December 24, 2025 • 45 mins
Want to connect with Tj & Plaideau? Send us a text message.
Some stories are heavy because they’re true. Wet Paint, Matt Carroll’s new film, follows three 17-year-old girls whose friend dies by suicide—and their decision to push back when the adults and institutions around them default to silence. We invited Matt on to talk about the project, and the conversation went deep fast: real loss, real stigma, and a real plan to make student mental health less of a whisper and more of a policy priority.
If you or someone you know is struggling with thoughts of suicide or self-harm, you are not alone.In the United States, you can call or text 988 any time to reach the Suicide & Crisis Lifeline for free, confidential support. You matter.
Voiced by Brian Plaideau
Have you been injured? New Orleans based actor, Jana McCaffery, has been practicing law in Louisiana since 1999, specializing in personal injury since 2008. She takes helping others very seriously. If you have been injured, Jana is offering a free consultation AND a reduced fee for fellow members of the Lousiana film industry, and she will handle your case from start to finish. She can be reached at janamccaffery@gmail.com or 504-837-1234. Tell Her NOLA Film Scene sent you
Follow us on IG @nolafilmscene, @kodaksbykojack, and @tjsebastianofficial. Check out our 48 Hour Film Project short film Waiting for Gateaux: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z5pFvn4cd1U . & check out our website: nolafilmscene.com
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
SPEAKER_02 (00:03):
Welcome to the NOLA film team with TJ Play-Doh.
I'm TJ.
And as always, I'm Play-Doh.
SPEAKER_01 (00:10):
Thank you, Riverside.
And thank you, Jana McCaffrey,for sponsoring this show.
Thank you, Jana.
SPEAKER_02 (00:15):
Thank you, Janet.
And thank you, Matt, for joiningus for an impromptu live stream.
Should we tell the people we'relive?
SPEAKER_01 (00:22):
We're live.
Live.
Live.
And we are here with John.
Wait, wrong notes.
Who have we?
Oh, it's Matt Carroll.
Matt Carroll.
Actor, director, writer,producer, all-around good guy.
Um makes movies.
(00:43):
And um we're here to talk abouthis new endeavor, wet paint.
Oh, I thought you were gonnatalk about the other thing.
Yeah, wet paint.
Hi, Matt.
Hello, hello.
SPEAKER_02 (00:56):
We all act and talk for a living.
SPEAKER_00 (00:58):
You can tell by the uh that's on that's been on
purpose, though.
It's all you, Matt.
Speak.
All right.
Uh so wet paint is uh is a storythat uh we're gonna be shooting
from the 26th or the 31st in NewOrleans, uh in some other areas,
different locations.
We are uh trying to currentlyraise money.
(01:19):
We have a GoFundMe going on, uh,so check that out.
Uh I'm sure it's on most of yourlocal film pages because I'm on
like 17 different film groupsall across the U.S.
And so I've been posting allover the place and getting
people from like New Jersey andFlorida and asking me, hey, is
this filming in New Jersey?
No, on the thing.
(01:39):
It says New Orleans, but anyway,uh, so I'm sure you can find
access to it if you if youreally looked.
Uh, but the story of Wet Paintis uh about three 17-year-old
girls, and they are dealing withuh their last year of high
school and all the pressuresthat come with that as a kid.
And uh one of them ends up notbeing able to cope and takes
(02:02):
their life.
And what happens is the othertwo girls decide that they don't
like the way that theauthorities deal with uh the you
know her her passing, and sothey go on a crusade to start a
movement uh that will allow opendialogue between students in
(02:23):
school systems, and so theydecide that they want to do this
and they get a lot of pushback.
There's uh expulsion, there's umjail time, there's a lot that uh
that happens, but the storyitself is to bring awareness for
(02:44):
student mental health becauseit's something that is very
prevalent today.
Um, I work as a teacher, and uhit's it's there's a lot of young
kids that are dealing with somuch at such young ages
nowadays, which is so crazy tothink.
Because when you know I was 10,11, and 12, I was trying to go
(03:08):
out and play basketball or godrive down the street or you
know, stay out until after thestreetlights came on.
You know what I'm saying?
Like I didn't, I what thiswasn't things that were on my
mind.
Like I didn't grow up in thiskind of environment that these
kids are growing up in nowadays,that they seem like that they're
at the end of their rope at 10,11, and 12, which is really kind
(03:31):
of sad, man.
It's it makes me it makes methink that uh there needs to be
some sort of change, and that'swhat wet pain is about.
SPEAKER_01 (03:40):
I agree that there needs to be change.
I think there's never reallybeen enough done about it.
So I actually have a reallyclose-to-home story related to
this topic, if you'll permit meto tell this story.
I haven't even told Brian thisstory.
(04:00):
So in junior high, I lived inSlidell, and I was in seventh
grade.
Kid I played football with, hewas the number one guy in
everything.
He was the star athlete in allthe sports.
He had the highest GPA.
He came from I I don't know thatthey were wealthy, but they they
(04:24):
did pretty well.
His his dad was some kind ofbigwig in the oil industry.
I I don't know to what extent,but they were getting
transferred to Houston.
That's Houston's the big oilboom area, that's where a lot of
the corporate offices are.
And he had a a girlfriend thatwas you know the cutest girl in
(04:50):
the school.
They were, you know, they werelike the the junior high
equivalent of a power couple.
And for about a week, and he andI played ball, he was the
starting quarterback, like Isaid, the star of all the
sports.
We weren't really in the samecircles, but we we knew each
(05:11):
other, we were friends fromthat.
And this week in particular, hehad been riding my school bus
every day.
Uh he didn't live in myneighborhood, but was staying
with uh a friend in myneighborhood while his parents
were house hunting in Houston.
(05:31):
And one morning I had whatevermy it was shop.
So the way it worked back then,you took you had to have an
elective for one semester andthen PE for the other semester.
So I wasn't in the band, so Ihad to pick from either shop,
home ec art or music, I think.
(05:53):
And that particular year I hadshop.
A lot of my friends were inshop.
The next year we all did home atbecause we wanted to learn how
to sew.
And that morning we got held inclass.
At the end of that hour, and itwas first period.
The shop teacher was like, Allright, we're we're just gonna
we're staying here a little bitlonger, we're not changing
(06:14):
classes, and he didn't tell uswhy.
And one of my friends' mom wasuh she worked in the front
office, and she got him a noteand said that something
happened, and we got a littlebit more information.
He took his life in class thatmorning out on the playground.
(06:38):
We had probably 20 minutes uhevery morning before class
started when people were waitingfor all the buses to get there,
I guess.
And he went around to peopletelling them goodbye, and a
couple of people he made amotion like a gun.
And you know, we're 12 and 13years old, people weren't really
(07:01):
reading into that sort of thing.
People assumed he was sayinggoodbye because they knew he was
moving, they knew his parentswere house hunting, and people
just associated it with that.
He brought a gun to school, asmall revolver, and when class
(07:21):
started, he walked in and sat inhis desk and pulled it out and
put it up to his head.
And the other students werestill up milling around, even
though the the second bell hadrung.
Had they not been up out oftheir seats, the girl that sat
next to him would have also beenstruck.
So fortunately, she wasn't inher seat.
(07:45):
And the sad part about it, itwasn't an immediate thing.
He survived in a vegetativestate for a couple of days, and
so he was older, he was a yearolder than me, so he was eighth
grade, I was seventh grade, andthirteen years old.
(08:06):
Thirteen years old.
And it was all because well, hisso my our understanding was that
his parents did put a lot ofpressure on him to perform, but
it was too much for him, leavinghis girlfriend, all of his
friends, everything he'd everknown, moving away.
(08:27):
We all thought perfect, youknow, he had the perfect life,
he had everything, you know,they had money, he had nice
stuff.
You just never know.
I mean, he was always in a goodalways in a good mood, he was
funny, he was uh the popularkid, the likable guy.
Everybody liked this guy.
And it just goes to show you younever know what's going on in
(08:50):
someone's head.
And that's been 30 somethingyears.
And it's still, and when Istarted reading this script, it
really uh I told you, I I toldyou when I started reading it,
it was hitting really close tohome.
That's that's why.
And the fact that he did it atschool in class, back then, I I
(09:13):
mean, I'm older than you, I'mcloser to Brian's age.
You back then you didn't hearabout people, kids didn't bring
guns to school.
That just that didn't happen.
You know, if you carried apocket knife to school, it was
to open your snuff can.
It wasn't it it wasn't a weapon,you know?
And that's something that I'vealways carried with me.
(09:34):
And I remember the follow-upfrom that, there was no mental
health stuff available backthen.
There just there wasn't.
They brought in counselors, andthey they had them set up in the
cafeteria and and the gym, youknow, different places where
there could be bigger assembliesof people.
(09:56):
And if you needed to talk tosomeone, you could be excused
from class and get up and gotalk to these people.
But I mean, who's doing that?
Are you going in there andtalking about this affecting you
in front of a bunch of peoplethat are staring and maybe
judging you for asking for help?
There were people that went andtalked and they would have big
(10:19):
group sessions that you knowpeople would talk and share
their feelings or whatever, butthere just wasn't a lot of
options, and that only lastedfor a couple of days, and then
it was back to business, likenothing happened.
The kids didn't feel likenothing happened, it was
different, it was weird, theschool was eerie, it was strange
(10:42):
being there, and a lot of us, Imean, those of us that knew him
remembered, but there I meanthere was just there was
nothing.
What do you do?
I mean, how do you from a mentalhealth standpoint, how do you
manage that?
How do you help a bunch?
And at that time, I don't knowif it's still the same, but at
(11:04):
that junior high, fifth, sixth,seventh, and eighth grade were
all at the same physicallocation.
So you had fifth graders througheighth graders at that school
that knew what happened.
And yeah, you can look it up.
His name was Matt Cooper.
What how?
How do you help kids?
Like what what's the mechanismto give them that mental health
(11:27):
help?
And I think this project isgonna go a long way to shining a
light on on that deficiency.
SPEAKER_00 (11:37):
I uh I don't know the answer.
First off, I'm sorry for yourloss and that you dealt with all
that.
Uh thing I don't I don't knowthe answer to save it.
Um, I just I know that if oneperson's thinking it, somebody
else must have thought it,right?
Yep.
And if if it's a classroom fullof kids, there needs to be some
(11:59):
sort of open dialogue.
There has to be some sort ofsummit that happens every year
to discuss student mentalhealth.
Because there's so there'sthere's uh training we go
through as teachers, uh, butit's mandatory from uh, I
believe state level or it couldbe national level.
(12:21):
I'm not 100% sure, but I know itis because of a situation that
happened with a a young kid.
And uh so we have to go throughthese trainings to see all these
different like signs, right?
But that's the extent.
Like it doesn't, there's notlike, hey, this is the signs.
(12:42):
So then what happens is when yousee those signs, you tell
somebody and then they send themto somebody else.
Like I feel like there's adisconnect there.
Like, even if you see the signand then you send them to a
hospital, I feel like you'restill there's still a
disconnect.
Like the kid is not really beingunderstood.
There's not really this openconversation that's happening.
(13:06):
It's like, oh, you dyed yourhair blue and you've been giving
your things away, which are twosigns, by the way, because if
they change their appearance andthey start to give their things
away, then they're thinking thatthey're you know, they're
contemplating the thought oftaking their own life or
self-harm in some way, shape, orform.
And so if you see that, you say,Hey, look, this is what I saw,
(13:28):
and then you go to thecounselor, and if you they
decide, then they send them tothe hospital, and then the
hospital helps them, and thenthey come back to school.
Well, then they come back toschool the same person, they
come back to school, they mayhave been improved, but then
when they come back to thisenvironment, are they back in
that same mindset?
SPEAKER_01 (13:46):
And is it and is there a stigma attached now?
Kids see them leave, you know.
SPEAKER_00 (13:51):
What does he do with that?
Exactly.
Now they're the weird kid, thekid that has the the mental
whatever uh instability, andlike now they're looked at, like
you said, with a stigma, andthey don't want to talk to
anybody, and they startisolating themselves even
further.
SPEAKER_01 (14:07):
It makes it worse.
That's absolutely right.
I can tell you one thing from mytraining in the military in both
branches I was in, every year wehad to go through suicide
awareness prevention training.
And uh as an officer at my lastcommand, I got assigned an
investigation.
Uh uh officers did in the CoastGuard officers did
(14:29):
administrative investigations.
You know, if uh somebody wasbreaking the rules or doing
something that may notnecessarily be criminal before
any kind of action could betaken, an investigation had to
be done.
And I was assigned a guy thatwas showing up uh drunk on, you
know, drinking on duty, alcoholin his breath.
(14:50):
Uh there were a lot of things.
He was late to muster all thetime.
Uh he was, for all intents andpurposes, what uh they called in
the Coast Guard a shipbag.
And when I started talking tohim going through the steps,
there was more to it.
There was more to it than thisguy was just showing up.
And the thing that triggered thebig investigation, he lived in
(15:13):
base housing.
There was a domestic violenceincident between him and his
wife.
And when I started talking tohim, the bells are going off.
All of the warning signs arethere.
And I I stopped, I I point blankasked him, I said, Are you have
you are you thinking aboutkilling yourself?
(15:34):
And some people feel like youhave to tiptoe around it because
they're afraid if you ask them,it's gonna trigger something,
and that's not the case.
That's absolutely incorrect.
If you suspect that somebody issuicidal, ask them because if
they're already thinking it,asking them that is not gonna
push them over the edge.
If they were already there, theywere already there.
(15:57):
So you stop and you ask them, Dothey need help?
And that changed the stakes ofthat conversation because I felt
like there was more going on.
And I asked him, Are youthinking about killing yourself?
And he started crying.
And I said, All right, that'sthat's it.
The investigation stopped rightthere.
(16:19):
And that triggered another step.
And so I I called the ambulancefirst, and then I notified my
supervisor at the time was thethe next person up for me was
the commanding officer.
And we took those steps and gothim the help that he needed, and
(16:41):
he actually didn't lose hedidn't lose his job because of
that, because he needed help.
I I just could tell.
I could tell there was somethingmore going on than this guy was
just a poor performer andshowing up with alcohol in his
breath.
And he went and got the helpthat he needed and actually got
back on track.
He lost, you know, he lost somerank and he lost, you know,
(17:05):
there was some punishmentinvolved because of the things
that he was doing at work or notdoing at work.
You you can't miss work and nothave repercussions in the
military.
But he got the help he neededand salvaged his career as a
result of that.
And sometimes it just takessomebody noticing and asking.
(17:27):
Just just ask them if there'ssomething going on.
SPEAKER_00 (18:11):
Yeah.
And with that being said, likeif you read the script or you
see the film or whenever we filmit, um the first up until the
girl passes, nobody asks, Howare you doing?
Like they don't ask her, isthere anything that I can do to
help?
Is there anything like it's justnever, it's never a thing.
(18:34):
Like they ask, like the momsays, Hey, can I help you with
the essay?
And she says, Oh no, no, no, I'mgood.
I got it.
And she's like, You sure?
Because I can always read.
She's like, No, I got it.
Because she's supposed to be atthis echelon of intelligence and
this echelon of greatness andall these things and these
accolades that she's been given.
And you know, it just it itbuilds, man.
(18:58):
The pressure builds to be great.
Some people will crumble underthis pressure.
And it it the kids, they'rekids.
At the end of the day, they'rekids, man.
Let them be kids.
They'll eventually get to apoint where they can, you know,
exceed everybody's expectationsand go on and create the
(19:20):
greatest accomplishments, butthey're kids, and it's it's the
hardest part to see is that youknow, when when somebody has
such a big responsibility ontheir shoulders, be it taking
care of their family, be itgetting good grades, always
making straight A's, um, doingwell on a sports team, excelling
(19:43):
in any sort of like mathematicalquiz bowl, anything, right?
There's so much pressure thatgoes into that that people don't
understand.
Acting.
There's a ton of pressure thatgoes into acting, especially
when you're leading a show andyou're taking on a show.
You have the responsibility tobe the person that carries this
(20:08):
whole thing, right?
That's that's hard, that'sreally tough.
And most of the time, a a goodtheater director will alleviate
that pressure by helping withputting um a an ensemble
together where you feel likeyou're not really the only
(20:28):
person on stage doing it.
Yeah.
And that's usually where you gofrom being a you know, high
school level production orcommunity, not to not community
theater, because communitytheater is great in certain
places.
But you know, a non anon-professional to a
professional status.
You'll see that that bigdifference because of the
(20:50):
ensemble that's built around theleads.
So it helps the leads and say,hey, you got a little cushion.
You got somebody else liftingyou up a little bit.
Just know that they're there.
And that helps a ton.
SPEAKER_01 (21:02):
Yeah.
And sorry, by the way, for yourhigh for hijacking.
We're supposed to be promotingthe film, but I felt I felt it
was relevant because when youreached out about this one after
the other one, you said thisone's different.
This one this one hits hard.
I've read a lot of your work.
I've been in some of your work.
(21:24):
And yeah, you were right.
This one has a completelydifferent feel.
And I feel like I feel like it'sgoing to make an impact, man.
I feel like it's going to helpsomebody.
And if it even helps one personthat's feeling that way and
thinking that way, just to know,just to know that they're not
(21:46):
alone, that they're not the onlyperson thinking like that, I
feel like it's going to make adifference.
And people need to get involvedwith this project.
They need to we're going to getthe information about your your
Kickstarter or uh crowdsourcingthat you're doing.
Go go fund me.
Go fund me.
(22:06):
We're going to get theinformation on that and get it
out there.
But man, this project, peopleneed to get involved with this.
They really do.
This is gonna it's gonna shine alight.
I think so too.
I really I really feel so Ireally feel like it's gonna if
just one person realizes thatthey're not the only one that's
(22:28):
feeling like that, it's gonnamake a difference.
And I didn't mean to take over.
SPEAKER_00 (22:33):
No, no, no.
SPEAKER_02 (22:34):
No, you're 100% what you're saying is true.
You didn't hide it.
I agree with you.
It's it's just on topic.
And as on topic, I don't know ifI've mentioned this, but I in my
youth I was suicidal.
So first of all, growing up withthe last name Play-Doh, you get
teased every day.
And even if it's genial, even ifit's nice, it's daily.
(22:57):
And we didn't have the internetback then, so once I got home, I
didn't have to deal with that.
But you hear about stories aboutkids having, you know, go kill
yourself.
Oh, you're terrible, likethey're being attacked online.
So in addition to that, and Ithink I've talked about this,
um, in tenth grade, my motherwas having breast cancer
(23:20):
surgery, and the nun, one of myteachers, said that I was
killing her with my antics.
And my antics were I wasn'tdoing my homework.
So uh that was quite anemotional bomb.
And then uh we dealt with thenun with a meeting, and she
tried to like my mom caught mecrying, she had just got home
(23:43):
from the hospital, and she'slike, Tell me what's wrong, and
how do I tell my mom that,right?
I'm like, No, and I'm I gotta domy homework.
And she got it out of me, andthen my dad got home, and they
made the meeting, and so we'resitting in the sister's
roundhouse.
And in and if you've ever beenin in let's just call them
institutions like that, they alllook the same, the same
lighting.
And I'm across the couch fromher, and my dad, who was six
(24:08):
three, has his elbows on hisknees.
He got down on her level and hesaid, Well, what is he doing?
Well, you know, when kids arebad.
No, I don't know.
Tell me.
Well, you're a teacher when youhave a kid, you know, you have a
bad student.
No, usually that means I'm a badteacher.
And I didn't catch any of that,you know what I mean?
So we took care of her.
But like I would see her when Iwas working at Wendy's after
(24:31):
high school, and I would startshaking.
You know, or she came into agrocery store I was working, and
just seeing her, you know, soback up to as I was getting up
around 13, I I had a gun to myhead.
You know, it was it was I didn'tpull the trigger, you know,
obviously, but you know, I wasat that point of despair where
(24:54):
even though with some therapy,it was still in there.
It's like a like a ink in thewater.
And therapy you let some of itout, but it's it's a long
process, you know.
So my mom caught me, so tospeak, and said, You have to
promise me you'll never do that.
And that's the only thing thatkept me alive later.
(25:15):
Because those thoughts cameback.
I was always very I guess yousay needy, like needing people
to like me.
And that would push people away,as we know.
So, um I wasn't planning ontalking about this.
It just welled up, so I'mhijacking.
Vote for it.
(25:35):
Yeah, I I thank you.
I just we need in this country,because I've had this thought
watching shows, and then wedidn't know about other kids
back then because we didn't havethe internet, but I'm sure there
were more gun incidents, atleast kids bringing guns to
school.
And then once things like PearlJam Song of Jeremy, I don't want
(25:56):
to say popularizing it, butmaking it known, and then we had
all these incidents, we seethese times and stresses like I
was going through in these kids,you know.
I don't even want to say mentalbreakdown, just the daily.
And in our country, we don'ttalk about it.
There's no like the minute yousay therapist still, I think
there's a oh, that person's anut.
(26:17):
And it's just mental health.
It's like going to the doctorwhen you stubbed your toe.
Same thing.
Oh, I broke my leg.
I go to the doctor.
I can't deal with this.
I need help.
I need someone to teach me howto.
SPEAKER_01 (26:28):
Brian, let me interject.
I'm sorry, we lost Matt for justa second.
Okay.
Let me um I can see back.
SPEAKER_00 (26:35):
Somebody called me.
SPEAKER_01 (26:36):
Oh.
SPEAKER_00 (26:37):
Sorry.
SPEAKER_01 (26:38):
Oh, yeah.
I'm sorry.
I should I forgot to tell you toput it on do not on do not
disturb.
Yeah, I'm sorry.
No, no, it's all it's all good.
We're back recording, Brian.
Pick up where you left off.
I'm sorry.
SPEAKER_02 (26:50):
Oh, okay.
So um we we we look at mentalhealth as the stigma of that
that's a crazy person instead ofthat's just somebody going to
the doctor.
And we talk about in theschools, and this was in the
80s, we had retreats once ayear.
Excuse me, and then there's likea group session, and I relayed
(27:14):
this kind of stuff, and I wasbreaking down, and there was a
priest and a brother, becausethe school I went to was run by
an order, so there's brothers.
And for people who don't know,that's you know, you know that
priests make vows and they getaway from society.
Same thing with brothers,they're just in an organization.
And so I I laid it out there.
(27:36):
Pin drop, you know, andobviously right now I'm a
little, I can feel itheightened, even though I'm
comfortable sharing, but youknow, the emotions are there,
and it was even more because Iwas a teenager, and they looked
at me and went, Okay, thanks,and moved on.
And I'm begging for help.
I'm like, I need somebody totalk to, you know, nothing.
So the counselors didn'trecognize.
(27:58):
And I'm not like pointing myfinger at the whole thing, but
like you said, we need a systemfor kids to talk, but we also
need society and our ways tojust go, this is acceptable.
You know what I mean?
And not not only the oldergeneration, because I know
people older who they could usesome therapy, but they're like,
(28:21):
no, I can't do that.
So it may have it's it's come along way, as I've seen in
society.
You know, a lot more people taketherapy and they talk about it,
but we still have a lot of waysto go, especially with
teenagers.
SPEAKER_00 (28:33):
And the thing that you were saying, right?
Like, all kids are dealing withsomething, dude.
All of them.
The the the great basketballplayer, the the student council
president, the all every kid,every kid is dealing with the
same thoughts or insecurities.
You know, it may not bespecifically the same, but
(28:56):
they're dealing with aninsecurity, and they believe
that the end-all be-all is highschool and school itself because
they're worried about popularityand being cool and being a part
of something, and they don'tunderstand that once you get out
of it, none of that mattered,and it's like it's crazy to me,
(29:17):
like it's it's a hard thing tograsp that kids at you know, 10,
11, 12, 13, 14 want to taketheir life because this is they
can't stand this anymore, andit's it's not me, you know,
judging.
I'm not at all by any means.
I'm stating there's so much morefor them to learn and have and
(29:40):
live with and be a part of.
It, I mean, it you're you,there's no better person to be
you than you.
You are you, whatever thatmeans.
You're you, and you will find aplace for you because there's
people that fit, there'ssomething that you're going to
be great at.
There's something that you'regonna find that you fall in love
(30:03):
with, be it a person, be it avideo game, whatever it is.
You are going to find something,and you're going to excel in
this thing when you get olderand you're gonna build a career
around it, and you're going togo out and you're gonna keep
striving because you're drivento do this, and that is because
(30:23):
in at 10 years old, you didn'ttake your life, and it's it's
it's so hard to think that10-year-old kids, dude.
10 10-year-old kids are killingthemselves, like they're taking
their self-harm of any kind at10?
Yep.
It's tough, man.
It's it's a it's a really tough,it's really tough to hear.
(30:47):
It's really, really tough tohear because I got a kid and my
kid's about to be 15.
And I'm I remember when he was10.
And it's it is hard, dude.
It is hard.
And I'm not trying to I'm nottrying to go into that, but I
could only imagine, dude.
Like I I I'm proud of him.
(31:09):
Everything he's done, everythinghe continues to do.
Y'all met him, he's a great kid,he's fantastic.
SPEAKER_01 (31:15):
Yeah, he is.
SPEAKER_00 (31:16):
And it's like it it I wish he knew how much love I
have for him, and I wish all theother kids had that kind of love
for them.
Yeah.
Sorry.
SPEAKER_02 (31:26):
No, no, no, it it needs to be said, man.
One really does correction.
I was 10 years old in fifthgrade, not in 10th grade, so
just uh not that anybody cares.
But we also, with when you're inhigh school and before, your
homerooms are changing, whichmagnifies every pain and every
feeling so much that once youget past that and you look back
(31:47):
and you can't imagine, you knowwhat I mean?
So maybe we as adults like, oh,it's just, and I'm you did not
say this.
Well, it's just high school,you'll get over it.
But we can stop and say, Oh, letme remember that magnifying
glass of oh, it's high school,you know.
Exactly.
SPEAKER_00 (32:03):
Yeah, and then it's it's it's it's lifted so high,
it's it's so high, like in allaspects, because you want to be
popular, everybody does.
I mean, it's not a secret,everybody wants people to to to
champion them and celebrate themuh to be a celebrity in this
(32:23):
way, shape, or form, and evennot just not just popular, but
just accepted.
SPEAKER_02 (32:29):
Yeah, you know what I mean?
Because I was I was in the bandby the time I got to high
school, so I was in a group, butI didn't feel accepted.
You know what I mean?
So I totally agree with you.
It's just it's not justpopularity, it's not just you
know, and that's all part of it,but it's it's that acceptance
(32:50):
that once we later once I gotpast that and found my niche
niches and found my tribes, madeit so clear what I needed back
then.
You know?
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (33:03):
I know, dude.
I didn't I didn't intend forthis to be so heavy.
No, it's just a heavy, it's aheavy film, man.
It's a heavy subject.
SPEAKER_02 (33:11):
It is, it really is, and that's why we need people's
help.
SPEAKER_00 (33:15):
So much so people shy away from it.
They they you know, they hear itand they go, I don't want to
touch that.
I don't want, but I t I I Icover it with kid gloves.
Like I don't I'm very respectfulof all of it.
I'm very respectful as thewriting is it looks at it from
all these differentperspectives.
(33:36):
It's not just this is whathappened.
Oh my god, this is upsetting.
It's not that, it is not thatkind of film, yeah.
SPEAKER_02 (33:45):
I agree with we're kind of emotionally spent,
folks, and that's what we wantyou to feel after this movie as
I cover with humor.
Yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (33:54):
Well, so why don't we talk about the ways that
people can get involved from thethe GoFundMe to uh performance
crew, whatever.
Let's talk about, let's talkabout your needs for the
project.
SPEAKER_00 (34:13):
Sure.
Uh so I am looking for uhanybody who wants to come and
volunteer some time on set.
They can be PAs if you have somebackground in film.
We'd love to have you.
Uh, unfortunately, because we'retrying to raise funding, we
don't have funding to payeverybody.
It's I it's not because I don'twant to, trust me, I really want
(34:36):
to.
Uh, I did a budget andeverything.
I reached out to all theseinvestors.
I sat down with them.
I went and talked todistributors, and everybody
says, Well, after it's made, I'mgood.
But prior to that, I don't wantanything to do with it.
Or they go, man, that's a greatconcept, and they just kind of
let the conversation trickle offand then they ghost me.
So it's like, okay, but it it isasking people to volunteer their
(35:01):
time, uh, which is somethinghard to do because everybody's
time is precious, but so is mineand Kevin's and you guys, and
we're giving our time for it.
You know, it's because it's it'sthe the project is important,
and the film itself, I want itto be as great as it can be.
(35:23):
Um, I think we can do it.
I know we can do it.
We're going to do it regardless.
Uh, we do need a couple of moreroles to be filled.
Uh, there's a few.
There's one that's a really hardchallenging role, and I've
reached out to some differentpeople.
Actually, there's three reallyhard challenging roles.
(35:44):
I reached out to some differentpeople, and unfortunately, uh
their schedules don't line up,so I'm still looking, right?
Uh, but two of them are the mainleads.
Um, they have to look 17, 16,17, but they have to be 18 plus
because we're probably gonnawork over eight hours, and it's
(36:06):
a sag film, so it can't be youcan't work uh minors past eight
hours.
So uh I that's why I'm lookingfor 18 plus.
Um, and I I found some people.
I found some really talentedpeople.
I'm really glad with the cast Ihave so far.
I have some uh some really,really talented folks that
agreed to do this and and tovolunteer their time.
(36:29):
Uh also we're looking forlocations.
Uh, we have some locations inmind.
Uh, we have a couple of bedroomsthat we have already.
Uh, we have uh location by awaterside that we have already,
uh, but we're looking for acouple more locations.
Um, one of the hardest things tofind when you're filming
something, especially lowbudget, is a bank, a police
(36:51):
station, a casino.
Those are three of the ones thatare like, ah, it's really tough.
Well, I found out this week thatuh a high school is very tough
to get as well.
So I can add that to the list.
So now there's four thingsthat's really tough.
Um, but yeah, so we're lookingfor a high school that uh we can
shoot in uh abandoned,preferably.
(37:13):
Uh, but if it's still, you know,going, that'd be great.
Uh, the reason I asked forabandon so that we didn't have
to go through different red tapesigning all these paperworks and
stuff.
But if we have to sign whateverwe have to sign, I'm happy to
sign it.
And since it's the Christmasbreak, they shouldn't have kids,
so we could go in and just kindof shoot, hopefully.
(37:36):
Uh, but uh, you know, all thatbeing said, uh he's gonna put
one of them are gonna put thethe GoFundMe stuff on their page
or on the the website.
If you can't donate, cool.
We just ask you to like it andshare it and just be a part of
the movement, especially if youfeel like this is something that
(37:56):
you you want to, you know, back.
SPEAKER_01 (37:58):
Yeah.
So and we'll also we'll getwe'll have you send the
information to us and I will addit into the description on the
YouTube video.
And I think we might also turnaround and publish this on
Facebook.
We normally don't publish onFacebook.
(38:18):
Uh we've been having troublegetting it to live stream to
Facebook.
I it's just a it's a riversidething.
I it it's not working right.
We're able to stream to YouTubeand Twitch and stuff, but for
some reason Facebook justdoesn't and uh Instagram just
doesn't work right.
But we'll publish this toFacebook as well, try to get
(38:41):
some traffic, some interestgoing.
SPEAKER_00 (38:44):
Could I run to the restroom real quick?
Is that a possibility?
Yep, absolutely.
All right, I'll be right back.
I'm gonna talk about theheadphones out.
Uh perfect.
Uh I'm gonna take the headphonesout so you don't hear anything.
SPEAKER_02 (38:56):
Okay, now we can talk about them and say say what
we really feel.
SPEAKER_01 (39:00):
Yeah.
I I I think with the emotionaltone, we'll probably we'll not
bring that other cast member inthat we were talking about
doing.
SPEAKER_02 (39:11):
We'll we'll just are we still live?
Yes.
Okay.
The way you were talking wasalmost behind the scenes
comfort.
SPEAKER_01 (39:18):
So we can show the we can show viewers some behind
the scenes stuff.
Oh, look at that.
SPEAKER_02 (39:25):
Oh man.
So, you know, the first time Imet him, he was such a oh hey,
Matt, how are you?
He goes, Oh man, when you cameback.
Oh man.
I almost got it out there.
Ladies and gentlemen, we we needhelp.
Matt's got us.
SPEAKER_01 (39:41):
Hey! Don't tell him that we're planning to take over
the project.
Oh, he's he can hear us.
SPEAKER_02 (39:46):
Oh no, he can hear us.
While Matt gets that back, Ithink that this project.
I think it's gonna be very fspecial.
Uh please help if you can.
And like Matt said, if youcan't, like, share, and and
spread the word on social mediawith us.
And even even if you just wantto put in the comments and oh I
(40:08):
share your experience like wedid.
We're not if you feel like wegot too in-depth, but you know,
oh I I knew somebody.
And you don't have to givedetails.
But I think this is somethingthat has touched us all in
different ways.
Yeah.
You know, and it's hard to say,yeah, we'd like to hear your
story, but we would, not notbeing glib about it.
(40:29):
But at the same time, it's toughto share.
You know, even just typing inthe comments.
But you know, let's let's takethe stigma away from that and
you know, and if you needsomeone to talk to, you know.
SPEAKER_01 (40:42):
reach out to there's us there's hotlines you know and
we'll put that information inour stuff too yeah I and I'm
actually gonna put the uh I'mgonna put the notice in it as
well you know if you're ifyou're struggling and I'm gonna
put the phone the hotline phonenumber.
My my wife actually workedvolunteered for a a hotline when
(41:06):
she was in college for a littlebit.
SPEAKER_00 (41:07):
At the end of the film Edwin before the credits
roll I give a list of all thedifferent places they can call
uh but now listening to you guystalk and knowing that everybody
really has a story have you guysever seen the way they start
love actually so it's basicallyall these different pictures of
(41:28):
people are videos of people youknow that are meeting their
loved ones or falling in loveand all these other things right
and I think that's how it opensand closes the show.
So what we could do is we couldopen it with all these different
people talking about theirstories and just overlap them.
And then from there we go intothe shot of above that comes
(41:53):
down into the parking lot wherehe's painting the the thing and
smoking the cigarette and thenwe go back eight months earlier.
Yeah yeah that could be coolthat's actually that's pretty
cool I just had the idea thanksto you guys' stories I was like
man everybody's got a tale totell so it's definitely uh
something that I think would beinteresting especially starting
(42:14):
like that and just hearingpeople's voices over overlapping
each other telling differentstories I think would be you
know because they're significantstories and you know they need
to be told even if it's aboutsomeone else like TJ your story
was super sad and super you knowemotional but it it hit you and
(42:37):
it's been with you for yearsthere's gotta be other people
out there that have experiencedsomething like that.
And Brian your story it it'sit's it's something that
affected you specifically likepersonally and that's a story
that you'll never forget butlike it wasn't TJ's personal
(42:57):
experience it was somebodyelse's experience but TJ
experienced it as a secondhandsituation which is still
lingering with him so there'sgotta be stories that people
have come into contact with youknow yeah and if if they want to
record something or whateverthey can post it to this this
page and what we'll do is when Igo to edit we'll pull out all
(43:18):
the stuff and we'll start thestory with everybody's stories
over that.
So it feels like everybody's apart of this because it's this
ain't for me.
This is this film isn't for me.
This film is for everybody else.
SPEAKER_02 (43:31):
This film is for the world hopefully what we could
also do is once you make yoursocial media pages for it ask
people to share their videosthere if they feel comfortable
or even if they just want totype it maybe they're not
comfortable being on camerawhich is hard for us to
understand.
SPEAKER_01 (43:47):
So it could be something uh uh not to get too
grandiose about it but a pointwhere people can come together
and start saying oh it's okayfor me to talk about this you
know so that could be I don'twant to say movement I don't
want to overblow it yet but wewould have ambitions and I would
we want to help but we're notlike hey we're the guys you know
(44:12):
yeah agreed all right yeah Ithink we're I think we're spent
we've had a couple of emotionalones this one's this one's up
there between this one and andthe one that we did with Eileen
with yep with Eileen Gruba yeahall right well we'll go ahead
and pull the pin here and we'llget that info from you and get
(44:36):
that posted as well and we'llget this up well it's on I mean
it's up now it's on YouTube nowbut we'll get we'll spread the
word on social media.
Yep without a doubt uh did youwant Megan the high one or what?
I I was thinking maybe not maybeokay may maybe not this time we
can do a follow-up one yeahwe'll to get we'll get together
(44:58):
with actors and stuff this uh Iyeah I'm kind of raw I need to
go understand understand Icompletely get it I'm tired of
talking to you Matt it's allgood thank you for you know
sharing man yeah yeah yeah ofcourse thanks for coming on Matt
and uh we'll see you next timefolks thanks for letting us be a
part of this anytime man I'm aphone call away hit me up cool
(45:24):
see you folks
Welcome to the NOLA film team with TJ Play-Doh.
I'm TJ.
And as always, I'm Play-Doh.
SPEAKER_01 (00:10):
Thank you, Riverside.
And thank you, Jana McCaffrey,for sponsoring this show.
Thank you, Jana.
SPEAKER_02 (00:15):
Thank you, Janet.
And thank you, Matt, for joiningus for an impromptu live stream.
Should we tell the people we'relive?
SPEAKER_01 (00:22):
We're live.
Live.
Live.
And we are here with John.
Wait, wrong notes.
Who have we?
Oh, it's Matt Carroll.
Matt Carroll.
Actor, director, writer,producer, all-around good guy.
Um makes movies.
(00:43):
And um we're here to talk abouthis new endeavor, wet paint.
Oh, I thought you were gonnatalk about the other thing.
Yeah, wet paint.
Hi, Matt.
Hello, hello.
SPEAKER_02 (00:56):
We all act and talk for a living.
SPEAKER_00 (00:58):
You can tell by the uh that's on that's been on
purpose, though.
It's all you, Matt.
Speak.
All right.
Uh so wet paint is uh is a storythat uh we're gonna be shooting
from the 26th or the 31st in NewOrleans, uh in some other areas,
different locations.
We are uh trying to currentlyraise money.
(01:19):
We have a GoFundMe going on, uh,so check that out.
Uh I'm sure it's on most of yourlocal film pages because I'm on
like 17 different film groupsall across the U.S.
And so I've been posting allover the place and getting
people from like New Jersey andFlorida and asking me, hey, is
this filming in New Jersey?
No, on the thing.
(01:39):
It says New Orleans, but anyway,uh, so I'm sure you can find
access to it if you if youreally looked.
Uh, but the story of Wet Paintis uh about three 17-year-old
girls, and they are dealing withuh their last year of high
school and all the pressuresthat come with that as a kid.
And uh one of them ends up notbeing able to cope and takes
(02:02):
their life.
And what happens is the othertwo girls decide that they don't
like the way that theauthorities deal with uh the you
know her her passing, and sothey go on a crusade to start a
movement uh that will allow opendialogue between students in
(02:23):
school systems, and so theydecide that they want to do this
and they get a lot of pushback.
There's uh expulsion, there's umjail time, there's a lot that uh
that happens, but the storyitself is to bring awareness for
(02:44):
student mental health becauseit's something that is very
prevalent today.
Um, I work as a teacher, and uhit's it's there's a lot of young
kids that are dealing with somuch at such young ages
nowadays, which is so crazy tothink.
Because when you know I was 10,11, and 12, I was trying to go
(03:08):
out and play basketball or godrive down the street or you
know, stay out until after thestreetlights came on.
You know what I'm saying?
Like I didn't, I what thiswasn't things that were on my
mind.
Like I didn't grow up in thiskind of environment that these
kids are growing up in nowadays,that they seem like that they're
at the end of their rope at 10,11, and 12, which is really kind
(03:31):
of sad, man.
It's it makes me it makes methink that uh there needs to be
some sort of change, and that'swhat wet pain is about.
SPEAKER_01 (03:40):
I agree that there needs to be change.
I think there's never reallybeen enough done about it.
So I actually have a reallyclose-to-home story related to
this topic, if you'll permit meto tell this story.
I haven't even told Brian thisstory.
(04:00):
So in junior high, I lived inSlidell, and I was in seventh
grade.
Kid I played football with, hewas the number one guy in
everything.
He was the star athlete in allthe sports.
He had the highest GPA.
He came from I I don't know thatthey were wealthy, but they they
(04:24):
did pretty well.
His his dad was some kind ofbigwig in the oil industry.
I I don't know to what extent,but they were getting
transferred to Houston.
That's Houston's the big oilboom area, that's where a lot of
the corporate offices are.
And he had a a girlfriend thatwas you know the cutest girl in
(04:50):
the school.
They were, you know, they werelike the the junior high
equivalent of a power couple.
And for about a week, and he andI played ball, he was the
starting quarterback, like Isaid, the star of all the
sports.
We weren't really in the samecircles, but we we knew each
(05:11):
other, we were friends fromthat.
And this week in particular, hehad been riding my school bus
every day.
Uh he didn't live in myneighborhood, but was staying
with uh a friend in myneighborhood while his parents
were house hunting in Houston.
(05:31):
And one morning I had whatevermy it was shop.
So the way it worked back then,you took you had to have an
elective for one semester andthen PE for the other semester.
So I wasn't in the band, so Ihad to pick from either shop,
home ec art or music, I think.
(05:53):
And that particular year I hadshop.
A lot of my friends were inshop.
The next year we all did home atbecause we wanted to learn how
to sew.
And that morning we got held inclass.
At the end of that hour, and itwas first period.
The shop teacher was like, Allright, we're we're just gonna
we're staying here a little bitlonger, we're not changing
(06:14):
classes, and he didn't tell uswhy.
And one of my friends' mom wasuh she worked in the front
office, and she got him a noteand said that something
happened, and we got a littlebit more information.
He took his life in class thatmorning out on the playground.
(06:38):
We had probably 20 minutes uhevery morning before class
started when people were waitingfor all the buses to get there,
I guess.
And he went around to peopletelling them goodbye, and a
couple of people he made amotion like a gun.
And you know, we're 12 and 13years old, people weren't really
(07:01):
reading into that sort of thing.
People assumed he was sayinggoodbye because they knew he was
moving, they knew his parentswere house hunting, and people
just associated it with that.
He brought a gun to school, asmall revolver, and when class
(07:21):
started, he walked in and sat inhis desk and pulled it out and
put it up to his head.
And the other students werestill up milling around, even
though the the second bell hadrung.
Had they not been up out oftheir seats, the girl that sat
next to him would have also beenstruck.
So fortunately, she wasn't inher seat.
(07:45):
And the sad part about it, itwasn't an immediate thing.
He survived in a vegetativestate for a couple of days, and
so he was older, he was a yearolder than me, so he was eighth
grade, I was seventh grade, andthirteen years old.
(08:06):
Thirteen years old.
And it was all because well, hisso my our understanding was that
his parents did put a lot ofpressure on him to perform, but
it was too much for him, leavinghis girlfriend, all of his
friends, everything he'd everknown, moving away.
(08:27):
We all thought perfect, youknow, he had the perfect life,
he had everything, you know,they had money, he had nice
stuff.
You just never know.
I mean, he was always in a goodalways in a good mood, he was
funny, he was uh the popularkid, the likable guy.
Everybody liked this guy.
And it just goes to show you younever know what's going on in
(08:50):
someone's head.
And that's been 30 somethingyears.
And it's still, and when Istarted reading this script, it
really uh I told you, I I toldyou when I started reading it,
it was hitting really close tohome.
That's that's why.
And the fact that he did it atschool in class, back then, I I
(09:13):
mean, I'm older than you, I'mcloser to Brian's age.
You back then you didn't hearabout people, kids didn't bring
guns to school.
That just that didn't happen.
You know, if you carried apocket knife to school, it was
to open your snuff can.
It wasn't it it wasn't a weapon,you know?
And that's something that I'vealways carried with me.
(09:34):
And I remember the follow-upfrom that, there was no mental
health stuff available backthen.
There just there wasn't.
They brought in counselors, andthey they had them set up in the
cafeteria and and the gym, youknow, different places where
there could be bigger assembliesof people.
(09:56):
And if you needed to talk tosomeone, you could be excused
from class and get up and gotalk to these people.
But I mean, who's doing that?
Are you going in there andtalking about this affecting you
in front of a bunch of peoplethat are staring and maybe
judging you for asking for help?
There were people that went andtalked and they would have big
(10:19):
group sessions that you knowpeople would talk and share
their feelings or whatever, butthere just wasn't a lot of
options, and that only lastedfor a couple of days, and then
it was back to business, likenothing happened.
The kids didn't feel likenothing happened, it was
different, it was weird, theschool was eerie, it was strange
(10:42):
being there, and a lot of us, Imean, those of us that knew him
remembered, but there I meanthere was just there was
nothing.
What do you do?
I mean, how do you from a mentalhealth standpoint, how do you
manage that?
How do you help a bunch?
And at that time, I don't knowif it's still the same, but at
(11:04):
that junior high, fifth, sixth,seventh, and eighth grade were
all at the same physicallocation.
So you had fifth graders througheighth graders at that school
that knew what happened.
And yeah, you can look it up.
His name was Matt Cooper.
What how?
How do you help kids?
Like what what's the mechanismto give them that mental health
(11:27):
help?
And I think this project isgonna go a long way to shining a
light on on that deficiency.
SPEAKER_00 (11:37):
I uh I don't know the answer.
First off, I'm sorry for yourloss and that you dealt with all
that.
Uh thing I don't I don't knowthe answer to save it.
Um, I just I know that if oneperson's thinking it, somebody
else must have thought it,right?
Yep.
And if if it's a classroom fullof kids, there needs to be some
(11:59):
sort of open dialogue.
There has to be some sort ofsummit that happens every year
to discuss student mentalhealth.
Because there's so there'sthere's uh training we go
through as teachers, uh, butit's mandatory from uh, I
believe state level or it couldbe national level.
(12:21):
I'm not 100% sure, but I know itis because of a situation that
happened with a a young kid.
And uh so we have to go throughthese trainings to see all these
different like signs, right?
But that's the extent.
Like it doesn't, there's notlike, hey, this is the signs.
(12:42):
So then what happens is when yousee those signs, you tell
somebody and then they send themto somebody else.
Like I feel like there's adisconnect there.
Like, even if you see the signand then you send them to a
hospital, I feel like you'restill there's still a
disconnect.
Like the kid is not really beingunderstood.
There's not really this openconversation that's happening.
(13:06):
It's like, oh, you dyed yourhair blue and you've been giving
your things away, which are twosigns, by the way, because if
they change their appearance andthey start to give their things
away, then they're thinking thatthey're you know, they're
contemplating the thought oftaking their own life or
self-harm in some way, shape, orform.
And so if you see that, you say,Hey, look, this is what I saw,
(13:28):
and then you go to thecounselor, and if you they
decide, then they send them tothe hospital, and then the
hospital helps them, and thenthey come back to school.
Well, then they come back toschool the same person, they
come back to school, they mayhave been improved, but then
when they come back to thisenvironment, are they back in
that same mindset?
SPEAKER_01 (13:46):
And is it and is there a stigma attached now?
Kids see them leave, you know.
SPEAKER_00 (13:51):
What does he do with that?
Exactly.
Now they're the weird kid, thekid that has the the mental
whatever uh instability, andlike now they're looked at, like
you said, with a stigma, andthey don't want to talk to
anybody, and they startisolating themselves even
further.
SPEAKER_01 (14:07):
It makes it worse.
That's absolutely right.
I can tell you one thing from mytraining in the military in both
branches I was in, every year wehad to go through suicide
awareness prevention training.
And uh as an officer at my lastcommand, I got assigned an
investigation.
Uh uh officers did in the CoastGuard officers did
(14:29):
administrative investigations.
You know, if uh somebody wasbreaking the rules or doing
something that may notnecessarily be criminal before
any kind of action could betaken, an investigation had to
be done.
And I was assigned a guy thatwas showing up uh drunk on, you
know, drinking on duty, alcoholin his breath.
(14:50):
Uh there were a lot of things.
He was late to muster all thetime.
Uh he was, for all intents andpurposes, what uh they called in
the Coast Guard a shipbag.
And when I started talking tohim going through the steps,
there was more to it.
There was more to it than thisguy was just showing up.
And the thing that triggered thebig investigation, he lived in
(15:13):
base housing.
There was a domestic violenceincident between him and his
wife.
And when I started talking tohim, the bells are going off.
All of the warning signs arethere.
And I I stopped, I I point blankasked him, I said, Are you have
you are you thinking aboutkilling yourself?
(15:34):
And some people feel like youhave to tiptoe around it because
they're afraid if you ask them,it's gonna trigger something,
and that's not the case.
That's absolutely incorrect.
If you suspect that somebody issuicidal, ask them because if
they're already thinking it,asking them that is not gonna
push them over the edge.
If they were already there, theywere already there.
(15:57):
So you stop and you ask them, Dothey need help?
And that changed the stakes ofthat conversation because I felt
like there was more going on.
And I asked him, Are youthinking about killing yourself?
And he started crying.
And I said, All right, that'sthat's it.
The investigation stopped rightthere.
(16:19):
And that triggered another step.
And so I I called the ambulancefirst, and then I notified my
supervisor at the time was thethe next person up for me was
the commanding officer.
And we took those steps and gothim the help that he needed, and
(16:41):
he actually didn't lose hedidn't lose his job because of
that, because he needed help.
I I just could tell.
I could tell there was somethingmore going on than this guy was
just a poor performer andshowing up with alcohol in his
breath.
And he went and got the helpthat he needed and actually got
back on track.
He lost, you know, he lost somerank and he lost, you know,
(17:05):
there was some punishmentinvolved because of the things
that he was doing at work or notdoing at work.
You you can't miss work and nothave repercussions in the
military.
But he got the help he neededand salvaged his career as a
result of that.
And sometimes it just takessomebody noticing and asking.
(17:27):
Just just ask them if there'ssomething going on.
SPEAKER_00 (18:11):
Yeah.
And with that being said, likeif you read the script or you
see the film or whenever we filmit, um the first up until the
girl passes, nobody asks, Howare you doing?
Like they don't ask her, isthere anything that I can do to
help?
Is there anything like it's justnever, it's never a thing.
(18:34):
Like they ask, like the momsays, Hey, can I help you with
the essay?
And she says, Oh no, no, no, I'mgood.
I got it.
And she's like, You sure?
Because I can always read.
She's like, No, I got it.
Because she's supposed to be atthis echelon of intelligence and
this echelon of greatness andall these things and these
accolades that she's been given.
And you know, it just it itbuilds, man.
(18:58):
The pressure builds to be great.
Some people will crumble underthis pressure.
And it it the kids, they'rekids.
At the end of the day, they'rekids, man.
Let them be kids.
They'll eventually get to apoint where they can, you know,
exceed everybody's expectationsand go on and create the
(19:20):
greatest accomplishments, butthey're kids, and it's it's the
hardest part to see is that youknow, when when somebody has
such a big responsibility ontheir shoulders, be it taking
care of their family, be itgetting good grades, always
making straight A's, um, doingwell on a sports team, excelling
(19:43):
in any sort of like mathematicalquiz bowl, anything, right?
There's so much pressure thatgoes into that that people don't
understand.
Acting.
There's a ton of pressure thatgoes into acting, especially
when you're leading a show andyou're taking on a show.
You have the responsibility tobe the person that carries this
(20:08):
whole thing, right?
That's that's hard, that'sreally tough.
And most of the time, a a goodtheater director will alleviate
that pressure by helping withputting um a an ensemble
together where you feel likeyou're not really the only
(20:28):
person on stage doing it.
Yeah.
And that's usually where you gofrom being a you know, high
school level production orcommunity, not to not community
theater, because communitytheater is great in certain
places.
But you know, a non anon-professional to a
professional status.
You'll see that that bigdifference because of the
(20:50):
ensemble that's built around theleads.
So it helps the leads and say,hey, you got a little cushion.
You got somebody else liftingyou up a little bit.
Just know that they're there.
And that helps a ton.
SPEAKER_01 (21:02):
Yeah.
And sorry, by the way, for yourhigh for hijacking.
We're supposed to be promotingthe film, but I felt I felt it
was relevant because when youreached out about this one after
the other one, you said thisone's different.
This one this one hits hard.
I've read a lot of your work.
I've been in some of your work.
(21:24):
And yeah, you were right.
This one has a completelydifferent feel.
And I feel like I feel like it'sgoing to make an impact, man.
I feel like it's going to helpsomebody.
And if it even helps one personthat's feeling that way and
thinking that way, just to know,just to know that they're not
(21:46):
alone, that they're not the onlyperson thinking like that, I
feel like it's going to make adifference.
And people need to get involvedwith this project.
They need to we're going to getthe information about your your
Kickstarter or uh crowdsourcingthat you're doing.
Go go fund me.
Go fund me.
(22:06):
We're going to get theinformation on that and get it
out there.
But man, this project, peopleneed to get involved with this.
They really do.
This is gonna it's gonna shine alight.
I think so too.
I really I really feel so Ireally feel like it's gonna if
just one person realizes thatthey're not the only one that's
(22:28):
feeling like that, it's gonnamake a difference.
And I didn't mean to take over.
SPEAKER_00 (22:33):
No, no, no.
SPEAKER_02 (22:34):
No, you're 100% what you're saying is true.
You didn't hide it.
I agree with you.
It's it's just on topic.
And as on topic, I don't know ifI've mentioned this, but I in my
youth I was suicidal.
So first of all, growing up withthe last name Play-Doh, you get
teased every day.
And even if it's genial, even ifit's nice, it's daily.
(22:57):
And we didn't have the internetback then, so once I got home, I
didn't have to deal with that.
But you hear about stories aboutkids having, you know, go kill
yourself.
Oh, you're terrible, likethey're being attacked online.
So in addition to that, and Ithink I've talked about this,
um, in tenth grade, my motherwas having breast cancer
(23:20):
surgery, and the nun, one of myteachers, said that I was
killing her with my antics.
And my antics were I wasn'tdoing my homework.
So uh that was quite anemotional bomb.
And then uh we dealt with thenun with a meeting, and she
tried to like my mom caught mecrying, she had just got home
(23:43):
from the hospital, and she'slike, Tell me what's wrong, and
how do I tell my mom that,right?
I'm like, No, and I'm I gotta domy homework.
And she got it out of me, andthen my dad got home, and they
made the meeting, and so we'resitting in the sister's
roundhouse.
And in and if you've ever beenin in let's just call them
institutions like that, they alllook the same, the same
lighting.
And I'm across the couch fromher, and my dad, who was six
(24:08):
three, has his elbows on hisknees.
He got down on her level and hesaid, Well, what is he doing?
Well, you know, when kids arebad.
No, I don't know.
Tell me.
Well, you're a teacher when youhave a kid, you know, you have a
bad student.
No, usually that means I'm a badteacher.
And I didn't catch any of that,you know what I mean?
So we took care of her.
But like I would see her when Iwas working at Wendy's after
(24:31):
high school, and I would startshaking.
You know, or she came into agrocery store I was working, and
just seeing her, you know, soback up to as I was getting up
around 13, I I had a gun to myhead.
You know, it was it was I didn'tpull the trigger, you know,
obviously, but you know, I wasat that point of despair where
(24:54):
even though with some therapy,it was still in there.
It's like a like a ink in thewater.
And therapy you let some of itout, but it's it's a long
process, you know.
So my mom caught me, so tospeak, and said, You have to
promise me you'll never do that.
And that's the only thing thatkept me alive later.
(25:15):
Because those thoughts cameback.
I was always very I guess yousay needy, like needing people
to like me.
And that would push people away,as we know.
So, um I wasn't planning ontalking about this.
It just welled up, so I'mhijacking.
Vote for it.
(25:35):
Yeah, I I thank you.
I just we need in this country,because I've had this thought
watching shows, and then wedidn't know about other kids
back then because we didn't havethe internet, but I'm sure there
were more gun incidents, atleast kids bringing guns to
school.
And then once things like PearlJam Song of Jeremy, I don't want
(25:56):
to say popularizing it, butmaking it known, and then we had
all these incidents, we seethese times and stresses like I
was going through in these kids,you know.
I don't even want to say mentalbreakdown, just the daily.
And in our country, we don'ttalk about it.
There's no like the minute yousay therapist still, I think
there's a oh, that person's anut.
(26:17):
And it's just mental health.
It's like going to the doctorwhen you stubbed your toe.
Same thing.
Oh, I broke my leg.
I go to the doctor.
I can't deal with this.
I need help.
I need someone to teach me howto.
SPEAKER_01 (26:28):
Brian, let me interject.
I'm sorry, we lost Matt for justa second.
Okay.
Let me um I can see back.
SPEAKER_00 (26:35):
Somebody called me.
SPEAKER_01 (26:36):
Oh.
SPEAKER_00 (26:37):
Sorry.
SPEAKER_01 (26:38):
Oh, yeah.
I'm sorry.
I should I forgot to tell you toput it on do not on do not
disturb.
Yeah, I'm sorry.
No, no, it's all it's all good.
We're back recording, Brian.
Pick up where you left off.
I'm sorry.
SPEAKER_02 (26:50):
Oh, okay.
So um we we we look at mentalhealth as the stigma of that
that's a crazy person instead ofthat's just somebody going to
the doctor.
And we talk about in theschools, and this was in the
80s, we had retreats once ayear.
Excuse me, and then there's likea group session, and I relayed
(27:14):
this kind of stuff, and I wasbreaking down, and there was a
priest and a brother, becausethe school I went to was run by
an order, so there's brothers.
And for people who don't know,that's you know, you know that
priests make vows and they getaway from society.
Same thing with brothers,they're just in an organization.
And so I I laid it out there.
(27:36):
Pin drop, you know, andobviously right now I'm a
little, I can feel itheightened, even though I'm
comfortable sharing, but youknow, the emotions are there,
and it was even more because Iwas a teenager, and they looked
at me and went, Okay, thanks,and moved on.
And I'm begging for help.
I'm like, I need somebody totalk to, you know, nothing.
So the counselors didn'trecognize.
(27:58):
And I'm not like pointing myfinger at the whole thing, but
like you said, we need a systemfor kids to talk, but we also
need society and our ways tojust go, this is acceptable.
You know what I mean?
And not not only the oldergeneration, because I know
people older who they could usesome therapy, but they're like,
(28:21):
no, I can't do that.
So it may have it's it's come along way, as I've seen in
society.
You know, a lot more people taketherapy and they talk about it,
but we still have a lot of waysto go, especially with
teenagers.
SPEAKER_00 (28:33):
And the thing that you were saying, right?
Like, all kids are dealing withsomething, dude.
All of them.
The the the great basketballplayer, the the student council
president, the all every kid,every kid is dealing with the
same thoughts or insecurities.
You know, it may not bespecifically the same, but
(28:56):
they're dealing with aninsecurity, and they believe
that the end-all be-all is highschool and school itself because
they're worried about popularityand being cool and being a part
of something, and they don'tunderstand that once you get out
of it, none of that mattered,and it's like it's crazy to me,
(29:17):
like it's it's a hard thing tograsp that kids at you know, 10,
11, 12, 13, 14 want to taketheir life because this is they
can't stand this anymore, andit's it's not me, you know,
judging.
I'm not at all by any means.
I'm stating there's so much morefor them to learn and have and
(29:40):
live with and be a part of.
It, I mean, it you're you,there's no better person to be
you than you.
You are you, whatever thatmeans.
You're you, and you will find aplace for you because there's
people that fit, there'ssomething that you're going to
be great at.
There's something that you'regonna find that you fall in love
(30:03):
with, be it a person, be it avideo game, whatever it is.
You are going to find something,and you're going to excel in
this thing when you get olderand you're gonna build a career
around it, and you're going togo out and you're gonna keep
striving because you're drivento do this, and that is because
(30:23):
in at 10 years old, you didn'ttake your life, and it's it's
it's so hard to think that10-year-old kids, dude.
10 10-year-old kids are killingthemselves, like they're taking
their self-harm of any kind at10?
Yep.
It's tough, man.
It's it's a it's a really tough,it's really tough to hear.
(30:47):
It's really, really tough tohear because I got a kid and my
kid's about to be 15.
And I'm I remember when he was10.
And it's it is hard, dude.
It is hard.
And I'm not trying to I'm nottrying to go into that, but I
could only imagine, dude.
Like I I I'm proud of him.
(31:09):
Everything he's done, everythinghe continues to do.
Y'all met him, he's a great kid,he's fantastic.
SPEAKER_01 (31:15):
Yeah, he is.
SPEAKER_00 (31:16):
And it's like it it I wish he knew how much love I
have for him, and I wish all theother kids had that kind of love
for them.
Yeah.
Sorry.
SPEAKER_02 (31:26):
No, no, no, it it needs to be said, man.
One really does correction.
I was 10 years old in fifthgrade, not in 10th grade, so
just uh not that anybody cares.
But we also, with when you're inhigh school and before, your
homerooms are changing, whichmagnifies every pain and every
feeling so much that once youget past that and you look back
(31:47):
and you can't imagine, you knowwhat I mean?
So maybe we as adults like, oh,it's just, and I'm you did not
say this.
Well, it's just high school,you'll get over it.
But we can stop and say, Oh, letme remember that magnifying
glass of oh, it's high school,you know.
Exactly.
SPEAKER_00 (32:03):
Yeah, and then it's it's it's it's lifted so high,
it's it's so high, like in allaspects, because you want to be
popular, everybody does.
I mean, it's not a secret,everybody wants people to to to
champion them and celebrate themuh to be a celebrity in this
(32:23):
way, shape, or form, and evennot just not just popular, but
just accepted.
SPEAKER_02 (32:29):
Yeah, you know what I mean?
Because I was I was in the bandby the time I got to high
school, so I was in a group, butI didn't feel accepted.
You know what I mean?
So I totally agree with you.
It's just it's not justpopularity, it's not just you
know, and that's all part of it,but it's it's that acceptance
(32:50):
that once we later once I gotpast that and found my niche
niches and found my tribes, madeit so clear what I needed back
then.
You know?
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (33:03):
I know, dude.
I didn't I didn't intend forthis to be so heavy.
No, it's just a heavy, it's aheavy film, man.
It's a heavy subject.
SPEAKER_02 (33:11):
It is, it really is, and that's why we need people's
help.
SPEAKER_00 (33:15):
So much so people shy away from it.
They they you know, they hear itand they go, I don't want to
touch that.
I don't want, but I t I I Icover it with kid gloves.
Like I don't I'm very respectfulof all of it.
I'm very respectful as thewriting is it looks at it from
all these differentperspectives.
(33:36):
It's not just this is whathappened.
Oh my god, this is upsetting.
It's not that, it is not thatkind of film, yeah.
SPEAKER_02 (33:45):
I agree with we're kind of emotionally spent,
folks, and that's what we wantyou to feel after this movie as
I cover with humor.
Yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (33:54):
Well, so why don't we talk about the ways that
people can get involved from thethe GoFundMe to uh performance
crew, whatever.
Let's talk about, let's talkabout your needs for the
project.
SPEAKER_00 (34:13):
Sure.
Uh so I am looking for uhanybody who wants to come and
volunteer some time on set.
They can be PAs if you have somebackground in film.
We'd love to have you.
Uh, unfortunately, because we'retrying to raise funding, we
don't have funding to payeverybody.
It's I it's not because I don'twant to, trust me, I really want
(34:36):
to.
Uh, I did a budget andeverything.
I reached out to all theseinvestors.
I sat down with them.
I went and talked todistributors, and everybody
says, Well, after it's made, I'mgood.
But prior to that, I don't wantanything to do with it.
Or they go, man, that's a greatconcept, and they just kind of
let the conversation trickle offand then they ghost me.
So it's like, okay, but it it isasking people to volunteer their
(35:01):
time, uh, which is somethinghard to do because everybody's
time is precious, but so is mineand Kevin's and you guys, and
we're giving our time for it.
You know, it's because it's it'sthe the project is important,
and the film itself, I want itto be as great as it can be.
(35:23):
Um, I think we can do it.
I know we can do it.
We're going to do it regardless.
Uh, we do need a couple of moreroles to be filled.
Uh, there's a few.
There's one that's a really hardchallenging role, and I've
reached out to some differentpeople.
Actually, there's three reallyhard challenging roles.
(35:44):
I reached out to some differentpeople, and unfortunately, uh
their schedules don't line up,so I'm still looking, right?
Uh, but two of them are the mainleads.
Um, they have to look 17, 16,17, but they have to be 18 plus
because we're probably gonnawork over eight hours, and it's
(36:06):
a sag film, so it can't be youcan't work uh minors past eight
hours.
So uh I that's why I'm lookingfor 18 plus.
Um, and I I found some people.
I found some really talentedpeople.
I'm really glad with the cast Ihave so far.
I have some uh some really,really talented folks that
agreed to do this and and tovolunteer their time.
(36:29):
Uh also we're looking forlocations.
Uh, we have some locations inmind.
Uh, we have a couple of bedroomsthat we have already.
Uh, we have uh location by awaterside that we have already,
uh, but we're looking for acouple more locations.
Um, one of the hardest things tofind when you're filming
something, especially lowbudget, is a bank, a police
(36:51):
station, a casino.
Those are three of the ones thatare like, ah, it's really tough.
Well, I found out this week thatuh a high school is very tough
to get as well.
So I can add that to the list.
So now there's four thingsthat's really tough.
Um, but yeah, so we're lookingfor a high school that uh we can
shoot in uh abandoned,preferably.
(37:13):
Uh, but if it's still, you know,going, that'd be great.
Uh, the reason I asked forabandon so that we didn't have
to go through different red tapesigning all these paperworks and
stuff.
But if we have to sign whateverwe have to sign, I'm happy to
sign it.
And since it's the Christmasbreak, they shouldn't have kids,
so we could go in and just kindof shoot, hopefully.
(37:36):
Uh, but uh, you know, all thatbeing said, uh he's gonna put
one of them are gonna put thethe GoFundMe stuff on their page
or on the the website.
If you can't donate, cool.
We just ask you to like it andshare it and just be a part of
the movement, especially if youfeel like this is something that
(37:56):
you you want to, you know, back.
SPEAKER_01 (37:58):
Yeah.
So and we'll also we'll getwe'll have you send the
information to us and I will addit into the description on the
YouTube video.
And I think we might also turnaround and publish this on
Facebook.
We normally don't publish onFacebook.
(38:18):
Uh we've been having troublegetting it to live stream to
Facebook.
I it's just a it's a riversidething.
I it it's not working right.
We're able to stream to YouTubeand Twitch and stuff, but for
some reason Facebook justdoesn't and uh Instagram just
doesn't work right.
But we'll publish this toFacebook as well, try to get
(38:41):
some traffic, some interestgoing.
SPEAKER_00 (38:44):
Could I run to the restroom real quick?
Is that a possibility?
Yep, absolutely.
All right, I'll be right back.
I'm gonna talk about theheadphones out.
Uh perfect.
Uh I'm gonna take the headphonesout so you don't hear anything.
SPEAKER_02 (38:56):
Okay, now we can talk about them and say say what
we really feel.
SPEAKER_01 (39:00):
Yeah.
I I I think with the emotionaltone, we'll probably we'll not
bring that other cast member inthat we were talking about
doing.
SPEAKER_02 (39:11):
We'll we'll just are we still live?
Yes.
Okay.
The way you were talking wasalmost behind the scenes
comfort.
SPEAKER_01 (39:18):
So we can show the we can show viewers some behind
the scenes stuff.
Oh, look at that.
SPEAKER_02 (39:25):
Oh man.
So, you know, the first time Imet him, he was such a oh hey,
Matt, how are you?
He goes, Oh man, when you cameback.
Oh man.
I almost got it out there.
Ladies and gentlemen, we we needhelp.
Matt's got us.
SPEAKER_01 (39:41):
Hey! Don't tell him that we're planning to take over
the project.
Oh, he's he can hear us.
SPEAKER_02 (39:46):
Oh no, he can hear us.
While Matt gets that back, Ithink that this project.
I think it's gonna be very fspecial.
Uh please help if you can.
And like Matt said, if youcan't, like, share, and and
spread the word on social mediawith us.
And even even if you just wantto put in the comments and oh I
(40:08):
share your experience like wedid.
We're not if you feel like wegot too in-depth, but you know,
oh I I knew somebody.
And you don't have to givedetails.
But I think this is somethingthat has touched us all in
different ways.
Yeah.
You know, and it's hard to say,yeah, we'd like to hear your
story, but we would, not notbeing glib about it.
(40:29):
But at the same time, it's toughto share.
You know, even just typing inthe comments.
But you know, let's let's takethe stigma away from that and
you know, and if you needsomeone to talk to, you know.
SPEAKER_01 (40:42):
reach out to there's us there's hotlines you know and
we'll put that information inour stuff too yeah I and I'm
actually gonna put the uh I'mgonna put the notice in it as
well you know if you're ifyou're struggling and I'm gonna
put the phone the hotline phonenumber.
My my wife actually workedvolunteered for a a hotline when
(41:06):
she was in college for a littlebit.
SPEAKER_00 (41:07):
At the end of the film Edwin before the credits
roll I give a list of all thedifferent places they can call
uh but now listening to you guystalk and knowing that everybody
really has a story have you guysever seen the way they start
love actually so it's basicallyall these different pictures of
(41:28):
people are videos of people youknow that are meeting their
loved ones or falling in loveand all these other things right
and I think that's how it opensand closes the show.
So what we could do is we couldopen it with all these different
people talking about theirstories and just overlap them.
And then from there we go intothe shot of above that comes
(41:53):
down into the parking lot wherehe's painting the the thing and
smoking the cigarette and thenwe go back eight months earlier.
Yeah yeah that could be coolthat's actually that's pretty
cool I just had the idea thanksto you guys' stories I was like
man everybody's got a tale totell so it's definitely uh
something that I think would beinteresting especially starting
(42:14):
like that and just hearingpeople's voices over overlapping
each other telling differentstories I think would be you
know because they're significantstories and you know they need
to be told even if it's aboutsomeone else like TJ your story
was super sad and super you knowemotional but it it hit you and
(42:37):
it's been with you for yearsthere's gotta be other people
out there that have experiencedsomething like that.
And Brian your story it it'sit's it's something that
affected you specifically likepersonally and that's a story
that you'll never forget butlike it wasn't TJ's personal
(42:57):
experience it was somebodyelse's experience but TJ
experienced it as a secondhandsituation which is still
lingering with him so there'sgotta be stories that people
have come into contact with youknow yeah and if if they want to
record something or whateverthey can post it to this this
page and what we'll do is when Igo to edit we'll pull out all
(43:18):
the stuff and we'll start thestory with everybody's stories
over that.
So it feels like everybody's apart of this because it's this
ain't for me.
This is this film isn't for me.
This film is for everybody else.
SPEAKER_02 (43:31):
This film is for the world hopefully what we could
also do is once you make yoursocial media pages for it ask
people to share their videosthere if they feel comfortable
or even if they just want totype it maybe they're not
comfortable being on camerawhich is hard for us to
understand.
SPEAKER_01 (43:47):
So it could be something uh uh not to get too
grandiose about it but a pointwhere people can come together
and start saying oh it's okayfor me to talk about this you
know so that could be I don'twant to say movement I don't
want to overblow it yet but wewould have ambitions and I would
we want to help but we're notlike hey we're the guys you know
(44:12):
yeah agreed all right yeah Ithink we're I think we're spent
we've had a couple of emotionalones this one's this one's up
there between this one and andthe one that we did with Eileen
with yep with Eileen Gruba yeahall right well we'll go ahead
and pull the pin here and we'llget that info from you and get
(44:36):
that posted as well and we'llget this up well it's on I mean
it's up now it's on YouTube nowbut we'll get we'll spread the
word on social media.
Yep without a doubt uh did youwant Megan the high one or what?
I I was thinking maybe not maybeokay may maybe not this time we
can do a follow-up one yeahwe'll to get we'll get together
(44:58):
with actors and stuff this uh Iyeah I'm kind of raw I need to
go understand understand Icompletely get it I'm tired of
talking to you Matt it's allgood thank you for you know
sharing man yeah yeah yeah ofcourse thanks for coming on Matt
and uh we'll see you next timefolks thanks for letting us be a
part of this anytime man I'm aphone call away hit me up cool
(45:24):
see you folks
Popular Podcasts
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
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
The Bobby Bones Show
Listen to 'The Bobby Bones Show' by downloading the daily full replay.