Surviving Hollywood

Directing Major TV Commercials [Krista Liney]

Episode 88. Our guest today is Emmy-nominated director Krista Liney. She directed Austin and Aaron in a recent Geico commercial currently airing on Hulu. She talks to us about how she came from producing content for the Sundance Channel and A&E Networks to directing music videos with Tyga and Justin Bieber and creating promos for ABC's The Bachelor, Star Trek's Picard and Beverly Hills 90210. 

Marketing Feature Films for Hollywood Studios [Xaypani Baccam]

Episode 87. Today we are joined by Xaypani Baccam. He is a man of many hats. Xaypani is an actor, writer, producer and more recently has been working in film marketing. He has tested movies for all the main studios, including films like, Green Book and Bohemian Rhapsody. He talks to us about the importance of testing movies with live audiences before they are ever released to the public, some of his bad audition stories and how Hollywood has evolved for people of color. 

How the Election Affects Hollywood [2020]

Episode 86. It's Election Day! We have been waiting all of 2020 for this moment. There's nothing more important and on all of our minds right now than the future of our nation. On this episode we just sit down and discuss of the few of the issues and how they might possibly affect our industry and the country. 

Day Player to Regular Recurring on Bosch [Dajuan Johnson]

Episode 85. In this episode we sit down with actor and life coach Dajuan Johnson. You might recognize him as Detective Rondell Pierce on the hit Amazon TV show, "Bosch." He has also worked on numerous other shows and projects such as, Grey's Anatomy, Brooklyn 99 and the film Caged Animal, where he says people always recognize him from. Dajuan tells us how he went from a day player on an Amazon pilot to becoming a regular/recurring on Bosch, how to train your mind to think differently and the coaching system he created called THINK BIGGER TRIBE to help actors reach a new level in their career.

Film Festivals in 2020 [Pasadena International Film Festival]

Eipisode 84. In this episode we are joined by co-founder of the Pasadena International Film Festival, Marco Neves. He and his wife Jessica Hardin created the festival several years ago and it has been a great success. We sit down and chat about how they have adapted to this Covid world, the future of film festivals and movie theaters and what filmmakers can do to get their films accepted into festivals. They will be hosting an online festival called, "Virtual PIFF," where they will be screening films from around the world beginning October 19th on their website. 

Tom Proctor [Guardians of The Galaxy, 12 Years of Slave]

Episode 83. We met actor and musician Tom Proctor at the Chandler Film Festival when our short film "Papua," was playing and also won an award for Best Comedy Short. At that festival he had a film called "Legacy," in which he won Best Actor at the festival. You might recognize Tom from the dozens of film and TV roles such as, the Oscar winning film "12 Years A Slave," the huge Marvel hit "Guardians of The Galaxy" and The Cohen Brothers film, "The Ballad of Buster Scruggs." We talk to him about his music, how he loves to do projects that are different than the normal characters he plays and how to just be yourself during the casting process. 

Developing a Feature or TV Series [Fernando Viso]

Episode 82. Today we are joined by writer, director and producer Fernando Viso. He directed a short film Johnny was in, called, "Irritable Heart." The film is currently in the "virtual" film festival circuit and will be premiering at LA Shorts International Festival on October 8th. It has also been nominated for various awards by other festivals. We sat down to talk to him about his short and his newest projects in development, including an animated feature film with Eddie Murphy's production company and a TV series that he is currently pitching for development with a Oscar winning writer's production company. 

Oscars Correction w/ guest [Goonzie Koonzie, Johnny Day]

Episode 81. Sneak attack. First we wanted to make an Oscars correction that was brought to our attention by a fan and we had an old guest visit us and he didn't even know he was coming on. You might remember actor Johnny Day from a previous podcast. The last time we spoke he mentioned he was considering leaving LA, well he did. We talk to him about why he made this decision and midway through we are also joined by our theme song creator Goonzie Koonzie. This was a fun episode to catch up with some old friends and make new ones. 

The Emmys 2020 Reactions

Episode 80. Even in the middle of a pandemic apparently the show must go on! For our 80th episode we react to the most unusual Emmy Awards we've probably ever seen. In case you missed it, this year's Emmys was hosted by Jimmy Kimmel with no audience and all the nominees received their Emmy awards from home. What a wild year. It was an interesting experiment and we break down all the winners/snubs, share some hot takes and whether this will be sustainable for future award ceremonies going forward. 

New Audition Techniques Casting Director Michael Testa

Episode 79. Our friend and casting director Michael Testa joins us on the pod again. The last time he was on, the industry looked a lot different and Michael joined us to talk about auditioning in this Covid era, what casting is seeing and expects from actors and how his latest film will playing at the Toronto International Film Festival. Virtually. It's a whole new world.