Hollywood Insider Becky D’Anna Discusses Terminator, Comic-Con, Ingmar Bergman, and More!

What makes Terminator 2: Judgment Day one of the greatest films ever made?

We're excited to have Becky D'Anna join us! Becky is a podcaster, a movie historian, and a lifelong cinephile with a 26-year career in movie marketing. We'll dive into an engaging chat about The Terminator, Comic-Con, the works of Ingmar Bergman, and much more!

Becky shares how watching Terminator 2 on opening day in 1991 inspired her Hollywood career and ultimately led to a 26-year career in movie marketing, working on blockbuster franchises including X-Men, Spider-Man, and Terminator Salvation.

The conversation also explores Quentin Tarantino's revival of historic movie theaters.

In This Episode

• Why Terminator 2 remains one of the greatest action and science fiction films ever made.
• How James Cameron blended spectacular action with an emotional story about hope and humanity.
• The evolution of the Terminator franchise and Becky's ranking of every film.
• The magic of seeing classic movies with an audience on the big screen.
• Quentin Tarantino's preservation of the New Beverly Cinema and the Vista Theatre.
• Becky's lifelong love of Comic-Con and what first-time attendees should expect.
• What it's like to work in movie marketing and how studios promote blockbuster films.
• How movie tie-ins with brands and restaurants help launch major releases.
• Why Ingmar Bergman's films continue to inspire generations of filmmakers.

Connect with Becky D'Anna

Hanging with Becky

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/hanging-with-becky/id1896866617

Director’s Take: A Sony Pictures Podcast

https://directorstakepodcast.com

T2 episode just dropped from Film 89 

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/episode-154-terminator-2-judgment-day-1991/id1332493155?i=1000777367810

Transcript

0:12

Hello. My name is Sandy Adamidas, the social media director for the Page International Screenwriting Awards, and your host for The Writers Hangout, a podcast that celebrates the many stages of writing, from inspiration to the first draft, revising, getting the project made, and everything in between. We'll talk to the best and the brightest in the entertainment industry and create a space where you can hang out, learn from the pros, and have fun. Hey writers, it's Sandy. I'm coming to you from Studio City, the crown jewel of the San Fernando Valley, and home to the iconic Studio City Hand Car Wash, which is famous for its massive rotating giant hand sign on Ventura Boulevard. The icing on the cake? The hand is holding aloft a pink Thunderbird, or a Corvette. I'm not sure Boy, do we have a terrific episode for you today. My guest is Hollywood insider Becky D'Anna, host of the Hanging With Becky podcast and Director's Take, A Sony Pictures podcast. she's a lifelong cinephile, which led to a 26-year career in movie marketing, working on blockbuster franchises including X-Men, Spider-Man, and Terminator Salvation. In our conversation, Becky talks about the enduring legacy of James Cameron's masterpiece, Terminator 2, T2, the magic of seeing movies and why great films can change the course of your life. We also talk about the upcoming Comic-Con convention and more. Let's start the show Becky Deanna, thank you so much for joining us on the Writer's Hangout. Aw, thanks for asking me. It's such an honor to be on your show. Thank you. Now, we connected over Twitter- Mm-hmm because you posted about being at the Vista Theatre, which is a historic single-screen movie theater in Los Angeles and it's owned by Quentin Tarantino. You were going to see your favorite film- it's Terminator 2: Judgment Day in 70 millimeter. Now I, when I saw your post, I was just like, "Oh, I wish I was there." It looked so exciting. F- first off, can you tell the writers out there what T2 is about? Yeah. I'm sure a lot of people have seen it, but if you haven't seen it yet, I'm so jealous that it's in front of you and I wish I could go back to the first time I saw it, 'cause it completely changed my life. But yeah, Terminator 2 is essentially a sequel to Terminator. So Terminator 2 came out in 1991. It is directed by James Cameron. It was co-written by him and William Wisher who also co-wrote the original film, the 1984 version The Terminator. Mm-hmm. But I guess I have to get into what Terminator's about to talk about what T2's about. But essentially in The Terminator, the premise is that in the future there is a super computer or super intelligence, artificial intelligence named Skynet that takes over. It becomes self-aware in 1997 and turns against the humans, unleashes nuclear weapons all over the the world, and so the humans are form a resistance to fight this machine. it's very exciting. It's great. And in the first film in, you're told in the very beginning, this is not a spoiler, that the the humans have won. So the, the machines are not happy about that, so they send a machine back in time- To 1984 to kill the mother of the future leader of the human resistance, John Connor. So their idea is to kill, her so that he will never be born So that they can never be defeated. And in the second film, Skynet sends, a machine back in time to kill the actual leader, John Connor, when he's 10 years old It is such an exciting film, and I agree with you. I would love to kinda just experience that all again for the first time. Mm-hmm. Now what is it about T2 that you love so much, and were you a time traveling movie fan? Did that get you into time traveling? Yeah, actually my father introduced me to Star Trek when I was five, so I was really very much into science fiction since I was a kid. they loved the movies and they loved science fiction, my, both my parents. But I got introduced to a lot of time travel films, I mean, The Time Machine, anything with a time travel element. I had seen The Terminator before I saw T2. So I always found time travel fascinating. Terminator 2 I saw it when I was 14 on opening day, July 3rd, 1991, and it completely changed my life because I had never seen a movie of that magnitude before. it was perfect from beginning to end. I was just on a podcast called, The Film 89 podcast last week, an episode drops in a few days, where we're celebrating the 35th anniversary of Terminator 2, and it's so fun because we go through the whole film from beginning to end, and I've never actually done that on a podcast before. So you get to, celebrate every part of it. But the film is even though it came out 35 years ago, the special effects, still hold up today. It's still jaw-dropping today. One of my favorite things is to see the film on the big screen in an audience, and especially since it's been out for 35 years. There are so many times where you can go and see it on a big screen, and there's multiple people in the theater who have never seen it. Right. And it's so exciting to be in a room full of people who you can hear the audible awe and it's, 20-somethings, or even, you know, people who are a little older. it happened to me in, I think in, at, I saw a 35 millimeter print at, the New Beverly I think, like six years ago. And I've seen multiple formats this year since they were celebrating the 35th anniversary, I saw it in 4K twice this year. I saw it in 70 millimeter and I saw it on, in 3D. And every screening, it's funny 'cause it's such my favorite movie, I literally saw it four times in two weeks a f- about a month ago because it was playing at all the different theaters in LA, and I wanted to see every format. But that feeling, if you get a chance First of all, to see it if you've never seen it, but to see it on the big screen because it's just jaw-dropping stuff to be in a room where people, you can hear them their minds being blown. It still blows e- everyone's minds, and it's still, very, poignant. it's extraordinary story. I mean, James Cameron called it the first action movie advocating world peace. Uh, because essentially that's what it boils down to. But it's everything. I mean, the other thing about the film too is it changed my life. It's the film that made me fall in love with movies. I, made me get into the movie business and really pursue movie marketing because what I wanted to do is, my life was to c- let people know about movies that could change your life, like this movie. But it's so impactful that Terminator 2 has changed people's lives, countless people's lives. a generation of filmgoers became sound designers, directors, production designers, writers because of this film, and that's how amazing it is because it's, the every single piece of it from the directing to the performances to the cinematography to the editing to the sound design, everything is... I literally have not, I've seen it hundreds of times. I cannot see a flaw in it. It is, it's a sci-fi masterpiece. That is so cool. I never thought of it that way, that movie really was a gateway to a whole batch of new, talented people. How cool. I don't wanna brag, but, my apartment complex goes right down to the LA River, so- Oh my gosh I think of T2 all the time. can you help the writers out there who might not know, what are you seeing with 70 millimeter? Why is that so special? Why did you leave your house in the middle of the night to go see a 70 millimeter? Well, it wasn't the middle of the night, but yeah, I did rush out to see it because actually in all the formats that I've seen it in, I've never seen it in 70 millimeter, which is one of the reasons why I went to the Vista to see it there. I actually had booked tickets to see it in 70 millimeter at the Egyptian a few weeks earlier, but they had something wrong with the print and so they had to pivot to, 4K. And so I, uh, scrambled and saw that the Vista was doing it in 70 'cause I wanted to have seen it in 70. But I guess the biggest difference between like 70 and 35 is the 70 millimeter prints is the... print and the image quality is the biggest difference. I just want to preface this with I'm not a filmmaker I'm not, an expert in aspect ratios, but I, I know a little bit of just being a film fan. I'm more of a movie marketer. I'm sure there's so many people on this, that are listening or so many better people to ask about this, but I will do my best. But essentially I think 35 millimeter has, like, the width. It's, uh, it's actually 35 millimeters and it's, uh, uses the, like, 1371 aspect ratio. and is often cropped to 1851 or 2391 for wide screen. And I guess 70 millimeter has the bigger format of the two, and its resolution is superior to 35 millimeter. 35 millimeter is extraordinary to see and New Beverly exclusively shows 35 millimeter prints. 35 millimeter has more of a grainy texture, which is really cool, which gives it kind of a distinctive look. And 70 millimeter has a finer grain, which I guess has the transitions between shade are smoother and it has just incredible detail. But 70 millimeter is rare because, it's much more, the film stock is much more expensive and the cameras are much bulkier than the cameras for 35. And the other thing is why 35's fun is just because the colors come out much deeper and they seem more authentic and real. I kinda grew up on it than, like, 4K. But 4K's, Or seeing something in digitals is r- there's nothing like seeing a pristine print of a film too. It's just a little different. I think a lot of people gravitate to 35 than 70 because there's a nostalgia feel, plus it feels like you could feel it in front of you. It feels more real and authentic sometimes than the pristine look of, a perfect print. Some people like to see you know, all the grain and stuff like that. But I guess that's the biggest difference between 35 and 70. I don't know if I did a good job there, but- I'm applauding you. Good job. Now Quentin, Does he own the New Beverly also? Yes. he actually, saved the New Beverly in 2007. the New Beverly is my favorite movie theater actually. at one point I moved to live in an apartment that was close to New Beverly just so I could be walking distance from the New Beverly. That's how much I love the New Beverly. Yeah. to promote it, there is a, uh, one of my friends, Julia Marchese, did a documentary on the New Beverly called Out of Print, which is streaming. And also it's the 10th anniversary of the theatrical release, so it's screening, that documentary, and it's all about the New Beverly and the history of the New Beverly. It's screening in a week or so at the, Gardenia Cinemas, and also in, another the- theater. But if you go to Julia Marchese's Instagram page, you can see it's screening all over United States, actually. Um, so- Oh, cool and also it's also screening, it was screening in London recently, so there's like a, it's showing everywhere. And what's cool about that is it's a documentary all about the, how the New Beverly was made, and countless extraordinary directors renowned directors talking about why, how much they love the New Beverly. But yeah, the New Beverly was created in 1929, and I think it was May 5th, 1978, That's when the New Beverly became the New Beverly, because I think at first it was like a candy store, and then it became a theater that showed more pornographic films. And then it turned into a repertory theater in 19 '78. And, Sherman Torgan bought it then, and he passed away in 2007, and his son, Michael Torgan, who's a very good friend of mine, Oh continued to program for I think the next seven years. But Tarantino kind of swooped in I think about six months after Sherman Torgan, and, took over the theater- Oh um, and said like, and I think he said something like as long as, he has money, that this theater will still thrive. Because it, it was in danger of going out of business because Sherman Torgan had passed away. And I've been going to the theater since 1999. It's a, huge part of my life, and that's how I met Sherman and Michael. And I still go all the time and but yeah, Michael still works there And if you haven't been to the New Beverly you should check it out. I have one thing to pick with- Yeah pick on Quentin Tarantino. I kinda have a love-hate relationship with him. Once Upon A Time In Hollywood? Once Upon A Time In Hollywood. I didn't like that he took that family story, and changed the ending, that Sharon spoiler alert had a happy ending. It really bothered me- Okay that this terrible, tragic thing happened to this woman, the Tate family I don't think got paid for anything did they? He's talented, did he have to graft onto this tragedy? Do you have any thoughts on that? I actually really I love that film, and I actually think I have a much more optimistic view of the film- Okay because of it. Um- Great so I know some people there's criticism because... But it's not, it's not meant to be a documentary or be specific. Yeah, I guess he could have used different character names, but he tried to make it like a re-envisioned the story of, or the, of the, of history, revisionist history. But what I really think is like a, a- again, it's just because I'm always looking at glass half full- I thought it was really hopeful because it was like a fairy tale. What would have happened if they did kill the, like, the Manson Family that came after Sharon Tate. And so that never happened, and it was like a w- I think for me it was like a wonderful alternate view of like what would have happened if Sharon did live. And she was next door and at a pool party, got to see kind of the revenge on the s- and then they really were really graphic with how to kill the Manson Family members that did kill her. But for me, I thought it was, really sweet and hopeful where he didn't take advantage of this awful murder to sell tickets. It was more because it was a very much of a fairy tale of a set in a time b- like Cliff Booth was a made-up character, and there were made-up people in the film that he sort of saw it as, uh- as these people got their due, and that Sharon Tate thrived and lived, and how wonderful would that would be at the end where she is just inviting them over to come, hang out. Yeah. So I thought I saw it as very hopeful, and I, really loved it. But I, definitely could see people who didn't like that ending. Yeah. I was like, can you- come up with something on your own? I don't know. Yeah. it shocked me so much that, the ending, that I should look at it again from that point of view. Because, we do need some happy endings nowadays, don't we? Yeah, it would've been a wonderful thing if, that murder didn't happen. I know. Sharon, she was so beautiful. And, just seemed like such a lovely human being, Writers, all roads lead to Charlie Manson when you do any kind of movie podcast. It's amazing how he comes up in conversation when you're just talking about that period of time Back to The Terminator for a second. Yeah. Now, this might be kinda tough for you. I don't know. But can you, there are, um, uh... How many Terminator, uh, franchise? One, two, three, four, five, six. Six, yeah. I thought it'd be able to count that easier. Can you rank them as in your favorite? There's The Terminator. Yeah. The Terminator 2: Judgment Day after that. Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines. Terminator Salvation, which y- did you work on that, or was it Dark Fate? I worked on S- Terminator Salvation. Oh, basically. The international release of it, yes. And then Genisys. And then Dark Fate. Yeah. Rank them please. It's easy to rank them. Yeah. Yeah. And actually, I love that question. And actually, if you follow me on Letterboxd, it's, I'm under Hollywood Minotaur, I have a bunch of lists, and one of my lists is actually ranking these films, so it was pretty easy to rank them- Oh, cool because, uh, I've done it already in the past. But yeah obviously if you're listening to the show, Terminator 2 is the film that made me fall in love with movies, so that would be my number one. But And The Terminator would be number two. There's a, a lot of people love or gravitate towards The Terminator or T2. It depends, I think T2 is the superior film. I love it, but Terminator is also a five-star perfect film too. They're just very different. T2 is an action film and science fiction, and Terminator is science fiction too, but it's more of like a like a horror f- film sort of feel, which I love too. But they're both extraordinary but very different films. But T2 is definitely my favorite of the two. But they're both extraordinary films. Terminator Salvation I would list as three, not just because I worked on it- because that sounds like that's why I'm r- listing it, but because it gave me the, it gave me what I always wanted. When I saw T2 and they had the future war, I'd always hoped that we would get to see that future war and they still have yet to do that. But Terminator Salvation was the first step. It was supposed to be a trilogy in showing the future, 'cause we had never seen the future, and what I'd always hoped for was to get to see John meet Kyle in the future, and they gave us that. I love that it was sort of like a Mad Max feel. It was seeing in the daylight. There's not a lot of post-apocalyptic films in the daylight. I just thought McG did an extraordinary job with the film. I saw a cut of the movie, when I was working on it that I was completely floored by. Sadly, that cut didn't make it to release because was some testing scores, and they ended up altering it a little bit. I still love the cut that made it, actually talking about this helps me plug on my podcast. I have a podcast called Hanging With Becky. We are releasing a special bonus episode in a few weeks I did a pilot for a podcast, six years ago called The Movie Insiders, and the pilot was all my insider story of working on Terminator Salvation, 'cause I was a massive fan of T2 and getting to work on it, and I talk about the different cuts of the film that I saw how we marketed it, how I went around the studio and told people the difference between a T-800 and T-600. I'm really proud of this episode, and Because the pilot made didn't end up selling, I it in, a vault for six years. And then now with my new podcast, we thought, my friend and I who are, who's co-hosted it with me, we thought it'd be really fun to get to release it and get, have- Yeah the world get to hear it. So I'm really, really proud of that episode and my personal Hollywood insider story of working on it. So that's gonna release in a few weeks on my feed of my podcast, Hanging With Becky, I think that film is worth reevaluation. I think some people dismissed it on first watch but I think it's a really, really good film. and then I would say number four would be Terminator: Dark Fate. That was the last Terminator film. I really liked that, too. getting to see Sarah Connor in the future, an older Sarah Connor fight, and be who she is. I just thought that was a great story. I really liked that story. Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines, I, you know, to be honest, I like all the Terminator movies. I'm not just, some people just only wanna talk about T1 and T2. I actually like all of them. T3 I really enjoyed, too. I I liked the, John Connor in his 20s. I thought that was a nice story. Sarah Connor in that film, like she had died of cancer, so she's not in it. But it's a really good film too. And then I think the last one, my least favorite, but I still enjoyed it, was Terminator Genisys. I did really enjoy it when I saw it in the theater. But, it's definitely not, on par with the... I, I don't know if any of the films touch the first two films, Terminator and T2. What did you think of the TV series? Oh my gosh. I actually talk a little bit about the TV series in that pilot episode I'm telling you about that comes out in a few weeks. Just a little bit about it, but I will say it here, I loved Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles. I thought it was amazing. The first season is my favorite. The season finale of the first season is one of the best episodes of television I've ever seen. I think it's just it gives you the meeting of John and Kyle, the first meeting that they give you in Terminator Salvation, but in a different alternate way. the end of that, season finale there, they use a Johnny Cash song in- When the Man Comes Around. Yes. And it is the... i've seen the last like four minutes of the season finale of season one so many times because it's just like its own film. Just the way- I- they use the song with slow motion and like the acting, and it's just, I, it's worth just seeing the, that episode just as this, it's a work of art, I that is my favorite scene in Terminator. Oh. I love that scene, and it's on YouTube, writers, if you just wanna- Oh punch it in. I think it's a a Spanish version. But it's that scene. And basically why that had to happen is because there was no money in the budget at that point by the time they got to the end to have a big scene. So how do you have this big massacre? And Josh Friedman, came up with the idea of seeing all the policemen fall into the pool. Mm-hmm. So you never saw them being shot. You never saw a big shootout. You just saw bodies hitting the pool. That was amazing. And it's freaking brilliant. Yeah. Really, really brilliant. Such a talented, group of writers on that show. Yeah. Writers, you've got to rent these movies and study them. They are really uh, great movies, and I think my time on Terminator, I heard this so much, "Fate is what you make it." Isn't that it? What is it? Yeah. No fate but what you make. No fate but what you make. Now you're gonna be attending 2026 Comic-Con very, very soon. Are you looking forward to Comic-Con 2026? And can you just let the writers out there who may not know what Comic-Con is about? Yeah. Comic-Con is a pop culture convention that happens in San Diego, usually the last week of July, although in the past, sometimes it'll be mid-July. There's been some periods of time that it has done that in the last 20 years. But this'll be my 20th Comic-Con. I don't actually know how many years Comic-Con's... I don't know the history of how many years it b- it's been, but I don't know, a long, a lo- a lot of years. I'm sure we can look it up. I'm sure, like, 50-plus years. But I know that it started as, a comic book convention in just, a few rooms at a hotel, and it's expanded. But it used to be exclusively comics. Now it's really branched out, and uh, the San Diego Convention Center, there's a massive exhibit floor There's still a huge section for comics. You can buy comics there and talk to people about comics. Dark Horse has a huge booth. There's collectible, like Sideshow Collectibles has a booth. There's also booths geared towards, film, movie studios or TV shows will have, their own booths. Video game companies will have their own booths. But it has become a massive pop culture convention where it's just movies, TV, video games, card games, comics, everything. I absolutely love it. Like I said, this is my 20th year. It would be my 22nd year if Comic-Con had a convention in 2020 or, and '21, but both, it didn't have it, it in those two years 'cause of the pandemic. Oh, right. So this is n- you know, officially my 20th one then, but it would've been my 22nd. I love it so much because I'm a big geek and I may have talked about this in my last episode on my podcast Hanging with Becky, on the Evil Dead episode. But I talk about how no matter what fandom you have, it could be super niche or it could be something very big like, Star Trek, something that a lot of people share. There is somebody at Comic-Con that shares that passion. they have, uh, big room, panel rooms. The biggest one is Hall H, which seats 6,500 people, and on Friday and Saturday they show a lot of like Amazon and Apple and and just major networks will show TV s- shows, or movie studios will show sneak previews on movies. so it's really fun, and when you wait in line for those things, a lot of the times I've met some of my greatest friends waiting in line for like 10 hours or plus to get in with, You meet people, and you become friends with them. But it's just so fun because everybody there has some niche or some, big fandom that they have. and everybody celebrates the fact that we all have our own passions, and I just love it. I'm such a big proponent of it. It's not for everybody, because the exhibit hall floor can get really, busy. And so if you're claustrophobic or you don't like to be around a lot of people, then I would say stay away. if you not okay with standing in lines. But if you just wanna go to a place for a handful of days and just immerse yourself and be around people that are just as passionate as you are I would highly encourage it. It's like a drug. I wanna... During Comic-Con, it's 'cause I go for, it's four and a half days. There are days, like I was just telling my friend the other day, like on Friday I'll be like, "Oh my God, there's only two days left," And then when it's over you're just like, "Oh, I can't wait till next year when it happens again." So I'm one of those people. I'm a massive fan. It's my favorite time of the year. I call it Christmas in July. that is so cool. Now I don't wanna brag, Becky, but I've been- one time, but I got to feel what a rock star feels like or a celebrity because, I was there for Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles. Oh my gosh. And- That's so exciting the ma- that main floor- Yeah the actors, Lena and Thomas, John Connor- were signing autographs alongside the producers. And so we were in a booth on the floor. Yeah. You know, I was just in the back of the booth, just hanging out. And Fox or Warner Brothers publicity, I don't know whose fault fault it was, but nobody thought of how to get the actors out of the booth in, into the back rooms again. So the crowd is just pressing and pressing against the booth, and we need to leave. it was getting a little scary. Thomas Dekker, had brought his bodyguard with him. Okay. So the bodyguard, went to the exit of the booth, and he just put his, his big arm up, and he was, like, going go." He was hanging back, uh, the crowd with one hand, and we all were, like, ducking and going into the back rooms. no one was coming after me, but I was in the middle of it, and it was so exciting. It's fun to be a superstar, but scary. have you ever heard what- comedian Dana Gould, his famous quote about Comic-Con? No, I haven't. What is it? He said the people that go to Comic-Con now used to beat the people up who used to go to Comic-Con. Oh, man. Because it was just people made fun of and called people nerds, and now it is the place to be every year. I think that's a, it's a funny quote, but I definitely feel, and again, it could just be my viewpoint on how I feel, see Comic-Con, but the there are people, I think that now, which I think is a wonderful worldview now, is that it's m- more acceptable now than it was 20, 30 years ago to embrace your differences and- be unique. And it's cool to be a geek. It's cool to be a nerd. I was ob- obsessed with Star Trek since I was a kid, and I got lucky because my high school for I felt like I was in, Starfleet in a way, the academy, because for some reason in high school the smart kids were the cool kids, and, valedictorian was the prom king. So I had this weird alternate universe high school. But I was a big old geek and I was cool because of it. Like, nobody made fun of me because I was obsessed with Star Trek. But, I think at Comic-Con, there are people who are, into, all sorts of fandoms, and I think people think, "Oh, it's popular now because they have, like, big movies, like a big Marvel panel," and And more mainstream But I think side by side, again I feel like it doesn't matter if you're, you know- You're really into just Star Trek, or you're really into Marvel, I feel like everybody gets it, and it's acceptable. And that's why I said it's a safe space because you don't feel like you're gonna go, beat up or whatever. And people will do cosplay and, People that do cosplay, they have to just know they're not gonna go to panels that day or do things, because if you have really great cosplay, you'll get stopped every 10 minutes or every minute to take a photo with someone. So your whole day is taking photos. It's fun. Yes. So it's just, you can just be, like, a total nerd, be your... And people will embrace it and think it's cool. That's why I said it seems like a safe space for all of us who, march to the beat of a different drummer or just are obsessed with, have our own passions and fandoms. Because- nobody's gonna look at you any differently. And like it's funny, I have a Star Trek jacket I got from The Hero Within, which is one of my favorite companies. It's this yellow Star Trek jacket, and I'm like a rock star when I'm at Comic-Con with that jacket. I get stopped by so many people, "Oh my God, where'd you get that jacket?" And when I wear it out in the real world in Encino, I remember I was at the Westfield Topanga Mall, and I was in a jewelry store once, and somebody asked me, "Oh, are do you work for a space program?" And I was like, "What?" 'Cause they thought I was like a s- work... And I'm like, "Yeah, I work in space. What?" Like they thought I worked for NASA, but it's like they don't know. But like Comic-Con, people are like, "Oh my God, where'd you get your Star Trek jacket?" They immediately know what it is, that is so cool. I just have to say, a parallel story to that. Yeah. the battery in the clicker for my car, went out. So, I meant to replace it. Of course I didn't. I go to my car yesterday, and I must have forgot to manually lock it. Because when I got into my car, I could immediately see it was ransacked. crummy feeling. And I saw that all they did was take my change. They, you know, didn't take any sunglasses, nothing like that. And then I realized, oh my goodness, my Sarah Connor jacket is in the trunk. If they took my Sarah Connor jacket- No I really am gonna be upset. So, I, did that little lever, clicked, went in the trunk, and my Sarah Connor jacket was there. So Oh my gosh. I would've been- I'm so happy for you. Thank you. That they weren't, took it. Oh my God, that would've been devastating. Thank you. I, I would've been so devastated. Now, do you have tickets? Do you know what you're gonna see for this Comic-Con? Yeah, so- Oh, just give me the dates. What are the dates? Did- Oh, it's July 22nd through the 26th. July 22nd is Wednesday, which is preview night. So not everyone can get into preview night. That's, it's, if you get a f- of a full, huge pass, that's four and a half days, you get into preview night. Preview night is essentially the exhibit floor is open for three hours, from 6:00 to 9:00, and you get to look at the floor before everyone else. A lot of people pick up like the collectibles they wanna get that might get sold out throughout the show on Wednesday night. Preview night's probably my favorite night because it's just so fun. I could just get let loose for three hours and- and you know what's crazy is like you walk so much I clock like sometimes 50 miles in steps in four and a half days. Oh. Thursday, one of my favorite things to do, um, 10 plus years doing it, is there's a there's a fashion show at night called the Her Universe Fashion Show. Ashley Eckstein is fashion designer who, created her own line, like I think 15 years ago. It was originally just for, it was geeky couture, like clothes for women that were geeky, and, now there's also clothes for men as well. But, she has a fashion show every Thursday that's so fun, and the DJ is this woman called DJ Amanda. at... the Grand Hyatt, and it's a few hours, and that's a highlight of mine on Thursday night that I go to. And there's usually one or two cool panels that I really love on Thursday. This Thursday in Hall H, they're gonna do Avatar Aang, The Last Airbender. I got really into Avatar Aang, The Last Airbender a year ago, even though it was like 20 years old. A friend of mine got me into the TV show. there was supposed to be a theatrical release of the, of a new movie for The Last Airbender, but now it's going to streaming in a week or so. Oh. So they're gonna do a panel based on, that movie that's coming to Paramount Plus, and I'm actually gonna do an episode on my podcast about it, so I'm really excited about that 'cause I love that mythology. And then the, uh, the stuff that I'm most excited about is in Hall H on Saturday, is I'm a, like I said, I'm a big Trekkie, so, they're doing 60th anniversary, a big two-hour panel for Star Trek around Strange New Worlds. And then they're gonna have a lot of actors like Michael Dorn and people like that from the past The Next Generation and original series, and all sorts of actors coming to celebrate Star Trek's 60th, so that'll be amazing. And then also I'm on a panel this year, which I'm really excited about and it's gonna be on Saturday, so if you're at Comic-Con and you're in Hall H, don't worry about it. Don't leave Hall H to go to my panel. I'm still trying to- figure out how I'm gonna get out of Hall H, go to my panel, and get back into Hall H, so we'll see if that works out for me. What is your panel gonna be about? it's about the state of theatrical exhibition. the panel's called Next Stages of Movie Theater Evolution. It'll be in the Neil Morgan Auditorium, which is in the San Diego Library, which is about a block away from the convention center. It's pretty close. Right at the end, the Hall H end of the convention center. right after my panel is the Star Trek 60 panel, which is the panel I care the most about. So I would like to get back in after my panel, but it was a situation I had to face when asked to be on this panel of, like, do I just say no because it's on Saturday, and actually experience Hall H all day, which is what I love? Or do I take the risk that I, maybe I could do both. Right. Um, so I'm, I'm hopeful I can do both, but, I also didn't wanna give up the opportunity to be on a panel. it's a huge honor to be asked to be on a Comic-Con panel. Yes. It's my second time, I'm hopefully taking the risk, and fingers crossed, think good thoughts that I get back in for Star Trek 60 panel. Well, I think you made the right decision, and if any of our writers out there are gonna be there, or and you work as a security guard look out for Becky. And if you guys can help her get back to Star Trek, we- We will thank you. Yes. I'll send you a, a Writer's Hangout hat. Love those. So- Thank you well, that sounds so exciting. I'm excited about Comic-Con now this year- Oh, great from just hearing you talk about it. That's very cool. Now shifting gears here. I read that Ingmar Bergman's Seventh Seal left you speechless. Now, I have a confession to make. Mm-hmm. I, for the very first time, saw it a year ago, and I was blown away. Yeah. 'Cause, I don't know, I just avoided it. I had some snobby, childish take on it. Uh-huh. But I too really loved it. The Seventh Seal is a 1957 Swedish historical fantasy film directed by Ingmar Bergman. Mm-hmm. And it follows a disillusioned medieval knight who, upon returning from the Crusades to a plague-ridden homeland, challenges the personification of death to a game of chess in a desperate search for meaning and for God. Mm-hmm. can you talk about why The Seventh Seal meant so much to you? My first Bergman film was in 2001, which was about two years after I graduated from USC. And then I went down the rabbit hole, and I was obsessed with Ingmar Bergman. And for one year I decided I was gonna see every movie I could get my hands on. There used to be a video store called Rocket Video in La Brea. Oh, yes. And every other week I would go to Rocket Video, rent two Bergman films, make a weekend out of it, and watch both. I'd get takeout, and it was just be myself all weekend watching these Bergman films. And I was able to plow through every Bergman film that Rocket Video had. And then it took me years to try to find all the ones that I couldn't find. This was before the Bergman box set came out that Criterion put out, like several years ago, which now it's such a, it's so wonderful to be a movie fan for all these Gen Z-ers because you have all these films available to you. For me, I had to hunt them down and look in Rocket Video and Cinephile and all these places to even get my hands on them. And then there's a few Bergman films left that I've, never seen, but and one of them I own, but the reason why I haven't seen them is for me, and I kind of wanted to slow down. It's just one or two and I think I've seen 45 of his films at this point. I wanna have that feeling of what it's like to see a Bergman film for the first time, so that's why I'm slowing down some of these smaller films that I haven't seen. But yeah, Seventh Seal is one of my favorites. It's actually not my favorite Bergman film. My favorite one is Summer Interlude, 1951 film. But Seventh Seal is an extraordinary film. Ingmar Bergman released two films in 1957, Wild Strawberries and The Seventh Seal. I actually taught a six-hour lecture on Ingmar Bergman called Ingmar Bergman 101 for UC Riverside, like six years ago. So I'm a massive- Wow Bergman fan. But Seventh Seal is so wonderful, and I think it shows all the themes, and so does Wild Strawberries that came out that year, of Bergman, and the fact that like at that point when Bergman was making that film, and one of the hallmarks of Ingmar Bergman is that he wrestles with his demons on screen. He wrestled with religion his whole life, and this film is, the Knight is sort of an alter ego for him of wrestling with religion, of like, "Is there a God? What does that mean?" Like it tormented him that there was a God and he couldn't see it. And what is extraordinary about Seventh Seal is that the Knight in the film, played by Max von Sydow, there are things that he says in that film that are like, "Oh my God, is it okay to say this out loud?" Like, he questions God, he questions religion, and so like it's really just like extraordinary stuff. his performance is amazing. He was like in his late 20- I think 27 when he was in the film. But it's also an incredibly life-affirming film. Mm-hmm there are moments in Bergman's, filmography where he'll put in what Peter Cowie, who's a Bergman historian, calls, there are brief moments that, in life that show such exquisite beauty that they make up for all the misery and unhappiness, and Bergman will highlight those. And one of those in this movie is there's a scene where the Knight- shares milk and strawberries with an actor, with two actors on a hillside, and it's just wonderful. and the knight is trying to save these people death is chasing him throughout this film, and he knows his time is up soon. So it's just, works on so many levels. It has so many of the themes that come with Bergman, so I definitely think seek it out. And one of the things I think in general about Bergman, a lot of people stay away from Bergman because they think he's bleak, inaccessible. And if they do start seeing his movies, I think you can quickly realize that's not at all the case. He's very accessible. Most of his films are 80, 90 minutes long. There are some that are long, like Fanny and Alexander, that are, like, s- you know, five-hour TV series and stuff, so those are longer. But his films are so accessible and so wonderful, explore different themes. And if you watch them in the order in which they were released, you can kinda see Bergman wrestling through demons throughout his life. Like, you can see the period where he deals with religion and wrestling with God, and then his own humanity and, growing up and how he deals with being close to his parents. It's, it's wonderful. Like, he kinda works all that out in his films, and you get to see his repertoire of actors. He's just, he's my favorite filmmaker. I call myself a Ingmar Bergman disciple 'cause I just think, I wish I could just every day be paid to spread the word about Bergman 'cause I love him so much. But I think if you stayed away from him for any way, please don't because, And I think the best entry points for him, this is a good entry point, but Through a Glass Darkly is a great entry point. Summer Interlude's a great entry point. Wild Strawberries is. So maybe start with those. don't start with Cries and Whispers. that's- a really difficult film. It's a amazing film, but it's not typical of what his filmography is. you've been a movie junkie- since you were six years old. Yeah. And your parents would often take you to the movies up to four times a week to see the latest releases. And your bio, you mention Westwood. Mm-hmm. Now, Westwood, which is next to UCLA, was the place back in the day where movies had premieres. Mm-hmm. And LA, didn't have a lot of, nightlife, and Westwood was, pretty packed and crazy for a time there. Is that the time when you were going to see movies- Yeah in Westwood? It is, yeah. That was when the Mann National, was up, and that's where I saw, at six years old I saw Twilight Zone, the movie there. when you had to line up, because a long time ago you had to line up to see movies. You didn't, you couldn't just book your tickets and show up right before the movie came on. It was sort of an experience. I mean, I definitely don't look back, like fondly on that, because it's, especially now when you don't have a lot of time, it's nice just to show up and know that you can see the movie and not have to wait in line. But, it was booming then. Westwood now is more of a college town, more focused on the surrounding neighborhood of UCLA. Although the two, there was two major movie theaters in the center of Westwood. It used to be for movie premieres, and they just reopened them. Jason Reitman's, at the forefront of opening those, and they're by the Cinematheque now. So they just reopened for The Odyssey, so I think that they'll have more life in them now- Oh and people will seek those out. I did not know that. Yeah, and they just retrofitted them with 70 millimeter IMAX cameras. So that just opened, I think, a week ago. Those, um, the, one of the main ones, the theaters. So it's, I think it'll be a bigger place now. But yeah, it was a big time then, I'm a, a native Angelino, so I was born and raised in Los Angeles, so that was where I went to the movies. then we moved to Ventura County when I was, nine years old, and then I moved back to LA when, I was in college when I went to USC, and then I stayed in LA since then. And like I said, I got an apartment next to the New Beverly. And so, honestly, the movie cinemas in LA are... I would never leave LA because we have the Vista and the New Beverly and the Egyptian, and the Academy Museum has extraordinary programming too. So there's just so many. And the Aero the Burbank 16. Like, there's just, there's so many. There's great, like, repertory theaters, but also amazing current movie release theaters like AMC Century City. There's so many places if you're a movie fan to see old movies and see new movies and just amazing repertory programming happening. I, practically live at the Academy Museum these days, because there's so much great stuff. And the New Beverly, it's like going to a friend's house- Aw because, uh, that's how it feels. Because I've just been going there religiously since 1999, means so much to me. So, I just feel so lucky to live in Los Angeles and all these places. So if you haven't seen some of these theaters, definitely seek them out And it sounds like because of the, these renovations of these theaters in Westwood, that it's gonna be, um, more of a bigger scene now. Yeah. Who picked the movie? I would assume when you were younger you had a newspaper or were you on the computer? Yeah, it was newspaper. you often, what happens was there'd be phone numbers, yeah. late '80s, in the '90s, you would call a phone number and you would have to call the movie theater and they would list all the movies, and you have to write the show times. There was no internet. and if you missed it, they had to wait for them to cycle through it again. There's actually a joke in Seinfeld- Yes where it was like movie phone. Um, and, uh, it would, that's, it's a really funny, where Kramer, his number ends up like as a number off and people think he's movie phone and it's very funny. But yeah, that's how it used to be in the day. But Westwood, when my parents sometimes we would go out, we mostly just went straight to the movies. I actually didn't have any say in what movies we saw when I was growing up. I which is why I have some blind spots, which is funny. People laugh at me because I was not like most kids. My parents had no interest in animation, so I never, I didn't really start seeing Disney classic animation films until I was in junior high, high school when I started seeing them out on my own, and that's when like Lion King and Little Mermaid and all those movies started coming out, and I would actually ask my parents, "Is it okay if I go see these movies?" I had to ask them permission because my parents essentially just took me to whatever they were interested in, and they were interested in science fiction and drama and like, and they took me to whatever. I never got a babysitter, so I saw like Fatal Attraction when I was 10. Whoa. Twilights of the movie at six. I remember they covered my eyes, and like I saw slasher movies when I was five. I saw everything. I feel like I turned out okay, and probably why I became such a movie fanatic, but I definitely wasn't censored. They took me to everything, and so I got a film education pretty early, but I do have certain blind spots, like Dances with Wolves is a funny one because my parents had no interest in Dances with Wolves, so I did see that movie. So some of the prestige- like indie films and more independent or like Academy Award ones. If they weren't interested, if they weren't more kind of genre, then I didn't go. So, sometimes I have blind spots that I'm, you know, making up for now. And then once I was in my 20s, I went on my own path of the, like I went down the rab- rabbit hole with Woody Allen films and Bergman films and, and Robert Altman and all, whatever, and then I discovered all the films, the filmmakers that I loved. But the '80s and the '90s, all the movies that came out then were, I saw them depending on, like if it was a horror film or a science fiction film, I was likely to have seen it 'cause my parents loved those genres. But, not the animation films. Was the Oscars a big deal in your family? Yeah. We all watched the Oscars together, and I still love the Oscars. I still get very giddy about them. They're very important to me still. So- Yeah my parents don't care about the Oscars as much anymore, but I still care very much about them. I mean, that, I, when I was little and I was growing up and watching the Oscars, it felt just like such another world to me and a world that- Hmm I would never touch. And was it different growing up in the town where three miles away the Oscars were happening? Did it make it any more real, or was it still just a glamorous unworld world that y- you didn't know you could ever get to? I think it impacted me more in my 20s because I moved out of Los Angeles area when I was nine, and I- Oh that was when I was in Ventura County. But when I, I moved back when I was in USC, it was in l- like, '95 to '99 I was at USC. We were right across the street from the Shrine Auditorium and places like that. So that was very much big know of, like, w- the Oscars and the glamorousness of Hollywood, and I wanted to work in the movie business since I was 15. I knew of it. It didn't seem like it was right next door or anything, but but I don't know. I was in Culver City till I was nine anyway, and I don't know if I felt like I was really close to it anyway. But I don't think I fully appreciated how amazing it was to live in Los Angeles and be exposed to a lot of these films that were coming out just in New York and LA first and things like that. but movies have been a part of my DNA since I was a kid because my parents loved them so much. And also, it was funny, when I was in high school, my, all my friends wanted to, each other's houses and, party and do all these things, and I just wanted to hang out with my parents so I'd go to the movies. So I chose hanging out with my parents over my friends a lot because I'm like, "Oh, God, I wanna," I, that was all I cared about 'cause I loved the movies so much. It was like a drug. Which is funny, 'cause my sister revolted against movies because she was the opposite. she hated that she had to go to so many movies growing up that she kind of turned her back against movies for, like, a decade, and then finally she's likes them again. But for me, I was I couldn't get enough of them. It was like a drug. Fascinating. This is my take on you now. You were growing up, your parents took you away from the heartbeat of Hollywood and as- soon as you came of age, you were right back here. Yeah. It's like- I was I'm heading to Hollywood, Mom, Dad. Yes. I'd love to talk about your life a little bit in marketing. As I mentioned during the intro at the top- Yeah you were a Hollywood executive, and you worked on event film marketing campaigns for the X-Men at Fox to the Spider-Man franchise for Sony Pictures. Yeah. Did you enjoy film marketing? Can you tell the listeners out there what someone in film marketing does? Yeah. I absolutely love film marketing. I fell into the right thing. I did movie marketing for 26 years. Absolutely loved it. movie marketing, there's so many aspects of it, so I specifically did third-party promotions, but most people know from movie marketing there's a few different ones. One is there's creative advertising, which is part of movie marketing, and those are the people that create the trailers. TV spots on TV, billboards, outdoor, anything that's like the posters for the movies that's creative advertising. then there's, media. And the media department for movie marketing, they book all that stuff to go on. So they pay to put up the billboards and the TV spots on TV stations and all that. There's publicity, which is another area of movie marketing. they work with talent to book talent to go on talk shows and podcasts to talk about movies. And then they, do screenings and premieres and stuff like that. Anytime you see talent talk about a movie, that's the publicity arm of movie marketing. And then there's, exhibitor relations. There's, they work closely with movie theaters to book, movies, making sure that our movies get the best placement. and there's digital marketing. anything you see online the spots and create special content, bonus stuff for Instagram, for the movie website. Anything you see online is digital marketing. And I did third-party promotions, so if you ever go to McDonald's and you get, like, a Spider-Man Happy Meal, that's me. Anytime you go to see an ad for a brand that's associated with a new movie release, right now s- there's a bunch out there for this, Spider-Man: Brand New Day with, like, BMW, there's a spot that just dropped. And there's, like, all sorts of brands, and anytime you see anything like that Liquid IV, they're for Spider-Man, anything like that, that is a movie studio that works closely with brands to help promote a movie, and that's what I did. We pitch our movies to brands. the idea is that they get to use our IP for free to drive people into the restaurant or get people to associate the, characteristics of our movie with their car, things like that. what we get out of it is that they pay for TV spots and radio spots and things to promote their brand with our movies, so that's additional incremental media that we get out there about our movie, in addition to the paid money that we're paying to promote our movies. So third-party promotions is a really fun area. And for, and most of the time, you only can get third-party promotions on big event films because it has to be... The brand doesn't want to associate themselves with films that are new IP usually or something, unknown, but they want to associate themselves with things that will help drive people to their product. I loved it. But yeah, those are all the different areas of movie marketing. It's really fun and I, sometimes I always tell people, I don't make movies, but I market them, but I think that's more fun for me. Very cool. when you mentioned that the really famous brands maybe don't wanna work with an unknown the story that came to mind was the Steven Spielberg ET M&M's- Yeah and this is, can you let the writers know, do you remember that story? Yeah. Can you let the writers know? I kind of know with Reese's Pieces, yeah, and M&M's. So, f- that's for product placement, which is, is another area of movie marketing, sometimes what will happen if, if a, if a brand is placed in a movie, then you can leverage it for a partnership. But sometimes you've actually paid, a, a brand will pay to put their brand into a movie. And sometimes a movie will just be like, "Hey, we're in need of a car. We're in need of candy." And they want it, then they won't, the brand does not have to pay, they just give it to them, and then they put up a part of the storyline. But from what I remember they went to M&M's, and M&M's wasn't interested in it being in the film, so they gravitated toward Reese's Pieces, and then it became one of the most iconic scenes of the movie. And like the best product placement is... And that's, again, that's not what I do, but I, I'm not a huge fan of product placement. But with the best part of it, if you do it right, it's organic to the storyline, and it makes sense. It's not, you know, all of a sudden they're like, "I'm staying at, booking.com," and you're like jarring- and you're like, "What's happening?" But if it's something that's like very organic, where it makes sense that they're driving a cool car. 'Cause you know what happens if you watch a movie and you're like, Hey, that car that person's driving looks so cool," or, "I really love those sunglasses that the actress is wearing," and then you look it up, that's how you drive people to buy those products. But if it's organic, like a, the sunglasses that the character would wear already, or they're already eating something, whatever, and it's organic. And Reese's Pieces was an organic part of it. We actually had a moment like that in Ghostbusters, I think it was Firehouse, where they had a scene where they had to use I think it was, Slimer was up in the attic, and the filmmakers wanted to do a scene where he loves snack foods and stuff. So they were like, "We need to put a bunch of snack foods in." And then at one point, one of the characters in the movie had to draw Slimer. They wanted to try to catch him. So it was a great opportunity for a brand that would be like, "Oh, I wanna do that." And we pitch it to Oreo and all these brands, and I think Cheetos ended up being the one that wanted to do it. So in that scene, they lure Slimer out with Cheetos. But that was sort of organic because the filmmakers wanted a part where they wanted to lure him with some snacks. So it was a huge opportunity for a brand to be like, "Oh, I wanna be that snack." And when you were telling that story, I literally didn't remember the character's name, but I remembered the Cheetos. It works. Yes. It really does. Yeah. They do this for a reason. Now you- Also, we're the co-host of the Sony Pictures podcast, Director's Take- Yeah Which brought about acclaimed filmmakers into conversations about the films that shaped them when I read that, I thought, "What a great idea for a podcast." Aw, thank you. are those episodes still available? Yeah. Can our listeners go find them? Yeah, they are. They're, the website's still available too. but we only, fortunately had seven and they, went on hiatus, and I'm not sure it'll come back, but we'll see. It was a great idea and I say that 'cause it was my idea. I created it and I co-hosted it, and, Sony Pictures bankrolled it, and it was very exciting. so it was called Director's Take, and what we did was we invited, directors on and w- and we actually had a really easy time getting movie directors to come on because we weren't asking them to talk about movies that they worked on. We were asking them to talk about movies that they loved. So our first episode was with Zach Cregger, and he chose Adaptation. And so we essentially would go to these directors and give them a list of a bunch of Sony catalog titles, and the idea was that it was a home entertainment podcast, so it would drive people to rent the movies. And it was really exciting because I think the first episode we did with Zach Cregger, I think sales of Adaptation went up like 136% or something, 'cause people would listen to it, Zach Cregger gush, he's not paid to do e- like, all these filmmakers are just asked to be on the show and they were, they jumped at the chance to, gush about one of their favorite movies. So Zach Cregger's, like, an hour talking how much he loves this movie, and a lot of people were like, "Oh, I really gotta see Adaptation again," or "I haven't seen that. Let me check it out." So people would rent it and it drove catalog sales. So it was a great idea for Sony. we had Eli Roth came on to talk about Fright Night. We had Nia DaCosta come on for a two-parter to talk about... She actually chose 28 Days Later, which was cool 'cause she was directed 28 Days, Years Later, The Bone Temple. I love 28 Days Later. Oh, yes I love the latest OMG. It was so cool to tell Nia DaCosta in person that, we did that one in person. I got to tell her that I thought it was a masterpiece. I love that film. But I think my other favorite episode was, had Zach Cregger Adaptation, was Benny Safdie came on to talk about Punch-Drunk Love, and it was so fun because at the very end of the episode he said it was like a cinematic book club. he had that much fun, it was so cool. So it was just such a fun podcast, and if you just Google Director's Take, a Sony Pictures podcast, it's got a purple logo. There is another podcast called Director's Take, which I think is run by the DGA, but if you look on Apple, Spotify, wherever, it's the logo that's purple and it says Director's Take, a Sony Pictures podcast. And you can also Google it. If you Google the website, it has every platform that it's on, but we had about seven episodes. Oh, great, and that means that the writers out there Go, comment at the bottom that you want more. So hopefully- Yeah it will come back. Oh, well, Will Gluck came on for, St. Elmo's Fire. That was a really fun one, too. The best episode, I think, actually, Amy Heckerling came on to talk about Taxi Driver, which was crazy. Like, no one ever is, would've put Amy Heckerling with Taxi Driver. It was such an extraordinary episode. I'm so proud of every single episode. They were so great, but it was so fun when we'd go to the directors, and they would be like, "Hey, is this movie taken?" they looked at the list, and they were so excited to talk about these films because they shape them, just like movies shape us. And they're, and also, it really helped, I think, show that these directors were just like us. And, Zach Cregger apologized twice in the Adaptation episode because he was gushing so much. He's like, "Oh, sorry. Sorry." We're like, "No, we, this is what we want. We want..." 'Cause that's how much, it's so genuine. These people love these movies. And so it was just such a celebration, and, I'm really proud of the show. you have a new, you have a new podcast, Hanging With Becky. Congratulations. Thank you. Where can we listen to Hanging With Becky, and what's it about? Oh, great. Yeah, thank you for asking. Hanging With Becky is available on all platforms. So if you're a YouTube watcher, you can watch it on YouTube. If you're a audio person, I prefer audio podcasts, you can check it out on Apple, Spotify, iHeartRadio. But if you just Google Hanging With Becky podcast, Literally, it's on every single platform you can think of. I think we just finished our eighth episode. It's a weekly show that comes out every Tuesday. and it was so exciting to make it come true, and it's everything I wanted it to be. But I've always said that my best thing about me is my friends. So I have so many extraordinary friends, and I love talking about new releases. So the idea behind it is every week I invite on one of my friends, be it comic book creators, podcasters, filmmakers and we'll talk about a new release. for about a half hour to an hour, we'll talk about the latest movie release and be honest about it. it'll be our genuine take, so if we love or hate it, We're gonna be fair, but we're gonna be honest about it. And then I have the last, half of the episode is called The Becky Challenge. I named it after the Pepsi Challenge 'cause I'm obsessed with Pepsi- But The Becky Challenge is essentially I quiz my guest on something they're passionate about. So I had my friend who's a filmmaker, Kyle Reardon, is obsessed with Jaws, and so I gave him Jaws trivia. I've given people questions on video game adaptations. one of my friends is a a movie documentarian, producer, and so I asked him about filmmaking questions. when you started out, what was your biggest misconception about what it means to work in the entertainment industry? Gosh I think there's two. One, my biggest one, and I tell people all this sometimes, not everybody that works in the movie business has like a, loves movies. I didn't know that. So, when I started working in the movie business was 2000 in 20th Century Fox, and I loved film, and I love film history. And sometimes you're working with people who they're in the movie business movie marketing or in areas of the, of working at a movie studio that actually have no interest in movies, or they just go casual moviegoers. They don't know a like... Polanski, and it's fine that, you know, not everyone knows everything about every filmmaker, but some people just aren't interested in furthering their film education. And so that was sort of a jarring thing for me sometimes when I would meet people who, hadn't heard of Chinatown I remember one time I had mentioned this in my, Terminator Salvation episode that I talked about. I had a ringtone that was the Halloween, John Carpenter's Halloween, the theme, and my boss was like, "Oh, that's a cool Electronica song." And I'm like, "Wait, what? This is a Halloween theme." So it sometimes it is fascinating, and I get surprised that you're not really surrounded all the time by people who love film. It'd be nice if that was the case, but, um, sometimes people are- Yeah just really good at what they do. They're really good at accounting, they're really good at, publicity, or they're really good at something, but maybe they don't, they're not like- movie fanatics. Yeah. So that was the biggest one, and then the other thing is, more positive I guess, is that, a lot of people think, and they're really cynical about Hollywood, and think that when the movie studios are just all about the cash grabs. And I guess the fact that we just did the Moana movie is at a good a good step in the right direction. But most of the time, in my experience, my 26 years in the movie business, is the powers that be, the studio executives, creative executives, the people green-lighting the films the head of these studios, we wanna make the best movies we can make. Usually, especially at Sony when I was there They don't wanna green-light a movie until the script's right, and so they wanna make sure that's got the best story they can have. So always our intention working at a movie studio that the film's gonna be well. No one sets out to make a bad movie. So I think sometimes people think, uh, "Oh, why would they put that out? That's such a cash grab," this and that. At least in my experience at Sony, and really at 20th Century Fox, and from a lot of people I work with in the movie business, is we work really hard on these movies. We really believe in them. We want them to be good. Not all of them are gonna be good. We hope that they will. You know, a lot of things have to come together for a movie to be amazing. But I think there's a cynical misconception of Hollywood that people just put out movies, and they don't care about it, and the trailers, and there's a lot of testing that goes behind trailers. We wanna put out the best trailer. So people that, we make these movies we really do try to make them well, and, I hope people have more hope or more faith in it. And- Yeah I wanted to correct this misconception. I'm doing what the kids do right now, they do the snap with the fingers- that they took from the gay community. I'm doing that, I'm doing that from what you just said, snap, snap, snap. I like that. Uh, would you like to share any of your socials and again, where can we listen to Hanging With Becky? Yeah, I'd love to do that. I think the two places I'm most on personally are Twitter, I'm @hollywoodminotaur, that's H-wood minotaur, and on Instagram at thebeckydeanna. there's no apostrophe when you look at Instagram, so it's thebeckydeanna, no apostrophe. We're on hangingwithbecky on Instagram and BlueSky, and hangwithbecky on Letterboxd and Twitter. And so yeah, check those out, and then we're on every platform you can think of. We're on Apple, Spotify, YouTube, or you could just Google, Hanging With Becky and I have a website called beckydeanna.com and every podcast appearance I've ever been on is on there, this episode I will link, on my website when it goes live too. Becky DeAnna, you are a delight- Aw and thank you again for being on the Writer's Hangout. Oh, thanks so much. It was really fun. and that's a wrap for the Writer's Hangout. Thanks so much for listening. If you enjoyed the show, please take a moment to leave us a review on Apple Podcasts. Your positive feedback will help us keep the show going so we can continue bringing you more future episodes. Remember, keep writing. The world needs your stories. The Writers Hangout is sponsored by the Page International Screenwriting Awards, with executive producer Kristen Overn, Sandy Adamides, and myself, Terry Sampson. And our music is composed by Ethan Stoller. Alexa, you are gaslighting me,