Brandon Wainerdi - ATGLive March 7, 2024 - Around the Galaxy

Episode Transcript
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(00:10):
Your yesday to Around the Galaxy.Welcome to Around the Galaxy, the Star

(00:35):
Wars fan talk show. I ampe Fletzer, one of your hosts,
and along with my co host NickMilke, we are ready to take you
on a journey to meet the incrediblepeople behind the Star Wars fandom. Now,
typically we dive deep into an hourlong conversation with a mastermind shaping our
beloved universe. But every Thursday,well we shake things up a little bit
with our live show on YouTube calledATG Live, featuring a special segment that

(00:59):
we call for Connect, where webring in friends from around the Star Wars
Galaxy to join us live. Inthese bite size twenty to twenty five minute
chats, we uncover the adventures andinsights of our fellow travelers through the stars,
exploring the endless wonders of that galaxyfar far away. And this week,
get ready for something special. Today, we are thrilled to have branded

(01:19):
Winerty, the creative powerhouse behind TalkingBay ninety four, joining us. You've
probably also seen his work on StarWars dot Com and Star Wars Insider,
where his passion for the Saga shinesbrighter than a lightsaber Brandon's journey through the
Star Wars tapestry is absolutely incredible andtrust me, folks, you are in
for a ride from some cherished memoriesto some untold tales that'll awaken the force

(01:42):
within you. This interview is boundto leave you wanting more. So whether
you're a season Jedi or just startingyour adventure, grab a glass of blue
milk, find your comfy spot andget ready to be transported to a realm
where the force flows freely. Andhey, don't forget to subscribe and stay
tuned into the Around the Galaxy podcastfor more thrilling tales from the stars.

(02:04):
Now, let's dive into where youcan connect to us and you can go
to our website, the SSW networkdot com. You can follow us on
TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, andTwitter at the SSW Network. You can
also follow us on Twitter at atg A at g cast Easy for Me
to Say. You can support uson Patreon at patreon dot com, slash
the SSW network and leave us avoicemail at five oh four three two one

(02:30):
one five oh one five oh fourthree two one one five oh one.
Make sure to join us so wecan explore the Galaxy together, and now
our conversation with Brandon Winerity. Brandon, Hello, Hello there, how's it

(02:52):
over there? How's it going?Guys? Okay? Am I right?
You're right? Dot Com? Okay? I thought so. I thought so
you got all right? Okay,And if you weren't, I wasn't gon
say. I was like, youknow, that would good. That's one
of those ones you just take it. Yeah, yeah, it was great
to be here. But yes,awesome. It's good to see it man.
Yeah, yeah, yeah. We'vehad you on around the galaxy.
We've had you on podcasts, theWills, We've had you on a couple

(03:14):
of different things, and now we'redragging you into our new adventure adg Live.
But for those that may not knowyou, Brandon, tell us a
little bit about yourself. What's theBrandon waynerity story? Oh? I don't
know what is it? I'm justa huge special features dork, which I'm
sure you all about it. Uh. And so I have a podcast talking

(03:35):
about ninety four whar I interview castand crew of Star Wars And then I
write for Star Wars Insider Why Ido the same thing and star Wars dot
Com and uh, and then I'mI worked on a Star Wars encyclopedia coming
out this fall, So just abunch of a bunch of a bunch of
stuff. But that's me, that'sall I got. I love that.
And we've talked a bunch both online, both offline on shows, you know,

(04:00):
Indiana Jones, Star Wars, behindthe scenes. There's so many ways
our paths overlap. And one ofthe things I love about your show,
and I listen to it every timeyou drop an episode, you really do
focus in on, you know,those creators, whether it's a writer,
a special effects person, like You'vebeen able to have so many neat conversations
things that definitely point directly to behindthe scenes featurettes, that kind of stuff.

(04:25):
So the question is, like us, you're big into behind the scenes,
classic filmmaking, that kind of thing. Do you have a favorite,
especially if it relates to like originalTrilogy behind the scenes story moment somebody you
talk to that just stands out asone of your highlights. Dang, I'm
trying to think of my favorite behindthe scenes stories, and a lot of
them do come from the original originalILM from nineteen seventy seven. Of them

(04:50):
to like did not Know what wasgoing on, and they were you know,
they weren't kind of their jobs.They were making history, but they
were all just a bunch of hithippies, right, and that were just
uh, causing headaches for the studio, which I think is so funny looking
back on it now. And nowall of those people are you know,
heads of their own companies or studiosthat have won how many Academy Awards,
And there's all the stories of thehot tubs or the water slides, or

(05:13):
execs coming up, Light and Magicget any gifts and so go about all
that. Those are always the onesI gravitate back to. And I'm lucky
to have talked to a lot ofthose people and them I pretend I don't
know the story, and if theylead into that story, I'll just sit
there and and uh and listen intentlybecause those are my favorite. That's really
cool and you know you mentioned it, and yeah, these creators have come

(05:38):
through and gone on to become,you know, the superstars in the industry
and remarkable the way uh Lucasfilm industry, Laighton Magic built the industry not just
for star Wars but create I mean, I love the lighton Magic video,
the documentary, and I love theconnection to Star Trek. Like to me,

(05:58):
that's like the that was the gap, right, that was the connector
there at that point. But youknow, it's interesting you have interviewed how
many? How many episodes of TalkingBay you had? That's a great question.
I I don't know. I'll justwell, you've got sixty, one
hundred and sixty okay, we'll callit one's sixty Okay, good, which
is great. But so of yourheroes and you've spoken to a lot of

(06:20):
them, You've had a lot ofgreat guests. What do you think it
is about? And I look,my first interview ever for Star Wars Galaxy
Magazine. I've said this before wasBen Bert. I spoke to Ben Bert
at an Imax opening for the specialeffects movie that he did. What is
it about the Star Wars creators,both the og Ones and the New ones?
Because that the New ones are asaccessible if you will, sort of

(06:43):
what is it about them you thinkthat makes them so excited and or willing
to talk to fans and talk toyou know, people like yourself. I
think about that a lot because Ialso think in my own shoes, right,
if someone came to me and waslike I had, like the interview
you for something you did work tenyears ago. I don't care and I
don't remember, right, it isvery interesting to think about how it's been

(07:06):
mythologized, right, And so Ithink part of it does come from a
sense of making sure their story istold correctly. Right. There's a lot
of fake stories is the wrong word, but there's a lot of again mythologizing
and legendary things that have happened thatmight not be exactly true. But I
think that they're still willing to talkthrough it. But I think now again,

(07:28):
I'm what is that forty years removedfrom when the movies have come out
and I was not alive, andso I have to kind of take a
different lens. And it was somethingI learned early on, and maybe y'all
can relate. But I try notto ask those leading questions anymore and try
to just kind of approach it froma sense of inspiration or a sense of
what got them into the industry thatthey are in, And that has kind

(07:53):
of led the conversation down a muchmore. I think both creatively inspiring life
for me and path for me,but also I think lends it off to
kind of getting to the real heartof who these people are and figure out
what what makes them all uncommon?Right? What is the what is the
line beyond them just working on StarWars in some capacity? What what what

(08:13):
makes them the same kind of creativeI think that's why I loved Talking by
ninety four and why, as Nicksaid, we catch them every single time
is there's a million Star Wars podcaststhat are like, remember that time when
Luke did that thing or or whatever. And there's nothing wrong with that because
there's a lot of really interesting loreconversation, tons of great lower conversations.
But what makes your show so uniqueis that, And what we try to

(08:37):
do with Around the Galaxy is kindof like get to know why and what.
When you did some of your earlierinterviews, what was Let me ask
it this way, similar to thequestion of what's your favorite some of your
favorite stories? What who is theguest that you got that just blew your
mind and had stories not big names, and so unless it was a big

(09:00):
name, but that had stories thatchange the way you looked at Star Wars
and or you know that whole behindthe scenes world that you live in.
That's a great question. I'm tryingto think of who has changed how I
think about Star Wars it goes.I think I always talk about my interview
with Timson because I was very earlyon in the podcast and I was like,

(09:22):
I was at Comic Con. Ikind of threw a Hail Mary to
del Rey and I was able tointerview him backstage and talk through kind of
how he puts together stories and whathe thinks is important for Star Wars.
In a similar vein, there's aman named Bill Slavisak who is kind of
the originator of all the West Endgames source books, and he is maybe

(09:46):
the most unsung hero in current StarWars in terms of what he invented for.
He set the groundwork for then theZon trilogy and everything. That's what
they use as their bible, rightof like are the creatures you can use
here? Are the kind of storybeats that we think are correct. And
he is just a guy, andhe was very passionate, and he had
game experience and he had a verydistinct idea of what it takes to tell

(10:09):
a good story. And by talkingwith him, it really unlocked probably twenty
years worth of Star Wars storytelling forme and really kind of inspired me to
That's why I just amassed the WestEnd Games books because I think that even
now you can go to those.I think and Or is a great example
where it's pretty much just running asa West End Games campaign at this point,
and it's really I go back tohim a lot, and he has

(10:31):
a great book that came out abouthis time too that I read. I'm
all but certain the very first episodeof Talking Bay ninety four I ever listened
to was that Timson episode, andit stood out to me because that was

(10:52):
early certainly in my podcasting Journey StarWars all that stuff growing up as a
you know, kid from the eightieswho grew up on those books, that
kind of stuff. I remember cipicallyyou asking him what are the other stories
you want to write? And oneof them was about you know, Boba
Fett trying to get Han back acrossthe galaxy to Jaba Hut. The other
one was about Obi Wan sneaking acrossthe galaxy to fake his death in order

(11:16):
to disappear after you know, theevents of everything that happened. So that
episode is like, you know,my origin story with Talking About ninety four
for sure, But you had anotherepisode and I'm not gonna remember the name,
and I hate that I don't becausebut it was so good. You
interviewed somebody whose parents also worked inmovies and set design, and they talked

(11:39):
about running around on the James bondsetsat Pinewood as a kid. I can't
remember who that was, but itwas so just Again that's that stuff that
sucks me. And I'm like,people grew up, you know, Pinewood
Studios and you lived in England andlike that was normal, Like my dad
built woulden whatever the hell for StarWars or James Bond or whatever. Like

(12:00):
those connecting stories are the things thatjust reel me in. And you've had
so many of those conversations. Yeah, it's I really don't take it for
granted. It is again like akind of look, I'm looking at my
list right now, just like theepisodes, and it's I don't know how
many years, it's six years,five years. I've been doing this and
it is you know, who knowshow long I do it. But when

(12:20):
I stop, I'll have this kindof like very very important thing for me
in terms of the creative people I'vebeen able to talk to. But also
I hope there's a small aspect ofit that is evergreen that people can constantly
kind of refer back to it forwhoever this might be because some of these
people, a lot of these peoplehave been interviewed a bunch of times,
and some of these people have interviewed, you know, a couple of times,

(12:41):
and so it is kind of creatingsome amount of oral history around Star
Wars, especially especially for these newermovies that maybe didn't get the big,
big Wrensler making of books right.And we just have incredible shows tack books.
But there are some holes there thatI think are interest to fill as
time goes on. And like wewere saying, as there's a lot of

(13:03):
mythologizing and a lot of question marksand theories, and it's better to just
go straight to the source. AndI'm very proud to sometimes be that source
or kind of hunts. So yeah, and you actually you were the catalyst
for me. I think it waslast week tweeting about and thus pushing me
to watch Robodoc. First of all, Holy crap is that great Oc is

(13:28):
so good? And of course weget Phil tipp It in Robotoc and I
saw something today they're looking for animatorsbecause they're going to do robococ too.
They're going to do another season,like it's going to be a whole thing,
So that's fun. And of courseI love Phil Tippett. I you
know, he's at the top ofthe list of people I'd love to talk
to, and you know, somuch of his story that he told in
Light and Magic, you know,talks about the personal connections, not only

(13:52):
the personal struggles, but you knowwhat he went through doing that kind of
stuff. I do want to transitionthis a little bit because while you do
write about these amazing behind the scenesthings, you also are writing for Star
Wars, Star Wars Magazine, starWars dot Com, Insider, star Wars
dot Com. We have so muchstuff coming our way. And one of

(14:13):
the interesting things lately is it feelslike Lucasfilm is willing to step up a
little bit more and shut down crazyrumors about oh, the movie is going
to be called this, or I'mnot asking you to reveal inside secrets.
I don't know all the conversations youget to have with Lucasfilm and those kind
of folks. But from your opinionas a Star Wars fan, what does

(14:37):
it say to you that Star Warsis engaging at least a little bit more
on some of these more crazy outlandishrumors. Oh the movie is going to
be called this, oh the whatever? What does that say for the future
of Star Wars and kind of wherewe are now, because obviously it's been
a rocky road. Yeah, Imean, I think you know, it's
it's been a thing for Star Wars. I mean since the beginning, right,
you have you have Dave Prowse goingout and saying, here, here's

(15:00):
what's going to happen in Star Wars. Here's not what's gonna happen in Partrek's
back, right, And then youthink about when I was going through my
internet days, it was super Snipe. I don't know if you'll remember,
Yeah, yeah, they're super ShadowAnd again it was like, you know,
it's not real, and you knowit's you know, fictional, but
you do kind of it becomes partof the conversation, it becomes part of

(15:20):
how you're viewing Star Wars. AndI do think that it's important as Star
Wars grows and grows and reaches moreand more people that you you shut down
as much as possible. So Ithink I think they're realizing. I think,
on the flip side, a hugeshout out to the Star Wars Social
and Digital team because I think whatthey're doing in terms of outreach with fans
right now is a big thing thathas been missing in a sense. But

(15:45):
also I think is really kind ofcultivating this next generation of fans in a
way that makes Star Wars feel importantand personable. And that's I think even
more important than shutting down anything.It's kind of being being part of a
community and Australian community, and Ithink that, more than anything, is
kind of a great bright beacon forthe future. It's interesting because you're right

(16:07):
about that, and I think thereis you know, I've worked in social
media outside of outside of the StarWars world, and it's interesting because Star
Wars as a community is very strong. I mean, look, how many
freaking podcasts are they? Right?I can't. I'm always surprised when somebody
tells me about a podcast that's greatthat I've never heard of, and I'm

(16:32):
like, oh my god, howhave I been missing that one? I'll
tell you how because there's too manyof them. There's so many of them,
how do we keep up? Butit is interesting because living in the
social media world like we do,we end up we feel like there was
a comedian and I can't remember hisname. It's gonna kill me, and
I should just look it up becauseI referenced it often. But he at

(16:52):
one point said, the thing iswith social media is people forget that we're
famous, right, And what hemeans by that is like, if I
shout out somebody, I mean,how often do we shout out just in
general? Just comment? You know? The best I think is paulse On
Hung Lee, Right. The guyis like when people have something positive to
say about Star Wars and something he'sdone, he's there. He doesn't care

(17:15):
if you have two followers or amillion followers. He's engaging. And so
you're right. I think that socialmedia has He has a clip from Kim's
Convenience For every single thing anyone says, it is remarkable, it is remarkable.
But I think you're right. Ithink the social media space right now,
it kind of you expect to havesome sort of engagement or at least

(17:36):
somebody who's kind of speaking your language. Would you agree with that? Yeah,
And I think it's important to alsokind of figure out what that language
is right, and what does thatsound like on the different platforms and for
the different people, because again,Star Wars is so varied, right,
It's not just one kind of thing. It's not just one kind of movie
or one kind of book, andso it is very important to kind of

(17:56):
like we say, Star Wars isfor everyone, and that's a great T
shirt and a great idea, buthow do you actually in terms of brand
building or in terms of putting itdown on paper? It is. It
is an incredibly tough talent, andthe marketing is is I think the strongest
it's been in a very very verylong time. Yep, yep. And
I would like to say it wasa response to the negativity, but I
think they would do it anyway.And I think, and here's the funny

(18:19):
thing, and tell me if youagree with this statement, the negativity is
a lot more visual or apparent tothe three of us on the screen right
now because of what we do.I think the average fan doesn't see all
the bs and when they get aStar Wars dot Com on Twitter clicking like

(18:40):
to something they said, it's ahuge deal. It is a huge deals
going a long way. Talking aboutninety four has been right. You know,
you're kind of I hate to saythis to you, man, but
you're kind of one of the OgHStar Wars podcasts. And I know you're
you're not a day over twenty twoyears old, so it's impossible that you've

(19:02):
been doing it for this long,but it is one of the longer lasting
shows. So first of all,tell us that you were referencing before,
and I think you're one hundred percentright, And it's kind of the mindset
that we tried to take too whenwe talked to our guests and from different
spots in the creator spaces, likeit's almost a documentation of them at that
moment, right. So what inspiredyou to start talking about ninety four and

(19:26):
what do you attribute the longevity to. I started talking about ninety four it
was right after Last Jedi, andI was like hyped on Last Jedi,
and all I wanted to do wasjust hear more Star Wars. I just
wanted to like kind of be apart of the conversation. And I had
been, I mean growing up,I was going to celebrations. There was
a Star Wars fan days was inPlano, types is where I grew up,

(19:47):
and that was what it was startedby Official Picks, which also ran
Star Wars celebrations, so like it. It was enormous, and so I
was very lucky to kind of havethat behind the scenes knowledge and tech features.
And so then you know, Iwent to college and I stopped going
on the Star Wars dot com messageboards as often, and I stopped going

(20:07):
to the forest and Net every day. And it was also kind of during
a darker time in Star Wars.I was the Eminem's and the NASCAR and
the Rose Rose Bull Parade, right, it was that kind of Star Wars,
which I still had a great kindof memory of that, but the
final kind of part of that isthe Clone Wars or the Clone Wars kind
of the thing going during that time. And so by the time then Last

(20:29):
Shot I came out, I waskind of really full back in with Star
Wars. I was like, whatdid I miss? What if I what
it were? Is the conversation happeningnow? And I heard about blast points
because it was an article on aV club I want to say that was
like the Star Wars podcast dedicated toMinutia or something, and I was like,
this sounds like the Star Wars podcastfor me, and I listened to

(20:49):
probably I want to say thirty orforty episodes of Blast Points between like that
December what fifteenth to like the endof the year and the beginning of the
year started, and I was backhome and I texted my buddy who was
running a website with who's my producer, Jason, and I was like,
I want to start a Star Warspodcast, and we just kind of I

(21:10):
threw out some ideas. I listenedto a lot of Mark Maron and at
the time noticed with Chris Hardwick,and I was like, this doesn't exist.
This one on one Star Wars conversashdoes not exist. And I kind
of just ran with it. AndI was very lucky early on to have
some great guests who introduced me toother great guests. The late Gerald home
it connects me with like pretty muchevery job as palace person, so I'm

(21:30):
forever indebted to him, and andthen it's kind of just gone from there.
And there's part of it that itbeing so long lived quote unquote,
like you said, is a littleuh, what's the word. It's it's
not completely correct because I was doinga weekly cadence for a while and then
sometimes I take a few months offand then somebody's becomes a monthly cadence.

(21:52):
And I think now it's kind oflike whenever I have an opportunity, or
there's a guest or someone reaches out, then that's kind of where I'm at
currently. But I've taken it asif I'm enjoying it, let me keep
going and let me do it asas it happens. And that's also been
a huge weight off my shoulders recently, and that that's part of it too,

(22:14):
I think. I think for alot of us in the creator space,
star Wars can feel like a job, and I feel and there was
part of me that was kind ofgetting burned out. I was watching it
just to like talk about it orwhatever it was. And so being able
to take a step back and alsokind of diving in a little bit more
into the professional fan capacity of itall has been very interesting for me and

(22:37):
very fulfilling in a different way.And that's also given me an opportunity to
kind of again take a step backand again, if there's an interview with
Ben Burt I do for star Warsdot Com in my mind that replaces a
Talking Bay interview with Denvert, thatwould be great. It's like, oh,
that was kind of satiated, right, Or if I'm able to interview
Ian McCaig for Star Wars Insider,then that kind of saciates it in my

(22:57):
mind as a talking base. Allsudden, I'm able to kind of expand
what I'm doing, what I'm interviewing, how I'm writing. And that's been,
all, to be said, areally positive thing for me. And
I'm very grateful that people keep readingor listening or whatever it might be.
And yeah, it's been a lotof fun. I think you lean into

(23:18):
something really important and that Pete andI have talked about. I started podcast
with the Whales in twenty seventeen afterI went to celebration in Orlando. I
think Pete, you started in whateighteen for Around the Galaxy eighteen or nineteen.
Yeah, we're right there in thatsame range. And we've been through
some ups and downs. When pandemichit and I was at home all the

(23:38):
time, like every single Sunday night, you were on one of those episodes,
Brent, like it became you know, all these things. So,
like you said, you get intothat rhythm or that cadence of like I
have to have something every single weekbut there's a difference in like is the
push I have to have a showout right now, or is the push
like have a story to tell andhave a conversation to have. And that's

(24:00):
where I know that when Pete andI kind of teamed up and said,
hey, let's do this together withAround the Galaxy, Like that's the thing,
Like we may not have a brandnew guest, brand new episode every
single week, but it's it's quantity. I mean, it's quality over quantity
at this point, like, let'stell the story. Let's talk. Because
the other thing that you said thatwe really relate to was when the act

(24:21):
when the strikes hit, we didn'tcover you know and or we didn't cover
you know, Ahsoka or whatever Iguess is Soca. It was outure is
so great. Yeah, we didn'tcover that because we wanted to stand in
solidarity with our friends that were workingin those areas. But it actually allowed
me to enjoy it more than Ihave recent other shows that came out because

(24:41):
I watched other shows going how amI going to talk about this on the
show? How am I going togoing to make this into a thing?
And I hear a lot of thatsame thing coming from you, which is
we're still fans at our heart andat our core, but we also get
to, you know, talk aboutit, whether it's for Insider or dot
com or atg or SSW, whateverit is we're doing. It's neat that

(25:03):
we're able to kind of evolve alongwith it and still find the joy,
because I think that's what hopefully we'restill sharing out to the people that are
tuning into what we do. Forsure, for sure, absolutely well,
Brandon, thank you so much forhanging out with us tonight. And I
hope people who may not have listenedfor whatever reason to talk to me ninety

(25:25):
four are going to go and checkit out. If you haven't, where
have you been? Gosh, it'sthe OG now. But for those that
are now, like I got tofind it, tell us about the best
place to find you and to findthe show. Yeah, you can find
me at actually Brandon, which ispretty much anything that's not Star Wars,
and then talk to me ninety fouron every social platform, and talking to

(25:48):
me ninety four dot com is whereyou can find all the episodes and transcripts
and stuff, a bunch of stuff. So yeah, and then keep your
eyes Fieled for that encyclopedia that's comingout. Yeah, I'm peaked. When
is that? Can you give usany details? Well, it's it's October.
I think I just got pushed alittle bit of September. Now it's
October. It's through DK. Alot of great people have worked on it,

(26:14):
Amycau, who else, Dan's there, Kelly Knox, Dan Brooks,
Megan Krause. I want to saya lot of people, and so it's
been a lot. It was afun We did it over the summer really
and big spreadsheets and it was agood time. So I'm excited to be
able to read it and check itout, and I'm sure, I'm sure

(26:34):
we'll talk more about it absolutely well, when it comes out, we'll have
to have you back on so wecan talk in some details with that.
Play Well. Then wraps it upfor this episode of Around the Galaxy.
Thanks to Brandon Monerity and thank youfor listening. If you had fun,
please like, subscribe, share rate, and review it. Head on over
to our website, the SSW Networkto find out how to keep up with

(26:55):
us, find links to our merchand become a patron. The show has
been copiedright twenty twenty four pete inthe seats studios, and our music is
brought to us by the band ApollosGhost

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Brandon Wainerdi - ATGLive March 7, 2024

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