Live from Miami at ShowEast – The stuff Legends are Made Of | Ticket to Ride Podcast | Screendollars

[Music] everyone hey big for Paul can you hear me I just want to walk around I I just can't going to walk around sit down okay so it's great to be back our third Ticket to Ride that we've done uh in the morning session how have you been long uh I've been great I really missed you Mike I mean we really uh we we've reincarnated or relaunched or rebooted this podcast many times well so here's the thing last year we did Ticket to Ride live like we did this morning and that ended up being our last episode until last week believe it or not we're a yearly podcast nothing like consistency but I do want to give a big shout out to dadus bashard from screen dollars who is now our producer on wday right that is from and uh R if you're there anyway I want to promise you that uh you're going to get biweekly episodes so you can't run away from us that's true that's a promise and D is guaranteed he will edit them so quickly so people will get them right away any time we matter right that is U Paul did you realize that this is the 37th edition of show show East yeah I think I've been to every single one I remember going I I remember I met Martin scor say at uh show East years ago and Delma spon maker is amazing editor just Starstruck like crazy it's amazing in all actuality so yesterday in the Coming Attractions piece of it um Amanda asked if there was anybody in the audience who had been to all 37 there was one guy who raised his hand yeah actually I'm been all of them almost there you go um what I thought we would do today Paul is when we left when we last live left our uh chat last year we were right in the middle of work stoppages and that had put a big kind of crimp on the release schedule if you remember oh yeah and um we were coming up on if you remember when we were sitting here a year ago we were coming up on the uh release of Five Nights at Freddy's and right that ended up coming out doing about $80 million and actually being one of the movies that kind of saved the year in a way um for the last part of the year and I know that we were you know we last year we had a a $4 billion summer 4095 billion to be exact our Comm score numbers a lot of people didn't think we'd get to 4 billion for the summer and we did we wound up with just over 9 billion domestically for uh last year and you're right the word stoppage is the you know the strikes and all that put a real crimp to say the least in the lease calendar and just show shows you the fragility of the release calendar and how important it is that an orderly release of movies you know the Cadence of the release of movies is so vly important that momentum I've us overuse that term for years but it's really true you need to have that momentum keep movie going be gets movie going people are in the you in your theaters being exposed to in theater marketing and trailers for upcoming movies that's money in the bank that's how you keep that excitement roll well when we talked about it last year too we kind of laid the groundw work and said the first part of 2024 was going to be a little bumpy that because of the way the police schedule was laid out it wasn't going to be the easiest you know road to H so to speak that's right and we and we're going to show some slides here uh depicting the box office at various points on the calendar of this year and you know this this right here I mean look at great movies but compared to you know 24 over 23 at this point going into the June 14th weekend was now 28% are pure reflections of that disruption to the calendar that caused that momentum to not happen well and what we really wanted to do is give you a snapshot so first six months of the year we go halfway through the year we're down 28% the top grossing movi uh is $271 million with tune two that's right and that was a really key weekend June 14 we get to that for sure and then of course this is is the way the uh and it's it's really interesting here because as we all know you know the Press goes for eaing fruit sometimes and Paul in all seriousness you know Paul's kind of doing new's work because he's the man who's on the front lines he's you know you've seen him on CNN you see him on on MSNBC anywhere that you know they were taking shots at the industry Paul was kind of Defending it like don't talk bad about my industry but there it just shows these are headlines actually from May of this year and these are not really positive headlines at all and it was because May typically has had a Marvel movie a kick off this Summer that didn't happen this year but Kingdom and the plan of the eight actually did really well I me we don't want to forget that movie because it really did do well but overall compared to past maze that had that Marvel movie as the kickoff which I for years and years in a row you had that that wasn't there this year but Memorial Weekend oh my God the headlines when I had to talk about that weekend was not but it you know is it the lowest Memorial Weekend in 30 years 25 years I'm like come on man this is you know everyone in this room knows about the ups and downs of the box office and you know we have another slide should we well hold on I want I wanted to to you know point out a couple of things that Paul said and that is everything is in context and everything is in perspective and um one of the things a lot of the studios look at the year as a portfolio approach meaning one movie doesn't make or break whatever it happens to be we got to get to the end of the year let's see how everything performed as a whole and I know Paul you were kind of preaching that when we were in the summer like hold on we're not quite there yet we're still recovering from these work stoppages everything's trying to catch up and I think it's important to realize you know when you Greenlight a movie from the time you read about it in deadline where they say this movie is now going into production or whatever it is it's anywhere from 12 to 18 months before that movie actually makes it to your screen there's a lot of work that goes behind it so when these work stoppages happened last year it's like the team was disbanded and everything binds to a hall so it takes time for those to all kind of ramp back up we're now in the as you look at the release schedule now and we'll get to that in a second you know we caught up to Clinton where that cycle was a little bit Jun really presented that and June was a key month and uh why don't we show well well real quick though I do want I do want to go back to May for a second first time in 17 years we did not have a Marvel movie that kicked off summer and you know the Fall Guy took a little bit of heat because it didn't perform but everybody should remember one thing and that was Fall Guy was originally going to be a spring movie Universal moved it to the summer which actually everyone should be thanking them for moving it to giving something in that first week of May where there was a gap so it was unfairly put in a position where it was compared to these movies that it it's not the same genre interestingly for the Paul guy it was available on peod like three in its third or fourth weekend in theaters and that weekend it was available on premium V it was number five at the box office and it it just go to sh so and and the other thing to set up where we go from here is we're now in the middle of this you know we're we're into the summer we're down 28 % everyone's looking at that back half the 23 where we had the barbin Heimer and they're saying how the hell are we going to get to a billion dollars the way we did with those two movies right well Paul well came along so now at uh 2024 years and this is as of uh this week M you know Monday or yesterday right so we we saw the box office a deficit at 28% mid June now we're down 12% uh almost 12% but look at those movies there I mean I I you know for me the real turning point was post Memorial weekend after all the gloom and doom headlines about Memorial weekend being the lowest in decades and then you had bad boys uh ride or die open and that overperformed like wow there there's something going on here there was something in the air then inside out too open to $14.2 million domestically and notably that was the first $100 million opener of this year and we had to get all the way to Mid June to get 100 million before that was June was the highest uh opener but it hadn't it didn't open over 100 million so to be at that point and then there was a succession of big movies June into July and into August that turned everything around well and when you look at the performance I don't think anyone on their uh box office bingo card had inside out doing 600 50 million plus or had you know Deadpool going to you know 6:30 or whatever it is now you had other movies in there in that Corridor that just week after week we got the Cadence back we got the momentum back uh we you know we didn't have any illusions that we would hit 4 billion for this summer but we got pretty darn close at about 3.8 billion Twisters was another one that showed the experiential side how important that is with the moving seeds and the that immersive so you know that brings up a really good point that brings up how how important the premium formats have become in the movieo goinging experience we talk about how do you differentiate yourself from watching at home and whether you're watching in debx or 40x or IMAX or XD you know doly Cinema you know those are experiential ways to to view a movie that really you know increas and that's become an increasingly important part of the business of PS and look we all know about price sensitivity the audiences are really concerned about that but when it comes to a let's say movie like Doom part two if you're Danny villanu fan and you know his film making prowess and and his vision are you going to opt out seeing that movie theater no way and and it's a premium experience in any theater no matter no matter how you slice it but with certain movies it seems you know it's like the more expensive wines on the wine list tend to do better so at least my neighborhood and one with Eric Tac but uh but uh it it really is true that PR people want that premium experience and they get that in your theaters and it's really important so it's that you know that that con being in concert between the you know the studios putting out the great movies and what's going on at the movie theater level is so vitally the key to this industry what and yeah what did you think about the idea we had four franchises this summer that overperformed that were all kind of 30 plus years we had we had two sequels you know we had a bad boy sequel from you know and we had you know probably you know Beetle Juice which was you know like the Top Gun last year 37 years in the making that's right and that was really cool because you know sometimes long gestating sequels they they don't do so well but this year it seemed like the trid and true really played well and I think there's two ways we need to look at this one is with the Blockbusters it seems that particularly in the Summer where people are price sensitive or they're just they they want to make a really good decision on what they're going to see they want to know what they're getting into even though people sometimes say there's a lack of originality in the movies look if you know the brand of bad boys or inside out or Pixar brand or Despicable Me 4 which was another family movie family movies animated films did incredibly well this summer that's a category of film it's just absolutely killing it but I I thought it was great that all those older and then look at Beau be that's you know that was one where you look at September where it just kind of rewrote the record book on what September is going to look like totally and for that movie I mean it represented nearly 50% of the Box off in September that one movie Beetle Juice Beetle Juice but I think we're going to see and we're already seeing it right now and heading into the next two months the home stretch of the year what a great combination of indie films and major Studio films that are on the way uh you know for instance Venom uh the last Dan and conclave opening this weekend uh you know last weekend you had a blockbuster open and a great indie film so with aora so this is really a prime time to be a movie go and I think the thing we need to push in this industry Beyond just these numbers because these numbers to us they're they're really interesting to movie goers they just want to know what's in your theaters marketing is Key Well it's it it comes down to what it what it's always been from day one and that's it's always about the content and and uh last year as we were going into the home stretch we talked about it was going to be a little thing and we had Five Nights at Freddy we had uh Taylor Swift and uh we had a couple of Japanese films that uh kind of filled the Gap a little bit and then of course uh Wonka came in and you know kind of closed the deal for everybody but it was a it was a bit of a bumping ride I would say what's a pumpy ride but I think the cool thing too is that all the events Cinema is so key and I was in the trailer uh you know where they did all the presentation the trailers all the great s attraction s attractions um and what an amazing array of films that are that are on we'll get to that we're going to get to that in a second but I did want to like point out though is we just showed you all the headlines from the doom and Glo and then air 6 weeks later oh look yeah back Paul yeah this was literally a month after great Saveway Mike worked really well in the audio version too um yeah this is really if you take a look at those headlines so it was week after week of and you know let's not forget you were talking about older franchisees alien yes remember that first release Scott alien so good amazing 1979 I was an usher at the Egyptian Theater in all way so and I was probably a patron there there you go why have kicked me out of one of your theaters but yeah so so look at those headlines that's what happens though so and you know though audiences do read these headlines I mean this is the AP Wall Street Journal I talk to the journalist every single week and the you know the the mood it's sort of like the emotions and inside out too you know we went from glad to sad to happy in one weekend but we kept that momentum going and even though September was a little bit slow and this is what this is the roller coaster ride this is what happens and those headlines that we saw earlier really were predicting the demise of the theater basically because of a sliver of time where things were not like knocking out the park and think of this business this is not a widget uh Distributing business so every week it's a brand new movie with brand new marketing you're creating for the audience in a very short amount of time the awareness and then the want to see factor for all these movies but well and and the difference between and and as we get to the home stretch so we're 11.8 % behind we're going to close the gap no doubt up between now and the end of the year if we get you know whether we close it all the way that's kind of Up For Debate I guess but you know look at this you know kind of these are just some of the some of the films that are highlighted November 22nd everyone's trying to come up with a great name for Gladiator 2 and wicked I've seen some that are not very so we can't guys I'm not but yeah so but yeah that's a great lineup and I actually saw the Craven trailer yet a red band trailer I love red band trailers keep those coming that movie looks amazing all these films and want to is going to be a small screen play it's now a big screen movie so uh I think the last part latter part of this year now these are all the blogbusters but there's a lot of uh specialized build uh Awards contenders that are going to be in the mix and my personal pick for Christmas day Mike you're going to go with me on Christmas day we're going to see no spazzi oh I like it that is Christmas like good vampire movie and uh you know the Exorcist opened December 26th which was a Wednesday is that right yeah in 1973 very nice very nice is Preston the devil made you do I win thank you Paul I appreciate you so uh but bottom line to that is um and and really one of the reasons we want to show the headlines are you can't get caught up one way or the other on how the Press is going with it um like I said said it's a bit of loing fruit depending how the box office is going and you know let's get to the end of the year and see where we really are but taking into consideration that there were a lot of challenges in the first quarter first half of of 2024 were and I I think 25 looks like it's going to have a incredible Cadence that that movement in the Box houseice because we're not hamstrung by the disruption to the production schedule uh the the release calendar and the like so I think 25 and from what I saw the The Coming Attractions yesterday wow and in the movie theater just even seeing trailers in movie theater so impactful and obviously you know the the small screen um promotion of films via YouTube and others when you see millions of views for these trailers that's really important as well so get people migrating from their homes to the movie theater uh that's really an important part of it as well I I think that's something that Brandon and his panel will have after this we'll talk about a little bit more the innovative ways and the way things are changing in movie marketing it's it's it's not the same old same old anymore and you're seeing it not only from a marketing standpoint but you're seeing it the performance of films as well that's right and I'm really excited to see how the end of the year goes I mean we're in the home stretch now so the Press will really be reporting on the year-end numbers um and again I I don't I I think it's really important that we talk about the movie goinging experience I mean obviously at column score we do all the numbers that's my thing but I'm more about the really more about the content and that movie theater experience we need to keep pushing how important that is and how it's differentiated so dramatically from the the home viewing experience which I love if you're you want people to watch at home too that gets them excited to also go out and see a movie in a theater um prob would change things up a little bit um you know I think we all know where you're on the box office one of the things I'd like to do is is show East is going to be getting out their first Legend award and it's to a guy that I know really well worked with for for several years and I think everybody in the room knows and that's Richie F and Richie come on up so we thought prior to Richie getting his award tomorrow we kind of sit down with Richie and hear a little hello Richie good morning Richie see you great to see you se you got to go to hot seat there you go this like a dbox or something in the vi yeah that's start moving it's a shaky seat go be that how you doing Richie I'm I'm doing well um I'm good it's a little early Paul wanted to do this Paul Paul's whole dream is it becomes Ticket to Ride after dark yes it's too early for him it is rich got a bir it's it's ear for all of us or some of us anyway um so Richie you and I obviously worked together for several years uh back at landcape yeah um but every story has a beginning yeah where did Richie Bay start uh it started it was it's kind of a a simple beginning uh it started in 1971 when I graduated uh from my own College in a Melle and uh having worked my way through uh through college I was one of my three jobs was working at Macy's and uh they had a an executive training program coming up in October and uh I had um I had bills to pay so um prior to that I went on an interview at Warner Brothers in Manhattan and uh I got the job so it came down to uh start working in September and start paying off some of those bills or wait till October so I took the first job that came on play and what was the first job I was the uh assistant PR Booker to a uh gentleman by the name of Perry sto and um I remember distinctly my salary was $125 a week and uh that was it out of college and um you know and I and as I said had some loans to I was eventually promoted to a salesperson the funny story with that is along with that came an expense account uh which amounted to I think was like 12 bucks a week at that time and I was I was dying to save up for a stereo so I took those $12 checks and stashed them and figured when it got to the amount that I needed which was about 300 bucks I'd bought my stereo set and about 6 months into my stashing those those checks I got called into my boss's office and he said uh you know we have a problem with you I said uh oh here we go and he said what have you been doing with your expense checks and I said well I've been sashing them because I'm saving up for something he said well if you don't need the money he said we can do something with that and I said that's okay I I'll C you in right away so literally you were not cashing the check why I was not no I like that you were saving up for a stereo yeah I think all the eight track action um back then there was no eight track actually it was vinyl vinyl that's my thing 78s anyway no so um you're doing sales what what territory were you doing I was doing uh I started with upper New York state so I handled all the Buffalo and Syracuse um and then eventually um having got to know people in the industry uh my brother-in-law who also worked in the industry Johnny graia uh suggested that I go speak to the folks at low uh because they were looking to replace uh a gentleman over there by the name of Monro Suz and he was their film buyer and I went over and I met with Frank Patterson and Frank Welton and eventually Bernie Meers and um they HED me how silly of them and I that was 1975 and um I I was hired literally two weeks before uh I was to be married and all my honeymoon so I had to explain that to them that well yeah I'm kind of committed you know and uh they gave me the time off without pay and uh and I uh and I spent about 12 years or so at Lo at that point in time and then when you were at low what I mean how have you seen the business change from then to today well there's a there's a Common Thread that you guys touched on and it's and it's uh movies are a are a habit and I think as long as you feed that habit it's almost an addiction uh you you get people to come back week after week and um when there's a w that's when you see the box office drop obviously but to get that back again takes a little bit of time and I will also point out that when I started the big threat to movies um was cable TV Believe It or Not people were saying well this is the end of of of folks going to the mookies well we survived that we survived home video we survived betamax and and everything else all the way to just recently with streaming um and uh we've been able to adapt and and quite frankly we've done it in in the theatrical side in such a great way that we've benefited from it and they've benefited from us what were the movies that really impacted you coming up through your career that that you remember that were notable either that you just personally liked or that were notable in terms of your work in the industry uh well my favorite movie if if that's what I have two actually the searches with John Wayne is is top of the list and One Flew Over The cucko N yeah and that's when I I had uh I was working at UA pictures at the time and I remember distinctly going to the screening and coming home um and telling my wife and my father at the time I said I think I saw the next Academy of WN movie and it just it just crocked them so it was to have that kind of foresight I felt you know maybe I should keep on doing this glad you did at what point then was it that you came to the dark side and started working on distribution uh well I I kind of bounced a little bit I was I started out in distribution obviously went to Lowe's and then to United Artist uh theaters yes and then from UA Theaters um I went to Sony and uh Jeff Blake hired me because he said quite frankly you've been such a pain in the ass as an exhibitor I think I got to hire you just to get you out of my hair and if you remember Jeff Blake he had a lot of hair so anyway so I went uh I went to Sony and then uh and then I had a uh a lunch with Stan Derwin well it was at Sony um and he was he was the chairman of AMC some of you might remember and um uh off of that lunch I was I was 10 months into a three-year contract and from that lunch Stan reached out to Sid ganis at Sony and uh asked if he could hire me and I I didn't know any of this was going on behind the scenes and I got a a call home that night from uh Pat Nero then Pat sweet guy he uh he said what did you do today I said well I I you know this that the other thing and I said cuz I'm in New York and he's in California so um I said and by the way I at lunch with Stan DWI oh really and what did you talk about I said just you know the industry in general and I was trying to straighten out an issue that we had with them in Philadelphia at the time so he said well uh you know stand called Sid gandis who called Jeff PL who called me and he wants to hire you and uh I was I was in deep shock believe me because I had told the family when I got the job at Sony they were going to move me out to California and uh Jeff at the time shared you're doing pretty good we're going to give you Canada and stay in the east coast so we had to reverse things with the family and say guess what we're staying well now the job for AMC was obviously in California so I worked out my issues with the Sony and uh went over to exhibition and spent uh almost I guess it was 10 years plus at AMC and uh there um uh with a change in corporate structure what haveed they decided they wanted to move the film office to Kansas City and I decided to stay behind and I started literally the Monday after we closed the office in LA in Woodland Hills I had a breakfast meeting with Rob Freedman and we discussed uh Summit putting Summit distribution T together and about a year and a half later we we started Summit maybe need to five pictures into it we got this property called Twilight and uh the rest is the sa's history and and then lion game lion what suit 12 that's when Richie and I started working L work although I must tell you I actually don't want to use any of my ammunition for tomorrow but I met I met uh Mike when he was dating one of my film buyers Lisa Luen that is correct and uh no I'm not going to say anymore I got to say but for [Applause] tomorrow oh boy uh I want to get personal for a minute a couple things I know you're a great chef can you talk about your Love of Cooking oh you all want to know the secret sauce I was kind of a latch te kid um my my dad left my mom before I was born and she had to go to work to support my sister myself uh so uh when my sister and uh mom were both working uh for Miss now B&T at the time was Western Electric I had come home and start dinner and uh just that experience you know would would uh but it actually isn't a Side Story you know I was a kid I was in the sixth grade maybe my deal was for the most part put the big potatoes on all right and there was one day I remember distinctly I was out fing around and again uh I forgot about the damn potatoes so I came in about 15 minutes before they were du to get home I cranked the oven up to like 800° with as high as I could and sat down at the dining room table and made it look I was doing my homework my mother and sister come in and uh the first thing they did was you know how's dinner you know we ready and I said yeah all the potatoes in the oven I said I'll go check them while they were changing and I opened the potatoes and I put in three potatoes but there was six potatoes in in a damn oven and I I I for the life of me I couldn't figure where the hell did the other three potatoes come from all happened was because I cranked the oven up so high and I didn't pour cols in the skin the potatoes literally popped out of their skins and sat next to the skins in the oven and and I'm looking and looking and I said she's like I don't know how to explain this and my mom came in and opened the oven and she looked at me she knew exactly what happened and she turned around and she hit me over the head with the wooden spoke I'm so glad I asked about that but you moved on to uh Sunday gravy and meatballs yeah that was a yeah that was a tradition yeah that's uh that's something my wife when I started and uh continued with uh with both daughters when when they found boyfriends and eventually husbands uh and Sunday mornings I'd start the sauce and and she'd finish it off and we'd all have uh you know dinner um later in that evening and always remember Mike and I live near you so we'll come over anytime well and we had you I think uh a lot of you may remember a few times Richie actually was down in the kitchen of the hotel cooking meatballs for the convention that was fun but was it was better than the alternative and that would be meeting with you guys so I remember at the Diplomat Hotel where they used to have you you were outside and we were all in the line please may have some more yeah that was the best the best was when you got uh David Spence in the kitchen yes David had no idea that it was going to be manually making meatballs and you know I think David for those who know thought that Richie was going to be supervising now we go down in the kitchen and there's Richie with his big b of sauce and then David's like doing this with the meatball well and Mike kind of snook at me on that one too because he he was going to uh show that live at One the theaters prior to a screaming had that afternoon and he asked it was okay if they could put a camera in the kitchen with me and I said sure that's fine well when I cook um I I listen to Italian music so I think I was there was Dean Martin doing whatever uh and uh I'm singing along with it and this guy turned on the video and I didn't know it so uh the audience we had we had a screening over at the theater we had the beatball cam going live and she's singing away not knowing anything can we find this video uh yeah put that on mind um so so after you left Lionsgate um I know now you're working with Kevin Mitchell showed his direct you guys just had a big success with the first movie out of the gate with Reagan tell us a little bit about that well that came together um Kevin and I have been friends for years and as well as Scott Kennedy and um Kevin called me um probably three years ago and I remember this Christmas we were we were in New York celebrating Christmas and said U you know I have a project and how quickly can we put people together to handle the film and I said well I can call Scott Scott had his his company up and running and uh I said we can do it pretty quickly um that particular movie did not work out but subsequently uh Reagan uh came uh came along and and uh Kevin was uh friendly with Mark Joseph and Sean and David who are sitting here tonight and we'll be showing B later guys so please try to attend the screening and um he said well I've got this other project and uh you we we sat and spoke with uh with Mark and uh and put the team together um they gave us a healthy uh PNA budget which we spent with Mike and um the rest is they say is history we're we're just shy of $30 million for our first effort not not too [Applause] sh think speaking of uh Sean and uh David we should bring them up right now Sean David come on up this isor [Applause] um Sean uh David just wanted to say congratulations on all the success with Reagan uh I think you guys opened a lot of eyes and again uh riching to you Kevin and Scott for you know launching a new independent in a you know not always the easiest circumstances um Sean little background with you guys where you know what what's your background how how did you come into this wacky business it's the same old story my dad bought me a camera when I was 12 and I just wanted to be a filmmaker but I started out as like a PA I did audio I did every job because all I wanted to do was direct and uh as I was pouring coffee from people i' just say h I'm a director and that that I just kept telling the narrative kept going like that and uh eventually got a movie I think I got three ninjas part three with Hulk Hogan in the 90s that was Sony distributed so it was like the first theatrical I think it made 300,000 in the box office and uh then it just went from there we just kept going but but I want to thank show direct because when I went to cinema Con in uh what month was it you guys did a trailer that blew me away cuz the film was not done because of the strike we couldn't get the actors back to record anything and I remember sitting in that Suite in Vegas and my jaw dropped it was the most incredible trailer I'd ever seen and I went from that we had to finish theot the film and you guys just pull a miracle together to get it out with the distribution so I want to thank Show's direct thank thank you for the [Applause] material D how did uh how did you get your started sry well how did you get yours started I met this guy 27 actually before because before we started our company we're going to go in 27 years in March uh as brookwell mamir entertainment but uh um yeah I I was a kid from Chicago born in Jersey my dad was moving around and I went to college in Malibu California pepperine and uh there's worst places to go to college pepperite I remember my dad pulling up to the to the uh the school he he gets out of the car he's looking around he goes where's the first I'm sending my son to a country club um yeah it was that was my introduction to California and right out of college I got a job at 20th Century box and it's uh you know we're doing uh a lot of press junkets and and so I actually worked on the marketing and distribution side in my first job uh then got into independent television and met this guy and uh we spent a lot of time doing a lot of television shows work for Disney for about 6 years uh where we cut our teeth what what were some of the shows we might know that you worked on um well we we did Even Stevens you know if you were a 12-year-old kid back then oh yeah you know we uh um and then we did death of Raven about 100 episodes of that I think everyone knows that one so um you know it was a grind you know but uh uh you know we this guy wanted to do movies so he started directing more movies and and I'm just holding on these coils and Sean I I attended the Reagan Premiere at the Chinese Theater Full House red caret you know being in the business for this long but and having your original camera that you got inspired to do film making or become a filmmaker what was that experience like for you to be at that Premiere to be in that you know situation well it's the most incredible thing I'm sure you've all been to the Chinese Theater in Los Angeles and just to have that place to CH R was just a highlight you couldn't believe it and you know Dennis was there it was uh it was fantastic and it was a it was a big deal and it was we literally the film was so wet just dropping it in the last I was working 24 hours finishing so I'd have a screaming ready for that that Premiere so we got it done but it was a fantastic life experience played so well in that room and it's just a great Premiere and how exciting and the movie is done so well and you have another movie that we're going to talk about as well but yeah tonight battle artist at Wars playing I'd love you guys to all come see it um if you saw Schindler's List there was a couple who got married in the flash concentration camp and uh we went to Tel Aviv and we got the rights to their story from their kids and it's a love story and we follow it and it's incredible so you think oh holocost movie I'm not so sure but when you see it you find that incredible Love Story uh that's what I think the the magic is and it feels like Cinema I mean my gosh I want to see everything on the big screen that's every time when you guys were talking about earlier we have to keep people going into the to the big screen because it is that experience and there's nothing like experiencing a movie with a group of people so uh but please come and see B artist trailer my trailer is so good for for B artist of War really evokes all that it's a comedy It's a drama there's so much so many layers to it and it beautifully shot I'm sure you know the cinematography is very different than for Reagan but I'm sure you're using a different palette for for this film and Neil H what a great actor as well he's an incredible actor and inar Lobby who's gonna you're going to hear a lot from her she's an incredible actress who plays Rebecca B yeah so the two of them together this love story is just it's incredible when you watch it you go I can't believe this happen but it's all true and Sean looking at your philography you you tend to gravitate toward these inspirational stories um films like you may not know it but Sean directed Soul surer a few years ago um which was a big hit for for Sony um what kind of gravitation you did that that type of genre I mean I grew up on Rocky that was that film that you walked out of Rocky and you were just so inspired so anytime I can do inspirational movies that's what it's all about for me that because everybody becomes the lead character of that movie and they see themselves in that character if they could just do a little bit more they can break through so I try to make inspirational movies that you know have some visual like you said Soul Surfer that was the surfing the backdrop it wasn't really about surfing it was about you know getting back on the board coming back we all have those experiences but if we can do it in a cinematic way I think that really works for audiences David do you you get together with Sean and you decide what you're going to work on next you are you looking for properties are you looking for stories and then you edit each other or you bring things to each other and collaborate on what are we going to do next there's no shortage of great ideas out there I mean there's people every day that you know are Inspirations the the tough part about it is you know turning their story Into You Know 90 or 100 minute entertain piece of entertainment and Sean always teys on you know what's the visual and uh you know sort of enhance that but yeah I mean it's great to put good optim the world you know we got another one that's coming called on fire and and we're uh it was an independent film that we shot in St Louis and and that's the next one that you know we're polishing and getting ready it's really cool and then you're on the so you're doing the production part obviously and then you work with Richie and his team to and then to work with exhibition so it's really cool to right here have the whole chain of that you know the the inspiration the production and then sheering it to the big screen and then working with exhibition yeah well on see uh we firmly believe and I'll speak for Kevin Mitchell we firmly believe that exhibitors are our true Partners in this business and uh it we go so far as to say we've got a film this is the story this is the way it looks what's a good dat and and then we we go from there but um everything we we intend to do at Showbiz is done in a very transparent uh manner so that uh the filmmakers are comfortable with us exhibition is comfortable us with us and uh you know we engage folks like Mike and his team uh to to get the materials together propably and get them into the theater so it's a it's a true collaboration and it's you don't get hung up in the big not La of the big studios but you don't get hung up in thearchy that goes on at the big studios that see that making faces sorry oh but we we uh between Scott myself and Kevin uh you can you can get the decisions made probably in an afternoon Kevin Kevin's Kevin so real quick I don't know if there are any questions out there as we're going to wrap up the morning this this piece as we lead into the next one anybody with any up or shouting okay well um I want to thank you guys for coming out today looking forward to the movie this see the movie tiet screens well it says right there at 5:30 buses are leaving now oh yeah and then Frank te's where's Frank Frank come on up thanks you guys thank you thank [Applause] she's got a ticket to ride but she don't care my baby don't care my baby don't care [Music]