1
SPEAKER_02
You know, you re jumping from group to group.
1
SPEAKER_00
Do they have video games you d play and stuff?
1
SPEAKER_02
No, we just stood there.
1
SPEAKER_02
We all stood there.
1
SPEAKER_02
Except for, there was one exception.
1
SPEAKER_02
When Bring It On came out, everyone decided to actually get tickets.
1
SPEAKER_00
You went to the movie.
1
SPEAKER_00
You thought, we re here every Friday night.
1
SPEAKER_00
We re going to take that step and we re going to go and see a movie.
1
SPEAKER_02
Yes.
1
SPEAKER_02
And everyone got tickets, but the
1
SPEAKER_02
Cool kids obviously got tickets first because they are the ones that made that plan.
1
SPEAKER_02
And then it trickled down, right?
1
SPEAKER_02
So by the time it trickled down to me, Bring It On was sold out.
1
SPEAKER_02
So I had to see Coyote ugly.
1
SPEAKER_02
That was second tier.
1
SPEAKER_02
Still cool people.
1
SPEAKER_02
Great film.
1
SPEAKER_00
Did you have any friends to go with?
1
SPEAKER_00
Or was it just you at that point alone in Coyote Ugly?
1
SPEAKER_02
No, I was second tier.
1
SPEAKER_02
There was a lot of us in Coyote Ugly.
1
SPEAKER_02
It was the next best thing.
1
SPEAKER_02
And there was probably a third tier and a fourth tier, but I didn t know about those people.
1
SPEAKER_00
Oh, that s very, very funny.
1
SPEAKER_02
So bring it on.
1
SPEAKER_02
And people were in the aisles.
1
SPEAKER_00
Yeah, it d be crazy.
1
SPEAKER_02
People were making out.
1
SPEAKER_02
It was that time where this person would be making out in the movies with that person.
1
SPEAKER_02
So that was really exciting.
1
SPEAKER_00
That s a great experience.
1
SPEAKER_02
One of my worst was last year.
1
SPEAKER_02
Top Gun.
1
SPEAKER_00
Great film.
1
SPEAKER_02
Incredible film, really hyped up.
1
SPEAKER_00
What happened?
1
SPEAKER_00
How could that be a bad experience?
1
SPEAKER_00
What could have happened?
1
SPEAKER_02
So you guys, especially you, hyped up the film so much.
1
SPEAKER_02
And so Jess and I decided to see it at Daxaw in Man s Chinese Theater and recommended that.
1
SPEAKER_02
So we got tickets, we go, we rush in, we sit down, and all of a sudden our seat starts vibrating.
1
SPEAKER_02
And I just snapped my head over to Jess.
1
SPEAKER_02
What s going on here?
1
SPEAKER_00
Is someone kicking our seat?
1
SPEAKER_00
What s happening?
1
SPEAKER_02
Yeah.
1
SPEAKER_02
It was 4D.
1
SPEAKER_00
And- I love this for you.
1
SPEAKER_02
As, you know, the movie starts and it s like a plane.
1
SPEAKER_02
So you re getting like, like reclined back, shaking like you re in fucking turbulence.
1
SPEAKER_02
I was like, this is the last way I want to watch this movie.
1
SPEAKER_00
See, this is kind of what this episode s about.
1
SPEAKER_00
The American movie going experience.
1
SPEAKER_00
We don t have 4D theaters in New Zealand.
1
SPEAKER_02
I mean, this is my first- They re new.
1
SPEAKER_00
For me, this is a nightmare.
1
SPEAKER_02
like this is the worst way you could most distracting awful way you could watch a movie so awful and it would then it would stop and then start again so you never knew when you were gonna get jostled i have not laughed that hard in probably the last five years you were laughing so hard and then a fight started to break out
1
SPEAKER_00
Oh, this gets better.
1
SPEAKER_00
Was this part of the 4D experience?
1
SPEAKER_00
Or this was just separate?
1
SPEAKER_00
Maybe.
1
SPEAKER_02
That would have been so smart.
1
SPEAKER_02
No, I looked at Jess and I said, we gotta go.
1
SPEAKER_02
And he was like, yeah.
1
SPEAKER_00
Okay, I ve got another question for you then around this, because I m really curious about theater etiquette.
1
SPEAKER_00
If something s going wrong in there, maybe the bulb s too dim and you can t see the picture right, maybe there s a fight.
1
SPEAKER_00
Do you just sit there and do nothing, or will you go out and get an usher?
1
SPEAKER_00
Or do you just leave?
1
SPEAKER_00
Or would you ever tell someone off in a theater if they re talking too loudly?
1
SPEAKER_02
Oh, this is so interesting.
1
SPEAKER_02
Okay, because this is just personality-based. 100%.
1
SPEAKER_02
I would never say anything to someone who was talking to Lolly, but I would just like give bad eyes.
1
SPEAKER_00
Evil, the evil eye.
1
SPEAKER_02
I would evil eye them, I would ward my eyes.
1
SPEAKER_00
Which can be hard in the cinema because it s so dark.
1
SPEAKER_02
It s true.
1
SPEAKER_02
But I would like look over and just like have a mean face.
1
SPEAKER_00
Yeah.
1
SPEAKER_02
Tell them telepathically to shut the fuck up.
1
SPEAKER_00
Theater rage.
1
SPEAKER_02
theater rage, but I wouldn t ever stand up or say anything, which a lot of people would do.
1
SPEAKER_02
I also am sorry to say, if something were happening, I don t think I would go get an usher.
1
SPEAKER_02
I would either, what we did in this case, just leave.
1
SPEAKER_02
Or I would just panic silently in my seat, which is more likely.
1
SPEAKER_00
It s interesting because theaters now, because there s sort of less and less money going into some of these chains, they don t have many staff.
1
SPEAKER_00
And so there s not really even anyone kind of keeping an eye on things.
1
SPEAKER_00
So I find it fascinating.
1
SPEAKER_00
You go in there, you re sealed in.
1
SPEAKER_00
In the old days, they d have a projectionist running each projector and like checking that everything s okay.
1
SPEAKER_00
Now, I assume it s all basically digital, and it all just goes off automatically.
1
SPEAKER_00
You re sealed in there, no one gives a shit.
1
SPEAKER_00
Are you nodding your head there s still film?
1
SPEAKER_01
Well, I worked in the movie theatre for three or four years after high school.
1
SPEAKER_01
Yeah, how long ago was that?
1
SPEAKER_01
Twelve years ago?
1
SPEAKER_01
It was before we went digital.
1
SPEAKER_01
Like, I left right as they had added one of our sixteen was digital.
1
SPEAKER_00
The craziest thing that happened to you when you were working in theatre?
1
SPEAKER_01
I mean, there was people would shit in the theater and that s happened.
1
SPEAKER_02
And you didn t have to clean it up?
1
SPEAKER_02
I didn t have to clean it up.
1
SPEAKER_02
Oh, that poor staff that has to clean up.
1
SPEAKER_00
Yeah, it s such an interesting, you re sealed in this room and it can be chaos in there, or it can be a really good experience.
1
SPEAKER_00
There was a drug deal once too.
1
SPEAKER_02
Well, I heard a rumor just like this person heard about bedbugs.
1
SPEAKER_02
I heard that there are razors in the seats from gang members.
1
SPEAKER_02
I was so scared of gangs.
1
SPEAKER_00
And
1
SPEAKER_02
So I, to this day, it s just a habit at this point, but you always check the seat before you sit down, because they re hoping for some naive chump to walk in, sit down, get razored on your ass, I guess.
1
SPEAKER_00
The worst place to get razored.
1
SPEAKER_02
Yeah, because then there s AIDS in there.
1
SPEAKER_02
That s right.
1
SPEAKER_01
There was AIDS on the razor.
1
SPEAKER_01
That never happened in our theater.
1
SPEAKER_00
Amazing.
1
SPEAKER_00
Yeah, I mean, there are certain theatres that aren t good, but I think tics aren t a big thing.
1
SPEAKER_00
But I imagine there s the occasional theatre that would have something terrible.
1
SPEAKER_00
Razorblades, probably never.
1
SPEAKER_00
But an amazing rumour to be going around.
1
SPEAKER_00
I mean, the seats weren t cleaned.
1
SPEAKER_00
Oh, there s a reason it s dim in there, right?
1
SPEAKER_00
Occasionally they were cleaned, but... Yeah, I walked into a theatre one time and the lights were fully all up and those seats were nasty.
1
SPEAKER_00
Like, it s pretty bad in there.
1
SPEAKER_02
What I m jealous of, I m jealous that you saw your favorite movie in the movie theater.
1
SPEAKER_02
My favorite movie I didn t see in the movie theater ever, because I found it late Google hunting.
1
SPEAKER_00
So it was like a VHS DVD kind of a number.
1
SPEAKER_00
Yes, VHS.
1
SPEAKER_00
What was the first film you saw in a theater?
1
SPEAKER_00
If I was Jurassic Park, did it make an impact?
1
SPEAKER_02
I think it was maybe Beauty and the Beast.
1
SPEAKER_02
I remember my mom took me to something and it was a Disney movie, and I want to say it was Beauty and the Beast.
1
SPEAKER_02
I don t know if that was the first one.
1
SPEAKER_02
Also, my dad took me to Dennis the Menace.
1
SPEAKER_02
Those are the two early memories I have.
1
SPEAKER_00
See, going with your parents is a big nostalgia thing.
1
SPEAKER_00
Obviously, I went with my mom and my dad and my brother to Jurassic Park.
1
SPEAKER_00
That was like the ultimate.
1
SPEAKER_00
My dad took me to one of the Alien films, and that was one of our best.
1
SPEAKER_00
I still remember being excited going to see an Alien film on the big screen with my dad.
1
SPEAKER_02
Oh, bonding.
1
SPEAKER_00
And then he also took me to a festival film, Eto Mamatambion, which was full on.
1
SPEAKER_00
Like at one point, there were a couple of dudes masturbating into the pool, and I m sitting there next to my dad.
1
SPEAKER_00
How old were you?
1
SPEAKER_00
I don t know.
1
SPEAKER_00
I was the age where it was embarrassing, which I d say is any age to be sitting next to your dad in the theater where a lot of sex is happening.
1
SPEAKER_02
Yeah.
1
SPEAKER_00
But you know, he took me and that was really nice.
1
SPEAKER_00
And that was the director who went on to make like Roma and Gravity and all that stuff.
1
SPEAKER_02
And that was rated R.
1
SPEAKER_00
See, ratings is an interesting thing, because they re different here, right?
1
SPEAKER_00
Ratings in America are different to New Zealand.
1
SPEAKER_00
In New Zealand, it s GM for mature, R16.
1
SPEAKER_00
We have to be 16, R18.
1
SPEAKER_00
Here, you ve got this weird thing where you ve got R, but then one up above that is NC-17, which is worse than an R. But they don t really show, like AMC won t have an NC-17 movie.
1
SPEAKER_00
They just won t play them.
1
SPEAKER_02
There s not that many NC-17s.
1
SPEAKER_00
But to be clear, those are ones where, unless you are 17 or over, you can t go, even if a parent is with you, right?
1
SPEAKER_02
Actually, I don t even know.
1
SPEAKER_00
I think R, you can go if you ve got a parent.
1
SPEAKER_00
NC-17, you ve gotta be 17 or you re out the door.
1
SPEAKER_00
They re the particularly naughty ones.
1
SPEAKER_02
But R is 18, so that s weird, isn t it?
1
SPEAKER_00
But with a parent.
1
SPEAKER_00
I think it s 17 and older.
1
SPEAKER_00
R?
1
SPEAKER_00
I believe so.
1
SPEAKER_02
I thought it was like adult or with an adult.
1
SPEAKER_00
Let me have a look here.
1
SPEAKER_02
We need to check.
1
SPEAKER_00
So R is restricted, under 17 requires accompaniment by a parent or guardian.
1
SPEAKER_00
NC17, adults only, 17, or you re not admitted.
1
SPEAKER_02
Okay, so both 17, but one is about parents or not.
1
SPEAKER_02
Okay.
1
SPEAKER_00
NC17 is fascinating to me.
1
SPEAKER_00
We don t have that.
1
SPEAKER_02
Wow, but you don t have PG13.
1
SPEAKER_02
No, just PG.
1
SPEAKER_00
Just G. Which may be it.
1
SPEAKER_00
We ve got G. Oh, I m confused now.
1
SPEAKER_00
Look, we ve got G. I think we do have a PG.
1
SPEAKER_00
Yeah.
1
SPEAKER_00
And then we ve got an M. And then R16, R18.
1
SPEAKER_02
And what s M?
1
SPEAKER_02
Like, what a... Just gotta be mature.
1
SPEAKER_00
Little kids when you walk in, they re like, are you mature?
1
SPEAKER_01
Is it swearing?
1
SPEAKER_01
Is it nudity?
1
SPEAKER_01
Because America, if there was nudity, it was going to be R.
1
SPEAKER_00
straight away.
1
SPEAKER_00
You don t like nudity, do you, here?
1
SPEAKER_00
That s like a big bad bad.
1
SPEAKER_00
And swearing.
1
SPEAKER_01
PG-13 was language.
1
SPEAKER_00
Right.
1
SPEAKER_00
And violence is fine, though, in America, I find.
2
SPEAKER_04
That s a weird thing.
2
SPEAKER_04
It s very fucked up.
2
SPEAKER_02
Anyway, I m going to play you my little documentary.
2
SPEAKER_02
I went to learn about the culture of American theatres.
2
SPEAKER_00
We come to this place for magic.
2
SPEAKER_02
One of my favourite things about becoming stranded in America is getting to watch this weird pre-movie message from Nicole Kidman whenever you go to an AMC theatre.
2
SPEAKER_02
It s so utterly deranged in how earnest it is, her words have become seed into my brain for all eternity.
2
SPEAKER_00
Dazzling images on a huge silver screen.
2
SPEAKER_00
Sound that I can feel.
2
SPEAKER_00
Somehow, heartbreak feels good in a place like this.
2
SPEAKER_02
But as silly as it is, it did get me thinking about movies, and how, well, American they are.
2
SPEAKER_02
While the French birthed cinema as we know it today, America soon jumped on board in the early 1900s.
2
SPEAKER_02
Hollywood built the first film studios and production companies, and birthed genres like comedy, romance, horror, sci-fi and action.
2
SPEAKER_02
And America not only embraced making movies, but the idea of the importance of sitting down in a theatre to watch them.
2
SPEAKER_02
I wanted to understand America s movie-going experience, so I needed to talk to someone who lives and breathes movies.
2
SPEAKER_01
I studied engineering and I got a job at Shell Oil as a facilities engineer.
2
SPEAKER_01
I hated that job.
2
SPEAKER_01
I was 24 and I regretted my education and I was looking for other things to do, kind of anything.
2
SPEAKER_01
And on my way to work, there was an abandoned movie theater.
2
SPEAKER_01
There was a for lease sign on the movie theater.
2
SPEAKER_01
And literally a week later, I was like, I ll sign the lease and figure it out.
2
SPEAKER_01
So that s how I began.
2
SPEAKER_02
Back in 1997, Tim League opened a cinema in Austin, Texas.
2
SPEAKER_02
The Alamo Draft House was born.
2
SPEAKER_02
Tim was young and had no idea what he was doing, but he loved the movies.
2
SPEAKER_02
What other choice did he have?
2
SPEAKER_01
I did analyze, like, okay, I m 24.
2
SPEAKER_01
I don t have kids.
2
SPEAKER_01
I m not married.
2
SPEAKER_01
A worst case scenario is bankruptcy.
2
SPEAKER_01
That s not really that bad.
2
SPEAKER_01
So just go for it.
2
SPEAKER_01
Just do it.
2
SPEAKER_01
And I was also arrogant and a bit stupid.
2
SPEAKER_01
And so those are really powerful.
2
SPEAKER_01
If you like pair those up together, he s like, ah, I can do anything.
2
SPEAKER_02
His plan worked, and that one cinema turned into two, then three, then four, and so on.
2
SPEAKER_02
Tim s theatres also have a feature that doesn t really exist back in New Zealand.
2
SPEAKER_02
You can order food and drinks to your seat while the movie s playing.
2
SPEAKER_02
As in, dinner, cocktails, chocolate shakes, cookies.
2
SPEAKER_02
It s all just delivered straight to your seat.
2
SPEAKER_02
It s what sets it apart from the three other giant cinema chains in the US.
2
SPEAKER_01
Then America, you know, we ve got AMC, Regal and Cinemark, and they, between them, they control 20,000 screens in the United States, right?
2
SPEAKER_01
And so they re the behemoths.
2
SPEAKER_01
And what happened in most of their growth, Regal in particular, is like an aggregation.
2
SPEAKER_01
So like small mom and pop theaters or chains or circuits that had got into it for a love of the game and a love of movies and showmanship.
2
SPEAKER_01
All the marketing got concentrated in its one voice and it s generic and it s bland.
2
SPEAKER_02
It s the Starbucks effect, the major chains all feeling the same.
2
SPEAKER_02
Same advertising, same vibe, same experience.
2
SPEAKER_02
Then there are the arthouse indie theatres spread across the United States.
2
SPEAKER_02
Tim estimates there are about 500 of them.
2
SPEAKER_02
And then there s his cinema chain.
2
SPEAKER_01
We re in this weird hybrid where we re 39 locations, we got 300 screens, we re undeniably a chain, and yet, I hate chains.
2
SPEAKER_01
I never go to chains, because they suck.
2
SPEAKER_01
I m constantly, like, my primary job is like, oh, please, just make sure we don t suck.
2
SPEAKER_01
And I m neurotic about it.
2
SPEAKER_02
Tim loves the showmanship of movies, the art of marketing them in a compelling way, spreading the word, building hype.
2
SPEAKER_02
He started this thing called the Rolling Road Show, where they d take a fully mobile projection rig out on the road.
2
SPEAKER_01
The very first one we ever did was actually my wife s idea.
2
SPEAKER_01
We did a canoe trip down the river to a screening of Deliverance, where we had like a whole pig roast by the side of the river.
2
SPEAKER_01
And it just ended up being really special to immerse yourself in the scene and the feeling and make a dumb, you know, sodomy joke and eat pig.
2
SPEAKER_01
And it just felt right.
2
SPEAKER_02
As I think about Deliverance, and all the other American films I ve watched over the years, I realise they ve shaped the way I see this country.
2
SPEAKER_02
Everything I know about America I mostly learnt from films.
2
SPEAKER_02
The American film industry probably shapes how a lot of the world sees America.
2
SPEAKER_01
I think it s fucking massive.
2
SPEAKER_01
It s not just American cinema, but just this American concept.
2
SPEAKER_01
I think about how America was largely populated, and it s this crazy genetic leap of ballsy risk-takers that defied
2
SPEAKER_01
death.
2
SPEAKER_01
And they left the people that would never take the ocean voyage behind and ended up here.
2
SPEAKER_01
And it s not everybody, obviously.
2
SPEAKER_01
It s a big melting pot.
2
SPEAKER_01
There s tons of different influences and cultures and reasons why people are here.
2
SPEAKER_01
But it s a significant amount of people that were like, screw it, coming to America.
2
SPEAKER_01
And I think that there s an unstoppable force.
2
SPEAKER_01
But there s so many people here.
2
SPEAKER_01
It s like, well, time to take out 20 credit cards, time to ask my dad to mortgage his house because I m making a movie because this is just what I was born to do.
2
SPEAKER_01
And it feels to me like that s a very American sensibility that s been around and we take pride in it.
2
SPEAKER_01
And that is part of the being an American in general, but it s obviously being a part of an American filmmaker.
2
SPEAKER_01
So I think there s a lot of that.
2
SPEAKER_02
Of course, a lot of people are worried about the future of cinema and the act of going to the movies.
2
SPEAKER_02
Streaming was a big game changer.
2
SPEAKER_02
And from what I can tell, a bunch of people seem more enthusiastic about TikTok and YouTube over going to a movie theater and turning their phone off.
2
SPEAKER_02
But Tim reckons it s not that black and white.
2
SPEAKER_01
I m not too terribly worried about this idea that all content has to be hyper-paced and bite-sized because I m a dad.
2
SPEAKER_01
I ve got 11-year-old girls and they re constantly exploring and learning.
2
SPEAKER_01
And I think they ve got a more sophisticated mind than I did when I was 11.
2
SPEAKER_01
I was still feeling like I was drooling at 11 and they have complex thoughts and they love long-form narrative.
2
SPEAKER_01
So there s that.
2
SPEAKER_01
It s just a different type of apple to orange story that you re absorbing in the cinema.
2
SPEAKER_01
But there is a true
2
SPEAKER_01
emotional response to reacting collectively to something, whether it s awkwardness, uncomfort, humor, or the combination of both, or terror, it s palpable in a group.
2
SPEAKER_01
And there s the benefit of having the sanctuary in a darkened space where all electronics are off and there is no multitasking and you are dedicated and deeply focused on absorbing and
2
SPEAKER_01
you know, losing yourself in a story, you can t do that on your phone, you can t do that on a laptop, you can t do that in a social environment.
2
SPEAKER_01
So it s special and I love it.
2
SPEAKER_02
So how do you feel about the theater going experience?
2
SPEAKER_02
Because I get really ultra religious about it, and it has to be phones off.
2
SPEAKER_02
If I m taking friends, I tell them their phone s got to go off.
2
SPEAKER_02
If I see them texting through trailers, I ll be like, that shit s going off when the movie starts.
2
SPEAKER_04
I get that.
2
SPEAKER_04
I m a no phone.
2
SPEAKER_04
I don t think I turn it off, but I put it on silent and I put it in my purse.
2
SPEAKER_02
Cause you know what it s like when you see a screen glowing at you from a row ahead, right?
2
SPEAKER_02
Yeah.
2
SPEAKER_02
Hellish.
2
SPEAKER_02
Okay.
2
SPEAKER_02
So you, so you take it seriously.
2
SPEAKER_04
Of course.
2
SPEAKER_04
Yeah.
2
SPEAKER_04
I respect the movie going experience.
2
SPEAKER_04
I love it.
2
SPEAKER_04
I mean, it is so special.
2
SPEAKER_02
How do you decide if you re going to watch something at home streaming or on demand or something or go to a cinema?
2
SPEAKER_02
How do you balance that up?
2
SPEAKER_02
Cause that s the big sort of world we re in now here, right?
2
SPEAKER_04
Exactly.
2
SPEAKER_04
Nowadays, I feel like it is, I hate to say it, it s hard to get me to a movie theater.
2
SPEAKER_04
Yes, this is interesting.
2
SPEAKER_04
It has to be something that feels fairly epic.
2
SPEAKER_04
I saw Glass Onion in the movie theater.
2
SPEAKER_02
Okay.
2
SPEAKER_02
Yes.
2
SPEAKER_04
I loved it.
2
SPEAKER_02
Which was an interesting model because that was released in cinemas for like this week of a window.
2
SPEAKER_04
Exactly.
2
SPEAKER_02
So you didn t have long to see it.
2
SPEAKER_02
And then suddenly it was on Netflix, which you could see anywhere, obviously.
2
SPEAKER_02
Yeah.
2
SPEAKER_04
But I loved the original Knives Out.
2
SPEAKER_04
And I saw the original Knives Out in the movie theater.
2
SPEAKER_04
So I think I had some weird connection to that because I loved it so much that I really wanted to repeat it.
2
SPEAKER_04
I really have a huge life regret.
2
SPEAKER_04
They should re-release it.
2
SPEAKER_04
Everything, everywhere, all at once.
2
SPEAKER_04
I regret not seeing that in the movie theater so bad.
2
SPEAKER_02
Oh my goodness.
2
SPEAKER_02
Yeah.
2
SPEAKER_02
And Triangle of Sadness.
2
SPEAKER_02
I like to think since it swept out all those awards and the Oscars, it will come back again, surely.
2
SPEAKER_04
I did get to see it at Dax and Kristen s, they have a theater downstairs, a little mini.
2
SPEAKER_02
Oh, that sort of counts.
2
SPEAKER_04
But it doesn t, because there is something about the shared experience, the stinky seats, the popcorn.
2
SPEAKER_02
Yeah, just being packed in with like hundreds of other people.
2
SPEAKER_04
Yes.
2
SPEAKER_02
I saw RRR, which is my favorite action film.
2
SPEAKER_02
That and Top Gun are like the two big ones for me, but I saw that in an IMAX and it was ballistic.
2
SPEAKER_02
It s very different watching that in an IMAX screen with people that are enthusiastic to watching it badly dubbed on Netflix at home.
2
SPEAKER_02
It s like a very different thing.
2
SPEAKER_01
Everything Everywhere All At Once is playing right now.
2
SPEAKER_04
Where?
2
SPEAKER_01
Everywhere.
2
SPEAKER_01
Alamo, AMC Americana, TLC, the Chinese theater.
3
SPEAKER_01
Okay, going.
3
SPEAKER_00
Going!
3
SPEAKER_01
Great.
3
SPEAKER_01
You ve got to do this.
3
SPEAKER_00
This is really important.
3
SPEAKER_01
So, when you go to a cinema here, what defines where you go?
3
SPEAKER_01
Do you like ones where they bring you food of the sea?
3
SPEAKER_01
Do you just go to one that s like an IMAX?
3
SPEAKER_01
What s the thing for you?
3
SPEAKER_00
This is a sore subject because my favorite L.A.
3
SPEAKER_00
movie theater is now closed, Arclight.
3
SPEAKER_00
Gone.
3
SPEAKER_00
And that was devastating for so many people in L.A.
3
SPEAKER_00
Arclight was a real institution.
3
SPEAKER_00
It was beautiful.
3
SPEAKER_00
There was a dome and they closed it and that s really sad.
3
SPEAKER_00
But Regal is my home theater.
3
SPEAKER_00
You re a Regal, interesting.
3
SPEAKER_00
In Atlanta it s Regals.
3
SPEAKER_01
I don t think I ve been to a Regal.
3
SPEAKER_00
Oh, they re great.
3
SPEAKER_00
And they have this roller coaster at the beginning with candy that pops up and you put your hands up.
3
SPEAKER_00
Well, it s a video.
3
SPEAKER_00
You put your hands up?
3
SPEAKER_00
Yes, it s for fun.
3
SPEAKER_01
Oh, like a pre-show sort of experience, right?
3
SPEAKER_01
Yes.
3
SPEAKER_01
So it s like, okay, I see.
3
SPEAKER_00
And they tell you to strap in and then put your hands up and you go, whoa, and then candy is popping up and it s really fun.
3
SPEAKER_01
I love this.
3
SPEAKER_01
Yeah, okay, regal.
3
SPEAKER_01
Okay, this is good to know.
3
SPEAKER_00
And yours is what?
3
SPEAKER_01
I alternate between the Drafthouse and an AMC theater.
3
SPEAKER_01
I ve never done the Drafthouse.
3
SPEAKER_01
They re really good.
3
SPEAKER_01
It s a good vibe.
3
SPEAKER_01
It s the best, yeah.
3
SPEAKER_01
Tim knows what he s doing.
3
SPEAKER_01
They curate special like little, like if you go to Magic Mike, they ll play clips from all his old movies beforehand, for instance.
3
SPEAKER_00
That s cool.
3
SPEAKER_01
And just having stuff brought to your seat is really beautiful.
3
SPEAKER_01
Also, some people don t like it though.
3
SPEAKER_01
They ll be like, I don t want the smell of some delicious chicken.
3
SPEAKER_01
So every person has their own things about the theater experience that they love and hate.
3
SPEAKER_01
Stay tuned for more Flightless Bird.
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We ll be right back after a word from our sponsors.
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In this next part of the doc, I speak to a couple of people, but there s one guy that I talk to, Stacey Spikes, and it ll become apparent why soon.
3
SPEAKER_01
But I just want to explain how cool this guy is by just reading out a couple of stats from his history.
3
SPEAKER_01
1986, he worked at Motown Records.
3
SPEAKER_01
He was the product manager for Boyz II Men, Stevie Wonder, Spike Lee, Queen Latifah, Eddie Murphy.
3
SPEAKER_01
1990, he joined Sony Music and worked on feature film soundtracks for Jungle Fever and Bad Boys.
3
SPEAKER_01
In 94, he was VP of Marketing at Miramax and worked on films like The Crow and Scream.
3
SPEAKER_01
I just love all these things about him.
3
SPEAKER_01
So when he pops up in the doc, just remember that, because I think stone cold legend.
3
SPEAKER_03
The Angelica Theatre, which is a lovely little indie theatre, but it s right down there by the subway, and every time you go there, you ll hear the subway cars going through quiet indie movies.
3
SPEAKER_01
Davindra Hardaway does a film podcast I love called The Filmcast.
3
SPEAKER_01
He lives and breathes film, and we ve been talking about some of his American moviegoing experiences.
3
SPEAKER_03
There s also a clear crowd of local old folks who just go there to nap during the afternoon.
3
SPEAKER_03
I can always bet that somebody s going to be snoring through some sort of A24 indie movie or something.
3
SPEAKER_01
It s hard to explain it, but seeing movies in America is different to how we do it in New Zealand.
3
SPEAKER_01
For one thing, everything s bigger.
3
SPEAKER_01
The size of the drinks and popcorn, even the seating.
3
SPEAKER_01
It s all bigger.
3
SPEAKER_01
But Davindra reckons one element is getting too big.
3
SPEAKER_01
The pre-show ads and trailers before the movie.
3
SPEAKER_03
I thought maybe it was just me, but yeah, there s so much extra stuff they play before the actual movie here in America, and everyone just kind of accepts it.
3
SPEAKER_03
We ve just been kind of forced into this situation where we go pay $10 for a soda, another $10 for popcorn and then have to sit through their ads.
3
SPEAKER_03
And I think something about that situation has to change, especially if they want people to keep coming back.
3
SPEAKER_03
They have to offer something new and they can t just keep nickel and diming people all the time.
3
SPEAKER_01
Davindra says a lot of cinemas now have subscription services to entice people to keep coming back.
3
SPEAKER_01
AMC has the Stubbs A-list, and Regal has Regal Unlimited.
3
SPEAKER_01
But Davindra said that s all thanks to one company called MoviePass.
3
SPEAKER_01
Started back in 2011, MoviePass meant you d get a monthly MoviePass which would let you see up to one movie a day for one flat fee.
3
SPEAKER_03
MoviePass started as a very niche thing.
3
SPEAKER_03
Most people probably don t remember in its first form, you had to print out a voucher and bring the voucher to theater and be like, Oh, this says I have a ticket.
3
SPEAKER_03
Just give me a ticket.
3
SPEAKER_03
And at a lot of theaters involved just begging and pleading.
3
SPEAKER_03
During this whole process, movie theaters were fighting tooth and nail to stop MoviePass.
3
SPEAKER_03
They hated all of this.
3
SPEAKER_03
I believe AMC completely rejected even working with that debit card.
3
SPEAKER_03
So early on, it was a big fight between MoviePass and the theater chains.
3
SPEAKER_03
Lo and behold, now the theater chains all have subscription services because you kind of have to.
3
SPEAKER_03
MoviePass started this whole trend.
3
SPEAKER_01
I never heard of MoviePass till now, but looking into it, the company has a bonkers story, as charismatic founder Stacey Spikes getting pushed out by the very company he founded.
3
SPEAKER_01
I called Stacey to find out what happened to his dream of revolutionizing the way we get to the cinema.
3
SPEAKER_02
Yeah, it s been a wild journey and a wild story and I don t think you could make it up.
3
SPEAKER_02
It s been unbelievable.
3
SPEAKER_01
Stacey Spikes founded MoviePass 12 years ago, growing it from absolutely nothing into a booming business.
3
SPEAKER_01
Then MoviePass was acquired by an analytics company in 2017.
3
SPEAKER_01
But the CEO of the analytics company, Ted Farnsworth, and the new CEO of MoviePass, Mitch Lowe, really messed it all up.
3
SPEAKER_02
So they came in and part of the deal was they said, let s drop the price to $10 and get a bump in subscriber growth.
3
SPEAKER_02
Let s add 100,000 people.
3
SPEAKER_02
OK.
3
SPEAKER_02
And we figured it would take a few months.
3
SPEAKER_02
And 100,000 people joined in 48 hours.
3
SPEAKER_02
And so it was like, great, turn it off.
3
SPEAKER_02
And they were like, no, look how good, this is fantastic.
3
SPEAKER_02
Look how fast people are joining.
3
SPEAKER_02
And I said, you can make it $5 and they ll join even faster.
3
SPEAKER_02
That s not the point.
3
SPEAKER_02
We can t fly the plane at that price point.
3
SPEAKER_02
And they re like, we know what we re doing.
3
SPEAKER_02
So we were adding a quarter of a million new subscribers every month, but we were losing $30 on every person at a $10 price point.
3
SPEAKER_02
By the time we were approaching Christmas, we were approaching a million people.
3
SPEAKER_02
And I was jumping up and down going, there s no way this is going to work.
3
SPEAKER_02
We either need to raise the price or we ve got to turn this off.
3
SPEAKER_02
And they said, you know, you don t seem to support us in what we re trying to do.
5
SPEAKER_00
That s so triggered.
5
SPEAKER_00
Oh no, amazing.
5
SPEAKER_00
It starts with this giant doll.
5
SPEAKER_00
Okay.
5
SPEAKER_00
It s like a stylistic thing in the trailer.
5
SPEAKER_00
Yeah.
5
SPEAKER_00
That won t be allowed if this gets ruled on.
5
SPEAKER_00
It has to be exactly what s in the film.
5
SPEAKER_00
No.
5
SPEAKER_00
It s the only things they give me in the trailer.
5
SPEAKER_00
So all those beautiful trailers you think of, and there are some really good examples of them, where it s like an art piece.
5
SPEAKER_02
Yes.
5
SPEAKER_00
Unto itself.
5
SPEAKER_00
The Candyman, for the new Candyman film, that trailer was all beautifully artfully done with stuff that wasn t in the film.
5
SPEAKER_00
That ll be out.
5
SPEAKER_02
What the fuck?
5
SPEAKER_02
Why?
5
SPEAKER_00
I mean, these guys were just being assholes.
5
SPEAKER_00
They were just suing to make a point.
5
SPEAKER_02
We have too much real shit to be doing in our court system.
5
SPEAKER_02
Then deciding if the stuff in the trailer has to match the stuff in the movie.
5
SPEAKER_00
I could not agree more.
5
SPEAKER_00
It s ridiculous and over the top and so silly.
5
SPEAKER_01
It s Ana de Armas.
5
SPEAKER_01
She was the one that was in the trailer for the movie yesterday, the Ed Sheeran movie.
5
SPEAKER_02
Wait, hold on.
5
SPEAKER_02
Did he make the movie?
5
SPEAKER_01
He was in it.
5
SPEAKER_00
Oh.
5
SPEAKER_00
Yeah, so these, I think there were two of them, they went there.
5
SPEAKER_00
2019, two film buffs.
5
SPEAKER_00
And they felt ripped off that they d seen this actor in the trailer.
5
SPEAKER_00
They weren t in the film, so they sue.
5
SPEAKER_02
Ding, ding, ding, American suing.
5
SPEAKER_00
Go back and listen to the sewing episode, because yeah, it is pretty crazy.
5
SPEAKER_02
Only in America could you do that.
5
SPEAKER_01
For real.
5
SPEAKER_01
It was over $3.99 rental.
5
SPEAKER_01
Not even that they went to the movie theater and bought $15 tickets or whatever.
5
SPEAKER_00
They re annoyed that they rented it.
5
SPEAKER_00
So dumb.
5
SPEAKER_00
But also, it s really serious.
5
SPEAKER_00
Obviously, it hasn t been dismissed.
5
SPEAKER_02
Yeah.
5
SPEAKER_00
If that gets ruled on in their favor, then it literally will change the tools that people have to make trailers to sell their film, and all these techniques and other ways of making them will just be like thrown out the window.
5
SPEAKER_02
And creative space!
5
SPEAKER_00
It is genuinely, it s funny, but it s also kind of terrifying.
5
SPEAKER_02
Yes, I do not like this.
5
SPEAKER_00
Yeah.
5
SPEAKER_00
America.
5
SPEAKER_02
Sam I am.
5
SPEAKER_02
Wait, how many movies did you watch during those four years?
5
SPEAKER_01
I saw everything that came out because I would build the movies and then we d have to watch them sometimes multiple times.
5
SPEAKER_01
I started hating every mainstream movie that came out.
5
SPEAKER_01
Yeah, just beyond too much.
5
SPEAKER_01
I d have to go to like the art house theater and find the weird stuff because I would just get sick of everything.
5
SPEAKER_00
Now, something I found out about Rob that he may have talked to you about is that he has a really unique thing where he loves theater popcorn so much that he will go and buy theater popcorn to take home when he s watching something at home.
5
SPEAKER_00
I didn t know that.
5
SPEAKER_01
I do that all the time.
5
SPEAKER_01
I have AMCs on Postmates right now.
5
SPEAKER_00
And what I love, I was with him when he did this, he goes up to a cinema and just buys a big tub of popcorn and no movie ticket, and it freaked them out.
5
SPEAKER_00
They re like, what do you want?
5
SPEAKER_00
And Rob s like, no, just the popcorn.
5
SPEAKER_00
And like, no, what movie are you seeing?
5
SPEAKER_00
It s like, no, just the popcorn.
5
SPEAKER_00
It was wild.
5
SPEAKER_02
You just go in, pick up the pot.
5
SPEAKER_01
You don t see a movie?
5
SPEAKER_01
So something that also I m wearing in theaters, I have confidence of how the actual theater runs.
5
SPEAKER_01
So I know that the usher s not going to care if you re just like, I m going to go buy some concessions.
5
SPEAKER_00
But to your point, Monica, he just, that s the point.
5
SPEAKER_00
He just goes in to buy the popcorn just to take home.
5
SPEAKER_02
As if you re going to the grocery store.
5
SPEAKER_00
Yeah.
5
SPEAKER_00
Yeah.
5
SPEAKER_00
Whoa!
5
SPEAKER_02
But it s like the Lowes Feelers.
5
SPEAKER_01
The Lowes Feelers 3, that s two and a half blocks away.
5
SPEAKER_00
They do a great popcorn.
5
SPEAKER_02
They do?
5
SPEAKER_00
And look, I m with Rob on that.
5
SPEAKER_00
I ve just never considered doing it before.
5
SPEAKER_00
In my mind, it s like, you have to see the movie.
5
SPEAKER_00
But no, you can treat your cinema like a supermarket.
5
SPEAKER_00
Go in there and buy some candy.
5
SPEAKER_02
This is brand new information.
5
SPEAKER_02
I didn t know that about Rob, and I didn t know that was a thing.
5
SPEAKER_02
Although, Dax and I did Postmates a movie theater popcorn once.
5
SPEAKER_02
Oh, okay.
5
SPEAKER_00
I do it.
5
SPEAKER_01
Oh, that s another level up.
5
SPEAKER_01
Yeah.
5
SPEAKER_01
AMC did the buckets and icings.
5
SPEAKER_01
Yeah.
5
Wow.
5
SPEAKER_02
Can you tell us a little bit about New Zealand and the difference?
5
SPEAKER_02
Also, I want to shout out Taika.
5
SPEAKER_00
Taika?
5
SPEAKER_02
Taika.
5
SPEAKER_00
Taika?
5
SPEAKER_00
Yeah, Taika.
5
SPEAKER_00
Taika Waititi.
5
SPEAKER_02
He s a New Zealander who s made his way through the American film system.
5
SPEAKER_00
Yeah, I mean, he s sort of, I mean, he s directing the next Star Wars now.
5
SPEAKER_00
He s in everything.
5
SPEAKER_00
No, I mean, we all love Taika.
5
SPEAKER_00
I mean, he was a stand-up comedian in New Zealand.
5
SPEAKER_00
He made a short and that did really well.
5
SPEAKER_00
Are you friends with him?
5
SPEAKER_00
You are.
5
SPEAKER_00
We all know each other in New Zealand.
5
SPEAKER_02
Well, yeah, you said you text the Prime Minister and stuff, so I have a feeling you do know Taika.
5
SPEAKER_00
We both had, when I had Tickled out at Sundance, he had Hunt for the Wilderpeople.
5
SPEAKER_02
Love that movie.
5
SPEAKER_00
And so that whole crew was there.
5
SPEAKER_00
So Taika and Sam Neill and Julian, who played the kid, they were all there.
5
SPEAKER_00
And so we all, the Tickled crew and the Wilderpeople crew all hung out.
5
SPEAKER_00
That s fine.
5
SPEAKER_00
And yeah, the thing with Taika is he s just really lovely and inclusive and just sort of wants to help everyone.
5
SPEAKER_00
So we re not friends.
5
SPEAKER_00
Whenever he bumps into me, he ll be nice to me, which is so kind.
5
SPEAKER_00
But the theatre going experience in New Zealand, it s not like this so much now, but growing up, there s always a huge delay before the movies would get to New Zealand.
5
SPEAKER_00
So you d hear about these things, but be waiting for like a month for them to come out.
5
SPEAKER_00
That was kind of wild.
5
SPEAKER_02
So when you say you saw Jurassic Park in the theater, you saw it when you were like 20, basically.
5
SPEAKER_00
I saw it a couple of years ago.
5
SPEAKER_00
It finally reached us.
5
SPEAKER_00
No, so there s like a bit of a delay.
5
SPEAKER_00
Things are a bit more, again, it s changed now.
5
SPEAKER_00
We are getting these cinemas that are customizable and sort of more Indian than the bigger ones.
5
SPEAKER_00
But generally the main difference is the food and the drinks are smaller.
5
SPEAKER_00
There s just less of everything.
5
SPEAKER_02
And the trailers are the same?
5
SPEAKER_00
Less of them than here.
5
SPEAKER_00
Like the trailers and the ads, again, everything in American to me, it s bigger and it s longer.
5
SPEAKER_02
And more.
5
SPEAKER_00
And more.
5
SPEAKER_00
And that can be really good.
5
SPEAKER_00
Like if you re hungry, yum, more, more, more.
5
SPEAKER_00
But like ads, no, no, no.
5
SPEAKER_00
Get those away from me.
5
SPEAKER_01
Okay.
5
SPEAKER_01
Did you have the dollar theaters when you were growing up?
5
SPEAKER_01
Yes.
5
SPEAKER_01
It was like all the late run stuff you go see for like a dollar.
5
SPEAKER_02
In my college town, we would go to the dollar theater.
5
SPEAKER_00
A dollar?
5
SPEAKER_00
And yet you re still standing outside, not going to a movie, just chatting.
5
SPEAKER_02
No, that was the regal.
5
SPEAKER_02
That was a regular price ticket.
5
SPEAKER_00
Okay.
5
SPEAKER_02
To be cool, you had to stand outside.
5
SPEAKER_02
And this is a ding, ding, ding to our Waffle House.
5
SPEAKER_00
Yeah.
5
SPEAKER_02
Because the Waffle House was right across the street from the movie theater, and that s when the fight.
5
SPEAKER_02
So it s all connected.
5
SPEAKER_00
Oh, so it s all the scenery of town.
5
SPEAKER_00
You got your Waffle House, your cinema.
5
SPEAKER_00
Yes.
5
SPEAKER_00
All of those things.
5
SPEAKER_02
Everyone s outside the movie theater, and then there s going to be a fight in an hour outside the Waffle House.
5
SPEAKER_02
I love this so much.
5
SPEAKER_02
And Trevor has a knife.
5
SPEAKER_01
There was a specific theater in our neighborhood that people would go at to fight.
5
SPEAKER_02
Yeah, see?
5
SPEAKER_01
That was the fight theater.
5
SPEAKER_01
The Streets of Woodfield theater.
5
SPEAKER_01
It was an AMC.
5
SPEAKER_00
It used to be a Lowe s.
5
SPEAKER_00
I guess when you re a kid, it s a mall, it s a theater, or it s like a chain, right?
5
SPEAKER_00
That s all you have.
5
SPEAKER_00
That s all you have in your life.
5
SPEAKER_00
There s nothing else to do.
5
SPEAKER_02
Oh my God.
5
SPEAKER_00
They were the good old days.
5
SPEAKER_00
I know.
5
SPEAKER_00
In New Zealand, we d all go to the town square.
5
SPEAKER_02
Kids now, they just are on screens at each other.
5
SPEAKER_02
They re like,
5
SPEAKER_00
Yeah, that online bullying instead of in-person fighting.
5
SPEAKER_00
Should go back to the good old days of like, fisty cuffs.
5
SPEAKER_00
Okay, so you re going to go and see everything, everywhere, all at once on the big screen?
5
SPEAKER_02
I am.
5
SPEAKER_02
This is very exciting.
5
SPEAKER_02
I m very excited.
5
SPEAKER_00
I ve got a Flightless Bird related gift for you, David.
5
SPEAKER_00
Do you?
5
SPEAKER_02
Are you going to give it on air?
5
SPEAKER_00
Yeah, I love Flightless Bird related gifts.
5
SPEAKER_02
Oh my God, he s throwing it so it s soft.
5
SPEAKER_00
I caught it.
5
SPEAKER_00
Okay, opening this.
5
SPEAKER_01
It s a new wallet.
5
SPEAKER_01
Oh, but it s got zippers.
5
SPEAKER_02
Oh my God.
5
SPEAKER_02
This is really for your condoms.
5
SPEAKER_01
It s preloaded for you too.
5
SPEAKER_02
Oh my God.
5
SPEAKER_00
It s got a couple of skin condoms in here.
5
SPEAKER_00
Rob, this wallet is actually really beautiful because, as you know, I have this little child s purse that I ve had for years.
5
SPEAKER_00
This isn t too bulky and too insane.
5
SPEAKER_00
This is really beautiful.
5
SPEAKER_00
And it s also got really funky colors.
5
SPEAKER_00
It seemed to fit in for you.
5
SPEAKER_00
It does!
5
SPEAKER_02
It seems very David-y.
5
SPEAKER_02
Wow, that s very thoughtful, Rob.
5
SPEAKER_00
It s got a little flying octopus on the front.
5
SPEAKER_02
Oh, you love animals.
5
SPEAKER_00
two condoms.
5
SPEAKER_00
Oh, there s more.
5
SPEAKER_00
Oh, there s more in here.
5
SPEAKER_02
But they re in the zipped box.
5
SPEAKER_00
Oh, they re everywhere in here.
5
SPEAKER_00
But they re everywhere.
5
SPEAKER_00
Oh my God, there are four condoms.
5
SPEAKER_00
Wow.
5
SPEAKER_00
Oh my God.
5
SPEAKER_00
You can t use these.
5
SPEAKER_00
Now you can go on your dates.
5
SPEAKER_02
Ron has high hopes for you.
5
SPEAKER_00
And yet... I actually got told off after that podcast.
5
SPEAKER_00
Apparently having condoms in your wallet is terrible because if you sit on your wallet, it goes through wear and tear.
5
SPEAKER_00
The condoms get sort of... Oh, they break or something?
5
SPEAKER_00
Yeah.
5
SPEAKER_00
So that s just, I m just putting it out there.
5
SPEAKER_00
That s what people got upset about.
5
SPEAKER_00
That s extra thick in its protection of condoms.
5
SPEAKER_00
Extra thick.
5
SPEAKER_02
I still think I prefer for the guy to come prepared.
5
SPEAKER_00
To come.
5
SPEAKER_02
To come prepared with their zipped up condoms.
5
SPEAKER_00
Rob, this is the nicest thing you ve ever done for me.
5
SPEAKER_00
Thank you so much.
5
SPEAKER_00
I love this wallet.
5
SPEAKER_00
I m going to take that to the movies.
5
SPEAKER_02
Will it fit in your pants?
5
SPEAKER_00
It ll fit in my pants.
5
SPEAKER_00
That was the only thing I was concerned.
5
SPEAKER_00
I know you re a front pocket guy.
5
SPEAKER_02
Oh, it fits perfect.
5
SPEAKER_00
It s perfect.
5
SPEAKER_00
It s in there now.
5
SPEAKER_02
Great.
5
SPEAKER_00
Oh my God.
5
SPEAKER_00
I m stacked with condoms.
5
SPEAKER_00
Going to hit the town.
5
SPEAKER_02
If you haven t listened to our Valentine s Day episode, that s where this originates.
5
SPEAKER_00
Yeah, there s a reason we re talking about this.
5
SPEAKER_00
Yeah, so Stacey s book is really good, Black Founder, the Alamo Draft House is really good as a cinema, and AMC if you want to see Nicole Kidman harp on about how much she loves the movies.
5
SPEAKER_02
And the movies are fun.
5
SPEAKER_02
Go to the movies.
6
SPEAKER_00
Last question, what do you think about going to the movies solo?
6
SPEAKER_00
Yay or nay?
6
SPEAKER_01
Oh, I m yay on that.
6
SPEAKER_00
Yeah, same.
6
SPEAKER_00
Big supporter.
6
SPEAKER_00
I love it too.
6
SPEAKER_00
Big supporter.
6
SPEAKER_00
It s the best.
6
SPEAKER_01
It s actually the best place to do a solo event because you aren t talking anyway.
6
SPEAKER_00
When are you talking?
6
SPEAKER_00
If you re talking in the movies, you re a bad person.
6
SPEAKER_00
Go solo.
6
SPEAKER_01
Agreed.
6
SPEAKER_01
All right, well, you convinced me that this episode was worth doing.
6
SPEAKER_01
Thank you.
6
SPEAKER_01
So that s a big feather in your cap.
6
SPEAKER_00
Thank you so much.
6
SPEAKER_00
All right.
6
SPEAKER_00
So we ve learned a lot about the American movie going experience.
6
SPEAKER_00
Yes, that was fun.
6
SPEAKER_00
You love trailers.
6
SPEAKER_00
I avoid them because sometimes there s too much given away.
6
SPEAKER_00
Spoiler.
6
SPEAKER_00
Am I more American or less American?
6
SPEAKER_01
I think you are only more American if you prove that you can do an American accent.
6
SPEAKER_00
This is a thing.
6
SPEAKER_00
I learned this really quickly when I got here.
6
SPEAKER_00
If I m ever on the phone with any kind of American entity, the DMV for instance, if I say, can I please book my driver s test?
6
SPEAKER_00
I want to take it tomorrow.
6
SPEAKER_00
They ll be like,
6
SPEAKER_00
What?
6
SPEAKER_00
So I have to state it.
6
SPEAKER_00
I m like, hi, it s David Farrier calling.
6
SPEAKER_00
Could I please book my driver s test for Friday at 10 49 p.m.
6
SPEAKER_01
You sound like a serial killer.
6
SPEAKER_00
You do.
6
SPEAKER_00
And you know what they say?
6
SPEAKER_00
Of course.
6
SPEAKER_00
Okay.
6
SPEAKER_00
Let s book in at that time.
6
SPEAKER_00
I can understand you.
6
SPEAKER_00
And I feel like an idiot, but it fucking works.
6
SPEAKER_01
Listen,
6
SPEAKER_01
Just because I understand you, I wouldn t say that means you do a good American accent.
6
SPEAKER_01
I don t want to take you down a peg.
6
SPEAKER_01
That was terrifying.
6
SPEAKER_01
But that was not a good American accent, because that didn t sound American.
6
SPEAKER_01
That just sounded like a strange psychopath.
6
SPEAKER_00
Do you realize this is what Americans sound like?
6
SPEAKER_00
This is how they talk all the time.
6
SPEAKER_01
No, no.
6
SPEAKER_00
That s maybe like a Southern, slightly Southern twang.
6
SPEAKER_01
It has a tinge of Southern.
6
SPEAKER_01
Hold on, let me close my eyes, do it again.
6
SPEAKER_00
Hi Moniker, my name s David Farrier.
6
SPEAKER_01
Now also Moniker, you said, which is not American.
6
SPEAKER_00
Hey look, what I m saying is it helps me and I think that makes me, well I would say 100% American, you would say in the negatives.
6
SPEAKER_01
Here s one thing, I have noticed that you do it when we do our ads and you re saying bird.
6
SPEAKER_01
You re trying to make the R punctuate.
6
SPEAKER_00
Yeah, bird.
6
SPEAKER_00
This is flightless bird.
6
SPEAKER_01
How do you say it normal?
6
SPEAKER_00
I ll say, so, go to soeva.com slash flightless bird.
6
SPEAKER_00
I think that s how I say it.
6
SPEAKER_00
I roll the R a bit, but I do that anyway, because I do have a weird R already because, you know, remember when I went to school, I really idolized that kid in my class who was from the South Island and he rolled his R s and I took the R s on.
6
SPEAKER_00
So that s sort of a weird New Zealand defect I have.
6
SPEAKER_00
But it does help me in America because boy, you love rolling the R.
6
SPEAKER_01
Do we?
6
SPEAKER_00
Oh, you roll eyes.
6
SPEAKER_01
It s like a Spanish thing.
6
SPEAKER_01
Now you roll the eyes.
6
SPEAKER_00
You ll be like car.
6
SPEAKER_01
No, car.
6
SPEAKER_00
As opposed to car.
6
SPEAKER_00
Car.
6
SPEAKER_00
I guess comparatively- Pull up the car, Monicar.
6
SPEAKER_00
All right.
6
SPEAKER_00
Okay.
6
SPEAKER_00
Movies.
6
SPEAKER_00
I m getting out of here.
6
SPEAKER_01
Bye.