POWER CEOS (Aired 08-11-25) How Creators & Producers Are Redefining Storytelling

[00:00:00] Speaker A: Foreign the Truth behind the Business. I'm Jen Goday, your fearless host, entrepreneur, executive and investor. Why are we here? Because iron sharpens iron. And when we bring industry leaders and entrepreneurs to the table to talk about what's working in business and maybe even some of what's not, we're all able to learn and grow. As a result, our businesses grow and the ripple effect impacts not only ourselves and our teams and their families, but also our communities and our world. You are in for a treat. Today we're diving behind the curtain of an industry in flux with AI transforming how stories are told, filmed and shared. What does this mean for creators, producers and business leaders alike? Joining me today are Jonathan Wright, David Zapone and Michael Manasseri. They are creative entrepreneurs who are bringing documentaries, docu series and all kinds of other things to our world. We have David, the founder and executive producer whose company has produced iconic documentary work for Paramount Studios, often collaborating with industry legends like Leonard Nimoy and William Shatner. Michael is an award winning director and producer whose creds include War Pony, Gimme Liberty and the SXSW winning mixtape. Together they bring decades of experience in storytelling and strategy. We're going to explore that hot button topic, how AI and innovation are transforming Hollywood from the inside out. David, Michael, welcome to the show. [00:01:42] Speaker B: Thank you for having us. [00:01:43] Speaker C: Thank you. [00:01:44] Speaker A: You know, there's been a lot in the news about Hollywood in the past couple of years. AI is all over the news. So let's start with what everybody wants to know, including myself, folks, and that's how has the rise of AI changed your approach to filmmaking from concepts to creation? [00:02:01] Speaker B: Well, I can tell you that the unions, some of the unions are not happy with AI but what it's done for us is, as you're going to see with some of these trailers and things we've done, is we can now take a clip that was married to music, which we cannot license. It's very difficult to license music. And using AI, we can pull the music out and use just the visual. So it's opened this whole world of documentary filmmaking which we never could have done before. [00:02:37] Speaker A: It really is repurposing context. [00:02:39] Speaker C: Absolutely, yeah. And I mean in a serious way from the, from pre production all the way through delivery of a film. I mean, AI has affected everything. Obviously, human beings are important for the story and we never want to use that, lose that. We never want to lose what's important about storytelling and the humanity and the compassion. What happens when we're trying to tell these stories at the same Time everything from concept art to presentation decks, to sizzle reels, to editing, to what happens with visual effects and what's going on in the background of your shots. You cannot go into a production now as a producer, as a responsible producer or investor, and not consider where AI can help you, where you should use it in a logical way because it will save money. And when you're telling these stories, you just have to be responsible. You have to be responsible to your investors. You have to be responsible to, to the people who are paying the bills while keeping the humanity intact and keeping the people working. [00:03:45] Speaker B: A perfect example is we're doing a sizzle reel right now for our Voyager, Star Trek Voyager documentary. And we basically told AI alright, here's what we want to do. And it spit out a script. Now, we didn't use all of it. So in my opinion, the best use of AI is to complement the artist, amplify what we can do, not replace. Now that's going to be difficult. [00:04:15] Speaker C: I was afraid of AI for like the first three months. I was one of those, like, no, I don't want to touch it. And then of course, as I started to use it, as I started to explore it as a filmmaker, you have to embrace it. It's like every advancement humanity has made since the beginning of history, at some point, you have to embrace the tool. And that is what it is. It is a tool. And if you don't embrace it, you will be left behind. So, I mean, there are new tools that came out. So Aleph, or Aleph, I'm not sure if I'm pronouncing it correctly, is from RunwayML. I have some filmmaker friends who are doing incredible stuff with AI okay. And they're doing AI with marketing, they're doing AI within storytelling. And I mean, this came out yesterday. It's insane. It's like literally how you can change the angle of a shot. You can change the background, you can show, you know, you can change the weather. I mean, and these are things that took hours upon hours upon hours, were impossible. Yeah. [00:05:18] Speaker B: Because they were married together. You could not change these things. Now you can. [00:05:22] Speaker C: Yeah. So between that and VO3, which is coming out from Google, I mean, it's, it's, it's more than impressive. I'm starting to now say that. I mean, maybe I'm aging myself now, but if anyone remembers the Jetsons, I mean, I do. I mean, for the longest time, you know, whether. Or even Back to the Future, you've been wondering, like, what's the future gonna look like in 20 years, are we gonna have flying cars? You know, we are there when it comes to AI, we are there, you know, to the point where we are basically giving a prompt and, and, you know, within 30 seconds, you have something that would have taken you two days. And again, I love, you know, I love human actors. I love human storytellers, human writers. I don't. I mean, I'm. I'm. I'm an artist, I am a creator, so I certainly don't want to replace myself. But in terms of helping utilizing AI to tell a story in a different way, in a new way, in a better way, we all, we all really need to embrace it. And it's, and it is remarkable left behind. [00:06:28] Speaker A: That's, you know, that's the case with all businesses, all industries right now. And there's a lot of fear out there. There's a lot of fear of replacement. And the reality is some jobs are going to be displaced. [00:06:36] Speaker B: Correct? [00:06:37] Speaker A: That is, that is just the reality. But there's probably 40% of jobs that are going to be existing in 2030 that haven't even created yet. And it's going to be leveraged. [00:06:46] Speaker C: The new jobs, it's the new jobs that are going to be taken care of of this AI technology to make sure that it's used correctly. [00:06:52] Speaker A: So let me ask you the question. I asked this to everyone who's leveraging AI. I've asked several AI experts, and I love the Hollywood version of the answer. Where do we not want to introduce AI? Where? How do we keep that soul, that heart, soul and spirit of the creative intact? [00:07:13] Speaker B: Well, what scares me is a totally AI written script. If you pull the humanity, the writer out of a script, I can see augmenting and helping, but that's frightening. If you can just put your parameters into AI and it generates a full script, that to me, is frightening. [00:07:33] Speaker C: Michael, there are trailers out there already that are completely. No, no, but I'm just saying trailers, which will lead to episodics, which will lead to full feature films that are completely AI. I mean, the actor. [00:07:44] Speaker B: We just used it for one of our trailers. [00:07:46] Speaker C: And to your point, to me, that is where you will lose the soul. And that is where I do believe that people will respond in such a way of, oh, that looks really cool, but I'm not gonna watch it again. Or, that looks really cool. I'll watch it for five minutes just to go, wow, that's amazing. But I didn't feel anything. [00:08:05] Speaker B: Well, did you hear what happened with Vogue just today? [00:08:09] Speaker A: Oh, I haven't I've been in here all day. [00:08:11] Speaker B: So in Vogue, they actually used an AI model, and they put in the small print generated by AI and now there's a call to boycott Vogue magazine because now you're taking jobs away from models. So is that right? I don't know. [00:08:30] Speaker A: I mean, if you're going to be wearing clothing that's modeled on something that's artificial, where is that line? [00:08:37] Speaker B: That's the question. [00:08:38] Speaker C: There's no denying that every single company in the world will do whatever they can to take advantage of this technology, and they're going to be using it because they want to make profits and they want to produce things cheaper. It's just a matter, you know, what it's called? Ethics. Business ethics. And you decide what that line is. [00:08:57] Speaker B: What I will say is, I think the Writers Guild right now is probably the most afraid of. [00:09:02] Speaker C: I say the Screen Actors Guild, too. [00:09:04] Speaker B: You think so? Yeah. [00:09:05] Speaker C: Watch some of those trailers, man. Watch some of the trailers. [00:09:08] Speaker B: That's true. [00:09:10] Speaker A: Let me ask you about this, because this is a topic we talk about a lot on the show, and that's owning your name, image and likeness. Like, how important is that? What are the actors rights when people are just lifting their likeness and putting it into their. [00:09:21] Speaker B: Well, the problem is, as a background actor, you really don't have any rights. You kind of sign everything away. And so who's to say that they can't. They have a baseball scene. [00:09:30] Speaker C: If they're going to put you 50 yards away and no one can recognize your face, they're going to do this all the time. This is. This is happening. It's not going away. If you're talking about crowd scenes, crowd scenes are going to be AI generated from. From here on out. But in terms of protecting your. I know there are certain celebrities, actors, et cetera, who actually. This was on an episode of a podcast I listened to yesterday where some podcasts, like celebrities were basically saying, all right, I'm gonna make a deal with a company, an AI company. I'm gonna give them all my content. I'm gonna give them, you know, whatever they need of me. But guess what? They're gonna pay me royalties. [00:10:07] Speaker A: That's right. [00:10:08] Speaker C: So it is a licensing situation, and that is probably what the future is gonna be. [00:10:14] Speaker A: I mean, I made an avatar of myself two and a half years ago. [00:10:17] Speaker C: I own it. No, you don't. [00:10:18] Speaker A: I own it, but I protected myself. And it's something that I think even entrepreneurs and even such as yourselves, you guys are appearing on shows and doing things it's going to be something that we have to all be considering. [00:10:30] Speaker B: It's scary. It's frightening. [00:10:32] Speaker C: It's frightening and it's exciting. [00:10:34] Speaker A: Yeah, I would say it's exhilarating. We're at the top of the roller coaster, looking down at that big drop, and we're just about to hit it. [00:10:40] Speaker B: I'll give you an example. I've told Michael. So we're doing the Star Trek Voyager documentary. I'm laying in bed one night, I put in a VHS TV tape from 1995, and it's talking about the making of Voyager. And there's music behind it. Mary Hart, Entertainment Tonight we never could have used that years ago because of the music. I gave it to my editor, Joe, pulled the music up, res the quality. You could never even tell that it was a VHS tape from 30 years ago. So the tools we now have are. I never could have imagined we'd have this ability. [00:11:16] Speaker A: Super exciting. We do have to take a brief break in just a minute, but for you watching, we're talking about from disruption to reinvention in the film industry. The evolution is just getting starting. Coming up next, we're going to be pulling back the curtain to show you exactly what goes into making a documentary that moves people and markets. So you're going to want to stick around. Don't touch that dial. We'll be right back after these messages. [00:11:39] Speaker B: Foreign. [00:11:53] Speaker A: The business loving what you're watching. Don't miss a moment of it. You know, you can catch us on NowMedia TV. Go to Power CEO as a show. Click on that and you'll catch the first part of today's amazing episode. We are diving deep into Hollywood. What has changed with AI and now we're going to go a little bit further. We're going to peek behind the curtain and see what goes into making those amazing documentaries and docu series that we see on our favorite streaming platform. What does it take to get there? Let's go behind the lens with Jonathan and David today. So, guys, what are the most overlooked elements that make or break a docuseries? And how do you have that spark an idea and know that this is what I'm gonna go for? [00:12:37] Speaker B: Well, we're doing one now called Cause and Effect. It's about cosplay. There's this whole world that we discovered where people really live to dress up and go to these conventions. It's almost like a career for them. But the genesis was Shatner and I, William Shatner, back in 2011, did a documentary called Get a Life and it was his take. He did a famous Saturday Night Live bit years ago, wondering why people went to conventions. And so we delved into it and we found out that it was really a religious experience almost. It was akin to, this was their community. This gave them a sense of being of hope. So fast forward a decade and I met Jonathan and we decided, boy, what a great idea. Let's delve. Instead of just one hour, let's delve into these people's lives and follow them. And, Jonathan, you can take it from there? [00:13:45] Speaker D: Yeah, absolutely. I mean, I had a chance to get to meet a number of cosplayers. I've gotten to meet the fans, obviously, over the course of the years. And what I found is that so many people had such an amazing life journey and, like, people who were very introverted people who found that they couldn't find a way to integrate in society. And through cosplay, they were developing new relationships in ways they never could before, and finding ways to connect with people and realizing that they finally have a place in the world, in a social setting. And I said, you know, so many people, even outside of cosplay, just in world in general, especially post pandemic with the younger audiences, are going through this exact same thing. So I said, you know what? This is a story we need to tell, because so many people are going to resonate with this. And cosplay is just such a great environment to be in and socially acceptable environment to be in, and supportive environment that adds so much value to these people. And those are the stories we really want to tell. [00:14:39] Speaker B: And the world is kind of caught up with us. I mean, when we did it over 10 years ago, it was kind of, you know, frowned upon. But now look at Comic Con In San Diego, 150,000 people. We're about to go to the Star Trek convention. In two days, 25,000 people are going to be there. So cosplay is really part of the fabric of society and totally accepted, but it really gives people a meaning. And that's what Shatner found. He didn't know, why do people come to these conventions? And he really saw it, that it gave them a sense of community. And so his attitude about conventions totally changed 100%. [00:15:20] Speaker A: And so you guys are producing this, and there's gotta be some unique challenges to filming in one of these conventions, because I've been to several conventions, I've been to some similar, and it's people running all around. How do you control the environment? You really can't, like, talk to me a little Bit about behind the scenes, the challenges, and how do you overcome them? [00:15:39] Speaker B: Well, it's having a good crew. We have people that have been doing it for Jonathan West 50 years at least. Sound is an issue, of course, so you really have to have technicians that know what they're doing, can isolate the sound. Also, you need a convention that most conventions, when you buy a ticket, you agree to be filmed, so we don't have to worry about getting releases from everybody. When you walk into that floor, you're agreeing that, hey, I might be on camera. So that's key. And it's really having an organizer who will work with you, which is Creation Entertainment, who does Star Trek Vampire Diaries, Battlestar Galactica. We go on the Star Trek Cruise, which is 4,000 people, 3,000 guests, a thousand crew. So they all cooperate with us. What they've seen is that we don't make fun of the people. That's the key, is that we uplift what they're doing. We do not denigrate in any way the people that do this, because it's very important to them. Yeah. [00:16:46] Speaker D: And one of the advantages, too, at being at one of those live events is it gives people who aren't there a sense of actually being there. So it's very organic, it's very real. You're gonna have people walk in front of the camera, you're gonna have sound not exactly quite right, but that's the reality. And it's. To be honest, it's a new way of filmmaking. It has its own challenges and. But it's also unique in filmmaking, where it basically gives a point of view of someone who's in the audience and you're living through that experience and that perspective. [00:17:14] Speaker A: Okay, so I'm gonna ask the question that I know everybody at home is thinking, and what happens when, like, the fans get in the way because they see you're filming and maybe they cause some sort of a drama? Is that what we're looking for? Like, talk to me about that. [00:17:28] Speaker D: Well, that's exactly what we're looking for because that's what makes it unique. And a lot of times, that's what adds. Either it's a layer of drama, a layer of comedy, or just seeing something, okay, it didn't go quite right. Let's make the best of it. And that's where the talent really comes into play behind the camera because they know how to roll with it and how to make it work. And in editing, especially, once you incorporate AI and different tools into play now you can do so much with it. And from the point of view of the fans, the fact that they made it on camera, they had that brief cameo appearance means the world to them. And a lot of times they know that they see it when we're filming and they're going, oh, I want my two seconds of fame. And that's what we live for. We want to see that. And that's just part of our production. [00:18:10] Speaker A: And so I'm gonna go to the next question because you guys are constantly on your feet during the film process and you gathering, I assume, a whole lot of footage. But if you're only making a very short documentary, a couple hours, whatever, if you have a set time, how do you go through all that and determine what are the most important, impactful moments? [00:18:29] Speaker B: We make notes as we go, we have great editors. The perfect example is we did a documentary called the Captains with William Shatner. And our idea was to interview all the individual captains. But then we saw the footage, we had like 100 hours of footage. So we did a 90 minute or 100 minute feature and then did a spin off series because we had so much. So that's always a possibility is you get so much footage that you can actually do a spin off. But now with digital, you can really just shoot constantly. I mean, there's really nothing to stop you. You're not changing reels, you're just going interesting. [00:19:12] Speaker A: And so I'm gonna go to the next question, casting and casting pitfalls, because obviously we have to be engaged, we have to be involved as a consumer of the documentary. We want to be feeling that main character energy, if you will. And so how do you guys choose the people you're gonna follow in this cosplay, for example? [00:19:36] Speaker B: Well, I can speak briefly to that. Just what we've done before is use the company Creation Entertainment to do an email blast and get submissions. So we'd actually cull through thousands or hundreds submissions to find out who was best and then interview them personally to see if they pop on camera. And I think we're going to do the same thing with Dave Sambuki. [00:19:59] Speaker D: Yeah, very much so. And the idea whenever you're choosing characters is you want to make sure that you're covering a diversity of people to be able to connect to just about anyone in the audience. But it's also people that have some sort of chemistry together in one way or another. It can be both positive and negative. So a bit of drama can sell just as much as building a budding relationship and is watching people go through different journeys. It can't be the same story being told from every perspective. So it's very important that we have that diversity both in how they look and how they act, where they're from and just what their journeys are ultimately. Because that way, no matter who's watching, someone from the audience is going to be able to connect with one or more of these characters at some point. [00:20:37] Speaker A: You know, it's really interesting. I think about the marketing aspect of it. I can't help it. This is a show for entrepreneurs and executives. I think about the marketing aspect of it. You want that diverse population, you want everybody in the audience to opt in and say, oh, she looks like me, he looks like me. And so I'm hearing that you're casting that diversity and it's to get that that audience hook in. Because we want to be able to identify with the characters that are in there. We want to see ourselves in them. [00:21:00] Speaker B: It's all in the casting. It really is. And we have a veteran, Bunname Murray, one of the biggest reality show companies. He started out in the real world, believe it or not. So he goes back that far. So he'll be doing our casting for us. [00:21:14] Speaker A: That's phenomenal. And so we've talked a lot about behind the scenes. What's the question? I didn't ask about behind the scenes. That everybody needs to know. [00:21:22] Speaker D: Well, behind the scenes, whenever you're producing something like this, there's a lot of emphasis on who's in front of the camera. And that's always been the case. But the amount of talent that goes behind the camera is even greater than what you see in front. Just simply because whenever we're producing a documentary, let's say our timeline is call it 18 months, all of our filming takes place over say about six months. The other 12 months is all in the post production. It's the editing team, it's the people that put in countless hours and fine tuning that, you know, perfect final product. And like you were saying before, we have hundreds and hundreds of hours of footage. Someone has to be able to dumb it down and say, okay, what is the best elements, what hits the story beats for the story we want to tell you and what captures the essence of the message you want to bring across. [00:22:05] Speaker B: And we're very loyal. Our editor, our main editor, Joe Kornbrod has been with us for 14 years. And Michael Maniserri, who you've met, he and I have been working together for over 20 years. [00:22:17] Speaker A: Wow, that's long term relationships, that's really good. And we talk about that in Business too. Like the longer term, it's all about the relationship capital. So we do need to take a brief break, but I would love to hear how can people who are watching learn more about this. How can they get in touch with you guys? [00:22:31] Speaker B: Okay. 455films.com [email protected] would be probably the best way, Jonathan. [00:22:42] Speaker D: Yeah, absolutely. I mean, that's the best way to get a hold of us. And again, for, you know, any opportunities, whether, you know, you want to be part of our productions, you want to invest in with us, reach out. [00:22:51] Speaker B: We're call me at Paramount Studios. I'm there every day. I'll pick up the phone. [00:22:58] Speaker A: Thanks, guys. We do have to take a brief break, but if you're watching take this away. What did you take away? When we are creating our own ads, our own copy, our own everything, you want to have more than what you need and distill it down and you want to make sure that everyone has a buy in. So think about all of your ideal clients and have that copy. Have that marketing that speaks to each one of them directly so that they opt in. We'll be right back after these important messages. [00:23:25] Speaker C: Is. [00:23:29] Speaker A: Too short? [00:23:31] Speaker B: Too short? [00:23:33] Speaker A: No, it was right on the money. Was it time wise? [00:23:35] Speaker B: But like seems smooth. [00:23:38] Speaker D: We. [00:23:39] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah, no, it was great. It's just like I have like 10 other questions, you know. [00:23:43] Speaker B: All right, you want to get Michael back in now and talk to him about the investing? Is that next? [00:23:47] Speaker A: Yeah, investment is next. [00:23:49] Speaker B: That should be you and Michael. Yeah, I think. [00:23:51] Speaker D: Yeah, I think so. [00:23:52] Speaker B: I've done enough. Yeah, okay. [00:23:53] Speaker A: Yeah, absolutely. [00:23:56] Speaker B: All right, Michael, you're on. [00:24:01] Speaker A: This way however you want. [00:24:04] Speaker C: All right, I'm gonna leave this out here. [00:24:07] Speaker A: Oh, I don't even know where we are. I think I have to do all like. [00:24:12] Speaker B: Good, Michael. [00:24:13] Speaker C: Yeah, man. [00:24:13] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah. [00:24:14] Speaker C: You guys are great. So much better. It's like you're using AI. [00:24:20] Speaker B: I walk around with my own AI. Michael saw me in the early days. [00:24:31] Speaker A: I'mma intro with the outro that I meant to outro. [00:24:34] Speaker D: Okay. [00:24:34] Speaker A: But I ran out of time. [00:24:35] Speaker D: We'll roll with it. [00:24:40] Speaker A: We're going to talk about money, money, money, money. [00:24:45] Speaker B: That's my job. [00:24:46] Speaker C: Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. [00:24:50] Speaker A: Do we know which project? For investors with vision, filming docuseries can be high risk but high reward opportunities if you know where to look. We're back here with Michael and Jonathan to dive into everything that we need to know. So, guys, a lot has changed. We've talked about how AI is transforming the industry. We've talked about a little peek behind the scenes, what happens from the production side of things. But. But what do today's investors need to know and understand before they even step into investing in a project like this? [00:25:21] Speaker D: Well, there's a number of things you need to know. First of all, if you're not familiar with investing in movies, you want to learn a little bit more about the industry first. So it's like any type of investing. You want to invest in what you know. Secondly, whenever you're investing in anything, whether it be movies or anything else, it all comes down to due diligence. So you want to get to know what is the project about, who's the team behind it? What is the industry looking for that particular moment? So it all comes down to what questions you ask and how vertical you go in those questions. [00:25:47] Speaker A: Fantastic. I'm a huge fan of due diligence. We talk about it on the show a lot. So talk to me a little bit. Give me an example of a project and. And how you would position it so that it would pique the interest of investors. [00:25:59] Speaker C: Sure, I'd say. And to touch upon what he was saying as well, in terms of four, five, five films. One of the other most. One of the other really important things is the track record, track record of a company that has a sales funnel that has sold documentaries to Netflix, to Amazon, you know, through Paramount. You know, that's one of the very unique things about Dave and 455 films. And so in bringing this, for example, this other project about Da Vinci, about the da Vinci and the. And the mysteries of the Chinese manuscript, basically, we were doing another documentary pilot in Europe last year. We were talking to a bunch of Da Vinci experts, and this was for something else. And I came across an individual who just basically was telling a story of his theory, his theory as an engineer on Leonardo da Vinci and how he believed that he found ancient Chinese texts from 500 years before that had similar designs to what Da Vinci is known for. And it wasn't. So, I mean, it's very controversial. [00:27:01] Speaker A: It is very controversial. [00:27:02] Speaker C: And of course you're gonna have a lot of really upset Ital, a lot of really happy, shiniest people or, you know, people in the art world. But it's when I heard that, I just went, what? Huh? It's just. And I couldn't get it out of my mind. [00:27:17] Speaker A: It's a new angle. [00:27:18] Speaker C: It's a new angle. It's a new story. It could be groundbreaking if true. And so it was worth investigating. And that's A documentary that we are putting together to the point of investing. And whenever you're doing a project, you want to stack the deck. You want to stack the deck for your investors. So is it a unique story? Okay, check. You know, is there an audience for this story? I mean, this audience might be different than, for example, the cause and effect audience, but certainly an audience of people looking at the History Channel, people looking at ancient aliens, people looking for conspiracy, people in the art world. It's check. There's a massive international and domestic audience for that. You know, with the know how and the ability of basically this team that has done over, you know, 10 plus documentaries that have sold into the market, that have been profitable, I mean, that's the kind of team that you want to work with. So just as an investor and what you're, you know, these are things you really want to make sure that the filmmakers that you're going to back have this kind of track record, have this kind of know how, have the practical brass tacks, ability to get the job done. So. And Jonathan, I'd love you to add to that. [00:28:30] Speaker D: No, absolutely. And really it comes down to any investing that you do, you're really investing in the people more so than the project itself. It's all about the people. So us at 455, we basically put together the best team that I've ever seen in the longest time with the breadth of experience we have and the diversity of experience we have. You know, with David, who's had a background in documentaries, yours has such a wide background going into a whole bunch of different industries. And what that allows us to do is it allows us to expand the type of topics and type of subject matter that we look out to do. And the advantage that obviously our team brings to the table is that with this experience, with these relationships now, we're able to bring so many new opportunities to investors and we're able to deliver on those opportunities because of the experience and the know how that we have. [00:29:17] Speaker A: So let me ask you the next question because I know that here in Houston especially there's like a very big budding fit film industry. There's a lot of people who are trying to do independence and other things. What do filmmakers need to do to become investor ready? [00:29:31] Speaker C: They need to basically try to prepare as many. They need to answer all the questions that an investor is going to have. But I will say if a question comes up and they don't know the answer, say I don't know, say I will find out, say I will. I personally will do the due diligence and this could turn an investor off. And I understand that. At the same time, I'm sure, you know, with any business you don't want to be sitting across somebody or a company that you might invest in. And once you start to smell that there's some bs, you know you're going to go elsewhere. And so look, filmmaking, especially independent filmmaking, it's a risky endeavor and without a doubt there's great risk involved. But again, that's why you want to work with a team that has a track record. You want to, you know, you want to check as many boxes as you can and then are you the type of investor who's willing to take the risk? Because that's part of what it is. That's part of, that's part of the, the reward can be great. I mean, any of these particular projects, by the way, there's not just a domestic audience, there are international audiences, there's, there's social media angles to all of this. You know, you sell off different territories around the world, there's spin offs. So the rewards, should you invest in one of these properties that actually does hit, it can be tremendous. But also part of it, and I'm sure you know this as well, part of the joy in it is the journey. And this is also a fun journey, it's exciting journey. It's an exhilarating journey as well. [00:31:02] Speaker A: Absolutely. So let me ask you a follow up question because as an investor, and I mean like full, full disclosure folks, I mean I have looked into these projects and I have invested in movies in the past and I am going to be investing with these guys in fact in the future. But part of the things that, the questions that we have, what I really expect, and I want to really emphasize this, as you said, if you don't know the answer, say I'll find that out. Because I know that I've brought some questions even to you, Jonathan, and you said, you know what, we'll find out for you. And so that is so incredibly important because what that tells me as an investor is if you're BSing, I can tell, just like you said. But it also tells me that you're willing to go find out the answer to make me more comfortable. And that's a relationship building skillset, folks. So we talk about relationships a lot here and it doesn't matter whether you're in filmmaking or any industry really, if you're going to be pitching investors, you have to build that relationship, you have to build that trust. And anything that is going to maybe break that trust is a deal killer. It doesn't take much. If he had said I, if he had made up an answer and it was the wrong answer, and I went back and I looked and I found the right answer, then I'm not investing. And so it really is very important what was said here. Make sure you take note if you're ever pitching investors, if they ask you something you don't know, say, you know what, I'm going to go get the answer for you. I'll have that in X amount of time. It's really incredibly important. And I wanted to just emphasize. So I wanted to ask you from. For our investors out there and they're thinking about this and they heard, yes, I need to learn about the industry, I need to do my research, I want to invest in the people. What are the other things that they might not think about to ask that you would like them to ask about? [00:32:44] Speaker D: Well, there's a number of things that I'd want to make sure that they ask. One of them is understanding, you know, okay, what is the timeline? What does it look like? So am I, you know, putting all the capital up front or am I spreading the capital over the course of the project? So what does the fund distribution look like? What are the risks? Ultimately is a big one. So like, for example, you know, because the film industry is a high risk industry, you know, how are we mitigating that risk? That is always an important question. So, you know, like in our case, what we're doing is again, we talked about relationships before. The relationship is not only limited to the investor. The relationship is related to everyone that we're reaching out to, including our potential buyers. So before we even start a project, we're already engaging with them, sort of essentially analyzing their appetite for this type of project, basically starting from the exit and working our way back. So when investors come to us, I want to make sure that they understand exactly what it is they're going through. And one question that's very important to ask is, okay, well, what's the ultimate end goal? What's your game plan? Because this might be a great idea, a great production, the film quality might be great, but how are you going to sell this? Who's going to be the buyer, who's going to distribute it? So you have to be able to ask those questions. And I appreciate someone who's asking those questions because I feel like they've done the research, they have a better understanding of the industry and it's going to be a Better working relationship throughout the process because again, this is a relationship we're getting into for an 18 month period. And I want that to be a great one. [00:34:11] Speaker A: What do you guys look for in investors? [00:34:15] Speaker C: I want to make sure that, I want to make sure that they are capable of making the investment. And if they make this investment, they're not, they're not getting a second mortgage. I want this to be, whether it's passive income, I want it to be. I want them to enjoy this experience working with us. I want them to understand that they can trust us and that we'll be transparent with them. And I don't want them to have to. I don't want them to come back to me. I have no problem them worrying about their money in terms of just an investment. But what I don't want is that extra stress that, oh man, I really shouldn't have made this investment. I really didn't have enough money to begin with. I don't think anybody wants to take that kind of money. Nobody wants scared money. That's right. So also, I mean, just kind of harking back to what we're talking. I've been an investor in some of the projects that I've actually been a producer on. And you know, the other thing to consider that I've learned is, especially when I know that these things are going to take time. It can be a two or three year cycle until I'm going to get my money back, until I will go into profit. But within that, what are the sub products? What are the other things that I want as an investor to potentially get out of this? And one definitely is the relationship. Because also whenever I'm working on a film, I always try to remember this is just one film. I mean, I'm gonna work incredibly hard, I'm gonna do everything I need to do to make it the best that it can be. But this is just one project of many. So within that, our hope always is that you're gonna go on this ride with us, you're gonna have a terrific experience with us, hopefully it will be profitable for you. And then within that, that will lead to additional investment and that will lead to additional return. [00:35:58] Speaker A: Absolutely. And I couldn't agree more. We do have to take a brief break, but I just wanted to really sum this up, guys. If you're thinking about investing in the film industry, I highly recommend you reach out to these guys because they just gave you a lesson. And in due diligence and the questions to ask and what you need to do and they also give you a really good masterclass, if you will, in what that relationship should and could look like. And so if you are at home or you're watching this on the podcast format, press pause, go back, listen to this again. It is so incredibly important that you get that due diligence right, that you build the relationship and you know what you're looking for. We do have to take a brief break, but stick around because we've got more after these important messages. Oh, the streaming short, firm, immersive content. What's next in storytelling? How do creators, brands and platforms evolve together in real time? Let's dive into the future of film with David and Jonathan. Guys, how has storytelling, or we talked about AI and the changes there, but how is that evolving? And what do we see as the future future of storytelling and filmmaking in your business? [00:37:30] Speaker B: Well, what I see as a producer is we can control the means of distribution, which we couldn't necessarily do before. You'd have to go through a distributor, through a large company, and they would take all rights. Now we can kind of split. So if I. I have a documentary right now on Star Trek Voyager, and what I might do first is go theatrical, so split those rights, then go to a streamer. I can do that. Then I can go to a traditional cable network because we have the ability to create all the masters and do everything that was very, very difficult before. We don't have to sell all rights and we can sell Forum separately. So what it does is it gives us separate revenue streams, which in the old days, Jonathan, as you know, we'd have to just sign everything away for 10 years. Those days are gone. [00:38:27] Speaker A: And what's on the horizon? I mean, we talk on this show a lot about technology and how rapidly it's evolving. We talked even on this show about how you're using AI. How do we keep the humanity as we leverage more and more technologies as all of these things are coming, converging in the storytelling that you guys are doing? [00:38:50] Speaker D: Right? Well, again, AI is making its way into companies in pretty much every industry. But specifically in regards to the film industry, AI tools are essential in optimizing basically all of our backend operations. And properly integrated, it doesn't replace people. What it does is it augments people. So what we're doing and how we're using AI is taking away all of the busy work. Like, for example, if we wanted to make a sizzle, which would be, you know, as we discussed, easily 70 to $90,000 to make a sizzle or a theatrical trailer now we're able to do that for $10,000 or less because we're able to use AI tools to scrape essentially the entire movie, dumb it down to what would make sense for a trailer. And that's where we bring the human element in to basically rough out the rough edge or smooth out the rough edges and be able to produce the final product. It allows us to save time, it allows us to save money, and it allows the creator to focus on the creative aspect, not the busy work, and be able to take on multiple projects simultaneously. So it's just a matter of changing the way in which you do business. It doesn't take the human element out. What it does is introduces new ways to focus on the creative aspect of the human element instead of the busy work. [00:39:57] Speaker A: Do you have anything to add? [00:39:59] Speaker B: Yeah. For example, our director of the Michael Westmore documentary is a man named Jonathan west. And he worked in Star Trek for seven seasons. I think five years in Star Trek Deep Space Nine, two years in Star Trek the Next Generation. You can't replace him when the actors walk in and see him. Instant smile, instant comfort level. Our producer, Lolita Faccio worked in Star Trek for 17 years. You cannot use AI to generate that kind of comfort level and the stories that you're going to get from your interviewee. So AI can do a lot, but nothing can replace the person and that relationship. [00:40:47] Speaker A: We keep getting back to that. So let me ask you another question. And we're seeing this play all day long and have there's several instances right now in the news and we can talked about the vogue thing as well. How do you stay ahead of the curve when consumer sentiment and preferences are shifting so rapidly? I mean, within minutes. [00:41:08] Speaker D: Well, it's important to be mindful during the creative process. So whenever we develop our plan, from the filming to the editing to the post production, everything that's involved, it's a constantly evolving plan. So we have to stay in touch with words to see society setting. We have to stay basically up to speed with where the trends are going and be able to be adaptive in our editing process. Because the reality is, whenever we start filming, we're not building a film for today, we're building a film for one or two years from now. So whenever we're doing that, we have to be very mindful of where these trends are going and be able to adjust accordingly. And you're right, there's no way to be able to predict it effectively. It's about being able to stay on top of it throughout the process. Process. [00:41:50] Speaker B: And the irony is that we're working in Star Trek and if you look back at the original series with William Shatner, what was one of the themes, man versus machine, what's better? And it was always Kirk versus the machine. And we're now living that which is beyond ironic. [00:42:09] Speaker A: It's no longer science fiction, it's science faction. [00:42:11] Speaker B: Science fact. Science fact. [00:42:13] Speaker A: Well, I truly believe that science fiction is there to help stimulate those of us who can actually make it happen to get a little bit faster. [00:42:20] Speaker B: It's happening. [00:42:21] Speaker A: And, you know, in ideation, it's funny with ideation, you guys are in that science fiction genre and you're in that exploratory genre. How much does your background assist you and your interests? How much does that assist you in finding the right story to latch onto in the documentary world? [00:42:41] Speaker B: Well, for me, I mean, like we did a documentary called Chaos on the Bridge, which Shatner and myself, which was about the tumultuous first three years of Star Trek the Next Generation, because people thought it was gonna fail. I mean, it was bald captain, British, what? And it went on to become iconic. So we took that and I guess, you know, because I had the knowledge of what went on behind the scenes, and we created a documentary based on that. So you really have to know your subject material. But we discovered along the way, like I mentioned, get a life about the Star Trek conventions. We had no idea why people went to conventions. And then Bill came to this realization. It's a religious experience, it's church for them. That's what it is. We didn't know that going in, though. You really have to dive in and research. [00:43:33] Speaker A: So what sets 455 apart from others in the industry? [00:43:39] Speaker B: Well, I'll speak first and then, Jonathan, I think our independence. We own the copyright to all of our films. We do not sell out to a studio. They're evergreen films, which means once one window is up, we get the film back, we can resell it again. So I think that's one of the most important things, is we're independent, we're at Paramount Studios, but we don't work for Paramount Studios. That's the important thing. So personally, I think that's one of our strengths. [00:44:13] Speaker D: No, absolutely. But it's also the ability to do productions in a way we want to do them and have essentially control of how we do it. [00:44:21] Speaker B: Independence? [00:44:21] Speaker D: Yeah, absolutely. And really that comes down to not only are we raising funds for various different productions where an investor might put money up front and then somewhere down the line, you'll get a return on investment. For us that's a little bit more than that. We prefer to have the relationship built on an experience. So any investor who's involved in any one of our projects can come with us to sites, can come with us to interviews, can meet celebrities, can be able to witness the post production process. How is it put together? You can actually witness that firsthand. So you get immersed in the experience that we're living every day, producing it on top of getting your return on investment. And that's what we provide to all investors. [00:45:02] Speaker A: And talk about a value add because you really get to know, especially if it's your first film, you really get to know the behind the scenes and get to really have that full experience. So the next one that you invest in, you're even better equipped to make that decision as an investor. And I think that's really powerful. And not to mention the star power and the branding for your own brands. If you're an entrepreneur out there, you know, we talk about that all the time. So we've looked behind the scenes, we've looked under the hood, we've looked into the future. Whether you're a filmmaker, a founder or funder, remember the future belongs to the storytellers who dare to innovate. So I'm going to turn to you guys and ask how can people reach out to you if they're interested in learning more or if they're interested in you guys producing their work work or if they're interested in funding your work? [00:45:47] Speaker B: Well, the simplest way is through our website, 455films.com info55films.com. You can even email me directly dzeponefilms.com and I'd be happy to listen and talk to you, Jonathan. I mean that's really the way. [00:46:09] Speaker D: No, absolutely. [00:46:09] Speaker B: How about you? [00:46:10] Speaker D: Yeah, definitely reach it. Reach out to us through 455films.com, just like David mentioned. And again, we're happy to have that conversation with you. Whether you want to invest, we can talk about current projects, future projects, talk about different subject matter that we want to tackle. And if you do have ideas or any potential paths that you'd like to be able to have explored with our talent, we're happy to talk about that as well. Just keep in mind we always have an investor focus. So we're always focusing on something that's going to give a good return because at the end of the day, if it doesn't monetize, we're not going to be doing it. [00:46:43] Speaker A: We all know on this show that Money is the lifeblood of our business. That's what keeps us going. [00:46:48] Speaker B: And the nice thing I can say is looking at our titles, all of them have sold. Every single one. [00:46:53] Speaker A: Yeah. So if you're thinking about investing, that, that really matters. Thank you all for joining us today. From navigating innovation and AI to behind the scenes, to talking about the future and really diving deeper, deep into what investors need to know. I really appreciate everything that you guys have brought to the show and our viewers today. Thank you. [00:47:10] Speaker D: Happy New Year. Thank you. [00:47:11] Speaker A: And you. Yes, you. I am talking directly to you. You know that this show is all about how do we apply the learnings that we had today to our own businesses, to our own journey, or to our own investments? So now's the time to talk about action steps. Yes, Action steps. It's time to take action on something you heard today. Maybe it was about storytelling. Maybe it was how to leverage AI. Maybe it was how to do due diligence on your next investment. What is the one thing you heard that made you say, hmm, I'm not doing that? Today is the day you put it into action. Not tomorrow, not tomorrow, not next week, today. Because that is what creates that forward momentum that is going to bring our businesses into that next level. It's the daily habits that we take that set up our inevitable success. Unfortunately, fortunately, all good things come to an end, including this show. But the good news is we'll be here same time, same station, next week. So until then, win today, win this week, and I'll see you next time.