Passion Over Hype: Building Art, Community, And Resilience

What if the movies that raised you could power the stories you make now? We sit down with writer, director, and concept artist Richie Axel to trace his path from a family of Mexican artists to LA’s creative grind, and why 90s teen-versus-monster energy still punches through for Gen Z. Richie opens up about learning the business the hard way—moving from concept art to scripts and pitches, building a proof-of-concept for a sci-fi animated series, and deciding when to keep a project close or sell the rights so it can scale.

We get into the craft: the magic of practical effects, where prosthetics carry weight and shadow that CGI can’t fake; the influence of Tarantino, Robert Rodriguez, Spielberg, and Guillermo del Toro; and the “all-in” auteur spirit of Miyazaki. Richie shares the tools that matter—Photoshop, Clip Studio, Procreate—and the rooms that matter more: conventions, screenings, and those small talks that turn into real work. He’s candid about protecting IP, working without a rep, and leaning on mentors and entertainment attorneys to avoid the classic traps.

Mental health and neurodiversity thread through the conversation. We talk about rebuilding social toolkits, dropping the status theater that drains creatives, and anchoring the day with routines and faith. Passion is the tell—audiences and collaborators can feel when you still love the thing, and that energy travels. Richie spotlights his 1700s vampire novel, The Ancient Chronicles, now headed for the screen, and the short film he’s crafting from a raw chapter of his own life—job loss, anxiety, and the hope that dials back in.

If you crave practical career advice, story design insights, and a reminder that authenticity beats hype, this one’s for you. Tap play, share it with a creative friend, and tell us: which film era delivers the best escapism—and why? And if our show brings you value, visit neurofuckedpodcast.com/donate to keep the mics on and the crew fed. Subscribe, rate, and leave a review to help more neurodivergent creatives find us.

Transcript

SPEAKER_07 0:08

Hello everyone, welcome back to the NeuroFucked uh podcast for season two. I'm your co-host here neurofucked podcast. I'm the your host for today, uh Terrence Sams. And over here we have the lovely, amazing, interesting, sometime buffering person, Haley.

SPEAKER_05 0:27

It sounds like you're buffering there, Terrence. I'm I'm the one of the other hosts, Haley Olivia. Thank you for returning. If you are returning us, thank you for joining us if you are brand new. I hope you enjoy the episode. We're weird, we're awkward, we're relatable, I think. Right? I'll call me soon.

SPEAKER_07 0:48

Yeah, I believe it.

SPEAKER_05 0:52

Okay, cool.

SPEAKER_07 0:54

And with that, start the episode.

SPEAKER_00 0:59

It's time for NeuroFolks Podcast with your host, Jackson Roadster, the mischievous motherfucker. Haley Olivia, what's your man girl? You on the spectrum and terrence. We've got autism, ADHD, O C D, all the deeds. We got stories and artists from all walks of life. It's time to give neurologically.

SPEAKER_03 1:25

Yeah, I like that texture.

SPEAKER_04 1:27

It's actually yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_05 1:29

Yeah, it's very start this one off, Haley.

SPEAKER_01 1:34

So take a look at it.

Meet Guest Richie Axel

SPEAKER_05 1:35

Go ahead and start. Okay. Well, welcome. We have Richie, I'll just say Richie Axel, like your Instagram handle, is here. Um, we are so happy to have you. Uh, thank you for I saw that you reached out on Instagram and everything. And then later down the road, I was like, let's see, let's contact him and see if he wants to be on the show. Because you you sent a really nice comment on Instagram, I remember, and I was like, that's so sweet. Um, and you seem like such a kind person. And so I was like, let's get him on the show. And how about you kind of say a little bit about yourself and introduce yourself to our audience?

Roots, Family Of Artists, And LA Move

SPEAKER_03 2:10

Oh yeah, thank you for thank you so much, Haley. Thank you guys for inviting me. First of all, it's an honor to be here. And I gotta say, I do love that uh that neuro neurofuck. What do you guys do without beating? We well we have to put in the the leaps for but I like it, I love it. Uh thank you so much again for having me. Um and and it's an honor. Uh but yeah, um well I've been in LA for seven years. Originally, I was born in Monterrey, Mexico, and moved to Houston when I was very, very young. Uh been in Houston for 20, I was there for 25, 27 years. And then I moved out here uh seven years ago with my wife. So it's been a really, really uh amazing journey ever since then. Uh ups and downs because uh not too long ago this year we all had uh unfortunate fires, you know, that LA had to go through. So again, my prayers to all those victims that are still trying to get through it, you know, with all the work involves. So my heart's my heart always goes out go out to them. But yeah, since then I've been involved in the entertainment industry as a writer, director, concept artist. Uh sometimes I do acting. I mean, I've studied acting and all that, but it's not my expertise. But I did do it. You know, someone asks me, Hey, you want to be an actor for a short film or this? Hey, let's alright, let's do it.

SPEAKER_05 3:30

Like, I'm not gonna say no. Yeah, yeah, why do you think it's a good idea? Of course. I I love I I'll be in front of the camera.

SPEAKER_03 3:37

I'm ready for my close-up. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_05 3:39

Just right here.

SPEAKER_03 3:40

No, but most of the time I like to be a writer and um hoping to direct my first live action feature very soon. Uh developing a sapphi trailer for my own Sapphire Animated series that I want to pitch and whatnot. So yeah, and just writing a lot, drawing and all that good stuff.

SPEAKER_05 3:56

Just creating.

SPEAKER_03 3:57

Yeah, absolutely.

SPEAKER_05 3:58

Creating artists need to continue to create, you know? It's what makes you feel fulfilled. Please find us, you know. Happy. Yeah, please find close up on your face, please fund us. Please fund us.

Funding Dreams And Creative Hustle

SPEAKER_01 4:11

Funding is in part to me personally, out of my own bank account. We need financing. Thank you, Jackson. I'm on the same boat with everything I'm doing. We need funds. So, um, what got you into animation originally, specifically that?

SPEAKER_03 4:26

Oh man. Uh well, growing up, I come from a family that does a lot of art. So my dad he does a lot of murals, like traditional murals. He would do everything by hand. So I grew up watching him do all that good stuff and awesome stuff.

SPEAKER_05 4:39

Did you get his artistic talent?

SPEAKER_03 4:41

I believe I did. I mean, uh, my my mom also does like portraits, she draws people's portraits around traditional black and white pencil. Uh, but she doesn't really pursue it. But she has shown me some of her work back in the day, and it was um awesome stuff. But my dad, he's still very active. Oh, he tries to, but he's already pretty like I think he's like pushing 80s at this point. So but he's very strong. And uh my siblings also do art, they draw and everything, but some of them already kind of pursue other careers. Like one of my brothers, he's a uh an owner of a circus company, his own circus company, Cirque La V. Give a shout out to them. Uh they're awesome. Uh and I have other brothers who is like an independent director, and another one who's a TV producer in Houston, uh, has a radio show and everything. Uh, so I guess you could say it's in my black. Yeah, yeah. I come from uh a line of artists, I guess you would say, from especially in the Mexican side of the stuff.

Finding The Show And Supporting Artists

SPEAKER_01 5:36

Oh, yeah, there's so many like iconic artists from Mexico and from that region too, and just yeah, it's filled with arts and culture. Um, my mom collects turn of the century uh with stuff that's from like Mexico, California. It's like a lot of artists that worked on that stuff, like um, it's like literally Monterey furniture, and there's like all these things that like artists like paint, um floral, like immural. That stuff was actually around me, so I'm very influenced by that stuff too. I like I think some bold and bright colors come from like some of that stuff.

SPEAKER_05 6:10

Yeah, the reason I put a orange rug in there I know I can't so we originally had a purple rug, and then I came in before I even saw this rug, he goes, Okay, hear me out. Because I was trying to get purple in and he kept putting orange.

SPEAKER_01 6:28

And then he switched it out to the right orange, but it it popped towards the end, but what is um um what is your relationship to um spectrum disorders?

SPEAKER_05 6:42

Yeah, like how did you how did you find our page and um like how how did you make your way to us, you know?

SPEAKER_03 6:52

Well, I like to be very you know active on social media and uh always support local artists and just overall generally artists and whatever and all their content and whatnot, even the new generation because they're our future. So I like to showcase my love and support to all of them. Because you know, growing up as an artist, sometimes it's hard to get support. Uh you get the naysayers like, oh, it's not a career, you should quit, you should do something else, you know. Like, okay. It's just a hobby. No, no. We actually our job as artists is to make everyone else's life more enjoyable and entertaining because everybody's having hardships and a lot of stuff going on in real life. And they need a gateway to go and just get away from it for about an hour and a half, you know? And that's why I like someone like Quentin Tarantino. Because he says cinema is just helps everybody just to release from their problems, just go and enjoy a kick-ass movie, you know. That's all that matters. Uh so yeah, uh, I find you guys on social media. Like I said, uh I saw what you guys do. I was like, oh man, these are these guys are awesome. I love the interviews. I again I recognize one of the people that you Galen. Galen. Oh, Galen. I recognize him. Oh, yeah, yeah. I haven't full on had a conversation with him, but I've seen him many times in areas where I've gone to go and hang out with other friends. And I always thought, man, I go, I should hang out with him more often. So, Galen, if you see this, one day we're gonna have to talk. Yeah, you should make sure we'll connect you.

SPEAKER_01 8:14

We'll connect you.

90s Nostalgia, Escapism, And Gen Z

SPEAKER_05 8:14

I'm sure we'll listen to this interview and be like, oh yeah.

SPEAKER_01 8:17

He might have seen me somewhere, sure.

SPEAKER_05 8:19

Oh, probably, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 8:20

Oh, we nerded out about music so much.

SPEAKER_05 8:22

Oh, so much.

SPEAKER_01 8:24

I I offered to drive him back because he took an Uber all the way out here, and I was like, Oh, that's crazy. I said, Let me let me drive you back. And we just talked about different um artists that are so neat, you know, things that like most people wouldn't know. He just would talk deeply about music and uh super cool. So yeah, he was a great uh conversation to have. So absolutely everyone should be friends with him. I mean, he's he's cool. Yeah, I'm about to put myself on the list. Put him on the list.

SPEAKER_05 8:48

This is the Galen Love um uh episode. We should tag him in this one and be like we talked all about E. Galen.

SPEAKER_03 8:57

Um but yeah, absolutely. So I thought, you know what, it would be an honor to be part of this what you guys are doing.

SPEAKER_01 9:03

So I appreciate it. Thank you. Yeah, no, thanks for finding us and uh you know, in our moment of uh struggle, you know, in front of you. What are they struggling with? No, no, no, no, no. I mean like uh you know, I mean like the starting phases of exactly like it's the early phases of the podcast. We're very surprised about who it reached, and well not surprising, oh yeah, but we're kind of like very happy that at least yeah, yeah, happy that it reached people in the community that are associated with some of our guests, but also not, you know, we just were on with a clinical psychologist from New York. So, like there's some random and not so random people that the podcast was definitely meant to reach. Yeah, so that's we're gonna kind of continue to do that. So big things start with one small little thing. Big thing start with one.

SPEAKER_04 9:48

Exactly.

SPEAKER_01 9:49

So tell us about so you are doing um feature film, you have a feature film that you've written that you're doing. Is it uh animated feature film? Uh right now, it's a live action.

SPEAKER_03 9:59

It's a live action. That's right. Actually, my one of my obviously my very first few projects have been animation. Uh, and I've always had the idea of getting them off the ground, having them TV series or clips here and there that I want to put just show on YouTube or anything like that, pitch it to studios and whatnot. So my animation has always been the thing where I always want to be involved more, and especially in pre-production, which is just concept art. That was my goal in the beginning. It was just to draw and draw and draw and draw. Draw for other people, their directors, whatnot, right? But then I I was just told, hey, you also do writing, you know, you're right, you're writing a book, you wrote a book, and you're writing other ones, and you're why not just write a script, like a live-action one, something very short. Uh, and that's what I did. And so right now I've developed that that into a feature, which is a live-action hard comedy. And that was influenced by the things that I love watching when I was a kid in the 90s. Again, like I watched Teen Wolf, uh, I watched uh Buff of the Vampire Slayer, the classic. Uh, and then I watched other ones like you know, the 80s sort of The Lost Boys, you know, and then Enter the Vampire 93, 94. And uh so that kind of influenced me to just write this live action feature. And so also because I know that this generation, especially the Gen Zs, the younger ones, are somehow getting involved so much with the 90s now, you know, yeah like all the content they're doing, they're always jamming to 90s music, 80s music, and all these.

Social Skills, Networking, And Rejection

SPEAKER_05 11:31

I was talking to the early 2000s kids, and and they were and I was bringing up these 90s shows, and like, you probably don't know what this is, and they're like, of course I know what that is. Like, how how could you even think I wouldn't know?

SPEAKER_06 11:43

Oh yeah.

SPEAKER_05 11:44

I'm sorry, okay. Well, that's great. You weren't alive when they came out.

SPEAKER_03 11:48

And I gotta admit, I also have been seeing that some of them have been dressing up kind of like how they used to back in the day. Like big old jeans and my 2K.

SPEAKER_01 11:56

Yeah, and I was like, okay, I like this. You know, I've been I've got a little bit of that back in my style. I'm like, oh, it's a lot more acceptable. I can wear a silver chain. Uh I can wear like wraparound glasses. Did you have a wrap around glasses with the chains in the um like I actually can just for a joke for a character, I got wrap around like um silver looking wraparound glasses. I'll get them out. They look like so ridiculous.

SPEAKER_05 12:19

I think I've seen those.

SPEAKER_01 12:20

I think you might have seen them, but I haven't.

SPEAKER_05 12:21

I questioned them, but I don't think I said anything.

SPEAKER_01 12:23

Okay. You're just over here looking through my drawers uh randomly.

SPEAKER_06 12:29

Yeah, I'm just digging for all your belongings.

SPEAKER_05 12:32

I was I was digging for your belongings for our snack for our crafty.

SPEAKER_03 12:36

Oh, okay, so that's from where you saw it. No, yeah. And so this movie is supposed to be like a symbol of all that good stuff. And so I wanted to make a movie that's you know, it's about teenagers versus monsters, teenage monsters and whatnot. And I don't want to spoil too much of it, of course, but it's just one of those movies that I hope that it's gonna hit the this generation. They, you know, love that movies that made us. You know, have you saw you guys single shows in Netflix? Yeah, yeah. I was like, oh man, definitely. So I wanted to make a story for that for them.

SPEAKER_01 13:08

I feel like there's not enough escapism for that is targeted towards that generation. I will say, like, because it's a very 80s-90s thing, it's going to be like escapism for millennials, you know, for like people that are um doing stuff. I I think that um uh I would honestly say that the 90s look looks through such rose-colored glasses. Like for me, it's like, you know, I was just running and playing soccer, like in a field. I was with a friend, you know. I mean, not everything was great, but like things were like um you were on the precipice of the internet, but it wasn't uh dominating your every moment. Yeah, yeah. You were on the you were you were still like yeah, they're just things were just you know, everyone's gonna grow up and say, you know, things were just a little more simple when I was it was you know even iPad babies are gonna grow up and be like, you know, things were just a little more simple with my candy crush addiction.

SPEAKER_05 14:03

I feel like every generation though, as time goes on, has said things were more simple in my time, like for everybody though, like starting from boomers before boomers. Um so I guess everyone's version of simple just keeps changing, I guess, too.

Authenticity In Hollywood And Boundaries

SPEAKER_01 14:18

How do you feel about the theory that things happen and trends happen in 30-year cycles? So, for example, like George Lucas did American uh graffiti first before he did the Star Wars movies, and that was based he was in his thirty, you know, he's getting into his close to his 30s, and he was like he had grown up, he had been born in the time where all the streetcar the cars and the 50s and like the greaser kind of stuff was happening, and so that like everyone brings a little taste of their generation, yeah, yeah, yeah. Of their birth time and like kind of the age that they grew up in into their art by the time they end up reaching their career in their art. Right. So, meaning that like there's actually a theory that says you you know that's kind of why things happen in those cycles. That's why the Duffer brothers bring stranger things, right? That's why all these people kind of like bring their taste of their uh nostalgia into uh their art. So is that something you feel like what is your what is your memory of the 90s and it was and what you know for you?

SPEAKER_03 15:23

I mean, um let's see, growing up, it's like I I remember obviously the movies, most of all, and then um how everybody was just so excited. I know like the movie tickets were really cheap back in the days.

SPEAKER_05 15:38

And when you watch those older movies too, you're like, wait, wait, replay that? How much?

Autism, Self‑Awareness, And Relearning Tools

SPEAKER_03 15:44

And no, and it was one of those things where you never knew what was coming next. There was not social media was not around at all. And so the only ways you could hear about a new movie coming out was then either uh commercials or you know, uh word of mouth. Hey, did you see this or did you uh this commercial is like a trailer? It's like really of what? Godzilla 98. Uh likezilla, I call it Zilla, not Godzilla, Zilla. But I was like, oh really? And like you have to see all that stuff just through commercials and through the like the newspaper or something like that. And so I remember all that going on. I remember, oh man, uh obviously the music is one of my favorites, 90s and 80s. Oh yeah, and uh just man, it's just hard. I guess the clothing and the fashion because it was simpler, the world was a bit more simpler, in my opinion, too. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, and there was not too much drama going on. Uh like no one really knew anyone's business unless you were really high involved. Yeah, those were.

SPEAKER_01 16:44

Remember when a president could get impeached for just getting a blowdrop? Why did it become so much more complicated to get rid of someone?

SPEAKER_03 16:55

Yeah, and communication, man. Like seriously, communication and in-person meetings or greeting people and social life was way different. You know, if you wanted to meet somebody, you had to like go and approach them or something had to happen for you to have engaged conversations.

SPEAKER_06 17:13

You actually go talk to people.

SPEAKER_05 17:15

You actually had to interact with them.

SPEAKER_03 17:17

I had I had a I have brothers back in the day, they would tell me, Hey Richie, this is how you do it, man. Go on, this how you this is how you break the ice. Okay, cool.

SPEAKER_05 17:25

Didn't you um walk into who was it? Was that you? Walked into places originally.

SPEAKER_01 17:32

What do you mean? Walked into places? Oh no, that was uh uh Alfred uh rock rocker line, our guest. Oh yes.

SPEAKER_05 17:39

So our guest that we had on last season, his name's Al, so he's an editor at Smosh. I don't know if you know Smosh. Smosh. Um, Smosh. Uh pretty big. Um and so he was talking about how he didn't actually know how to do it when he started trying to get jobs. So he legitimately would try to walk in to the set.

SPEAKER_01 18:04

Oh, Smosh is a TV series, right? Yeah, it's a YouTube.

SPEAKER_05 18:09

Okay, okay.

SPEAKER_03 18:11

Some other one. Yeah, no, it's okay. It's okay.

SPEAKER_05 18:13

And he would literally try to do that, and they'd look at him like he was absolutely crazy, and they're like, No, you can't you can't do that. And he's like, but can you just take it anyway? I'm here.

SPEAKER_01 18:25

And then he would see the lady throw it out in the trash as he walked away.

SPEAKER_05 18:28

Yeah, yeah, he saw the lady throw it away.

Passion On Stage: Letting Joy Lead

SPEAKER_01 18:31

I um I have a no, I think there's like certain moments in everyone's life where they have to break past a fear of rejection or like of like the feeling of inadequacy. Um, I do think that I uh my version of that is when I was shooting, so I also have a background in film too. Um music and film, but when I was shooting music videos is where I kind of started out. I would you know, no budget from the artist or barely any budget, would knock on doors around the neighborhood where the artist lived, asking if we could use the front of their property as the house of the like for this specific music video, and we'd just go around for like and my mentor, the guy that was the he was the singer of this band, he's like, What are you doing, man? You don't have to do this if you don't want to. You know, he's like, he was nervous for me. He's like, Dad, you don't have to do this, like we could just do something else. And I'm like, No, I'm gonna knock on doors. So I went and like knocked on doors, and then the third one I asked, she said, Can my grandkids be in the music video? And I was like, Yeah, of course. And so she said yes. Um, but yeah, it was just it, it was like after third knock. So I think it's good to learn how to um be out in the world and just uh yeah, a lot of people I know friends of mine who are Gen Z, uh, that is like you know, the the social anxiety levels aren't actually super high nowadays. It kind of breaks my heart when I hear things how it is nowadays.

SPEAKER_05 19:57

I get um technology and everything has provided a lot of things for us, but at the same time, it uh the like it's making it harder to know how to interact with people in real life. Yeah, um for the average person.

Directors They Love: Tarantino To Del Toro

SPEAKER_03 20:14

Um yeah, and I mean I I tell people, especially the young artists, you have to go out there. You can't be shy, you know. And I used to be the kind of artist back in the early mid 2000s when I was trying to get in my really in the zone. I would always go into my room, be secluded with even with my family. I would be in my room just drawing away, drawing away and doing all my stuff. And my family would be like, Where have you been all this? Like, but I was told by my mentors who were Disney veterans, who are still who are Disney veterans, and they would tell me, Richie, if you want to like let the world know who you are and get involved in the business, you have to like get out there and and show them what you you can do and what you got. And so when I started to network and I started to go to events, conventions, and whatnot, I started to get the feeling like hey, this is I can do this. And I start to try to connect with people, ask questions, you know, especially the veterans of animation, and just get the feel of it. And then once I got more comfortable with it, the more talkative I started to be more in this environment. But I was a social person even in high school. Uh I think I applied it there too because I was always talking to everybody else in high school. They were talking about like 2006 through to 2009. I was always very social. I was never an extrovert. Yeah, I was never shy away from anybody. I don't care you were a goth or a gang gangster or anybody. I would just be like, hey man, how's it going? You know, I was always that kind of guy. You know, I never really judged anyone like, you know, ha, I don't want to get talk to this person. It's kinda weird. No, no, no. I was like always that person, hey what's up, how's it going? And I think that also helped me with like my people skills. And that helps me right now because I never go I I never shy away from any conversation.

SPEAKER_01 22:02

It serves you well in your career. You um you just like shoot your shot you just talk with people and I I honestly um it's good for your career. You know it's it it leaves a good impression but um something that is uh I personally believe it's a skill that can be developed over time. Absolutely and like you just kind of if you use the muscle enough you can feel more and more comfortable. And then the other thing I think that helps me is to the there's a lot of especially in Hollywood the feeling of that you're gonna meet someone who feels superior to you. I think that's so many of those things they they drive another car they drive a nicer car than you they they have a better job than you they're the executive of what you know studio A or B you know they they basically you know and the best thing you can do for yourself is to let go of any idea that they are any better or any more deserving that position than you actually I think honestly too for me um coming to the LA area is I noticed that but I really didn't care.

SPEAKER_05 23:08

I guess um that's one thing I did have is I didn't care if you were a producer or an executive I could talk to you like anyone else I wouldn't be like oh you're so this or that and if they gave me the attitude that they were so much better than me I'd just be like okay then I don't want to talk to you anymore. It's okay. Like a lot of people here are like they're trying to suck up to these people you know because it'll bring them somewhere they don't want to burn bridges but also it's your mental health it's it's who you are as a person you don't want all of this to pollute that. Right right um because it's a highly competitive industry but you don't have to play a part in all of that behavior and attitude and you can be part of what makes it better instead.

Practical Effects Vs CGI And Craft

SPEAKER_03 23:49

Just be true to yourself be authentic you know at the end of the day at the end at the end of the day you have control of what you do and your decision making and anybody who you meet just be yourself and and and don't try to pretend that you're something that you're not you know be honest. You know what I mean exactly and uh and if when when I meet like those people that tell me oh I've been in the industry 30 plus years I've done so much and whatnot and I try to learn as much as I can regardless of like of how they are and whatnot. But yeah it's like also the vibes.

SPEAKER_01 24:25

You know you also have to learn how to read people and know how they are and whatnot because we are autistic yeah we are we are so yeah the the the thing about yeah we can tell about the thing about like autism is that you have to rebuild your social toolbox yeah for me I definitely had to rebuild it because um yeah you were diagnosed when you were little I was diagnosed like not diagnosed but told by a therapist two years ago that I was autistic.

SPEAKER_05 24:54

So it like it it's like a backward regression for me. So that's especially for me it's relearning how to put myself out there again and be able to be in that space and be confident about myself um because I went through a period of time where where I was really good at it and then suddenly I wasn't and I didn't know what happened or why and uh yeah I legitimately had to reteach myself how to do any of it.

Anime, Miyazaki, And All‑In Filmmaking

SPEAKER_01 25:19

You guys are doing amazing yeah it's with that hyper self-awareness that can psych you out though so it's like the thing is like if you're hyper aware of who who how you're acting or what what your facial expression is you'll make it worse actually. So like yeah so like it's like it's like if you try to self-edit during an acting performance you're going to like but acting makes more sense to me. Yeah no that's why I'm using an acting metaphor than trying to be um like I can be myself like right now yeah I'm I'm fine but not are you then do I look like am I acting normal I don't know normal than me I just like I love I'm the kind of guy that likes to throw a spike in the tire of the conversation you know I just I know Jackson you like to cognize me but what is normal nowadays exactly weird isn't a new normal I kind of I kind of wish they wouldn't have took it taken weird away from me you know like they kind of like people have turned it into people have turned it into like I'm weird and it's like well you're like are you really or or do you just you know are you just fond of something that you think you other people don't like you know like like I don't know someone will be like I watch this show that no one knows about I'm weird. It's like I don't know yeah you're not you but I think that anyone can embrace um something that they're actually passionate about absolutely and that like I think people that people want to see that you enjoy the thing that you like to do. Yeah like when I play music they want to see that you like um that that I'm not like a miserable person that's just happens to be playing the piano like you want to um audience it so for acting for performances for whatever you know uh but for music especially they want to see that you actually enjoy what you're doing people feed off of that yeah they they want to see your passion yeah and the moment you realize that you're like okay that's actually what people want you know no one's too cool for school if anyone's too arrogant or too like like acts too incredibly cool like um yeah you get too caught up in all of the logistics of everything and then when a person comes in with true passion yeah it reminds them and I see that too like like anyone around me I see showing that passion and there's like a seasoned veteran they look at them and go they're like oh give that to me.

SPEAKER_05 27:45

I need to feel this happiness this excitement again like when you were explaining everything you were doing you've been in the game for a while and everything but you're not allowing yourself to lose the passion you have and I see the light in your eyes when you're talking about all of this.

Writing, Selling Rights, And Letting Go

SPEAKER_03 27:58

Oh for you so you know it's just you again you gotta it's something it's like a calling to me and and I'm sure everybody else agrees with what that's the same thing on their end. And at the end of the day I tell people don't worry about fame power and all that stuff that you know it can't come with it. If it comes with it hey God bless awesome great more power to you right but at the end of the day don't lose what's the most important part which is being an artist being the kind of artist that just brings light to the world through your work and inspire the rest of the people who watches it and enjoys it. And if you know you have people reaching out like I've had tons of people reaching out through Instagram or anywhere saying hey can I get some advice from you just something about writing or something about animation or something like that.

SPEAKER_01 28:46

And I'm always happy to respond you know as much as I can what's the biggest piece of advice do you think you've you've given out or that people have to message your Instagram you're right here.

SPEAKER_05 28:56

Yeah now that we have you know yeah absolutely I think uh the most recent one uh she is an aspiring animation artist she's I think she's she's trying to get into the field and uh I was actually notified by her from another colleague of mine who I met not too long ago and he had told me hey I have a young girl who's an animation artist she's trying to do animation and she's trying to get her foot in the door or how to do certain things and this and that but of course it is a very tough career it's a tough job and it's a tough life because you have the naysayers that always tell you oh it's not worth it or don't pursue other things right but she uh at some point we got in contact and I had given her advice like keep doing what you're doing and uh you know just pursue your passion and your art just keep creating keep learning the programs like Photoshop uh clip studio procreate there's a lot of pros right now for digital art yeah yeah yeah just like work on your skill and everything people are like oh that doesn't help me I'm like no it actually does because the way a lot of the times too for me is if I've worked on a skill someone will randomly be like I need that skill and you're like oh I can do it and then they're like oh you can okay and then it just slowly builds from there like you just the hard work and dedication and there's other factors obviously like there's always who do you know all of that like connections that is also very true.

The Big Animated Pitch And Strategy

SPEAKER_03 30:25

I also told her you know you have to at some point start talking to people that's the cool thing about social media I have to give it to social media on this part is that I wouldn't have met all the people that I know uh if it wasn't through social media Instagram Facebook because all of my colleagues I think uh Dulce who's here with me I've also met her through mutual friends like that through uh we all met through Facebook and then at some point we all start uh meeting in person through events you know red carpets or you know amazing yeah all that stuff no that's cool and then uh it was funny now because uh my friend tells me every time we go somewhere and we ask okay we got so how much when about half of these people you already follow on Instagram because for some reason I find out when we're following each other on Instagram because that's like the new way to do it now instead of asking for numbers it's like can I just uh what's your Instagram?

SPEAKER_01 31:17

Oh yeah I'll follow you okay cool that's been it's a LA thing it's like the LA business card.

Agents, Attorneys, And Protecting IP

Mentors, Community, And Steady Progress

SPEAKER_03 31:22

I find out oh we're already following each other. Oh last one you look very familiar small community people way smaller than you think it is I would say that the only thing about that would seem suspicious you know like I know like they said this is a little bit oh wow we're already following you you know but no that's that's cool but it does suddenly somewhat break the ice though uh you don't have to feel like the need to work up your courage like how I used to do it back in the 90s or in the early 2000s you know try to get the ideas how do I approach what I ask what shouldn't I do right now at least I know who this person is just by their posts and I can bring something up like hey I saw your are you uh by any chance uh so-and-so on I saw your post not too long ago on Instagram I think we follow each other I think it kind of already establishes something there a common ground learning the intricacies of how to approach someone and how to accept if you're rejected no yeah or just or just conversationally conversation rejected no I'm always rejected no I don't believe that no yeah she's just down and very boom no I don't believe that's wow Jackson No every episode there's like a section where suddenly you're like really antagonizing but like entertainingly antagonizing it's just the way we are yeah I treat her like a younger sister then I can bully you I've definitely seen that I know yeah I just always wanted a younger sister to bully and push around yeah you have an older sister I do have an older sister so I'm the only uh young brother my eight siblings so eight the youngest out of eight wow and uh it was fun growing up I'll tell you that because everybody was at least like somebody I can look up to but at the same time the bully part was pretty tough too I can only imagine having but the funny part is that I don't know I can say uh I can say karma I guess would say but life gave me the ability to be taller and stronger and bigger so by the time I'm I reached like 15 17 I was already taller and bigger than what they were expecting you to be this tall when you walked in honestly you walked in I was like on this oh okay yeah so I I was bullied as a young but then I grew up to be tall and big and strong so I was like okay now is my turn I'm in a way I'm not gonna bully you but don't you bully me yeah yeah exactly but so yeah but that's why I told the younger artists is that again don't shy away from meeting people uh go out to conventions go out to the the cons especially if you if you're that kind of person oh I'm going to Comic Con next week is that San Diego yeah San Diego so the 24th for my job um I have a VIP pass to go to their Star Wars um show thing so I was like I actually didn't know that part I thought I was just going to Comic Con and they were just in her universe is the brand that was inviting us but it we're doing more than that.

SPEAKER_05 34:24

That's awesome.

Mental Health, Faith, And Perspective

Representation Matters And Teaching Through Art

SPEAKER_03 34:25

And I've never been a Comic Con so I was like that's surprising I feel like you and Terrence would have been at some point right so I want to talk to you about your favorite uh directors you know you this is kind of the territory you're going into you did mention Quentin Tarantino what about like um you know Robert Rodriguez um because he's like funny yeah I had to bring it up wait were you gonna say something no just kind of like I just had a feeling at a feeling in the air about Robert Rodriguez not just because he's like Rodriguez but like because like there's there's a tie-in to Tarantino too so no yeah well it's funny because now right now shout out to them by the way if they are seeing that they get to see it but um yeah right now at this moment I have a lot of people who come up to me uh besides my friends who already I'm close friends with they're like hey you know I'm not gonna lie you give me like Robert Rodriguez vibes yeah have you ever have you ever been told that before and I was like yeah honestly I've been told that already recently I don't know why it's because of the head the the clothing the dark clothing or something and you guys have it's funny though we are the same height too 6'2 we're both the same height and so I'm like uh we're like uh might be distant relatives or something I don't know I don't know but Robert Rodriguez if you're looking at this a shout out to you I love your work he's gonna vote with you and him together I mean like I mean I I love his work because uh you know he's one of those people he's one of those people that inspired me also to do what I'm doing him Tarantino yeah uh obviously the classic you know Steven Spielberg George Lucas uh yeah and the live action side of things right uh Gamer Lotoro Gamer Brooklyn who was on our show was in a Spielberg film oh which one was it was it the Turning The Turning is not a is it an Amblin is it a is that why it's produced by Spielberg's company probably yeah that's probably what I don't think she's in an actual Spielberg film okay whatever film it was awesome okay no shade to you know um I don't know she'll have to tell I don't I don't think I saw a spear but no so see um the thing about um you're talking about okay Del Toro uh so cool like uh a Pan's Labyrinth um such a great movie one of my favorite movies of all that is one of my favorites too I think it's just so um did you see um I believe it was Tarantino it was um a chronicle like um it's on Netflix and it's a series of different episodes um and they're all like different horror stories or something like that. Secrets in the Chamber cabinet something Cabinet of Curiosities Cabinet of Curiosities Netflix I don't know what what I got Chamber of Secrets oh Harry Potter because you're which no I get that that's pretty close to no but yeah I did see the series it's I I liked every episode I thought every single episode was really well done and the makeup the the visuals effects and everything the acting was well done you can notice every little thing because there are some shows I watch where their makeup is literally yellow and then it distracts me for the entire time like why why did they put yellow foundation on them like that and I and like I said I like watching the 80s and 90s movies so when Gamel has this kind of very unique way to the way he does these things you know he even though he does some he does use a little bit of CGI but not too much. He blends in really well with the actual prosthetics even the the the there was like one episode with uh the guy who was in Harry Potter I forgot Ron Weasley the guy who plays him oh oh wait I forgot his name in real life but the actor who was in the he was in an episode like a witch episode what's his name turns Daniel Radcliffe Ron Weasley Rupergrint the one okay the one who plays the Weasley white yeah yeah yeah the redhead yeah he was in one of the episodes with like a witch it was like a witch story or something like that and the makeup of that witch and the way she moved and everything was all actually prosthetics and it was all like a costume and everything not too much CGI going on and I thought man this is kind of like what I like a lot to see this is what I see this is what I like to see not so much CGI. I appreciate CGI and the hard work behind it but this the prosthetics and everything is it's awesome. It just makes it more believable. So yeah every single episode was like so unique.

Plug: The Ancient Chronicles Vampire Saga

SPEAKER_05 38:59

I I watched it a long while ago so I'm gonna be honest I don't fully remember what happened in the episode but I'm sure if I'm if I watch them it'll bring back the memories of course but I do remember it being beautifully shot. Yeah absolutely I love that style I love the depth that they put into it um and like every little thing they think about even like the colors they have like these are the colors we're using that's why I appreciate his his work and everything is he's one of those directors that I hopefully I get to work with one day.

Short Films, True Stories, And Structure

SPEAKER_03 39:35

Yeah you know that's the live action side of things uh I have some other directors but there's just like a roster of them sometimes but for the animation part of things are you into anime uh I do like anime I like uh I actually really it's a classic anime Akira from like the 80s I think it was like 8780s Terrence do you know Akira yeah there you thank you very much he's like how do you not know I know I know some um 90s I've watched of course some 90s anime but not not Akira's not one of them's one Yu Haka Show um Cowboy Bebop obviously One Piece started in the 90s but that's also technically a new one like it's been on so long and changed so much visually I'm also a Dragon Ball fan Dragon Ball Znaroto Sci-Fi um we were on anime he's not anime we can you gotta read the room you know he he talked about the movies and stuff the Yazaki Zant Mr Jibbies is a good one too I love him you know not in a way that like love and blood and black guy I love his work I do want to be like somebody who does that too because he's a jackboard traits he's a phenomenal director he's a legend he does like if you watch his movies he says in in his interviews or people say this about him I'm sure so he does the composition of the music sometimes he works on the storyboarding he works and uh the animation the concept art the writing he's like he's all involved in his production fully involved in his age still oh yeah I mean if I can do that with my work and my production someday oh man that's what I want to do.

SPEAKER_01 41:21

So that's the dream like dream scenarios to be able to like have your you know fingers dipped in the right places and the production he carries too everything he talks you you hear how deep it is.

SPEAKER_05 41:32

Wisdom drips from him yeah no that's uh what are you not into poetry it drips from him okay like an old like a wise old tree what are you talking you gotta you you gotta like think about these you know visual metaphors I'm giving you a little bit yes it is a visual metaphor and it's weird um she she this is my flowery poetic Shakespearean language we can go a different angle though we don't have to take that power of my world the next yeah yeah there you go there you go yeah I I am a writer too I haven't written in a while but um I started writing when I was twenty and my first script that I was working on that I have on the back burner but I'm thinking about bringing it back um CBS was interested in it but it was like the one of those micro budgets where they give you 2000 and just buy it off you and do whatever they want with it. So I said no.

Friendship, Stakes, And Becoming A Hero

SPEAKER_01 42:34

Yeah yeah and shelf it they can just buy it and shelf it exactly so it's like I don't like when they do that yeah yeah and then and then you can't do anything with it because they sold it they sold it they own that's that's the type of writing though where you're at that point and you're you're writing stuff that you may or may not be interested in doing yourself. When you're a writer director you most of the things you're writing are your interest in writing and in having them be your project. So it's like the difference between like I started working with another songwriter named Sparrow shout out Sparrow and she writes a lot of songs for artists and I've written so like a hundreds of songs right and so like a catalog that I've written is ones that I per intend to perform but I have a lot of them I'm willing to sell to different artists her style she's like she can get into a studio session and write for another artist and just that's for them. Like that song is already intended to be for them right when she's in that session so the idea that like you're writing if you can just write right write every day you'll have enough where there's some ideas where you're perfectly fine with like this is my paycheck project like this one is actually gonna be perfect for me to I'm okay with it letting it go. Right script or something you have to be I think as a mature like enterprising artist you have to be willing to Let go, yeah. Even if it's like not what you think it should you obviously use your best instincts if it's your 20 years old, okay? I'm not what I'm saying, I'm saying like you should have taken the time. No, but like that's what I mean is like there's like kind of the balance of business and art in that conversation, and it's important for people to know that like if you are in that position and you're okay with let with that project being written for that purpose, yeah, then you should take the money because like because like you it's hard out here for these for these careers.

Wrap Up, Gratitude, And Donation Link

SPEAKER_03 44:35

In the beginning, like when I was writing my first stories, I thought these are all mine. I want to do them, I want to create them. That's it. But you know, once you get into the business uh and you start realizing how things work, right? Uh and I was asked the questions, are you willing to let some of these go? And I said, What do you mean by that? And they explained it and they say, Well, if someone options it or someone wants to buy it from you, by the rights, which are you willing to let some of these go? I was like, Okay. In the beginning I would say in a heartbeat no. Yeah, in the beginning, now if that happened, I would be like, Yeah. I'm like, now that I think about it, um, if writing is part of you, right, and you will always be writing no matter what, you will your creativity will never be bought. You will always have creativity and your ideas and whatnot. So even if someone were to buy something from you, I think you are more than capable of just creating something else later on down the road. It's not like it's all be all kind of thing, you know? Yeah. So I do have a project that it's like a sci-fi TV animated series that I'll kind of pitch to the networks and whatnot. And it's like uh the Olympics meets Hunger Games, meets Mortal Kombat. It's kind of like that kind of epic sort of fighting mode. That is right down my alley. That sounds like it's like humans on from Earth are going to another planet to you know defend the resources and their existence in the galaxy with other competing planets. Uh, it's gonna be very epic. You know, I have synopsis and I have everything set up for like 10 seasons. Uh it's a big series. Uh, but I was asked the question well, would you be willing to let this go? Because again, my own studios in the Pennsylvania Rat Studios is very small right now. Uh-huh. And I do have other groups, uh, I have artists who are willing to come and collaborate with me and whatnot. And shout outs to them because they've been amazing to do in this trailer that I've been trying to do for this past yeah, a pitch trailer? It's like a pitch trailer, concept trailer. Proof of concept. Yeah. So they've come in and join and help me out with this. And me, me and my wife are very, very, very grateful uh for their efforts to try to make this a reality. Uh and all the developments have been going on for um well, I started off years ago, but now it's been a lot of people. The animation takes yeah, it does take it takes time.

SPEAKER_04 46:56

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 46:57

Um, and then right now, for the past over a year and a half or uh so they've been involved in trying to get this going more. So like I'm just trying to now get the idea that I'd rather probably sell it to someone, like a big toy company store studio like Haskros or Mattel or someone, and let them handle the production, and then of course we make some deals. But that's where do you have an agent or honestly? I'm flying solo right now.

SPEAKER_01 47:25

No, yeah, that's no agent, no manager, buffet.

SPEAKER_05 47:29

Yeah, I think I have an agent for I have an agent, not for writing, but for acting and voiceover and everything on that side.

SPEAKER_03 47:38

But I someone told me entertainment attorneys also play well. Yes, yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 47:43

But it's um the only other thing I would say the relationship that the agent has with these studios already. Um so they walk into the room, they're more happy to see the agent than they would be to see the entertainment attorney. Gotcha. Uh, but I think that regardless, they're probably not happy to see the agent too. The agent is trying to get more money out of them. So but the reason I I say that is just like, yeah, there you you look at all the ways to protect yourself too. Oh, yeah. Because on the flip side, just all the stories of people that have got screwed from just like um having the wrong insight or having the wrong ideas. So do you feel like you had any mentors when you came here or you you were kind of quite on your own?

SPEAKER_03 48:22

Um no, definitely have uh mentors and colleagues, especially in the animation and right now live action side of things. So I try to always stay in touch with those who have been in the game longer than I have, and I learned from them, and even when I have questions, I reach out to them, and they always give me some very insightful feedback or or advice on how to do things. So I try to take it all in, you know, like a sponge. Yeah, you're constantly learning and learning, especially because you know, right now I'm I don't have an agent or a manager, and uh I'm trying to do it all in a way, you know, just the way I'm doing it by myself without representation, which I'm willing to be hey, uh if I get an agent someday, I'll willing to embrace that and be like, hey, let's that's I'll be happy. But I've been okay right now, as far as I'm concerned. You know, God has me right now, and so far everything I've been doing has been going really well. No one, no one has been trying to rip me off with my ideas or stories that I've been putting out there. So it's been really, really well. So I'm very, very happy about how things have been progressively.

SPEAKER_01 49:27

That's good, that's really good to hear. Yeah, I I you know that's one of my big, I think, fears as an artist is that if you become too visible with your work, that you'll be prone to be ripped off. Um I had the Ellen show steal stuff from me. I had the way I had like different media things like that would like, you know, I'd have original content and like I don't know. There's just things where you just like put something out of the universe, it blows up just a little bit, and you don't know who's watching it. And that can be a good thing, but on the flip side of it being a good thing, you're getting visibility, it can be really um you could start to see that powerful corporations have whole departments ready to um pay out people that um that are just like that they'll be like, oh yeah, we steal things and then we have this whole department that's ready. We steal things, yeah. Yeah, no, it's like actively steal things because they're running out of ideas, right?

SPEAKER_05 50:22

So there's so many repetitive ideas out there over over popping off of that, um mental health-wise, um, how have you traversed that landscape in such a competitive industry? And anything that you're willing to share, it's not like you have to, but if you would like to.

SPEAKER_03 50:45

Uh how do I keep my like my mental state? Yeah. Uh well, first and foremost, um everything that I do every day I wake up, I do a prayer. And so anything that I do, I put God first. So I always feel like I have a connection. So anything that I do, him first, prayer, and then my work, my projects. So everything that I do, I have some kind of something pushing me. So I I I I try not to stress or get too depressed or anything, because there are downs, there are ups and downs in this business. I'm not gonna lie, nothing is you know simple. There are tough times, but you gotta stay afloat. You gotta realize what you're doing and uh the commitment you're trying to do and and why you're doing it. And looking at the big picture. Uh don't worry about the details, uh but look at the sun and the background. Look how it's flourishing everything out, it's brightening up everything else, be that light to everything. Yeah, and so everything else will follow. So that's why I tell you like I try to not worry about politics, agendas, or anything like that. I'd rather just do stories, create things for the people to enjoy and have a great time with. And that's all I care about. So I I think that kind of motivates me to be in a very sane position, uh, especially when I'm surrounded by like-minded people who give me the same kind of vibes and energy back. Um so it's the laws of attraction. Yeah, you attract people who are just like you if you're the same, like if you put out it out there in the universe.

SPEAKER_01 52:23

So there you go. I keep dragging autistic women into my life.

SPEAKER_05 52:27

No, I was I do have a good friend. Wait, Richie, are you?

SPEAKER_01 52:31

No, no, no.

SPEAKER_03 52:33

I do have a good friend. She's very, I think you might know her. Uh she's in the Love and Spectrum series on Netflix. Uh-huh. Her name is Danny Bowman. She not sure you guys see the series. Right?

SPEAKER_05 52:44

Yeah, I think I followed a bunch of people on our uh page. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 52:49

And uh she's been a friend of mine since years, I think uh almost a decade now. And uh we're talking about maybe like early 2000s and around 2010s, twelves, around there. But she is an animation, she's a phenomenal artist. She's owned, she started her own animation studio back when she was like a teen or very young age. That's awesome, and she's been very consistent with it. I've seen her post on Instagram, and her following has skyrocketed ever since she's been in the Love and Spectrum series. Uh, but like she's flourishing and anything, and she loves she loves uh to teach other um people who are in the autism community, you know. That's awesome. And they do animation.

SPEAKER_01 53:32

We'd love to get to know her too. Yeah, that's one of those things that like I want to encourage on the show is to show people wherever they're from, whatever their background is, whatever uh they have in their, you know, whatever they're dealing with with their mental health, they can start careers in art.

SPEAKER_03 53:50

She's a phenomenal she's a phenomenal figure and whatnot. And that also pushes me too, because if no excuses, no, she's very driven, and I like that drive and I love that passion. And that's what I try to do in my world and everything that I do, either writing or directing or trying to come up with a new story or the new book, entropy chronicles.

SPEAKER_05 54:12

Uh you know, I will have a moment for you to go to the carabin, like the beach book.

SPEAKER_01 54:17

Yeah, we should just do that now because we're getting close to the time. Yeah, we are, we are. We're getting close to time. Um was there anything that you want to plug, speaking of which, like about your projects, any upcoming projects?

SPEAKER_03 54:30

Um right now, um, if you anyone's who loves vampire stories or the classics and everything, there you go. Um I would recommend to check out my book. Um and it's called The Ancient Chronicles. You can have it on Amazon, you can just get your copy or to my website, the Ancient Chronicles.com. Uh it's all about the classic vampire, it's about a story about a vampire who started off as an orphan, and then he got introduced into the life of the vampirism by another vampire when he got older. And we're talking about the 1700s, so I'm taking it back back in that time period. So it gives it that greediness, a dark glory behind it. It's very cool. And so right now I'm adapting it into a feature, and I also have a sequelslash prequel already on the way for it. And uh I'm hoping that it becomes like a franchise. Who knows?

SPEAKER_05 55:24

Yeah, I'll read the first book and then message you be like, Richie, you need to write the second one faster, please.

SPEAKER_03 55:33

That's what I've told people. It takes it takes some time, you know. Like that, yeah. Like, no, no, no, because I've seen interviews with Stephen King, you know, another author that I like and I admire in the hard genre, you know. And so he has told people it takes time, you know. Writing a book is not an easy journey, it does take time. So yeah, I'm doing this, and um, at the same time, I'm also on said working on other short films, uh hitch trailers and whatnot.

SPEAKER_01 56:02

And I'm excited to look up some of those. I have a background in short films too. So yeah, you got some awesome. Yeah, awesome.

SPEAKER_04 56:09

Oh, yeah, his short films and stuff.

SPEAKER_01 56:11

But like I love um, yeah, that's a format that is actually surprisingly hard to do if you you I'm sure you know to fit the story in a world into 10 minutes or like you know, so so I think it's actually a very good skill to have to know how to do a short film.

SPEAKER_05 56:28

Actually, for short films, I have an easier time writing short films. Than I do like a book.

SPEAKER_01 56:38

You're also it's also you are what you write, so short. Okay. I'm just I'm just gonna throw a wrench in it, you know.

SPEAKER_05 56:47

But we should just highlight every time. You know that those sections that you put in where this is where this conversation starts every time that you insult Haley.

SPEAKER_01 56:57

Yeah, we can have a counter at the corner of the screen, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 56:59

But I have to admit though, writing a short story does seem like at first you would be like, uh, okay, it's pretty easy. Yeah, it has to be catchy. You have to have a cliffhanger if you want to have one. But uh, I'm writing right now that I want to direct and later on in a few months as a live action based on my on true events. It's actually based on what something that happened to me not too long ago. So there's a lot of emotion, some depressing moments because I was in a very dark time uh for a bit. And so this short story is based on that. And so when I shoot it, I want to make the people feel like kind of like what I was feeling. But then again, there's something in the end that it's like there's like a call that I get because I wrote a script in the midst of the short film where I lost my job in the beginning, and then I got depressed and I didn't know what to do, and then at some point it clicked on me that hey, why not write a script? You never know where it can lead to. And then I write it, and then I wait, nothing ever happens, so I get like a little bit more anxious and anxiety kicks in. So I'm showcasing the the development of the character, but then later on, at the end of the day, you're waiting for something to happen, like a call. Then you get that call. Like, hey, we want to option this script, and it's so happy, and you're like, oh man, let's see what happens later on after this. So the short story is based on that, so something that happened to me. But now it's just the tricky part is how because I know the the three acts, how to do it in a feature film. I know how to place everything where it's supposed to be. So you have more time, and more time too, right? Uh but a short story, it's like really we gotta like kit those little dots right there, those little points.

SPEAKER_01 58:40

You have to you it usually it just means if that's a longer story, you have to insert yourself in the middle of that world right away. Meaning that you the the audience picks up on what you're getting and that you're just in the that space the characters in, right?

SPEAKER_03 58:55

So you gotta squeeze it all in there somewhere.

SPEAKER_05 58:57

I do wanna say um something that amazes me about artists, like all different kinds of artists, is their willingness to be so vulnerable and to use their own life experiences to show to other people so that they know that they're not alone in those experiences, and that's that's really the whole point of art in general, to be honest, is to is to break those walls and human connection.

SPEAKER_03 59:23

That's a very good message, and that message is in one of my uh other features like that's in the heart comedy one because it's about a rebellious teenage slayer who is just by himself, he doesn't care about the world and whatnot, but his best friend is always with him, and at some point he learns the values of friendship, true friendship, and family and what it all means to him. And so he has to save the people he loves because these are high they're high stakes versus monsters and whatnot, you know. So he has to learn all those values and it bec it starts to become the kind of hero that he you know he needs to be.

SPEAKER_05 59:59

That's also versus what he thought a hero was supposed to be in the beginning. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:00:04

I I think that we if we had time for a part two, we'd do it because it's so um uh I love nerding out about films and about the process. And we could we we could totally at some point do a part two that we only talk about film and only dive in because it's so um it's a fascinating topic. We are out of time and we uh absolutely loved having you, man.

SPEAKER_02 1:00:30

Richie, thank you, Richie. It went so by fast.

SPEAKER_01 1:00:33

It's a good time.

SPEAKER_02 1:00:36

It did.

SPEAKER_01 1:00:36

When you're talking about something that you love, it goes by super fast. So definitely it was a great time. We're we're just trying our hand at time management, you know.

SPEAKER_05 1:00:43

Yeah, which is something that I know some of us struggle with.

SPEAKER_03 1:00:48

It is a struggle because even I have a hard time with time management because I can go on writing forever and sometimes I can't stop at like three in the morning. Yes, yes, I can keep my mind already.

SPEAKER_01 1:01:02

We're we're gonna get a boundy or something. Oh, yeah, so we can also just keep talking forever, no punctuation, and uh we're still talking too. We're still talking, not yet. And one one could be. Yeah, yeah, yeah. We have I had him do a signal to me a few times. But like, um, yeah, it was incredible having you, Richie. Yeah, everyone, um everyone find the camera. Everyone, look him up. Um, yes, we're gonna put his Instagram right here. We're gonna put some links to his uh wonderful uh novel, his book that everyone should go read. And you know, give it, let's give it up.

SPEAKER_04 1:01:35

Thank you, Richie.

SPEAKER_01 1:01:37

No, thank you guys. You guys are awesome.

SPEAKER_03 1:01:39

You guys are stars in what you guys do. It's an honor to do hey everyone.

SPEAKER_01 1:01:43

Thank you so much for tuning in to the audio only version of the Neurofucked Podcast. Um, well, I guess that's classically what a podcast is, but regardless, hope you are doing well. If you made it to the end of this episode, make sure to visit neurofucked podcast.com, where you can go back and see all the episodes, find it on all your favorite podcast platforms. Not only that, click donate, neurofucked podcast.com slash donate. Um, pay what you can, pay what you will, what you want. And the reason we have it up there is because we're volunteer only. We've had help on our podcast to produce, and we're planning to turn this whole thing into a live streamed podcast. We have a lot of the resources, but what you can help is pay for our snacks, our lunches, um, make sure the crew and cast and hosts are fed and everyone's doing well. So if you like the podcast, if you feel like it gives something to you and it benefits you in any way, as we grow, feel free to visit that part of our site. We'd love to see it, we'd love to have you there. Um, especially if this brings you value, which we hope it does. So, from all of us at the Neurofucked Podcast, enjoy the next episode, signing off.