HiT 159: Angel Studios Teaches Hollywood a Lesson

Free speech suffered another body blow this week, actor Nathan Lane snags the gold in the Hypocrisy Olympics and Angel Studios VP Jared Geesey explains why Hollywood isn't listening to audiences, but his company is all ears.

Episode Transcript

(00:04):
Welcome to the Hollywood in Total Podcast. Entertainment news and reviews without the book,
Hollywood narrative, free speech, freeexpression. Now that's entertainment, and
here's your host, award winning filmcritic Persian Total. This week on the

(00:28):
Hollywood in Total podcast, we sharewhere the latest warning label outbreak speaks volumes
about the people who are applying thosestickers, not the actual content. We
also mock Nathan Lane for being araging hypocrite, and we talked with Jared
Geesey about Angel Studios going to Hollywoodand why that move is off to a
flying start. Well, Gone withthe Wind got another warning label this week.

(00:53):
Both the book and the movie havebeen under fir in recent years for
being problematic. Neither fully ignored knowledgesor accurately conveys the horrors of slavery,
according to critics. Now this isthe story about Scarlett O'Hara, the dashing
men in her life, and thebattle to build back the South after the
Civil War? Could both the bookand the movie actually do a better job

(01:15):
portraying slavery sins? Of course,from a different time, a different era
could have been better. The storyis told from the Confederate point of view
for what it's worth, and fewworks of ardor darn near perfect. I
actually argue that Jaws and Alien arecinematic exceptions there. But you know,
I could digress the gun within BluRay already snack to trigger a warning.

(01:38):
And now it's the novel's turn.I mean it just want to pull to
prize. It's not a big deal, it's just a beloved text. The
publisher brags about keeping every word ofthe original story intact, which sounds like
a minor brag, But really,when you think about all the great authors
who are being transformed in recent weeks, Ian Fleming, Royal Doll at the

(01:59):
Christie, it's actually not so bad. But of course the book is going
to have a trigger warning right infront. And here is some of that
verbiage. We want to alert readersthat they may be hurtful or indeed harmful.
Phrases in terminology that were prevalent atthe time this novel was written in
which are true to the context ofthe historical setting of the novel. Pan

(02:22):
McMillan believes changing the text to reflecttoday's world would undermine the authenticity of the
original, so has chosen to leavethe text in its entirety. This does,
not, however, constitute an endorsementof the characterization, content, or
language used. Now do publishers alwaysendorse every story they share, every character,

(02:44):
every argument within their pages? Ofcourse, not just more woke handwringing
brightbart news is. John Nulty blastedthe publisher for this trigger warning, and
rightly so. He said, weshouldn't be told how to interpret art.
It's up to every reader to cometo or her conclusions. He's right,
of course, And if you enjoyJohn's work as much as I do,

(03:05):
I hope you go back and listento episode one fifty three from the show.
Great conversation there with John. Butthis speaks to a larger problem across
the culture. Why are all theseforces trying to coddle us, protect us
from challenging themes and harmful words?Okay, words don't harm. I'm sorry,
they don't harm. Six and stonesthey harm? Words? Don't?

(03:27):
Are we so fragile that a phrase, an argument, a conversation can send
us into a tailspin? You know, DA's across the country right now are
reducing penalties against criminals. But we'remuch better protected these days. From classic
novels. Do you feel safer?I don't. A friend of mine recently
told me he's teaching a media courseand one of the topics under conversation is

(03:50):
Gone with the Wind. I laughed, and I told them, oh,
good luck. Just knowing what's beengoing on with the book and the movie
of the last few years, rememberand please this is important. A single
La Times column a couple of yearsago made HBO Max pull Gone with the
Win the movie from its cybershelves.Imagine that. Now do you think this

(04:12):
ends here? Oh, it's justa trigger warning, no big deal.
Just one book, just one author, maybe two, maybe three will go
under the sensitivity reader crushing to makesure that it's proper for modern readers.
I mean it's going to stop there. Don't worry. Is the end.
Nothing else will happen. I meanthis is the way the progressive movement works.

(04:33):
It progresses. As Adam Carolla isso often saying, he's right now.
You can examine any piece of artwork, something from a year ago,
a thousand years ago, twenty minutesago, and find something troubling about it
and something that doesn't align with thevalues of right now. Twenty twenty three.
It's just the way it goes.It was a recent article in Variety

(04:55):
magazine that said about we should needtrigger warnings or other films Forrest Gump and
Once upon a Time in Hollywood.That movie's like three years old and now
it needs a trigger warning. That'show crazy things are. But the crazier
thing is if you don't complain,if you don't kick and fight, if
you don't argue that this is absolutelywrong, well it just keeps going.

(05:16):
And right now there are very fewpeople arguing about these situations. Now.
It would be nice, if notperfect, if Hollywood inc rose to the
challenge, if the stars who areso vocal about so many issues said,
hey, this is classic art.Enough is enough, leave it alone.
But that's not happening. They'd rathercheer on that rapid New York DA than

(05:39):
take a stand for creative freedom.History will not be kind to them,
and if you look at them today, it's not so flattering either. You're
listening to my dad's podcast, hecried like a baby watching Snoopy Come Home.
There's a weird trend in the newsthese days, and it's rooted I

(06:00):
think in our just absolute hunger fornostalgia. We love old stuff. It
involves older news stories that have beenresurface. Oh did you know that so
and so said so and so backin the sixties. It's kind of weird.
And then there's the other stories wherewe never knew about him in the
first place, and now these newrevelations are popping up. I've seen stories
involving Michael Nesmuth of the Monkeys.I'm thinking, oh, gosh, he

(06:23):
died a year ago. How isthis news? But you know, you
dig up something old, make itnew, apply to our nostalgic circuits,
and all of a sudden we careabout it. But a really interesting case
in point recently was Nathan Lane.This was a new interview now. He
talked about how he worked with thelate also great Robin Williams on The Birdcage.
They had a great time together.They were a great on screen couple.

(06:44):
They played a gay couple who arepretending to be straight to appease a
stuffy senator. If you haven't seenthe movie, go see it. It's
very funny, very good, andprobably they couldn't do it today. One
of those stories. But before theydid a joint interview with Oprah Winfrey.
Back in ninety six, Nathan Laneturned to Robin Williams. He said,
you know, I'm not really comfortablerevealing my sexuality. He's a gay man,

(07:05):
and at the time, it wasn'treally common for a lot of actors
to come screaming at the close andsay, yes, I'm gay, Live
with it, deal with it,no big deal. It just was a
different time. We've had a lotof great progress since then, and now
every third actor can say he orshe is gay and no one really bats
an eye. That's wonderful, Butback then it wasn't the case. And

(07:25):
he said to Robin, you know, we're going to go on the Oprah
Winfrey Show. What if she talksabout it, or if she asked some
questions about the characters I play aboutmyself? What do I do? What
do I say? And Robin Williamsbasically said, don't worry, I've got
this. And when that part ofthe interview came up, and Oprah Winfrey
was certainly pressing and being a littleI don't even know how to describe how

(07:46):
she was during the conversation, butshe was definitely probing a bit about things
about maybe you know anything you wantto share Nathan, what did Robin Williams
do well? He went off onone of his comic tangents like he always
does, like he always did sowell, and the topic of conversation change
and then every went back to thatline of questioning. Robin Williams saved the

(08:07):
day for Nathan Lane, and heis still very grateful for that moment.
Now. I know Robin Williams hadsome demons, had some you know,
the tears of a clown situation,but he had a really big heart and
if, of course he's surely missedtoday, we could use a few more
laughs in the culture right now.But I mentioned that because it's a great
story. It reminds us of alate actor and what he was able to

(08:28):
do for others, and it's justa great anecdote. But also remind us
that that some stars are really happyto insult others who might happen to be
gay or maybe they're closeted, Andone of the people making those insults is
Nathan Lane. Here's Nathan Lane talkingto the Tonight Shows Jimmy Fallon about a

(08:50):
variety of topics. He's doing someanti trum stick. He mentioned Ronde Sans
is his name, as if justmentioning his name is enough to cue the
Seals and the Ten Show audience tooto clap, and of course they do.
Or but before he begin his littleanecdote, it's a little stick,
Nathan Lane, praise Falon for lookingdapper and Lean, listen to this.

(09:13):
Thank you for being here, NathanLane, so nice to be here,
James de Santis fallon, it's sogood to see you. And may I
say the ozempic is doing wonders foryour figure. You have the taught physique
of a Lindsey Graham pool boy,how many keggles are you up to?
Now? You know Senator Graham hasnever been married, and there are some

(09:39):
rumors it's just kind of bandied aboutthat he could be a closet of gay
man. Now his private life isprivate, it doesn't stop progressives from repeatedly
mocking Graham for perhaps being gay.Why is being gay bad? Nathan Lane?
Is gay? Is he bad?I don't think so. Does he
want to bully the or maybe he'dcome out of a closet if he tells

(10:01):
enough gay jokes about Senator Graham?Doesn't Nathan Lean remember how he hid in
a closet when the culture wasn't asopen and kind towards gay people. Didn't
he say in that very same interviewrecently that many gay people still are in
the closet today and why that's sosad? And yeah, it is sad.
People shouldn't be afraid to say withwho they are. But I think

(10:24):
it's a great example of how wokeis just garbage. I bet you if
you asked Nathan Lane, hey,Nathan, have you awoke? He'd say
how woke is? The day islong? But if the chance comes up
to mock a Republican, he'll sayanything he has to do to do it,
to hurt him, to hurt her. If that means weaponizing his sexuality
against the person in question, willso be it. I love Nathan Lane,

(10:48):
He's a really talented guy who wasa wonderful modern family so many priceless
performances, But that gag really betrayedwhat he supposedly stands for. The movie

(11:09):
business was already in trouble long beforea global pandemic shuts down theaters nationwide.
That just made things a lot worse. And now I don't think we're completely
sure if adult minded dramas can stilldraw a crowd. Yes, Elvis did
well. We've seen some others thatare succeeding at the cinematic level, but
I don't quite know last year's Oscarbait movies, man, they tanked one

(11:31):
after the other. And even thesuperhero genre, which was so strong,
so bulletproof, all of a sudden, not so much. I think the
recent Shazam Fury the God's box officereceipts suggest there's some box office fatigue going
on there. Enter Angel Studios.Now, if you don't know Angel Studios,
you probably know some of their showsJerry Here that chosen a huge,

(11:52):
huge hit. They're also responsible fora dry bar comedy, The Wing Feather
Saga, and some other small screensensations too. Now they have a very
interesting, unique business model. It'sa mix of crowdfunding with equity investments.
It's not the typical crowdfunding campaign forsure, and they've had great success with
it so far. I don't seeit ending. And now with a theatrical

(12:13):
model looking wobbly, we don't quiteknow where things were headed next. Angel
Studios is going all in on movies. That's interesting for sure. Their first
film is called His Only Son.It came out a few days ago,
came in third place at the boxoffice under some pretty heavy competition from the
big big studios. A third placefinish is solid. Jared Geese is the

(12:39):
senior VP of Global Distribution for AngelStudios. What does that mean. Well,
he's a key player behind the scenespushing the studio into the theatrical market
and so far, so good.My Hollywood in Total dot com story on
his Only Son and its box officesuccess drew tons of people and even more
comments. People are clearly engaged bythe movie, passionate about it, and

(13:03):
Giesi and company have a lot moreon the way. No Geese seemed confident
about his Only Son doing well atthe box office, even though we chatted
just a few days before the filmactually hit theaters. Why was he so
confident, He's going to explain ina minute. Here's my conversation with Angel
Studios Jared Geese. Jared, thankyou for joining the show. You know,

(13:24):
Christian storytelling, uplifting stories. Howeveryou want to kind of frame it,
come a long way and a veryshort amount of time. I think
just kind of as an observer andyou've been in this space for a while
as well, can you talk aboutthat evolution. You know, we saw
some crude but promising stories early on, and now there's the Chosen there's all
this really really exceptional storytelling. Howdid it go so far so fast?

(13:48):
And what some of them maybe thebehind the scenes efforts that made it possible.
Yeah, thanks, you know,it's amazing to see the growth,
but there's surges that come in inthe productions and certainly the quality and the
embracing of these stories about the audiencesgrowing. But um, you know,

(14:11):
having been involved in it for somany years, it I think back to
twenty fourteen when everyone was saying thatwas the year of the Christian movie,
and so you know, it's takensome almost a decade for there to be
a resurgence of the audience coming backout and so we're just really grateful to

(14:31):
see that. But I think justfans are and audiences are just hungry for
this kind of content. So it'sthat's that's the main thing that we look
at an angel is um you know, it's we're just looking for stories that
amplify light and so we go afterthose audiences because there's not a lot of

(14:52):
people serving them and our crazy ideais to make the content that the audience
says they want. That's why theytell us directly. I mean, it's
a crazy idea, I know.Yeah, you gave an interview recently,
I think it was to Deadline.You said that Angel Studios knows where the
fans are. It's an ongoing conversationyou're having with them, and I'm just

(15:13):
kind of curious from a practical pointof view, can you describe what that
means, what that back and forthis like, and maybe more specifically,
what audiences are telling you. Imean, obviously that the Angel Studio's track
record is very successful. Something's workinghere, but what is that conversation like,
Well, maybe just break it downfor us. Yeah, we at

(15:33):
Angel we are big believers in thewisdom of the crowd and then that collective
intelligence, you know, and soproject and it goes all the way down
to you know, product development andacquisition and film selection like there there is
no executive at Angel Studios that cangreen light a project. Only the crowd

(15:56):
can do that. And so wehave what we call Angel Guild and it's
made up of about one hundred thousandinvestors in one of our Angel Studios originals,
and they are the ones that thattell us what projects can come out,
what do we what do we wantto see next? And so we

(16:17):
asked them and so we have awhole process and we're we're showing them projects.
We're basically you know, they're beingpitched the projects directly UM and so
that's that's who we're talking with.And so they they're telling us and we're
asking them does this UM? Doesthis project? Does this film? Is
the series? Does this amplify light? And then they tell us yes or

(16:38):
no and why UM? And thenwe asked them, uh, if it's
something that they're interested in. Sothat's our green light process. So that
that that's just the beginning of theconversation. UM. You know his only
son that's in theaters on March thirtyfeet was U like our top three scoring
projects in the guild of any ofthe things that we've submitted, and we're

(17:03):
getting anywhere from one hundred one hundredand fifty submissions a week, Oh my
gosh of projects that are coming in. So it's you know, we really
believe in the crowd and we wantthem to not only just we're not going
to crowdfunding, just asking them tofund and invest in these projects. We're
asking them to choose and to bethe decision makers of what comes out from

(17:26):
Angel Studios as well. It soundsso simple and it's revolutionary at the same
time, which makes us so magical. When you talk about that conversation,
what surprises you about what audiences want? The themes, the subjects, the
tone. Is there anything? Imean, you may expect certain hungers within
the audience. You mentioned before howthey're not being served in a certain way,

(17:48):
and that's where Angel Studios comes in. But are there specific things maybe
kinds of stories, characters, redemptivearcs. What are they saying specifically that
maybe you weren't expecting or maybe youwere, But I'm just kind of curious
about what's out there, what peoplewant to see, because it's so often
overlooked. It's been amazing to me. Is just uh, it's fundamental.

(18:14):
It's like the oppts, Like yousaid, it's things that are obvious.
They want. They want good storiesthat are well told. They want to
be inspired, they want to notalways just see um. You know,
the stories that pass the Guild areones that lean into storytelling ability, that
have amazing story artists not just uh, it's not the special effects that that's

(18:37):
winning over our you know, ourAngel Guild. It's it's the ones who
can tell a story and tell itwell. When you think about what's out
there, I guess the artistic potentialthe storytellers maybe who can't they can't get
a call from their agent in Hollywood, inc. I imagine they're they've they've
got a new opportunity with Angel Studios. Can you talk about a little bit

(18:57):
about artists maybe undiscover talent, peoplewho have just are aching to tell their
vision, their way, and nowthey have a chance with with your studio.
Yeah, absolutely, I mean that'sreally I mean, that's how The
Chosen came to us. I meanDallas Jenkins had pitched, uh that project
all around and and everybody had passedon it. And at the time,

(19:22):
you know, especially for faith basedtelevision or episodic, we had seen some
success I would say in the industryfor films, but for faith based television
it was really until the Chosen,it was just you know, more of
the broadcast you know, ministry typetelevangelist primarily there really wasn't a place for
it. So he didn't have alot of options. In fact, in

(19:48):
my previous company before I joined AngelDallas pitched me on the Chosen and our
partners we passed on it because wedidn't see a path for it. Angel
Studios came in and really just changedthe model. And so I mean very
similar with you know, Wing featherSaga, that just we're pitching that for
a long time from the books.Um, but when we go to the

(20:11):
crowd and they see the vision forit, you know, there it just
removes all of the middlemen. Andwhen the when the crowd and community can
come around a project, it reallyempowered creatives to have their full creative vision.
I mean, we we give fullcreative control to the creators, to
the filmmakers, and because we thebarometer is the investors and the project.

(20:34):
You know, the way we docrowdfunding, it's equity crowdfunding, and those
the crowd that comes on board theseprojects are literal investors and own the shows
along with the with the creators.And so that's the similar thing with with
his only Son. You know,the project just it didn't have a home,
and so you know that's the projectsthat we're we're definitely finding residence and

(21:00):
it's an opportunity for places for peopleto come and you know, for filmmakers
to bring stories that they hadn't hada home for previously. But really,
you know, our down down theroad is that Angel will be the place
that not only you just go toyou bring stuff after you've been rejected,
but then you'll start start at Angel. And because it's I think the model

(21:21):
of you know, we believe inbuilding a community around each project. And
when there's that connection between a filmmakerand his fan base, um that it's
just that's the secret to why ourshows like The Chosen and all of these
other programs that are coming out.We're seeing amazing response on on pre sales

(21:41):
already for His Only Son, andwe're very excited about what could happen opening
weekend. And so it's it's thiskind of response of that it just doesn't
happen when you're um in the otherthe normal kind of um Hollywood model.
You know that the other thing webelieve in his ownership and I think a

(22:02):
lot of the traditional Hollywood model,everyone's a renter. You know, the
audience is just paying their monthly subscriptionfee their renters and you know the way
the creators are compensated too. Theydon't. They don't even own their IP
anymore. It's bought by the streamersand they aren't even guaranteed to be the
ones who make it. And soeveryone's a renter in that situation. And

(22:25):
so whereas we're trying to empower theaudience to literally own the content, and
you create that that level of ownershipand care, and that's what I think
is part of how good stories getcreated in the world. Angel Studios is
fairly new and they had wonderful success. Do you have any sense or inclination
or a hint that other studios werethinking we could we could do something like

(22:49):
this too, or does Angels Studiois basically alone with this model for now.
Yeah. You know, we're veryfocused on the stories that we want
to tell, and you know,I think it's very it seems obvious to
to us, but it's you know, we're not We're not anti Hollywood.
I mean, some of the bestcreators and storytellers in the world have come

(23:14):
out of the Hollywood system, sowhat but you know, but we're just
saying that the gatekeeper system, theway of producing content is broken, and
so our mission is to completely changethe way that content is UM is funded
and created and distributed, and sowe're not trying to reinvent all the wheels.
You know, We're excited about whatwe're doing with theatrical and bringing more

(23:36):
projects to theaters. I'm really excitedabout theaters because because we build community,
theaters are the communal viewing window,so um, you know, that's the
place for our fans to celebrate togetherthese projects that they're helping fund and create.
It's very different. We're not goingto opening weekend to find out.

(23:57):
I wonder if we have an audience, let's see we do, we know
it and they'll be there. It'sit's interesting, you know. I know
that what Angel Studio does is abit different the equity angle on crowdfunding,
but crowdfunding in general confuses me inthat I didn't think it would have a
long shelf life. Initially, Ithought, oh gosh, this is this
is something different and new and funand maybe the first few times a film

(24:21):
or a project will will leverage this. But it really does have legs and
I know it's it's you're a marketer. You've got a lot of different skills
in your in your toolbox, butwhy do you think that's working so well
so often? Again pushing aside thatAngel does it a little differently. I
get that, But why do youthink crowdfunding has legs? Why is this
sustaining right now? Because I guessmy initial thought was that it would burn

(24:41):
out, but it's clearly not andwe're seeing a cross media. I think
a lot of fans have had theexperience of having a show that they love
get canceled for some maybe they feellike it's arbitrary reasons, and there they
feel helpless in that, and Ithink the crowdfunding empowers them to have a
voice and a vote into the showsthat they want to see. I mean,

(25:04):
there's so much content being created.I mean if you go even to
the from down on the social medialevel on up to the premium content level,
there's everything is just undifferentiated in aclick away and so when you have
ownership, you're going to tell peopleabout it. And I think that's the

(25:25):
other reason. If your see crowdfundingis just a a quick, quick way
to get money because everyone said noto you, then that's not that's you're
not going to have success with it. Yeah, you have to embrace having
an ongoing relationship with the audience,of which crowdfunding is step one. You
hinted at this answer already, butI want to really drill down a little

(25:48):
bit deeper. You talked about thecommunity aspect of movie going, of going
in and sitting in a theater.It's one of the reasons why I think
that hard movies are doing so well, because there's nothing like being in a
crowd and everyone's clutching their popcorn andeveryone's scared, and everyone's holding their breath
because you can't get that at home, no matter how big your screen is
at home. But what else isout there that makes you confident in the
theatrical model? Because pandemic came thestreaming galore. It's certainly the box office

(26:14):
isn't what it used to be.There are legitimate signs of worry. But
you know, but Angel Studios is, you know, forging ahead. What
are the reasons do you have confidencein this model? Yeah, I mean
we there's so many things about thetheatrical experience that we think are are important
and we are excited to embrace thatas a first window. And and you

(26:38):
know, certainly our streaming platform wasa beneficiary of all the growth and digital
that happened in the pandemic and soyou know, so that's you know,
we will we do distribution across allthe windows, but we I think fans
are hungry to experience something for thatshared experience. You know, you talked

(27:00):
about that with the horror movie.But I think there's that just that shared
experience of sitting side by side withsomebody and being distraction free. I'm sure
you've had this where you may havewatched a movie and you see it on
streaming, but it's it's a differentexperience when you are in a place where
it's dedicated to just watching that film. And and so there's certain stories that

(27:22):
we think they just deserve a theatricalexperience. It builds community, kicks off
all kinds of things that are affecteddown, down, down down the rest
of the release window process. Sowe think it's good business and we also
think it's good for the fans,and so, um, we're excited about
getting into this space. And Ithink, you know, I'm looking at

(27:44):
headlines right now, and I thinka lot of other streamers are starting to
see the importance of of a goodtheatrical experience. It's it's nothing new and
It's been a challenge for sure withtheaters, but we're glad that they're still
around and I hope we see aresurgence and we're very bullis sharp eaters.
Yeah. I guess every few yearsis a oh gosh, there's new cable
TV that's going to be the threatthat kills movies, or there's this,

(28:07):
there's that. There's always been technicala juelivanches that have come along that threatned
the dominance, and it never neverquite topples the giant. You know,
you've got David in the works,You've got his Only Son obviously. Are
there other projects you can tease othersubjects you think you will be tackling anything,
I know it's fairly new and maybeyou don't want to give the game
away, but anything down the shortpipeline that you can share a vision for

(28:30):
a sense that these kinds of storieswill be coming our ways soon. I
mean, we're we are working onour whole theatrical slate of projects. You
know this His Only Son is nota one off. You know, David's
coming. The Shift is a filmthat we we just wrapped shooting in Birmingham

(28:51):
about a month ago, and sothat release date is coming, but that's
a sci fi movie, and sothat the fans are just man, they're
excited about that film. We've seensome of the early footage and I can't
wait for that to be in theaterstoo. But there's a whole slate of
films that we'll bring to theaters andbring to the Angel platform and all of

(29:12):
our distribution partners. Gotcha. Youknow, I saw the teaser for David
the animated film, and Oh knockedmy socks off. It's just so memorable.
It's I think it was a fiveminute, a little short. It's
sensational before we let you go.You know, I think it's the old
rising tide lipsol Boat's theory. Andyou're not anti Hollywood, so I want

(29:33):
you, you're a smart fellow,to put your your marketing cap on.
Obviously, Hollywood is not listening enoughto the average audience member. Hollywood is
not going to embrace the Angel Studiosmodel today, tomorrow, the next day.
But how could Hollywood do a betterjob of listening to audiences beyond oh
gosh, the opening weekend didn't workout. We're not going to greenlight a
project like that. How do you? How do we kind of build that

(29:55):
backup, because I think that's agood thing. I think if stories reach
us in a power powerful way,that's a positive step no matter where you
are on the Hollywood ladder. So, you know, what do you think
can be done differently realistically where Hollywoodcan start to respond to audiences again like
they should. Well, I mean, I think you pretty much framed the

(30:15):
answer in your question there is youknow, you just need to listen to
the audience. And I think UMso much has been maybe algorithm focused or
focused on you know, tastemakers andUM and so that that it's not making
it's not creating films that I thinkare aligning and stories that are aligning with

(30:37):
people's um with with their values andthe stories that they want to see and
that they want their families to see. And it's it's not so much that
we are we just are doing ourown thing, working with creators and so
it's I really I'm not as concernedwith what Hollywood is doing, just it's
it doesn't We're we are busy tellingthe story that our fans want to hear

(31:02):
UM And so I would love forthem to Uh. I think it'd be
great for all of us and forculture in general. If if, um,
if there would be that more ofa remembering the fan part in the
audience part of the equation instead ofjust trying to push, I would say,
you know, maybe agenda or youknow, this is what people ought
to hear, they ought to AndI think anytime you start focusing so much

(31:26):
on that, that's when you're inthe propaganda and people see it, they
feel it, they feel pushed.Yes, um, and and that's you
know, that's not entertainment, youknow, and you know it's I think
that's where the problem comes. Andso we are we want to tell stories
that are entertaining, but also umand you know, our our north star

(31:52):
is is stories that amplify light.And we define light ash excellence, goodness,
beauty, truth, and that's whatwe're looking for on our stories.
And those are the kinds of thingsthat families can watch together. And I
think the world needs those kinds ofstories. So that's what our mission is.

(32:14):
Yeah, and I think that's whyAngel Studios is hitting hitting it out
of the park time and time again. Jared, thank you so much for
joining the Hollywood in Total podcast.Of course, Angel Studios is going to
Hollywood in the best of ways,bringing its uplifting, family friendly films to
the theaters where they belong, andof course, Jared is helping to light
that path all the ust Jared,I can't wait to see what Angel Studios
has up in its plans next,because it's always something exciting. Thank you

(32:37):
so much, Thank you well.The show is over this week, but
I'm told podcasters must find a differentway to keep audiences engaged right until the
very end, and I like tofollow orders, so with that in mind,
I want to give a little tip. It's a Netflix show that aired
a few years ago. It's obviouslystill available in the streaming service and some
of you may have missed the firsttime. I know idea it. I

(33:00):
heard a little bit about it,but just didn't get a chance to check
it out. I have on thebeginning of season three this four season in
general, and it is very enjoyableand I highly recommend it. The show
is called Atypical and it follows anautistic team as he traverses high school love
relationships a very troubled family situation.Now actor kier Gilcrest isn't on the spectrum,

(33:24):
but his performance is just outstanding.It's funny my family. We have
two young men in our family whoare on the spectrum, and you know,
maybe that gives me a slight differentperspective on this particular show. But
I think the actor's work here isjust spectacular. It's consistent, it's powerful.
There's not a moment where his characteris Sam seems like an actor playing

(33:45):
a man on the spectrum. It'sjust authentic. And of course he has
a wonderful sense of humor. Samis very, very funny. Yeah,
you know, sometimes it's accidental,but you can tell this character really does
have a robust sense of humor,and so does the show. I laugh
a lot during a typical No,it's mostly good drama. There are some
tense moments here and there, butthis is a lot of good genial laughter

(34:05):
here too. I also mention anotherstandard on the show is Michael Rappaport.
He's been a very good character actorfor years. He's quite a character off
screen. He's a podcaster. Hesays what he thinks online a lot.
I don't always agree, but again, he always speaks his mind. I
appreciate that, and he's spectacular heretoo. He's the dad of the child
the teenager Sam, and he's reallystruggling still to come to grips of being

(34:30):
the parent of a autistic teen.It's not easy. There's always new challengers,
there's always new heartbreaks, and there'salways new victories. And Rappaport's performance
is exceptional, it really is,and I think he's kind of the sneaky
champ of the show, even thoughthere are many good performing characters here.
Now. A Typical lasted for fourseasons, like I said, and it
got pummeled by some on the wokeleft because it didn't have an autistic teen

(34:53):
in the main role. They hadthe problem with that, even though I
think later on they did ask.They did add some authentically autistic teens into
the show, into the cast,but push that aside. Atypical is well
worth a look. It's funny,it's sweet, it's sad, it's sour
at times. It's like real life. And if you missed it the first
time, like I did, definitelycheck it out now. All right,

(35:17):
now the show is officially over,and oh if you could give a rave
review of Okay, the show isnow officially over, but before you go,
if you can give an official thumbsup a Rave review over an iTunes.
It's kind of like the show neverended, and I'd appreciate that.

(35:38):
See you next time.