Larry McMurtry wrote that people go to Los Angeles for the stars, and that the people at the top there have the job of creating desire for the whole world. We wonder whether it still holds, now that social media manufactures desire from anywhere. One of us, who used to live in LA, remembers weeks of 14-hour days in a windowless room in Burbank, and the nights when a show reached the theater and he drove home up the 101 feeling he was on his way. He also remembers a meeting at 20th Century Fox, where an executive asked what science fiction he liked, and all he could offer was The Walking Dead.
What we both miss is being surrounded by people who are chasing something. One of us points to footage of Josh and Benny Safdie helping the Neistat brothers tear down a wall in a New York studio, when everyone around them had something in the works. We argue over whether that energy belongs only to the young, and decide responsibility weighs more than age. One of us has found some of it in a Discord server of YouTubers who review each other's work. The other admits he has started waiting on other people, talking himself out of a run because his partner didn't want to go. It ends on Jiro Dreams of Sushi, where apprentices make the rice every day for years before they can move on.
Mentioned in this episode: Larry McMurtry's Roads, Amblin, 20th Century Fox, The Walking Dead, Josh and Benny Safdie, The Neistat Brothers, Jiro Dreams of Sushi.
-Ai
If you enjoyed this episode, please consider giving us a rating and/or a review. We appreciate and try to read all of them. Thanks for listening, and we'll see you in the next episode.
Ask Us a Question: https://studiosessionspod.com/#ask
Website: https://studiosessionspod.com
