Guests Fred Stoller and Jaimie Engle!
WBCA Podcasts
The Jayman Show
My name is Jaya Bano and you are on the J-minute show, which is on WB, CA, 1 on 2.9 FM, Boston, Luka, community visualization. I guess it is after the Pusa Fred Stoller from everybody loves him. Hi, Fred. Congratulations on your show today. Thank you for having me. Good. How are you doing? I'm doing wonderful to honor them and approach us to meet with you and talk if you're OK. So, my question to you is, how did you get started in the entertainment field? Yes, in Brooklyn, I went with my older sister to a comedy club and I wasn't too aware of stand-up comedies. This was the 70s. Wow. And I snuck in underage and card me and they were just talking and it was actually Richard Lewis, Billy Crystal. And it wasn't like it is now at the internet where you learned a lot about stand-up comics. I wasn't funny growing up. But then I heard, oh, they get to, you know, do their act and then you go on your tonight show and you get on the sitcom. So I thought that's how I could try to break into be a character actor. So I started hanging out at the improvisation in Manhattan, trying to get stage time and then trying to see where showbiz would take me. Yeah, I see it took you a wonderful way because you've been in so many movies, a show made a lot of style. Well I auditioned for another part and I didn't get it, but they were noticing that I say now the way Ray does and laughing that it was similar. So my friend who wrote on the show said they said if there was ever a part for a cousin, I would get it and then someone had an idea. So that's how it happened. So it was like working with women and everybody in the cast. I was fun, you know. He was funny, but off-state but serious because it was his show and nervous about is this going to happen when we're going to do this? So Brad Garrett was more the carefree, loose clown just joking around. Garrett was the one I hung out with making a lot of jokes and Chris Elliott, you know. And how about Patricia Heaton and George Roberts and Peter Boyle, those are some actors. Are they great? Yeah. I mean, what Peter Boyle was in movies from my childhood like Taxi Driver and Joe. And so I was asking him questions and it was so exciting, you know, they were very, very nice. Well, I don't Peter Boyle and George always passed away and made him rest in fish, you know. Did you go to the funeral? No, I did not. I did not know them well enough to go to the funeral, no. You're still looking for the rest of the cast of him. Do you still get to get some times? We don't like text or, but you know, I saw him at the last time I did stand up comedy in like 2015 Ray. Oh. I say hi to him here and there, but we don't. I wouldn't say we hang out now. So aside from me and what's a lot to be famous? I don't consider them famous. I mean, some people recognize me and people like you asked to do a podcast, you know. I don't know. There's nothing different than if I was an animator or if I too much or if I, you know, directed TV shows, you just, you know, figure out what to eat and, you know, just rest and, you know, once in a while, someone I know has a party and that's nice. And, you know, and you meet other people you've worked with and it's fun. But I wouldn't say, you know, I'm living the lifestyle Brad Pitt is or, you know, Miley Cyrus or any, you know, like that kind of lifestyle. So what part are you working on now? Yeah, I got some animation coming up is a moon girl, something with Marvel. I did an animation part moon girl, let me see if I can find out what it's called. Got some other animation coming up. So that's a lot of fun. That's my favorite thing to do. Two animation shows I can't talk about because they haven't thought a name yet and they were kind of upset moon girl, let me see what it's called moon girl and devil dinosaur think it's coming out on February 10th on HBO Max, I believe. Okay. We'll have Lawrence Fishburns in it and, or maybe it's on the Disney, oh, the Disney channel. I'm sorry. Okay. So that that's very exciting. That sounds wonderful to see that but what advice can you give actors I want to be that want to be a famous? Well, don't go for just being famous because then you'll always want more or like, Oh, I want to be famous. I want to have 50,000 TikTok followers and then it's an addiction. You want more and more, you got to do art and love what you do expressing it. However, you express it whether or not, you know, you're getting money or someone approved you or just just have passion for what you love. You would love to see or hear or read, you know, try to create that and the fame should only be secondary. So what is pie issue? What gives you inspiration to do what you do? You know, when you're hanging there and some project comes along with a really respect and appreciate you and you get to be creative and creative ideas keep hitting you walking down the street. So you just hope for that. Not every job is creatively fulfilling, but once in a while, it's there and you go, Oh, this is why I do this. I'm really expressing myself. So how did you do a projection? Well, when I was acting more or auditioning more, first it did. But then I realized that, um, you know, I probably didn't fit into their puzzle of what they wanted. You know, I don't fit into things so good. So I learned not to take it as personally some stuff. You know, when it's something I wrote my own life, my story, but, um, you know, when I was younger, you just, I just knew this is what I do and it's, it's not great. But, um, you know, if you're lucky like me, you've had a fair amount of yeses that keep you hanging in for the nose. You know, once in a while, you get a yes and you got to remember that. It's hard. Yeah. I see. How do COVID affect you? Well, you know, when it was really bad, uh, yeah, I stayed in and I, yeah, it was creative for a while, um, doing like TikTok live and just having contest and pressing myself. And I was fortunate that I was able to do a lot of cameos because people at first, weren't going to stores and they were missing birthdays. So there wasn't a way to, um, get presents. So this was easy. So that kept me fairly busy and, you know, I was having fun with it. And so for while I was doing that and, um, at first, you know, uh, but then, you know, I started missing work like I knew it. So luckily some voiceovers came through. So it was a crazy time. Did you go to college? I went to Kingsborough Community College just for two years. I was, it's not that I was a bad student. I wasn't a good student, but I wasn't really into it. I kind of knew the real world wasn't for me. And I was, um, uh, you know, looking to something functional, but I was just toiling in school till I figured out what I was going to do. Tell my associate me in the blood. You got the two years. It's a social thing. Yeah. Social screen. I'm thinking about going back to the end. Bominia. I'm good for you. Good for you. So what did you like to meet stars? I mean, do you have a good star shot? The funny thing is I'll get star struck. They're not like famous, like Brad Pitt at George Clooney, but a guy like treat Williams because I love the movie, hair or someone who was in dog day after noon or some show read up with some of my childhood, a Mary Hartman or Bob Newhart. So I got to meet George Segal, I got to be friends with him, um, and he was on a lot of movies from my childhood. You may know him from the Goldbergs. So it's, uh, I'm going to think if I ever got to a point where I was tongue tied and so nervous, I mean, it's very exciting when I got to meet Quentin Tarantino and ask him questions. So, you know, it's, it's, you know, but sometimes I won't name names. You'll meet someone you looked up to and they were kind of a jerk. So you get that too, like, Oh, I don't like you anymore. Yeah. I understand. Yes. What kind of future holds for you? Um, I'm not young, so I'm just looking, like I said, to do jobs where it's creative and they respect and appreciate me, which is the same thing, respect and appreciate. So I don't want to jinx it, but I got some things coming up and I'm not looking for the big, you know, big, big thing, but just, but I want to just keep doing, uh, things I enjoy and, and saying, no, the things I don't enjoy wouldn't make me happy. What's that to do for family? You know, it's raining out. I actually love LA when it's raining, uh, going for a walk I, you know, uh, well, we got the, uh, when it's nice, uh, I like to drive up the Pacific coast highway. I don't swim, but I love looking at the ocean. I, uh, love, have you been to Los Angeles? No, I wanted also bad. I like movies, uh, just fun movies. I like to find that I forgot about love cats. I love, uh, looking at parrots that talk on Instagram, they make me laugh at simple things. Have you been a boss? Yes. I opened for the late Norma Donald at the Wilbur. Oh, really? Just end up briefly a return, um, I was in Watertown. That's what they did. Dr. Katz, a animated show, Harvard Square. I walked around. Are you frosting your whole life? I'm embossing. Yeah. But it's so cold. I'm going to California. Yeah. Well, hello there. This is the J-Man show on WBCA 102.9 FM Boston's local community radio station to commit my change from being after. I'll definitely appreciate that. Oh, no problem. So what do they people can do to make the world better? Well, just simplistically less of ego that causes a lot of feelings itself and arguing and, you know, tribalism and I try not to argue with people point of view and it's just a waste, right? Not have a sense of, I'm great as one guy. I won't name names. He hangs out at the farmer's market and he's a bully and he thinks he's the best and he pokes people and he needs attention. So don't be like him. It's just, just, if we can get away from this, the internet sometimes with all the comments and people are bullies and they get aggressive and they comment, you know, and just the anger. Just enjoy the moment and that gets so frustrated like, you know, when you have a bully, a little bit, I didn't believe more in show business. Just people, like I said, it's so insecure here and everyone has an ego and some of these comedians break how aggressive they are and they, "Hey, I'm tough. You're not tough." People feel insecure about their status and they want to feel better and they see me and I don't act aggressive so they think they can, you know, push me around. Not bad. I'm saying, I've sadly run into it more as an adult. Oh, really? Well, just people thinking, you know, if they're, they're so insecure, like I said, there's a bunch of comedians hang around a table and they, you know, if I come around, "Hey!" And it's just because they're not working and they feel better, yes. How do you feel with racism? Yeah. Especially Hollywood. Well, I'm not a person of color, but I, I, I think it's very sad. It's just, you know, even people I know who are liberal, you know, show business so hard and you're blaming it on, "Oh, diversity can't go work," or, I mean, I, I, you got to be who you are and I'm low key. I have a Jewish New York accent and that's prevented me from getting work for like the spokesman of Bank of Nebraska, but you know, you're different and hopefully it's a blessing and a curse, but, you know, it's just, there's a lot of, in Hollywood, not so much racism, but people hire who they know and a lot of executives, you know, they give to their family, they have ends, people don't know, so it's hard to break in, yes. Yes, I get that because I, well, I'm with a college and I couldn't get a foot in the door saw now that I would have my social, you know, I'm starting to make some cash change up. But yeah, it's like, it's like, you know, I basically a member of a club, you know, you know, it's-- As a member of a club, yeah. If you're not nobody, like you don't exist, you know, and that's, obsessed me. You know, it's hard, it's just hard, yes. You know? Yeah. You're doing better. Yeah, it's, it's getting a little better, you know. All your childhood, what your childhood? Very, very shy and depressed, a loner. I wasn't, I wasn't funny, but I knew the real world wasn't for me. I used to like G.I. Joe's, the bigger ones, I would act things out with them. I'd, I'd watch TV shows, but like, you know, the Bob Newhart show, I, I wasn't too much into superheroes. I liked Charlie Brown, Mad Magazine, Archie, Jughead, Samford & Son, just a, just a loner, yes. I'm sorry to hear that because I was, because even I mean, myself, I was like that too. You know, I'd have, I mean, I'd have any friends in school, you know, I did, but you know, but it's like, you know, I was like, I get that, you know, because, you know, what's You have friends now? I do now. Please forgive me. You know. Some people you like to watch growing up. Well, I used to like to watch for me show Brandi for a house family man, it's a son of heaven, step by step, um, those shows, you know, comedy shows, um, T.G.I.F. Yeah. T.G.I.F. I was on Sabrina the teenage witch. Oh, really? Yeah. They actually back by laying land in Australia last year at Comic Con 90's Comic Con. They were nice. Oh, good. Good. That's good to hear. Yeah. So, can we touch it down? No. I only did that show twice. Some people I bump into, like, Nick Bakai who did the voice of Salem, they're not in my circle that I text or have lattes with. Oh, I see. Do you-- do you have an impressive comedy show? I opened for Norm McDonald, but I didn't do my own show. Thank you, my children. Do you want comedy? I did my own comedy many years ago and think, you know, I got it out of my system going to show. I did what I needed to do. Thank you. I'm not going to have you on TV show. I have my own TV show. Is that what I want to do? You know, if somehow it came my way, I guess I wouldn't say no, but I'm not young and they're not-- you know, they're looking for young, energetic people, you know, I mean, I have energy, but, you know, I mean, if somehow it came my way, you never know. Yeah. Sure. But I'm not expecting that. If it did, can I have a lot to be on the TV show? I'll make a move if you don't. So, that'd be a blessing. You could be on the show. Thank you. This happens, but, you know, I'm not aiming for that these days. Oh, yeah. I understand, you know. Well, I don't get mobbed when I leave my apartment. Oh. No, I don't. I don't. Is that aggressive guy? I don't know. He gets-- he tries to get the attention, but no, no, this-- well, this is Los Angeles. So a lot of people, you know, bigger than me, much, much bigger. You know, get them more excited, and they run towards that person. Well, let's travel for vacation, for a little free time. That's a good question, because I haven't gone on too many, because I was touring with Norm. So usually when I'd go on the road, it would be just either to work or visiting my parents in Florida. Oh, really? Yes. You know, yes. So that was my traveling, but I love one day trips, like I said, up the one San Francisco. I love when I work in Canada. Toronto is just a great walking city. So I guess Northern California is where I mostly go. I see. And you see your parents on flight? No, they passed away. I'm sorry to hear that, my condolences. My mother passed away. Two years ago, I have a heart attack, so I'm sorry to hear that. I'm sorry to hear that. Yours. Thank you. Yeah. We actually live in Tampa, Florida when she passed away. You were in Florida? Yeah. Well, we moved in in September 2016, and she passed away in November 28th. I know just this sudden, I mean, I don't get how that could happen. Well, you take care of yourself, get your blood pressure checked. I just got mine and let's go all you gotta, you know, yeah, I make sure I got to stuff for COVID and make sure I like healthy and exercise to make sure my blood pressure is good. It's like, so I can hopefully live a long past with life. Absolutely. I'm just for 40 degrees. I'm still young, you know. Absolutely. Yeah. So how was your heart? Yes. Not COVID, but I was sick for Christmas. So I stayed in, I stayed in and comfortable with my cats, keeping me company and just lying in bed or comfy. So it was the first time I had a bed called in a while. So, you know, it didn't have to do. Yeah. I actually have a cat too. So, yeah. Oh, that's so cute. Is he fetching it or she? Oh, it's a sheep. Her name is Gracie. She's a nice brown cat. She's nice, you know. They're best, yes. You've got a lot of cats love animals. Yeah. This is a great, you need to learn more about your story. You know, you're upbringing. You know, this is great. You know. Yeah. Can you keep in touch if you're ever out here and let me know if there's a link I could post it and. I sure will. So how can my fans and viewers get in touch with you if you want to have you get in touch? Like you did. They're cameo. But cameo, you can order a one-on-one video chat or messages or a shout out. There's a wonderful interview going to meet you. Well, if you ever need anything, you let me know. You keep in touch. Thank you. I promise you get my number. Stay in touch in us. Absolutely. You have a great night. Okay. Plus, take some appreciates. Have fun. Thank you. Hello, dear. This is a J-man show on WBCA, one on 2.9 FM Boston's local community radio station. I'm your host, Jay Bahlin, and my guest today is Jamie Engel, and well-winning screen producer, screenwriter. Hi, Jamie. Good to see you on the show today. How are you? I'm doing awesome. How are you? I'm wonderful. So good to see you on the show. And I've heard so much about you. I mean, the movies you've produced, the screenplay, so can you tell me a little bit about yourself and what got you started and wanted to be a producer in film? Sure. I've been writing since I was a little girl, and that's always been the dream. To write something that I can see on the big screen. So I wrote about 15 books. And then in 2021, I decided I was ready to test my skills at being a screenwriter. And I switched gears, was blessed to have some wonderful people come into my life and open doors for me so that I was able to have my first film that I wrote produced and heading to network television, and because it was my story, I am listed as a co-producer. So I was able to receive that first credit. So aside from producing, what's it like to be a famous producer? Have you met any wonderful actors like Slum is all there? No, I am a baby in this industry. I live in Florida, and so I have not, like the first film, Just Jake, that we just wrapped in December of 2022, I was not able to even get on set. So I've communicated with the stars with Rob and with Brittany, Brittany Bristow and Rob Mays were my lead characters. So I was able to like communicate with them via social media, but I never actually got to meet them. Not yet. Well, I'm walking on like now for this shit coming out. So the film is currently in post production, and then it has already been picked up for distribution by the UPTV Faith and Family Network and the Super Channel Heart and Home in the Canada area. So right now, my role is just to continue to share the promotions as they come out, as the new music comes out, and hopefully hit some of the charts for the Just Jake movie. They had original music written for it, and then we'll go obviously on TV. And then I was fortunate to be able to retain the book rights, so I did write a novelization of the movie. And it's based off of my original script, not necessarily what we're all going to watch, but the original script that I sold is what I based my book off of. So that comes out in late August of 2023. Oh, that's wonderful. Yeah. Now, aside from producing, do you also want to be an actress and star in films too? No, I have no desire to act. I did that in the '90s when I was in middle school in high school here in Florida when the film industry was pretty booming in Orlando with Universal Studios having lots and a lot of film incentives. So I was an alien on Sequest, and I met Erkel when they did the big Disney, the show that took place at Disney World, and he proposed, I think, and I was on LA Law in Miami. So I did a couple of small acting gigs, the Universal Commercial as a principal, but I just wasn't very good at it. I was too worried about what I was supposed to be, what they wanted to put in the role as opposed to just bringing my interpretation of the role to the table and seeing if they liked what they saw. So I just wasn't a very good actress at the time. Wow, I'll see. I see you much. You must. I'm not sure about you, but he was a wonderful man. Oh, yeah, yeah. He is a sweetheart. Very, very nice down to Earth. With all the fame at his age, you know, you wouldn't know that he was famous, just talking to him. He was a wonderful guy. I also met always been crying in Kelly Williams that they were both for a night. Nice. Very cool. What advice can you give about all producers and actors that want to be famous or want to ask you? Can you give them? Well, I mean, I'm a screenwriter, first and foremost, but I do feel that we're all part of the same process and the same end goal, which is to share our creative arts with the world, leave a legacy, make a difference. So I think that for all of us, the best things we can do are the things we have control over and that is to get better at our craft and to network because that's really all we control. When I write a script and I send it to a producer, there's not much more I can do except for wait for them to either love the project and go find the funding and then bring me back on board. But if I don't have a great script that they want to invest, you know, millions of dollars and years of their lives into, then I'm not going to get picked. So if I work every day writing or acting or learning budgeting, if you're wanting to be in the production side or whatever area you like, you spend every day learning something studying, continuing ed while also doing writing every day, learning a new monologue, doing a small social media post where you're pretending to be whoever. I think those are the only things we really have control over us creatives as we're moving our way up the ladder. The how to deal, deal, projection. You know, I mean, nobody likes to be rejected, but it's part of the business. So if you don't understand that and you can't be okay with that, then you probably can't be in this business as a creative. There are a million other ways you can be involved. You can be on the set. You can be an agent. You can be, well, I guess you get rejected too for that. You can be a scouting person, you know, location scouter. There's a lot of other things you can do, but for me personally, when I get a rejection, I always try and find out, was it something in the work that I could improve so that I could get a better reaction next time? Or was this just the person's opinion? Or they didn't have the funding or they just produced something similar? There's a million reasons. So I try and understand why. And just because they didn't like it doesn't mean they're correct. And just because someone said, hey, I like this idea, but I think it needs to be funnier or more serious. If I don't agree, then I don't need to change it, you know? So I like to get some feedback when I can, but also know that at the end, it's my vision and my project. And if I don't agree with their suggestions, then I don't have to change it. There's somebody else out there and I just need to go find them. We all know that there's a lot of fake websites I asked us about, you know, how do you know which is talking in town, independent, which is real, which is done? Great question. Great questions, by the way, these are all wonderful. I think the best way to do it is when you network, you have a small, close community of people that have the same goals as you and everybody probably brings a little bit of knowledge to the table that fills in the other people's shortcomings. So I think it's good to have a small group of people or even an online community of trusted professionals that you can go in and say, hey, has anybody heard of this company? You know, because I've done that before and I've gotten, oh, they're great or, oh, no, no, don't go there. And sometimes I've been the person saying, yeah, you don't want to go to that website because I've gone there, I've researched, et cetera. So I think having that network of people, real people that you can trust and go to will help all of us to filter out the vomit that's out there. And then if there's a way we can pass that along so that we can save other people from having to stumble. And I think that's kind of our responsibility once we learn that this isn't a good site or this is a good site, right? We want to share that too. So what inspires you? What gives you expression and hope to do what you do? I love storytelling. I feel that there's a world out there that just, it doesn't make sense on a lot of fronts, but it's also, there's just so much magic in humanity and are being on this earth. And I just feel that it's my God-given gift to write stories that have a hint of magic to take people out of this world into worlds just beyond our own, because that's where I like to live. I like to live in that space right between dreaming and waking, and that is where I like to live. So those are the kinds of stories I like to tell. That's one of it here. So how do COVID affects you of anybody being shut down? You know, for me, I actually started, I switched from books to film. It affected me very negatively with the books, obviously. I had a lot of bookings, speaking, signings that I couldn't follow through with, obviously. I was very upset about that, and it felt very stifling to not be able to share my work. And that was around the time when I met my entertainment attorney by chance, or by God's grace, however you want to look at it. And so it was good for me for the film side, because he was able to take the time to say, this is how the industry looks, we're going to be about three years behind. So this is a good time for you to start building your resume and start writing some screenplays and get a little bit of work under your belt, so that way when they are starting to look again, you'll be ready to compete and have the new project available. So for me, it was a good time because of that coincidental timing with meeting the entertainment attorney. Okay. And where do you see selfies when you also put some screenplays or writing down the line? Yeah. I would like to get more heavily involved into production. My son, he'll be 16 in May, so I have a couple more years, home with the baby. My oldest son just graduated college in December of 2022. So I'm really close to being able to travel more, to actually go to these film sets and be on set and be on pre-production and be more involved with the production of it. But I do want to continue writing. My goal is to take my projects, my books, adapt them into films, get into some writing rooms and just see my stories on the big screen and continue to write and teach other creatives, best practices in both writing and their managing of their business. I see. Yes. Well, yeah. Did you want to call it yourself? I did. I received an associate's degree, just a general. I wasn't quite sure what I wanted to be when I grew up. I still don't know. So I didn't take a lot of traditional education, but I have spent many hours and many dollars on continuing education classes and conferences and mentorship programs and things of that nature to try to improve my craft in all aspects from writing to producing to marketing products and services. I have my associate's degree, too, in the liberal app. Perfect. Yeah. It's nice to have it. It's a lot of work, especially when being this business, you know, so yeah. Yeah. For sure. Do you plan to go on a book tour for next project? I would always love to go on a book tour, generally, because I am independently published. All of my books are created in my publishing house and my comic books as well. With my creative partner, Coolest Hack, we have a comic book company. So I do my books. We do our comics and we have booked ourselves independently and together at a lot of upcoming events. They're all on my website. I do know, for example, in February that I'll be in the sci-fi barto area in Florida in the middle of the month and then the last weekend of the month, I'll be in Atlanta at the Atlanta Comic Con. So we're excited to get out of Florida and go hang out with some of my Atlanta friends. So yeah, so just, you know, that's it for now as far as book tour goes, but I would love one day to be in a position where I'm launching something that has enough merit and enough buzz behind it to where I could actually go on a tour and work my way up to the Boston area. Well, hello there. This is the J-Man show on WBCA 102.9 FM, Boston's local community radio station. One of my passions is I really love kickboxing. I do the Les Mills classes and I love the karate and the kickboxing and punching the air and I don't know what it is about it, but it just really makes me feel good and it's just empowering. So I love doing that. I am a history nerd to the core. I love listening to podcasts about the falls of civilizations and, you know, different battles that happened in history that they just fascinate me. And then of course I have two dogs that steal my attention and my heart on a regular basis. And my oldest son, he is a theater major, so he just graduated. So I really love going to his professional theater shows and then even the shows he's not in, I do love going to the theater and seeing the live art, you know, watching a theater show, musical especially. To me, there's something that is so powerful and the story is so rich because it's live and there's reaction and there's real people delivering it and it's just so impressive. So I love going to the theater. And then my last love is my husband, he's a coach for the pop Warner football. So we go on Saturdays, I'll go to the 12 U games and the 14 U games and then like this last year we traveled around the state because they were in the in the Super Bowl. So yeah, so I like, you know, family community. It's really mostly what I do and then exercise and health are both very important. Yes, I agree that that's definitely a very important, how do you deal with it? Yeah, I mean, to be honest with you, I was very blessed, I think, where I lived that I never noticed. I thought it was just on TV and in the movies that people didn't like someone because of the color of their skin, like literally until years ago, I just thought that was something that was old school thinking and I have been very fortunate. I have had a lot of friends of multiple ethnicities, multiple countries of origin that are, you know, a first generation or their parents are first generation in America. So I don't know, I've just been very, I've lived in a bubble, I think. It's just it never crossed my mind and I feel very, I think I feel very good that I look at people that way, that I look at people and I don't notice anything else. It makes no sense to me, I think racism is, it just doesn't make any sense to me because how could you possibly like someone or not like someone because of how they look when you have no clue who they are. So I think as a writer, I get to toy with those ideas. For example, in my book Clifton Chase on Castle Rock, which is the second book in the series, he goes back in time to help Robin Hood and there's this big war between two different dwarf communities because of grievances that they carry from their past generations. So I kind of got to explore the idea of slavery and racism and how it affects people through a fantasy story. So for me, I think because it doesn't make sense to me going into and creating a story world where I can sort of explore it and maybe make it better, maybe change the thinking of people and have the ending be better than it is in real life currently is one of my favorite things about being a writer. My last question to you is what do the people can do to make it work better to change the world in your opinion? Oh yeah, great question. This is going to sound so cliche, but the Bible talks about the golden rule, treat others the way you want to be treated, not necessarily the way they deserve to be treated, but how you want to be treated. And I don't think anybody in the world wants to feel made fun of, stupid, insecure, unloved, unwelcome. So if none of us feel that way, then none of us would treat anybody that way. We all want to feel heard, seen, accepted, loved, appreciated, wanted. So if we all treated everybody that way, I truly believe that 90% of all the problems would disappear. You're always going to have that margin of people that are just miserable and hateful, just because. So you have to know they're always going to be there, but I really think that most of our problems would disappear, and when I go into the schools and I talk to kids about bullying and empathy and the power of their words, this is one of the principles that I try and like leave them with and hope that they take home, is that if we just treat everybody the way we want to be treated, the world would be so much easier to go through. About bullying school or put on as a kid? I was, first of all, I was very insecure, so I had a lot of, I won't say how self hate because I think that's too strong, but I really didn't like myself. I was very insecure. So then that would trigger other people who were bullies to see me as a victim, to see me as an easy target. So I did get bullied. And then I also had a tendency to have a soft heart for the underdogs. So a lot of times I was the one that would come in and stand up for somebody who was being bullied because I did know what that felt like and I did understand that, you know, we don't know what people are going through, so we don't know if they're just having a bad day or a bad month, and maybe that's not their normal behavior, but that's how they're acting out, so I did learn, I think, because of the bullying that a lot of the times it wasn't me, it was them, and that just taught me that, you know, sometimes you have to look at other people and go, what is going on in their world that's causing them to take it out on me? And then on the flip side, what am I putting out that's telling people it's okay to treat me this way? So there was a lot of growth that had to come for myself on both of those in and out outlets. Okay, I definitely understand, yeah, so what makes you happy in life? I think what makes me happy in life is being genuine, following the path and the plan that I feel God has laid out for me, because what that means is along the way, I might get to do what I want, I might get to write movies and write books and meet kids, but the real truth of what I'm doing is that I'm inspiring people and I'm leaving a legacy and I'm showing people a path to goodness and to me, it's a very, it's a wonderful feeling to have someone say, you know, you inspire me and I'm going to go write my book or I'm going to go do that thing I've been afraid to do because I saw you do it and, you know, you were successful, so now I think I can be successful. That really makes me happy, it makes me happy to hear that something that I'm doing with my time is positively affecting someone else's life. If you have a time for a very quick story, when I was writing my first book, "Clifton Chase and the Arrow of Light," that's the book that I would go into the schools and talk about bullying. Years later I went to my son's school when he was in middle school. When he was in high school, years later I was really depressed because no one was buying my books and nobody knew who I was and I was like, why am I doing this? When my son stops me and he goes, mom, it's not always about the sales and he said, there's a boy in my school and he came up to me a couple of months ago but I didn't know how to tell you this and he said that when you came to our school, in middle school, he was planning on killing himself when he got home from school that day and something you said in your presentation stopped him. So you don't always know why you're doing something or who it's going to affect, you just have to do what God tells you to do and you have to just do the next right thing and trust that there's a higher power that has a purpose and a plan and that changed everything for me. That just made every fear and every selfish ambition just disappear because it wasn't about me anymore. It was about me serving. Yes, I definitely agree. So how do you have depression sometimes? You know, it comes and goes. You have to understand that no matter how happy you are, how good life is and sometimes for people when it's really good, they get more depressed but for myself, when I start to feel down about something or I get a rejection, I give myself 24 hours to be miserable, reasonable and act like a toddler and that's it, you know. I'm going to cry, I'm going to stop my feet, I'm going to feel sorry for myself. No one's allowed to give me any good direction, everyone just has to pity me and pat my back and say, "You're right" and then after that, I move on and say, "Well, yeah, that's a good answer. I'm the same way to, you know." Yeah. You have to feel it sometimes. Yeah. Wow. Have you got to better travel overseas for projects or booze? Oh, for mine. No, no. I haven't gotten there yet. I mean, Lord willing, yes, one day. My, because this is my first movie and it was filmed in Colorado, we don't really have any reason to leave the US yet but, you know, if the next romantic comedy gets picked up by Hallmark, for example, then we would go to Canada. I have a great comic that I'm going to be launching with Coolaz Heck that's Gaijin in Tokyo and I wrote it when I was in Tokyo and it's a supernatural crime mystery. So I would love to, you know, turn that into a movie and maybe go over back to Japan because I was there for a month in the, in the late, it was, I think it was 1999, like right before we flipped centuries and I would love to go back and, you know, visit and promote that movie. That would be super fun. Wow. Wow. So what was Japan like? I want to go to Japan. Oh, it was the greatest place I've ever been. I was in Tokyo, downtown, I was, it was maybe 20 years old. I don't, I don't think I was 21 yet, I might have been. And I was by myself 2am, walking around, holding my shoes, barefoot, completely safe, like, and this was a long time ago, you know, this was 1999. So who knows how it is now, but it was, it was beautiful. The people were so kind and, you know, like my mom and I, we walked by this wall one day and there was a, like a purse sitting on the wall and I was like, oh no, someone lost their purse and she goes, you don't touch it if it's not yours here. And she said, you'll wash and we went out and we spent our day and we came home that night and the purse was still sitting on the wall. Whereas in America, we live by what? Finders keepers, right? So in America, that purse would have been snatched up and gone in a heartbeat. And it's just, it's a different culture and I absolutely loved it there. I would go back and stay forever right now. How come you don't touch the purse, dog? How come no one touched it? Because it wasn't theirs. It just, you don't touch it. So whoever it was, they'll come back for it. Like a day, two days, who knows? Oh wow. It's so different, such a different thinking and mindset. It was very, very interesting. What do you, what do you, what do you, what do you, what happens is someone that touched worse? I don't think anything would happen. I think, you know, maybe they would, they would bring it to somebody like a local shop and leave it and somebody would eventually find it. But yeah, it was, I wasn't going to touch it. That's all I knew is I wasn't going to touch it. Did you get to get this, did you see what over there? I did. We took the, yeah, it was amazing. We took the bullet train there and yeah, it was so fast, but you didn't feel it. And it was really, it was really cool to be in a, at a, like a theme park I knew. So well, that was just not the same. The food was amazing, you know, it wasn't our American fast food. And it was very clean, which is a Disney, you know, Disney is very clean. But it just, it was just slightly different and quieter. You could always tell when an American was in a bar because they were so loud, you know, you would have people from Australia and from Japan, obviously, from Taiwan, from India. All of these different cultures would be in the same bar and the loud, obnoxious, look at me, I'm an American would walk in the bar and I was like, I'm so embarrassed to be an American, you know, cause, but that's just, that's an American thing, you know, I mean, I love America. I'm not embarrassed to be an American, but you understand what I mean, like being over there and seeing us from someone else's perspective was eye opening, that we, you know, we walk in like we own the place and it just was different. So it was different to be on the other side, you know, there's a debate on dear walking them out. I had any of these in different areas. Yeah, I mean, where we were at, we were in the city and I know we did go to a couple of other places like we went to Disney, but we went to a couple of other places, but I don't remember. I mean, I remember there was a beautiful, like a pond and a small river and there was all these bonsai trees that was gorgeous and the cherry trees were in bloom. It was amazing. And then there was a big, big, like central park kind of place, but much bigger. And there were like, like 85 Elvis impersonators in a circle on a Saturday, like just singing and dancing Elvis together and like, and like nobody, nobody bothered me either. Just walked around. Like it was totally normal and yes, but I didn't see anything dear. But I did see Elvis impersonator. That's wonderful. That's awesome. Yeah. Like I said, I'm also a big fan of what this one flop have happened. Yes. Have you gotten it before? I love Disney. A million times we were pass holders for a few years. So we would go almost every weekend. Yeah. And it was, I mean, it was amazing because even though, like you got to where you kind of knew your way around, you know, because we were there every weekend, but it was still magical every time, you know, you, you get off of the ferry or you get off of the monorail and you look at the magic kingdom and you pass through the gates and you just like home, you know, like I'm in the happiest place on earth. Hello there, this is the J-Man show on WBCA 102.9 FM Boston's local community radio station.