Shaun Newman Podcast - #370 - Adam Scorgie

Episode Date: January 13, 2023

He’s a documentary film maker who’s produced 12 feature films which include Making Coco: The Grant Fuhr Story, Ice Guardians & The Union: The Business Behind Getting High. He’s appeared twice on the Joe Rogan Podcast and his production company Score G productions won countless film festival awards from across North America. January 22nd SNP Presents: Rural Urban Divide featuring: Vance Crowe, QDM & Stephen Barbour.   Get your tickets here: snp.ticketleap.com/ruralurbandivide/ Sylvan Lake February 4th Tickets/More info here: https://intentionallivingwithmeg.com/sovereignty Let me know what you think Text me 587-217-8500

I'm Rupa Supremania. This is Tom Korski. This is Ken Drysdale. This is Dr. Eric Payne. This is Dr. William Mackis. Hi, this is Shadow Davis from the Shadow at Night Live stream, and you are listening to the Sean Newman podcast. Welcome to the podcast, folks. Happy Friday.

I hope everybody is waking up on the right side of the bed today. You know, you've got the weekend coming up. And we're closing in on SMP presents rural urban divide at the Gold Horse Casino Sunday, January 22nd. There's still a few days left to grab tickets. We're pushing as hard as we can on this side. It's been a fun little week here. You know, at the start when we first started, I was like, man, I don't know how we're going to pull this off in whatever it was, 15 days. But we're closing in on selling this sucker out.

We're pushing as hard as we can because I don't want to overextend myself. But at the same time, I want to see a full building for Sunday, January 22nd when you got Vance Crow, Quick Dick, McDick, and Steve Barber, three guys who've been on the podcast multiple times. you know, talking about it. So look in the show notes. If you haven't picked them up yet, click on the link. We'd love to see you in the building.

And that's all in the show notes. You can get it from there. There's also Sylvan Lake February 4th, former podcast guests like Sarah Swain and Carla Treadway, will be there. And essentially it's a sovereignty. Intentional living with Meg is what it's called. But it's a group that's talking about sovereignty,

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For more information, visit them at Hancockpatroleum.com. He's a documentary filmmaker who's produced 12 feature films to date, which include Making Coco the Grant Fear Story, Ice Guardians, and the union, the business behind getting high. He's appeared twice on the Joe Rogan podcast, and his production company, Scorgy Productions, has won countless film festival awards from across North America. I'm talking about Adam Scorgy.

So buckle up. Here we go. This has been Adam Scorgy, producer and creative hustler, and you're listening to the Sean Newman podcast. Welcome to the Sean Newman podcast. Today I'm joined by Adam Scorgy. First off, sir, thanks for hopping on. My pleasure. Thanks for having me.

Well, I was saying to you before we started, you know, some days in this seat, I don't know how I get the person on the other side and you are a prime example. So shout out to Nicole for hooking this one up because I, you know, this just kind of came out of left field. And I told you, she said a couple things, well, yeah, sure, let's do it.

And then, you know, you get into your background and everything else. And I'm like, well, this should be interesting. So I'm excited for the ride today. I don't know if you know what you've got yourself into, but either way, I think it should be a fun morning and I'm excited for it. Well, I love, I love jumping into podcasts. It's a way to, it's the best way I've been hooked ever since like Rogan 10 years ago,

just the honest expression of being able to freely talk about things and really voice your opinion, right? Everything else is like snippets and it's too quick and you do radio and it's bits and pieces. So my pleasure, Nicole, obviously I know her through the film industry and lots of respect Nicole. And she's like, hey, I think you and Sean would have a great time. I recommended you. And I was like, I love coming on podcasts. It's the best way to kind of talk about your work. I've had kind of like you, I'll do an interview in a podcast and then something nothing of. And then someone would be like, man, I went and watched all your shows after listening to you. I loved your

passion and you talk about your team. So, no, thanks for having me on. Yeah, well, I'm, I got a list of I'm a movie guy. And I got, I got a list of things now that after I'm sure I sit down you I'm like well I gotta find a way to watch that and that and that because the list is is very interesting I know a bunch of the titles but I didn't know you were a part of it and I certainly didn't know some of the ones you've done so I think that's super cool and we'll get into all that you know you mentioned Rogan and I'm wondering you know over the course of Rogan being in podcast how many people he pulled into the podcast world and how many of those people such as myself went the fear factor guy and then you listen to

what he does and you're like oh man this is something. Yeah. Well, it's interesting. You know, it's fascinating that you bring that up because I, people talk about and there's a lot of hate for him now. Like anything, when you're, when you're at the top now, right? It's all that you can do is like hate to try to bring him down, right?

But you look at the people he's been on like, I've listened since the beginning since episode one when it was really cheesy and they were doing it on their computer and they had snowflakes on the video and stuff like that. And you look at the people that he's had on there and recommended that they do their own podcast. Like, there's like two dozen that have. massively successful shows from being on him. He's like the male's Oprah Touch, right?

When he, like, same with even me. Like when we did the culture high and I went on there and did the Kickstarter campaign and talked about it, we received thousands of messages and supporters. People like, I'd never even heard of crowdfunding before. It was before the term crowdfunding was around, right? Like he went. You could see like our Kickstarter when you saw the graph. It was going.

It came up shooting and then it kind of plateaued and then went on Rogan and boom, got overfunded right away. And then Joe's been involved in like three of my docs. He's always taken the time as crazy as he is to help. And he had Bisbing on to promote Bisbing. Like you nailed it. Like the amount of people that have had success from his show and have gone on to do their own podcasts who have been inspired. And he's the one that always said.

He's like, where people are like, oh, aren't you worried about inspiring all these people? He's like, no, there's room for as many people that want to do it. Why would I want to hold anybody back if you think you can do it? And the one thing is you kind of, I think alluded to there, the one thing that you realized, when you listen to him a long time, is he's an excellent interviewer, though. He's really good at listening, and he's really good at having his perspective changed

when somebody comes on that has a differing opinion, which is just hard for human beings to do in general. He is the best. Yeah. It's, I don't want to, I haven't said this in a while, but obviously listeners of this show know, Joe, is high on the list on a lot of things for me. but I've always said I don't want to be Joe Rogan I want to be Sean Newman and I and

you should that's something that's something that I've heard him talk about well before I or well after sorry I ever had the thought in my head right like it wasn't something he said and I'm like oh yeah that's me it's something that me and him really align on I think a lot of people align on that you know when he promotes people and he's so like just himself um he wants the best It's a hard thing to wrap your head around because, you know, at times you want everything for your, me and Nicole literally had this talk about like, oh man, I just, what happens if it all dries up and I lose out because everybody's doing so good? It's such a like, you can see me. I'm like, I'm shrinking.

I can see you probably like those are walking. Yeah, right? It's like, you know, honestly, we both know that is not the case. We want the best. The best need to thrive here in Alberta. I mean, we could use a little more of the best at this point. Yeah. And it's funny because that happens in every,

that's like a human behavior thing, I think, because like in the film industry, it was like that. And I couldn't stand it when I first came in. There's this weird thing in the film industry that you try to talk to older producers and you're trying to learn, right? You're a young guy. You're trying to understand how it all work, how to make it a business and not a hobby.

And older producers, there's this old way of like, well, I can't tell you that. And I can't show you budgets. And I can't give you contacts. Because God forbid, you go off and have success for yourself.

Because they felt like a lot of the older producers that I'd learned never to be like would always feel like somehow if you had success that was taking away from what they were doing instead of i've had it like i when i got in and i said if i ever can be successful and just make this like my actual job and not a hobby that i will break that mold if somebody reaches out to me and i see that they're asking good questions i will always help i will share budgets i will share my finances i will share everything to try to help them and in just the thought that it will pay it forward for me in the long run. If they have success, they're going to remember who took the time.

And it has. I've had three young producers now that have gone on to be very successful that reached out to me just by knowing my work and reached out to my email, say, hey, I'm going to give Adam scored you. See if you'll respond. I respond. I take the time when I can to chat with them and send them budgets and explain to them how financing works and stuff like that.

And then they then get a project green lit a few years down the road. They're like, Adam, I want to repay the favor. And I want to hire you as a consultant. and bring your name on. And I was like, amazing. I was like, you don't have to do that. I didn't do that. I didn't do that.

I didn't do that. I wouldn't have learned how to do this or the contacts you gave me are what led to this happening. So I've experienced it now where actually giving and helping others only benefits you. And that's why Joe Rogan's gotten so big is he generally, he's helped me three or four times. Like every time we've interviewed him for three of my docs, he's never asked for anything. He's never asked for money or any kind of compensation. His schedule is crazy busy. So it's really interesting to me during the podcast

is kind of changing direction a little bit. But when you saw just how attacked he's been the last couple of years, and I'm like, because I know the guy personally, and I'm like, man, this isn't the guy you guys are coming after. Like the media is trying to paint a different narrative because of his success and what he's accomplished and his audience. But that is not the individual that I know that has helped me over the last decade to have success on three of my projects.

Well, he's talking about subjects. that there are some very motivated people that do not want talked about, at least from both sides, right? They want one side talked about, that's it. So as soon as you talk about it, you're under attack, even Joe. Joe is a mammoth.

But as soon as you start bridging or talking or wading into that pool, you're going to be under attack. It doesn't matter how big or small you are. They come after everyone. We've seen it time and time again. Joe is not immune to that. Joe is just big enough in my opinion to withstand the storm or at least that's the way it looks

I'm sure in a personal as it has as much as they've tried to get like it yeah numbers still right you you said something that I found really fascinating like I'm 2023 has been an interesting start I feel like there's a little bit of a positive mojo in the world right now and and me and Drew Weatherhead were just talking about this and you said you know giving and like having that attitude of having the best for others actually ends up benefiting you. I'm like, man, that's a thought to put in the world right now. You know, like that ability to want the best for the guy next to you probably comes back to you doublefold.

I've just personally experienced it now. I've had three filmmakers that I, you know, and kind of my way of, like, because my time's very valuable now. I got three young kids. They're all very competitive in sports. And I've never been busier in my career. Thank you, knock on wood. You know, if I see someone writes a really good email instruction, they're taking the time,

I remember when that was me. And then someone just wouldn't even respond. And it would drive me crazy being like, man, I worked so hard on that email was well thought out. And just wanted a couple of questions. And, you know, those few questions would be so helpful to me. They're nothing to somebody else. They take five to ten minutes. You know, and I've experienced where now these, you know, I'll have young filmmakers

or creators or people come. And when I have some time, they hit me the right week. I'll get back from say, hey, you know, you should do this. Reach out to this person. Here's their contact. And then they've come back and they've hired. Like, I really have experience. We're just a little bit of effort from you to help somebody else comes back to you.

I always never liked it when I was coming up. The idea of holding somebody back somehow helps you. I just never always rub me wrong when I work with producers and stuff that would do that. They would be like, well, I can't tell you the budget. Like, if you think in any other business, The film business, I know how they still get away with that. There are still producers do that. Like, well, I can't tell you the budget.

I'm like, what fucking business? Excuse me, is there swearing on here? Oh, sure. What fucking business can you do that? Like, you're building a house and your builder goes, well, I can't show you the budget. I can only show the overall spend. I can't show you how I'm spending those line items.

Any business, it'd be like, that's absolutely ridiculous. How does that work? But in the film industry, for a long time, because it was kind of smoke and mirrors and dag down. Like, it seemed like this far off thing that it wasn't a regular business. it is, you know, it is different because you're in the public eye much more and you, you, you get exposed more, but it is a business like anything else. If your projects make money, people want to work with you again.

But I hated that when I was coming up that no one would share a budget or tell you how much they spent. Like I wasn't trying to learn to know how much an individual producer got made. I was trying to learn so that I knew when I got in front of a distributor or broadcaster, what the reality is like, how much do they spend on projects like this? You wanted to be competent. Yeah, what is their threshold to ask for? Like, because I remember now, looking back, I would come up with stupid numbers,

but I need $2 million. And like broadcasters in Canada, I'd be like, well, that's great. I need a Ferrari. I can't help you. Like, you'd have to know the parameters. Like, I just wanted to know what those parameters were because when I went in there, I wanted to be prepared. I wanted to be able to sound intelligent.

Like, I'd done my research. But there wasn't a lot. There still isn't now online, a lot of, like, business tools that can help you kind of prepare for that. There's definitely much better with like grammarly and now there's this new AI where you can tell it what to write and it'll do it for you and you can even ask it to make it changes. But you don't you it's not like a lot of other businesses where you're like, okay, prepare me a sales resume and it's all there. Like you don't really know there's different rules for the distributors and buyers and only other producers can really help you with that because

they're the ones getting in their face and that relationships and so many are unwilling to help you because they feel like, oh, if I help you, it's going to take away from me. And that's just, it's wrong. I've had it now. I've proved it wrong three or four times where I've helped other filmmakers not expecting anything else in return. And it's come back on me tenfold. And that's a little bit of something I'd talk about Danny Trey, who I'm wearing his hat

right now. That's his life model that everything good that has happened to him is a direct result of helping somebody else. And he can literally pave the way from the moment he first got out of prison, how he helped a neighbor, how then he got into a gardening thing, how the very way he got into movies is he was a sponsor because he was in AA and he was sober and he had a sponsor call him at midnight and he pulled himself out of bed and said, I got to be there to help and he went down and ended up being a movie set and that's how he

got booked on runaway train and his career went from there. Think about that. Think about that right there. You know, did you like obviously doing his documentary? And I think that guy's been in more movies or it feels like than Samuel Jackson. Like he's been in a lot of. Yeah, he's been in like 350 movies. It's wild.

Right. Like, it's a record. Yeah. But, you know, like, I watched the trailer for it. Like, that's one of the on my list. I'm like, I got to watch that documentary. Uh, what is it? Inmate number one, the rise of Danny Trail.

Like, I'm like, I've got that on my list. I got to watch that because I watched a trailer with you coming on. I'm like, oh, man. Like, I had like, and then I watched an interview of you on, I can't remember some talk show talking about it. I'm like, I didn't realize that. I, you know, there's so much. podcasting, you know, you know, we've spoken a lot about Joe and

some of the people he's brought on that you just have no clue of their background and how they made their rise from here to there, like, Jewel sticks out to me, right? You're just like, and that's crazy that you mention that because when I listen to her podcast, like, I know who Jewel was, right?

I think we all did. I think we all know who Jewel is. Her music was always like, yeah, like it was on the radio and kind of never really resonated with me. After I listened to her podcast, I was like, man, I need to reach out to her, to do her doc.

Her story's incredible. Like her family went and just staked land in Alaska and she shows up to, you know, music school for the first time with a giant hunting knife and they pull her into security because they're like, why do you have a weapon? And she's like, what? I use this to skin rabbits and like, that's how I survived. I thought her story was incredible. For the listener, Joe Rogan 1724, that's where you got to go.

If you haven't listened to Jewel, it'll blow your mind. Blow your mind. If you're not a fan of her. music you will certainly be a fan of her as a person because she is so genuine that's the long form that i love that podcasting did is it you know there's i realized early on listening to people there'd be people i'd be so excited i'm like oh my god i can't wait to listen to this person and i'd be very disappointed i'd be like man they're really they're really evasive and don't want to answer things and then you know other people that i'm like i don't want to listen to this person then i realize that

my perception was built on just like media clips and yeah when they listen to them for a long form for two and a half hours. I'm like, this is a completely different person than I built in my head. That's where to me really podcast kind of revolutionized that because you, as Joe kind of said on his one, I hate to keep going back to him. But no, that's all right. When you're going that long, you can't cheat your way out of who you are. People will get a good sense. When you do a long form, when you do bullet points like Jimmy Kimmel and stuff, you can say, you can go on there like, oh, you got a new movie. Oh, so you grew up in Canada. And it's very structured. Very structured. and you can put on a facade and get so for the uh ucp election i hate to bring politics into this but

uh for the ucp election right daniel smith winning the nomination five of the seven of them came on the podcast and we i didn't try to steer anyone any which way uh certainly people will go well you had daniel smith on the podcast three times before then true very true i think highly of Daniel Smith. And she actually comes back on, folks, Monday, so right away. So that should be interesting. But anyways, I digress here. The lovely thing about it is, people are really smart. They can see through bullshit, and sometimes they see through bullshit better than I do. So they'll text me after, whether it's this interview or any interview, and they have some thoughts, and they've listened, and they're listening intently to an hour to two hours,

and some things, they're just like, yeah, I don't like this guy. And you're like, hmm, that's interesting because people are really, really smart. The politicians at times, or maybe media at times, or maybe just the powers that be, focus on the mass is like they're a bunch of morons, but they're just all of the people out there are really, really smart. And the people that tune into whether it's this or Rogan or any other podcast out there, like there's some good content. Like in this world, there has never been this ease of access to information.

It's just wild. And you can hear the best and brightest talk anywhere right now. No, and that's, and you hit something that we kind of talked on in one of our earlier films, the cult try that real change comes from the bottom up, not the top down, right? And now, and that's what, you know, it scares a lot of people because they don't know how to control the mob. So they are clever at times where they can motivate. And you kind of saw that with, you know, with what happened with COVID, right?

There's that, you know, and I don't want to get into that because that's a, that, that, that We could do a whole podcast. Oh, we'll go into the weeds there, yes. Yeah, yeah. But, you know, the way that things were manipulated and pinning people against each other and labeling terms for people having difference of opinion, it's crazy. Like, you know, families and stuff getting into arguments because they had different, like, choices for personal medical choices and stuff.

It's crazy to me that that was all. And it was interesting because as a, as a filmmaker, especially doing stuff on the drug war early on, I saw a lot of the same techniques, right? That was what labeling people is like, you know, same thing they would do with, you know, the hippies and the rise in the 70s, right? Anyone that was arguing the Vietnam War, Nixon said, oh, well, majority of them are smoking weeds. Let's go after them for that.

That's how we can legally throw people into jail, right? That was their way of getting rid of their argument, right? So you saw them trying to do it, but it's harder now because there is so much access to information and you can hear people in long form and really talk and you can hear them in a way. they're like man that guy really or she really resonates with me they're saying good things but you know whenever they get on like it's got to be tough for politicians because whenever you get on any of the traditional or legacy media I like to call it now right and I like to call it the

corporate media but hey yeah corporate leg is yeah but the legacy media it's it's bullet points it's talking points who can one up each other better who can go go do that in in fact I learned something very interesting in our cannabis films were invited to parliament hill to help you know with the liberals now put an act. They actually, the liberals invited us to screen the movies because they'd received thousands of emails and messages referring to our films.

They wanted to, they knew that legalized, and let's not give the liberals any credit other than they knew they could get the young voters with cannabis. That was what they wanted, right? That's their business that they wanted. They're like,

how do we connect with the young voters? I think we're going to be great friends, Adam, carry on. But, you know, hey, they invited us to Parliament Hill. When we first got the email, I thought it was a joke, right? I was like, oh, yeah, Parliament Hill wants to screen my movie.

And then, like, Joyce Murray was the one's liberal MP, Joyce Murray. So, like, I wrote back being like, is this a prank? Are they, like, trying to, like, get us for something? Or, and then, no, they're like, yeah, we'd love to have you out here. We want to do a bipartisan screening. We've literally received, and I was kind of like, why, why now? Like, why do you guys want to do this? And they're like, well, we've received thousands of emails and letters referencing your film.

So we figured if it's connecting to that many people, we should maybe take a look at it, right? And then two or three years later, then they passed a legalization bill. And just for all that, like when we did our cannabis films, people like, well, that's propaganda. Well, all the horror stories and stuff that, you know, and the fear mongering that they did for cannabis for 40 years, well, we legalized cannabis in Canada. And sure, there's some underlying issues that we have to address now that are coming up with it. But the majority of the horror stories that you're sold for 40 years just aren't true. right if you're an adult you want to go smoke cannabis as long as you don't get behind a car uh you

probably be okay right don't uh it's too bad that same liberal government wouldn't have talked to a group of protesters that uh you know stationed outside their head i digress you know um i wanted you know folks i've done a poor job of this uh today adam got me all excited and got me off on tan i'm like a spinning top you got to just tell me when to school no no it's all good this is what this is where the fun is. I was curious. Like, you know, you got your production company, Scorgy Productions, Scorgy Productions, Corgy Productions, correct? I have zero clue where you started with it. You know, I've interviewed so many hockey players and how they go through the ranks. They rise up, you know, they have a good world juniors. They persevere. They hit a couple of lucky

breaks, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. And there's some cool stories in that realm. When it comes to documentary filmmaking, the movie industry in general, I am a huge fan, but I know Jack Squat about it. You got to give me some of the backstory, because I'm curious, I don't know. Maybe you just, maybe your dad's Tom Hanks and you walked in and you had a documentary film caught up. Well, certainly my dad was not, and I will bring you into that world. And that's many people have always said that I need to write a book or get into that or do a doc on myself, but I'm not into doing that.

But so I started, I'm from Colonna, BC originally. Okay. And I actually went off to film school and acting school in New York. You know, I was doing the traditional grind in New York where you do catering jobs because they don't have a regular schedule and you can pick up what you need. You get paid 2535. Hey, Adam, is there beeping in the background? Yeah, sorry. That's my dishwasher.

I'll just pop it open. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Sorry. For the listener, I can hear them right now going, is there a beep? Sean, can you fix the beep? Sean, fix the beep here. Fix the beep shot. It should handle the beep.

Sorry. No, all good. New York. Carry on. Yeah, so I went to New York and I did what the grind for most artists is there. You do like catering jobs because they pay pretty good, $25, $35.35 an hour. And you don't have a set schedule. It's not like you have to work Monday to Friday.

So you can do your acting lessons and you can train and do whatever else. And I left Colonna because my dad owned a strip club in Colonna, which people may or may not remember. It was called Cheetahs. It was pretty successful in Colonna back in the day. Your dad owned a strip club in Colonna called Cheetahs. Correct. And I actually inherited that when I was 23 when my dad passed away because he died when fairly young. He died at 47.

I was 23. and I inherited that nightmare. And I say nightmare because everyone's like, oh, my God, like 23 year old owning a strip club, isn't that amazing? No, it's not. It sucks. It's a shitty business. How so?

Well, if you want to be a family man, like I always wanted to have kids and, you know, and my wife and I have been together since, like, pretty much my dad's passing brought us together because I was, I was in love with my girlfriend all through high school. She consistently said no to me. I consistently persuaded her to eventually. I just broke her down until she said yes. So you're married, married to your high school sweetheart?

Did I catch that right? Yeah. We didn't date in high school, but she was always the one that, and then when I, she used to be a waitress for my dad, when she'd come back in the summertime because she was going to school in Montreal. Because strip clubs,

I'll just preface for those. They're different. Like, Colonna was different where it was just like a nightclub with dancers on stage. Like everybody went to my dad's club between like 10. and 12, 31 o'clock before they went to the nightclubs. Before we had all the cactus clubs, before the revamping of Joey's and Earls, there was really nothing.

You went to Rose's Pub and you went to my dad's place, and then all the nightclubs were on the next block after that, and everybody went there afterwards, right? So it was one of the... So it's not a... I want to stick on this just for a second here, because you got me curious. Yeah, everyone gets curious of this.

It's just getting started too. It's going to get more. It's going to get more interesting. It's not a traditional... strip club with the stage then with the creep row where you walk up and and and or it is it is it is but the big difference of kind of in bc and the way it works is it's not like in the way like we'd have 50 50 guys and girls in there it's like a nightclub or a pub with dancers the way we kind of eliminated uh that is it wasn't big on the private shows right you didn't have girls like girls who get

paid for their performances on stage you know and even other girls love to see girls perform that are beautiful and put on a good show and we'd have girls that would do fire shows and great stuff on the polls that were really acrobatic. So everybody just went there. Where kind of like strip clubs detour, you know, females from going is when, you know, you go with your boyfriend or something every two seconds. They're trying to hound them to go into the back room or the champagne room, right? Then you're kind of like, okay, that's gross.

I don't want to that kind of. So not to say we didn't have private shows, but we didn't push that. Our girls were paid for their performances on stage. So everybody would just go. It was like the place to go. So my wife would always come in the summers when she'd be back from Montreal working. She was going to McGill College out there. She would be a waitress.

So she knew my dad very well. And obviously us going to high school together. So when my dad got very ill, my wife, we were not dating at. Wreck her. Sorry, folks. That's my bulldog. Hey, Josh. Would, she'd come back and work for my dad.

So then she was in the hospital every day. Hang on. I got to let him out. Otherwise, we're parking. Well, this has been an interesting go, folks. You know, as Adam strolls away, Um, this is why eventually Sean is going to try and do more in person, you know? Yeah.

Well, we can definitely if you're, if you're, if you're, well, you're up like Lloyd, right? I'm Lloyd, right? And you're sitting in where? Emmington. Eminton. Yeah. I mean, I'm working on, uh, I don't know if I've said this to listeners yet. I'm working on a second location in Lloyd so I can do more in person.

Um, because obviously not everybody's love where I'm from, but, uh, you know, to try and grab a bigger audience of, uh, uh, guess. Uh, obviously. a big center like Emmington would help immensely. Yeah, well, if you record in Emmington, we'll do, if you came and just did a week.

We'll do part two in Emmettin, but yeah, so then my wife and I got together there, and then that's when, you know, raising a family in a nightclub, when you're around the booze and the late hours and the drugs and everything else.

It's not, it's not a good family life. I wouldn't recommend anyone that wants to get into the bar business. Like, even if you're in a restaurant or nightclub, like those are hard. hours on families and stuff like that they're not um so was grown up tough having your dad owning that then or was it like uh was it like you were the cool kid because of what he owned i mean obviously that

that didn't uh i was uh and and obviously with the culture around strip clubs too with the motorcycle culture and everything that is there my dad rode a bike everyone thought my dad was a member of the hell's angels, right, because he was friends with a lot of them and then owning the strip club. But my dad was never a member. But it was friends with a lot of them and I grew up with a lot of those guys. So I have a very different look at that world, too, that, you know, a lot of them are great people. They just live a very different lifestyle than us.

So it, yeah, it was inheriting all that nightmare. But there is a shield that happens when, you know, when your dad owns something and you're the young kid that just kind of lives vicariously, like, you know, I didn't have to deal with the headaches and responsibility that came with running a place like that. When my dad died and those decisions start falling on my shoulders at 23 and people working for me and staff members and everything else, when their livelihoods become dependent on you, that becomes a tough situation. And it was, you know, and then also when my dad died, the sharks started circling around.

Clona's a small town. A lot of people wanted to get their hands on that, right? So it was like close people that were supposedly close friends, were lurking around to try to get it, take advantage of a 23-year-old kid that might not have to do a business deal right. It was, that's really where I learned my producing skills is that, you know, I come into this at 23 and I had to learn about like, how do I get my name on the liquor license and incorporating companies and shelling my dad. My dad didn't do his will properly. So then I had my half-sister sue me. And then she lost in court. So then after that, she tried to get some thugs to collect

from me. So like, I really learned how to navigate that. I went from 23 to 35 within a six-month period from just the life lessons from inheriting my dad's nightmare because my dad didn't have good books and stuff he didn't he didn't take care of things ready he wasn't expecting to die so things were not lined up for me in the best way hang on one last like i got my dog when i was gonna keep me going to sorry this is the way it's going to go today folks and you know the funny thing is normally i would add all these breaks out but i'm just going to have fun at adam's expense and and i'm not going to worry about it well i apologize for that because i love that we're having a good chat here and I'm giving my wife a ride to the airport today.

So we're dealing with the battles of home. No, no, it's all good. It's all good. When you say your half-sister sent thugs on you, do you mean they showed up at the house and what, wanted you to hand over the business? No. So didn't quite go like that. So for those that don't know this world and it's good if you don't.

So clone is a small town and kind of the way that was. world works is that if you are going to send someone to come collect, they check in with kind of who's the local underground authority to make sure that you don't end up messing with a motorcycle club's daughter or son or someone that is connected that could cause a big war or some further repercussions. So thankfully, like I was on good terms with the local MC and my dad, they were a lot of good friends and some of them almost considered like uncles. So when these guys checked in from the coast they were all like wait wait wait scourgy you mean bud scourgy son what's going on they're like he's a filmmaker he's not involved in anything illegitimate so why why are you guys coming to try to

sweat him and then they found it it was a personal beef with my sister and they squashed it and told these guys that they better not come into town and do that or they're going to get themselves into a big problem so i was then notified afterwards that these guys were that my sister was tempted to get them to come and collect from me. So, um, I'm going to ask, I'm going to say me and my sister don't talk anymore. I'm going to ask a really,

really dumb question. And folks, I'm full of them this morning because I'm out of my realm here. Local underground authority. Hmm. Am I naive? Is that everywhere? Yep.

And, and I mean, I don't know. I couldn't explain to you how it works everywhere. But the general, sure, sure. No, no. And I, But I'll go into what I do know and kind of what the movies get right is whenever you

prohibit something, you know, whether it's drugs or whatever, guns, somebody is going to take control of that market. So every major city and even small towns will have it. Somebody controls it. And this is something we learned from producing the culture and the union is that so even when drug task force units go, we're going to fight really hard, we've got increased budgets, we're going to eliminate drugs from the community. It's never going to happen.

they do is they get rid of one group and another group comes in right away because there's always going to be that demand. So somebody is going to supply it no matter what you, no matter how much you fight it. And usually what happens is it's like a vacuum. Once you get rid of one crew, like say you get rid of if the Italians are the problem in your community, then the Greeks or somebody else will take over because now you've left a void and clients need to get served. So they're going to get served. So there is always that underground authority in every kind of major city. I'm sure in smaller cities, it might not be the traditional bad guys that you're thinking of, like motorcycle clubs or cruise, but it might be like, you know, people that own a ton of

property in that land. You're kind of seeing like Yellowstone is so popular because it's kind of that world is here you have a guy trying to protect his property, right? This amazing ranch he has and he has to navigate politics and businesses and rival people trying to get in there. It's like it's, it's, that's when something's unregulated, somebody is going to control that, right? So this is why our films about cannabis said, well, this is why it makes perfect sense to regulate it. If you are worried about crime, if you're worried about children using cannabis or drug, all the more reason to regulate it and control it, because then you know who's bringing

it, you know where the supply is coming from, you put taxes on it that you can put back into the community. It is really the most logical sense, especially when we interviewed so many ex-law enforcement that just saw that, you know, criminalizing personal use of drugs just creates way more crime and disassociates law enforcement with the local community. What do you think of today's episode that dropped is with Aaron Gunn. He's a document, another producer, filmmaker, does a little politics explain.

One of his documentaries is Vancouver is dying and it's talking about the government giving away free drugs. what are your thoughts on on on the government handing out you know yeah i don't know i'd have to look more into that policy i know a lot of people compare like switzerland had great success with that right in portugal decriminalize all drugs almost two decades ago and have had like unbelievable unfounded success with doing that uh and most of the people that were against decriminalizing all drugs they're originally in law enforcement fire everyone has changed their tune and been like, wow, we never would have expected this to have this much success. But in order for it to work, the way the Portugal model and everything worked is that the money

that you're now collecting from these services has to go to the right resources to help rehabilitate people and get them ready in order to be contributing members of society. Because right now, the process is, you know, especially in the states, less so here. But if you get simple possession charge, right, you are now a federal criminal and you can, can't get back into the workplace. Even if you are able to circumvent the highly costly and confusing and difficult ways of getting back into the system, you have a criminal record forever. So that is always going to, that will track you forever. You can beat an addiction. You can beat bad habits. You can beat bad behaviors, but you can't beat a criminal record. It's there forever. You can't

travel. You can't get certain jobs. You are limited forever. So if you're the kind of person that wants people to get back into society, criminalizing them because they have underlying mental health issues that they're trying to self-medicate is the last way that you're going to help them get back and be a contributing member of society. Like it was actually conservatives, a lot of conservative ex-law enforcement and people in the judicial system that we interviewed for the films that changed my perspective on that when they're like, yeah, how do you, how do you, if you have a criminal record, good luck. Like, I mean, I've had some, some early on some, some altercations, with the law and I'm a producer.

Like my job is to problem solve and you want to go try to figure out our legal system here? Like I went in because I had I had alternative measures for a dispute I had for a road rage incident. And I went, you know, suit and tie. I thought I was a pretty well-spoken guy, pretty clever. You went out to the courthouse and they treat you like you are a scumbag piece of shit. Like I'm trying to ask questions to help how to navigate this and I'd change my court date and get a lawyer involved and go through. through this. And the way they talked to you, I was like, man, I couldn't imagine if I came from like a lower economic situation where I couldn't hire a lawyer, because it was confusing as

hell. It was like my fourth time being down in the courthouse here in Eminton that finally there was a volunteer that was like, hey, I've seen him here the last couple weeks. What are you trying to do? I'm like, well, I'm trying to, I've got my lawyer and I were working on the defense. We're trying to do this. And he's like, was this your first offense? And I was like, yeah. And he's like, you just need to apply for alternative measures. Go to this bracket. Go here. You'll get it thrown out. You do your volunteer service and you're done. And but nobody else was willing to help. It was the volunteer that was there to help people from lower economic situations.

Like, like you get on that wrong side of law and you look like a piece of shit when you make like when I thought mine was a simple mistake that a lot of people had made. I got into a, you know, I got a guy, cut me off, flick me the bird. We got into an argument. And then I accidentally had a red bull can leave my hand and hit his car. That's deemed assault. So then I was charged for assault facing six years. six months in prison and not being able to travel and stuff like that, essentially because I heard a guy's ego because he cut me off,

flick me the bird and I told him where to go. When we come back to it, though, criminalization, I understand what you're trying to say with the criminalization and everything. I struggle with like the safe source idea where the government just gives them drugs. Yeah, it's, I don't know the right way. Like, again, Switzerland had great success with this, but they're very small country. that puts a lot more money into their health care system.

What Switzerland did, Switzerland would give people a place to go get it. But when they got it, they had to register, like they had to go in and do an interview and say what they're doing. And to prevent them, the whole reason they set this up is because this way they could focus the money on trying to rehabilitate people

and get them back into society as a conscious way, where I don't know exactly how Vancouver's program is doing it, but I assume if it's not working, what they're doing is they're giving it out without ever trying to really help rehabilitate people or to deal with the underlying mental illness that they're trying to self-medicate anyway. Switzerland had success because they had some like 75% of the people that were getting it from the government would be would get rehabilitated. You're making, I'm drawing notes here because I'm like, all right, Switzerland.

And I believe Portugal is the other one. Portugal decriminalized. They didn't give up the free source, but they decriminalize all due because their heroin epidemic was out of control. The violence was out of control for the people controlling the drug market. All of those things were out of control. So they wanted to curb that. They wanted to curb that.

I believe AIDS was really high, too higher than anywhere in Europe. So they wanted to curb the AIDS, the heroin epidemic, and the violence. And they had success on all those fronts. Making a mental note, because I'm like, for me, it's an interesting topic. And certainly something about it doesn't make sense to me. And yet when you talk about it, I'm like, hmm, interesting. thought. Another part of the world has done something successfully that is outside the box. I think we can all agree. To go and interview or talk to a few different people there would be

fascinating, right? Because there's a guy, I can't forget his name Hubbard. He was a British guy that was using, he was looking at the research for in the UK to look at adopting models. The thing is the thing that we learned with doing research on the drug war the last couple years is there's societies are different, right? countries are built different. Some are, you know, people are much more impact in a smaller area, high population, whereas you have Canada, huge landmass with a small population. So you can't say that what will work in Portugal, like we should just adopt the exact same. 100% to work here, right? Same with the way that you enforce drug laws and stuff too. It doesn't work. The iron fist

way doesn't work because even in countries where they offer the death penalty, they're still drugs, right? Like here's the way that was the most fascinating for us as we interview people in the prison system. So in the most maximum security prisons in the world, inmates are still getting drugs and selling drugs. So if you can't even keep it out of the most high security prisons in the world, how the hell do you ever think you're going to keep it out of the hands of children and people on the street? You're not. The only way to do that is to look at policy that is sensible policy that can control it and regulate it as best as possible and try to make sure that at least, although as much false as I'll give the government,

I would prefer it being in the government's hands in most situations than in a drug cartel or somebody that's cutting people's limbs off to control the market, right? Yeah, well, yes. I'm the same way with how bad we've seen the government act the last couple of years. You're kind of like, ugh. Well, I just, I'm not so certain I want to give the government too much more of anything. I have the same way. I am exactly the same way in the last couple years and seeing the way the government's responded to many things.

Well, I mean, just here in Canada, I would say there's a few other countries that know what we're talking about, right? But the United States is completely different. I mean, certainly there were parts of the states, but overall the United States is completely different than what went on here in Canada. There's tons of countries. So it was interesting speaking on what we'll talk. So I was traveling like peak COVID. I went to six different countries over the course of like a six month, six month period because we're filming a several films. And it was really interesting to see is one, first off is the Canadian government would go on and really make you sell that it was illegal to travel, which was a lie.

And they never should have sold that to Canadians because that's ridiculous. You could always travel. But then they would try to get you on that quarantine thing when you came back. But if you actually went into it, it was a mandate. It was never a law. So me and my team would either get put as essential work. or we would walk out. I would always argue because I had a lawyer go through it

and they'd be like, well, you have to quarantine. I'm like, no, I don't. And I was like, yes, you do. I'm like, no, I don't. I was like, and I'm going to walk out right now just so you know. And they're like, well, you could get a fine. And I'm like, there's only been one fine issued in the province of Alberta. And it was that one pasture that fought against, like, ridiculously.

Like, he had 500 warnings. Arder Polowski. Yeah. So, and I, my wife did it too where we would walk out. Beckham, can you turn that off, please? I'm doing an interview. Go watch TV upstairs. Are we having fun this morning?

You're making the case for me. You're making the case for me this morning. I'm like, it's official, folks. You know, when I started this podcast, I wanted, I looked at what Rogan was doing. I went, okay, I'm going to mimic everything. I'm going to start small, everything in person. And then COVID hits, and you're like, well, shit.

okay, we'll just go the opposite way and everything, you know, we'll just make it piece it together. But, you know, I tell you what, you're speeding, and this is, I'm not worried about it, but you're speeding up the, the move to get to Eminton because I've been pushing it off. I've already got three spots I'm supposed to go look at. And for some reason, these. I was trying to, that was the whole plan today. That's right. That's right.

I tell you what, you're pushing it because I'm like, it's, it's just funny. You know, I, I, uh, the reason I built this little tiny studio, you know, you can't see it. And certainly if you ever. It's good, though I see the two jerseys in the back there and the, well, it's been a, it's been a labor love, right? And, uh, the reason I did it, I got three young kids, right? So six, five and three. You know.

Yeah. I know exactly. Every parent that's listening is going. Sounds like the kid's in there. Yep. Yeah. And there's in that. And I'm like, this is hilarious.

This is exactly why I, I'm like, I got my spot. I get here. It's quiet. and I don't have to worry about it, but I'm chuckling on this side. Yeah. No, to finish my thought there is that, you know, we went to several different countries during peak over and you saw how other countries were handling it. Yeah.

And just kind of the narrative, it's weird because when you're just indoctrinated in it here, you just think like, oh, that's how the world's going. But many, case and point, we were in Sweden during peak COVID and everything was wide open. They never shut down anything. They never even had a mass mandate. They had a mass recommendation. And when we went there, like the world literally at the same time, it was so bizarre, is right when Alberta was getting the worst numbers in the world,

and they were saying that Kenny was the worst, like, leader in the world. And then like, and everything's shutting down. My wife's calling me crying. She's like, they just shut down schools again. And I got to work and I got to homeschool the kids. And she's like, what's going on in Sweden? And we're like, oh, we're about to go to a karaoke bar and have dinner. And she was like, what?

Like, even we were like, what? Isn't COVID here? And they're like, yeah, it's here. we're like, well, what's, they're like, well, we just deal with it. Like we've sectioned off those that are most in danger, like the elderly and people that have underlying conditions. We put the Great Barrington Declaration, right? Yeah.

They literally focused protection. Yeah, focus for. And they built all these field hospitals expecting to have a surge in numbers that, and they never had to. Now, the one thing, now the one big difference in Sweden is they put a lot more into their health care system there. So they never got overrun. They were really, really well run.

And it never. And then for the longest time, people would start to say, well, if you go by the deaths they had for per capita, they were like highest in the world. But those numbers have drastically shifted since then. And, you know, we went over there twice. And it was just like, oh, the world can operate and get back to normal. And, you know, and those that wanted to wear a mask, wore a mask. Those that didn't, didn't.

Right. It was like bizarre. Even when we were in the airports. Like we saw these people. We all came because we were used to traveling and going to other countries, which were like they wanted to take guinea prints of your like kids, genome and stuff to get in there. And then, you know, we have the M95s on and we're going in. And everyone in Sweden, we all have our M95s and we're looking around.

Like, nobody's wearing masks here. And then like, like I was the first one. I was like, get this off of me then. If I don't have to wear it like. And still to date, knock on wood, I've not had COVID. I've been on 26 flights. seven countries. I was in Florida when they didn't even believe it. We were filming the Olympia with 7,000 Floridians that didn't believe COVID existed. Several of the athletes we interviewed,

like if I've had it, I probably had it, but I didn't know, right, that I had it, is the only thing I can think is there's no way with how much travel I've done in this time that I haven't had it, but if I did, it was so minor, I didn't know. It man the damage that's been done on this country is well not it's not that you can't come back from it

you certainly can I mean you're a filmmaker the the great stories of some of the best they fall down and they find a way to pick themselves up and go marching on but currently where we sit you know with the divide you know I called it the mind virus it really it literally went as deep is it could go into the foundation of society, you know, all the way into the family.

And then from there, it broke families, it broke communities, it broke everything, right? Yeah, there's articles in reading, the dividing line. And when I hear you talk about being in other countries and how they tell, I'm just like, it's so, it's almost depressing to hear at him. At this point, it's like, it's almost depressing to hear that. It was depressing to see. And then that's when I really started to push back when I would travel back in my own country. And they're like, oh, you have to quarantine.

I'm like, so let me get this straight. Your idea of controlling this or helping is to put me in a hotel that just put some plastic on the walls with hundreds of other people that potentially have the virus versus me going and quarantining in my basement is your way of being safe and I have to pay some ridiculous inflated price to go do so. I was like, no, I'm not doing it. So I talks with my lawyer lots and he's like, Adam, there's no official law. Like just don't get angry and don't yell and make threats. Don't throw a Red Bull kid.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Hey, I never threw it. I was arguing and it accidentally slipped out of my hand, right? Is what happened. So, so, but yeah, I remember, and even, which was ridiculous, is even like once everything, this was weird, this was just recently, like, back in,

when were we were just in, um, uh, Nashville in like November. Uh, we were filming with Jordan Tutu because we're doing his documentary right now. Ricker! And then I was coming, we were coming back and we're connecting through Toronto and I was randomly selected for a test. And I, they put a sticker on my passport, right, in Toronto. And I'm coming through and they're like, oh, you've been randomly selected. I'm like, no, no, why?

I'm connecting to Emmington in two hours. They're like, no, because you're, you have to do it. I'm like, no, if it's random means I certainly don't have to do it. Otherwise, it would be mandatory and everybody would have to do it. And you could see these people didn't like it. when you knew your rights and would speak eloquently but firm. I was like, no, if it's random means I don't have to do it, it means that there's just some contract with the airport

that they're getting paid for to do the random person. There's no benefit to anyone in me doing this test because regardless of the results, I'm getting on my next flight, because that's where it was, and then you're going to send me the results once I'm in Emmington. There is zero point in me doing that test. And then the guy immediately,

he called two police officers to come over to intimidate me to do it. And my crew all laughed, They're like, oh my God, they picked the wrong guy because they came in. They're like, sir, you have to do the test. I'm like, no, I don't. They're like, yeah, you do. And I'm like, no, I don't. It's a random test, which rates there means it's not mandatory.

So I'm not doing it. They're like, why don't you want to do it? I'm like, I'm already vaccinated. I've got my pass. I've done all this stuff. We just had to pay, because to get back in Canada that time, you also had to pay those ridiculous. We all had to get PCR tests for my entire team, $150 a pop to be able to come back,

even though we're fully vaccinated, which is stupid, right? Like if it's if it's a true vaccination, it's supposed to prevent transmission, which they've now admitted it doesn't. So the whole point of even getting these PCR tests and bullshit. But my team had to spend $1,000 to be. So I was like, no, I have a test within 24 hours. I'm fully vaccinated. I'm not playing this game with you anymore. I'm done.

And they go, oh, well, you won't be able to get on your flight. And I go, no, that's a lie. I said to the officer, I'm like, that's a lie. I already have my boarding pass and I will walk past you and I will get on my flight like any other flight. there's nothing that I'm doing that is preventing me from getting on there. And then the officer goes, well, you could get a fine. I'm like, no, that's a lie too. I'm not an Ontario resident and no fines have been issued in Alberta.

So I know I'm not going to get a fine either. I'm like, are you done lying to Canadians? Like, because you're just lying. Like, didn't you become law enforcement to help your community? Right now you are lying to a Canadian citizen to try to intimidate me to do something that I don't have to do. And I was like, and then they go, well, and they had nothing else. And I was like, so if you are done, I'm going to walk past you now.

But if you're done trying to lie to me and to intimidate me to take a test that I am not that I don't have to take I'm going to walk by because I didn't want them like the one lady had her hand on their taser right ready today and I was like I'm going to walk by you now so just be ready And then they were like and the one officer just moved her arm like this and was like and then after that there's like 10 other people that were randomly selected and they're like well we don't want to do it either this is garbage we're going to know, it's like yeah you guys all should you should all just say no we're not doing it because it doesn't it was not helping anything it was just a contract with the airport, somebody was making money off of it to randomly select guesses they were connecting through back through Canada. Absolutely useless. You know, you think you challenged their authority is why they bring the cops over. It's why everybody gets, because chances are the employee doesn't know half of what you just said, right?

No, no, of course. It's a joke. These are supposed to be the people helping. They're like part-time kids that just got out of college that are your house. health authority that's supposed to be determining whether you, it's a joke. I was like, no, absolutely not. I'm not doing it. My wife did it several times too.

We just said, no, we're not going to do the quarantine. We're going to quarantine home where it's much safer, especially you saw in Montreal, the security they'd hired there, the lady been raped. There had been other people that had these hotel rooms broken into. I was like, there's no chance. My daughter or my wife coming back from the States. There was a lady raped in the hotel. By the security guard hired to make sure that you're supposed to stay in your.

So I was like, absolutely not. Are you kidding me? No, Google it Raynow. You can see. Of course, this is one bad apple. I wouldn't put all of them bad, but I was like, why would we pay to do that? I was like, that is absolutely absurd. So a good friend of ours, he's kind of my lawyer that handles all the stuff for my films and stuff.

I'd always have him look at what the actual. So again, my wife and then just very polite and just said, we'll take the chance of the fine, but we are going to quarantine at our own house. We are not going to do this. And then the people that are supposed to check on you called from Quebec. Right? They're like, oh, are you in your house? Okay, so just so I can cut in, so the listener knows.

It's even worse than, okay, this is the headline. Man accused of raping 13-year-old at government-run COVID-quarantine hotel. Suspect 21 admits sex with child claims it was consensual. Police say he choked and beat victim as they stayed in a facility for virus-infected people. That's, oh, this isn't, but this isn't, oh, man, this isn't even Canada. Sorry, this is Tel Aviv. This is Israel. So this is there's one that happened in Montreal too.

This isn't even an isolated incident though to just like, you know, a one-off. Like I'm going to tell you flat out, I paid attention to a lot of things. I did not. I'm going to put Montreal. We were, I was looking at a lot of this stuff because we were traveling lots, right? So we always had to see what were the current rules and regulations for traveling. And then different countries, you know, had different rules. And, you know, and that's where.

It's interesting to see some of these, I call them like Twitter fame doctors and stuff that were regularly on CBC and they were getting these big followings. And I remember one of them. I'd love to have her in person. But she was saying, don't be a vaccine snob. Get the first one that's available. So I was reading up on Astrosenica and I was like, nah, I'm not getting that. I'll wait to the Pfizer. I need to take one of them because I have to travel.

I would have preferred to have none of them. But in order to travel, we were in mid-production, had to get it done. but the the astrozenica was the one pushed on you and then when we went to all these countries in europe switzerland spain none of them would accept astrozenica as a regular one none of them accepted that because it was later pulled from the market blood clots and everything it was causing and i was like i was like so i wanted to go back to this doctrine but like you were imposing that on you were even suggesting that like when children were approved to take that to take that right and it's not even accepted we wouldn't be able to travel we would have went all the way over there

and they would have sent it the damage the damage the damage done to public trust in health care politics is, once again, can it be built back up? Certainly it can. But the amount of damage that's been done is egregious. And it's blatant lies. I mean, the fact of the matter is just to speak to the vaccine and, you know, you're safe, you know, like you get it, you're safe, no transmission, blah, blah, blah, blah. I just saw a clip of Patrick Bet David with Neil DeGrasse Tyson talking about it.

And I haven't watched the full thing. So I want to make sure I get into it. But they're talking about that, you know? And it's like, well, Neil deGrasse is trying to say, no, no, no, it changed and whatever else. And the rest of us are going, like, come on. At this point, you can just let it go. They duped everybody. They said it was 90-some percent effective.

You're going to get it? You're not going to get, you're not going to get COVID. And then everybody started getting COVID. Then it went, oh, it's 90 percent. It's 86. Remember, remember at first. Remember at first they were calling them breakthrough cases, right? Right.

Right. That was like, hey, we had some breakthrough. And it just went like this. And then everybody's getting it. And then, you know, and then it's, well, now it protects you from less harmful events. Well, you know, I got people who, who have been on the show who are monitoring and I speak specifically to Alberta's data that are like, yeah, even that is a lie. Right. The people in the hospital now are vaccinated, triple vaccinated, whatever it is.

It's like, there's just a recent study that came out. You can look and there's a ton of credible Canadian virologists and epidemiologists have been saying that actually the boosters are showing that it's actually increasing the variants that are coming out because the way to vaccinate out of a pandemic is either pre-pendemic, prevented from coming, but not mid-pandemic. A virus's goal is it's meant to just try to survive, right, and continue to go. So when you're trying to come through, it comes up with all these variants to in order to battle what you're doing. And that's why this virus, we've seen more variants than any other kind of coronavirus we've come into contact with, right? Because we're trying to vaccinate midway through, right? That's why when Omnacron came, and that's the things, the original vaccines were only created for the original virus, which had mutated three times. So that's why Omnachron blew through everybody that had it and it didn't do anything, right?

is that it's, and there's one virologist that he's been screaming since the beginning, and he talked about that specific thing. He called it saying this is going to create way more. What's his name? Why can't I think of it? It's a weird, like, European name. Yeah, he's from Europe. He's from Europe.

And I know there's somebody yelling at the radio right now, because we tried getting them on way, way, way back when, because I read all his articles. Because he was early on saying that we're handling this completely wrong. It's not going to work. Terrible, Sean. Just terrible. this is where you need Jamie going. Yes, they did you go.

Yeah, exactly. This is who it is. What's that article? You know, and even now I looked and now you're starting to see even mainstream. CTB posts an article the other day that I saw that $5 million of vaccine injuries has been awarded in Canada so far. Well, I tell you this. I tell you this right now. I'll say this.

The listener already knows this. I know more people who have been harmed by the vaccine than I do that ever got harmed by COVID. Not, not, didn't get COVID. I'm saying got like long term harm or died from COVID. It's not even close. It's not even close anymore. It's, it's wild. It's the big elephant in the room that you're kind of allowed to talk about, but not really allowed to talk about.

That in itself is weird. And I want to bring back, I found the Canadian article because now I got everybody wound up that somebody got raped in a Canadian facility. Yeah. And don't get me wrong. The article from Tel Aviv is bad. Here's the one from Canada. It was Michelle Remple Garner who spoke about quarantine hotels who put women at risk and it said so far there have been two women suffering from sexual assault related to federal

quarantine policies. One of them was allegedly assaulted while staying at a quarantine hotel in Montreal. And then they basically said, I'm sure there's more articles on what exactly happened. But at the time, it wasn't, you know, I'm going to put this in parentheses, clear. I had that's a you're the first to bring that to my attention I had no idea. Well, I mean again, because I was traveling lots. So we were constantly looking. Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah. You have an interesting, you have an interesting view of it at him. You just do because for a lot of us, we, you know, well, for a lot of people, they didn't leave their house. Or if they're in the city, they didn't leave the city. For us around here, there was a group that by December 2020, we were meeting in Barnes and we were talking. But regardless, we weren't going to the states and we weren't going all over the place. We just weren't.

So, you know, the podcast gave me an interesting view into how different people were talking about it. And certainly, you know, like I go back to when Peter McCulloch first came on and said, listen, the vaccine ain't going to stop. And that blew not only my, I was like, oh, man, what have I gotten myself into, right? But that was how I had my link to the outside world. you got to like go experience all these different countries that's a wild interesting view that most people don't have well yeah it was it was crazy to experience and even now it's funny i have to delicately bring it up because what is interesting to me is that people have adopted their stance like an ideology right like so and hey like whatever

we all make me say and i'm not saying i know everything i just know what i experience when I travel. And where I knew just my my fucking, you know, something's fucked up here, meter went off, is especially when we were in the States. Because we had this crazy trip and we were doing driving a lot more just because airports were such a pain and everything at the time with all the testing and masks. And so we're like, we drove through like eight states. And every state, depending on what their political denomination was, is how they manage COVID. So if you're in a blue state, locked down like crazy. We're not allowed to like, you know, caution tape around playgrounds outside, right?

You're in a red state wide open. Like Texas, my parents were down there the whole time. We're like, oh, my God, we're not even supposed to go to the outdoor rink with more than three people. My parents are like, oh, we just got off the golf course and we're going to Popadoes for dinner tonight. I'm like, what? Isn't cold?

Like, isn't everybody dying in there? My dad's like, eh, my dad's in the 60s. He's like, no, we're fine. He's like, it's not. And then you go, and then Nevada was the most interesting. because we went to interview Jay Cutler, the bodybuilder in Nevada, because that's kind of a blue state, I would say. Like, it kind of flops back and forth between.

It was 50% open. Casinos and stuff were 50%. I'm like, this is a joke now, right? Like, because this is a purple state, it's 50%. Red's open, blues closed. Like, that's where I was just like, guys, and I remember being like, but some of my team was like, you know, they had very different views.

Some would be very ultra-conscern. Like, so I just wanted to get the work done. But I was like, guys, doesn't this? I'm like my my fuck you meter is just going off man that like like every state's so different and and and we're going mass and and it was just bizarre to me that I was like and again going to other countries then you went to Sweden and like Switzerland where it was just like wide open and I was just like oh so the world can recover from this we're not going to be locked down forever it was uh it's really interesting then yeah you come back home and then the Canadian you know

customs and everybody's like all on you and trying to put but you in a 14 hotels. I even put it as simple as this. You know, I always talk, you know, I'm married American girl. So, you know, I got to have, I've had an interesting view of this thing as it's went along too. The simple way of breaking down Canada versus the U.S., in my opinion, is the border. If you want, anyone can do this right now. You can pick up the phone and dial the American border and they will answer and they will talk to you.

A human being, answer your questions. Try doing the same thing on the Canadian border. You cannot do it. You cannot do it. It is an automated like 18 number ding, ding, ding, put you through. They don't want you to know anything. They're going to say it's because we don't have enough people to answer all the calls and all this bullshit. And I'm like, but the United States is doing it.

And they, I mean, they answer your question. It's very like it calms everybody down, right? Hey, heard. No, no, no. This is what's happening. Oh, okay. Good. Oh, stress gone.

Yeah. stress got Canadians like my stress goes up all the time because you can't figure like everything's online in these like things that you go from eight different links to the thing you're like I might am I at the right spot like I have no idea you know and so you can tell everybody who's coming into Canada if you've ever been on a flight across the border everyone's just kind of like I think am I going the right way they're trying to follow the herd because they just don't know it's it's yeah it's I I usually find that the Canadian custom especially I don't know what's happens and like US customs used to be more challenging to go.

Yes, it did. Like 15 years ago, it used to be like the worst. You're like, now they're like, please come in, spend money. Like they're like, like, it's normally we go in with all of our film gear and we have all these big black pelican cases and some of them are long and look like rifles and stuff. And it used to be this big thing. We used to have to go to the airport like five hours early to go through it. Now you go through and they're just like, oh, yeah, you got a carnate for a year.

Go through. You come back to Canada. They're grilling me more. and I can't stand. It's been good. I haven't been pulled over for a while, but for a while, they'd always pull me over in Canada. And I'll be fine until you, like, when they start to give me attitude,

I become so aggressive because I'm like, I'm a Canadian citizen. I've done nothing wrong. You know, they come in, I hate it when they take your bag and they just throw it all over the place. And like, you can pack that up now. I'm like, no, you can pack that up. You're getting paid to do that. You unpack it. You pack it back up when they're always like, well, what do you?

And then, like, I've gotten in, this happened more when we were doing our drug, are, you know, our cannabis films. They'd want to be more honest. Like, what's this? You got a business card with a cannabis leaf. I'm like, yeah, I'm producing a talk about cannabis. Oh, you are? Like, do you think that's a good idea?

And I'm like, well, yeah, I'm like educating. Obviously, you don't. Yeah, I was like educating people on, you know, the ramifications of the drug war, I think is beneficial for anybody and understanding our history and how we got to where we are. And you'd see their minds are like, holy, they're like, well, have you ever taken our narcotic before? I'm like, nope, never.

They're like, never. you're doing a pot film and you're not, I'm like, well, pot's not a narcotic. Narcotics are based from opiate-based drugs, hence narcolepsy and sleep. That's where the name comes from. So I was like, if you asked me the right question, I will give you an honest answer, but you should probably know what you're doing, seeing as you're supposed to prevent narcotics from coming in, right? And you'd be like, oh, then their brain would be smoking.

I'm like, look, I just went over. I got one carry-on bag. How much are you preventing anyway? Most of the drugs come in in in giant tankers for tons. I'm like, you're worried about me coming in with what I'm like, who you're doing Canada at great service. I sure feel safe today. You know, if I was a border official, I think I'd just poke at you just to see the response.

I'd be like, ah, here comes Adam. I'm going to have some fun today. I can get you wound. The last time they pulled me in is I was getting, I got flagged for a while there because I was doing constant trips. And it was like three in the morning. I was so tired. I'm like, please just let me in there.

You got to go in the back. I'm like, oh, my God. So you know how they like try to make you sweat, right? And they make you sit in there in the back. Like, said, nobody's answering. They're like waiting for you. So I just laid on the metal table because it was the only way. It was three in the morning.

I was exhausted or one in morning. I just laid there and slept for a little bit. And the guy's like, hey, what are you doing? I'm like, if I didn't want to sleep on the floor and you're taking your sweet-ass time coming out of the back. So it's two in the morning. I'm tired. I'm going to sleep.

He's like, oh, get your stuff off yours. I go through. I'm like, well, then you should have got out of your. You're probably sleeping in the back. That's why you made me wait out here for half an hour, right? I was like, let's get it done and get out of here. I'm Canadian citizen.

I've broken no laws. I take it. I take it you took the same enthusiasm into the documentary industry. That's what I assume. You know, somehow along the lane, we went from cheetahs and Kelowna and, you know, growing up in a, you know, with bikers around and a strip club and everything into this, this, you know, the border debacle that is Canada. Yeah. Or the airport debacle. It's honestly, at times the land crossing isn't half bad, but certainly the airports is an interesting little animal.

Leave me through. Go back. You're in New York. Okay. You're in New York. Let's see if we can follow this time. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. You're in New York.

You're doing all the lovely things. At what point do you realize acting isn't for me? I'm going to become a documentary filmmaker. It's kind of with the tragedy with when my dad died. Then I inherited all that stuff at a young age and had to navigate that. And, you know, just found a way that like when my dad wasn't married and, you know, you're a young man and you inherit kind of that nightmare and you have to navigate and pay off debts and organize things and deal with the politics of what I was inheriting. it really just grew me for producing

and that I'd always deliver and I'd get it done no matter how exhausted or how challenging it was. And then I really looked at this was the peak of when like Morgan Spurlock was making supersized me and bowling for Columbine

and docs were kind of hitting a new way of like wow, they're really impacting people and they're in the theaters and people are going to go see them. So I would always tell people about the way I grew up and my friends having big grow ops and all this stuff and people were like

they think I was full of shit. They're like, yeah, right. Strip clothes. of go-offs around motorcycle clubs. Come on, this guy's full of it. Right? And then I would bring them back and they're like,

holy shit, everything Adam said is true and 10 times crazier. It's the script. It's the script for sons of anter. When that came out, my best friends were like, dude, that's you.

That is your life. Like, that's you. But so then I was like, well, man, I should do a dock on like, you know,

the cannabis industry because it's pretty fascinating. Everybody's already interested in a little bit. I know it's like, with my access and stuff, I could get some really cool stuff. And I thought I would do it like bowling for like super high me, where I just kind of take you in and I'd be your host and go through and we'd navigate this thing.

And in my mind, it was dumb and naive because I was like, oh, we'll bang this out in like six months to a year, do some festivals, win some awards. It'll help my acting career. I can show that I'm a producer and an actor. And then boom, I'll get these big roles and stuff.

Well, the film took like four years from concept to completion to finish because it was much more daunting than we ever expected. And it changed just the way we look. looked at drug culture and the way we're handling things in general. Because like we say in that film, although cannabis per se is not that physically addictive, learning about it quickly become so and how the laws were made and how we were hoodwinked by the government on that, right? That it was really a racial and business move of why it was maybe legal. It was never made for the benefit of people that it can be harmful because the government doesn't really care about harmful products. You can go to

a liquor store and drink yourself to death in one day. Or cigarettes. Yeah, or cigarette. Like, they don't really care. Or the, what's the new one? The vaping. I mean, I can just imagine what that's doing. Oh, yeah. You know.

So that's where it really got. And then this thing just grew into something and it really became this cult classic that we just never expected when it released. It took much longer than anticipated to do much more, cost much more money and everything else. But it really was kind of like our degree for getting this done. Like this film, this little engine that could was accepted to like dozens of film festivals won tons of awards.

got a distribution deal, you know, was able to recoup a lot of the money that we invested into. It was invited to Parliament Hill, played a small part in legalization in Canada. But it wasn't profitable, though. But what it was is what I use is that that was my film school. I learned the hard way of how to take an idea with a team and execute and get it done all while also navigating my dad's estate and the nightclub and everything else. So I learned that I wasn't that good at acting, but I was really. really good at, you know, solving problems and finishing. And that's ultimately what producing is, is that, you know, in the film world, we can't

ever go like other businesses. We can't be like, oh, I'm taking a stress leave because it's just been too hard. Like you take a stress leave in the film world. That means you retire because every project is stressful. Every project has challenges they have to overcome and they're all different. So that is really. And then from there, it took a while to learn how to make it a business and not a hobby for a long time.

It was I was working three jobs and still trying to learn how to make it a business. But that was what I focused on is how do I make this a business. I'm like, all these other people do it. And they make a living and do it. And I want to, I know I found something I'd love to do. I love telling stories and going on these adventures and learning about the world around me and interviewing new perspectives. But I didn't know how to support my family doing it. So I really focused on how to do that.

And that's where now is another kind of funny thing is I'm considered like the, I hate to say, like people say, I'm like the wizard of like, you know, documentary financing and stuff. yet I was the guy that was always in the special needs math because I was so bad at it and everybody. All the teachers would say, this guy's horrible and he's a dummy and doesn't motivate himself. And I was like, yeah, because realizing now I wasn't motivated to do stuff that I didn't see had any value, right? The real value I've learned now of a lot of things you learn in high school is really just being giving a task, being able to complete that task on time and doing it to the best of your abilities is really like the best things you take out of high school. very people, few people remember really what they learned in high school. You said you had on the first documentary that it took four years and you had success but not,

it wasn't profitable. Can you make a sense of that in my head? I feel like if you have success, it is profitable, but I'm missing something there. No, great question. So the success was that it was able to get me in the room with distributors, broadcasters, and people because they all had success as far as viewership. Okay. We didn't make profits, right? We were able to pay off a lot of because we spent a lot of personal money to get there, like much more than initially we budget $150,000.

And I think by the time the film was done, we spent $400,000. It was much more expensive to get it. Because you're learning. There's all these costs. You don't really legal clearances and the airs and emission insurance. You're like, what's that? So it was much more expensive than we ever would have anticipated. The success came from the awards, the accolades, the festivals.

being able to recoup our investment or some of the investment and have the distributor make money. Because that's a big disconnect with a lot of filmmakers. They're like, well, I won all these awards and it did these festivals. Yeah, but did you distributor make any money? Because if they didn't, they're not going to want to buy your next one, right? Like, it is a film business and if they don't make money. So I guess, yeah, to a lot of people that if your only, you know, judgment of success is financial success, it was a failure. But I always took it as like, well, now it at least gets me in.

the room. Like it was one of the first 10 documentaries that Netflix acquired back in the day to put on their streaming service when they were just transitioning from DVDs to streaming. No kidding. Yeah. And it's it's it so it had lots of success in those. And again, our distributor made a ton of money. But the way Hollywood accounting works or it's like, you gross this much. You're like, oh, sweet. But then after marketing costs this, this, it's like, oh, we split this much with you. And you're like, wait a minute. What was all these marketing costs? I don't remember you guys doing anything for marketing, but they just, they just, they just, they just, tack on fees. Every film, if they represent 100 films, every film pays the same fee, right?

Because they just pay a publicist, a monthly thing. And whatever, if they say they pay their publicist 10 grand a month, every film will be billed whatever 10 grand a month to pay for that film, right? That's how they make money. You've had a fat, you know, when you, when you, when you look at it, you've had a fascinating, I mean, and not that it's over, because it's certainly not, but you've had a fascinating journey thus far. You know, like, look at Netflix. Look at Netflix. You know, like I always think, I remember when, uh, wasn't it, wasn't it, wasn't it wasn't it, wasn't it, uh, bought Netflix for pennies on a dollar? It was like a million bucks.

I, you know, I'm being a little bit tongue and cheek, but you get the point and they laughed that and said that'll never work. And now you look at Netflix and I mean like it's gargantuan. It's like anyone wants to get their documentary on to Netflix. Now it's impossible. So I had my first couple films on Netflix and now like they haven't been interested in, which is okay because we've released our last two of the universal pictures or, or Universal Studios and looks like our next one's going to go with them too, which is fine.

I believe for the record. Why can't you get on Netflix? It doesn't hit their algorithm now. They've said that the films we're working on are too niche or not what. Netflix is basically run by like, you know, the Terminator, like computer program. They punch in what they have into an algorithm. And if it doesn't hit everything they're looking for, it's a pass. They won't do it.

They want, right now what Netflix has said is like they want the 100 big, producers and people in the world. And if you're outside of that, it might be a basic acquisition. Otherwise, they're not interested. They want giant stuff that's, they want marble-esque kind of like concepts and copyright. So they're not, they're not interested. So it's tough.

My first few. And that's where the union is also where we saw where Netflix took a different approach on their business, which is sneaky, but I kind of respected in one way is that. So when the union was on there, they used to have a rating system like you'd see how many stars. And you could go on and rate. and say that was great or I didn't like it. Because then that way the algorithm could figure out what your tastes were

and kind of recommend things, right? Which they still do. Now they do it without you. You don't have to rate it. They can just tell by like what you select. Then they watch that on. Watch it and everything else, right? It's a very scary, scary system.

Yes. So get this. So we had an incredible rating on Netflix. I think the union, the business behind getting higher, first film was four, four points. three or four point four out of five stars with 750,000 ratings.

Yeah. Right. And they had acquired it the rights for $10,000, right? Like something cheaper, $15,000. And it had been viewed. So we looked at it, we're like, if there's 750,000 people that have rated it, that must mean three or four million people have watched it because not everybody takes the time to rate it.

And then shortly after we brought that up to renegotiate because they did relicense it because it was so successful. but then shortly after that they started getting rid of because they didn't want people to know how many times things were being viewed. So then they got rid of all that stuff and you can't get your numbers at Netflix now. They will never do numbers. Why didn't they want people to know? Because they don't want you to negotiate against them, right? If you start saying, look, we'd sold them like we'd sold them the right.

I think it was like 15 grand or something. But then we're like, whoa, it's been viewed millions of times. Like that's not even a cent for every time it's been watched. We need to renegotiate. They don't want you to have numbers. So all Netflix does now is they'll tell you it's doing really good and they'll want to do another season with you. But they will never give you numbers because then you can negotiate against them. If you're like, hey, we just, we broke all your records.

44 million people watch it. Like for season two, we want four times the money, right? Netflix doesn't want you doing that. Isn't that wild? That rate there is essentially like, a monopoly on the market, you know? Like they can, because like, once again, you know, normal, if that's what they're going to do to add.

Adam's like, well, listen, we're going to go over here and get, you know, whatever it is. Now you got all these platforms started up. I mean, there's a whole whack of them now, right? You can ever go rogue and he talked about that with his specials that released on there. He was like, what's the numbers are like, it's doing great? He's like, well, what's the numbers are like, it's doing great? Like, they won't tell you because they don't want you to negotiate a game.

them they don't want you to be able like hey I do the opening day did 40 million views like we need double the money next day it's clever it's sinister but it's also clever to know that you can like that way you can't negotiate against them and there's such a powerhouse now that you want them and you know that they're no it's Netflix I mean Netflix is is the the the giant of that industry right like I mean well that's where people now are like oh so like when I say I'm a filmmaker and stuff they're like oh cool so you like a real filmmaker like your stuff on Netflix? I'm like, yes, my stuff has been on Netflix. Like, that's the standard now, right? It's like, oh, are you on Netflix? I mean, isn't that

kind of like, you know, like you've reached the pinnacle when that is, you've become the gold standard. Netflix is it. Joe Rogan is it, right? Like, there's a few of those, and they're the new gold standards. It used to be, you know, probably, HBO's. HBO. You know, Used to be, yeah, prime one, absolutely. Or, you know, David Letterman or Jay Leno or something like that back in the day, you know, when they were the late night show. That used to be the pinnacle. That used to be, you put that on your, I've been on this show.

Oh, wow, that's quite impressive. Now, the New Age ones, you know, the Netflix and, of course, Joe Rogan, I mean, are just like. And I've accomplished those both. So was that, I guess I'm on the, I've been on the place. Think about that. Think about that. Well, actually, I think you've been on, now you've been on Sean Newman. I mean, geez.

Now, now I better go renegotiate with my agent, hey? That's right. You walk, can you say, I was, I was on Sean Newman. Everything. Oh, you were on Sean Newman. Oh, okay. Now that we said, let's let's make sure we add an. Get him on everything.

You think about it, though. How early were you on Joe Rogan? What season, not season, what episode do you remember? I think it was in the 600s and then in the two, 170. So 170-ish, 170-ish you were on. Hang on. I can find out quickly on IMB, and I can let you know exactly, so I'm not guessing. But it was definitely before he became, like,

he was big, he was certainly big, but he was not like the cultural monster that he is now. 648 and 234. There you go. There you go, yeah. that's uh you know i go back every once in a while i don't you know um i say this i literally just said this you know and i i don't know what your thoughts you know when you compete against other people i feel like that's that's that's a it's a tough one you got to compete your so i say i compete against sean every day you know and some days you got to give yourself a pat on

the back for like holy crap you know uh enjoy the moment enjoy the journey it yeah you get so come up in the destination right you see what joe's built and you want to it and you go and I'll even put it to a young filmmaker will watch something you've done and go like wow look at the I don't know you guys have all your terms and you're looking at I'm gonna use Joe because you know that's my realm I watch and I go like holy shit look at the look at the studio he's built like look at that look at how he has the best and brightest come to him every time and his ability to just you know even conversate right like he's he's amazing at it that's

something doesn't get enough credit for him people try to hate on him now, but they try to say, like, he's a movement conversation as an interviewer. I think people who sit in my chair understand it immensely what he does. Like, it's just beautiful to watch how he does it. Part of that is his upbringing, his background, the comedy side. Like, it's just so much in there. It is just really cool to watch. But if I go back and I watch his early stuff, because I personally...

The first one with the snowflakes coming in. Well, I just go like, look, look at how far he's come, his journey of Joe, Joe against Joe. And you go back, you go back, it'll be four years in February. I've been doing this, Adam. And if you go back to episode one where we did it in the basement of old farmhouse, me and a buddy, Ken, and we just flicked on the mics because I was so excited to just try it. And you go listen to how raw that is. I don't know how good the audio is. It's still there, episode one.

And you just, if I go back and listen to that, I'm like, kind of like squirmish, except I'm like, but it's still pretty freaking cool, how far I've come. And I keep thinking, you know, what's another four years of doing this going to add to where I'm at right now. And you get to tack that on because, you know, I started full time, April 2022. And. Congrats, man. Well, I appreciate that.

Thank you. That's awesome. That's creative hustle. That's what I put in that. It's when you, anytime the real dream isn't the Oscars and the red carpets and that bullshit. The real dream is when you can do something you love to do for a living and support your family. That is the goal. That is the goal.

All the awards and all that stuff, that stuff. Awards for this and stealing our boys lying any awards for art and stuff are silly because they're so subjective. But I'm happy to take them if you want to give them. But really, dude, I'm pumped for you. That is, that is what you want. That's what I always wanted to do. I learned early on, I can tell you the exact moment of when I knew I wouldn't be able to do anything else, is that so with the union, the business being higher, first doc, you know, we were submitting to the big festivals, like hoping to get in, like, you hear those stories of filming. So we submit to sundance, we're going to make it.

Of course we didn't get into sundown. We submitted to Tribeca. I think of arena, of course we didn't get into Tribeca. Like all the big ones, like, we're nobody's out of Canada. We had this clever little film. But looking back now, like knowing how political and influenced all these things are. I'm like, what a joke we thought. We're just going to submit and get in.

Yeah, right. I still haven't got into those festivals, maybe one of these days. So we didn't get in, but then, you know, and then we did some smaller festivals. There used to be, I can't remember what's called without a box. Now it's film Freeway where all the festivals come up and you submit to them. And we're getting all these noes. And then you start just as like any creator does, you start thinking like, man, like we thought we had something special. Maybe we don't.

Maybe it's not good. All these people are saying, no, you start second guessing yourself. You start looking at it and you start thinking you should change it. And then, boom. Winnipeg International Film Festival. We accepted you're in and you're up for an award. We love the film. We're like,

oh, my God. So, like, my whole family flew. Like, we all flew in expecting this. Like, we're thinking it's like what we've seen on TV with festivals, right? And we show up and there's 17 people there. And I brought like 12 of them, right? And I'm like, this festival isn't around anymore.

It folded. I still love the organizers and stuff. They're great people. But disappointing for your first thing, you'd work so hard and you want to show it to people. And it was like, okay, this is all this. in this tiny theater. Where that changed, though, is then it started, because a lot of the film festival programmers

work at multiple festivals. That's kind of what they do for the year. They're programmers all over. Well, the buzz had gotten out, and they're like, man, this is a really clever little indie. It's actually really good. Then we started getting into the bigger ones. We got to the Vancouver International Film Festival in Boston

and some other places. And in Vancouver was the first one where now we're in our home province, we have home field advantage, right? Coming from the nightclub world, I knew how to promote and market things. So I was like, I made sure Vancouver was packed. We're pulling up to the Granville Theater, right? And I remember seeing this giant lineup down the street.

And because most of their screenings were there at the Van City Theater. But there's two screens at the Granville Theater. So I was like, wow, somebody's movies packed. Look at that lineup. Then I see the sign rush tickets for the union. And I was like, holy shit, that's for us, right? Because we hadn't had that kind of audience. And you go into the theater and there is an AMT seat packed.

People are sitting right front road to watch it completely packed, right? And my stepsisters are there, not the ones from earlier in the story, like family, friends from all over my boxing coach, all these people, because they'd heard me talk about this thing for years. They'd almost thought I was a little crazy, trying to work on this thing for almost four years. But now there's a premiere. We're going to come see it.

And I remember watching, when you watch something you've created with an audience, like that big, there was like 500 people. It was like watching it for the first time, seeing people laugh because Joe Rogan's in that when he would come on and he had to have these moments and everybody would be laughing. And then people when they're getting emotional when we had this guy, Greg Cooper had really bad MS and he used cannabis to control his seizures and is shaking. And everybody's getting quiet, tears down their face. I remember going like, man, I am never going to be able to do anything else. Like my work is affecting an audience. I see it having emotional responses with people.

how can I ever go back to just a job that gives me a piece of paper to go buy things, daily, mundane things to survive? I was like, I will never. I was like, I have to figure out how to make this a job and a career and not just, you know, a hobby. And then from there, it took years to figure out how to do that exactly. But I remember there being like, especially, and then there was one moment that almost made me, like, cry is like, you know, you have this like four-year baby that you created

and you finally get an audience and you're seeing that people saw what you and your team put together. And then a lot of people knew my dad that had come there. My dad had obviously passed away before we'd started the film. And in the end, we put in loving memory of my father. And I remember I'm walking up and there's this huge standing ovation and we're up for all these awards. And it was like really surreal. We're like, wow, okay, we're not crazy or vision. We do have something special. And I'm walking down and then in memory of my dad came up. And there was this extra cheer that came because there was probably about 30 or 40 people that, like, were really close to my dad and couldn't believe I put it in. And I remember, I heard that cheer and I looked up to see what it was on the screen.

And I'm walking towards to do the Q&A. And instantly, I'm welling up and like tear. And I have to like fight it and pull around because they're about to ask me questions and stuff, right? And I don't want to cry. But you're also emotional because you work so hard on this and you finally get an audience and you're sharing it with the world. It's very personal. And that was at that top of one where I'm like, man, I'm a big baby. I'm about to cry.

if I premiere and like turn around, I mustered it up, but it's, it is really probably my favorite part till this day is when you get to watch your film with an audience, a theater full of people, there's nothing like it. Like everybody's always like, well, I mean, you probably want to go across the street and like, we'll come back for the Q&A. I'm like, hell no, I want to stand up at the back. I want to watch the audience. I want to see if they laugh at the same spots or receive it the same way.

I'm not going nowhere. I'll watch it for the 10,000th time. You know, it's when you say I'm not crazy, when you have a thought in your head or a vision of what you want to build, there's very few people who can immediately like, yeah, I get it. And they work alongside you. I'm sure you have a bunch of those because you have a team, right? Yeah. But for a lot of people, they just can't see it, you know, until it's literally there. And to have the perseverance to kind of see that through, especially four years, man.

And like, that's, that's a, to me, that's a lot. Like that shows what you're made of, um, because there must have been points in that. We're like, what the hell are we doing, right? Even though you know, people, even, you know, my wife who's been my greatest supporter, time, she's like, man, Adam, you're spending all this money and like, yeah, make money. Crazy wrecker. You've been out like six times.

Stop. Sorry. No, there's definitely, um, many times, or even I thought you started to be like, man, am I crazy, man going to a while, goose chase, I spend all this. money, my savings, I borrowed money for my stepfather, like, am I crazy, like done this? So it was nice to, to experience that. And that feeling is, you know, and when you say, it's interesting is when you say people don't see it.

So not only do people don't see it, but I've learned, and I'm sure you're experiencing a lot of people really don't like to see people succeed in things that they enjoy. Lots of people love to be like, I'm miserable, but I make good money. you should live the same lifestyle, right? Like that is kind of, you know, even going back to you saw it COVID, I did something so you should too or you're a villain and we're going to give you a name, right? It's this way. There's only one way.

That's it. And in the, when you're going for something you love, people are always looking to shit on it, right? If it's not a traditional way of making money, people, it's hard for, and that's where I will give my wife and my stepfather was amazing. We'd always just be like, Adam, I see the passion. I see how hard you work. like I know you're going to figure it out one way or another.

Like God bless him like because he's the one that helped me finance my early projects. I wouldn't be able to do it. And that's where I say the success came not from financial success, but learning that I could complete a task. Because in the film industry, one of the hardest part is to deliver, right? And then a lot of filmmakers can then deliver. And this is what I tell the full circle and not all filmmakers share this view.

But to me is also delivering not just for the film community for like awards and festivals. but can you make your film profitable because we are in the film business. Canada gets lots of grants with tax credits and everything else to fund your stuff. And a lot of people will get accolades and awards, but their film goes on iTunes and a thousand people watch it. And it makes no money. And their distributors like, this thing's just a hassle for me to even have to renew its iTunes memory,

like all that stuff, right? So to me, that is the full thing. You make a movie. You have to also make it profitable, right? Then that's how you can go back. to your distributors and they're like, Sean, what do you have next? Because your last one was a hit for us.

So like, what's coming down the pipe? Right? That is, to me, the full circle of being a creator that you have to connect with your audience as well. It can't just be my vision. I want to create something artistic that nobody gives a shit about, right? That doesn't matter.

Well, I mean, you're in a different sense. You're saying how the podcast became profitable. It's all that. That to me is all that. Yeah. It's connection with your audience. because they direct just as many guests who come on this thing as I do. They are...

See, and that's awesome. That is, you know, going back to our boy, Rogan. To me, that's why I think he resonated with the world, is that before we knew it, now we know that there is no good news site anymore. They're all just bending narratives for their side. That is clear now more than it's ever been. But, you know, I think we didn't, like, in her eye, we kind of knew. you know, 10 years ago when podcasts were first coming alive,

but didn't really know. We kind of had a sense of it. Like some people read one article, the other. And when you got on, when you finally heard Joe just like, they're smoking weed, they're drinking,

they're just having this organic talk. They're being human beings and just, it was so refreshing just to be like, man, I never thought about that way before. I never looked at that perspective before. I would have never sat down with this person and want to hear his perspective.

And it changed. And that's where Joe still gets flagged today. Like, why does he have this right? winger on or this left wing or this have them all on. I want to hear all their perspectives. There's been people on both sides that have completely changed the way I've looked at the world that have interviewed on this thing.

I was like, I never thought about it from that way. That changes the way I look at this situation. I've never thought about that situation before. Changes the way I look at it. It is what I think resonated with so many people and why I think podcasts have become so popular is that it's one of the most organic, like right now because it's unregulated, essentially you create your own show. we're getting honest conversations, even if they're wrong or people's opinions don't connect.

At least people hear, and I hear what they're saying, don't agree, but I like that they had that conversation and brought up points I'd never heard before. I think people are really resonating. That's where Joe about popular, and I think that's where all the other podcasts like yourself is that people are like, it's just a way more organic, honest conversation that is so much better than all of the other ways that you do shows now. Yeah, well, I think one of the lessons I learned off of podcasting, and probably Joe, You know, is you can listen to a guest for two hours and pretty much disagree with everything they say.

And then they have one thought that can change your mind on everything. You know, I don't know if I can hear. We'll see if I can slowly turn it here. Yeah, I can see it. Okay. So I've said this now like, oh, sorry, I could, it says, oh, I got the light in way. There's a glare there, yeah, yeah. It says whatever time you have.

have a tack like you're trying to save the world and then Joe Rogan underneath it because it's it came from I was listening to him episode 1299 I the listeners are laughing because I brought it up like it must be the start of a new year I don't know it's Annie Jacobson is on with him and I didn't think I was actually pretty hard on Joe in my brain as I'm listening to come on Joe be better you know like whatever sure sure yeah anyways and Annie's you know Annie is Annie and I would love to have her on It's not that she was a bad guess. It's just the conversation for whatever reason didn't flow that well. Until the best, well, it changed my life.

He has a three-minute where she says, you know, how do people get stuck in life? You know, and he goes, oh, Bill's wife, kids, mortgage. It's pretty easy. And then he goes, you know, if I was where I was at when I was 20 now, I wouldn't be able to be where, you know, I wouldn't be able to take the chances I took back then. And so she goes, something along the lines. So you're saying it'd never be done? And you go, no, no, no. And then he takes a step back. And the thing was, what he talked about wasn't, like, I don't mean stuck that I was in a miserable life. I was just in a job that I didn't know how to walk away from. And I wanted to podcast. I just started it. And I'm listening to him basically blueprint my life on how I get out of working in the oil field, which is a great paying job. but most people want out of. They just, they don't love the oil field.

It's, it's, it's not bad. I, I love the people there. If there's one thing I miss immensely, it's the team and the camarader, camaraderie and the blue collar and all that, like great, pays great. Like the pay in the oil field is unreal. Yeah.

But he basically outlined for me how I get out. And it's a three minute clip. I put it out on social media multiple times because, you know, Joe Rogans, how many, how many episodes is you up to now, folks? Like, it's, it's, it's, Awesome. And on an interview that I, it doesn't even grace my top 10 for like best guess.

And that's no knock on Annie. I'm not trying to shit on anyone. But it has the best piece of advice for me. So it might even be the number one episode for me because it literally changed the way I looked at what I was doing and how to strategically go from working full time and being like, oh, maybe I'll start, you know, like this hobby, maybe it could turn into something to turning it into something. And put it on the wall, it reminds me all the time.

I put it on the wall before I ever got full time to remind me to work your freaking tail off because it does not come unless you put in the work. Now, that's my thought on it. You talk about having success, but not being profitable, turning a hobby into a business. I'm really curious, Adam, how you did it. Because for me, maybe it's the same story.

I highly doubt it, but I'm sure there's some overlapping things. How did you turn in, you know, the hobby into something that allows you to do this now and something you love? Because for me, I love hearing the stories on how people figured it out. It's hard to putting the one. Lots of failures. Lots of failures, right? That's why that classic, you know, kind of like montage and quote of Arnold Schwarzenegger saying, don't be afraid to fail.

Oh, I've failed way more than I have. Like people are now seeing like, oh, wow, like score G productions is one of the like, independent, you know, documentary crews in Canada and in North America and arguably, you know, maybe I don't know the world. That seems big to say. But there's so many failures before, right? Like our first film wasn't profitable, right? And then I had one of our producers whose dad owns a law firm thought it was so profitable because it was all over Netflix and everything. So he sued me because he had back end net profits and oh yeah. I've been through the ring. Most people have never been through litigation in their life. I've been through like six times.

and I'm getting sued by Dana White and the UFC right now too so that's uh why are you getting sued well because for BISBING the documentary we did which you sorry yeah

no go ahead well I just watched the trailer before we walked on I'm like oh this should be interesting and then I get done the the trail and I'm like that looks good like that looks it's an amazing story

it's like BISBing is the real life rocky except he accomplished a championship with no eye and with one eye and no depth perception, which has never been done by any other champion in any other sport. With two weeks notice, he gets the call, too, to step up and to, or, um, so, uh, we, we used what's, like, there's a copyright law in Canada and the United States, um, called fair use.

Well, in Canada, it's called fair dealing. Uh, in UK, it's called fair dealing. And in the states, it's called fair use when essentially it was created so the journalists, creators, and artists are able to not be beholden to. the copyright holder for egregious copyright fees or to be able to tell the narrative accurately, you know,

without them saying, well, we don't like that part. We don't like how it makes our company look so we don't want you to show that, right, where you can use bits and pieces of it in order to articulate the story. And the general rule of fair use is that if you see a duck, you have to show a duck or hear a duck, right? So if Bisbing's

talking about when he fought Anderson Silva, we're allowed to show that as long as we have our own original voiceover or interview explaining how the fight happened and maybe little things behind. And then the general copyright rules in order to stay on side for fair use. So are you using it limitedly in order to just articulate your original content? Does it damage the copyright holders brand and stuff? And are you putting enough of your own creative spin to make it different?

You're not just replaying the copyright or replaying the entire fight. Yeah. Yeah. So no one has ever. ever been able or wanted to do fair use against the UFC because you have a very aggressive president that isn't scared to come after you. I've done it to the NHL many times and they barked their feathers and come at it and we send them a very professional legal letter saying, no, this film has been legally cleared and we don't have to license the footage from you because

we operate it under fair use doctrine and under fair dealings and therefore we don't need to reach out to you for licensing. And the NHL doesn't want to go down that legal road and it ends there. But the UFC had never had anybody do that. And they were like, this doesn't even exist. Who do you think you are? You're going to fair use. Well, fair use isn't some privilege that filmmakers do. It is a copyright law that was put into these kind of things.

So that people like this, so that somebody like Bisbing can tell his story and not be beholden to somebody telling him like, no, you can't do it. You can't use moments of your life to articulate your story. So we have insurance and stuff for this, but it's a bit of a headache. But we're going back and forth. but I'm sure it will get solved here shortly, but that's ultimately why they're coming after us. They don't, they promoted the film. They love the film.

Dana White promoted it on his Twitter, on his Instagram, on their Facebook page. The UFC promoted it at their live events for an entire month. So clearly they don't think it causes them any damages. They like the film, but they just don't like that I understood how copyright law were. And it wasn't either that, like, we didn't just edit this and put this together the way we thought. You have to hire, like we hired. the most pristine. They're called Donaldson Caliph Perez.

They are like the fair use and fair dealing and copyright lawyers in the United States, one of the most regarded in the world. They cleared our film. And it went through a rigorous clearance process. It was the most, we had to go through, I think, seven clearance logs to get it right,

where they're like, nope, not a strong enough argument. Nope, you have to shorten that. Nope, that's not. Like,

it was like a bit, my editor always says that Bisping was a swear word for months because it took so much to get to clear it, right? It was so hard. to get it right. So they're contesting it and they're they're trying to say, well, you use 24 different UFC copyrighted clips there, right? If even one of them doesn't have a strong argument, that would put you and, you know, we would see you for copyright. And our lawyer kind of bounced back and said,

true. But if 23 of them are onside and cleared, everybody's going to know how to do this to you for the future. So you sure you want to go down that path? Because if you might be, you might be able to find one wrong, but it could also go on record that the rest of the film is entirely within its rights, and that would set a very strong president's against you. So we're in mediation here shortly to figure that out. You know, you mentioned that after the first documentary, you get sued thinking that you made a boatload of money. As a young guy, does that, I don't know, the view? Dark in the view of...

It almost killed me. I was so broke at the time. And then this guy, and then the part that's really disappointing is that the one producer, like the case had no merit, but because his father owned a law firm, he was able to,

you know, just, like he would just send giant lists of things that I'd have to go on a quest to prove that they were wrong, right? Because this is, for those that haven't been in litigation, I highly recommend you stay away from it.

Because that's where you will see how broken the legal system is. system is. Because if you have money, you can just exhaust people. You can come up with a pretty weak, frivolous case. And I remember saying like conflict of interest. I'm like, how is this allowed? His dad, it's a certain law firm.

I won't mention it because I don't need it. Yeah, yeah, yeah. That one of the letters in the FMP, whatever, is his, like, his father was, and it was his brother-in-law that was married to his sister was the one litigating the case. And I was just like, how is that not a conflict of interest? and then he would just throw all these ridiculous things like oh, I had to like, and I'm reading it being like, what? That's totally bullshit.

That's what, but now it's my job to present evidence to the court that that's wrong and that that that's wrong and that this is false and that that's incorrect. And you would think that if you were able to pull out two or three of them, they're completely outrageous and egregious. You just be like, shouldn't you throw out this whole thing? If these three are that egregious and ridiculous and have no merit, like this guy's just lying. But that's not the way the courts work, right?

He went and took the time to file a complaint. So now you have to. And they try to always make it exhausting. It'd be like 76 things he wanted me to get. Super daunting to try to waste your time. And then your lawyer's billing you, yet I'm doing all the work. I'm the one that's actually having to go track down all these things, all these emails, are statements for all these things and present them and put them in.

I'm like, dude, what am I paying you for? I'm doing, you guys just file it into a nice affidavit to be able to talk about it in court. but I'm the one chasing it all down and doing all the work. And then they bill you, trust me, it almost crippled me at the time. It was exhausting and costly. And it's horrible to go through that process. And trust me, that's again when everybody's just like, Adam, you go through so much to do these things that, you know,

there's times like, yeah, like you felt like, okay, maybe I should just quit and just, you know, be miserable and get a sales job and just go do it. And everybody's like, if you put that much effort into your other things, you would be successful, whatever you do. And I was like, yeah, but those things are like, I'm just running my clock out to my body expires. That's miserable. I don't want to do that.

Like, what's the point in that? Like, I don't want a car. I don't care about a fancy car. I don't, I don't care about a big house. I don't, I don't care. Like, those things don't excite me.

There's no thrill. Like when someone's like, oh, look at the new car I got. I'm always like, cool, if that makes you happy. But to me, I just started thinking of like, oh,

well, that means insurance. Price, like, and as soon as you buy it, the cost of that thing just goes like this, right? Like, I just don't, Those things don't excite me. It's great for other people that do. To me, what you do isn't identical to what I do, but I see similarities.

And the adventure of life is getting the opportunity to sit across from Adam Scorgy on a morning and not knowing where it's going to go. That is about as exciting as my day gets. I should point out being at home with three young children. That's pretty exciting too. And you don't know what you're going to get there. But when it comes to the podcast realm, like the possibilities for me are endless. Like it's just endless.

And I've said this very early on. Every person has a story to tell. It's just whether or not you're willing to sit down and listen and see where they go. Because everybody's lived out, you know, their experience. And some people just come across the old podcast that, you know, like I'm looking at the time. And, you know, you ask me when we start, how long do you go for? I'm like, I don't know, hour and 15. You know, and all of a sudden, look at the clock.

I'm, holy crap, we're in one right now because I'm like... I'm breaking the record here for one of your longest ones. Well, you know, it's just funny. Documentaries, I assume, is very similar in that, you know, you're on the road, you're going to different places, you're filming, you're, you know, you've had high profile people, you know, on these documentaries, and it's, you know, obviously different, but the adventure is there every time you just walk out the door. That's why we do it.

The adventure and the way you learn and what you get to see, that's what's, and it's interesting where you bring up being in the oil industry, being in Alberta, that's the most interesting conversation I have at dinner parties when, you know, we go to and we meet new people and we'll start conversating with somebody else. And, you know, and then someone say, what do you do? And then I tell them. And then I remember they're always blown away being like, what? And then they see like how passionate I get when I'm talking about it and travel and overcoming these challenges.

And I've had a few of them say, I want that. How do I get? Like, I see the passion. Like, I want that. But I don't get that. And then they start going into like, you know, what they call the golden handcuffs. They're like, I have this great job. Pays really good. But I hate it. I start having anxiety and stress on Sunday knowing I have to go back to work on Monday. And I'm like, yeah, I don't ever have that. I'm like, sorry. I used to have that in a sales job I had. And that's why I remember I identified very quickly. There's no amount of money that's going to get me to continue to like stress and age myself and make myself unhealthy dreading that the Monday is going to be that that bad.

I was like, no way. And I'll go into one last story here because I think you probably got to go and I got to drive my wife to the airport here. It just means part two, in person at Amenton, wherever the studio may fall. And I got Adam coming on. We're going to have, we're going to have a fun time in Emmington. Anyways, carry on. I'll put it on the record now so I can be held accountable.

Like I was alive, so I have to do it. But how giddy you get or how like, so I had a moment recently this last year where I called my dad, like a little kid that was excited to tell his dad, my stepdad for those that are getting, because I have my biological father passed away. My stepdad, my mom and then got married when I was very young. So I've always just had two dads that have been monumental in who I am as a person. But we interviewed Arnold Schwarzenegger and Sylvester Stallone within a day of each other for the Dolph Long in documentary. Now, for me, growing up as an 80s kid, those were the guys. They were the icons.

I used to say to my dad, back when there's video stores for those young listeners and you'd go and my dad be like, hey, we're going to a movie store. What do you want? I'm like, anything with Arnold Stallone, Dolph Longer, and Seaguller, Van Dam, like, I'm in. Just anything with those guys. That right there is a lineup. Yeah.

Right. Like that's like, and here's the thing is we're interviewing three of the four of them for Dolph's Doc for his like Van Dam's lot. one on the list and we're supposed to be interviewing him this month right so here i am we're interviewing stone we're standing up and my co-producer shame fantasy comes in and my partner and he goes what would make this trip to l.a even better and i'm like all that arnold's confirmed and then he's like yep tomorrow morning at nine i'm like what we need it like so because when you do these interviews right like you're getting their free time they're donating we never pay for any

anybody to sit down but then you're kind of at win with them so arnold just said yeah goals gym 9 a m and we're like okay but we're trying to shoot this shoot the cinematically for theater and stuff. So we have to, you know, we have to have two and a half, three hours of set up for lighting. We have to make sure the sound is good. We have to go through all this. So the same time, I'm excited, but we're nervous. And then we, because you realize all the work that's about down. All the work that has to get done, right? And then we're dealing with Arnold's, uh, governor sports and your security guard because you know, him being foreign politician. We're like, hey, do you need to send the, the questions for clearances first to make sure

everything's not, you know, and the guy, that guy was like, no. They're like, he's a former politician. If he doesn't like what he has to say, he won't answer it or he'll give you some spin that works. We're like, perfect. And we're doing it for Dolph. He's like he loves Dolph. It's no big deal, right? But then we had to read. So we interviewed Stallone, which is amazing, right? You're sitting there. It is very surreal when he interviewed these guys and you grew up like, you know, I think the Rocky movie inspired everybody, including we know it inspired Michael Bisbing to become a world champion. We're fiction-inspired reality. But I called my dad. Like when I'm like, God, I'm about to interview Governor Schwarzener because he knew, like, all the Arnold movies.

I watched him a million times and I was younger. And like, I got to geek out like a little kid. I'm like, can't believe you're going to interview Arnold. He's like, I'm so awesome. I'm so proud of you. That's so cool. You must be pumped. I'm like pumped.

I'm pumped. Like on set, right? Like we're at Gold's Gym and we had to go through a bit of navigating there because Gold's Gym was open, right? So we had to be like, could you please like shut down this section? And they're like, we don't do that for anyone. This is Hollywood. Like we never shut down things for like, otherwise you pay.

big money. They're like, who are you interviewing? We're like Arnold. And they're like, oh, for Governor Schwarzenegger, okay, he helped build golds to what it is today.

And then I, they're like, we never do it. But for you, we will and okay. And Arnold, and then you have 20 minutes. And we put it together.

And it was, it was awesome. Arnold was busting all our guys chops. Like our sound guy comes in and we want to be perfect. And we got it quiet. We're out there. And then the sound mic was kind of clipping out.

And our sound guy's like, he goes, all these fucking sound guys. He's like, what do they think that? someone who's going to be like, oh, this interview is horrible. Sweltsonigas, Mike, sticking out, right? And then our sound guy's like this, he's like, just kidding.

You're a professional. Do it. It was awesome. But that shows you, like, you can see now through Bajun, like, I love what I do. And I just, when people were like, what's your five-year plan? I'm like, just to continue what I'm doing. Just hopefully people keep resonating with our stories and distributors keep wanting to pick it up, right?

So, you know, there's, I'll end it on this, so is the note is, which you've probably been through too, is that there is no easy way. Anything, easy work is worthless, right? Anything that is really worth fighting for that you really want to do is going to have hardships. I go through this with my kids in their sports right now. Like, you're going to have moments where you hit a plateau. And this is what they talk about.

Can you overcome adversities? Can you dig deep? Can you grind? Can you go through the shit? Right? And everybody always thinks like, oh, the adversity is like having one bad game or having a bad month or having a bad interview. No, the adversity is like, you have three young kids.

I have three young kids, making sure that you're, you know, giving the money them, trying to be a good husband, trying to do everything you can, but do something you love to do and support your family. You're going to eat a lot of shit along the way. That is just part of it. But that's what also makes it so great when it's successful, right? Is that, you know, it's the Joe Frazier saying, everybody wants to go to heaven, but nobody wants to die first, right?

You have to be willing to grind first in order to appreciate the success. If it comes too easy, you'll take it for granted. If you've really had to grind and piece it together over and over and over and then you finally hit it, you enjoy it more, which goes to that cliche old saying is like, enjoy the journey. Don't focus all the time on the destination. Well, I appreciate you hopping on. Before I let you hop out, I got one little last question. I'm going to make it easy for it. I won't put the hard spin on it today.

It's a crewmaster final question. Shout up to Heath and Tracy. And this one is for a movie man. What's your favorite of all time? I don't know. Is that an impossible question? You can't because there's genres, man. Okay, okay, okay, okay.

Top five then, top five. That gives you genres and everything. Well, good fellas for like gangster movies. Definitely my top five in there. Anytime it can be thrown on, you love it. And then the old saying, he's a good fella. Like, whenever things go in transition there, good fellas is right up there.

I love, I know I'm kind of off and people think, like, I love the Avatar movies. I think that I just went and saw the way of the water and people. And how was it? How was it? It's fantastic. It's absolutely fantastic. It's an incredible work of art. And that's the part that people know, as a producer, I understand people like, oh, well,

he had $250 million. I'm like, that makes it more complicated. Do you know how many people you have to make happy with $250 million? Do you know how many chiefs are like complicating and pulling things in every direction? I say this when people go, oh, Cameron, it's a rip off of fern gully or whatever story. I'm like, okay, how many lifetimes

would it take you to accomplish one-tenth of what that man has done? It would take me 100, and I'm a pretty savvy. The original Avatar was a great movie, and so I haven't seen the new one. I actually, you're at two. I'm going to push you on the last three so you can get your wife to the airport,

and I'm not in the bad books. Okay. Next one, right. Oh, Avatar. Shawsham production. Oh, yeah, all right. like that. Shawshank Redemption.

If I want a kids movie, like something that really inspired me in my childhood, that when you look in a never-ending story is still a phenomenal movie. All right. Hard to. You got one left.

Oh, man. I've had to pick one other one. You haven't given me a comedy yet. I'm not the hugest comedy guy. What? No, I'm not. But if I had to go, if I have to pick one,

if they're like you're on a desert island. You're on a desert island. Give me one comedy that you're going to watch. That's either if I'm, I'll I probably say super bad. Super bad. Interesting choice.

Is it better for American Pie, the first one? Both of those really resonate with my high school days. I'm like, if we're going younger to be the home alone's or Chevy Venture or like a, you know, Christmas vacation or national. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Those are all in there.

Hey, man, this has been a ton of fun. I appreciate you hopping on. I thank Nicole again for hooking this. up because you know anytime uh uh i get hooked up with somebody that our paths would have never crossed if it wasn't for her i don't know how this would ever happen um you know uh appreciate it so i will reach back out when i get emminton hooked up and we'll make sure the next one's uh in person and we have a little fun that way either way thanks for hopping on adam this morning i pleasure thanks for I'm listening to you rant and I hope people enjoy the story and much respect to you and grind and do what you do.

I love to see it too. It's funny that we're both inspired by somebody that's kind of trying to have been canceled recently. So I'm glad to see you're doing your thing. And I enjoy my time today. I look forward to when we get talking to a half in person. I'll bring my wife works for O'Clair Distillery. So I'll make sure to bring a couple of bevies when we sit down and we. That sounds like a plan.

Yeah, sounds good. But you can hold me to it. I'm on record now saying I'm coming back. So we're going to have to go. Yeah, you got no choice. No choice. All right, guys. Thanks, brother.