How to Chart a Career Path in Modern Hollywood, With Rachel Sennott

0:00This episode is brought to you by Hotels.com. Save your way as a new feature on Hotels.com and it's as simple as it sounds. When you book a trip as a Hotels.com member, you decide how to use your savings. Take the instant savings now or bank the savings as rewards for later. It's your call, only at Hotels.com. Save your way is available to loyalty members in the US and UK and Hotels with member prices. Other terms apply, see site for details. This episode of The Town is brought to you by The Madison, the new original series on Paramount Plus. Academy Award nominee Taylor Sheridan's most intimate story yet, unlike anything he's ever done before. The Madison follows a family raised in a world of digital distraction forced by tragedy to truly see one another and come together. Authentic, multi-layered, and did I mention starring Michelle Fiverr and Kurt Russell? Don't miss The Madison, new series streaming March 14th, only on Paramount Plus.

1:02It is Friday, March 6th, the live show, our little film school tour rolls on, taking a break from the Paramount Warner Brothers merger drama for a much more fun episode about how to chart a career path as an up and coming actor slash writers, slash producer slash everything. Rachel Senate is in many ways a combination of old school and new school talent. She first started acting at NYU Film School but then she developed her own voice via everything online from podcasts to Twitter to open mic nights around New York City. Most people first took notice of her in Shiva Baby in 2020. Small Indie that began as a short film directed by a classmate at NYU. She then did the Indie's Body's Body's Bodies and Bottoms, which led to a bunch of failed TV projects, both on traditional outlets like Comedy Central and Web Only projects. And then last year, she launched I Love LA, the HBO comedy series at Crag and Irbow, Fans Up was renewed for a second season. She's currently leading the writers room for that follow-up season, but she took a break to join me and Lucas Shaw

2:02or Monday Guy at the Film School at Chapman University in Orange County as part of our mini tour. It's a very fun chat about her ambitions both inside and outside the traditional industry. So no call sheet today. It's Rachel Senate and how it is still possible to break into Hollywood from the ringer and puck. I'm Matt Bellini and this is The Town. I want to start for this audience here, with just getting a little bit of your path and the way that you got to where you are today. So tell us about some of the key moments early in your career, what you decided early on in school that you wanted to do and how you got there. Just give us a little bit of your path. I would say my path started like where you guys are now in school, gorgeous school by the way. I just was going to the bathroom six times and I went to NYU. My acting program didn't really encourage like doing stuff with other majors.

3:02Like they kept the acting students in one group. They kept the film students in this other group and it was like nobody like interact with each other even the acting schools were broken down into like different programs. And it was kind of like, it was very divided and I think what when things started clicking for me was when I kind of went out of my program and started making my own connections and finding my friends. I would like leave acting class to go do the film students exercises and they, I'm sure the film students know you start, they're like film and apple. Like make it crazy or like someone looking at a window smoking a cigarette. And like I am in so much footage of doing just like anything or saying like three lines out of context. Like how are you? How are you? So I did every film students things. I started with a freshman when I was a freshman.

4:03Gradually I got like people saw that I was down to do like all the film students stuff and I started doing people's thesis films which is what they do in their senior. It's like a short film. And that is how Emma Seligman, who is the writer director of Shiba Baby and director of bottoms. And we wrote bottoms together first found me because Emma had seen me in other thesis films and was doing their thesis film Shiba Baby because it was a short before as a feature. And so they reached out to me to audition. And that was like the beginning of that relationship. I also met IO, my friend IO Debris. Yeah. And I met IO when I did, when I auditioned for the comedy groups and either was gone in. But then, and basically we started doing stand-up together

5:04and doing sketches together and whatever. And so basically like I think my career path started when I met my future collaborators. How did you decide to go to film school in the first place or to acting? So it was acting first and then you're like, oh, maybe I should write my own material. Maybe I should be a creator of that kind of thing. Yeah, it kind of gradually pulled me in where I went to the first place. And I was like, oh, I'm going to be a creator of me in where I went to, I was in the Stella Adler acting school, which is very serious. And it's like, you wear all black like you. Your dream is to like be one of the Shakespeare ladies. Like, I can't even remember everyone be like, you want to be one of the big five. And it's like, who are the big five? And it's like, all the women in Shakespeare, like they're like, Lady M, don't say her name. Like it was so serious. I was like, I'm not doing well in this environment. I can't compete in this environment.

6:05There was also like this thing as an actor that they really wanted to like smooth you down and sort of take away any of the things that make you individual kind of, or that's how I felt. And I felt, I wasn't succeeding there. I couldn't get into any of the plays. I wasn't getting into any of the comedy groups. So that's kind of when I was like, I need to find my own lane. I also remember I, they had you crew for the seniors play to do, to sort of learn. And I was, I was crewing for their play and in between rehearsals and stuff, I would be like, what do you think of? What, like, what's your plan for graduation? What do you think you're gonna do after school? And no one had a plan. And it was freaking me out. That's the worst question though. So yeah, I know, I know a freshman being like, so what's your plan? Did you have a plan? Well, I knew I needed a plan already.

7:07I was already anxious. You can tell. Yeah. I'm anxious now. But like, I just knew that I needed to, that the school wasn't gonna set me up on my own for success. I needed to go find my own individual path. And that's I think what led me to writing and creating and wanting to. But it was gradual. Like, even before the show got picked up, I think in my mind I was always like, if I'm gonna create, it'll be like in a supporting role. And then I credit like my friends, a lot with this of helping me find the confidence to take on like directing and show running, which is like the most in control of a creative process I've ever been. And it's intimidating and it's a lot of pressure because it's kind of like, if people don't like it, there's no like, well, I'm just the third writer on that.

8:08You know what I mean? It's like, they don't like you. They hate you. You know what I mean? It feels vulnerable. But I think it kind of led to it gradually in steps. And you weren't afraid to put yourself out there even at the time you were doing jokes on Twitter. You were doing open mic nights. You were doing a lot of stuff back then. I'm more scared now. And now I might don't speak, don't say anything. Be really quiet. Yeah, I think I just felt like I was kind of throwing stuff at the wall to see what sticks and finding myself along the way. Because I think it's so much pressure to know who you are as an artist already. Like I think you guys, who you are and what you're meant to make is like already inside of you. But you just like part of it is your experiences and what you learn as you go. And there's an image. I think for a lot of young people,

9:12there's an image of what they want to make or what's good. The first thing you make isn't going to be as good as the image in your head. But you have to keep making stuff to get there. And so I think I needed to do really bad standup, do really bad jokes on Twitter, make weird short films, do the Beyonce remake of the music video, whatever. I had to do that to get closer and closer to making the types of things I want to make. Do you feel that you've gotten there? Do you feel like you're making what you're supposed to make? I do, but I think I still have to get better at it. Like I still have to keep, like I feel like I learned so much on the first season of the show where I'm like, oh, okay, now I know what show running is. Now I can, now I have to do a better job. What is something that is difficult or fun about show running that you did not anticipate when you started the process? Oh. She wants to say ordering people around. Yeah, I love it.

10:16I would say I think I didn't realize like how much of the job exists that's like in between parts of the job, which is I think just like communicating with people and like understanding people. Like I sometimes I was like, I feel like I'm running like an insurance company. Like there's parts of it where all of a sudden you feel like really like serious and business-y. And then there's just all these other little things that aren't writing or acting. It's weird, right? You come up as a creative person. You come up as a writer, as a performer, and then all of a sudden you get a show and you're in charge of a PNL. Yeah. You have a $5 million in episode budget for a show like. And you're looking at numbers and math. Right. And I'm like, I did all of this to get away from that. I can't do that. I don't know what it is. And I remember reading something that Lena Dunham had said when girls became big was,

11:17because they gave her a person, Jenny Conner, to work with her on the show, to kind of handle that aspect of it. Did you request that or did you want that? I mean, it seems like a daunting thing to take on a show without an experienced person over your shoulder. Well, I got really lucky because they basically like set me up with different people to meet with. So I ended up with this awesome team of people. Emma Berry, my co-show runner. It was also her first time show running. But she had tons of experience in rooms. And I think there was something nice about it being both of our first times show running so that I didn't feel scared to be like, I don't know, it didn't feel like we were like, they were like, this person's bossing you around or telling you, you don't know what you're doing. Like, we got to figure it out together and figure out our own rhythm. And then Ada Rogers, our producer, who she also worked on Berry with Emma

12:19and like, she's worked with HBO a lot. Like, she's looking at the PNL, the LNPs or whatever. It's like, I don't know. Remind me, when you were taking the project out, was it a competitive, did you have a bunch of networks? Did you always think HBO, what was the... I didn't even, I didn't take a project out. Is the thing. They said we want to work with you. No, this is what happened. I've taken projects out. There are scripts on the floor. Like, I spent all of COVID like developing a completely different show that never got made. And this was when you still lived in New York or had you moved to LA by then? This was when it was partially when I was in New York and partially when I was in LA. Oh, and partially when I was in my parents' basement in between now. But I pitched like two shows to like a bunch of people that didn't get made. And then I had a meeting with Amy Gravett and then I lost her man at HBO. And it was, they had seen bottoms and shiver baby

13:23and then read a couple other scripts that I'd written. And then my agents were like, this is just a meeting. Just be, don't pitch them anything. Like, they don't want to be pitched stuff. Like, just be yourself. Obviously, I pitched them everything that I had. And I was like, I walked in there and I was like, imagine this, it's a girl. She's just a fresh college girl, like, spitting log lines at them. And they were just like, they just didn't, they just wanted to get to know me because they like to work with creators from the beginning. They like to like work with you from the jump. And so they kind of like relaxed me a little and they were like, babe, stop pitching log lines. You know, not that actually, but you know, they were just kind of like, what's going on in your life? Like, what's, you know, where, what chapter are you in, whatever. And so I just started talking about where it was in my life. And I was like, oh, I feel like I'm fucked because I'm about to go through my Saturn return. And I just started sharing like too much on this Zoom.

14:26And then I, whatever we get off the Zoom, and I was like, kind of fun meeting, whatever. Then I'm driving in my car and my Asian is like calling me. And I pick up and she's like, babe, congrats. You sold the show. And I was like, what show? I literally said what show? I was like, what is the show? And she was like, it's just everything you talked about. It's all that, it's all of those things. And then I'm like, in the car trying to remit, by the way, it's like, do you know when you vent and then you black out? Like you're like, what did I say about who? Like I was sort of like, okay. And so what I, I didn't have a full show. I had the way HBO works. Like is basically like you get, you get hired to develop an idea first. So you develop an idea and an original pilot script. Then if they like the pilot script, they can pick up the pilot, then you shoot a pilot. Then if they like the pilot, they can pick up the show.

15:26So it's like, I don't want to say like, boom, I had a whole show, but boom, I had a script that I got to write. So then the writer's strike was called, like right after this, first I get an email in my inbox, untitled racial senate friendship show, which is where the joke can't we kept joking about it? Cause we were like, what, like me seeing that in my email and I was like, okay, I guess I talked about friendship. Like I don't know. And then, and then it was like my deal closed and like a couple days later, they called the writer's strike. At least the clothes before the strike. Literally, thank God, thank God. But I didn't get to talk to Amy and Ali about what the show, so I didn't get to meet with them for months and months and months. You must have been stewing in your head. Oh, I was, I was like journaling, trying to remember what I said. Friendship friendship, friendship, friendship. I was so scared and I was like, and I was like,

16:26I also can't, I couldn't communicate with them. So then anyways, right after the strike ended, I had like a meeting with them where they were like, we wanna talk about your idea. And I was like, my big idea that I said before. And then as soon as I met with them, I immediately felt at ease because I think like, I realized that they wanted to be in the development process with me, like they wanted to be creative with me. I didn't need to have a script or it like, I was gonna go through, like collaborate with them and they were super involved. And so from there, we developed the show together, but like, I never like had this one idea that I took out. I had other idea, like, I don't wanna make it seem like I didn't ever pitch show, but anything I ever like pitched pitch didn't get made. And was anything from that initial meeting that did end up in the show? Was there influencers?

17:27Was it LA based? Was there anything that like, that you kind of used the jumping point or was it all original? I think like the things that I was talking about, like I was talking about like starting my career on the internet, that's kind of like the Talula character comes from like, that's a little bit based off of my New York chapter. Everyone's like, who is this crazy? Whatever, I'm like, I related to like that when I was sort of a little bit more messy, a little more online. And then like, the relationship stuff is like, you know, fictional, but like comes from a place of like, truth, truth, thank you. Did just, yeah, exactly the word I was looking for. And then I also, I think the thing about Talula not coming to LA, I think I had like, when I was in my mid 20s,

18:30like realizing not all my friends were gonna live in the same place as me. Enjoy it right now. Some of you guys are gonna be in Chicago, okay? You don't know. Some ones to be more gonna be in Chicago, some of you are gonna be in LA, some of you are gonna be in New York. There's even a fourth place that I can't think of right now, but you'll, some of you will be there. Some people will be in Atlanta. No, they're only four places. For places, yeah. Related questions like, because a lot of the projects you've done prior to this, I feel like we're done sort of independently outside of the system. Did you welcome having sort of a big company part of the development process? And did you during that process go to some of the kind of your collaborators over the years and get their feedback as well or were they too busy doing their own thing? For bottoms, we had already written the script, but then we got to collaborate with Alana Mayo at Orion and she gave notes. So I've been like in the notes process before, but not from the jump. But like, in a way, it was kind of cool

19:33because I didn't know what to expect. And Amy and Allie and Casey, too, they were just really involved and quick with the process, it just moved. And everything I had heard was like, everything I had developed in the past had taken so long, but that was without a network I had developed it with a producer or something or on my own, and then pitched it. And so it was really refreshing and I felt really lucky to have had that experience. You can tell they wanted it to happen. You can tell when they don't want it to happen, when they want it to happen. I just felt like we were in a good flow together and also like, I like to move and like, when someone turns notes around quickly for you, then you want to do a draft really quick. Like when it feels like something's happening, you want to make it happen, you know? And I think we all had that energy, which felt really good.

20:34Do you consider yourself super ambitious? Yes. That was quick. Well, I'm just like, I'm not gonna be like, no! What are your ambitions? I, my ambitions are, I think to me, success in the industry, jumping off one of your other questions, like email to me in advance. Yes, study for this. I think being able to get something made, like get anything you want made is like true success. Is being able to be like, I want to do a movie, it's this, this, this, and this, and everyone's like, okay, go. Or I want to do a show and you can make it happen. And I think I want, after having the experience of the first season, I want to keep making the show. And then I think I want to, it's made me feel like I want to direct movies and do like what Margot Robbie has done with Lucky Chap and create like my own production company

21:36and be able to move through the different roles of like actor, writer, or director, whatever. And like have different things going at once. One of the tenants of her success is that she's produced for other people as well. You want to do that? Yeah. I started doing that with my friend, Katerina's feature bunny lover, which is coming out, shout out bunny lover. It's coming out, Utopia is releasing it this spring. And that was my first getting to like be a, it's like a indie film, like super indie, but that was like my first time getting to like produce a script with a friend who I was like, she's so talented and cool and getting to like be a part of making it, but like getting to do that on a bigger scale and be more involved, I think would be really cool. This episode is brought to you by the Walt Disney Animation Studio Zootopia 2, now nominated for the Academy Award

22:39for Best Animated Feature. The Hollywood Reporter hails Zootopia 2, knocks it out of the park with its dazzling visuals, sophisticated humor, and genuine emotion for your consideration for Best Animated Feature. This episode is brought to you by AMC+. The critically acclaimed series Dark Winds returns for a fourth season from executive producers Robert Redford and George R.R. Martin. When a young girl disappears, the Navajo tribal police are pushed beyond their limits, forced to confront unfamiliar land, twisted obsessions, and a trail of grizzly murders. This season, one thing becomes clear, justice has no boundaries. Watch Dark Winds season four, Sundays at 9 p.m. on AMC, or stream any time on AMC+. I'm curious, you've spoken in the past about and you referenced it sort of earlier about like being comfortable almost more comfortable when you're failing because you learn from it and being scared when things are going well, which is I think we said earlier, like things seem to be going pretty well right now.

23:39So what are you scared of? Don't worry, okay, thank you. That's a really good question, so unsettling. I think the good thing is that I actually found a job that's like always my brain is sort of like grabbing at a new thing to be worried about, but there's always gonna be something to worry about. What if we're shooting in a range, like problem? Like that could happen and it could ruin the whole day. Later problem, but yeah. Or like what if they hate all the scripts we wrote, you know what I mean? Like there's always like, there will be a challenge in the structure of like making something. So I feel like in a way my brain, which like searches for problems is almost like, satiated by the job where I'm like a problem will come, a problem will come on its own, which is kind of fun. Do you think about the show all the time? Of course, because I'm, because well,

24:41I mean, when you're writing it, I'm like alone, like when I'm in bed at night. Yeah, or when you're not working on it and you're just like in your normal life, like does it consume you? I feel like. I ask because I've asked that of other creative showrunners and a lot of them say yes. Well, the thing is that you're never really not working on it in a way because you go right from the, at least for us, we wrapped the show, we were editing the show while we were shooting the show. We finished the edit. I started doing press while we were still in the edit. Then we kept, I'm doing press right now and we're writing the next season. Like it kind of just keeps going. But I also feel like when you're working on something, like you, you know, you leave work and then you go to dinner with someone and then something happens, something crazy happens or someone like does this behavior, whatever,

25:42that you're sort of working on the story problems in the back of your head and you're like, oh, that would be a fun thing for Charlie to do or that would be a fun, whatever. Like I want to meet a guy like that in the show, whatever. So I think yes. I'm curious because you talked about this idea of blissful unawareness and you were making jokes about the P&L earlier, like are you paying attention to what is happening in the broader entertainment business around you while you're doing the show? Like you're making a show for HBO, HBO is in the process of getting sold. You talked a little bit about the strike later. I listened to you guys talk about it on the podcast. There could be a strike later this year. Like are these things that you are thinking about or do you just try to? So I actually think about it when I listen to you guys talk about it and sometimes I kind of actually get relaxed because you guys talk about it like, look, it's obviously, it's kind of, you know, that's my impression of you guys. But like, yeah, since I've joined the industry and since I joined the world as an adult, it's been in turmoil and like even more for you guys,

26:45like I feel like it's like you, they put the iPad in your hand and it was just bad. Like it was just like you were watching Goop videos or like slime, whatever. And like just chaos. And so it's like, I kind of expect that a little. What do you think about the world of influencers? I mean, obviously it's a subject to the show. Yeah. But do you try to make it feel realistic? Do you have an opinion about the rise of the influencer culture, especially someone who kind of dabbled a little bit but is now very much a professional film and TV person? I feel like the internet is how I came up and so I'm like grateful to the internet for that. Like, and I feel like it's shown me or like introduced me to like creative people that are like comedians, writers, actually, whatever. Like people that I wouldn't have otherwise been able to find.

27:45Like I think it's kind of like a equalizer in that way. Right now I am like getting a little bit depressed. But that's not something that I'll get into. I went just, there's just so much stuff on there that you can read about. Oh, do you read about yourself? No, I'm talking about the Epstein files. I'm like, what are you, I am, I'm sorry, I'm reading. I don't care actually anymore that they are saying like that my mom is weird. I don't care. I'm literally like this is refreshing. I am like, I am like deep in the Epstein files and it's really bad. So anyways, that's what I mean. You're searching for people's names or what are you doing? I'm just like reading, I'm just reading stuff and getting really, really disturbed. So I mean, that's the part of the internet. That's different than influencers, but it's like, you say it. Yeah, there are no Epstein influencers. This sounds like me and the Sony hack, right?

28:46I started going through all of the executives anyways. So it's there's too much to read and it's really scary. So I forget what the, oh, influencers, I, I, Do you want your show to have a commentary on the world of influencers? Do you want it to say something about them? And it's so what? Okay, sorry. Let me agree, I need to re-ground myself. Yeah, I think so. I think I want to, I am trying not to judge them. Like I think that the, I'm trying to like have empathy for like people who grew up on the internet and like have seen all of these things. Like I think like I, I feel sometimes like a little fried like I feel like my brain is fried from all the things that I've seen and like just the amount like it's easy to get like nihilistic whatever. So basically the characters, we wanted each of the characters to be like a different response to like the times

29:49and the way the world feels because like I was saying like ever since I was in college, it was like just like chaotic event after chaotic event and like as soon as I graduated, it was COVID and then I moved to LA and then there was a big strike in the industry and like there's never been solid ground like I think a lot of people talk about like, oh it used to be like this, it used to be like that like I wasn't there for that. So I my like approach to my career and life is like, I'm like a little like hamster on the wheel like running like I can't just outrun this and it'll be okay like next thing next thing next thing but then I have friends who are like fuck this. I, there's no way to like succeed in the world like we're never going to be able to buy houses, we're never going to be able to do this. Like I'm very nihilistic like and I think like Talula is a little bit more of the nihilistic character my is a little bit more the hamster character

30:50like Alani is like able to approach things with a little more love because she has the resources but like also it's refreshing and you want her perspective and then like Charlie is a little bit older, like has a little bit more like grain of salt view. He's a little chip on his shoulder but like we kind of wanted each character to be like a different response to the times and like growing up on the internet. So that like we're not trying to say one thing about it we're trying to say like it's affecting different people in different ways. Do you feel like the internet and the comedy that it's inspiring is materially different from the comedy that you grew up on? So many ways, I mean, I think it's like there's like shared jokes that everyone has in this way where it's like you talk, people talk the same and like in a way there's like a community of like someone says something like a teenager like coins

31:53like a catchphrase or whatever and then the whole world like says it. I think that used to be movies that would do that but now it's memes and things you see on TikTok. But like that's fun, like I don't know, it's fun like everyone talking about like a new thing and you're like we all got serve the same like TikTok algorithm, whatever. Right now it's clavicular for me. It's clavicular, clavicular, all day. All day long, clavicular videos. Yeah. He'd be good on I love L.A. He would be good, Max, Max are one of our writers. This is absolutely him. Max every day is like this is just like clavicular. I'm like I can't, I can't with clavicular anymore. Okay, you go from TikTok a couple of times because if you took out your phone, what is the app that's taking, that you're spending the most time on every day? I would say TikTok. I deleted acts to get away from the Jeffrey Epstein files and I feel like Instagram is just kind of, I hate to say it, it's falling flat for me right now.

32:53So I mostly would say TikTok right now. Yeah, thanks you guys. We feel the same. We'll have more and then we'll open it up to some questions from the audience. So if you have one, we'll do a few after this. But you're doing a Heidi Flais movie? Yes, I'm. What attracts you to that project? I so I, I, I, I, Heidi Flais by the way, the Hollywood Madam in the 90s, it was a big story. She was running a brothel and she had prostitution clients that implicated a lot of Hollywood people. Exactly. I just wanted to explain it, but now that's good. I thought I was going to have to say that. And I was like, um, it basically, uh, Leah Rachel, the director and writer, like, approached me and Travis Jackson, who is her writing partner and husband, approached me like back, um, like, it was a couple years back. I want to say it was like 2022. And they were like, we are like obsessed with Heidi,

33:57like, we think you're meant to play her. Like we want to work with you on this. And we worked on the script for, uh, and like, developing it. And then, um, the timing with the show, uh, it didn't work out with the timing of when the film is supposed to shoot, but I still got to be like, uh, involved in the writing process and, uh, producer on it, which is like, kind of speaks to like, being able to down the line, get to like, produce other stuff. But I just thought she was such an interesting character. Like she's such, uh, her, she has the, she has multiple books, but the, there's like her, it's like her whole story is crazy. And the way she was so like blatantly open about what she was doing and she kept talking to the press. And everyone was like, you can't talk to the press. And she's like, okay, I don't care. Like, I just thought she was a really interesting character. So I was drawn to her. Last question for me and Lucas Bay have one.

34:58So I always been on your show. Why, when are you going to be on the bear? I'm available, but they have a great show. Um, and I think they're, they were rapping soon. So I'm like, I, I show up as an extra in the background in the kitchen. I could be, yeah, I could be like, uh, I feel like I would be a really good, like annoying person ordering food. Um, but, uh, yeah. And how did you end up in the moment? By the way, both I and Molly Gordon. I know. Yeah. And our friend, me, like, wait, I leave so many, I'm like, guys, get me on there. But and how did you end up in the moment? I know you and Charlie are friends, but it's very funny. By the way, if you haven't seen the moment, it's, it's really funny. Um, they got a great response. When you popped up at the Sundance premiere, everyone started screaming. It was funny. It was really fun to film. They were shooting it in London. And I was in the writer's room, but I was like in Paris. And we were like, we can swing it if, if like it was the first day of filming. So they ended up putting me in a van.

36:00They drove me in a van on the channel, which is a train, a bus that goes under ground, it goes under the water or the channel, the channel, um, and, uh, it was like, basically I left the show. I like took a sleeping pill. I got in a van with a random man. I handed him my passport. I was like, good night. I trust you with my life, I guess. And then he drove me like across the border. And then in the middle of the night, they like, like we're knocking on the van. And they were like, ma'am, ma'am, like, wake up. And I was like, uh, they were like, like, we need to, you need to like tell us that you're choosing to go to crossing the border from France and to England. Yeah, yeah. And I was like, I'm here. It's to me in a Charlie X the X movie. And they were like, we don't believe you. And I was like, I am, um, and then they drove me right to that. But I loved the script and like, it's the sort of like taking the brat era and

37:05doing kind of like what if she had sort of lost control for creative process. And I was in the 360 music video. So it was kind of like a reference to that. And it was really fun. All right. You got anything else? I have a couple of very boring plastic town questions. Oh, please do. We want to be extra boring. I'll do. I'll give you two quick ones. How much do you care if a movie that you make gets a theatrical run? Gets a theatrical run? I care. You care. It's just different. It's just different sitting in the movie theater. And like for bottoms, bottoms came out during the strike. And so we couldn't promote it. I couldn't promote it at all. We were really scared. And I, I'm a control freak, obviously. And so I was like, I can't do anything. I'm just going to go to the theater like every night and see how many tickets are sold. Like I, I basically was like at the theaters like pacing around, looking to see who was there.

38:06The first night I went in to a screening and I was there. And like the, they started playing the movie and I was like, it's too quiet. Way too quiet. We're not going to get laughs. So then I go to like the high school students who are working at the movie theater. And I was like, you have to turn up the volume. And they're like, and they were like, man, we can't do that. We're in high school. It was the only way I felt control was like going. But when you do a theater, as you open yourself up to that Monday morning, judgment of whether it did well or not. And if you do a streaming movie, not the same. Yeah. But what if it does well? Exactly. And bottoms, I think it was really cool because everyone who saw the movie and loved it made the movie successful. And there was no literally shout out, shout out. People were dressing up, going to the movie and like promoting it on TikTok. And like we didn't, we didn't get to do any promotion. And it made me feel it made me feel like the movie was fully brought up by the people

39:09who loved it and the people that we made it for. And so that was like a really special feeling. But like going to the theater every night for the first like two weekends, I was like the energy in here feels so special. And I think the bottom of the box office is directly to you. A hundred dollars. I do it. A couple I was there. I was there. I was like, I was like sitting and like asking people to like, what do you think? Like it's like, wait, aren't you in the movie? It was just, but it was the only way I couldn't measure it. And then I would also go on like the Fandango like ticket app. Oh my God. And I would just neurotic. Yes, I can't believe you're not Jewish. This is kind of like you with the Melania box office. I feel like you've been doing that where you're like, how many people are actually buying tickets, but I was doing that with bottoms where I would just like scan and see how many people had actually like bought tickets. 12 empty seats at the grill of what the hell is going on.

40:09The hell is going on. Yeah. Well, congratulations on the show. And thank you to everyone for coming. All right. That's the show for today. I want to thank our guest Rachel Senet, Chabby University for hosting us. Our guy Lucas Shaw produced a crack chloro bag. All right. Is there John Jones? I don't want to thank you. We'll see you next week. Two good and co-copy creamers are made with farm fresh cream, real milk and contain three grams of sugar per serving. That's 40% less than the 5 grams per serving in leading traditional coffee creamers for a rich, delicious experience. Whether you enjoy your coffee hot, cold, bold or frothy, two good coffee creamers make every sip a good one, two good coffee creamers, real goodness in every sip. Find them at your local crogr in the creamer aisle.