About the Host: Nicholas Killian
You asked for it, so we're delivering! Get to know one of the hosts, Nicholas Killian in this special episode!
Transcript
This is Film Center, your number one show for real entertainment industry news.
Speaker:No fluff, all facts.
Speaker:Now, here are your anchors, Derrick Johnson II and Nicholas Killian.
Speaker:Film Center, my name is Derrick Johnson II.
Speaker:I'm Nicholas Killian.
Speaker:And today, Nicholas, I do know what we're talking about.
Speaker:What are we talking about today?
Speaker:So today, um.
Speaker:We have realized in that further request of our fans that uh, uh,
Speaker:people want to know a little bit more about us And so this is gonna be the
Speaker:first there's only two of us, right?
Speaker:So this will be the first one first out of two Um, and today we're gonna
Speaker:be talking about you nicholas Okay.
Speaker:Hello.
Speaker:Hello.
Speaker:How you been?
Speaker:I'm all right.
Speaker:Awesome.
Speaker:Awesome.
Speaker:So, Nicholas, um, how would you define, how do you want to define yourself
Speaker:to the audience outside of being an executive producer, ventilator, and
Speaker:producer, and all this other stuff?
Speaker:Um, I don't know.
Speaker:I'm just, I'm just myself.
Speaker:That's.
Speaker:That's all I am.
Speaker:You're, okay, well, what would you say that you, you do, why would you, in your
Speaker:industry, how would you define yourself?
Speaker:Oh, um, so I do what's called ventilation.
Speaker:Um, I...
Speaker:Do you define yourself as an executive producer and a ventilator?
Speaker:Yeah, yeah.
Speaker:Okay.
Speaker:Yeah, I would, I would, I would classify myself that.
Speaker:So, uh, granted that, well, let's back up a little bit.
Speaker:Um, so how long have you been in Los Angeles?
Speaker:And tell everyone where you're from, where you're from and all that good stuff.
Speaker:I'm from Baton Rouge, Louisiana.
Speaker:Oh, you're not.
Speaker:And, yeah, I am.
Speaker:No, aren't you from the outskirts of Baton Rouge?
Speaker:Go ahead, shout it out.
Speaker:I'm from Prairieville, Louisiana.
Speaker:Yeah, there it is.
Speaker:So, nobody knows where that is.
Speaker:No one knows where that is.
Speaker:But, um, and I moved out here when, let's see, I was like 21.
Speaker:So, it was February of...
Speaker:2013.
Speaker:So you originally moved out here.
Speaker:Um, uh, what did you come out here to do?
Speaker:I originally came out here to do what everybody else
Speaker:does, which is to be an actor.
Speaker:To be an actor, acting.
Speaker:Yeah, a lot of people come to Los Angeles for acting.
Speaker:What was the, um, you also did theater prior to that, right?
Speaker:Yeah, so what I did was, is I was doing theater prior to it.
Speaker:Um, I went to a casting event, met a producer, not a producer,
Speaker:I met an acting coach out there.
Speaker:And then what ended up happening is he said he had a boot camp in Los Angeles.
Speaker:So I came to Los Angeles to do the boot camp and from the boot
Speaker:camp, they partnered us up to, you know, live together somewhere.
Speaker:And then we went to theater school.
Speaker:And the theater school was different than the boot camp.
Speaker:Yes, yes, and you do that afterward after you came to Los Angeles because
Speaker:there's um, because a lot of people that listening So once again, this is
Speaker:the one or two about us We very we will not do be doing these type of episodes
Speaker:again, right those who want to hear our regularly scheduled programs Don't worry.
Speaker:You'll be back very soon, but Once again, it's you guys who asked it to
Speaker:know a little bit more about us, right?
Speaker:Exactly, and I do and who are we to deprive the fans?
Speaker:We should be interviewing especially since the interviews have been
Speaker:really popular and so people seem to be liking a lot more, right?
Speaker:And for those of you like the numbers we will be getting back to those number heavy
Speaker:episodes Um, so, but a lot of people want to move out to Los Angeles and become an
Speaker:actor or actress and things like that.
Speaker:What was your, based off of your experience, uh, because you're, you're
Speaker:not from some sort of rich background where, and you're not from some
Speaker:sort of like California background.
Speaker:You're from the South, just guy with a dream, moving out to Los Angeles.
Speaker:What's one of the, if someone else is listening and that's like what they want
Speaker:to do, just drop everything and move.
Speaker:Is there anything that might.
Speaker:Do you have some suggestions?
Speaker:Should they drive if they're close enough?
Speaker:Should they fly?
Speaker:Is it, you know, did you find someone to live prior to coming out here?
Speaker:One of, one of the suggestions that I would give is Once a, we, the bootcamp
Speaker:was over with, we went back to, we went back to our respective hometowns
Speaker:and places and stuff like that, and kept in contact, um, and figured
Speaker:out where we were going to live.
Speaker:So what I would recommend people doing is figure out where you're
Speaker:going to live before you come here.
Speaker:Before you come to California.
Speaker:And do not live in Hollywood.
Speaker:Like, like, I know that's what everybody.
Speaker:So.
Speaker:Don't live in Hollywood.
Speaker:Just what what for what?
Speaker:Uh, because it's gonna be way too expensive.
Speaker:You're not gonna like it.
Speaker:The Shine's going to erode very quickly.
Speaker:The Hall of Fame everyone knows who lives here.
Speaker:It's not awesome.
Speaker:It's covered in Yeah, it's like it's the Bourbon Street of Los Angeles.
Speaker:Yeah, exactly.
Speaker:I would totally agree with that and Yeah, I mean what I would recommend is that they
Speaker:you know Go live in like, I don't know, like Chatsworth or live in the valley.
Speaker:The valley is close, but not exactly Hollywood.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:So, um, and I mean, I think a lot of it just comes down to, you
Speaker:know, right place, right time.
Speaker:I know that sounds so, which is you, you moved in with roommates.
Speaker:I moved in with one roommate.
Speaker:Did you know them prior to living there?
Speaker:Um, we went to the bootcamp together.
Speaker:Oh, okay, so it was kind of like a little introduction.
Speaker:Right.
Speaker:Um, you...
Speaker:And then they paired us up at like the end of the bootcamp.
Speaker:With a different person?
Speaker:Uh, with the person that, you know, we kind of chose together.
Speaker:They like, oh, you guy and you guy.
Speaker:You guys.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:What was the name of this bootcamp?
Speaker:Um, it was just the, the guy's name, um.
Speaker:Would you recommend, so I would, would you recommend, would you
Speaker:recommend the, what was the name of the theater school that you went to?
Speaker:Um, LACC Theater Academy.
Speaker:LACC Theater Academy.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Where, uh, is that directly in Hollywood?
Speaker:I don't think so.
Speaker:Uh, it's like Santa Monica and something.
Speaker:Um.
Speaker:Oh, so it's Santa Monica.
Speaker:It shares, is it Santa Monica?
Speaker:I don't remember, but anyway, it is, um, on the campus of the LACC,
Speaker:the local community college, Los Angeles City College, shares a
Speaker:campus with the theater conservatory.
Speaker:So, uh, I mean, how was your experience, uh, doing that theater?
Speaker:Would you say the theater school was better than the personal bootcamp?
Speaker:Uh, well, the personal bootcamp was just kind of like a money making thing.
Speaker:Like there was some value to it, but I mean, it's.
Speaker:Would you say that?
Speaker:I mean, I haven't answered this too, but would you, would you, Nicholas,
Speaker:as someone who actually went through that, say that, you know, bootcamps
Speaker:are not as worth it as, no, not at all.
Speaker:Yeah, because I see a lot of people come to Los Angeles like, Oh,
Speaker:I'm part of an acting bootcamp.
Speaker:And to be fair, that's like a very common story.
Speaker:They get sucked into this acting bootcamp with some actor guy from like
Speaker:the seventies who did one commercial.
Speaker:And then because of that one commercial, they have some giant.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:They claim they have a new agent or a new manager, new man, new agent,
Speaker:new manager, you know, like they, they have, no, don't get me wrong.
Speaker:Some of it was valuable, but most of it was, uh, most of it was kind of BS
Speaker:and, uh, we would like do monologues and, um, one of the things that I
Speaker:didn't understand was like, um, there was a lot of like kissing scenes.
Speaker:For that or there was a kissing scene for each person like huh, for
Speaker:example, like wait, what do you wait?
Speaker:I'm sorry.
Speaker:What?
Speaker:Yes, so the guy we would have different types of we would like It could be a
Speaker:guy that's like 16 and then there's a guy that's like, you know, 21 22
Speaker:or something like that and yeah As we progressed into the boot camp, um,
Speaker:you'd have, like, a kissing scene.
Speaker:Oh, everyone has, like, one.
Speaker:It's not, like, a regular occurrence.
Speaker:Right.
Speaker:Everybody Oh, I thought you meant, like, it was a like, he was regularly
Speaker:making you guys, like, kiss each other.
Speaker:I was about to be like, Nicholas, what are you saying on this podcast?
Speaker:No, it sounds like a cult, man.
Speaker:Yeah, it sounds but no, okay, one kissing scene to, like, practice the okay.
Speaker:Yeah, right.
Speaker:And, um, I thought it was really funny because some of the guys would be like
Speaker:yeah, that you spent all day kissing chicks, and you were like, what?
Speaker:There's also, would you, would you also say this is the type
Speaker:of person that usually signs up for the acting boot camps?
Speaker:Comparative to, cause you went to an actual theater school.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Well, the, the, the bootcamp was the feeder into the theater school.
Speaker:Well, uh, so it was like the prerequisite?
Speaker:No, it was just a guy who would sit, set up, I don't know how he set it up
Speaker:for himself, but like he would, I'm sure he'd get like kickbacks from the, from
Speaker:the theater school for, for a suggestion that that's first because, um, the way
Speaker:that real life affiliate marketing.
Speaker:Right.
Speaker:So the way that it works is in any state, it's not just Los Angeles.
Speaker:Um, when you go to this conservatory, this theater school, um, the first year
Speaker:is like you're out of state, right?
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:And out state's, like five grand.
Speaker:Okay.
Speaker:That's the, yeah, that's a lot.
Speaker:And, um, so, and then it.
Speaker:It takes like, I don't know, like a year until you're no longer a resident.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:And the, the school itself I thought was pretty good.
Speaker:Then you said they kicked you out because of the Yeah, I got kicked out.
Speaker:Well, technically, it's not like, well you didn't do anything negative in the story.
Speaker:No, I didn't do anything negative.
Speaker:So why don't you enlighten, because you know, there's a lot of people who want to
Speaker:come out here and be actors and actresses.
Speaker:Alright, so why don't you enlighten them on some of, not, I don't want to
Speaker:say, to say darker is not true, right?
Speaker:The politics?
Speaker:The politics.
Speaker:Politics and some of the, cause we, uh, we always suggest off of the podcasts and
Speaker:there's certain things we can't talk about because of NDAs and there's certain things
Speaker:that we, you know, talk about Hollywood politics, talk about how to play the game,
Speaker:you know, saying, cause in, in Hollywood, I'm sure everyone out there has heard
Speaker:different things where it's, it's who, you know, or it's how much money you have.
Speaker:It's actually.
Speaker:But you can know tons of people and not be able to get something made and have
Speaker:all the money in the world and then Steal fit, uh still fail right because there's
Speaker:an element of luck to it as well, right?
Speaker:It's a really big element of luck.
Speaker:So we you know in the effort of transparency What's
Speaker:kind of happened to us?
Speaker:I want to kind of make sure that you know, we provide to you guys
Speaker:Our own personal experiences.
Speaker:So they don't happen to you.
Speaker:So you want to talk a little bit about why they, they kicked you out?
Speaker:So, um, one of the reasons, one of the things that I'll, I think.
Speaker:At least, in my particular case, when I went to this theater
Speaker:school, is you would have to...
Speaker:You do, like, first of all, you'd have to audition to get in.
Speaker:Right, of course.
Speaker:Because that's very typical and standard.
Speaker:But then, you would have to...
Speaker:You would have to have these conversations personally, one on ones, to see if
Speaker:you got asked back the next semester.
Speaker:Okay.
Speaker:Um, and...
Speaker:So you would audition to get in...
Speaker:Audition to stay.
Speaker:Audition to stay.
Speaker:Um, and...
Speaker:But also, ultimately what it was is it was, I thought it was like a money
Speaker:deal, because you'd have out of country people were paying in 2013, I think
Speaker:they were paying like 10, 11 grand a year, because you were out of country.
Speaker:And out of state were 5k.
Speaker:Out of state was like 5k.
Speaker:How many people in state did you really see being there?
Speaker:Um, well you saw, you saw a good number of in state, it
Speaker:was mostly out of state though.
Speaker:That's what I'm saying, it's mostly, it was like that when I was, I'm sorry.
Speaker:It was mostly out of state though, right?
Speaker:Yeah, it was mostly out of state because, you know, after a year...
Speaker:The tuition then drops down to like nine hundred dollars or something like that.
Speaker:So then Because in state is not as valuable.
Speaker:They need to make room for the out of staters, right?
Speaker:So what ended up happening was like yourself because you
Speaker:were you were out of state.
Speaker:Yeah, I was out of state Well, sorry, you had just become in state Yes, so You know
Speaker:a year in which is two semesters a year in You have your first, um, conference
Speaker:and they, they are like, oh, this is what we think, blah, blah, blah, right?
Speaker:Then the second one, they told me that, um, that they didn't see a future.
Speaker:And you know, all that typical stuff that, um...
Speaker:Oh, yeah, it's not fitting.
Speaker:Right.
Speaker:I think you would do better at UCLA or USC.
Speaker:Which are better schools, so.
Speaker:But I didn't want any of the extra classes.
Speaker:I didn't care about biology, I didn't care about English, you know.
Speaker:Um, so that's why I came here, and I was, I was kind of really upset about that,
Speaker:because whenever, because you have to get signed up, and then you come back,
Speaker:uh, and I had told my friends, because, uh, at this theater conservatory, you
Speaker:were spending pretty much 24 7 there.
Speaker:Right.
Speaker:You, you would get there at 7 or 8 o'clock in the morning,
Speaker:and you wouldn't leave until...
Speaker:But they didn't keep all of you who had...
Speaker:Really good talent, you know saying once you were at once you
Speaker:were in state they were like, okay Well, do we really like you right?
Speaker:Do we really like you because we liked you better when you gave us 5k A semester,
Speaker:but now that you're only giving us 900.
Speaker:It seems like it's not a good fit So maybe you might need to leave
Speaker:and then next thing, you know another outer staters Exactly.
Speaker:That's, that's what I felt it was.
Speaker:And not with that school specifically, but schools in that area and like,
Speaker:and just around Southern California in general that are theater or acting based.
Speaker:I hear that's a, that's a, that's a really big problem.
Speaker:Yeah, so, um, when I went to go tell my friends that, hey, you know, I wasn't
Speaker:asked back, they were like, oh, that's a good joke, like, blah, blah, blah.
Speaker:Mind you, I'd already been cast in a lot of all the one acts that were coming up.
Speaker:So, like, you would've had to be there.
Speaker:Right, so I was like, oh, well.
Speaker:And, uh, no, I told them, I was like, no, for real, I, I got kicked out.
Speaker:Like, they, they didn't ask me back, they didn't want me.
Speaker:Whatever you want to call it.
Speaker:Whatever you want to say, yeah.
Speaker:Um, ended up doing really well for me cause I went and, uh, I went and
Speaker:acted in, you know, student films and, You also did a web series.
Speaker:Web series, yeah.
Speaker:How was, how was, how did that come about?
Speaker:Um, the web series came about because, um, there was this, um, there was this
Speaker:place that you could go audition at.
Speaker:Um, I can't remember the place right now, but it was the only place
Speaker:where you could see, it was the place you went for like the student
Speaker:films and the ultra low budgets.
Speaker:And, you signed up with a website there, and...
Speaker:Was it Actors Access or something?
Speaker:Uh, it wasn't Actors Access, it was...
Speaker:Was it Casting?
Speaker:C A Z T.
Speaker:C A Z T.
Speaker:Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker:If you remember that, um, you could create a website, uh, a profile on
Speaker:there, and their big thing was is they would store your auditions for
Speaker:you, but they would also let the...
Speaker:Casting director and director leave notes on that particular.
Speaker:Which I'm sure is very helpful for actors getting notes from directors.
Speaker:Yeah, so, um, I was submitting on there and got the, um, it
Speaker:was called about us web series.
Speaker:So I got the breakdown and the character.
Speaker:What made you really want to do this one compared to the other ones?
Speaker:It was the only offer.
Speaker:It was the only, it was the only fish that bit.
Speaker:It's like that sometimes.
Speaker:Um, and so I got there and I'd seen the cast break down.
Speaker:And I was sitting there, had the audition.
Speaker:The guy in front of me, I thought, was doing all this loud, obnoxious,
Speaker:you know, bunch of stuff.
Speaker:Too much?
Speaker:And I was like, man, they must have changed the breakdown
Speaker:because it says deadpan character.
Speaker:This is not at all deadpan.
Speaker:Not if you're yelling and being emotional.
Speaker:So I went to go sit down and I said, hey, excuse me, did you, did
Speaker:the character breakdown change?
Speaker:Because I heard the last guy and he was really loud and boisterous.
Speaker:And the way you guys have the breakdown is deadpan monotone.
Speaker:They're like, Oh no, you know, you got it.
Speaker:He was just an idiot.
Speaker:Like we don't know what he was doing.
Speaker:So, um, I did the audition and they really liked it and, you know, got cast.
Speaker:How long did, how many seasons did you do?
Speaker:Oh, we did two seasons.
Speaker:Um, how many episodes were in each one?
Speaker:Cause it was on IMDb actually.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:I think it was, uh, 10 episodes, maybe.
Speaker:Maybe seven to ten.
Speaker:So, is there anything about being in a series that people
Speaker:might want to know about?
Speaker:Um, well I was more, yeah, a series.
Speaker:It's um, I mean it's Cause there's a lot, like, there's a lot of
Speaker:scripts to memorize, right?
Speaker:Yeah, uh, my thing was is that I, is they didn't know how
Speaker:much they wanted me in there.
Speaker:Really?
Speaker:So, like, cause I was technically guest starring.
Speaker:But you were, but you ended up being like a fan favorite, right?
Speaker:Yeah, I ended up, I ended up being a fan favorite, um, to the jealousy of
Speaker:some of the other regular cast mates But yeah, so he had he kind of had
Speaker:trouble fine, you know securing financing for the first season Yeah, we got it.
Speaker:He got it done.
Speaker:We we shot the first season and the second season.
Speaker:I remember I'd made a I made a joke to the creator and was like, Oh,
Speaker:you know, everybody else is getting romances, you know, uh, Well, I get one.
Speaker:Why don't I, you know, what's, you gonna leave, you gonna
Speaker:leave him out in the cold?
Speaker:And he was like, uh, actually, I think he's gonna, I think
Speaker:I'm gonna write him gay.
Speaker:And I was like And the character was not originally written that way.
Speaker:He was not originally written that way.
Speaker:And so he kinda just shoehorned that in there.
Speaker:Just for no reason.
Speaker:I I He shoehorned it in there and I was just like Because I was happy to be in
Speaker:the show, I really didn't say anything about it, and then whenever it came
Speaker:out, that, um, you know, he was, that's the way he was, which I don't have a
Speaker:problem with, but I wasn't talked about.
Speaker:Right.
Speaker:And also, he wasn't like a character made.
Speaker:That was already homosexual to begin with, right?
Speaker:So it's part of his character.
Speaker:It's kind of like probably doing it for marketing purposes Oh, he's he's
Speaker:this person's a homosexual now because whenever I tried to call him about it be
Speaker:like, hey, man like, you know, like I I don't have a problem with this but like
Speaker:also I have a problem with this because It wasn't like this before this was not
Speaker:how the character was written, right?
Speaker:And it seems kind of fake Right, right And, uh, he wouldn't take my call, though.
Speaker:Like, I, he wouldn't take my call.
Speaker:The next time I saw him was at the season two premiere.
Speaker:Um, and my, uh, girlfriend at the time, we went around the room,
Speaker:like, introducing ourselves.
Speaker:And my girlfriend at the time was, one of her things that she liked to
Speaker:do was, um, or she did, was, she was like, I'm Nicholas's girlfriend and
Speaker:I can't wait to meet his boyfriend.
Speaker:No, that's what you say.
Speaker:That's a really good line.
Speaker:And, um, so, uh, and the DP on the shoot was, um, upset with me.
Speaker:Uh.
Speaker:With the season 2 premiere because he thought I had a
Speaker:problem with, with gay guys.
Speaker:Or with, you know, people that were gay.
Speaker:And I was like, I mean, if I was, if I really had a problem,
Speaker:why would I be in entertainment?
Speaker:Right, exactly.
Speaker:Not only that.
Speaker:The character wasn't originally written that way.
Speaker:This is this is just a fake marketing ploy, which is really more insulting
Speaker:Right and I I talk to other people and be like, hey, am I homophobic for this?
Speaker:Like am I sometimes you gotta check yourself.
Speaker:Sometimes you gotta say.
Speaker:Oh, am I a problem?
Speaker:Right.
Speaker:And, um, I didn't think the character was original.
Speaker:And whenever I asked him, Hey, what he was like, Oh, well, it was last
Speaker:season that, that it was obvious.
Speaker:I was like, how I'm the actor.
Speaker:Like, I was like, I'm just genuinely curious.
Speaker:And he was like, well, the guy you're at the end of the season,
Speaker:the, at the end of the episode seven episode, you were sitting with a guy.
Speaker:And I was like, that doesn't constitute.
Speaker:I, I don't, you walked in with a guy and you sat down with him.
Speaker:I was like, um, I don't, I don't really think this is.
Speaker:Yeah, that's kind of, that's kind of right.
Speaker:How long were they each episode?
Speaker:Um, maybe like 10, 15 minutes.
Speaker:So...
Speaker:It was released on YouTube.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Okay.
Speaker:And then, uh, how did you get into ventilating?
Speaker:Um, the way I got into ventilating was the, what is ventilating
Speaker:for those who don't know?
Speaker:So ventilating.
Speaker:Our ventilation work, or tying hair, is basically making facial hair
Speaker:pieces, or wig fronts, or stuff like that, and what you do is you take
Speaker:this hook and you put it in a hole and you tie the hair around that hole.
Speaker:Strand by strand, piece by piece.
Speaker:Strand by strand.
Speaker:So each hair is actually put in individually.
Speaker:Right.
Speaker:Which can take, uh, some time.
Speaker:Yeah, it can take a good amount of time.
Speaker:Well, I had to leave.
Speaker:And about 2000, beginning of 2016, I had to leave Los Angeles
Speaker:because I was in so much debt.
Speaker:Right.
Speaker:I was like 50 grand in debt or something like that.
Speaker:My parents were like, hey, you gotta like, what are you gonna do?
Speaker:Like, right.
Speaker:Um, so I originally moved back and worked in construction for a couple of years.
Speaker:And then I moved.
Speaker:Back out here in 2019, back to his place.
Speaker:Uh, 'cause he was my, uh, makeup artist, teacher in theater school.
Speaker:You say his, uh, your, your, your current, so your current mentor in violating
Speaker:right's, what you're talking about.
Speaker:Okay.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:And so I don't even know if you're allowed to say his name.
Speaker:Are, are you, ah, I don't know.
Speaker:This'll done, let's not, um, but, but anyway, once again, this is one of those
Speaker:NDA things that, cause he's working on a certain project right now, but right,
Speaker:so nevermind, this is a continue the, um, I was living at his house, right?
Speaker:Right?
Speaker:Cause that's where I was living towards the end of it.
Speaker:Um, and I came back to live with him again.
Speaker:And he said, Hey, would you like to learn how to do this facial hair stuff?
Speaker:And I was like, Yeah, sure.
Speaker:Why not?
Speaker:He's like, this is a trade that you could actually learn.
Speaker:So, over the past couple of years, I've been learning how to do it.
Speaker:So, like, um, we did work with, uh, I remember you did
Speaker:the, uh, the Grinch costume.
Speaker:Yeah, we did the Grinch stuff.
Speaker:So, the most recent Grinch costume that you guys will see.
Speaker:It's, it's, uh, this is 2023, uh, November.
Speaker:I think today is, yeah, it's November 20th.
Speaker:So, the newer Grinch suit that came out, like, earlier this year.
Speaker:Yeah, that's, that's we, um, I did, um, the facial hair piece at the
Speaker:top with, uh, with my, uh, mentor.
Speaker:And then we did, uh, then we did J.
Speaker:K.
Speaker:Simmons beard.
Speaker:Yeah, on his most recent project.
Speaker:Um, and then, um...
Speaker:We've got some, uh, another Disney project that I'm working on right now.
Speaker:Yeah, actually a pretty big Disney project, but once again, NDAs, so,
Speaker:but yeah, so do you have any advice for people who like, so you might
Speaker:think that's, that's, that's, there's not a lot of ventilators, just like
Speaker:what, like 10 ventilators all in, in all of Los Angeles for the most part.
Speaker:Probably, yeah.
Speaker:This is not really a, uh, something that's like, oh, that's what I want to do.
Speaker:Right.
Speaker:Yeah, no.
Speaker:Do you think people even know that that even happens?
Speaker:Because I guess they think all of them are done by machines.
Speaker:For example, for someone out there who doesn't know, why would they choose you
Speaker:to put in a strand of hair piece by piece?
Speaker:Is they just making the machine that does the wigs do it?
Speaker:Because it needs a human touch.
Speaker:You have certain directions, you have certain ways that you have to style it.
Speaker:Um, for bulk, you know, there's a machine that could do the bulk of it, but what
Speaker:we do is called figure finishing work.
Speaker:And figure finishing means like for the Grinch suit, right?
Speaker:They're going to do, there are many different jobs of people
Speaker:that make this Grinch costume.
Speaker:You have costumers, you have, uh, you have special effects.
Speaker:You have, um, just a bunch of people that work on it.
Speaker:But what you do is figure finishing, which is the facial hair on the Grinch.
Speaker:And the thing is, the reason why it's so important is there's no buffer.
Speaker:From you to the camera.
Speaker:It's just there's nobody checking your stuff There's no style and it's like
Speaker:when you like like after you the hair is plugged in you got a curl it you
Speaker:got it You get a clip it and like cut it to a certain length cut and style
Speaker:it cut and style it something that a barber is Basically doing right,
Speaker:right, which there is no machine.
Speaker:It does barber stuff yeah, and so you're there's no buffer between you
Speaker:and the And the team in the film, and they can be pretty expensive.
Speaker:Yeah, they can get they can get pretty expensive.
Speaker:Um, I had a dj here a while back um wanted to Get some mustaches.
Speaker:Yeah, one of my um One of my friends was producing something and they wanted
Speaker:um, actually several of my friends have asked you for stuff before and just
Speaker:uh, that's several but like I don't I don't think people realize how That the
Speaker:first thing I asked you for that project fell through and then I had some other
Speaker:friends of ours ask and I didn't know it cost that much cuz yeah, it's not a
Speaker:five dollar like cut mustache, right?
Speaker:Right.
Speaker:It looks like I was supposed to replace a real one.
Speaker:Yes, you're supposed to replace it with a real one and it depends on
Speaker:what you're shooting like The thing is, is whenever people are asking you
Speaker:questions, and then you respond to them with more questions, they get a little
Speaker:frustrated because It's like, oh, okay.
Speaker:Well, I want a mustache.
Speaker:I was like, okay.
Speaker:Well, what kind of mustache?
Speaker:What kind of hair do you want to use?
Speaker:What reference kind of lace do you want to use?
Speaker:What kind of?
Speaker:Talk talk about the different laces just super fast.
Speaker:Um, so you have what's called um, Film lace or maybe maybe maybe
Speaker:you should start at the beginning.
Speaker:So if you're going to make a mustache of uh, Like making J.
Speaker:K.
Speaker:Simmons mustache, what does that process look like?
Speaker:The process looks like, first of all, like you said, um, you have to have
Speaker:reference images, you have to know what kind of hair you're gonna use,
Speaker:what kind of lace Color wise, right?
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Um, there's this thing called color blending.
Speaker:You know, you have to blend it to look like the beard.
Speaker:You have to, like I said, you have to know what color it is.
Speaker:What color you're going to use?
Speaker:What kind of hair you're going to use?
Speaker:You have to say, okay, what kind of film lace are you going to use?
Speaker:Are you going to use theatrical film lace or theatrical lace, or
Speaker:are you going to use, how fine of a lace are you going to use?
Speaker:So there's some fine lace and theatrical lace.
Speaker:Theatrical I'm assuming is the one that they use on stages, but I guess
Speaker:that's more durable than I guess.
Speaker:Oh very much durable Yeah, yeah So the thinner ones are used
Speaker:for when you're on close ups and film and stuff like that, right?
Speaker:Because it's not supposed to look like you have right but if i'm if i'm 75
Speaker:feet away I'm not gonna be able to tell that you have that that lacing.
Speaker:It's like way more durable Wait way more durable and and you're tying
Speaker:the hair to all the laces Yes, yeah.
Speaker:And there's different sections that you tie.
Speaker:It's different ways.
Speaker:There's different techniques of using different knots, different knots.
Speaker:Um, there's called direction.
Speaker:Um, yeah, I've had a, I've had a lot of people be really interested in it,
Speaker:but it's, it's very intricate and it's very, and it's also finding out hard
Speaker:to find someone to teach you because once again, there's only 10 of them.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Right.
Speaker:And it's not, it's not a sexy craft.
Speaker:No, it's not one though.
Speaker:Popular, like acting or like directing.
Speaker:So that's something that you, that you hear often enough, right?
Speaker:Like, Oh, I can get famous off of this.
Speaker:This is not something that will make you famous, but it will make you money.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:It'll make you, it'll make you a lot of money because nobody wants to do it.
Speaker:Right.
Speaker:Right.
Speaker:So, um, when you see TV movies and mustaches, like.
Speaker:TV mustache is like you probably tell like, oh, which ones are good or not?
Speaker:Yeah, you you definitely can after a while.
Speaker:That's that's why my teacher tells me that this this Um, since he's a makeup
Speaker:artist this craft has stolen the magic away from me Watch your movies just be
Speaker:judging everybody because he said all I do is just judge the work there It's hard for
Speaker:me to kind of like get lost in the movie.
Speaker:Yeah, it's like, uh So, I also saw some videos on VanilatingOnce where
Speaker:it's like they were like tying shoestrings to like a basketball.
Speaker:Net, you know, it's way way bigger.
Speaker:Those holes are obviously than on a lace.
Speaker:Would you say it's good practice?
Speaker:Maybe for like it looks like it was someone's practicing
Speaker:and they were like 10.
Speaker:They would do this Yeah, I've seen those videos as well.
Speaker:I think what it's supposed to do is kind of the process of learning
Speaker:how to tie the knot is very frustrating because It's basic.
Speaker:It's a strand of hair and you have to turn it easy to break You have
Speaker:to turn it in certain directions for it to, to be able to tie the knot,
Speaker:and it's very hard to teach that.
Speaker:So what they do is they blow it up in size so they can kind of
Speaker:conceptually show you how it's done.
Speaker:No, I didn't learn that way.
Speaker:Would you like to learn that way?
Speaker:Uh, I think it's more comprehensive than just kind of Would you, if you started
Speaker:like that and then went to where you are now, would you think that would be easier?
Speaker:Yeah, it'd probably have been easier.
Speaker:But you learned in the trenches, huh?
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Um, yeah.
Speaker:But I mean, that's the thing, though.
Speaker:Like, whenever you're doing this type of work, you kind of have
Speaker:to just struggle through it.
Speaker:Because a lot of it...
Speaker:Then becomes muscle memory Cool, cool.
Speaker:Very cool.
Speaker:Nicholas.
Speaker:Well, uh guys has been the first Episode of kind of get to know us the
Speaker:host Nicholas anything else that you want to tell people about you or not?
Speaker:Really?
Speaker:No That really all right.
Speaker:Cool working.
Speaker:They follow you outside the Southern Senpai's Instagram
Speaker:and TikTok and stuff like that.
Speaker:Where else, where do you follow Nicholas?
Speaker:Oh, they can follow me at, uh, Nicholas Killian, um, N, so two Ns, so K I L L
Speaker:Nicholas Killian with two Ns at the end.
Speaker:Right, um, on Instagram, and that's about it.
Speaker:Oh, cool.
Speaker:Well, guys, thanks for listening.
Speaker:My name's Derek Johnson II.
Speaker:I'm Nicholas Killian.
Speaker:And we'll talk to you later.
Speaker:See y'all.
Speaker:This has been Film Center on Comic Con Radio.
Speaker:Check out our previous episodes at FilmCenterNews.
Speaker:com.
Speaker:Sign up for our newsletter and get the Hollywood trade straight to you.
Speaker:You can follow the show at Film Center News on all major platforms.
Speaker:Tune in next week for a fresh update.
Speaker:Until next time, this has been Film Center.
