Troy DeVolld: Sheer Poetry - Life, Dreams, Work and Reality in Los Angeles

Announcer: Welcome to Producing Unscripted with Joke and Biagio.

Angry Man: Is this some kind of joke?

Unidentified Voice: Biagio. Who in this episode.

Biagio: It’s episode 130 and we’re talking with prolific TV producer Troy DeVolld. Get ready for a love letter about LA and all the dreams so many of us hold dear. How to fall in love with showbiz all over again. Finding your place in the industry and the world. Why a little delusion can be a good thing. The everyday magic we often ignore. Just what is the real prize we should all be chasing anyway? And producing unscripted evolves in a way we never saw coming.

Troy DeVolld: This is the Ghostbusters podcast now. In case you didn’t know.

Biagio: Music courtesy Dave Pelman. Music. Dave. Com. Hey everybody. She is joke.

Joke: He’s Biagio.

Biagio: We’re married. Would 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 got a great episode today. We’ve got a fantastic guest, Troy DeVolld. Many of you will remember him from past podcasts before we get started with the interview. We just wanted to take a second to say thank you, thank you.

Joke: Thank you, you thank you, thank you. Our rate review subscribe message went out and y’all must have answered because our podcast unraveled the Long Island Serial killer, which is hosted not by the two of us. We produced it, but hosted by Alexis Linkletter and Billy Jensen. And you guys got the word out, as did many other people. And as of the recording of this, we are number three in the world.

Biagio: Number three. Yeah, I’m not even sure how to process that.

Joke: It’s definitely the highest charting podcast we’ve ever been a part of. Yes, on Apple Podcasts, and so we’re super excited about that. We have new episodes dropping every Wednesday. And then the reason we’re kind of also telling you this is because we’re not sure if we’re going if we’re going to get our March podcast out in time. So I’m telling you right now, on March 9th, the accompanying two hour documentary. So we have the seven podcast, plus the two hour documentary on the Long Island serial killer. So the two hour documentary will drop on the streaming platform Discovery Plus on March 9th. So if you have it, great. If you don’t have it yet, I think that there are several like seven day free trial. Or you can sign up with Code Unraveled.

Biagio: And we have our own code. We are on Code Unraveled.

Joke: And I think that like it’s 4.99 a month with commercials is I think they’re their cheapest platform. So it was solely doable. And yeah, so that’s March 9th. It’s two hours. It’s pretty explosive and we’re super proud of it. So if you can please check it out.

Biagio: It is the most explosive project we’ve ever produced. I mean, definitely the most in your face taking on. I produced.

Joke: Legal calls.

Biagio: About it. Yeah it’s a it’s a it’s a big it’s a big project. It’s it’s been a little bit a little bit nerve wracking at times. But I’m really happy that it’s being well received so far.

Joke: We’ve we’ve unraveled lots of corruption in both police and other government agencies. So it really it brought out the big guns. So it’s very exciting. So if you can please check it out. That’s March 9th. In the meantime check out the podcast. Every Wednesday unraveled Long Island serial killer. But for right now for the month of February, which is our love month, we just celebrated Valentine’s Day.

Biagio: Sure did. Happy Valentine’s Day, honey.

Joke: Valentine’s day to you, babe. And to all of you listening. We have a love letter episode, and it’s a love letter to Los Angeles and two, our industry and what it means really, in this town. This celebrates the special kind of magic that Los Angeles has to offer to us all. That’s just here. And it’s ours to grab if we want it. And we brought on Troy because Troy has written two books about this, two poetry books actually called 100 poems About Los Angeles and another 100 poems about Los Angeles. So without further ado, let’s bring in the producer extraordinaire, reality TV show mentor, author of many reality TV show books. Some would say, actually, the guy who wrote the book on reality television and now poet.

Biagio: The one, the only Troy DeVolld. Welcome back Troy.

Troy DeVolld: There is one more Troy DeVolld, but he is a farmer from Ohio.

Biagio: Oh well. That’s funny. Well, I probably knew him to his. I’m from Cleveland, so, you know, who knows, maybe we crossed paths over there. But anyways, Troy, for those of you who’ve listened to our podcast for a while, you know Troy has been on once before. He is sort of the guru. Master literally wrote the book on making unscripted television, has been an executive producer on like a gazillion shows that you’ve all heard of, and he’s also, as of late, become a.

Joke: Poet.

Biagio: A poet.

Troy DeVolld: That is that is correct.

Biagio: Troy, we’ll let you get into the backstory of these two, these two books that you’ve written, but they’re called 100 poems about Los Angeles and another 100 poems about Los Angeles. And I got to tell you, as somebody who grew up in Cleveland, I never thought that I would possibly be in the poetry. But these are so awesome. They’re awesome. Whether you live in Los Angeles, whether you’re thinking about moving to Los Angeles or whether you used to be here and left. So they’re just great.

Joke: And they’re very much from the perspective of someone in our industry. And so they’re very poignant. But I noticed you posting about them last fall, the first one, the 100 poems about Los Angeles. And I ended up giving it as a gift to a lot of producers because it just felt like the perfect producer gift, and we could all relate and got great, great feedback on it. And then another 100 poems you release in January. So, so tell us, how did you go from storytelling in the reality TV form to storytelling and poem form?

Troy DeVolld: Well, it was kind of a strange year. Last year in May, I had been doing some pretty intense development work and got up off the couch one morning at about 2 a.m. and had a huge stroke and ended up in the hospital for about a month. Wow.

Biagio: Well, first of all, I’m so sorry you had to go through that. Let me just say, you sound great. I mean, I would never know in a million years that you went through that and you came out the other side and wrote these two books. That. That is just amazing.

Joke: Yeah. I’m so sorry you had to go through that. I can’t even imagine what that must feel like.

Troy DeVolld: It was a really scary experience, but one of the most important things to do was to figure out how to keep my spirits up. And most of all, because I was blaming the stress of my career so much for what had happened. I needed to figure out how to fall in love with LA and the people in it again. So it was going back through old notebooks of little snippets of ideas and old diaries and journals and things, and trying to figure out how to turn them into something that would be both fun and therapeutic and palatable for anybody who would be subjected to reading them.

Joke: Well, they are a beautiful love letter to Los Angeles, and thank you. Since this is Valentine’s Day in February is the month of Valentine’s Day, we thought it was perfect to bring you on the podcast this month because I do think, you know, for anyone who’s been here longer than three days, you kind of fallen out of love with this city at different times, especially in our industry where our careers kind of have ups and downs. And so more so than a location, Los Angeles, almost like a journey. And I think you captured it so well.

Troy DeVolld: Oh.

Biagio: Thank you. You really did. I mean, I think it just it just totally nails the often bittersweet. Yet at the end of the day, you know, total love anybody who stays in Los Angeles has for Los Angeles. Yeah. Even when you do occasionally fall out of love with it for whatever reason, there’s just something that keeps some of us here.

Troy DeVolld: It’s like any relationship. Anybody who tells you they’ve never had a fight is lying.

Biagio: Yes.

Troy DeVolld: It’s the same way with Los Angeles, so.

Joke: Well, let’s dive in again. There’s 200 here. We selected ten, and they’re all short and very easily digestible. I think one of the first ones that I’d love to talk about is the one called sunset. Do you want to read it to us?

Troy DeVolld: All right. Well, I like that one. Good place to start. Sunset. Even the dusk knows it has to doll up to be seen on the good side of the hill. Pinks and oranges and yellows. Blasting silhouettes of the trees that don’t belong here. On to the people who don’t belong anywhere else.

Biagio: Yes, yes. That last line, man. Woo!

Joke: It gets me every time. Because, I mean, obviously we know a lot of the trees don’t belong here, but I think it’s a line where people who don’t belong anywhere else. It just there’s so many times that especially in the last year with the pandemic and our business moving to more remote workflows, that, you know, I mean, we would have been dumb not to consider, you know, can we do this from somewhere else? Right. Do we want to raise our children somewhere else? Do we want to? And there are so many reasons to leave. And yet there’s something about Los Angeles that just makes you stay. There’s just something here that that you go. Okay? If I leave here, where do I go? And does it really measure up? And can you be as creative? Can you have access to so many different influences and inspirations?

Troy DeVolld: Yeah, just it’s kind of a thing where it’s, you know, Sam Kinison always used to say, you got to move where the food is.

Biagio: And.

Troy DeVolld: And the thing that feeds me, keeps me going is it’s just the general spirit of Los Angeles and what I call the residual magic. Of all the people that you’ve ever admired who’ve been through here, that you eat at their old restaurants. And you, you know, you see the houses they used to live in and just all the history.

Joke: I love that visual of the residual magic. That’s really.

Biagio: Yeah. Because because, I mean, it’s so much of what when you’re especially when you’re a kid from middle America, you know, or a girl from Belgium. Yes. Moving to California, you know, there’s it’s like it’s the it’s the thing dreams are made of, right? Or you think it is, at least when you first come out. And gradually that perception shifts and changes into something a little bit more realistic. But I think it’s a it’s a journey. We all love and adore.

Joke: And there’s also this, the saying that’s been around for a long time and that you kind of repeat to new people coming off the bus is if you can be happy anywhere else, by all means go there. That this is this is really the place for for those of us that, you know, can’t go anywhere else. Which brings us to Tiny Kingdoms, which is also from book one.

Biagio: Oh, I love this one.

Troy DeVolld: Sure. Well, Tiny Kingdom is just a little set up for that is it’s. Everyone out here is hustling as hard as they can, and in doing so, they create their own quote unquote tiny kingdoms. I’ve never seen so many people with business cards calling themselves CEOs of one man. Things run out of their bedrooms and garages, but then a little delusion and a big dream is sort of all it takes to make it sometimes, honestly.

Biagio: Wow. You just wrote our biographies. Yes. I mean, it’s so true, right? You have to be a little delusional to make it his business. And everybody starts out with a business card saying, I am this, I am, I’m a producer. I haven’t made anything, but I’m a producer and we’re guilty of that as well.

Troy DeVolld: I when I hear your old stories about Warren Littlefield and stuff like that, it just it’s I, I know that a lot of it is just believing yourself into existence.

Joke: You have to because it’s so hard. And so if you don’t believe, no one else will. I mean, there’s too many people in line. So, you know, while there are many people who are, you know, just like you said, printing out business cards and calling them CEOs, and and they think that’ll do it. You have to have the goods to back it up. You know, we always say you work hard to get that door to open, but then you have to perform and you have to be ready. That’s right. But you have to have that delusion that it’s possible. You have to it’s not a delusion because it does become possible for some. But you have to really believe against all odds. And I think you said it’s so beautiful that sometimes that’s what it takes. Yeah. And it really is.

Troy DeVolld: The less the less you try to, you know, preplan the journey, you know, the better it’s going to go.

Biagio: That’s for sure. Because I know that I thought my journey was going to go a completely different way by now because, you know, when you’re 18 and dreaming of big things, you think I’m gonna have $100 million mansion in my private jet. And, you know, and, you know, things don’t necessarily go that way. On the other hand, they turn out in a way that makes you really happy. So yeah, it’s all about kind of growing up out here in a way.

Troy DeVolld: Yeah.

Joke: There is. And so for all those people who just came out and just started their one man things out of their garages, and there’s also all of us who’ve been here for a long time, and you have a few poems in both books, actually, that really speak to kind of nailing what life is like here. And the first one that we love is Pacific out of book one.

Biagio: Sure.

Troy DeVolld: Pacific. I glimpse you sometimes from a deck or a window and I remember. Oh, that’s right, it’s the ocean. We have one of those.

Joke: Yes. It’s like it’s weird, but I think if you don’t live here or people. Yeah, people who don’t live here probably like, oh, yeah, there’s the ocean and they’re at Venice Beach or Santa Monica beach or Malibu all the time, but you get so busy and you get so stuck in, in, you know, just your work and just life and errands and new grocery store that, that it becomes an event. Yes. For us to go to see the ocean and it’s often forgotten. And so I really love this problem because it kind of, you know, it it really nails that feeling that we all get sometimes we’re like, oh, right, the ocean. But it’s also a good reminder that we do have an ocean. And you should just we all should kind of jump out of our bubble at times.

Biagio: Well, yeah. And this one speaks to me for two different reasons. And one is is I often talk about how disappointed I was with going to UCLA, other than the fact that I met my wife and she had. So basically, I got a wife and a career out of there. So I guess I can’t really be too down on it. Didn’t get much out of the actual classes themselves, but we had one teacher, Gary Gardner, who, you know, who at one point was like, you guys know there’s an ocean out there, right? Who here has seen it? And like, nobody in the class had been to the ocean. I was like, oh my gosh, it’s so it’s so true. Like we never got outside our bubble. And I think the other half of that is that no matter where you live, you know, I’m from Cleveland, never been in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, you know, barely made it to the Cleveland Museum of Art, which is like one of the top museums in the world. I think wherever you are, there’s those things that are, you know, in striking distance that are really special, and we need to take the time to go do those things right. But when you’re in a busy career, you know, being a producer working in Los Angeles, it’s almost like you forget to live the life. You know, the whole reason you came out here for in the first place. Right? So I think that ocean, it represents all of that well.

Joke: And I think also to get out of our heads, I think so often we just get stuck in this like, you know, what are some people call it a rat race or just or just a bubble of like, this is the this is the show I’m working on. This is the content I’m producing that you, you know, you forget like, oh, wait. And it’s right there and it’s free. It’s like you can go to the ocean for free.

Troy DeVolld: And how I didn’t see it for the first 4 or 5 years I was out here.

Biagio: It’s so crazy, right?

Joke: So crazy.

Troy DeVolld: I only saw it because it was a location.

Biagio: Yeah.

Joke: That was the first time I went to Zuma. Was because we were location scouting.

Biagio: Yeah.

Joke: There you go. So actually having two kids that are now getting a little older, we can take them out places has allowed us to, like, explore things more. Like last year before the pandemic, we went down. We took the metro downtown to go to The Last Bookstore and Angel’s Flight, and it was like, yeah, we’ve been here for 20 years and had never done that.

Biagio: Never done it. And it was amazing. It was magical. It was it was so great. And again, I think that’s why this this poem is so awesome. Like get out there and explore your world because there’s some good stuff around you, no matter where you live, that you probably have never seen.

Joke: All right. Next up is another one in this vein for for those true Angelenos. And I think just saying that every Angeleno already is.

Troy DeVolld: Oh, sure.

Joke: They’re like, oh, bold traffic.

Biagio: My hair just stood up.

Troy DeVolld: Well, I think I think our traffic is is not great. But I’ve driven in Atlanta at 430 in the afternoon, so.

Joke: Oh, honey.

Troy DeVolld: I’ll take it here. But bull traffic is its own animal. Highland North on Friday night. What was I thinking? Oh, wait. It’s winter. No problem. If you if you don’t know the area, once you cross Hollywood Boulevard on the way out to the valley on conga, there is a very sudden merge that happens that gets going down to one lane. So there’s room for the busses parked outside the Hollywood Bowl, and you have not seen traffic crawl until you have waited for people to sort themselves out on that merge, which is something we really don’t do well out here, just generally merging.

Biagio: No, no, no, everybody’s going their own way.

Troy DeVolld: Yes, the top of Mulholland, it’s like, what are you doing? Why are you. Why didn’t I think of going 60 miles an hour up the right hand lane and then forcing myself on people?

Joke: Oh, yes. That Laurel Canyon, like she hit to Mulholland.

Troy DeVolld: Wow. It is something else.

Joke: Okay, well, the next one, and this is for all of you who always say Los Angeles has no history, which is not true. You just have to know where to find it.

Troy DeVolld: That is right.

Joke: This one’s in the second book, and it’s called the Biltmore.

Troy DeVolld: The Biltmore. The Biltmore is in downtown Los Angeles and is another one of those places you wouldn’t think about until you happen upon it. If you ever doubted LA has been here more than 15 minutes, go stand in the lobby of the Biltmore, and if you can keep the image of the Ghostbusters away, you can feel the years roll over you in the most pleasant way.

Biagio: So true. And so we’ve got I know we’ve got some kids who listen to this podcast who probably never even seen Ghostbusters. Can you fill us in on the backstory of that lied?

Troy DeVolld: First of all, your parents are lax. If they haven’t shown you Ghostbusters yet. In Ghostbusters, there’s a scene where you first meet Slimer, who is the first first of the ghosts to be captured by the Ghostbusters. Not to be confused with the Library Ghost, which is a totally different thing. This is the Ghostbusters podcast now, in case you did that. But the the first capture is in the lobby of the Biltmore Hotel in downtown Los Angeles, which is standing in for a big New York hotel. But it is just a magnificent piece of architecture for stranger people. The movie Bachelor Party was shot in that hotel with Tom Hanks.

Biagio: All right. I saw that movie when I was way too young and shouldn’t have been allowed to see it. That’s right.

Troy DeVolld: Right around the time you were trying to figure out how to trick your cable box into letting you watch Porky’s.

Biagio: Pretty much.

Troy DeVolld: Yes.

Joke: It’s a beautiful, beautiful place. And you know, it’s not. I don’t think it’s on most tourist stops, but yeah, but it it it should be. It’s gorgeous. And we had a chance to tour it for a location scout and it was just amazing. I really, really, really liked it. And, and the quite opposite of that, which is the usual tourist trap, is Hollywood Boulevard, which is also the name of a book one.

Biagio: And book one. Oh Hollywood Boulevard. I love this one. I can so relate. This is this is everybody listen up. This is this is a treat.

Troy DeVolld: And I promise you, every word in these books is completely true. And from experience.

Biagio: I believe it.

Troy DeVolld: Hollywood Boulevard. It can’t be explained how a street that smells like pee and bacon wrapped hot dogs was ever Mecca for hopefuls from all over the world. And yet, like all tarnished things, all she needs is the right lighting and a little glitter to get the imagination going.

Biagio: And yet. And yet. Wow. And you said it moving here. I literally thought from watching Entertainment Tonight, which was pretty much, you know, everything I knew about Hollywood. I thought the streets were going to be paved with gold. I thought everything was red carpets and spotlights and theaters. And when I moved out here was before our Hollywood and Highland was even there. It was just it was just the, you know, it was like, what a dump. And I remember being, like, not depressed, but shocked and wondering if maybe I was in the wrong part, like, like, okay, this this isn’t the part that’s on Entertainment Tonight. Like what? It’s it’s so garbage. Where’s all the red carpets? Where’s the premieres? I thought I’d be, like, tripping over stars walking down Hollywood Boulevard. Yeah. No, no, not so much. And yet still.

Joke: And yet they can just clean it up a little for the premieres. And it looks amazing. So.

Biagio: And still inspires me to this day, even even though I should know better. I go walking on the walk of stars and I’m just like, oh, I’m out here, I’m here in LA. The magic is real, even if it smells like pee.

Joke: And that’s so where they take all the tourists, you know?

Biagio: Yeah.

Troy DeVolld: Well, that’s the thing you got to do is the red line walking tour down there. The amount of information you get about the real history of Hollywood Boulevard is where the charm lies.

Joke: I remember my first time on it. I was here as a foreign exchange student and me and a couple friends. I must have been 14. I still lived in Belgium at the time we were visiting, and we just were looking for Madonna’s star, and we really needed to see the star of Madonna on the Hollywood Boulevard, and we ran up and down the entire street and side streets and asked every little vendor, and they kept pointing us left and right till we figured out she didn’t have one.

Troy DeVolld: Nope. A lot of people don’t have them.

Joke: Yes, exactly. Okay, well, moving away from Hollywood Boulevard, which is not where the locals spend their time, I tell you, where a lot of us do spend our time is on the I-10, which is in book two. And that for those of you who don’t know, is the the freeway that kind of crisscrosses Los Angeles, cuts it right, right through, comes from the rest of the country, and takes you all the way to the Santa Monica pier.

Troy DeVolld: Yep. Which is how I got here from Florida 20 years ago. By ten, I feel as if the I-10 traffic should be measured in terms of systolic and diastolic pressure, as it pumps dreamers in and out of town, year in, year out and through the capillaries lined with crap apartments and left behind sofas.

Joke: Oh yes, the first apartment I actually looked at was right off the ten, and it was a crap apartment, and there were probably left behind sofas on those side streets. But I love the visual of it, because I do think that people get pumped in and out of this town, and that that freeway is always so full of traffic. And it was also just such a pain, because when we’d have to go pitch to MTV, they were all the way over.

Troy DeVolld: Oh.

Joke: Sure, on that side. And you’d have to get on the ten. And trying to get home from there was just, there was never a good time to schedule a meeting on the West Side having to deal with that I-10.

Biagio: Yeah. But but but you know, on a on a bigger note, you’re so right. I mean, if you’re gonna come to LA, you’re probably going to drive and you’re going to going to come out on the ten, you know, I mean, that’s what’s going to get you here. It’s it’s.

Joke: That’s how you got here. That’s how.

Biagio: I got here. That’s how I drove out from Cleveland. You know, I mean, I think that it, it, it really is a road of, of dreamers both both coming in and heading back out.

Joke: Which. I think brings us to statuary, which is also in book two. And I think there’s a great job at kind of defining what, what the prize really is in this town.

Troy DeVolld: Yeah, it’s a statuary. Little gold men and winged golden women are the idols of those who don’t know that it’s less about them than just keeping the lights on and keeping the game going, which is where the winning is.

Joke: That that’s a big lesson, right? That’s the instead of the $100 million mansion and the many, many statues, you know, the the winning is in, in in the doing is in the fact that we get to make a living telling stories and we’re not, you know, off somewhere just on the 9 to 5 that we get to the fact that we get to make a living with what we love to do, that’s the price. The journey is the prize.

Biagio: Exactly. And we’re and we’re lucky, you know, I mean, and all of us, any of us who are lucky enough to work in the industry, probably when we came to LA were first doing other jobs. We all know what it’s like. I was I bagged groceries, wash dishes. My last job before being a producer was delivering pizzas for Pizza Hut. I mean, you know, like like we’ve all done it. We’ve all sort of helped, you know, we’ve all sort of done those jobs, helped the city run. And there’s nothing wrong with those jobs. Like I agree they kept they kept us afloat. But I do you know, I do I do like this better and I and I think that I would rather be able to keep doing this with no trophies and win a bunch of trophies and have it coming to an end.

Troy DeVolld: There are poems in these books about, you know, bartenders like Ruben, who was the bartender at at Musso and Frank for several years, and to walk in and get a Coke from the guy who used to mix drinks for Frank Sinatra and Orson Welles is really kind of something. You’re just embarrassed that you’re getting a Coke from a guy who who knows how to make the best martini in the country. We all have our day jobs, and there are people who turn those into magnificent things.

Joke: Which brings me to LA Sneak Attack, which is also in book two. And it’s one of those things where sometimes it’s tough to stick it out. And then LA has a little sneak attack.

Troy DeVolld: Yeah, it just kind of pulls one out of that. Just when you think you can’t take it here. And the ads for $8 million homes start to overwhelm you, she pulls through with a sunset or a taco place you’ve never noticed before, and the bitterness dissipates. And once more you’re in love.

Joke: So in love.

Biagio: The cycle in and out of love, right? We’ve all we’ve all had it. We’ve all felt it, you know? And yet, especially in a town where rejection is probably at a at a global high.

Joke: Yeah.

Biagio: Well, you’re going to fail over and over again. And yet somehow here we are after 20 years still here and so and so many, so much longer than that.

Joke: I mean. But the sunsets are just amazing. And the little taco places. It’s true. Just they really do.

Troy DeVolld: There’s a sketch. Are you familiar with Letterkenny?

Joke: I am not.

Troy DeVolld: It’s a it’s a sketch program. But they have a thing called LA. It’s something about LA and tacos, and it’s just a bunch of guys up north complaining about how people from LA only talk about hiking and tacos, like, oh, you haven’t had a taco till you’ve been to this taco place and say, all right, but it’s really true. I mean, we talk about hiking and tacos probably more than anybody on Earth, but we’re very sincere.

Joke: About sincere. But we also all have our favorite sushi joints, and we love finding the hole in the wall. And there’s nothing like strip mall sushi in Los Angeles. Some of the best sushi is in strip mall sushi.

Troy DeVolld: So it’s true.

Joke: You know, just.

Troy DeVolld: We have the highest the highest number of sushi joints per capita in the world. If you if you hit Ventura Boulevard.

Joke: Is that true?

Troy DeVolld: I believe.

Joke: I burn Japan.

Troy DeVolld: I believe that’s an actual figure.

Joke: Wow.

Troy DeVolld: Yeah. Couldn’t tell you where I got it from, but then again, you know. If this were a show, I’d have a research team on it for you.

Joke: There you go. Don’t use Wikipedia. Well, I think these are great. And I’d like to end on one called Wide Screen, because I do think it’s so perfectly embodies everything we’ve already talked about. But what our relationship is and maybe should be with Los Angeles.

Troy DeVolld: Sure. Widescreen. My local friends who have somehow lost track of magic see only the debris piled underpasses and the relics of old dreams, forgetting to often the palm trees and the glimpse of light from backyard pools down the hill, and the happy sounds of children who know nothing yet of gross versus net happiness, here is up to its makers choosing the right lenses and framing their shots and mining their audio. You can always choose the way you want to see, and if you do it right in mind the magic hours you can live your life in Cinemascope. Heart filled to the corners with glorious color.

Joke: Such a good lesson.

Biagio: It’s so true.

Joke: I think it’s so easy to forget. You know, I think the line that sends out to me the most is mine. Mind your audio. Yeah. You know, watch what you listen to. Watch what you say. Because thoughts are things and they become reality. And so I by framing your shots, by mining your audio, by choosing what you see, it can be magic hour.

Biagio: It’s true. It’s up to you.

Troy DeVolld: Yeah. Don’t surround yourself with people who hate it here because they’ve all. They’re already three quarters of the way to giving up. You know, I had a producer tell me once he says, well, you know, Troy, we don’t all get to be the guy. And I said, is there any reason why I don’t get to be the guy? And he says, no. And I said, then shut up. Let me, let me dream a little.

Joke: Yes, because sometimes it just takes a little delusion. It’s something.

Troy DeVolld: That’s right. I’ve met a lot of people who are the guy, and I can’t explain how they got there.

Joke: Yes, and probably they can’t either. But I think that dreaming in widescreen was probably one way they got there. Because if you don’t believe it. How is it ever going to happen?

Troy DeVolld: That’s true.

Joke: I think the love letter to Los Angeles, it is. It is that. It is that if you can be happy anywhere else, by all means go pursue that, because it’s not. It’s not easy. She’s not easy, but she does surprise you. And she is beautiful. And she she does have magic, doesn’t she?

Troy DeVolld: I agree more than her fair share.

Biagio: Oh well. Well, thank you for capturing the magic in these two awesome books, which everybody, you know, I, I would love for them to go and buy it wherever is best for you, for them to buy it.

Troy DeVolld: I would tell you, anywhere you get it is going to make me happy. I’m not trying to. I’m not trying to get rich off of poetry. But if you go to Amazon.com, you can get it on Kindle.

Biagio: Yeah, they’re great books. I mean, listen, I am a Kindle user, but I got to tell you, there’s something about seeing joke, you know, hold these books and being able to pick them up and read them. And there’s like a hundred bookmarks sticking out everywhere. I mean, it’s like it’s like become this, this thing that I think there’s something about having. The physical book is just awesome. So I highly recommend the physical version.

Joke: But I want him around, I want I want them laying.

Biagio: Around, I want to see it.

Joke: So I’m reminded when I do have a bad day to pick them up and like, you know.

Biagio: Frame our shots and mind our audience. Exactly using these books. Yeah.

Troy DeVolld: Well, and the covers, the beautiful covers that yes, or Nadeem did for me, they’re based on the Dorothy Draper colors from the Beverly Hills Hotel. That’s awesome. So you get that that pink and that green and the pink is also, you know, reminiscent of my friend Ellie Willis’s house out in the Valley that used to be the MGM party house in the 30s. They just look nice on a coffee table.

Joke: So you really do.

Biagio: And again, even if you’re never going to move to LA, you know, I think there’s wisdom in all these poems. They’re all about something more than just, you know, the face value of the poem. They all they all are a little, a little something deeper. And I think every individual person is going to find what that is for them.

Troy DeVolld: Yes, I agree.

Biagio: I know I did over and over again, every time I read one, it made me think of something that you probably had no intention of me feeling, but I felt.

Troy DeVolld: So it’s all shared. It’s all shared experiences, man.

Joke: So if you live in Los Angeles and have been here for a while, I think you will get a ton out of it. I think if you’re not local and thinking about it. But also these make great gifts. They’re they’re not expensive and they are.

Biagio: Joke has been buying them for producers for holiday gifts. I mean by the by the basketful.

Joke: So yes, I think that they’re very, very great. So thank you so much for writing them and putting these thoughts sure, that that are so relatable on paper and for us to go back to again and again.

Troy DeVolld: Well, I’ll tell you if you are, if you are buying them as gifts, you’re buying large numbers of them. Just find me, I’m on Instagram at reality TV Troy, and just drop me a line. You can get them from me and I’ll. I’ll inscribe them and mail them out for you. Oh.

Biagio: You’re at everybody. Oh, man. Well, I well, I want to take you up on that.

Joke: Well, next time we actually get to see each other and realize.

Biagio: Yeah, you got to.

Joke: Be our well-lived copies.

Biagio: Yeah. And let me just say, man, I can’t imagine, like, it’s going through what you went through. You know, having having a stroke. So many people at that point would be like, oh, it’s done, I’m done. It’s over. I’m going to go live a less stressful life. And then somehow you manage to turn that into this beautiful reflection on what it’s like to chase dreams, live dreams, and live life in Los Angeles. I mean, just what a what a way to turn that experience which could have which I’m sure was so awful into something so beautiful and lasting. I mean, just congratulations and you have all my admiration for having the strength to do that.

Troy DeVolld: Well, in Los Angeles, you have to learn how to turn lemons into steak pretty early.

Biagio: Ain’t that the truth?

Joke: Awesome. Well, thank you again. I really appreciate it.

Troy DeVolld: Sure. I’m so glad you had me.

Biagio: Oh, we’re so glad to have you. I’m going to definitely put a link to these on the show notes, which you’ll be able to find at Producing Unscripted Forward 130 because this is episode 130. Can you believe it? My goodness, I thought, I know, I thought we were going to do like five of these, but we’ll include links to the book’s links to our other podcast episode we did with Troy, which was equally enlightening. The books are called 100 Poems About Los Angeles and another 100 poems about Los Angeles to get them on Amazon. Or you can track down Troy at reality TV, Troy on Instagram. And he will. He will inscribe one for you, which let me tell you, you want to hold on to that. That is something to keep. So thanks so much, Troy. Have a great rest of your Valentine’s Day.

Troy DeVolld: Oh.

Biagio: You too. Yes. I’m gonna go and try to be romantic. We’ll see. We’ll see how that shakes out. Whoa! Really?

Joke: Raising the bar.

Troy DeVolld: Let me turn off zoom before that goes down. Will you?

Biagio: All right, everybody, we’ll see you next month. Thanks for tuning in. Bye bye. By producing unscripted.

Unidentified Voice: With Joke and Biagio.