How to get noticed as an actor/creator. What does an agent look for?

The Film Hustlers talk about the secrets to thriving in today’s film industry! Discover how the game has changed since the 90s and learn powerful networking strategies to catch the eye of agents. They discuss  tips on securing funding and overcoming distribution hurdles, while Davy shares his social media wisdom to help you stand out in a crowded market. Plus, find out why getting involved in local theater and student films could be your ticket to success! Don’t miss this engaging conversation packed with actionable insights that could transform your creative journey. Tune in and hustle your way to the top!

Transcript

Mark Roberts 0:01

Alright. Ladies and gentlemen, welcome. I don't know why I say ladies and gentlemen. I don't want to say ladies and gentlemen. I want to say filmmakers, content creators, welcome to film hustlers.

SPEAKER_01 0:14

Entertainment peeps.

Mark Roberts 0:16

Entertainment peeps. What else can we say? Um all around good people, actors, good people, creative folks of this world. Thank you for uh tuning in. Uh I'm here with Davy Dave, your host, Mark Roberts, your host. Davy Dave is a comedian, actor, content creator. Are you would you still consider yourself uh um Instagram guru?

SPEAKER_01 0:44

Like uh yeah, I mean yeah, social media I know like the back of my hand, of course.

Mark Roberts 0:48

Is it influencer? Would you be considered an influencer?

SPEAKER_01 0:51

Uh you know what, yes, and I you use that worm, that word uh loosely because it has a lot of different meaning than it did when I started, but uh isn't that weird? Yeah, you can still influence people to buy, you know, or to go to certain places.

Mark Roberts 1:05

Of course, yeah, I can still you you were in the heyday. You were like you started in the heyday, right? When people made a bunch of money uh through Instagram. Would people hire you to advertise for them?

SPEAKER_01 1:16

All the time. Oh wow. Yeah, we had a little group, it was called the uh meme cartel. Really? Yeah, and it was like a group of uh like a dozen of us, we the dirty dozen. We used to go just uh knock well they used to come knocking on our doors and we used to get all kinds of deals, which was really cool.

Mark Roberts 1:30

I love that because I remember there was I remember it was you, it was a couple of other guys. I I don't remember who they are, and I was I was uh I started advertising my movies that way. I remember I did the Johnny Perchet story, which was called Love and Betrayal on the Force, and I think I I emailed one of your one of your uh buddies that had like two million followers, yeah, and I said, Hey, would you advertise my movie and I'll pay you so much money? He was super cool. He wrote back and he was like, you know, I don't think the people that follow me will actually go see your movie, so I'm gonna say no, but and because I don't want to take your money uh and you know, you're not gonna benefit from it. And I thought, oh, that's the coolest thing I ever heard.

SPEAKER_01 2:17

Yeah, he's like uh the nicest guy ever, Chris, the blessed one.

Mark Roberts 2:20

Yeah, the blessed one. That's that was his handle, right? Maybe is he still around?

SPEAKER_01 2:23

You know what? He is around, but he sold his account. So anybody that's uh following the blessed one isn't Chris. Get out of here.

Mark Roberts 2:29

Yeah, that's amazing.

SPEAKER_01 2:30

He's gonna follow it anymore.

Mark Roberts 2:31

That's amazing. Well, it's it's all changing all the time. I think that's what our show's about. Uh I'm a filmmaker. Uh I've been making movies for over 30 years. I started on Three Amigos, if you could believe that. That'll date you. That'll date you. Um date you. It'll date me. Um that was 1986. Damn. Yeah, it's a long time ago. So three amigos, but I've made movies for$200,000. I made up to you know$15 million movies. It's been a journey, you know. So if you have questions, uh if you have uh anything you want to know and you want to send us a message, please do so. I'll talk about it on the show. Um, and and I think it's important for everyone to know we're here to talk about what's going on in in the industry and how it could potentially make whatever you're doing better or easier. There's nothing easy about the business right now. That's for sure. Nothing easy about the business.

SPEAKER_01 3:29

Let me ask you this real quick before we switch gears. The um since the 90s, since you've been in um literally boots on the ground.

Mark Roberts 3:37

I appreciate you saying the 90s.

SPEAKER_01 3:39

I don't want to go back too far, but yeah. Uh what's like the three biggest changes from then until now in the movie making space?

Mark Roberts 3:48

Well, it's changed a lot. It's changed a lot because when I started, there was it's funny because Three Amigos was the biggest budgeted comedy ever at the time. It was$30 million, and they had never made a movie, a comedy movie for that amount of money at the time. John Landis was uh was directing it, JB Chase, Steve Martin, Martin Short. It was uh produced exec produced by um um by the guy from Saturday Night Live, Lauren Michaels. So it was it was a really it was a really exciting time, and the difference between then and now is that when I started making movies in the 90s, you could make a movie independently, spend four hundred thousand dollars on it, get a distributor, go to go overseas to like Cannes or or uh or here in the States, you can go to uh AFM that's still around the American film market. Um, you can go to Italy. Uh they had all these markets that still exist, it's just different. And I remember I did a very low budget movie. I I'm gonna say it was in the Tootie range, you know, talking about 25,000, 30,000 bucks. Yeah. And I remember a distributor taking it to one of the markets and selling$175,000 worth of foreign sales on it. And this was, I'm gonna say 90s. Um, and it did extremely well. It did extremely well domestically. It got released on video, it was one of those Hollywood video deals, you know, exclusive. Um, so I think the big difference is that there was a time when you can go make a movie and sell it overseas, make a few hundred thousand dollars there, uh maybe a million dollars. Um, you can make an exclusive deal with uh Hollywood video, an exclusive deal with Blockbuster. You know, they give you a million bucks. Um, and then you can make all your money back and then some and make some make some dough. Like now, we talk about it on the show every once in a while. Now the difference is is that there's no real way that I have seen that you can do that anymore. You know, you could almost guarantee people a certain amount of money back. If I was gonna raise a million bucks, I can almost guarantee that I can get you$600,000 back. So here's here's a pitch. Maybe you could use it today, maybe you can't, but this is what I used to tell investors. I used to say, we're gonna have a great time. We're gonna go make a movie for a million and a half dollars, you're gonna get back, worst case scenario, you're gonna get back half your money to 60% of your money within 18 months. If the movie is great, sky's the limit. If the movie's not so great, you're gonna get 60% back and we're gonna have a good time. And that was the pitch. And man, I made a lot of movies uh between you know 90 uh or 86 and now uh that were done exactly that way. Like you have to have people that are willing to invest in you, invest in the idea of making movies, and back in those times you could guarantee off of a video deal with Blockbuster, off of a video deal with Hollywood video, both don't exist anymore, that you can make them some money back, and you can't do that anymore. I don't know how to do that anymore. Maybe there's someone like me that's brand new, that's 24 or 25 years old, that can do that, and if you can do that, let me know how in the comments, let me know how you do that because I don't know I don't know that business anymore, but that's the difference is that if there's a new version of foreign distribution, because look, when I was you know, when when it was the 90s, foreign was big. You use a certain name, you make a certain amount of money. Now, like from then to now, every single year, and I'm not kidding, we can call Clay Epstein right now at Film Mode Entertainment, and he will tell you every single year since the 90s, you get less money for your movies. Less money, and I don't know why. Every year they come back and they're like, oh man, had a really hard time selling selling the market was horrible. I always I always used to wonder like, how can the market be horrible every single year and you still keep going back? Because it's expensive. Look, Davey, if you make a movie and I'm a distributor and I take it to a market, that's gonna cost you about six thousand dollars. And if I don't if I sell ten thousand dollars of your movie, six of it's coming to me because I spent money to go to the market. That's the problem I have with distributors. Uh, and hopefully that answered your question because the answer is a big one. Yeah, the answer is it's different because now there's streamers, now there's Amazon. See the the promise, the promise that Amazon and Tubi and all these new uh streamers make, Apple, is that you can put your movie on Apple. Yeah, and all the money or most of the money is gonna come back to your account if people rent it. Now, what if people don't rent it? Then you don't see any money back. So they've gotten away from advancing money, which they used to do, right? If I if I made a movie, here's a great example. I made a movie with Marissa Tomei, which you watched. I love it. Called Danica.

SPEAKER_01 9:38

One of my favorites.

Mark Roberts 9:38

D-A-N-I-K-A, starring Marissa Tomei, Craig Bierko, um Regina Hall. Oh, yeah. Dude, Regina Hall, who was just at the Oscars with uh what's the name of that movie? Leo DiCaprio was in it.

SPEAKER_01 9:55

Uh the long one. Um, you know which one it is.

Mark Roberts 10:00

If you um A Long Way from Red. Long Way Back or Yeah, I'm sorry. I'm sorry I don't know the name of it. But Leo Leonardo DiCaprio is in it. Anyway, Regina Hall's in it. She I think she was nominated for something uh recently for that movie. Um anyway, she was in it, and I finished that up. I made it for about four million dollars, independent, all independent money. But the advance on it, right, because it was good names, people were gonna take it to the markets, people wanted it. So they were like, I will give you a million and a half dollars, and then let's go see what the market pays, you know. So that was how they got the movie. Now I don't think anyone pays advances anymore. You know, I don't think you go anywhere and do an independent film, and someone says, or Netflix or Amazon or any of those people be like, oh, we'll give you a million dollars and see what happens. No, you put you independently put your movie on any of those platforms, and hopefully you make some money back. But what's happening is people are not making their money back, people are not making hardly any money.

SPEAKER_01 11:12

Right, they're just making a film and putting it up and they're making a film and hoping it works out, you know.

Mark Roberts 11:16

And I think in some ways, you know, that's the dream, you know, is that you're gonna put it up and it's gonna change everything or it's gonna be different than it has been for a lot of people, and it's just not. Yeah, it's a shame. But I'll say this I don't think people should stop making movies. I think it's important to keep making movies. I think it's important to uh to keep um expressing yourself, you know, whether it's on Instagram or TikTok or you know, the new verticals that we're talking about all the time.

SPEAKER_01 11:46

Short form, long form, just keep creating.

Mark Roberts 11:49

I think you have to keep creating, but um what I definitely wanted to talk about today is I wanted to talk about agents. How do you get an agent? You know, it's different than it was before. Before it was very difficult to get an agent, right? Very hard. Like you had to be referred, you had to have a body of work. Yeah, or you or you had to be part of if you think look, if you consider that there is a lot of theater groups, if you're an actor, let's talk about acting for a second. If you're if you see a theater group and as a as a potential way to get a job in a play, right, a lot of agents, I'll tell you the what the biggest agent in the world, in my opinion. This is arguable, but Joseph Middleton is the biggest casting director in the whole world. I called him an agent. He's not an agent, he's a casting director. Um, he did go, he did American Pie, he did the Born Identity, Born Supremacy, he did Mr. and Mrs. Smith. I can go on and on and on. He has an incredible resume. He goes to plays to find new talent. Okay, so if there's a theater group in your town, in your area, join them, get in some plays. Lots of agents. I'm talking about agents that are important. Lots of casting directors go uh look for talent in theater groups, uh, agents go see those shows, try to pick up new talent, and that's a really good way to do it. Um we had a guest on Emilio Rivera, yeah, told his story. His story's amazing, right? Because he's a guy who was uh in gangs, had um a lot of sort of bad tendencies when he was younger, got himself in some trouble, but the whole time he wanted to be an actor. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 13:45

He wanted to entertain.

Mark Roberts 13:46

He wanted to entertain people. So he uh decided he was gonna be an actor when he got himself out of trouble and went you know to a Latin group I'm not gonna name the group, but he he went to a Latino theater group. Yeah, and went in there and auditioned, and by the way, great actor, one of our finest actors, uh, and one of ours, I just mean Mexican-American. He went to this group, auditioned, and they were like, you know, or the way he tells it, we don't really cast your type here, which is really weird, right? Because this is uh this is where you would think he would live and have his brotherhood and have people, you know, use him. So instead of being disappointed, he went to the west side, he went to the west side, uh, Beverly Hills, Santa Monica, and he auditioned there, and they were like open arms, like, hey, we never get people like this. We need actors like you, we want you to be a part of what we're doing. And now, I mean, probably a millionaire. Well, yeah, you know what I mean? Now he's like uh reoccurring, has his own series, he had his own series on FX. Um, it was Sons of Anarchy, he started. Right. I think he was started way before that, but that was the one big thing where he was on for many, many years. And then he went on to do Mayans, which was almost like his own thing. Yeah, and and he's been in a ton of other things. I just saw him on uh on a Paramount show, Taylor Sheridan, uh Landman, no, not Landman, it was the other one with uh Billy Bob Thornton. Don't know, you know what I'm talking about?

SPEAKER_01 15:30

I do know which one, but I don't know. I don't know. Maybe it is Landman, it could be Landman, yeah.

Mark Roberts 15:34

So he's uh and he was on that for a couple of episodes or a few episodes. I don't want no spoilers, but he's only on for a couple at the be at the beginning. But um, but you know, how he did it was the spirit of never giving up, getting yourself in a group that wants you. I mean, look, we talk about it as filmmakers all the time. You want to be in a town that wants your movie there, in a town that's gonna collaborate with you and say, like, yo, please use my you know location for 500, a thousand bucks because you're a small indie. Come come to my town and do that's why we go to Buffalo. Buffalo loves us. They want it in Buffalo, New York. They have an amazing tax credit, they want you there. You want to be somewhere where they want you. So if you're an actor and you're trying to make it and you want to get seen by agents and casting directors, acting groups and theater groups and things like that is the way to go. And if you don't find one that wants you, go to the next one where you know they appreciate you, and that's how you get seen, and that's how you get an agent. Sure, you can also do student. I mean, I recommend this all the time, by the way, and you probably have done it, David Avenue. If you have, tell me about it. But like if you're an actor and you haven't done a lot of work, the student films are amazing to work in. Yeah, I've seen people do actors like that are constantly just doing student films. Sometimes they pay you a little bit, but for the most part, you get a tape. You know, you get tape, you can see yourself doing stuff, you can use that to put together a reel of stuff, and maybe uh and maybe get an agent that way, but that's a long road.

SPEAKER_01 17:21

Yeah, that's been the long longest road.

Mark Roberts 17:23

Well, you're an actor, you know how you know how that goes, right?

SPEAKER_01 17:26

For me, I just wanted to pop up. I wouldn't say in anything, but in a lot of stuff that people were putting out and be like, yeah, you know what? I'm what else am I gonna do? What else am I gonna do? Someone's gonna give me a chance, and you know, they're gonna give me some lines and maybe a a few bucks, you know, and uh a chance to create on screen is I'll be like, yeah, of course. Have you uh do you have an agent? I don't have an agent. Have you ever had an agent? I've never had an agent. And you and you work. And I work, yeah. Yeah, yeah. It's been uh I've been, I guess, I don't know if it's blessed, lucky, but yeah, I've always popped up and stuff and even was on things for you know months at a time with uh no agent, no manager. Um you know just hustle, right? Just hustle, and you know what, building relationships on set when you're there with uh you know the ADs and the directors, and um, you know, just being likable, yeah, you know, and not being a weirdo like some of these people are, but you know and it's hard, you know, because I don't know.

Mark Roberts 18:30

I I understand how difficult it is in this business to be an actor, to be a director, to be a producer, to do to do anything in this business. It's not the easiest thing in the world, right? You know, so it's about consistency, it's about being available, it's about putting out as much work as you can, doing as much work as if you're an actor, you just gotta you you've gotta be acting.

SPEAKER_01 18:54

You gotta do it well to the best of your uh current ability, you know.

Mark Roberts 18:59

Yeah, and and keep putting yourself out there. Like I think a lot about like when I was younger, uh, I remember I did my first movie, and an agent came up to my partner and I and said, Hey, we want to represent you. And I don't know what that meant, you know. And I I'll be honest, I I think even at my age, being in the business as long as I've been, and by the way, I do not have an agent. I don't I have never had an agent. Right. Um, you think it means that you don't have to work anymore, that you don't have to hustle anymore. And it's the opposite. They need you to hustle, they need you to be out there getting the good gigs and getting the good jobs so that someone can give you a bigger paying job so that they can make a commission.

SPEAKER_01 19:46

Yeah, represent yourself well and the agency when you get on set. I've seen that I've seen it go both ways. I've seen it go sour because they're acting like an ass and they know who their agent is, and I've seen the opposite where they say, Oh man, this guy's great.

Mark Roberts 19:59

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 19:59

Um, by the way, we have more stuff coming. Boom, done.

Mark Roberts 20:02

Yeah. But I think I do think that if I was an actor today, I would look for theater groups, get myself in a theater group. Lots of people come and try to discover new talent out of the out of the theater, especially the local theaters. Um and there's a lot of name actors that do small theater.

SPEAKER_01 20:24

Yeah, still.

Mark Roberts 20:24

Yeah, you know, like you you go see to a small theater and you're like, wait a minute, I've I've seen like plenty of these actors. And if you are good, then you're only gonna get people coming up to you after the show going, like, hey, do you have an agent? Or hey, I'm doing this movie, I'd love to use you. It's about visibility.

SPEAKER_02 20:43

True.

Mark Roberts 20:43

I think I think that's what the internet sort of does, that's what Instagram sort of does, right? Like it becomes like I there are people I follow that I think are amazing actors that are always doing some sort of bit. I remember I contacted one because we were doing a movie, and I thought this one guy was perfect for a certain part. Because you saw him through social media? Yeah, it was on social media he kept doing like personalities all the time, like different personalities. Or he was doing like uh, you know, when you they put a voice, they use audio, it's not their voice, and they're repeating it. Sometimes you see a good acting job in that, you know.

SPEAKER_01 21:23

I have a friend that does um all of uh like uh the La Bamba stuff, and yeah, he's great.

Mark Roberts 21:29

Yeah, it's great. So I remember writing to one of them and going, like, hey, uh you know, I'm a producer, I'm doing a movie, I think you'd be great for this one part. Do you are you an actor? He wrote back and said, I'm not an actor, right? I'm not an actor, but I've thought about acting or whatever. I didn't pursue it after that because clearly I would I would I want you to want to be an actor before well, you can't teach him. Yeah, no, I don't I don't wanna I don't wanna we're there we're there to work, like we're digging the hole tomorrow.

SPEAKER_01 21:59

Yeah, I don't know.

Mark Roberts 22:00

I don't want to make you be an actor. If you're an actor, great. If you're not an actor, you're not an actor. But he was so good that I thought, you know what, that guy, if he wanted to, he could probably be an actor. So if you're doing uh social media, if you're on Instagram or TikTok and you want to get noticed, just be consistent. If you really love doing it, keep doing it. And someone is going to find you and say, like, oh, I wonder if he'd be a good actor. Right. Um, so there's lots of ways, but I think that the truth of it all is that you have to be consistent, you have to keep doing it every day, not because you expect to get something, not because in three tries you're gonna get something, but because you love it. And people like myself or huge directors and writers and and uh I'm sorry, uh casting directors are gonna see you and they're gonna see your commitment, and they're going to consistently see you putting out shorts and work or whatever, whatever you decide to do on your Instagram page, right? And then they'll find you, they'll they'll uh they'll message you. Um so I think there's lots of different ways now, you know. Um when I was when I got out of high school, I had no connection to entertainment, zero. And I thought I wanted to be an actor because that's the only thing I knew how to do. Right. I hadn't been around producers or directors, I didn't know what that was. Acting was the only thing like I could see happening. I went to school with kids who were like on Fantasy Island as extras, you know. Uh they would never give me the name of how they did it. I would always be like, Hey, how'd you do it?

SPEAKER_01 23:35

Back then they didn't give the name.

Mark Roberts 23:36

No, that's messed up. I'd be like, How'd you get on on uh Fantasy Island? Or how'd you get on the love boat? And they'd be like, I'm not gonna tell you.

SPEAKER_01 23:44

Yeah, that's how you used to be.

Mark Roberts 23:44

I'd be like, that's messed up. Yeah, but um, but I didn't know any better. So when I when I got out of high school, I called. I this is gonna be so old, but I went to the white pages. Okay. You don't even know what that is anymore. If you don't know what white pages are, is there's this book that used to be thrown on people's porches every year. It's called The Yellow Pages and the White Pages. The Yellow Pages had advertisements of uh pizza places and phone companies and stuff like that. And the white pages were actually everyone who lived in that town.

SPEAKER_01 24:18

Oh, okay. I didn't know the difference till now. Yeah.

Mark Roberts 24:21

That's the difference, is that everyone else was like, if you want if I wanted to find Davy Dave, I just went to D and I looked you up and in the white pages. In the white pages, yeah. And it would give your address and your your phone number. Oh dang. Uh, I would find lots of people I went to school with if I wanted to call someone at school because I had to rotary dial them. Yeah, but uh if I wanted to find someone, I went to the white pages, just look for their last name, find you know, if I knew their parents' names.

SPEAKER_01 24:42

Oh, interesting.

Mark Roberts 24:42

But uh anyway, I would look through the white pages, and under E, there was a company called Extras Casting. Under E. And while I was in high school, because I was so jealous of my friend uh Alfonso, uh, I would look it up and I'd see Extras Casting. And I was too young to call at the time, and when I turned like 17, I called and someone answered and I went up. Oh, jeez. So then I turned 18 and I got the guts to call again. So I called again, and there was a recording that said, Oh, um, if you leave your name and uh no, they said, Oh, if you call back at four o'clock, we're casting for it, and they named all the all the movies. So then I called back at four and they answered the phone and they were like, Hey, what's your name? I said Mark Roberts. I'm not oh yeah, Marquis Lamontes, right? Because it changed my name. I said, It's Marquis Lamontes. They're like, Oh, you're Latino? I said, Yes, I'm Latino, and they're like, How old are you? I said, 18. They're like, Great, we're doing this movie called Best of Times, Kurt Russell, Robin Williams, we're shooting in Simi Valley. I need you for two weeks. You're gonna be a high school football player. I'll say, I'm in. Okay, cool. Show up at this time. I was like, but I'm not signed up with you guys, it doesn't matter, just go.

SPEAKER_01 25:52

You'll sign up there.

Mark Roberts 25:54

So I showed up there and I worked for two weeks on the field as a football player in best of times with Robin Williams and Kurt Russell, and it was uh I I was amazed. And what was crazy is that everyone I met was like, sign up with these guys, sign up with these guys. It was the opposite of my friend. That's right. They were like, sign up with all these different companies and you'll get work. So I made it my school, I made it my education. I became an extra, I got close to the camera, I watched everybody, I met people, I, you know, I started um, I started doing as much work as I could because at that time they were doing a lot of young adult stuff, you know, a lot of I worked on uh Wildcats with Goldie Hahn as a football player again, high school football player.

SPEAKER_02 26:41

Yeah.

Mark Roberts 26:42

And that was my introduction to the industry, you know, and uh and it really did change like my perception of stuff. I eventually became a producer because I I liked what producers did, but that was my way in, you know, that was my theater group. You know, I just decided I'm gonna be an extra and I'm gonna um I'm gonna want for more. I'm gonna ask people uh how do you get more of this work, or how do you uh how do you become a producer, or how do you how do I become a casting director, whatever that was, uh and I started to move up the ranks and eventually I changed everything and just became a producer, you know? And I talked to someone, this is different now, but my advice that I got from a producer that I really respected, I remember asking him, like, what is your advice to me? How am I gonna make it? And he said, pick one thing pick producer, pick director, pick writer, right, and stick with it. He goes, Because when someone wants a producer, they're not gonna pick the person that does three, four things. They're gonna remember you because you said you wanted to be a producer and that's all you do. Got it. He said, So I he goes, that's my advice. I don't think that's the way the business is anymore.

SPEAKER_01 27:53

So yeah, it's changed a bit.

Mark Roberts 27:54

It's completely different. I think you call people for in fact, the more you do, the better in a lot of ways now.

SPEAKER_01 28:00

Well, yeah, I think so. I mean, that's kind of what me, Toody, and you do too. We put this show together, we you know we direct it, we edit, we do it all. We produce, we host.

Mark Roberts 28:12

There's no one here. There's no one behind the cameras. There's no one here.

SPEAKER_01 28:16

To he's not here.

Mark Roberts 28:17

Yeah, yeah, exactly. To he'll be back though. Filmmaker, makeup artist, does it all. But he's in fact he's working right now, so he can't be here. Um but yeah, I would say that about acting and agents. Uh as it were, if you're a producer or a director, let's just stick with producer or writer for right now, because I think this is important. Executive producer, producer, writer. If you're someone who wants to pitch shows, pitch ideas, pitch movies, whatever that is, um again, agents are not gonna care as much because agents know it's a numbers game. Agents understand that the more you're out there, the more opportunity there is that you're gonna sell something. If I come to an agent, if an agent talks to me or I get the opportunity to talk to an agent and my goal is to make these two ideas and I love them, and I'm willing to stick with them for two, three years, they're have no interest in me. If I come up with new ideas every week and collaborate with them, hey, what do you think of this idea? What do you think of this idea? What do you think about the this uh this concept or this high concept movie or uh this reality show or whatever that is, the more ideas you have, the more opportunity they have. Like, I know who to go with this. You know, someone's been talking to me about this kind of movie or a young adult movie or a horror movie or whatever that is. Um agents, lawyers, they want to work with people that are gonna take a bunch of swings that are gonna be up to bat a ton. If you're not up to bat all the time as a creative person these days, then an agent doesn't want to have anything to do with it, you know?

SPEAKER_01 30:08

As a that's very a very good point. Now, moving one step ahead, you as a producer, what would you look for into hiring you know, your crew, your cast, your um co-producers, etc.

Mark Roberts 30:26

What would I be looking for? That's a good question.

SPEAKER_01 30:30

I mean, look where do you look?

Mark Roberts 30:33

Yeah. Where do I look? You know? I mean, unfortunately, you know, we have a team, right?

SPEAKER_01 30:41

We have a true, but we there are new faces that come in, you know. Yeah.

Mark Roberts 30:46

And i are they referred, are they Well, I mean, look, we have what I mean by a team is like for the past, I don't know, since 2019, we've been making movies together with Mario Lopez and stuff like that. We do Christmas, we show up in Nashville, we show up in Chicago, Illinois, we show up in Buffalo, uh, we did a movie in Nevada, Santa Fe, Santa Fe. We show up to these towns with a core group of people. David Dave, Mario, um Tootie, Tootie, Sam Haveland, uh Gemma Jones, Ryan Galvan. This is our line producer, our AD, our uh camera opera. I'm sorry, our director, photographer, director photography. We show up to this town with our core group of people, and then we hire everyone else right in that town. Right? We hire a casting director from that town. Got it. They hire everyone locally. Um so it's hard because I think I have been contacted by people that would like to work with me, but sometimes they're in LA, I'm I'm just not gonna take, I'm not gonna take anyone with me. Um you know, I'm not gonna take anyone with me on that trip. So I think you gotta look for people that are coming to your town that can take advantage of your expertise. But um, but it's hard, you know. Like I said, once you sort of have your core group, then you just hire everyone from there, you know. And a lot of times in my case, like I don't hire a lot of people, you know. That's Gemma's job. Gemma Jones, my line producer, hires everybody. Uh he she lets her heads of departments hire everyone that they hire. So for the most part, yeah, it's uh it's kind of it's sort of a it's a tough job to get on our movies. Um, but but it's not impossible. And I think you have to be out there, you have to be um sending out your resumes, making phone calls. Um, you know, there's people in Buffalo that we worked with that I won't forget, you know, that I want to work with again that worked on our movies. So I think if you get together with a producer and you're working on a film, do a great job because when they come back, um, you know, they're gonna hire you again. Got it. But it's hard, it's it's it's a hard gig now because so few movies are being made. You know, when I did the movie for Netflix, Meet Me Next Christmas, I was sent to Toronto by Netflix, and I didn't have any of my crew with me. Right. They were like, You're a producer, here's your director. It was Rusty Cundiff, legendary director. We went to um we went to Toronto together and we hired, it was uh we were on a first date with every member of the crew.

SPEAKER_01 33:33

Wow.

Mark Roberts 33:33

You know, so you went we went to a new town, worked with new people, fell in love with all those people, and uh, and then we haven't worked with them since that movie. So, you know, it just depends on what you want to do, but there I think I think for for me, the best advice I can give anybody is if you're a creator, that's where you're gonna get the best advice from me. You know, because you have to be seen.

SPEAKER_01 33:59

Yeah, you have to be seen. Just like the the the person you contacted uh through social.

Mark Roberts 34:04

Yeah, yeah, and people will contact you, you have to be available. I mean, uh and Ann Roberts, my wife, who is an amazing producer, she's gonna come on the show and talk about what jobs are available on entertainment um uh not entertainmentcassie, it's entertainmentjobs.com. Great website to tell you what PA jobs are available, what uh grip jobs are available if you do any of that, you know. Yeah. So we'll get get an idea about that in the future. Uh, but in the meantime, yeah, I think if you're looking for an agent, you know, I don't know that they're as useful as you think they are, but if you really want one, be prolific, be active. They want you to be active, they want you to go out and get your own job so that they can help you get jobs so you're getting jobs and they're getting jobs for you. It's not like they're just gonna get the job. They're looking for work too. I hear a lot of people complain about their agents all the time. Oh, my agent's not getting me anything. Well, it's not their job to get you everything. You gotta be out hustling for yourself, film hustling for yourself. That's right, you know? That's right. How are we doing?

SPEAKER_01 35:08

We're uh we should wrap it up.

Mark Roberts 35:10

All right. I would say also want to thank our sponsor, extreme music.com, Russ Emmanuel, uh, for running a superb outfit over at extreme music.com. If you guys haven't checked them out, please do. Yeah, they are the best in the biz, right?

SPEAKER_01 35:25

Yeah, take a listen at our intro and outro uh track. It's amazing. That's from Russ.

Mark Roberts 35:29

Extreemusic.com has music that is used all over television, commercials. I I used uh I use one of the songs. Um I might play it if if if I remember. Uh one of their songs that I used in the documentary, uh Carlos Almaraz for the car crash sequence. It's on this commercial and I hear it like literally every single day. But the great thing about extreme music.com is that most of that music is non-exclusive. So if I use it, you can use it. If you hear a song you like and you've heard it somewhere else, you can use, you know, you can use it yourself and license it. Uh and again, it's not the same cost as creating your own music, or you know, like if most of us can't afford a Michael Jackson tune or a Bon Jovi tune or anything like that. But if you go to Extreme Music and you look for that kind of sound, you'll find it. And it might even be better than something uh that's a classic uh because it'll be unique to your project. But I think it's a great way to go, to go to Extreme Music and find the perfect score or sound for your project and license it from them because it's at a fraction of the cost of having to hire an orchestra and have a recording and do all you don't have to worry about paying the writers or the people who sung on it or the production of it. That's all handled by extremesic.com. You just pay one fee to license the song and you put it in your project, and that's that's the end of it. So easy. ExtremeMusic.com for all your music needs. Check them out.

SPEAKER_01 37:10

So that's it for us today, man. We miss Tootie.

Mark Roberts 37:12

We missed Tootie. Uh we had a guest schedule that didn't happen, so we just talked about things that we think you want to hear. Again, like us, subscribe. We're now uh uh on the video. I don't think anyone needs to see this, but here we are. So uh to all you filmmakers and content creators, actors, and entertainment professionals, we thank you for listening and watching, and we'll see you next time on Film Hustlers. Hey, you gotta be seen. We gotta do it, we gotta do it, we gotta be seen. Awesome. Thanks, Davey Dave. Yeah, man. I thought that was okay.