← The Colin and Samir Show
The Colin and Samir Show
Tom Segura and Fox Creator Studios: Inside Hollywood's New Business Model
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- [00:01]
A
The Colin and Samir show is supported by Shopify. The way people shop has changed quite a bit over the past couple years, and there's actually a new huge opportunity for creators and entrepreneurs. So shopping has moved away from search and moved in to conversations. Think about the way you search now. You probably spend most of your time having conversations with LLMs. So I just opened up a chat window and I'm typing. My friend is really into dude, perfect. What should I buy him as a gift? And the response I get is a bulleted breakdown of all the different items I could buy, including their apparel, their board games, and all of the products available on their store. Now, importantly, there's product images, sizes, and ways for me to actually click and buy directly from their Shopify store. Now, this is all because of a feature that Shopify just rolled out called Agentix Storefronts. So if you're like us and you've built your online business in Shopify and you're in the US then you're already enabled for Agentix Storefronts. Building an online business has truly never been easier, especially with Shopify. We've been using the platform ever since we started creating online. So thanks so much to Shopify for supporting the Colin and Samir Show. And if you've ever thought about creating a product, check out a free trial of shopify on shopify.com Colin and Samir what's up, everyone? Welcome back to the Colin and Samir Show. On today's episode, we're bringing you a live conversation with comedian Tom Segura, the president of his content studios, Ryan hall, and the newly appointed head of Fox Creator Studios, Billy Parks. Now, this conversation took place at our event, Press Publish la, which is an event that Colin and I put together because we wanted to talk about the intersection of creators and Hollywood and how these two worlds are actually working together. So Fox Creator Studios struck a deal with Tom and his production company to produce three projects together. And it's a really different model, but I think it gives us insight into how these two worlds are actually going to work together. So Tom built this big podcast, which maybe some of you know or listen to, and used that audience to then sell out big arena tours and during the pandemic, actually turned to his audience to sell content directly to them. So rather than going to a streamer, just releasing his specials and his content direct to consumer, it went extremely well. And Tom now has his own team distribution outlets. He himself is a studio. So this partnership between Fox Creator Studios and Tom is truly more like a partnership than anything else I've seen in Hollywood. They're actually coming together to produce IP and figuring out where that lives and monetizing it through Tom's platforms. Anyway, you'll hear a bunch about how this deal came together and how Tom thinks about his content. And I think it's a very good conversation that gives us all a look into how this story is building between creators and Hollywood. So here's our conversation with Tom Segura, Ryan hall, and Billy Parks from Press Publish, Louisiana.
- [03:12]
B
All right, so, Tom, we want to start with you. First off, I know you're at the Comedy Store last night.
- [03:17]
C
Yes.
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B
Thank you for being here.
- [03:18]
A
So tell us a joke, Tom.
- [03:20]
B
You don't have to do that. You don't have to do that.
- [03:22]
C
No, it didn't go very well. Probably skip that. Yeah.
- [03:26]
B
So a lot of us here who are creators in the audience. Right. Like, we start with media. It's at the core of what we do. And then we start to launch different businesses and projects off of it. I mean, for us, this event is one of those. Our newsletter is one of those for you. I know you have shows on Netflix, specials on Netflix. You're touring. You have a bakery. I saw you had a 5k run. Like, there is a whole world of Tom Segura. Yeah. Can you map it out for us? Considering it started with comedy?
- [03:53]
C
Sure. Yeah. Well, it definitely started with stand up. Like, I started doing stand up in 2002. And, you know, that led to obviously, like, you know, you build your stand up career that way by doing open mics and then being a middle act and then a headliner. And Joe Rogan, who has the podcast, I don't know if you are familiar, he started that in 2009. And he was like, you should do a podcast. And I was like, I have absolutely zero interest in doing a podcast. And he kept on me. And then in 2010, I started doing a podcast called you'd Mom's House with my wife Christina. And we started that in 2010 10. And we, you know, I didn't know that anyone was listening until I did an episode where I encouraged the audience to harass a college roommate of mine. And then he called me and was like, I had to shut down my Twitter and my email account today because I got bombarded. I was like, oh, this is really working. You know? So that led to, like, understanding that people were listening. And I realized that we could sell tickets to go do a live podcast. It was like a whole new thing. We would go to Chicago and Book, like a bar. And then 300 people would come. We were like, oh, this is a whole new avenue for us. That, in turn, as the podcast grew, led to friends of mine who were like, I want to do a podcast, but I don't know what to do. Like, I don't know. I don't know how to get equipment. I don't know what to do. I don't know where to do it. And that led to us having, like, a. Basically, we had a place in Reseda, real nice part of la, if you know it. And we had a little studio there that had extra room. We built a second set, and we started having other people do their podcast there. And we basically provided all the services. So we have audio engineer. We have a set for you. All you have to do is show up and do it. So that kind of opened up that idea of, like, oh, we can actually provide a service for other people that want to do this. As those things kind of grew, they fed each other, you know, stand up, fed the podcasting, podcasting, fed the standup. Both of them grew. And then other opportunities came from that, like the vodka. Vodka brand called Porosos that I have with Bert Kreischer, who I do Two Bears, one cave, another podcast with. And that just came honestly from, like, that show. Started to get a big audience, and we started to get opportunities to try things, and we wanted. We didn't want to white label something, so we started a brand that way. The bakery is a. Is just a passion project where. When I lived in la. I love croissants. I still love them.
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D
Who loves croissants?
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C
Who likes croissants?
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D
Yeah, actually, pretty mixed crowd.
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E
Yeah.
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B
Who.
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C
Who the doesn't like croissants?
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D
I gotta be honest. I actually.
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C
You don't like croissants?
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B
No.
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A
A little too flaky.
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D
It's all over your stuff. You know what I mean?
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C
No, I don't know what you're.
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F
He's weird.
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B
I don't. I don't want to add to this, but I also would. I would choose a bagel.
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D
Yeah.
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C
All right, guys.
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E
So,
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C
I mean, it's not just croissants. Okay. There's a lot of stuff there.
- [07:14]
B
Yeah.
- [07:14]
C
Now, that was a passion project that came from just my love of this place here in LA called Cinque Terre in the Palisades. After the fires, I contacted that guy and I was like, if you come to Austin, I'll do it with you here. So he lives in Austin now?
- [07:30]
D
No way.
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A
I'm Born and raised in the Palisades.
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C
Really?
- [07:33]
D
Yeah.
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C
Yeah. It's not looking so good. I used to live there. I can say that I lost my house. So then the. The way that, like, the TV show came, like, there's a show called Bad Thoughts. It's a Season two is out right now on Netflix. That came honestly from just wanting. I love movies. And I was like, I. You know, making a feature as. As some people know, is a huge undertaking. And I was like, man, it's. It's. It really is so much to get it. To get one going, but when it seems more accessible, is making a short, like a short film. I had done a few, and I was on tour, and tour gives you a false sense of income.
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D
Explain that. What do you mean?
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C
Well, like, when you're on tour as a. As a comedian or as a musician, you're doing gigs night after night, and obviously you're getting paid night after night. And you're like, oh, I have all this money. Like, you're like, yeah, while you're touring, like, you stop touring. It doesn't last forever. But I was on this massive tour, and so I was like, I have a break coming up. Like, I could either go buy a car or I could, like, make something with some of this money.
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D
This can't be the only two options.
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C
I mean, you could do that. I could get a chain, a bag of coke, whatever. So there's a lot of stuff.
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D
Eat a croissant.
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C
There's a lot of things you can get. You're right. But as Fentanyl wasn't out yet, so I was like, I want to make something cool.
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B
Yeah.
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C
So I called a friend of mine who's a director, and I was like, I've written these shorts. Let's make one. And he read them. He goes, what if we did three and we shot it in 11 days? And I was like, I'll just. Sure, let's just try to do that. We make these three shorts. And the idea was that we would make them and put them on our pay per view platform, which was something that came out of actually Covid.
- [09:28]
B
When.
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C
When Covid hit, if you don't know, it affected a lot of people. And if you were a touring comedian, like I was and all my friends, it ended touring like, they were like, you can't do gigs. So we were all like, how are we gonna make any money? You know, we have no income if, like, that's your primary source of income. So this idea came actually from my touring agent. He was like, what? If you did a live podcast, and to make it different and to make it worthwhile, you raise the value of it in some way. So the idea was it'll be live, it'll be uncensored, and we will film sketches and we'll have a musical guest, like, try to make it a more valuable thing and sell it for like $10 tickets. So the first one we did,
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E
we
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C
had no idea what would happen. And it sold 45,000 tickets. And we were like, that's pretty crazy. And. And then we did a lot more of them. But what we established from that, we realized that there was an audience that was willing to pay for something that was elevated or premium from the creators that they were used to getting their entertainment from. So each one of those grew. It grew in ticket sales, but it also let us explore, like, what could we do differently in this thing? You know, in the. In one of these live podcasts, we saw the audience grow. We started to get like, we make like kind of more production heavy sketches. We tried to just raise the value of each one of these. So when I filmed these, like three shorts, I essentially had like an episode of Television. We filmed an introduction, we filmed transitions, and we had like a 35 minute pilot. And I was like, let me see if we can put it on our pay per view site. Hit up everybody that's bought tickets to other things and see if they'll pay for something like this. Because it was such a departure from what we had done. But I ended up showing it to my agents and they were like, you have to shop this. So the first person we showed it to was Netflix and they bought it and that's how it ended up on Netflix. But that whole experience opened up that lane for like, oh, there's an audience that will pay for something if you tap into what they like and if you try to present something of value. So we just did a stand up series called the End. It was Ari Shafir's. Had a show that used to be on Comedy Central and they took it away from him. I can say that, right?
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B
Yeah.
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C
Does Comedy Central still exist?
- [12:06]
B
No.
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D
Okay, you already said it, so whatever. You can't say you already said.
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C
Yeah, whatever. I remember Comedy Central.
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F
It was great.
- [12:12]
C
I don't know if you guys are old enough to remember them. So they used to be a thing anyway, that used to be like the place everyone wanted to be. And anyway, he had this show, it was a storytelling show. And after he had it for a while, they did a season without him. And then he wanted to do it another one more time. And we ended up doing a show called the end. We booked 23 comedians to do a storytelling, like in the format that he had developed. And the lineup was unbelievable. I mean, it was. It's Shane Gillis, Nate Bargazzi, Jessica Kirsten, ali Siddiq, Chris DiStefano. It's a crazy lineup. It's seven hours. And we put that on our pay per view site and it, it was a huge success. Like, we just tapped into the audience that follows us that loves stand up and that loves these comedians, and it turned out to be a huge success. So we know that, like, that's another path for us.
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D
It's really cool. I feel like what's been really interesting, I watched your last special, but the way I found you was actually through YouTube shorts. I watch a lot of comedy shorts and my algorithm is like heavily clips of like Theo Vaughn and Rogan. Yeah, I came across one of yours and that's how I got introduced to you. And I feel like the Internet changed
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A
comedy more than a lot of other
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D
categories because you guys are all just really good on a mic. So what's interesting is, Bill, you're head of Fox Creator Studios, but you guys just today announced a deal with Ryan and Tom.
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F
That's right.
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D
And Tom, in a traditional sense, prior to the Internet, you. You wouldn't maybe be considered what today is now considered a creator. But in today's sense, like, you grew through a podcast distributed through social. Right.
- [14:02]
C
100%. I mean, the. The Internet changed specifically comedy and stand up comedians careers just exponentially. There's zero comparison. Like, if. If it were 1995 and I were the same person, same comedian, like, these things just, none of this would exist. Like, you would just be. The goal would just be to work clubs and try to sell tickets at clubs and try to get a special on Comedy Central. Because that was the landscape. The landscape has changed so dramatically that by being online, in podcasts, having specials that stream, you become global. And so all these comics that are. It's ridiculous if you don't know the stand up landscape. You know, 25, 20 years ago, there were like three arena comics. Like a comedian that could go in and sell out an arena was just. You'd have to be a movie star. Like a huge, huge, huge star. Like, household name.
- [15:05]
D
Yeah.
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C
And now here in the States alone, because I can't speak to everywhere else. There's. There's probably 20, maybe 25 arena comedians, which is. It's insane. And theater comics that Used to be just like George Carlin, Robin Williams, like, you know, really, really notable names. Now here in the States at at least, like, I don't know, 60 plus theater comedians. That's the Internet. That's, that's getting the exposure that you could only get online.
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D
So, Billy, tell me about the deal you guys just did.
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F
Yeah.
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D
And, and for all the creators in the room, like, what are you doing with Fox Creator Studios?
- [15:43]
F
Yeah, I mean like the thing that's funny about your story, it's like, sounds very similar to your story. Like, I think about you moving for like moving pallets of clothes around in your father's warehouse downtown.
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B
Right.
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D
That was also funny.
- [15:58]
C
That's a great jacket, by the way.
- [15:59]
F
That was also funny. But I just think of these, like dusty, dirty places where you like, say, hey, I have an idea. I want to reach an audience. I'm going to build something. And so, like, just as much as you are creators, like, I think we think of, you know, what Tom has been building in the same way. Although when I first think of Tom, I'm like big touring comedian, but like anybody who is building a direct to consumer relationship with an audience and is interested in continuing to tell stories with them is kind of where the creator studio, like wants to show up. You know, those are kind of any touch point where a creator is, whether it's podcast, Tiktoker or Instagram, wherever they're living. And they're wanting to build IP with their audience and, and scale what they're doing. It's a good place for us to work together. And I think what we decided to do together when Ryan and Tom and I kind of started met was they have a whiteboard full of things that they want to make that are across different. We're working together on an animated project, we're working together on a sitcom, I would call it, and we're working together on a standup special where Tom is hosting and bringing up emerging comedians and, and those are all for direct to consumer platforms. And so when we look at creators, whether they are TikTok born or YouTube born, we say, hey, what can our ecosystem at Fox? 100 years of helping monetize IP through ad sales, through distribution, helping with production and creative. Like, how can we plug into anybody who's wanting to take formats further, build further direct on their platforms? And that's where we want to show up, kind of in all shapes and sizes with creators.
- [17:36]
D
Ryan, will you take me into the room of you guys talking about this? And what was appealing about working with Fox Creator Studios. Because I think this moment, again, why we're even hosting this event is because it felt really different for me that over the past year Hollywood studios are picking up the phone and calling creators.
- [17:56]
F
Yeah.
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D
And saying, hey, let's make something together. And some of that also is like, let's make something together and distribute it on your platform. And you guys have this direct to consumer relationship with the audience. Just take me into the room of the conversation with Billy and why do something together?
- [18:12]
E
Well, Billy and I met each other. I used to run a company called Rooster Teeth back in the day in Austin, Texas where Tom and I live. And we knew each other and when we reconnected, gosh, seven months ago, maybe longer, we were just kind of brainstorming around the idea of just like, hey, you know, we were coming off of pitching something to a traditional streamer, didn't get bought. We were a little frustrated because we loved the project. And I think, you know, we were at dinner not too much longer and Tom was sitting across from me. I'm like, man, why don't we just do this kind of stuff ourselves? And you can't do everything yourself, right? And what I've noticed working with not only just Tom, but all the comedians that are kind of in our orbit and in our network, these are folks who are self built, right? Like everything that they've done, they're the ones up on stage, they're the ones building their careers, they're the ones. A lot of them are just a solo business. And so the idea of kind of working in the system or a stream or a big company is kind of, it's not something that may be inherent to what someone wants to do. But when I started talking to Billy, like, wait a minute, there's a way to do this where one plus one can equal three in that we could still get the benefit of, of a system box that is, you know, and this is spent a lot of time, probably took too much time away from your family. I don't.
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F
It was great, it was excellent.
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E
But I just really dug in and we spent, I mean, many, many hours talking about this and just making sure because I'm obviously protective of Tom and everything we're building. But like, is this the right partnership? And it was so obvious early on, but I just wanted to make sure that like, wait, with Fox, the support of Fox and everything that they offer and you can see the announcement today that there's a lot of layers to this that are really exciting, but it still gives us the freedom to Be able to tell the stories that we wanted to tell. Are there some things we have big ambition to make a movie with Paramount? Sure, fine. But most of the stuff that he's referring to that are on our whiteboard are ideas that we just love that are pretty simple. And we like the accessible ideas and like things that kind of. We certainly have a lane of comedy bad thoughts, if you're aware of that. It's lane. It's not for everybody. But I think that's why it works because we don't make comedy for everybody. We make comedy for, you know, we make the stuff we want to watch. And so far that's worked. And I think having the support of Fox and again talking with Billy about it, it was just, you know, from day one he was. It was not about how do we make this work. He was just saying how do we be supportive? Because I think he knew what we were wanting to do.
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F
Yeah, I love to sit first with any creator and try to figure out what their future plan is. It's really important. Talking to Ryan and Tom, what they're building to me is they're just creator CEOs building a scaled business that is answering something that's kind of broken in comedy in a way that double down into creative that they love and formats that can travel or can live there live on their platforms. And that's how all the conversations have to start. It's just like, where are you trying to go with your business and this opportunity? Sometimes creators think that we're kind of wanting to produce stuff and travel it onto TV or mov, or that we want it on Fox platforms. We're hyper focused on working with ip, working with formats where we can say, here's capital, make it on your channels. You drive the creative, you produce it. We're not hiring producers and making it for you. You're not shooting on our stages. We like to work with creators who are like making already and support them as they think about how to further monetize with ads, with distribution and things like that. And these guys are a train that's really moving. And so the opportunity to kind of like stop and say, hey, here's some great formats that we can work on together and hopefully we can rinse and repeat as long as they make something that's really good.
- [22:03]
B
I think Billy's getting to this a little bit with the freedom of creation here. But Tom, I know on an earlier call you brought up this phrase development hell. Yeah. And you know, for a lot of us it's just like, we can explain that concept, but we don't have that. We just come up with an idea, we make it, and we live in our own hell until it's done and come, basically. Well, the thing.
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C
Yeah, speak to me about that. The thing I would just first of all say to people is like, as creators, is like, don't. Don't lock yourself into just one way of thinking that you can get something done and produced and out there. You know what I mean? If you go, I only do it this way and no other way, I think you're really limiting yourself. You're really limiting yourself. You can go case by case, project by project. Whether you think this is just for you and your channel, this is something to find a partner on. This is something to go to a traditional route and have a traditional studio behind it. You don't have to just think one way those options are available to you. Development hell, if you're not aware, is basically when you go into a studio and you go, I have an idea. And they're like, we'd love to hear it. And then you talk to them about it and they go, we want to do it. And then you do that for two years. And then two years later, you're like, aren't we making something? They're like, who are you? And you're like, I'm the guy. And they're like, I don't fucking remember you. That happens and has happened for many years, and it's happened to all of us, and it's a bummer when it's something you love. Obviously there's projects you get excited about, but, you know, you always want the. One of the most exciting parts for me about this partnership is it allows us to actually move at a real pace. Like, we actually get to. To make these things. Like, this year. Yeah, we're moving on. This.
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F
This isn't like, development. Like, hey, like, yeah, great, let's make this project and we'll.
- [23:57]
C
Let's set a bunch of.
- [23:58]
F
Wait till we have the script.
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C
And, like, it'd be fun to meet a lot.
- [24:02]
F
They're shooting all of this stuff this year. Yeah, yeah, that.
- [24:05]
C
That is, like, invaluable because everyone's been caught up in that thing where you just. You literally just meet for lunch a bunch. You're like, yeah, lunch is cool. I like lunch. But it would be fun to actually make this stuff. And this opportunity is, like, allowing us to do that. And I would say, always pursue the path. I mean, that you want. That works best for you. But, God, think About it actually being made.
- [24:32]
D
I mentioned this to you when we were talking, but I think momentum is an undervalued piece of creativity.
- [24:38]
C
So much.
- [24:39]
D
Because when I have an idea, it's pretty fragile. If I wait too long, thousand percent, because I'll just have a different idea.
- [24:47]
C
It's. There's an energy to it. There's an energy to ideas. And momentum is. And when you find yourself in a group of people that all feel the momentum, you just. It's on you and the group to keep it going, you know, because if you let it fade, if you just let it, the idea fades as well and everybody's motivation kind of goes away. So, yeah, you have to take the momentum and run with it.
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D
Can you talk to me right now about how, you know if something you make is going to be good?
- [25:20]
E
Sure.
- [25:22]
D
Because I feel like right now there's
- [25:24]
A
so much stuff, right?
- [25:25]
D
Like everyone's making so much stuff.
- [25:27]
C
There's so much, and it's hard to break through. I think that.
- [25:30]
B
That.
- [25:31]
C
I think. I mean, this is. I'm sure this is not new to you, but I think that this is the truth. When you create, certainly when you come from a world of comedy, is you ultimately have to make the thing that, like, makes you laugh. If. If you're thinking about, will someone laugh at this? You're already. That's a misstep. So you have to react in a way. You're like, this is funny to me. You know, in Stand up, we always do that thing. It's like, talk about the thing. When you have ruminating thoughts, the. The thought that keeps coming to you. You're like, even if you don't have it worked out, take it on stage and talk about it. Because something's gonna come of it. And I think when you're creating, when you're writing scripts, when you're doing any type of project, you ultimately, you don't know. That's the truth. You don't know what the reaction will be. You never know if it's gonna kill or bomb. You think you do, and you're always surprised. In standup, you write things that you go, man, this is so well structured, and this is a really clever bit or whatever. You take it up there and you get like, huh? And you're like, cool. And then you do your throwaway thing that you had doubts about saying, and it brings the house down. And so you just. You really don't know. And I think that goes for writing scripts. I think it goes for Stand up live. I think it's for creating a video. You don't know if it's going to get 20 million views. You hope it does, but you really don't know. But the only thing that you do know is that your honesty with yourself about it has to stay true, because it's going to dictate whether you're actually doing the thing you want to do. You know, if you start thinking too much about outside, I think you're lost. Well.
- [27:10]
E
And I was going to just add real quick the so Bad Thoughts, Season two, streaming right now. And not to pat ourselves on the back. It is number five in the country right now. And I say that not to glow.
- [27:21]
D
I think people will clap. I think Ryan wanted a pat on the back.
- [27:24]
B
Right.
- [27:25]
D
A little bit.
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F
But.
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E
But I will say the reason why I bring that up is. Is it's number five because we need you to watch.
- [27:30]
F
Yeah. Yeah. We want it to be number two.
- [27:33]
E
The crazy ex boyfriend, the killer with the paint face, he's beating us. That's. You know, we gotta beat him. No, but I bring it up because, you know, there was going to the whole, like, make us laugh, and that's what's important. I think that show is working because we're not trying to make, you know, like, what is the broad comedy was. The accessible comedy. There was a sketch. I won't say which one, but that, you know, we were on set and I was like, I don't think we should do this. And. But we were just laughing our asses off, and we're like, yeah. And then it turned out to be one of my favorite sketch. Yeah.
- [28:05]
C
We get. We have sketches in that show where we literally got phone calls from agents, and they're like, I cannot give this to an actor. And we got a call from an actor who asked us not to make it because she said it was dangerous to put in the world. And it's one of my favorites. But I mean, like, that's an example of it of, like, you ultimately, you listen to people. Like, you don't. You don't work in that environment. Like. Like a dictator. You listen to people, but you ultimately have to go, like, I think this is the right way to go.
- [28:39]
D
Billy.
- [28:40]
F
Yeah.
- [28:40]
D
I wanted to ask you from your perspective.
- [28:42]
F
Yeah.
- [28:43]
D
What makes a good idea for you right now? Because you're in a room of creators, you are hard to miss on New York street after this, I'd have to imagine there's some creators who want to walk up to you and pitch you an idea.
- [28:57]
F
I'm excited.
- [28:58]
D
What makes a good idea right now for you?
- [29:01]
F
I mean, I think for us it really has to do with something that you're excited about and have conviction on. Right? So I think we want to think about formats that you think will work for your audiences and that we feel like we can make a little bit of a business case for like, hey, this tape will sell one day. Hey, brands will want to be involved one day. Or we just think this is like great idea, like let's see what happens when it's out in the world. I think the business case, we are in a hits business no matter what anybody says. And we want to find great IP that we can kind of support creators as they're making. So if you, a lot of times creators come in and they're like, okay, here's these four videos that I did that were the most successful and I had the most from. And here's like a 10 episode format that I want to make that borrows from a lot of those mechanics and a lot of those. So it's like this data backed approach to like formats that they believe in. And sometimes they come in and say I really want to do a game show version of this. And I think it would be really fun. And they're like, but I haven't quite figured out the mechanic. And I'm like, do you want to talk to like the 15 people who've made 100 years of game shows down the hall? They're like, can we? And then we just let them chat about it and like they don't have to do those ideas. We're not talking about development hell, I'm just talking about really smart people who know how to make stuff and it doesn't. They don't have to take the ideas but they're available. So we try to make it, we try to make it a place that like borrows from everything that we have done here, but also builds it in a way that like is understanding of where creators come from. Right? Like it's not like come here, pitch your idea, go through two years of lunches and meetings and development and maybe we might make your thing. It's like, what do you want to make on your platform? Tell me why. And like let's, let's, let's get into it.
- [30:42]
D
And how do you make your money back?
- [30:44]
F
Well, I mean, I mean, what is it? I mean, who cares? No, I mean I think. No, no, no, I think, I mean everything we do, we definitely do like a business case for, right? So it's like Fox has 100 years of making money on IP. Right. So there's not a concept that gets greenlit on air or made and then sold to. We don't just. At Fox, we don't just make things as Fox large, large. Fox doesn't just make things for Fox channels. It makes things for Netflix, for Hulu, for all kinds of distributors. So we're, you know, we're a studio, so everything we make has a, has a business case. How much do we think brands are going to want to get behind this? How much audience is going to come? How is the tape going to get sold? How is the format something that could maybe happen in other countries? Or how, how can the format travel? How can we go into multiple seasons of this? So all of the pipes that exist to make money from IP the same are true. Just the approach with creators is a
- [31:38]
B
little different, I think, from, from my end. One of the.
- [31:40]
D
Is that.
- [31:41]
F
Hold on. Is that specific enough?
- [31:43]
D
Yeah, I think that's good. I mean, in this setting, you guys have a D2C relationship with your audience. Yeah, right?
- [31:48]
F
Yeah.
- [31:49]
D
45,000 people bought tickets back in.
- [31:51]
C
That was in 2020, the first one we did.
- [31:53]
D
Crazy.
- [31:53]
C
That was, that was crazy. That was an eye opening thing because we, we realized like. Oh, and also, you know what, what happened immediately were the agents who I told about, they were like, bump up that ticket price. And I was like, no. Like we, we always kept it the 10 bucks because we were like, they came for that. We can just try to get more people, try to do volume. And that's what we did for that.
- [32:16]
D
And also the audience is the boss.
- [32:18]
C
Yeah.
- [32:18]
A
Of all of this.
- [32:19]
D
Right. So like their relationship to you is very important and sacred.
- [32:23]
C
Like.
- [32:23]
D
Yeah, yeah, I think that's really important.
- [32:25]
B
I think just with that being said with the audience being the boss, one of the things that scares me when, when I say yes to a project that includes a lot of creation is do I have the capacity to keep all of these things good?
- [32:37]
F
Say it again.
- [32:37]
B
Do I have the capacity to maintain the quality, keep all of these things good? When you say yes to something like this, how do you tom. Navigate that? Considering you. You're scaling, you have a lot going on.
- [32:48]
C
Well, one of the things you have to do is hire really good people around you to like, like him. Like, I mean, it's the truth. You, the more you scale in different, in different avenues, you realize that you, you can only do so much and that if you try to do too much, then one or more things will suffer. So you, you really have to surround yourself with, like, really quality people, you know, like on the show, like on Bad Thoughts, it's like, it's from executive producers and the writers room. Like, I'm not in there being like, it's only my words, you know, like, it's you. You open up the room. You try to have the best writers, the best directors, obviously talent. And you just, you. You have to. You have to trust people that are. Are talented people and trust their opinions on things. And ultimately, you make executive decisions on a lot of things. But I think a lot of that is surrounding yourself with vision, very capable people, especially if you start scaling in a bunch of different arenas.
- [33:52]
D
Closing words for a room full of creators entering this chapter of entertainment where we're seeing Hollywood studios like Fox open up creator divisions, being more open to work together. How do these two worlds meet? And what's your advice for the room?
- [34:09]
C
Get that money, yo. I mean.
- [34:13]
D
Yeah, I like that. That's good.
- [34:17]
C
No, I think. I think this is like. Like, you realize. I hope you realize that we're literally in a golden age right now. Like, you. You. This. This kind of stuff, the fact that you can partner up with. With people, like, at Fox creator studios and. And you spread out, that's. That's an amazing opportunity. So I would say that, like, don't. Don't shut down any avenue. Figure out your goals. That's the first thing is, like, what do you want to be doing? Sometimes people listen to what someone else is doing and think that that's the goal, but that might not be what you want to do. So that's the very first thing you have to do, is figure out what you want to be doing and then figure out which is the best path for it. And don't limit yourself as to where you can go like these. If you have ambitions to be doing movies or television, you know, you know that. That is. It's never been more accessible and possible than right now. This is the. This is the best time in history for somebody that doesn't have a traditional entertainment path to end up with something like that. So it's all very possible. I think you just have to be clear with your goals and clear what you want to do and realize that it is. It is very, very possible to end up there if you are focused and you are open to different ways of doing it.
- [35:43]
D
Amazing.
- [35:43]
F
Cool, guys.
- [35:44]
D
Thank you so much. Billy Parks Reinhall.
- [35:47]
F
Yeah.
- [35:47]
D
Tom Segura. Thank you guys so much.
- [35:50]
B
Thank you. Appreciate.