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The Tracksuit Podcast is media industry professionals sit down with fellow creatives, filmmakers, and experts for wide-ranging authentic, unfiltered conversations about the entertainment industry - covering everything from the business of entertainment to the unexplained. Hosted by BJ Hendricks and James Cullen Bressack.
James: Welcome to the Tracksuit podcast. Welcome to episode three of the Tracksuit podcast. Here we have Jessica Russo. She is a sales agent at the company VMI Worldwide, as well as the distribution company Vantage Media. I have worked with Jess on a lot of films, and yeah, let's chat, Jess. Hey guys. Thank you for coming, Jess. Thanks for wearing a tracksuit as well, like actually fully committing to the bit.
Jessica: I understood the assignment.
James: So, Jess, you kind of have a different perspective in this industry than a lot of people we've had on the podcast so far. It's mostly been actors, but you are on the sales side of things, which is, I think, really interesting because I think that's a perspective that not a lot of people get to hear often. What are you seeing? Obviously the market ebbs and flows, but what are you seeing in this market currently? I know things have shifted quite a bit in the past five years.
Jessica: Yeah, I mean, it's definitely a huge shift. Gosh, I mean, I mean, you kind of nailed it, ebbs and flows. I mean, what I'm seeing right now, it's really about smart filmmaking and making smart decisions when you're creating films. So a lot of times, even before, like it would you would basically be able to like, oh, I'm going to get this person in my movie and I'm going to make it and it can be crappy. But like you have to have the production quality, too. And I think now we're starting to see a quality over quantity.
James: What a shocking concept. People want movies to be good.
Jessica: Yeah.
James: Oh my god.
Jessica: Shockingly how many movies I have to see that are not so good. Yeah, yeah, sorry about those.
BJ: How long?
Jessica: I'm joking, I'm joking.
BJ: How long?
James: Jess was, just so you guys know, the sales agent for my film. Darkness of Man starring Jean-Claude Van Damme, which is currently on Hulu. BJ's in it as well. And we've done, I don't know, six or something more past that at this point, right?
Jessica: Oh yeah, it's been a lot.
BJ: Yeah. And then Jess and I have just finished working together on The Night Driver.
Jessica: Yeah, we did.
BJ: Which is awesome, which is Josh Lucas, which is, like we talked about, is probably one of the most underrated actors who's so dope at this point.
James: And you guys just dropped some artwork for that, right, for the fest? I think I saw that on socials.
Jessica: No, we haven't dropped artwork yet. I think I saw fake artwork on socials then. Then there's fake artwork on socials. That's how you know when you made it when people start putting out
James: the fake
Jessica: artwork. I saw
James: some artwork on socials like two days ago and I was like, oh, okay. No. When
BJ: you started this career, did you start in the sales business? No. How did you start? Oh, wait, hold on.
James: Let's dial back really quick because you said Josh Lucas is underrated. Another underrated actor in that is David Arquette. Love
BJ: David.
James: Just want to go back and back.
BJ: David
James: is also an amazing human being. I know David very well, but a great actor, great person. And he's also a great person.
Jessica: He was such a pleasure to have on set and he would come after for a drink and just so professional. Every time he was on screen, every take was perfect. That's awesome. Yeah. I mean,
James: he's been doing it for so long, but also, I mean, he's had one of those careers that has like, you know, he was like the top of the mountain at one point, you know, and I think he's definitely, you know, the ebbs and flows of the business. It's great to see him having a resurgence with, you know, Scream and all that stuff as
BJ: well.
Jessica: Yeah. Love to see him win for sure. He
BJ: also did all that wrestling stuff so for me as a young adult I was like that WCW old school shit was amazing. He was the
James: WCW world champion at one point. It was amazing. You should watch the documentary You Can't Kill David Arquette. That documentary is insane. It's all about him doing his wrestling journey and it's crazy. I would love to see that. He really got cut in the neck with a broken piece of glass during a fight. He was
BJ: in it so hard.
James: He wanted it to be really authentic.
BJ: You believed it so hard when he was doing it. It was like him and Hulk Hogan. Hollywood Hulk Hogan at that point in time. So Jess, how did you get into this business?
Jessica: The real honest answer is I was in high school and I had to figure out what I was gonna do with my life because I was a senior and so I was like oh I guess I gotta figure out what I want to do and a school came by and kind of sold us on film school. Essentially it was a film school sales place which
James: You were in high school over in Stockton, right?
Jessica: Yeah, where the Diaz brothers was. That's how everyone calls back to Stockton. They're like, it's the Diaz brothers.
James: See, that's why you had respect for the fact that Nick Diaz was in Darkness. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I was
BJ: wondering if that was the same Diaz. That was
Jessica: so cool. It was really cool. I had never met him before, so being able to... The Stockton slap. The Stockton Slap. And he went to my same high school.
BJ: Oh, wow. There you go.
Jessica: I think so. I think he went to Lincoln. Maybe I have that wrong. Might have been Stagg.
BJ: We'll pretend like he did either way.
Jessica: Well, yeah. Correct me later. Y'all might have dated. No.
BJ: I think he was like much older than me.
Jessica: I think he was like seven
James: or eight years older than you. Yeah.
Jessica: He's much older than I am.
BJ: Sorry. Then I'm like, hmm, that's just me too.
Jessica: I had to kind of make a decision, so I decided to go to film school. I actually wanted to be a music video director.
James: What? Did you direct any music videos? No. Wait, so Jess, your husband is a musician. Why have you not made any of his music videos? Why aren't you chasing that dragon? Do it.
Jessica: I mean, right? I don't know. Well, I guess for me, it's like, I think once I was in school, I realized I wasn't a very good director, except for when it came to multi-camera directing. So I did do a show in school where it was like three camera shooting, which was a lot of fun because it's like very like anxiety ridden. So you're
James: really going to be giving notes on this edit of this podcast.
Jessica: I mean, I can. No, but that was a lot of fun because you got to like sit in a room. So it's very much like this where it's like three people. You got to sit in the room, but you're doing the cutting like as you're shooting.
James: Yeah, live camera. Cut to camera two, cut to camera three.
Jessica: Yeah, that was a lot of fun. So I wanted to do that. And then I wanted to be also an AD. I really liked it.
James: I can see that energy for you. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, you're pretty much ADing essentially around the office, you know. At VMI, you're making sure everything stays on schedule moving?
Jessica: Yeah, pretty much, pretty much.
BJ: For us, you are VMI. Oh, that's so sweet. For us, we're always like, do you know Jeff? Don't get me
James: wrong, I love Andre, I know everybody over there, but you are definitely the person I interface with on a day-to-day over at VMI.
Jessica: Oh, thank you, yeah. I kind of keep everyone together bringing the new projects. That's my job. Filmmaker relations, that's why. Filmmaker relations, that's a better way to say it.
James: She's the one who keeps us in line, the filmmakers.
Jessica: Yeah. But yeah, so basically I wanted to do that and then I did a bunch of internships. I worked with this finance company called The Fizz. They did like 47 Meters Down, a bigger... Oh, that was fun.
James: Yeah, that was a fun one.
Jessica: Yeah, bigger movies. I was a executive assistant to Wayne Mark Godfrey who and David Gilbrey. I was only working with them for like a short period of time. I wanted to move to LA, but I met Andre through that.
James: Oh, that's what I was about to say.
Jessica: Yeah, I met Andre through them. It was like an end of the day meeting, which that day was awful because I had to like run around town.
James: You met your current boss. Meeting him was great.
Jessica: Meeting him was great. The job I had to do before that sucks. I had to run around hand delivering gifts and then they also wanted me to hand deliver gifts at AFM, which if you've never been, there's a lot of security. You have to have a badge. This was back when it was at Lowe's
BJ: too, right?
Jessica: It was at the Lowe's.
BJ: You were lucky to be at the bar at that situation.
Jessica: Yeah pretty much and I had they wanted me to go back into the rooms and they gave me my boss's badge who's a man mind you and told me to like go through and of course I got it confiscated like the first try um so stressful but no I met Andre that evening it was like out of drinks they were like oh come sit in on this meeting you want to produce and so I met Andre from that and then just and Andre was like come work at FMI. Well, so we actually, so I kind of like got his information. We stayed in touch. I wanted to be a producer at the time. That was kind of like towards the end of my film school journey, and I really wanted to produce. I saw that as my future. I mean, you still do produce.
James: Yeah, you do. I do. No, I do. You've produced, I mean, you were on set with me every day during Darkness of Man.
Jessica: Yeah. No, I definitely still produce.
James: By the way, if it wasn't for Jess, the opening scene of Darkness of Man, Jean-Claude Van Damme would have been wearing a hat. I had a I had a like kind of like a fedora I wanted him to wear very similar to like Humphrey Bogart and and literally we spent like I don't know like an hour sourcing this hat to put it on to fit it to get to his head it we put it on his head just goes yeah you got to get rid of that. It was like day one of filming.
BJ: I met you on that movie, right? Yeah. And I was like so intimidated by Jess where I was just like, Oh my God, she's so like, cause you were so boss lady on that movie. You were, you were so like boss lady and awesome. Like it was just trying to stay out of the way.
Jessica: Like I hate when I don't have something to do. I feel so awkward. Well, you did. You did have something to do. You got rid of the hat. And that was the movie cover. That image of him is the poster.
James: Yeah, so she knew. She knew that is the poster of the movie. It worked out. I mean, she was right. We got rid of the hat. I didn't fight it. I made sure we didn't have, you know, I have
Jessica: to say, and that is like one of my favorite stories. I love to tell people about you because no, it's like I've worked with very many different directors, very many creatives. And it's like usually anytime there's a choice like that. The beard is always a big one, but like there's that's when there's always tension between like the filmmaker side and like the producer but the producer sales agent side and we're like hey we have to sell this at the end of the day. We know it works. We need to make sure the stars visible. That's where there's a clash and I have to say like you spent you guys literally did it was like an hour we were late to start filming that set and as soon as he walked out I was like oh god. Oh, this is awkward. But I did. I went up to you and I said, I'm sorry, but we got to lose the hat. And you're like, done. Like, no questions asked. I was like, done.
James: We got rid of it. I mean, listen, you know, I have a philosophy that, you know, if you're getting a note like that from your sales company, you take it, especially because not only A, do they have that perspective, but B, you don't want them to later in the future be like, well, the sales would have been better if he wasn't wearing that hat. It's not like they come in with a ton of notes all the time. So when they do say something, you take it so that they don't later reference, oh yeah, you know, and we would have had this many more sales if the hat was gone.
BJ: That whole movie was fucking insane. It was a great movie. I remember thinking that I had seen Jean-Claude Van Damme when I first got to set up. I remember thinking that, oh, I definitely had seen it. But that was Todd Plod Van Damme. Yeah, it was his stunt double. It was Todd Plod Van Damme. And he rolled in like a tracksuit.
James: Todd Cinefonte.
BJ: Who's a phenomenal, amazing guy. And so I thought he was Jean-Claude at first and I was like, hmm, looking good, looking good. Okay, alright. And then Jean-Claude walked in and it was like, and he had his like big like fur like tight coat, it was a big coat on and I was like, mm-hmm, movie star coming through, just ba-boom on that.
James: My favorite Van Damme story doesn't even involve Van Damme and it involves Jess because we were at AFM on a roller coaster at the Santa Monica Pier and I had just won this pink monkey stuffed animal and I threw it to Jess before she got on the ride and she was swinging it around the air yelling, Van Damme, Van Damme! Because she named it Van Damme, I guess, because we had just closed the deal that day, and so she was excited about that. It was the press announcement.
Jessica: Oh yeah, the press announcement.
James: Van Damme did his interview. Oh yes, me, him, and Alex did it for- That was a big one. For Hollywood Reporter. But yeah, so there was a lot of hype and so she aptly named the stuffed animal Van Damme. But it was funny because we're just on this ride and she's like twirling the stuffed animal around going, Van Damme! I was like, all right, we're gonna be friends, because we hadn't worked together yet.
Jessica: Technically, you have films with us, but we weren't involved. We were never really involved.
James: Well, I mean, I directed them, but I was not interfacing, because I was not on the producing side. Yeah, you both hadn't produced
BJ: together.
Jessica: They sold Pernicious.
BJ: What?
Jessica: It's available now on Tubi. You can stream for free.
James: Oh, that's right. I do remember that.
Jessica: He was there when I got hired on
BJ: Pernicious. I was. I was in the room for that situation, and they were like, you get to go to Thailand. James is going to Thailand. They were like, BJ, you don't get to go, and I was like, oh. I wanted to go so bad until that spotter was in your room and I was like nah
James: nah nah nah. Yeah he interviewed me and then like I get the gig and they're like yeah but you can't go.
BJ: You can't go. We don't have enough money for that. Well
James: cause I mean the movie was made for like what like $200, $250,000. You did that movie first. I
BJ: mean for it to look as good as you do. I remember that.
James: Well that's a lot of Thailand as well like you can stretch money in Thailand for sure.
BJ: When you were on that boat and like the opening scenes are like kind of in that boat where the girls are getting there I was like man that would cost us a fortune here.
James: Well that was just an accident because like it got flooded the night before. They were supposed to come up on a car and like like in a taxi. That's why they they ride in a taxi all the way to the house but it got flooded because we were filming during monsoon season and so like they're like what are we gonna do and Damon like you know the producer Damon like showed me pictures of what was going on and I was like Can you get some scaffolding and some wood to build a little deck for them to walk onto? Can you get me a boat? And he was like, yeah, I think we can. So they literally threw a boat. That whole lake and river that they come up on, that's just the front yard. It's literally that flooded. Oh,
BJ: wow.
James: That's why all the houses in like rural Thailand are built on stilts. And it's also funny because like there's a huge part of the movie that takes place in a basement, which I had never been to Thailand when I wrote this script. I didn't know they don't have basements in Thailand because all the houses are on stilts because they can't, you know, so we had to build that basement. So, you know, that's not really authentic.
BJ: And like 10 days into the shoot, James like sends this photo back to all the producers back in Santa Monica and it's just this humongous spot. Oh yeah, it was
James: like that big just chilling on my bed. And I was like, you know what, I'm all right, we're not going.
BJ: I'm okay. I'm okay that I didn't go on that situation. It was scary.
James: Hard pass. So outside of the film world. You have a lot of very special interests that I think are really cool, one of which I think BJ has gotten really into, which is these crystals.
BJ: Yeah, so much on there.
James: So I think you guys should chat about that a little bit because Jess also does tarot reading, which she did at my last event.
BJ: We're working on a gay bear set of tarot cards right now, which you saw some of the pictures that you sent you. I was like, I'll test drive it with Jess on this. And then I took a picture. We have a really cool amethyst rock at our apartment. I took a picture of it earlier and Jess just writes me and she goes, are you in an amethyst cave? It looks like it was.
James: That thing was huge. But so he's got a little tiger's eye, right? Little tiger eyes,
BJ: little carnelian, a little black onyx. I've been getting into all of this
James: situation. So what do these mean? What are the reasons behind stuff? And how did you get into that situation?
Jessica: I'm on the hook. I mean, I can't tell you I know what all of them mean. I know black onyx is really good for protection. Yes. And then I also see you have clear quartz on the other side. Right here between that with a little lapis lazul with a little green onyx.
BJ: She was
James: like, I can't tell you about all of that one over there.
Jessica: I know exactly what that is. So actually, I got into it like tarot and stuff during COVID.
James: Really?
Jessica: My sister-in-law, she's a big tarot reader and stuff. So her and I used to, every time we'd get together, she'd always read my tarot and stuff and it was a lot of fun and I enjoyed it. For I think it was like a birthday, she gifted me my first set of tarot cards, which as a witch you actually have to have your first set of tarot cards gifted to you. That's actually a tradition. So I thought it was really cool. She gifted me, actually my first two sets she gifted me.
James: Jess really is into this stuff. Her character in Dungeons and Dragons is a witch as well, right? Yes. I'm just giving a little background to the hair workings of Jess.
Jessica: The real story behind me is I'm a huge nerd and I love tarot and I love Dungeons and Dragons and I love storytelling. And Harry Potter. Oh my god, I love Harry Potter. Same.
James: You know, I sent it to you, but they have a really crazy fan night thing going on at Universal for Harry Potter. They're gonna have a walkthrough maze. I know.
Jessica: It's gonna be really cool. I guess
James: it's gonna be where they did the Dungeons and Dragons one the year before.
Jessica: Oh, interesting. I thought the Dungeons and Dragons was still there. They moved it. I think they're moving it, yeah. Okay, yeah. We had a great time last year when we went. Oh, yeah, yeah. Your husband was... Panthero was a dwarf in the Dungeons and Dragons walkthrough. I love how much he gets into everything.
BJ: He's like super into it. He's an actor, I'm telling you. He's great.
James: You shared a scene with him in Complex Texas, which is also a movie that I'm doing. My whole thing is just me being like, your wife's amazing.
BJ: Yeah, we had to cut that out
James: of the movie. He kept saying that. It
BJ: was great. I
James: was like, I brought Jeff's chocolate.
BJ: Here, take the chocolate out. Oh my god, that chocolate was amazing. I knew you would like it from the Bay Area.
Jessica: I wanted to go to the set, but I had a flight the next couple days. Oh, I
James: never even thought about this. Is that why you guys instantly hit it off? You're both from the Bay? It was probably
BJ: a year later that I realized that Jess had posted things where she was like, I miss the Bay because.
James: You always knew,
BJ: don't lie. That's why I got her chocolate from the Bay.
Jessica: And that's why we're like, okay, this is gonna work.
BJ: Her energy is not LA energy. That's what it is. And you're just such a logistical beast of how you're doing things. I mean, she's definitely a powerhouse in this business, for sure.
James: I mean, that's why we
BJ: were so excited to have you on this, because we were like, oh, you're a female producer that's actually doing some of the biggest moves. Me and my partner, we talk about that all the time.
James: Boss lady energy, for sure.
BJ: Jess is doing such amazing things. It's awesome.
James: She is the first one in the office and the last one to leave every single day. That's true, actually. How
Jessica: do you know that? Because I'll talk. Because I call you.
James: Because I'm like, hey, let's go grab dinner. And you're like, I'm still at the office. I'm like, it's 830.
Jessica: Yeah. I try not to do that all the time. Yeah. I try not to do that all the time.
James: Well, especially right now, prepping for a can, I'm sure. Oh, my gosh.
Jessica: Yeah. No, it's a lot of work. I mean, with Cannes, I mean, we have most of our stuff booked. We're still kind of finalizing the lineup, which we're going to send and we're going to be doing some fun acquisition announcements along with Complex Texas. So hopefully now we have to post this after the press release hits, but that's okay.
James: I'm sure this won't beat the press release. We have two episodes recorded before.
BJ: And we could mix it all up. You could be episode five by the time it ends up being there. Well, except I said episode three at the start of this.
James: Oh, that's true. So we should keep it that way.
BJ: It has to be the third episode. So to go back, before you got into the entertainment industry, did the stones and the tarot cards come After you being in the entertainment industry? Way after.
Jessica: Just to put into your perspective, I went to school in 2011, graduated, and started working at VMI in 2015. I was actually in school. So you fully graduated
James: film school?
Jessica: Yeah, I fully graduated. I have a bachelor's.
James: So technically she is more qualified than I am. I did not go to film school. So she was really right about that hat.
Jessica: No, actually, you know, I have to say and I hate to put it down, but like I think that film school it just it really depends on where you go. I can't say that about all schools. I do think I was not a big fan of my school and I'll be the first to say it. But, you know, I don't think that the lessons I got taught Jessica Russo. Jessica Russo.
James: And I made every mistake possible on my first movie, but that's how I learned from it because I was like, okay, this is what I could do next time to fix that and this and that. And so I think that's kind of, you know, better. I mean, it's a lot of these film schools. You don't even touch a camera or make something until three years in.
BJ: I learned how to like pull like things off of DV tape. Oh God, I did that too. Yeah, that kind of vibe. And then I really felt like when my film school, like it was a lot of a lot of People that didn't make it.
Jessica: So they were also teaching now. No, that was a lot of it too. But I have to say like, so I was lucky. I mean, they did teach us like how to touch a camera and how to record and we would shoot films and films, always short films, but like never got taught about distribution, never got taught about how to like raise money, never got taught about what to do. Those are the keys to making movies. So many people have
James: the talent, but don't know how to actually get a movie made. Like
Jessica: honestly, which maybe I should just do. I want to go to like every film school and give them a delivery schedule.
James: Oh, yeah, I mean, delivery is where so many people slip up. I mean, that's something that I don't think I've ever heard a podcast talk about, and I don't want to bore you by getting into details, but the level of paperwork you have to deliver when you deliver a movie, and if you're delivering this somewhere like a Lionsgate or like a Saban, like a bigger studio, you are so much paperwork and chain of title stuff, you would be mind blown. Yeah. And it is not something that you could just casually do. That's why I like to do it while I'm filming. I create the Dropbox and just start uploading stuff as I go because towards the end it becomes a mad dash. The movie's done, fully done with post, and you're still going back and forth over documents.
Jessica: Yeah, because you're not getting paid until that last document is signed, fully signed, fully executed, both sides.
James: And the movie can't come out until all the agreements are executed as well.
BJ: Even your guys on Complex Texas would be like, BJ, have you not turned in paperwork? Literally from across the room. Like, I haven't seen your paperwork today. Can I get paperwork? Can I get paperwork?
James: They were
BJ: very pushy. They say it's been 10 minutes. I don't see any
Jessica: paperwork. Fill it out. Yeah, no, but I think that's actually a really helpful thing. I mean, I guess that would be more for the producing like courses, but I really think having a I don't like I don't know if that's top of giving them a delivery schedule and making them deliver on Oh, for
James: sure. I also think that, you know, it's important for directors to understand what is actually required through post and delivery. Because, you know, I think one of the superpowers that I've had is I can put on both a producer's hat and a director's hat. And, you know, I think once you're able to think in both worlds... You can get more made, whereas like so many directors are only focused on their vision and they don't realize why certain things of their vision can't happen the way they want to because of whatever reasons, be it safety, financials, whatever. And so to fully understand both sides of it I think is important.
Jessica: I agree. I also think all directors should take acting classes. I agree. No, I agree. There's a course. I never took it because I realized quickly I didn't want to do directing, but there was a course they taught. One of my teachers was directing for actors, and it was really great. Got to do a shout out. Shout out to Eves, who was one of my teachers, who's probably one of the best ones there. But yeah, he did this course where it was like directing for actors where he would have the directors act, essentially, and then give each other direction, which I think is brilliant. I think some of the better directors came from acting because they can communicate with each other. I'm always so impressed with
BJ: you because you're so good at acting. You just don't think that you are, I think, but you are good. I always think James is super good. There was a moment in Complexus where he laughs, and I thought he was just laughing at me, but like James is in the scene laughing, but I was like, ooh, I did good, because I was like looking at him as the director, normal, you know?
Jessica: Well, that's still on the cut. I think it's gonna make it, too. Yeah, yeah, yeah,
James: yeah, yeah. She's giving her notes right now. She didn't cut me out. She left me in there.
BJ: I said her husband and I are in the same scene. We can't be cut out, okay?
James: But yeah, no, I just think that, yes, directors really should take acting classes because it helps them know the thought process of the actor and how to communicate and that language. I think it's important to understand language. I think communication and language is the key to filmmaking. And so when you talk about delivery schedules, understanding from a producer's standpoint what is required at delivery... It's how you can articulate and communicate effectively with sales agents and with distributors so that when somebody comes in and is bringing you a project, you feel safe because they know what they're talking about. And there's so many people that like to quote unquote fake it till they make it. And distributors and sales agents can see through that in 10 seconds. They literally can be like, this person is talking nonsense. It's like if you haven't done it and delivered it from beginning to end, They can tell like they really can. I mean, I'm sure you've been pitched projects where you're hearing stuff and you're just like there is no way this person knows what they're talking about.
Jessica: Yeah, it usually takes me a good like not even like probably a couple minutes.
BJ: What goes into you green lighting something like what has to what has that this day and age in 2026? What has to go in for you being like, okay, I'm gonna do this move.
James: I'd imagine script team and name, right?
Jessica: Script team name and then the financials making sense so that was kind of tracking back to like an earlier conversation how things have changed I mean over the years like the pre-sale market used to be phenomenal you could go to Cannes with a Dolph Lundgren movie and pre-sell the whole thing those days are done actors that are pre-selling now are much more expensive to get and so now the financials need to make sense because also because of the fact that there's a lot of The SVOD subscription players who are producing their own content and not looking to the distributors to acquire were losing a lot of those license fees. So now, you know, a lot of equity has to now come to the table.
James: So the SVOD situation, I kind of want to touch on this because I've kind of seen this going on a lot recently, you know, with Netflix acquiring Warner Brothers or if that happens.
Jessica: It was actually Paramount.
James: Yeah, Paramount, sorry. Yeah, the whole Netflix and Paramount situation. But in looking at those deals and what was going on, my thought process from seeing everything from the outside perspective is that once the strikes happened, all of these streamers kind of pivoted towards utilizing, because they couldn't use their money towards making new content at that time, they used it to acquire libraries. Jessica Russo. You know SVOD licenses for indie films but it seems right now the focus is buying libraries and acquiring other companies. Is that something you're kind of seeing as the trend or is that kind of just something that from my perspective I'm just seeing but isn't really?
Jessica: No, no, no, no. I think you're spot on. So definitely I've been seeing a lot of library acquisitions happening. A lot of companies you're seeing getting bought out. Yeah, because Gravitas just got bought out too. From Shout. Yeah. Or now Radial. Yeah. Yeah, they got bought out. I'm trying to think there's a handful of others that did too. But I think what it is now is, and again, this is really due to the birth of AVOD because there is a subscription free place where people can go and watch movies and Tubi is one of the biggest AVOD players. I've
James: always found the AVOD thing so funny because, you know, how streamers started was because everybody was like, ah, TV has commercials. Let's stop doing TV. Then they come up with this subscription thing and then they go, this isn't working. Do you know what does work? Having ads. Why don't we go back to that? It's like, oh, wait, now we have commercials again.
Jessica: I know. I'm like, what a shock. That's true. What was that thing called? What was it? TiVo? We're gonna get that back again where you could like fast forward through commercials. Everything
James: old is new again. No, I just think it's hilarious that that was like, oh, I came back in a full circle and now we're back to commercials. Yeah,
Jessica: everyone's tired of paying like, I don't know, it's expensive. Like I know
James: It'd be like, what, like $500 to have every single thing per month.
Jessica: Each of them are like 20 bucks ahead. I think I do like Disney and Hulu. The bundle. The bundle, yeah, with HBO. And it's still like 20-something a month.
James: Yeah, I know. I used your HBO. Oh yeah, that's right, you did.
Jessica: Yeah, I
James: did so I could watch Night of the Seven Kingdom. That's
Jessica: right.
James: Yes.
Jessica: That was a good one. But yeah, to go back to your question, yes, I do think that that is a trend right now that's happening. I mean, we'll see what happens. But I'm also still seeing the SVOD still producing. Maybe not as much, but they're still producing. And again, that's where they're wanting to put a lot of their acquisitions for
James: us. Yeah, but that's their TV shows and flagship things. It's not the indie smaller projects. Right. Now, let me ask this. And if you don't want to answer it, we could always cut around it. But let me ask this. Do you think the whole situation that happened with Chicken Soup for the Soul played into this situation?
Jessica: What do you mean?
James: Well, just them kind of folding with Redbox and...
Jessica: Well, I mean, they... I mean, yes and no. The chicken soup for the soul... I mean, the issue was is that Redbox started and then when they started acquiring, they were acquiring very heavy.
James: We all miss those nice... Screen media, yeah.
Jessica: Well, no, no, no. Just like in the independent space when Redbox were doing deals like I... Oh, they'd buy like 50,000 units of one of my movies, you know.
James: But even on new movies,
Jessica: they were paying like MGs or large license fees much larger than I think... You know it could benefit from and you know I really do miss those big checks but what ended up happening is they just bought so much they couldn't sustain it because the films were performing especially because I mean Redbox doesn't have like I don't think it had an asphalt like they're not an asphalt but like an avob platform I think it was just DVDs so it was a weird business model and so they went under screen media bought them but I don't think they realize all the debt that was on that deal yeah and so which ended up causing them to fold And then Chicken Soup for the Soul, which now it's like, I don't even know those movies. All the time I get filmmakers like, can I get my movie back from Scream Media? Can I get my movie back? And I'm like, it's probably tied up in a lawsuit.
James: It's tough. But that situation, I think, you know, timed out with everything kind of also kind of created a playing field because at that time, them and Netflix were going to film festivals and just paying astronomical numbers to get movies. Yeah. And I think it created a large expectation that no longer exists because they're not going in buying a film for $30 million just because it played Sundance and seemed cool.
BJ: And then you were also saying that not a lot of MGs happening these days at all.
James: Well, no, there are MGs happening, but they're happening less on the pre-sale side. Yeah, I
Jessica: mean, it's, I would say it's definitely a mix. I mean, there's still MGs on the pre-sale side. I would say it's less than before.
James: Yeah.
Jessica: So where before you could really go- It's harder for the significant name. Yes. Got it. And now it's like the way the financials work, it used to be, you could probably, like, I would say the financial model used to be more where you could do- I would say probably like a little bit of debt and majority pre-sales I would say 50 to 60 percent you could probably secure through pre-sales or maybe even more. And now depending on the cast it could be less than that.
James: Well, I mean, just look at Darkness of Man. We were able to do that almost entirely with pre-sales. We did. Yeah.
Jessica: We got really lucky on that one because we were right before the crash.
James: Yeah, exactly. Directly before. Yeah. Well, like literally what? Like a month after we delivered, the strikes happened. Yeah.
Jessica: Exactly. That's wild.
BJ: Yeah. That's so crazy. And you touched on something. You said that people come after their movies to get them back from the deals that they've signed over the course of time. Is that something that actually happens? Can you regain the rights to your movie back? It all depends.
Jessica: It depends on who bought it. It depends on how long. They usually charge fees if you want to get it back, if you want to pay those break fees. It really depends. That's
BJ: wild. I mean I guess I could see that when we were talking just here recently that Kathy Griffin had went back and got like a lot of her uh my life on the d-list yeah uh back for that reason because she was like I had to pay a lot of money for it but like I wanted it because I can do something with it Taylor Swift did the same thing and that's what that was right okay that makes total sense I mean she had to pay a pretty penny for that but she's also probably banking That's crazy to me. That's crazy to me. I mean what Celine just put her stuff back on right now for her new tour slash concert or whatever and I just see all my gays being like oh my god I'm in tears right now because they all got tickets so it's a rarity.
James: Isn't it just my heart will go on over and over again? I mean that's all I know.
BJ: That's all you know. That's all I know, you know what I mean? Like I'm a bad gay, so you know what I mean? Does she have other songs or is it just Titanic? I mean she's got everything, but I mean Titanic's what I know her for, for sure.
James: Wait, so what made, let me ask you this, what made Titanic a gay icon song slash movie? There's no gay themes in the Titanic.
BJ: I thought you asked about an MG. I said I don't know.
Jessica: Wait, is Titanic known as like a gay-themed movie?
BJ: No, I think it's... Just Celine Dion's song? I think it's just Celine. Celine made that like a gay movie. When did that happen?
James: They're like, you made Titanic.
BJ: Somehow she became like a gay icon. I mean, I mean, people probably... Does that have to do with Las Vegas? Like where did this happen? I mean, the Vegas thing definitely helped it... Just continue on, because it will go on.
Jessica: Didn't she also kind of come out? Because the heart will go on. Well, she came out around the same time as Cher, right? And everyone loves Cher.
BJ: Everybody, I mean the gays love Cher, everybody loves Cher. So I wonder
Jessica: if like that...
BJ: I mean, they became these icons. I mean, Mariah Carey, the same way. I mean, even though now I just look at Mariah Carey, I mean, she has amazing songs. I listen to a lot of random things, but she just comes around every Christmas.
Jessica: Yeah.
BJ: And you put her back in the box after Christmas. She comes around every Christmas. Is that a thing? Yeah, you've never heard that? No.
Jessica: Her Christmas song? No, they have this whole thing where she's in an ice, that's true, but she's in like an ice cube and they have to like defreeze her for every Christmas. Is that a real thing? Yes, look it up.
BJ: I mean, she's been doing new commercials. They defreeze her every
Jessica: Christmas from a... Yes.
James: Guys, I didn't get a lot of sleep last night and I don't know if I'm hallucinating right now. To be honest, yeah. Are we legitimately like, you know, Demolition Manning her every Christmas. Not in real life, but on her ass. Austin Powers.
BJ: Her marketing is a different commercial every year now for the last few years that is her coming, getting unfroze and this and that. They have little hair dryers.
James: Do you see her for the rest of the year? Are we sure we're just not cryogenically freezing her?
BJ: I was listening to Fantasy the other day. Oh, I love fantasy.
James: That's one of my
BJ: favorites. And I was like, I forget that she has these baller ass songs that are dope, but then you just think about her Christmas song being everything. But yeah, she has that. Her and Celine are probably more of the gay icon type vibes that are in Vegas. Yeah, Mariah, of all things.
James: But J-Lo's not a gay icon.
BJ: I mean, she is, but not in the same way. I was more interested as a gay person looking at her relationship with Ben Affleck. Aren't you still?
Jessica: She has the keys.
BJ: When he would just slam that door on her and be like, I've had enough. And you were like, oh, well, he's had enough of this relationship. He's had enough. It seems wild. But no, J-Lo, also gay icon, but also somehow or another still looks 35.
Jessica: Oh, I know, right? Can we talk about a gay icon who just came back who, as you know, I'm so obsessed with?
BJ: Please tell me.
Jessica: Hilary Duff.
BJ: Oh, that's right!
James: Hilary Duff is a gay icon?
BJ: Yes!
James: Is it just if it's a female singer? I'm just not understanding what makes them a gay icon. You think Clay Aiken would be a gay icon?
BJ: The gays don't even want him. I don't understand the rules of this. The outspoken allies of everything.
James: Understood. So they're outspoken allies.
Jessica: She had a commercial which I love it's resurfacing now because back remember when we were all kids like everyone used to say that's gay that's gay when like that was ugly or that's bad. Yeah. So there's that really popular commercial she did like years ago where it's like she's at the mall and then or not the mall some store and this girl's like oh this is gay and then she was like don't say that that's hurtful and it was like big it was a big deal because I don't know if they did that I mean definitely where we're from but I don't know if they did that here but like everyone used to say that like that's gay and I mean that's bad or that's ugly. Sadly
James: I had TiVo so I would just fast forward to the commercial so I don't know.
BJ: I will clear that out. The other day I was having a conversation with my partner and we were just like randomly just chatting about things and I go, oh man, that's the bomb. And I was like, oh shit, and threw that shit out there from the, from, and I said it just came out of nowhere. Oh my gosh, I always say that.
James: Wait, are you not allowed to say that's the bomb?
BJ: No, but that's just something nobody says anymore, you know? Oh, I thought that was
James: like, also, you just tell me you can't say that's
BJ: gay. I was like, oh, you can't say that's the bomb?
Jessica: Especially now. I'm like, ooh, that's the bomb.
BJ: And I stopped myself and I was like, damn, I feel like I aged myself in that one comment to each other. Oh, I still say it. I said, ooh, that's the bomb. I said, ooh.
Jessica: Or my thing is, every time I'm eating, I'm like, that's so bomb. Yeah, I say that's bomb. That's so bomb.
BJ: Yeah, that's
James: bomb, especially sushi. Bomb.
BJ: You have a way of wording things that don't seem like it ages itself. James is just cool.
Jessica: I don't know what it is about James. He just has this swag where he can say the dumbest thing and it would still come off cool. He can also fuck with people.
James: Tracksuit guys. I walk around in my pajamas at all times. This is a whole podcast where everybody else has to dress like me. I dress like this in general.
BJ: I had never done a tracksuit until we did this podcast and I was like alright I'll get tracksuit. Yeah, he goes, he goes, what do you think? And I was like, shit, man, it's kind of just like naked with an extra layer of skin. I was like, this is wild. And I went to breakfast this morning in this total outfit and everybody was like accepted it. And everybody was like, okay, legit.
James: Wait till people start coming up to you and being like, yo, that outfit is awesome. And I'm like, I'm just in my pajamas. The
Jessica: best is like James going to like Soho house or like all these like other bougie places in his tracksuit.
James: Oh yeah, I love doing
BJ: that, yeah. We do
James: tracksuit red carpets,
BJ: guys. I couldn't believe he was playing an actor in Complex Texas and I look at the wardrobe person and she's like, you know, putting all the stuff on me and they're going over everything and I go, oh, what is James wearing? And she's like, what do you think he's wearing? She's like, we got him a nice tracksuit.
Jessica: Speaking of tracksuits, can we also talk about, in Darkness of Man, how Spencer Bresslin, you made his character off of you, like, in tracksuit. She was completely inspired by your wardrobe.
James: Yes, I have him wearing a tracksuit. Actually, hilariously, there is a character in almost every one of my movies that is the character that I find usually the funniest, and that's the one I always make wear a tracksuit. Really? Yeah, so Cam in Boris is Dead is wearing a tracksuit the whole movie.
Jessica: Wait, who's in Complex that has the tracksuit?
James: James.
Jessica: Oh, but that's technically not your movie.
James: That's it, you produced it. That was me, but in Survive the Game, Simon Phillips' character, he plays English. He is wearing a tracksuit, the whole thing too.
Jessica: Okay, so you guys can edit this, so I'm gonna ask for a spoiler. Is the lead guy in your VHS movie gonna be wearing a tracksuit? Oh shit,
BJ: that's good.
Jessica: Who's the tracksuit? Because that's not a funny
James: movie. So yeah, you guys are calling this out and there is a person in a tracksuit that makes a cameo.
Jessica: It's a cameo.
James: Well, he's in one scene. He gets into a fight and that's BJ.
BJ: Oh, wait, I'm wearing a tracksuit.
James: Look at that. Learning shit on here.
BJ: I mean, I can bring my own. I'm a cheap hire. At this point, I got my own wardrobe.
James: Why do you think I've been asking so many questions about which tracksuit you're wearing to the podcast? I've been trying to figure out which one that I'm gonna pick and be like, okay, bring this one to set that day. I didn't want us to
BJ: clash either, so I'm like, James, I'm gonna be wearing this one. These are the three that I've bought so far on Vang. So I don't show up. None of mine have images on them. They're all just kind of like that. Yeah, mine have tigers.
James: I love the tigers. Good
BJ: to know, which I will never forget like Sticky Fingers and his girlfriend just coming up to you in Darkness of Man. She said, oh, you got the Versace on James and Nas a knockoff. He's like, I'm wearing the knockoff. I don't want to get a sweat. I don't want to get the real shit sweaty on set. She was like, okay, okay, okay.
James: Yeah, I mean, what are you gonna do? I mean, I bought this one from a very, very high-class designer called Amazon.
BJ: Oh, Amazon. Amazon. Amazon. That's also where my collection has come from as well, Amazon.
James: You can get good tracksuit for like 40 bucks.
Jessica: To be fair, I think like this is from Amazon. I think the pants are from Ross. Yeah, based it together.
BJ: Oh, they look like they came together.
James: Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Now that they're not matching, I don't
BJ: know. Oh no, they're both Adidas, right? They're
Jessica: both Adidas, they're both Adidas.
BJ: Could've fooled us. Random question, if you could produce any movie that you would want to produce as a dream for you, what would you want to do?
Jessica: And why
BJ: would
James: James be directing it? Those are the two questions.
BJ: And who in that movie would also have a tracksuit? No,
Jessica: I have to actually... Who in that movie would also have a
BJ: tracksuit?
Jessica: Who in that movie would have a tracksuit? So I can't say because I'm in the process of putting that dream together right now. So I'm getting the script put together. I
James: know about the project but I've been sworn to secrecy.
Jessica: That's one of them.
James: Panthro made me say I would never repeat it. I have another one. I'm about to get Panthro drunk.
BJ: He doesn't drink. Did Panther not drink? No. He's been known to have one with me sometimes.
Jessica: He likes to be like a social. But no, yeah, I'm working on something. We'll see. But I don't want to say anything yet because it's, yeah.
James: Well, BJ's been itching to have a conversation with somebody about this, so let's see if you'll take the bait. What are your thoughts on alien life? Do you believe that there... Of course. Yeah, so you for sure believe that there are aliens. Yeah.
Jessica: There's completely... There's total aliens, but also... Actually, it's funny, I was in El Salvador. I just want to see their movies.
James: I want to see the aliens' movies. I would assume they have movies.
Jessica: I don't mean to get political, and I'm not going in that direction, but didn't Trump say he's releasing the files? Where are they? They bought aliens.gov.
BJ: Did they really? Yeah, they bought it. They bought the .gov for it, so that's where it will probably be released at whenever they get done with Epstein.
Jessica: Okay, can you like, yeah, let's keep an eye on that. But no, I do believe in aliens. Wait, do they also have Epstein.gov?
BJ: No, man, they definitely didn't want to do that. They definitely didn't want to do that. But there is the DOJ website where you can type in everybody's name to see if they pop up in it, so all of my old bosses, I'm just like... And multiple of my old bosses pop up, and I'm like, mm-hmm, I knew it, motherfucker, I knew it.
Jessica: So yes, I do believe in aliens. So actually, funny story, when I was in El Salvador a couple weeks ago, we went and visited this Mayan temple, and they showed us a, we saw this alien, well, not alien, it was supposed to be a person, one of their burials, one of their gods, but his head was like this.
James: Yeah, it's elongated.
Jessica: It was elongated head. I was like, tell me that's not an alien.
James: When you look at these ancient civilizations like the Mayans or the Egyptians as well, their pharaohs had these elongated crowns. And they talked about beings coming from the skies, like angels or whatever, these different things, gods. But if you think about it, That building the pyramids, the exact math and stuff that would have had to exist to build it that way and technology. It's hard to do now. So to have it that precise then, plus the elongated heads, it feels like aliens may have come to Earth at some point way before our time. Way before TikTok.
BJ: They were doing drawings in the sand, they were doing the Aztec drawings, all of those crazy, what is it, the Aztec lines or whatever it is, where it's these crazy images that only could be seen from above. For things, and back then nothing was flying to us that we know of, but what were you trying to signal for these things? It just seems like, and such straight lines where they were like, damn, some of this stuff looks laser cut of all things to get these straight lines on some of these doors and different type things.
Jessica: I also believe too the fact that society Way back then, this is going to be a little weird, but I don't care. Tis the podcast. This is a chill podcast. We talk about everything here. But there was magic back then. I think there used to be magic and that's why... You've heard those stories of the Greek gods turning into animals and stuff. Yeah. I feel like there used to be more magic and now the aliens stunned us. Do you think there were dragons? Oh, of course. I'm waiting for those.
BJ: You look at other religions that we talked about.
James: There were definitely giants. I think there were for sure giants. There's so much reference to it in biblical stuff and all that. I mean, there's just so much reference to giants that I think there were definitely giants at some point. I just
BJ: watched Joe Rogan's podcast with the guy who hosts Y Files. I don't know if you watch Y Files. Y Files is phenomenal, by the way. Just an amazing documentary series and Joe Rogan had him on and they talked about the Grand Canyon because there's places in the Grand Canyon you can't get to without that black helicopter coming over and watching you to make sure you can't go there. And it's fucking crazy. You cannot go there.
James: Well, we were just talking about this. The ocean has only been like, what, 2% explored? So 98% of the ocean in our world has not been explored. I think that's crazy. I think that's insane that we have not gone around looking at that. And have you heard this story about this guy who says he was kidnapped by, I mean, whether this is true or not is, you know, I'm not vouching for this story, but it is circulating online that this guy said he was an architect and he was kidnapped by, this was like a month ago, he said he was kidnapped by dolphins and brought to the bottom of the ocean to like build like some buildings and then brought back up. And then after that happened, he reported it like because he was kept down there for like six days and they had like given some bubble. He claimed there was a bubble they gave him that he was able to like, you know, breathe. And it was like something like Greg the dolphin or something. And after he reported this to authorities, they were like, oh yeah, no, this guy's crazy. And then proceeded to kill all the dolphins in the area that he was in. Oh my gosh. There is an actual law that you cannot be alone with a dolphin. They say it's because the dolphin will like you.
BJ: It's like that South Rock episode. He said, fuck are you dolphins? Fuck are you whales?
James: I don't know.
Jessica: Oh my gosh. That's terrible. Is that man like executed?
James: No, the guy's still alive, but the dolphins.
Jessica: But like, is he locked up forever?
James: Why? Why would he be locked up?
Jessica: Because he killed a bunch of dolphins.
James: He didn't kill them. The government... Wait, the government? The local authorities, after he reported it, they just like... Why is this not a bigger story? You could Google it. We don't know if they killed him, but suddenly all these dead dolphins started washing up on the beach.
Jessica: Why is this not a bigger story?
James: Again, this is me paraphrasing. Yeah, we
BJ: just random storytelling on some shit. Why is this not a bigger story? But the fucking ocean is fucking crazy. I mean, I would rather go to space than go to fucking down in the bottom of the ocean and just fucking hang out of crazy shit. I mean, it definitely seems crazy. I saw some conspiracy thing we watched a night too long ago. Where somebody was saying you know the Bermuda Triangle was never like all of this stuff just going down for any reason that it's a thing that would move around in the Bermuda Triangle that would one UFO comes out completely non it's AI so it comes out it controls itself it flies back in that Little plant down there, which is run by AI, makes another one. That's a completely different thing. That's why we keep seeing different vehicles. It shoots that out. It goes and does its thing. It shoots back in. They rebuild it. And I was like, that is interesting because all of these things, for the most part, are different every time you see these UAPs. Besides the orbs. The orbs kind of stay standard to some degree. But all the crafts besides the triangles are different all the time. For sure. I'm weird. I love fucking UFOs. No, I do too.
James: Wouldn't you think that maybe, you know, UFOs would have some type of cloaking device to just make them look like airplanes at this point? We have seen that. And you'd just be like, hey, maybe half the airplanes are seeing. So
BJ: we watch a guy called Chaos Moogle, I think it is, or something on YouTube. He just finds the most up-to-date UAP videos. His last few for the last few weeks have been these almost clouds. That morph into kind of a different type of craft, but it is constantly surrounded by what looks like to be a cloud on things. And it's crazy shit. But they look like clouds? Like Nope?
James: Like the movie Nope?
BJ: Yeah, so it's so Nope. I always wonder if Jordan Peele had that inside of it, because you know how Spielberg be doing all that shit that's like, I mean, well, hell, he's coming out with that Disclosure movie. I said, damn, if that ain't timely. Yeah,
James: that movie looks very interesting. They just released a new trailer the other day. It seems like it's very different than what I thought it was about.
BJ: Same. I said, oh, you're walking with some deer and shit. I said, we got animals involved. Yeah, and he was
James: able to speak the language or something.
BJ: I said, damn, she was just trying to do the weather. So now Emily Blunt didn't just go on that deal. I'm excited. I think it's timely somehow or another. I always feel like Spielberg's got the inside info. I feel like he gave the inside info to Jordan Peele to be able to have the AI nope. But
Jessica: also Jordan Peele is probably just super nerdy and just studies this for fun.
BJ: His movies are phenomenal.
Jessica: They're so out there. He's super creative.
BJ: Nope. That movie is fucking awesome though because it fakes you into totally thinking that it's the little alien people that you see in the trailer for like one second. And then when you watch the movie, you're like, damn, that's just little kids in costumes right there. That's not what the movie- Spoiler. No, I'm just kidding. Too soon? Too soon?
James: If you haven't seen it by that point though it's like you know this is like 10 years ago now
BJ: at this point. Our director on the side over here is just giving us things.
Jessica: That's almost like for me like when people get mad that I spill the end of Game of Thrones. It's like you haven't seen it in a while.
BJ: I say you don't know Red Wedding.
Jessica: I want to pull up this
James: dolphin thing so I could get the exact story. You can't find it? It was a satirical thing. I got pranked. Was this something that came out on, is this something that, did I see this on April Fools that I just was talking about this thing?
BJ: I want to believe though.
James: You know what guys, apparently I got April fooled about this dolphin thing, but you know what?
BJ: I'm gonna, I'm gonna continue telling, I'm gonna believe this. Also to 360 back on it, would you ever come back on the podcast and actually do card readings for him?
Jessica: I would. Can you do palm readings? No, but Panthro can.
James: What?
Jessica: You could have fooled me. I could have just told you some shit. I know, and I could have lied. No, I totally would. I have to say I'm a little bit out of practice, so I gotta use my handy-dandy notes.
BJ: What is your favorite thing you've ever got to produce? Or Sale from VMI.
James: And why was it Darkness of Man?
Jessica: Why was it Darkness of Man? Oh my gosh, that's a really good, good, good question. I'd have to say... I guess my very first movie I produced, the first feature under my belt, I'm very proud of. It's called... Well, originally titled Wake Up, but then we retitled it to Awake. But it was Jonathan Rhys-Meyers, Francesca Eastwood. And it's funny, we've seen it remade a bunch of times, but it... A few years ago, it was a lot more original, but it's the story of this guy who wakes up, and he has no idea who he is or where he is, and basically he's wanted for all these murders. And so he has to kind of go to clear his name. And that was really exciting. I got to shoot it in Oklahoma, which was a lot of fun, although I thought a Twister was going to come get me because Twister's one of my favorite movies.
James: I would have thought it would have been the Sex Pistols doc. Oh, that's right.
Jessica: Let me get to that. A big reason why I'm excited about that movie is because that was our first film we got to sell to Netflix.
James: That was a big one, yeah. That's awesome.
Jessica: So my first producing film got to go to Netflix, which I think is so incredible.
BJ: That's why you're incredible.
James: Pernicious went to Netflix also.
Jessica: There you go.
BJ: I never even know. I saw that movie. I was just excited as shit to be a part of that.
Jessica: But no, the Sex Pistols doc, that one I will have to say also is one of my favorites, but mainly because I got to meet Billy Idol, which was so cool. I love him. He was the nicest man. He came in and had his team and he took pictures with everybody. But yeah, that film we're actually releasing. It'll be out May 24th, I believe.
BJ: How did you get that? How did you get involved in that movie?
Jessica: Yeah, a filmmaker approached us who had this relationship with Glenn Matlock from the Sex Pistols. It's based on his book. I was a teenage sex pistol about growing up in the Sex Pistols and like basically forming the band and becoming the band and also... Anyone who's like a fan would know that he was really iced out and then when later on everyone kind of thought that the Sex Pistols main bass player was Sid Vicious because he had that look he was like punk rock but no in reality it was Glenn and Glenn did the bass on all of their big hit songs so it's a really interesting take on the band especially if you're into punk rock.
James: Where can we see that at? Shout out to punk rockers named Glenn.
Jessica: Glenn Matlock, baby. And Glenn Danzig.
BJ: And Glenn Danzig. We shout out to
James: punk
Jessica: rockers named Glenn.
BJ: I'm always like, James, can we get mother in a movie? James goes, no chance.
Jessica: No chance. He'd give it to me, maybe. So it's out in the UK now on Sky. Oh, that's awesome. So it's out now and then it'll be coming to... I'd
James: imagine it'd have a big audience over in the UK. It does, yeah.
Jessica: And then it'll be coming out on Amazon and Apple for Rent and Buy. And which
James: songs you get?
Jessica: God Save the Queen. We have, oh my gosh, I'm totally on the spot. I'm trying to remember. We have Problems. We have, oh my gosh, I'm blanking. I'd have to Google it.
James: You said two hits and more hits.
Jessica: No, we have a lot of tracks. That's what's really impressive. Like we got a really good deal. And their manager was like the sweetest woman ever and she helped me a lot.
James: Well, Jess, unfortunately, this is the end of our show. So is there, where can people find you?
Jessica: At VMI. No, I'm just kidding. No, you can find me on Instagram, jessierabbit. Want to spell that for people? J-E-S-Z-I-R-A-B-B-I-T. That's really where you'll find me. Or you can find me at VMI.
BJ: Yeah. In the office, which your office looks dope.
James: You want to plug the website?
Jessica: Yeah, find us at VMI. It's www.vmiworldwide.com and we can find us at VMI Worldwide, Instagram, TikTok, the whole nine. And aren't you
BJ: doing like an industry night together at some point in time? Oh yeah. On the 23rd,
James: yeah, but I don't think this will be out before then. But yes, Jess is gonna have a film market table there.
Jessica: Yes, we're doing film market. Yes.
James: We'll be the first of many. Is there anything you'd like to leave viewers with? Like any advice? Anything like that?
Jessica: Oh, advice. I mean, I think kind of if anyone who's looking to get into film, I think it's really important to understand the distribution and the sales side. I do think you should do an internship. I think you should read a delivery schedule. I think you should go to many networking events as you can. It's not fun. Especially mine. Especially James's. It's a little hard sometimes, especially if you're by yourself, but getting to meet new people I think is also really important. And just be a good person and be yourself. That, I think, is the best. Yes, and don't believe every story you read about dolphins. Yeah, don't.
BJ: Not all of them. And just to throw it in, it is intimidating. I 100% agree with you so much. But if you go to James's events, which he has on a monthly basis... It is the biggest group of awesome filmmaker entertainment type people. I mean, to the point where I've had people reach out from those events to me to be like, do you need music for a movie? Do you need this? Do you need that? I literally had somebody the other day just randomly see some things and be like, hey, my husband does Does James need any 3D printed props for anything they're doing? And it is the nicest crowd. It is intimidating at first because there is some big celebrities there that it can be intimidating, but they're all super, super sweet. And if you're just yourself, it just works out really, really well. This business is who you know.
James: Anybody who goes to a networking event is there to network, so it's not weird to approach people you don't
BJ: know. Agreed. It is one of the nicest places. It is how you can get into the business. It is how you can keep your stuff moving. It is phenomenal. We've talked about this. I've never met a group of people where everybody is so excited for each other.
Jessica: Yeah.
James: So last thing before we wrap up here, since you're telling everybody to look at a delivery schedule, are they allowed to reach out to you for a delivery schedule if they don't know where to get one?
Jessica: Only if you say you're coming from the tracksuit pod.
James: Okay. Yeah, that's the key word. There you go. Tracksuit podcast. You heard it here first. Awesome. Thank you so much, Jess. Thank
Jessica: you.