Markian Tarasiuk Interview (True Justice: Eye for an Eye, Haunting Matthew Nichols)

[00:00:02] This is a Bramble Jam Podcast Is it? Hi, I'm Bram and I love Hallmark Movies I'm Dan and I despise Hallmark Movies I'm Markian and I'm in Hallmark Movies And this is the Deck The Hallmark Podcast Deck The Hallmark, it's this podcast Friends host this podcast

[00:00:28] We hope you like this jolly podcast Oh boy, Brand It's good to be here today Gilmore the Marrier This is what I'll say about this This is something that I think We do that no one else does And it's to bring on a guest Two weeks after the movie It's a big thing we do here at Deck The Hallmark We are notorious for being like

[00:00:58] Are you doing press? You can't be on our show But if you'll come on when you have nothing To tell us about Promote? Yeah, please Absolutely, come on the show You think we're doing a bit, Markian That is kind of our sweet spot We really do this You guys, I think this might be the first time I'm on a podcast and I've got nothing to promote So this is exciting for me We do have a lot to talk about You missed the movie, it's gone We have plenty to talk about

[00:01:25] The other thing is the reason we initially did this bit Was not that it was because we wanted to see the movie And then like actually have the person on to ask them the questions about the movie Right, because we do the What The Hallmark Which is questions that we still have That we want answers to And it was fun for us to get answers But it's more of an uphill battle These days Getting people on after a movie airs If you can believe it If you can believe it, maybe we've got a reputation of sorts Yeah, but whatever But Markian, we're very happy to have you on here

[00:01:55] You commented on one of our reels about True Justice And you told us that you don't completely hate our program Wow, it was good enough for us to reach out and be like Hey, will you come on? Do you assume or do you think that a lot of Hallmark stars or actors hate your program? No, I think most of them are on the side of either absolutely love it to get why it exists I think that's 90% of them Or don't know

[00:02:24] Yeah, all the ones that know I think there's 10% that might not like him That take themselves very seriously Take a poll, will you? On our behalf And like, you know Well, I think that's part of it too Of like sometimes I get onto set with another actor And there's definitely this moment of gauging how seriously they take this movie Or like, what, okay, where are we in the spectrum of like seriousness with this process? That's right And so there's always a few days of me

[00:02:53] Or one day of just like being like, okay, like, am I allowed to make fun of this process? Can I make fun of the movie? Can I have some more fun? Luckily though, like who I've been matched with especially somebody like Kat on, you know, True Justice I've been paired with just such self-aware, fun people The fish who we've had on before Oh, the fish has been on the show The fish Oh, it's the fish has been on the show Is that what it is that? People refer to her as the fish We call her the fish And she loves it So we're

[00:03:23] Okay At least she said she did I don't Yeah, we did Oh my God, you guys We did Polar Opposites together That If you want to talk about that movie That was a crazy experience that I don't think I've ever really chatted with anybody Right Right I'm here to chat about it, for sure We went down to South America To Patagonia, didn't you?

[00:03:45] Yeah, to Patagonia, to Ushuaia, you know, Argentina, which is the most southern point in South America Where we went on, we got off of this cruise ship, because we actually filmed on one of those like Antarctic cruise ships And it was so funny, because my mom's all up in the news And when the Hantavirus thing came up, she's like, is this the same brand, a cruise ship that you were on for six days filming a Hallmark movie?

[00:04:15] And I looked at the brand, I was like, no, not the same company, but the same type of ship That like Antarctic, like going all over the world type ship So that's what I was on for six days Was your mom trying to blame you for the Hantavirus? What was she getting at there with that line of question? Yeah, what was the point of her? I think it was more like, you were crazy for doing this movie Because this is the type of stuff that happens on cruise ships is just viruses Oh yeah

[00:04:42] Like, and sinkings because she's like so scared of cruise ships So apparently, apparently I was very irresponsible accepting that contract But yeah, aside from that we also like to get the iceberg or the iceberg the glacier shots in that movie We went up to a village that was almost 16,000 feet in like elevation, which is like as high as the Matterhorn

[00:05:10] And we stayed there for two nights Wow I had some people in three nights and I got the worst And I had it pretty good, but the elevation sickness Like we had people who couldn't walk Oh my gosh I mean, yeah Like when you I tell the story of like you think it's a You think you're like, oh, whatever 16,000 feet It's I didn't really comprehend what that meant

[00:05:35] And we had professionals and there was medical staff there and we got some beautiful shots for this movie But the cost of going up to that high I just your body falls apart and uh, like I was so sick I couldn't sleep because your body the oxygen shuts down so yeah like this is this is what I'm talking about guys This is was and we did this all for hallmark And I it's a good thing that hallmark movies don't have a really structured rigid amount of time to shoot a movie like you guys had months

[00:06:03] Right, that you could just it was like, you know, like a fincher set So getting sick is no big deal It's no big deal. We got time and we can just be up there for as long as we want We'll do another take. We'll do another one. It's fine. We'll do another one We'll do another one I think I don't know if if the fish also told you on that movie Did you talk to her about polar opposites? I don't remember When do we have the fish on? It was early on. It might have been before that movie But I will say the fish does a lot of travel movies She tends to really love them

[00:06:33] Yeah, like we heard from somebody that worked with her that like was like no she chooses these because she just wants to rough it Like she like we talked to is it alec who they she went to machu picchu with Yeah, he was like dude. We were roughing it like the lodging wasn't great the blah blah blah So we're hiking and she like is in for all of that The machu picchu one was done right after it. They she shot those back-to-back so she did pull her off She stayed she stayed in peru. I went home because i'm like i'm gonna sleep for five weeks. Yeah

[00:07:02] And she she stayed in in in peru there and kept shooting like she had like a less than a week off and then She started shooting the the machu picchu movie and I was gonna say she is incredibly like Brave because also she got a bit ill during the final leg of our of our shoe She had a cold and so I think the last like whatever amount of scenes in our in our movie She adr because she didn't have a voice So we were also

[00:07:30] Yeah, we were also and it's also brilliant because you can't tell in the movie she did an incredible adr job But I know in scenes where where she was like talking like like like like this and like, you know, really couldn't Couldn't couldn't speak Um, and then and then but we just kept shooting the movie because like you said there's there's there's no time We didn't have time to to take days off and I think we shot that one and yeah, like 16 17 days

[00:07:56] Marky and I know you you I did you know ahead of time you were going to be on a re-annan fish fan podcast Did you know that or was it just We I didn't want to spoil it, but No, no, no, I did not know. I did not know you guys were such big fans of the fish I'm just gonna keep calling here the fish As you should as you should the folks in the bramble jam plus chat love that you adopted to the fish as quickly as you did and just went with it Like that's a That's a guy that gets it

[00:08:21] Um, I do want to go back a ways and by back a ways. I mean at the beginning of your life Uh, if you don't mind, uh, I would love to hear about Where you grew up what your upbringing was like and kind of where that first initial Spark of creativity or a desire to act of some sort came from Yeah I'm originally from a town in manitoba in canada called winnipeg, uh, which is

[00:08:49] I'd say for those who don't know about eight and a half hours north of minneapolis into canada So right right in the center of got it canada, you know, we've talked to a lot of canadians. No one ever does that That's the and I really appreciate people give us the directionality sometimes But for us, you know, we're in south carolina markian like when you say winnipeg we not Yeah, we not that was unbelievably helpful and I appreciate it. Yeah Yeah, I i i've i've been

[00:09:16] So here i'll give you then I I moved to vancouver where you know a lot of these hallmarks are shot I I moved to vancouver, uh, when I was 18 years old And then I i've been down in la for the last three and a half years kind of splitting my time So I I think it's living in la and whenever I say winnipeg nobody knows So that's just become this my pattern of speech of explaining minneapolis um, and uh, where did my first creativity come from? I think it came from

[00:09:44] My parents put me into acting classes like theater classes when I was a kid So i'd say early on it was improv and and sketch comedy that I was doing as like a teenager, you know As a kid I would make little movies with my my parents had a video camera And that just transformed into I got I got I got cast in this play which is like our big, you know playhouse in winnipeg um As this lead when I was 14 years old

[00:10:13] um And I loved I just loved it so much. I loved more than like the process of acting um, and and and and doing the art of it I think I fell in love with the people I was doing the the job with the adults who I was like This is crazy that you guys do this for a living Because this is just so much fun and this is so silly and stupid Um, and yet i'm getting paid for it

[00:10:38] So I think at about 14 15 I decided like if if I can get paid to do this for the rest of my life What a what a gift and uh, I went to theater school for three years and kind of just kept on going down that path Eventually you get an agent and all this stuff and start doing hallmark movies eventually So yeah, I kind of snowballed from there You have uh, 27 episodes of a tv series looks uh Like on your you have three or four things listed here before you turned 20

[00:11:05] So you were you were getting imd credits as a teenager. Tell me about noon boring in the super seven. I didn't want to you know Oh Yeah, noon boy in the noon boy in the super seven was uh, uh, a kids for Kids show for what was it? CBS mornings something was saturday mornings. It was yeah, it was it It was a little little kids show i'd say like if you're between four and four and eight Uh-huh and I voiced one of the characters. It was an animated show. So nice and yeah, how many how many episodes designed?

[00:11:34] That show 27 27 I think we did I think we did about 52 that are not quite listed Was that your was that your first? Paid gig doing a voice for that show? Yeah, I would say like major gig in terms of film and uh, yeah, I remember I remember doing this I did this crazy voice too. So if you heard the if you heard the uh, The what the voice I did for the show you would never know it's me

[00:12:02] Like are you are you able to pull it out right now? Oh my god, you guys have it It was something I I would do the worst version of it It was like hello. My name is markian and i'm like talking like this So So elmo it's a bit of elmo It's a very it was a very elmo-esque Elmo really likes noonberry Wow Wow Wow Elmo loves you Oh my god

[00:12:28] This is an elbow off and I think his elbow might be better It's almost better than your elbow which I've never heard of better elmo He has you know, he has a little That's probably what scored him uh an episode of kung fu dino posse which he does have on here as well Same same. Yeah, same same there was a recording. There's a recording studio in winnipeg. They're called the capo studios I think they're still there and they do a ton of uh animation commercial work

[00:12:53] So, you know, uh hats off to uh nolan at the capo. He hired me a lot as a teenager as a voice Um, so it's like it's like winnipeg's a small city. So if you we I got into this recording studio They knew me as a voice as a teenager and they just kept bringing me back for gigs So it was like a sweet deal. I had going on So do you have any uh early on like in your 20s? Do you have any memorably bad auditions? You want to share? memorably bad

[00:13:21] Yeah, i've got one i've got one nightmare audition that i'll never forget I will it'll it's seared into my brain I was I was auditioning this would have been 20 Like not crate. Well, yeah, probably 2015 Yeah, 2015 okay, I think this was the reboot of the television movie, uh for center stage

[00:13:44] It was a ballet movie. Okay, um, there's like a famous ballet movie center stage and they were doing like a young young reboot uh, I don't know which which network was doing it something like the cw and I did like a couple acting auditions and I was playing this like ballet dancer and I was like killing killing me acting I felt really good about that. And then they I get this message from my agent That they say okay, you have another callback

[00:14:08] This is going to be like I think my third callback at this point or second callback so third audition total that they want to see you dance now mark yeah, and I was like Okay, and then on the addition it's like tomorrow morning. This is like, you know afternoon. So tomorrow morning you need to have a Two-minute classical piece and a two-minute modern piece prepared and it's like all the producers all the directors are going to be there

[00:14:33] And I freaked out because I don't dance like I can move but I don't really dance and I was like, what am I gonna? What am I gonna do? But you have to know that would be eventually a part of it, right? I think I think I Thought they were just Yeah, I thought I thought they would give me choreo And they would give me more time to to learn such a gig then you start

[00:15:02] Yeah, I get yeah, I start training and and I to be in an army movie. Yeah, but this is exactly to come up with a freestyle basically Basically, yeah, they give me one day less than 24 hours and so I went to a studio that night I'm my my girlfriend at the time Helped me choreograph just one modern piece So I like didn't have a ballet piece because I like my brain. I can't do this one night I show up to the audition the next morning

[00:15:28] And I like made this modern piece to this. Uh, what's that song that goes like love me like you do? That's it. That's the one that's it's searing into my brain. I know exactly the song And they start they're like, okay, thanks markian. There's like five producers there casting director director director x Remember the guy who did the the drake uh call me on my cell phone. Yeah Yeah, yeah He was the director he was sitting here. He's so he's so cool and I

[00:15:57] They're like, okay markian. We're gonna start with your ballet piece and I go there. I say um, I don't have one And they're like, oh, okay. You did you get the uh, the email about i'm like I did I did I did Just not gonna they're like, okay, okay, well, that's all right. Uh show us your modern piece And so I was like, okay, great. So that song starts like

[00:16:21] And I swear to god guys I blacked out and I blanked out and I don't Couldn't remember a second of the choreography. So I flopped like a fish On the and I just made it up. I just I don't know what I I just made up I just started flopping around just doing random gestures and movements because I panicked I was so sweaty

[00:16:50] And I just started spinning and just doing random shit for two minutes While that song played and I swear to god I looked up at the end of my thing I started giggling because I was so humiliated and like I was like, I don't know what I just did And I look director x is sitting in front of me like this with his And he's like he can't even look at me and I was like this is the worst thing

[00:17:18] I and then I see one producer. I remember this guy. I don't know who it was. He was just like this Just watching me and and then and then and then there was a ballet mistress there She she ran me through some center. That was a disaster. She's like, all right pirouette jetty jetty pirouette Five six seven and I was like, I don't know what those mean. I don't know what that means So like you need to show like a will feral snl sketch is what it sounds like

[00:17:48] Yeah, and this went on guys and and why it was so humiliating is wasn't like a quick death that I did They like kept me there. They they did the center I humiliated myself more and then after doing this and being like i'm the worst dancer in the world They're like and now we will do your scenes markian So I'm drenched i'm drenched in sweat. I'm completely wet and then they get a camera out and we're in a dance studio And they're like, okay ready now here's 10 pages of dialogue go

[00:18:15] And I had to do the scene like a bunch of times And then left and I was you know, and i'm wearing tights guys, you know That's the most also the the thing about this i'm wearing ballet tights the whole time And that was it. I I didn't get the part I didn't book that one I think they actually and I remember seeing the casting director months later And she actually she like she came in she's just like you were so close to that part. You were so

[00:18:42] She said that and I don't know if she's blowing smoke up. She's like yeah Would they just had to like make a they just have to make a decision that they had to go with more more of a dancer Because they couldn't get out of here as much as they would wanted to and I was like So apparently maybe it wasn't as humiliating as I remember I was gonna say that you gave that entire like audition team like they like used that as a marker Like they're like well, I mean it's not gonna be like What was it? Marking it. It's not gonna be like that, right?

[00:19:14] Yeah, it's not gonna be like that bad. Yeah, it's not the guy remember the guy that didn't know It didn't have any dancing. He didn't know how to get any of the things Here we go guys. This is the movie. It was center stage on point 2016 center stage on point Now we can see who booked Yeah, now we can see who did get it Let's see on imdb here. I think I was like ivan this kyle kyle toy

[00:19:40] I don't know who that is. So kyle kyle got it. He probably knew how to pirouette and jete I bet I bet he did I bet he did That's not him Let me know when you find there. Kyle toy. There he is. What's he doing now? Oh, he's dead in his defense on his imd when you click on him the picture Is his dancing dancing? So that's and he it is look at look at this. Yeah, he's a choreographer now. He's a choreographer now. Okay, so

[00:20:06] Yeah, he's in other homework movies. He was in make me a match and he was in uh Allie Liebert's movie everything leads back to homework brother. There you go All roads see back the homework Maybe i'll meet i'll meet kyle on set He also is in one episode of eye zombie along with you marky and different episodes probably But yeah, that I zombie happened You did like a handful of like a An episode of eye zombie four episodes of shut-eye five episodes of project and see like getting Gigs and doing doing the canadian circuit basically Yeah, yeah

[00:20:36] Just supernatural you gotta be on supernatural, you know The vancouver circuit of of of yeah, those are like all the shows like how it works up here in like vancouver's those are all the shows here And as an actor, those are that's what you audition for consistently for these long-running shows and so yeah, something like supernatural I was like, I swear to god if i'm not on the show because I will i'll be the only vancouver actor never On supernatural. I can't and I got in right under the wire

[00:21:02] They you know season I think it's season 15 episode 15 out of 21 and wow Like I was so stoked to to be on that show before it left Yeah, that's wild and that's before at least the credit on here is before your first hallmark That's right. So you've only been doing homework stuff for the last seven years, right? Basically is is that is that the truth? Holidays is your first one on here. Yes, is that accurate? Okay, I I guess that's accurate. Yeah, homecoming and that was with laura osness yes who

[00:21:31] At the time and still is you know, broadway star and i'm a musical i'm a musical theater kid and a big fan of musical theater So actually working with her was a bit of a bit of a crazy experience because like this is This is the laura osness from greece and cinderella right here in front of me You're starstruck I was starstruck She had a moment on hallmark. She didn't like three or four movies Over the course of a couple of years there and then there was a bit of a

[00:21:58] Yes, a bit of a bit of a bit of a thing a bit of a network a shuffle That's right We all get a bit of a shuffle Hey Hey, what are you? Hey, what are you? What are you talking about? I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I love it. No comment. I got no comment. I got no comment. That's not The fish is awesome, isn't she? The fish is awesome The fish is awesome And vaccinated So Will, I do want to get into this though

[00:22:27] This is me This is x. Oh, there's x. There he is At uh at what point in the journey perhaps even doing the canadian circuit there did Were you beginning to tell people yeah, I am a i'm a a tv actor. I'm a i'm a movie actor This is what I do for my job That is did you start telling people that? Oh And believing yourself when you said it Believing well, I will I will say this I will say um

[00:22:55] It was I remember and I think any actor who comes to this point will remember in their career It was the summer of 2016 for me. I haven't had another job since 2016, you know, bless bless myself and at that point Were you like bartending and stuff like yeah, I was I was bartending um exactly Uh, I remember I remember I got It was 2016 I I actually had like for almost a year been at been been good enough as an actor to to not have a job

[00:23:24] And then it can't and then the money dried up in the spring of 2016 and I had to get a job and I got a serving job At this place called tap and barrel here in vancouver shout out Shut out Um, and I remember I trained for three weeks I worked for three weeks. So I was at the six week mark in my job and then I booked shut eye And this movie called status update at the same time and and I I I got to quit my serving job They were actually pretty pissed because they'd spent so much money training training me

[00:23:54] Uh, and I quit right away Um, and then since then i've i've been making making a run of it as an actor solely. So So it's a decade now sir. Congratulations It's been a decade. Thank you. Thank you. Yeah, you won It's happy Guys guys, it's like yeah, it's almost 10 years exactly because I remember it was the end of may 2016 Yep. Wow. We knew that we knew that we did the research that's why that's why i'm two weeks late from justice

[00:24:24] We wanted to wait for this special. That's right. Yeah Yeah, how did you get into the the homework ecosystem? Was that just a Audition that happened to go well and or is like just I know they acquire movies and you're in some of those so how about Yeah, I think If it's homecoming for the holidays is if that's my debut on what it says I think I think that's true. I think that's true Um, then that means I just auditioned for it. Um, the catherine the director was so kind to me

[00:24:51] She has since passed unfortunately. Oh, um, yeah Who who directed that movie and she just liked me a lot and I think I just got the job regularly and I will I will give credit where credit is due to hallmark what they do with actors is Unlike any network. They they lift you up and they support you They are loyal to you and will keep bringing you back so I think like after that it was just a snowball effect of I did homecoming for the holidays

[00:25:18] I got a little other like supporting parts here and there and eventually they Give you a shot at the leads Of these movies and I think That was Just the natural progression of like eventually you get considered for leads because leads on hallmarks for the most part are all are pretty much all Just offers like they don't really audition for leads. Yeah Um, and so they just offer once you get into the ecosystem once you've kind of paid your dues a little bit

[00:25:45] Then they'll give you a shot at a lead and I guess like they they just liked me enough to Yeah, so And I this is crazy. I wish we'd have had him on in uh, I guess early 2023 would have been I don't you don't know. This is probably right waiting for the 10 I mean in 2021. He does play a character in a Hannah swenson movie called tad So he got to play tad which is a bit it's a big win for you and we've seen that movie And I remember it so much, uh, but you are into hallmark by and large

[00:26:13] During a a kind of a renaissance not a renaissance. Yeah, a renaissance of what a hallmark movie really is I think you know, if you watched hallmark movies before 2022 2021 It's a different experience than what they are now by and large. I know that there's there's some structure that is the same, but They're very very different. I don't know. Do you know that? No, no, no Can you explain this to me because I I get I I came into this ecosystem that it is exists right now

[00:26:41] So what what was the difference before so there was, you know hallmark movies originally were like for like a network like abc's hallmark hall of fame movie of the week in the 90s And then there was a guy that came in named bill abbott who started making them and Quantitatively a lot of them and the goal was for them all to be the same like the the joke of hallmark movies really applies to one Decade of hallmark movies like and like the guy that was in charge of all of them made them where they were all the same They couldn't be funny

[00:27:11] They had to have one central love story like all of these things that are and then you are in Had to be white You know there are so a lot of it seriously a lot of them were like there was there was no interracial couple Very rarely a league couple that wasn't white definitely no overt uh LGBTQ representation definitely none of that and then New leadership came in in the early 2020s and so now the movies while they still have

[00:27:39] Very they're very family friendly and they have typically a love story They experiment with all kinds of different stories uh christmas at the golden dragon being a big example Of that that movie would have never happened under the previous regime Uh for a number of reasons and so that's just your normal which is awesome Uh, you know when we started this podcast You know, we aren't coming up on our 10 years here in a couple years Depending on how you look at it Uh, when we started this podcast that was just not the case. It was just

[00:28:09] Uh, you know like a golden oreo just white on white on white like it was just like there wasn't a lot of There wasn't a lot of things happening across, you know, that was show any diversity and so I remember there's a joke if you go back and listen After we watch christmas the golden dragon I'm pretty sure our italian christmas memories came out like the week before it and you're in both movies And we're like, why is this guy? I don't even think we call you your name

[00:28:36] I'm, pretty sure we just say this guy too afraid to say your name Yeah, we're like Why is this guy in every like why are they putting him in these movies? Like back-to-back we what are they doing to this guy? Why are they doing this? You're right. I remember I remember I remember yeah, it was it was a weekend apart those two movies Yeah, yeah Yeah, why are they doing it to this guy? We just saw him Yeah, brother. Yeah. Hey, I gotta make a living. Yeah, yeah

[00:29:05] No, no, no, I don't listen. I'm sorry that I said it at the time but like in it like Christmas the golden dragon is about a chinese restaurant and our italian christmas memories about an italian family, right? You are uh, ukrainian canadian. Is that correct? Yes. Yeah, i'm ukrainian and In italian christmas memories my character is ukrainian if you guys remember But that's and that and I I show I sure I show up to like the the the christmas dinner at the finale of the movie

[00:29:35] And i'm actually wearing like my traditional ukrainian shirt and I bring uh, like verenike which are like pierogies, but you call them for ennike um in in in ukrainian so That was actually written past like the time that I got cast because I got cast and then like hey where aren't you some cultural thing? Hey Hey, aren't you something your name? You are tell me what your deal is What are you if you if you were to what are you?

[00:30:04] So I was like i'm ukrainian you're right guys and they're like can we can do you do something for christmas? And I was like, yeah, actually there's like a couple traditional things that I can do and then they just wrote that into the script So, um, that was that was and that was the first time if I may that a ukrainian was represented in a hallmark all right Okay, name me another time. So, um And then since then they've never revisited that my culture. So, you know, wow

[00:30:34] There's that cool You hear that? Ukrainian christmas movie story markian. Where's that exactly i'm here for it We need it now more than ever so I did we did you would say so I'm saying yeah, that's why I said it. Thank you. Uh, I will say I was gonna ask you i'm still gonna But it's it sounds like when you're making christmas of the golden dragon That's written in part by by emily ting who's also a friend of the show a wonderful writer

[00:30:58] Um, this is a very different movie than we like I remember in 2022 going I can't believe they're doing this This is like we've got some love actually in there. There's some there's a different like Structure to what's going on here that I think made some hallmark viewers Kind of do a double take did you have any It sounds like you didn't it sounds like you were just you this was still new to you Any realization that what you were making was kind of groundbreaking for hallmark?

[00:31:26] I think I was semi aware of it at the time Um, because like as you pointed out like I I had at that point done a ton of hallmarks and was new to the world and But I remember I remember knowing that the the the Kind of the asian cultural representation in that film was groundbreaking for for hallmark I also remember too of like Apart from the diversity of that movie the

[00:31:54] The ensemble nature of that movie was groundbreaking I think that's what more people were talking about at the time of like this is A crazy thing and and and in kara wang who plays um The lead in that movie i'm still such good friends with that her and I help each other with self tapes We're self-tape buddies Nice uh down in los angeles and she's been so uh Kind to me when I moved down of like showing me around the city so That's actually what I took most from that experience was my friendship with kara, uh, who I love so much and

[00:32:23] I think I was like semi aware of it, but uh being new to the world Maybe I think the gravity of what that movie was wasn't really landing on me at the time Um, and I also love that love that movie and and what they did with that and the ensemble kind of like the storylines and Everything about it and I think I was like the romantic lead on that movie Which I remember getting the the offer the part and be like oh, yeah, this is like a busy

[00:32:48] Mark you're gonna get ready busy schedule coming up and I like was like on like four days Yeah, I was about to say nobody in that movie's on the whole time. That's the thing about oh, yeah, yeah Yeah, and there's like some great actors on on that movie like I think like in terms of the vancouver uh Community of actors who were involved in that in that movie. There's osric chow. Um, sarah canning was in that movie

[00:33:13] Um, you know, sarah canning's great. Yeah. Yeah, just some solid actors in there Antonio cupo barbara nivens not from that area, but she's amazing No, yeah everything. Yeah, she's she's such a sweetheart. So she yeah Yeah, but but the rest were like and aside from antonio. Sorry, uh, barbara and cara I think the rest were all canadian actors There you go And clear like you're kind of lucky you get to do that fun

[00:33:39] Ensemble and then you get to you get to do true justice which in a sense is this really fun ensemble Uh, mystery thing that hallmark starts doing how did how did that project come to be? Where'd you come in on that one? Yeah, uh, where did I come in that that? Um You know This is what happened with true justice. I think this is it's it's produced by muse Muse had hired me on one

[00:34:06] Uh, you know, so if any fans know that like hallmark will Buy movies for action companies acquire them, right? So there's tons of companies out here that just like make a hallmark movie Sell them to hallmark and muse is one of those and they're a great company headed by Joel rice and michael barbudo such kind people um So I think with that this movie they were aware of me of like one of the younger hallmark

[00:34:32] Names out there at the time that you know, we we shot the first one in 23. So three years ago So again, uh, you know, we're all talking these timelines have i'd done italian christmas memories the christmas of the Golden dragon my name got brought up But it was the director of the first movie jonathan wright Who I think got me over the line for this part because he had directed me in another christmas movie that was not on hallmark called christmas jars Which was uh, jars christmas jars

[00:35:00] BYU tv actually had a theatrical release. It was a crazy Thing so Like brigham young university Brigham young university guys Yeah, okay, great They have a they have a saint movie There's a network. Yeah, there's there's a there's the mormon church has a network tied in with brigham young university If you didn't know christmas jars I did not know that Right down still to this day

[00:35:25] I I think they're still going I say that with a lot of hesitation. Um Haven't heard from them. How Yeah, BYU tv free tv for families There you go How integrated into I mean you've done the christmas jars is the Faith-based aspect of The movie i'm assuming that it's a part of it because it's for that now Well, look It's kind of there's there there's nothing faith based in the movie, you know

[00:35:56] There we don't talk about God or or or mormon anything It's just I think like these networks like byus homework to a degree but not really so much or like up faith and family It's like They're faith adjacent. It's like family friendly. It's just family friendly. It's just like very very g-rated um, so christmas jars is one of those movies, uh, and again, I didn't really know anything at the time About byu or or or that I kind of took the job And uh

[00:36:26] But look and then so then jonathan Directed that movie and I found this throughout my career That one gig always leads to the next and so that movie I did in 2019 left him Let me get true justice in 2023 Because jonathan had worked with me uh before on that movie and we had a good good time together And then so he hired me for true justice and then that's turned into three movies. So here we are We skipped over welcome to valentine which you were a big

[00:36:53] I love welcome to valentine you don't need to listen to the episode though mark and you can skip it on deck the hallmark I If you were talking to I'd probably listen to the welcome to valentine that was So, oh my god with that the part in that movie when people when I freak out about the guy I remember I freak out about him like destroying my car. Do you remember this moment? dude Dude, dude and people are like I remember this is back when I was active on twitter. I would follow the live tweets

[00:37:22] As the movie I wouldn't watch them, but I just followed the twitter feeds. They were hilarious And people were like this guy sucks I Like he was trying to this guy was just trying to help him jump boost his car And he's freaking out. I'm like guys he busted my car up like would you not be mad that a guy who said he was A mechanic just blew up my car So funny

[00:37:49] Yeah, I remember that because it's like an actual like there's valentine sweaters in that movie Like I was excited because hallmark channel for some reason just doesn't really do valentine's day Aside from that one and it's not when they finally that didn't they do one this year was that yeah, they did they did the cupid one But it seems like a no-brainer given the right that they're the card company They're the card company that created the holiday Was that an acquisition or did they there was that a homework in-house?

[00:38:16] That I i'm i'm pretty sure was in in-house that was an in-house production. Um, yeah With valentine nebraska, which is a real place by the way you You also said there's been three true justices only two are out. Do we have another two are out? Yeah, then another one's coming out What was the deal with the break in the uh between the first one in the second one that just recently came out? Which is not why we have you on today, of course. No, it's not because of that

[00:38:45] It's a good question and I think it's one of these things that there are uh There are back there there's politics involved with with with the network and I think Just I don't know how much I want to get into it. It's basically the way the The way they were by hallmark is like I think structuring the way they're back acquiring Has kind of changed in the last year and a half

[00:39:12] And it just became one of these things where true justice was like Softly greenlit for a long time, but the Numbers or something didn't make like like something had to get worked out I felt like there was a lot of momentum after the first movie We were like we want to see more of these They've just changed the way they've done mysteries that's right in general like they had a they have a network called homework mysteries that they don't put the mysteries On yeah, so it's very interesting But I think they're like still trying to figure after the like when by the time the second one came out

[00:39:42] I had to like refresh myself on what was going on Which was yes sucked because after the first one I was really ready for more of those So yeah, I think like say well, but same with us and I think nikki and and and and megan who writing were I remember Talking to them about the storylines for two and three during number one because they wanted to build this out and uh Everybody was ready to go and we were so stoked to keep doing more and just took forever um to to to

[00:40:12] Kind of hear back about and I think that's exactly it was there's just like some restructuring of how what goes on the mystery channel versus the Regular channel versus hallmark plus there were some things they had to figure out And so I I think we went through this This this time that I don't know if we're still totally out of the woods on up just like the green lights on things weren't really going And and true justice was one of those like in in limbo land forever because I talked to the producers and they'd be like

[00:40:39] It's gonna I think it's gonna happen like they're almost very friendly about the show, but we just don't know when um And then we shot it then then we shot it last year last spring So it's been over a year since we've shot two and three already Both back to back We shot them back to back. Yeah, yeah, so so it's been over a year already. Um So it's gonna be another I if we get four and five, you know, uh Knock on wood that'll we probably won't go to camera for until next year

[00:41:07] You know, so it'll be another two years episode at least in like marking is gonna have a full-grown child That is i'm gonna be true justice Yeah, you guys aren't in law school anymore. You're done You're way out You guys do like wigs and the movies. You love wigs. Yes, it's true. Why the heck not you know They weren't realistic wigs guys like what do we what? I love I love the the goal in which you asked that I when you were on set like I get it man

[00:41:36] These movies are made for eight bucks and uh and a lot of goodwill and I and I like You just you don't ever look at that and go You know like nobody on set hasn't eaten like we've been on hallmark sets and everybody that we talked to that's on one The reason that these things work is because everyone's got a great attitude But nobody's a diva on set and goes i'm not wearing this like right like Shouldn't someone maybe do that?

[00:42:02] You know, yeah, maybe somebody should should should do that I think there is like a certain degree especially especially the true justice of like I think I'm not gonna speak for cat. Uh, I think we are aware of the stupidity of these wigs, but we're just having fun No In that in those movies it does We're just having fun like it's a part of it. Like it's the fun of correct You four working together You're not oh you're not completely understanding of how serious it is

[00:42:29] We can just throw in a wig and we'll fool somebody like it's like I agree. Yeah Yeah, I think that's the world a little bit And I think with number two and three especially because number one was so heavy For for us and especially for cat cat, I think makes the comment She's like I was just crying for the whole movie in number one um And so I think maybe as actors or as a as a group of You know, yeah, it's a group of actors

[00:42:54] Maybe we were rebelling a little bit against one to have like double down on our fun and goofiness for number two and three Because we just wanted to to just have more of like a fun tone for them And and whether that's realistic or not, uh, you know I think there's like there's just an opportunity in these worlds Especially with hallmark that it is a bit more light and we aren't look I mean, we're not going for realism here at the end Yeah, for sure As many people have pointed out

[00:43:21] What are the ethics behind getting this evidence and oh my gosh? No, I don't want to talk Would this be a crazy Would this be admissible in court right? I don't I don't I don't know Well, but it's kind of fun I hope not In the I will say this in the Hannah swenson movies like they just share all this evidence with the local baker Like that's what they do, right? She bakes things and they're like She's like I want evidence and they're like we can't we're the police. Okay, here you go I

[00:43:48] I think that this while also in a very gray area these students who don't have a warrant This benjamin ayers character who's coming is like well, I'd look at these phone records While I do think that that is everything that's probably wrong with the police force I do think it's it's on stronger footing than Well, we got to share the info of the local baker, right? Like we you know what I mean? Like I do think we're better here than we are there I think that I at least see the idea of these young aspiring

[00:44:18] Do-gooders social like justice warriors wanting to do real justice. I like that idea You know, I mean this is this is how I think it goes down because I think we even talked to this about nicki and like The structure of these hallmark movies especially these mysteries is it always has to culminate in Like a final scene where we get the confession we get you the gotcha moment. Yeah, right where I think so it let's let's let's let's play this out for a second

[00:44:43] It's like in the hallmark world where this happens and and and and laws are broken to get evidence It's like as long as we got the confession And it's like oh We make the person confess at the end of you got me. I I didn't mean to do it I I did it just happened um And then they and then we call the cops we say we got them They go to the cops and they say you're right. I did you got me I am I am just turning myself in and I am I am guilty and there is no trial because it's just boom

[00:45:12] They just confess. Yep. So I think that has that's the only way these things If the person just like denied denied denied denied all the way to the end of the movie They probably yeah get away with it every time How cool is it to have? You know nikki and ben are both having a blast in these movies and they don't have to carry the weight of the film They get to show up for 10 12 minutes of screen time How cool is it for you guys this great young cast to have two stalwarts of this particular

[00:45:40] machine this particular industry not only at your disposal, but they're like This is very rare talk about something new for hallmark this idea that the two If you tell me there's a mystery series with airs and deloach. I think that is what The initial draw would be but these two really trying to launch these ships for these younger actors is so cool But also when you're in getting to see that in action, you know Probably a combined 40 or 50 hallmark movies at your disposal there. How cool is that?

[00:46:10] It's amazing Ben and nikki are like when you talk about pros like that's The at this format of of filmmaking they are just they come on with such an ease to set like I I remember The first time working with them and just watching like how easy this is for them and the way nikki Got right into her like lawyer talk. I was like, oh man. They are just dialed in and so I think they're the anchors of our of of this true justice series

[00:46:39] We're so lucky to have them especially with both of them I think both of them are having such a moment on the network like with ben with 1874 It's a great show. He's crushing it, too. Yeah. Yeah, he's crushing it. Nikki's got like how many franchises going? She's got the curious writing to yep Yeah, she's writing and and we're just lucky to have them on here and I mean like nikki created the thing

[00:47:04] So, uh, i'm just lucky that she she brought me to the fold for for into like her sphere of hallmark because Outside of them being pros On set, uh, just the kindest people do I have nothing but good things to say about both of them They're just so much fun ben is so much fun to be around on set he uh This last or last year got me on to the um The the this podcast called oh the tapes where with the the people who can read minds

[00:47:32] So him and I were just talking about kids reading reading minds I heard it. You're not the first person to bring up this uh podcast, which I still haven't checked out Oh, no, no, the telepathy tapes The telepathy tapes We were at um On air fest on air fest. It was a podcast festival in new york. They were supposed to be there to do a thing That's right And then they had to back out for some reason it was the first I heard about it Thank you for reminding me because I meant to go check it out We're raving about this this It's insane

[00:47:58] So him and I were just geeking out. He's like marken. Have you heard about the telepathy? Yeah, i'm like no what's this? And he's like you gotta go listen And so then I started listening to the telepathy tape. So a large part of my uh, true justice experience last year was uh, Discovering that there are kids that can read minds so You gotta talk to him. Yeah, you gotta talk about hunting. I do want to talk about hunting matthew Yes, matthew nichols, which I guess uh Did the festival circuit in 14. I'm sorry 24 and then came out

[00:48:28] Theaters like this year which I saw and I will tell you about it in a second, but I want to hear How that came to be because this is not just an acting gig for you. This was you directed it your your baby You directed it. It was I believe your idea Uh, and you helped co-write it and also starring alongside and I didn't put it together until after I saw it But uh ed and uh when calls the hearts. Oh my god, she's the uh mcdougal. Yes

[00:48:54] She's the lead in this flick. It is incredible, but I want to hear from you He came back from the he literally talked to me the next day. He was like he didn't mention it was you. I just said I saw this movie brother I didn't even put it together that it was you You have the beard in the movie and I didn't even yeah I literally thought about it when we were doing the preview show last month and I talked about the true justice and I talked about you and I was like, oh wait, oh my gosh It's the same guy clicked so i'm very excited to talk to you about it, but I want to hear

[00:49:23] This journey because this is I believe your first movie that you've directed and and done the whole thing with Correct. Yeah, it's my my directorial debut and you're right. Look, it was funny because we were doing tests. I don't know tests I remember years ago We filmed it in 23. Yes, it came out uh started its uh festival on late 24 We wrapped our festival run actually in 26 february 26 was our last festival So it's been such a long process, but it's funny because I remember in 23

[00:49:52] I was shooting and I grew my beard out for like two months prior and wanted to make sure that I said to everybody I said I can't look like my hallmark because I'm like my yeah, and I so i'm wearing the glasses and and a beard It's a bit of a disguise But I just had to bring myself out of that world and put myself into a different world um into it. So

[00:50:14] Basically, how that came along was uh, yeah, I started developing that project and it came out of and if anybody of the fans don't know here of the show The movie is basically like a netflix or hbo style true crime documentary That slowly shifts into a horror movies though is the way I describe that film The idea came from during the pandemic I was watching and I still watch a ton of these true crime documentaries and I was like

[00:50:41] What if I can create one of these from scratch because I remember watching one and there was this the This crazy storyline and I did some research after the movie or started googling it while I was watching and then basically All the interviewees were like I was taken out of context. I was edited to make this Storyline seem much more salacious than it is And if I never googled this thing, I just would never would have known um, so I think I

[00:51:09] was like this is very interesting because I can create a true crime documentary from scratch done in this style that people hopefully will think is real to some degree kind of like blitter witch uh, but then let's have some fun and kind of turn the turn it on its head and have a Have a fun time with some spooks at the end. So that's kind of where the idea came from I developed it for three four years Uh shot it Yes with cast miranda mcdougall who's uh when calls the heart as and she kills it

[00:51:38] She's so good in the movie. She's very good And then it was yeah, and then it was just a long process to eventually get to because we self-distributed in theaters Which was like a crazy experience Can I just crazy can I this is for probably nobody, but do you mind Disclosing like what did you make it for? And then tell me about the distribution process? I like Independently, I can't imagine what that is like so please share whatever you're willing to share

[00:52:06] The yeah, we made it for uh, approximately 250 000 dollars Wow, great dirt cheap. Yeah dirt cheap. Yeah, and and like shoestring budget the entire way And it's a miracle that it got made for that amount of money um, and then the distribution process basically became this like We I I didn't want to self-distribute like this was never a thing but the the over the last few years the distribution landscape has just been so

[00:52:34] Not favorable to filmmakers where just the deals that we were being presented didn't make any sense number one financially or like Artistically to us because it was basically we'll take your movie and we won't tell you what we're gonna do with it Might go up on to tubi or like we'll figure something out, right? We're like we just want to we just want to give this thing a chance and it's every filmmaker's dream to go to theaters so Eventually the it's a long story, but i'm going to try to make it as short as possible here there's a company called the 15 group who

[00:53:03] Want to connect and uh, take filmmakers and connect them to exhibitors directly So there's more of a pipeline for indie movies to get to theaters, especially if you don't get picked up by somebody like 824 neon The big players are the only ones going to theaters, right? If you don't get picked up by them. There's just no no chance you're going yeah um And and because any mid-level distributors won't take that risk. So there's this company that connects filmmakers to do exhibitors

[00:53:30] Directly and last summer, uh, my my my colleague and writer Partner here sean actually went to You know, kansas city. He went to wisconsin. He went to the exhibitors directly to play our movie To explain our marketing thing and pitch them at in their boardrooms basically And they agreed to to put us into theaters and we had to pick a date and like then it was like a long process of

[00:53:57] negotiation and how many screens and we never thought Um, we we initially wanted somewhere between two to three hundred screens That's what we were asking for in these pitches and the exhibitors came back and said we'll put you in 900. So awesome Yeah It was awesome. But like in retrospect maybe too many and like just a massive Massive undertaking that like basically between christmas and april 10th of this year

[00:54:24] I was on this movie full-time doing marketing meetings. I actually cut the trailers for the movie So anything you saw trailers was me I Edited those Did you edit the movie? I went to the moon. I saw the trailer. I was like this i'm intrigued by this. Hey, there we go So I might yeah, um No, I didn't edit the movie. There's a my editor. Jonathan matthew was the editor on the film. Thank god I had him But for this for the

[00:54:51] Marketing campaign. Yeah, any social media ad you saw I edited so like that this is literally how put together and like Shoestring this whole thing was and so going to 900 screens There's like five of us who dealt with the entire distribution of this movie And like we're we're we're just winging it the entire time So i'm i'm glad you saw the film that means means something worked Do you but do you like?

[00:55:18] I I do you read reviews of the movie were you in on that or were you out on that? I I I was in on it Okay, and This the thing that sucked about this Experience was because I was cutting the ads Um, and part of these marketing campaigns we had to talk about the reviews because we had to Like yeah, make that part of the campaign or not Depending so I had to go and read a lot of stuff so but it was

[00:55:46] On on rotten tomatoes a rotten tomatoes like they're Ostensibly raves like I like Even like the negative review says it's has an artful attention to craft Like as somebody who's like literally that's a movie movie sucked, but that's josh Gullan from the spectrum culture who who who said it doesn't all work but says that the attention to craft is artful That's a negative and all overwhelmingly

[00:56:13] These are positive 16 of 18 of these are positive and they're really it's not just positive. They're like Really good reviews like to do this for your first time and I understand you probably are in your I I coached basketball and remember the losses and never remember the wins i'm sure in your head You have 10 blurbs that are negative that that's all you can hear in your head But like do you take a second to go we did this for no money? We did it ourselves And people

[00:56:39] On the internet at this website who are actual movie critics Wrote these things about this like that's gotta mean something right? It's it it does it's I was The whole thing was surreal Like it was a fever dream going through this process and It was yeah, it was critically like, you know Really received really really well, which I'm so happy about um And I think I think more than anything like

[00:57:09] There's another surreal part of it is like you go into the letterbox and like over four and a half thousand people have written something About wow i'm one of like by the way I'll read you i'll read you my review Maybe which is this this is why I don't go camping If you if you like true crime documentaries and found footage you'll love this movie the ending slaps That's what I wrote for my review. Oh, thank you And it does Thank you. Yeah, i'm i'm proud of i'm really proud of the movie for like what we did

[00:57:37] How we did it in the shoestring nature of it the scrappy um But yeah, it was really hard like and it was such a long journey that I think my Celebration of the movie and like what we accomplished is also married with this like oh my god i'm exhausted and that was like So difficult to to to the amount of work that went into that and love and care and um You know, but at the end of the day. Yeah, I am extremely proud of that movie and I and hopefully within the next few weeks

[00:58:07] I'm hoping we'll have news about like streaming stuff. So, uh, that's why there'll be like it Not quite that's Hunting of matthew nichols I wish I had not quite to tease that we will Be eventually somewhere This is well, this is what we'll do whenever you have the news record a video send it to us and we'll play it on Yeah, we will about that an update. Absolutely. You know what we've got Uh, we have a festival here, uh markian for our paid subscribers called bramble fest a very

[00:58:37] Small get together. We hang out and do a bunch of silly bits and we usually have some actors come in You're welcome to come also He could show up and do a screening of the film. Uh, yeah, I don't know if it's the right crowd I don't know if it's the right crowd But I would love to watch like a midnight screening of hunting a matthew nichols. That's not bad. Holy cow Me and miranda. Yeah, and I think some people did and some people were like, okay

[00:59:06] I'm gonna direct another movie you're gonna direct another you're done with it This was too much and you're you're done with that. Uh, no, i'd love to i'd love to Honestly the directing part like the actual like on set to my editing process was the most fun I think i've had artistically in my life Like that part of the experience was amazing and I want to do it again We have a sequel written out for hunting matthew nichols. It was always a two-parter in my brain So you set up at the very end a little a little stinger. Yeah, we set up with a little stinger like, you know

[00:59:36] Spoilers. Why does marking survive? That's been a question everybody has and why how come I got got out of there? Well, we're gonna hopefully answer that um for for for the audiences. So yeah, that's that's kind of like You know on the horizon hopefully If all the chips fall in the right places, but then yeah, there's other projects. I want to um one thing i'll be be pitching you guys will like this. I I my next kind of like

[01:00:02] Script that I have is a hallmark horror movie. I want to marry these two worlds Want to marry these two worlds together. It's basically you know The log line of it is a woman realizes she's in a hallmark movie and has to get out. I love it I love it That's great. Yeah, because we talk about it. The hallmark movies oftentimes are like one click away from horror That's right what they are There's a lazy chabert movie where she's stuck in a town because her car's broken down and the entire town conspires to keep her there by Not fixing her car and there's a magic santa

[01:00:32] It's one of the more terrifying experiences you'll ever watch. Yeah, it is. Yeah, Blair witch has nothing on it It is downright terrifying Are you that's that's are you a horror boy like you love horror movies? Yeah, I love horror movies and I think that's why My my directorial debuts in that in that genre I talked about this a lot for the press of you know when I was doing hunting matty nichols was Those movies and horror movies when I think about my childhood or teenage years are

[01:01:01] Like at the forefront of my memory of cinema has to do with my horror experiences. So um And I want to do more horror movies. I love them. They are uh, obviously such a departure from hallmark. Um, and so It's funny. I i've done some horror movies as an actor. Uh, uh, and then i've done the hallmark and uh Yeah, they are both super fun in their own way like to to to to do and uh, yeah, i'm just such a fan

[01:01:31] So hopefully can I can I ask you another probably overly uh specific hunting matthew nichols a question, but i'm gonna ask you. Yeah, yeah, uh, there is a uh Part of the movie where there is a a tape found by the group of individuals and you make an interesting choice to Let us see the person watching the film and not show us the film until yeah

[01:01:59] I was so mad at the time Because because uh, mcdougall did it such a phenomenal job of acting while watching this movie What I I love it now in hindsight the decision to just let us watch her watch the the film was that always like We're gonna hold the tape which is a pretty big Part of the ending of this movie until the end or did you play around with where to kind of throw in

[01:02:28] Bits of what is on this tape It was always scripted that we were just watching the movie. So that was a plan uh, since early development was to never Show it at that point of the movie now i'm i'm good before i'll answer like the process of it I'll put the question back to you. Why do you think I did that at that moment? Well, I I I I don't want to give too much away, but it's such a big thing for her it is more about her

[01:02:57] Experiencing or trying to find answers as to what happened to her brother That is more about how she Saw it and less about what is actually on the tape Yeah, I think that Exactly is it uh from my perspective Things are always scarier when you don't see them sure It's that classic horror movie trope that that you don't need to see the shark Yeah

[01:03:23] Yeah, it's it's very cliched, but it's very true. You know at the end of the day. I I've watched so many horror movies Where you see the monster too early and it just it's it becomes it becomes comical eventually because it's just so ridiculous The best new version of that is barbarian Where? Zach crager's barbarian is like Part of the genius of that movie is is the monstrosity at the end you can't even picture in your head Earlier in that movie. It's so genius

[01:03:52] Smile it follows. Yep. We've got these these invisible forces You know that are because it it makes you Put your own spin on it in the your imagination, right? And I think that's as humans It's always worse in our minds than it actually absolutely Yeah, you know And so it's a psychological trick That is you know not employed just by me as a director, but you know a lot of great horror directors So I think at that moment in the movie when it was like pivotal information

[01:04:20] There was two things happening which was don't show the horror let that the audience just hear it and Make up their own idea of what that what's on that tape because that's just more interesting but also it was now The psychology of You're in you're now as the audience member experiencing what tara is experiencing at that moment Which is you don't know what the truth is. You don't know what that don't spoil it guys I got it. I'm gonna go see it. I'm gonna

[01:04:49] Your whole stream. Yeah, i'm i'm in You're hopefully frustrated. I know you were but like that's also tara's feeling about this entire Process and cases she's frustrated because she doesn't know the truth and now the audience is in in on that feeling So now we're all together going towards the end and hopefully want to get that satisfying ending So that's yeah, that was my well I think it was the right call Um, and I don't want I I don't I don't I so I i've been on letterbox

[01:05:17] I see the reviews and like there's just a lot of it was a slow it was a slow burn, which yeah It it is that's the point. That's the point but I don't want I don't want you seeing slow burn and being like we should have showed Him the thing early to keep him because I I don't I think you made the right call Thank you. Here's one one more fun fact about that because the original in the in the 2024 festival version until 2025 I

[01:05:43] Didn't even have I had nothing so that stuff you saw at the end of the movie was never even there originally and we I Really really went full throttle with not showing and we actually after doing the festival experience I did a bunch of tests of the movie The overall frustration from audiences was why can't we see anything just like people were like marky just show us a bit of it Like, you know, there was such a frustration

[01:06:12] So I was like, okay, i'm gonna give in a little bit to the um To the audience reaction here, which I think was the right call. So so uh, so kudos to anybody who came up to me during that festival run and gave me Criticism in person, uh, because it helped Uh, we re-edited the movie in january of 25 You had this stuff shot though. You didn't have to go back. No, we went back. We went back Wow. Yeah Yeah, so we did a reshoot we didn't pick up shots, uh,

[01:06:38] Reshot those horrifying moments and then I did a re-edit cut eight minutes out of the film and then added some extra stuff before our theatrical run So wow, uh, and it's the best version of the movie. So i'm glad I did it I can't wait to see this man. What did what did you uh Tell miranda That she was watching to get her to give the that like because you didn't have any of it shot. So No, um, well

[01:07:04] Um, well, okay, so there's I think you see miranda watching in the movie, but it's actually me and ryan Who it's the longer scene of us watching it that you're probably thinking about yeah, but miranda does watch it but uh, so In truth, we had shot it on day. We call it day zero where I did bring in the jordan and matthew the the actors And we shot a I I call it like like like a rehearsal mock-up of what that thing is Uh, so It's not the horrifying things that you saw

[01:07:33] But it was them pretending to do it and went through the choreography of the whole thing uh, and that is actually what me and ryan are watching we're watching a live feed of that Video that we shot uh, like a week prior to that um so because I wanted him and I reacting to the same things because The same movements had to happen or or reactions I couldn't You know, uh, sit there and just be like ryan like Okay, something scary is happening now. Yeah, um

[01:08:02] So we were watching the rehearsal of basically the the that ending um, and we I did explain what was going on So the things you see at the end of the movie I explained that at this moment that's technically happening at this moment That's technically happening. So we were reacting live to um, to something at least yeah Fantastic what I before we rapid fire I I want to know like you it's an interest It's a funny year. I think for horror movies

[01:08:29] Specifically with young directors, uh, kind of obsession backrooms I'm throwing your movie in the mix there. I think that like it's a really fun time for these Low budget horror movies that freaking slap and are also happen to be made by young up-and-coming directors And i'm glad we got to talk to you about it when it's available nowhere Yeah, that is the best The best part is you Talks we all you glowed it's great

[01:08:58] I we're all ready to see it and there's literally nowhere to see this movie. I talked it up great. So you're welcome We we crushed it gang. Yes It's about the the build up the tension That's the thing the scariest thing about that is never seeing this movie Yeah When you don't see it. Oh my god. It's unbelievable It's unbelievable. Yeah, well, I want to know like why why do you think that is? Why is it that? Why is the what moment are we in right now?

[01:09:24] That's kind of making it right for these original ideas specifically in the horror space specifically by younger directors? Um, I think Because i've i've lived through it is the difficulty of the Distribution landscape over the last three to five years post covid Basically studios only green light Big 20 plus million dollar to 150 million dollar movies guaranteed and

[01:09:49] Yeah guaranteed and you only get experienced directors. We're not giving that that's been going on for 10 years i'd say and so then That's forced all of us young filmmakers to think okay. I'm not going to get one of those huge movies So, how do I come up with an idea that I can viably shoot and make this movie and actually do it and? You you're seeing now the the the filmmakers who have taken that attitude on and then

[01:10:18] are making really good art because you know hungry Coming growing up with youtube And we're all kind of hitting it at the same time because all this stuff is starting to like now just like make it to market I think but it's because I would say it's because of a lack of opportunity in hollywood that no one's giving young directors We went out and made it itself, you know curry barker did it himself. Kane with the backrooms on youtube did it himself

[01:10:44] um, dylan who just got a blair witch reboot did it himself on youtube like It's like you know what we're just gonna go do this ourselves and Thankfully it's been it's been hitting with with audiences and I think there's like a hunger because everyone's sick of Franchise stuff in in just at the movie theaters. So we're living through this perfect. I think apex that is I think we're just at the start of it now of young filmmakers who

[01:11:09] Are bootstrapping it themselves getting getting fun ideas to screen and then also the the hollywood system being so unprofitable that actually the The model of what we're doing is the thing that's working for them now And you're saying yeah Is there still trying to conform it to like they just offered kane? 10 million dollars sight unseen for his next one and it could suck yes, but they they're trying to be like oh We found it. Let's get him into our system Instead of

[01:11:38] Finding the next thing you know what I mean like when I know it It's hollywood I don't think is ever going to change really in that regard and it's like It's such a catch-22 when people ask me like how do you get into directing like it's like You got to do it yourself. It's like but where do I get the money? It's like well exactly Yeah, right there's this there's this thing but then it's like once hollywood you have a you You have something like that a hit and then all of a sudden hollywood goes. Oh, yeah, we're investing in the young talent Boom

[01:12:06] Exactly when it's like yes, no, you're just picking up on the one hit, you know, and and Uh, I think hollywood just still so risk averse what i'm hoping happens in the next Couple years here is there is risk and maybe i'm speaking for myself to be like Take the risk on young directors because clearly it's paid off in these instances, but how about we don't need to force people or you know young filmmakers to bootstrap it themselves and go through so much pain

[01:12:33] When just give them an opportunity and like small you can do it with like small risk, which is million dollars one to two million dollar I couldn't believe obsession was made for seven hundred fifty thousand crazy seven fifty believe yeah Crazy, crazy, right? So, you know instead of one ten million. How about ten one million? Look at I know A lot of ways to price that too Yeah, like yeah instead of one two hundred million you could do a bunch of one million two hundred one million

[01:13:04] Yeah, it doesn't the economics of it is crazy because the studios legitimately have the mindset that I would rather make a fifty million dollar Movie that has the chance to do One hundred fifty two hundred then ten ten small, you know, uh Two million to five million dollar movies that will do ten to twenty million dollars I think they would rather take the swings multiplier stamp like a multiplier of budget to box office

[01:13:30] Horror movies are the best bet like saw I think saw James Wayne saw I think is still Or in Blair witch or two of the highest Uh multipliers of budget to box office that we've ever seen You know, and after both of those movies, we had a bunch of crappy knockoffs like after both Of those videos saw it like introduced this dumb torture porn I love saw I think it's a great movie and James Wayne is an amazing director But introduced a bunch of terrible now. Oh my god after

[01:14:00] Hostel host. Yeah, Eli Roth. Thank you. Thank you saw for Eli, but like And then like Blair witch there were some terrible found footage movies after Blair witch and so that you're right Hollywood's trying to like be like, or what's the next thing? Then let's make it our thing. So Let's make it our thing I can't wait to see the next thing the marky and I can't wait to see his next project Well, you got to watch hunting. I need to I want to see the first one. I do Send him a screener I would if you send me a screener. I'll watch it this week. Like I would definitely watch it

[01:14:29] All right, I'll send you screener. There's part of me. That's just like now you're gonna have to wait I'll listen marky and I've said I said we'll venmo you the whatever You're I said through welcome to 799 I said through welcome to valentine. You can send me a screener That's true You always One for you one for us Oh, yeah, okay fair. That's a fair. That's a fair trade. Yeah Um, all right Let's rapid fire. We should ask you three questions that can be about anything

[01:14:57] So a lot like the interview but different different different dango first your most memorable movie theater horror movie experience as a child Oh Um, okay. I I I you know I I talked about this with honey, man, the nickels I went I think three times to see paranormal activity in theaters. I was I would have been 13 12 Yeah, somewhere in that and it was the first I was 93

[01:15:22] I'm 90 so 13. Yeah, so I was right there with you. I saw paranormal activity. I remember I saw it on the at the The theater at universal studios and it absolutely sold out Auditorium and it was the most fun still to this day top three movie going experiences I I saw it killed own in place winnipeg manitoba at the famous players there and I remember my dad had to get me a ticket because Of the rated r nature of it

[01:15:49] I had not seen blair witch until that point. I had not seen any shitty This was the first time i've seen Found footage in my life and the story of how that movie got made which i'm sure you've heard is one of the craziest stories Of how a movie got to it became a hit that I think i've ever heard in my life It's insanity And and and and that was jason blum's baby. That's right made him that made him working out of his van Yeah, yeah Was paranormal activity and they did reshoots on that paramount would pick it up

[01:16:18] There's right crazy And they kept saying no and he kept saying you're not watching it in a full theater If you just watch it in a full theater, you'll get it. Sorry. Go ahead rapid fire Go to candy go to candy Oh go to candy, uh, it's gonna be probably fuzzy peaches with the fuzzy Fuzzy peaches I didn't see it Yeah You were about to blow right past it And then i was expecting you know a normal answer and i got Had my next one loaded in the chamber I saw you go to move on

[01:16:48] Wait, what's wrong with fuzzy peaches? I just i've never heard it be anybody's favorite Yeah, another one hey marky when the dodgers played the blue jays in the world series. Who are you pulling for? Oh Uh, the the toronto blue jays of course of course, of course, Canada go Canada of course, yes Go Canada Yes, good good answer. Uh, what are your thoughts on? Um alternative dairy sources and which Is it like oats almonds soy soy plant?

[01:17:18] Yeah, it's gonna be uh, actually it's gonna be an almond almond milk Okay, yeah, there's this there's this there's this almond. I don't know if it's like it's like it's called a protein milk It's really good. Okay, that's it Couldn't tell it. It says protein milk at the grocery store Not giving this almond protein milk That's right Yeah, I'm not gonna say the brand nickels is found wherever you stream movies you can buy it right now

[01:17:48] Uh Soon soon What is the best meal in vancouver british columbia? Oh, man the uh fried rice at bao bay Fried rice at bao bay. Okay. Yeah. All right. Shout out. Was that your last one? That was my last one Um, uh, what's uh, you've been to a lot of places some very cold Where's the place that you haven't been that you really want to go? Oh, man, um Sounds so cliched and I can't believe i've never been to london

[01:18:17] Oh I Dude, I took my kids to london last year. It was amazing Oh, amazing Yeah, while you were filming polar opposites were you like I could have been london right now I'd be like the whole time. I was just like oh god. I wish I was in love You know Anyway, I really really wish yeah Fantastic, uh, this was so much fun. You're such a delight. Well past the one-hour mark

[01:18:43] You're in the one-hour club which is a rare club here. Yeah, which is congratulations. We made it guys We did do it. Uh, all right. Well, uh, we'll talk to you soon Whenever you have the news to break about when people can get it Let us break that news. Yeah, uh, are you guys gonna yeah, you're gonna get the exclusive here? I would love to we'd love to get we'll go live on all of our socials just for it It'd be fantastic It'll be great Perfect when you did all of your marketing testing i'm sure that's what the people were like Hey, go live on deck the hallmark. Yeah

[01:19:11] I pointed out deck the hallmark. I point you guys out I was like we need we need them to every exclusive. We've got got to run through these guys South Carolina. This is our audience That's right. This is this they get it Um, all right, uh, we'll be back next to another one until then maybe the first to wish you a merry christmas Deck the hallmarks of bramble jam podcast produced by brandon gray and yeah that greenville south carolina for more information on the show You can go to deck the hallmark.com or at deck the hallmark on the socials

[01:19:37] Leave us a five-star rating review on apple podcast help mothers find the show and help the show financial By going to bramblejamplus.com become a double-decker find the best corner of the internet There's ad-free podcast and live video watch-alongs and so much more all of that at bramblejamplus.com Good job. Thanks, man You're about to hear some ads that help keep the lights on here in the old studio

[01:20:03] Thanks for listening or don't listen. It's really up to you at this point. It's at the end of the show. I mean you're listening to me. Hi But here they come. I promise they're coming. Yep. Here they are. Happy day You You