SERIES FINALE. On this, the last episode of the show, KEVIN GEIGER and BRENDAN DAVIS discuss their lives in 3 acts, namely Reckoning: with what’s happened and what’s changed, Orientation: to where we REALLY are, right now - us and the world, and Transformation: the only good option for us moving forward, in our opinions. Adapt or die, right? You can also watch this episode on my YouTube channel (the new show will live there when ready) at https://www.youtube.com/user/SMCineman/ and add / contact me via my Twitter @VeritasInLux. THANK YOU for the great support over the years, please keep enjoying and sharing past episodes you’ve missed, and I hope to see you again soon.

If I Knew You Better

KEVIN GEIGER & BRENDAN DAVIS | Fretful Laowai: Endgame

JONATHAN LONDON (http://www.geekscape.net) has had an eclectic and cool career. Radio shows with bands like Blink-182 and Weezer led to music videos and more. He started Geekscape way back in 2005, where Kevin Smith first learned the joys of podcasting. We discuss Jonathan’s creative career, his mental and physical health journey, his cool older brother Daniel and how massively things changed when a drunk driver cut his life short, younger brother and former WWE superstar Paul London, and dealing with the normalization of pain. It’s an incredibly useful, funny and moving talk; please don’t miss it.

JONATHAN LONDON | Creativity, Perspective, and GEEKSCAPE

“I feel like I need to be objectified for more than just my body. I also want to be objectified for my brain.”   Actor, comedian, writer and producer LEAH LAMARR spent years in NYC studying acting and improv comedy there and later in LA. She is a 3-time champion in Jeff Ross and Brian Moses’ Roast Battles at The World Famous Comedy Store and host of the “Falling In Love with Leah Lamarr” podcast. We discuss learning from your heroes, being socially conscious in trying times, and what it means to relentlessly pursue your goals. Recorded two weeks ago, for context. A funny and also deeply thoughtful talk; please enjoy.    FIND all things Leah at: http://www.leahlamarr.com Leah on Twitter and Instagram: @leahlamarr

LEAH LAMARR | Acting, Comedy, Writing and Producing

Saturday Night Fever. Dracula. War Games. Director JOHN BADHAM made those classic films and many more. He honed his craft doing years of TV, then Saturday Night Fever launched him into the stratosphere. We also discuss how Gregory Peck helped him get his first job in Hollywood, his big break as a TV director, how he made his way into features, his take on the auteur theory, how feature directors can move into TV and survive, and his experiences as an author and educator. Don't miss!

JOHN BADHAM | Directing Film and TV in Hollywood

DENISE CARLSON is a very savvy film and TV producer whose war stories are shared here with insight, candor, and loads of sometimes salty humor. She’s also an old friend and colleague, and it was a real treat to get into the weeds of things with her. Among other things we discuss are her beginnings at the then William Morris Agency, her tenure at Disney TV (where she discovered “High School Musical”), and what a rude awakening it was to leap into the independent producing world. We also get into her animal rescue work and many other things too, so there’s something for everybody here. Enjoy!

DENISE CARLSON | Disney TV and Indie Film Producing

“I’m glad I got to live long enough to hear that said”. ERIC ADAM CONNER is a screenwriter, director, actor and theater kid. A childhood in Delaware led to undergrad at Penn, stints in NYC, New Hampshire summer stock, and off-Broadway theater, and finally grad school at USC. Eric’s take on his life and career in the creative arts is highly insightful and very funny. We got to know each other during my years teaching filmmaking at the New York Film Academy’s academic headquarters in Los Angeles, and we talk candidly about many topics that creative entrepreneurs especially will find relevant, relatable, or just fun, including his early brush with fame on the Howard Stern Show and having Beetlejuice as a guest at his bachelor party, among others. As color commentary, I even work in a few of my old but somehow vaguely relevant music business war stories about drinking vodka with Michael Stipe of REM and working with bands like Luna and Bad Brains in Athens, GA. Great talk! 

ERIC ADAM CONNER | Screenwriting, Theater, and Film Education

“Unity is our strength, diversity is our power”. MAX BARTOLI is a film, theater, and media writer-director-producer and also a sports businessman with a broad international portfolio. Born in Italy, educated in Florence and Rome, and former resident of the UK before becoming a US citizen, he’s received dozens of awards and much acclaim for his film work, including a Papal Blessing from Pope Benedictus. Max works as Media Director for the World Bank in DC, where much of his work - such as the unprecedented Fiat Lux light projection mapping show Max helped produce using St. Peter’s Basilica as a giant canvas -  aligns with his passions of climate change and sustainability. Max is also building his passion project: a brand-new team sport called Fireball. Max and partners created FXC: the Fireball Extreme Challenge, which has been gaining steady grassroots popularity in many countries - with 4 countries having created national teams and 11 more having applied to Max’s league - and which has its sights set on nothing less than becoming a new world sport. Links below!    IGNOTUS https://vimeo.com/42031344   FIAT LUX TEASER https://vimeo.com/180752183   FIAT LUX FULL SHOW https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WtI6P9R3x4E&t=535s   THE RISE OF HEROES - FXC - Fireball Extreme Challenge https://vimeo.com/414538254

MAX BARTOLI | Building A Worldwide Sports League

“Understand WHY you’re doing WHAT you’re doing”. Consciously directing our choices applies in most areas of our lives, and today I talk with filmmaker, professor, and author JACQUELINE FROST about this concept in terms of making aesthetic choices in cinematography and directing. But her interviews with legendary ASC (American Society of Cinematographers) members and top directors and producers inform her wider perspective in ways that I think everyone can relate to.   Book link: https://mwp.com/product/cinematography-directors-2nd-edition/

JACQUELINE FROST | Cinematography, Aesthetics, and Intentionality in Art

Knowing your audience. Multinational branding. The ideal brand-customer relationship. Creating tangible, transformative results through trust and understanding each others needs. Gumpian journeys and near-death experiences as deep-game changers. Maslow’s hierarchy of needs and harnessing the energy of facing your fears. The importance of contingencies in long-term planning, and how if you think you’re still in the same business today that you were two months ago, you’re likely in trouble. Veteran music businessman JOSH LEVINE of the “Rebel Radio” podcast and I get into all of this and more.  AMP Music Summit (online, May 6): https://ampmusicsummit.com Josh’s "Rebel Radio” Podcast: https://www.rebelradio.net Mark Levine interview: http://howchinaworks.libsyn.com/mark-levine-a-true-friend-of-china

JOSH LEVINE - Entertainment, Brands, and Creatives

RONALD PAREDES designed the logo of the podcast you’re listening to, but that’s only a tiny hint of what he’s all about. On our first talk (linked below) we talked about his background in Venezuela and his initial move to China when things went south in his home country. Today we discuss his experiences lately in Nantong, China as a father, husband, freelancer artist and designer, and socially aware human. Ronald cares deeply about women’s rights, homeless or otherwise displaced people, the overnight bricking up of the back road out of his town, rising nationalism and racism, the lack of acceptance and growing outright resentment he receives from less-educated people in his relatively rural home, and his feeling of being rootless and floating as he enters middle life. It’s a moving, candid, and powerful share by Ronald, and I’m honored to bring it to you.    Ronald Paredes online: https://mundosanto.art "Creativity Roots” latest episode: https://creativityroots.com/2020/04/22/change-happens-within/ “The Daily" April 20th episode: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/20/podcasts/the-daily/coronavirus-how-long-lockdowns.html Ronald Paredes 2017s interview: http://bigfishmiddlekingdom.libsyn.com/022-the-war-of-art-ronald-paredes

RONALD PAREDES | Floating in Uncertain Waters

 In the last week I’ve been a guest on THREE shows I love, so instead of releasing new interviews of my own, I wanted to take a break and acknowledge / share the shows that folks were nice enough to invite me on. Special THANKS to all involved with making the Grey Space Podcast, The Cinematography Podcast, and the CinemATL Podcast. Links below to check them all out!    Grey Space Podcast: https://youtu.be/VSKCGHftiX8 CinemATL Podcast: https://tinyurl.com/ycyuhxan The Cinematography Podcast: http://camnoir.com/podcast/ep71/  

BRENDAN DAVIS | The Grey Space, Cinematography, and CinemATL Podcasts

Today’s show has been a long time coming. Actor turned TV producer CHRIS SANDERS (“My Ghost Story”) joins me for a long talk about his adventurous life. He was raised in Austin and moved to LA after stints in Japan and London, but his journey was just beginning. We’ve been close friends and business colleagues for 15 years, which made it easy to do deep dives on the city of his youth, his serendipitous and symbolically charged entry into Freemasonry in LA, and how his “social media anxiety” is playing out against the backdrop of the pandemic response.    CHRIS SANDERS online: Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/xofersanders IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/name/nm3221646/ Insta: misterxofer

CHRIS SANDERS | Austin, Hollywood, and Masonry

This week, JONATHAN GARRISON and I discuss: running an international business during a global crisis; invaluable insights from his time at Goldman Sachs, Dalian Wanda Group, and elsewhere; the pros and cons of operational diversity; finance, securities, debt; structural and cultural issues in the US and China; plus what’s really happening now, what might be coming next, and more. Jon offers executive-level insights on global business presented clearly and plainly, wrapped in a fun chat between friends. Recommend!   EnRoute Global: http://www.enroute-global.com/   Jonathan Garrison on previous podcasts:  Original interview - http://bigfishmiddlekingdom.libsyn.com/046-from-punk-rock-to-international-business-jonathan-garrison   Punk Rock - http://bigfishmiddlekingdom.libsyn.com/068-big-fish-side-dish-punk-rock-jonathan-garrison   At the US Embassy in Beijing - http://bigfishmiddlekingdom.libsyn.com/103-the-state-of-migration-in-2018-event-the-bac-december-2018-mike-shaw-chrislyn-choo-cara-gleeson-jonathan-garrison-brendan-davis

JONATHAN GARRISON | Cross-Border Investments and Navigating Change

Solar City. Tesla. Climate change, sustainability, and environmental consciousness in action. Independant filmmaking. Corporate media. BILLY SAMOA SALEEBEY has worn many hats, and he’s integrated lessons learned from his diverse experiences into his production company as well as his podcast, “Insight-Out”. Billy and I first met in 2007 at the Dances With Films Festival with our respective first feature films, and it was really great to catch up with him in such detail after all those years of change for both of us. Links below!    BILLY SAMOA SALEEBEY links: insightoutshow.com billysamoa.com   BRENDAN DAVIS connect:  Twitter: @VeritasInLux  Email: https://www.crazyinagoodway.com/contact-us

BILLY SAMOA SALEEBEY | Filmmaking, Renewable Energy, and Media

Film and TV writer-director BEN ROCK (http://benrockonline.com) is an old friend, and we discuss all of this and more: Parenting and working while quarantining at home in Los Angeles. Building a career both before and after a lottery win (The Blair Witch Project). One of the best talks I’ve had lately about many things, including US politics, science, Faust, religion, China, the potential long-term implications of COVID-19 in all directions, and how we move forward to whatever the new normal ends up being - y’know, a good lighthearted chat. DMs are open on Twitter @VeritasInLux or write me at https://www.crazyinagoodway.com/contact-us

BEN ROCK | Family, Career, Covid-19

Brendan Davis asks fascinating guests from around the world the questions you'd ask if you knew them better.

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If I Knew You Better

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