The Prelim Podcast | Episode 2 — Conrad Castor

What happens when old friends reminisce about working on some of the biggest productions in entertainment history?  Things get incredibly animated! 
Hosts Tony and Pablo catch up with fellow AC Conrad Castor.   
From the high-profile sets of Iron Man and Iron Man 2 to pinnacle live events like Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour and the 2025 Oscars, Conrad shares exclusive, hilarious stories from his set experiences in Hollywood and around the world!  You do not want to miss this one!

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Transcript

SPEAKER_02 0:05

Hey guys, welcome to the prelim today. Um and today we have somebody very special to our hearts, to me and Tony's heart. Not me. Yeah, not me.

SPEAKER_03 0:17

No, I'm not the guest, Pete.

SPEAKER_02 0:19

No, no, no. I'm saying we have somebody very close to our hearts, me and Tony. Um today on the prelim, we have our guest, Conrad Castor.

SPEAKER_01 0:28

Thank you for having me, guys. Thank you for having me, man. I was uh excited to be here. Thank you.

SPEAKER_03 0:33

Yeah, now we can hear all your stories. Yeah, you've got a lot of stories, man.

SPEAKER_01 0:37

I mean, thanks. I like telling them. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 0:39

Well, we only got an hour, so we gotta make it quick, you know.

SPEAKER_01 0:42

Yeah, good, man. I mean, yeah, yeah, yeah. I mean, uh, I guess, you know, I've been friends with you for so long, like you know, 30 years, I think. I mean, 29, I think. And, you know, when I first met you, we were PAs.

SPEAKER_03 0:56

I thought, I thought when he was telling us a story out there, I thought I first met you on your first film set. But you were telling us a story your first time was how old?

SPEAKER_01 1:05

I was five years old. I was five years. Five years old. I was five years old. Yeah. So uh, you know, I'm a product of nepotism. Uh uh my dad, my dad's a first AD, or he's a retired first A D. And uh he was doing this freebie job. You know, I you know, I was a little kid, so it was the 80s. Um, it was for the big brothers of America. I don't think he was getting paid or paid very little. PSA. Yeah, of course those PSAs were free. Yep. Uh he didn't have a second AD on the day, so he took his kid to work, strapped a radio on him, and uh, and that was my first introduction into going to work with dad.

unknown 1:43

That's funny.

SPEAKER_01 1:44

Yeah, you know, the uh, you know, the story from that day that my dad still tells is uh, you know, we were shooting in this house and they were getting that house ready, they were setting up their first shot or or whatever. And the company did have a motorhome, right? There was a motorhome for the production in talent or whatever. And uh, and and my dad, I was on set, right? I was in the house. My dad says, Conrad, go to the motor home and tell I think the director's name was Brett or whatever. Like, tell Brett to get his butt in here, right? So I went to the motorhome, I found Brett. I said, Hey, my dad says to get your butt in here.

SPEAKER_00 2:25

So, so when he came to set, you know, he he he told my dad, he's like, I just had a five-year-old tell me to get my butt to set.

SPEAKER_03 2:33

That's funny.

SPEAKER_02 2:34

Yeah, you're you're yeah that's a great story. Yeah, did you ever work with his dad? No, I've never met your pops.

SPEAKER_01 2:41

Yeah, he's a good dude, man. You know, he uh he got out right at the right time, right before the pandemic.

SPEAKER_03 2:47

How many hours did he have?

SPEAKER_01 2:48

Shit, I don't know.

SPEAKER_03 2:49

Or how many years was he in the business?

SPEAKER_01 2:51

I don't know, but I I think he's in one of the first thousand members of the DGA. Wow, yeah, like back when the DGA was young, you know, people were kind of laughing at it, you know, and he he got in right in the beginning. Yep, yeah, he was in a second AD very long. And uh and the cool part about your dad, I don't know how it was at home, but he was nice, even though he was Yeah, you know, that was the that you know, that was a blessing, you know, when I was first coming up and you know, coming to work and people would say, Oh, I love your dad. You know, yeah, you know, that always that always felt good. Yeah. And then, you know, I remember my dad saying, like, he's like, he's like, yeah, at one point I went from being your dad, uh, you were my son to now I'm your dad.

SPEAKER_03 3:36

Oh, your Conrad's dad.

SPEAKER_04 3:38

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 3:39

Exactly. No, no, that's my son.

SPEAKER_03 3:42

That's like your story. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 3:43

I mean, because both you guys are uh you know, have parents in the lineage in the film business.

SPEAKER_03 3:48

Yeah, that's funny. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 3:50

Yeah. I didn't know that. Huh? I didn't know that. Who's who's your well my dad worked at Panavision? Um that's who got me in. Who got you in a panel? Yeah, yeah. He was a camera tech at Panavision. Uh watch the first episode. You're gonna learn more about it. Oh, yeah, I can't wait.

SPEAKER_00 4:04

I it's the first episode out.

SPEAKER_02 4:06

No, it will be when this rewatch it. Yeah, all right, cool. So yeah, but yeah, I mean, yeah, that's who brought me in, was my dad. So yeah, I guess I never talked to you about my pops. Yeah, no.

SPEAKER_01 4:17

Yeah, but I mean, but I I know when it's time to call Panavision, I know who to talk to. Yeah, we we we sent him there last week. You know, we were plenty man to uh this whole family works at Panavision. We were plenty manned to work the other day and we needed some some shit from Panavision. And I'm like, Pablo, just go. Just go, Dad. Just go. I don't want to tell production and you know, they production production screwed up and gave us uh we were supposed to have half of our crew for one day. Yeah, that's right. But they sent some, they sent them all booking emails that they were on that day. Yeah. So, you know, the the the the day before they weren't on the call sheet, you know, I call production. I'm like, hey, you you only have so-and-so on the call sheet, but they all got booking emails for today. Yeah, and you know, she she made a mistake that I mean I caught when they early on, but I wasn't gonna say nothing. No, I wasn't gonna sorry, Michelle.

SPEAKER_02 5:16

Yeah, that was great.

SPEAKER_01 5:17

Yeah, yeah, yeah. So we you know we had a we had a bunch of hands on the load in day. Yeah, that's funny.

SPEAKER_03 5:22

Now going back a little back to the early days, you got the Dodger hat on. So I'm assuming you were born and raised in LA.

SPEAKER_01 5:28

Yeah, born and raised in LA. My uh my dad came from Kansas City to uh to get in the movie business.

unknown 5:36

Uh-huh.

SPEAKER_01 5:36

Yeah, and that's what he did. So, you know, uh my mom followed him out, I don't know, six months or a year later. Yep, had me in 79 and grew up in Mount Washington, mom and Igor Rock. I'm in Highland Park now, never really left the area and don't plan on doing it unless I have to.

SPEAKER_03 5:55

You know, did you always want to be in the film business as a kid? I mean, you kind of you naturally grew up in it, but it was it something you wanted to do.

SPEAKER_01 6:01

I didn't know you know what I did. I uh, you know, I remember my dad taking me to work here and there, like this, you know, I told you earlier, and other jobs, you know, on the weekend. Pops would take me in, he'd put a walkie on me. You know, my dad owned walkie-talkies, so I always had walkie-talkies at home. You know, me and my neighbor a couple doors down, we're on our walkies and you know, you know, and going to work and cameras and everybody being cool. It didn't seem like a job. It didn't was fun. It was fun, it was it was interesting, you know. I uh unlimited soda, unlimited soda and snacks. Yeah, yeah, exactly. You know, uh yeah, all the things a little kid could want. Right, yeah, yeah. And you know, I guess my early memories, I just remember like always seeing like, why is there so many, so much cable on the floor? Like, you know, I just remember that. And wireless. Being in a sound stage, my dad taking me to the big lots, you know, universal and seeing the trams go by and like, hey, they're looking at us.

SPEAKER_03 7:05

You know, you remember we used to take the golf carts and go on our own too.

SPEAKER_01 7:08

That was awesome. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 7:10

Now, I I got a question. Now, when you were, let's just say now in high school, did you take any classes? Did you were you looking to, you know, going that route, like actually going to old school?

SPEAKER_01 7:22

Uh in the summers in high school, my dad would take me to work and he'd pay me out of his pocket 50 bucks a day. Right. So I'd be doing 12-hour days for 50 bucks. So, you know. That's good money for people.

SPEAKER_00 7:35

I mean, uh not really for a money for that. Hey, that's what it was back then. It took them all for Dottos, though. 75 thought it was good. Now I know it's getting taken advantage of.

SPEAKER_01 7:49

Uh but and then and then, like generally, you know, it happened more than one occasion. You know, I'd come in and I'd do a good job, and uh, and the producer would just say, John, put an extra day on your time card, and then that's for Conrad.

SPEAKER_04 8:03

Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 8:05

Yeah. So, you know, but I remember doing like I mean, back when car jobs were long, like 12-day car jobs at Raleigh, Dodge Ram trucks. I remember that was like an early uh early job that we did. Um Boss Films was the company.

SPEAKER_03 8:24

He was pretty much a commercial AD, right? Yeah, yeah, no, no, no.

SPEAKER_01 8:28

Yeah, yeah. My dad pretty much exclusively did did commercials when I was a little boy. Uh my dad was the second second AD on Beverly Hills Cop 2. Nice. Yeah. And you know, I love Beverly Hills Cop 1 as a kid. So my yeah, so when my dad said, Hey, I'm on Beverly Hills Cop 2, I was I I was I thought I had the coolest dad in the world.

SPEAKER_03 8:52

You did, you do.

SPEAKER_01 8:53

Yeah, I do, yeah. He he took me to work one day and met Eddie Murphy. Uh uh met Judge Reinhold, who played Oh yeah, one of the other cops. Not Taggart, but the other dude, yeah, the taller dude. Yeah, the taller dude. Kind of like the the you know, the goofier of the two cops. Yeah, God, what was it? Anyway, uh yeah, met him and that dude was super nice. Uh, you know, Eddie Murphy's like, oh, you know, he was very like you would think a star would be, you know.

SPEAKER_00 9:23

Hey kid, how's it gonna be?

SPEAKER_01 9:26

Yeah, I gotta meet people all day. I'm Eddie fucking Murphy. But you know, but I he was kind, I don't remember. Yeah, and then uh the only other movie that I remember my dad doing was called Radio Flyer. Oh Radio Friday. Yeah, and and and I remember during that time frame not seeing my dad a whole lot. He was working, he was in work in the movie schedule, and uh and you know, it was I I I didn't get it as a kid, you know. I was like, how the hell could you be at work so fucking much? But you know, and you know, when I got into the game, I quickly realized the movie schedule.

SPEAKER_03 10:09

Yeah, because by the time you wake up, he's gone. By the time you go to bed, he's still working.

SPEAKER_01 10:13

He's still working, yeah. And then see him on weekends. He yeah exactly. Comes home, you know, says goodbye in the morning while I'm still asleep, and off he goes again.

SPEAKER_02 10:22

Yeah, see, that's crazy. Like I relate a lot to that because you know, you knew what your dad was doing. Like I I talk about how like I didn't growing up, like I didn't know what my dad was doing until later on when I started working at PandaVision. Yeah, you know, but that's so awesome, like having all that experience early on, like you know, getting the walkies put on, like you knew exactly what he was doing, you know.

SPEAKER_01 10:46

Yeah, yeah, and I knew what I wanted to do. Yeah, yeah, you know, so you know, like I said, to back to a little, you know, in high school, I was working summers with my dad. The summer between my junior and senior year, I got a job at a motion control company called Image G. And I was basically just like shot bitch. And you know, took out the trash, cleaned up, I cleaned the roof, I helped him load trucks, I did PA training one at one. Yeah, I yeah, I did runs and uh again, I think I was I think I was I got a big raise that summer. I was like a buck and a quarter a day, something like that. Yeah, I was yeah, I was doing pretty good back then. And uh then boom, you know, in in in high school, I was always good in photo class. We had this awesome photography department in my high school, enlargers, negative processing, uh, you know, in enlarging your own your own negative, making prints, and and there was always a contest, you know, with all the uh assignments that were given out. Um, and I was always winning. I was always winning. So that's kind of where I got my creative, you know, I think I learned to be creative a little bit and wanting to make things and that being, you know, somewhat of a driving force and passion. There is a aspiring creative in me, you know. Yeah. Uh and I do like photography, and I do like stuff being visually appealing, and I do like uh, you know, just making something that I enjoy and as a byproduct other people might enjoy. And and creative. Yeah, just a creative. So I, you know, I'd I'd get these assignments, and you know, with some help from my dad, you know, we'd come up with an idea. We'd do tear sheets early on, like, all right, this assignment, you know, uh photo and a photo, for instance, you know, and uh and and I remember I, you know, I aced this one. The assignment was photo and a photo. And I had my neighbor, the kid I used to talk on the radio with, and uh, and I got on a ladder and I laid him on the ground and I made him look like he was falling from the sky by shooting him down on a ladder, right? And then we I enlarged it real big, put it on a piece of foam core, got fishing line, monofilament, right, and hung it, and then took it to downtown. Got out of my butt, had put him and my dad on a ladder and held it above me, and I shot him from my back, so it looked like he was falling out of downtown.

SPEAKER_03 13:30

Nice.

SPEAKER_01 13:31

And uh yeah, yeah. So that was my dad teaching me plate photography early on. Early on. Wow.

SPEAKER_03 13:39

But also, you were an entrepreneur because you were like the only PA that I knew that had a little rental business.

SPEAKER_01 13:45

Yes, I did, you know. Uh, you know, I didn't have I didn't I didn't have to buy into it, you know.

SPEAKER_03 13:51

Family business.

SPEAKER_01 13:52

Yeah, family business. My dad being an AD, he knew he could make some extra bread, uh, providing the walkie-talkies to the set. So for as long as I could remember, my dad had a had enough radios I could supply a you know a commercial sized crew. And so yeah, when I became a PA after high school, um, you know, and I was starting to get my own gigs. My dad would say, hey, if you could get the radios on, I'll pay you a third of the rental. So, you know, a uh a 40 radio package rented for about you know 400 bucks a day, right? On a three-day job. So I'm getting a third of that, you know. I'm so I'm making I was hundreds of hundreds, I was $175 a day as a PA, right? I get a $200 cut at the end of the job for, you know, or you know, late 90s, I was doing all right. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, and again, you know, no bills until my dad started charging me rent.

SPEAKER_02 14:49

He was knowing how much you were making off.

SPEAKER_01 14:51

My dad was smart. He knew if he you know, he he knew to train me for life. And nobody lives for free. Yeah. Uh you're making enough money, you know. You know, if I charge you a little bit of money at some point, you're gonna realize, hey, for a little bit more, I can have my own place.

SPEAKER_03 15:06

Yeah. So from the time you were on set, you kind of always were interested in the camera department.

SPEAKER_01 15:13

You know, yes, yes, yes. Uh you know, I was always had my nose in photography. I always like taking pictures, like I said. Um and I always wanted to travel. And my yeah, and my dad told me he's like, you know, uh you know, being a be being a first A D, he got to go around the world uh shooting jobs, and he says, we always take a first AC. We always take a first AC. Sometimes we take a second AC. And uh and you know, that's no longer the case. Absolutely not. That's no longer the case. Uh but back then, you know, back then it was the case. So, you know, it was uh it was a good way of me knowing. But I'll tell you what, if I could do it all over again, sound.

SPEAKER_02 16:00

Everybody says that.

SPEAKER_01 16:02

Sound got you know what you rap early.

SPEAKER_03 16:05

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 16:06

Well, they make good money. Yeah, you get great money.

SPEAKER_03 16:09

The sound mixer underbid the equipment. That's what it is.

SPEAKER_01 16:13

No, the sound mixer's gear is on a daily, yeah. It's on a daily level. Not not a three-day week like our shit, and then discount it.

SPEAKER_03 16:21

Even the freebies, they pay for it, you know.

SPEAKER_02 16:23

Cameras are free.

SPEAKER_03 16:24

Yeah, now oh, go ahead.

SPEAKER_02 16:30

So I know by 98 you were getting ready to graduate high school. Yeah, 97. 90, yeah, now we're 97. When did you start working at the camera house?

SPEAKER_01 16:40

I think I I mean I was out of school in it was June of 97, right? I think July of 97 is when I met Tony on Yokiero Taco Bell.

SPEAKER_03 16:52

Well, yeah, I guess I thought I had met you okay earlier, but yeah.

SPEAKER_01 16:55

May, maybe, maybe on you know, I came in for a kinker job or something. But that was our first day working together. That was yeah, yeah. The first, you know, and Chihuahua. The little chihuahua, the first Yokiero Taco Bell. Oh man, and big big time crew, big time crew, big time successful commercial, oh yeah, successful commercial, dude. And my my story on that day was early. We were shooting on Abbott Kenny. Yeah, we were shooting on on Abbott Kenny, and the second AD, Fred Usher, Kink's brother, uh asked me, he's like, Okay, so we're shooting down the street later today. I need you to cone off the street so nobody parks there. I said, All right, you got it, but I was a little confused, yeah, right? So, like, I didn't cone off the parking spaces, I coned off a cross street.

SPEAKER_00 17:50

I've I've only like six cones, cars are turning around, cars are turning around, and like the cops got on the radio and says, Hey guys, uh are we permitted to close down third street or what whatever it was? And Fred's like, No, I didn't mean to cone off the street, just down a block so nobody parks there. That's funny, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 18:10

You know, early PA fuck-ups, you know. Yeah, then I you know, I I PA'd from 97 until uh early 2000. All different crews, all different crews all over the place. Yeah, I was a busy PA.

SPEAKER_03 18:26

Your pops was pretty much.

SPEAKER_01 18:28

Yeah, but I don't only PA with yeah, exactly. I didn't only PA with him, but you know, you know how it goes. You meet one person, and then that person brings you on to the next job, you meet somebody else, and then you know, the next job turns into the next job, and next thing you know, you're turning down work. You know, back then we were bumping, yeah. And uh yeah, you know, I was a busy PA, but you know, like all PAs, you you're you you you get over it, you look around, you're like, this isn't man, I'm I I'm making pretty good money, but he's making that for doing that, and he's sitting, yeah. All right, this is bullshit.

SPEAKER_03 19:05

Yeah, because back then, I mean, PAs, it was different than now. Like it was different than the last in line to eat. You were first on set, last to leave. Yeah, we're there would be no way you could eat in front of somebody like and they drove the vans, that's right, and the trucks, and they drove the vans and the trucks.

SPEAKER_01 19:21

You know, I had a story about the van driving. Uh, we were shooting out on on Petrero Road, you know, out in Westlake or whatever it is. And uh, all right, Conrad, you're on a van. I was like 19 years old or something, maybe you know, 20. And I get my van from galping in the morning. I'd drive it out to drive it out to Petrero Road. I'm looking at my call sheet. There was no GPS. No, yeah, there was no GPS. Thomas Guy, Thomas Guy. Yeah. If I you know I'm looking, I'm looking at a call sheet, all right. Driving number, oh, that looks like crew parking right there. Pull into crew parking, get in line behind another van, right? Open my door, people start jumping in, like, hey, what's going on? Like, hey, how's it going?

SPEAKER_00 20:04

Good morning. They're like, oh, first day. I was like, yeah. Oh, well, welcome. Welcome to the crew, okay. And I load up my van. I'm like, where's you know, where's the location?

SPEAKER_01 20:15

Uh you guys already been there? Yeah, it's it's over here. Like, you know, I just five-minute drive, I go drop them off, turn around, go back to crew parking, go load up my van again, right? And I pull up to crew parking, and this other van comes and pulls up next to me real close. So we're door to door, and it's just like old crusty teamster, and he looks at me like kind of shrugs his shoulders and then keeps going, load up my van. Hey, same thing. Hey, what's going on? First day. So anyway, make a long story short, I was at the wrong bait. I was at the wrong crew parking.

SPEAKER_03 20:50

That used to happen a lot in LA.

SPEAKER_01 20:52

It was so busy.

SPEAKER_00 20:53

I was at the wrong, I was at the wrong crew parking. I figured it out on my second van load to this to this location. You know, one of the pat one of my passengers says, Hey man, I think you're on the wrong set. I think you're on the wrong set. He's like, you know, and then when he gets it, like, all right, thanks for the ride and the story for lunch.

SPEAKER_02 21:10

Yeah, exactly. No wonder the teamster gave you the side eye. Exactly.

SPEAKER_00 21:15

So, you know, I I kept going down the road another three minutes or something, and there was my team.

SPEAKER_01 21:19

I was I was still early. Yeah, nobody knew that I had just done two band loads of the wrong crew.

SPEAKER_02 21:26

Oh, geez.

SPEAKER_01 21:27

Yeah, yeah. Man, I had some good days PA. You know, there were fun.

SPEAKER_03 21:31

Met a lot of good people.

SPEAKER_01 21:32

Yeah, met a lot of good people, but yeah, mostly commercials until we did that movie that we were talking about earlier. The Mystery Men. Yeah, that was the only movie I ever PA'd.

SPEAKER_03 21:43

Quite different experience.

SPEAKER_01 21:44

Quite different experience, yeah. On a movie. On a movie versus a commercial.

SPEAKER_03 21:48

Yeah, because commercial you get your hand. I mean, you get to help out everybody.

SPEAKER_01 21:51

Yeah, he's a lot more involved. Yeah, you grab an apple box.

SPEAKER_03 21:55

Okay, on a movie if you do that.

SPEAKER_01 21:57

Locking up a door, yeah, locking up a door, yeah. Yeah, and Mystery Men when we were shooting at the the uh plaza hotel downtown, and I locked up the same hallway for two weeks.

SPEAKER_03 22:09

Without a cell phone back then. Without a cell phone, nothing. Yeah, blue.

SPEAKER_01 22:13

Yeah, I mean, I had a hard time staying awake. I know paying attention to what it was rolling.

SPEAKER_03 22:18

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 22:19

Yeah, but uh the other movie was Mystery Men. Ben Stiller, Hank Azaria, Janine Garoff Garoppolo, Garofalo, Pete Herman. Paul Rubens. Paul Rubens, who liked he he he did like 19-year-old boys. Well, you know. They're like, oh man, Paul likes you. I'm like, that's why he's so nice to me. That's funny. I did his last movie.

SPEAKER_03 22:45

He he was yeah, he was pretty fun to work with, I have to say.

SPEAKER_01 22:50

Yeah, I actually went to his uh to he had he did a stand-up at uh the Nokia Theater over by LA Live, and I went and there was like a QA after words, you know, and uh you know uh you know, anybody have any questions? I I raised my hand.

SPEAKER_03 23:06

Oh no.

SPEAKER_01 23:06

I'm like, I'm like, what's next for Pee-Wee? And he's like, oh, he was he'd love to talk about that and raise my hand again. I said, You remember the movie Mystery Men? He said, Were you on that movie? I said, I was.

SPEAKER_03 23:22

I don't remember you. Yeah, yeah. When I worked with him, he he wrote the movie, buddy. I mean, he was high the whole time. What are we doing? What's the what are my lines? You know, huh? Weed or I yeah, I think I think so. He was he must have had so much Visine drops, he must have gone through a carton of Visine on that movie.

SPEAKER_01 23:43

Very interesting human, very interesting. Paul Rubens.

SPEAKER_03 23:46

I had a great time. I mean, you know, it was a fun set, you know, when he was in charge.

SPEAKER_02 23:51

But yeah, just to move on a little bit, because I want to at what point, Condo, did you start really looking at the camera department?

SPEAKER_01 23:59

What point did I start looking at the camera department? Uh, you know, I guess I was always kind of looking to get in. Um, I was never old enough to drive a truck uh when I was a PA. You had to be 21 to drive a truck. Uh in '99, I one of my fellow PAs who I was working with, we worked with Craig Eisenberg. He was doing a uh he was doing a job and driving the truck and did returns for this company called The Camera House. Okay. And uh and they were looking for, they were trying to mimic Panavision's two-year program. Uh the owner, Rufus, and uh, and his vice president at the time, Todd Longto, great dudes. Um uh they were, you know, they're both Panavision veterans, and they opened up this shop and they wanted to bring in and train people like the two-year program. Come in, learn, learn, start at the bottom, learn the gear, meet the guys, and then go out and be successful camera dudes. And uh yeah, so that, you know, and so I want to say it was like April of 2000 when I started working at the camera house. It was a small rental house. I think there was 11 or 12 of us that worked there, and you know, and and it was it was a good time. It was good times, but that's been my only ever real job in nine to five, and shit. I hate, you know, I hated that aspect. Yeah, you know. So who were your mentors? Is Rufus a mentor? Sure, Rufus is a mentor, but you know, he was an assistant, he was a uh he was a business man owner, yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, he was an owner.

SPEAKER_02 25:38

Who was there with you? That was I know Lorenzo was there with you.

SPEAKER_01 25:41

Lorenzo Poris was there. Uh, you know, right at when Alice Goo. I don't know if you know Alice Goo, she did a she did a she became director or DP'd, she did something with the notes for project for a documentary called The Donut King that did really well. Okay. Yeah. Um uh the I want to say she's like the vice president of Keslow Camera now, Mel. Mel Mathis. Mel Mathis. Yep. She when I left Camera House, she took my she took my place on the payroll the very next Monday. My last day was a Friday, came in on a Monday. But man, when I worked at Camera House, I always had one foot out the door. You know, I was I was using it to m find jobs. I was using it to find jobs, get in the dark room, and uh, you know, I uh I I had a falling out uh with the management with Rufus and Todd when the Lakers won the when the Lakers won the championship the first one in 2000. The big one in 2000 before uh and and I wanted to go to the Laker Parade. We had no preps that day. And uh and I asked them like, hey, can I go to the can I can I go to Laker Parade? And they let me leave like early couple days in the in the lat Lakers postseason run because I had tickets and uh so but they didn't let me go to the Lakers parade, so I quit. I don't know what any 21-year-old kid would do, you know.

SPEAKER_03 27:11

Yeah, that should get you some free Laker tickets discounts for that.

SPEAKER_01 27:14

I quit so I could go to Laker Parade. And uh and but they took me back pretty shout out Rufus and Todd. Uh uh uh yeah, they they they they took me back in, and but it was like more on a part-time basis, which really worked for me. So, you know, when a loading job would come up, I'd I'd jump on it. Yeah, I'd jump on it, and uh and you know, and I remember like going into working for them one Friday, and I picked up two jobs that were prepping that day. One was for Saturday, and that was a the Welcome to Atlanta remix video. Yeah, Snoop. Yeah, we had we shot Snoop and Long Beach and on the roof of VIP Records and Long Beach is down there. Famous place in Long Beach, yeah. Famous place and very famous artist, arguably one of the best rappers ever. Yeah. Uh so you know, I'm working with Snoop on Saturday and right at rap, I'm driving right to San Diego to do a Navy recruitment uh job on an aircraft carrier that uh that was with a guy by the name of Paul Boda. And and and they weren't gonna have a loader on that job. They were gonna have uh they were gonna have six mags. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, they were gonna have six mags, and they said, well, well, maybe it was eight mags or whatever. They said, All right, what if we cancel the price of the four mags and we bring in a loader and we just have four less mags, and instead of paying for the mags, you pay for Conrad. Yeah, yeah. And and that's what happened. I and so, you know, I'm working with Snoop one day, I'm on an aircraft carry the next day. I'm like, I love this shit.

SPEAKER_02 28:57

Yeah, I'm in. I'm in. I'm in. I love this shit. And here's a question like, because we always ask this question like, who who officially brought you in? Like once you got into the union.

SPEAKER_01 29:08

Who officially brought me in? I mean, Tony here played a huge role in my in getting me my my my early jobs.

SPEAKER_03 29:15

I remember teaching you dummy loads and yep, yep, yep.

SPEAKER_01 29:18

Taking me in the dark room, showing me, you know, the basics of loading a mag.

SPEAKER_03 29:22

You uh you definitely had an interest early on. Yeah, you know, always hanging around us.

SPEAKER_01 29:27

Yeah, I you know, I always and and I liked you, you know, yeah, uh, you know, and I was I I was already familiar with handling negative in the dark from high school. You know, I liked that aspect and I could I could work in the dark. And and and I and I thought it was just a cool job. Uh so you know, I felt very comfortable in the dark room, and I knew how much loaders made. And and and so the cash was definitely, you know, a magnet to getting in in the in the department. And uh Tony got me my first couple jobs. Um, I remember this movie called Dallas and Rusty. Do you remember that? You left after the first week to go make some money.

SPEAKER_03 30:15

Maybe.

SPEAKER_01 30:16

Yeah, it was, I think it was a non-union job that turned union and Jeff Goldblum was in it.

SPEAKER_03 30:22

Oh, right.

SPEAKER_01 30:23

He played a shrink.

SPEAKER_03 30:24

That's the story because that guy, which was, you know, you're always surprised when actors are nice because they're usually nut. He came that uh that's what I tell the story all the time, but I can't remember the movie. He came one day and he on his day off and he watched the entire crew and studied everybody.

SPEAKER_01 30:42

Memorized the call sheet.

SPEAKER_03 30:43

Memorized the call sheets, and he came up to you. He knew your what your name was and what your position was. And introduced himself, hey, I'm supposed to.

SPEAKER_01 30:50

That's the what was the call she's uh Dallas and Rusty, and it was later released as Dallas 392 392. Wow. I I I when early Netflix idea got the DVD and the mail, and I watched it, and I turned it back, and I I think it put me asleep.

SPEAKER_03 31:05

Was your name on the credits?

SPEAKER_01 31:06

I'm sure it was. Okay. Yeah. Uh uh, but yeah, so you got me that job, and you know, to continue with the Jeff Goldblum story, uh we were we uh Pablo and I were working this Dior fashion show a month ago, and Jeff Goldblum was there, and I went up right up to him, you know, and I said, Hey Jeff, uh, you know, and I'd worked a couple times since then. But anyway, I said, Jeff, man, I'll I I did this movie with you, the first movie I ever did. And and and I remember the first day I came in a week late, I was covering for my buddy. I walked into the set with two mags for a reload, I put them down, and you said, You must be Conrad. I was like, and I can't tell you how cool I thought that was. And and how I still tell that story today. Yeah, I'm like, shout out Jeff Goldblum. He's a cool dude. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, and uh in that crazy full circle. Yep, and then and then he said, What movie was it? I said, It was called Dallas and Rusty. He said, directed by Scott Kahn. I was like, Yep, yeah, he totally remembers. Guys got a memory of a you know, incredible, more than me. Shit, you know, nobody's been so successful this long. Yeah, yeah. So my early mentors, Tony, really got me in into the department. Thank you, Tony. You're welcome. Yeah, and he got me. We kept going too. Yeah, we've kept going. Yeah, you know, uh, it was 2007. I was laying in my bed one morning. He says, Can you come to Lone Pine now?

SPEAKER_03 32:37

That was an early call, too, right?

SPEAKER_01 32:39

No, no, well, uh yeah, it was an early call. He called me like eight or nine in the morning.

SPEAKER_03 32:42

Or was it in the night and we needed you right in something like that?

SPEAKER_01 32:45

Yeah, maybe you call, no, no, maybe you called me in the night.

SPEAKER_03 32:47

Said, hey how soon can you get here? Five-hour drive.

SPEAKER_01 32:50

Like Yeah, yeah. No, uh no, uh no, I think it was in the uh I think it was in the morning that you called me. I was laying in bed, I know exactly where I was. And uh yeah, can you get to can you get to Lone Pine right now? We're doing this second unit, and I had just covered for you on like the final days of live free or die hard. Right? I did you were you were onto something else and I did the little final out dude. I'm the king of doing the last two days though.

SPEAKER_00 33:16

Hey, that's the best. Yeah, yeah. All the expendable, yeah, yeah. The rap gifts. Exactly, chairs in the truck back in the day. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 33:27

I was I was really good again on the last couple days of the movie. But yeah, but that's where I met Potter and Joey. Oh, here we go. Yeah, I met really. Yeah, I I don't think I met him. You know, I was in the dark room.

SPEAKER_03 33:40

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 33:40

Last couple days, you know, tough locations.

SPEAKER_03 33:43

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 33:43

Uh, we were on a stage, I think.

SPEAKER_03 33:44

Oh, on Die Hard.

SPEAKER_01 33:46

On Die Hard. Yeah. Oh, but yeah, then Iron Man, Iron, the first Iron Man is when he called me in the morning. Can he get to Lone Pine? Uh now.

SPEAKER_03 33:55

For like four weeks or whatever. Yeah, or maybe.

SPEAKER_01 33:57

No, no, no, it wasn't that long. But but but but we got there. Uh, I got there like in time like for rap. You know, I I I pulled up, I was at the truck, and where is everybody? You guys were out in the out in the sticks somewhere shooting tanks or something. And uh you guys got back to the truck and you know, I met the loader that you were going home. She showed me around a little bit. I don't remember her name. I don't remember what she looked like, but I uh but to my knowledge, she was the boyfriend of uh sorry, she was the girl of her boyfriend was on the main unit who was also in Lone Pine, who had a snowboarding injury.

SPEAKER_03 34:34

Alleged. I mean, you know, yeah, it was alleged, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 34:37

They didn't say it was a snowboarding injury.

SPEAKER_00 34:40

Because it was not far from Mammoth. Well, correct, yes, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 34:43

So uh so in support of him, they were going home together, yeah. And boom, next thing I know, I'm on the first Iron Man. Yep, changed the trajectory of my career. We did some big second units for Iron Man 1, Iron Man 2, you went to GI Joe.

SPEAKER_03 34:59

We went to Prague on G.I. Joe.

SPEAKER_01 35:01

Yeah, yeah, even though I wasn't working.

SPEAKER_03 35:03

No, but that's a great story, real quick. You have to tell that story because that's great.

SPEAKER_01 35:06

Yeah, I don't know if I went to I think I went to Iron Man first. We did Iron Man 2, then Iron Man 2. Somewhere. Iron Man 2. Iron Man 2, I went to Monaco. That's right. That was it. That's on vacation, right? Yeah, Iron Man 2, I went to Monaco. You know, we were shooting Iron Man 2, and there's always these two weeks circled on the calendar where Louis and Tony and Joey.

SPEAKER_03 35:30

Oh, not me. No.

SPEAKER_01 35:32

No, no, not you. Sorry, Louis, Kevin, Joey. Yes, we're going to Monaco.

SPEAKER_03 35:37

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 35:37

Right? And and we're all like fingers crossed hoping that we get on.

SPEAKER_03 35:41

Because sometimes they you would sometimes we, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 35:43

Sometimes we would. So, you know, uh, you know, Louis said he's like, Condo, just get a flight. You could stay in my room. Well, I don't know. Come hang out. You don't got to tell me twice. Right. Yeah, you don't gotta tell me twice. So that's what exactly what I did. I booked a flight, um, had my ticket to to Nice, you know, a couple days after the guys, and I'm on the plane at LAX waiting to take off, and I get a call from Louie. Says, Condo, you gotta call so-and-so. We got you on the job. You're gonna work. Um, awesome. So I had to submit my my uh passport number and some other stuff to get me a visa so I could work, and yeah.

SPEAKER_03 36:27

And it wasn't, I mean, it was work, but for like three, four hours. Oh, it wasn't like a twelve. It wasn't like a real job.

SPEAKER_01 36:33

Yes, when people ask me what what no people ask me what my favorite job of all time is. I mean, uh Iron Man 2 always comes up because of that two weeks in France, you know. It was one of those things like we weren't there with the talent. Uh, we had some, we were doing plates of Monaco when they were built for the Monaco Grand Prix, right? So it's race week, the city looks different, and we're there getting some plates. One of it running footage of the of be actually being on the track on the track for a very small amount of time. For a very small, yeah. So like it was one of those things, you know, okay, Monsieur, you're going to shoot on Tuesday, right? And we're you know, and then Monday would come along with no no no Tuesday, no good, Wednesday. Like, and then Tuesday would come.

SPEAKER_03 37:22

No, when the with the no good Thursday, yeah, no, because Scotty Whiproit and I, we were here in LA stuck, you know, we didn't get it going. Yeah, occasionally we get a phone call. Oh, hey, we got one day at the stage, you know, and in the meantime, you're all the vacation, you guys were like on the boat, yeah, drinking all this stuff in Scotty. We're like this, man, we're gonna do it. Scotty would have booked the ticket, just like the famous line of uh, you know, we did one, we got this you know rally in Manhattan and we did one shot or something, and they wrapped us before lunch. And you know, Scotty was always about the moment. Overtime I dove all this way down there for like six hours and we didn't even get lunch, you know. Like and here you are drinking rose.

SPEAKER_01 38:02

Yeah, so lots of good stories on that on those two weeks. Yeah, lots of good. Yeah, well, no.

SPEAKER_03 38:07

Slam and salmon. Remember that? Oh man. Yeah. Yeah. So I was I tried to delete that from my memory bank, but that was that painful. Good. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 38:18

Uh yeah, it was just long days, same set. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 38:23

Stupid. It was on a porno set.

SPEAKER_01 38:26

That's what it was the porno stage. Yeah.

unknown 38:28

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 38:28

The porno stage. Where on the Roscoe and the 405, like right by where that where that that Budweiser put. Yeah, yeah. It was a van. Yeah, right by that Budweiser plant every day. You'd smell them burning barley or whatever the fuck.

SPEAKER_02 38:42

It stink it stunk. Do you okay? So is that the worst experience?

SPEAKER_01 38:48

Oh, worst job? Yeah. No, the worst job. I mean, God, I, you know, I gotta dig a little deeper in my memory bank for the worst job. Oh, okay. I guess I know what it is. Worst job I ever did. I was, you know, early focus pulling days, just moving up to be a first. And and I took this movie, this low budget movie. The DP was a guy by great guy by the name of Roman Jacoby. Uh, and the director was like this, like this pampered commercial dude who had never done a low budget anything. And and he was funding this movie, so it was coming out of his pocket, and and and it was just the worst vibe. And and like, you know, we were two weeks in on this movie, and uh and we do this location move, and the teamsters locked the trucks. Oh no. The teamsters locked the trucks because people were owed money. And uh, and so the teamsters started, you know, those they're a strong arm in them. And when it, you know, and when a job's shitty, everything's shitty. You know, your call call time shitty, your truck's shitty, your gear shitty. Food is shitty. Food is shitty. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, it's like everything just goes. Hours are shitty, yeah. Attitude is shitty. So yeah, so I remember, you know, after those trucks got locked, and you know, there's a meeting of the keys, and uh, and Roman had me there initially, and then like the PM said, get out of here, this is for the keys. I'm like, fine, whatever, right now. So I walked away, right? And then and then Roman's like, get him back here. He he has a key. So I came back to this meeting of the keys, and we were all talking about, you know, they're pissed off people because they hadn't gotten paid. I we were getting paid dog shit, so I really wasn't missing the money. Uh, you know, but I was just it was just a shitty job. And you know, I remember saying like like it was a Friday. I'm like, all right, if we don't have checks on Monday, when I have my bad coffee and my mystery sandwich, I'm out of here. And sure enough, we showed up that Monday, we they added the bread, we finished the job, but yeah, no, all right. So that was my worst job. Let's move on.

SPEAKER_03 41:06

Yeah, because you've done you've done commercials, music videos, TV, movies, and and major, major concerts. Talk about some of the concerts.

SPEAKER_01 41:17

Yeah, you know, I mean, I guess I've always been lucky to have my foot in in a little bit of all the pools, foot and commercials, foot and movies. Well, we were still making movies here at least. I haven't done a movie in a couple of years. Uh and then now live events, yeah. So, you know, I got into doing these multi-camera live events right before the pandemic. Uh I did uh the Jonas Brothers um with this commercial DP. And uh and I I I love music. I mean a lot of people love music, but you know, I really like music and and I love photography and and I know how to be in the camera department. So yeah, so you know, I uh I did the this Jonas Brothers. We shot three dates. I think we shot them in LA, we shot them in Mexico City, and then we shot them in Vancouver. And then that that just got me on a list of live event people who are out there shooting this, you know. The multicamera live event world is different than all the other worlds. Yeah. And uh, and but it's growing, you know. People still, if they're not going to movie theaters anymore, but they're still going to live events, people still want to go to concerts, people still want to be in that environment around tons of people and feel feel the music and feel the vibe. So yeah, you know, I've uh, you know, I've some of the names you some of the artists you've worked with. Oh, yeah. I mean, I I met Pablo here on we were doing the Taylor Swift concert at SoFi Stadium four nights. Uh and man, we had half a Hollywood there on that one. You know, we had 30-something cameras, yeah. And I wasn't the lead AC on that one. Uh, but you know, I was on the spider cam and I had very little to do, and you know, and I met Pablo on that one, and that's when we're like, oh hey, we know a lot of the same people. Yeah, oh, we know a lot of the same people well. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And then uh, you know, so Pablo and I, both sober dudes, don't drink anymore. Yeah, yeah, long to longer for you than me.

SPEAKER_02 43:32

No, but yours is long too.

SPEAKER_01 43:33

Thank you, thank you, yeah. You know, I I got sober after Tony's bachelor party for a little bit. That was fun.

SPEAKER_00 43:41

That'll be a different podcast. What I remember yeah, different podcasts.

SPEAKER_01 43:44

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Uh yeah, so back to you know, so yes, I met Pablo's, we did Taylor Swift, we've now done Metallica. Mexico City. Yeah, we've we and but multicamera live events also include award shows. I did the Oscars this year comedy. We've done Kevin Hart. Yeah, your Oscar videos, your online social media Oscar. Oh, yeah, that was still struggling creative.

SPEAKER_03 44:12

No, those were fantastic, man. Yeah. Condo in a tuxedo. I mean he's proud of you everything.

SPEAKER_01 44:20

Yeah. Yeah. You know, yeah. The Oscars was fun. You know, uh Wrangling Cable in a tuxedo. I was that was I was actually a utility that day. Uh camera operator, uh needed a utility. He couldn't find anybody. Except for City Cam, right? Yeah, yeah. Yeah. Manny Bonilla, who's another sober brother. Oh, okay. I didn't know that. Yeah. So he and I vibed on that that day. Uh great dude. And yeah, he just needed somebody to wrangle cable.

SPEAKER_03 44:47

Because those are two worlds that are difficult for sobriety, the movie industry and the music industry. Yeah. Because man, once they say cut, or the I mean people are drinking.

SPEAKER_02 44:59

People are partying. People are drinking, you know. You need a sober pro you need a good program. Yeah, I should be able to do that. You need good people around too that understand where you know where you're at. You know, I think that's why me and Kondo connected, like we were talking earlier, you know, like just good good friends, somebody that cares, that understands that once we cut, we're not going to the bar. Well, I mean, we could hang out, have a Coke. Yeah, we do.

SPEAKER_01 45:22

You know, but we don't, you know, or you know, but Yeah, just having another sober brother with you on the road when everybody's going to the bar. Right. Or in the camera truck. Or in the camera truck.

SPEAKER_03 45:33

Like use for my God.

SPEAKER_01 45:35

That was a thing forever. Yeah. And but now you get in big trouble for that shit. No one's drinking the camera truck anymore. Yeah, I guess I mean people hiding it, but it's not as open like it once were. Yeah, I mean, it's not as open as it once was. It was just a well-known. Remember the Panna Bar back in the day? The Panabar? Panavision would send out a bar. Yeah. Imagine asking them for the Panna Bar these days. Yeah. Yeah. So, you know, uh, you know, luckily I found myself in these multi-camera live events here and there. You know, the problem with those is there's just not enough of them.

unknown 46:10

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 46:11

There's just not enough of them. If I could go from one to the next, it would be great.

SPEAKER_02 46:15

And it's the season. You know, we know the sea, just like you know, there was pilot season and everything else, there's event season.

SPEAKER_01 46:21

Is there a pilot season anymore? I don't think so.

SPEAKER_03 46:24

Now you're old enough to, you know, you started in film, you've done the progression from film to digital, you've seen a lot of change in the industry. Where do you envision this industry with AI?

SPEAKER_01 46:36

Well, well, you know, I think, I mean, at least in the overall general consensus with people, I think AI sucks. You know, I think I think people think that AI sucks generally. Uh uh, nobody likes seeing it. I mean, I mean, I think it's got its place and as a tool to help you generate, you know, something to take make something easier. But as a far as far as like it taking our jobs, I don't think so. Uh you know, this year I actually did do this this Amazon show for a week where it was all in a blue screen. We were at the Avatar set, and and anything that the actors interacted with or whatever, that was real. But the entire uh environment that they were in was all AI generated. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 47:43

Oh, yeah. Well, that that says it right there. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 47:46

So, you know, I mean So you're hopeful in terms of like you still think, you know, let's say your daughter wanted to come into the business.

SPEAKER_01 47:55

I say don't do the camera department. Right, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 47:57

Or or set deck. Yeah, or set.

SPEAKER_01 48:00

I tell I can tell everybody do sound. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. You're not gonna AI generate sound, or I mean, I guess you can.

SPEAKER_03 48:07

Okay, and I one more thing, because we did miss a big movie that that you worked on. What was Jerry Seinfeld like working with? Oh, yeah. That's a big that's a big one.

SPEAKER_01 48:16

Jerry Seinfeld, man. That movie.

SPEAKER_03 48:18

That's to me, that's awesome. That would have been definitely higher than B Week.

SPEAKER_01 48:22

Yeah. Oh, yeah, for sure. Uh, you know, that was that was coming out of the pandemic. Um, we were still wearing masks and uh here in LA? Here in LA. Okay. Yeah, here in LA, that was I want to say the summer of 2022, 2023, something like that, right before the strike. And uh Jerry Seinfeld is not a director, Jerry Seinfeld is an actor. So I was working with the legendary DP uh Bill Pope. Pope, right? He did these little movies called The Matrix. I don't know if you heard of it. So Bill Pope's an absolute legend, total pro, smarter than everybody there. You know, he's been around for quite a long time. Yeah, he's two or three steps ahead of everybody. So if you're not at least one step behind him, you know, Bill watch your back. Uh so you know what what they do with most first-time directors or young directors, they put them with a very experienced DP. And uh, you know, it couldn't have been couldn't have been a better fit. Better pairing. Yeah, yeah, better pairing. Um so but him and his producers are used to doing sitcom TV, three cameras, right? Like we know, there's uh often not enough room for three cameras. Yeah, you need to be on a set to be pull pull walls out and not practical sets or lighting is uh ideal for that. Exactly. So, you know, after the uh you know, after the first week, uh, you know, the producers like, where's the third camera? Jerry always shoots with three cameras. And Bill says, you know, we have a third camera, but we we have two crews. We'll pull out the third camera, and sometimes he's like, no, no, no, no, no. And we we the producer's like, we need three camera crews. Um Bill said, Well, they're paying for it. I don't know how much we're gonna use them here. Give get us three more dudes. So we crewed up, we we crewed up three cameras, and and you know, we had a deep department of 12 people. It was a really it was kind of the one you didn't want to end. You know, it was a silly movie about the invention of the pop tart. Yeah, that's right. Right. Where the takes just forever long just go and go, or no, so yeah, no, some stuff would I mean the there there was a script and uh and you know, we were on a stage for for most of it. Jerry Seinfeld was a very kind human, very yeah, very nice to work with, uh good attitude. You know, he we you know, he's not uh what we like to call a baby saver who takes it so serio serious, you know. You know, uh on like it was either our last day or second to last day. Jerry says, you know, he's like, all right, got every good crew together. Hey, you know, I want to thank everybody. This has been a dream of mine, and Spike, who was the producer to make this movie. We never thought it would actually happen. Uh uh, you know, I know it says I'm the director on the slate, but I don't think I directed anything. He's like, he's like it, you guys all made this movie. That's awesome. Yeah, and appreciative, yeah. Yeah, super appreciative, you know. Um, and you know, he's like, Oh, another cool thing he did was a five dollar Friday, you know, five dollar Friday, the first week we had a five dollar Friday together. I think it was like 2,500 bucks. And and Jerry's like, What it, what is this? What's going on, or whatever? And he's like, Well, but we all wrote our name on a five dollar bill. Yeah, he's like, he's like, he's like, you pull it out, you pull it out, and you know, whoever wins, whoever's name's on the five dollar bill wins the money. He's like, he's like, and so like somebody whispering is like, you're supposed to match it, Jerry. And he's like, and I'll match it. And so, so you know, it was like 2,500 bucks. He matched it to five grand. I want to say the next five dollar Friday, there was like $10,000 in there, and like the final week, it was like $30. Wow. $30. And uh PA won it. Yeah, well, as always, PA or transport. PA won it. This dude, I want to say his name was Kenji, and he went straight to the Lego world with this with this $60 grand and bought like $1,500 worth of Legos and made a Lego, like diorama of the unfrosted set and a Lego of every crew member. That was dope.

SPEAKER_03 52:52

Well, now you could 3D print.

SPEAKER_02 52:54

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 52:54

Well, they're probably back though.

SPEAKER_02 52:55

Yeah, I just wanted to bring up because within that same story is you know, Bill Pope, uh, actually, you know, and since this, you know, past week we had Coffee Machine or Slurpee Machine. We could have had a hot dog machine on set, yeah, you know, but talk about the pizza.

SPEAKER_01 53:14

Oh, yeah. Well, you know, um, it wasn't my first movie with Bill. Yeah. Uh Bill is Bill's, you know, I think he's diabetic now. Um anyway, but Bill's he's a great dude. But he's 73 years old, 74 years old. He's been doing this shit forever. His his fuse is very short. So a couple quick sparks and kaboom! Yeah, you know, so so well it's like, you know, if you give him some food. Oh yeah, because he dude never eats. He you know, like, so you give him some food, he's a little that he doesn't eat. He's he's not hangry, yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 53:56

Oh yeah.

SPEAKER_01 53:56

Yeah, so uh makes everything better. Yeah, so you know, I got uh I I I got a I got a pizza oven at home, a propane pizza oven that you know we were on stage most of the time. I brought it in, I threw it in the jockey box of the camera truck, and on Fridays I'd make pizzas off the tailgate of uh of the truck. Like I said, we had three camera crews full of for two cameras worth of work. Yeah. So uh yeah, and so I had time to make pizza. So, you know, and uh Amazon Whole Foods Fresh or whatever makes it super easy.

SPEAKER_00 54:29

So, you know, on Thursday afternoon, Thursday afternoon, fresh pizza dough, fresh sauce, but uh but whatever, you know, clicking away on your your your ingredients, whatever kind of pizzas you want to make, it'd be on your door at at in the in the item.

SPEAKER_01 54:46

Yeah, so you know, we were doing this, we we were doing this three camera shot one Friday, and Bill's like, I'm fucking hungry. I'm like, Bill, I got I got the pizza oven hot, man. I can have a pizza out here in 10 minutes, right? One of the few times we had three cameras working, he's he looks at it, he's like, we don't need to be shot.

SPEAKER_00 55:09

Ten minutes later, he had a pizza.

SPEAKER_03 55:12

Hey, here's another one. Shout out to Dave Taylor because Dave Taylor was uh he used to make coffee and cappuccinos on set, but you took it to another level. I did definitely took it. You you you learned from him or you you watched him, but then you took it, and he used to come around set with the film can as your tray. Thousand foot can to Joey, Jonathan. Here's your cappuccino, Tony, here's your espresso, you know.

SPEAKER_01 55:36

Yeah, I learned early job security, baby.

SPEAKER_03 55:38

You know that was important back.

SPEAKER_01 55:40

I mean it always. Yeah, but it was on Iron Man. Dave Taylor had his had a little Italian percolator, I think it's called, and a hot plate, right? Plug it in the camera truck, and you could make you know that much espresso. Espresso, yeah. Right. And and so uh I went I went to William Sonoma or whatever. I'm like, oh, they got a jumbo one. Like I got the bigger one, yeah. Got the hot plate, and then that I found a milk frother. Yeah, you like you you you warm up the milk and then you that wear, yeah. Yeah, and then he pumped it and it get all frothy.

SPEAKER_03 56:14

And yeah, I mean, I just had he was work, he was more of a barista on that movie than a loader. Yeah, exactly. Can you get me another one?

SPEAKER_02 56:21

You like you know, and then and then the electricians and grips would, you know, like but you know, you know, the most important thing is is being comfortable on set and having those little snacks and having the car, you know, having fun is fun and being is the most important thing.

SPEAKER_01 56:36

That's what I love Conrad for that. Yeah, having fun. I mean, we all got a job to do, we all want to get the next job. We all know that we gotta perform in a high pressure environment, uh, but that shouldn't take away from what we do every day, is cool. Uh we're not saving babies, exactly. We're making some bullshit that that people are generally gonna fast forward through. I mean, depending on what we're doing. But anyway, but for the most part, we work with cool people. It's like running away with the circus. You know, we're not in a cubicle every day. The best part of what we do is waking up in the morning and not knowing what the hell is gonna happen. Not knowing what you could find the situation you're gonna find yourself in, and seeing some crazy things, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 57:23

I mean, some of the stunts that you know we were able to be on set and see is pretty incredible. And yeah, some of the actors that you've lived with, some of the major musicians.

SPEAKER_01 57:34

So here, well, I I gotta tell this story. Uh when when I was a when I was a PA, I was doing a Neutrogena commercial on the weekend, right? And as a good PA, I liked being there early. I was so early on this particular day, I was the very first one on this stage. All right. I go on the stage, I'm I'm looking around, oh okay, I guess I'm the very first one. Um I was there for about five minutes, nobody. Second person that day who shows up is this beautiful girl, right? She couldn't have been much older than me. We start shooting the shit, right? It's Jennifer Love Hewitt. And it's just she and I for like 10 minutes just shooting the shit. I didn't, I I she said, Oh yeah, I'm the actress today. I'm like, oh cool, I'm Conrad. Right. Yeah, like she, I you know, I knew the name Jennifer Love Hewitt, but I wasn't, I didn't. We were both 19. I didn't know I I didn't know her show, I didn't watch it. Yeah, but I was like, oh, I mean, that morning I definitely didn't think I was gonna be shooting the shit with Jennifer Love Hewitt.

SPEAKER_04 58:36

I was gonna ask her out, but but um Hey, shoot your shot.

SPEAKER_01 58:40

I was gonna dude, I was gonna ask her out, but like by lunch, by lunch, you're an electrician who I know by the name of Ross Richardson, who's now a DP. What's up, Ross?

SPEAKER_00 58:51

Uh uh comes in. He's got two jumba juices. Oh right. And I'm like, I'm like, that's all I can. Yeah, yeah, I guess like 10:30, 10:30, 11 in the morning. I'm like, I'm like, oh, what's up, Ross? You're a little late.

SPEAKER_01 59:02

He's like, nah, man, I'm here to meet Jennifer. I was like, oh shit, you're going out with Jennifer Leff Hewitt. And he's like, yeah, man, we just did this movie, and like she was mad cool. And the last day she stayed late. She was wrapping cable with us. Wow. I was like, okay, okay, Ross.

SPEAKER_03 59:18

Some actors, some actresses do like camera assistants. Do she? Yeah. We all know. Yeah, that didn't last though. Well, well, that's another one.

SPEAKER_01 59:28

Yeah, no, no, yeah, but uh, but you know, I worked with Ross years down the road. I'm like, hey, whatever happened with Jennifer Love Hewitt, you gotta tell me. He's like, Man, I found out I wasn't going out with Jennifer Love Hewitt anymore when uh when uh uh Carson Daly announced it on the on MTV or something.

SPEAKER_03 59:44

Oh Jesus. That's funny. Well, as we're getting close to wrapping up. No, I know. Yeah, I know. I we can't we should do another hour. We're running out of media. We've got two important questions to ask you. We'll start with the first one.

SPEAKER_01 59:56

Well, two important questions. Which one?

SPEAKER_03 59:58

What is your favorite? You uh you asked the second one. What is your favorite word on set?

SPEAKER_01 1:00:02

What is my favorite word on set? I don't know, rap.

SPEAKER_03 1:00:05

Okay, that's a good one.

SPEAKER_01 1:00:07

I don't know. Uh oh God, we got so many good ones. You know, oh here, how about this? You know, you know, before everything was wireless, that little magnetic piece or or uh or uh uh arm that we would clamp onto the dolly to hold the B and C on the side, right? What's that thing called?

SPEAKER_02 1:00:29

Oh, you got us there. Yeah, we just wasn't. Nobody knows.

SPEAKER_00 1:00:32

My claim to fame. I'm trying to name that the komoseyama. The komoseyama. I like that. Go get the komoseyama.

SPEAKER_01 1:00:39

All right, we don't use them as much anymore.

SPEAKER_02 1:00:41

But so the other one is is what's your least favorite word on set? We don't have a komoseyama.

SPEAKER_01 1:00:46

No, my least favorite word on set. I don't know. I don't think I like the phrase on the day.

SPEAKER_02 1:00:54

Yeah, that's a good one.

SPEAKER_01 1:00:55

On the day, it's just it's just overused, yeah. Yeah, or or I how about this one? I you know, when uh when someone's crossing in front of the camera or whatever. I hate it when they say crossing. Yeah, yeah, uh, you know, uh tilt tilt across, I don't know, pan down, pan down.

SPEAKER_03 1:01:16

Yeah, well, Conrad Casterman, it has been a pleasure. Yeah, I can't remember half of the times we work together. We're missing so many stores. I know.

SPEAKER_02 1:01:24

We're gonna have to do another hour.

SPEAKER_03 1:01:25

We'll we will, we will. And most importantly, for uh more episodes, please like and subscribe so we can bring him back and have many more. Click link, subscribe, tell me. Pablo and I are working our hardest to answer the emails that are coming in and responding back to you all. And uh thank you so much. Tell your dad we said hello. Bring your dad in next time. We'll go father son.

SPEAKER_01 1:01:47

Dude, well, I know you don't want that. I'll just steal the show.

SPEAKER_03 1:01:49

Yeah, we'll ask you. Bring in my dad.

SPEAKER_01 1:01:53

Bring in my dad in there.

SPEAKER_03 1:01:54

Me and John, we want Castro. Come on. Yeah, let's go.

SPEAKER_00 1:01:56

Yeah, no, who's next?

SPEAKER_03 1:01:58

Well, we'll keep that private. But we're gonna get into this. Uh we got a list of people. We still have to get Lewis in here. Potter in here. Potter, Lewis. We've got a lot of people still to come, so all right. We're just trying to see. All right, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:02:11

Thank you, Condo. Thank you, man. Hey, that was funny. That was fun. We'll see you again. We'll see you on the set. Yes, I hope so.

SPEAKER_03 1:02:17

We're all available. Yeah, me too.