Take 121 - Producer, Director, Showrunner Eddie Schmidt, Good One: A Show About Jokes

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Any of us who've been in it for long enough, our entire career has been littered with jobs that we didn't get, projects that we thought were gonna go for shore, dozens of unproduced scripts literature.

SPEAKER_01 0:14

All of us are running into both major and minor failures in Hollywood every single day.

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This is one of the only businesses I can think of where failure is the default.

SPEAKER_01 0:35

Like everything in our business here, and it's gonna be a bit jumping.

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And I promise you lost it. What I'm realize from that will be.

SPEAKER_02 0:58

Screaming into the Hollywood abyss is brought to you by Scriptation, the Emmy Award-winning app that instantly transfers your notes into new drop-offs in seconds. Scriptation allows you to digitally mark up scripts, separate notes into layers, track changes across revisions, and so much more. Insert Noah saying something nice about scriptation.

SPEAKER_01 1:20

Dan, I I think this is where they actually want me to talk about how much I love it. And I do love it, it's great. Its collating function transformed me from the messiest writer in Hollywood to, well, ever so slightly less messy. My wife might have other things to say about that.

SPEAKER_02 1:35

Sitha listeners can get a free month of scriptation by going to scriptation.com backslash Sitha.com backslash S-I-T-H-A. Welcome back to Screaming Into the Hollywood Abyss, a podcast about rejection, failure, and adversity in the entertainment industry. I am as ever your non-entertainment co-host, Dan Rutstein.

SPEAKER_01 2:08

And I am your still in the entertainment business co-host, Noah Ebslin. For this week's podcast, I'm thrilled to introduce Eddie Schmidt to the show. Eddie is an Oscar and Emmy nominated producer, director, and showrunner. Eddie produced six projects that premiered at the Sundance Film Festival, Chelsea Does for Netflix, which he directed, Valentine Road, nominated for two Emmy Awards, Twist of Faith, nominated for an Academy Award, and Chain Camera, all for HBO. As well as this film is not yet rated for IFC and Troubadours, which aired as part of an Emmy winning season of PBS's American Masters. On top of many other industry credits, Eddie is currently the executive producer and showrunner and director of Peacock's comedy special Good One, a show about jokes featuring Mike Rabiglia. Welcome, Eddie.

SPEAKER_02 3:01

Thanks for having me. That's a new record for the longest bio. Um so I I guess the obvious place to start is throw it was not it was going on so long, I was sort of falling asleep a bit, which is no disrespect to you. It's more Noah's voice, but I kept hearing Academy Award, I kept hearing Emmy. So all these things you're nominated for, all this success, what sounds like a large number of credits. Why are you on a show about rejection and failure?

SPEAKER_03 3:30

Well notice it's it was it said nominated. I I didn't win. So there you go.

SPEAKER_02 3:36

Um obviously, you know, you've got a good list of credits. Um you've obviously had a very successful career. Do you feel you know, you're you've got a new show coming out, you're the the show runner and the director. Have you achieved career success? Do you think? Or are you like all the writers we've had on before, still you don't feel it's a success yet?

SPEAKER_03 4:06

Yeah, I don't I don't know if you ever do, if you're you know, sort of if you're a creative person innately, right? So you're always striving for more. Um I I think I've had some successes, but I wouldn't say, oh, I'm just you know coasting down easy street. I I think first of all, this industry is in constant upheaval, right? So it's always changing and you try to change with it, but there's a certain thing that that you do. I I like to think I work in a few lanes, but I'm always looking to tell another story or to uh to do something I haven't done, right? Let's say to um uh to to do a direct a scripted series or to um uh yeah, like I said, nominated for an Academy Award. Gee, I'd like to win one someday. So I think there's always, you know, there's there's always something more uh and even then, I suppose maybe I would achieve those things and still feel like, well, I'm not really a success, uh you know, fully a success.

SPEAKER_02 5:07

Is it getting easier? Now that you're a name and you can walk into a room and people will listen to you. Like is it actually getting easier to do this, or does it not get easier?

SPEAKER_03 5:19

Well, I think what gets easier certainly the the um ability to uh uh get meetings, the ability to um to pitch, the ability to connect with people and to point to past things that they would hopefully know that had some uh uh resonance in the culture, that that is very helpful, obviously. And I think um, again, you know, you mentioned some of the films uh in the intro, and I and I've done some television series as well. And I think I because I have eclectic interests, um, I and I've been fortunate to indulge them, right? So I've made things that that, yes, there are some true true crime, there's some that's food travel, there's some that's music, comedy, um, so on and so forth. And so what that has uh made easier is that because that's a genuine reflection of my own tastes, I can always point to something behind me and say, oh, well, this new one is a little bit like that, or it draws upon something in this world, and people then therefore uh give it a little more credibility because as with anything else, you know, uh risk taking is done very calculatedly in this industry. So it seems like less of a risk if I can say, oh yes, I've worked in in this genre before or with or with this kind of material.

SPEAKER_01 6:43

That's fascinating. Now, obviously, it feels like with you for some reason, we've done a lot of these interviews, but for you, it feels like we're coming in at the end, not the end of your story, but at the peak of your story, besides, you know, of course, you not having won an Academy Award yet, but you had a ton of credits and you have a ton of successes. But I want to back up a little bit and try to go in chronological order. So we have young Eddie Schmidt hitting the town. I'm not sure if the town is New York or LA, some town somewhere with a dream. And is the dream to be a director? Is it to be a writer? Is it to be a showrunner? What was your dream and how did you get into the unscripted side of things?

SPEAKER_03 7:21

Well, um, so you know, really I I was in bands all through high school and I sang and played the guitar. So I originally really thought I would get into music. Uh, and then I went to college, I went to Vassar College uh the East Coast, and I got in, I was in a comedy troupe, and I did a lot of acting. I had done some other acting like in regional, you know, theater as a little kid, and I and I did really enjoy it. And I always felt uh that I lit up on stage, felt really comfortable on stage. And I did a lot of acting at Vassar and did you know David Mammoth plays and check off and all this stuff. So between that and comedy, I thought, okay, well, you know, I think I could be, you know, a writer, actor, and maybe if I'm I'm lucky, I'll get I'll get to direct. And so I came out here, here being Los Angeles after graduation with a number of other people that were in the uh this comedy troupe with me, and we started performing in clubs and trying to make a name for ourselves. Uh, and that was really hard. And and then in the meantime, uh, though, I got a day job in the industry. Um, I I did a few jobs for free, because that's when you have no experience, you can work for free. I was a PA, uh, an independent film called Floundering, and I got to be in the end credits, which was fun standing next to John Cusack. Uh, and then I worked in the editing room, and basically I ended up getting a day job at New Line Cinema, working for post-production supervisors. And I learned a lot about post-production. Um, some of which, you know, I knew from school, but to, you know, this was a whole other level, obviously. And actually, the the first thing my first rung in was um this was they were still shooting on film, they would have short ends, you know, the the leftovers of of film. So we had like the leftovers from Dumb and Dumber or you know, David Fincher Seven, just sitting around. And so uh buddy that worked in production, I worked in post, and we sort of rallied around in a very like let's put on a show kind of way, and wrote and directed these shorts in the mid 90s and took them to festivals. And so I thought I was on this whole narrative track as a writer director, and then potentially doing comedy, and um, and and none of that came to pass. So, so yeah, I I um long story short, we started making a name for ourselves in sketch comedy and had a deal with Fox TV studios. We had a sort of coffee table book uh about the middle finger called The Finger, a comprehensive guide to flipping off that was sort of our humor in book form, and we started to get a name for ourselves, and um it didn't happen. You know, we we were not poised to be the replacement for Mad TV, uh, as they sort of touted us to be. And um because I had this background in post-production, I was post-production supervisor on a documentary that Kirby Dick directed. And Kirby Dick asked me if I wanted to produce something with him, and that brought a whole other track, which was to make documentaries. Um, so I sort of, you know, leapt from one horse onto the other. And I thought, okay, well, well, this this horse, this horse has legs.

SPEAKER_01 10:39

Was there ever a desire? I want to drill down a little bit on that pivot, because I think a lot of people in this town, I don't think a lot of people come into the town saying, I'm gonna be a high-level development executive, I'm gonna be this, I'm gonna be that. They they come in with a dream, and that dream has them go on a path that they didn't fully expect, and then they find that they're actually really happy doing this, much more happy maybe than they were with the original dream. So you you pivot. I love the idea that you're using the ends of the film to make shorts. That's such a cool detail. But you're you're making things, you guys feel like you're almost there. You have a some kind of a name for yourself, but it's not turning into anything lucrative. So, what is that moment like when you fully commit to this new career path? Was there like having to like tell your parents you're pivoting, or was it more like, no, this is kind of exciting and it's a shiny star that I want to now grab?

SPEAKER_03 11:28

Yeah, I I think the, you know, um some of my resilience has come from being a practical-minded dreamer. So I think when, you know, you're in your 20s, your overhead is low, and you can, you know, sort of figure it out, right? And so I think I was sort of scraping it together and I was figuring, like, well, we're do we're doing these comedy shows and we're getting a name and and we've got now this deal. And and then that then, you know, you you get an agent and they start waving dollar signs in front of your eyes, and you think, okay, I've I've got this path. And so, but I never gave up on other things, right? So I was still working as a uh both a post-production supervisor to to make money, uh, and working on the side to produce this documentary, which wound up being this film called Chain Camera that got into Sundance in 2001. Uh, so when we lost, when we did not get our TV deal as a comedy troupe in 2000, and I watched some of my uh, you know, troupe members go on to get jobs as comedy writers on other shows, and I didn't get one. I thought, wow, you know, I've I've failed, right? Um, but um then this documentary got into Sundance, and I was like, well, this is the this is the biggest thing that I've done. And I put you know two years of my life into it, and we weren't really getting paid. We were it was a negative pickup, so we had just enough money to make the film. Um, but I thought, well, well, this this is it, like this is a path that I should be going down, and that I was excited about. I think part of the transition was also that I really enjoyed sketch and improv. One of the things that we did was to go out into the world in character. This was sort of, you know, kind of before probably the same mindset of the zeitgeist to Sasha Baron Cohen, but before he was on these shores. So we were, you know, you had to sort of act in character in the real world and film them much like a documentary, even though you're playing a character. So the making real documentaries wasn't that much of a stretch. And some of the same thought of trying to capture something real and trying to capture something visually all translated. So I wanted to tell stories, and I felt like, okay, well, this is how I'm going to be able to tell stories. And the other thing about documentaries is that you can pick up a camera and just start. You know, it gets harder as you need to really make a living to your 30s and you want to have a house or a family. But when you're in your 20s, you you can take some risks. And so I think that idea of like, oh, I might not have to wait for permission to tell stories in a documentary realm. Well, that appealed to me. So I ran with it.

SPEAKER_02 14:11

Do you stay in touch with your comedy troupe and compare notes on who's still trying to do improv comedy and who's now getting nominated for Emmys?

SPEAKER_03 14:25

Uh yeah, actually, because we were all college buddies, right? So, you know, what's been really nice is that everybody's gotten to do really interesting things. You know, one of the guys uh went uh uh was I don't remember what his title was, but he's basically, you know, one of the people running Warner Archive for a long time. So pr preserving old films and re-releasing all these films. And he had it, he was a talented graphic designer. He had designed our book about the fingers, so it made perfect sense for him. And he was great because he loved pop culture and he could champion these things. And as a matter of fact, he produced a panel at Comic-Con then that I did with with Leonard Malton um many years later. Uh, another guy who was, I think, the most charismatic and dynamic of us as a performer went on to you know act in shows and and and write for he wrote for big, you know, MTV comedy awards and sorry, MTV music awards and things like that. But he also appeared on Sarah Silverman's show. And he was Zach Galifanakis' sidekick on his live at the Purple Onion DVD. And and a lot of comedy people, you know, knew him and loved him. So he, you know, one of the other guys became a very successful editor and producer, also in unscripted, um, and doing a number of things like Ace of Cakes and things like that. So I think we all went on to do interesting and different things. But the idea of like getting back together and going out and trying to mess with people on the street, you know, that that that gets a little harder as as you as you age, you sort of age out of uh the ability to to do that uh ungracefully. Yeah, no, indeed.

SPEAKER_02 16:08

So look, comedy's an interesting one. I mean, the lazy question is sort of asking about council culture and how it's changed. So I don't want to ask that one, but I'm inter I'm interested in the sort of the other way comedy has changed. Because obviously, I'm not sure when back in the day was, but you know, there was stand-up comedy in a room, normally a smoke-filled one, probably. But with the advent of streaming, but also with the way social media have changed, there's a lot of you know, there's a lot of these comedy specials appearing on the likes of Netflix now, but then there's also you know comedians who are some of it's pandemic related where they were just sort of filming themselves at home and so on. Um obviously you're still working in comedy. How is it easier to do comedy now because there's so many different outlets, or is it harder because there's so many different outlets that finding your unique voice is now trickier?

SPEAKER_03 17:05

Yeah, that's a great question. I think it's a little bit of both, right? Because I think there are uh potentially more outlets, but there are more voices. So I think you have to be distinct, but distinct is speaking to your own experience or very much to your andor, very much to your own taste, you know. So I think um in in Good One and our show, we're uh following the process of Mike Barbiglia, who, as he says in the show, is an autobiographical comedian. And so his his process is personal and he's drawing from his life. And um it it it it it they are it intertwines, in other words, where the material is coming from and and sort of even the handmade quality of how he crafts. Um, and then I think of other comedians I went I went to see um Kate Berlant live. She did an incredible live show that Bo Burnham directed, another talented comedian. And uh, and it was so um visually arresting and sort of multimedia and and and on many meta levels, right, of smart. Um, and and you sort of think, oh, this is it's it's not personal, it's so theatrical, it's so, but because of its incisive quality of the humor and the fact that there's so much to it, it actually is quite personal in and revealing in its own way. And so I think there are more ways for comedians to stand out, um, but the bar is very high, right? I think there was probably more of a time when we had this sort of just you know, stand in front of a brick wall, uh evening at the improv kind of thing, and people were doing material maybe that was not as personal or not as original necessarily. And so now I think it just means that if you are are drawn to that, um, you really want to have something to say and probably also uh a very a very special way of saying it, you know. Um yeah.

SPEAKER_02 19:14

So this is definitely a lazy question, um, unfortunately, but just because of where you sort of sit in comedy, I'm interested in in this for your answer. How how are you in terms of consuming comedy? Like, do you can you actually laugh at stuff, or are you deconstructing the joke? Or when actually in this show, when like Mike does something that we're gonna watch it and think that's funny, are you like, I'm not gonna laugh, but I can see why somebody else would laugh at it?

SPEAKER_03 19:45

No, no, I'm a good laugher. I'm I'm not one of those people that's like funny, funny. Uh you know, sometimes it's like a jousting competition with comedians to validate things as funny and not laugh. Um, I mean, I guess that's the thing is, you know, I I don't really think of myself as a comedian. I think of myself uh as comedy adjacent, you know. So it's like I love it, I appreciate it, I have, you know, made it. I think one of the things that I did uh actually that was in between sort of the documentary and the sketch in transition to earn a living, I, you know, was hired to write the bubbles on Blind Date. So I wrote the joke, you know, those joke bubbles. Um, so I was like, okay, you know, so and and I've written for other comics, uh for various specials. So I feel like okay, I you know, I I I love being around comedy people. And and I think for me, I in transitioning really fully behind the camera, I love bringing out the best in them, bringing out what I think is funny in them, so funny about them. So in working with Chelsea Handler, it was, I just thought she was so quick-witted and so sharp, you know, in that format that she had on a studio set. And I just thought, well, the idea that she wants to go out into the world and meet people in the, you know, in the real world, come out from behind the desk. I just thought, well, that's really delicious because I could tell in 10 minutes of meeting her how sort of sharp and observant she was. And I thought, well, that's just going to be magic. And similarly with Mike Brabiglia, I really appreciated him as a comic voice, I think, in terms of the his background and things that he writes about, the um genuineness that with which he he presents himself. And so I thought, oh, well, he's already someone who's open to process. So if he's willing to let us in, and then it was a lot for him to trust us because he used to telling his own story, but he did. And I thought, oh, well, this is just delightful. People are going to love him even more. They're gonna, they're they're literally going to see the joke, they're gonna see how he's creating the jokes, and they're gonna see the life and the people around him from which the jokes come. Well, this is wonderful. If you're someone like myself who's predisposed to this, You're just going to get even more out of it. You're going to just then and you're going to want to see more of Mike. And you're going to really think, I really know where he's coming from. I could really relate to him even better because I have a sense of the of the whole person and the work involved.

SPEAKER_01 22:14

I I think you partially answered this next question in this last answer, but it really made me think because you you mentioned that you're comedy adjacent, correct? So it's like, but you started out not comedy adjacent. You started out in a sketch comedy group. And the dream was to have your own, you know, kids in the hall or whatever type sketch comedy on the air. Be the face, because you said you really enjoyed acting. So what happens now? And notice that obviously it's no coincidence. You're working with people like Mike Burbaglia or Chelsea Handler. You understand comedy, and now you're sort of on the other side of the camera helping manage and produce uh comedians uh specials. Is there any ever like pings of jealousy of like a what if my career went slightly different and I was on that stage? Or have you sort of made peace with your role as the person who executes other people's comedic visions at this point?

SPEAKER_03 23:06

I think I've made peace with it because um, you know, when I look back, I I don't think that I was really probably um emotionally uh developed enough to have handled it, I think, really, if we were to have have really been in the spotlight, I think sort of um that level of potential rejection or or what have you. I, you know, um, yeah, I don't I don't sort of look back and think, oh, I I should be still doing that. I think, oh, I think I'm a great collaborator. I think I can, you know, again help bring out what's special about somebody because I'm enjoying them. And I think it's kind of a great role for me to be able to be in the mix and sort of able to, I guess, translate these skills that I have to tell stories in a nonfiction context with a funny person or put a funny person in, whether, whether it's them in going into a world or whether it is literally their process as it is in good one. Um I I guess I feel like, oh, this is a sweet spot. Like I found a way to take these, you know, two mints into one. And I don't sort of regret that I'm not like the delicious piece of chocolate.

SPEAKER_01 24:23

I think it's okay. That's fascinating. Thank you for that answer. And and and and that's also kind of made me think of uh Dan normally asks asks the management questions in this partnership. He runs a soccer club. I'm in the industry, so I tend to ask industry-related questions. This is sort of both management and industry, but it's fascinating to me is that you are the you wear many hats when you make these up. You know, you said you're the director, you're the showrunner, and you're the executive producer. Obviously, executive producer and showrunner are sort of synonymous in this sense. But for those, you know, that that's you're the boss. You're the you are managing these productions. And yet you manage for you know, for a few of them, you've had really big names who you're who whose name is actually the name of the product. So Mike Barbiglia, Chelsea Handler, they're on that. So, how does that relationship work with you are the showrunner, which is the boss of the production and the people working on the production, and then you have a star who is so connected to the material, and obviously you have to work copathetically, uh, or it it's not gonna work. So, talk us through that a little bit.

SPEAKER_03 25:28

Yeah, I think um, well, you know, those two examples are slightly different, I guess, but uh, but I think I could put them under one umbrella, which is to say, and this is a word I used a little earlier, which was trust, right? Which is to say, comedians, I think, especially, uh, and I've worked obviously with other talent, you know, whether it's Chef, I worked with David Chang, we did the show Ugly Delicious, or um, I worked with Zachary Quinto on the reboot of In Search of. He he's a very funny guy, but he's you know a serious actor. And this was him hosting in a in a nonfiction context. But I guess in all of these cases, it's really about be making making somebody feel comfortable, right? Which is to say, I I get you, I appreciate you, I I want to I want to make you score, essentially, which is like I'm not there to make the the star of a show because that's your hero. That's the hero of your story. This you that your star, you know, that's that's a a star is a real life special effect. People want to people want to watch dynamic people in front of the camera. So I want them to do well. And I also want them to feel like there's uh a net, there's support around them. And if something doesn't, I want them to take risks, right? I want them to to to open up. I want them to maybe do things that don't feel comfortable if I passionately believe in them, but I also don't want to set them up to fail. It's not a gotcha, it's not, we're not uh making things at their expense. I'm really trying to tell their stories or trying to capture their perspective in inside of an ongoing story in the real world. So I I guess that's what it is. And I, you know, comedians more than anybody have just a really strong BS detector, right? So I think what I've found is a lot of people who are very funny and really talented are used to people not telling them the truth for a lot, you know, just telling them what they want to hear. And so I think that there comes a lot of strength in not being unbending, obviously, you know, you being a collaborator, but if you really believe in like I really think we should do this, or I don't think this worked, or I I think we could try it again because I think it could be stronger. You know, they want they want that. I think they want real feedback and they want a real collaborator. I don't, I don't, I don't most talented people, especially funny people, don't want somebody around who's just going to yes them.

SPEAKER_02 28:12

This feels I wouldn't say this one's a lazy question, but it feels like a sort of obvious question. But I if I was working on your show, the last one, with Mike and you, in whatever the job is, some reasonably medium to junior job, would it have been a fun experience to be of course it's a comedy show at the end, but actually making it, would it have been fun? And when you as showrunner sort of set the tone for the production right at the beginning when you have your first meeting when you talk about what you're gonna do, is having fun while making an excellent product actually sort of part of making a comedy show?

SPEAKER_03 28:53

And do you set it up that way? I'd like to think I do. I mean, I think there are people that uh in this industry that lead with fear. I don't think that's a great way to work. Uh, I've I've worked for some people who I think try to lead with fear. It's it's unpleasant. Uh, I try to lead uh by inspiration. Um, I like to get people excited about what we're going to do, um, whether it's a cinematographer, editor, my producers, uh, anybody who's part of it, I I hope that they're uh jazzed about what what what we're making, the kind of thing we're making. It can be hard sometimes if people are on on board and they don't, but I think if you foster an environment, particularly the people that are on the set, let's say, because that's your team that is there to um to make the the talent comfortable and to also make it so that you get the good stuff. Because if you're stressed out, you you really don't. It's almost like um you're putting a filter in front of you if you are have to kind of punch through this the stress to get to the good stuff. So um I think one of the great compliments actually um that that Mike Burbiglia had for me was I love this crew, I love your crew. This is a great crew. And I thought and that made me feel really good because if he didn't feel that way, well, he wouldn't feel comfortable. He wouldn't feel comfortable getting mic'd up, he wouldn't feel comfortable with the deep, you know, DP or camera ops, you know, inches from his face, he wouldn't feel comfortable just having to spend time with us. And I think, you know, I I can think of other shows where key crew members went on to become really good friends with the talent and um and and you know continue to have relationships with them or work with them again and again. And and that that makes me feel really good. I I want people to uh uh enjoy the experience because I also it's it's hard to find good people. I want to be able to work with them again as well. And I and I try to let people know when they're doing a good job that they are doing a good job and that I do appreciate it.

SPEAKER_02 31:07

So uh that's a great answer. And um, you know, to your point about sort of leading people with inspiration, I can I get a sense of that, uh, which is great, but obviously, which this is a podcast about failure and rejection and adversity, and you're this is too good. We need to move back to something bad, otherwise, no one's gonna believe me. Sure, sure, sure. Okay. So you hinted at it when you said you've been on productions elsewhere where people led by fear. So I obviously don't expect you to name the show, but what what's the worst? And this could be at any point in your career, obviously, ideally, not one that you ran, because that would be awkward. But what's the worst experience you've had on a show in terms of not a good place to work, not feeling like people can do their best work, and what did you learn from that for when you did become the boss?

SPEAKER_03 31:56

Um, well, I think, yeah, I'm gonna the thing the thing that leaps to mind is such an early experience because it made me think I I would never want someone to feel this way. Very early on, I was a production assistant and the DP. We were we were like, I think trying to hold um, you know, uh you know, gaffing or sorry, grip equipment, you know, like uh flags on a roof, you know, in Venice and the wind is blowing, and you know, you're holding it, can't even hold it still. And I just remember um somebody one of the somebody senior saying, Um, what which one of you guys, meaning uh us production assistants, there's always one of you guys that's that's just lower than dirt, just just lower than dirt. Which one of you is that? And I just said that would be me, sir. That would be me. I need you to overhear to, you know, whatever, you know, menial task they wanted me to do. Um, and I I that was my way of sort of calling it out was to own it and go, yeah, that's me. I'm the I'm the lowest one. What do you got? And and I did it. I don't, you know, I don't as I was probably yeah holding something even heavier while the wind was blowing on us. Um, and I just thought, I never want to make anybody feel like that. I would never say that. Who's the low? Like what position are you in? This was like a no-budget indie flick. Like, why would you say that? Um, and and look, you know, that this person might have felt like they were hitting around. And maybe they were, but I just thought I don't want to make people feel like there's a hierarchy and there's somebody that's the lowest person that has to do the lowest job. I I actually have been really appreciative of PAs who went the extra mile or got us a great lunch or or or whatever, you know, a killer parking spot, you know, whatever it is that makes the day run easier. I would never make somebody assign somebody something because they were the the lowest and to acknowledge that they were the lowest. So that that stuck with me.

SPEAKER_01 34:13

I think you've got a super great, candid answer. Uh and sort of on theme with that. Was there ever a moment? Maybe that was the moment that night where you were like, you know, Hollywood, which can be the greatest business in the world, can also be the most horrific in some ways. Was there ever a moment where you were like, I'm done, I'm gonna be something else, I'm going back to where I'm from and and packing up shop?

SPEAKER_03 34:35

Um yeah, it's probably probably several. Um yeah, I mean, you know, where you just people you you could be made to feel very low. I think, I think again, you know, usually it goes away. Um, I think, you know, if if whatever there's an interaction or a disappointment, either you didn't get a job or project fell through, or or somebody made you feel small, um, it does go away. And I think the the the trick is if you sort of wake up, maybe not the very next day, but if you wake up and you uh feel the drive to do it again or to go out and you know tell another story or you know get on to another show, it's kind of the only way, right? And it's sort of like relationship, you know, if it's breakup to go, oh well, that's it, I'll never see anybody again. And so it's and you know, you know, but eventually, you know, you will. Um, it's just hard, hard to can be hard to get over at the time.

SPEAKER_01 35:40

Thank you. Yes, that's yeah, exactly. Now, unfortunately, we are at this time of the podcast where it's you know, we have to ask you the last, the final question that we ask everybody who comes on our podcast. And the question is if you could give one piece of advice to somebody joining the business, in your case on the unscripted side, what would it be?

SPEAKER_03 36:03

Uh, my advice would be to have patience and hang in there because I thought in the mid-90s, I thought based on my shorts, I was gonna have a career as writer, director of features, and that didn't happen. Then I thought I was gonna have a career uh, you know, in in front of the camera as a writer, actor, and a comedy troop. That didn't happen. What ended up happening is that when I was finally in a position to direct and produce, um, I ended up taking all the skills that I had learned along the way as a post-production supervisor. I knew how to mix, I knew color correction, I knew, you know, cameras, I knew editing, I knew all these things. So when I finally had my shot, and it wasn't maybe in the exact spot I thought, I suddenly had this toolbox to draw from. So I'm actually really glad I did not get to make a feature in the mid-90s because I don't think I would still be talking to you today. I think I might have gotten to do one or two, and if they didn't do well, then that would be the end of it. So I think it was for the longevity of my work, really good that I was not uh given the keys to the city on the first go round. I had to work for it, and then I had a lot of paints in my uh to to use with my paintbrush when I got there.

SPEAKER_02 37:26

Very good. I I'm trying to think after 120-something episodes. I'm not sure I've had well, I'm not sure we've had patients explained like that as an answer, but that's a that is a great answer and a great piece of advice. Um well, thank you.

SPEAKER_03 37:41

I I I will say too, and then and uh you because you asked this, you know, about other points, you know, I uh after I had been partnered with Kirby Dick, and we had an incredible run of success, I thought it was time for me to go off and direct, you know, on my own. And I had three, I thought, three killer projects. They were sure to go, and none of them went. And so I had to sort of, you know, start start over or rebuild myself. And um, you know, and at the time it seems bleak, but eventually it comes around. Did those not those projects, um, but but other ones. So there was always something else. It's something actually a uh uh DP cinematographer that I've worked with very closely was had said to me at one point when I was despairing over something didn't come through. And she said, Well, you know that something else always comes along. And I said, Does it? And she said, Yeah, of course. Look how long you've been doing this. And so from that point forward, and she probably said that to me, oh, I don't know, 15, 16 years ago. I've always thought, oh yeah, something else always comes along, and it does.

SPEAKER_02 38:45

Very good. Well, Eddie Schmidt, thank you very much for coming on the show. And we hope the thing that comes along next is the uh the elusive uh award that you deserve to win after all these nominations. But thank you very much for coming on the show. Thank you, my pleasure. Thank you for listening to this episode of Screaming Into the Hollywood Abyss brought to you by Scriptation. Thank you as ever to James Launch for the music, and thank you to our loyal listeners. And if there's any showrunners out there who want to hear their fellow showrunners abused uh and ruffled around and put under the microscope so you can hear their stories of rejection failure and adversity, please send them away. If you are interested in following us on social media, I've lost track.

SPEAKER_01 39:42

I am an Epsilon on Twitter or X or whatever Elon Musk now calls it. And thanks to Elon Musk, and I'm also at Noah Epsilon on Hive, Audible, Blue Sky, Threads, Mastodon, MySpace, French True, and I'm sure it's