¶ Intro / Opening
This is the Wait For it Podcast .
Hey
¶ Shawn Ashmore's Dream Role
, collective Con Eric from the Wait For it Podcast here with Sean Ashmore , one of our special guests for the three-day weekend here in Jacksonville , florida . Sean , I know that this is day one , you're just kind of getting your feet settled , but how are you doing coming in today ?
Yeah , doing great . I'm excited to be here in Jacksonville . I've never been here before , so that's kind of nice . And yeah , the con has been fun . Everyone's really nice . So , yeah , I'm excited for a good weekend .
Whenever you're coming into these things . Obviously there's so many things that you are known for X-Men , animorphs , the Boys , and that's just such a little sliver .
I'm so curious when you're coming to a convention like this , when you get a chance to peek around , are there any fandoms that you're looking for as a fan of shows , media or anything in pop culture that catches your eye ?
I'm a big . I grew up reading comic books , so I'm a big Marvel fan . I also really like , so I always enjoy like kind of bumping into artists and also I just love the community of all the guests that are here , like so often I'm like , oh yeah , I'm a big Sons of Anarchy fan . It's like , well , ron Perlman's here , you know .
So it's like , and I've got a chance to meet him before , but I always enjoy those interactions , like hanging out with people that worked with or had a chance to meet them , that I'm a fan of myself and , most importantly , I love the environment at cons , like it's a positive energy .
I love meeting everybody that's here to celebrate the fandoms that they love and it gives me a kick to talk about all the stuff that I've done over the years with people that have enjoyed it .
Absolutely , and I know a lot of times you've got you know panels this weekend to talk about your previous roles . I kind of want to talk about the now with you and kind of talk about you've done so much and expanded your career .
I'm very curious is there a meaty role , whether it's in a pop culture universe , or just the role itself , maybe a certain type of character you've yet to play ? That's on your bucket list ?
Yeah , I want to make a Western .
Okay .
Yeah , I love Westerns . The Good , the Bad bucket list yeah , I want to . I want to make a western . Okay , yeah , I love westerns . Um , the good , the bad and the ugly is like one of my favorite movies . I love the ? Um , you know , clean eastwood leone uh , you know that , that specific genre of western .
So , yeah , I would love to to do something like that . I've never really had the opportunity , so if I were to , um , pick a genre to work in , I'd love to do something like that they do say every movie is a Western and I'm starting to believe that . Yeah , yeah , that's a valid . I want to be in horseback though , you know yeah you want to be in it .
That makes sense . My last question for you . I'm always very curious for people like yourselves . You always come to the conventions . You're meeting so many different people when you get back to the hotel . You get back home .
You need that time to decompress what's that go-to movie show book , that media that you kind of pick up or you tend to go to in those moments where you need that break . I love to get lost in like a TV show or a film , and I tend to like thrillers , I like horror films , I like genre stuff , okay so .
Anything that's caught your eye recently , like in the past year .
Oh man , now you got me on the spot , I know . Oh , dude , this should be very easy . Well , actually , you know , I was just reminded of Blue-Eyed Samurai on Netflix I love that , you know . And Samurai on Netflix I love that , you know . And I love animated stuff as well , so that was something that I was completely caught up in .
I cannot wait for another season . Also , let me think I actually just watched last night , when I got in . I watched Venom , the Last Dance , which I hadn't seen before , which is super fun .
You gotta complete it .
Yeah , I like , but yeah , I'm a big . I fell in love with and I think I wanted to get into film and television and performance because I'm a huge fan of movie , films and television , so I'm a big consumer of that stuff .
Yeah , I love to hear that You've got a long weekend ahead of you here at Collective Con and I just want to wish you the best . Hopefully everything goes smooth . It will , and I really appreciate the time . Thank you .
¶ David Wenham on Lord of the Rings Legacy
Hey everyone . Phil Barrera , with the Wait For it podcast and Collective Con here with our guest , could you just take a moment to introduce yourself to our audience and what you do ?
Sure , hey , I'm David Wenham and I'm an actor and I've been in well a number of things up there . Yeah , probably Lord of the Rings , van Helsing 300 , a few things .
Just a few things that you guys may have heard of . So how has your weekend gone so far here at Collective Con ?
It's been great . I've loved being here . The people have been absolutely fantastic . Yeah , very hospitable . It's been fantastic , great , great .
Happy to hear that . What's it like having fans of all ages , people that have grown up with the films that you've been in , and then also new fans , younger fans that are finding your work for the first time ?
That is interesting , the fact that it's sort of a generational thing . With things like Lord of the Rings it's like that is an evergreen project because well , obviously the books to begin with are pretty extraordinary pieces of literature and then the films .
Films that peter made are pretty . They're classic films .
They're they're films that are going to always stand the test of time . Years from now , those will still be there , right as far as that's right as yeah . After we've gone , phil , people will still be watching exactly .
Do you have a excuse me , after all this time , do you have kind of a uh , a character archetype that you're more drawn to ? I hear a lot of people you know villainous roles are more fun and a little bit more layered . Do you go either way as far as those ?
In terms of favorite type of role , I don't really Whether it's a villain , whether it's , like you know , a man with a good heart , whether it's comedy , whether it's drama , I don't . As long as the character is written really well , that's going to have a good indication as to how successful the character is going to be . Gotcha , gotcha .
Well , we thank you so much for your time . Please let our audience know where they can find you and all your work .
Where they can find me . Basically , just search my name on Google and then you'll see whatever work you'd like to watch .
David , thank you so much for your time , really appreciate it . Thank you so much Collective Con for hanging out . Yeah , thank you .
It's Eric from the Way Forward
¶ David Hayter's Journey as Snake
podcast here at Collective Com with David Hayter , the man himself , talking about everything pop culture . And of course , when we say pop culture , one of the people that come up is Snake .
I got to ask that question right off the bat what is it like playing that character and specifically for that , every time you are brought on to do that voice , what do you have to muster inside yourself to get to that place , to do that character ?
Good question . Well , first of all , playing the character is pretty damn good . As far as what I have to do , I have a bug on me . Just like Snake Eater , I should have eaten it . It was planted Right . What do I have to muster ? You know , the first game I did was 27 years ago , so it's now a part of me .
In fact , the older I get , the sneakier I sound . So it doesn't take a lot to muster it . It's just um being in the booth reading a new script . I mean , that's inspiration enough and I can tap into my inner snake and off we go .
I love that and having that character be a part of yourself is such a great thing after all these years . I mean , you're kind of symbiotic in that way and I love to hear that . I'm very curious because not only do you do things so amazing in the booth but also from a writing perspective .
I'm just really curious anytime I meet somebody with that dual ability . What are the key differences from when you're trying to get into the mindset of walking into a booth portraying a character and then also from a writer perspective , having to be involved in that creative process ? What is the biggest challenge maybe for you between those two things ?
Well , the challenge is always getting people to buy your scripts and get your movie made . But as far as skills go , I mean first of all to be a writer , you have to read a lot , you have to write a lot , you have to really develop those skills , in the same way that you have to with acting or voice acting .
But the process I find because I started as an actor I find it similar in that as an actor , I read the script , I imagine how my character would act , I develop it and figure it out . As a writer , I just play every character in my head and I imagine them stepping into this world .
What are they facing , what are the obstacles , what do they want , what are the issues ? And it's kind of a similar process . I mean really the process of both of them , despite all the skill and all the work and all the practice , is just what you played when you were 10 years old , when you were pretending to be Wolverine or or , or snake or or whatever .
It's just that , that ability to imagine and play and and um , and put yourself in the position of another person .
Yeah , yeah and that's a great segue to my last question for you . I'm always very curious . When you were such an integral part of people's childhood , young adulthood and all of that , what was that franchise and or character for you at that age , or growing up ? Even now , what kind of stands out to you in pop culture as a fan of the medium ?
The most significant one was raiders of the lost ark . Um , harrison ford , steven spielberg . You know , I was watching raiders when I was 12 and this electricity ran down my spine . I was like that , whatever they're doing , I want to do that . Um , so that's what made me get into the business . And also , uh , the x-men comics .
I was just such a fan and I loved those characters , like , like family and , uh , when I had the opportunity to work on the movie , I was prepared because of my love for them . So , um , you know , and star wars and just anything else you know guys my age would love . I was a big pop culture guy .
Excuse me that was just like Snake . Was that another plant ?
I think I might have fox dye . No , it's just allergies .
No , I love that . I love that . Well , you're here in Florida , so that's what we've got . We've got weather and allergies Welcome to Jacksonville but we've also got a bunch of amazing people that you're going to meet . I can't wait to see what you bring to the weekend , and thank you so much for the time .
Thank you , thank you and hey , all of you , you're pretty good .
Hey everyone , phil Barrera
¶ JB Blanc Discusses Arcane's Impact
with the Way 4 Podcast , here with my guest . Please take a moment to introduce yourself and what you do .
Hi there , my name is JB Blanc . I'm an actor and a voice actor . I play Vander in Arcane , Caustic in Apex Legends , Kano in MK11 , and a load of other stuff .
Absolutely , and I talked to you about this last night as far as your performance and what Vander has meant to me and so many other people . I have a daughter as well , so watching that relationship grow , now that the story has come kind of full circle , how are you feeling and how do you know what's your relationship with that character as well ?
I mean , it's one of the most important things I've done in my career . I think it's just . It's very rare that you get a series that's been so deeply thought of , so deeply considered in the making of it and detailed characters drawn beautifully . The artwork is very special . The relationship with the fans is extraordinary .
I mean , this really did affect a lot of people , and you never know when you're going to do something , whether that's going to be the case and then when it turns out that way , it's kind of it's amazing .
It's a lot of fun Definitely be the case , and then when it turns out that way , it's kind of it's amazing . It's a lot of fun , definitely , and you know there's always so much pressure as well when it it's related to another .
You know , ip yeah , that people are so very passionate about it , but you've brought in fans that don't really know anything about the game into this universe and left them wanting more . Did you know anything about league going into this or did you kind of just learn as you got involved ?
I did because I played a character called Brom in League for many years , but I had no idea , you know , when they were putting this together , I thought it would be something that League players would need to be involved in or you'd have to have played League to watch it but as it turned out , it was a complete standalone .
I had a lot of friends who'd never seen and never knew anything about league , a lot of fans who didn't , and , uh , and I think that's a testament to the consideration and the thought that they put into it . You know , um , they were very careful to show enough easter eggs for people who were fans of league , um , and to introduce a whole new story .
And , of course , v Vander doesn't exist in League . Warwick does , which is a completely different character , and there's no spoilers here , and so I thought that's a real trick . You see a lot of video game adaptations that don't work , and I think this one was very much a winner .
I mean , we knocked Squid Game off the top spot at Netflix , so that must be saying something .
Absolutely . That's definitely saying something . I spoke with Jason last year and talked to him . So sorry to hear that . I spoke with Jason last year and talked about his character and I asked him is he drawn to more complex , like villainous characters and , as far as portraying them , do you have a specific type of character that you are more drawn to ?
Villains are always more fun . Yeah , that's what I hear a lot . If you're going to play a good guy , I like to play a kind of scarred good guy , a guy with maybe a checkered past , and I think that's been a lot of my career . I seem to be specializing in father figures who meet unfortunate ends , which I don't really like because the checks dry up .
There will be a role in Disney for you eventually , though , but it's you know . Vanda's more complex because he's got a violent past and he's someone who's come through something . He's conflicted , he's a forced parent . He's not really a parent , but he's kind of taken that job on . So that's always interesting .
But in general nice guys don't have as much fun and so the villains are always more complex to play . The trick is that a villain doesn't really know he's a villain . He's just trying to get his knees met like an angry toddler who spits out their food when they don't like it . So villains generally are more fun because they're more complex .
They're usually often better written . The hero characters are kind of , you know , it's just to kind of stay on one level , which isn't as interesting to play sometimes absolutely well , jb .
Thank you so much for the time please let our audience know where they can find you and all your work .
I'm on all the socials . You can find me at the JB Blunk or at Blunky JB or on Blue Sky as Blunky Pants . I don't know why it just happened that way Might have been my kid , I don't know but great to meet you . Thank you very much for coming by .
You as well . Thank you so much , thanks so much . See you guys , see ya .
¶ Mia Sinclair-Ginness on Powder and Fandom
Hey everyone . Phil Barrera with the Wave 4 Podcast and Collective Con here with our guest .
Can you please take a moment to introduce yourself ? And what you do is Mia Sinclair-Ginness . I am a voice actress . You may know me best from playing Powder in Arcane's in .
Netflix's Arcane on Netflix , absolutely so . How has your weekend gone so far ? How has Jacksonville been treating you ?
It's been great . Everyone is so nice , everyone is super supportive and there's some amazing cosplays here .
Yeah , oh yeah , absolutely . That's one thing we're always blown away by . Every time we come here . Have you been doing a lot of the , a lot of conventions , a lot of shows traveling around ?
Um , yeah , in the last couple of months I've been trying to do at least like one a month , just because I love meeting people . I love conventions , because it's truly a safe space for weirdos and you know , I am included in that and it's like it's unlike anything else in the world .
Yeah , I always compare it to a high school reunion that you want to attend because you get to see people you actually want to see oh my God , absolutely . Yeah , absolutely , and I think what a lot of people are surprised at whenever they meet voice actors is you guys don't get to see each other . No , we don't . So how is that ? Seeing your castmates ?
That's another thing that I really love about conventions .
I didn't get to record with any of my castmates , so doing conventions and getting to see all of my wonderful arcane people and beyond is always like my favorite thing , especially , you know , we're all staying in the same hotels , we get to go out to eat afterwards and we all get to do , you know , fun stuff like this . It really is so wonderful .
I haven't seen JB in like four years , so this is like our reunion and it warms my heart .
It's my favorite love that , love that so much . Yeah , what's it been like to be part of this fandom ? I'm sure there was a lot of pressure coming in there . A league obviously has a very well-known fan base . What was it like , um , coming into this ? And and how has that fan base , kind of like , treated you since you you came in ?
I mean , the fan base has been nothing but supportive . Obviously , in any fanbase , in any fandom , there are going to be , you know , certain toxicities . But what I really love about the Arcane fanbase , it is truly one of the most supportive , kind fanbases I've ever seen . I think going into it we knew it was going to be something big .
We knew that leak had this huge , you know fan base and it was really really intense . But I don't think we ever could have predicted how you know worldwide it was going to become .
And I remember we were all um at the season one premiere and we watched it go live on Netflix and we watched the site crash , we watched it shut down and I think in that moment we all kind of realized that this was going to be bigger than any of us could have ever expected yeah , that that's crazy .
So , um , yeah , I tell I told this to Jason last year like Arcane . A lot of people are surprised when I tell them Arcane is my comfort show , like I put it on really at any time , but like just because there's so many layers to this , the characters are so well-written , the performances are outstanding , so you know we put it on at any time .
Most important question yes , who has the best chicken tender ? Who has the best fast food chicken tender ?
Okay , so let me lock in for a sec . So me and my best friend Kim , who's over there , we are we are chicken tender connoisseurs , if I may . Um Canes , I am a Canes girl , I love Canes and I love their coleslaw I also really love . There is a bar and restaurant in New York City where I live called hi Berniebernia Bar and Grill .
Their chicken tenders and their honey mustard is phenomenal . Hibernia is the best restaurant in New York City . It's my favorite thing in the world . So , yeah , that's what I think .
Interesting . Okay , yeah , we are finally getting a Cane's in Jacksonville , but it's like all the way on the other side of town from here . But do you agree that Cane's is very sauce dependent ? I love .
I definitely do think Cane's is super sauce dependent , but I do think that their tenders are already like super juicy and well made , as is . That I can do with or without the sauce . Plus , I love Cane's , but I'm not the biggest Cane's fan or the biggest Cane's sauce fan . Okay , I can take it or leave it . I can take it or leave it , yeah .
The most important thing is covered here , of course . Yeah , obviously At CollectorCon . So please take a moment to let everybody know where they can find your work and anything else .
Yeah , so you can find me on Instagram at Mia Sinclair Janess . You can find me on TikTok under the same handle . I am not on Twitter , but yeah , you can watch Arcanes .
Season 1 and 2 on Netflix and you can watch Disney Junior's Fancy Dancing on Disney+ . Thank you so much for taking the time . Thank you , and thank you so much for joining us . Hey everyone
¶ Lucian Dodge on Voice Acting Craft
, phil Barrero , with the Way4Podcast here with Collective Con guest Lucian Dodge . Lucian , how are you doing here today ?
I'm doing very well . Thank you very much .
Good , good , it's so exciting to have you here . Please take a moment to introduce yourself and let everybody know what you do .
Oh sure . Well , my name is Lucian Dodge . I'm a voice actor , sometimes a script adapter , voice director , typically for anime , video games , anything that anyone wants to hire my voice for . Pretty much , and it's fun . Absolutely , I'm game for it .
Yeah , I'm curious when I speak to voice actors was this something that you knew was a goal of yours ? Did you discover that voice acting was an avenue you could , you know , tackle later ?
Well , it was a bit of both . I mean , I , I , I didn't really even know that this world existed until I was in my mid-teens or so . It actually came about from watching anime . I kind of recognized a voice and a light switch came on and I realized , oh , there's people who do the voices of these characters , and how does that work and who are these people ?
And a million other things , and it kind of spurred a whole bunch of research . But then , once that happens and I kind of started to really do a deep dive on it , I realized , wow , this is really , this is a lot of fun .
I had been doing theater and stage acting and school plays and kind of local productions , school plays and you know , and kind of local , local productions , uh , but this was kind of like almost like an evolution or extension of that .
Um , getting to play all these characters and and just creating them with my voice and playing sort of to the , the , the , the minds . What is it ? The , the mind's ear ? Is that the expression ? Uh , I'm gonna be getting that backwards .
Um , but uh , yeah , I just really took to it and from that point I was like , yeah , this is , this is the thing I want to do so in in a lot of regards I did know pretty early on in my life , you know , that this is what I wanted to do and I just kind of set everything in motion to to that happen .
It's so funny I mean so many of the origin stories when it comes to a lot of VAs is theater , it's stage acting . So I know a lot of people will come up and ask where do I start when it comes to voice acting ? And it seems like an answer we get a lot is an acting class . Is that correct ?
Sure , because I mean , the most , most important thing , the most important tool you can have as a voice actor is to be a really good actor . If you don't have the acting , the , you know , the voices are really fun , um , and and casually , you know , they're great party tricks .
If you do a spot-on impression or something , or even like a halfway good impression , uh , it's fun , but it's not , uh , you know , without the acting engine behind it , uh , you're not going to be able to sustain any kind of uh , you know , significant career as a voice actor . So , yeah , so , so , yeah , I would .
I would concur , acting , uh , classes is is really important . I think it's funny . My answer has kind of evolved and shifted as far as where do I start ? Because sometimes I get asked that here and there and I would say as far as where to start , is to just do it .
What I mean is I assume that if someone is interested in voice acting , there's a reason they enjoy the voices , the character voices or the scenes in their media . So just start there and just start voicing those things that you enjoy . Don't worry about the business side of it just yet . That'll come about eventually .
Just start working on your tools and again , that comes first through just doing it and figuring out what this does , what you can do with it and having fun with it .
So just start there and when it comes to the business side , I feel like when you start networking , a lot of that will come together as well .
So I just started my VA journey , so I'm in classes now and I think one thing that really surprised me is just how many you can go out there and find somebody who's casting for a fan cast or a web series or something along those lines .
So I think that's what you're talking about Go do it and just go give it a shot , and then you know , you kind of go from there build those relationships .
Absolutely yeah . And you know , yeah , don't worry about it . You know you don't need to be in . You know the Hollywood , you know feature film , whatever , like that's down the road . Just worry about doing it for fun first and yeah , the rest will kind of you'll figure out the other details .
And yeah , and all the networking , yeah , because everyone else is kind of . You know the people who are starting out in animation or you know audio design or whatever . You know they're all kind of in that same sort of starting level with you . So they're just trying to figure out ways to express themselves , put out works and do good work .
It's a whole ecosystem . The writers need you , the storyboard artists everything .
We all need each other , especially when you're so , if you can , if you can build , you know , a nice little network with those people coming up through the ranks , working on your craft together , helping each other out . You know we all need each other .
We know we actors we need good directors and writers and animators , and you know , and vice versa , to make the whole production work .
So yeah , Love that Well , lucian . One more time , please let our audience know where they can find you and any of your work . Sure .
Well , you can go to my website , which I am on and off . Good about updating . Sometimes they get a little lax . But you can go to LucianDodgecom L-U-C-I-E-N-D-O-D-G-E , and I am on various social media here and there it's usually Luciendodge . Just want to try doing a search for me . But yeah , it's mostly those avenues we'll get Lucien tagged .
Thank you so much for your time here today at Collective Con . We appreciate it .
Thanks , guys , hey
¶ Kaiji Tang's Dream Role
everybody at Collective Con . I'm Eric from the WayForward Podcast . This is KJ Tang . You may know him and obviously we've got three days for you to enjoy the convention . But I'm very curious , just kind of jumping right into it . You're known for so many roles , obviously within anime .
I'm always very curious whenever I talk to voice actors , looking at things from a different perspective perspective . What is it like going into the booth with all these different characters and what do you put into the characters yourself ? I'm always curious what is that core of each character ? That is cagey .
Well , I mean , that's , that's a really fun question , like I think . As actors , right , our , our primary job is to give you , the audience , something about the character of voicing that you can empathize with , right , because we're all these weird social animals . We all have a lizard brain that can tell if someone's kind of being disingenuous , right ?
So the best thing an actor can do is to allow themselves to really feel what this character's going through and , as long as those feelings are genuine , any human can pick up on those feelings and be like , oh , I remember when I was sad , you know , I remember when this happened to me .
So whenever you hear something that really makes you actually feel something , then the actor has done their job and put a little bit about with themselves into the character you know that genuine emotion .
And you know in addition to that , a lot , of , a lot of times I find whenever I'm working on a project or trying to be creative , there has to be that passion . I'm just so curious from a pop culture standpoint and this can be from anime and beyond what is your passion , your fandom , that you kind of lean towards ?
That has maybe either influenced your performances , your roles or what you're interested in when you're seeking out a character to perform as yeah .
So when I was a little kid , the whole reason I got into acting in the first place was when I got to this country . I learned how to speak English by watching the original Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles cartoon . Right , my first word ever was cowabunga . I didn't know what it meant , you know , and my dad didn't know what it meant .
It's a fun word , right , it's a fun word . So you know , that kind of started me off . Because of that show I took theater , you know , and because of theater I ended up in voiceover . So technically it was the Turtles that got me started in the voiceover path .
But if you're asking what fandoms I'm into , just generally , I'm a giant like Magic the Gathering player . Right , I love magic . You know Me and my wife compete at Evo for fighting games , you know . So that's another big passion of ours . Yeah , dude , we're a Street Fighter family . So you know , I haven't won any Evos so far .
But fingers crossed , you know what I mean Definitely using the crying line in those wins .
Oh my goodness right . Can you imagine ?
But I would also like , as we wrap it up , I would love to ask you as well , when we're talking about everything that you're kind of enjoying and you're getting into with these characters um , what is a role , like a meaty role that you've yet to attain ? So maybe that bucket list role , or have you already achieved it ? What was that character , um ?
you know I , I I don't have too many , like I'm in a position where I can't really ask for too much . You know , like it's like you're just glad , you know I , I'm so happy I got involved with berserkerk . That's one of the ones that I got really , really excited about Berserk in my opinion , such a legendary series .
You know , in my mind , no better manga than Berserk . So that was one of my big bucket list things . But for stuff I really want to look forward to in the future . It sounds a little dumb , but like two things Right . One a little more serious than the other One . I love Child's . Play the horror movie . I would definitely take a crack at Chucky one day .
You know that little ooh , I love him . He's so funny , chucky , right . And also I want to voice a Roomba . You know little vacuum cleaners . No , seriously , seriously , imagine , imagine the little Roomba hits the corner and you just hear me be like ow . Like you know he cleans up your Cheetos and he's like , damn , you live like this . You know what I mean .
Like , I feel like that would be a lot of fun . I would love .
You know what it is . It's just a matter of like you got like a horror icon and then a Roomba .
It was just a little startling Different passions . You know I love that
¶ David LaBrava on Sons of Anarchy
no-transcript .
Hey everyone , phil Barrera from the WayForward podcast here from Collective Con in Jacksonville Florida with David LaBrava . David , how are you doing this weekend ? How's your Friday going so far ?
It's going fantastically , as you can tell .
Well , super excited to have you here . Sons of Anarchy , one of my favorite shows of all time . And I just want to know after all this time , people are still continuing to find the show for the first time .
What's it been like to interact with , of course , the OG fans and the new ones . You know the show is like an enigma . It's a worldwide show , like these days . When the show started , social media was not giant . It wasn't the way it is now today . Now you sell a show and they'll say is that a United States show or a worldwide show ?
Meaning like , for instance , one of my favorite shows , sopranos , is a United States show , meaning people in the United States will identify with that show . This particular show is about guys wearing patches on motorcycles . That is everywhere . It's in Slovenia , hungary , everywhere . Show is Germany , bali , thailand . It's everywhere .
So I think it's that alone is like you don't , 10 years later and we're doing a panel and it's wall to wall . You're not seeing that with a whole lot of shows . And I think your question was Olga , it's definitely when the show was on . It didn't matter who you asked have you seen the show ? Yeah , I've seen that show .
No , it's like you sort of I get a lot of my parents watch that show or I've heard of that show , or , if they're in the right time frame , you could usually see who dug the show and the older people like the show has . It's older people . Like the show has its own lore , right , you know , like , probably you didn't know I'm Fat Bob .
On the FX Network site there's Fat Bob's blog . I'm Fat Bob . I also wrote Hands , episode 10 in season 4 . So people would write what does this mean ? What does that mean ? I'd be like it means whatever you want it to mean . It's a television show , bro .
You know what I mean , um , but I I think , uh , you know , like , like frank says frank sinatra , without you we're dead . And it's amazing the resurgence , what we're going on 10 years . I think it's amazing how it gets passed on and people say things to me like you still catching the sound , got to check with the sound man .
You still go out of your way to watch my film Street Level . Street Level it's on Amazon Prime , emilio's in it , a lot of people in it , at any rate . Yeah , I think the fans are amazing and the fans know things like they , they search things out , they build their lore , they , they do all that which made the show super special .
I think another thing , like , uh , those patches on these shows everyone's giving gifts , wrap gifts , they're all giving gifts . You're giving a gift . He's like , quit banging the microphone on the thing , click , click , click . I'm keeping getting that .
On this show every department would be like Sons of Anarchy electrical Sons of Anarchy , construction , transportation and all of a sudden people didn't have to take two , three , four , five years of their life to wear this patch . They could go buy it in the store or work on the show and that is like . You know , I've ruffled some feathers .
Other people thought it was fantastic , but there were so many special , unique things that went along with the Sons of Anarchy and that whole empire . I think that got number one down .
I mean over time again just to . I re-watched it last year from beginning to end , for the first time since it had ended , and still just so very visceral and important , even in 2024 .
We were so groundbreaking way back then . Every year was something else and he really pushed the envelope . Do you remember ? I think it was either season three , one of them opened with a school shooting , yep , and there had been a school shooting in the off season .
Right then , and it's me and Tommy and Charlie , and we're riding around on the bike , we're riding around the school and it was a break . And I said to him , to Charlie and to both of them , I said to him , to Charlie and to both of them I go , man , this is kind of strange , don't you think ? Kind of close to home for a lot of people .
And these guys are like this is the job , this is the deal , this is the art , this is what we do . This particular showrunner is pushing these envelopes , but yeah , it was a groundbreaking show , it was an incredible . I made the best friends of my life .
I used it like film school for seven years , made a film and , yeah , what a trippy little thing it became . It really did it's . I've been to like 30 countries every year . Before the show , I go to Thailand and after the show to go to Indonesia . After the show , I go to Indonesia and I would land . I'm in the customs in Thailand .
You're walking in and you can see that thing of when people know who you are , they're thinking where do they know who you are ? I'm walking up and the guy's like , oh yeah , autograph . I'm like the show here is so very big here , very big here , and then I realized that there's motorcycle clubs on a huge level out there riding Harleys .
Yeah , so you know , the show is translated into their language and no wonder they're all tripping out . It was sure it's kind of interesting , you know , it's cool , it's . I don't watch a whole hell of TV , this show , I'd rather write things . But this show , speaking of which shameless plug , my new , my new book , trust Issues . Go get a copy .
It's an audio book also . It's about a biker with his chick . She cocktail waitress in a strip bar . She wants to dance . He won't let her . He breaks up the whole bar , gets arrested , gets out , trades his bike for a haunted 51 Chevy and goes after her . It's awesome , yeah .
What's the character ?
question number three .
I just want to know what's happened to you over years , you know , and just over time people telling you people telling you what that character meant to you yeah , it's amazing when people will walk up crying .
I'm like don't cry , please don't cry here you can have a free sticker , but please don't cry , don't cry . And the show had a profound effect on a lot of people will walk up crying . I'm like don't cry , please don't cry . Here you can have a free sticker , but please don't cry , don't cry . And the show had a profound effect on a lot of people .
Like I'm going to take a wild stab at it , I would say I was going to say eight , five out of ten people , not the massively rich people , five out of ten of the normal people from the street . I not the massively rich people , five out of ten of the normal people from the street . I'm a tattoo artist . They know someone in a club .
They have a cousin or somebody in a club . Their cousins , girlfriends , friends , brothers , dad is in a club . Somebody's in a club , and not just any . There's so many clubs , bro . There's , like you know , the Detroit Wheels . There's nine of them . If you're a man on a bike , you put a patch on your back .
You're a badass in your own mind , that's for sure . It changed my life on such a level . It taught me film . I made a movie . I was already writing , but look , I'm here across the country meeting people that are into some art that I was part of , and that's a blessing . That's a cool thing . You know there's good and bad in everything .
You know you lose a lot doing these things . You have to devote an incredible amount of time . Seven years you ain't late one time . You don't miss a day . Charlie came to work in walking pneumonia . You don't miss a day . Charlie came to work and walking pneumonia . You don't miss a day . You just it's a dedicated thing to do . You lose a lot .
You can lose a lot . It's possible to lose a lot . I lost a lot , but I gained some things and , yeah , they had a profound effect upon life . Tell me a bunch of new skills and now I apply um yeah , I , I mean uh , again , just kind of the uh .
You talk about the uh , the sacrifice for the benefit of us , the fan uh , you know , we're just so appreciative of that , so so thank you , but uh , we uh , just to kind of wrap it up , you already talked about the fans .
We'd be dead yeah .
Uh , to wrap it up , you know you already talked about trust issues . What else ? Anything else you want to plug here or let everybody ?
it's an audio book . It's on Amazon prime . All I know , my movie networks . I try not to say things until I'm doing them . You don't want to attract negative energy to your thing , but yeah , I'm always . You know , just , I'm writing 2,000 Words a Day . I'm in my fourth novel now . Third one you can't do this alone , so there's a team of people in LA .
You've got to find people that believe in your writing , that want to work with you , that are into putting forth the effort , because once you write , you've got to put your producer hat on and find the money to make the movie , which means you have to find people with money who are willing to invest and hopefully it's people that see your vision .
Not only I want my money back , I want my , my 20% . You know like , yeah for sure , the investors want their money back , luckily for me . And well enough , I just want to make a movie . I just I'm working on . I'm working on something I'll never see . I'm writing these books for 400 years from now that somebody can read . Have you read La Brava ?
You know that's what I'm doing , but and I'm digging the road while I do it I guess it definitely opened a lot of doors . You know , I wasn't trying to be on television and you ended up on television . I never knew how big it was to last . I didn't . I don't really watch a lot of television .
How many shows have a legacy ? But to even be on seven seasons is huge .
Except for Law and Order and the Simpsons , people have done it in like five or six or something . The guy with the camera is going stop standing up and down . I thought you've done this before Somebody . Talk to the guy . That's what it's about , you know , just laughing , having fun . Hey , best job ever had you roll up .
You got up at 4 in the morning so I could leave my house at 5 , so I could be on set at 520 , race my bike there when , like , this guy's ordered an omelet , I'm have my coffee and then they're like okay , check it out , here's a machine gun , there's your bike . We're going to kill these six dudes from this way .
Then we're going to kill them that way , then we're going to get coverage while we kill them and then we're going to cook you a great lunch . Imagine the job I was in , that ambush in the warehouse , and one of my brothers calls me up and says what are you doing ?
I go we're about to ambush these fools and cut them down with machine guns and he says what are you doing ? Saying that on my phone , I'm like everybody who's listening to us knows I'm on TV bro .
Well , david , thank you so much for taking the time . It was so nice meeting you and , again , huge fan of your work and the show . This is David LaBrava here at Collective Con .
¶ Theo Rossi Reflects on Juice
Hey everyone , phil Barrera with the Wave 4 Podcast and Collective Con here with our guest . Could you just take a moment to introduce yourself and what you do ?
Yeah , theo Rossi .
Theo , how's your weekend going so far ?
Very well . Thank you so much for asking .
I have a very important question for you how John Cena heel turn in his final year .
I don't know . I mean , I think it's a good way to go right . Kind of interesting . I like listen . I love a good heel turn . I'm a big fan of a good heel turn , especially when the audience doesn't see it coming . But it'd be interesting if that's the way he truly goes out . I feel like they're setting up kind of a redemption arc .
I believe so too . I think maybe somewhere towards the end he's going to come back and realize like okay , this is not what I really wanted to do and we'll get that send-off .
Yeah , because they're not letting him go out as a deal ?
Absolutely not .
Not after his whole career as a babyface .
Yeah , but like you said , when something is truly shocking , like that's the peak of wrestling .
That's why we all watch had to make sure I asked sean michaels yeah , I mean , I mean sean michaels doing the . The kick anybody on the turn piper's pit . You wanted to see things that don't that you're not expecting yeah , absolutely .
Um , I do want to tell you juice is one of my favorite characters of all time . I went back and re-watched the show , uh last year and uh still very much love that character . What's that character meant for you ? And also , what does it feel like when people come up and also tell you how much juice meant to them ?
I mean , I think they're all masochists because it's hard to watch him , uh , no , I mean honestly , uh , uh , that changed everything for me . I'm so incredibly grateful . I love doing these because I get to see all these guys . I mean , we talk every day .
Anyway , even though the show ended almost 10 years ago , we're still like as tight as we've always been , but it's um , that really is the beginning of it all . I feel like I learned it was kind of like going to college , right . It was like that was the beginning , even though I'd done 50 different tv shows as guest stars , co-stars .
You know , I started as an extra . That tv show kind of changed everything for me and it's laid the groundwork for everything that's ever happened in my life . That's how I met my wife , that's why I have my kids . It's like , let you know , I went right from that to do a couple movies , then luke cage and like everything just started from that show .
So , uh , yeah , I just I love , I love that people loved you so much and I think that , especially over the years , they've kind of seemed to understand him more for sure .
Yeah , absolutely watching in 2024 it was a totally different lens than watching it back . You know , 10 years ago , like you said , and David was completely you know , just talking about just the longevity of this and how crazy it is people when you had shows that lasted seven years 13 episodes , six months in between , weekly shows .
Those people become part of your family , so you kind of hold on to them longer , as opposed to the model of like just binging a show and then it's over and you kind of don't really remember it where I think that people have a direct attachment to this show . I can't tell you how many people that I meet at these that are like .
I used to watch this with my dad , who's no longer with us , or I remember being in college and me and my friends on teller Tuesdays would sit around and like watch it . So there's like a memory attached to the viewing experience and I just think that that's something we're kind of missing yeah , yeah , I , I absolutely agree .
Um , I want to ask you so that if this shirt came in right before this convention and you we're having a good conversation a little bit earlier as far as , like , the marketing of cloverfield and how insane that was , do you think something like that can be done again , like now with the way social media would have ?
to be so savvy to do it right because somebody would give it away . We're so big on like the spoilers now it's like we're always trying to find something out . Yeah , that to trick people , the way blair witch did like we talked about , and what cloverfield did with the myspace pages and we shot the trailer before we shot the movie .
It's like I don't know if you can do it anymore . You'd have to be real tricky to do something in a viral sense . Even batman with uh when he was playing the joker , they did all this like cool viral marketing . I mean , maybe we'll see . I'd love to do something kind of , but you would have to not know the actors .
You'd have to not know who's involved , because that was the trick with those you weren't really familiar with . That was the trick with those you weren't really familiar with . Any of the actors in it you weren't really familiar with . You know uh , what ? The situation wasn't a monster , what was it ?
what it was , we deal with aliens yeah , and that's , I think , what made people so the appeal of it all yeah , and also just not showing clover until you know you got to go to see the movie first and all that you know . You get trailers where you know there's just so much in them now and then it being shaky cam .
There was like these things right outside the theater that said like you could get sick . And you know people love that , like you know one of my buddies who does Terrifier . I remember there was an article when Terrifier first came out .
It was like there were people throwing up in the theater and people like what and now they want to go because of the kind of thing that comes long legs . Did something similar to that with their , with their marketing as well , with like people's heartbeats and stuff like that so it's cool that .
so I think , anything to get , we're trying to get people's attention in this kind of five second society that we're in , where we don't really pay attention to things months uh much . So it's like what they did was really what Matt did and JJ , that's way ahead of the time , yeah for sure .
And to bring it back to wrestling .
that's why , whenever we are truly surprised by things , it's that's why when me and Taker , when I just did Taker's podcast , I kept saying we got to stop kicking out of finishers .
Oh my gosh yeah .
Kills me Maybe at a mania . You can kick out a finisher once . You can't be kicking out of finishers at house shows .
We can have a whole side conversation about kicking out of finishers . Theo , thank you so much for your time . Appreciate you . It was a pleasure . Thanks so much . Thanks so much for watching , thank you .
This is the Wait For it Podcast .