Michael Strassner Turns His Darkest Days into Indie Gold

What does it really take to turn heartbreak into a career breakthrough? We sit down with actor-writer Michael Strassner for a raw, generous conversation about the long road from Baltimore movie kid to leading an indie feature that filled 500 theaters and won the South by Southwest Audience Award. It starts with early laughs—Robin Williams, Jim Carrey, wrong-shoe bits—and the thrill of seeing his own city through John Waters. Then the path narrows: understudy years in college, the Groundlings gauntlet, and a dream shot at SNL that ends in silence.

From there the story gets real. Michael opens up about the crash after rejection, a terrifying night, and the choice to ask for help. Sobriety reshapes the work and the person, turning shame into service and vulnerability into a superpower. Instead of waiting for permission, he starts making: tiny Instagram sketches, a self-driven short, and a DM exchange with Jay Duplass that turns into a collaboration on Baltimorons—an intimate, funny, human film about one night, friendship, recovery, and home. We dig into the writing process, dozens of drafts, on-set lessons, and the surprising data point everyone should remember: theatrical isn’t dead when the story is alive.

Along the way, we highlight practical takeaways for filmmakers, actors, and writers: create relentlessly, write for yourself, seek mentors who ship work, and let imperfection be the toll for honesty. You don’t need a star to start. You need community, consistency, and the courage to be seen, warts and all. If you’ve been waiting to make your first short, sketch, or feature, consider this your nudge.

Subscribe, share with a friend who needs a push, and leave a review to help others find the show. And if you want to sit in the guest chair one day, there’s only one rule: film shit.

Transcript

Meet Michael Strassner

SPEAKER_01 0:00

Hey everyone, how's it going? My name is Nate Kaywood. I'm a Los Angeles-based cinematographer, and this is Film Shit, a podcast where I sit down with a working professional in the film and TV industry. I ask them how they got to where they are, what it is that they do, and what they think the future of the industry looks like. Today, I am extremely excited to have this guest on. I'm so grateful that you are here. He is a writer, he is an actor, he is a soon-to-be director. Recount directing? Yeah, you can't do that. Okay, great. I love to hear that. Of course. A very dear friend and an incredibly talented guy. And truly, I don't say this um lightly, an absolute inspiration to me, and I'm so grateful that you're here. Please welcome Michael Strassner.

SPEAKER_03 0:44

Thank you very much for having me, Nate. It's an honor to be here. Are you kidding me? This is so cool. And that you even said like working professional is very fun to hear. Because I'm like, is that me?

SPEAKER_00 0:54

Yeah, I guess it's a good idea. It is you. Oh my gosh, you're being so humble.

SPEAKER_01 0:57

Of course it is you. Like, we haven't even I I can't wait to talk about the Doritos commercial. You know what I mean? Yeah, that's just what I always love diving into that heart. The first one, I was like, let's start with the Doritos.

Early Movie Obsessions And Baltimore Pride

SPEAKER_03 1:08

It was so rewarding to be at Stop by Southwest for a movie that I got to co-write and be the lead of and have this really emotional moment. And then this 22-year-old girl right after the movie walked outside the theater and said, Loved you in the Dorito spot. And I was like, Oh man, thanks. Thanks.

SPEAKER_00 1:27

Did you see the movie that was up there? That was that was okay. That was okay.

SPEAKER_01 1:30

I wasn't I wasn't bothered by that. Yeah, but yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:32

Um yeah, the alien abduction.

SPEAKER_01 1:34

It's all the hey, this this is this is what you are known for. Exactly, exactly. Um okay, Strasner, thank you so much for being here. I'm excited. So just to be clear, you are an actor writer. This is the thing that you're probably most known for in the industry, right? And you have gotten the itch to do directing soon, and hopefully that's something that you'll be checking off the box as well.

SPEAKER_03 1:56

Yeah, I mean, I I've directed some smaller things, of course, like shorts and like, you know, that type of just sketches and those things. But yeah, no, I definitely down the road in the next couple years, I'd love to direct um something. And uh I think I think it might happen soon, so we'll see. But no, but acting and yeah, acting has always been my favorite. It's what I kind of got started on, and writing has been more of a like I have a ton of imposter syndrome around that where I'm like I think we all do. Yeah, it's like, is this good? Is this good, you know, and all the things and yeah, well, the first one's not gonna be great, like then you do it again and again and again, and of course I feel like I've just learned so much in the last couple years from the guy, but yeah, from doing it and from mentors that have become friends, and yeah, you know, I mean we've known each other for what uh many years. I mean, at least over a decade, right?

SPEAKER_01 2:48

Yeah, yeah, you know, and and and the the trajectory and the journey is always changing, right? It's always uh evolving. But that actually like so part of the way that I'm hoping to structure the podcast is like like I am from a place that I and you're originally from Baltimore, and this may be the case for you, right? Like I'm from a place in the in the United States in the world where I didn't know that people wrote TV shows, and I didn't know that directors like existed, like I didn't think past whatever I was seeing on TBS, right? Like I just didn't be like, well, how who made that thing? Like, how did you come to be like, I'm gonna be an actor?

SPEAKER_03 3:30

Um, well, you know, early on in my childhood, I would see movies that I probably shouldn't have seen at three or four. Yeah. Um, I saw Mrs. Doubtfire at three, and then I saw Ace Ventura at four or five. And I my mom would take me to the movie theaters. Like she would, like, we would go after school and we would go to an old theater on York Road that was like a four multiplex theater that I missed, like those ones so much. Yeah. Um, and we would just like me and my mom just loved going to the movies. Uh, and I remember I left Mrs. Dalfire, and I came home and I put on my sister's dress and a wig and her high heels in the wrong shoes, like I had it on the wrong shoes. Yeah. And my mom's like, Michael, what are you doing? And I'm like, I'm Euphrijed Dowfire, my dear. And I did, and I did the same thing with Ace Ventura. I put my hair up and I'd be like, alrighty then. And I would just bug the hell out of my sisters and bug the hell out of my dad. And, you know, even the Mrs. Dalfire thing, I was wearing a dress for like two weeks, and then after he my dad walked in on me peeing, sitting down, he was like, This is over, bud. All right, you're gonna go play with your G.I. Joes. And uh, you know, but that was just 1993, so a little different than now. Um, but you know, he just but but truly, like I just I loved going to the movies, and I would go like, you know, even when I was 12 and 13, and I would just walk to the movie theater by myself and just go see something that was playing. Yeah, like I really felt like I like escaped in these theaters, and um and uh unlike your story a little bit, you know, I saw a John Waters movie, Serial Mom, when I was like 11 or 12, and I would see my city, Towson, Baltimore, on screen. And I was like, okay, wait, so they shot that here, like this can be done here, you know. And like that was always super like cool because John Waters would like come into my mom's like uh um retail store that she worked at, and like he was a part of the community, and so you know, like I I think he was somebody that I was like, okay, like he lives in Baltimore and he's a director and writer, it can be done, but I think I still need to kind of leave the nest a little bit to um to give it a shot.

SPEAKER_01 5:49

That's incredible. I mean, that's so that I mean that's such a gift, right? Like, I like obviously I think that's a thing that we talk about now, right? Like being able to see representation and seeing yourself on screen. It's like why a lot of underrepresented communities are craving stories for for younger people. Like what you're saying is like I can see my neighborhood, therefore I know a story can be told about it. Yeah, here, about these people, about my neighbors, about my parents, about me. Like, that's such an important thing. And man, that's so awesome to hear that that was like part of your movie rearing was being able to see, and what an interesting filmmaker to like look towards as a as um a guiding light, I guess.

SPEAKER_03 6:33

Yeah, I mean, Crybaby also was one that I saw at an early age where that that that was shot at my mom's high school. So it's like you know, like Towson I was right there, and like um, yeah, and I just remember like in the 90s when I grew up and watched those movies, Cecil Be Demented is another one that like was filmed at the Senator, which was like our movie theater there. Yeah. Um, which, you know, we got to premiere Baltimore ons at, which is like the coolest thing in the world. But you know, like I remember seeing my city and being so proud of it in those movies. And like, you know, in recent years, I feel like um, you know, the Baltimore has not really been shown in the best light. And like, again, like Baltimore's like every other city, like Chicago's got, you know, an incredible, beautiful city as well, but also has crime as well. But like Baltimore just always seemed to get this rep after some David Simon shows that like it was the the shitty town or whatever, and like I just was so proud of what Baltimorons did because it was it showed us in like a this is a communal place, and like especially for independent filmmaking, everybody from Baltimore lent their cars, places, you know, uh time they came in as extras and like helped make this thing come true. So, like the city's incredible, and I'm super proud that you know we were able to represent it in such a

Groundlings Grind And SNL Hopes

SPEAKER_03 7:52

great way.

SPEAKER_01 7:52

Yeah, great. Let's take a really quick moment because I want to come back to like your genesis story, like your origin, but like let's explain to people what Baltimore's is, and because it's gonna come up throughout the rest of the podcast. So um tell us about Baltimore's, of course, yeah. Sorry.

SPEAKER_03 8:05

Uh Baltimore is a uh independent movie that Jay DuPlace directed. Um, him and I wrote it together, and it stars myself and Liz Larson, uh, who is a powerhouse. Um yeah, and Jay is Jay and I met on Instagram, we became friends. Uh he helped me with a short film that I um wrote and started and directed. And then as a thank you, I took him out to lunch and I told him a little bit of my story and um how I got sober. And he reached out to me four months after that and was like, I want to back in someone's life and do a movie. You're the first person that came to mind. Do you want to do it? And I was like, that sounds incredible. Yeah. I know how like that story is like the point zero zero zero zero one percent.

SPEAKER_01 8:50

That's the equivalent of being an attractive young woman in the Woolworths counter getting discovered on the uh producer came in. Like, what?

SPEAKER_03 8:59

Truly, it's like this is insane. And like, you know, it is the you've been out here for 12 years and like something happened. Yeah, you know, and uh it was the coolest experience. Jay and I wrote together. Um, and we just kind of like we took some stuff from my life and formed it into one night on Christmas Eve, uh, that this guy meets his dentist and they become friends and they go all around Baltimore City. Um and, you know, it was this little movie that could. We shot on a shoestring budget of, you know, we were nominated for the John Cassavetti's award for the Independent Spirit Awards. It's any movie under a million, and we were closer to that uh lower half of the million. Um and it was just like the coolest, truly like the coolest experience to get to go back to my hometown to shoot 16 days in December of 2023, and to get to shoot it with like all my friends and family. My mom's in it, my dad's in it, my niece is in it, my fiance Jess, who's incredible, she's in it. Um and you know, even just making the movie by itself, like that was the reward. Yeah. Everything that came after it, premiering it South by Southwest, winning the audience award, having IFC distribute it and do an incredible job. Um everybody over there, Scott Schumann and uh Danielle, who was our PR person, like just made this movie like we they told us we can be in a hundred theaters. We got it up to 500, and it was this little movie that could in September that like you know, and that Baltimore showed up for, you know, they they kept going to that movie all the way until January. That's incredible in theaters. So, like, when people tell you, like, you know, well, movies are dying and movie theaters are dying, and and you know, everything's going to streaming and all this stuff, it's like well, this was definitely not the norm, but this little movie made for very little, yeah, didn't go to streaming, went to theaters, had a good theatrical run, and didn't have any stars in it, you know. Right. And so, like, when people say things about their independent movies and like, well, we need to have this and we need to have that, and we go out and make the thing, right? You know, and I and I know how fortunate I am to have somebody like Jay in my corner that was like, no, like to put Liz and I up there and you know, showcase us was just such a gift.

SPEAKER_01 11:21

Yeah, that's incredible. I mean, like, please go see the movie because or check it out wherever it's possible to see it because it's an incredible film. And um yeah, I mean, it was it's there's a whole genesis of a story of my life over the last year that has been completely shaped by this movie, um, which we'll get to later. But um, so I'm so we understand you performing Jim Carrey and Robin Williams in your childhood home, which I think a lot of us can relate to. Like, those were such huge touchstones, I feel like, for anybody that was just attention seeking as a performer.

SPEAKER_03 11:58

And I remember getting laughed. Like, that's the thing is like I remember like I remember even like as you're saying this, I'm like, I remember I would do it at like my Aunt Sue's house, and she would be laughing at this. And like, I'd never seen something I did make somebody laugh. Right. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 12:12

Well, even just hearing you say you're like putting on your mom's shoes on the wrong feet, I was already like hilarious bit. Oh man, that's such a strong bit, dude. Tiny little feet, wrong shoes. Come on, we're all laughing.

SPEAKER_03 12:22

Exactly, you know, and like it's and then like I think that and like making people laugh was like my first real drug that I just absolutely loved. I can relate to this very strongly, and and you know, and then you know, I was always like the class clown in high school and like constantly getting sent to the office because of stuff. And what was your favorite bit in high school? Did you have one? Um, I would call teachers doctors, even though they don't have their doctorate. Yeah. So like there was this guy, Mr. Holler. Yeah, Dr. Holler. Yeah, and I always be like, doctor. And he was like, it's

Rejection, Spiral, And Asking For Help

SPEAKER_03 12:55

it's still just Mr. Yeah, didn't go the extra time. Um, but uh and he's like somebody that I just truly like, he was one of those. I had really amazing teachers, and I like put them through hell looking back on it. But like I went to this Jesuit high school, and you know, like I think they really like I think they started laughing at my stuff too when I was like junior and senior. Like, I remember one thing we we uh we had to pick a song for history that changed the world. And like, you know, my one friend picked uh Sublime April 1992, whatever that one was. Yeah, yeah, the riots. Yeah, about the riot, yeah. Uh somebody else picked Bob Dylan, like blowing in the wind, and I picked David Hasselhoff looking for some freedom. And uh and I was the only one that they they didn't they couldn't get through the whole song because it's that bad. Yeah, it was like we're turning this off, but I got like an A plus on it because of like creativity and like you know, and I talked about the Berlin Wall and how much people in Berlin love David Hasselhoff. It's just like that's the type of like where my brain would go, where it's like, even for an assignment, I'm gonna try to make it a joke.

SPEAKER_01 14:03

Yeah, of course. Um I understand that. I did I one time in my first public speaking class in my freshman year of college, um, I uh we were debating against somebody else, and I convinced the class that Luigi is better, Luigi is better than Mario.

SPEAKER_00 14:18

I think that was my biggest.

SPEAKER_01 14:20

Luigi is better. You're like Bob, who's ever heard of Bob Hoskins, who performed as Mario? Bob Who Hoskins? Yeah, exactly. Like John Leguizamo, baby.

SPEAKER_03 14:28

Everyone knows him from the pest. Exactly. You know, right? He's incredible. Yeah, but you know, but I also never like I never took like any improver sketch stuff till I got out to LA.

SPEAKER_01 14:40

Like, so did you uh what was your post-high school look like?

SPEAKER_03 14:44

Went to University of Maryland. Um and why why? Well, I went to East Carolina for a year because I couldn't get into Maryland. Uh-huh. Uh I went to University of Maryland because it was in my mom and dad's divorce agreement that my dad would only pay three-fourths of Maryland, and my mom would have to pay the other fourth. So we all came- It had to be Maryland. It had to be University of Maryland.

SPEAKER_01 15:02

Okay, well, now you've opened up an interesting door, and you don't have to talk about this, but so let me know. Like, how did you um when did your parents get divorced?

SPEAKER_03 15:09

I was eight when they separated. They were gonna do it on a Saturday night at a restaurant, and then see I'm like, I'm right in. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. You're like, yes, and I'm here. They were gonna do it at this restaurant uh on York Road, they had us all there, and then two of their friends entered during it. So they were like, God damn it, we can't do it too. Yeah, it got awkward. It got awkward. That's a hilarious scene in the movie somewhere. Truly. Um, and so the next day was a Sunday, and I was playing Super Mario Brothers. Okay. Um not as Luigi probably. Yeah, not as whatever. Because we weren't allowed. Ridiculous. Um, and they were like, okay, come upstairs. And then, you know, they told us that like dad's moving out, and uh, and that was yeah, that was I was eight. My sisters were a little older. I think they were like 11 and 14. So two older sisters, two older sisters, yeah. You're the youngest? I'm the youngest, but then my dad uh remarried and it was like a merger family. Sure.

SPEAKER_01 16:05

So uh so half half siblings or uh steps, copy.

SPEAKER_03 16:09

But we've all known each other for a long time, so we're yeah, it's brothers, yeah. Yeah, brothers and sisters. Yeah, got it.

SPEAKER_01 16:13

That's and was it like you know, like divorce is a really difficult thing for kids, especially that's quite a young age, you know? Like, is was it a thing that shaped you? Like, do you feel that comedy was still a way for you to find uh space and position in life through comedy that period?

SPEAKER_03 16:31

I mean, I definitely I definitely always loved making my mom laugh. Yeah, because she never remarried, and like you know, I think like I was just I was I'm I'm a mama's

Sobriety, Shame, And Owning The Story

SPEAKER_03 16:42

boy and I still am, you know, like and uh it was just always very important to me to like even all the stuff that's going on, like I want to make sure that she's happy, yeah, you know, and constantly trying to play that role, whatever that is. Yeah. Um but yeah, like I think I had a big and my dad would say it, he was like, You have a ginormous chip on your shoulder. Yeah, and uh and I just kind of kept that chip for like a long time. Just with like about the separation, about the separation and about the way things went down and all that type of stuff, and you know, I just really I held on to resentment for a long time. Yeah. And it it it fueled my it fueled my comedy. I think like okay, I'm gonna stop at nothing to do this for a living. And then also like it fueled like you know, I think I am sober, but I think uh it didn't make me, you know, an alcoholic drug addict, but I think it was like the kindle or kiddle, whatever. Yeah, kindling kindling that like started the fire. Yeah, stoked it.

SPEAKER_01 17:42

Stoked it up. Gotcha, copy. Uh yeah, I can I I understand that greatly. Yeah. Um okay, so after so you started doing bits in high school, you're you know, there's like this large emotional thing that's happening within your family when you're pretty young. Like you're getting new stasis and figuring that sort of stuff out. And so you you go to the University of Maryland because your dad is like, yeah, yeah, yeah. This is where you're gonna go.

SPEAKER_03 18:06

Yeah, but I also have a funny story. My mom got she got um, she got fired one day when we when I was in high school. Yeah, she was working at a uh a loan place. It's not called a loan place, that's a bank.

SPEAKER_01 18:17

Um when you said loan place, I was like, yeah, like a check and go or like a temporary like loan, like she was working like a mortgage company. No, an actual bank.

SPEAKER_03 18:28

And uh and she got let go one day. And I remember she came home and I was playing a video game again. Big video game. Um, but she came home and uh she was like, Do you want to go to the movies? Like, I I I got fired today. I was like, Yeah, yeah, of course, mom, like we can do whatever you want. And I would always like in high school, I would take her to like a further away movie theater because I was afraid like my friends would see her. Now I want to be seeing my mom wherever, yeah, anywhere. Um, but I I was like, Yeah, okay, I I think I found the right one. And I took her to go see Blade Trinity, which is just insane that like she got fired, and then I took her to like a vampire. Yeah, yeah. You want to see the third installment of Wesley's snipes destroying vampire. My mom's like, what did you bring? Like, and she was like, I like Ryan Reynolds, he was funny, like you know he was. I heard there's a lot of turmoil and set on that one, you know? Um but it was just like it's just such a funny thing, like that's what we did, you know, and she was just always game for anything, and she still is.

SPEAKER_01 19:26

So oh man, that's so that's so awesome. Yeah, that's um uh yeah, I get that. Like I like I was like, oh, I understand this.

SPEAKER_03 19:34

But then went to University of Maryland, um, studied. I was a I think a I well, I went to East Carolina for a year and then uh University of Maryland and studied like I think communications for like maybe a semester, and I was like, I don't want to do this. Yeah, like I really just want to do I I I want to act, whatever that looks like. Did they have a theater program? They had a theater program, they didn't have any film or TV or anything like that. So I went to their theater. I remember my guidance counselor was like, um, or college counselor

Making Baltimorons With Jay Duplass

SPEAKER_03 20:02

was like, you know, they it's very like if you're in the theater department, like you're very much like in this group, like they don't really hang out with anybody else. And I was like, okay. Um, I didn't really hang out with them because I was in a fraternity, yeah, too. So I like was still partying and stuff, so I was like the one person that kind of didn't go back and forth. But um, what's so funny is like I never got any roles in any of the plays. I was always understudied. And like, yeah, you weren't politicking, dude. I was not politicking at all, constantly the understudy. And what's funny is like I see some of the or like some guys that like were the leads in everything, they stopped acting six months out of college. And I why do you do you have a theory about that? My theory is I was already kind of getting trained of like being like, well, like you're not gonna get you're taking your lumps. Yeah, exactly. Like you're not getting the role or whatever, but I just think was so hard-headed where I'm like, well, I'm gonna do this no matter what, like, I'm not stopping. And I think they when they're when they were small fish and you know, or sorry, big fish in a small pond, yeah. That's great.

SPEAKER_01 21:10

But when you go into the real world, you know, it's yeah, when you go into the real world, you're competing against Brad Pitt for the lead of the movie, bro.

SPEAKER_03 21:19

Exactly, exactly.

SPEAKER_01 21:20

Oh, it was sorry, uh, the guy who got uh you know the lead of thoroughly modern milli at the University of Maryland didn't 08 or whatever.

SPEAKER_03 21:28

I actually was in a show called Am I Black Enough Yet? Um as an understudy. Um I played all the white roles. Yes, and one scene one scene I had to play a black character, which I they didn't make me do any like I didn't thank God, but um yeah, it was a it was a really interesting play, and uh that was that was interesting. Yes, that was transformative. Yeah, it was. Okay, well that's great. Um so that was what they're doing at the University of Maryland, and uh yeah we so ha so

SPEAKER_01 22:00

Did you Okay, so did you graduate? I graduated. You got a you have a degree. I have a degree in theater from University of Maryland. Okay, great.

SPEAKER_03 22:06

And then you were immediately like Los Angeles bound. My big thing was like, you know, I flirted with New York. I did have one class. Did she flirt back? She's not. I mean, it's always been a flirt. Like I love New York.

SPEAKER_01 22:18

She's very appealing here.

SPEAKER_03 22:19

Yeah. But uh I, you know, I always I sorry, I was in a class called Business of the Business or Business of the Biz at Maryland. It was like the senior class you could take. Sure. And we had actors come in and producers and writers come in and talk to us about what the business is like. And we had um Delaney Williams come in, who was on the wire, and he came in and he was like, Yeah, this is a hard career. Like, good luck. Um, but I like I I I actually still am in contact with him, and he's been so like he was possibly gonna be in Baltimore's, and we became friends like that, and he's just been very supportive still to this day, which is something I'm so grateful that I'm still like I was like, I reached out to him and I was like, Hey, you probably don't remember me, but you came into business at the biz. Yeah, um, he was so awesome. And uh, and then there's another girl there was like who's in my class, she's like, I'm gonna go to Chicago and do Second City, and I'm like, What's what's Second City? What is that? Like, I don't know, you know, okay, cool, have fun in Chicago. Like, LA is where movies is, yeah, uh, movies are. Um, and she also's probably better at grammar than me. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Well, I mean, no judgment. I was like, Yeah, LA is where movies is. Yeah, I was like, okay. Yeah. Um, but uh she or so then I came out here and I was like, okay, who are my heroes?

SPEAKER_01 23:36

So you're like early 20s, like 21, 22, right?

SPEAKER_03 23:39

You're like, I'm it's happening. It's happening.

SPEAKER_01 23:41

Where did you land in town?

SPEAKER_03 23:42

What part of town?

SPEAKER_01 23:43

You lived in Venice? Venice, my first neighborhood.

SPEAKER_03 23:44

It's your first neighborhood, good happening. Yes, indeed. Um, with Timmy Harrington and Max Osteller. Uh Timmy is one of my oldest friends and he's incredible. Um, and Max was my, he would he, him and I shared a room our first year.

SPEAKER_01 23:58

Yeah, sure.

SPEAKER_03 23:58

Uh I know that's which was which was not fun. But landed in Venice, and I was like, okay, who are my heroes? Well, Mike Myers, Bill Murray, Chris Farley, John Belushi. Uh-huh all people that went to Second City that I could have.

SPEAKER_01 24:12

Yeah, you were like, wait, wait, wait, wait. Wait, I couldn't have to.

SPEAKER_03 24:17

Yeah, what is the second city? And why didn't I um so I did not uh go there, and then I was like, who else do I like? And I was like, Will Farrell, Will Forte, Kristen Wig. So I did the Groundlings, uh, where we met our wonderful mutual friend, Brett Maline. Yeah, Brett, who is just uh he was one of the first, one of the first friends that I met there and um, you know, had a great sense of community and really learned what comedy was there, you know.

SPEAKER_01 24:44

Uh so your early 20s, you're starting at the groundlings. So um, for those that don't know, the groundlings is a prolifically successful comedy theater that does live improv and sketch shows on a nightly basis on Melrose in Los Angeles. It's the uh that storefront and school is the only version that they have of that, right? Like you had to be in the groundlings to become a groundlink member, you have to be in LA. There's no like, yeah, there's no other there's no like, oh, I did New York's Groundlings. It's like, no.

From Instagram Bits To Greenlight

SPEAKER_01 25:15

Um, it's uh it's known in the community for having an extremely high attrition rate, meaning that it is prestigious because of how difficult it is. That is like the notoriety that Groundlings has, which is like if you make it here, you are the best the city and arguably the world has to offer.

SPEAKER_03 25:34

Yeah, yeah. And I, you know, and I just really liked my classes. I I liked this the crew that I was kind of uh doing improv with there and moved up the ladder there to their Sunday Company, which is like their triple A team that performs every Sunday, and it was really great.

SPEAKER_01 25:50

And uh, you know, we had How old were you by the time that you got to Sunday Company? Because like the thing is like you I I feel like you very not not in like a glib way, but that uh that's probably like five years that you're talking about.

SPEAKER_03 26:03

No, I mean yeah, like it takes. I think I was I was 26, I think, when I started. Okay. Um started Sunday Company. Right. Okay, so for for like four years. Yeah, four, four or five, yeah, I think, yeah. I think it was four years. Because I I um I had this teacher for writing lab called a named Kevin Kapatrick, who was great. Yes. Uh he um taught me, and then there was somebody who dropped out of advanced, which is like the one right before uh Sunday Company, and they were two weeks in, and he called me and he was like, Hey, I know you're gonna be you would have missed two weeks, but like, you know, do you want to kind of jump in? Because we need another person. Right. And so I got bumped up to do that. Right. And I was like, Yeah, okay, like I feel like I, yeah, I want to do it.

SPEAKER_01 26:46

And so I did it, and um, and then I got into Sunday, which was which is again, like it is important to say like how difficult it is to get to Sunday Company from advanced writing lab. Like the attrition rate is huge. It's like 80 or 90 percent of people do not go through advanced writing lab to Sunday company. So this in and of itself is a huge accomplishment by 26 years old.

SPEAKER_03 27:06

Yeah, but I remember also like they were like, you know, I think like I had teachers be like, Well, don't go to UCB, like you're you're move, like you're going to trajectory here, like stay with us. Wow, that's so interesting, really. And and I was like, Oh, like, and so I never really got any other improv communities, it's you you really drink the Kool-Aid of wherever you're at. Um, and uh, you know, and and and I was grateful for it. It was it was it was fun. And um, you know, the second six months of Sunday that I did, there's only seven of us, and I got to test for SNL, which was like a full-on dream.

SPEAKER_01 27:43

And is that what was that always the goal? Like, like did you ever have that in the back of your mind that you were like all I want is SNL or 100%.

SPEAKER_03 27:51

Like I wanted to be the next Farley. Like that was the goal, truly, was to uh you know, to get to that level and like do it every single Saturday, and like just like my heroes, I'm gonna be a partier and all the things. And um, and I got how'd it go? Uh, you know, it went pretty well. We we had a showcase. Yeah, we we had a showcase in um at at the groundlings, yeah. And then a few of us went to New York. Um and then they did you had to do your same set from the showcase, so I did that. I felt like I heard laughs, I felt like it was fun, I felt like it went well.

SPEAKER_01 28:30

Yeah, which is like the the common thing is that it's like don't expect laughs. Exactly. Like that's the rule that everybody says.

SPEAKER_03 28:36

And I wish, I wish, especially because I've I I've watched a couple of like the um uh like the SNL 50 things where like they talked about the audition and stuff. I got a call from Lindsay, Chookus at the time to come back and do a final test. Like right after you had already. Oh, wow, okay. Yeah, yeah, for another. And I was like, So a second bite of the apple, second bite of the apple. And she was like, Yeah, we just really want to see like Michael. And I wish I don't regret anything, but

Festivals, Theatrical Run, And Community

SPEAKER_03 29:05

like I wish I knew who I was more at 26 or 27, whenever I was that I tested, to know what they meant by that.

SPEAKER_01 29:12

Yeah, it is a difficult thing. Like, man, boy, I'm trying to think back about being 26 and I was such an idiot. Um, I still am, just to be clear. But um but even like to know who I like and of course, how could you?

SPEAKER_03 29:24

Like, I was doing characters, like that's what I thought they like. I thought when they say Michael, it's like, well, I do characters. That's that that's me, you know. And in reality, I'm like, yeah, but like now looking back on that eight years later, it's like, yeah, but you are more than just characters, right? Like you are, like when you're saying you, like, what's what is Michael, you know, yeah, just as which is a great question, but whatever.

SPEAKER_01 29:46

Let's hear about the characters, man. Exactly. Yeah, like I want to hear about the characters, but seriously, who did you do for your first SNL showcase? I'm so curious.

SPEAKER_03 29:54

I well, there's just one thing that I always did at Groundlings that was like my favorite thing to do for forever, but it was this painter that would paint uh he was in like a college quad and he would paint um really badly to System of a Town Chopsui. So his like hair would go everywhere, and like I would just be painting like crazy, and then um then the college kid would like turn it off. Right. And then we get in a fight, and I would then like then I would uh I would put the paint away and I would bring clay out and I would do that to Papa Roach Last Resort. Right. Oh, okay.

SPEAKER_01 30:29

So it's just yeah, just uh like sort of heavy 90s. What was your third beat?

SPEAKER_03 30:35

What was the third third beat was Patrick Swayze, she's like the win. So I so I you undercut the exactly. So like so the guy would leave, and then it was me and the like the college co-ed on campus, and I was like, let me paint you. And then I would put on she's like the win.

SPEAKER_01 30:50

Is that what the let me do? Is that what it sounds like? It's like let me do this. Yeah, I love this guy. And uh did he have a name? I feel like ground the bigger. Demetrius. Demetrius, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 31:00

Yeah, he was definitely a Greek brother. Oh but that was one that I just loved doing because it was just like super fun, and it was like all I mean, I personally, I was I I I loved physical comedy. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 31:09

I love wait, you wanted to be the new Farley and you like physical comedy? Yeah, weird. I know, really strange, really strange.

SPEAKER_03 31:17

But you know, what's so crazy is like, and I don't know if I shared about this on the but like when I first got sober, like I thought my life, which is part part of the movie as well, is like I because it's the origin of that is um, you know, uh is how I got sober, so a failed suicide attempt, and then um I then uh you know went to the rooms of recovery to find hope. And I at that time I also was like, I'm not gonna be funny, my life's over, all these things that I thought were true. But when I first got sober, I read the Chris Farley show book, and the book opens up with him talking about um or him talking to uh a rehab facility.

SPEAKER_02 31:59

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 32:00

And he's like, you know, I'm 18 months sober, and if you can do it, anyone can do it. And um or if I can do it, anyone can do it. And it like struck me of like, wait, I had no idea he was sober. And then come to like as I continue reading, come to find out that you know, when he shot Tommy Boy, he was completely sober. His best work in my opinion. Right, you know, and I'm like, wow, like these are such you know, he's my hero, one of them, and like he loved being sober too.

SPEAKER_01 32:27

Right, you know, and it's which is uh part of the whole difficulty of the process and the journey of what it means to be that, because it's like not everybody gets each day, right? All right, well, I think that that's actually a really great segue because let's talk. There's there's a a chunk of time that I feel like we should talk about, right? Which is like there's uh a period of time where you get sober, and there is a period of time where you had tested for SNL, and there is uh in between those times, yeah. And um what was that moment in that how did that transpire? Well, when I didn't get SNL.

Create Relentlessly And Find Your Voice

SPEAKER_01 33:04

Okay, so you you did the second test, did the second test, bring Michael, and then but it is a 26-year-old that kind of went over your head, you're like, I don't know how to bring Michael out of new characters.

SPEAKER_03 33:13

Yeah, I brought up the characters and did some like, you know, did some stuff and thought I did pretty well on it, you know, I was pretty proud of it, but then didn't go my way, and it took me to like a just dark depression for the next four months after that. And were you still performing in the release? Yeah, I was still in the Sunday company there, and uh and what happened was it was the um it was a uh it was a Wednesday after pitch. I didn't get anything in the show, and also like that Christmas, like I remember it was getting pretty bad at Christmas time because I remember I was drinking and my mom came downstairs like 9 a.m. And it wasn't Christmas, it was another day, and she was like, and she saw me pouring whiskey into a glass, and she's like, Michael, what are you doing? It's like 9 a.m. And I was like, I'm on vacation, like what is it to you? And I was like being really mean, yeah, and I was like, I didn't like who I was becoming, and like also it's like who are you that you get to or that you think you can just drink at 9 a.m. like in your family's home? Like, what's you know, right? Yeah, what is this? And uh, and when I came back, you know, I had like two more weeks after Christmas where I was doing shows, and then that Wednesday after the pitch, I didn't get anything in the show, so I was super super Right.

SPEAKER_01 34:28

So that's like an emotional blow.

SPEAKER_03 34:30

Emotional blow hit me for whatever reason. And um then I drank that night, and then the next day I saw I got up at like 11, I turned my phone off. I saw three billboards, three billboards uh Ebling, Missouri. Yeah, three board board billboards. I can't say either nobody can say like Michael McDonough wrote this movie, and nobody can say the title. It's one of my favorites, yeah, yeah, yeah. But I was drunk when I saw it the first time. Okay, great. And I was super depressed. And if you were super depressed, yeah, that's not a good movie to see. Yeah, um, and then you know, I I came, I went to work that night, which I was working at a restaurant at that time, sweet chick. Um okay, great. And it's just chicken and waffles. Yeah, sounds incredible. Sounds incredible, really easy menu, and I was screwing up everybody's order because I was drunk. Right. So I was sending the wrong chicken, the wrong waffles to the wrong tables. And it's like, guy, there's two options here. Like, it's just like literally just checkboxes, yeah, just check boxes, yeah. Yeah, and so they sent me home. Yeah, and you know, my best thinking that night was I uh I don't want to be here anymore. And so the way the movie opens is the same way. I got sober, is I try to take my own life by hanging myself. And um, you know, luckily the belt broke because we even when it did, I was like, I thought about my mom, I thought about my niece, and I'm like, what are you like what like where are we? Like, like like what's happening here?

SPEAKER_01 35:51

You're saying you're having these thoughts after the belt broke. Yeah. Okay. And and what was the res what was the answer?

SPEAKER_03 35:57

I need to get help. And I asked for help the next day.

SPEAKER_01 36:00

And then you went to your first meeting.

SPEAKER_03 36:02

Yeah, I went to yeah. Then, well, they got me in contact with somebody who like we were mutual friends, and that person met me, and I was like, Why are you doing this? Like, why are you helping me? And he's like, You're gonna do it for somebody else someday.

SPEAKER_02 36:16

Right.

SPEAKER_03 36:16

And um, you know, I took a leave of absence from the school, and they're like, just focus on your sobriety, get well, get your mental health going.

SPEAKER_01 36:24

That's great that they did they had the ability to do that, yeah, yeah. And then and then then they let me go though. So so so that was an empty gesture. Yeah, but I think everything happened for the right reasons. True. Of course. I mean, like, that's uh I like this is obviously an important part of the conversation to be like, I am very grateful for you to be sharing this. Like, we've known each other for a very long time. Most of those years, probably I myself abstained from drinking alcohol because I know that I have an alcohol problem. And recently I've started going to the rooms and working the program and

Writing Process And Creative Mentorship

SPEAKER_01 37:00

have a sponsor, and so um, it's been really great to like sort of be on that journey and be able to have you as a resource and a friend and a fellow. And um, I'm just really grateful for that. And I'm grateful for you to feel comfortable sharing that here and in many other places as I know, obviously on the screen of Baltimore on's, because I think it is like really important that people that we talk about it, right? Like that is, I mean, that's one of the large the guiding principles of going to meetings is hearing people talk.

SPEAKER_03 37:30

Well, and I think the big thing for me is like, you know, I think when you share about your story and whatever that is, like whatever that is, I think the more you share about what you what happened for you, you know, um, I think it's just really helpful to then, or at least for me, like I don't feel like I have shame around it. Right. You know, like yeah, that happened. Like I was I was kicked out of a comedy school. Right. It's not the end of the world, right?

SPEAKER_01 38:02

And even though at the moment in time, right? I feel like the western identity was so wrapped up in the world. I feel like I lost this community. Oh my god, like all the time. It was you, it was like Michael Strassner, parenthetical the groundlings.

SPEAKER_03 38:14

Yeah, right. And you know, it was truly like looking back on it, like through recovery and through cleaning up my side of the street and making sure everything was all good, you know. Like I'm not afraid to see anybody. I'm not afraid to, you know, talk to anybody, you know, and I also I don't carry, I don't want to carry the shame around of that, you know, that happening. Right. You know, I I hit it, I you know, I face it right in front and be like, okay, like I'm and that's the thing about amends is like I'm sorry, yeah, and it won't happen. And and and and how can I make this right? Right. You know, and that's what I did there.

SPEAKER_02 38:54

Right.

SPEAKER_01 38:55

Which is yeah, that's such a powerful thing. And like I think it is um incredible that you were able to bring that to the screen as well, right? Like, I think it's a very it's apparent in the film that this is an important step of the process, which is um um adversity is grace.

SPEAKER_03 39:15

And then you also like like like you shared, it's like you know, the whole point of this whole life and journey and world is just to help somebody else out. Right. You know, like that that is the beauty I feel like of sobriety for me is like when I share about how low my depression got me and my alcoholism got me there, and that I, you know, got sober by a failed suicide attempt, it then can you can the amount of people that have reached out to me that I don't even know, right, like that grows exponentially, and it's just so beautiful to me that people, strangers are opening up, like, hey, I went through that too. Right, you know, and like if and I think it my opinion, like it's so courageous to be vulnerable. 100%, which I didn't think that way eight years, like I was like, oh, I'm taking everything to the grave with me. Right. Like

South By Breakthrough And Perspective

SPEAKER_03 40:10

I'm not, like, I'm not sharing this stuff, like my deepest, darkest stuff with somebody. Like that's crazy. Right. But now I feel like, oh, like I love sharing, you know, just my my lowest points because it's like it's not the big bag boogeyman anymore. Right. You know, and that's not who I am today. Right, right, right. Through other people showing me how to do it.

SPEAKER_01 40:32

Right. And also like the idea of like once you speak it out into the world, it's like this, it it takes away that thing that makes it so scary and so shame-filled and so um debilitating. Right.

SPEAKER_03 40:44

100%. And also like, you know, I feel like we're in a society that like they don't want to give second chances to people. Right. You know, and like and I think again, I think everybody's situation is very different and everyone is very but like I think the world could use a lot more forgiveness right now with every like with just teachings of like you know, uh stoicism and just being like, okay, like move on, let it go, you know, and uh keep living your life, you know, and also like we're all human beings, and that's another whole aspect of the movie that we like really wanted to show is like we're not perfect people, right? We're not, yeah. And uh, you know, people are messy and conflicted, and uh hopefully uh you learn something by watching people by watching people what they're doing, not like getting on your soapbox and saying, like, this is how it should be.

SPEAKER_01 41:39

Right, right, right, you know, it's about listening and like opening yourself up, yeah. Man, that's incredible. That like what in like I uh one of the reasons why I'm so grateful to have you here so early on in our process of discovering what this podcast is, is that it's like I think I just really want this to be a forum for to be able to have conversations like that where it's just like man, like we don't have it all figured out, like, oh, we didn't show up to this town, we just like magically made it happen. Or that it's just like I think that there's like this notion that it's just like talent is the thing that'll take you, and it's like no hard work and being humble and gracious and and like just doing being a human being are the things that get you to the places that you want to be, I guess. And those things, those those benchmarks change, I feel like by the day, by the year.

SPEAKER_03 42:29

Like, oh I mean, like, you know, I've had manifestation, not manifestation, I guess it's manifest, yeah. I have a like uh things I want to accomplish like every year, I'll put a new one up. And like in 2024 or 2023, number two was shoot a movie with J DuPlace. Right. Like that was on my list. Out of nowhere. It was like it was after we had our lunch that I thanked him and told him my story. I was like, after that lunch, I put him number two because number one is always stay sober, because without that, I don't have anything else. Right. That's been since day one, and like majority

Distribution Surprises And Global Tour

SPEAKER_03 43:00

of those things on those lists are like, you know, see different parts of the world I've never been to. My refrigerator at home, that is actually Jess, my fiancee's refrigerator, because she had a nicer one when she moved in. So it's her fridge. Yeah, yeah. It's her fridge, but it's mine. Yeah, but once you guys do the nuptials, everything's 50-50, baby. Maybe 50-50, exactly. Yeah, but since I got sober, like I have traveled the world and I get magnets from everywhere I go. I love that. And it is like my fridge is our fridge is covered in magnets. Yeah. And I like it's such a beautiful thing to me to look at that and be like, wow, Michael, like, look what you've done in sobriety. Right. Look, that and it's not just what you've done. It is like, I do not do it alone. Right. It is many things, but like by looking, by listening to other people and seeing how they do their days and how they do their routines and how they go to meetings and how they start their days, and you know, I just copy them. Right. And I see what they do. Done and like that. That's why, like, when you meet somebody in sobriety, that you're really like, Oh my god, like you're so awesome! Like, I want what you have. Yeah, like I want, like, like, how did you do it? And they're usually pretty open about doing that and telling you how they did it, right? And you know, like those like I I look at it every year, my manifestations, and like some things come true, some things don't, but like putting it on paper has made it really be something that like has become a reality for me.

SPEAKER_01 44:28

Yeah, that's incredible. I mean, like, let's talk about that, right? Like, let's talk about like how did you so you said earlier in the podcast there's like Jay hit you up and you guys had lunch and you told him the story and he can't stop thinking about this and he wants to like work with you to make a movie, and it's just sort of like, yeah, it seems like wow, you just hit the independent film lottery. Yes, true, but that's not really a hundred percent accurate, right? Because, like, what were you doing that made Jay contact you in the first place? Well, so I contacted him.

SPEAKER_03 45:00

Okay, great. Well, how did you? So I did, but but he followed me on Instagram. Okay, and the reason why he followed me was his his feed is all comedy videos, right? He doesn't like he's made it so like he doesn't see any non-comedy during the pandemic. He was like, I just want to laugh. Right. I don't want to see any outside world stuff. Like this is this thing is just for laughter. And I was putting up dumb videos that I was like, okay, like, you know, which like what what do you mean dumb videos?

SPEAKER_01 45:27

Describe them.

SPEAKER_03 45:28

Um, let's see, like I put up uh like I would be like like Brene Brown, like chastising her husband. Right. So I would like put on the pearls and all this stuff and you know, do an impression of her, or like I would do like um God, like Buffalo Bill talking to his Alexa. So I'd be like in the the the pink robe and dancing to goodbye horses and be like Alexa, where can I buy skin? Yeah, and then Alexa would come back and Alexa would be like, you can get skincare, like no human skin. Yeah, and like I saw Jay followed me on that. And one of the reasons why he said he actually like responded to me, and because why he wanted to work on the movie with me was like first of all, you you you came to me with a short film that you were gonna write, direct, and and star in. A lot of people just reached out to him sometimes, like, let me just grab a coffee and pick your brain. He's like, I don't want to do that. Right. I don't want to pick your brain, like you know, like I want to make shit. And like that's been their thing for forever, is like we make shit. Yeah, you know. Um and so and then he also saw just like he was like, you know, I didn't know if you could act, but I knew that like I knew that you were funny, and I knew that like the way we'd make this movie, we could still have some big themes in it, like alcoholism and menopause and mental health, but the way through is comedy, right? And you know, like he's somebody that truly took a chance on me that like he didn't have to, and it's been like the coolest thing in the world because I'm getting emotional because like you know, like he really is like this guy that is so incredible, so awesome, and so like he's like, I'm gonna have you be the lead of a movie that I'm directing. Yeah, you know, like that's crazy. Like

Lessons On Persistence And Humility

SPEAKER_03 47:20

I, you know, and he just was like he just took a shot on Liz and I, and it was like, and I'm always gonna be indebted to him because he, you know, he is independent filmmaking, in my opinion. And he is like he knows how to do it. Him and Mark and Mel and Shuly all over at Duplas, like they're just they're the best of the best, and they really want to elevate voices that haven't been seen yet.

SPEAKER_01 47:48

Yeah, you know. Well, I think one thing like for the audience to be able to see, though, is like I think it is important to acknowledge, like I agree, like I agree with you. Like, I obviously have read their book, like I've listened to all the interviews, like the um The Cavalry's Not Coming, Mark Tupla's speech at I think with Southfire or something. That I was like, that would have been on loop on my YouTube for like you know, download it as an MP3 and listen to the headphones. Um they are like independent cinema, but like I think it's important to recognize that they came from the school of just like we're gonna we're gonna make a goddamn thing and we're gonna make another goddamn thing, and then we're gonna keep making things until we die. Yes.

SPEAKER_03 48:25

And and they made a lot of and and Jay would say in my 20s, I didn't make a good thing. Like, I did not make good things, right? You know, and like in my 20s, I didn't make a lot of good things, right? I didn't make probably many good things, right? You know, I maybe didn't make any good things, but the you know, but like I I I feel like the only way I got better at everything was by doing it.

SPEAKER_01 48:50

Yeah, you have to, you know, and because the failure is the come up, yes, like that's the thing. But it it you you position it in a way that Jay took a chance on you, and that's not incorrect, but I think it's also important to recognize that it's like you had a skill set that you had been honing and crafting throughout your 20s, whether or not you were fully in your body while doing it or not. And then you had this incredible life change that you put in a lot of work on yourself, and then the thing because the thing that you just said was like when you first got sober, you're like, I'm not gonna be funny, but you were able to not necessarily get past it, but you were able to find a way of finding your voice again out once you have you had gone through that, right? Yeah, because it's important to recognize, I think, for the audience, for me, for everybody out there, that it's like Jay took a chance on you because you were putting shit out, like you were filming yourself being Michael. That's the thing that SNL was asking for. And Jay saw it, you just weren't at the place yet to be able to give it to SNL.

SPEAKER_03 50:02

Yeah, a hundred percent, you know, and like that's you know, such a beautiful way to say it. You know, I never thought of it that way. So but it's true.

SPEAKER_01 50:10

I mean, the thing is like you like I think the thing that's important that like the reason why I want to make this podcast is so that people who are on the other end can see it. There's like you get here when you sh when you film shit. Yes, you go out and you shoot something, somebody will see it. Yeah, is it great? Oops, no, okay. Next one is it better? Great, like the whole point is that you have to make and express yourself and be the human being and like put that stuff out and that's how you get better. That's exactly what you were saying.

SPEAKER_03 50:39

Yeah, and and and you really don't know who's watching sometimes a hundred percent, you know, and you don't know who's

Lightning Round Film Game

SPEAKER_03 50:45

becoming fans and who's you know, and it's just yeah, like he I think all three of us, Liz, myself, and Jay, were all like just waiting to do something. Yeah, you know, like we were we the the all the energy was there because Jay hadn't also done a movie in 14 years, right? So the fact that I wrote that on manifestations was kind of crazy in the sense that like he's not doing movies much anymore, you know. But um now, since then, he did Baltimore, and then he did this amazing movie, See You When I See You, that just premiered at Sundance and got incredible like reviews, and it was a powerful movie to be in with that, with the in the in the theater there, and like he's back and he's like, and it's like it's the coolest thing to see him now, you know, like fully being the director that like I mean that's all he's wanted to do is just direct movies, yeah. And he's really good at it, yeah. You know, he is, and it took many years to do that, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 51:39

Grinding, grinding, and most importantly, making making and putting out films, correct? Like, that's the way that both of them got to where they're at. Is that they were not their their fear to desire to create ratio was not in line with the way that would not allow them to put stuff out, you know what I mean? They were like, fuck it, we're making it.

SPEAKER_03 51:59

And the fear thing is what sets so many people back, I feel like, you know, and like that's something that like you know warts and all, it's like who gives a shit?

SPEAKER_01 52:14

Like, but isn't aren't the warts the things that make it human?

SPEAKER_03 52:17

Like that's the thing that's well no, that's I mean, I you know, the short film that I did with Jay, like I'm completely naked in it. Right, like I took a huge, I'm like, oh shit, oh man, I can't wait to see this. Send me the clips, of course. Clip it out, we're gonna put it on here. But you know, like I was just like, I'm gonna go for it, you know? And like, and he was like, You're fucking insane, like you're crazy, but it's funny that you're doing this, you know. Yeah, um, but it's like I just am like, just do it. Like, I know it's sound, I mean it's the most typical thing, but like go out and create the thing. Go out the thing that you're you find the most shame about, go out and make the thing about that. Right. You know, like be and I and and I I know how hard it is to just say that and be like so easy to say, hard to implement. Yeah, but like it's the it's the vulnerability that I've learned in the last 18 years that has been that has or sorry, that my last the last eight years that has made me be like, no, I'm gonna show that. Right, you know, and like getting to sit in the theater at all these film festivals and watch that opening scene and see a failed suicide attempt and in laughter has been really beautiful, but also I always sit in the movie theater for that scene to be reminded of how it could have gone. Right if it didn't go, you know. And so it's just a reminder of like one, stick around because you don't know what's on the other side, and ask for help and get the help you need.

SPEAKER_01 53:40

Yeah, man, that's so incredible. And we have Baltimore ones because of it, and it's it's amazing, and we have you, and we have the privilege of seeing what films come in the future and like what you

Closing Thoughts And Call To Action

SPEAKER_01 53:50

get to work on and what you get to create, and um like I I'm excited for it, dude. I'm genuinely excited to see what comes next for you. Like I'm excited for you. Thank you. You you're starting this whole thing, it's beautiful.

SPEAKER_03 54:01

Thank you. I mean it's incredible. Thank you. I'm I'm I'm grateful for that. Yeah, and and and you're putting in the work and you're being open-minded enough to be like, okay, like I want to like, I mean, your story's incredible. Of your like like I, you know, I don't want to speak for you, but like be like, I was doing acting for a long time and I wanted to shift into something that's different, and I and I and I want to learn that trait and get better at it. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 54:24

I do I want to get great at it, to be honest. And by what you're saying, like manifesting all that sort of stuff, part of the idea of this channel, part of me uh showing me doing analysis or me doing lighting and lens tests and putting it out in the world, is like, I don't know if that's compelling content or not, but like I know what it gives me is that it's showing me, it's showing the world that I'm willing to go and put in the reps and the time to be like, I want to be great at this thing.

SPEAKER_03 54:50

And but your short film that you put on your channel, um the one that's like just you. Oh, yeah, yeah. It's one of my favorites that you've done. And it's just like you just were like, I'm bored, I'm I need to do this. Yeah, you know? Yeah, I just felt compelled to like, oh, I gotta make a thing. Let's do it. And that's the thing. It's like go out and make the thing. Yeah. Go out and do it, and then do another and do another and do another. If you want to have a creative life, you know, if you just want to do one thing and like, you know, especially like now, if I was telling my 20-year-old self, like, I know you love acting, but like try to try to challenge yourself. And that's one thing I will give groundlings credit for 100%. They taught me how to write, right? They taught me how to write for myself, and like I had amazing teachers like Karen and Kevin that like really showed me how to do it. Yeah, you know, and like go and find that, like, and and and and and go and get those teachers and mentors in your life that believe in you, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 55:46

You know, well, all and you you can only get those people by showing up, yeah. Like you and putting yourself out there, yeah. You have to like show up, you gotta go to the classes, you gotta go to the networking event or the coffee or whatever the awkward thing is, and you gotta pull yourself out of the corner where it feels really safe, and like go out and talk to people and be like, here's my truth, and here's what I'm trying to do. And like, you can only be your best advocate for yourself, you know. Um, and that's how this town works is somebody's gotta advocate for you. And until somebody's willing to do that, you gotta advocate for yourself. 100%. Okay, well, I think we're getting too. I I'm I feel like we have too hot. It's so warm. Yeah, the one thing I'll say about the studio, get some air, brother. I know it's so hot. Well, luckily, we have a um like a power screwdriver going on in the background.

SPEAKER_00 56:32

Perfect, perfect.

SPEAKER_01 56:33

Which is like I love that during all of the like really earnest emotional moments that you were having, it was just like, well, this is when we need to drill into the drywall downstairs. Exactly. And that's that's been my MO for life.

SPEAKER_03 56:42

It's like I'm gonna get vulnerable and then it's just getting away. Yeah, and then here's the trash truck. Yeah, exactly.

SPEAKER_01 56:47

Well, I if anything, I do think that there's like a metaphor within the space, within the fact that it's like, yeah, dude, it's like in my mind of the version of this podcast that uh I woke up to this morning, there was not a power drill going in the background while you were like saying these incredibly earnest and beautiful and honest things. Um, and I would love to redo that at some point, but like uh it is what it is. Like, we're like we're we're just playing on the field that we're on. So it's like Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 57:13

I mean, there is there's this, I mean, early in sobriety, I listened also to Wayne Dyer, and there's something that's always stuck with me, is just like, which is a thing that I feel like I want to continue to carry on, is like being open to everything and attached to nothing. That is, and then see there it is. Yeah, exactly. But like it's like okay, like you know, and I think keeping that open-mindedness throughout life is like truly like you know how it works, right?

SPEAKER_01 57:38

Like for open-mindedness, like maybe we're scheduling these podcasts at 8 p.m. at night when there's not gonna be any work. Like, that might just be what we might be a weekend thing, you know. Exactly. Um it's important to talk about scheduling on here, I just for future guests. I think that is just like one of the things that uh my audience is clamoring for scheduling. Is what time and where? Yeah, and how are we doing it? Um okay, so let's talk really briefly about the like so so we understood how you met Jay and how that sort of came to fruition, and like you guys wrote Baltimorons Together, and um you guys then went and shot the film in your hometown of Baltimore. Correct. And um you then cut this movie together. Jay cut this movie together, and uh the world has seen it. And like, what was what was the what was the writing process like when you were like writing with Jay? How how did that actually work? Like, I mean it was the coolest.

SPEAKER_03 58:36

Like he just literally, like after after one DM, he sent me his address. He was like, Hey, yeah, come over here. And I was like, I am a stranger from the internet, and you want me to just like come over your house? Yeah. And he was like, Yeah. So like he, you know, that was just the first time. But then like I would go over to his house and uh, you know, I would tell him stories about my life and about my childhood and different things that we kind of can incorporate right storylines in that are not actually, you know, factually how it happened. Um and then uh we we wrote like a like 60 pager, and then we just kind of expanded on that each time. And like and I would say the first one, yeah, the first cut, the first draft it was like 60 pages, and then it got all the way up to like I think 95. Right. And we probably had like 16 or 17, maybe 20, like rewrites. So it was just constant, and and that's what I feel like just how lucky I am to get to have like a doctorate in how not only to write, I mean he let me like sit in for like all the directing sessions, like uh his edits he would say, or like for the film, he would send me all them, like I was CC'd on it, and I just like I got to see like what a true director and you know, like what it is, right? And how meticulous he is. And right it was just, you know, and also like I was really be honest, I was really freaking intimidating. Like intimidated. I wasn't intimidating. No, no, well, I don't know. You're a big man. No, I know, but I was not. I was like, you know, are any of my like are all my ideas gonna be bad? Like, are all like is it just and he is just so like yeah, yeah, yeah, that's good. Like, you know, like we're typing together and he's like, and I and I made him laugh, and I'm like, oh my god, like I made Jay laugh. Like it's so because like again, like I would give like brothers to so many of my friends, right, and they wouldn't read it, right? Which is silliness. And I was like, I'm writing with the guy that wrote this book with his brother about how to do it, right? And I'm doing it with him now, yeah. Like this is some weird world, you know.

SPEAKER_01 1:00:44

Yeah, I guess weird world, but also like possible. It's a world that is possible, very much so. So you get the the film is out in the world, it's exciting. You guys go to South by Southwest.

SPEAKER_03 1:00:55

We go to South by Southwest. And like this is the things, like like these are the moments that like like I had a little bit of like a I had a Will Smith Pursuit of Happiness moment at South by Southwest. Um, you know, it was like one of those days where like our premiere was at 10 a.m. Then we had to do like uh uh press and everything, like right after that, at like 12 to like four. And I remember like walking back to my um hotel by myself in South Bay after I was just in a movie that was on the big screen and like did all this press, and I was just like, I'm gonna and I was just like crying, like I was crying and clapping my hands, like oh my god, like not that I've made it, but like I'm present and I'm here for it. And like, you know, my mom was there, and like to have her there, and my fiance was there, Jess, who you know had just gotten in and that night to make it, like everything fit like right in time, and I was so happy to have both of them there, and my sister and my like one of my best friends Stacey from growing up, like she was there at the premiere, and like to have my mom there, and like just to experience that she's finally seen her son up on the big screen after we see all these movies together, yeah. That's the moments that like that's why I was clapping, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:02:19

You know, and that's that is totally reasonable. Yeah, that is totally reasonable, and that is beautiful, and I think that that's like that is the power of um that is the power of action, it is the power of belief, it is the power of pursuit, and it's like that is incredible. That's why when I did the introduction for this, I wasn't fucking joking when I was like, you are an inspiration to me. Um, and I love you. Love you too, bud. Um, more I know, it's like really good at the end.

SPEAKER_03 1:02:55

And I think I'm just crying because I just I don't like drills.

SPEAKER_01 1:02:58

I know it's so they're so scary. Um okay, I do want like we're so close to being done here. I want to make sure, okay, we're doing good. Um, I want to ask like one more thing, and then we're gonna get into a quick game, which is like you have this pursuit of happiness moment. Like, this is like you are in the pin of like you're overwhelmed with emotion after South by you guys get the audience award. Is that correct? We won the audience award, right? Which is incredible. That's so dope. It's incredible, right? And then you guys are talking like the conversation at some point after that is with IFC about distribution and like the possibility of selling this film.

SPEAKER_03 1:03:32

Well, we went into that, and people were like, I mean, Jay was like, we're not gonna sell this movie for profit. There's no way we're gonna do that. Right, no one's gonna buy a movie with no stars, right?

SPEAKER_01 1:03:42

You know, he's like, wow, really building up my confidence.

SPEAKER_03 1:03:44

I was like, geez, this is awesome, you know. Um, and and I was walking with Jay the Sunday after, because we premiered on Saturday the Sunday after, he got a text. Our first offer was in within 24 hours from IFC.

SPEAKER_02 1:03:59

Right.

SPEAKER_03 1:04:00

That's who we ended up going with.

SPEAKER_02 1:04:02

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 1:04:02

They were saying it was gonna take weeks to sell this movie. Like all that, like it was like not, like, don't, you know, it's just the market that we're in. This movie has been the opposite of what everyone has told us. Right. And it's been, and that's been the most encouraging thing of like, and maybe it's just my dumb optimism. Yeah, but I'm like, oh, it's all, it's all gonna work out. Like, we're gonna sell, you know, and it's just been that for me. Like, you know, we sold, we, you know, they said a hundred theaters, we got up to 500. Right. You know, we came out. And the theatrical really theatrical.

SPEAKER_01 1:04:31

Like, that's a huge thing to take note of. Like, it's like a hundred would be an incredible win. You guys got five hundred physical brick and mortar theaters that your movie is playing in. Like, that's ten hundreds of thousands of seats, probably.

SPEAKER_03 1:04:45

It was on my AMC stubs, you know. I could stay like I went. It was incredible, dude. And I was like, this is crazy, you know? And it's it was the coolest thing. Like, it was again like the opposite. Like, they're like, it's gonna just go to streaming. It didn't, yeah, you know, like we got to and and we got to go, we got to have a premiere at Videots, which was like super cool because like my mom came out for that, and she was the photographers were so funny with her, like they were like, Come on, Chris, give us everything you got. And like, which it was just her and the video of her just going, like, you know, it's been like to have that with her and to have my dad come to like to be at the senator, which was like our we had a premiere in Baltimore, right? That we sold out 700 seats there, and like we we got a standing ovation on the walk into the movie theater. I was like, you guys haven't seen the movie yet, like you have no idea what this is about, but you guys are already, and it was just such a special, magical day, and you know, like those are the moments of like it's just been the most wild ride, and like we got to go to festivals all around the world, and like Yeah, you like you went to Poland, right? Went to Poland, I went to Munich, I went to um uh Vivi Switzerland, yeah, I went to uh Karlo Viveri, which is right outside of Prague, and like it's

SPEAKER_01 1:06:00

A boy from Baltimore. You're from Baltimore.

SPEAKER_03 1:06:02

Yeah, like that again, like you know, I went to Europe five times last year, and well, the best one was I got engaged there to the beautiful Jess Cohen. Yeah, congratulations. That was that was once, and that was the only one we paid for. The other ones, I didn't pay for any of it. Yeah, which is like crazy. It is crazy. Like that is again, yeah. A boy from Baltimore with this little movie. Because again, what I always wanted was SNL and JL. Like, I just if I can do JFL and then I'll get SNL again. That's all I want. These next five years getting sober, all this stuff. This movie has been a billion times better than any of that SNL bullshit. Right. Of course.

SPEAKER_01 1:06:39

Not to just completely put it, but like No, but and also I think the thing that is important, like the story to me, the synthesis of the story to take from the Michael Strasner journey is uh persistence and what you said earlier, which is like don't take anything for granted and don't expect whatever the journey to be. Just be amenable to it. Like you're just yes anding your way through this. You're putting in the time and the energy, like you're busting ass. Yeah. And you're using the talent and you're and you're having the the work ethic to be able to deliver on it. But like, you know, besides the the manifestation sheet that you wrote in 2023, like you don't ask the 18-year-old self, like, hey, Michael Strasner at 18, are you gonna make a movie that takes you to Poland? No. You're gonna be like, nah, bro. Like, you're just not, you're gonna be like, I'm gonna be doing something with a coat on SNL, and it's gonna be people are gonna love it, and it's gonna be an homage to Chris, Farley, or whatever.

SPEAKER_03 1:07:38

And it's like, and it's and again, I think sometimes like what I really want, I don't end up getting, which is actually amazing for me.

SPEAKER_01 1:07:47

Right. Yeah, that's a that that is in a a lesson in and of itself, too. There's like your perception of whatever it is that you want isn't necessarily the thing that you need. No.

SPEAKER_03 1:07:57

Okay, and that has been through, yeah. Okay, sorry, I didn't mean to cut you off. I was like, great, let's get after it. No, no, no, you have a final thought. No, that's just been through recovery and through learning that. Like, I feel like I got the playbook to life now because of you know, hearing that.

SPEAKER_01 1:08:10

That's all. I love it. Yeah. Okay, great. We just want to keep we just want to have like a little bit of energy as we lead leave out of the show today. Uh, it's a thing that we want to do. Okay, we have two filmmakers here. Uh, and I'll let you choose which one you want to do. But basically, the the this is a very common game. It's called Fuck Mary Kill. Oh boy. Yeah, exactly. Um, Sabrina, our producer and my wife says that we should say consensual lovemaking, Mary and Kill, which I agree with, but it's much easier to say the F-word. Sorry. Okay, so we currently have two film, we have two filmmakers. Basically, the premise is that uh uh we're gonna just take some films from two filmmakers that you like, know, and um admire. Okay, and then we're gonna have you do some decisions. So Sabrina wrote down uh John Waters is a possible filmmaker to do this fuck Mary Kill with, or Paul Thomas Anderson. Who would you rather do? I think I'll do John Waters just to keep in the bottom more shape. Okay, great, I love it. Okay, so basically we've just written down the films that you actually brought up today. So we're gonna- Because you're a magician. Yes, yeah, because we're gonna. Because that was written before. This was written, yes, and revealed. Yep. Uh we're gonna go to Vegas soon. Yeah, exactly. Uh we're gonna go to Branson, Missouri soon, actually. Um, okay. Uh Cecil B. Demented. Okay. Serial Mom.

unknown 1:09:22

Wow.

SPEAKER_01 1:09:22

Crybaby.

SPEAKER_03 1:09:23

That are the three we said. That's pretty crazy, right? We didn't mention Pecker. No. We didn't mention, you know. Yeah, yeah. Um I'm gonna I'm going to I think I'm gonna marry Crybaby because that was the first one I think I saw. And, you know, it was just a spe that was just yeah, that one was good. I'm gonna fuck. Or sorry, consensually fuck. You love making it. Consensually fuck um uh serial mom. Okay, great. And I'm gonna kill Cecilia's yeah, CSS will be demented. Yeah. Um just because I I I think I saw it later in life and I just it didn't have that. It was hard to hard to pick that one, but you know, yeah. Yeah, because serial mom, like, you don't want to marry her. Yeah. You don't because you could really Yeah, you're in trouble. You're in trouble. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Um, also, big shout out to Matthew Lillard. Matthew Lillard, yeah. And Serial Mom. Yeah. Um, yeah, he's one of my favorites. I was also gonna tell you West Craven, but that would have been Wes Craven, okay. That would have been a hard like if you would have given me scream, scream two, scream three, I don't think I could do it. Really? No.

SPEAKER_01 1:10:38

You couldn't choose any of the three of the screen. I couldn't kill any of them. The original is incredible, dude. Yeah. The first scream is like undeniable.

SPEAKER_03 1:10:45

Well, yeah, that's one that I'll probably I would marry, but then I wouldn't be. Okay.

SPEAKER_01 1:10:49

All right. Okay, we're doing a lightning round. Lightning round. Fuck Mary Kill, Paul Thomas Sammonson, uh, Punch Trunk Love, Boogie Knights, Magnolia.

SPEAKER_03 1:10:57

Man, okay. I'm going to marry Boogie Knights. Okay. Um, because they get around and yeah, they do. It's a good movie. And uh, I guess I and then I think I'm gonna I'm gonna Oh my god.

SPEAKER_01 1:11:13

Yep, Boogie Knights, Magnolia, Punch Drunk Love.

SPEAKER_03 1:11:16

I'm going to I'm going to fuck Punch Drunk Love just because that Philip Zimmer Hoffman. Uh Philip Zimmer Hoffman is one of all. And he's in all three. Yeah. He is in all three. But I'm gonna kill, which I hate, Magnolia. Yeah. Because I do, I like Magnolia's incredible. It's an amazing film. But Punch Drunk Love, I just I get it. It's beautiful. It's Adam Sandler being incredible.

SPEAKER_01 1:11:41

He's amazing in that movie. I know. That is such a tough one. Thanks to the producer Sabrina for giving me like an incredibly difficult one. My gosh. Oh, okay, guys, that brings us to our end. Thank you so much for sticking around. Michael, thank you for joining us. I'm so incredibly grateful to have you here and for you sharing your story. This has been film shit. Um, not only is the umbrella of the subject that we talk about, I also want it to feel like a call to action. So if you want to sit in the seat where Michael is someday and I have the opportunity to talk to you, make sure that you go out and you film shit. Okay. Thank you so much. I've been Nate Kwood. We'll speak soon. Cheers.