Olivia Peck: Unfolding an Inspiring Journey in Acting and Singing

Step into the spotlight with us, as we welcome the multi-talented Olivia Peck, a shining star in the Louisiana film industry. Olivia, an actress and singer, unfolds her inspiring journey in the world of entertainment. She lets us in on her early passion for singing and acting, her experiences of studying music education, and how she wears a confident mask over her nerves. A truly inspiring story, not to be missed!

Next up, we touch on a universal struggle - self-doubt. With Olivia leading the way, we delve into how singing lessons can help boost one's confidence and silence the negative voices within. She offers some valuable advice on embracing your unique talents, showing vulnerability, and stepping outside your comfort zone. We share our own experiences too, showing how singing lessons inspired us to take leaps of faith and try new things.

Lastly, join us as we don our dreamer hats and discuss our hopes for the coming decade. We share our dreams of being our own bosses, spending more quality time with loved ones, and creating amazing content alongside our friends. We even give you a sneak peek into potential future projects, including a possible sequel or prequel to Olivia's mockumentary film. Olivia, Tj, and Plaideau wax lyrical about the supportive and vibrant New Orleans community and our shared love for the city's unique vibe. Don't miss out on this insightful and heartwarming episode of Nola Film Scene!

Voiced by Brian Plaideau

Have you been injured? New Orleans based actor, Jana McCaffery, has been practicing law in Louisiana since 1999, specializing in personal injury since 2008. She takes helping others very seriously.  If you have been injured, Jana is offering a free consultation AND a reduced fee for fellow members of the Lousiana film industry, and she will handle your case from start to finish. She can be reached at janamccaffery@gmail.com or 504-837-1234. Tell Her NOLA Film Scene sent you

Transcript

Exploring Acting, Singing, and Filmmaking

Speaker 1 0:04

Hi, I'm Olivia Peck and I'm a New Orleans creative and you're listening to Nola Film Scene. Nola Film Scene.

Speaker 3 0:20

Hello, welcome to Nola Film Scene with TJ Play-Doh.

Speaker 2 0:24

I'm TJ and as always I'm Play-Doh. Welcome back to Nola Film Scene. We are here with our good friend and our singing teacher, actress Olivia Peck. Yay, thanks for joining us. Yeah, happy to.

Speaker 1 0:39

I'm so flattered. Thanks for having me on. I'm excited and nervous. I'm mostly excited.

Speaker 3 0:44

Nothing to worry about. It's not like we're gonna do anything. Evil Great oh great.

Speaker 2 0:51

We won't even sing at you. Well, Brian might.

Speaker 1 0:53

Oh good, I'm looking forward to that, Brian.

Speaker 2 0:56

So we did an interview a couple weeks ago for an episode. Our episode is dropping next week with an actor and we got him to sing to us during the episode.

Speaker 1 1:06

Oh my gosh, I missed it. I need to pick up where I left off and listen to you.

Speaker 3 1:10

It'll come out next week. You haven't missed it.

Speaker 2 1:12

Okay, yeah, it drops next week. It's William Sadler. He played Death and Bill and Ted's and Colonel Stewart and Die Hard 2. Oh cool.

Speaker 3 1:22

He was my double. No wait, I was his double. We were both very pale Cool.

Speaker 2 1:28

So there's a picture floating around of Brian doubling him, and once you see that picture, you can't unsee it. Now all I see is the Reaper.

Speaker 3 1:37

Oh, really yeah yeah, I'll tell you a story, when we're not on the podcast, of how I actually didn't have to bug him, but the story of how we got that picture and all that will be cut out, because by the time this comes out, the episode with him will already be up. I was thinking of questions how we met. While you may have taken the circle exercise with Jim Gleason, we haven't taken it together, so you may be a first for a local actor on our podcast. Oh right, I think we met on the Wheel of Heaven set.

Speaker 1 2:04

I think so I never got too set for that.

Speaker 3 2:10

Oh, then we didn't meet there.

Speaker 1 2:11

So I don't, but I mean, I feel like we did know each other from something through Job it on or something like that. You know, it could have been just a film mixer type thing.

Speaker 3 2:24

Yeah, I didn't do too much of that. It's familiar to me. Yeah, it's a lot of social media and probably you know I was bugging Jeff, I'm sure.

Speaker 1 2:30

Maybe it was social media. It's so weird how it all blends together.

Speaker 3 2:34

Yeah, totally so. When TJ, when he said he was taking singing classes, like I had made a decision to improve my voice, I said who are you taking with Olivia Peck? And I was like I know that name. Oh yeah, that's me. Yes, what? We've been asking people about their inspirations, where they got their starts, different things that inspired them to different levels of like. On acting, you go from background to stand in if you take that route to going for speaking parts. So let's go back back in the wayback machine. And what was the inspiration where you feel like you went, whether it was singing or acting, I'm going to be an entertainer, or this solidified it for you.

Speaker 1 3:08

Oh, acting, singing, especially singing for me was like the only thing I could really see myself doing because I did like writing. I will say that I did like writing and English and art, but singing, choir, theater, church choir when I would go to church regularly as a kid, that was my outlet. That's what I like to do. I really could not see myself doing anything else and I really didn't shine in a lot of other subjects besides that I did. You know, I was decent at school and everything, but it was just like obvious, I think from the jump, from when I was a little kid. I would put on little shows for my parents and all of that.

Speaker 1 3:53

Get the bongos out and do a song with just bongos for my family. You know stuff like that. I like remember asking my mom like how do you write music? And you teach me, and stuff like that. So I was just always super musical and it kind of just like blossomed from there. You know, I went to college for music education and I got some experience doing opera on stage. You know I had done musicals before and I always thought like, oh, it'd be so nice to just act, because with singing you're singing and acting. So when I finally had an acting role I was like wow, that's it, like I just have to act. Little did I know that acting is actually really freaking hard, and once I was doing it for film, I realized like no, this is all the subtleties, like you've really got to know your stuff and be well practiced, especially since I'm like a super nervous person super nervous Nelly and like that's really bad for film.

Speaker 3 4:54

Unless the character nervous.

Speaker 1 4:55

Yeah, yeah, unless the character is nervous.

Speaker 3 4:58

You can use it.

Speaker 2 5:00

Right, right, that's my favorite, you cover it really well, because you've never come across that way to me at all.

Speaker 1 5:05

Oh, thank you so much and all of our interactions.

Speaker 2 5:08

I've always thought you came across very confident.

Speaker 1 5:11

Oh, I appreciate it. No, I'm, I really appreciate that. I try really hard to, you know, just keep it together. And my mom's really poised. She's really good at presenting and talking to people, she does radio and now and I think she kind of instilled that in one way or another like just like, just you know, take a deep breath or fake it till you make it, type thing, yeah, but it just kind of kept spiraling. And then I started doing film. When I landed in Louisiana, and that was what was sort of available and I mean just I think I was just there, I took an acting class and the thing in Louisiana, it's the film theme, there's a huge hug for that. There was welcoming arms from the film community and I was like, all right, cool, I'm down, I'm, and I started taking classes and it just it really spiraled out of control. You couldn't get enough.

Speaker 3 6:10

I couldn't get enough. And then you've you've gone on to directing and producing and you've met a so weirded friend of mine there. Would you like to discuss that y'all?

Speaker 2 6:19

Yeah, let's talk about it.

Speaker 1 6:20

Sounds good.

Speaker 2 6:22

So Todd's tell us. I know the story, but I like hearing the story Tell us about how you first started with Todd's and how it evolved into the movie that is now finished, right?

Speaker 1 6:35

Yeah, it's done now. It started with a web series. I was living in New Orleans at the time and all of my friends were actors and I've always loved making little videos with my friends. I'm sure a lot of us do that and everything, and I I've always done that. And I had this inspiration from this popcorn shop in my hometown. They have sample person who stands outside with a bucket of popcorn and when I was in high school I remember some of my friends had that job and thinking, wow, that's a great job, you just stand outside with popcorn all day right on. So I thought it was a funny, funny, fun job and I used that to kind of create the world for Todd.

Speaker 1 7:20

The episodes were totally just wild. I would just write them in one sitting, trying to just like definitely episodic. Things didn't really connect that much. And then I wanted to make a finale episode with everybody and one of my friends said, hey, I'm moving to New York and please shoot Todd's your final episode before I moved to New York and I was like, okay, I was like, well, I wanted to kind of do a feature link. And then I was like you know what, let's go.

Speaker 1 7:51

And I wrote a feature and I kind of changed some stuff around so it would fit a feature arc as opposed to like an episode arc. And I did some rewrites because the first right of it was weird and I wrote it again with sort of like a Tommy boy type situation, and that's the one I ended up going with and I just literally I just went for it. I really went for it. I was like we're shooting this on a handy cam. All my little ideas I wanted to do. I was just like let's do it. And I tried to shoot it, as you know, inexpensively as possible, really thought about our locations, what we could use, and that's how it all came to be.

Speaker 3 8:32

Excellent. Let's make a movie, okay. Okay. I don't think that's the usual route people go, but excellent.

Speaker 1 8:42

Yeah, and I will say like it was fun. That's definitely along the lines of, like, my personality. I kind of just go for stuff and see what happens. However, it took a lot out of me, you know, creatively, emotionally, I mean, it was like I did a lot of it. Thank goodness for all my friends and they did so, so everybody involved it so much. It was exhausting.

Speaker 2 9:06

Yeah, that was. That was a lot of work.

Speaker 1 9:11

It was a lot of work, but it was worth it, for sure.

Speaker 2 9:13

So a lot of your friends from the web episodes. I was curious were y'all friends from college and they were also actors, or were they from just working in the community acting classes and stuff like that?

Speaker 1 9:30

Thank you for asking that. Yeah, it was actually Polar Express train ride.

Speaker 2 9:36

Right.

Speaker 1 9:36

So when I first moved to New Orleans, I moved to New Orleans because of this live children's show Polar Express train ride, a Warner Brothers production. But they brought in, like a director and you know, their whole team and they basically they travel around the country with their team and prepare the cast in a week to put on this live trained Christmas show. That is supposed to be like taking kids and their families on the Polar Express journey. Like the movie it's all local New Orleans actors or wherever it's that. Sometimes they bring down actors from Atlanta for the New Orleans show, for instance, or they have a show in LA and it's brutal.

Speaker 1 10:20

I mean, it's like Broadway on a train. We're with each other for all day, day after day, putting on some days, you know, five shows a day. They're like an hour long or 45 minutes, I think, long shows, and so you get really close with these people. And most of the people that I was close with friends with later I still work with Steven. He's my manager now at the restaurant I work at and he and I met on the Polar Express. So these are like lifelong friendships that I made from that show.

Speaker 2 10:50

Yeah, my wife and daughter went at least two years that I know of.

Speaker 1 10:55

Oh yeah, oh, it's a special time, it's fun.

Speaker 2 10:59

They very well could have seen you and or your friends.

Speaker 1 11:02

Right, oh, definitely, definitely, I'm sure yeah.

Speaker 2 11:07

There's one that they're doing. I think it's an Oklahoma City. It was somewhere in Oklahoma because my in-laws are there this year. I submitted for it, but I didn't get an audition. I didn't expect to get an audition, but I wanted to at least submit because it seemed like it would be fun.

Speaker 1 11:21

Yeah, it's really fun. It's definitely like a great experience. And then, after doing it a few years, I took a step back from it because I wanted to give that space to A somebody else who hasn't done it before and B, just to be able to have that time with my family, because it really does like take up your whole December yeah, your whole December. So that's Christmas, you know, and if you celebrate Christmas I'm a big Christmas person I really missed out on some Christmas stuff for years, so it was really nice to spend time with family.

Speaker 2 11:55

So, Olivia, tell us what is next for Todd's. I know you finished with post-production on it recently. Where is it going from here?

Speaker 1 12:03

The plan for Todd's. As of right now, we're going to have a cast and crew and family screening so we can all watch it together in a great space and be with each other and talk about Todd's and if anybody has questions, you know whatever. Just have that experience where we all get to see it and it's finished glory, and then after that we'll submit it to Film Festival see how it does. I'd really like to especially push it towards comedy festivals. After that it will be like officially available to download, watch, buy and that up in the air. As far as where we're going to release it, but that's a plan.

Speaker 2 12:43

I got you Right. I'm so excited. I'm so excited to see it come out. I can't Thank you. I saw the early version of it but I can't wait to see. I just can't wait to go to the premiere and see everybody and hang out and visit. That's going to be a fun night.

Speaker 1 12:58

I'm so excited my parents are coming. Oh yay, and they're, they're super jazzed. They're just like the most supportive people in the world.

Speaker 2 13:07

So that's awesome.

Overcoming Self-Doubt Through Singing Lessons

Speaker 3 13:08

Very cool, very cool Switching gears a little bit, since I primarily know you as my singing teacher and I know what my journey has been with you and one of the best things other than just your great teaching it was getting over the voice in my head that said I couldn't sing. So if you'd like to tell our listeners your experience, inspire them, fight that negative voice, anything along those topics, that my rambling question if that can inspire you for an answer.

Speaker 1 13:36

Oh, absolutely. Well, first I'll say that's the most common thing that people deal with when it comes to singing. It's an extremely vulnerable thing. A lot of people are told that they can't sing by somebody in their family, a close friend even, and that stuff will really haunt you and make you want to hold in your voice. Not only does it make you not want to sing, but it also can sometimes affect the way you sing because you'll be holding back or in some way, you know, just not fully bringing putting yourself out there.

Speaker 1 14:13

The thing is we all have talents and gifts somewhere in there, and I always tell people this really cherish your best quality. So if you're really good at presenting, or if you're really good at the low notes or the high notes, or if you've got a great jazz voice, whatever that means, or if you're really good at screaming, just really enjoy that part of your voice. And I know that, like a lot of people will be like oh, I just want to sing like Freddie Mercury or I really wish I could sing like Adele or my mom or whoever they're looking up to, but you've got something in there that other people can't do necessarily. So lean into that first, be proud of yourself, enjoy it and then go from there. That's a great jumping off point, but it's this classic you know you've got one life to live. Just go for it. Take the leap and see what happens, because you're always your worst critic, always.

Speaker 3 15:16

Right, we found out I'm kind of a crooner a little bit and I'm a mimic, which my focus has been for voice acting. I want to improve my voice and to strengthen it, and then I can listen to the song. I need to read the words too. I can't memorize instantaneously and I'm pretty good at parroting that back and then going from there. So you've helped me find a lot of my strengths.

Speaker 1 15:39

Well, and there's value in that, you know, and it's very valuable. And it's like you might not realize it because you're like oh well, of course I can do that, but what's the big deal? It's a huge deal, you know. Just, it does help to have another person shine that light on that and make you realize, don't take that for granted, like that's a skill, that's a talent.

Speaker 2 16:00

Yeah, yeah. So you helped me tremendously. Livia and I met through Todd's and down the line. I started thinking about taking singing lessons, not because I thought I was going to develop into a singer and become the next big thing. I did it just to kind of help boost my confidence in areas that I was lacking, for the very thing that you just said.

Speaker 2 16:23

People will tell you at an early age you can't sing and that gets stuck in your head and as I've gotten older I've learned to it. Took me a while to get to the point where something was different about me. I just owned it, it is what it is, and lean into that. But singing wasn't one of those things and I found myself having a lot of restrictions, self-imposed restrictions that I wouldn't let myself open up, especially for more emotional things, because I stayed and was taught to be guarded for so long. I grew up in an environment and it started at home. But I grew up in an environment. You don't share your emotions, my background, my work history. You just don't. You don't show emotion and it's not okay to be vulnerable and show that and getting into acting. I knew that I needed to open myself up more and just kind of let it fly. So that was why I reached out to you in the beginning. To start taking singing lessons was to help with that and it helped tremendously. Just not even with just that, but even to the point of second guessing myself about making a post online. And a year ago I would have never, never posted on social media that I couldn't be vulnerable. I would have never said that, would have just never let it be out there.

Speaker 2 17:42

And about a month ago maybe more Brian can probably speak to the exact timeline, I don't remember the weeks kind of blend together he and I both got an audition for the same project and part of that required singing. I did not submit for that role. My agent submitted me but I kind of felt obligated to do the audition because I had turned down a couple of things, a couple of auditions pretty close to that, and I thought you know what, why not? I know I can't sing, but at least it will be some experience. So I did the audition. I wasn't embarrassed of the speaking part, I did the singing and I had my wife in help of me, just with the camera and I sang it. I'm like Nope. And I went around. She's like don't you delete that. So I did a couple of tapes and I listened to them back and I'm like, nope, nope, I know I've got a decent ear, I can hear, but I'm not necessarily a good mimic like Brian is, but I can hear, especially myself when I hear it back if I'm out of key.

Speaker 2 18:43

And it was bad. But you know what? I wouldn't have even tried it before you and I started working together. I would not have even done the audition. And just doing that and submitting it, I think was growth. And I told Brian, I said it's bad, but I mean I'm submitting it. And I told my agent later I said look, I submitted it. But yeah, I know it was bad and we both had a laugh about it, but it was still. It was fun trying and it felt good having the confidence to try, even even knowing that it wasn't going to go anywhere. I appreciate the work that you and I and the time that you and I spent working on that, because I would have never tried that six months ago.

Exploring Singing and Voice Acting

Speaker 1 19:24

That's honestly what I would hope for. That would be at least some growth for you, and that's really the goal. That is. The goal is just to take it further than it was, and growth is growth so good for you and you're inspiring other people. You know it's like a domino effect. It really is. Yeah.

Speaker 2 19:47

So if you want to build up your confidence, go to talk to Olivia, take some voice lessons.

Speaker 1 19:51

Thanks guys.

Speaker 2 19:53

And I heard Brian's. Brian sounded good.

Speaker 3 19:55

Oh, thank you, and he left me speechless, thank you.

Speaker 1 20:02

You guys, you guys both have lovely voices, lovely voices and you know, especially for not singing your whole entire lives really nice tones, beautiful and in their own unique way, and both of you can do a lot of different things with your own unique voice. And TJ, I know you, you know when you're off key or whatever you had. We hadn't done a lesson in a while, I think when you did that audition.

Speaker 1 20:31

And right, you know that if you really wanted to pursue singing, that you have in here and you at least have a jumping off point, which is just awesome.

Speaker 2 20:41

Thank you.

Speaker 1 20:42

Gars.

Speaker 3 20:42

Our last lesson of singing the song being alive from company to musical. Who the hell, if you knew me like you're gonna do what? And I did pretty good. It's definitely at the top of my range. And then he belts. I kind of copied one singer who can't think of his name and I'm kicking myself but also dropping it an octave and playing with the. I've always wanted a deep voice, which I've never had. I've always been kind of nasally, so that's opened up and been taking some vocal warmups and I did it and I started really low where the afterwards Olivia said I thought you're gonna hurt yourself. I was like, no, that felt really good. So for me being able to do that and you can get down in that voice, you know, get a little rasp and that and a and a dire voice and it's helped me do stuff and you know, blah, blah, blah.

Speaker 1 21:28

So it's range.

Speaker 3 21:30

Yeah, yeah, I liked it when we did a cartoon song. I did the Animaniac song and I was able to throw a different voices in it. Like at first it starts off with a German character, dr Scraach and Sneef, and then as the characters, as they sing back to him. I wasn't trying to imitate their voices, but they're trying to find out what they are. It's like maybe we're dog, maybe we are dogs, kill the dogs, or when was a cat? Maybe I'm a cat. What do you think of that? Yeah, you know. So that was a lot of fun and people were like okay, wow, like that surprised people.

Speaker 1 22:03

Yeah, and I was saying like, oh my gosh, I was surprised with how polished a lot of your voices were. I was surprised you hadn't really put a lot of those out there before.

Speaker 3 22:13

Yeah, I had kind of put cartoon training, voice training, on the back burner to concentrate on the acting, because it's voice acting, not voice acting. You know it's always the acting, just like the singing. I didn't want to put the cartoon voices out there too early. You know what I mean and both of them have. There's a consistency you have to do and you know, just like acting, trying to keep everything in your head, keeping it all right, keep the musical notes lifted, keeping the same accent and the same tone. It's great, but it's a struggle and I love doing all of it and all I can do is thank you for all the help you've given me.

Speaker 1 22:44

Oh well, I'm happy to do it. It makes me happy that you've benefited from it. Yay, well, then too, I think when you're you know, like with voice acting, you care about it so much, and I do think that when you're really passionate about something and you really really working at something, you want to present it when you're ready.

Speaker 3 23:05

Yeah.

Speaker 1 23:06

So there's a lot of yeah, I totally get that.

Speaker 3 23:09

That's the same. I didn't try for an agent or auditioning for a long time, for years, and I really wanted to get out here and do the job and I never felt ready. Because you can start right now and for some people that's great, you start right away. Try to get an agent. Some of our people we've talked to they've already had it. I wanted to give a higher quality audition Doesn't mean I'm going to walk in there and I always quote that male street. I'm not going to be Meryl Streep or Denzel Washington walking out the door, but I just didn't want to be. Hi, I am here to act. I don't know what I'm saying. You know I did not want to do that because to go from my day job although I work at night to going for acting, I want to jump and dive into the pool instead of belly flop. I want to make a good impression. So I'd rather wait and at least do a good job.

Speaker 1 23:49

No, that makes sense. I probably should have done that when I started.

Speaker 3 23:54

No, no, no.

Speaker 1 23:54

I did not do that, of course, as I have already said with Todd's, how I just kind of went for it. I've done that with everything. I've done that with everything, but that's awesome. Yeah, there's definitely benefits to it because it's another way to grow and I don't easily get embarrassed. I do get easily nervous, but not necessarily embarrassed, which are, in my head, two different things. And yeah, like with acting, I really did.

Speaker 1 24:24

I started doing it before I really knew what I was doing and in a good way, like in the good side of that is, I had some really good experiences. The downside is, I think some people's first impression of me that's it when I started and I've definitely grown from that point, so I have to live with that. But that's the one downside there. Or even in working on set, there are some sets I definitely was very green, asked some questions that I should have just kept inside, things like that. And looking back, I'm like, oh, good Lord, you know, I thought my, you know, when your love is not off and you're saying stuff, stuff like that, you know, it's like just really ridiculous things that you learn as you go.

Speaker 3 25:09

And a lot of, is the mic that they put on your shirt. It's a remote mic, it's wireless, so hopefully you didn't bring it into the bathroom with you. I'm shy.

Speaker 1 25:20

There are a lot of things I didn't know, but yeah we'll just leave the question there, we'll stop there.

Speaker 3 25:25

Yeah, you live in your learn.

Speaker 1 25:26

You live in your learn and sometimes you learn by the sound person giving you a look later at another function, Like oh, she's a little weird, you know, or whatever. And you're like why did that person? Hmm, then think back yeah.

Speaker 3 25:43

I have too many people who think I'm weird for me to try to look back. I'd be here all night.

Speaker 1 25:48

Yeah, at some point yeah.

Dreams, Filmmaking, and New Orleans Community

Speaker 3 25:50

We've also been asking not only people's inspiration but their dreams. Sometimes we've asked who's the top actor or top of five actors you'd like to work with, what kind of dream role? But also, for you there's a singing quality, there's a music quality. So pick one of those types, one of those categories. Whatever that question inspires you, tell us your deepest secrets.

Speaker 1 26:10

I think I hope that I, just as I get older, get more and more time to spend with my dog because I work a lot to be able to support my creative passions and I hope in 10 years from now I have something figured out where I can spend more time at home and work for myself a little bit more. I have this dream of opening up a bookstore, so that's totally out of left field.

Speaker 3 26:38

But yeah, that's awesome.

Speaker 1 26:39

That's a big thing for me and I really like making stuff with my friends. So if I'm thinking like what actors I want to work with, it's just repeats of friends that I've worked with and I just want to keep making stuff with the people that have supported me and I want to keep supporting them and I just hope we all can keep making our own stuff forever.

Speaker 2 27:00

That's awesome. Yeah, do you have anything in mind for either a follow up to Todd's or something in a different direction?

Speaker 1 27:08

Yes, I do. I have another one in mind that is totally different in terms of characters in the world, but still a mockumentary, and I want to keep doing mockumentaries, I think. So I do have a couple at my sleeve. My parents are like pushing for a sequel to Todd because they have seen it, the finished version, once already. So they're like, oh, it really seems like a sequel would make sense. So we'll see, we'll see. I don't know. I'm thinking maybe a prequel. So there are a couple ideas floating around.

Speaker 3 27:40

There are also movie trilogies out there that are in the world, but they're not direct sequels. There's something in them.

Speaker 1 27:47

that connects them. That's a good point, thank you.

Speaker 2 27:50

Like a cinematic universe.

Speaker 3 27:53

Yeah, I've seen one that was based on a snack food. That snack food always appears in that, so that's how they link it together, but it's always the same director and pretty much the same cast.

Speaker 1 28:03

Oh, interesting.

Speaker 2 28:42

That's cool. You've been in one of those Pop-Tart Wars.

Speaker 1 28:47

Oh yes, Pop-Tart Wars yes.

Speaker 2 28:52

With Adrian Jordan.

Speaker 1 28:53

Adrian, I love. Ok, so some of the people that I worked with but were not directly linked to Todd's, but I love working with them, are Adrian Jordan and Brandon Cutlifa, I think is how you say his last name. Adrian writes his own sketches and he's a great writer and he's really funny and he always brings a great team together to shoot and they make some really good quality content and they're just so inspiring to me, especially for comedy and sketch comedy in New Orleans, and there are a lot of really good ones out there. That's just two that I can think of their names, clearly, but there are a lot of awesome, especially funny people in New Orleans who are making their own stuff.

Speaker 2 29:34

There's a lot, yeah, there's a lot. Adrian is really talented. His cinematography is incredible. Yes, carlos.

Speaker 1 29:42

Yeah, Carlos Carlos Jimenez and Matt.

Speaker 2 29:46

Jeremy Sari.

Speaker 1 29:47

Yep, jeremy Sari, a lot of great groups of making their own stuff and where everyone involved is coming together their friends and making it happen in their free time.

Speaker 3 29:59

Yeah, not only was I involved in Joe Badon's film the Wheel of Heaven, but my friend, josh Stevenson. I met him on a set and he started working on it before I met him. So it was like 2016, and he did a proof of concept video and he won some awards at a festival and he kept going, never did a Kickstarter, so this is all out of his pocket, so it's not even low budget, it's no budget. Yeah, I totally get what you're saying. I love the New Orleans community. I love, and there was no money in that. We're not doing it for money.

Speaker 3 30:24

We don't plan on making money just for the fun and the love of creating and crafting and can't wait for people to see it.

Speaker 1 30:30

Yeah.

Speaker 2 30:32

It's such a fun community and the people, everybody is just so welcoming. I made a lot of friends, people that I still stay in touch with, from Todd's, from the night that we shot the last scene with everybody there. I made probably 25 friends that night.

Speaker 1 30:47

I'm so glad. Yeah, that was a really fun day. In my opinion, that's the most fun way to meet people is on a project, like Brian talked about, the Wheel of Heaven I did not work on that, but Heaven, jeff come home and talk about it, or while he was on set and calling me and stuff, I could tell and I knew a couple of those individuals, like Callie just such a great group and it's just one of those things where you become a family and you're actually working together. It's the perfect time to meet people and find some common thing. You're working together, so this is the best.

Speaker 2 31:22

And people are very supportive. I don't know if it's just that I'm not in the wrong places at the wrong time, but people are supportive, complimentary. I don't see a lot of toxicity at all. Everybody is just so incredibly nice.

Speaker 1 31:37

Yeah, I found that too and I've been asked a few times. We all get asked like oh, are you going to move to LA or Atlanta? And I did ostentant Atlanta, great people up there too, but I missed New Orleans. I genuinely was homesick. I might give it another go up there. I'm not saying I'm ruling that out or like I have to be down here, but I just I did. I missed it because it is special and the people down here they love what they do, just doing it, yeah, cool.

Speaker 3 32:08

And how many people do we know, even away from the movie industry, where they've? Oh, I came to New Orleans to visit and I loved here and I never left this city.

Speaker 3 32:16

It gets into people's souls quick, and I'm not just talking about drinking for people who are listening and not from here. And you can have fun with that, you can overdo it, but there's something so unique Like I lived in San Antonio for a year. It's a nice city, not the same, not the same. I don't think I could move to, and permanently to, somewhere like LA or New York. I've been to LA once for like a movie premiere. No, I like that, didn't love it. So I'm going to know the boy.

Speaker 1 32:38

The weather there is really nice. I really like the weather.

Speaker 2 32:41

I lived in San Diego for five years, the first time in the early days of the military and then for about three months when I was doing work-ups for deployment. And I'll just say it's a nice place to visit. The weather in San Diego I love it Year round. It was always nice. But the last couple of times I went back I don't know if it's because I'm used to being here, but just the smog and gloomy all the time. And it's a nice place to visit. But I don't have any interest in ever living out there again. Even living there for five years, I've only been to LA a handful of times. I don't really have any interest in being out there.

Speaker 3 33:15

Now, if they want to pay me, put me on set. I'll move in a minute.

Speaker 2 33:20

Well, yeah, I mean that's a little different. Change the stakes, change the answer a little bit, but generally speaking, I'm moving back.

Speaker 3 33:27

Once the shooting's done, there you go and let's say hire me on another one. Let's say that's how it works.

Speaker 2 33:34

If we could trade the weather for their weather, we'd have it all.

Speaker 3 33:40

Yeah, I like the occasional snow People I've talked to. They like oh new oil and snow is about an inch when we get it. People can't drive in it. They're crazy. They can't drive in the rain. Imagine the snow. But I've had enough of it, I guess I could tell you. So I was born in 1970, and it snowed here in New Orleans in 1973. And when I consider snow, it's not just a couple of flakes, just like an inch on the ground. You can see it. And my mother, being from Maine, built these snow people. But I have no memory of it. My memory started about five years old and then. But I'd see the pictures of the snow people and Christmas specials and everybody else had, you know, snow. So every year I want snow, didn't get it. I want snow, didn't get it.

Speaker 3 34:29

I graduated high school in 1988 and then got religious after that. I wanted to be a priest. So it's snowed in New Orleans. That year, hell froze over, went to the seminary. This process called the sermon, where you you know, you live it, you pray it, and it was going to be a 10 year program. I only made it one year and decided it wasn't for me. I come back to New Orleans, not very religious anymore, and then I just lived my life and you know, dating, trying to find somebody who wasn't successful. Christmas day 2004,. It snows again, beautiful, and I built a little snow family on the hood of my car, even kind of burned at her ducking, but we won't talk about that and I went okay, God, who is she? And I met my wife the next week on New Year's Day, because it was after midnight.

Speaker 3 35:18

And also she was born on the day it snowed in 1973. Oh my gosh.

Speaker 1 35:27

That's the best love story.

Speaker 3 35:30

So she's my little snow. Wow, that's crazy. Thank you, thank you.

Speaker 1 35:34

That is crazy. That's really wild.

Speaker 3 35:40

That's really sweet Brian.

Speaker 1 35:41

I love that story.

Missing Snow and Seasons

Speaker 3 35:43

Thank you. Thank you, shall. We embarrass that. That's a good story.

Speaker 1 35:47

No, it's perfect.

Speaker 2 35:48

Yeah, I knew y'all met on New Year's Eve and I knew the part about going to the seminary, but I did not know that part. That's really cool.

Speaker 3 35:59

Yeah, it's spooky. Wow, we've been together 16 years. We just did a swamp tour for our anniversary and she let me come back from it. So you know we must have done something right, something right yeah.

Speaker 1 36:13

That is precious. That is precious. Thank you, thank you.

Speaker 3 36:17

So I don't know if I could be totally without snow in LA. I need a little bit. Yeah, New Orleans weather is a pain. If you don't like what it is, don't worry. The next season is coming in about three hours, yeah.

Speaker 2 36:27

Do you miss snow, Olivia?

Speaker 1 36:30

Not really. I don't miss snow that much. I'm always cold, even like my whole life I've always been freezing. All the time I'm at the beach with a full outfit Sweatshirt. My family always teases me because I'm coming to the beach with a sweatshirt on and it's definitely not that cold out. I don't really miss the cold. I do miss the seasons a little bit. They've got more seasons up there, I guess the best way to put it.

Speaker 2 36:59

Yeah, we have summer and February.

Speaker 1 37:01

Right, right, two, two. It's okay, it's all right, it's worth it. It's worth it. It's a little hot, but you know what. You know. I can't have it all.

Speaker 3 37:12

Olivia, I've got bad news we're out of time. We're out of time, that's it.

Speaker 1 37:17

Aw, I had so much fun.

Speaker 3 37:19

Yeah, so did we. It was a blast, and I'll see you in my next lesson.

Speaker 1 37:23

Sounds good, Brian.

Speaker 3 37:24

Good to see you, tj, hope it sounds good you too.

Speaker 1 37:27

Thanks guys, I'll see you in my next lesson.