NOLA Film Scene with Tj & Plaideau
A podcast about acting, filmmaking, and the improv scene in New Orleans.
NOLA Film Scene with Tj & Plaideau
Zac Cino: The Actor-Director's Lens
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From childhood VHS movie-making to crafting indie films with a distinctive voice, actor-director Zac Cino takes us behind the scenes of his creative journey on this episode of NOLA Film Scene.
Zac shares the story of how a prop gun pressed against an actor's face created an unexpectedly authentic moment - which leads to a fascinating discussion about unconventional directing techniques, including how asking an actor about Spider-Man right before a take can elicit the perfect confused expression.
Sponsored by Jana McCaffery Attorney at Law. Have you been injured? New Orleans based actor, Jana McCaffery, has been practicing law in Louisiana since 1999 focusing on personal injury since 2008. She takes helping others very seriously and, if you are a fellow member of the Louisiana film industry and have been injured, she is happy to offer you a free consultation and a reduced fee to handle your case from start to finish. She can be reached at Have you been injured? New Orleans based actor, Jana McCaffery, has been practicing law in Louisiana since 1999, specializing in personal injury since 2008. She takes helping others very seriously. If you have been injured, Jana is offering a free consultation AND a reduced fee for fellow members of the Lousiana film industry, and she will handle your case from start to finish. She can be reached at janamccaffery@gmail.com or 504-837-1234. Tell Her NOLA Film Scene sent you
Follow us on IG @nolafilmscene, @kodaksbykojack, and @tjsebastianofficial. Check out our 48 Hour Film Project short film Waiting for Gateaux: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z5pFvn4cd1U . & check out our website: nolafilmscene.com
Hi, I'm Zach Chino. I am an actor, slash director. I am super excited to be on NOLA Film Scene because it's not as hot as buying. Actually, in the NOLA Film Scene I said buying, enjoy kids.
Speaker 2:Welcome to NOLA. Film Scene with TJ Plato.
Speaker 3:I'm.
Speaker 2:TJ and, as always, I'm Plato.
Speaker 1:Cool. Welcome, zach. Hi, glad to be here. Hey, mr Director. Yeah, we look like if the three studios opened a microbrewery, that could be us yeah, I could see that I don't even get mo, I get shemp, though I'm gonna like demote myself a little, I guess I get curly be able to brian right now.
Speaker 1:So oh, I don't know you did that. That's movie magic. I've already hit brian in the face. Enough of things that I don't know how you did that. That's movie magic. I've already hit Brian in the face. Enough with things that I don't want to do anymore too much.
Speaker 3:Oh, that's right, the infamous gun in the face.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that was another 48. We talk about the 48. So much TG. And I. And even Zach. We all just did one of this two weeks ago, yeah.
Speaker 3:That's right. So you told the story of a director that asked you a question about a superhero and they were trying to get you to have, maybe, a confused look on your face. Was that part of that story with the gun with Zach in that project, or was it a different director? That's exactly right. It was Zach. All right, retell the story, because I don't remember the exact details.
Speaker 2:Me too. Yeah, and Zach's the director I always talk about One. He got my fellow actor, gil, who was a contract killer in the story, looking for a witness and I was a potential witness and he took this prop gun which he couldn't fire and he put it up to my cheek and he's interrogating me, but he really got into it, so it popped a couple of blood vessels right in my face.
Speaker 1:I was so pumped.
Speaker 2:It really helped with the moment and, of course, thank God you stopped him short of pistol whipping me.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I was pretty excited. I was like, look at that, look at that, look at that, and everyone's like you should be caring about the actors. I'm like I know, I know, but look at it, look at how it looks on, look how it reads.
Speaker 2:And I always love, because when they've been on the show, how do directors draw things out of people? Because I wasn't coming across, I wasn't thinking enough, I was all just in my lines in my head the wrong way, and he said, okay, before this take, we're going to ask you a question and just think about it and you go, who's your favorite Spider-Man action? Oh, cut Got it. And I'm like, wow, that's cool, you Got it. And I'm like, wow, that's cool. You know what I mean? It was leveling up. I was still pretty much a noob, but it showed me something in acting. It's one of my favorite moments.
Speaker 3:Nice. Yeah, it's pretty cool.
Speaker 1:Is that the shot that's actually in there when he asks you the question and you're, like you look kind of confused? That's the one.
Speaker 2:Yeah, my face looks like what the fuck are you talking about?
Speaker 3:yeah, I like doing little things like that you have a film on facebook that just came out. There was some cgi in the background, maybe puppets oh, that's a little older.
Speaker 1:That's. I started working on that probably in 2020. It's pinned.
Speaker 1:It looks recent okay, that's what it okay and then those, uh were kind of what got me back into movie making. And then it just kind of snowballed from there. And then I eventually, like I knew Brian through Jim's class and then I was asked by some of his classmates to direct for that one and that's where I met Yashaya. His girlfriend at the time was like you need to watch these weird videos of him with puppets and aliens. I think this is like a guy you should continue to work with. And he was. And then they so those those are a funny little thing. There were supposed to be five of them. I released two, I shot the third one and I just kind of like every now and then I'll play with the footage, but I'm like huh, it's not on my priority list at the moment anymore.
Speaker 3:But I love putting weird effects and stuff like that and like puppets. Some of it I guess CGI. Were the puppets like real physical puppets, or were they cgi as well?
Speaker 1:I know that's a puppet that I uh, I've owned like three times. I got when I was 10 for christmas and I used to make videos with it like a like an old taiko video camera back in the 90s oh, that's cool.
Speaker 1:It was choked right into the vcr, shot in black and white. It was, uh, my first camera, so I used to make all these little films with like toys and stuff because I was 10. And Harry and I, the monkey, would star in multiple things together. We went on space adventures. I did the hour where I'm working on a ship, but then, evelyn, we're out fighting the ships. It's just me pointing a camera at a modder and I'm playing a video game and I'm like, oh, look at at us. We did the jobs and my action sequences were just stolen from like 90s computer games that one eventually fell apart the first one. And then I, uh, when I started making little shorts again during, uh, during lockdown, I was like let's just bring him back, wouldn't it be funny?
Speaker 1:so I found one on ebay and then just ordered it and been playing with them since that's pretty cool and I used to make movies the same way.
Speaker 3:My dad had a VCR that had you could connect the camera. It was an RCA and there were two pieces to the VCR. You could take the tape side off and put it in a bag and it was wired to the camera and we would make little films with the neighborhood. Kids and my nieces would come down and stay a couple of weeks in the summer and we'd film these little skits.
Speaker 1:Those had instant replay. Yeah, you could rewind on them and play back in the beginning. That was a big deal. I remember the ad where the guy's filming his son's baseball game in the 90s and he's like, oh, I got instant replay and it's just this giant bag on his side.
Speaker 3:Right right.
Speaker 2:It's almost as good as the first cell phones, where it was like a brick. Yeah, it melted your face when you used it.
Speaker 3:That's right. Yeah, what you just described, that might be the earliest form of video game streaming or filming, you know.
Speaker 1:Yeah, maybe. So yeah, it was kind of like a playthrough, but I put it in, I reverse engineered it into a plot. Yeah, totally.
Speaker 3:That's pretty funny.
Speaker 2:You mentioned Yashaya from Fireface Films, so I wanted to get that plug in there for him, so we know who we're talking about. Mm-hmm, your partner now.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, for the most part, yeah, we make everything together. We want to do something weird later this week. We haven't. Even earlier today. I was like he's like I want to shoot something and I was like, all right, I want right from there. That's just a prerequisite.
Speaker 2:Mm-hmm, let's go back. How did you get started? You talked a little bit about making films. What led you into this career, into this biz, into this acting and directing?
Speaker 1:I don't know. When I was a kid I was just like super into movies and wanted to make movies. I feel like when I was a kid, my two big movies in like Mask and Jurassic Park, and I feel like that just makes sense. When you look at everything I make, that's just like weird. It's like a weird combination of should this be funny? It's kind of violent, and so then it just kind of snowballed from there and then I got into stand-up when I was in high school so I used to do the talent shows and I was super into that. And then I was like 18. I just kind of messed around, played with cameras and film stuff. That it was more like just me doing weird sketches with friends. And then after Katrina I came back, the film scene here started blowing up. I kind of was just like this is the right time. I met my friend, chris Black, who I used to make films with him. He was kind of my film partner for a good long time and it just kind of went from there.
Speaker 1:And then it slowed down and then now I'm in midlife crisis and just doing the whole, the whole run through again Midlife. What are you? 30?, 38? I'm giving myself 76. I've done some things.
Speaker 2:Yeah, totally, totally. But.
Speaker 1:I'm not making it to 90. Young man you're not even close to midlife.
Speaker 2:See, we had the cops somewhere in someone's background.
Speaker 3:We won't say who that's not the first time, brian.
Speaker 2:The cops are coming on, I got to go Let me put on this. Let's talk a little bit about that stand-up. We haven't had many guests who have done that. Yeah, do you miss it? Do you want to do it again?
Speaker 1:I like doing it sometimes but I don't like doing the the full-time thing. Like I know people who do it, you know, six nights a week. I work mostly nights also, but like I enjoy doing it on occasion. But the film direction is much more my interest. It's just kind of like a fun also thing to have Right.
Speaker 2:But comedy movies are more what I'd like to do a little bit of Right, do you write your jokes out, or you just kind of improv and do it on stage it's like 75 written and then I'll I'll spice it up if I'm feeling momentum.
Speaker 1:Do you do any crowd work? I not really. Only if it feels necessary, like if it's a bunch of young kids who won't laugh until they're acknowledged, I'll kind of oh look at you guys oh and they're like, oh, I got attention. And then they actually pay attention to what I'm saying. For the rest of the bit.
Speaker 3:I'll do that. What's your best? Comeback for a heckler.
Speaker 1:I've never been heckled.
Speaker 3:That's cool.
Speaker 1:I guess I just don't do it enough.
Speaker 3:I think that's probably the biggest fear for some people is getting up there and getting heckled.
Speaker 1:Yeah, especially like how now everyone because of Instagram videos of comics thinks's like what they want Like oh. I mess with them, they'll go viral. It's like no shut up and let me do what I wrote. I'm here to do a bit. Pay attention, it's funny, I promise. Uh, sometimes people just like because of you know, like Instagram reels and such, they don't understand the boundaries between performance and audience. Part of the show it's. You know. That's not what people are there for.
Speaker 3:They sometimes think that the performer wants that extra help or needs that little controversy to draw some attention.
Speaker 2:And it's not necessary, no, and also it's usually a two drink minimum and we'll leave it at that. Zach, like you mentioned, we met in Jim Gleason's class. Tell us a little about I can't speak today.
Speaker 3:He does this for a living.
Speaker 2:Kind of Mostly I clean shit as a janitor for a living. Zach, like you said, we met in.
Speaker 1:Jim Gleason's class Sorry dude Take five.
Speaker 2:Zach, like you said, we met in Jim Gleason's class. Please tell us a little bit about your acting experience.
Speaker 1:So, I had a friend named Chris that I used to work with at a restaurant way back in 2007. And he was in a screenwriting class and he wanted to make a movie and me and that dude did not like each other for a very long time and then he was like hey, I wrote a movie and you're in it, and then we've been best friends since Nice. And then we made some little short films here and there I met a friend of mine named Brent Henry, working through Sean Jerwin on a movie called let's Rob the Cheese Shop about the St James Cheese Company, and through him I met his agent and I was maybe like 21 or two at the time and then I just signed with I don't remember, but it changed names over time, but I signed with that agency at the time and I have just kind of been with a continued evolved version of that same one since. It kind of they did their own thing and now it's evolved into a separate agency.
Speaker 1:I lived in new york for five years and I didn't really do any film stuff there, I was just needed change of scenery for a while. And when I was caught, when, when I was about to move back, I called him and I was like I'm coming back my old agent. He was like it's time.
Speaker 1:He was like I need you to go see a guy named Jim Gleason. I need you to go see so-and-so for headshots.
Speaker 3:This is what you'll do when you return and I was like got it. That's good, that's cool that you had an agent already that brought you back into the fold and got you started back up.
Speaker 2:Now, if we can just get the business to light up again.
Speaker 1:Yeah, maybe we'll see with Nola King, nola King.
Speaker 3:Hopefully, right, maybe that'll bring Infusion back down here.
Speaker 2:Sam Jackson. I just want a chance. I just want a chance to audition Sam Please.
Speaker 3:Before the strike, auditions I was averaging three or four a week and now it's kind of few and far between.
Speaker 1:Yeah, before all that, my agency never really sent me advertisements that much. It was mostly just film and TV. Now it's just every now, and then they're like hey is for like a chase commercial. They're like these are what I have at the moment, which is great. Uh, it's just an unfortunate like window into what everyone in the industry is dealing with here right now that's right, and my paid gigs the last year have been commercials yeah nothing really film or television been doing a lot of fake eating and fake being a dad.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I could see that.
Speaker 1:Yeah, a lot of fake cabinet opening.
Speaker 3:Yeah.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 3:I had one where I looked into a mirror.
Speaker 1:That was it. That's the whole audition.
Speaker 3:Yeah, but that was the film. That was like the gig. Yeah, they shot me dirty over my shoulder into the mirror.
Speaker 1:I had to do one where I was getting covered in a barbecue sauce. They were like, pretend you're getting sauce dumped on you from above and I was like, okay, this is what we've gotten to. I didn't put my tongue out or anything. I know I've learned enough.
Speaker 2:I auditioned for that too.
Speaker 1:Yeah, you did the old sauce dumping.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:The artist was it? That's what I had heard.
Speaker 2:We'll cut that out too, sorry, yeah.
Speaker 1:I'm just discussing everything in the confidential parts of the audition.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I was going to say the artist wasn't named, but we've heard that it was.
Speaker 1:So I think. So yeah, I never heard. I just heard that was like a rumor thing it was.
Speaker 2:It might have just said artist throws a record at you and I was like okay, we don't know what it was, and once that commercial comes out, everyone, you can try to figure it out for yourself.
Speaker 1:Allegedly we heard.
Speaker 3:So we'll shift gears in keeping with the theme of auditions slowing down. A lot of us are starting to make our own content and there's a lot of little projects lined up just to keep going, keep practicing, keep making stuff. Yeah, because it's a perishable skill. If you just sit on your hands and not do anything to improve, you're going to lose that. Yeah, I've seen some of the stuff that you made. I saw your last 48 and it seems like you're incorporating a little bit of CGI into that. Is it challenging to do that? Because I haven't done any of that really.
Speaker 1:It's easy for me because it's I'm not building those models those are, you know, it's like basically like I pay for a subscription to production crate and I have story blocks as well. We did a zombie film recently and I had to kind of just have some news on the background. So I just re-signed up for both of those and just did that, all editing myself. But like, yeah, they have those elements that are you can use and you just drag and drop them kind of into like after effects and premiere.
Speaker 1:I've just been doing it for like five years, so it's just like fun now and I can just like build it and make the sounds and put it all together it didn't take long to make that little like plane going down, like that was like 10 minutes of work oh, wow all right so brian and I have worked with michelle busque and they have a setup.
Speaker 3:They don't always use it, but they have a setup where they have a virtual background and they do rear projection right like the volume kind of.
Speaker 2:Yeah, like something like that volumes is what star wars has, the whole room with LED screens. Oh right, this is just. It's projected from behind and that's behind you, Okay.
Speaker 3:It's a silver screen, that's I don't know if it's 12 or 15 feet across or so, and they use a rear projection. And then Dave Burdick builds the scenes in Unreal Engine.
Speaker 1:Oh, that's awesome.
Speaker 3:So they'll get on Friday, they'll get all the information and then he'll go to work starting to build the background while she's writing the script. So he'll have everything the world built out and ready to go the next day and then when we start filming he's able to project that, those backdrops the last one we did was on a spaceship, the 48. That we did. This time we didn't use the virtual background and it actually saved them a lot of time with all the setups it was yeah, cool, tj, your 48 was clean in the script.
Speaker 2:You know what I mean. I will admit, on my teams tj and I were on separate teams this time. Basically they had a 12 to 15 minute movie that had to be cut down to seven. It's very hard to come up with the idea and you have to focus on that, on making sure that it's under seven and you can play with it, of course and y'all both did superhero films- I don't think.
Speaker 1:Did y'all draw superhero? Yeah, you did.
Speaker 3:Yeah, yeah. Well, a lot of like consoling you shy on the drive back to to our 48 hour base. I'm like it's good, it's going to be OK, man, I'm going to, I'm going to do a plane crash but it's going to be fine. And he kind of had to trust me on that plane and the plane was going down. Which part of that was like physical in the room props and which was virtual, it see, did he have a yoke? Did he have a plane yoke in his hand?
Speaker 1:yeah, I'm trying to remember we took exercise bars for like push-ups, turn them sideways and then duct taped it to like the end of a garbage can, of a not the kid, the, you know like a dustpan with, like a stick. Put that on there and we had a guy underneath who would just like I beg more turbulence now and he would shake it up more. And it's kind of old schooling under like a guy with like a sitting on a green screen. He was sitting on a folding chair.
Speaker 3:That's pretty cool. I've been exploring a little bit so Brian doesn't like some of the AI stuff he can speak to that. I've been exploring some of the things, some of the worlds that you can build out with these new engines, the Google VO and some of these other tools where you can build out a whole world. I don't agree with having do all the audio for you that can be done.
Speaker 3:Do all the audio for you. That can be done. You know I would prefer to do my own dialogue with whoever's involved and I would prefer to write my own script. But some of those tools to create some of those virtual worlds are just incredible the way that they're improving.
Speaker 1:I saw an ad on Instagram and it was a computer program and you just like draw a picture and it would scan it and make a three-dimensional model out of that and you're like that's it. I just gotta like put frames on now and I can animate this like I was. Like it just skips an entire large step of the process. It was wild. It's a weird thing because, like, if you're making a little something for yourself, then I don't care, I don't use ai for anything, but I understand, like if it's someone small doing it or because you're not taking a job away from anyone, really there right just you're just doing something at home for fun.
Speaker 1:When, like, a big company does it, then it's like no, you're just taking jobs away to for your bottom line yep, I agree but yeah, I know if, like if tom is sitting at home and he's like this would look funny with this on it, whatever, that's fine.
Speaker 3:I do think that they need to have, like YouTube and some of these other platforms, need to have rules, because some of these creators are making entire films. A popular one is Stormtrooper vlogs or Yeti vlogs there's a few different ones and they're making it in a matter of minutes. They create a script on chat, gpt and then the O3. It's a dollar for every eight seconds of video that it generates, and I agree wholeheartedly with what you said. If you're doing that for yourself, that's fine, but if you're making something like that and then putting it on a platform a headless video and making a whole bunch of money and didn't do any work, that's wrong.
Speaker 1:I think I recently read that they just demonetized a lot of those. I could be wrong, but I thought I saw something where they demonetized a lot of the AI.
Speaker 3:YouTube videos. That's good If you're going to use it for a virtual background. I just don't want to trudge into the territory of having ai write or voice anything for us for us for the background we used.
Speaker 1:I found a royalty-free 3d layout in a program that's designed for sketch artists, like it's. They'll just have a 3d model to help you draw out what you're trying to draw out on paper. And they had a royalty-free one of a ship. And I just kept zooming in and zooming in and like rotating it and I was like, all right, I've made the three angles, we shoot these three angles and then we're just going to drop them in there and hope for the best. And that was kind of like that, as opposed to like someone using AI. That was just me like. Just like digging on the internet for hours until I found something that worked.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I know it's easier with AI, but what you just described to me is a person using a tool to get the job done rather than just clink, clink, clink. I've made something, it looks okay and it just floods the market.
Speaker 1:Oh yeah, and this was like after we all went to sleep. I was just in bed. I knew I'd have to get up at like 7am and I'm just scrolling until something hit Like it. Just it wasn't. I wasn't going to sleep until I found the piece we needed.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, it's coming. I don't know if we can stop it.
Speaker 3:I don't either, as long as we have rules in place and it doesn't hurt my paycheck.
Speaker 2:Well, and it's protecting the actors and voice actors, and then the stunt people and then the creatives who design, you know, the computer graphics. Yeah, and then they made the argument when it went from 2D to 3D is the same to me, the same argument as 3D to AI. It's cutting people out who have worked so hard and they either have to evolve or lose their jobs. I just don't want to lose the human element.
Speaker 3:Yeah.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:Not only is AI crap, but it's I like humans better than AI. Yeah, I'll be the first in the camp the Terminator's coming for me.
Speaker 1:I watched a movie that I will not disclose the name of, but it was a 4K Blu-ray restoration. I'm with this service where I rent 4K Blu-rays and they mail them to your house like old school Netflix.
Speaker 3:Really, because I love physical media. Yeah.
Speaker 1:It's $18 a month. I get four 4K Blu-rays in the mail a month, so I'm just watching all these movies on an OLED and just having a good old time with physical media. One of the movies they had used AI to clean up the grain of it because it was shot in the mid-90s.
Speaker 3:Yeah.
Speaker 1:You know, when you watch a scene in an Instagram video and then you see where the AI starts and the real video ends, the entire thing felt like AI. Everyone looked so polished. I was like and I've seen these actors my whole life, I know that's not what they look like in 96 on set, and it was so clean that I couldn't really finish the movie. It was unfortunate. So there's that weird thing where I don't need more polish at this point.
Speaker 2:Right, I want the original.
Speaker 1:If your restoration is grainy I like a grainy movie sometimes I'm going to watch it movies, love the movies.
Speaker 3:That's not the point. The fast and furious movies one of the actors, paul walker, died during the production of one of the films and they used some cgi and superimposed his face on one of his brothers. Yeah, and they finished out a couple of scenes using cgi and you can tell, you can look and you can tell the scenes that are not really him.
Speaker 1:There's a close up at one point and you're like why are you this close man?
Speaker 3:Yeah.
Speaker 1:It's like when Neo's flying out of the exploding door in Matrix, Reloaded and it's a CGI man and you're like, why are you so close to that? Yeah.
Speaker 3:Put that back there under very specific, defined parameters like that to finish something out, it's okay. But like brian said, I I don't want to see it evolve to the point where they're like oh, we don't need background actors anymore, we can just make this whole stadium all cgi people and from a distance it'll look real. I think that's gonna hurt the industry yeah, yeah, it'll hurt the industry.
Speaker 1:plus, like sometimes an actor needs things to be there to build that emotion in me, there's people cheering in a crowd. When I have to stay in line, I'm going to feel it more than if I'm just shot in a green room shouting into an echo-y nothingness and then you drag and drop me into a crowd.
Speaker 3:Right.
Speaker 1:That one still drives me nuts. It's like I need things there, I need the room to exist.
Speaker 2:There's one movie, I think it's Dodgeball. Could have been a few of them.
Speaker 1:I guess Dodgeball the Academy Award winning.
Speaker 3:I love that movie. Dodge, dip and dive.
Speaker 2:But when Ben Stiller in all his gear, I think, just after he's lost and they run into the kid and he flips the drink and he grabs the hot dog, that wasn't planned, that was a real moment and it really showed the character was an asshole.
Speaker 1:No, I like a little improv like that yeah, you need, you need real elements out there yeah, agreed and even cgi, the first original star wars.
Speaker 2:I like the film cleaned up, but not the special edition. Special edition is okay, but you lose what it was yeah star trek, the original series, even before they went to streaming. I think it was on their dvd they offered you the two.
Speaker 1:Yeah was like do you want the cleaned up TOS or do you want like the thing on a stick in a black sheet?
Speaker 2:They fixed all the special effects. The ship was going around this beautiful planet and it was like that sucks because it wasn't the model.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I like that. The DVD gave you the options I think on like Amazon Prime or like Paramount. It's just like the fixed up version.
Speaker 2:Just the fixed up version.
Speaker 1:Whereas sometimes, yeah, you just want like a stick and like a thing and it looks like crap. You're like yay, and then cut to lighting on Kirk like this and it's a good old time.
Speaker 2:Cardboard sets which are beautiful.
Speaker 3:Battlestar Galactica yeah, the reboot from the 70s. I mean they didn't change it Could have they could have updated it and made it all CGI.
Speaker 1:No, you don't have to. Sometimes it's fine.
Speaker 2:Have you ever seen the show the Prisoner? No, it's Patrick McGowan. He also did Secret Agent man, but he retires from the British spy force, whatever they called it.
Speaker 2:And then, because he has so much knowledge, they have to find out what he's thinking. They take him to this secret village. The monster, the guard dog, is a giant balloon which you can see somebody tugging. I mean, it's 60s craziness and it's great. I'm watching it on Amazon Prime and the thumbnail is an AI recreation because you can kind of see the balloon. It's this white thing. The face looks like Jim Caviezel if I'm pronouncing his name right, it's like why. You know what I mean. I don't understand. I see those little things creeping in and it's not necessary. Or people, people like oh, chat GPT told me this. Okay, you're listening to chat GPT, chat GPT. What should I wear today?
Speaker 1:Oh my.
Speaker 2:God, you know that that it makes me shudder. I weep for humanity.
Speaker 1:Yeah. I'm just always like hey, google AC on please. And just like in my room, soaked in sweat for no reason Because I ate like some chips, and then that was it. And I was like, because that's New Orleans living.
Speaker 3:Yeah.
Speaker 1:Baby, come on over, come to New Orleans where I have central AC, and then I have a unit in my room because it's so hot.
Speaker 2:Hi, you don't like me, but you like my AC baby.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's the one thing I miss about being on bigger sets when they come around with the big old silver snake tube and they just blow AC on you so that you can still be cold while not affecting sound. God bless that thing.
Speaker 2:Or they just blast that into Extra's holding tent, mm-hmm.
Speaker 1:That pink lemonade is hot. Those cookies are room temp. You need a little something.
Speaker 2:I think we're getting into the weeds here.
Speaker 1:It happens. I warned you.
Speaker 2:Brian, I have no problem with the weeds, but we are getting close to the time, so let's figure out one last question to wrap us up.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's what we did. I wasted y'all's day. You have not wasted.
Speaker 3:I love talking about filmmaking.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and you bring a unique perspective. Easy for me to say I know One of these days I'm going to learn how to speak. You bring a unique perspective, not only acting. You got the comedy and filmmaking, so you're not wasting our time.
Speaker 1:Sure, I was being silly, no.
Speaker 2:I know Now you're wasting my time. Let me finish my question. Yeah, sorry. Yeah, I'll hit you with this one I'm trying to direct. It's my turn. Don't make me break out the prop. So we like talking about how people were inspired, which we've covered. How will you inspire the next generation, or even filmmakers and actors at your level? What would you say? Give someone a nugget of your knowledge, like for the next generation of filmmakers.
Speaker 1:If you'd like, aim for like that level where you still get to make what you want. Don't aim for a marvel movie. Aim for that level where you can. They're like here's some money, it's not crazy money, but you get to make something that feels like you. I feel like that should be the goal that people overlook. It's not celebrity or anything. I mean I'm sure that's great, I don't know, but like, I think your goal should be the goal that people overlook. It's not celebrity or anything. I mean I'm sure that's great, I don't know, but like, I think your goal should be where people are just like oh, I trust you to make that and you get to make it, as opposed to like a screenplay that was written by a boardroom.
Speaker 2:Right. Find your voice in the little films. Maybe you'll get lucky and get the big ones.
Speaker 1:but you do the big one, he said, you can do more little ones. That's what I've learned. Yeah, like that French director from uh who did um Close Encounters of the Third Kind because, like Spielberg loved him and he did it just to fund, like, his little movies that he makes, yeah, I can't remember his name either.
Speaker 3:Uh, I'm drawing a blank.
Speaker 1:Maybe we'll, we'll we'll put it in the notes so that we're not Totally dismissed. Sorry, zach's not middle-aged, but I am, and my brain is falling out of my ears. That's okay, my brain's not great.
Speaker 3:Well, you're in good company.
Speaker 2:Your brain may not be great, but we've enjoyed picking it for this past half hour, that's a fact. Before I have it longer done. Zach, do you have any socials you'd like to share, if you?
Speaker 1:want to see something of mine. There is youtubecom slash early summer pictures. Just early summer pictures, as you would, just no spaces. I'm on Instagram as Zach underscore Chino C-I-N-O. I'm private because people will be wild. If you come, follow me, I'm going to accept it. I got nothing going on, but yeah, I share a lot of videos there. If I put up something on YouTube, I usually put it there too. I like putting little short films on Instagram. The whole thing on the reel. It's fun sometimes.
Speaker 2:Early summer pictures.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I only use that, that's cool.
Speaker 3:Excellent. We should get together and do something.
Speaker 1:Yeah, in the same room, For sure.
Speaker 3:Yeah.
Speaker 2:If we have to, yeah.
Speaker 1:Twist my arm and I'm down, whatever you guys want to do cool.
Speaker 2:I'm around. Make more films. Make more films.
Speaker 1:I'm trying, brian, yeah you shy is ready, you shy. Everyone's like what do you have? And I'm like I don't know anything. Man, I'm getting shy. Before I show up at a restaurant I have ideas of like weird little ones I want to do I want to do something really 70s looking nice I was thinking like a naked gun type noir, where it's just like a deadpan goofy yeah and it looks gritty and old.
Speaker 1:It was like, yeah, well, that's the thing we were talking about for a while and he was super down for very cool, it could be cool I wanted to do a scene where, like, you're at a smoky club, uh, and it like pans out and then or dolly's out and and there's just people vaping, because it's 2025. So the smoking of the club it's vape smoke, as opposed to the old days where it looks like a 20s club, but it's the 2020s.
Speaker 2:Is that in black and white?
Speaker 1:No, I think I would just go like grainy 70s gritty look to it, I got you Hard noir lighting in picture, but I think I just keep the. I just really want to make something that looks like it was made in the 70s.
Speaker 2:I don't know why yeah, I think you two both inspired me. I have a superhero film, probably a short. It's rolling around in my head. It hit me the other day yeah and I've always wanted to do a noir.
Speaker 1:But I was thinking the 80s gritty New York, anything is super fun. Kids watch Maniac Cop 2 starring Robert Zadar. 80s man the chin, oh yeah.
Speaker 2:He's also like Quagmire. Giggity, but no giggity in it.
Speaker 1:Uh-uh, no giggity.
Speaker 3:All right, well, zach, we've run out of time. Thank you very much for joining us. We really appreciate your insight.
Speaker 1:Thank you, guys for having me. It's fun.
