Ep. 14: Justin Bratton | The Danger Den Podcast w/ Danger Foley @SXSW ​

In this episode, Danger Foley sits down with Justin Bratton — filmmaker, host, and creative visionary known for his work across global media and storytelling platforms. From hosting Asia’s Got Talent to creating award-winning short films and innovative storytelling experiences, Justin brings a unique lens on creativity, culture, and transformation.

This conversation dives into purpose, risk-taking, and the art of making meaning in an increasingly noisy world. Justin shares candid reflections on identity, global creative work, and trusting your instincts while building projects that last.

What you’ll hear in this episode:

• Justin’s evolution from on-camera talent to behind-the-scenes creator
• The philosophy behind his storytelling approach
• Navigating identity and creativity while working globally
• Reflections on travel, risk, and trusting your creative instincts
• How to stay grounded while building something meaningful

More on Justin Bratton:
Website - justinbratton.com

Instagram: @justin_bratton

Connect with The Danger Den:
Website: https://www.thedangerden.com
Instagram: @dangerdenco
YouTube: @TheDangerDenCO

Transcript

0:05

Hello. I am Danger Foley. This is the Danger Den podcast. We are on our last day at South by Southwest. No. I know. I'm here with Justin Bratton. He is a tv host, filmmaker, actor. Just he's been all over the board. Just trying to make stuff happen and make money while doing it. Yeah. You got to do everything. You got to do it all a lot of hats. It's an honor to have you here. Thank you. Thank you so much for being here again. You joined us at the beginning of the week as well. What's South By been like for you? It's been a whirlwind of awesomeness. Yeah. I don’t know, it's just been a lot of cool people here to meet. And, the film festival here is something unique. I think there's definitely a warm feel here with the community. Like, obviously you've got the local community here in Austin, which is super, super open to, introducing me to new people. I'm not really familiar with what's going on in Austin. So it's been a nice introduction. Have you spent a lot of time here? I have, I went to University of Texas. I partly grew up here when I was a kid. And then my parents got here. So I end up coming out here quite a bit. At least once or twice a year. Awesome. I love the city so much. It's amazing. And that's why I want to kind of move here maybe. Me to kind of. Like at least like, yeah, you're you're you're going to go for it? Hey you wanna be neighbors. Sorry. So you want to be neighbors. Yeah. Yeah. Let's do it. Is it going to be this house? I wouldn't be mad about it. For real, yeah. Can you walk us through, like, where? Where are you been? Yeah. So, I'm based currently, right now in Singapore. In Bangkok. I've been out over there for about 18 years. Graduated from University of Texas. Decided I did not want to get, like, an office job or any sort of corporate job. So I moved to Mexico, lived in Monterey for half a year. Worked for my uncle in a fake plant store, and then. A fake plant store. He actually, he would ship it. Like night of the Roxbury. I it's that's not code for anything. He literally had a chain of fake plant stores that sold fake plants that he bought in from China. And I would, like, sell fake plants in Spanish. That's what I did for six months in Monterey. Can you give me your best sales pitch in Spanish, please. Wow. I was really good, I was I saw so many plants. Damn, that's awesome. So that's your dad's family business? That's my mother's family. They used to do that. They don’t do that anymore. Amazing. but some of my friends that were in the more of the fashion, the fashion side of things, that is a skill. I mean the fashion modeling is like when you see something that knows what they're doing, when they're fashion modeling for the camera, you're like, oh shit, that's not anybody could, could do that and nail it like that. For real. Like, it's, it's impressive to actually watch it happen. And you did fashion modeling. No no no no no. Could of fooled me. I think I did some stuff on accident. I feel like, like some. Forrest Gumped your way into the runway show. I would I never did any, like, high fashion campaigns or anything, but I did some more fashiony type stuff. somehow I ended up on a few fashion, runways as, like, the shortest. Just walk in. I'm like, five nine on a good day. So, like I say, stick me on these runways and I'm pretty sure people are like, oh, look at the little boy. Well, I mean compare comparatively speaking, especially the women who are the minimum is like 5-11. Yeah. Or something like that. Yeah. But I mean hey, it it looks good. Oh you know, you know so from modeling then you got into commercials and kind of worked your way. Is there a, is there a path that you take in terms of a career, or? Did some people start with directing and then get into act like, how did what was your path? I think, yeah. I mean, everybody's path is incredibly different. So, so mine was a little more unorthodox because, there was never really that much of a plan at first. Like, I started modeling because a friend forced me into it. She was like, you're out here in Southeast Asia backpacking. You should probably make some money. And she was like, you know, you're part Asian. You should do this. That's what people do out here. I was like, this seems like a horrible idea. And she kind of got me my first gig, and I got the paycheck, and I was like, we're going to keep doing this now. Back then, you can make decent money modeling. And so I just kind of made Bangkok my home. It was it's a big modeling hub. And so I stayed out there, would do modeling projects in the region. And then I just remember a friend of mine was like, we should. Are you tired of doing this commercial acting of this modelly acting don’t you want to, like, do some real acting. And that was kind of the this pivotal moment where we were like, let's write a script and film it just out of nowhere. And I never thought about writing scripts. I did enjoy writing. I used to write a lot in college, but never thought of it as a profession in any way. We just started writing these little short stories and short scripts, which throw it up on YouTube and some people within the indie film community, in Bangkok. Saw them, they're like, this is really good, who wrote this? And I'd be like, what was your first script about? It was it was like, it was just two people that worked for, the mob fighting about mob things. Classic mob things. Freakin somebody died and the hit went wrong or something like that. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And it. Yeah, was a big hit in Bangkok. No, no, it was literally just on YouTube and just people saw it. And then that's kind of I think what motivated me to think was like, maybe, maybe I can do this. Maybe I should write more of these. And so I started writing other ones and finally got, other directors involved and started making short films there. And then that kind of led into me, acting in my own stuff. And then other people started hiring me to act in things, and then I started acting in bigger films and international projects. And yeah, that's kind of how that all happened. And then, I ended up moving to Singapore with a plan to become a tv host, because at that time there was good money on tv hosting. And there was not a lot of money in acting in Bangkok at the time. For someone that didn't speak Thai. So I made the decision to move to Singapore to do tv hosting, and I just kind of start doing that again, met people, networked, and then got an audition and then got it and started hosting for HBO. And then everything just kind of started happening after that. How many languages do you speak by the way? Just English and apparently shitty Spanish. I speak a little bit of Thai. My Thai was getting okay ish at one point, and then I moved to Singapore and then kind of went back down. And then now, these days, English is so prevalent in Bangkok that, you've really got, I think, put a lot of effort into learning it. And Thai is not an easy language to learn by any stretch of the imagination. Look at you. what And that's about where I'm at. That's exactly. After living there. After living there for eight years. That's that's where I’ve gotten. Thank you. Hello. Thank you. That's and that's all you need. It's all about the niceties, that gets you by. That's. Was that what you sorry for me. Oh, because you're a guy. So I've been saying it femininly to the men this whole time. Oh, no. You should. Hello, lady. You always say it as a feminine. Oh, I say it as a feminine. You just say it that way. I thought it was like Spanish or you got to address it to who you're talking. No, no no no no, you did it right. You. What a rollercoaster I just went on. I know, I felt it kind of open my stomach. I got a little dizzy. Thanks for ending up with me. So you are splitting your time? You said between Bangkok and now you're coming here a lot more. Yeah, I recognize or I have come to recognize that there is a really cool industry here. Really good entertainment film industry here in in Texas, particularly Austin. I like the optimism of the people here. I like the fact that you've got a budding infrastructure here that can adapt to the way the entertainment industry is changing. It’s not set in its ways. It's going to be much more malleable and flexible. It seems like the Texas government's, Yeah. Like film credits. Putting their money where their mouth is. Right? Yeah. And they're going to start, investing in the film industry here, which is going to help bring a lot of projects here, which will be great because it, as a Texan, it's sucks to see like a Western that's taking place in Texas. And then you find out. It's filmed in Virginia. It was shot in frickin New Mexico. Right. Or even like Spain. Yeah. Shoot it here. And I think now it'll be financially viable for filmmakers to do it here. Well, and that's the real meat of the conversation that we wanted to talk about is just the changing landscape of film and where things are right now. As a creator, how is it going? Boots on the ground. Live update. you know, you know, that that there’s that meme where that little orange cartoon dog is sitting in the living room when it's on fire and. Everything's fine. Everything's fine? Yeah. A lot of people are kind of doing that right now, because I think some people are trying to say everything’s fine, when it I think that, is it a massive change going on and things are getting burned down to the ground, so to speak. The old way of making money, by making films doesn’t work. And working with a studio, working with the big players. Doesn't work anymore. No. I mean, obviously those people will make money, but it's so closed in, and, you know, unless you're a part of that system and have been a part of that system for a long time, or you're an A-list actor. Yeah. It's not built for you. It's not. There's no way to do it. I mean, even A-list actors are complaining that it's hard for them to get their own films financed through the old system of going through these big studios. It just doesn't work. So the whole infrastructure is changing, and I think that's, will be in a place like Austin's favor because it's such it's a a lot of people are moving here wanting a change and to do things differently. And what that is, I don't know for sure. There's a lot of people with a lot of different ideas about what that means. I think it's great for indie film, inevitably, for independent filmmakers, the decentralization of the entertainment industry is going to be great, and we're going to see a lot of really cool stuff come out. We already are. I mean, you've got indie films, you know, that are kind of being pulled into the mainstream studios already because they see the value in it. But I think the more and more filmmakers that keep doing that, you know, they won't have to get pulled into this mainstream will become their own things. And, the way people would, digest this content is going to change a great deal as well. Totally. Can we talk about the AI scripts lately? God, I it's it's a good question because it's like, okay, well, how many of these films do we think there were these? Because obviously studios time is money. They don't give a fuck about the art. They just see dollar signs like, well, you know, the more of these cookie cutter Marvel films that we throw out there and they're already essentially it's copies of the same thing. So why bother having a human copy and paste. To Scarlett Johansson, get her measurements once and then use it forever? Those all of those films may as well be done by AI anyway, so. Totally. That’s the difference, right. it's up to the consumers at the end, like, you hope that they are going to value human made content. Because the bottom line is, if we're relying on, you know, these people in suits, in these offices to value arts, we're all fucked. We’re all screwed. So yeah, 100%. Right. So it is up for us human beings to value humanity and, and watch things made by people. I think it's inevitable they'll be like labels on the films you're watching. The dramas made by AI. It’ll be like. It'll be like, do you want your organic or do you want your. GMOs? Your overly processed food. Yeah. And you'll you'll pay more for your human made contact. And there'll be a little label on it. It'll be like made by real people. Yeah. 49.99 to rent a movie. Because the budget was this much and now they're not getting whatever it is, I think so. There's a lot of ways that I'll, you know, I think, you know, Netflix or Amazon might have, you know, for your $4 a month, you can get all AI generated films for your. But for $15 a month, you can watch things made by people. Sometimes, and then we'll slap you in the face. Yeah. And we'll interrupt you every four minutes. Show you. Yeah. There's that too. Well, I think there the streaming services are the cause of their own demise. I mean, pricing themselves out and then bombarding the For You page with all AI generated content. That's made in-house. You're forcing people just like with the food industry, because you were only giving people the option to consume garbage. We'll take it off off the streets anyway, and we'll do the gardens in our own yard, and we'll turn back to the indie films, and we'll give the real art a chance in the underground. So it really is just like a pendulum swinging of underground becoming mainstream and then going back underneath when it's attacked and bastardized. So it's exciting in that regard. It's exciting because nobody knows what the hell is going to happen. It's, it's there's going to be a lot of growing pains as people figure out how to make money off of the indie films. Because obviously not every indie film going to do what Anora did and win an Oscar. Right. And and also, you know, not every indie film is going to get neon to back them up with, $18 million in marketing or whatever the heck it was. Right, right. I think things like the blockchain will be playing a role in this in different ways to, monitor investment as well as, content consumption, and creating these types of different platforms that, you know, okay, when you watch, you know, maybe that $0.05 for review or whatever, it goes to the person that created this and, depending on that budget, that film that creates a different value. And blah blah blah. And how much money do there's a billion different ways that this is going to end up playing out. Which one ends up sticking? Nobody knows. And I sure as hell don't know enough about it to really, know the direction it's going to go. My fear. Do you want to know my biggest fear. Please, God, tell me. This is, this is my. This is my. This is my fear. This is my biggest fear. And I see this a lot. Definitely in Asia. Maybe I haven’t spent enough time to the States to see it, but just like you've seen all these really, really young kids that are just on these screens all, all the freaking time, and it's like, okay. And you see the moving things around, it's like, okay, what kind of humans are these becoming and how different are they than us? Right. And and it goes back to it's up for us people to determine that we want content created by other people. We value that. I think most people value that. But what about the these kids that are being born now that are like five years and below? It’s all digital. They're already in this just looking at the screen. They're already going to start consuming, like this AI stuff that you see be, these AI little films. This is not going to be taboo for them like it is for us. So this is gonna be a natural thing. So at what point is that all they’re consuming to the point to where, well shoot, will they value the kind of humanity that we do? What does it mean to be human to them? And then it's like. What is art? Well then what happens? Yeah. Now you've just got these little, these, these people consuming only things made by robots, essentially. Right. And then what does that what does that feedback loop look like. What does that become. And then you're just like, oh it's that that's matrix. That's, that's that's where that ends up. Right. Like I don't know. That's a that's a worry. Right. Yeah. No that's. That's now my biggest fear as well. Thank you so much for that. Anyways have fun sleeping tonight. Anyway thanks for joining us. Yeah. No I don't know. No. For real. This is why I and this is why I'm quasi serious and people think I'm joking and I guess I am joking, but it's like, you know, maybe the asteroid should hit now. Like. It's time to start over. How do you stop? Like, how do you stop that? Like. Like. Like, you can kind of see where the progression of where things are going. And like, you know, we already have all these movies where people are predicting this type of stuff to happen, well, it's kind of like, you see it, you see it. Can you fight against it? Or does there have to be this massive some sort of act of god reset of some kind to halt it? You you bring up a fantastic topic, which is, you know, there's Hollywood and the television and the, deeper intention behind the content that we consume and, and a lot of the recent films about, you know, contagion and the end of the world, or what was that movie called? Is that what a contagion was? What contagion? And then what's the one with Julia Roberts and that dude the day after? Oh, yeah, whatever that is with the boats and stuff, you know, I'm talking about I do, yeah. We’re nailing this right now. We're totally nailing it. Big movie. They know at home. They know at home, but the programing and the, getting people desensitized to the things and kind of putting them in a situation where they feel like that could happen. It might happen and it's almost a self-fulfilling prophecy of putting our head spaces in a spot where we just are assuming that the asteroid should hit right now, because of all of the doom and gloom that we see. So as a filmmaker, there has to be a lot of intention behind the films that you're making. What intention do you have with your films? the last film, I'm not going to lie. Doomy, gloomy? Initially, no intention. No intention. Because, it was, but the ones I want to make now. I like so much intention. No, it’s cause, is the nature of how the project came about. And I don't want to get too much into the weeds. But yeah, we got financing for a particular concept and. It evolved. It evolved into something. And I wrote the concept and there is a certain message behind the film for sure. But, as far as like, like creating something with like the certain message, I definitely want my next films to, to do that. And that will play off of the things I've already, you know, I've got some scripts that play off from kind of what we've just talked about. Yeah. I think those are important, discussions to tackle. Cause they’re. They are, these things are going to profoundly change the world we live in. And. You've got to be thinking about it. Yeah. And I'm not sure. Like, I think not sure they have been really, displayed, in the right way in, in cinema quite yet. Or at least not in a way that really like, makes you feel it that that's, you know, you're like, oh, crap, this, this could actually. The translation. Happen. Yeah, yeah. Like kind of getting there like, okay, we get it. Yeah, that's cap. But like as far as from like a really emotional level. You're always feeling I think you're feeling more for those, these characters, which you're supposed to in a film, you’re supposed to feel for the characters and what they're going through. And that's what you're doing in these types of dystopian sci fi films. But I don't think you're feeling enough for the world that they're living in. And that's something that I would like to do, is like, you get to feel for like, oh, shoot, it's not just these, it's like that world’s our world. Oh my God. Like, I think that's an emotion that needs to be brought about, in people when in some of these more, future dystopian type type films. Like, it's like a lot of books I think probably do it more successfully. Oh yeah. Because well they’re books you're consuming a lot more things. It's descriptive language. Exactly. Yeah, things that you're drawn attention to for the details and things. 1984, a brave new world like those things. Right. And like you feel for the world, not just the characters. So the scripts that you're talking about that you have written for future production. Right. Yeah. What's the plan for them. this is kind of the same issue is finding the money to make the films is the main problem. So the plan would be there's one that I have set in Texas that I definitely would like to film here. I've already started kind of pitching the concept around town and getting some good feedback. once I feel the script's ready, I'll let people read it and I'll try and figure out, a development deal with, some different people that whether they be financiers or whether we go through an actual production company that that has that or we go to whoever, maybe an angel investor or whatever, but I feel like, Austin's a good place, to try and do that with this, especially with the film in Texas. And everybody here in Austin being like, yes, let's keep films in Texas. I think you're also going to get a lot of different ways to finance these films through one of the different tax rebates and grant money as well. And with the changes that you see coming in, we were just talking about AI, do you use AI and certain capacities to help your process. Oh it's it's great for pitch decks. Yeah. I mean that that’s, helps speed up pitch decks. It's a good way to, I like to use it to just organize my freaking crazy thoughts. So, I’ll have a, like, all these, ideas blah, blah, blah, I’ll just type up or write it down a little type up, that's just like, it's a sloppy mess and it's just great for those. And then if I could categorize these by, you know, action scenes or certain, parts of the characters development or, you know, you know, do everything for this character, put these in chronological order for like, just do a story beat sheet just for this character and then this one. So it does all that type of stuff and you can get these things organized and you can structure your script, probably off of that. Or sometimes even if like, what's something else that this person could like, be holding to, like, you know what to to murder somebody or something. So you’re just going, what are sharp things like you literally just ask the app, what are fucking sharp things? There's a lot of different sharp things. You find one, that could work. It’s useful for that type of stuff for sure. So I try and actually write a, just a script, out of nothing, and maybe it's just because I think you have to properly teach these things to do, because I. Prompt it. I've heard of the filmmakers say that they do it really, really well and, not the ones on Netflix. Fair enough. I, I haven't seen it really succeed in being able to do that. you're just not going to get anything truly creative, like, I mean, I've, I've tinkered around with it to think of an idea before or trying and like, think of some creative idea before. And you're ending up, like, that's not, that's not, that's not right. That's not right. Whereas if I had just sat and like looked at a tree probably for 15 minutes, I'm going to think of a way better idea myself in a shorter period of time than asking this, the damn AI. And it's going to be organic and natural. It's going to work way better in the script. And it's human. And it's and it's human, right? It's so tempting to take the shortcuts. It is. But you miss so much. It is. It is 100%. It is super tempting. But I think inevitably it's not a shortcut. Because you're just going to it ends up becoming the same way. You can end up on Instagram or TikTok and you're just like, that's great. Okay. What. And you’re just like? What the heck? And then all of a sudden, 30 minutes go by, and you’re like what just happened. When you're using the AI to try and be creative, it's the same damn thing because you're like, oh well, well, what's the other option? Yeah. Oh well okay. What's the other option of that. And you're essentially it becomes a, a kind of like doomscrolling within this creative process within AI. And then half an hour goes by and you’re like, all those ideas were shit. And it's like, all you do is make yourself stupider. Yeah. Waste time. And you've got a bunch of bullshit ideas that a person didn't think what I I've noticed that in all of the Instagram captions that I'm seeing and like, I notice it, you know, it's it's just so much easier to to do these things and like people, but you recognize it. And so the craving for the authentic, actual human thought. Yeah. As opposed to just something that's easy and generated, it's just so ripe. But it's just about actually getting it out to the people in a way that it's digestible for them. That's not a three second meant to be scrolled, you know what I mean? I mean that’s the other problem with freakin, TikTok and Instagram. Like when you look at the algorithms, they basically want an AI to write those captions to hit the algorithm because, like, you should have this, this is, this is this. And it’s like well that’s not how a person talks. It's not how person articulates their thoughts. And then, you know, to better hit the algorithm. I get if that's your mission to hit these algorithms on TikTok and Instagram. Well, the the easiest way to fricking do that is just to have the AI write you to get your damn captions so that it just ticks all those boxes, and then you just throw it up there. Yeah, that's the other. That’s the other problem What are you excited about? I am super excited about the film that I want you to hear. I think, I think it’s gonna be super fun. I'm super excited about, finishing the film that I shot in Thailand last year. Getting into post-production on that. And it's a it's a film that relies a lot on the VFX and the color grading and, to really create and create this world they live in, these characters. And so I can't wait to just frickin see it. Not in my own brain. So that'll be super fun. I'm hosting this, Muay Thai challenge show in Malaysia in a couple of months. So cool. I'm excited about that because I haven't I haven't hosted a tv show. It's been since I hosted a travel show in Malaysia in July. So it's been a while. Is that that's a while? It's a while for me, usually I'm hosting more stuff. So it'll be good to be out there kind of doing this, this type of show again. Yeah. It's super fun. I love it because it's it's usually pretty relaxing. I mean, I've never been to hosting Muay Thai fights in Malaysia. Muay Thai, not mai tai. I've seen some mai tai fights. I bet you have. In Malaysia, I’ve seen those too. I'll have a mai tai. While watching Muay Thai. See, I mean, that's mai tai is the best way for Muay Thai That's what I, that's what I, I agree, this is, this is, this is, this is why the Thai people, I get upset with the white people. So. Okay. You're hosting shows coming up. You got your new film coming from Thailand. Does that one have a name, by the way, yet, or can you share it? I can't because I. We do have a name. And then I think we might change the name. Oh, because we. I stopped because I had a meeting with this, this producer that I used to work with, I think Neon or Blumhouse. And she told me that the name of the film at the moment sounds like a lifetime movie. So I'll tell you what it is after this. In case you decide to go with it. And the moment she said it, I was like, oh shit. Really? And now I can't get it out of my head. Gosh. And then I told the director. A lifetime movie and it's, can you give me the genre of movie it is? And I’ll see if I can guess it. So this is, so the, the actual movie is a is a psychological thriller with the horror elements, like it's a very genre, surrealist psychological thriller. Is it called, like, the ghost of her. No, but when I tell you, you're going to be like, no she's right, you got to change that damn title, and I can't get out of my head. I told the director, and he's like, oh no, I'm like, yeah, is that is that a thin line, though? Because I feel like, you know, did you come up with the title? No, no, the director did. So, but it's just, you know, we've had it for so long, like, it's it's on the IMDB already for, like, movie in post-production, and it's like there, we've got to, you know, we made a poster recently that we haven't put out yet. and now it’s like, oh, crap. Well, yeah, I can't wait to see what it is. And if it doesn't sound like a lifetime movie, then I'll know that you changed it and made the right choice. But if it does, maybe it's still. It could be one of those things when this is just one opinion from one person. Totally. And she's just gotten it in my head. And there's just this little worm burrowing into my brain. Or maybe she's right. I I'll get your input on this later. Tune in to find out. No, but but, the overall, like, theme of the story. I mean, do you think that it has to do with the title in terms of how it's perceived. Does the title make it or? It does, no, but there could be other titles. There could be other titles. Cool, okay. We’re okay. We're not married to the title. Okay. Well, that's. Yeah, it has to change. Sometimes we, I feel like in the music industry too, there's so much that happens, like, right until the very last. Yeah. Second that anything can really change until literally it, it gets released out into the world. That's what makes the creative process so fun. For real. It's the chaos. It's the chaos. Yeah, you love it, I think. I mean, otherwise, I would definitely be doing something else. For sure. I love the process of it. There's moments of it that I absolutely hate. I mean, while we were shooting this film in Thailand, and when you're on these sets and there's like 60 or to 80 people around and everybody's trying to figure out what the heck's going on to execute the goals that day, it inevitably just becomes a shitshow. Totally. But it's you just gotta and this is there isn't every freaking film set period ends up being some kind of a. Shit show. Shit show, it's just so it's sad, but it's the, it's you got to make it into a controlled shit show, so you can control the chaos. Right. And this is my first time kind of, executive executive producing. And so I, I remember, like, it took me a while to, like, kind of realize, like, what my role was, really, because I was also focused because I had to act in it too I, I wrote into it some monetary different things and blah, blah blah, but I just remember like, it's like after the first week of shooting, the first four, 3 or 4 days. And I had the person in charge of the food coming up to me. She was like, Justin, can we do this with the food. Is this gonna be fine. I'm like, yeah. And then to have an actor being like my character, he says this line. You the left eye happy? What is he like? What's he feeling here? I'm like, okay, he's he's feeling this. And then the director's coming out to me. He's like, what do you do? We start with the wide here. And then the the language is coming up. He's like, it's okay if we buy this for the day. And I'm literally like, who the fuck is in charge here? How does nobody here know what's going on? And then I was like, oh shit. It's me. I was apparently I was in charge. Yeah a lot of a lot of hats. And then I had a nervous breakdown. Oh. No I didn’t. and now it gets. That came after. I will. It's so intense to be in a spot where everybody's looking to you. And it's your thing. Yeah. And your. Yeah. Rocket that everybody's hopping in. And you wanted to fly. And delegating that responsibility isn't necessarily always the best idea. Like if it's your project, you've got to be the one making certain decisions and it's a lot of intense stress and pressure. Do, do you feel that a lot? Because obviously you've got a lot of things going on. I. And how do you and how do you try and like mitigate? Oh, day by day, like think well and thank God for the team. Right. The people that you bring on that are right there with you manning the actual stations. you realize how many people go into making something a success to think that anybody can do something from start to finish? Well alone is, I think, wishful thinking. And so having, yeah, just having the the correct team in place I feel has been has been the biggest move and the biggest level up for me. What would you say is, how do you keep it on the rails? Honestly, sometimes I don't. Yeah. So you know. Yeah. Sometimes you’re just gonna like, yeah, let's see what happens. Here we go. Yeah, yeah. I mean I think it is the team's important. And that's a skill in itself being able to pick a great team. I think fortunately, the great thing about the creative process is very often that those moments where the chaos is uncontrollable and you think it's just a downward, downward spiral into oblivion. It's a lot of times that's what makes something special happen. And then you're like, oh, wait. Because of that, what we thought was a nightmare, we then to have to do this and well, oh shit, that for some reason that works way better and that's a more natural thing. Whatever, whatever that is, whether that's just the universe somehow interacting and pushing things down in some sort of path or whatever. But that happens all the time. I see that all the time. You're like, this wasn't the plan at all, and everybody’s freaking out. So much better. Yeah, but because of it, yeah, you're you're something happens where it. You, you know, things seem more natural and it works better sometimes. For sure. A lot of the time. Yeah. Well, it's all perspective too. Right. And it's also not all the time. Sometimes it makes things worse, but a lot of times it makes things better for sure. And everything everything is better if you look at it the correct way. Right. Like my, one of my favorite things to think about is that out of all of the different versions of reality that I got to be in this one, and even if it's a bad day or I'm sick or I'm not in whatever it is, it's like, oh my gosh, like, thank God that this is the version where, you know, everything is in chaos. We've got the safety, the ability to talk to people, you know, give them a platform. Yeah. Something else that I wanted to ask you about is how do you prevent burnout in your life with the creative process? I try to work out a lot, I work out a lot, and I. And I eat fairly healthily. I rely on my, my friends a lot. My, my network, to talk to people and be like, this needs to be okay, Right. Yeah, you’re going to be fine. Good. You got this. Yeah. You know that all that stuff really matters, and it helps. Finding those moments where I can just, hang out on a balcony and have a couple beers that, that helps, or a glass of wine or whatever. you just got to have that. Otherwise. Yeah. You're gonna fry. Meditating. I I'm off and on with the meditating thing, but I’m trying to get back into it. I get it. That. But it does help, for sure helps. It does. It's just the sitting with yourself., sometimes you're just like, I don't want to. Yeah, no, I don't when there's a lot of shit going on. So, you’re either, like, I'm too busy. I really need to get to that email or, you’re like, I don't want to think about those things. Yep. Yep. Yep. Don't have time for a breakdown right now. No, we don’t need to confront our problems today. Nope, yeah. That's like a. I've been there, for sure. Tomorrow thing. Yep. Yep. I mean, so all those things, pretty basic stuff for me. That's, that’s what gets me through it. And sometimes, things are going to just freaking hit the fan and just gotta use those same methods to kind of claw your way back out of it. For sure. Is there anything that you want your audience to know that's going on with you or just any. Yeah. I want to give you the opportunity to get. Yeah. I'm not really guys. No. No updates, I'm doing great everything’s awesome, so everything's fine. Yeah. We're all going to be okay for sure. No, I mean, I think, as long as people know that I am trying to make, the genuine creative process, into something that people will enjoy, whether it be films or whether it be these travel shows or, or challenge shows or whether I'm on stage or whatever this is. I'm trying like. You're kicking ass, man. For real. Thank you. And when you think about all of the things that you could be doing and the fact that you get to make movies in Thailand, you get to host, fighting shows in Malaysia. And you think you're doing it. You took the leap into a creative field that is one of the hardest in the world. And you're doing it. Yeah, no, it's great. And I love I love the journey and I can't see myself doing anything else. Oh one time this is for the, the young creators out there. my buddy brought me on to like, this gaming podcast and there's all these, people that want to be like game casters, like, so basically tv hosting, for like these big video game competitions. And he wanted me to speak to them and I was like, okay. They're like, ask me what advice? What's the main advice you would give to somebody that wants to get into tv hosting or a career entertainment? And I and I mentioned the time and I kind of mean it now. I don't just don't do it, just don't do it. And I mean that honestly because I don't need them competing with me. Yeah. Stay out there. Like, just stay. You said stay out there. Don't hate it. I got this. It’s spicy, you won't like it, I got this. Yeah. You can’t handle this stress. You can't handle the Muay Thai or the mai tais. It’s not for you, not for you, you know? But can we learn how to do what you do? No, this, this is God given. You can't learn this. This is just. Give him room. Just let me freaking cook. Let him cook. Stay over there. Let him have his. Let him have his shows. Yeah. But, yeah, well, I mean, let him cook. Yeah. Just go learn, go learn accounting and. Go learn it. Yeah, yeah. Well, I think that's the other piece. Yeah. Dude, let the AI do all the dumb shit. Let the humans do the art. Yeah, that's the big piece. Yeah, fair enough. But let you do your art. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, exactly. Yeah, yeah. Justin, it's been, like, just an amazing conversation, getting to pick your brain. It’s a pleasure. And to have the opportunity to talk to somebody who's doing it and putting the just the heart into what they're passionate about. And I can't wait to see the movie based in Thailand, and especially to see the title. And I am really looking forward to keeping in touch with you. Where can people find you? People can find me on Instagram. Justin Underscore Bratton. that is the main thing, that’s the best way. Slide this DMs. Slide, slide right on in. But but in like an appropriate. In an appropriate way. Appropriate manner. Yeah. Yeah, yeah. You know you know it doesn't it goes without saying. But for those who need. No, it needs saying. It needs to be approved for him. Justin. Damn it! Cheers. Cheers. Thank you so much for coming to the danger. And by the way, before we wrap, which, what was your favorite part about just being here? To the Danger Den. Yeah. Just hanging out with you guys. Yeah. It's been great. And meeting you people. Selfish. A little compliment, fish real quick. Just making sure we hit it. Guys, you guys are fabulous. Just fabulous. Thank you so much. Well, excited to hopefully be neighbors with you. Well we’re gonna be moving right into this neighborhood, I think, sometime soon. I think so I have a good feeling about it. It’s really appreciated man and good luck with everything. Thank you so much, you too. And we are going to be keeping up with you. So keep doing cool stuff. Okay. Right on. Awesome. Thanks for watching The Danger Den. Bye.