June 4, 2025 • 40 mins
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Susan Lebrecht's creative journey defies conventional artistic paths, weaving together dance, choreography, and acting into a rich tapestry of expression. Her earliest artistic memories revolve around musical theater and watching West Side Story as a child, sparking a passion that would evolve throughout her life.
Sponsored by Jana McCaffery Attorney at Law. Have you been injured? New Orleans based actor, Jana McCaffery, has been practicing law in Louisiana since 1999 focusing on personal injury since 2008. She takes helping others very seriously and, if you are a fellow member of the Louisiana film industry and have been injured, she is happy to offer you a free consultation and a reduced fee to handle your case from start to finish. She can be reached at Support the show
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
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hi, I'm Susan Lebrecht.
I'm an actor, dancer,choreographer, mom of a teenager
and I'm stupid excited but alittle nervous to be on NOLA
Film Scene.
Speaker 2 (00:10):
Welcome to NOLA Film Scene with TJ Plato.
I'm TJ and, as always, I'mPlato.
Speaker 3 (00:16):
Yay, yay, excellent Susan, we're so excited to have
you on.
Thanks for joining us today.
Thank you.
You are a dancer and achoreographer.
I don't want to ask you howlong you've been doing that, but
you can, I mean really you can.
Was that like a childhood?
Speaker 1 (00:38):
thing you started dancing in childhood and and
just kept going with it.
I yes, I didn't start formallytaking classes until I was the
ripe old age of 13, which iskind of late, honestly, as
dancers go as far as ballettechnique.
I had been in musical theaterin our community so I had had
some dance training just within,you know, in Annie and shows
(01:00):
like that as a little kid.
So I always wanted to.
I was always fascinated byespecially musical you know.
I remember the first time I sawWest Side Story on TV I was
like that is what I want to do.
So, yeah, that really was oneof my first inspirations.
Speaker 3 (01:18):
That's always been a weakness for me is dancing and
seeing everything that goes intothe choreography and the timing
, and it seems very challenging.
Speaker 1 (01:29):
I honestly love it.
I don't know if you knowanything about this, but I grew
up in this activity called Drumand Duel Corps, which do you
know?
Anything about Okay.
I do, starting at the age ofseven.
So I kind of had the bestinstructors in the area I grew
up in Boston or right outside ofBoston and it was sort of the
(01:51):
birthplace of all that.
So, like I had the mostexperienced choreographers and
instructors, did it and whatthey did and and watch them and
learn from them.
And then I still teach it.
I still teach marching band,the color guard, after all these
years it's been like 40something years, so, um, but I
(02:12):
love that.
I love there's a, there's acreative way to, you know, get
the newbies, the new dancers, tolook as good as the more
experienced dancers, and thatit's almost like directing a
film where you're like, ok, thishas to be the focus over here
and don't watch over there, youknow, and try to get everybody
(02:33):
on the same level and the sameemotional quality and the same.
You know I just there's.
It's really exciting and I do alot of it.
I teach a bunch of groups and Iteach six dance classes a week.
I have six recital pieces andthe Nutcracker and yeah, there's
a lot, but it's fun.
Speaker 3 (02:49):
My teenage daughter is in the Nutcracker.
She goes to a place over inHammond and I think this is her
third year with that group doingthat and she didn't take a lot
of dance.
Growing up didn't take a lot ofballet and she didn't take a
lot of dance.
Growing up didn't take a lot ofballet.
She loves it and she seems tobe pretty good at it.
She also does regular theateras well.
(03:10):
Oh good, it's just something tobehold, especially a group as
large as that, when there's 50or 60 kids that come together
and they're learning all theseroutines and they're learning
all of these routines and someof them don't have ballet
experience but they still findthings for them to be able to do
.
It's very fascinating to me towatch.
Speaker 1 (03:33):
We host the Nutcracker for the area.
There's a couple in our area inGulfport, Biloxi, but we have
been this is probably year 25,26, somewhere around there and
so we have kids audition fromother dance schools and we try
to find a place for everybody,whether they have you know,
whether they're on point or noton point, whether they have a
(03:53):
lot of experience or whetherthey're gymnasts at heart,
really, and and kind of plugthem in everywhere and make sure
everybody enjoys themselves.
Speaker 3 (04:07):
And too much rehearsal, because I know people
are crazy busy.
But what's your daughter's roleshe is in?
I think it's a dragon.
She's one of the pieces of a.
I think it's a dragon.
Speaker 1 (04:15):
Nice.
Well, I'm going to be a braggymom here for a second.
My daughter is a senior andshe's Clara this year.
Nicegy mom, go ahead, that'sthat's great but she is.
She's a better dancer than Iever was oh, wow she just has
such a love for it.
You know that just makes hercontinue to strive for being
(04:38):
better and better.
And she wants to keep dancing.
You know, in college probablynot as a dance as a major, she
wants to be a film major filmdance.
You know, in college, probablynot as a dance as a major, she
wants to be a film major filmdance.
You know it's all real risky,whatever.
Speaker 3 (04:50):
With the drum and bugle core and the stuff that
you teach.
Are you teaching thechoreography of the band, as
they're, say, performing in anathletic event, or what do you
teach them with that?
Speaker 1 (05:01):
I teach like the flags and the rifles and sabers
and dancers, and there isusually an overall kind of stage
or choreographer and then youwork within that, or sometimes
we'll work together and create amoment.
You know, so they get audienceresponse or points, or you know
if they're in competition, butusually it's.
(05:23):
There's a large staff of peopleand and you just kind of work
within what the show idea is andwhat you're given staging wise,
so gotcha sometimes it's reallycool hard because your vision
is completely different fromwhat the person who you know
stage it is, but then othertimes it just works out
beautifully yeah, I playedtrombone in high school, so I
understand all those marching,days after days of doing the
(05:45):
same routine.
Speaker 2 (05:46):
Don't lock your legs so you don't pass out.
I've heard somebody talk aboutlike why would that do this?
Like it just does man, justtrust me.
Speaker 1 (05:55):
Right.
Speaker 2 (05:55):
I don't know.
I almost was drum and buglecore, but when it came up my
schedule was full and I was likeso I almost joined your world
back in the 80s With who?
It was like I don't rememberthe full name, but just like a
Louisiana drama oh the stars.
It could be.
Yeah, I think Now I couldtotally be wrong too, because
I'm an old man and I forgeteverything.
Oh, stop it.
Speaker 1 (06:16):
You're younger than I am.
Speaker 2 (06:19):
I'm.
I'm 54.
56.
Ok, you're the one guest who'sever been old and we'll cut that
out.
We won't tell anybody.
Speaker 3 (06:26):
That's fine.
Yeah, we won't put that there.
Speaker 2 (06:28):
I thought I had you trumped.
No, so I don't know if you saidin the beginning I might have
missed it, and I know you saidyou started with.
Did you say you went intomusical theater like that?
I was wondering how we get fromdancing and instructing to the
actress you are now.
Speaker 1 (06:44):
I kind of stayed with community theater for a while
until until those two thingsdidn't.
You know, one drum bugle corps,my two older brothers as well.
So my mom like packed us all upand, you know, go on tour for
the summer.
Speaker 2 (06:58):
Mom's like one trip, oh, and I get to get rid of you,
you're going Right, right.
Speaker 1 (07:03):
So she was no dummy.
I get to get rid of you.
You're going Right, right.
So she was no dummy.
I always wanted to keep goingwith it and I was a theater
major in college so and thatkind of came out of the blue for
a lot of my family because Ihadn't done theater in so long.
But I, you know, I just alwayswanted to do it and I always
wanted to be in musical theaterand I ended up actually
choreographing the theater'sversion of West Side Story when
(07:26):
I was there.
And again, a challenge withpeople who've never danced
before you know that arefabulous singers, or you know,
just the theater students, whichwas a great challenge.
And you know, it's just one ofthose things that's like puzzle
and you just try to make it allfit and make it all work and
sometimes you have to jam thatone piece in there.
Look, it's fabulous, so yeah.
(07:49):
So after, actually duringcollege, then I went out into
like the Boston scene, film-wiseand commercial-wise, did a few
things.
There was a, and still is, acompany called Boston Casting
and they were the nicest peopleand really kind of you know.
You know you, you find thosecasting directors that they
(08:10):
really, when they say they likeyou and they think of you, they
really do like you and think ofyou and put you in places that
you could never get in before.
So that was, that was a niceintroduction into.
So and then after college, outto LA.
I loved LA but it is expensiveand challenging and luckily I
(08:33):
went out with three of mycollege friends.
So we had, you know, we hadsome people to talk to and
support and, you know, financialand emotional support, yeah,
yeah.
So while we had really greattimes, we had some really hard
times, but I wouldn't change athing.
I'd love to eventually get backthere in some capacity.
Honestly, I just like themountains and the water and the
(08:54):
desert and this and there's somuch to do and see and Vegas.
Speaker 2 (08:58):
And I'm a Disney adult, so we've been to
Disneyland once, oh nice, and Iwent to the Clerks 3 premiere
out in LA.
So I've been there a couple oftimes.
I don't want to move, it's wideopen, but it felt
claustrophobic on the streets tome, maybe because of the
mountains and everything's kindof up and it felt closer.
But that's just my own.
If they fly me out to do aproject, traffic is hideous Fly
(09:21):
me out to do.
Speaker 1 (09:22):
Yeah, a lot of people have said man, it has changed
so much over the years.
You know, because I haven'tbeen there a long time.
But you know, when you're ofthat formative age I was, I
think I was like 22 or 23 andjust ready to do it all.
And I was.
I was teaching andchoreographing and working with
Drum Corps and Color Garden, soI was driving everywhere and I
(09:47):
was catering set.
So I got to.
Yeah, we were on um the lotwith seinfeld and er and, uh,
third rock from the sun.
So I got, you know, we got tomeet a lot of people and it was
kind of fun.
You know, when you're not partof the cast but you're bringing
them food, you know they tend tobe nice to you.
Speaker 2 (10:04):
Yeah, I've always said you were crafty.
Speaker 1 (10:07):
Yeah, oh yeah.
So crafty.
Speaker 3 (10:11):
Always be nice to the people that handle your food.
Speaker 1 (10:14):
Exactly Now.
I've been yelled at by somepeople, but it's fine.
Speaker 3 (10:18):
I lived in San Diego for five years and I went back a
couple of years later to visitsome friends, go to the old
stomping grounds and even inthat short period of time and
being back in Mississippi, itwas night and day.
And at that point I realized,yeah, I don't, I don't ever want
to live there again.
The weather in San Diego wasalways nice year round.
(10:40):
It was always just really goodno humidity.
I don't think I ever used theair conditioner in my vehicle,
Hardly ever.
Yeah, Because it was just sonice.
I didn't even have aircondition in a living space
until the very last apartment Ihad, and that's because I was
living further inland in ElCajon and it got really hot
there.
But living closer to the beach,I never had AC.
(11:02):
You have a couple of fans andyou're, I mean it's good.
And I went back 15 years ago Idon't know, 10 or so years after
I had left, and at that point Irealized never live, never live
here again.
The traffic, it's worse thanNew Orleans to me.
Speaker 1 (11:18):
Yeah, I mean I did learn really quickly like how to
get around without getting onthe freeway and you know all
those back roads and but thathelps you decide like where you
want to live and where you.
You know what your next step isand where you're going and
where all the studios are andwhere your auditions are going
to be, so that I mean I guessI'm a shopper.
There's really nowhere to shophere.
(11:41):
I'd be in trouble if I was backshopping.
Speaker 3 (11:43):
No, Rodeo drive here, right yeah but it's okay.
Speaker 1 (11:46):
I don't know.
I kind of miss the hustle andbustle.
I'm like quickly getting intothe next phase of my life where
my daughter's going to graduate.
There are no more kids here.
She wants to go to NYU to be afilm student at NYU.
I have a stepdaughter that is asecond AD in New York, so that
(12:07):
would be with me because atleast she would have again
family and friends and and myfamily is still in Massachusetts
so they would be close by.
But then I'm here, you know,really far away.
Speaker 2 (12:18):
Biting your nails.
What's going on?
Speaker 1 (12:21):
Yeah, and also for me it's almost like, hmm, like,
maybe this is my chance to getan agent in New York and try,
try, you know, conquering thatarea and see what at least make
make some kind of connections inthat area and I can throw my
Boston accent on whenever I want.
Oh my God, I'm wicked hot.
Speaker 3 (12:42):
I was actually just about to ask you about that.
I'm going to circle back to itin a second.
Okay, we had a guest onrecently that Brian and I both
are friends with from class, andshe's a dancer and she moved.
She was from New Yorkoriginally and moved back to New
York and is doing a lot ofmusical theater up there.
She gave us the ins and outs ofwhat that's like Going to
(13:05):
auditions when you're not partof Equity and having to wait in
line hopefully to get seen, andwe haven't really had someone
that gave us a lot of insight ofwhat the acting scene is like
up there.
To me it feels like a verydifferent world.
There's a much bigger mix ofpeople that are doing theater
and film and television.
(13:26):
My wife's late aunt lived inNew York City and she was in the
theater scene for years upthere, but she also did some
film and television work andthere's a lot of opportunities
up there.
There's not much.
No, I'm not going to go downthat road.
I think I'd be scared to livein New York, just because I
(13:48):
don't understand it, you know.
Speaker 1 (13:49):
Yeah, yeah, for sure.
I mean, I think it'd just be amatter of just getting used to
the subway system and knowingwhere to go and where not to go
and just being aware, because mystepdaughter's been there
actually both my stepdaughtershave lived there at one point
and they're pretty good, prettysolid.
And, as you know, olivia is hername she's a second ad and she
(14:13):
started as a pa and she was incalifornia and then she moved to
new york and she much prefersnew york and because we're all
theater, musical theater, nerds,you know, so she gets the
opportunity of going andwatching.
But also she works on theGilded Age, which is just filled
with theater people, you know,like Christine Baranski, you
(14:34):
know they're all theater peoplethat are on that show.
So she's working and meetingall her idols, you know from the
theater, which would be hard todo, I think, but she's smart
and she has.
She has really grown intosomebody you could talk, anybody
can talk to and she can talk toanybody and she she's very
respectful and knows that.
(14:55):
You know, and I feel like I'mthe same way.
There's something you can learnfrom a lot of people most
everybody that you meet, youknow, on a set or it's good to
like if you can sit down andtalk to them.
Speaker 2 (15:06):
I didn't want to throw this one in the podcast.
It's not that it's real bad.
My first time marching in aparade, archbishop Rummel, if
you're familiar with that and itwas the Metairie parade.
So we step out of Clearviewparking lot and it's Chabalettes
, the dance squad, the drums andthen trombones have to be in
the front because of the slotFreshman's.
My first time we step out ofthe party lot and the urge hits
(15:28):
me, rummel, is the pants thatyou have to wear with suspenders
, you know white shoes and thenone of those big jackets right
in the hat.
Speaker 1 (15:36):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (15:36):
I'm like, what do I do?
And we're first band, so thatmeans we are trucking.
So yeah, and we get to a pointand I'm thinking about the
parade I said, okay, I knowthere's a portalette by Burger
King, I passed the burn, I don'tknow what I'm going to do.
And then every time we were ata good clip, not stopping, we
hit parade rest and TJ, I don'tknow you probably know from
(16:00):
military but that leg goes outkept things together.
We get close to where thatporta potty is.
They stopped for a second and Ilook at it and I think no, and
then they kept going again.
It's like, all right, we get tothe end of the parade route.
Then this has been like sevenmiles.
All right, get on the bus.
We get on the bus, we get backto Rummel.
Okay, I'll use the ShabaletaAll changing to go out that
night.
I layers of material andleotard snap underneath.
Speaker 1 (16:32):
And under that we had a unitard, so a full body suit,
and under the unitard we hadtights, and so if you had to go
to the bathroom, man, it was awhole production huh, oh my.
Speaker 2 (16:42):
God, it's almost as bad.
I was death photo double and myhands were painted white, which
made everything difficult.
It was pre-COVID, so if it wasa 10-1, it was a simple spray of
disinfectant.
I didn't eat.
I didn't eat much before anyday going to set, to make sure
that I didn't have to deal withit, I spaced that out, that's
(17:03):
funny.
Speaker 3 (17:04):
So I think I mentioned before I'm a Shriner.
You know the New Orleansparades.
They have the green and yellowShriner motorcycles that lead,
that escort all the parades.
I rode green and yellows forseveral years and we were there.
I mean we'd have to get thereand line up, you know, an hour
and a half, two hours before theparade would start, and then
(17:26):
you start the parade and we werealways at the front.
It was just a New Orleanstradition.
Plus, we're not having to ridebehind horses.
That's a bonus.
Yeah, some of the routes, sothe Metairie routes, they have
porta potties along there andyou can ride up ahead and stop
and find one.
It's not a problem In the NewOrleans routes, especially down
through the French Quarter, theydon't put porta potties out and
(17:48):
you just ride along and youfind people partying like
standing outside their housewaiting for it to come by.
Hey, can I, can I use yourbathroom?
They're like yeah, man, come onin, you want a beer?
Speaker 1 (17:59):
yeah, like no, I mean , I remember when I first
started, you know we were littlekids and so there was, there
was like a junior core and thenthe older groups, sometimes
there were three.
So I'm seven years old andwe're sandwiched in between the
horses that are right in frontof us.
You know there's like 12 of us,the horns are playing.
(18:20):
It's just a bunch of littletiny kids, and right behind us
is this huge drum and viola corethat you know.
They're just loud and they'reall like semi-professional
players and it's like steppingon the horse.
But it was crazy.
And there were things like theBunker Day Parade, which is
(18:41):
Bunker Hill, and so, again,being a seven year old, going
straight, it's like SanFrancisco.
Ok, wow, we can make it, yeah.
And then going down, oh yeah,yeah.
And then going down, oh yeah,yeah, and the drum beat would
get faster because you werebasically running down there.
Speaker 2 (18:58):
You can always tell an out-of-town band in a New
Orleans parade because theirtubas are not covered, which
makes them targets for beads anddoubloons and all the other
things oh yeah, yeah, coconuts,whatever else.
Speaker 1 (19:10):
beer cans yeah, oh yeah, yeah, coconuts, whatever
else beer cans.
Speaker 3 (19:12):
Yeah, how much of a hassle is that if somebody gets
a set of beads inside a tuba?
I mean, is that like pull offto the side and do surgery to
get it back going, or will itcome out easy?
I think?
Speaker 2 (19:22):
they can go through with it.
It might give you a littlerattle.
At the end of the parade theguys had to turn their tubas.
Speaker 1 (19:27):
Sousaphones to be technical, the ones that you
wrap around yourself themarching ones, and then we'd
turn it upside down and startshaking, yeah, or even like take
that top off.
Speaker 2 (19:37):
Yeah, the big part of the horn comes off.
That's where it separates.
It'll get in all the groovesand, yeah, it's not good.
Speaker 3 (19:45):
Now did you have a cover on your?
Speaker 2 (19:46):
trombone, no, only time you do this it's called a
mute, so at first you've seenthem hold like a plunger, or
there's something that sticks inwhich gives you a different
sound.
Usually don't do that whenyou're marching Gotcha.
And because of the trombone noone ever threw it at me, but you
have more mobility than a tuba,you know what I mean, which is
kind of fun.
Speaker 1 (20:07):
You know, as a color guard person, I was mostly a
rifle and so you know somebodywould try to cross in front of
you or cross through you.
You know breaking ranks You'relike oh sorry, oh yeah, no,
don't, why don't you wait?
Speaker 2 (20:21):
We had guys marching along with us and God help the
guys who tried to touch the shopa lot.
Oh, I mean, oh they try toreach up and pinch the girls and
all that stuff and they mightnot have brought back that hand.
You know what I mean.
Yeah, they were hurting.
Yeah, somebody actually grabbedthe tuba player, grabbed his
butt.
He didn't get beat too much.
But hey, man, it's New Orleansand it's a parade and people are
(20:44):
drinking.
Speaker 1 (20:44):
It's a friendly city.
Yeah, hey, how are you Right?
Well, hey, how are you Right?
Wah, I get it.
Yeah, so it's, there's somefantastic memories involved and
some not so fantastic memories.
But you know, I think anytimeyou can laugh about I don't know
just adversity is always good,because then you think okay,
that's not really a problem.
Speaker 2 (21:08):
You know, those were just funny moments.
We've gotten you from Boston toLA.
How do we get you to louisiana?
How did you make it here?
Speaker 1 (21:14):
I married a mississippi guy who also was in
drum veal core and he when heaged out he went the judge route
and and he still teaches.
He teaches a group.
That's from wisconsin.
But I was kind of guestchoreographer in a bunch of
different core circuits.
So I had a group in Canada, Ihad a group, a couple of groups
(21:34):
in Boston, I had a group in LA,I had a group in Fort Walton
Beach, florida, and so and Istill teach there 30 plus years
later, and so he was a judge inthat circuit and really one of
the people that had more historythan a lot of the other judges.
So when we met each other hemade some snide comment it looks
(21:54):
like 1976, whatever I goes, oh,who are you?
You know my Boston girl cameout like what do you know?
All right, and we were fastfriends right away.
And so years and years andyears of just being friends,
years and years and years ofjust being friends, and he sort
of helped me when I was in LA asfar as just keeping my mental
(22:15):
stability and, you know, workingthrough being really poor and
trying to have a career and allthat he really did help me
through all that.
Just I can't even tell you howmuch just exponentially helped
me through all that.
And then I moved back to Boston, started a little working there
a little bit more, and thenfinally, you know, moved down
(22:36):
here and married child.
The rest is history.
Nice, so I hear.
Speaker 3 (22:42):
I hear it just a little bit.
I hear the Boston just a littlebit every now and then when you
talk, let's hear it, pull itout.
Speaker 1 (22:48):
What do you want to hear?
You want to.
You want the typical down bythe Harbor that you talk.
Let's hear it.
Pull it out.
What do you want to hear?
You want the typical down bythe harbor that you know that is
, Are you?
going to the park?
You going to the park?
Oh, I'm definitely going to thepark.
I'm going to go to the parkfirst and get a beer and then
I'm going to meet up with SullyRight, and yeah, that accent is
not hard because you hear it.
You hear some of it in NewOrleans.
(23:09):
Really, it's more Brooklyn thanNew Orleans, but that kind of
short real quick accent.
When I met Matt Carroll I waslike, oh my God, where are you
from the parish?
Yeah Well, and he sounds likehe's from.
Chicago, really, yeah, it's soweird.
Speaker 2 (23:28):
Yeah, we're going to tell him.
You said that?
Speaker 1 (23:30):
No, I'm just kidding.
Let me have a moment for mattcarroll, because I really he is
one of the most incrediblepeople I've ever met talent wise
, like the way he like cranksout a film, you know, which is
like fully flushed out in anight.
You know, some of the shortfilms are incredible, the ones
(23:50):
that you guys you know.
Some of the short films areincredible, the ones that you
guys did, you know, those werereally.
Speaker 3 (23:53):
Thank you.
Speaker 1 (23:53):
Yeah, so yeah, I have only the highest praise for him
.
I just love him.
He's fantastic.
There you go If you want totell him that.
Speaker 2 (24:01):
I'll tell him.
I'll tell him.
Speaker 1 (24:02):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (24:03):
And we just recorded with him.
Oh, you did Awesome, yeah, justa couple days ago or yesterday,
don't tell anybody, but itlooks like the trailer for the
soldier's heart will come outMonday.
Really, yeah.
Finally there's editor finallyhas a through line, though.
Cross our fingers and at leastthere's emotion.
Yeah, you know what?
Speaker 3 (24:23):
I mean.
Speaker 2 (24:24):
I just talked to a friend of mine.
I did a movie called death tripand I play six different
characters.
Wow, it was my first.
Yeah, called Death Trip, and Iplay six different characters.
It was my first, yeah, firstrole in any movie, saturday,
march 14th 2020.
First line in his movie, firstline in any movie got it done.
And then the world broke andthen I and I was a cop.
I was skinny and didn't have abeard.
(24:45):
It's been so long I playanother cop with a beard and we
put glasses on to make surepeople know.
And I've been a clown and, wow,he is.
Finally, it's just him.
There's no budget.
They are halfway done with thesound edit and that was 29 2020
and we're almost done.
You know what I mean.
So, yeah, there's motion andthen there's so yeah, so just
doing good yeah.
Speaker 1 (25:04):
So much of me is like I I sort of lead with nerves a
lot.
When you said you know thetrailer is going to come out,
I'm like, oh my God, I'm nervous.
But then, yeah, but it, youknow it subsides into oh,
totally Excited about it.
Speaker 2 (25:19):
You know Shattered Justice, the one I did, where I
look like Fidel yeah, justrelease the trailer.
I don't have any sound, I don'thave any music, which always
drives crazy, and they're in laslas vegas at the film thing
trying to sell it, to get adistribution.
(25:39):
So I'm with you like, did Imake it?
Oh no, yeah, oh, they're gonnasell it.
And then indigo I saw a littlebit of it because they had the
premiere in texas and I play aevil businessman who's using the
psychic.
I've seen clips and I hate my.
Oh well, I mean.
Speaker 1 (25:45):
But I haven't seen the whole thing.
Speaker 2 (25:47):
So I'm holding off.
So yeah, hyper critical ofmyself and no mercy, and the
hell was I thinking.
Speaker 1 (25:52):
So I understand the nerves and everything.
I get that there.
There are things I don't that Ihave, that I've seen, that I
don't hate my performance, but Ialways, I'm always like I don't
understand why they pulled thatas opposed to, you know,
something that was a little bitmore dramatic.
You know, I always feel likethe stuff that gets out there is
sort of flat and it's all thethings that you're told in class
(26:14):
not to be.
You know, the one note and soit's.
It's just interesting to me.
Speaker 2 (26:19):
I mean always happy that I actually make it, because
I've, I've been for sure and alittle bit of sound bed to add
to the drama, takes yourflatness and gives it that tweak
, because you kind of sometimeswant to be reserved.
Yeah, and the director wantsyou.
I did a student film for Tulaneand I'm on a porch and the girl
she picks up nails out ofpotholes and I pay her money.
(26:41):
She has no money.
The character is supposed to begruff and then nice to her, so
he wanted level.
I need to be meaner when youfirst see me.
What do you want?
I need to be meaner when youfirst see me.
What do you want?
Oh no, we don't want that.
And then I saw it and it's flat.
I'm like do you listen to me?
Speaker 1 (26:54):
So you get yeah, but you know sometimes all the time
you have to go with their choice.
But yes, but sometimes it makesmore sense because you know
you're not the main characterand right.
You know you don't necessarilywant to be the one that's.
You'll be swell, you'll begreat.
You know, like what is shedoing?
I always want that.
They may not want it, right,right, yeah, of course, of
(27:22):
course I.
I luckily had I worked on astudent film for Loyola last
week and I love first, againnervous to do you know something
for the first time and it wasmy first time doing like blood
and getting stabbed.
I got stabbed in the neck.
Speaker 2 (27:34):
If you know Kimberly Coburn, love her to death.
She and I have done improv foryears together.
She is, she talks more than me,but she also repeated herself,
you know what I mean, keptsaying the same thing over and
over.
So I had to go through thatepisode with a fine tooth razor
and got it, and you know what Imean.
And I got her label, you know.
And then if the thing is a, b,c, d, e, f, g, when I hit a
(27:56):
button it went a, f, c, d, likeit was all.
I had to go back and re andlike piece through, oh, but it
came out very nice.
I mean, her thoughts were greatand I love it.
Or death some people.
You got to help some people,you don't.
Yours is going to be fine yeah,okay, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 3 (28:10):
So I was on this film .
It's called visage.
It's loyal to film students ordeath.
Some people you got to help,some people you don't.
Yours is going to be fine,you're good, okay, yeah.
Speaker 1 (28:12):
So I was on this film .
It's called Visage.
It's a story of a film studentand Anne Mahoney, who I don't
know personally.
I just big admire her and weknow her.
I listen to her Okay cool.
You know your podcast with herand I've listened with Brian's
and I just I find herfascinating and again, somebody
that you can just really learnfrom, even just listening to her
(28:35):
speak.
So she sent me a message andsaid hey, I have these students.
They need a mother character,would you?
Yes, it took me like fourseconds.
I can't hit the button fastenough, right?
Yeah, yeah.
And then I found out MilesDoliak was going to be playing
the father who?
Speaker 2 (28:52):
I don't really know.
Speaker 1 (28:53):
But again, you know, I know what he's done and you
know I respect him as an artistand as a teacher and so another
Mississippian, yeah, and I wasabsolutely, absolutely.
I will do that and I had a biglong scene with him.
That was just great.
I will do that and I had a biglong scene with him, that was
(29:14):
just great.
It was just so much.
You know how are you it doesn'thappen all the time how you
have those moments you're actingand you're like like you can
feel that you can feel eitherthe tension or the love or
whatever is supposed to behappening.
Uh, yeah, I had a blast andthen my daughter stabbed me in
the neck.
So that moment I'm sure you'vedone all kinds of blood and
stuff like that.
Yeah, a little bit, a littlebit, a little bit.
(29:34):
I'd never done anything likethat.
So I was so nervous because Iknow it's basically one and done
Once you get blood all overthat white shirt you're screwed,
you better focus.
So we did a hundred rehearsalswith the air spouting out and
you know I'm like, can we do itagain, can we rehearse again?
(29:56):
And the, the poor girl who, shewas nervous too.
I will say that.
And then, when we did it, itwas just so great.
Oh, I want to do that again.
So I'm looking forward to thenext time I get stabbed or shot
or something like that on film.
Speaker 2 (30:10):
Yeah, I haven't.
I haven't done the spurtingblood.
I had a blood capsule and thenI had green blood cause I was a
mutant cannibal from the future,but that's a whole nother story
, oh nice.
So I was thinking while we weretalking and we're getting close
to the end.
So last question, no pressure,pressure on me, just to ask it
listening to you talk and alittle bit of knowledge I have
about band, about directing andchoreography and how to make
(30:34):
that work, and then thinkingabout acting and breaking down a
script, can you compare andcontrast how those?
What does that spark?
What does that hit your brainwith that idea?
Compare and contrast.
Speaker 1 (30:44):
You know I teach a bunch of different styles of
dance and so my love really islike contemporary and modern,
because there are no rules.
You know there's, you could dowhatever you want, and so it
allows me to like be realphysical, to get the emotion
across, because you can't talk,you can't sing, you can't.
You know it's like guttural and, I think, breaking down the
(31:06):
script, especially now I play alot of doctors and lawyers.
There's not a lot of, you know,emotional highs and lows, but
as I've gotten into my mid-50sI've been lucky enough to get a
little meatier roles.
Like I did a short film acouple of years ago, the Dead
Driver, and it was rough, I meanit was.
(31:27):
So I was able to like put someof that physicality into and
know that's how dance has helpedme and choreography has helped
me.
As an actor.
I'm also very much a realist,you know, and I've listened to a
lot of casting people, a lot ofactors.
You know podcasts and I'vetaken a lot of workshops and I
(31:47):
think the older I get, the moreI go.
I don't really subscribe to onetechnique or the other.
I used to say, oh, chubbuck isso.
You know, it's so much, it'stoo much work.
I kind of thought of thatrecently.
I don't.
I guess it's just my age andthe roles that I'm getting that
it's almost easier to do allthat replacement and put
(32:08):
yourself in that situation.
And that dead driver movie wasso.
It was hard, but it was becauseI have a teenage daughter and
to the premise of that was mewatching my teenage daughter die
, and so that wasn't hard, thatwasn't a stretch, you know as
far as getting to that emotion.
Speaker 3 (32:25):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (32:25):
Had like two days on set, so it was a little hard to
maintain that.
But yeah, when you have thatright, there it was, it was good
, it was cathartic, honestly.
Yeah, I didn't cry for a longtime after that.
Speaker 2 (32:39):
Would you say, the emotions get into that point is
like tightening a rubber band.
Yeah, seeing that we're cut,you're relaxed.
You've purged it.
Okay, we got to do it again.
Now you've got to find thatrubber band.
Speaker 1 (32:50):
Yeah, there were a couple of times it felt like,
okay, but Rachel was so greatabout letting me, like, step
back.
Okay, let me try that again,because I didn't really care for
that one.
You know, that's a lovely thingwhen they're not just like, oh,
that's great, good, let's moveon.
You know, where they really dolisten to your instincts.
I was really super grateful forall that.
Speaker 2 (33:12):
And I haven't had the chance to work with you yet.
Listening to her describe hertime budgeting her schedule is
superb, because I've worked on acouple of student films, some
indie films and people who arejust learning and things that go
wrong on set Time goes crazy.
So that she's the goal.
She's the gold standard to belike that.
You know, yeah, and a budgethelps on that too.
I don't know what she had, butI'm doing things with no budget,
(33:35):
so obviously they're liketrying to get everything done
and we dropped this.
Speaker 1 (33:38):
Yeah, we had a decent budget.
It was a 22 minute film, butshe was so.
I mean, it really helps whenthe director's really organized
and it's not like just a shot inthe dark here.
Let's try it on this angle, youknow, instead of this is what I
want here's.
I think you can get that for me, and we're going to do it three
(34:00):
times, you know, and if you'rehappy with it, we'll move on
from there.
If you're not happy, we'll doit one more time.
Really, we didn't do like 17hours it was.
Speaker 3 (34:12):
I think the most was like 10.
Yeah, that was one of thethings that she mentioned when
we were talking to her is thatshe tries to stick to that.
She sets that goal.
I like that.
I like not being there just tobe there.
Be productive as much as youcan while you're there, but
after a certain point everybodyburns out and I feel like
productivity goes.
Speaker 1 (34:31):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (34:32):
The whole project will suffer for it.
Fortunately I haven't had thatexperience where it's been long,
miserable and shouldn't havehappened the way it did, you
know.
But I'm still coming up andlearning and still doing pretty
small projects, but so far it'sbeen pretty great.
Speaker 1 (34:49):
Yeah, it's.
I just think it's the area.
I love meeting new people inthe area too, because there's a
lot of young people that aredoing really wonderful things
too.
It's family-ish, you know Matt,I know Matt.
You know this person.
I know that you know it'sfamily ish.
You know mad.
I know mad.
You know this person.
I know that you know it it's,and I don't think I've really
never run across anybody that Ithought I don't care for them.
(35:10):
I just think it's a really nicefamily atmosphere anytime I've
been on set.
Speaker 2 (35:15):
Yeah, that's me yeah, yeah, there's one or two people
who I'm good, but mostly it'speople who want to be there, who
want to work, who are gracious,who are that way, my kind of
people, and nice, no divas.
You know, but we'll speak upand, hey, this might go better,
yeah, but we all and we quoteour 48 like we flowed in one
direction, seven or eight peopleand it was beautiful.
Speaker 3 (35:37):
It felt like no wasted time at all Moving,
moving, moving.
Speaker 1 (35:42):
Yeah, that's brilliant Really.
Speaker 2 (35:46):
And like you say, matt, when he starts writing.
Speaker 3 (35:47):
He's crazy his time on set as a director, behind the
camera, you know, after thewriting is done he still has
that whole storyboard in hishead of where he wants the scene
to go and he knows and he justlaser focused and on that scene
and moves it forward.
Speaker 2 (36:06):
Yeah, yeah, I think that's where a budget would help
him, where we can get PAs andsound people and lighting people
and have people doing the jobaround him.
Or we did the seven and seven.
No, we did the Louisiana FilmPrize up in Shreveport and, like
I went and broke down a set, Iwent and set up that we need a
crew so that things could flow.
Yes, it's incredible.
Speaker 1 (36:24):
Yeah, but you would never know.
I mean, the production value onall of those things that I've
seen has been really prettystellar, and that comes from
creative people like you andknowing that, okay, this is what
I have to do to make this.
You know, I do that with ColorGuard all the time too.
There's not a whole bunch ofmoney, so we get the costumes
that we can get that work, andwe get the scenery, the
(36:48):
backdrops and all that that wecan get that work.
You just have to be flexibleand make it happen.
A lot of things like that.
Speaker 2 (36:55):
Agreed, Susan.
I don't know about TJ, but Ihave really enjoyed our time
together Me too, thank you.
Speaker 1 (37:04):
TJ, I was looking forward to you coming on, thank
you, thank you.
Speaker 2 (37:06):
It was incredible.
We were friends for about ayear on social media, finally
met at that actor's summit.
Yeah, like, hey, I know you, Iknow you.
This is in person, so now we'vehad a longer conversation right
, right, and I love that youtake all the pictures.
Speaker 1 (37:21):
There's so many of us that are like damn, I wish I
took pictures I don't understandthat you take all the pictures.
Speaker 2 (37:26):
There's so many of us that are like, damn, I wish I
took pictures.
I don't understand that.
You know my dad had a dark roomoutside, you know.
So pictures have always beenpart of my life and it's just
fun.
You know what I mean.
I didn't get to go to apremiere of one of my indie
films that I just and.
People took some pictures, butnot one of them took a selfie.
I'm like what are you doing?
(37:46):
Your life choices?
What are they?
Yeah, one of my selfies on setfor that action movie where I
play.
I look like Fidel Castro, but Iam not playing a Hispanic
person, just a gringo in SouthAmerica doing bad things.
And I took a selfie and insteadof smiling, just to be in a
tough guy.
That made it into the movie,and it's one.
It's my poster for the moviethey've released digitally, so I
love taking pictures.
Speaker 1 (38:05):
So thank you, I love, I got to tell you, I love the
commercial you just did and thepainting that they made of you.
Speaker 2 (38:12):
That is so great, thank you, thank you.
Oh my gosh, we'll put a link inthis on our website.
We're going to link it to it.
And what we did?
They asked for a picture, whichwas a headshot I just took for
another short film, when I wasan evil mayor, or corrupt mayor
at least, and I'm kind ofstanding kind of haughty.
And then they took thatcomputer wise and put me in like
(38:32):
revolutionary times, you know,in this old fancy get up like
1700s.
So funny, that's computergenerated.
Speaker 3 (38:39):
That's not painted.
Speaker 2 (38:41):
On the painting you can see the cracks.
You can't see it on my post.
But people have asked me didthey give me a copy?
When I booked the role andstarted talking to them about
scheduling, I was like, can Ihave a copy?
And they go, we can do that.
So they gave me a print.
I've mounted it.
It's flat, it's in cardboardprotected, but I have to do a
frame that matches the timeperiod.
Yeah, you can't do that inmodern frame and it's like 40 by
(39:03):
38.
Oh, my gosh, it's like $500 toframe it at a frame shop.
So I'm going to DIY it withsome molding and some techniques
that I'm finding online.
For sure, I think it should beright behind me on the podcast,
but TJ said, no, we'll see, I'llset up my own little place.
Yeah Cool, I'll set up my ownlittle place.
(39:23):
Yeah cool.
But thank you, that was a lotof fun yeah, it looked like a
lot of fun.
Speaker 1 (39:27):
I love David.
I think he's hysterical.
Speaker 2 (39:29):
David is the lucky buck from the Mississippi
lottery commercial and HollyBurns she's been in one, britton
Webb, he's been in one, so I'min some high quality room now.
Huh, yeah, and David was great.
Yeah, everybody, because Ishared a few pictures with
people like you wanted to be inthat costume.
Yeah, I did, I did.
Speaker 3 (39:49):
He did.
Speaker 2 (39:49):
He did.
Oh, very cool.
Thank you very much, Susan.
Speaker 3 (39:53):
thank you for joining us.
Speaker 1 (39:55):
Thank you.
Thank you, Thanks for having me.
It was fun.
Bye buddy.
Hi, I'm Susan Lebrecht.
I'm an actor, dancer,choreographer, mom of a teenager
and I'm stupid excited but alittle nervous to be on NOLA
Film Scene.
Speaker 2 (00:10):
Welcome to NOLA Film Scene with TJ Plato.
I'm TJ and, as always, I'mPlato.
Speaker 3 (00:16):
Yay, yay, excellent Susan, we're so excited to have
you on.
Thanks for joining us today.
Thank you.
You are a dancer and achoreographer.
I don't want to ask you howlong you've been doing that, but
you can, I mean really you can.
Was that like a childhood?
Speaker 1 (00:38):
thing you started dancing in childhood and and
just kept going with it.
I yes, I didn't start formallytaking classes until I was the
ripe old age of 13, which iskind of late, honestly, as
dancers go as far as ballettechnique.
I had been in musical theaterin our community so I had had
some dance training just within,you know, in Annie and shows
(01:00):
like that as a little kid.
So I always wanted to.
I was always fascinated byespecially musical you know.
I remember the first time I sawWest Side Story on TV I was
like that is what I want to do.
So, yeah, that really was oneof my first inspirations.
Speaker 3 (01:18):
That's always been a weakness for me is dancing and
seeing everything that goes intothe choreography and the timing
, and it seems very challenging.
Speaker 1 (01:29):
I honestly love it.
I don't know if you knowanything about this, but I grew
up in this activity called Drumand Duel Corps, which do you
know?
Anything about Okay.
I do, starting at the age ofseven.
So I kind of had the bestinstructors in the area I grew
up in Boston or right outside ofBoston and it was sort of the
(01:51):
birthplace of all that.
So, like I had the mostexperienced choreographers and
instructors, did it and whatthey did and and watch them and
learn from them.
And then I still teach it.
I still teach marching band,the color guard, after all these
years it's been like 40something years, so, um, but I
(02:12):
love that.
I love there's a, there's acreative way to, you know, get
the newbies, the new dancers, tolook as good as the more
experienced dancers, and thatit's almost like directing a
film where you're like, ok, thishas to be the focus over here
and don't watch over there, youknow, and try to get everybody
(02:33):
on the same level and the sameemotional quality and the same.
You know I just there's.
It's really exciting and I do alot of it.
I teach a bunch of groups and Iteach six dance classes a week.
I have six recital pieces andthe Nutcracker and yeah, there's
a lot, but it's fun.
Speaker 3 (02:49):
My teenage daughter is in the Nutcracker.
She goes to a place over inHammond and I think this is her
third year with that group doingthat and she didn't take a lot
of dance.
Growing up didn't take a lot ofballet and she didn't take a
lot of dance.
Growing up didn't take a lot ofballet.
She loves it and she seems tobe pretty good at it.
She also does regular theateras well.
(03:10):
Oh good, it's just something tobehold, especially a group as
large as that, when there's 50or 60 kids that come together
and they're learning all theseroutines and they're learning
all of these routines and someof them don't have ballet
experience but they still findthings for them to be able to do
.
It's very fascinating to me towatch.
Speaker 1 (03:33):
We host the Nutcracker for the area.
There's a couple in our area inGulfport, Biloxi, but we have
been this is probably year 25,26, somewhere around there and
so we have kids audition fromother dance schools and we try
to find a place for everybody,whether they have you know,
whether they're on point or noton point, whether they have a
(03:53):
lot of experience or whetherthey're gymnasts at heart,
really, and and kind of plugthem in everywhere and make sure
everybody enjoys themselves.
Speaker 3 (04:07):
And too much rehearsal, because I know people
are crazy busy.
But what's your daughter's roleshe is in?
I think it's a dragon.
She's one of the pieces of a.
I think it's a dragon.
Speaker 1 (04:15):
Nice.
Well, I'm going to be a braggymom here for a second.
My daughter is a senior andshe's Clara this year.
Nicegy mom, go ahead, that'sthat's great but she is.
She's a better dancer than Iever was oh, wow she just has
such a love for it.
You know that just makes hercontinue to strive for being
(04:38):
better and better.
And she wants to keep dancing.
You know, in college probablynot as a dance as a major, she
wants to be a film major filmdance.
You know, in college, probablynot as a dance as a major, she
wants to be a film major filmdance.
You know it's all real risky,whatever.
Speaker 3 (04:50):
With the drum and bugle core and the stuff that
you teach.
Are you teaching thechoreography of the band, as
they're, say, performing in anathletic event, or what do you
teach them with that?
Speaker 1 (05:01):
I teach like the flags and the rifles and sabers
and dancers, and there isusually an overall kind of stage
or choreographer and then youwork within that, or sometimes
we'll work together and create amoment.
You know, so they get audienceresponse or points, or you know
if they're in competition, butusually it's.
(05:23):
There's a large staff of peopleand and you just kind of work
within what the show idea is andwhat you're given staging wise,
so gotcha sometimes it's reallycool hard because your vision
is completely different fromwhat the person who you know
stage it is, but then othertimes it just works out
beautifully yeah, I playedtrombone in high school, so I
understand all those marching,days after days of doing the
(05:45):
same routine.
Speaker 2 (05:46):
Don't lock your legs so you don't pass out.
I've heard somebody talk aboutlike why would that do this?
Like it just does man, justtrust me.
Speaker 1 (05:55):
Right.
Speaker 2 (05:55):
I don't know.
I almost was drum and buglecore, but when it came up my
schedule was full and I was likeso I almost joined your world
back in the 80s With who?
It was like I don't rememberthe full name, but just like a
Louisiana drama oh the stars.
It could be.
Yeah, I think Now I couldtotally be wrong too, because
I'm an old man and I forgeteverything.
Oh, stop it.
Speaker 1 (06:16):
You're younger than I am.
Speaker 2 (06:19):
I'm.
I'm 54.
56.
Ok, you're the one guest who'sever been old and we'll cut that
out.
We won't tell anybody.
Speaker 3 (06:26):
That's fine.
Yeah, we won't put that there.
Speaker 2 (06:28):
I thought I had you trumped.
No, so I don't know if you saidin the beginning I might have
missed it, and I know you saidyou started with.
Did you say you went intomusical theater like that?
I was wondering how we get fromdancing and instructing to the
actress you are now.
Speaker 1 (06:44):
I kind of stayed with community theater for a while
until until those two thingsdidn't.
You know, one drum bugle corps,my two older brothers as well.
So my mom like packed us all upand, you know, go on tour for
the summer.
Speaker 2 (06:58):
Mom's like one trip, oh, and I get to get rid of you,
you're going Right, right.
Speaker 1 (07:03):
So she was no dummy.
I get to get rid of you.
You're going Right, right.
So she was no dummy.
I always wanted to keep goingwith it and I was a theater
major in college so and thatkind of came out of the blue for
a lot of my family because Ihadn't done theater in so long.
But I, you know, I just alwayswanted to do it and I always
wanted to be in musical theaterand I ended up actually
choreographing the theater'sversion of West Side Story when
(07:26):
I was there.
And again, a challenge withpeople who've never danced
before you know that arefabulous singers, or you know,
just the theater students, whichwas a great challenge.
And you know, it's just one ofthose things that's like puzzle
and you just try to make it allfit and make it all work and
sometimes you have to jam thatone piece in there.
Look, it's fabulous, so yeah.
(07:49):
So after, actually duringcollege, then I went out into
like the Boston scene, film-wiseand commercial-wise, did a few
things.
There was a, and still is, acompany called Boston Casting
and they were the nicest peopleand really kind of you know.
You know you, you find thosecasting directors that they
(08:10):
really, when they say they likeyou and they think of you, they
really do like you and think ofyou and put you in places that
you could never get in before.
So that was, that was a niceintroduction into.
So and then after college, outto LA.
I loved LA but it is expensiveand challenging and luckily I
(08:33):
went out with three of mycollege friends.
So we had, you know, we hadsome people to talk to and
support and, you know, financialand emotional support, yeah,
yeah.
So while we had really greattimes, we had some really hard
times, but I wouldn't change athing.
I'd love to eventually get backthere in some capacity.
Honestly, I just like themountains and the water and the
(08:54):
desert and this and there's somuch to do and see and Vegas.
Speaker 2 (08:58):
And I'm a Disney adult, so we've been to
Disneyland once, oh nice, and Iwent to the Clerks 3 premiere
out in LA.
So I've been there a couple oftimes.
I don't want to move, it's wideopen, but it felt
claustrophobic on the streets tome, maybe because of the
mountains and everything's kindof up and it felt closer.
But that's just my own.
If they fly me out to do aproject, traffic is hideous Fly
(09:21):
me out to do.
Speaker 1 (09:22):
Yeah, a lot of people have said man, it has changed
so much over the years.
You know, because I haven'tbeen there a long time.
But you know, when you're ofthat formative age I was, I
think I was like 22 or 23 andjust ready to do it all.
And I was.
I was teaching andchoreographing and working with
Drum Corps and Color Garden, soI was driving everywhere and I
(09:47):
was catering set.
So I got to.
Yeah, we were on um the lotwith seinfeld and er and, uh,
third rock from the sun.
So I got, you know, we got tomeet a lot of people and it was
kind of fun.
You know, when you're not partof the cast but you're bringing
them food, you know they tend tobe nice to you.
Speaker 2 (10:04):
Yeah, I've always said you were crafty.
Speaker 1 (10:07):
Yeah, oh yeah.
So crafty.
Speaker 3 (10:11):
Always be nice to the people that handle your food.
Speaker 1 (10:14):
Exactly Now.
I've been yelled at by somepeople, but it's fine.
Speaker 3 (10:18):
I lived in San Diego for five years and I went back a
couple of years later to visitsome friends, go to the old
stomping grounds and even inthat short period of time and
being back in Mississippi, itwas night and day.
And at that point I realized,yeah, I don't, I don't ever want
to live there again.
The weather in San Diego wasalways nice year round.
(10:40):
It was always just really goodno humidity.
I don't think I ever used theair conditioner in my vehicle,
Hardly ever.
Yeah, Because it was just sonice.
I didn't even have aircondition in a living space
until the very last apartment Ihad, and that's because I was
living further inland in ElCajon and it got really hot
there.
But living closer to the beach,I never had AC.
(11:02):
You have a couple of fans andyou're, I mean it's good.
And I went back 15 years ago Idon't know, 10 or so years after
I had left, and at that point Irealized never live, never live
here again.
The traffic, it's worse thanNew Orleans to me.
Speaker 1 (11:18):
Yeah, I mean I did learn really quickly like how to
get around without getting onthe freeway and you know all
those back roads and but thathelps you decide like where you
want to live and where you.
You know what your next step isand where you're going and
where all the studios are andwhere your auditions are going
to be, so that I mean I guessI'm a shopper.
There's really nowhere to shophere.
(11:41):
I'd be in trouble if I was backshopping.
Speaker 3 (11:43):
No, Rodeo drive here, right yeah but it's okay.
Speaker 1 (11:46):
I don't know.
I kind of miss the hustle andbustle.
I'm like quickly getting intothe next phase of my life where
my daughter's going to graduate.
There are no more kids here.
She wants to go to NYU to be afilm student at NYU.
I have a stepdaughter that is asecond AD in New York, so that
(12:07):
would be with me because atleast she would have again
family and friends and and myfamily is still in Massachusetts
so they would be close by.
But then I'm here, you know,really far away.
Speaker 2 (12:18):
Biting your nails.
What's going on?
Speaker 1 (12:21):
Yeah, and also for me it's almost like, hmm, like,
maybe this is my chance to getan agent in New York and try,
try, you know, conquering thatarea and see what at least make
make some kind of connections inthat area and I can throw my
Boston accent on whenever I want.
Oh my God, I'm wicked hot.
Speaker 3 (12:42):
I was actually just about to ask you about that.
I'm going to circle back to itin a second.
Okay, we had a guest onrecently that Brian and I both
are friends with from class, andshe's a dancer and she moved.
She was from New Yorkoriginally and moved back to New
York and is doing a lot ofmusical theater up there.
She gave us the ins and outs ofwhat that's like Going to
(13:05):
auditions when you're not partof Equity and having to wait in
line hopefully to get seen, andwe haven't really had someone
that gave us a lot of insight ofwhat the acting scene is like
up there.
To me it feels like a verydifferent world.
There's a much bigger mix ofpeople that are doing theater
and film and television.
(13:26):
My wife's late aunt lived inNew York City and she was in the
theater scene for years upthere, but she also did some
film and television work andthere's a lot of opportunities
up there.
There's not much.
No, I'm not going to go downthat road.
I think I'd be scared to livein New York, just because I
(13:48):
don't understand it, you know.
Speaker 1 (13:49):
Yeah, yeah, for sure.
I mean, I think it'd just be amatter of just getting used to
the subway system and knowingwhere to go and where not to go
and just being aware, because mystepdaughter's been there
actually both my stepdaughtershave lived there at one point
and they're pretty good, prettysolid.
And, as you know, olivia is hername she's a second ad and she
(14:13):
started as a pa and she was incalifornia and then she moved to
new york and she much prefersnew york and because we're all
theater, musical theater, nerds,you know, so she gets the
opportunity of going andwatching.
But also she works on theGilded Age, which is just filled
with theater people, you know,like Christine Baranski, you
(14:34):
know they're all theater peoplethat are on that show.
So she's working and meetingall her idols, you know from the
theater, which would be hard todo, I think, but she's smart
and she has.
She has really grown intosomebody you could talk, anybody
can talk to and she can talk toanybody and she she's very
respectful and knows that.
(14:55):
You know, and I feel like I'mthe same way.
There's something you can learnfrom a lot of people most
everybody that you meet, youknow, on a set or it's good to
like if you can sit down andtalk to them.
Speaker 2 (15:06):
I didn't want to throw this one in the podcast.
It's not that it's real bad.
My first time marching in aparade, archbishop Rummel, if
you're familiar with that and itwas the Metairie parade.
So we step out of Clearviewparking lot and it's Chabalettes
, the dance squad, the drums andthen trombones have to be in
the front because of the slotFreshman's.
My first time we step out ofthe party lot and the urge hits
(15:28):
me, rummel, is the pants thatyou have to wear with suspenders
, you know white shoes and thenone of those big jackets right
in the hat.
Speaker 1 (15:36):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (15:36):
I'm like, what do I do?
And we're first band, so thatmeans we are trucking.
So yeah, and we get to a pointand I'm thinking about the
parade I said, okay, I knowthere's a portalette by Burger
King, I passed the burn, I don'tknow what I'm going to do.
And then every time we were ata good clip, not stopping, we
hit parade rest and TJ, I don'tknow you probably know from
(16:00):
military but that leg goes outkept things together.
We get close to where thatporta potty is.
They stopped for a second and Ilook at it and I think no, and
then they kept going again.
It's like, all right, we get tothe end of the parade route.
Then this has been like sevenmiles.
All right, get on the bus.
We get on the bus, we get backto Rummel.
Okay, I'll use the ShabaletaAll changing to go out that
night.
I layers of material andleotard snap underneath.
Speaker 1 (16:32):
And under that we had a unitard, so a full body suit,
and under the unitard we hadtights, and so if you had to go
to the bathroom, man, it was awhole production huh, oh my.
Speaker 2 (16:42):
God, it's almost as bad.
I was death photo double and myhands were painted white, which
made everything difficult.
It was pre-COVID, so if it wasa 10-1, it was a simple spray of
disinfectant.
I didn't eat.
I didn't eat much before anyday going to set, to make sure
that I didn't have to deal withit, I spaced that out, that's
(17:03):
funny.
Speaker 3 (17:04):
So I think I mentioned before I'm a Shriner.
You know the New Orleansparades.
They have the green and yellowShriner motorcycles that lead,
that escort all the parades.
I rode green and yellows forseveral years and we were there.
I mean we'd have to get thereand line up, you know, an hour
and a half, two hours before theparade would start, and then
(17:26):
you start the parade and we werealways at the front.
It was just a New Orleanstradition.
Plus, we're not having to ridebehind horses.
That's a bonus.
Yeah, some of the routes, sothe Metairie routes, they have
porta potties along there andyou can ride up ahead and stop
and find one.
It's not a problem In the NewOrleans routes, especially down
through the French Quarter, theydon't put porta potties out and
(17:48):
you just ride along and youfind people partying like
standing outside their housewaiting for it to come by.
Hey, can I, can I use yourbathroom?
They're like yeah, man, come onin, you want a beer?
Speaker 1 (17:59):
yeah, like no, I mean , I remember when I first
started, you know we were littlekids and so there was, there
was like a junior core and thenthe older groups, sometimes
there were three.
So I'm seven years old andwe're sandwiched in between the
horses that are right in frontof us.
You know there's like 12 of us,the horns are playing.
(18:20):
It's just a bunch of littletiny kids, and right behind us
is this huge drum and viola corethat you know.
They're just loud and they'reall like semi-professional
players and it's like steppingon the horse.
But it was crazy.
And there were things like theBunker Day Parade, which is
(18:41):
Bunker Hill, and so, again,being a seven year old, going
straight, it's like SanFrancisco.
Ok, wow, we can make it, yeah.
And then going down, oh yeah,yeah.
And then going down, oh yeah,yeah, and the drum beat would
get faster because you werebasically running down there.
Speaker 2 (18:58):
You can always tell an out-of-town band in a New
Orleans parade because theirtubas are not covered, which
makes them targets for beads anddoubloons and all the other
things oh yeah, yeah, coconuts,whatever else.
Speaker 1 (19:10):
beer cans yeah, oh yeah, yeah, coconuts, whatever
else beer cans.
Speaker 3 (19:12):
Yeah, how much of a hassle is that if somebody gets
a set of beads inside a tuba?
I mean, is that like pull offto the side and do surgery to
get it back going, or will itcome out easy?
I think?
Speaker 2 (19:22):
they can go through with it.
It might give you a littlerattle.
At the end of the parade theguys had to turn their tubas.
Speaker 1 (19:27):
Sousaphones to be technical, the ones that you
wrap around yourself themarching ones, and then we'd
turn it upside down and startshaking, yeah, or even like take
that top off.
Speaker 2 (19:37):
Yeah, the big part of the horn comes off.
That's where it separates.
It'll get in all the groovesand, yeah, it's not good.
Speaker 3 (19:45):
Now did you have a cover on your?
Speaker 2 (19:46):
trombone, no, only time you do this it's called a
mute, so at first you've seenthem hold like a plunger, or
there's something that sticks inwhich gives you a different
sound.
Usually don't do that whenyou're marching Gotcha.
And because of the trombone noone ever threw it at me, but you
have more mobility than a tuba,you know what I mean, which is
kind of fun.
Speaker 1 (20:07):
You know, as a color guard person, I was mostly a
rifle and so you know somebodywould try to cross in front of
you or cross through you.
You know breaking ranks You'relike oh sorry, oh yeah, no,
don't, why don't you wait?
Speaker 2 (20:21):
We had guys marching along with us and God help the
guys who tried to touch the shopa lot.
Oh, I mean, oh they try toreach up and pinch the girls and
all that stuff and they mightnot have brought back that hand.
You know what I mean.
Yeah, they were hurting.
Yeah, somebody actually grabbedthe tuba player, grabbed his
butt.
He didn't get beat too much.
But hey, man, it's New Orleansand it's a parade and people are
(20:44):
drinking.
Speaker 1 (20:44):
It's a friendly city.
Yeah, hey, how are you Right?
Well, hey, how are you Right?
Wah, I get it.
Yeah, so it's, there's somefantastic memories involved and
some not so fantastic memories.
But you know, I think anytimeyou can laugh about I don't know
just adversity is always good,because then you think okay,
that's not really a problem.
Speaker 2 (21:08):
You know, those were just funny moments.
We've gotten you from Boston toLA.
How do we get you to louisiana?
How did you make it here?
Speaker 1 (21:14):
I married a mississippi guy who also was in
drum veal core and he when heaged out he went the judge route
and and he still teaches.
He teaches a group.
That's from wisconsin.
But I was kind of guestchoreographer in a bunch of
different core circuits.
So I had a group in Canada, Ihad a group, a couple of groups
(21:34):
in Boston, I had a group in LA,I had a group in Fort Walton
Beach, florida, and so and Istill teach there 30 plus years
later, and so he was a judge inthat circuit and really one of
the people that had more historythan a lot of the other judges.
So when we met each other hemade some snide comment it looks
(21:54):
like 1976, whatever I goes, oh,who are you?
You know my Boston girl cameout like what do you know?
All right, and we were fastfriends right away.
And so years and years andyears of just being friends,
years and years and years ofjust being friends, and he sort
of helped me when I was in LA asfar as just keeping my mental
(22:15):
stability and, you know, workingthrough being really poor and
trying to have a career and allthat he really did help me
through all that.
Just I can't even tell you howmuch just exponentially helped
me through all that.
And then I moved back to Boston, started a little working there
a little bit more, and thenfinally, you know, moved down
(22:36):
here and married child.
The rest is history.
Nice, so I hear.
Speaker 3 (22:42):
I hear it just a little bit.
I hear the Boston just a littlebit every now and then when you
talk, let's hear it, pull itout.
Speaker 1 (22:48):
What do you want to hear?
You want to.
You want the typical down bythe Harbor that you talk.
Let's hear it.
Pull it out.
What do you want to hear?
You want the typical down bythe harbor that you know that is
, Are you?
going to the park?
You going to the park?
Oh, I'm definitely going to thepark.
I'm going to go to the parkfirst and get a beer and then
I'm going to meet up with SullyRight, and yeah, that accent is
not hard because you hear it.
You hear some of it in NewOrleans.
(23:09):
Really, it's more Brooklyn thanNew Orleans, but that kind of
short real quick accent.
When I met Matt Carroll I waslike, oh my God, where are you
from the parish?
Yeah Well, and he sounds likehe's from.
Chicago, really, yeah, it's soweird.
Speaker 2 (23:28):
Yeah, we're going to tell him.
You said that?
Speaker 1 (23:30):
No, I'm just kidding.
Let me have a moment for mattcarroll, because I really he is
one of the most incrediblepeople I've ever met talent wise
, like the way he like cranksout a film, you know, which is
like fully flushed out in anight.
You know, some of the shortfilms are incredible, the ones
(23:50):
that you guys you know.
Some of the short films areincredible, the ones that you
guys did, you know, those werereally.
Speaker 3 (23:53):
Thank you.
Speaker 1 (23:53):
Yeah, so yeah, I have only the highest praise for him
.
I just love him.
He's fantastic.
There you go If you want totell him that.
Speaker 2 (24:01):
I'll tell him.
I'll tell him.
Speaker 1 (24:02):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (24:03):
And we just recorded with him.
Oh, you did Awesome, yeah, justa couple days ago or yesterday,
don't tell anybody, but itlooks like the trailer for the
soldier's heart will come outMonday.
Really, yeah.
Finally there's editor finallyhas a through line, though.
Cross our fingers and at leastthere's emotion.
Yeah, you know what?
Speaker 3 (24:23):
I mean.
Speaker 2 (24:24):
I just talked to a friend of mine.
I did a movie called death tripand I play six different
characters.
Wow, it was my first.
Yeah, called Death Trip, and Iplay six different characters.
It was my first, yeah, firstrole in any movie, saturday,
march 14th 2020.
First line in his movie, firstline in any movie got it done.
And then the world broke andthen I and I was a cop.
I was skinny and didn't have abeard.
(24:45):
It's been so long I playanother cop with a beard and we
put glasses on to make surepeople know.
And I've been a clown and, wow,he is.
Finally, it's just him.
There's no budget.
They are halfway done with thesound edit and that was 29 2020
and we're almost done.
You know what I mean.
So, yeah, there's motion andthen there's so yeah, so just
doing good yeah.
Speaker 1 (25:04):
So much of me is like I I sort of lead with nerves a
lot.
When you said you know thetrailer is going to come out,
I'm like, oh my God, I'm nervous.
But then, yeah, but it, youknow it subsides into oh,
totally Excited about it.
Speaker 2 (25:19):
You know Shattered Justice, the one I did, where I
look like Fidel yeah, justrelease the trailer.
I don't have any sound, I don'thave any music, which always
drives crazy, and they're in laslas vegas at the film thing
trying to sell it, to get adistribution.
(25:39):
So I'm with you like, did Imake it?
Oh no, yeah, oh, they're gonnasell it.
And then indigo I saw a littlebit of it because they had the
premiere in texas and I play aevil businessman who's using the
psychic.
I've seen clips and I hate my.
Oh well, I mean.
Speaker 1 (25:45):
But I haven't seen the whole thing.
Speaker 2 (25:47):
So I'm holding off.
So yeah, hyper critical ofmyself and no mercy, and the
hell was I thinking.
Speaker 1 (25:52):
So I understand the nerves and everything.
I get that there.
There are things I don't that Ihave, that I've seen, that I
don't hate my performance, but Ialways, I'm always like I don't
understand why they pulled thatas opposed to, you know,
something that was a little bitmore dramatic.
You know, I always feel likethe stuff that gets out there is
sort of flat and it's all thethings that you're told in class
(26:14):
not to be.
You know, the one note and soit's.
It's just interesting to me.
Speaker 2 (26:19):
I mean always happy that I actually make it, because
I've, I've been for sure and alittle bit of sound bed to add
to the drama, takes yourflatness and gives it that tweak
, because you kind of sometimeswant to be reserved.
Yeah, and the director wantsyou.
I did a student film for Tulaneand I'm on a porch and the girl
she picks up nails out ofpotholes and I pay her money.
(26:41):
She has no money.
The character is supposed to begruff and then nice to her, so
he wanted level.
I need to be meaner when youfirst see me.
What do you want?
I need to be meaner when youfirst see me.
What do you want?
Oh no, we don't want that.
And then I saw it and it's flat.
I'm like do you listen to me?
Speaker 1 (26:54):
So you get yeah, but you know sometimes all the time
you have to go with their choice.
But yes, but sometimes it makesmore sense because you know
you're not the main characterand right.
You know you don't necessarilywant to be the one that's.
You'll be swell, you'll begreat.
You know, like what is shedoing?
I always want that.
They may not want it, right,right, yeah, of course, of
(27:22):
course I.
I luckily had I worked on astudent film for Loyola last
week and I love first, againnervous to do you know something
for the first time and it wasmy first time doing like blood
and getting stabbed.
I got stabbed in the neck.
Speaker 2 (27:34):
If you know Kimberly Coburn, love her to death.
She and I have done improv foryears together.
She is, she talks more than me,but she also repeated herself,
you know what I mean, keptsaying the same thing over and
over.
So I had to go through thatepisode with a fine tooth razor
and got it, and you know what Imean.
And I got her label, you know.
And then if the thing is a, b,c, d, e, f, g, when I hit a
(27:56):
button it went a, f, c, d, likeit was all.
I had to go back and re andlike piece through, oh, but it
came out very nice.
I mean, her thoughts were greatand I love it.
Or death some people.
You got to help some people,you don't.
Yours is going to be fine yeah,okay, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 3 (28:10):
So I was on this film .
It's called visage.
It's loyal to film students ordeath.
Some people you got to help,some people you don't.
Yours is going to be fine,you're good, okay, yeah.
Speaker 1 (28:12):
So I was on this film .
It's called Visage.
It's a story of a film studentand Anne Mahoney, who I don't
know personally.
I just big admire her and weknow her.
I listen to her Okay cool.
You know your podcast with herand I've listened with Brian's
and I just I find herfascinating and again, somebody
that you can just really learnfrom, even just listening to her
(28:35):
speak.
So she sent me a message andsaid hey, I have these students.
They need a mother character,would you?
Yes, it took me like fourseconds.
I can't hit the button fastenough, right?
Yeah, yeah.
And then I found out MilesDoliak was going to be playing
the father who?
Speaker 2 (28:52):
I don't really know.
Speaker 1 (28:53):
But again, you know, I know what he's done and you
know I respect him as an artistand as a teacher and so another
Mississippian, yeah, and I wasabsolutely, absolutely.
I will do that and I had a biglong scene with him.
That was just great.
I will do that and I had a biglong scene with him, that was
(29:14):
just great.
It was just so much.
You know how are you it doesn'thappen all the time how you
have those moments you're actingand you're like like you can
feel that you can feel eitherthe tension or the love or
whatever is supposed to behappening.
Uh, yeah, I had a blast andthen my daughter stabbed me in
the neck.
So that moment I'm sure you'vedone all kinds of blood and
stuff like that.
Yeah, a little bit, a littlebit, a little bit.
(29:34):
I'd never done anything likethat.
So I was so nervous because Iknow it's basically one and done
Once you get blood all overthat white shirt you're screwed,
you better focus.
So we did a hundred rehearsalswith the air spouting out and
you know I'm like, can we do itagain, can we rehearse again?
(29:56):
And the, the poor girl who, shewas nervous too.
I will say that.
And then, when we did it, itwas just so great.
Oh, I want to do that again.
So I'm looking forward to thenext time I get stabbed or shot
or something like that on film.
Speaker 2 (30:10):
Yeah, I haven't.
I haven't done the spurtingblood.
I had a blood capsule and thenI had green blood cause I was a
mutant cannibal from the future,but that's a whole nother story
, oh nice.
So I was thinking while we weretalking and we're getting close
to the end.
So last question, no pressure,pressure on me, just to ask it
listening to you talk and alittle bit of knowledge I have
about band, about directing andchoreography and how to make
(30:34):
that work, and then thinkingabout acting and breaking down a
script, can you compare andcontrast how those?
What does that spark?
What does that hit your brainwith that idea?
Compare and contrast.
Speaker 1 (30:44):
You know I teach a bunch of different styles of
dance and so my love really islike contemporary and modern,
because there are no rules.
You know there's, you could dowhatever you want, and so it
allows me to like be realphysical, to get the emotion
across, because you can't talk,you can't sing, you can't.
You know it's like guttural and, I think, breaking down the
(31:06):
script, especially now I play alot of doctors and lawyers.
There's not a lot of, you know,emotional highs and lows, but
as I've gotten into my mid-50sI've been lucky enough to get a
little meatier roles.
Like I did a short film acouple of years ago, the Dead
Driver, and it was rough, I meanit was.
(31:27):
So I was able to like put someof that physicality into and
know that's how dance has helpedme and choreography has helped
me.
As an actor.
I'm also very much a realist,you know, and I've listened to a
lot of casting people, a lot ofactors.
You know podcasts and I'vetaken a lot of workshops and I
(31:47):
think the older I get, the moreI go.
I don't really subscribe to onetechnique or the other.
I used to say, oh, chubbuck isso.
You know, it's so much, it'stoo much work.
I kind of thought of thatrecently.
I don't.
I guess it's just my age andthe roles that I'm getting that
it's almost easier to do allthat replacement and put
(32:08):
yourself in that situation.
And that dead driver movie wasso.
It was hard, but it was becauseI have a teenage daughter and
to the premise of that was mewatching my teenage daughter die
, and so that wasn't hard, thatwasn't a stretch, you know as
far as getting to that emotion.
Speaker 3 (32:25):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (32:25):
Had like two days on set, so it was a little hard to
maintain that.
But yeah, when you have thatright, there it was, it was good
, it was cathartic, honestly.
Yeah, I didn't cry for a longtime after that.
Speaker 2 (32:39):
Would you say, the emotions get into that point is
like tightening a rubber band.
Yeah, seeing that we're cut,you're relaxed.
You've purged it.
Okay, we got to do it again.
Now you've got to find thatrubber band.
Speaker 1 (32:50):
Yeah, there were a couple of times it felt like,
okay, but Rachel was so greatabout letting me, like, step
back.
Okay, let me try that again,because I didn't really care for
that one.
You know, that's a lovely thingwhen they're not just like, oh,
that's great, good, let's moveon.
You know, where they really dolisten to your instincts.
I was really super grateful forall that.
Speaker 2 (33:12):
And I haven't had the chance to work with you yet.
Listening to her describe hertime budgeting her schedule is
superb, because I've worked on acouple of student films, some
indie films and people who arejust learning and things that go
wrong on set Time goes crazy.
So that she's the goal.
She's the gold standard to belike that.
You know, yeah, and a budgethelps on that too.
I don't know what she had, butI'm doing things with no budget,
(33:35):
so obviously they're liketrying to get everything done
and we dropped this.
Speaker 1 (33:38):
Yeah, we had a decent budget.
It was a 22 minute film, butshe was so.
I mean, it really helps whenthe director's really organized
and it's not like just a shot inthe dark here.
Let's try it on this angle, youknow, instead of this is what I
want here's.
I think you can get that for me, and we're going to do it three
(34:00):
times, you know, and if you'rehappy with it, we'll move on
from there.
If you're not happy, we'll doit one more time.
Really, we didn't do like 17hours it was.
Speaker 3 (34:12):
I think the most was like 10.
Yeah, that was one of thethings that she mentioned when
we were talking to her is thatshe tries to stick to that.
She sets that goal.
I like that.
I like not being there just tobe there.
Be productive as much as youcan while you're there, but
after a certain point everybodyburns out and I feel like
productivity goes.
Speaker 1 (34:31):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (34:32):
The whole project will suffer for it.
Fortunately I haven't had thatexperience where it's been long,
miserable and shouldn't havehappened the way it did, you
know.
But I'm still coming up andlearning and still doing pretty
small projects, but so far it'sbeen pretty great.
Speaker 1 (34:49):
Yeah, it's.
I just think it's the area.
I love meeting new people inthe area too, because there's a
lot of young people that aredoing really wonderful things
too.
It's family-ish, you know Matt,I know Matt.
You know this person.
I know that you know it'sfamily ish.
You know mad.
I know mad.
You know this person.
I know that you know it it's,and I don't think I've really
never run across anybody that Ithought I don't care for them.
(35:10):
I just think it's a really nicefamily atmosphere anytime I've
been on set.
Speaker 2 (35:15):
Yeah, that's me yeah, yeah, there's one or two people
who I'm good, but mostly it'speople who want to be there, who
want to work, who are gracious,who are that way, my kind of
people, and nice, no divas.
You know, but we'll speak upand, hey, this might go better,
yeah, but we all and we quoteour 48 like we flowed in one
direction, seven or eight peopleand it was beautiful.
Speaker 3 (35:37):
It felt like no wasted time at all Moving,
moving, moving.
Speaker 1 (35:42):
Yeah, that's brilliant Really.
Speaker 2 (35:46):
And like you say, matt, when he starts writing.
Speaker 3 (35:47):
He's crazy his time on set as a director, behind the
camera, you know, after thewriting is done he still has
that whole storyboard in hishead of where he wants the scene
to go and he knows and he justlaser focused and on that scene
and moves it forward.
Speaker 2 (36:06):
Yeah, yeah, I think that's where a budget would help
him, where we can get PAs andsound people and lighting people
and have people doing the jobaround him.
Or we did the seven and seven.
No, we did the Louisiana FilmPrize up in Shreveport and, like
I went and broke down a set, Iwent and set up that we need a
crew so that things could flow.
Yes, it's incredible.
Speaker 1 (36:24):
Yeah, but you would never know.
I mean, the production value onall of those things that I've
seen has been really prettystellar, and that comes from
creative people like you andknowing that, okay, this is what
I have to do to make this.
You know, I do that with ColorGuard all the time too.
There's not a whole bunch ofmoney, so we get the costumes
that we can get that work, andwe get the scenery, the
(36:48):
backdrops and all that that wecan get that work.
You just have to be flexibleand make it happen.
A lot of things like that.
Speaker 2 (36:55):
Agreed, Susan.
I don't know about TJ, but Ihave really enjoyed our time
together Me too, thank you.
Speaker 1 (37:04):
TJ, I was looking forward to you coming on, thank
you, thank you.
Speaker 2 (37:06):
It was incredible.
We were friends for about ayear on social media, finally
met at that actor's summit.
Yeah, like, hey, I know you, Iknow you.
This is in person, so now we'vehad a longer conversation right
, right, and I love that youtake all the pictures.
Speaker 1 (37:21):
There's so many of us that are like damn, I wish I
took pictures I don't understandthat you take all the pictures.
Speaker 2 (37:26):
There's so many of us that are like, damn, I wish I
took pictures.
I don't understand that.
You know my dad had a dark roomoutside, you know.
So pictures have always beenpart of my life and it's just
fun.
You know what I mean.
I didn't get to go to apremiere of one of my indie
films that I just and.
People took some pictures, butnot one of them took a selfie.
I'm like what are you doing?
(37:46):
Your life choices?
What are they?
Yeah, one of my selfies on setfor that action movie where I
play.
I look like Fidel Castro, but Iam not playing a Hispanic
person, just a gringo in SouthAmerica doing bad things.
And I took a selfie and insteadof smiling, just to be in a
tough guy.
That made it into the movie,and it's one.
It's my poster for the moviethey've released digitally, so I
love taking pictures.
Speaker 1 (38:05):
So thank you, I love, I got to tell you, I love the
commercial you just did and thepainting that they made of you.
Speaker 2 (38:12):
That is so great, thank you, thank you.
Oh my gosh, we'll put a link inthis on our website.
We're going to link it to it.
And what we did?
They asked for a picture, whichwas a headshot I just took for
another short film, when I wasan evil mayor, or corrupt mayor
at least, and I'm kind ofstanding kind of haughty.
And then they took thatcomputer wise and put me in like
(38:32):
revolutionary times, you know,in this old fancy get up like
1700s.
So funny, that's computergenerated.
Speaker 3 (38:39):
That's not painted.
Speaker 2 (38:41):
On the painting you can see the cracks.
You can't see it on my post.
But people have asked me didthey give me a copy?
When I booked the role andstarted talking to them about
scheduling, I was like, can Ihave a copy?
And they go, we can do that.
So they gave me a print.
I've mounted it.
It's flat, it's in cardboardprotected, but I have to do a
frame that matches the timeperiod.
Yeah, you can't do that inmodern frame and it's like 40 by
(39:03):
38.
Oh, my gosh, it's like $500 toframe it at a frame shop.
So I'm going to DIY it withsome molding and some techniques
that I'm finding online.
For sure, I think it should beright behind me on the podcast,
but TJ said, no, we'll see, I'llset up my own little place.
Yeah Cool, I'll set up my ownlittle place.
(39:23):
Yeah cool.
But thank you, that was a lotof fun yeah, it looked like a
lot of fun.
Speaker 1 (39:27):
I love David.
I think he's hysterical.
Speaker 2 (39:29):
David is the lucky buck from the Mississippi
lottery commercial and HollyBurns she's been in one, britton
Webb, he's been in one, so I'min some high quality room now.
Huh, yeah, and David was great.
Yeah, everybody, because Ishared a few pictures with
people like you wanted to be inthat costume.
Yeah, I did, I did.
Speaker 3 (39:49):
He did.
Speaker 2 (39:49):
He did.
Oh, very cool.
Thank you very much, Susan.
Speaker 3 (39:53):
thank you for joining us.
Speaker 1 (39:55):
Thank you.
Thank you, Thanks for having me.
It was fun.
Bye buddy.
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