Nicky Mondellini

 

Episode Notes

In this second part of our interview with Scott Rice, we explore the future of virtual production and how this technology is transforming the entertainment industry. From its impact on acting to filmmaking, discover how imagination and creativity continue to be crucial in an increasingly digital world.

Key Moments:

– The importance of creativity and imaginative play in childhood

– Reflections on the future of acting and filmmaking with virtual technology

– Perspectives on the use of artificial intelligence in the entertainment industry

– Behind-the-scenes details of creating the short film using virtual production technology

– Opportunities for students and filmmakers in the field of virtual production

– Scott Rice’s upcoming projects and cinematic aspirations

In this enlightening episode, we delved into the evolving landscape of filmmaking with the visionary Scott Rice. From discussing the intersection of technology and creativity to exploring the boundless possibilities of virtual production, Scott provided valuable insights into the future of cinema. As we navigate the digital frontier, it’s clear that human imagination and storytelling prowess remain at the heart of cinematic innovation.

You can contact Scott in social media at @scottricedirector

Transcript

Scott Rice: It’s sort of a story about the value of imaginative play and how when I was a kid we didn’t have iPads, we couldn’t watch movies or play games wherever we went. We just played Indiana Jones, for example.

[music]

Intro: La Pizarra (The Slate); exploring creative minds in the entertainment industry. Here’s your host, Nicky Mondellini.

Nicky Mondellini: Welcome to another episode of La Pizarra, my name is Nicky Mondellini and I’m very happy that you’re joining us today because we have the second part of our interview with Scott Rice. Enjoy.

Now I’m going to ask a question that probably all actors and voice actors want to know. Are we still going to have jobs with virtual production at some point or what is it like in the future of virtual production? Please don’t tell me that we’re going to be replicated.

Scott Rice: I’m not an expert on AI. The cool thing about virtual production is it’s not AI, that’s different. AI and replicating voices and all that stuff, I personally think we’re going to be okay. I think that the human animal, the human spirit, the stories they want to tell, even a voice artist, the way they use their voice is so unique to a human being that it’s hard for me to imagine that a computer can really replicate that. I like to talk about Star Wars. When they have these scenes with Luke Skywalker in the Star Wars shows like Book of Boba Fett and The Mandalorian, they’re using an AI voice. They’re taking recordings of his young Mark Hamill voice and they’re doing a new performance. To me, the performance is not convincing. As much as I love Star Wars, I’m just like, “There’s something off about the performance. It sounds robotic.”

It sounds like Mark Hamill’s young voice, but I’d rather have Mark Hamill of today. He’s a voice actor, for goodness sake.

Nicky Mondellini: He is. He is. [chuckles]

Scott Rice: He can modulate his voice to sound like he sounded when he was 30 years old, he can make himself sound younger. Harrison Ford did it in the new Indiana Jones movie, he really performed all his dialogue and he didn’t rely on AI for that. I have high hopes that we will not be replaced. On my side, I’m terrified that computers are going to be writing scripts. There was a time when that seemed like complete fantasy and people now are like, “No, that’s coming.” I’m like, “I don’t know.” It’s hard for me to believe that the next great American screenplay is going to be written by a computer. It’s just hard for me to believe it. Maybe I’m fooling myself but I’ll just I’ll stick with believing it, that it can’t happen.

Nicky Mondellini: I’m from the same camp because I think there’s so much in every person’s imagination that is completely different from another one. Even if, of course, AI has everything under the sun and everything that they can pull from the Internet, there’s always that inspiration, that improv that those special little secret ingredients that only humans have, only the human brain can have.

Scott Rice: Yes. There’s the human experience too.

Nicky Mondellini: Of course.

Scott Rice: A lot of what we write and create is from our own experience of having lived the life. You would think that AI doesn’t have that experience, right? I don’t think. In 1,000 years maybe we’ll have robots walking around amongst us who have lived the life. Who knows.

Nicky Mondellini: No because everyone experiences the same thing but in a different way because it’s a different brain and circumstances are different, the weather’s different, there are a lot of things or elements that go into it. I think writers are safe as well.

Scott Rice: I agree.

Nicky Mondellini: Yes. Definitely. Speaking of that, can you tell us a little bit about your new film that you’re [unintelligible 00:04:27] [crosstalk]?

Scott Rice: Yes, the short film?

Nicky Mondellini: Yes.

Scott Rice: It was a really cool situation that happened. This virtual production studio came to me. The owner said, “Hey, we’re doing a workshop and we just want to shoot something and invite a bunch of filmmakers in and show them how we do virtual production, but we need to have something to shoot so come up with an idea.” I came up with a bunch of ideas and it sort of morphed into this story about a young boy on a park bench in the city sitting next to his mom who’s on her phone. He’s on his iPad and he’s playing a game and he gets frustrated with the game and the mom takes it away. She’s like, “Five-minute screen time break.”

The boy is forced to sit there and be bored for a moment and he’s really frustrated. He just can’t not have his iPad. Then he notices on the bench next to him someone has left a fedora, a hat that looks like an Indiana Jones-type hat. He puts it on his head and he goes into his imagination. He goes into this Indiana Jones adventure where he has to become the hero, get this idol, this thing that he wants. We think maybe that’s a metaphor for getting the iPad back. At the end of the story, he’s about to get his idol. He doesn’t quite get it, and he’s knocked out of his fantasy by a car honk. His mother offers the iPad back, “It’s been five minutes, here you go,” and he chooses not to take it. He chooses to go back into his own imagination.

It’s sort of a story about the value of imaginative play, and how when I was a kid we didn’t have iPads, we couldn’t watch movies or play games wherever we went, we just played Indiana Jones for example. It was a little bit of a story about how I grew up and a little bit of a comment on what I’ve heard. A lot of my friends are parents now and they just talk about how, “Man, you try to pull a tablet out of a kid’s hand they just go nuts,” and it’s a thing. I thought it’d be fun to tell a story about that.

Basically, the three environments that we shot virtual production was this city bench and it looks very convincing. We even brought a car into the studio and put it in front of the lens right about here to cover the floor because we didn’t have the budget to cover the floor. Then, the windshield of the car is reflecting the city and it looks totally realistic. Then we built a cave, this awesome cave environment where this kid has this interaction with the bad guy and these other bad guys, and trying to get the gold statue. Then we have a jungle chase. I was like, “Well if we’re going to do Indiana Jones, let’s do the cave, and let’s do a jungle.” It was it was an absolute blast.

Nicky Mondellini: Besides all this do you have another workshop that you guys are preparing for [unintelligible 00:07:42] [crosstalk]?

Scott Rice: Yes. We don’t have another workshop. I’d love to do another one. The shoot that we’re doing in a week, like I mentioned, we have a ton of students there. I have some people I used to work with who want to be there and watch. I invited them to set, like, “Yes, come see. Come see how it’s done.” Effectively, the new shoot will be like a workshop. Then the client and agency folks haven’t shot virtual production before so they’ll learn about it and then hopefully they’ll want to do it again in the future. Then they can plan their creative, the scripts that they write, the new campaigns coming up, they now in their head can go, “Oh, we can do all those multiple locations,” or, “We can do that scene on the surface of the moon now, I guess. Let’s write it because we see the power of this technology.”

Hopefully, the more we invite people to set, the more people see how it’s done, then it’s not intimidating. There are certain things you have to learn but it’s very doable. My hope is that more and more people will want to do it, and then I’ll have more opportunities to do it as well.

Nicky Mondellini: Oh, that’s fantastic. I think that’s going to be a huge game-changer for the ad industry and for filmmakers. Films are going to be just done on a different level.

Scott Rice: Think so.

Nicky Mondellini: What’s next for you? Are you preparing a full feature?

Scott Rice: Yes, there’s a movie I want to make that’s a family comedy that is a send-up to The Goonies and E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, the movies I grew up with as a kid. I really want to try and get that made. It’s a period piece that takes place in the ’80s. Then there’s another movie that’s a bromance, a comedy that takes place in Austin, that’s more of an indie movie. There are a couple of other ideas that I’m developing.

My agent at one time many years ago said, “Boy, once directors start doing commercials they never come back.” They don’t go back to movies because they get so busy doing commercials. They enjoy it because they get on set all the time they always get to be working. I understand that now, it’s been many years I’ve been doing commercials and stuff. I’m trying my best to say, “Hey, maybe say no to a commercial or two and really try harder to get your features made,” because when I was nine years old and I saw E.T., I decided I wanted to make movies. I didn’t say I wanted to make commercials.

As much as I love commercials and as much as I think they’ve informed my skills as a filmmaker, I want to go off and tell stories. Commercials are stories too. They’re mini-stories that are selling something-

Nicky Mondellini: They are.

Scott Rice: -or making the world a better place. I love doing PSAs, but I want to make movies. In fact, I have the script for the movie I’m trying to get made right now.

Nicky Mondellini: Wow, yes. Well, there you go.

Scott Rice: I’m going out with it this January, this month, and hopefully, the next time we talk I’ll have some news about that film.

Nicky Mondellini: Once you have it, you have the script in your hand, I have no doubt that you’re going to make it happen somehow because you’re the guy that makes things happen. Just talking about your PSAs, the level of production that you put into those PSAs, they’re short films, they’re fantastic. They bring the message across for things that are super important like underage drinking or smoking or wearing seatbelts. I want to encourage people to go to your Facebook or Instagram page so they can see because you have examples of all of those there. Every time I see them, I’m like, “Oh my God.” It’s so fun and it’s just great. It’s a mega-production.

You are a storyteller and a fantastic filmmaker. You do owe it to yourself and to everyone else to make those film projects that you have. I’m sure you’ll get to do them.

Scott Rice: Thanks.

Nicky Mondellini: I want to say congratulations because last time we spoke, you were not married.

Scott Rice: Yes, I am married. Boy, it has been a while since we spoke. I didn’t know it was that long ago. I got married last October. My wife’s name is Ana. She’s from Mexico, grew up in Mexico,-

Nicky Mondellini: There you go.

Scott Rice: -and fluent in Spanish.

Nicky Mondellini: Wow.

Scott Rice: She’s coming onto the production side. I grew up and learned French in high school. I should have learned Spanish, but I was in Wisconsin. I guess I did French because we’re closer to Canada or something. I wish I learned Spanish. She’s been so helpful because a lot of the work I do has a Spanish script and a Spanish version. She’s been getting involved with the productions as a script supervisor and consulting on the language part. We introduced some Spanish into the short film that I just did. She’s thinking about going into producing.

Nicky Mondellini: Wow, that’s wonderful.

Scott Rice: It’s kind of my dream to live and work with my spouse,-

Nicky Mondellini: Definitely.

Scott Rice: -and do this filmmaking thing, this filmmaking adventure that is– it’s hard, but it’s fun. A lot of the fun is in the hard, the difficulty, the challenge of it all. She’s joining me in that adventure so I’m very excited.

Nicky Mondellini: Maybe next time we can do this interview in Spanish now that you’re [unintelligible 00:13:15] [crosstalk].

Scott Rice: Yes. I’m not.

[laughter]

Scott Rice: I’m always off. I try. Her parents teach me, they don’t really speak English so much and I speak zero Spanish. I am getting school and I’m sure our kids one day, when we have kids, they’ll be in Spanish immersion and there’ll be Spanish in the house and I’ll learn it eventually.

Nicky Mondellini: Yes, they’ll be perfectly bilingual and healthy.

Scott Rice: I’m excited. I wish I could do your podcast in Spanish, I wish. Maybe one day I can do a little section. We could do a short little part where I try.

Nicky Mondellini: We’ll do that. At least the welcome. [laughs]

Scott Rice: At least the welcoming. That’d be great. Yes.

Nicky Mondellini: Oh, that’d be fantastic. Going back to Script to Screen, where do people sign up for that? Because I know it’s mainly juniors and seniors, right, [unintelligible 00:14:12] [crosstalk].

Scott Rice: Yes. It’s only available to majors, so radio, TV, film majors, or double majors. They just sign up when they register for classes. It’s just like any other class. There are a lot of students who just have unfortunate registration times or late registration times. They just end up on a waitlist. For semesters at a time, they can’t get in. I just try to get the word out there and I’ll get it out here. Just email me directly. Just email me. Just email. It’s a great lesson in, if you just ask, ye shall receive. Just ask. You never know.

For the most part, all the students that actually email me and try to get in, I save them seats because I know that certain students can’t get in no matter what they do. I save some seats for those students, those students that email me. Then, it’s a good life lesson too. It’s like, just email the professor. Just if there’s that person you want to meet with, just ask them. They might say yes. You know?

Nicky Mondellini: I know. A lot of the times we’re like, we freeze and we get so nervous and we’re like, “Oh no, they would never answer me,” so we go around the long way to get somewhere where you’re– Maybe there’s a direct bridge that you can cross to get to that person.

Scott Rice: Well, to that point, here’s what I tell my students. It’s like, “Here’s a little secret, students. It actually feels good to help people.” You ask someone for help, maybe you’re making their day. Maybe they’re going home to their spouse and saying, “Hey, I got this email from a student who asked me a question and I wrote this long response back,” or, “I set up a meeting with them on Friday,” and blah, blah, blah. “The student sounds really interesting.” That’s actually how it works. People like to help. They like to be a part of the next generation of people, and in this case, of filmmakers. It’s really fun, it’s pleasurable. It’s soul soothing and it makes you feel good. I wish more people knew that.

I was always terrible and very shy and not very good at asking for help. I wish I was told this when I was younger, but I guess that’s why I repeat it because it’s true. It’s certainly, in the case of me and most of the people I know, they want to help. If someone doesn’t get back to you, no harm, no foul. It’s okay.

Nicky Mondellini: Sure, because you tried.

Scott Rice: Maybe they’re not ignoring you, they’re just too busy. That happens with me sometimes, I’m sure it does with you where it’s not physically possible to answer every email, so, “Oh well.”

Nicky Mondellini: Yes, exactly. Do you take interns, for example, that are not necessarily your students from UT, from other universities and they just want to [unintelligible 00:17:10] [crosstalk]?

Scott Rice: Yes, I have internships available through my production company, which is called Two Shot West, and anyone’s welcome to contact me and ask about an internship. Internships can be done remotely, you don’t necessarily have to be in Austin.

Nicky Mondellini: Oh, okay.

Scott Rice: A lot of the interns I have who are in Austin, they just work from home or coffee shops. It’s not like a traditional internship where they have to come in and make coffee for someone and take the trash out. No. I get people involved in giving me coverage on a script that I wrote or watching a rough cut of a commercial, give me notes, or hey, “Help source some photos for treatment I’m developing for my next ad campaign.” I really get students involved in the nitty-gritty. It’s always based on what their interest is. I always ask them, “Hey, what do you want to do? What do you want to learn? Do you want to work on this thing or this thing?” Then they choose and then they go off and they work on it. It’s tailor-made, the internships are tailored to the interests of the students.

Nicky Mondellini: Yes. Oh, well, that’s fantastic. I think those are great opportunities for growth and just to get your feet wet. I always say, just to be a fly on the wall in one of those Script to Screen classes would be amazing.

Scott Rice: It’s fun. I always tell my students I’m so lucky because I get to take the class every semester. [laughs]

Nicky Mondellini: [laughs]

Scott Rice: I feel like a kid. I feel like one of the students too because even though I’m up there lecturing a lot of the time, I’m also listening to the students and they’re brilliant, and then Matthew comes in, and then he brings in all his collaborators. I’m just soaking it up myself. I love it.

Nicky Mondellini: Wow. It’s a win-win.

Scott Rice: Yes.

Nicky Mondellini: Definitely. Oh, that’s fabulous. Oh, I’m so glad that you broke it down and then just introduced us to virtual production, and everything about the Script to Screen class, and all those details. Thank you so much, Scott, for doing this and giving me your time. This has been a blast and very informative, I’m sure.

Scott Rice: Thank you for having me. It’s always a pleasure to be on and talk about this stuff. It’s really fun. Thank you.

Nicky Mondellini: Well, just let me know when your feature film is ready to go and everything because I’ll be happy to do another interview so you can tell us all about it.

Scott Rice: I would love that.

Nicky Mondellini: Thanks again for joining me today. I’m sure you got a lot out of this episode just like I did. I think it was completely like a masterclass on virtual production. Speaking of which, I just forgot to mention before, but we do have a link to share with you if you are interested in seeing what this virtual production workshop was all about. You’ll be able to see that in the show notes. With that, I’m going to say thank you again for joining us. We will be here next week with a brand new episode.

[music]

Narrator: Thanks for joining us. Don’t forget to subscribe on your podcast player or YouTube if you haven’t done so. Share what you liked about this episode on social media and tag us @NickyMondellini.

 

Episode Notes

In this new episode we’re delving into the captivating world of virtual production with none other than Emmy and Addy Award-winning filmmaker and director, Scott Rice.

Here’s what you can expect:

• The Power of Virtual Production: Join us as Scott Rice unravels the magic behind virtual production, showcasing its ability to seamlessly transport us to diverse and immersive environments, all within the confines of a studio.
• Expanding Horizons: Discover how Scott’s Script to Screen class has evolved to encompass commercial projects, offering students a unique opportunity to bridge the worlds of advertising and filmmaking while gaining hands-on experience.
• Inside the Virtual Studio: Get an exclusive peek behind the scenes as Scott walks us through the virtual production process, from LED walls to real-time rendering, and learn how this cutting-edge technology is reshaping the landscape of filmmaking.
• Advantages and Accessibility: Explore the accessibility of virtual production technology and its potential to revolutionize filmmaking for creators of all levels, offering both time and cost efficiencies without compromising on quality.

So, if you’re ready to embark on a journey into the future of filmmaking, then hit play now and join us on La Pizarra!

 Don’t forget to subscribe to stay updated on future episodes and share this insightful conversation with your friends on social media. 

Tag us @nickymondellini  I’d love to hear your thoughts!

You can contact Scott in social media at @scottricedirector

Check out Scott’s virtual production video here:

 Inside Stray Vista Studios’ VIP Virtual Production Workshop

Transcript

Scott Rice: That’s really the power of virtual production, that you can just shoot all these different environments just back-to-back. You just throw it up on the LED wall, bring in some different art department stuff for the foreground, and go. Put in some atmosphere, some haze, and it’s like magic, so I just love it.

Automated Voice: La Pizzara, this late. Exploring creative minds in the entertainment industry. Here’s your host, Nikki Mondolini.

Nikki Mondolini: Hello, everyone, and welcome to another episode of La Pizarra. My name is Nikki Mondolini, and I’m very happy that you’re joining us today. We’re still in the middle of Season 9, and my guest today is someone who you heard before on Season 5 of this podcast, and I’m going to link to that episode in the show notes. His name is Scott Rice. He’s an Emmy and Addy Award-winning filmmaker and director. You can find him on Instagram as @scottricedirector. Scott has worked with talent like Glenn Close, Brett Faber, and Matthew McConaughey. He is the owner and executive producer of Two Shot West, a production company in Austin, Texas.

Like I said before, I’m going to link to the previous episode in the show notes. I encourage you to listen to it to find out more about Scott’s career, as well as how the class that he teaches at UT with Matthew McConaughey called Script to Screen got started. Today we’re going to learn about virtual production, and Scott will share with us a workshop in which he directed Share Your Imagination, which is a film that he directed and wrote. This was done at Stray Vista Studios, and together with Narwhal Studios, they opened up the doors and allowed filmmakers, both in person and virtually, to experience a virtual production set.

Now, I don’t know about you, but I really can’t wait to hear all about this amazing experience. Just to let you know a little bit more about Scott, his work includes a staggering film festival record of 300 official selections and 85 awards. His films have been distributed on Comedy Central, Showtime, Hulu, Blockbuster, and PBS. He has also directed projects for A&E, The Mental Health Channel, MTV Networks, and Sony Pictures. Now, let’s explore the creative mind of Scott Rice. Oh my gosh, welcome to another episode here with us in La Pizarra. It’s wonderful to have you back because there’s so many wonderful updates in your life that I’m dying to ask you about.

Scott: Yes, no, I can’t wait to talk to you. I had so much fun last time. It was a real pleasure, and thanks for having me back.

Nikki: It was great. Like I said in the intro, I’m going to link to that previous episode in the show notes because if people want to know a little bit more about how you got started, about the Script to Screen class, because you went into detail about how it all started. They should definitely listen to that episode. For right now, I’m so happy that you don’t have a black eye anymore, but tell me all about that.

Scott: Yes, so I can’t remember how much I talked about last time, but I basically tripped on a cat, a shop cat in a gift store, and yes, I didn’t see it. I went face first into a table, the corner of a table, my full weight into my eye. I thought I was instantly blinded. That was two years ago. Then I had a couple of surgeries to fix it because it broke my eye socket.

Nikki: Really?

Scott: Yes. Then my eye didn’t point the right direction. Imagine being a filmmaker where your whole life depends on being able to see-

Nikki: On you sight.

Scott: -and then you can’t see. I’m wearing, like I was wearing an eye patch for a long time and I saw double, the whole world.

Nikki: Oh my God.

Scott: Imagine how dizzying it would be. That’s been my last two years and I just had another surgery to correct it a little better. It’s gotten a little better. I just had a surgery about four weeks ago, and I’m just enough with eye surgeries. I tell you, what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger and the lesson, a couple lessons I’ve gotten from this, well, the big one is just gratitude. Right after I got hurt, I just prayed. I’m like, just please let me keep my vision as long as I can see, I can deal with the rest. The eye, I thought the eyeball exploded, but it didn’t. The eye is fine. It’s just around the eye that’s broken.

I’m just very grateful that I can see. I see double. When I look up, I see double and stuff, but if I hold my head right, I see fine. I’m very grateful. It makes you appreciate your vision more. As a filmmaker, I just don’t take it for granted anymore. Every time I look at a sunset, I get chills thinking about it. I’m like, how beautiful. Just being able to see something beautiful now takes my breath away a little bit more than it did before. I’m grateful for the, as difficult as it’s been, I think the net positive has been really great all things considered.

Nikki: That must have happened after our interview, because you definitely didn’t have a black eye last time we spoke. Oh my goodness. That really must have been terrifying for you. I can definitely, just to think about being in your shoes in that moment.

Scott: There’s so many people I know in the business who, there’s so many of us who just struggle with a secret issue, like a physical issue. I know a DP who has to have constant surgeries on his hand because he has hand muscles issues. Yes, he’s always holding a camera and he never complains about it. My aunt is legally blind, but she’s a photographer and she’s constantly taking photos. It gave me an appreciation for people who do suffer, who do struggle physically, and then mentally too. We all have mental health stuff that we struggle with. It just makes you stronger to just have to work a little bit harder to make your dream a reality. I can appreciate that.

Nikki: Yes. On the other side of that is knowing how you can persevere even through those obstacles-

Scott: Yes.

Nikki: -because, oh my gosh, if you can, like you said, it just makes you appreciate what you have a whole lot more and then you excel at it because you’re trying so much more. I’ve done shows. I don’t know how I was able to give a performance in the middle of postpartum depression.

Scott: There you go.

Nikki: I went ahead and did it. If you ask me to remember exactly how the performance went, I can’t tell you. I really can’t. The director came to me and he said, “This is one of your best performances.” I’m like, “Really?” There you go.

Scott: There you go.

Nikki: You just never know. It’s just you compensate like you’re there. Your creative instinct kicks in and, sorry, and you just, you make it work.

Scott: I like that idea of instinct, too. You just have to act on instinct because you’re so spent. You don’t have your conscious mind left. You’re so spent and you’re suffering. You just act on heart and instinct and you get through. That’s a great example of just the strength of the human spirit, that it’s not really about our intellect in the end as artists. It’s really about our gut instincts and how much we want it and how much we really love what we do despite, any obstacles that there might be, either internally or externally. That’s so interesting. I’m glad you shared that.

Nikki: Yes, exactly. Yes. It’s one of those things, that you don’t know, but definitely it’s great to hear about all of these things because people don’t know. They see the finished product. The product, the film or the commercial or whatever. Gosh, we’re all human. We all go through everything that everybody else goes through and we just keep pushing, so that’s wonderful. I wanted to ask you, definitely we’re going to get into virtual production, but we spoke a little bit about the Scripted Screen class, which is mainly for film. Now you said that the new thing is going to be done also for commercials. Can you tell us a little bit about that?

Scott: Yes. About a year and a half ago, Matthew McConaughey decided, hey, let’s do a commercials class because Matthew actually loves advertising, loves marketing, and that’s a big passion of his. Sometimes we look at film people and we think, oh, they must look down on commercials and stuff like that. A lot of times they don’t. Aa lot of filmmakers, a lot of actors, a lot of their main income is from commercials and that’s what allows them to go do the passion projects that don’t really pay or pay as much, for example. The same thing applies to Matthew McConaughey.

He can pick any movie he wants, no matter the budget, even smaller things, because he does all this commercial work. He actually really loves commercials. We decided to put together a commercials class that we also co-teach and we brought in a professor from the advertising department, Dr. Laura Bright. This is our second semester we’ve been doing it. In fact, I just had my first day of class yesterday. Awesome, we have 40 students, half of them are from advertising and half of them are from RTF, which is radio, TV, film, the film program.

Then we all worked together

to put the agency side, the creating the ad campaign and doing all the metrics and stuff together with the production and pulling off the vision physically on set. It’s really been a joy to do and I’m glad we’re doing it for another semester now.

Nikki: Is it like the same experience that you take the students on set and then they get to see everything that goes on from the ground up, the set or scouting the locations and getting everything together, the costumes and makeup and casting wise. They get to see all of that as well, they get to see how actors are cast and how everything goes on.

Scott: Yes. We have one component which is in the classroom where we show them how production companies bid on commercial work, put together a budget, the director puts together a treatment and usually three production companies/directors are competing for the same job. We teach how that’s done. Then we show how those meetings go and then once you get the job we show the pre-production process and the production process. Last May, in fact, I directed a public service announcement for Matthew McConaughey himself. He was doing the Green Lights Grant Initiative which basically is helping schools in the US get federal dollars to make their schools safer.

We did this PSA, we did a 60 second spot where Matthew’s talking to camera and walking through a school and it was really cool. I got a DP friend of mine to come out from LA to shoot it, and I had just students on set from the class. They get to work with Matthew who’s their professor but then also the on camera talent, and also he’s the creative director for the campaign as well. He’s not just the talent, he’s also the guy who came up with the idea. He did a similar thing on some of his salesforce campaigns which are really huge and play on national television and during the Super Bowl and stuff like that.

It’s really cool and like this semester, I know we’ll talk about virtual production in a minute but I’m shooting a commercial campaign that’s also playing during the Super Bowl regionally in five states. We’re doing a virtual production shoot and the students from my class are really excited to be on set. I got a lot of volunteers because virtual production, it’s just cool. It’s like that’s how they make shows like The Mandalorian so everyone wants to see how it’s done.

Nikki: Of course.

Scott: Sure enough it’s just a remarkable technology. We’ll be on set in about a week with students shooting virtual production.

Nikki: Can you share a little bit about what the storyline is for that or is it like top secret for now?

Scott: Yes, it’s for a bank and it has a CG character and it’s comedic and we’re in a bunch of different environments. It really helps us to do it virtual production because that allows us to be in a bedroom, then in a man cave basement, and then in a campsite in a desert, and then on a rural road with a moving vehicle. It’s just like you can’t get to all these locations, you can’t shoot six different environments in two days.

Nikki: Can you imagine the budget for that?

Scott: Oh yes.

Nikki: The manpower and just the, yes, it just takes too much.

Scott: The time it takes to travel and then that adds to all the days you have to shoot. That’s really the power of virtual production that you can just shoot all these different environments just back to back. You just throw it up on the LED wall, bring in some different art department stuff for the foreground and go, put in some atmosphere, some haze and it’s like magic. I just love it.

Nikki: Now that you’re talking into, let’s get a little bit more into that because my question is whether– so you have a set and it has to be really big. Do you build everything that you mentioned? There’s the road and then maybe it’s, I don’t know, an interior set, it’s a living room or a house. You have all those different sets like you would shoot, I don’t know, when I used to do soap operas, we had the set of the living room and then the house and then the school and it was all different, like smaller sets but in a big studio, and of course, the cameras would just move from one place to the other. Is it similar?

Scott: It’s different in that the camera doesn’t have to move. You’re on this thing called a volume where you have one stage where you can have all your action happen. I shot virtual production for the first time, I think in November and we shot a short film that was like an Indiana Jones adventure story. It took place, it stars this kid who has this flight of fantasy about him being an Indiana Jones like hero. It takes place on a city street, it takes place in an Indiana Jones like cave, and then it takes place in a jungle, and we shot it in two days. What we did is it has all these action scenes and running and all this stuff but we really shot it in this 20 by 20 square foot space and you would never know.

How it works is what goes up on the LED wall, this huge wall, it’s 20 feet tall, is a 3D virtual environment that’s done with a game engine called the Unreal Engine and it’s all 3D and you put it up on the wall and then you point the camera and you might have a person in front of the camera. Then when you move the camera like this the background moves too. All the parallax happens in 3D space, in that virtual 3D space and that’s what tricks the eye into thinking, oh we must be, that person must be in this real environment because I see him in a jungle and when the camera moves this way the parallax of all the trees and stuff moves behind that person.

It’s a virtual set but however it’s not really super realistic unless like you said you bring in real objects. Art department really brings in physical stuff so in the case of a jungle you bring in all these plants. In the case of a cave you have all these rocks and they’re in the foreground, and then the mid ground and then the background behind the character and then you have the wall. See what I’m saying? All this stuff works together so that when the camera moves you have the parallax of the rocks in the foreground, and then the mid ground and of the character.

Then you have all the digital rocks and the cave behind moving in a similar way, and the background knows the camera lens so it adjusts the focus based on what your focal length is and everything. It’s just like, it’s really cool and then if you show the floor you have to bring in a floor to the set. In the case of a cave we brought in these flats that look like dirt and then we put fake rocks on top of them, and then you have the real dirt and then you have this LED wall, and on the LED wall is the digital dirt ground. You have to match the color of the two and you put some rocks around the scene, and it just looks like the background just goes into infinity, goes into this virtual world.

I found myself saying things like, the art director I’d say, “Hey, I think we need to move that plant. Can you move that plant, oh wait a minute, that’s on the wall, that’s one of the virtual plants.: I can’t even tell, I can’t tell where the real world ends and the virtual world begins. It’s just like, I’m just like a kid in a candy store playing with the stuff because I used to work in games and I understand video game engines. I’ve done a lot of visual effects but it’s really cool to do this technology because you don’t have to shoot on green screen and then replace the background later.

It’s all in real time, you capture it, you’re rolling the camera and it’s there like that is a real background environment. It’s like having a huge jungle set that looks like it goes off to the horizon and looked totally real.

Nikki: I’m glad you mentioned green screen because I was going to tell you or ask you how is it different from having a green screen but it’s a totally different thing, so it’s not even the same a camera that you can use with a green screen.

Scott: The camera can be the same actually but the technology that understands what the camera is seeing is different. You basically have a computer that’s hooked up to the virtual environment that’s tracking what the camera is doing, and making the virtual environment behave in a way as if it were a real environment responding to the camera panning or tracking or whatever. One of the other amazing advantages is the light that’s hitting your character. If you’re on a green screen, you have some green spill, some green light is bouncing off the wall and that’s bad.

You have to like the person based on how you think the background is going to look but what’s really cool in virtual production, you have all the light and the colors that are coming let’s say from the desert sunset that’s happening behind me. It’s all bouncing around the studio and hitting me. It’s very immersive, it feels like not only can the actor, does the actor feel like they’re in a real environment opposed to being in this green space that they have to imagine that they’re in the desert.

You can see it and the light, the quality of the light that’s bouncing around is actually coming off the LED wall.

Then one step further, if you have any like, glass or reflective material, the reflections show. Famously on the show The Mandalorian, the main character, the Mandalorian, he’s got this Beskar metal suit, and it’s very reflective. If you’re shooting on green screen, it would just reflect all the green and be a nightmare. That’s why you couldn’t use reflections on green screen. Because you’re shooting virtual production and that background is really there, it’s reflecting off the suit. When someone’s watching that image, their brain just goes, well, they must be in the desert because I’m seeing the desert reflected in the suit. It has to be real.

Likewise, cars, if you do a driving scene, it’s so amazing, like the windshield, the reflection of, let’s say you have the environment going by you as if you’re driving in a car, you can see all the trees going by in the reflections. Then your brain goes, well, they must be, I see all these reflections. They must be really moving. I see the environment in the background moving. I see reflections on the windshield. It has to be real. There’s a lot of advantages to shooting virtual production opposed to green screen.

Nikki: Oh, for sure. Definitely. Do you use different lighting than you would use for a regular shoot?

Scott: We use similar lighting. the last shoot I did with Jimmy Lindsay, who’s a great DP, he just worked on Ghostbusters, the new Ghostbusters movie. He’s shot on Picard, the Star Trek show. He just put all the lighting up in the grid. It was very fast. We didn’t really have to move lights around very much. It was like being on a stage with all the lights set up in the grid, like a TV show, like you were mentioning. You can just adjust the lights really quick on the light board. It was a lot less, didn’t take as much time to light because, when you’re in a real environment, you got to move the lights and you got to put them on stands and you got to go out the window and put up flags and then you got to move to a new room and all that. All the lights are just set up for that very limited space that we’re operating in. It allows you to shoot fast.

Nikki: That’s amazing because, exactly, you don’t need to stop and relight every time you’re going to reposition or, yes. The only thing that you would stop and it is just to put the different physical objects that you would need, like for the next set, but still, it’s not a huge space.

Scott: Sometimes that gets pretty involved. Also in the case of this jungle we did, and I can send you some pictures of it, we had a lot of plants in there because the characters are doing this chase through the jungle. They have to be running past real plants that they’re interacting with and hitting. There are a lot of real plants in the foreground and the mid ground and in the shallow background. Then the deep space is that wall that extends into infinity and really makes you believe that you’re in this giant outdoor environment. Art department, it’s not like it’s putting art department out of business.

They still have a lot of work to, bring in, bring in, if you’re shooting in a home, you have to have some real furniture, for the actors to sit on and interact with. You have to have some practical lamps and things that are in the frame or else it wouldn’t look real. Then the only objects in the house would be way back there then the illusion is broken.

Nikki: Yes, exactly. I see another huge advantage is that if you’re shooting exterior, you don’t have to stop every time there’s an airplane flying or an emergency vehicle going by or a lawnmower.

Scott: In the case of, here in Texas, it gets close to freezing and the whole, the whole state shuts down. We can’t even handle it. It’s so cold. Everybody freaks out. It’s funny that shooting here in January, I did think about that there have been times where usually the weather’s pretty good in Austin where I live. Sometimes it’s supposed to be a sunny day and the commercial or whatever you’re shooting calls for a sunny day and then it’s pouring rain and cloudy. It’s awesome how you can, you can be inside in the comfort and actually in Texas it’s really the heat that becomes the big problem, shooting in the summer outside.

Yes. I was shooting a campaign in August. It was 112 degrees and we’re all just miserable, and so the idea of being in an outdoor environment but in the comfort of a stage is so cool. Not only that, an outdoor environment that looks utterly real, Then let’s say you’re shooting at sunset too, if you were using a real sunset you got 15 minutes of the good light. All right, let’s hurry up and do this dramatic scene. We only got 15 minutes. Better get it right. You can shoot a few hours on the– you can shoot as long as you want on a virtual production stage because that beautiful sunset’s just going to sit there as long as you need it to. There’s a lot of advantages.

Nikki: That is beautiful. Do more and more production companies going into virtual production?

Scott: Yes. It’s getting really, so the stage I’m shooting on is called Stray Vista and it’s getting really busy. My understanding since we shot the short film I did, which was a demo to show other filmmakers how you could use this technology and to tell filmmakers that, hey, this technology is not just available to John Favreau and the people at Disney and Star Wars shows that independent filmmakers can use this. In fact the folks who did the backgrounds on the Star Wars shows, they did the backgrounds for my short film. They’re called Narwhal Studios and they did it.

Nikki: Oh, that’s them.

Scott: Yes, they did it because they want to make this technology accessible to anybody, not just the big expensive shows. That’s really cool. I think that’s starting to catch on and you’re starting to see more films and commercials that aren’t necessarily huge budget use this technology, but it’s just, it’s getting to the point where it’s more accessible now.

Nikki: I’m happy to hear that. You don’t have to have a huge budget to be able to use that technology.

Scott: No, it’s not. It’s not like, I think that, yes, a few years ago, yes, when it was brand new and it was experimental, but it’s really starting to get perfected. Then these virtual production stages are starting to pop up regionally across the country, like in Las Vegas and Atlanta. I think there’s one in Dallas, there’s one here in Austin and everybody’s getting in on the action because it’s just, it’s really cool. It’s comfortable. Now there are some things that make it tricky. For example, you have to do, there’s a lot more work in pre-production because you have to build the environment.

You don’t get to just go to a location and say, well, I guess that’s it. That’s what we have to live with. We’ll build our shots around this location. You in advance have to go, well, what are the shots I want? How do I want to cover the action and what is the action? Then you build the environment around the story you want to tell, the shots, where the characters are moving and all that good stuff. You have to have answers for the person who is building that 3D virtual environment, how the room should be laid out, which way do we want to be looking, all that good stuff.

Then the DP has to work with the person who’s building the unreal engine virtual environment, and they have to decide on the lighting that’s going to be in the virtual environment and make sure that it’s going to match what the cinematographer is going to do on the stage itself with the actors and some of the set dressing that’s actually there practically on set.

Nikki: Would you say from start, like from pre-production to post-production, the whole thing would be now with virtual production, less time for the whole project to be done?

Scott: I think it evens out. I think it’s a similar timeline. For example, the commercial campaign that I’m prepping right now, we have the same amount of time, about two, three weeks to do heavy pre-pro. That’s about the same time we would have had if we were shooting in a practical location. We could have shot in a practical location. I just decided, hey, let’s do it virtually. Then that allowed the ad agency to adjust the scripts to be a little bit more ambitious in terms of the environments we were shooting in. I think it evens out where, I think it speeds things up is if you are like, for example, shooting on a moonscape or something.

You got an astronaut who’s in a space suit and they’re walking on a moonscape. If you were going to do that as a visual effect, you’d have to do green screen and then all that would be in post. All the compositing, the building of the moon landscape, that would be in post. That would take a lot of time and also cost a chunk of money, right? If you did the moonscape virtually, you’d pre-build all that. On the post side, you’d have to do all

this compositing.

It would be captured in cameras as if that actor was actually on the moon, and you really shot it with a camera. Then you don’t have to do anything in the post. You use some, obviously, you go into color correction. That helps sell the virtual production a little bit more but you’re doing color correction anyway. It does save time and money on the visual effects side of the equation in post.

Nikki: We’ve reached the end of part one. Please join us next week for part two and the conclusion of this interview. In the meantime, if you can think of anyone who might benefit from this information, please go ahead and share it with them. Thanks for being here.

[music]

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Episode Notes

En esta segunda parte de la entrevista con Zaide Silvia Gutiérrez, seguimos explorando la pasión y profundidad del teatro junto a esta aclamada actriz. Descubre sus valiosas reflexiones sobre la importancia de la vocación, la preparación académica y la atención al detalle en la carrera de un actor. Además, conoce sus consejos inspiradores para los actores jóvenes. ¡No te pierdas esta mirada única al mundo del teatro y la actuación!

Momentos Destacados:

• Descubre la pasión profunda de Zaide por el teatro y cómo lo considera su verdadero hogar creativo.
• Explora la diferencia entre actuar en teatro, televisión, cine y doblaje, y cómo cada medio presenta desafíos únicos.
• Zaide comparte valiosas reflexiones sobre la importancia de la vocación, la preparación académica y la atención al detalle en la carrera de un actor.
• Descubre cómo el mindfulness y la atención a los detalles influyen en el proceso creativo de Zaide y en la profundidad de sus interpretaciones.
• Conoce los consejos inspiradores de Zaide para los actores jóvenes, incluida la importancia de la definición clara de la vocación y el compromiso con la profesión artística.

La entrevista ofrece una visión profunda y apasionada del mundo del teatro y la actuación, así como valiosos consejos para los actores jóvenes. Destacó la importancia de la vocación, la preparación académica y la atención al detalle en la interpretación de personajes. La experiencia y sabiduría de Zaide Silvia Gutiérrez enriquecieron el episodio y brindaron una perspectiva inspiradora sobre el arte de la actuación.

¡Sintoniza este episodio y sumérgete en el fascinante universo teatral con nosotros!

Conecta con Zaide Silvia Gutiérrez a través de su Instagram @ZaideSilviaG

Transcript

Zaide Silvia Gutiérrez: Decía mi esposo cuando me hacían esta pregunta que, “¿Qué te gusta más? ¿El cine o el teatro?”. Yo decía, “Está difícil. El teatro, pero no sé, porque el cine. No, pero es que la televisión”, Él decía, “Sí, también el cine le gusta mucho porque le dan llamados a las 4:00 AM y se mete cantando a la regadera a las 3:00 AM”. Solo alguien que es feliz canta a las 3:00 AM, porque tiene llamado a las 4:00 AM.

[música de fondo]

Interlocutor: La Pizarra, explorando las mentes creativas del mundo del entretenimiento. Aquí está tu conductora, Nicky Mondellini.

[música de fondo]

Nicky Mondellini: Bienvenido o bienvenida a un episodio más de La Pizarra. Yo soy Nicky Mondellini. Qué bueno que nos acompañas hoy porque tenemos la segunda parte de la entrevista con la actriz Zaide Silvia Gutiérrez. Espero que lo disfrutes.

¿En qué ha cambiado tu punto de vista o tu preparación de un personaje o tu trabajo a partir de haber hecho esos estudios de dirección?

Zaide: Ahora leo las obras y tengo una visión global de las mismas después de eso. Ya la tenía, pero bueno, uno la afina y la va afinando con el tiempo. Eso es una de las cosas. La siguiente es que me condujo a una vocación que ha sido más recientemente descubierta por mí, que es la docencia. Eso lo agradezco muchísimo. Además la docencia con la dirección se complementan mucho, porque finalmente uno para un montaje escolar funge como el director.

Gracias a eso descubrí mi vocación docente. Yo antes pensaba que jamás iba a dar clases y cuando me lo proponían, alguna vez lo intenté y me pareció algo que no era un llamado para mí. Es que para ser docente, se necesita una cierta madurez, al menos en mi caso. No solamente del conocimiento, sino una madurez también en cuanto a la comunicación con el otro, a saber describir y a ser generoso para compartir tus conocimientos. Nunca he tenido empacho en compartirme, ese es uno de los gran placeres.

Me comparto como actriz. Es decir, no pongo resistencia, hago muchas preguntas, digo lo que me parece, pregunto lo que no comprendo, pero reticencia es otra cosa y reticencia nunca he tenido.

Últimamente, el año pasado, en noviembre y en diciembre estrenamos una obra que se llama La conversión del Diablo, escrita por Carlos Pascual y dirigida por Martin Acosta, dentro de la Compañía Nacional de Teatro. Hice un personaje que no tiene nada que ver con lo que hubiera hecho antes en toda mi existencia actoral.

Era una guerrera de la resistencia junto con Cuauhtémoc, frente a los conquistadores. Por supuesto, al momento de la obra ya era cuando están intentando ya la colonización espiritual mexicana con los preceptos católicos frente a las creencias de los naturales de México. Es una obra muy interesante. Esta mujer queda en la resistencia y nunca se suma a las nuevas propuestas españolas y queda un poco un ojo crítico, como una mujer sabia, pero siempre guerrera con su arma, con su macuil, esta vara que tiene obsidiana, cuchillas de obsidiana a los lados, que es plana y que con eso era su arma.

Relaciona como una guerrera, pero ya es una mujer madura y en esos tiempos es una mujer que representa la antigua cultura que no puede abandonarse.

Nicky: Zaide, cuéntame un poquito ahora, obviamente el teatro yo creo que siento cómo hablas tan apasionadamente de él, es tu medio preferido de expresión, si no me equivoco. Uno como actor, tenemos que desarrollarnos tanto en tele como en cine. ¿Cuál es el siguiente medio después del teatro? Que tiene sus retos, porque uno no puede detener la escena y volverla a empezar la escena desde el principio, no hay corte y se repite. ¿Cuál es el siguiente medio de expresión que te gusta más o que tu maś disfrutas?

Zaide: La escena teatral es mi gran pasión porque ahí se crean los vínculos humanos en tiempo presente, presencialmente. La pantalla también crea vínculos humanos, pero se dan desde otro lugar. Sin que yo esté presente, está mi imagen presente.

A veces yo entro a la casa de alguien y me dicen, “Yo te conozco, ¿de dónde?”. Es que me han visto en la televisión de su cuarto. Sienten que yo he estado en casa y en su vida. Hay un vínculo humano, porque me reconocen y aprecian mi trabajo, o recuerdan el nombre de mi personaje. Me dicen, “¿Por qué hacías esto en esa telenovela?”, “Porque ese era mi personaje”, sienten que yo he convivido con ellos.

Yo no tengo el vínculo, porque yo no los vi. En el teatro sí respiramos juntos. Aunque no nos veamos porque a veces hay escenas en que por lo regular el público está a oscuras y nosotros estamos iluminados. Por eso dije, “Respiramos juntos”, porque nos quedamos en silencio, porque nos escuchamos, porque nos reconocemos, porque nos entendemos en el momento, en tiempo presente. Yo digo que mi vocación es la actuación, cualquier territorio en donde yo pueda ejercerlo estoy muy feliz.

Decía mi esposo cuando me hacían esta pregunta que, “¿Qué te gusta más? ¿El cine o el teatro?”. Yo decía, “No. Está difícil. El teatro, pero no sé, porque el cine. No, pero es que la televisión”. Él decía, “Sí, también el cine le gusta mucho porque le dan llamados a las 4:00 AM y se mete cantando a la regadera a las 3:00 AM”. Solo alguien que es feliz canta a las 3:00 AM, porque tiene llamado a las 4:00 AM. Son espacios donde yo me he podido explayar. He hecho radio, he hecho radionovelas. Incluso tengo dos premios de radio, que son extraordinarios porque son muy pocas las ocasiones en que se dan esos premios.

Frente a un micrófono yo puedo volar también en cuanto a un territorio vocacional y profesional, y necesita otros recursos. Hice doblaje también, muchísimo doblaje.Tengo personajes icónicos de doblaje.

Nicky: Mira. Eso no lo sabía, Zaide. No estaba en tu semblanza. ¿Cómo? [rié]

Zaide: ¿Cómo te digo todo eso? Happy Days, Casi famosos, la primer película de los superhéroes. Fíjate, fue hace tanto tiempo porque tenía yo, no sé, 17 años cuando lo hizo. Me invitó el gran maestro del doblaje Antonio Arvizu, que en la televisión luego se conoció como El Tata. Él dobló Los Picapiedra. Él hacía todas las voces. Todos los términos en castellano de los Picapiedra los inventó él. Era un genio del doblaje. Él vio mi trabajo, lo observó en la cabina de doblaje y me invitó a doblar esta película hace 45 años. Discúlpenme si no me acuerdo el nombre en este instante de la película, pero han pasado muchas cosas en mi vida.

Cada uno de esos escenarios yo lo tomo como ejercicio. Como lugar en donde puedo explayarme. Un bailarín puede bailar donde sea, pero hace barra. Mi barra es la escena teatral, para poner un paralelo para entender. Yo siempre tengo que regresar al teatro.

Nicky: Sí. Siempre decimos los actores que el teatro es la mejor escuela. Nos decía, por ejemplo, el maestro Mendoza que un actor puede prepararse y puedes tomar clases y todo, esa es tu base. Que realmente un actor se forja en el escenario y tienes que estar ahí plenamente sin tapujos, sin miedos ni nada, y entregarte plenamente.

A partir de eso, donde sabes que tú no tienes la oportunidad de detenerte ante nada, la escena debe continuar. Tú traes toda esa magia, esa pasión, todo ese motor que te hace funcionar en los universos que se crean y lo llevas a la televisión, lo llevas al cine o al doblaje, como dices, en cualquier otro ámbito y se nota. Se nota un actor que tiene toda esa preparación, tienes unas bases mucho más sólidas, más profundas detrás de ese trabajo.

Qué bello que lo hayas hecho así y que lo sigues haciendo en diferentes cosas. Cuéntame ahora, yo te iba a preguntar que qué personaje, algo que no hayas hecho antes que estás haciendo ahora, o que te gustaría hacer, pero me lo acabas de explicar con esta obra que me contaste. Te queda algún otro personaje por ahí todavía en todos los años que tienes por delante, pero, ¿algún otro tipo de personaje que tú digas, “Ese quiero hacer, ese es para mí”? ¿Cuál sería?

Zaide: Antes uno decía, “Quiero hacer MDA o quiero hacer La madre de Hamlet o quiero hacer La vida es sueño, pero ahora en lugar de que sea el padre, quiero ser la madre para hacer algo más contemporáneo o revisarlo desde otro punto de vista”. Yo oía que uno se refería a los clásicos en castellano o en otra lengua, Shakespeare o el teatro de los siglos de oro, los grandes sicologistas naturalistas como Chéjov o hacer un personaje de Ibsen.

La escena ha cambiado mucho, el papel de los actores en el teatro ha tomado un nuevo lugar. Más que decirte que quiero hacer un personaje y esto tiene que ver con mi raíz personal, a mí me gusta trabajar en proyectos, por eso estoy en la Compañía Nacional de Teatro, porque es un proyecto.

Un proyecto que vale la pena habitar, defender, sustentar con calidad, con trabajo, con los mejores actores y todos llegamos por concurso, todos somos ganadores, pero es que todos tenemos mucho talento, trayectorias de excelencia y no cualquier está ahí.

Ese proyecto vale muchísimo, porque de ahí se genera la identidad artística de nuestro país. Creo que es un lugar que debiera reproducirse a muchos lugares de nuestro país. Ahora yo quiero hacer este nuevo teatro.Este nuevo teatro que me ha enseñado mucho y que tiene otros requerimientos. Por una lado, yo noto que el actor se vuelve más acrobático físicamente hablando, que se requiere una educación vocal muy buena y haya varias técnicas de educación vocal. Claro que me gustaría hacer MDA que fue el primero que dije. Me gustaría ser.

Entrevistadora: [unintelligible 00:13:37] [rié]

Zaide: [unintelligible 00:13:40] ¿quién no?

[risas]

Zaide: Creo que voy a montar el de [unintelligible 00:13:45] que es tan socorrido, pero también me encantaría revisar sor Juana por supuesto. El año pasado dirigí una obra atribuida a Juan Ruiz de Alarcón, sobre un personaje de la vida real del siglo XVI que era una transexual, la obra se llama La Monja Alférez. Fui muy feliz dirigiendo esa obra con un texto, con un lenguaje maravilloso, con los esplendidos actores de la Compañía Nacional de Teatro.

Yo invité a mi vecina que nunca había visto una obra en persona y al salir me dijo, “Es que primero dije, ‘Hablan de una manera que’, ¿cómo?. Poco a poco fui entendiendo absolutamente todo y entendí todo”. Estaba exaltada de entusiasmo y estaba muy contenta de que un lenguaje tan poco común, porque lamentablemente no se pone ya teatro en verso, es muy excepcional, solo la compañía nacional de teatro se puede dar ese lujo.

Mi vecina tuvo la oportunidad de conocer un texto del siglo XVI con una temática completamente contemporánea y ella sentía que no había distancia. Eso es el gran placer de la creación en el momento.

Entrevistadora: Sí. Definitivamente Zaide, qué maravilla. Es muy bonito eso y realmente que siga el teatro es muy importante para todas las generaciones y que se sigan haciendo ese tipo de obras, un teatro verdadero y profundo, que se dé a conocer. Realmente en México hay una gran cantidad de cultura y de cultura muy bonita y en diferentes niveles.

Eso es una de las cosas que extraño no estar yendo ahora que estoy en Houston, pero cuando vaya a México primero que nada te voy a hablar a ti a ver en qué estás para ir.

Zaide: Muchas gracias, Nicky. No, primero para darnos un abrazo.

Entrevistadora: Sí, definitivo.

Zaide: Sí, para bendecir el momento del reencuentro y saber que estamos reconocibles y que nos reconocemos como artistas, como mujeres y como contemporáneas.

Entrevistadora: Exacto, definitivamente. ¿Qué quisieras tú que los actores jóvenes supieran o pudieran incorporar a su carrera? Ya viendo el querer tener una carrera a largo plazo, ahora que las cosas son tan diferentes, ahora que todos los casting son en video, tantas cosas diferentes. ¿Tú sientes que haya algo que les falte a los actores jóvenes ahora que eres también maestra? ¿Qué es lo que tú les puedes recomendar?

Zaide: Yo primero recomiendo la definición. Si tú tienes duda entre estudiar psicología y teatro, estudia psicología. Entre pintura y arquitectura, mejor estudia arquitectura. Yo creo que uno tiene que ser muy claro, porque las artes son realmente una decisión de cómo vivir la vida y muchas veces la creatividad de un actor se manifiesta en su habilidad para encontrar el camino para realizar su vocación de actor.

La terquedad del actor tiene que ver con la firmeza de su vocación. Primero la definición, la certeza. Como podrás ver en mi historia de vida resumida que yo soy proacadémica, pero no proacadémica en que las cosas han de hacerse así porque estás son las reglas, todo lo contrario. Yo sencillamente estoy en pro de la profesionalización del trabajo artístico y de que los creadores sigan enterándose y sigan preparándose académicamente.

Cuando yo digo que soy maestra en mindfulness, casi lo quitan de mi historia de vida, porque les parece que no tiene relación, pero yo lo aplico todo el tiempo en mi vida, nomás que nadie me ha preguntado más que tú cómo lo hago y qué hago, pero al ser una revisión consciente de mi cuerpo, de mis sentidos, de qué estoy sintiendo, de mis sensaciones, de atemperar lo que traiga del mundo de afuera y resolverlo o colocarlo en un sitio para poder abordar la escena, en un ejercicio de mindfulness.

Lo hacemos los actores, pero no de manera consciente y a veces sí estamos muy estresados y se nos olvida que hay que aterrizar y primero poner los pies en la tierra con todo el significado que esta frase implica, poner los pies en la tierra. Cuando tú tengas dudas o estés inseguro o ansioso, les digo a mis alumnos, “Fíjense cómo están pisando el piso”, porque a veces tiene uno los pies así.

Lo regresa uno y pone los pies en la tierra y encuentras tu propia dimensión. Eso es un ejemplo de mindfulness, que yo vengo haciendo desde hace 30 años sin saber que era mindfulness.

La definición, ¿cómo definir o cómo darse cuenta cuál es mi vocación? ¿Dónde pasas más tiempo cuando eres joven? ¿dónde se te olvidan las horas? ¿Dónde estás perfectamente enfocado? ¿Dónde no te parece un esfuerzo sino un gran placer estar? Ahí se manifiesta la vocación.

Yo también doy algunas consultas y han venido papás a decirme, “Es que mi hija nada más se la pasa cantando y bailando. Dice que quiere ser actriz de comedia musical. Yo soy abogada y yo sé que el mundo de la abogacía sería muy bueno para ella. Quiero que la convenza de no hacerlo”. Yo le digo, “Señora, ¿yo la podría convencer a usted de no ser abogada? ¿Usted disfruta su profesión?”, “Sí”.

“No, es que mi hija se fue a vivir a otra ciudad con tal de no estudiar leyes. Se fue a los cafés del centro y les dijo, ‘Déjenme cantar aquí. Déjenme decir mis poemas cantados'”.

Yo le decía a la señora, “Si usted supiera qué difícil es que alguien se decida ir a tocar puertas y decir, ‘Déjeme hacer esto'”. Era una película que se llama Babette’s Feast, que es una película firmada en Dinamarca. Sí, es danesa.

Tiene una frase, no les voy a espolear la película, pero es una mujer que es una artista culinaria y les ofrece una gran cena a sus vecinos. Ella dice una frase maravillosa, lo voy a parafrasear porque no me acuerdo, no la estoy citando textualmente, pero es algo así como, “Los artistas o los creadores, solo necesitamos que nos dejen hacer lo que mejor sabemos hacer”. Eso se aplica a todas las profesiones.

Cuando tú te das cuenta dónde se te va el tiempo sin darte cuenta y quieres volver, hasta te cuesta trabajo desprenderte porque quieres seguir ahí, esa es una de las mejores claves para conocer cuál es tu vocación. Descubrir tu vocación, enfocarla y sin dudas, abordarla. Prepárate, porque la competencia sí es muy grande. Además, en nuestra profesión no solo es la competencia de conocimiento o preparación académica, también implica el tipo físico.

El tipo físico tiene que ver con la política, con los parámetros de los grupos hegemónicos, cualquiera que estos sean, pero solamente la absoluta seguridad personal de un fuero interno, reconocido y dominado te hace fuerte para poder participar desde donde uno va a participar en los territorios donde puedes ejercer tu vocación. Hay territorios donde uno ejerce la profesión, que tiene que ver con la vocación, pero no en todos puedes explayar todo el bagaje de conocimiento y de capacidad que tienes.

Mira, en la televisión, que a mí me gusta mucho hacer, con una carrera de televisión que yo agradezco, porque he tenido unas oportunidades maravillosas, también con personajes icónicos en las telenovelas. Sí había un parámetro de qué tipo de personajes hacia yo, o hago. Soy analfabeta, madre abandonada, tengo muchos hijos, me golpean. Luego vienen y me dicen, “¿Se identifica con su personaje?”, yo digo, “No, nada. Tengo una maestría, siempre he tenido relaciones muy longevas, respetuosas, mi familia me quiere” [rié]

Sí me identifico en algo, en la dignidad humana, en vivir las situaciones desde una perspectiva de respeto a mi personaje, a que es una mujer que no es tonta, que está atrapada en circunstancias de la que es difícil salir. Procuro, lo procuro, no digo que siempre lo logro, interpreto personajes que no son víctimas, sino que están encerradas en una circunstancia, ya sea que no tienen los elementos para poder contrarrestar o no tienen el apoyo social para poderlos combatir.

Mi visión de los personajes no es, “Ay, pobrecita”. No, yo quiero que se vea que está pensando, que está intentando comprender por qué le pasan esas cosas. No que nada más diga, “Es que me pegaron”, sino interpretarlo como, “¿Cómo es que me pegaron? ¿Cómo llegamos aquí?”, que es distinta la interpretación, es desde otro punto de vista.

Esos puntos de vista que yo ejemplifico muy burdamente aquí y que yo procuro ejecutar, si no se tiene una cierta preparación de un punto de vista de la realidad en la que habitamos o en la que no conocemos, es difícil darle la vuelta a la interpretación si uno no se hace preguntas y si uno no respeta cabalmente a sus personajes.

Otra de las cosas es que la preparación a mí me ayuda a poder describir la realidad con mucho detalle. Yo profesional y personalmente, muy conscientemente no utilizo palabras burdas, a menos que efectivamente quiera usarlas, pero si todo es padrísimo y todo es horrible, son como brochas gordas para describir la realidad.

En cambio, si yo procuro utilizar todo el bagaje de vocabulario, léxico y de comprensión de mi lenguaje de conocimiento de mi idioma para poder describir lo que estoy tratando de decir que es padrísimo o maravilloso, con otros términos, por supuesto, que adrede no los digo, que sería muy fácil decirlos.

Si yo en cambio digo, es que la manera en que la luz entra por la ventana y choca con el cristal de ese retrato, que refleja y no me había dado cuenta, la imagen que está en frente y qué está atrás de mí, me hace experimentar sensaciones primero de descubrimiento de una estética que no había planeado y eso me provoca entusiasmo. Así puedo decir que está padrísimo sin decir, “¿Cómo ves esto que está pasando con el reflejo?”, “Está padrísimo”, y ya, es una brocha gorda.

En la descripción detallada aparece la sutileza, la textura y la diferenciación, porque también puedo voltear para acá y decir, “Oye, ¿esa lampara qué te parece?”, “Está padrísima”. ¿En qué se diferencia de esto que sucedió con la luz del atardecer frente a un diseño de ingeniería avanzada, innovadora o peculiar? En nada. Eso refleja una manera de percibir la realidad y si yo describo así la realidad, así voy a interpretar a mis personajes y yo procuro darle una cualidad distinta a cada uno. Lo procuro.

Nicky: Eso es bellísimo, Zaide. Muy bonito poder tener toda esa sutiliza, todos esos detalles, llenar a tus personajes de toda esa vida como dices. No puedes agarrar una brocha y acabar usando las mismas palabras para todos los personajes nada más en términos tan blanco y negro. Hay muchas capas.

Se nos acaba ahora el tiempo, pero yo quiero agradecerte sinceramente que me hayas dado este tiempo para estar aquí en el espacio de la pizarra y compartiéndonos tus conocimientos, tu rica experiencia, tu maravillosa trayectoria. Gracias por los consejos y cuando quieras esta es tu casa. Muchísimas gracias por estar aquí.

Zaide: Soy yo la que debo agradecer el espacio donde me has dejado explayarme de la manera en la que soy. No en todos los espacios uno puede expresarse libremente. Yo creo que este espacio corresponde a la persona que me invitó.

Nicky: Muchas gracias.

Zaide: Me has compartido tu territorio, me has dejado habitarlo. No solo eso, sino que lo vas a compartir con muchas personas y de verdad te agradezco esta posibilidad de dialogar con escucha y atención. Gracias Nicky.

[música]

Voz comercial: Gracias por acompañarnos en La Pizarra. No olvides suscribirte al boletín mensual en nickymondellini.com/lapizarra. Sintonízate la próxima semana para un nuevo episodio.

 

Episode Notes

En este inspirador episodio de “La Pizarra”, Nicky Mondellini celebra los 50 años de carrera artística de la destacada actriz, directora y maestra de actuación, Zaide Silvia Gutiérrez. Descubre las experiencias que han marcado su trayectoria en teatro, cine y televisión, y cómo el mindfulness y la bioenergética han enriquecido su proceso creativo y su vida personal.

—

Momentos clave:

– Reflexiones sobre 50 años de carrera y los roles más impactantes.

– La influencia del mindfulness en la actuación y la gestión emocional.

– Anécdotas de proyectos icónicos y lecciones aprendidas a lo largo de su carrera.

– Importancia de la educación continua y su impacto en el enfoque profesional de Zaide.

– Consejos para actores jóvenes sobre cómo nutrir una carrera duradera en el entretenimiento.

– La educación espiritual, la bioenergética y su aplicación en el arte de la actuación.

– La riqueza de la interacción generacional en el set y la oportunidad de aprender de actores experimentados.

– Preparación diaria y la importancia de la puntualidad y preparación mental antes de actuar.

– Cómo el apoyo familiar ha jugado un papel crucial en su desarrollo profesional.

—

Recursos mencionados:

– Telenovela “Para volver a amar”

– Película “El norte” y “El imperio de la fortuna”

– Serie “Madre solo hay dos” y película “Que viva México” en Netflix

Conecta con Zaide Silvia Gutiérrez a través de su Instagram: @ZaideSilviaG

No te pierdas este fascinante viaje a través de las décadas de arte y pasión. ¡Sintoniza y disfruta del relato de una vida dedicada al arte dramático!

 

Transcript

Zaide Silvia Gutiérrez: Cuál es la frontera entre la realidad y la ficción y la ficción tiene conciencia de la realidad. No nos extraviamos en el personaje. No nos llevamos el personaje a nuestra vida porque pobres de nuestras familias. Sí tenemos muy claro en qué momento comienza la ficción y actuamos con sus leyes de acuerdo al universo en el que esté inscrito y en qué momento se corta para volver a nuestra realidad.

[música de fondo]

Narrador: La Pizarra, explorando las mentes creativas del mundo del entretenimiento. Aquí está tu conductora, Nicky Mondellini.

Nicoletta Mondellini: Hola, ¿cómo están? Bienvenidos, bienvenidas a un episodio más de La Pizarra. Yo soy Nicky Mondellini. Por aquí seguimos en la temporada 9. Estoy muy, muy contenta de que estén aquí con nosotros porque hoy vamos a platicar con una maravillosa amiga. Ella es actriz. Es una colega increíble. Hemos estado juntas en un par de proyectos. Justamente en 2023 ella cumplió sus 50 años de carrera artística. Nos va a platicar acerca de todo eso y muchísimo más.

Ella es Zaide Silvia Gutiérrez, actriz, directora, maestra de actuación y mentora también. Algunos de sus personajes destacados son Rosaura de la telenovela Para volver a amar, Paz en Un refugio para el amor, Chayo en La doble vida de Estela Carrillo, Carmelita en Qué pobres tan ricos, Toña en la obra Hasta la China fueron a dar mis mechas con el ventarrón, lo cual le dio su novena distinción como actriz el monólogo en 2018.

Seguro la viste como Lucía en la serie Madre solo hay dos y como Socorro en la película Que viva México, ambas de Netflix. Zaide empezó muy chica a pisar los escenarios y desde entonces no ha parado. Ya lleva casi 50 obras de teatro, 40 películas, dos de ellas consideradas clásicas, El norte y El imperio de la fortuna. Ha participado en más de 10 telenovelas, ocho radionovelas e incontables programas unitarios de televisión.

Zaide ha sido galardonada en numerosas ocasiones. Es miembro del elenco estable de la Compañía Nacional de Teatro de México desde el 2018. Así que acompáñame a explorar la mente creativa de Zaide Silvia Gutiérrez. Comenzamos. Zaide, bienvenida a La Pizarra. No sabes el gusto que me da finalmente poder platicar contigo, hacerte esta entrevista que ya tenía yo planeada desde hace tiempo.

Zaide: Muchísimas gracias, Nicky. Estoy primero feliz de verte porque hace mucho tiempo que no interactuábamos en tiempo real, aunque no sea en persona, pero te mando muchos abrazos, mis mejores deseos de salud, de bienestar, de lo mejor que sea siempre para ti.

Nicoletta: Muchísimas gracias, Zaide. La última vez nos conectamos virtualmente para la entrevista de Vivan los niños. ¿Te acuerdas que era con parte del elenco? Éramos muchos, resultó un poquito caótica esa entrevista.

Zaide: Yo iba en un taxi de una locación a la otra. Fue hace como dos años y medio.

Nicoletta: Exacto. Luego a algunos se les olvidó mutearse y entonces se oían cosas por atrás. Dije, “Bueno, okay”.

Zaide: Era reunión de amigos.

Nicoletta: Era reunión. Fue muy lindo ver a todos los que eran los niños, ya ni tan niños, ya todos de adultos.

Zaide: Qué impresionante.

Nicoletta: Qué impresión, cierto, ya cada quien encaminados a hacer sus vidas, sus carreras, unos siguieron en el ambiente artístico, otros para nada, pero están en contacto, tienen chats y se siguen viendo porque tuve la oportunidad de entrevistar a Dani Aedo y me contaba que tienen un chat, que se comunican mucho. Es que la verdad se hermanaron mucho en esa grabación, ¿no?

Zaide: Sí. También tuvimos oportunidad de conversar con Ignacio López Tarso en esa ocasión que fue también muy bonito. Teníamos a los que fueron nuestros hijos y a los que fueron nuestros papás. Esa comunicación intergeneracional creo que siempre enriquece mucho a todos.

Nicoletta: Yo creo que sí. Yo creo que trabajar con los actores que ya llevan un buen rato en el ambiente artístico nos pueden aportar tantísimo si los observamos, les hacemos preguntas y todo nos enriquece muchísimo la carrera.

Yo creo que esa es una cosa que los actores jóvenes deben considerar realmente. Cuando están en un set con alguien que tiene una trayectoria importante, qué tanto puedes aprender de esa persona que te toca como compañero de cena en lugar de nada más estar queriendo estar en el set y tomarse la selfie, ¿no?

[risas]

Zaide: Sí.

Nicoletta: No, definitivo. Zaide, hay mucho de qué platicar cuando estaba yo preparando tu entrevista. Por cierto, primero por nada, ¿qué te tomas? ¿Un vinito, una tequilita, un café? ¿Qué te puedo dar?

Zaide: Yo estoy tomando agua, querida.

Nicoletta: Salud.

Zaide: Es la bebida más regenerativa, más saludable con lo que podemos empezar el año y alimentar nuestras células e hidratarlas.

Nicoletta: Sí, totalmente de acuerdo.

Zaide: Salud.

Nicoletta: Salud con mi agüita también por acá. Perfecto. En esta charla así, que es una charla que vamos a tocar varios puntos porque tienes un currículum como pocos he visto en la vida, no nada más tu preparación artística como actriz, como directora, pero le has tocado a todo, ¿verdad? A la historia, a otras culturas, culturas de Oriente, mindfulness. Yo creo que la verdad quisiera empezar por ahí. ¿Qué es lo que te llevó al mindfulness? Porque ahora también eres maestra de eso, ¿no?

Zaide: La educación espiritual por lo regular comienza en la infancia. Uno va evolucionando y acercándose o sensibilizándose hacia los estímulos que más lo atraen a uno o lo que más siente uno que uno se identifica con ello. Creo que ha sido todo un recorrido y sería muy largo de platicar, pero siempre he estado interesada en la conducta humana y su espiritualidad.

Son de otras cosas que no están en lo que te mandé, pero, por ejemplo, hice un estudio que no está avalado por ninguna universidad sobre bioenergética. Estudié a Wilhelm Reich y he estudiado a otros teóricos porque me interesa mucho el manejo de energía en el cuerpo humano. ¿Por qué? Porque soy actriz. Además, los actores de mi generación tenemos una educación todavía muy psicológica ligada a nuestra preparación profesional como actores.

Me interesó eso por el manejo de energía en el cuerpo y cómo se revela en diferentes caracteres, que para mí serían personajes. También hice una investigación sobre el lenguaje corporal, territorialidad y lenguaje corporal. De ahí yo hice tres cursos de actuación. Te lo estoy diciendo rapidísimo. Finalmente, empecé con una inclinación a la meditación hace tiempo. Esta maestría curiosamente la empecé tres meses antes del encierro de la pandemia.

Para mí fue muy bueno porque primero hice un diplomado sobre ciencia de la felicidad. Yo quería hacer un diplomado sobre logoterapia, pero no coincidía con mis horarios profesionales y entonces tomé este diplomado sobre ciencia de la felicidad. De ahí descubrí que había una maestría en mindfulness. Era como el tiempo perfecto. Trabajaba a distancia en la Compañía Nacional de Teatro, que en el encierro hicimos mucha actividad de video, pero tardes y noches me la pasaba estudiando en la maestría.

Fue providencial porque pude organizar mi energía, mi tiempo y pude obtener esta maestría en una universidad en línea.

Nicoletta: Qué maravilla, Zaide, qué bonito. Para mí eso es básico, para cualquier persona de cualquier profesión, pero sobre todo para la actuación, para lo que dices, el manejo de la energía, los personajes son diferentes según el conflicto que haya, según la escena, según el lugar. Hay tantas cosas, así que si podemos meternos un poco a eso y enriquecer la preparación de un personaje a mí me parece que es muy, muy valioso.

Zaide: Sí, pues–

Nicoletta: Sí, adelante.

Zaide: No, que trato de aplicar todo lo que estudio a mi profesión y al ejercicio escénico. Cuando estudié bioenergética y territorialidad empecé a conocer la energía del cuerpo. Obviamente, yo me autoestudio todo el tiempo porque yo soy un ser humano y me doy cuenta, compruebo lo que me están diciendo los libros y de ahí parto para poder explicarlo a mis alumnos cuando doy clases.

Finalmente, es que como uno usa el territorio, así es la tensión o relajación que conlleva en el cuerpo. Uno también habita su cuerpo. Las emociones te tensan o te destensan. Eso te hace habitar el cuerpo de diferentes maneras. El cuerpo tiene memoria, hay nódulos de tensión.

Eso es lo que trabaja la bioenergética, para hacer que la energía del cuerpo fluya libremente y sanear los bloqueos energéticos que pudiera haber. Yo esto lo utilicé, obviamente, para aplicarlo en mis cuestiones escénicas.

Nicoletta: ¿Tú sientes que, por ejemplo, si has tenido personajes que son un poco difíciles de abordar, digamos por la historia o la psicología del personaje, necesitas adentrarte más o no sé, prepararlo de una manera más distinta con la ayuda del mindfulness? ¿De qué forma sientes que te ha ayudado para personajes así que son difíciles?

Zaide: Los actores siempre hacemos ejercicios de mindfulness, aunque no estemos conscientes de ello. Básicamente hay dos estatus en los que utilizo el mindfulness. Uno, para estar consciente de mi instrumento y prepararlo y saber qué estoy haciendo, aunque esté muy involucrada emocionalmente para guardar un registro que me ayude a recomponer ese proceso y poder vivirlo de nuevo en cada toma o en cada función. Esa es una parte técnica y personal.

La otra es el encuentro con mis personajes en el momento presente de la escena o de la grabación o filmación porque en ese momento me abstraigo metafóricamente de la realidad circundante porque en un set hay camarógrafos, hay luces, hay micrófonos y hay maquillistas que vienen y te preparan para la toma. Durante la toma tú estás solo en la situación del personaje.

Por supuesto que tienes los poros, las antenas, la conciencia despierta y estás con una percepción panorámica de lo que es tu entorno, pero tú estás enfocadísimo en la situación del personaje. Siempre hay un trabajo dual. Eso siempre procuro establecerlo con mis alumnos, de cuál es la frontera entre la realidad y la ficción, y la ficción tiene conciencia de la realidad.

No nos extraviamos en el personaje. No nos llevamos el personaje a nuestra vida porque pobres de nuestras familias. Tenemos muy claro en qué momento comienza la ficción y actuamos con sus leyes de acuerdo al universo en el que esté inscrito y en qué momento se corta para volver a nuestra realidad.

Nicoletta: Exacto. Eso es básico, es totalmente básico. Además, hay tantas cosas, como estás diciendo, que suceden alrededor, que si no tienes tu esa preparación, cualquier cosa pequeña, cualquier cosa que te distraiga te va a sacar de ese mundo y de ese universo que tienes que habitar para este personaje.

¿Cuáles son algunas de las cosas que haces tú previas a, incluso si tu preparación de un día de trabajo empieza desde tu casa o si llegando al set, tú dices, “Bueno, llego dos horas antes y me aparto en mi camerino dos horas”? ¿Qué es lo que te gusta hacer a ti para prepararte?

Zaide: No, yo parto de un concepto que es la puntualidad. La puntualidad no es llegar a las 7:00 a mi llamado así, “Ya llegué”. No. La puntualidad es prepararme punto por punto para llegar a mi llamado en relajación, en alegría preparada y atenta para comenzar mi día.

Yo te diría que mi preparación empieza un día antes cuando preparo mi escena, por supuesto, o mis escenas, cuando estoy estudiando o en la parte en la que estamos en el libreto teatral y memorizo, trato de visualizar, me sensibilizo y aplico la investigación teórica que hemos hecho el grupo para poder representar un texto dramático. Esa es una parte de la preparación.

La otra es estar bien conmigo, poder irme a la cama satisfecha, poder despertar y revisar mi estado de ese día y saber cuáles son los puntos que tengo que atender para que yo pueda estar al 100% en mi territorio profesional. Me empiezo a preparar sensibilizándome con lo que tengo alrededor. Esto es mindfulness. Primero registro cuáles son mis primeros pensamientos, cuáles son los pendientes del día.

A veces despierto un poco inquieta por una cuestión personal y procuro atenderla antes de irme a mi llamado o sé que en algún momento del día lo voy a atender. Eso me relaja. También a veces estoy inquieta porque voy a tener un ensayo muy intenso, no estoy cabalmente segura si ya lo tengo para el ensayo, pero también para eso son los ensayos.

Al despertar es muy claro, nuestra mente es clarísima. Cada vez que uno abre los ojos uno sabe qué te duele. Si tienes un piquete en un hombro, en las lumbares, en el pie o dices, “No le he hablado a mi hermana”, o, “Ay, no he checado mi estado de cuenta”, por ejemplo, o, “Ay, hoy es el día en que se vence la fecha de mis tarjetas”. Estos son los pendientes que la mente nos manda.

Lo que yo procuro es resolver en la medida de lo posible antes de salir o ya sé que durante el día tengo que resolverlo. Eso me hace ser una persona más relajada, más tranquila y atender cada cosa en su momento. Cuando entro a escena o al maquillaje puedo repasar mi escena porque mi atención no debe estar completamente en que me están maquillando, aunque procuro no interferir en el trabajo de mis compañeros de maquillaje y peinados, pero hay una cierta flexibilidad.

Cuando estoy grabando no pienso en el corte de mis tarjetas de crédito o le llamo a mi hermana durante mi corte a comer, pero ya tuve presente qué es lo que tengo que hacer y voy satisfaciendo esas cuestiones que me son necesarias para mi vida personal. Una vez resuelta mi vida personal puedo concentrarme y dar vuelo a mi trabajo profesional que es mi mayor placer en la vida. Lo digo muy escuetamente y con brocha gorda sin mayor detalle, pero así es que me preparo para un día a laboral.

Nicoletta: Zaide, platícame ahora el inicio de tu carrera. Estás cumpliendo unos maravillosos 50 años en la profesión que tanto te apasiona, que tanto has cuidado y que has hecho muy bien. ¿Cómo empezaste? Porque realmente tus padres no eran actores, ¿cierto?

Zaide: No, mis padres no fueron actores, pero mi padre sí tuvo una inclinación a la escena teatral. Mi padre adoraba la oratoria, tomó varios cursos de oratoria, ganó algunos cursos y tomó clases de actuación con Seki Sano. Era compañero de Ignacio Retes y María Douglas, que son dos figuras del teatro mexicano muy importantes que hace tiempo ya no están con nosotros. María Douglas paradójicamente muere el mismo año en que yo empiezo mi vida profesional. Mi padre era gran admirador de ella y también de Ignacio Retes.

Cuando me enseñó a leer con los signos de puntuación una lectura con sentido a los siete años. Nos llevaba al teatro y al cine a todos mis hermanos y a mí. Tenía una afición muy grande. Mi madre tenía una gran afición por la lectura, por los cuentos, por la narración. Mi madre tenía un magnífico sentido del humor. Yo digo que era una joker, un clown natural. Tenía un gran entusiasmo y tenía una gran habilidad para transmitir sus lecturas.

Nos sentaba a leernos cosas todas las tardes. Nos leía desde revistas de cómic hasta los mitos griegos. Yo creo que esos son los cimientos. Luego a los siete años yo quería estudiar danzas. Mi madre me llevó. Desde los cuatro años mi madre nos inculcó a tocar el piano. Yo, que soy la menor de mis cinco hermanos, tenía cuatro años, empecé a tocar un poco el piano y aprendí a leer las notas un poco antes que las letras. Yo creo que todo eso me fue preparando.

Recuerdo que tenía yo como ocho años y fuimos al teatro, vimos una obra de teatro del absurdo de Miloš Makovec. La fuimos a ver como 17 veces porque yo insistía en que quería volverla a ver y quería volverla a ver. Yo creo que ahí se me cristalizó la imagen de que yo quería estar así, en el escenario.

Siempre digo que, igual que esos seres brillantes y brillosos, porque uno suda mucho en escena y la piel siempre se ve como brillosita. Lo digo un poco de broma, riéndome de mí misma porque soy actriz y cuando tengo funciones intensas mi piel está brillosa. Todo lo contrario en televisión o cine que quieren taparte todo el polvo.

A los 10 años ya lo pude condensar y dije, “Yo quiero estar ahí”. Vi el anuncio de una escuela de actuación. Me costó mucho trabajo convencer a mi mamá para que me llevara y luego me costó mucho trabajo convencer a mi padre para que aceptara.

A mi madre le di tanta lata que el primer año me llevó sin decirle a mi padre, pero en las vacaciones de verano fue cuando descubrimos, mi mamá hacia limpieza general y sacaba todo de los closets, lo pintaba y volvía a meter todo, sacaba todo de los cajones, de pronto encontramos dos programas de teatro de dos obras dirigidas por Seki Sano, donde la protagonista era María Douglas e Ignacio Retes formaban parte del reparto.

Mi padre hacía unos personajes muy pequeños. Era muy joven. Eso lo hizo antes de conocer a mi madre y antes de casarse con ella, pero él tenía ese cimiento que me heredó. Después de cumplir el primer año le dijimos que habíamos visto estos programas, que yo quería ser actriz y que por favor me permitiera estudiar. Accedió, pero tenía reticencias.

Estudié tres años en el Instituto Andrés Soler. Saliendo de ahí, yo por mi propia iniciativa fui a hacer una audición a la Asociación Nacional de Actores porque necesitaban una niña de 14 años, yo tenía 13 y dije, “Híjole, a ver si me aceptan, porque necesitan de 14 y yo tengo 13”. Hice una audición con Adam Guevara, me llamó para hacer la obra, le hice una audición, hice la obra y me dieron dos premios.

Mi madre me llevó a todos los ensayos. Mi padre iba a muchas funciones. Mi padre estaba muy orgulloso. De alguna manera yo realizaba un sueño que él había tenido sin que él me lo propusiera jamás verbalmente u objetivamente. Fue a través de su afición y de su amor a la escena, a la pantalla y al escenario.

Después de que me dieron esos dos premios nunca jamás se volvió a cuestionar mi vocación al interior de mi casa, de mi familia. Siempre he tenido el apoyo de toda mi familia. En cada estreno siempre habrá por lo menos un miembro de mi familia apoyándome. El último estreno que tuve fue en Guanajuato. Uno de mis hermanos y su esposa llegaron a Guanajuato el día del estreno para estar conmigo.

Así de fuerte ha sido el apoyo de mi familia, a quien le agradezco grandemente porque gracias a ellos yo he podido realizar mi sueño.

Nicoletta: Qué maravilla. ¿Cuántos hermanos? Cuatro y eres tú la quinta, ¿verdad?

Zaide: Exacto.

Nicoletta: Sí, qué bonito contar con el apoyo de la familia y que vayan viendo tu crecimiento dentro de la carrera, es una cosa bellísima. Esa carrera, Zaide, te llevó después a estudiar, tu inquietud de seguir creciendo en diferentes ámbitos. Conseguiste la beca Fulbright y fuiste a la Universidad de Columbia para estudiar Dirección. Cuéntanos cómo fue para ti ese proceso.

Zaide: Eso fue ya para estudios de posgrado. Yo ya había hecho una película que se llama El norte. El norte es un clásico en Estados Unidos principalmente. Se sigue utilizando una escena en los high schools y en las clases de Español. Una escena que es muy famosa es la escena de Rosa, que es la protagonista, a quien yo interpreté, y Nacha, que es como su tutora. Son dos indígenas guatemaltecos que llegan a Los Ángeles.

El primer empleo de Rosa es con Nacha. Nacha la lleva a limpiar casas. Hay una escena muy divertida con una lavadora muy sofisticada. Esa escena se ha vuelvo icónica en las clases de Español y en los seminarios de migración en Estados Unidos a nivel high school.

Yo ya había hecho esa película y conocí a un historiador, David Maciel, de la universidad entonces de Nuevo México y que ahora es catedrático en la Universidad de Los Ángeles, si no me equivoco. Ha hecho toda una especialización en la historia del cine. Él era muy fan de la película y yo le agradezco que hubiera sido admirador de mi trabajo.

Él me dijo, “¿No quieres tener una beca Fulbright?”. Yo dije, “¿Qué es eso?”. Porque yo no conocía esta instancia norteamericana de apoyar a los estudiantes extranjeros, traerlos a su casa, a Estados Unidos, a sus universidades y luego los devolvían a sus respectivos lugares. Dije, “Sí, es muy interesante. Me gustaría estudiar Dirección de Teatro”. Porque yo ya era licenciada en Literatura Dramática y Teatro por la UNAM.

Solicité la beca y David Maciel apoyó mi aplicación. Fui muy afortunada. El año que yo fui fue a estudiar a Columbia. Fue el primer año que hubo beca Fulbright para artes porque antes solo había apoyo para científicos, para carreras que no fueran artísticas.

Fue un año muy peculiar porque llegamos artistas de todas partes del mundo, músicos, cineastas, fotógrafos, diseñadores de vestuario, pintores, pianistas, violinistas y fue un verano muy particular. Fue muy emocionante. Es así que pude estar un año con estudios de posgrado en Columbia University a nivel maestría. Al año de terminar esa beca me ofrecían un segundo, pero yo ya no acepté porque mi vocación actoral ha sido siempre demasiado fuerte.

Me llamaba la escena para habitarla adentro de la escena y no tanto en la composición, como es el director de escena que está de fuera y compone. Sí, he dirigido, tengo premios en dirección en México, pero la verdad es que mi primera vocación es la actuación.

Nicoletta: Cierto. Hasta aquí llegamos con la primera parte de esta entrevista. Acompáñanos la próxima semana para que no te pierdas la segunda parte. Hasta pronto.

[música de fondo]

Narrador: Gracias por acompañarnos en La Pizarra. No olvides suscribirte al boletín mensual en nickymondellini.com/lapizarra. Sintonízate la próxima semana para un nuevo episodio.

 

Episode Notes

In this second part of Nicky Mondellini’s interview with media veteran Sam Malone, delve deeper into the world of media management, memorable experiences, and the evolution from radio personality to media mogul.

In This Episode:

• Mic Management Tales: Strategies for handling dominant guests during interviews.
• Presidential Inaugurations: Sam shares firsthand experiences from attending George W. Bush’s inaugurations.
• Sammy’s Singles: The backstory of Sam’s successful singles event series that led to numerous marriages.
• From Radio to Media Empire: How Sam transitioned to owning a successful creative media company.
• Navigating Business Crises During COVID: How Sam’s firm adapted strategies to support clients during the pandemic.

Key Moments:

• 00:00 – Recap of Part 1 and introduction to Part 2
• 02:15 – Discussing challenges with overbearing interviewees
• 07:00 – Anecdotes from attending presidential inaugurations
• 12:50 – Success and impact of Sammy’s Singles events
• 17:30 – Evolution from radio personality to media mogul
• 24:45 – Crisis management during the COVID pandemic
• 29:30 – Sam’s future aspirations and dream interviews
• 34:00 – Closing thoughts and where to find Sam online

Resources Mentioned:

• Sam’s Company: 512 New Media
• Personal Website: sammalone.com

Connect with Sam Malone:

• Website: sammalone.com
• Business: 512 New Media

Subscribe and Follow:

• Subscribe to La Pizarra on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or your favorite podcast platform.
• Follow Nicky Mondellini on social media for the latest updates and behind-the-scenes content.

This episode, as well as most season 9 was recorded on SquadCast, the best platform for podcasts or meetings with up to nine guests with professional sound and video quality. You can choose your membership level after trying it free for seven days at: https://squadcast.fm/?ref=lapizarra

Subscribe to La Pizarra so you never have to miss an episode. Feel free to download and share them on social media, your comments are well received!

** Visit https://www.nickymondellini.com to learn about the work of actress, host and voiceover artist Nicky Mondellini.

Nicky Mondellini is an internationally known artist with more than thirty years of artistic career. Her voice is heard in commercials on television, radio and digital platforms worldwide. She has been the host and producer of La Pizarra since 2020.

Her work as an actress includes more than a dozen telenovelas,  and drama shows, classical and contemporary Spanish plays, shorts and feature films, and the hosting of morning shows in Mexico and the United States, as well as on camera commercials, and promotional and corporate videos.

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Transcript

Sam Malone: We got 400 people at that Sammy’s Singles. We realized we were on to something, so every two or three times a year, we’d have a Sammy’s Singles event. The largest was 5,000 people showed up at Greenspoint Mall.

Nicky Mondellini: Wow.

Sam: Guns Point. We have 28 marriages and 27 children born as a result of Sammy’s Singles. Two of the kids are named after me.

Nicky: [laughs]

[music]

Announcer: La Pizarra (The Slate), exploring creative minds in the entertainment industry. Here’s your host, Nicky Mondellini.

Nicky: Welcome to La Pizarra. My name is Nicky Mondellini, and I’m very happy that you’re joining us today. This is part two of last week’s episode. Enjoy.

I think there’s also a flip side of that that has happened to me on occasion. I won’t say names. Once, I interviewed this woman, and she just practically took over. Wouldn’t even let me ask anything else. It’s as though I was standing in front of her, grabbed the microphone from me, just went off on her own. I’m like, I have this list of 10 questions that I’m probably not going to be able to– If I ask three of them, I feel fortunate. It was really hard because I also wanted to get certain things like the juicy bits of information that I wanted to share with my audience that she had to give, but it’s hard to steer them in that way. Have you had any situation like that before?

Sam: Oh, yes. That’s a given. You’re going to have mic grabbers. If you remember talk shows, I don’t watch talk shows anymore, but Phil Donahue or Oprah would come down to talk to a person and the person would grab the mic, and then Oprah would have to pull the mic back or they would turn it off. There’s nothing you can do and just say, hold on, hold on, we have more people to get to. Hopefully, they’ll get it, but you’re right, mic grabbers happen. There’s nothing you can do about that.

Nicky: Yes. Exactly. All you can do is try to cut in there. I think I heard this interview with Terry Gross from NPR and she mentioned something like that. She’s like, “Well, I’ve had people that don’t let me talk. I just have to be persistent and then just– Sometimes I don’t have to be so nice, just interrupt them so I can get the important question in there.” It’s not easy, but it does happen. Anyway.

I know that you attended both of the inaugurations of George W. Bush. How was that, just to be there and be close to all those people? Did you ever think you’d ever be in those situations?

Sam: No. I don’t think there’s many kids thrown out of public schools for fighting who were there. That was really cool because we were like, “Oh my gosh, George W. Bush.” My wife had said, we were at dinner, the elections had already passed and somebody is talking about the inauguration, my wife Denise goes, “Get tickets for the inauguration.” I’m like, “Okay. How do you do that?” She’s like, “You figure it out.” I’m like, “I don’t know. How do you get tickets to an inauguration? I don’t know that.” It’s a mission. It’s asking questions.

There was actually a Democrat congressman who I was friends with, I’m Republican and he’s Democrat. I called him. He goes, “Funny, you should call.” He says, “I can’t give these tickets away to my constituents.” [laughter] He says, “Nobody I know wants them. I was thinking of you and you called me,” so he gave me the two tickets.

Nicky: Wow. Perfect.

Sam: I went to– There’s a big party called Black Tie and Boots in Washington, in which the Texans have their own party, regardless. Now, it happened to be a Texan became the president in George W. Bush. It was awesome. Those are crazy parties. We got to go, I’m very blessed to have seen it and gotten close. My wife and I had time for some other missions and adventures.

I had asked some people that I want to meet President Bush one-on-one with Laura. They said we’ll let you know. We got the call. “We’ll give you five minutes with the president.” Denise and I– He came to fly into town for an event here, but they had a private little room set up just so that we could go talk to him. The great thing about media is if you just are respectful and nice, you can go a lot of places.

Nicky: Yes. Oh, for sure.

Sam: If you’re just respectful and nice.

Nicky: Yes. Exactly. I think that’s the key. You have to be respectful, for sure. I think you’re also responsible for helping a lot of people meet their spouses, right? Because you had this events thing that you were hosting. Tell us a little bit about that.

Sam: Oh my God. It was called Sammy’s Singles. This goes back. On the radio, it’s a whole nother story, but I was always told on the radio, here at KRBE in fact, don’t talk about being married. Don’t talk about being happily married. Don’t talk about your wife is hot. All this garbage. I was like, “Yes, you know what? You can stick that you know where.” I pushed the other way. I would tell people, “I hope and pray that y’all meet the man or woman in your life who will make your life better. You can start a family, bring God into your relationship. You create children, so forth, and so on.”

How are you going to do it? People are like, “How do you do it? I can’t do it. I can’t do it.” I had said on the radio that I used to go food shopping around noon or 1:00, because the show was over. I’d go to the supermarket and I said, boy, you can sure tell a lot about people by what they shop, by what’s in their cart, right? You got a mom and she’s got 10 pounds of ground meat and 20 pounds of this and 10 gallons of milk. She’s got a big family. You would see women with one or two things of yogurt, one or two things out of ramen noodles. I said, well, she must live alone. I told this to her on the radio.

We got Randall’s on Voss near San Felipe to let us have a singles event in the supermarket at seven o’clock on a Wednesday night. The deal was, if you were single and you knew why you were there, you would look at people’s carts and start talking. If somebody busted you, you’d go, I didn’t know there was a singles event here. I’m just shopping. We got 400 people at that Sammy’s Singles. We realized we were on to something. Every two or three times a year, we’d have a Sammy’s Singles event. The largest was 5,000 people showed up at Greenspoint Mall.

Nicky: Wow.

Sam: Guns Point. We have 28 marriages and 27 children born as a result of Sammy’s Singles. Two of the kids are named after me.

Nicky: [laughs]

Sam: Yesterday, I got an email from one of the children born, and they wanted to know if we had a copy of the broadcast. I said, “No. We don’t keep it, but great hearing from you.” 28 marriages and 28 kids, from a morning radio show? That’s nuts. That’s crazy.

Nicky: That is pretty special, Sam. Definitely. It’s gorgeous. Are you planning on doing something similar or no?

Sam: You’ve been up at the headquarters. We’re busier than ever. If we can ever do it again, maybe, but there’s just no time. Nick, there’s 24 hours in a day. Until there’s 25 or 26, I can’t.

Nicky: You can do it. Yes, I know. Now that you’re talking about new media, about your company, which is amazing. Your studios are state-of-the-art. I was just geeking over your beautiful screen, so large, and all the things you’re able to do there. How is it that right now you’re in that, as well as radio? How do you find time? Like you say, there’s not more time in the day. I know you have a good team with you, but how is it that you have been evolving from being a radio personality to being a creative and just producing videos and commercials and everything nationwide?

Sam: That’s a good question. Natural progression. Being on the radio and having clients in the studio, they were always asking for help, like I’d said. You realize there’s a niche in the market. There’s some opening that people aren’t aware of. Clients who are buying radio and TV need or needed more marketing help. They had more questions, and their questions were not being answered, and their needs were not being met by the current landscape of marketing, media, radio, and television.

I opened up this company 10 years ago– this is not an overnight success story– knowing that clients that I knew needed more help. They needed a trustworthy source. I’ve got, obviously, the radio and TV experience, so I’m the only one who brings a very unique perspective. I’m not a salesperson. I’m not a marketing person. I’m a creative on-air person. I know what works. I’ve listened to hundreds of thousands of commercials in my 37 years of radio. I know what people want to hear. I know how they want to hear it, how to reach people and the verbiage, and what goes along with it, video, social media, digital, whatever.

That’s how the company grew. It grew because clients who were on the radio, on television, buying billboards, buying print ads were not happy. They were not fulfilled in their quest to make their businesses the best possible. I’m thinking, “Hey, there could be–” I give credit to my wife. She was like, “Honey, people are coming to you because there’s a hunk of real estate that no one’s dealing with. Take care of that hunk of real estate.”

10 years ago, opened the company with one employee. He had a ponytail. We were in a little tight space and through God’s blessing and a lot of prayer and a lot of hard work, it’s not easy-

Nicky: For sure.

Sam: -you’ve been up, now we’ve grown and now we have a wonderful huge staff and we in-house build your website. We handle the creative, which is what I love to do, creative. We shoot the commercials. Obviously, your social media videos. We run the social media accounts. We handle crisis, which is interesting because I’m the only media guy who’s doing crisis. A lot of people have a communications degree, but I’ve been there on the front line. I can tell you how we can put out the fire.

It was one of those things. It was, keep your eyes open. In your own businesses, whether you’re selling shoes, or building swimming pools, you’re going to find, if you just keep your eyes open and pray a lot, an area that no one else is standing in. If you can, move your talent or company in that direction. That’s what we’ve done. It’s called 512 New Media. That’s what we’ve been doing. Like I said, it ain’t easy.

Nicky: It ain’t easy. Talking about crisis, I’m sure, something that really put a wrench into everybody’s work was, of course, COVID. I’m sure you had a lot of crisis calls from clients, “Ah, what do we do?” I saw a lot of people just solve it with animation, right? That they had probably wanted to shoot this whole commercial. They have this whole thing planned and their storyboard and everything, all of a sudden they have to transfer everything to an animated video or something like that. What are some of the things that you help clients with during that time?

Sam: Real quick on COVID, I’m one of the few businesses that refused to shut down and I refused to stay away from work. You cannot tell me I can not run my business. I don’t care.

Nicky: Sure.

Sam: You better have one hell of a street-fighting crew you want to pick that fight because I have a crew, employees. They got to eat. We got clients who are, “Help, help. What do we do?” We came in to work. I think the first seven or eight days, they really wouldn’t let me in the building. Then after that, I’m like, “Look, sue me. Come after me. I’ll sue you. One or the other. I don’t really care. We’re going to work.”

We came in, we were the only company working, and we took all the precautions. We all drank vodka and gargled and spit out the vodka, but we created businesses, B2B and B2C, business to business and business to consumers. What can you expect from our company now that the China flu is here? What can you do? Will you get your product? Will you not get your product? Will there be delays? What about payment? What about coming into our stores when we reopen? How should employees prep?

We were cranking out so many videos to save businesses because you are not going to shut me down, I don’t care who you are, and we’re not going to let you get shut down and get hosed. A lot of people lost businesses, lost a crap load of money. We prayed every day about it. We came in, other than those seven or eight days when they were real, “You’re not coming in.” I’m like, “Call my lawyers.” I’m calling everybody. We came in every day. I was here every single day of– I did not miss a day of 2020.

Nicky: Wow. I think that’s part of your success, how people know that you are there for them and you help them through those difficult times. You’re the guy to call whenever there’s a crisis and then they need to see make it happen.

Sam: You know what, Nick? A lot of these customers, I would say clients become our friends. If you ever see me out, we usually go out a lot, it’s because we’re out with our clients who are friends. I can’t let my friend’s business falter, stumble, die, close. I can’t do it. Those men and women have been there for me, either 10 years of my company or the 30 years I’ve been on the radio. We still have some of the same clients from ’93.

Nicky: Wow. [crosstallk]

Sam: Hell or high water. If you were in trouble, you’re a client of mine, you’re a friend, and you call like, “Sam, I need help. I don’t know what to do,” I would say, “Don’t come in if you don’t feel like it, but let’s talk. Let me bring my marketing expertise. Let’s help you. If you need–” Obviously, we can update the websites to, “Hey, we’re closed or we’re going to reopen or you can order online.” We can put the items up there. We can put videos for when you come into the store, keep six feet apart, wash your hands [unintelligible 00:14:40]

You’ve got to understand, I was never an owner until I was 50. I was an employee. Some people open up stores and businesses early on. I watched and helped people get wealthy through advertising, and I saw people really lose a lot, okay? When you get 50, you’re like, I don’t know, you get softer or something. I’m like, “We are going to help every single person, whether they can pay or not,” that was the other thing. There are people like, “I don’t have–” Whenever you ask for a dollar, I only have 20 cents, I say, “All right, we’ll take 20 cents. Just get back in business and let’s talk when you’re open again.”

Nicky: That’s amazing. That’s how you grow your loyal clients, for sure.

Sam: Likewise.

Nicky: Before I let you go, because I know you have pressing things to do right after, is there anyone that you still would like to interview that you haven’t had a chance to do?

Sam: These are tough questions. Is there anybody? Okay. There’s probably– I can think of maybe two. Living, right? Living?

Nicky: Yes. Well, you could choose a hypothetical, like if you could go back in time and– [laughs]

Sam: I hate that game. If I go back in time, I would have loved to have interviewed Ronald Reagan because he made such a 180-degree career change.

Nicky: Oof, talk about it. Yes.

Sam: Right from Hollywood and the head of that union, whatever that was, and the movies, to getting the world to chill out and oversee a great economy and all that. If we take living people, it would have to be two women who I used to talk about on the radio all the time, Martha Stewart and Jennifer Aniston.

Nicky: Wow. Great ladies, both of them.

Sam: Martha built up this incredible empire, screwed up, and built up the empire again-

Nicky: Yes, she did.

Sam: -by changing direction. Jennifer Aniston has been able to keep her brand pretty solid for her entire career, right?

Nicky: Yes.

Sam: When she was Rachel on Friends to today. She does some independents and some water commercials, whatever they are. As a marketing guy, this is what I do full-time, Martha Stewart was, seriously, the queen of all the home items from the cooking and the furniture and the desserts and the canapés, but she rebuilt herself, which is really cool. Jennifer, her brand hasn’t really changed in 30, 40 years, however old she is. As a marketing guy, I’d like to talk to those two. If you know them, here’s your way of repaying me for coming on your podcast.

Nicky: I wish I knew them, Sam, and I would get the interview for you right away. I’ll start to get onto their agents or something. We’ll make it happen somehow. I don’t know. Let’s manifest it.

Sam: Somehow I don’t think we’re going to have them, but it’s okay.

Nicky: You never know. We’ll put it out there. Sam, thank you so much. I really do appreciate you coming on the podcast. You do have your own podcast that you’re starting now as well, aren’t you?

Sam: We are launching. Yes. We were in talks today with syndicators, literally today.

Nicky: Oh.

Sam: I’ll get to it when it’s all squared away. Like I said, there are so many things going on at the company. You have to really compartmentalize your projects so you don’t get burned out. We talked with syndicators today. We have another call coming. It was a Zoom. We’re going to launch from here in our TV studios a really, really, really wonderful podcast for all, as we say, all 50 states.

Nicky: Oh, wonderful. Do keep me in the loop because I’d like to update what new things my guests have been doing so we can put it out there as well. We will definitely do that.

Sam: Oh, yes.

Nicky: Yes. Okay. Thank you. Thanks again, Sam. Just best of success with everything, podcast, and all of your endeavors.

Sam: Thank you. I’m going to be famous after this. I was just floating along, and then I come on this podcast, I know my career is finally going to take off.

Nicky: [laughs] On that note, where can people find you, find your website and everything? I’m going to put links to everything in the show notes.

Sam: The company is 512 New Media. 5-1-2, 512 New Media. As always, we keep our content at sammalone.com. Sammalone.com. It’s pretty simple, so check it out.

Nicky: Perfect. Okay. Definitely. All right, Sam. I’ll let you go now. Thank you so much for everything.

Sam: Thanks, Nick, and see ya.

Nicky: [laughs] I love that one.

[music]

Announcer: Thanks for joining us. Don’t forget to subscribe on your podcast player or YouTube if you haven’t done so. Share what you liked about this episode on social media and tag us, @NickyMondelini.

 

Episode Notes

Join us for an electrifying episode of La Pizarra as we dive into the dynamic world of broadcasting with none other than Sam Malone, a trailblazer in the radio industry and CEO of 512 New Media. Get ready to be captivated by Sam’s remarkable journey from finance whiz to radio icon as he shares his invaluable insights, hard-earned wisdom, and unforgettable experiences.

Key Highlights:

• Discover Sam’s exhilarating leap into the world of radio, sparked by a fateful encounter with a legendary DJ.
• Explore the thrilling evolution of media and the groundbreaking innovations that have reshaped the broadcasting landscape.
• Gain exclusive access to Sam’s secrets of successful interviewing, including the art of active listening and the power of authentic storytelling.
• Be inspired by Sam’s resilience and determination as he overcomes obstacles and navigates the ever-changing currents of the media industry.
• Uncover expert tips and invaluable advice for aspiring broadcasters, from harnessing the latest technologies to staying true to your passion and vision.

Don’t Miss Out: This electrifying conversation is a must-watch for anyone with a love for broadcasting, media, or storytelling. Whether you’re a seasoned professional or a budding enthusiast, Sam’s words of wisdom will inspire, educate, and entertain. Tune in now and embark on a thrilling journey into the heart of broadcasting excellence!

Connect with Sam Malone:

• Website: sammalone.com
• Business: 512 New Media

This episode, as well as most season 9 was recorded on SquadCast, the best platform for podcasts or meetings with up to nine guests with professional sound and video quality. You can choose your membership level after trying it free for seven days at: https://squadcast.fm/?ref=lapizarra

Subscribe to La Pizarra so you never have to miss an episode. Feel free to download and share them on social media, your comments are well received!

** Visit https://www.nickymondellini.com to learn about the work of actress, host and voiceover artist Nicky Mondellini.

Nicky Mondellini is an internationally known artist with more than thirty years of artistic career. Her voice is heard in commercials on television, radio and digital platforms worldwide. She has been the host and producer of La Pizarra since 2020.

Her work as an actress includes more than a dozen telenovelas,  and drama shows, classical and contemporary Spanish plays, shorts and feature films, and the hosting of morning shows in Mexico and the United States, as well as on camera commercials, and promotional and corporate videos.

Follow Nicky on:

Instagram @nickymondellini

X @nicky3ch_nicky

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LinkedIn https://linkedin.com/nickymondellinivoiceover   

Transcript

Sam Malone: How do you get into radio? There’s medical school, dental school, accounting school, whatever. He told me, he was all slurred, but he told me these four things. I ran to my car, popped open the glove box, took out the insurance card, and wrote it down. I’m not making this up. Six weeks later, I was on the radio in Philadelphia doing mornings.

[music]

Announcer: La Pizarra, the Slate, exploring creative minds in the entertainment industry. Here’s your host, Nicky Mondellini.

Nicky Mondellini: Hello, everyone. Welcome to another episode of La Pizarra. We’re here continuing with Season 9. Can you believe it? Today, aside from thanking you, I also want to say that I’m super happy that you’re joining me because I’m very excited to share this interview with you. My guest has been inducted in the Texas Radio Hall of Fame. He has interviewed countless celebrities and politicians and everyone in between. Today, he’s also the CEO of his own media company. His name is Sam Malone.

Sam earned his BBA in finance from Temple University in his hometown of Philadelphia, but he started working in morning radio soon after graduation. He worked at legendary stations like Eagle 106 in Philadelphia and Kiss 98.5 in Buffalo, New York. Later, he arrived in Houston to take over the morning show at 104 KRBE. The Sam Malone Show hit number one and became a staple of morning drives for more than 12 years.

Clear Channel Radio made him an offer in 2005, and The Sam Malone Show then took Mix 96.5 all the way up to number one in the ratings. Clear Channel also offered Sam something that he couldn’t get elsewhere, his own talk show on 740 KTRH. From 6:00 to 9:00 AM, he hosted a top 40 morning show, and then from 10:00 to noon, talk radio, all in the same building. I really don’t know how he got the energy to do all of that.

Then Sam quickly realized the importance of video in today’s media landscape. He developed a video streaming platform, becoming the first radio host to televise his own show on smartphones and laptops on demand 24/7. He’s the permanent fill-in for nationally syndicated host Mike Gallagher, and he can be heard on over 300 radio stations with over seven million listeners.

In 2014, Sam opened Houston’s leading media marketing company, 512 New Media, which develops, creates, and delivers new media services, including website construction, email marketing, social media content and strategy, and video production. Then he also produces commercial content for clients nationwide in a variety of industries. Now, let’s explore the creative mind of Sam Malone. Hey, Sam. Welcome to La Pizarra. How are you?

Sam: Outstanding. Thank you for the invite, Nicky. It’s wonderful to be here.

Nicky: Well, I was super excited to do this interview because you have all the experience in the world with broadcast, radio, with interviewing people. Now, as a matter of fact, I wanted to say congratulations because you are celebrating this year 30 years of radioing, right? Of Houston radio.

Sam: 30 years. Believe it or not, 1993. February of 1993 is when I was shipped down here to take over KRBE, the morning show. It’s hard to believe it was 30 years ago. That is just unheard of.

Nicky: It just flies by, doesn’t it?

Sam: Yes, it does. It’s a good thing I was five when I took the job because I’m only 35 right now.

Nicky: Of course, you are. Nobody’s going to question that.

Sam: I’m only 35.

Nicky: Nobody will question that, Sam. [laughs] Anyway, let’s go a little bit into your background, into your history. I’m super curious to know how someone who goes from a BBA in finance suddenly decides to start in radio. How does that happen?

Sam: In this case, a true story. I’m not making this up. Yes, I was getting my degree. I was a senior in college. I was doing casino analysis, and I was an arbitrage specialist. That’s just, I love numbers. There was a pretty girl, a very pretty girl I asked to date. She wouldn’t date me. She literally said, “I’m not going to date you. You’re poor.” That’s what she said.

Nicky: Oh, come on.

Sam: Total truth, but she was so damn pretty and smelled so good and looked so good that I would drive her around. If she was going out, I’d be like, you need a ride? Just so the guys in the hood can see me with a really pretty girl, okay?

Nicky: Okay.

Sam: She says, one night she’s “Listen, I’m going to go meet my boyfriend.” I’m like, “Who’s your boyfriend?” She said his name, and I’m like, “That’s the guy on the radio. He’s a very famous disc jockey in Philadelphia.” She says, “Yes, do you want to meet him?” I’m like, “Of course.” I drive, of course, any chance to drive her around. It was about one o’clock in the morning in Cherry Hill, New Jersey, which is outside of Philly, my hometown.

The DJ was doing an appearance. I’m like, “Oh, my God, listen to this guy. He was so cool.” He was very chemically enhanced in the parking lot. I’m bringing a pretty girl to meet him. There’s already six girls lined up to meet him as he’s leaning on his Mercedes. I’m like, “What is wrong with this picture? I have to work.” I literally walked up to him and I said, “I have to ask you a question.” I’m like, “How do you get in the radio? How does one?” Because here I’m doing casino analysis.

You can’t open up a casino. There’s rules and regs. It’s called barriers to entry. You can’t open up a bank if you want. You can’t open up an airport. How do you get into radio? There’s medical school, dental school, accounting school, whatever. He told me, he was all slurred. He told me these four things. I ran to my car, popped open the glove box, took out the insurance card, and wrote it down. I’m not making this up. Six weeks later, I was on the radio in Philadelphia doing mornings.

Now, I still had a semester or inside of a semester to go. I had to figure out how I was going to make my classes. I was running back and forth. I graduated, got my degree, kept working in Philadelphia. I was 22 years old. I was a knucklehead. That’s how I got into radio. It had nothing to do with– I don’t have a marketing background, a communications background, a radio background, a media background. All I wanted to do is have a gift for gab, but I just asked the right question at the right time and he answered the right question at the right time.

Nicky: Okay. I think that’s incredible because the first thing that got you into radio, it’s just like a little door that opens something that was just there for you in your destiny, I would say because nobody tries it out just to get that kind of a life if it’s not something that is really within you, if you’re not really destined to do that, if you don’t have that gift of talk, of knowing how to ask the right questions and everything.

I think it’s amazing how it all developed for you. You’ve been in this business for such a long time that it’s crazy how you started it without even that being your intent from the get-go, right?

Sam: Right. You’re spot on. I just asked that question because I’m very inquisitive. I had no idea about radio. I didn’t know nothing about radio. In fact, when I got the job, and I got into the radio station in Philadelphia, I didn’t know how to operate the board, the big control board that the DJ sits behind. I had to come up with a plan to take– there was an engineer. Engineers fix things at the radio stations. There was an engineer that nobody talked to.

He was a loner, weird-looking dude. I said to him, “Look, I will take you out to the finest restaurant in Philadelphia, or I’ll give you the cash. Can you sneak me in at night and show me how to turn on the microphone? How do you make a commercial? How do you play the music?” He was like, “What?” I’m like, “Dude, I’ll give you $200, whatever you want.” That’s like $450 today.

Nicky: Yes.

Sam: I came in at 1:00 or 2:00 in the morning one day. He was there in another studio, and he said, “This is how you hit this button. This is for the mic. Hit this button. This is for the music. If you want to make a commercial, you hit record. It goes to the reel, whatever.”

Nicky: Wow. Oh, my gosh. That’s amazing. Would you say that’s one of the biggest obstacles that you’ve had in your career, just to learn that technical aspect?

Sam: Oh, there’s been a lot.

Nicky: Yes.

[laughter]

Sam: Listen, I’ll be real quick. I tell everybody, I sound like a nice guy on the radio. I was not a nice guy growing up in inner-city Philadelphia. I got thrown out of public schools for fighting in the eighth grade, and I had to stay home for a while. Then I had to go to school outside the city. That was an obstacle.

Nicky: Yes.

Sam: I didn’t have the grades. I got into Penn State first, but I failed out because I just was not academically suited at that moment. That was an obstacle, getting thrown out of a school like Penn State on grades. There’s been a lot of obstacles. Then I had to work to pay for college. My parents were blessed, gave me 25% of the tuition. That’s what they had saved. The other 75% was up to me.

Now I had to work to fail out of college, which is not a good idea. Anyway, there’s been a lot of obstacles. The technological or learning, you know how you get a new iPhone? You’ll ask one of your kids if you have children or something, how does this work? That was that equivalent back then in 1986.

Nicky: Got it. Got it. Well, that’s incredible because now you do so much. You’ve been learning on the job and because you’re just naturally inquisitive, like you said, and you know how to ask the right questions. It’s just also the gift of your personality. Not everyone can just be like that in front of a mic. Many people just freeze. You’re going on, and you’re talking, and you’re making this happen and then you develop the first streaming radio, video streaming.

Your show was the first one to be on video, which I think that’s amazing. Now, of course, a lot of people in that, we have this podcast on YouTube, and many people do that, but definitely, I would say you have evolved and transitioned so many times in your career. What is now one of the things that you wished you had done? You’ve been learning and doing so many things, but something that would have made it easier for you?

Sam: That’s a good question. I’d say that’s a wonderful, wonderful question. I don’t know. I always, and people who know me know, I don’t sit still. I got, at least I call it ants in the pants. Being the first to broadcast a live morning show in 2013, fully produced, I don’t know what would have made it easier. Maybe I should know. It was God’s plan. It was God’s plan to get to where I am because radio and getting to that job in Philly is what led me to meet my now wife.

I wonder if that’s the path it’s meant to be. If there are other paths and I could have done them better, who knows, but I’m blessed at being on the radio in Philly and asking the emcee. There was an event for Bon Jovi. She brought Bon Jovi to town for a fundraiser. I guess there’d be other paths. That’s a wonderful question, Nicky, but maybe I shouldn’t know what they were, or what could I have done to speed it up or slow it down?

Nicky: In another instance, if someone comes and asks you, “Hey, I want to get into radio,” what is the best tip that you can give me? Just don’t.

[laughter]

Sam: This is a hand signal for dangerous. I was at a wedding at the Houstonian Hotel, my wife and I. The woman next to me on my right side, her daughter, was, I think, called UCLA Film School or something like that. She went, “My daughter wants to be a news anchor and I want you to talk to her.” I’m like, “Why?” Well, because I worked on Channel 2 and Channel 11 and all that. She’s like, “Well, we want insight and advice.” I said, “Here’s the best advice.

Get out. Don’t go into radio and certainly don’t go into local news. They’re dead. Just get away. Take your talent somewhere else. Radio is not what it used to be. There’s hardly anybody left in the business. It is what it is.” When Maria Todd and I were at KRBE, KRBE was a standalone radio station. It was by itself in this town. Now, there’s a lot that are in clusters of multiple stations. We had 44 full-time employees. Our promotions department, I think, got up to 16 people.

Today, there’s not 16 people in the radio station. My advice is, if you have an urge, do you think you’re funny and you want to be heard and you want to broadcast, go to Best Buy. Get your podcast equipment for $500. Plug in your room and go, because local radio is no longer a factor. Local TV news, as you all know, is no longer a factor. This is, podcasting, what you’re doing is the factor of the future.

Podcasts don’t require overhead. They don’t require much of an investment. It’s just persistence and hard work, determination, clarity, and delivering on your message and platform. This is, if anybody says, “Hey, my kid wants to go on the radio like you.” I’d be like, “See what Nicky’s doing? Do that”

Nicky: Here I am in my 4×6 booth in my house. [laughs]

Sam: I wouldn’t know. The good thing is that looks as professional as anything.

Nicky: It looks as though it’s like, “Wow, state of the art,” but it’s cool. I can be here recording with you, even if there’s a lawnmower outside. I’m blessed to have that because that’s amazing. Anyway, let’s now dive into the mechanics or the wonderful world of interviews, because you have interviewed amazing people, like high profile people, Sir Paul McCartney, I know Kevin Costner and Senator John McCain. How do you prepare for such amazing interviews?

Sam: Well, add to that list, by the way, Barry Manilow.

Nicky: Barry Manilow, yes.

Sam: Michael Bolton, Cher.

Nicky: Wow.

Sam: You name it. Here’s the secret, I’m going to share with you.

Nicky: I’m going to take that on my notes.

[laughter]

Sam: I got this from Larry King. If you remember Larry King, my earpiece is moving out. Do you remember Larry King from CNN?

Nicky: Oh yes, of course.

Sam: When I was in college in Philadelphia, his show would run from midnight to 3:00 AM or something and 3:00 and 6:00. It was the overnight show. Larry King would interview all these people for a long period of time. I flew out to LA on business, and I bumped into Larry King. I’m like, “Dude,” it was the first time. I bumped into him again, but the very first time. I bumped into him. He was eating a blueberry muffin. I’m like, “Dude, I just got to ask you a question really fast.” He’s like, “Yes, what is it?”

I said, “You interview people with books like this thick, right? You interview people with 10 movies. You interview people with all kinds of credentials. Do you read the books? Do you watch the movies? How do you prepare?” I asked Larry King, the king of all interviews. I said, “Do you read the book?” He says, “Of course not. I don’t have the time.” I’m like, “Well, do you watch the movies? If they’re plugging a movie, and they won an Academy Award, or they got famous movies?”

He goes, “No.” He’s still eating his blueberry muffin because I’ll never forget it. I’m like, “Well, then how do you do the interview?” He says, “All I do is ask them questions that I think regular people would ask them if they bumped into him somewhere.” I went home and pondered it. I’m like, “Oh, that makes a lot of sense.” You could say to the guy, “Oh, I love –” I interviewed David Bowie. Anyway, I end up interviewing David Bowie on a TV special. I’m not a Bowie fan.

I don’t really know his music, other than the number one or number two hits. Not knowing, but I applied that to David Bowie and started making a conversation, but we didn’t say, “Hey, man, on the seventh song of your third album, you used the word cricket, man. What’s that mean, dude?” You could sit there and go deep and spend hours prepping. When you think about all the guests who’ve been on the show, the Rock, I’m looking at all my wall outside the Rock, from Chuck Norris to Beyonce, had been on the show a lot in Destiny’s Child.

You just ask them questions like you’re doing. You don’t have to dive too deep. Obviously, get the person’s name right and where they are. If you said, “Hey, Stan, welcome to the show.” I’d be like, “Serious?” Anyway, Larry King said, I don’t read the books. I don’t watch the movies. All I do is think of questions that regular people would ask if they bumped into them at a place, like an airport. I bumped into Larry when we were eating.

Then I saw him again in San Diego with his family, but it was like, “That dude is on the money.” If Larry King, who’s interviewing five, six, eight people a week when he was on CNN, he doesn’t have time to read the books?

Nicky: Of course not.

Sam: Brilliant. Anyway, that’s my tip.

Nicky: Wow.

Sam: Whether it works or not is another story.

Nicky: That’s amazing. Okay, you do, but don’t you get the fanboy effect or so jittery nervous to be interviewing those people, to just calm yourself down and then have those questions come into your mind? How do you go past that part?

Sam: That’s a great question. The last time I got nervous, maybe it was two, I don’t know, two, three years ago, President Donald Trump called me on the radio three times in five months.

Nicky: Wow.

Sam: Three times in five months, and he wanted to talk. He liked my wordsmithing, whatever he said, I’m a wordsmith. The very first time he called, I actually got nervous because-

Nicky: Well, who wouldn’t?

Sam: -I’ve never talked to a– I’ve met living Presidents. I had the chance to spend time privately with President Bush when he was President in 43. Met Clinton, Carter, but I never had them on the radio. Trump calls, and I swear, I did get a little, it’s like, “Oh my God, I got nervous.” You could feel it. How do you do it? Just do it, you know what I’m saying? It’s like, are you nervous about skydiving? Well, then skydive. Are you nervous about singing in public? Sing in public, get it over with.

Nicky: Yes, you just go for it.

Sam: You know what? Just dive in, get a good night’s sleep, get a workout in before you go to work.

Nicky: Yes, definitely.

Sam: After that, everybody would come up and play. Aerosmith came up three times to join me. Bon Jovi came up three times to join me. I didn’t listen to their music, I didn’t look into that. I was like, “Hey, John. Hey, Rich here. Hey, Steven Tyler, what’s up man? [unintelligible 00:20:20], what’s up with you? Where you been recently? You been on vacation? I love that jacket.” Then you just start building this rapport. Yes, it’s pretty easy.

Nicky: Wow. It’s easy to you.

Sam: You too can make a million dollars.

[laughter]

Nicky: Okay. I still think I’m like an interviewer in diapers, but here we go, just moving along. This was a bit of an agenda to interview you about this.

Sam: No, no, no. You know what? Ask away. If I can help you or if I can help anyone get better, like I was offered the opportunity, then go for it. Ask any questions that can help you because who else will promote this? Other radio or TV people may be watching.

Nicky: Yes, no, absolutely. One of the things that I like to do in this podcast is for people in the industry that want to learn how to do a lot of things, whether it’s in front or behind the mic or the camera. That’s why this is golden advice. Definitely, I love it. What do you think in the whole context, makes a great interviewer? Talking about making the good interview or just going for the questions. When you listen also to other interviews or when you interview someone and you feel, “Okay, this is a good one, I’m happy about this interview,” what are the elements that you think are most important?

Sam: The most important thing to be a good interviewer is something I was speaking about today. We have a big marketing firm here. We deal with a lot of clients who come up and candidates and CEOs and everything. When somebody vomits on me verbally, and that means they just talk and talk and talk and talk and talk, and I said this to a woman here today who came up. I’m like, “Ma’am–” and this is about being a good interviewer.

I said, “Ma’am, God gave us two ears and one mouth so that we may listen twice as much as we talk. A great interviewer, STFU, okay, knows how to STFU, and listen. In the very beginning of my career, my first big guest was Carl Weathers, who was Apollo Creed in Rocky. Remember Carl Weathers?

Nicky: Yes, of course.

Sam: He came up to the studio and I met him. He was a very nice guy. Shorter, I thought he’d be taller. He was shorter. Anyway, I was so nervous that I kept talking over him, that everything he said, I talked over. I was just nervous. I just wanted him to know I was there, right? There was a guy working at the radio station. He said, “Hey, what, Sam?” I’m like, “What?” “You’re on for four hours a day, and Carl Weathers is going to visit one time in your life for 15 minutes.” I’m like, “Yes, so what’s your point?” He says, “STFU, let him talk.” The best interview is he doesn’t feel like you’re going to step on him. when you step on someone?

Nicky: Yes.

Sam: I was then at like, so now all my interviews, I’ll say to you or President Trump or Sting came up twice to hang out. I’m not a big fan of Sting, but it was cool. He played his keyboard. I’m like, “Sting, what do you want to play? What’s your favorite song?” Then he just hung out and played another song and asked me. Def Leppard played for us. Came up in complete setup, and played at 8:30 in the morning.

I didn’t even know the guy. I knew their songs. I just didn’t know everybody’s name. I’m like, “Okay, wait. Joe Elliott? Jim Elliott? What’s the guy? Def Leppard, you guys are great. What do you want to play? Then they just started talking, and I started talking. You want to be a great interviewer? Be quiet. Let the guest be the rock star superstar, Okay? If you’re talking 50/50, it’s a bad interview. Let them feel it.

They can express themselves, tell a story without being interrupted. Let’s just say Sting is up here, and he goes, “Oh, Sam, I just came back from Hawaii.” I go, “Oh, Hawaii. I was just in Hawaii. Love Hawaii. Oh, we were at the best hotel.” Why have Sting here?

Nicky: Yes.

Sam: If Sting says, I was in Hawaii, you go, “What was your favorite part? Did you do any fishing, sailing? I bet you were scuba diving. Tell me, what did you see? Were you nervous underwater to see any sharks?” Let them tell the stories. Bon Jovi and Stephen Todd of Aerosmith, they had such a good time. Todd was like, “I’m coming back,” and he did. Three times he was hanging out with us.

Nicky: That’s so cool.

Sam: Anyway, that’s why I pass along to you and everybody else. I learned the hard way. I don’t think Carl Weathers– Well, I think he’s passed away. If he was alive, would never come on again.

Nicky: We’ve reached the end of part one. Please join us next week for part two and the conclusion of this interview. In the meantime, if you can think of anyone who might benefit from this information, please, go ahead and share it with them. Thanks for being here.

Announcer: Thanks for joining us. Don’t forget to subscribe on your podcast player or YouTube if you haven’t done so. Share what you liked about this episode on social media and tag us @Nickymondellini.