October 28, 2021 • 27 mins
While he was at the top of his craft as an actor in Hollywood, he came up with an idea for a video game live streaming concept. He was shot down all over town and told "no one will ever watch people play video games". Well a few years later, the biggest live streaming conglomerate on the planet, Twitch, was launched to change the world forever. Brett Claywell once again sits with America's Podcaster, Kurt Caceres, to discuss being way ahead of his time in a genre that only now is taking over the mainstream. He has proven that we can start second careers later in life. He has shown that you can be a celebrity and leave it all behind to follow a true passion. He produced live script readings of The Rocky Horror Picture Show, Goonies and Dazed and Confused. During the pandemic, he was able to assemble celebrities, from Sean Astin to Jason Alexander and even Rosario Dawson. Brett is an example that if you no longer wish to be someone's puppet, it's time to turn yourself into the puppet master. Take your career into your own hands and create what you want. He says, "believe in yourself or no one else ever will".
XX
Please Follow and Subscribe to the Podcast.
Email: podcast@provenanceroom.com
Youtube Channel:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCRF42UoBNLo9DXv5BYQQCqg
Host Instagram:
https://www.instagram.com/kurt_caceres/
Podcast Twitter:
https://twitter.com/wyna_podcast
Podcast Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/What.Your.Name.Again/
Podcast Instagram:
https://www.instagram.com/wyna.podcast/
Production Company Instagram:
https://www.instagram.com/provenance_room/
Website:
https://www.provenanceroom.com/wyna
Please Follow and Subscribe to the Podcast.
Email: podcast@provenanceroom.com
XX
Please Follow and Subscribe to the Podcast.
Email: podcast@provenanceroom.com
Youtube Channel:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCRF42UoBNLo9DXv5BYQQCqg
Host Instagram:
https://www.instagram.com/kurt_caceres/
Podcast Twitter:
https://twitter.com/wyna_podcast
Podcast Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/What.Your.Name.Again/
Podcast Instagram:
https://www.instagram.com/wyna.podcast/
Production Company Instagram:
https://www.instagram.com/provenance_room/
Website:
https://www.provenanceroom.com/wyna
Please Follow and Subscribe to the Podcast.
Email: podcast@provenanceroom.com
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
Ladies and gentlemen, please take yourseats. The show is about to begin.
Very often here on What Your NameAgain the podcast, we have men
and women who come in and inspireus, open our eyes to what's possible,
(00:24):
move us, tell us amazing stories, and that's what life's about.
Telling other stories so that you canlook at your own and know that you
can accompass anything you want. Thisman, my guest Brett Claywell, I'm
part two of What Your Name inthe podcast with America's podcaster Hercus Sara's is
unlike no other. He was atthe top of his game in Hollywood as
(00:44):
an actor, was just exploding asto become an a lister. But things
things changed. He saw his lifedifferent. He wanted to go on new
ventures. He followed a passion andhe was way ahead of his time.
Everyone's heard of live streaming and twitch. Who is the king of the live
streaming world. He was creating thoseconcepts decades before, and now his companies
(01:08):
are at the forefront. He isproof that you can follow your dream and
make the reality. He retired asthe comboss actor in Hollywood to do such
as that, and here we arewith him today. I'm Part two,
Watch Your Name We Give the podcastwith my co host Ellie Soja and just
Cassandra. We love that you're backhere with us today. Enjoy this ride.
(01:34):
On part two, we'll see onthe other side. I mean I
was always auditioning and not landing jobs. It's like, you look at my
resume, it's not like I blewlike crushed it, you know. I
just I don't know. I justI think I was more in love with
living my life than like fame,So I didn't. I was just enjoying
(01:57):
the moment. And I think beingpresent is something we struggle with nowadays.
It wasn't as you know, wedidn't have social media, cell phones,
video like things weren't. We hadprivate so you could really just be in
the moment. And you know,when I was in New York every night,
I was, I mean it waslike I was. You name a
(02:23):
person during that time in my lifein New York and I was hanging out
with them, Yeah, you know, going to clubs with like Leo and
Justin Timberlake and Rihanna and like likebecause that my circle. The people I
hung out with were like the VIPhosts in those cities. So I'd be
like, what's going on there?Like come here, and you'd come there
and it'd be different people who werejust in New York that night. So
(02:43):
it was I was just living thislife. And when I was in La
and Um, I was just doingso much that life was I was enjoying
life um. And I think that'sone thing that can happen as an actor,
is you get lost in that.You know, the the beauty of
the life um overrides the work.So I did have the work ethic,
(03:06):
but I think there have been timeswhere my work ethic was less than maybe
the opportunity called for. So Ithink, if honestly, to be really
honest, I think if I hada better work ethic, i'd probably have
a different career. But also Isay, this is what tomorrow, and
I always I wouldn't have my child, I wouldn't have my fiance, I
wouldn't have my life I have now, and I wouldn't have created some of
(03:29):
the things I created. So everythinghas a purpose. Yeah, you know
I could I could look at thatand say I missed opportunities. You know,
I played basketball with Michael B.Jordan for years. No, so
so like my you guys know onthe basketball court think, yeah, it's
(03:51):
you know, everything in life happensfor I'm a firm believer. Um.
We don't control the current. Wejust have a rudder, right, So
I'm not controlling the direction my lifeis moving in. I can just avoid,
you know, I can control mylittle boat. But the current is
the current. I always I alwaysliking it too um. And I'm kind
(04:12):
of losing myself in this, butlike, I always liking it too um.
Like like a leaf in a stream. I grew up in, like
North Carolina role I would you know, remember being a kid and just watching
this leaf go down this stream?Yeah, you know, and whirlpools.
Yeah, and you follow it.But if you're that leaf, it feels
so chaotic. You know, you'rerunning into rocks and your whirlpools and flipping
upside down. But if you're thelittle ten year old kid watching it,
(04:35):
you hear the piece of stream,you hear the birds, it's just floating.
That's It's that life perspective. SoI've been in those whirlpools and I've
felt them. But when I steppedback and look at my life as a
whole, I love my story.Like it'd be great to be Sebastian Stamp.
Yeah, I'm sure that's great.Um his name. Every time I
(04:55):
hear his name and like the backof my hair because because I just see
that, it is like my chooserand adventure that's the other direction. But
also I love my life yea.And I love what my life is and
what I've been able to make anddo and accomplish. And I feel like
I'm only beginning still. Yeah,well okay, so speaking of that,
let's get to so he retired fromacting a while back, and and you
(05:18):
started creating business you started going intoNow did you start producing first run Away
or I wouldn't even call it producing. I had this idea. I've been
gaming since I was young. Yeah, I loved gaming. This was two
thousand and eight. I had anarchitecture background. I had an idea for
a game for a show. Neverhadn't produced anything. UM called sticks sti
(05:43):
ks like joystick. So it's whatin the hood, like what everybody would
call. You want to get onthe sticks? Yeah, you want to
play video games. So it wascelebrity athletes playing video games against each other
for charity. We one of myproducers that was on a film, had
started doing charity events and he hadfunds to do an event. I was
like, let's do this as anevent. I'll invite all the people I
(06:05):
know. UM we had we Iwas building out this as a show.
So I with one of the guysI went to school with UM. We
actually built and designed a three Dmodel of UM what we called it a
multipurpose entertainment facility. It was tobe built in Vegas. It was an
entire arena that had screens up front, had two guys on platforms, and
(06:28):
it was for it was for likedifferent sporting games. Yeah. Two thousand
and eight, two thousand and nine, I'm going into William Morris, I'm
going into CIA and I'm saying,hey, we wanted pitching this. Yeah,
and they literally told me nobody willever watch people play video games.
Oh wow. So we did thefirst event in January January eleventh, the
twenty eleven UM we had Michael Strahan, uh Snoop was there, Chris Evans,
(06:55):
zac Afron, We're on entertainment tonight, E all these different things.
Did this this event and ended upstarting to build a company around that.
Still couldn't get anybody to believe itwas content. Yes, we built the
company called Sticks Sticks Gaming. Westarted to do events. We got our
(07:15):
first funding from Todd Wagner, whichwas Mark Cuban's partner. I hosted,
I produced Nick Sparks's celebrity golf tournament. Um, Todd Wagner happened to be
there. And this is like thesame as everything else. It's success as
preparation meets opportunity. We had doneall this prep, we had the arena,
we'd done the events at at hishouse. On Sunday, as we're
(07:35):
about to do an auction, Nickis like, hey, I wanted you
to meet this guy, this ToddWagner. Um, you should tell him
about your game, your sticks thing. And I'm like, uh. We
went to his office at five minutesright before an auction where I like pulled
out a laptop, showed him asizzle, said hey this is and get
like cave a pitch. No waywas prepared. They ended up being our
(07:57):
first investors. Yeah, so welaunched Sticks Gaming. So this is a
great example of UM finding starting anew career with something you're passionate about.
This is a great lesson. Youjust didn't go start something random. You
start something because you had a passionfor gaming's it's that I think acting trained
(08:18):
me on, Like no is onlyno to that person. It doesn't have
to be no to me. Yeah. So the amount of people, like
the biggest agencies in the world aretelling me no. Yeah, Now some
of those same people I talked to, Like I sent to one of the
guys that see he's ahead of presidentof sports at CIA. Yeah, because
(08:39):
a friend of Delta took me into meet him and he was one of
the guys that said no. AndI sent him the arena like a few
months ago, just the image ofit and just remember this, and he
like completely like this long, likelike you were completely right. You were
ahead of your time. We designedthe world's first esports arena, is what
people say. It just never wasbuilt ahead of your time. Yeah.
(09:01):
The amazing thing about that no tome is that we watch people play sports
on television every day every week.You know. It's it's like, it's
not like this concept that's completely outsideof our understanding. We literally watch people
play games every single day. Yeah, we do get Well, what people
(09:22):
need to understand is Hollywood is they'rethey're scared of everything that's they're followers.
They're not Yes, someone else sawus to do it first, and when
this becomes successful, then they're allin. But they're so scared to take
risk. That's why you see remakesof things over and over again, over
and over, because they're safe.And you have a great quote I saw
somewhere you said by Henry David throw. To be great is to be misunderstood.
(09:46):
And that's the thing is because thoseare people that take risks because no
one understands you yet and tell eventuallysomeone else. I put to five years
of architecture school and then I tellmy family, Oh, yeah, I'm
gonna go act. Yeah, whatdid you just do? All exactly definitely
not. I quit acting and Ifired my I got rid of my agent
(10:09):
and my manager and went to dothis and my managers this is one of
the things. My manager was like, we're basically we're not going to support
you doing Yeah, And I'm like, they didn't get it. Yeah,
they probably like it's now it's becomethe biggest you know, gaming industry makes
more than film and music and televisioncombined. Yes, So before I was
an actor, always ahead, youlike, ever since I know people don't
(10:31):
know how I always talked about thingsthat have then come two or three years
after people don't. People don't knowthat because you are to ahead. Yeah,
and it's like that's what that's whatthey say is like I was five
years too far ahead gaming stuff.So we were building what's probably known now
as Phase Clan. Yeah, backthen, Phase Clan is this huge conglomerate
of content and influencers and it's allaround gaming. Billion dollar company. But
(10:56):
that's really what we're building because thatjust shows you though you're you're you're,
you're like that, and eventually theright things are going to pop at the
right time, and someone's gonna say, yes, I believe in that,
because that just shows you're already prophetic. You know what you're doing. What
acting is at its core, Peoplebelieve acting is the acting to me,
(11:16):
is more about listening than it isabout speaking. People think acting is when
you say a line and that's acting, But acting is actually about listening and
it's hearing and being present and like, you know, if you pick up
on what others are giving you,you're going to respond more honestly, more
purely in them. And I thinkthat is one of the skills that I've
(11:39):
been able to, honey, sonow I listen to not just other people's
voices, but maybe listen to what'shappening in the world. Yeah, and
then Twitch launched in twenty eleven.I hosted E three in twenty eleven,
so I met a ton of peoplein the gaming industry and really started to
pull myself further into that. Andthen UM, Twitch launched in two thousand
(12:01):
and eleven, and we, asthe founders, were UM again. I
guess understood that there was that directionto take, so sticks ultimately was then
UM. We pivoted, reimagined,relaunched to tilt defy, which has become
you know, so it's it's alie, it's a streaming. So tilt
(12:22):
defy is the world's largest crowdfunding platformfor live streaming, UM, where the
official charity partner of Twitch YouTube TikTokUm, has raised hundreds of millions of
dollars for charity UM over the lastSince twenty fourteen, UM have about twenty
five hundred charities on the platform.Now, every every major YouTuber streamer they
(12:46):
used, they use tilt to fivefor the donation mechanisms, but it also
created tools so that it turns anyIt makes every live stream more interactive through
donations. So when you donate,your name will pop up on the screen.
Y, the the entertainer, thecreator can interact live with the donors.
You can influence what's happening on thescreen. You can donate to get
(13:09):
a T shirt. You can donateto make UM, the the entertainer,
the talent on screen do something.Or you can donate to choose UM their
character in a game they're playing.And we've branched out to do so much
more. We do music, andyou know, the the NFL uses it,
you know it. It's it's becomesuch a powerful um tool for for
(13:33):
charitable and it's only going to keepgetting bigger. Streaming is still it's it's
getting bigger and bigger, especially withyou know the way the world's change now.
But it's still a new thing.It's only ten years old. I
mean I was streaming from the beginningon Twitch. I still stream stuff and
do charities all the time. Andso I used to stream myself playing video
games and and it's it's you're again. There you are, You're you're You're
(13:56):
at the head of the curve stillbecause you know, it's still gonna get
bigger, and you've got this TiltifyTiltify right yea, and that's going to
be in the game for the longrun because that whole genre is only going
to keep growing. And so that'samazing. Brands and the Fords have caught
up and more, you know,more mainstream talent is you know, live
(14:16):
streaming was niche, gaming was niche. Now it's no longer niche. Now
it's mainstream. Brands are getting attached. Um. They want to do things
for good and where you know,tilt Ify is the premium choice for that
for UM and and building new tools, you know, tilt if. I
just had a just completed a seriesA in in November of last year.
(14:37):
October of last year, had anotherUM six point five million dollars to continue
to build the company out. Myother company, Humblehouse, that I just
launched in twenty nineteen. We justproduced UM. We did a lot of
the live script readings. UM.Yeah, I wanted to go into that.
You guys did UM the Rocky Horror. So yeah, we did spinal
Tap and it had Lance bast TimCurry who from the original, and Rosario
(15:03):
Dawson. You guys did Spinal Tap, a Goonies, Goonies and you guys
did the Days and Confused. Ididn't even know that. We did Friday
Night Days and Confused, spinal Tapand Rocky Horror for the Democratic parties of
different states right before the election.So for those of you listening, the
Goonies one was like a that wasfor Junion charities. They all were they
(15:24):
benefiting No Kid Hungry Charity. Andthen the Rocky Horror Show. How did
that go? Was that? Thatwas on Halloween for Wisconsin. Democrats UM
raised eight hundred plus thousand dollars forWisconsin right before the election. We had
eighteen different musical performances. Wasn't Wisconsina swing state this year? We did
(15:45):
Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin, Texas. You guys might have had a hand
and like things. So on CNNon Inauguration Night they were talking about the
script readings and Jake Tapper said speakingabout ours specifically, they didn't say by
name, our company or anything,but said it was the most impressive use
of Hollywood he's ever seen talking Solike Rocky Horror was only available for people
(16:08):
that donated to Wisconsin. So wehad the Grateful Dead did a song we
had Mike McCready from Pearl Jam dida song, Um, David Arquette.
We did it in a partnership withpanteras Ara Productions. Who's I mean we
had so much talent Matthew McConaughey,did you know Days and Confused? We
had uh, Mark Hamill and FrightNight with uh um with Chris Christopher s
(16:30):
Randon from Princess Right. We haduh you know, we had Rob Ryan
Or and Billy Crystal and all ofthem for UM and Christopher Guest for spinal
Tap. We had you know,we had Tim we might have had I
mean Tim Curries. It's so greatthat these because this could be the future
for fundraising. Well then it's whatdefinitely what we were told. We kind
(16:52):
of invented a new genre. Yea. We call it livestream theater because for
Goonies we had the original score.Ye we had we played clips from the
movie. We had sound effects likegunshots and sirens. Yeah, you know
we had the score underneath them.They use they use props. So Sean
aston always had his inhaler and youcould donate to own Sean Astons inhaler.
(17:15):
So um, you know, kindof doing NFTs before NFT, Yes,
because that's why we would use anNFT for that. If that was,
you know, six months from now, trying to figure out just creative way
you guys do the technical as well, or do we do everything you do?
So you come in and set thewhole stree to Z. We preproduce,
we produce. I directed Goonies.Like Goonies was taking an eighty eight
(17:36):
scene film. I watched it atleast seven times, and I'm breaking that
out into in this moment, thesethree characters are unseen, and then two
seconds later, these two characters areon scene, and five seconds later these
four characters are seen and there's agun shot, and so we take that.
I took that eighty eight scene filmand broke it out into four hundred
(17:56):
cuts. That's all in a spreadsheetthat we had thirty actors on a zoom
and in real time we're literally cuttingfor who's on screen from these actors to
these actors. These actors easy becausethe one thing that's great about live streaming,
and this is what Ellie's saying,is like in twenty nineteen, I
was at her house. She helpedme build the first deck for Homblehouse oh
yeah, and I was like,live streaming is about to explode. Predicted
(18:19):
everything exceptable pandemic. But that's whatmade live streaming explode. So when the
pandemic hit, it's the only solutionpeople had to create content. We probably
worked at Humblehouse. We probably workedwith more a list talent than any other
production company in the world last yearbecause we were a remote solution. Matthew
McConaughey was on Zoom in Texas.Yeah, Rob Reiner's on Zoom from his
(18:41):
They're all where they're at their homesand they are acting. We had them
in full costume, so they werefully performing. Jason Alexander and Rocky Horror
is the most amazing performents nobody saw, Like we're sitting on some content.
Yeah, that's just brilliant that nobodysaw. You know, enough people saw.
We raised millions of dollars, butyou know it's we did this in
(19:03):
a bubble, and Jason was singingand performing and just Rotorio Dawson in Rocky
Horror her reveal, she slid downthe banister on a zoom like it's like,
you know, we had the realum and I'm blanking on her name
and I'm so offended. But fromum from Rocky Horror. She was in
(19:26):
Australia. Yeah, so she wasdoing this at like three in the morning
and Seth Green was in full costume. Yeah, you know as uh as
with the blonde hair of the longhair opens the door. I know,
any Rocky Horror fan's gonna hate meright now. They're hardcore. Really,
Oh my god. It was brilliantand like, so we could do this
(19:47):
with any films. Yeah, wedefinitely would love to do livestream theater as
a series these or one of thethings we're about to announce. Um,
we're green lighting a series called ThePoetry Lounge, which is what Dante Basco,
who's Rufio and yeah he's he's hadthe longest running poetry lounge in the
history of the United States, hasbeen going for twenty three years. At
had a theater at Fairfax High Schoolright there on Fairfax there. Yep.
(20:12):
Yeah, they would have two hundredor so poets come in there. It
was the it was the foundation forDeaf Poetry Jam back in the day.
Um, so we're reinvigorating that asone of our series to do a weekly
live stream poetry to you. Knowsomething that you can address. You know,
it's it's the type poetry can addressanything happening, what's happening in Israel
(20:33):
right now, or the Derek Chauvinyou know um conviction or you know poetry
is are really strong. That that'sthe type of content we want to do.
We want to green light things thattraditional media won't green light. And
whether or not it's raising money forcharity, or whether or not it's making
people feel better about themselves, orwhether or not it's communicating a positive message,
that's what we want to do atHumble House. But see, this
(20:56):
is inspiraceable because now people are seeingwhat you can do beyond just being an
actor, Like, now you justmade actings sound like well that was that
was where I felt when I steppedaway, I was like, I am
tired of being a puppet. I'mready to be a puppet master exactly like,
and I'm not gonna treat my talentlike puppets. Yes, So the
content we create a Humble House,we create partnerships with our talent where we
(21:18):
co own the content. Yeah,and we help them build. We take
the model that twitch streamers and YouTubershave been doing for a decade building their
empires from their basement. Yes,we're gonna help talent do that. Yeah,
So you're no longer um an indenturedservant to the content you're helping create.
You're you're now in power part ofit. We're gonna, we're gonna,
(21:40):
we're gonna help you mold the clayfor whatever your vision is as talent.
This is what's so beautiful of thisis you're doing good for the world
too. You're not just creating abusiness. You're not just being creative and
out there to make money. You'reactually giving back to the world. And
that's the best thing about all ofthis is while creating your little empire here
and being creative yourself, you're you'redoing charities. You're doing good for the
(22:03):
world, and that's why we're here. People lose sight of that so often
we just get people get selfish andthey create something, but they never give
back anything in return. It isthe first time in history, you know,
when when radio was invented, whenum, you know, the first
television was invented, when silent movies, we go to films, television,
(22:25):
podcast, anything, it's a monologue. Live streaming is the first medium that
is global and it's dialogue. WhenI type in the chat, the creator,
the content creator, the entertainer.On the other side, the talent
can see that and can respond inreal time. So it is the first
tool where I can have dialogue witha global audience. Yeah, and a
(22:47):
lot of our streams. We didGame for Paulum was one of the first
events we did with TILTAFI that wasreally big. It's a charity for Paul
Walk it was. It was forright after Paul Walker pass. Yeah.
Um, that's how John who's afantasy football cause he was in Furious seven,
met Cody Cold. They wanted todo something to honor Paul. Not
(23:07):
many people knew that Paul and Vinwere both big gamers. They used to
play World of Warcraft and like sneakback to their trailer while they were filming
to try to level up ahead ofthe other. Yeah. Um, So
we created game for Paul because theywere like, that's the way to honor
him, and we got everybody togetherraise We did it over four years.
We raised three quarters of a milliondollars over four years. About Well,
congratulations on your transition from acting tothis. You're you just started. I
(23:32):
mean you got so much to do. Thank you for that. Well,
this is the last question that wasbeautiful. Thank you. If you can
go back in time for two minutesand face your third or fourth grade self,
what would you tell him? Oh, um, you're gonna be able
to take these glasses off one day. Did you really glasses? Oh?
(24:00):
My god? Just said, ohyeah, I had cook bottle glasses.
I didn't really see. I realizedhow shallow the world was in seventh grade
where I showed up the first weekof seventh grade and I had glasses and
it was no. It was actuallymiddle of seventh grade because in the same
week I got contacts and I madethe basketball team, and every girl all
(24:22):
of a sudden started talking to you. I was like, oh, y'all
some shallows all about the last safedude, you pa if you have to
put glasses on now? Do youhave PTSD from No? No, I
mean it's so long ago. ButI had the same girlfriend from eighth grade
to my freshman year of college.I didn't get it. That was like,
(24:45):
Also, there weren't any white girlswhere I went to school. It's
my thing, and that was whatI was now and now he's now SAgs
Yeah, thankfully I got all thatout. Me and my fiance. We
both had a really good life.We're cool, like we're good. Yeah,
that's it. Yeah, third andfourth grade geez. I mean I
I just think, like, believein yourself or nobody else ever will.
(25:11):
Yes, that is the most importantthing. No matter what you love,
no matter what you care about,no matter what you're passionate about, just
love that and be confident in that, because the haters will fade away,
the love and the passion never will. So stay in that. And you're
making me crying now. I feellike I'm at the end of it.
(25:36):
Yourself such an inspiration. I coulddo it, dude. Great, Thank
you so much. I appreciate yourhonesty and sincerity and being open to sharing
all this with us and people.I know people are going to be moved
by this and they're gonna learn alot. And Ellie was right, man,
she said, this guy's voice needsto get out there. This guy
(25:56):
needs to be heard. People needto know who he is. And she's
so right, because what you're doingthe world needs that. And you're here.
So you you you've you've arrived,but you've really arrived, and it's
time to like take it and andand taking it but giving it and just
spreading it all over the planet.We have Elie, so Joe, we
got this, Sandra, try justsay thank you, Brett. I'm always
(26:21):
continually inspired by you, like alwaysalways as love you so much. Oh
that's beautiful. Thank you. Ithink guys we're all going to start getting
emotion. Put some sad music toin this this episode This is America podcast
kurtas Sarah's on What You Never Getthe podcast. Thank you so much for
appreciate It's a pleasure. Brother Brett. All Right, I love you.
(26:45):
You have a good night, everybody. B
Ladies and gentlemen, please take yourseats. The show is about to begin.
Very often here on What Your NameAgain the podcast, we have men
and women who come in and inspireus, open our eyes to what's possible,
(00:24):
move us, tell us amazing stories, and that's what life's about.
Telling other stories so that you canlook at your own and know that you
can accompass anything you want. Thisman, my guest Brett Claywell, I'm
part two of What Your Name inthe podcast with America's podcaster Hercus Sara's is
unlike no other. He was atthe top of his game in Hollywood as
(00:44):
an actor, was just exploding asto become an a lister. But things
things changed. He saw his lifedifferent. He wanted to go on new
ventures. He followed a passion andhe was way ahead of his time.
Everyone's heard of live streaming and twitch. Who is the king of the live
streaming world. He was creating thoseconcepts decades before, and now his companies
(01:08):
are at the forefront. He isproof that you can follow your dream and
make the reality. He retired asthe comboss actor in Hollywood to do such
as that, and here we arewith him today. I'm Part two,
Watch Your Name We Give the podcastwith my co host Ellie Soja and just
Cassandra. We love that you're backhere with us today. Enjoy this ride.
(01:34):
On part two, we'll see onthe other side. I mean I
was always auditioning and not landing jobs. It's like, you look at my
resume, it's not like I blewlike crushed it, you know. I
just I don't know. I justI think I was more in love with
living my life than like fame,So I didn't. I was just enjoying
(01:57):
the moment. And I think beingpresent is something we struggle with nowadays.
It wasn't as you know, wedidn't have social media, cell phones,
video like things weren't. We hadprivate so you could really just be in
the moment. And you know,when I was in New York every night,
I was, I mean it waslike I was. You name a
(02:23):
person during that time in my lifein New York and I was hanging out
with them, Yeah, you know, going to clubs with like Leo and
Justin Timberlake and Rihanna and like likebecause that my circle. The people I
hung out with were like the VIPhosts in those cities. So I'd be
like, what's going on there?Like come here, and you'd come there
and it'd be different people who werejust in New York that night. So
(02:43):
it was I was just living thislife. And when I was in La
and Um, I was just doingso much that life was I was enjoying
life um. And I think that'sone thing that can happen as an actor,
is you get lost in that.You know, the the beauty of
the life um overrides the work.So I did have the work ethic,
(03:06):
but I think there have been timeswhere my work ethic was less than maybe
the opportunity called for. So Ithink, if honestly, to be really
honest, I think if I hada better work ethic, i'd probably have
a different career. But also Isay, this is what tomorrow, and
I always I wouldn't have my child, I wouldn't have my fiance, I
wouldn't have my life I have now, and I wouldn't have created some of
(03:29):
the things I created. So everythinghas a purpose. Yeah, you know
I could I could look at thatand say I missed opportunities. You know,
I played basketball with Michael B.Jordan for years. No, so
so like my you guys know onthe basketball court think, yeah, it's
(03:51):
you know, everything in life happensfor I'm a firm believer. Um.
We don't control the current. Wejust have a rudder, right, So
I'm not controlling the direction my lifeis moving in. I can just avoid,
you know, I can control mylittle boat. But the current is
the current. I always I alwaysliking it too um. And I'm kind
(04:12):
of losing myself in this, butlike, I always liking it too um.
Like like a leaf in a stream. I grew up in, like
North Carolina role I would you know, remember being a kid and just watching
this leaf go down this stream?Yeah, you know, and whirlpools.
Yeah, and you follow it.But if you're that leaf, it feels
so chaotic. You know, you'rerunning into rocks and your whirlpools and flipping
upside down. But if you're thelittle ten year old kid watching it,
(04:35):
you hear the piece of stream,you hear the birds, it's just floating.
That's It's that life perspective. SoI've been in those whirlpools and I've
felt them. But when I steppedback and look at my life as a
whole, I love my story.Like it'd be great to be Sebastian Stamp.
Yeah, I'm sure that's great.Um his name. Every time I
(04:55):
hear his name and like the backof my hair because because I just see
that, it is like my chooserand adventure that's the other direction. But
also I love my life yea.And I love what my life is and
what I've been able to make anddo and accomplish. And I feel like
I'm only beginning still. Yeah,well okay, so speaking of that,
let's get to so he retired fromacting a while back, and and you
(05:18):
started creating business you started going intoNow did you start producing first run Away
or I wouldn't even call it producing. I had this idea. I've been
gaming since I was young. Yeah, I loved gaming. This was two
thousand and eight. I had anarchitecture background. I had an idea for
a game for a show. Neverhadn't produced anything. UM called sticks sti
(05:43):
ks like joystick. So it's whatin the hood, like what everybody would
call. You want to get onthe sticks? Yeah, you want to
play video games. So it wascelebrity athletes playing video games against each other
for charity. We one of myproducers that was on a film, had
started doing charity events and he hadfunds to do an event. I was
like, let's do this as anevent. I'll invite all the people I
(06:05):
know. UM we had we Iwas building out this as a show.
So I with one of the guysI went to school with UM. We
actually built and designed a three Dmodel of UM what we called it a
multipurpose entertainment facility. It was tobe built in Vegas. It was an
entire arena that had screens up front, had two guys on platforms, and
(06:28):
it was for it was for likedifferent sporting games. Yeah. Two thousand
and eight, two thousand and nine, I'm going into William Morris, I'm
going into CIA and I'm saying,hey, we wanted pitching this. Yeah,
and they literally told me nobody willever watch people play video games.
Oh wow. So we did thefirst event in January January eleventh, the
twenty eleven UM we had Michael Strahan, uh Snoop was there, Chris Evans,
(06:55):
zac Afron, We're on entertainment tonight, E all these different things.
Did this this event and ended upstarting to build a company around that.
Still couldn't get anybody to believe itwas content. Yes, we built the
company called Sticks Sticks Gaming. Westarted to do events. We got our
(07:15):
first funding from Todd Wagner, whichwas Mark Cuban's partner. I hosted,
I produced Nick Sparks's celebrity golf tournament. Um, Todd Wagner happened to be
there. And this is like thesame as everything else. It's success as
preparation meets opportunity. We had doneall this prep, we had the arena,
we'd done the events at at hishouse. On Sunday, as we're
(07:35):
about to do an auction, Nickis like, hey, I wanted you
to meet this guy, this ToddWagner. Um, you should tell him
about your game, your sticks thing. And I'm like, uh. We
went to his office at five minutesright before an auction where I like pulled
out a laptop, showed him asizzle, said hey this is and get
like cave a pitch. No waywas prepared. They ended up being our
(07:57):
first investors. Yeah, so welaunched Sticks Gaming. So this is a
great example of UM finding starting anew career with something you're passionate about.
This is a great lesson. Youjust didn't go start something random. You
start something because you had a passionfor gaming's it's that I think acting trained
(08:18):
me on, Like no is onlyno to that person. It doesn't have
to be no to me. Yeah. So the amount of people, like
the biggest agencies in the world aretelling me no. Yeah, Now some
of those same people I talked to, Like I sent to one of the
guys that see he's ahead of presidentof sports at CIA. Yeah, because
(08:39):
a friend of Delta took me into meet him and he was one of
the guys that said no. AndI sent him the arena like a few
months ago, just the image ofit and just remember this, and he
like completely like this long, likelike you were completely right. You were
ahead of your time. We designedthe world's first esports arena, is what
people say. It just never wasbuilt ahead of your time. Yeah.
(09:01):
The amazing thing about that no tome is that we watch people play sports
on television every day every week.You know. It's it's like, it's
not like this concept that's completely outsideof our understanding. We literally watch people
play games every single day. Yeah, we do get Well, what people
(09:22):
need to understand is Hollywood is they'rethey're scared of everything that's they're followers.
They're not Yes, someone else sawus to do it first, and when
this becomes successful, then they're allin. But they're so scared to take
risk. That's why you see remakesof things over and over again, over
and over, because they're safe.And you have a great quote I saw
somewhere you said by Henry David throw. To be great is to be misunderstood.
(09:46):
And that's the thing is because thoseare people that take risks because no
one understands you yet and tell eventuallysomeone else. I put to five years
of architecture school and then I tellmy family, Oh, yeah, I'm
gonna go act. Yeah, whatdid you just do? All exactly definitely
not. I quit acting and Ifired my I got rid of my agent
(10:09):
and my manager and went to dothis and my managers this is one of
the things. My manager was like, we're basically we're not going to support
you doing Yeah, And I'm like, they didn't get it. Yeah,
they probably like it's now it's becomethe biggest you know, gaming industry makes
more than film and music and televisioncombined. Yes, So before I was
an actor, always ahead, youlike, ever since I know people don't
(10:31):
know how I always talked about thingsthat have then come two or three years
after people don't. People don't knowthat because you are to ahead. Yeah,
and it's like that's what that's whatthey say is like I was five
years too far ahead gaming stuff.So we were building what's probably known now
as Phase Clan. Yeah, backthen, Phase Clan is this huge conglomerate
of content and influencers and it's allaround gaming. Billion dollar company. But
(10:56):
that's really what we're building because thatjust shows you though you're you're you're,
you're like that, and eventually theright things are going to pop at the
right time, and someone's gonna say, yes, I believe in that,
because that just shows you're already prophetic. You know what you're doing. What
acting is at its core, Peoplebelieve acting is the acting to me,
(11:16):
is more about listening than it isabout speaking. People think acting is when
you say a line and that's acting, But acting is actually about listening and
it's hearing and being present and like, you know, if you pick up
on what others are giving you,you're going to respond more honestly, more
purely in them. And I thinkthat is one of the skills that I've
(11:39):
been able to, honey, sonow I listen to not just other people's
voices, but maybe listen to what'shappening in the world. Yeah, and
then Twitch launched in twenty eleven.I hosted E three in twenty eleven,
so I met a ton of peoplein the gaming industry and really started to
pull myself further into that. Andthen UM, Twitch launched in two thousand
(12:01):
and eleven, and we, asthe founders, were UM again. I
guess understood that there was that directionto take, so sticks ultimately was then
UM. We pivoted, reimagined,relaunched to tilt defy, which has become
you know, so it's it's alie, it's a streaming. So tilt
(12:22):
defy is the world's largest crowdfunding platformfor live streaming, UM, where the
official charity partner of Twitch YouTube TikTokUm, has raised hundreds of millions of
dollars for charity UM over the lastSince twenty fourteen, UM have about twenty
five hundred charities on the platform.Now, every every major YouTuber streamer they
(12:46):
used, they use tilt to fivefor the donation mechanisms, but it also
created tools so that it turns anyIt makes every live stream more interactive through
donations. So when you donate,your name will pop up on the screen.
Y, the the entertainer, thecreator can interact live with the donors.
You can influence what's happening on thescreen. You can donate to get
(13:09):
a T shirt. You can donateto make UM, the the entertainer,
the talent on screen do something.Or you can donate to choose UM their
character in a game they're playing.And we've branched out to do so much
more. We do music, andyou know, the the NFL uses it,
you know it. It's it's becomesuch a powerful um tool for for
(13:33):
charitable and it's only going to keepgetting bigger. Streaming is still it's it's
getting bigger and bigger, especially withyou know the way the world's change now.
But it's still a new thing.It's only ten years old. I
mean I was streaming from the beginningon Twitch. I still stream stuff and
do charities all the time. Andso I used to stream myself playing video
games and and it's it's you're again. There you are, You're you're You're
(13:56):
at the head of the curve stillbecause you know, it's still gonna get
bigger, and you've got this TiltifyTiltify right yea, and that's going to
be in the game for the longrun because that whole genre is only going
to keep growing. And so that'samazing. Brands and the Fords have caught
up and more, you know,more mainstream talent is you know, live
(14:16):
streaming was niche, gaming was niche. Now it's no longer niche. Now
it's mainstream. Brands are getting attached. Um. They want to do things
for good and where you know,tilt Ify is the premium choice for that
for UM and and building new tools, you know, tilt if. I
just had a just completed a seriesA in in November of last year.
(14:37):
October of last year, had anotherUM six point five million dollars to continue
to build the company out. Myother company, Humblehouse, that I just
launched in twenty nineteen. We justproduced UM. We did a lot of
the live script readings. UM.Yeah, I wanted to go into that.
You guys did UM the Rocky Horror. So yeah, we did spinal
Tap and it had Lance bast TimCurry who from the original, and Rosario
(15:03):
Dawson. You guys did Spinal Tap, a Goonies, Goonies and you guys
did the Days and Confused. Ididn't even know that. We did Friday
Night Days and Confused, spinal Tapand Rocky Horror for the Democratic parties of
different states right before the election.So for those of you listening, the
Goonies one was like a that wasfor Junion charities. They all were they
(15:24):
benefiting No Kid Hungry Charity. Andthen the Rocky Horror Show. How did
that go? Was that? Thatwas on Halloween for Wisconsin. Democrats UM
raised eight hundred plus thousand dollars forWisconsin right before the election. We had
eighteen different musical performances. Wasn't Wisconsina swing state this year? We did
(15:45):
Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin, Texas. You guys might have had a hand
and like things. So on CNNon Inauguration Night they were talking about the
script readings and Jake Tapper said speakingabout ours specifically, they didn't say by
name, our company or anything,but said it was the most impressive use
of Hollywood he's ever seen talking Solike Rocky Horror was only available for people
(16:08):
that donated to Wisconsin. So wehad the Grateful Dead did a song we
had Mike McCready from Pearl Jam dida song, Um, David Arquette.
We did it in a partnership withpanteras Ara Productions. Who's I mean we
had so much talent Matthew McConaughey,did you know Days and Confused? We
had uh, Mark Hamill and FrightNight with uh um with Chris Christopher s
(16:30):
Randon from Princess Right. We haduh you know, we had Rob Ryan
Or and Billy Crystal and all ofthem for UM and Christopher Guest for spinal
Tap. We had you know,we had Tim we might have had I
mean Tim Curries. It's so greatthat these because this could be the future
for fundraising. Well then it's whatdefinitely what we were told. We kind
(16:52):
of invented a new genre. Yea. We call it livestream theater because for
Goonies we had the original score.Ye we had we played clips from the
movie. We had sound effects likegunshots and sirens. Yeah, you know
we had the score underneath them.They use they use props. So Sean
aston always had his inhaler and youcould donate to own Sean Astons inhaler.
(17:15):
So um, you know, kindof doing NFTs before NFT, Yes,
because that's why we would use anNFT for that. If that was,
you know, six months from now, trying to figure out just creative way
you guys do the technical as well, or do we do everything you do?
So you come in and set thewhole stree to Z. We preproduce,
we produce. I directed Goonies.Like Goonies was taking an eighty eight
(17:36):
scene film. I watched it atleast seven times, and I'm breaking that
out into in this moment, thesethree characters are unseen, and then two
seconds later, these two characters areon scene, and five seconds later these
four characters are seen and there's agun shot, and so we take that.
I took that eighty eight scene filmand broke it out into four hundred
(17:56):
cuts. That's all in a spreadsheetthat we had thirty actors on a zoom
and in real time we're literally cuttingfor who's on screen from these actors to
these actors. These actors easy becausethe one thing that's great about live streaming,
and this is what Ellie's saying,is like in twenty nineteen, I
was at her house. She helpedme build the first deck for Homblehouse oh
yeah, and I was like,live streaming is about to explode. Predicted
(18:19):
everything exceptable pandemic. But that's whatmade live streaming explode. So when the
pandemic hit, it's the only solutionpeople had to create content. We probably
worked at Humblehouse. We probably workedwith more a list talent than any other
production company in the world last yearbecause we were a remote solution. Matthew
McConaughey was on Zoom in Texas.Yeah, Rob Reiner's on Zoom from his
(18:41):
They're all where they're at their homesand they are acting. We had them
in full costume, so they werefully performing. Jason Alexander and Rocky Horror
is the most amazing performents nobody saw, Like we're sitting on some content.
Yeah, that's just brilliant that nobodysaw. You know, enough people saw.
We raised millions of dollars, butyou know it's we did this in
(19:03):
a bubble, and Jason was singingand performing and just Rotorio Dawson in Rocky
Horror her reveal, she slid downthe banister on a zoom like it's like,
you know, we had the realum and I'm blanking on her name
and I'm so offended. But fromum from Rocky Horror. She was in
(19:26):
Australia. Yeah, so she wasdoing this at like three in the morning
and Seth Green was in full costume. Yeah, you know as uh as
with the blonde hair of the longhair opens the door. I know,
any Rocky Horror fan's gonna hate meright now. They're hardcore. Really,
Oh my god. It was brilliantand like, so we could do this
(19:47):
with any films. Yeah, wedefinitely would love to do livestream theater as
a series these or one of thethings we're about to announce. Um,
we're green lighting a series called ThePoetry Lounge, which is what Dante Basco,
who's Rufio and yeah he's he's hadthe longest running poetry lounge in the
history of the United States, hasbeen going for twenty three years. At
had a theater at Fairfax High Schoolright there on Fairfax there. Yep.
(20:12):
Yeah, they would have two hundredor so poets come in there. It
was the it was the foundation forDeaf Poetry Jam back in the day.
Um, so we're reinvigorating that asone of our series to do a weekly
live stream poetry to you. Knowsomething that you can address. You know,
it's it's the type poetry can addressanything happening, what's happening in Israel
(20:33):
right now, or the Derek Chauvinyou know um conviction or you know poetry
is are really strong. That that'sthe type of content we want to do.
We want to green light things thattraditional media won't green light. And
whether or not it's raising money forcharity, or whether or not it's making
people feel better about themselves, orwhether or not it's communicating a positive message,
that's what we want to do atHumble House. But see, this
(20:56):
is inspiraceable because now people are seeingwhat you can do beyond just being an
actor, Like, now you justmade actings sound like well that was that
was where I felt when I steppedaway, I was like, I am
tired of being a puppet. I'mready to be a puppet master exactly like,
and I'm not gonna treat my talentlike puppets. Yes, So the
content we create a Humble House,we create partnerships with our talent where we
(21:18):
co own the content. Yeah,and we help them build. We take
the model that twitch streamers and YouTubershave been doing for a decade building their
empires from their basement. Yes,we're gonna help talent do that. Yeah,
So you're no longer um an indenturedservant to the content you're helping create.
You're you're now in power part ofit. We're gonna, we're gonna,
(21:40):
we're gonna help you mold the clayfor whatever your vision is as talent.
This is what's so beautiful of thisis you're doing good for the world
too. You're not just creating abusiness. You're not just being creative and
out there to make money. You'reactually giving back to the world. And
that's the best thing about all ofthis is while creating your little empire here
and being creative yourself, you're you'redoing charities. You're doing good for the
(22:03):
world, and that's why we're here. People lose sight of that so often
we just get people get selfish andthey create something, but they never give
back anything in return. It isthe first time in history, you know,
when when radio was invented, whenum, you know, the first
television was invented, when silent movies, we go to films, television,
(22:25):
podcast, anything, it's a monologue. Live streaming is the first medium that
is global and it's dialogue. WhenI type in the chat, the creator,
the content creator, the entertainer.On the other side, the talent
can see that and can respond inreal time. So it is the first
tool where I can have dialogue witha global audience. Yeah, and a
(22:47):
lot of our streams. We didGame for Paulum was one of the first
events we did with TILTAFI that wasreally big. It's a charity for Paul
Walk it was. It was forright after Paul Walker pass. Yeah.
Um, that's how John who's afantasy football cause he was in Furious seven,
met Cody Cold. They wanted todo something to honor Paul. Not
(23:07):
many people knew that Paul and Vinwere both big gamers. They used to
play World of Warcraft and like sneakback to their trailer while they were filming
to try to level up ahead ofthe other. Yeah. Um, So
we created game for Paul because theywere like, that's the way to honor
him, and we got everybody togetherraise We did it over four years.
We raised three quarters of a milliondollars over four years. About Well,
congratulations on your transition from acting tothis. You're you just started. I
(23:32):
mean you got so much to do. Thank you for that. Well,
this is the last question that wasbeautiful. Thank you. If you can
go back in time for two minutesand face your third or fourth grade self,
what would you tell him? Oh, um, you're gonna be able
to take these glasses off one day. Did you really glasses? Oh?
(24:00):
My god? Just said, ohyeah, I had cook bottle glasses.
I didn't really see. I realizedhow shallow the world was in seventh grade
where I showed up the first weekof seventh grade and I had glasses and
it was no. It was actuallymiddle of seventh grade because in the same
week I got contacts and I madethe basketball team, and every girl all
(24:22):
of a sudden started talking to you. I was like, oh, y'all
some shallows all about the last safedude, you pa if you have to
put glasses on now? Do youhave PTSD from No? No, I
mean it's so long ago. ButI had the same girlfriend from eighth grade
to my freshman year of college.I didn't get it. That was like,
(24:45):
Also, there weren't any white girlswhere I went to school. It's
my thing, and that was whatI was now and now he's now SAgs
Yeah, thankfully I got all thatout. Me and my fiance. We
both had a really good life.We're cool, like we're good. Yeah,
that's it. Yeah, third andfourth grade geez. I mean I
I just think, like, believein yourself or nobody else ever will.
(25:11):
Yes, that is the most importantthing. No matter what you love,
no matter what you care about,no matter what you're passionate about, just
love that and be confident in that, because the haters will fade away,
the love and the passion never will. So stay in that. And you're
making me crying now. I feellike I'm at the end of it.
(25:36):
Yourself such an inspiration. I coulddo it, dude. Great, Thank
you so much. I appreciate yourhonesty and sincerity and being open to sharing
all this with us and people.I know people are going to be moved
by this and they're gonna learn alot. And Ellie was right, man,
she said, this guy's voice needsto get out there. This guy
(25:56):
needs to be heard. People needto know who he is. And she's
so right, because what you're doingthe world needs that. And you're here.
So you you you've you've arrived,but you've really arrived, and it's
time to like take it and andand taking it but giving it and just
spreading it all over the planet.We have Elie, so Joe, we
got this, Sandra, try justsay thank you, Brett. I'm always
(26:21):
continually inspired by you, like alwaysalways as love you so much. Oh
that's beautiful. Thank you. Ithink guys we're all going to start getting
emotion. Put some sad music toin this this episode This is America podcast
kurtas Sarah's on What You Never Getthe podcast. Thank you so much for
appreciate It's a pleasure. Brother Brett. All Right, I love you.
(26:45):
You have a good night, everybody. B
Popular Podcasts
Las Culturistas with Matt Rogers and Bowen Yang
Ding dong! Join your culture consultants, Matt Rogers and Bowen Yang, on an unforgettable journey into the beating heart of CULTURE. Alongside sizzling special guests, they GET INTO the hottest pop-culture moments of the day and the formative cultural experiences that turned them into Culturistas. Produced by the Big Money Players Network and iHeartRadio.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
The Charlie Kirk Show
Charlie is America's hardest working grassroots activist who has your inside scoop on the biggest news of the day and what's really going on behind the headlines. The founder of Turning Point USA and one of social media's most engaged personalities, Charlie is on the front lines of America’s culture war, mobilizing hundreds of thousands of students on over 3,500 college and high school campuses across the country, bringing you your daily dose of clarity in a sea of chaos all from his signature no-holds-barred, unapologetically conservative, freedom-loving point of view. You can also watch Charlie Kirk on Salem News Channel