Navigating Hollywood with Ryan Padilla
Nicholas and Derek Talk to Actor Ryan Padilla about how he got into acting and why his family is so supportive of his chosen career path.
Transcript
This is Film Center.
Speaker:Your number one show for real entertainment industry news.
Speaker:No fluff, all facts.
Speaker:Now, here are your anchors, Derek Johnson II and Nicholas Killian.
Speaker:Film Center, my name's Derek Johnson II.
Speaker:I'm Nicholas Killian.
Speaker:And today we have a special guest we're here with.
Speaker:Ryan Padilla.
Speaker:Ryan, how you doing?
Speaker:Great, happy to be here, happy to discuss things with you guys.
Speaker:Awesome.
Speaker:Awesome.
Speaker:First of all Thank you so much for driving the hour and a
Speaker:half it took you to get here.
Speaker:Yeah, we, as a mobile show, we probably should've just
Speaker:went somewhere closer to him.
Speaker:I don't know if you knew this was a mobile, we could do mobile.
Speaker:Next time we'll be closer to you.
Speaker:I'll be sure to write that in the next email.
Speaker:Yeah you guys are smart.
Speaker:No, it was nothing, I was happy to do this.
Speaker:I had space in the schedule, it all worked out.
Speaker:I'm happy to be a part of the project, happy to be here and contribute.
Speaker:Ryan, you wanna tell us a little bit about where you're from?
Speaker:Oh yeah, L.
Speaker:A.
Speaker:born and raised.
Speaker:Oh, a native.
Speaker:It seems rare around here.
Speaker:Honestly, I get that all the time, especially just hanging out in L.
Speaker:A.
Speaker:and doing actor y things, going to actor y events.
Speaker:Everyone's like, where are you from?
Speaker:Where are you from?
Speaker:And I'm like, I'm from L.
Speaker:A.
Speaker:What?
Speaker:Where in L.
Speaker:A.?
Speaker:Family's originally from Boyle Heights, so East L.
Speaker:A.
Speaker:And then we moved out to Walnut, which is by West Covina
Speaker:Diamond Bar, if you're familiar.
Speaker:It's right on the outskirts of L.
Speaker:A.
Speaker:County.
Speaker:About like 45 minutes east of downtown no traffic.
Speaker:What some people don't understand is that because my parents are they live in
Speaker:Tennessee Okay, and I always have to tell them like they're like, oh, it's as close
Speaker:to this as in LA And I was like just cuz in LA doesn't mean but you live in LA.
Speaker:LA is one of the biggest Humongous places you will go in our city.
Speaker:Yeah, mom thinks LA is just California Like whenever it is.
Speaker:Let's be honest here, there's SF and then there's la.
Speaker:That's California.
Speaker:She doesn't really understand because when we were having all those
Speaker:earthquakes in Central California back a couple years ago, I'd always
Speaker:get phone calls at eight o'clock in the morning being like, are you okay?
Speaker:And I was like.
Speaker:What are you talking about?
Speaker:I heard this earthquake and I was like, mom, that's 300 miles away from me.
Speaker:And she was like, so you're okay?
Speaker:Yeah, mom.
Speaker:I'm I heard he was in Los An it was in California like near Los Angeles.
Speaker:I was like That could be anything.
Speaker:That could be anything.
Speaker:Granted, we did have a few the last year here in SoCal and
Speaker:I remember waking up to one.
Speaker:It wasn't even bad I had to wake up to one.
Speaker:Restroom break anyways.
Speaker:And it just started shaking like, Oh, okay.
Speaker:I remember my first earthquake when I, cause I'm from Tennessee first
Speaker:earthquake when I came out here because my roommates at the time they were,
Speaker:I was in film school and they were playing some really loud bass music in
Speaker:the living room and I came outside, I came out to my room and was like, Hey
Speaker:guys, you can turn down a little bit.
Speaker:I'm doing some work in here.
Speaker:They're like, yeah, sure.
Speaker:I go back in my room and the whole thing just starts vibrating.
Speaker:I went to my house what are you guys doing?
Speaker:They're like, The TV's not on bro.
Speaker:I was like What is going on?
Speaker:Yeah, cuz we have hurricanes back home, that's right, we don't have
Speaker:earthquakes so when the ground moves we're like It's a little different.
Speaker:What do you do?
Speaker:It's a little different.
Speaker:It's a little different.
Speaker:It's really interesting too because I have a lot of friends from out
Speaker:of town as well and they're like, I haven't had an earthquake yet.
Speaker:I'm like scared.
Speaker:Honestly, it's more fun than anything.
Speaker:Until the big one comes and takes us all.
Speaker:But, up until that point, it's pretty fun.
Speaker:When California gets its own island.
Speaker:Exactly.
Speaker:It's good for LA all over.
Speaker:I was working at this rich old folks home years ago, and I was on break,
Speaker:and all of a sudden just the whole place started shaking, and all the
Speaker:housekeepers, they were all running around, and I was like, I was just
Speaker:sitting there, I was like, What do you do?
Speaker:I didn't even know what to do.
Speaker:I was just like, I just froze.
Speaker:I was like nothing falls on me.
Speaker:Yeah, my first instinct was to go outside and then my friend was like
Speaker:don't do it That's because you're going to be in a stairwell or something like
Speaker:that where it's worse You're going to get tripped up on the way to outside.
Speaker:Yeah I think the original thing is you're supposed to stand in a doorway
Speaker:because that's the strongest part in the room archways Yeah, I don't know who's
Speaker:skinny enough to only survive from being outside Got to be, got to get real,
Speaker:suck it in real tight, get real skinny.
Speaker:And in school, he teaches the duck under, duck and cover, right?
Speaker:Like you'd go under your desk and then you'd cover yourself as if that's going
Speaker:to protect you from a beam falling down.
Speaker:It's the same in the fifties when they were teaching kids,
Speaker:Oh, you have to duck under your desk in case of a nuclear blast.
Speaker:Yeah, the nuclear blast.
Speaker:That's going to do absolutely nothing.
Speaker:It makes them Or hide in a refrigerator.
Speaker:I remember.
Speaker:Oh yeah.
Speaker:I remember watching that with my, who's a chemist and he was like, what?
Speaker:I was like, what do you mean?
Speaker:He goes, I don't understand what just happened.
Speaker:I was like, what do you mean?
Speaker:He got into the fridge, right?
Speaker:And explode.
Speaker:He goes, I'm not blind.
Speaker:I just don't, I don't get what's happening here.
Speaker:That was the moment I was like, Oh no, this one's not going to be it.
Speaker:It's just security theater.
Speaker:That's all it is.
Speaker:So since you're here.
Speaker:So you lived in LA your whole life.
Speaker:Did you, is this what got you into the acting bug here?
Speaker:Honestly, it was just having a healthy interest in growing up.
Speaker:My parents loved movies.
Speaker:My family cousins that are like 15 years older than me,
Speaker:they loved movies and music.
Speaker:So my whole family is huge in media, music and film.
Speaker:They're not in the industry at all, but they're just cute, avid lovers of it.
Speaker:These big connoisseurs.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:So the conversation.
Speaker:For you to be an actor was probably a pretty smooth one, no?
Speaker:There wasn't even a conversation.
Speaker:My parents I won the lotto with my immediate family,
Speaker:with my parents and my sister.
Speaker:Just utterly supportive, no matter what, and no matter what's going on,
Speaker:just constant support, and That just led to me being able to do whatever I
Speaker:want to do, and they'll have my back.
Speaker:So that's fantastic.
Speaker:Yeah, we don't get a lot of those stories around here.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:That's granted.
Speaker:I do have my quote unquote backup, so I did go there, so they weren't
Speaker:worried no matter what I did, but I still played a safe route, went
Speaker:to college, got my degree, got my you What did you get a degree in?
Speaker:I'm a software engineer, so Oh, so that's why they're so okay with it.
Speaker:You have something to fall back on.
Speaker:That is true, just in case.
Speaker:But I had expressed the interest long before when I was a kid growing up.
Speaker:Oh, I want to be an actor, I want to do this, I want to do that.
Speaker:I did when I was in like, elementary school, middle school, but then stopped.
Speaker:Oh, the mandatory theater.
Speaker:Yes, exactly.
Speaker:No, the plays.
Speaker:You didn't have to be in the plays and stuff.
Speaker:Oh, okay.
Speaker:All the time.
Speaker:But, I did those, and then got into sports when I was in middle
Speaker:school switched over there.
Speaker:What'd you play?
Speaker:Interest.
Speaker:Baseball and football.
Speaker:Oh, and then positions.
Speaker:Did you play baseball?
Speaker:Was you're kinda tall.
Speaker:You weren't a lineman, were you?
Speaker:No, I was not a lineman.
Speaker:Skinny?
Speaker:No.
Speaker:A wide receiver.
Speaker:Huh?
Speaker:Skinny.
Speaker:I was a receiver and a cornerback.
Speaker:I was better at a corner for baseball.
Speaker:I was left field and second base.
Speaker:There's a reason there's no white cornerbacks.
Speaker:. Hey, . Hey.
Speaker:It's Hey man, you wanna play quarterback?
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:When you got into high school, what happened then?
Speaker:High school just.
Speaker:Actually, that's when I ended up joining a band and toured a little
Speaker:bit with a hardcore metal band.
Speaker:I was about to say, I thought you were, I didn't know if you were
Speaker:talking about like a band or it's the band, which is in school.
Speaker:Because Nicholas played in the band.
Speaker:Yeah, I played in the band.
Speaker:Which instrument?
Speaker:I played trumpet.
Speaker:Okay.
Speaker:I like trumpets.
Speaker:Everybody was hating on the trumpets because we've got all the cool parts.
Speaker:Trumpets dope.
Speaker:I enjoy trumpet, but yeah, so I played guitar and bass.
Speaker:And toured my metal band in high school, so I took that shift, and then went to
Speaker:college, got busy with life in college as one kind of gets wrapped up in.
Speaker:Sounds like you've just been pivoting your whole life, man.
Speaker:I've been doing This guy's been sandboxing, I'm gonna
Speaker:do whatever I want to do.
Speaker:That's 100 percent what it's been like, just trying everything that I seem to
Speaker:enjoy, and trying my best at it, and then seeing what sticks, basically.
Speaker:Post college was when I took acting seriously.
Speaker:Where did you go to college?
Speaker:UC Irvine, down in Orange County.
Speaker:Okay.
Speaker:Nice.
Speaker:How did you like that?
Speaker:Oh, it was great.
Speaker:UCI has a beautiful campus.
Speaker:It's one of the best schools out here.
Speaker:And one of the top schools for computer science.
Speaker:It was just a great experience.
Speaker:Loved it.
Speaker:Wasn't a struggle for me, thankfully.
Speaker:And because you were just that smart.
Speaker:I am a computer nerd.
Speaker:Let me get my hour of studying in and then I can go party.
Speaker:Pretty much how it worked out.
Speaker:That's also when I got into dancing too.
Speaker:So I started B boying in college too.
Speaker:Oh dude, I was a pro break dancer.
Speaker:Oh, all yeah.
Speaker:Yeah, really my early years in college when I was 18, 19
Speaker:and 20 is pro break dancer.
Speaker:Oh, sick.
Speaker:And which crew were you in?
Speaker:It was in Volatomics.
Speaker:Shout out to Knoxville.
Speaker:Okay.
Speaker:That's our hood.
Speaker:That's our, hey, don't know nothing about that.
Speaker:I don't, I'm not familiar with the crews in Tennessee.
Speaker:Yeah, no, we are.
Speaker:We're a local crew there.
Speaker:And if you ever get the chance, if you like that whole scene, the B Boy
Speaker:scenes, don't forget to check out Rocket Town, Nashville, Rocket Town.
Speaker:I remember my parents did not want me to go to one of the, our breaking tours.
Speaker:Because, I don't know, for some reason I was studying.
Speaker:I actually don't remember, it was something about my grades.
Speaker:Even though I never had bad grades, but they were like,
Speaker:Oh, your grades might drop, da.
Speaker:So I remember being like, okay, cool, I won't go.
Speaker:And then immediately going to my BYU mates, I'm like, okay, so we're
Speaker:going, just no one post me on social media, and I'll get away with this.
Speaker:Yeah, for sure.
Speaker:Yeah, definitely.
Speaker:And I remember they called me, this was right before, so we're pulling up
Speaker:on Rocket Town, because they're having some, one of the tour events there.
Speaker:Okay.
Speaker:And, they called me, and they were like, Hey, DJ, what are you doing?
Speaker:I was like, nothing.
Speaker:They're like, it sounds like there's a lot of hip hop music.
Speaker:I was like, yeah, let's do one while I'm studying.
Speaker:They're like, you're studying to Biggie.
Speaker:Yep.
Speaker:I'm just like hard ball.
Speaker:That's me.
Speaker:I just, they got to pass this grade.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:B boying is great.
Speaker:So then you took acting more seriously afterwards.
Speaker:And what made you decide that, okay, now I'm, I've done a
Speaker:whole bunch of other stuff.
Speaker:What made you be like, Oh, I'm just going to go for it now.
Speaker:So I was.
Speaker:Trying to be a music producer after college as well.
Speaker:And so I was doing that at the same time as taking classes like simple classes
Speaker:for acting, not just like dipping my toes in and decided, you know what,
Speaker:I'm going to go full born acting as well as music production just cause
Speaker:I have the time and the ability to.
Speaker:So I did both and then one fateful trip to Vegas.
Speaker:I brought my, and after, so long story short, had a bunch of music,
Speaker:Made a bunch of music, external hard drive dies, waiting to buy a new one.
Speaker:I take my laptop that has the original copies to Vegas.
Speaker:And we're in Vegas and my laptop gets stolen out of our room.
Speaker:Whoa, all of my music is gone.
Speaker:No, the originals are gone.
Speaker:Originals are gone.
Speaker:This is, these are the days before Google drive was active.
Speaker:There was like very simple things back then that I didn't use cause neglectful.
Speaker:So God yeah, and I was like, I'm not gonna go back and do all of this again.
Speaker:We're just gonna try acting completely.
Speaker:So I went full time into acting.
Speaker:The man was like, I told you no the first time.
Speaker:Now I'm really saying no.
Speaker:This man has done everything.
Speaker:Next I'm gonna prove the theory of everything.
Speaker:So I went full bore into it.
Speaker:Did all the classes you're supposed to, quote unquote, in L.
Speaker:A.
Speaker:and stuff.
Speaker:Kind of building up that resume.
Speaker:Got my first agent, commercial agent.
Speaker:And then, slowly built myself from there.
Speaker:Life takes on a mind of its own sometimes.
Speaker:And that's when things veer off course here and there.
Speaker:So I was like on and off for ten years, taking classes here and there.
Speaker:And then one day on a music video shoot that I was on, I was like, I'm feeling,
Speaker:I was out of class at this point.
Speaker:And I was like feeling, I'm losing it.
Speaker:My craft is lacking.
Speaker:Something's wrong.
Speaker:Something's bad.
Speaker:I need to hop back in.
Speaker:And one of the buddies that I made on this music video turned
Speaker:me onto his teacher, Joshua Baton.
Speaker:I Who is a stellar working actor, but also amazing acting teacher.
Speaker:And so I got turned on to him, went to his class and basically hopped into a
Speaker:scene study, which turned into a full on Meisner technique two year program.
Speaker:And jumped into that and really cut my teeth in that program and
Speaker:kind of relearned what acting is.
Speaker:Not even relearned.
Speaker:Basically learned how to act from there.
Speaker:Cause this is the second time I did Meisner technique.
Speaker:And this time it actually stuck.
Speaker:For the audience at home, can you explain what Meisner technique is for them?
Speaker:So there are several different acting techniques.
Speaker:You got Stanislavski, you got Stella Adler's technique, you got
Speaker:Meissner, a bunch of different ones you can choose from.
Speaker:I just fell into this one Meissner technique, which was taught by
Speaker:Sanford Meissner in New York.
Speaker:And he bestowed his main students that became the other teachers, like
Speaker:the big teachers that would go on to teach all the Oscar winners of today.
Speaker:Not all, but several Oscar winners of today.
Speaker:And then a plethora of other students, including my mentor,
Speaker:Joshua Baton, same teacher.
Speaker:And so he became a teacher himself, and thankfully bestowed his knowledge.
Speaker:And Meisner Technique is just another way of basically the main quote from
Speaker:Meisner's acting that acting is living under truthful, living truthfully
Speaker:under imaginary circumstances.
Speaker:So that's the whole spiel for Meisner Technique and then trying to break
Speaker:away from what It's internalized in what we learn day to day in our daily
Speaker:lives from growing up in society and polite society, whatever society we're
Speaker:in, environments we're living in.
Speaker:We build up these walls and these ways of thinking and acting that, and
Speaker:acting as if we're talking right now.
Speaker:I'm sitting at a table, just being and existing in a moment, in any given moment.
Speaker:And so what Meisner Technique teaches you is how to break down all
Speaker:those walls and all those barriers so you're at your rawest form.
Speaker:So you learn how to listen, number one, listen, really listen to other people
Speaker:and when they talk and when you're in an actual scene, which you even
Speaker:get later, way later in the program.
Speaker:But how to really listen to somebody and then how to react and
Speaker:respond from a raw, natural point.
Speaker:And then, from there, we apply that knowledge and that,
Speaker:those techniques to a script.
Speaker:And learn how to relate ourselves to some words on a page.
Speaker:And then how to react and respond truthfully in the moment to the
Speaker:other person's words on the page.
Speaker:And really listen to them and hear them.
Speaker:Do you have any siblings?
Speaker:I have one older sister.
Speaker:One older sister?
Speaker:Mhm.
Speaker:The only reason I ask is because I, it's very funny.
Speaker:A lot of really good actors that I know usually have siblings.
Speaker:And there was an interesting study done by, I think his name's Stephen
Speaker:Fellow, Stephen something like that.
Speaker:He usually does I like looking at the written reports of like scripts
Speaker:and like data and stuff like that.
Speaker:So he had this other data points that he made about actors and actresses.
Speaker:And all of the top actors and actresses had siblings.
Speaker:And one of the interviews Were they older or younger?
Speaker:Across the board.
Speaker:They just had siblings.
Speaker:They just had siblings.
Speaker:People to interact with.
Speaker:Basically, one of the, one of his interviews, I forget what actress
Speaker:said this, but she goes, When you have a sibling, you lie to them all the
Speaker:time, so you're pretty good at it.
Speaker:I have three sisters.
Speaker:I'm like, yeah, this is pretty, yeah.
Speaker:It's pretty accurate.
Speaker:Yeah, it's pretty accurate.
Speaker:With an oversimplification of Meisner, no disrespect to it, because I did it
Speaker:for a little bit and I had friends, and it's basically showing you that
Speaker:words are meaningless, and that, for example, you would say cardboard.
Speaker:But you would say it over and over again, but it with different
Speaker:tone, different inflection.
Speaker:No.
Speaker:So that what you're talking about is the repetition exercise and that's merely
Speaker:an exercise to get you out of your own head and really put your focus on
Speaker:your partner and learn how to listen.
Speaker:That's not Meisner technique.
Speaker:That is a exercise that is taught and used when learning Meisner Technique.
Speaker:But it's not the core of the technique.
Speaker:It is not Meisner Technique.
Speaker:That is a piece that you learn in like the first year, and you do that, and
Speaker:it's really to get you out of your own head, out of your own mind, and
Speaker:really listen and pay attention to how someone says something, and how
Speaker:you're going to respond to it as well.
Speaker:Okay.
Speaker:Being an actor here in LA, first of all, There's a lot of, there's,
Speaker:especially recently, there's been this large whole of like new faces when
Speaker:it comes to movies and television.
Speaker:I used to work and develop it myself.
Speaker:I know what it feels like when I see a script where I see something great
Speaker:and they're just like, Oh, cool.
Speaker:Call Zendaya.
Speaker:All right.
Speaker:It's funny you say, mention her because one of the other younger actresses on
Speaker:Euphoria just complained how she hadn't booked a single thing while Zendaya is
Speaker:out booking every movie known to man and making all this money and making
Speaker:all this things, all these things while Euphoria is on hold because
Speaker:she's off doing everything else.
Speaker:And then this other actress.
Speaker:Hasn't booked anything because it's tough out there, even for an
Speaker:actress that's on Euphoria, and, but she can't do anything about it.
Speaker:While, all the while, the Zendayas of the world are off doing their
Speaker:own thing, and then holding up.
Speaker:I don't know if she's actively holding up production, but that's
Speaker:what the actress made it seem like.
Speaker:You have, was, this is actually a pretty good segue, because you, when I was
Speaker:in, working in development, you have this thing where basically, they don't
Speaker:like to take chances as much anymore.
Speaker:It's not even like about taking chances, it's more they're just lazy, right?
Speaker:And by they, some Hollywood execs.
Speaker:The powers that be.
Speaker:The powers that be, yeah.
Speaker:Cause a lot of them will just say, Oh, I know who this actor is.
Speaker:Okay.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Just greenlight it without even looking at it compared to, Oh, here's an actor.
Speaker:Here's a project.
Speaker:Do you mind taking, stepping out of your ivory tower and actually
Speaker:looking at what's going on?
Speaker:And when I worked in development, a lot of times it would say, the
Speaker:first two questions, I think I said this before, is it paid for?
Speaker:AKA do we have to put up any money, which you usually always have to, but they
Speaker:ask anyway, and then also who's in it.
Speaker:And a lot of times they would.
Speaker:Literally, they would count numbers, be like, okay, here's how many
Speaker:new faces we'll put in there.
Speaker:Here's how many A listers or whatever.
Speaker:Yeah, and the new faces get shorter or smaller and smaller.
Speaker:Yeah, so for, because you're a working actor, right?
Speaker:What do you think is going to be able to cause that change for them to take I just
Speaker:risk a more new people again, because in the nineties, it seemed like that
Speaker:we're able to take more risk on newer directors, newer writers, newer actors.
Speaker:And some people argue because of DVD sales, but it was just, what makes you
Speaker:think they did it more in the nineties?
Speaker:I would say that they put them more on, on the front page, I guess it
Speaker:would say, because comparative to the seventies and eighties, things
Speaker:were like, Oh, like there's always been quote unquote movie stars.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:But in the nineties, there was a huge push.
Speaker:There was also a huge change in technology when it came to film,
Speaker:then being able to change the digital quote unquote, digital being on tape.
Speaker:So there was an argument there that, Oh, it's because technology changed
Speaker:that allowed it to get more indie hands.
Speaker:Quentin Tarantino, I wouldn't exactly say is exactly indie, but for the most
Speaker:part, he did help pioneer certain things.
Speaker:Yeah, him and Robert Rodriguez.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:A lot of people cut their bones in the indie world first, and I don't think,
Speaker:just right off the bat, I don't think we're doing it, we're giving new faces
Speaker:any less of a chance today than as in the 90s, just by sheer numbers alone,
Speaker:because we have so much more content now, that new faces are being seen across
Speaker:the board, way more than there were in the 90s, it's just a fact, because we
Speaker:have thousands more Programs and things.
Speaker:Opportunities.
Speaker:Yeah, because there's a huge amount of surplus.
Speaker:We have a surplus of opportunities, whether or not that's good or bad.
Speaker:I don't know because that's when you start seeing more bad programs.
Speaker:And then good programs because there's just so much more.
Speaker:Don't you think it makes the good programs look better though?
Speaker:For example, if I had one really good program And then two bad ones.
Speaker:It's okay.
Speaker:This is, this one's just better than the rest.
Speaker:Comparative to if you have a good program and then there's a thousand bad ones.
Speaker:Wow.
Speaker:This one must be really awesome.
Speaker:Maybe, but at the same time, I feel like.
Speaker:Why even have that comparison?
Speaker:Why is it necessary to have a bad program in the first place?
Speaker:I get that there's an audience for everything, and I love that.
Speaker:And I love that there's movies you can just put on while you're doing the
Speaker:dishes, and hear it, and just enjoy it.
Speaker:Not everything needs to be the Godfather.
Speaker:Not everything needs to be the Godfather, and I love that, and that's great.
Speaker:So there is a place for all kinds of different content, no matter what it is.
Speaker:And believe me, I'm in it.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:So I love that.
Speaker:Me and dj were talking about this and we've talked to people at warner
Speaker:brothers at universal and stuff like that And basically because we were we
Speaker:asked we were talking to somebody and we were actually honest when we're
Speaker:like, hey, man Why does this best if he was like why some of that bad stuff
Speaker:gets done and why it gets created?
Speaker:He said because the studios literally just want to keep their name out there.
Speaker:That's a big part They literally just want to Want their name out
Speaker:there and it for it to be known.
Speaker:It doesn't matter if it's bad or not, they just want people to know that Universal
Speaker:is still making movies and TV shows.
Speaker:It doesn't matter if it's Good Hundred, it doesn't matter if it's bad.
Speaker:Hundred percent.
Speaker:They just want it to stay in their mouth.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Thing you, they make that's thousands of stuff every year.
Speaker:Yeah, a hundred percent.
Speaker:Like the movie that I just did that just released on Tubi in December
Speaker:or January called Prepare to Die.
Speaker:So it was co produced by Tubi and Asylum.
Speaker:So now Asylum.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:So Asylum is the producers of Sharknado.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Among a bunch of other mockbusters, as they call them.
Speaker:And they like to turn out movies constantly.
Speaker:I worked on several of the movies.
Speaker:I've I worked on Planet Dune, There's an at, I think my
Speaker:other friend was on that too.
Speaker:, so yeah, there's like an Atlantis movie that they had that I worked on.
Speaker:It was something to Atlantis.
Speaker:The Robinhood, the second grade, and they, you're correct, they really be
Speaker:pumping out this, they turn out movies, so whether or not you feel like they're
Speaker:quality content, they have audiences and they're being watched and they make
Speaker:money off of it because they did it.
Speaker:It's Atlan rim if they, yeah, Atlantic Rim.
Speaker:Yes.
Speaker:If they didn't make money, they wouldn't.
Speaker:Make these.
Speaker:So that's their prerogative.
Speaker:It's a lot to do with the business.
Speaker:So when we go back to your original question about how, why don't we
Speaker:think we're seeing new faces or people aren't taking a chance on new faces?
Speaker:I think they are.
Speaker:It's just, it's always about the business for the people that make the decisions
Speaker:for especially the big known companies.
Speaker:It's all about the business, the bottom line and they need to have faces.
Speaker:They need to have names no matter what.
Speaker:And once, until those faces and names that are, Immediately marketable and
Speaker:they're gonna make some bankable is I think the proper term For instance the
Speaker:movie that I made we had to have names They're not huge names or anything,
Speaker:but their names nonetheless, right?
Speaker:You can search them on imdb.
Speaker:Exactly You'll look them up.
Speaker:They come out.
Speaker:Oh, yeah Michael madsen was in my movie michael madsen tarantino movies and
Speaker:stuff and all kinds of other things I think what's happening is there's
Speaker:a transition of The windows right?
Speaker:So there's always been a set of windows For 40 years of okay.
Speaker:It's gonna go here.
Speaker:It's gonna go here.
Speaker:It's gonna go here and it's gonna take a full 12 months for all the windows
Speaker:and everybody to make their money And then after that we're gonna ship it
Speaker:off to the dvd Then we're gonna make it we're gonna act like the dvd is not
Speaker:available Then we're gonna make the new one with dvd with the commentary.
Speaker:Yep So the thing is With streaming, all of those windows disappear.
Speaker:Yeah, so the windows you're talking about, avenues of making money.
Speaker:Profitable avenues, got it.
Speaker:Okay, so yeah, that disappeared so much revenue across the board.
Speaker:It just goes straight to streaming now.
Speaker:Which is why we're also in this kind of cyclical nature, where now we're
Speaker:going back to regular cable again.
Speaker:Like we got rid of cable.
Speaker:And streaming is here.
Speaker:And now we're going back to basically what cable was, except way more
Speaker:expensive because I have to pay for five services that all have commercials.
Speaker:Again, Netflix is is going to Amazon already has commercials.
Speaker:Hulu's had commercials for ages.
Speaker:That's the Hulu.
Speaker:At least Hulu's had commerce.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Hulu's had commercial was dope about to be.
Speaker:Cause I never really used to be until my movie came out.
Speaker:It's free.
Speaker:There's commercials, less than like Hulu, and most other, and less
Speaker:than Cable, and you get all these like cool classic movies and stuff.
Speaker:Have you ever heard of Crackle?
Speaker:Yeah, I have heard of it.
Speaker:I haven't used it, but I know Crackle.
Speaker:It's about the same thing.
Speaker:I saw Super Mansion when it first came out because I liked Robot Chicken a lot.
Speaker:Seth Green made a show called Super Mansion.
Speaker:And I was like, dude, Seth Green keeps all stop motion people in business.
Speaker:That's great.
Speaker:He has a passion and he's good at it.
Speaker:So I think that's what the deal is.
Speaker:You have the institutions still want to act like it's the 9 12
Speaker:month windows that you have.
Speaker:Of, oh, okay, it's gonna go here, it's gonna go here, it's gonna go, and it's
Speaker:gonna take This whole waterfall model of making money off of one project.
Speaker:That was completely smashed when streaming came out.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Streaming was the big disruption for the industry.
Speaker:And then it continues to be, and then as we saw with the SAG strike
Speaker:last year, that it has so much more to deal with and contend with,
Speaker:especially when it comes to our talent.
Speaker:How do you feel about So first of all, I'm not going to act like the strike
Speaker:was over one thing because it wasn't.
Speaker:It was over a bunch of stuff.
Speaker:It's a bunch of things.
Speaker:But especially when it was going on.
Speaker:So me and Nicholas were out there picketing.
Speaker:We started picketing when the WGA was there.
Speaker:And then when SAG joined, it got a lot bigger.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:However, one thing that I always like to ask actors, what did you think
Speaker:about them saying, Oh, you know what?
Speaker:We're just going to scan you and then pay you once.
Speaker:And then use your body, your likeness, utterly nonsense.
Speaker:I learned this early on because just coming from like non union commercials,
Speaker:you have these kinds of projects where they can use your footage,
Speaker:your photos forever in perpetuity.
Speaker:You learn that phrase.
Speaker:Throughout the universe.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:I always say throughout the universe because apparently they
Speaker:have some outlets and Saturn.
Speaker:Yeah, exactly.
Speaker:We've got some moons over Jupiter that are playing a commercial right now.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:You learn that phrase real fast coming up in that world and hopefully not
Speaker:through anything negative, but you learn in perpetuity, stay away from that.
Speaker:You're getting paid 300 to be in this commercial or whatever, a photo shoot
Speaker:and they get to use it forever and ever.
Speaker:So if you become.
Speaker:Fingers crossed for everybody, if you become the next Brad Pitt, the next
Speaker:Emma Stone, they can still use your likeness or whatever from ages ago.
Speaker:They're going to delay that commercial.
Speaker:Exactly, which happened to, what's his name, Shang Chi.
Speaker:Actually I played Shang Chi and he had those like stock
Speaker:photos when Shang Chi came out.
Speaker:When he was, he used to be a little, he used to be a model,
Speaker:but he did stock photos.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:When he was still a young actor, younger actor, and he was doing, he did a stock
Speaker:photo shoot because that was money.
Speaker:That was what gave him his project.
Speaker:And then you get to use it forever.
Speaker:Blasting it everywhere.
Speaker:Exactly.
Speaker:Which is insane.
Speaker:Cause they upped the prices on using those stock photos because it's him.
Speaker:Immediately, 100%.
Speaker:It's so ridiculous.
Speaker:Especially cause there is, so I went to the HPA awards.
Speaker:And I usually go every, I try to go, obviously it wasn't in 2020, there was
Speaker:nothing in 2020, but I like talking to a lot of different editors and I,
Speaker:one thing that they said, especially last year, they were like, do they not
Speaker:understand that let's say, hypothetically actors agreed to this hypothetically.
Speaker:Okay.
Speaker:They agreed to them being scanned and using them like this, which wouldn't
Speaker:happen, but hypothetically they do realize then now the visual effects
Speaker:department and like the editing team, and then it has to go back.
Speaker:And make it seem like that fictional 3d model of them is
Speaker:realistic in the background.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:It's still time and money wasted.
Speaker:That is yeah.
Speaker:It just shifts the industry.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:But it's also not paying you for your time.
Speaker:They could have used you as a body to get a real and now they're safe.
Speaker:There's, they're still saving money because they're going to
Speaker:save money down in the long run because now they have talent.
Speaker:There was a First of all, they don't have to pay you for usage already paying the
Speaker:editor to do what he's doing So it's not really adding to that but it's like adding
Speaker:time still like the work still needs to get done But they don't like care.
Speaker:We were actually interviewing a production designer who works in China and she
Speaker:was talking about how Using real world footage like furniture and stuff like
Speaker:that was so much cheaper than trying to CGI it Oh, yeah Because we're in China.
Speaker:It is.
Speaker:And it isn't because nowadays CG is getting so crazy.
Speaker:And so what's the word advanced advance, but you're able to get
Speaker:your hands on it and learn it.
Speaker:And she was talking specifically a little bit, it's a little bit
Speaker:different than here in America.
Speaker:Cause she was talking specifically about the way it is in China, because so many
Speaker:things are made in China that apparently it is literally cheaper to just get it
Speaker:from the factory and film it, which that is, she's saying that It's only like that
Speaker:in China because in China, yeah, but yeah, cause like here in America, I was pulling
Speaker:up my friend or a guy that I know, Brian Tang on IG, who made a couple of films on
Speaker:his own and he made this amazing with his whole crew and everything, but he is also
Speaker:a visual effects, like honestly, genius.
Speaker:He does it all himself and he created this whole pod racer trailer for a movie.
Speaker:The pod racing scenes from Star Wars.
Speaker:So he made an entire.
Speaker:Theatrical trailer based on Podracer and it looks straight up Lucasfilm level,
Speaker:and it's all his own CGI that he did I'm sure he had some help from a couple
Speaker:other people, but no effects houses.
Speaker:No, nobody else him right in his room Doing these crazy visual effects.
Speaker:So it is so accessible.
Speaker:I don't know why I couldn't think of that earlier Oh, it's accessible.
Speaker:I was applicable?
Speaker:That's not right.
Speaker:So accessible nowadays that here and there it depends on what you
Speaker:want But, creating a little robot to stand there, and then, maybe move
Speaker:a little bit, could look better.
Speaker:But, I don't think it's cheaper than doing a CGI little robot
Speaker:and making it look real.
Speaker:Because there's evidence out there that people can do this in their bedrooms now.
Speaker:That's true.
Speaker:Which is crazy.
Speaker:One thing that, have you watched Corridor Crew?
Speaker:Yeah, I love court dork Court cruise.
Speaker:Awesome.
Speaker:I the B FX artist rock every weekend, man.
Speaker:Every weekend.
Speaker:They're great.
Speaker:So awesome.
Speaker:One thing, my dude, Gita Silva goes on their couch sometimes
Speaker:does, 'cause he's a stunt guy.
Speaker:So he does stunt man react.
Speaker:Do you like, do you prefer to do stunts?
Speaker:No, I'm an actor.
Speaker:I'm an actor.
Speaker:Just straight up.
Speaker:I love my stunt people.
Speaker:My girlfriend does stunts.
Speaker:I like every, I love my stunt people.
Speaker:They are the most talented people ever and they deserve that freaking Oscar, guys.
Speaker:But no, I'm not a stuntman.
Speaker:No, I'm an actor.
Speaker:Let them do the thing and I'll pretend on camera.
Speaker:Do you do a, do you like to do a lot of your own stunts?
Speaker:I would love to.
Speaker:do it and as much as I.
Speaker:looks good.
Speaker:I can like in my movie, I did all my own stunts mostly because I had to
Speaker:cause there was no money, but we also did fight scenes on the fly and on
Speaker:the day and developed things around.
Speaker:Each character's abilities.
Speaker:So thankfully I do have martial arts background.
Speaker:I do stunts as like physically It doesn't cost extra money for
Speaker:you to have good choreography.
Speaker:Exactly.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:How do you know that you shouldn't do this stunt?
Speaker:What do you what goes through your head that you're like,
Speaker:I'm gonna let this stop me.
Speaker:I haven't encountered that in my career yet.
Speaker:I hope to.
Speaker:That would be amazing.
Speaker:Oh, hell no.
Speaker:I'm not doing that.
Speaker:So any Mission Impossible movie?
Speaker:Oh, it depends because that is a whole goal of mine.
Speaker:No matter what you think about Tom Cruise, he is one of the most
Speaker:talented people on the planet.
Speaker:Oh gosh, I see him hanging.
Speaker:I love Mission Impossible movies.
Speaker:Oh my gosh, it's so good.
Speaker:To be fair, I have to be honest, I am what they call action trash.
Speaker:If it is action, I will see it.
Speaker:But I do love that movie.
Speaker:Same.
Speaker:No, I will too.
Speaker:I love a good popcorn movie, man.
Speaker:I just re watched Face Off.
Speaker:Oh, epic.
Speaker:Oh, Face Off is great.
Speaker:And Con Air.
Speaker:I was on a 90's kick.
Speaker:One of the things that I think is so crazy is that people who go to work with Tom
Speaker:Cruise on Mission Impossible are like, Are amazed at the crazy stuff they have to do.
Speaker:Yes.
Speaker:Have you not seen?
Speaker:They didn't know the fifth mission impossible.
Speaker:How are you surprised?
Speaker:Bigger and better man.
Speaker:Every time you have to jump off a mountain or something.
Speaker:My favorite stunt is when he clings to the side of that plane.
Speaker:That was a cool one.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:And I was like, I've never seen that in the theaters.
Speaker:Man.
Speaker:I know he likes to do practicals, but this looks really practical.
Speaker:It's really good.
Speaker:It's really good.
Speaker:People are like Tom Cruise has a death wish and wants to die on set because
Speaker:they're like the crazy part about Tom Cruise is that if the stunt coordinator
Speaker:thinks the stunt is too dangerous, he just fires that coordinator.
Speaker:Yeah, that's a new stunt coordinator.
Speaker:I saw that Matt Damon interview too.
Speaker:And he says, how do we do this?
Speaker:And he says, because remember, If you don't, I'll just fire
Speaker:you and get somebody else.
Speaker:Cause this stunt is going to get done.
Speaker:Oh, it's going to happen.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:So I answer your question.
Speaker:I think it would just be fear would make my decision for me.
Speaker:If I'm too afraid.
Speaker:What is it?
Speaker:What is the stunt that you've seen that you're like, I think
Speaker:that'd be cool to at least try.
Speaker:Honestly,
Speaker:everything from this last stunt from the last mission impossibles, for sure.
Speaker:I love the helicopter sequence.
Speaker:I would love to fly a helicopter and do crazy stunt flying.
Speaker:I like the part where he goes out the train and hits the glider.
Speaker:Oh, what are you talking about?
Speaker:There's a bunch of good ones what I don't want to do I don't want to throw
Speaker:down go get thrown down some stairs.
Speaker:I don't want to fall down some Can I leave that car?
Speaker:I don't want to get hit by cars do that.
Speaker:It's done guys could do that Keanu Reeves is amazing Like he did so much of his own
Speaker:stuff on all the John wicks I'm friends with stunt guys that worked on that and
Speaker:stuff and just seeing behind the scenes and talking to him about It's just insane,
Speaker:but he is apparently It's getting to him.
Speaker:And I don't want it to get to me either.
Speaker:He is crazy, man.
Speaker:Because the video came out of him and his gun skills and everybody
Speaker:was like, Oh, he really is like him.
Speaker:Oh, he's super talented.
Speaker:So there's a line in there too, because he doesn't do everything.
Speaker:He has his doubles and everybody.
Speaker:And I would do the same thing.
Speaker:But yeah, certain things like that, I don't want to roll down some stairs.
Speaker:Maybe a few stairs, sure.
Speaker:Not get thrown down doing a flip over.
Speaker:I have my, one of my friends, in the last John Wick, there's an escalator and he
Speaker:gets he flies, and lands like, 10 feet, 10, 12 feet down the escalator, lands,
Speaker:and then tumbles down the escalator.
Speaker:That was my friend, on that scene.
Speaker:And I'm like, nope.
Speaker:Couldn't be me.
Speaker:Nope, not me.
Speaker:Yeah, that kind of stuff, no.
Speaker:Fight scenes, I'd love to do.
Speaker:Yeah, just, it really depends, it's a case by case basis.
Speaker:I don't want to get blown up.
Speaker:Yeah, I think that's fine.
Speaker:Maybe get a little on fire, that sounds like fun, actually.
Speaker:How about shot?
Speaker:That's nothing.
Speaker:That's easy.
Speaker:Most of that's CGI now.
Speaker:Anyways, they just comp in some bullets and impacts.
Speaker:It's been really great to have you on the show, man.
Speaker:Is there somewhere people can follow you?
Speaker:Yeah, you can follow me on Instagram at, Oh my it's Ryan.
Speaker:And yeah, feel free to message me if you ever want to chat
Speaker:about acting or anything.
Speaker:Cool.
Speaker:Thank you so much guys.
Speaker:This has been film center.
Speaker:I'm Derek Johnson.
Speaker:Second, I'm Nicholas Killian.
Speaker:And we're here with Ryan Padilla and we'll see you next time.
Speaker:See ya.
Speaker:See ya.
Speaker:This has been Film Center on Comic-Con Radio.
Speaker:Check out our previous episodes at Comic-Con radio.com.
Speaker:You can follow the show at Film Center News on all major social media platforms.
Speaker:Tune in next Wednesday for a fresh update.
Speaker:Until next time, this has been film Center.
