February 6, 2024 • 57 mins
Actress / Writer / Director / Producer / Singer / Dancer - Nell Teare
COVEpod Host Paul Carganilla has the pleasure of sitting down with the multifaceted Nell Teare: an award-winning director, producer, actress, and writer whose story is marked by resilience and a steadfast commitment to the arts. Nell's creative journey encapsulates the heart's fire of a passionate creative spirit. In this episode, she opens up about her roots, her family's struggles, and the serendipitous shift from acting to directing, offering an intimate view into the trials and triumphs that have shaped her remarkable career. Take a peek behind-the-scenes into the process behind writing, producing, and directing her independent feature, "Bolivar", which is making festival rounds and available to stream at home on many platforms. Join us as we celebrate the collaborative beauty of Nell's work and the narratives that connect us all.
OFFICIAL WEBSITE: www.nellteare.com
EPISODE VIDEOS: www.covetube.com
COVE DIRECTORY: https://linktr.ee/covepod
COVE PATREON: www.patreon/covepodcast
CONTACT: covepod@gmail.com
POETRY PERFORMER: Craig Jackman
POETRY: “Star of the Show" [ Rhona McFerran ]
VOICE-OVER INTRODUCTION: Malcolm McDowell ( "A Clockwork Orange", "Star Trek Generations", "Halloween" (2007) )
SOCIAL MEDIA TEAM: Craig Jackman, Emily Thatcher, Christina Marie Bielen, Dary Mills, Amanda Benjamin
PATREON CURATORS: Jamie Carganilla, Emily Thatcher, The Faeryns, Charity Swanson, Krista Faith King, Kelsey B Gibson, Angelica Bollschweiler, Anna Giannavola, Gina Dobbs, Merrill Mielke, Susan Kuhn, Josefa Snider
INTRO MUSIC: “Papi Beat” [ KICKTRACKS ]
CREDITS MUSIC: “Fat Banana” [ KICKTRACKS ]
HOST, CREATOR, EXECUTIVE PRODUCER, CREATIVE DIRECTOR, EDITOR: Paul Carganilla
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
I feel like these moments that we actually sort of
memorized or like crystallized,are the times that we are
present.
Speaker 2 (00:13):
Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the Cogginilla
online variety entertainmentpodcast.
Here's your host, paulCogginilla.
Speaker 3 (00:24):
Hello, and welcome to Cove.
This is the online variety showin which we aim to both
entertain and inspire ourpodcast listeners and YouTube
viewers through a variety of artforms, including music, poetry,
storytelling, special guestinterviews, travel blogs,
dramatic readings.
So much more a whole grab bag,a jumbalaya of conversations,
(00:47):
experiences, thoughts,reflections to listen to each
week to keep you going and toget you excited about new
episodes every Tuesday, righthere.
And I am super amped, soexcited, to introduce everyone
here in the Cove community to anew friend of mine, whom I met
because she's the director of aproject that Everly's been
working on.
(01:07):
But her work, her art, hercreative journey is one I cannot
wait to dive into, and I'lltell you all of the reasons why
in just a sec.
But first, of course, we've gotto pull the cart back in front
of the horse and say hello tothe man behind the scenes, our
producer, producer, craigJackman.
Welcome.
Speaker 4 (01:27):
Hello everybody.
Oh, my God, paul you.
This interview today is goingto be exciting.
I am looking forward to it aswell.
I read her bio and boy talkabout somebody who she's driven.
She's gone through a lot to getto where she is today and
(01:49):
what's amazing is she doesn't.
She's she's young and she stillgot more to give.
And I'm just excited to listento her and listen to, like you
said, her experiences, becausethis is what makes this is what
makes people go to the nextlevel.
Each item that you take in,each item that you learn to do,
(02:13):
each item that you experiencegraduates you to a new level.
Speaker 3 (02:18):
Yeah, every step of the way.
As we talk about often on thispodcast, it's important to
celebrate the milestone andcelebrate what we have
accomplished, while we continueto move forward and while her
journey has been prettyincredible so far, we know, you
know, just like so many creatorsand people, with that heart
fire burning in them.
Like she's only just begun, I'msure, and but we will have a
(02:42):
chat with her.
I cannot wait, as I've alreadystated, and I'll tell you all
more about her.
Professionally, our guest todayis Nell tear.
She's an award winning director,producer and actress and writer
as well.
She's a native Texan andgraduate of the New York
University Tisch School of theArts.
That's where Jamie went so cool.
(03:02):
She trained as a stage actorand was a member of the original
cast of Memphis, which went onto win the Tony Award for Best
Musical in 2010.
In 2012, she began her careeras a director and has since
completed over 150 projects,including more than 20 foreign
language dubs for Netflix,amazon and Disney.
(03:25):
She's directed feature and shortfilms, commercials, live stage
performances, pilotpresentations, web series and
music videos, and her featurefilm Bolivar is available on all
cable, satellite and digitalplatforms through freestyle
media.
She's currently attached tothree feature films and is
adapting a book into a limitedseries through her production
(03:47):
company, teer Lit.
Nell is also the founder ofHarmon Creek Press, through
which she published herchildren's book Celia and the
Witches, and she is dedicated tomentoring teens and young
people.
I can say firsthand she workswith kids so well.
Ladies and gentlemen, pleasejoin me in welcoming to the
Carganilla online varietyentertainment podcast Now Teer.
Speaker 1 (04:13):
Wow, that was really wonderful.
Thanks, guys.
Speaker 3 (04:17):
It is really wonderful of you to join us, and
I'm so happy to be here.
Oh, are you excited about the60 second icebreaker
introduction challenge?
Speaker 1 (04:27):
Yeah, man, I'm going to go way.
I'm going to try to go way backin and come to now.
Speaker 3 (04:32):
Wow, I like that you are challenging yourself with
this.
I'll get the stopwatch readyand here we go.
Okay, three, two, one.
Speaker 1 (04:41):
Okay, so my name is Nell Teer.
I was born Eleanor Gibson Teerin Houston, texas.
At about age six I moved to ourblueberry farm and was a farm
girl until I was 11.
Moved back to Houston, went toa performing arts magnet middle
school, performing arts, highschool, hspda.
(05:01):
Then I went to New York, livedin New York, ford was on stage
singing and dancing, grew upperforming with my mom.
She was one of the originalDean Martin Goldbeards.
Moved to LA 14 years ago I wasdoing the Randy Newman musical
and then I became a director.
I'm a dog mom to Moe Moliere, alittle cheapoo.
(05:25):
I'm a plant mom to multipleindoor and outdoor plants.
I love to paint.
I love to sing and dance, stilland write.
I think I'm a great bread baker.
My boyfriend's name is RichPaul and I love him very much.
Speaker 3 (05:44):
That was like 60 seconds exactly.
Did you rehearse that?
That was amazing.
Speaker 1 (05:47):
No, no, I did not that was so good Love it.
Speaker 3 (05:51):
We're going to dive into some of the stuff you just
mentioned, but I have to say offthe bat that I've never I
haven't.
My show is young.
We are toward the end of seasonone.
This is episode 31 or 32 ishand I have to meet someone who I
saw so much of myself in as Iwas doing the prep work and
(06:12):
research and learning more aboutyou.
Of course we spent a little bitof time together, but it's
while everybody's working andwe're.
You know we don't have a wholelot of time to really chat and
get to know each other, butthere's so many parallels in
like your journey so far andmine.
I grew up like.
My first love and desire was tobe an actor, just like yours.
(06:34):
And then, along the way, peopleare telling me you should, you
should direct, you should reallybe a director and I started
writing and producing my ownstuff Web series, music videos
to finally made my own, wrote,directed, start in my own short
films up until my own featurefilm.
And looking at your backgroundand I'm like we've taken the
(06:56):
same path on a lot of this stuff.
But then I was listening toanother podcast that you were on
called the 101 podcast, and yousaid something that just blew
my mind, because I was just like, oh my God, like are we the
same person?
So they were asking you.
They were asking you, like,what your advice is when you,
when you meet people who areexperiencing trepidation or
(07:17):
intimidated to take the firststep or a big creative step, and
you said something that took meright back to so back when I
worked for Disney, my commutewas like two or three hours each
way a day and I used to filmthese while I'm sitting in
traffic.
I used to film these likeencouraging things that I would
just post on Facebook, and oneof them I'm going to play for
(07:42):
you.
I'm going to producer Craig'sgoing to play for you right now
and we'll see if it, if youcatch the part where I was just
like, oh my God, craig, if youcan't wait.
So this is from November of2015.
So this is from eight years ago.
Speaker 2 (07:57):
Today is freaking amazing.
It already is, so treat it thatway.
You are a magician, you are.
You are magic.
You're not what you see in themirror.
You are a ball of love andmagical energy, driving a flesh
(08:18):
covered skeleton on a rock thatis rolling through space.
You're freaking awesome andtoday is here for you to enjoy
and grab by the nuts, do it.
Make today as amazing as it is.
Give it the credit it deserves.
Give yourself the opportunityto enjoy everything that today
(08:42):
has to offer.
Drive that skeleton, make thatmagic.
Speaker 1 (08:49):
Oh my God.
Speaker 3 (08:53):
So I think your words on the podcast were like we're,
we're like oh, it's my mantra.
Speaker 1 (08:58):
It's we're on a rock spinning an infinity, next to a
ball of fire, and it's a star.
It's a star.
It's a star that's circlingthrough space.
That's my mantra.
So why not do everything,because it's already like the
fact that we're here is justkind of like Wow, a mind blowing
(09:20):
miracle, that is hysterical.
That's amazing, and so I waslistening to it.
I was like what, oh my God?
And they made me.
They made me like a Mondaymotivation meme, which is
Everyone actually rich makes funof me, because I somehow am
able to weave that into everynew person that I meet, into
(09:40):
that conversation.
I'm like just sitting on a rockspinning in the middle of
infinity, like to a ball of fire, you know.
Speaker 3 (09:48):
Do you understand how magical that is and how magical
this experience that we'rehaving is Right.
So, not only like our journeyand our background, but like I
had through the themes I had theabsolute pleasure of watching
Bolivar this past week and thethemes that you touch on with
that film I'm not going to giveand we're going to talk more
(10:09):
about the film later but are somany of what was woven into my
short films that I made beforemy feature and my feature.
My feature is about a team ofghost hunters.
It's a fun, popcorn,entertaining flick but the woven
into the core of the message itdeals with grief and moving on
(10:30):
and appreciating the day whileyou have it.
But dealing with that stage ofgrief is a big theme in my own
feature and it's obviously ahuge part of yours.
And I was just blown away.
I was like you cannot wait totalk to her about her journey
and her motivations and well, Ithink we're always grieving.
Speaker 1 (10:50):
I mean human beings, you know, we're set up to
anticipate and then to grievethe thing that we've been
anticipating, right.
So there's like this longingand loss that's so woven into
what it means to be a humanbeing and I feel like these
moments that we actually sort ofmemorized or like crystallized,
(11:13):
are the times that we arepresent and those are the things
that we replay because we werepresent in that moment.
You know, like in Boliver, allof her flashback for the, you
know.
So I love that, I I love it.
Sorry to interrupt, continueplease.
Speaker 3 (11:35):
No, I was nervous going into this because, like I
was, like I have so much to sayto her.
But you know, this episode'sall about you and your journey.
Oh my gosh.
I didn't want you to feel likeI was.
I was taking Us.
But yeah, so we've gone over.
We kind of went step by stepthrough your, your bio.
But Tell us how it all began.
(11:56):
I know you grew up on stagewith your, with your, surrounded
by family, performing.
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (12:00):
Yeah, so well.
My mom Was a stage actress fromthe time.
She was very little, I mean, Ithink she was probably like six
or seven when she startedperforming on stage and Tore it
all over as a melody made.
She was a beautiful singer,dancer, and she was performing
in Houston in the late 60s andproducer named Jonathan Lucas
(12:27):
Was coming in, like they didback in the day, to direct
regional productions in thebigger cities and he asked the
both of the Susie at the timeone now Susie Ewing and my
mother to come and be Golddiggers on the D Martin show and
so they did and it performed inVietnam and traveled with Bob
(12:49):
Hope and Ann Margaret andeverybody.
And she came back, married mydad and we grew up in Houston
but she was kind of the host ofthe town through the 70s into
the 80s and that's.
We started performing with herand we really performed
everywhere we possibly could, nomatter where we lived.
(13:09):
Like oil market crash, dad losteverything.
We moved to our farm, we weredoing community theater and she
went back to get her degree atSam Houston State University, so
we were like the kids in allthe productions and then moved
in to her childhood home inBeaumont for a little bit Work
at Beaumont community playerswhere I met a dear friend named
Jessica Rush, who's a Broadwaystar, and I'm still in contact
(13:33):
with her, but it was like a yearand a half.
And then back to Houston whereshe stopped performing because
of her struggle with drugs andalcohol.
But then I picked up the torchand Was performing all over
Houston and then New York andthen all over the country and
the world, and then, you know,and I got behind the camera.
I don't know.
(13:53):
Can I answer that question?
Speaker 3 (13:55):
Yeah, yeah.
And somewhere along the lineyou know I remember it was a
funny from the other podcastsaid you, some people started to
mention you should direct andyou took that Like a oh, I was
heartbroken.
Speaker 1 (14:09):
I was doing greats of wrath with my mom.
I was 10.
She was this adorable Tinylittle thing, like five foot two
lawn, so cute, adorable, youknow.
And the director of greats ofwrath was this Very sort of you
know loud.
I remember her being tall andlike large, like it was the 80s
(14:30):
or early 90s.
It's like you know she had onthose shoulder pads and her hair
was big and I Was, I guess Iwas holding court with some of
the other adult actors and shecame out to me and she goes oh,
nelly, I think one day you'llgrow into a great actor, a great
director.
And I, I went home that nightand cried my eyes out because I
(14:56):
thought she was telling me Iwasn't pretty enough or like
Cute or little.
I wasn't enough, like my mother, to be an actress.
So I was gonna be a director,you know.
And so for years people werelike do you want to direct?
Absolutely not.
No, thank you.
No, I don't.
I'm an actress, thanks, no, no.
Speaker 3 (15:12):
Yeah, it's not funny.
It's such a thing like when you, when you've made up your mind
you want to be an actor, youwant to be on stage in front of
the camera.
If anybody suggests that youshould write or direct, excuse
me.
Speaker 1 (15:23):
It's like why.
Speaker 3 (15:24):
I haven't gotten my actors my Oscar yet.
Speaker 1 (15:27):
Yeah, you don't think I'm.
Yeah, I was heartbroken.
Speaker 3 (15:32):
What's really cool about the experience that you
had growing up was being around,constantly being immersed in it
.
I remember, you know, I grew uparound, mostly around music,
and it wasn't until high school,college, that I started to hit
the stage and I really fell inlove with acting and performing.
But what, how valuable did youfind that to be?
(15:53):
To just like, from yourearliest memories, to be around
veterans of the craft?
Speaker 1 (15:59):
Oh, man, I, you learned so so much just by
listening and that was all youknow.
I, I loved the world.
I've always been so in lovewith the world and the people
and sort of the like.
You know, the traveling, circusaspect of this lifestyle that
(16:20):
we have and Most of my mentorshave always been Older in the
business and I just sit andlisten and listen, and listen
and I remember being in thegreen room doing homework and
just Wanting to hear every storyof, like the faulty scenery or
the headdress in South Pacificthat set on fire and, you know,
(16:42):
forgetting the lines and thewhole.
You know it was just yeah, Ithink that it it adds so much
depth to life.
The arts, you know, and peopleare so hungry for it and I think
We've really lost, especiallyin this country, the focus on
(17:02):
that and I was lucky enough toto have it sort of built into my
existence.
But you know, I mean justthinking about school and plays
at school and being surroundedby people who draw and paint,
and that that's cool and it'snot weird.
You know poetry and write yourpoetry and be the adolescent and
you know, I don't know.
(17:24):
I loved it, I love it, I seekit out wherever I am always.
Speaker 3 (17:30):
Wonderful.
Can you remember what happenedor what the catalyst was for you
to start writing?
Speaker 1 (17:39):
Well, the interesting thing is that, like I was
saying, poetry, I think my firstmy like, my first loves were
plants and, and like creaturesand plants and poetry.
I fell in love with poetry whenI was a little girl, and so I
(18:01):
started writing poems as earlyas six.
I think my dad kept them all.
He loved my writing and so I'vealways, always written.
I tried to write novels when Iwas in high school.
I Would publish things formyself and print them out and
like make books, and so I've,I've always written, and then in
(18:21):
2009, I published a children'sbook.
You know, kind of did it myself, but Barnes and Noble picked it
up and Did some school touringwith that.
So it's always a love, and thefirst, the first full screenplay
I ever wrote is an animatedfeature that we're still
(18:43):
Shopping around now that we'reworking on selling but or making
.
I hope to sell it, I want todirect it, but so that was the
first one and I have a couple.
But, yeah, I think the writingwas always a very.
It was very much like apersonal or private love.
The the performing was anextension of my mom and Kind of
(19:05):
an expression of ourrelationship and our love.
The writing was very much myown and I loved that.
My father thought it was reallymy strong, my strongest talent.
That's awesome.
Speaker 3 (19:22):
Yeah, I Wish I'd known ahead of time.
We share poems on this show aswell.
Do you stop?
If you have probably handy, wecould feature some of your
poetry as well.
Speaker 1 (19:33):
Let me see, we'll keep talking, but I'm gonna see,
I'm gonna search it out.
Speaker 3 (19:39):
Yeah, we could always fix it in post and add it in
later.
Speaker 1 (19:44):
Exactly right.
Oh the scariest phrase will fixit in post.
It never gets it or it justtakes way longer.
Way longer than the fix justright here, but so?
Speaker 3 (19:55):
but screenwriting and Writing poetry, writing
children's book?
Is there different beasts?
Did you have any outdoors ordid you take a class?
Is that all self-taught, allself-taught?
Speaker 1 (20:11):
I Mean in school.
You know, right, I loved.
I had the most wonderfulEnglish teacher my junior year
of High school.
Ms Ballard loved her.
She's no longer on the planet,but she was just fantastic and
she recognized my talents Inthat department and that gave me
(20:36):
sort of that Excitement.
And then, when I was at NYU, Itook a class called
Autobiography, writing, theautobiography and oh my gosh, oh
my gosh Laura what is Laura'slast name?
She was just she was.
She was one of my advisors too.
(20:57):
I took her class and everyonewas just like intimidated by her
.
She was such a great writer andI Took the course and I fell in
love with it and she also reallyloved my writing and so I think
it was the encouragement thatkept me going and and really
it's kind of my dance on allthings that you know you can,
(21:19):
you can watch others and you cantake courses and you can do all
of that.
But if you're trying to createsomething that is outside of
yourself, it's gonna fall flat.
And If it's coming from theinside and it's just something
that you see in your mind or youhear in your head and you have
to do it, then Just do it.
(21:41):
You know, that's what editorsare for, that's what you know
you can.
You can adjust thingsafterwards, but like get out the
raw, that raw thing, that rawstone and Creation, whatever it
is.
Speaker 3 (21:57):
That was a big, big learning curve, or a big
milestone, when I was.
I'm also self-taughtscreenwriter.
But yeah, the whole idea of getthat first draft done, no
matter how crappy it is, becauseI would fall into that pitfall
of one day I would write tenpages.
The next day I would sit downand I would spend my whole time
Rewriting eight of the ten pages.
Speaker 1 (22:18):
I know I did that too .
Speaker 3 (22:20):
You get stuck until you finally you realize you just
get that first draft done andget that turd out there and then
polish it right, right, and Idon't know about you, but like
I'm a, I Will think things foryears before I ever write it
down.
Speaker 1 (22:37):
I, if I don't know where I'm going and that doesn't
mean the middle is necessarilysolidified, necessarily
solidified but if I don't knowwhere I'm headed and I don't
know where I'm starting, I won'twrite it.
That's kind of how my brainworks, you know.
It's like I need to know whereI'm going.
Speaker 3 (22:58):
Got to have that outline and that breakdown
before you sit down and plowthrough.
So tell me about that fearedand horrific transition to
directing.
What spawned that and how didthat begin?
Speaker 1 (23:12):
Well, that's interesting because I've been
doing a little bit moreintrospection on that, or
excavation, rather.
I stopped performing on stagewhen my mom died and I didn't
even recognize that that's whatwas happening.
(23:32):
She died in the midst of a showthat I was doing called the
Last Berry Tail.
She was very sick.
I had just finished the RandyNewman musical and then I went
directly into rehearsals for thenext Berry Tail at Celebration
Theatre in LA and she was sickand I was flying back and forth
(23:56):
and flying back and forth to bewith her and when she passed
away, it's when I startedpainting.
I really I had a year where Iwas just ravenous, I just wanted
to paint, and paint, and paintand paint, and I think it was
like the beginning of thedirecting, because it was all
(24:19):
everything inside of frame,maybe the control of that, but I
think I was so wounded that Ijust the idea of doing a musical
without her on the planet wouldkind of.
But again, it wasn't conscious.
I didn't recognize that untilnow I'm looking at it 12 years
(24:40):
later.
But then I was asked out of theblue to direct a one woman show
stage and we shot this littleKickstarter video to go with it.
It's a show that's still kindof going around.
Jessica Abrams, great comedian,actress, writer, and I went
(25:01):
around and I startedinterviewing all these women
about what they see when theylook in the mirror.
Because the play is called If ILook this Good, why Do I Feel
Like Shit?
And so when I did that, Iedited it with my friend, bobby
Field, and sat there and like,put these things together and
added music and timing and I waslike, oh my God, oh my God, I
(25:28):
love, this is what I am, this iswho I am.
And so I enrolled in a coursecalled the Art of Visual
Storytelling, taught by MilesWatkins, and it was like this
three month crash course youwrote, shot, edited a film each
month.
So put all of my money intothat and made these three things
(25:52):
and just was in love with itand I had like boundless energy
to do it.
I mean I was walking all aroundtown with sea stands and like
my car destroyed my.
I had this little Acura that myfather had given me when I
moved to LA and I just ran thatthing into the ground.
I mean I stuffed it with cameragear and all sorts of stuff.
Speaker 3 (26:17):
That Tetris game of going.
Speaker 1 (26:19):
Oh oh.
I'm so good, I'm like, oh yeah,that'll fit, that'll fit,
that'll fit.
High hat, give me the high hat.
You know that kind of thing.
And then Adam Cushman, at film14, he and his wife were waiting
tables together at the time andso when I'm like 30 and he
(26:44):
watched my stuff and said, yeah,you're great.
And then I started directingall of these commercial book
trailers for, like Penguin andyou know all the, all the big
like YA stuff, and that's how Ireally cut my teeth.
But I was able to you know, notpaid to to kind of learn my
craft and I think at one point Ihad directed more commercial
(27:09):
book trailers than any otherdirector in this country.
It was crazy.
Yeah, you know I'm manic.
Speaker 3 (27:18):
Did you find that it was a bigger challenge to direct
things that you were hired todo as opposed to the ones that
you wanted to make?
Speaker 1 (27:26):
Well, I didn't have an opportunity to do any of the
ones that I wanted to make,because I didn't have time to
even create them.
I went straight from the classand I started directing like
scenes for my friends reels andthen got picked up to do all
these book trailers and then allof a sudden, I started getting
asked to direct everybody else'sshort.
(27:48):
So for like seven years thatwas my job.
People would say, oh, nell cando it.
Now, now call Nell Pierce,she'll make it.
How much do you have?
Oh, $150.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, she'll,she'll figure it out.
And so I had this.
Obviously the budget got bigger, thank God, but that was how I
did it.
So Bolliver is actually thefirst project that is mine.
(28:14):
So it took a decade, but Ifinally directed my own stuff.
Speaker 3 (28:22):
It is a long road but usually worth it, and you
talked about this.
So I kick started my first webseries, my two short films and
my feature, in that order.
And you talk about this momenton the podcast I was listening
to where and I connected sopersonally with it.
But that moment when yourealize it's going to happen and
(28:46):
the fear and terror that comeswith that, when you've worked so
hard to raise the money and todo all the things to make it
happen, and then it's, you seethat it's going to, and then
there is a moment of, oh my God,this is going to happen.
I am terrified.
Speaker 1 (29:02):
Oh, yeah, and, and I think it's like it's and you
know this feeling it's like thefun terror, right it's.
You're like, oh God, oh, my God, Okay, Okay, oh sure, Okay, I
have to have all of this likefigured out and organized and
(29:23):
ready, and you know, and mywhole thing with Oliver was like
if this sucks or fails, it'sall on me.
Speaker 2 (29:32):
That was that's all on me.
Speaker 1 (29:34):
Like I wrote it wrecking it, starring in it,
producing it, like I put theteam together, I put the script
together, I, you know it's like,oh man, yeah, it was.
It was one of those momentswhere you're like, okay, don't
be here, here we go.
Speaker 3 (29:52):
It's not only the the , the fear of letting down the
backers and the people whobelieved in you, but it's the
team For sure it's the peoplethat you're working with that
have For sure.
Yes, I will come with you onthis journey.
Speaker 1 (30:03):
Yeah, and I, and I honestly think that, for me,
once I'm there, once I'm in it,I'm just there and I'm, and I'm
excited and I'm in it and I'mtrying to do the best that I can
in every scene and every moment, every day, and I'm not
thinking about failing.
I don't have that personality,thank God, when I'm in it, you
(30:28):
know I'm just doing.
You know I also am like I amthe ultimate optimist.
So it's like no, no, no, no,it's going to be great, it's
going to be great, it's going tobe great, it's going to be
great, it's going to be great.
That was wonderful, that wasamazing.
And then, if it's not, you knowwhat's that line?
(30:52):
It's so great, it'll all beokay in the end, and if it's not
okay, it's not the end.
You know so.
But yeah, I don't know.
I guess, being on stage so manytimes, you know you learn this
thing.
It's like it looks like nothingis going to come together in a
(31:13):
theatrical performance.
You know, you're like a weekout and you're like we're not
ready, we're not ready, we'renot ready, we're not ready.
And then all of a sudden, boom,opening night, and you're there
and it's like we were ready.
Speaker 3 (31:29):
So ready or not we're doing this in the lights.
Speaker 1 (31:31):
Exactly, exactly.
Speaker 3 (31:33):
There are butts in seats and this is happening.
Speaker 1 (31:35):
Let's see, this is happening.
Speaker 3 (31:37):
Yeah Well, bolivar happened and the.
Let me I'll read the synopsisfor everyone.
It's about Maggie.
Maggie's a struggle.
She's struggling to keep herlife together after the death of
her mother when her addictbrother shows up, forcing her to
make sense of a reality thatshe may not.
That may not be what it seemsand what I what I love about it
(31:59):
personally, I love films and whodoesn't that?
Where you get immersed in theworld, like within the first
five minutes.
I was in it with Maggie and Ilike, but by the time that it
ended I went oh yeah, so myhouse is here too, like.
I was there with her, likethroughout the whole journey,
and I love.
I found a review online wheresomebody wrote, subtly and
(32:23):
slowly building up to anemotional climax beautifully
realized, lost in your memories,daydreaming inescapably, trying
to hang on to what isinevitably slipping and fading
away, even if it hurts beyondmeasure and words, and that,
like, pretty much summed it upfor me and the theme of loss and
(32:44):
grief is.
So that's what the movie'sabout.
Did you was it?
Obviously, did it come fromthat personal place of losing
your mother?
Speaker 1 (32:57):
Yeah.
So I just I rememberspecifically this one day, the
day I found out that it wasstage four and you know, I it
was just.
It was crazy.
I was doing a movie and thedirector and writer had been
(33:19):
there as an actress.
I was doing a film with anactress and they left and I had
this vision.
I was crying so hard by myselfin a house where all the lights
were off but the light wascoming in through the windows
and I thought I wonder if mybody, what would it be if it
(33:40):
just ripped open and all ofthese tears just carried the
pieces of me away, the twopieces like that was the.
That felt hard.
I was crying, I was watchingmyself from like the upper
corner of the of the room that Iwas in, and the way I brought
myself back into being was thatI noticed on the bed skirt there
(34:02):
was like a, a string that washanging off and I yanked it and
it was tactile and it was realand it brought me back into that
present moment, like in my body, and that was 10 years before I
wrote fall over that moment.
But all of the experience of myloss of my mom I put into
(34:27):
Maggie's experience.
Now, she's different than I amand the story is not the story
of our family or anything, butthe loss was the same for her
and, I think, for me.
What I wanted to create with itwas like an open-faced sandwich
, kind of grief sandwich, wherepeople could put their own
(34:49):
experience into the structure Ihad created, and as a director,
that's what I try to do alwaysis just create the structure.
It's about the actors fillingit and the cinematographer
filling the frame with light,and so I'm just kind of like,
(35:12):
okay, here's our vessel, nowlet's make it float, let's go.
And for this it was that I wasa watcher.
As a child I memorized my mom.
I memorized my siblings, thenmy dad.
I remember floating with my momat the beach in Boliver, which
is where all the memories takeplace in the movie, and she
(35:33):
could just float in the tidepools that would.
They'd be like maybe three feetdeep or something.
She could just float.
She had these little beautymarks on her thigh and I just
remember trying to float next toher.
I'm much more earthy.
My mom was all water and I wasjust like I'm a tree, but I'm
(35:54):
trying to float next to you, andthose are the moments that I
made.
The tomato moment.
That wasn't a real moment, butthat's who I saw for Maggie,
based on her dad and thatconnection.
So yeah, that's probably verylong-winded, but yes, it's based
on my own spirit and grief.
Speaker 3 (36:17):
You know we write what we know.
When it's a project that comesfrom you, you're the writer,
director, actor.
One of my favorite books, steve, like an artist, says like
every creative work is fanfiction because you're inspired
by something that has kind ofshaped the way that you're gonna
create your work, and that youknow when it's a cathartic
(36:41):
feeling, when it's somethingthat is that personal for you
and you spend so much of yourlife putting it together,
wrapping it up, putting a bow onit and showing it to other
people to judge, how has theexperience of creating your own
feature film from such apersonal place, how has that
been for you?
Speaker 1 (37:01):
Well, you know, I think there was one reviewer who
just didn't like the structure,like didn't get the sort of
flashing back, and but otherwiseI think the people who have
responded to it have respondedto it in a way that I hoped that
(37:21):
they would.
You know, obviously films findus.
You know the ones that sort ofopen us up or show us something
new or scratch an itch.
You know, and this was a dreamof my mom's, that we would all
make films together one day, andso I put my brother and sister
(37:43):
and some of my nieces andnephews into it.
And 10 years after her death,it was a realization of
something she like, thatdesperate dreaming.
You know, the desperate daydreaming.
You know we're in this doublewide trailer on 180 acres in the
middle of Southeast Texas, andthis woman has performed for
(38:07):
thousands and thousands, tens ofthousands of people, with some
of the greatest performers ofall time, with Bob Hope and Anne
Margaret.
And here she is with her threechildren, who sometimes, you
know, she has to leave thegrocery basket at the door
because there's no money.
And you know she's telling uswe're gonna write these movies
(38:29):
and we're gonna make thesemovies together and we're gonna
do that and you know, after shedied I was able to do that.
So it was quite cathartic andalso it just filled my heart.
You know, when I watched Mimiand my niece and my brother and
my sister and Wyatt and Sadie,and this I'm like man, she would
(38:52):
have loved it and then sadly welost my dad right after we
finished the edit, kind of inthe midst of the edit.
So it was wow, it was yeah, itwas a wild time.
Speaker 3 (39:09):
It's like a perfect transition.
That was gonna be my nextquestion because I came from
well.
Two summers ago we had thepleasure of Everly worked on a
Robert Rodriguez film out therein Texas and I got to go spend a
summer out there and watchRobert Rodriguez work and he has
now hired all of his childrento be on his crew.
(39:30):
like the visuals, the soundeffects the score the
co-directing and I thought thisdude's got it Like what a dream
that would be to just grow upand make art with your family
and then to see that you wereable to do that with Boliver and
to hear that it was a dream ofyour mother's is so
inspirational, and your nieceand nephew did a great job in
(39:52):
the film.
Speaker 1 (39:53):
Thank you.
I think they were brilliant andI thought I was so proud.
I mean, my brother is like tinylittle part, but I was so proud
of my sister too and I justthought she was beautiful as the
flashback mom, yeah.
Speaker 3 (40:05):
Oh, she was your mom.
Speaker 1 (40:07):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (40:07):
Okay, yeah, I'd known that they were in the film, but
I hadn't IMDb'd who played what.
But yeah, yeah, well, thatmakes sense because you look a
lot like each other.
Speaker 1 (40:18):
Well, that helps with the transitions as well.
You know, bone structurematching is kind of a cool thing
, and she looks so much like mymom, so it was perfect.
Speaker 3 (40:31):
You're a magical being making magical art here on
this magical experience of lifeon this rock by a fireball you
mentioned you have stuff comingdown the pike.
What's next for Neltyr?
Ooh, okay.
Speaker 1 (40:45):
So you know some.
There are some projects thatjust take long time and I've
been working on a pilotpresentation for a while that we
just it's just taken forever,like I'm talking two years, and
it's a short concept piece.
(41:06):
So we're in the throes of likethe sound and the color edit on
that.
We're sort of world buildingstill, but that's a really cool
thing I shot with AlexanderGrzinski and written by Josh
Adwar.
It's called Folklore Americanaand hopefully that'll be we'll
be submitting soon, like in thenext month.
(41:29):
There's some festivals andthings.
We have a pilot that Josh isworking on that's attached to it
.
So it's kind of, you know, wewant to do the festival run with
it, kind of get the world outthere, but it's very much kind
of a climate sci-fi but againvery much an emotional like
relationship piece.
I'm attached to a featureChristmas movie called Winter
(41:54):
White Wedding, which I'm excitedabout and that was shoot in
Texas in a town calledRuder-Exburgh, written by two
wonderful women and reallylooking to kind of create like a
you know, like a the holiday orfamily stuff, like a holiday or
(42:15):
family stone, you know thatkind of feeling.
It's really a love story aboutsisters.
And then I've got a projectI've been working on for a long
time which looks like it mightgo, which would be a big one,
like the biggest budget thatI've ever done, and I wrote it
with my good friend Ford Gunterand have some really exciting
(42:37):
actors verbally attached to it,so fingers crossed for them.
Speaker 3 (42:41):
Nice, yeah.
So that's all very exciting andwe wish you all the very best.
And before we say thanks andgood night, but wait and then
the thing that I've written foryour child.
Speaker 1 (42:55):
Very which you haven't read yet, but anyway, so
go on.
Speaker 3 (43:00):
I told my wife, I told Everly and Jamie about it
at lunch one day and just likethe brief synopsis, and everyone
at the table was in tears.
So we can't wait to hear moreabout it.
Yeah, we've heard your mantraand it is loud and clear on this
end, but do you have any otherother lasting advice or advice
that you normally will findyourself giving to people who
(43:24):
might be intimidated or afraidto take the first step, the next
step in their career or take ona big project that it may be
scary for them?
Speaker 1 (43:34):
I think my the thing that I continue to say to myself
is do not, do not allow yourdefinition of success to be
narrow.
Let success be this mysterious,vast thing, so that you're like
(43:54):
I think of a shrimping boat.
Right, if anyone's ever seenthat, the nets go way out and
they sort of gather everything.
Because if success to you meansI'm a series regular on a on a
TV show, one hour drama on ABC,well, good luck with that.
(44:15):
But if success is somethingfaster, like I, will feel
fulfilled in the roles that Iplay.
I will be financially stable inthis industry.
I don't know what job couldpossibly do that, but I'm ready
to find out.
Well, you know, then you mightstart directing Dubs that you
never knew was a job, and youmight.
(44:35):
You know, there's so manythings in this industry that are
fulfilling, that are creative,that you could never put your
finger on or or even know aboutuntil you do.
So if you're shutting down thatlens, if it's so small that
space is too narrow, then youshoot yourself in the foot.
Speaker 3 (44:58):
Very wise and very great advice, in my humble
opinion.
My thank you, congratulations toyou, like for for all of your
accomplishments I I mentionedyou know how similar our
journeys are and how I see somuch of myself in you.
But you know I I did the thingwhere I said I can't, I can't do
this anymore, and I made acareer pivot and I'm doing
(45:19):
something else now.
But staying in, you know, inthe filmmaking, the creating as
a hobby, you know with podcastsor side things, and I still, you
know, am able to, you know,experience a lot of the
fulfillment through watching mychildren work and things like
that, but a huge.
I cautioned people against,like you said, getting so just
(45:41):
focused on one goal that, likethat's going to define you and
that's going to define successor failure for you.
You need to be open to finding,finding the places where you
belong and and or the placesthat work for you, the places
where you find success, and youknow when you do that it doesn't
(46:02):
mean that you have failed, butto keep that in mind.
Speaker 1 (46:06):
And also, you know, having other jobs and other
skills is a gift to to an actoror a writer or a director,
because you get to live inanother world, like you get to
know other truths, and there'sthere's nothing more helpful
than that and and yeah, I thinkthat's a huge thing.
(46:33):
Also, one more thing toselfishly plug, but Bolivar was
nominated for the TexasIndependent Film Award by the
Houston Film Critics Society.
That exciting, and we'll findout on January 22nd.
(46:55):
So keep your ears peeled ifthat comes down, because that
would be special and we'd getpeople to go and rent it and
watch it, which we desperatelyneed you to do.
Speaker 3 (47:05):
Keep us posted.
I'll definitely share that infoon our socials for the show.
Before we say goodbye and findout all the ways we can stay
connected.
Before we do, did you happen tofind a poem that you wanted to
share with us on the programtoday?
Speaker 1 (47:21):
I did find one.
I don't know what the name ofit is, but I wrote this years
ago when we were out on a patio.
The whole family and my niecesand nephews were little.
Speaker 3 (47:31):
Luffy can't wait to hear it.
Speaker 1 (47:34):
Right.
Handfuls of fantasies fall fromher young lips as the heat of
the day blows 100 miles an houraround us.
They make a machine of ordinarythings to whisk them away.
The speed of life.
The first sounds of nightsurround us in this outdoor
space that wants to be what wepretend it is.
(47:56):
Arms and legs fly through theair, no meat, just intention,
building something from nothingon just another night, finding
things to reinvent and spendinto my heart.
A coaster star, a garden, stonepiece of moon, his familiar
voice and the swirl of his wine.
Sitting here, like always,somehow guarded from time, sand,
(48:19):
the storms he has weathered,attempting everything at once
and not at all the whipping byof time across his heart, our
hearts.
I only feel her empty spacewhen I think about things later,
how it could have gone had shenot gone.
But she did before she was, andI hear their laughter cutting
(48:41):
through the desk, ringing brighteyes, loose teeth and a
styrofoam cup.
The straw, the straw stands atattention before my face and she
sets her brow drink, shecrushed it, a small piece she
grabbed from the sun for me,crushed into this weird white
cup so I could taste it, and herexcitement transfers and her
(49:05):
little brother runs, and it onlytook a second to sip the sun.
Speaker 3 (49:13):
Beautiful Wow, being present in the moment In nature
with children.
Speaker 4 (49:21):
So many images, so much visual to it.
Speaker 1 (49:25):
She just it was hysterical.
She was like drink it.
What is that?
She goes?
It's the sun.
I crushed a piece of it for you.
Taste it, oh my god.
I think it was like Dr Pepper,but it was delicious.
Speaker 3 (49:40):
That was beautiful.
Do you have like a poetry book?
You need to be sharing thatstuff.
Speaker 1 (49:45):
I have been thinking about it more and more.
I think I have enough toactually do one, so maybe
someday.
Speaker 3 (49:52):
Which is another perfect segue to tell us where
everyone can find.
You can find Bolivar.
How can people stay connectedwith Nell and her work?
Speaker 1 (50:00):
Yes, Well, Nell, T-E-R-L-N-E-L-T-E-A-R-Ecom, and
that's pretty much the sameeverywhere Instagram, Facebook,
LinkedIn I think I'm here, Nell,on Twitter.
And then Bolivar is availableon every platform, Anywhere that
(50:23):
you can buy or rent films XboxRoku, Hulu or not.
No, it's not on Hulu yet.
Ooh, maybe that was.
Putting it out there herePutting it out there, yeah, but
it's like Apple, amazon, u-verseDirect TV anywhere where you
can rent or buy, you can find it.
Speaker 3 (50:44):
Well, thank you so much for taking the time
spending an hour with us today,on a Saturday, and what a
wonderful gift.
Traveling.
It was a gift to have you herewith us and sit down and get to
know you a little bit more.
I'm sure it is the start of ajourney, a friendship journey
that will continue through theyears.
Speaker 1 (51:02):
It will continue through the years and hopefully
we'll get to collaborate onthings and you know, just keep
making these stories.
Speaker 3 (51:12):
Let's do it.
Ladies and gentlemen, pleasegive it up at home for our guest
today, Nell.
Speaker 2 (51:17):
Tear.
Speaker 4 (51:25):
That was a great interview and I mean what I love
some of the takeaways that Isaw that I think everybody who
listens and watches this podcastshould consider is the fact
that she's self-taught, she tookit on herself to do these
things and that encouragementkeep kept her going and that's
(51:45):
what we all need isencouragement, regardless of
whatever talent that we have,whatever we're good at.
Keep going, keep developing it,keep fueling that passion.
I love that.
Get out that raw stone ofcreation.
Yes, those words embody so muchabout how artists and not only
(52:15):
just artists passionate peopleshould be about what they do.
Get that raw stone of creationout there.
Some other notes I made isobviously she is a metaphorical
driver of her own car, notthinking about failing ultimate
optimist.
(52:36):
The poem that I have selectedfor today I mean, oh my gosh,
she fits right into it.
She mentioned being a gypsywith her sister.
The poem that I found was frompoetrysoupcom.
This writer, rona McFerrin, isknown as a gypsy soul poet.
(53:00):
I love what her comment thatshe says in general, but the
poem just explains a lot.
Rona says never stop creatingwhat you love and never stop
being yourself.
You never know who you mightinspire.
I swear.
(53:21):
If Nell does not inspire peopleto do what they want to do, to
feel that passion to followthrough, I don't know.
I mean, she is her story, herhistory herself.
Speaker 3 (53:38):
So a lot of vibes from a lot of people.
Who have been listening to thepodcast from the beginning know
that this was a project that Iwanted to do for years and it
was always in the back of myhead and I always thought could
I keep that up?
Could I do it?
Would people listen to it?
And this little guy in the back?
I can't do it.
Speaker 4 (53:59):
Okay, I'll stop over there Staying on top of the
clock is from the book that wetalked about.
Speaker 3 (54:04):
What do you do with an idea?
And it is that raw stone ofcreation that you bring out into
the world.
You polish it up, you carvewhatever you're going to out of
it, and it all takes drive.
It all takes not just the firststep.
Of course, you can't getanywhere without the first step,
but you need to keep at it andfollow through.
And yeah, she's a prime exampleof that.
Speaker 4 (54:27):
Absolutely, and the beauty of the poem that I
selected is from 2019.
It's called Star of the Show byRona McFerrin.
Speaker 3 (54:39):
Can't wait to hear it .
Here is Craig Jackmaninterpreting Star of the Show by
Rona McFerrin.
Speaker 4 (54:59):
Narrate your own life's story and tell your own
life's tale.
Don't leave it up for grabs oreven up for sale.
Write down your own life'sstory before the others do,
waiting through words andphrases that aren't remotely
true.
Plan out your own life's storybefore it's done for you and
(55:22):
you're stuck acting out a lifethat you despise and rue.
Plot out your own life's storyor at least act two or three.
Rewrite your script, if neededto set your spirit free.
Dress yourself with color,costume yourself with care.
Create the character you wantto be and strut with catwalk
(55:44):
flair.
Design and build your life'sstage, or at least rearrange the
props and play your role withMoxie, not caring if it flops.
Create your own life's story asproducer-director-star.
Then kick back and enjoy theshow, no matter how bizarre.
(56:07):
Be your own show's critic,ignoring all other reviews.
Lavish your life with praise,acknowledging cast and crew.
Become your very own fan club,awaiting each scene of your day,
taking joy in each thoughtfuldetail of your glorious, quirky
(56:31):
play.
Speaker 3 (56:57):
Subscribe or follow on YouTube or wherever you're
listening to us, whateverpodcast platform.
Every like, comment and reviewhelps us with the algorithm to
reach new audiences.
As a small, independent podcast, this is very important to help
our show grow.
So thank you in advance.
I appreciate your time always.
I hope you'll tune in to thenext one.
(57:17):
Until then, make each day count.
I feel like these moments that we actually sort of
memorized or like crystallized,are the times that we are
present.
Speaker 2 (00:13):
Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the Cogginilla
online variety entertainmentpodcast.
Here's your host, paulCogginilla.
Speaker 3 (00:24):
Hello, and welcome to Cove.
This is the online variety showin which we aim to both
entertain and inspire ourpodcast listeners and YouTube
viewers through a variety of artforms, including music, poetry,
storytelling, special guestinterviews, travel blogs,
dramatic readings.
So much more a whole grab bag,a jumbalaya of conversations,
(00:47):
experiences, thoughts,reflections to listen to each
week to keep you going and toget you excited about new
episodes every Tuesday, righthere.
And I am super amped, soexcited, to introduce everyone
here in the Cove community to anew friend of mine, whom I met
because she's the director of aproject that Everly's been
working on.
(01:07):
But her work, her art, hercreative journey is one I cannot
wait to dive into, and I'lltell you all of the reasons why
in just a sec.
But first, of course, we've gotto pull the cart back in front
of the horse and say hello tothe man behind the scenes, our
producer, producer, craigJackman.
Welcome.
Speaker 4 (01:27):
Hello everybody.
Oh, my God, paul you.
This interview today is goingto be exciting.
I am looking forward to it aswell.
I read her bio and boy talkabout somebody who she's driven.
She's gone through a lot to getto where she is today and
(01:49):
what's amazing is she doesn't.
She's she's young and she stillgot more to give.
And I'm just excited to listento her and listen to, like you
said, her experiences, becausethis is what makes this is what
makes people go to the nextlevel.
Each item that you take in,each item that you learn to do,
(02:13):
each item that you experiencegraduates you to a new level.
Speaker 3 (02:18):
Yeah, every step of the way.
As we talk about often on thispodcast, it's important to
celebrate the milestone andcelebrate what we have
accomplished, while we continueto move forward and while her
journey has been prettyincredible so far, we know, you
know, just like so many creatorsand people, with that heart
fire burning in them.
Like she's only just begun, I'msure, and but we will have a
(02:42):
chat with her.
I cannot wait, as I've alreadystated, and I'll tell you all
more about her.
Professionally, our guest todayis Nell tear.
She's an award winning director,producer and actress and writer
as well.
She's a native Texan andgraduate of the New York
University Tisch School of theArts.
That's where Jamie went so cool.
(03:02):
She trained as a stage actorand was a member of the original
cast of Memphis, which went onto win the Tony Award for Best
Musical in 2010.
In 2012, she began her careeras a director and has since
completed over 150 projects,including more than 20 foreign
language dubs for Netflix,amazon and Disney.
(03:25):
She's directed feature and shortfilms, commercials, live stage
performances, pilotpresentations, web series and
music videos, and her featurefilm Bolivar is available on all
cable, satellite and digitalplatforms through freestyle
media.
She's currently attached tothree feature films and is
adapting a book into a limitedseries through her production
(03:47):
company, teer Lit.
Nell is also the founder ofHarmon Creek Press, through
which she published herchildren's book Celia and the
Witches, and she is dedicated tomentoring teens and young
people.
I can say firsthand she workswith kids so well.
Ladies and gentlemen, pleasejoin me in welcoming to the
Carganilla online varietyentertainment podcast Now Teer.
Speaker 1 (04:13):
Wow, that was really wonderful.
Thanks, guys.
Speaker 3 (04:17):
It is really wonderful of you to join us, and
I'm so happy to be here.
Oh, are you excited about the60 second icebreaker
introduction challenge?
Speaker 1 (04:27):
Yeah, man, I'm going to go way.
I'm going to try to go way backin and come to now.
Speaker 3 (04:32):
Wow, I like that you are challenging yourself with
this.
I'll get the stopwatch readyand here we go.
Okay, three, two, one.
Speaker 1 (04:41):
Okay, so my name is Nell Teer.
I was born Eleanor Gibson Teerin Houston, texas.
At about age six I moved to ourblueberry farm and was a farm
girl until I was 11.
Moved back to Houston, went toa performing arts magnet middle
school, performing arts, highschool, hspda.
(05:01):
Then I went to New York, livedin New York, ford was on stage
singing and dancing, grew upperforming with my mom.
She was one of the originalDean Martin Goldbeards.
Moved to LA 14 years ago I wasdoing the Randy Newman musical
and then I became a director.
I'm a dog mom to Moe Moliere, alittle cheapoo.
(05:25):
I'm a plant mom to multipleindoor and outdoor plants.
I love to paint.
I love to sing and dance, stilland write.
I think I'm a great bread baker.
My boyfriend's name is RichPaul and I love him very much.
Speaker 3 (05:44):
That was like 60 seconds exactly.
Did you rehearse that?
That was amazing.
Speaker 1 (05:47):
No, no, I did not that was so good Love it.
Speaker 3 (05:51):
We're going to dive into some of the stuff you just
mentioned, but I have to say offthe bat that I've never I
haven't.
My show is young.
We are toward the end of seasonone.
This is episode 31 or 32 ishand I have to meet someone who I
saw so much of myself in as Iwas doing the prep work and
(06:12):
research and learning more aboutyou.
Of course we spent a little bitof time together, but it's
while everybody's working andwe're.
You know we don't have a wholelot of time to really chat and
get to know each other, butthere's so many parallels in
like your journey so far andmine.
I grew up like.
My first love and desire was tobe an actor, just like yours.
(06:34):
And then, along the way, peopleare telling me you should, you
should direct, you should reallybe a director and I started
writing and producing my ownstuff Web series, music videos
to finally made my own, wrote,directed, start in my own short
films up until my own featurefilm.
And looking at your backgroundand I'm like we've taken the
(06:56):
same path on a lot of this stuff.
But then I was listening toanother podcast that you were on
called the 101 podcast, and yousaid something that just blew
my mind, because I was just like, oh my God, like are we the
same person?
So they were asking you.
They were asking you, like,what your advice is when you,
when you meet people who areexperiencing trepidation or
(07:17):
intimidated to take the firststep or a big creative step, and
you said something that took meright back to so back when I
worked for Disney, my commutewas like two or three hours each
way a day and I used to filmthese while I'm sitting in
traffic.
I used to film these likeencouraging things that I would
just post on Facebook, and oneof them I'm going to play for
(07:42):
you.
I'm going to producer Craig'sgoing to play for you right now
and we'll see if it, if youcatch the part where I was just
like, oh my God, craig, if youcan't wait.
So this is from November of2015.
So this is from eight years ago.
Speaker 2 (07:57):
Today is freaking amazing.
It already is, so treat it thatway.
You are a magician, you are.
You are magic.
You're not what you see in themirror.
You are a ball of love andmagical energy, driving a flesh
(08:18):
covered skeleton on a rock thatis rolling through space.
You're freaking awesome andtoday is here for you to enjoy
and grab by the nuts, do it.
Make today as amazing as it is.
Give it the credit it deserves.
Give yourself the opportunityto enjoy everything that today
(08:42):
has to offer.
Drive that skeleton, make thatmagic.
Speaker 1 (08:49):
Oh my God.
Speaker 3 (08:53):
So I think your words on the podcast were like we're,
we're like oh, it's my mantra.
Speaker 1 (08:58):
It's we're on a rock spinning an infinity, next to a
ball of fire, and it's a star.
It's a star.
It's a star that's circlingthrough space.
That's my mantra.
So why not do everything,because it's already like the
fact that we're here is justkind of like Wow, a mind blowing
(09:20):
miracle, that is hysterical.
That's amazing, and so I waslistening to it.
I was like what, oh my God?
And they made me.
They made me like a Mondaymotivation meme, which is
Everyone actually rich makes funof me, because I somehow am
able to weave that into everynew person that I meet, into
(09:40):
that conversation.
I'm like just sitting on a rockspinning in the middle of
infinity, like to a ball of fire, you know.
Speaker 3 (09:48):
Do you understand how magical that is and how magical
this experience that we'rehaving is Right.
So, not only like our journeyand our background, but like I
had through the themes I had theabsolute pleasure of watching
Bolivar this past week and thethemes that you touch on with
that film I'm not going to giveand we're going to talk more
(10:09):
about the film later but are somany of what was woven into my
short films that I made beforemy feature and my feature.
My feature is about a team ofghost hunters.
It's a fun, popcorn,entertaining flick but the woven
into the core of the message itdeals with grief and moving on
(10:30):
and appreciating the day whileyou have it.
But dealing with that stage ofgrief is a big theme in my own
feature and it's obviously ahuge part of yours.
And I was just blown away.
I was like you cannot wait totalk to her about her journey
and her motivations and well, Ithink we're always grieving.
Speaker 1 (10:50):
I mean human beings, you know, we're set up to
anticipate and then to grievethe thing that we've been
anticipating, right.
So there's like this longingand loss that's so woven into
what it means to be a humanbeing and I feel like these
moments that we actually sort ofmemorized or like crystallized,
(11:13):
are the times that we arepresent and those are the things
that we replay because we werepresent in that moment.
You know, like in Boliver, allof her flashback for the, you
know.
So I love that, I I love it.
Sorry to interrupt, continueplease.
Speaker 3 (11:35):
No, I was nervous going into this because, like I
was, like I have so much to sayto her.
But you know, this episode'sall about you and your journey.
Oh my gosh.
I didn't want you to feel likeI was.
I was taking Us.
But yeah, so we've gone over.
We kind of went step by stepthrough your, your bio.
But Tell us how it all began.
(11:56):
I know you grew up on stagewith your, with your, surrounded
by family, performing.
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (12:00):
Yeah, so well.
My mom Was a stage actress fromthe time.
She was very little, I mean, Ithink she was probably like six
or seven when she startedperforming on stage and Tore it
all over as a melody made.
She was a beautiful singer,dancer, and she was performing
in Houston in the late 60s andproducer named Jonathan Lucas
(12:27):
Was coming in, like they didback in the day, to direct
regional productions in thebigger cities and he asked the
both of the Susie at the timeone now Susie Ewing and my
mother to come and be Golddiggers on the D Martin show and
so they did and it performed inVietnam and traveled with Bob
(12:49):
Hope and Ann Margaret andeverybody.
And she came back, married mydad and we grew up in Houston
but she was kind of the host ofthe town through the 70s into
the 80s and that's.
We started performing with herand we really performed
everywhere we possibly could, nomatter where we lived.
(13:09):
Like oil market crash, dad losteverything.
We moved to our farm, we weredoing community theater and she
went back to get her degree atSam Houston State University, so
we were like the kids in allthe productions and then moved
in to her childhood home inBeaumont for a little bit Work
at Beaumont community playerswhere I met a dear friend named
Jessica Rush, who's a Broadwaystar, and I'm still in contact
(13:33):
with her, but it was like a yearand a half.
And then back to Houston whereshe stopped performing because
of her struggle with drugs andalcohol.
But then I picked up the torchand Was performing all over
Houston and then New York andthen all over the country and
the world, and then, you know,and I got behind the camera.
I don't know.
(13:53):
Can I answer that question?
Speaker 3 (13:55):
Yeah, yeah.
And somewhere along the lineyou know I remember it was a
funny from the other podcastsaid you, some people started to
mention you should direct andyou took that Like a oh, I was
heartbroken.
Speaker 1 (14:09):
I was doing greats of wrath with my mom.
I was 10.
She was this adorable Tinylittle thing, like five foot two
lawn, so cute, adorable, youknow.
And the director of greats ofwrath was this Very sort of you
know loud.
I remember her being tall andlike large, like it was the 80s
(14:30):
or early 90s.
It's like you know she had onthose shoulder pads and her hair
was big and I Was, I guess Iwas holding court with some of
the other adult actors and shecame out to me and she goes oh,
nelly, I think one day you'llgrow into a great actor, a great
director.
And I, I went home that nightand cried my eyes out because I
(14:56):
thought she was telling me Iwasn't pretty enough or like
Cute or little.
I wasn't enough, like my mother, to be an actress.
So I was gonna be a director,you know.
And so for years people werelike do you want to direct?
Absolutely not.
No, thank you.
No, I don't.
I'm an actress, thanks, no, no.
Speaker 3 (15:12):
Yeah, it's not funny.
It's such a thing like when you, when you've made up your mind
you want to be an actor, youwant to be on stage in front of
the camera.
If anybody suggests that youshould write or direct, excuse
me.
Speaker 1 (15:23):
It's like why.
Speaker 3 (15:24):
I haven't gotten my actors my Oscar yet.
Speaker 1 (15:27):
Yeah, you don't think I'm.
Yeah, I was heartbroken.
Speaker 3 (15:32):
What's really cool about the experience that you
had growing up was being around,constantly being immersed in it
.
I remember, you know, I grew uparound, mostly around music,
and it wasn't until high school,college, that I started to hit
the stage and I really fell inlove with acting and performing.
But what, how valuable did youfind that to be?
(15:53):
To just like, from yourearliest memories, to be around
veterans of the craft?
Speaker 1 (15:59):
Oh, man, I, you learned so so much just by
listening and that was all youknow.
I, I loved the world.
I've always been so in lovewith the world and the people
and sort of the like.
You know, the traveling, circusaspect of this lifestyle that
(16:20):
we have and Most of my mentorshave always been Older in the
business and I just sit andlisten and listen, and listen
and I remember being in thegreen room doing homework and
just Wanting to hear every storyof, like the faulty scenery or
the headdress in South Pacificthat set on fire and, you know,
(16:42):
forgetting the lines and thewhole.
You know it was just yeah, Ithink that it it adds so much
depth to life.
The arts, you know, and peopleare so hungry for it and I think
We've really lost, especiallyin this country, the focus on
(17:02):
that and I was lucky enough toto have it sort of built into my
existence.
But you know, I mean justthinking about school and plays
at school and being surroundedby people who draw and paint,
and that that's cool and it'snot weird.
You know poetry and write yourpoetry and be the adolescent and
you know, I don't know.
(17:24):
I loved it, I love it, I seekit out wherever I am always.
Speaker 3 (17:30):
Wonderful.
Can you remember what happenedor what the catalyst was for you
to start writing?
Speaker 1 (17:39):
Well, the interesting thing is that, like I was
saying, poetry, I think my firstmy like, my first loves were
plants and, and like creaturesand plants and poetry.
I fell in love with poetry whenI was a little girl, and so I
(18:01):
started writing poems as earlyas six.
I think my dad kept them all.
He loved my writing and so I'vealways, always written.
I tried to write novels when Iwas in high school.
I Would publish things formyself and print them out and
like make books, and so I've,I've always written, and then in
(18:21):
2009, I published a children'sbook.
You know, kind of did it myself, but Barnes and Noble picked it
up and Did some school touringwith that.
So it's always a love, and thefirst, the first full screenplay
I ever wrote is an animatedfeature that we're still
(18:43):
Shopping around now that we'reworking on selling but or making
.
I hope to sell it, I want todirect it, but so that was the
first one and I have a couple.
But, yeah, I think the writingwas always a very.
It was very much like apersonal or private love.
The the performing was anextension of my mom and Kind of
(19:05):
an expression of ourrelationship and our love.
The writing was very much myown and I loved that.
My father thought it was reallymy strong, my strongest talent.
That's awesome.
Speaker 3 (19:22):
Yeah, I Wish I'd known ahead of time.
We share poems on this show aswell.
Do you stop?
If you have probably handy, wecould feature some of your
poetry as well.
Speaker 1 (19:33):
Let me see, we'll keep talking, but I'm gonna see,
I'm gonna search it out.
Speaker 3 (19:39):
Yeah, we could always fix it in post and add it in
later.
Speaker 1 (19:44):
Exactly right.
Oh the scariest phrase will fixit in post.
It never gets it or it justtakes way longer.
Way longer than the fix justright here, but so?
Speaker 3 (19:55):
but screenwriting and Writing poetry, writing
children's book?
Is there different beasts?
Did you have any outdoors ordid you take a class?
Is that all self-taught, allself-taught?
Speaker 1 (20:11):
I Mean in school.
You know, right, I loved.
I had the most wonderfulEnglish teacher my junior year
of High school.
Ms Ballard loved her.
She's no longer on the planet,but she was just fantastic and
she recognized my talents Inthat department and that gave me
(20:36):
sort of that Excitement.
And then, when I was at NYU, Itook a class called
Autobiography, writing, theautobiography and oh my gosh, oh
my gosh Laura what is Laura'slast name?
She was just she was.
She was one of my advisors too.
(20:57):
I took her class and everyonewas just like intimidated by her
.
She was such a great writer andI Took the course and I fell in
love with it and she also reallyloved my writing and so I think
it was the encouragement thatkept me going and and really
it's kind of my dance on allthings that you know you can,
(21:19):
you can watch others and you cantake courses and you can do all
of that.
But if you're trying to createsomething that is outside of
yourself, it's gonna fall flat.
And If it's coming from theinside and it's just something
that you see in your mind or youhear in your head and you have
to do it, then Just do it.
(21:41):
You know, that's what editorsare for, that's what you know
you can.
You can adjust thingsafterwards, but like get out the
raw, that raw thing, that rawstone and Creation, whatever it
is.
Speaker 3 (21:57):
That was a big, big learning curve, or a big
milestone, when I was.
I'm also self-taughtscreenwriter.
But yeah, the whole idea of getthat first draft done, no
matter how crappy it is, becauseI would fall into that pitfall
of one day I would write tenpages.
The next day I would sit downand I would spend my whole time
Rewriting eight of the ten pages.
Speaker 1 (22:18):
I know I did that too .
Speaker 3 (22:20):
You get stuck until you finally you realize you just
get that first draft done andget that turd out there and then
polish it right, right, and Idon't know about you, but like
I'm a, I Will think things foryears before I ever write it
down.
Speaker 1 (22:37):
I, if I don't know where I'm going and that doesn't
mean the middle is necessarilysolidified, necessarily
solidified but if I don't knowwhere I'm headed and I don't
know where I'm starting, I won'twrite it.
That's kind of how my brainworks, you know.
It's like I need to know whereI'm going.
Speaker 3 (22:58):
Got to have that outline and that breakdown
before you sit down and plowthrough.
So tell me about that fearedand horrific transition to
directing.
What spawned that and how didthat begin?
Speaker 1 (23:12):
Well, that's interesting because I've been
doing a little bit moreintrospection on that, or
excavation, rather.
I stopped performing on stagewhen my mom died and I didn't
even recognize that that's whatwas happening.
(23:32):
She died in the midst of a showthat I was doing called the
Last Berry Tail.
She was very sick.
I had just finished the RandyNewman musical and then I went
directly into rehearsals for thenext Berry Tail at Celebration
Theatre in LA and she was sickand I was flying back and forth
(23:56):
and flying back and forth to bewith her and when she passed
away, it's when I startedpainting.
I really I had a year where Iwas just ravenous, I just wanted
to paint, and paint, and paintand paint, and I think it was
like the beginning of thedirecting, because it was all
(24:19):
everything inside of frame,maybe the control of that, but I
think I was so wounded that Ijust the idea of doing a musical
without her on the planet wouldkind of.
But again, it wasn't conscious.
I didn't recognize that untilnow I'm looking at it 12 years
(24:40):
later.
But then I was asked out of theblue to direct a one woman show
stage and we shot this littleKickstarter video to go with it.
It's a show that's still kindof going around.
Jessica Abrams, great comedian,actress, writer, and I went
(25:01):
around and I startedinterviewing all these women
about what they see when theylook in the mirror.
Because the play is called If ILook this Good, why Do I Feel
Like Shit?
And so when I did that, Iedited it with my friend, bobby
Field, and sat there and like,put these things together and
added music and timing and I waslike, oh my God, oh my God, I
(25:28):
love, this is what I am, this iswho I am.
And so I enrolled in a coursecalled the Art of Visual
Storytelling, taught by MilesWatkins, and it was like this
three month crash course youwrote, shot, edited a film each
month.
So put all of my money intothat and made these three things
(25:52):
and just was in love with itand I had like boundless energy
to do it.
I mean I was walking all aroundtown with sea stands and like
my car destroyed my.
I had this little Acura that myfather had given me when I
moved to LA and I just ran thatthing into the ground.
I mean I stuffed it with cameragear and all sorts of stuff.
Speaker 3 (26:17):
That Tetris game of going.
Speaker 1 (26:19):
Oh oh.
I'm so good, I'm like, oh yeah,that'll fit, that'll fit,
that'll fit.
High hat, give me the high hat.
You know that kind of thing.
And then Adam Cushman, at film14, he and his wife were waiting
tables together at the time andso when I'm like 30 and he
(26:44):
watched my stuff and said, yeah,you're great.
And then I started directingall of these commercial book
trailers for, like Penguin andyou know all the, all the big
like YA stuff, and that's how Ireally cut my teeth.
But I was able to you know, notpaid to to kind of learn my
craft and I think at one point Ihad directed more commercial
(27:09):
book trailers than any otherdirector in this country.
It was crazy.
Yeah, you know I'm manic.
Speaker 3 (27:18):
Did you find that it was a bigger challenge to direct
things that you were hired todo as opposed to the ones that
you wanted to make?
Speaker 1 (27:26):
Well, I didn't have an opportunity to do any of the
ones that I wanted to make,because I didn't have time to
even create them.
I went straight from the classand I started directing like
scenes for my friends reels andthen got picked up to do all
these book trailers and then allof a sudden, I started getting
asked to direct everybody else'sshort.
(27:48):
So for like seven years thatwas my job.
People would say, oh, nell cando it.
Now, now call Nell Pierce,she'll make it.
How much do you have?
Oh, $150.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, she'll,she'll figure it out.
And so I had this.
Obviously the budget got bigger, thank God, but that was how I
did it.
So Bolliver is actually thefirst project that is mine.
(28:14):
So it took a decade, but Ifinally directed my own stuff.
Speaker 3 (28:22):
It is a long road but usually worth it, and you
talked about this.
So I kick started my first webseries, my two short films and
my feature, in that order.
And you talk about this momenton the podcast I was listening
to where and I connected sopersonally with it.
But that moment when yourealize it's going to happen and
(28:46):
the fear and terror that comeswith that, when you've worked so
hard to raise the money and todo all the things to make it
happen, and then it's, you seethat it's going to, and then
there is a moment of, oh my God,this is going to happen.
I am terrified.
Speaker 1 (29:02):
Oh, yeah, and, and I think it's like it's and you
know this feeling it's like thefun terror, right it's.
You're like, oh God, oh, my God, Okay, Okay, oh sure, Okay, I
have to have all of this likefigured out and organized and
(29:23):
ready, and you know, and mywhole thing with Oliver was like
if this sucks or fails, it'sall on me.
Speaker 2 (29:32):
That was that's all on me.
Speaker 1 (29:34):
Like I wrote it wrecking it, starring in it,
producing it, like I put theteam together, I put the script
together, I, you know it's like,oh man, yeah, it was.
It was one of those momentswhere you're like, okay, don't
be here, here we go.
Speaker 3 (29:52):
It's not only the the , the fear of letting down the
backers and the people whobelieved in you, but it's the
team For sure it's the peoplethat you're working with that
have For sure.
Yes, I will come with you onthis journey.
Speaker 1 (30:03):
Yeah, and I, and I honestly think that, for me,
once I'm there, once I'm in it,I'm just there and I'm, and I'm
excited and I'm in it and I'mtrying to do the best that I can
in every scene and every moment, every day, and I'm not
thinking about failing.
I don't have that personality,thank God, when I'm in it, you
(30:28):
know I'm just doing.
You know I also am like I amthe ultimate optimist.
So it's like no, no, no, no,it's going to be great, it's
going to be great, it's going tobe great, it's going to be
great, it's going to be great.
That was wonderful, that wasamazing.
And then, if it's not, you knowwhat's that line?
(30:52):
It's so great, it'll all beokay in the end, and if it's not
okay, it's not the end.
You know so.
But yeah, I don't know.
I guess, being on stage so manytimes, you know you learn this
thing.
It's like it looks like nothingis going to come together in a
(31:13):
theatrical performance.
You know, you're like a weekout and you're like we're not
ready, we're not ready, we'renot ready, we're not ready.
And then all of a sudden, boom,opening night, and you're there
and it's like we were ready.
Speaker 3 (31:29):
So ready or not we're doing this in the lights.
Speaker 1 (31:31):
Exactly, exactly.
Speaker 3 (31:33):
There are butts in seats and this is happening.
Speaker 1 (31:35):
Let's see, this is happening.
Speaker 3 (31:37):
Yeah Well, bolivar happened and the.
Let me I'll read the synopsisfor everyone.
It's about Maggie.
Maggie's a struggle.
She's struggling to keep herlife together after the death of
her mother when her addictbrother shows up, forcing her to
make sense of a reality thatshe may not.
That may not be what it seemsand what I what I love about it
(31:59):
personally, I love films and whodoesn't that?
Where you get immersed in theworld, like within the first
five minutes.
I was in it with Maggie and Ilike, but by the time that it
ended I went oh yeah, so myhouse is here too, like.
I was there with her, likethroughout the whole journey,
and I love.
I found a review online wheresomebody wrote, subtly and
(32:23):
slowly building up to anemotional climax beautifully
realized, lost in your memories,daydreaming inescapably, trying
to hang on to what isinevitably slipping and fading
away, even if it hurts beyondmeasure and words, and that,
like, pretty much summed it upfor me and the theme of loss and
(32:44):
grief is.
So that's what the movie'sabout.
Did you was it?
Obviously, did it come fromthat personal place of losing
your mother?
Speaker 1 (32:57):
Yeah.
So I just I rememberspecifically this one day, the
day I found out that it wasstage four and you know, I it
was just.
It was crazy.
I was doing a movie and thedirector and writer had been
(33:19):
there as an actress.
I was doing a film with anactress and they left and I had
this vision.
I was crying so hard by myselfin a house where all the lights
were off but the light wascoming in through the windows
and I thought I wonder if mybody, what would it be if it
(33:40):
just ripped open and all ofthese tears just carried the
pieces of me away, the twopieces like that was the.
That felt hard.
I was crying, I was watchingmyself from like the upper
corner of the of the room that Iwas in, and the way I brought
myself back into being was thatI noticed on the bed skirt there
(34:02):
was like a, a string that washanging off and I yanked it and
it was tactile and it was realand it brought me back into that
present moment, like in my body, and that was 10 years before I
wrote fall over that moment.
But all of the experience of myloss of my mom I put into
(34:27):
Maggie's experience.
Now, she's different than I amand the story is not the story
of our family or anything, butthe loss was the same for her
and, I think, for me.
What I wanted to create with itwas like an open-faced sandwich
, kind of grief sandwich, wherepeople could put their own
(34:49):
experience into the structure Ihad created, and as a director,
that's what I try to do alwaysis just create the structure.
It's about the actors fillingit and the cinematographer
filling the frame with light,and so I'm just kind of like,
(35:12):
okay, here's our vessel, nowlet's make it float, let's go.
And for this it was that I wasa watcher.
As a child I memorized my mom.
I memorized my siblings, thenmy dad.
I remember floating with my momat the beach in Boliver, which
is where all the memories takeplace in the movie, and she
(35:33):
could just float in the tidepools that would.
They'd be like maybe three feetdeep or something.
She could just float.
She had these little beautymarks on her thigh and I just
remember trying to float next toher.
I'm much more earthy.
My mom was all water and I wasjust like I'm a tree, but I'm
(35:54):
trying to float next to you, andthose are the moments that I
made.
The tomato moment.
That wasn't a real moment, butthat's who I saw for Maggie,
based on her dad and thatconnection.
So yeah, that's probably verylong-winded, but yes, it's based
on my own spirit and grief.
Speaker 3 (36:17):
You know we write what we know.
When it's a project that comesfrom you, you're the writer,
director, actor.
One of my favorite books, steve, like an artist, says like
every creative work is fanfiction because you're inspired
by something that has kind ofshaped the way that you're gonna
create your work, and that youknow when it's a cathartic
(36:41):
feeling, when it's somethingthat is that personal for you
and you spend so much of yourlife putting it together,
wrapping it up, putting a bow onit and showing it to other
people to judge, how has theexperience of creating your own
feature film from such apersonal place, how has that
been for you?
Speaker 1 (37:01):
Well, you know, I think there was one reviewer who
just didn't like the structure,like didn't get the sort of
flashing back, and but otherwiseI think the people who have
responded to it have respondedto it in a way that I hoped that
(37:21):
they would.
You know, obviously films findus.
You know the ones that sort ofopen us up or show us something
new or scratch an itch.
You know, and this was a dreamof my mom's, that we would all
make films together one day, andso I put my brother and sister
(37:43):
and some of my nieces andnephews into it.
And 10 years after her death,it was a realization of
something she like, thatdesperate dreaming.
You know, the desperate daydreaming.
You know we're in this doublewide trailer on 180 acres in the
middle of Southeast Texas, andthis woman has performed for
(38:07):
thousands and thousands, tens ofthousands of people, with some
of the greatest performers ofall time, with Bob Hope and Anne
Margaret.
And here she is with her threechildren, who sometimes, you
know, she has to leave thegrocery basket at the door
because there's no money.
And you know she's telling uswe're gonna write these movies
(38:29):
and we're gonna make thesemovies together and we're gonna
do that and you know, after shedied I was able to do that.
So it was quite cathartic andalso it just filled my heart.
You know, when I watched Mimiand my niece and my brother and
my sister and Wyatt and Sadie,and this I'm like man, she would
(38:52):
have loved it and then sadly welost my dad right after we
finished the edit, kind of inthe midst of the edit.
So it was wow, it was yeah, itwas a wild time.
Speaker 3 (39:09):
It's like a perfect transition.
That was gonna be my nextquestion because I came from
well.
Two summers ago we had thepleasure of Everly worked on a
Robert Rodriguez film out therein Texas and I got to go spend a
summer out there and watchRobert Rodriguez work and he has
now hired all of his childrento be on his crew.
(39:30):
like the visuals, the soundeffects the score the
co-directing and I thought thisdude's got it Like what a dream
that would be to just grow upand make art with your family
and then to see that you wereable to do that with Boliver and
to hear that it was a dream ofyour mother's is so
inspirational, and your nieceand nephew did a great job in
(39:52):
the film.
Speaker 1 (39:53):
Thank you.
I think they were brilliant andI thought I was so proud.
I mean, my brother is like tinylittle part, but I was so proud
of my sister too and I justthought she was beautiful as the
flashback mom, yeah.
Speaker 3 (40:05):
Oh, she was your mom.
Speaker 1 (40:07):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (40:07):
Okay, yeah, I'd known that they were in the film, but
I hadn't IMDb'd who played what.
But yeah, yeah, well, thatmakes sense because you look a
lot like each other.
Speaker 1 (40:18):
Well, that helps with the transitions as well.
You know, bone structurematching is kind of a cool thing
, and she looks so much like mymom, so it was perfect.
Speaker 3 (40:31):
You're a magical being making magical art here on
this magical experience of lifeon this rock by a fireball you
mentioned you have stuff comingdown the pike.
What's next for Neltyr?
Ooh, okay.
Speaker 1 (40:45):
So you know some.
There are some projects thatjust take long time and I've
been working on a pilotpresentation for a while that we
just it's just taken forever,like I'm talking two years, and
it's a short concept piece.
(41:06):
So we're in the throes of likethe sound and the color edit on
that.
We're sort of world buildingstill, but that's a really cool
thing I shot with AlexanderGrzinski and written by Josh
Adwar.
It's called Folklore Americanaand hopefully that'll be we'll
be submitting soon, like in thenext month.
(41:29):
There's some festivals andthings.
We have a pilot that Josh isworking on that's attached to it
.
So it's kind of, you know, wewant to do the festival run with
it, kind of get the world outthere, but it's very much kind
of a climate sci-fi but againvery much an emotional like
relationship piece.
I'm attached to a featureChristmas movie called Winter
(41:54):
White Wedding, which I'm excitedabout and that was shoot in
Texas in a town calledRuder-Exburgh, written by two
wonderful women and reallylooking to kind of create like a
you know, like a the holiday orfamily stuff, like a holiday or
(42:15):
family stone, you know thatkind of feeling.
It's really a love story aboutsisters.
And then I've got a projectI've been working on for a long
time which looks like it mightgo, which would be a big one,
like the biggest budget thatI've ever done, and I wrote it
with my good friend Ford Gunterand have some really exciting
(42:37):
actors verbally attached to it,so fingers crossed for them.
Speaker 3 (42:41):
Nice, yeah.
So that's all very exciting andwe wish you all the very best.
And before we say thanks andgood night, but wait and then
the thing that I've written foryour child.
Speaker 1 (42:55):
Very which you haven't read yet, but anyway, so
go on.
Speaker 3 (43:00):
I told my wife, I told Everly and Jamie about it
at lunch one day and just likethe brief synopsis, and everyone
at the table was in tears.
So we can't wait to hear moreabout it.
Yeah, we've heard your mantraand it is loud and clear on this
end, but do you have any otherother lasting advice or advice
that you normally will findyourself giving to people who
(43:24):
might be intimidated or afraidto take the first step, the next
step in their career or take ona big project that it may be
scary for them?
Speaker 1 (43:34):
I think my the thing that I continue to say to myself
is do not, do not allow yourdefinition of success to be
narrow.
Let success be this mysterious,vast thing, so that you're like
(43:54):
I think of a shrimping boat.
Right, if anyone's ever seenthat, the nets go way out and
they sort of gather everything.
Because if success to you meansI'm a series regular on a on a
TV show, one hour drama on ABC,well, good luck with that.
(44:15):
But if success is somethingfaster, like I, will feel
fulfilled in the roles that Iplay.
I will be financially stable inthis industry.
I don't know what job couldpossibly do that, but I'm ready
to find out.
Well, you know, then you mightstart directing Dubs that you
never knew was a job, and youmight.
(44:35):
You know, there's so manythings in this industry that are
fulfilling, that are creative,that you could never put your
finger on or or even know aboutuntil you do.
So if you're shutting down thatlens, if it's so small that
space is too narrow, then youshoot yourself in the foot.
Speaker 3 (44:58):
Very wise and very great advice, in my humble
opinion.
My thank you, congratulations toyou, like for for all of your
accomplishments I I mentionedyou know how similar our
journeys are and how I see somuch of myself in you.
But you know I I did the thingwhere I said I can't, I can't do
this anymore, and I made acareer pivot and I'm doing
(45:19):
something else now.
But staying in, you know, inthe filmmaking, the creating as
a hobby, you know with podcastsor side things, and I still, you
know, am able to, you know,experience a lot of the
fulfillment through watching mychildren work and things like
that, but a huge.
I cautioned people against,like you said, getting so just
(45:41):
focused on one goal that, likethat's going to define you and
that's going to define successor failure for you.
You need to be open to finding,finding the places where you
belong and and or the placesthat work for you, the places
where you find success, and youknow when you do that it doesn't
(46:02):
mean that you have failed, butto keep that in mind.
Speaker 1 (46:06):
And also, you know, having other jobs and other
skills is a gift to to an actoror a writer or a director,
because you get to live inanother world, like you get to
know other truths, and there'sthere's nothing more helpful
than that and and yeah, I thinkthat's a huge thing.
(46:33):
Also, one more thing toselfishly plug, but Bolivar was
nominated for the TexasIndependent Film Award by the
Houston Film Critics Society.
That exciting, and we'll findout on January 22nd.
(46:55):
So keep your ears peeled ifthat comes down, because that
would be special and we'd getpeople to go and rent it and
watch it, which we desperatelyneed you to do.
Speaker 3 (47:05):
Keep us posted.
I'll definitely share that infoon our socials for the show.
Before we say goodbye and findout all the ways we can stay
connected.
Before we do, did you happen tofind a poem that you wanted to
share with us on the programtoday?
Speaker 1 (47:21):
I did find one.
I don't know what the name ofit is, but I wrote this years
ago when we were out on a patio.
The whole family and my niecesand nephews were little.
Speaker 3 (47:31):
Luffy can't wait to hear it.
Speaker 1 (47:34):
Right.
Handfuls of fantasies fall fromher young lips as the heat of
the day blows 100 miles an houraround us.
They make a machine of ordinarythings to whisk them away.
The speed of life.
The first sounds of nightsurround us in this outdoor
space that wants to be what wepretend it is.
(47:56):
Arms and legs fly through theair, no meat, just intention,
building something from nothingon just another night, finding
things to reinvent and spendinto my heart.
A coaster star, a garden, stonepiece of moon, his familiar
voice and the swirl of his wine.
Sitting here, like always,somehow guarded from time, sand,
(48:19):
the storms he has weathered,attempting everything at once
and not at all the whipping byof time across his heart, our
hearts.
I only feel her empty spacewhen I think about things later,
how it could have gone had shenot gone.
But she did before she was, andI hear their laughter cutting
(48:41):
through the desk, ringing brighteyes, loose teeth and a
styrofoam cup.
The straw, the straw stands atattention before my face and she
sets her brow drink, shecrushed it, a small piece she
grabbed from the sun for me,crushed into this weird white
cup so I could taste it, and herexcitement transfers and her
(49:05):
little brother runs, and it onlytook a second to sip the sun.
Speaker 3 (49:13):
Beautiful Wow, being present in the moment In nature
with children.
Speaker 4 (49:21):
So many images, so much visual to it.
Speaker 1 (49:25):
She just it was hysterical.
She was like drink it.
What is that?
She goes?
It's the sun.
I crushed a piece of it for you.
Taste it, oh my god.
I think it was like Dr Pepper,but it was delicious.
Speaker 3 (49:40):
That was beautiful.
Do you have like a poetry book?
You need to be sharing thatstuff.
Speaker 1 (49:45):
I have been thinking about it more and more.
I think I have enough toactually do one, so maybe
someday.
Speaker 3 (49:52):
Which is another perfect segue to tell us where
everyone can find.
You can find Bolivar.
How can people stay connectedwith Nell and her work?
Speaker 1 (50:00):
Yes, Well, Nell, T-E-R-L-N-E-L-T-E-A-R-Ecom, and
that's pretty much the sameeverywhere Instagram, Facebook,
LinkedIn I think I'm here, Nell,on Twitter.
And then Bolivar is availableon every platform, Anywhere that
(50:23):
you can buy or rent films XboxRoku, Hulu or not.
No, it's not on Hulu yet.
Ooh, maybe that was.
Putting it out there herePutting it out there, yeah, but
it's like Apple, amazon, u-verseDirect TV anywhere where you
can rent or buy, you can find it.
Speaker 3 (50:44):
Well, thank you so much for taking the time
spending an hour with us today,on a Saturday, and what a
wonderful gift.
Traveling.
It was a gift to have you herewith us and sit down and get to
know you a little bit more.
I'm sure it is the start of ajourney, a friendship journey
that will continue through theyears.
Speaker 1 (51:02):
It will continue through the years and hopefully
we'll get to collaborate onthings and you know, just keep
making these stories.
Speaker 3 (51:12):
Let's do it.
Ladies and gentlemen, pleasegive it up at home for our guest
today, Nell.
Speaker 2 (51:17):
Tear.
Speaker 4 (51:25):
That was a great interview and I mean what I love
some of the takeaways that Isaw that I think everybody who
listens and watches this podcastshould consider is the fact
that she's self-taught, she tookit on herself to do these
things and that encouragementkeep kept her going and that's
(51:45):
what we all need isencouragement, regardless of
whatever talent that we have,whatever we're good at.
Keep going, keep developing it,keep fueling that passion.
I love that.
Get out that raw stone ofcreation.
Yes, those words embody so muchabout how artists and not only
(52:15):
just artists passionate peopleshould be about what they do.
Get that raw stone of creationout there.
Some other notes I made isobviously she is a metaphorical
driver of her own car, notthinking about failing ultimate
optimist.
(52:36):
The poem that I have selectedfor today I mean, oh my gosh,
she fits right into it.
She mentioned being a gypsywith her sister.
The poem that I found was frompoetrysoupcom.
This writer, rona McFerrin, isknown as a gypsy soul poet.
(53:00):
I love what her comment thatshe says in general, but the
poem just explains a lot.
Rona says never stop creatingwhat you love and never stop
being yourself.
You never know who you mightinspire.
I swear.
(53:21):
If Nell does not inspire peopleto do what they want to do, to
feel that passion to followthrough, I don't know.
I mean, she is her story, herhistory herself.
Speaker 3 (53:38):
So a lot of vibes from a lot of people.
Who have been listening to thepodcast from the beginning know
that this was a project that Iwanted to do for years and it
was always in the back of myhead and I always thought could
I keep that up?
Could I do it?
Would people listen to it?
And this little guy in the back?
I can't do it.
Speaker 4 (53:59):
Okay, I'll stop over there Staying on top of the
clock is from the book that wetalked about.
Speaker 3 (54:04):
What do you do with an idea?
And it is that raw stone ofcreation that you bring out into
the world.
You polish it up, you carvewhatever you're going to out of
it, and it all takes drive.
It all takes not just the firststep.
Of course, you can't getanywhere without the first step,
but you need to keep at it andfollow through.
And yeah, she's a prime exampleof that.
Speaker 4 (54:27):
Absolutely, and the beauty of the poem that I
selected is from 2019.
It's called Star of the Show byRona McFerrin.
Speaker 3 (54:39):
Can't wait to hear it .
Here is Craig Jackmaninterpreting Star of the Show by
Rona McFerrin.
Speaker 4 (54:59):
Narrate your own life's story and tell your own
life's tale.
Don't leave it up for grabs oreven up for sale.
Write down your own life'sstory before the others do,
waiting through words andphrases that aren't remotely
true.
Plan out your own life's storybefore it's done for you and
(55:22):
you're stuck acting out a lifethat you despise and rue.
Plot out your own life's storyor at least act two or three.
Rewrite your script, if neededto set your spirit free.
Dress yourself with color,costume yourself with care.
Create the character you wantto be and strut with catwalk
(55:44):
flair.
Design and build your life'sstage, or at least rearrange the
props and play your role withMoxie, not caring if it flops.
Create your own life's story asproducer-director-star.
Then kick back and enjoy theshow, no matter how bizarre.
(56:07):
Be your own show's critic,ignoring all other reviews.
Lavish your life with praise,acknowledging cast and crew.
Become your very own fan club,awaiting each scene of your day,
taking joy in each thoughtfuldetail of your glorious, quirky
(56:31):
play.
Speaker 3 (56:57):
Subscribe or follow on YouTube or wherever you're
listening to us, whateverpodcast platform.
Every like, comment and reviewhelps us with the algorithm to
reach new audiences.
As a small, independent podcast, this is very important to help
our show grow.
So thank you in advance.
I appreciate your time always.
I hope you'll tune in to thenext one.
(57:17):
Until then, make each day count.
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