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Suziey Block is a Scream Queen
1.1k Plays11 months ago
Welcome back Suziey!
Recorded in a Russian cemetery in Portland, Oregon.
Suziey Block kills it in the found footage insta-classic Horror in the High Desert
Her performance in ‘Entrance’ is a haunting tour-de-force
Suziey was last featured on SRTN Episode 194!
And you heard it here - Suziey Block is the official SRTN podcast SCREAM QUEEN (statue in development) . . .
And we had some good ol' fashioned horror talk and we mutually developed a LABOR screed.
Recommended
Transcript
Introduction and Guest Welcome
00:00:01
Speaker
You are listening to something rather than nothing. Creator and host Ken Volante. Editor and producer Peter Bauer.
00:00:17
Speaker
This is Ken Vellante with the Something Rather Than Nothing podcast, and I am so excited to welcome back Susie Block, favorite actress and scream queen. Susie, before jabbering about you and your films, welcome onto the show. Thank you. Thank you so much. It's awesome to be here, really.
00:00:40
Speaker
It's nice to have time with you again and just, you know, chatting about some like cool art stuff. And I've been interested in some of the art environments that you've been around. You know, I'm a big horror movie fan and just to kind of like
00:00:57
Speaker
Prelude what we're gonna get into talk, you know your experiences at Burning Man as a creative environment as a creative person You know that type of creativity environment, but I think what's really cool is chat about chat about art and
00:01:15
Speaker
uh screen movies in in the whole thing so uh seeing uh first of all without um you know going on any further uh audience uh susie has been appointed basically uh installed as something rather than nothing's official screen queen uh this art and philosophy podcast and i wanted to thank you uh susie
00:01:41
Speaker
Uh because my love for your films. It's a great honor to me that you've accepted Uh this role and I wanted to thank you for it and wanted to know if you had any comments about such Um, just that i'm super grateful. That's really really nice. Um, I appreciate it a lot. Uh, it's nice to get recognized for your work always um, so Yeah, uh
00:02:06
Speaker
Thank you. I don't know. I didn't prepare a speech. I love my mom. I love you too. Thanks for birthing me and I don't know. But yeah, great. It's super unexpected. And yeah, I really appreciate it, especially around the spooky season.
00:02:24
Speaker
It's spooky, it's been spooky season, it is. And I'm appreciating your Frankenhooker shirt, Rock. And folks, this is audio, but maybe we, you know, this special shirt, maybe Susie will share the wonderful shirt.
Love for the Scream Movie
00:02:40
Speaker
Also being recorded in the
00:02:43
Speaker
the mesmerizing city of portland by cemetery within the cemetery for a recording environment a beautiful fall crisp afternoon in the pacific northwest and reaching are one of our favorite guest susie block okay uh susie i want to get into the horror first because let's be honest that that's that's
00:03:05
Speaker
That's the real reason we're here. I want to know, and you tell me about your favorite go-to slasher movie, and I'm talking about go-to when you're like, this is my jam in my head. Slasherville, I need to get those yayas out. What is your go-to played film and why?
00:03:31
Speaker
It'd be Scream, the original Scream. The sequels are good too, but definitely if I could put Scream on at any time and just watch it. If it's on TV, sometimes it does play on a regular cable. It's one of those movies that I'll sit down and watch if it's on.
00:03:48
Speaker
I can quote it from the beginning to the end. I just love it. I think it's clever. I think it's funny. I love movies that are like, make you jump and then make you laugh and then make you think and you don't know who the killer is till the very end. That's always fun. And that's what I love about Scream. Yeah, it's well written. It's well acted. It's great. Oh my gosh. Got good gore.
00:04:16
Speaker
Let's talk about the acting, right? I think in horror, and you must feel this in your work experience, one of the things I bitch about is the performances that you see in horror. And because of the hierarchy of film, of what proper film is, so many amazing performances are missed. And I think Scream's a perfect example of just banger performances one after the other with big names, and they're all meshing together.
00:04:46
Speaker
I think very highly of your favorite go-to movie. Yeah, I think the acting, and I think a lot of horror movies have amazing acting, and I think sometimes it's overlooked, not to scream, but I think a bunch, because it is really taxing to cry and scream and run and make it believable and keep doing it over and over and over again.
Memorable Slasher Film Kills
00:05:09
Speaker
Over and over again.
00:05:11
Speaker
Yeah, so yeah, I love, even Def Campbell, who I didn't really love that much in Party of Five, she was kind of blah, but she does really well as Sydney Prescott. Like, she was made to play there. Style, she's got a style. Yeah, it's definitely like, she does really, really well. Rose McGowan's fucking great as well. Killer. She's hilarious and funny and her dusting is awesome.
00:05:41
Speaker
Yeah. So good. I mean, even the two of them at the end, the killers at the end back and forth, they're like whole like partnership and camaraderie. Yeah, I did it. I said it. It's so good. So yeah, it's.
00:05:58
Speaker
Take that piece, the back and forth, let's drop down into that. That exchange right there, that's what I'm talking about. When you wanna see freaking acting, you wanna see it going on where you're like, is this film capturing, is this something really weird just happened type of acting? And it captures that intensity. And I think you watch that scene, it rattles you. You can think what you want of the film or whatever, but you watch that scene, you'd be like, holy shit.
00:06:27
Speaker
It's like you're peeping into something really bizarre and sick. They're so fucked up. They're stabbing each other. It's like really intense moment. All right. All right. You're going to have to indulge me as the host. I wanted to tell you my favorite go-to slasher movies. Yes. And this one seems standard, and I'd like to know your initial reaction to it. Friday the 13th.
00:07:08
Speaker
this shocking kind of horror that I saw when I was younger. And so the universe that it created that was horror is familiar to me being from New England. So there's a lake aspect. And I didn't spend a lot of time by the lake, so I was a city kid. But there's something about that environment that scared the shit out of a city kid, like, because once you go in the woods, Jason's there, right? So like the impact on a popular...
00:07:12
Speaker
the first one.
00:07:36
Speaker
Yeah. Right. Right. And so I've seen all of them a lot. And I talk about them in such a way where maybe my head's too much into fandom. I would admit right off the bat about Friday the 13th stuff. The fan films, which I love. A couple by Vinny DeSanti. Never Hike Alone.
00:07:58
Speaker
Never Hike Alone 2, both available on YouTube with like millions of views. This is the follow-up of Friday the 13th and James Sweet, Jason Rising, another one kind of fan fiction. But I love it and I wanted to tell you my three favorite kills and describe them briefly if you'd indulge me, Susie. Yeah, yeah.
00:08:21
Speaker
My favorite kill because I'll start from my third favorite only up to the top one my third favorite is in Jason X there is a Jason attacks When the ship ship meets there and this is an outer space in Jason pushes the head of the person the cryogenic freeze and then smashes that freeze and explodes in a million pieces and
00:08:48
Speaker
One of the most amazing creative kills I could think of in outer space. It's a tough ride. Jason's in outer space, right? Yeah. You still with me? Yes, I'm still with you. There makes me think of the kill from Cube.
00:09:06
Speaker
Or are they like all the four? I don't know if you like the four, like the laser four and then the guy just stands there and then he just crumbles. So like four million like squared pieces.
00:09:19
Speaker
I don't know. It's like similar. I love the description. My second favorite, there's a runner up and I hope you appreciate it. It is gruesome, Susie. It's in Friday the 13th part three and this is almost infamous and it's just shock and horror. There is a young male camper.
00:09:39
Speaker
who has a skill where he can walk on his hands. And he's walking on his hands, so he's walking upside down, down the hallway. Unfortunately, at the other end of the hallway happens to be a very irate Jason with a machete. And he's cut right through, let's say, politely. Shocking and gruesome kind of thing that put Friday 13th on the map for the shock factor.
00:10:09
Speaker
um leading up to my top one and what i like about the top one is it's in part seven it's called the sleeping bag kill and it's the least and most
Burning Man Experience
00:10:19
Speaker
gruesome at the same time and a quick description of it is uh
00:10:23
Speaker
Jason kills the male mate of the of the female camper so he's down and He goes to get her and she's screaming. She's like, where are you Andy or something? Right and Jason picks up her sleeping bag, which looks like a banana it's a big yellow sleeping bag and slams it into a tree and It's horrible. It's so horrible. You don't see anything but you like I
00:10:51
Speaker
I might avoid camping after seeing that for a little while. Yeah. I mean, one of my favorite kills in Friday the 13th, the first one with Kevin Bacon and the arrow that goes through his neck from underneath. Underneath the bed. Out of his throat. It's great. Those effects, right? Yeah. Kevin Bacon. It's always good to see his face in that movie. Do you feel that way? Yeah.
00:11:21
Speaker
He was good in that. It was fun. The Crispin Glover appearance, I believe in number four, has a wonderful performance in Crispin Glover dancing for those interested in the truly bizarre. I had a friend who lived in his basement. OK. Can you just tell us about that? Yeah. She said he was so weird. An odd dude. But yeah. Lived in his basement in Silver Lake.
00:11:53
Speaker
Yeah. I really like, you seem to jump to the story connected to what we're talking about, those stories there. I wanted to ask you about Burning Man, and I've never been there. And I am assuming one thing, that the popular press coverage of Burning Man doesn't connect with maybe a participant's experience. Yeah.
00:12:20
Speaker
And I just wanted you just to tell us about Burning Man experience, but also the kind of creative environment that you bump into and experience there. Yeah, I mean, I've been going to Burning Man since 2015. It was my first year. I did a year of Yes that year. And I never heard of Burning Man. And I was making a film called The Shickles. And the producers of Shickles were big burners.
00:12:49
Speaker
And they kept talking about Burning Man. And I was like, what are you talking about? What is this Burning Man? They're like, oh, it's like an art thing in the desert. And I was like, oh. And they're like, you should go. And I was like, OK. And they're like, we can probably get you tickets if you want to go. And I was like, OK, I'll go. I'll go. I don't know what I'm going to, but I'll go. And I Googled a little bit of it just so that I could pack appropriately.
00:13:15
Speaker
Yeah, I had no idea. I showed up, it took 12 hours. I waited in line for 12 hours. And when I finally got through the gates, I just cried. Cause I was like, I don't know where I am. I don't know what I'm doing. It was like one in the morning. I couldn't see anything. It was just, it was insane. And then I woke up the next day and it was unbelievable. Like the mass amount of like,
00:13:47
Speaker
There's so many people yet at the same time, there's moments where you can feel like it's just you, which is crazy as well. I don't.
00:13:54
Speaker
I think it's just the magic of Burning Man. I don't know how they do that. But yeah, you ride your bike around and you just look at this incredible art that is just like made in the desert just for a week, which is also crazy because people put so much hard work into all this art and then they burn it all. Most of it gets burned out there. And that's, I don't know, it's really quite beautiful that they do that.
00:14:24
Speaker
i started to volunteer uh... there's a place in the middle of bernie man called center camp and uh... they were looking for volunteers at a little cafe that they had so bernie man you don't sell nothing sold and nothing's bought it's like a gifting community but they do sell two things uh... well they sell one thing only thing now but before they sold two things which was coffee and ice so you can go to center camp and get a cup of coffee
00:14:54
Speaker
I think it was them gifting you a bit of normalcy and the insanity that is Burning Man. You couldn't come to the ground and chill for a second and like get a cup of coffee and then go about your day. And so I was a barista and so I volunteered to serve coffee.
00:15:13
Speaker
And then I just started volunteering with them every year and then became on the crew. And then I basically was on the crew at the beginning to set up center camp. And basically it's called Decor. I would put up all these benches with all this hard work. And then there was a stage in center camp. And for 24-7, they have to have stuff happening.
00:15:38
Speaker
And then I had friends who worked at the stage. So I kind of got pulled over to be on their crew, which is sound and performance. And I've been basically volunteering. So I go early, I go for setup and I'm out there for almost a month and I stay for strike and we put up, we build center camp. And it's a really amazing thing because I love being a part of something really larger than myself. I think it's really incredible.
00:16:07
Speaker
The art is really inspiring. Every time I come back from Burning Man, I am always inspired to do something creative. Being a part of that community is just really... It's amazing. The friends that I have made, the people that I have met have just been...
00:16:26
Speaker
It's incredible. Everyone I feel like at Burning Man is a little more of themselves than they are in the default world, I should say. They feel more free, really who they are. And I think that's really lovely. So. Is there, um, I wanted to ask you. You hear the dog barking over there. That's okay. Is it, is there a dog or is it a ghost dog?
00:16:51
Speaker
I haven't seen one yet, so that question's on the answer. Burning Man, I want to ask you a question related to what you just said, just to explore it a little further. That idea of impermanence, right? So let me just for a few seconds say, when you think about art or when I think about art or you say art to somebody, they tend to think of this idea of the eternal or the long lasting, the painting, the thing that is
00:17:17
Speaker
revered in protected or books that'll continue in the voices of people forever, like this idea of permanence. And I think what I hear in the description of Burning Man for me to understand is like within Buddhism of the ash of what disappears of that
00:17:38
Speaker
behind the things that you think are there, it's loose at the very least. It's very loose. So what do you think about the idea of whether art, temporary versus eternal, that question? Because I think it's directly addressed in the experience. Or am I thinking about this too much?
00:18:02
Speaker
No, I think, I mean, the art of Burning Man, some of it does live on, some of it comes back, some of it is placed elsewhere, but most of it is burned and destroyed. And I think that's art in itself as well. I think the whole experience of it is art, I guess I should say. But I think it's more of people getting together and building something and being a part of it that is bigger than themselves. And then sharing it with a few
00:18:32
Speaker
sixty to seventy thousand people. And then there's so much art at Burning Man as well that you're not going to see it all. That's the crazy thing is like I will go online afterwards and I will see photos of things and I'm like
00:18:45
Speaker
I didn't see that. Where was that? That looks amazing. That's a strange experience. I've had that experience where it's like a big event, but there's aspects of it that you actually didn't see. So you're like, I was there, but you were there in a particular way in a certain sense. Like you didn't see that because it was probably active in live, right? Yeah. I mean, you just, you can't.
00:19:11
Speaker
You can't just go and think you're going to see everything. You just have to accept the fact that there will be shit that you are just not going to see.
Art and Spontaneity at Festivals
00:19:18
Speaker
Go ahead.
00:19:19
Speaker
That's okay. I learned that that heart and wonderful lesson. I was lucky enough To have a partner took me to Woodstock 94 when I was younger I guess I'm trying to figure out how else hold those maybe 22 and at Woodstock and one of the wildest things was because I'm obsessive about music was that the first day you could go between
00:19:43
Speaker
the two stages the money been the third stage rather quickly not as much people and it wasn't full of mud but the next day
00:19:52
Speaker
You literally had to make, for me, existential choices of, like, am I going to see, like, Porno for Pyro's over there? Or am I going to see Primus over here? Because the trudge would be an hour and a half, like, through the blood. And, like, I don't need to be hung up about that. Obviously, I'm still talking about, but, like, for me, being so into music, I'd be like, ah, I wish I saw Cypress Hill. Like, I wish I saw, you know, like, this and that, where I saw something else that was great. And, um,
00:20:21
Speaker
It's not missing it, but feeling the power of that live event, like I was there, I saw it, right? Yeah. Yeah, I mean, that's with the mud at Burning Man this year, that's how it was. You just couldn't go look at shit. You had to kind of hang out in the neighborhood, which is at the same time also kind of lovely because there are things close to my camp that I might not have really seen or taken the time to go do. Yeah.
00:20:47
Speaker
not been the limitations that we were in. So it's like, oh, you got to explore your area, which was really nice. I had a great time. It was muddy, but it wasn't like what the news was saying.
00:21:06
Speaker
I remember coming back from Woodstock and my experience I was told was that it was bedlam, this and that and lawlessness and America's moral scourge has sparked up again. And I'm like, Oh, that's interesting. I saw some weird things, but it was pretty cool. You know, so, um, but I love plenty of food and water and I wasn't, um, I was just muddy.
00:21:34
Speaker
All right, Susie, when we talked last, you told me a lot about puppets, and I appreciate any time you spend talking about puppets, that you've done that work, and also the curious story of some of the original Henson type of missed piggies in Kermit the Frog and such.
00:21:58
Speaker
and that you learned this skill in craft when you were barista, if I recall correctly. There was an individual outside that did these type of performances and you were very kind to this person and essentially a relationship development, but you ended up getting trained that way. I was fascinated. Tell us a little bit more about that and
00:22:27
Speaker
Do you have a puppet story that we didn't chat about last time that I'm so fascinated by those worlds? And so can you riff on some puppets? Yeah, I mean, I don't I can't I should I don't remember all the puppets we talked about but yeah, I actually had a Halloween party last night and my friend who taught me puppets Eli was here.
00:22:55
Speaker
and he did a puppet show for everyone, which is really amazing. He has like a struggling puppet that looks like it's having a bad day and it just crawls around, but he performed for everyone, did a couple shows. But yeah, I tried to do puppet show at Burning Man this year. I did a puppet show at Burning Man last year.
00:23:18
Speaker
So at our stage we have line tests at Burning Man where basically it's like a talent show but as stage crew it's for us to practice and make sure that we're running well. So everyone on crew can perform something and I performed a puppet show with a puppet that I built with my friend Eli.
00:23:41
Speaker
I basically wanted, I saw this puppet show back in, I think it's like from the 60s. It's a guy who has this like clown puppet and the clown puppet becomes a self-aware and realizes it's a puppet and it doesn't want to be a puppet anymore. And so it looks up at like,
00:24:01
Speaker
It's the person controlling it and it starts to break free and it breaks all of its strings. And then what it's left with is the head. And it's like the puppet has this choice of either being controlled or dying because he realizes without the puppeteer, he's dead. But he still lobs his head and dies. So I wanted to do something to honor that show. And so I took a puppet I had
00:24:31
Speaker
who I did have her strung to drop her strings. So I had a friend of mine help me and I labeled all the strings and we did this rehearsal and she's this really beautiful puppet that looks almost like a ballerina, kind of Tim Burton.
00:24:47
Speaker
and she's like very tragic looking and sad looking and she realizes that I'm the puppeteer and one by one my friend who has helped me pulled out this big long knife and would slice through her strings and the puppet basically dies on stage and it was crazy because everyone in the audience
00:25:10
Speaker
It was really quiet. And the first stream went, you hear this one girl in the audience, she's like, no! And she gets really sad. And then when it was over, there wasn't applause right away. And then everyone started to applaud. And I got this standing ovation, which was insane. So this year, I went back and I brought another puppet to do a show.
00:25:36
Speaker
And because of the first rain that we had at Burning Man, our line test got cancelled. So I never got to perform, but so many people came up to me in my camp and was like, you're doing a puppet show, right? You're doing another one, right? Because that was my favorite thing from Burning Man last year was your puppet show.
00:25:53
Speaker
But I didn't get to perform this new one. I had another one that Eli and I have done before together and it's kind of a funny weird one about like there's these two baby doll puppets and I have one underneath dirt.
00:26:08
Speaker
So you don't notice one of them. And then it has just this like weird baby doll guy and he dances. And he dances too. I go walking after midnight. And I was gonna have a friend of mine sing it who's a guy and slow it down. So it's a little more like creepy. Because what he does is he basically digs up the other puppet. And she's limp, but he just like dances with her and like loves her. And then they like lay down in the dirt together at the end.
00:26:38
Speaker
I was going to do it under all the playa, like all the dust. So he's going to unearth her from the dust. But I didn't get to
Interest in Animation and Puppetry
00:26:48
Speaker
perform it. So I'll save it for next year. Oh, the description. I had it in my head. So I hope to see it sometime. My goodness. Yeah, Eli and I have performed a version of it in a couple of shows here in LA. But I thought I'd bring it to Burning Man. But yeah.
00:27:06
Speaker
Yeah, I really, I really hope so. One of the things I think is like having chat with you and I've had a couple like kind of claymation stop photography like puppet puppets, some type of sculpture and combination in these type of things in like
00:27:24
Speaker
video and animation and i love that you know like i love like uh like you know like wallace and grommet and uh pingu i don't know if you're seeing pingu the penguin uh swedish have you ever seen that no okay susie you can blame me you can curse me or praise me after today but um
00:27:45
Speaker
Just look up Pingu. P-I-N-G-U. It is a Swedish delightfully animated clay. And what's interesting is the language is not recognizable. It's actually called penguinese. So you're actually always watching something that, where your mind might be nonsense. Okay. Like when it comes to the words. Like, no hooks there.
00:28:15
Speaker
Yeah, it's like do you do you see Marcel the shell the Marcel the shell the seashell?
00:28:24
Speaker
It's, you can watch some like, it's from a lot, they just recently did a movie, but I used to remember the YouTube videos from years ago, and it's just a, it's a little seashell with googly eyes, and it's all like step, go animation, and she has little shoes on. So it's a marshall the shell with shoes on, and it's like her little, it's really funny, I think it's a she, it might be a he, might be a they, I'm not actually sure, the gender of the she.
00:28:53
Speaker
But it's really, they're really quite cute videos and they're really funny. And they just did a movie of him, of them or her trying to find their family. So, yeah, it's really cute. I love
Hollywood Labor Strike Insights
00:29:09
Speaker
that. But that's what it's all about. It's like the stop-go animation, like stuff like that. I did a Nora Joke video that's stop-go animation. Really? Yeah. It's called Sinking Soon.
00:29:23
Speaker
It's the name of the song, and it's all done with stop-go animation and then puppets. We built all the puppets for it. We're all wearing green screen suits, so you never see us, but you see all the things moving. And then we used magnets for stuff. There's clothes that come out of a washer, and we did the magnets to get them to stick on the washing machine, so it looks like they're slowly crawling out.
00:29:50
Speaker
Wow, the reason I have you on the show, Susie, and I believe you were episode 194 and it's nice to have you back on is because you got a story behind what you say and I said that earlier. I love that. I love hearing about that.
00:30:08
Speaker
Yeah, there seems to be such a vibe of creating that type of world. I had a guest on recently, Sissy Framson, and she's the head of a Swedish punk princess band, which is kind of poppy.
00:30:24
Speaker
and really cool, strange music. But she also does their videos and does videos for other bands that are like the mix of the sculptures and just her various creations. And they are so like incredibly wild and brilliant and creative and like they're new. So it feels like you're seeing for me, like I'm like, this is really new looking and I like that in art, you know? Yeah, absolutely.
00:30:54
Speaker
So now you got Pingu and Volkano, V-U-L-K-A-N-O, for Swedish, the greatest Swedish princess pop, that you didn't know you need, but you did. I wanted to ask you before not taking up too, too much of your time,
00:31:13
Speaker
Creatively, I see all the different things you do creatively. I obviously love your horror movies and your performances and to get a thrill out of that. Then talking about puppets and the other things that you work on creatively in film, I wanted to ask you about things connected to that whole process.
00:31:39
Speaker
I would ask you, hey, Susie, what you're working on, but there's a labor struggle going on right now that you're involved with affecting your work. And I've worked in labor for 24 years, mostly on behalf of teachers and for a little while for electrical workers. So this is something that I do and it's something I obsess and think about all the time. I just wanted to talk to you, knowing you as a fellow sister unionist,
00:32:06
Speaker
What what what this means for you like talk about the issues that are at hand I know my teacher issues Tell us about like why people have to take this like hard choice to not do what they love yeah, I think it's you know, a lot of people look at the striking get really upset because they think
00:32:26
Speaker
you know actors like brad pitt and you know and like very high paying actors they're like oh they're striking cuz they're not making enough money don't they make enough money already but i really think the strike is more about like that guest are that you see on a tv show or that costar you see that made like maybe had two lines but like made the whole episode uh... i think it's those are the people that
00:32:52
Speaker
are we're really fighting for um you know you have to make an insane amount of money with the union just to get health insurance and a legit working actor who maybe has like three costars or a guest star or two a year we don't make enough money to even collect health insurance and most of our money like yeah you get a good day rate but most of our money is wrapped up in our like residuals and
00:33:20
Speaker
It can play on basic cable and you can get basically a residual check that's going to be about the same amount you made that day. But for streaming services, they didn't really take into account that at the time that they did this contract, which was years ago.
00:33:35
Speaker
when you watch something on Netflix or you watch something on Hulu or you have like a Hulu original that you booked, you're not going to see any residuals. Residuals are like, I finally was looking at my, I get residual checks and I never really paid attention to how they're broken down.
00:33:53
Speaker
But I've gotten checks for like two cents and then I've gotten checks for like 80 bucks. And I was looking at what I really make and all of my residuals do come from like basic cable. And when you look down at like all the streaming, like nothing, like zero money. And it's the same for the writers. Luckily they've worked their contract out, but no one was getting paid. Like we don't get, we don't make any money after that.
00:34:21
Speaker
You know, all we're asking is for the companies to pay us what, you know, what's fair and what we should get. And like, you shouldn't be able to play an episode a hundred times and get like two cents. That's, that's ridiculous. You should. Strikes us is wrong. It strikes. Most people is wrong. Like it's right or wrong type thing. The crazy thing that I read where they went in and they basically asked the big companies to raise
00:34:50
Speaker
Um, membership fees for Netflix and Hulu, 2%. And they got up and just left and didn't even, wouldn't even give us, they just walked out on us and it's like.
00:35:02
Speaker
We're not even asking anything. My friend and I, we worked out a thing one time where we were thinking if all of the big companies like Hulu, Amazon, Prime, Netflix, if all of them banded together and they paid every single person in the union, the side union and the writers union, if they just gave us 50 grand, all of us 50 grand, that would be less than 3% of their profits. Less than 3% if they paid everybody $50,000.
00:35:33
Speaker
That's striking. Sometimes in labor struggle, there's striking things like that. I think when you talk to regular people in the street, I still have hope that when you talk about that type of right and wrong, people know when they're getting screwed over and people know haven't been screwed over. And when workers talk about being screwed over and see where the screw is coming from,
00:36:00
Speaker
You know, and it's that it's that important I obviously from you know union salad solidarity really respect to the work you're doing in and think it's just at the heart of the issue of the professional thing I know I've read about licenses and in imaging and being able to use your voice and face and that's that's that's you you know, that's not I Mean even AI stuff. Well, yeah
00:36:24
Speaker
And that's terrifying to me that as a background actor, you go and you get scanned. And if you're a background and you're non-union, you get paid, I don't know, 80 bucks a day. So it's not that much. And then they're going to give you, oh, here's an extra 100 bucks. Can we scan you? You're going to be like, yeah, sure, scan me. But you don't realize that then they own your image.
00:36:45
Speaker
in perpetuity. That's insane. They can just use you anytime. They can put you in the background of a big show. They can put you in a commercial and not pay you because they own your image. I feel like that should just be illegal. That shouldn't be okay for anything, whether it's entertainment or not. Cross the board. I feel like that's just really scary.
00:37:13
Speaker
What if you want to become an actor and you really want to work in movies, but Warner Bros. already owns your image.
00:37:31
Speaker
to dig in, I mean, I think the assumptions end up being a big problem, right? Because I think in public perception, you know, it's always the issue of like, you know, if you're in Hollywood, you're a millionaire, right? And, you know, I work with teachers, if you're a teacher, this or that. So there's this popular idea out there. And the blunt facts, no matter where you slice them up or down is yeah, you're gonna have your high tier actresses, right? That are great actors. And, you know, God bless for however the system works, right?
00:38:01
Speaker
But that is not your worker, your performer, your artist from day to day.
00:38:08
Speaker
No, I mean, all my friends who, I have some friends who are, you look at them, if you were like Joe Schmo in a tiny town in like Ohio and you saw my friends or, you know, even people like me, like on TV, you're thinking like, oh my God, they're, they must be gazillionaires. They must have all this money. They were on an episode of, you know, the, I have a friend who did an episode of that Jeffrey Dahmer show. Oh my gosh.
00:38:35
Speaker
One was like, oh my gosh, I saw you at Jeffrey Dahmer's amazing. And we were talking, and he's like, yeah, it's great that I did that show, but I'm also like, I have two waiter jobs that I have to have just to stay here to continue to make money to do what I want to do, to pursue what I want to do. Every working actor that has the bit roles have second jobs.
00:38:58
Speaker
they all do they have to because they can't they don't have health insurance they don't don't make enough money on acting to pay the rent and that's just well i appreciate the talking about it and uh... those of us in labor you know i think there's a moral righteousness about it so i i i share no disagreement with them and
00:39:22
Speaker
I think when it comes down to that perpetual use issue, talking about image and permanency, I think it's one of those type of battles. If you lose that fucking battle, then you fucking lost. You have to win. It's like labor, things like that. But I think it's true sometimes that if you lose this line, if this line is breached, we're talking trouble. And this is people working people. And that's why people get so excited about it because it's like,
00:39:52
Speaker
I am getting screwed. Stuff is being expropriated on me. I know I'm an artist, you might have a view of me as an artist, but shit's being taken from me and being used in profit off by somebody like else. And it's clear in the industry. And I think there needs to be some maybe more sympathy towards, you know, it's wonderful to be able to create, I'd imagine, in a way that you want, but it doesn't mean you took the easy ramp in life.
00:40:22
Speaker
Yeah, exactly. Labor screed over for us, Susie. Oh my gosh. Hey, could you just identify like your particular work category and the union itself and just, you know, to identify the kind of workers that are involved in the strike? Oh, for like, you mean side? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So I have a long side after I'm an actor.
00:40:52
Speaker
And that's who, that's who's striking. Oh, my cat wants to say hello. What's cat's name? I forget. This is Fritz. Fritz, I remember Fritz and I remember the story. Oh my god, Fritz the cat, right?
00:41:06
Speaker
Yes, Fritz would really like his mom to work so that she can feed him, so that would be great for the strike to do over. Yeah, Fritz, sometimes something's called kibble shows up and the cat would be like, I'm post-kibble and it's like, no, you're still in kibble territory. Yeah.
00:41:28
Speaker
um uh... best wishes in luck and you know i'll uh... in the show notes i'll post some uh... ways to support uh... the the vital struggle for workers rights uh... screen actors gill sag after uh... and um... you know just just asking folks consider you know the majority of experiences in this industry and there's a lot of shows which is cool there's a lot of movies that's cool there's a lot of independent things that's cool but
00:41:56
Speaker
These things need resources and respect in the in the relation and I'll post some information in the show notes to help Bring that out.
Upcoming Projects and Genre Discussion
00:42:06
Speaker
Um anything Susie before I let you go anything. Um Anything you wanna I know that the work being impacted there, but anything? you're creatively looking at going it to end the 2023 began in 2024 and
00:42:21
Speaker
Well I know, so Hoarin' the High Desert Part 3 is an interim agreement, so it's not supported by any big studio, so I can, that's going to be coming out soon, so I can't talk about that. So that, filming, editing, I think he's going to do a screen, screening of it in LA somewhere soon, so that would be really amazing.
00:42:47
Speaker
The first one is still getting on a bunch of top 10 lists, which is nuts. I have Google alerts and every day I wake up to another one. It's like, four in the high desert, top 10 of this, four in the high desert, top 15 film in this. So it's been really amazing to, uh, to be a part of that whole series. And, um, my character is going to get to do some more, like a, some spin-offs.
00:43:13
Speaker
So I was talking to the director about that. So there's more like fun things come with Gal and her reporting of, you know, strange and unusual things that maybe are happening around Los Angeles. So that would be really fun to do something like that. And yeah, so Hornleye Desert Part 3, I think it's called Firewatch.
00:43:37
Speaker
I think that's the title. That's a teaser. I mean, if you're talking about a categorical teaser, that would be one. Yeah, I've seen a lot of those articles listeners show might know my adoration of the film in the series. I've seen that in those those articles and some some pretty cracking writers, some pretty smart people writing about found footage.
00:44:02
Speaker
It's been amazing, because one of my favorite movies is As Above, So Below, which is like a film kind of Indiana Jones, but with a girl and some creepy shit happens. And I love that movie. And like, Core in the High Desert has been on lists with that film. And for me, that's like, I feel a little bit like I've arrived. Like that's really like a really cool thing to see.
00:44:28
Speaker
to see it on the same list as like some movies that I like really highly respect. Like even Blair Witch, I'm just like, oh my God, this is like, that's the OG. Can't handle Hannibal Holocaust. Like it was on a list with that. And I was like, that's the original OG of like found footage film. So I just feel really, really grateful. It's been an awesome ride and I'm going to just keep riding it until the ride's over, which I'm hoping it never ends.
00:44:55
Speaker
Yeah, it's it's cool, right? And I mean, I think part of it is like in in the podcast that I do and honestly, you know, like going through different subjects. But one of the things I think is really cool for me as a creator, you know, with the podcast and artists myself is
00:45:12
Speaker
you know, like, I really get into these things. And like, when I see like, so if my favorite horror, probably movie category of any subcategory is found footage horror. And so like, I'm obsessed about the category scene, like lots of things in that category and just deeply appreciate the creativity.
00:45:32
Speaker
That you find into it like deep into it so um just real big kudos like being on those lists and folks check out hard on the high desert and I Would admit to at least one thing Susie is that I?
New TikTok Project and Podcast Conclusion
00:45:49
Speaker
Check maybe every day or every other day for new news on number three so on that type of guy who refreshes it's like somebody's like
00:46:00
Speaker
This has got to be to me soon demanding consumer type guy. Yeah. Very cool. Yeah. And then the strikes also given me time to do other little things too. I was really against TikTok. I didn't want to join TikTok. I was like, I'm not going to do it.
00:46:25
Speaker
But I think I found something that I did join. So I have a thing on TikTok, but I haven't done anything. But I think what I've decided I think I'm gonna do is do like coffee and killers. So I'm gonna make a cup of coffee and talk about a killer, fictional or non-fictional, it can be both. So I can do the history of Michael Myers or I can do a Jeffrey Dahmer episode, but I'll make a cup of coffee. So that's something that's kept me kind of like artistically busy
00:46:54
Speaker
doing that and trying to film some episodes. So I have a little backlog and I can upload those as well. If I could be presumptuous, I wish to encourage you in this creative endeavor. The podcast itself is new to TikTok and not to sound goofy or stereotypical. I really like it.
00:47:17
Speaker
Still trying to understand the mechanics is what I would say for myself But um what I did for the show is put up a couple kind of live videos because when I drop into music on the show I love featuring live and artists let me do that and their performances and Posted a couple those and I was surprised that no people kind of I like capturing the vibe of a place and sometimes when you get a concert video with movement Like particularly like punk or whatever you like. Yeah, I
00:47:46
Speaker
So since you're newer, maybe we should try to figure this out. I would qualify myself as a Dahmer expert for whatever good is and wherever that Lego piece fits on the board. But I'm really excited to hear about that idea. You're going to dive in and roll that out, huh?
00:48:11
Speaker
Something to do. I'm trying to get video evidence that you committed to the project. I shouldn't be doing that, particularly after the labor conversation that we had. You need to keep the cards that you need close to you as closely. It can be great luck on that. I'll be focusing and love to see you. Yeah.
00:48:34
Speaker
Oh my gosh, Susie, I want to thank you so much for coming out to the program and indulging in some kind of shared art things, artsy things, and connections. And talking about important stuff too because, you know, you got to do that. And like I said, the extension of solidarity.
00:48:56
Speaker
in the labor work and just really you know part of the thing with the show being a fan and part of this the Personal in the show itself I get excited about things. I really like to see read or Music that I hear and I try to share that excitement. So Like I said, I'm your number one fan not in the misery Type a thank you
00:49:23
Speaker
And congratulations on becoming something rather than nothing's official screen queen. Thank you. That's so sweet. That's amazing. That's awesome. I hope you have a wonderful time and I'll be in touch soon, Susie. Absolutely. Thank you. Have a great day. All right, you too. Bye-bye. Bye. This is something rather than nothing.
00:50:03
Speaker
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00:50:24
Speaker
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00:50:51
Speaker
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