Ann Lewis Roberts talks about YouTubers Disrupting Hollywood!

The needle is moving faster than ever in the film industry. In this episode of Film Hustlers, host Mark Roberts, Rod "Tuddy" Rinks are joined by veteran exec and producer  Ann Lewis Roberts to break down the radical shift from traditional gatekeepers to independent success.

We dive deep into the "ultimate blueprint" for modern filmmakers: the story of Iron Lung, a film made by a YouTuber for $3M that bypassed streamers to gross over $52M globally. Whether you have 40 million subscribers or 400, the lessons on viral hooks, authenticity, and betting on yourself are universal.

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Transcript

Mark Roberts 0:01

Filmmakers, content creators, people of the world, welcome to Film Hustle. I'm your host, Mark Roberts. I'm a filmmaker, have been for about 30 years. Your other host is Rod Tootie Ranks. Are we using Rod or are we not using Rod? I don't understand. I like Rod. Rod Ranks is like the porn name.

Rod Rinks 0:19

Whoa, whoa. Director's name.

Mark Roberts 0:21

But you are you are a host, you're a filmmaker, you've made movies, you've made shorts, uh, you're making uh micro TV shows, you're making microdramas, you've done TV shows, you've done it all. Plus, you've done makeup, you worked yourself into the business in a very unique way, which is why make it makes them very qualified to be talking to you about you making it in the business. And then we have a real professional, Ann Lewis Roberts.

Rod Rinks 0:44

Wonderful, amazing.

SPEAKER_03 0:47

Our favorite guest.

Mark Roberts 0:48

Your favorite guest. She's been in the business for years and years, started at uh Entertainment Tonight, launched Access Hollywood, went over to uh e-NP.

Rod Rinks 0:57

I was about to say R.I.P.

Mark Roberts 0:58

To where? Rest in peace. Rest in peace, yeah. Rest in peace. Went over to entertainment, uh, e-entertainment television, and then spent 10 years as an executive at Disney doing uh non-scripted uh television for the network there and um and another network that kind of went away, which was uh Soapnet. Um, and you've executive produced a bunch of shows like uh um Disney Weddings, decorating Disney, which shot all over the world. And uh yeah, you're you're cheap old houses.

Ann Lewis Roberts 1:30

One of my favorites who's afraid of a cheap old house.

Mark Roberts 1:33

I'm not afraid.

Ann Lewis Roberts 1:34

Yeah, yeah, the wedding paper, the wet the toilet paper wedding dress show. Whoa. I mean, who could say that, right?

Mark Roberts 1:40

And you're a big fan of women's basketball, the WNBA.

Ann Lewis Roberts 1:43

I gotta get home for that NCAA.

Mark Roberts 1:45

Yeah, we're gonna we're gonna we're gonna get to it. But she is very important to the industry and what's happening and what has happened. So um it's a really special thing when we have uh Ann on uh to talk about what's happening. But you know what's crazy? I gotta say, like every time we come on the show, it feels like the needle has moved again. It's never felt that way before. No, no, why is that?

Ann Lewis Roberts 2:08

But wait, you didn't introduce David Dave.

Mark Roberts 2:10

I'm sorry, and we got David Dave who's not on camera. He's literally on the ones and twos.

Rod Rinks 2:14

You know, slide over, David. Slide over, keep it, keep. Oh, there he is. There he is, David Dave.

Mark Roberts 2:18

So, David Dave, also an influencer, a comedian, an actor. Hey, did you get your residual check?

SPEAKER_03 2:23

Thank you.

Mark Roberts 2:24

You did? Yes. All right, residuals. You gotta get that money. Love it.

Ann Lewis Roberts 2:28

He was the first influencer I ever met in real life, like a real person. I actually mean too. Yeah, yeah, me too. How many, how many? I remember you telling me about him, and I was like, get out of town.

Rod Rinks 2:38

It was like a whole thing, like he's an influencer?

Ann Lewis Roberts 2:40

What does that mean?

Mark Roberts 2:40

He knows how to do all the things for over 400,000 followers, right? And that was back in the day. So that was like it's like four million in today's market.

Rod Rinks 2:49

No, he's not no, he's got multiple, he's got multiple accounts. He's got Davy's heroes. That's right.

Mark Roberts 2:53

Is Davy's Heroes still doing its thing? Uh when I have time, there's not enough heroes in the world, you gotta admit.

Ann Lewis Roberts 2:59

What are the differences between the different accounts?

SPEAKER_03 3:01

So we got Davy Dave, the meme account, which is the OG one, and then you got uh my personal one, which was just a bunch of stuff with myself and my dog, and then you got Davy's Heroes, which concentrates on good stories around the globe that make the web, and then that's what you do.

Rod Rinks 3:19

And you had Foo News, he had Foo News at one point.

SPEAKER_03 3:22

Yeah, oh, and also uh Latino Press LA, dude, Latino Press, which actually does really well on TikTok still, even though I haven't uploaded videos in the street. Well, guess what?

Rod Rinks 3:31

You'll be doing Latino Press real soon.

Mark Roberts 3:34

Well, he's an influencer, he's acting, got his residual checks from his movies. Comedy. Do you get comedy? You do you do a lot of uh acting, so is there do you have a is there a considerable amount of money coming in from residuals every year?

SPEAKER_03 3:47

I get them a couple times a year. Couple times a year, yeah.

Mark Roberts 3:50

I mean it's it could turn into something, right? If you were working consistently as a doctor, it could turn into like real money. Yeah, for sure. Um my favorite line.

Ann Lewis Roberts 3:57

You don't need any more what's the line?

SPEAKER_03 4:01

Hey! Who ate all the honey buns? Trust me, you don't need any more honey buns. Wow. Okay. You do not need any more cinnamon rolls. Yay!

Mark Roberts 4:10

That's uh that's a line from uh the Christmas Spark or a Christmas Spark. No, the Christmas Spark. Yeah. Um but it is it is thanks for uh doing that. So there's four of us here today, but David Davis off camera. He sacrificed his camera for uh good guy. Um we'll get another camera, don't worry. This video thing's probably gonna be around for a while. I think so. I wanted to also go back. There's a story that you tell, and you've told it on the podcast many times. Thanks. And I want to get it, I want to get it right. I want to get it right because you talk about it a lot. So here it is. The movie that the that the YouTube or Instagram influencer made what is called Iron Lung. Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's called Iron Lung, right?

Rod Rinks 4:51

Yeah, yeah. And the he's an he's a YouTuber, he's a gamer.

Mark Roberts 4:54

It's the ultimate blueprint for independent success. And you again, you mentioned this. He made the movie for three million dollars, and instead of selling it to a streamer, he bet on himself and his 40 million followers on YouTube. Subscribers, fool. 40 million subscribers on YouTube.

Ann Lewis Roberts 5:10

2026 is calling you Mark Roberts.

Mark Roberts 5:12

He released it in January 2026. The film grossed over 52 million dollars globally.

Rod Rinks 5:17

Not a bad investment.

Mark Roberts 5:18

Uh-huh. It started only in 60 theaters, but expanded to over 4,000 because fans literally called local cinemas demanding it.

SPEAKER_06 5:26

Yep.

Mark Roberts 5:26

What's the lesson? He used 80,000 gallons of fake blood, a world record, to create a viral hook that trend that traditionally marketing could never buy. So just to get deeper into that story, which is seems like uh okay, not anyone can do it. You need 40 million subscribers, but right, that's important. Right. But the idea that he did like a Mr. Beast thing where he did like a, you know, I don't know what the 100 uh all these gallons of blood did, but he did like some sort of promo. Yeah, I don't understand what that was. Yeah, I mean he did something with it.

Ann Lewis Roberts 6:00

For the I said this to you, what's for the hustlers who don't have 400 million subscribers, what's the lesson?

Mark Roberts 6:06

Well, here's here's the thing like we're in the same position, right? We're sitting here on film hustlers wanting to grow, wanting to expand, and we're doing the same thing anyone else would be doing to try to gain followers, right? So we're sort of in the same boat. How do you get to 40 million? I have no idea. Like, that's that's I think you have to be doing crazy stuff.

Rod Rinks 6:28

But guess what the point is is like find something you're you like, you love, you're good at. You don't even have to be good. Maybe he's not a good gamer, but he loves it. So people followed him, they subscribed, they wanted to watch him game, they gamed, and then from there it took off, it exploded. And now, I mean, I wouldn't be surprised if filmmakers like us would be reaching out to somebody like him and saying, Hey man, do you want a partner? I got a story, you know what I mean? Or and it's a horror movie, so those tend to be a little less, you know, the budget's small, and there's a big audience, there's an audience waiting for them.

Mark Roberts 7:00

Well, there's an authenticity level to what's happening in the world today. Like, clearly, being authentic is important, but um but I think the other thing is that there's also a lazy factor. Like, I was doing a lot of research on podcasts, and I read that 97% of podcasts don't get past their past their third episode. Maybe I think 12 was the the highest number, but they don't get past there because you think that just doing it is enough.

Rod Rinks 7:28

Right.

Mark Roberts 7:29

It's not enough, right? There's all of these tools now that are available, and I think the reason the needle's moving so much every week for everybody is because it's growing that fast. Like you are able to reach an audience now quickly. Like, even us going uh video for YouTube changed a lot of things, you know.

Rod Rinks 7:47

Which I told us five years ago we should have done this.

Mark Roberts 7:49

Thousands of people are watching our short clips that you know, a lot like double the amount of people are watching on YouTube. Thank you for watching. Then our watch, then our link.

Ann Lewis Roberts 7:58

Subscribe, like, and share.

Mark Roberts 7:59

Yeah, please subscribe, like, and share because it does make a difference, but it is available, there's lots of ways. And if you go on YouTube, it's suggesting it to you. It's not like you have to go out and figure out or buy a book, or you know, if you want to watch a video about how to do it, it'll tell you. All you have to do is follow the instructions. But there is an authenticity. I mean, look, the bottom line about us is that we're not experts in anything except for hustling, right? Like we hustle, um, we we fail a lot, uh, we pitch a lot. A lot of pitches don't work, some pitches do work. But I think the important thing is to realize that you have to keep learning about where the market's going, otherwise, you're inevitably you inevitably are gonna fail because you do have to put in the effort and put in the work. Otherwise, yeah, you're just gonna be doing stuff that goes nowhere. I read something today that I really agreed with, and it was it was about your ideas. Like if you're making product and you're making uh and I suppose the newer generation's got is way ahead on this one, but if you're making uh videos and no one's watching them, then you need to reconsider what your subject matter is and how you're making them. And that goes the same for movies and it goes the same for pitches. If you are trying to raise money through social uh through um Kickstarter, let's say, which should be considered about 40% of your budget. If you are raising money that way, that should be considered 40% of your budget. If you're not getting any hits and no one's giving you money, clearly people are raising money that way with horror films and things that are interesting, maybe historical projects, then you are doing something that nobody is interested in. And that's just the reality.

Rod Rinks 9:44

Well, yes, yes and no, because like Mr. Beast, I think his number was something crazy, like 400 and some videos that nobody watched, then like 495 hit.

Mark Roberts 9:55

So, yes, you just made my point.

Ann Lewis Roberts 9:58

But he started when he was a little kid, he was like nine years old.

Mark Roberts 10:01

Yeah, he did, but I think if your video you if you believe in something, keep putting it out, try something that does try something again, yeah. Keep putting it out, keep changing it, keep adjusting, keep growing.

Rod Rinks 10:12

Like the reason that we're still here is because we like doing this show. Uh, like there's no money. That's the sad part about it.

Ann Lewis Roberts 10:19

You like being together, you like talking about the industry.

Rod Rinks 10:22

Yeah, we we talk about what we're doing, you know. We talk about where we're going and the challenges, and he's right, we fail a lot, and then sometimes we get some success. But this show helps us keep going. You know, you got to find something you love and keep and keep doing it and just keep going forward, regardless of your numbers in the beginning. Because your numbers, people aren't gonna, you got five followers, you're gonna get your mom, your tia, somebody, hey Miko, you did a great you know how many Mikos I got? I love the show. That Roberts, he needs to really give you an opportunity. I'm like, mom, take it easy, all right? Roberts is my friend. Yeah, but you should you he could help you. I go, No, he can't. Okay, maybe he can't, but uh, you just gotta keep pushing forward, you know. I mean, the whole point of the show is well, what is it? Don't get stopped, right?

Mark Roberts 11:06

Well, you can't get stopped, but I think I think we get stopped a lot. Yeah, so I it's it's about consistency.

Ann Lewis Roberts 11:13

In the real, real, real world, people don't sit at a podcast and say, okay, Titty, your idea is great. Let's raise money for it. Then Mark calls people that he knows and gets money for it. Then you guys go out and you book it, then you direct it, then you have you make a great film with big actors, and then it goes to a um many, many festivals. So I think you guys are downplaying just a little bit what has been done here in this world. That's extraordinary things that have been done. And if you are at home and you're thinking about what could I do, that's a small venture for maximum impact. And so I think, and I think what you're saying is that if you try something and it doesn't work, you could get on another road and you could get on another road and you could get on another road. And in this moment in time where you get numbers from socials and YouTube, you can look and be like, okay, this one thing people like liked that was in my bucket of things that I like. So what if I point myself at the thing that is the dovetail of they like it and I like it? Like you, I think sometimes people just go out and they do the thing they like and beat it up until they're blue in the face and they're like, it didn't work.

SPEAKER_06 12:29

Right.

Ann Lewis Roberts 12:30

Like I think we're so lucky to live in a in a time where you know what's working.

SPEAKER_06 12:34

Yeah.

Ann Lewis Roberts 12:35

If you read the paper, if you watch what you know, Hail Mary, you can glean a little teeny bit from everything that's working, and why not apply that to yourself? Unless you're what's the guy, uh, the genius autour Quentin Tarantino, then freaking he doesn't care what any of us have to say. Like, go be Quentin Tarantino. But are there a lot of Quentin Tarantinos? There really aren't. So why not listen to the industry? Why not listen to people who write in your comments? Why not go for something, row your boat in the direction that could work? I don't know.

Rod Rinks 13:10

Because even with filmmaking, when you write, say you write, say you're a writer and you write a scene, you think it's the funniest thing you've ever written, and then another scene is just kind of like a transitional scene that gets you somebody and and the actors improvise or they don't, and that scene kills it. And you're just kind of like that. Right. So you got like to your point, you gotta, if something's not working, you just gotta kind of shoot off and try other things, and you could stay in that vein. You know, if you're have a podcast on filmmaking, you're like, this isn't working. I'm gonna do a podcast about you know driving down the freeway. It's two different worlds, like it doesn't make sense. So kind of stay in your world if that's what you're passionate about.

Mark Roberts 13:53

I mean, you could you could be, I think you can be passionate all you want, like you have to find something that's working for your audience. If you have an audience, you should be working towards giving them product that they want to keep consuming. And it's hard to do that. I it's hard to do that if you're not trying things and throwing stuff to go.

Rod Rinks 14:11

It's all about any way you want to cut it, it's about the audience. You want to make movies, your audience better like them.

Mark Roberts 14:16

If they don't like them, you're not doing movies, then you're not making movies.

Ann Lewis Roberts 14:20

But even back in the day when we started Access Hollywood, we would, or in you know, entertainment tonight, you knew the next day if somebody's ratings were good, or you at least thought you knew what the segments were that were good. Now you absolutely 100% know from the comments, from the subscribers, like why wouldn't you use that information to make yourself better if you want to succeed? If you have a pile of money and you're just doing whatever it is because it floats your boat and you feel yummy about it, bedazzle your podcast all day long. But if you want to make it work, you it's great to follow the but no one does that.

Mark Roberts 14:55

And historically, historically, you can look back, and there's a wake of failed businessmen that had billions of dollars to put into this business of film that have failed miserably because they had a bunch of money, they just had dreams about making movies. That's all, and I want to do them the way I want to do them. And you know, I mean, I I don't want to start naming names, but you guys know who they are. One of them has red hair, you know. They had billions of dollars of dollars to make movies. It's not enough to want to make movies. I appreciate that you want to make movies, it's awesome, but it's not enough. Like it not if you want to actually make a living. And you know, the other thing that I found really well, that's the key.

Rod Rinks 15:32

If you want to make a living, you want to get paid.

Mark Roberts 15:34

The other thing I find fascinating about filmmakers, again, these are not words of advice, and they're not potentially not actually correct, but they're they're a reality check if you want. Like the idea that you go about your life, you know, you're little, you get a job, you want to get a job at a pizza place, you know the the steps that it takes to get that. You walk in there, you put down your resume, you know what it takes to keep that job, you know what it takes to make more money at it. Um people think those rules don't apply to film. You go into film, you know exactly what you need to do to work hard to try to figure out how to move up the ladder, but you don't do that because you think an idea is going to dominate everything and you're gonna make something and you're gonna become famous and everyone's gonna want to hire you, and that just never happens. A really good example is like people win Academy Awards and their careers are over.

Ann Lewis Roberts 16:30

Well, I think you make you can make a choice, and it's based on how you grew up and what kind of hustler you are, right? I don't I think people who are listening to this are hustlers, you know. I don't think they're autours. And I just learned with that. I went to Catholic school, so I learned auteur late in life because you don't learn a lot in Catholic school. No, but uh I think there's autours and there's hustlers, and the hustlers are looking for how do I get in by hook or by crook? How do I stay in? And I feel like I I just read some something recently, and it was very interesting to me that you don't go in anymore to an agency or to an entry-level job and say, Oh, I'm a film guy or I'm a TV person. That's the way it was 30, 40 years ago. You know, you you pick you picked a lane. Now, if you pick a lane, guess what? Nobody wants you because there's less jobs. You need to be a jack of all trades. You need to say, Oh, I love digital, I love these are my favorite creators, this is my favorite streaming. I still like a little bit of cable, I watch YouTube, blah, blah. And if you can't span all of that, guess what? Nobody wants you. They don't need niche people. And unfortunately, film and TV are niches now. It's it's content. So I think, again, if you're getting those entry-level jobs, I think you got to go in and you still have to hustle and work hard. You still have to be the one who's available at Sunday night at 10 p.m. That's never gonna change. Yeah, but I think you gotta be somebody who knows a little bit about everything because nobody knows what's gonna win next, right?

Mark Roberts 18:06

It's probably YouTube. But what's the you you said this before we got on the podcast? What's the single most important thing in succeeding in this business?

SPEAKER_04 18:16

Working hard.

Mark Roberts 18:18

It's consistency. Yeah, yeah, showing up, showing up, yeah, consistently showing up when the other person does not. Yeah, right. So I think that that's something that is universal and important to look at. But more important than that is seeing what's happening in the market. If it's YouTube that you're gonna be part of, there's new videos telling you how to do stuff every single day. I figured out every day there's a new video on like how you can market your stuff, how you can get more people to see you.

Rod Rinks 18:49

I mean, I it's like university, it's like better than college. You really don't need college anymore. You go to YouTube, you find how do I fly a 747? Well, first of all, you get in the cock, you don't be able to figure it out. There's probably something there that says how to fly a plane, I bet you.

Ann Lewis Roberts 19:01

And in those entry-level jobs, I don't think you want to be like AI is bad. I think you want to say, like, I use AI as a tool to get as much information for you as possible. And for me, on a Sunday night at 10 o'clock, and we use it as a tool. And because I can't, I just don't think you can be precious and get your stuff done.

Mark Roberts 19:21

Well, I mean, that we've come a long way. Precious and successful. We've come a long way in a short period of time with AI. We were talking about AI as a really nasty thing about a year ago because no one knew what it was, no one knew how they were using it. The minute someone uses it, that conversation goes quiet and they're not talking about it anymore. Because they start using AI for their own stuff. It's a tool. For an email, for a letter to a school teacher, which I do all the time for cash. You know, like if I want to send a pointed letter without being rude, I put in my rude letter and it makes it nice, you know.

Rod Rinks 19:51

So you know there's an AI for that now, too, right?

Mark Roberts 19:53

Yeah, the AI AI uses works fine.

Rod Rinks 19:56

Well, no, there's a AI filter now. So, like, my wife's a teacher, so if students send AI, because sometimes you could just tell, like, you know, seventh graders aren't writing so it shows you if it is. So she just says, first of all, she goes, Is this AI? And then she plugs in another thing and it says, Yeah, it's AI. So she's like, New paper for you, buddy. Kids are getting stuck, kids are getting it.

Ann Lewis Roberts 20:16

The kids all know that, so the kids put it through all of Castle's friends, they put it through that AI filter, and it says 8% of this is AI, and then it highlights that and they just rewrite that shit.

Mark Roberts 20:27

Oh, then they do the misspelling and like Yeah, I I that's it's in and that's now adjusted. Now people are getting super smart using AI to go like, what kind of problems should I have with you, AI, that would make sense to everyone else in the world? And now they're getting to the point where like be careful when you use AI for your movies because you're gonna get sued now because these platforms don't have the right to be borrowing from all these other ideas and putting them into your flick. So there's there's something's coming in the future where you're not gonna be able to use AI to create images that are based on images that have been created before.

Rod Rinks 21:00

That's not is that happening?

Mark Roberts 21:02

It's gonna happen. I I heard it at the producers' conference, they had a whole conference about just that. Be careful, find out who the platform is that's creating your artwork because it might be using Disney animation, it might be using anyone who uses it, and that's not legal to use your movie to make my movie images, you know.

Rod Rinks 21:20

Is there gonna be a rogue place where it's just gonna be all AI for a while? It's like you know.

Ann Lewis Roberts 21:26

Well, did you see Disney invested a billion dollars in open AI, and then last week they open AI said we're getting rid of that um part of our business where we're gonna not open AI. No, open IA said we're we don't uh is it Sonos? Oh, I see what you're saying. They just said they said we don't want to be involved, we don't have the resources to do that thing where you're gonna take a Disney piglet and make your own, you know, um Mickey Mouse licensed video. It became too expensive for them, so they shut down that division. I imagine Disney's getting their money back, but it's interesting. Interesting because I think we were at um Cash Roberts is is knows you're talking about him. He's keeps calling back. Um I think that, yeah, I think that all these businesses too are little by little going, okay, just because we can do this with AI doesn't mean we should. Right. So it's gonna, I I don't know. I'm not afraid of it. I think it's just gonna whittle down to being another tool that we use, like Photoshop. And um, you know, I I I took a quick class about AI and Photoshop. And the professor who looked like, you know, he was in his late 60s was like, listen, photos used to be precious, you couldn't do anything with it. Then Getty Images came along, and we were like, that's gonna be the end of us. But then we all started selling our pictures to Getty Image for like $20. So we were like, this is they sell it for $500. And he was like, and now they're pennies on the dollar. And he was like, same thing with AI. He was showing uh, you know, us how you take your photo and you add a little bit of light here and a little bit of light here. And he's like, if you want to be pristine about it, don't. If you want to lighten it up, then do it. But it's a it's a tool, it's not gonna replace taking a beautiful photo.

Mark Roberts 23:09

AI is gonna get crazy, but can I ask you something? Yeah, do you know who else uses? Let me ask you something. You know who else uses AI?

Rod Rinks 23:16

Me?

Mark Roberts 23:16

Extreme Music.com. Oh get it. So extremesic.com, who is the most amazing um platform in the world for music, the best. You know who's uh partners with uh Russ Emanuel, right? Yeah, Han Zimmer. In fact, if you go to our Instagram page, I put up a sponsor, a little sponsor picture, and I use the Han Zimmer music. Oh, you did? He's an amazing um composer. But um, if you go there, you can use it, it uses AI to get you the music that you may need for your movie or your um your whatever art you're making. But definitely check out extreme music.com for all your music needs. The other thing I'm gonna say that will be controversial is that thank god I feel like I feel like the opportunity to succeed is much more abundant than it's ever been. I really do. Like I all do just being online and you know, and getting information like if you had 50,000 followers for your YouTube page or Instagram or whatever it is, 50,000. 50,000 subscribers is gonna earn you tens of thousands of dollars. Help us get there. Yes. Help us get there, please. Subscribe. But the idea that that is true, that you if you have authentic people following you that care about your message, that care about what you're doing, that care about your product, that care about your ideas, that that's gonna generate income for you in a market that people are still trying to do it the old traditional way. I want to get hired by uh, you know, I want to go win Sundance. Like it doesn't matter. Like you could really just do it on your own. It's available, it's out there. These YouTube's the biggest platform in the world.

Ann Lewis Roberts 25:00

Yeah, you gotta be authentic and give things a value. Um, that is something I think you guys do really well, is you're bringing value to people who are in your community, you know, who are looking to succeed, who are looking to move forward. I think you bring them value, actionable value that you could do something with, you know. Yeah, yeah. Not sort of lofty, like, hey, make a hit. Okay.

Mark Roberts 25:24

No. Yeah, go be go be amazing, go, go do great work. I will say this there is a market now, and this is this is for all the producers and directors and writers out there that you know believed in cable and worked in cable and did movies for cable. Um, cable is still making money. And I'm talking about billions of dollars. Billions of dollars are being made by AE. Uh, what's another big one? Uh Discovery. Discovery. Like these networks are these cable networks, HD TV, HD TV, they're still bringing in billions of dollars combined, but billions of dollars, which means that they're getting that that money and they don't want to let it go, so they need to create new content. The thing for us producers, writers, directors, actors, is that those budgets for those cable networks are coming down. So if you want to get some of that gold, which is sort of like well, let's just call it silver and copper because not gold, it's just sort of like a lower uh a lower version of what it used to be. White gold. But um, but you can still get that work. If you were making movies for two, three two, maybe you're making them now for one six. You're finding the tax credits and using that. You're getting one investor. Uh, unfortunately, you can't sell things overseas that much anymore. There was Christmas, someone made a Christmas movie, it's overseas made like a hundred thousand dollars, like literally no money. Maybe there's one that's making a bunch of money with Eddie Murphy in it, but if you're making small ones, don't expect a lot from foreign. But you can if you start figuring out how to make them for less money, less days, you can get some of that market. They are looking for filmmakers to make them for less money. If you're making them for a million, a million two, you're gonna be in the sweet spot because that's that's where it's at. And you can make them, but you have to follow rules. If you don't want to follow rules because you want to make it the way you want to make it, then that's not for you.

Rod Rinks 27:16

But I did read today, guess what's coming back? DVDs. This younger generation likes DVDs, and guess what else happened? Vinyl had its highest sale since 1982. These younger kids like vinyl and they're liking DVDs, so who knows? Blockbusters.

Ann Lewis Roberts 27:36

They like the 90s are back, they like vlog, they like touching things.

Rod Rinks 27:40

I'm gonna get in my attic. I got a bunch of true religion and Ed Hardy stuff. I'm selling that stuff on each other.

Mark Roberts 27:45

Oh, that's smart. If you are a filmmaker who made movies in the 90s and 2000s and all that, and they were they were on DVD, there's uh all these uh platforms to put it on to make money. We just uh put uh a bunch of our movies on Tubi platform like Filmhub. You put your movie on there, it gets approved. They take care of getting it to all the people that want to buy it. Um, one of our documentaries, it's on Hoopla now. I haven't even heard of Hoopla. Hoopla. I don't even know what Hoopla is, right? But it's the uh online version of how to get movies from libraries all over the United States, and it's actually doing better than Tubi for us. So if you think you know everything about what's out there, you don't. Hoopla. Yeah, hoopla.

Ann Lewis Roberts 28:26

By the way, I wish I came up with letterboxed. Like, why did you get you guys know letterboxed?

Mark Roberts 28:31

Oh, yeah, I do, yeah.

Ann Lewis Roberts 28:32

So the kids, uh it's an online social um Smarty pants for kids, you know, um platform where you watch movies, most of them are old movies, and then you rate them. What? And so, and then you have your, you know, your sort of like the Spotify list. You have your list of things that you like, you have your comments, and then all your friends go on and be like, I never saw Buffy the Vampire Slayer, or I never saw Top 10 this, top 10 that. How's this biggest, biggest, biggest thing? And in fact, that Sophia explained it to me, and she was like, you know what? I don't have enough on my letterbox. And I was like, I so she's now going to that's letterbox. She's now going to the library, renting old films, plugging them into a DVD player at a house and watching them, and then going from commenting on it on letterbox. And that's currency now for the 20-somethings to say I went to the library and I rented a DVD and I watched it. And here's what I think about Clockwork Orange, she was telling us about. I was like, what in the actual hell? Yeah, absolutely.

Rod Rinks 29:44

Yeah. Yeah, all those. Do they have one for podcasts? We should do one for podcasts. Like letterbox for podcasts. That's a good idea. It's a good idea.

Mark Roberts 29:51

You see, you saw the numbers. Our numbers are changing, increasing. Uh, you know, because you're so handsome. Film hustlers are doing so well. Uh the film hustlers uh podcast is doing extremely well. So I want you to rate it. I want you to um what do we want them to do? We want to subscribe, subscribe. Comment comment, ask me, send your questions. Yes. Last thing I want to ask right before we go, is there what if you're just trying to get a job in the business, do you go to entertainmentjobs.com?

Ann Lewis Roberts 30:18

I'm gonna look at my phone because I I was looking at this and I was like, this is some good.

Rod Rinks 30:23

Well, you're looking for that in if you want to get a cigar and you are in Los Angeles, where's the best place to go, Davey?

SPEAKER_02 30:31

The library of the library. That's where we're at right now. That's where we're at.

Mark Roberts 30:35

Can we have a cigar afterwards? That'd be great.

Rod Rinks 30:37

I had to train somebody. Okay. Let's do it. See up, see what that's peer pressure right now.

Ann Lewis Roberts 30:42

Come have a cigar and fill out your letterbox. There we go. Fill out your letterbox.

Rod Rinks 30:46

I love it. Yeah, this place is the best. Vic, the owner is a great guy.

Mark Roberts 30:50

YouTube at Cigar Box, but go check out YouTube, build your following, do authentic things that are gonna make people come see your product. Cable's got money, you just gotta figure out how to um work within their box. Covered a lot of stuff.

Ann Lewis Roberts 31:07

I'm gonna tell you.

Mark Roberts 31:08

Here we go for jobs in the industry.

Ann Lewis Roberts 31:10

This is at a moment in time where people are doing all their center internships. This is for sort of college-based folks. All the internships just opened up this month. They pay them for them now. It's $35 an hour, so that's not nothing. That's not nothing. It's development, music, marketing, PR, production, digital, and it's DreamWorks, Columbia, Legendary Picture, all internships. Corner Music Group has an incredible one. It's called the Emerging Talent Associate program. You can just online this is great. I know. Live Nation has an incredible one that teaches you about booking artists and marketing. Uh, Disney has one of the best. Um, TikTok just started one in internships in the summer. Uh $35 an hour. Also, the Television Academy has an eight-week internship in LA that is supposed to be incredible. And again, all these you get paid for them now. Um, and the other thing I just want to say is it's super old school, but all the agencies have entry-level training programs that are open year-round, $25 an hour. And most of the time, again, if you are consistent, you'll get a job and you'll you may not want to be an agent. Maybe you go there and you find out this is the last thing I want. But those jobs, all of them, UTA, WME, CAA, they all they all have them. Netflix has assistant training programs now where you can get in there and you could do an entry-level thing. I mean, who doesn't want to be at Netflix? So, I mean, a a ton of, and by the way, all the digital companies are doomed. Studio 71 is a huge company that um manages podcasts, manages social media, and they also have the city. What about YouTube? I'm sure YouTube has it.

Mark Roberts 32:51

I'm sure. We gotta go. That's been awesome. We've covered a lot of ground, we've talked about a lot of stuff. I hope it helps somebody, anybody. I know it helps us. It helped me. I know it helps us. $35 an hour. I mean, we're trying to build our podcast here, and we're doing the same thing we're asking you to do. So let's see how we do. Maybe keep an eye on us, but subscribe, like us, send us questions, and tell your friends about us. We'll see you next time on film hustlers.

SPEAKER_03 33:17

That's right.

Rod Rinks 33:18

Hey, that's right.