Jason Bateman - 'Black Rabbit' & 'DTF St. Louis' [LIVE]

29:44So I guess I just wonder, these kind of realizations, is it from watching or listening to your work or just kind of instinctual or just, again, whether it's acting or interviewing, to kind of know your strengths? Yeah, I mean, it's a good question, Scott. I don't really know except, you know, you spend your whole life trying to figure out who you are, you know, because it's constantly changing. You never really win that. But you can get a little, whatever microscope you're using to check that out gets a little bit finer tuned the older you get. And so I think it's just about trying to be honest with who you are and who you aren't.

30:27You know, like Will Arnett to me is just the funniest guy on the planet. And a lot of what that is from my perspective, what I enjoy about him is his enjoyment in being sort of the center of attention sometimes, you know. And I really admire that. I'm jealous of that. He like standing up at a dinner table and giving a toast to me is kryptonite. Like, that is the most nerve-wracking experience I could ever create for myself. I just don't like that. Or being in front of a dais and a spotlight and a microphone and talking to an arena of people.

31:12He excels in that. So he's got this beautiful ham gene in him that, you know, if I tried to force that, I wouldn't be funny. I wouldn't, I would be, I'd be a sweaty mess and I would be pushing and no one would think it was funny and they would get uncomfortable. So I am more the guy you want to cut to that's kind of reacting to that guy, whether I'm rolling my eyes because I think he's being a buffoon or I'm laughing because I just think he's the greatest. and that, you know, so I'm more the audience. I'm not the guy up on stage. And there is a funny that you can get in that role. It's not as an obvious one and one that a lot of actors don't really go towards because it's not as obvious.

32:01And you worry, well, wait, I'm not going to be the funny one. I don't want that part. Well, but you're not going to be funny in the other part either because you're not really naturally that. So fortunately, I figured out how to get a laugh being the straight man. And, um, it, it also is, uh, consistent with what my, what my interest is in, in movie making, which is being the guy who is shaping the experience for the audience. So being that audience member, being watching what's going on is that speaks to sort of being a director and, and, and creating the four corners of, of what you're dealing with.

32:39Really interesting. What I just want to mention, I know it's maybe sometimes people don't like to talk about dollars and cents and stuff here, but I just have to acknowledge how successful this whole thing has been, if I can. You can say as much as you want about it, but I mean. It's all public now, right? Yeah, right. So, well, apparently, I don't know how much is confirmed, but essentially you guys launch in July 2020, less than a year later, the first three-year deal with Amazon's Wondry, supposedly, apparently$60 to$80 million. Then 2024, another extension with Sirius or another deal with Sirius, even bigger.

33:23I don't know the numbers there, but my only – and then it's obviously spawned the tour, the docuseries, all this other stuff. The only reason I bring any of that up is I'm curious if the fact that it's so exceeded what you guys imagined it could be and has been so profitable, has that affected the other side of your life in terms of what you do in film and television? Does it free you up from any of the pressures you might have felt about what to take or what not to take or what to, you know, does one thing affect the other? Yeah, yeah, yeah. And that's obviously what I meant when I said the most successful thing in Sharia.

33:57It's just like unbelievable what that medium is yielding nowadays. And we're incredibly appreciative of it, obviously. Yeah, I mean, look, financial freedom is an incredible thing for anyone to enjoy. And it does remove the most sort of practical consideration one has in one's life. everyone needs food and shelter and those two things cost money. So one needs to factor that in when you are making decisions about that which you pursue. Are those things in line with your passions? Can they be or, you know, what are your priorities? Well, priority is practicality. You need to eat and be sheltered.

34:47Hopefully you can, you know, monetize your passion to provide for those things. In my case, I've been really, really lucky that I'm in an occupation that does that. So do I have to take jobs that are not creatively aligned with me anymore? No, obviously not. But that also doesn't preclude me from looking twice. It's something that isn't, you know, at first glance, something that's not aligned with me. I'm trying to be smart and responsible about, well, hang on, are you just being lazy here and saying, I only want to do things that are super comfortable to me and creatively aligned with me? I'm looking at some stuff that, well, maybe that's not what your creative alignment is right now, but could it be?

35:35Should it be? And would you take that? Because if you didn't have money and you needed that job and then on the backside of it, you realize, wow, that wasn't something I thought I was going to creatively enjoy, but I did. And I ended up taking it because I needed the money, but wow, now I'm, now I know how to dance, you know, or whatever. So it's, you're never out of the woods with anything. There's, there's no easy street ever in life, no matter what your situation is. There's, the grass is always greener. And, and, and hopefully if you're somebody who's curious, you're always constantly setting new goals and, and new environments for yourself as you start to approach the last.

36:17And certainly Smartless has made a lot of those decisions easier, but I'm certainly not coasting. Well, and to that point, I guess, you know, going back to the idea that you were very contentedly playing a specific kind of character when you were acting for a number of years, I feel like, maybe you disagree, but the two 2025-2026 TV season projects, Black Rabbit and DTF St. Louis are not that character at all. And so I wonder, you know, in both cases, you, uh, through your production company aggregate, which I don't know exactly when that started, but I, I mean, through that you're, you also, uh, an EP on both of these shows you got, meaning you, you were early, you know, early on helping to shape and develop them.

37:09I mean, it doesn't seem like it would be a coincidence that, you know, that you, that you have sort of gone in a slightly different direction. So I wonder, was that, did you just sort of maybe at a certain point, maybe that you can even pinpoint, decide, I do want to stretch a different muscle and go beyond that audience proxy or surrogate or whatever? Yeah. So when Jude Law and Zach Balin and Kate Sassman brought the Black Rabbit to me to do with it what I did with Ozark, which is to, you know, oversee everything, direct it. And the one thing they didn't know was, uh, which part would I want to play?

37:48And, you know, and so Jude and I said, you know, well, which, which do you want to do? And, and he was open to either, uh, as was I. And I said, but, um, maybe people are sick of seeing me in the part that they think I would play, which is the sort of the front of house guy. Um, I said, so maybe the, maybe the, the screw up brother, my, and he was like, exactly right. And I said, Yeah, so he was kind of thinking the same thing, that it would be interesting to see me play the screw-up. And I was open to doing that, excited to do that for a few different reasons, not the least of which was if I fell on my face and my career was over, I wouldn't need to worry about the food and shelter.

38:39You know, so getting back to the last answer. Um, so that was, that was a little part of it, but truly it just creatively, I really had a take on, on that part, Vince. And, and, um, and, and I was kind of hoping that they would be okay with me doing that part that creatively they could see it as well. And with, um, with DTF St. Louis, um, you know, that, that, that yes for me was really just all about Steve Conrad. I've been a fan of his writing for 20-some years, and we've been trying to reconnect on a project for that amount of time. And here this thing comes, and I was supposed to not work because my daughter, Franny, who's the one I was talking about in film school, it was her last six months at home before she started her freshman year.

39:28And at this point, she hadn't decided where she was going to go to school, I think. And I thought that it was going to be her last six months in the house. but then there's these scripts from Steve Conrad and so I made her read these scripts and I'm like, you know, what do you think? She's like, no, no, no, I get it and maybe I'll be on the set with you and it could be like a good training for me too. So that was kind of the plan and my role as an executive producer on that one was wildly different from Black Rabbit. Black Rabbit was, you know, all-encompassing and full oversight with DTF, even though the name of the credit is still the same.

40:13I was much, much more passive on that out of deference to Steve Conrad as the writer-director and wanting to not dilute his auteurship at all in the same way that I would want it done and did enjoy on Ozark and on Black Rabbit. So I didn't want to be hypocritical there, and just I wanted to be a good soldier to him and what he wanted done. With Black Rabbit, I guess, you know, to come back to this idea of directing yourself when you're also acting, which was the case here in the first two episodes, I read something where you talked about that it's one thing that's helpful to, I guess, get back into a character, especially in this case, a guy that's quite, you know, quite different from yourself as opposed to playing some of the ones in the past, that it helps to have some physical thing that you do to trigger yourself back into the part.

41:13Can you just break down what that was and how that helped you? Well, I dropped a bunch of weight because this guy, you know, doesn't really take care of himself. and it alludes to kind of a heroin problem, you know, in the past, but maybe a little bit of coke still. I mean, whatever it is, it wouldn't be a guy that has an Equinox membership. So I tried to get as stringy as possible. I didn't cut my hair for, you know, a year or shave because I figured he didn't do a lot of mirror time. So that was helpful for me. I hadn't really changed my look significantly for any role leading up to that for as long as I can remember, you know, partly because I was kind of playing like kind of the every man.

42:03obviously with I also knew that there was some flashbacks that we needed to do in it and so giving myself something that we could we could adjust in a practical way instead of just wigs or special effects or something to go back in time if I have long hair then if we put those flashbacks at the end of production I can do the different stages of shaving and cutting my hair because I think we needed to do two or three time jumps backwards, going as far back as 10 years earlier. And so for the 10 years earlier, I went to full sort of TV Jason Bateman, you know, the short newscaster, Harry, people were on the clean shaven thing for the band video.

42:47That was the very, obviously, very, very last thing we shot. And there was something, though, I think you said about that his mouth is always open? Oh, yeah, that was like a quick little easy hack for me. You know, if I was, you know, talking to cameraman or something, you know, setting up something right before we're rolling. If I, once I got in front of the camera and waiting for camera, you know, to roll, if I wanted to sort of get into Vince really quickly, you know, he wasn't, he's not a super bright guy. And so I would just sort of just separate my jaw a little bit and just kind of, if I'm like this, I'm talking to the cameraman and then I get in front of the, then I just go, you know, just separate my jaw a little bit, it kind of makes him a little bit, it drops me into the more simple, simple guy.

43:36The mouth breather. Yeah. Yeah, exactly. Knuckle dragging, mouth breathing. Yeah. Well, so with CTF St. Louis, I guess, again, such a departure from anything that we can, that I can think of that you've previously done. And in this case, it may not on the surface immediately appear, like he is the literally TV, you know, a TV guy. a meteorologist, but we quickly see from his, you know, from a sexual side, from all different sides, things that I don't think you've been asked to do or chosen to do throughout your career. So I wonder if you can just talk about that. And particularly the, I mean, I know that most things are not shot in sequence, but it's got to have been extra hard on this one because the story itself is not in sequence or consistently from somebody's perspective or all these things.

44:28So I don't even know how you would keep track of where you're supposed to be, uh, from the perspective of your character. So I'm just curious, curious about the different challenge there. Yeah. Well, the, the first part, you know, about the, the, the content of it, uh, and what, what type of character this guy was, I, you know, he's written as a bit more vain and plastic than I ended up playing him. You know, he's, he's somebody who is a little bit more sort of charmed and curious about this David Harbour character. Then I thought I was, I was more excited about playing him much more as a guy who just admired this David Harbour character.

45:11Cause I just, cause I just knew what the finish line was. And I just thought that'd be more interesting path if I started him here. And, um, and I, I discussed that with Steve early on, um, and, and really to make him, um, a real simpleton as well, but in a whole different way than what Vince was. And, uh, he, he, he liked it. He, he sort of tracked it himself and sort of figured, oh yeah, we could still get to the same mutually agreed upon finish line, that's just an interesting, different way to do it. All the lines still work. All the scenes sort of still work. And David, I talked to David about it too.

45:48And he thought, yeah, yeah, that would work with my plan as well. And so that was really interesting, taking the same destination goal, but pick a whole different map route, using the same dials and stuff. So that was a cool collaboration with them on that. And then the sex stuff, that was scary for me because I certainly, you know, I don't do, you know, sexy movies, you know, and not a lot of makeout scenes or bed scenes, you know, in my career. Those are high anxiety days. The few times I've done those. But this, you know, on the title of it, you'd think, oh, boy, there's going to be nudity and God damn it.

46:30But, you know, Steve Conrad, you know, he's obviously was a bit of a, you know, genre subversion there among all the other genres that he subverts throughout this thing. There's no nudity in it. And the sex is kind of awkward and cringy and funny. And there really isn't any sex. It's just weird sort of, you know, sort of virgin kind of. kinks and curiosities and it's just weird and so that ended up being kind of a nothing burger in a great way for me and also just as a viewer I just really enjoyed that part of it as far as the non-linear structure of the scripts and the shooting of it the execution of it, the schedule of it that was super challenging because there There is, pardon the term, an arc to not only the story, but to each of these characters, a progression of emotion.

47:36And so when you shoot something out of order, as you always do, you do have to track that because you might be doing scene 87 on the same day you're doing scene four. And you need to know where your character's coming from, where he's going, and make sure that little piece is consistent with that, even though you might be shooting the beginning and the end of it on different days and all that other stuff. But this was another thing to track on top of that, which is how are these scenes being laid out in these episodes in a nonlinear way as well. And on top of that, since Steve directed every episode, we had to what's called block shoot this thing, which means every single scene that takes place at that one location throughout all seven episodes, you've got to shoot before you're done at that location.

48:26So, for instance, the very, very first day of shooting, the very, very first shot we did was the very, very last shot of the entire show of me just sitting on the swing, thinking about everything that has happened. And then the very next scene we shot that day was the very first scene of the entire thing where I come out in the recumbent bike and I'm kissing the kids goodbye and I'm off to work and everything's peachy keen. So, you know, that's a bit of an extreme, but still completely manageable. But it did warrant a discussion with Steve right before we shot that very, very first scene. And mind you, he hasn't seen me perform this character at all yet.

49:12There's been no real rehearsals except, you know, a Zoom like this where we just kind of talk through a couple scenes. And I wanted to, you know, know from him, what would you like to feel from Clark, you know, on his face? Is he happy that Floyd is dead? Is he sad that Floyd is dead? Does he feel guilt that Floyd is dead? Is there, you know, is he realizing all these things in that moment on the swing or has he already realized them and he's now, blah, blah, blah. And so it was certainly a challenge, but not an unenjoyable one. And, you know, I had these notes all over the place, all over my script and in my little pocket and in my work bag and on the front of the script about where am I in each scene.

49:59And also I had to break down the whole script and just write it out long form in chronological order, too, so that I know what has the character just been through as opposed to what has the audience just seen, you know? That's not, it's like, I don't know how you, it's hard enough to do it just out of sequence on any project, I would imagine. But when you add all these, you know, jarring things, I was baffled at how it's done. Yeah. And imagine Steve, you know, writing this and then shuffling it. And then in the editing room, trying to keep it all in order as well, out of order. And he once again shuffling it.

50:42I mean, there's another nonlinear pass that he does in the editing room that was new to me when I started watching the cuts. So he's just an absolute genius. I just can't say enough about him. Well, so I wonder the response to both of the shows and specifically to both of your performances has been tremendous. You seem to have enjoyed doing this different sort of thing. I saw where you had said about Black Rabbit, quote, I think it might be the best thing I've done as an actor, director, producer, close quote. And I don't think that's any slight on DTF St. Louis. You just have fewer jobs that you had to do on that.

51:21But my question is, having now taken this leap away from the thing that you had done so well and for so many years, are these aberrations or are you now looking for more things that are different from TV's Jason Bateman? Yeah, I do really enjoy acting still. But to be honest, there's still a little part of me and just a personal part of me that really wants to live his life as not full of shit as I possibly can. You know, just trying to be, getting back to what we said earlier, you know, you just, I think we're all just trying to be the best version of ourselves as we can, as we get to know ourselves better and better and better.

52:06And that's obviously completely at odds with my occupation. You know, my occupation is pretend to be other people. I'm a professional liar. You know, the more full of shit, the better, as far as convincing an audience that I am who I'm presenting to be. And so the concept of pretending to be somebody other than who I am is constantly something I'm kind of in conflict with. So doing parts where I've got an accent and a limp and a drifty eye and like all these sort of character things, they're fun creative challenges for sure. And I welcome receiving them. And I will even pursue some of them. But for me, creatively, the thing that I think challenges me the most is the complexities of directing and asks of me not only everything that I hope to have absorbed in all these years, but also puts me in a place where I'm handling the absolute limit of what I think I can handle.

53:20and that, I don't know if I'm always going to kind of be in that place of like, give me the ball. There's a high risk of me failing here, but I have enough kind of courage and ambition to risk that right now. I don't, you know, at some point I'm going to gas or become super, you know, paranoid or insecure or something and won't ask for that kind of responsibility at some point. But right now I'm really excited to take it all on. and so directing is, it represents that level of challenge for me and acting in the thing that I'm directing is even more. I'm a bit of a masochist as you can hear and I've got some addiction issues too so I'm pointing them in a healthier way than what I was 20 some years ago.

54:04Right, well that all leads to the last question for me before I turn it over to the students to close us out but I understand that the reason you are in the tri-state area at the moment, I believe is the case, is that you are directing now a third feature film. And in fact, in this case, unlike the prior two, I believe, one that you are not also in, I believe is the case. Can you, to whatever extent you can share, just like, how's that going? What does it represent for you in terms of the next frontier of your directing career? Yeah. Well, we are about halfway through pre-production. There's a six-week prep on this, so we've got about three weeks to go.

54:47We'll start shooting June 8th. This is a feature film that'll be on Netflix. It is a script that was brought to me by Sam Rockwell and Woody Harrelson, who play the two leads in this. and, you know, they asked me to direct them in this. And so your question, what does it represent to me? It represents like, they're two of my favorite actors. And like, I just think that's just about the, for me, it was just the coolest thing ever to get a phone call like that and that they are watching the stuff that I'm directing and would feel, you know, confident to let me do this with them and for them. And it was just a huge, a huge call for me and I'm super duper flattered and they've been incredible thus far in prep.

55:34I can't wait to get on the set and start working with them with shooting. And the concept, it's basically there are two guys that run a farm and they find a dead body in the grain bin and they got to try to get rid of the body and they create two more dead bodies doing it. It's that. It's a really, really, really dark comedy, sort of like the early Coen Brothers stuff. And I'm just loving the whole creative team I've put together. And, you know, pre-production is such an interesting thing where you're all trying to figure out what the film could and should be. And you want to be open to everyone contributing and being not afraid of it starting to morph into something that might be a little bit different than your first read.

56:20And so it's fascinating dealing with all of these incredibly talented people. and incorporating their input. That's great. And so just so people know, on the heels of 2013's Bad Words was the first, then 2015's The Family Fang, this is the cackling of the dodos. That's what it's still called. Yeah. So we'll look forward to that. I don't know. Is that, how long does the turnaround typically take? Is this next year that we would see it? Yeah, I'll probably be done with it by the end of the calendar year here. Be done with, you know, cutting it and mixing it and everything. By the first of the year, we'll probably be able to present it to festivals or be able to release it.

57:08Having the release conversation is something I'm just not qualified to do or smarter people at the side, but I would bet it'll be out sometime towards the spring or maybe fall of next year. I don't know if it's a summer film, but they're again Netflix, you know, and really cool and interesting ways. So we'll see. Awesome. Well, thank you so much for this portion, Jason. And now I am going to, I see some hands going up here. So I will call first of all on Madison Moffitt, if that's all. Hi, Madison. Hi, Jason. Scott brought up your first time directing and obviously now you're more seasoned with directing now, I wanted to know what challenges that you faced with your first time directing and if there's any parallels that you noticed even when you're directing now, like challenges that you may face.

58:03And also, you know, being in that, you know, authoritative position, people having to listen to you, I guess what challenges come with that, trying to like meet the needs of everyone and trying to like keep the peace, if you will. Are there ever any struggles with that or is it pretty smooth sailing? Well, great question. You know, it's, again, it's sort of, it's like most jobs, it's people skills will kind of dictate your success or failure at it and in your ability and your willingness to adapt to what the situation is and who it is you are working with. you know, with directing, you're often giving a note to an actor or to a crew member, and you are almost by definition asking them to change that which they've just done.

59:00And for the most part, people do what they think is good and what they think is right. And so, again, by definition, when they hear something coming their way, they're about to receive criticism and some sort of confirmation that what they just did is not entirely perfect. So there's a way in which to deliver that that gets your point across but still respects the effort that you're criticizing. You know, at the end of the day, you're basically just talking about different ways to do things. There's really no right way or wrong way to do anything that is artistic. It is really just about your version or their version.

59:44And oftentimes the director's version is correct only in the sense that there are other things the director is going to be doing downstream in the process that might not be consistent with what you're watching them doing. And that allows for that note, that criticism, that change to be allowed. You know, and it's often helpful to relay that to them. Like what you did was great, but for reasons I don't want to bore you with, but happy to share, it's not going to fit because I'm going to put in a piece of music later that's going to be so emotional. I don't need you to be crying in this scene. I just need you to be more thoughtful because the music's going to do the rest of it.

1:00:30You know, that's just sort of an example of, you know, putting in the time and the effort to shape your comment such that the person hearing it can maintain their dignity and their self-respect and, most importantly, their confidence. Because in between action and cut, they're on their own. And if they're not confident, you're going to get an even worse performance. So, you just, it takes work, takes time. Just like, again, any social situation, if you're just, you know, kind of being lazy with it, you're probably not being your best self and it might not go well, you know? Thank you. Let's go to Andres Cordova.

1:01:10Hi. So you talked a lot about how you approach acting, but I'm curious, how do you approach voice acting? Since a lot of people know you as Nick Wilde in Zootopia. So what's like, is there any differences in how you approach acting, voice acting? My wife's a really good voice actor. She's done really, really well with that. And sometimes I try to get some tips from her, and I still don't think I'm anywhere as good as the people who are real professionals at it. But the people who are guiding you in it, or at least guiding me, were always encouraging me to just be you. Just talk. Just do it the way you do it when you are acting.

1:01:55But when I hear it back, when you just hear the voice, I mean, it just sounds like I'm leaving a voicemail message for somebody. It's just like incredibly boring and flat. But what you have to trust is that later in the process, they're going to animate that. There's going to be a character that's going to be speaking. And so the acting part of it, the facial expression, the body language, the clothes, everything are added to all of that. And only then is it a package that is worth entertainment. So you have to sort of resist not doing too much and just trusting that people are contributing later.

1:02:33That's hard for me because it's just a different process for me. But I've gotten a little bit more used to it, and I hope to get another chance to do it. Maybe we'll do a third one. I don't know. Well, I suspect after this one was so successful. It's unbelievable. I think it was the biggest movie of the year, right? Amazing. Alana Krieger. Hi, Jason. Thank you so much for being here. I'm such a big fan. As a longtime SmartList fan, I guess, in general, it was so cool to see you guys take it to a live stage. Was it different, like the preparation process different from doing it on a live stage compared to doing it remotely?

1:03:12And also, bonus, was there a reason that the road trip special was released in black and white compared to in color? Like, was it stylized or something specific to you guys? Yeah, doing it live, you do sort of feel like you need to do something a little bit more because people have gotten in their car and driven somewhere. They've paid a ticket price, and you're on a stage. You feel like you might need to sing and dance and tell jokes and stuff. So that's a little uncomfortable and weird for me. um, again, I can't believe people are sitting and listening to us talk and, uh, and, and, and more so in that situation.

1:03:58So, um, but people seem to dig it and we're happy to keep doing it. I'm very grateful, you know? Um, and then the black and white thing, you know, that was, there was, people kept saying to us, you know, boy, I wish that sort of the first five minutes of the podcast would go on a little bit longer. Cause it's really nice to just hear you guys do your thing, even without a guest. And so this was sort of a response to that, like, well, you know, maybe we should do something where it's all the stuff that happens before the interviews, which in this case would be sort of all the traveling of this tour.

1:04:32But that kind of recipe seemed like a reality show. And it just felt like that is not really our thing and was a little cringy. And so maybe if we just like pull the color out of it, it would feel a little bit more like a documentary as opposed to a reality show. And I don't know. It was a pathetic attempt at making a little bit more palatable for us and that, you know. Let's go to Amanda Romero. Hi, Jason. So my siblings and I, Arrested Development is like our favorite show on planet Earth. We watch it all the time and they would kill me if I didn't ask you something related to Arrested Development.

1:05:20So do you have an episode from that show that really, truly stands out for you? I might have to just go with the first one because of what it did for me as far as identifying, establishing, and declaring the comedic tone of the show. I mean, there was a lot of it that was pretty apparent in the script, but not until I got to see Jeffrey Tambor do what he was doing did I understand what... what the level of sort of non-winking was going to be. The sort of really just bone dry, deadly serious, if we heard anybody laughing, we'd be deeply offended type of comedy. And fortunately, he was the first guy on camera.

1:06:16There was this scene where he's delivering this toast at this party. And it's this long sort of speech. And we shot his side first. Um, so we, as a cast, we're kind of behind the camera, you know, off camera, you know, for him to look at. Um, and, but as actors, we were really kind of just watching Jeffrey Tambor, this incredible actor do his thing. And I got to see, oh, this, this guy, this guy is doing a level of comedy that I've, I've always wanted to try to do because my mother's British and she's super dry. And that's always been the stuff that really made me laugh. But I'd been doing a bunch of sitcoms where it's much more sort of performance-based as opposed to, you know, sort of acting-based.

1:07:04And you're dealing with a laugh track. And so it's much more like theater. His was just very subtle, very dry, just dead. And I thought, oh, my God, I'm so excited. I can't wait till they turn the camera around and we get to do our part. And I can be comfortable in doing next to nothing. and of course that just was the comedic tone of the show from then forward and kind of what I got to get a bunch of jobs afterwards doing, which was a much, much different thing than I was doing before and known for before and probably part of why I got, you know, some more longevity in my career because it was something very different from me.

1:07:48Let's go to Melinda Luna. Hi. You talked about finding your place and finding who you are, especially with finding your passion for directing and wanting to really be there with the actor and really communicate and just be there with them. So I wonder if, do you think that also reflects back to your childhood when you would go with your dad to go see movies and look at good acting, bad acting, good directing, bad directing? Do you think that reflects some of it? Yes, certainly with that. I liked how my dad always treated me as kind of a co-equal and he always talked to me like a colleague, you know.

1:08:31But it was Michael Landon on the set of Little House on the Prairie that really kind of drilled that home for me. He was the writer, director, producer, lead actor on that show. and there were kids on that show and I came on when I was 10 or 11 and that was my first big job and I was adopted into that family, the Ingalls family, and did a year on there. And that was my first experience to what a set was and how it ran. And all those people had been working together for so long through Bonanza, which was another show that Michael Landon was on, that they all just treated each other really well.

1:09:14They got the day done without yelling. And specifically, the way he treated me as a young actor was so kind and warm and somewhat parental that when I got the opportunity to direct, I was hopefully equally as kind and warm and safe with actors and kids. You know, when I direct kids, I would think back immediately to how he made me feel like an adult actor and didn't kind of talk down to me and treated me like somebody who could handle the responsibility and these sophisticated notes. And so, yeah, my comfort with actors really started with that initial experience. We'll go Xavier, Paige, and Len Leslie.

1:10:05Hi, Jason. It's great to have you here. My question is just kind of fun. As a multi-hyphenate, you've been in the realm of directing, acting, podcasting. Is there any alternative or other career path that came your way that you're interested in exploring?

1:10:25Not really. I mean, I've always been a big architecture fan. Residential, commercial, whatever. I don't know why. Maybe it's just a dumb young boy thing with Legos and erector sets and things like that. But I was never great with math, which I hear is a vital component to that. So if I were to become an architect, I'd just need a math partner. But I think my ship has sort of sailed, and I'm happily stuck with entertainment. Paige. Hi, Jason. I'm going to jump back into the SmartList conversation because I am also a huge SmartList fan. I was curious if you've learned anything new about yourself in the process of being on this podcast journey, hosting.

1:11:17And I was curious if it affects your social battery at all. Because I feel like I would be drained after an episode and wiped out for the rest of the day. So I'm curious. Yeah. Well, you sound like an introvert like me where it's you're in a social situation. You need alone time to restock your tank. Yeah. I do, I'm always surprised at how much I forget about the interviews when they're done because my brain is going so fast to try to think up the next question, but also make sure I'm ready to fill any awkward silence. That, you know, going so fast that I'm not really retaining what's going on.

1:11:59I don't have the time or the luxury to be an audience member and to listen and enjoy it and retain it. So I'll often forget who was on the show, who is on the show. And then the other part that I've learned is kind of what we were saying before, just a reconfirmation that making an effort in the social dynamic is valuable. It's worth it. It's worth it to care a little bit about whether people are enjoying you. You know, I mean, I think if you're like me, sometimes you envy those who seem to kind of be indifferent about whether people like them or not. It's sort of this no fear kind of thing, which, you know, I guess would be nice every once in a while.

1:12:49But it's sometimes it's not super friendly. um so I you know I I guess I I'd rather be stuck in my position where I do care about what people think about me but it just takes a little bit more effort um and uh sometimes I'll start those those podcast episodes not really being in the mood to be social um and and kind of not caring about people liking me or not I just want to kind of hit fuck it and you know but every time I'm done with one of those episodes, I am buoyed and I am, you know, because I've been with my buddies, I've made the effort, I've laughed, I've created some laughs and the social effort, the human effort really just sets you up for the rest of the day.

1:13:36And it's worth it to get out of bed and put a smile on and try to shine your light. You know, it's been a nice, nice lesson for me. and Leslie if you can close us out okay hi Jason um eight-year-old me was in love with Nick Wild so this is insane but 18 year old me though loves smartless and what so let me toot your own horn but what I love about it is that the listener feels involved in the conversation with other podcasts it feels like a fly on the wall but this one it feels like we get the inside jokes because you guys like talk before the guest comes on and it feels like I'm so into it. So I want to know, how do you prep for that naturalness?

1:14:22Because I know usually with like, you know, you do the research and then you want to make sure you hit certain parts, but how do you keep it being a natural conversation and making sure that the audience is still engaged with that? Well, we were talking about before about how there is no prep that goes into it, unless it's your guest, then you've got kind of like 10 questions that are written out on a piece of paper that you're ready with in case the conversation dies. You've got, you've got these lifelines, but for the most part, we're just freestyling. And, um, and the only way to really adequately and, and, and properly freestyle, I think, again, going back to any social situation that really works is just being comfortable in your skin and trusting that you're enough and And that your question is maybe something that somebody's listening might want to ask and hear.

1:15:15And just trusting that and not, you know, any sort of artifice or veneer or flexing or trying to be an investigative journalist. I'm not. I mean, what the hell do I know about, you know, a lot of things? And so just being the dummy that I am is just being human. And maybe, hopefully, that's what people are kind of feeling and sensing and why it's a comfortable listen is that we're not posturing and we're just being like you would be if you were trapped in that elevator with this person and just saying, hey, this is so, it's so neat to meet you. Like, I hope this doesn't bother you, but I've always wondered, you know, we just had Sting on the show.

1:15:56I was like, how the hell, where did that name come from? So it's just like you just got to trust that you're enough and that that's going to be entertaining. And at worst, it's not going to be you're not going to be pushing because that's always something that's kind of annoying is when you have to pretend to buy what someone's selling. You know, that's that's just that's a pain in the ass. So just just doing your thing. And and there's three of us. So we only have to be a third as good as you know, it's got a team there, you know. Well Jason you've given these guys a pretty awesome end to the semester for some of them to their whole college career and so on behalf of everybody we just so appreciate it and thank you very much.

1:16:39Well thank you very much thanks for having me Scott and nice to meet you all congrats on your on your finish of the year and good luck out there go do your thing and know there's no one else like you so don't pretend to be anybody different do your thing with your art and I bet people will love it.

1:17:01Thanks for listening to Awards Chatter. We really appreciate it and would really appreciate you taking just a minute more to subscribe to the podcast and to leave us a rating and review on your podcast app. And to follow us on Twitter and Instagram, where our handle is at Awards Chatter. On those platforms, we announce upcoming guests and provide details about special live recordings of the podcast that you can attend. Until next time, thanks again for tuning in.

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