Category: Backstage Conversations

[ 00:00:17 ] Lipson is the first podcasting hosting company started in November of 2004. So well before Apple supported podcasting. So 12 and a half years old we’re the largest podcast hosting company. Last year we had 4.6 billion downloads and of those downloads about 70 percent roughly were to iTunes and Apple Core Media and according to what we know that’s over 25 percent of all the downloads that went through iTunes came through our servers globally.

[ 00:00:53 ] It was a podcast before Apple got into podcasting. It was already called podcasts before it got into pod before Apple got involved. Apple then start in podcasting until the end of June and June 29th 2005 was when they launched those I think was itunes version four point nine.

[ 00:01:11 ] And that was the support of podcasting and by that time Liban was already seven eight month old company before iTunes got into it though. And Apple then into podcasting. It was if you wanted to be a podcasting you really really wanted to be in podcasting because nobody was listening. There wasn’t any easy way to download a third party program like I-Pod or X or juice or put lemon and then install it and then sync it up to iTunes and then you sink your iPod to it. So in the early days it was tough. I mean if you want to listen to a podcast you really want to listen to a podcast. I mean you had to remember in the morning to sync your iPhone your iPod your iPhone iPod to iTunes to get that what you are going to listen to that day.

[ 00:02:00 ] The iPods around tiffins 2001. So podcasting really started in 2004. Thanks to Dave Winer and Adam Curry and a few others. That’s really what got podcasting kicked off and it really kind of got into a motion where people started to notice it. Once they had many people few people started to notice it in September October of 2004 and again lives and came around in November of 2004 as a first podcast hosting company Dave Winer.

[ 00:02:38 ] He really helped support the inclusion of an enclosure Tagging an RSS feed. That’s what makes podcasting possible so he he helped update RSS 2.0 Spack.

[ 00:02:48 ] Adam Curry helped encourage Dave to do this and they had conversations and then Adam released the first script where you could actually take a file that had an enclosure tag it and sync it to your computer and then bring it over to iTunes and then he had a podcast called the daily source code which talked about that which is one of the first but podcasts that were out there. There was others out there. LYDEN was the Bert Berkman Center in Harvard. He had a probably the first podcast series which was an early. I think maybe 2003 early 2004 where he interviewed bloggers and I was kind of really the first quote unquote podcast where was audio content being created and then more podcasters came around in late August and then September and October.

[ 00:03:36 ] And it kind of grew from there and then really blew up after Apple came in in June of 2005.

[ 00:03:48 ] Apple has really been the driving force behind podcasting. I mean I don’t want to make any bones about it.

[ 00:03:55 ] They are the 800 pound gorilla in one of our apple pie guessing wouldn’t be where it is today. Beyond the 70 percent or so downloads that we see across our network going to Apple the podcast app and iTunes there’s also the fact that overcast and shift usually pocket cast and podcast adek which are the big aggregator apps plus a bunch of others pull and scrape the iTunes directory so you’re not in iTunes you’re not in the 85 percent roughly of the downloads that are influenced by Apple’s podcast directory. So it’s not just what people consume there. It’s also the other places that people find you have to actually be in iTunes if you want to say you’re a podcast. In my definition some people don’t like that but it is what it is.

[ 00:04:39 ] And Apple’s done you know been very good to podcasting. They’ve included the ecosystem they’ve promoted it over the years.

[ 00:04:48 ] I have no qualms with what Apple. Some people don’t like it because they don’t give back enough data they say but Apple’s about privacy and Apple’s consumer or customer is the consumer. And that’s just the way it is. Now there are other people in there but I mean you have to look at things the perspective of Apple 70 percent and then you look at the next guys down stitchers two and a half three percent overcast 2 percent pocket 2 percent. So it’s a big drop from number one to number two and three for podcast at it’s around 4 or 5 percent. So those are the big guys below Apple but they’re really far I mean if you take everybody else combined them and double them they’re still not where Apple is. Why.

[ 00:05:36 ] You know the episode because Joe hosts with us so I mean a lot of people don’t know who lives in his or her self liberates and it sounds for very keen syndication.

[ 00:05:46 ] Last year he had over 25 percent of all the downloads that went through iTunes come through our service. So chances are if you downloaded four episodes last year one of those came from our servers and Joe’s one of those and it wasn’t it. Every now and then Apple has a glitch and that really was a glitch. There was nothing nefarious that was going on there. And it wasn’t just Joe’s show that showed slow down at that point it was everybody. And there was a period of time for about a week where the top episode list just didn’t update for anybody. And it wasn’t just Joes for about a week and it was just it was just in the top episode list and that happens and every now and then Apple has times where iTunes does and they charge don’t update. It’s a free service. You know I kind of get what you pay for sometimes. Has it happened before. Yes it has.

[ 00:06:36 ] It wasn’t the first time though.

[ 00:06:47 ] The worst possible moment for that glitch to happen is when the person that’s all about controversy’s goes on a show like Joao’s. So yeah I mean you couldn’t have picked a worse time for it to happen and sometimes it is really Murphy’s Law and sometimes it is you know if something will go wrong you know something can go wrong it will go wrong and at the worst possible moment. It really was Murphy’s Law. It wasn’t it wasn’t something you should blame blame on malice which can easily be explained by incompetence or as I say pick your phrase. I mean there wasn’t anything nefarious going on.

[ 00:07:20 ] Someone at Apple didn’t say Hey Alex is on pause it wasn’t that well here’s the thing.

[ 00:07:32 ] It was only you know it was a glitch around the top episode list. Most good podcast consumers don’t even know there’s a top episode list and don’t even look at it.

[ 00:07:42 ] You know who looks at top episode list podcasters to see where they are ranked. They look at it.

[ 00:07:48 ] They’re obsessed with the stats podcast consumers almost never talk to how many people that you know that you could ask have actually ever went and looked in the top episode list items they might look at the top show list but they almost never look at the top episode list. So it’s a list that almost nobody goes to. The average consumer would never even know it’s there. Doesn’t look at it. Matter of fact most people you know how they find podcasts. Word of mouth or the search you know they go to iTunes and they search a search for a podcast.

[ 00:08:17 ] They’ll search for a topic to go in and look for iPhone and they’ll see the podcast show up on iPhone. And here’s a podcast I want I want to subscribe to about iPhones and I want to learn more about the iPhone or you know I just bought a new iPhone I’m going to search on or I bought an iPad on the search on iPad see which podcast come on and learn about it. That’s how people find things. That and word of mouth.

[ 00:08:36 ] So it was it was fun for them to have that actually and in retrospect they probably had a lot more fun with it glitching at that point than they would have otherwise.

[ 00:08:53 ] I would I would love to see Google release a native podcast app and right now let’s put a perspective.

[ 00:09:03 ] Right now last month of March 2017 put a perspective a date on it so people can find the iOS to Android ratio 4.1 4.5 to 1 downloads iOS to and right. Why. Because Google doesn’t have a native podcast app like Apple has on iOS. Google has podcast that are in the Google Play Music and I just started in April 2016.

[ 00:09:30 ] That was the first time there was a native way to find podcasts and Android. And if they didn’t roll it out until April 2016 how long do you think most Android users are even updated to the right software to get it. If Google if if people want there to be another platform another place to consume Googles the answer. You know don’t yell at Apple because Apple’s been out there being benevolent and helping podcast grow. Yahoo. Google because they haven’t you know if you want to look at somebody here. It’s not Apple’s fault they are successful. It’s other people’s fault because they haven’t put out an equally successful easy to use program that’s native. So really it’s it’s up to Google to take the ball and run with it now because it really is everything is mobile.

[ 00:10:16 ] Eighty six percent of downloads are to a mobile device at this point and that ratio again is 4.5 to one to Android. So until Google comes out with a native pop guess that that’s a standalone app right there and the android when people get their Android device go oh what’s this app. And can click on it and have a directory and find podcasts on there until then. Andrew it’s not going to catch up and it’s going to stay Apple. And third parties whoever they are are going to influence because it’s still a third party and people have to go install that.

[ 00:10:47 ] And most people especially on Android side are lazy and don’t install apps that go with it’s native. So now I don’t work for Apple by the way. Again I’m a fan but I’m a fan because of what they’ve done and helped grow.

[ 00:11:11 ] You know one of the biggest misconceptions I hear about podcasting especially in the radio world is what’s the right length of an episode. And people think the right length is 30 minutes or longer 20 minutes or longer. And they say oh this is what people’s attention span is and they base it on the wrong things. And we have data so with hard data so forget misconstrues get surveys and what people think. Let’s just look at hard data and I looked at in January all the episodes that were downloaded measured and at the end of February that had at least 100000 downloads or more. And this is a few hundred shows and I looked at this and 84 percent were 51 minutes or longer only 9.9 percent in 30 minutes or less.

[ 00:11:52 ] Twelve point two percent were two hours or longer. So there were more episodes that were two hours and longer than 30 minutes or less. People like longer form content because what they like to do is hit play in the kitchen get out walk out to their car get in the car and drive to work and they don’t want to be messing around while they’re driving trying to find another episode or anything else and they get there they can hit pause go into work come out hit play and continue where they left off.

[ 00:12:21 ] People like longer form content. And I think that’s a misconception people. Every time I read an article talking about 30 minute or less that’s where you need to be. It’s so wrong because that’s not what the consumption data shows the consumption data shows people like long form content. I mean Dan Carland hardcore history one of the biggest shows out there over five million downloads last episode over a million within 24 hours of release by almost six hour long episode. People like long from content don’t don’t think because some survey told you people’s attention spans 20 minutes. That’s what works and podcasting it doesn’t.

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John Berri’s film career has spanned more than 20 years and included films such as “Terminator Salvation,” ‘The Amazing Spiderman,” and most recently “Logan.” This is his third collaboration with Director James Mangold and his fifth time teaming up with Editor Mike McCusker.  

John’s career in film began when he hightailed himself out of the investment industry and into an Assistant Visual Effects Editor job in ’96 with a new VFX house at the time, Sony Pictures Imageworks. While at Imageworks, he quickly moved up to Visual Effects Editor and worked on numerous films including “Starship Troopers” and “Castaway,” but he knew early on that he wanted to be in the cutting room and at the heart of the storytelling process. Since then, John has worked as a Visual Effects Editor on numerous films such as “The Day After Tomorrow,” “Knight And Day,” and “Captain Americam,” and recently as an Associate Editor on “The Wolverine” and Additional Editor on “Logan.” 

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Daniel Nussbaum began his feature editorial career in 2009 after completing the Avid Professional Program at Video Symphony in Burbank, CA. He began learning the ropes and paying his dues as an editorial postproduction assistant, working on the films “Diary of a Wimpy Kid,” “Knight and Day,” and “Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Roderick Rules”. 

Daniel has served as an assistant editor on numerous films since, including “Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter,” “The Wolverine,” and “The Longest Ride.” “Logan” is the third film he has worked on with director James Mangold, the fifth project with editor, Michael McCusker, ACE, and the third project with editor, Dirk Westervelt. He’s thankful to work with editors who continually mentor and inspire him to pursue a career as an editor.

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[ 00:00:19 ] Well as you probably know synopsis is the publisher of several digital properties that serve the B2B media audience. So of course we’re always looking for what we think is going to be the next big thing. And frankly there wasn’t much happening for a while but it was very clear when we saw e-sports on the horizon that it was something that made sense for synopsis to get involved in just because we cover media and advertising and programming and this is really a tidal wave that you know didn’t start in this country but is clearly becoming a very big source of interest and revenue in the United States so it was a perfect storm of something for us to cover.

[ 00:01:05 ] A little bit of a difference between gaining and e-sports at least in the way that we talk about it.

[ 00:01:11 ] Yeah I mean the pie thing was huge obviously. But from what we have discovered there’s this you know whole kind of world of 18 to 34 men and surprisingly a lot of women too who are really into e-sports So while the pie might have put you know the cherry on the top I don’t know if he really defines the e-sports profile.

[ 00:01:40 ] I think that everybody knows that it is a place that has a lot of money involved in it because you know that as I alluded to before the kind of big demographic is young men so they’re very hard to find.

[ 00:01:54 ] So when you’re a big brands like the Coke Callie’s of the world or Pizza Hut you want to be where those young men are. And guess what it turns out that they’re watching video games most of them were kind of playing them at home but now they’re watching them these really big competitive arenas. So they’re they’re kind of out in the sunlight and everybody’s very excited in that part of the yeah which is no doubt the biggest platform but everybody sees kind of how much they’ve done. And has similar ideas of way to ways to move the whole venture forward. So there are you know plenty of other platforms as well as publishers and leagues who are trying to get a piece of the action. Well it’s much more of an emerging category. So the good news is that we have the agencies and brands in our readership. And these are people who know that they need to be educated around sports and figure out what’s going to be a smart place for them to spend their money. So for a synopsis we kind of have those eyes and ears already involved and we see is what we’re supposed to be doing is educating that segment of the community and saying this is how it works because even though everybody talks about e-sports there’s still a lot of confusion as to what it really takes to make money and who all the major players are in this race. What we have seen so far is that they’re even more skeptical when it comes to a brand approaching them.

[ 00:03:43 ] So to use that unbelievably overused word which is all about authenticity I would say for the e-sports fan it goes double if not triple. Like if they smell something that they think is insincere you have lost them and they’re never going to come back.

[ 00:04:03 ] Well we like to really talk about the case studies and examples that have worked. Right. So when people first like you don’t want to get involved in a Pepsi and Kendall Jenner you know brouhaha which we saw just a few weeks ago and again as I see it as I was saying that was just like one version. So you have to be very kind of thoughtful and deliberate about the way in which you know you approach this audience like if you went to them and said We just want you to be sitting around drinking a can of soda that’s very unlikely that they would be interested in doing something like that in a tournament setting. But there are other ways that you can talk to them too. So it’s it’s about really having the patience and interest in getting to know you know who the e-sports player and spectator is and then go you know it’s interesting for us to cover because of course we work in kind of linear and digital content but this you know the e-sports fan is totally digital.

[ 00:05:06 ] They are not at the moment flocking to watching any e-sports tournament’s on TV. Everything is digital. So that makes a difference when you really have to think digital first. On top of everything else.

[ 00:05:26 ] I think that people are beginning to say that e-sports really is real sports. So I think what has really caught marketers attention is that they they think that the fans are as dedicated as they are if they’re watching CNN if there are major league baseball fan or an NFL fan.

[ 00:05:47 ] So yeah I don’t know if it’s going to eclipse that but I think absolutely it will. It will equal it in terms of you know dedication and love and passion. Yeah. Because don’t forget all the brands are are really dying to do whatever they can to reach a new younger audience. And this is you know a previously hidden way to do just that. So if they’re smart they’re really going to be paying attention. I will tell you that I spent the morning in a meeting talking about e-sports and how important it is you know when synopsis like we don’t undertake things lightly if we’re going to cover a new area we want to do it in a 360 degree way so that’s our plan. Well you know we do newsletters as well of as well as events and we just put on a big e-sports conference in New York about two weeks ago in the middle of April and it’s the biggest event we’ve done. There were several hundred people there. It was big and sponsorship and revenue.

[ 00:07:06 ] So that’s the major component.

[ 00:07:11 ] Yeah. Yeah. And just like everybody else we’re figuring out how people want to talk about and learn about sports it’s not it’s not a one size fits all solution.

[ 00:07:29 ] You know there are so many different sectors and people who have different interests in mind when it comes to e-sports. You know there are the athletes there’s the leagues there’s the teams there’s the publishers there’s the streaming platforms. So right now I think what we’re seeing is a lot of kind of turmoil about people trying to figure out exactly where they want to sit in the landscape and how they can best work together and proceed. So in a way you know the confusion is sort of you know the new normal as everybody figures out what exactly the standards are going to be in the future.

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Dirk Westervelt has enjoyed repeat collaborations with several filmmakers throughout his career. After working for a time in the camera department, Westervelt moved to the cutting room on the first two features directed by F. Gary Gray (the hit comedy FRIDAY, and action/drama SET IT OFF), as Assistant Editor and then Associate Editor.

For George Tillman Jr., he began as Associate Editor on the director’s hit comedy/drama SOUL FOOD, then served as Editor on the biographical drama MEN OF HONOR, the action/drama FASTER, and on NOTORIOUS (about the life of the rapper known as Notorious B.I.G.). He served as Visual Effects Editor and Temp Music Editor on Guillermo del Toro’s superhero fantasy HELLBOY, and on his action/thriller BLADE 2.

For writer-director Rick Famuyiwa, he began as Additional Editor on the coming-of-age tale THE WOOD, and went on to edit Famuyiwa’s romantic comedies BROWN SUGAR, and OUR FAMILY WEDDING, as well as the political thriller CONFIRMATION (for HBO Films). Westervelt also worked as Editor on the 3D fantasy adventure JOURNEY TO THE CENTER OF THE EARTH, directed by Eric Brevig. In 2014 he edited Jaume Collet-Serra’s action/thriller RUN ALL NIGHT, starring Liam Neeson.

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Bernadette Caulfield quickly moved up the ranks to the executive producer post she holds today. Bernie has worked with such talented producers as Michael Mann (“Robbery Homicide Division”), Steven Bochco (“Brooklyn South” and “Philly”), and Ridley and Tony Scott (“The Good Wife”).

Over the course of her 30 years in the industry, Bernie has been a part of many acclaimed television shows and films, including the 5-time Golden Globe Award winning “The X-Files”, HBO’s Emmy winning 1930s drama “Carnivale”, and for HBO and Playtone the Emmy- and Golden Globe-nominated “Big Love”. Currently, Bernie is an Executive Producer on HBO’s critically acclaimed fantasy epic “Game of Thrones” which this year beat the record for most Emmy Award wins for a scripted series.

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Anette Haellmigk has the eye of a classically trained Director of Photography, but she also has vast experience shooting the most technical, state-of-the-art, visual effects shots imaginable. In 2013, Anette’s dream came true when she was invited to shoot HBO’s “Game of Thrones” and the series has been her crowning artistic achievement, to date. Since then, Anette has served as DP on 10 “Game of Thrones” episodes, and was nominated for two EMMY and three American Society of Cinematographer (ASC) Awards for her work. 

Prior to “Game of Thrones,” Anette assumed the DP mantle on season three of HBO’s “Big Love,” redesigning the series cinema aesthetic. She also shot many TV projects, including special episodes of “The West Wing” and the highly praised pilot and first season of ABC’s “The Nine.” In addition, Anette was the cinematographer on numerous European independent feature films, including “Casualties” and “The Happiest Day of His Life.”

A German native, Anette began her career as a member of the “Das Boot” camera team and in the male-dominated role of focus puller on motion picture productions throughout Europe. She collaborated on five Paul Verhoeven films: “Robocop” (1st AC), “Total Recall” (Camera Operator), “Showgirls” (Camera Operator and Second Unit DP) and “Starship Troopers” and “Hollow Man” (both as Second Unit DP). As an operator, Haellmigk has worked with many first-class cinematographers, including John Bailey, ASC (“Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood”), Alex Nepomniaschy, ASC (“All the Rage”) and Bill Pope, ASC (“Spider-Man 2,” for which she also shot Additional Photography). 

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[ 00:00:19 ] Hire really smart people.

[ 00:00:23 ] You know if you hire a good team it all comes together.

[ 00:00:26 ] So it’s about hiring the right show runners the right cast and then the right producers and then they put it together.

[ 00:00:39 ] Creatively it’s object he is the story teller is the master storyteller. He understands it better than anybody. I’m the guy walks in his office.

[ 00:00:46 ] Yeah well can we do it this way or can we do it that way and then we figure it out to go.

[ 00:00:57 ] I was a producer for many years and I started as a Directors Guild trainee in the early 80s for ending on the day and then the mood or the fire of the day sometimes every day is the last day you just got too many fires. I’m basically a fireman. I go out and deal with whatever challenges we have on one of our shows and then have to pray that God gives me some help and I figure out how to fix that problem or that issue or challenge the first thing you get is hiring the right people. And then the second thing is is.

[ 00:01:43 ] You got to work hard. You’ve got to want to work hard. You’ve got to want it to be as great as it can be every day. And Jeff inspires me to do that every day. And I challenge every band the team to make it better every day. And I think that’s the at the core of it is can we make it better. And sometimes it can be frustrating because you can always make it better. So we were always challenging what’s possible. And that’s what makes keeps it interesting.

[ 00:02:14 ] Over the course of my career I had a tremendous opportunity to work with many many many great producers directors show runners and filmmakers. So from each one of them I learned a little something and I’ve taken away those things so that when I’m challenged with. Well how do we do that if we don’t have enough money or how do we balance the money. I think back to what I learned from. One filmmaker or another filmmaker and how best to handle it. And then I just.

[ 00:02:40 ] Trust that it’s going to come. It’s not easy sometimes because a director has a strong point of view a showrunner has a strong point of view and there are budgetary limitations. But again our partnership is I go to him said going to spend this we don’t want to spend this here. The upside is the downside. And then we figure it out. But yeah it’s a lot more money than sort of what you’ve got. The evolution of television is.

[ 00:03:12 ] He went to work at Marvel and he asked me to come help out. And I said I. And then I came helped out and he sold a bunch of stuff and said figure out how to make it.

[ 00:03:21 ] And so off we went I don’t know that that’s sort of the evolution. And I don’t think we ever say no. I think we always come up with a way. So sometimes it’s pretty crazy. You know you guys are in a closet somewhere with a national rifle but you make it work. So we just figure it out. And I think at the heart of it if you have good storytelling everything else falls in line technically whether the key light is three inches higher or lower isn’t going to matter if you’re intrigued with what somebody is saying or doing an emotional thing that’s happening in front of the camera then it doesn’t matter. But if the script isn’t there then nothing else follows. I find that we spend more money on shows where the scripts is good because we want to make sure we get everything else right. I mean I think I think that becomes part of the challenges and so whether we’re spending. A million dollars an episode on visual effects or $2000000 never sold on the effects or $100000 and visual effects. It all starts with the storytelling and that’s where the writers of the show runners and that whole world has to be right. And when that’s right everything else falls in place.

[ 00:04:33 ] There’s two parts of the technology. There’s one part where we’ve simplified. Right. So now you’re using a sort of basic canon camera that I could buy for 15 grand. You’re not using a 5 d that I could buy for seven grand but you could it would probably give you the same result. So you made a choice as to how technical you want to be. You’re not shooting it on Irad or you know we can go the other or the archive.

[ 00:04:55 ] So. So the technology helps but it comes back to story. You can shoot it on any camera you want whether you shoot it on your iPhone and we have shots in our shows that were shot on iPhone and go frozen because it was more efficient or more effective. And that doesn’t really matter if the storytelling is there. So the technology helps because there’s more outlets. Nobody’s quite figured out how to make the digital marketplace work financially. So until they really get that figured out. Then there’ll be more film making. Right now there’s five hundred hours of television a year drama. That’s a lot. And I think it’s only going to grow. And I think most of the feature film talent recognizes that the writing is better in television now. So there’s no taboo like I used to be. Oh he’s a television guy or gal. I don’t think that matters. I think we have some of the greatest writers working for us now. And the reason we have that is because we’re telling really good stories based on really smart characters and ideas. It started with Jeff so that all came together. And that’s what makes it so that the technology helps. But that’s almost like. Shouldn’t be that shouldn’t be the focus when the technology takes over from the story telling the story telling fans.

[ 00:06:08 ] I remember in 79 when the first steady cam came out and Garrett Brown brought it to the set we could run up and down the stairs with a camera and everybody thought that was the coolest thing in the world.

[ 00:06:19 ] And then for a while. Right now for example directors are into drama. Every director comes I want to I just have to have a drone that’s technology. That should be incidental it shouldn’t be the thrust of if you care about the characters. If you want to come back every week or sit there Netflix says in 24 hours people watch their whole 13 episodes. You want to watch 13 episodes in 24 hours. It’s the story doesn’t matter whether it’s a drone. So the technology is important but it should be ancillary to certain.

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[ 00:00:19 ] Jim Chory and I were awarded the first created in New York award. Which was quite an honor given that while we were out here shooting there’s a whole bunch of other people doing the same things. To be selected as the first one. We selected it all. It’s a really heavy award. I can tell you that it’s made out of glass and has a base and it’s Super Bowl. And it was really cool. I think just having an opportunity to recognize. Not our work but the work of the people that got us there. I think one of the things that. Jim and I strive to do is to. Make everyone from. Whether it’s mobile television or it’s. Our partners at Netflix or it’s more of a corporate. Make them feel like they’re part of a creative process that’s. Sometimes. A runaway freight train. And in other days one of those trains that stalled in the station and you’re trying to figure out how to get to an appointment. And then also for us to be able to celebrate. The cruise the cast the people of New York the people in Brooklyn and where we have our main stage is. You know. To be able to be honored for something called created in New York. Means that we have to take all the other creators rather than just the two of us and the extraordinary partnership that we’ve had with the city. And we said this a lot which is that there are.

[ 00:02:12 ] Four defenders which are daredevil Jessica Jones Luke Cage and iron fist. But there really has always been a defender and that’s the city of New York. And whether that’s. Harlem or whether that’s Staten Island or whether or not it’s up in the Bronx or downtown or the. Rooftops or. Down on the subways or out on the docks. I mean we’re just shooting everywhere. All the time often simultaneously to units that are in two completely different. Decisions that we have to make every day just purely on our own which is you know you want to get out of the dock at midnight or do you want to stay here on the stage and be done at. 5:00. Well I think I’ll take the stage job. So it’s it’s that ongoing and it’s just been something that was a dream that we had. Three years ago and now we are closing in on about 130 hours. Of television which is in so many ways mindblowing. I mean at. The sort of break it down comes out to about an episode a week that we’re. Writing and producing.

[ 00:03:26 ] Going to post delivering and then putting up on television. So it’s. And none of it. Possible without all the extraordinary people talking. Well I think if I knew it’s like a magic trick and it no longer. Is magic it’s just a. Have with.

[ 00:03:57 ] A false bottom and a rabbit stuck in the bottom by the way that’s a spoiler if you don’t know how the trick is done. Look I’ve been a storyteller my whole life I started out as a. As a screenwriter and and became a comic writer and then became a television writer and. I think all of those things came from. Wanting to tell stories that people would like and you you never know when you step off the curb. And say. Hey. You know. Matt Murdock stepped off the curb whether or not you’re going to get hit by a bus or whether or not you’re going to be something that’s going to be. 30 40 50. Episodes later and.

[ 00:04:43 ] All you can do is just tell the best story you can work with the best people you can try to have fun. I think it’s important. I think people see it somehow. Even if it’s. The most serious drama in the world. If they feel like you’re having fun they’re having fun too. And. It’s just about. How people like it. And if they like it yet more and if they don’t. You told their story. One of the things that Jim and I are very. Good about. Is just being really practical. You know not every. Television shows a hit. Not every novel is a bestseller. Not every movie is a box office smash. But that doesn’t mean you can’t put your passion behind it. And believe in it. And. In the case of the shows that we’re talking about. We’re enormously helped by the city of New York to make those things into a reality while the first part of it is is that we try to find the best home for where our property is going to go and the people who believe in us.

[ 00:05:55 ] Just the same way that we bring passionately hope that they bring passion. Netflix has done that with us. But the hard part of the story is that nobody really remembers is that three years ago. Netflix was what Netflix. And you know they were the company that sent you those red envelopes that had DVDs inside of them and they had. House of cards in. The New Black and Lilyhammer. And. When we went in to see them we said look. We need 60 hours. We need to commit to five television series right now without. Any show runners any scripts. And he cast but we have these characters in the big red Marvel block. And. If we do that. We’ll give you five great shows and that’s turned into. Multiple seasons of those characters and a new character in the Punisher and. And the only promise that we made was that we thought that we could do better than Lilyhammer. And that’s not an insult to anybody out there that loves Lilyhammer. We love the Amur but I think we did better than him. And. So we just keep getting to make a.

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Backstage Conversations
Backstage Conversation Season: 2017