Producing Personal Projects with Emmy Winner Steve Mazan

Biagio: Hey, everybody, before we get started this week, I’m here with joke. Hi. Hey. So, yeah, as you no doubt know, we are in the middle of a worldwide pandemic. Things are a little a little crazy. So we weren’t sure about doing an episode this month, but actually, we recorded one earlier this year with Steve Mazan, star of Dying to do Letterman, a close friend. It has a real inspirational story, and we thought, you know what? Maybe everybody could use a break from all the bad news right now and hear about a guy who’s, like, kicking cancer’s but. And living his dream.

Joke: So while we originally thought to just shelve it and let everyone just quarantine on their own, Biagio ever Mister Positive was like, hey, you know, it’s it’s pretty good. And it put a smile on my face. So without further ado, here is the previously recorded podcast with Steve Mazan.

Announcer: Welcome to Producing Unscripted with Joke and Biagio.

Unidentified Voice: Is this some kind of joke? Biagio. Who?

Announcer: This episode. It’s episode 124 and we’re talking about producing personal projects. We talk with Emmy Award winning writer and subject of our feature film, Dying to Do Letterman, Steve Mazan the cost and rewards of Personal Filmmaking. Pros and cons of making a movie with your friend. What’s it like to open up the cameras when you’re at your most vulnerable? Steve’s inspirational story of beating the odds and surviving cancer. Plus a story about a very awkward interaction with.

Biagio: Jay Leno. It gets extravagantly, extremely awkward. And then I make it absolutely worse. Music courtesy Dave Pelman. Music Dave Pelman.com. Hey, everybody. She’s joke.

Joke: He’s Biagio.

Biagio: We’re married. We make unscripted film and television and want to help you do the same.

Joke: Hopefully by teaming up with us.

Biagio: All right. Well, we are here doing a podcast that I’ve wanted to do since we launched the podcast, and I don’t know how it took this long, but I’m so glad we’re finally sitting here today with one of my favorite people in the world, Steve Mesa. Yay! It’s anniversary.

Steve Mazan: Time right close to. Maybe that’s why.

Joke: It’s literally ten years since we were in this exact room cutting the documentary.

Steve Mazan: Yeah. Wow. That’s. Yeah. When I came back to the room today, I was like, oh, my God, this is where it all happened. Like, it looks different. There’s different stuff. It’s set up for some podcasting beyond the editing.

Biagio: But today it was just a desk right where you’re sitting right there. It was me and you looking at the.

Steve Mazan: You know what? It’s ten years or ten years later now. So I think I could share some secrets. And I’m sure that’s part of the the podcast. I snuck Biagio so much Taco Bell. While we’re adding that right. We would be working together and then you would go home and I’d be like, hey, I think I’m gonna call it quits. And he’d be, of course, still there, probably for 36 hours with that kind of thing. I’d be like, can I get you anything before you leave and be like, are you gonna go near Taco Bell? I’d be like, damn right I am. I’m gonna go for myself. Would you like me to bring back? So, yeah.

Biagio: I do like me some Taco Bell.

Steve Mazan: I love editing. Is that the best? Is you have an editing food? Like. Like if that was.

Biagio: If I had editing food, it’s kind of gross. Yeah, it’s a handful of Cheetos and a peppermint Patty at the same time. Wow.

Steve Mazan: Yeah, that was like.

Joke: That. Was your editing food, like, 20 years ago?

Steve Mazan: Yeah. I thought wow, that was.

Biagio: That was back then. Probably ended around dying to do Letterman time. That was probably.

Joke: I would say now it’s like, what is it? Sliced sausage michelis pizza.

Steve Mazan: Yeah.

Biagio: Yeah, yeah. Pretty much.

Joke: That’s what it was on Friday. Yeah.

Biagio: So yeah, it’s.

Steve Mazan: A.

Biagio: Lot of things that aren’t very friendly to my diet. So for those of you who don’t know, we did a movie called Dying to Do Letterman that was all about Steve. And the basic premise of the movie was Steve learned he might only have five years to live, and he was a stand up comedian whose lifelong dream was to perform on Letterman. So he literally dedicated whatever was up to his life to getting on the show and performing. Now, spoiler alert it’s ten years later and he’s sitting here, so.

Steve Mazan: Thank goodness.

Biagio: But, you know, it was an extremely personal project for us because Steve was our friend and we were trying to be unbiased in our presentation of him in a documentary. It was a whole journey, and that’s what we want to talk about today.

Joke: Yeah. But also ten years ago was when we were editing the documentary, like your.

Steve Mazan: Diagnosis was 2005. So five years before that. Yeah. So yeah. So 15 years ago. So it’s funny because Denise and I, my wife who will talk about obviously is a big part of this. The 2005 you have a diagnosis was a worst case scenario was five years. Best case scenario was ten years at that time. So we’re you know, so after yeah we’re at 15 now. So great to prove people wrong. Yeah.

Joke: You’re a miracle.

Steve Mazan: Yes. In some ways I don’t feel like I’ve done much to do to help it, but it is it’s it’s happened there. Wrong. Yeah. Denise and I talk about it now. Like how lucky I am. How lucky we both are that I’m still here. But at that point, it felt like. You know what I mean? There was there was there were surgeries and doctor visits and them telling you and like, this is a rare kind of cancer. And I had never heard any of this stuff. And you’re going through all this stuff and someone says five years are best days. Ten. You believe them? Like, you know, again, you have the thing in your mind where you’re like, I’m gonna prove them wrong. I’m going to do this. But they’re still party of this, like, am I? I mean, you know, that kind of thing.

Joke: How old were you? How old were you at the time?

Steve Mazan: That 34 at the diagnosis. Oh, yeah. And that became part of the story as I had just started dating this woman, Denise, and we were dating, I think, 6 or 7 months at that time. And so then she had to when someone she, she goes with me to this diagnosis and they say this and she and a woman the same age, mid 30s, obviously a big time for a woman to just to decide, what am I going to do? Who am, I guess my, my life with start a family with? Do you want to start it with someone you’ve known for only 6 or 7 months, and that might not be.

Joke: Here, and until death do us part.

Steve Mazan: Yeah, exactly. Which may be a lot quicker than you think. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So she’s. Yeah. And you guys capture that in the movie. That’s one of the I think the heart of it there is that.

Joke: The heart of it is definitely not that you’re not know not hard. But Denise brings a lot of heart to it because she was so close and she had to see all of that.

Steve Mazan: Oh, yeah. I’m the person with the straight ahead forward. I’m going to go for this goal. She’s. Yeah.

Joke: And it’s also like in a weird way, she has to kind of put all her wishes and dreams almost to the side because it’s like, you know, or at least she can’t complain about her husband the way most wives because he’s like, oh my God, he’s been diagnosed with cancer. Like, oh, right. You know, so you have that you could see that that was hard. It was hard for her to kind of really like live a mid 30s, recently married, newlywed life.

Steve Mazan: 100%. Yeah. Not not what she anyone thinks they’re going to sign up for. Yeah. And to do that. Yeah I remember that was one of the early conversations was when we would go to these doctors visits at some point she was like, hey, I’m I’m tired of being your girlfriend when we go to these things. Not that she was saying that we loved each other before this diagnosis and had talked about, you know, down the road we’ll get married, that kind of thing. But it just became a bigger thing that she was like, hey, when I visit you at the doctor, you don’t you don’t know, like when you’re in the hospital there and I had some surgery or something. She goes, you don’t know because you’re laying there and she’s like, it’s a hassle that I’m coming in. You’re like, oh, you’re the girlfriend. I do. We allow the girlfriend to come in? Do we? You know what I mean? So it was one of those things. Yeah.

Joke: Like our systems not set up for girlfriends?

Steve Mazan: No, not at all. Exactly. Right. Yeah. It was one of those things again you don’t even think about. You never think as you’re getting a relationship. Well, this is where it might go. You may think, like, I signed up for this in 40 years, but you certainly don’t think, well, I’ve signed up for this with my boyfriend, who I’ve known for six months, and that. Yeah, I’m going to be going through all this back.

Biagio: Well, and that was, you know, backing up even further, we met way back in the day when me and joke were living in our one bedroom apartment in Hollywood, running a little outfit called access DV for access to digital video. And we thought we were so hot. We’re cutting actor’s demo reels. And you were on trailers? Yeah, it was this tiny little apartment, and you somehow got referred to us. And you came, friend.

Steve Mazan: Yeah. Yeah.

Biagio: You came to edit your comedy.

Steve Mazan: Comedy? Yeah, yeah. So I had this was how far back goes. It doesn’t seem that it’s that long ago.

Biagio: And this was before the diagnosis.

Steve Mazan: Before the diagnosed winter. I think it had to be the. Yeah, it had to be 2003 or so. So a couple years before that I had all my comedy on VHS and everything was good, all that was going away. So I needed to get it on CD and edited to look nice and stuff like that. And I had heard through a mutual friend that you guys were fantastic at that. So yeah, she referred me over and yeah, that’s how we became yeah, fast friends from that.

Biagio: We did we were really got along and we talked a few times after that, I think there was a barbecue. We all went to the other. And then.

Joke: While our career kind of started going away from actors demo reals into actual television.

Biagio: Yeah, we actually had our quote unquote big break right around that time.

Joke: 2000 and.

Biagio: Four, 2004, when we got we came producer directors on Caesars 24 seven. Right? Yeah. I lived in Vegas for four months, so we were busy with that. We were swallowed whole with like, oh my gosh, this is such, such crazy responsibility and a whole new world running these big shows.

Joke: But but I remember you were in the shower. This was now we had moved to a two bedroom apartment. Woo woo. Yeah, we had so much more space station. Our office is no longer in the living room. It had its own bedroom. And you were in the shower and I got some mass email. You said to all your friends about the website you were launching. Yeah. And I remember you came out and I was like, oh my God, what do we do?

Steve Mazan: So yeah, so it was it’s crazy again when you think about this now. So yeah, 2000 and 2005 I guess it was then there’s no Facebook, no Twitter. I guess YouTube’s probably around, but no one’s really sure how to use it. You just walked through date guy dancing videos to music, right? Like that was the big stuff that would get millions of views. And that was probably 4 or 5 months after my diagnosis and after some of the surgery and stuff like that, when I’m still thinking, like, I’m going to beat this, but what if I really only have five years to live? How do I want to do it? And two of those things that came up from that was one, get married. And the bigger thing with my career was, I’m going to do whatever I can to get on Letterman. So at that point, I started a website because, again, that’s what you do. Then there was no you now would be a Facebook or something else, Twitter or that kind of thing, or it was just a website and it was called Dying to Do Letterman. And that was the idea. So you could watch my video and then there was a link and it was like, if you think I’m good enough, send this email. And it went to the CBS Late Show, that kind of thing. So when I launched it, yeah, I sent it to everyone. So then there were so many people who didn’t even know you guys a little removed, you know, in Vegas or working on whatever. Didn’t even know the news yet that I had been diagnosed with cancer and had this, this news.

Biagio: So I remember two pretty funny things on the first call right after the first one was we had actually been hired at that point by Warren Littlefield, who was former president of Ben BC, who gave Jay Leno The Tonight Show over David.

Steve Mazan: Famously, famously, one of the great stories.

Biagio: So we call and we’re like, hey, listen, we can’t really help with Letterman, but if you want to be at Leno, I’m sure we could get you on.

Steve Mazan: It was so nice.

Biagio: Yeah. And you were like, no.

Steve Mazan: It sounds so stupid. Because of course, as a comedian, as someone says, you want help? And we’ll introduce it tonight. Show people at any time in your life, you know, about, you know, again, a year earlier. But yes, yes, yes, yes please. But again, this whole the whole idea was that Letterman was my guy. That was the reason I got into comedy. That’s what I wanted to make happen. So again, as great as the offer was, it was like, no, this is my thing. I would love to. Of course, at any other time someone had said, you want to come to the show? Yes. But then. But Letterman was my thing. Yeah. And then so it was really funny. So it was like, no, no, you know, but, you know, a reluctance.

Biagio: So we’re all the flame, but like, oh, we really thought we could help him.

Steve Mazan: And so nice.

Biagio: And I said we followed that up with, well listen, is there anything else we can do? Because we were just, you know, we had just learned this like maybe 15 minutes earlier. Yeah. And you said, well, listen, I this is my dream is to chase, you know, chase this, try to get on Letterman. But if I was going to do one other thing, I thought it would be really cool to make a documentary about it. And we were like, we’re in. Yes.

Steve Mazan: What was it? So it was actually Denise’s idea on that. So again, it’s so weird. Now, these are things that are so part of our lexicon. And you guys, especially even with, you know, unscripted television like confessionals and updates and stuff like that, this 2005, it was all kind of new. So, so I posted that thing and posted the website, and so people started emailing me and they were like, what’s going on? I emailed Letterman last week. Have you heard? You know what I mean? Like, so they wanted updates. And again, I didn’t know this was all new to me. So then I would like to put updates. I had learned how to make a website that was new to me at that point. So then I was making updates to it and then I was doing like, well, people want video updates. So then I would make a little thing and tell them what was going on. I haven’t heard yet. And then Denise said, you should keep all these videos. Who knows, maybe you can make a documentary. So then when you guys came to that point, I had remembered that you guys had worked in that that kind of stuff before. So I was like, well, Littlefield, no, but how about this? And I don’t think you guys hadn’t even met Denise at that point. No, I mean, yeah, because I as I recall, I think we all went out to dinner together. We’re like, well, let’s meet.

Joke: Was it at Du Paris?

Steve Mazan: That’s so.

Joke: Yes. That was it’s now a Sephora, by the way.

Biagio: Yes.

Steve Mazan: Right. Yeah.

Joke: And a pancake.

Steve Mazan: That sounds like a. Oh, that’s that sounds good. That would be bad editing. Right. Food. Right. We had. That sounds right. Yes. I can remember a booth I can’t remember. I wouldn’t have remember that it was two bars, but I’ll bet your eye because that’s that’s the feel. I remember big booths. Yeah.

Biagio: I do remember. And it was was it that dinner or was it the previous conversation where Steve made the most incredible request of my life? Oh, scare the heck out of me. Yeah. So we sat down and we talked about doing this documentary. Yeah. And Steve was real, you know, real up on the point that it could not be depressing, which, of course, it’s about you learning. You have cancer fighting, you know, fighting. Time to try and live your dream. And then what Steve said to me, which again, was like, talk about pressure and no pressure. He said, all right, listen, here’s what I need you to promise me is that you fit it when you finish this movie, even if it ends up with me dying before I get on Letterman. You have to make it funny.

Steve Mazan: How am I gonna do that?

Biagio: I mean.

Steve Mazan: I’m, you know, I’m somewhat talented. This is going to doubt it. You could have done, I am positive. I am so glad we didn’t have to do it. You made it because I always said, like, we would always joke when we. You know, I’m fast forwarding far of it. When we finally get to the film festivals and sharing this movie and again, just the it’s the most magical point in my life. I mean, it’s just so much the love that people have when they saw it and their excitement and that kind of thing. And then the journey in the movie, how much people enjoyed it. It’s, I don’t know, I lost my thought of where I was going with it, but it’s that’s the amazing part of it. You did do that, you know what I mean? That’s what I was. I remember we used to joke, like you say, documentary and cancer. I say I’m busy, right? Okay. Right. That was it. But you did. You made something that was different. And obviously I didn’t die. But yeah, that helps a lot. But there is, there’s, there’s there’s something to the town of I say at 100. This is what I always tell people. And I think you guys have been there for me saying it publicly, but it’s my number one thing I always say is when I tell people about this movie, I go watch this movie. It’s I don’t even feel like I’m I’m not telling you to watch it because of me. I’m telling you because it’s a great story. I get caught up in it when I’m watching it because the storytellers, everyone’s read a book and you love the book, and then you go see the movie. In the movie, shit, it’s not good, right? Because it’s about the storyteller. The first storyteller told it great. The movie storyteller didn’t. You guys told it? They’re amazing storytellers. That’s what I mean. So you had I died, I know you would have done it. I know you would have met. You would have somehow done it.

Joke: Denise would have made it.

Steve Mazan: She would have somehow. Right? Yes, you would have made it. Yeah. Or I’ll say at that point you could have been like, you know what? It can’t be sad, Steve. We don’t have to worry about that. Keeping my word to that, I remember I said something, we joked about it. This is what changed the tone. We were all talking at that thing. And again, it’s a it’s a. You guys hadn’t met Denise, so you kind of feeling what she’s going through. It’s probably the first time I had actually seen you guys since the diagnosis. When we have this talk about, do we want to go down this road on a documentary? And I remember saying something like, you joked about something and I go, oh, that makes my tumors hurt. And we all laugh. And then that kind of, I think, set the tone a little bit, like, hey, we can there will be a way that we can do this because there is so much, you know, I found this with other cancer patients. It’s hard for people. This is what’s great about you guys being storytellers. It’s you capture what’s like on the inside because people always ask me, as a comedian, do you joke a lot about the cancer stuff? I only joke about it usually when I’m performing with cancer groups because they get it, they’re ready to laugh about it, but people from the outside are. It’s much harder for them because they’re like, oh, like, can you, can you joke about that? I know that’s your story, but I haven’t dealt that like, but anyone who’s been through it, they know all the laughter and all the ups and downs and again, that it’s laughter that gets you through.

Joke: I mean, you definitely, I would say led the tone for that. I think, you know, your whole top ten, top ten.

Steve Mazan: The benefits of catch a cat.

Joke: I mean, I think, you know, that’s something that, again, only you can do. That’s something we could be like as, as narrators do. But you did it beautifully. And I do think that, you know, our thought was to get that in the movie early, so that very much right away the audience knows.

Biagio: Yes. You have to laugh.

Steve Mazan: Right, exactly. Yeah. Well, that’s what I mean. That’s that’s that’s the talent. I mean, I can write the, the jokes, but again, it is the storytelling aspect, like, hey, you guys know, I remember there was so much stuff about it. Like again, again, I just didn’t know I didn’t know the, the technical terms for like the website thing I was doing when we started the movie. I remember you guys were like, we think like storytelling wise, we’ll have these little pods. And then you referred me to a movie. It was the the one about the ratings. Ratings for the MPAA kind of rating system documentary.

Biagio: Remember that?

Steve Mazan: Yeah. And so I remember, like, you guys gave us homework. Me and Denise, you’re like, watch every documentary you can get your hands on. You gave us a list of bunch of them. So that was one of the ones. And you’re like, they do these pods kind of in the movie, and we’re going to replicate that. I remember watching it and be like, I don’t know what the hell. I didn’t see any, but I know. So that’s what I mean. Like, I was.

Joke: Okay, what else have you never told us?

Steve Mazan: So my god, so much. Yeah. No, I don’t know. There’s so much, but that’s what I mean. Like when I, when I, when I see it or something comes on or someone will still, you know, tweet me like I remember one of the first great ones was it was someone watched it on a plane. So like, a stranger is like I just watched on a plane. Amazing story. You know, all that kind of stuff. And it’s so there’s just so much. Again, I knew nothing about I. And it is, it’s before all this stuff took off, like even taking, you know, people telling stories. Now it’s a story thing on Instagram or Facebook. None of that was around. Yeah. Yeah.

Joke: Well yeah. So going back, I think, you know, we probably came on board either end of 2005. Beginning 2006, you had already had a bunch of stuff on video in. We pretty much gave you a camera. Yes. With homework. Yes. Questions you and Denise, because it’s a great job.

Biagio: You know. And so I’m telling you, we should have you come back another time and we should really talk about the nuts and bolts of actually making the movie, because it is something. Yeah, but today we’re kind of the approach that we kind of wanted to take is talking about personal projects, because let’s be honest, it doesn’t get much more personal.

Steve Mazan: Than this.

Biagio: Yeah. You know, and, you know, and it’s interesting because just to wrap up the the previous section, we went to film festivals. We won both the audience and the grand jury prize. For one, the Cleveland Film Festival, a bunch of other ones got distributed by a silly scope, which was like, Holy cow.

Steve Mazan: Beastie Boys tying.

Biagio: Yeah. And none of us made any money.

Steve Mazan: I know that’s.

Joke: I mean, that insinuates we broke even.

Steve Mazan: Yeah. I was just going to say yeah, right. But again, I don’t it’s so funny. I don’t think we never had talks about that like at the beginning. Like, you know what I mean? It was all just that kind of thing. Like, again, I think we both know you guys were the we’re the one schooling us a little bit. Of course, there’s always that thing where things get you’re getting a lot of attention and you’re winning all these awards and you start thinking, oh my God, could this, could this be I’m trying to think of another document, Hoop Dreams or something like that. You know what I mean? Like that. I don’t know that Hoop Dreams made money, but you just it was known, you know what I’m saying? So you have those things. But again, that was none of the talks in the beginning. None of us. You guys knew. You even said, like, I had watched enough documentaries that they’re documentaries aren’t the things that make money, you know what I mean? Like, it’s this thing. It was a personal project, literally.

Joke: But for us, by the way, you know, before that, DuPont’s meeting, like we were like, okay, if we’re going to do this, we know what we’re signing up for. Yeah, we know this might take years. We know that, like, you know, we’ll be able to film here or there or whatever. Like, you know, we did not go into it going great. And in six months we’ll be ready to edit and we’ll be ready to go out with it. Like and that was also part of the conversation. Obviously you don’t want to hear that because we’re like, I’m looking at a five year clock like, you know, I want this done. But it’s like the commitment we had to make and taking this on as a personal project, which I think this is probably one of the only personal projects, is definitely the most costly personal project we’ve ever taken on. And the longest running one, it’s like, that’s what we signed up for. It was like, okay, we know probably never see a dime of this, but there’s a reason we’re doing it. Yeah, and it’s a great story and we love Steve. And then the knees and it’s like, let’s, let’s do this.

Biagio: But and then when we got invited the qualify for an Academy Award consideration through Doc Weeks, we were all like, oh my gosh, this is really this is what really happened. This is really happening. And it did. Yeah. Lots of people saw the story. Yeah. It just I think it’s the story of a lot of independent filmmakers and it’s like, oh yeah. At the end there’s not a whole lot of money in documentary.

Joke: Well, right. I mean, we talked about this briefly this morning in preparation for this, is that these kind of personal projects stay. They take a big toll emotionally and financially. Right. Your personal projects because you fight so hard for it. I mean, I remember in the beginning we were trying to sell it as a TV show.

Biagio: Yeah.

Steve Mazan: Oh, I forgot about that ring. Yeah. Again, now that you’re saying it. Right. But yeah.

Joke: I remember we can get some money. And actually, there were a few network executives who actually thanked at the bottom at the end of the movie who were really encouraging of us. We were like, this isn’t a TV show, but you have to do this. You have to keep doing this.

Biagio: I remember showing it to VH1 and they were like, it’s a little earnest.

Joke: So personal project, personal projects, personal projects take a toll emotionally and financially, and they tend to pay off emotionally but not financially.

Steve Mazan: Sure. Right. Exactly. Which again, I think yeah. Again, that’s probably I’m sure the talk that’s what I mean. I don’t remember the exact words, but I remember that was the vibe as we launched like, no, no, no, we didn’t expect anything. And again I knowing now everything it’s done. You know, the people that have seen it, the people that it’s affected again, the the you saw it, the festivals people, people would see it. That’s so valuable. Of course. Yeah. You’re always like, yeah, sure. I wish it would have been on the Academy Awards or, you know, that kind of. But still it’s. Yeah.

Joke: I also feel like there are two distinct phases to this project. I mean, I think from the moment we got on board till the time of you making it.

Steve Mazan: Spoiler right.

Joke: On Letterman, it was about four years and that that was like, we didn’t know if that was going to be two years, four years, six years, ten years. Like it was like, we don’t know if it’s going to end. And so that was like a big thing. I remember the phone call and both of us were like, wait.

Biagio: I had I had two missed calls from Steve. And I literally look up at joke and I go, you think he got out of Letterman? And we both started?

Steve Mazan: Yeah. You’re like, no.

Biagio: Like, yeah. No, he.

Steve Mazan: Probably it’s still.

Biagio: And then I listen to the voicemail and he’s like, I got on Letterman. And it was like, oh. My God, we have an end of the movie. It’s a live to see it here.

Joke: Well, we were still like, I hope because we interviewed enough other people to know that just saying you’re making it, I’ll let them. It doesn’t mean you actually make it on Letterman, right?

Steve Mazan: Right. Yeah, plenty of things. Yeah, that had been happen.

Joke: So. But it was finally like, oh yes. Thank God we were so happy for you. Yeah. And it was like, fly to New York in a week.

Steve Mazan: It was very quick.

Joke: So quick. Yeah. You know, and we’re like we have to go and like last week to travel and all of that stuff. But you know thankfully everything worked out. And then we like okay. Now we have to the movie and then became the making the movie part.

Steve Mazan: Right. And then a whole nother angle, which again, I had, you know, so that’s what I mean. I think even at that, that conversation because again, when I started that website. It was I’m going to give myself a year to get on Letterman, you know what I mean? And I think, yeah, you guys were probably so nice, like, you understood the journey more even than I did. You know what I mean? My my thing was like, I’ll plow forward and just whatever, wherever this takes me and give myself this year. But I’m sure you understood as being involved in TV. Well, listen to, to get anyone’s attention, to get them to reply, to get them to see you. All that stuff and all of this is going to take more than a year and longer. And again, it’s so great that you guys at that time, whether you said you didn’t say anything to me or that you say you were like, yeah, well, we’ll go on board this project, but you probably knew it was going to take five years of all this kind of.

Biagio: It was, it was, it was it was a lot. Editing. We had about 300 hours of footage. Yeah. Which is a lot. And, you know, and of course we wanted to get it right. And then we really wanted to get into Sundance, which we did. It was still it was still a very rough cut. When we.

Steve Mazan: Say the timing. Yeah.

Biagio: We were still we were bummed because we didn’t get in. But then we got this huge invite to Cinequest in San Jose. And I mean, that was real encouraging because we were like, okay.

Joke: I mean, it was more than just an invite. I mean, Michael Raybould, the festival director, pretty much called us and was like, I’m not taking no for an answer.

Steve Mazan: He was an early champion, whatever.

Joke: And we’re like, I mean, Cinequest is nice, but like, maybe we’ll hold out for a South by Southwest or something else. And he was like, no, no, I need this movie. I’m sick on a couch. I need this movie now. And anyway, you know, passion goes a long way in life. Hundred percent of business. And when, you know, there was just I mean, I think he called us, like, every week until we said yes.

Steve Mazan: Well, I remember because kind of there were, there was stuff. And again, I didn’t understand the journey. And it was it was fun to learn it and learn, you know, a very small part of the process from from watching it with you guys and coming in. You guys gave me an office here and that kind of thing to start, you know, helping with stuff. And when we had to do some of the, the sound stuff and all that, I didn’t understand. Yeah. Like that, like we, we would show rough cuts to people and they’d be like maybe include more of this more. We want to see more of his comedy. You understand. Is he good? Is he is this less this? When that call came from Michael, like the head of one of the big festivals. And he was so excited about our movie. I mean, I just remember being like, this is a person I’ve never met who seen, you know, again. And it wasn’t just someone. We were like, Will you watch our movie and tell us what what’s good and bad about it? Like he was calling us to say, I want your movie at our festival. Like. And it was so it was the first real, real excitement, like, oh my God, like we this is something we’ve touched something.

Joke: Well, clearly he knows his audience well since we swept that fast.

Steve Mazan: Yes he did. He did were right.

Joke: So he knew it would be a hit and it ended up being a hit. But I have a question for you now that we’re talking about this stuff. Do you remember seeing the cut for the first time? Do you remember, like, your first reactions to seeing yourself.

Steve Mazan: Like the full version or like maybe a rough cut, that kind of thing? Neither one I do. I remember it’s always, always awkward. Yeah. Seeing yourself like, even still like just seeing my comedy where I’m like, that was a great show. And then I watch it and I was like, oh, that’s what I look like. That’s what I sound like, you know what I mean? So there’s always that weirdness. And again, I could never see the big picture. Biagio and you guys would sit me down and show me, you know, there’d be like an hour one be like, okay. And that this is going to go here. And I just, I didn’t have that vision of understanding like, okay, what’s what’s going to go there? Like, I could see the footage and I remembered it. So no, I, it was hard for me to to piece it together until we almost had what ended up being the final.

Biagio: Then I remember we had everything except the very, very end of the movie. And I was like, all right, come back tomorrow.

Steve Mazan: Yes, yes, yes. And I.

Biagio: Stayed here 24 hours straight. I didn’t go home. I didn’t go to bed. I literally took a nap on the couch at one point, but I was like, I was just I was extremely emotional. And I really felt like. Like I needed to finish this and show you. Yeah. And you came in the next day and we both watched it and were crying like babies.

Steve Mazan: Well, I think I think I remember as I remember, I think Joe called Denise and I, I don’t think Denise could come and watch it, but I think joke was like, Yasha called me and he was crying. He finished the gut, like, and and then you said, like you saw it. You’re like, it’s amazing. So that was, I think the first time where I really got to see what it all became, you know what I mean? And to then and I’m sure this is a big part of the podcast, the trust you have to have. Because again, I just knew you guys, I loved you guys. And I was like, I know their talents, that I’ve seen the stuff they’ve done. I don’t, I don’t, I don’t know what’s going to be in all these pieces. But yeah, when we finally saw that final cut and I was like, oh my god damn, that’s good. You know what I mean? Like.

Joke: Yeah, well, I don’t know if I’ve ever said this, but I think hearing your side of the story now, yeah, I can imagine it took a lot of trust. So thank you for trusting us.

Steve Mazan: With 100%.

Joke: For me personally to stuff that was the hardest was. It’s not easy. And so it takes time. And I think if there was any non Pollyanna stuff, I think, you know, we felt a pressure of you saying when is this going to get done already.

Steve Mazan: Right? Right. No, exactly. You know, that’s what.

Joke: I am. And it was one of those things where it’s like, okay.

Steve Mazan: Do you think this is easy? Like, do you the right like literally you would when we when we find when it finally is getting done, you know, you guys are working nonstop on it. Biagio is again, as we said, to get that final scene, the editing that makes you cry. Seeing it. You’re here, like I said, like we were talking like bringing you talk about because you’ve been there for for 36 hours and drinking. I remember the empty for our energy drinks everywhere. Right. You know what I mean? Like that’s what it took. But again, I was the novice and again the amateur. And again, it’s just human nature. Right. But of course. But I’m like, well, why aren’t we finishing this? You know what I mean? Like, even though I should know, it’s like every step of the way so far, they get it done. When they get it done, it’s better than you ever expected it would ever be. But there’s still just that. That, yeah, that human part of it. And that’s what it is. It’s it’s like a team again. It’s and again I’m in a business that’s very I we see musicians and stuff that you know a band works together and you’re like, how the hell do they survive? Right? Like it’s four people trying to make one decision. That’s I’m in a very solo career as a comedian. I’m up on stage myself. I’m handling everything myself, you know, that kind of thing. So there was that step that’s weird for me to to come in and be a part of a team. So I like I said, I know for sure I’m glad you don’t remember it as well, but I know there were times where I was like, okay, I handled that wrong. And that’s, you know what I mean?

Biagio: I whole thing was like, we just we just wanted to do right by you in the project. And, you know, it’s like you’re our friend and you’re sick and we’re filming you. And, you know, it was definitely, I think, the hardest project that we ever undertook. Now, I mean, how was it for you emotionally and like, were you worried about opening up and showing the world, like, everything you’re going through, like you’re basically we played on big screens. We had a theatrical release. So, you know, I mean, what’s that?

Steve Mazan: I remember the very first time we, we, we showed it to our friends and we had a friends and family screening Culver City. Yeah. And it I have a photo and it’s U3 talking in the screen because we went to the, to the place and made sure everything came out. But you know, that day beforehand. So we’re in the theater it like noon or something. And so I’m up on the screen behind you like doing some confessional part, but I have it’s the silhouette of Udinese and Biagio talking, and it’s one of my favorite pictures. And it comes up. It comes up every once in a while. I’ll send it to you guys. Comes up every once in a while on like our screensaver. And it’s just, it’s magical. And that feeling about it and they always say this, you know, don’t work for friends, right? Because then you’re in the friendship and that kind of thing. Like I said, I know I stressed it just being like I said, because I’ve never done something like this before, but I can’t imagine it. There’s no way it would have not worked. There’s no way it would have worked if you weren’t my friends, you know what I mean? Like, I’ve learned lessons on other things where I’m like, okay, yeah, that probably I shouldn’t work with friends, but this would not have worked. I couldn’t have opened myself up. Denise could not have opened herself up. She’s just not that kind of person. If she didn’t feel like I can, I can talk and expose myself and know that the person on the other side is going to respect that as a as a friend. So there is that angle, like you said, to be ready that as we’re recording or something, this some moment with a doctor or something. Yes. You can’t, you can’t step out. But I always knew that, hey, the minute we stopped this, those are my friends there. Whatever footage came out of it, they’re going to they’re going to handle it the best way. You know, they’re going to they’re going to look out for us.

Biagio: So I don’t know if we touched on this, but what was the hardest part of the process for you personally?

Steve Mazan: It is still a working relationship. We’re a team, and I think that was the hard part. Being completely trusted, it’s like a marriage. It really is like a marriage. I love my wife, but if some people saw the conversations Denise and I had yelling at each other, sometimes they would. They would be like, those two people don’t love each other. And it’s the truth is the opposite, right? Is that we’re so passionate that we’re fighting for something. So it’s that kind of thing. I know there were times like we would have conversation about something or differences of opinion, and I would leave feeling dejected. And then but again, it was only because we wouldn’t even be in that place if I didn’t trust you in the first place. You know what I mean? So those those were hard things that and then take that to the end. Once the movie is finished and we’re all trying to decide, where does this go? What do we do with it? There were lots of options and stuff like that. So that’s always and again, there was so much excitement. Again, we all knew documentaries tell anybody this, but there was a there were so many parts where we were we were winning everything everywhere, that kind of thing where you start thinking.

Biagio: Were.

Steve Mazan: The enemy, start thinking like, yeah, you start thinking like, oh my God, we’ve been invited to qualify for Academy, where you start thinking like, would we all go to the Academy Awards together? How fun would that be? You know what I mean? Like those kind of things. So you start thinking that. And again, that just puts weird, different pressures on you. This is the same way with comedy. You know, there’s there’s times where sometimes I’ve behaved away on stage where I’m like, that’s not who I’m wanting to be right then. And same way I’m sure I know I’ve done. I can’t think of a specific things, but I know where afterwards with Denise I’d be like, oh, I feel like I was pushing my point too strong there versus versus being like, I hope they know I trust them and I love them and that kind of thing. But in the moment, I’m fighting for my point or my angle and that kind of thing. So that was the tough thing. That is the tough, tough part about it because you are working with friends. But like I said, had I had you guys not been my friends, I the trust wouldn’t have been both ways that that you were probably like, That’s Steve blown off steam. He’s you know, he can be short tempered sometimes or whatever it is. Whereas you know, had it been, you know, a faceless, not friend friendly executive or something that I’m dealing with like, yeah, whatever, blah blah, blah blah. And the project wouldn’t have had the heart it did that, that we were all fighting for something there. Yeah. So that was the hard part, though.

Joke: I think that’s key. I mean, I think all four of us, it was a personal project for all.

Steve Mazan: Four of us. Yes. It was a great way.

Joke: To put it. Wasn’t one personal project and everybody else was helping out. It was personal for different reasons, for all four of us.

Steve Mazan: And on top of that, all four of us. We became a foursome, right? You know, a Fab Four of, like, the stuff we would do. I mean, again, not to brag about ourselves. We took over festivals, you know what I mean? Let me tell you stuff we would do.

Joke: I’m like every year around Cinequest and it’s now I got a picture this morning. Yeah, it was nine years ago at Cinequest that we premiered. And the buttons.

Steve Mazan: Yeah.

Joke: Were genius.

Biagio: Yeah, the buttons.

Steve Mazan: Were the scrubs. We had scrub like medical scrubs, like we will we ever.

Joke: A whole charity?

Steve Mazan: Yeah. Comedy show. We got money, Michael Rooker and yes, yes.

Biagio: That was crazy.

Steve Mazan: It was amazing.

Biagio: Michael Rooker, world famous.

Joke: Grove up from L.A.. We put him in some shitty motel because we had no money. Cinequest would not put.

Steve Mazan: Him up.

Joke: And we were like, come on, it was so great.

Steve Mazan: Yeah, that’s what I mean. So there were that there was a thing because again, you guys are coming to his team. Denise. National team. I’m coming to where each individual. And then there was this foursome thing that I got, you know, force. And for some kind of thing that we became a team. It became a personal thing with us that we all felt like we were a team, and that was so rewarding to it. That’s something, like I said, it became a person. We became a person to it. And that was that was so much fun. But that’s a roller coaster too, you know, again, we all suffered the the downs and the ups of it, but that’s something you, I would never have been able to plan for or think about. You know.

Joke: It’s so funny because, you know, you see this even with big time filmmakers and a friend of ours who’s married to a victim filmmaker like, posted his dream because he self-financed his movie, had big stars. One every festival, every audience award could not get distribution to save his life. And because everyone was like, well, who’s going to watch this? It’s like every person who came to the festival thought it was the best.

Steve Mazan: Of the best, right?

Joke: Right. Yeah. Maybe you were to mouth like, yeah, like when you give people the opportunity to see it. And and so I think that was the quote unquote down part of, of that festival journey is because you, you’d get that feedback and you’d get that response. And even to this day, people still have their buttons and people still talk about those. You know, we had these I’m Dying two buttons. And so Steve would sign them for everybody with their dreams. So you’d go up to Steve and be like, I’m dying to write a book, and, you know, and you’d get a personalized button. And by the end of the festival, like, everybody had their buttons and it was free advertising for the movie. And it was it was brilliant and it really took off. Side note my mom, actually, when I gave birth, was that two years later or. Yeah, I think by a year and a half later, she was like, just so you know, I had wanted to write on there dying to be a grandmother, but I kept my mouth shut.

Steve Mazan: You know what? It’s funny.

Joke: I was like, thank you.

Steve Mazan: It’s funny you say that because again, and I might be misremembering it because we got to spend a lot of time with your mom and dad, and there were so awesome. That’s what I mean. It became like a force wherever we go with these festivals, the people we would take over. And I think it’s as you were telling the story, I remember your mom got it like saying that like, don’t say I want write this, but what I really want is, yeah, is that it’s awesome. Yeah, yeah.

Joke: But no, but, you know, you get so much feedback and so much positivity and, you know, you’re winning awards and then you’re like, any moment now I’m going to get this big distribution.

Steve Mazan: Deal, right?

Joke: Right. And it doesn’t come. No.

Steve Mazan: Because it is again, it’s like playing the lottery or whatever it might be. You know, being a pro athlete, the chances of getting into the professional leagues so small. But again, you have to get excited every time those little glimmers come in. We had so many glimmers and again, I wouldn’t trade any of it. It’s it’s so magical on its own. And it’s it’s an amazing calling card I think for, for you guys like the to show what storytellers.

Joke: I think honestly what touches me the most is when we get emails or on the Facebook page, people say like, you know, nine years ago or whatever it was I wrote down, I wanted to do this, and I’ve now accomplished it. And it’s like, like I want to cry just thinking about it because it’s like, that was your story. That’s the story we wanted to tell. It was just this inspiration of no matter what life throws at you, like, don’t just give up on your dream. Like, you know, work hard like nothing’s guaranteed, but like, keep at it, you know, voice them. Be proud.

Steve Mazan: Of them. Yes, exactly.

Joke: Don’t be for them. Like, wear them proudly on a button. You know, those things that it’s like. That’s the message of the movie. And it’s like. It’s amazing how a little bit of positivity just went so long with people. And that’s the legacy of the movie. And that’s your story. That’s your legacy.

Steve Mazan: Yeah. Well, again, that’s what that’s what I hang on to. All that stuff like like you said, getting someone that sends a button and next to the button is the book they finally wrote and that kind of stuff. Yeah. It’s amazing. I mean, just that again, into your point and again, we’ve become a sharing culture since this is again, I hate to reiterate because whenever I tell someone the story now, they’re like, why don’t you just go on Facebook and do a thing? Or like, none of that was around, we didn’t have it. But that that’s the the thing, the sharing aspect of it. It was the don’t keep your dream to yourself, put it out there, however crazy it is. And all of a sudden these connections, one of the great ones was I can’t remember which festival it was, but I think Biagio right, the guy was like his dream was to meet I’m Dying to meet Jimmy Carter.

Biagio: Cleveland Film Festival.

Steve Mazan: And the guys like, hey, you’re like, okay, good luck. And the guy comes back a minute later. He goes, I just met Jimmy Carter. And we were like, what? No, you didn’t just meet Jimmy Carter. Like you were going a minute and he pulls the guy out of the concession stand at the theater and the concession guys. His name was Jimmy Carter, so it didn’t. So it didn’t work out exactly how he wanted, and maybe he’s about to be, Carter said. But there is the idea that you start putting stuff out there and these connectors start coming to it.

Joke: And being a concession stand guy, and a guy walks.

Steve Mazan: Up.

Joke: To me to be like, hey, nice to meet you.

Steve Mazan: Jimmy Carter no you’re not. But yeah, that’s what I mean. Like, I think I don’t want to we didn’t start that, but I’m saying we were on the front end of that kind of thing before it became a whole social movement of sharing stuff. That was our kind of thing about this. Like, hey, this is a story, my story, but it’s a story every single person in the world has. That’s why it’s so relatable. And again, that’s how you tell a story.

Biagio: I think what you’re really saying is you inspired Twitter. It was really.

Steve Mazan: Right. Right, exactly.

Biagio: Well, listen. How are you feeling? How are you doing?

Steve Mazan: I feel great. In fact, one of the nice things, if you see the movie, you see my oncologist that I visit many times, doctor Ornstein in there, he retired, so he retired. That’s a good thing. You want you want to outlast his career? Yeah. He retired. And the new guy I have is a European German guy, and they’re a little ahead of everything in Europe. They’re a little more experimental and that kind of thing. So we did some scans. I’ve seen him for like three years now. And he said to me, I think about a year ago, he goes, look, you’re these tumors you have. I’m doing a terrible cure. I don’t know how you do. I think it was Italian, but he’s like, I don’t think this will be the thing that kills you, which is for to have again, you had five years and you’re like, all right, I’m pass the worst case. You get ten years. Like, well, that was the best case. And now Larry, so for him to say like one day like, hey, yeah, you got the tumors, but the growth is so small, I think you might be lucky that this will not old age or something else will kill you. Like, that sounds macabre, but it’s like a little bit of a way off your.

Joke: Shoulder that your cholesterol.

Steve Mazan: Levels know exactly. But that’s what he said. She’s like, are you sure he didn’t mean like, hey, you got other problems like that bring about the liver stuff. But yeah, that’s that’s, you know, it’s great. So yeah, I feel good. And again, it’s one of those things I remember one of my crazy memories of Cinequest were on this high because again, people are just loving the movies. I was walking back and you guys met some people from this cancer group because we did a screening with them too. I was walking back from one of our first screenings and feeling so high, and I got a message that this girl I had met at the screen, you guys had met her, two had had just died. And I remember like just the the emotion because up to that point it was, again, you always try and stay positive and you’re like, I’m going to prove this wrong. And now here was someone who was younger than me that I had just met a few weeks earlier and seemed healthy and looked like me, like you wouldn’t know she had cancer. She she was, you know, a young and vibrant. And then she was she was gone that quick from the same disease that I remember. It just hit me that I’m on this high and we’re enjoying this movie experience, but, oh, there’s this thing inside me that at some point could take. So I remember collapsing on the street and we made some. We made friends with some people that just came up and they were so nice. It’s the humanity that that you experience from all. This is the thing I always hang on to from all of it. But anyways, that point being that it’s nice the further that you can go a few years and be like, oh my God, all right, I haven’t felt like this. You know, when I do the scans and stuff, you feel like a cancer patient, but otherwise have been extremely lucky. So yeah.

Joke: Yeah, we met a lot of people at that cancer screening and yeah, not that many left. Yeah. It was it’s you know, I think.

Biagio: I remember that cancer screening because that was the first time we really showed the movie to a bunch.

Steve Mazan: Of the.

Biagio: Yeah, right. And I was sitting there getting ready for it’s right about ten minutes in the top ten benefits of catching cancer. And I’m like, you know, first of all, only you could deliver that, you know, I mean, you had written it, you performed it. It was amazing. But I’m like, are we going to like, are they going to like, lynch us after this?

Steve Mazan: Right, right. Is it going.

Biagio: To cross every line? And the way they laughed and the way they responded, and so many of them came up to us after and said, thank you for not treating me like a patient. Yeah. Treating me like a person. And you missed the I think.

Steve Mazan: Yeah.

Joke: It’s hard not to remember a hiding behind like the door. Kind of like, oh, God. Oh, God, this is gonna go bad. And then it was like, oh no, they’re laughing. Oh, okay. Yeah. All right. And then once we made it through that, I was like, oh my gosh.

Steve Mazan: Yeah. If that’s what I mean. It’s all the all those little steps. I mean that’s what I mean I wouldn’t, I wouldn’t change as much like I said as I, there’s, there’s things you’re like, oh all right, I would I regret that, but I wouldn’t change because it all laid out to, to where we are. And it’s again, it’s one of the most magical things of my life.

Joke: Yeah. One of my other memories is when we were in New York at the Ifrc center and the hurricane. It was the year before.

Steve Mazan: Oh, yeah. Yeah.

Biagio: That’s right. That’s right.

Joke: That’s all. I don’t know what of those. It was the year before Sandy. I remember they shut everything down and like, we walked all the way from midtown to. Yeah, to the IFC center. And it was just like empty streets. We’re like, what is this?

Steve Mazan: There’s no. And there’s. Yeah, but people there, like a couple people still came out and saw the movie. You’re like, what. Came out, right? Yeah. That’s right. I forgot the writing staff. Yeah. Came out and those, those little memories like that I remember then they sent us a picture. They hung our poster in the writers room.

Biagio: Yeah, yeah.

Steve Mazan: Letterman.

Biagio: Just all.

Steve Mazan: Those those little things like that that are just amazing. I remember walking past the marquee at Letterman, and I remember joke being like, stop for a second and, you know, let me get a shot with the Letterman sign behind you. And that that ended up being the shot we used for the poster later. And like the picture, those little things that you think, oh, you’re doing the poster like it was the those little moments like that.

Joke: You’re buying underwear.

Steve Mazan: That’s right, that’s right, I forgot. Prepare to go on TV and needed to get underwear. That’s right. See, that’s what I mean. That’s what good friends you are, right? Any other filmmaker would have been like, go get your own damn underwear, right? Yeah. You guys helped.

Joke: I was like, no, no, we’re gonna film this. You never.

Steve Mazan: Got to go.

Biagio: I don’t know what’s gonna happen.

Steve Mazan: That’s the extras.

Biagio: Well, if you would like to see Steve’s amazing journey, you can. You can pretty much rent it from anywhere. It’s on Amazon, it’s on iTunes, it’s on a bunch of other places.

Steve Mazan: You will love it. And again, even if you haven’t enjoyed me on this podcast, Brian Regan, Ray Romano, Romano, Jim Gaffigan, Kevin Nealon.

Joke: Hilarious.

Steve Mazan: Yes, yes, hilarious. He’s the line of the movie, we shouldn’t spoil that, but he’s he’s so funny. That’s what great. I will say this. We’re going to I’m going to spoil it just because he has a great cutting, very funny line that we show. I leave this thing and right after I left being Kevin Nealon, of course, he’s hilarious. He goes, I don’t think he’s going to make it or he’s not going to make it. Or he just yeah, at least he’s not going to make it. And I remember you guys talking to me afterwards and you’re like, hey, because I wasn’t in there for the line. And you, you were like, Kevin had a really funny line, but it’s kind of dark and, you know, and I remember you telling me and again, that’s what good friends you are that you were like. And I remember cracking up and I’d be like, oh, of course that’s, that’s he’s a comedian. Of course he’s going to say that. But you were so protective. Do you know what I mean? You were like, oh, I was kind of smart ass. And I was like, yeah, that’s great. Right? Like, that’s the movie we want to make that that shows the humor of all of it.

Joke: And I think one of the funniest and most awkward moments. This is long after the movie’s done. It was exactly what I’m talking about. For some reason we live a strange life, but for some reason Arsenio Hall was taking us around comedy clubs in a limo. Yeah, it only.

Steve Mazan: Happened, right?

Joke: Right. This is not a regular occurrence, but we found ourselves at Hermosa Beach.

Steve Mazan: Yeah. So the Magic.

Joke: Club, Comedy Magic Club, which is Jay Leno’s hangout, and we walked in with our Senor Hall leading the way in the back room where Jalen was like, eating a sandwich before going on stage or whatever it was that he was eating. And we’re like, oh, and I seen you without even thinking about it just goes, hey, let me you. To my friends, I made this movie. It’s called Dining Letterman. Is it fun? And really all you want to do is be on Letterman? Ask me saying it. He’s clearly saying.

Steve Mazan: It’s.

Joke: Hitting him. Oh, I’m talking.

Biagio: I just tried to cover it up and he’s like, well, you know, he’s a New York.

Steve Mazan: You’re like.

Biagio: He’s not a New York. And he’s going on and on. And it gets extravagant, awkward. And Jay Leno is just like, and then I make it absolutely worse. I look and I go, hey, my dad thinks it should be called dying to do Leno. Yeah. Oh my God. But that was that was.

Steve Mazan: That’s awesome.

Biagio: Yeah, that was crazy.

Steve Mazan: I mean, it’s just so fun reliving all these things, you know what I mean? And talking about all these magic moments and the stuff again that that I didn’t know that you guys are going through during it and vice versa, like hearing some of those stories. And the whole thing is magical.

Joke: It was magical. I think that’s the perfect word for it. You know, it gets messy in there, sure. But looking back on it, it really, like I said, I, you know, probably survival mode, like you said, I just I’ve erased all the best.

Biagio: Of.

Steve Mazan: Course, but yeah, that’s that’s the, that’s.

Biagio: The world.

Steve Mazan: Right. That’s a great way. I was just going to say this, this thing is our baby, right? It’s all four of our babies. And so of course, yeah, there’s, there’s, there’s parts of raising your child. We’re like, well, that’s not the one thing I’m going to remember when I’m a, you know, an old age and be like, oh, I love my kids. Yeah.

Biagio: You know, it’s funny because people asked us, so what’s the next movie you’re going to make? And I’m just like, I don’t know, we could ever find something I would love more than this. Like that I could pour my whole heart into in the same way.

Steve Mazan: Probably be you guys will kind of. It’ll probably be the same way. Right? Because this wasn’t something you were purposely looking for. But the right weird thing shows up, shows up exact. So probably that kind of thing where it’ll happen like that.

Joke: We’ve talked about like, okay, what’s our next personal project? And you know, one, you know, you’re like, oh, are we ready to take that on financially. Yeah. But I think it’s it’s like, yeah, it’s just I never felt like we had a choice in what or not. We were going to tell your story. It just felt like we had to like it.

Steve Mazan: Was awesome.

Joke: It never felt like, you know, I don’t I don’t remember us having big conversations. Should we or shouldn’t we do it, I.

Biagio: Think no, never. We were in from minute one. We were.

Joke: It just felt like this is what we had to do. And so I think you’re right. I think the next one would probably be something similar where it just showed up and there was no way we couldn’t do.

Steve Mazan: It right. You wouldn’t have been thinking about like, yeah, you’re going that angle.

Biagio: And honestly, if that never happens, I don’t care because I got everything I could have ever dreamed of out of making this movie with you. So thank you so much.

Steve Mazan: Yeah, thank you for listening. I wish there was something bigger than those two words. Thank you. Because yeah, I love you guys.

Biagio: But we.

Steve Mazan: Love you. But even even more than that, that’s what I’m saying. It’s hard to. You know what I mean? Like, there’s people that that have approached me and they’ve made my life now because of this thing, you know what I mean? Like, it’s I know that it always be a thing that I look back on and be like, you know what I mean? I’ve comedy’s that way for me that I’m like, in the end, no matter what, I’ll be able to say I made more people laugh than I did cry or hurt them like it’s been a good way, a noble way to spend my life. And this was a thing that I never had planned in my life. And it’s become a thing that I’ll look back on and be like, oh my God. We’ve touched so many people with it that that’s what I mean. Thank you. And I love you, isn’t it? Isn’t isn’t big enough. So when I discover more words, I will I will send them.

Biagio: To you. Well, hopefully. Okay. Hopefully this whole podcast doesn’t just sound like we were bragging the whole time.

Steve Mazan: No, I like I said, yeah, I think.

Biagio: If enjoy hanging out together and talking, yeah, I hope.

Steve Mazan: I hope it shows. Yeah, I think it’s great that you guys do that because I think that again, I’m the amateur here. I’m the one who knew nothing about any of this.

Joke: I mean.

Steve Mazan: I think into it and that’s that probably most people that you guys are contacted, right? Aren’t people who were already doing this kind of thing. They have an idea and they want to do something with. So it’s yeah.

Joke: I think if anyone takes anything away from this, it’s that a lot of times we say, like, look, it’s not a TV show or this would have to be a personal project. And right, and you kind of have to measure your sense of passion for it. You know, we’re now looking back, you know, ten years later and everything is is happy memories and all that stuff. But I think, yeah, it’s hard. You know, it’s hard financially. It’s hard emotionally to get through it. If you’re lucky to finish it and get the kind of reception we’d it and then that becomes worth it. Right? But that’s not guaranteed. So it really has to come down to do you. Or do you not take on a personal project? I think comes down to this. Like, do you have a choice? And if you have a choice, then it probably isn’t.

Steve Mazan: Yeah, that’s a good way to put you would think it’d be like, yeah, do you want to make the choice? But you’re right. It’s got to feel like it isn’t a choice, right? Yeah.

Biagio: No choice.

Joke: That just got real deep.

Biagio: All right, well, listen, Steve, I could talk all day, but, yeah, we’re gonna come on your podcast next year.

Steve Mazan: Yeah. Scheduling.

Biagio: At some point, I feel like we should do. We should get the niece in here, and we should. All four of us talking about the actual making of the movie and what that process was like. And, you know, there was so much crazy stuff that happened, right?

Steve Mazan: Probably even more so. I’ll bet you even more have even more of that stuff that we’re talking about, like being a novice to this thing and being like, thrust into something that you have no idea about.

Joke: I think one of the things I would love to ask her is, you know, for a whole bunch of reasons, you know, she couldn’t end up being there on the big day. And that was so hard for, I mean, for us, but for me personally, because I was like, oh, man. I felt like, how do we, you know, still be documentarians and fill that void for you, right? Because this is huge for you. And I was so glad that your mom and Gary could come because.

Steve Mazan: And you guys were there. But I know what you’re saying.

Joke: But it was just like, oh my God. And I felt so, you know, I mean, the moment you walked out, I called her on my phone and she listened to the whole set live and went to cry. Yeah, I just I just felt so bad, like you just wanted to.

Steve Mazan: Of course.

Biagio: Yeah.

Joke: Yeah, that was hard. That was the best days.

Biagio: And and.

Joke: So like, oh.

Steve Mazan: I and again that’s that’s what I’m saying. And again that’s why I hope it doesn’t come across because there is so much it’s like if again comparing to going to the NFL, that person’s got to be up every day working out and doing all the hard stuff. And that’s not the stuff you look back on. But that’s the nuts and bolts and the hard part of it. I remember if I can use this as a springboard, yeah, I remember one of the decisions we had to make. We started talking about going to festivals and you guys, again, we don’t even know about festival. I remember picking up you guys gave me books about festivals, how to, you know, the film festival circuit. So I’m reading them, I’m telling Denise all this stuff. And I remember the four of us. I can’t remember where it was, but I remember specifically the thing because I know Denise. So you can feel when something like, oh, and you said, you’re like, look, there’s going to be Shaz, and there’s going to be that you want to take part of it. And Denise, of course, like, yeah, of course, blah blah. And you and you were prepped or you go, it could be hard. You know, these are people. They’re going to ask crazy questions. They’re going to be introduced. Like what? What are they going to ask? And you, you go someone might ask like, how did you not get on that plane to go there? Like you were prepping her? Like, you better be ready for this. And Denise was like, like, of course we have the movie. I explained in the movie. You know what I mean? We’ve just shown why. But, you know, someone still going to be like, who cares if you were you were sick and on your deathbed you better get on that plane and that kind of thing. So those are the things as a team like, again, that you guys were great as friends to prep us again, I don’t think someone we had just met in the process of making something would have said, hey, I’m worried about your feelings here because these are the things you’re going to be prepped for for that. So that’s what I mean. That’s that’s the part of the ride that we, we felt, yeah, you were going to you weren’t just going to be like, hey, it’s a great you guys were going to push us and and prep us for that. That’s what I mean. I wouldn’t have chose two other people to do it for that reason.

Joke: Well, and also, you guys were a great team because I know there was one weekend where there was like three film festivals at the same time. You went to one. She went to.

Steve Mazan: That’s right. We would all split up. Yeah. You guys were at one? Yes.

Biagio: Yeah, yeah.

Joke: Because it was like we knew we had to like put a face to it and it would be there.

Biagio: It was wild. Yeah. And she won. Actually she she was at Carmel. Yeah. We won the Carmel and she was going to get it. That was pretty cool. Well, well again if you want to see the movie iTunes Amazon, it’s really easy to find. It pops up sometimes for free and Amazon Prime. But you know you spend the buck 99.

Steve Mazan: Yeah throw.

Biagio: It out there. Seems amazing. Amazing journey. That’s it man. Thanks so much for being here.

Steve Mazan: Yeah thank you guys.

Biagio: Thank you Steve. Thank you so much.

Announcer: Producing Unscripted with Joke and Biagio.