What's better than joining us for a celebration of artistry and creativity? Well, it's time for us to unveil our Second Annual Crayon Contest Awards, where we laud the incredible talent from our creative community. We kick off the episode with an inspiring update about our effervescent Lizzie, who has not only been juggling her book selling exploits at Tampa Bay Comic Con, but also embarked on an endearing podcast venture with her 8-year-old daughter. Brace yourselves for an exhilarating announcement of this year’s nominees, and a review of Lizzie's video submission that’s sure to leave you intrigued.
As we move forward, we have an absolute treat for your eyes and soul - the splendid artwork from our contest winners! Each piece is a testament to the artists' incredible talent and a snapshot of some of the year's most memorable moments. Marvel at Alex W's talismans discovery, relive Victor's violin performance through Jade's artistic lens, and immerse yourself in the captivating world our artists have masterfully brought to life. Don’t forget to check out the YouTube video for a visual feast.
Rounding off, we plunge into an engaging discourse dissecting the artwork and the air of mystery shrouding the show. Is the enigmatic boy in white puzzling you too? Well, don't worry, because we've got some theories that are bound to pique your curiosity. We also touch upon the recent Sag actors strike and its bearing on the upcoming season's production. As we wind up, we take a nostalgic trip down memory lane, reminiscing about the past year, our favorite bell ringer, and the excitement of what lies ahead. So, are you ready to jump into this creative rollercoaster with us? Let's get started!
46s Film Making 46s: Filmmakers talk origins, challenges, budgets, and profits.
And welcome to the show. My name is Alex and I'm Lizzie and, if you didn't know, it may be a strike, but we are giving our awards to our fans for the second annual crayon contest. And, lizzie, we got our shirts on, we got our whatever on and we are ready to go. And it's been a while since we've talked to each other because you've been busy being a world traveler in Florida.
Speaker 3:
That's third world yeah whatever.
Speaker 2:
I'm not a Florida fan, but at the same time, we have got a show for you. You know Sunday might be from day, but Sunday is also awards day, exactly, and I know we should have done this a couple of weeks, months, whatever. You know. A little thing kind of got in the way, but you know what. That's not going to stop us from doing what we do, which is talk about from, and you know I love this particular episode more than anybody any of them, because this year we got a bunch of great.
Speaker 3:
Oh, my goodness.
Speaker 2:
And these responses. Folks are just out of this world. I mean, we may not know what's in this world, but they are out of this world and you know first off what you've been up to.
Speaker 3:
I don't know and that's our show. Yeah, sometimes it feels like a whole lot of nothing. Um, working in the film industry my industry has stopped because of the two strikes, that's. That's it Like, just stand still, nothing's going on. And so what I've been doing is one of my little side jobs and then doing some writing. I went to Tampa Bay Comic Con to sell my book. There we go, and you know it was a great time, did the best I'd ever done, so that's a great thing. I don't know.
Speaker 3:
Resting that's awesome, got some health things going on, so you know.
Speaker 2:
Well, hopefully everything is good. Like you, I've been kind of laying low and doing stuff, working hard in my real job, and my daughter decided. She said to me the other day, daddy, I want a podcast with you. And I'm like what do you want a podcast on? Because she's eight. So we developed the Daddy daughter book worms and you can check it out. It'll be in the show notes. Um, and what we do is we talk about kids books.
Speaker 3:
I love it. I love it so much.
Speaker 2:
And you know, folks, if you're into, if you love a good children's book, it's great. If you just want a good break from life, it's 10 minutes out of your day. Listen to my daughter and me be like an idiot and you know we're. We've got our first, first Patreon already.
Speaker 2:
Yeah so and and folks. You know it's kind of a labor of love for me because I get to work with my daughter. I've ended up spending like a $5,000 on equipment because we have to podcast in front of each other. But you know, oh well, and you know who knows, maybe I'll even get this lady next to me on the show. Down the road we'll say but it's a lot of fun, you lady.
Speaker 3:
What ladies next to you?
Speaker 2:
The one that's right next to me that actually writes. So if you are an aspiring children's writer and you do have a book a children's book, not a adult book, because she's only eight years old and she reads at a fourth grade level, third grade level you can send us a DM or whatever and I can send you the Google form and we can get you, you know, vetted and all that kind of stuff. So enough about that, because we are not here for that. We are here for crayons and contests. And I'm pretty choked up because I have to say, lizzie, you outdid yourself with your video. I loved it. I got to tell you it was amazing.
Speaker 2:
And folks that are on YouTube, if you do like video, really how could you not Hit the like button, hit the subscribe button? If you're on any of our platforms, please share it with your friends, share it with whomever you like, because I just think that you know we were talking about this right before and we're like when should we podcast? And I'm like you know what, let me just start to play. And you're like well, we got to show the entries. So that's where I start playing. And then, next thing, you know, I start messing with the intro and it's just.
Speaker 2:
It went from there. I'm really mad that I don't have my shirt and my bow tie, but I got my from a shirt you can get, as you all know, and I want to thank a lot. I mean, we've been selling, on a consistent basis, shirts and hats and all I mean hats, but shirts and mugs and whatever. And please, when, if you want to support the podcast, especially this lady to my right or left, depending on what you're looking at, that's one way you can support us, as well as support us through our subscription. That's in the chat of the show notes. So, that said, are you ready?
Speaker 3:
I'm so ready so what further ado?
Speaker 2:
Hold your breath, hold your hat, cause nominees are going to be right about year.
Speaker 1:
Wait where are we this is good, I'm in here.
Speaker 3:
I really don't know why I don't wear this tiara out. I mean really.
Speaker 2:
I have to tell you it's a look it is. I mean, there's not too many places where you can wear a tiara. This is actually one of the episodes where you can wear a tiara but, like you know, I mean going around to get the milk. You're the one that can pull it off.
Speaker 3:
Yeah, all right.
Speaker 2:
Without further ado, here we go the nominees for the 2023 second annual crayon poster contest. Whatever else we can throw in there, here we go.
Speaker 1:
Welcome to the second annual crayon contest based on the MGM plus drama from. The following are this year's top entrance Alex W Talismans, tiffany J Wilde Ride. Richard L Fahl. Penny L Bliss, patty G Hyde, nathan R Portal, melanie F the Wave, justin R Violin. Johnny U Love, jessica E Ballerina Box. Emily E Ballerina Worms.
Speaker 2:
Well, folks, I mean you can say what you want, but we got some really good talent this year and I really want to thank everybody, because when we start doing this, you know you never know what you're going to get. I mean, I thought I was going to have to draw a couple and put them under fake names because we weren't getting anybody in the first year. We did it, but I ended up not having to do that because we got such awesome, awesome, awesome things. So, before we reveal the winner, what were some of the? What were your, like, top favorites?
Speaker 3:
Oh, I thought we were going to look at each one of them one at a time.
Speaker 2:
We're going to not do that because we didn't do that right, so Okay.
Speaker 3:
Well, you know, every one of those pictures was a standout for different reasons. When I look at I've got the list right here and you know, I just want to talk about each one of them a little bit, because every one of them just blew me away. They all stand so got so strongly on their own merit. Each one of them is perfection. Alex W.
Speaker 2:
I think I might be able to do that. Hold on one second. Let me just say Okay, I'm sorry folks For the listening on the podcast. I know you're probably like, oh no, what is he doing now? What is he doing the entire screen? No, we're going to try. But yeah, why don't you start, and then we'll.
Speaker 3:
So Alex W, His picture was of the discovery of the talismans and it's Boyd's point of view. Oh wow, look at that.
Speaker 2:
I know right Okay so here we go.
Speaker 3:
It's Boyd's point of view, when he first went out into the woods and he was sheltering for the night. And he's in this little shelter and inside the shelter are all these talismans, and what he realizes is that the talismans keep the monsters away. So you know, looking at this, it just brings you right back. I mean, look at the color of the talismans, with the wall and the green. I just love that picture. I love it. It's amazing.
Speaker 2:
And then Tiffany J how about we go to Johnny, you cuz oh yeah, oh, that's the next one.
Speaker 3:
Oh, my goodness, Now the thing about this. This is Molly Dunsworth and she played Jasmine. Yeah and we love. So many people loved this month.
Speaker 2:
It's our. It's our most viewed YouTube episode.
Speaker 3:
Yeah, yeah, like every time we go back there's more and more views on this and you know when we talked to Molly what I really liked, and you know even Consequent Conversations with her. She's just so down to earth and you know real, and I've really enjoyed that about she can.
Speaker 2:
She looks like she's Got that.
Speaker 3:
Look to kill like yeah, like any moment I'm like whoa, but anyways, when I saw this, it put me right back in that moment of you know. How can that? I can't remember his name, but how can that guy you know be so beguiled by this?
Speaker 2:
creature, because he's a boy and he's an idiot.
Speaker 3:
Probably, I don't know. I just you know, I like you know, that they're deadly. And yet he couldn't help himself, and I love that picture now we have just an R. Yeah, this one just made me want to cry when I saw it Because it was such a sweet moment. You know, the first time we see Jade playing the Violin, we're like is the actor playing?
Speaker 2:
like, is he actually playing that, or well, I do have some insight on that. I do have some insight on that. I'm gonna talk to somebody close to him and he actually Does play the violin and that actually was him.
Speaker 3:
Yeah, yeah. And then you know when he was playing. You know twinkle, twinkle. You know Victor didn't even remember the true name of the song right. Jade. Jade knew what he was talking.
Speaker 2:
I know that's Twinkle song.
Speaker 3:
Yeah, and to play that and have Victor Set back into Remembering his mom and how that was such a comfort for him. It was one of the most beautiful scenes and interactions in that show.
Speaker 2:
This picture captures it Well it really does.
Speaker 3:
You know, really does it's funny.
Speaker 2:
They say a picture can say a thousand words, but a song can bring you back to, to a place as well, as we see, yeah, in that episode and it brought us, you know, like just seeing the notes coming off the violin.
Speaker 3:
It just brings us right back there, like I, I could feel that. And then this I mean, look at this picture we've got, oh my gosh, we've got Fatima, elgin and Ellis making a break for it, after Elgin, not Elgin, after Ellis has been stabbed, and this is coming out a colony house and trying to get them Into the van and you see the two monsters that are coming up from, you know, by the trees there. And I loved it, like the action in this picture is just right there. I love, love, love this picture so great.
Speaker 2:
Then we're gonna go to one of my favorites here, oh the bottle tree.
Speaker 3:
And we've got again Victor with the lunchbox he's now wearing it on the rope and we've got oh my gosh Tabitha.
Speaker 2:
Katrina.
Speaker 3:
Katrina, not even her names Catalina.
Speaker 2:
I know, that's what I mean.
Speaker 3:
I'm like but I love this because it embodies what we were talking about, like simple lines, you know, and these simple lines, just they, they show this scene so well and and it's just wonderful.
Speaker 2:
What I just want to tell the people that are listening to the podcast. On the YouTube channel, we're actually showing all of these pictures, so if you do want to see either yours or anybody else's, please check out the YouTube video and please like it and share it if you're in the from group, because I just think it's worth it to to show off All these great works of art, because when we started this, it was like people were so scared I Can't draw. Well, yeah, I can't draw either, but that doesn't mean you still can't make something beautiful.
Speaker 3:
That's the whole thing it part of it is. That's the whole point of it is. You don't have to be able to draw like. Everyone can do something. You know and I Don't know. Let's see the, the way. Of which one is it the? I'm looking? Oh, portal Nathan. I don't know his artistic ability, but what I do know is that he's got an eye and he's got a way of expressing it. So we know exactly what's going on in that picture and it's great, it's fabulous and this one is from penny L, I think.
Speaker 2:
I think she's one of our other podcast hosts here on podcastica and this is what probably the happiest at from we can get you know the wedding.
Speaker 3:
Goodness, the wedding was so amazing and and their, their room.
Speaker 2:
Really, they've made it into a Sanctuary, away from from, from the minute you walk in. You know, from the first episode of when Fatima talks to Julie Julie, I was gonna say Hannah, julie about you know, what I love about this is you can look on this guy and Anything is possible. You know, you just look at the stars and all the monsters go away and and there's just something to be said for having that happy place. I mean, I know people spend millions, thousands of dollars on their, on their bedroom to make it that sanctuary and you know I'm Hoping these two can survive through the seasons. But you know, right now it's, it's a great moment and we were all rooting for it, and what else can you say? I?
Speaker 3:
Can say I love it.
Speaker 2:
That's pretty much. It, that's pretty much.
Speaker 3:
I was so thrilled that there was that someone did do the wedding. I was so thrilled when I saw that and it's just you know.
Speaker 2:
Thank you, penny, for doing that so the next one is the box, the ballerina in the box, and this is from Jessica E and I love it because I love the simplicity and the colors that.
Speaker 3:
You know the box is the scary thing and you know, here it is, it's a black box. She's got it as a black box and the ballerina is not in color and mostly what we get with the Ballerina is that she's an outline. You know that is just shaded and I love her flowy hair out behind her and I Love that she.
Speaker 2:
She did the broken leg. She did the broken leg, which was really kind of neat.
Speaker 3:
Yeah, like the leg is broken and it's when Boyd sees it and it's sitting on a rock and it you know. You know exactly where it's coming from. It's just amazing. A really really great entry.
Speaker 2:
Alright, and this one is the ballerina worms.
Speaker 3:
This was terrifying.
Speaker 2:
How do you say her first name? Emeline okay, I just wanted to make sure yeah, I mean this is without a doubt, one of my favorite is the scariest?
Speaker 3:
Yeah, it is Scariest, and you know what it?
Speaker 2:
was like almost Medusa, but in the mouth.
Speaker 3:
Yeah, and it reminded me of the kiss from the last of us when yes.
Speaker 2:
Yes.
Speaker 3:
Yeah, like the fungus comes out of the guy's mouth and it's like a French kiss with Tess it was. I mean, even when it happened on the show, I was like, oh wow, you know those writers were thinking the same thing, but it's so like this is. This is the scariest one, this is the scary.
Speaker 2:
It was such a. It was such a great scene. Yeah because it was just like everything was so cool, everything was so beautiful and yeah, and you know she nails it with the picture. I mean, I don't even know if it looks like the woman or not. I, you know, right now I can't it doesn't even matter.
Speaker 3:
That's what the woman.
Speaker 2:
That's what I mean. That's my point is that, you know, artistically it may not be an exact replica, but but it's an, the epic, the essence of it is there and that's all that matters.
Speaker 3:
And you know, what one thing I love about this are the, the, the Hatch marks for the hair and the eyebrows. Like the detail on the fake, like I just Love it.
Speaker 2:
I, I Hope, I hope she ranks high in this, because I ended up voting because of the fact that I.
Speaker 3:
Don't think we can't vote.
Speaker 2:
Well, you know we can't reason why I didn't vote yeah we can't.
Speaker 3:
well, I mean, it's not fair, you know like no, no I yeah, it's just got to be so all of these are independent votes from it Melanie yes this is, oh, this is the boy in white in the beginning. Oh God, that's scary. I know like, yeah and what. The reason why I think she chose this is because this was part of the evolution of Victor at. You know, toward the end of this season, when we find out, we get a better picture as to what happened prior to this scene.
Speaker 2:
This looks really Victor. Yeah, is no. Victor could have drawn this. Yeah, and again, this is no. This is no. So late on her. It's not again. This isn't the greatest picture in terms of like it's not like a oil masterpiece, but it's perfect for what we're doing and that's what I love.
Speaker 3:
It's utter perfection. I mean, look at the I don't know what that ride is actually called.
Speaker 2:
Well, it's kind of like a merry-go-round.
Speaker 3:
Yeah, it's kind of like a merry-go-round type thing, but you know, I love the dead body that's laying there and I think there's, yeah, there's like another one that's up against the house and Like we still don't quite get what the purpose was of the boy in white. You know, like why he's waving at Victor.
Speaker 2:
Was this a good thing or is it a bad thing that this kid shows up and and Going back to the show and please, I'd love to get your comments in the in the pod for the podcast Listeners. Is the boy in white good or bad?
Speaker 3:
Yeah, we don't. I don't even know.
Speaker 2:
Because White usually is purity and whatever, but he pushed Tabitha out the window and then she's somewhere else. We don't know where she is. So there is a lot of questions and, for those of you that are gonna ask, we have no idea when season three is gonna come out. They have not written it. If they have written it, they can't do anything about it. The actors aren't there yet At the time of this podcast, in August of 2023,.
Speaker 3:
We have no idea and they don't either, and the thing about it is that sag actors are striking In Canada. Their union is called ACTRA ACTRA, and they are not striking. It's the AMPTP that sag is striking against. And what between sag and the writers? That's why I'm not working. And so what happens is film production could go on in Canada, as long as they're not using any of the WGA writers. They're not using any sag actors, so they can there's and that's said, but there are at least two sag actors maybe three or more, I'm not sure.
Speaker 3:
But that can't film, they can't work right now.
Speaker 2:
Right, and they did have stuff in the can. I know Angela Moore, who plays the bus driver. She's released some stuff that was approved by the powers that be. I think Elizabeth Saunders has released stuff. I know Victor Scott has a huge movie that he's promoting. That's under he's not promoting, that's the thing, and I think that's the thing. I think that's the thing that's under-.
Speaker 3:
He's not promoting. That's the thing. Well, what I mean by it just came out.
Speaker 2:
It came out, but it was under, it was before the strike.
Speaker 3:
So he posted he posted.
Speaker 2:
He posted. That's what I meant. He did post about it.
Speaker 3:
Yeah, and I don't think that he can because, basically, once the strike happened for sag, you cannot promote anything that has to do with AMPTP. So if he posted something, it could be that that project is not part of the AMPTP.
Speaker 2:
That's what it was, and he said that, and he said that it wasn't part of it.
Speaker 3:
That's where it has to be clear, Because they could be kicked out of the union for something. No, absolutely absolutely or recluded from ever joining, so you have to understand what the difference is. So, for instance, this problem is gonna come up later when we talk about it, because MGM plus is part of the AMPTP, and we'll get to that after we've finished with all the pictures, but-.
Speaker 2:
But my point being was, Lizzie, that there are projects but they're not under the strike thing Umbrella, and that's what. I couldn't think of the right word. But yeah, that was my point that you know, for those of you that wanna support the people that we love, if they are promoting something it's not under that umbrella and you should try to do your best to support as much as you can. So, that being said, let's keep going, and this is a really fun scene. This was a scene that we probably would have never had if Scotty didn't do such a great job in the first season. Yeah, you know, we've got his little hideaway with the canned goods and we've got- the stale cookies.
Speaker 3:
Yeah the stale cookies, the stale cookies. So I love this because I have drawn grass like that. But there's just so much movement in this picture you can tell like the grass is blowing, and we know from watching it. And this is after spending the night in that truck and all of them heading off to someplace different. You know once they're out of that truck, and so we've got Boyd, elgin and Tabitha getting out of there. I don't know where Victor is in that picture, but maybe he's still in the truck, but it doesn't matter, it's just so good.
Speaker 2:
All right, now we've got and this this the boy in white. Is he good or bad?
Speaker 3:
This surprised us. The push.
Speaker 2:
And you know something else, surprise yeah, yeah, and I love it. Everybody's like. You know, if everybody's like, oh, this is such a no easy show to figure out, no, it's not Pushed out the window, but the boy and he's like, sorry Bye.
Speaker 3:
He's like I'm sorry, but you know this is the way, or whatever he says. But you know, I love this picture because you can see the surprise and the fear on Tabitha's face and her arms are raised and he's like getting ready to push her out and and oh, so scary. It was such a great picture. I love it, love it, love it.
Speaker 2:
I love that face that she makes. Yeah, yeah, really great face that you put on.
Speaker 3:
Yeah, that's not all of them, isn't it? Oh, that went so fast. I know so we had 11 entries.
Speaker 2:
Yes, we did, and.
Speaker 3:
They were all so amazing. So, to talk about prizes, what we had arranged for, just as a jumping off point, was that we were going to have Crayon pictures drawn by Scott and, I believe, alaya who plays the young Victor right, Eli yeah okay.
Speaker 3:
So the problem was Scott was working on a project, so he didn't have as much time as he needed to get to it, and I am not sure if he finished up his project just in the nick of time or if the project was not finished. But we went, or SAG went on strike right when we were Getting to the point thing, everything.
Speaker 2:
Yeah, and folks, it's, we're trying. I mean, I'm of the opinion. I want to support you guys as much as I can in terms of you know, we had this whole plan for when the show was off that we were gonna do, and it kind of put a wrench in our thing. But I have to tell you we're gonna keep moving on, we're gonna keep giving, continuing the conversation, and you know we're gonna try to follow whatever the right thing to do is. Yeah, that's the right way to say it. Are you ready, my dear?
Speaker 3:
No, I don't want this to be over, but I understand, and the winners the winners up for second place, our MLINE and Alex. Hey, yes, not you, alex, but MLINE and Alex. And Our winner is Justin.
Speaker 2:
Justin I I.
Speaker 3:
Loved every picture. Right, I loved every single one. I mean, I feel like I want to Make a calendar or something with all those pictures. It would just be amazing to do that, you know.
Speaker 2:
Cuz I I mean, yeah, that would be kind of cool. And what I'm gonna also do is I'm gonna try to change up the the Some of our social media to represent the new pictures, because if you guys go on to our YouTube channel, the banner is all the posters and in our intro the banners are in there as well. So we have even more Wonderful things that I can change out the slides and add to it. I should say, not really change them out, but I think that you know all the this year it's. It was. It was tough because you could have had five different winners and everybody would have been happy.
Speaker 3:
I wanted I If, if I was working, I'd be like you know what? We are sending everybody something. I don't care because you know they were all amazing, like every one of those pictures gave me an emotional response and they all had meeting, they all had me. Yeah, and Through a conversation that I had this week About the pictures, what I have learned is that they will be hanging in the production office of the show when they return. What yeah, oh.
Speaker 2:
Cool.
Speaker 2:
So, even if you're not getting a prize from us, just like think about that, like your, your picture is going to be seen and, and we have talked to a couple of the Production people and they know how hard you guys are working and they know how passionate this fan base is. I know we've been working really hard, but that's not what it's about. The reason why we're working hard is because the fans have been driving this, and they might not be millions upon millions upon the zillions of fans, but they're mighty and that's why they coined the frames fromly.
Speaker 3:
Yeah, I just love this show. I really hate that we don't have a new episode. Justin, this is your prize. This is as promised, because we actually had it. Wow, it's empty. It won't be empty when you get it, it'll have a mug, it'll have everything, yeah it'll have a mug and a talisman and whatever else is in there.
Speaker 2:
And if you want some, you can put some bile in there. If we'll get a little bottle of bile, that you know Yellow bile.
Speaker 2:
We'll get a small yellow of Smiley's bile that we'll put in there just in case, and a couple of crackers so that when the boy in white pushes you into the IV room of a place that you don't know, you got something to eat. For the other winners, what we're gonna do, we're gonna they get to pick a shirt or a mug or a bracelet and, off of our website, just let us know the size and whatever else and we'll get that out to you and folks. I wanna thank everybody for participating this year and hopefully I think we're gonna have a worse problem, because we're gonna get triple the amount of pictures, which is always a great problem.
Speaker 3:
That is not a problem.
Speaker 2:
I'm gonna say the reason why I say it's a problem. It's gonna be even harder to find a winner because they're all winners.
Speaker 3:
Well, yeah, it will be hard. I mean, it was hard this time, it was hard the first time, like I don't know, and I'll have to be more creative with the video.
Speaker 2:
But I gotta tell you you killed it this time.
Speaker 3:
But I was just like. I was ruminating on it for a bit and then you know, when all of a sudden an idea just comes to you and you're just like, oh well, this is it. And I'm like where was this idea?
Speaker 2:
I know right.
Speaker 3:
I was waiting for it. So, yeah, I loved it too. I was really surprised. I was surprised that the words matched up as much as they did. Judy Dench, I wasn't trying to do that.
Speaker 2:
I will probably get yelled at from Judy Dench, but-.
Speaker 3:
Yeah, I put words in the mouth.
Speaker 2:
Well, any final words, miss the Queen of From.
Speaker 3:
I miss it so much yeah.
Speaker 2:
I know.
Speaker 3:
I miss. And the weird thing is you and I barely talk.
Speaker 2:
I know well, you've been busy, I've been busy, and-.
Speaker 3:
I haven't been that busy.
Speaker 2:
Well, I've been kind of busy but-.
Speaker 3:
Yeah, you've been-.
Speaker 2:
It's kind of weird. It's like you know, I had my from life and then I had my life and yeah, but it's all good. And on that wonderful note, we'll have our favorite bell ringer. I guess we should get out of here.
Speaker 1:
We'll see you guys soon.
Speaker 2:
Bye. Get you home, let's go, come on. Get in your house, let's go, come on.