Wanna' read along? Here’s a machine-generated transcript you can use. Yes...expect a few mistakes, especially with funky industry terms, interesting names and tagging whoever's talking. If something sounds weird, trust your ears. But...sometimes that really is what we said!
Biagio: Hey everybody. She is 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. I’m trying not to laugh because my poor wife has completely lost her voice.
Joke: Oh, I’m starting to get it back.
Biagio: It is. It is coming back. But you are really beat up right now. And for that matter, so am I. And we’re both feeling kind of loopy, aren’t we?
Joke: Yeah, we call this. We are running on fumes.
Biagio: As a matter of fact, some people might say we’re a little hungover, but not from alcohol.
Joke: From production.
Biagio: Production, hangovers. That’s what we’re talking about today. And that’s promises to be a way to honest and exceedingly dorky podcast. But that’s okay, because we we own a dork thumb, don’t we?
Joke: Production.
Biagio: Hangover. Production. Hangover. That’s right. So what is a production hangover? Well, let me put it to you like this. There is no project you will ever undertake that is truly worthy of your passion and your attention. That won’t leave you feeling completely freakin fried by the end. Would you agree with that?
Joke: Yeah. I mean, you know, it doesn’t always have to be that way. But the truth of the matter is, if you care a lot and you work hard, you know, even if you’re not physically crazy exhausted, you’re going to get to a point where mentally, you’re going to get a production hangover when it’s done.
Biagio: Yeah. Basically, you get to those final days and no matter how great the project is coming together, no matter how much in line it is with your your initial vision, as matter of fact, even when it’s right in line, there’s simply no way to avoid that. You’ve given your all to this project, and you’re dragging yourself across this finish line because production is hard. We’ve talked about this before, right, honey? I mean, when you go into production, it’s like going into a black hole.
Joke: Yeah. Didn’t I have a podcast about, like, by enough underwear? Say goodbye to your friends.
Biagio: Yeah, it’s. I actually have already linked to it from the show notes, which you’ll be able to find at Producing unscripted 086. And I believe that one was called seven Weird Tips to Survive Production.
Joke: So I guess we should call this one the one tip to survive production hangover.
Biagio: Over like this. I guess so.
Joke: And the tip is sleep.
Biagio: Sleep. Listen. This is. She’s not kidding. This might sound ridiculous, but you have got to schedule time to recuperate. Even if that time is only a couple days, you have to take it. And that is the point of today’s podcast. This is a creative business. It is a creative endeavor to to make a television show or make a film or put together a web series or whatever it is you’re working in. But if you don’t give yourself the time you need, when you drag yourself across that finish line to mentally get yourself back together, even if it’s only a half a day, even if it’s only a day, even if it’s just whatever you take to let your mind heal, your next project is going to suffer. And I got to tell you, we literally finished our current project. How many days ago?
Joke: Well, this production hangover, we’re already doing much better. Let’s just call it like it is. Yeah, we’ve had five days of rest. Like our last really big day was last Tuesday, and then the Wednesday before Thanksgiving. I lost my voice. It’s like. It’s like your body knows when you’re kind of done. So. So then we’ve had the Thanksgiving holiday, which was very nice and relaxed. And even though, you know, Sunday was errands and doing laundry and all the fun stuff and running after our kids, it was still kind of like, you know, it gets you out of the production mode. So. So we’re on like day six and starting the recovery of this production hangover.
Biagio: Day six. And by the way, we can’t say what it is yet, but day one of beginning a brand new television series today.
Joke: Yeah, exactly. And and that that actually helps to because it’s just like a different project, a different train of thought. Right. Different wheels to to keep thinking about.
Biagio: Different part of your brain. You know, where it’s, it’s we’re moving into this new show. And I got to say, I think aside from scheduling time to recuperate, when you finish whatever project you’re working at. And by the way, like, listen, we own a production company. We usually have several projects going on at any given time. So it’s not like there’s a clear black and white, but you’ve got to find a way to balance it. And once you give yourself that time to rest and I truly believe this, I think this is really important whether or not you have another series or another project for all right into it, it’s important to begin another creative endeavor because, like Joe said, part of healing your brain and getting out of the rut you’ve just stuck yourself in by giving your entire life and soul and every ounce of creative passion you have to whatever project you just finished starting something new, using that different part of your brain, taking a different creative approach to something else I think helps you heal faster.
Joke: Yeah. And it’s also, you know, as you finish one project, you just have done a ton of posts. And then as you start another project, you know, you’re starting with the research and the and the development and, you know, it’s still all the beautiful beginnings of what it can be as opposed to post where you’re like, okay, how are we going to make this work? I mean, hopefully you’re like, oh yes, we did it.
Biagio: We always make it work.
Joke: I know, I know, but it’s different, right? It’s like, can we get can we, can we get it there? Can we get it there? Let’s cross the finish line. And at the beginning of a project it’s like, oh, there’s so many possibilities. It’s going to be the greatest thing ever. So so that’s part of what helps to. But I mean listen we have Christmas and New Year break coming up which will really need. And you know a break is also good. I agree with Bianca. It’s good to jump from one project to a next, but it’s also good to have a breaking kind of replenish the well creatively to like, read books that you didn’t have time to read in the last few months, or go to a museum or, you know, do things that inspire you that you just haven’t had the time for. What are it’s, you know, extended time with the kids or beach or, you know, a cool, like, short weekend getaway with family or, you know, I mean, maybe you don’t like your family, don’t do that. Then, you know, I’m just talking about like, you know, do like something that you just haven’t had time to do that you enjoy doing. You know, those things help replenish the well and get you over a production hangover much faster.
Biagio: Yeah. And listen again, you’re hearing this from two people that are probably considered by most people who know us to be workaholics because we work all day, we come home, we work all night like we’re always out trying to sell new shows. We’re working on the shows we already have. We’re developing future projects. But what we realized at a certain point that, you know, if you don’t take that time to take care of yourself, all that stuff is going to come crashing down. You know? You know, some people will burn out, some people will turn to crazy narcotics to keep going, or too much caffeine or who knows. But, I mean, you guys have all heard the Hollywood horror stories, right? I mean, that obviously that’s not for us. So I think that what it came down to is we just realized at a certain point in our career that to be at our best, to give our clients what they deserve to deliver the TV shows that we’d be proud of and IT audiences would enjoy watching that. We had to make sure we put our brain in the right place. So I think what I really want you to take away from today is no matter what project you’re working on, if it’s something that you really care about, you’re going to give you all to it and you’re going to burn out, because that’s what happens. That’s what happens when you truly care and you realize just how much work it takes to make something great, to make something that you feel great about, to make something that competes with all the TV shows and films that are in the marketplace, and other people are putting their hearts and souls into it, just takes every ounce of your being. So know that, accept it, and then be prepared to move on after. And if I can offer up one bonus tip, there’s a bonus tip. Are you ready for this joke?
Joke: No, please. Bonus me away.
Biagio: When you’re scheduling your productions as much as you can control it. And early on. Believe it or not, you can actually have some control. When you’re dealing with a network and talking about deliverables. Try to finish. Try to finish whatever production you’re on before a holiday begins. You never a major holiday. Talking about Thanksgiving is about Christmas. What you never want to do is like, have one episode left, you know, to finish. Or one major chunk of work left the day after a holiday.
Joke: You know, for those of you who know us, the irony in that situation.
Biagio: Well, the irony, yeah.
Joke: The irony that Biagio is giving scheduling advice and telling you as if this is possible, as if it is completely possible to develop a network. I’m going to finish in this state, like like that’s even an option.
Biagio: By the way, I’ve seen you do that before. I have absolutely have not. Listen, I have and by the way, it was harder on us, but we got it done and it was better for everybody because we got the whole series done. This was on another I’m not going to say out loud which one it is, because that way any one of the dozens of network executives have worked with won’t know which one we’re talking about, but it was better for everybody. You insisted on getting it done, we got it done, and everybody was able to enjoy their holiday. And the show was fantastic and everybody was happy. And I think that was a much better start to that year than if people would have had have come back and get right back in that mode of, oh, I just came out of vacation. But now this whole time I’ve been thinking about having to come back to this, this production.
Joke: And I appreciate you trying to give me credit for this, even though I completely do not remember the situation you’re insinuating. But for every one of those that you’re thinking about, I probably have three running through my head where it was like, literally like, you can’t cut around it. There is a deadline, an air date, a million other things that, you know, the network needs to start spending money. Why can’t we start after the holidays? You need to start spending now. And it’s like, oh my God, bring people in for two weeks and then let them all go like it. Trust me.
Biagio: Well, I didn’t say you could always do it. I just said if you had an opportunity, try to do it.
Joke: Why I love you. I love you because you always remember the good stuff.
Biagio: Well, you know, and that’s why I love you, honey. Because you’re so awesome all the time. You can’t even remember half the times you were so awesome. Oh my God. Well, anyways, there you go. I hope that if nothing else.
Joke: You know, Biagio doesn’t want to tell you is that I’m literally leafing through a new cookbook I just got, which is? See, this is what happens when, you know, we’re a production hungover, like, I can’t I don’t have time to cook during most of this stuff. But now I’m like, oh, pineapple grilled short ribs. Maybe I can make that for Biagio one day.
Biagio: Did you say pineapple grilled short ribs?
Joke: Yes. Look at this. How good does this look?
Biagio: Well, I think it’s time to cut this podcast short and go get cooking.
Joke: No, no no no, I’m. Listen, just because I’m getting into this.
Biagio: Zucchini lasagna bolognese. Boy, you are. You are ambitious.
Joke: I’m just saying, just because I’m flipping through it doesn’t mean I’m going to make these. It’s just inspiration.
Biagio: Well, there you go. So. So to wrap things up, here’s what I hope today’s podcast accomplishes for all of you. I hope that coming from two.
Joke: Italian sausage meatloaf.
Biagio: Wow, that sounds amazing. Okay, I was distracted by food again. Getting back to my point, I hoped today’s podcast gives each and every one of you permission to take care of yourself, because production will take every single piece of you. It will eat you alive if you let it. And that just comes with a deal. That’s part of the deal. But I hope that, you know, coming from the two of us and believe me, people will tell you pretty hard workers, it’s important to allow yourself to recuperate. So you do that or feel like your mom and dad. Now, you make sure you take care of yourself when you finish your next project. It’ll only help you on future ones.
Joke: What? Biagio said it’s it’s been great.
Biagio: So there you go. So, hey, really big news in two weeks. Oh, yes.
Joke: Just. I’m so excited about this.
Biagio: Yeah. Troy Duvall is gonna join us.
Joke: Troy’s gonna join us. And this came specifically because we’ve gotten a few requests from you all asking about more information on the notes process.
Biagio: And I’m gonna shout someone out, specifically. Brian. Special. You asked, and we’re delivering.
Joke: And we’re delivering. So Troy wrote a book on notes, and he has given notes and taken notes. And we’ll have a fun session in two weeks about some of the the ups and downs in, in that’s that’s just part of the business which is the notes process.
Biagio: So yeah. So there you go, Brian, if you’re listening us for a podcast about notes. And we went and got the guy who wrote the book on notes. That’s true. So be sure to come back in two weeks everybody. And so then have a great night and make sure you take care of yourself after that next production.
Joke: Yes. Do it. Get a massage.
Biagio: Massage. You can even get a massage after you cook me that meatloaf.
Joke: Oh my goodness, it’s inspiration, babe, but no pressure. Don’t put the pressure on.
Biagio: Goodbye everybody.
Unidentified Voice: Producing Unscripted with Joke and Biagioagile.
