Imagination Unleashed and the Making of Alpha Initiative: Zero

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>> Stefan Thomas: Foreign.

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>> Will: Greetings Nerds. This is Will Polk producer of the

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Scene N Nerd Podcast with our host Sarah Belmont.

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And tonight we are welcoming two special guests to

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the podcast. We have Christopher Ikpoh from and

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Stefan Thomas from the Creative Extreme. Welcome

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gentlemen to the podcast.

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>> Stefan Thomas: Hello. Hello.

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>> Christopher Ikpo: Thank you. Appreciate it. Yep.

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>> Will: Yeah. Yeah. Well, thank you so much for, for

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coming on and I want to just give us you know,

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special thanks to your publicist Lillian for

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setting this up and glad we were able to, to do

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that tonight. but yeah, so really just really want

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to just kick off our conversation here. I know we

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were talking in the pre show, we, we definitely

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found that we had some, some common things as far

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as, as in our personal lives, of interest, but

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really just want to learn. Have you share with our

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listeners and viewers here. Tell us about the

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Creative Extreme and how you both met and what the

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Creative Extreme is.

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>> Stefan Thomas: Well, the Creative Extreme is essentially it's an

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entertainment company. we focus on I was going to

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say big budget storytelling. What I mean by that

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is we like sci fi, we like fantasy. we started our

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company with ah, a, ah, project that we called

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Project 365 where we created one comic book style

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character for every day of the year. We started

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that in 2016 and we basically wanted to kind of

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create an instant universe. we, you know, at the

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time Marvel's popping off big and DC was starting

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to come into the game and of course you had

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everything with all, you know, Star wars and the

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Star Trek movies. So all stuff that we really

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loved along with, you know, all the different, all

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the different arenas of fantasy and sci fi. And

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Chris and I have been, you know, working on our

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own stories individually and then we reconnected

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because we went to school together, played

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basketball together at Oberlin College where Chris

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of course was the man. He was the star of the

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team. He took us to the promised land. Well, took

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us almost to the promised land. You know, we did

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really well. Well and you know, a lot of

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incredible wins and you know, and I backed him up.

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I was a third string point guard, you know, so I

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was like, get in, you know, when I can, you know,

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a little play a little bit here.

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>> Christopher Ikpo: But he came with game though. When he came, he

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came with game. He came right

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>> Will: like the Division 3. Did y' all win like the

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Division 3 Championships or was that,

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>> Stefan Thomas: Nah, nah, nah, we didn't get to the championships,

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but, but we, we made

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>> Christopher Ikpo: it to the tourney. Yeah, we made it.

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>> Stefan Thomas: Yeah.

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>> Will: Made it.

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>> Stefan Thomas: Made it. Yeah. So, yeah, we did. We did okay here

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and there. and we had met there and we, that was

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back in the early, like late 90s, early 2000s. And

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then what, maybe 12 years after that, after we

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both graduated, we reconnected. I mean we had been

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in contact, but I didn't know that Chris was also

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writing. I went straight into, the creative world

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and started my. Started working at American

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Greetings, which is a car company. I wrote cards

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for a few years and I just was doing freelance

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writing and freelance story editing. Chris hits me

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up and says, hey, I got a book. Would you like to

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edit my book? I said, absolutely, I'll, edit your

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book. He didn't send me a book. He sent me a saga,

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like a book e myth of a 500 page epic. And so

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started editing that. Then like I said, we started

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doing Project 365. I was like, man, you have a lot

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of characters. I have a lot of characters. Let's

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throw them together. You know, Project 365 was

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born and then from there we started like, building

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new characters off of those characters.

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>> Will: Yeah. Tell me a little bit more about, Chris. Let

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me share your story. I know just looking at some

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of the materials, Stefan, I, I know you mentioned

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you. I was going to ask about your days as working

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at American American Greetings. I probably read

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one of your greeting cards out there somewhere as

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far as the messages in there. But Chris, I think

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you have a background in, in the corporate world

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and your nickname is the Artista. So.

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>> Christopher Ikpo: Yeah, yeah, the Artista. Stefan's the Abbott. He,

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he, he's, he's been my writing mentor as well as

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my, my brother and you know, my partner in crime

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in this. so like whenever I need wisdom, I put the

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water buckets on my shoulders and I walk the 10

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miles up the stone steps to the top of the

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mountain and I go to the Abbott for all the wisdom

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I need. the Artista was just something I kind of a

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moniker that I gave to myself when I started

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writing. I did a different bunch of different kind

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of things. Poetry, short stories, philosophical

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musings, all this kind of stuff. But I had it

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underneath the Christopher Isaac Society. and then

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that's kind of what birthed the novel. And then

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that what took me over to Steph and then like

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Steph said, so on and so forth. But yeah, I

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graduated with a pre law degree and that never

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went into to that world because I was working as a

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paralegal and I was training a law, school

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graduate who couldn't get a job as a lawyer

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because the market was so oversaturated with law

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school graduates, and people who had passed the

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bar were trying to get a job. So I'm training her

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to be a paralegal. And long story short, she was

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just basically like, it's not worth it, dog. don't

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do it. And so I was like, well, damn. So then, I

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shifted course, and then I got into sales. You can

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always get a job in sales, right? So I got a job

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in sales. Started out boiler room stuff, making

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100, 150 phone calls a day at a desk. Just

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grinding it out over the years. Worked my way up

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the ladder, switch companies here and there, moved

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into a manager position, moved into an assistant

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vice president position with a, global finance

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firm, and now I'm with, J.P. morgan as a vice

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president. So that's my. My. My career, my day

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job. The passion, though, the love. Right. What I

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feel my calling is what God has placed on my soul

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is creative, extreme. And so, yeah, like Steph

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said, I sent him the book, we got connected and we

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started doing it. And then, you know, here we are.

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We've been rocking ever since.

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>> Will: Yeah, that was about. So if I recall you guys, the

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creative history in the 365, was that around the

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25th, 2011, 2015 time range?

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>> Stefan Thomas: Yeah, about 2015 is where we kind of started kind

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of conceptualizing it, and then we launched on, On

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January 1st, 2016.

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>> Will: Yeah.

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>> Christopher Ikpo: So.

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>> Will: Yeah. So what are some of the characters in

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Project 365? I'm just very. I'm very curious as

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far as. Yeah, I saw. I saw. I know whenever you. I

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saw the materials, and it was just like a. Like a

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universe.

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>> Stefan Thomas: Yeah, there's a lot going on. So it's. So it's so

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hard, I guess. I mean, you know, kind of we can,

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like, you know, just kind of, you know, quick

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overview of a few other characters that just

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immediately pop into my head right now. It's like

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on any given day, a different character pop into

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my head. But, I mean, you start out with,

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actually, I go with the story that we're kind of

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working on right now, the Ghost Orphanage. So we

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have this story, about these, ancient. These

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ancient, spirits that were, that been roaming the

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Earth for thousands of years. And the reason

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they're roaming the Earth is because when the

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people they were attached to, got killed, they got

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killed by a special, like, weapon that was made of

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demons blood. Right. So now when they got, when

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they got killed, their souls couldn't go to

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heaven, couldn't go to hell. They were like,

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placed in like this purgatory on earth. And so

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they hide inside of human bodies. And the only

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people that can send them into the afterlife are

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these hunters who come from these seven

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specialized bloodlines. So over these centuries

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they've been hunting the. These hunters have been

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hunting down these ghost orphans. Ghost orphans.

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Because they have no home, right? So they've been

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hunting down these ghost orphans. And the main

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bloodline is the house of Philadelphia. And Peter

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Philadelphia is one of our main characters. A sick

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swordsman, you know, slicing and dicing. and so

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it's a lot of, So it's. It's a story that

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definitely, centers around some, you know, kind of

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epic kind of spiritual battles. It plays, and it

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plays in that, in that realm. it plays in the, you

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know, of course the suit. The supernatural realm,

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but it's also just like high octane action sword

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fights, kung fu, gung fu.

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>> Christopher Ikpo: It's like if you mix, if you take John Wick, but

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with swords.

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>> Will: Oh, okay.

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>> Christopher Ikpo: You combined it. You combine it with like the sort

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of the supernatural lore of Constantine. Right.

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They're having to hunt down these, these spiritual

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entities and stuff. I mean it's. Yeah, I love it.

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It's one of my favorite favorite IPS that we have

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is Ghost Orphanage. But like, just like, like

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Steph said, the breath of what we have. I mean you

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just look at Project 365 in January. So we got,

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you know, the City Watch, we got the IGA Clan, we

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got Musashi, we have the Sister Click in February,

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we have Hosho and the Zidian Triplets in March. We

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have the Ghost Orphanage. We have the Sacred

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Asylum. We have the Captain Infinity Saga. We got

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the Alpha. The Alpha Initiative. I mean there's so

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many groups, characters. Yeah. Spanning the whole

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year. Yeah. Yeah.

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>> Will: That's awesome. That's. That's so dope. I mean one

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of the things, you know, as, when I was doing some

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prep for, for the show and, and you know you're

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notice your. The philosophy and this. It sounds

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really coming out loud and clear is. Is

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imagination without limit limitation. for your

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company. So what. What. What created, what calls,

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what was the inspiration for that as far as, you

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know, as far as the culture, you know, that you

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guys were trying to establish with the creative

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extreme and, and you know, and looking at the

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materials, I mean it's a very diverse range of

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Characters. So can you share a little bit more

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about that? it seems. That seems to be your core

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foundation for.

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>> Christopher Ikpo: For.

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>> Will: For your company.

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>> Stefan Thomas: Yeah. yeah, for sure. Like, just the idea of

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trying to take every story to its kind of logical

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extreme or sometimes illogical extreme, but trying

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to, you know, but trying to push the envelope

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everywhere we can, you know, so. And that doesn't

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always mean make it bigger, that doesn't always

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make it louder. Sometimes that means make it

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deeper, you know, make your characters decisions a

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little bit more extreme. You know, we're very much

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about active characters, active protagonists. That

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is really at, like, the base of, like, our. Of.

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Of. Of our storytelling. So how do we make our.

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How do we. How do we have our characters push the

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story forward? You know? And so when it comes to

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that whole idea, that whole idea of imagination,

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we're like, all right, like, you know, what can we

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build on? Because there's already so many. So much

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great storytelling out there, right? Like, we. We.

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We definitely, you know, we're definitely trying

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to, like, the classic thing is, like, when your

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idols become your rivals, right? We love Marvel,

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love dc, but we trying to take over, you know,

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but, But, you know, I mean, that's the kind of

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ambition that we have. but, you know, you look at

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some of the great stuff that's out there, we're

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like, all right, how can we take this and push it

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forward? I really, like. One of the main things,

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and I'll let kind of like, Chris go with this a

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little bit, but one of the main things that kind

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of started where we went in our storytelling was

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when Chris was kind of looking at some Star wars

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stuff. Love Star Wars. We love it. And he was

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like, yo. He was like, like some of it. Sometimes

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when they. When they depict Darth Vader, I don't

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think they show, like, how sick he can actually

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be. I think that they can make him even sicker if

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they. If they push the envelope a little bit. And

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then I was like, well, what would you do? And he

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was like, I would do this, this, this and this.

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And I was like, write it, man. right. And it was

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just kind of like, you know, taking stuff and. And

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saying, like, man, how can we push it in a

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different direction? You know? And that also comes

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with, like, you know, the diversity as well, which

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is another pillar of what we do. It's like, okay,

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a part of making things extreme, pushing it,

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pushing, a limit, pushing the imagination is

264
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imagining things from a lot of different points of

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view. A lot of different cultures, a lot of

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different histories, a lot of different

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mythologies, a lot of different religions, a lot

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of different ethnicities. You know, like digging

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in, you know, kind of, You know, there's a whole

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argument about who is allowed to tell whose

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stories, right? It's like, well, if you're not

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this. Can you tell that story? It's like, I mean,

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to a certain extent, yeah. I mean, like, we're not

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going to make every one of our stories about a

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black guy. Like, we got to have other people. We

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got to. But. But we also want to be respectful of

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that, right? We want to make sure that we're not

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being irresponsible. We're trying to, you know,

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represent or, you know, represent like, a diverse

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storytelling. So that's just kind of a little bit

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of. Kind of what we lean on when we think about

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that imagination without, ah. Without limitation.

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Chris.

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>> Christopher Ikpo: No, man. I mean, that's spot on. Like, Like Steph

285
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said, you know, we wanted to tell as many

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different types of stories as we could. one for

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mass appeal, obviously.

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>> Will: Excuse me.

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>> Christopher Ikpo: But also because, you know, we have friends and

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family who are from all different backgrounds, all

291
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different, you know, cultures and groups and

292
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stuff. So we wanted. We wanted everybody to be

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able to at least find a handful of characters or a

294
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few characters that they can really hold on to and

295
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say, this is me, or this is it for me right here.

296
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You know, because it's. It's that. It's that

297
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feeling of empathy that really draws them in and

298
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then brings them along the ride with us. And if

299
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just one quick story. I don't know if you can see

300
00:14:03,811 --> 00:14:05,641
this whole poster behind me. Lieutenant General

301
00:14:05,641 --> 00:14:10,481
Rashard Bonds. So we were at WonderCon, and we had

302
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an exhibit there. We had a table there. We had

303
00:14:12,161 --> 00:14:15,531
this poster, on display. And, you know, this

304
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brother comes over and he's talking to us, and

305
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we're giving him the lowdown of who we are. And,

306
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you know, we were kind of fresh out the gate at

307
00:14:21,011 --> 00:14:23,821
this point, a, ah, couple years in. And while

308
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we're talking to him, on the corner of my eye, I

309
00:14:25,781 --> 00:14:28,461
look. I see his son, and I look over and he's just

310
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staring at the poster and not staring like, who is

311
00:14:32,101 --> 00:14:34,541
that? Or, you know, like, what's going on here?

312
00:14:34,621 --> 00:14:37,901
But the. The look of he. You know, he was

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00:14:37,901 --> 00:14:40,741
idolizing the character. Like, the care. Like he

314
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saw himself in the character. Like, when I grow

315
00:14:42,981 --> 00:14:45,941
up, I could look like that. Like that. You know, I

316
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can see myself in his character. And that's so

317
00:14:48,261 --> 00:14:51,101
important in Storytelling. And I think the

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difference, a big difference between what we do or

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what we set out to do and what other. I'll say.

320
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I'll just say storytellers, because I don't want

321
00:14:59,701 --> 00:15:01,781
to name names. What other storytellers out there

322
00:15:02,181 --> 00:15:05,020
are doing is we're trying to do it from the most

323
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organic place possible, and we're not trying to

324
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force it. We don't want it to be inauthentic. So

325
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like Steph was saying, even if we're telling

326
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stories of characters that are from different

327
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races and ethnicities or different cultures than

328
00:15:16,781 --> 00:15:18,671
us, like for instance, when we were telling the

329
00:15:18,671 --> 00:15:20,991
IGA clan and the Musashi story, we're not

330
00:15:20,991 --> 00:15:24,151
Japanese. Right, Right. But we did reach out to

331
00:15:24,151 --> 00:15:26,351
someone who also went to Oberlin, who was

332
00:15:26,351 --> 00:15:29,191
Japanese. She translated the dialogue for us in

333
00:15:29,191 --> 00:15:31,231
Japanese. She corrected a lot of the things that

334
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we had going on in the story to make it more

335
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authentic, because we want to show that respect to

336
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the people in the culture and our storytelling and

337
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have it be as authentic as possible. So, I think

338
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that's a big part of our imagination without

339
00:15:43,661 --> 00:15:46,021
limitation, is saying we're going to go the extra

340
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mile to keep this authentic and respect it, you

341
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know, and respectful for the people that we're

342
00:15:50,801 --> 00:15:51,281
trying to represent.

343
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>> Will: Yeah, I think that's so important and so in

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storytelling because, I mean, I think that when

345
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stories connect with people, you know, it. It is

346
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that. That authenticity that really, that. That

347
00:16:02,920 --> 00:16:05,761
will come through and will separate, you know,

348
00:16:05,841 --> 00:16:08,241
good projects from great projects, like, you know,

349
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whenever. When people can. Can see themselves in

350
00:16:11,001 --> 00:16:13,721
this story or, or something within it, you know,

351
00:16:13,721 --> 00:16:16,271
connects with them, you know, to, to that point.

352
00:16:16,591 --> 00:16:19,671
So. Stefan, I know you are one of the things I

353
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learned you. You're, I don't know if you still

354
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are. You were a CrossFit gym owner.

355
00:16:24,341 --> 00:16:24,901
>> Stefan Thomas: Yes.

356
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>> Will: So, you know, given. You know, given the, the how

357
00:16:30,911 --> 00:16:34,071
the discipline and the dynamic nature of, of that

358
00:16:34,631 --> 00:16:38,871
level of training and, And. And all, how do you.

359
00:16:39,031 --> 00:16:42,481
How. How does that translate over. And Chris, I

360
00:16:42,481 --> 00:16:43,961
want to ask you the same as far as from your

361
00:16:43,961 --> 00:16:46,761
corporate background. How does. But Stefan, how

362
00:16:46,761 --> 00:16:51,841
does that crossfit discipline and, and. And energy

363
00:16:51,841 --> 00:16:54,241
and everything translate over to the creative

364
00:16:54,241 --> 00:16:56,401
side? And I would like to hear from Chris as well,

365
00:16:56,401 --> 00:16:56,961
for sure.

366
00:16:57,101 --> 00:17:00,271
>> Stefan Thomas: I mean, and don't let Chris fool you. He. He gets

367
00:17:00,271 --> 00:17:02,671
in after. At the gym too. He gets after it after.

368
00:17:03,151 --> 00:17:06,871
But, but I mean, I think you already, like. Like

369
00:17:06,871 --> 00:17:09,061
you kind of already alluded to it like that. First

370
00:17:09,061 --> 00:17:12,091
of all, the discipline of it, one of the Things

371
00:17:12,091 --> 00:17:15,211
that working out and, you know, something like

372
00:17:15,211 --> 00:17:17,651
CrossFit. And, you know, CrossFit isn't the only,

373
00:17:17,891 --> 00:17:19,771
you know, isn't the only hard thing out there,

374
00:17:19,771 --> 00:17:22,531
right? But, but, but, but something about it is

375
00:17:22,611 --> 00:17:27,971
that, it kind of teaches you, how to perform under

376
00:17:27,971 --> 00:17:33,971
duress. And I think that that has kind of a

377
00:17:33,971 --> 00:17:37,011
translation to, creativity, especially when you're

378
00:17:37,011 --> 00:17:40,291
trying to create something that is going to stand

379
00:17:40,291 --> 00:17:42,651
the test of time or that's going to speak to the

380
00:17:42,651 --> 00:17:46,411
times you're in. I think creators are often a

381
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little bit under duress, right? We're dealing with

382
00:17:48,611 --> 00:17:50,331
all these different things that are out there, all

383
00:17:50,331 --> 00:17:52,171
these different ideas that are coming at us, all

384
00:17:52,171 --> 00:17:54,781
the different, you know, social things and

385
00:17:54,781 --> 00:17:56,821
political things that we are trying to create

386
00:17:56,901 --> 00:17:59,301
under, right? All of the stresses of trying to get

387
00:17:59,301 --> 00:18:00,901
our stuff out there, right? Trying to find

388
00:18:00,901 --> 00:18:03,421
funding, trying to find, you know, other creators

389
00:18:03,421 --> 00:18:05,981
to collaborate with, you know, that kind of thing.

390
00:18:06,061 --> 00:18:08,141
Like, how do you say, like, okay, there's a lot of

391
00:18:08,141 --> 00:18:10,901
chaos going on. How do I focus in and get the job

392
00:18:10,901 --> 00:18:14,381
done? You know, So I think that's one way that

393
00:18:14,381 --> 00:18:17,821
definitely helps. The other way is like the purely

394
00:18:17,901 --> 00:18:21,181
physical. The purely physical release of dopamine.

395
00:18:21,181 --> 00:18:24,501
When you work out, man, you exercise and that, you

396
00:18:24,501 --> 00:18:27,201
know, exercise that gives you that energy. I also

397
00:18:27,441 --> 00:18:31,451
write. I write programming for, for some of some

398
00:18:31,451 --> 00:18:34,011
of our classes. So I didn't realize when someone

399
00:18:34,011 --> 00:18:36,491
was like, oh, you know, you might have to write

400
00:18:36,491 --> 00:18:38,691
CrossFit program. I was like, oh, you mean come up

401
00:18:38,691 --> 00:18:41,211
with exercises? And it was like, no, write

402
00:18:41,211 --> 00:18:43,091
programming. And so, yes, it is coming up with

403
00:18:43,091 --> 00:18:45,931
exercises, but the amount of time I spend at the

404
00:18:45,931 --> 00:18:49,131
computer, like, typing up, like, program, I was

405
00:18:49,131 --> 00:18:52,931
like, oh, snap, I am writing. And I. And then I

406
00:18:52,931 --> 00:18:54,921
got to be creative with the, with the way. Because

407
00:18:54,921 --> 00:18:56,881
you can't let anybody get bored, right? You know,

408
00:18:57,681 --> 00:19:00,011
because they want something different every day,

409
00:19:00,011 --> 00:19:02,051
right? People who like, you know, kind of like,

410
00:19:02,051 --> 00:19:04,891
who train off of a more standard regimen, they

411
00:19:04,891 --> 00:19:06,811
usually don't like CrossFit. They're like, Nope, I

412
00:19:06,811 --> 00:19:08,971
want, like, I want this, this, this and this. And

413
00:19:08,971 --> 00:19:10,651
we're like, all right, go do your thing, right?

414
00:19:10,651 --> 00:19:12,051
People who come to CrossFit, they want something

415
00:19:12,051 --> 00:19:14,610
different every day, right? So we have to like, be

416
00:19:14,610 --> 00:19:17,221
creative in that way too. So, it definitely,

417
00:19:17,221 --> 00:19:20,581
there's definitely some translation between, or

418
00:19:20,581 --> 00:19:23,421
some, some. Some connection between like, fitness

419
00:19:23,421 --> 00:19:26,291
and, and creativity, for sure. I, I know. I see

420
00:19:26,291 --> 00:19:26,571
it.

421
00:19:29,131 --> 00:19:31,531
>> Christopher Ikpo: Yeah. And I think from, from the corporate side,

422
00:19:33,301 --> 00:19:35,501
it was, there was a lot of positives, but There

423
00:19:35,501 --> 00:19:38,781
were, were some, some negatives to coming from the

424
00:19:38,781 --> 00:19:41,341
corporate world over to the, the creative world

425
00:19:41,341 --> 00:19:44,781
that Steph. Steph told me about. And I didn't, you

426
00:19:44,781 --> 00:19:47,101
know, fully experience or know until I actually

427
00:19:47,101 --> 00:19:51,541
experienced it. So one thing that's helped is, you

428
00:19:51,541 --> 00:19:53,981
know, my background in sales, the boiler room

429
00:19:53,981 --> 00:19:56,901
stuff, all the cold contacting, constantly being

430
00:19:56,901 --> 00:20:00,021
told no, getting hung up on. Right? All those

431
00:20:00,021 --> 00:20:03,221
things, all those years kind of gave me the thick

432
00:20:03,221 --> 00:20:07,021
skin in, in this space when we've heard. No. So

433
00:20:07,021 --> 00:20:10,381
many times when you reach out to people and they

434
00:20:10,381 --> 00:20:13,461
just never get back to you, right? And when they

435
00:20:13,461 --> 00:20:15,341
finally do get back to you after the seventh,

436
00:20:15,341 --> 00:20:17,441
eighth email, it's, you know, please stop

437
00:20:17,441 --> 00:20:20,911
emailing, contacting me. Right? you just kind of,

438
00:20:20,911 --> 00:20:22,631
you know, you got to let it roll off you and keep

439
00:20:22,631 --> 00:20:25,791
going. So that was one thing that definitely

440
00:20:25,791 --> 00:20:28,591
helped. Another thing though was those skills and

441
00:20:28,591 --> 00:20:30,231
those techniques that I learned from cold

442
00:20:30,231 --> 00:20:33,671
contacting. We have gotten so many meetings over

443
00:20:33,671 --> 00:20:38,111
the years with big production companies, studios

444
00:20:38,111 --> 00:20:42,231
and creative executives because we invested in

445
00:20:42,771 --> 00:20:46,011
IMDb Pro. But then we also invested time and

446
00:20:46,011 --> 00:20:49,011
effort in crafting template emails, right?

447
00:20:49,011 --> 00:20:51,651
Crafting the message, getting an email cadence

448
00:20:51,651 --> 00:20:53,731
out, doing the research to figure out who's the

449
00:20:53,731 --> 00:20:55,851
right person to contact, getting in touch with

450
00:20:55,851 --> 00:20:57,971
those peoples, sometimes having to get creative to

451
00:20:57,971 --> 00:21:01,251
figure out email domains, email name cadences, how

452
00:21:01,251 --> 00:21:03,491
all that works when it's not listed. So then we

453
00:21:03,491 --> 00:21:05,531
can try, we can still get in contact with those

454
00:21:05,531 --> 00:21:08,651
people. I, learned all of that being on the bottom

455
00:21:08,651 --> 00:21:10,891
of the totem pole in the sales world, you know,

456
00:21:10,891 --> 00:21:13,931
working my way up. So that really lent itself from

457
00:21:13,931 --> 00:21:16,861
the corporate side, as I rose up in the ladder,

458
00:21:17,021 --> 00:21:20,141
learning things like the, the art of negotiating,

459
00:21:20,551 --> 00:21:25,441
learning how companies structure their, programs

460
00:21:25,441 --> 00:21:28,921
or structure their deals in the negotiation

461
00:21:28,921 --> 00:21:32,371
phases, right? Like an rfp, a request for, you

462
00:21:32,371 --> 00:21:35,001
know, information and rfi things of those sort.

463
00:21:35,001 --> 00:21:38,521
Right? It's. Yeah, when we got into Project 365,

464
00:21:38,761 --> 00:21:41,841
we were on a budget. We didn't have, you know, the

465
00:21:41,841 --> 00:21:44,611
big money to be spending, on arts and all these

466
00:21:44,611 --> 00:21:47,091
things. And we had the writing covered. So we, I

467
00:21:47,091 --> 00:21:49,531
think we had a big chunk of it, you know, taken

468
00:21:49,531 --> 00:21:51,571
care of, was between us too. But the artwork,

469
00:21:51,571 --> 00:21:54,251
neither one of us can draw to save our lives. And

470
00:21:54,251 --> 00:21:57,351
so we had artists in the network, but knowing that

471
00:21:57,351 --> 00:21:58,991
process, right, and saying, okay, we got this

472
00:21:58,991 --> 00:22:01,871
project coming up, why don't we put out an RFP for

473
00:22:01,871 --> 00:22:04,151
the project? So now we're reaching out to all the

474
00:22:04,151 --> 00:22:05,871
artists in our network and saying, hey, we have

475
00:22:05,871 --> 00:22:08,231
this coming up. Here's the details. What's the

476
00:22:08,231 --> 00:22:10,151
best price you can give us? We don't want you to.

477
00:22:10,231 --> 00:22:12,390
To cut yourself off at the knees, but at the same

478
00:22:12,390 --> 00:22:14,711
time, you know, understand we're on a budget, and

479
00:22:14,711 --> 00:22:16,751
we would get the pricing back, we would get the

480
00:22:16,751 --> 00:22:19,231
timelines for completion back, and we know the

481
00:22:19,231 --> 00:22:21,231
work already, and we would compare it, and we

482
00:22:21,231 --> 00:22:23,031
could say, okay, we think this is the best option.

483
00:22:23,181 --> 00:22:26,131
We now, we were able to kind of work out a deal

484
00:22:26,291 --> 00:22:28,411
that worked out for both sides, right? It was

485
00:22:28,411 --> 00:22:30,731
mutually beneficial. The artists got paid, and we

486
00:22:30,731 --> 00:22:32,931
paid them up front, too. That was another thing.

487
00:22:33,011 --> 00:22:34,571
So they didn't have to wait for the money, but

488
00:22:34,571 --> 00:22:36,891
then we also didn't have to come out of pocket

489
00:22:36,891 --> 00:22:38,731
maybe as much as we would have if we were just

490
00:22:38,731 --> 00:22:40,891
dealing with one art vendor. So that was another

491
00:22:40,891 --> 00:22:45,141
thing. a positive thing, a con was me using these

492
00:22:45,141 --> 00:22:48,261
negotiation tactics with artists and creatives who

493
00:22:48,261 --> 00:22:52,121
have no, stamina for that type of conversation or

494
00:22:52,121 --> 00:22:54,721
no appetite for that type of conversation. So I'm

495
00:22:54,721 --> 00:22:57,751
coming into it, you know, from a corporate, aspect

496
00:22:57,751 --> 00:22:59,351
and saying, all right, this is what we got. This

497
00:22:59,351 --> 00:23:00,471
is what we need. Blah, blah, blah, blah. What's

498
00:23:00,471 --> 00:23:03,071
your price? Well, what's the budget? What's your

499
00:23:03,071 --> 00:23:03,351
price?

500
00:23:03,431 --> 00:23:04,071
>> Will: What's your price?

501
00:23:04,471 --> 00:23:06,911
>> Christopher Ikpo: I can. I can work out, you know, what's your

502
00:23:06,911 --> 00:23:09,231
price? Right. Instead, so it would get to a point

503
00:23:09,231 --> 00:23:10,671
where I would just. Just tell me what your price

504
00:23:10,671 --> 00:23:13,591
is. And Steph would, you know, in between

505
00:23:13,591 --> 00:23:15,691
conversations, you'll be like, chris, man, you got

506
00:23:15,691 --> 00:23:17,691
to understand, like, these are artists. Like, they

507
00:23:17,691 --> 00:23:19,931
don't. They're not used to doing business and

508
00:23:19,931 --> 00:23:22,491
negotiating and dealing with, like, that type of

509
00:23:22,491 --> 00:23:25,291
energy. Like, you know, you got to put the. The

510
00:23:25,291 --> 00:23:27,851
baby. The baby gloves on and be a little bit more

511
00:23:27,851 --> 00:23:32,771
gentle. And I really had to tailor my approach and

512
00:23:32,771 --> 00:23:36,381
conversation methods with artists and, that during

513
00:23:36,381 --> 00:23:39,341
project. The project 365 days to the advice that

514
00:23:39,341 --> 00:23:42,161
Steph gave me, because if I didn't, you know, we

515
00:23:42,161 --> 00:23:43,761
could have ruined relationships or we could have

516
00:23:43,761 --> 00:23:46,001
scared off artists, and now we don't have them in

517
00:23:46,001 --> 00:23:48,441
their talents anymore. So coming from the

518
00:23:48,441 --> 00:23:51,311
corporate side, that was a con, because on that

519
00:23:51,311 --> 00:23:53,711
side, it's. This is what it is. And you go back

520
00:23:53,711 --> 00:23:55,751
and forth, you volley. But, you know, you. You

521
00:23:55,751 --> 00:23:58,791
pretty much are playing in the same arena I was

522
00:23:58,791 --> 00:24:02,141
coming in from, you know, the. The Premier League

523
00:24:02,461 --> 00:24:05,811
into, you know, a whole different, space over here

524
00:24:05,811 --> 00:24:08,571
in the mls. And I'm, like, looking around like,

525
00:24:08,571 --> 00:24:10,551
what the hell are you guys doing? And they' Be

526
00:24:10,551 --> 00:24:12,631
like, dude, you're over. You came over here to

527
00:24:12,631 --> 00:24:14,991
play with us. What are you doing? You know, so,

528
00:24:15,381 --> 00:24:17,721
yeah, that was a difficult one to transition to.

529
00:24:18,041 --> 00:24:20,521
>> Will: Yeah. Speaking of the business side and also the

530
00:24:20,521 --> 00:24:22,201
creative and thinking about. Because, you know, in

531
00:24:22,201 --> 00:24:25,401
the, in the, in the, in the media world, you know,

532
00:24:25,401 --> 00:24:27,911
we, we're familiar with James Gunn, and I, look at

533
00:24:27,911 --> 00:24:31,191
you guys as, as, as pretty much a James Gunn

534
00:24:31,271 --> 00:24:36,241
because you're both, both creatives, but you're

535
00:24:36,241 --> 00:24:38,521
also having to run a business. And Chris, you

536
00:24:38,521 --> 00:24:39,891
know, I wanted to follow up, you know, as you're,

537
00:24:39,891 --> 00:24:41,811
as you're talking about the business aspects of

538
00:24:41,811 --> 00:24:44,731
things and, and you're, you're also a creator.

539
00:24:44,731 --> 00:24:47,721
How, you know, for, for both of you. But Chris, I

540
00:24:47,721 --> 00:24:50,641
want you to start. How do you balance m. That

541
00:24:51,041 --> 00:24:54,281
creative output in your personal creative output

542
00:24:54,281 --> 00:24:56,161
that you're. You're creating for this company

543
00:24:56,161 --> 00:24:58,401
that, you know that, that you're, that you run,

544
00:24:58,801 --> 00:25:01,441
but also having to deal with the, the business

545
00:25:01,441 --> 00:25:04,071
aspects. Aspects of it as well, because, yeah, you

546
00:25:04,071 --> 00:25:06,311
may. This may not be Warner Brothers, but you are

547
00:25:06,311 --> 00:25:06,991
running a company.

548
00:25:08,431 --> 00:25:11,681
>> Christopher Ikpo: Yeah. Yeah, that's a great question. So, it's kind

549
00:25:11,681 --> 00:25:14,401
of always in the back of my mind, and it has been

550
00:25:14,401 --> 00:25:16,881
from day one. Steph can tell you when we, I don't.

551
00:25:16,881 --> 00:25:18,961
I think we got into February, we were in month two

552
00:25:18,961 --> 00:25:22,481
of Project 365 when I went to Stephen, and I was

553
00:25:22,481 --> 00:25:25,401
like, man, I know we had this idea that to do this

554
00:25:25,401 --> 00:25:28,651
project and to have it be kind of an online thing

555
00:25:28,651 --> 00:25:31,971
that we do for the creative purpose, right? Like

556
00:25:31,971 --> 00:25:34,891
to just flex our creative muscles and do something

557
00:25:34,891 --> 00:25:37,331
amazing. But I really feel like we need to turn

558
00:25:37,331 --> 00:25:40,211
this into a company. And so it was always kind of

559
00:25:40,211 --> 00:25:42,971
just the wheels returning as I was also creating

560
00:25:42,971 --> 00:25:45,891
with Steph, and Steph jumped right on board. It

561
00:25:45,891 --> 00:25:47,731
wasn't, you know, really any question for him

562
00:25:47,731 --> 00:25:49,851
either. And from there, we started laying the

563
00:25:49,851 --> 00:25:52,531
foundation and putting the framework together to

564
00:25:52,531 --> 00:25:56,101
kind of construct this as a business. We. We know

565
00:25:56,101 --> 00:25:59,061
what the heart of it and the heart of our success

566
00:25:59,061 --> 00:26:03,141
is going to be the incredible storytelling and,

567
00:26:03,141 --> 00:26:05,981
and the characters that we create and what we put

568
00:26:05,981 --> 00:26:08,021
out to the world, right? That's going to drive

569
00:26:08,021 --> 00:26:10,661
everything, but keeping in the back of our mind

570
00:26:10,661 --> 00:26:12,461
the business aspect as well. So, for instance,

571
00:26:12,461 --> 00:26:15,621
when we were doing Project 365, we set up every

572
00:26:15,621 --> 00:26:18,261
single chapter, every single character with their

573
00:26:18,261 --> 00:26:21,071
own origin story. We developed their own

574
00:26:21,071 --> 00:26:24,111
individual world with the plan that when we did

575
00:26:24,111 --> 00:26:26,671
start having these conversations with studios and

576
00:26:26,671 --> 00:26:29,311
production companies and creative executives, they

577
00:26:29,311 --> 00:26:31,551
could essentially approach it a la carte. They

578
00:26:31,551 --> 00:26:33,031
didn't have to go with the whole thing. They

579
00:26:33,031 --> 00:26:34,951
didn't have to go with the whole group. They could

580
00:26:34,951 --> 00:26:38,431
literally say, this is the Wolverine, right, Of

581
00:26:38,431 --> 00:26:41,071
the X Men. We're gonna pluck him out. We're gonna

582
00:26:41,071 --> 00:26:43,871
make. We want to make a solo movie or we want to

583
00:26:43,871 --> 00:26:47,241
do a series focused on him. And then we can slow

584
00:26:47,241 --> 00:26:49,521
roll that into the other stuff that you guys

585
00:26:49,521 --> 00:26:52,971
already have. because we understood that coming in

586
00:26:52,971 --> 00:26:56,811
with 365 characters, stories, and this whole

587
00:26:56,811 --> 00:27:00,251
universe was going to be a huge chunk for two guys

588
00:27:00,251 --> 00:27:02,811
who are rookies in the game, right? So that was

589
00:27:02,811 --> 00:27:06,171
one thing. Another thing was when we, when we got

590
00:27:06,171 --> 00:27:08,931
done with Project 365 and we were looking, okay,

591
00:27:08,931 --> 00:27:11,731
well, what next? We were trying to get into cons

592
00:27:11,891 --> 00:27:15,091
that first year. Nobody gave us a look when we got

593
00:27:15,091 --> 00:27:17,331
done and we did the rounds again the next year in

594
00:27:17,331 --> 00:27:20,611
2017, now, people were like, oh, my God, you guys

595
00:27:20,611 --> 00:27:22,371
have been busy. Like, yeah, we definitely would

596
00:27:22,371 --> 00:27:24,851
love to have you at the show, right? So then it's

597
00:27:24,851 --> 00:27:27,971
working with them, negotiating how we. How can we

598
00:27:27,971 --> 00:27:30,651
get a bigger exhibit space without paying double

599
00:27:30,651 --> 00:27:33,731
the price, right? So the negotiation tactics there

600
00:27:33,811 --> 00:27:36,011
kind of. And massaging those relationships and

601
00:27:36,011 --> 00:27:38,081
establishing them, instead of just approaching it

602
00:27:38,081 --> 00:27:39,641
from a creative standpoint and saying, we're going

603
00:27:39,641 --> 00:27:41,201
to get a booth and we're going to set up our

604
00:27:41,201 --> 00:27:43,781
stuff, it was, how can we establish a long lasting

605
00:27:43,781 --> 00:27:46,671
relationship with these vendors or with these

606
00:27:46,671 --> 00:27:50,751
companies so we can continue to do the shows,

607
00:27:50,751 --> 00:27:52,511
maybe get a little bit of discount, maybe get a

608
00:27:52,511 --> 00:27:54,631
little bit of hookup, but also, you know,

609
00:27:54,631 --> 00:27:57,391
represent for Creative Extreme in a positive way

610
00:27:57,391 --> 00:27:59,631
as well. So that was another aspect. And then of

611
00:27:59,631 --> 00:28:02,041
course, there's the, the monetary aspect, right?

612
00:28:02,041 --> 00:28:04,001
What we're going to set the price point at, kind

613
00:28:04,001 --> 00:28:06,321
of knowing what comic book costs, what graphic

614
00:28:06,321 --> 00:28:09,441
novels cost, what merchandise cost, and then what

615
00:28:09,441 --> 00:28:11,601
our own individual costs are what we need to set

616
00:28:11,601 --> 00:28:13,921
the price at in order to make the money back or to

617
00:28:13,921 --> 00:28:16,661
make some profit off of that without taxing

618
00:28:16,661 --> 00:28:19,381
people, right? Without coming in crazy hot and

619
00:28:19,381 --> 00:28:22,061
saying, you got to pay us $70 for a T shirt or

620
00:28:22,061 --> 00:28:23,941
something like that. So, you know, there was a

621
00:28:23,941 --> 00:28:26,141
business aspect in there. And then when we got

622
00:28:26,141 --> 00:28:28,661
even further down the road and it was having these

623
00:28:28,661 --> 00:28:30,861
conversations with creative executives and

624
00:28:30,861 --> 00:28:33,181
production companies and studios, massaging those

625
00:28:33,181 --> 00:28:34,861
relationships, establishing those connections,

626
00:28:34,861 --> 00:28:37,621
building on our networks, but also learning how to

627
00:28:37,621 --> 00:28:40,301
present Creative Extreme in a way where it was

628
00:28:40,301 --> 00:28:42,911
digestible to them and it didn't say scare them

629
00:28:42,911 --> 00:28:46,391
off. And that took time for us, from a business

630
00:28:46,391 --> 00:28:49,191
standpoint to really understand what's going

631
00:28:49,191 --> 00:28:51,231
through their heads on the other side of the table

632
00:28:51,231 --> 00:28:53,511
and what is it that they're looking for. So then

633
00:28:53,511 --> 00:28:55,631
we knew how to present it and what to come to the

634
00:28:55,631 --> 00:28:57,671
table with. But once we started getting the

635
00:28:57,671 --> 00:28:59,791
insight and once we were, I started to get some,

636
00:28:59,871 --> 00:29:02,311
some really good, solid people on our side who

637
00:29:02,311 --> 00:29:04,511
were able to school us the game. That's when our

638
00:29:04,511 --> 00:29:07,471
business acumen kind of took over and really just

639
00:29:07,471 --> 00:29:11,351
jettisoned us off into a sprint almost, over the

640
00:29:11,351 --> 00:29:13,391
last number of years with trying to make progress

641
00:29:13,391 --> 00:29:13,711
here.

642
00:29:14,831 --> 00:29:18,351
>> Will: Yeah, yeah, yeah. How about you, Stefania?

643
00:29:18,991 --> 00:29:22,631
>> Stefan Thomas: I would say real quick, just like similarly, how

644
00:29:22,631 --> 00:29:24,431
Chris was saying he had to get used to kind of

645
00:29:24,431 --> 00:29:26,471
like dealing with the artists. It was, for me, it

646
00:29:26,471 --> 00:29:29,471
was the other way around, having to get, you know,

647
00:29:29,471 --> 00:29:32,431
used to kind of dealing in, you know, in these

648
00:29:32,431 --> 00:29:35,911
deal making rooms, you know, where I wanted to be

649
00:29:35,991 --> 00:29:38,671
like, give everybody the benefit of the doubt and

650
00:29:38,671 --> 00:29:41,081
be like, oh, no, like, you know, everybody's

651
00:29:41,081 --> 00:29:43,861
negotiating dating in good faith. Chris was like,

652
00:29:43,861 --> 00:29:48,901
no, they're not, man. At some point you got to lay

653
00:29:48,901 --> 00:29:50,661
it down. You got to make sure that, you know, I

654
00:29:50,661 --> 00:29:52,581
was, I was, I was a little naive, you know, that,

655
00:29:52,581 --> 00:29:55,991
that, to that part of it. so, but, yeah, but same

656
00:29:55,991 --> 00:29:58,151
thing. I've gotten a lot better at it. And

657
00:29:58,151 --> 00:30:02,831
actually now tonight we work, we work as, we're

658
00:30:02,831 --> 00:30:04,911
really good as middlemen, you know, like, we're

659
00:30:04,911 --> 00:30:07,431
really good at, you know, we have artists. Like,

660
00:30:07,721 --> 00:30:09,281
like I've had artists come to me and say, like,

661
00:30:09,281 --> 00:30:11,921
hey, I have this project. Can you go negotiate it

662
00:30:11,921 --> 00:30:15,241
for me? Because I don't like talking, because I

663
00:30:15,241 --> 00:30:17,321
don't like talking to clients. But you, you,

664
00:30:17,321 --> 00:30:18,481
you're pretty good at it, so.

665
00:30:18,481 --> 00:30:19,191
>> Will: Yeah, yeah.

666
00:30:19,191 --> 00:30:21,501
>> Christopher Ikpo: cool, because we've had, situations too. Like,

667
00:30:21,501 --> 00:30:23,621
real quick, if I could tell a story. Sure. We were

668
00:30:23,621 --> 00:30:26,861
talking with a producer and he, he, you know,

669
00:30:26,861 --> 00:30:29,341
loved our stuff. He particularly liked Alpha

670
00:30:29,341 --> 00:30:32,311
Initiative 0, felt he had a couple of leads, to,

671
00:30:32,311 --> 00:30:35,151
to production companies to get it made. And you

672
00:30:35,151 --> 00:30:36,871
know, from a high level in our conversation, he

673
00:30:36,871 --> 00:30:38,711
was like, you know, yeah, all I'm really asking is

674
00:30:38,711 --> 00:30:41,191
just to be able to be included on the project as a

675
00:30:41,191 --> 00:30:43,951
producer, obviously get, you know, my cut of

676
00:30:43,951 --> 00:30:46,871
whatever it is that the pays. And we talked it all

677
00:30:46,871 --> 00:30:50,191
out and you know, verbally in the conversation, it

678
00:30:50,191 --> 00:30:53,031
all sounded good. When we got the actual paperwork

679
00:30:53,031 --> 00:30:55,351
though, I went through and I started reading it

680
00:30:55,511 --> 00:30:58,391
and you know, put in my paralegal Skills to use.

681
00:30:58,631 --> 00:31:00,461
And there was, some things in there that were

682
00:31:00,461 --> 00:31:02,981
quite, you know, alarming. So Steph and I went

683
00:31:02,981 --> 00:31:04,991
over them. we pad that. We then took that and

684
00:31:04,991 --> 00:31:06,751
highlighted everything and passed it off to our

685
00:31:06,751 --> 00:31:09,311
entertainment lawyer that we work with. And he

686
00:31:09,311 --> 00:31:11,191
took a look at it, we hopped on a call, and he was

687
00:31:11,191 --> 00:31:13,391
like, no, you guys are good for, for, for catching

688
00:31:13,391 --> 00:31:15,191
this stuff, because, you know, this needs to be

689
00:31:15,191 --> 00:31:17,031
that, and that needs to be that. And the big one

690
00:31:17,031 --> 00:31:20,961
was, he had said that if he was able to secure a

691
00:31:20,961 --> 00:31:25,881
deal for a reasonable offer, that we had to take

692
00:31:25,881 --> 00:31:28,931
it, we couldn't refuse. and that was it. Very

693
00:31:28,931 --> 00:31:31,051
broad, general language. And that was the big one

694
00:31:31,051 --> 00:31:33,341
where we were like, whoa, wait a minute. And, you

695
00:31:33,341 --> 00:31:35,021
know, we understood where he was coming from when

696
00:31:35,021 --> 00:31:37,381
he was saying, you know, I'm going to be going out

697
00:31:37,381 --> 00:31:39,741
to my context and my network. I'm going to be, you

698
00:31:39,741 --> 00:31:41,231
know, putting a little bit of pressure on my

699
00:31:41,231 --> 00:31:43,111
relationships. I'm trying to get this deal done,

700
00:31:43,271 --> 00:31:44,951
but at the same time, I got to know that I'm going

701
00:31:44,951 --> 00:31:47,471
to get compensated for my efforts. Right. And for

702
00:31:47,471 --> 00:31:49,231
the usage of my people in my network. So we

703
00:31:49,231 --> 00:31:51,631
understood that. At the same time, though, we're

704
00:31:51,631 --> 00:31:55,031
saying, what's a reasonable offer? Like, well,

705
00:31:55,031 --> 00:31:56,911
industry standard. What's the industry standard?

706
00:31:56,911 --> 00:31:58,781
Because that's always changing. And if you're

707
00:31:58,781 --> 00:32:00,141
going to sit here and say, well, it's industry

708
00:32:00,141 --> 00:32:03,011
standard for them to pay us, you know, fifty,

709
00:32:02,991 --> 00:32:04,671
thousand dollars, let's just say it's a random

710
00:32:04,671 --> 00:32:07,271
number. But they out. They. They own our IP

711
00:32:07,271 --> 00:32:11,031
outright. You know, we're not okay with that.

712
00:32:11,191 --> 00:32:11,911
>> Will: Right, right.

713
00:32:12,471 --> 00:32:14,911
>> Christopher Ikpo: If we sign this, that means we have to do it. So

714
00:32:14,911 --> 00:32:16,751
now we're signing away ip, we're getting paid

715
00:32:16,751 --> 00:32:18,591
peanuts for it, and then we're gonna have to sit

716
00:32:18,591 --> 00:32:20,671
back and watch these things make billions

717
00:32:20,671 --> 00:32:24,311
potentially in, in the box office. Like. No. So

718
00:32:24,871 --> 00:32:27,671
that. That business. Right. Acumen, that practice

719
00:32:27,911 --> 00:32:30,431
and being able to know that and do that really did

720
00:32:30,431 --> 00:32:32,231
help us out in that scenario as well.

721
00:32:32,711 --> 00:32:35,351
>> Will: Yeah, that's, that's a, That's a real fascinating

722
00:32:35,351 --> 00:32:38,361
insight, to just sort of, what, what smaller

723
00:32:38,361 --> 00:32:40,481
creatives and creatives in general just have to

724
00:32:40,481 --> 00:32:43,091
really look out for. and. And, you know, it's

725
00:32:43,091 --> 00:32:47,451
great y' all have, you know, a team of that, you

726
00:32:47,451 --> 00:32:50,171
know, and I think that's one of the strongest

727
00:32:50,171 --> 00:32:52,171
things it seems about, about your company is like,

728
00:32:52,171 --> 00:32:54,841
you both approach, you know, you have the best of

729
00:32:54,841 --> 00:32:56,601
both worlds. You have the creative side, but you

730
00:32:56,601 --> 00:32:58,761
also are, you know, you have the Business side as

731
00:32:58,761 --> 00:33:02,621
well. and to that point, about, as we. One last

732
00:33:02,621 --> 00:33:05,781
question, just as far as some sort of big picture,

733
00:33:05,781 --> 00:33:07,461
and then we'll. I want to do, I do want to

734
00:33:07,461 --> 00:33:09,511
transition to, talk a little bit About Alpha

735
00:33:09,511 --> 00:33:12,401
Initiative 0, since you just brought it up. you

736
00:33:12,401 --> 00:33:15,441
operate across various mediums. You know, now we,

737
00:33:15,521 --> 00:33:20,210
we film, digital and print. Which, which medium do

738
00:33:20,210 --> 00:33:22,810
you, you currently feel offers you all the best

739
00:33:22,810 --> 00:33:26,960
opportunity to build, you know, to, to have it

740
00:33:28,000 --> 00:33:29,600
immersive universe building?

741
00:33:30,310 --> 00:33:34,950
>> Stefan Thomas: Oh, man. Yeah, that's a, that's a, that's a great

742
00:33:34,950 --> 00:33:37,270
question. I think I'm gonna, I'm gonna cheat and

743
00:33:37,270 --> 00:33:42,030
I'm gonna give kind of two answers. So on the, on,

744
00:33:42,030 --> 00:33:44,670
on the practical side, especially if you're a

745
00:33:44,670 --> 00:33:46,270
small creator, I'll give kind of like the small

746
00:33:46,270 --> 00:33:49,491
creator versus like, bit more on the practical

747
00:33:49,491 --> 00:33:52,011
side with the small crew or the small creator,

748
00:33:52,011 --> 00:33:54,931
independent creator who's just starting out. I

749
00:33:54,931 --> 00:34:00,961
would say the, the, the best way is print and and

750
00:34:01,201 --> 00:34:05,961
not feeling so pressured to like, do like a comic

751
00:34:05,961 --> 00:34:09,041
book, you know, because comic books are very

752
00:34:09,041 --> 00:34:13,161
expensive to produce, right. However, the idea of

753
00:34:13,161 --> 00:34:15,881
getting. Finding a freelance artist or someone who

754
00:34:15,881 --> 00:34:18,361
can draw you just a couple of pictures of your

755
00:34:18,361 --> 00:34:21,321
character, right? And then writing out the story

756
00:34:21,321 --> 00:34:24,441
or developing a story, I think that that's like

757
00:34:24,441 --> 00:34:28,041
the, the most practical and easy way for someone

758
00:34:28,041 --> 00:34:30,761
who wants to begin building a world, you know,

759
00:34:31,001 --> 00:34:34,001
using the words, kind of just laying things out,

760
00:34:34,001 --> 00:34:37,201
like print is the way to go when it comes to just

761
00:34:37,201 --> 00:34:39,001
kind of that. That's what we did, right? We came

762
00:34:39,001 --> 00:34:41,571
and said like, we got the words, we just need a

763
00:34:41,571 --> 00:34:44,371
few pictures. Boom, we have an instant universe,

764
00:34:44,371 --> 00:34:46,651
right? That kind of thing. So for a small

765
00:34:46,651 --> 00:34:49,251
independent, I would say that that's like the

766
00:34:49,491 --> 00:34:51,971
biggest opportunity. Not to mention the fact that

767
00:34:51,971 --> 00:34:54,451
social media is free, right? Even if you don't

768
00:34:54,451 --> 00:34:56,851
have a website, it's free to have. If you have a

769
00:34:56,851 --> 00:34:59,011
phone, you have some Internet, it's free to have

770
00:34:59,011 --> 00:35:00,971
an Instagram account, right? It's free to have a

771
00:35:00,971 --> 00:35:03,771
Facebook, you know, whatever it is, TikTok,

772
00:35:03,771 --> 00:35:06,251
whatever it is. There's all these ways to kind of

773
00:35:06,251 --> 00:35:09,211
build your world. And now if you are the creator,

774
00:35:09,531 --> 00:35:11,891
now it's time to be creative. You know, how are

775
00:35:11,891 --> 00:35:14,611
you going to stick out? How are you going to like,

776
00:35:14,611 --> 00:35:17,531
you know, stick out in the, in the, in the deluge

777
00:35:17,611 --> 00:35:20,451
of stuff, right? The dune. Scrolling, right? Why

778
00:35:20,451 --> 00:35:23,251
are they going to stop on your post? Right? So you

779
00:35:23,251 --> 00:35:24,931
just kind of like thinking of those things that,

780
00:35:24,931 --> 00:35:27,531
that's where the creativity comes along. Not just

781
00:35:27,531 --> 00:35:31,421
with creating a story on a larger scale. in my

782
00:35:31,421 --> 00:35:34,301
opinion, it's. It's. It's film, man. Like, it's

783
00:35:34,301 --> 00:35:37,441
film all day, right? I feel like, you know, like,

784
00:35:37,441 --> 00:35:41,441
I love the immersion of film and just kind of

785
00:35:41,441 --> 00:35:45,441
being able to give someone a full world in just

786
00:35:45,441 --> 00:35:49,161
like a couple hours, you know, and then, then you

787
00:35:49,161 --> 00:35:51,361
can play in that playground different ways and,

788
00:35:51,521 --> 00:35:53,921
you know, make the offshoots and the spin offs and

789
00:35:53,921 --> 00:35:56,481
all that stuff. But that comes later, right? But

790
00:35:56,481 --> 00:35:59,361
you can create. You know, before all of these

791
00:35:59,841 --> 00:36:04,721
franchises were multiple movies, right? Whether it

792
00:36:04,721 --> 00:36:07,841
was the first Star wars movie, the first Star wars

793
00:36:07,841 --> 00:36:10,161
movie, everyone forgets that it started with one.

794
00:36:10,161 --> 00:36:13,081
There was only one Star wars movie for like five

795
00:36:13,081 --> 00:36:17,961
years. It was just one movie in 77. It was just.

796
00:36:17,961 --> 00:36:21,601
And. But that one movie gave you such a full

797
00:36:21,601 --> 00:36:24,641
world. We forget that that full world was already

798
00:36:24,881 --> 00:36:29,041
there before we had eight other movies and 17

799
00:36:29,441 --> 00:36:32,961
million other TV shows. Right? Harry Potter,

800
00:36:33,261 --> 00:36:36,021
right? The first Harry Potter movie, the first

801
00:36:36,021 --> 00:36:39,661
Star Trek movie, the first Marvel did, the first

802
00:36:39,741 --> 00:36:43,181
MCU universe movie, like the first Iron man movie.

803
00:36:43,261 --> 00:36:45,461
There was a whole little world right in there, you

804
00:36:45,461 --> 00:36:49,351
know? So, I think that film offers an incredible

805
00:36:49,351 --> 00:36:51,151
opportunity. And we're working on a few things

806
00:36:51,151 --> 00:36:52,871
now, just like you said. I mean, we'll, we'll talk

807
00:36:52,871 --> 00:36:55,671
about alternative zero in a minute. But you know,

808
00:36:55,671 --> 00:37:00,711
what, 13 minutes. And you got such an insight into

809
00:37:00,871 --> 00:37:03,781
a much larger world just from that little. Just

810
00:37:03,781 --> 00:37:05,661
from those, you know, four or five characters.

811
00:37:06,221 --> 00:37:09,541
>> Christopher Ikpo: Yeah, yeah, I'll say. I think I agree with Steph.

812
00:37:09,541 --> 00:37:14,101
I think film is kind of the ultimate storytelling

813
00:37:14,101 --> 00:37:16,261
medium, especially if you're looking to build

814
00:37:16,261 --> 00:37:19,141
worlds. I think that the thing with it is, and we

815
00:37:19,141 --> 00:37:23,021
know this especially to be true today, is you're

816
00:37:23,021 --> 00:37:25,621
not guaranteed to get another shot after that

817
00:37:25,621 --> 00:37:28,971
first one, you know? and Steph actually was the

818
00:37:28,971 --> 00:37:30,611
one who schooled me to this. He's like, you can't

819
00:37:30,611 --> 00:37:33,441
write for the sequel. You can't write for the

820
00:37:33,441 --> 00:37:35,681
trilogy. You got to write for this joint right

821
00:37:35,681 --> 00:37:39,761
now. Make this one as incredible, as phenomenal as

822
00:37:39,761 --> 00:37:43,161
possible, and make them demand for a sequel,

823
00:37:43,161 --> 00:37:45,931
right? Make them demand the trilogy. But, that's

824
00:37:45,931 --> 00:37:51,691
not guaranteed. So I think the next best thing, if

825
00:37:52,011 --> 00:37:54,211
we're talking about the upper end, right? Because

826
00:37:54,211 --> 00:37:57,291
I also agree, I think print for the beginners or

827
00:37:57,451 --> 00:38:00,491
for creatives who don't have access to resources

828
00:38:00,571 --> 00:38:02,611
and, and budgets and all that kind of stuff, print

829
00:38:02,611 --> 00:38:05,611
is the best. But there's something about a series

830
00:38:06,011 --> 00:38:10,651
writing, a season or seasons of a world, because

831
00:38:10,651 --> 00:38:13,491
you get to Take your time and you can let things

832
00:38:13,491 --> 00:38:17,411
breathe so much more. You can introduce so many

833
00:38:17,411 --> 00:38:19,731
more characters and then you can actually take

834
00:38:19,731 --> 00:38:23,091
time to flesh those characters out more because

835
00:38:23,091 --> 00:38:25,891
you have what, six, eight, 10, 12 episodes

836
00:38:26,361 --> 00:38:29,281
anywhere, 30 to 60 minutes. And then you compare

837
00:38:29,281 --> 00:38:32,761
it to a two hour, you know, medium. If you can

838
00:38:32,761 --> 00:38:35,761
land that two hours though, if you can get that

839
00:38:35,761 --> 00:38:38,721
film where it needs to be, oh man, you're to the

840
00:38:38,721 --> 00:38:43,001
moon. If you do a season, there's a great chance

841
00:38:43,321 --> 00:38:49,761
that you might have two phenomenal hours out of an

842
00:38:49,761 --> 00:38:53,001
eight episode season. And it's like that's not

843
00:38:53,161 --> 00:38:56,001
like this isn't baseball. You can't fail 70 of the

844
00:38:56,001 --> 00:38:58,491
time and still be in the hall of fame, you know,

845
00:38:58,491 --> 00:39:01,611
so like with, there's the risk there with doing a

846
00:39:01,611 --> 00:39:05,291
series. It's, you gotta, you gotta hit like way

847
00:39:05,291 --> 00:39:08,891
more and be a lot more consistent with it. But the

848
00:39:08,891 --> 00:39:11,931
pro is you get so much more room to kind of play

849
00:39:12,091 --> 00:39:14,611
established lore, build it out and stuff like

850
00:39:14,611 --> 00:39:17,531
that. So it's, you know, pros and cons, I think.

851
00:39:18,011 --> 00:39:20,091
>> Will: Yeah. Well, speaking of films, let's talk about

852
00:39:20,241 --> 00:39:23,711
Alpha Initiative Zero. here's, here's the poster

853
00:39:23,711 --> 00:39:28,711
for it. I, I did get a chance to to watch both the

854
00:39:28,711 --> 00:39:31,431
trailer and, and, and the short film and I really

855
00:39:31,431 --> 00:39:34,071
have to say I, I really, really enjoyed it. I, I,

856
00:39:34,071 --> 00:39:37,311
I really did. Didn't know anything, you know,

857
00:39:37,431 --> 00:39:39,871
about it, you know, clearly hadn't seen the source

858
00:39:39,871 --> 00:39:45,511
material that, you know. But you're right, it's

859
00:39:45,511 --> 00:39:48,511
when I, when I watched it I was like at the end of

860
00:39:48,511 --> 00:39:53,231
it I was like I want more. Yeah, really, I, I was

861
00:39:53,231 --> 00:39:56,151
like for a short film I've seen, you know, one

862
00:39:56,151 --> 00:39:59,351
just kudos, congratulations for getting it

863
00:39:59,351 --> 00:40:03,661
produced and I do want to hear how, how it, how it

864
00:40:03,661 --> 00:40:07,751
came into being. But but to that also, but also to

865
00:40:07,751 --> 00:40:12,491
that point I really, you know, just, it just like

866
00:40:13,291 --> 00:40:15,291
as we were talking about earlier, earlier in the

867
00:40:15,291 --> 00:40:18,821
interview, the authenticity of story and just the,

868
00:40:18,821 --> 00:40:25,381
the well constructed story that as a viewer you're

869
00:40:25,381 --> 00:40:27,141
just talking about Star Wars. It's just one. But

870
00:40:27,461 --> 00:40:30,061
you have so much like packed story packed in there

871
00:40:30,061 --> 00:40:32,021
that I was like, I want to learn more about what's

872
00:40:32,021 --> 00:40:35,181
going on in this universe. So how, how did, what

873
00:40:35,181 --> 00:40:38,141
was the original inspiration for Alpha Initiative

874
00:40:38,141 --> 00:40:40,621
0 as far as the graphic novel? And then how did

875
00:40:40,621 --> 00:40:43,501
that transition, how did it get translated to a

876
00:40:43,501 --> 00:40:43,981
short film?

877
00:40:45,421 --> 00:40:49,771
>> Christopher Ikpo: Yeah, so Lieutenant General Rashard Bonds, started

878
00:40:49,771 --> 00:40:53,771
out as a passive, almost filler character in

879
00:40:53,771 --> 00:40:56,531
Project 365. We would have these eight hour

880
00:40:56,691 --> 00:40:58,931
planning sessions where we're on the phone just,

881
00:40:58,931 --> 00:41:00,571
and just talking, you know, we're just talking

882
00:41:00,571 --> 00:41:02,731
trash the whole time. But we're working, right?

883
00:41:02,731 --> 00:41:04,411
We're planning it. We have an open spreadsheet.

884
00:41:04,411 --> 00:41:06,571
We'll put a character name in for, you know, 1 to

885
00:41:06,571 --> 00:41:10,461
31 or 30, whatever, and name power, you know, ah,

886
00:41:10,461 --> 00:41:12,371
details about their origin story, then how they

887
00:41:12,371 --> 00:41:16,031
move the, the greater, you know, saga along, power

888
00:41:16,031 --> 00:41:18,191
set, all that kind of stuff. And we were like, we

889
00:41:18,191 --> 00:41:19,591
need a guy for this day. Who are we going to put

890
00:41:19,591 --> 00:41:22,021
in this day? Oh, well, you know, I got an idea and

891
00:41:22,021 --> 00:41:24,941
we put it in there and he just kind of organically

892
00:41:24,941 --> 00:41:27,581
became or grew into a main character.

893
00:41:27,581 --> 00:41:30,181
>> Stefan Thomas: He was like. At first, yeah.

894
00:41:30,181 --> 00:41:31,981
>> Christopher Ikpo: He was like, I say. And that was another thing

895
00:41:31,981 --> 00:41:35,061
too. The, the organic growth of the character kind

896
00:41:35,061 --> 00:41:37,561
of took us away from, you know, what we were

897
00:41:37,561 --> 00:41:41,801
trying to avoid, which was creating characters of

898
00:41:41,881 --> 00:41:44,761
different cultures and ethnicities and races and

899
00:41:44,761 --> 00:41:47,281
different backgrounds as sidekicks. Right. We

900
00:41:47,281 --> 00:41:50,081
wanted, we wanted the representation for the front

901
00:41:50,081 --> 00:41:53,201
man or the front woman to be of those different

902
00:41:53,201 --> 00:41:55,001
backgrounds, those different types of characters.

903
00:41:55,331 --> 00:41:57,451
but we did create him initially as a sidekick, but

904
00:41:57,451 --> 00:42:01,511
again, he grew into being the man. And he is one

905
00:42:01,511 --> 00:42:04,351
of the top heroes out of all hundreds of

906
00:42:04,351 --> 00:42:07,751
characters within Project 365. He ends up forming

907
00:42:07,751 --> 00:42:10,791
the Alpha Initiative. In Project 365 that was like

908
00:42:10,791 --> 00:42:13,341
our Avengers group. there's another iteration in

909
00:42:13,341 --> 00:42:15,061
there called the Alpha Resistance, which he's also

910
00:42:15,061 --> 00:42:17,581
a part of. But when we got done with it, we were

911
00:42:17,581 --> 00:42:20,221
like, well, what can we do now? One idea we had

912
00:42:20,221 --> 00:42:23,181
was to do an origin story for it, for Alpha

913
00:42:23,181 --> 00:42:25,221
Initiative. So we called IT Alpha Initiative 0.

914
00:42:25,221 --> 00:42:27,331
We're going to take it back to get back to the

915
00:42:27,331 --> 00:42:30,051
roots. And an inspiration for creating the

916
00:42:30,051 --> 00:42:33,251
different characters and of Initiative Zero was I

917
00:42:33,251 --> 00:42:35,651
have so many people in Stephano's people too, that

918
00:42:35,651 --> 00:42:38,461
are military veterans. and we've seen military

919
00:42:38,461 --> 00:42:41,701
veterans land on both sides of the, you know,

920
00:42:41,701 --> 00:42:44,661
coming home. Some have come home, reintegrated

921
00:42:44,661 --> 00:42:47,821
into society very well. Families, great jobs,

922
00:42:47,821 --> 00:42:50,421
they're thriving, they're doing great. Other ones,

923
00:42:50,421 --> 00:42:52,261
though, come back and have a more difficult time

924
00:42:52,261 --> 00:42:57,161
reintegrating into society. And the resources and

925
00:42:57,161 --> 00:42:59,521
the things that they need in order to help get

926
00:42:59,521 --> 00:43:01,841
them back on track and reintegrate aren't always

927
00:43:01,841 --> 00:43:04,491
there, they're not always available. and

928
00:43:04,491 --> 00:43:08,211
unfortunately then a stigma gets attached to that

929
00:43:08,211 --> 00:43:11,251
person. Right. Because they are hampered and their

930
00:43:11,251 --> 00:43:13,971
life is more difficult than it was when they left

931
00:43:13,971 --> 00:43:16,771
to go serve. they're seen a certain way, they're

932
00:43:16,771 --> 00:43:20,361
treated a certain way, and that treatment is well

933
00:43:20,361 --> 00:43:22,721
below the level of where they should be treated.

934
00:43:23,041 --> 00:43:26,521
And so we wanted to tell that story, but not in a

935
00:43:26,521 --> 00:43:29,241
way that kind of glorified the trauma. Right? We

936
00:43:29,241 --> 00:43:31,681
didn't want to do the typical. They're, you know,

937
00:43:31,681 --> 00:43:34,680
just riddled with PTSD and they're off their

938
00:43:34,680 --> 00:43:37,081
rocker and you know, you can't trust them anywhere

939
00:43:37,081 --> 00:43:39,441
in public around people. And we also didn't want

940
00:43:39,441 --> 00:43:43,241
them to be portrayed as. Solely as the tip of the

941
00:43:43,241 --> 00:43:45,921
spear, right. For the United States government or

942
00:43:45,921 --> 00:43:49,161
whatever organization to just point and throw and

943
00:43:49,161 --> 00:43:51,201
treat them like, you know, they're disposable

944
00:43:51,201 --> 00:43:54,001
bodies. Or they're either that or they're just

945
00:43:54,161 --> 00:43:56,881
raging killing machines, right? We wanted to find

946
00:43:56,881 --> 00:43:59,881
that. That human side to it because ultimately, at

947
00:43:59,881 --> 00:44:02,441
the end of the day, these are men and women who

948
00:44:02,441 --> 00:44:05,040
are going to do something that most of us can't or

949
00:44:05,040 --> 00:44:08,761
don't want to do, right? And they're. They're real

950
00:44:08,761 --> 00:44:12,641
life heroes. Like they are the real life heroes

951
00:44:12,641 --> 00:44:15,571
that we have in this world. So we wanted to put

952
00:44:15,571 --> 00:44:17,811
all of that positivity and the good stuff on the

953
00:44:17,811 --> 00:44:20,291
forefront in a way though, that we're telling an

954
00:44:20,291 --> 00:44:22,651
authentic story that's interesting, has great

955
00:44:22,651 --> 00:44:25,131
storytelling, and is just, as Steph mentioned

956
00:44:25,131 --> 00:44:27,451
before, high octane action. So that was the

957
00:44:27,451 --> 00:44:29,691
inspiration for the characters for the story and

958
00:44:29,691 --> 00:44:32,001
what we wanted to do with it. and we actually

959
00:44:32,001 --> 00:44:35,061
started with a, screenplay. We did a feature like

960
00:44:35,061 --> 00:44:37,931
screenplay, that was based on the graphic novel

961
00:44:37,931 --> 00:44:39,771
or. I'm sorry, we did a feature like screenplay

962
00:44:39,771 --> 00:44:41,811
that was used as the basis for the graphic novel.

963
00:44:41,881 --> 00:44:42,121
>> Stefan Thomas: Novel.

964
00:44:42,121 --> 00:44:44,641
>> Christopher Ikpo: So we worked with artists. Artists, of. Of that

965
00:44:44,641 --> 00:44:46,401
were in our network and we gave them the

966
00:44:46,401 --> 00:44:48,721
screenplay. We're like, hey man, look, take these

967
00:44:48,721 --> 00:44:51,171
pages and, and turn it into, you know, a, graphic

968
00:44:51,171 --> 00:44:52,891
novel for us. And we worked with them on that.

969
00:44:52,971 --> 00:44:55,131
Graphic novel came out. It was received

970
00:44:55,451 --> 00:44:57,451
exceptionally well by fans at all the different

971
00:44:57,451 --> 00:45:00,331
cons we went to and things like that. And so then

972
00:45:00,331 --> 00:45:04,571
from there we ended up meeting James Gavsy, the

973
00:45:04,571 --> 00:45:07,011
phenomenal, incomparable James Cavzy, the

974
00:45:07,011 --> 00:45:11,171
producer, at WonderCon one year, kept in touch

975
00:45:11,171 --> 00:45:13,571
with him. He was one of those solid people that I

976
00:45:13,571 --> 00:45:16,651
mentioned before that we met over the years and

977
00:45:16,611 --> 00:45:19,001
gave us great advice, gave us great guidance. And,

978
00:45:19,001 --> 00:45:22,161
you know, he's a good dude. Yeah, yeah, James is

979
00:45:22,161 --> 00:45:26,171
awesome. And so he came upon the, the, the

980
00:45:26,171 --> 00:45:30,061
opportunity to do a short film. And he reached out

981
00:45:30,061 --> 00:45:32,261
to us and say, hey, like, would you guys be okay

982
00:45:32,261 --> 00:45:35,181
if we based our short film off of the Alpha

983
00:45:35,181 --> 00:45:39,441
Initiative Zero graphic novel? And we. Yeah, like,

984
00:45:39,441 --> 00:45:41,401
of course. Like, there's no, there's no question.

985
00:45:41,481 --> 00:45:44,431
Hell yeah. So, we started working with him and he

986
00:45:44,431 --> 00:45:46,591
brought in, you know, a writer that he knew to

987
00:45:46,591 --> 00:45:49,191
work with us to, to help craft the story, but also

988
00:45:49,191 --> 00:45:51,911
to show respect to the source material and to us,

989
00:45:51,911 --> 00:45:54,511
to make sure we were okay with the direction, the

990
00:45:54,511 --> 00:45:56,391
story that was being told. Is this what the

991
00:45:56,391 --> 00:45:58,111
characters would say? Is this how, you know,

992
00:45:58,111 --> 00:46:00,271
things would go down, so on and so forth? And when

993
00:46:00,271 --> 00:46:02,351
they wanted to, or d. I felt like they needed to

994
00:46:02,351 --> 00:46:05,631
take up, a, a creative turn somewhere. They always

995
00:46:05,631 --> 00:46:07,431
checked in with us to make sure we were okay with

996
00:46:07,431 --> 00:46:09,751
it and we would sign off on it. So they were

997
00:46:09,751 --> 00:46:13,471
phenomenal partners. And then James knew or knows,

998
00:46:13,641 --> 00:46:16,841
Michael Lear, who is an incredible stunt

999
00:46:16,841 --> 00:46:18,801
choreographer, fight choreographer. He's been in

1000
00:46:18,801 --> 00:46:21,551
the game for a minute, louded amongst all of his

1001
00:46:21,551 --> 00:46:25,191
peers. And he's done everything from John Wick

1002
00:46:25,191 --> 00:46:27,871
franchise stuff. Fast and Furious, Daybreak on

1003
00:46:27,871 --> 00:46:30,001
Netflix, Extraction on Netflix, the new Mortal

1004
00:46:30,001 --> 00:46:32,731
Kombat movie that's coming out. He, you know, he

1005
00:46:32,731 --> 00:46:34,651
was behind doing the fight stunt choreography for

1006
00:46:34,651 --> 00:46:37,331
that stuff. So, I mean, he's done some huge, high

1007
00:46:37,331 --> 00:46:41,011
profile, mega budget stuff. James got him to come

1008
00:46:41,011 --> 00:46:45,771
on and direct to do the fight choreography. Yeah,

1009
00:46:45,851 --> 00:46:48,171
yeah, yeah. And that's, that's Michael and his

1010
00:46:48,171 --> 00:46:50,451
crew. And it's just like we just, we were so

1011
00:46:50,451 --> 00:46:53,851
blessed to, to be able to again, know James, have

1012
00:46:53,851 --> 00:46:56,371
him know Michael and then them being able to put

1013
00:46:56,371 --> 00:46:59,251
up the bat signal and have all these incredibly

1014
00:46:59,251 --> 00:47:02,221
talented stunt, you know, actors and actors come

1015
00:47:02,381 --> 00:47:05,191
be a part of the project. so that was, that was

1016
00:47:05,191 --> 00:47:07,231
kind of the role into it. But Steph was actually

1017
00:47:07,231 --> 00:47:09,911
there on site when they were filming. So. Steph,

1018
00:47:09,911 --> 00:47:11,311
what was it like? Tell them what it was like when

1019
00:47:11,311 --> 00:47:13,231
you were there, the process of filming and all

1020
00:47:13,231 --> 00:47:13,471
that.

1021
00:47:13,631 --> 00:47:16,331
>> Stefan Thomas: Yeah, it's, it was a three day shoot. and

1022
00:47:17,051 --> 00:47:20,891
literally I think it was 12. Between 12 and 14

1023
00:47:20,971 --> 00:47:26,201
hours. First one was 12 hours and then it went

1024
00:47:26,201 --> 00:47:27,881
from there. And it was all shot at night too.

1025
00:47:27,881 --> 00:47:29,881
Like, we started like 3 o' clock in the afternoon.

1026
00:47:30,201 --> 00:47:32,811
But, you know, to Chris's point, the team of

1027
00:47:32,811 --> 00:47:35,451
people that we got connected with through James

1028
00:47:35,611 --> 00:47:38,741
and Michael, stunt performers who have done all

1029
00:47:38,741 --> 00:47:40,781
kinds of stuff. One of the great things they said

1030
00:47:41,181 --> 00:47:45,421
to me was how much fun it was to kind of embody

1031
00:47:46,221 --> 00:47:48,611
original, characters that didn't have, like, long

1032
00:47:48,611 --> 00:47:49,381
legacies already.

1033
00:47:49,691 --> 00:47:49,931
>> Will: Right.

1034
00:47:50,171 --> 00:47:52,731
>> Stefan Thomas: Like of course, you know, I'm sure it's an honor

1035
00:47:52,731 --> 00:47:54,411
when someone says you're going to be the next

1036
00:47:54,411 --> 00:47:56,251
Batman or you're going to be the next Spider Man.

1037
00:47:56,251 --> 00:47:58,651
Right. It's definitely an honor. Right. However,

1038
00:47:58,891 --> 00:48:01,691
you're also. You are adding a little bit of

1039
00:48:01,691 --> 00:48:04,171
yourself to something that's already established,

1040
00:48:04,251 --> 00:48:07,211
which M is probably an incredible experience.

1041
00:48:07,451 --> 00:48:11,371
Right. However, when you get to embody a character

1042
00:48:11,371 --> 00:48:15,331
that is brand new right now, you become part of

1043
00:48:15,331 --> 00:48:17,891
the creative process of what that character is

1044
00:48:17,891 --> 00:48:20,771
going to look like moving forward, you know, and

1045
00:48:20,771 --> 00:48:23,611
the actors who were able to play Lieutenant

1046
00:48:23,611 --> 00:48:26,401
General, Lieutenant, you know, Rashad Bonds and

1047
00:48:26,401 --> 00:48:29,371
Lieutenant Emily Wright, just those two characters

1048
00:48:29,371 --> 00:48:32,651
right there, those actors, they bought so much,

1049
00:48:33,131 --> 00:48:36,011
you know, to those characters. And the first time

1050
00:48:36,011 --> 00:48:38,131
they're played on screen, no matter what, moving

1051
00:48:38,131 --> 00:48:41,531
forward, they. They have. They have laid a

1052
00:48:42,091 --> 00:48:44,941
foundation. So it was really incredible being part

1053
00:48:44,941 --> 00:48:48,541
of that process there and seeing them and embody

1054
00:48:48,541 --> 00:48:50,631
the character. And then, of course, you know, when

1055
00:48:50,631 --> 00:48:52,661
Chris was talking about, like, the idea of, of,

1056
00:48:52,661 --> 00:48:54,951
you know, taking creative turns, I know one of the

1057
00:48:54,951 --> 00:48:56,871
creative turns that was just a little bit

1058
00:48:56,871 --> 00:48:59,411
different was kind of the way that, the villain in

1059
00:48:59,411 --> 00:49:02,091
the. In. In the movie, you know, was. Was kind of

1060
00:49:02,091 --> 00:49:04,371
written. You know, his powers were tweaked a

1061
00:49:04,371 --> 00:49:06,691
little bit from, like, what they originally were,

1062
00:49:06,931 --> 00:49:09,691
you know, and then, like, his presentation, I

1063
00:49:09,691 --> 00:49:12,891
remember initially his presentation was a little

1064
00:49:12,891 --> 00:49:15,691
bit more refined, like in our. In our. In our

1065
00:49:15,691 --> 00:49:18,171
books, in our. In our creation. But for the

1066
00:49:18,171 --> 00:49:21,091
purposes of the story, he was a little bit more

1067
00:49:21,171 --> 00:49:22,851
kind of like cavalier. A little.

1068
00:49:22,851 --> 00:49:23,651
>> Will: I was gonna ask.

1069
00:49:23,731 --> 00:49:27,081
>> Stefan Thomas: No, Devil May Cry kind of thing. Right. Which.

1070
00:49:27,161 --> 00:49:27,801
>> Will: And then.

1071
00:49:27,801 --> 00:49:29,441
>> Stefan Thomas: So at first we were like, is

1072
00:49:29,441 --> 00:49:30,921
>> Christopher Ikpo: that really, like, you know, working?

1073
00:49:31,081 --> 00:49:33,801
>> Stefan Thomas: But then, as you know, we began to tell the story

1074
00:49:34,361 --> 00:49:36,521
because again, one of the things that we were

1075
00:49:36,521 --> 00:49:39,211
really big on was that the fight scenes weren't

1076
00:49:39,211 --> 00:49:42,211
just fight scenes, that every fight scene had to

1077
00:49:42,211 --> 00:49:45,571
tell a story, you know, and in a lot of movies, in

1078
00:49:45,571 --> 00:49:48,291
a lot of TV shows, yes, some fight scenes that

1079
00:49:48,291 --> 00:49:50,411
are. That are really pivotal will tell a story,

1080
00:49:50,491 --> 00:49:52,371
and then other ones are just kind of like, ah, we

1081
00:49:52,371 --> 00:49:53,131
got to get this action.

1082
00:49:55,211 --> 00:49:55,611
>> Christopher Ikpo: You.

1083
00:49:55,851 --> 00:49:58,891
>> Will: I am so happy to hear you say that, because I

1084
00:49:58,891 --> 00:50:02,131
have. That is a critique of mine of a big

1085
00:50:02,131 --> 00:50:03,571
franchise. I'll just say. I'll just put out there

1086
00:50:03,571 --> 00:50:10,191
Star wars, the lightsaber battles. And one of the

1087
00:50:10,591 --> 00:50:13,911
things that I always, like, point to is, you know,

1088
00:50:13,911 --> 00:50:16,591
you can have a physically dynamic lightsaber

1089
00:50:16,751 --> 00:50:18,751
battle, but if it. Yeah, but if it's just

1090
00:50:18,751 --> 00:50:21,951
Spectacle for spectacle's sake. And it's not like,

1091
00:50:22,111 --> 00:50:24,591
you know, the Empire Strikes Back. The reason why,

1092
00:50:24,591 --> 00:50:28,591
to me that film just works so well is the. This,

1093
00:50:28,991 --> 00:50:31,471
you know, there are more spectacular like, you

1094
00:50:31,471 --> 00:50:32,911
know, lightsaber battles in Star Wars.

1095
00:50:33,371 --> 00:50:33,571
>> Christopher Ikpo: Yeah.

1096
00:50:33,571 --> 00:50:38,041
>> Will: But the emotional intensity of, invader and the.

1097
00:50:38,041 --> 00:50:41,571
In the, in the carbonite, room.

1098
00:50:42,051 --> 00:50:42,491
>> Christopher Ikpo: Yep.

1099
00:50:42,491 --> 00:50:45,571
>> Will: Yeah. That's why it's so, just so, so memorable.

1100
00:50:45,891 --> 00:50:46,691
>> Christopher Ikpo: Absolutely.

1101
00:50:47,171 --> 00:50:52,221
>> Will: Yeah. but to that point and, and given, you know,

1102
00:50:52,301 --> 00:50:54,421
Chris, I know you touched on a little bit and you

1103
00:50:54,421 --> 00:50:58,061
did as well, Stefan, as far as adapting your. The

1104
00:50:58,061 --> 00:51:01,571
source material, which, you know, or just. Or

1105
00:51:01,571 --> 00:51:05,651
adapting things for screenplay. And, And I always

1106
00:51:05,651 --> 00:51:10,331
just wonder how does that work for you as the

1107
00:51:10,331 --> 00:51:12,331
creative. And you know, what you. What you all

1108
00:51:12,331 --> 00:51:15,771
have had in mind and you know, as far as on. On

1109
00:51:15,771 --> 00:51:19,331
the page, translating to the screen and, and your

1110
00:51:19,331 --> 00:51:21,291
interactions with it. I mean, you think about like

1111
00:51:21,291 --> 00:51:23,291
George R.R. martin with game of Thrones and, you

1112
00:51:23,291 --> 00:51:23,571
know.

1113
00:51:23,571 --> 00:51:24,371
>> Christopher Ikpo: Right. Yeah.

1114
00:51:24,451 --> 00:51:26,891
>> Will: You know, in the changes that they make from, you

1115
00:51:26,891 --> 00:51:28,371
know, from, you know, I was listening. I really

1116
00:51:28,371 --> 00:51:30,891
en, Nine of the Seven Kingdoms. That was just on,

1117
00:51:31,051 --> 00:51:34,051
earlier this year. And I read, you know, I did

1118
00:51:34,051 --> 00:51:37,331
read the book and seeing how they adapted things

1119
00:51:37,331 --> 00:51:40,291
from the book into the, into the TV show and in

1120
00:51:40,291 --> 00:51:44,610
some cases it. It made the book pro. You know, it

1121
00:51:44,610 --> 00:51:46,771
worked better for the screen. So from your

1122
00:51:46,771 --> 00:51:50,081
perspective as, as creatives, seeing your work

1123
00:51:50,241 --> 00:51:54,291
being adapted from page to screen, how did one.

1124
00:51:54,291 --> 00:51:56,851
How did you feel about that when they wanted to go

1125
00:51:56,851 --> 00:51:59,051
in a different direction than you may have

1126
00:51:59,051 --> 00:52:02,621
envisioned, and to how you touched on a little bit

1127
00:52:02,621 --> 00:52:06,461
earlier, but really want to expand on, you know,

1128
00:52:07,021 --> 00:52:08,701
you know, who has creative control at the end of

1129
00:52:08,701 --> 00:52:12,821
the day. My roundabout way of getting there.

1130
00:52:12,821 --> 00:52:13,741
>> Christopher Ikpo: Yeah, it's.

1131
00:52:14,301 --> 00:52:18,831
>> Stefan Thomas: It's interesting, because one of the things that,

1132
00:52:18,831 --> 00:52:21,591
you know, we. We often do talk about too, is that

1133
00:52:22,331 --> 00:52:25,481
diff, different stories call for different mediums

1134
00:52:25,481 --> 00:52:29,051
sometimes. You know. And, I've had to explain this

1135
00:52:29,051 --> 00:52:33,061
to people. Is that, a book and a movie, while they

1136
00:52:33,061 --> 00:52:35,461
might be based on the same story, they're two

1137
00:52:35,461 --> 00:52:38,341
different. They're two different things, you know.

1138
00:52:38,421 --> 00:52:42,061
And so I think that when we, you know, even to

1139
00:52:42,061 --> 00:52:44,381
Chris's point, about a novel, right. When you

1140
00:52:44,381 --> 00:52:48,021
write a novel or we've. We wrote 700,000 words for

1141
00:52:48,381 --> 00:52:51,661
Project 365, right. You can't get all those words

1142
00:52:51,661 --> 00:52:54,421
on a screen. So you have to pick and choose.

1143
00:52:54,421 --> 00:52:57,301
Right? You have to pick and choose. And then once

1144
00:52:57,301 --> 00:52:59,061
you get it up there, you also have to make it

1145
00:52:59,061 --> 00:53:00,901
compelling. Because something that reads on the

1146
00:53:00,901 --> 00:53:03,781
page, like you could be reading a novel, you know,

1147
00:53:03,781 --> 00:53:07,341
and you can be enthralled, you know, from page to

1148
00:53:07,341 --> 00:53:10,101
page to page to page, right? But when it's on the

1149
00:53:10,101 --> 00:53:12,541
screen, you have to enthrall people in, like, 30

1150
00:53:12,541 --> 00:53:14,261
seconds. Like, you have, like, you know, you have

1151
00:53:14,261 --> 00:53:15,791
to hit them, right? So you're going to have to

1152
00:53:15,791 --> 00:53:17,711
eliminate stuff or you're going to have to change

1153
00:53:17,711 --> 00:53:20,601
it so that it's. That it's more, compelling on a

1154
00:53:20,601 --> 00:53:23,121
screen. Not to mention the fact that you can't

1155
00:53:23,121 --> 00:53:25,681
hear everybody's inner thoughts and, you know,

1156
00:53:25,681 --> 00:53:27,441
like, on a screen like you can in a book, right?

1157
00:53:27,441 --> 00:53:29,201
You can read everybody's inner thoughts. That

1158
00:53:29,201 --> 00:53:31,241
makes it more. That makes it more dynamic, more

1159
00:53:31,241 --> 00:53:33,921
compelling, more layered. How do you. How do you

1160
00:53:33,921 --> 00:53:37,121
get those layers on the screen? Right? Like, so

1161
00:53:37,121 --> 00:53:39,361
it's. So it's a different medium. So we had always

1162
00:53:39,361 --> 00:53:41,841
talked about how, man, we're crafting something

1163
00:53:41,841 --> 00:53:45,281
and we have the stories, we have the basis, but we

1164
00:53:45,281 --> 00:53:48,761
knew that when we come to the table and someone is

1165
00:53:48,761 --> 00:53:50,281
like, you know, gonna say, hey, we want to make

1166
00:53:50,281 --> 00:53:53,601
this into a TV show. It's like, all right, we.

1167
00:53:53,601 --> 00:53:55,441
First, we need. You need to prove to us that we

1168
00:53:55,441 --> 00:53:58,961
can trust you creatively. Once you do that, man,

1169
00:53:58,961 --> 00:54:01,041
like, make. Yes. Make our story better.

1170
00:54:01,441 --> 00:54:01,961
>> Will: Make it.

1171
00:54:01,961 --> 00:54:03,961
>> Stefan Thomas: Make it more amazing. Make it compelling for the

1172
00:54:03,961 --> 00:54:07,481
screen. You know, it's like we were very like, you

1173
00:54:07,481 --> 00:54:10,781
know, we're open to that, you know, to Chris's

1174
00:54:10,781 --> 00:54:12,741
point as well, saying, like, if we see something

1175
00:54:12,741 --> 00:54:15,501
happening and we. We're gonna speak up, we're

1176
00:54:15,501 --> 00:54:17,261
gonna be like, we don't know if that's quite.

1177
00:54:17,261 --> 00:54:19,421
Dude, it's like, make your case to us. Make your

1178
00:54:19,421 --> 00:54:22,101
case for why you think that should be. And maybe

1179
00:54:22,101 --> 00:54:23,941
we'll come around. Or maybe we'll be like, well,

1180
00:54:23,941 --> 00:54:25,701
what if you tweaked it this way to make it better?

1181
00:54:25,701 --> 00:54:27,461
So that's kind of like, you know, a little bit

1182
00:54:27,461 --> 00:54:30,541
about. We. We. How I approached. We approached it.

1183
00:54:30,621 --> 00:54:33,381
>> Will: Yeah. Is there, Is there a change that, Well,

1184
00:54:33,381 --> 00:54:36,301
without giving too much away from. About the story

1185
00:54:36,301 --> 00:54:39,671
or. Or, But is there one scene or is there an

1186
00:54:39,671 --> 00:54:43,031
Easter egg or something that, you know, you all

1187
00:54:43,591 --> 00:54:46,351
can give an example of, like, oh, yeah, that

1188
00:54:46,351 --> 00:54:48,511
actually. That actually works better on the screen

1189
00:54:48,511 --> 00:54:52,151
than how I'm played in a book? As far as the film.

1190
00:54:52,711 --> 00:54:55,951
>> Christopher Ikpo: I could. I got a couple of examples. So one, you

1191
00:54:55,951 --> 00:54:57,871
know, we have to give a shout out to Von Zel

1192
00:54:57,871 --> 00:55:00,351
Carter, who played Lt. Gen. Richard Bonds, and

1193
00:55:00,351 --> 00:55:03,031
Chelsea Goldsmith who plays Lt. Emily Wright. They

1194
00:55:03,111 --> 00:55:06,381
did an incredible job. but this is, this is

1195
00:55:06,381 --> 00:55:08,261
Lieutenant General Rashar Bonds. Right. Like in

1196
00:55:08,261 --> 00:55:12,301
the comic. He's very comic book build, 6 foot 6,

1197
00:55:12,487 --> 00:55:16,741
250, 270 pounds, just jacked with all the

1198
00:55:16,741 --> 00:55:19,501
athleticism in the world. Not bogged down by the

1199
00:55:19,501 --> 00:55:22,541
massive muscular frame. Right. And you watch the

1200
00:55:22,541 --> 00:55:26,981
short film, that's not the how Von Zell looks. But

1201
00:55:26,981 --> 00:55:31,411
Von Zell did an incredible job at playing Lt. Gen.

1202
00:55:31,411 --> 00:55:34,771
Rashard Bonds. The Lt. Emily Wright character is

1203
00:55:34,771 --> 00:55:37,881
funny because she's based off of a friend of mine

1204
00:55:38,121 --> 00:55:43,331
that I've known God for 26 years now and military

1205
00:55:43,331 --> 00:55:45,891
veteran, she's still ah, active within the

1206
00:55:45,891 --> 00:55:48,521
military. She's a sergeant now. But get back here

1207
00:55:48,521 --> 00:55:52,161
stateside. But she is a fair skinned white woman

1208
00:55:52,161 --> 00:55:54,961
with dark black hair, you know, striking blue

1209
00:55:54,961 --> 00:55:57,561
eyes. We send that description off to the artist

1210
00:55:57,641 --> 00:56:00,701
for the, for the graphic novel. She comes back,

1211
00:56:00,701 --> 00:56:02,621
the character art comes back looking like Rihanna

1212
00:56:02,621 --> 00:56:07,621
and we're like okay, all right. You know, so we

1213
00:56:07,621 --> 00:56:10,341
just rolled with it. And then when they casted

1214
00:56:10,341 --> 00:56:13,181
Lieutenant Emily Wright, they casted more towards,

1215
00:56:13,661 --> 00:56:16,071
you know, the the Rihanna kind of thing. And you

1216
00:56:16,071 --> 00:56:18,311
get Chelsea Goldsmith in there, who doesn't look

1217
00:56:18,311 --> 00:56:20,991
like Rihanna. But you know, she, she has the, you

1218
00:56:20,991 --> 00:56:23,991
know, the, the tan skin, sunkissed skin in the

1219
00:56:23,991 --> 00:56:25,581
hair and all that. So you know, the, the

1220
00:56:25,581 --> 00:56:29,261
characters weren't exactly, that they were casted,

1221
00:56:29,261 --> 00:56:31,181
weren't exact, didn't look exactly how they did in

1222
00:56:31,181 --> 00:56:34,341
the book. Right. In, in the source material. But

1223
00:56:34,581 --> 00:56:37,981
they both did beyond incredible at portraying the

1224
00:56:37,981 --> 00:56:41,701
character and doing the work on camera that you

1225
00:56:41,701 --> 00:56:43,901
know, it's just like, okay, like if you sit back

1226
00:56:43,901 --> 00:56:46,981
and you cast these roles, you try to, as creators

1227
00:56:46,981 --> 00:56:49,341
we try to tend to put somebody in there that looks

1228
00:56:49,341 --> 00:56:51,891
as close to the character that we envision as

1229
00:56:51,891 --> 00:56:54,971
possible. Not realizing that we're, that's

1230
00:56:54,971 --> 00:56:57,451
incredibly limiting the scope of the talent that

1231
00:56:57,451 --> 00:56:59,731
you could get. Because in this case James and

1232
00:56:59,731 --> 00:57:01,771
Michael put them in and they knocked it out the

1233
00:57:01,771 --> 00:57:04,691
park. Like it was just phenomenal. So that was one

1234
00:57:04,691 --> 00:57:07,091
area where we were like, that's who they casted.

1235
00:57:07,091 --> 00:57:09,011
They don't look anything like the characters, but

1236
00:57:09,011 --> 00:57:11,411
man, are we so blessed to have them be the ones

1237
00:57:11,411 --> 00:57:14,771
who did it. And another part was with like, like

1238
00:57:14,771 --> 00:57:16,871
Stefan mentioned with Edgar Lockhart, the villain.

1239
00:57:17,261 --> 00:57:21,901
Right. He is supposed to be a very you know,

1240
00:57:21,851 --> 00:57:24,581
elegant, you know, he's an elegant villain, right?

1241
00:57:24,581 --> 00:57:27,141
Yeah. and to have him, you know, be more cavalier

1242
00:57:27,141 --> 00:57:31,181
and kind of be more unassuming. On screen. It was.

1243
00:57:31,420 --> 00:57:33,341
Again, it was, well, that's not how he looks in

1244
00:57:33,341 --> 00:57:36,051
the source material. Right. and they reached out

1245
00:57:36,051 --> 00:57:38,091
to us and they asked us, like I mentioned before,

1246
00:57:38,491 --> 00:57:40,771
hey, is there any way that you guys would be okay

1247
00:57:40,771 --> 00:57:42,931
with us if we just. Just tweaked his power set a

1248
00:57:42,931 --> 00:57:44,811
little bit? Because from the source material,

1249
00:57:44,811 --> 00:57:47,971
between the graphic novel and Project 365, Edgar

1250
00:57:47,971 --> 00:57:50,491
Lockhart, the character does go through a

1251
00:57:50,491 --> 00:57:51,251
progression. Yeah.

1252
00:57:51,251 --> 00:57:52,131
>> Stefan Thomas: Don't give too much away.

1253
00:57:52,371 --> 00:57:53,891
>> Christopher Ikpo: I'm not gonna give too much away. I'm not gonna

1254
00:57:53,891 --> 00:57:55,771
get too much away. And part of his. Part of his

1255
00:57:55,771 --> 00:57:57,491
story arc, though, is that he does go through this

1256
00:57:57,491 --> 00:58:00,891
progression, Right? Yeah. So, you know, it was. It

1257
00:58:00,891 --> 00:58:03,611
was. They came to us, and it made sense because it

1258
00:58:03,611 --> 00:58:06,451
does fit right in the source material in a way.

1259
00:58:06,771 --> 00:58:09,661
But in both of those scenarios, I think the key

1260
00:58:09,661 --> 00:58:14,061
was for Steph and I to be open and flexible and to

1261
00:58:14,061 --> 00:58:18,571
be willing to trust the process, so to speak. but

1262
00:58:18,571 --> 00:58:21,291
at the same time, they showed us the respect by

1263
00:58:21,291 --> 00:58:23,451
coming to us, too, and saying, what do you guys

1264
00:58:23,451 --> 00:58:25,691
think about this? As opposed to just taking it and

1265
00:58:25,691 --> 00:58:27,211
running with it and doing whatever they wanted?

1266
00:58:27,211 --> 00:58:29,091
And then Steph and I are at the premiere, like,

1267
00:58:29,091 --> 00:58:33,091
what the hell? Like, what the hell is that? That's

1268
00:58:33,091 --> 00:58:35,391
not how we would have done it at all. So it worked

1269
00:58:35,391 --> 00:58:37,951
both ways. But the flexibility, being open and

1270
00:58:37,951 --> 00:58:41,111
willing to change for the betterment of the film,

1271
00:58:41,431 --> 00:58:44,111
it has to be there in order for a good partnership

1272
00:58:44,111 --> 00:58:46,341
to exist to make a great, you know, a great, film.

1273
00:58:46,821 --> 00:58:49,221
>> Will: Yeah, well, like I said, it definitely was a

1274
00:58:49,461 --> 00:58:52,251
really enjoyable watch. And, I know you mentioned

1275
00:58:52,331 --> 00:58:54,241
several times this evening about, you know, the

1276
00:58:54,241 --> 00:58:58,871
veteran, you know, PTSD and a veteran military,

1277
00:58:59,511 --> 00:59:01,471
presence. And. And I know at least the

1278
00:59:01,471 --> 00:59:03,431
distribution, at least where I was able to watch

1279
00:59:03,431 --> 00:59:07,581
it was a veterans. A platform to give, veterans,

1280
00:59:07,581 --> 00:59:10,141
you know, creative opportunities and. And. And

1281
00:59:10,141 --> 00:59:12,941
all. How did that. How did that. How did this. My

1282
00:59:12,941 --> 00:59:15,391
last question for you, before. Well, my next last

1283
00:59:15,391 --> 00:59:19,111
question is, how did the distribution for the film

1284
00:59:19,191 --> 00:59:21,511
happen as far as picking this particular platform?

1285
00:59:22,131 --> 00:59:23,571
did y' all leave that up to. To.

1286
00:59:23,641 --> 00:59:23,801
>> Christopher Ikpo: To.

1287
00:59:23,801 --> 00:59:27,001
>> Will: To the create, to James and the, you know, the

1288
00:59:27,001 --> 00:59:30,471
produce, the producer? Or did y' all have, you

1289
00:59:30,471 --> 00:59:33,651
know, some thoughts as far as, where. Where. Where

1290
00:59:33,651 --> 00:59:34,891
and how it should be distributed?

1291
00:59:35,851 --> 00:59:38,531
>> Stefan Thomas: yeah, same. Same kind of concept with, like, the

1292
00:59:38,531 --> 00:59:42,251
creative part of it where, you know, we. James.

1293
00:59:42,411 --> 00:59:45,611
James was kind of spearheaded that. That effort,

1294
00:59:45,691 --> 00:59:48,401
you know, and everything. And he. He would come to

1295
00:59:48,401 --> 00:59:50,241
us and say, this is What I'm thinking about doing

1296
00:59:50,241 --> 00:59:53,171
this is the opportunities we have, you know, how

1297
00:59:53,171 --> 00:59:55,611
we want to go about it. You know, we definitely

1298
00:59:55,851 --> 00:59:57,691
asked about, well, what if we just put it on

1299
00:59:57,691 --> 00:59:59,971
YouTube and what have, you know, and, you know,

1300
00:59:59,971 --> 01:00:01,771
so, like, we definitely made our suggestions. But

1301
01:00:01,771 --> 01:00:04,691
then he was like, well, we have some, we have some

1302
01:00:04,691 --> 01:00:08,210
different opportunities and, you know, we have

1303
01:00:08,210 --> 01:00:11,091
some different avenues that we can take. So, yeah,

1304
01:00:11,091 --> 01:00:13,451
it was kind of the same process. You know, James

1305
01:00:13,451 --> 01:00:16,291
was like, he had an in, I believe, with. He's on

1306
01:00:16,291 --> 01:00:19,581
like the board of Vet Stream tv. And he, got on

1307
01:00:19,581 --> 01:00:21,461
the board and it was, you know, this, this upstart

1308
01:00:21,461 --> 01:00:23,391
streaming service and, you know, this. So many

1309
01:00:23,391 --> 01:00:25,631
streaming services out there right now, which is,

1310
01:00:25,631 --> 01:00:28,471
you know, which is. I think, I think there's this

1311
01:00:28,471 --> 01:00:30,831
good. I mean, I think that's a pretty good thing

1312
01:00:30,831 --> 01:00:33,631
because it gives more creators an opportunity to

1313
01:00:33,631 --> 01:00:37,751
get their stuff on platforms and independent

1314
01:00:37,751 --> 01:00:39,801
creators. I, don't want to go in the world. We're.

1315
01:00:39,801 --> 01:00:41,281
We're kind of getting to time, so I don't want to

1316
01:00:41,281 --> 01:00:44,761
go too down the rabbit hole of one big

1317
01:00:44,761 --> 01:00:47,441
conglomeration controlling all of our creative

1318
01:00:47,441 --> 01:00:47,721
energy.

1319
01:00:47,721 --> 01:00:49,971
>> Will: Don't worry about time. yeah, yeah, don't worry

1320
01:00:49,971 --> 01:00:50,791
about time. Yeah,

1321
01:00:53,581 --> 01:00:54,381
>> Stefan Thomas: go ahead real quick.

1322
01:00:54,381 --> 01:00:56,701
>> Christopher Ikpo: Stuff. I think it's important to note that when we

1323
01:00:56,701 --> 01:01:00,061
got finished with, with Al finished of zero, I

1324
01:01:00,061 --> 01:01:02,741
don't think James was on the board yet. He, he had

1325
01:01:02,741 --> 01:01:05,461
come into contact with the people who had started

1326
01:01:05,461 --> 01:01:07,301
and founded the platform, were getting it up and

1327
01:01:07,301 --> 01:01:09,661
running. He went to them because he thought it

1328
01:01:09,661 --> 01:01:11,541
would be a great. And by platform we mean vet

1329
01:01:11,541 --> 01:01:14,671
stream TV. Yeah, vetstreamtv.com is where you can

1330
01:01:14,671 --> 01:01:16,701
watch it. but he went to them because he thought

1331
01:01:16,701 --> 01:01:18,461
it would be a great fit, especially knowing the

1332
01:01:18,461 --> 01:01:20,401
mission of what, what type of story we were trying

1333
01:01:20,401 --> 01:01:23,161
to tell to honor veterans and to put them in a

1334
01:01:23,161 --> 01:01:25,931
good light, in a hero's light. And, he carried

1335
01:01:25,931 --> 01:01:29,131
that over to them. They, you know, were like, oh,

1336
01:01:29,131 --> 01:01:30,571
yeah, we'll take a look at it. And then they

1337
01:01:30,571 --> 01:01:32,811
watched it. And from there things just kind of

1338
01:01:32,811 --> 01:01:35,411
continued to build. And James being such a great

1339
01:01:35,411 --> 01:01:37,771
partner and being so knowledgeable, I think

1340
01:01:37,771 --> 01:01:39,251
eventually they came to him like, hey, could you

1341
01:01:39,251 --> 01:01:41,131
help us out with our stuff too? Because we could

1342
01:01:41,131 --> 01:01:43,371
really use your expertise and to help us build

1343
01:01:43,371 --> 01:01:45,371
this. And that's how he got in with them. but

1344
01:01:45,371 --> 01:01:46,611
yeah, sorry, stuff. Keep, Keep going.

1345
01:01:46,611 --> 01:01:48,571
>> Stefan Thomas: No, you're good. No, I mean, that was. I was kind

1346
01:01:48,571 --> 01:01:50,971
of going down that. About to go down that route

1347
01:01:50,971 --> 01:01:51,331
anyway.

1348
01:01:51,331 --> 01:01:54,171
>> Will: Yeah, yeah, I'll definitely make sure to put it

1349
01:01:54,171 --> 01:01:56,381
into the, in the show notes, you know, about Vet

1350
01:01:56,381 --> 01:01:58,931
Stream tv where people can go, can go, go watch,

1351
01:01:58,931 --> 01:02:01,451
watch, watch the short film because it is, it is

1352
01:02:01,451 --> 01:02:04,111
really, really enjoyed it and you know,

1353
01:02:04,111 --> 01:02:06,681
definitely, hopefully we'll get that sequel coming

1354
01:02:06,681 --> 01:02:11,411
very, very soon. My. Yeah, we'll speak it into

1355
01:02:11,411 --> 01:02:14,111
existence. So, my last question for you, and

1356
01:02:14,111 --> 01:02:15,831
again, thank you so much for your time. Really

1357
01:02:15,831 --> 01:02:18,031
enjoyed this conversation with you both tonight.

1358
01:02:18,351 --> 01:02:21,371
Yeah, yeah. so what do you, what do you. Where do

1359
01:02:21,371 --> 01:02:24,451
y' all see the creative extreme going in the next

1360
01:02:24,451 --> 01:02:25,050
five years?

1361
01:02:28,251 --> 01:02:32,501
>> Christopher Ikpo: All the way up, to quote. To quote the, to quote

1362
01:02:32,501 --> 01:02:35,001
the incomparable Fat Joe. All the way up.

1363
01:02:37,161 --> 01:02:40,761
>> Stefan Thomas: Yeah, it's like we've gotten like we're continuing

1364
01:02:40,761 --> 01:02:43,551
to, you know, have conversations with major

1365
01:02:43,551 --> 01:02:45,631
companies and some of those big conglomerates.

1366
01:02:45,631 --> 01:02:47,751
We're definitely not above that, but having

1367
01:02:47,751 --> 01:02:49,830
conversations with some of those big

1368
01:02:49,830 --> 01:02:53,351
conglomerates. But at the same time we also are

1369
01:02:53,351 --> 01:02:56,271
just seeing the value and the opportunity and

1370
01:02:56,271 --> 01:02:59,511
independently producing stuff as well. And so we

1371
01:02:59,511 --> 01:03:02,161
have a couple of, you know, different projects

1372
01:03:02,161 --> 01:03:06,181
that we are working on. because we don't want to

1373
01:03:06,181 --> 01:03:11,101
be limited by, you know, the, the quote, unquote,

1374
01:03:11,101 --> 01:03:14,821
gatekeepers, right? And right now there's so much

1375
01:03:14,821 --> 01:03:16,821
opportunity for independent filmmakers,

1376
01:03:16,821 --> 01:03:18,461
independent showmakers. There's so many

1377
01:03:18,461 --> 01:03:21,141
opportunities and you got to beat the pavement and

1378
01:03:21,141 --> 01:03:23,421
it's hard and you know, you got to find funding in

1379
01:03:23,421 --> 01:03:25,861
different ways or you gotta, you know, mortgage

1380
01:03:25,861 --> 01:03:27,931
your. Mortgage your house or whatever you got to

1381
01:03:27,931 --> 01:03:32,571
do. But at the end of the day, the. If you want to

1382
01:03:32,571 --> 01:03:34,891
create. And I'll also say this as a parting to

1383
01:03:34,891 --> 01:03:37,051
other creators out there who are like, man, how

1384
01:03:37,051 --> 01:03:39,091
did they do it? Or how are they doing it? If you

1385
01:03:39,091 --> 01:03:40,691
want to create, at the end of the day, it's going

1386
01:03:40,691 --> 01:03:42,330
to have to be some sacrifice, right? You're going

1387
01:03:42,330 --> 01:03:44,011
to have to put your priorities and say, like,

1388
01:03:44,011 --> 01:03:47,131
listen, I want to do this and I'm going to make it

1389
01:03:47,131 --> 01:03:50,131
happen. One of the great things we have nowadays

1390
01:03:50,771 --> 01:03:55,571
is cell phones that have cameras that are just as

1391
01:03:55,571 --> 01:03:58,051
powerful as the cameras that they were making

1392
01:03:58,051 --> 01:04:01,771
movies on just like 15 years ago. So you can so,

1393
01:04:01,771 --> 01:04:03,851
so you can, you know, take your creative idea.

1394
01:04:03,851 --> 01:04:06,251
Like, we've seen the success of, you know, people

1395
01:04:06,251 --> 01:04:08,891
on TikTok and YouTube and all that doing creative

1396
01:04:08,891 --> 01:04:11,641
stuff with limited resource. So I see us,

1397
01:04:11,591 --> 01:04:16,761
continuing to, to. To ride this amazing creative

1398
01:04:16,921 --> 01:04:21,481
train that we're on into this amazing creative

1399
01:04:21,561 --> 01:04:25,701
community that is continuing to form around, you

1400
01:04:25,701 --> 01:04:29,261
know, independent film, mainstream film.

1401
01:04:29,821 --> 01:04:32,781
Independent, you know, creativity, books and TV

1402
01:04:32,781 --> 01:04:35,101
and stuff like that. I see us continuing to build

1403
01:04:35,101 --> 01:04:39,140
on that. Our independent stuff making inroads for

1404
01:04:39,140 --> 01:04:42,381
us in the mainstream and our mainstream stuff

1405
01:04:42,541 --> 01:04:44,741
providing resource for us to continue straight

1406
01:04:44,741 --> 01:04:47,141
independently. Like, we want to keep it, we want

1407
01:04:47,141 --> 01:04:47,901
to keep it going.

1408
01:04:51,131 --> 01:04:51,771
>> Will: Awesome, Chris.

1409
01:04:51,771 --> 01:04:55,291
>> Christopher Ikpo: Yeah, no, I mean, from Steph's mouth to God's

1410
01:04:55,291 --> 01:04:57,971
ears, man. That's, that's, that's how we see it

1411
01:04:57,971 --> 01:05:00,611
going. That's. And that's the vision. And we're

1412
01:05:00,611 --> 01:05:02,491
gonna grind until that, until we make it happen.

1413
01:05:03,211 --> 01:05:06,381
>> Will: Awesome. Awesome. Well, before we wrap, want, to

1414
01:05:06,381 --> 01:05:08,581
give you guys opportunity to tell folks where they

1415
01:05:08,581 --> 01:05:10,971
can find you, as far as your, the creative

1416
01:05:10,971 --> 01:05:13,211
extreme. And also if you do have social media

1417
01:05:13,211 --> 01:05:15,841
presence, you know, please share, share, share

1418
01:05:15,841 --> 01:05:17,941
that information and where folks can find all

1419
01:05:17,941 --> 01:05:19,541
your, all your wonderful projects.

1420
01:05:20,421 --> 01:05:25,861
>> Christopher Ikpo: Yeah, so the website is www.thecreativextreme.com.

1421
01:05:26,341 --> 01:05:28,271
as Steph says, make sure you include all the E's

1422
01:05:28,271 --> 01:05:30,461
in there. They're all in there. the entirety of

1423
01:05:30,461 --> 01:05:33,781
Project 365 is up on the website so people can

1424
01:05:33,781 --> 01:05:36,021
read it. It's free, so it doesn't cost anything.

1425
01:05:36,021 --> 01:05:39,341
We also have TCE versus the Universe, which is our

1426
01:05:39,341 --> 01:05:41,661
delve into kind of fan fiction. We pit our

1427
01:05:41,661 --> 01:05:44,261
characters versus popular characters like Captain

1428
01:05:44,261 --> 01:05:48,621
America, Wolverine, Batman, the Joker, Wonder

1429
01:05:48,621 --> 01:05:51,461
Woman. so those are, you know, really fun stories

1430
01:05:51,461 --> 01:05:54,191
for people to dive into. We, have some TCE shorts

1431
01:05:54,191 --> 01:05:56,231
on there, so some short stories that kind of give

1432
01:05:56,231 --> 01:05:58,231
a little bit more background or insight into,

1433
01:05:58,551 --> 01:06:00,851
individual character worlds. the trailer for

1434
01:06:00,851 --> 01:06:02,691
Alphinitiative Zero is on the website, so they can

1435
01:06:02,691 --> 01:06:04,601
check that out as well. so that's the website,

1436
01:06:05,161 --> 01:06:08,521
social media. We're on everything. Instagram, X,

1437
01:06:09,001 --> 01:06:12,611
Facebook, threads, tick tock. If you just search,

1438
01:06:12,611 --> 01:06:14,891
the creative extreme will pop up. You can't miss

1439
01:06:14,891 --> 01:06:18,581
us. so please go to our social media like

1440
01:06:18,821 --> 01:06:22,061
subscribe, follow, share, comment, engage, do the

1441
01:06:22,061 --> 01:06:24,181
whole thing. Trying to blow our numbers up here,

1442
01:06:24,181 --> 01:06:25,701
because that's important in Hollywood

1443
01:06:25,701 --> 01:06:28,661
unfortunately, is getting your big, your massive

1444
01:06:28,661 --> 01:06:31,121
following, to get on their radar. So yes, if you

1445
01:06:31,121 --> 01:06:33,321
want to see more of us, please go like, subscribe,

1446
01:06:33,321 --> 01:06:35,711
follow the whole thing. we're also on YouTube. We

1447
01:06:35,711 --> 01:06:38,951
have our podcast, the, Abbott and the Artista. Ah,

1448
01:06:38,951 --> 01:06:41,531
so we have our episodes up there. we've been doing

1449
01:06:41,531 --> 01:06:44,881
them more, sporadically as of late. But, we're

1450
01:06:44,881 --> 01:06:47,361
working on getting more episodes in the can so you

1451
01:06:47,361 --> 01:06:49,211
can watch, the Abbott and the Artista on our

1452
01:06:49,211 --> 01:06:50,971
YouTube channel. Again, it's just, you know, at

1453
01:06:50,971 --> 01:06:53,261
the creative extreme. Search us, you'll find us.

1454
01:06:53,581 --> 01:06:55,691
And, we have some other interesting and fun videos

1455
01:06:55,691 --> 01:06:57,571
on there as well for people to check out. We have,

1456
01:06:57,571 --> 01:06:59,931
I think our music video for the Alpha Initiative

1457
01:06:59,931 --> 01:07:02,451
Zero theme song is on there with our artwork and

1458
01:07:02,451 --> 01:07:04,691
everything and, and, and. And stuff. So that's.

1459
01:07:04,691 --> 01:07:06,691
That's dope. So check that out. But yeah, you can

1460
01:07:06,691 --> 01:07:09,021
find us on, on all the platforms that. With, at

1461
01:07:09,021 --> 01:07:10,461
the Creative Extreme and our website.

1462
01:07:11,501 --> 01:07:14,141
>> Will: Great. Great. Well, thank you both so much for

1463
01:07:14,141 --> 01:07:16,301
your. For your time this evening. Really, really

1464
01:07:16,301 --> 01:07:19,171
enjoyed spending, time with you, talking about the

1465
01:07:19,171 --> 01:07:21,371
Creative Extreme, learning more About Alpha

1466
01:07:21,371 --> 01:07:24,261
Initiative 0. So I'll be sure to, for folks,

1467
01:07:24,501 --> 01:07:27,171
Chris, thanks for sharing all your info. I'll

1468
01:07:27,171 --> 01:07:29,531
definitely have it in the show notes so people can

1469
01:07:29,771 --> 01:07:32,661
link to it so they can see, the trailer and also

1470
01:07:32,661 --> 01:07:34,981
see all the things Project365 and all the things

1471
01:07:34,981 --> 01:07:38,461
you guys are working on. and with that, thank you

1472
01:07:38,461 --> 01:07:41,181
so much for watching another episode of Scena Nerd

1473
01:07:41,181 --> 01:07:43,581
Podcast. You can find us wherever you get your

1474
01:07:43,581 --> 01:07:46,301
podcast. And you can also by going to our website,

1475
01:07:46,381 --> 01:07:51,640
www.scenanerdpodcast.com. and with that, good

1476
01:07:51,640 --> 01:07:53,640
night, geek out. You're welcome.

1477
01:07:54,520 --> 01:07:55,560
>> Christopher Ikpo: Take it easy, y'. All.