Behind the Beard Media: Story-Driven Video Marketing & Client Collaboration

Episode Transcript
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Intro (00:09):
This is the Shoemaker Films podcast.

Dane Shoemaker (00:13):
Well, welcome to Shoemaker Films Podcast. Dean
Shoemaker. I'm here with CAGreen of Behind the Beard Media.
CA, how are you doing today?Yeah.

CA Green (00:20):
Good. Thank God. Thank you for having me.

Yeah. Of course. I actually have a funny story. I
mean, you not so funny, but youyou cold called me one day, if
you remember that.

CA Green (00:29):
Of course. Yeah.

Yeah. And, I

CA Green (00:31):
Picked up. So I appreciate it.

And I thought that was just such a, such a
hustler move. Just picking upthe phone. It's like having an
old school thing these days, butjust picking up the phone,
calling, and reaching out andtrying to build relationships
with, local productioncompanies. So, kudos to you. And
now we're, now we're here

CA Green (00:49):
and Right. Chatting.

So Yeah. I can't take

CA Green (00:51):
credit for that idea either. I was I was working with
a coach and, before we moved toPhiladelphia, I was in New
Jersey, and he said, like,listen. Just you gotta make 20
calls a day. No matter whathappens, if they pick up, they
don't pick up, just go through alist of people and just give
them a call and say, this is whoyou are. You're moving to town.
You wanna meet up. And I thinkit was the easiest thing because
you're not I wasn't selling youanything. Yeah. Which I'm still

(01:13):
not selling you anything. Right?
It's just like you said, we'rehere now. It's a relationship.
We've known each other, youknow, since I've moved here
Yeah. The last six months, butit's, it's not an it's not an
aggressive move to be like, hey.You wanna meet up for a cup of
coffee?

No. Not at all. Yeah. So it's how business gets
done. Right?
Right. So and I appreciate it.So, Me too. Yeah. Yeah.
So tell us about, behind thebeard media.

CA Green (01:37):
Sure. Yeah. So Behind the Beard Media is a, you know,
small production company. It'sjust me and then I hire
freelancers on a need basis andreally focus on story driven,
marketing videos that what I'venoticed really, like, resonate
with, you know, people'saudience and usually leads to
some sort of action. Let's sayit's either them, like, buying
or selling or signing up for theservice, and just affecting

(02:00):
people in a emotional way.
Usually make either more seriouskinda drama stuff or Okay. Funny
kinda comedy things as well. Soit's a little bit of both of
those, but I've seen that, like,depending on the client, you
gotta just go with one thatmakes more sense. Could be a
good time to use talk about anexample, actually. So Yeah.

(02:21):
Last year, one of my, like,favorite videos that I actually
made was for a business and lifecoach, and he, grew up as, like,
a really troubled drug dealer,like, had $200, like, buried in
his backyard, you know, like,bodyguards, the whole whole
thing. Kinda went down thatroute and then, you know, found
God and became religious and,business coach as he got older.

(02:43):
And I just thought, like, thisstory is inherently dramatic.
Like, I don't I barely had towrite anything. So we kinda took
his story of, like, this drugdealer on the streets, hired
actors, like, a younger versionof him, and then, you know,
juxtapose that with if he couldbuild his own empire, he could
help build your business Andkinda went that route of telling
his story, and, he five x'd hishis investment with me.

(03:06):
So, you know Nice. He posted thevideo, and then he got a
coaching client that, you know,signed up for six months of his
services. So I I found that,like, you know, having a story
that people can know you betteris a is a really great way to
overcome, like, the trust issuethat I feel like a lot of
service businesses have,especially higher ticket items.
Yep. Kind of like ourselves.
Right? Like, with videoproduction. So Yeah.

Absolutely. Yeah. Watch another video on
your website too. It was the itwas a behind undercover rabbi.
This one

CA Green (03:31):
This is my gosh. Yeah.

That was a cold.

CA Green (03:34):
Yeah. So that was for an organization called the
Jewish Learning Institute, JLI.And they've got a huge audience
already. So there's no you don'thave to worry about, like, how
we're gonna reach their targetaudience or, like, who are they?
Like, they run with a lot of,Jewish nonprofits called Chabad
Houses, and they have thesecourses that everyone basically
just buys.
Like, they're kinda the onlyresource to, you know, have a a

(03:57):
really in-depth teachingexperience for the people that
go to these, Jewish outreachplaces, the Chabad houses. And
so they came to me because theywanted something different.
Usually, they just have veryinformation heavy, promos for
their courses.

Yeah.

CA Green (04:09):
And so they knew that I had done things a little bit
differently. And so they said,like, we got this, course. It's
about, you know, 25 questionsabout God, and, you know, what
can you do with it? So I kindathe way I work, as a writer, and
we can talk about producing in alittle bit. The way I work as a
writer is, actually reallystruggle with, like, charging,
you know, hourly, daily.

(04:30):
We how's it work? Because forme, like, I'm kind of always
thinking about the project.Like, an idea could come when
I'm driving. It could come whenI'm in the shower. I mean, those
are the best ideas when, like,your brain is, like, really not
thinking about the project.
So it it hit me, like, okay.What if we put, you know, these
rabbis undercover and they're,like, finding out what these
questions are that the course ismade up as. So it was really

(04:52):
like a Mission Impossible stylesituation. The the original
script that I wrote, actually, Ihad, like, a a rabbi hanging
from, like, a helicopterlistening in through the window
of buildings. And they came backto me and they were like, how
are we going to shoot this?
And I told them like, I'm notproducing, I'm just writing
really kind of for me. Like Ihave to wear really two
different hats

when I'm

CA Green (05:12):
writing and producing because if I, if I have my
producer hat on when I'mwriting, which obviously is the
same hat, but if I have myproducer hat while I'm writing,
like, I really stifle myself inthe writing. And so I have to
really separate that and just belike, what's the craziest thing
I can do and then tone it down.So, you know, we went from,
like, a guy hanging outside of awindow, you know, window

(05:32):
cleaning, listening in on a acorporate meeting to just
sitting in the back of a taxi,and then we have the driver, you
know, listening in on what'sgoing on there. And then I'm I'm
sure you noticed, but the goldenmime rabbi, I played it.

Sounds good.

CA Green (05:46):
Yeah. So this also comes with the territory of
writing crazy things issometimes they call you up and
say, we couldn't find anyone toplay the part who wanted to get,
you know, painted up in goldwhen you do it. And it's like,
you gotta, you know, like, ifyou're gonna write it, you gotta
put your money where your mouthis. So I went in and, it's kind
of a little traumatized by itstill because we basically,
like, tape my mouth and put, youknow Yeah.

So I say, how do they do that?

CA Green (06:09):
Yeah. So it was first of all, it was a lot of gold
costuming. Right? Like, a hat,glasses, jacket, pants, so that
was all covered. But for my faceand beard, we used, you know,
hair spray paint, and we puttape over my mouth and nose.
So I, like, thought, like, I'mabout to, like, suffocate myself
for a few minutes. So we dothat. They just sprayed my
entire face with the with thegold spray paint. And I was just

(06:31):
like, I cannot breathe for, youknow, obviously, like, you take
it off and you're just like,okay, totally worth the shot.
You know, we're working with,like, a child actor that day as
well.
So that was like, okay. Youknow? Gotta make sure, like,
we're shooting this efficientlyand making, you know, but, she
was really cool, and we just,like, bought her pizza. And it
was it was pretty cool. It waslike a pretty low steak shoot,
you know?
Yeah. Gave her ice cream. Sothat was cool.

Kids, you give them snacks.

CA Green (06:53):
They were cool. Yeah. So those are the that's what I
meant before when I said, like,kind of, like, a more serious
dramatic thing and then, youknow, comedy. So I I wouldn't
say that, drawn, like, more toone or the other, which is, you
know, a lot of businesses liketo have a a niche or niche or
however you wanna say it. But Ikind of, like, you know, like to

(07:14):
connect with the client and see,like, well, what's worked for
you in the past or, like, whoare you?
Like, what kind of uncover, youknow, we're kinda going down the
producing route. You know,having these, like, the
discovery calls and the sessionswith them finding out, like, who
they are, what they represent,like, what what they want other
people to view them as and thenkinda play into that. And so
sometimes it's an animated shortthat I need to produce or write

(07:38):
and talk about. You know, Iwrote something about, anxiety,
depression, ADHD because it wasa mental health place and, like,
it was geared towards kids andthey didn't want it to be so
serious. Right?
These are very, like, intenseissues. So, obviously, I thought
animated would be a really greatway to kind of break through
something that could feel alittle bit more approachable.
So, that was for a companycalled Beehive, and so they had

(08:01):
a a logo that involved a bee inHoneycomb. And so we had this
kid, like, animated kid, like,walking around, like, a round
globe. And as he's walking,like, it's really dark and
there's, like, lightning bolts.
It's the sky is lighting upsaying, like, you know,
depression, you know, ADHD,like, all, you know, things like
that. And as he's he's gettingcloser to, you know, the lights,

(08:23):
like, everything's starting tothe rain's stopping and, you
know, these bees are starting toto follow him and lift him up,
and they actually then transforminto the logo of the honeycomb

and stuff. Right.

CA Green (08:33):
Right. So that, you know, really worked for the
company because it was able toyou know, it was cute. And it
was kind of a way to approachthese things that are serious,
but in a way that, you know,

is approachable.

CA Green (08:44):
Right. Right.

Yeah. How do you how do you, when you approach a
project, how do you know if thevibe or the, you know, the
concept of the video should befunny, should be dramatic,
serious, you know? Yeah. That'sa

CA Green (08:56):
good question. Yeah. So, again, I think it comes down
to just trying to have a littlebit of what we talked about
before, like a relationship withthe person that I'm speaking
with.

Right.

CA Green (09:04):
You know, I don't really go into things like
thinking, how do I sell thisperson on what I wanna do? I I
know what I'm good at. Like, II'm I'm good at putting together
all the pieces, kind of beingthe architect of a video, hiring
the right people, and then, youknow, making a a a kick ass
project. Like, that's

Yeah.

CA Green (09:21):
I'm good at that. So in instead of me coming and
saying, this is what I wannamake, I try to really just
listen. Try to just ask morequestions than speak, which is
the opposite of what I'm doinghere today. But, really just,
like, find out more about theorganization or the person and,
like, what's their vibe? Like,are they making jokes in that
discovery call, or is it a moreserious organization?

(09:42):
Right? Like, with the businesscoach that I mentioned before,
he grew up as a drug dealer. Hislife was threatened. He, you
know, had, you know, thugs ashis bodyguards. Like, okay.
You could go a comedy route.Right? There is a world where
that exists as a funny movie,but it's it's a little bit more
obvious to do it as a serious,you know, rags to riches type of

(10:03):
story.

Yeah.

CA Green (10:05):
When it came to with JLI, they they even said, we
want something more fun. We wantsomething a little bit different
than what we had done in thepast. So I had seen, you know, a
little bit of market researchnever hurt anybody. Right? So I
just looked up what other stuffhad they done.
And it was always, like, justvery, straight up, like, not I
wanna say not interesting, butit was just very direct. Like,

(10:26):
this is our new course. This iswhat we're doing. This is who
what we're gonna be talkingabout. So when they come into me
and they say they want somethingdifferent and they want
something more fun, to me,that's like a sign of, like,
okay.
Let's have fun. Like, let's dosomething a little bit out of
the box. Let's do something,obviously, a little funny. So I
I really try to doesn't alwayswork, obviously, but I try to,
like, let the client guide me alittle bit in terms of the the

(10:49):
style. I forget the exact quote,but, you know, if a client comes
back to you and says, you know,this is the wrong shade of
yellow, they're probably wrong.
But if they say, like, thisdoesn't feel right, they're
probably right. So I let themkinda guide me on certain things
that I can trust, them with, andwe both need to have that trust.
When it comes to, like,specifics about, like, cut this

(11:10):
here or, like, add this, like,usually, I don't I I try to work
with them to uncover more ofwhat they mean because usually,
like, the, mechanics of whatwe're working on is not exactly
what they're talking about. It'smore of a feeling that they
wanna accomplish. So I try tojust make sure, like, at that
you know, as much as I can atthe beginning, be on the same
page as possible.
So, I'm in I'm in talks withanother, nonprofit now, and I

(11:35):
had two discovery calls with herbefore even sending a proposal.
Right? Like, it's not aboutgetting that that sale, which
would be nice, but it's morelike, are we on the same page?
Do we understand the process? Doyou, like, get the investment of
making a video?
And, like, I wanna take itserious. You're a serious
organization. I wanna take itserious for you as well and kind
of, like, make sure we're on thesame page there. So in those

(11:58):
conversations, I found that, themore you ask and the more you
listen, like, they'll tell youwhat what they wanna say and and
what they want. And then you cankind of take what they want and
then, you know, put it through,like, your own creative meat
grinder and then come up withthe thing that makes sense for
them.

Yeah.

CA Green (12:16):
I found that to to work with you know, sometimes
I'll do interviews as well forfor videos and, just asking open
ended questions is, like, superobvious, but maybe sometimes we
don't always think about doing.And you'll have people just,
like, just talk and just kindakinda ramble a little bit, but
they'll uncover what's what theyreally wanna say while they're

(12:37):
speaking.

Right.

CA Green (12:38):
And then from that, you can just, like, follow it,
you know, down the rabbit holeof that conversation and then,
you know, see, oh, is this whatyou mean? Is this a little bit
more am I closer to what you'rewhat you're talking about here?
So, yeah, I just try to, like,work with them in that
conversation.

Yeah. Definitely. Yeah. Is most of
what the work that you're doingtoday, producing or or, or
writing or a mix of both? Ortell me about that.
What do you like

CA Green (13:04):
doing more? What do I like doing more? That's a great
question. Yeah. So I will saythat that's really tricky,
actually.

Okay.

CA Green (13:14):
I'll I'll tell you why. So it's tricky because I
think I'm I'm, first of all,really great at both. Right? I I
I love to produce and I love towrite. The thing with producing
is, like, we talked a little bitabout my approach before.
It it takes a lot. Like, it's,you know, not only just, like,
countless calls and a workshopor, you know, speaking to people

(13:37):
about, like, different, youknow, tactics or or messages
that they wanna accomplish andreally whittling that down. But
then you have the shoot daysthat are, you know, eight to
fourteen hour shoot days. I'msure you're well aware. The
product like, it it the cycleis, like, very long in terms of
making that video usually.
Whereas writing is, like, Icould do that nine to five. You
know, it could take me fiveminutes. It could take me three

(14:00):
days to to write a scriptdepending on the the clarity
that I have and the idea thatthat will come. So, you know, on
one hand, like, I love the ideaof, like, if I could just write,
you know, and and just sit thereand cope with different ideas
and just follow scripts and andnot have to be on set, like,
that's, you know, attractive inits own right. I've got three
little kids.
So, you know, it's nice to,like, being home in the morning,

(14:22):
like, being home in the evening.And on on shoot days, I usually
don't have that luxury. But, youknow, there's I I I produced a
music video in December, just amonth ago, and it was a last
minute request from a a localcompany. They had another
producer that was supposed tobe, you know, getting permits,
locking down locations, props,like, a a really a whole list of

(14:45):
things. And last minute, theytotally bailed.

You

CA Green (14:47):
know? Whatever was I don't know what was going on
with that producer. Like, theyhad personal things or whatever
it was, but they just were notable to accomplish what they
said they were going to. So Igot a call on Friday morning,
which as a religious Jew, like,there's not much work I'm gonna
do Friday night and, you know,Saturday. So I get the call and
say, hey.
We're shooting on Monday. Wehave a we need help. You know?

(15:08):
So coming in as as a producer,that means to me, like, okay.
There goes, like, the nexthowever many hours I have awake
and available to work is gonnabe dedicated to this.

Mhmm.

CA Green (15:18):
So the difference, you know, between, like, writing
where it's, like, a little bitmore, I wouldn't say, like,
maybe less pressure or a littlebit more relaxed versus, like,
the producing, which is, like,all on. Now what's what's
interesting for me is I love theall on. Like, I'm a very, like,
intense person. Like, I'm I havea really, like, devoted, I

(15:40):
guess, like, personality. Andso, like, when a project is
brought to me and there's, like,a million things flying and
there's phone calls at whatevertime and there's, like, all
these tasks and people to talkto, like, I love it.
I mean, like and then when I goton set and to see all the
things, like, all the piecesthat I put together, like, come
to fruition, and then you havethis awesome music video, and

(16:02):
it's, like, super cool andeveryone's happy on set. And
Sure. You're like that feeling.I realize, you know, especially
in December, I was recentlythinking about this that fills
me up like, like almost nothingelse. Like, you know, no matter
the, I love my family.
I love my, you know, religion,like all these things, but like
being on set, like, and andseeing all the work I had put in

(16:23):
in preproduction and then theproblem solving that comes with
being in, you know, on theproduction day, seeing that work
out is like it's it's a highthat I really can't relate to
anything else. Yeah. And so longstory short, I don't really know
how to choose between the two.So what usually happens is,
let's say I have a project thatit's called for writing a

(16:46):
script, I'll write it. Like, I'mnot usually gonna hire someone
else to write the scripts,whether that's, like, short form
marketing stuff where we'retalking about, you know, you
know, call to actions and andinformation about people's
nonprofits and services, or it'sa little bit more in-depth where
we're gonna get actors and we'regonna make characters and things

(17:06):
like that, versus, like, more ofthe interview where it's more
just interview questions andstuff, which is fine, but that's
not I wouldn't really call thatwriting Right.
You know, so much. But, I thinkit it yeah. So as a when I was
younger, I really thought, like,I'd be, like, a director. I
thought I would, like Right. Youknow, be the Martin Scorsese, be

(17:26):
the see what's going over DavidLynch.
You know?

I still have those dreams. So Yeah. Sure.
Yeah.

CA Green (17:31):
Yeah. By the way, David Lynch, you know. I can't
tell you. Alright. Press in

peace here. Yeah. Yeah.

CA Green (17:35):
I was really I'm

fine. Yeah.

CA Green (17:37):
I I was really sad, actually. My wife told me. I
was, like, in the morning, and Iwas just like, what? Like, just
kinda realizing, like, thechances of meeting, you know,
some of your heroes. Like, yougotta try to do it.
Like, they're not gonna liveforever. So it's just a thought
there. But as I as I kind of,you know, directed and and
produced and wrote through, youknow, high school, college, and

(17:57):
then, you you know, my earlytwenties, like, when I was
working in New York, I I kindasaw that certain elements of
directing I I wasn't sointerested in. I really, you
know, like speaking to people orreally connecting with them and
opening them up to, you know,them being able to do the their
best possible work. So let's saywith an actor, that's really
useful.
Right? Like, getting someone to,like, focus in and, like, hone

(18:19):
in on something that's inside ofthem to be able to bring in
front of camera when you'reinterviewing someone, getting
them comfortable. That's thoseare essential skills to have.
But I didn't care about thetexture of the film. I didn't
care about, like you know, Iworked with the DP, and they
were like, look at thisbeautiful light that I put in
the back with the curtain andthe plant, and do you I was
like, I don't care.
Like, that that's not importantto me. And it was kind of like,

(18:43):
in that particular, film I wasworking on, I noticed, like, oh,
maybe I'm not a director. Like,maybe and and I felt a little
bit of, like, a, you know,sadness of, like, letting that
go. And it it's not goneforever, but it's not I
realized, like, what do I reallyenjoy? It's a little bit of what
I spoke about earlier, which is,like, putting together the
pieces and hiring the people whocould do their job the best.

(19:04):
And usually when people knowthat things are being taken care
of for them, they can focus ontheir job, and that's how we get
the best, you know, product,video, film set. Right? Like,
you know, having the rightenergy on a set is super
important too. So that wasreally clear to me, especially
last year. I was I wasdirecting, producing, and

(19:24):
cowriting something, and I justnoticed, like, I'd rather just
get the people feeling that theycan do their jobs and then sit
back and let them do it.
Yeah. And and that was just veryclear, like, oh, producer is the
way to go for that.

Yeah. Yeah. No. That's great. I mean, that's a
great point that, like, youknow, you're kind of, like,
clearing the blockers and andallowing everyone else to do
their to do their best work.
Right? Best creative work. Yeah.Yeah. I feel like growing up, I
was like, oh, man.
You know, George Lucas andSteven Spielberg, that was like
my that was my aspirationalthing that I figured out. Out.
You know, I really like DPprobably more now. So I'm a guy

(19:59):
fussing about lights andcurtains and plants in the
background and getting the rightfocal length and all that stuff
and, you know, producing is alsopart of the job as well. So
Right.
Kind of a production company. So

CA Green (20:11):
Right. So I have the the opposite a little bit. I
have zero interest in being aDP. Yeah. Like, I I mean, I
don't even know.
It's crazy to be in in theindustry and, like, working on
stuff. I just so not care aboutthe the camera stuff. Like, I I
know there's people likeyourself that love it so much.
And like you said, caring aboutthe lights and the focal length

(20:33):
and apertures and all thesethings.

Yeah.

CA Green (20:35):
And it's more like I just wanna get the shot. I wanna
make sure people are, like,performing at their at their
best. And the specifics, like, Ithat's not where I I I Yeah.
There's a a Yiddish word calledcupping. Like, I don't really
cupping that, which means, likelike, I don't really dig in
there.
I don't really, like, swim inthat area. It's more, like, if

(20:57):
if that's your thing, how can Isupport you Mhmm? To to make
sure that you're doing the bestpossible job? You know? Like,
what do you need to be able tofocus on?
So that way, like, I can askyou, hey. I need this crazy
shot, and you say, I'd love todo that for you as opposed to,
like, are you effing kidding me?That's that's I I love to make
sure my DVs are, like, verycomfortable and, like, they know

(21:19):
that, like, they can be theyhave complete creative freedom
in terms of, like, how theywanna get the shot as long as it
kinda lines up with storyboardshot list and things that we've
spoken about before, whichobviously is usually part of
that preproduction meeting. Youknow?

I read something on your bio. It's kinda wild.
The the first thing that thatinspired you, I think, was a
double feature. Lion King andJudge Dredd. Yeah.
What a combo of a doublefeature.

CA Green (21:43):
You can thank my dad for that. You know? Like, he, we
we grew up, like, going to themovies. Like, that was Yeah.
It's interesting.
Like, when I watch, like, youknow, movies about making movies
and movies about filmmakers, Ifeel like I can relate to a lot
of them. So so growing up, myparents divorced when I was

two.

CA Green (22:02):
So I had, you know, split custody, and I just saw my
dad, like, every other weekend.So, like, nothing, like, very
regular. So kind of as, like, aregular American kid, like,
growing up in South Florida,like, what do you do on Fridays
and Saturdays? Like, you go tothe movies. Yeah.
I think it was pretty I thinksince the twenties, people have
been doing that. Right? So thatwas, like, the thing I did with

(22:23):
my father was, like, you know,this is not that old, but, like,
you know, we would be drivingdown the street, and we'd stop
and pick up a newspaper out ofthe, you know, the things on the
side of the road and look up themovie times, like, you know, so
it's crazy to think that wedon't do that anymore. It's,
like, all on the phone. Right?

It wasn't that long ago.

CA Green (22:37):
Right. It's been

like twenty years,

CA Green (22:39):
you know,

or something.

CA Green (22:40):
If I tell my kids, if I tell my even my younger
siblings, they're gonna be like,what? Like a newspaper, you
know? So that that's what we wewould do. And so The Line King
was actually the first film thatI asked to go see in theaters.
So, yeah, I was, like, fouryears old.
And I was, like, wanna go seethis movie, but my dad probably
also wanted to go see JudgeTrent. So, like, we just did
both. And, what what reallystuck with me and, obviously,

(23:03):
like, I don't have, like, superstrong memories of the plot or
anything like that. I've seenthem, obviously, a little bit
later in life. But what what Iloved is the the the
transporting factor of watchingsomething of, like, you're
you're here in this theater, butthat film is gonna take you to a
different world.
It's gonna take you to adifferent place. It's gonna
you're gonna kind of livevicariously through these

(23:24):
characters. Right? And that'sYeah. And that's the the basis
of any good story is that you'rekind of whisked away from the
reality that you're in Uh-huh.
And then you go into this kindof alternate reality, this
alternate universe, and, like,live these other characters'
lives. Now if you were apsychologist, we could probably
open up why a kid from divorcedparents would, you know, wanna
go through different realities,different universe, whatever.

(23:45):
Right? You know? Yeah.
Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah.

CA Green (23:47):
So I think it's, like, looking back, it's pretty clear
that, like, I was looking foreither some sort of escapism or,
you know, just something to totake me out of that reality.
Right? But but really it wasjust an infatuation and a love
for for storytelling on a on avisual layer. You know, I love
to read. I love to, you know,didn't really grow up loving

(24:07):
comic books so much, but, youknow, as, like, an older guy
into some graphic novels.
But, there was something about,you know, lights dimming and
just, like, watching for, youknow, an hour and a half to
three hours depending on Yeah.

You know,

CA Green (24:18):
what you're gonna do with it. It's an experience.
Yeah. Like that. Yeah.
And for, you know, my my wifereally doesn't love TV and
movies. It's it's Oh, really?Very funny thing that, you know,
we got married because it's sucha big part of my life, and she
is just, like, does not careabout it. Thankfully, we have
other things that kind of bindus together, but she just does
not get it. Like, it's notsomething that she can really

(24:39):
relate to.
Like, you know, when I I watcheda really awesome commercial the
other day that was, like, movingand, like, it hit all the right
emotional points and, like,storytelling beats. And I'm
like, you know, how do you,like, look at this look at this
commercial. And she's like,okay. So what? And I'm like,
what?
Like, how do you not care, like,so much about this thing? It's
like, didn't didn't you crywatching this Honda commercial?

(25:01):
It's just a great talk.

Yeah.

CA Green (25:03):
So it kinda, like, grew up, like, just just really
loving everything about, aboutmovies. Wasn't really until high
school that I I, you know, hadthe opportunity to take, like, a
film appreciation class and TVproduction. So, again, like, I
consider these to be, like,very, like, normal things for a
kid who's interested in film todo. Right? Like, it's nothing,

(25:23):
like, crazy.
I didn't, like, have an unclewho was a producer brought me on
set and meeting all these. Itwas just like, oh, like, I like
these things. Let me learn alittle bit more about it. So
when I took the filmappreciation class in high
school, it was with I had a a anamazing teacher. Her name was,
miss Brenda Derkis.
So I don't even I think she gotmarried. I don't know if that's
her last name anymore, but shealso loved film so much. And she

(25:44):
was, like, an English teacher,but she taught she wanted this
film appreciation class. And soI could see how much she loved,
not just movies like I did, butthe mechanics that went into
making a film. So then all of asudden, I learned about all the
things, you know, sound, color,mise en scene, the storytelling
beats, like hero's journey,like, all these things that I
kinda was taking for grantedwhen I was being, you know,

(26:06):
whisked away as I said before.
Right? Like, this experience ofwatching a movie and realizing
that, like, every single aspectwas planned. Okay. You have some
goofs. Right?
Like, you have, you know, afamous movie, Goose, the boom
mic comes in, a coffee cup fromStarbucks, and a period piece or
whatever. Yeah. Yeah. But, like,most of the stuff is planned,
and there's a team of people whowere there trying to accomplish

(26:27):
something emotional for you, forthe viewer to experience there.
And and that layer, then I fellin love even more.
Like, you right when you think,you know, what does he say? Just
when I thought I was out, theypulled me back in. Yeah. Right.
So I thought I couldn't get anyof a deeper love with it, and I
found out, like, it's all onpurpose, obviously.
You know? Kinda like, you know,these things, like, looking

(26:48):
back, you're like, why why doyou think about that? Obviously,
there's a director, producer,writer, but I never thought
about, like, the gaffer and thegrip and the best boy and, like,
the prop master and the coloristand the VFF. Like, all these
different elements that reallyare, like you know, they're not
related when they're apart, andthen they create this really
cohesive unit when they're beingbrought together with a unified
vision. So, like, really fell inlove with that.

(27:10):
And so at the same time oftaking that film appreciation
class, took TV production andjust, like, ran the TV
production, like, class. We didthe morning announcements, my
friend and I, like

This was high school? Yeah. That's awesome.

CA Green (27:22):
Yeah. Like, we just we would do you know, we for our
morning announcements, we had ashort, TV segment. They would
wheel these TVs into eachclassroom, and they play the
morning announcements there. Sowe did, like, fake reporter
style stuff, and we wouldinterview people. And, like,
then we started making someshort films.
And I was really affected by,like, film noir, like, in high
school, like, just like, youknow, the Venetian blinds and,

(27:43):
like, shady characters. So myfirst film was, like, a black
and white, you know, I had myfirst company was called Fedora
Productions, like, had a blackhat I used to wear all the time.
And it was Nice. The story ofthis guy who, like, stole a
restroom pass, you know, fromand and from in in high school.
I don't know if you had those inhigh school.
Yeah. So, you know, it's likegoing on this journey of like
funny and these interviewing allthe shady characters as a femme

(28:05):
fatale. Like it was crazy. Like,it was just like, that's funny.
I even had, like, we had like avoodoo character, like who was
like, you know, the mysteriousguy who could give us the
information.
It was, like, a really funproject. I don't nothing really
went with that, but it was,like, my first, like, foray into
the thing. You know, I didn'tgrow up with, like I didn't get
a camera when I was eight andstart making stuff. It really
wasn't high school when Istarted playing around with

(28:26):
equipment and and storytelling.So when when I was in high
school, you know, that was superclear that's what I wanted to
do.
And it was, like, obviouslyreally aligned with with who I
was and, you know, I was alwaysat the movies, like, every
weekend and and every night, youknow, just, like, back when,
again, Netflix was sending youDVDs, like, you know, had that
and was just watching so manythings. And then I went to

(28:49):
college at Florida State becausethey had a a really great film
school. So I applied and didn'tget in.

Oh, wow.

CA Green (28:56):
I actually applied three times to the film school
before I say did not get in. Theway it works, you apply, you get
an interview if they wanna, youknow, move you on to from
application to interview. So Igot interviewed, before freshman
year and then before sophomoreyear. So I applied out of high
school at freshman year and thenafter my sophomore year. So I
got the first and third.
And on the on the third, let mego back up. So on the first one,

(29:20):
on the first interview, I made aa huge mistake, but I don't
think this is why they didn'tlet me in. They were we were
talking about Avatar and, like,Alice in Wonderland and how I
didn't really like those movies.Like, I wanted, like, to tell
original stories. Like, like Imentioned before, Morris
Scorsese, David Lynch, all theseall these guys who I thought
were really telling originalstories.
A lot of them are based off ofother IP. But, you know, we were

(29:42):
talking about, like, I I blankedon Paul Newman's name. And, you
know, I'm like, what's thatguy's name? Like, he's on the
salad dressing, you know? Andthe dean is like, the salad
dressing?
Like, that's how you're gonnaremember Paul Newman, you know?
So I don't know if that's why Ididn't get into the film school,
but it definitely, I don't thinkheld my shoes.

In your defense, that is my earliest memory of
Paul Newman also.

CA Green (30:01):
The parents, cause like

the fruit, it was in the refrigerator.

CA Green (30:04):
You're a little kid.

You're like, oh, that guy on the salad. And then
you find out he's a a famousactor. Yeah.

CA Green (30:09):
Cool handbook. I mean, it's, like, great movies. Yeah.
Just saw the Tower of Infernofor the first time a couple
weeks ago too. Okay.

I've never seen that. No.

CA Green (30:17):
Classic disaster movie. Now we've we've been
inundated with disaster movies.This is the disaster movie.

So,

CA Green (30:22):
like, it's Steve McQueen, Paul Newman. Oh, nice.
It's fantastic. Yeah. Highlyrecommend it.
So, anyway and then the thethird time I got interviewed, I
had just won first place at ashort film, festival in Delray
Beach, Florida.

Nice.

CA Green (30:35):
So I drove up, like, so basically, the the film was,
actually very funny. I'll talkI'll talk about that film now,
actually. It's on my websitetoo. I put it

up. Okay.

CA Green (30:44):
Highly recommended, but it's not very professional.
But it's, so it was a a shortfilm category where we took a
preexisting script. It was,like, 17 pages. We needed it to
be under ten minutes. So we hadto cut a couple pages, and then
we needed to shoot the the wholething in Delray Beach.
So we held auditions. Me and,you know, high school buddy,
college friend, like, we were incollege at the time. I think I

(31:06):
was

19. Yeah.

CA Green (31:08):
And, nobody came to the auditions. Like, one of my
one of our other high schoolfriends, and we're just like,
this is not great. What are wegonna do? So we're sitting
around this table similar tothis, and I jokingly say, let's
just use sock puppets. And myfriends, like, are like, that's
what they do.
They start laughing, you know.So we laugh for a minute and
then room gets silent and we'rejust like, wait a second. That's

(31:31):
a great idea. So we ended updoing, I'm the main character.
And then my best friend's a sockpuppet.
His girlfriend's a sock puppet.So it's like really ridiculous
thing to do. And it's like alittle bit like sexual is a
little bit funny, like raunchyto have it with the sock puppet.
It's like really like, changedthe whole Yeah. Film.
And then it came in first place.So Amazing. He said we won that.

(31:52):
It was played, like, in a movietheater in Delray Beach, which
was really cool. And then Idrove up that night to get to
the interview in the morning.
So, like, it's like a six hourdrive from Delray to Tallahassee
in North Florida. I slept in mycar, like, outside the
interview, woke up with, like, afive hour energy drink, and went
to the to the interview. And Itold them I had just come from,

(32:12):
you know, this film festival.And so I think, again, this is
me, like, making myself feelbetter that, like, I was already
doing it. I was already doingthe film thing.
I was already I had a smallcompany. You know, I mentioned
the Fedora Productions. And nowat that time in college, I had
my third company called ViralCrew Productions and that Viral
Crew Media.

Nice.

CA Green (32:30):
And we were doing event after movies and
commercials and stuff. And so Ithink they just thought, like,
what do you need film schoolfor? So that's what I tell
myself, you know? Yeah. Yeah.
But, It was

probably a blessing in in disguise a little
bit.

CA Green (32:43):
Yeah. For sure. My For sure.

Did you go to school up So college dollar.
Yeah.

CA Green (32:47):
So I stayed at Florida State. I got a creative writing
degree.

Okay.

CA Green (32:50):
You know, because, like, we talked earlier with the
producing and writing. So I'vealways been writing

Yeah.

CA Green (32:55):
You know, since, like I told you, I loved reading and
I loved to, you know, kindaaffect the influences my movie,
my favorite movies as well, butI love, like, Goosebumps growing
up, like, these kind of, like,you know, borderline horror
stuff, like gross you know,just, like, over the top stuff.

Yeah. Yeah.

CA Green (33:09):
So the first thing I ever wrote, I actually, like,
ripped the story from, like, R.L. Stine and, like, just changed
a bunch of the characters andnames and, like, I wrote it for
my friend's brother who hadleukemia at the time, and I was,
like, it's, like, eight yearsold. I thought, like, I'll write
a story to, like, make him feelbetter. You know?

So Yeah.

CA Green (33:24):
Thank God. I believe, you know, he got better. He was
fine. You know? But it was, thatwas my first, like, journey into
it.
That that also might be on thewebsite, I think, or I used to
be. So, anyway, so so incollege, yeah, I I kinda wanted
to drop out after I didn't getinto the film school because I
thought what was the point. But,my mother was like, you just
stay in college. It's worthsomething to get your bachelor's

(33:46):
and all these things. I'm stillnot sure that's a good idea.
Like, I'm, like, you know,$30,000 in debt from, you know,
just, like, four years of I hadto pay my own way. You know, I
had scholarships and grants, butalso, like, living expenses and
things like that. So, yeah. So Idon't think it was worth it to
to get a creative writingdegree, even if I was, like, an
accountant or business orinternational affairs or

(34:07):
something. But Right.
Creative writing, like, no one'sever asked me to see my degree.
I think it's in, like, a drawerat my dad's house or something.
You know?

Yeah.

CA Green (34:16):
So so after college, I I just you know, the company
that we had with, like, fourother friends, we were kind of
like, what do we do? Like, wehad done, like, event after
movies, commercials, few shortfilms, and I wanted to go big. I
wanted to go to LA or New York,and the other guys wanted to
play a little bit more safe. Sowe kinda disbanded the company.
They went to South Florida.

(34:36):
I went to LA for, like, sixmonths with, like, a thousand
bucks and no car. Terrible idea.Completely, like, failed. Like,
got a job working for a callcenter in, like, Koreatown, and
I was just so depressed. Like, Iwould get off the train, like,
you know, two stops before thecall center pick up like a pack
of cigarettes and a bag of M andM's and carrots.
And that would be like my lunchfor the day, you know? And it

(34:59):
was just like, I was just, I wasworking with like Occupy Wall
Street people, like heroinaddicts. Like, it was just like
not conducive for me, you know?I was living on different
people's couches and futons, andI was just like, I can't cut it
out here. So I moved back toTallahassee.
I had a girlfriend there, and Iwas living with third, saved
for, like, another year. Savedus some money, went to New York
in 2014, and that was mucheasier to do with a thousand

(35:22):
bucks and no car. So Yeah. Youknow, hit the ground running,
like, connecting with differentcollege friends, and somebody
knew somebody who knew somebodywho was, like, a PA on one of
the Spider Man movies. Met himfor lunch.
And, here's a, like, a coolinside story for this. I had
brought with me, three tabs ofLSD to take in New York, which
is you will see a recurringtheme in my life. Okay. So I

(35:45):
brought them and I brought it upin this conversation with the
guy over coffee. And he waslike, really?
I haven't found in New York.Like, he didn't know anybody to
get the psychedelics. And hesaid, if I get you on set, like,
would you give me a tag? And I'mlike, sure.

There you go.

CA Green (36:00):
So the next week, he got me on a commercial. So,
like, he called me Sundaymorning. He was like, we need
you to be uptown. I was livingin Brooklyn, and he's like,
okay. I'm gonna train right now.
Like, rolled out of bed, youknow, and went went uptown, got
on the commercial. Two weekslater, he says, I got a movie
for you if you wanna come toyour background, you know, PA,
background production assistant.Like, okay. So there's two out
of the three tabs, but that'show my career in New York

(36:22):
started. So then I Avant said itwas, the Tina Fey movie called
The Nest.
I don't know if they kept thatas the name. It was Tina Fey,
Ivy Poehler. I think JoshBrolin, it was like they were
throwing a party at theirparents' house or something. But
I think they kept the name. So Igot on that movie, and I made
friends with the locationmanager.
So after that, I followed upwith the location manager, and

(36:43):
she invited me to, you know,come down to Silver Cup Studios,
which is in Long Island City,and they asked if I wanted to
work on another NBC show. And soafter being in New York for,
like, a month and a half, I getoffered to work on a show for
the next eleven months. So itwas kind of like they were
you're like, listen. You'remight be unclogging toilets or
picking up trash and doing, youknow, whatever. It was it was
what's called a unit productionassistant.

(37:05):
So Okay. Right. Within thelocations department, but it's,
like, the lowest position in thelocations department. And I was
like, I don't care. I'm gonna beworking on, like, an NBC show.
Like, I'm gonna be in the samestudio that they shot, The
Sopranos, and they shot, youknow Yeah. And, you know, Edie
Falco just come in from, Iforget the nurse show she was in
back in the day.

Yeah.

CA Green (37:23):
But to me, it was a a no brainer. Like, whatever it's
gonna take to get me on set,I'll I'll do. Yeah. And I was,
you know, I think I was 24 atthe time, so it was just like,
sure.

Got nothing to lose. Yeah. Exactly.

CA Green (37:36):
Amazing. Yeah. So I did that show, and to be honest,
it completely broke me. Like, Iwas working seventy, eighty
hours a week for that that year,and it was, my experience on set
was it's very hierarchical.Like, it's very, like, there
obviously, there's the roles andpositions, and there's just
certain people you can't speakto, and you have to, like in

(37:57):
location specifically, you'refirst on, last out.
So you're there before everybodybecause you need to make sure
the trucks are landing and theyknow where they're going and
holding and catering and thelocations are open. And then you
need to make sure everything'scleaned up after. So I'm
working, like, you know,fourteen to sixteen hours a day,
and it's just it consumed me.And it it it took away all the
creative spirit I had because Iwasn't directing. I wasn't

(38:20):
producing.
I wasn't writing. I was really,like, the lowest on the totem
pole, but it felt you know, youhave this, you have this what's
the word? Like, with a balloon.You have an inflated sense of
ego when you're, like, workingon set like that, you know? So
it kind of battled, like, thatfeeling for that first year.

(38:41):
After after that show finished,like, kind of felt like I broke
a little bit, like, you know,reached part of my dream of,
like, working in the industry,but it was, like, almost not
what I expected. So I went andtook a five week, like,
sabbatical or whatever and justwent backpacking, through like
Spain, Morocco, and Italy for abit. Yeah. It was a really it

(39:02):
was a great time. It was greatbecause it was an experience I
don't think I'll do again, butit was actually, like, really
challenging.
I mean, like, I was by myself. Iwas just, like, couch surfing
and Airbnbs, just meeting randompeople, which is, like, super
cool experiences, but, like, itwas also very lonely. Like, I
was just, like, by myself a lotof the time, which was really
great for introspection, notgreat because I'm kind of a

(39:25):
social creature, you know, and,like, love, like, having someone
like a partner in crime, youknow Sure. Yeah. Which would
have been cool, but it was also,like, I did, you know, just
wanted to be by myself at thosetimes, but I saw, like, wow.
This is really, you know,difficult. So I I wanted to stay
a little bit longer in Morocco.Ended up staying just like a
week and a half, but I hadsomebody reach out to me while I

(39:46):
was there and say, hey. There'sa movie if you wanna come work
on it like an independentfeature. It was called what was
it called?
Indignation. It was like basedoff of, really blanking on names
today. What's the guy's name?He's like a Philip Roth. Very,
like, a guy's writer.
Right? So, so it's based off ofhis book. And so I think Logan

(40:06):
Lerman and Tracy Letts, was init. So it's cool. I don't know
what happened with the movie,but something to come back to.
So I came back, worked on thatmovie, and saw, like, okay. I
guess this is the grind. Like,this is just if you wanna work
in the industry. And I saw that,like, eventually, the path to
producing these types of thingswas stemming from location. So I
could go from you know, when Icame back, I I went from a unit

(40:27):
PA to a location's assistant.
So not picking up as much trash,but, you know, and having a
little bit more autonomy and,like, being a little bit more
control of locations. And I sawthat if I stuck with that, I
could go from a locationassistant to assistant location
manager, location manager, andthen make the jump to a UPM, to
a unit production manager. Andthat to get to producing is
extremely easy. So Yeah.Locations has the the second

(40:50):
biggest budget on the whole showor movie usually, besides the
main budget because thelocations are so damn expensive.
You know? And you gotta pay forpermits and explosions, all
these things that, you know, youmight be doing. So I saw that
as, like, the path that I wason. So that then put us, let's
say, the almost February, Iworked on Daredevil season two

(41:10):
as a locations assistant, and,that show also then just broke
me. Like, I just, like, saw,like, I was working nights.
Like, you Daredevil only comesout at night. So, you know, I my
call time Monday was 10AM. Bythe time Friday came around, it
was 4PM. So, like, I've justjust felt like I was working all
the time. And it again, it wasjust, like, felt like a grind.
Like, it didn't feel likesomething I loved anymore. And I

(41:33):
was really sad about that. Iloved movies, but I didn't love
working on that. So it's it'sactually really hard for me
emotionally to, like, put tokinda coincide those because I
thought, like, this is what Iwanted to do for so long. And
now I'm there, and it's not whatI expected or it's not, you
know, what I thought.
And and it it still bothers menow to think about that, to have
that experience because I reallyloved working. I really love

(41:55):
love movies so much that it wasa shock that it it did wasn't
everything what I thought. Sothat was the February, and a
friend of mine calls, and I was,like, finishing up on Daredevil.
And I was just, like, drawing inin Bushwick in Brooklyn, like,
I'm doing nothing. He's like,you wanna go on birthright to
Israel?
And, you know, I was bornJewish, not religious, like, had

(42:17):
no intention of, like, doinganything more religious. Like,
based off the story, I waspretty just a typical stoner
film kid. You know? Yeah. And, Ithought to myself, like, well,
maybe it's a free trip.
It's like a $250 deposit. I justwent, like I mentioned, to
Spain, Morocco, Italy. I wantedto travel again. When I go to

(42:37):
The Middle East, like, what Ididn't know anything about
Israel. I didn't know anythingabout neighboring countries now.
Obviously, everything's on thenews, and there's a lot more to
know about it, but I knewnothing about what was going on
there. So Was that your first or

will this have been your first trip to Israel?

CA Green (42:51):
Yeah. Yeah. And that was still my only trip

to Israel.

CA Green (42:53):
I haven't gone back since. So what's what's typical
of me when I travel is I bring acouple tabs of LSD. So that's
that's that's what I'm doing.

Pretty far so far.

CA Green (43:04):
Yeah. So, so we get to to the to the airport to get on
the on the flight, and, youknow, the first thing they ask
you is, like, do you knowanybody from the neighboring
countries? So, like, I didn'teven know what the neighboring
countries were. Like, obviously,now, like, you know, okay. Egypt
Lebanon, Syria, like, nottypically fans of the Jews.
Right? But so that's why they'reasking security measures. So I

(43:24):
didn't really know any politicalthings or anything. And, I had a
roommate in Bushwick. I livedwith, like, five other people in
very, like, bohemian styleapartment, and she had actually
escaped from the Gaza Strip.
So, you know, pretty, like,serious, like, place, like, you
know, refugees, all thesethings. And I told the the
airline, yeah. I have a roommatewho escaped from the Gaza Strip.

(43:45):
And they're like, what? Excuseme?
So I thought they didn't hearme. So I'm like, yeah. I have a
roommate who escaped from theGaza Strip. And they're like,
woah. Did she give you anything?
Did you would you ever leaveyour bags alone? Like and I'm
like, what are you guys talkingabout? Basically, they took
everything I had, almost stripsearched me, like and I was the
last person to get on thatflight, and I still managed to

(44:08):
get the three tabs of LSDthrough all of that. Yes.

Do you wanna share

CA Green (44:13):
what I was

or what? Yeah.

CA Green (44:15):
I mean, I guess this one, but if there's a if ever an
airline who wants to try to findit, I don't know how you would.
So, I mean, like, LSD is asenseless, tasteless piece of
paper usually. You know? It's ait's a liquid that gets dropped
on things. So it could be on asugar cube.
It could be on a piece of paper.So, usually, my experience was
that it was on a a little tiny,you know, note card piece, like,
a little tiny square. So what Idid, I used to travel with

(44:37):
different, you know, books I wasreading or art books that I was
drawing in. And I was I wasactually working on an art
project then where I would askstrangers to draw in the books,
and then I would, write a poemabout them while they were
drawing and then read it to themwhen they were done. Oh, that's
amazing.
Yeah. It's really cool.

So I

CA Green (44:53):
have, like, a ton of collections of those, which is
awesome. Together. It's verycool. Yeah. So I took one of
those notebooks, and I putdifferent post it notes on
different pages with, like,notes to myself.
Like, let's see how far thisrabbit hole goes or, you know,
take take the red pill orwhatever it was, you know, and
put put it behind there. So it'slike a piece of paper, buying a

(45:13):
piece of paper, on a piece ofpaper. Like, how are you if
you're not even how would youeven find that within all these
I had, you know, different booksand whatever. It's I feel like I
could get arrested, like, post,you know, the thing, but I mean,
probably not. I will deletethis.
No. I'm sure it's fine. So so,so I brought it brought it
prodded, you know, got itthrough brought it I never told

(45:34):
you that before, by the way.

I don't think so.

CA Green (45:35):
Yeah. That's really funny. Yeah. So I I was more
worried about, like, my artbooks than I was about the the
LSD. Like, I really wanted theproject I was working on, but
got everything back on akibbutz.
By the time we got there, theysent it all to me, and
everything was fine. They didn'ttake anything. And so we went to
a place called Spot, which islike this hippie city in the

(45:56):
North, and it's like the city ofair. So, you know, I won't say I
was a spiritual person before,but, you know, I was always
looking for something more tolife, and I think I was looking
for that in movies. I waslooking for that in stories and
in books and and, you know, justthere's something more to, like,
what we're doing Mhmm.
You know, in terms of, like,what does it mean that there's

(46:16):
this giant universe and we'rethe only, like, intelligent life
that we found, like or, youknow, I experienced a lot of
crazy coincidences. How could itbe that, you know, I I I used to
travel and then meet a randomfriend that I had seen, you
know, in high school in in arandom place. You know? Just all
these, like, random thingshappen, and I just kept
thinking, like, okay. It's theuniverse or it's serendipity or

(46:39):
whatever.
You know? So I was, like,already tuned on to, like,
something else going on inreality. But it could have just
been the drugs too. So so we goto the spot, and I realized,
like, this is the place I wannatake the the LSD. So after the
official birthright trip ended,I had extended to stay for

(46:59):
another week in Israel.
We would back up to Spot. Westayed in a place called Bat
Yam, which is, like, just Southof Tel Aviv. It's like a Russian
beach town. Mhmm. Super cool,chill.
It was great. And we drove up,and I started taking the acid at
7AM, nine AM, and then 11AM. So,like, every two hours. So the
way it works, you just, like,keep going higher. That was,
like, the plan.
So by the time we got to toSpot, like, around, like, 09:30,

(47:22):
like, I was already, like, youknow, going to say cloud nine,
maybe cloud seven, getting tocloud nine. You know? But it was
like, okay. Like, I'm in I'm ina really good place. So we're
kinda walking around.
The graffiti is, like, talkingto me. I'm just, like, floating
through this city, meetingrandom people, you know, eating
delicious, like, Middle Easternfood. Like, it's just great.
Yeah. It's all.
Sounds very chill. It was it wasa great time. And we're walking

(47:45):
around and, you know, spent theday there. And as as, like,
we're gonna leave, I noticed,like, the city start to to shut
down. People are leaving.
I I realized it's Fridayafternoon, so it's gonna be the
Sabbath or, you know, what Iwould say with Shabbos. So
Friday night, Saturday night,there's no work. You know? So
everyone's getting ready forShabbos. So I didn't really know
what that was.
But I'm like, I guess we have togo. The city's shutting down.

Yeah.

CA Green (48:07):
So we're walking to the car and a guy comes up to me
and he says, do you wanna doyour mitzvah for the day? I'm
like, what's a mitzvah? Now as aJewish kid who's supposed to
have a bar mitzvah at 13, Inever did that. Like I said, you
know, wasn't religious at

all. Right.

CA Green (48:21):
And I'm like, what are you doing? What's the mitzvah?
And he's like, oh, I'm walkingaround spreading the light of
God. And I'm like, leave mealone. Are you talking to a
crazy person?
First of all, I'm high as akite. I don't need this guy to
introduce me to God. You know?

Yeah. Yeah.

CA Green (48:34):
And and then I think to myself, if I was writing the
script to my life, my favoritepsychedelic, I'm in the holiest
place in the world, and I'mJewish. This is an origin story.
Like, you gotta put on Tefillin.You gotta do this mitzvah. You
gotta just follow this and seewhat happens.
So okay. Fine. Let's put ontefillin. So there's these black
boxes. You put one on your armand you wrap these other straps

(48:55):
around your arm.
You put another black box onyour head and these other straps
hang down. It's been it's a it'sbeen going on for thousands of
years, you know. In in thebible, in the Torah, it talks
about you shall put phylacteriesbetween your eyes and on your
arms. That's the translation ofTefillin. And so we've, you
know, through the years, havefigured out these black boxes
with biblical, verses inside ofthem.

(49:17):
So we put it on and and as wefinish, you know, as a short
prayer, you say, as we finish, abutterfly comes and lands right
on the guy's shirt. So I reachover and I grab the butterfly in
my hands, the tefillin stillwrapped around my fingers, and
time stops. It's like, you know,James Earl Jones, rest his soul
too, comes up from the heavensand is like, there is a God. And

(49:40):
I was, what is going on? I hadnever, like, experienced
anything so, you know,synchronous at that point.
Like, it just felt impactful. Itfelt like whatever I was doing
at that moment, that felt likeGod. Obviously, there was no
real voice. There was no, like,Morgan Freeman saying, like, I'm
gonna, you know, make you, youknow, CA almighty, but it was

(50:02):
just like this meant something.Yeah.
Probably was the asset thathelped to that, but it was also
like that kind of moment justfelt like I've never caught a
butterfly before or since. Youknow? That could be the subtitle
to my biography. So afterwards,I realized maybe I should keep
putting on Tefillin. So on theplane ride back from Israel, I I

(50:24):
did what, what's called oppositemifthsoyim.
So mifthsoyim is what this guydid to me. He asked me, do you
wanna do a mitzvah calledmifthsoyim? Right? So opposite
is when I go to other people andsay, I need you to do a mitzvah
to me. Like, I need help me outwith this put the villain on.
So that's pretty atypical to do.But I met a guy on the plane,
and he told the whole story ofthe butterfly and everything.

(50:46):
And he said, where do you live?And I said, in Bushwick in
Brooklyn. And he said, oh, RabbiMenachem Heller has a Chabad
house there.
So he wrote down hisinformation, wrote down a couple
books for me to get, like aHamish, which is like the five
books of the Torah. And, and hejust said, you should go talk to
this rabbi. So it took me acouple weeks to, you know, I
guess, work up the courage to gotalk to the rabbi. But before

(51:08):
then, I was working on anotherfilm for about two weeks. There
was a movie called the Piratesof Somalia.
By the way, I'm seeing, like, mymy memories. Like, I'm, like,
forgetting all these titles ofthings. I really should write
this stuff down. So we're gonnamove to call the Pirates of
Somalia, which was, you know,the flip side to captain
Phillips.

Yeah. Right.

CA Green (51:28):
Right? So it's like, you know, they're the Somali
pirates, why they did what theydid. So another two weeks to
work Is that a narrative

or a documentary? Narrative.

CA Green (51:36):
Yeah. I've had, like, Al Pacino and, the guy from
American Horror Story. What ishis name? He also played
Quicksilver in the x men the newx men movies.

Oh, younger guy or

CA Green (51:48):
Yeah. Younger guy. Forget what it is. Come on.

Yeah. I'm so bad with Yeah.

CA Green (51:51):
Your names too. Couldn't come with me. Yeah.
It'll come to me. So, hate whenthat happens.
So I'm working on this film, andI'm trying to do, like, these
Jewish things. But, again, I'mworking fourteen to sixteen
hours a day. No breaks, notallowed to sit down, and I'm
trying to, like, figure out, doI keep kosher now? How do I put

(52:12):
Tefillin on once a day? I justknew I had to put it on before
the end of the day, but I neverhad a break.
So I was always running aroundto different places looking up
doors of mezuzahs, like, can Iput on to fill, you know,
whatever? Yeah. And and then acouple weeks after that, I was
in Crown Heights, which is likethe hub of, you know, Hasidic
jewelry. Like, it's a they gotthe Chabad headquarters. I'd

(52:34):
never heard of any of thesethings before.
And I'm in Crown Heights, and Iwas, like, probably buying weed
or, like, hanging out withsomeone, like, just doing
nothing. And I go into thisbarbershop, this, like, you
know, Jamaican barbershop at,like, three in the morning, and
they're just, like, hanging out,smoking. And I'm like, oh, you
know, can I fix my scarf? It wasfreezing. It was around this
time of the year.

(52:55):
And I'm, like, from Florida. Idon't know how to wear a scarf.
I'm still trying to figure thatout. So I, like, have in order
for me to put on a scarf, I haveto take off my jacket. I have to
rewrap it, try to tuck it in,all these things.
So I go and I start talking tothese guys about peace, love,
and changing the world, youknow. And, you know, we end up
talking for, like, an hour. Andafterwards, like, okay. We're,
like, we're leaving. So they'rewalking up the street, and I
tell them, you know, about thisexperience I had with Defillin

(53:17):
about how I think there's a Godnow, but I don't know what to do
with it.
I gotta speak to a priest orpastor or a rabbi. I don't care.
Just like somebody who's got aconnection to God. And this guy,
this non Jewish guy says,there's a twenty four hour
synagogue right up the street.So this twenty four hour
synagogue is like, you know,world famous as it's called 770.
It's 770 Eastern Parkway. Soit's the Chabad world

(53:38):
headquarters. So this so I'mlike, it's three, 04:00 in the
morning. I'm like, there's atwenty four hour synagogue,
which way? So he points to thestreet.
It's like five blocks away. So Ijust book it. Just run down the
street. I'm, like, half stoned.I've got my backpack on, like,
baseball hat, and I start seeingreligious Jews.
And I'm, like, where is thetwenty four hour synagogue? You
know? Little did I know this is,like, relatively normal to

(53:59):
happen because, like, peoplehave these experiences later in
life and, like, crazies come tothis place, like, all the time.

And also they have a twenty four hour
synagogue. Yeah.

CA Green (54:07):
Yeah. So I burst in and it's, like, nuts. There's,
like, tuna fish everywhere.There's vodka. They're having,
like, what's called theforbidden.
It's, like, Hasidic gatherings.It was, like, a Hasidic holiday
that day. So it happened to bethat there was like a bunch of
people and they're up late. AndI'm like, the Jews are crazy.
Like, what is going on?
And I I talked to somebody and Isay, like, you got it all wrong.

(54:29):
God doesn't want organizedreligion. He wants us to do, you
know, peace, love, and whatever.Like, I was very hippie. You
know?
Like, that was just just be anice person. So I end up sitting
down talking to this one guy,and I tell him I say, I'm on a
quest for truth. How do I not gocrazy or die? And he's told me a
story about three rabbis whowere granted access, about four
rabbis, sorry, who were grantedaccess into the the deep

(54:52):
mystical secrets of God. And onerabbi dies, one rabbi goes
crazy, one rabbi becomes aheretic, and the other guy walks
in peace and leaves in peace.
I'm like, how do I become likehim? So he said, if you wanna
get closer to truth, if youwanna get closer to God, you
gotta stop doing drugs. So Isaid, fine. I was stoned at the
time, and he said, give me yourweed. And I said, why?

(55:12):
You don't smoke. I'll give it tosomeone. It'll be my mitzvah. So
gave my weed to somebody else,and I went cold I quit cold
turkey, went thirteen months,you know, without smoking. I
smoked a little bit since then,but at that point, I was like,
I'll I'll be done.
The second thing he says, yougotta find your teacher and do
everything he says. I'm like,what is this? Karate Kid? Like,
what are you talking to misterMiyagi? Like, what do you say?

(55:32):
So I don't know what he'stalking about. So a week later,
it's, you know, I'm about tofinish, like, working on this
movie, and I had to be up early.It's my mother's birthday. I
called her, like, 50 times towish her a happy birthday. She
doesn't answer.
It's a very rocky relationshipwith her at the time. And she
calls me back overnight, like,two in the morning or whatever,

(55:53):
her and her boyfriend, andthey're just, like, cursing and
screaming at me and, like,hanging up. And just, like,
real, like, not nice things,like and it was really upsetting
for me. So I'm, like, crying inbed. And as I'm sitting there,
like, as I'm laying there inbed, the the Baba Chirabi, like,
who passed away in 1994, appearsin my room.
Like, just, like, melts intoexistence. And I'm like, what?

(56:16):
So now I quit weed, you know,the week before, hadn't done
acid in, like, a month, and Iwasn't drunk. So I'm okay. Maybe
I'm still sleeping.
Right? So I'm, like, shaking myhead like, no. This this is not
legit. So I look forward and onmy wall is like a tapestry of,
like, beach scenes, a bunch ofcircles, and the the scene
turned into his face. And I wasjust like, this is too weird.

(56:39):
I gotta get out of here. So Iget dressed, and I think, where
could I go this twenty fourhours? I'll go to that twenty
four hour synagogue. So I gooutside, and and he's standing
on the corner in the snow. Isquint my eyes and be like,
classic movie moment disappears.
I go to the twenty four hoursynagogue, and first guy I see
is like, yeah, whatever. Like,people have, you know, seen the
Rebbe a bunch of times since hepassed away. I'm like, what are

(57:00):
you talking about? It's kindafelt crazy for a while. You

know? Yeah. Yeah.

CA Green (57:06):
So when that happened, you know, the the the timeline,
just so we're we're followinghere, I was working on Daredevil
in the winter. I went to, youknow, Israel in January, came
back and worked, you know, for acouple weeks on that film, like,
let's say around February. Andthen when that happened, those
those moments, I was like, Ithink there's a God. I think

(57:30):
this, like, this rabbi guy, youknow, the Lubavitcher Rebbe is
like, something's happened. Ihad some sort of vision whether
I was sleeping or not.
And I think I have to go fullforce into this.

Yeah.

CA Green (57:41):
So I, like, quit the movies. Like I just said, I'm
done working on it. I I got acall from another location
manager to work on another show.I just told him, like, no. Thank
you.
And once you kinda do that,like, no one's gonna call you
again. So I didn't really getany calls after that. And I just
went and met up with that rabbithat the the guy on the plane
told me to get ahold of, and Isaw, a lot of things that I was

(58:06):
missing in my life at the time.I saw happiness. I saw open door
policy.
I saw family. I saw, you know,there was this rabbi with, like,
I think at that time he had, youknow, I don't know, eight or
nine kids. Thank God he's got,like, 12 now, 13, you know. And
I just saw, like, a solid familybase functional living. I saw,
like, he was the nicest guypossible.

(58:28):
Like, I was a total stranger. Hejust opened his door. I was
invited for coffee. I wasinvited for meals. I was invited
for classes.
I was it was just like it wasexactly what I needed at that
time, and it was exactly what Ididn't have growing up. You
know, I didn't have, like, astrong family unit. I didn't
have those strong family values,and it really didn't have any
values. I think, like, as atypical kind of American kid,

(58:50):
like, you know, at least for us,like, for for me and my
siblings, our parents were like,okay. Be a good person.
Don't hurt anyone. But, like,you're kind of making it up.
You're you're there's nothingthat's like Right. No
traditions. Even, you know,maybe some random family or
just, but there's nothing that'slike your Judaism's thousands
and thousands of years old.
You know? So you have, like,okay. We can point back and back
and back. You know? So I'mseeing, like, a, like, a real

(59:11):
substantial, you know, somethingto hold on to feeling lost.
So it was very obvious for meto, like, go full force into
that. And like I said, intensepersonality is like, okay. I'm
done with the movies. I wasn'thappy doing it. Let me do this
this, like, Jewish thing.
Let me really go full into that.So I got a job working for a
kosher candy company doingdeliveries, driving a truck.

(59:34):
And, you know, for the next ninemonths in 02/2016, I saw all the
Jewish neighborhoods in the TriState area really, like the big
ones, you know, Flatbush,Williamsburg, Crown Heights,
Lakewood, Muncie. Like, I don'tknow if you know these places.
These are, like, these are thebig places of of of of Judaism
in in New York.
So I saw this like wholesubculture of people that were

(59:57):
way different, had a specialdress, had special food, and I
love subcultures. I mean, thatwas like why I love movies a
lot. Like, I love, like, beingpart of something that felt like
fringe on society. You know, Ismoked cigarettes for a long
time because some culture, like,what kind do you smoke? And,
like, you're gonna step out andbe separate from the group.
Like, I love anything like that.So when I saw there was, like,
this kind of seething, like, notseething. It's, like, vibrant,

(01:00:22):
you know Yeah. Sub community. Iwas like, this is great.
So really went full force inthat. And then after, like, nine
months of driving a truck andlearning a lot about Judaism,
trying to learn Hebrew, I feltlike, now what? You know, I quit
smoking. I hadn't, you know,taken any acid anymore. Like, I
was just, like, driving a truck,like, living in Brooklyn.

(01:00:43):
What am I doing? So the rabbithat I got close with was like,
oh, I thought you'd go toyeshiva by now. So that's
rabbinical college in NewJersey. Yeshiva is a is a men's
learning, you know, center. So alot of boys, you know, when
they're in their early twenties,that's where they go.
And so there's a place in NewJersey called the rabbinical
college that, you know, peoplewho become religious later in

(01:01:03):
life or wanna explore more aboutJudaism in a, you know,
environment like that, they cango there. So I wanted to go to
Israel. There was, another placein Jerusalem that I wanted to go
to, but I had no money. This islike a typical story, you know,
of my my early twenties. So hadno money.
And my rabbi was like, if you goto Jerusalem, I think you're
just gonna get into trouble,like, hang out at the market.
Like, you're not gonna learn.Why don't you go to New Jersey?

(01:01:26):
If you don't like it, come back.We'll figure something out.
So I go to New Jersey and, like,going from, like, kind of the
growth streets of Brooklyn to,like I never thought I'd say
this, like, beautiful NewJersey. You know, like, growing
up, I was like, New Jersey,like, you know, from all the
movies that I watched, it waslike the orbit of of Right.
Right. Right. But it's actuallygorgeous.
It's very green. Yeah. Yeah. Inthe suburbs.

Dane Shoemaker (01:01:44):
You know? Yeah.

CA Green (01:01:45):
It's a very beautiful place. So go to, you know,
Morris Town, New Jersey, middleof nowhere. And I realized after
two weeks of being in this,Yeshiva, there's no way I could
go back to Brooklyn. So I endedup staying for two years. And in
those two years, I really just,like, transformed who I was.
You know, we used to make jokesabout it being like a cult.
Right? Like, you kinda changeyour outfit. You start we start

(01:02:06):
wearing black and white, like,the religious shoes. You change
your name.
I started going by my Hebrewname, but we're eating a lot of
carbs because it's just thecheapest food. So, like, just
like a cult. You know?Obviously, a joke because none
of us are trying to, you know,kill ourselves at the end. So,
in those two years, what whathappened was because I was
diving so far into religion,into Judaism, into this, like,

(01:02:29):
kind of new life, really, like aside set to what I thought I was
doing with my life

Yeah.

CA Green (01:02:34):
I stopped doing anything production related. And
I'd, like I said, quit themovies, and I just kept
thinking, like, what am Isupposed to do now? First of
all, now I have different, like,values. There's different rules.
Like, you know, supposed to be alittle bit more modest.
So, like, I used to when I usedto work on set, like, see
people, you know, wearingwhatever, you know, or changing
and, like, you know, I I wasworking very inappropriate,

(01:02:56):
let's say, venues or even, youknow, now there's there's
Shabbos, like I mentionedbefore. So when I worked on
Dender, well, how could Ipossibly no way. You can't. You
gotta you have to work Fridaynights, Saturdays. You know, I
need to be available all thetime, and I saw now there's
Jewish holidays or there'sShabbos, like, things that so I
couldn't really wrap my headaround how could I do production

(01:03:16):
and be religious.
And so for those for those twoyears in in that yeshiva, I just
said, I guess I'm not doingproduction anymore. Now I have a
a film reel tattoo around mybicep. I have five tattoos. So
that's that's one of them. Andso for me, that's like, I got it
so it's in my blood.
Like, film is, like, such a lovethat I didn't wanna ever forget
it. But now, first of all,becoming a religious Jew, we're,

(01:03:39):
like, you're not supposed tohave tattoos. You're not allowed
to get tattoos. And and I havethis it was really confusing for
me, and it was really like alike a, self negation. Like, I I
I really, like, pushed down whoI was in order to try to become
this other person that I thoughtI should try to be.
And, you know, looking back,like, I think I needed to do it
in order to, like, just, youknow, learn as much as I

(01:04:01):
possibly could and, like, getthe the foundation of living,
like, a religious lifestyle andand really, like, going full
force into that. But I reallythink I, like, personally, like,
kinda suffered, but, like, feltlike I I gave up a lot of
myself, like, during that timeand pushed it away to try to be
something else. So after thosetwo years, I got married, and my

(01:04:24):
my wife now, she was applyingfor PhD programs, and so she got
into Emory University inAtlanta.

Okay. So

CA Green (01:04:31):
I told her, like, wherever you get in is where
we'll go. So we moved toAtlanta, and I actually ended up
working at one of these Jewishoutreach centers that I
mentioned before as a Chabadhouse. I ended up working at one
of these Jewish outreach centersat a Chabad house as a rabbi.
Mhmm. So I started going byRabbi Green, which, like, I
didn't have rabbinicalcertification, but I was I was
the closest thing to the youknow, most people who come in

(01:04:53):
don't know anything or they knowvery little.
And so I spent those two yearsin the yeshiva and really
learned a lot about, you know,how to live like a Jew, how to,
you know, just answer questions,hold meals

help people.

CA Green (01:05:04):
Yeah. Help people and and connect them to their
heritage. You know? You not I'mlike I don't wanna put down
anybody, but, like, we weren'tmissionaries. Like, wasn't
trying to make anybodyreligious.
Wasn't trying to, like, forceanything down. Just like if
people are interested, happy toanswer questions, be a resource.
Like, we used to host peopleFriday night meals, Saturday
meals. Like, just it's a funthing for them to do, hang out

(01:05:26):
with like minded people andjust, like, you know, learn more
about, like, what does it meanto be Jewish. Like like I said,
as a kind of a typical Americankid, I don't think we we didn't
really grow up with knowing whatit meant.
What does it mean to be Jewish?What are the customs? What is
you know, like myself didn'thave strong, you know, customs
and traditions. So, like, thereare things that you can connect

(01:05:46):
to. You can have a little bit ofthat structure in your life.
So did that for about two yearsand and realized at the end of
twenty nineteen, I was at a forbringing it, like I mentioned,
the Hasidic gathering. I waswith a friend and, you know,
it's a slight slight you know,not super older, but it's
slightly older than us. And, youknow, we were talking about me
getting back into production.And I I realized I was kind of

(01:06:09):
unhappy, like, working at thisChabad house, like, being a
rabbi. Like, first of all, hugeidentity crisis, like, not a
rabbi.
And, you know, now all of asudden I'm, like, the most
religious person I know, youknow, like, in this group, which
is, like, doesn't make anysense. And I kind of realized, I
gotta get back into production.Yeah. So, going into 2020, that

(01:06:29):
was when I decided, like, let'sdo it. Let's get back into
production.
As we all know, perfect time toget back into it. Right. So
everything shuts down. TheChabad house that I was working
at shut down, and I told therabbi that I was working for,
like, you know, I don't wanna dothis anymore. I wanna move on.
And so we had to kinda decide,like, are we gonna stay in
Atlanta or, like, do we move?Atlanta was cool. I I didn't

(01:06:53):
really know too many people inthe industry there. You know, as
we know, like, Atlanta was kindof becoming and is, like, a
pretty hot spot. Yeah.
Big fire. But I we wanted tolive in a Jewish neighborhood,
and the neighborhoods there,like, weren't so attractive to
us. So I said to my wife, let'smove back to Morristown. So she
got, like you know, she criedfor, like, a day because she

(01:07:13):
kind of liked Atlanta, but herprogram went remote. And she's
actually from New Jersey, so herparents are there.
You know, her mother's in SouthJersey. Her father's just
outside of Philadelphia. And soshe realized it's a good idea.
So we moved out to New Jersey,and I had a friend who I learned
with in the rabbinical collegewho was a motion designer. So, I
reached out to him and was like,hey.
I wanna get back intoproduction. Everything shut

(01:07:34):
down. I wanna make some coolstuff. So I found a a client,
like, a rabbi actually here inPhilly who was trying to
publicize a book that, you know,was written about the Rebbe and
about, basically, he spokeabout, you know, how do we
address incarceration issue? Howdo we address education issue?
How do we address thesedifferent, like, issues that he

(01:07:54):
would, like, wanted to say. Howcan we make society better and,
like, using the Torah as, like,a guiding Okay. Post. So this
book had all these topics in it,and he wanted to talk about each
of these topics, like, ininstituting a moment of silence
in public schools, not as areligious concept, but just as,
like, an awareness concept.Like, have the kids just be

(01:08:15):
silent from, you know, a minute.

Reflect in.

CA Green (01:08:18):
Yeah. Yeah. I think anyone can see the value of
that. You know? So, that's whatthis book had, all these
different things in it.
So we decided to take, you know,five different topics in the
book and make these short,really trippy animated, shorts
about them. Okay. So just like Imentioned before where I like to
hire good people and give themcreative freedom, that's what I
do with my motion design friend.So I said, I'm gonna write the

(01:08:40):
script. I'm gonna talk to theclient.
I'm gonna work with the voiceover guy. Whatever visuals you
wanna do, I'll let's just Iwanna be on the same page as
you, but you can come up withwhatever you want based off of
what I write. So that's what wedid. He had, like, a particular
style he wanted to start, youknow, working on and doing, and
it was really, like, you know,copy paste, like, you know,

(01:09:01):
visuals, like, cut on top ofeach other, like, cutouts of
people and chairs andgeometrical shapes and all it is
it really I think it defined hisstyle now. Like, I think that
was really the start of what hewas trying to do, and and he
was, like, super cool.
Like, it was just like, oh, wow.I'm finally, like, you know,
gonna mold both of these worldstogether. Like, you know, take
the duties of what I've been,like, so involved with and then

(01:09:22):
bring back a little of my myproducing stuff. And when I told
the rabbi that I worked withthat I wanna get back into
production, he was kinda shockedat first. And then he saw this
first short that I made, and itwas, like, a minute and a half.
And it was it's, like, reallygood. I mean, obviously, I tried
to make really good stuff. Youknow? So he was just like, wow.
Like, this is much better than Ithought.
Like, he thought, what are yougonna you know, gonna go make

(01:09:44):
films? There's only gonna make,videos? And it was, like,
poignant. It it told the ideaclearly. It was visually
appealing.
It was it was all the stuff. Itwas really, really cool. So we
did five of those that yearsince 2020. And, and then that
was when, you know, behind thebeard media, I would say, was
born, but under a differentname. You know?
So then I called it Greencut,and and and I didn't really like

(01:10:05):
that name for a while. My lastname is Green. Greencut. Oh,
like yeah. It works.
It works. So I had that for acouple years and, you know, just
kinda, like, connecting withdifferent Jewish organizations
because that was my network atthe time. Yeah. And, you know,
figuring out where do I fit inthere? Like, am I gonna just
produce?
Am I gonna write? Am I gonnadirect? Am I gonna shoot? Am I
gonna edit? Like, you know, Iwasn't, excuse me, I wasn't

(01:10:28):
having conversations with peoplefor, you know, $20.30, $40,000
jobs.
I was having conversations abouta thousand, 2,000, 3 thousand
dollar jobs and trying to figureout, like, if I hire someone
else, how do I make money withit? Like, really, like, all of a
sudden realizing, like, oh,like, I I'm I'm becoming a
business owner, and I need tofigure out how to, like, make
money from this. I suppose it'sjust like a interested film kid,

(01:10:50):
like, freelancing on differentsets. So from, like, 2020 to
2023, I was, like, working, youknow, odd jobs, getting
unemployment from from Georgiabecause of of, you know, the
Havana shutting down and, youknow, producing like, I produced
a thirty minute short film aboutthe high holidays. That was more
documentary style, but that waslike I had a real a lot of big

(01:11:13):
names in the Jewish worldinvolved in that in that film.
I don't think your audience willknow, but, you know, Rabbi Shays
Taub, Avram Fried, Yankee Lover.These are, like, you know, two
of those guys, huge singers. Oneguy's, like, a, like, world
renowned speaker and author. Andthat was, like, really big for
for me to, like, have these guysin the film. And it was, like,
during COVID.
So it was used as, like, youknow, during the high holidays,

(01:11:36):
if you couldn't come to the tothe synagogue, you could watch
this film. And it was a musicalaccompaniment. We, like, hired
violinists and keyboardists, andthey were singing. It was really
beautiful production. But I waslike, is this what I wanna do?
I wanna just do Jewish things.Like, you know, I wasn't sure
exactly, like, where I wanted tofit in. So over those those

(01:11:56):
years, like I said, 2020 to to'23 was, am I gonna get a job,
like, working as a producer ormaybe as a writer or something,
or am I gonna keep building myown thing? And at the same time,
like, my family is starting togrow. So we had, you know, my
first son when we were living inAtlanta, and then we moved to
New Jersey.
My daughter was born in 2021,and then hold on a sec.

I feel like the last four years have been like a
blur. Yeah.

CA Green (01:12:20):
You know

what I mean? You're like like, it's still
we're all still living in, like,March 2020.

CA Green (01:12:23):
Twenty '20 years. Yeah. That's so much. So my son
was born in 2019, then mydaughter was born in 2022, then
I have another son that was bornin 2023. Right?
Yeah. Because my because I'vegot birthdays in March and a
birthday in July. So I got myson turning six, my daughter's
turning three, and then my otherson's gonna turn two this July.
So that's there we go. Yeah.
So, you know, figuring out Igotta now support my family.

(01:12:46):
It's not just me, like, livingwith, like, you know, ramen
noodles and peanut butter.There's, like, other people I
need to try to figure out. Nowmy wife was also getting a
stipend for her PhD, so I didn'tfeel like I had all this
pressure to have to make itwork. I could, like, hobble
around and, like, figure out,like Yeah.
A project here, a project there.And so along the way, like, have
the opportunity to, like, youknow, write for for different
companies. Like, I wrote somecourse materials. I wrote some

(01:13:08):
copywriting stuff. I wrote,like, emails, and I wrote
newsletters.
And I was just, like, kindabouncing around, like, you know,
figuring out where do I fit in.So around 2021, I think, I
connected with, Motion Gross ofReset locations. He's like a
location, broker for film sets.So he actually brokered the deal

(01:13:30):
for a severance in Holmdale atBell Works. So So they shot, you
know, season one, season two,outside and inside at Bell
Works.
And so he wanted to, like, havemore emails and he wanted to
have a newsletter. And so hewas, like, one of the best
clients I ever had. Super lowmaintenance, paid me, like,
pretty, you know, well forwriting, and he just, like we
just, you know, I helped himwith his website with copy, and

(01:13:51):
it was like a like a bridgebetween me and, like, the
industry again. You know?

Yeah. Nice.

CA Green (01:13:56):
And so I I did that. I think I kind of rested on my
laurels of, like, having him asa client. Like, I wasn't, like,
as hungry to, like, have to findother videos. But if something
came by, I would I would, youknow, take it on. And it was
mostly mostly writing because Ididn't wanna I didn't wanna go
out and produce and, like, get,you know, engulfed in in that
world.
So I wrote, you know, scriptsfor a a marketing company in

(01:14:18):
Canada. You know, they had afew, like, one short about, MK
Kosher, which is like a famousKosher company. And so we had to
kind of, like, you know, explainyour typical explainer video,
like, what is MK Kosher? How didthey get their kosher meat? Why
does it cost so much?
Like, all these, like, questionsthat people had.

Yeah.

CA Green (01:14:36):
So, like, wrote that, worked with my motion design
friend again. He had already,you know, been on the project
for a while, and I came in alittle bit after. And then just
saw, like, okay. Writing's cool,but, like, I kinda miss the
producing stuff. So, along thatthat way, though, I saw a really
cool job opportunity to work fora company called Rite of
Passage.
And they were like an onlinewriting community, and they were

(01:14:58):
teaching people how to write andthey were looking for a
production writer. And the jobdescription was like me in a
nutshell. It was like havingproduction experience, loving
writing, you know, wanting towrite really cool things. I was
like, okay. Sign me up.
So I had a four digitapplicants. I was, you know,
selected to work at thiscompany. It was totally remote,
and it was like, woah. Did Ireally just get, like, a pretty
sweet gig? It was like 80 k, youknow, four zero one k, health

(01:15:22):
insurance.
It was like, this is great. Youknow? The thing with that job is
it was like a moving target.It's like every time I work on
something, they'd be like, no.We wanna work on this, and now
we wanna focus on that.
And I told them at thebeginning, like, talking ahead,
like, isn't really, like, mystrong suit. Like, I you know, a
little bit more creative. Andso, like, just just doing
straight dialogue for the wholetime is, like, it it it's not

(01:15:43):
what I'm what I'm great at.

Yeah.

CA Green (01:15:46):
So we kinda shifted into doing more of those videos.

And

CA Green (01:15:49):
so I wasn't really, like, doing what they wanted,
and I I, you know, they the thethe CEO was like, well, let's
focus on this and focus on that.And and I and I couldn't keep up
with, like, the changes. I'dwork on something, and like I
said, it could take me threeminutes or three days. And so,
like, they wanted to see, let'ssay, work every day. So I would
work on something, send it tothem, get feedback, and I it

(01:16:10):
wasn't really conducive for,like, my way of working.
Like, if you have to sendsomething that's, like, you
know, as we say, a media res.Right? Like, it wasn't good for,
like, getting feedback on a halffinished or a half assed idea.
You know? Yep.
So after, like, a couple ofmonths, I just, like, really
felt like it wasn't working. Hada lot of anxiety about, like,
working with them. And, and thenat the same time, they actually

(01:16:31):
let me go. And, you know, kinda,last minute, like, no warning,
just, like, had a meeting andwas like, hey. It's not working
out.
You know, we're giving youwhatever, separate package,
etcetera. What's interesting is,like, maybe the specifics we'll
we'll take out. I'm not sureYeah. In terms of certain

(01:16:52):
things, but I'm happy to tellyou. Sure.
So my manager at the time, like,he was on leave. So, like, while
so I never worked with, like,direct reports and the manager,
all these things. So I had amanager, and he was on leave.
And so I was I was I wasreporting to the COO, and so he
didn't really know howproduction worked. So I, like,
was kind of my own, like, thingfor, like, two months.

Yeah.

CA Green (01:17:15):
And they fired me while my manager was gone. So my
manager came back and then foundout I had been fired. He wasn't
even part of that decision. Youknow? Yeah.
So I was like yeah. So whatever.So from from working at at Rite
of Passage, I realized, like, Idon't wanna be in that situation
again. Like, I don't wanna workfor somebody and just get fired,
you know, like, for kind ofsomething that was, like, out of

(01:17:36):
my control, and, like, kind ofdouble down. Like, okay.
Like, let's get this productioncompany back. Like, let's make
sure we're trying to, like, dosomething really, like,
sustainable and, like, make itmake sense. That was the end of
twenty twenty two. And and, youknow, I got fired just a couple
weeks before my third kid wasborn. So not great timing.

Stressful. Yeah.

CA Green (01:17:57):
Yeah. Yeah. But also gave me the opportunity to be
home more, like, while he wasborn. So, you know, with the
severance, was able to take acouple months. You know, we
didn't have to rush intoanything.
So I was able to just, like,think about, like, what the next
move was. And so the end oftwenty two was, like, let's,
like, fully dive back into it.And around that time, I had,
like, a great shower idea ofchanging the company name to

(01:18:17):
Behind the Beard Media. Sothat's, like, where that name
came from and was, like, superobvious that that was, like, a
much better name. I got thebeard.
Like, it's just like and and andI kinda dissected, like, what
does that name mean to me? Itwas really, like, uncovering the
stories of of people that I'mgonna talk to to the businesses,
to the, you know, serviceproviders, and, like, not just

(01:18:39):
say, like, the, you know,functions and the technical
things that they're doing, but,like, what's the story behind
your story? Like, what's, youknow, behind Shoemaker films?
What's behind you know? Andthat's, like, where the idea
really, like, became andcemented and, like, made sense
for me.
So November 23 was, like, tryingto take it more serious. Got you
know, I worked with twodifferent coaches. I was doing a

(01:18:59):
lot more cold outreach, like,you know, reaching out to you.
And I worked on, you know,handful of projects. That's when
I did the, the business coachone, told his story, and worked
on a, eighteen minutedocumentary for another Jewish
organization called, GEM, whichis for Jewish educational media.
And that was they're, like, oneof the biggest organizations in

(01:19:20):
the in the Jewish world. And soworking on them on that project
was, like, a huge, like,milestone for me, and, like,
just really great learningexperience.

Yeah.

CA Green (01:19:31):
And and that that video, it's it's a substantial
video. You know, like, it's aneighteen minute I'm not gonna
send that to somebody in anemail. Right? So that's just
like more of a learningexperience. It was like, okay.
Can I tell this story that's alittle bit longer? It's very
educational. Like, it's veryinformational. There's a lot of
information about it there. Andit was like

I want you to tell you, it's almost like a
mass like master class.

CA Green (01:19:54):
Yeah. I was just You looked at it a little bit?

I did. A little bit.

CA Green (01:19:57):
Oh, a couple of yeah.

First couple of minutes. Yeah. But it's very
well done.

CA Green (01:20:00):
Yeah.

It feels like, you know, master class, like, it
feels like you're sucked in.Like, I kinda wanna learn now.
What Can I tell It's likeentertainment a little bit
almost?

CA Green (01:20:09):
We went I mean, I'm sure a lot of people try to copy
master class. That was ourinspiration.

Yeah.

CA Green (01:20:14):
Okay. When I was talking to Jim, I said, I wanna
make it a master class. So we,like, we even shot an intro that
didn't make it in the final cut,but, like, same idea where you
have the person kinda walk inand you show the route. Like, we
did all that stuff. Yeah.
I was like, I have the table.It's gotta be the guy learned.
It's like really sitting downand and doing and it's gonna be
it's supposed to be episodic.But when

the pool

CA Green (01:20:35):
is maybe breaking up that eighteen minute thing into,
like, three minute chunks andkind of releasing those
episodes. But that I appreciateyou making the connection there
because that was what we weregoing through.

Yeah. It was pretty obvious.

CA Green (01:20:45):
Yeah. Yeah.

Just inspired by it.

CA Green (01:20:47):
Right. Right. Yeah. And again, like, I I hired a
really talented DP, from Floridanamed Zatar Wolf and, like,
highly recommend her if you'reever in Florida and need
somebody to connect to. She isfantastic, just, like, really,
like, lit it beautifully.
And to kinda tie it, you know,full circle here, that was the
the film that I was on where sheasked me about, like, the
lighting and the curtain and theplanet. I was, like, couldn't

(01:21:09):
care less. I just wanted to makesure, like, this guy on camera,
like, felt comfortable and couldspeak. You know, we had a
teleprompter, but I wanted tomake it sound not like he was
reading. You know?
So I was really working with himon that and just, like, totally
realized, like, you know, when Isaw that she was, you know, more
impressed that I had, like,prepared a lot of snacks of
craft services and, like, madesure I got, like, a good lunch,

(01:21:30):
and she was happy about that. Isaw, like I like that she's
happy that she could focus onwork as opposed to, like, caring
about the shade of the curtain,you know.

Yeah.

CA Green (01:21:39):
That was when I really, like, noticed, like,
producing is, like, where it'sat for me. Yeah. And then since
then, it's really just been,like, you know, we we moved to
Philadelphia last summer. So,you know, the summer of twenty
twenty four, and was just like,okay. New place, new people, new
market, and really just tryingto, like, connect with different
businesses here.

(01:21:59):
And and and kind of really whatwhat I would love to do is just
branch out of the Jewish worldand work with other businesses
and work with other serviceproviders because I don't think
that, you know, I'm limited interms of, like, the community
that I'm a part of. And I thinkthat the skills that I have,
like, are obviously applicableto, like, everybody and to every

(01:22:19):
business and stuff, which is,you know, when I'm talking to
everybody, I'm not reallytalking to anyone. So it's more
like what I what I love is,like, mission driven, like,
whether it's, you know,nonprofits that, like, have a a
strong you know, they're tryingto change the world. They're
trying to save the whales.Whatever it is, like, you know,
stuff like that, I really lovebecause that to me is, like,

(01:22:39):
super impactful, and I alwayswanna be, like, having that
impact.

Yeah.

CA Green (01:22:42):
But at the same time, like, a business that's, you
know, selling a product that Ican get behind, that's also
mission driven. You know? Like,that's something that, like, oh,
you're not just, like, selling ahot new gadget that's based off
of something else. It's like,oh, this you know, I was talking
to a jewelry company the otherday. Like, jewelry, you're like,
that's not really missiondriven.
But the company was started, youknow, because the owner's mother

(01:23:03):
passed away, and it was, like,in memoriam in what's the word?

In memorial.

CA Green (01:23:07):
In in memoriam of her mother. Okay. And, like, they're
gonna release, like, a special,you know, necklace based. And,
like, that, like, that meanssomething. That's like There's a
story

behind it. Right?

CA Green (01:23:16):
So that's the thread. Right? That's that is like, if
there's that story that I couldsee and what I'm seeing is like
most businesses are like that.Mhmm. If they're if they're a
little bit more serious, not ifthey're just trying to, like,
make a buck.
Most people who start somethingand then go out on their own,
there's a why. There's a bigwhy. And you just gotta kind of
uncover that. You gotta yougotta get behind that story, and

(01:23:37):
then bring that to life the bestway possible. You know?

Yep. So I love that. Yeah. I mean, we've got
your whole story. I mean, thisis really fascinating.
I mean, thank you for goingin-depth on, you know, some of
these originating moments thatyou had, you know, in birthright
and on asset

CA Green (01:23:57):
and sharing

some sharing some, you know, some really deep
deep things. I appreciate it.

CA Green (01:24:01):
Yeah. For sure.

You know, just, like, where you're at? Where's
your business at today? I mean,well, you kinda just went over a
lot of that.

CA Green (01:24:09):
Can you talk a little bit more I know you wanted to
do, like, the maybe tacticaltrends or, like, what the plan
is?

Just, I mean, I think one thing that I've
noticed is just kind of on asurface level, like, following
you for a little bit. Like, Ithink you're really active on
LinkedIn. I mean, you know, whatabout how are how are you going
about looking for business? Howare you promoting the business
today?

CA Green (01:24:27):
Right. Things like that. Yeah. So, I am very active
on LinkedIn. So, like, if, youknow, if people wanna see what
I'm up to there, that's, like,where I would say I mostly post.
Yeah. And the the way I, like,kind of approach, I guess,
content, which is alwaysevolving for me. I don't know
about other people. I mean,like, we're we talk, you know,

(01:24:47):
trends and stuff like that. It'sjust, like, I don't overthink
it, like, too much.
I just kinda think, like, whatwould kind of be interesting?
Like, what would be a little bitinteresting? What would be,
like, oh, I'm working on thisand then share that? And I think
that's that's changing for me alittle bit now. I recently read
a book called They Ask, YouAnswer by, I think it's Marcus,
Sheridan.

(01:25:08):
Might have to fact check me onthat or we could look it up.
But, he he he had a a poolcompany, and he said that they,
you know, found that by justanswering the questions that
people have about your businesswill be content marketing. That
when somebody comes to you and,you know, just like a like, if
we look at ourselves as thebuyer and we come to a company,

(01:25:31):
we wanna find out, like, what'sthis company about? What do they
do? Why is that why are theydifferent?
Not necessarily better, but,like, you know, what is a
producer? What is a video? Like,how what goes into making a
video? Like, we get asked thesequestions a lot. Like, why is it
cost so much?
You know, things like that. Andso, I realized, like, that is a
is a shift that I'm gonna startmaking actually with content in

(01:25:54):
terms of, like, answering thesequestions. And, you know, I
noticed, like, a lot of placeshave it as, like, their FAQs and
stuff like that, but I'm nottalking about, like, five or 10
FAQs. Like, I think, like, thereare so many questions that I
could probably you and I couldgo back and forth that we get
asked, like, on the regular,like and just answer all of
those questions. And you you'llhave a different answer than

(01:26:15):
I'll have.
So it's not like, you know, if Ido it and and you do it, like,
we're, you know, gonna put outthe same thing. Like, we'll have
different answers. And by doingthat, what we'll do is, you
know, what what I found is thatwith with my business, I need to
have a relationship withsomebody. I need to have, like,
a lot of trust, and and how do Iaccomplish that? It's by trying
to show people, like, who I ambefore they even meet me.

(01:26:38):
You know, people need to know,oh, who like, who's CA? Like,
what's his story? Like, wheredoes he come from? Which is why
I really went into depth in herebecause I feel like the more
people know who I am, the morethey'll trust me in telling
their story. The more they'lltrust me with a bigger budget
because it's not about me, like,oh, I just wanna, like, get rich
off of this one client, but Iwanna tell the best possible

(01:27:00):
story.
And how do we do that? Sometimesyou could do things on your
phone, and then you don't need ahuge budget. Other times, you
need to have, you know, a ten,fifteen person crew, and you
need sound, lighting, actors,location rentals, whatever it
is. Like, whatever the storykind of entails. You know?
So I think that by kind of justpreempting what do people wanna
know from me because I've gottenasked these questions like,

(01:27:22):
what's your story? What's yourbackground? Who are you? I get
asked all the time, what do youdo? Like, what's a video
producer?
You know? Like, people think itmeans, you know, a content
editor. People think it means,you know You're a cameraman.
Yeah. Like a cameraman.
Like, you could just I got acall in December, you know, can
you come film this wedding? AndI'm just like, no. Like, I mean,

(01:27:45):
what I did though, as a sidenote, as a producer, they called
me, said, you know, can you comefilm this wedding? I got
connected similar to you. I coldcalled, New Pace Productions
here in town, and they doweddings.
So I called them and said, areyou available on this in the
state to do, like, a a charitywedding? So, unfortunately, they
weren't available, but I wentand then found someone else

(01:28:08):
who's, like, a younger, youknow, DP who's, like, looking to
do stuff, work, you know, ondifferent projects. I said, I
have a free thing. I'm happy topay you for another project, but
do you wanna, like, just go helpthe help out this this wedding?
You know?
Yeah. No problem. He went andthe and the they were so they
were floored that somebody cameand did a free, you know, video.
It wasn't crazy. I didn't takeadvantage of the of the video

(01:28:30):
guy.
He shot it. He gave the rawfootage. He made, like, a one
minute recap, and it was like,relax. There was no timeline.
There was no pressure.
It was you know, he was coolwith doing it. And so, I I I
mean, I just wanted to, like,help them out. Right? Like,
somebody asked to see if I couldhelp. So in terms

of were to ask what you do, I mean, that's
essentially it. Right? You'reconnecting people. You're you're
organizing. Yeah.
You're putting the the dotstogether here Yeah. And putting
together a project. Right. Evenon a small scale like that,
that's essentially what you'redoing just on a bigger scale.
Right?

CA Green (01:29:00):
Right. And I appreciate you noticing that
because that that even sometimesI struggle with, like,
explaining it to people because,like, I feel like people want,
you know, button pushers. Theywant, you know, people let's
say, especially if you're gonnaspend, you know, upwards of
$1,020,000 dollars, like, youwanna make sure that they're
gonna, like, do the thing. Like,do you wanna make sure that

(01:29:22):
you're gonna walk away withsomething that, like, you're
very happy with? So, like, ifyou have to decide between, you
know, CA who's not gonna beworking the camera, who's not
gonna be editing, who's notgonna be, you know, whatever it
is, and somebody else who isgonna be doing all that stuff
like the kind of one man bandstuff, which is which is great
because you know you're gettingthat thing by paying, let's say,

(01:29:43):
even even probably less thanwhat I would charge because I
need to pay for myself and thecrew member and the editor,
whatever it is, even if it's acould be that I hire the one man
man person to do everything.
Right? So it it really takes, Ithink, what we talked about at
the beginning is, like,understanding the client, like,
in a way that's like, listen.You could go with somebody

(01:30:04):
cheaper. You could go with a ormaybe there's nothing wrong with
that. Right?
That is, like, makes a lot ofsense for a lot of people. But I
think what I bring to the tableis is a little bit more,
in-depth, you you know,listening, understanding, and
then application of, like,saying, like, what makes the
most sense for you here? Youknow, I'm not really of the
mindset of, like, you know, theman with the hammer,

(01:30:26):
everything's a nail. Right? It'skind of like I have an arsenal
of different tools that, youknow, I'm saying, like, maybe
this one requires gorilla glue.
Maybe this one requires a staplegun, like, whatever it is. You
know? And and and and that isthe the value that I think that
I bring to people. But I there'sa you know another saying that

(01:30:47):
you know the the shoemaker'skids don't have shoes. You must
have heard this one

all the time. Yeah.

CA Green (01:30:54):
Yeah. That shoemaker. Of course. Yeah

of course.

CA Green (01:30:56):
So like with me it's the same idea. It's like okay
like how do I how do I conveythis sense of like I know what
I'm doing and I've been down somany different paths of
experience and and projects andand say to somebody I can do
this for you if I haven't doneit for, like, let's say behind
the beard media. If I haven'tdone it for, you know, this

(01:31:18):
client last year, super happythat I was able to get him to
five x his investment with me,but I didn't do, like, a whole
social media strategy. I didn'tdo a whole like, it was it was
really just, like, that videoworked. You know?
And and so can I promise thatfor somebody else? Not always. I
have to be honest with people. Ican't say, like, if I make a two

(01:31:38):
and a half minute video aboutyour story, you will five x your
your investment. I don't know ifthat's true.

Yeah.

CA Green (01:31:45):
You know? Like, I I know that what what works is
telling an honest story, istelling people you know, this
goes back to, like, David Ogilvyand, like, classic, you know,
advertising guys. Tell thepeople what the product is. Tell
the people what the service is.Tell them, like, what does it
do?
You know, like, famously, youknow, M and M's, like, the

(01:32:05):
slogan, like, melts in yourmouth, not in your hands. That's
just what it does. You know?David Ogilvy's got another
famous, you know, line like, theRolls Royce is, like, the only
thing or the the clock inside islouder than the engine. Well,
how did he get that information?
Because he read hundreds ofpages of of notes about Rolls
Royce, and that's what, like, amechanic said. You know? So it's

(01:32:28):
so taking, like, that that andapplying it to to whatever
business it is, whatever servicethat people are providing, and
trying to say, like, okay.What's what's the thing that you
do? Who do you serve?
What can you how can you helpthem? And just telling the
people that. And then just,like, let's be a little creative
with that. You know, we we Iwe've mentioned a few times
about, like, trends that I'm,like, following. And to be

(01:32:51):
honest, on on one hand, I don'treally follow so many trends
because I think they they'rejust simply that.
I think it's just trends. Ithink it's that if I'm if I'm
trying to constantly just dosomething that's, like, in at
that particular moment, youmight get a spike in engagement.
You might get a spike in viewson something that you're putting
out, but I don't think that'sgonna convince somebody to buy.
I don't think it's gonnaconvince somebody to give. I

(01:33:12):
don't think that's gonnaconvince somebody to do
something.
I think that's gonna, you know,do something in terms of
analytics for, like, gettingtraffic, which is part of the
game as well. But to me, that'snot that's not usually the call
to action that I work withpeople on. I want people to,
like, either connect with thebusiness owner that I'm working
with or connect with thebusiness or connect with the
nonprofit and to do something,to, like, become part of that

(01:33:34):
organization or to hire theperson. And, you know, when
you're doing something that's,like, just chasing the trend, I
I think you're missing thataspect. I think you're missing
the whole connection aspect,which I think, you know, if we
were to if I were to analyze mywhole story and, like, you know,
the reason why I went into intoall depth about it was, like, I
I think I bring, like, who I amto the to every project and to

(01:33:57):
every conversation and to, youknow, every interaction, and it
it's about connection.
It's about community. It's abouta sense of belonging. Like,
those are those are, like, deepbased desires that we want as
human beings. So how do we applythat to x y business? How do we
apply that to AV nonprofit?
How do we what are those thingsthat are universal that we can

(01:34:21):
say, this is what we'reproviding and it answers this.
And it it it helps you, youknow, feel like a better human.
It helps you feel like a better,you know, father. It helps you
feel like whatever whatever itis that and, of course, not in a
in a sleazy lying way. If itactually does that, can we just,
like, build it up a little bit?
Mhmm. You know, I was talking toanother nonprofit the other day,

(01:34:42):
and it was you know, it's for,it's, you know, it's for, like,
a particular demographic, andit's about, you know, people who
are supporting that demographicand, like, investors and master
minds and, like, all theseresources and stuff. It's very
obvious that, like, you couldsay you're alone on this
journey. We're here to be yourcommunity. Yeah.
And and then okay. That's thebasic idea. So how do you make

(01:35:05):
that more interesting? How doyou make that, you know, into
fifteen second spot, thirtysecond spot, ninety second spot,
three minute spot? Like, youkinda take, like, all of that,
and then you see, like, this isour message.
This is our our our connection,and then kinda weave that
through everything. You know? SoI I try to approach projects in
a way that's like we have, like,the the hero video. Let's say

(01:35:27):
that's gonna be one to threeminutes, somewhere around there.
Mhmm.
And then on that day, can wealso get five, ten, 30 shorts as
well? Can we also plan on, like,you know, if we're shooting in
this room, let's shoot that way.Let's shoot that way. Let's
shoot that way and get visualvariety. I don't think I'm
reinventing the wheel there.
I think it's just

Yeah.

CA Green (01:35:47):
You know, being efficient and utilizing, like,
the time, the equipment, thepeople, like, everybody who's
there and just saying, like, canwe get more than one asset out
of this? You know? So I talkabout that on LinkedIn. I talk
about, like, you know, contentsystems, but the all these
things have become buzzwords,you know, but it's it's, you
know, it it's just can we get,you know, multiple assets from

(01:36:10):
one shoot day, two shoot days,whatever it is? And then can we
put those out in the world?
You know? I I saw another postthe other day. Because I'm I'm
also on the same train of, like,not scheduling months of
content. Like, I try not to do,like I don't I'll schedule
anything personally. I thinkmaybe I schedule an email here
and there in case I wanted to goon a certain day or time.
Yeah. But I don't schedulecontent really. And I think that

(01:36:31):
scheduling content is isactually, I think, not a great
idea because part of what we'redoing on social media is being
social. So if you're justposting a scheduled post, you
then you're gonna post ascheduled comment that you're
missing out on the whole, like,interaction that can happen
there.

Exactly.

CA Green (01:36:48):
So when you post something, you need to see, does
anyone respond? Does anyone sayanything? Does is there someone
you can respond to? Is theresomeone that is there a comment
that you can make on somebodyelse's thing? And so it's a
little bit more of an engagingexperience.
Now, you know, another trendthat is is is happening, I'm
noticing that, again, is notlike it it actually supports
what I'm saying. Lately, whatI've noticed with, like, the

(01:37:10):
LinkedIn algorithm, not like analgorithm, you know, freak or
pro or whatever, but, likeRight. What I've seen lately is
is LinkedIn is actually showingme things that are not posted
right now. I'm seeing thingsthat are posted twenty hours
ago, three days ago, two weeksago. Yeah.
Right. Why? And why is thathappening? Have you thought

(01:37:30):
about it? So I think it'shappening.
You got an idea. What is it? Iknow it's happening. Because
LinkedIn is valuing quality overquantity. That LinkedIn is gonna
start showing you things thatare actually valuable, that
people were engaging with, thatpeople were actually commenting
with, and they're showing youthat.
So that means that it doesn'tmatter about posting, like, a

(01:37:51):
ton. It doesn't matter aboutposting, like, every single
three times a day. You know?Yeah. That's that's Russian
roulette or not Russianroulette.
That's just roulette. But there

but there's evergreen activity. Right?

CA Green (01:38:02):
Which is super important to have. Right? So
that's where we come kinda comeback to, like, the type of
content that you need to beputting out there should be
evergreen. Should if you have anidea, you know, if there is a
trend that's going on, you know,something really lame like the
ice bucket challenge orsomething, right, And your
company or or you wanna do it,cool. But just don't that's not

(01:38:24):
gonna be the thing that getsyou, that gets you noticed, that
gets a client.
That's, like, a cool thing thatyou wanna do. But you need to,
like, be, you know, reallyfilling up, like, what you're
putting out there is somethingthat people can go back and look
at and say, well, they're doingresearch on you because as a as
an informed consumer, right,people want to feel like they

(01:38:45):
are making the decision to buy,that they're not feeling sold
to, that they're not feelinglike they don't have, excuse me,
they don't have autonomy to picksomething else or say no. Right?
Like, they you know, anotheranother big influence for me is,
like, you know, Chris Voss with,like, the the hostage
negotiators and everything. Oh,yeah.
Like, never split thedifference. So, you know, I

(01:39:06):
follow him on his channels aswell. And, you know, he talks a
lot about, like, making veryclear that any client can say no
at any point. Like, this isn'tlike trying to convince somebody
to do something. It's just likewe're working to, like, make
sense of what you wanna do, andthis is the best way we think we
can do it.

(01:39:26):
Do you not like this idea? Isthis a terrible idea? Like, is
this you know? Like, how do youfeel about that? You know, I saw
another another big influencefor me for for content is
Christo and the future.

Oh, %.

CA Green (01:39:38):
Yeah. So I just saw something the other day, which I
thought was really great, andI'd love to to share it here.
It's like, let's say you're on acall with a client, and you're
talking to them about, like, itsounds like, you know, this
project is between this and thisamount number, or or it sounds
like it's a $20,000 job. Let'sjust figure it out. Sounds like
it's about a $20,000 job.
Does this sound like something,you know, you'd wanna pay for?

(01:39:59):
Now that goes against ChrisVoss' think about asking a yes
question like that. But you wantto just have the client be on
the same page of, like, is thissomething that they're they're
accounting for? Is thissomething that they have the
money for? Is this somethingthat they're budgeting for?
And so in this role playinggame, he was doing the guy who
gets asked that question. Hesays, oh, I have to go and
speak, you know, to anothermember. And Christo is like,

(01:40:19):
great. Why don't we pause theconversation? You go talk to
that person and go back to mebecause I would hate to send you
a proposal that you don't want.
And that was, like, huge for me.It was, like, realizing, like,
the more conversations I canhave with people and the more,
like, open we can be and I Idon't wanna, like, surprise

(01:40:40):
someone with a proposal. I don'twanna surprise somebody with a
quote that's, like, I don'tknow, thousands of dollars more
than what they were expecting orwhatever. Like, just be
transparent. Like, okay.
It sounds like it's between thisnumber and this number. Does
that sound like something that'sin your budget? Or does that
sound totally ridiculous if wewanna go Chris Voss way to get
them, you know, to to to to tosay no. No. No.

(01:41:01):
It sounds good. Right. So thisis all the thing I'm talking
about here is kind of is likethis influences the content that
I try to put out. Try to putout, like, what am I learning
from other marketing people?What am I learning from the
books that I'm reading, from thepodcast I'm listening to, to the
conversations I'm having?
And then, you know, sharing thatwith people. I also wanna make
sure that I'm sharing, like,results that I get Mhmm. For my

(01:41:24):
clients. You know? Like, again,these are all obvious things,
but are we all doing it?
You know? Are we is it somethingthat I'm thinking about, you
know, as a as a framework whenI'm approaching, like, you know,
today, later when I when I go topost? Obviously, I wanna talk
about this podcast. I'm gonnatalk about, like, what I shared,
what I learned from you, and,you know, I did a lot more
talking so much for how much Ilearned from you. But, you

know Well, hopefully, it was a good
exercise to kinda talk through alot of stuff. I'm certainly
learning

CA Green (01:41:49):
a lot, and I appreciate

it. Yeah.

CA Green (01:41:50):
Of course.

Yeah. But, yeah, I mean, I think you have to you
have to create a framework thatbuilds trust by sharing what
you're doing, sharing resultsfrom your clients, share your
expertise. I heard something theother day. I was like, share as
much value as you possibly can,charge for the execution of of
what you do. Right?
And so don't be afraid toovershare or, you know, gatekeep

(01:42:14):
information. Right? Or, like,hey. You know, thinking that you
have the the keys to thekingdom. Right?
You know everything and theyhave to pay you and then you
have to share it. I mean, mostpeople, there's so much
information out there today thatthere's an endless amount of
information. Right? You can goto ChatGPT and figure out

CA Green (01:42:30):
how to do anything. And our deep c Yeah.

Our deep that's the newest thing. Right? But
most people don't have thepatience, the skill, you know,
the resources to actuallyexecute on an idea. Right? Yeah.
A a video, a business, whateverit is. Right?

CA Green (01:42:48):
So When I was when I was, excuse me,

when I

CA Green (01:42:53):
was 19 in, college and I was working on that one
company, I was talking to, oneof these party planners. Like I
said, there was a a a companythat I said, you know, the y of
your logo, it would be cool ifyou, like, dropped an olive into
it. You made that y a martiniglass. Okay. So I told them
that, like, idea, like, in theelevator of, like, with this,
you know, building or whateverwe're going in.

(01:43:13):
And they were like, oh,interesting. Okay. Whatever.
Didn't hire us for the video.Didn't hire us for the logo.
And the next video that they putout had that as their logo.
Like, had the y come in as amartini glass and drop the olive
right in. And as a 19 year old,I was like, oh my gosh. I can't
believe they stole my idea,like, all these things. And I
realized, like, if that's my,like, last greatest idea, this

(01:43:37):
is not the business for me.
Like, this is not, you know so Ijust I learned, like, early on
that, like, if I tell somebodysomething and they wanna steal
it or they wanna use it, like,cool. Like, that's that's fine.
You know, I, I, you know, and toa certain degree,

right.

CA Green (01:43:52):
So I'm happy to get into this actually because, you
know, I know Apple TV's, servantliterally just had a trial and
the other day because they weregetting sued by somebody else's
film that said Emily Shammelon,like, stole the story from her
movie and made Oh, really?Servant. Yeah. So they they lost
the trial. Like, they they wantthey had the jury were watched,

(01:44:14):
like, the first four episodesand said, no way.
It's not the same. So I wasthinking about this because so
what I like to think that I thatI I have, which is a little bit
of an advantage, I think, is isGod. Follow me here. So so I can
do as much as I possibly can. Ican work as much.
I can meet with as many people.I can send a thousand emails if

(01:44:36):
I want. God decides how much Imake. God decides who's gonna
call me back, who's gonna sayyes to my proposals, all these
things. Now that that doesn'tmean listen to what I said.
Right? Doesn't mean I can sitaround and do nothing, and he's
gonna send me money in the mail.I have to do something. Right?
It it says in in the Torah,like, God will bless you in all
that you do.
So we very clearly see that youhave to do something. But does

(01:44:58):
that mean that I need to send10,000 emails in order to do it?
It could be, but it could alsobe that I could send two emails,
and that's the way that godwants to he wants I have no
idea. So the way I look at it isthat, like, if somebody takes my
idea, if somebody takessomething that I've shared and
uses it, whether it works or itdoesn't work, that's not up to

(01:45:21):
me. Mhmm.
What's up to me is doing thework. Like you said, it's not
gatekeeping the information.It's like sharing that with
people and being open. Now isthat a little naive? Is it a
little bit, you know, maybe?
Yeah. But at the same time, oncefor it's something I work on
every day. Like, it's notsomething that I'm just like,
oh, I get it. I wake up in themorning, and I feel like, you

(01:45:42):
know, I have to work on thisconcept every day. But it takes
a lot of pressure off of me.
It kinda relieves me of goinglike, oh, like, it it if I don't
do this, I'm gonna lose out onthat. You know? If business
isn't going so well, then itmust be that I'm like, I should
quit. I should do something. No.
It just means that, like, maybeI have everything I need right

(01:46:03):
then. Maybe I'm gonna get a ablessing from a different
direction, which has happened tous. You know? I can I have a
like I mentioned, the years ofkind of figuring out what I was
doing, we had, you know, aninheritance come in from a
family member that really helpedus in a in a time? Now, god
forbid, you should have peopledie so that way you could
survive financially, but younever really know, like, where

(01:46:25):
something's gonna come from.
This podcast, for example, thiscould be something great for
both of us, or or it could justbe a fun time that you and I are
having. You know? Like, whoknows? But it's not really up to
us, like, what happens. Youknow?
Yeah. And we're just we justhave to do in in Hebrew what's
which is the word, which is,like, our effort. We just have
to put forth the effort. Butwhat's gonna be reaped from

(01:46:48):
that, what we sow is not up tous. Right?
You could put you you put theseed in the ground, what's gonna
come out of the ground? Youthere's no control there.

Yeah. No. I love that concept. I mean, and I
truly believe that. I think, youknow, I think you could call it
karma in a way.
Right?

CA Green (01:47:02):
I mean, that

and that's how I've that's how I've seen this
podcast. Right? It's bybasically giving you a platform
to sit here and tell your storyfor two hours. I'm learning a
little bit, but somewhere,someone's gonna watch this.
Right?
And or, you know, you you mightbe like, hey. I need a I need a
a DP or a production company onthis job, and you're gonna give

(01:47:24):
me a call.

CA Green (01:47:24):
Right? I would love that.

That's what's gonna happen. Right? Where I'm
gonna be like, I need aproducer. You know? I need a
writer.
Here we go. Right.

CA Green (01:47:31):
You

know? So this is just a win win. So I think you
just have to kinda that's beenmy philosophy since day one,
especially with this business.It's just basically going
overboard, if you will, andhelping other people, and and
then it's the universe willrepay you.

CA Green (01:47:46):
So %.

Yeah. Yeah. Yep. Cool. Well, yeah, I really
appreciate the the conversationtoday.

CA Green (01:47:52):
I appreciate it. Well, I mean, I Yeah. You like you
said, you gave me theopportunity and the platform
and, like, I, I know I spoke aton.

No. It's good. I enjoyed it. You have a
fascinating story and, reallyadmire your business and your
your business epic andeverything. So Appreciate it.
Yeah. Looking forward tohopefully

CA Green (01:48:10):
in the future, we'll work

on a project together. So Absolutely. Let's
do it. Yeah. Cool.
Thanks, CA. Appreciate it.Appreciate it.

Intro (01:48:17):
Thanks for listening today. This is an original
production by Shoemaker FilmsLLC. If you enjoyed today's
content, please considersubscribing on YouTube, Apple
Podcasts, Spotify, and whereveryou get your content. Follow us
on Instagram at shoemaker.films.If you're a business either
interested in our services oryou like to be a guest on the
podcast, please get in touch byusing the contact form on our

(01:48:40):
website, shoemakerfilms.com.
Thanks again, and we'll see younext time.

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