Hollywood Confessional

You Never Know Who's Watching

• Ninth Way Media • Season 3 • Episode 17

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***SERIES FINALE!***

Welcome back Hollywood Faithful, one last time! This week, we hear the magical, heartwarming tale of an actor who gets invited to a holiday party at a stunning A-lister's mansion... and then learns they have to perform! 

"There was a pool and music, and there was a dance floor and a deejay. There were pathways lit, and a tarot reader... a psychic medium... white-jacketed waiters, staff walking around with drinks and hors d’oeuvres... And about two hours into it, [BLEEP] gets up on stage and she says, 'All right, we're going to do a little contest.'"

Luckily our confessor knows how to improv! Through a night of twists, turns, and unexpected laughs, our confessor discovers that taking a risk and letting yourself have fun in Hollywood can lead to a magical happy ending.

"At that point, these two people came out in dinner jackets. And they
have these metal cases like Deal or No Deal – that show was hot back then. You would pick a case, and you’d open it, and it would tell you what the amount was. And you never knew. It could be $5. It could be $5,000. So these two people come up on stage and, you know, they're in front of the stage and they have the cases. And my buddy goes first and opens it up. And he goes, Oh my God..."

"You Never Know Who's Watching" is our final episode of the Hollywood Confessional. And with it, we want to say thank you to all of our listeners -- those who have been with us since the beginning, and all of you that we've met along the way. This has been an incredible journey. We love this show and the community we've built, and we are honored to have served as your podcast priests. 

We also want to thank our incredible cast and crew who made this show possible! We couldn't have done it without you. 

Please keep in touch with us on socials (find Meagan on Bluesky and J.R. on IG) and help us keep the faith as we all move forward into the new year and beyond. We look forward to continuing to make Hollywood a happier place with all of you!

Happy holidays and love to all,

Meagan & J.R.

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Hollywood Confessional is a Ninth Way Media production, produced by Meagan Daine and J.R. Zamora-Thal.

Sound Effects and Music provided by Zapsplat and Pixabay.

Keywords: filmmaking podcast, film podcast, screenwriting podcast, entertainment podcast, Hollywood, filmmaking, writerslife, actorslife, setlife

Speaker 1:

In nomine Cinema e TV, espiritu Streaming Amen.

Speaker 2:

Hello Hollywood Faithful. Oh my God, that's amazing. I am your podcast priest Megan Dane.

Speaker 1:

And I'm JR Zamora-Thal.

Speaker 2:

And this is. We have something a little sad but also a little happy to announce.

Speaker 1:

This is the final episode of, not just the season but the entire series.

Speaker 2:

Yep, this is our series finale of the Hollywood confessional. We want to thank everyone who's been listening so far. We love you guys. You are all amazing and this has been such an amazing journey.

Speaker 1:

Three years of amazing episodes. Maybe we shouldn't say too much. Should we just get into it?

Speaker 2:

Yeah, let's, uh, let's do this thing. We've got a great one coming up for you guys. Our final episode it's called. You Never Know who's Watching.

Speaker 1:

Let's step into the confessional booth.

Speaker 3:

I grew up in a city in the Midwest. Blue collar, had a huge ego and no self-esteem. At age 15, I got cast as Winthrop, the little kid with a lisp in the Music man and three rehearsals in, the director said I'd like to see you in the end of rehearsal.

Speaker 3:

I said okay, and I go to see him and he says you got a little something. I want you to write a biography of who you are as Winthrop in this little town and on Saturday you'll read it in front of the whole company. So I went home and I did it. You'll read it in front of the whole company. So I went home and I did it and I came back on Saturday and I read it and it was great. People were laughing. Girls started to like me.

Speaker 3:

Then, when we did the show, at the end of the first act is the Wells Fargo wagon and in the middle of it Winthrop, who hasn't really said much of anything up to now, bursts into song. He has a lyric and everybody like, oh my god, it's amazing. Look, he's singing. And it brings the curtain down. And I swear to god, when we did that show and burst out in the song, I was in Mason City, iowa, in 1910. It was all real to me. I believed it and the girls were all pinching me and saying how cute I was. I realized that that director had given me a gift. He had shown me that acting fed my imagination, my creativity, and I said I want to do that for the rest of my life.

Speaker 3:

I started out going to the American Academy in New York. Oh, what a letdown. Oh no, oh yeah, you see the brochure. Robert Redford, spencer Tracy all these people I admired as actors they went there. It was on Madison Avenue on 23rd Street. The building had been there like 100 years. I thought the halls would reverberate with Stanislavski and Strasberg, but no, it was who's fucking who? Who has the best weed? Yeah, it was me. Where are you going on Friday night? It was worse than high school, but it gave me a way to land in New York City and a way to meet people.

Speaker 3:

About a year later I'm making rounds trying to find an agent my friend Chuck. He had done a film and he had a manager. So he took me to the manager one day and introduced me and the guy said I'd love to work with you. That turned into a business partnership. For 30 years, from New York to LA. I went through a lot of hard times and he was right there with me and eventually we became friends. Somewhere along the way, my manager now my friend started doing weekend seminars about how to break into the business. He'd do it in Pittsburgh, cincinnati, dallas, you know, and make a lot of money. He called me one time and said you free this afternoon? I said, yeah, what's up, and he goes. I met somebody in Pittsburgh. She's a model and she's coming to New York to test for a series. I want you to read through the scenes with her. Tell me what you think I'm like, okay. So I went in and I walked into the room and, oh my God, it was.

Speaker 1:

Oh, no way, yeah, yeah.

Speaker 3:

My manager goes this is B****. She's from B****, which was also my hometown. I said, oh no, kidding. And I shook her hand and we read through the scenes and she got up and said it was nice to meet you and she left and he turned to me and said what do you think I go? What do you think I go? What do I think? Are you kidding me? She's fucking stunning and she's a really good actor. If she doesn't swallow her tongue, she'll be a huge star. Wow, oh my God. She was stunning to look at.

Speaker 3:

She was reading for a series on ABC called there were four or five hot young actresses and she was one of them. And sure enough, she got it Pretty soon. She was making $100 million films and my friend was representing her. Over the years we got to know each other a little bit. He would have Thanksgiving dinner and invite like ten clients, and she and I would each be a little bit. He would have Thanksgiving dinner and invite like ten clients, and she and I would each be one of them. Her mother still lived in our hometown, so a couple times she would say to me Are you going home in the summer?

Speaker 4:

I'd say yeah, and she'd say Could you drop something off at my mom's house?

Speaker 3:

Absolutely, are you kidding me? Eventually she met the guy she ended up marrying. Aw man, not you. Nope, well, you can't win them all. Anyway, they had this house up in the Hollywood Hills and one New Year's Eve my buddy calls me at like five and says what are you doing tonight? I said, uh, nothing. He goes, you want to go to his house for a party. I'm like, are you kidding me? She's having a party at her house. He goes, yeah. I'm like aren't you going with your girlfriend? He says no. So I'm like, okay. So what am I then? Your date? He goes yeah, yeah. So I said okay, yeah, you're easy.

Speaker 4:

I am A, so I said okay.

Speaker 3:

Yeah, you're easy. I am A party at house on New Year's Eve Huh, you never know who's going to be there. So I go over to my friend's house. He drives to her place and as we're coming up the driveway there are staff people in white dinner jackets and there's a huge tree with ornaments hanging on it and somebody is on either side and they said Hi, welcome, please take an ornament. And in the foyer of the house there's another tree. There's a gift that matches the ornament. You pick?

Speaker 1:

How do I never get invited to these parties?

Speaker 3:

So I grabbed something and went inside. There's another tree and there's a table that had a matching ornament with a gift. I forgot what it was, but it was a couple hundred dollar item. Oh, wow.

Speaker 3:

I thought, oh, that's cool. Then I went out into the backyard. There was a pool and music and there was a dance floor and a DJ and there were pathways lit and there was a tarot reader. There was a psychic medium, there were sitting areas and heaters. The doors were open leading into the living room. There's people sitting outside, there's white jacket waiters, staff walking around with drinks and hors d'oeuvres. In all my years growing up in the Midwest, working in New York and then in LA, I'd never been to a party like this, so I just stood there and took it all in About two hours into it. Gets up on stage. There was a little stage in the backyard, so she gets up on it and she says All right, we're going to do a little contest.

Speaker 4:

Here it's karaoke and here's the deal You've got to sing with who you came with.

Speaker 3:

And I look at my manager and I go oh fuck.

Speaker 4:

We'll have one round and then we'll vote and we'll do a second round to get rid of some people.

Speaker 3:

I look at my buddy. He's been drinking, so he's feeling his oats and I'm sober, so I'm not. And I said you want to do it? And he goes fuck, yeah, what do you want to do? And I said I think we should do Sonny and Cher. And he said ugh. I said well, you have no voice, so you do Sonny and I guess I'll do Cher. He goes well, what song do you want to do? I said well, I only know two. I got you babe.

Speaker 3:

And the beat goes on. Why don't we do? The beat goes on, Simple lyrics, and he goes all right. So we get up in front of everybody and there's like 15 couples that said yes, we'll do it. And we're in the middle. So we get up there and we're the only two guys as a couple and everybody kind of knows that my buddy is manager but nobody really knows me. So my friend goes this is, he's with me and he's going high. We do, the beat goes on and I'm doing whatever I can do to be Cher and the audience is howling, we're having a great time and there's a vote.

Speaker 4:

Then got up on stage and said here are the three couples for round two.

Speaker 3:

And she mentioned couple number one, couple number two, and then me and my friend and we're like, oh no, now we have to keep going.

Speaker 4:

Here are the rules for round two. You can't change partners. You have to keep singing with the person you sang with before, but you can't sing the same song.

Speaker 3:

So I look at my buddy and I go well, I guess it's I got you, babe. So we get up on stage, we're in the middle Again. The first couple goes and they get moderate cheers and applause. Then we come out and I'm like hi, welcome to the Sunny and Cher comedy hour. Woo. And we do our second song and we kill it. And then the third couple comes up and then gets out there again and says hey, let's hear it.

Speaker 4:

Bring the three couples up here Now. Here's how we're going to vote. I didn't tell you this, but the staff that has been waiting on you for the last four hours has been doing the voting.

Speaker 3:

When she said this I saw the other two couples went. Oh they were. And I went. Oh, I don't know how I was. I said to my buddy, how were you with them? And he goes I don't know Pretty good. So they voted. And here's couple. Number three here's third place. And I look at my friend Well, we're either first or second. Then she goes.

Speaker 4:

Second place is a weekend in Palm Springs on me.

Speaker 3:

I remember saying what the fuck is first place, and then she goes second place goes to and she mentions the second couple. So I look at my friend and everybody goes woohoo and he's laughing and she goes grand prize winner is Anne with the Sonny and Cher Comedy Hour Amazing.

Speaker 3:

At that point these two people came out in dinner jackets and they have these metal cases like deal or no deal. That show was hot back then. With the metal briefcase you would pick a case and you'd open it and it would tell you what the amount was. It could be $5. It could be $5,000. You never knew. So these two people come up on stage and you know they're in front of the stage and they have the cases and my buddy goes first and he opens it and he goes. Oh my God, it was tickets, lottery ticket scratchers.

Speaker 1:

Oh man, that is not Palm Springs.

Speaker 3:

So he goes what's in yours? And I thought to myself no, no, no, I get the guy in front of the audience to turn around and open it out to the audience. Let them see it first. He opened it up and I can see the people in front go oh my God. So he turns it and it's all cash.

Speaker 2:

Oh my God, better than Palm Springs.

Speaker 3:

There's singles, fives, tens, twenties, hundreds, american Express gift cards and it's full. It's a briefcase full of $5,000 in cash. I was like, oh my God, do I get to keep this? And she said yes. I said I would have been happy with the case. I mean, I still have the case. I remember going home, going now, that was a great party. Oh, the best part of the story was the next day. You know, I had two friends that were struggling and I gave them each two thousand dollars. They were like what I go? It was found money. You take it. Oh, I love that. I don't know if my friends felt awkward about taking it like it was charity, but they needed it and I I knew they they appreciate it and I think the fact that it was a gift from.

Speaker 1:

I mean, my parents taught me never to look a gift stack of cash in the mouth. What?

Speaker 3:

That's one way of putting it. So the moral of this story, and what I've learned throughout my career, is this Give it all you've got, because you never know who's watching and you never know where a performance is going to take you.

Speaker 2:

Oh, I love that so much.

Speaker 1:

It's a great way to end the story and our season and our series.

Speaker 2:

Oh my God, I can't believe I'm about to say this, but that is a wrap on the Hollywood confessional.

Speaker 1:

We want to thank every one of our confessors who were generous enough to share their stories, as well as our incredible cast members, our composer, our social media coordinator and our co-producer, joelle Garfinkel.

Speaker 2:

And, most of all, we want to thank you, our listeners. We are so grateful that you've joined us on this journey, from when we started out, with no idea what we were doing, all the way to now, three years later.

Speaker 1:

When we still don't know what we're doing?

Speaker 2:

It's been such an amazing journey and we're so proud of this thing that we've created in this community that we've created.

Speaker 1:

And it's just been incredible to know that there are people out there that have listened, that have been touched by the stories and that have engaged with the podcast in exactly the way that we hoped people would right when we started.

Speaker 2:

Please keep in touch with us. We'll keep the social media accounts going, or at least open for a while. At Fess Up Hollywood and once and for all, I am your podcast priest, Megan Dane.

Speaker 1:

And I'm JR Zamorathal Go create in peace. The Hollywood Confessional is produced by Megan Dane and JR Zamorathal. Our cast for this episode John Lorenz, kira Nequirk. Special effects provided by ZapSplat and Pixabay. Hollywood Confessional is a Ninth Way Media production. Follow us on socials, at FessUpHollywood.