June 25, 2025 • 37 mins
Ever wondered how a country girl from Wisconsin becomes a powerhouse in Hollywood? In this episode of Late Boomers, we dive into the inspiring journey of Ryann Liebl, an award-winning filmmaker and deputy CEO of Light Touch Media Group.
Join Merry and Cathy as they chat with Ryann about her transition from acting to filmmaking, her passion for clean comedy reminiscent of "I Love Lucy," and the founding of her production company, REL Films. Ryann shares her insights on navigating the male-dominated film industry, the importance of creating your own opportunities, and the evolving landscape of filmmaking in the digital age.
Whether you're an aspiring artist or a seasoned professional, Ryann's story is a testament to the power of perseverance and creativity. Tune in to discover why it's never too late to chase your dreams and how you can make your mark in the entertainment world.
Ryann Liebl's Bio:
Ryann Liebl is a passionate filmmaker, director, content creator, and creative leader, currently serving as Deputy CEO of an award-winning creative agency. A Wisconsin native, Ryann began her acting career at 14, eventually studying at the University of Southern California, where she expanded her talents to writing, producing, and directing. Guided by mentors like Milton Katselas, she embraced the multifaceted art of filmmaking.
Ryann is the founder of REL Films, through which she directed and produced Mags & Julie Go on a Road Trip, a situational comedy shot in her home state. With over ten films in development, she remains committed to creating authentic and impactful stories that resonate with audiences. A vocal advocate for female filmmakers, Ryann believes in crafting narratives that reflect genuine female experiences. Her approach to storytelling exemplifies her commitment to empowering underrepresented voices in the film industry. When not on set, Ryann contributes her leadership and vision to her creative agency and helping other artists, seamlessly blending her filmmaking expertise with innovative content strategies.
Special Offer:
Free consult of content and marketing: www.expertcreativehelp.com
Connect with Ryann:
Website: www.expertcreativehelp.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/RyannLiebl/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ryann.liebl
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ryann-liebl-488887240
Thank you for listening. Please check out @lateboomers on Instagram and our website lateboomers.us. If you enjoyed this podcast and would like to watch it or listen to more of our episodes, you will find Late Boomers on your favorite podcast platform and on our new YouTube Late Boomers Podcast Channel. We hope we have inspired you and we look forward to your becoming a member of our Late Boomers family of subscribers.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Merry (00:01):
This is the EWN Podcast Network.
Cathy (00:14):
Welcome to late boomers, our podcast guide to creating
your third act with style,power, and impact. Hi. I'm Cathy
Worthington.
Merry (00:24):
And I'm Merry Elkins. Join us as we bring you
conversations with successfulentrepreneurs, entertainers, and
people with vision who aremaking a difference in the
world.
Cathy (00:34):
Everyone has a story, and we'll take you along for the
ride on each interview,recounting the journey our
guests have taken to get wherethey are, inspiring you to
create your own path to success.Let's get started. Hello, and
welcome to Late Boomers. I'mCathy Worthington here with my
(00:56):
cohost, Mary Elkins, and we arebringing you a guest that Mary
and I can really relate tobecause of our time spent in the
entertainment business. RyanLeibel is an award winning
filmmaker, director, andproducer.
Merry (01:09):
And I'm Merry Elkins. Ryan is also the deputy CEO of
Light Touch Media Group, helpingbrands come up with strategies
for the most effective visualcontent. She's also a writer and
painter. Welcome, Ryan.
Ryann Liebl (01:25):
Thanks so much for having me.
Merry (01:28):
Great to have you.
Cathy (01:30):
We wanna hear your story, so please tell our audience a
little bit about your intro toentertainment and how you got
started.
Ryann Liebl (01:39):
Well, I was born and raised in Wisconsin, and I
was a country girl. So I hadspent a lot of time outdoors
using my imagination and beingin nature. And that kind of set
the scene for me of wanting toperform and wanting to use that
imagination, you know, just putit to use. My parents were both
(02:02):
artists, even though theyweren't necessarily they
wouldn't consider themselvesartists. My father plays the
piano in the organ, and mymother is an interior designer,
very, very highly talentedinterior designer.
And they love movies. So wealways had movies in the house.
They bought movies. We hadcopies of movies. I would watch
(02:25):
different movies over and overand over again, and I really got
into acting.
And then when I was a freshmanin high school, I actually
started to audition and putmyself out there. And then I
started doing plays in highschool. I started doing
professional theater inMilwaukee. And then I went to
school at USC in Los Angeles.And there, I minored in film,
(02:46):
and I majored in theater.
And then about two and a halfyears into doing my degree, I
started acting professionally inLA. And that's just sort of how
it all began and started. It'sbeen
Merry (03:04):
an interesting journey. Yeah. Maybe we both ran into you
when we were acting. Yes.Exactly.
Mhmm. So talk about a little bitmore about going from actress to
filmmaker and creative agencyleader. What inspired you to
take that leap and reinventyourself?
Ryann Liebl (03:24):
Well, you know, I think for a long time,
obviously, when you're an actor,you're in front of the camera.
Right? And there isn't a lot ofopportunity to sort of run the
show. Right? You're sort of theeffect of what the industry is
doing and what they're creating,and you have to kind of fit into
their mold, basically.
(03:46):
And I think, you know, reallyearly on, I've been a writer my
whole life, so I started towrite scripts. I started to move
more and more behind the camerawhere I was helping on different
sets and, you know, doing hair,makeup, wardrobe, helping with
casting, art directing, and thensort of directing and producing
(04:07):
a bit more. I started doingscene study directing, and then
I produced a play, and then Istarted doing short films. So it
was a funny transition for mebecause I didn't really consider
myself necessarily a filmmaker,even though I was doing that. I
always looked at my as, youknow, I'm an actor who's making
(04:29):
things happen.
That's kind
Merry (04:32):
of the viewpoint. And
Ryann Liebl (04:36):
then I think, you know, I think by the time I was
in my late thirties, I startedto really see that I was really
a filmmaker, that that reallywas my hat and and that I better
take some more responsibilityfor it, basically. So I started
to produce and direct more. Istarted to come up with
different creative concepts,storyboarding, and just really
(05:01):
dealing with and running thewhole show. And then in 2018, I
started my own film productioncompany and decided that I was
going to produce my material,right, because I have featured
scripts, right? And so that'swhat I did.
So the first film was you know,2019. Right? And we
Cathy (05:28):
got that gonna ask you about it. It's called REL Films,
your company. Right? And youdirected a comedy feature called
Mags and Julie Go on a RoadTrip. So Yeah.
What drew you to tell thatparticular story?
Ryann Liebl (05:44):
Well, I love comedy, and I love clean comedy.
I'm a big fan of I Love Lucy and
Cathy (05:49):
Me too.
Ryann Liebl (05:51):
Yeah. Yeah. And like and I grew up, you know, I
didn't we didn't have cable, soI grew up with, you know, the
old school stuff from the 50sand the 60s. Just leave it to
Beaver and Green Acres and allthat. Mr.
Ed, right? Yeah. Just reallyreally clean comedy actors that
(06:11):
were dressed beautifully andwere funny. They were just
genuinely funny, and they couldmake fun of themselves. It was
always situational comedy, andit was never mean comedy.
And so I kind of grew up withthat, and I wanted to make a
film that had that similar kindof feel. And I knew I could
shoot it in my home state ofWisconsin. So Oh. Yeah. That's
(06:36):
what we did.
Yeah. So was that
Merry (06:38):
a script that you wrote?
Ryann Liebl (06:40):
It was. I wrote it. I directed it, produced it,
acted in it. Yeah. It was quitesomething, but it was awesome.
Cathy (06:49):
I bet you edited it too.
Ryann Liebl (06:51):
I I did the first edit of it. I did. Yes.
Cathy (06:55):
Okay. And then you've got some reinforcements and some
help. It's it always reallyhelps your acting to have done
all those other jobs,
Ryann Liebl (07:03):
you
Cathy (07:03):
know, separately before you tackle your own feature.
Because I know a lot of actorstackle, you know, a big
directing job or something, butmaybe they haven't done that as
their background. So it's reallygreat Yeah. To have all that
background.
Merry (07:19):
Tell us a little bit about Megs and Julie. Are you
Megs or Julie or someone else?
Ryann Liebl (07:25):
I'm Megs in it. Yeah. Max is this very
hardworking, you know, executiveassistant who can doesn't know
how to stop and doesn't know howto how to say no. And then her
grandfather passes away andleaves her a cabin in the woods
in the up like up north ofWisconsin. And her best friend
(07:46):
convinces her to go see it andtake a break.
And none of it goes as planned,right? It's one disaster after.
Cathy (07:54):
Right? I got to watch half of it. I didn't have time
to finish the second half. But,yeah, it was fun. Yeah.
Yeah.
Merry (08:02):
So I'm looking forward to seeing it.
Ryann Liebl (08:04):
Female yeah. It's about female friendships and
finding your way and maybechanging your path, right, if
that's a better idea.
Merry (08:15):
So That's a a theme.
Cathy (08:17):
And you've done that.
Merry (08:17):
Many people. Yeah.
Cathy (08:20):
Yeah. A lot of people we talk to like to have changed,
pivoted, and doing somethingdifferent now.
Merry (08:26):
Yeah. Yep. And reinvent. Yeah. Yeah.
Well, on a slightly differentnote, as the deputy CEO of an
Inc. 5,000 company, how do youbalance that creativity with
your business strategies?
Ryann Liebl (08:43):
Well, I think, again, and it's something I talk
about a lot, I have really goodteams around me. Right? I have
really, really good peoplearound me that I can rely on to
help me get certain thingsacross the finish line. And that
really is key. Like, I'm notdoing it on my own.
You know? I have I have amazingpeople who are very hardworking
and very focused, and they keepmy calendar organized. And, you
(09:10):
know, but it definitely ischallenging. I think when you
know, I mean, I'm working on twomore features right now. Right?
I'm working on one that I wannado in The UK and then another
that I'm gonna shoot in theMidwest again. And it's a
balancing act for me, right, ofmaking sure that I allocate
work. Right? Because I am thetype of person, and maybe you
(09:32):
guys know this, and maybe you'relike this too, but I will take
it all on, and I will do it allbecause I can. Right?
And I think that's also just ingeneral. We're like, oh, yeah.
We can do that.
Merry (09:43):
Yeah. Absolutely.
Cathy (09:46):
Yeah. So Yeah. And you're based in Florida now, we hear.
Yes. Yes.
Ryann Liebl (09:52):
I'm in Florida, but I'm always traveling for work
and everything.
Cathy (09:55):
So your staff that supports you, are they all local
to Florida, or is everybodyvirtual?
Ryann Liebl (10:02):
Some of them are. Some of them are virtual. We
have a team of 50 peopleworldwide.
Cathy (10:08):
Oh. Because we do shoots and
Ryann Liebl (10:09):
stuff worldwide. So part of that was built up from
my background in filmmaking inin LA, right, in the commercial
ad world, and I've got peopleeverywhere to pull off different
projects and that kind of thing.So
Cathy (10:23):
Yeah. They're
Merry (10:24):
super organized.
Ryann Liebl (10:26):
Yeah. You have to be. Yeah. You have to be. And
then you have to you have tomake sure you create enough time
as a creative also to get a bitof space, right, which, you
know, artists really need.
You always need to get out ofthe work and go somewhere and
just get some space so you canget some perspective and you can
(10:47):
create. You know? So that's alsoimportant. You know?
Cathy (10:51):
Yeah. That's good to know.
Ryann Liebl (10:53):
It's important.
Cathy (10:54):
Well, back on the set of your feature, what kind of
challenges do you face when youhave to move from in front of
the camera to behind it, and howdo you make it seamless for the
whole crew?
Ryann Liebl (11:08):
You know, that's an interesting question. I think
when I when I did the movie,obviously, that it's a much more
challenging thing to do, right,to be one of the leads and then
also to direct and sort of runthe whole thing. But, you know,
for me, I actually enjoyed it.And I have to say, when I was
(11:31):
just acting, it felt to me likeI would get bored. You know what
I mean?
I'd sit there and I'd wait. AndI didn't like having to wait
because then if I was waiting, Iwould get in my head and I would
worry about my choices or what Iwas going to do or did I do it
right or whatever. And I wasalways talking to crew guys
anyway and connecting witheverybody. So it actually worked
(11:55):
really well for me because itallowed me to get out of my
head. Right?
And so when I was performing, Iwas performing. And when I was
directing, I was directing. Andthere were two very distinct
things, but it was actually alot easier for me to act because
I didn't have to think about it.And I could just do it. Yeah.
Yeah. It was surprising to me.It was I and and I was like,
(12:19):
wow. This is this is amazing.This is really weird.
Cathy (12:22):
Yeah. You're not sitting for an hour waiting waiting for
the shot to get set up. You'resetting up the shot.
Ryann Liebl (12:28):
Yeah. And you're just
Cathy (12:29):
A whole different thing.
Ryann Liebl (12:30):
Yeah. And I love you know? And the fact that I
wrote it too meant too I couldchange things on the fly. So I
was changing lines constantly,or I was taking things out that
I realized don't really workbecause I don't have to say it.
I can show it.
So that was also nice. It wasand it's funny. I I've recently,
(12:51):
like, been listening to otherdirectors, and and they say
similar things. Like, StevenSpielberg was talking about
that. He was like, yeah, youryour script constantly changes,
and you constantly change whatpeople say and how you're gonna
do the setup because you realizethings as you're doing the
process of making a film.
(13:13):
And and that it's totally true.Like, you you literally like,
I'd take out scenes. I'd rip outstuff. I'd get rid of text. I
was like, she doesn't have tosay that.
We can show that. And that alsois an amazing thing to
experience as a performerbecause it allows you to really
be causative over the processand what you're doing. You know?
Merry (13:34):
It's hard to let go of your babies, though, when you're
writing it.
Cathy (13:39):
Totally. Totally. Yeah. You mean by your babies, you
mean your choice lines and
Merry (13:45):
your great jokes. Yes. Yes. Yeah. All that stuff.
Yeah.
Ryann Liebl (13:50):
Yeah. That happened a few times, right, where I was
like, I just have to I'm gonnajust I really like that, but it
doesn't work.
Merry (13:57):
Yeah. Yeah. Difficult. Yeah. Well, you're you're
passionate about young artiststoo and creatives.
So what advice would you givethose people looking to break
into the industry?
Ryann Liebl (14:13):
I I would I mean, there's so many things I could
say to people who are young andthinking about it. First of all,
it's a job just like any otherjob. Right? It is a business. I
mean, they call it business, buta lot of people don't treat it
like a business.
They treat it like it's, I don'tknow, that it's some arty thing
(14:33):
that's personal to them. Andit's not it's just a business
like any other business. So youhave to be professional. You
have to show up on time. Youhave to make people feel good.
You have to be part of a group.And there has to be camaraderie.
And it's not always about you.It's about the group because
everything in the industry is agroup process. Right?
(14:57):
So think about that and be apart of the group and contribute
to the motion. Also, don't giveup. Don't let your doubts or
your fears or your worries stopyou from creating the things
that you want to create. Andwhen you hit those low points,
pick yourself back up andevaluate and go, Okay, what else
(15:17):
can I do to be better? Also,teach yourself techniques.
Right? Don't think that you knoweverything. That is a sort of
sickness that a lot of youngpeople have where they're like,
well, I know everything. Youdon't. And you're there to
learn.
And that's your job. Right? Yourjob is to learn. And so if you
don't know something, go find itout. But, you know, the industry
(15:40):
is you guys know is is atechnical thing.
It's a very technical thing. Andthe best actors who work over
and over and over againunderstand that technique. And
there's a big difference betweenstage acting and film acting.
You have to know thosedifferences. Right?
Those are that's reallyimportant to know. And a lot of
(16:02):
people don't know that. Theycome from theater backgrounds or
they do like a scene study classwhere they're not on camera, and
so they move too much or theyblink too much or they don't
understand lenses or they don'tunderstand how to move their
body and keep their body still,right, which is so important on
camera. So Right. Yeah.
(16:23):
If you're really interested infilm acting, you have to
understand what that is and howdifferent that is from just
acting. And if you can figurethat out, you will work. You'll
work all the time because you'llbe very valuable to producers
and directors and castingdirectors who will bring you
(16:43):
back in, and you'll work. Right?Because, you know, for me, I
mean, the the I have friends whowork all the time, and they know
how to do all of that.
And I didn't, right, as a youngperson. I I came from a theater
background, and it took me asecond to learn it.
Cathy (17:00):
Right.
Merry (17:00):
You were you were talking to the back row.
Ryann Liebl (17:03):
Exactly. Yeah. Even that voice. Like, you've got a
mic on you. You can speak veryquietly.
You can whisper, and it that micwill pick it up. So, yeah,
Merry (17:13):
there's Mhmm.
Ryann Liebl (17:15):
But also just and then also create your own stuff.
We're in a time where we can doanything. You know? We really
can do anything and createanything. You can use social
media.
You know? I mean, when I firststarted acting, they were like
people were still using film.Right? Film to shoot things,
(17:36):
film for the sound, and it wasexpensive to do anything. Right?
Merry (17:43):
Mhmm.
Ryann Liebl (17:43):
And digital, like, cameras were really bad, so you
couldn't use them. You if youwanna do anything like a short
film or whatever, you had to usefilm. And it it's a lot of
money. And, like, I remember Idid one It cost me, like, you
know, $2,900 just to transferthe film and line up the sound
and for a minute and a halfshort. I mean, was ridiculous.
Cathy (18:07):
Yeah. And the editing is very technical because you're
pulling pieces of film out. Andcutting them.
Merry (18:14):
Right.
Cathy (18:16):
Yeah. Yeah.
Merry (18:17):
It's a whole
Ryann Liebl (18:17):
new world. And so I always say to young people, just
create your own stuff. Go outthere. Learn how to do it. Go
shoot your own stuff.
Shoot shorts. Put a featuretogether. You can do it because
it doesn't cost much moneyanymore to do it. You know?
Cathy (18:30):
Mhmm. That's true. And tell us about a little bit more
the lessons you learned as afemale filmmaker. Like, how did
that make a difference, and howdo you think that you could help
another person in your positionfrom some of your perspective as
a female filmmaker?
Ryann Liebl (18:50):
I think no matter what, I think in any industry,
unless you're like in hair orsomething like that, It's very
male dominated. And that'salways an issue for women. And I
don't say that from a victimviewpoint, but there were
(19:12):
definitely times in my life andin my career where I got passed
up from it. It happened often.Directing jobs, producing jobs,
it would go to the guy, right?
And I started to observe thatand understand it and go, that's
interesting. And I always knewthat I was more capable or I
(19:33):
could do a better job. Right? Icould run the set better. It
would be pleasurable foreverybody to work with me.
The actors would walk away beingreally happy, but a guy would
get the job. So I think forfemale creators and female
filmmakers, you just have to doit. You kind of have to take it.
(19:54):
You can't really ask permissionto make it happen. You have to
just go take it, and you've gotto make it happen yourself.
Because that's you know what Imean? That's your only choice.
Or you have to play this othergame where you have to sort of
get agreement and get approvaland shadow and then figure out
(20:17):
the ropes. And it's going totake you a while, basically, to
get there. Right?
So
Cathy (20:21):
Yeah. And all of us have had those me too moments Right.
In our careers for sure. Yeah.Where you feel cornered or you
feel harassed or whatever it maybe.
That's the scary
Ryann Liebl (20:36):
stuff too. Right? You just don't get listened to.
Right? You get passed over.
But then I think that happens towomen in general. And again,
it's not like I don't I thinkhalf the time men don't even
know they're really doing it.You know what I mean? But it
just is. So I also love tosurround myself with other
female creators.
(20:56):
Right? So I have a producingpartner who's a woman, and, you
know, my almost all of our teamat our creative agency is women,
like, literally. We have one oneone guy right now, and then we
have animators and editors whoare who are men, but the whole
core team is women. Yeah. Soit's great to
Cathy (21:18):
It's exciting to see that happening more and more in the
business. Like, I'll be watchingsomething on Netflix. Recently,
I was watching Sirens, andliterally everyone on that just
about everyone on the cast andeveryone on the crew and the
producer and the director,everybody's female. And it it
just it's a differentperspective. You're watching a
(21:39):
different kind of a movie.
Yeah. It's it's amazing. Yeah.Yeah. Well,
Merry (21:44):
I'm noticing that more and more. Taking it in your own
hands because that's what womenare doing and men. I mean, you
can't really get much done thesedays in any no matter what
gender you are if you don't takeit into your own hands. There's
just too many too many opinions,which actually leads me to my
next question when you're doingcommercials and business films.
(22:08):
You have a lot of people aroundtelling you what to do.
So what lessons have you learnedfrom working with the some of
the top companies, and how couldother business owners and
entrepreneurs learn from thoselessons?
Ryann Liebl (22:23):
You know, the the I think a lot of the top brands
are top brands for a reason.Right? They're doing a lot of
things right. They understandmarketing and promotion. They
understand their own PR.
Sometimes companies don't, andthen they kind of crash and
burn, they have to fix it.Right? But we found working with
(22:44):
the top companies, like, theyknow that what they're doing. So
we're really there just tocontribute to the motion. And
then as much as I can, I try toinject my bright ideas and lead
them in a direction maybe thathaven't thought of before, maybe
that I think would create morereturn on investment or even
(23:07):
bring more eyeballs to one oftheir products in a more
creative way?
I mean, one of the companiesthat we worked with last year,
they had this very simplecleaning product for water
dispensers. Right? Very simpleand nothing special about it.
Right? And we came up with thiswhole retro ad idea around it,
(23:28):
like a dream I dream of geniekind of vibe.
Right? Poppy colors, 1950 vibes,props from the fifties. Right?
And we use that to sell theproduct. Right?
And it was extremely successful,and they, like, sold out of the
product. And, you know, so thereare times where, you know,
(23:50):
different teams will sortthey'll trust us enough to sort
of say, hey. You can dosomething different here. You
know? You can you can kind ofcolor outside of the box, and
and we promise you it'll getresults because it'll be
something that's fun and, youknow, be something that will
grab attention.
And that's important nowadayswith social media and
everything. Have to sort ofyou're competing with so many
(24:14):
pictures and people and voices.
Cathy (24:17):
For sure. You know? Difficult. Yeah. But, you know,
we've learned a
Ryann Liebl (24:22):
lot of great things too from top brands, you know,
just best practices and greatcopywriting and how to structure
different things and what worksand what doesn't. And we've been
able to test things and then seeresults, you know, for different
companies. I mean, we we wehelped the company sell, a
billion dollar contract, andthey didn't even tell us until a
(24:42):
year later. And we were like,hey. How did it go with the
video series?
Well, we sold a billion dollar.And we were like, great. Okay.
Cathy (24:52):
And they didn't even get back to you and tell you that.
That's really sad. Appreciation.Yeah. Well, what trends do you
see in the filmmaking world andin the b two c b two b marketing
world?
And please describe what in theheck those are because I don't
(25:14):
know what B2C. I don't know whatthat means, B2C.
Ryann Liebl (25:18):
Well, I think in the filmmaking world, well, you
know what I'd like to see, and Ithink it would be great, is that
obviously, like, the film worldhas been taken over a lot by
franchises and other really big,you know, budget movies. Those
are sort of what are gettingmade a lot Mhmm. Being seen in
theaters. I personally lovemovies and I love going to the
(25:42):
cinema. I really love that wholeexperience.
It's similar to going to thetheater, right, where you go see
something totally differentexperience, right, when you go
see it with people, right? Yeah.And I think given that it's so
easy to make things nowadays, itwould be wonderful to see a
similar kind of indie revolutionthat we saw in the 70s with
(26:04):
Coppola and Scorsese, or evensomething in the nineties, you
know, when Quentin Tarantinocame up and all these, like,
indie guys were making these funlittle quirky movies. I'd love
to see something like thathappen. You know?
And if I can contribute to that,awesome. But, you know, I would
love to see just more reallygreat indie movies that have are
(26:26):
made from individual voicesrather than by committee. I
mean, that's that's thefilmmaking world. And then B2B
basically means business tobusiness. So what that means is
when you create something,whether it's a video or graphic
design or whatever it might be,you're creating it for one
business to sell or communicateto another business.
(26:49):
That's what b to b means. Mhmm.And that can be anything from
promoting a product or makingyour company more known or
training or whatever it mightbe. And then b to c means
business to consumer. So that'sdirectly to a consumer.
Right? And that's commercialsand ads like you guys see all
(27:10):
the time. Right? Somebody'sselling Eggo waffles. Right?
Or somebody's selling Dawn dishsoap. Right? It's business to
consumer. And that's moretraditional style stuff, you
know, magazine spreads and printstuff and billboards and ads,
commercials, etcetera. Mhmm.
Oh, you want trends in that? Youis
Cathy (27:33):
that Yeah. Yeah. Please. I do.
Merry (27:35):
I how how it's changed. Yeah.
Ryann Liebl (27:39):
It changes so much. It changes so much. It literally
seems to change every six monthsnow. The pace of it is actually
quite crazy. But Mhmm.
What for b to b, more and moreand more people are able to sort
of they're able to create thingssimilar to what the to what the
commercial and ad and big brandshave been able to create
(28:03):
forever. Right? So they're ableto do things that, you know,
Apple can do now and whatever.So video, company overviews,
testimonials, great social mediacontent explaining their culture
and who they are as a companyand how great their products
are, and and that kind of thing.That that's gonna that's pretty
(28:26):
stable.
Right? Trade show videos,whatever it might be. But that
also is newer. That's hard toexplain. But the b to b world
hasn't been able to do that fora long time.
It's really the last ten yearsthat it's been able to afford to
do that. Right? Because before,yeah, production costs were so
much, right, to make video or tomake a great ad or whatever it
(28:50):
might be, but now they can theyhave the capability to do it.
And then b to c, like, it's it'sthe Wild West. I mean, there are
Merry (29:00):
How fun.
Ryann Liebl (29:01):
Yeah. It's crazy. So, you know, that is like I
mean, obviously, there's stillthe traditional commercial
world, right, when you see thoseon network TV and streaming and
that kind of thing. But more andmore people are just using
social media as the tool to getthe word out about their
product. Right.
And people are using you know,they'll use TikTok to, like,
(29:24):
find a local dentist. Right? Orto buy some skincare. And that
can be done with very simplevideos that are just explainer
kind of videos, and this is sogreat, and you should check out
this product. Or, you know,building a story around a brand
and talking about, again, theculture and how it was created.
(29:46):
People love storytelling. Sothat's a huge trend. But, yeah,
it just changes so fast. It justchanges so fast right now. And
now with AI coming on, right,you can use AI to create imagery
and get things out quicker.
And so it is really the wild,wild west. Yeah.
Merry (30:05):
Where do you
Cathy (30:05):
see this going?
Ryann Liebl (30:09):
I don't know. I mean, I think I think some
people are getting a bit burntout by it. I mean, there are
some people now who have thiswhole viewpoint of they just
turn their phone off. Right?Some people are going back to
flip phones.
Some people, like, takevacations where they don't bring
their phones. Oh. So I think
Cathy (30:31):
that might be Not too many. Not too many yet.
Ryann Liebl (30:34):
Not too many. But I think there might be a Everybody
Cathy (30:36):
I see is addicted to their phone. Yeah. It's crazy.
Right? Seeing anybody not usingtheir phone every minute.
Yeah. I'm glad to see if you areseeing that in Florida, but Los
Angeles.
Merry (30:51):
Mean, think phone.
Ryann Liebl (30:53):
Yeah. It's fascinating. And it's even an
issue with me. Like, I have tolearn to put it away, and I do,
and then nobody can get ahold ofme. Right?
But I just put it away, which,you know, I like because then
I'm not constantly looking at ascreen. But, yeah, the younger
generation is always on thephone. And I guess in that way,
you you always have a captiveaudience. So then it's just
(31:16):
about how do you get theattention of that audience.
Cathy (31:19):
Right? You
Merry (31:21):
you really have to be age specific, don't you?
Ryann Liebl (31:26):
Yeah. I think you do. I think you do. I mean, it's
I was just hanging out with mydad over Easter weekend or
whatever, and he's never on hisphone. He's on his phone once a
little bit in the evening, buthe doesn't live on it.
He's just in the moment andhanging out and present and
(31:46):
communicating. And I and, youknow, I think that's good. I
think it's a good thing.
Merry (31:53):
Yeah. So
Ryann Liebl (31:54):
I don't know. I don't know where it's gonna go.
My son never got a smartphoneuntil he was 18. I just didn't
give it to him, and and I didn'twant him on the Internet and on
social media. And I was like,no.
You're not gonna do that. Isaid, when you're an adult, you
can do whatever you want. And itwhat's great about that is he
doesn't care about it like otherkids do, which is good. And so
(32:14):
he creates, and he's an artist,and he makes music, and he does
other things, but he doesn'tcare about social media. So
hopefully, parents, I think,will take those phones away from
their kids.
Right?
Merry (32:27):
If you could give talking about your son and younger
people, if you could give onepiece of advice to your younger
self when starting in Hollywoodor into the filmmaking world,
what would it be?
Ryann Liebl (32:43):
I think it would be don't take anything personally
and and just keep going.
Merry (32:49):
Mhmm. Yeah. That's good. That's good.
Ryann Liebl (32:52):
Because it's not personal. You know? And it's a
funny thing when you're older,right, perspective and you're
the one who has to put togetherprojects or assemble ideas,
right, you see that it's notit's what works, right? It's
what cast works, what crewworks, and it's sometimes the
(33:14):
most random thing. So it's justnot personal.
Cathy (33:17):
Because when you're starting out, it's all about
those awful rejections. There'sso many auditions and
rejections, and it's reallyfrustrating. And you do take it
personally because you don'tknow any better when you're 20.
Ryann Liebl (33:29):
No. No. You don't. And you think it's something
that you're doing wrong. Andit's a funny thing because
you'll sometimes you know, forme, what happened is I I was
actually having success in thatI would book, like, one out of
every six auditions, which was acrazy statistic.
High number.
Merry (33:50):
That's
Ryann Liebl (33:50):
Oh my god. And I would put myself down about the
rest. And then also, would becalled in over and over again by
the same casting directors whoreally liked me, and they wanted
to find stuff for me. And I justthought I was a bad actor
because I wouldn't book things.And and and I completely didn't
know, right, that this And if
Cathy (34:12):
they're calling you back again, it's because you are a
good actor. Yeah. But you don'tTake that to heart. Yeah. Nobody
tells you.
I know when your agent nevergets any feedback. Oh, we could
go on and on about that.
Merry (34:25):
Oh my gosh.
Cathy (34:26):
But, Ryan, what would you like our audience to have as a
takeaway today?
Ryann Liebl (34:31):
A takeaway? I would say you're never too old to make
your dreams come true.
Cathy (34:37):
Yeah. I love it.
Merry (34:38):
That's great advice. Great advice. Get moving and get
going. You
Ryann Liebl (34:44):
know, you can keep creating. You can do something
newly. You know, you're nevertoo old. I mean, I did my first
movie that was my own at the ageof 41. And I remember thinking
when I was young, that's old.
And it wasn't. It's not. Youknow? So you're never too old to
do it again, and you're nevertoo old to, you know, get up and
(35:05):
create again, and you're nevertoo old to have a dream again
and just go do it because theworld will welcome you. And
also, you know more now thatyou're older, and so you'll be
Mhmm.
More of an asset too toeverybody around you.
Cathy (35:21):
That's so true. That wisdom. Wisdom.
Merry (35:24):
Absolutely. Absolutely. Thank you so much, Ryan. That's
great. Our guest today on lateboomers has been filmmaker,
director, producer, writer,artist, painter, Ryan Liebel.
You can reach out to her at herwebsite, lighttouchmg.com.
(35:46):
That's lightt0uchmg.com. Thankyou.
Cathy (35:54):
And thank you for listening to our late boomers
podcast and subscribing to ourlate boomers podcast channel on
YouTube. Listen in next weekwhen you'll meet another
exciting guest, Gina Osborne,former FBI agent. You can listen
to late boomers on any podcastplatform, and we do appreciate
you. Please follow us onInstagram at I am Kathy
(36:16):
Worthington and at I am MaryElkins and at late boomers. And
thanks again to Ryan Leibel.
Ryann Liebl (36:24):
Thanks for having me.
Cathy (36:36):
Thank you for joining us on late boomers, the podcast
that is your guide to creating athird act with style, power, and
impact. Please visit our websiteand get in touch with us at
lateboomers.biz. If you wouldlike to listen to or download
other episodes of late boomers,go to ewnpodcastnetwork.com.
Merry (36:58):
This podcast is also available on Spotify, Apple
Podcast, and most other majorpodcast sites. We hope you make
use of the wisdom you've gainedhere and that you enjoy a
successful third act with yourown style, power, and impact.
This is the EWN Podcast Network.
Cathy (00:14):
Welcome to late boomers, our podcast guide to creating
your third act with style,power, and impact. Hi. I'm Cathy
Worthington.
Merry (00:24):
And I'm Merry Elkins. Join us as we bring you
conversations with successfulentrepreneurs, entertainers, and
people with vision who aremaking a difference in the
world.
Cathy (00:34):
Everyone has a story, and we'll take you along for the
ride on each interview,recounting the journey our
guests have taken to get wherethey are, inspiring you to
create your own path to success.Let's get started. Hello, and
welcome to Late Boomers. I'mCathy Worthington here with my
(00:56):
cohost, Mary Elkins, and we arebringing you a guest that Mary
and I can really relate tobecause of our time spent in the
entertainment business. RyanLeibel is an award winning
filmmaker, director, andproducer.
Merry (01:09):
And I'm Merry Elkins. Ryan is also the deputy CEO of
Light Touch Media Group, helpingbrands come up with strategies
for the most effective visualcontent. She's also a writer and
painter. Welcome, Ryan.
Ryann Liebl (01:25):
Thanks so much for having me.
Merry (01:28):
Great to have you.
Cathy (01:30):
We wanna hear your story, so please tell our audience a
little bit about your intro toentertainment and how you got
started.
Ryann Liebl (01:39):
Well, I was born and raised in Wisconsin, and I
was a country girl. So I hadspent a lot of time outdoors
using my imagination and beingin nature. And that kind of set
the scene for me of wanting toperform and wanting to use that
imagination, you know, just putit to use. My parents were both
(02:02):
artists, even though theyweren't necessarily they
wouldn't consider themselvesartists. My father plays the
piano in the organ, and mymother is an interior designer,
very, very highly talentedinterior designer.
And they love movies. So wealways had movies in the house.
They bought movies. We hadcopies of movies. I would watch
(02:25):
different movies over and overand over again, and I really got
into acting.
And then when I was a freshmanin high school, I actually
started to audition and putmyself out there. And then I
started doing plays in highschool. I started doing
professional theater inMilwaukee. And then I went to
school at USC in Los Angeles.And there, I minored in film,
(02:46):
and I majored in theater.
And then about two and a halfyears into doing my degree, I
started acting professionally inLA. And that's just sort of how
it all began and started. It'sbeen
Merry (03:04):
an interesting journey. Yeah. Maybe we both ran into you
when we were acting. Yes.Exactly.
Mhmm. So talk about a little bitmore about going from actress to
filmmaker and creative agencyleader. What inspired you to
take that leap and reinventyourself?
Ryann Liebl (03:24):
Well, you know, I think for a long time,
obviously, when you're an actor,you're in front of the camera.
Right? And there isn't a lot ofopportunity to sort of run the
show. Right? You're sort of theeffect of what the industry is
doing and what they're creating,and you have to kind of fit into
their mold, basically.
(03:46):
And I think, you know, reallyearly on, I've been a writer my
whole life, so I started towrite scripts. I started to move
more and more behind the camerawhere I was helping on different
sets and, you know, doing hair,makeup, wardrobe, helping with
casting, art directing, and thensort of directing and producing
(04:07):
a bit more. I started doingscene study directing, and then
I produced a play, and then Istarted doing short films. So it
was a funny transition for mebecause I didn't really consider
myself necessarily a filmmaker,even though I was doing that. I
always looked at my as, youknow, I'm an actor who's making
(04:29):
things happen.
That's kind
Merry (04:32):
of the viewpoint. And
Ryann Liebl (04:36):
then I think, you know, I think by the time I was
in my late thirties, I startedto really see that I was really
a filmmaker, that that reallywas my hat and and that I better
take some more responsibilityfor it, basically. So I started
to produce and direct more. Istarted to come up with
different creative concepts,storyboarding, and just really
(05:01):
dealing with and running thewhole show. And then in 2018, I
started my own film productioncompany and decided that I was
going to produce my material,right, because I have featured
scripts, right? And so that'swhat I did.
So the first film was you know,2019. Right? And we
Cathy (05:28):
got that gonna ask you about it. It's called REL Films,
your company. Right? And youdirected a comedy feature called
Mags and Julie Go on a RoadTrip. So Yeah.
What drew you to tell thatparticular story?
Ryann Liebl (05:44):
Well, I love comedy, and I love clean comedy.
I'm a big fan of I Love Lucy and
Cathy (05:49):
Me too.
Ryann Liebl (05:51):
Yeah. Yeah. And like and I grew up, you know, I
didn't we didn't have cable, soI grew up with, you know, the
old school stuff from the 50sand the 60s. Just leave it to
Beaver and Green Acres and allthat. Mr.
Ed, right? Yeah. Just reallyreally clean comedy actors that
(06:11):
were dressed beautifully andwere funny. They were just
genuinely funny, and they couldmake fun of themselves. It was
always situational comedy, andit was never mean comedy.
And so I kind of grew up withthat, and I wanted to make a
film that had that similar kindof feel. And I knew I could
shoot it in my home state ofWisconsin. So Oh. Yeah. That's
(06:36):
what we did.
Yeah. So was that
Merry (06:38):
a script that you wrote?
Ryann Liebl (06:40):
It was. I wrote it. I directed it, produced it,
acted in it. Yeah. It was quitesomething, but it was awesome.
Cathy (06:49):
I bet you edited it too.
Ryann Liebl (06:51):
I I did the first edit of it. I did. Yes.
Cathy (06:55):
Okay. And then you've got some reinforcements and some
help. It's it always reallyhelps your acting to have done
all those other jobs,
Ryann Liebl (07:03):
you
Cathy (07:03):
know, separately before you tackle your own feature.
Because I know a lot of actorstackle, you know, a big
directing job or something, butmaybe they haven't done that as
their background. So it's reallygreat Yeah. To have all that
background.
Merry (07:19):
Tell us a little bit about Megs and Julie. Are you
Megs or Julie or someone else?
Ryann Liebl (07:25):
I'm Megs in it. Yeah. Max is this very
hardworking, you know, executiveassistant who can doesn't know
how to stop and doesn't know howto how to say no. And then her
grandfather passes away andleaves her a cabin in the woods
in the up like up north ofWisconsin. And her best friend
(07:46):
convinces her to go see it andtake a break.
And none of it goes as planned,right? It's one disaster after.
Cathy (07:54):
Right? I got to watch half of it. I didn't have time
to finish the second half. But,yeah, it was fun. Yeah.
Yeah.
Merry (08:02):
So I'm looking forward to seeing it.
Ryann Liebl (08:04):
Female yeah. It's about female friendships and
finding your way and maybechanging your path, right, if
that's a better idea.
Merry (08:15):
So That's a a theme.
Cathy (08:17):
And you've done that.
Merry (08:17):
Many people. Yeah.
Cathy (08:20):
Yeah. A lot of people we talk to like to have changed,
pivoted, and doing somethingdifferent now.
Merry (08:26):
Yeah. Yep. And reinvent. Yeah. Yeah.
Well, on a slightly differentnote, as the deputy CEO of an
Inc. 5,000 company, how do youbalance that creativity with
your business strategies?
Ryann Liebl (08:43):
Well, I think, again, and it's something I talk
about a lot, I have really goodteams around me. Right? I have
really, really good peoplearound me that I can rely on to
help me get certain thingsacross the finish line. And that
really is key. Like, I'm notdoing it on my own.
You know? I have I have amazingpeople who are very hardworking
and very focused, and they keepmy calendar organized. And, you
(09:10):
know, but it definitely ischallenging. I think when you
know, I mean, I'm working on twomore features right now. Right?
I'm working on one that I wannado in The UK and then another
that I'm gonna shoot in theMidwest again. And it's a
balancing act for me, right, ofmaking sure that I allocate
work. Right? Because I am thetype of person, and maybe you
(09:32):
guys know this, and maybe you'relike this too, but I will take
it all on, and I will do it allbecause I can. Right?
And I think that's also just ingeneral. We're like, oh, yeah.
We can do that.
Merry (09:43):
Yeah. Absolutely.
Cathy (09:46):
Yeah. So Yeah. And you're based in Florida now, we hear.
Yes. Yes.
Ryann Liebl (09:52):
I'm in Florida, but I'm always traveling for work
and everything.
Cathy (09:55):
So your staff that supports you, are they all local
to Florida, or is everybodyvirtual?
Ryann Liebl (10:02):
Some of them are. Some of them are virtual. We
have a team of 50 peopleworldwide.
Cathy (10:08):
Oh. Because we do shoots and
Ryann Liebl (10:09):
stuff worldwide. So part of that was built up from
my background in filmmaking inin LA, right, in the commercial
ad world, and I've got peopleeverywhere to pull off different
projects and that kind of thing.So
Cathy (10:23):
Yeah. They're
Merry (10:24):
super organized.
Ryann Liebl (10:26):
Yeah. You have to be. Yeah. You have to be. And
then you have to you have tomake sure you create enough time
as a creative also to get a bitof space, right, which, you
know, artists really need.
You always need to get out ofthe work and go somewhere and
just get some space so you canget some perspective and you can
(10:47):
create. You know? So that's alsoimportant. You know?
Cathy (10:51):
Yeah. That's good to know.
Ryann Liebl (10:53):
It's important.
Cathy (10:54):
Well, back on the set of your feature, what kind of
challenges do you face when youhave to move from in front of
the camera to behind it, and howdo you make it seamless for the
whole crew?
Ryann Liebl (11:08):
You know, that's an interesting question. I think
when I when I did the movie,obviously, that it's a much more
challenging thing to do, right,to be one of the leads and then
also to direct and sort of runthe whole thing. But, you know,
for me, I actually enjoyed it.And I have to say, when I was
(11:31):
just acting, it felt to me likeI would get bored. You know what
I mean?
I'd sit there and I'd wait. AndI didn't like having to wait
because then if I was waiting, Iwould get in my head and I would
worry about my choices or what Iwas going to do or did I do it
right or whatever. And I wasalways talking to crew guys
anyway and connecting witheverybody. So it actually worked
(11:55):
really well for me because itallowed me to get out of my
head. Right?
And so when I was performing, Iwas performing. And when I was
directing, I was directing. Andthere were two very distinct
things, but it was actually alot easier for me to act because
I didn't have to think about it.And I could just do it. Yeah.
Yeah. It was surprising to me.It was I and and I was like,
(12:19):
wow. This is this is amazing.This is really weird.
Cathy (12:22):
Yeah. You're not sitting for an hour waiting waiting for
the shot to get set up. You'resetting up the shot.
Ryann Liebl (12:28):
Yeah. And you're just
Cathy (12:29):
A whole different thing.
Ryann Liebl (12:30):
Yeah. And I love you know? And the fact that I
wrote it too meant too I couldchange things on the fly. So I
was changing lines constantly,or I was taking things out that
I realized don't really workbecause I don't have to say it.
I can show it.
So that was also nice. It wasand it's funny. I I've recently,
(12:51):
like, been listening to otherdirectors, and and they say
similar things. Like, StevenSpielberg was talking about
that. He was like, yeah, youryour script constantly changes,
and you constantly change whatpeople say and how you're gonna
do the setup because you realizethings as you're doing the
process of making a film.
(13:13):
And and that it's totally true.Like, you you literally like,
I'd take out scenes. I'd rip outstuff. I'd get rid of text. I
was like, she doesn't have tosay that.
We can show that. And that alsois an amazing thing to
experience as a performerbecause it allows you to really
be causative over the processand what you're doing. You know?
Merry (13:34):
It's hard to let go of your babies, though, when you're
writing it.
Cathy (13:39):
Totally. Totally. Yeah. You mean by your babies, you
mean your choice lines and
Merry (13:45):
your great jokes. Yes. Yes. Yeah. All that stuff.
Yeah.
Ryann Liebl (13:50):
Yeah. That happened a few times, right, where I was
like, I just have to I'm gonnajust I really like that, but it
doesn't work.
Merry (13:57):
Yeah. Yeah. Difficult. Yeah. Well, you're you're
passionate about young artiststoo and creatives.
So what advice would you givethose people looking to break
into the industry?
Ryann Liebl (14:13):
I I would I mean, there's so many things I could
say to people who are young andthinking about it. First of all,
it's a job just like any otherjob. Right? It is a business. I
mean, they call it business, buta lot of people don't treat it
like a business.
They treat it like it's, I don'tknow, that it's some arty thing
(14:33):
that's personal to them. Andit's not it's just a business
like any other business. So youhave to be professional. You
have to show up on time. Youhave to make people feel good.
You have to be part of a group.And there has to be camaraderie.
And it's not always about you.It's about the group because
everything in the industry is agroup process. Right?
(14:57):
So think about that and be apart of the group and contribute
to the motion. Also, don't giveup. Don't let your doubts or
your fears or your worries stopyou from creating the things
that you want to create. Andwhen you hit those low points,
pick yourself back up andevaluate and go, Okay, what else
(15:17):
can I do to be better? Also,teach yourself techniques.
Right? Don't think that you knoweverything. That is a sort of
sickness that a lot of youngpeople have where they're like,
well, I know everything. Youdon't. And you're there to
learn.
And that's your job. Right? Yourjob is to learn. And so if you
don't know something, go find itout. But, you know, the industry
(15:40):
is you guys know is is atechnical thing.
It's a very technical thing. Andthe best actors who work over
and over and over againunderstand that technique. And
there's a big difference betweenstage acting and film acting.
You have to know thosedifferences. Right?
Those are that's reallyimportant to know. And a lot of
(16:02):
people don't know that. Theycome from theater backgrounds or
they do like a scene study classwhere they're not on camera, and
so they move too much or theyblink too much or they don't
understand lenses or they don'tunderstand how to move their
body and keep their body still,right, which is so important on
camera. So Right. Yeah.
(16:23):
If you're really interested infilm acting, you have to
understand what that is and howdifferent that is from just
acting. And if you can figurethat out, you will work. You'll
work all the time because you'llbe very valuable to producers
and directors and castingdirectors who will bring you
(16:43):
back in, and you'll work. Right?Because, you know, for me, I
mean, the the I have friends whowork all the time, and they know
how to do all of that.
And I didn't, right, as a youngperson. I I came from a theater
background, and it took me asecond to learn it.
Cathy (17:00):
Right.
Merry (17:00):
You were you were talking to the back row.
Ryann Liebl (17:03):
Exactly. Yeah. Even that voice. Like, you've got a
mic on you. You can speak veryquietly.
You can whisper, and it that micwill pick it up. So, yeah,
Merry (17:13):
there's Mhmm.
Ryann Liebl (17:15):
But also just and then also create your own stuff.
We're in a time where we can doanything. You know? We really
can do anything and createanything. You can use social
media.
You know? I mean, when I firststarted acting, they were like
people were still using film.Right? Film to shoot things,
(17:36):
film for the sound, and it wasexpensive to do anything. Right?
Merry (17:43):
Mhmm.
Ryann Liebl (17:43):
And digital, like, cameras were really bad, so you
couldn't use them. You if youwanna do anything like a short
film or whatever, you had to usefilm. And it it's a lot of
money. And, like, I remember Idid one It cost me, like, you
know, $2,900 just to transferthe film and line up the sound
and for a minute and a halfshort. I mean, was ridiculous.
Cathy (18:07):
Yeah. And the editing is very technical because you're
pulling pieces of film out. Andcutting them.
Merry (18:14):
Right.
Cathy (18:16):
Yeah. Yeah.
Merry (18:17):
It's a whole
Ryann Liebl (18:17):
new world. And so I always say to young people, just
create your own stuff. Go outthere. Learn how to do it. Go
shoot your own stuff.
Shoot shorts. Put a featuretogether. You can do it because
it doesn't cost much moneyanymore to do it. You know?
Cathy (18:30):
Mhmm. That's true. And tell us about a little bit more
the lessons you learned as afemale filmmaker. Like, how did
that make a difference, and howdo you think that you could help
another person in your positionfrom some of your perspective as
a female filmmaker?
Ryann Liebl (18:50):
I think no matter what, I think in any industry,
unless you're like in hair orsomething like that, It's very
male dominated. And that'salways an issue for women. And I
don't say that from a victimviewpoint, but there were
(19:12):
definitely times in my life andin my career where I got passed
up from it. It happened often.Directing jobs, producing jobs,
it would go to the guy, right?
And I started to observe thatand understand it and go, that's
interesting. And I always knewthat I was more capable or I
(19:33):
could do a better job. Right? Icould run the set better. It
would be pleasurable foreverybody to work with me.
The actors would walk away beingreally happy, but a guy would
get the job. So I think forfemale creators and female
filmmakers, you just have to doit. You kind of have to take it.
(19:54):
You can't really ask permissionto make it happen. You have to
just go take it, and you've gotto make it happen yourself.
Because that's you know what Imean? That's your only choice.
Or you have to play this othergame where you have to sort of
get agreement and get approvaland shadow and then figure out
(20:17):
the ropes. And it's going totake you a while, basically, to
get there. Right?
So
Cathy (20:21):
Yeah. And all of us have had those me too moments Right.
In our careers for sure. Yeah.Where you feel cornered or you
feel harassed or whatever it maybe.
That's the scary
Ryann Liebl (20:36):
stuff too. Right? You just don't get listened to.
Right? You get passed over.
But then I think that happens towomen in general. And again,
it's not like I don't I thinkhalf the time men don't even
know they're really doing it.You know what I mean? But it
just is. So I also love tosurround myself with other
female creators.
(20:56):
Right? So I have a producingpartner who's a woman, and, you
know, my almost all of our teamat our creative agency is women,
like, literally. We have one oneone guy right now, and then we
have animators and editors whoare who are men, but the whole
core team is women. Yeah. Soit's great to
Cathy (21:18):
It's exciting to see that happening more and more in the
business. Like, I'll be watchingsomething on Netflix. Recently,
I was watching Sirens, andliterally everyone on that just
about everyone on the cast andeveryone on the crew and the
producer and the director,everybody's female. And it it
just it's a differentperspective. You're watching a
(21:39):
different kind of a movie.
Yeah. It's it's amazing. Yeah.Yeah. Well,
Merry (21:44):
I'm noticing that more and more. Taking it in your own
hands because that's what womenare doing and men. I mean, you
can't really get much done thesedays in any no matter what
gender you are if you don't takeit into your own hands. There's
just too many too many opinions,which actually leads me to my
next question when you're doingcommercials and business films.
(22:08):
You have a lot of people aroundtelling you what to do.
So what lessons have you learnedfrom working with the some of
the top companies, and how couldother business owners and
entrepreneurs learn from thoselessons?
Ryann Liebl (22:23):
You know, the the I think a lot of the top brands
are top brands for a reason.Right? They're doing a lot of
things right. They understandmarketing and promotion. They
understand their own PR.
Sometimes companies don't, andthen they kind of crash and
burn, they have to fix it.Right? But we found working with
(22:44):
the top companies, like, theyknow that what they're doing. So
we're really there just tocontribute to the motion. And
then as much as I can, I try toinject my bright ideas and lead
them in a direction maybe thathaven't thought of before, maybe
that I think would create morereturn on investment or even
(23:07):
bring more eyeballs to one oftheir products in a more
creative way?
I mean, one of the companiesthat we worked with last year,
they had this very simplecleaning product for water
dispensers. Right? Very simpleand nothing special about it.
Right? And we came up with thiswhole retro ad idea around it,
(23:28):
like a dream I dream of geniekind of vibe.
Right? Poppy colors, 1950 vibes,props from the fifties. Right?
And we use that to sell theproduct. Right?
And it was extremely successful,and they, like, sold out of the
product. And, you know, so thereare times where, you know,
(23:50):
different teams will sortthey'll trust us enough to sort
of say, hey. You can dosomething different here. You
know? You can you can kind ofcolor outside of the box, and
and we promise you it'll getresults because it'll be
something that's fun and, youknow, be something that will
grab attention.
And that's important nowadayswith social media and
everything. Have to sort ofyou're competing with so many
(24:14):
pictures and people and voices.
Cathy (24:17):
For sure. You know? Difficult. Yeah. But, you know,
we've learned a
Ryann Liebl (24:22):
lot of great things too from top brands, you know,
just best practices and greatcopywriting and how to structure
different things and what worksand what doesn't. And we've been
able to test things and then seeresults, you know, for different
companies. I mean, we we wehelped the company sell, a
billion dollar contract, andthey didn't even tell us until a
(24:42):
year later. And we were like,hey. How did it go with the
video series?
Well, we sold a billion dollar.And we were like, great. Okay.
Cathy (24:52):
And they didn't even get back to you and tell you that.
That's really sad. Appreciation.Yeah. Well, what trends do you
see in the filmmaking world andin the b two c b two b marketing
world?
And please describe what in theheck those are because I don't
(25:14):
know what B2C. I don't know whatthat means, B2C.
Ryann Liebl (25:18):
Well, I think in the filmmaking world, well, you
know what I'd like to see, and Ithink it would be great, is that
obviously, like, the film worldhas been taken over a lot by
franchises and other really big,you know, budget movies. Those
are sort of what are gettingmade a lot Mhmm. Being seen in
theaters. I personally lovemovies and I love going to the
(25:42):
cinema. I really love that wholeexperience.
It's similar to going to thetheater, right, where you go see
something totally differentexperience, right, when you go
see it with people, right? Yeah.And I think given that it's so
easy to make things nowadays, itwould be wonderful to see a
similar kind of indie revolutionthat we saw in the 70s with
(26:04):
Coppola and Scorsese, or evensomething in the nineties, you
know, when Quentin Tarantinocame up and all these, like,
indie guys were making these funlittle quirky movies. I'd love
to see something like thathappen. You know?
And if I can contribute to that,awesome. But, you know, I would
love to see just more reallygreat indie movies that have are
(26:26):
made from individual voicesrather than by committee. I
mean, that's that's thefilmmaking world. And then B2B
basically means business tobusiness. So what that means is
when you create something,whether it's a video or graphic
design or whatever it might be,you're creating it for one
business to sell or communicateto another business.
(26:49):
That's what b to b means. Mhmm.And that can be anything from
promoting a product or makingyour company more known or
training or whatever it mightbe. And then b to c means
business to consumer. So that'sdirectly to a consumer.
Right? And that's commercialsand ads like you guys see all
(27:10):
the time. Right? Somebody'sselling Eggo waffles. Right?
Or somebody's selling Dawn dishsoap. Right? It's business to
consumer. And that's moretraditional style stuff, you
know, magazine spreads and printstuff and billboards and ads,
commercials, etcetera. Mhmm.
Oh, you want trends in that? Youis
Cathy (27:33):
that Yeah. Yeah. Please. I do.
Merry (27:35):
I how how it's changed. Yeah.
Ryann Liebl (27:39):
It changes so much. It changes so much. It literally
seems to change every six monthsnow. The pace of it is actually
quite crazy. But Mhmm.
What for b to b, more and moreand more people are able to sort
of they're able to create thingssimilar to what the to what the
commercial and ad and big brandshave been able to create
(28:03):
forever. Right? So they're ableto do things that, you know,
Apple can do now and whatever.So video, company overviews,
testimonials, great social mediacontent explaining their culture
and who they are as a companyand how great their products
are, and and that kind of thing.That that's gonna that's pretty
(28:26):
stable.
Right? Trade show videos,whatever it might be. But that
also is newer. That's hard toexplain. But the b to b world
hasn't been able to do that fora long time.
It's really the last ten yearsthat it's been able to afford to
do that. Right? Because before,yeah, production costs were so
much, right, to make video or tomake a great ad or whatever it
(28:50):
might be, but now they can theyhave the capability to do it.
And then b to c, like, it's it'sthe Wild West. I mean, there are
Merry (29:00):
How fun.
Ryann Liebl (29:01):
Yeah. It's crazy. So, you know, that is like I
mean, obviously, there's stillthe traditional commercial
world, right, when you see thoseon network TV and streaming and
that kind of thing. But more andmore people are just using
social media as the tool to getthe word out about their
product. Right.
And people are using you know,they'll use TikTok to, like,
(29:24):
find a local dentist. Right? Orto buy some skincare. And that
can be done with very simplevideos that are just explainer
kind of videos, and this is sogreat, and you should check out
this product. Or, you know,building a story around a brand
and talking about, again, theculture and how it was created.
(29:46):
People love storytelling. Sothat's a huge trend. But, yeah,
it just changes so fast. It justchanges so fast right now. And
now with AI coming on, right,you can use AI to create imagery
and get things out quicker.
And so it is really the wild,wild west. Yeah.
Merry (30:05):
Where do you
Cathy (30:05):
see this going?
Ryann Liebl (30:09):
I don't know. I mean, I think I think some
people are getting a bit burntout by it. I mean, there are
some people now who have thiswhole viewpoint of they just
turn their phone off. Right?Some people are going back to
flip phones.
Some people, like, takevacations where they don't bring
their phones. Oh. So I think
Cathy (30:31):
that might be Not too many. Not too many yet.
Ryann Liebl (30:34):
Not too many. But I think there might be a Everybody
Cathy (30:36):
I see is addicted to their phone. Yeah. It's crazy.
Right? Seeing anybody not usingtheir phone every minute.
Yeah. I'm glad to see if you areseeing that in Florida, but Los
Angeles.
Merry (30:51):
Mean, think phone.
Ryann Liebl (30:53):
Yeah. It's fascinating. And it's even an
issue with me. Like, I have tolearn to put it away, and I do,
and then nobody can get ahold ofme. Right?
But I just put it away, which,you know, I like because then
I'm not constantly looking at ascreen. But, yeah, the younger
generation is always on thephone. And I guess in that way,
you you always have a captiveaudience. So then it's just
(31:16):
about how do you get theattention of that audience.
Cathy (31:19):
Right? You
Merry (31:21):
you really have to be age specific, don't you?
Ryann Liebl (31:26):
Yeah. I think you do. I think you do. I mean, it's
I was just hanging out with mydad over Easter weekend or
whatever, and he's never on hisphone. He's on his phone once a
little bit in the evening, buthe doesn't live on it.
He's just in the moment andhanging out and present and
(31:46):
communicating. And I and, youknow, I think that's good. I
think it's a good thing.
Merry (31:53):
Yeah. So
Ryann Liebl (31:54):
I don't know. I don't know where it's gonna go.
My son never got a smartphoneuntil he was 18. I just didn't
give it to him, and and I didn'twant him on the Internet and on
social media. And I was like,no.
You're not gonna do that. Isaid, when you're an adult, you
can do whatever you want. And itwhat's great about that is he
doesn't care about it like otherkids do, which is good. And so
(32:14):
he creates, and he's an artist,and he makes music, and he does
other things, but he doesn'tcare about social media. So
hopefully, parents, I think,will take those phones away from
their kids.
Right?
Merry (32:27):
If you could give talking about your son and younger
people, if you could give onepiece of advice to your younger
self when starting in Hollywoodor into the filmmaking world,
what would it be?
Ryann Liebl (32:43):
I think it would be don't take anything personally
and and just keep going.
Merry (32:49):
Mhmm. Yeah. That's good. That's good.
Ryann Liebl (32:52):
Because it's not personal. You know? And it's a
funny thing when you're older,right, perspective and you're
the one who has to put togetherprojects or assemble ideas,
right, you see that it's notit's what works, right? It's
what cast works, what crewworks, and it's sometimes the
(33:14):
most random thing. So it's justnot personal.
Cathy (33:17):
Because when you're starting out, it's all about
those awful rejections. There'sso many auditions and
rejections, and it's reallyfrustrating. And you do take it
personally because you don'tknow any better when you're 20.
Ryann Liebl (33:29):
No. No. You don't. And you think it's something
that you're doing wrong. Andit's a funny thing because
you'll sometimes you know, forme, what happened is I I was
actually having success in thatI would book, like, one out of
every six auditions, which was acrazy statistic.
High number.
Merry (33:50):
That's
Ryann Liebl (33:50):
Oh my god. And I would put myself down about the
rest. And then also, would becalled in over and over again by
the same casting directors whoreally liked me, and they wanted
to find stuff for me. And I justthought I was a bad actor
because I wouldn't book things.And and and I completely didn't
know, right, that this And if
Cathy (34:12):
they're calling you back again, it's because you are a
good actor. Yeah. But you don'tTake that to heart. Yeah. Nobody
tells you.
I know when your agent nevergets any feedback. Oh, we could
go on and on about that.
Merry (34:25):
Oh my gosh.
Cathy (34:26):
But, Ryan, what would you like our audience to have as a
takeaway today?
Ryann Liebl (34:31):
A takeaway? I would say you're never too old to make
your dreams come true.
Cathy (34:37):
Yeah. I love it.
Merry (34:38):
That's great advice. Great advice. Get moving and get
going. You
Ryann Liebl (34:44):
know, you can keep creating. You can do something
newly. You know, you're nevertoo old. I mean, I did my first
movie that was my own at the ageof 41. And I remember thinking
when I was young, that's old.
And it wasn't. It's not. Youknow? So you're never too old to
do it again, and you're nevertoo old to, you know, get up and
(35:05):
create again, and you're nevertoo old to have a dream again
and just go do it because theworld will welcome you. And
also, you know more now thatyou're older, and so you'll be
Mhmm.
More of an asset too toeverybody around you.
Cathy (35:21):
That's so true. That wisdom. Wisdom.
Merry (35:24):
Absolutely. Absolutely. Thank you so much, Ryan. That's
great. Our guest today on lateboomers has been filmmaker,
director, producer, writer,artist, painter, Ryan Liebel.
You can reach out to her at herwebsite, lighttouchmg.com.
(35:46):
That's lightt0uchmg.com. Thankyou.
Cathy (35:54):
And thank you for listening to our late boomers
podcast and subscribing to ourlate boomers podcast channel on
YouTube. Listen in next weekwhen you'll meet another
exciting guest, Gina Osborne,former FBI agent. You can listen
to late boomers on any podcastplatform, and we do appreciate
you. Please follow us onInstagram at I am Kathy
(36:16):
Worthington and at I am MaryElkins and at late boomers. And
thanks again to Ryan Leibel.
Ryann Liebl (36:24):
Thanks for having me.
Cathy (36:36):
Thank you for joining us on late boomers, the podcast
that is your guide to creating athird act with style, power, and
impact. Please visit our websiteand get in touch with us at
lateboomers.biz. If you wouldlike to listen to or download
other episodes of late boomers,go to ewnpodcastnetwork.com.
Merry (36:58):
This podcast is also available on Spotify, Apple
Podcast, and most other majorpodcast sites. We hope you make
use of the wisdom you've gainedhere and that you enjoy a
successful third act with yourown style, power, and impact.
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