BEING A CREATIVE IS EXPENSIVE!

Welcome back to the pod. I’m Mike Dreyden Figueroa and this Unscripted and Unrehearsed, where I give you my take on events of the week, things that I’ve seen, heard and experienced.

Are we drowning in a landscape where our artistry is reduced to data points for 2026’s algorithmic grind? Is the pursuit of the next big idea or project eroding our finances, our mental health and our authenticity, forcing us to trade our creative souls for unsustainable survival? I think we have to confront the exhaustion behind our curated smiles and find balance, but first…

Reviewing the week. I met Sir Ian McKellen. California Warehouse Fire. An IG post reflecting... watch here. Reports of copycat fires. The Humanist Report has thoughts! Eric Swalwell. Jury Finds Live Nation Guilty! Article here. Watch coverage here! The Volleyball Queen, Jordan Lucas! #LEGENDARY!!! Watch here! Artemis II Return Home Landing. Watch the welcome home! Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Class of 2026! This year’s inductees, including Celia Cruz!!!!

TOPIC 1: AUTHENTICITY…
TOPIC 2: Staying Sane While Searching For The Next Big Thing…
TOPIC 3: Don’t Break The Bank!

NOW YOU TELL ME: How have you as a content creator managed your authenticity, mental health and finances while creating? Are you relentless and constantly on the grind or do you pace yourself. Do you even care… No judgements.

UNTIL NEXT TIME: If you made it this far… Thank you and thanks for being here for Season 2! If you made it this far and in honor of Artemis II, drop a Rocket and a Moon 🚀 🌘 emoji in the comments.

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Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:00

Yeah, creative is expensive. Welcome back to the pod, everybody. I'm Mike Draden Figueroa, and this is Unscripted and Unrehearsed, where I give you my take on things that I've seen, experienced, and heard in the past week. And I asked myself a question based on all the work that I'm doing. Are we drowning in a landscape of artistry reduced to and I'm reading this? Reduced to data points for the 2026 algorithmic grind. Is uh the pursuit of our next big idea or uh project eroding our finances, our mental health, um, our authenticity. So I'm I was also wondering, are we forced uh to trade our creative selves, our creative souls, uh for an unsustainable survival? It became bigger and bigger in my head, like what what what what are we doing? What am I doing? Why are we doing this? And I think that we have to confront the the exhaustion behind the smiles that we see on our creative output. And it needs to be a balance, but first, all right, listen. This okay, I've met a lot of celebrities in the job that I do. I've met some A-listers, B listers, C listers, a lot of D listers. But every time I think I have met the pinnacle, someone bigger comes through. I scanned in the ticket of Ian McKellen this week. He came with uh some friends. Um, I thought maybe his sister and uh her son. Uh but yeah, Ian McKellen was walking right at me, and I'm like, oh my god. And you know, after the fact I think of the things I wanted to say, but what came out was it is an honor to welcome you to the show today. I don't know where that came from. I'm like, you're such a goober, Mike. Uh he's not that much taller than me. I'm thinking, you know, Gandalf the gray is huge, you know, Gandalf the White is you know magneto tall and very, you know, uh imposing. But no, he's like maybe 5'10, 5'11. Sounds just like himself, looks just like himself. I was just like, oh my god, this is this is amazing. This is amazing. And I got to chat with him real quick right at the end of the show during walkout. He walked right by me. I said, I'm an actor as well. He's like, Oh, really? In his wonderful accent, and he's like, Keep keep going. I was like, Oh wow. So yeah, I met Ian McKellen. And oh my god, people didn't even recognize him, nobody noticed him. It was like they were people like looked at him. I watched it, people looked at him, and they're like, Oh, okay, old guy. And he kept walking by, nobody said anything to him or anything. I'm like, this is wonderful. So yeah, I met Gandalf and I met Magneto, and I met all the other wonderful characters that he's played. He did an interview recently on a podcast. Um, let me see if I can find it real quick. Uh, I found really fascinating. It's about, you know, the work and uh all his uh uh processes. Uh is this it? Is this it? No, that's not it, that's not it, that's not it. Yeah, this is it. Oh yeah, this it's um shooting. Apple changed the format on this, so I can't really see the crap. Sorry. And of course, you know, now that I'm shooting this, all the noises are outside and it's pissing me the frick off. Alright, it is uh body people. Is that right? Go to show. Go to show. Alright. It is oh, the show people podcast. He you can tune into that if you want, and he the person who does this show does have no idea that I'm posting this. Uh alright, so yeah. Great interview with him. Check it out. I met Ian McKellen. Highlight of my my week. Alright, so listen, I needed to talk about this because it's blowing up in a way, no pun intended, uh, in a way that I didn't expect. Um, so the California warehouse fires. Now, all right, well, first let me start. This people say it was Ontario, Canada when it first hit the news and all that. I'm like, no, no, no. It was in Ontario, California, not Canada. Uh the guy's name is uh Carmel Abdulkarim, one word, 29 years old. He's the one that set that fire. Now, I'm thinking to myself, a whole bunch of things. Like, how pissed off do you need to be to set the whole thing on fire? Now, I mean, there's many, many reasons, many facets to this whole story and his intentions or his um what's the word I'm looking for? His um motivations. But setting a warehouse of paper products on fire, that's a level of anger I've well, I was gonna say never seen, but I mean people do a lot of things in anger, right? Um, at least, you know. I think I think no one got killed in that, right? No one got hurt like that. So I am so pissed off right now. There's a car alarm going off right now for no reason, and it was dead quiet for hours while I'm preparing to shoot this, and now I'm like gonna have to edit if more editing than I need to do right now. It's really fucking annoying. And it's distracting. So even if you don't hear it, it is distracting, and I can't fucking focus. Oh my god. Alright, so anyway, um, I came across this IG post um from some guy, and the link is below. Um he was reflecting that um how this is um how he was congratulating the guy and thinking saying that he did he congratulate him? He was he was appreciative, I want to say, and saying that the guy did this for all of us. I'm like, okay, that's a way to go about it because I'm I mean, strongly worded letters and protesting and and all of that. I mean, it's there's but so much you can do before you have to take action, right? I'm not an advocate for violence or anything, but I mean, how do you how do you make change without physically doing something? Right? Um I'm sure there's an answer to that. Um your vote, your voice, blah blah blah, but it's not working because people are not why am I itchy? Um so yeah, this guy was saying he he he car uh Carmel did this for all of us, and I I don't agree with that, but he did set a domino effect going on now because and I couldn't find any other, it's been wiped from the internet, but if you go to the and I'm jumping around because I had this in a particular order, but um, if you go to Michael Figueredo's, Mike Figuredo's um show, The Humanist Report, he talks about, well, he starts off the ep his episode on this with all the copycats and how random they may seem or appear to be, but um, there are some copycat fires happening or happened. Um and they're all linked. And how the people are responding, they're leaving notes uh from like what uh Carmel said, um, you should have given us or given us a livable way, something like that. And there's other locations like um I think he mentions it, uh, Target, um uh big box chain stores. They're taking that foam stuff that you use to like when you're building or whatever, putting it in the toilet pipes. Uh oh my god. And the thing is, you can't you can't put cameras to see who did it in the in the in the restrooms, right? Because there's a law against that. So now you know people are screwing up, and it's not just the screwing up the pipes of the bathrooms. That stuff, once it gets into the system, it solidifies and it's ruining infrastructure outside of the okay. That's insane. But I'm like, wow, people are like they took they took the reins and ran with it. So, okay. Um he also says the guy who posted that video saying that uh this dude did it for all of us is like um starvation wages is a form of violence, which I think that's a valid argument because it goes it it's against violence against people, and it's a class, uh a kind of class warfare. Perhaps, yes. You know, you we're getting paid, or some people get paid, you know, just enough to you know put food on the table, keep a roof over your head, and not, you know, be cold and naked, whatever. But now it doesn't even seem like we can do that. I mean, how many of us are living paycheck to paycheck? My savings is, you know, spent because I needed to put a roof over my head. You know, I have responsibility. Everybody has responsibilities. You know, I'm not mine or no bigger or smaller than anybody else's, right? But for Christ's sake, I need a chance to do it. I need uh opportunities to maintain myself. I don't want to ask for money. I don't want to ask people for stuff. I want to do my bit, make an income, you know, whether it's through my arts or, you know, the job that I have. It's not a lot to ask. And I think we've come to the point where, and I think it's kind of like, well, it's definitely history repeating itself, except for the uh stock market crash. A different kind of depression is happening where everyone is making just enough, and sometimes in some cases, not even enough, where we're making choices between survival and another survival, like electricity, uh, food, uh, medications, you know, getting to and from work. Some people have to. I'm very emotional about this. Some because I've been here, some people have had to choose, and I know I have had to choose between getting to and from work or eating that day. Everything worked out, you know, but it's a tough choice. You have to you have to steal yourself and keep moving forward, right? Okay. Um so he also posted that the CEO of that company uh make makes 16 million a year. Um and then another report I saw from this other queen that does a uh a post thing. He's like, girl, she's wearing her bonnet. Girl, did you know that they didn't even have insurance on this building? There were no sprinklers. Now, that's the other shit that killed me. It's like, first of all, I love his posts, but he never puts links or any kind of um of um uh fact uh uh fact-checking links or something to like say, this is where I got it from, right? It's just the way I'm wired, but this is where I got it from. I'm like, there were no insurance. Oh, there were no sprinklers? Are you kidding me? In this massive warehouse that that is almost what they say, two football fields big, that place had no sprinklers. That's insane. Of a warehouse of paper products, no sprinklers. My my I'm you know, the meme with the all the math pro all of that's going on, right? I'm like, what? When I was a secretary for um the uh the architects, well, I worked for at Albert Einstein College of Medicine back in the 90s, and I was the admin secretary for uh the architects and the engineering department, and I learned a lot about HVAC systems, that's the heating ventilation systems, right? I also learned a lot about the sprinkler systems and fire safety because it all goes hand in hand, right? When you're when you're building and you're and you're designing. One of the very first things that are considered are is fire safety and like where to put these pipes and the water flow so it's not obstructing the design and it's in it's not endangering design and vice versa, all of that. It's very it's a it's a meticulous Rubik's Cube and it's fun. It's absolutely fun. I learned a lot doing that job. Um, but how do you build or have a warehouse like this with no sprinklers? And I'm looking for information on that. And I couldn't find anything to back that up. But hey, if that you cut in corners, that makes sense. You cut nobody's getting a living wage, and so somebody like ah, nobody's that crazy. Oh, there you go. You found someone who did it, and no insurance either. Like, so who's foot in the bill? You are, my friend, whoever you you are. So you can watch that IG post. I have a link in the show notes, you can see that there, and um uh Mike Figueroa's um uh video. Um, another thing too that struck me about this was that um the copycat uh instances. Uh so like I said, I was looking for other videos to link to, but I think they've pretty much been scrubbed. And when you see Mike's video, you'll see some of the posts that came up and they just seem random, but yet they are somehow connected, and it's crazy. So people are going to, and when I say people, I mean corporate America is in the find out phase, I think, because people are mad enough where I don't understand why, and even you know, when we went through this whole thing, why we're paying$15 for a carton of eggs, you know, why it's like 20 bucks for a package of chicken breasts that look eerily and and and mutantly larger than normal. Um it's crazy, you know, and uh yeah, so we're at the find out phase of that. I I really don't want people to get hurt, but I do want corporate America to grow to grow grow a heart, man, because you know this is unsustainable. If you don't have people to do the fucking work, what do you have? Nothing, right? Okay, all right. This this uh this thing too this week that pissed me off because I I believe in people, especially people in government, and based on what I've learned and you know, the people I've been around through my youth and my my early 20s and 30s uh in the legal profession and what things mean, um how valuable and important it is, especially in public policy. And you know, I someone who to me, someone who steps up to do that kind of work is a very is a is a big person because it takes a lot to maintain the privileges and rights and things that we have as American citizens, right? Based on our constitution and the declaration of independence and all of that, right? Okay. So when someone steps into these roles, I really have high hopes for them. And I don't know if I'm you know deluded or whatever, or you know, I have rose-colored glasses on when it comes to these people. But some of them, you know, when when I can I get the sense, I feel like I can tell that they're being genuine and honest with me, you know, because maybe they're coming from the same place that I'm thinking, or they they have a platform that I agree with, and I want to see them support them and make these uh these accomplishments. So, not that it this guy, it's not Matt Gates. And I'm gonna say Matt Gates because knowing the kind of person that he is and all that shit that came out in the in the news, we all are like, yeah, of course, look at how he carries himself. Of course, he would be that person. The counterpart to him on the left, I didn't even think existed. And then the news with Eric Swalwell coming out. At first, I'm like, really, I don't believe this bullshit. I really don't, because he first of all, he came off as a huge to me. I saw a family man, uh, a progressive person, an all-inclusive person. He was fighting for everyone's rights, equal equality across the board, right? Um but then this comes out, and I'm thinking, all right. We're all human. People make mistakes. Maybe if he cheated on his wife or he had a like a hookup, you know, I to getting excited. I I don't want to minimize it. And you know, hooking up and it when you're married or you're making a commitment, you choose those those guidelines for your relationship, you know, whatever it is. If you're stepping out, it's not cool. Okay, so that's between them. I don't need to know about that. Is it affecting his job? I don't need to know about that. Well, I mean if it is, if it's affecting his job, but no, it's not. So I don't need to know about that. Nobody needs to know about that. That's their private business. And of course, you know, some people will let that out. But what I didn't realize, and we all came to find out, was it turns out everybody knew that, and they were saying it blatantly, and it's from all across, more than one person said this. Is common knowledge to known to keep Matt Gates and Eric Swabell away from interns, et cetera. And I'm like, that is really fucked up to have to find out. Um so as we all know, he's suspended his gubernatorial run for California. I had no idea he was running for governor of California, which would have made really cool for him because then it would have freed up Gavin Newsom to run for president, I suppose, is my brain. Maybe not. Maybe he's not even gonna run. Who knows? Um right now, it's getting dark. We're supposed to have thunderstorms here in New York. Um and then so, yeah, of course he's gonna resign from con uh from uh from the run and give it up. And then he could resign from Congress. And I'm like, right, the pressure mounted, he had to do what he had to do. And you know, I'm not mad at the guy. I'm hugely disappointed, and I think it's utterly and thoroughly fucked up to to do those kinds of things to people. Especially when you're in a position of authority. Um and you know, it's not it's not just stuff doesn't just happen to to women or female identified people. It happens all across the board, you know. I'm just waiting for the anyway, I'm not gonna go there. I'm hugely disappointed in Eric Swalwell because I think he's someone that could have run for president and I probably would have voted for him. But knowing that is like people all people are gonna wonder is like what's going on in the office. Is he being is he being good? I don't know. That's just it's messed up. So I hope that it's hard to keep a clean closet. I know I got I got skeletons in my closet. I'm I've not been uh the most well I haven't done anything to that effect. I haven't done anything really bad about it, you know. I've lied about some things. Not a lot like this. Okay, let me let you know we all have skeletons in our closet again, or shit that we do would not want other people to know about. I'm just saying. Alright, so this other thing too that came across my newsfeed, which I thought was kind of cool. Actually, no, it was really fucking awesome. Deserves a coffee sip. Live Nation got their asses handed to them, which is amazing. I didn't know that they were that Ticketmaster was a subsidy subsidiary of Live Nation. But uh, we all know you want to go see a concert, you want to go to a venue, you want something, you know, it's the price is like, oh shit, this was great, I can get that. And then by the time you're done, it's quadruple because you got surcharges and fees and conveniences and all this bullshit, and you're like, fuck this. I'm not, you know. And I I honestly don't understand people who I mean, if you got the money to do it, by all means, go not have have the time of your life. But I'm like, why would you put yourself in debt for this? It's not that it's not that worth it. It's not, it's really not worth it. So um the trial went on for uh about four or five or six weeks, I heard the report said. Um they say uh the jury came back saying that uh well no, not the jury, but it was said that the live nation was an illegal monopoly uh in the market of ticketing. Um, let me see if I have this correct. They protected their position through pressure and leverage. So basically, they not only own the mediums by which to buy the tickets, they buy they own the venues where these events are going on. They own all of the conveniences inside the venues. Menu, you know, and there's no way around it. There's no way to get past it. And all and all of their uh their the jury's uh findings come back, it does it affects Ticketmaster as well, right? So you can read I have the show notes down, but uh ABC World News coverage. There's a link for the article I found and the news are the news report, um, television report. But uh yeah, they got the asses handed to them, and who's let's see what happens. Uh they probably will appeal, find a way around it. But there, and I I think wasn't it the Taylor Swift Taylor Swift concert where it set this set this whole thing in motion where lawsuits began. They were like, This is crazy. So all right, so I want to talk about Jordan Lucas, the volleyball queen who's destroying it right now. She better work. Now, at first, when I saw this thing, they were they were people were goofing on her out, and she was like just spiking the ball, and she was giving it, she was giving her task. And I'm like, that is someone who got pissed off, somebody pissed her off, and now she's like, oh yeah, so it seems like somebody called her a faggot or something like that. And she was like, Oh, yeah, I'm gonna show you one. And and the thing is, is that not only was she carrying on, she was serving, and I mean in the game as well, the spikes, the points, the everything. I can play, she said. I'm saying she and I shouldn't say she, but I'm just right there with with you two. I was like, you better fucking work. That was awesome. I watched that video like 15 times. But then there was uh uh you can I have a link so you can see what it is I'm talking about. But then somebody was reporting on a newscaster who was saying all this really fucked up shit about him, like um how he was showing out, and you know, somebody should pop him. And so, and then when they show you the the guy reporting on on, you know, the new um uh what do you call that? Calling the game or whatever, is this huge? I don't want to sound derogatory. There's no way to say it politely. So I'm not gonna say it at all because I don't, but it's who you probably would expect it. And what pissed a lot of people off is that this is what happens for LGBTQ people when we're authentically ourselves, we're having a good time, we're minding our business, authentically being ourselves, cisgendered white, mostly men go straight to violence. Somebody needs to pop him? Really? Who? Who's gonna pop him? How do you know he's not a uh martial art uh black belt or something? How do you know he's not armed? How do you know he doesn't know how to defend himself with his? I mean, do you really want who's gonna pop him? Is it you? I was just like, really? Of course, that that's what we're gonna, that's where we're going with this. I'm like, bitch, you show yourself out. You played your game, you kicked ass in that game, celebrate. And I think we should normalize that too. I mean, how many dudes do we see, you know, spike in the football when they hit when they hit a goal? Oh my god. Uh they get to the end zone, they spike their football, you know. I'm come on, it's the same fucking thing. Like what is it's even a meme of you know, guys playing uh softball, and then you know, the this one dude's running around the base, and then when he gets the third base, he's doing runway down the rest of it all the way to home plate. Come on, it's just a game, anyway. Congratulations, Lucas. You are the internet sensation. I love you. I hope you get all the praise. All right, so this this made me uh very emotional too, the Artemis 2 homecoming. I I was like, oh, this is cool. Look at the the video. My boss's sister works for NASA uh somehow, some way. Um, I'm not sure what I forgot what it is that she does, but um she, if I'm not mistaken, she sort of uh handles the the imaging from ground to the I think I'm getting this right, but uh she was able to snap a lot of the photos that the the module took. And she showed me this incredible photo of the moon from the vantage point of the module, and uh it's amazing. I just it just blew my mind. So um I saw the pictures on the news and all that, and and uh I thought it was cool and seeing the the deployed parachutes and it's in the water. But what got me and made me tear up was when they uh they were popping the hatch. I didn't expect to see that. And I have a link so you can see the welcome home. They they popped the hatch and then they put like the the flap on it to to protect them because it's probably maybe still hot or sharp edges. And the guy holding the camera was like he welcomed, got each one on camera, each astronaut on camera and welcomed them home individually by name. It was I was like, oh my god. Yeah, we're still 63 years. How many? 63 years, 30 37 years from first contact. Remember that. All right, and so and yeah, before I go on to the next thing, that was very emotional. I loved seeing it. Um, I just I mean, I was how many months old on the lunar landing that year? Uh 69, I think I was maybe four or five months old. Happened in June, three months old, maybe. Anyway, um, yeah. Or was it? I don't remember. I was a baby. Uh, but now to see this time, you know, whooped around, maybe we'll see them land again. It would be great. Uh, okay, so this is really cool news. Um, and okay, the class of 2026 Rock and Hall of Fame has been announced. The inductees are amazing. Look at this video. Look at look look at look at this this photo right here. Look. Look at this. The only one that's missing, and I saw in another article, uh, was Celia Cruz was also inducted. So there you go. Uh, this is my entire youth in music right here. Every single one of them. I listened to all these. This is why I I don't know why I'm wired this way, but I like so much different kinds of music. And I think the the common denominator as I was listening to a lot of these songs again was the bass. That's the thing that really hooked me into each and a lot of their songs and the individual songs. The bass is what got me. So um I really couldn't believe how much I I missed these songs. And and the thing is, I started thinking, they don't make music like this anymore. It's not, you know, sing along, dance along, play along too kind of kind of stuff, you know. So I went when you hear it one chord you right away, you know. Um, so yeah, the ceremony is uh November 14th at the Peacock Theater in LA, and I wish I could be there for that. But I don't know, can you go to that? That would be that would be amazing. All right, so as I said before, we need to we need to uh confront the exhaustion behind the curated smiles and find a balance in our work as content creators and artists, right? So, first I want to talk about authenticity. And so for this episode, I mean, I had no idea what I wanted this. I had notes, I planned things out, but everything changes, and um then I feel like oh maybe this is not worth worth it, you know, will people be care about? I don't know. I was starting to get uh wrapped up in that. I'll talk about that in a second. Um, but I was trying to find out what what is it that my authenticity that is uh that I don't want to compromise and I just want to, you know, share. So, you know, it and it's all all the marketing influencers are saying the same thing. You know, people want authenticity, right? I'm trying not to say it might with my Brooklyn accent, authenticity. The authenticity, right? And I'm always thinking about what I want to talk about. You know, is it worth anyone's attention? Would you want to tune in for a few minutes, you know, listen to me, you know, ramble on sometimes. But my my intention has always been to be fun and entertaining and maybe a little bit educational. So you walk away with something, right? Um, but all of 2000 uh all of season two's uh ideas, uh they changed along the way. I mean, there's some things that I completely cut out, and there were some things I came with on the flight. The last three episodes, including this one, have were literally put together before shooting, right up until the moment I pressed record. Same deal with this. I had a couple of tweaks to make and something I pulled out and something I added. Um yeah, it's always evolving because I want it to be authentic. So, um, and season three's uh list of ideas are starting to form now. It could change, they may stay the same, but you when you see them, you know, I don't want to give it away, but when you see them, you'll be like, oh, okay. I'm hoping you will walk away with something. And that's the the bigger intention for me to give you something to walk away with that you can use, not just you know, waste your time listening or watching me, but to you can say, oh, I I can do that, or oh, that I might, I could, I could use that. Um so not knowing what I wanted to start with, I'm like, you know, I'm looking through you know the the analytics on YouTube and Instagram and all that, and I started getting caught up in the uh well, I'm jumping ahead. Um I was looking at that and I noticed that there was an inspiration tab on the YouTube um content section, right? Where you see all in your library and see all your posts and all that. I'm like, oh, what's this? And then what it is, it's I believe the AI takes all of your previous work and all of your posts, and it develops, helps develop a more more to the point, it sets prompts for you to create more content. And it takes one idea that you've already done and gives you multiple up to I think three or four ideas to branch off from. And I thought, oh, this is great. They're not quite what I wanted to talk about, but with the little tweaks, I came up with this thread that we're you're watching today, listening to today, and hoping that it will give you something to walk away with, right? So um I realized this is a great resource to have. I didn't know that you could have this opportunity or this this option, uh, but it helped me to pull thoughts together, write things down, uh, pull images that I want to include, stuff like that. Um yeah, so if you if you really want to see your YouTube or your your video creations, whether it's talking head info or the videos that you create, see and get ideas. Like if you're if you're creating like um, I don't know, short stories, uh, you know, like a film, um, it will take all of your your content and curate it and give you prompts to create uh uh another direction, another film, another project. If you're doing something like this, all your your ideas and former uh former previous posts will give you something to work off of. And I think that is a genius. Genius. The people behind, and I know it's you know the algorithm and I know it's you know Google and Google really because they own YouTube, and but it if you really want to feel like you're being successful at it or even make a success of it, this is an incredible tool to have because it helps keep you sane. And I'm gonna talk more about that too. Oh my god, what's the next big thing? I'm like, oh, I could look at all these different ideas and tweak what's there and use it, which was fun. Um excuse me, I'm glad that I have this resource now and realize that I had it because at first I didn't realize it was there. Um so speaking of not knowing what I wanted to talk about, this whole idea of are we spending our or how how to say it? How how we're spending our reserves on trying to grind this out and make it make it uh successful. So in how do I want to say this? Is it is it and I so I asked a question. Is it authentically me though? If this algorithm is giving me an AI prompt on my previous posts, um is it me? Or is it telling me what I should create? I mean you could look at it that way. Oh, it says I should do this and this and this, and you go off into that to that uh off on that path without researching or finding all the data that you need to support your your like I said, that's the way my brain works. If you're gonna say something, back yourself up. I think that's the way I anyway. Um or tweak it could to to reflect the information you already have to bring to to the film, right? Pardon me. Oh, my coffee got cold. Um it I think uh the prompts and ideas are based, like I said, on previous posts. So it uh to me, I can run with it, expand on it, um, make it my own again. Or what the suggestions looking okay, what I was gonna say was it can be you can go off on that path. But what you can also the way you could also look at it is these are suggestions, obviously. Like you maybe could do this, or you can maybe say that, or maybe uh or follow this. Um it leaves you with so much information that you if you use it, if you use it, you won't go without um content ideas or uh oh my god. I got to check the Tony's one of Tony girls' whiskers is on the desk. I didn't realize sometimes they shed their whiskers. I forget that they do that. I don't know if you can see that. Become an old lady, but they grow in anyway. I that back a long time ago I had a really long one, yeah. Alright, so um so I'm able to think about the topic, reflect on it, pull the data I want, tweak it, rewrite, um, and then come up with what you're seeing today, right? And I suppose that you I could have multiple points of view on one subject. And I I I think most really successful content creators can take you know uh someone else's uh you know high-performing viral video, and if it's in the same niche, they can add to add on that or grow uh build off of that. And I think that it's okay to do that, obviously, because that's how that's your point of view, right? Okay. Um, so staying sane while you're going through this, like, oh my god, what am I gonna think? What am I gonna write about? Is this worth it? Will they watch it? Blah blah the clicks, you know, gathering my thoughts first. It's like, okay, so what do I want to share? That's the hard part. And there's a lot of stuff, and I've just uh my basic my basic point of this this pod was uh just to share my ex my take on stuff that I've experienced, and then maybe add something. I guess I don't want to repeat myself, but something you can walk away with. Um so like do I pick a current event? Do I pick uh uh are uh do I pick something stupid or frivolous? Are people burnt out from current events? I'm sorry, folks, I keep you see me touching my face. I feel like I'm it's my allergies. I just realizing my face is itchy. Just wanted to say it sound. I when I took Max of the Park today, I could feel the pollen just crawling on my face. Um where was I? All right, oh, so you know, constantly thinking, oh my god, what am are people watching? Are they gonna care? Blah, blah. Um, I caught myself. I got caught up in checking stats, looking at um likes, looking for new follows and how many shares, and it really started fucking with my mental health. I'm like, why do I care? So because when I started this, I really didn't do it for that. Um I did it because I just wanted to share. I, you know, I'm trying trying to stay in a creative place from you know, from auditioning, I'm trying to find auditions, uh, finding acting work. It, you know, it takes a toll. You know, I'm a I'm a little drop in a huge ocean of uh talent out there, and I need to be creative and not worry, right? So, you know, I'm steadily practicing my guitar and my bass. I'm doing this because this I enjoy doing stuff like this. I take my dog, my little son out, right, sir? He's got his face all what do you want? You want to say hello? Come up. Come up, okay, everybody. Max is gonna say make his appearance today in this week's episode. Come on closer. Come closer. There we go. Say hello.

SPEAKER_00 39:40

Thank you, Baba. What do you want? You had everything already. You had everything already. You had everything already. I know all right.

SPEAKER_01 39:53

I can't get mad when he does this. Alright, can you sit down so I can finish this, please? I appreciate it.

SPEAKER_00 39:59

I appreciate it.

SPEAKER_01 40:00

You're only doing this because your sister was just up here. Now you want. Alright, so um all right, all right, Max, come on.

SPEAKER_00 40:11

Thank you.

SPEAKER_01 40:12

All right, sit down, sit down. Stay here, you can stay there. Um so yeah, I got caught up in in looking for all these things, and really I had to remind myself, this is not the point of this, and I'm gonna drive myself nuts. I just need to, you know, work on the idea, put it together, record it, edit it, blah, put it out there, and you know, just enjoy the ride. Because that's that's this is me releasing the creative stuff inside, right? All right, so I started taking my time again. You know, I write down my ideas, I was writing my thoughts, putting my thoughts in order, um uh focusing on just one aspect of the work and then building on that piece by piece by piece by piece. Um and if and if necessary, pull the images together, right? Because I I think from all the stuff that I've learned and uh seen other people do, you know, bits and pieces of it, like having you know the captions there is important, obviously, but putting a little couple of images just so you understand what I'm talking about is helpful. And then managing my workflow. Now, I was looking for the guy that I got this from. He's uh a content creator, and I want to say LA. Um, I forgot, I can't find his. It's like his profile is uh completely gone from Instagram. I don't know what happened to it. Um and I was looking through my follow who I'm following, I'm following so many people. Basically, he he shoots films and he has like a um uh a how-to in managing your workflow where you color coordinate your calendar um to keep things in order. So you're not, you know, first of all, losing steam, you're staying, you know, consistent and uh you're not burning yourself out. So for instance, um, and a lot of this is gonna overlap. So Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays mornings for me are shoot days. So if I'm doing this or some other um project, I'm shooting it and then getting it ready for uh for editing. And then on uh Mondays, Tuesdays, and Thursdays, early afternoons are edit days. That's the edit time, right? And then Monday, Wednesdays, and Saturday afternoons are writing days where I write down notes and look for images and whatever just to, and then um Monday afternoon I write only, that's for that day. And then Tuesday morning I shoot, and then Tuesday afternoon I edit that. So it it sounds a little chaotic, but what once you pick your edit, your cut, your shooting days and your writing days and your your edit days, you know exactly what what you're gonna work on, and you name the project that you're that you're working on. So say, you know, uh podcast shoot or um you know whatever it is, and you can give it a color. Now, you all know I'm colorblind, but you know I base it on the Google Calendar's version of color. So sage I'm assuming is green, peacock I'm assuming is blue. Um uh whatever other colors that they have. Yeah, it's very weird. Why can't it just be normal? Say green, blue, purple, whatever. Because my brain has an idea. What the hell is peacock? Anyway, peacock. Managing a workflow like that really can help. I'm gonna try to find his his Instagram and link it um at some point. If I don't, and if you don't uh don't see it here, one day you'll see a random post for me. I found it. Alright, so now we get to the point where you know you don't want to break the bank. And I'm I'm I'm referring to a bunch of different. Banks here, okay. There's your financial bank, there's your mental health bank, there's your authenticity bank. And each one has a lot, a lot of um currency, right? So when it comes to um your financial bank, and I've said this many times before, and I've showed you guys uh as well. Um, there's no reason to buy expensive equipment just to shoot. I have a a little holder here with a lamp that's connected, light that's connected to it, and I have uh a small little ring light over here. See, this one here snapped to my to my iPad, and then I have this light over here. This comes in a pack of two. Used to be a smaller one, so I have that there as my hair light on this side. Now I gotta refix that, you know. And depending on you know what I want to do, I'll have the big light lamp over there on to um to shine the back. But it's morning, so I mean, I don't need I don't need all that light. Um, none of this cost, I think the those twin lamps came to I think 40 something dollars. That I got for like 20 something bucks. This was like$15. Um, and I have my iPhone 11 that I got to keep. I didn't have to turn it in. So I shoot a lot of my content on. I have my notes and everything on my 16 that I use. You know, you don't need a lot of a lot of uh expensive equipment to do this, if you want to do this. Um you're gonna come across a whole bunch, and and you know, sometimes they almost got me, and a couple times they got I got got. But you're gonna see ads in your algorithm. The minute you pick click on something, you just want to investigate it, you're gonna get ads up the ass. Don't fall for it. Resist, resist, unless it's a good deal. Like for instance, the the these microphones that I have here. Um, the Lark A1. So this is the uh the one that's connected to this phone, is the Lightning version, comes with two microphones, and that's that. Then there's um this one, the the dual. So you get one Lightning, one USB 3, and two microphones. So I have in my these are the two USBs version. I have version of this with one of each in black and one of each in white in my my carry bag. Um very inexpensive, and this sound is great. So it's worth the investment. That's the other thing I wanted to mention. If it if it's worth the investment, do it. Um, but don't go crazy spending all your money trying to create this beautiful studio effect and view, whatever. It's the most important thing is your sound. If your sound sucks, people are not gonna watch or listen or whatever. And a lot of people have said this, and it's very true. Um, I looked at a lot of my old videos and there was really no microphone, it was terrible. But I'm like, that would be better if it had a better microphone. Uh, so yeah, this is a great investment in that. Um, and I like the Holly Land products a lot. Um, DJ the DJI products are really good too, but I I like I like these for some reason. I don't know. Um what was the other thing I wanted to mention? Uh no video. All right. If you your videos may look like shit, but if it sounds off, it's terrible. Um yeah, don't break the bank. At some point, I'm gonna put a list together for you guys to see like everything I've gotten. Some of them may not be available anymore, but some of the things I've gotten, and uh maybe you could use them too. It'll it'll help you out in your uh in your endeavors. Uh I feel like I'm forgetting one other thing about this. Oh, um. I guess a good resource uh to help you. Uh contentcreator.com. Go there. I'm I'm a I'm a subscriber there. It's worth it. They're not paying me for that. So now your mental health bank, let's talk about it. So, like I said, um, I think all creators want to have uh uh they want eyes on their videos, they want likes, they want engagement, they want interaction, uh same difference. Um, they want consistency, uh and constant, and and they want we all get caught up, like I told you I happened to me, looking for updates and you know, seeing how we're how we're doing out there. Um it comes to all of this, we're we're stuck in that cycle, right? Because a lot of a lot of people are monetized, so they want to try to with all of the engagement and the likes and the sharing, and it affects their money, right? So they want to continue to make an income and show value to whoever's they're monetized with. Um so it's a constant grind and a constant, you know, staying on top of that. But it can also be distracting and emotionally draining when you don't see the numbers that you think you should have or want based on all kinds of criteria. Uh the algorithm itself or some arbitrary rule, or you know, it's because, you know, what have you. It's a fine line we're all walking. To this date, so far, I'm within the guy, the boundaries. You know, I don't use foul language a lot. I don't post other people's stuff. I try to post my own stuff, which is pretty much it. And I don't, and I bought a membership so I can use um on um uh what do you call that? Royalty-free music, um, all of that. Just so this way I would not have trouble. Uh and it's worth it, but it's it's for my own mental health, so this way I'm not constantly engaging that way. Don't let it, don't let yourself fall into that. I don't, I I I don't mean to tell you what to do, but I'm hoping giving you some advice. Try not to let that happen because the point of you doing whatever it is you're doing is because you want to do it. And you're hoping people like it, yes, of course, but just do it to do it, you know. A lot of people, and that's how I view acting. I have been in love with the theater since I'm a teenager. You know, since, you know, what you call it, family ties. Uh I've and then I got the when I tried it out, I I got bit by the bug. And you know, to me, I don't I don't want I don't want to be famous. I don't want to be, I don't, I just want to do the thing, it's the whole process from breaking down the script to getting the script, breaking down the script and and rehearsing it and performing it, and then seeing what we did afterwards. And did that work? No, let's try something else. And you know, when that's in film, and you know, when you can do all those kinds of things, but when you're doing a live performance, anything can happen, and that's the joy and the excitement. And you know, you got to do it and let it go. All the good stuff will come, right? Now, your authenticity bank, this is the the really, the really uh deep one. Um my authenticity is being unscripted and unrehearsed and just putting it out there, uh, following a note structure so this way I don't, I'm not rambling and not making sense because some people do that. I'm like, I walk away with confusion, maybe sometimes, or like, oh, that was entertaining, but um chaotic. I don't like chaos. I like to, I'm a beginning, middle, and end kind of person. So, but I want to be authentically free and say what I think. Because there are a lot of people out there saying a lot of shit that they that they think right off the top of their head. I'm like, hmm, maybe you should not have shared it that way. There's other ways to have done uh, you know, but who am I to say? Um yeah, I'm I'm offering my point of view while maintaining a delicate balance within the algorithmic policies. I think. Perhaps. I monitor the way I speak, like I said a second ago. I I try not to use foul language. I'm you know being my best authentic self without judgment. It's especially self-judgment, like uh, maybe I should redo this, you know. I just hit record, I follow my notes, and I I don't edit anything out. Unless, like I said before, I take some things out or change change things around. But once I'm recording, that's it. There it is. So not caring what people think while inviting engagement. I think that's that's the key. I really want to hear from you guys. I really want the feedback. So far, a lot of people have been, you know, like one guy mentioned this sticker on my, you know, he said you look like an idiot. Uh you should take it off, and I just replied, no. So what? There's a sticker on it. It's the it's the moda. Um, someone replied to another post that you know, uh it's it's fun. I look forward to like seeing, oh, did someone and I get alerts if someone responds. So that's the other thing too. Setting up your alert so this way you know you're not searching for it. If you get an alert saying, oh, you got this, this, and this it reaction or inter engagement or interaction, that's good enough. That for me anyway, that should be good enough. Like, oh, that's good. Let's see what they said. You know, maybe it's something you should remove because they were like not so nice, but at least you have that much. And it's that the tools are there to help keep you sane and to to be authentically yourself, I think. Um yeah. Sorry for the long silence there for those listening. I was just reflecting on everything I just said. I feel like I feel like I don't know if I hit all the points I wanted to on this because you know, let's review. You know, are we drowning in the landscape where our artistry is reduced to data points for the 2026 algorithmic grind? Is the pursuit of the next big idea or project eroding our finances, our mental health, and authenticity, forcing us to trade our creative souls for unsustainable survival? And I think confronting the exhaustion behind the curated smiles has to happen so we can find balance. I think I may have given a point of view on that. Because I know for sure that uh sometimes people are not what they seem. Um they're putting on airs, uh, they're trying to be this persona. Um and it's uh disappointing. Um, but I think they lose out in the end because they're not really themselves, so they're not getting what they sh should from it, right? They're constantly looking for more. Um especially when I think back on the Manosphere uh um documentary I watched as it it's it's something like that, I suppose. How people view themselves and what what they want to project, how they want people to perceive them, and it's really not who they are. Um so now you tell me. I want to know. I um how do you how have you as a content creator managed your your authenticity, your mental health, and uh your finances while creating? You know, are you are you relentless in your continuous grind, or you know, do you just go with the flow or pace yourself? I'd really like to know. Um I'd really yeah, I really want to know that. Do you even care? Do you even give a shit? You you know, I you can say, Mike, I don't give a shit about this. I just like looking at your beard. It's okay, no judgments. You can say, Oh, this is stupid. Write that. I don't care. No, don't be mean though. Yeah, I do want to hear from you guys. So listen. Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, everyone, for being here for season two of Unscripted and Unrehearsed. This is the season two finale if you haven't caught on yet. Um if you made it this far, and in honor of the Artemis 2, um, I want you to uh comment below with a moon and a rocket emoji, or rocket and a moon, whichever way you want to put it. I do that. I want to give a special shout out to all my listeners in Los Angeles, Rochester, Portland, Chicago, Houston, Dallas, New York City, and Zurich. Thank you for listening, you guys. I appreciate you all. Um, and a shout out to all my viewers in uh Canada, the UK, Australia, Germany, South Africa, and Italy. Thank you for watching, spending some time with me here. Um, I appreciate you. Maybe uh I'll get to meet some of you guys sometime. Feel free. You can you can always write. You can like, follow, and share. And if it when I get to 500 subscribers on my YouTube channel, I'll be able to offer a merch because I have some stuff that I would like for you guys to consider or have if you wanted. Um, but that I don't get those privileges until I have at least 500. So I'm at 417, 418, 418, yes. So hey, share, share this with a friend, you know. Maybe you'll get a special prize. Uh if you're watching, hit that bell, like button. Uh five stars if you want to rate me. I appreciate it. It helps me keep rising up in the algorithm. And um, if you're if you're listening, the the that's it's great. Rate, rate me. Rate, I really would like that. Um and for those of you uh who haven't heard the news, there's a new feature that I'm excited to let you know about. Um, you can now send me a voicemail message through the BuzzSprout link. So if you go to browspout.com, search for unscripted and unrehearsed, see my beautiful smile. Uh, click on any episode, and you'll see it right underneath the player when it opens, send us fan mail. And right there, you'll see a page will open up. You can click send uh send voicemail or send fan mail. Either one you get to send. So if you do that, I'll get to hear from you. And maybe I can respond to any question you might have or a comment you might make, but it'll be from you to me directly, not in any intermediary or you know, random phone number or whatever. It's gonna be from you to me. Well, I guess BuzzSpot is the intermediary. And of course, you can always head over to my uh Patreon page for um bonus episodes and more. All right, so listen, I thank you all so very much. Um I'm gonna take a few weeks off. I'm gonna focus on some physical fitness and some music and doing all the things, try to get ready for a nice, cool summer. And I will be back soon. Listen, be safe, be happy, pursue your dreams, enjoy the summer. I can't wait to hear all about it when we get back. Bye.