One on One: John Cabrera (Brian Fuller)

know my character? Have you not gotten to my character yet? Yes? We have. We have been introduced to you quitting, quitting the band that was you, that was your debut. You just okay, you just boiled yourself because you that what you just read. That doesn't happen for a while, I know. Um So. The first time we see John is in season three, episode four, Once Got Class, the Other One dies, the y E s He was part of the reboot

Year in Life. You were in thirty two episodes Gilmore during its uh historic run, and like me, you've actually never seen the show until now. For the past few months, John has been watching Gilmore Girls with fans and built a sizable community with him with his own tech platform called Remarkest. Basically, fans joined John every night on Clubhouse to watch and discuss an episode of Gilmore Girls together through the Remarkest app. Well you have an app that's

John has built. Um, fans has build platform. Fans come together scheduled to watch events, special events, cast and crew talk about the episodes. Um, Johnny, welcome, we we you. How did you get the role? Let's let's start at the beginning. How did you get this role? Well? Uh, this was actually the second role that I auditioned for. I I uh, so, I guess it starts with although Amy and Dan say that it doesn't. I mean they I always mentioned Sean Gunn as a very important part

of why I got the role in the show. That they insist like, no, no, we auditioned you, you got the role had nothing to do with Sean gun But the part that that um that they miss or that they have missed when when talking about it, is the fact that I met Maura Casey through Sean gun mar Casey is a close friend. UM, she's a Chicagoan. Um. I'm a Chicagoan. So is Sean we all kind of came here together. And um, she of course new Sean

from from the show. And uh, the the Christmas four I was cast on the show, we had a Christmas party and she was home for the holiday. She she wasn't able to go home for the holidays, so so we invited her to the Christmas party and I met her there and she's and we had a great conversation and I had really just I've just been in Los Angeles for about a year and a half. Um, and she said, I'm gonna I want to try and get you on the show. And I was like, oh, it

sounds good to me. Uh. She brought me in for a role. Um. It's actually I can't remember the name of the character, but he's one do you remember the brother and sister that um Rory goes to the to the home of that of that that friend, the one who's gonna help her get into Yale, like is gonna help give her right And he's got the two he's got the two siblings. He's got the brother and sister and they're like at the table talking trivia and stuff. So I I auditioned for for that guy, and and

Dan was it seemed really into the audition. I came out of it thinking like, oh, I got that, he was laughing, he was super into it. And then I didn't get it, and I was kind of bummed. And then and then this role came up and Mara said that Dan was like, Hey, that one guy that that came in for that, could you bring him in? Now? That role had had a lot of lines in it. I remember, you know the other one. I remember being like, wow, I'd really love to grab that that role. And then

the Brian line. Brian role had like one line in the first episode, right, So my feeling was like, like, Okay,

this is cool, but he's only got one line. Never would I have thought that thirty seven episodes later and five seasons later, right, So that's like a really good lesson for those uh that that old saying there's no small parts, just small actors, right, as a perfect example, right, I I would have assumed that that was the end of the character, and probably if I had been given both on a platter, I would have probably taken the first one as an actor because I had more lines.

Not realized, of course, that five years later I would have been a part of the show. Well, Um, so what do you remember most about the series in your time on the show. Um? I mostly when I think of the series, I mostly think of the people I worked with. I'm and and actually I mostly think of the crew. I think about George Bell, I think about Valerie brenda Um, and of course I I think about Kiko and Todd because I spent so much time with them. So for me, every time I got the call that

I had an episode, UM, it was like it. I always got really excited about it because it was my opportunity to hang out with my friends again. Oh it's nice, yes, Um, and those friendships continue today. I oh, yeah, Todd and I are still very very much in touch and close and so so TAKEO and and actually I still keep in touch with Sebastian to a bit, not as much as the others, really, what you know, give my best to Todd. I saw him up in Canada. We were

on stage together and had a wonderful time. He's a wonderful musician and wonderful guy. Just give him my best, would you. I absolutely will. And how Sebastian doing. He's good, I mean, I mostly I mostly know how he's going from his Instagram. He seems like he's like really really really into into health these days and and uh eating eating, well, it still looks like he might be drinking. Well he liked his wine. Um. But yeah, and he lives I

believe lives in Vegas. I believe so. I I might be wrong about that, but I thought I thought I saw something that that said he was in Vegas. Interesting. Um, so let me ask you this. I have I have a bunch of fan questions. We want to get to them. Uh. When the idea for the reboot came came along, what was your reaction to that? To a year in the life. Oh, I was excited, but I was mostly excited for the fans.

I mean, you know, for the decade when I was on the show, I didn't really have this sense that we were doing anything that was like a pop culture phenomenon, right, Like it just it wasn't really that big. Every once in a while I had walked into an Apple store something that and somebody would recognize me. But for the

most part, it was still a small show. Over the course of that decade, and as social media, because we forget, when we were on the show, social media wasn't really a thing social media really kind of what It's Dawn happened in the years after, certainly It's Rise, And that was when I suddenly had this direct engagement with fans in a way that I hadn't had before. And I got to watch over that decade, fans get more and more and more eager for a return to all of

these characters. So when the reboot was announced, my first thought was, Oh, my goodness, the fans are going to be so happy. M hmm yeah, um yeah. I had the same experience, but we're getting tremendous amount of feedback every time when I walked out the door, when are you gonna do another one? Let's do it some more seasons, come on, let's once they're coming back. And I mean it was and it really reached this sort of pinnacle

at the South By South. But I mean that was when I really felt like when we look what like looking out at that audience of all those people, it's sort of it's sort of hit me at that point, how if this doesn't happen? Like it just felt like this has to happen at this point, you know, Um, there was just the fervor was just too high. Okay, so let's talk a little bit about it. Really truly,

that was a big moment for the show. Um, and it was perfect timing, and I felt the will, the will to do it was there from from from everybody. And I remember, I remember this the sentiment from the cast. I mean, you had like Kelly and you were really like there was there was a real sense of like we are ready to do this, like let's make this happen. And you know, I mean obviously like they're bigger powers than anything that anybody, including Amy on that stage could

make happen. So that was sort of an in some ways and sort of an appeal to the the greater studio gods. You know that, Um that not only uh, not only are the fans ready for it, but but the cast is ready for it, which is always such an important thing that that fans don't often realize that, you know, to make a show, and to certainly make a reboot, it's pretty complicated. You've got to get a lot of people in line, you gotta get a lot of contracts in line, all of that kind of stuff.

And so UM, to hear a cast all say yes, we're ready for this, Um that I think that was. That was it's sort of its most important moment. Yeah. Um, and it was a heck of a lot of fun to do. It really was. Regardless of the result it was, it was it was really fun to do. Um. Can you explain let's talk about remarks, explain what that is. Yeah. So came out here and my I realized very quickly that I couldn't wait tables. It just wasn't for me. So I got into technology. I taught myself how to code,

and I started to code software and whatnot. And for about the first year and a half or so I was here, I was building software and that, and then I met in our Casey and I got on the show, and then it changed my life and suddenly, I you know, I was I was just only thinking about that. Um. As the show came to an end, I decided I wanted to move behind the camera. I wrote. I wrote a script that I sold to Warner Brothers right after I the show ended, and that began my writing career

and sort of began a career behind the camera. Um. That project gave me a really intimate relationship to or a very very interesting insight into fandom in general. I got to see what it was like to write something it was science fiction in a studio where fans were converging, and see sort of how fans and and and the studio interacted. And I thought that there was a really interesting but very strange, almost dysfunctional dynamic between how the

fans saw themselves and how the the studios did. Uh. And I just got really into this idea that fans have more they have more power, and therefore should have more say in the I P that they evangelized. And this became something I was really obsessed with throughout the teens um and in i'd say mid teens, I started to build this product that was sort of trying to to bring fans together to create eight content, like actually

like create IP together. And it didn't really quite go where I wanted it to go, and I sort of hitting my head against the wall. And then in early my wife had our first child, and I thought that would be a good opportunity for me, for me to sort of reboot, step back from all the work that

I was doing trying to figure this out. And Uh, in the late hours, feeding a baby, changing diapers, I just had this thought that maybe, um, I should watch the television show that I was on for, you know, for for five years, that maybe that was actually a better focus on fandom and relationship to fandom. I had this fandom that really loves me for something I didn't even know. I'm looking at like this baby girl thinking maybe she's gonna watch the show before me, like like

that can't happen. And so I thought, I'm gonna watch this show, um, and I'm gonna show up every night in an audio room, and whoever wants to join me, We're all gonna just count of three press our lay buttons at the same time create a sort of social

DVD style commentary track. And watched the entire show, and I would let fans lead me through the show through a show that I was in that I certainly can provide value to them on, like I can tell them some of my experience, but they can provide infinitely more value to me by by by guiding me through a story in a world that they know so much more

intimately than I do. And it was amazing. We we did it the entire summer, a hundred and fifty four episodes last summer, and somewhere halfway through that I realized that I had a sort of the beginnings of a community and a platform around watching shows together. So I started building an app. Halfway through the summer, teamed up with an x Google Amazon developer, a friend of mine, um who came on as my co founder, and we

started building this thing. We finished Gilmore Girls in September, and the community started to started to schedule other shows, and it's growing and it's auf some it's and it's probably the project that I'm most proud of, uh in my whole career with interesting well, good for you, um, you know, it's it's it's It's kind of remarkable how the fans have shaped this podcast as well, because we read all well, I don't read them all, um Amy Sugarman,

the executive producer, reads all of them, and the team reads all of them, and they've they have such great suggestions for how to shape this podcast and what the content and all that kind of stuff. So so they are very uh they're a living, breathing um U areudite group of people who really know this show cool. I mean it's really cool. I mean I love it. I I have developed relationships in the past year and a half with fans of the show that are just so

precious to me. Um. And and it really did begin with their love of a show that I was on but didn't really know, which is just the thing about it. And now I can, really, I can truthfully say I am, I am a huge fan of show. And I say this all the time. I wish that I sometimes I wish that I had watched the show back when it was airing, because I could have told folks like you, my my colleagues. I could have told you how much

I admired your work. And I couldn't at that time because I didn't because I didn't know your work, you know. I mean, you were just you were just somebody that was on set with me that we just hung out and talk to us people. I didn't really know you as as a as an actor on the show. And and and I mean your work on shows tremendous, so as it's yours, thank you very much. But I really, I mean, you know, I just like I have favorite characters, um you know, uh like I'm a huge Puffs fan,

Like uh yeah, I mean I am. I am. I am a full fledged you More Girls fan. Another thing about this show, it's amazing how it just keeps uh going on with different generations. What's the craziest fan reaction You've encountered, The craziest fan reaction that I've encountered, Um,

I don't think I've had any really crazy fan reactions. This, this particular fandom, while very passionate, I would also say, are very normal, like they're they're they're they're not you know, I mean when you when you think about I mean, look, you've definitely got your your folks dressing up like Taylor Dozy and you know, and and and whatnot for festivals, which I guess you know is a little odd, but you know, no more odd than people dressing up on Halloween.

But when you think of fandoms, you you typically UM imagine these very like, you know, almost kind of delusionally crazy, uh folks. I've learned that that's not really UM fandom. Again part of the lesson that I've learned. But I think that this, in particular, this fandom, UM is full of a lot more normal uh fans, or well, I

would say more reserved fans. I haven't had any, but you know, when I go to fan fest, UM, I've gone to fan fast in the in the past, people are really excited to see you and um, you know, run up to you and treat you. You know. One thing that that I did have to kind of get used to is the idea that, like, you know, a lot of fans treat treat you as though they know you because they feel they do know you. You were you were in their living room for years, but they

weren't in your living room. So there's you know, getting used to this idea that people talk to you as though there you know, as though you're their buddy, but you aren't their buddy yet, which is also, by the way, another big inspiration for Remarcus. I kind of wanted to

be there, buddy. I sort of felt like, gosh, if you're gonna treat me like I'm this old friend of yours, then we kind of need to know each other, like you know, I don't you know, I can't have I can't I can't pretend with a smile that you're my friend. I kind of need to start developing relationships with with fans, and so that was a big part of it. Um But other than that, I wouldn't say anything really crazy. Um no, me too. It's always been pleasant. Every single

encounter has been very pleasant experience. Um and I do a lot of these conventions and and and they're all just wonderful sort of interactions with all these great people. And these aren't the type of fans that go to conventions. That's that's not a convention crowd, you know, I and I mean it's true, and there I feel like they're something like a festival that gives them this sort of weekend in Stars Hollow is a little bit more this fandom speed than like going and and you know, and

no doubt, oh, no doubt. Oh yeah. I think that the appeal of a big part of the appeal of the show, it is the town. I think the town is a character in the series that lives on in people's hearts. When people talk about turning the show on or rewatching the show, you often hear folks say I want to go to Stars Hollow. I want to return to Stars stars Hollow and escape to Stars Hollow. So a festival for these fans really does have to make Stars Hollow as much of of a character that they

revisit than anybody sitting behind the table doing autographs. Well, I I sometimes wear the hat, oh nice. Yeah, Like, now, um, that one's a that's a black hat. It is it is, I have it, but it does have but it is a snap in the front and remarkus. We got into big debates about the period when when Luke started wearing the hat that wasn't the snap front right and had the metal buckle, that we were not fans. I was

not a fan. There were some people that were. There was some debate, but for most part people were like, snap the snaps, that's that's the only way to get and starts. It fits and starts when you're trying to create something so iconic. But I do think that you know that that you're right, Um, a festival like that, you know, a festival like that that that does allow fans of a show like this to really live in that world for a weekend, kind of feel like they're

in that world. It's the right kind of of a fandom event for for this particular fandom. Um, absolutely, for sure, for sure. But you know when they when the fans come to a convention where I'm appearing, or Yunick and I are appearing, or Sean and I are appearing, they have a blast. I mean, they really have fun for sure? Um? Are you ready for rapid fire? Um? No one's ever, no one's ever really ready for it. But let's do it here. One, two, three? How many cups of coffee

to have a day? Uh? Usually one? Two on a good day, three on the back. Are you team Logan jess er Dean? Uh? Team Logan for the original series, Team jess for the revival? Who was your favorite Gilmore Ger's character? Bad? Good answer? What would you order at Luke's Diner? Oh? Wink winklers, of course. Would you rather go on a road trip with Taylor or Michelle? That's not a serious question, isn't Michelle a day of the week? I'll road trip with Taylor? Finished, finish the lyric, and

where you lead, I will follow. Answer, give me the everywhere that you tell me to anywhere anywhere? Very good? If you're the first one, nice, if you if you if you need you need me to be with you, I will follow. Uh, where you lead. We've actually sung out a few times like Todd and I have like events. I do that that that Um, that isn't me. Um. Jackson's vegetables are Suki's baked goods vegetables. I'm not really

a huge sweet person. Would you rather listen to Drella's Harper the Trooperdare's Troubadours cover songs, The Troupadoorus cover songs, Child Stars, Stars Hollow High, Children Prep. I mean we were barely at Stars hollows Hot and the Puffs are at Children Prep. And I want to get into the Puffs. I will do whatever to get into the box. I'm gonna see what I can do for you because I'm gonna try to get into myself. Maybe we'll start a guy's chapter, you know, why not, Johnny, it was a

blast catching up. Um. I will actually see you later later this year. I'm gonna be at there's an mention that we're doing together and oh, you're gonna you're going to epics. Yeah, which, by the way, that that that particular convention sounds a lot like the their their whole concept for it is sort of this like Snap and Greed. It's like a lot more casual than a typical convention.

Has a very Gilmore girls. Five of us gonna be there, It's gonna be It's gonna be you me unique, Matt Zukree, Sean and Greg Henry and Greg Henry, Yeah, the hunts Burgers are gonna be there. Yeah, and it's supposed to be it's like it's been you know, I was told that it's going to be like a very casual, very casual event. Um and uh and yeah again I think those are the kinds of events that that that this fandom. I think we're all gonna do a group photo. We're

all gonna, like, I think, on a Saturday Saturday. Yeah. So that's what August nineteen through one. And where is it? Mount Play is in South Carolina, Carolina Epics Festival or Ethics it's something Epics dot c L or something like

that or c I M something. But you can you can get tickets, Uh, check out on my website scotty p dot com and you'll get the information there and we'll send it out in a newsletter and you can we'll probably post it on on the socials for I am all in um because that's gonna be a big deal. That's that's five Gilmore guys together in one place, and that's never that hasn't happened before. You know, that's a big deal. It's a deal. Um. Anyway, looking forward to seeing you in August, as am I as am I,

and it was really great catching up. Man. It's been a very long time, and like I said, I've been watching the show and just been thinking, Man, I gotta tell Scott how great he is in this. So you're too kind. You're too kind, sir, Thank you so much. Well each other soon. Yes, absolutely, all the best, Good luck with remarks. Everybody listening. Check out John's remarks. Go to remarcus dot com to uh to check out more

information on the project. All right, buddy, take care, all the best, okay, all right, hey everybody, and don't forget follow us on Instagram at I Am all In podcast and email us at Gilmore at I heart radio dot com. Oh you gil More fans. If you're looking for the best cup of coffee in the world, go to my website from my company scott EP dot com. S C O T T y P dot com, scott ep dot com Grade one Specialty Coffee. Yeah.