What's up everybody and welcome to another edition of the Falcons final whistle podcast We are coming to you from AT&T stadium after the Falcons lost a lopsided one I think everyone knows that 43 to 3 to the Dallas Cowboys. This was not a good result not one that the Falcons were looking for to Continue the positive momentum after beating the Saints in New Orleans that didn't happen This is a setback that they're gonna have to rebound from very quickly as they move on to a Thursday night game Against the New England Patriots Tori McElene your biggest takeaway from this specific game I mean, it's hard to take one thing away from a game where the Falcons lost 43 to 3 right I Think for me. It was just kind of the I Wanted this to be a competitive game I really really did and I thought that after the they beat the Saints last weekend that it would have been and so Kind of coming out and seeing what happened in that second quarter Was really discouraging and it was really tough to watch. I think down through the last two quarters of the games specifically So I guess this is my biggest takeaways. That wasn't a fun one to watch Yeah, it definitely wasn't and that voice you heard was Tori McEleney. I'm Scott bear I didn't do the intros off the top silly me. I think you mentioned my name. I'm I mentioned yours But nobody else. So now we're gonna backtrack a little bit I'm Scott bear and Chris Ram coming up next. What are your thoughts after this? Result that was disappointing for the Falcons and their fans I think like Tori said, it's hard to take away one thing But maybe just the nature of the NFL, you know that the Cowboys were last week We're down 30 to nothing in the fourth quarter with six minutes to go and this week They beat a team 43 to 3 So, you know, I think it just my biggest takeaway is just the nature of the NFL how things can change so quickly Yeah, and and we're going to break this game down and identify things that went wrong in What Arthur Smith called the second quarter avalanche we're gonna go over some stats that really tell the story and We're gonna look forward to how the Falcons have to rebound quickly heading into that Thursday night game against New England at Mercedes-Benz stadium where they haven't won a regular season a game yet This season and then we're gonna try to look forward and see how the Falcons can as as as foyer put it stay in the hunt They're in the hunt now They want to play meaningful games in December how they can do those things But before we get to all that a big thank you to our sponsor Microsoft Windows 11 the official operating system of the NFL And the Atlanta Falcons the all-new Windows 11 is here to bring you closer to what you love Like the Falcons final whistle podcast learn about all the awesome new features of Windows 11 at windows.com We're starting off the first of four quarters spending five minutes talking about where This Falcons Cowboys game went wrong for the dirty birds and it went wrong in the first half Things kind of got out of control. Chris Ram you you wrote about this For Atlanta Falcons calm. Where do you think this this game got out of hand? Yeah, well, I think the second quarter like like Arthur Smith mentioned was kind of like the obvious point where things got out of hand But I thought that the momentum really changed after that fourth down like it seemed like after they went for it on that fourth down things just Went negative after that after that point, but most importantly, I thought the obviously being up You know 28 to 3 is significant But then to have a pump blocked and then for them to score off the block punt and then to go for a two-point conversion when they're up What was it? They're up 31 it was 30 it was 34 to 3 when they were going for 2 and it got it to 36 to 3 Yeah, so that at that point for me is when I thought that It just killed it just kills you internally I think it as a as a player as a as even as if you're a fan watching the game I think that that two-point conversion for me watching that I was just like oh man, this is Comebacks have happened big comebacks have happened before but that seemed to me like just like a nail in the coffin Yeah, I feel like it was a gut punch like it was one of those things that you know It wasn't that they put this huge gigantic drive together to go down and score it was one play and immediately It goes from being a 28 to 3 lead to now 36 to 3 Which is it feel it feels different. I think for me though the the moment that really Kind of took this game to a different level in that second quarter because that was you know Arthur Smith was right. It was that second quarter that really did it to him Atlanta so Dallas had just scored it is it was just the start of the second quarter Dallas scored and it was 14 to 3 Atlanta goes out has a 3 and out and then Dallas goes out and in 1 2 3 4 5 plays has a touchdown and It was a touchdown where it was on the back of Dak Prescott Giving it to I can't remember who it was, but it was a 23 yard Play on fourth and three like that that fourth down conversion in the second quarter And then a play later Ezekiel Elliott runs in in for from two yards out And it's a touchdown to make it 21 to 3 that was I think the moment for me that It really kind of was like, okay, this is this is not going to be good Here's the weird part and I know we're talking about the second quarter avalanche as Arthur Smith put it but in the first quarter the Falcons are taking yards in chunks like Through their first two series towards the end of their first two series I looked at the team stats and they were averaging like 14 yards a play. Yeah, I mean they were moving the ball down field They were running well. They were space for everybody to move It didn't seem like Kyle Pitts was ever gonna not be I know I was about to say Matt Ryan hit Cal pits with ease multiple times, right and and I think avalanche the word that Arthur Smith use I'm gonna keep harping on on that park as I think it's it's it's apt here Yeah, because it's not like the Falcons were knocked down or weren't ready to play or came out flat or any of those types Of things that they were moving the ball early and I don't dismiss The fourth quarter go for it at all. I thought that was a sign from Arthur Smith That hey man field goals are not gonna win this game and guess what he wasn't wrong because the Cowboys put up 43 Right, so you were gonna need to generate steady offense And I think the steady offense was there and it's one of those things where maybe momentum from week to week Doesn't happen, but momentum in a game as as a Deron Harmon said that's real Yeah The momentum definitely slipped to a point that I think the Falcons kind of lost control of what they were doing And then by the time they got their hands on the joystick, you know, it it all kind of wasn't there for them in the same way I mean like we're talking about going to 36 to 3 or what have you in the first half Yeah, and there were points in the second quarter and I'm filibustering here There were points in the second quarter where I kept thinking if they can do this thing, right and then Get some chunk plays and score then I kept creating Situations in my mind so they could stem the tide because I just didn't believe it was gonna continue to go down this way and Ultimately it did and things I think for the first time since since week one really kind of got out of control So that's gonna wrap up quarter number one with me talking for about 90 consecutive seconds. Sorry about that y'all But we're gonna move on here and go over some go over some numbers that explain what happened and Numbers that maybe were uncharacteristic of how the Falcons have been playing in recent weeks We're starting quarter number two diving into the box score, which I Think sometimes stats can be deceiving as Tori as you wrote in your article for Atlanta Falcons comm sometimes They can really identify where areas went wrong I think that this is the the the a ladder case here as you broke it down Yeah, it's funny because what was it three weeks ago? I wrote a story on AJ Turrell and Grady Jarrett and I Like in the lead of that story I was talking about how stats don't matter for them because of the way that they're playing and they're doing things that don't show Up in a stat book and so you know You can't always like take stats for what they are and blah blah blah But then there's always another side to the coin and the other side to the coin was this game where it was a game where The statistics if you really look at the box score if you look at the statistical breakdown of this game and how lopsided it was it does paint a full picture of Why this score was 43 to 3 and I think for me I really just broke it down I mean if you look at it Dallas had 22 first downs Atlanta had 11 Dallas had 431 total yards Atlanta had 214 and then you get into the third downs Atlanta was one for 11 in third downs Dallas was three for three on fourth downs Atlanta was over to I mean at Dallas was perfect in the red zone The Falcons only got down to the red zone one time in their very first drive I mean these are all Like these are all things that when you look at this stat book. It's like well, that's there's there's your reason There's your reason for why the game was 43 to 3 There's your reason for why the Falcons are leaving Dallas feeling not so great about what just kind of transpired here I think it's really funny because I'm usually not a big like look at the stats and the stats tell the whole story, but For this game particularly it absolutely did Chris did ever Surprise you to see how the third and fourth down Situations played out that the Falcons have been pretty good in those Situations and they had some opportunities early in this game to get the Cowboys off the field and kind of weren't able to do it And that's really where things you know kind of went nuts Like we actually talked about that the fourth down that didn't work out for the Falcons Well, the Cowboys I think on the very next drive had a fourth down that they converted. How big were those moments in your eyes? Yeah, why I think the moment you just mentioned was huge because the Falcons didn't get a fourth down and then the next series the Cowboys went and did exactly what what the Falcons wanted to do another thing that just kills momentum But I think the most surprising thing about the Falcons struggling on leg downs was Be the way they started the game because they started the game Like you said getting chunks of yards Kyle Pitts was open every single play Cordero Patterson was Running getting chunks of yards and then all of a sudden it just stopped like it just everything just stopped like the avalanche thing was Just an avalanche So and that's what I was gonna say to one thing that stood out to me was Cordero Patterson Me guys lowest targets of the season as lowest carries of the season and he he had an ankle He got his ankle taped up and then he just kind of never got back into the game We saw like a lot of Wayne Dahman and maybe maybe that was to you know protect him for Thursday Maybe but usually when the Falcons play well CP plays well as he has done every game But yeah, he only had targets and you know for carry so Yes, right and I know that Arthur Smith talked about it after the game And he was talking about how like the reason you saw Josh Rosen and Wayne Gaulman and all those guys was because you know They got to a point and they're looking at it in Kind of probably the third fourth quarter where they're like we don't have any more possessions Like we don't have the possessions to get this thing where we want it and I think like that's granted We didn't see CP like hardly at all after halftime if at all after halftime So maybe I think there's some something to be asked about like that this coming week and But going back to the kind of what you're talking about with the third down. Yeah, that's super interesting Yeah, well something else that's really interesting and kind of another caveat to this is that if you look at the Falcons like three and ounce they all started with a No game on Their first down play or a loss of yards Whether it was a sack or a tackle for a loss So when you're going out there and you're not converting Significant yardage or not even significant yardage, but a small chunk of yards on first or second down that really makes it hard on Yourself on your offense to go third and long over and over and over again And it was something that they the Falcons couldn't do today. I mean that's evident in they had four Three and ounce in a row between the second and third quarter. I mean that kind of tells the story Yeah, I think it absolutely does just one thing real quick that I wanted to highlight from the defensive box score The Cowboys had 10 passes defense to 10 Matt Ryan through 21 passes he completed nine that's that's that's a lot That's Cowboys defensive backs or defensive linemen getting their hands on the football before the Falcons have a chance to catch it That's not enough separation. That's not good enough for an offense That relies upon moving the ball through the air if defenders are getting the hand on the ball They're close enough to make plays like that that often spells trouble In quarter number three, we're gonna start taking our eyes forward away from this game and what and Towards the future and about what needs to happen for the Atlanta Falcons and their players To improve execution to come out on the winning end of some of these games and stay relevant as we move forward So when when you look at this Roster Chris and you looked at this game Is there an area is there a group of players? Is there a specific player that you think needs to step up to to help the Falcons get and stay on that winning track? Yeah, I would say that the secondary for sure definitely I think needs to step up today. We saw CD lamb I get multiple touchdowns and Michael Gallup returned and he played well even a Mario Cooper and I think it was kind of surprising because when you look at the When the Falcons played the Buccaneers, I didn't think I don't have the stats in front of me I don't think the wide receivers were getting Open with as ease as as they were in this game And I think that's kind of comparable wide receiving course So maybe I don't know if that's if that's you know, there was someone today who was maybe in a position They weren't comfortable in or if figuring that out But I think moving forward the secondary has to find out where guys feel comfortable at to ensure that, you know You don't let a team throw for I think 317 passing yards and you know multiple guys have you know Six receptions and multiple touchdowns. So I think I think the secondary Now definitely needs to step up. Yeah And I think I guess I'll stay with the defensive side of the ball for for the group that I feel like needs to step up I mean, I just constantly kind of think about pass rush And the fact that Dak it really did feel like Dak Prescott could kind of just do what he wanted to today And I thought, you know, there was very little pressure on him outside of maybe a couple times And then the the thing that I thought really stood out to me is like even when the Falcons did bring pressure They were bringing guys They're they're bringing dbs And then Dak was immediately picking that up and and giving it to a cd lamb or Or even giving it to Ezekiel Elliott kind of just like running out. I mean It's that kind of thing. So if it's like the only way that you can generate pressure is to send your dbs Like that that's going to hurt you. I think in the long run because You got to have those guys to kind of shore up the secondary. I don't know. It's just kind of really really difficult to Face a quarterback like Dak Prescott and not put any pressure on him because he just like I said He just goes and does kind of what he wants to go and do and you know Matt Ryan threw two interceptions and he was sacked a couple of times and Dak Prescott threw for every interception that mess that Matt Ryan threw Dak Prescott threw a touchdown and he wasn't sacked and and he's had a really really great day I mean, I think his passer writing was was pretty pretty solid today. So That it's it for me it has to be pass rush because I think in order for this defense to For for all levels of the defense to to be playing the way that they want to Got to get after the quarterback and got to at least make it hard on him. Yeah, I coming into this Uh segment I was thinking offensive line because we know Matt Ryan does better when he has time to carve a defense up He's pretty good at that But i'm staring at this box score, right and I just see a wide receiver court that Wasn't very productive and didn't create enough separation Today the best part about when the Falcons offense is really humming. Sure. Kyle and and Patterson They're going to get theirs They're going to be the featured players in an offense But they're never the only players right offense the ball gets spread around quite a bit and we see production As we saw in that Saints game from a number of different people Even if the catch and yardage totals aren't high Tajé sharp or oz makes these types of big catches I'm looking here and outside of Kyle Pitts. There isn't there isn't a pass catcher that has more than 22 yards Yeah, and and that's in a lot of targets oz was targeted seven times and it's just one of those things where um This is another game where rustle gauge has no catches Right and I thought they were so that they benefited They benefited a great deal from his production last week and to have it go away Again and this has happened a couple of different times now That you need to see a guy like that step up Especially when you don't have Calvin Ridley in the pattern that you need more of these guys this buy committee approach You need that committee to to ultimately step up That's not really what we saw here And I think that they've got to be better moving forward against every type of coverage Really as the Falcons tried to get back in sync and that's what we're going to talk about in this next quarter As we kind of move on here Thursday nights coming quick Again and the Patriots are rolling. How can the Falcons get back on the right track? How can they rebound quickly? As we continue this season Quarter number four is going to talk about less about what happened against the cowboys And more about how quickly they have to rebound because they have a Thursday night game against the new england patriots Who just had their way with the cleveland browns today mac jones? Looking great that defense is looking tough and the falcons normally Thursday night football is like an unavoidable evil Right. Nobody's ever mentally and physically ready to play four four days later three days later really After you just play a football game. It's just not possible But the falcons seemed excited about the opportunity so they could flush this game as as quickly as possible and try to get back on Like on the winning track. Yeah, that's the optimist view of it, right? The other side of it is if they don't rebound well They could be looking at oh and two over the course of five days going from 500 to two games under in a snap So this is one of those times where they've got to find a way to rebound, right? And that's what we heard a lot during the press conferences find a way to rebound Is that easier said than done? How can the falcons really do that? As they when they have a tough team coming into mercedes-benz stadium pretty soon. Yeah, I think I can't remember. I think it was grady Jared who said this post game who who said, you know, we can't let this Lost turn into a second loss and I think that was very well put because it easily could I mean when you're talking about as quick of a turnaround as a thursday night game is it absolutely could And the the way that the patreots are playing right now I feel like this is one of the worst times to to be playing this team because they do feel like they have Have their thing together And they have it together and I I think they're playing very very well right now So this is a tough time to to play them but there's also the other side of that where it's like well Arthur Smith said it the reason why he didn't play some of those starters some of those guys in the fourth quarter of Today's game against dalis was because he knows that that thursday night game is coming So it was like almost like okay like let's take this for what it was and let's go see if we can get another win Or let's let's see if we can go get a win on thursday and guys will be fresher Because of that they didn't have a huge battle like how they did against the saints They they really didn't play in the fourth quarter. So that maybe works in the falcons favor I don't know if you're if you're looking at any way to kind of look at it because it's always tough a thursday night game But that's kind of how I look at it. There are a lot of different variables. I think they go into thursday night games Chris, how do you think that like like what's the magic potion here to get this team back on the right track pretty quickly? Yeah, I think I think they they I think they got it figured out with in terms of like flushing a loss and forgetting about it And because considering how they back bounce back from each loss this season and I just remember how Matt ryan approached the press conference after the philly loss and he was just and even later that week he was just like, you know like You know people we lose games. It happens. So when you have a leader who understands who's kind of mastered that ability of Forgetting about a loss. I think that's great so that they're not, you know Looming on that and thinking about that going into this game. But Like tory said the patres are hitting their stride right now. I think they won four straight games They put up 45 today and their starters were also pulled Early. Oh, I didn't know that see that's the thing is when we're watching the falcons game. We're traveling We don't get to see the other games. Yeah, you know, I have all the all the patres be writers on my timeline Yeah, so they the patres had the top two passers In today's game on their team like brian hoyer and mac jones have more passing yards than Baker mayfield and case keenam who wow who got hurt. So the defense is is playing well firing on all cylinders Matthew judon, I think has nine sacks and he's had seven is the highest in his career. So I think like one thing that that I think is important too is like the how things change In the nfl so quickly especially this year like there's no team who's dominating everyone. So even with the patres hitting the stride and everything Today, I think I really learned that We have to approach each week as its own thing. Yeah It's its own entity. It really is this year more than any other year. I saw a tweet the other day that said I don't think anyone's gonna win the super bowl like because everybody's just beating each other Yeah, exactly. So so I think It's fair to it's fair to just like we said forget about this and think that the The focus will come in here and look like a completely different team If we're gonna look at the nfl playoff picture in good times We can look at it in less than ideal times as well And as it looks right now the the vikings won carolina with cam newton Wow scores twice in two plays cam camera tarnes and and he brings a win over the cardinals What in the what in the world that really goes back to your point? No one's gonna win this rule You know the saints lose to tennessee basically if we're looking at seeding because why not The falcons are ninth at this point, but it's all tight. Yeah Close and foyer said that last year they were they never felt like they were in the hunt They never talked about it Right, they're in the hunt now and he said that's why we're so upset by how we played here And I think that that motivation will spurn them forward is the goal is to be relevant and be in the mix in december The only way that you can do that is by responding well through these difficult stretches We've talked about softer portions of the schedule They ain't it they ain't in that. Yeah, that's not where they are That they're in a much different place So they got to kind of stay competitive as we see Some teams like the vikings are pretty talented right that we're starting to see some of these teams surge I'll kind of fighting for that six and seven spot falcons want to stay in it I think that motivation will be Important I think what chris pointed out about matt ryan's leadership during these times I think arthur smith is good at turning the page and nobody feels sorry for ourselves There are no soft souls. I think all that comes into play can they Can they get to a point against the patriots at home where they can put themselves in position to To win this one late to go it's so funny for as bad as everybody may feel after the cowboys game If you come out of this five day two game stretch and you're one in one You're like I yeah, you're you're totally good with that totally good with that So we've been through the the start of this difficult stretch No, uh falcons fans are not thrilled. They're still an opportunity here to come out of it Ahead or come out of it even and stay in the hunt and I think that that's going to be important Um as we wrap up quarter number four and the end of this falcons final whistle podcast So with that you all know the drill at this point right go to itunes spotify youtube even Give us a five star rating. Please please pretty pleased with sugar on top. That would be awesome And uh, definitely listen and download each and every week We are going to take you through the entire falcon season and after you're done with that Do us a solid stay tuned to the falcons podcast network Because falcons audible comes up on wednesdays with dj wrackley dj shockley and and dav archer lots of good insight We're going to review this game and push it forward and then those guys are going to take the torch from us and keep it Moving forward and get you ready for thursday nights game. That's how you can always stay in the know It's how you can be smarter than your buddies at the bar Listen to these pods man and uh, definitely subscribe. Thank you so much for the time. We will talk to you again On thursday, well, it'll be friday morning by that friday morning. No doubt about that


Okay, it's okay. One day at a time. Yes, ma'am. I did not. No. Right. Let me figure out if it's okay for you to write this down. No, write it down. Okay. Oh, all right. Okay. There's nothing there, so I'm assuming we're going to say five. And, you know, maybe I'll just... I'm sure... I'm sure we can do it. I'm sure we can do it. I'm sure we can do it. I'm sure we can do it. Everyone wants Monday. I know. This is maybe so long. Right? Okay, are we ready? Yeah, we're ready. I remember best. Thank you, see? Sorry, I can't be here for more of it. It's coming for someone. It's coming for somebody. Okay. Oh, so you gotta get up there. Years ago, they used to say it's like 11 o'clock. Do you know where your children are? They used to say that, and they don't say that anymore. I guess they just let that go. It's five o'clock. Do you know who you are? Why are you here? I was in a conversation with Ryan a second ago, and he was talking about showing up for himself, which is so important to see if you're an artist, or a person, or both, showing up for yourself. And that's kind of what this is. This is like practice. You can practice showing up for watching your work. It's a way to practice showing up for yourself, or the writer in you, or the artist in you, because we're not just about writing here. Right? We're not. We're not. We're not just about writing. Although writing is the majority of what we do. But we're not just about writing. We're not all kinds of what have this, that are difficult. So does everybody know what it's everybody wants to do, or does anybody need a preamble, an explanation? What's your name? Garrison. Garrison? Oh, Garrison. Okay, hey, Garrison. Where are you from? Here. You're born here? No, no, I'm from San Diego. Oh, so you're living here now? Okay. Well, okay, so here's what we're doing, Garrison. And anybody else is wondering. And we also have people who watch us online, which is really great. This is called Watch Me Work. It's very misleading, intentionally. Because the me and the title is you. So what this is about is about your work, and your creative process. Okay? It's not about my work and my creative process. Okay? So this is what we do. What we do is we make a play together, and we do that by first we do the action, and I don't know where I want to come up on stage and do anything. I don't like that kind of theater anymore. I'm like, I want to pay, I want to sit in my seat, I want to be left alone. But what we do is first we do the action of the play together, which is that we all do our work together. And they do the dialogue in the play. And that consists of you guys asking me questions about your work and your creative process. Okay? So it's a play. And it's all about you. And where else can you get that in your world? For free. I don't know. But I hope we do it here. So every Monday, almost every Monday, there will be a couple of plug-ins off in the next step in the first couple weeks of May. Happy May Day, everybody. Congratulations on making it through the first hundred days. That's not so much better. I feel great. I feel terrific, actually. So congratulations for making it through. And we will continue. We will continue. We will persevere.  So what we're going to do when we do the time, and also for people watching this on the Internet, if you just want to have a camera in the gym, it's going to tell them how to get in touch with us. Hey, man. You guys can tweet us. Please tweet us, actually. Please ask your questions at Wash Me Work SLP. And then I can ask them at the end. I cannot ask questions if there are no questions. So it's a myth of it. Yeah, but you can also make sure that's true. Yeah, if you want to make sure that's my voice. Yeah, you can take it. Yeah, you can take it. Okay, so we're going to do that. We're going to work between this and Gemma and I are going to time it together. I'm going to get it to my own phone. There we go. Ready? Okay, here we go. I'm going to go ask this, how's that? You have to be more comfortable. Okay, how about you wear yours? Does anybody have any questions about your work and your creative process? Oh my goodness, I have a few. Do you have any questions about your work and your creative body? Any answers?  Henry. Henry, hey Henry. Hi. I'm really caught between the creative side just wanting to make stuff and just wanting to write stuff and then almost having to deal with so how do you find a balance? Great, great, great questions. So Henry, did everybody hear? Henry's really caught between, I'll just paraphrase, yeah? You've got two jobs as well, you know, being an art person or a person building, especially artists, you've got two jobs. You've got one job of making your creative stuff, right? And then you have your other job of actually getting it out there which it almost seems like it takes a whole other person. You're all too ego, right? You get the stuff out there. You write the stuff and then you have somebody who gets the stuff out there. It's really, it's really difficult. I think it's a career-long exploration of how to balance those two things. And I would say, I mean, sometimes, you can find sometimes a good day that are better for certain activities like some of us, we like to do our creative work in the morning maybe, right? And then you do your business work in the evening at night or switch them around, right? Or if you have a day job and you have creative work in between then your business work, your career, maybe actually come home like that. So it's always a balance. But I would say both are very important because no one will get to know your work if you just write your stuff and put it in a drawer or whatever, right? Most people get to know your stuff. So it is a very important aspect of your artistic life.  We have a stage of yoga and I don't think there's a Sanskrit stage for this. It might be, but I don't know it. Make the pose you hate your favorite pose.  If you really don't like business side of the artistic life, it's gonna be great. And conversely, if you really don't like sitting down and writing or whatever every day, make that. You don't want to be one of those people who's really good at cocktail parties. They're, like, really, like, so swift.  And they know exactly what to say to everybody. They seem always to get the gigs. They are not working at a quality level. You don't want to be that.  Because that means I'm legitimate. Like, I'm not going to be that person. So it's a good question. Hi. Hi. Good seeing you again. I'm in a difficult place. I had a reading of one of my pieces. And the feedback that I got was the characters are well developed. The dialogue is engaging. They didn't discern what the agency of the lead character was. They didn't feel like there was sufficient agency for the character. And I'm caught between feeling there was agency, but it was a woman's version of the agency. It was more I'm caught in the editing phase right now because I'm asking myself how do I define agency from my viewpoint? Because I do feel she had an objective. I do feel that it fueled her journey from beginning to end. But it wasn't that she was constantly stating it. It was subtle. And I felt the subtlety suit of the piece, but I have to hear what the audience says. And if the audience is full of writers and they're saying I don't see the agency I'm caught in the place of tearing the whole thing apart because I'm trying to put a spine of agency and I'm losing my play. And I don't know telling me I have great dialogue and awesome characters and wonderful story and then tell me there's no agency I'm like, but how could it be a wonderful story if you don't feel that there was agency? Right. So first of all, it's a great question here. Does everyone know what agency is? You want to define it? Because it's not doing a secret agent. The mission of the character what is the arc of her journey? What does she want and how does it stay the same or altered by the end of the play? It ultimately has an ulcer because there's that one point of no return that makes her journey new but there is a definite point of no return and all those elements are in place and the definition of agency I don't know if it's more gender based or because of women in the audience that I saw it and the men in the audience that no I didn't see it and so I don't really feel an audience should be separated based on gender so I am kind of trying to meditate through this process of reducing the notes and trying to see the truth of the piece but I'm tearing it apart. So you get you kind of read your workshop or whatever or you edit or read your work or whatever whatever happens and you get some notes right? It sounds like most of the notes are great and thumbed up and right on and the complementary notes that doesn't say you're doing a great job are easy to take so I'm just listening to what you're saying the notes that you want to read with are hard to hear many because they're not being articulated in a way that's helpful okay? Now I'm a big believer in architecture and I do believe, maybe I'm wrong that architecture transcends gender culture class just the architecture of a well-made thing I believe it transcends that because we get into a truth of the thing if the fill of the blank folks in the audience get it and the other folks don't get it at all then either we say I'm only, I don't care you know what I mean it's cool it's only written for folks it's written for everybody but who's ever going to get it this good and happy or we start to change it and we don't want you to rip up this play I don't want you to do that I don't want you to be able maybe to meditate on it to hear the note in a way that can be helpful to you okay? because maybe there's something in what they're saying that might be helpful that there was something that had to change okay? so telling me that is like okay then maybe that's the thing that is bothering me about the piece I felt that there was an arc but maybe the agency wasn't clear enough there you go there you go and that's all that's all so maybe maybe it's the agency is all there but maybe it's at a volume that is not audible it is series of gestures that are not visible enough to folks who are familiar with a character like the one you show on stage so maybe you have to show a larger series of gestures okay? it's not a larger I'm going to change the way I'm talking I'm just going to make my voice a little more audible so I can be heard and that's okay and maybe you can float the belief that you might make your words better maybe you know from people it felt good they understood the character they understood the story they're into it they just can't quite hear it so instead of doing a gesture like this not a different gesture just a larger arc a little more visible you might make it better so you have a choice you have a choice as you always do either you take the note you believe it just like it is and maybe have a reading for another there's some people who might be like don't stop, don't change the fence if you felt you got there was something you needed to do then meditate on that note and see if you can bring it in a way that makes sense to you because that's the ultimate thing you want to know what makes sense to you you feel not like you're just doing something that somebody wants you to do you're actually doing something and maybe your character is saying you need to be a little more visible you need to raise the stakes in the scene in that scene so that it's very clear and that might improve your play if it doesn't you borrow what he's got the draft before you can go back to that yeah you don't want to tear it up don't be tearing anything up we're not there, we're not like burning you know I'm just sitting there for a while a week or two put away a link down for a while if that's what you're trying to do it's very true and a larger work that's cliche even if there's some of this book-length nonfiction one of which is you know like when we look up at the stars at night by the time the light reaches us they already expired that concept seems so familiar now that talking about the stars and what's alive and what's dead seems a little bit kind of corny to me but there's something actually true about it that is part of the larger theme of what I'm working with so I'm trying to find a way to incorporate not just that but some other kinds of things that make it sound sappy so you're working with a bunch of things that are very important work but maybe you're concerned that some of the things sound sappy how far are you in the writing of this work you know a thousand pages finished a draft 90 rough pages are you finished yet? how many pages do you have to go? 100 more pages I would say keep writing again you're having this all of us have these concerns some of us get 90 pages in and we think my mom is going to hate this part I can't keep writing different people have different concerns you're like what are you talking about some of us say my mom will hate it my dad will disown me I finished writing this play or my husband will know he will hate whatever or some of my metaphors are sappy it's your fault I don't go there what happens is we're halfway in and we get scared and this is what's coming up for you I say keep going and at the end of 100 200 pages the worst thing about what you've written is that one of your metaphors or two of your metaphors are sappy or better things it's because the point you're making it sounds like is deeper than the surface we have no more power the point you're making is deeper so you can easily switch it out for something better to go through but if you sit here now and try to figure out what that thing is you're going to be staring at something that you don't even look at right now keep writing all the way to the end and then your more appropriate metaphors will appear if necessary and you just have to realize that that maybe on the next project it's going to be something else it's going to be 90 pages and it's going to be like my mom hates me now or whatever or this is dumb or this has been written before or I'm always going to miss my play or I have 100 characters and I'm always going to miss my play things happen, things happen you know terrified as some shit starts going in our head just keep going keep going, keep going, keep going it's a big question now it's very big it's a situation where I'm working on a play and I'm in a situation where I don't know and I'm on like draft to a better way and if I've finished it I don't know if I can really draw an audience and what I'm kind of going through right now is the play where I think that kind of the core of it is the audience and the actor and whatever if I potentially would never be able to stage it or consider whatever is it worth working on a piece if it's just for me right, so this is exactly what I was just talking about this is I mean, okay so you're two drafts into a play right, and it's about some well, family things, right, okay and you're considering that should you finish it and get it to a state where you can say it's finished what if it was finishing because it's so kind of revealing about your personal story that it might not be appropriate to show to people so here you are halfway in and you're like shit, maybe I shouldn't write this at all because I'm so personally revealing that I wouldn't want to produce it anyway so you see what I'm saying don't you, people have to be okay, you're not worrying about your metaphors being savvy you're worrying about being too revealing so what's going to happen is you write it and put it in the drawer right, you write it you think, no, no, actually I'm not going to produce this until you know, until I'm you know, 80, you know what I mean and I'm not going to put it in the drawer right, and that's what you might want to do after you finish it but you're in the middle now right so your job, again your job, like for a job come on, until the end do the great works that you've got to do and don't let the concern of being too revealing keep you from writing because that's just some shit in your head let's try to keep you from doing your job you understand, okay you don't have to show it to anybody when you're done okay, you don't have to show it to anybody in being too revealing if you don't want to but you do have to finish it you can't do different okay, so just finish it and then you can print it out and put it in the drawer it's cool do you have a long day's journey tonight? do anybody ever do a long day's journey tonight? we haven't been to the last 100 days that's kind of a long day but no, that's when you want to play he was like, I'm writing this and don't produce it until like 100 million years after whatever he said, they produced it and I'm going after that, I'm going with that I went along, whoa, it's such a great play so I might turn on one of those, I don't know, but your job is too great he hadn't written that but I don't know if I can say that I don't know, he wasn't like that, I'm sure but he would never have written it right? okay, so she told you somebody's worried about what your mom's going to think about you yes, hi hi I think it's pretty common which is, I wish I had enough time for my writing there's never enough so, I'm about to get four weeks where I get to focus on nothing but my writing so I feel like I'm preparing like my plan I've got my projects, I've got the details my notes of what I'm going to do but these opportunities don't come around all the time so I want to make sure that I make the most of my time and my writing process has changed, like I have so the last time I got four weeks what worked then might not necessarily work now so I'm just wondering are there, besides like going in with my drafts, my notes my organized things, is there anything else that I should keep in mind to make the most out of this gift that's really good did it already here? you got some time to do your writing what a gift, that's really fantastic and you really want to make the most of your time and that applies to a nice time of time, like four weeks or it can apply to the first hour, the morning before your kids or before your little dates or whatever, this is my writing time I want to make sure that you are really maximizing that precious time so a couple of things some of you got a great plan and plans are great so you make a plan, you've got plans and those, game plan do you have, you print it out a little calendar or you can say this is what I'd like to do or okay it's okay, it could just give yourself a sketch but week one I'd like to be here, week two I see myself being done with this by week three like that you can even break it down in terms of days if you want, every day make sure okay also really important is to be compassionate with yourself and know that whatever you get done is exactly what you're supposed to be getting done that's the biggest one right? but sometimes things happen or maybe more done or maybe you don't get that hundred pages maybe you get eighty seven pages you know what I mean? you've got to be happy about getting eighty seven pages done or you want to get five hundred pages done maybe you get four hundred fifty done you know you don't get on Facebook or social media do you? do do you? you haven't yet good, good leave social media, leave alone okay, leave alone, big time stuff okay, so just leave it alone especially through your special time just be compassionate going there with the best plan and also helping yourself to love yourself and you're going to show up for yourself every single day even if it's just you know and prayer you can do that not like oh go on assist in chapel you know oh great spirit that brings wonderful things be with me at the beginning of the Odyssey oh whatever you say yo I'm here here I go you can say that every day you know okay is that helpful? just enjoy yourself enjoy yourself, congratulations you can rest and see have fun have fun you ready? yeah, what do you mean by that? something is a play right right comment do you see the ending why we do this why we do this I'm trying to avoid right right but that's good is it a play or is it a movie right? and that's okay that's actually okay if you write a play you can easily turn into a movie they're not so different okay right so you want to get them transformed you want strong characters you want characters and agents you want to show those scenes that display that agency and tell that story and it can either be a play or a movie I would say when you so you see the first scene of your what does it look like is it on stage or is it on screen it's on screen okay then it's a movie it's a movie oh you're going to join yourself write a movie if you see it on screen then it's a movie if you see it on stage then it's a play and you can always change if you write a draft of a movie and you want to play that you can just change right write yourself a movie you can see it oh yeah did you yeah I did I did a workshop at Art Noble last week as an actor oh really with a wonderful playwright he wrote every day so when I found myself more fascinated with her writing process and if I get home I would write you know there's something very different I find being an actor than a writer in the sense of it's the same place that it comes from the process is different it's not as emotional I guess writing I mean though it's emotional but it's caught up in the emotion that's like putting down exploring the emotion that's a difficult time switching gears so so Lynn did some work as an actor last week and then she would she would find it difficult to switch gears because acting and writing for me is a different thing I don't think I think it's similar but I have to help to find sure the thing is that the acting that I'm most familiar with is actors work in community you're not alone you're an actor for the most part you're working with others as a director, designers or other singers of the company if it's a traditional or a traditional situation someone else the writer has done the really hard work for you okay and writing you know it's pretty much you're sitting there writing by yourself and you're doing all that difficult work that hurt but you're breaking ground and you're doing it alone and you're making something out of nothing an actor if they're looking to take a Shakespeare wow! Shakespeare is broken by ground and acting craft is a brilliant trap I don't want to practice but I admire tremendously I'm also aware that writing is very difficult so if one shall process five days if they see a writer who is writing a shirt was fed by what was happening sure think about that a lot I think it's stopping to go home to writing and you can't I'm trying to get past it you have to hypnotize yourself and for your question one of the answers to the answers all the time you have to hypnotize yourself into a place of possibility you know like what's her name but that is generous not Simone but Danny that's her too the woman who said before she did that cool thing I got this and became this whole social media thing I got this you have to encourage yourself into a place of possibility and even if it's just as you're walking home from your workshop where you're working as an actor I'm so happy to get home and work on my play I'm going to sit down and I'm going to feel a whole bunch of energy you tell yourself that instead of the opposite the notes they gave you're going to make sense to me I'm going to know which ones are right I know they're going to know which ones are right you know I'm going to sit with this and the answers are going to come we have to hypnotize ourselves into a place of possibility what we most often do is hypnotize ourselves into a place of negativity I don't know what the problem is I don't know what I'm doing I'm going to walk around like that all the time all the time is gone we have to just turn around we have to wake up it's not enough to just wake up once you have to wake up every fucking day right we have to we have to wake up every day we won't even get out of bed we'll wake up every day every day every day every time you hear that negative thing in your head you have to turn it around and out of your mouth direct it at somebody people ask what can we do we don't feel like we have power we're shits crying every person you meet you can offer an example of righteous behavior can't they see what person you meet can we do it can we do that I don't know it's hard you have to wake up when so many things in the world are approaching us to go to sleep but I just buy something just take some medication just binge watch everything you know what I'm saying you have to constantly wake up and that's not bad to binge watch something or you know there's nothing important for shows genius empire I have a follow-up to that how do you encourage yourself how do I encourage myself listen to what you say so I walk around saying I want to say I brought her from home I can't remember her name she says I got this does that work? or I'm so glad to be working on this one standing right here because it helps me with my crosses oh gee it's sunny outside today what a great day oh shit I got so much shit to do running and I'm the president and I'm fucking alone who cares what do we gotta do you know we don't need to like only focus on that we need to focus on so many other things so I just constantly possibly listen to myself and if I catch myself saying some negative unhelpful thing I just turn her around before it gets too far out of control right you just need to wow I need to and you get back on the good foot or whatever you say or hang out with some friends who like you man go around pretend you were flying you I don't know what your job was and they were like Harrison come on you're wonderful work hard just keep working you know read some quotations from your favorite inspirational speaker read some Maya Angelou or some Erison or some Thoreau all these people who like suffered and died so we would be here we gotta lean on them now and each other so all of that is available to you think of the time you did well right was there a time when you did well in something right go back to that if you did that you can do whatever you need to do tell yourself that it's true why not and it doesn't cost anything that's what's weird about this you know it costs you to be kind to people and to be feeling like a good person I don't have so many other but thousands of things just to keep myself my mother teacher said one thing she said we're not interested in perfection can I believe the kind of yoga people are you know the kind of yoga they're like scary ass yoga right so she said she was seeing me trying to do some yoga pose and she said we're not interested in perfection we're interested in stilling on your lines and making it through that was like the line stilling on your lines and get through the lines we have one and see how a burning question like oh my god yes wait I'm right in front of you she's right in front of me fourth draft and I need to take it from 2 hours and 15 minutes to 2 hours and 15 minutes great great great how do you cut because I want to explain everything great great I can't do that no no have you gotten noticed about what you could cut I'm using those 2 hours and 15 minutes 5.0 she wants it to 2.15 have you gotten noticed about what you could cut do you know in your heart of hearts that you need to go do you know what you need to go do you have a feeling about what you need to go yes you don't need any more shows no no no no you know you know you know what needs to go to do this magic this is great you cut it you put it aside you take the 2 hours and 15 minutes if the people or whatever want a little more you go but you just cut it out put it off to the side and then it'll be 2 hours and 15 minutes they'll give you a reading or a production or whatever they want more they'll ask for it they want to do a whole other thing in my experience isn't what happened cutting to train your own work is an act of supreme courage you're a ninja do it, try it if it doesn't work it's always put it back in no no no it's not a good thing but it feels like it's not so we distinguish but it looks like okay let us try it where are we going to be back we are going to be back we are going to be back on Tellner June 5th June 12th and more to come look at the website the website will tell you everything thank you guys for coming you guys are great, thanks