The Prelim Podcast I Episode 17 — Bobby Garafolo

0:05 Alright guys, welcome to the Pretty Limb Podcast. Today we have both me and Tony back today. And um today we have somebody. I I always hate saying somebody special because everybody's always special to us. This is true. But somebody, but today we have one of our good friends. Another good friend. Good friend, yeah.

0:29 And um our friend, the white wolf. Yes.

0:33 You're blocking my camera, dude, with your hand.

0:36 AKA Bobby Golopala. Bobby! Hi. I'm looking at the camera to you, the audience.

0:44 Not only a good friend, another good friend, but a first, another first for the pre-limb podcast. A member what department are you with? I'm art department. Art department. Yes. Because you've had camera guy.

0:56 You've had camera. Yes. You've had AD department. Yes. Well, uh, hold on. Grip? Yes. No electrics yet.

1:04 You know, we've had some pre-taped stuff. Okay.

1:07 So I'm the first art department, basically.

1:09 Yes. Art department. First one. Okay.

1:12 I'll try to No pressure. No, yeah. No pressure. I try to make sure I do good. You'll you'll do that. You always do good, Bobby.

1:18 Bobby, you from LA?

1:19 I'm from LA, born and raised.

1:21 Yes.

1:21 I was born at Cedar Sinai Hospital, and that's not one of the questions on my like uh identity theft thing, like when you're trying to steal it. I was born at Cedar Sinai. That's where they fixed Michael Jackson's nose when it fell off.

1:32 Oh, that's a great are you sure they fixed it?

1:34 Or butyl. They put butyl. They were like butyl on it. So yeah, I was born in LA. Um, yeah, and at water villages, and I still live in the in the neighborhood. In the neighborhood I grew up in, like a couple doors down from my mom.

1:50 Nice.

1:51 Yeah.

1:52 Movies were were they big as a kid for you?

1:54 Oh, huge. Like um, dude, I I mean, I was born early 80s, and I saw so many movies that I should not have at my age. Like, I'm pretty sure my I went to a theater and saw Born on the Fourth of July, but I don't remember any of it. But I've saw I've watched Predator when I was a kid. I watched uh Critters, uh, Gremlins.

2:17 You know who worked on Critters? Who worked on Critters? Art Martin. Art Martin? Critters 2. He worked on Critters 2. That's a good one. That's when they told me. That's yeah, that's actually like that one. He hated it. Because it's nights. It's all nights.

2:30 Can you imagine back then?

2:32 But yeah. I saw like there was a lot of uh movies from my childhood that I definitely probably shouldn't have seen, you know. Like uh Return of the Living Dead. I don't know if you remember that one.

2:41 For some reason I've got a feeling you probably watched uh what was it? Uh uh Killer Clowns from Outer Space.

2:47 Yeah, a while ago, but it actually wasn't in my favorites. Favorite things, yeah.

2:50 That's not one of the that would be a movie me and you have a comment.

2:54 It's I mean, I I like it, but it's just it it didn't it didn't like affect me.

2:59 He's not a clown guy.

3:00 Weirdly, that you know what movie affected me more than that was Leprechaun 5, Leprechaun in the Hood. Really? Oh, that's great. So it's like, yeah, Killer Clowns was uh not necessarily my jam, but uh So you were a big horror guy, obviously. Horror?

3:13 Well Horror Horror. We'll get to that later.

3:19 Oh yeah, but no, I I do love horror, but I like action. Uh I mean the golden era of action, Arnold, Van Dam, Predator, Predator, yeah. You know, yeah. So yeah, I saw a lot of movies again that I should not have seen. I brought Total Recall to school. Hold on, like how old was it was in the 80s, god, maybe maybe 1990.

3:40 No, whenever it came out, I got it on VHS, and they said you could bring after school any movie you want. Any I saw what I said. I said any movie, even like with bad words, and and they just didn't care. It was a Montessori school, which I don't know if you know what that is, but it was a private school, and I they had a projector screen with the three lights, like you could see it's very nostalgic for me to look inside and see those lights.

4:04 It was super really kind of cool. So I brought this movie, popped it in, and the first there's like the F. Can I cuss on this thing? Yeah, of course. There's it said fuck like 50 times in the first couple minutes, and then this one kid just was white, and he was like, My mom's gonna kill me if she sees me watching this.

4:22 He took off, and then they all started leaving. I was like, What are you doing? We have a chance, we can see something we're not supposed to, and they all left because it was super brutal. Yeah, did you ever bring another movie? No, because that was like the only time I think they they might have even canceled it because of me.

4:37 Oh yeah, and that's like you're the point. So you caused it, you caused the downfall of that.

4:41 Yeah. So uh, but you also had another passion, right? I mean an interest. I was you're a man of many. I have a few passions. Yeah, I mean, you're a musician, you're uh the creator, you're a former collegiate football player.

4:57 I want to make money not being in an office. And I want to make money doing cool shit, and it's hard. It is hard because everybody wants to do that cool shit. Yeah, whatever it is.

5:07 Everybody wants to make money. Yeah, yeah. But everybody wants to do cool shit.

5:10 That's right. So yeah, but I do uh I did uh I played football in high school because I it was a potential means to get uh college paid for. And also like I was kind of big and it was fun. I I mean it's sort of fun, there's a lot of work, but uh that was the one of the best ways I could have paid for my school was to do that.

5:35 So I focused kind of hard on that. And it worked, it did. On a side note though, I was pretty good at guitar, and I actually looking back too now, it's like I could have done that as well. I could have because my I have a friend named Tim, I could say his name, Tim Cobza. He teaches at USC. I met him in the middle of my high school years, and he became a mentor of mine.

5:57 And he said, like, dude, you could come in and audition and get a scholarship for music. But I wanted, I don't know, I wanted football because I feel like I was like, I could always do music.

6:07 There's only one chance you can do it sports before you get old. So I did I chose sports first, but I still would like to I did music doing um gigs here and there, you know.

6:19 But did you play music when you were in college? I mean, like not play, but like did you take classes? Did you take any were film production classes?

6:26 Yeah, I I did sort of both, but like my first degree was just like uh like a business degree at Memphis, and they you know they had a good program because of uh Fred Smith, uh FedEx, you know, he was like he started there, and actually when he did his schooling, I think he wrote his paper on if he was going to start a company like FedEx, how he would do it, and I think he got a C.

6:51 And then he the whole reason Memphis is like uh th kind of thriving as much as it can is because of FedEx. So I ended up doing some business stuff, but then uh I got a second degree in what film and I was studying like music, you know. So yeah, I did like kind of what I wanted to do. I should have done more of something else, like accounting, or I feel like I shouldn't have done art in school, you know.

7:16 Like, you know, I could I could have learned film on the I tell people, like my friends have kids, and they're like, which film school should he go to?

7:23 And I'm like, you should go work in film as a PA and get paid. That's film school. I tell them, don't do it in college, you know. Right. Yeah. Yeah.

7:36 Now tell us, how did you fall in? How did I fall in this business?

7:40 I was playing a show at The Roxy in Hollywood with this band I was in. Sorry, let me clear my throat. And um there was uh he had a friend who was a comedian. Uh I'll say his name, Bruce Fine. Uh, and they they they were like, hey, we're gonna go to this spot, an after party spot, and it was like uh Hollywood Studios Bar and Grill.

8:04 And we went there and kind of drank and sang karaoke, and the bartender there, this lady, the lady named Nicole Murtha, she she was like singing with us, and then I was playing music there, and she ended up, she was a decorator, the art director, designer. And one one summer, my mom had an old building that I had to work on the roof, and I worked the whole month, and I didn't go play music for like a lot of comedians that were playing there.

8:36 Like at Hollywood Studios Bar and Grill, some of the top comedians on the planet would go and do sets there, sometimes to a full house, sometimes to nobody, and they would just run through their sets, and I would do music in between all these comedians' sets. So when I didn't do it for a month, Nicole was like, Where the hell have you been for a month?

8:54 I was like, dude, I was doing my mom's roof. She goes, What do you mean doing your mom's roof? I said, I was on a roof, a two-story house, carrying shingles up these stairs, putting climbing over this thing, putting a ladder and going up hand by hand because I couldn't hire anything. I was so broke. And I did this roof by myself, and the last nail I put in, it rained, and it never leaked to this day.

9:14 And I did every all the research on YouTube.

9:17 Now, what what year was this when you 2009?

9:21 And yeah, so Nicole says, You're handy, and I'm like, Yeah. And I she goes, Do you need work? And I'm just like, Oh my god, I'm like, I'm dying for work. And she goes, I have a job coming up, and I think you're gonna do pretty good. And it was a commercial with Sam Waterston, uh TD Ameritrade, and now it's something else because they all banks change.

9:38 And Gary McKendry, I think he's an Oscar-winning director, was the director on that job, and that job took me to now, where we're sitting here talking. Yeah, it never ended. Yeah, never ended.

9:50 So you literally kind of fell in.

9:52 I completely fell into it. I even though I did study film, I studied film because I wanted to write and direct and create movies. I wanted to create, I wanted to be like Tarantino, you know? So who so who do you think uh one of your mentors was in the very beginning? Well, her for sure. And and uh her jobs, she can hear this, she would know because she was there, were brutal, you know, and then also on that first job, I was in the office with her calling uh vendors and getting totals, so that's coordinating a little bit.

10:28 Not I'm I'm not gonna act like I was coordinating the job, but I was getting totals. I got in the truck and did pickups, took out stuff from the truck and decorated and dressed with the the crew. I built props, I did construction. I even went on like you guys know what being an onset is. So there's an onset representative for the art department who stays with camera, makes sure the frame looks good, and works with the director or DP to make you know to work things out on the set.

11:00 So I go on to set and the onset dresser goes, I gotta go to the bathroom. You need a cut, can you cover me? And I'm like, Yeah, absolutely. And I'm standing there and I'm looking at the I didn't know what I was doing, but I was looking at the frame and I was making sure. And then the director's like, get rid of a chair, move this thing over, and I did it.

11:15 And then the designer who knew it was my first job, comes in and goes, What are you doing here? And I'm like, I'm just covering so and so. He went to the bathroom, he goes, he leaves and uh and he and then he comes back with the onset and he goes, You don't leave him here. He this is his first job. He doesn't know what the fuck he's doing.

11:34 And I was like, sorry, and then I didn't know I did something wrong, I just did what I was told. Did you do something wrong? No, but he was he, I don't, I he and I can even say it like I mean I won't say his name, but I I don't think he liked me. Uh, as well as I mean, I even worked with him later. I just don't I don't think that guy likes me.

11:51 But he also walked in, I was stapling a bunch of papers to a cork board to make like an officey thing. And I said, Hey, look, I'm production designing. And he walked in when I said that and he goes, You're stapling papers to a wall. Like, but I was joking. I didn't really think I was designing, you know.

12:07 Just a nice guy. So yeah, but he didn't, he just didn't.

12:11 Now before we continue, because you just touched on that. Will you kind of go through the different jobs in art department? Because everybody knows art department, but do they know it? Well, department, but we all think you guys are all the same. Oh, you do this thing.

12:23 So yeah, because uh side note, I didn't I didn't know what everybody did. I mean, you learn stuff in school a little, but I remember watching a movie and seeing I would look at the credits and see things and it'd be like, what the hell's a grip? You know, and then I you learn, you know, it's like you know, uh, but uh art, I was gonna make a joke.

12:42 Well no, no, no.

12:45 We got more scheduled. I found out grips don't know their own mother. No, but the art department, uh, there's I mean, I could start from the top. Let's do that. The production designer. So they're like they're the head coach. You know, they come in, they work with the director, they have visions, and they understand different styles, like from like, you know, mid-century modern, and they know how to stay within, you know, keep things uh together, like and uh to make sure that everything matches the vibe or the aesthetic to whatever they're doing.

13:17 Yeah, and then you have uh in in at TV and commercials, it's different, but they'll have like an art director a lot of times that does like the graphics and like the the mock-ups. And then uh you have a decorator, and now that's kind of the somebody who actually will have a shopper go out, send pictures because there'll be references of what the director wants and the designer wants, because the designer will you know present things too.

13:43 They work hand in hand. Everything's very symbiotic, you know? And and then the decorator will present options to decorate an empty room and make it and then make it look like something. And they'll have shoppers go to boutiques or vendors like WB Universal, where they have all the furniture there, and they and they will shop this thing out.

14:06 So then you have the decorator, shoppers, you know. Uh you have a lead man who is the foreman of the of the of the set dressers, you know, and he will uh have a gang boss that crews up, you know, that calls a bunch of people, and now you have all your decorators who go out, collect everything, bring it to set, and put it, they start roughing it in, and then the decorator will make it look beautiful so that when you walk into the set, you're like, oh my God, this is a beautiful set, you know.

14:38 And then uh you have RPAs and and commercials, not as much in TV or movies, because it's like you get grieved because you're not you gotta be in the union, you know. But a lot of times they're in the office with the off production, but on the set, it's mostly just set dressers, you know. So that's kind of like the pecking order of things, you know.

14:57 And also, so when a decorator, this is something I've learned as an onset. When a decorator makes their set, they really tweak a lot. And as an onset dresser, I'm like, why are we doing all this? We're gonna change it as soon as the camera comes because the frame is so different than your eyes. And then, but then I've learned it has to look amazing when everybody shows up.

15:22 It has to be beautiful so that you walk in and you you feel like you're there, you feel like you're in that world or whatever. Then you set the camera up and you tighten everything to the frame so that it doesn't feel empty on a wall, or that you feel some foreground. It makes you feel like you're in the room.

15:38 You have to, that's the thing you're trying to accomplish in art department, you know. Make it feel like it doesn't take you out of a movie or something, you know. So that's the job, essentially.

15:50 So you're right there with the director, you're right there with the cameraman, you're right there with the one.

15:54 Yeah. It's and then and I and I'll say it, it's like you're dealing with personalities. Yeah, yeah. Of course. It's it's and it it can be tiring, and not everybody likes to do that. It's like a lot of people don't want to have to constantly be focusing and and interacting. And and so it's like, but I don't mind.

16:11 Like I'm gregarious, and it's like, and I understand it's not personal, like if they say stuff, and you know now let me ask you this, because one of the one of the things that always gets what slows production down is you know, you're shooting uh uh uh uh you know somebody sitting in a chair and behind the chair is a you know a shelf with the picture frame.

16:30 Oh yeah.

16:31 The glare? Yeah. Why why do they always put the glass in the frame when everybody knows we take the glass out? I mean, most of the time, no, go ahead.

16:42 That must be your well, so it's it's complicated. It's posy. It's funny because sometimes the the glass aesthetic, as long as one of these stupid lights isn't hitting it, it's the nice aesthetic. It create there's a nice realism. It's actually can be good for camera. Now, there's rental houses that have cleared images.

17:06 You can't just put any picture onto a background of a of a set because an artist owns the rights to all of the either a photographer, a painter, or whatever owns the rights of that. So you have to have something that's cleared through legal. And there are prop houses that rent legal like prints and and art.

17:28 So you go there. They have added anti-glare glass to the shit that is not anti-glare. And then they also close the whole back off so that you have to cut it, and when you do that, it's L and D. L and D means loss and damage. It costs money to take the stupid glass out. And it but we do it anyways because it serves the shot.

17:54 And but it's a really annoying, you know. It's like, so why didn't you take it out? Because it's like it's anti-glare. If we can get away with it, cool. If it becomes an emergency, rip it out in a hurry. So that's why it becomes an issue. Now, smaller pictures that you rent from uh, you know, or that you buy from Target or whatever, you know, there's no excuse there.

18:14 We they should take the picture. I, as an onset dresser, try to if I'm not, if I am preparing a set, I always do everything to not screw the onset because I am an onset.

18:24 Now it seems like for your job, because there's one of you, it seems like most of the time you need two or three of you. That's true. Because you know, somebody's calling, hey, take the glass out of the picture frame, the other person.

18:35 You've got couch, you've got table.

18:37 Yeah, you know, first AC is hey, can we move this table? You know, like everybody's calling you at the same time at once.

18:43 I have a couple nightmare stories from that. So, but yes, I feel that you should always have two, no matter what. Because every department has five, four, five, six guys, and they're all running around. And you don't always need those four or five or six guys, but and I don't always need another hand, but when but it there are times when you like a hundred percent you do.

19:06 And I asked about this earlier. COVID actually kind of changed the game for that. There's actually a lot more shows now that do have a second, and it makes things wonderful. But the um the the the problem, like uh, I just lost my train of thought. No, no, get it back. I know, so sorry. Are you gonna edit that?

19:29 It's oh so I'm remembering a story when I was on Blackish, and I'm I'm willing to to talk some shit. We were shooting in a mansion. Like I would I call it a mansion, anything that it's like I can't afford. Yeah. No, it's like a two-story, really nice house. They do that in film because technically you have all this space, right?

19:48 And then you're also filming somewhat affluent people on these shows, I guess. But we were shooting in a mansion, and the first set of I I said, hey, this is a big place, and there's a lot of stuff, and there's two floors. I need another guy. And they said, Oh no, no, no. No, you don't need another guy.

20:05 It's number one's gonna be easy. There'll be a Greensman there. But the yeah, the Greensman will help. And actually, when I talked to the former president of 44, Dutch Merrick, he said when he was president, I always talked about we should get another guy. And he's just like, and I said, also, onset dressers should be recognized on the time card as an onset dresser.

20:27 It's it's not. What is it on that? It's just you technically, well, no, it's set dresser, but you there's guys who were saying don't put set dresser, you should get a bump in your pay. You should put the code for gang boss, which is better than a set dresser. It's like a more rate, not better. They're better guys.

20:47 No, but they they they get a bump. You know, they're more of a author authority figure, I guess. But, anyways, so like I was talking to him about that, and it's like, well, you're it's not a designation because you were third broom, and then that's an old term. So onset dressers were never a thing, it was prop masters, propists, and that was an extra guy to just move the furniture around.

21:09 So they kind of fell under the category of another prop assist, but then it changed. Prop people only deal with what is on camera. I'm gonna move that, so it's like your continuity is gonna be screwed. But like if I'm doing this, this is a prop. Props deal with that. I deal with moving the table out of the way, so it's like you know, it's like anything in your hands.

21:29 So I was telling him, it's like, but it's different now. I move couches, I move wall art, I move lamps, and you guys are slammed. I don't even get you guys, and he's like, Yeah, well, but you know, tough titties. So so it's like but uh anyway, so I'm moving in this house, I'm I'm going into this mansion, and I'm asking for extra guys, and they say the greens guy will help you, or props.

21:52 They threw that at me. The first shot is the kids in the there's the kids in this room, and it might have even it might have even actually been. Been that spit. It was a pilot for this political show with Felicity Huffman. It was that and um what was that called? Yeah, yeah. Yeah, we were yeah, I yeah, so we so yeah, but it was the blackish crew sorta, a different DP.

22:15 Uh, you weren't on that? Were you guys on that? I think it was the same DP. Yeah, it was love. It was there. So, anyways, we're in this. We're oh, it was Rob because and Skip was there because there's something funny that happened here too. So I'm in the upstairs of this man, this nice house, and we're in the very tiny room that has tons of set dressing, massive amounts of set dressing, and a very tiny door to get out.

22:39 There's a hallway and there's a bunch of rooms. And when I I was like, okay, I can if I need to move stuff for camera, because check this out. Now you guys are gonna learn what an onset dresser does. What happens is I have to you go in the room, you see the room it's dressed, then you got it, then the camera goes in.

22:54 It's like, okay, we're gonna start here. Get everything out of the way of the camera for uh for lights and camera. Move everything out. Yeah, take the bed out, take the dressing out. So it's like it's either gonna be one side or the other, and it's an entire room, and I'm alone, and that's stupid. So I'm like, but I'm gonna hurry up and get everything out through this tour, and I'm gonna have other rooms to go into.

23:16 I'll have a place to stage. So we're in there, they run this little scene, which is literally like a word, like, let's go get them. So that the scene is like some super small scene, and they go, We're lighting, and that and it's like, Bobby, that entire back wall has to go now. And I go grab this thing and I go out the door, and now people are coming in with speed rail and ladders, and they're trying to rig lights, and it's like, I can't get out, and you can't get in.

23:43 And I finally get out, and I go into the first room, I literally open the door, and it's Felicity Huffman, and the other guy, I can't remember his name, but they're in there. The actors are in there in their robes, there's some makeup thing going on. They look at me, and I'm like, I can't go in there.

23:58 So then I go in the other room, and that's Video Village. I can't put shit in there. So I go in the other room, all the grip and lighting shit are in the other room. I have to go down the stairs. Yeah, you hang with camera. No, somewhere. Yeah, no, there was nowhere in the hallway to put anything. And then because we were downstairs.

24:14 So I'm running and I'm going downstairs with like a big, like uh, I don't even remember what it was, like a treasure chest looking thing. I'm going down the stairs, and then I get a call. Bobby, you gotta come up here. They need more stuff moved. No shit. Yeah, exactly. So I said now the Greensman, yo, Greensman, I need a I need help.

24:34 He goes, man, I'm in tree world, dog. I'm getting killed. I gotta put shit in front of this second story window that that we see out of, and they want trees, and there's nothing tall enough. Or I gotta move. So he's getting killed by trees. Now I gotta run up and down the stairs, taking one thing at a time.

24:49 So now I go up the stairs, back in the room. Rob and Skip, they're standing on the circle carpet that they want gone. They go, Bobby, move the carpet. And I and then they continue their conversation. And I'm like, and then they're like, why isn't the carpet gone? I'm like, you're standing on it. Right.

25:06 I was like, get off the carpet. So they get off the carpet, and then I get it out. Something funny that happened was they set up their camera, and Skip put a light right in front of the camera to light them. And he goes, Is this good? And then I was like, No, it's like literally in front of the camera.

25:24 Yeah. But so the hardest part, again, I'm trying to get all this stuff while everybody's coming in and there's nowhere to put anything. And I had to run down the stairs. I should have had another guy. And it's just you, and it was just me. And dude, I went up those stairs. Oh, and then that's that it was a 13 or something hour day because it was a pilot.

25:43 So you have to get as much as you can in a day, and they're trying to figure out on camera the look of what they're trying to do, and because it's like that's important. You never really think of that. What's in your head, and then what happens when you start doing the camera and doesn't look like the way you think it is sometimes.

25:58 Well, that is very true because on our end of things, on that on that pilot, we had had a certain look for lenses and all this, and it was gonna be you know, shallow depth of field, blah, blah, blah. And then the first scene after that got rid of the lenses.

26:13 No, that was different. Oh, that was a different pilot. That was the one with the young people. That was at their house, but it was like oh, so then for that one, the same thing happened. Oh, scene one. Oh, we had the whole look, prepped the whole thing. I didn't know that happened on that one too. Yeah, because we were shot, was like, okay.

26:30 Why are we on Zooms? Like, we came into these lenses.

26:32 So that happened on a different pilot with a different DP, also. Oh, but I don't remember what that one was called. It was like a millennials or something like that. And then the they they were in a bar and they were trying to shoot handheld, and then we shot like for three hours, and they and then Kenya was like, it doesn't look good.

26:49 Well, that's the beauty of you know, you have to be fluid and you have to be able to make adjustments. You you know, like you know, you gotta be able to change it up for the person who's your author.

27:01 Sorry, I hope I didn't you triggered me when you talk about that having only one guy on set.

27:06 No, no, no. I mean we need to hear that. Yeah, no, I could panic.

27:10 I just remember helping you a lot with you know with the furniture dolly and lifting, moving things.

27:14 Yeah, everybody would pitch it. Everybody helped it. You know why I made you do it? Because you asked me to get shit out of your way.

27:20 No, I'd not be. No, I I didn't care about stuff being in his way. It wasn't about my way.

27:25 Yeah, I know, right? It's not sticks. No, you were always super helpful and super is extremely nice. I appreciate you.

27:31 Did you do you remember seeing him on set? Rarely, huh? Pablo? On set? Let me remember. The first few years? No, it was hiding in the other bedroom. No, let's talk about the first time I met you.

27:40 Okay, fine. Bring it, bring it up. Because I actually don't remember. Now, is this a nice story?

27:45 This is a this is a nice story. Yes, yeah, yeah, yeah. Third season of Blackish. That's when I started. Third season. Third season of Blackish. And we were at the ice cream truck. All right. That's where I'm always.

27:55 Why was there an ice cream truck there?

27:57 Yeah, why it was the summertime, obviously. You know, it was this it was this somebody. Because we're spoiled. Somebody bought the ice cream truck for the crew. There's always an ice cream track. There's never a light truck. And if people there's never an Ozempic truck. And if people know the utility or the loader, most of the time gets the order for the whole camera.

28:16 And I know that because I'm experienced. I do remember. So, and you know, most of the time you got to take an order, you gotta go get a few, you know, ice creams for everybody. And I remember I I was in line taking up the whole line, like I always used to do, and you were standing right behind me. Yeah, I finished ordering, and you said, Do you do you need to get any more?

28:37 After your 20 orders and I ordered like 20.

28:39 I'm like, you're not ordering for your whole department, are you? Are you kidding me?

28:43 Yeah, and you're a guy of one.

28:44 Yeah. I'm a guy of one. And then I remember by the way, who is this guy? That is a perfect metaphor for for being on set. Yeah. Everybody's got 50 guys, and then there I am, just all alone, just waiting for ice cream. You order just one ice cream. Oh, by the way, then you order the ice cream and you're like, Bobby, and I can't even get my stupid ice cream.

29:02 Right, because he's taking the whole, I'm taking the holes in your phone. And then I see Rob. Like, no, I'm just kidding. Just enjoy your cone. You know, I'm just just I don't need the cone. It's not good for my my whatever the glucose. But but that's how we started. We've done a lot of projects together.

29:19 Mean you, Bobby. I mean you well, it was not not like TV. That was the only show we worked on. Yeah. But he's lying. No, no, yeah. No embellish. No, but no, no. You have done a lot of projects. But uh, but Pablo utilized my art department's uh talents talents for his music videos, and then also uh some music talent.

29:43 I wouldn't call it talent, my music abilities for some of his beats and and stuff like that.

29:47 So yeah, excellent.

29:49 Speaking of beats, because you do music. I mean beats, dog.

29:53 What I mean, whatever. Don't you also do beats on a kids' show? Kids.

29:58 Oh, are we come on? Have you good night? Oh, yeah, that's right. Are you gonna have him on him on your show? Yeah, we should. Yeah. Yeah. So tell us how to talk to us about Roger. Roger was Anthony Anderson stand-in. We love Roger. And and he and he has a kid, he has a kid's uh show. That's kind of like a Miss Rachel type, but he's like uh big buddy Roger, and he does like alphabet stuff, number stuff.

30:24 And um, he came up to me when I was on set when he was Anthony Anderson stand-in, and he was just like, I feel like he was asking me something about like trumpets or something about because he heard I did music or something, and I was like, Do you need music for something? I was like, Why don't you just come over?

30:39 And he's and he had ideas for stuff, and he would hum things or and and and so yeah, I've been making music for Roger since I would say 2016, off and on, you know. Yeah, he uh and yeah, he's he I think he's he's uh traveling, he's like touring like the country, yeah, different schools. Yes, what's what's his show called?

31:02 Off the top of my head, I forget. I forget what his show is called. I just thought it was Big Buddy Roger. That's what it is. That's yeah, it's like it's like it's I'm not I'm not in the demographic. No, but it is a great kid's show and he has his own like shoeline. Yeah, no, he has a little shoe. He has a flashy little and actually he called me because I need to make a song about a bully, like bullying, and then he also uh there's stuff I can't talk about, but he's trying to work out numbers for because he wants to go pitch them to like streamers and stuff.

31:35 You want to do more of that?

31:36 Is I mean, is yeah, you know, this is something that affects both film and music. I I mean I love making music for people. I'm currently I got uh trying to work with this guy who I met at a party through Benny Alvarado. Uh shout out to uh Bert Rentals, right? That's his great name. So he had a Halloween party, and I met this dude who was in this the most awesome bear costume.

32:02 It was like this bear in a suit. And I was like, What is this? And he goes, Oh, it's a character for like a short film I'm making. And I was like, Do you need music? And he goes, Yeah, I do. And so it's like he just reached out again, he's a grip, and uh I I would like to work on that. So AI is decimated like that business, music and composition.

32:23 People just make music on Suno for their projects because entertainment itself, like either whether it be music or film, it uh nowadays it's like harder, it's hard to monetize and actually make your money back from the investments that people put in, especially indie people. You go to like a film festival, you I think you pay.

32:43 Do you pay to get on that?

32:45 Yeah, yeah, you gotta pay.

32:45 Yeah, you gotta pay. See, that's what we need to do. Start film festivals. That's where the money is at, you know?

32:52 There's an idea.

32:53 Yeah. So, but yeah, you basically in the past you'd pay a bunch of money for a composer or for a score, and then the composer would also get rights to the music and they'd have to do a deal. And a lot of times the deal would be like you get all your rights because there's no money, or you get some money and you get rights, and you could make some money, but uh like a thousand dollars or more, sometimes two thousand, right?

33:18 That's a lot of money. Some short films don't make any of that money back. So why would you do that when you can make a shitty thing on Suno? And that's what people are willing. People are well willing to do that. And I I I don't know. I don't like it, I don't think, but it's just the way the business is.

33:33 It's like you're in a time crunch, you can't afford things, so it's like now everything is just AI, and it happens in every aspect. Uh, music and now shots. Right. Production. They're doing it with drone photography. You don't need me anymore, Pablo. And you don't need my drone photography. That's another thing I said because I got a drone for music video stuff, and you don't there's a thing, I I don't know, it might even be on Google, Gemini, where you can put your coordinates on the map and it will create drone shots for you.

34:04 And now that's another stream that's gone.

34:07 Right. And that that's just right now. Imagine two years from now, the progression of AI.

34:13 So well, I mean, like I was gonna say, like whether if it was stock footage or stock music, yeah, you still had to pay for it. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

34:20 So now it's like really cheap, but now it's and they don't even want to pay for that. And that you could actually make a little money doing stock footage. Yeah. It be a pennies, but it's still if that million guys use your stock footage, that's a little bit of change that you could get. It's over now, sort of.

34:33 And dude, speaking of funny the drone photography, I did drone photography on one of your things. Uh no, it was actually Raul. It was Raul. So we we did a a Jeep spec thing because we're always trying to do some specs so that we could become like big time. Making, yeah. Yeah. So he calls me and he goes on a Tuesday night, and I was like, I had to tell my wife, like, dude on Tuesday at 8 p.m.

34:53 I'm gonna go do this car thing with uh and we're gonna be gone all night because he, you know, doing him a favor and he needs drone work. So I'm doing this drone shit at night, which that's not you can't do that. I don't know if you know that. You're not supposed to do drone stuff at night unless you get like permits.

35:09 It's like a thing. What was this at? Well, there was some place in the valley we started, and then we went to downtown. This is the reason why this is funny is like, dude, so we he said on a Tuesday night we're gonna do this, and then we're gonna end up at the 6th Street Bridge. Bobby, that wasn't Raul, that was me.

35:23 That was you. Oh, you did the Jeep thing. Okay, I did that Lexus.

35:27 Same nationality.

35:28 Well, he did what was the thing for? It was Lexus. It was Lexus. Okay, yeah. So so we go out to the valley, and then we we did a couple drone things, and then uh, and then we go to downtown, it's like a Tuesday night, and and we're like, there's gonna be nobody on the Sixth Street Bridge. It was packed people with like there was like a family with a baby on there at one in the morning just hanging out.

35:51 There was like cars everywhere. There was like everybody just parks and hangs out at 1 a.m. on this stupid bridge. Yeah, and we said, fuck it, we'll just do it. We'll just shoot this thing. It doesn't, it's not gonna look the way we want it to. Actually, came out great. Okay, yeah, it did. But the the fact that it was a Tuesday.

36:05 Did you get paid on that? Probably not. Probably not. No, that was a freebie. Yeah, but I just did it because it's cool. Shot I could I don't think Pablo would be mad if I used some of that. Of course not for my own, which I haven't, but I mean, well, you didn't even remember what was Pablo.

36:18 I wasn't no, I don't. Yeah, well, that's because I that's a good impression because like obviously you weren't a dick that night.

36:24 No, you would have remembered that. We we said everybody. Are you Latino? Are you a Latino fan? Yeah, yeah, guys. You're Mexican, you're Mexican, Raul's Mexican, got all these guys all asking me for free shit. Uh it all is a it's all a blur.

36:39 Uh for the record, Bolivia. You're Bolivian, yeah. Mexican adjacent. Okay, sorry. Yeah, that's you're better.

36:46 Jesus Christ, Bobby.

36:49 Well, he's Ecuadorian, too.

36:52 Okay, the central.

36:53 Yeah.

36:53 No, South. Is that South? South America. Equator. So you're both South American. Yeah. Cool. I've never been down there. I want to go. It's it's have you been? Yeah.

37:01 You know, Tony's just like a little part.

37:03 Okay. This is the racist part of the podcast. This is the racist part of the podcast. All right. Let's get into it. No, let's get into it.

37:12 All right. Uh, what is it like uh working with some, I would say, difficult directors or DPs? Because you have to have a great attitude, otherwise there's well, there's tricks you learn.

37:24 I mean, well, I don't should I tell them here? Because that'll that'll blow my cover.

37:28 Well, no, I mean uh no, okay.

37:29 I'll give you an example. And I'll even, I mean, I don't even mind saying some names because it this is all hearsay.

37:34 Well, we want to keep you employed.

37:36 No, this isn't gonna be a bad thing. I've been doing a lot of Home Depot commercials. One of the, and I've this is gonna make me look like a jerk. There's a DP from the monkey movie that came out. There was like a horror film. Monkey Shines. No, is it Monkey Shines? It was just a monkey or something like that.

37:50 It was like a horror film. Yeah. So we're doing this Home Depot, not a horror film, with this DP who just did that. And I'm gonna say this, I was like, you know, he was in the very confident. You know, he's a badass. You know, he just did this movie, and it looked good. It's a good looking movie. So we're doing this Home Depot commercial, and he's we're pointing the camera in this aisle where there's a bunch of we always do garden stuff, but we're not in the garden, we're adjacent, and there's still a lot of garden stuff.

38:17 This is I don't know if this is interesting, but he so the garden stuff is held up with cinder blocks, a big metal grate, tons of plants. And he goes, We want you to move all that five foot forward. And and I was like, that's a big deal. And it also was gonna block an alley where customers, because we shoot those commercials while they're open.

38:38 So it's like now we're blocking this whole aisle. So I'm like, this is a bit above my pay grade. So I said, I need whole hands on deck. Like, so I called the designer, I was like, Hey, we need you here. And the designer's Aaron, Aaron Barud. So he comes in and he goes, Um, what is that gonna buy us if we move all this stuff forward?

38:59 And then there's a discussion that I'm not a part of, and then he comes over to me, goes, You see what he did? He needed more time to light. And he wanted to make us do like two hours of work so that he would have time to light. It's like one of the oldest tricks in the world. That is, yeah. Yeah, yeah.

39:15 So it's like you you have to be able to kind of recognize that, but also you you can't just be, you can't kind of call it out. You just say, like, if this doesn't buy you anything, like we're not gonna do it. It's also gonna block an aisle, they're not gonna let it fly. It's like, but you have to kind of say no.

39:32 Uh maybe the boss has to say no. So, how do I deal with stuff like that? It's just like you have to know when to say no, because young people will actually, they're scared to say no, and they'll say yes to everything, even if it's impossible. And that actually makes your department look bad if you if you don't know the protocol.

39:52 Sometimes you have to say, It's gonna take me calling three or four more guys, and I need the higher ups here, and they're not here. Uh I don't think we can do this, you know.

40:02 So that's that's you knowing your job, I think.

40:04 Yeah, to learn how to, yeah. And then you have to know, but you and you have to know if you you can't say no all the time. Yeah, you have to actually know when it's like, and that's where the experience comes in. Like, you know, but uh how do you deal with hard people? Again, like I said, you don't take it personally because everybody's just trying to do their job.

40:22 And actually, DPs, let's say, and camera people in general, you know, they are locked in to their world. And so they're trying to do the best thing they can for their department. So whenever they're trying to throw things on me to do, I just I'm part of now I'm part of your department. I'm working with you, so I just have to try to work with you, and uh, and nothing's personal.

40:43 Yeah, yeah. I was gonna say, so obviously you can see Tony, Bobby's well loved, you know. We all love Bobby, you know, he's most like I honestly. Yeah, he is until he's not around. We gotta move the furniture ourselves. But so I wanted to ask you, because you have been around for quite a long time now, Bobby.

41:02 You got any good stories on the shows that you've been on with, let's say, per actors, because everybody loves you, and you've come, you know, you're very well loved, and people always end up knowing your name.

41:13 So you're saying when I do I have good stories uh in regards to what uh exactly again?

41:17 Any of the shows like on blackish or other shows. Other shows, yeah, of course. Stories, you know, funny stories.

41:24 Yeah.

41:25 We'll start with funny, but then also we'll go to disaster.

41:27 Or disaster. I don't know if I want to start. I I think I just with the first thing that comes to mind. I mean, there's so many funny stories, it's like hard, yeah, hard to pick to pick one. Just go with the first one. I know. I'm going, I'm getting there. I'm getting there. Because I want to talk about I want to no, I want to talk about more disasters.

41:48 There's great there's way more disasters than good stories. Or funny stories, I mean like us. Yeah, exactly. You know, because I actually uh I talked about this with a friend of mine. I have a podcast too, because everybody's got a podcast. But we're gonna talk about that too. Yeah, later, yeah. Gosh, this I'm just trying to think uh what's the bet like one of the best ones that I could talk of.

42:11 Yeah, I have a good one. This might buy you a little topic. Okay, cool. This involves your department. Okay. One of the very first jobs I ever had driving a truck, camera truck, was on a Disney commercial. I didn't do the pickups. I was only there day one to pick the truck up at this location and drive it to Disneyland.

42:28 I get to the location early morning. There's three trucks a five-ton, uh budget truck and a galpin truck. Knock on the door, guy gives me the galpin truck. Okay, great. I take the galpin truck, drive it all the way to Disney. It's gonna be the first shot of the morning. Everybody walking through Main Street that are from the hotel, they get early access to the hotel.

42:49 I parked the truck, everything's great. I opened the back doors for the camera truck, and there's these bushes in the truck. And I'm like, oh, they must have stuck some props in the truck, you know. Okay, I'll move the bushes out of the way, I'll get to the cases, make it ready for the guys, and the whole freaking truck.

43:05 Yeah, they gave me a prop truck or Green's truck. Yeah, so we didn't get that shot. You showed up with bushes, and then every like Yeah, I didn't get fired or have to walk home, but everyone was like, It's your fault. And I'm like, How is it my fault? They gave me the key. I had never done this before.

43:24 Okay.

43:24 No, I I I something just popped in my head. Okay, there you go. See, yeah, no, it uh um there's just so many, but one uh job as an RPA I did before I was union. I did an all-nighter from till six or something in the morning, and then I did returns on a different job. And I worked 24 hours straight, and then I was completely devastated, dead.

43:51 And I was at the I had to go to the market to get food because I had no food at the house and I had to make something. I didn't feel like I actually really didn't want to go to fast food. I was trying to sort of be healthy. So I just wanted a quick something that I could make at home and then go to bed.

44:04 I'm at the market and I get a phone call. It's my it's James Costello. He's he got me in the bit, he got me in the union. This is pre-unions, though. He goes, Bobby, how are you living? And I was like, not good. He goes, why not? He goes, I just work 24 hours straight and I'm at the store. I'm dying.

44:21 I'm getting some food and I'm about to go to bed. He goes, What would it take to get you out to Disney Ranch right now? I was like, nothing. There's nothing in the world that can get me to Disney Ranch. Sorry, you're gonna have to find somebody else. I hang up. 30 seconds later, he calls back. He goes, Are you sure?

44:36 And I was like, Yeah, I'm fucking sure. I'm worthless. I've been up for 24 hours. He goes, Okay, cool. Calls me back another one minute later. I was like, dude, you must be dying. He goes, he goes, I said, I if I come, I said I have to go shower first. I'm gonna get there when I get there. I went home, I showered.

44:54 I drive, I'm in Atwater. I drove to Disney Ranch. Do you know where Disney Ranch is? It's in Santa Clarita. So I'm driving and I'm driving this 83 Cadillac El Dorado, old beat up with like no top, all messed up. That was like this car I was driving at the time. I get to Disney Ranch. The first thing that happens is I park where I'm supposed to park.

45:13 I get out, I'm walking, I feel shit all over my legs. I got all those spurs in my legs. I'm walking through these weeds. So they're all over my socks. And then I'm like, motherfucker, and we're getting these things out. I look up, there's a barn. The doors are open. James comes out, his face is covered in blood, completely drenched in blood.

45:34 The first thing that goes through my mind is, I can get back in my car. I can leave and I can call him to say I broke down. And then I was like, God, he needs me. And he's done a lot for me. So I go up to him, and there's a he pushed a car, this classic car out of the garage by himself. And uh I walk up to him, he's drenched, and he goes, I say, Hi, James, how are you?

45:57 Just like that. And he goes, How are you living? And blood flies everywhere. And I'm like, Do you know that you're bleeding? And he goes, Oh, okay. Is it noticeable? I'm like, a little bit. And he goes, I just cut my head on a lag bolt that was in the ceiling. Because they were hanging tons of, sorry if I'm blocking.

46:16 They were hanging tons of chandeliers, the biggest chandeliers that they had. They got every chandelier in town hanging in this uh barn. It's a Mariah Carey music video. So I get there and the first so we're dealing with him, and I'm dealing with like I will be pulling, me and another guy are pulling the chandelier up, and somebody up top is rigging them.

46:37 And now we're uh we'll be standing there, and then the the director will be like looking at the monitor. He goes, That chandelier right there has got to go over six inches. And so we were doing this for hours. And the reason we were doing that is because we were waiting for Mariah Carey.

46:51 Yeah, that's not a short that's not a short day.

46:53 No, we're waiting. So it's like I get there at 10 o'clock, it's like four in the morning, and we're still fuck fucking around with shit. And I told James, I was like, when I'm done today, I have to go home and go to bed because I'm on hour 30 something or 40 something. And I said, You're not gonna make me do returns or anything.

47:10 He goes, Yeah, yeah, whatever you say. And then Mariah Carey comes out at 6 30 in the morning, and they get her shot in five minutes, and then she's gone, and they're like, That's a wrap. Now I'm helping take everything down, and I'm loading this truck. And he goes, You're gonna have to do returns.

47:28 What's wrong? What?

47:30 I said, I'm gonna crash. Yeah. I said, and all this up for 48 hours. I was up for 40 something, yeah. Like at least I don't even know if it's 48, but yeah, I was basically one job to the next job to the next job, and I didn't get home until noon. And then I I was slept for like a two days. It's like totally killed.

47:49 And my that's dangerous. It was horrible. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, that was like and so many jobs were like that back in the day.

47:57 Oh, yeah. I remember going back to back. Yeah. Not even the hard part was remembering after the second job where the car was from the parking lot.

48:04 Well, that's actually I don't remember how my car got back. Like, I think I had to follow somebody in the truck, and then I did the returns because they were probably double dipping on something else. Of course. Probably. That's my assumption. But yeah, that's like the the one of the crazier stories, and I have like 50 million of them.

48:22 But um funny stories? Me, Art Jimmy Randall went to the Morrison, and Jimmy had just got his daughter a car, and it was a bug. It was like a it was like the 2012 issue, like a red bug, and they came with a little plastic flower in the cup holder. Yeah, and it still had that, and he was driving it to see if it was like okay, and he drove it, and him and Art got he they pulled in and they got out of the car, and these girls just started laughing at them.

48:51 It's a nice couple because it's it's like this girl, these girls, the girl said, You guys are not what I thought was about to get out of that car.

49:03 No, Bobby, tell us about what was your favorite job. You have one favorite job. Oh, that was like just okay.

49:11 Blackish is up there. Okay, because blackish was super close to my house. That's the only reason. No, no, but it was like I didn't feel it's a lot of stress on that job. It was just super nice, and uh, I wanted that job to take me till when I was 80. Uh, I like that job. I recently worked on Stuart Fails to Save the Universe.

49:29 It's a Chuck Laurie spin-off of Big Bang, and it's a single chim. And I've really enjoyed that show. The crew is incredible. The the decorator Miley Cassar is absolutely bonker. She is so good at her job. And Val, the designer, he's uh he's I think always in Sonny in Philadelphia as well. But he's he's an all of the crew and everybody's incredible.

49:51 What was Chuck like? He's pro, yeah. 100% pro and uh kind of to you know to himself a little bit, you know. Yeah, like but you know what I found out uh while I was working on that show, he wrote the theme song to Ninja Turtles.

50:05 Yeah, did he play guitar?

50:06 He didn't play guitar when we were there, and there was chatter, like he's a big time. Yeah, we were talking about doing uh playing live music at the rap party. It was uh Anthony Hardwick, but he's like a uh DP, but he plays guitar, and me and him like gelled like because we were talking about gear, and we we rehearsed at a him, me, him, Colin, the A cam, like uh he's a steady cam guy who also who plays drums, big rush fan.

50:34 Oh yeah, Colin's great.

50:35 Delaney the grip was like a drummer. So we rehearsed, like we and then they were like, We can't do this in front of real people. They were no, they were like, they weren't they we only had one rehearsal and was very close to the time, and it was just like next year, next year, you know. But they was so like they said if you do that, Chuck will probably come up and and jam with you guys because he likes playing.

50:57 So that but that was a that was an awesome show to work on, uh, a fun vibe. Another favorite show, just because of the little work I had to do, the laziness aspect was celebrity name game. I worked with uh uh oh no, uh Craig Ferguson. I was like, I forgot his name. Um I made the name tags on that, and I literally was three days ahead of the show, and I was like giving Grips guitar lessons like while the show was going on.

51:24 That was a really fun show. And actually, I don't know how much time. How much time do we have? Don't worry. Oh, because I don't I don't want to ramble too much, but on that show, this is almost like another horror story. James Costello, it's the same guy who got did the music video thing. He was the prop master on it.

51:42 When he couldn't do it, he would have me go on and do it. And the first day, like I had my own laptop and had Photoshop on it. They're like, you need to know how to use Photoshop. And he said it just like that. And I was just like, I know how to use Photoshop. It's like, do I need to bring my own computer?

51:55 And he goes, There's a computer there, it's already set up, you'll be fine. You know, just show up. So I showed up, I didn't bring my computer, not even as an insurance. But the reason you had that was because if somebody's name was spelled wrong or they didn't like the way it looked, and it would have to be edited to be aesthetic.

52:12 And so, like, I would make these name tags, put them together, and on the very first day, about seventh hour in, the one of the producers comes in, it's like in a panic, it's like, the name, it's like it's wrong. It needs an apostrophe, and you need to do this now. Now, before I get to the me having to do this Photoshop thing, I tested everything that morning.

52:34 I did a name, I adjusted the name, uh, practiced, I printed it out, it worked. The moment they came, I opened Photoshop and then said, Your trial has expired. Oh no. And then I I said, I said, because they said this, we need a name. I was like, not a problem. We have a problem. Immediately. I was like, and I had to call James and I was like, James, uh, your trial expired.

53:04 He goes, No, it didn't. And I was like, it's it did. He goes, last night I paid for the subscription. And I was like, it's not working. Why didn't you test it this morning? I did. I tested it, I printed it, I had an evidence. You know, I was like, I did it. And then he he's like, Hold on, and now everybody's panicking.

53:22 They go to the art director whose name is Zaya Maurer. She's from The Voice, like, she's with our director on The Voice too, who I worked with. They asked her, she she does it. While this is happening, Craig Ferguson goes, Isn't this the guy's only fucking job? He's got one fucking job. I was like, it's my first day.

53:44 So this all going on, Zaya prints it out and she says, she comes over, she's like, What happened? I was like, dude, I tested it out, and then James calls me and he goes, It should be good now. He goes, Oh no, I paid for the creative cloud, I didn't pay for the Photoshop thing. Oh wow. From that point on, though, I brought my own computer.

54:02 I never use that stupid computer again. Yeah. Yeah. That that would be great show to work on, by the way. Except for that one moment.

54:11 Well, yeah, I guess if you get to play guitar while you're paid, you know.

54:14 Yeah, well, don't tell them that. No, I already said it. No, but I just bring a little acoustic and then I give this one dude lessons and then very quietly. But it was like, yeah, it was a very good environment. Low stress, you know.

54:24 Now, uh jobs. What's your preference? TV, movies, commercials, music videos don't really well.

54:32 It's it's a complicated question.

54:35 I like commercials for the money. There you go. But it's blood money. You are dead when you're done with these jobs. And the rentals are good. I like TV because you have more prep time. And now if you have another guy, they're just less stress. It seems like a less even in the stressful ones, they don't compare to commercials.

54:55 But I do feel that in my paycheck. If I'm on setting on a TV show as well, it's a little hard because you don't know when you're gonna get home. So your wife goes, Are you gonna be home for dinner? And I'm like, I don't know. The schedule says I am, but then the schedule changes, things change. Uh, I haven't worked on that many movies.

55:15 I worked on a movie called Wish I Was Here, Zach Braff. It was a Kickstarter thing that he did. Oh, right. And then I got my days on that, and I've day played on movies, but I don't know a lot of feature guys. So it's like deep down inside, I like movies. I always wanted to work on movies. So it's like, but yeah, I just don't know anybody in that world.

55:36 So I like the vibe of TV, but I like the money of commercials. Yeah. The thing I also hate about commercials is it's very hard to plan my life. Like you feel guilty about taking trips. You feel like, oh, like my wife has all this stuff planned for the weekends, and then now this huge weekend job comes, and it's really hard to turn down.

55:57 But it's like I have chosen family over job a lot of times, and that's okay. You know, you just gotta say, yeah, you don't have to take every job, you know.

56:08 Well, like you said, it's easier to say yes.

56:11 It's so easy to say yeah. But I also that's just from uh the way my my mom raised me. She made me be like I was always like, Yeah, I gotta help you, mom. You know, it's like so I was raised to be kind of like, yeah, yeah, yeah. I want to make myself needed. Useful. Yeah. And it's like you know is great.

56:27 Actually, no is great. Is great.

56:30 Uh, what are some perks of your job?

56:33 I don't want to say because Okay, no, uh what are some perks? We get lots of cool shit, right? Because we have all the shit that everybody wants on the on the job. We have like uh like okay, on Stuart Fails. Now that this because I didn't work with him for a minute and I have a Alzheimer's brain. The uh product placement, yeah, it's totally football, dude.

56:57 I'm not gonna, but the product placement gentleman who is like wonderful, uh uh he printed me out this uh one of the figurines from the comic book store. So God, I almost don't want to know if I can say because if the episode hasn't aired yet, no, no, no. No, but no, I there's yeah, but there's an episode where everybody knows this already now because the show is out.

57:19 Every episode is a different universe, it's kind of like a sliders thing. There's a machine that takes them to different timelines, like not timelines, but like uh the multiverse almost. And one of the universes in the comic store, the characters are centaurs, and so all the comic characters like super, they had they've 3D printed Superman as a centaur, Batman as a centaur.

57:45 And even on the walls, they got real comics where Superman was a centaur, and that was like real, they didn't have to print that or make that, and so it's like those little Easter eggs are I thought they were super cool, but they had to do a lot of work to make a comic book store a centaur store. But one of the characters I thought was hysterical was Aquaman was a seahorse.

58:07 And I was like, oh my god, that is so clever. I was like, I love that. And he printed me one so I could take home. So we get little Nick. I have in you've been in my studio, maybe you haven't been since I've added I add little crap from all the jobs I work on, like all over the walls.

58:23unknown Who's that?

58:24 Yeah, who is that?

58:26 Oh, it's now uh now you touched upon something that was interesting. Uh talk about product placement.

58:34 Product placement? Okay, so when we were working on Stuart, they had a big deal with DC. They did have a few Marvel items that they got clearance for, but we were like asked specifically to feature heavily the DC stuff because uh Stuart Fails was a Warner Brothers show. So Warner Brothers is married to DC.

58:59 So that that that's technically product placement. It's featuring like you know, those superheroes and characters. Sometimes on shows as well, they'll make deals like with products. I guess they'll you know get some money to feature like your cokes, iPhones. Like almost every computer on a show is Apple now.

59:19 They just look sleek, so they look just better on camera. So it's like, yeah, you'll there's a department that works with legal that says, like, oh, but well, and it depends because actually on Blackish, we do things in the art department where it's like if you have a product that has a very featured name, on a commercial most of the time, you have to Greek it.

59:39 Greeking is a term where you have to cover a logo with tape or some things, but also make it not look like it's like, oh, you covered the logo. You have to artistically cover it to make it look like it's part of the whatever device. Yeah, it doesn't take you out of the thing, you know. A lot of times you'll see an Apple computer and there'll be a big circle on it.

59:59 And a lot of times they'll have something that has like a feature, like artistically, to make it look like a brand of a computer, but you don't want to see the Apple logo most of the time. On blackish, we didn't really have that problem. They said, uh, things could be featured. Sometimes, but if there's a scene where they're like saying this computer sucks, you the then Apple be like, you can't say that.

1:00:22 So you'd have to hide that. Or if a scene is really political, a brand might not want to be associated with the ideals or the the you know, the opinions being expressed in the scene. So it's just like if you know you're gonna be doing something political, you might want to hide logos because the brand doesn't want to be associated.

1:00:40 Yeah, it depends. So it's like it that's a complicated. Uh and then also, what is that show, Pen 15? Did you ever see that show? That show is all about nostalgia. And they would show pictures of Justin Timberlake and they showed like the AIM and the opening of the door, and like, you know, whenever you logged on, they would do all this stuff that I was like, oh my God, they had to get clearance for everything on here.

1:01:06 So there's a guy in the department that goes through legal and gets permission. Anything that you see on camera, make sure that you're not going to get sued. That's another thing. Yeah, product placement, but then you also have like what you you know, stuff that you don't get the clearance for.

1:01:22 Is that somebody work? Is that like for say the prop master's job to work with that other well?

1:01:28 It's could be prop master if it's something that he's using specifically. It could be us, and I'd have to talk to my higher-ups. But like on Steward, they had a guy who was a dedicated product guy that was the clearance guy because it was a massive show with they spent a lot of money. Okay, like an and like an here's an example.

1:01:48 They did have clearance for DC stuff and Star Trek stuff. And we had Jonathan Frakes, he was like uh Commander Riker and the Star Trek of Next Generation. And I'm a big fan of his. I've he's done a lot of stuff, and he was one of the best directors I've ever worked with. He was so funny and so sweet.

1:02:05 You know what he used to say too, whenever he cut and he liked something? Cut print. I hadn't heard that on a set. That was the first time I'd heard that because that's old school. It is old school because we're digit ever since I was in, it's always been digital.

1:02:18 Yeah, cut, circle, print. Yeah, move on.

1:02:20 But he didn't say circle when he liked something, he said cut print. If he didn't really like the take, he would just say cut. And that I thought that was like really cool. But we heard he was coming. I bought an action figure on eBay, and we were like, oh, we'll put it in and see if he notices. And but the and I let the clearance guy know, it's like that's a great idea, but I will clear it.

1:02:43 And he had to pay thousands to get that cleared. They were willing to, because it's funny and interesting. And they actually had a guy buying it and leaving. And when he walked in, Jonathan Frankes came and saw it immediately. And he goes, Oh, there's a funny story about these. During Comic-Con, they had all these bins, or no, they had all these the they had like Picard and Wharf, and they had like all the characters on a table that were like super special edition.

1:03:12 And he goes, and then mine was in a big bin with a thousand of them. We're like, take it like for free. He talked like he self-deprecated himself immediately, but he signed it for me too and took a picture of it. That's awesome. Yeah, I was like, and you we don't, you're not supposed to do that, right?

1:03:26 Yeah, but it's like, but sometimes I do, yeah. Yeah, well, as you should, especially if you're a big fan. Like I did with him, Biz Marquee, when he came on Blackish. Yeah, yeah, that was. I took a picture with him because we all did. I took a picture when Tyler, the creator, just happened to pop in just to see what was going on.

1:03:42 There's certain people that I'm like, I'm gonna picture with this guy. I think his name is Bill Fabergacke. He was like, he came on as a guest on Blackish. He was the voice of Patrick on SpongeBob, and he was also co on coach. He was Coach Dauber. I was like, and he was in Oh yes. He came on, yeah, and then he was also in the stand, like a Stephen King like miniseries in the 90s.

1:04:02 And I was just like, Can I get a picture with you, dude? I was like, there's every once in a while I'll like I'll be a little like fanboy, you know. And I don't give a crap because it's like, dude, you know, I came from kind of humble beginnings. I need to get my pictures with the stars that I grew up with or that are the rappers or musicians that I really like, you know.

1:04:19 Yeah, yeah. There's only a like, you know, because we all have to maintain professionalism and all that, but then you know, when there's I want my picture.

1:04:27 When I when I was on the voice, uh Leonard Skinnard came on, and the surviving members, like there's a two or three of them that survived a plane crash, and they were on the show. And I was just like, I got a picture with them, and also I asked them about their guitars because first of all, there's a Les Paul and it was sunburst, but there was a heart that like in the art of it.

1:04:46 And it's like, oh, these are called the Heart Burst, and I was like, That's pretty cool. And I had a whammy bar called a Bigsby on there, and I was like, Oh, I want to put a Bigsby on my Les Paul, but I don't want to drill holes into my guitar. And they were like, You don't have to, there's a new thing, there's a kit, and you can just buy and it goes in the existing holes.

1:05:01 So, like Leonard Skinner gave me like guitar advice. That's awesome. And I was like, that was like I love that, you know. So it's like, yeah, I'm gonna go up and be like, I want a picture. Of course, if it feels right. I didn't get one with Magic Johnson when he came on and I wanted it so bad, but it was COVID, and they were like, You got you can't talk to him, yeah.

1:05:19 Yeah, COVID must have been interesting in your department.

1:05:22 Yeah, we have masks and uh a mouth, the face mask and a shield, and it would always get fogged up. Oh yeah, it was a nightmare.

1:05:30 Oh but you had more space to work.

1:05:33 Yeah, we looked, did we? Now I'm gonna say now we I'm not gonna be political, but they had the safety people.

1:05:39 Oh yeah.

1:05:39 And dude, it's like, but they were in the way. They would say they're like, back up. I'm like, you back up. You're coming over to me and like you're in the way. Yeah, with the pool noodle.

1:05:48 Yeah.

1:05:49 The pool noodle, yeah.

1:05:50 So, Tony, I think we're coming to the end a little bit. We don't have to. Yeah, come on, Bobby. Yeah, you're on a crawl. You know, I think one of the questions I want to bring up, which I think I'm gonna modify. Because we've been asking the same question or two. No, one of the the the two will come down the line, but yeah, um what do you think?

1:06:09 You know, on your own, how's the how has the business changed? Since the strike? Yeah, since the strikes is just everything has changed, you know.

1:06:19 Well, before the strikes happened, it was like, I know they started and it was either the March or the July. It was March, because it was that's when they went to the table that January. It's like I had a talk with like my wife, and I was like, I think that I might need a new career in July. I was like, I knew they were gonna strike.

1:06:41 I just had a feeling just because of a guy. Like when before the strike happened, I saw a Sora video. That was like scary as hell, especially for commercials. I was like, they don't need us anymore. So I was like, they're not gonna need anybody but maybe one guy or two guys to bring a couch in, and then they'll build the whole world on a green screen in Sora.

1:07:02 And I was like, I said they're gonna strike because they're gonna try to fight the same guy thing. And she's just like, yeah, we start looking, and I was like, I started like putting resumes out. Nothing. I wasn't getting any hits for you, for you know strikes all for years. I hear nothing. I need I keep changing my resume too, and the work world is crazy.

1:07:26 So, how's my job changed? That year I was on a job when the strike started. I was on a promo, but the promo was for the voice or something. It was, I think it was the voice, and they were on a different contract. So the actors.