January 7, 2025 • 44 mins
Hae chats with Jason Shuman, a film industry veteran who’s transition from the bustling world of production to the contemplative realm of writing offers a rare glimpse into the intricacies of storytelling and the crucial interplay between departments in the industry.
Explore his trajectory as a young, determined filmmaker finding his voice amidst the chaotic yet thrilling landscape of Hollywood. Jason shares how his strategic educational choices and early career steps, including pivotal internships with industry giants like Joel Silver, and Arnold Kopelson laid a foundation for success. His anecdotes paint a vivid picture of how educational freedom and real-world experiences converge to shape a unique creative identity, highlighting the importance of not just learning, but living.
He reflects on the significance of networking, unexpected success stories, and key lessons from selling TV pilots. Through personal stories and professional insights, Jason underscores the symbiotic relationship between writers and producers and the necessity of understanding screenplay structures. This episode is a treasure trove for aspiring filmmakers and storytellers, offering practical advice and inspiration to navigate the ever-changing world of film.
For our listeners, CFA’s teamed up with We Make Movies to get you a discount on production management services, including access to comprehensive production insurance and workers' comp for your next shoot.
Visit wemakemovies.org/insurance and use code CFA23 on your intake form for 10% off your quote.
Calling all actors! Take 25% off your membership at WeAudition with code: CFA25
Website: www.cinematographyforactors.com
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Cinematography for Actors is a community aimed at bridging the gap between talent & crew through our weekly podcast & community events. Our weekly show supports the filmmaking community through transparent, honest & technically focused interviews with the goal of elevating the art of effective storytelling.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
It turned out to be genius because Friday night
there was no other movies to seeKangaroo Jack, if anyone
remembers, that was basicallythe only other movie out.
So somehow teenagers withnothing else to do flocked.
Speaker 3 (00:16):
This is the Cinematography for Actors,
podcast More than a podcast.
Speaker 2 (00:20):
Cinematography for Actors is a vibrant community
devoted to bridging the gapbetween talent and crew.
Each week, our show offerstransparent, insightful
conversations with industryleaders.
We unveil the magic behind thescenes, from candid discussions
about unique filmmakingprocesses to in-depth technical
exploration.
Join us in unraveling theintricacies of filmmaking, one
(00:42):
episode at a time.
It's more than just cameras andlenses we aim to inspire,
educate and empower as we peelback the curtain on the art of
effective storytelling.
Now on to the episode.
Hi everybody, this isCinematography for Actors
podcast, and I am your host,haley Royal.
I'm very excited today to havean esteemed guest with me.
Speaker 1 (01:06):
But neither an actor nor a cinematographer.
Speaker 2 (01:08):
No, but wait, I'm going to get there with you,
hold on, it'll all make sense.
Jason Schumann everybody youknow him from lots of movies, a
large handful of number one boxoffice winners, contestants and
(01:32):
all amazing other things.
Hello, jason.
Hello, thank you so much forcoming here today.
Speaker 1 (01:37):
Thank you for having me.
Speaker 2 (01:39):
Before we jump in, I will tell you, to make it
apparent why you're here.
Speaker 1 (01:45):
Okay, good.
Speaker 2 (01:46):
We love to talk a lot at Cinematography for Actors
about bridging the gap.
It started out as bridging thegap between talent and crew
Because Indiana, my co-founderco-host, is a cinematographer
and I'm an actor, and werealized that there were a lot
of communication andcollaboration gaps between those
two departments and so we setout to bridge those gaps by
(02:11):
offering context, by teachingtalent and crew how to socialize
with each other throughworkshops, community building,
things like that.
And then we quickly realizedthat those gaps exist between
every department, especially the.
It feels to me like the morebudget you get, the more closed
(02:35):
off those departments becomefrom each other and the less
context everyone has.
So I brought you here todaybecause you are a very wildly
successful producer who bridgedthe gap between producing and
writing, because you then becamea very successful writer and I
(02:58):
want to talk about that and howthat worked and what you found
that you would have liked tohave had from a producer as a
writer and vice versa.
And also I want to know aboutyour life, because we met and I
told you my life story.
Speaker 1 (03:15):
She did, she told me her whole life story.
Speaker 2 (03:17):
You were so gracious and you listened and you were
excited to hear about me and Iwalked away being like, oh, I
don't know anything about thatperson.
So you're here to tell me yourwhole life story and also those
other things.
Speaker 1 (03:32):
All right, all right.
Speaker 2 (03:33):
Let's get into it.
Let's jump in.
You were born, a small infant.
Speaker 1 (03:38):
Quite big.
Speaker 2 (03:39):
Big infant, then I shrunk.
Speaker 1 (03:41):
Yes, I was born in Detroit, Michigan Okay For any
Michiganders out there.
And then we moved to Cleveland,Ohio for any of those Ohioans.
Speaker 2 (03:51):
What age was that move?
Speaker 1 (03:53):
When I was four.
Speaker 2 (03:54):
Okay, Okay, so you'd you were kind of, you'd done a
little bit of school, but notenough to be like solid, I don't
remember.
Speaker 1 (04:01):
I mean my whole family's from Michigan Uncles,
aunts, cousins, grandparents.
So, I have a lot of memories ofMichigan, just not living there
, but my mom was such that shehated that we had.
My dad was a clothing salesman,so we were constantly moving
and my mom made this deal withmy father that she could take me
(04:24):
and my sister back to Michigananytime she wanted.
No matter what so we were alwaysbeing pulled out of school like
always just going back toDetroit for long periods of time
, that you know at the end ofthe school year when they give
like perfect attendance awardsmy mom would always say you will
never win that award.
Speaker 2 (04:42):
Don't worry about that award.
It isn't for you.
How did she skirt truancy lawsto be able?
Speaker 1 (04:50):
to do that.
Are there such things oh?
Speaker 2 (04:52):
yes, oh yes, as a wildly absent child myself.
Police will come to your houseto check on why you haven't been
to school.
So she must have.
Well, not to?
Speaker 1 (05:03):
brag, I was a very good student.
Okay, I cared about grades.
Uh, my sister not so much okay,so we were very different and
she's very successfulacupuncturist now, but we were
very different back in the day,yeah, and so I don't think there
was a worry for me, maybe,maybe for my sister okay, um,
(05:24):
but the teachers were like.
Speaker 2 (05:25):
You know, he gets it, he's good.
Speaker 1 (05:28):
I used to get.
I went to this very preppyprivate school and I had to wear
a suit and tie and uh, maybethat's how we skirted it,
because it wasn't a publicschool yeah and, uh, my mom
liked the idea of me having longhair, so all my pictures in
these like suit and ties.
That's me looking like PrinceValiant or something.
Speaker 2 (05:47):
How long?
Speaker 1 (05:49):
She, would you know, like that.
Speaker 2 (05:52):
Did she ever like pull it back for you?
Were you ever also in?
You know how in the?
Speaker 1 (05:56):
olden days.
Speaker 2 (05:58):
No ponytail.
You know what I'm talking about.
The ponytail with the ribbon.
Yeah, I always found thatincredibly attractive in those
old movies, like a period dramaand a guy with a ponytail and a
bow.
For some reason that bow isvery masculine oh but, only in
that case and never a brave.
Speaker 1 (06:16):
Maybe she was thinking that, no, she just, she
just thought that that's how Ilooked good.
And then I mean, one day Iprobably asked to cut it, and
then I probably cried, becauseisn't that what kids do?
They get their hair cut, theythink it's a good idea, and then
they cry because it's going totake a year to grow back.
Speaker 2 (06:32):
Well, you know, there's so much pressure too,
because you've become a newperson, almost Like when you cut
your hair off, you're a newperson, and I don't know if a
child is ready for that toembody the new person.
And they realize that whenthey're looking in the mirror
and they're like, how do I do,how do I stand up for this?
Like, how do I become this?
I, I get that.
(06:53):
That happened to me a number oftimes where I'd go long from
long to short wow.
Speaker 1 (06:59):
But then we moved to the bay area, we moved to San
Francisco and that's where Ifeel like I had my true teenage
years childhood yeah.
So I was already moving west.
Speaker 2 (07:09):
Yeah, okay, and I did a little research and I heard
that you had a special note fromyour mother to get into R-rated
movies.
Speaker 1 (07:20):
I had a lot of notes from my mom.
Speaker 2 (07:22):
It sounds like your mom was kind of a badass and a
rule breaker.
Speaker 1 (07:26):
Well, she was just loved being a mom.
Okay, so anything that had shewas like.
She was happy to coach thesoccer team, happy to do PTA
stuff, happy to carpool, happyto it was her dream to just have
kids and be a mom.
So, I always had like the bestlunches with cool notes inside
about how great I was.
(07:47):
And so, yes, like if I wantedto go see an R rated movie, it
was just a kinder gentler timeback then where she'd give me a
note and I'd go at 12 years old,I just walk up to the thing and
they would accept it back then,Just quick thing.
Like my mom knew very early onthat I wanted to be a
(08:09):
storyteller of some sort and um,so when, when a movie would
come out that I wanted to go seeright away and I had a bicycle,
I would just ask her if it wasokay if I ditched school and go
see the movie.
And I have to say it's so Idon't know.
I know rule breakers are cooland edgy, but for me there was
(08:30):
something nice about like I'm ata 1230 show for a movie and my
friends have all ditched schooland their parents don't know and
they could come home to angryparents.
Speaker 2 (08:39):
They would come with you.
Speaker 1 (08:41):
Yeah, and I would be like so relaxed thinking like my
it would come with you.
Yeah, and I would be like sorelaxed thinking like my mom's
already approved this.
Speaker 2 (08:46):
Yeah, it's totally fine Well and as a parent too,
I'm sure, like you, would ratherknow that your child is at the
movies, yeah, and not bethinking they're like, just in
case anything happened, you canbe like it's okay, I know where
they are, and just that, likethat freedom to be able to be
like mom.
I am going here because youprobably would have gone anyway.
Speaker 1 (09:08):
I would have gone anyway, but I just enjoyed it
more knowing I wasn't gonna getin trouble when I got home maybe
that's an unedgy part of me, Idon't know.
It just was better, and but Idid something like senior year I
was I did play baseball.
That was like a big sport forme and I was captain of the
baseball team, and which is notsaying much.
(09:29):
It was not some big publicschool team, it was a private
school it was a private schoolwe have.
We have learned that this was aprivate captain of some fancy
high level team, but we went ona like a spring break trip and
someone brought a bottle ofSouthern Comfort.
We all passed it around themotel room.
I did drink it somewhat, howthe principal found out, and all
(09:52):
our parents were called andbrought in.
And my mom pissed the principaloff because my mom was like so
what?
It's a bottle of SouthernComfort and these kids are like
one year away from going tocollege, these kids are going to
start drinking anyway, come on.
The principal, mrs Schumann.
That's not Mrs Schumann.
The rules are they are underageand they're not supposed to be
(10:14):
drinking.
And my mom was like I was doingmuch worse when.
I was my son's age, so that'sjust the kind of mom she was.
Speaker 2 (10:21):
She just respected you as another human being oh,
that's nice it sounds like she'slike.
You have your ideas of howyou're gonna live your life yes,
my job is to support you andgrowing get out of my way
honestly yeah, fantastic.
So you had this note.
Speaker 1 (10:36):
You got to go to movies I went to a lot whenever
you felt like it r movies.
Speaker 2 (10:41):
I just love that story.
And, yeah, that fed you andthen you went to film school.
Speaker 1 (10:49):
Yes, I was sort of like well, I was kind of USC do
or die.
Okay, there was a time when Iwas 16 and I thought I wanted to
go to NYU and my parents Godlove them were like, well, maybe
you should go to a summerprogram at NYU.
So I went Wow, they justdropped me off in New York City.
Think about this there weren'tcell phones back then, so there
(11:12):
was a pay phone in the lobby ofthe dorms and I was supposed to
call on Sundays between 5 and 7.
And that's it.
Speaker 2 (11:19):
That's it.
Speaker 1 (11:19):
That's all they knew of their 16-year-old.
Speaker 2 (11:21):
They're like.
Mine is off at camp.
Speaker 1 (11:24):
I'm like oh my God, would that happen today?
I don't know.
No.
No, but I didn't.
No disrespect to NYU, I didn'tlove it.
Ok, I didn't love being in thecity.
I kind of wanted like a big oldschool campus feeling.
So after that experience I waslike like all or nothing to USC
film school it was.
(11:45):
If I didn't get in there, lifewas over to me at 16, 17 years
old, thank God you got in andwhen I got in I honestly I
thought like the heavens hadparted.
Yeah, and I was.
I'm the anointed one You're thechosen one.
And then you get to orientationand you realize so did everyone
else that got in think they'reGod's gift, and so I was like,
(12:06):
OK, it's time for me to like getoff the high horse and get to
work.
Speaker 2 (12:11):
Yeah, and you.
You realized that immediately.
Speaker 1 (12:15):
Pretty quickly because I was.
I didn't love high school.
I thought a lot of the coursesjust in high school the physics
and it just didn't interest me.
I did what I had to do to get agood grade but I was so much
more interested in history andliterature and storytelling that
(12:36):
it was a lot of the coursesjust were like I have to deal
with this, you know, becauseit's part of high school
curriculum.
But getting into film school,not only that, but then meeting
all these like-minded people, itwas heaven to me right away.
Yeah, I was like.
All these people were likelittle me, from Tennessee, from
(12:56):
Pennsylvania, from all over theplace.
There were me versions of meand we all became like instant
friends and forget having to geta note from my mom.
We would be like we'd have atest on like a Tuesday night and
everyone would be like come on,let's go see the new Tom Hanks
movie.
We'd be like I don't have toask anyone.
Speaker 2 (13:16):
I can do whatever I want.
Speaker 1 (13:18):
So we used to laugh to like our version of like
freedom and everything was notgoing to a party and getting
drunk, but it was like all goingto Westwood on a Wednesday
night To Westwood To see a movie.
Very safe.
Speaker 2 (13:32):
That's amazing.
So you realized that you had toget to work.
And we have a lot of listenerswho are in this area now, who
are, you know, first or secondyear of their undergrad.
They're realizing that theywant to work in film.
So what did get to work mean toyou?
How is it different than justlike, oh, go to your classes and
(13:53):
do have the experience and thengraduate?
How are you getting to workbefore you even graduate?
Speaker 1 (14:00):
It's a great question , I mean, to me it's twofold.
One is well, I'm 18 years oldand I have to acknowledge that,
even though I've watchedthousands of movies, I know
nothing right, and so I need tosort of soak in all these
classes photography, filmhistory, editing, uh, the class
(14:20):
where you make short films Ihave to go into it just feeling
like don't think that, don'tassume I'm just some young
Spielberg or something Like.
Let's just start from scratchand try to see what I think.
Maybe I gravitate toward morewhat I feel like I'm good at,
what interests me.
Am I even good at screenwriting?
Am I even good at whatever?
(14:41):
So that was a lot of it.
Also, trying to take classeslike reading the classics and
then back.
The great thing aboutuniversity as opposed to high
school is I could pick myclasses.
Oh, world War II class, thatsounds interesting.
Oh, a mythology class.
Well, those are where storiescome from, or mythology.
Speaker 2 (15:02):
So you're realizing that you can pick and choose
even your general courses to fitwhat you're looking for on a
large?
I think a lot.
I don't realize that.
A lot of kids don't realizethat there are options that
don't just pick something like Ihave to do this damn class,
like I'll pick this one, butlike look for something that's
(15:23):
going to fit into your overallcareer goals.
Speaker 1 (15:27):
Well, that plays into the second thing I was going to
say, which is finding yourvoice.
Like, as I'll be honest, as ajust kid growing up and say
Northern California and being onswim team playing baseball, it
was part of the community livingup North.
I don't know so much down here,but I felt like I had to find
(15:49):
my voice.
What is it?
What kind of stories do I want?
Speaker 2 (15:52):
to get us back on track, sorry.
Speaker 1 (15:56):
I see like coming before me.
There were people like JohnSingleton at USC and this was
like a kid grew up in Southcentral, popped out of college
with boys in the hood scriptright, had a strong point of
view, right.
I didn't have that life yet.
I hadn't really lived a life,to tell stories other than my
(16:19):
imagination, which is worthsomething.
But I kind of felt like it wastime to start, I don't know,
without going overboard.
I'm not saying like do a bunchof drugs and go crazy.
I felt like I had to start tolive life, so I could figure out
what kind of stories.
I wanted to tell or where myimagination could go.
Speaker 2 (16:42):
There we go Beautiful .
Then you finish school and youhave kind of an enviable.
I'm sorry I'm leading this somuch, but I just I'm proud
that's your job as the intern.
I know, sometimes I like it.
I would go to ramble, though,but you had kind of the dream
transition into career.
(17:03):
You finished school and thenyou had an internship that led
to a job, right yeah, yeah.
And that's.
I feel like it's so smooth.
It's so smooth and just likeclear that that's what was meant
to happen.
Thanks, I guess.
Did you feel that way?
Speaker 1 (17:20):
I'll give you the intricacies, so it doesn't seem
so easy-ish.
I felt like I'm in Los Angeles.
I feel like if you're incollege, I don't care if you
went to USC, if you went tocommunity college, afi, ucla or
any of the surrounding filmschools, which are all
Occidental, what's the one?
(17:43):
Chapman?
Speaker 2 (17:44):
What does Occidental mean?
Speaker 1 (17:46):
I think it's a college.
Speaker 2 (17:47):
Oh, it is a school.
I was like what does that meanabout colleges?
I'm using big 50 centvocabulary Wow.
Speaker 1 (17:57):
Apologies.
I felt like shame on me if Ididn't do some internships while
I'm here.
So the only thing you can do atthat point is look up people
that you like or movies you like, and so I did internships.
Because I loved Lethal Weapon,so I got an internship with this
producer.
Joel Silver at the time hadkind of a bombastic reputation
(18:19):
and it was fun, you know, makingcopies in the copy room,
listening to him screaming rightright um, which those kind of
things led to, like a summer jobbeing a PA.
So one summer I'm here, I'mliving in the dorms and I'm like
running around being a PA on aTV movie, and the TV movie ended
(18:43):
up being produced by this guynamed Arnold Copelson.
I don't know why he was doingthis tiny TV movie, Because he
had won an Oscar for Platoon.
He had had the Fugitive comeout and he not only was at a
gargantuan blockbuster, but hegot nominated for a second Oscar
and I got asked if I wanted todo an internship once school
(19:07):
started back in.
So I was sure yeah.
So then I went every Friday tohis office on the Warner
Brothers lot to do an internshipthere.
Now I could smell the cigarsmoke wafting from his office on
Fridays, when I would be thereAgain just making copies or
answering phones or doingwhatever coffee, and the year
(19:31):
was coming to an end.
I was about to graduate.
I would be there again justmaking copies or answering
phones or doing whatever coffee,and the year was coming to an
end, I was about to graduate, Ihad planned to, I had like my
first grown up girlfriend likeadult related.
Like man, I have a person I cancall my girlfriend.
We were going to have a funsummer, and then I was going to
take life seriously once thefall came.
(19:51):
Um, I didn't know what thatmeant, right, and then?
Speaker 2 (19:53):
but isn't that's how we're like raised to think,
though it's like.
All right, it's summertime andthen we'll get serious in.
August.
Like I love back to school Ieven though I can't do that
anymore, I still think like May17th graduation day should not
be like May 20th.
Speaker 1 (20:10):
I'm supposed to start life.
Speaker 2 (20:11):
I know very weird.
No, no, no, you need a break soyou were going to become an
adult in August yes, after thatsummer.
Speaker 1 (20:19):
so I was ending my internship and, uh, the, the,
the company, arnold's company,was having a movie coming out
that summer, big ArnoldSchwarzenegger movie.
They invited all the interns tocome to the movie premiere,
which is fancy for like acollege kid, that's so nice.
Yeah, so because I would smellthe cigar smoke, I went to some
(20:43):
store in Beverly Hills and Ibought two Cuban cigars which
you can get at the fancy if youjust kind of be like wink wink.
Speaker 2 (20:52):
You're like please, it's for somebody.
There's some Cubans in the backroom.
Speaker 1 (20:54):
Yeah, and so at the premiere I saw him, arnold, and
Arnold Copelson, and I saidthank you for the internship.
It's been a wonderful year.
It ends in two weeks and I gotyou these as a thank you.
Speaker 2 (21:12):
Wow.
Speaker 1 (21:13):
That is wise, beyond your years, to be honest.
Speaker 2 (21:15):
Kiss ass not, not real, like it's just, you were
being appreciative I was, andyou were paying attention, you
know you could have gotten himlike a coffee gift card or
something but you, youmulti-millionaire yeah, here's a
five dollar starbucks gift cardfor you.
Speaker 1 (21:30):
Thanks, but this is where some luck came into it,
because, as I'm giving it to himand he won't accept them, he's
like jason and, by the way, uh,I don't even I'm making that up,
I don't think he knew my firstname yeah I think he was just
saying thank you young man Ican't take these from you and I
said I bought them for you.
I also enjoy cigars and I cansmell them from your office.
And as he's trying to tell mehe can't accept them, literally
(21:54):
Arnold Schwarzenegger walked upnot to me, to him and said oh,
oh, those are good, let's takethem, let's go, let's go to the
parking lot and smoke them.
So they took them.
Yeah, they did not invite me,but they went off.
And two days later I got aphone call from his office
saying we heard you'regraduating.
(22:15):
We want to offer you a job.
Wow, so now it puts my wholeplans, my whole summer plans in
tailspin.
Speaker 2 (22:22):
No beach days.
Speaker 1 (22:23):
No.
Speaker 4 (22:24):
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Speaker 1 (22:56):
So I got some good advice which was like this is a
good opportunity for you.
You can always quit if it's notfor you.
Cause I had kind of thoughtthat I was going to do this
thing where I was going to go,like in the fall, I was going to
start writing this amazingindie script and then I was
going to do this thing where Iwas going to go, like in the
fall, I was going to startwriting this amazing indie
script and then I was going toscrap together some money and
I'm just going to go direct itand cast it and I'm going to do
(23:16):
like mall rats kind of thing,clerks, and just go make an
indie movie.
Well, what about that dream?
What about that?
What about my movie?
But people wisely, were likeJason, jason, why don't you just
ride the roller coaster for aminute?
Why don't you just take the joband see where it goes?
You can always quit.
You can always do that a yearfrom now.
Speaker 3 (23:37):
And.
Speaker 1 (23:37):
I thought that was good advice to me, so I did, I
quit and it was very workinggirl-esque for those who don't
know the movie Melanie Griffithis an assistant and at the end
of the movie Melanie Griffith isan assistant and at the end of
the movie she gets a job.
But she thinks she's going into be an assistant.
And I thought I dressed in thisawful vest and shirt and I went
in and I checked in at thefront and they showed me to my
(24:00):
office and so I was not anassistant, I was a junior
executive oh, oh, my God.
And I had literally justgraduated.
Thank, God, you accepted thatjob, so I went from intern to
junior exec, which I acknowledgenow is not, is very rare and
very lucky because I skippedhaving to be an assistant, which
(24:22):
I know people can spend years,years waiting to get off that
desk, which was great the moment, but also tough in the in the
job because all the assistantshated me yeah yeah, they thought
they were gonna get like howdid this kid?
I've been, I've been on thisdesk for years, but I was
literally the intern who came inon fridays and would do stuff
(24:45):
for the assistants, and now I'mwhat them.
Speaker 2 (24:47):
And all it took was two Cubans, and then, and then
you had a fantastic career as aproducer.
Speaker 1 (24:58):
I will skip that.
I'll give you the abridgedversion.
I did that job.
Speaker 2 (25:03):
We might have to make two episodes.
Speaker 1 (25:04):
I did that job for a couple of years.
I then got lucky where I teamedup with a wonderful producer
named William Sherrick.
We were the same, a whole otherstory but we got this movie.
We went to Australia for ninemonths.
(25:32):
Now I'm going from being ajunior exec to leaping to being
a studio producer, so I tooksome big leaps.
Speaker 2 (25:37):
Do you feel like you were prepared for the work?
No, not for the position, butlike it was the work scary and
hard, or were you like.
Speaker 1 (25:45):
I know how to do it.
It was constant fake it tillyou make it.
Speaker 2 (25:47):
Constantly fake it till you make it.
Listen up, everybody.
Constant fake it till you makeit.
Speaker 1 (25:52):
So we go make this movie.
It's called Darkness Falls.
We come back.
The studio doesn't think muchof it.
It's kind of like a scary movie.
But way before scary movieswere sort of super in vogue.
Anyway, it came out.
It was number one at the boxoffice.
So all of a sudden, in a veryshort span, I went from an
(26:13):
intern to a junior exec tonumber one.
And that got us a big movie dealat the studio and that started
kind of like what I say, likethe 80s montage of my life,
because like for the next 10years, all I was doing was
producing movies.
Suddenly I'm 26, 27, 28 and I'mflying all over the world like
(26:35):
on the set of my own movies yeahit was very surreal yeah, and
really, really cool, let thiskid do it.
Speaker 2 (26:42):
He's got.
He knows what he's doing.
By that point, I was.
Speaker 1 (26:44):
I was feeling confident.
Now I didn't have to fake it asmuch Was Darkness Falls.
Speaker 2 (26:48):
Was that the release that was very strategic on Super
Bowl Sunday?
Yes, okay, will you tell alittle bit of that?
I mean, I'm sorry, I ruined the.
I said the punchline, but tellus about that strategy and who
like, how and why did it workout so well?
Speaker 1 (27:04):
There was this brilliant guy, tom Sherrick, who
passed away years ago but hewas very much mentor, godfather
figure to me at the studio whenwe were there making these
movies and he was like let's putit out on Super Bowl Sunday and
everyone around him was likethat's a dead weekend.
Speaker 2 (27:23):
And nobody done that before.
Speaker 1 (27:24):
Right, no one.
People always scared off ofthat weekend because it's
essentially a two day weekend.
So it's the opposite of aholiday weekend.
It's a weekend because SuperBowl Sunday is.
No one goes to the movies.
Speaker 2 (27:34):
No one's going out.
Speaker 1 (27:36):
So you basically only have Friday night and Saturday,
and that's it.
It turned out to be geniusbecause Friday night there was
no other movies to see KangarooJack, if anyone remembers that
movie that was basically theonly other movie out, so somehow
teenagers with nothing else todo flocked to go see darkness
falls, for whatever reason theycut a great trailer.
(27:58):
So even though we only had twodays, we somehow made a lot of
money in those two days and itchanged my life.
Speaker 2 (28:05):
Tom Sherrick should have been a hedge fund manager.
Speaker 1 (28:07):
He was already very successful man.
Speaker 2 (28:09):
He knew, he knew how yeah, he knew how to sell low,
no, sell high.
Buy low, sell high.
He knew how to do that withmovies.
Okay, so then you decide tomake a career change.
Yes, and this is the gap that Imade in that 12 years.
Speaker 1 (28:27):
I made over 20, 20 movies and, um, I loved it, I
had the best time.
But I never forgot about thetrue passion, the true itch I
had, which was to write, towrite and direct my own stuff.
And I felt like I had learnedso much as producing.
I'd worked with so many greatwriters.
(28:47):
I had sat there for thousandsof hours helping writers work
through their story.
It was now or never.
It was now or never.
And so I just up and it was aguy named Danny Strong.
I don't know if you know whothat is.
Look him up if you don't.
Danny Strong, wildly successfulactor turned writer, showrunner
(29:08):
, director.
He had moved to New York and hetold me like get out of LA.
You're never going to get intothe writer's mind being in LA
doing your day to day as aproducer.
I see you had to escape thepeople who knew you as one thing
and to get out of my routine.
Speaker 2 (29:29):
And to get out of your routine.
And to get out of your routine.
Speaker 1 (29:30):
I see.
So I went to New York and juststarted writing.
Speaker 2 (29:34):
How long did you stay in New York?
Speaker 1 (29:35):
Four years.
Speaker 2 (29:36):
Okay, you moved, yes, for a long time.
Was that the plan, or did youthink you would go for a little
bit?
Speaker 1 (29:44):
I had no plan except I want to be a writer and I want
to be a great writer.
I don't just want to.
For those listening, I have alot of friends who also are
trying to be writers and I thinkthe mistake they make is they
spend a year on one script.
Don't do that.
Speaker 2 (29:59):
Right.
Speaker 1 (30:01):
Don't think this is your opus.
I was just trying to hone mycraft.
I was writing a script everyfour to six weeks and then
throwing it away.
Speaker 3 (30:09):
Whoa.
Speaker 1 (30:09):
I was writing a script every four to six weeks
and then throwing it away.
Whoa, I was giving it tofriends getting notes and then
I'd throw it away.
Speaker 2 (30:13):
Throw it away meaning never look at it again.
Yeah, like don't you're not.
Speaker 1 (30:16):
I'm evolving as a writer.
Speaker 2 (30:17):
I'm evolving.
You're just letting him go.
Speaker 1 (30:19):
I'm not spending hours tweaking and obsessing on
that one script.
Speaker 2 (30:24):
When you're throwing a script away, are you also
parting with that story?
Speaker 1 (30:28):
and never telling it again.
Speaker 2 (30:31):
You never know.
Speaker 1 (30:31):
Maybe 10 years from now like when John Hughes like
was John Hughes.
He started taking scripts offthe shelf that he had written in
his 20s.
Speaker 2 (30:39):
And you're like well, I have this one here, yeah,
yeah.
Speaker 1 (30:42):
But I was trying to hone my craft, trying to evolve
as a writer, not trying to putall my eggs in one basket.
Yeah, okay, trying to evolve asa writer, not trying to put all
my eggs in one basket.
Yeah, okay.
And so after two and a halfyears, I felt that I was at the
level, that I felt confident.
That I felt because, in thereal world of writing, once you
sell something, the demands onyou, the ability to have to take
(31:05):
notes and turn them around, arehuge.
And if you've spent a year plusobsessing on one script and,
let's say, you sell it, and thenthe producers in the studio are
like great, we're so excitedabout this, here's our notes, we
need it in four weeks, how areyou prepared for that?
You're not, because you're soobsessed.
So then you're going to freakout and then you're going to
(31:27):
look bad.
Anyway, it's just fromexperience of a lot of my
friends.
I wanted to avoid that.
Speaker 2 (31:32):
So you feel like, you feel like it helped you.
Not, you know, be so preciousabout things, don't?
Be precious.
Because, you were like okay,you don't like this one, I'll
write another one for you in amonth, don't worry, okay, yeah,
that's very good advice.
Speaker 1 (31:51):
So advice, so again, giving you the abridged version.
Yeah, I, after two and a halfyears, I felt like I had a
writing sample.
That was good and I sent it out.
I got signed by CAA.
Uh, it was a tv spec sent itout, meaning what?
I changed my name, I wasn't surewhat my reputation was in the
business, and by reputation Ididn't mean good or bad
reputation, I just I didn't knowwho knew me or didn't know me,
(32:11):
right, right, but I just didn'twant that to cloud the read.
Right?
Oh, jason isn't he a producer.
Speaker 2 (32:17):
Isn't he a producer?
Speaker 1 (32:17):
yeah, so I just put a fake name, sent it out, but
then when I was sitting therewith the CA agents, I
immediately said my name's notwhatever.
That was my name's JasonSchumann, I don't know any of
you.
So I feel like this is a startstarting from scratch.
Speaker 2 (32:33):
It's safe for us to start here with real names.
I see.
Speaker 1 (32:36):
They didn't seem to care.
They loved that I had aproducing backdrop and I said I
really want to show run, I wantto be a TV show runner, and so I
hope that my background asproducer and now my newfound
thing as a writer can and it did.
Speaker 2 (32:52):
You deciding to change your name and just send
it in on merit and not.
It's almost like you know howsometimes people who have
parents in the industry are likeno, I don't want to like ride
on their coattails, I'm going todo it just because I'm good.
But you did that with yourselfand your own hard work.
(33:12):
You were like no, I'm not evenme, you don't even know me for
the good work I've already done.
Speaker 1 (33:17):
Well, that's strategic, because there is a
bias when people are trying tohyphenate yeah, there can be a
bias and like oh, anotherproducer who wants to write.
I actually was doing it toprotect myself.
Speaker 2 (33:32):
Is that a thing Producers who want to write?
I think so.
Speaker 1 (33:35):
I mean, look, if you want to write, write, oh an
actor who wants to direct ohthere are some natural
transitions, but I feel like anactor who has a script or a
producer who has a script gets alittle bit of an eye roll.
But you have to overcome that.
You have to believe in yourstuff.
Speaker 2 (33:53):
Yeah, solidly enough to overcome the eye a little bit
of a cheat code to be like lookit's good, yeah, I'm, I'm.
You have never heard this namebefore, is it good, right?
Yeah, okay, all right, move on.
Here we go.
Speaker 1 (34:05):
Sorry that's a good, you use a good point, though.
Yeah, it could go either way wehave some exciting news.
Speaker 3 (34:12):
Cfa has teamed up with we make movies to get you a
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For your next shoot, visit wemake moviesorg, slash insurance
and use code CFA 23 on yourintake form for 10% off your
quote.
Speaker 2 (34:32):
It could go either way.
Speaker 1 (34:34):
But I got agents, felt like a writer for the first
time in those years, sold thatTV pilot to 20th and then it
didn't go to pilot.
So I was like what now?
And my agents were like, likewrite another one, do another
one.
I wrote another one the nextseason.
I sold that to Sony TV, uh, andthen CBS didn't make it to
(34:58):
pilot.
So now I'm like kind of two fortwo, but I felt like, oh for
two.
Speaker 2 (35:01):
Right, you're like sold them both, but can we see
it?
Speaker 1 (35:05):
yeah like you, want a table read I know didn't get
that far but now I feel like I'mmaking money.
Yeah, I'm kind of a writer nowI'm, I'm, I'm, I'm in the
transition phase.
Then I had a wonderful strokeof luck again where I met this,
uh, gentleman named eduardocisneros, who was introduced me
(35:25):
to another mentor of mine,sanford panich, who, who worked
at Copelson when I was there.
So a lot of times in my lifethings came full circle and he
introduced me to Eduardo.
Eduardo was this reallysuccessful producer out of
Mexico who had this massivemovie called instructions, not
(35:47):
included, um, which was thebiggest hit ever, multi-language
hit um, and he had beenpartners with this actor, uh,
ogenio derbez, and I meet himand there's a lot of there of
like I meet him.
He's already such anestablished writer, but I had
(36:07):
read somewhere from judd Apatowthat when he worked the comedy
clubs and like Jim Carrey or BenStiller would say, hey, can you
write me a joke about whatever,about toilets he would come
back the next day with 15 jokesabout toilets and that's how he?
impressed Jim Carrey and BenStiller and they all wanted him.
(36:27):
So I prepared for the meetingand I came in with the 12 ideas
that we could work on togetherand he liked the actually the
12th one wow uh, I thought I waslike failing failing you did he
liked the 12th one.
We worked on it.
We pitched it to Fox moviestudio.
They bought it.
Yeah, yeah, so now my firstmovie pitch got sold.
Speaker 3 (36:50):
Mm-hmm.
Speaker 1 (36:51):
We write it together.
Again, it doesn't get made, butwe had a great time, mm-hmm,
and that led to a movie calledHalf Brothers which we sold to
Focus, which did get made.
Speaker 2 (37:00):
All right, so we're moving up in the world.
Speaker 1 (37:02):
I'm getting movies made.
Speaker 2 (37:03):
now here we go.
Speaker 1 (37:04):
that exact same time is when we created Acapulco
which we sold to Apple oh, thankyou, I love it, um, which was
like a semi-autobiographicalstory, mixing his life and my
life, which I thought in itselfis highly original a Jewish kid
from the Midwest and a Mexicankid from, like, an immigrant
(37:30):
from Mexico.
We're blending our lives andour stories to create this
potentially original story abouta kid in Acapulco in the 80s,
and now that's like leads tothis four-season hit show on
Apple.
But that all started because ofthat introduction to him and
because of our wonderful, lovingworking together.
Speaker 2 (37:52):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (37:53):
So that led to Acapulco.
Speaker 2 (37:56):
So now, as a producer who writes, a writer who
produces, what do you, whatcontext do you wish producers
had on writers and what contextdo you wish writers had on
writers and what context do youwish writers had on?
Producers you know like the,the job, the people, the whole
thing.
Speaker 1 (38:14):
Like what would have made either of your jobs easier
had you known certain thingswell, as a producer, I always
had the mindset that I am like Ihave no skill specifically.
I'm just supposed to watch overeverybody and be as respectful
as possible, which is nice, Iguess, because I'm acknowledging
(38:37):
that I don't know how tocostume design, so I'm hoping to
hire the best person and letthem do their job and I'm here
for them if there's a problem,or I'm here to sort of deal with
it if a problem happens.
But with writing I think Ishould have gone deeper than
that, because I'm sitting therewith them months, years before
(39:00):
the.
It's one thing to have thatattitude once we're in
production because we're movingso fast we're in production.
I can't know the intricacies ofcinematography, of costume
design, you need to be able totrust.
With writing now that I'm on theother side of it and I'm so
obsessed with structure andcharacter arcs and everything
I'm like what, what, what?
(39:22):
I can't believe that at 22years old, arnold was sitting me
down with million dollarwriters going like Jason, read
your script.
He has some thoughts yeah andthese million dollar writers are
have to listen to me yeah, theydo and then I'm a producer all
of a sudden at 25, 26 years old.
And now they really have tolisten to me and I think back
upon how little I knew aboutscreenplay struck, even though I
(39:46):
went to film school.
I took classes, but untilyou're actually doing it for a
living, day in and day out inthe script, learning about scene
structure, character structure,all those sort of things, I
just I'm baffled right that Ihad any success early on,
because how could I have had anygood notes?
Speaker 2 (40:06):
he just saw.
Speaker 1 (40:07):
He saw it, he knew what was gonna happen so I
implore producers and I bet allthe good producers out there do
do this, I would hope which is,try your best to read some
screenplay books or try toreally understand.
Or take your best screenwriterfriend out to dinner or
(40:28):
something and ask all thequestions you can about how they
approach writing and all thatstuff.
God, it would just to be a goodproducer, which I think first
and foremost is recognizing agood script, a good writer, but
then holding their hand, he orshe or group, and and like
(40:48):
getting them to the finish lineto get to the 80 percent to 100
percent, to where a studio islike, wow, this is a movie we
would make.
That's the difference.
That's all the differencebetween success or never having
your screenplay made.
So that would be something Iwould tell a younger version of
me or anyone wanting to be agood producer yeah, fantastic,
(41:12):
you're working on something coolnow oh, what can?
Speaker 2 (41:15):
you tell us anything?
Speaker 1 (41:18):
only I could only tell you what's was already
publicized, which is uh, yeah, Ium, I'm doing this movie called
cola wars with steven spielbergand jed apatow and I can just
say it's awesome.
Um, it's a dream, it's.
It's a movie that, uh, I wouldrun and go see in two seconds if
(41:40):
I saw a trailer and I wasn'tinvolved.
It's to me, the movie I hopeI'll be remembered for, but I'm
just trying to enjoy the processright now of writing it and
working with my idols and justtaking it one day at a time.
But I do often pinch myself, uh,when I'm like because these two
(42:03):
people are everything to me,yeah and they're brilliant and
um the fact that I'm in thisposition, I again feel lucky.
I feel like luck has sort ofbeen a theme of this, this
podcast, for me, but, um, alittle bit of hard work was
involved, but also, yeah, youworked your ass off.
Speaker 2 (42:23):
So it's very exciting you didn't get your summer with
your girlfriend.
Speaker 1 (42:26):
I didn't.
And then we broke up becausethat job was too demanding.
You were too successful.
Speaker 2 (42:32):
It's so hard Will we ever see some direction?
Speaker 1 (42:38):
from you.
I hope that will be next.
I hope to learn as much as Ican from Stephen and Judd.
I think they know a thing ortwo about directing, and also
Judd especially being a writer,and Stephen writes a lot, but he
started as a director.
Judd specifically started as awriter and transitioned into a
director Judd specificallystarted as a writer and
(42:58):
transitioned into a director andI feel ready.
But like I've done my wholelife, I want to do it right.
I want to learn from the bestand know that it's always about
setting yourself up for success.
Speaker 2 (43:13):
Not failure.
So that's what I hope to bedoing Next year, and I do know
you did just get a swimming pool, so you will get a summer soon
right, yes, a lot of poolparties.
Speaker 1 (43:25):
I hope you'll come over we will, and hang in the
pool you don't have to worryabout that.
Speaker 2 (43:29):
Thank you for the invite.
We'll be there.
Speaker 1 (43:31):
Great yeah, great.
Speaker 2 (43:32):
Thank you so much for listening jason schumann,
everybody uh like and subscribebye, thank you.
It turned out to be genius because Friday night
there was no other movies to seeKangaroo Jack, if anyone
remembers, that was basicallythe only other movie out.
So somehow teenagers withnothing else to do flocked.
Speaker 3 (00:16):
This is the Cinematography for Actors,
podcast More than a podcast.
Speaker 2 (00:20):
Cinematography for Actors is a vibrant community
devoted to bridging the gapbetween talent and crew.
Each week, our show offerstransparent, insightful
conversations with industryleaders.
We unveil the magic behind thescenes, from candid discussions
about unique filmmakingprocesses to in-depth technical
exploration.
Join us in unraveling theintricacies of filmmaking, one
(00:42):
episode at a time.
It's more than just cameras andlenses we aim to inspire,
educate and empower as we peelback the curtain on the art of
effective storytelling.
Now on to the episode.
Hi everybody, this isCinematography for Actors
podcast, and I am your host,haley Royal.
I'm very excited today to havean esteemed guest with me.
Speaker 1 (01:06):
But neither an actor nor a cinematographer.
Speaker 2 (01:08):
No, but wait, I'm going to get there with you,
hold on, it'll all make sense.
Jason Schumann everybody youknow him from lots of movies, a
large handful of number one boxoffice winners, contestants and
(01:32):
all amazing other things.
Hello, jason.
Hello, thank you so much forcoming here today.
Speaker 1 (01:37):
Thank you for having me.
Speaker 2 (01:39):
Before we jump in, I will tell you, to make it
apparent why you're here.
Speaker 1 (01:45):
Okay, good.
Speaker 2 (01:46):
We love to talk a lot at Cinematography for Actors
about bridging the gap.
It started out as bridging thegap between talent and crew
Because Indiana, my co-founderco-host, is a cinematographer
and I'm an actor, and werealized that there were a lot
of communication andcollaboration gaps between those
two departments and so we setout to bridge those gaps by
(02:11):
offering context, by teachingtalent and crew how to socialize
with each other throughworkshops, community building,
things like that.
And then we quickly realizedthat those gaps exist between
every department, especially the.
It feels to me like the morebudget you get, the more closed
(02:35):
off those departments becomefrom each other and the less
context everyone has.
So I brought you here todaybecause you are a very wildly
successful producer who bridgedthe gap between producing and
writing, because you then becamea very successful writer and I
(02:58):
want to talk about that and howthat worked and what you found
that you would have liked tohave had from a producer as a
writer and vice versa.
And also I want to know aboutyour life, because we met and I
told you my life story.
Speaker 1 (03:15):
She did, she told me her whole life story.
Speaker 2 (03:17):
You were so gracious and you listened and you were
excited to hear about me and Iwalked away being like, oh, I
don't know anything about thatperson.
So you're here to tell me yourwhole life story and also those
other things.
Speaker 1 (03:32):
All right, all right.
Speaker 2 (03:33):
Let's get into it.
Let's jump in.
You were born, a small infant.
Speaker 1 (03:38):
Quite big.
Speaker 2 (03:39):
Big infant, then I shrunk.
Speaker 1 (03:41):
Yes, I was born in Detroit, Michigan Okay For any
Michiganders out there.
And then we moved to Cleveland,Ohio for any of those Ohioans.
Speaker 2 (03:51):
What age was that move?
Speaker 1 (03:53):
When I was four.
Speaker 2 (03:54):
Okay, Okay, so you'd you were kind of, you'd done a
little bit of school, but notenough to be like solid, I don't
remember.
Speaker 1 (04:01):
I mean my whole family's from Michigan Uncles,
aunts, cousins, grandparents.
So, I have a lot of memories ofMichigan, just not living there
, but my mom was such that shehated that we had.
My dad was a clothing salesman,so we were constantly moving
and my mom made this deal withmy father that she could take me
(04:24):
and my sister back to Michigananytime she wanted.
No matter what so we were alwaysbeing pulled out of school like
always just going back toDetroit for long periods of time
, that you know at the end ofthe school year when they give
like perfect attendance awardsmy mom would always say you will
never win that award.
Speaker 2 (04:42):
Don't worry about that award.
It isn't for you.
How did she skirt truancy lawsto be able?
Speaker 1 (04:50):
to do that.
Are there such things oh?
Speaker 2 (04:52):
yes, oh yes, as a wildly absent child myself.
Police will come to your houseto check on why you haven't been
to school.
So she must have.
Well, not to?
Speaker 1 (05:03):
brag, I was a very good student.
Okay, I cared about grades.
Uh, my sister not so much okay,so we were very different and
she's very successfulacupuncturist now, but we were
very different back in the day,yeah, and so I don't think there
was a worry for me, maybe,maybe for my sister okay, um,
(05:24):
but the teachers were like.
Speaker 2 (05:25):
You know, he gets it, he's good.
Speaker 1 (05:28):
I used to get.
I went to this very preppyprivate school and I had to wear
a suit and tie and uh, maybethat's how we skirted it,
because it wasn't a publicschool yeah and, uh, my mom
liked the idea of me having longhair, so all my pictures in
these like suit and ties.
That's me looking like PrinceValiant or something.
Speaker 2 (05:47):
How long?
Speaker 1 (05:49):
She, would you know, like that.
Speaker 2 (05:52):
Did she ever like pull it back for you?
Were you ever also in?
You know how in the?
Speaker 1 (05:56):
olden days.
Speaker 2 (05:58):
No ponytail.
You know what I'm talking about.
The ponytail with the ribbon.
Yeah, I always found thatincredibly attractive in those
old movies, like a period dramaand a guy with a ponytail and a
bow.
For some reason that bow isvery masculine oh but, only in
that case and never a brave.
Speaker 1 (06:16):
Maybe she was thinking that, no, she just, she
just thought that that's how Ilooked good.
And then I mean, one day Iprobably asked to cut it, and
then I probably cried, becauseisn't that what kids do?
They get their hair cut, theythink it's a good idea, and then
they cry because it's going totake a year to grow back.
Speaker 2 (06:32):
Well, you know, there's so much pressure too,
because you've become a newperson, almost Like when you cut
your hair off, you're a newperson, and I don't know if a
child is ready for that toembody the new person.
And they realize that whenthey're looking in the mirror
and they're like, how do I do,how do I stand up for this?
Like, how do I become this?
I, I get that.
(06:53):
That happened to me a number oftimes where I'd go long from
long to short wow.
Speaker 1 (06:59):
But then we moved to the bay area, we moved to San
Francisco and that's where Ifeel like I had my true teenage
years childhood yeah.
So I was already moving west.
Speaker 2 (07:09):
Yeah, okay, and I did a little research and I heard
that you had a special note fromyour mother to get into R-rated
movies.
Speaker 1 (07:20):
I had a lot of notes from my mom.
Speaker 2 (07:22):
It sounds like your mom was kind of a badass and a
rule breaker.
Speaker 1 (07:26):
Well, she was just loved being a mom.
Okay, so anything that had shewas like.
She was happy to coach thesoccer team, happy to do PTA
stuff, happy to carpool, happyto it was her dream to just have
kids and be a mom.
So, I always had like the bestlunches with cool notes inside
about how great I was.
(07:47):
And so, yes, like if I wantedto go see an R rated movie, it
was just a kinder gentler timeback then where she'd give me a
note and I'd go at 12 years old,I just walk up to the thing and
they would accept it back then,Just quick thing.
Like my mom knew very early onthat I wanted to be a
(08:09):
storyteller of some sort and um,so when, when a movie would
come out that I wanted to go seeright away and I had a bicycle,
I would just ask her if it wasokay if I ditched school and go
see the movie.
And I have to say it's so Idon't know.
I know rule breakers are cooland edgy, but for me there was
(08:30):
something nice about like I'm ata 1230 show for a movie and my
friends have all ditched schooland their parents don't know and
they could come home to angryparents.
Speaker 2 (08:39):
They would come with you.
Speaker 1 (08:41):
Yeah, and I would be like so relaxed thinking like my
it would come with you.
Yeah, and I would be like sorelaxed thinking like my mom's
already approved this.
Speaker 2 (08:46):
Yeah, it's totally fine Well and as a parent too,
I'm sure, like you, would ratherknow that your child is at the
movies, yeah, and not bethinking they're like, just in
case anything happened, you canbe like it's okay, I know where
they are, and just that, likethat freedom to be able to be
like mom.
I am going here because youprobably would have gone anyway.
Speaker 1 (09:08):
I would have gone anyway, but I just enjoyed it
more knowing I wasn't gonna getin trouble when I got home maybe
that's an unedgy part of me, Idon't know.
It just was better, and but Idid something like senior year I
was I did play baseball.
That was like a big sport forme and I was captain of the
baseball team, and which is notsaying much.
(09:29):
It was not some big publicschool team, it was a private
school it was a private schoolwe have.
We have learned that this was aprivate captain of some fancy
high level team, but we went ona like a spring break trip and
someone brought a bottle ofSouthern Comfort.
We all passed it around themotel room.
I did drink it somewhat, howthe principal found out, and all
(09:52):
our parents were called andbrought in.
And my mom pissed the principaloff because my mom was like so
what?
It's a bottle of SouthernComfort and these kids are like
one year away from going tocollege, these kids are going to
start drinking anyway, come on.
The principal, mrs Schumann.
That's not Mrs Schumann.
The rules are they are underageand they're not supposed to be
(10:14):
drinking.
And my mom was like I was doingmuch worse when.
I was my son's age, so that'sjust the kind of mom she was.
Speaker 2 (10:21):
She just respected you as another human being oh,
that's nice it sounds like she'slike.
You have your ideas of howyou're gonna live your life yes,
my job is to support you andgrowing get out of my way
honestly yeah, fantastic.
So you had this note.
Speaker 1 (10:36):
You got to go to movies I went to a lot whenever
you felt like it r movies.
Speaker 2 (10:41):
I just love that story.
And, yeah, that fed you andthen you went to film school.
Speaker 1 (10:49):
Yes, I was sort of like well, I was kind of USC do
or die.
Okay, there was a time when Iwas 16 and I thought I wanted to
go to NYU and my parents Godlove them were like, well, maybe
you should go to a summerprogram at NYU.
So I went Wow, they justdropped me off in New York City.
Think about this there weren'tcell phones back then, so there
(11:12):
was a pay phone in the lobby ofthe dorms and I was supposed to
call on Sundays between 5 and 7.
And that's it.
Speaker 2 (11:19):
That's it.
Speaker 1 (11:19):
That's all they knew of their 16-year-old.
Speaker 2 (11:21):
They're like.
Mine is off at camp.
Speaker 1 (11:24):
I'm like oh my God, would that happen today?
I don't know.
No.
No, but I didn't.
No disrespect to NYU, I didn'tlove it.
Ok, I didn't love being in thecity.
I kind of wanted like a big oldschool campus feeling.
So after that experience I waslike like all or nothing to USC
film school it was.
(11:45):
If I didn't get in there, lifewas over to me at 16, 17 years
old, thank God you got in andwhen I got in I honestly I
thought like the heavens hadparted.
Yeah, and I was.
I'm the anointed one You're thechosen one.
And then you get to orientationand you realize so did everyone
else that got in think they'reGod's gift, and so I was like,
(12:06):
OK, it's time for me to like getoff the high horse and get to
work.
Speaker 2 (12:11):
Yeah, and you.
You realized that immediately.
Speaker 1 (12:15):
Pretty quickly because I was.
I didn't love high school.
I thought a lot of the coursesjust in high school the physics
and it just didn't interest me.
I did what I had to do to get agood grade but I was so much
more interested in history andliterature and storytelling that
(12:36):
it was a lot of the coursesjust were like I have to deal
with this, you know, becauseit's part of high school
curriculum.
But getting into film school,not only that, but then meeting
all these like-minded people, itwas heaven to me right away.
Yeah, I was like.
All these people were likelittle me, from Tennessee, from
(12:56):
Pennsylvania, from all over theplace.
There were me versions of meand we all became like instant
friends and forget having to geta note from my mom.
We would be like we'd have atest on like a Tuesday night and
everyone would be like come on,let's go see the new Tom Hanks
movie.
We'd be like I don't have toask anyone.
Speaker 2 (13:16):
I can do whatever I want.
Speaker 1 (13:18):
So we used to laugh to like our version of like
freedom and everything was notgoing to a party and getting
drunk, but it was like all goingto Westwood on a Wednesday
night To Westwood To see a movie.
Very safe.
Speaker 2 (13:32):
That's amazing.
So you realized that you had toget to work.
And we have a lot of listenerswho are in this area now, who
are, you know, first or secondyear of their undergrad.
They're realizing that theywant to work in film.
So what did get to work mean toyou?
How is it different than justlike, oh, go to your classes and
(13:53):
do have the experience and thengraduate?
How are you getting to workbefore you even graduate?
Speaker 1 (14:00):
It's a great question , I mean, to me it's twofold.
One is well, I'm 18 years oldand I have to acknowledge that,
even though I've watchedthousands of movies, I know
nothing right, and so I need tosort of soak in all these
classes photography, filmhistory, editing, uh, the class
(14:20):
where you make short films Ihave to go into it just feeling
like don't think that, don'tassume I'm just some young
Spielberg or something Like.
Let's just start from scratchand try to see what I think.
Maybe I gravitate toward morewhat I feel like I'm good at,
what interests me.
Am I even good at screenwriting?
Am I even good at whatever?
(14:41):
So that was a lot of it.
Also, trying to take classeslike reading the classics and
then back.
The great thing aboutuniversity as opposed to high
school is I could pick myclasses.
Oh, world War II class, thatsounds interesting.
Oh, a mythology class.
Well, those are where storiescome from, or mythology.
Speaker 2 (15:02):
So you're realizing that you can pick and choose
even your general courses to fitwhat you're looking for on a
large?
I think a lot.
I don't realize that.
A lot of kids don't realizethat there are options that
don't just pick something like Ihave to do this damn class,
like I'll pick this one, butlike look for something that's
(15:23):
going to fit into your overallcareer goals.
Speaker 1 (15:27):
Well, that plays into the second thing I was going to
say, which is finding yourvoice.
Like, as I'll be honest, as ajust kid growing up and say
Northern California and being onswim team playing baseball, it
was part of the community livingup North.
I don't know so much down here,but I felt like I had to find
(15:49):
my voice.
What is it?
What kind of stories do I want?
Speaker 2 (15:52):
to get us back on track, sorry.
Speaker 1 (15:56):
I see like coming before me.
There were people like JohnSingleton at USC and this was
like a kid grew up in Southcentral, popped out of college
with boys in the hood scriptright, had a strong point of
view, right.
I didn't have that life yet.
I hadn't really lived a life,to tell stories other than my
(16:19):
imagination, which is worthsomething.
But I kind of felt like it wastime to start, I don't know,
without going overboard.
I'm not saying like do a bunchof drugs and go crazy.
I felt like I had to start tolive life, so I could figure out
what kind of stories.
I wanted to tell or where myimagination could go.
Speaker 2 (16:42):
There we go Beautiful .
Then you finish school and youhave kind of an enviable.
I'm sorry I'm leading this somuch, but I just I'm proud
that's your job as the intern.
I know, sometimes I like it.
I would go to ramble, though,but you had kind of the dream
transition into career.
(17:03):
You finished school and thenyou had an internship that led
to a job, right yeah, yeah.
And that's.
I feel like it's so smooth.
It's so smooth and just likeclear that that's what was meant
to happen.
Thanks, I guess.
Did you feel that way?
Speaker 1 (17:20):
I'll give you the intricacies, so it doesn't seem
so easy-ish.
I felt like I'm in Los Angeles.
I feel like if you're incollege, I don't care if you
went to USC, if you went tocommunity college, afi, ucla or
any of the surrounding filmschools, which are all
Occidental, what's the one?
(17:43):
Chapman?
Speaker 2 (17:44):
What does Occidental mean?
Speaker 1 (17:46):
I think it's a college.
Speaker 2 (17:47):
Oh, it is a school.
I was like what does that meanabout colleges?
I'm using big 50 centvocabulary Wow.
Speaker 1 (17:57):
Apologies.
I felt like shame on me if Ididn't do some internships while
I'm here.
So the only thing you can do atthat point is look up people
that you like or movies you like, and so I did internships.
Because I loved Lethal Weapon,so I got an internship with this
producer.
Joel Silver at the time hadkind of a bombastic reputation
(18:19):
and it was fun, you know, makingcopies in the copy room,
listening to him screaming rightright um, which those kind of
things led to, like a summer jobbeing a PA.
So one summer I'm here, I'mliving in the dorms and I'm like
running around being a PA on aTV movie, and the TV movie ended
(18:43):
up being produced by this guynamed Arnold Copelson.
I don't know why he was doingthis tiny TV movie, Because he
had won an Oscar for Platoon.
He had had the Fugitive comeout and he not only was at a
gargantuan blockbuster, but hegot nominated for a second Oscar
and I got asked if I wanted todo an internship once school
(19:07):
started back in.
So I was sure yeah.
So then I went every Friday tohis office on the Warner
Brothers lot to do an internshipthere.
Now I could smell the cigarsmoke wafting from his office on
Fridays, when I would be thereAgain just making copies or
answering phones or doingwhatever coffee, and the year
(19:31):
was coming to an end.
I was about to graduate.
I would be there again justmaking copies or answering
phones or doing whatever coffee,and the year was coming to an
end, I was about to graduate, Ihad planned to, I had like my
first grown up girlfriend likeadult related.
Like man, I have a person I cancall my girlfriend.
We were going to have a funsummer, and then I was going to
take life seriously once thefall came.
(19:51):
Um, I didn't know what thatmeant, right, and then?
Speaker 2 (19:53):
but isn't that's how we're like raised to think,
though it's like.
All right, it's summertime andthen we'll get serious in.
August.
Like I love back to school Ieven though I can't do that
anymore, I still think like May17th graduation day should not
be like May 20th.
Speaker 1 (20:10):
I'm supposed to start life.
Speaker 2 (20:11):
I know very weird.
No, no, no, you need a break soyou were going to become an
adult in August yes, after thatsummer.
Speaker 1 (20:19):
so I was ending my internship and, uh, the, the,
the company, arnold's company,was having a movie coming out
that summer, big ArnoldSchwarzenegger movie.
They invited all the interns tocome to the movie premiere,
which is fancy for like acollege kid, that's so nice.
Yeah, so because I would smellthe cigar smoke, I went to some
(20:43):
store in Beverly Hills and Ibought two Cuban cigars which
you can get at the fancy if youjust kind of be like wink wink.
Speaker 2 (20:52):
You're like please, it's for somebody.
There's some Cubans in the backroom.
Speaker 1 (20:54):
Yeah, and so at the premiere I saw him, arnold, and
Arnold Copelson, and I saidthank you for the internship.
It's been a wonderful year.
It ends in two weeks and I gotyou these as a thank you.
Speaker 2 (21:12):
Wow.
Speaker 1 (21:13):
That is wise, beyond your years, to be honest.
Speaker 2 (21:15):
Kiss ass not, not real, like it's just, you were
being appreciative I was, andyou were paying attention, you
know you could have gotten himlike a coffee gift card or
something but you, youmulti-millionaire yeah, here's a
five dollar starbucks gift cardfor you.
Speaker 1 (21:30):
Thanks, but this is where some luck came into it,
because, as I'm giving it to himand he won't accept them, he's
like jason and, by the way, uh,I don't even I'm making that up,
I don't think he knew my firstname yeah I think he was just
saying thank you young man Ican't take these from you and I
said I bought them for you.
I also enjoy cigars and I cansmell them from your office.
And as he's trying to tell mehe can't accept them, literally
(21:54):
Arnold Schwarzenegger walked upnot to me, to him and said oh,
oh, those are good, let's takethem, let's go, let's go to the
parking lot and smoke them.
So they took them.
Yeah, they did not invite me,but they went off.
And two days later I got aphone call from his office
saying we heard you'regraduating.
(22:15):
We want to offer you a job.
Wow, so now it puts my wholeplans, my whole summer plans in
tailspin.
Speaker 2 (22:22):
No beach days.
Speaker 1 (22:23):
No.
Speaker 4 (22:24):
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Speaker 1 (22:56):
So I got some good advice which was like this is a
good opportunity for you.
You can always quit if it's notfor you.
Cause I had kind of thoughtthat I was going to do this
thing where I was going to go,like in the fall, I was going to
start writing this amazingindie script and then I was
going to do this thing where Iwas going to go, like in the
fall, I was going to startwriting this amazing indie
script and then I was going toscrap together some money and
I'm just going to go direct itand cast it and I'm going to do
(23:16):
like mall rats kind of thing,clerks, and just go make an
indie movie.
Well, what about that dream?
What about that?
What about my movie?
But people wisely, were likeJason, jason, why don't you just
ride the roller coaster for aminute?
Why don't you just take the joband see where it goes?
You can always quit.
You can always do that a yearfrom now.
Speaker 3 (23:37):
And.
Speaker 1 (23:37):
I thought that was good advice to me, so I did, I
quit and it was very workinggirl-esque for those who don't
know the movie Melanie Griffithis an assistant and at the end
of the movie Melanie Griffith isan assistant and at the end of
the movie she gets a job.
But she thinks she's going into be an assistant.
And I thought I dressed in thisawful vest and shirt and I went
in and I checked in at thefront and they showed me to my
(24:00):
office and so I was not anassistant, I was a junior
executive oh, oh, my God.
And I had literally justgraduated.
Thank, God, you accepted thatjob, so I went from intern to
junior exec, which I acknowledgenow is not, is very rare and
very lucky because I skippedhaving to be an assistant, which
(24:22):
I know people can spend years,years waiting to get off that
desk, which was great the moment, but also tough in the in the
job because all the assistantshated me yeah yeah, they thought
they were gonna get like howdid this kid?
I've been, I've been on thisdesk for years, but I was
literally the intern who came inon fridays and would do stuff
(24:45):
for the assistants, and now I'mwhat them.
Speaker 2 (24:47):
And all it took was two Cubans, and then, and then
you had a fantastic career as aproducer.
Speaker 1 (24:58):
I will skip that.
I'll give you the abridgedversion.
I did that job.
Speaker 2 (25:03):
We might have to make two episodes.
Speaker 1 (25:04):
I did that job for a couple of years.
I then got lucky where I teamedup with a wonderful producer
named William Sherrick.
We were the same, a whole otherstory but we got this movie.
We went to Australia for ninemonths.
(25:32):
Now I'm going from being ajunior exec to leaping to being
a studio producer, so I tooksome big leaps.
Speaker 2 (25:37):
Do you feel like you were prepared for the work?
No, not for the position, butlike it was the work scary and
hard, or were you like.
Speaker 1 (25:45):
I know how to do it.
It was constant fake it tillyou make it.
Speaker 2 (25:47):
Constantly fake it till you make it.
Listen up, everybody.
Constant fake it till you makeit.
Speaker 1 (25:52):
So we go make this movie.
It's called Darkness Falls.
We come back.
The studio doesn't think muchof it.
It's kind of like a scary movie.
But way before scary movieswere sort of super in vogue.
Anyway, it came out.
It was number one at the boxoffice.
So all of a sudden, in a veryshort span, I went from an
(26:13):
intern to a junior exec tonumber one.
And that got us a big movie dealat the studio and that started
kind of like what I say, likethe 80s montage of my life,
because like for the next 10years, all I was doing was
producing movies.
Suddenly I'm 26, 27, 28 and I'mflying all over the world like
(26:35):
on the set of my own movies yeahit was very surreal yeah, and
really, really cool, let thiskid do it.
Speaker 2 (26:42):
He's got.
He knows what he's doing.
By that point, I was.
Speaker 1 (26:44):
I was feeling confident.
Now I didn't have to fake it asmuch Was Darkness Falls.
Speaker 2 (26:48):
Was that the release that was very strategic on Super
Bowl Sunday?
Yes, okay, will you tell alittle bit of that?
I mean, I'm sorry, I ruined the.
I said the punchline, but tellus about that strategy and who
like, how and why did it workout so well?
Speaker 1 (27:04):
There was this brilliant guy, tom Sherrick, who
passed away years ago but hewas very much mentor, godfather
figure to me at the studio whenwe were there making these
movies and he was like let's putit out on Super Bowl Sunday and
everyone around him was likethat's a dead weekend.
Speaker 2 (27:23):
And nobody done that before.
Speaker 1 (27:24):
Right, no one.
People always scared off ofthat weekend because it's
essentially a two day weekend.
So it's the opposite of aholiday weekend.
It's a weekend because SuperBowl Sunday is.
No one goes to the movies.
Speaker 2 (27:34):
No one's going out.
Speaker 1 (27:36):
So you basically only have Friday night and Saturday,
and that's it.
It turned out to be geniusbecause Friday night there was
no other movies to see KangarooJack, if anyone remembers that
movie that was basically theonly other movie out, so somehow
teenagers with nothing else todo flocked to go see darkness
falls, for whatever reason theycut a great trailer.
(27:58):
So even though we only had twodays, we somehow made a lot of
money in those two days and itchanged my life.
Speaker 2 (28:05):
Tom Sherrick should have been a hedge fund manager.
Speaker 1 (28:07):
He was already very successful man.
Speaker 2 (28:09):
He knew, he knew how yeah, he knew how to sell low,
no, sell high.
Buy low, sell high.
He knew how to do that withmovies.
Okay, so then you decide tomake a career change.
Yes, and this is the gap that Imade in that 12 years.
Speaker 1 (28:27):
I made over 20, 20 movies and, um, I loved it, I
had the best time.
But I never forgot about thetrue passion, the true itch I
had, which was to write, towrite and direct my own stuff.
And I felt like I had learnedso much as producing.
I'd worked with so many greatwriters.
(28:47):
I had sat there for thousandsof hours helping writers work
through their story.
It was now or never.
It was now or never.
And so I just up and it was aguy named Danny Strong.
I don't know if you know whothat is.
Look him up if you don't.
Danny Strong, wildly successfulactor turned writer, showrunner
(29:08):
, director.
He had moved to New York and hetold me like get out of LA.
You're never going to get intothe writer's mind being in LA
doing your day to day as aproducer.
I see you had to escape thepeople who knew you as one thing
and to get out of my routine.
Speaker 2 (29:29):
And to get out of your routine.
And to get out of your routine.
Speaker 1 (29:30):
I see.
So I went to New York and juststarted writing.
Speaker 2 (29:34):
How long did you stay in New York?
Speaker 1 (29:35):
Four years.
Speaker 2 (29:36):
Okay, you moved, yes, for a long time.
Was that the plan, or did youthink you would go for a little
bit?
Speaker 1 (29:44):
I had no plan except I want to be a writer and I want
to be a great writer.
I don't just want to.
For those listening, I have alot of friends who also are
trying to be writers and I thinkthe mistake they make is they
spend a year on one script.
Don't do that.
Speaker 2 (29:59):
Right.
Speaker 1 (30:01):
Don't think this is your opus.
I was just trying to hone mycraft.
I was writing a script everyfour to six weeks and then
throwing it away.
Speaker 3 (30:09):
Whoa.
Speaker 1 (30:09):
I was writing a script every four to six weeks
and then throwing it away.
Whoa, I was giving it tofriends getting notes and then
I'd throw it away.
Speaker 2 (30:13):
Throw it away meaning never look at it again.
Yeah, like don't you're not.
Speaker 1 (30:16):
I'm evolving as a writer.
Speaker 2 (30:17):
I'm evolving.
You're just letting him go.
Speaker 1 (30:19):
I'm not spending hours tweaking and obsessing on
that one script.
Speaker 2 (30:24):
When you're throwing a script away, are you also
parting with that story?
Speaker 1 (30:28):
and never telling it again.
Speaker 2 (30:31):
You never know.
Speaker 1 (30:31):
Maybe 10 years from now like when John Hughes like
was John Hughes.
He started taking scripts offthe shelf that he had written in
his 20s.
Speaker 2 (30:39):
And you're like well, I have this one here, yeah,
yeah.
Speaker 1 (30:42):
But I was trying to hone my craft, trying to evolve
as a writer, not trying to putall my eggs in one basket.
Yeah, okay, trying to evolve asa writer, not trying to put all
my eggs in one basket.
Yeah, okay.
And so after two and a halfyears, I felt that I was at the
level, that I felt confident.
That I felt because, in thereal world of writing, once you
sell something, the demands onyou, the ability to have to take
(31:05):
notes and turn them around, arehuge.
And if you've spent a year plusobsessing on one script and,
let's say, you sell it, and thenthe producers in the studio are
like great, we're so excitedabout this, here's our notes, we
need it in four weeks, how areyou prepared for that?
You're not, because you're soobsessed.
So then you're going to freakout and then you're going to
(31:27):
look bad.
Anyway, it's just fromexperience of a lot of my
friends.
I wanted to avoid that.
Speaker 2 (31:32):
So you feel like, you feel like it helped you.
Not, you know, be so preciousabout things, don't?
Be precious.
Because, you were like okay,you don't like this one, I'll
write another one for you in amonth, don't worry, okay, yeah,
that's very good advice.
Speaker 1 (31:51):
So advice, so again, giving you the abridged version.
Yeah, I, after two and a halfyears, I felt like I had a
writing sample.
That was good and I sent it out.
I got signed by CAA.
Uh, it was a tv spec sent itout, meaning what?
I changed my name, I wasn't surewhat my reputation was in the
business, and by reputation Ididn't mean good or bad
reputation, I just I didn't knowwho knew me or didn't know me,
(32:11):
right, right, but I just didn'twant that to cloud the read.
Right?
Oh, jason isn't he a producer.
Speaker 2 (32:17):
Isn't he a producer?
Speaker 1 (32:17):
yeah, so I just put a fake name, sent it out, but
then when I was sitting therewith the CA agents, I
immediately said my name's notwhatever.
That was my name's JasonSchumann, I don't know any of
you.
So I feel like this is a startstarting from scratch.
Speaker 2 (32:33):
It's safe for us to start here with real names.
I see.
Speaker 1 (32:36):
They didn't seem to care.
They loved that I had aproducing backdrop and I said I
really want to show run, I wantto be a TV show runner, and so I
hope that my background asproducer and now my newfound
thing as a writer can and it did.
Speaker 2 (32:52):
You deciding to change your name and just send
it in on merit and not.
It's almost like you know howsometimes people who have
parents in the industry are likeno, I don't want to like ride
on their coattails, I'm going todo it just because I'm good.
But you did that with yourselfand your own hard work.
(33:12):
You were like no, I'm not evenme, you don't even know me for
the good work I've already done.
Speaker 1 (33:17):
Well, that's strategic, because there is a
bias when people are trying tohyphenate yeah, there can be a
bias and like oh, anotherproducer who wants to write.
I actually was doing it toprotect myself.
Speaker 2 (33:32):
Is that a thing Producers who want to write?
I think so.
Speaker 1 (33:35):
I mean, look, if you want to write, write, oh an
actor who wants to direct ohthere are some natural
transitions, but I feel like anactor who has a script or a
producer who has a script gets alittle bit of an eye roll.
But you have to overcome that.
You have to believe in yourstuff.
Speaker 2 (33:53):
Yeah, solidly enough to overcome the eye a little bit
of a cheat code to be like lookit's good, yeah, I'm, I'm.
You have never heard this namebefore, is it good, right?
Yeah, okay, all right, move on.
Here we go.
Speaker 1 (34:05):
Sorry that's a good, you use a good point, though.
Yeah, it could go either way wehave some exciting news.
Speaker 3 (34:12):
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Speaker 2 (34:32):
It could go either way.
Speaker 1 (34:34):
But I got agents, felt like a writer for the first
time in those years, sold thatTV pilot to 20th and then it
didn't go to pilot.
So I was like what now?
And my agents were like, likewrite another one, do another
one.
I wrote another one the nextseason.
I sold that to Sony TV, uh, andthen CBS didn't make it to
(34:58):
pilot.
So now I'm like kind of two fortwo, but I felt like, oh for
two.
Speaker 2 (35:01):
Right, you're like sold them both, but can we see
it?
Speaker 1 (35:05):
yeah like you, want a table read I know didn't get
that far but now I feel like I'mmaking money.
Yeah, I'm kind of a writer nowI'm, I'm, I'm, I'm in the
transition phase.
Then I had a wonderful strokeof luck again where I met this,
uh, gentleman named eduardocisneros, who was introduced me
(35:25):
to another mentor of mine,sanford panich, who, who worked
at Copelson when I was there.
So a lot of times in my lifethings came full circle and he
introduced me to Eduardo.
Eduardo was this reallysuccessful producer out of
Mexico who had this massivemovie called instructions, not
(35:47):
included, um, which was thebiggest hit ever, multi-language
hit um, and he had beenpartners with this actor, uh,
ogenio derbez, and I meet himand there's a lot of there of
like I meet him.
He's already such anestablished writer, but I had
(36:07):
read somewhere from judd Apatowthat when he worked the comedy
clubs and like Jim Carrey or BenStiller would say, hey, can you
write me a joke about whatever,about toilets he would come
back the next day with 15 jokesabout toilets and that's how he?
impressed Jim Carrey and BenStiller and they all wanted him.
(36:27):
So I prepared for the meetingand I came in with the 12 ideas
that we could work on togetherand he liked the actually the
12th one wow uh, I thought I waslike failing failing you did he
liked the 12th one.
We worked on it.
We pitched it to Fox moviestudio.
They bought it.
Yeah, yeah, so now my firstmovie pitch got sold.
Speaker 3 (36:50):
Mm-hmm.
Speaker 1 (36:51):
We write it together.
Again, it doesn't get made, butwe had a great time, mm-hmm,
and that led to a movie calledHalf Brothers which we sold to
Focus, which did get made.
Speaker 2 (37:00):
All right, so we're moving up in the world.
Speaker 1 (37:02):
I'm getting movies made.
Speaker 2 (37:03):
now here we go.
Speaker 1 (37:04):
that exact same time is when we created Acapulco
which we sold to Apple oh, thankyou, I love it, um, which was
like a semi-autobiographicalstory, mixing his life and my
life, which I thought in itselfis highly original a Jewish kid
from the Midwest and a Mexicankid from, like, an immigrant
(37:30):
from Mexico.
We're blending our lives andour stories to create this
potentially original story abouta kid in Acapulco in the 80s,
and now that's like leads tothis four-season hit show on
Apple.
But that all started because ofthat introduction to him and
because of our wonderful, lovingworking together.
Speaker 2 (37:52):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (37:53):
So that led to Acapulco.
Speaker 2 (37:56):
So now, as a producer who writes, a writer who
produces, what do you, whatcontext do you wish producers
had on writers and what contextdo you wish writers had on
writers and what context do youwish writers had on?
Producers you know like the,the job, the people, the whole
thing.
Speaker 1 (38:14):
Like what would have made either of your jobs easier
had you known certain thingswell, as a producer, I always
had the mindset that I am like Ihave no skill specifically.
I'm just supposed to watch overeverybody and be as respectful
as possible, which is nice, Iguess, because I'm acknowledging
(38:37):
that I don't know how tocostume design, so I'm hoping to
hire the best person and letthem do their job and I'm here
for them if there's a problem,or I'm here to sort of deal with
it if a problem happens.
But with writing I think Ishould have gone deeper than
that, because I'm sitting therewith them months, years before
(39:00):
the.
It's one thing to have thatattitude once we're in
production because we're movingso fast we're in production.
I can't know the intricacies ofcinematography, of costume
design, you need to be able totrust.
With writing now that I'm on theother side of it and I'm so
obsessed with structure andcharacter arcs and everything
I'm like what, what, what?
(39:22):
I can't believe that at 22years old, arnold was sitting me
down with million dollarwriters going like Jason, read
your script.
He has some thoughts yeah andthese million dollar writers are
have to listen to me yeah, theydo and then I'm a producer all
of a sudden at 25, 26 years old.
And now they really have tolisten to me and I think back
upon how little I knew aboutscreenplay struck, even though I
(39:46):
went to film school.
I took classes, but untilyou're actually doing it for a
living, day in and day out inthe script, learning about scene
structure, character structure,all those sort of things, I
just I'm baffled right that Ihad any success early on,
because how could I have had anygood notes?
Speaker 2 (40:06):
he just saw.
Speaker 1 (40:07):
He saw it, he knew what was gonna happen so I
implore producers and I bet allthe good producers out there do
do this, I would hope which is,try your best to read some
screenplay books or try toreally understand.
Or take your best screenwriterfriend out to dinner or
(40:28):
something and ask all thequestions you can about how they
approach writing and all thatstuff.
God, it would just to be a goodproducer, which I think first
and foremost is recognizing agood script, a good writer, but
then holding their hand, he orshe or group, and and like
(40:48):
getting them to the finish lineto get to the 80 percent to 100
percent, to where a studio islike, wow, this is a movie we
would make.
That's the difference.
That's all the differencebetween success or never having
your screenplay made.
So that would be something Iwould tell a younger version of
me or anyone wanting to be agood producer yeah, fantastic,
(41:12):
you're working on something coolnow oh, what can?
Speaker 2 (41:15):
you tell us anything?
Speaker 1 (41:18):
only I could only tell you what's was already
publicized, which is uh, yeah, Ium, I'm doing this movie called
cola wars with steven spielbergand jed apatow and I can just
say it's awesome.
Um, it's a dream, it's.
It's a movie that, uh, I wouldrun and go see in two seconds if
(41:40):
I saw a trailer and I wasn'tinvolved.
It's to me, the movie I hopeI'll be remembered for, but I'm
just trying to enjoy the processright now of writing it and
working with my idols and justtaking it one day at a time.
But I do often pinch myself, uh,when I'm like because these two
(42:03):
people are everything to me,yeah and they're brilliant and
um the fact that I'm in thisposition, I again feel lucky.
I feel like luck has sort ofbeen a theme of this, this
podcast, for me, but, um, alittle bit of hard work was
involved, but also, yeah, youworked your ass off.
Speaker 2 (42:23):
So it's very exciting you didn't get your summer with
your girlfriend.
Speaker 1 (42:26):
I didn't.
And then we broke up becausethat job was too demanding.
You were too successful.
Speaker 2 (42:32):
It's so hard Will we ever see some direction?
Speaker 1 (42:38):
from you.
I hope that will be next.
I hope to learn as much as Ican from Stephen and Judd.
I think they know a thing ortwo about directing, and also
Judd especially being a writer,and Stephen writes a lot, but he
started as a director.
Judd specifically started as awriter and transitioned into a
director Judd specificallystarted as a writer and
(42:58):
transitioned into a director andI feel ready.
But like I've done my wholelife, I want to do it right.
I want to learn from the bestand know that it's always about
setting yourself up for success.
Speaker 2 (43:13):
Not failure.
So that's what I hope to bedoing Next year, and I do know
you did just get a swimming pool, so you will get a summer soon
right, yes, a lot of poolparties.
Speaker 1 (43:25):
I hope you'll come over we will, and hang in the
pool you don't have to worryabout that.
Speaker 2 (43:29):
Thank you for the invite.
We'll be there.
Speaker 1 (43:31):
Great yeah, great.
Speaker 2 (43:32):
Thank you so much for listening jason schumann,
everybody uh like and subscribebye, thank you.
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