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Episode Notes
Gregory Lay is an Actor, Writer, Producer and Small Business Owner. He was raised in a New Jersey suburb right outside of New York City. He attended Boston University Film School and the Neighborhood Playhouse School of Theater in NYC. He’s appeared in numerous TV shows such as Law and Order SVU and Person of Interest and worked in feature films alongside Matt Damon and Richard Masur.
He has written a dozen commercials and two feature films, Lonely Boys and Hudson currently available everywhere. He writes, produces and stars in his own TV show Greg in LA which has been in development across social media platforms. He also owns one of the most successful up and coming cheesecake companies, East Side Cheesecakes which he started in 2020 when the world shut down. He works and lives in Los Angeles, CA
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Transcript
Holly Shannon 0:00
Coffee Culture is brewed for connection under the guise of coffee. We've been meeting in cafes for centuries. Today is no different. Coffee Culture, the podcast explores the meetup. If you are a coffee enthusiast, maybe seeking Modern Love on a coffee date, we'll want some health hacks. We'll dig into that too. I'm Holly Shannon. Come wrap your hands around a hot cup of connection with me on coffee culture. Hello, coffee culture family. I am here today with Gregory Leigh and he is an actor, writer, producer and small business owner. He was raised in New York, New Jersey suburb right outside of New York City and attended Boston University film school, and the Neighborhood Playhouse School of Theater in New York City. He's appeared in numerous TV shows such as law and order, SUV and Person of Interest, and worked in feature films alongside Matt Damon and Richard Mazur. He has written a dozen commercials, and two feature films, lonely boys and Hudson, we will get into that. And those are currently available everywhere. He writes, produces and stars and his own TV show Greg in LA, which kind of rhymes with Gregory leg, which has been in development across social media platforms. He also owns one of the most successful and up and coming cheesecake companies called Eastside cheesecakes. We'll find out what kind of coffee he has with it, which he started in 2020, when the world's shut down, he works and lives in Los Angeles, California. So welcome, Gregory. Leigh,
Gregory Lay 1:42
thank you so much for having me. It's a pleasure to be here.
Holly Shannon 1:45
Thank you, thank you. So I don't even know where to start, because you are a multi faceted person. But I just have to start by saying I think I found you on Instagram. And I thought it was sensational, that you took advantage of the short form video and created a series out of it. And I've just been selling it left and right to people because it's funny, and it's heart wrenching. It's got so much heart to it. But what I thought was brilliant was that you created two seasons, and each episodes like a minute or two minutes long. So like you can binge watch in like 20 minutes. So great.
Gregory Lay 2:32
It's it's really, it's exciting to hear you say that because it was, you know, these things, they get created in a vacuum, you know what I mean, and especially at this point in my career was, you know, I've been I've been hustling at the acting game for quite a long time and sort of had my side job and you end up doing this because you you love doing it. You know, at the end of the day, when you realize maybe you're not going to make a bunch of money overnight, you you just start to get it hopefully for the love of the game. And so at this point, when I started that series, we were just, you know, tired of waiting for the phone to ring. And you know, that's sort of that tends to be the lifestyle. But we had also, Shawn and I who co created the show with me and does all the technical stuff. He's kind of a wizard we've been collaborating for over a decade, and we've always been about impulsive creativity growing up in New York, it was very easy for us to meet up that at a moment's notice, shoot something. And, you know, when I moved here, we hoped we could do the same thing and knowing without money that, you know, it's eyeballs now, right? Like we live in this attention economy, as a lot of people have said, so, you know, how do you get something like a creative work out to a large group of people without money or sort of celebrity to sell it off of? And our hope was, is that if we make something that we love that, that we're excited about, that maybe people would share that feeling and because of that, that they would, they might want to share it or you know, because another thing that I realized is that there's really the value that people get for free on the internet. It's everything seems like a commercial for something now, everything's an advertisement for something else. Even if it's a show, it's an advertisement for a show that's on that's somewhere else or that you have to pay for a product or somebody's selling themselves or their own identity whatever it is. So to just know that because we love to do this that we could offer people some entertainment tell the story that we wanted to tell based on the feelings that that we've had in our lives living so far and and have people have the option to just enjoy something you know, that's there for them specifically, with no with no tricks behind it, I guess.
Holly Shannon 4:43
Yeah, no, I love that. And I love that. Um, we do have an attention problem because we've been groomed by social media to not last longer than seven seconds or 30 seconds or one One minute, and then it's scroll, scroll, scroll to next thing. So I thought it was brilliant actually, that you created this series in that format, like in that short form. I mean, it immediately is tick tock Instagram and YouTube short in because I think, like a minute.
Gregory Lay 5:19
Yes, and that's, you know, I gotta say, I'm really happy because I've always had sort of a not a scattered mind. But I've always had a lot of things going on at once in my head and the fact that now, the output can match what's going on in terms of I can do multiple things at once. We, Shawn and I have always made things very quickly. But we've always, we've always been able to, I guess infuse more meaning into smaller bits, which to me is the essence of sort of a creativity writing, you want to be able to get a lot of information and a lot of, you know, in with film, you can do that through behavior and through dialogue. So to be able to know that yes, this is how people are watching things now. Do I love it? No, because I came up on film, and narrative and all these things I love about storytelling, but can you get the same essence across matched up with how people are watching things now. And the fact that as you're saying, I mean, this is the most beautiful thing to hear this from you and to all these other people that, that that is that, to hear people say, wow, you're getting so much across, it's just small period of time is it's it's a music to my ears, because that's the hope, because that's all we have, as far as I'm concerned before people scroll. So it's almost like you're not rejecting the way things are. It's, you know, trying to work with the way the things are, you know, not fight it, not be bitter about it, and be able to maybe infuse what I love to do with with reality, you know, as it exists now.
Holly Shannon 6:43
Well, you nailed it. You nailed it, because we're all rooting for Greg. So you know what I mean? Like you, you achieved it? I don't know, anybody who does not feel like some of the things you are going through in that in as the character Greg in LA, like, we, we can we get it? Yeah, you instantly tapped into so many different you know, things that we think about or things that we go through, you know, I'm gonna dive into the episodes like, it's, yeah, so that people really get it. So, you know, your wife leaves you. And there you are in shock. And you're watering your plants for like four hours straight. And you're like, looking up at the sky, like a plane went by, is she in it will crash, you know, like, you're just like, like, it's, it's what people go through. Like, when they break up with somebody, you know, when they've been dumped, you know, then all of a sudden, you're thinking all of these horrible things. And I've been through
Gregory Lay 7:49
that, that's the thing is, is, you know, the whole show was an exercise in vulnerability and honesty. And for me, as an actor, I've always always set the risk level at being able to be as vulnerable as possible, as honest as possible. Because I believe in what I've seen proven is that if you do take that leap, and you take that risk of exposing yourself in an honest way, so many other people have felt exactly like that. And that's the risk everybody plays with not wanting to sort of share a lot about themselves as they see it as a weakness. But then there's this other side to it, where people empathize and relate and feel connection based on that. So, so be you know, living a life going through things in my life going through a divorce, you know, that that kind of sort of those feelings of hopelessness and restructuring and, you know, sort of, you know, the, the narrative that you told yourself, your whole life, you know, these these things come crumbling down, and you have to rebuild them. Right. So, there's so much to work with there. And for me, I've always been a very analytical person, I've always analyze exactly what's going on from the outside of my life, to make sense of it. From the time I was a kid, if it was, you know, maybe getting made fun of or anything like that to feel better understanding what where it's coming from. So for me, that was sort of the way around, I guess the pain was in anything was like, Okay, if I can sort of understand what's going on how I play a part in it, everybody else does. It lends itself to writing because we put our stream of consciousness onto paper, Shawn and I, and because he's so good at what he does, like a painter who can paint something directly from their mind right to their finger, because Shawn is so technically proficient, and we both have a very similar stream of consciousness. It can come right out, it can come out quickly. We've shot four episodes in a day, in one afternoon. Yeah, so that's our I think that's our superpower is efficiency, speed. And meaning because it's, it's it works now. Right? Like it's so yeah, so it as you're saying, you know, those relatable moments they come from, from from a real place. Yeah.
Holly Shannon 9:56
Well, the and I want to tap into that vulnerability. Um, you feel it immediately, because he's walking down the road with a robot and it's clearly a women's bathrobe at the coffee. Here's walking down in LA street, you know what I mean? So you're like, you know he's in a daze, you know that he's there,
Gregory Lay 10:18
you know, there's a certain kind of, there's a certain kind of thing that happens when you're in tragedy were those like aesthetic or superficial things like you don't care like there's so much disorder in your regular life. Do you care if anybody sees you in a in a woman's bathrobe? Do you really mean it? Write it, they just discuss goes out the window? Yeah.
Holly Shannon 10:38
But then, you know, kind of the flip side of that, like, there's an episode where you're out on a date, like we are all rooting for you. You know, it's it's, we see with the robe, we feel you. And then we see you trying so hard to like, live a life. You know, you're you're on the dating app, and you are confused by that. And you're out on the day, and you're trying to pick up all the things Yeah, you're trying to pick up the cute woman who just hit your car. We just really want you to succeed. It's even Winston wants to succeed. We got the dog.
Gregory Lay 11:16
Yeah, sure. Yeah, that's my dog. That's my dog. Winston. Yeah, I saw that rescue.
Holly Shannon 11:23
Yes, you rescued another one not to go off our conversation. But I just noticed on Instagram that you found another dog on the side a
Gregory Lay 11:32
couple weeks ago, we're on the freeway, and he was literally a four lane freeway. And he was walking along the side of the road. Literally, there's no no doubt he's gonna hit my car. So at that point, literally, we stopped like three lanes of traffic and I and we got him into a box. He was trying to snap at us. But you know, it's wild. Eventually you find out like the dogs house trained. Somebody took care of the dog, which, you know, to me makes me think, who would care enough to tend to a dog and groom a dog but then possibly just leave it on the side of the road, which people do when they get old? Because they don't want to take care of them sometimes I hadn't thought about but but yeah, so So He's here now he he's visiting for a week. But it's amazing to see recovery to see an animal live, not trust and get, but you start to just understand where that fear is coming from. And to watch them turn a corner is kind of an amazing, it's an amazing thing.
Holly Shannon 12:24
Well, you you obviously love pets, and you have Winston the cutest dog ever. In your show. He is so great. So I you know, I know I posted. He's like the Yoda in your life. That's true to Greg in LA. And I am so I love those scenes where like you're walking down the road together. And it's so perfect because you get to the end of the sidewalk and the light is don't walk and you're having like the conversation with him. And he's like getting literally like, existential on you. Yeah, and, and you are literally having the conversation with him. And he's like, you know, she's, she's back there, she's, you know, she's in your rearview mirror, like you have to go forward in life kind of thing. And, and then the light changes to walk in, you're frozen, they're like it, it's so great. Like,
Gregory Lay 13:20
I love the you notice that because there is there's a lot of things that Shawn and I are showing I came up on loving film and there's a lot of things that are said without dialogue. And I love that those that those things come across. I'm very visual. Once it is like it you know, it's like holding up a mirror to yourself. Dogs have this amazing ability they just have love in their eyes. So you know it's sort of always right there to bounce off of you. And I feel like he sort of you know, in a way represents like his you know, his his conscience his subconscious unconscious, you know, is better is better is better side.
Holly Shannon 13:56
Yeah, it's great. I love that and I I also want to talk about some of the some of the funny things that really resonated with me on the show. I want everybody just go watch all these episodes, I'm, I'm telling you some of the best morsels for me. So there was an episode with the influencer, that you're like walking aimlessly and just you know trying to take in your surroundings and you know, get some fresh air whatever. And you walk up this mountain and there's this woman up there who's like recording herself she's the and she tells you she's your she's an influencer and you're like, what's that?
Gregory Lay 14:36
Simple questions. Not a wild thing because that that that that went crazy, which is that's very fascinating to me because that got like 3.2 million views that video. That's the reason why I got 20,000 People watching the show is because of that one real because it went all over the world. So this happened over the course of a week or two And the engagement on that it was shared like 50,000 times or something. But it's it was the conversations what that culturally that represented something to people that they're witnessing now that they're seeing, everybody has an opinion on influencers, about what influencing is what it means to influence. Am I an influencer? I've been putting it up. So it really got people into this, like, philosophical back and forth. It was very fascinating. But once again, you know, you have an example of like, okay, so one piece of content or one clip goes viral, which brings people to a page that has two seasons of episodes, thankfully, ready to go. It could have happened after a couple. So I mean, it's kind of a wild thing that that just that one that really spoke really spoke to a lot of people.
Holly Shannon 15:50
It really did we all connected with it, because it's a part of our language now, you know, I'm Gen X. So like, when I was growing up, it was called, you know, the it factor or the X Factor? And now it's the influencer, right? Like, it's, and we could have a whole conversation, I literally just posted something on LinkedIn, the difference between an influencer and somebody with influence, which I think there's a big division, yeah, but more. But what I loved about that scene, what's what's stuck out? Especially, was when she's holding the camera and telling everybody, Hey, get out in nature, get off your phone to do that. And I'm like, she's on her phone in nature. Like, yeah,
Gregory Lay 16:36
There literally is no parity anymore in the world. Like, it's all it's all right on the surface now. So I don't know if it's because people are so used to exchanging texts with each other, and that the verbal sort of conversation has waned some with a newer generation, but it seems like, it seems like good, like irony, and parody are sort of like, you know, kind of the same as reality now.
Holly Shannon 16:59
Exactly. Well, and it's such a great segue into the other influencer conversation that you ended up having in the office. So the CEO who's like 12 years old, I think, actually, I ran that link on LinkedIn, because there's such a huge startup economy. And there's a lot of really young people that are like, instantly CEOs, right, because they're starting up all of these different companies. So for me to see like a tool of oral that that was hysterical, hysterical. And then I couldn't stop laughing. Because I've also done posts on acronyms, and people overuse them, and they don't even know what half of them mean. And we've, we're trying to, like, shorten how we talk to people, but it's making it harder, because people don't even know what you mean. You know, like, they just don't get it. But that was hysterical. I'm thinking
Gregory Lay 17:52
Shawn got that because I, I was not in that, that life to know personally, because right off the bat, I was just waiting tables and sort of pursuing acting with Shawn. When commercial meetings and especially now he has more of like a solid commercial job. That that that ended up being real, that ended up being something that people actually directly related to, because it was kind of like almost our idea of what it might be like. Yeah,
Holly Shannon 18:20
absolutely. It is. I have been to cocktail parties where, you know, I'm talking to people who are like, maybe VC community or tech or sales or whatever. And oh, yeah, for sure. We just started drop shipping. They start dropping acronyms all like salt and pepper through their whole conversation, that I'm losing the string of of understanding what they're saying, because I'm sitting there trying to figure out what what does that mean? Like, what I couldn't look it up on my phone? Like that's
Gregory Lay 18:53
actually really funny scene that would be really funny seem to be at like a party and two people who speak a completely different language. Yeah, lowly just creep out because you have no idea what they're talking about. It's really awkward. Yeah, I didn't think about that. But that's yeah, this is the only language is forming.
Holly Shannon 19:07
Well, if I see that episode, I'm gonna take credit for it. Yeah, for sure. Um, and another another episode, which I thought was really funny. Like, you take a riff on life. So you're at the farmers market, and you get approached by somebody who wants to petition to for to help migrate whales, two killer whales, killer whales, killer whales. And it's so funny because it's it's so true. Like no matter what farmer's market you go to there is always somebody holding up a petition for a
Gregory Lay 19:42
dozen Oh, yeah, they're covering the place. Yeah. Yeah. It's a it to me. It's interesting, because it's one of those fascinating things to me about people. They're doing something but they have no idea what they're really doing. And it's like, Yes, I signed up for this. And I'm doing this I'm asking you a question. I'm asking you for something, but I don't even really know what it is that I'm doing.
Holly Shannon 20:06
It's one of you guys. You nailed it again. I mean, I don't know how long you took to film that, but you nailed that one. It was really fun.
Gregory Lay 20:14
Yeah, it's, it's one of those things to where you realize it makes you feel sad. You're like, wow, it's like, you know, people need jobs. They really do. Right, like, whatever. I'll hold the clipboard. And I'll just, I'll ask for the killer whales. Yeah.
Holly Shannon 20:29
So I want to go back in time a little bit. And because you did produce with Shawn, I believe, and along with two of the actors that you've worked with before David Neal Levin and Paul Mazur, so you also to Richard Mazur, Richard, I'm sorry. I'm lonely boys and Hudson.
Gregory Lay 20:54
Yes, yes. And a third movie, actually, that will probably should come out soon. I'll tell you about later. But ever Yeah, worked with Richard a lot was one of my childhood, like the stars that I watched as a character actor growing up and all these 80s movies. So it was kind of it was a wild thing to work with him.
Holly Shannon 21:07
We I definitely want to jump into that. So sort of this funny thing. So when I first cued up Hudson to watch it, I'm thinking Hudson Valley, because like you New York, because of where you're coming and walking, and I'm seeing like, the leaves changing on the trees along the water. So I'm thinking the Hudson River, the whole thing, but it was actually the character's name in it. So I was thrown off at first. Yeah. But we're
Gregory Lay 21:36
also both, you know, totally, because that's for Sean's from Syracuse. So we basically were around just the upstate New York area, and Hudson Valley in general. That's actually where Richard lives. Okay, so you totally frequented that place. So that was the totally the idea.
Holly Shannon 21:52
And we're and we're gonna go back to your Northeastern roots, because that's where I'm from, as well. But
Gregory Lay 21:58
I have to ask, yeah, one of the
Holly Shannon 22:03
the people in the movie, that of course, we don't meet is Beth, Elizabeth, Elizabeth, Elizabeth. And the person that divorce you and left you and Greg in LA is bash. What's with
Gregory Lay 22:19
that? You know, what it just it just ended up being something where, like, we just thought it would be silly. The same, but it's the same that it's the same person the same name. And that David even said, he's like, is this? He's like, we know, he's like, Oh, wait, is Greg gonna lay the sequel to Hudson? Like, like, that's actually really, really funny. But no, we just honestly, yeah, it was the same name. And Shawn put it in the script. And we just, honestly, we just thought it would be funny. It's funny that you made that connection to I'm sure more people will.
Holly Shannon 22:49
I think they will. I think they will. I just thought it was like a cute aside. I just had to find out about that. So your roots are in the Northeast. We both talked about that. You'd spent some summers on the shoreline of Connecticut, and you went to school in Boston. So this is where you met. Sean, who's your producer now maybe, and Richard Mazur, and David Neal, like these people.
Gregory Lay 23:22
It was, you know, interesting journey, because I went to be right out of high school. And you know, you're getting your bearings, I had no idea what I was doing. And I did some some theater while I was there. But I mainly focus this turns my studies on filmmaking, which, you know, back then I was learning how to like cut actual film on the machine, like there was no digital hadn't really started yet. So it was generations to like cut and tape physical film. And then two years later, it was obviously the entire school change. But I took a year after that, and I went, and then I decided to go to acting school. And I was acting school for two years, which was a very immersive conservatory, like, I took ballet and modern dance and voice and speech and it was like a very immersive program. And then it was really after that, that I got the ground running and decided that I was going to kind of go at it myself, kind of break free of the structure of any of these programs or continue to go to school, and just sort of hit the pavement and it was doing tons of plays for free off Broadway and doing tons of student films and and you know, from the beginning, but you know, I got another amazing thing is I knew that I was really passionate about acting, but I also knew there was somebody out there that was just as passionate about the filmmaking aspects. I just wasn't I went to film school, I think because I wanted something quote unquote, more stable than just theater school, whatever that was, I was getting a bachelor's. And so you know, when I finally decided To, to go to acting school and sort of like, you know, pursue that it was, it was kind of like just the chaotic drive into into the unknown. But then I, I said to myself, I need somebody I need somebody who had understands that technical aspect that's a master at that, that needs an actor, writer, partner, and I met a man, a guy named Dan Simon first. And we made this movie lonely boys together. And him and I were our first immersive writer, director thing. And we made an entire movie for like $6,000, a feature film around New York City, with actors doing us favors locations, doing us favors, taking over people's houses, and just on the steam of just wanting to create a feature our first feature. And it wasn't till a little later, I started to do a little like spec commercial, the spec commercial started to come up where you basically, you know, could enter these contests by doing brand commercials through these companies. And that's how I actually met Shawn. And we did a few commercials like spec commercials together. And slowly he started to ask me to do short films. And we started we just came up together. So that was like 10 years ago, where I ended up getting to two collaborators actually come into my life that were masters of directing, and, and camera that loved shooting, and also writing, who could edit as well, who could were amazing editors who could, from top to bottom, we could put together a movie ourselves with your lives if the surroundings were right. And natural light was there with a couple of microphones and just people one camera, we could make a movie, you know, because normally you need five, six people on a set. You know, you need people that know lighting. But if you have somebody who knows lighting, sound camera directing can write, I mean, it's rare. But because of that, Shawn and I kind of became this two man, team and Hudson, we ended up basically wanting to write something around David me 11 Because it's such an interesting character. Just I had worked with him on another feature that I actually I met David on a feature called crazy famous, I know it's a little round and round. But that was like an actual legitimate multimillion dollar movie that I booked as an actor met David, and brought him into the fold. Because Sean was like, This guy is very interesting. So we wrote something. And up until the week before we went to upstate New York, David did not think we were going to make the movie, because it was like a credit card dropping. You know, it cost us like 10s of 1000s. But next to nothing. So it was it was me Sean, the actors we loved and knew and trusted, and a DP a director of photography that we loved. And some so we paid all our crew, they worked for a really, you know, they did us a favor by working for a good rate actors worked for free. For the love of the game, Sean and I worked for free. We took over his mother's house in upstate New York and Syracuse, she cooked for everybody. We apparently during September, it's unheard of, we got 10 straight days of sun, crazy things happen. We shot at a gas station that was supposed to be ripped out of the ground the next day, but he called and the guy had the location for us, all these wonderful things happen. But we shot that in 10 days, a feature film in 10 days for barely any money. And that was it was huge for us to do that. So once Sean and I went through that this Greg in LA thing was just sort of a fun project, you know, because it was what can we do for nothing for zero? So, you know, the response and the fact that you're even asking me questions about is kind of remarkable, you know, because it was just for fun, you know, but Shawn, being a commercial director, he's so aesthetically specific, that anything that he makes is going to, he's going to make sure that it's it's beautiful, you know, the page is beautiful that it looks so if you have those those elements, I feel like you can kind of do anything, especially now right with the resources being what they are.
Holly Shannon 29:03
Absolutely. It's it's great that you complemented each other so well.
Gregory Lay 29:07
Yeah, they're a brain to our ideas. We have a shorthand we don't really have to discuss much we understand the same stuff without really saying it. He can say like, make a move and I know exactly kind of what he wants me to do. It's it's something that's just gets developed over time. So it's another thing you can't just sort of make up on the spot. You can't by that it only develops over time, which you know, you feel I feel lucky.
Holly Shannon 29:30
So he finishes your sentences he's like your work husband.
Gregory Lay 29:33
Yes. It's beautiful thing. It's cutting out the middleman and anything is a beautiful thing. Knowing that hey, do you want to go do this damn, we gotta do this first and that first and by that time, to me the emotional energetic momentum of things is one of the most important things you know, you try to like I try to like cultivate that and other people you know, you find out through actors or other people what it is that makes them tick what it is that makes them And, you know, light up. And if they need that, especially, you know, you don't know what, what's going on anybody's life. So it's it's good to be close with somebody so there's like there's no, there's no bullet.
Holly Shannon 30:11
Absolutely. I think, you know what I could say where I have this in common with you is, you know, I've been an entrepreneur for a long time, essentially what you've been
Gregory Lay 30:23
you realize that by the way, I didn't know that I just realized I was
Holly Shannon 30:27
welcome to The Club. You have to be very gritty and agile. Yeah. And, you know, I've been planning I've been doing all sorts of things throughout my life to I, you know, I'm multifaceted. Before I was a podcast, I was doing marketing and, and small, intimate events. And I was a jewelry designer for 15 years. Like, I've done a lot of different things, parts of your brain working exact. Oh, so no, you know, that's,
Gregory Lay 30:55
that's it. I had to keep up. Sorry. I heard it dropped you. But I love that you're saying this
Holly Shannon 30:59
right now? Yeah, well, that's why I think I noticed so many details. I'm extremely visual. Um, but you have to work fast. And you have to work efficiently with what you have. And I've always done that. And I think it's so cool. It's a testament to the creative that you're able to do this almost seamlessly. It's almost like you don't want to go big or necessarily like bringing other people in, because it's gonna, like, ruin the recipe.
Gregory Lay 31:29
What What would it this is the question I asked myself, What is what is life? If it truly is about the creative process? What if it really is about the art? What if you don't have another agenda? What if you aren't looking for the money or the attention? What if you go to that place? And I think, to me, the only reason I'm here now is because I mean, I've made changes in my life that were massive. I mean, I stopped drinking alcohol. When I was like, 36 years old, I had so much energy, that I didn't know what to do with it, and nobody taught me. So a lot of what allows me I think, to do what you're describing, and sort of, you know, do all of this at once quickly and efficiently is I asked myself a question, this series of magical events happened when I moved to LA, that really challenged me in a way the way I wanted to be challenged. That I, I immediately, I think after going through what I went through, you know, I asked myself, what would it be like, if you were the most reliable person in the room? What would it be like if you weren't looking for somebody else? To kind of like close up shop? What if everything fell on your shoulders because I had the energy to do it. But it was scary. And I had always partied a lot and kind of burnt burnt my fuse that way and worked hard at the same time. But I wasn't optimal. I was like, You're a happy person, you have a lot of join you. But you're sort of going in this direction where like, what if that energy went in the other direction, it took years to a decade as far as I'm concerned, because when I was 26 years old, and I got out of acting school, I knew I had to make changes. I was like, There's no way you succeed like this. I know how this story ends, you burn yourself out, and best mediocrity, you'll know it. And you'll be looking back going. It's the same old drag of a story about somebody who just handled too much, whatever. And then by the time I was 36, I had gone back and forth and back and forth. So much of the year stopping for a year running marathons, like going to extreme like in order to fill that void. And then obviously, over time you learn to calm down a little bit you learn to balance you learn that you're just as energetic and fascinated about information and knowledge and experience. So if you fill yourself with that, then it's all started to take off then then I started to because the fulfillment, it doesn't matter what happens on the outside, like I got this, Shawn and I working together at the end of the day, everything else is just gravy, like it's just extra, the accolades, the money, you know, to find a space where you're doing it for those sort of grounded pure reasons, and you're enjoying that about life. I mean, that, to me is the prize. But culture has you chasing all kinds of stuff that it does not do it and you can run into a wall your whole life because you can always switch the brain is so clever. It's amazing because you can tell yourself the most intricate story in order to go around what's right in front of you, which is this isn't not working like but the fear of change the the exhaustion that comes with changing momentum. As you get older, stopping taking a moment then changing direction. It's like the biggest nightmare in the world for people. So because like what you said about agility and being versatile. You know that that was chaos for me at one point and being in it because I always was like, You know what, if I'm going to be an artist, if I'm going to be an actor, all the actors I love are kind of wildcards. So I also emulated that lifestyle which was which was destructive, which is definitely what I was doing because I so ciated that with great like guttural, heartfelt talent and like expression like these people like like Sean Penn and like these guys were like really, but eventually you just sort of learned that like, Oh, these are human flaws. These are like, I understand why people depend on those states in order to get where they are, but, but um, you know, it, culture sort of told me to follow a certain thing and chase a certain thing for some filament. And I'm just lucky, I kind of broke the pattern before. I felt like there was no nowhere else to go, I guess, you know,
Gregory, that was like a Mic drop. I have to tell you, that was beautiful I, I feel
Holly Shannon 35:52
what's really, really important is that you recognized that all you need is to allow yourself to create, and it doesn't really matter about anything else or anyone else and cares about the future. It's it's going to play out the way it's going to play out. And you can't direct that you can only direct your
Gregory Lay 36:20
art. Yes.
Holly Shannon 36:23
Hey, coffee lovers, I have two quick announcements. I am opening a YouTube channel at Holly Shannon. And I'm going to have all of coffee culture on there. So you can capture the little shorts for five minutes here and there. Or you can capture the full length interviews. Also, my book zero to podcast is on Amazon, and it's on my website. And it is the How To Guide to start your podcasts really fast and get your voice and ideas on iTunes and Spotify like I did, makes a great holiday gift for you, perhaps a graduation present. Or maybe it's your New Year's resolution. Both links are in the show notes. And now back to our show coffee culture.
Gregory Lay 37:07
You have control over you know, like what people put so much control in other people's hands. And they don't even realize it in other circumstances, hands and outside circumstances. It's the end of the day, like if you really understand, you really do and this is such a cliche, right? Because you'll hear from every guru, everybody, every self help that, you know, you only have control over the things, you know, you know, over yourself over your reactions to things. But when you really understand that you catch yourself, right you catch yourself constantly, more and more to where hopefully you can kind of eradicate those those little missteps. You know, it's to me, it's also like hearing and hearing you relate to it even hearing you understand it, I think it's so important, because all I see now I mean, I bartended sober for two years in New York before I moved to LA, that's impressive. Unbelievable. Like, wow, you end up having these therapy sessions with people who they smell something on you. It's very interesting. They know they, you know, a bartender as well. So they go for you to ask you questions. But people that want to change their lives, and they want you to know that they're they want to change their lives, but they're kind of in this helpless place. You know, people that are coming in, you know, they're there, they're wanting to go out and take you on some vendor with them only for you to find out that they just had some fight with their ex wife, and they weren't able to see their kid. And now they're like looking to destroy themselves. And they want to take you with them, which is some iteration of always what's going on, you know what I mean? So it gives you eyes, it gives you the ability to see people very quickly, I think and say, oh, what you're saying to me right now and what you're actually going through are two very different things. You know, you're you're upset, you're sad, you're hurting, even though you're yelling and screaming, and I mean, I'm working on it every day by no means have it figured out. Trust me because I lose my temper all the time. But it's like,
Holly Shannon 38:58
I think that's culture though, like culture and social media. You know, we all know it's Instagram worthy, right? It's the picture. It's the dialogue. It's the writing everything people put on there. In some cases is a facade like it's not really who they are or what they want to do. It's not feeding their heart. It's it's not there. Hi, Winston are here you back there.
Gregory Lay 39:31
For one sorry, I was gonna stop. Could be mailman could be anybody.
Holly Shannon 39:37
All right. No worries. I got one too. He might start barking. But it's, you know, it's hard to be your creative, individual self. You know, it's really hard. And you saw it like in real time at a bar. You know, that's like an Instagram moment where somebody's trying to show You know how strong they are, or how angry or whatever, but inside, they're like this little child crying because, you know, they lost the love of their life. And they had, you know, their mom had walked out with them when they were younger. So it's, you know, the same thing, same same, and that's why they're at the bar.
Unknown Speaker 40:18
But it's
Gregory Lay 40:22
authentic, you know, I think that there's something going on where like you said, there's so much of this posturing, there's so much of this facade driven existence, it just seems to me I know, I am like, I don't know, maybe the response to the show in some small ways. Like, you know, people are starting to become aware of it, maybe they're becoming God willing to becoming a little bit more self aware, a little bit more aware of, you know, the fact that like, everything that we have in culture was built on top of real things. Like it's, it's, you know, at the very basics, we're very simple creatures, the end of the day, like, we all want the exact same things. But so much work is done to like, differentiate, but take everything away, the clothes, the hairstyle, and everything, everything. It's really, I mean, it's amazing how lost we get in the story. And it's, I mean, it's all a story, really, when you build up from the bottom, but you can tell yourself any real anyone you want. It really is that seems to be people forget that somewhere, the story started, right? It started
somewhere, and you convinced yourself on it, right? You can insert into
a story, you know, and you're already convinced in your formative years before you even have a choice. So to me, it's like, why am I a guy No, and maybe somebody else has put it this way. But it was really brilliant that everybody's born running software, like there, by the time they're six or eight years old, they have a program running in their head. And then maybe you realize and recognize that you have certain programs automatically running inside of you. And then you actually take a moment to realize what those are. And then you might be able to shift them or shut them down or change them into other programs, or you get a therapist and they help you Yes, exactly. Exactly. Right. Yeah, that's the thing, right? Like I, I've always, I think been very interested in in that machinery. So I think that's how I was able to stop like drinking and things like that, right? Because I went underneath it all. Personally, I can speak for myself. It was one of those things where I felt like if I understood what was driving it, personally, then I I knew that I enjoyed life regardless. And I was obsessed with the idea that what's important are these things that we do all the time that we just sort of do by habit you don't really ask yourself like, Well how does it feel when you don't? How does it feel when you do so? For everybody? It's it's really it's a very personal thing but just to like, I guess self awareness right, that's what we're talking about. That's very
Holly Shannon 42:55
powerful. I agree. I agree. But the other side of that your entrepreneurial spirit I love your that you have found that creativity is the only thing you need to eat and
Gregory Lay 43:11
thankfully it lined up right because there is that you know lining up with what you can sell right how you can make money in this world that magical combination of like something you can be passionate about which will just by virtue of doing it will generate money if you build the house properly. Yeah, the cheesecake company that we started it I came to LA and I knew that I needed kind of a kick in the ass to be a little bit more I'd never been in a regular I had worked really hard but to know that I could like run as like a management figure like come in every day work crazy hours if need be be the guy to be relied on never miss a day of work. I had never really because I waiting tables, getting off partying going on auditions, like this whole New York thing. When I got to lay within two weeks crazy thing. I was in a parking lot. We had been in LA for two weeks, we knew I needed a job I had no idea what I was going to do sick of waiting tables bartending, like 15 years I had done it and I was like more more maybe 2030 different restaurants and bars I had worked at every possible position. You know, I quit and started again a lot because of acting to get a part like up started gotta go. But I needed to change like psychically experientially needed to change. Like I hit a wall with that and I was I had milked it for everything I could in every possible way. And listen, it's it's a rude awakening going on set doing a movie with Matt Damon for two weeks. You're like, all over the moon. It's the dream. And then you're waiting tables like a week later, because it's so relate to this change. Right, right. Right, right, right. My whole life supposed to change? rocket launch and then I'm asking somebody which suit they want. And I'm like, This is it. This is a life moment.
Back to reality. Yes. There goes gravity.
Yep, yep, exactly. You're like you're like this is the exact this is I have to be okay with this right? Yeah. So so that was its own learning learning experience. But man in LA two weeks needed a job. My girlfriend goes inside to get bagels because we had heard that bagels are kind of bad in a way.
Holly Shannon 45:31
So, East Coast, you had to test that. Oh,
Gregory Lay 45:34
God obsessed with bagels being a Jewish guy from the East Coast, of course. So I saw I she went in and while she was there, she was going on Craigslist. And under like miscellaneous jobs. She found this bagel job. This guy needed a bagel Baker and I had been thinking about making bagels for the last couple years. It was just something that always and then I find out later I was in some meetings a year before and some guy goes, Hey, Greg, what are you going to do in Atlanta? I go and I'll probably learn to make bagels or something. Crazy, right? Wow, this isn't even the bagels. I didn't even look up bagels. It's under the miscellaneous jobs. I call the guy I have this idea. This is my job. This is my job. I could dive into this. If this is just me learning how to make bagels ends up. I was really convincing. I meet with him. He hires me. I spend the next two and a half years. Don't miss a day at work. I don't take a break. I'm there 15 hours a day sometimes sometimes son sunup to sundown. For two and a half years straight learn how to make bagels. He opens up two more locations, it becomes this huge bagel place when the New York Times for like, the bagels are the best bagels in LA or New York's it's crazy. I'm the guy behind the guy. So he's on Jimmy Kimmel, and all this crazy stuff is happening. But I was making cream cheese from scratch while I was there. And when the pandemic happens, you know, it's sort of every everything became fair game. It was kind of like, it leveled the playing field in a way for me psychologically, where it was a positive thing where I was like, We everybody's in the same boat. So everybody's always in the same boat. Really. It's just all this machinery moving that really makes you it's very intimidating.
Holly Shannon 47:11
It's squashed the hierarchy.
Gregory Lay 47:13
Yeah, exactly. I was like it this man's rent ran a business and I can run his business, then I can start my own. So Julia had like, my girlfriend had a was my fiancee, now she had a she she had like a paycheck or one an unemployment check. And she got a mixer off Craigslist. And we started making cheesecakes. And then I decided like a year, a little over a year to go to leave and just go full on it was a huge risk. And now we're like, it's sort of this big up and coming thing and probably gonna do QVC and it's not it really is and and it just happens it happened very quickly. But when I think about it, it was literally the hardest I've ever worked in my life. I was it was the way it was It wasn't like I was sitting there complaining, it was like, I could jump into this. This as this part of my life right now. I can immerse myself in this and have like, and just enjoy it. It was there was a flow. So for that the last three, four years, it was like put me in this place where I have this, this cheesecake company, which I made with fresh cream cheese, which we're both super passionate about, and it's kind of taken off. So I mean, it's It's wild. It's been a wild ride.
Holly Shannon 48:26
That's crazy. I do sell bagels there as well or it's just cheesecake
Gregory Lay 48:30
coming soon. It's that's a that's a complicated operation. So okay, all right. So let's just say she's saying I see that in the future for sure. But yeah, just the cheesecake for now. And cream cheese. We're selling fresh cream cheese now to like few different varieties.
Holly Shannon 48:42
Awesome. Awesome. You know, it's so again, here's that entrepreneur and your agility and creativity, all shining great big lights. I see him behind you. You know, there's the angel behind you. It's just I had gone to a conference and seen and got the pleasure of meeting Mark Cuban and, and he had said something that has resonated with me time and again and I think it's going to really resonate with you. So he had said, Forget, Ready Aim Fire. Because if you're constantly shaping what you're aiming at, you just don't start. Just ready, fire aim. Just get started. Do it. Make the cream cheese, make the cheese cake builds the film. You know, go grab that crazy job and just see what happens. Like just do the thing. Yes. And then you can aim a little bit later. You know, like you could decide, okay, these cheesecakes we're going to have you know many stores now or we're going to sell them frozen, whatever. That'll all come later. Just do the thing.
Gregory Lay 49:59
It's such It's such good advice it is. It's such good advice because for me, it's interesting you say that because I realized, like, that was the thing I had no problem with was the was the the just go. But I needed to form that little bit of structure, you need a bit, you need like a, in the back of your head, you want to think like a monitor or like a concept. That's framing things. But that's kind of what I needed. It's like bringing shape to what to what you said that instinct to just say, I'll just do it. I feel like if you measure if you measure that properly, it's kind of unstoppable in a way. Seems that way. Because Because you're the best elements of yourself are just sort of right there. And they're sort of being put right out there to the test. And as you said, because it also takes so much in the beginning and there is a lot of a lot of it's can be disheartening. So you almost need to have that sort of wild energy just to burn through all of the missteps and the disappointments. Well, if you
Holly Shannon 51:04
if you just use the passion, and you just firing dough, I mean, I have myself, I don't want to make this about me. But I just, you know, I've pivoted a lot. And I think why that resonated with me so much is I am the queen of ready fire aim. I have never done the classical business model I've never built, you know, the, you know, the business plan and went to the bank and took the like, I've never done it.
Gregory Lay 51:35
What was your first What was your first like, out of the gate kind of being like, I'm just gonna do this.
Holly Shannon 51:41
I would probably say the jewelry design business, which just come from a background in jewelry or know what jewelry, I just liked it. And I it was kind of funny how I started I had my belly pierced. And I wanted a belly ring. That was for me. I you know, I wasn't 16 I wasn't, you know, Britney Spears. And I wanted something that had a little sophistication to it. Um, so I went and I took a jewelry class and I made my own belly ring. And then I made a bunch of them and went to a store and asked them if they were interested in carrying them.
Gregory Lay 52:23
The Sara Blakely approach you just straight out? That's exactly, yeah, I love that.
Holly Shannon 52:28
And she carried some of my stuff. And every time I made something new, I brought it to her and she carried and she sold in would give me my chat. And then I went to another store with a collection and I sold to them. And when I went back to the first store, I said to her, thank you for giving me a star and believing in me, I just sold my first wholesale collection to this other boutique. And I thank you for that. And I'd love to, you know, guess get some more stuff, too. And she said, Bring me some stuff. So I brought it and she said, now you're in business, I'm going to take a wholesale order from you. Because before she just did it on consignment because she was just trying it out. So yeah, I just I got into the business a
Gregory Lay 53:20
lot for you does. And in that moment, the realization that you have in that moment by succeeding, it's sort of to know that that's possible. And it was all you know, that's the better. That's such a huge thing. And when I got out of acting school, I remember it was the same. My whole thing was, you know what, everybody goes to coaches and audition coaches. And to me, I immediately said to myself, I love movies so much. I feel like I have a grasp on this. I go What if I go to a workshop or whatever I have to audition for like, what somebody who casts real things. So they've been in front of these big actors, they're going to tell me straight, but I'm not going to go to a coach, I'm not really going to follow the rules I'm going to go in and I'm just going to do something that I believe I'm good at. Because my thought was if I get greenlit after that, then I all this pressure that I'm not good enough yet. That seems to always like take people over that
Holly Shannon 54:15
kind of impostor syndrome thing. This coach,
Gregory Lay 54:17
I knew people who would go to a coach before every single audition to tell them how to say things. And I'm like, But how are you going to really figure out your own music that way, because this is all just throwing it you know, over and over until it takes shape, right like you what you were describing. So in order to get that shape I need to be get feedback on the decisions I've made that came from my own head so that within me they're going to take a different shape. And then also I can be like, I'm good enough like if this person says that I did a pretty good job. And I realize what the landscape is and it's a matter of like other logistical things. Getting over that validation phase is one of the I think I think that takes people over forever. It always seems to me that like you spend All this time in the beginning, simply just trying to prove to yourself that you're good enough, like so that you think you're good enough just so that you can move on to the actual work of working, not being like watching this to that person that I respect, think that like, I'm doing a good job. Do they respect what I'm doing as opposed to like, what if it literally comes from your own self belief, and then you start to see reactions around you. And then it means just go in that direction, right? Just continue in that direction is your instincts are good enough? Like what a what a great thing to learn.
Holly Shannon 55:33
Yeah, I, I think what I gather from that is, don't you can get stuck in the mud when you are constantly asking for permission. Yeah. And validation. Yeah, then you never fire them just means you're in constant aim. You're constantly aiming and you never, you never do the thing. But, you know, like I said, you know, I did the jewelry that I had been planning some of the world's largest events prior to that, like, there was no connection to the to. And, um, you know, even with podcasting, I created the podcast, and three weeks I went to YouTube University have figured it out, you know, it's not, um, I think sometimes you just got to do that thing.
Gregory Lay 56:26
Starting. Isn't that the craziest thing? It's that those first few steps are so daunting. They hold within them almost all the doubt all the imposter syndrome you're talking about, you're you're there's this molds that you're trying to like, break. It's a very interesting thing. But it's, it says, it seems to me that like, you know, that's it keeps you in a very predictable program, doesn't it all of that it keeps you kind of predictable in your behavior. Because the more that you kind of stay in that channel, the more you're most likely going to continue in that channel with and not break out of what you're used to, like you did because the first thing I think about is the sort of the the, the the same realization I had where you went to do jewelry. So now you're using this other part of your brain, this designer, sort of right right aspect of your brain, which is feeding the other side and another dimension that you might not be able to articulate, but you guarantee it's happening. Yes, it
Holly Shannon 57:23
informs your work in some way, shape, or form. Yeah. And texture, whatever it is. And I would say that imposter syndrome is can be another form of procrastination. Really? Yeah. I'm just kind of do the thing. You just got to make the cheesecake.
Gregory Lay 57:44
Well, what happens after that? Isn't that always the fear? Like, okay, like I spent all my time thinking about starting now you started now you're that kind of at the beginning, and you have to go like, what is it about now? It was always about starting now. It's not about starting anymore. Now it's about actually, now I have to continue, I guess, because you could sit there all day, right? And aim, as you said,
Holly Shannon 58:06
yeah. Well, you stay with it as long as it feeds you creatively and that you enjoy it. And when you stop, maybe that's when you're going to sell the cheesecake. I don't know, you know, get to somebody else. But you know, I also have to say that I'm going to circle this around somehow to coffee culture. What kind of coffee do you drink with your cheesecake?
Gregory Lay 58:30
Well, honestly, I like was terrible. Labor was a beautiful transition is a great segue. The I like something not acidic. It does anybody like acidic coffee? Some people must. I mean, is it or is that not ideal? I like smooth, dark, rich. roasts, so pizza. I love pizza coffee. Leave California. It's a Colombian single source coffee. That's what I'm drinking right now. Interest and I use a I was using a percolator for a long time. I really old school. Yeah, that was making really nice coffee. Now I have this, like sort of typical coffee maker but French press was was sort of typically I love for the most of the time. Yeah.
Holly Shannon 59:16
I like it because it's there's like a ritual to me. That French press and it feels I love that it's not mechanical in some way. Like, that's just yeah, like it's so easy, you know?
Gregory Lay 59:29
Yeah, I started using the coffeemaker and it's, it becomes a little bit of a reckless like, Ah, just borrow a cup of coffee. It's not like you said the ritual kind of goes away. It's not as special right? Because it's sort of like, mechanically robotically pouring into this pot.
Holly Shannon 59:44
So maybe you can make and sell coffee alongside your cheese cake.
Gregory Lay 59:51
Yeah, there's definitely a few things that the thing about that the company is and it's really interesting just to hear people's offers and just in general, like people To sell things to you that it's so important as, as we were talking about before, even with sort of doing something creatively for sort of the pure act of itself, it's all about maintaining the beauty of the product and about the purity of the flavor of the product. And you realize why people skim and save money, and then eventually whittle away at the reason why their product is really special. So it's like, yeah, we would definitely love to do that. But we would probably work with somebody local, who brews a nice coffee. Exactly. Yeah. That's the best part about this is you can really, you know, we got into this with a lot of help from other people, during 2020 that were, you know, popping a tent up and just sort of having at it. So there's a lot of success stories that actually came out of that time of people that just were looking for a way to make money and started a food business a burger place, or, yeah, so it's really neat.
Holly Shannon 1:00:52
Is yours just to go like people just show up to like the bakery shop, and they take it and they go away? Or do you have like seating,
Gregory Lay 1:00:59
it's we don't have a retail space yet. We have a big like Commissary Kitchen that we bake everything out of and store everything in. And then we ship on gold belly, which is like a nationwide shipping platform. So we ship overnight on dry ice. So every day I'll go in, and we'll just like kind of put packages together and send those out to everywhere all over the country. And then there's local delivery and pickup. And you will do pop ups and events every now and again too. So we try to cover all bases. Cool.
Holly Shannon 1:01:31
Well, I'll make sure to put all that information in the show notes so people can order cheesecake from you. But I I definitely want to tap in to season three. Dragon LA, I heard it's coming because you got such an overwhelmingly beautiful response to seasons one and 230 Watch.
Gregory Lay 1:01:53
Yeah, we do. Oh, sorry. Sorry.
Holly Shannon 1:01:55
No, no, I just wanted, like season three, like, I'm so excited. And are you staying with the format, you're not going longer format?
Gregory Lay 1:02:02
I think we're gonna you know, I think it's important that regardless, we just continue, because you know, there's buzz and like, there's a couple, there's a couple of people that wanted to talk to us about it. But like, you know, it's the way the town works. So it was about us just making it, you know, literally the show being made is revolves around our work schedules, and Shawn having enough time to come up for air, when he gets hit with all these commercial jobs that he's doing, if he's traveling for them, it really is just a matter of us being free. And then we'll just dig into it and then start releasing it very soon, the time between shooting it and releasing it. To give you an idea, like most of the time will shoot the next day. It's edited and aired.
Holly Shannon 1:02:47
So it's like my podcast. It's kind of like, yeah, it's manageable. It's
Gregory Lay 1:02:51
it's headphones on he does it and we're sort of ready to keep going, which is good because it they sort of the episode can and of itself kind of be precious, but it's not like we don't like to stay precious with it. And then sort of you know, we decide we like it, and then we kind of just move on to the next one. So yeah, definitely, without a doubt season three.
Holly Shannon 1:03:10
That's great, because you don't have much ego wrapped around. It sounds like you're just having fun.
Gregory Lay 1:03:14
Yeah, for sure. For sure. Which is why I think other people are having fun, you know?
Holly Shannon 1:03:18
Oh, absolutely. Why do you think I'm here? I've been loving it and sharing it. And obviously I'm not alone. I'm in the popular crowd because of the millions of views. So that's really great stuff. I love it. I want to also ask you, you spoke about a new movie, so I don't I don't want to leave any of the juicy tidbits out.
Gregory Lay 1:03:41
Yeah, there's a movie I made with my other collaborator, Dan Simon. It's called another year together. It's actually a Christmas sort of romantic drama at that we shot in New York during Christmas and snowfall several years ago while I still lived there, but it's a beautiful film. You'll be able to see some information about it online if you Google or look it up on IMDb but that hopefully will be coming out this holiday season but I'll of course keep you informed these feature films can get crazy I mean Hudson, I think was shot a couple of years before we were able to actually able to get it out to people maybe more so it's a wild thing to shoot them and it's the opposite of Greg in LA right that that's the beauty of it is in this business you're so used to waiting so long for things that to be able to like get that creative fulfillment and get it out to an audience very quickly is like a dream.
Holly Shannon 1:04:38
I I'm the type of person that I cannot shut off the deluge of marketing ideas and and just creative ideas. I can't shut it down. Do you already have like Season Three in your head like different? You know, one minute or two minutes skits in your head or is it is it more more spontaneous the the creative process. Yeah,
Gregory Lay 1:05:03
I usually take it from Sean will write down in his notebook a lot of the structure, he gets a lot of spontaneous ideas about like the season flow. And usually what will happen is shot Alright, a structure down based on a conversation I've had with him, like, I'll notice something about somebody I know and perhaps about like a situation that I've a story that I've based on something I've noticed about something somebody does, I'll sort of a story will come into my mind about a circumstance sort of out of nowhere, and then I'll immediately sort of see the scene in my head and then I'll, I'll tell Shawn, and I'll talk about it. And, you know, we'll tinker with it. But it's very spontaneous. And it's very much we have a very specific process. I don't I didn't tell you this, but Hudson was primarily improvised the whole thing. Really? Yeah, we have a very special process where we believe that in the in between spaces, like if the actors are comfortable, and they're comfortable with that process, that without even knowing what you're going to say if you're in character, that magic happens and the whole movie, some of the biggest moments in that movie were just just spontaneous. And Greg and I lay about half, I'd say, of what's on there is probably not scripted. It's just things that I say in the moment, or spontaneous things that we come up with that he just keeps rolling on. And sometimes that'll change the entire episode. We'll just be like, that's better.
Holly Shannon 1:06:37
So a lot of improv. Yeah, tongue training wasn't that it's just inherent in your creative process
Gregory Lay 1:06:45
was actually it wasn't like I went to improve. The school I went to the Neighborhood Playhouse was a big theater Training School is a man in Sanford Meisner taught there. And there's three main teachers Meisner standard Stannis offski, was like the, the the main teacher but but they brought sort of modern acting Brando to the states of Stella Adler, Lee Strasberg, who was the godfather to actually go on an Oscar and Sanford Meisner, and they all have different approaches to acting. The school I went to was very imagination based. Strasburg is very much like taking from actual past traumas in your life to draw motion, which really messing people up so they don't really do much anymore. And then still add there was a little mixture of both, and Marlon Brando was this other student. But But Meisner was very much like, two years of you think of a circumstance, you have a partner. And then in front of the room, you come through the door, and you just go, and you just you just let the scene either fly or die and you feel humiliated. And the teacher will stop you and tell you why it was awful, or why your instincts were all very old school. But that was it pretty much. It was almost a dramatic improv training. So it the the demand is that you're ready to react in the moment, spontaneously based on a combination of being comfortable enough that you're almost not even on stage anymore. You're just sort of there with the person. So that it's all based, it was actually all based on like, if I pinch you, you're gonna say ouch. So if I say something to you, what's the first thing you want to do? So a lot of it is just training yourself to just react and unlearn all the things that you were taught pretty much growing up, which is, you know, Congress off down, she, you know,
Holly Shannon 1:08:40
think back, think before you speak kind of exactly, because it doesn't work. So,
Gregory Lay 1:08:45
I guess having those instincts ready to go like so yeah, it is a form of improv. So it's been nice to be able to wrap that into what I do, and sort of find somebody else in Shawn that sort of thrives there as well. It's like we kind of attracted each other in a way you know, and he
Holly Shannon 1:09:01
and he plays like this kind of slightly creepy dude on Greg in LA, you know, like, oh, well, if you want to get rid of a body, you can just like go to the gas station and leave a shoe and
Gregory Lay 1:09:14
what else? Oh, God. Sorry, David is a cat is a character. He's
Holly Shannon 1:09:17
sorry, Shawn was the producer David. That's fine. So
Gregory Lay 1:09:22
you're just meeting these people. David? Is he's one of those guys like he's just David like you just let David go. That's how Shawn and I cast that we cast people on their essence we don't cast them on being like brilliant you know, Daniel Day Lewis is because if you let somebody go and you can see their essence, you your job is done because there's magic in them just staring. What I mean and people might get people get very nervous. I think that dead space and things not really coming across but you know, so much is behavior, right? So,
Holly Shannon 1:09:57
everything. Well, a lot can be said in the silence. It's too old people are just afraid of it. They don't they don't like dead spaces, right? For sure.
Gregory Lay 1:10:07
I mean, in my kitchen, I'm always I'm always thinking that because I need to put music on. But I'm like, Oh, it is when it's just quiet. And there's a bunch of people it is. It's common, but it is something scary about it. Right. Right. Something a little bit unnerving.
Holly Shannon 1:10:20
Yeah, people always feel like they need to fill in the space. Yeah, exactly. Yeah. Well, this is amazing, correct.
Gregory Lay 1:10:27
Conversation. I'm so glad you had me on. Thank you so much.
Holly Shannon 1:10:30
Thank you, thanks for coming on coffee culture was awesome. Well, you
Gregory Lay 1:10:34
know what we'll have to have to keep you updated. As this silly thing grows. If the movie comes out, when the movie comes out, I'll make sure that you, you get you get and then makes you send me an address so I can send you a cake.
Holly Shannon 1:10:47
I would love that. I would love that. And I definitely will have you back on. So as you start to grow and or if there's something you want to share. We can we can, you know, come up with stuff. We can even do one minute reels together, if you want to like stay in it. Oh, do you know
Gregory Lay 1:11:05
what I can get? Um, maybe Shawn can come on to I have a whole other perspective on all this, for sure.
Holly Shannon 1:11:11
Absolutely. Would love to interview him? Let him know for sure. This is great.
Gregory Lay 1:11:16
Thank you so much.
Holly Shannon 1:11:17
Thank you, you know, I just as as an aside, that's the I should say that's a wrap, right? But as a complete aside, I have been building retreats, like very intimate retreats with a couple of partners. And one of the guys is actor former model. And he one of the exercises we did was improv, to help as a podcaster to be able to think in the moment or react or switch gears or whatever. But I'm bringing him up because I have to I have to introduce you guys to each other. Because his podcast is called dating intelligence. And it's pretty racy. I'm not gonna lie. Like it's pretty wild. But what has grown out of that is he's a dating coach. And he's in LA. Oh, that's fascinating. And I think like, you need to meet him. I don't know.
Gregory Lay 1:12:15
That's an episode. Right? Exactly.
Holly Shannon 1:12:16
That's what I've been thinking. I'm like, you probably don't want me to be telling you how to do things or ideas, because probably people give you a million of them. But if nothing else, I need to introduce you to him because he's just, he's a great soul. He's really good at people understanding people like he's just great at that. And that's why he's really good at helping people in their relationships when they're struggling. Like they don't know what the text means. Now, what do I do with that text? You know, that kind of thing. So
Gregory Lay 1:12:47
no, no, totally. That definitely introduced me.
Holly Shannon 1:12:49
Absolutely. This is great. Thank you all great. Have a great, great rest of your day, as well. All right, bye. Would you like to join the party coffee lovers, I have two ways for you. Please go over to YouTube now and subscribe to add Holly Shannon, and there'll be all the videos of this podcast there as well. What's the second way you can do that? You can leave a review with your ideas in Apple podcasts. Either way, I would love it if you share a hot cup of connection and coffee culture with a friend. And if you'd like to support this indie podcaster you can buy me a coffee. The link is in the show notes. Thank you coffee lovers.