this'll is unstructured everybody today, I'm really excited. I have an actor out of Canada. He's in Toronto. Believe originally from Montreal, will definitely go into its history. What I like about him is he has been working now for I'd say 30 years. He'll have to correct me if the time is off. And not everybody can be a working actor who makes a living at working actor. And he's one of those who you've seen, definitely, but you may not know his name. That's a character actor and really awesome to have him. His name is Tony De Santis, and welcome to the show, Tony.

Thanks for having

me now. I first heard you in a couple of their podcasts. I'd like to revisit now. Am I correct? You've been doing this for about 30 years,

started professionally in 1982. So if my math, that's about what, 22 years I was never good at math,

80 82 would be 36 so you're closer to 40 on. My math isn't doing great either.

It's it's in a long time. Let's put

it that way. Now. What got you started? Do you have ah degree

in acting. I started actually behind the camera. I graduated with a B A in, uh, communication studies, but my major was filmmaking. Back in 1976. I think it was her seven thing was 7 77 And so I started working behind the camera on film crews for about maybe two years. And then I I sort of got the bug while I was on crew watching other actors and sort of saying, Hey, I could do that. You know, I was always kind of the funny guy. The ham, the class clown and I did a bit of stand up in community theater prior to that. So and then I moved to Toronto in 82 started pursuing it professionally and got all my union cards. And the rest is history. As they say,

That's really interesting. So you worked a crew? Did you work the crew with the intention of of going in and ultimately you might find a path? I think Kevin Costner actually started out on cruise and, you know, sort of manipulated his way to finally getting something. Was your intent to crew or to just find that path?

Uh, at the time. It was really just to, you know, become, you know, work my way up on the crew. As you know, p a and eventually to direct films. You know, that was my my goal. I had no desire to act at that point. And if I had stayed in in, uh, you know, Cruz, I probably would have more money to my name than I do right

now, you know? Do

you crew now? No, I know I haven't since since I got interacting. I mean a few with, with the exception of my web series that I just finished shooting. Ah, this summer. And, you know, I had to wear a lot of hats for them when All right, you know, go for producer, You know everything.

Everything. The dog Walker. Yeah. Chauffeur. I think it's called boom Bats and go into that later, I hope. Sure. And now, actually, that to do a quick Segway. A lot of people have probably interested in the different types of jobs on the crew. And how do you get involved? You mentioned p A and things like that. Did you start out as a P A.

Well, yeah, and I'm a $210 a week, and I had to drive a Winnebago on set every morning and then drive it home at night. Now, today, by today's union rules, you have a different driver driving the Winnebago on the P A would just be on set and, uh, you know, with limited duties back then, we had to do everything. I was the 1st 1 on set in the last one

to leave. Well, that's like there's good news in that you're able to save money because you had no time to spend it.

That's right. I remember one time I got home, it was so late and I went to bed. And then ah, I heard a noise that I thought was the alarm clock. Gotta got dressed, went to the kitchen, had bowl of cereal. I looked out, was still pretty dark. And I looked at the clock whose, like you know, 10 after three. I had been asleep for about, you know, two hours, and I thought I heard the alarm go off, but he was killed. Ouch! Out. Yeah,

you had to be probably a semi walking zombie for those who are gluttons for punishment being a p a is that probably won the easier entry spots.

Yeah, that's that's probably the only way to get in is, uh, you know, you can't get any lower than that. You're pretty much the production slave. You know, you have to help out and everywhere they tell you to. And, uh, but the pay rate is a lot better today. You can make some good money as appear then when I started way back in the seventies, you know?

Now the good thing about that, I'm guessing other than like I said, saving your money means you have no time. Is that you? Our slid in everywhere and help everybody in some

way. Exactly. So you get to see every department, and you can, you know, sort of find what what you're good at and where you'd like toe focus your your efforts and abilities, you know?

Now, how does one go about picking up a P A position?

Uh, I think most people just contact production houses. There's different lists that that air put out every year by the unions of what? Shooting in town. And they usually have a phone number of the production company. That's that's doing it. So you would call them and speak to the production manager and say, You know you Are you looking for any Any gophers? You know anybody to help out? And they usually have, you know, a couple of positions open, even if it's just around the office getting coffee or whatever. Okay, Yeah, especially, You know, with the amount of productions that are being shot today, they they continually need people to help out,

Right? OK, so that's a good place to get a foothold. And you're you moved to Toronto and I believe Toronto has become one of the capital's

of filming. Oh, it's Ah, it's you know, they dubbed it Hollywood North. Uh, I don't know many years ago until I think a lot of a lot of states and the U. S. Started implementing tax incentives to keep production, you know, at home. And so that's when Toronto lost out on some of the productions. But they still do a fair bit, and so does Vancouver and, you know, because of the proximity, tell a

no make sense and and it's good to represent the city environment writes. I think that. I think Atlanta and Albuquerque are both picking up. I think Austin has picked up as well, but none of those. I mean, Atlanta to some degree, but Toronto looks like it could be Chicago or Detroit or New York. It's kind of it has that definite urban by, I guess I'd say

Sony Grasso, who came up here to shoot, UH, Night Heat and a bunch of other Siri's and movies. He always tells a story about how one time while shooting night heat, they broke for dinner. So the cast and crew went into some place and have their dinner, and the set outside had been purposely littered with garbage, You know, to make a New York. And when they came back out after dinner, the garbage had been removed by the Toronto Public Parks Department.

Oh, that's class, and I was just up there this summer. It doesn't appear like every part of town is quite as a spotless says

made. No, you're right, it's it's Ah, it's changed a lot from, you know, the days of when it was kind of like pure and the sidewalks would roll up on Sundays, and the bars would only stay open till one o'clock and stuff like that, it's It's really changed over the years.

Hopefully it it comes back because ironically, have you been to Chicago When

the Gold Coast? No, I never Chicago. Been a lot of cities. Been That's still on my bucket list.

You should check it out. The Chicago, especially the Gold Coast area or in some of the apprentice, Spotless. I mean, it actually is what I envisioned. As as Canada. Wait, this is Chicago with 1000 homes. I'm continue. I guess it just depends on where you are. Yeah, I definitely thought Toronto was need China, you know, rode the buses around to, you know, see as much as I could in a short of period as I could.

But you could definitely spend some time there. I'm sure so. And I like the fact that you have all those different neighborhoods and areas, right? And I think that must help a lot with the film,

May. Yeah. You actually get that? Uh, no multicultural look. You know, they can. I mean, they've got an area called Kensington Market, which can, you know, look like any Latin American country on certain days. You know, the way they have stalls fixed up with the vendors and everything. Or it could look like a little Italian Piaz there. No, they really know everything you're you can possibly look

for. Does a city work with you as a filmmaker and with other filmmakers, you know, to make it as easy as possible to keep the work there?

I think so. I'm pretty. I'm pretty sure. I mean, I on my only experience has been, you know, with my Web series where no, we did a lot of guerilla style filmmaking. We didn't really go through all the channels and get all the necessary permits and stuff.

Run a gun.

Exactly. All right, Here's the park. Nobody's watching. Let's go roll

it. Well, I think I think you cast all your buddies in it though,

right? Pretty

much. Yeah. So you didn't really have to worry about a bunch of takes. You sort of knew what everybody was going to dio I'm guessing and then wrote it to their their voice.

Uh, no, actually, it was pretty well written before I cast it, you know? So I decided to use these guys cause I knew there working there were friends of mine, but I didn't write it with them in mind.

Okay, but, you know, there are pros on there. We're gonna, you know, do 20 takes to get something they could throw down.

Well, we still did 20 takes the on time.

Okay. Oh, they had to be painful. I've been on film sets and it can be stultifying.

Yeah, well, you know, you're you're not always in control of the technical side as well. So sure, you've got airplanes flying, you got, you know, wind blowing over light stands and whatever. So, at an incredible heat to deal with this summer was just insanely hot. Issa's sure was everywhere in North America.

Yeah, I was there in July. Early July. I think I might have had

some of that. Yeah, we were. We were shooting end of July until August, and we just got hit with that. He waived them. Just was relentless, and it Ah, it just took its tool,

you know, I can imagine. But you know what? There's a good side of that. Better, Worse stories.

Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely.

Now swinging back around because you pivoted from being in the crew to picking up a line. Now here in the States, the biggest thing toe breakthrough is to get one freaking line so you can get a SAG card. Is it a similar situation there? That it's, you know, you could be an extra forever, but get in the union and you know, to really act. You've got a You got to get that line.

Yeah. Um what what they do up here is they really nail you with permits, So, uh, you can almost, you know, by your way in, but it's it's it's expensive. Like my daughter recently became a member of our union. And actually, you can't really buy your way. And I'm just saying the permits air pretty expensive. So the the union can can really it's a cash cow for them, but to I don't know what I'm trying to say

What you said Your union. So are there other unions in Canada?

No, no, it was just the one packing union for film and TV

Sagar, After

it's not sag, it's it's called actress after actress. Okay, okay, but it's I'd say it's probably easier now for a lot of people because of the the volume of productions that are going on, um, to get those small parts, you know, especially if you're young and, well, good looking doesn't hurt.

You know, I'm doomed. I have a face for radio, but that could be good for character acting. Yes, that's very now, um, how does one go about that? Because that is the big, you know, a big challenge for it. Anybody young to get that card? You know, it's a night or day type of situation,

right? Um, I think the advantage that kids have today, uh, this stuff like YouTube, You know, all those having used that weren't around when we started to showcase your your talents. Uh, more and more people are just doing their own. Um, you know, many productions and uploading them to, well, all these platforms and it is a lot of them have caught the eyes of casting directors or, you know, producers and, uh ah,

I think it's nits. Really. It's great. It can really fast track a lot of careers. If you're I mean, a lot of it is timing and, you know, right place, right time sort of thing as well. But it definitely helps to promote, You know, your career, which again we didn't have back in the seventies. We had to knock on doors, make phone calls and no persevere. Yeah,

that's fascinating. I never thought of that. So theoretically, somebody could build up a YouTube presence and maybe even if they're not doing, like, filmy stuff, if they haven't audience of, say, 100,000 followers or, oh, they're a bit of a minor celebrity themselves on YouTube. That might be enough for a film to pick them up just to rule in some of their audience to see the movie.

I think there are more, uh, YouTube celebrities than we know of on a lot of. I've heard a few interviews with some of them, and they've said, You know, I don't really need, uh, Hollywood. I'm making a killing here on my channel, putting out these little videos and, you know, I've got my audience. People know who I am. So they're successful in their own way. And, uh,

you know, maybe not the Hollywood way or, um, on national television, but the they're doing, they're doing just fine.

Oh, yes, some of them. Some of them are out doing Hollywood. So absolutely. Yeah. I mean, it's a staggering, staggering numbers. Like there's a guy with the ridiculous name Peut pie. And he has 60 plus 1,000,000 downloads off every video. Wow, those are very real numbers. Those air, scary high. I mean, that's up there with the finale of MASH

numbers, huh?

And he's getting them weekly.

Yeah, I think, Yeah, I think you know, major networks Air trying Teoh to, uh, hop onto that. You know, they're trying to capitalize in their own way. My daughter, who is also an actress about two weeks ago, went out for some movie or new Siri's, and she was describing it to me. And I said to her, You know what? There's a web series on YouTube. That is exactly that idea.

You know, I bet the networks, you know, I don't want to say ripped off, but, uh, are doing their own version of it, you know,

they had parallel thought

experiment. In fact, that's a good one. Yeah.

Yeah, that's what they used in the comedy world. Uh, which some of it is true. I mean, when you have, like, something that's huge in the headlines, you know there are two people who are thinking of the same joke exactly when the jokes write themselves right. And I'm sure that there are legitimately parallel thought pieces like, Oh, this particular crime that took place is very Shakespearean. You could pull, you know, I could sort of see that, Um, but there are others that yes,

they probably are looking and saying whom? Well, if we could tweak this and do this and do this and they're not willing to sell, we'll just move on, you know? But it's interesting. So the Web series now I'm old enough to remember how Web series were a joke, but I feel like they're starting to really come up. And that's with the aid of Netflix and Amazon Prime and, ah, who, Lou that Now they are legitimising things that are created specifically for distribution over the Internet. Have you seen that coming about?

Oh, for sure. Um I mean, there's even Ah, we have an award show in Canada and they have, you know, introduced ah category for Web series. Now, um, I think it started last year or something. It's it's it's gaining popularity. It's ah, you know, getting Ah, it's becoming a legitimate Ah, you know, avenue for a lot of filmmakers who don't have the budget to do something really big,

um, you condone pretty well tell your whole story. And, uh, no little two or three minutes, uh, episodes, Which appears to be the the time span that most people want to spend on any. You know, given project today, they only have, ah, 2 to 3 minute attention span before they move on to something else, you know? Yes.

Some of this really interesting, though. Isn't that technology driven as well? Like you have, ah, distribution platforms such as instagram, which is huge. But I think they have a limit on their stories of like, one minute I'll increase it to two. So is it possible that some people are saying Okay, well, I want I Yes, yes, I get it on YouTube, but everybody's on YouTube and their monetization right now is terrible. But if I get it on instagram, I can lever it or leverage it into something else or a bit more of my patri on or things like that. So, do you feel the technology is also shaping attention span?

Absolutely. I mean, you know, when I when I first saw you know, these iPhones came out and people were watching movies on it. I said, I could never watch a movie on, You know, such a small screen. It's just it defeats the purpose for me. But, you know, I'll hop on the subway, and almost everybody's watching some TV program or no Web program. And, uh, so it's It's definitely it has.

It's, Ah, it's audience, you know, And more people are. I think more people are giving up their cable TV. Ah, are they hardly watch TV anymore except for like you said Netflix. But again, they can watch it on there mobile device, you know? So

sure. And it's Allah cart to like. I feel like I feel like the cable companies have been shoving down forever, that you're gonna buy this package where the one channel that you actually want to watch. But you gotta watch it on your schedule. And now people say no, I do want I don't I don't know what I'm watching. I don't even know what network it is. I just like this show. Yeah, and I want to watch this show when I want to watch. And I think that's starting to flip everything on its head. Yeah,

it's dictating the whole, uh, the whole medium and how things are gonna work from now on

now in that I think there's good and bad, though, um, I think that it's bad because it's diluting the product. But it's also good because I feel like the superstars or the big name stars are less powerful than ever that there are so many opportunities there. So many outlets that other than the old a few big tent pole films a lot of people can find work that they never could find before. Would you agree with that?

Um, yeah. I mean, it's funny, cause on Netflix all sometimes stumbled on a film that I don't remember seeing in theaters, Uh, with you know, some really heavyweight names in the cast, and ah, I guess, uh mm. I mean, I guess they're they're getting these parts because of their track record and their their name. Sure. Um, is it creating more work for newcomers? I don't know.

Well, it seems like at one point we had three networks in an alternate, right? I'm speaking state centric because that's all I really know. And now you have all these cable networks and they're putting out legitimate product. You have the A M sees wherever they they played old movies at one point, but they now put out shows that are legitimate. Um, and I don't even remember where all these shows are began. The Fargo's and the, um, all these great Siri's and different channels like SciFi and it's spread all over the place. But the network still have to put out there shows it is like to me, that's that's more output but thinner ratings for all.

Yeah, I mean, I think primetime TV is taking a hit because of ah, these other no great Siri's like, uh, house of cards. Ah, yeah. Also, uh, week peaky blinders. You know, these amazing Siri's That

and none of those that you just mentioned are on any of the big names that we know. That's right. They're all these other channels who are saying Okay, we want to get in this content game. We're just going to go and really target cool stuff that people haven't seen yet, and that's that's more shows. Now. I feel like every show. No, there's not going to be a Seinfeld, you know, 70 80 million finale ever

again. So I think those days air done,

But maybe that's good. Um, probably because I feel like it sucked all the air out. Now, I'm wondering if you know there are more and more and more opportunities for somebody who's just saying I'll work anywhere. I'll do anything and I'll pick up a hammer, Hang a light, or I will go saline whenever I got to dio there's something for them.

Yeah, No, I definitely opens up the playing field. And, uh, and all these, uh, these new liking, like you said, Amazon crime, Lulu. They all want product. So, uh, you know, people are dying. Teoh submit stuff,

you know, they're they're busy. Ah, Busy. Uh, producing. Ah, you know, Siri's and anything that they can

catch. Now, your web series is that, um ah, goal you have in mind yourself is to, you know, write create Siri's get your name on the map and maybe get the series picked up or get known as a writer director and maybe pick up some work on other Siri's.

Um, you know that's a possibility as well. It makes for a great calling card for sure. Um, but I really I'm just, um I guess. Tired of ah, the lack of roles for, you know, actors in my age group. Uh, you know, there are few and far between now. No, I think most of us go out maybe once a month for an audition. Where is in the old days? It was a couple of times a week.

So And there's, you know, because there's still quite a few of us in the biz, we're all competing for that. That small part as Thea as the father, the grandfather, whatever. You know, senior cop, you know, the, uh, the store owner, the cab driver. You know, um,

but yeah. So I just wanted to create something that was fun to do. Ah, with characters that I knew, Um, I wanted to play and other my other friends were good at. So is just, you know, creating work for everybody in our age range. Because because the Siri's really has a lot of older characters which might hurt my, uh, you don't trying to pitch it, because, uh, now I've looked at a lot of Web series, and it seems to be, you know, the average age is about 22 for the lead characters.

Maybe, but, you know, you're kind of shooting for green space then, right? Because everybody is doing this range. You're saying here's an alternate range. Yeah, it could actually be a benefit.

I hope so. You know, I mean, I think a lot of people my age are just starting to to watch, you know, Web series and stuff on YouTube. So they're they're not Thea, the demographic that, uh, you know, are used to, you know, this sort of Ah, um you know, platform. But, um, I think I think it's growing. You know, the numbers air definitely growing,

Which is it's good. It's such a strange inflection point your of ah, generation. And I'm not that far behind you. I'm an xer. And so I remember, you know, all the way from the rotary dials through the beginnings of the Internet. And not everybody is comfortable with that or they understand it. And they feel overwhelmed by technology hitting them. And you're speaking of your age group, I think, Ah, lot in your age. group is, and the older especially, is starting to actually discover the Web and discover things like Facebook like that. So that you may want to consider is distributing on Facebook or doing Facebook lives because there's a lot of people

who are looking at that right? You know, that's one of the things we we've been planning.

Oh, cool removed. But that education, I think, is is part of the whole back, you know, as people discover more a moral, actually, Come on in, come on and tell their friends Know What are you doing tonight so much in this What? How does that work? I I see it all the time.

It's the same people whose VCR's usedto flash 12 o'clock.

Yes, yes. Oh, God, See, aging myself. I had the spinning clock sets and the dip switches on the VCR that was top loading.

Oh, yeah.

Now, the really sad thing is, I can tell you that we can laugh together. But there are younger members of the audience who say a VCR.

Yeah. Oh, it was a place for my kids with store their sandwiches sometimes.

Exactly. Exactly. Um And then later on, it was replaced by the DVD. I'm coffee cup holder.

That's right. The coasters here.

Exactly. So we, um we've moved through time and technology to store our foot food products and destroy it now to pick it back around. What was your big breakthrough? What? What happened? That you got your first line and that you got your sad car?

Uh, when I moved to Toronto, Um, I was really lucky, because I I got an agent, probably within a month. Um, I auditioned for a commercial for beer, and I got that. You don't know what two months. Then I became a, uh, a semi regular on sort of, a sketch comedy show called Bizarre, hosted by John Byner. And Super Dave was on it. Uh, what's his name? Bob Einstein, Who now is on Ah, curb your enthusiasm.

Yeah, that's some, uh, Albert Brooks

brother. That's right. Now you know why Albert changed his name to Brooks?

Yes, yes, but they have the same hair,

Same hair. Um, Bob was a strange man. Um, he would always tell stories about his his father, who was in vaudeville, and, uh um, in terms of comedy, I think Albert is was a lot funnier than Bob. I don't think they were on, you know, good terms. But again, I'm speculating here. I don't really No. Anyway,

that's cool. You got to work with him. Sorry. It's awesome. You got

to work with him. Yeah, well, um, we were sort of, ah troupe of actors that I think for about three seasons every summer we would go in and just play like the waiters, the maitre d the you know, the different characters that appeared in the sketches with John Byner. And, uh, you know, whoever else was was guest starring that week or whatever. And it became sort of like, uh um, stock theater for TV, you know, summer stock for TV.

I mean, because every summer was the same group of us we get together. It was a great gig, you know? A lot of fun, a lot of laughs.

Good training, Teoh. I mean, comedy. It's so difficult. I've heard it say that it's easier for comedian to go into drama than the reverse.

Yeah, yeah.

So not only did you have a steady gig, then That's I'm guessing where maybe you sharpen your

chops. Yeah, absolutely. I mean, I I My comedy background was, um I started back in Montreal doing stand up and, uh, um, sort of sketch comedy as well. And, um, this is, you know, before I sort of went professional. It was just sort of a training ground for me, but I I definitely got Teoh to hone. Ah,

the, uh my timing, comedic skills and stuff and and def definitely came in handy on show on a show like bizarre. Um, except when I would sort of go off script and have lived, uh, it got laughs, but, uh, was not something that Bob Weinstein approved of. Uh, yeah. I made sure that all the jokes were had his stamp on it, you know?

Uh, okay. Okay. So he was maybe a touch sensitive little Protective Duca. I guess that was his prerogative.

Yeah, yeah, absolutely.

Now I understand. In your stand up days, you came across somebody we may have heard off.

Yeah. Whatever happened to his career?

I don't know. I don't know You. He disappeared. Who is that again?

Jim. Harry, your

rhymes with that? Yeah, I don't know. So what happened with that? How did you come across them? Mr Kerry.

We opened for him and Montreal, and we bombed that night. This was my friend and I. We were doing, like, a comedy duo. Oh, and, uh, Jim after the show, gave us a little pep talk and sort of, you know, told us not to give up and that he, uh he had been there many times, and and, um, I remember he was,

you know, you said, you know, just by looking at some of these people who is going to make it, who won't. And he definitely had it, you know, like, he had that charm, that charisma, that, uh, loads of talent, for sure. You know, extremely funny.

And, uh um you just knew that this guy was going to make it. He was ambitious. He was driven. And, uh, at the time, I didn't know anything about his background. I only found out later on, uh, you know, had a pretty horrific childhood. But I guess you know that that fueled his, uh, his desire to succeed. And, uh, he did.

Sounds like he was very generous to Yeah, like a lot of the very, very top people you will hear sometimes how a really generous. They are and and and really approachable. And that may be part of the reason that they are such influencers, because people just want to be around them. And, yeah, are thankful to have them in their lives now. You haven't always had that, though. I think you describe there's been some possible prima donnas on sets built with on things like that.

Oh, yeah, Yeah. Sometimes it's ah, you know, it's just there. There, insecurities, their little nervous there. And I guess they have to show everybody on Set Whose number one, Um, just so that they can feel good, you know? But it was neat, like there were I don't know if I mentioned it. I'm the last time I was talking about, you know,

people that I worked with mint. What's his name? Oh, it escapes me now. Ah, he was, uh, Armando songs. Do you know that actor?

Not familiar, but I'm terrible.

You've seen him? Uh, not tons of things. I mean, if you google, I'm sure, um, good looking guy. And, um, he did something with Stallone camera, but I think it was a futuristic film, but, um, he he did the Gadi,

move. Oh, yeah,

I know you said you saw his

picture area. That may

be a bit by No. So anyway, the on the first day of shooting off this Gadi thing, we're outside and ah, at a football field and our sons air playing on the same team. And we did the first take. And after the first take Ah, he came up to me and whispered, How was I? Was that OK? Hey, I thought, Oh my God, you know, this guy's like a star and the star of the show, and he's asking me if you know, if if his performance was OK,

you know, and it's so awesome. Yeah, it made me feel a lot better because I was just a nervous, you know?

You know what? That's why it's the top performer. Tiger Woods. You might have heard of him. He's a golfer. I think so. Yeah, He consults a coach all the time. When he's not playing, he's swinging Eric Clapton. Some people know him as a halfway decent guitar player. He'll fly around the world because he hears the guitarist doing something that he's never heard or seen before and takes lessons from all these people. These guys who are in the top top top top nosebleed section, they're striving to learn. And I personally think that that is so phenomenal in such a great example. And I'm happy you shared that because that's that's cool. That's saying this is this guy.

He's on it. And you know what? He's not slipping because he's always striving. Yeah, and he brings you up to I mean, it's kind of like, OK, hey, I'm learning. So now you can't go around saying, Oh, I'm almost as good you're going. Oh, shoot. I need to be on. I gotta study my lines.

Another another story to do. You know, the actor Philip Bosco,

New York. And yes, a lot of

chill straight blues. Um, no, you Nothing could have. Steven Bochco,

I think. Okay,

But please, like a lot of judges and, uh, another character actor whose face you sort of go. Oh, my God. I've seen him. Hundreds of thousands.

Stephen Bosco wants a lot of me. I'm terrible about these things, but you have not seen

him. Okay, so we get ah! Ah, this movie fx to together. I think, um I think Dodi Fayed was one of the producers. Actually, he waas Yeah, because we were happy. We had We broke for lunch one day. And, uh, Brian, is it Brian Brown, the Australian actor?

Oh, yeah. Who was with Tom Cruise? And

so we'll Brian yells at Philip, if you know, Philip, come on over and have lunch with the Dodi and the rest of us, you know, and looks over at me cause he was already at my table and he said, No, it's OK. I'm going to sit here with my friends and I thought, Wow, what a mensch. You know, like, he could have gone enjoying the brass and sure elite, But he chose to have lunch with with the blue collar boys. You know,

one is Aziz put agree. Character actor maybe considers himself as just a guy. Yeah, I know. You know my dad back in the day, he built a set for a movie called The Wraith and Randy Quaid. You probably have heard of him. Oh, yeah, he he was on set and hate hang out with my dad and the other, you know, construction workers bumming cigarettes and just bs in all day. I don't know. I think it's just people are people and it's really cool when what? Somebody lets their guard down and and just is one of the crowd like it's a collaborative project. Now you do a less stage work to, I believe,

right? I did. Ah, a couple of years ago. I was working pretty well, nonstop. I haven't done anything, Probably in about a year and 1/2 I guess. But there was, uh, to the shows that I was in. I think the last two shows one ah, sort of Toronto's version of the Tonys phono outstanding ensemble. And so I was kind of need.

It's really cool. When I was there, I was told that Toronto is a major, major theater hub room and one of the top in the world, especially during a tight a particular season. I think that a work season

you were talking about could be now. Now there's so much good theater going on in trial, it's Ah, it's hard to keep up, you know, like, uh,

now does that help fill in between the film roles and, ah, I'm guessing commercial work has got to pay some bills.

Yeah, I haven't done a lot of commercial working in, uh, in the last couple of years. It's, I think, what the problem from what I understand is that a lot of companies have decided to go non union eso the ah, we've lost a lot of commercial work to the, uh, non union actors. And, you know, it's just cheaper for a lot of these agencies to go that route. You know, they save money with moralities and residuals and stuff like that.

That makes sense as a filmmaker. How did you go about it? Were you union or non?

I was union. I have to do it as a co op. So everybody became shareholders, but nobody got paid. If the Siri's makes money that we split

it up good. So it's nice to see that there is a route to work with union actors on be able to do something because otherwise you might be kind

of trapped. Yeah, I mean, I've looked at so many Web series that had great concepts, but the acting was just subpar and it really was distracting. You know, at times it sort of starts toe bleed into the unbelievable side. You know like you have her a 22 year old playing a forensic. Uh huh. Istan. He started going Boom. I don't really buy that

that that would be an interesting avenue, but it would be hard like if you guys were between jobs or just going to do something toe Pick up other people's works as a co op to like, If there's some good writers out there and gets a have crew, will, you know will produce.

Yeah, well, I think once you get into ah, that that sector you know, a lot of it is word of mouth, you know, like you can go from one to the other. Um, and with the different crews that you work with, they're always looking for, you know, talented, uh, cast members and the same with us. You know, we want, you know,

crew members that are top notch that, you know, are affordable because they have to be paid. So but they don't always charge their normal rate, you know, just to help out the different productions around that

are going around. That's cool. Now I'm going to switch back to I mentioned earlier by technology, because again, I'm curious. I feel like the equipment is getting so cheap and so good that you can really do some remarkable stuff. I know at least one feature film that I believe went to festivals was filled in an iPhone.

That's right. I heard the same thing. Was that the one with, uh,

don't remember the name of who did it? ISS.

The Florida project was added.

That could be it could be. It's one that was a terrible if the names on that. But I find that remarkable because that was like two or three years ago. And the iPhone now is doing four K 60 frames a second or our minutes. Are it really, really, really high quality and and also led? Lighting seems to be going down cheaper because of him. If my memory serves correctly, it's not. The cameras delights. If you can work the lighting, you can use an iPhone and make a beautiful

film. That's right. Yeah, the quality is amazing. I remember when I was first starting out and trying to raise money. A friend of mine said, No, you could shoot it on an iPhone. I said he I know, but it's sort of hard. You know you to put on a tripod and stuff like that. You know, it's not quite there yet. A zoo user friendly. Ah, you know, filmmaking tool. I think eventually they'll have all the gadgets, you know, ready to go for full production. I don't think it's there.

Yeah, yeah, it's kind of funny, because thinking about that, the iPhone has the technology inside. But I think some what you're describing is is the weightiness like you almost want to put that tiny iPhone into a bigger, heavier container to hold it steady. I mean, there are God, I forget I'm gimbals and things like that that help. And I'm wondering if if that maybe that's part of the solutions like you

have, you know, because you want your dolly shots you want, and you need a great view finder that you can see what you're filming. It's sort of hard if you put your your iPhone on. Ah, I, uh well, we'll move with Saito. Surfboard, not a surfboard. A, uh, with

wheat. Sure. Tripod, Gimble Bob. Uh,

the actual thing that you stand on. Uh, I'm blanking now. Oh, honestly, honey. Uh, four with four wheels.

The Dalai tracking, huh? Skateboard. Okay.

You know, if you literally put phone on a skateboard, it becomes like a dolly.

Yeah, I could see them. I could see that. And actually come to think about the ipads do very well to say that takes care your viewfinder if you want amount up in iPad.

Oh, that's right. Yeah, but the quality is not as good.

It's close now. Throw the new product every year. They like your over year over year. They're just putting the iPhone cameras in the ipads. And I know it's just interesting. And I wondered if you had considered doing that just for the gimmick factor of it. And I'm not trying to be rude, but like you could say, filmed on iPhone here it is professional quality. And maybe get that boost of publicity by Apple or somebody

else. Yeah, I think there's there's been a few productions that have sort of hot done that stolen. Yeah, s. So I I think I'd be a Johnny come lately in that respect.

Okay. Well, always, always called a throw ideas. So now to wrap something's up. What is next for you?

Ah, well, the Web series is currently being edited As we speak, I hope to have ah, rough cut by, uh, next week and some tweaking some notes Ah, little, little ah, little cutting corners. Ah, little, you know, tightening up here and there, And, uh, and then we'll hopefully release it.

Maybe mid November. Okay, I'm not sure if it will be YouTube. From what we haven't decided yet. Okay. And then shopping around, you don't get it isn't just some festivals and see what, uh, what kind of momentum we can get? Hopefully.

So it these air past you may want to consider, like, you know, maybe roll it out to iTunes and Google play store or whatever to start and maybe be ableto to sell some of it to help get some of the money back there and then release it later. You know, like in a staggered release to the free R market with some maybe, hopefully word of mouth behind.

Yeah. No, I didn't think of that.

So yeah, that's just different things that I've seen done. And now you forgot to say the name. If you're gonna plug

wombats, standard your what you said

earlier. I know but you're gonna throw it out there a couple times. It's been almost a Knauer.

What's it about? Oh, yeah, I forgot. Dimensional that it's Ah, it centers around Bobby boombox. He's the black sheep of this Italian family underachiever, sort of the chronic gambler, womanizer, but all around loser. And he's constantly trying to impress his older brother, Lorenzo, who's retired. Financial Ah, analyst. Great Pension. He's the apple of mama's I. And, uh, I play model,

by the way. No

dice. Actually, it was It was, um I'm basing it on my aunt who lived to be 105. My great aunt actually was my father's aunt. Eso it's ah, I'm pretty well doing her and she passed away love my last year. So it's a nice little tribute to her. That's awesome. Yeah, and, um, she's, ah, she you know, she runs the family with a tight fist and her Her credo is always more food. You know,

whenever there's a problem, it's keep eating. You know that that will solve everything you know. And, um so it's really just Thea. The crazy adventures and situations that they find themselves in Bobby Boom bats owes a ton of money to the local mob. So in order to pay it back, he decides to go back and work for them. He's had some dealings with them in the past, and so that leads to all sorts of comedic. And

he's not the most competent employees they've ever had.

Not the most confident, you know,

absolutely fantastic. Now, where else can people reach you? Like

Twitter? Twitter? Yeah, Facebook. I'm not on instagram. I mean, I have registered for Instagram, but I don't have a smartphone, so I don't I can't upload. It's hard with the flip phone, you know?

That's that's true. That's true. Build your presence and get a social media man. Yeah, exactly. All right. Now everything is under Tony De Santis.

Ah, yeah. If you Google Tony to Santa's actor, it will have all of my Facebook and Twitter info, and it will have the the boombox pages.

Well, cool. You know that I

don't Did you see the demo? We did. Ah, about a year and 1/2 ago.

I haven't gotten

Okay, You'll see. It's a 2.5 minutes. Seen that we did around the dinner table with Mama have the two sons.

Ochoa's

Oh, you too. You're just Google, Uh, type in boom bots. Ah, I think its I p f which was Thea funding organization that we were applying to at the time. Okay. Lets had to recast the the Bobby Boom. That's role, but,

uh, okay,

you'll see the older actor playing that one.

Okay. Are you gonna be released in a trailer anytime? From what?

Uh, probably before we upload everything that trailer will come out for sure. Yeah. Again. No, not not till midnight in mid November. I don't think OK? Slower than I had anticipated.

Well, it's tough from your everybody here. Producer Director. Our sound guy ended her. And one night they have a life on this thing.

Oh, okay. I've got an editor is putting it together. I send in my version of it, you know, with one little knowledge. I know of editing. It's like here's a sample. It's almost like doing stick drawings, you know?

Sure. This is what I'd like. Can you do

that? But make it about exactly like this foot a

lot better. Well, awesome. Hey, Thank you so much for coming. Thank you. This was great.

Hi, this is Karen. Mayor Robinson and I host really famous. I interview A list celebrities. I dive deep because I used to be a therapist. This is what Tim Gunn said. I just

had this antipathy for the judges. I can't stand being in the same

room with daily. If you're not working in L. A and you're an

actor, there's no worst place to be Michael Rapaport.

I changed schools every year from the third grade to the 12th grade. Disruptive was my think has Palminteri. I knew something was going on, so I got us talk to somebody. It's really famous. It's like eavesdropping on a therapy session.