NOLA Film Scene with Tj & Plaideau
A podcast about acting, filmmaking, and the improv scene in New Orleans.
NOLA Film Scene with Tj & Plaideau
CajunCon Bound With Jim Gleason
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A con can be more than a weekend hang—it can be the spark for a local film movement. We sit down with actor Jim Gleason to gear up for CajunCon, swap Wonka and mall-theater memories, and dig into how fandom, policy, and smart planning can power Louisiana’s next chapter. Jim’s prepping his first con table the intentional way, building a collage of roles across Star Trek Continues, Mayfair Witches, Disney’s Secrets of Sulphur Springs, and a long-running audio drama, then pairing it with a simple goal: make every visitor feel like the moment matters. With a rare reunion of three of the original Wonka kids and a custom set build, the event taps pure nostalgia while opening space for real conversations with fans.
Voiced by Brian Plaideau
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
Welcome to Nola Film Scene with TJ Play-Doh. I'm TJ, and as always, I'm Play-Doh. We're live and may have been a little too soon, but that's alright, cuz you know, it's just jokes. Welcome, Jim Gleason, to your second NOLA film scene.
SPEAKER_02:Pete. Number two. And number two. How are you, Jim? Good. How you doing, TJ?
SPEAKER_00:Doing really good. It's been a while. We're excited for Cajun Con. We're gonna see you in a few days.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah. Yeah. And what uh is is this your first con? It's the first time that I'm gonna have a table. Yes. Uh I've been to uh Fan Expo a number of times, and uh over here in in my hometown of Mandeville, they have the St. Tammany con. I've been to that a couple of times. I went to the most recent one, and uh so yeah, I'm really super excited. That's awesome. Yeah. Well, when I saw this one, because you know, Scott's been promoting this thing for a year, he's really been promoting it for a year. And when I saw this one, because I'd seen Scott at a few other events and stuff, and we'd been in touch, uh, when I saw, and you'll you'll you'll appreciate this, uh Brian, perhaps you will, TJ, but when I saw that three of the surviving four Wonka kids are gonna be there, I was all over it. And so uh I just browbeat Scott Innis until he gave me a table.
SPEAKER_00:Nice. Yeah, so we had Scott on the other day, and he was talking about the set piece that they built. They spent ten grand, and it's not a secret, he said it uh on the live stream. They spent ten grand building this set piece for the Wonka kids to sit inside autographs, and it's it's gonna be something to behold. He showed us uh his room where he's got all the stuff that he's accumulating to take to the con to put out. It's it it's gonna be quite the undertaking. I I don't know when you're planning on going. We're gonna get there on Friday and start setting up. We'll have some merch. We'll have some we'll have some NOLA film scene t-shirts and some other small merch and hopefully get to hang out with lots and lots of friends.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah. Well, I'll be um I'll be there Friday to set up, and then I'll be there all day Saturday and Sunday. And I even, you know, uh I one another thing that's exciting about it is there's a lot of other cool guests like Lou Ferrigno's gonna be there and um uh Clint Howard, who I would love to say hello to. Um, the son of the brother of, excuse me, the younger brother of Ron Howard, um, who is a Star Trek fan. Uh saw him first when I was watching Star Trek, and then he had that series, Gentle Ben, back in the in the 60s, where he was best friends with a big black bear, and and then he's been in just about everything that Ron does, and then uh even a nice uh little role on Seinfeld. And uh, you know, Eddie Munster's gonna be there. And I just saw that. Yeah, so there's a lot of cool, cool guests. Um, I'm really excited about that.
SPEAKER_03:Are you are you bringing Ron Howard any tronya?
SPEAKER_02:Yes, I'm gonna bring Clint. It's Clint Howard. Brian, how dare you? Oh, I will be.
SPEAKER_03:I was going for the trona joke.
SPEAKER_02:Tronya! It's tronya.
SPEAKER_03:It was as bald as I am. We are Power Rangers are gonna be there, Flash Gordon, oh yeah, Charlie Brown kids. Uh is it the guy from um Blazing Saddles, Boston?
SPEAKER_02:Oh yeah. No, it's um you had to say that. Why would you but it's Burton Gilliam. Yeah, yeah. A little Burton Gilliam story. Um Burton Gilliam for a while was also uh refereeing fights on Tuesday on USA's Tuesday night fights. And so years ago, before I left for Los Angeles, I uh I was working at uh the cable convention where all the cable stations had their their booths, and I was working as a cable uh booth there, and I saw Burton Gilliam was there, so I made a point to go over and talk to him. Uh talked about blazing saddles. He was a fireman and met Bell Brooks and said, Mel Brooks said, You're working on my movie tomorrow. And then boom, he was in the movie. And this is what this is now this is what Burton Gilliam told me. And I told him I was a big fight fan, and I'd seen him refereeing fights and stuff, and he couldn't have been kind, more kind, more affable, just a wonderful guy. So I'm excited about seeing him. And actually, uh uh Brian, you know uh you know Jean Calderera.
SPEAKER_03:Yes, I think we're more Facebook friends than in than in person, but yeah.
SPEAKER_02:Well, sh apparently she knows Burton Gilliam real well, like family friend kind of thing. So that's kind of cool. Maybe we'll see Jean at this. She has to come all the way up from Homa, so she may not make it.
SPEAKER_03:World of delighting. That's it. Yeah. Very cool. So yeah. Now, when Creek Wilson, when he goes to a con, he's kind of leading with his mariner's ghost. And there's nothing wrong with sure, sure, sure. When you go, uh-huh, do you have a lead with this with this type of crowd? Or what's your what's on your banner?
SPEAKER_02:Oh, well, what's I don't know, I'm not sure what's on my banner because uh Scott's the one that put it together. I said, Do I need a banner? Or do you I says, I got a banner for you. I was like, cool, dude. Um, but you know, if you've been to these cons, they usually whoever's at the table usually has some photographs that they're, you know, that they have there ready to sign and and purchase. And so I've worked on a number of projects that I believe are kind of con worthy, if you will. So uh, like I was on the the ill-fated 2015 Fantastic Four. Uh I worked on uh Mayfair Witches, I worked on Secrets of Silver Springs for Disney. Uh I worked on a fan-produced uh Star Trek show called Star Trek Continues, um, where they got the original cast and they rebuilt the original sets. I mean, this is an amazing show. If you find it on YouTube, check out Star Trek Continues if you're a Trek fan. So I worked on that, and I did uh uh uh the main voice in a in an audio drama of zombie apocalypse show that lasted for about four years, called We Are Alive, and it's got a bunch of spin-offs, and I was in a couple of those. So I was like, what pictures should I bring? And I realized I'm gonna create something I have never seen, which is a collage. So I got I've got some screenshots of the shows, and then I had my own pictures that I took with the people on the show, and so those are gonna be my picks. So I'm not really leading with any one thing per se, but uh, I've got a little something for everybody. If you're a kid, I've got sulfur springs. If you're a Trekkie, I've got Star Trek Continues. If you're if you like, you know, AMC Anne Rice stuff, I got Mayfair Witches. So uh and then I have just a standard headshot that I'm gonna I'll have for uh available. Um and I'm thinking of bringing some other like fun, not related to stuff that I did, but fun merch that that I have at home that I've been trying to sell on on Facebook Marketplace for a while. I'll throw it up there and see if somebody wants to come by and I'll sign it and they can buy it. Whatever. Cool, nice. So I'm really excited. Um I'm I just took the uh the files to the printers today. I'll get the I'll get the prints tomorrow and uh I'm excited to to see them. So excellent.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, that's awesome.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_00:Brian just told me our banner's ready uh to be picked up, so he's gonna get that probably tomorrow. Nice. I'm excited to see it. I haven't I haven't seen a proof or anything of it yet. Well, I guess I kind of did. I saw the logo that you that you uploaded.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, we had the original pictures and the the quality was too low, so we had to go back and it worked, and you know, yada yada yada. I I wonder where you got the idea for a collage, Jim.
SPEAKER_02:Well, I didn't steal it. I honestly just came to me that uh why why settle on one picture? Because I don't think that anybody's gonna want just one little picture.
SPEAKER_03:So I thought, I'll put this in the back. I'm guess teasing because you know that's pretty much all I post. I that's true. That's true. I I put it in your brain.
SPEAKER_02:I think subliminally I was getting vibes. Another thing I'm kind of excited about is uh you know, Brian, that I am a nut for uh Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory So I said to I said to Scott, I said, Hey Scott, if you have a panel, I'll be your moderator because I know so much trivia about that movie. And he said, Well, we don't have a panel set up, but maybe we'll put one together for Sunday. So he's he's gonna be sorry that he said that. So so that I can be. I have a whole I'm getting ready to write out a whole series of questions and I got a trivia quit quiz for the for the participants, uh for the for the kids, you know. Um yeah. So nice. Yeah, I'm looking forward.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, right?
SPEAKER_00:So maybe so, yeah. He was talking about not doing panels, but I think a lot of people really want them, really want to see the panels. They they like that interaction with them whether or not having uh to pay for an experience, either autographs or photos or whatever.
SPEAKER_01:Right.
SPEAKER_00:But they can interact and ask questions and and hear from them personally about their experiences from that, because that that movie was it's iconic and it's it was probably life-changing for all of them, for everybody that was in it.
SPEAKER_02:I was w doing my my research recently, it came out in 71, did not do well at the box office, and uh eventually um the uh whoever had the rights to it, they sold the rights to it for like$500,000, and then they started and whoever bought it started playing it uh uh around Thanksgiving time every year, and it took off. And then then and that was right before the age of you know home video and VHS and then later DVD. They took off. And now it's become like a total, a total classic.
SPEAKER_00:So I remember it from when I was a kid. That's one of the earliest movie memories that I have. Yeah, me too. Is that and Wizard of Oz. I remember watching both of them, and back back in the 70s, the late 70s, my dad had the precursor to VCRs. It was called a VTR, a video tape recorder. Wow. And it looked like a VHS tape on steroids. It it looked just like a VHS tape, but giant. They were huge. But you could set it up, it had these big, huge buttons, a play, you hit the play and the record, and you could you had to have it on the right channel on the TV, but you could he would record movies. Uh-huh. And he he had this remote, he would pause, he would watch it when it was recording, and he would pause it when the commercial would come on, and then as soon as the commercials ended, he would hit record again, so we would have a whole movie without commercials.
SPEAKER_02:So he was an editor as well. That's right. I saw Willie Wonka and the Chocolate Factory in the theater at Lakeside Mall when there was still a theater over there.
SPEAKER_03:Wow.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, that's how that's how far back I go, Brian. Wow. No comment necessary. Oh, I know.
SPEAKER_03:I saw Rocky and Jaws in uh no, I didn't get to see the first Jaws, but Star Wars there. Yeah, many other movies. I saw Star Wars there, yeah. Yep. Yeah. I I miss I miss the old days of movies. I'll say it. I was a kid, and during Star Wars I went to the bathroom, then I stopped by the concession, and they had that book. It's I don't know if it's called an Ash can or what, but it's like a little preview, and it had some of the screenshots and it, you know, real tiny. And I stared at it. It forgot to go back in the movie, went in the movie, and then when we came out, I dragged my parents. I need that. I need that. Uh-huh. Yeah. I'm always been about that merch. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I'm looking forward to this weekend. Movie memorabilia. Yeah. What going from a guest to being a guest? Well, a fan to being a guest. What are some of the things you have heard that excite you about it? And maybe things that you're waiting to see what happens?
SPEAKER_02:Well, I haven't really heard uh too much about uh what happens. I mean, I've seen it, you know. Um, and uh I'm just curious as to how much people how much people are gonna actually buy from me, you know, who knows? Maybe nothing. Uh maybe something, maybe I can break even, maybe I can make a little bit of a skrilla. I don't know. I don't know. But one thing that I really want to do is no matter who walks up, just make them feel special. Do you know what I mean? I just want to make them feel uh welcome and and and I want to, you know, be enthused that they're there and I want them to feel like them coming over my booth uh was something they'll remember, you know? So and I have no I have zero expectations. I've been to some, you know, um, but I have zero expectations. I mean I've been to some where the person's sitting there, that won't be me.
SPEAKER_03:Right, right.
SPEAKER_02:Right, right. You know, now maybe if I did 10,000 cons, I might be the guy. Yeah. But but that's not gonna be me this weekend. I'm gonna be, you know, talking to people and and just saying hello and really making them feel like, hey, this this is a special moment. Yeah, and you appreciate the fans, you know.
SPEAKER_03:Oh, absolutely, absolutely. Oh there have been times like I met Giancarlo Esposito and his energy wasn't super high, but he was exhausted. You know what I mean? So there's a difference, and I've seen people at cons. Sometimes it's in the photo off and they're like, I'm taking a picture with the fans. Yeah. No, no, and it's hard to keep your energy up, but it's that they are not only paying for their time with you and celebrating all you've done, but they've watched you all your career. And you hear a lot of great stories though, whether it's voice actors, where the artistic child finally speaks when they hear him in person or her. The fans just and I know from my own experience, like Chase Momoa, you know, you have a picture to share and nobody can believe it. So I I I think you're gonna do okay. Thank you.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah. Yeah, I'm just excited. It's gonna be fun. That's it's gonna be fun, and it's a little bit weird for us because we're not going as celebrity guests, we're going as sponsors, so we do have a booth, but a little bit, a little bit of a different take on it. Brian is way more experienced in the the con experiences than I am. I've only I can count on both hands the number of cons I've been to in my life. And same thing. I mean, I understand them, I get them, but I don't know. We'll see. Yeah. Should be fun.
SPEAKER_02:It's just people having fun, you know.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, totally.
SPEAKER_02:Walking around looking at stuff, looking at looking at, you know, people they don't know, celebrities. Why are you famous? Well, if you have to ask me that, I'm not famous, I guess.
SPEAKER_01:Uh you know, but uh I'll show them. What about these? And what about these? And what about these? So, you know. Never heard of Anne Rice. Hello. How about Disney? I of course you'd never heard of Star Trek, have you?
SPEAKER_03:And they're gonna have the usual vendors. Yeah, you know, maybe not usual, they're gonna have vendors, cosplays. I don't know how many cosplay hosts or guests he has, but it's a con. There'll be some cosplay. Oh, without a question. Without a question. Uh the the normal people will ask me, Well, why do you like that? And I say, Well, do you go to football games and dress up and wear the shirt or like somebody used to be a super fan and paint their face and all that? The same thing. No, it's not that's for kids. Well, it's not. You know, it started as kids, but you know, I've been Comic Con and well, comic books and Disney all my life. Why should I give it up now?
SPEAKER_02:You know, if it was still a tubbies, I'd agree with you. Just because you got old, dude, doesn't mean I gotta get old.
SPEAKER_00:That's right.
SPEAKER_02:Exactly.
SPEAKER_00:You know, I don't know if you caught it, Jim. Uh so I mean, you know, Brian and I hold you in high esteem anyway. But I don't know if you caught it when we were talking about the the Star Trek. No, I didn't. Did you did you geek out a little bit? I don't know if you caught it when you mentioned the Star Trek thing that you were in. Brian's eyes went Yeah.
SPEAKER_03:Oh, I'm I'm definitely a trekkie and never try to call me a trekker. I'm old school for right. I watched the cartoon as a kid. I watched the replay of the first season and was there for the second. Uh Next Generation when it came in. Yeah. I had not only amigo action figures, I had the Enterprise. So I had a teleporter you spin, he had his chair, yeah, Klingon.
SPEAKER_02:I remember that. Yeah. Well, this show was really cool. Uh let me just talk for a second about Star Trek Continues. It was made by a guy named Vic Mignona, um, who is a voice hunt a voiceover guy as well. Does a lot of uh animated voice work. And his girlfriend was at the time a girl named Michelle Spectre, who I was in a theater group with out in in Los Angeles. Well, they went out to Georgia, and you know, if you know, and you may not know this, Brian, but it's Space, The Final Frontier, These are the Voyage of the Starship Enterprise. It's five-year mission, and the show was only on for three seasons. So the original goal, right? So the his this guy, Vic's original goal was, I'm gonna recreate all the sets. They're free, he he it's amazing what he has done. And I'm and we're gonna do the last two seasons. And so uh, you know, they they cast the show and and I told Michelle, I said, Hey, you know, your boy would like to be on the show. So I wanted to wear the tunic. Well, they they cast me as an alien. Um, so but uh but when we were between shots, I was like, I need to put a tunic on. My friends, and you know, do you know Scotty? Um oh what's Scott's? Why don't I can't why I can't remember Scotty's last name? But he um he's Brandon Routh's handler, so he works for one of these companies that gets supplies. Whitehurst, Scotty Whitehurst. Um but Scotty um was there because he was working with the show, and I said, Scotty, come on here, choose my phone. I went in the truck, I went in the I went in the uh the transporter room, I went uh to the transporter controls, I sat in the chair on the on the on the bridge, uh, and so I got pictures of those, which is cool, and some are in the in the collage for that. So, you know, total nerd here. But then what happened was a so many people were doing these uh fan-produced shows, and a lot of them were really bad. This one was not, but a lot of them were bad. And CBS was like, cease and cease and desist everybody. So he wrapped it up. They didn't get to do the full two seasons, but in the last two-part episode that they shot, they're wearing the Star Trek the motion picture uniforms. Nice. So a nerd like you, Brian, uh, knows what I'm talking about. You bridge the gap. They they totally bridged the gap, and that was their goal originally. Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah. Wow, they they CD everybody that was making fan films or any anything Star Trek related.
SPEAKER_02:Yep.
SPEAKER_00:Wow.
SPEAKER_02:It's too bad too, because this was a good show. It was a very good show, and it really kind of captured the spirit of of the original series. We've got the the the morality tales and the and the societal like uh commentary, you know. Uh Lou Ferigno was in one and he was painted he was painted green. And it was it was about uh like trafficking of women. So uh so you know they try to keep it very topical and keep it very relevant to the to the issue the the social issues of the time, much like the original series did.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah. They've always been about that.
SPEAKER_02:When did they do that? Um the nineties? No, no, no. This was yeah, I it was after I moved home. It was after I moved home from from Los Angeles, and I came home in 2012. So this would have been six, seven years ago. I gotcha. Something like that. And uh yeah, so I drove over to Georgia and shot an episode and came home.
SPEAKER_00:It was awesome. That's good to know about the C and D though. Uh I I guess some IPs are real strict about that. Some don't mind fan films because it brings attention to the original work. As long as you're not profiting off of it without their permission, they're usually I I did a fan film based on the The Last of Us franchise. It was a student film, and the last I saw it had we had them, we had the guys, the the filmmakers from that on the the show last year. It had over 500,000 views on YouTube.
SPEAKER_02:Wow.
SPEAKER_00:And it originally was supposed to be a short, but it ended up they had so much good usable content that they expanded it, expanded it into a I think they're calling it a mini feature. It's a little bit between a short and a feature. I think it's an hour long, maybe. I don't remember exactly, but it turned out really, really good. The cinematography was really, really good. But they didn't everyone was volunteers. Every all the props, everything was either purchased with their own money or donated. They didn't make any money off of it. You know, it's not spot, it's not monetized or anything. So I guess they're checking all the boxes and they they put the disclaimer that it's a fan film and wasn't made with uh the endorsement of the the original people, Sony and all that.
SPEAKER_01:But yeah.
SPEAKER_00:That's too bad that they did they make them take it down completely? No. Or is the stuff that it was you can still say they kept it up on YouTube.
SPEAKER_02:So you go to the Star Trek continues, and I think they have nine, nine or eleven eleven episodes, something like that.
SPEAKER_00:Did you see the one that they did last year, Brian? Do you remember the name of it? The man, they but they de-aged Shatner in it, that one? Yeah. And I my understanding, it was a SAG project. I just I can't remember the name of it. I'm drawing a blank.
SPEAKER_02:So I just what was that uh terminology you using, Brian? What did they do?
SPEAKER_03:Oh they de-aged him. Oh kind of like Downey, Robert Downey Jr. Gotcha Avengers movies, you know. It's TGI, not AF Yeah. Right. Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:There's a difference.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah. So oh while you're talking, I was gonna see if I could pull up the take.
SPEAKER_02:Oh, yeah. So yeah, uh, I mean, what else can we talk about about this uh this weekend? I mean, uh I there's a the list of people that are there is just astonishingly long. And I don't think I've ever seen a a longer list of people on any con ever. It's the longest list I've ever seen.
SPEAKER_00:So I haven't either.
SPEAKER_02:It's over 80. Yeah. And I'm I'm sure I'm spacing on uh some cool guests, but I just uh I'm gonna pull them up.
SPEAKER_00:There's gonna be uh fifteen WWE wrestlers, yeah.
SPEAKER_02:Uh Ninja Turtles and a couple from Mid-South wrestling. Uh when I was a kid, we I lived in southern Ohio for a while and Mid-South was what we watched. And Bill Dundee is gonna be there.
SPEAKER_03:Yep.
SPEAKER_02:And Jerry Lawler. Yeah, is Gene Duggan gonna be there too?
SPEAKER_03:Yeah. Oh, and unless I'm mistaken, Ted DBS, Million Dollar Man.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, million dollar man, and Jake the Snake is gonna be there too. Jake the Snake is like. But he wasn't Mid-South.
SPEAKER_03:Um uh Ron Simmons, who was Farouk, and then part of the APA. That's 90s wrestling. I mean, he had been around for a long time. That's oh, Kevin Von Eric, which was he came by with his iron claw. Yeah. Um, Gray Delisle, Kate McCucci. Yep, and Scott Ennis will form a Scooby-Doo reunion.
SPEAKER_02:You know, Kate, um, Kate was part of a a duo called uh Garfunkel and Oats. Garfunkel and Oats. And um Ricky Lindholm was uh the other part of that duo, and I knew Ricky from when I taught in Los Angeles, so that's my my connection there. Fun. You do this long as as I have, you you make connections. It's fine.
SPEAKER_03:We didn't sterling?
unknown:Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:Oh yeah, that's right.
SPEAKER_03:Uh see.
SPEAKER_00:Uh we we talked about the six degrees of separation game with Kevin Bacon, and we had uh Rachel Jacob on, and she said, I think it's down to like two or three now. It's not six anymore.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, right.
SPEAKER_00:It might be two with you with some of these people that are gonna be there, or maybe even one.
SPEAKER_03:Some are one-on-one, yeah. If they count background, I'm two two different wings. So the question is do they count background? When I posted, people are like, What about crew? I was like, I'm I'm cool with crew. Uh Cat Cressida of the Bride of the Haunted Mansion. Okay. And she was on uh Dexter's Laboratory. She was the sister. All right. We talked to Greg Berger, Grimlock from Transformers. Okay. Let's see. What who else? Who else? Yeah, he was really he was Greg was.
SPEAKER_02:Oh, yeah, Rev Brown, the first uh Captain America. Second. Oh, the 70s Captain America.
SPEAKER_00:This is the yeah, that's the one that we all remember with the motorcycle and shield and Pippi Longstocking.
SPEAKER_03:Hal Aaron is coming. Uh this guy, Creek Wilson. Yeah. I got one degree. Yeah, Butch Patrick.
unknown:Yeah.
SPEAKER_03:Eddie Munster is coming.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_03:So, you know, I'm at I think you might have to stretch, but you're gonna find somebody you like there.
SPEAKER_02:Oh, sure. I met at an event uh that John Schneider put on, and Bush couldn't have been nicer. Just a sweet guy, totally sweet guy.
SPEAKER_03:Did he bring the wolf doll? Did he bring Fang?
SPEAKER_02:I don't know if he had Fang or not, but I they did I think they had the uh like a Munster coach there, and he was taking pictures next to the Munster coach. That's awesome. Yeah, that's totally cool. For for geeks like me, that's really cool stuff.
SPEAKER_03:I love the Munster. I just wish they could actually get it right.
SPEAKER_02:You know, do a re uh a new one. Yeah, I know. They just uh can't seem to get it right, man. So much of that rested on the shoulders of Fred Gwynn, though, you know what I mean? Oh yeah. You know, it'd be tough to replace him.
SPEAKER_03:With Halloween we just passed, I was watching for the Halloween that almost wasn't with with Judd Hirsch as Dracula. So it I love it. You can talk about its quality later. But Fred, uh not Fred Gwynn. Um the guy who played Herman in the later Munsters in in one of the sequels, he was in Star Trek as one of the ambassadors, and I just blanked, but he was he was you know like here he is as Frankenstein as Herman, and then he played it later, which would have had a more powerful effect if I could just remember his name. Was it Ed Herman? John Shuck. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. Yep. So I was like, oh man, he's always been in the makeup. Yeah, yeah. Well, that brought everything to a screeching halt. Didn't it though?
SPEAKER_02:But yeah, this that that lineup is just quite a lineup, and then of course there's lots of other uh voice people that are gonna be there and uh Power Rangers. Yep, yeah. I'm not as familiar with the voice world as you are, Brian.
SPEAKER_03:I know you're deep into that, so that's now jumping ahead the fan expo New Orleans, they are having a voice acting competition. Not nice. So uh I'm gonna enter. I gotta come up with a submission. They say do a 30-second clip. I'm like, what voice do I pick? What and of course I've been busy shooting a film this past couple weekends, but do a do a collage.
SPEAKER_02:Do a collage of voices.
SPEAKER_03:That's what I think, but uh different ones where they don't want you to. Whatever. That's okay. I'll do what I want.
SPEAKER_02:Well, if I'm putting my own thing together, I'll do it my own way. There you go.
SPEAKER_00:That's right. What what's the deadline on the submission? I think I'm gonna submit as well.
SPEAKER_03:They haven't put out a deadline. You just uh from their Facebook post, you click the link, and it's a Google Doc, you fill it out, there's a little part for bio, and then you attach an MP3 file of your vocal submission, but 30 seconds. Are you gonna uh duplicate the uh picture with uh uh the hobbits? Um no, uh I'm gonna spare my money. They just announced today dog pool is coming. The dog from dog Wolverine the ugly dog. Yeah, yeah. There's your star of the con. I can't wait.
SPEAKER_02:I'll tell you, the Fan Expo is a little thin this year comparatively.
SPEAKER_03:Well, that there'll be more announcements coming.
SPEAKER_02:Oh, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. It's January 10th. They better hurry up.
SPEAKER_00:It might be too late, but we might we ought to think about sponsoring it. Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_03:Uh I I put in for our passes and we can talk about trying to sponsor, but I think we've missed the deadline. Maybe Galaxy uh Galaxy Con New Orleans in June. Yeah, maybe so. Yeah. Or July. There's you know, Mississippi Con in June, which has the Bionic Lee Majors and Lindsay Wagner come from. Sold.
SPEAKER_02:Bionic duo.
SPEAKER_00:I had the the six million dollar man. It was it was about a foot tall, and you could look through one of the eyes. Sure. It had the arm. Yeah, I remember that. I'm a 70s kid. Yeah.
SPEAKER_03:Christmas is coming up. Maybe somebody wants to buy us some old toys. Go back and get that retro for us.
SPEAKER_00:That's right.
SPEAKER_02:Very cool. So, what's your goal for the uh the con this weekend?
SPEAKER_03:Because we're not going as celebrities. I think in your opinion, I think of you as celebrities. So thank you.
SPEAKER_02:Thank you. You're welcome.
SPEAKER_03:But like, you know, our the podcast is part of the advertisement, but not as prominent as yours. So, and then we have our friends. I've I've contacted as many people can. It's still free, folks. If you want to go, all you need is a screenshot of the golden ticket. Don't even need the physical part. And they're so crazy, Jim. It's free parking. Yeah. They really want to get people in. So, but uh, I've talked to my con people. I'm like, this is where I'll be. Make sure they had a ticket. So it's gonna be that kind of thing. And people will be able to find me for selfies instead of me going to fight and find them.
SPEAKER_00:Right. That's right. Very good. Yeah, I'm just hoping for some networking and making some new friends. Yep, yep.
SPEAKER_03:And some more listens will be good. We might broadcast from there. You know, we gotta see our power set up when we go there Friday. You know, it should be okay, but you never know.
SPEAKER_00:See what the signal is like inside sometimes. Buildings and signals not so good. We'll see.
SPEAKER_03:I wonder what kind of facility the Lamar Dixon Center is. This will be my first time there. I mean it's professional, you know. He was it is it a convention center? I think so. Okay. And the picture the video I saw, it looked rather large. Kind of like It's pretty big. Ponser Train Center out here in Kenner, where uh Nola Con was. We need to have a Nola Film Con or something, TJ. We need to do our own and bring who we want here.
SPEAKER_00:I you know, I've thought about it, but then I thought I I listened to everything Scott was going through to put to put that together in two years to get it going and woof. I mean, I know you're the celebrity Wrangler, Brian. I just don't have I don't have the context to bring in the the heavy hitters like he does. You never know.
SPEAKER_03:You know, Jim knows people, we know people. That's it. It could be highlighting New Orleans and kind of like uh the TV where they would sell their their videos to distributors, we'll sell New Orleans to distributors and to filmmakers. So it'll be a two-edged con. Yeah, yeah. Maybe so. That's green. Yeah, right. So I I'm just looking to have fun and and see my people and meet new people. Yeah. And then uh I might wander to con and see who I can talk to and hand out my business card for the new games. I'll be doing my little rounds, you know, checking stuff out, taking a taking a break. Scott originally had two robes, and then he lost one because it's gonna be like a handicap prompt special needs uh event. And what are you gonna do? Complain? Right. How do you yeah, I'll push you kids out of here. I say combine the two, let a little, you know, stars go wandering and made with made. Yeah, right. Yeah, because I used to do that as Captain as Captain Crescent. That's one of the things we did.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah.
SPEAKER_03:So I I miss being a super fan. Might be better this year not to be. But that's that's when you gotta dig deep and and and bring your love for the saints out.
SPEAKER_02:That's a rebuilding year. It's rebuilding four years. Yeah. You know, I think it's it's it's a two or three year at least rebuild.
SPEAKER_03:So we'll see. We'll see. And again, I brought us way down.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, thanks. Thanks. Well, Brian, you've got a knack. You got a knack, buddy.
SPEAKER_03:Well, that's where we can insert something to get big paws. That's it. It's the next chapter, that's what I am. So we've still got some time. Do you want to talk about what you hope for the new local industry?
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, yeah. Um, you know, uh Film Louisiana is a great organization, and they recently uh went to the legislature and they got a a law called uh, I think it's called Act 44, uh pass, which takes the decision making out of the hands of the legislature and puts it into the Economic Development Committee. Oh yeah, and they're very pro uh film. And they also eliminated the cap per actor and some other cap that was keeping people from coming here instead sending them over to like Atlanta or whatever. So they got rid of like two or three roadblocks that were stopping people from coming here. And uh and then they had a big event out in Los Angeles where they promoted, you know, film. And uh so Jason Wagginspack came and talked to um for those of you that are listening or watching or whatever you guys do with us. Um, I've been the uh president of the local SAG After Board for this is my third term, and uh Jason Waggins pack has come and talked to us and our our last meeting, Trey Burvant, who is another board member of uh film Louisiana, came and spoke. And they had their event and they promoted it, Louisiana, and they they put together a lookbook. Because most people, filmmakers from outside of the city or outside of the state, think, oh yeah, it's swamp. But there's so many other locations that will double for other locations. So they put together a lookbook and they gave it out, and people like, wow, I didn't even know that you had this stuff. So I'm hoping that chain turns the tide. And um there are a few filmmakers in town um who have made their own low-budget shoestring films. Um and uh I just think it's time for uh for us to learn the business end of filmmaking and write our own scripts, put our own productions together, raise our own money, and make our own films here so that we don't have to wait on Los Angeles to come into town. We don't have to wait on New York to come into town. So um I'm gonna be reaching out to a bunch of people, and it's all still very much in the air in the next couple of months and start starting to try to get a grassroots uh uh film production mentality together so that we don't have to rely on anybody. We'll do our own thing.
unknown:You know?
SPEAKER_00:And Mahoney's talking about doing that very thing, putting a board together and doing doing that very thing that you're talking about doing. I think we might need to get some get some minds together and Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_02:So there's too there's just too many it's been too long for us to wait around as long as we have. And uh, you know, you know, one of the things that when we struck last time, when I say we, the union struck in twenty-three, it occurred to me why do we have to keep going to the table the negotiating table every three freaking years just to get beat up and beat up and beat up and beat up by these rich, power hungry people like Bot Zaslot, David Zaslot, who in four years made almost half a billion dollars in bonuses when we're screw you know, I'm l I literally I took a check to the bank the other day. I got a bunch of residual checks, and one of them was for two cents, and the guy was like, You got a check for two cents? I was like, Yeah, put it in. Why would we why do we have to do that? Like, why do we have to suffer when they make all that money? And so, you know, it's just a and what listen, I don't care how rich you are. Once you get past fifty million, it becomes uh a just uh like an obsessive video game. Like you this the dude, David Zaslov, he's probably worth three hundred and fifty million dollars. No, wait, more. He made that in four years, so he's probably worth a lot more. You could take it all away except for 50 million. He'd never know that his day-to-day life wouldn't change at all. You know, these these studio executives and these producers, it's almost like, what's on your screen? I got this on my screen. How much have you got on your screen? I want more, I want more than you have. That's what it it it's what it boils down to. It's ridiculous. So high s I said, why don't we start our own production companies, a SAGAFTRA, SAGAFTRA productions. We're gonna make our own movies, we're gonna start our own streaming platforms, we're gonna s have our own distribution. And uh yeah, all you know, Paramount and Warner Brothers and all you guys, you can't use our actors anymore. We're gonna make our own thing. And you can use all all the non-union people you want, but you're not using our actors anymore, and we're not gonna go to the negotiating table with you anymore, you know? So that was a that was a dream that I had. And then that sort of transferred over to Louisiana. Why don't we just do our own thing, man? Why don't we just make our own movies? The tri the trip is the the trick is finding good scripts, yeah, and then meeting someone who knows how to raise funds. You know, that's the big thing is yeah is raising the money. Who do you turn to? Like who do you go to? So we're gonna start working on that in the near future, I think, and making stuff happen, man. It's we have to make it our own stuff happen.
SPEAKER_03:That's my sense. Yeah. I like it. We uh like I just did an independent, and I think it's gonna be like a mini feature, like TJ says, because I don't think it's gonna make it to the hour and a half more. And the cinematography, the organization, the people, the scripts, all of it was top-notch professions. So why shouldn't it be SAG?
SPEAKER_01:Yeah.
SPEAKER_03:It's that roadblock, and it's like TJ was saying, and you were saying, of course, access to the money. So I think if we can hurdle that as a group, and I say as a group, I'm not SAG yet, but I will be.
SPEAKER_02:Oh yeah. And if any of you people listening or watching or whatever, um are filmmakers, uh I just want to tell you there is a contract for your size project. It's not very expensive, the paperwork is not very difficult. If you uh literally, if you're doing a micro budget, you can go online to the SAGAPT website, put in your information, and in five minutes, it will be approved. It's that simple. Um the thing is, what happens then is you now have an opportunity to hire uh, you know, professional actors. Whereas you're if you're doing something that's non-union, the first rule of the union is yeah, you can't do it. So this is not, and please don't get me wrong, I'm not saying non-union actors can't act. Of course, I'm sure there's a lot of great you're a great example, Brian. Your growth has been amazing, and I'm sure you do a great job. But if I'm making a movie, I want to be able to hire whoever I want and not be limited to a certain pool. So we've always got those contracts, and uh so check it out. Sagafter.org. Cool. Yeah. Nice. Yeah. And with that, so come on out and support Scott. I'm I mean, you know, Scott, it's such a huge undertaking for Scott to have taken on upon himself. And uh, I'm really happy that he did, and uh I want to do whatever I can to support that, you know. It's not gonna stop. That's awesome. We're gonna watch you there too.
SPEAKER_03:You shouldn't be like keep coming to cons. Sorry, right selling the stuff gators, you know. Yeah, right. Yeah, that's right. Make it a merch. Don't talk there. It is. We're starting to dip our toe into it, so we're gonna come up with designs. TJ, my wife says we need a mascot. So we need the top.
SPEAKER_00:Maybe, maybe we'll do a contest. Mascot contest. The mascot you'd have. Nola Film Scene dot shop. Get your merch. Oh, cool. And I want to plug our sponsor real quick too, while I'm thinking about it.
SPEAKER_03:Yes.
SPEAKER_00:Janna McCaffrey. Oh. Sponsoring the show. So if you have been injured and you need a personal injury attorney, check her out. She's offering discounts to members of the film industry. And she does not do contract law, she does personal injury. And it doesn't necessarily have to be you got injured on set or whatever. Just if you work in the industry, no matter what your position is, she's looking out for people, so check her out. Link is in the description below.
SPEAKER_03:She wants to take care of you. Jim, thanks. Thanks for joining me. See, you guys can get this. We're ready to believe you. How about we're here to pump you up?
SPEAKER_00:That's yeah, I remember that.
SPEAKER_03:Hans and guns. I know it was the Ghostbusters, but I had to, you know, in my own. Oh, I gave it away. We should have done a contest. Anyway.
SPEAKER_02:Oh well. All right, guys. Thank you so much for bringing me on. Come back to CajunCon this weekend. See everybody Saturday. Probably see you Friday, Jim. Oh, you'll see me Friday. Yeah. Thanks, Jim. All right. Y'all take care.
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