GARRET PATTEN - SELF CUSTODY MOVIE - INSIDE THE WORLD OF BITCOINS

Summary

Podcast Summary: "Garret Patten – Self Custody Movie – Inside the World of Bitcoins"

Kat on the Loose with Kat Zammuto
Date: April 29, 2026

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Episode Overview

In this episode, Kat Zammuto sits down with filmmaker Garret Patten to discuss his gripping short film Self Custody, which explores the anxiety, suspense, and high-stakes drama of managing Bitcoin through self-custody. The conversation covers both the creative process behind the movie and the real-world implications and risks of holding cryptocurrency. Bitcoin security, myths, and cultural perceptions are tackled openly, complemented by behind-the-scenes Hollywood anecdotes and insights into future projects.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. The Instinct & Anxiety Behind ‘Self Custody’

• Garret’s film Self Custody is based on real-life stories of people losing access to large amounts of Bitcoin due to misplaced seed phrases or hardware wallets.
• Kat expresses the visceral anxiety she felt while watching the film, noting, “It’s so nerve wracking and it’s so good.” [01:19]
• Garret acknowledges that the unease is intentional and reflects “what's at stake” with self-custody in crypto. [01:33]

2. Bitcoin Basics & Perceptions

• Kat admits her fears regarding Bitcoin, associating it with “an underground world… illicit money… something horrible is gonna happen.” [02:12]
• Garret explains:
  • Early Bitcoin was seen as riskier, but now it’s a “real asset class, like gold.” [02:40]
  • The main challenge: users have sole responsibility (“self custody”) – if you lose access (seed phrases/pin), there’s no backup. [02:59]
• Illustration: Real-life story of a man in the UK searching a landfill for a lost Bitcoin wallet worth hundreds of millions. [03:34]

3. How Bitcoin Security Works

• When purchasing Bitcoin, users receive “16 random words called your seed phrases.” If lost, there’s no recovery. [03:58]
• There are online custodial options, but they’re subject to hacks—so most serious holders engrave seed phrases on metal plates, locked away for protection. [06:09]
• Risks: “$200 billion worth of Bitcoins lost or stolen.” [05:25]

4. The Ethics, Risk, and Reality of Self-Custody

• People feel safer controlling their own funds rather than trusting institutions, but it demands ultimate responsibility.
• If you die or become incapacitated without sharing your seed phrases, the money is lost—drawing comparison to estate planning. [05:03], [25:34]

5. The Film’s Authenticity and Intended Impact

• Garret tried to accurately depict the technical and emotional stakes of Bitcoin custody. “We try to keep the beats of actually how to access Bitcoin… true to life.” [10:03]
• Kat highlights the film’s emotional tension affecting relationships and personal well-being. [10:16]
• The movie was designed as a “proof of concept” short with ambitions for a feature or TV series. [11:06]

6. Hollywood Connections & Casting Adrian Grenier

• Garret’s relationship with Adrian Grenier (who appears in the film) began years ago through a documentary about wilderness therapy and processing grief. [13:38]
• Their shared experiences, including intense wilderness retreats, deepened trust and collaboration.
• Grenier, a “big Bitcoin guy himself,” joined the project because the character’s lines and philosophy resonated with him. [17:02]

7. Potential Series and Thematic Depth

• There’s significant interest in expanding Self Custody into a full series—described as a mix between Billions and Entourage, centered around high-stakes Bitcoin drama and intrigue. [18:52]
• The show could explore the modern “digital bank heist” concept and the Wild West of crypto, tapping into both comedic and dramatic possibilities. [19:04]

8. Real Risks of Bitcoin – Hacks, Scams, and Safety

• Kat probes stories of Bitcoin hacks, theft, and even violence linked to crypto riches.
• Garret confirms:
  • There are hacker groups offering to “recover” lost wallets, but most are scams (“wild west… FBI shutting down a lot”). [21:00]
  • High-profile Bitcoin holders have been targeted for crime. [26:34]

9. Bitcoin’s Future and Regulation

• As Bitcoin gets more mainstream, regulation increases—holders now owe taxes on gains, but enforcement remains challenging. [08:21]
• The annual Bitcoin conference in Las Vegas draws massive crowds, signaling increased legitimacy. [23:56]

10. Practical Advice for Bitcoin Beginners

• Garret suggests starting small, securely engraving seed phrases on metal plates stored in safe deposit boxes, and planning inheritance accordingly. [25:08]
• “Treat [Bitcoin] like estate planning… you better have a continuity plan…” [25:34]

11. Hollywood Realities and Career Tips

• Insights for filmmakers: Leverage social media and indie productions, take initiative, and be persistent because the industry is tough.
• Garret: “You just gotta make it happen… when you get something you like, it’s so rewarding.” [33:53]
• Emphasis on passion: “Every movie is like pushing a boulder up a hill. If you don’t have that burning passion to keep going, it won’t happen.” [37:16]

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• Kat: “$14 million is a fucking fortune for most people in the world.” [04:38]
• Garret: “$200 billion worth of Bitcoins lost or stolen.” [05:25]
• Kat: “How do you keep it safe… you cannot trust anyone in the world?” [05:53]
• Garret: “It’s the wild west and the FBI has been shutting down a lot of those groups.” [21:18]
• Kat: “Most people are very afraid of being alone…if you do that, it’s very empowering.” [15:06]
• Garret: “I think you have to treat it like estate planning…continuity plan for that Bitcoin…” [25:34]
• Kat: “There is so much talk about it…just the way you guys work and the dialogues, everything was so fast paced…” [20:18]

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Timestamps for Key Segments

• [01:16] – Kat introduces Garret, gushes over the movie
• [02:12] – Kat’s “scared” perception of Bitcoin
• [03:58] – Garret explains seed phrases and security risks
• [05:25] – $200 billion in lost/stolen Bitcoin discussed
• [10:03] – Film’s technical authenticity confirmed
• [13:38] – Adrian Grenier and Garret’s backstory & wilderness therapy
• [17:02] – Adrian Grenier’s fit with the project & real-life Bitcoin use
• [18:52] – Plans for series or feature film
• [21:00] – The reality of hacker “recovery” groups
• [25:08] – Practical tips for storing Bitcoin securely
• [33:53] – Real talk for aspiring filmmakers
• [37:16] – On passion and perseverance in film

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Further Resources & Final Thoughts

• Where to Watch: Self Custody is available on Amazon, Tubi, Plex, and Apple. [17:17]
• Bitcoin for Beginners: Attending conferences, researching asset security, starting small.
• Upcoming Projects: Grateful Dead biopic, Mike Tyson project in development. [30:49]

“If you had a million dollars of bitcoin, you better have a continuity plan for that bitcoin.”—Garret [25:34]

“Every movie is like pushing a boulder up a hill. If you don’t have that burning passion to keep going, it won’t happen.”—Garret [37:16]

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Rich, unfiltered, and highly instructive, this episode offers both psychological thrills and practical wisdom for anyone curious—or nervous—about the crypto world and its place in modern storytelling and finance.

Transcript

[Kat]

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[Kat]

Welcome to Cat on the Loose.

[Garrett]

Thank you for having me.

[Kat]

I am so excited to have you here. I watched your movie. Let's jump right on it because I have a million questions for you. I watched your latest movie and it's so nerve wracking and it's so good,

[Garrett]

you know that that's the response I've been getting from a lot of people, particularly people that have bitcoin and they go through the process of potentially not having their pin code or their seed phrases and everybody's kind of saying the same thing. They were so uneasy throughout the movie just because of what's at stake. Yeah.

[Kat]

So let's, let's rewind. Okay. The name of the movie is Self Custody. Right. So it's kind of interesting. You directed.

[Garrett]

Directed.

[Kat]

You are the main actor, executive producer, executive produce. So it's your baby. Did you write it?

[Garrett]

So I did the beat sheet and then I had a writer take it to a script. But the story I got from it was based off of a few real stories of people that I knew and I put them together into. Into one.

[Kat]

Okay, so let's start there because most, I don't know if it's most people, but I think a lot of people are like me when they hear the word bitcoin in My mind, I see like this underground world. Oh, my God, I'm gonna lose my money. I don't know anything about it. I'm like, scared. It's like illicit money. It's dirty. Something horrible is gonna happen to me. La la la la. I know nothing about it. And I'm kind of like, I don't know if I want to know anything about it. I don't want my money there.

[Garrett]

Yeah, you know, I mean, I look at it now, I think in the beginning days, that was probably a little bit more spot on. Particularly like in the film. The guy would have got the bonus back in 2012 when nobody really thought anything of it. But I think now it's kind of really become its own asset class, like something like alternative to currency, like gold.

[Kat]

Right.

[Garrett]

Bitcoin has really started to do that. And yeah, I think now it's a lot more stable. I mean, you look at the large institutional investors, and it's really taken off. But the trick with bitcoin is that it is self custody. So you are responsible for your money. You don't have any insurance policy on it.

[Kat]

So let's explain it to me and probably almost everybody else out there listening that has no idea what's going on in the movie. And there, like you said, there are there actually very similar stories that happen in real life. That people have bitcoins in this pen drive, right?

[Garrett]

Yes.

[Kat]

And they literally lose it or they lose the code. I saw this dude that was going through this trash. Did you hear that story? That was a dude in real life. He was going through a trash pile for years in the UK. In the UK.

[Garrett]

Because 700 million worth of bitcoin.

[Kat]

I mean, come on. So can you explain why is it. Is it locked in this Japan, and why is it so hard to recover it if you lose it?

[Garrett]

Yeah. So when you. When you purchase bitcoin, they give you 16 random words which are called your seed phrases, and that's your access. So if somebody else gets those seed phrases, they could transfer the money and it's theirs if you lose the seed phrases and there's no way to recover them. So that's.

[Kat]

You cannot say, like, forgot my password. That's it. So it is risky.

[Garrett]

It's risky. So there's two ways to store. If you store it in self custody, which I think probably half the people do, you get seed phrases. And then there are some online sites that you can store bitcoin on now, but a lot of those get hacked.

[Kat]

That's what I was going to say. Like, so let's say you. How much was it in the movie? Like, I forgot. How many millions of dollars?

[Garrett]

14.3.

[Kat]

So $14 million is a fucking fortune for most people in the world. I mean. Okay, then you have it there. Like you said, you have an aside. You know, I mean, why would anybody keep the money on bitcoins if it's so risky in so many different ways?

[Garrett]

Well, but a lot of people don't see it as risky. So now think about this. Own and secure your money up to $250,000.

[Kat]

Right. But. Yeah, so you can have many, many, many, many banks.

[Garrett]

Right. With bitcoin, if. If you trust yourself more than you would another institution to store your money, then that's where the beauty of bitcoin. But now a lot of guys, the way they lose it is they didn't give the seed phrases to their girlfriend or their wife or whoever, and something happens to. To the guy, that bitcoin's gone.

[Kat]

Oh. Like they forget to leave it behind.

[Garrett]

2, $200 billion worth of bitcoins, lost or stolen.

[Kat]

Be serious.

[Garrett]

Yeah.

[Kat]

Oh, my God.

[Garrett]

So it's.

[Kat]

That's. But that the numbers are crazy.

[Garrett]

But that's what was so intriguing to me. I'm like, the fact that somebody.

[Kat]

Intriguing. Yeah.

[Garrett]

Right. And. And you think of all the old movies that they used to be out there where somebody would, you know, someone would hold somebody at gunpoint to get a wire transfer from a bank account to another bank account.

[Kat]

Yeah.

[Garrett]

With bitcoin, you don't have to do that. Someone takes the seed phrases, it's theirs.

[Kat]

Okay, so how, if you have bitcoins and you have your secret, how do you keep it safe if you cannot tell your wife because if you got divorced, if you fight, you cannot tell your attorney because they can't steal it from you. Like, you cannot trust anyone in the world. You don't want to lose this kind of money. How do you keep it safe?

[Garrett]

Well, most people, they get those little metal sheets and they engrave the seed phrases on there and they store it in a lockbox somewhere.

[Kat]

Oh, my goodness.

[Garrett]

So for fire protection, things like that. But that's really how they do it. Now you can actually take the little Trezor wallet. If you're in places like Dubai, you can do transactions at certain merchants with. With their wallet now.

[Kat]

Oh, really?

[Garrett]

So it's becoming more and more accessible.

[Kat]

Yeah. But again, it still sounds like very undergroundish. Yeah, I don't know. It sounds like very. Like a lot of money laundering, a lot of crazy shit. Going on.

[Garrett]

I don't know what the new new stat is, but I think the US has 40 trillion in debt. As our debt with the United States continues to grow, I mean, asset classes like bitcoin, you start to wonder. You're like, well, gosh, you know, long term, the US dollar, bitcoin might be a good alternative.

[Kat]

Very scary. Like, just, it's funny because, just like it was so funny, I watched your movie and a few days later, a client of mine, he had to do like a big transaction and he sent me a text like, oh, can I pay in bitcoin? Because if I pay you today, really? And I was like, no, I don't deal with this. And he was like, what? He thought. He was looking at me like I was from the stone age. He was like, what? What do you mean? What do you. I pay everybody in the world. I'm like, dude, I'm nowhere near ready to trust it to do. I'm. No, I, I don't mind waiting for a wire, but I'm terrified. But I am terrified.

[Garrett]

You tried to do a lot of big international, like between Canada and the United States, wires. It's a little bit more of a difficult process. So a lot of guys that I know now in business, it is, they do exchange bitcoin.

[Kat]

But is it maybe because it's easier to hide the money? Like if you're trying to. Because I heard. I don't know if it's true because again, I don't know anything about it. There's a lot of illicit stuff, money laundering, drug money being moved. Because it's more. It's easier to move the money? No.

[Garrett]

Well, yeah, and it's, it's. There's no oversight on it. I mean, it's your, you're, again, you're the only one responsible for it. So it's, it's not where you have to get a wire clear at the bank. You don't have to.

[Kat]

Yeah, right, right, right.

[Garrett]

Yeah. I mean, you go on, type your seed phrases in, transfer the money and so.

[Kat]

And you don't have to. How do you pay tax? You don't have to pay taxes on it. How do you declare they find out about it?

[Garrett]

You do now on the gains. So that's the thing. As, I mean, as the government starts to see it as a real asset class, it is becoming more and more, you know, eventually I think it is going to be heavily regulated because in the beginning, people just didn't think it was here to stay. But.

[Kat]

But if you don't let's you, you get this money and you don't tell the government. How do they find out?

[Garrett]

Well, yeah, I mean, that's the question, right? And I guess I would be more tax evasion if you.

[Kat]

Oh my God.

[Garrett]

Yeah.

[Kat]

See what I mean? It's very shady. Now in the movie he has the pen drive, right? Somebody. I don't want to tell you guys the whole you gotta go watch because it's really, really good. But he has a pen drive with this 40 million bucks.

[Garrett]

Yeah.

[Kat]

Why would he be in a pen drive?

[Garrett]

So that's called the trezor wallet. It's called a trezor wallet. So it's basically like when you plug it into the computer, all that does is gives you a random digits so you can access into your computer. So you got to think of that as just like a key.

[Kat]

Okay.

[Garrett]

It's a key to access that.

[Kat]

So whoever gave him the money gave him this, this thing.

[Garrett]

So in the movie he. Back in 2012, when nobody really knew what bitcoin was going to become, he started at a new job and he was bonus bitcoin forgot about it. Back then in 2012, if you got bitcoin, you would have been like, I don't want this. Give me cash.

[Kat]

Right?

[Garrett]

Later on recalls that he has this now it's worth $14 million. But he doesn't have the seed phrases. So he goes on this journey to try to recover it.

[Kat]

And yeah, he keeps trying to guess.

[Garrett]

You get 10 shots, right?

[Kat]

So he thinks he knows. And then he starts getting more and more nervous because if you run through the. Is it like that in real life?

[Garrett]

100%. We try to keep the beats of actually how to access bitcoin and the seed phrases true to. And we've had a lot of, you know, real big bitcoin guys watch it and they said, yeah, this is exactly how that would happen.

[Kat]

Oh my God, I will die of a heart attack. And you see the tension. Like the guy's like, he's going nuts. It's affecting which probably same. It happens. It has happened in real life to some people. Like it affects your life, your relationships, right?

[Garrett]

I freak out if I lose my email password, let alone if it's same $14 million. I mean it's, it's, it's unbelievable. And. But that's how a lot of people choose to keep their money now.

[Kat]

Oh my God. So let's go a little deeper in the movie. You decide to make this movie. What was the thought process in terms of making it a short movie? Because probably A lot of people have told you that it's extremely attention grabbing. It's a very high like topic.

[Garrett]

Yeah.

[Kat]

So when I'm watching I'm like, I want more. I want to see these characters more.

[Garrett]

So it was initially thought of as more of a proof of concept that then we would take it and create into a show, which is going to happen. But as we started to film the movie and I made this goal that I wanted it to be a 30 minute movie that felt like you watched a feature, which is a very difficult thing to do and to have Act 1, Act 2 and Act 3 all in that time.

[Kat]

Very difficult.

[Garrett]

So we took that challenge on. I think we did a decent job of that and now we have a lot of people interested in either turning it into a feature or a show.

[Kat]

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[Garrett]

Yeah, so he's, he's a just a great friend of mine. We've. We've known each other for seven, eight years now. We started another project together called. It at the time was called Grief is Praise. It was helping people release grief in their life. So an Adrian decided to leave Hollywood and it was about seven years ago that he said he wanted to take a break from Hollywood and he moved to Texas to go on a ranch. He had, he had some trauma from his childhood that he was dealing with and he started this kind of therapy process with like a wilderness therapy and it really helped him. So we started to do a documentary which will be coming out soon as well, that we take other people on the same journey. It's like for instance, we went. Jesus was like a year ago, we lived in a Utah canyon, six hours away from any town with. For five nights with no cell phones.

[Kat]

You and him just. You went, oh.

[Garrett]

There was like five people.

[Kat]

Okay.

[Garrett]

No tents, no tents, no tents. We slept one night, it started snowing the next night it was hot.

[Kat]

I mean, why'd you guys do that?

[Garrett]

It's, it's all part of a wilderness therapy process that helps you heal. And you know, in the middle of it, we did these solo missions where you go off on your own in the canyon for 24 hours and you really, you're disconnected from the world and it really, it gives you time to just process and think of, you know, how you'd like to live a better life. It helped. I went into it as a producer and I came out of it gaining a lot more than I thought. And it was extremely difficult too. I didn't think it was going to be that hard.

[Kat]

It is very difficult. Right. Especially because I think most people are very afraid of being alone. Most people are terrified of that lack of connection. I always say that, at least in my journey. I think one of the biggest lessons we can all learn is to learn how to be alone and enjoy our own company. And very few people actually get to do that. But if you do that, it's very

[Garrett]

empowering and you don't realize the impact that it has. I mean, when we did the solo missions and all of a sudden the Sun's down at 7 o' clock and you're alone out in the canyon with nothing.

[Kat]

Wow. Yeah.

[Garrett]

No Phone. No communication. You couldn't really tell what time it was. And you're laying there through the night just by yourself with your thoughts. Yeah, it sounds simple, but it's not.

[Kat]

No, I don't think it sounds simple. I think first you have to have the courage to go there. Right. And, and be alone and, and just let, let it happen. But I think it's a very transforming experience. Right.

[Garrett]

It was, it was amazing. And I mean, you know, we had, we brought cameras out there and some, A lot of people. A lot of tears and a lot of people releasing grief from their childhood and their past.

[Kat]

Is this out already?

[Garrett]

Not yet.

[Kat]

Not yet.

[Garrett]

We're close. So we have 10 episodes.

[Kat]

It's a document. Oh, it's a, like a, A series.

[Garrett]

Yeah.

[Kat]

Okay.

[Garrett]

And we've filmed four of them now, and so we're getting close, but whether we release four and then film the rest, and we're trying to figure all

[Kat]

that out now, but that sounds an amazing project and I think a lot of people could benefit from that. Oh my God.

[Garrett]

It's. It was eye opening. Yeah.

[Kat]

Yeah. So that's. So you've, you guys known each other, you work together.

[Garrett]

Yeah. And then. So I had the self custody script and I sent it to Adrian. And you know, Adrian's obviously a much bigger actor, so for a big bigger actor to commit to a short, it's a whole different process. But when he, the part, he, he calls me up, he's like. I would almost say these lines word for word. I, I believe this. So I, I think the, the part just spoke to him so. Well. Yeah. And he's a big bitcoin guy himself.

[Kat]

Oh, he is, yeah. He's not afraid of losing it.

[Garrett]

Yeah. Yeah. So it was one of those things where it, it came together at the right time and he was.

[Kat]

Uhhuh. Yeah, that was the part. And I'm not going to say exactly what happened. Guys, go watch. It's on Amazon, right?

[Garrett]

Amazon, 2B, Plex, Apple.

[Kat]

Yeah, it's all over the place. I watched it on Amazon and it's a short movie, but it really grabs you. But when he comes into the movie, I'm like, I want to see the relationship of those. Your character and his character develop. I'm like, what happened? You know, I want to know more.

[Garrett]

Yeah.

[Kat]

Because obviously something happened in the past.

[Garrett]

Right. We have a whole backstory for the feature of how that happened.

[Kat]

Okay.

[Garrett]

Essentially, you know, they were, they were friends from, from college. Adrian went on to start Nova Link, which is the company in there. My character was hired to work there, but my character ended up, you know, Odette, who plays my wife in the movie.

[Kat]

Yeah.

[Garrett]

So the backstory was she used to

[Kat]

date Adrian's character, but we don't know that.

[Garrett]

Not fully. You could hear it in some of the lines that Adrian says, like it says on the plane, so. Oh, I heard you and Amy have kids now.

[Kat]

Right. But it doesn't say, like, you don't

[Garrett]

come out and blatantly.

[Kat]

Right. And when you are. And sorry, when your wife is saying to you, you better call. La, la, la, la. You guys don't. You know, you don't really explain what the issue was that you didn't want to talk to him.

[Garrett]

You know, there's something like that.

[Kat]

So you're watching the movie and you're thinking you're gonna get all the answers, but you still don't get all of it. So that's. I said I was really hungry for more. I'm like, I want to know more.

[Garrett]

And for the feature film, we're gonna answer a lot of that.

[Kat]

Okay, cool. So you are making a feature out of that?

[Garrett]

Well, we started off on the feature side of things. Now it's kind of leaning towards a show.

[Kat]

Oh, my God. A show would be so cool as well, because it's an endless subject. Yeah, right.

[Garrett]

Yeah. We see it as kind of like. Like a billion slash Entourage. You know, put the. Put those two together.

[Kat]

Yeah.

[Garrett]

But it's. It's centered around bitcoin and the agencies that all work.

[Kat]

Oh, my God. I'm like, you know, I was the biggest Entourage fan on the planet. I was obsessed with Entourage because I love the show. They were super funny, and I. You know, we all grew up. I mean, we watched for years and years and years, especially living here in la. Right. Because they were literally filming in places that everywhere went too. It was so cool. So just thinking, like, making it a little more, because the bitcoin can be serious, it can be dramatic, it can be scary.

[Garrett]

Well, I'll be shocked if. If they don't do an Entourage reboot anyway.

[Kat]

They should have done it a million years ago. Oh, my God. A million years ago.

[Garrett]

There's a perfect storyline now that Adrian's now a farmer out in Texas, and they. And the guys go back, they have

[Kat]

to convince and bring him back to

[Garrett]

la, get him back in the business. We want you to. Yeah, they show up, he's got a big beard, he's ranching, and you guys gotta pitch that. We've been. I mean, I'm not Part of that. But we. We talk about it as a.

[Kat]

Well, you should be part of the entourage.

[Garrett]

But I'll tell you, even after this, I feel like there. There is so much talk about it even online, on social media. You just. You see.

[Kat]

Oh my God. Yeah, I listen to that. They do the podcast on and off. You know, the. The Victory.

[Garrett]

Oh, victory. Yeah, yeah.

[Kat]

Yes.

[Garrett]

Yeah.

[Kat]

I am obsessed with them. I love them. I love their work so much.

[Garrett]

It's such. Yeah. Such a good group of guys.

[Kat]

Yeah. So I mean it just made. And the chem. You guys, although you don't have like a scene together, just the way you guys work and the dialogues, everything was so fast paced, like really, really great.

[Garrett]

Yeah. And that was the cool thing about. About self custody is the other guy that I acted with was my acting coach, Michael Monks.

[Kat]

Really.

[Garrett]

And then obviously I'm very close with Adrian. So the. The chemistry that we already had when we were doing the scene, it was just came off very natural.

[Kat]

I know, it's really cool. And another aspect of the movie that I also. I mean, you tell me. But probably happens in real life if somebody's trying to recover the bitcoins. They forget the phrases. Whatever. There are people that you pay.

[Garrett]

Yeah.

[Kat]

To rec. But you pay to recover. Like hackers basically.

[Garrett]

Right.

[Kat]

That tell you if you give me whatever, 10, 20, I will get your money back.

[Garrett]

However, they're all underground groups. Yeah.

[Kat]

Major underground. So how would you can't trust them. You just hope for the best.

[Garrett]

It's the wild west and. And the FBI has been shutting down a lot of those groups.

[Kat]

Oh really?

[Garrett]

Yeah, because there's a lot of scams, there's a lot of fraud out there. I don't even know how many cases there are of a group being successful in getting back into somebody's drive after they've lost the seat phrases. I think it's a very, very difficult process.

[Kat]

Yeah. So who. I don't even know exactly how to. I know the question I want to ask you, but it's because I don't know anything about bitcoins. Whoever came up with bitcoins. La la la. Because there's not a bank. Right. So who came up with somebody came up with the system. I'm gonna make bitcoins and I'm gonna make this crazy complicated and difficult and non replaceable if you lose access to it.

[Garrett]

Yeah. Well, I think I wish Adrian were here because he knows all the stats

[Kat]

you can bring him. Okay. Open Adrian.

[Garrett]

But I think it's Satoshi was the kind of The Godfather of bitcoin, you know, it was the whole program behind it is they're only going to make a short supply of it and create demand. And you just got to look at it as. It's an alternative currency, like gold, but it's digital.

[Kat]

Well, but gold you, like, say, put in a safe, right in the safe deposit box.

[Garrett]

I don't know how many people actually take the gold in when they buy a lot of gold.

[Kat]

You leave the gold in the place where you buy the gold.

[Garrett]

I think a lot of. A lot of people. I think that's kind of the way it's.

[Kat]

I don't know. That's a really good question.

[Garrett]

So I look at bitcoin as an asset class like that.

[Kat]

So if you want to buy bitcoin, you buy from somewhere. Like, how does it work?

[Garrett]

Yeah, you go on the exchanges, and so you go on. You plug the wallet in and you do the. You just buy the trans. Someone's selling. So it's an exchange where if you had bitcoin, you sell and I buy your bitcoin.

[Kat]

So you have bitcoins. A little bit. You said Adrian has bitcoin after doing the movie. And of course, I'm not gonna tell you guys what happened at the end because you guys have to watch it, but after doing the mov, didn't it freak you out?

[Garrett]

You know, I'm kind of in the middle on that. I actually think It's. Again, with 40 trillion in debt, the United States, I guess I don't have the craziest amount of confidence that the financial system. I think AI Is going to be difficult. So when I look at that, I do look at asset classes like bitcoin, I would never want to have 20% of my net worth in it, but.

[Kat]

Right. Right. A little bit. You're doubling, you're dabbling.

[Garrett]

And that's. I think, most investments you want to.

[Kat]

You want to dou. Yeah. Do you see it getting better and less underground? Ish.

[Garrett]

Yeah. 100%.

[Kat]

Oh, yeah.

[Garrett]

Yeah. I mean, that's already starting to happen. I mean, geez. I mean, even that bitcoin conference we're going to in two weeks, I mean, it's. It's like a million people attend. It's a. It's a big.

[Kat]

So, okay. Bitcoin conference in Las Vegas. So what is. What is there conference for all. They're trying to convince people to buy bitcoins, invest in bitcoins.

[Garrett]

It's. It's more, you know, a lot of outside speakers talking about where bitcoin's headed in the. In the world and the economy. Yeah. I think a lot of the exchanges are there to show people options of how to buy it and where to buy it. But it's. Yeah, it's for. It's for people that are heavy into bitcoin and they want to learn about it as an asset class.

[Kat]

Yeah. Like, I think. I don't know. I think I speak for a lot of people like myself. I'm still, like, too scared to. I don't know.

[Garrett]

Well, start little.

[Kat]

Okay. Maybe like a dollar. Can you buy $1?

[Garrett]

Well, you'd get a fraction of.

[Kat]

I don't know. Maybe I'll put a dollar. Like, no, I'm gonna wa. I'm like, oh, I really chicken out. So what do you suggest? Like, somebody out there listening, like, okay, this sounds really interesting. It's crazy, but you. If you have bitcoins, what in. Let's say, you. You keep your phrases in your brain. What. What do you do?

[Garrett]

No, I mean, I'd engrave them on a metal plate. So you get these metal plates.

[Kat]

Okay.

[Garrett]

You. You punch each of the words in there, all 16 of them, and then, like I said, you keep it in a safe deposit box or a lockbox.

[Kat]

So if something happens to you, you have a will, and then you tell someone that you have a SAF box. So.

[Garrett]

And so here's the combination. Yeah.

[Kat]

And they can go. And they can read the phrases that are engraved there.

[Garrett]

Yeah.

[Kat]

So that's why you recommend.

[Garrett]

Yeah. I think you have to treat it like estate planning. So if you. If you had a million dollars of bitcoin, you better have a continuity plan for that. Bitcoin precautions. But yeah, I mean, the other problem with that is. Yeah, if you have it in the will and someone got a hold of your will and they figured out where the lockbox.

[Kat]

Yeah, that's exactly. So how do you. Because you have to have attorneys.

[Garrett]

Right, right. For your will, but you could essentially have instructions for your spouse or girlfriend or whoever of where the seed phrases are.

[Kat]

So you better give the instructions to someone you trust. A lot.

[Garrett]

Yeah, a lot. Because it would be the easiest thing to take from somebody and. Oh, my God, very hard to trace. Very hard to do you.

[Kat]

And I also remember, that's another story that really creeped me out. You probably know the story as well. I think it was a few months ago, or maybe longer, because time goes by so fast. This major bitcoin trader in New York, this dude, gazillionaire, got. He was being tortured in his Apartment.

[Garrett]

Oh, for the.

[Kat]

Do you remember?

[Garrett]

I. You know, I. I do vaguely.

[Kat]

Like, someone got in his apartment and they kept torturing him and torturing him, and then he escaped and he was running in Manhattan because. I don't know, he escaped. They were literally torturing him until he would tell them, like, the. Whatever the phrase or something to steal. That's another thing that would really scare me because it's so much money.

[Garrett]

Yeah.

[Kat]

I would like, you know, somebody's gonna come and if they know I have bitcoins, you know, especially for public figures. Right. If they know you have bitcoins.

[Garrett]

Yeah.

[Kat]

I mean, they're gonna try and do something to you.

[Garrett]

If. If you're a thief. I would think that the most attractive thing to steal will be to try to get somebody's bitcoin because it's. I mean, obviously, if you go rob a bank, you're going to have police chasing you down. Bitcoin, you take the seed phrases, you transfer the money, and no one's really coming after you.

[Kat]

Right. I mean, who can you call? The police? And then what. How do you.

[Garrett]

I think the feds were open up.

[Kat]

Yeah.

[Garrett]

Cases on it. But it's very, very difficult to.

[Kat]

Yeah. I don't know.

[Garrett]

Yeah, that's. But that's why Hollywood, it's so. It's, you know, it's these new versions of bank robberies where it's around bitcoin. And that's why I think the show is so intriguing.

[Kat]

Yes.

[Garrett]

Just the fact that somebody could have that amount of money on a drive.

[Kat]

I know. Yeah. It's cra. It's fascinating. I. I love it. You guys did a fantastic job. Like I said, I am hungry for more. So I really hope you guys let me know when you do. If you're going to do a feature movie, if you're going to do a TV series. I can totally see this on tv because you can do like a million episodes about it.

[Garrett]

Yeah, we. We hope to be announcing something big pretty soon.

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[Kat]

Awesome. You let me know.

[Garrett]

Yeah.

[Kat]

Congratulations. What else is is coming up for you? Anything?

[Garrett]

Yeah, I got. Yeah, I have several pretty cool projects I'm in the middle of, so I have one called Growing Up Dead. It's the. You know the band the Grateful Dead, of course. So think like Almost Famous meets Walk the Line. So it's the story of the Grateful Dead through the eyes of the kids that grew up on the road with the Grateful Dead. And it's. It's Justin Kreutzman's. He's a good friend of mine. His father was the drummer of the band and it's. It's his life. All these crazy things that he saw around that culture of the Grateful Dead. So I'm very excited about that one. Pretty far along the way, working with Mike and Kiki Tyson on Mike Tyson biopic.

[Kat]

Oh, my God, that's so, so awesome. I told you right when I met you that he used to be my neighbor in Las Vegas.

[Garrett]

Oh, that's right.

[Kat]

Yeah. We had a house before. Now he has a bigger house. But this was 10 years ago I had a house and it was like a little tiny little development, you know, like a bunch of house in a circle.

[Garrett]

Yeah.

[Kat]

And we were neighbors. And I'm. I'm the only psycho that wakes up like 5am to walk my dog, so. And he, he was.

[Garrett]

He's always out there running.

[Kat]

He's always out there running. So we're like, hi. That's so. He's such a cool guy, right? Right.

[Talkspace Sponsor]

Yeah.

[Garrett]

And you know, his life story, the amount of ups and downs and comebacks

[Kat]

and it's, I mean, you just so inspiring. Right?

[Garrett]

It's insane. And he's, you know, I've know him really well and he has one of the biggest hearts out there too. He's, he's a, he's a kind man and just. I can't wait to tell that story.

[Kat]

Oh, my God, I'm so excited. You are so busy. So before I let you go, any tips on or points? Because a lot of people, you know, they love the bts, the movies behind the scenes, Hollywood. But it's a super tough industry and a lot of people get burned out, A lot of people get frustrated. And I always hear this phrase and I laugh. People come in here, they're like, oh, I'm going to give this a try for a year. And I'm like, maybe a little more than a year.

[Garrett]

It's a tough, tough business. I think that the cool thing is now if I were 22, graduating from a film school, you could, you could go out there now for relatively cheap and you could get in the vertical business or documentary business, start getting some content, start getting your name out there.

[Kat]

Yeah.

[Garrett]

I think then once you get a couple quick wins.

[Kat]

Yeah.

[Garrett]

Other opportunities. But to get those first ones is very difficult. That's why I think the vertical space is so, so interesting now.

[Kat]

Cool, right?

[Garrett]

You could be a film student, get together with the, the graduating class from the film school and put a whole vertical together. And if you do well. So like. So Mike's son, Miguel Tyson, just graduated from usc and him and the film students, they entered for that Dorito commercial, of which I think they came in second place.

[Kat]

Oh, wow.

[Garrett]

And now they got their name on the map. It went to play during the Super Bowl. So I think there are opportunities now to do that without having to go through, like, a major studio route or. Yeah.

[Kat]

So I. I always say, don't sit around waiting. Right, Garrett? Because a lot of people sit and. Okay, maybe they. They, like, try to audition for a few things, and then they. They just. I think you have to be proactive. Like you said, put your stuff out there somehow. Right. Especially social media verticals. They're like so many different platforms. Right.

[Garrett]

You just gotta make it happen. You know, that's.

[Kat]

Just Go for it. It's.

[Garrett]

It's probably one of the more difficult industries to do that in.

[Kat]

Yeah.

[Garrett]

But. But that's also why, when you get something that you like, it's so rewarding. I mean, my favorite part of the whole thing is not even the shooting, not even the acting. It's when you start to sit in the edit room and you put the scenes together and you see the magic come to life. It's so gratifying to do that process.

[Kat]

I know.

[Garrett]

That's kind of what hooked me.

[Kat]

It's the storytelling. Like you said, when you put a story out there and you get whatever emotions from people, fear or intrigue or anything. Right. It's just sharing stories. That's what excites me.

[Garrett]

Yeah.

[Kat]

About the whole industry. It's not the. The glamora or the. The celebration, pain. This. I really just love the storytelling part of it.

[Garrett]

I'm with you. When you. All the way from having a beat sheet to seeing a final cut, it's just like. I know there's nothing quite like it.

[Kat]

Are you going to Cannes again this. This year?

[Garrett]

You know, I think so. So I was talking to the group that's doing all of our press for self custody, Jane Owen. And there's two events that she wants us to come out for, so I think. I think we'll be there.

[Kat]

Well, congratulations. Such an honor meeting. Such an honor having you. The movie is fabulous. So, guys, please go watch.

[Garrett]

Yeah.

[Kat]

I. I try to learn and thank you for clarifying us about, you know, this bitcoin world and everything, because it's. It is very scary.

[Garrett]

Yeah.

[Kat]

To me.

[Garrett]

Yeah. Like I said, next time we'll have Adrian on here because he's like. He's an expert and all that.

[Kat]

Love to. To have him on the show and have both of you guys thought. But it's a really. And I agree with you, it is not easy at all to put together a short movie that you actually have the vibe of a feature for you guys that don't understand instead, like feature is literally like a real long movie. It's not a short, but that you tell talk tells such a complex story.

[Garrett]

Well. And a lot of times shorts kind of have, you know, people look down on shorts.

[Kat]

Yeah.

[Garrett]

So I don't even like. I like calling it a micro feature because I think that's what self custom.

[Kat]

People still look down.

[Garrett]

Well, I don't, I don't know if it looked down is the right word. I think that people. There's a certain quality level when they think of.

[Kat]

This is a power I want. Well, that's a power one.

[Garrett]

I wanted to film the quality. I mean, every camera shot that we had, we had movement, we had dollies. I mean, I wanted to film it so it looked like a, like a feature.

[Kat]

Well, you. And by the way, I have to say, you are a great director.

[Garrett]

Well, thank you.

[Kat]

You are really, really good.

[Garrett]

Thank you.

[Kat]

I mean, I'm not an expert, but I've worked with a lot of directors and I know it's not easy to be acting and directing in the same project. And I'm like, man, he really nailed it.

[Garrett]

Yeah. Well, you know, a lot of it is also who you, you put around you. So like when you're doing a scene with Michael Monks or Adrian. Odette was fantastic. Who plays my wife. She pulled performances out of me that I didn't even know I could do.

[Kat]

Do you know, I did not know her. I've never seen anything with her before. And yeah, I loved her.

[Garrett]

She's done a lot. I mean, she was, she was.

[Kat]

You brought in the, the, the, the great, great forces to do this movie.

[Garrett]

Yeah. You know that. I mean, when you're doing scenes with talented people.

[Kat]

Yeah.

[Garrett]

It's a lot easier. I've been parts of other projects where, you know, the acting level wasn't as high and it's, it's very difficult.

[Kat]

Yeah. I think you have to have passion for it. Do you agree with oh, 100?

[Garrett]

Yeah. Yes. I mean, every movie is like pushing a boulder up a hill. If you don't, if you don't have that burning passion to keep going, it won't happen.

[Kat]

It won't happen. Or like you said, maybe. I think the camera doesn't lie.

[Garrett]

Yeah. Well, yeah. On the acting side.

[Kat]

Yeah. I, I really feel that you, at least for me, I, I see the passion in certain people, certain actors, certain characters.

[Garrett]

Yeah.

[Kat]

As opposed to. Sometimes you notice that people are not really fully there.

[Garrett]

Yep. No, that I mean. And so I did the. The acting program with Michael Monks, and that's half of what we're doing. We're learning all the techniques to. To make the scene have the real emotions. Because when you got your close up.

[Kat]

Yeah.

[Garrett]

And you're not. You're not really living those emotions. It's.

[Kat]

It.

[Garrett]

The camera doesn't lie.

[Kat]

Oh, congratulations, guys. I'm putting the link here on the audio episode and as well on our YouTube count on the show episode, because I highly recommend it. And, you know, if you want to know more information about bitcoin, what do you suggest? Go to the bitcoin convention.

[Garrett]

Yeah. Yeah. I mean, that'd probably be a great place to start.

[Kat]

Yeah. Do you. Does anybody know your phrase is anybody you trust in the world? In your case, for my.

[Garrett]

No.

[Kat]

Yeah.

[Garrett]

No, no.

[Kat]

You don't trust anybody that much. I think I would trust my dog.

[Garrett]

Put it on the dog leash. Exactly.

[Kat]

So it's in the bank and that's it. Yeah. Okay. Okay, cool. Thank you so much, Gary.

[Garrett]

Thank you.

[Kat]

Great. And hopefully you come back soon.

[Garrett]

I will.

[Kat]

To talk about your. Your future project. Guys, be safe out there buying bitcoin. Or not, but be safe. And I'll see you guys soon. Thank you, Garrett. You're awesome. Yeah, thank you.