December 7, 2023 • 21 mins
We dedicate this episode to @Time Person of the Year Nominee the Hollywood Strikers!
Getting real for a sec, though -- the Hollywood Strikes of 2023 are officially over, and TBH we're feeling a little uncertain.
A lot of hope and solidarity were born this Hot Labor Summer. Yet despite all the wins and losses, joy and tears, no one really knows what the future holds.
Part of our mission at the Hollywood Confessional is to share untold stories from people working in entertainment so that other folks in the industry know they're not alone. Enter our Season Two Finale, "The Best Worst Strike Story Ever."
In this episode, we hear from a confessor about how their crazy career path led to a crisis during the WGA Strike of 2007-2008. The years of struggle. The short wins and endless losses. The moment when their dream finally comes true... followed by the moment when they realize it's about to be waylaid by forces beyond their control.
Through the ups and downs, we hear how despite all the changes in Hollywood, much remains the same... even the occasional happily ever after.
Join us in the booth for this funny, heartwarming confession that will have you nodding along and feeling that spark we all need to keep our love of this industry alive. If you like the episode, please share and connect with us on socials @fessuphollywood. We'd love to hear your thoughts on how you want to make Hollywood a happier place in 2024 and beyond!
#Hollywood #WGAStrong #SAGAFTRAStrong #Strikes #fessuphollywood
Connect with us:
Check out some of our favorite shows:
- Screenwriters' Rant Room
- Screaming into the Hollywood Abyss
- It Happened in Hollywood
- The Secret History of Hollywood
Hollywood Confessional is a Ninth Way Media production, produced by Meagan Daine and J.R. Zamora-Thal.
Sound Effects and Music provided by Zapsplat and Pixabay.
Keywords: filmmaking podcast, film podcast, screenwriting podcast, entertainment podcast, Hollywood, filmmaking, writerslife, actorslife, setlife
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
In the name of the Spirit, of the Spirit amen.
Speaker 2 (00:16):
Hello Hollywood faithful, welcome back to
another episode of the HollywoodConfessional.
I am your podcast priest, meganDane.
It's been a minute.
I almost forgot what I wassupposed to say, right.
Speaker 1 (00:29):
It's been so long.
You forgot your co-priest, andI'm JR Zamora Thal.
Speaker 2 (00:35):
Sorry, man.
Hey, jr missed ya.
And how about you guys?
Did you guys miss us?
We've been taking a little bitof a break because, as you know,
things change for us during thestrikes.
We were trying to figure out ifwe're working with actors or
how we were doing that, and wehave a wonderful new confession
that we have been waiting todrop until the actor's strike
(00:58):
ended, thinking initially that,I mean, I think it's okay to be
totally open about this.
We sort of felt like, when theactors got their deal, that it
was going to be a moment ofcelebration for everyone.
Speaker 1 (01:16):
Well, we thought it was going to come right after
the WGA finished their strike,but the AMPTP just dragged it
out as long as they possiblycould.
Speaker 2 (01:24):
Yeah, and didn't, unfortunately, offer what a lot
of people were hoping that theywere going to offer.
Speaker 1 (01:32):
But you know this industry, it is an industry of
uncertainty and no matter whathappens with the strike, some
things are going to change andsome things are going to stay
the same, and I think that'ssomething we all have to reckon
with, and that's something wereckon with as we come into this
industry.
You know, nothing is certain.
You don't know if you're goingto have a job tomorrow.
(01:52):
You don't know if your next jobis going to come in six months
or a year.
It's tough, but we love what wedo and that's why we do it.
Speaker 2 (02:00):
Yeah, exactly.
So it is now Tuesday, december5th, and we had been planning to
hold off to see which way thevote went, because today is the
last day of voting for theSAG-AFTRA contract.
And then you know what wethought?
No, because uncertainty isreally a part of it, you know.
(02:20):
And whether the contract isratified or it's not ratified,
either way, like you say, thingsare going to change and we
don't know how things are goingto change, and there's going to
be a lot of uncertainty, and yetmany things are going to stay
the same.
And that is what brings us totoday's awesome confessional.
Speaker 1 (02:42):
Right, yeah, there are some great things about the
industry and thankfully thosethings, you know, a lot of them
will stay the same, and one ofthose things is the friendships
that we've made along the way.
I think Spoiler.
Maybe we should get into thisbefore I spoil the rest of the
story.
Yeah, I think we should.
Speaker 2 (03:01):
Sorry guys, we're a little rusty on our hosting
duties, but with no further ado.
Speaker 1 (03:05):
This is the best war strike ever.
Let's hop into the confessionalbooth.
Speaker 2 (03:09):
Oh people, so far, so good.
Speaker 3 (03:20):
Forgive me, Father, for I feel like the old guy
who's like way back in the oldseven strike.
Speaker 1 (03:27):
But we want to hear it Absolutely.
Share your wisdom, old timer.
Speaker 3 (03:34):
My favorite part about watching television is
when they get to the originstory.
You know Marvel doesn't have amonopoly on the origin story.
Every one of us aspiringlemmings that are drawn out here
to Hollywood, we all haveorigin stories, and my partners
in mind is a little longer, Ithink, than some people's,
because it started when f*** andI were roommates in college.
F*** and I came from verydifferent upbringings.
(03:59):
We were raised with almostnothing in common, but when we
were assigned to be freshmanroommates we found out we had
read all the same books fantasyand sci-fi.
We would watch Star Trek rerunstogether.
It was our bonding thing.
Nobody really got along withtheir computer assigned freshman
roommate but we did.
So f*** and I lived togetherfor a lot of college and then
after college we had all thesame post college lame ass jobs.
(04:20):
We wanted to be TV writers butwe were living in f***, which
might as well have been amillion miles from LA.
As we were trying to figurethings out, we got an
opportunity to open a restauranttogether.
F*** was like why would I opena restaurant?
And I said man, we're 23,.
We don't know shit about shit.
Let's open this restaurant.
We'll meet a million people andwe'll have something to write
(04:40):
about.
This was a terrible slash greatidea.
It's like building a shipbecause you want to go across
the ocean as opposed to buying aticket.
It's just too big, but I talkedhim into it and we did it and
unexpectedly the restaurantbecame a hit.
Oh wow, we had lines around theblock, the reviews were off the
(05:01):
charts, we had three hour waitsfor a couple of years and one
thing led to another.
We opened another restaurant inf*** with a full bar and a
martini.
Speaker 2 (05:09):
Oh my god, this is insane.
Speaker 3 (05:11):
It was insane.
Eventually, we were sitting atthe bar one New Year's Eve and
we were looking around at themanagers and feeling we'd become
less important.
This turned out not to be true,but it felt that way at the
time and I said you know what?
I'm going to start writingtomorrow.
If you want to be there, we'lldo it together.
And he did so.
My best friend, former collegeroommate, now business partner
(05:33):
and I started writing and wewere terrible, of course.
We basically knew nothing.
But the worst slash best thingthat happened was our first
script was really pretty good.
It was a Simpson spec and weactually made each other laugh
and we were like, okay, we canf***ing do this.
This isn't as hard as wethought.
And then of course, the nexteight scripts sucked.
(05:55):
Oh no, we had just gotten luckywith the first one, but for a
while after that we just gotworse and worse and worse.
Up to that point f***ing, and Ihad almost never argued about
anything None of the restaurantstuff, the dramas that we had.
But now we're writing and we'restarting to get annoyed with
each other because we're in itand we care, and maybe that was
the difference with therestaurants.
(06:16):
We cared about them, but it wasnot a core thing, it was just
the project to get us to writing.
And we knew that One day, whilewe were doing this, a friend of
ours called and said hey, I gota development deal at f***ing
and I need an assistant.
If you guys want the job, it'syours.
We were about to sign a leasefor our third restaurant.
But the job was in LA, whichmeant we'd have to move.
(06:36):
So we met with the landlord andsaid we're out, and we turned
most of the management of ourrestaurants over to our partners
a chef and another manager.
We said we're moving, here yougo.
And then we said to our wivesWait, wait, wait, wives.
Yeah, I just gotten married.
Speaker 2 (06:51):
Oh my God, you seriously told your brand new
wife hey, these insanelysuccessful restaurants we got
going, we just sold them andwe're moving to LA to be
assistants.
Speaker 3 (07:02):
I think it's really important to test your marriage
in the first month.
I told my wife when we weredating that I wanted to be a
writer.
I told her Listen, this is mytrajectory.
I want to go to LA, I want tobe a TV writer.
So she knew that was apossibility.
Swife took a little moreconvincing but, you know, we
married the right people.
They supported the dream.
So we left the city where weowned two restaurants with 100
(07:24):
employees and everything wasfree I hadn't paid for a drink
in years at this point and movedto LA where suddenly we were
assistants, doing assistantthings all day, while at the
same time I was on the phone allday with the restaurants trying
to help them and keep thatgoing, because they were now
paying my rent 50% of anassistant salary wasn't doing it
.
Speaker 1 (07:44):
Let me tell you wait, they hired both of you, but
only paid you each half.
Speaker 3 (07:48):
There was only one position, so we said, can we
split it?
And they said, yeah, so wesplit the position and we're
making $18,000 a year.
Oh wow.
We were thrilled, though,because they gave both of us
benefits, so we had generoushealth care, and we were so
excited we would have done thejob for free, because now we
were on a studio lot, and one ofthe greatest things was we were
in an office right across thehall from the president of his
(08:12):
name was he had a couple ofassistants, and we got friendly
with them, but I never saw himin a good mood not once.
He never, like saw anybody else.
You know he would walk past ouroffice to his office, but he
never once looked inside, no,like hey, good morning.
It was really like, wow, he'son his mission.
I am an irrelevancy, which wasinteresting to me because I
(08:34):
wasn't a 20-year-old assistant.
I had all these employees, I'dachieved a certain amount of
stuff, and now I wasn't evenworth him acknowledging when we
passed in the hall.
Nobody else did that, by theway, there were big producers
all over the building and theywould say hello or whatever.
He was the only one that didthat.
I'd never heard anybody yell inthe workplace before F*** and I
had created our own workplaceright and we didn't yell.
(08:56):
I did have a crazy chef for awhile and he was out of control,
but other than that F*** and Iare not yellers, but the
president was actually yellingregularly and I just remember
his assistants who worked insanehours and had to listen to him
yell all day.
That was my first experiencewith that kind of personality,
not just in Hollywood but in mylife.
I have no doubt that at somepoint I made some pathetic
(09:18):
attempt to chat him up in someway.
You know my little juniorwriter, heart beating in my
chest.
I probably wrote the approachin my mind.
My dialogue was clever, but notyou know too much.
It was just the right amount.
It was a beautiful scene and inthis little script that I wrote
he probably turned to me andsaid you know what, standing
(09:40):
next to you at the urinal here,I realize you are really so
smart.
You would be a great candidateto run this show we have every
Tuesday night at 10.
Speaker 2 (09:53):
That's beautiful.
Speaker 3 (09:55):
But I don't actually remember ever talking to him.
If I did, it was probablyterrible, like a nice to meet
you.
That destroyed my fantasy.
I never really met him.
Even so, there were a lot ofperks to this assistant job, one
of them being that we hadaccess to all the scripts they
got during staffing season.
One day they put them all inthe recycling room and I went
right over there and startedpicking up bundles of scripts
(10:17):
and bringing them back to theoffice.
There were over a hundred ofthem.
I was like, oh look, these areall represented writers.
All the scripts had jacketslike CAA endeavor, you know all
the stuff.
They were all so fancy.
It was like the promised land,like this could happen to us
someday.
So I said let's read thescripts and rank where we are,
you know, and how we compare tothese represented writers.
(10:38):
It was an education because,first of all, there were some
great writers in there.
I mean, this was the early odds.
So it was like Sopranos andstuff like that.
Like holy shit, these guys canreally write.
That was maybe a third of them,but a lot of them were terrible
and we were like I think we'redoing better than this.
We might've been smoking ourown stuff there, but a good
(10:58):
script really pops out and youcould definitely tell.
So here we were all alone onthis island reading scripts,
writing as fast as we could,eating at the Studio Commissary.
At the same time, we're stillmanaging the restaurants back
home because they were reallypaying our rent and we ended up
spending a huge amount of moneyto remodel one of those
restaurants.
We opened it on September 9th2001 and then September 11th
(11:21):
happened.
Oh shit, everyone went intoshock for a long time.
Then in the entertainmentindustry, we just kept going.
Not a lot changed for b***h andme as assistants, but the
restaurant business changeddramatically.
America stopped eating out.
Revenues dropped like 30 to 40%.
Pretty soon our restaurantswere on life support and by this
time I had a few month old baby.
(11:43):
I owned a little house inPasadena that was more than I
could afford.
This was back in the day whenthey would give you a mortgage
if you had a pulse.
And one day I was out mowingthe lawn with my daughter in a
baby beorn, thinking how am Igoing to pay for everything?
How is this going to work?
And a silver jet of poles up infront of my house and this dude
gets out and goes hey, are youb***h?
And I said yes, and he hands mea jacket of papers and I find
(12:06):
out I'm being sued for bothleases on the restaurant plus
money we had borrowed to keepthem generating income.
Oh my god it was a sum total of$1.3 million.
That was a real low point.
Eventually, b***h and I managedto negotiate our way out of a
lot of that stuff and settle fora teeny, tiny amount of money
(12:27):
Not teeny to us, but teeny tothem.
But at the end of it we hadnothing no career, no
restaurants.
We just had some debt and wewere like what the hell are we
going to do now?
Around this time, someone Iknew socially was like hey,
there's this guy and he wants toget into the movie business.
He wants to hire writers, butof course, like everybody in the
movie business, he didn't wantto pay professional writers.
(12:49):
So they told us to send asample.
So we sent over a spec scriptand the guy who'd been hired to
read for this budding producerreally liked it.
So we got the job.
We ended up writing two scriptsfor this guy.
On the first one he paid us$3,000.
Speaker 2 (13:02):
For a feature.
What is?
Speaker 1 (13:03):
this 1923?
.
Speaker 3 (13:06):
Yep, and we were happy to get it.
We had to go meet with him toget paid.
We had to go through a gate tothe house, then walk over a
bridge that went over the poolthat had cherubs peeing highly
chlorinated water and then wewent in there and he paid us our
$3,000.
Speaker 2 (13:20):
Oh, my God.
Speaker 3 (13:21):
Then, as we're leaving, he's like hey, do you
like beer?
I'm repping this Thai beercompany because his day job was
being a marketing person.
So he's like there's beer inthe basement, take as much as
you want.
So we went down there and therewere cases and cases and cases
and cases of beer.
The only thing was we had tocarry them all the way around
over the bridge down the youknow.
(13:43):
It's like how bad do you want?
Speaker 1 (13:44):
this beer.
Speaker 3 (13:45):
It was like come on, man, we got three or four cases,
that's enough, but I was likefuck that man, I'm going back
for more.
Hell, yeah, you were.
I think we walked out of therewith like eight or 10 cases and
I drank that beer for I don'teven know how long.
I never got sick of it becauseit was free beer and I was broke
and I was like God damn right,you just saved me some money.
I don't think it impressed mywife.
(14:06):
She was hoping I'd bring homerent money.
But we wrote that script andthen we wrote another one that
he paid us like $10 or $12,000for and along the way we became
friends with the guy who wasreading the scripts.
Later on that friend startedworking at a production company
and he said hey, do you guyshave anything?
And we went in there and wepitched and the pitch was
terrible, but the exact like theidea, and he helped us shape it
(14:28):
into an actual pitch andeventually we sold it.
Oh, yay.
It was an amazing feeling.
But the pilot didn't go.
So we wrote another one andthis time we were like, okay,
this one is really good.
It was based on a Stephen Kingproperty, so it had strong IP
behind it.
We had a lot of faith in it.
We were like, okay, this is theone.
It has to be the one, becauseby that time we were like one
(14:48):
foot out of the business.
We have nothing left.
We have less than nothing left.
I was borrowing money againstmy house to pay my bills.
Might have even gotten a booklike how to change careers for
dummies.
We were just like, if thisdoesn't work and it did work we
sold the second pilot yeah soldit to, and then we were working
(15:08):
with the head of drama and hernumber two and number three and
an assistant.
We did all the normaldevelopment stuff and then it
ended up on the president's deskthe same angry guy we sat
across the hall from asassistants all those years
before.
And then the writer's guildwent on strike.
I was like oh my God, you knowhow you get so close.
(15:30):
You get so close and thennothing happens all the time.
And by this time we werewrapped.
So we had to commission theagent and the lawyer and then we
had to split the check.
So you know, the money we gotfor the pilot was already spent,
but we supported it 100%, justlike we did this strike, even
though it had come at kind ofthe worst moment for us.
So we went to pick it and itjust so happened that we got a
(15:52):
sign to pick it at the oh my god, the same studio that was
considering your pilot, Yep itwas in the same big building
where it is now, and the picketlines were very casual, just
like they were this last time.
You know, a lot of writers goingback and forth and talking to
each other and eating fooddonated by wealthy celebrities.
So, f***ing, I are therepicketing, knowing our script is
literally on the president'sdesk and he's making a decision
(16:14):
about what pilots he's going topick up right then, and we see
him driving onto the lot Everyday.
Speaker 1 (16:20):
Oh my god.
Speaker 3 (16:22):
Every day I see him go by and I think to myself does
he recognize us?
And part of me hoped he did,but I also kind of hoped he
didn't.
And the day that I really hopedhe didn't was one day when he
had to pause.
He had turned left to go intothe office but the picket was
going and he had to wait for usto cross.
And as he waited he was gettingangrier and angrier and when he
(16:42):
was finally able to go hestopped and he flipped off
double barrel all the writers,including us, and then kept
going and went in the park.
Speaker 2 (16:52):
Oh no.
Speaker 3 (16:53):
I like to think it wasn't that day, but maybe it
was that he took our script andput it in the trailer.
This asshole oh my god F*** andI were standing right there
side by side on the picket lineand we looked at each other.
We laughed about it, you know,and internally cried about it.
It was just so surreal.
Part of me did think it wasfunny, Like you think it's funny
(17:13):
when some horrificallyembarrassing thing happens and
part of your writer brain islike, okay, that was pretty good
.
But at the same time I had ababy at home and a mortgage and
you know expenses, and I knewthat things had just taken a
turn in absolutely the wrongdirection.
So there were a lot of emotionsgoing on at the same time.
But you know, we laughedbecause I'm standing next to the
(17:33):
guy that I sat and laughed withover dumb stuff in our little
8x10 dorm room all those yearsbefore we had been through
college successful restaurantsmoving to LA, then closing the
restaurants because of aterrorist attack on the country,
and then, you know, beingserved with papers and finally
selling a pilot or two thatmight get us out, and then, bam,
the strike and this asshole'sreaction is flipping us off
(17:55):
because he can't get into theparking lot as fast as he wants
to.
But my best friend is next tome and we've seen so much at
that point, and so it was justlike, okay, this is life.
Speaker 2 (18:05):
Oh, that's beautiful.
Speaker 1 (18:06):
So did they end up making the pilot Hell?
Speaker 3 (18:09):
no, but the production company didn't let it
go.
They knew they had something.
The script was really good, ithad great underlying IP.
So after the strike ended theywere shopping it and shopping it
and eventually it landed atf***ing and was picked up and
turned into a series.
Speaker 2 (18:26):
What Happy ending yeah.
Speaker 3 (18:29):
And when it went into production they flew us out to
f***ing and we get into atranspo van and we drive for a
long time and we're in themiddle of nowhere and we go to
an abandoned firehouse that hadbeen turned into the production
offices and there in the windowwas a handwritten, taped up sign
and it said the name of ourshow, and at that moment I was
still sitting next to the guywho we were freshmen, and then
(18:50):
we were successful, and then wewere broke, and then we were
nowhere and then we got flippedoff by the president and now
we're on our own show.
Things haven't been easy sincethen, but when you've been there
, everything seems easy.
After that.
Now we're executive producersand we work a lot, but there's
not a day that I take forgranted ever, because I remember
that stuff Old wounds, pastwounds they have some value, as
(19:12):
it turns out in the end.
As for the president of f***ing,he's not in the business
anymore.
You know he had an angerproblem, clearly, so let me just
give you the double barrelright back wherever the f*** you
are.
Amen to that.
Speaker 2 (19:27):
And hallelujah.
Speaker 1 (19:38):
I have been hearing that story for quite some time
now.
That confessor is a dear friendand we're very happy to have
this story on the podcast.
Speaker 2 (19:47):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (19:48):
It's so good to hear it every time I do.
I just love it.
Speaker 2 (19:51):
Yeah, I really love this story too.
It so crystallizes for meexactly the reason why I do this
.
We've talked about what keepsyou going.
What's that flame?
Whoa, did I just book into ourseason?
Speaker 1 (20:07):
Very well done.
Not as rusty as we thought.
Speaker 2 (20:12):
Yeah, our first confession of the season.
We were talking about the flame, that how to keep your flame
burning, and for me it'sfriendship, the people that we
meet along the way and thefamily that we create.
And you and I are really lucky,JR, in that we have had an
opportunity to form that familyand we are actually working
(20:35):
right now on a show that youguys listeners know that we were
working on last season, calledCross.
It's an Amazon show.
They made a decision topremiere it in fall of 2024, so
it's gonna be a minute beforeyou can see it, but we're
currently working on season twoand Like, so so happy to be here
and back with the same awesomepeople that we were in season
(20:56):
one.
Speaker 1 (20:56):
It's incredible.
I've never been in a room whereI like every single person in
the room and I get to go to workwith People that I love being
around.
It's incredible.
It's a great feeling.
Speaker 2 (21:07):
Yeah, and I love that Moving forward with the
Hollywood confessional, I hopewe'll be able to talk more about
what's actually going on inthat show, because Last season
we weren't able to talk aboutthe show very much yet, but now
that it's kind of an establishedthing and we're moving on to
season two, you know, maybe wecould talk a little bit about
(21:28):
like the dynamics of the room oryou know what's happening on
set or things like that.
Of course it will all betotally anonymous, but just to
you know, like just as sort of aLook behind the scenes and,
yeah, so you could see thosereal-world examples for our oh
for our Amazon overlords.
Speaker 1 (21:49):
We're definitely not gonna give away any spoilers,
just a little peek behind thecurtain of how it actually works
to make a TV show, from thewriting process To being on set,
to even post.
We're gonna experience a littlebit of that this time around.
Speaker 2 (22:03):
Yeah, yeah, exactly.
I mean even the little thingsthat happened, like today,
aldous Hodge walked into ourwriter's room and that was
pretty fucking awesome, what aguy.
We had lunch with him, likewhat, but yeah, so that's what
we're working on now, you guys,and we're going to take a
holiday hiatus from theHollywood confessional with this
(22:26):
last wonderful story and Getready for season three season
three of the Hollywoodconfessional.
We have still have quite a fewConfessions that we were not
able to air this season becauseof the strikes, and so we're
holding on to those.
We've got a ton of stories inthe wings from people that have
been reaching out to us thatwe're very excited about, and so
(22:49):
just a ton of really greatstuff coming.
Thank you all for being with uson this journey, and please
connect with us online.
We're at fess up Hollywood.
We want to hear from you andstay in touch over the holidays
and, in the meantime, everybodyhave a wonderful holiday season
go holiday and peace.
Amen.
Speaker 1 (23:15):
The Hollywood confessional is produced by
Megan Dane and JR Zamora thal,special effects provided by Zapp
Splat and Pixabay.
Hollywood confessional is aninth way media production.
Follow us on socials at fess upHollywood.
In the name of the Spirit, of the Spirit amen.
Speaker 2 (00:16):
Hello Hollywood faithful, welcome back to
another episode of the HollywoodConfessional.
I am your podcast priest, meganDane.
It's been a minute.
I almost forgot what I wassupposed to say, right.
Speaker 1 (00:29):
It's been so long.
You forgot your co-priest, andI'm JR Zamora Thal.
Speaker 2 (00:35):
Sorry, man.
Hey, jr missed ya.
And how about you guys?
Did you guys miss us?
We've been taking a little bitof a break because, as you know,
things change for us during thestrikes.
We were trying to figure out ifwe're working with actors or
how we were doing that, and wehave a wonderful new confession
that we have been waiting todrop until the actor's strike
(00:58):
ended, thinking initially that,I mean, I think it's okay to be
totally open about this.
We sort of felt like, when theactors got their deal, that it
was going to be a moment ofcelebration for everyone.
Speaker 1 (01:16):
Well, we thought it was going to come right after
the WGA finished their strike,but the AMPTP just dragged it
out as long as they possiblycould.
Speaker 2 (01:24):
Yeah, and didn't, unfortunately, offer what a lot
of people were hoping that theywere going to offer.
Speaker 1 (01:32):
But you know this industry, it is an industry of
uncertainty and no matter whathappens with the strike, some
things are going to change andsome things are going to stay
the same, and I think that'ssomething we all have to reckon
with, and that's something wereckon with as we come into this
industry.
You know, nothing is certain.
You don't know if you're goingto have a job tomorrow.
(01:52):
You don't know if your next jobis going to come in six months
or a year.
It's tough, but we love what wedo and that's why we do it.
Speaker 2 (02:00):
Yeah, exactly.
So it is now Tuesday, december5th, and we had been planning to
hold off to see which way thevote went, because today is the
last day of voting for theSAG-AFTRA contract.
And then you know what wethought?
No, because uncertainty isreally a part of it, you know.
(02:20):
And whether the contract isratified or it's not ratified,
either way, like you say, thingsare going to change and we
don't know how things are goingto change, and there's going to
be a lot of uncertainty, and yetmany things are going to stay
the same.
And that is what brings us totoday's awesome confessional.
Speaker 1 (02:42):
Right, yeah, there are some great things about the
industry and thankfully thosethings, you know, a lot of them
will stay the same, and one ofthose things is the friendships
that we've made along the way.
I think Spoiler.
Maybe we should get into thisbefore I spoil the rest of the
story.
Yeah, I think we should.
Speaker 2 (03:01):
Sorry guys, we're a little rusty on our hosting
duties, but with no further ado.
Speaker 1 (03:05):
This is the best war strike ever.
Let's hop into the confessionalbooth.
Speaker 2 (03:09):
Oh people, so far, so good.
Speaker 3 (03:20):
Forgive me, Father, for I feel like the old guy
who's like way back in the oldseven strike.
Speaker 1 (03:27):
But we want to hear it Absolutely.
Share your wisdom, old timer.
Speaker 3 (03:34):
My favorite part about watching television is
when they get to the originstory.
You know Marvel doesn't have amonopoly on the origin story.
Every one of us aspiringlemmings that are drawn out here
to Hollywood, we all haveorigin stories, and my partners
in mind is a little longer, Ithink, than some people's,
because it started when f*** andI were roommates in college.
F*** and I came from verydifferent upbringings.
(03:59):
We were raised with almostnothing in common, but when we
were assigned to be freshmanroommates we found out we had
read all the same books fantasyand sci-fi.
We would watch Star Trek rerunstogether.
It was our bonding thing.
Nobody really got along withtheir computer assigned freshman
roommate but we did.
So f*** and I lived togetherfor a lot of college and then
after college we had all thesame post college lame ass jobs.
(04:20):
We wanted to be TV writers butwe were living in f***, which
might as well have been amillion miles from LA.
As we were trying to figurethings out, we got an
opportunity to open a restauranttogether.
F*** was like why would I opena restaurant?
And I said man, we're 23,.
We don't know shit about shit.
Let's open this restaurant.
We'll meet a million people andwe'll have something to write
(04:40):
about.
This was a terrible slash greatidea.
It's like building a shipbecause you want to go across
the ocean as opposed to buying aticket.
It's just too big, but I talkedhim into it and we did it and
unexpectedly the restaurantbecame a hit.
Oh wow, we had lines around theblock, the reviews were off the
(05:01):
charts, we had three hour waitsfor a couple of years and one
thing led to another.
We opened another restaurant inf*** with a full bar and a
martini.
Speaker 2 (05:09):
Oh my god, this is insane.
Speaker 3 (05:11):
It was insane.
Eventually, we were sitting atthe bar one New Year's Eve and
we were looking around at themanagers and feeling we'd become
less important.
This turned out not to be true,but it felt that way at the
time and I said you know what?
I'm going to start writingtomorrow.
If you want to be there, we'lldo it together.
And he did so.
My best friend, former collegeroommate, now business partner
(05:33):
and I started writing and wewere terrible, of course.
We basically knew nothing.
But the worst slash best thingthat happened was our first
script was really pretty good.
It was a Simpson spec and weactually made each other laugh
and we were like, okay, we canf***ing do this.
This isn't as hard as wethought.
And then of course, the nexteight scripts sucked.
(05:55):
Oh no, we had just gotten luckywith the first one, but for a
while after that we just gotworse and worse and worse.
Up to that point f***ing, and Ihad almost never argued about
anything None of the restaurantstuff, the dramas that we had.
But now we're writing and we'restarting to get annoyed with
each other because we're in itand we care, and maybe that was
the difference with therestaurants.
(06:16):
We cared about them, but it wasnot a core thing, it was just
the project to get us to writing.
And we knew that One day, whilewe were doing this, a friend of
ours called and said hey, I gota development deal at f***ing
and I need an assistant.
If you guys want the job, it'syours.
We were about to sign a leasefor our third restaurant.
But the job was in LA, whichmeant we'd have to move.
(06:36):
So we met with the landlord andsaid we're out, and we turned
most of the management of ourrestaurants over to our partners
a chef and another manager.
We said we're moving, here yougo.
And then we said to our wivesWait, wait, wait, wives.
Yeah, I just gotten married.
Speaker 2 (06:51):
Oh my God, you seriously told your brand new
wife hey, these insanelysuccessful restaurants we got
going, we just sold them andwe're moving to LA to be
assistants.
Speaker 3 (07:02):
I think it's really important to test your marriage
in the first month.
I told my wife when we weredating that I wanted to be a
writer.
I told her Listen, this is mytrajectory.
I want to go to LA, I want tobe a TV writer.
So she knew that was apossibility.
Swife took a little moreconvincing but, you know, we
married the right people.
They supported the dream.
So we left the city where weowned two restaurants with 100
(07:24):
employees and everything wasfree I hadn't paid for a drink
in years at this point and movedto LA where suddenly we were
assistants, doing assistantthings all day, while at the
same time I was on the phone allday with the restaurants trying
to help them and keep thatgoing, because they were now
paying my rent 50% of anassistant salary wasn't doing it
.
Speaker 1 (07:44):
Let me tell you wait, they hired both of you, but
only paid you each half.
Speaker 3 (07:48):
There was only one position, so we said, can we
split it?
And they said, yeah, so wesplit the position and we're
making $18,000 a year.
Oh wow.
We were thrilled, though,because they gave both of us
benefits, so we had generoushealth care, and we were so
excited we would have done thejob for free, because now we
were on a studio lot, and one ofthe greatest things was we were
in an office right across thehall from the president of his
(08:12):
name was he had a couple ofassistants, and we got friendly
with them, but I never saw himin a good mood not once.
He never, like saw anybody else.
You know he would walk past ouroffice to his office, but he
never once looked inside, no,like hey, good morning.
It was really like, wow, he'son his mission.
I am an irrelevancy, which wasinteresting to me because I
(08:34):
wasn't a 20-year-old assistant.
I had all these employees, I'dachieved a certain amount of
stuff, and now I wasn't evenworth him acknowledging when we
passed in the hall.
Nobody else did that, by theway, there were big producers
all over the building and theywould say hello or whatever.
He was the only one that didthat.
I'd never heard anybody yell inthe workplace before F*** and I
had created our own workplaceright and we didn't yell.
(08:56):
I did have a crazy chef for awhile and he was out of control,
but other than that F*** and Iare not yellers, but the
president was actually yellingregularly and I just remember
his assistants who worked insanehours and had to listen to him
yell all day.
That was my first experiencewith that kind of personality,
not just in Hollywood but in mylife.
I have no doubt that at somepoint I made some pathetic
(09:18):
attempt to chat him up in someway.
You know my little juniorwriter, heart beating in my
chest.
I probably wrote the approachin my mind.
My dialogue was clever, but notyou know too much.
It was just the right amount.
It was a beautiful scene and inthis little script that I wrote
he probably turned to me andsaid you know what, standing
(09:40):
next to you at the urinal here,I realize you are really so
smart.
You would be a great candidateto run this show we have every
Tuesday night at 10.
Speaker 2 (09:53):
That's beautiful.
Speaker 3 (09:55):
But I don't actually remember ever talking to him.
If I did, it was probablyterrible, like a nice to meet
you.
That destroyed my fantasy.
I never really met him.
Even so, there were a lot ofperks to this assistant job, one
of them being that we hadaccess to all the scripts they
got during staffing season.
One day they put them all inthe recycling room and I went
right over there and startedpicking up bundles of scripts
(10:17):
and bringing them back to theoffice.
There were over a hundred ofthem.
I was like, oh look, these areall represented writers.
All the scripts had jacketslike CAA endeavor, you know all
the stuff.
They were all so fancy.
It was like the promised land,like this could happen to us
someday.
So I said let's read thescripts and rank where we are,
you know, and how we compare tothese represented writers.
(10:38):
It was an education because,first of all, there were some
great writers in there.
I mean, this was the early odds.
So it was like Sopranos andstuff like that.
Like holy shit, these guys canreally write.
That was maybe a third of them,but a lot of them were terrible
and we were like I think we'redoing better than this.
We might've been smoking ourown stuff there, but a good
(10:58):
script really pops out and youcould definitely tell.
So here we were all alone onthis island reading scripts,
writing as fast as we could,eating at the Studio Commissary.
At the same time, we're stillmanaging the restaurants back
home because they were reallypaying our rent and we ended up
spending a huge amount of moneyto remodel one of those
restaurants.
We opened it on September 9th2001 and then September 11th
(11:21):
happened.
Oh shit, everyone went intoshock for a long time.
Then in the entertainmentindustry, we just kept going.
Not a lot changed for b***h andme as assistants, but the
restaurant business changeddramatically.
America stopped eating out.
Revenues dropped like 30 to 40%.
Pretty soon our restaurantswere on life support and by this
time I had a few month old baby.
(11:43):
I owned a little house inPasadena that was more than I
could afford.
This was back in the day whenthey would give you a mortgage
if you had a pulse.
And one day I was out mowingthe lawn with my daughter in a
baby beorn, thinking how am Igoing to pay for everything?
How is this going to work?
And a silver jet of poles up infront of my house and this dude
gets out and goes hey, are youb***h?
And I said yes, and he hands mea jacket of papers and I find
(12:06):
out I'm being sued for bothleases on the restaurant plus
money we had borrowed to keepthem generating income.
Oh my god it was a sum total of$1.3 million.
That was a real low point.
Eventually, b***h and I managedto negotiate our way out of a
lot of that stuff and settle fora teeny, tiny amount of money
(12:27):
Not teeny to us, but teeny tothem.
But at the end of it we hadnothing no career, no
restaurants.
We just had some debt and wewere like what the hell are we
going to do now?
Around this time, someone Iknew socially was like hey,
there's this guy and he wants toget into the movie business.
He wants to hire writers, butof course, like everybody in the
movie business, he didn't wantto pay professional writers.
(12:49):
So they told us to send asample.
So we sent over a spec scriptand the guy who'd been hired to
read for this budding producerreally liked it.
So we got the job.
We ended up writing two scriptsfor this guy.
On the first one he paid us$3,000.
Speaker 2 (13:02):
For a feature.
What is?
Speaker 1 (13:03):
this 1923?
.
Speaker 3 (13:06):
Yep, and we were happy to get it.
We had to go meet with him toget paid.
We had to go through a gate tothe house, then walk over a
bridge that went over the poolthat had cherubs peeing highly
chlorinated water and then wewent in there and he paid us our
$3,000.
Speaker 2 (13:20):
Oh, my God.
Speaker 3 (13:21):
Then, as we're leaving, he's like hey, do you
like beer?
I'm repping this Thai beercompany because his day job was
being a marketing person.
So he's like there's beer inthe basement, take as much as
you want.
So we went down there and therewere cases and cases and cases
and cases of beer.
The only thing was we had tocarry them all the way around
over the bridge down the youknow.
(13:43):
It's like how bad do you want?
Speaker 1 (13:44):
this beer.
Speaker 3 (13:45):
It was like come on, man, we got three or four cases,
that's enough, but I was likefuck that man, I'm going back
for more.
Hell, yeah, you were.
I think we walked out of therewith like eight or 10 cases and
I drank that beer for I don'teven know how long.
I never got sick of it becauseit was free beer and I was broke
and I was like God damn right,you just saved me some money.
I don't think it impressed mywife.
(14:06):
She was hoping I'd bring homerent money.
But we wrote that script andthen we wrote another one that
he paid us like $10 or $12,000for and along the way we became
friends with the guy who wasreading the scripts.
Later on that friend startedworking at a production company
and he said hey, do you guyshave anything?
And we went in there and wepitched and the pitch was
terrible, but the exact like theidea, and he helped us shape it
(14:28):
into an actual pitch andeventually we sold it.
Oh, yay.
It was an amazing feeling.
But the pilot didn't go.
So we wrote another one andthis time we were like, okay,
this one is really good.
It was based on a Stephen Kingproperty, so it had strong IP
behind it.
We had a lot of faith in it.
We were like, okay, this is theone.
It has to be the one, becauseby that time we were like one
(14:48):
foot out of the business.
We have nothing left.
We have less than nothing left.
I was borrowing money againstmy house to pay my bills.
Might have even gotten a booklike how to change careers for
dummies.
We were just like, if thisdoesn't work and it did work we
sold the second pilot yeah soldit to, and then we were working
(15:08):
with the head of drama and hernumber two and number three and
an assistant.
We did all the normaldevelopment stuff and then it
ended up on the president's deskthe same angry guy we sat
across the hall from asassistants all those years
before.
And then the writer's guildwent on strike.
I was like oh my God, you knowhow you get so close.
(15:30):
You get so close and thennothing happens all the time.
And by this time we werewrapped.
So we had to commission theagent and the lawyer and then we
had to split the check.
So you know, the money we gotfor the pilot was already spent,
but we supported it 100%, justlike we did this strike, even
though it had come at kind ofthe worst moment for us.
So we went to pick it and itjust so happened that we got a
(15:52):
sign to pick it at the oh my god, the same studio that was
considering your pilot, Yep itwas in the same big building
where it is now, and the picketlines were very casual, just
like they were this last time.
You know, a lot of writers goingback and forth and talking to
each other and eating fooddonated by wealthy celebrities.
So, f***ing, I are therepicketing, knowing our script is
literally on the president'sdesk and he's making a decision
(16:14):
about what pilots he's going topick up right then, and we see
him driving onto the lot Everyday.
Speaker 1 (16:20):
Oh my god.
Speaker 3 (16:22):
Every day I see him go by and I think to myself does
he recognize us?
And part of me hoped he did,but I also kind of hoped he
didn't.
And the day that I really hopedhe didn't was one day when he
had to pause.
He had turned left to go intothe office but the picket was
going and he had to wait for usto cross.
And as he waited he was gettingangrier and angrier and when he
(16:42):
was finally able to go hestopped and he flipped off
double barrel all the writers,including us, and then kept
going and went in the park.
Speaker 2 (16:52):
Oh no.
Speaker 3 (16:53):
I like to think it wasn't that day, but maybe it
was that he took our script andput it in the trailer.
This asshole oh my god F*** andI were standing right there
side by side on the picket lineand we looked at each other.
We laughed about it, you know,and internally cried about it.
It was just so surreal.
Part of me did think it wasfunny, Like you think it's funny
(17:13):
when some horrificallyembarrassing thing happens and
part of your writer brain islike, okay, that was pretty good
.
But at the same time I had ababy at home and a mortgage and
you know expenses, and I knewthat things had just taken a
turn in absolutely the wrongdirection.
So there were a lot of emotionsgoing on at the same time.
But you know, we laughedbecause I'm standing next to the
(17:33):
guy that I sat and laughed withover dumb stuff in our little
8x10 dorm room all those yearsbefore we had been through
college successful restaurantsmoving to LA, then closing the
restaurants because of aterrorist attack on the country,
and then, you know, beingserved with papers and finally
selling a pilot or two thatmight get us out, and then, bam,
the strike and this asshole'sreaction is flipping us off
(17:55):
because he can't get into theparking lot as fast as he wants
to.
But my best friend is next tome and we've seen so much at
that point, and so it was justlike, okay, this is life.
Speaker 2 (18:05):
Oh, that's beautiful.
Speaker 1 (18:06):
So did they end up making the pilot Hell?
Speaker 3 (18:09):
no, but the production company didn't let it
go.
They knew they had something.
The script was really good, ithad great underlying IP.
So after the strike ended theywere shopping it and shopping it
and eventually it landed atf***ing and was picked up and
turned into a series.
Speaker 2 (18:26):
What Happy ending yeah.
Speaker 3 (18:29):
And when it went into production they flew us out to
f***ing and we get into atranspo van and we drive for a
long time and we're in themiddle of nowhere and we go to
an abandoned firehouse that hadbeen turned into the production
offices and there in the windowwas a handwritten, taped up sign
and it said the name of ourshow, and at that moment I was
still sitting next to the guywho we were freshmen, and then
(18:50):
we were successful, and then wewere broke, and then we were
nowhere and then we got flippedoff by the president and now
we're on our own show.
Things haven't been easy sincethen, but when you've been there
, everything seems easy.
After that.
Now we're executive producersand we work a lot, but there's
not a day that I take forgranted ever, because I remember
that stuff Old wounds, pastwounds they have some value, as
(19:12):
it turns out in the end.
As for the president of f***ing,he's not in the business
anymore.
You know he had an angerproblem, clearly, so let me just
give you the double barrelright back wherever the f*** you
are.
Amen to that.
Speaker 2 (19:27):
And hallelujah.
Speaker 1 (19:38):
I have been hearing that story for quite some time
now.
That confessor is a dear friendand we're very happy to have
this story on the podcast.
Speaker 2 (19:47):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (19:48):
It's so good to hear it every time I do.
I just love it.
Speaker 2 (19:51):
Yeah, I really love this story too.
It so crystallizes for meexactly the reason why I do this
.
We've talked about what keepsyou going.
What's that flame?
Whoa, did I just book into ourseason?
Speaker 1 (20:07):
Very well done.
Not as rusty as we thought.
Speaker 2 (20:12):
Yeah, our first confession of the season.
We were talking about the flame, that how to keep your flame
burning, and for me it'sfriendship, the people that we
meet along the way and thefamily that we create.
And you and I are really lucky,JR, in that we have had an
opportunity to form that familyand we are actually working
(20:35):
right now on a show that youguys listeners know that we were
working on last season, calledCross.
It's an Amazon show.
They made a decision topremiere it in fall of 2024, so
it's gonna be a minute beforeyou can see it, but we're
currently working on season twoand Like, so so happy to be here
and back with the same awesomepeople that we were in season
(20:56):
one.
Speaker 1 (20:56):
It's incredible.
I've never been in a room whereI like every single person in
the room and I get to go to workwith People that I love being
around.
It's incredible.
It's a great feeling.
Speaker 2 (21:07):
Yeah, and I love that Moving forward with the
Hollywood confessional, I hopewe'll be able to talk more about
what's actually going on inthat show, because Last season
we weren't able to talk aboutthe show very much yet, but now
that it's kind of an establishedthing and we're moving on to
season two, you know, maybe wecould talk a little bit about
(21:28):
like the dynamics of the room oryou know what's happening on
set or things like that.
Of course it will all betotally anonymous, but just to
you know, like just as sort of aLook behind the scenes and,
yeah, so you could see thosereal-world examples for our oh
for our Amazon overlords.
Speaker 1 (21:49):
We're definitely not gonna give away any spoilers,
just a little peek behind thecurtain of how it actually works
to make a TV show, from thewriting process To being on set,
to even post.
We're gonna experience a littlebit of that this time around.
Speaker 2 (22:03):
Yeah, yeah, exactly.
I mean even the little thingsthat happened, like today,
aldous Hodge walked into ourwriter's room and that was
pretty fucking awesome, what aguy.
We had lunch with him, likewhat, but yeah, so that's what
we're working on now, you guys,and we're going to take a
holiday hiatus from theHollywood confessional with this
(22:26):
last wonderful story and Getready for season three season
three of the Hollywoodconfessional.
We have still have quite a fewConfessions that we were not
able to air this season becauseof the strikes, and so we're
holding on to those.
We've got a ton of stories inthe wings from people that have
been reaching out to us thatwe're very excited about, and so
(22:49):
just a ton of really greatstuff coming.
Thank you all for being with uson this journey, and please
connect with us online.
We're at fess up Hollywood.
We want to hear from you andstay in touch over the holidays
and, in the meantime, everybodyhave a wonderful holiday season
go holiday and peace.
Amen.
Speaker 1 (23:15):
The Hollywood confessional is produced by
Megan Dane and JR Zamora thal,special effects provided by Zapp
Splat and Pixabay.
Hollywood confessional is aninth way media production.
Follow us on socials at fess upHollywood.
Popular Podcasts
24/7 News: The Latest
The latest news in 4 minutes updated every hour, every day.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
The Clay Travis and Buck Sexton Show
The Clay Travis and Buck Sexton Show. Clay Travis and Buck Sexton tackle the biggest stories in news, politics and current events with intelligence and humor. From the border crisis, to the madness of cancel culture and far-left missteps, Clay and Buck guide listeners through the latest headlines and hot topics with fun and entertaining conversations and opinions.