02:48.629 --> 00:02:51.090 ends up opening the L .A. Film Festival. And 00:02:51.090 --> 00:02:53.389 then he follows it up with another student project 00:02:53.389 --> 00:02:56.949 in 1980 called Going Nowhere Fast. And this one 00:02:56.949 --> 00:02:59.050 gets exhibited at the Museum of Modern Art in 00:02:59.050 --> 00:03:01.449 New York in a show called Tomorrowland, Callert's 00:03:01.449 --> 00:03:03.930 In Moving Pictures. I mean, having your college 00:03:03.930 --> 00:03:06.810 homework exhibited at MoMA is almost unheard 00:03:06.810 --> 00:03:09.310 of. It's crazy. It really is. It immediately 00:03:09.310 --> 00:03:12.789 signals that there is a very distinct fully formed 00:03:12.789 --> 00:03:16.009 artistic voice at play. Because, you know, student 00:03:16.009 --> 00:03:17.729 films are often pretty derivative. They usually 00:03:17.729 --> 00:03:20.270 look like a young director trying to copy their 00:03:20.270 --> 00:03:22.909 favorite Scorsese or Coppola movie. Right, just 00:03:22.909 --> 00:03:25.810 imitating their heroes. Exactly. But Holland's 00:03:25.810 --> 00:03:27.909 work didn't look like anyone else's. And that 00:03:27.909 --> 00:03:30.430 unique voice catches the attention of literal 00:03:30.430 --> 00:03:33.889 Hollywood royalty. Henry Winkler, the Fonz himself, 00:03:34.430 --> 00:03:37.409 he sees Holland's work. loves it and helps him 00:03:37.409 --> 00:03:40.590 land a deal to direct his very first live action 00:03:40.590 --> 00:03:43.110 feature film. Just an unbelievable break. Right. 00:03:43.490 --> 00:03:45.189 But OK, let's unpack this for a second, because 00:03:45.189 --> 00:03:46.909 I have to admit I'm always a little skeptical 00:03:46.909 --> 00:03:49.009 of these fairy tale origin stories. Oh, sure. 00:03:49.169 --> 00:03:52.330 It feels like like a high school baseball player 00:03:52.330 --> 00:03:54.270 getting drafted straight into the major leagues. 00:03:54.830 --> 00:03:57.330 Doesn't this kind of rapid, massive early validation 00:03:57.330 --> 00:04:00.530 sometimes set an artist up for a really brutal 00:04:00.530 --> 00:04:03.069 reality check later on? Well, what's fascinating 00:04:03.069 --> 00:04:05.830 here is that it absolutely does. Because when 00:04:05.830 --> 00:04:08.770 you leapfrog that traditional dues -paying phase, 00:04:09.270 --> 00:04:10.909 you know, being a production assistant, directing 00:04:10.909 --> 00:04:13.229 commercials, doing second -unit work, you are 00:04:13.229 --> 00:04:15.409 immediately playing with incredibly high stakes. 00:04:15.590 --> 00:04:17.250 Right. You don't get to make mistakes in private. 00:04:17.470 --> 00:04:19.750 Exactly. The industry expects you to deliver 00:04:19.750 --> 00:04:22.410 a home run on your very first swing in the majors. 00:04:23.329 --> 00:04:25.810 But what made Holland's rapid rise so interesting 00:04:25.810 --> 00:04:28.209 wasn't just that he was a good storyteller. It 00:04:28.209 --> 00:04:30.610 was the specific mechanics of his style. The 00:04:30.610 --> 00:04:32.529 animation background, right? Yeah, his background 00:04:32.529 --> 00:04:37.410 in animation gave his live action work this highly 00:04:37.410 --> 00:04:40.529 stylized, almost chaotic visual language. So 00:04:40.529 --> 00:04:42.449 what does that actually look like in practice 00:04:42.449 --> 00:04:44.329 for someone who hasn't seen it? Well, think about 00:04:44.329 --> 00:04:46.149 the fundamental difference between live action 00:04:46.149 --> 00:04:49.209 and animation. A traditional live action director 00:04:49.209 --> 00:04:52.269 sets up a camera and captures reality as it plays 00:04:52.269 --> 00:04:55.620 out. OK. But an animator creates reality frame 00:04:55.620 --> 00:04:58.540 by frame. They control every single millisecond 00:04:58.540 --> 00:05:02.019 of motion. And that allows for like surreal physics, 00:05:02.439 --> 00:05:04.519 exaggerated facial expressions, rapid fire visual 00:05:04.519 --> 00:05:07.199 gags. Wow. So when Holland moved to live action, 00:05:07.740 --> 00:05:10.420 he didn't abandon that animator's brain. His 00:05:10.420 --> 00:05:12.339 student films jumped off the screen because they 00:05:12.339 --> 00:05:15.079 defied standard live action pacing. He basically 00:05:15.079 --> 00:05:17.560 treated human actors like cartoon characters. 00:05:17.680 --> 00:05:20.680 And that fresh, bizarre energy is exactly what 00:05:20.680 --> 00:05:23.399 caught Henry Winkler's eye. Precisely. Which 00:05:23.399 --> 00:05:27.000 brings us to his big swing in the majors. Thanks 00:05:27.000 --> 00:05:29.680 to that feature deal, Holland directs two back 00:05:29.680 --> 00:05:33.240 -to -back teen comedies, Better Off Dead in 1985 00:05:33.240 --> 00:05:37.519 and One Crazy Summer in 1986. Both of these films 00:05:37.519 --> 00:05:41.399 star a young, pre -fame John Cusack. Two absolute 00:05:41.399 --> 00:05:43.920 classics. Right. But here's where it gets really 00:05:43.920 --> 00:05:46.660 interesting. Upon their theatrical release, both 00:05:46.660 --> 00:05:49.079 of these movies were outright financial bombs. 00:05:49.240 --> 00:05:51.220 Complete flops. They just flat out failed at 00:05:51.220 --> 00:05:54.019 the box office. But today, They are massive, 00:05:54.439 --> 00:05:56.620 universally beloved cult classics. I mean, they 00:05:56.620 --> 00:05:59.300 are essentially required viewing for anyone studying 00:05:59.300 --> 00:06:01.579 80s comedy. So I have this theory. I'm looking 00:06:01.579 --> 00:06:03.819 at this timeline and wondering, is a box office 00:06:03.819 --> 00:06:06.259 bomb actually a failure if it eventually becomes 00:06:06.259 --> 00:06:08.680 a classic? That's a good question. It feels like 00:06:08.680 --> 00:06:12.009 these films were... Like time capsule seeds. 00:06:12.550 --> 00:06:15.470 You plant them, the initial crop completely fails. 00:06:15.769 --> 00:06:17.389 You look at the dirt and say, well, that was 00:06:17.389 --> 00:06:19.829 a bust. But then 10 years later, you walk outside 00:06:19.829 --> 00:06:22.189 and you have this massive, thriving orchard. 00:06:22.269 --> 00:06:25.410 I like that. But how does a creator even process 00:06:25.410 --> 00:06:28.290 that kind of delayed success when the initial 00:06:28.290 --> 00:06:31.930 sting of failure is so public? I like the orchard 00:06:31.930 --> 00:06:35.069 analogy. But if we connect this to the bigger 00:06:35.069 --> 00:06:37.269 picture, let's take this stuff further. It's 00:06:37.269 --> 00:06:39.449 not just that the seeds took a long time to grow. 00:06:39.930 --> 00:06:42.110 It's that the entire climate of the entertainment 00:06:42.110 --> 00:06:44.730 industry changed while they were in the ground. 00:06:44.930 --> 00:06:47.029 What do you mean by that? To understand why these 00:06:47.029 --> 00:06:49.509 movies bombed and then exploded, we really have 00:06:49.509 --> 00:06:51.610 to look at the mechanical realities of the mid 00:06:51.610 --> 00:06:55.199 -1980s box office versus home viewing. Oh, you're 00:06:55.199 --> 00:06:57.240 talking about the rise of home video and cable. 00:06:57.660 --> 00:06:59.540 Exactly. Yeah. When Better Off Dead hit theaters 00:06:59.540 --> 00:07:03.459 in 1985, it was marketed as a standard run -of 00:07:03.459 --> 00:07:06.199 -the -mill teen sex comedy. You know, something 00:07:06.199 --> 00:07:08.660 like Porky's or a John Hughes film. Right, which 00:07:08.660 --> 00:07:12.060 was the trend at the time. Yeah. But audiences 00:07:12.060 --> 00:07:15.600 bought tickets and were suddenly hit with Holland's 00:07:15.600 --> 00:07:18.620 manic animated live -action style. I mean, there 00:07:18.620 --> 00:07:20.920 are stop -motion dancing hamburgers playing guitar. 00:07:21.149 --> 00:07:23.810 Oh, wow. Yeah. There are these surreal cutaway 00:07:23.810 --> 00:07:26.970 gags. The pacing was frantic. So the theatrical 00:07:26.970 --> 00:07:29.230 audience was confused because the marketing promised 00:07:29.230 --> 00:07:32.509 one thing, and the movie delivered this absurdist 00:07:32.509 --> 00:07:35.050 cartoon. So they basically rejected it in the 00:07:35.050 --> 00:07:36.689 theater because it wasn't what they paid for. 00:07:36.689 --> 00:07:39.529 They did. And previously, if your movie failed 00:07:39.529 --> 00:07:42.290 in theaters, it was just dead forever. Right. 00:07:42.290 --> 00:07:44.529 There was no second chance. Exactly. The theatrical 00:07:44.529 --> 00:07:47.329 run was a tiny window, maybe three or four weeks. 00:07:47.850 --> 00:07:49.709 If you didn't get thousands of people into seats 00:07:49.709 --> 00:07:52.939 immediately, The studio pulled the film. But 00:07:52.939 --> 00:07:55.480 Holland's films arrived exactly as shifting distribution 00:07:55.480 --> 00:07:58.060 models were completely altering the lifespan 00:07:58.060 --> 00:08:00.720 of a movie. Because suddenly HBO needs to fill 00:08:00.720 --> 00:08:03.500 24 hours of programming every single day. Yes. 00:08:03.860 --> 00:08:06.180 And local video stores need thousands of VHS 00:08:06.180 --> 00:08:08.720 tapes to fill their shelves. They basically created 00:08:08.720 --> 00:08:12.379 a massive secondary ecosystem. A theatrical release 00:08:12.379 --> 00:08:16.660 demands immediate mass consensus. But a VHS tape. 00:08:16.829 --> 00:08:19.329 sitting on a shelf at Blockbuster. It just waits 00:08:19.329 --> 00:08:21.949 patiently for one weird teenager to rent it on 00:08:21.949 --> 00:08:24.350 a Friday night, show it to three friends, and 00:08:24.350 --> 00:08:26.709 then rent it again the next week. So the infinite 00:08:26.709 --> 00:08:29.730 programming windows of cable television and like 00:08:29.730 --> 00:08:33.330 the physical accessibility of VHS rentals allowed 00:08:33.330 --> 00:08:36.690 the films to slowly find the exact audience that 00:08:36.690 --> 00:08:38.970 actually understood Holland's cartoon logic. 00:08:39.350 --> 00:08:41.450 Precisely. Kids and teenagers could watch them 00:08:41.450 --> 00:08:43.269 over and over again on a Saturday afternoon. 00:08:43.610 --> 00:08:46.049 The box office is really just an illusion of 00:08:46.049 --> 00:08:48.149 failure. That's a great way to put it. It masked 00:08:48.149 --> 00:08:50.570 a much deeper cultural resonance that just needed 00:08:50.570 --> 00:08:52.570 the right distribution mechanism to unlock it. 00:08:52.840 --> 00:08:55.419 But, you know, Hollywood operates on a very strict 00:08:55.419 --> 00:08:57.480 what -have -you -done -for -me -lately philosophy. 00:08:58.080 --> 00:08:59.779 Even if these movies are slowly building this 00:08:59.779 --> 00:09:02.779 massive cult following on VHS, the immediate 00:09:02.779 --> 00:09:05.419 theatrical failure had to have consequences in 00:09:05.419 --> 00:09:07.320 real time. Oh, definitely. And it definitely 00:09:07.320 --> 00:09:10.399 did. Holland struggles to find work in feature 00:09:10.399 --> 00:09:13.100 films. He eventually takes a last -minute work 00:09:13.100 --> 00:09:15.440 -for -hire job directing a movie called How I 00:09:15.440 --> 00:09:18.899 Got Into College in 1989. and he only got the 00:09:18.899 --> 00:09:20.779 job because the original director had dropped 00:09:20.779 --> 00:09:23.139 out at the last minute. Which, you know, taking 00:09:23.139 --> 00:09:25.700 over a project after another director bails is 00:09:25.700 --> 00:09:28.220 a classic red flag in the film industry. Oh, 00:09:28.320 --> 00:09:31.419 is it? Oh, yeah. You are inheriting someone else's 00:09:31.419 --> 00:09:34.360 script, someone else's pre -production, and usually 00:09:34.360 --> 00:09:37.460 just a deeply flawed foundation. Well, Holland 00:09:37.460 --> 00:09:40.059 himself later admitted the film seemed a little 00:09:40.059 --> 00:09:42.259 doomed from the start. Yeah, that makes sense. 00:09:42.320 --> 00:09:45.340 And sure enough, it tanked. In fact, how I got 00:09:45.340 --> 00:09:48.360 into college was the very last film Savage Steve 00:09:48.360 --> 00:09:51.440 Holland ever made that had a traditional theatrical 00:09:51.440 --> 00:09:53.960 release. And honestly, most directors would hit 00:09:53.960 --> 00:09:56.679 that wall. look at a string of theatrical bombs 00:09:56.679 --> 00:09:58.919 and simply fade into obscurity. Right. Traditional 00:09:58.919 --> 00:10:00.779 logic says your career in Hollywood is over at 00:10:00.779 --> 00:10:03.820 that point. Exactly. But he completely rewrites 00:10:03.820 --> 00:10:05.899 the rules of his own career. This is the part 00:10:05.899 --> 00:10:08.340 of his story that absolutely blows my mind. Instead 00:10:08.340 --> 00:10:10.539 of packing it in and leaving the industry, he 00:10:10.539 --> 00:10:14.080 pivots hard. A total reinvention. Yeah. He becomes 00:10:14.080 --> 00:10:16.240 the assistant director for Saturday Night Live 00:10:16.240 --> 00:10:19.879 from 1988 to 1990. And if you grew up watching 00:10:19.879 --> 00:10:22.580 the daytime game show Press Your Luck, you know 00:10:22.580 --> 00:10:25.159 the iconic Whammy character that would pop up 00:10:25.159 --> 00:10:27.519 and steal the contestants money? Oh, of course. 00:10:27.779 --> 00:10:30.399 Holland designed and animated the Whammy for 00:10:30.399 --> 00:10:33.639 every single episode of that show from 1983 to 00:10:33.639 --> 00:10:36.370 1986. Notice what he's doing there, though. He 00:10:36.370 --> 00:10:38.830 is falling back on the foundational animation 00:10:38.830 --> 00:10:41.090 skills that got him into Cal Arts and MoMA in 00:10:41.090 --> 00:10:43.149 the first place. Oh, that's true. When the live 00:10:43.149 --> 00:10:45.570 action door closed, he didn't bang his head against 00:10:45.570 --> 00:10:47.529 it. He just walked through the animation door 00:10:47.529 --> 00:10:49.659 that he had already left. propped open. And then 00:10:49.659 --> 00:10:52.320 he turns his attention almost entirely to television. 00:10:52.779 --> 00:10:55.639 He co -creates and executive produces the animated 00:10:55.639 --> 00:10:59.320 series Eek, The Cat for Fox Kids. He works on 00:10:59.320 --> 00:11:01.480 quirky shows like The New Adventures of Beans 00:11:01.480 --> 00:11:04.139 Baxter and Encyclopedia Brown. All really unique 00:11:04.139 --> 00:11:07.240 property. Yeah. And then he becomes this absolute 00:11:07.240 --> 00:11:10.580 titan of live action kids television. We're talking 00:11:10.580 --> 00:11:13.840 directing for Lizzie McGuire, Ned's Declassified 00:11:13.840 --> 00:11:17.200 School Survival Guide, Zoey 101, Big Time Rush, 00:11:17.480 --> 00:11:20.370 Zeke and Lou - Just massive, massive hits. Right. 00:11:20.649 --> 00:11:24.409 He was directing huge, defining blocks of programming 00:11:24.409 --> 00:11:26.809 for the Disney Channel and Nickelodeon. Which 00:11:26.809 --> 00:11:29.629 is where his specific style finally found its 00:11:29.629 --> 00:11:32.110 perfect vehicle. So here's my question for you, 00:11:32.129 --> 00:11:34.149 because I'm wrestling with how to define this 00:11:34.149 --> 00:11:37.309 massive second act of his career. Did savage 00:11:37.309 --> 00:11:40.289 Steve Holland get demoted from feature films, 00:11:40.289 --> 00:11:42.889 or did he simply conquer a totally different 00:11:42.889 --> 00:11:45.289 medium? That's a really interesting way to frame 00:11:45.289 --> 00:11:48.149 it. It feels to me like, um... like a Michelin 00:11:48.149 --> 00:11:51.789 star chef whose fancy high pressure flagship 00:11:51.789 --> 00:11:54.129 restaurant goes out of business. But then they 00:11:54.129 --> 00:11:56.789 go out and launch a fleet of wildly successful, 00:11:56.789 --> 00:11:59.690 vibrant food trucks. And those food trucks actually 00:11:59.690 --> 00:12:01.710 end up feeding millions more people than the 00:12:01.710 --> 00:12:03.830 fancy restaurant ever could. I like the food 00:12:03.830 --> 00:12:05.769 truck comparison, but let's take it a step further. 00:12:06.230 --> 00:12:08.090 It wasn't just that he opened food trucks to 00:12:08.090 --> 00:12:10.269 reach more people. It's that he realized his 00:12:10.269 --> 00:12:12.029 audience didn't want Michelin star dining in 00:12:12.029 --> 00:12:14.429 the first place. Oh, interesting. He realized 00:12:14.429 --> 00:12:18.019 his specific recipe. That chaotic, fast -paced 00:12:18.019 --> 00:12:20.779 cartoon logic we talked about was actually the 00:12:20.779 --> 00:12:22.759 perfect junk food for the after -school crowd. 00:12:23.019 --> 00:12:25.080 Ah, I see what you mean. So I don't see his move 00:12:25.080 --> 00:12:28.240 to television as a demotion at all. It's a masterclass 00:12:28.240 --> 00:12:30.840 in resilience and audience alignment. Because 00:12:30.840 --> 00:12:33.580 kids inherently understand cartoon logic in a 00:12:33.580 --> 00:12:36.840 way that adult moviegoers in 1985 simply didn't. 00:12:36.990 --> 00:12:39.110 Think about the mechanics of a show like Lizzie 00:12:39.110 --> 00:12:42.309 McGuire. It literally features an animated alter 00:12:42.309 --> 00:12:44.789 ego of the main character popping up on screen 00:12:44.789 --> 00:12:47.509 to deliver inner monologues. Oh, wow, yeah. That's 00:12:47.509 --> 00:12:50.750 pure Holland. Exactly. He helped pioneer that 00:12:50.750 --> 00:12:52.789 mixed -media approach for a whole generation. 00:12:53.629 --> 00:12:56.289 Look at Med's declassify this. The show relies 00:12:56.289 --> 00:12:59.009 heavily on exaggerated sound effects, sped -up 00:12:59.009 --> 00:13:01.529 camera moves, and surreal psych gags. Which is 00:13:01.529 --> 00:13:03.470 exactly what he was doing in Better Off Dead. 00:13:03.649 --> 00:13:06.320 Yes. He didn't change his style, he just found 00:13:06.320 --> 00:13:09.019 the demographic that craved it. By shifting to 00:13:09.019 --> 00:13:11.879 youth -oriented networks, he achieved a far wider, 00:13:12.120 --> 00:13:15.080 more consistent cultural reach than he ever could 00:13:15.080 --> 00:13:17.139 have hoping for a hit at the summer box office. 00:13:17.340 --> 00:13:19.960 So he fed the masses with the food trucks. Millions 00:13:19.960 --> 00:13:22.559 of kids came home from school every day and consumed 00:13:22.559 --> 00:13:25.159 his distinct artistic vision without even knowing 00:13:25.159 --> 00:13:28.919 his name. And he built his own Studio Savage 00:13:28.919 --> 00:13:32.240 Studios LTD, took control of his creative output, 00:13:32.659 --> 00:13:34.820 and became his own boss. It's a huge accomplishment 00:13:34.820 --> 00:13:37.200 on its own. Definitely. But this is where the 00:13:37.200 --> 00:13:40.200 human element really sneaks up on you. Even after 00:13:40.200 --> 00:13:42.919 building this massive decades -long legacy in 00:13:42.919 --> 00:13:45.460 television, even after running his own company 00:13:45.460 --> 00:13:47.779 and directing literally dozens and dozens of 00:13:47.779 --> 00:13:51.039 hit TV episodes, there's still this lingering 00:13:51.039 --> 00:13:53.899 desire to return to the arena where he first 00:13:53.899 --> 00:13:56.620 started. The theatrical feature film. Yes. In 00:13:56.620 --> 00:13:59.100 2007, he wrote a script for a new feature film 00:13:59.100 --> 00:14:01.740 called The Big One 3. He couldn't successfully 00:14:01.740 --> 00:14:04.080 sell the film at the time, but he explicitly 00:14:04.080 --> 00:14:06.679 called it his dream script. Really? Yeah. He 00:14:06.679 --> 00:14:08.259 said, that's the one I want to make, and then 00:14:08.259 --> 00:14:11.019 I just want to go off into the sunset. And then, 00:14:11.059 --> 00:14:13.419 skip ahead to 2016, it was reported that he was 00:14:13.419 --> 00:14:15.799 developing a potential semi -sequel to One Crazy 00:14:15.799 --> 00:14:18.340 Summer with Bobcat Goldthwait, though it was 00:14:18.340 --> 00:14:20.919 unclear if John Cusack or Demi Moore would return. 00:14:21.100 --> 00:14:25.059 Fascinating. So, what does this all mean? Why, 00:14:25.120 --> 00:14:27.919 after conquering an entire medium and achieving 00:14:27.919 --> 00:14:31.440 undeniable financial and cultural success, is 00:14:31.440 --> 00:14:34.500 his ultimate sunset dream still tied to a feature 00:14:34.500 --> 00:14:38.440 film? Is it just human nature to always want 00:14:38.440 --> 00:14:40.960 to conquer the specific thing that once rejected 00:14:40.960 --> 00:14:43.370 you? Well, this raises an important question 00:14:43.370 --> 00:14:45.509 about the tension between commercial reality 00:14:45.509 --> 00:14:48.909 and personal fulfillment. Because by any objective 00:14:48.909 --> 00:14:51.549 metric, Savage Steve Holland has won the game. 00:14:51.549 --> 00:14:54.809 Oh, without a doubt. He has maintained a thriving, 00:14:55.009 --> 00:14:58.129 highly lucrative career in a notoriously brutal 00:14:58.129 --> 00:15:01.330 industry for four decades. But the creative heart 00:15:01.330 --> 00:15:04.269 is complex. Future films were his first love. 00:15:04.330 --> 00:15:06.370 That was the dream that got him into CalArts, 00:15:06.750 --> 00:15:08.490 the dream that put his work in MoMA, and the 00:15:08.490 --> 00:15:09.889 dream that originally brought him to Hollywood. 00:15:10.830 --> 00:15:13.230 he made to himself before the industry started 00:15:13.230 --> 00:15:15.789 dictating terms. Exactly. And consider the difference 00:15:15.789 --> 00:15:18.450 in the job description. Television, especially 00:15:18.450 --> 00:15:21.309 episodic kids television, is often a director's 00:15:21.309 --> 00:15:24.250 medium in execution, but a producer and network's 00:15:24.250 --> 00:15:26.250 medium in conception. OK, unpack that a bit. 00:15:26.509 --> 00:15:28.750 Well, when you direct an episode of Big Time 00:15:28.750 --> 00:15:32.370 Rush, you are executing a highly formatted product. 00:15:32.730 --> 00:15:34.769 You are a highly skilled traffic cop bringing 00:15:34.769 --> 00:15:37.309 someone else's franchise to life. Ah, I see. 00:15:37.470 --> 00:15:39.600 But a feature film. especially when you write 00:15:39.600 --> 00:15:42.279 yourself, like the big one three, represents 00:15:42.279 --> 00:15:45.820 pure unfiltered authorship. I don't think his 00:15:45.820 --> 00:15:48.259 lingering desire is about proving Hollywood wrong. 00:15:48.429 --> 00:15:51.110 It's about a yearning to complete the narrative 00:15:51.110 --> 00:15:53.289 he started as a young animator. He wants his 00:15:53.289 --> 00:15:55.169 own vision out there again. He wants to make 00:15:55.169 --> 00:15:57.710 his own original feature entirely on his own 00:15:57.710 --> 00:16:00.669 terms without the marketing confusion or studio 00:16:00.669 --> 00:16:03.309 interference that played his early theatrical 00:16:03.309 --> 00:16:06.190 runs. That really reframes his entire journey. 00:16:06.269 --> 00:16:08.629 When you step back and look at the shape of Savage 00:16:08.629 --> 00:16:10.730 Steve Holland's career through the sources we've 00:16:10.730 --> 00:16:13.649 explored today, it's just incredible. The modern 00:16:13.649 --> 00:16:16.009 art galleries of MoMA to the home video boom 00:16:16.009 --> 00:16:18.720 of 80s cult classics. From animating the Whammy 00:16:18.720 --> 00:16:21.019 on a daytime game show to directing the most 00:16:21.019 --> 00:16:23.440 beloved episodes of Lizzie McGuire and Ned's 00:16:23.440 --> 00:16:27.299 Declassified. It's wild. It really is a master 00:16:27.299 --> 00:16:29.980 class in creative survival. He shows us that 00:16:29.980 --> 00:16:32.860 when the initial plan fails, you don't stop creating, 00:16:33.179 --> 00:16:35.360 you just change the canvas and find a new audience. 00:16:35.820 --> 00:16:38.320 But here is a final thought to mull over, looking 00:16:38.320 --> 00:16:41.659 at how Holland's career actually survived. His 00:16:41.659 --> 00:16:44.450 cult classic revival. relied entirely on the 00:16:44.450 --> 00:16:47.450 physical mechanics of VHS rentals and the need 00:16:47.450 --> 00:16:50.129 for endless cable TV reruns. Right, the infinite 00:16:50.129 --> 00:16:52.570 shelf life. Yeah, physical shelves and limited 00:16:52.570 --> 00:16:54.909 programming blocks where weird quirky movies 00:16:54.909 --> 00:16:57.070 could sit for years until they were eventually 00:16:57.070 --> 00:17:00.610 discovered. Okay. In today's landscape of endless 00:17:00.610 --> 00:17:03.789 algorithmic streaming, does that mechanism even 00:17:03.789 --> 00:17:07.220 exist anymore? If a brilliantly weird movie bombs 00:17:07.220 --> 00:17:09.460 at the box office today, it doesn't get to sit 00:17:09.460 --> 00:17:11.460 on a blockbuster shelf for five years waiting 00:17:11.460 --> 00:17:13.339 for you to find it. Oh, that's kind of sad to 00:17:13.339 --> 00:17:15.420 think about. The streaming algorithm simply buries 00:17:15.420 --> 00:17:18.599 it after 48 hours of low engagement. So it makes 00:17:18.599 --> 00:17:21.259 you wonder, in our rush for immediate digital 00:17:21.259 --> 00:17:23.700 content, are we accidentally killing off the 00:17:23.700 --> 00:17:25.559 next generation of cult classics before they 00:17:25.559 --> 00:17:27.690 even have a chance to grow? Think about the media 00:17:27.690 --> 00:17:30.289 you casually skipped over today. You might just 00:17:30.289 --> 00:17:32.509 be scrolling past the exact piece of art that 00:17:32.509 --> 00:17:34.589 would have defined your nostalgia 10 years from 00:17:34.589 --> 00:17:37.289 now. If only it had the time to find you. We'll 00:17:37.289 --> 00:17:38.930 catch you on the next deep dive.