The Prelim Podcast | Episode 1 — Who We Are

Welcome to The Prelim — Coming to you each week from Los Angeles, California.
In this premiere episode, it’s just the hosts— no guests, no filters.  Just raw, honest conversations about what it takes to survive and thrive behind the lens.  Long time friends and camera assistants, Tony Muller and Pablo Jara reminisce about their early days on sets, moving up the ranks in the camera department, and how they eventually crossed paths on one of their favorite sets of all time: Black-ish.
Together they reveal the inspiration behind The Prelim, what they want this podcast to become, and why they believe the crew — the people you never see — deserve their moment in the spotlight. 
This is set-life. Unfiltered.  Built by the crew, for the crew, those who wish to become future crew and everyone interested in the untold Hollywood behind-the-scenes stories -- we are The Prelim.
 

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Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:07

All right. Here we go. Welcome to the very first episode of the uh podcast. Well, take two. Take two. I fucked it out. Okay. See? I know you got me nervous. Okay. All right. Welcome to the very first episode of the Prelimb Podcast with my very good friend Pablo Ara. I am Tony Muller, and uh this is a podcast about the film business, Hollywood Insiders, set life. And uh we hope to have a whole bunch of guests, friends, colleagues. Colleagues. Yeah, we're having just uh we're gonna have a ball. And you are here as my good friend right now. Yeah, I'm yeah, and uh you're here as my good friend. Thank you. See here we go. Episode one, the premiere. Yeah. Now uh what do you think? How you think uh we'll get a lot of guests?

SPEAKER_02 0:51

What our our our mission of this So yeah, our mission of the podcast was is to bring our community together and tell stories, right?

SPEAKER_01 1:00

I mean, stories that never really get heard. We tell them all the time to each other. I mean, we've heard them endless. Yeah. At the bar, I think it happens most of the time. A lot after work. A lot of times after work, yeah. Sometimes on set. Because we see so many the film business is so crazy. I mean, we see a lot of stuff. We hear a lot of stuff, we see a lot of stuff, some stuff we can't talk about. Yeah. But over the years we accumulate a lot of stories and we hope to tell the fun stories.

SPEAKER_02 1:27

Yeah. The good stories, the positive stories.

SPEAKER_01 1:29

Yeah, we're not here to bash anybody.

SPEAKER_02 1:31

Not at all. Nothing.

SPEAKER_01 1:32

No, because we're still working in the film business. Yes. We all want to work. We are available. We're still working. But uh no, so that you know, our dream is to just tell the stories from the inside out. Yes, yes. People that aren't in the business get to hear what it's like working on a film set, a movie set, a commercial, a concert, a Super Bowl halftime show. Yeah, all the of the stuffy that goes into it, you know?

SPEAKER_02 1:56

And I think it's just the documentation of all the people that we know. Because I think once if these stories don't get documented, yeah, where do they go? They you know the person retires and or the person passes away. You know, it happens. Unfortunately, it does hide, and you know, that story goes away. You know, and yeah, I always felt like our job is kind of like going to war. We don't talk about certain things and you know, certain things.

SPEAKER_01 2:26

Some jobs are like your Google War where you're battling everybody. Exactly. But yeah, no. So, you know, the pre-limb podcast is just gonna be a a great opportunity for crew members, actors, uh above the line, below the line, to the lowest, to the highest, to the lowest, you know.

SPEAKER_02 2:42

We'll just left of the line, to the right of the line, that's right. Transpo.

SPEAKER_01 2:46

Yeah, the transp. You know, I mean crafty. You know, we got a lot of crafty friends, some better than others. Yes, that's true. And that is a very important part of the job, crafty, because it you got to keep a crew well fed and happy.

SPEAKER_02 2:58

Yeah, because you know what happens if you get a you know, ham and cheese sandwich for lunch. Angry crew on the club. Hung uh hangry. Hangry.

SPEAKER_01 3:05

Yes, yes, yes. And you need a caffeinated crew.

SPEAKER_02 3:08

Yeah, we need to get her a coffee, yeah, you know. So, but yeah. Um, I think I'm just excited that we came together to put this idea actually, you know.

SPEAKER_01 3:20

It's been in the works for a while. For a while, yeah. So we have a great opportunity. We found a great place to do it, the Pod Place LA.

SPEAKER_02 3:26

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 3:26

Uh so we're hoping to do many more shows there. And you know, we uh we're hoping to get much good feedback through our email, through the social media, and we will respond to everybody. And you know, eventually we'll have giveaways, but not yet. Not yet, you know. We'll get the numbers up, we'll do some more promotions, you know, and be a lot of that, you know. We definitely want everybody to like and subscribe and share so we can have more opportunity of the guests to come on. And uh we do have a wide range of of guests already lined up. Yeah, and we do also with the first run and then the second, third, fourth batch. Yeah, um, and then eventually, you know, we'll have some really good friends that we're close with come on.

SPEAKER_02 4:05

Yeah, oh yeah.

SPEAKER_01 4:07

You know, but we're gonna save those until we get our our feet. Yeah, yeah. But now um now for you, Pete, did you uh I know we've talked about this off camera, but is the film business something you've always wanted to do? You're more of an artist.

SPEAKER_02 4:22

Yeah, not necessarily, you know, but I I always love the arts, you know, whether if it was, you know, graffiti or you know, the fashion or shoes, you know, shoes, you know. I've always you know appreciated art. So it was I think definitely interesting when I fell into the to the whole camera side. And once I really learned it, it was it's a you know, it's very artistic. And I was just very happy to be a part of it, you know.

SPEAKER_01 4:53

So and you've done, I mean, as we all have, but you've been on commercials, music videos, TV shows, huge hit TV shows, movies. And now you've uh you've also excelled in the commercial uh concert world, yeah, live events, you know, which is also different, but that's gotta be a thrill.

SPEAKER_02 5:12

Yeah, it's a big thrill. I think uh coming from the music end growing up, wanting to be in that, now doing big concerts, you know, it's like obviously it's something that's very close to my heart. And being there in the a that atmosphere, it's so adrenaline pumped, especially when you're doing a show and you're shooting it, and you know, it's not like a TV show or we got a second take.

SPEAKER_01 5:36

Right. Or you get it cut and walk away for a minute or two, shake your hand off.

SPEAKER_02 5:39

No, that means drink coffee. You gotta go to the bathroom right before the you know, plan ahead. Yeah, because you can't you're not walking away from that camera. No, two hours is two hours too. You're straight, you know. Maybe you can call somebody to relieve you for a second while you run to the bathroom, but that doesn't really happen.

SPEAKER_01 5:55

Right. You know, so we don't want to tell all the secrets.

SPEAKER_02 5:58

Yeah, but yeah, yeah. But you know, it's yeah, it's it's great. It's a fantastic um realm to be in. Is the live events. I don't, you know, I'm blessed that I was able to fall into that whole new world, you know, and it's uh you know thriving. Thri it's thriving and this the reinvention of you know our business, especially what's been going on, you know. I mean, it I don't think it's you know, obviously it's not the same as it was just two, three years ago. No. So I mean, that's why we created the podcast.

SPEAKER_01 6:30

Right. We had some time on our hands. Yeah, sadly. You know, we gotta make use of it, you know, can't sit around doing nothing. No, the film business is it's definitely been up and down, but I remember um I I certainly have had many, many years in the business, a great run. I never once thought about union hours, qualifying union hours until after COVID, or was it the strike? Maybe we strike, yeah, that's what it was. No, it was yeah, like no COVID. We had yeah, we had work right after. Fortunately, you were on blackish, I was on mixed-ish, but it wasn't until the strike. I think I we were talking and you were mentioning your hours, and you asked me what mine were, and I'm like, hours?

SPEAKER_02 7:10

I never had to even have that conversation. We were on Beyonce, the first run with Conrad, and you remember, you remember when the strike was over? I think it happened when we were in Kansas City on that last show, remember? Or maybe it was in the first show we were at Houston. I remember we were on Beyonce when the strike was over. You know, and we were blessed to have that work at the time, but you know, stuff definitely changed after the strike, you know. Oh yeah. Yeah, emergency breaks. Yeah, yeah. And but yeah, it's the pivot, you know, it's the changing, I think, of another guard, more technology. We got AI, you know. I I don't feel I don't feel AI is gonna take our jobs, you know, even though a lot of people think that I think it's gonna treat us.

SPEAKER_01 7:54

Yeah, we differ. I mean, you know, because the whole structure has changed. I mean, the structure's changed. The studios aren't the studios like they were anymore. They're owned by tech companies that make the software.

SPEAKER_02 8:05

Yeah, but at the same time, it has enabled the independent filmmakers to make their own. Oh, yeah, you could be your own Warner Brothers. You don't need to be, you know, overseen by a studio, or you you if you know the tech, you can do your own stuff.

SPEAKER_01 8:20

Right. And people are, yeah, and you're seeing it all the time. I mean, we we have many crew members, or I know many crew members that have side transitioned into doing that, doing their own projects. But I mean, back in the day when we started, if you wanted to do your own project, you needed money. You needed money and favors from everybody, yeah, because you couldn't there were no iPhones back then to shoot it on. You used Super 8, 16, or 35. Yeah, then you had to get the film, developed, then you had to process the film, then you had to find somebody to edit. And I mean, it was a hard job. It was a big investment. Yeah, where now you know on a computer. But no, I'm saying even without the iPhone, yeah, I mean it's morphed into so many other things, but like there you go. Now I just have a short. It's crazy. I mean, technology has changed a lot. I remember back in the day, like wireless was not around. No, it was everything was cabled up. Remember like working on pilots, pilot pace is so crazy, and you gotta be responsible moving the camera, moving this, moving that, and now you have to do video village and cable it, and people wanted to see it quick. And you're like, what's priority here? Like, he's yelling at me, he's yelling at me.

SPEAKER_02 9:28

Like, well, you priority is always to get the picture up, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 9:31

But not if there's no lens, yeah. You know, like right, like yeah, it was always such a you know. Then I remember wireless first coming in, and it was great in the beginning. You didn't have to cable up, but you would lose picture all the time. Yeah, box meridian. Remember that? Yeah, oh gosh, that was well, even earlier than the box, but I mean that was kind of the beginning.

SPEAKER_02 9:54

So um Tony, I think you know, the idea of us creating this podcast came, you know, from the both of us having to change our pivot look, yeah, pivot on things that have been going on. But obviously, you know, it's also the time on the hands that we've had, you know, not with things that changing right now, but I also feel that, you know, you coming to me at the right time when things had changed for me too. And you know, I I really feel in the beginning that I was a little hesitant for the podcast, you know, because I think like we we talked about like certain things are not talked about. But now that we, you know, are in this world, I think it's the best thing, especially since we're pumping positivity, and that's the main thing.

SPEAKER_01 10:45

Well, it's also a podcast that we know about, it's second nature, yeah, you know, so it's not like a cooking show that we own nothing about or or whatever. Like, I mean, it's something that we've been we've had years of investment in, and you know, we're still doing our normal job, you know, we're available. Um but you know we're always available. We're we're creating something different, at least in our world. I mean, there's many podcasts out there. We're not creating something completely new, no, but different for us.

SPEAKER_02 11:13

It's just our niche. This is our niche. So, you know, um, just to sway it a little differently, you know, Tony, who was your biggest mentor, you know, in the business, not to say bringing you in, but has you know, throughout your career.

SPEAKER_01 11:29

Yeah, that's a very I mean I've been kind of blessed with working with some great people. Yeah, you know, I mean, early on, Timmy Kane, uh we loved it. Or even before Timmy Kane, there was uh Stevie Reisner. Um you know, I have had uh I I just I grew up in the commercial world. That's where I got my feet wet. Yeah. Um, so I you know, I didn't do TV or movies until a little later, but I certainly had my fair share of commercials. Uh I mean, from little ones like Vaughn's commercials to like big Nike ones, Coca-Cola, Pepsi around the world. I mean, so that part, you gotta see a lot of different crews. And in the and back then, I remember one my buddy, you know, because I always wanted to be on camera, so you always befriend the camera crew, you know, I'll be an extra hand. And he was like, You don't want to do this, don't do this, go into hair and makeup. I'm like, Oh, you're crazy. No, no, no, no. He was like, hair and makeup, they make so much money, blah, blah, blah, blah. I'm thinking, hair and makeup. Like, no, I want to be camera, you know. I should have listened, but uh imagine you walking around with a hairbrush. No, but you know, honestly, like uh aside from the people who really helped me out in the beginning, I would say, um, I mean, uh, overall, everybody's helped me, but I, you know, Lou DeMarco has been a big influence in my life. You know, he's he was a he is a good teacher. Uh we clicked, uh, we did many, many films together. I mean, I've been blessed to work uh with those crew with his with people he worked with, um, and just had a great opportunity to learn, flourish. And I know I'm forgetting a lot of other people because everybody, you know, you learn from you learn different techniques from so many, and you're like, oh, I'm gonna do, oh, that's a good idea, you know. There's many ways to plug in a cable, yeah, or wrap a cable.

SPEAKER_02 13:24

But you know, I was gonna say you you brought up the two main people, which is you know, Louie and Tim Kane, because they they were there at the beginning.

SPEAKER_01 13:33

Ish ish. I mean, they were there, not in the beginning, they were there to elevate, you know. So I was certainly able to elevate. But the person who gave me my the you know, kicking the door open, I gotta say, in the commercial in the in for my for me was Kinka Usher. He was talked about him quite big time commercial director. He really helped me out, get me, he got me in the union, took me under his wing, and then he spit me out. You know, he was like, yeah. So, you know, um but yeah, there's so many. I mean, Jonathan Taylor, yeah, is great DP. Great influence, um great dude. Joey Sissio, Kevin Potter. I mean, uh, you know, the list goes goes on and on. Um I just was kind of blessed with getting on some really good big projects and then skyrocketing, you know.

SPEAKER_02 14:25

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 14:25

For me.

SPEAKER_02 14:26

What about you? I mean, I'm I'm the same way, you know. I there's so many people, you know. Obviously, my father got brought me into it, you know, because he used to work at Panavision. That's how he got me into Panavision. I through him, you know, but um I I yeah, I had a you know, quite a few. Um, I think the people that are like real close to my heart are like Jason Garcia, Rigney, um Art Martin, you know, uh Dan Squires, you know, um Louie, you, you know.

SPEAKER_01 15:01

Um That's a tough question because I know we're gonna piss off a lot of people. Yeah, we are because the minute they say we say cut or the cameras in, I'm gonna think of like 10 names that were so huge and just as influential, which is tough.

SPEAKER_02 15:12

But um Um, yeah, I mean I I guess you're Troy Smith was great. Yeah. I I mean, but like, you know, what you said, like at least, you know, people that were important to your career, like the people I just named off. They were like without Jason and Rigney, I don't think I would be even here to begin with. So they're very important. Same thing with Squires. Without Squires, I wouldn't have met art, even though I had met art previously, but you know Old Dad. So old dad, yeah, you know. But um, and then yeah, there's so many other people, but you know, I just think I mean, oh god, this is embarrassing.

SPEAKER_01 15:45

Not last, but I got Jimmy Jensen I learned a lot from that man. I mean, you know, you got to work with him a lot. I only worked with him very rarely did I wish more, but when I did work with him, it was amazing. And uh I I certainly you know, that's the the big leaks.

SPEAKER_02 16:04

Well, the the one one of the first times. I mean, I know I met you early on, but the one time I was missing a different story, but yeah, that's all right.

SPEAKER_01 16:13

I apologize for that. You did, you definitely did. Yeah, years later. No, like what do we apologize for somebody for? It's all right, it's all right no worries.

SPEAKER_02 16:20

But um, you know, was the job we did with with uh Richie Messino and in Jimmy Jensen. Date night. Date night. Paul Hewan Paul Hewen, you know, so another great DP. Yeah, yeah, yeah. That was a big second unit.

SPEAKER_01 16:33

Yeah, somebody who makes it fun, you know. Not every not not everybody makes it fun. Yeah, you know, Jonathan Taylor made it fun. Yeah, Paul Hewan makes it fun. I mean, there's just a certain level of energy that they bring, you know.

SPEAKER_02 16:48

So that was, you know, that was a great thing. You know, working with those guys, well, working with you guys on that pilot or second unit at the time. That was great. Yeah, you know, so um yeah, the knights downtown. Bret Egan, John Gary, yeah. Yeah, yeah. Johnny G. Johnny G. I was just a camera PA on that, you know. But Scotty was I think Lou came out on that too. Um John Stradling, right? John No, no, no, Strad. Was he on that? Yeah, him and remember him.

SPEAKER_01 17:21

Yeah. Was he there for maybe one weekend or whatever?

SPEAKER_02 17:26

Um Chris Chris Lombardi, operator that was with us on Blackish eventually later, you know. He had done so many big movies too. Oh, yeah. Did a lot with Paul Hewan. You know, there's another guy we got to hit up to is Chris, you know. But um, yeah, I mean, shit. That that was a good time we had. I that was I think when I really got to meet you, even though we had known each other, just that's the first time.

SPEAKER_01 17:50

But you hadn't known me through the Rentel house, you know. So you know, yeah, but you didn't really see me on the set. No, no, that was like, yeah. Yeah. And and you know, that's another thing we can But you we were all running around. We were you know, we were spread out.

SPEAKER_02 18:03

Yeah, but I think that's a that's a good, you know, something good you brought up is you know, you see people at the camera house, they're one way, and then you go on the set, oh yeah, it's and it's it's 360, it's a whole different deal. Yeah, you know, so yeah, that's that's something that I think you know, we were talking with other people is managing personalities. Well, you want very important. That's something you learn with experience, with experience and time, you know.

SPEAKER_01 18:30

Yeah, but yeah. Who who you jive with the best, you know, on cruise? Like you in the beginning you gotta work with everybody because work is work, it's an opportunity, yeah, you know, to get more exposure. But then you start kind of making your own road on who you kind of want to continue to work with. Yeah. And um, yeah, I've been I I've been blessed with working with some really great people.

SPEAKER_02 18:51

Yeah. I mean, I guess the the one other person I gotta, you know, give it up to too is like, you know, is Conrad for me. Because, you know, Conrad Conrad Castor, okay, you know, for you know really bringing me in on the other end, you know, of the live world too, you know. So he's one of my guys too. And you know, there's a lot of there's a lot of people that I, you know, I probably will forget, you know, but it's you know, yeah, Tony. So so many people.

SPEAKER_01 19:19

What's some of your favorite jobs?

SPEAKER_02 19:21

Uh um one of my favorite jobs before Blackish, he's definitely New Girl, you know, and um I think this other TV show called Um Switched That Birth that we did with um with Jason Garcia and Rigney and Russ Alserbrook. That's a VP. That was that was on Santa Clarity Day.

SPEAKER_01 19:42

I think I did a a double up of something.

SPEAKER_02 19:45

You might have came out. Yeah, yeah, yeah. We did, I think it was. I never saw you know, we uh I was the I was the utility on the okay, yeah. And uh John John Moody, he was uh he was our like DIT camera camera utility, you know how they kind of switched the names for the DITs on TV shows, and and he was great. You know, I learned a lot from him early on then, you know, and yeah, Russ, Russ Alsebrooke, at least there's a DP that was close to my heart too, you know, that helped me out in the beginning. He helped me to get my days, you know, eventually. That's important. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 20:19

Um so you got your days on movies or TV. No, it was TV.

SPEAKER_02 20:23

I had done I had done movies, but I didn't do them long enough in the beginning to get days. You know, it was in the beginning it was camera PA, you know. You ain't get so you had to get a hundred days, or how did that work?

SPEAKER_01 20:33

No, for camera PA, you ain't getting No no no for oh utility.

SPEAKER_02 20:37

Back then you were Yeah, I got in as a utility. So it was just 30 days, but you had to get 30 days on a TV show. You know, it's always a little difficult in the beginning. So that's why I always give it up to Jason, because you know, in Rigney hit those guys went to bat and Russ, Russ went to bat for me, you know. But it was the same thing with art because I I think um art got I was I was on New Girl and I I didn't think I got enough days because I was always jumping around. I wasn't on there permanently. And I think they had the season had finished, and then um, you know, I went with Dan Squires and and art and art finished getting my days for me on um suburgatory. Okay, you know, and that was pretty awesome because I got into the union on my birthday. Oh I remember that. That it was pretty big for me because I never it it just it took me so long to get into it was a hard job. You know, I you know, maybe later on in the episodes I'll talk about why it was so hard for me and you know all the road that I ended up taking. But you know, so those guys are you know close to my heart.

SPEAKER_01 21:41

So did did you you went utility, but were you did you ever film loot?

SPEAKER_02 21:46

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 21:46

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Okay. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 21:49

Yeah, but I did a lot of I did a lot of union and night. But you never PA'd. I never PA'd. No. See, yeah, yeah. That's the thing about you versus me. Yeah. That's not true. I I walked right into the camera department. I guess. What do you mean? Because you want to pick up trash?

SPEAKER_01 22:03

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 22:04

But you understood the set from a different end. I mean, it took me a while to understand the the you know the set etiquette. You know, and like we always talk about you had the set, I knew the gear.

SPEAKER_01 22:17

You know, we each had to learn one of the things. It's interesting because you know, I was in commercials and music videos world back then, and those were that was pretty pretty much airy.

unknown 22:29

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 22:29

Oh, it wasn't Panavision, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 22:31

No, rarely, you know, maybe you would have a big time uh DP come off a movie and do a big time commercial and then use Panavision, but for the most part, it was a lot of airy, air equipment, you know, autos and uh, you know, Keslo, Claremont camera back in the day. So very rarely was I at Panavision. When I was, it was like a whole different world, you know. I mean, remember as a camera truck driver, PA going to Panavision at the different places back, you know, they moved a few times, but and just like, whoa, this is Do you remember what Panavision you were going to when you were camera?

SPEAKER_02 23:06

Were you going to Tarzana?

SPEAKER_01 23:07

Uh Tarzana, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 23:09

Off is that one off DeSoto? That's the one. No, no. Tarzana was off of Resita in Oxnard. It was just passing Resita on.

SPEAKER_01 23:16

It must have been. Yeah. And then the other one in Hollywood one, yeah. Before they moved, and you know, since close. But uh yeah. I the worst one for me as a camera PA was Claremont. Where was it? Where because it was on the second story. Well, no, but the parking lot had a big pole right in the middle of it, and you could see the the bad PAs that used to crash into it. Yeah, it's not a good way to start a job where you rip, you can't open a truck before you even get the equipment. What about autos at the old building? Autos was yeah because you had to like if you were there early, you there was n but there was no parking, you know, there was no real time to yeah, autos was tough. But yeah, the new place is excellent. But the old place, yeah, that was tough, you know. Especially you were going there at six o'clock on a Friday and everybody's coming. Trying to get out. Oh, well, just trying to get in and how like because everybody's lined up. Yeah, that was tough.

SPEAKER_02 24:08

But you know, you know, I I was gonna say I do remember you, you know, the times coming in and prepping with Louie, you know. I mean, obviously that was already you were further into your career. Oh, by then big the mid 2000s, yeah. You were doing, you know, Spider-Man. Yeah. You know, I think I had left already by the time you guys did Iron Man. That was out of Hollywood. Oh, really? See, yeah, I didn't know that. Hollywood, yeah. Hollywood did that one. That's interesting because Hollywood's always been known for the commercial. Right. But Maddie Lebatique was Hollywood.

SPEAKER_01 24:39

So Yeah. That's great. Yeah. So we, you know, first second units out of there. Yeah. But um, I always uh, you know, PanaVision was always like the pinnacle for me. I just had to learn the equipment. And the equipment's kind of the same, but it's always called different, you know. I was not good with the codes. I didn't know what the codes were. I knew what Ibrah was, I knew what O'Connor was, I knew this, I knew that. But when you asked me for, you know, whatever the base plate is, or but what?

SPEAKER_02 25:07

Yeah, you know, and it's funny too because we just did that uh Hermes fashion show last week and we prepped at a Panavision for that live event, seven cameras. You know, and I had to wrap my brain around it because I haven't been at Panavision. But did it was it like riding a bike? No, because a lot of things are are new, are new, you know, and it's it was it was interesting, you know. It's you know, we it was kind of it was really good that you know I started at Panavision and then you know, we branched off. We did Aerie and all types of other camera houses and stuff like that.

SPEAKER_01 25:41

When you were at Panavision, were you at this facility or the old one?

SPEAKER_02 25:44

I was at the at the DeSoto. At the DeSoto one. Okay, yes. I, you know, I remember going to the Tarzana one because my dad used to work there. And I remember I used after school, uh, I used to go down there and wait for him sometimes, and then we'd, you know, he'd drive back home. So I remember the old building very well. It it was very small. Now talking about small buildings reminds me of of uh what is it called? Not Keslow uh autos. Because it was that small. Now they was small. They're huge, yeah. Yeah, page dialing.

SPEAKER_01 26:15

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Autos, yeah, that was always busy too, because that was like the I mean, they had the commercial accounts, music video accounts, and oh yeah, it was walking in there like, oh my god.

SPEAKER_02 26:27

Yeah, and it was pretty very, you know, Tony. This weekend when we went to to Sinegar and we got to meet up with uh Paul Kobel that's running, you know, autos now. He's the vice president from coffee, you know, VP. Yeah, not bad. Because I I remember when I started there in '99 and he had just gotten there and he was running the the coffee bar and we'd chill out and I'd get some coffee and we'd choke.

SPEAKER_01 26:50

Back then you drank coffee?

SPEAKER_02 26:52

Uh maybe I was drinking lemonade. Okay. Yeah. Because they'd make lemonade at Paint of Vision.

SPEAKER_01 26:58

Yeah, I don't I don't think I was drinking coffee. No, because I remember I'm blackish. I used to drink a ton of coffee. You've always drank coffee. And then I finally broke you. Yeah, and you used it as your fault. Yeah, I'm I'm proud of that. I got coffee down on the floor right there.

SPEAKER_02 27:10

So yeah, that first year I got sober. When I really got sober and I started blackish, I remember I stopped eating sugar. I was super healthy. And I wasn't drink juicing and I wasn't drinking coffee. And it was like a year and a half in. You know, come on, have a cup of coffee. Your peer pressure broke me.

SPEAKER_01 27:29

Well, I mean, nah, it wasn't that sure. Tasted good. You needed it. You were always Yeah. No. Speaking of blackish, that was such a fun show because I mean that's where we truly reconnected again, working side by side. And you know, that was a great crew, great, great actors, but like uh it was so cool because we had big people come in. Oh, yeah. We had all those. I mean, not only guests, but like we had people just come and watch. Yeah. Remember? I mean, um, it was it was incredible. We had I got a I got Norman Lear came and watched, um Sydney Portier came in and and just watched an episode. I mean, back I I know you used to love it when the Nike people would come.

SPEAKER_02 28:11

Oh, yeah, they well, I mean they were sponsored by Nike. Right, they deliver the shoes and stuff.

SPEAKER_01 28:16

You know, that's so that's number five in the company. I'm like, what?

SPEAKER_02 28:19

I think I got a story for you. I've never told you. Or you maybe told you you forgot. So there was a I think it was season one or two, it could be three. You were still there. And you know how I used to come in early. Is this 4K? 4K. Is this the no, no, no? Oh, remember I used to come in and set up an hour early. Yeah, you're like, don't come in early.

SPEAKER_01 28:38

But I come in and piss the grips off.

SPEAKER_02 28:40

Yeah, come in early, set stuff up. You know, and this one day I come in early. So I come in early. I think we had just gotten, I just got some breakfast. Literally, there's nobody around, just literally, just me, maybe some like another grip.

SPEAKER_01 28:53

This is breakfast one, two, or three. This is breakfast one. Okay, because this is to get three.

SPEAKER_02 28:58

Well, you remember I had to eat a lot. Yeah, because I were skinny. That was I weighed like less than a hundred pounds. But I walk in and then um I go to the video village just to plug it in, turn everything off, pull the covers off the monitors, and there's somebody sitting in the video village, right? And it was an older woman, you know, older black woman, and I was like, and I was like, you know, kind of didn't pay attention to her. And I'm like, hey, like, you know, after plugged, I'm like, hey, do you need some help? Like, you know, she's like, Oh yeah, I'm I'm here to see my daughter today. Wasn't she on set? She was on set that day, but that morning, you know, it was just me. She's like, you know, do you know where the breakfast is? And I was like, Yeah, do you, you know, so I like I walked her out to the breakfast and blah, blah, blah. And like she came back in and like a legend. I didn't realize who I was talking to at the time. Yeah, but it was Diana Ross. Of course. Yeah. And, you know, it was really, it was really because, you know, for me, for you too, I I would think so. She's such a big personality, you know, and like obviously, you know, Tracy's her, you know, her daughter. And that was pretty interesting. That's that's one where I was like, whoa, I didn't, you know.

SPEAKER_01 30:09

Yeah, no, we we used to like it was such an uh an interesting show in terms of like like you you had said in the past, pop culture. I mean, it definitely like it was great, you know. Yeah, I mean uh Biz Marquee, remember him?

SPEAKER_02 30:26

Oh yeah, we met Biz Marquee.

SPEAKER_01 30:28

That was he was in there, we were all running to take pictures, and he was great, R.I.P., you know, but uh we had so many people.

SPEAKER_02 30:35

I mean, for me, getting starstruck there, it happened maybe twice. Season one, did he? No, did he know oh did he was? What are you talking about? Yeah, yeah. No, I wasn't I wasn't sure. It was the final episode.

SPEAKER_01 30:47

What about Chris uh Brown?

SPEAKER_02 30:49

No, I wasn't a fan of the for me. It was meeting Oz. Okay, yeah, yeah. That was that was crazy important for me, you know, and like also meeting Kendrick Lamar already on before. I mean, he had already started that stratosphere, yeah, you know, even though I've heard I I heard of him early on before. So it was, you know, it was also great to meet somebody that's my same height.

SPEAKER_01 31:12

Yeah, you guys, yeah, that's true, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 31:15

Yeah, he's you know, so we were like, you know, I might have actually been a little bit taller. Maybe so that was great. But yeah, I know Blackish was a great time, you know, with all the assistants, you know, the DP, Rob Sweeney. Rob Sweeney, another person I have a sweetheart. Yeah, sweetheart close to my heart without him. Also, I think that's another part of my story where, you know, if I wouldn't have gotten that job, how it happened, you know, and everything that was going on in my life, you know, I wouldn't be here either.

SPEAKER_01 31:45

Like I mean, what was amazing to me about Rob is on a Friday we'd shoot, you know, maybe in the you know, 10, 12 hours in the beginning, the first two seasons or whatever, and then he would jump on a plane red-eye. Oh, yeah, and he would go run the Boston Marathon. Yeah, and then he would be there seven in the morning Monday with the little thing that he Well, I mean, I think that was one of the reasons why I got so close to him that first day that I covered was because I had just gotten sober.

SPEAKER_02 32:16

I just started running, and I started running marathons, and he kind of clicked. Well, no, I was a part of this running team.

SPEAKER_01 32:24

He didn't do it, did you? Yeah, you oh you did do it. I was a part of his running team.

SPEAKER_02 32:28

That's right. Yeah, you know, and that was so awesome. Like, you know, I mean, I did my first marathon, half marathon with him, which was I mean, till this day I go, damn, I actually ran a marathon. You know, um, there's also that funny story, you know, where I took Anthony Addison on the on the run around um the Hollywood reservoir. You know, we were out there running, and you know, I remember him calling me like a day or two later. I was on a pilot. It was it was during hiatus, and he calls me. What did you do to me? I can't even walk. And he only ran half half of the reservoir, but you know, it was you know, he did it, and he was he was great, but yeah, it it definitely running would puts a lot on your body, stress on your knees. So that's it's another good story, Tony, you know. Right. I'm trying to think, like we had me and you had so many stories.

SPEAKER_01 33:20

Superstar Lawrence Fishbrand. I mean oh yeah. I was yeah, he was fun. He was intimidating. Absolutely, he was not just out of respect. Out of respect, but not anything else. So I just remember him like, you know, you'd have some directors come in, you know, and at that point in the show, these actors are seasoned and everything, and you know, a couple takes, unless they're gonna add lib. And he was strictly by the you know by the book, by the script, and the director would say, All right, let's go again. Why? Like when you heard that, like, and they're like, nah, we're good, you know. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, he was but not disrespectful, just like, why are you making me go again?

SPEAKER_02 34:00

Yeah, he knew exactly what you got it. Yeah, don't I'm don't I'm not gonna do it again if we already got it. So yes, let's move on, you know, yeah. And I I think the other thing too that was kind of close to my heart now, seeing like you know, my daughter growing my stepdaughter growing up is watching the kids grow up before our eyes. You know, we first started, they were little kids, and by the time we finished that show, they were somewhere in college.

SPEAKER_01 34:26

They were in college, like you know.

SPEAKER_02 34:29

I think as you get older, you don't realize how quick time flies by. I mean, obviously you do as you get older, but you know, it was just great. Like, damn, those kids grew up on us.

SPEAKER_01 34:38

What other like what other projects? Like for me, I have to say, I always say, you know, I mean, it was great working on the big movies. Yeah, I think the biggest, my first biggest one was Spider-Man 3, second unit, and that was cool because it there was a lot of practical stunts, whereas now it's all kind of looking like a video game. But back then they were really like flying through and all that, falling down and crashes, and but um I did two cool ones, which are small. I did a one one called A Mighty Win, Christopher Guest, where uh you know they from Spinal Tap had the whole gang, and um it was just a movie about getting the band back together, these old guys, and so every folk singing, but so every day there was always music on the set, and they were all ad-libbing, well for the most part. I mean, there was scripted, but that you know, that was just uh Rick Drapkin was my first who was great, you know, and it was a fun, fun shoot. But also, you know, I did uh Pee Wee Herman's Big Holiday Adventure, whatever, and you did that. It was a fun, fun group. Uh, I met some really good people on that. Um and he made you know all of Pee Wee's little stunts were like in camera, it was real effects, you know, the the coffee machine dump into this, which then goes rolls the egg down here. It was just it's still, you know, and it was so cool to see that, you know. And uh, you know, I know he had some things, but he made it pretty fun. I mean, uh one cool thing is he well, two cool things about him, and then I'll shut up. Um we must have taken about seven or eight crew photos. He would he would demand pictures, he would, you know, after we're we're shooting or what if we're in a cool area, like, okay, we're gonna take a crew photo. And it was on the call sheet. And the reason is because at the end of the job, as a crew gift, he gave you like a yearbook style. That's great, you know, with not just the eight photos, but all you know, which was kind of cool. And then another cool thing he did was um, since he had all your information, you know, address, you know, you would get a Christmas card or a birthday card from him. Did did you get a Christmas card? Of course. Yeah. I mean, though, not just me, like the whole crew. People that worked on his project, you know, you get that. And uh that was kind of cool, you know.

SPEAKER_02 36:59

I mean, I think yeah, I had many different jobs that I worked on, but I think, you know, blackish new girl. There was, I mean, obviously Eliza for us, and even though I wasn't on mixed-ish, because I was on blackish, and I was there all the time. You know, where at lunch I would come to you guys and hang out there, and you know, even though we were you guys were the we talk you off the ledge. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, it was an interesting time around then, Pushero. It was uh yeah.

SPEAKER_01 37:34

Yeah, you cross-contaminated us and it was during COVID time too. No, maybe we're supposed to be on our set. No, no, no, not you just remember back then you weren't allowed to, you know, in the early days, you know, up until COVID, you could go bounce around to do the different sets. Yeah, but then when COVID struck, uh-uh. You know?

SPEAKER_02 37:51

But you st we you started mixed dish as COVID started.

SPEAKER_01 37:54

No, before. That was two, yeah. That's right. Things changed. But yeah, that was that was weird.

SPEAKER_02 38:02

Different time. I mean, I guess the other things too is like the live events have been great. You know, when me and you were with Conrad on the Beyonce tour. Yeah, that was fun. When we went to, you know, Houston, New Orleans, Kansas City.

SPEAKER_01 38:18

I think it was New Orleans. I think you might have were I don't know if you were still there, if you left or not when we were loading the truck. No, I don't. Oh, wait. I think you and I I'm here. No, we were in New Orleans till the end. Okay, and then like I remember like for hours, we're like, oh man, I need a drink of water. And there was a water machine in the back area. You know, this is like three or four o'clock in the morning. Everybody else is loading the trucks, and we're like the last ones. Yeah, and there's like a water booth, and then there's like a coors light, you know, thing. And you go to get the water and it's all locked up. I'm like, well, and I go over the course light. Man, you could have you could have had as many courses. I know you don't drink, but I yeah, I was thirsty. Yeah, I know. I remember that because everybody was drinking coors light because there was no water. There was no well, it is kind of you know Rocky Mountain Fresh, but uh that was uh that was a great little trip that we had. No, that was. I don't care, yeah. Yeah, or or I will, you know, we also did a cool one at the Coliseum.

SPEAKER_02 39:16

Oh, I forgot about that one.

SPEAKER_01 39:17

Yeah, remember you took so many pictures of me because uh S C S C guy, and here I am in my homeland. Yeah, I was walking in areas I was never allowed to go in, the booths and all that. And yeah, that was fun. Lorenzo. I forgot about that one. Yeah, Lorenzo, Derek. Yeah, I remember Fred again, right? That's it.

SPEAKER_02 39:36

Yeah, yeah. And the stage almost fell fell apart.

SPEAKER_01 39:40

Yeah, I remember like I was like, I was like, it's one guy, and I'm like, how's he gonna fill this stadium? Like, I was like, oh my gosh. And then I was with Lorenzo and we were one of the, we were the camera that, you know, he jumps off stage and then goes up. And you had to run up the stairs, and you had to follow him, you know, and I'm following Lorenzo, and the poor guy, he's pulling focus like this, and the whole crowd's trying to grab him. And I just remember as we're everybody's rushing upstairs, security, and this guy, because it's planned, you know, but the crowd doesn't know which way he's going. And I just remember everybody had their phones out trying to get pictures. And man, when we're running up there, all I hear is click click, clicking phones up. Everybody like their phones fell out of their hands. So it was, I felt so bad, but it's like I I can't stop and pick it up. You know, I gotta carry on forward. We must have knocked like 500 phones out of people's hands, not on purpose, but it's just what it was. Recommendation if you're at a concert and you see them, maybe bring it closer to your yeah, put your phone back in your pocket. Oh no, you can have it out just closer to your chest because otherwise you're gonna lose it, you know.

SPEAKER_02 40:42

I remember watching the chaos go down because I was on the box lens at the top of the freaking stadium. Yeah, you know, and yeah, that was a duh, that was a tough one.

SPEAKER_01 40:50

And then they were like they wrapped us in in the middle of the concert. And I'm like, Well, we're here, I'm not gonna go home. Well, because you're stuck in the crowd. No, it was great. We went up to uh the top bar. Yeah, that's you know, I mean Oh, that was at the end of the night. The bougie bar. Yeah, you're not supposed to, you know, unless you have the gold card to get access.

SPEAKER_02 41:08

I was like, this is great. I'm never gonna be allowed up here again. Yeah, you you remind me of the time we were in Kansas City too for the Beyonce thing. You were taking pictures all all over the stadium in there because it's such an old stadium.

SPEAKER_01 41:19

Yeah, that's right. We were in areas. Did you know there's a house in there? No, I don't know. The owners have the house in that stadium? Really? That stadium was sold. It is. It's one of the it's the one of the OG stadiums. Yeah. The little museums they had with the super, yeah. That was that was fun.

SPEAKER_02 41:34

And you know, being I've never been to Kansas City, it reminded me of Santa Clarina. At least where we were at, so that was interesting.

SPEAKER_01 41:43

I guess, yeah, it did kind of, you know. Yeah. Well, I mean, it was all right. It was fun. Yeah, it was great. It was hot. Yeah, it was really hot. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 41:51

You like working on concerts or music videos or I like anytime I can get on anything. Um I'm available. Um, but yeah, I mean, movies, TV. QR information. I'm available. Yeah, yeah. But you know, I I I I love the concerts. I love I love it all. You know, it it's all a challenge, you know, and I think that's the one thing about our job is like you're you know, you're not inside of an office. You know, every day's a challenge, every day's something new, every day is a new location, whether if it's the concerts or a commercial, a TV show, a movie, you know, it's whatever it is, you know. But no, I've I've come to really love the the live events, you know, it's a different beast.

SPEAKER_01 42:35

You spent uh a few days on on uh outcome. Yeah, tell it tell us that experience. Keanu Reeves, Jonah Hill.

SPEAKER_02 42:42

Yeah, uh Keanu Reeves was was great. He was very nice, you know. Um who were you working with? Well, I was working with Louie. Okay, you know, was that the third camera where he was opting? You remember I came out on the third camera. But you also covered Andy. Yeah, I covered Andy too, you know. So I I I was there for a giveaway. A minute, a hot minute. Yeah, yeah. So it was interesting, yeah. Like I remember one day we were there, I think I don't think we did a shot for two days, and then the second day we did we did one establishing shot, and then we went to the next location, we did one shot and they wrapped us before lunch. You know, and I was like, well, we're trying to get hours that right.

SPEAKER_01 43:21

Some are better than you know. So that's always the hard part is a day player. Yeah, you know, like I want work, like I'm here to make money, and you rap before Yeah, and it was good.

SPEAKER_02 43:32

Well, it was great because BJ McDonald was there. Yeah, stud Mike McLean. Awesome, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 43:38

And then you love Mike and the DP, you can't ask for it.

SPEAKER_02 43:41

Yeah, I mean I I love yeah. Oh no, I mean I got to I barely got to know him because I was in and out tony. So but from what I uh saw, he was he was great. He was nice, he was very, you know. Yeah, just nothing phases.

SPEAKER_01 43:56

No. I mean, the world could be on fire around him. Yeah, and eh. So it's nice. No, you know, like I just I loved I love working for him. I loved working for him. I hope we do work more. Um McLean was great. Yeah, is great. Yeah, we got very particular. Yeah. So it's definitely, you know, you go from one guy that I work with who is, you know, yeah, it's fine, to McLean, where it's like that cable is in the wrong yeah. You need, you know, ever meticulous, you know.

SPEAKER_02 44:25

Yeah. I got a funny story because I was seconding on that one with you guys, and I remember uh that I I pushed the cart like three blocks. Oh, the house? Yeah. And then I get to the location. It was no. And Louie was there because you know, they were with Louie. Right. And he goes, Why are you huffing and puffing? And he walked away. And I go, Louis, I just pushed this cart for three, four blocks. And and then he he goes, You shouldn't be sweating. And I'm like, what the hell is wrong with you?

SPEAKER_01 44:58

Well, that's a very funny point because most of our career we were pushers.

SPEAKER_02 45:03

Yeah. Now you have mechanical wheels.

SPEAKER_01 45:05

No, now everybody has a little butt, you know, like, oh man. And it's like, gosh, I wish I had that a long time ago because you know, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 45:13

But um I mean, so Tony, now that we're in this space, who's your, you know, who do you think your dream guest will be? I mean on our platform here.

SPEAKER_01 45:25

Dream guests, I want uh, you know, it's called the prelim for a reason. I mean, even though we we're camera guys and we're we special, you know, we have a thousand people we know in the camera department and all other departments, you know, we are camera heavy for sure. And that's not a bad thing. But we also there's you know, I want producers, actors, hair, makeup, grips, electric, gaffers, you know, uh everybody, art department, PA, you know, I mean writers, you know, we we got a few that we're trying to get.

SPEAKER_02 45:59

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 46:00

And um everybody. Yeah, everybody that that we know that has great stories. And then hopefully it branches out where other people that we don't know see and like what we're doing and want to come on, yeah, you know, and hopefully we won't have to talk as much. You know, we hear their stories, you know. I mean, there's so many people. Um, but yeah, yeah, I the goal is to get a well-rounded group of people, not just specific one department and go from there, you know. I I mean some of the stories, whether they're camera department, grip, everybody in the industry has great stories that don't get told broadcast to the world, you know, at least the ones that the stories that are allowed to be told.

SPEAKER_02 46:47

Because many can't talk about, no, you know, and it's not people would yeah, no, we're not in, but again, it's about the positivity, the good, the great, the funny stories, you know, something that's yeah, humor.

SPEAKER_01 46:59

We're not here to bash anybody. No, you not at all. We're still working. Yeah, you know, we're still working. We're we still got a career, you know.

SPEAKER_02 47:08

No, but like that story I said about Diana Ross, I forgot about that.

SPEAKER_01 47:11

I remember when she when because you were there early, like you said, but I remember when I first saw her, she was there for the rehearsal. Uh she was sitting in the chair on set.

SPEAKER_02 47:21

Yeah, yeah, that's exactly what I found her. Yeah, yeah. That's where I found her that morning. Yeah, and she was sitting there all by herself with nobody. It's like she was forgotten about, you know.

SPEAKER_01 47:29

And no, that was awesome. I mean, yeah, Norman Lear. I mean, yeah, Sydney Portia, those were some big time, like and remember the buzz? Like, oh, so-and-so's coming today.

SPEAKER_02 47:39

Wait, was you know the one actor tall dude from he's he's in Menace of Society, he's in Predator. Uh-huh. Okay. What's his name? I think that's his. Is it Norman Lear? I think that's him.

SPEAKER_01 47:53

No, it was Norman Lear. He would, he did all the Jeffersons. I mean, he didn't know.

SPEAKER_02 47:57

Okay, no, no, it wasn't him. No, he was an action star. He was in a a ton, he was there, he showed up, he was older already. I think he's still around. I don't know, but I remember seeing him. I can't remember this actor's name right now. But uh he was Commando. Okay. He's a big time action star, you know. And I remember seeing him, and I was like, oh my god, that's him.

unknown 48:16

Wow.

SPEAKER_02 48:17

You know, he they would on Blackish, they would there would always be people we'd be like, whoa, okay. You know, rappers, obviously.

SPEAKER_01 48:25

Oh yeah. I mean, yeah. Well, you know, gotta put a shout out to Kenya Bears. I mean, he he Kenya was great. Kenya Kenya is, and and you mean that you know, it was a fun show. But we've done many shows, many movies, you know. I mean, I hope to do many more. And you know, now as things are kind of shifting and work is not as what it used to be. I mean, back, you know, we used to work 12 months a year if you wanted to.

SPEAKER_02 48:50

Yeah, you could work straight a whole year or something.

SPEAKER_01 48:52

You know, or take a little bit of time off. But now it's a little it's for some it's still the same way, but for many it's not. It's not. What do you think?

SPEAKER_02 49:00

You think uh I just think, you know, we're in another shift of the business. I think the old times of what we used to know as like, you know, when we were coming up and it was just the TV guys, it was just the commercial guys, it was just the movie guys.

SPEAKER_01 49:17

TV is where the old guys were, right?

SPEAKER_02 49:19

I mean, that's the joke of how it used to be. That's that that is gone now. You know, you gotta be able to do it all. You're gonna be doing a commercial one day, live event, a movie, maybe your day playing here, and then because that's you gotta string all those together to make your and then a podcast. And then a podcast. That's right.

SPEAKER_01 49:38

Who knows? The pay is a little different, but yeah, that's yeah. But uh, you know, this is the goal, P. You know, here we go, episode one. Episode one. You know, we want everybody to like and subscribe and certainly share. Share, please. And uh we'll have many more stories with many more, hopefully, you know, interesting guests.

SPEAKER_02 49:57

And then, you know, another good thing is with the email that we'll have, you know, you people can reach out write to us and on our email or uh, you know, Instagram or any of our social media, you guys can give us a you know a holler and you know, you got a story to tell, we'd we'd love to hear it.

SPEAKER_01 50:12

Come on down. We're at the Pod Place LA in Los Angeles, California. Yeah. The Mecca of Hollywood. Yeah. Hopefully it continues in. We're gonna do a lot more. So here we go, Pablito. All right, all right, here we go.